A Heston for Every Generation

By Kevin Buist posted 5 months ago

Charlton Heston’s passing reminded me of one of my all-time favorite Youtube videos, the above Ten Things I Hate About Commandments. Considering that the original star of Ten Things I Hate About You, Heath Ledger, also passed this year, it’s a bit like watching old SNL skits with Chris Farley, Phil Hartman, or John Belushi, funny, but also quite sad.

Ronald Bergan has a nice piece on the Guardian Unlimited Film Blog exploring the idea of boycotting Heston’s films due to his affiliation with the NRA and his other staunch right-wing beliefs. While Bergan doesn’t exactly encourage a boycott, his point that actor’s political lives color our perception of their work is spot on.

I for one think that boycotting Heston or Jane Fonda or anyone else for their political views is silly. For one thing, the work that any artist makes is automatically open for interpretation. Even propaganda can be misread. And if the fickle nature of the viewer weren’t enough, we now have mash-ups on Youtube like the one above, where one of Hollywood’s most serious leading men is transformed into a pitch-perfect comedian. The political views of celebrities are what we make them, literally.

4 Comments

Classics

charlton heston, mash-up, NRA, Politics, Ten Things I Hate About You, The Ten Commandments

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Christopher said 5 months ago
Thanks for reminding me of that vid’s existence. It is probably my favorite trailer mashup ever made.
Adam said 5 months ago
Kevin, I think I agree that it seems rash to boycott most actors, but I don’t conclude this from (what seems to be) your premise that the creation of meaning ultimately resides in the viewer/audience.

I don’t think that’s the main thrust of your argument, though. It does seem silly that someone would boycott, say, MI:3 because it’s scientology propaganda.

This is an interesting idea to me; Americans are letting their consumer or civil actions be based on the ethics and attitudes of companies, government officials, or actors.

This doesn’t seem like a wholly good or wholly bad thing to me. Anyone up for analyzing the pros and cons?
http://blog.spout.com/2008/04/07/a-heston-for-every-generation/#comments
Adam said 5 months ago
clarification: I don’t think MI:3 is scientology propaganda. I meant to underscore the absurdity of the assumption that every movie a scientologist makes is scientologist propaganda.

On the other hand, sometimes it seems an actor or director’s worldview isn’t as easily separable from the content. I.e. I argued in the past that there’s evidence in Apocalypto to suggest it (surprisingly) contains Mel Gibson’s critique of the Catholic church vis-a-vis Native Americans.
kevin said 5 months ago
The funny thing is I actually support boycotting corporations for unethical practices. But artists seem different to me. There’s a lot more to chew on if the artist has some serious flaws. Like Andy Warhol getting other people to make his prints and just raking in the dough. Problematic=Interesting.