Philosophy of Hollywood
By Malcolm Jones
Hollywood’s philosophy over the years has been very bad in regard to the content Hollywood produces for the public. The people who make all the decisions in Hollywood will tell you they provide entertainment for the whole world. A content analysis to critically analyze and evaluate their philosophy. Hollywood’s philosophy does not offer an alternative to the rating system that determines that most what people watch will be on the main networks. This philosophy is full of holes; it almost ensures that black television shows will be excluded from primetime network television, since blacks only represent twelve percent of the total population. How are you going to create a system based on how many people watch or listen when you know full well that some people outnumber others?
Another important part of Hollywood’s philosophy is its treatment of women. Violence against women occurs in many classic Hollywood films.
For example, in The Godfather, the character Carlos beats his pregnant wife Connie in an effort to provoke vengeance from her brother Sonny Corleone. The movie ends with Michael Corleone blatantly lying and forcing his wife out of his “business,” and Part Two continues the tradition as Micheal slaps his wife. In Chinatown, star Jack Nicholson slaps the fire out of his love interest Faye Dunaway, and in Leo, Dennis Hopper slaps the hell out a woman while trying to rape her, until someone comes and stops him.
Even the great Hollywood hero Clint Eastwood, a real man’s man, is portrayed inflicting violence upon women: in the movie Outlaw Josey Wales, Clint Eastwood’s character rapes Sondra Locke’s character. After being raped, her character follows Eastwood’s character around for the rest of the movie. If Clint does it, it must be okay. In what some consider Hollywood’s greatest love story, Doctor Zhivago, Rod Steiger’s character rapes a much younger woman played by Julie Christie, and they start a relationship after the rape. Lastly, I’ll never understand the movie made about Thomas Jefferson’s relationship with his slave Sally Hemings; how could anyone call it a love affair? It was rape and sexual harassment at the workplace.
Rape was also common on soap operas: back in 1979 on General Hospital, the character Luke Spencer raped the character Laura Baldwin. She shouted “No, Luke, no!” as he hit her, ripped her clothes off, and forced himself on her. But did the insanity stop there? No. Hell, they later got married. How many women in real life would marry their rapist? But millions accepted Hollywood’s philosophy that women should be subject to abuse and even romanticize the abuse. The wedding of Luke and Laura was the highest-rated daytime episode ever, with 90 percent of viewers being female.
On the television series Star Trek, Captain James Kirk boldly went where no man had gone before: between alien thighs. At least he didn’t discriminate. Women from any planet were subject to Captain Kirk’s attentions. In the James Bond movies, James Bond slept with all the women, good and bad. Even though many of the women were presented as strong, they became weak in the face of Mr. Bond’s powers of seduction. Hell, Brad Pitt has slapped the hell out of a woman in a movie, but women love him. Right, it’s just acting, just entertainment—whatever!
This is not just a trend in fiction: in real life, Hollywood often gives his actors and entertainers free passes for following his philosophy. Don Johnson, the star of the television series Miami Vice, was in his twenties when he started messing with fourteen-year-old Melanie Griffith. Music legend, megastar, and lead singer of Aerosmith Steven Tyler became the legal guardian of his thirteen-year-old lover. Yes, truth is stranger than fiction. Hollywood’s antics make Woody Allen look like a saint: no wonder he can still make movies after being found with naked pictures of his stepdaughter.
Then again, who wouldn’t look like a saint compared to Hollywood, who seduced the world into watching thirteen-year-old actress Linda Blair have simulated sex with Satan in The Exorcist? But nothing compares to America’s Sweetheart, Brooke Shields, posing in a movie naked at the age of eleven. That is child pornography. The directors, producers, and cameramen should not only be ashamed of themselves—they should have been charged with child pornography. As a matter of fact, her parents should have been charged too, Hell, Michael Jackson was run out of the country on charges that he looked and touched a kid in the wrong places, which is wrong, but nobody brought the house down when the Catholic priests were having actual intercourse with kids. They made it possible for the earth’s pedophile population to enjoy themselves for years.
Oh, off the subject, back to Hollywood. No wonder Hollywood still lets Roman Polanski make movies, even after he jumped bail many years ago because he was charged with luring a thirteen-year-old girl under the pretext of photographing her, then drugging and raping her. And this all happened at the home of Jack Nicholson, one of Hollywood’s most respected and enduring actors. Hollywood hides its abusive treatment of women behind the good work it has done, or tells us it has artistic value. But I can’t agree with this philosophy, because I believe a woman should never be struck by a man, no matter what. Not even in a movie, because some dummy like actor Charlie Sheen might think it was okay.
