Hollywood's box office has hit the skids, and the entertainment media are in overdrive trying to explain why. The most obvious explanation for box office malaise is consistently overlooked: Hollywood's ruling liberal elites keep going out of their way to offend half their audience.
Constant gibes about Republicans, Christians, conservatives and the military litter today's movies and award show presentations like so many pieces of trash on theater floors.
Did we really need to hear another anti-Bush diatribe from Chris Rock at the Oscars this year?
Did the industry have to go out of its way to snub "The Passion of the Christ" at award shows because of its perceived conservatism -- even though the movie saved last year's box office?
Did we need a movie like "Kingdom of Heaven" asserting moral equivalency between medieval Crusaders and modern Muslim terrorists, by putting lines in Crusaders' mouths such as: "To kill an infidel is not a sin"?
Did we need George Lucas implying that his latest "Star Wars" film is intended as an anti-Bush parable about the Iraq war, in which America plays the evil empire? (I thought the movie was an artistic success, but Lucas' comments spoiled my enjoyment and kept me from repeated viewings.)
Did we need to hear from "War of the Worlds" screenwriter David Koepp that the aliens in his movie are stand-ins for the U.S military -- and the innocent Americans they attack are stand-ins for Iraqi civilians? Or that Americans are guilty of post-9/11 anti-Muslim "paranoia"? (A question to Koepp: Were we "paranoid" after Pearl Harbor too?)
Hollywood could turn things around, but that might mean tolerating films with pro-conservative themes. Hollywood liberals are so consumed with hatred for George W. Bush and the right, they would rather go down with the ship than allow a conservative message. The result is a creative paralysis in which liberals are out of ideas and have to resort to endless sequels and remakes -- while conservatives who have new ideas aren't allowed into the mix.
Since Mel Gibson's "Passion," no studio movies have been made celebrating traditional religious faith. And post-Sept. 11, no studio movie has been made supporting America's war on terrorism, or denouncing Islamic terrorism.
A conservative writer/director friend was developing a script last year about the Iraq war and the capture of Saddam Hussein. My friend says that after $500,000 was spent developing the project, the studio head pulled the plug because, as he put it, any movie depicting the capture of Hussein might help Bush.
