What happened at the beginning of the 20th Century in the foothills of northern Los Angeles changed our view of entertainment forever. Hollywood was here to stay and we had a new medium. The area was founded by Harvy Wilcox and actors and directors flocked to the area because of the climate, low taxes and the freedom of filming away from the stronghold Thomas Edison had with his Motion Pictures Patents Company.
Movie studios began poping in the early 1920s. Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox and Paramount were the big ones, but by the end of the decade, there were 20 major studios producing around 800 movies a year. In a six-year span, 1919 to 1925, Hollywood’s population went from 30,000 to 130,000 and in 1923 they erected the iconic Hollywood sign above the Hollywood Hills.
But over the course of the twentieth century, Hollywood has impacted national politics and effected social change. The connection between Hollywood and politics has been there since the beginning. They had what was called “The Studio System.” It was like a factory assembly line. The system could crank out movies like Ford cranked out model T’s. Everybody from the actors and directors to the Janitors who cleaned the restrooms were under contract to studio heads. People like Jack Warner and Louie B. Mayer controlled what you did, what you said, what you ate and the clothes you wore on and off camera.
The Screen writers Guild started to attract communists, socialists, progressives and liberals to break free from the oppressive confines of the studio system which dictated what they could and couldn’t write. Within the studio system, the actors, writers and other guilds battled with studio moguls over creative and financial recognition for their artistic contribution. The majority of studio executives who in today’s climate would be considered conservatives leaned to the right while the industry took up the opposite position. To the left, Which kicked off liberalism in Hollywood, which remains today. I know this because I worked in this industry for 35 years.
In 2006, George Clooney won the Academy Award for Supporting Actor for his movie Syriana. He ended by expressing his pride in being as out of touch with the rest of the world as Hollywood celebrities are accused of being, because, he argued, that distance allowed Hollywood to achieve progress in areas where the world hadn't caught up. It was one of the most arrogant, smug, and condescending speeches in Oscar history. It was an example of rich celebrities talking down to the rest of us, and disguising it as humility and progress.
These people are elites and live in a world of eliteism which is far from the everyday life that you and I are subject to. These people aren’t concerned about the price of gas or food or coming up with a 75,000 dollar down payment for a starter home. Their really not even concerned weither you plunk down your hard earned cash at a movie theater. They are just concerned about furthering an agenda that started in Hollywood 80 years ago, and they back an ideology that by 2035 it is going to have this country 50 trillion dollars in debt, and they don’t much care because it doesn’t affect them.
Listening to George Clooney and Meryl Streep talk about the wonders of life in this country under a far left administration is like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
Hollywood is out of touch.
Written by Walt Ryba June 19th 2024
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