OT:PC in Hollywood

[Riggo-toni]

The Sum of All PC

Hollywood's reverse racial profiling.

By Reihan Salam

Posted Tuesday, May 28, 2002, at 2:41 PM PT

The threat of al-Qaida terrorist attacks is currently scaring America stiff. But you'd be hard-pressed to find Muslim terrorists in any of today's blockbuster action movies, which instead offer such uncontroversial bad guys as killer aliens and abusive husbands. Why is Hollywood shying away from al-Qaida-like villains?

Movies have always relied on politically relevant villains, from Russian spies to South African apartheidniks to Serbian ethnic cleansers. Tom Clancy's much-loved Jack Ryan series is the gold standard. Based on Clancy's best-selling novels, the movies featured hero Jack Ryan tackling the decaying Soviet empire in The Hunt for Red October, Irish nationalists in Patriot Games, and Colombian drug lords in Clear and Present Danger. Recently, Clancy has been credited by everyone from former CIA Director R. James Woolsey to Fox News' Bill O'Reilly with foreseeing the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

But in the about-to-be-released film version of The Sum of All Fears, based loosely on Clancy's 1991 novel of the same name, Paramount pulled a switcheroo. Clancy's original baddies were a motley crew of unreconstructed German Communists, a Sioux convict, and—the stumbling block—Hamas-like Palestinian terrorists opposed to the peace process. Long before Sept. 11, these were replaced with slickly dressed, easy-to-hate European neo-Nazis. While the basic plot remains the same (terrorists try to spark armed conflict between Russia and America by detonating a nuclear device at the Super Bowl, and Ryan saves the day) the movie is, for obvious reasons, far less relevant than the novel. It is also far more acceptable both to Hollywood sensibilities and the Arab ethnic lobby.

Though a staple of political thrillers since the days of the Ayatollah Khomeini, Muslim terrorists on-screen have been dwindling in numbers since the mid-1990s. Since then, groups like the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and the Council on American-Islamic Relations have condemned movies like 1994's True Lies and 2000's Rules of Engagement, both of which featured violent, fanatical Muslims (as opposed to 1996's The Rock, which featured violent, fanatical Gulf War veterans or 2001's AntiTrust, which featured violent, fanatical software executives). They even protested 1998's critically acclaimed The Siege, a searing critique of anti-Arab hysteria. According to CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad, "The barrage of negative or stereotypical portrayals of Muslims in this film," which presumably refers to the movie's all-too-realistic anti-American cabal, "will overpower any positive message."

By the time The Sum of All Fears movie was being developed, CAIR launched a pre-emptive campaign to rid the adaptation of the novel's Muslim terrorists ("Before we had typed a word on paper," producer Mace Neufeld has said, "I was getting complaints.") Harrison Ford, then slated for the lead, reportedly felt much the same way. Early script treatments cast Timothy McVeigh-style "superpatriots" as the heavies behind the bomb plot, not Muslims—a PC move par excellence. Later, director Phil Alden Robinson settled on neo-Nazis, a perennial favorite, at which point he wrote the following in a letter to CAIR: "I hope you will be reassured that I have no intention of promoting negative images of Muslims or Arabs, and I wish you the best in your continuing efforts to combat discrimination." Ben Affleck, the new Jack Ryan, has applauded the decision, arguing that "the Arab terrorist thing has been done a million times in the movies." (As opposed to the neo-Nazi thing?) And the terror attacks only heightened concerns over ethnic insensitivity. In late September, Paramount chairman Sherry Lansing expressed sympathy for "these Afghan or Arab children in high schools who are getting picked on," suggesting that she'd steer clear of movies with Muslim villains.

But Americans have demonstrated that they can separate a small, violent minority from the vast majority of peace-loving Arabs and Muslims, and a little realism in the movies wouldn't change that. This kind of ostentatious nonracial profiling can make action movies feel clueless and irrelevant. Besides, the real victims here may be the chills that are supposed to run down your spine during one of these films. With al-Qaida threatening more attacks on U.S. cities, moviegoers may not quiver at the sight of a few more imaginary neo-Nazis.

[Kilmer17]

Yes, heaven forbid we offend muslims or Arabs. Of course it's fine to offend people of European decent.

The left that runs hollywood is insane. ITS A F@#KING STORY!!!!

And arent we still waiting for Alec Baldwin and Bahbra Striesand to get the hell out of our country?

[OrangeSkin]

I've noticed that too. Very rarely do you see any movies with arab terrorists. Kind of dumb, because almost all terrorists are of middle eastern descent. You saw plenty of commie movies during the cold war.

[mardi gras skin]

And arent we still waiting for Alec Baldwin and Bahbra Striesand to get the hell out of our country?

c

I keep hoping.

