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Steve notes some projection among wingers concerning the relatively poor box-office performance of Lions for Lambs. Apparently many conservatives can't imagine evaluating art in anything but political terms, and assumes that everyone else does the same. But perhaps we should consider the fact that the movie isn't doing especially well because it, er, doesn't sound very good, irrespective of one's political views. From Manohla Dargis's review:
Nor is there much evidence of a public appetite for conservative indoctrination. Roy suggests we compare its returns to those of Indoctrinate U; I would compare the returns of Fahrenheit 9/11 and Sicko with America's Heart and Soul...
--Scott Lemieux
Alas, there’s more -- namely two other story threads, the dreariestof which involves yet another two speakers locked in one claustrophobicspace: a history professor, Dr. Stephen Malley (Mr. Redford), who hassummoned an apathetic student, Todd Hayes (Andrew Garfield), into hisoffice for a metaphoric spanking. One of those bright young things whoputs the “i” in Generation iPod, Todd has been dodging Malley’s class,opting to turn off and tune out even while agreeing to drop in formorning coffee. It’s not nearly as much fun to watch these two, largelybecause the screenwriter, Matthew Michael Carnahan, has stacked thedeck so much in Malley’s favor you know the end of the conversation assoon as it gets going.
It’s a long conversation, more soporific than Socratic, andbrimming with parental chiding, generational conflict and invocationsof Vietnam.Yikes, that brings back bad memories of the post-9/11 episode of The West Wing in which some students are trapped in a classroom and forced to hear an actor recite Aaron Sorkin's highly unoriginal position papers on the subject, or as it will always be known to me the worst episode of television ever. I think I can understand why there isn't a rush to see this movie; it sounds like bad entertainment and bad art.
Nor is there much evidence of a public appetite for conservative indoctrination. Roy suggests we compare its returns to those of Indoctrinate U; I would compare the returns of Fahrenheit 9/11 and Sicko with America's Heart and Soul...
--Scott Lemieux