Entertainment has a history of violence. Hollywood sprang full-grown from the head of its father, theatre. Even the greatest playwrights wrote about violence. Shakespeare did it. Macbeth killed his friends because of his ambition; Hamlet was about murder and revenge; Othello sought murderous revenge; Romeo and Juliet committed suicide. In the ancient Greek play Oedipus Rex, the man kills his father and sleeps with his mother. This stuff is considered great literature for students to learn in school. One cannot consider himself an intellectual unless he knows and recognizes the artistic value of such, and yet a rapper talking about murder, revenge, and abusing women is considered too violent. We know why—because when it’s white, it’s all right. When a group of black people sell drugs and order murders, it’s called a gang, but when a group of white people sell drugs and order murders, it’s called organized crime.
Hollywood’s philosophy about blacks is that he doesn’t like young black men. Remember Captain Kirk? His crew was made up of every race, including Vulcan, but there was no black man. There was a black woman, but what intergalactic mission doesn’t need a smart, sexy black woman? How could they go to create another world with a black woman and no black man? On Star Trek: The Next Generation, there were still no black men, unless you count those black alien-looking brothers. Then there was the movie about a black Cinderella starring Brandy, without a black prince. How are you going to make a movie about a black princess without a black prince, unless you have a hidden agenda? Saved by the Bell was set in an all-American high school with apparently one black person in the entire school—a black girl. She was statistically and sociologically doomed to settle for Screech. They could have given her a black boyfriend. I thought I was watching a local newscast—you know how they always have a black woman and a white man as the news anchors?
I’ll never understand or agree with Hollywood beliefs. Look at how they have played out on primetime television. Many of the longest-running and highest-rated television shows, such as MASH, Andy Griffith, Cheers, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Mary Tyler Moore, Friends, Beverly Hills 90210, and Seinfeld, took place in a world with no black people. They did try to add some at the end of a few shows, but the message is clear: when you get black characters, it’s time for the show to go off the air.
Hollywood’s philosophy of the black male being criminal is outdated too; I thought it was getting better. Consider the movie Pay It Forward. There was no reason for the only black character in the movie to be a criminal; he could have “paid it forward” as a lawyer. Or what about the movie The Ladykillers? What cinematic significance was there to having two black men rob the Chinese store? Or what about Hannibal? Was it necessary to start the movie off with a shootout between black Jamaican drug dealers? The shootout could have happened with anybody else if Hollywood’s view of young black men was different.
Some will say this philosophy is based on truth, but there is positive truth as well. Thanks to the philosophy of Hollywood, these negative stereotypes have been force-fed to the public as truth, while the positives wander the planet as orphans searching for a home in someone’s ear. Until they do, Hollywood will continue to hand us biographies of successful black entertainers and athletes instead of businessmen or authors. Why can’t we have a black man with his own cooking show? Black men eat; black men cook. Or can I please see a dark-skinned black man on a home improvement show? Why not?
Hollywood will continue to feed us the line that there is no black drama. The only black drama we get to see features a black man overcoming the odds as an athlete. I believe Coach Carter was a good movie, but blacks already know they can make it in sports. Why can’t Hollywood make a movie about a black kid overcoming the odds to become a dentist, or an architect, or an engineer? What about a movie called Love and Law starring Omar Epps and Sanaa Latham? Maybe one day, Hoop Dreams will be replaced by Doctor Dreams. Then Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker can bring down a big white organization, and Jackie Chan can walk into a country karaoke bar and say, “What’s up, my cracker?”
Hollywood pushes his philosophy through what he doesn’t show as well as what he shows. On one of his educational channels, there was a recent special on the rise of teenage crime. They showed teenagers committing crimes, but only two of them were white, and one was a girl with a Hispanic boyfriend. Was this Hollywood’s way of saying it was the influence of minorities that made her do it? The other white teenager was a boy in England. There’s no shortage of crime committed by white teenage males in this country, but to show it would hinder white teenage males from realizing their purpose, according to Hollywood’s philosophy. Of course, you know he didn’t have a hard time showing the black teenagers who commit crimes.
