5 posts tagged “movies”
Do you like Christmas movie classics? Well, I do too. It is part of the tradition of the Christmas season. How can you not watch A Wonderful Life or A Christmas Carol? Or even A Miracle of 34th Street? I am speaking of the originals, of course. A Christmas Carol is not the same without Alistair Sim. The other ones fail in comparison. I never seen the re-make of A Miracle of 34th Street, but do not need to do so to know I would not like it.
The only problem with a great deal of them is their fallacious attacks against capitalism.
So here are a few articles...
- The Case for Ebeneezer by Butler Shaffer (This is my favorite article of the bunch. Bob Cratchett is the real man to condemn. He needs angels to visit him.)
- Scrooge Defended by Michael Levin
- Christmas Movies and Bad Economics by Michael Levin
- 'Merry Christmas, Mr. Potter!' by Gary North (Does not exactly fit with the three other articles, but still...)
During strikes, I support scabs. But in regards to the writer strike in Hollywood, I say keep on striking as long as possible, and please no scabs.
Then again, maybe scabs are just what Hollywood needs to clean house? . . . However this is just way too optimistic to expect such replacements to be much better! That is like expecting to find a few hundred "good" replacements to replace the crooks in D.C. Not going to happen. It is very unlikely.
Or it is like praying that the National Endowment for the Arts will clean shop. Imagine a world without one. According to the left, no art would be produced. Oh, no. Or maybe there are just a few sensible people left that would not pay for their trash on the market.
Television is slowly dying down and being taken over by the Internet and its medias. As the more intelligent, or at least half-witted folks, are moving away from it, TV is left to pander to the most unfortunate of dimwits. That's where the competition is.
This is much more pronounced and prominent with news reporting and commentary. Relying on it for news is like relying on The Weekly Standard, a great source to find predictions that have turned out all wrong concerning the Iraq war in regards to WMDs or direct 9-11 ties.
While it is comparatively less true----slightly, but that might be stretching it----for the various television entertainment shows, looking at what passes as sitcoms today confirms that this does apply to the majority of these TV programs. I could hardly see one of my relatives who is a priest watching this stuff. He is not in the competition of viewers. The viewers are of a mass-democratic, mob-like mentality. There may be more of such sitcom viewers as opposed to TV news watchers (i.e., more competition in different intelligence altitudes), but they are absorbent in the high time preference, anti-culture, lifestyle of this day and age of a falling empire & civilization. With this, a sort of Gresham's Law kicks in. And it seems that this law works here because of its more ideological or intellectual nature, compared to the mass production of cameras or automobiles.
These sitcoms are almost always shallow, nihilistic, one-dimensional, hedonistic, sensationalist, and the like. Family values mean little, virtually nothing---zero, to these shows. On the statist left is where they lie in the Culture War. For example, the father is usually some inept, dumb and lazy television potato, where the mother and the children are vastly superior to him. Then you have a vast number of shows where the main star has sex with a new stranger, who he or she has only known for three days (that is the going number, they tell us), every new week. On top of this, these shows are commonly and extremely politically correct on all "sensitive issues" or when they stumble into a more philosophically or politically charged issue.
They do nothing to advance the understanding of man and his existence. They teach us nothing. They have no lessons from which we can benefit or learn from. Instead of presenting and preserving what is called a "moral imagination," it gives us a diabolic one.
This stuff does creep into the minds of the viewers. It can only have a detrimental effect, as it transforms our understanding of man and the nature of man. It gives one good reason to pull the plug.
If one just wants a circus spectacle, then real life is more interesting and funny. Heavens no, I am not taking about "reality" television shows. It is politics that tops the cake. I guess that is where my weakness lies when it comes to the "shallow, . . . hedonistic, sensationalist, and the like."
Am I being judgmental? Sure.
But what is wrong with that?
Having a moral compass develops one's mind into a discriminatory one.
I hate to do this because I am now going to use a variation on a cheap slogan that the mainstream, establishment "acceptable" conservative uses, but it fits: Temperamentally the left-liberal (and statist neocon) have not developed their facilities. This results in men who are so "open minded" and "non-judgmental" that their brains have fallen out of their skulls.
Now maybe there are exceptions, there might be one or two---who knows. It is quite possible that there is a good sitcom out there now being produced. I will not deny this possibility.
It
might be important to note: No, I am not a complete "prude" or
something. [And my views, politically and culturally, and preferences
are more "nuanced" than one might expect. But I do have a social conservative outlook and temperament. Much of today's establishment culture defaces man, his spirit. It is immoral, and leads to destruction.] I will turn the TV on to see
what's on it, but I try to keep that limited. News, for me, is the
same. It is better to get it on the Internet. And if you want a good
story, why not open up a time-tested novel of the ages? Okay, I am
personally not a bookworm in terms of novels, but when I do read a
novel it is obviously far finer than having the boob-tube on. And, yes,
there are plenty of good movies. I would not deny that. The trouble is
that most of those good movies are ones made a long time ago. They hide
behind the shadows.
I was watching my family's owned DVD of the 1993 movie staring Harrison Ford, The Fugitive. Which, I am sure you agree, is a great movie. I give it a "thumbs up."
Despite being a critic of modern or popular culture, Murray N. Rothbard, unlike me, was a movie buff. "Mr. Libertarian" was also "Mr. First Nighter." Both The Libertarian Journal and Rothbard-Rockwell Report he would give his movie reviews.
So, for something different, I thought I would share with you all his March 1994 essay "Those Awards," which was written for the Triple R. It is Classic Rothbard: Great-Great Fun!
He mentions his like for The Fugitive:
The Fugitive, my own personal choice for Best Movie of the Year, was magnificent; in pace, timing, and tight editing a throwback to the great suspense and adventure movies of the past. It's a taut thriller from beginning to end, with not a moment wasted. It's one of the best films in many years.
In the essay, Rothbard also hilariously rips such movies as The Piano (never seen myself). He criticizes Schindler's List (I've seen this) and reports an interesting incident that happened in a showing. And much more fun...
READ HERE.
For the first time I got to view the movie Gods and Generals on DVD. It has been a long, long time since I have seen a good movie. Maybe I like going against the establishment because I thought this movie was excellent. It is not surprising that the neocon and left-liberal establishment hated it with a passion.
It makes a good weekend movie due to its long running time. It does not kiss up to the establishment and shows a more neutral view of the so-called Civil War; better know as the War of Northern Aggression or the Second War of Independence.
I was just now reading some reviews of average people on the Internet (not “professional” reviewers). Some folks just needed the movie to sprinkle in a lot more blood to make them happy. (Don’t they have enough of those kinds of movies!?) Of course the majority of negative reviewers thought that it was revisionism at its worse.....and maybe that the supporters of this movie believe in slavery! (Yeah, sure we do! Give me a break.)
Gods and Generals
“Gods and Generals” by Daniel McCarthy
The following is a moving and exciting three hours with Ernest Hancock in 2005, when he guest hosted for Charles Goyette. Yes, it is long. But it is worth listening! He plays clips of movies that convey a freedom message. Ernest Hancock also add excellent freedom commentary too.
The Fog of War http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0317910/
The Siege http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133952/
Wag the Dog http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120885/
The Lord of the Rings http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120737/
The Patriot http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0187393/
Braveheart http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112573/
Gladiator http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0172495/
The Matrix http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/
Download them and put them into your MP3 player to listen:
- Listen to the MP3 Audio - part 1 (14.08 MB)
- Listen to the MP3 Audio - part 2 (13.75 MB)
- Listen to the MP3 Audio - part 3 (14.59 MB)
Great stuff.
