WHEN KARL ROVE, President Bush’s senior adviser, met with Hollywood producers on November 11, he delivered mushy talking points about the war on terrorism but no recommendations for movies that should be made on the subject. “Content was off the table,” Jack Valenti, Hollywood’s chief lobbyist in Washington, noted on “Fox News Sunday.” “That’s the sole province of producers, studios and directors, creative people. . . . If he had told us the kind of movies to make, not only would there have been discomfort, there would have been no meeting.” Absent a discussion of film content, the result of the White House-Hollywood summit was entirely predictable: Not much is coming out of Hollywood that might truly aid the war effort. Yes, committees were set up to organize USO shows and produce what Valenti calls “messages.” Those are trailers shown before movies in theaters or before a film on DVD, or public service announcements for television. But movies for theaters or TV, which are one of America’s greatest exports and thus influence the world? Valenti didn’t have any information about that. The notion behind Rove’s diplomatic approach is that the government shouldn’t interfere in any way with Hollywood’s freedom of expression. If he’d talked about content–about the subjects the White House would like to see treated in movies–that would not only violate the First Amendment, it would amount to intimidation, even coercion. Hollywood wouldn’t be able to stand up to this pressure, and the government would become the arbiter of what movies we see. This is nonsense. Hollywood produces movies by the dozen that attack the government in Washington. There are action movies and thrillers about secret cabals running the country, CIA evildoing, conspiracies by the FBI, attempted coups by White House officials, and all sorts of Pentagon activity that threatens life as we know it in America. Does anyone in Hollywood worry they might get in trouble with authorities in Washington for making these movies? Of course not. Yet these films help shape what Americans and especially foreigners think about the national government–and shape it negatively. What if Rove had boldly suggested some specific ideas for films? Hollywood would hardly have been cowed. Producers, directors, writers, all those creative types–the whole crowd would be free to brush off Rove and ignore his ideas with impunity. Their problem is that they don’t want to be put in a position where people might criticize them for doing so. For example, Rove might have urged a movie be made about Todd Beamer, the “let’s roll” guy who led the rebellion that brought down Flight 93 in Pennsylvania. If producers failed to grab onto the idea, Hollywood could be put in a bad light. But what’s wrong with that? A Hollywood that rejects a movie about Beamer and the other heroes of Flight 93 should be put in a bad light. There are many obvious ideas for movies that Rove might have proposed. American commandos have been in Afghanistan for months, living off the land and performing heroically. Their story, given the right actors, would surely sell. So would Rambo 4. And a movie about the firefighters in New York City. Or one about the widows from the World Trade Center who’ve banded together to get justice (and money). Or the story of any of the hundreds of WTC victims who’ve been poignantly remembered in New York Times obits. Or a White House drama about an inexperienced president who, with the help of an attractive young woman who’s his national security adviser, comes to grips with being a war leader. I could go on, but here’s the point of all this: There’s no reason to leave Hollywood strictly to its own devices in making movies about September 11 and the war. It’s not that movie people aren’t patriots. It’s just that their record in making movies whose content bolsters America isn’t exemplary. Whether they know it or not, they need assistance, advice, suggestions, ideas, and proposals. The help can come from writers, reviewers, pollsters, politicians, the public, even the White House. For starters, Rove could ask for a return engagement with Hollywood producers, this time with content on the table. Fred Barnes is executive editor of The Weekly Standard.
