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Hollywood Nation: Left Coast Lies, Old Media Spin, and the New Media Revolution
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Hollywood Nation: Left Coast Lies, Old Media Spin, and the New Media Revolution |
Author: James Hirsen
Published: 2005-08-30 |
List price: $25.95
Our price: $5.99
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Customer comments on this selection.
 Even A Rehash Can Shed Some Light
Except perhaps for the liberal elitists of Hollywood, no one else doubts that entertainment and the media have shared the same leftist bed for the last three decades. Further, there is little doubt that this union of media and Hollywood combine to spin the news in ways that raise Democratic causes and debase Republican ones. In HOLLYWOOD NATION, James Hirsen takes the reader down a well-trodden path to prove these very points. In his first three chapters, he focuses on the glitzy aspect of the televised news business. He discusses good looking news anchors who present the news in breezy dumbed down ways that Edward R. Murrow would certainly have found repellent. This part of the book is Hirsen's weakest. Beginning in the fourth chapter, however, Hirsen picks up steam by getting down to his real business--that of slamming the entrenched liberal Powers That Be who not only deny that there is no bias from the left but that if any bias does exist, it comes from the right. Hirsen lists a number of books that prove this pervasive left bias. Most of these are well-known: Bernard Goldberg's BIAS, William McGowan's COLORING THE NEWS, and Ann Coulter's SLANDER. Hirsen notes that the left counters with books that purport to prove the opposite. I have read most of these latter texts--Alterman's WHAT LIBERAL MEDIA and Conason's BIG LIES come to mind--and Hirsen rightfully points out that these authors often undercut their own arguments by admitting that most media moguls are indeed liberal, but they are cosmopolitan enough to recognize and to control their biases, a balancing act that they think they maintain but the more conservative and competing writers cannot.
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br /Hirsen makes his most telling points when he reviews the well-documented failure of Air America to encroach on the turf of talk radio. He scores additional points when he recounts the embarassing meltdown of Dan Rather who even today insists that if the documents purporting to prove that George Bush was absent from duty during his Air Force reserve days were forged, then the possibility that they might have been true is just vindication for his claims. I had a problem with Hirsen's inserting interviews with media stars, not all of whom had much to say that was germaine. I also wondered why he spent so much time with Gibson's PASSION OF THE CHRIST. Still, most of Hirsen's thesis held water. The Hollywood elite does exist, it does spin the news, and it chooses to blur the distinction between learning the news and being entertained by it. HOLLYWOOD NATION is a recommended text for those who still think that the major media presents the news in a fair and even-handed manner. It does not and Hirsen tells the hows and whys.
Lots of old news, interesting bits about movies
Hollywood Nation : Left Coast Lies, Old Media Spin, and the New Media Revolution by James Hirsen is a bit dishonest in its title. While Hirsen does cover some interesting aspects of how Hollywood's politics is affecting what we see and hear in the media, it doesn't cover all of the aspects I was hoping for. Hirsen trots out the same old liberals names everyone knows: Sarandon, Robbins, Streisand, etc, but doesn't really bring anything new to the table. Yes, we know that the mainstream media is remarkably left of center, but that's nothing that Ann Coulter, Michael Savage, and many others have written about already. The most interesting chapters were those that discussed the hidden messages of movies like Kingdom of Heaven and Million Dollar Baby. I would have enjoyed reading an entire book about more of that along with information about the TV shows that are beamed into our homes claiming to represent middle-class America. One chapter Hirsen could have done without is the long love letter to Mel Gibson about The Passion of the Christ. I was moved by the film, and I deeply respect Gibson for making it, but Hirsen's devotion to him makes the book lose some credibility. Hirsen also interviews several celebrities for the book like Bill O'Reilly and Dayna Devon. The interviews make for interesting reading, but sometimes it feels like Hirsen was throwing Nerf balls instead of hardballs at them. This book is not a must read, but it could have been.
 There's a lot to like about this book but.....
A lot of the material in this book is rehashed.
