Hollywoodism

In these contentious days of populist anti-immigrant hostility against alien cultures and religions, it is perhaps time to review and reflect upon one of my favorite documentaries. It tells the amazing story of a small group of impoverished immigrants and refugees from oppression who came to the United States and transformed American popular culture and Americans’ deepest self-image of themselves for generations in ways few understood. From the depths of poverty, they became some of the most successful and influential entrepreneurs in our history. They were the Jewish Hollywood moguls who founded and ran the motion picture industry. The background story of this film is based on this book. There are important aspects of this story that the film does not discuss in detail, such the internecine warfare or rivalry of labor unions backed by communist-affiliated fronts versus the hidden alliance of studio unions connected to organized crime syndicates, the real Cold War background behind the House Committee on Un-American Activities investigation of Hollywood after WWII, and the blacklist. That story still has a searing relevance to events of today and the draconian activities of the repressive National Security State.

Share

5:54 am on June 28, 2016