The Politics of Movies
By Michael Bowman • May 16th, 2008Hollywood is generally thought to be one of the most liberal and oddly ruled kingdoms in our country. Political opinions are thrown out by movie stars every day, and arguably, they are listened to as much as opinions given by the politicians themselves. In fact, movies are often classified, not on the merits of the films, but on the personal views of those who are involved in making them. The most recent example of this was “The Golden Compass,” a movie that was the subject of debate well before it’s first screening based solely on the personal views of the author of the book it was made from.
So this week, I decided to do some research to see if I could find a list of both conservative and liberal movies. I hit the jackpot, so to speak, in finding a website that not only contained a list of such movies (the top 100 of each), but classified them as such based only on the personal views of the actors involved. I do not vouch for the integrity of the website, celebpolitics.com (which apparently tends to lean towards being conservative), but someone took a lot of time in coming up with a formula to rate these movies based on two criteria: 1) the number of liberal or conservative quotes by the actors involved, and 2) the dollar amount of donations by said actors to either liberal or conservative organizations. I will not give you the top 100 from each, but I will give you the Top 10 Most Conservative and Liberal movies of all time, according to celebpolitics.com:
TOP TEN MOST CONSERVATIVE MOVIES
1) It’s a Wonderful Life
2) Dave
3) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
4) Tango & Cash
5) The Greatest Story Ever Told
6) A Smile Like Yours
7) Casper
8) Casper: A Spirited Beginning
9) Dennis The Menace
10) Easy Wheels
TOP TEN MOST LIBERAL MOVIES
1) The American President
2) The Princess Bride
3) Meet The Fockers
4) The War of The Roses
5) Wall Street
6) On Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
7) Romancing the Stone
8) Tell Them Who You Are
9) The Jewel of the Nile
10) The Game
Now, keep in mind, that these movies weren’t rated based on the content of the work itself, only on the personal views of the actors involved. In fact, based on only on content, “It’s a Wonderful Life” was actually considered, by the FBI, to be communist propaganda in 1947. But based on the actors starring in each film, you can easily see the pattern of conservative and liberal actors involved in each list.
As a side note, here’s a trivia question for you: What director is generally credited with ending the stream of liberal movies that came out in the late 60’s and early 70’s and bringing conservative movies back to Hollywood?
