The Perfect Weapon (Part Two)

Language and explicit material aside, (because that’s not what I’m dealing with here) Hollywood movies today typically pack a cultural punch that often goes undetected by the viewing populace.

Part of the reason for this is that we’ve already undergone a few generations of indoctrination.

Take a look at some of the primary methods used by Hollywood (a.k.a. leftist) filmmakers to bend the worldview of their audience to more closely resemble their own.

1. False Portrayal

You’ve undoubtedly heard complaints about the clergy being portrayed as villainous or corrupt in movies, and this is a common occurrence. They’re not the only ones; fathers, businessmen, committed mothers, Christians in general, gun owners, and other people who are considered to be threats to a Marxist regime are regularly demonized, not only in movies, but in almost any kind of mass media you can find. At the same time, of course, the heroes are typically people who are opposed to the basic tenets of Christianity and God’s law in some form, and proponents of a Marxist worldview.

Why is portrayal important? Because the audience is required to make value judgments and decisions throughout the movie in order to participate in the entertainment experience. When they are used to seeing stereotypical characters on the screen, they are susceptible to off-screen comparisons. This doesn’t mean that they’ll automatically accept those comparisons, just that they will already be somewhat biased in that direction.

2. False Dilemmas

Hollywood delights in presenting viewers with conflicts based on a Marxist worldview. A good example might be a movie in which the hero is fighting to “preserve” some natural environment or “endangered” species from a “commercial interest”, be it a developer or a zookeeper.

Sound familiar?

What’s wrong with that?

First, the film will usually portray the developer as a villainous businessman (see False Portrayal above) who cares nothing for the beauty and value of whatever “natural treasure” he wants to replace with a subdivision, while the environmental activist is the loving, reasonable and committed person who selflessly fights to defend “the innocent”.

There has probably never been a single person who has ever actually met either of these stereotypes, but that aside, the conflict presented to the viewer of the movie is based on Marxist views.

“Capitalist businessmen are evil,” “animal life is equal in value to human life,” (since we’re all just highly evolved animals) and usually “the government needs to step in and save the spotted owl from the evil capitalist.”

Are there ever scenarios in real life that look like this? No. The media does their best to convince us that there are, but in order to do that, they must rely on the stereotypes and false dilemmas made familiar to viewers by Hollywood.

Essentially, the movie is asking the audience to choose between two alternatives—neither of which exist in the real world (at least not often, some of them do exist in rare circumstances)—but both of which are connected by labels to people and ideas that are common in reality.

That’s why we have such an easy time accepting leftist lies—such as the one about the necessity (or even legitimacy) of government protection of “endangered species”.

Again, not all false dilemmas are completely removed from reality—some are merely twisted from rare occurrences.

3. False Solutions

In addition to the false dilemma, resolving the conflict in the plot with a false solution is common practice. This is easy for Hollywood, because they get to make up the ending.

The Bible says “be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”

Hollywood says “be not concerned, God is not real, (or capable) for whatsoever is right in your own eyes, that you may do without lasting negative consequence.”

Also in Hollywoodland, government programs solve the world’s problems, rejecting technology results in living peacefully and “in tune with nature”, and putting a radical feminist in charge of anything makes everything work out all right in the end.

Next time you sit down and watch a movie, watch for these tactics and ask yourself what their purpose is. Of course, since most of us accept an unhealthy collection of leftist lies already, try this; identify the message of the movie and any of the portrayals, controlled dilemmas, and solutions you may notice, and then question that message, whether you believe it or not. If it’s true, it can take the scrutiny, if not, I’d recommend ditching it.

I wish I could take the time to explain the technical details of how each of these tactics are executed, (I’m sure you already know about the effects of shooting a character with a “high” or “low” angle—that technique doesn’t even scratch the surface of the basics) but it would probably take an entire book, and I’ve already trashed my goal of keeping my word count down around 500!

In the next part, I’m going to discuss how we (the conservative community—especially the Church) have enabled Hollywood to promote its leftist agenda, and what we can and should be doing to reverse the problem. Hint: I’m not a fatalist—there is a solution, and it’s a very real one! (And it’s not picketing theaters and boycotting movies!)

Until then, scrutinize even the most seemingly benign messages in the movies you watch and question them.

You’ll probably find yourself questioning parts of your own worldview—and possibly even discovering Marxist elements that you never realized were there.