Do violent action movies generally promote a right wing agenda?

[bryant69]

Poll question: Do violent action movies generally promote a right wing agenda?

In your opinion.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

1. Absolutely.

In the same way Harry Potter books encourage Satanism.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

2. Some do, but I don't think it's true of them in general. I think most are rather apolitical.

I love violent action movies, and I'm a lefty, albeit of the gun-loving sort.

[bryant69]

3. I like them too - but consider - don't they promote the idea that violence solves problems?

Is that a left wing or a right wing ideal?

Bryant

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

4. Well, I can discern fact from fiction...

so while they do sometimes promote the idea that violence solves problems, it's not really an issue for me.

In any case, violence DOES solve some problems, and sometimes violence IS necessary to solve a problem. I don't believe true pacifism has any validity.

[unpossibles]

8. good answer, although I wish more people could tell fact from fiction

in movie, book, or "news" form.

[TahitiNut]

6. "promote"? Or merely serve an existing interest group?

I have a problem with the implication of causality. I've never personally observed any increased incidence of comic talent arising from watching sitcoms.

[bryant69]

9. I don't want to imply intention - perhaps I should have clarified that.

I don't know what you mean by causality - if you mean watching violent movies makes people more violent, I'd say now. On the other hand, does the idea that violence solves problems lead us to think "Hey Saddam's a problem. Let's use violence." I mean, we are in Iraq.

Bryant

[Solo_in_MD]

13. Mao said it does

[BOSSHOG]

5. I appreciated Rambo's

actions when he shot up the government equipment supposedly used to find American Prisoners of War in Vietnam at the end of the movie. Scared the shit out of the government bozo as well. I don't think that was a right wing agenda. "Conservatives" don't give a fuck about our kids getting killed in Iraq, they sure as hell don't care about any troops who may still be in NAM.

[BluePatriot]

7. Meh.

Correlation isn't causation, or something like that.

I was entertained by 300. Really liked the soundtrack. FWIW we did notice the overtones in regards to current events but just had a nice discussion over it.

[Lautremont]

10. They have to, to an extent.

"Violence before thought" is one of Umberto Eco's tenets of "Ur-Fascism," and where, for example, would Dirty Harry be if he wasn't acting thoughtlessly violent? In an office, filling out paperwork, and nobody would want to go see a movie like that.

It doesn't mean the filmmakers are necessarily pushing that agenda though: Don Siegel, the director of Dirty Harry, was something of a lefty, apparently, and was appalled when Paulene Kael called his film "fascist medievalism."

I'm a very progressive, gun-loathing type, but I've seen "Commando" probably five times. That's because we live in a complex world filled with multitudinous people.

[ends_dont_justify]

11. I think the question is better stated as:

Does the right wing agenda model after some kind of illusionary fantasy world involving violence and destruction depicted in action movies? I'd vote yes to that...

[blondeatlast]

26. Nail, meet head. I too would vote yes to that.

Welcome to DU! :toast:

[whistle]

12. Ronald Reagan stared in a violent movie titled "The Killers" in 1964

...a remake of the 1946 film noir movie staring Bert Lancaster. I think the 1964 remake was directed by San Fuller and was banned in Germany and all of the Scandinavian countries because of its violent content and glamorization of the thugs, although pretty mild by todays standards of violence. Reagan played a mob boss with polish and modeled both his governorship and presidency after this role.

[meldroc]

14. Sometimes a cigar's just a cigar.

I voted for "Dude, you are overthinking this." Most movies aren't left wing or right wing - they're not particularly political at all. Sometimes there isn't really a message or allegory or moral to the big action and explosions - it's just mental popcorn.

[rman]

49. keyword: sometimes

Often times, a movie/story does have a message.

[meldroc]

52. V for Vendetta

Definitely not a conservative message in that film...

[Initech]

15. Not really. I'm sure some do.

Take an overtly patriotic film like the recent "The Marine" or "ID4" or "True Lies" and you definitely have a right wing agenda. I don't get why people here went nuts over "300" but I didn't really see it as propaganda.

[Lilith Velkor]

16. You mean like Sin City or V for Vendetta?

In my opinion, this poll is wack.

[Demeter]

17. The Bad, Cheesy Movies Certainly Do

They are violent for violence's sake, without plot or character development, no point or purpose served. They serve as a substitution for sex, erotica, or human expression in general, a sublimation that the Right canot survive without, since they are so down on sex, erotica, and human expression.

Now something like V for Vendetta, or the sappier Schartzennegger flics, or Long Kiss Goodnight, or Out of Sight, or even Travolta's Get Shorty and such, have more than violence to offer.

But Gladiator, Braveheart, most Mel Gibson, actually, these are just gobs of blood with people sloshing through them.

[bunkerbuster1]

18. Absolutely.

Bart Simpson put it best, when he explained to Lisa:

"If you don't watch the violence, you'll never get desensitized to it."

[slackmaster]

19. Battleship Potemkin

Plenty of violent action and not a hint of an RW agenda.

