Pandagon: The Perpetual Debate

January 06, 2004

The Perpetual Debate

John Derbyshire is facilitating a debate with readers over whether or not About Schmidt is a conservative movie, much as they have over every movie that either A.) features America in it or B.) doesn't feature America in it, but everyone has American accents.

This, even after Jonah Goldberg's sternly worded reminder that conservatives don't need to make all art and entertainment about their conservatism. That having been brought up and summarily discarded, let's argue whether Kathy Bates' naked body is pro- or anti-"normal".

"A lot of conservatives will watch a movie like this and are pleasantly struck with the characters, who seem to resemble themselves, or people they know, and it never occurs to them that the writer and director are bubbling over with loathing for the Neanderthals they portray on the screen. You are dead on right about Hollywood being extraordinarily good at what they do; ABOUT SCHMIDT is just another in a long line of anti-normal, anti-middle class value films. I watched it and was insulted."

Shorter Guy Who Didn't Watch The Movie For The Story: The movie wasn't one long, slurpy kneepad fiesta for the Midwest, therefore the filmmakers resent true American values.

There's a rebuttal, but I'll save you the time: blah blah blah happy gay people blah blah blah Marine blah blah natural lubrication. Or maybe it was "smiling through tears", but the point remains anyway.

Two things: I live in the Midwest. A lot of people in the Midwest spend a lot of time wanting to be not in the Midwest. Someone who'd lived in the Midwest would know and understand the feeling. It is, in fact, remarkably normal to be dissatisfied with where you are, whether it's a big city or a small town.

Also, it seems like these folks are openly fetishing a sort of Americana mediocrity. Be in the middle - middle-class, middle-America, middle-success, middle-failure, middle-everything. Don't upset the boat. 50% is the goal, and don't worry about anything else. A solid C life is the life for...you!

Why is not being particularly extraordinary, successful, or ambitious now an American value? It's not that married Midwestern suburbia is a bad life outcome...if you want it. But some people don't. A significant number of people. Guess what? They're "normal", too. I mean, all 300 million Americans could settle down in Muncie, but we've got a fairly large land with some fairly different people, not all of whom feel like having the Derbyshire brigade dictate their lives to them.

Why do I get the feeling all of these people hated The Giver?

Posted by Jesse Taylor at January 6, 2004 08:13 PM | TrackBack

Comments

The book The Giver or the actual giver?

Posted by: Kangaroo Jack at January 6, 2004 08:29 PM

The book. The one where councils appointed your perfect heterosexual family and children, and everything in life was predetermined in societally acceptable ways until that girl screwed it all up. Decidedly not a "conservative" book.

Posted by: jesse at January 6, 2004 08:35 PM

While we're on the subject, where do these folks live, and how many of them are middle-class?

Posted by: xcentrik at January 7, 2004 11:31 AM

I really liked About Schmidt. It's pretty politically neutral. Though, when the Schmidt character is driving around you hear Rush Limbaugh on the radio -- all I caught was Rush saying something like: "those liberals and their pie-in-the-sky fantasies..." Not sure what to make of that. Also, the character portrayed by Kathy Bates seemed stereotypically liberal/progressive. I don't know what to make of that, either.

Are conservatives so self-concious and paranoid that they assume every Hollywood film is taking a stab at them?

Posted by: VR at January 7, 2004 02:27 PM