{"id":594,"date":"2008-12-23T00:05:54","date_gmt":"2008-12-23T07:05:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/exilestreet.com\/?p=594"},"modified":"2008-12-22T21:37:04","modified_gmt":"2008-12-23T04:37:04","slug":"artful-dodging-ars-gratis-artis-%e2%80%93-not","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/exilestreet.com\/?p=594","title":{"rendered":"Artful Dodging: Ars Gratis Artis \u2013 NOT!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a> by Steve Finefrock<\/span><\/strong> – [scriptwriter]<\/span><\/p>\n

Colorful<\/span><\/strong> is the artful rant in Modern Conservative, by Jeani DiCarlo and Yervand Kochar, entitled \u201cEnd the Leftist Establishment\u2019s Use of Movies and Art for Propaganda\u201d \u2013 a lovely collection of pointless thoughts, mindful of the very Marxist blather which all conservative thinkers find entertaining, risible and even charming, if not entirely without danger. DiCarlo and Kochar miss the point, like liberals miss the point of the Second Amendment, when lefty minds insist we can all be kissy-huggy if only guns were outlawed.<\/p>\n

One of the stupidest cinematic declarations is the coda preachment by Klaatu to adoring, compliant peacenik Earthlings, wrapping \u201cThe Day The Earth Stood Still\u201d with a declaration of surrender to a leviathan brigade of all-powerful robots, whose duty is the absolute power for their human creators. Nowhere is the question asked, much less answered: Who built those robots? Which government contractor on Klaatu\u2019s world made a creature of impenetrable metal which can work with its robotic siblings to keep mankind from expressing its id? A better cinematic thought is in the Shakespearean texture of \u201cForbidden Planet\u201d \u2013 sci-fi with some thought, inspired by \u201cThe Tempest\u201d and more to the point, with the super-smart Krell building such a powerful machine that was their undoing.<\/p>\n

DiCarlo & Kochar [D&K] seek a world where art is FREE, FREE<\/strong>, FREE<\/strong><\/span><\/em> \u2013 untainted by bias. If only those nasty leftists would quit being \u2013 LEFTISTS!\u00a0 Then we can all sing \u201cKumbaya\u201d and art would be pure.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the coffee scent, D&K: Art is not just for art\u2019s sake. Never was, never will be, must not be.\u00a0 To surrender the choice of pursuing art for the sake of values, a message, a goal of sustaining our philosophy is to surrender to Klaatu\u2019s Gort, to give over to the massive machine of the Krell, to expect man to be all kindness and light.<\/p>\n

At the heart of a very complex philosophy dubbed \u2018conservatism\u2019 is Madison\u2019s mantra: If men were angels, there\u2019d be no need for government. And in that meaning is the underpinning: MEN ARE NOT ANGELS. They cannot be trusted with disarmed society; there are evil among us, some petty, some grand, some mega-grand. Armaments are the instruments of civility \u2013 guns, artillery, bombers, tanks, nuclear devices.<\/p>\n

And the armaments of the Cultural War include film, and TV. At present, conservatives are already nearly totally disarmed, hoping, yearning, wishing, begging, urging liberals to sing \u201cKumbaya\u201d by offering a few table scraps here and there, as a sop to our complaint that they aren\u2019t being fair, balanced, respectful of our values.<\/p>\n

Do D&K really think \u2018Aaron Sorkin\u2019 is going to make film and TV to be balanced? Can he, or others of the left, disconnect their creative impulses from their philosophy? If the first rule of writing is, Write What You Know \u2013 then ask, can one write what one does not know, or embrace, or feel in his or her heart and mind and soul?<\/p>\n

Can \u2018Aaron Sorkin\u2019 \u2013 a generic term for all the liberal thoughtmeisters in Hotel Whiskey [phonetic for \u2018HW\u2019 as abbreviated once by a friend, for Hollywood] \u2013 be expected to surrender his POV of the world? Can any liberal actor ever find a \u2018method\u2019 to truly represent a conservative-drawn character in a manner we would applaud? Here\u2019s a news flash: THEY CAN\u2019T DO IT. They not only won\u2019t do it \u2013 no definition of \u2018fair\u2019 will compel them to even attempt a task so foreign to their perception and experience \u2013 but they SHOULD NOT TRY, for they will fail.<\/p>\n

Only WE CAN WRITE US, only WE CAN DIRECT US, only WE CAN MAKE OUR ART for our audience, to give our hungry public a view into story and structure and character and plot and theme that fits our world view. No liberal \u2018Aaron Sorkin\u2019 can possibly, in the most determined and \u2018honest\u2019 effort, approach even the outer suburbs of what we believe and feel and advocate in the political arena.<\/p>\n

When an odd conservative character pops up in any \u2018Aaron Sorkin\u2019 output \u2013 either he literally, or his many similar minions \u2013 the result is typically wooden, shallow, stereotypical. Both in the writing by the original conception \u2013 as revealed honestly by Neil Simon in \u201cRewrites\u201d regarding his conservative cutie in \u201cStar Spangled Girl\u201d \u2013 and its direction by a helmer, and the rendering by the chosen actors to make a page go onto the stage and age well in the minds of the audience.<\/p>\n

