Hollywood: Capitalism's Best Weapon

By the time the Berlin Wall fell, both symbolically and physically, communism had already been beaten. Without the strength of Marxism–Leninism, the USSR and the emergence of the Eastern Bloc after defeating the Nazis during World War II, communism died in the hands of Stalin, losing its reformist spirit and its revolutionary drive to turn into a great tyranny. There had never been anyone as powerful as the Soviet leader. That was the misfortune of the Marxist utopia — they created a giant with feet of clay.

As Western analysts explained, the fall was a result of the continuous criticism of the media, which stood up for liberty and democracy. Sure, but the anti-communists also had a powerful ally: a huge and successful North American pop culture. Perhaps it seems funny now, but when the socialist bloc still existed you could travel to Prague, Havana, Leningrad or any communist city and young kids would run toward you and try to buy jeans, sneakers, chewing gum, socks, chocolates or any other similar nonsense that comes to mind. Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Fords, Cadillacs, Elvis Presley’s rock ‘n’ roll or the tedious Pat Boone were such a success it was overwhelming.

The United States soon discovered its popular power and dispersed it across the globe through its most powerful psychological tool: cinema. Thus, communism was exposed. It wasn’t capable of entertaining the masses or keeping up with musical tastes; it couldn’t get used to chewing gum, eating Milky Ways or wearing a red jacket like James Dean or a black leather one like Marlon Brando in “Rebel Without a Cause” and “The Wild One,” respectively. To top it all off, it lacked any heroes capable of standing up to the capitalists.

How could the Soviets defeat James Bond? He would undoubtedly win every time. And just like Tarzan fought the Nazis, through screens we have seen a parade of heroes that always win and continue to defeat the villains who challenge the wonderful life that capitalism provides. The bad guys have been German Nazis, Russian communists, Chinese Maoists, North Koreans, and now we rejoice when we watch how Muslims get theirs in their own desserts. What defense is there against Hollywood? How can the evil enemies of freedom and democracy create superheroes and get a Marxist Superman, a Batman that watches over Baghdad? There is no way. Hollywood and its followers have managed to create hundreds of heroes, always invincible, who save us from communism or Arab terrorism.

This is pertinent because a few days ago the Scottish actor Gerard Butler came to Mexico to promote his latest film: “Olympus Has Fallen.” In it he plays a guard who is able to save democracy from the North Korean threat while backed by the might of U.S. national security. The United States’ not-so-secret weapon to defeat and ridicule its enemies is film. The movies have clarified who are the good guys and who are the baddies. It’s a perfect business model from Hollywood’s merchants. Sean Connery became rich by killing Russian and Chinese communists. When there are no immediate enemies, film concocts them, staying true to the saying, “you write the war and I’ll produce it.” This is how Bush was able to invent the lethal chemical weapons in Iraq that led to the devastation of that country, now completely ruined. But when the threat to democracy and the American way of life diminishes in one area, films about a new enemy soon follow. Now it’s time for North Korea and its young leader — clumsy and pro-Yankee, to top it all off — to have its turn. It has to be fully neutralized, just in case that tiny country has to be invaded in the future since, according to Hollywood producers, CIA agents and the White House, it poses a threat to democracy and freedom.

My generation hated Nazis, Soviets, the Chinese, and German communists, not because of an ideological conviction, but because we watched films where the most famous American leading men and the most beautiful Yankee actresses fought bravely to save us. It’s just like when Hollywood explained to us why the murder of thousands of savage American Indians was indispensable to building a wonderful country, created by God and with a moral compass: Manifest Destiny. In these months we assist in the cinematographic defeat of silly Kim Jong Un, who deep down would exchange many of his missiles of imaginary long range for a night with Madonna or a weekend in Vegas.

There’s no one better than Hollywood to justify massacres, wars, invasions, destruction and assassinations. Everything is done in the name of democracy, with the U.S. as its best example.

In any case, just like I’ve seen every James Bond film and every movie that featured my favorite actors beating up history’s villains, I will go see “Olympus Has Fallen” a few times to watch Gerard Butler finish off the North Korean communists, who seem to be the last bastion of Stalinism in its most deplorable incarnation. By the way, Stalin, according to Hollywood, was a huge fan of American movies, which he used to secretly watch with his closest men in the Kremlin. His favorite actor was John Wayne, killing redskins.