Art through adversity
Why hidden messaging is superior to overt messaging
You all know me as the former atheist scientist who became Christian, but two of my other passions in life are movies and food, and I read endlessly about both.
I’m currently reading a book on the history of the Oscars, and, wow, is it a trip.
In this book I learned that some of the great American classic movies were written by actual communists. Stuff like High Noon and Friendly Persuasion. I guess I'm naive, because I had no idea.
I’m about a third of the way through this book, and the main takeaway so far is that hidden messaging in art is superior to overt messaging.
This is reinforced by something I discovered last year while reading a book (below) about the history of Star Wars: Lucas intended the Ewoks to be like the communist Viet Cong in The Return of the Jedi. He saw Americans as the bad guys in Vietnam. I honestly had no idea those furry jerks were allegorical commies, and I don't think anyone else did, either.
The activist writers of old were forced to conceal their Marxism in the story, because the American public (and government at the time) would've otherwise rejected it. Equally as important, the broader aspects of the story had to appeal to the general public, or the movie would've failed.
How does that compare with nowadays?
Well, modern movies aren't nearly as popular or artistically impressive because the cultural Marxists no longer have to hide their messaging. They can stick it front and center.
This upfront messaging is a problem for two reasons:
Most people don't like the messaging now that it's so obvious. This is why we got a tacit admission through film writer Chris Gore that Marvel Studios has quietly fired all of their activist producers.
There is no love of art or of humanity. The Marxist writers of old were highly skilled in the craft of storytelling, and many of them still loved humanity in spite of their naive devotion to a destructive ideology. Modern activist writers, however, are not serious people, and now that they can be upfront about the messaging, storytelling is tertiary, if not incidental, to what they're trying to do. Their writing is drained of anything that resembles real life.
The best messaging movies have everyone thinking the hero is on their side. That’s why so many red-blooded Americans could identify with Gary Cooper's character in High Noon, despite the fact that it was an allegory for the life of the blacklisted communist who wrote it. Nearly everyone loved Star Wars, because we each thought we were the Rebels and the evil Empire was the other guy.
That's excellent storytelling.
Writers back in the old days, particularly in the 1940s and 1950s, were forced to broaden the perspective of what they were trying to communicate, because overt messaging wasn't allowed. This had the inadvertent effect of elevating the message. It's what they call "art through adversity." Without the adversity, you don't really get the art.
To be fair, I've noticed the same lack of art with a lot of so-called Christian entertainment, some of which is downright awful. When overt messaging is the focus instead of storytelling and moviemaking, it's going to stink.
The best movies have the messaging so inherently woven into the story that you don't even know (at first) you're being messaged. The story feeds the message directly into your veins. If you ever wondered why Jesus spoke to His disciples in parables, that’s one big reason.
The lesson here is, if you want to effectively message people with your art, you have to put the love of humanity and the love of art above the messaging.
P.S. I don't think Lucas was an actual Marxist, but like a lot of serious young Americans in the 1960s, he sympathized more with the other side in the Vietnam War.
P.P.S. The irony with the Ewoks as the communist Viet Cong is that most people didn't like them and saw them as a ploy to stick marketable "toyetic" characters into the movie. Han Solo actor Harrison Ford reportedly hated them for that reason.
This is a wonderful post, and as it happens I have some deep knowledge about the topic. My parents were all out communists, and I learned all about the "blacklist" and the McCarthy period that tried to get communists out of public life, mostly successfully. At the time I was on the side of the commies. And the important point to make is that the Marxists of the 30s and 40s were very different from those of today. They were truly on the side of the underdog, including workers and people who were struggling. They were kept ignorant of the horrors of Stalin's Russia and the dark side of communism. The writers of the greatest film ever Cassablanca, were communists, as were the whole crew of the Italian film The Bicycle thief and many more.
The Marxists of today are a whole different breed. They care nothing for the working people but only for those groups who are identified as "oppressed". These now include Blacks (of course) women, gays, transgenders, Palestinians, American Indians, some Asians (but not all) . Its all about identify politics, and poor white people just don't count. Straight Christian (or Jewish) white men (like me) are the enemy,. I find it disgusting, and nothing at all like the Christian view of all people being members of one family under Jesus. In fact the old communists were actually much closer to the ideals of Christianity than the modern "woke" idiots.
To be honest, I am even considering writing a book about this, although I am reluctant to get out of my lane on science and faith. Speaking of which I cant wait to start promoting your book. How is progress?
Also posting your Substack to FB: Great article esp: in that my wife & I raised a family of Movie kids; collecting shelves of both VCR and DVD movies: we had followed the model of my physicist II / Korea vet dad: who by the time I was about 8, decided the four of us glued to the black & white 3-channel TV all evening & all morning Saturdays was unnatural - and didn’t fix the tube-style Motorola, as he often did, bringing home an oscilloscope from work etc… This lasted FOUR YEARS until an aunt sadly “rescued” us, with a B&W portable. During the time I, and especially my younger brother read everything in the house including the childrens’ science encyclopedias- multiple times, knowing then that there was an element ytterbium, etc, plus less obscure things! I will look for the Oscars Wars book! Wonder if the Shuleman theaters (such as in Georgetown) are related familialy with the author?
Your Substack brings to mind a talk by someone I never knew of until he spoke at UT Austin just post-911: (Catholic)theologian Peter Kreeft, speaking both on the existence of evil & also promoting fairy tales, CS Lewis, Token’s stories etc not (as the atheist slanders us believers) something we willingly fool ourselves with, (our Bible also being just a fairy tale), —but the Bible being the SOURCE of any good story; one anyone wants to read or see… and his contention that any truly popular work HAS TO borrow Biblical themes. I took my daughter to hear him speak, and bought tapes… His line that 911 made [Norman Vincent] Peal appalling, and [Apostle] Paul, appealing,” I’ll never forget!
This necessity of authoring likable material must make it hard for Satan I’m sure, that the chosen are pre-programmed, almost, to appreciate the Biblical underdog, redemption, honorable action, challenges, calamity, rebirth narratives! At any time someone reads the BEST BOOK EVER, entertainment / fiction / biographies (that Satan has not been able to suppress in culture,) it can all can blow up in his face: by reminding folks of an ancient book he hates, should they consult a Bible… I heard of a native unbeliever when hearing the Gospel, saying “I KNEW someone like that must exist!”
Even nursery rhymes are explosive for Satan today, in a time when men are beating up women at the Olympics: “Georgie Porgie Pudding & Pie, kissed [or beat up] the girls and made them cry… when the boys came out to play, Georgie Porgie ran away.” (Re: men who break the 10th commandment & covet the physical bodies & or societal roles of women. (& sadly even vice-versa as Paul points to “even their women” in Romans 1, in apparent disbelief.)