Friday, October 24, 2008
Hollywood Behind the Drug War?
When I was much younger, I was shocked to read that mobsters might favor gambling and drug prohibition, since they were involved in those areas. I.e. I still clung to the naive view that actual businesspeople longed to be left alone by the government.
In that spirit, it occurred to me the other day--after watching No Country for Old Men--that Hollywood might be behind the Drug War. After all, think of how many cool movies would be totally boring if drugs were legalized! You've got obvious ones like Traffic and Serpico, but also The Godfather and, most recently, No Country for Old Men. And as cool as Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington are, American Gangster would have been rather lame if drugs were legal. "Frank Lucas is the most intimidating importer in the country! He's pulling in, like, ten grand a month! Let's make sure he's not violating OSHA rules!"
In that spirit, it occurred to me the other day--after watching No Country for Old Men--that Hollywood might be behind the Drug War. After all, think of how many cool movies would be totally boring if drugs were legalized! You've got obvious ones like Traffic and Serpico, but also The Godfather and, most recently, No Country for Old Men. And as cool as Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington are, American Gangster would have been rather lame if drugs were legal. "Frank Lucas is the most intimidating importer in the country! He's pulling in, like, ten grand a month! Let's make sure he's not violating OSHA rules!"
Comments:
Even worse, the gals packing the drugs in the alternative-universe "American Gangster" wouldn't be nekkid.
# posted by 
: October 24, 2008 at 5:22 PM
: October 24, 2008 at 5:22 PM
The Blackadder Says:
Eh. Hollywood seems to have no problem making villains out of ordinary corporate types. See, e.g., every episode of Law and Order ever made. Indeed, if drugs were legalized, treatment of the industry by Hollywood would probably get considerably more negative.
Eh. Hollywood seems to have no problem making villains out of ordinary corporate types. See, e.g., every episode of Law and Order ever made. Indeed, if drugs were legalized, treatment of the industry by Hollywood would probably get considerably more negative.
# posted by : October 25, 2008 at 12:08 AM
: October 25, 2008 at 12:08 AM
There's some freakin ad window sitting in the middle of your blog, obscuring a couple of posts, that I see no way to close!
It is not as strange an idea as you would imagine. All the "cop shows" and crime movies seem to have various police and law enforcement advisors listed in their credits. We've recently seen how the Defense Department used "media defense experts" as pro-war propaganda shills. Could something similar be happening in the police and narcotics policing world?
Certainly many police and law enforcement agencies have their own public relations agenda and sometimes play their hand skillfully. Movie and TV 'advisors' might be part of this.
War movies get hundreds of thousands dollars worth of extras and effects help, not paid in cash, but in kind, as "millitary cooperation". This is essentially a hidden subsidy. Maybe the same could be said for police assistance to movie makers etc.
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Certainly many police and law enforcement agencies have their own public relations agenda and sometimes play their hand skillfully. Movie and TV 'advisors' might be part of this.
War movies get hundreds of thousands dollars worth of extras and effects help, not paid in cash, but in kind, as "millitary cooperation". This is essentially a hidden subsidy. Maybe the same could be said for police assistance to movie makers etc.
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