Hollywood Vs. America: Popular Culture and the War on Tradition, Michael Medved, 1992.
“Challenging the Secular Hollywood,” Charles Burris, at LRC, August 87, 2018.
For those who believe in God, no explanation is necessary. For those who do not believe in God, no explanation is possible. — From the film, The Song of Bernadette.
For decades there has been a constant relentless meme from Social Conservatives that Hollywood elites have been engaged in a subversive cultural war against the religious values of the majority of Americans. They point to such films as The Miracle Woman, Elmer Gantry, Inherit the Wind, The Night of the Hunter, Agnes of God, The Last Temptation of Christ, The Name of the Rose, Priest, The Magdalene Sisters, Carrie, The Boys of St. Vincent, Life of Brian, Dogma, Wiseblood, Heaven, The Meaning of Life, Bad Dreams, Heaven Help Us, Silent Hill, Deliver Us From Evil, The Golden Compass, Saved, Leap of Faith, There Will Be Blood, and Religulous, as evidentiary documentation for this case. But there are several sterling counter-examples throughout the years which challenge this assertion. These heroic movies have stood the test of time. These films directly herald courageous persons of faith and integrity, and vilify the political authorities persecuting their deep commitment to principle. Eight of the most outstanding are
The Song of Bernadette, 1943.
The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima, 1952.
The Fugitive, 1947.
The Passion of Joan of Arc, 1928.
The Sound of Music, 1965.
The Prisoner, TV drama, 1967; British movie, 1955.
Sophie Scholl: The Final Days, 2005.
For Greater Glory: The True Story of Cristiada, 2012, Andy Garcia.
3 excellent books related to these subjects are
2. Sacred Causes: The Clash of Religion and Politics, from the Great War to the War on Terror, and
3. The Catholic Martyrs of the Twentieth Century: A Comprehensive World History.
Four of these films are presented below:
“Hollywood War,” Charles Burris, March 25, 2013.
Savvy political manipulators as far back as Woodrow Wilson and V. I. Lenin recognized the pivotal role of motion pictures as a strategic weapon of the State’s predatory policies of war, aggrandizement, and exploitation. Soon after the commencement of the American intervention in the Great War, Hollywood was enlisted in the martial endeavor of shaping and molding misperceptions and disinformation in Wilson’s bloody crusade.
The cinematic struggle for the malleable minds of the masses continued throughout the post-war intermediate years up to the global conflict of the Second World War. Classic movies such as Strike, (a Soviet film by Sergei Eisenstein) 1924, October: Ten Days That Shook the World, 1927, Eisenstein, Battleship Potemkin, 1925, J’Accuse, 1919 & 2019, La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc, 1928, Metropolis, 1927, The Public Enemy, 1931, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, 1932, Modern Times, 1936, Things To Come, 1936, Triumph of the Will, 1935, Alexander Nevsky, 1938, The Eternal Jew, 1940, Young Mr. Lincoln, 1939, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, 1939, Confessions of a Nazi Spy, 1939, and countless others acted as ideological change agents of the new medium.
Once again during World War II, Hollywood put forth its propagandistic best with such films as The Great Dictator, 1940, Sergeant York, 1941, Casablanca, 1942, Hangmen Also Die, 1943, Keeper of the Flame, 1942, The Pride of the Marines, 1945, Action in the North Atlantic, 1943, Sahara, 1943, Passage to Marseille, 1944, Watch on the Rhine, 1943, Mrs. Miniver, 1942, To Be or Not To Be, 1942, Lifeboat, 1944, The Master Race, 1944, Commandos Strike at Dawn, 1942, Hitler’s Children, 1943, The Mortal Storm, 1940, The Seventh Cross, 1944, Tomorrow, the World, 1944, Dragon Seed, 1944, Flying Tigers, 1942, Blood on the Sun, 1945, The Fighting Seabees, 1944, The Purple Heart, 1944, Destination Tokyo, 1943, The Fighting Sullivans, 1944, Back to Bataan, 1945, The Sands of Iwo Jima, 1949, This Is The Army, 1943, The North Star, 1943, Song of Russia, 1944, Mission to Moscow, 1943, Moscow Strikes Back, 1942, Counter-Attack, 1945, and Frank Capra’s Why We Fight series. After WWII, during the crucial year of 1947 when the National Security State was born, a Congressional investigating committee began its intrusive inquisition of Hollywood Communists and fellow travelers after widespread internecine disruption and Red-led strikes on the back lots and sound stages of the major studios. The divisiveness and division of those years has never ceased, as outlined by LRC contributing author David Martin in this perceptive article, “Elia Kazan, American Hero.” The Hollywood wars, both internal and external, continue to shape our national consciousness.
Ricky Gervais’s monologue at the 2020 Golden Globe Awards. This is a must-see.
San Gabriel Tutor 