Politics & Film

[ken123]

Jane Fonda had her day on TCM yesterday, and she is being judged for her politics on the TCM Board. Does a person's political beliefs have any effect on your watching his/hers films. I am very left, but I don't care for her films. Stewart, Wayne, and Cooper were all GOP, but some of their films are among my all time favorites.

[sandykaypax]

An actor's political beliefs have no bearing on whether or not I enjoy their films.

The only "actor" that I feel slightly uncomfortable watching is O.J. Simpson in the Naked Gun films. Honestly, the morals and political views of actors mean nothing to me when I am watching a performance, EXCEPT for O.J. I draw the line at murderers who are walking around free...

Sandy K

[feaito]

I agree with you. What's more, I really don't care about actors' politics, private lives, sexual preferences, religious creeds et al, when it comes to watching their films or judging their acting talents.

[Vecchiolarry]

Hi,

Here, here!!!
I only care whether they have talent and personality.

I have never really cared for any of the Fondas but I have seen several of their movies.
Whether a person is conservative, liberal or communist, homosexual or heterosexual doesn't matter to me as long as they are polite and don't scare the horses!!
I don't necessarily want to even know what they are! Keep it in the bedroom or the voting booth....

I agree though that OJ Simpson is the lowest, vilest vermin in existance.
Someone like that should be hung inthe public square, along with pediphiles and murderers.....
Get out your guns and just shoot them in the head and be done with it!!
Oh, don't get me started.....

Larry

[mrsl]

No argument with anything said, but I'm sorry I have to throw Sen. Ted Kennedy in with the pack. Eight hours of silence is just too much beyond a reasonable doubt for me to swallow.

I guess it was back in December for her birthday when they devoted a day to her movies, and premiered her discussion with RO that the whole 'Hanoi Jane' thing came up and the controversy was on. I feel sorry for the guys that were hurt by her statements, but we all have to grow up and some of us do it in a round about way before we see the light, even after 30 years of age.

Anne

[moira finnie]

Does a person's political beliefs have any effect on your watching his/hers films.~ Ken123

Not really. I think that many of the people who made great movies were probably my polar opposites politically, ethically and personally. Yet such diverse figures from the right and left as Chaplin, John Ford, Fritz Lang, Orson Welles, Sam Wood, Eisenstein, DeMille, and many others would not be my cup of tea as potential friends nor would we necessarily agree about much politically. Their movies, though? Jeez, I'd hate to have missed them.*

I think Sandy's response to O.J. Simpson's work is understandable. I can't say that I ever recall him being a particularly effective serious or comic actor, though I've never seen more than a few of his films. Some of the Hollywood figures who almost always make me uncomfortable to watch, given subsequent events, are Woody Allen, Roman Polanski, (along with poor Sharon Tate), Albert Salmi and Gig Young. Despite this, I can see that they all have some degree of talented despite my visceral reaction. My discomfort is due to their personal lives, not their political views, such as they may have been.

I should mention that while I didn't vote for him, one of my guilty pleasures this afternoon was perusing Ronald Reagan's movies. Critics, aesthetic and political, may trash them, but there's a naive "golly willikers" quality about the man and his movies. I've been reading Douglas Brinkley's distillation of "Reagan's Diaries" and the same quality jumps out at you from the man's words. Just a little while ago, I paused and watched the preposterously entertaining Desperate Journey (1942) in time to catch young Mr. R. chiding his less "daring" companions, Errol Flynn & Arthur Kennedy as they considered whether to try to overwhelm a bunch of stinkin' Nazis about to fly a bomber over Britain. "Heck", said Ron, "there's only 12 of 'em!" I laughed out loud.

Jane Fonda never gave me half so much enjoyment. She seems to have been so unhappy, confused and, frankly, humorless for so many years.
I can't honestly say that I enjoyed a movie anymore or less because someone's political ideas were in any way similar to my own. The only Jane Fonda movie that holds my attention to this day is Comes a Horseman.
2 Reasons:
1. The Western land and sky
2. Richard Farnsworth

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*I would like to have been a fly on the wall during alot of movies from the classic and not so classic era. One example might have been On Dangerous Ground when Robert Ryan (full-fledged liberal ex-Marine, not afraid to express his mind), and Ward Bond (right wing nut-job without intellectual pretensions, but a good actor when well-cast), filmed their awkward scenes in the car and galumphing across the snowy landscape under the frenzied, talented direction of a young Nicholas Ray. I guess sometimes divergent styles--politically and artistically--could produce some truly interesting films.

