For the Week of July 3, 2006
This July 4th
marks the 230th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the
promulgation of which has been held to mark the official beginning of the War of
Independence and which was the first crucial step in the establishment of the
United States of America. The Declaration is significant in that it marked the
beginning of the United States as an independent nation and as a political
entity; but far more important is the fact that the Declaration articulated the
ideals of the Revolution, and indeed the ideals of Liberty itself. It has been
said that if the Constitution is a blueprint or architect's floorplan for the
nuts-and-bolts business of building a nation, then the Declaration is the
statement of ideals of an artist or poet. The Constitution deals in realities,
and seeks to give ideals a workable form; the Declaration is the statement of
the ideals upon which the American republic is based.
Those ringing
phrases, once so well known to every American schoolchild and penned by Thomas
Jefferson, need not be repeated here; but what should be reiterated is the
importance of those words, those ideals. It is important for Americans to know
the ideals upon which their nation is founded, and to believe in those ideals
passionately.
For nearly 200
years after 1776, Americans believed in those words…and in their nation. This is
not to say that America was a perfect nation which never did wrong, never
oppressed anyone and was never unjust. Obviously, such is not the case; America,
because it is composed of and reflects the will of imperfect human beings,
always has been imperfect itself – and always will be. An acceptance of
America's imperfect nature, and an understanding and close study of the ways in
which it has gone wrong in the past, is essential. For only by a knowledge of
the wrongs of the past can progress be made, and our nation improve and hew ever
closer to the spirit of its ideals as articulated in the Declaration.
At the same time,
however, it is equally unfair to dwell exclusively on the flaws and misdeeds of
the American nation in the past – or today. Indeed, the Declaration of
Independence was the first articulation of the ideals of liberty and democratic
government in the history of the world; and the war which followed and separated
the United States from Britain and the subsequent founding of the nation served
to establish that such a government was possible in reality.
The result for
world history has been incalculable. Today, it is simply accepted that democracy
is the "right" kind of government, that it is the ideal to be striven for. This
is so true that even the most repressive regimes make a show of having a written
constitution and claim to be acting in the name of "the people." While
obviously not every nation conforms to the ideal in fact, nearly all articulate
it as the ideal for which they are striving. As the noted historian and social
philosopher Francis Fukuyama has said, democracy is "the end of history." In
this oft-misunderstood phrase, Fukuyama does not use the word "end" to mean a
stopping point, after which nothing further occurs; rather, he means "end" as
"goal." History, says Fukuyama, has inexorably moved towards the goal of
liberating as many people from oppression as possible. The formation of the
American republic has greatly accelerated the process and made the
accomplishment of much of this liberation possible in fact. As witness nobody
today could or would take seriously the notion of an innate "nobility" or
monarchy by which one person or class is deemed superior by virtue of their
"noble blood. Nor is the idea that one racial or ethnic group can dominate
another by dint of some racial supremacy or innate "right" to control others
accepted. While again America is not and never has been perfect, it has largely
been the articulation of ideals in the Declaration and the actions of the
American nation which have succeeded in persuading the other nations of the
world to discover and implement such liberating programs themselves. In playing
such a role, not only to its own citizens but to fellow human beings all about
the globe, Americans have a justifiable right to be proud of themselves and of
their nation.
Once, this was
understood by every American. Until recent times, American entertainment and
popular culture celebrated the ideals upon which the nation was founded, and by
such celebration served to further encourage such ideals. "Founding Fathers"
such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin were held up
as role models for children, and were frequently celebrated in plays and
dramatic books. With the coming of electronic media radio programs such as
Mr. President and You Are There dramatized key moments in American
history and served to instill pride in their heritage in young listeners.
Similarly, comic book characters such as Captain America and Superman, "fighter
for truth, justice and the American way!" also taught young Americans to be
proud of their nation. And throughout popular culture the trend continued,
albeit in sometimes more sophisticated form. No one could accuse Frank Capra's
classic film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington of portraying the American
political process as purely noble and perfect; but while the film acknowledged
that corruption exists, it also portrays the average American as being
fundamentally decent and willing to challenge such corruption and fight for
justice.
