Hollywood, Liberalism, and Tap-Dancing-Penguins: Progressivism in the Eyes of a Child

While Pundits and Politicians alike will fight, tooth and nail, to affix their preferred label, “Liberal” or “Conservative” to the nation’s News Media; few will lift a finger to contest the charge of “Leftist” when applied to the star-studded streets of Hollywood California. From George Clooney to Martin Sheen, America’s movie stars and even studios represent a full political spectrum – from the left to the far left.

Liberalism, however, has not often found the United States receptive; and liberals have, more than once, felt the ire of a nation in a sometimes violent rejection of their ideology. Yet, with the rare exceptions in the form of persecution under the likes of McCarthy, Hollywood and its collection of eclectic artists receive a pass, after a fashion, from the American people for its often unpopular views.

Perhaps this is because of the nature of Hollywood’s product. Though all media, news or otherwise, is, by some measure, fiction, the films produced in the California sun are unabashedly more so; and while politics is a consideration of trade-offs, in a fictional world the costs of liberalism, accepted or otherwise, may be dismissed by a screen-writer with a pen-stroke.

Though the political arena is in its off-season until November of next year, one such utopia is presented on the sterile ice of Antarctica – a tale of difference and tolerance, authority and individuality, and the failings of religion, all supporting an overarching endorsement of multiculturalism, environmentalism, and multilateralism.

All these politics -- packed, wrapped, and garnished with a bow-tie in a film for the whole family: Happy Feet.