When it comes to morality and political correctness in the entertainment industry, standards should be applied to all or no one.
Two recent episodes have highlighted the gross intolerance within the entertainment industry’s self imposed moral brigade.
The first focused on the use of the word “gay” as a negative term in Ron Howard’s upcoming film The Dilemma.
The second was the hiring and firing of Mel Gibson from the comedy, The Hangover 2.
Both incidents occurred were mere weeks apart, and served as a reminder that if you are not a part of the correct social/political/ideological cliques, then you can consider yourself fair game.
The Roman Polanski scandal is a prime example. Although charged and convicted of statutory rape (aka drugging and sodomising a 13 year old girl), Polanski is still after by actors and producers since his fleeing to Europe, where he is still living in as a fugitive of the United States.
His clique was the post 1960s, Easy Rider swinging L.A. gang, made up with the likes of Warren Beatty, Robert Evans, and Jack Nicholson (it was in Nicholson’s house where Polanski did his dirty deed).
Many of those same individuals signed a petition to have charges dropped against Polanski, when he was detained in Switzerland and threatened with deportation back to America to face his crimes.
Another example is Woody Allen, who back in the 1990s was revealed to be cheating on girlfriend of 12 years Mia Farrow, with none other than Farrow’s adopted daughter Sun-Yi.
Much like Polanski, a scandal erupted, and despite the lewd and immoral actions of the lauded filmmaker, he is still sought after by A-list talent.
Of course it helps than Allen is steeped within the liberal elite of New York’s artistic community.
Forgiveness is always found for those who vote Democrat, bash religion, and groove along with the goose steps of the progressive beat.
Yet what if those alliances and ideologies were reversed? Then you would get Mel Gibson.
The differing responses given to one party (Polanski, Allen) and the other (Gibson) is pure hypocrisy, based on favouritism and prejudice.
Even prior to his scandalous behaviour, Gibson represented the things which the film making community despised. As a traditionalist Catholic, his worldview conflicts with the pro-PC lobby found in the industry he works in, and the media which caters to them.
Even as a filmmaker, he was shunned for his ideology. Although a constant box office star and Oscar winner for Braveheart, not one studio would agree to finance his “Jesus picture”, based on what they assumed would be a lack of interest in the subject.
Of course, this is what happens when movie studious refuse to remove themselves from the limited sphere of La-La-Land.
In the end, The Passion of the Christ went on to become one of the highest grossing movies of all time, but not without opposition from the entertainment industry’s Jewish community, who branded the film anti-Semitic. (Curiously, not a whimper of contempt was uttered towards the actions of Jewish entertainers Allen and Polanski).
Yet while here careers continue to flourish without any opposition, Gibson’s has stalled.
His latest film The Beaver, which insiders claim features Gibson’s best performance yet, is now in limbo. His agency of the last 30 years, William Morris, dumped him as a client (board member Ari Emanuel publicly called for Gibson’s blacklisting for his alleged anti-Semitism), and Leonardo DiCaprio withdrew his interest from Gibson’s next directorial project.
Yet the most outrageous form of blacklisting came when Gibson was hired, then fired from The Hangover 2, sequel to the hit comedy where Gibson was due to appear in a cameo.
That was until a protest broke out amongst the cast, with many fingers pointing towards Zach Galifianakis, who weeks prior made known his distress over an “unknown development”.
Surprising, given that Galifianakis and his Hangovercohorts had no problem acting alongside Mike Tyson, a convicted rapist, notorious ear biter, and former thug, who has found forgiveness for his past crimes which dwarf anything Gibson has done.
It helps, of course, when the media is ready and willing to wield its hand of persuasion. TMZ has been all over Gibson’s latest scandal, systematically releasing a series of audio recordings featuring a whacked out Gibson, screaming vile obscenities to his ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva. Racist remarks uttered by Gibson didn’t help matters.
E! Online and Vanity Fair magazine, whose main writers Ted Casablanca and Christopher Hitchens, were only too happy to join in on the Gibson beat down.
The media also played a prominent role in another example of liberal inflamed PC hypocrisy, when CNN news journalist Anderson Cooper expressed outrage over the use of the word “gay” as a negative, in the trailer for Ron Howard’s upcoming comedy The Dilemma, starring Vince Vaughn.
Almost immediately, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) joined Cooper’s protest and demanded the word be edited from the film.
Yet only months prior, a trailer for the teen comedy Easy A featured actress Emma Stone ridiculing a Christian character (played by Amanda Bynes), while simultaneously causing offense to Scientologists, that most loathed of groups whose most celebrated member Tom Cruise, has been the butt of jokes for his beliefs for some time.
Yet only silence from the critics who awarded Easy A with high acclaim, despite it being on the most discriminative, anti-Christian film to be released in some time.
The truth is that while tolerance and equality are bastions which the entertainment community frequently preach, it is hardly put into practice.
Much like the Botox infused faces and opportunistic charitable acts which these men and women purport to do, the notion of equality within the entertainment industry is an illusion.
In its place is a version of moral propaganda, backed by a new era of blacklisting where if you don’t act accordingly, you will be left in the cold to die, and that is just plain wrong.
