Me? A Neocon? Really?

I find in life the compass of one’s politics are often arbitrarily set by the poles of the person you happen to be communicating with. When I write for the Huffington Post I’m often considered the resident Righty. When I write for NPR I’m the flaming Liberal.

But I was surprised to find that based on a story I wrote in Hollywood, some people believe me to be a neoconservative.

Me? A Neocon? Really?

While the perception – or misconception – is probably not widely held, it stems from the 1998 film Three Kings. In a piece in the LA Times Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and Contributing Editor to The Weekly Standard, Max Boot, called the movie a “neocon masterpiece.” Largely for the plot point of US soldiers shepherding a group of Shiite refuges to safety in Iran in the immediate aftermath of the Gulf War.

Says Boot: “The message is clear: The U.S. should pursue its ideals in foreign policy, not simply try to protect its strategic or economic interests.” He goes on to say: “Anybody who wonders what U.S. troops are doing in Iraq today should rent Three Kings. It makes an ironclad moral case for the invasion.”

Better you should buy it than rent it. However…

To be honest, I think Boot is putting on a bit of a rib. His piece largely hails George Clooney for all the stealthily neoconservative movies he’s made. But either way, Boot raises interesting points about what we set out to do in Hollywood and what you see on the screen.

When I wrote the story for Three Kings, it wasn’t meant to be particularly conservative or liberal. It was a black empowerment piece. The lead character of the story was a disillusioned black man who figures if the government is going to go to war over oil, then he is entitled to grab something for himself if he can. Gold. But when he sees that America is going to once again basically turn a blind eye to the plight of the oppressed, that’s when he decides he has to step in and help his “dark skinned” brothers and sisters. The ascendancy of a man of color who sees wrong, and does right despite his circumstances.

What ended up on the screen from all that was Ice Cube in the sidekick role.

And that shepherding the Shiites to safety? Hardly a statement on America’s moral obligations. It was a studio note early in development to have a more “up-beat” ending so they could sell more tickets. Trust me, decent folks that they are, when we were developing the movie the studio didn’t know a Shiite from a Sunni or an Arab from a Muslim and wasn’t particularly interested in their plight.

All that is to say, as people we are often deeper than the boxes crafted by the perspectives of others. Which is why I appreciate what Big Hollywood is trying to do: show that the ideologies of Hollywood are not as narrowly cast as they often seem. There is need for that, and I applaud anyone who tries to fill it.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to go be a flaming liberal over at my other blog site.