I'm not going to just complain that you're injecting politics where it doesn't belong. I'm one of those who has complained on boards about liberal bias in entertainment. Not to mention government, education and the news media. Your question may be based on a distorted view of politics in entertainment, but it's a fair enough one to ask.
I think what's going on here though is what might be called tit-for-tat. "You say we do it, so I'm going to make it seem fair by accusing YOU of doing it. SEE!? people on both sides complain, therefore entertainment isn't left biased; it's politically neutral."
A few of us haven't given up entirely trying to show people how left wing biased most people's whole daily experiences are, including their entertainment, so we point it out occasionally when it really strikes us. I've largely given up watching current movies or TV since the left went completely insane around the time of George W. Bush's election and 9/11. It's nothing but other cultures = good, man made global warming is real and going to kill us all, corporations and conservatives, especially religious conservatives = bad. [EDIT: actually to the left, conservative = religious; not true in my case]
The left has like 95% of writers/producers/directors/actors and when someone like IDK, Mel Gibson actually DOES make a right biased movie - which I haven't seen any of; I don't know that he's a good example - it just seems so far out in right field to everybody because they think their far left biased world view is actually centrist.
You probably think you're getting it straight down the middle when you watch most news, with MAYBE a slight left bias from MSNBC and a GROSSLY right bias from FOX. If it wasn't for people on the net pointing out all the examples of gross left bias you'd still be thinking MSNBC is neutral.
My point is, people like you can't perceive that almost everything you see on TV or in theaters is subtly (or not) pushing a leftist agenda, and when you see something by one of the few entertainment people who's brave enough to admit *gasp* he's one of them CONSERVATIVES you assume everything he makes must be pushing a right wing agenda.
It's called transference and it's very common among liberals. They assume everyone else does what they do, and accuse the other side of doing precisely what they do. Thus we know an election is coming up when the left starts screaming about voter fraud on the right because it's standard operating procedure for their side. They figure if they accuse us of doing it first people won't think they do it. If you want to know who cheats elections, all you need to know is which side is for voter ID requirements and which side fights ALL attempts at making that standard practice, and all attempts at cleaning up the voter registration rolls.
Leftist creative people usually can't seem to make entertainment that doesn't push their social or environmental ideas because "it's just too important...," so they assume the right does too. Therefore you assume whatever view comes across in a Clint Eastwood movie must be a conservative view. I'd grant you that conservatives (the majority of the country) were tired of seeing the results of liberal policies in the criminal justice system in the 60s, and that probably gave us "Dirty Harry." But if you think that means conservatives want cops blowing the bad guys away before they're convicted, you're naive, and might I say engaging in stereotyping?
Most of what you seem to interpret as right wing bias in "Coogan's Bluff" is the way New York City is depicted. As I understand it, the seamy depiction of NYC is pretty accurate for the time the movie was made. I'm a SF Bay Area person born in the 60s, and if the movie was set in SF at the same time period I don't think it would be out of line. Hippies, psychedelic drug use, sexual experimentation... all very Haight/Ashbury.
BTW, as I understand it, what was required to revive NYC from its decline was a Republican mayor: Rudy Giuliani. Maybe that's why you think it's unfair to paint NYC as a corrupt slum: it isn't anymore.
Is Coogan a rude, violent jerk? Yep. That doesn't mean Republicans like rude, violent jerks. Would he be more likely to vote Republican? I'd guess maybe so. Shall we ask ourselves how most "good" characters in movies today would vote? And we all know that all the corporate bosses that make up the repertoire of villains in today's movies would vote Republican, because they're written that way.
We sure know how the leaders of all the countries that the left is so fond of portraying as utopias full of peace loving victims of American imperialism would vote in our elections: They come out and endorse the Democrat every time. Happy with that, are you?
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warren_houghton
13 years ago
BTW, I watched "The Eiger Sanction" right after "Coogan's Bluff." I suppose you think Dr. Hemlock's attitude about enemy countries being equally entitled to possess WMDs makes it a right biased film?
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