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November 15, 2004

Hollywood Hates You

Dawn Eden, Petite Powerhouse, has the story:

"The Hollywood community is incredibly distraught about the election results," said Vanessa Taylor, co-creator and co-executive producer of the WB's "Jack & Bobby."
"I'd say we're in a state of shocked disappointment."

One bit about Dawn's story that especially interests me is the shock that creative types feel when they learn they may have to shape their product to appeal to an audience. They seem to have this notion that an artist should be utterly free to "explore" whatever he likes, the audience be damned.

That is the singlemost stupid bit of solipsism I've ever heard in my life. Of course an artist needs to be mindful of his audience; if there's no audience, there's no artist. I was arguing about this on my thread at The Perfect World; someone (trying to be nice and helpful) suggested that I shouldn't restrain myself on this blog at all, but that I should write wholly to please myself. And that the audience would then follow.

Well, maybe, maybe not. Certainly one can't write as a completely different person and expect to be interesting or engaging or draw in many readers. But anyone determined to write solely to satisfy his own Muses will probably end up doing just that.

I'm not an artist, but an artist IS the audience, ultimately. At least if one wants to attract and maintain an audience.

The fiction that artist-types, or even lowly bloggers, should be/are uncompromisingly brave figures exploring their inner demons without any consideration of reward or popularity is, well, flat-out dopey.

James Spader was asked by Charlie Rose why he had decided to do the film Secretary (very good film, by the way, although the sexual nature of the material may put some off, but it's actually got an awful lot of heart and tenderness for an S&M/spank fetish movie). He became one of my favorite people in Hollywood when he said, "Well, I got this script, and then I realized that I was behind on my mortgage payments, so I agreed to do it." It's so refreshing that an actor just admits the obvious: "It's a job, Charlie. I need bread like anyone."

Mickey Spillaine was similarly honest at a writer's panel. They panel had been asked "Why do you choose to start writing a book?," and the typical crap about "needing to open a vein and get beart's blood on paper" was bandied about. Near the end of this nonsense, Spillaine asked, "Isn't anyone going to mention money? I usually start writing when I'm down to my last grand in the bank."

Again: It's the truth. Shouldn't our self-styled truth-tellers sort of want to tell the truth from time to time?

Andrew "No Offense Taken" Sullivan has frequently complained that he's losing audience due to his brave stance on FMA and his endorsement of John Kerry. I don't get that-- does Sullivan imagine his readership owes him loyalty? I guess a readership ought to have some small amount of loyalty, to the extent it ought to be willing to forgive, say, a momentary lapse in taste or judgment; if I wrote something especially cruel or nasty or obscene, I'd hope that most readers would forgive me, if I deleted it and then apologized swiftly enough.

But beyond that-- there is no loyalty to any writer or anyone in Hollywood, certainly. People read a particular blog or author, or see a particular movie, because they want to. If they like you, they keep coming back. If they don't, they don't. And they shouldn't. Making movies, writing books, and making dumb comments on a blog isn't a charitable enterprise like the Red Cross.

If I began just spouting racial epithets and hardcore pornography, who the hell would stick around? (Well, Fat Kid would stick around for the porn, I imagine.) Who would argue that I had some untrammelled right to "expore" my newfound passion for amateur videos and racism?

No one would argue that.

And yet there are many in Hollywood who insist on something quite like that. They belive there is a special category of humanity called "Artiste," and that these Artistes are unlike any other sort of person, in that they need to exercise no self-restraint or simple common sense in their dealings with others or the public generally. They ought to be immune to any ill-will or simple indifference from the audience; such ill-will or indifference constitutes an "chill wind" of suppresson of the Rights of the Artiste.

Get over yourselves. You've never behaved as if you owed us anything for the millions we put into your pockets. Do you really think we owe you permanent million-dollar salaries, just because we've humored you thusfar?

posted by Ace at 05:43 PM

Comments

I've boycotted hwood for years. Even their thriller/action/CGG blockbusters are thinly veiled political propaganda. Why pay to see/hear The blob's alter ego's denigrate the Republican party?

BTW: She get's it.