[Erebus]

Does a person's political beliefs have any effect on your watching his/hers films.

Speaking mostly about recent history, for me it depends upon how outspoken they’ve been and how they’ve comported themselves. If I have sense that an actor’s or a director’s political views are contrary to my own but they’ve been relatively discreet about it, it doesn’t matter to me at all. If, however, they’ve been high profile advocates for positions I think to be dangerously deluded and misguided, if I think they’ve abused their celebrity to influence public opinion in what I consider to be an unfortunate direction, then it does color how I see them, almost regardless of the film role I happen to be watching.

For example, in the aftermath of 9-11 there was a bit of a public dust-up over some celebrity fundraising. I think George Clooney was the primary target of rightwing ire. During that interval Goldie Hawn and Kirk Russell appeared together on O’Reilly’s Factor show (no, I’m not a regular viewer), and they conducted themselves with true decorum and sanity. Though I think I disagree with their general political positions, I gained respect for both of them simply for the way they presented their case. Conversely, I cannot see Sean Penn, Sarandon, Streisand, the Sheens, Whoopi Goldberg, Chevy Chase, Garofalo, the late Robert Altman, or Alec Balwin, among many, many others without cringing. Usually I switch channels as soon as I glimpse them. This includes the Dixie Chicks and too many others within the pop music industry. I have sold-off tens of CDs that I formerly loved simply because I can no longer enjoy them.

When it comes to classic films, I generally don’t apply such a filter. For one thing, the WWII period seemed to generate real national and Hollywood unity in support of what we generally think of as the correct causes. I have occasionally found myself scrutinizing a film for what I sense as socially subversive subtext, to the point that I have done websearches to compare cast and production names with those of the Blacklists. Although he’s undeniably a captivating actor, Garfield is a figure I view with skepticism. I enjoy his work, even if he does seem to be a natural when it comes to playing a jerk.

Now, I’m all for free speech, but then I also support the rights of those who speak out critically against celebrities who have blundered into politics. Just as celebrity brings disproportionate power, so it similarly demands disproportionate social responsibility and self-discipline. I realize that celebrities are typically significantly more intelligent than average, but I don’t think that intelligence confers upon them any particular wisdom when it comes to public affairs. If anything, the opposite is most likely more often the case. My guess is that stars are often deeply warped ego-maniacs who should be kept under lock and key until it comes time for them to strut their usually highly-specialized stuff.

Anyway, Ken, to answer your question, yes, it can have an effect, not so much for what they believe but rather for how public, vehement, and outrageous they have been in expressing those beliefs.

[movieman1957]

Erebus:

I feel much the same as you. I have no problem with stars and their politics if they handle themselves in a decent manner. It's those who pretend to know it all, when they don't, and feel compelled to run their mouth without saying anything. (Baldwin and Penn mainly.)

Disagreement is all fine and well but at least be intelligent about it.

[Lzcutter]

Chris,

I'm in agreement with SandyK on OJ. As for Fonda and stars who speak out on national events and policy, for the most part I can separate their screen persona from the real life person.

The Vietnam era was a time of emotional and societal upheaval in this country and many people still carry the wounds (emotional and physical) from that era. Not all injuries happened on the field of battle and there were many walking wounded for many years. In some ways, it now seems apropo, that it was almost 100 years since the Civil War because there were days when it felt like we were living through a second Civil War.

The one person from the Vietnam Era that does not get a pass (as far as I'm concerned), Robert McNamara.

[Mr. Arkadin]

I am more concerned with their work and not their personal beliefs. I also do not like to watch shows where a person rattles their personal agenda at me--no matter what it is. You want to talk about the book your wrote, film you made, song you sang,--fine, but I'm not interested in what you think about politics or other such matters.