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Gary Oldman, Katy Perry and the Coming Culture War in Hollywood
I offered to coach @HillaryClinton for all her presidential debates in 2016…she can’t wait! neither can I! pic.twitter.com/67JGEZXjzh
— Aubrey Plaza (@evilhag) June 23, 2014
Hollywood has always believed that they drive the direction of culture. Certainly the entertainment media does. Now they want to drive U.S. policy for the foreseeable future and with Barack Obama’s help that’s exactly what’s happening. Much like political media, actors and pop stars believe they had just as much a hand in Obama’s historic election as anyone else and now they are starting their self-promotional pushes to make history again. When people cast a vote at the ballot box, they do it out of duty to their country. When a pop star poses for a selfie with a politician, they do it to look cool and relevant.
They’ve been successful in handing the country one celebrity president with retro Instagram filters and writing kooky crap on their hands; of course they believe they can do it again. Already they’re actively trying, no matter what damage might be done to the country and the world.
I told hillaryclinton that I would write her a “theme” song if she needs it… http://t.co/T6ilSEDP2X
— KATY PERRY (@katyperry) June 20, 2014
Katy Perry has a made a career on smoke and mirrors. An illusion of appearances that has been marketed to tweens as a brand. It doesn’t matter how good of a songwriter she is or if she can even sing or play instruments, she’s marketed as a strong, empowering, beautiful role model. No one stops to even ask why in a culture at the speed of 140 characters. The perfect tease of fame addiction in a society of look but don’t touch. Nothing about her is authentic. She is a well endowed revenue stream, nothing more.
She’s the perfect mascot for the Democrat party. Looks great, completely hollow.
Pop idols used to be easily ignored and eventually tuned out, just like unpopular presidents. Change the channel and they’re gone within a few weeks.
Social media has changed the rules of marketing, including for politics. One-hit wonders no longer fade away after a brief moment in the spotlight. Thanks to Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook, careers don’t end after a lip-syncing mishap or an embarrassing public gaffe. They flourish onward. Outlets like E!, MTV or TMZ have no financial gain in Justin Bieber or Lady Gaga vanishing from the spotlight after one horrendous album or racist comment after another.
Katy Perry and the rest of the pop artist brigade are going to try and sell Hillary Clinton on all the opposite criteria they sold young people on Barack Obama. Young, cool, easy-going. Hillary is none of those things. The people that created Perry in a lab saw Beyonce lip sync the National Anthem at Obama’s inauguration and want nothing more than for her to do the same at Hillary’s.
Team Hillary is attempting already to snuff out the questions of her age and her capabilities. Hillary is desperate to look young as proven in her op-ed in the Denver Post about the need to put youth back to work (Who knew so many were unemployed?!). She thinks hanging around with the Gagas and the Perrys will help her achieve this.
Except it won’t. It will make Katy Perry and other youth-obsessed products just look older. What is standing next to a 70-year-old woman really going to do to the hipster credentials of Imagine Dragons or Mumford & Sons? This only works if Hillary is a member of the Rolling Stones.
This is where the conservatives can and should position themselves as counterculture. This is where we can start listening to Trey Parker and Matt Stone of South Park over Mark Levin and Rush Limbaugh. There is an entire generation of disenfranchised young people tired of Hope posters and CGI crapfests coming out of Hollywood 10 months out of the year. They are looking for alternatives.
Just as teenagers grow into young adults, and in the process outgrow pre-produced bubble gum induced messaging for more authentic low-brow messaging, an almost natural cultural shift is already occurring.
Last week actor Gary Oldman, who professed himself to “probably” be a libertarian, gave a blunt critique of culture and the political correctness festering itself through Hollywood to Playboy magazine.
“It’s our culture now, absolutely. At the Oscars, if you didn’t vote for 12 Years a Slave you were a racist. You have to be very careful about what you say. I do have particular views and opinions that most of this town doesn’t share, but it’s not like I’m a fascist or a racist. There’s nothing like that in my history.”
Is Gary Oldman the beacon of reckless punk youth that he played in Sid and Nancy? No. But he is Commissioner Gordon from The Dark Knight.
He has since apologized for parts of the interview where he used more off-color language, which only proves his point. Musicians and actors will speak out such as Oldman did from time to time. As Coronation 2016 draws closer, it will only become more frequent. Clinton Culture is dependent on shaming and isolating dissidents.
When entertainers speak out as Oldman did, it should be supported and defended. There might not be a way of defeating the tidal wave of twerking vapidity dominating culture, but there are ways of creating and supporting our own. We can let anyone interested know that our ears are open and we’re listening to any words they have to say.
No matter how much they might offend the politically correct.
Published in General
Hear! Hear!
Many years ago (1970s), Eric Clapton got into some hot water over some very politically incorrect views on immigration, supporting Enoch Powell. He reaffirmed his stand in support of Powell’s views many years later (2000s). He’s stuck to his guns throughout. He also favors fox hunting, a big no-no on the Left. Overall, he strikes me as rather libertarian. It doesn’t seem to have harmed his career.
Hey Stephen, welcome to our cyber mosh pit. Good to have you posting. I’m interested in the entertainment field myself. I may not completely agree with you but I like your energy and can-conquer spirit.
Good luck and I wish you many happy aerial battles in the blue skies over Ricochet.
“Katy Perry has a made a career on smoke and mirrors. An illusion of appearances that has been marketed to tweens as a brand.” And hey, she was married to the grubby Brit ‘comic’ Russell Brand and that didn’t work so well either.
About seven years ago I spoke with an interviewer who agreed with you, 100%. He was never into obscenity or vulgarity for shock value, but he was insistent that smart conservatives would have to speak the language of the young, as Jonah Goldberg does, just as they spoke the sometimes blunt language of the GI Joe generation. You might be interested in the book he got out of it, South Park Conservatives.
The guys who made “Team America” aren’t dyed-in-the-wool conservatives, but to use the language of the classic left, they’re fine fellow travelers who will go a great distance with us before our paths diverge.
Hasn’r Perry already written Hillary’s campaign song?
You’re going to hear me Bore!!!
What is interesting is that because he’s been Sid Vicious, and Commissioner Gordon, Oldman is an icon to those Tumblr types. Hopefully more celebrities reveal themselves as sympathetic to the Right. I hope, but the backlash has been fairly swift against Oldman.
What concerns me is that the combination of Clinton being the first woman president and the weird cult of Hilary around her (see: texts from Hilary) will be enough to create an Obama-like buzz and get her over any humps in 2016.
As a bit of pedantry, Imagine Dragons and Mumford & Sons have no hipster credentials. They’re as square as it gets, I’m afraid.
So it looks like Russell Brand’s political acumen rubbed off on Katy Perry (along with several layers of filth and dead skin) before their marriage ended with a text.
=== Gary, thanks for the welcome and I’ll definitely check this out. Jonah is one of the best of being on the level and being able to converse with younger generations.
/// That’s exaclty what they’re trying to duplicate with Hillary but like I said in the piece, Obama was sold on hip, young, cool, fresh, hopeful. Hillary is none of those things. There certainly will be the “historic first woman” push but remember she’s all but kicked off her official campaign already and it’s not even 2015 yet. She is going to be in the campaign spotlight, aging very rapidly for almost 3 years. Pop stars can do this. Politicians can’t and certainly not institutionalized politicians like Clinton. By the time Primary season rolls around, young voters are going to be looking for alternatives. The question becomes if the GOP can tap into that.
He will always be Sid to me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arMXYEDuWPg
I do kind of love the idea of Parks and Recreation’s character April Ludgate “coaching” Hilary in the debates.
Uh, sure. One can hope, but I don’t think so…