Posted by: Ron Deaton on November 15, 2004 05:56 PM

Never you fear, Ace, I got your back. No matter what. You want to start going on about how much you love you some hairy man ass, I'll be right here. You want to spend a year telegraphing that you really think all Republicans are crazy redneck bigots and endorsing the opposition, I'll be your loyal readership.

Beg for money, and I'll, umm, well, I'll be here!

Just don't kill the sandwich. That happens - we're done.

Posted by: blaster on November 15, 2004 06:32 PM

"racial epithets and hardcore pornography"

YEAH!

But seriously. I used to try to avoid the hardcore idiots like Sean Penn and crew. Unfortunately, I've come to the realization that they're all idiots.

Cameron Diaz. Forget the "don't vote if you want *edited for content* forcible sex to be legal" crap. Justin Timberlake? Come on, Cam.

Posted by: jb on November 15, 2004 06:34 PM

So what's wrong with the porn?

Posted by: SGT Dan on November 15, 2004 07:48 PM

Frankly, Ace, I think you purged your fickle and sensitive readers with that Miami Vice fiasco. It was like a blogging Kristallnacht.

Posted by: Alex on November 15, 2004 08:54 PM

Well thought out Acey. Little bit of deja-vu hearing those thoughts.

(whiny voice)...But I'm an artist, I shouldn't have to "charge" people for admission to see my work and compromise my freedom of expression...

Ahem, here's the deal Haight-Ashbury:

If no one pays to hear/see/experience...then your art is worth shit (except to you).

If you want to make a living off your "art" -- then you better appeal to the masses.

Sorry this ain't the Age of Enlightenment (with free gov't handouts to the Arts) that you dream of...so, so, very very sorry.

Posted by: sonofnixon on November 15, 2004 08:57 PM

Son of Nixon, I'd prefer we went back to the Renaissance method of patronage. It would make me giggle to think of a starving sensitive artist type being forced to paint murals of the Millenium Falcon and lightsaber duels for a Star Wars obsessed silcon baron's mansion.

Posted by: Alex on November 15, 2004 09:43 PM

This is all the same crap that has gotten the Left into trouble today. Apparently, the entirety of the “creative class” was off righteously pissing on crucifixes or something during economics class.

The immediate cry now is “censorship,” with no regard to the interest of the audience. “The freedom of speech,” the argument goes, “is the freedom to be heard.”

How ridiculous. If that were truly the case, then I could go down to the street corner and begin proselytizing, and I could force people to come listen to me. That’s the Left’s mentality: my work is above having to actually stand on its own merits; you must enjoy my work, or you’re ignorant, or worse, you’re denying me my right to be heard (usually punctuated with “racist,” “homophobe,” or “chauvinist”). The First Amendment, after all, was put there to protect unpopular speech.

You’ll notice, though, that the same standard is never applied to speech of which they do not approve. While I certainly don’t condone their actions nor their ideology, you just don’t seem to see the ACLU rushing to the aid of the KKK if they are denied a parade permit, do you?

Is it any wonder why they are not making any converts?

Posted by: Adam Wood on November 15, 2004 10:09 PM

One bit about Dawn's story that especially interests me is the shock that creative types feel when they learn they may have to shape their product to appeal to an audience.

Ace, you don't know how funny that statement is. I've been watching Ms. Taylor's work ("Jack and Bobby"), and while (in retrospect) it clearly is written by a liberal, it's also clearly written by a liberal who's figured out where at least 51% of the country is on a lot of issues. The main character, Bobby McCallister, is a less-than-archconservative minister who becomes the Republican Governor of Missouri and eventually President of the United States in 2041.

While I held out hope until now that it was being written by South Park Republicans with a vicious sense of humor, the only other alternative is the truth: it's written by a liberal who moderates her views and even makes fun of herself. I'm sure she's not doing it for her art, so she must be doing it for the money.

Posted by: The Black Republican on November 15, 2004 10:20 PM

Actually the ACLU has sued on behalf of the KKK in the past. They even got a Jewish lawyer to represent them in a case against Pittsburgh. It happened in 1997. I haven't heard of any ACLU actions for Christian groups though. Apparently it's all criminals and terrorist groups for them.

