Is Hollywood really "liberal"?

[Stirk]

I don't think it is. Most of Hollywood seems to be somewhere to my right. It's the same crowd that booed Michael Moore's criticism of the Bush Administration's obviously fraudulent reasons for invading Iraq, after all. They seem to coming around about as slowly as the rest of the country.

It seems to me that Hollywood isn't liberal, they're just left of most other national voices. Entertainers are really the only people who reach the microphone without first passing through some kind of political filter.

Journalists deal with editors and owners, politicians are beholden to the corporation that give them cash, etc. Radio hosts and television commentators are caricatures of the phenomenon. Those posts are filled with uninteresting, mentally underwhelming people who's only skill is that they share the beliefs of the powers that be.

Entertainers gain a national voice without ever passing through an ideological filter. I think Hollywood is much closer to the true political center in the US. But the true center is just outside the range of "acceptable" debate.

[RaleighNCDUer]

1. Despite what the wingnuts would have us believe, there is no

"Hollywood" as such. It is comprised of many communities, often broken down by profession. Actors, generally, are liberal. I think that is because they put on so many different hats, they get an idea of what it is like to walk in another person's shoes -- and strong liberal trait. Writers might tend toward liberal, for much the same reason. Producers, because of their financial ties, tend more toward conservative. The various techies, from the grips to the CGI specialists, probably cover the whole range on the political spectrum, as there is nothing about their professions that would guide them in one direction or another. I would bet that stuntmen, like most professional athletes, would tend toward conservative. Directors also would cover the spectrum, with maybe a slight liberal tendency.

However, it is the actors who become the spokesmen. When was the last time you saw a lighting tech get up and give a speech before a thousand people? Like you said, entertainers -- the actors -- are the ones who reach the microphone.

ON EDIT -- Never lived in Hollywood, but have been in theater and around theater people all my life, and so extrapolated from that.

[Name removed]

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[mdhunter]

3. Yes and no, of course.

Particular actors or entertainers certainly are. Hollywood as a physical place certainly isn't and the movie industry isn't particularly.

It's still a business and, as such, is fundamentally conservative in several ways. Of all the films produced by Hollywood how many have a truly liberal message? I'm not talking about having a lesbian character - in that regard Hollywood is socially liberal only compared to the far right in the US, but on par with, or somewhat behind, social standards in the rest of the developed world. I'm talking about a liberal message of questioning orthodoxy, combatting entrenched power, lead roles motivated by justice and democracy rather than money or power.

Surely there are some good films, but overall...? Those are the standards by which I judge Hollywood, and they don't do too well.