SCRIPTLAND: Strike plucks a political nerve
By Jay A. Fernandez, Special to The Times December 19, 2007
[...]
"For them, this is not a writers strike. It's about changing society," one unnamed executive griped about the striking Hollywood film and TV writers in Variety last Sunday. "We are so frustrated. We're dealing with people who don't care about this community. They care about making social change in America."
Leaving aside the nonsensical logic that the Writers Guild of America's efforts to "change society" would somehow exclude its own creative community, this declamation does call attention to a theory that's been floating around parts of town. In interviews over the last month or so, producers, writers and managers have been musing that the debilitating battle between the writers and their corporate employers mirrors the liberal citizenry's frustration with what they perceive as the condescending paternalism of the Bush administration.
In this model, what the writers object to is a business and political culture that increasingly seeks to disenfranchise them from having a say in huge decisions about their industry's future, and thus a measure of control over their own professional identities and livelihoods. "Trust us," the companies seem to be saying in a dismissive echo of Bush policy, "we know what's best for you."
As such, the strike's potency may be gaining a boost from a kind of displaced revolutionary zeal. While it's not the motivation for their protest, subconsciously at least, a lot of picketing writers may be energized by the opportunity to fight back in a public way that, unlike with government protests of the last four years, has an immediate, noticeable effect. Of course, this implies a sizable overlap between Bush critics and the Hollywood writers, which, anecdotally anyway, seems a fair assumption.
Dana Fox ("The Wedding Date") admits that when she found herself on the picket line the first day, she experienced a sense of shame that she had never picked up a sign to protest the Iraq war. She notes that when her father accompanied her to the Hollywood solidarity march a few weeks ago, he marveled that he hadn't done anything like this since protesting the Vietnam War in the late 1960s.
"Up until now I've never had a sense that I can actually do anything about any of this," said Fox, alluding to the feelings of helplessness attached to her displeasure with the Bush administration. "This [strike] has really invigorated me. To that end, it is consciousness-raising. And it does make me feel like it's about something bigger than just this strike. It's about all of the injustices. It's about the little guy against a bigger machine."
And it may not be just the writers playing out this dynamic -- their corporate opposition is playing into its role too.
"I wouldn't be surprised if on [the studios'] end there's a certain amount of paranoia, feeling that they got really fat on the Bush years," said Oscar-nominated screenwriter Jose Rivera ("The Motorcycle Diaries"). "This administration has obviously been so pro-business, pro-corporation that [the studios] may be feeling like, 'Oh, my God, they're storming the barricades!' And that this is just the tip of the iceberg."
[...]
Jon Lucas ("Four Christmases") worked in Washington, D.C., briefly before moving to L.A. and marched in Hollywood against the Iraq war in 2003. He says those experiences made him question the value of public protest. Yet he notes that the picketing WGA, unlike the occasional left-wing political crowd, has no lunatic fringe element that confuses the message with ludicrous conspiracy theories.
[...]