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br /Besides, if you haven't figured out yet that most of these Hollywood "icons" are complete nitwits then don't bother with this book. Just go back to "The Star" or "The National Enquirer".
Films Politics Collide in Today's Hollywood.
Hollywood 'elites' might like to think they live in a Nation apart from the rest of us, but I have news for them: They are just a small part of the city of Los Angeles and, as such, don't have the clout they may think they do. James Hirsen used to play keyboard for the Temptations; this makes him an expert on the movies of today and yesterday? Previously, he wrote about Hollywood's political activity -- as if the rest of the country really cares! -- in TALES FROM THE LEFT COAST. Perhaps the same thing he is accusing Oliver Stone and Michael Moore of doing is what he also does, tell tales.
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br /He claims that Oliver North tampers with accurracies in his movies, re-defining documentaries. Of Michael Moore, he declares that he uses his docudramas to get votes for the Democrats. If that is true, more power to him! "But on the Hollywood Nation horizon I also see a mounting force that's riding to the rescue like the provrebial calvary." Has he ever heard of the use of a common in grammar?
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br /Of the movies he pans, these I saw and wrote reviews on (my opinions, of course): 'Alexander,' which he claims they changed facts for effects; "Kingdom of Heaven' (about the Crusades), is fiction as it was not really about the Christian revolt; 'The Day After Tomorrow' he uses to jab at Al Gore's warnings about global warming and he lampoons Gore's "discovery" while making use of it with NewsMax.com; 'The Chronicles of Narnia;' and 'We Were Soldiers.' Not a good word to say about any of them. I wonder why he went to see them in the first place. He calls 'Open Water' which I did not see "fiction partially based on a true story made to appear as a documentary. He didn't give his take on 'The March of the Penguins,' which I saw and was accused of being a liberal because of my factual assessment. I'm not. I've never seen "The West Wing" t.v. series, and no reality shows, nor do I have any interest in doing so. It seems he hates everybody, now even Bill Moyers. Lord, help us!
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br /The movies he hated, which I decided against viewing: 'Kinsey,' 'The Passion of the Christ' (Jeffrey Hunter will always be 'Jesus' for me), 'Vera Drake,' 'Because of Winn-Dixie,' 'Chicken Little (?), and the 'Kill Bill' craziness for which he said mean things about Quentin Tarantino whose grandmother lives in Knoxville, Tennessee. Nick Clooney wrote a fantastic book about the old movies. They are far superior than the new ones listed above. As is his judgment and commentary. At least, charming Nick does not hate people and his son, George, may someday be as erudite as his 'old' (just kidding, Nick!) dad.
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br /We are now in the Information Age, thanks to the Internet. We have an informastion explosion going on because of our high level of literacy today. "A hundred years ago, most people were illiterate and most people consumed nothing. And during the Lincoln presidency, most Americans were not capable of consuming any news at all. They couldn't read." These modern times we live in, you don't have to read to get the news, just watch television. "Lots of young people regard [Comedy Central's] 'The Daily Show' as their source of actual news, not 'fake news'." That's sad. "Entertainment Weekly" bills itself as the most watched news program on television. The sordid things they choose to air are hardly news, just "publicity stunts" and, at times, "violation of privacy."
WE WHO CREATED CREATED HOLLYWOOD CAN CRITICIZE IT
Hirsens work brings to mind important issues concerning where America is going. However, just after Reconstruction the preHollywood movie maker DW Griffith produced a movie 'Birth of a Nation' that many say led to the racism that boiled in America and cost the rights of many till the present. Today, while there is room for criticism, Hollywood has been dominated by people who create material that is insulting to many. The great irony is that those who criticize the 'Hollywood Left' are the ones who dominate Hollywood today. As long as Hollywood serves the purpose of degrading some, its is worthy of praise. As soon as they start serving the working class, then they are of no use. Learn the truth, see "A History of Racism and Terrorism, Rebellion and Overcoming," pub by www.xlibris.com also see "Americans and their Idols," pub. by www.infinitypublishers.com and "A History of the African-Olmecs," pub by www.AuthorHouse.com http://community.webtv.net/nubianem
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