Sunday, March 23, 2003

WHO MIGHT BE A HOLLYWOOD CONSERVATIVE?

Lately, it has been much easier to see who leans more conservative in Hollywood. They always act perplexed by what's going on in the world instead of commenting on it.

Dennis Quaid, who won for his supporting role as a gay husband, said he did want to "politicize" the Independent Spirits." "It's a strange time for all of us," he told reporters backstage. Quaid was one of the few guests not wearing a peace lapel pin; he explained that he had just flown in from a shooting in Montreal and was a little disoriented.

Quaid, it may be remember was quoted after Bush beat Gore in 2000 as saying flippantly, "Too Bad." You may also remember those past Oscar shows when Quaid and Meg Ryan were two of the few people not wearing Aids ribbons in a sea of red. Has Aids been defeated? I don't see many ribbons these days. Quaid has never come out and said he is conservative. He certainly doesn't want that kind of "negative" publicity, but I'm sure he is uncomfortable with the typical Hollywood left. Otherwise he would probably play their game a little more.

Sly Stallone had an uncomfortable situation recently, too. I don't have the link, but he wouldn’t commit his feelings around the other celebrities that were anti-war. He was stunned by the war, but wouldn't really elaborate as to what that means. His Rambo movies certainly show his political bent, but he is striving to the apolitical now that his career is waning. He’s been in talks to make a new Rambo movie for Miramax in which he gets Bin Laden, but he may have misinterpreted Hollywood's shock at 911 for a willingness to make the kinds of conservative movies that were fashionable in the 1980s. If he wants to make that movie, he'll have to tackle it with a very narrow approach that doesn't endorse Bush's larger war on terrorism. He'll have to start the narrow approach by remaining on the fence during the Iraqi campaign.

I think that Hollywood Conservatives have had to re-invent themselves since the early 1990s. I’m working on a piece that will deal with that thesis. Coming Soon . . .

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