ALL OF THE GOOD ONES ARE TAKEN:

Counter Cultural Programming (Michael Atkinson, May 27, 2004, In These Times)

The November firefight approaches and here we are, awash in a media flashflood of press secretary prevarication, corporate indictment dodging and in-your-face presidential lies. Gay marriage is the year's burning flag used to incite the ignorant, while the pundits lend credence to flat-out absurdisms just by debating them -- that Antonin Scalia's outrageous conflicts of interest may not give the "appearance" of conflicts of interest, that Halliburton may not be "profiting" from a war launched for its benefit, that The Passion of the Christ may in fact have been divinely inspired. (Certainly, the millions of tax dollars poured into "faith-based" institutions and used to buy ticket blocs can be seen as a gift from God to Mel Gibson.) And, of course, the nine-figure White House marketing launch is pure skullduggery, grinning with Christian manifest destiny and transparent jingoism.

What do we do for counter-programming? Don't rely on present-day Hollywood, that brothel of military celebration and half-measure liberalism. Instead, rent some of these firecrackers, the best left movies ever made, and keep the flags of discontent flying. [...]

It's a Wonderful Life (1946) OK, it's not Christmas and this poor movie may already be bled dry for most of us, but take another look: It's the most passionate, anti-big business, pro-Socialist Hollywood film until Reds 34 years later. If Dick Cheney overacted more, he'd be Mr. Potter. [...]

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956/1978/1993) This sci-fi nail-biter scenario -- made three times in three political climates but never exhausted -- stands as a trifold vision of every liberal's nightmare: the conservative, empathy-free homogenization of society. As walking metaphors go, you can't get more visceral. [...]

The Manchurian Candidate (1962) The ultimate conspiracy thriller, despite the fact that its sky-high assassination plot -- which chillingly forecast Dealey Plaza by just a month -- is blamed on Sino-Soviet brainwashers. Here was the first movie to dare suggest that U.S. politics is a parliament of whores and criminals.

Pity the poor progressive when all the great art is conservative. Body Snatchers, for instance, is often inexplicably claimed by the Left, despite the way the plot--where your seemingly normal neighbors are secretly alien pod people plotting against you--essentially confirms McCarthyism.

Likewise, Wonderful Life from its intervention by God to the power of one private man to make a difference in the world is anything but a Socialist film. But more amusing is to note the way Mr. Atkinson gets strung up by the contradiction inherent in the Left critique of America: Wonderful Life makes the list because it justifies Socialism butManchurian Candidate and others make it because they demonstrate the untrustworthiness of government. You can't coherently argue both that the State is evil and that it should have more power.

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 2, 2004 7:56 AM