Andrew Sulivan would really lose some traffic if right wing bloggers would stop linking to his website.

Posted by: michael dennis on November 15, 2004 10:21 PM

Ace,

Not to fuel your hopes of all that "mad money" waiting to be had, or the interviews with Paula Zahn, but you are on to something, and it has to do with blogs.

The adherents to fetishistic Cult of Celebrity are not only the unwashed masses, but the celebrities themselves, including but not limited to those who are actually responsible for producing the material used by said celebrities.

So far, the blogosphere has been immune to the cult, but this will of course change.

Once the blog host becomes larger, or more of an issue than the blog content, then the blog becomes irrelevant, pace Andrew Sullivan.

We know this to be true from our experience in other media, for example, Dan Rather. Yes, Mr. Rather is still a talking head, but 60 Minutes II is gone, and so too are the CBS Evening News ratings, with Mr. Rather not far from being gone as well.

What is temporarily ignored by these "artistes" is the role of the marketplace, that is until their show is canned or they can't get their scripts read.

Glenn Reynolds seems to be aware of the slippery slope of stardom, as does Charles Johnson, the guys at Powerline, etc.

And yes, Secretary was a brave and honest film about pain, suffering, isolation, the varieties of love and lovemaking. It also, I'm sure, paid the bills.

Posted by: MeTooThen on November 15, 2004 10:47 PM

Once the blog host becomes larger, or more of an issue than the blog content, then the blog becomes irrelevant, pace Andrew Sullivan.

That's exactly what I'm hoping for for myself.

Posted by: ace on November 16, 2004 12:02 AM

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Top Headlines

"It's f**king f**ked."
-- reportedly a genuine comment offered by a "senior Labour source"
Correction: I wrote that Labour is losing 88% (now 87%) of the seats it is "defending." I think that's wrong. The right way to say it is the seats they are contesting -- that is, they don't necessarily already hold these seats, but they have put up a candidate to run for the seat. It's still very bad but not as bad as losing 87% of the seats they already held.

Basil the Great
@BasilTheGreat

🚨ED MILIBAND [a Minister in Starmer's government] SAYS KEIR STARMER WILL RESIGN AS PRIME MINISTER

He has reportedly reassured Labour MP's that Starmer will be resigning following the disastrous results tonight

It's over

"The end of the two party system in the UK" as first the Fake Conservatives and now Labour chooses political suicide rather than simply STOPPING THE INVASION
Incidentally, the only reason this didn't already happen in the US is because of the Very Bad Orange Man (who is right on 85% of all policy calls and extremely, existentially right on 15% of them)

No political party that is NOT also a doomsday religious cult would EVER choose a cataclysmic loss -- and possible extinction as a party -- to support a toxically unpopular favoritism of NON-CITIZEN ILLEGAL MIGRANTS over actual citizen voters.

Only a cult does this.

Now they've lost 84%.

Annunziata Rees-Mogg
@zatzi
If this continues Labour loses 2,148 seats tonight.

That is much worse than the worst case predictions I’ve seen.

Cataclysmic

Update: They've now lost 88% of the seats they're defending. As I mentioned earlier, I think I heard that London will not bail them out, as many of those Labour seats will probably flip to "Muslim Independent" or Green. Detroit's 5am vote will not save them.

Yup, Labour is losing 80% of its seats...

The British Patriot
@TheBritLad

🚨 BREAKING: Labour have lost 80% of all seats contested as of 2:25 AM.<
br> If this continues, Keir Starmer will be out of office next week.

Reform has surged and projected to pick up between 1700-2100 seats.

Wow, up to 1700-2100 seats. It's not incredible that this is happening. It's incredible that the Davos crowd is so absolutely determined to privilege Muslim "migrants" over the actual native population who elects them, no matter how loudly the natives scream that they want to be prioritized, that they will gladly self-extinguish as a party rather than simply representing the interests of their own voters. Astonishing.
Remember, when they call other people "cultists" -- they are the ones so imprisoned in their social reinforcement and discipline bubbles that they will choose political death rather than dare upset the Karen Enforcement Officers of their cult.
Update: Now they've lost 83% of the seats they were defending.

