Right On
Here's National Review Online's list of the 25 Best Conservative Movies of the last 25 years.
1. The Lives Of Others
2. The Incredibles
3. Metropolitan (featuring my friend Taylor Nichols)
4. Forrest Gump
5. 300
6. Groundhog Day
7. The Pursuit Of Happyness
8. Juno
9. Blast From The Past
10. Ghostbusters
11. The Lord Of The Rings (trilogy)
12. The Dark Knight
13. Braveheart
14. A Simple Plan
15. Red Dawn
16. Master And Commander
17. The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe
18. The Edge
19. We Were Soldiers
20. Gattaca
21. Heartbreak Ridge
22. Brazil
23. United 93
24. Team America: World Police
25. Gran Torino
I gotta say, the whole idea of the list is pretty silly. The best part is reading the explanations to find out why they think these picks are conservative to begin with. There are some decent films on the list, but I think the overall message is to be a good conservative film, it doesn't have to be a good film.
posted by LAGuy @ 12:29 AM
3 Comments:
That's silly, LAGuy. Maybe none of the good films are conservative. It only says "best", not best conservative and great films. If they're the best available, they're the best.
It bothers me to no end that some would seek to impose ideology on film especially in some sort of increasingly irrelevant left/right dualism. A lot of the films listed could be listed as liberal films as well except that would equally meaningless. What is the filter- sex is liberal and violence conservative? Yes no doubt there are political films and yes the film people are different from you and me but is that any excuse for trying to ruin art with a ideological filter.
I think a lot of films have ideology "imposed" on them by the makers. Certainly some do so very intentionally. I find nothing wrong in trying to identify the underlying political current in a film - indeed, I find it hard not to do so given how some films hammer home their ideological premise. On the list provided, Red Dawn muight be the most obvious.
But certainly there are plenty of films that were not made for the express purpose of making a political point. The film makers' attitudes and perhaps political persuasion, if they are distinct, will likely be revealed in any work of art - it's part of who the person is and would be expected to show up in their work.
I see no reason not to recognize the political leanings of art work, because I think it is rare that an artist has no such leanigs and doesn't inject them into his or her work. In fact, it may be critical to understanding the work to know where the artist is coming from. Of course, politics may, as beauty, be in the eye of the beholder. I doubt Bill Murray thinks he was making a film catering to conservatives when he made Ground Hog Day or Ghostbusters.
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