Another truth, Hollywood seeks to hide: there are a lot of big white women in this world, but he has only presented one in a lead role on a sitcom. Roseanne ain’t the only fat-ass white girl in America. There are far more Roseanne Barr’s in the real world than there are Jessica Simpsons.
This philosophy was working so well that when he did try to show a positive black man on a reality show, The Apprentice Kwame came really close to winning, but no cigar. What amazes me is how so many people saw him as a novelty. Yes, the brother spoke well, but hello, many black men do! Just because Hollywood would rather show you a black man on television saying “fo’ shizzle,” Kwame is considered a novelty.
And commercials with black men playing basketball are getting tired. I can understand it if the product is about basketball, but not otherwise. Why did Hollywood make a commercial with a black woman stealing her white roommate’s clothes, then lying when the roommate asks if she wore them? He could have had the white girl taking the black girl’s clothes.
I’m not even going to mention the black-male-bashing movies showing women being abused: What’s Love Got to Do With It, Waiting to Exhale… I could go on for days. White men abuse women at the same rate as black men, but Hollywood ain’t making big productions about domestic violence featuring white men (although they might get made on the smaller independent level).
It’s a shame that the only black programming you see on TV today consists of music videos and preachers. This reminds me of slave time when the master would only let the slaves dance and read the Bible. Other ethnic groups have their own programming—I don’t understand what they’re saying, but I’m still happy for them—even though we’ve been here a lot longer. Just as this nation’s economy was built on blacks’ blood, sweat, and tears, so are the up-and-coming television networks. Why do all these channels always use black shows to build their networks? Fox did it; UPN did it; WB did it. They used the black audience to build their channels, but when they got up and running, they got rid of the black shows.
By the way, the next time a radio station or video station tries to tell me that their countdown is the viewer’s choice, I just might catch a case. Memo to radio stations and music video programmers: there are more than six songs. Why are you playing and showing the same shit all day, all week, all month? Oops, off track again—I do that sometimes.
Hollywood did give us Soul Train, and it is the longest-running television show today. Soul Train is still on; yes, the longest-running black show is about music and dancing in tight, provocative outfits.
But I will say this about you, Hollywood: you sure do reward blacks who present your negative stereotypes, like the rappers who get rewarded with big movie roles. I look at all the comedians who make fun of black people, talking about CPT time and growing up with roaches, and I laugh as well: the man got some game. He’s got black people stereotyping themselves and laughing. And the drama series have shown so much negativity about the black community for so many years: Law & Order, NYPD Blue, LA Law, CSI, I‘m not even going to name them all. And the history of his talk shows and court shows sets another bad precedent. I could go on forever, but you understand how I feel about Hollywood’s philosophy.
I’m not going to lie—he has some movies I’ve enjoyed, like The Color Purple, Forrest Gump, Busting Loose, and old classics like Secret Window, The Caine Mutiny, and Angels with Dirty Faces. I also really liked Ray. There are a lot of things I’ve liked about Hollywood, but there are also times when an abusive husband does nice things for his wife: does that mean I should overlook the abuse? No, I won’t overlook it. I have some young brothers looking up to thugs and gangsters in music videos, based on those old Hollywood gangster movies. I want to holler to my young brother, “You’re not ever going to be Al Capone!” Also, it was hard trying to talk my young sister out of shaking her head and rolling her eyes; there was a time where every other phrase that came out of her mouth was “Talk to the hand.” I mean, I wanted to slap the Shanana out of Martin Lawrence.
Some kids can watch anything and not be affected, but there are other kids who believe and mimic things they see on television. Hell, there are some grown-ups who believe things they see on television. Back in the day, people wrote thousands of letters to the US Air Force, Navy, and Coast Guard asking them to go rescue Gilligan and the castaways from the island. There were people whose biggest goal in life was to travel to Hollywood, find the mansion of the Beverly Hillbillies, knock on the door, and ask for for “Jed” and “Granny”—they really thought they lived in that mansion. No wonder the real owners stopped letting the studios use their home after the show’s fourth season; they got tired of people ringing their doorbell looking for the Hillbillies. And what about that one woman back in the 1970s who was going to jump in her car, drive to Dallas, and help the police find out who shot J.R.?
See, that’s why you can’t stereotype people and make movies like The Birth of a Nation. Some people believe whatever they see. How many of us think Martians are green and witches travel around on brooms?
P.S.
Want more about Hollywood read “Hollywood Eras and Errors”
in the “Classic Archives” section
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