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Saturday, August 25, 2007

G.I. Joe is no longer a Real American Hero

Not in the new movie, anyways.

My newest post at Wizbang covers it all:

G.I. Joe was unabashedly patriotic. Many fans were, of course, excited to hear about the new movie to be released by Paramount.

But of course, in the liberal land of Hollyweird, a Real American Hero is just unacceptable. Nope, it's gotta be a global hero. G.I. Joe will be a global operation, not an American one, and G.I. Joe now stands for Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity:
The studio's live-action feature film version of G.I. Joe will no longer revolve around a top-secret U.S. special forces team but rather an international operation.

In a follow-up to their confirmation that Stephen Sommers will direct G.I. Joe, Variety offers this new description of the team: "G.I. Joe is now a Brussels-based outfit that stands for Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity, an international co-ed force of operatives who use hi-tech equipment to battle Cobra, an evil organization headed by a double-crossing Scottish arms dealer. The property is closer in tone to X-Men and James Bond than a war film."

...

So why the changes? Hasbro and Paramount execs recently spoke about the challenges of marketing a film about the U.S. military at a time when the current U.S. administration and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are at a low-point in global polls. When a studio makes a film as expensive as G.I. Joe will likely be, they want to know that as many people as possible around the world will want to see it. In other words, G.I. Joe -- "A Real American Hero" -- is a tough sell.

Nothing is sacred to liberals. Nothing patriotic or American is worth preserving. And I'm sure it never crossed their little liberal minds that perhaps if Hollywood made movies in the vein of those released during WWII, in which America, the military, and our soldiers were portrayed as strong, patriotic heroes, rather than today's military movies in which the United States is always the bad guy, war is always "wrong", and our soldiers are morally corrupt, people wouldn't have such a negative outlook on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (the mainstream media should get that memo, as well). They could be supportive and make movies that showed America, our troops, and their mission in a positive light. But that would go against the liberal agenda. What's even worse is that one of the scripts they had was evocative of the patriotic G.I. Joe, but they chose to go with a script that was less militaristic, described as "X-Men meets Mission: Impossible".

Make sure to read the whole thing.

6 comments:

Huck said...

"Nothing is sacred to liberals. Nothing patriotic or American is worth preserving."

You see, Cassy, it's absolutes such as these that you like to hurl about that make you an unserious pundit and a conservative apparatchik. Think of the liberals you know personally in your life and who you may even call a friend, and then tell me that these platitudes apply to them. Do you think that there haven't been liberal soldiers who paid the ultimate price fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan? And the unreflective and intentionally hurtful smears you throw out there against liberals come from the way G.I. Joe, a kid's toy, is being packaged and marketed for a Hollywood movie? Sheesh! You know, a reflective person might think that perhaps the folks making this movie aren't necessarily liberals. Perhaps they're really nothing more than conservative businesspeople who see a global marketplace for making a lot of money by internationalizing this character. I'd like to know where you got your information that the people associated with this rebranding of G.I. Joe are, in fact, liberals?

And what do you say about that element of the rightwing business community that lobbies for most-favored nation trading status for China? What about businesses run by conservatives who outsource their production to the Chinese or to Mexico or to India? What do you have to say about their patriotism and whether they think American jobs are worth preserving?

Please do a little bit more thinking before you attempt to belittle liberals in such knee-jerk, absolute, and thoughtless ways.

Anonymous said...

Huck

I think it is pretty clear that not all liberals are week kneed when it comes to the defense of this country. However you need to keep in mind that what Cassy is writing about is Hollywood. The "corporate entity, Hollywood" that is 99% liberal. Granteed the wording could have been better but it does not change the fact that Hollywood has become a liberal beehive that cares more for French film festivals than the American people.

This false image of liberals as not being profit oriented is a red herring. Liberals are every bit a money grubbing as Republicans. And this panededering for profit with the world wide left is not an indication of conservative involvement.

And your closing line is excessive. It's not like you to close in such an insulting manner.

Unknown said...

haha, huck, did you just copy and paste your response here to the Wizbang site?

