Is Hollywood liberal enough? A Washington Post article about a spate of "faith and family" films raises questions about whether family friendly really means intolerant. At first, it didn't seem so bad. Turns out the producer behind slasher-flasher flicks "Scream" and "Scary Movie" had a change of heart once he had kids. "What used to be defined as 'teenage' -- 13 to 18 -- all of a sudden became 12 to 18, and all of a sudden that became 11, then 10, then 9, and then these types of genre films were being seen by 8-year-old kids," the producer, Cary Granat, said.
OK, good, no boobs and bludgeons for 8 year olds. I'm with you. But his remedy? He teamed with billionaire gay-bashing, evolution-hating, FCC indecency zealot Philip Anschutz to form Walden Media. In an appeal to religious audiences, the producers brought the Jesus Lion to Mainstreet U.S.A. in the form of "Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," along with other films like "Charlotte's Web" and "Because of Winn-Dixie."
But Philip Anschutz? Who funded an anti-gay amendment in Colorado? Who funded the "think tank" behind Intelligent Design? This guy is making movies?
Reading the article, I wondered what would become of Hollywood -- would it remain a liberal bastion? Or would it sell out the "arts" (yes, I saw "Saw"; sue me) to appease the far right? After all, some movies have already been edited to win a conservative seal of approval from the Dove Foundation.
Anschutz wasn't interviewed for the article, but he was quoted from a speech. "Why can't movies return to being something that we can go and see with our children and our grandchildren without being embarrassed or on the edge of our seats? I don't think they understand the market and the mood of a large segment of the movie-going audience today."
As much as don't like him, I admit he has a point. I don't want to take my daughter to a movie and cringe when the leading lady starts grinding on the leading man -- even if they are animated. Then again, I don't want to take her to a movie where large segments of her community are portrayed as anything less than normal because of who they are or what they believe. In my book, seeing a little boob is better than being one.