[The Straight Story]

20. Are you saying left wingers are wimps? them's fighting words!

:rofl:

[leftofthedial]

21. no

but there probably is a correlation between violent action film viewership and being a right wing male

[bryant69]

22. What explains that correlation?

I mean if there's not a connection between the agendas.

[leftofthedial]

24. a correlative relationship

but not necessarily a causal relationship

[bryant69]

25. So it's just coinicidence in your mind?

Or what?

Bryant

[leftofthedial]

30. I think the "masses" of the RW constituency

are shallow thinkers who do not want to consider nuance in art, politics, religion or any other aspect of their lives.

I also think they are easily amused for long periods of time by loud noises and flashing lights.

They also apparently have a large pent-up reservoir of hatred that is easily directed by any skillful manipulator. This reservoir is like a festering wound that their cowardice prevents them from venting directly.

Most violent action films are pretty black and white affairs with plenty of noise and no troubling context to confuse the simple minds of RWers.

Such films are usually simplistic enough and so devoid of any deeper meaning that RWers can safely project whatever prejudices and themes they wish onto the film. That is, they can almost always identify with the "good guy" in these films and derive proxy satisfaction from the violence inflicted on the "bad guys."

Non-RWers can also like these films as they provide escapist, stylized entertainment.

[kiahzero]

29. Right-wing males enjoy violence.

Therefore, they enjoy violent action movies. That doesn't imply that violent action movies create more right-wingers.

[bryant69]

45. Simplistic

No offense, but I'm not suggesting that violent action movies create right-wingers. Rather I'm suggesting that the movies promote a culture in which violence is used to solve problems. They help create an intellectual climate where it's acceptable to invade Iraq unilaterally.

Bryant

[Hippo_Tron]

31. As a left wing male who sometimes likes violent movies...

I'd say that more likely there's a correlation between being a male (particularly a straight white male) and being a right winger and that taste in movies has much less to do with it.

[leftofthedial]

32. you aren't confessing to being a straight white male are you?

gasp

[Hippo_Tron]

33. Yup, that too

[ScreamingMeemie]

34. This straight, white female thinks you should give that a rest.

Or risk proving that which you rail against to be even more so the truth.

[leftofthedial]

35. But being a straight white female is okay.

:-) :hi:

[ScreamingMeemie]

38. Apparently, it's not. From your passive agressive posts of the last

week or so. :hi:

[leftofthedial]

39. why would you say anything like that?

I feel and have exhibited nothing but respect and admiration for straight white females. Not only for the last week or so, but for my entire life.

:shrug:

The five people I have loved and admired most in the whole world are all straight white females.

:(

[lumberjack_jeff]

23. Who's agenda was promoted by "full metal jacket"? "Apocalypse Now"?

I vote no.

[rman]

46. Is Apocalypse Now primarily an action movie,

or is it more of a comment on the madness of war (which, more or less inevitably involves "action")?

How does Apocalypse Now compare in this respect to say, "Die Hard"?

[TheBaldyMan]

27. Gay porn movie actors promote a right wing agenda.

Especially ones that are ex-marines and have titles such as "Taken by Force" & "Touched by an Anal" to their credit.

[qwlauren35]

28. The option "It depends" wasn't there.

There are a LOT of action movies. I doubt that Lara Croft would qualify as right wing. And I don't think "the lone hero" is necessarily right wing either. There have been plenty of films in which the bad guys were corporations and government officials being paid by them. Very NOT right wing.

So, it depends.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

36. Where's The 'I Laugh My Ass Off At Losers Who Classify MOVIES In Such Ways' Option? LOL

[treestar]

41. Almost purely a personal attack

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

42. I Was Under The Impression That The OP Finds It Ridiculous As Well.

Personally though, I do find those that look that deeply into such things to be deserving subjects of mockery. Some things are just so ridiculously petty that all you can do is laugh at them. Forgive me for my honesty. It's the only way I know how to be.

[rman]

48. You think it is appropriate to mock those you disagree with

We know that by now.

If the OP also thinks it is ridiculous, at least he didn't frame it as a personal attack - but you did.

[bryant69]

50. You'd be wrong actually.

I do think most of our discussion of this issue is ridiculous since it boils down to "Movies Good" or "Movies Bad." But I think there is something to be said for the idea that violent action movies promote the idea that violence solves problems, which plays more into Conservativism than it does into our own beliefs.

I don't intend to stop watching them however.

Bryant

[Texasgal]

43. Word.

:rofl:

[Beelzebud]

47. That't the option I'd be voting for too.

[bryant69]

51. That's why I included "What are you? Some Kind of Troublemaker?"

Bryant

[JPZenger]

37. Before WWII, Hitler Loved to Watch Feature Movies About War

Before WWII, Hitler loved to watch feature movies About war. He particularly liked movies showing the British Empire putting down the natives.

[treestar]

40. They parallel the right wing agenda

They are oversimplistic about who is right and who is wrong, and the omnisicence the viewer has (which the real world never has) makes it clear who is wrong. Then the solution is always to kill the bad guy, never to deal with any problem or negotiate anything.

[bigwillq]

44. No

I don't think movie violence can be classified as right or left wing and I don't look at it like that either so NO.