The blunt, basic, bold truth \u2013 as Simon Cowell would assert \u2013 is that ART IS NOT FAIR, and will NEVER BE FAIR. Liberals cannot meet the demands of the idealistic, Kumbaya-istic D&K. No more than disarming ourselves will make the evil among us, the id-kids driven by their Krell-kin ids, will simply leave us alone once they find us disarmed and vulnerable.<\/p>\n

The fight for the minds of our citizens, of our children, of our audience, in theatres and auditoriums and outdoor arenas and politics and bar-stool discussions is one which requires us to NEVER DISARM, and never expect them to be fair. Art is most definitely NOT beyond left and right. At present, it is dominated by the left, and perhaps will always be mostly a leftwing expression.<\/p>\n

But many conservative artistes exist in Hotel Whiskey \u2013 as proven often, and expressed boldly in my address to the Heritage Foundation<\/a> in September of 2007 [see www.heritage.org<\/a> for \u201cThe Other Hollywood\u201d to view the 66 minute presentation]. At least a quarter, and maybe even a third of the working, earning pros in Tinseltown hold rightwing views. Even Beverly Hills High School election-day voting by its students showed a full third voted for John McCain \u2013 a THIRD in the deepest, darkest recesses of the beast we all abhor! The beast that will NEVER DISARM ITSELF.<\/p>\n

Can art ever be free from bias? NEVER!!\u00a0 Can it be less biased? PERHAPS \u2013 if conservatives quit whining, roll up their sleeves, get busy financing those conservatives in Hotel Whiskey, awaiting a chance to challenge leftwing characters, stories, plots and themes \u2013 with their own writing, directing, casting, acting, editing, cinematography, producing and promoting skills.\u00a0 Which are aplenty in Hotel Whiskey.<\/p>\n

Surrendering the fight is no solution, and mere whining is just intellectual masturbation. Asking the left to be \u2018fair\u2019 is worse than masturbation \u2013 it\u2019s calling for intellectual and ideological disarmament which they will never grant to us. And expecting their \u2018fair\u2019 treatment of us in the face of our own current, continuing disarmed status is pure fantasy land.<\/p>\n

While there is some satisfaction to declaring that only lies need propaganda to live, the fact is that so long as an adversary is engaging in battle methods, it is suicide to condemn the combat methods and refuse to engage in return. Ghandi was a fine feller, but succeeded only because he was engaging in peaceful dissent in the face of a fading British empire.\u00a0 The same method would result in death and destruction in the face of Hitler, or a Hussein, or Muhammad.<\/p>\n

Hotel Whiskey\u2019s lefties adore Ghandi in theory, but not in their own practices \u2013 they will not respect our peaceful quiescence. It will only make them bolder. A Ghandi strategy by conservatives in Hotel Whiskey will be as stupendously stupid as the Charge of the Light Brigade, or Pickett\u2019s Charge, or the Boston Massacre. They got guns \u2013 we gotta get guns, gunpowder, flint and the other armaments of this battle. Get in the game, get marksmanship and sneakiness and practice our artistic talent. Get the cash to back up the cache of many conservative artistes already ready and waiting in Hotel Whiskey<\/p>\n

As per Churchill: NEVER, NEVER<\/span>, NEVER<\/span><\/em>, NEVER<\/span><\/em><\/strong> GIVE UP, but engage and learn and maneuver and counter-maneuver. Ride to the sound of the gunfire, but first GET SOME GUNS, and fight this fight like it is meant to be won. Art is not free. As liberty is not free, never was, never will be. There is no disarmament strategy for conservatives in this fight for our nation\u2019s soul. The talent is in Hotel Whiskey, ready and eager and capable to make conservative film and TV.<\/p>\n

It only needs organization, financing, leadership and a sense that someone is on their side. And asking art to be \u2018free\u2019 is as silly as Klaatu\u2019s departing wimpiness. The left has a Gort \u2013 we need our own Gort.\u00a0 A squad, then a company, then a battalion of Gorts.\u00a0 And not surrender to their Gort, hoping for fairness and \u2018freedom\u2019 and balance.<\/p>\n

Kumbaya? NEVER!!!!!!!!!!!<\/p>\n

ExileStreet<\/strong><\/span> copyright 2008 Steve Finefrock<\/em> Finefrock is founder of Hollywood Forum, a speaker-bureau and panel-discussion vehicle to “Bring the Potomac to the Palisades” on issues that overlap politics and culture with the Hollywood film-TV influence on such national concerns. His scripts have addressed politics [including a TV series pilot\/bible package about state political combat, called “A State of the Union”], hazardous materials [from twelve years in emergency management, including six years managing FEMA’s Superfund curriculum for hazmat], terrorism, equestrian reincarnation, serial murderer killing journalists in the nation’s capitol, and fantasy about time-wasters. Finefrock is proprietor of PhoneBooth: The Smallest Space in Hollywood…<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Steve Finefrock – [scriptwriter] Colorful is the artful rant in Modern Conservative, by Jeani DiCarlo and Yervand Kochar, entitled \u201cEnd the Leftist Establishment\u2019s Use of Movies and Art for Propaganda\u201d \u2013 a lovely collection of pointless thoughts, mindful of the very Marxist blather which all conservative thinkers find entertaining, risible and even charming, if […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/exilestreet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/exilestreet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/exilestreet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/exilestreet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/exilestreet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=594"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/exilestreet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":595,"href":"http:\/\/exilestreet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594\/revisions\/595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/exilestreet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/exilestreet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/exilestreet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}