In short, for most
of our nation's existence popular culture portrayed being an American as
something to be proud of, and encouraged Americans to live up to our nation's
ideals. But in the last 40 years such has not been the case. From the late 1960s
onward, films such as Easy Rider, The Godfather and Apocalypse Now
have preferred to explore the dark underside of the American experience. Such a
trend has only been magnified as the years have passed and the makers of such
films have come to be viewed as auteurs, and have been consciously imitated by
succeeding generations of aspiring filmmakers. Nor has film been alone in such
tendencies; television programs from M*A*S*H* to The West Wing
have continued to raise questions about how well America as a nation has lived
up to its idealistic beginnings. To note this tendency is not to accuse such
acclaimed drama of being "unpatriotic"; but it does serve as a visible starting
point to a trend which has now gone far beyond a healthy examination of
America's need for improvement.
Particularly in the
last decade, much popular culture has moved beyond such healthy "questioning"
into outright condemnation of traditional ideals. This has been particularly
symbolized in the exploitative use of the word "American" in film titles. The
1998 movie American History X concerned an American man who was a
neo-Nazi skinhead who murdered two black men. 1999 presented viewers with an
abundance of "American"-titled movies: American Beauty presented
Hollywood's twisted mockery of the suburban lifestyle by featuring an adulterous
housewife, a promiscuous teenage girl and a father who quits his job and goes to
work in a fast-food restaurant and "relive" his youth while propositioning the
teenager. American Pimp glorified men who drug and rape women while
forcing them into prostitution (this was several years before the Academy of
Motion Picture Arts and Sciences decided that "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp"
deserved an Oscar for Best Song). And the atrocious American Pie
featured four teen boys obsessed with sex. The film also featured multiple crude
masturbation jokes and led to a series of sequels.
The trend continued
in the year 2000. American Psycho portrayed a handsome, hard-working,
well-educated and intelligent young man – who is also a sadistic serial killer
driven by envy and materialism. American Virgin featured a young woman
who, enraged at her father, vows to "lose her virginity." And in a truly
appalling decision, the true-life story of a child-molesting teacher was titled
All-American Girl: The Mary Kay Letourneau Story. (The movie starred
actress Penelope Ann Miller, who has gone on to star as a rape victim in the
Lifetime movie Scared Silent.)
And so it has
continued. In 2004, the smut-mongering South Park creators Trey Parker
and Matt Stone named their sex-and-gore-filled satire about an ultra-violent
commando group Team America: World Police. 2005 saw the premiere on the
Fox television network of the animated "comedy" American Dad, which
features a gun-obsessed dolt of a CIA agent as its lead character, with such
other "typically suburban" characters as a sex- and drug-crazed wife and a
promiscuous daughter. And earlier this spring, Universal Pictures released
American Dreamz, a movie in which a clueless U.S. president goes on a
televised pop-music competition – which is won by a terrorist.
If once Americans
were too self-satisfied and unwilling to question their own government or
beliefs, the pendulum has now swung too far in the other direction. Where once
the appellation of "American" was one which citizens could be proud, today – at
least according to Hollywood's self-proclaimed "creative community" – being
American is the source of deepest shame. This is the America which today's media
and popular culture glorify: not an America of hard-working, church-going
families trying to make ends meet, and which is still the single most generous
nation on Earth in terms of helping others; but one dominated by countercultural
ideas, in which average Americans and their beliefs are reviled and mocked, and
in which the very word "American" is synonymous with violence, sadism and sexual
depravity. One can only speculate whether this is a view of America which Thomas
Jefferson, John Adams and George Washington would appreciate – or even
recognize.
Culture Watch - Entertainment Industry News
The Parents
Television Council -
www.parentstv.org
