Anti-Americanism, bought and paid for

Neil Armstrong Landed on the Moon and Planted an [REDACTED] Flag by Jim Treacher.

Over the past couple of decades, Hollywood has derived an increasing portion of its revenue stream from international movie ticket sales. I have read commentary about how this affects which films get made and how they are made. Fundamentally, international sales creates an incentive for simpler dialogue (eases translations, dubbing, and subtitles), more action, more special effects, less nuance/sophistication and more generic context.

It is assumed in Hollywood that stories which require a knowledge of American history and culture and which celebrate America will simply earn less money in international sales. An assumption that likely is true though I have never seen an actual empirical analysis confirming the assumption.

Treacher's article is primarily a lambasting of Hollywood in its capacity as a traditional bête noire of the right. A role which they usually warrant. But in his taking down of Hollywood's moral preening and posturing, he indirectly makes a point related to those above.

Apparently a movie has been made based on the life of Neil Armstrong whose great achievement was as the first man on the moon, an indisputably magnificent technological triumph of both humanity and the American nation. However, the movie omits one of the central scenes of that achievement - the planting of the American flag on the moon's surface.

Treacher lashes Hollywood for their anti-Americanism and soulless cosmopolitanism; their hatred of all things America.

Ever notice how much Hollywood* hates America?

Well, maybe that's overstating the case. "Hate" might be too strong a word for the emotion our moral, ethical, and intellectual betters in Tinseltown feel about the rest of us. It's more of a vague disgust and an unearned sense of superiority, wrapped up in sheepish apologies for daring to live in the greatest country in the history of the world. That's the message they keep sending out to the rest of the planet: "Sorry for being so awesome, everybody. We might be in America, but we're not of America. We're not like the rest of these ignorant rubes. You guys have some really good countries too!" Hell, why do you think Hollywood loves Obama so much? Every time he apologized to another country, they threw another lavish fundraiser for him.

[snip]

That's why Joe Johnston, director of Captain America: The First Avenger, once told the LA Times about the titular superhero: "He's a guy that wants to serve his country, but he's not a flag-waver." That's right, the fellow who wears the American flag on his uniform and shield, the dude whose name is Captain America, isn't a "flag-waver." He's basically just Captain Person, really. Why get all jingoistic about it?

But erasing American greatness from our fictional characters wasn't enough. Now Hollywood is doing the same thing to a real-life American hero.

But in the midst of the lambasting, as almost an incidental swipe, he makes two distinct points which are undeveloped in his lampooning of the Hollywood absurdities:

The moon landing was a uniquely American achievement, as indicated by the fact that no other country on Earth has ever achieved it. Armstrong didn't plant an Earth flag. He planted an American flag. It's still there. That's what happened. How do you make a movie about the greatest thing he ever did, arguably the greatest thing anybody has ever done, and leave that part out?

Why, because it might turn off audiences in Beijing?

First Point - Yes, most the vaporous cognitive lightweights of Hollywood probably do have much of the hatred of America and the average American as Treacher imputes. But I am guessing that the fact that it might turn off audiences in Beijing is probably the primary motivator rather than hatred of America. China represents 22% of global movie ticket sales, the second largest movie market in the world after the US (sources here and here) and half their movie sales are for movies from overseas, primarily America.

I understand why an American Hollywood producer might be concerned about how an American film about Armstrong might be received by 22% of your audience. The CCP has been stoking nationalism over the past decade as the economy in China has begun to slow and America is on the receiving end of much officially sanctioned negative publicity. We are the status quo against which they are testing themselves. It is easy to see why a producer celebrating the achievements of Armstrong might wish to downplay the flying of the American flag on the moon.

Easy to see that there were venal inducements to omit the flag but that still does not make it right.

It is these persistent, small, cowardly concessions, these frequent elisions, omissions and downright untruths which bring Hollywood and the MSM into such disrepute. They are misleading and lying in order to gain more money. That is what it boils down to. It would be nice if no one noticed but people do. They notice and then they stop watching movies which insult their country and themselves. And Hollywood moans about the lack of sophistication of American audiences and their own declining revenues while never examining their own Faustian deals which are at the heart of their dilemma.

Which goes to the Second Point. Hollywood and the MSM media misrepresent the truth for their own profit and then expect everyone to accord them respect. They are misleading and lying. They might be doing it because it is financially rewarding (in the short term) but it is morally corrosive and epistemically destructive.

The MSM shrieking about the president's repeated lambasting of them for Fake News is almost certainly in part simply because they are being called out for a lucrative and satisfying practice which is both morally reprehensible and reflects a low level of product quality. The producers know it, the audience knows it and now people are talking about it. Treacher has tweeted about this:

Click to enlarge.

As has David Burge:

Click to enlarge.

As an aside, sheer incompetence also enters into the fake news discussion. Three days ago, Slate chose to illustrate an article, Two Years Into His Presidency and Donald Trump Still Doesn’t Use Computers by Heather Schwedel with this picture.

Click to enlarge. What is that thing in the upper right?

Aside from the fact that executives are not journalists and rarely spend extensive time on computers (at least in my experience), there is the own-goal of the mismatch between Slate's headline claim and their own picture. Who are you going to believe? MSM or your own lying eyes?

Back to Treacher's screed. For all that he is exercised by Hollywood and the MSM's behavior and anti-Americanism, he raises a point which points in a different direction. Perhaps the apparent anti-Americanism and misdirection, rationalized on other grounds, is simply a product of venality, laziness, and carelessness. Given the choice, they will hide the American flag for some hundreds of millions of dollars of Chinese revenue. Given the choice, they will sacrifice local market quality for lowest common denominator global revenue.

I am not certain that it is generous to attribute to venality and laziness behavior which Treacher is attributing to anti-Americanism, and I don't reject the hypothesis that both might be motivators at the same time. However, my suspicion is that the greater portion of apparent anti-Americanism is a product of venality and laziness than the actual real deal.

A suspicion bolstered by the fact that while all the leading lights of Hollywood keep promising to leave America if they don't get their way, they never actually do. If you want to know what people believe, look at their actions not their words. Those with great fortunes which allow them to live anywhere in the world, choose to live in America. They don't believe their own lies.