Nothing To Hide

Last week, I wrote a little missive about why conservatives should stop complaining and start doing. I’d been saying it for years, beginning in 2004 when my movie and I were prematurely and wrongly heralded as the start of the “conservative film movement.” I’d always taken umbrage at that proclamation, because I didn’t see what we were doing back then as a part of any “movement” and, frankly, didn’t (and still don’t) care if people saw it that way.

Also last week, Big Hollywood’s triumphant launch was covered well in the news, because Andrew Breitbart’s idea is newsworthy (and because he’s good at getting the word out). In one article, which appeared in the Daily Telegraph, the reporter subtly chastised the site, and used quotes from me that were entirely out of context. I’m not going to jump all over everyone who does this, because it’s part of making a public statement (I’ve been called every name in the book). But this one bugged me.

Tim Shipman wrote:

“Michael Wilson, director of the documentary Michael Moore Hates America, said Hollywood and grassroots conservatives need to fight harder to “impart their ideas into pop culture” by putting up the money for films that hide a conservative message in a popular format.”

I said nothing of the sort. In fact, I was kind of railing against this sort of thinking. Shipman used the word “hide” very specifically. And it’s the word that bothered me most. I don’t think we should hide anything. And I don’t think anyone should have to hide who they are… right, left, or indifferent. And even though I’m an atheist and libertarian, I don’t want to be identified simply for those belief structures, especially when it comes to my work. I just want to work.

What I was saying in that piece, and what I’ve been saying for years is that if conservatives want to make movies, they should do it. Same with liberals, Muslims, Christians, gays and lesbians, or any other group that wants to be a part of some “movement.” But I’m not going to say, “Wow, what a great Christian movie.” I’m going to say, “What a great movie.”

Or not.

Andrew Leigh, who also posts at this site, reviewed my flick and made a nice analogy about how most people view their “group’s” films the same way they view their kindergartner’s artwork. They hang it on the fridge and say it’s wonderful, but deep down, they know it’s crap. It’s something that’s been very true of “conservative” films. Most of them are terrible.

All I want to say to conservatives who want to make movies is, “Make good movies.” Don’t hide who you are, but make good movies. A new movie I’m working on (you won’t find anything about it online, because it’s TOP SECRET) has nothing to do with politics. Nothing. Not because I have nothing to say about that world, but because political thought doesn’t fit into this flick. It’s a good movie, and I’m not hiding any agenda anywhere within it. Politics remain a part of what drives me, but there’s a lot more there.

I, of course, don’t have control over whether people put me in this or that box. A couple of years ago, someone from CBC called me and asked me if I’d do a satellite interview on a movie where President Bush was digitally assassinated. They asked me what I thought and I said I thought it was kind of a crappy thing to do, but I’d never tell an artist what they should or shouldn’t do. The art, a big, loud magician once told me, doesn’t belong to the artist once he turns it over to the public. It’s theirs to feel on their own. The Canadian Broadcasting Company wanted someone who was “outraged.” They actually told me that. I wished them luck in their search for an angry commentator and hung up, with a new appreciation for how media intentionally pits people against each other.

I made a movie called “Michael Moore Hates America” and so people will probably always identify me as that person. But like the film, it was a point in time when I needed to say that. Today, I want to say something else. In a year, it’ll be something entirely different. And I’ll just be who I am as a filmmaker – an artistic, opinionated guy, interested in many things (including politics) and with nothing to hide.