(((Dan Hodges)))
@DPJHodges

Reform are basically wiping Labour out in the North. It's not a defeat. It's not even a rout. Labour are simply ceasing to exist.

Nick Lowles
@lowles_nick

Tonight’s results are calamitous for Labour. Not just for Keir Starmer's leadership, but for the very future of the party

STARMERGEDDON: In early returns, Reform gains 135 seats, Labour loses 90, the Fake Conservatives lose 36 (and I didn't even know they could fall any further), the Lib Dems lose 4, and the Greens gain 6. Note that the only other party gaining seats is the Greens and they're only gaining a handful of seats.
Update: Reform now up 145, Labour down 98.
Labour projected to lose Wales -- where they've ruled for 27 years.
Fulton County Georgia just discovered 400 boxes of ballots for Labour
Update: REF +156, LAB -107, CON -45
Brutal: In four out of five council seats where Labour is defending, they've lost. 80%.
I'm sure it's not this simple, but Reform is straight taking Labour's and the "Conservatives'" seats. They've lost almost exactly what Reform gained. If understand this right (and warning, I probably don't), all of London's council seats are up for election, and Labour might lose hugely there, as their old voters abandon them for Reform, Muslim Indenpendents, and the Greens.
REF +190, LAB -134, CON -56.

Updates on the Labour collapse in council elections -- which wags are calling #Starmergeddon -- from Beege Welborne. There are about 5000 seats up for grabs, Labour is expected to lose 1,800, Reform will probably gain 1,580, up from... zero. So this would be more than that.
People claim that while Labour has adopted the Sharia Agenda to appeal to the million Muslims it allowed to migrate to the country, those voters are ditching Labour to vote for the Muslim Independent Party or the Greens. Delicious. This shadenfreude is going straight to my thighs.
Oh, and if Starmer loses about as badly as expected, Labour will toss him out of a window Braveheart style and replace him. He will announce he is resigning to spend more time with his Gay Ukrainian Male Prostitutes.

Media bias and senationalism are as old as, well, the media:

That was written by Denny O'Neill and illustrated by, get this, Frank Miller. Editor to the Stars Jim Shooter was in charge at the time.
I always thought the gag was original to the comic book, but in fact the "Threat or Menace" headline was a satirical joke about media bias and sensationalism for a long while. The Harvard Lampoon used it in a parody of Life magazine: "Flying Saucers: Threat or Menace?"

Hamas is Humiliating Trump's 'Board of Peace'
[Hat Tip: TC] [CBD]

Tucker Carlson is pretty sure Trump is a wizard

Ted Turner Dies At 87 [CBD]

Podcast: Starting a new season, CBD and Sefton discuss their personal journeys to conservative principles, is Nick Shirley the beginning of a trend?, Iran trying to reignite the war, the Left attacks itself, even on "Best Guitarist" lists, and more!

TJM definitively ranks the films of Billy Wilder, like Some Like It Hot

TJM talks about Billy Wilder

Democrat Congresswoman Sara Jacobs cites Me-Again Kelly, Cavernous Nostrils, Alex Jones and Tuq'r Qarlson as proof that concerns about Trump's mental health are "bipartisan"
As Bonchie from Red State says: Know the op when you see it.

Leftists who have been drawing Frankendistricts for decades are suddenly upset about Republican line-drawing
Socialist usurper Obama cut commercials urging Virginians to vote for the bizarre "lobster" gerrymander -- but now says gerrymanders are so racist you guys
Obama is complaining about the new Louisiana map -- but here's the thing, the new map has much more compact and rational borders than the old racial gerrymander map
Pete Bootyjudge is whining too. But here's the Illinois gerrymander he supports.

Big Bonus! Under the new Florida congressional map, Debbie Wasserman Schultz will probably lose her seat
And she can't even go on The View because she's ugly a clump of stranger's hair in the bath-drain

Podcast: CBD and Sefton Charge the Democrats with fomenting violence against the nation with their rhetoric, Virginia redistricting going down the tubes? Trump's bully pulpit is not censorship, Lee Zeldin is a star, J.B. Pritzker is an idiot, and more!