On a sidenote, didn't Clinto push for China to get the MFN status in the 90s? How do YOU know that it was just "right-wing" business pushing for this? Are there no liberal business interests?

Huck said...

keith - Yep. I posted the comment twice. Here and there, within a few minutes of each other. I figured that both sites have different readerships so I wanted my comment to reach them both. And, besides, its my comment to post wherever I please.

don_cos - My last line wasn't intended to be insulting, but to be challenging. What's wrong with asking someone to think a bit more before making such a wildly accusatory and condemning posting about an entire group of people? I challenge my oldest daughter to do likewise, to think a bit more, all the time when she launches into and repeats the latest unflattering and hurtful gossip about one of her schoolmates.

This pattern of behavior is not just a one-time thing with Cassy. She continuously generalizes about "liberals" in the most thoughtless and demeaning ways. With her, it's as if all liberals are the most despicable creatures simply by being liberal. She has a habit of associating any and all imbecilic and infantile behavior with being liberal. I just think this tendency of hers is the sign of an unserious and unreflective mind. And I find it hard to take anyone seriously who talks about entire groups of people continuously and regularly in such generalized and mean-spirited ways.

And I should say that I feel the same way about leftists who cast blanket aspersions on conservatives.

The belief that 99% of Hollywood is "liberal" is another popular conservative myth, along with the conservative myth of Christian persecution in the U.S. I'd like to know where you and Cassy and any conservative for that matter get such information about Hollywood types. From the rantings of a few high-profile actors and actresses? I mean, we're not even talking about these people, but rather executives of a production company. Where's the hard evidence that these people are liberals?

My point is that I don't know whether these "Hollywood executives" are liberal or conservative just because they internationalize G.I. Joe. Just like I can't tell if a business owner is liberal or conservative if he would like to end the embargo of Cuba.

And even if (and this is a big "if") Cassy can prove without a doubt that these Hollywood executives are unabashed liberals, where does that translate into the platitude: "Nothing is sacred to liberals. Nothing patriotic or American is worth preserving"?

That's a direct assault on all of us who call ourselves liberal. Conservatives would be all over me (rightly and for good reason, I'd add) if I linked to a story of some fringe group which advocates assassinating abortion doctors and followed it up with a generalized statement like: "Conservatives don't really hold life to be sacred. When it comes to abortion, conservatives hold the American respect for the rule of law in contempt and become vigilante murderers themselves." First off, I'm just assuming that this fringe group is conservative. And that's a wrong assumption to make. Secondly, I'm then extrapolating this group's positions to all conservatives, which is another wrong thing to do, because I know better. I actually know many who call themselves conservatives who would disagree with this fringe group. Just like Cassy should know that there are liberals who hold many things sacred, and who believe that there are many things "patriotic" and "American" worth preserving, even if G.I. Joe doesn't happen to be one of them.

The way Cassy speaks ill of all liberals in generalized ways is unfair, wrong, and, yes, thoughtless. There's nothing insulting about asking Cassy to think a bit more before posting such things.

Scott Jacobs said...

I knew it was only a matter of time before they ass-raped that part of my childhood too...

Transformers, upcoming Thundercats movie...

God damnit Hollywood...

Cassy should know that there are liberals who hold many things sacred, and who believe that there are many things "patriotic" and "American" worth preserving,

Bull shit

Name me fucking ONE

Huck said...

angry white guy - I'm married once, still married to the same woman, and plan to stay that way in sickness and in health until death parts us. I hold my marriage as sacred. That's one. Second, I have a beautiful family that I would die for. I hold my family sacred. That's two. I cherish the fact that I can walk across the street and go to my Church every Sunday without anyone telling me that I can't. I hold my freedom to practice my faith without fear as sacred. That's three. I believe the freedoms of our country are unparalleled in the world and I wouldn't trade them for any other political system. That's four. I am proud to say the pledge of allegiance or to stand and sing the Star-Spangled Banner in stadiums before ball games. That's five. Do I need to go on?