Speaking of Alec. I saw an interview with Affleck talking about playing the part of Ryan, and he said he talked with both Alec and Harrison to get their take on the character and to get their approval because they are both "amazing actors".

Possibly the only time any Baldwin has ever been called an amazing actor. Ever.

[NavyDave]

Alec should be kissing Fords butt for not taking The Hunt for Red October.

You liberals should be glad I'm not into to producing films cause I'd put out more jihad nuts in movies than the typical greedy white coporate dude villain that we have seen forever.

What is wrong with portraying the truth?

What will Hollywank do when its time for a movie based on 9-11?

Will they eff it up like they did Pearl Harbor?

Uh Yeah

[Kilmer17]

I will give him credit for 2 things.

1- He bangs Kim Bassinger

2-His Schweaty Balls skit on Saturday Night Live is still one of the funniest moments in TV history.

That being said, I hope he and his leftist friends cry even harder this fall when the GOP takes the Senate and creates all kind of hell for the leftists that are ruing this country.

[Terry]

Maybe they can dig up another Gruber brother (Die Hard, Die Hard 3) to be the main antagonist.

And then they can get another English actor to play the German character

[TennesseeCarl]

And make the villain terribly urbane. That's the ticket. It's o.k. for us to despise hoity-toity Euros (Caucasian ones, of course) but we dare not portray Palestinians (you know, the guys who were dancing around when they heard about the World Trade Center deaths until the camera crews showed up) in an unfavorable light.

It's pathetic.

[Johnny Punani2]

Originally posted by Kilmer17

I will give him credit for 2 things.

1- He bangs Kim Bassinger

2-His Schweaty Balls skit on Saturday Night Live is still one of the funniest moments in TV history.

That being said, I hope he and his leftist friends cry even harder this fall when the GOP takes the Senate and creates all kind of hell for the leftists that are ruing this country.

The Schweaty weiner one is even better....:laugh:

[NavyDave]

I thought Kim Basinger is somebody else's get bang list now.

I did like that skit.

And for a good laugh you should download the skit Pinkley Taurus :laugh:

[Riggo-toni]

Originally posted by NavyDave

I thought Kim Basinger is somebody else's get bang list now.

Yeah, they're divorced. He moved on to better thingies (Jennifer Love Hewitt's for a while):pimp: :tongue: :tongue: :tongue:

[NavyDave]

Jennifer Love Hewitt?

It's ammazing who you can get when the chick is depressed or on drugs

[The Sisko]

While we're (well we were anyway) discussing the power of political lobbies nobody mentioned AIPAC. There aren't many (if any) political lobbying organizations that are more powerful than AIPAC.

When was the last time Israel or Jews were ever portrayed as the villian in any movies that you can remember ? True the Neo-Nazi and Arab terrorist thing has been done ad nauseum, but for a new angle hows about a fanatical Israeli plot to destroy our country and/or the world ? My guess is that for some unimaginable reason it just would never get made in a million years.

[redman]

Yusuf, that's because the whole point is that the PC stuff doesn't reflect reality. The Israeli's are no more trying to take over the world than the Amish. And while there are things that I don't like about their totalitarian state and their strong lobby in the U.S., turning that into a basis for believing that they're hell-bent on world domination is ridiculous.

[Blade]

Redman,

Please tell me how you can call Israel, a TRUE democracy, a 'totalitarian state'?

[The Diesel]

I can't believe that Ben Affleck is playing Jack Ryan in the first place. And his freigging "mentor" is Morgan Freeman?? Not that I have anything against either one of those actors (in fact I respect them both a great deal as actors) but since when is Jack Ryan a 30-something newbie who needs to take direction from a mentor?! I just can't buy into that. Nobody gives Jack Ryan advice on how to do his job. I just can't see how this is going to work. I've read all of Clancy's novels and Ben Affleck just isn't mature enough be a convincing Jack Ryan. I hear Clancy likes him in the role, but still... I don't think it's going to work for me.

And the whole switching Muslim terrorists for Neo-nazis is ridiculous. But I thought neo-nazis played a pretty significant role in the book. Maybe I'm confusing this with another Clancy novel. Is the Sum of All Fears the one where they attack the Capital or the one where they attack the Super Bowl? I'm getting those two confused.

[mardi gras skin]

Deisel, I may be pulling this out of my butt, but I remember that Ryan did have a mentor in the beginning. He died of heart failure or something by the second novel I think. Gosh, that is going back over 10 years so I may be wrong.

BTW. By far the best Clancy novel didn't have Ryan in it. Red Storm Rising was the ultimate WWIII novel of all time. The espionage, political, and military definition of the book were built flawlessly. I read it in 10th grade. Couldn't put it down. I've never seen anything that approached the scope of it.

[Riggo-toni]

Originally posted by mardi gras skin

Deisel, I may be pulling this out of my butt, but I remember that Ryan did have a mentor in the beginning. He died of heart failure or something by the second novel I think. Gosh, that is going back over 10 years so I may be wrong.

Dunno about the books, but James Earl Jone originally played the mentor, and died of cancer in Clear and Present Danger. Oh, and this is the Super Bowl one.

[The Sisko]

Just out of curiosity, was Red Dawn based on Red Storm Rising ? I hate to make myself look stoopid, but I'm not a huge Clancy fan and I'm too lazy to go a surfin' all over the place to find out.

[Brave]

Just got back from seeing "The Sum of All Fears." It's pretty good. Unlike previous movies with the character "Jack Ryan," this one was driven by the story rather than the character. Affleck is just not as strong as Harrison Ford or Alec Baldwin. But it was still not bad.

The "nuke" sequence was quick but well-done. Scary. Probably worth the admission for that alone.

[PCS]

Just saw the movie myself. Very well done. I actually like Afleck in the role, but it took about the first 45 mins of the movie to do so. Had to make a supreme effort to get the book out of the head.

On topic: I think I have to agree some with the article. I don't know, but it just seemed more.....realistic? as it was originally written. Part of the premise of the book, if memory serves, was that there was a certain amount if disbelief that there could be anyone in the middle eastern terrorist cells that could actually pull it off. Course, the Native American the fellows recruited could easily and realistically be traded for any number of anti-government type fellow.

The type of "Jack Ryan" Afleck plays is more akin to what was written in Hunt for Red October and Cardinal of the Kremlin. From what I understand, the fellows making the movie essentially blew off the previous three movies. (could be fortunate for Clear and Present Danger. That was a hack job on the book) Ryans mentor was Admiral Greer, deputy director of the CIA who died in CAPD. Freemans character, if I recall, died in the blast at the stadium, which was in Denver...in the book. Hmmm. Kinda wish they would have taken us back to the 80's for this one.

[redman]

Blade,

You're not telling me that the voting rights in Israel are equally enjoyed by Palestinians within their borders, are you? It is a state whose primary purpose is to provide a haven for Jews, who historically have been persecuted in other states. Fair enough, but that means that within their own borders protection of Jews and Judaism are paramount, and it shows in the way that they treat non-Jews.

When I return to the board later in the day, I'll get you some links that show concrete examples.

[Henry]

When was the last time Israel or Jews were ever portrayed as the villian in any movies that you can remember ?

Hmmm ... try watching Carlito's Way sometime.

On the whole, however, I do agree that some groups are considered more off limits than others.

For example, my son has Albinism. Now, you wouldn't know it to look at him. He just looks like a fair blond kid. But in the movies and on TV Albinos are almost always not only bad guys, but freaky bad guys, with nasty veins and powdery skin and red eyes. Funny thing was, I never noticed this before my son was born with it, but now I see this stereotype is used all the time.

[The Diesel]

I think the book is coming back to me now. Executive Orders must have been the one where they blew up the Capital. But that wasn't a nuke if I recall. TSOAF is the one with the nuke at the Super Bowl. But how do they explain the aquisition of that nuke by the "neo-nazis"? If I recall, the nuke fell off a Isreali bomber during the Arab-Isreali war in 1973. The bomb fell in Syria (I think) and did not detonate. It was discovered buried some 25 years later and then found it's way into the hands of Muslim terrorists, with neo-nazis playing a periferial role. So I'm curious as to how this nuke makes it into the hands of the nazis in the movie. Don't say anuthing if it's going to ruin the film. I think I'll wait for video. I just don't like the idea of 1) taking Muslim terrorists out of the plot when they were such an intrical part of the original story; and 2) a young Jack Ryan who has to rely on a mentor to tell him what to do. Jack Ryan, by the time of TSOAF, was one of the most knoweldgeable, respected and capable intelligence agents in the country. He's only a couple years removed from the presidency for crying out loud. I just can't get over the idea of him being played by Affleck.

[Blade]

redman,

Israel is NOT a theocracy, nor a totalitarian state. Once again, it is a democracy. There are non-Jewish political factions in Israel that have seats within thier parliament. So, I do not really know what you are talking about.

To say that mistreatment of one group's voting rights makes a country a 'totalitarian state' would be like saying the alleged mistreatment of the voters rights in Florida in the last election makes the USA a totalitarian state.

Whatever alleged mistreatment of voting rights that have occured, it doesnt change the fact that it is still a democracy.

And I would be very interested in reading the concrete examples of Israeli totalitarianism you've found.

With that, this thread is getting moved to the Tailgate....