It finally happened and not a moment too soon.
Conservatives and old-school liberals have been waiting, and waiting, for a Hollywood A-lister to defend free speech.
We’ve had comic legends do just that, from John Cleese to Bill Maher. Their comments, and bravery, matter.
Others, like legendary author Judy Blume, approached the subject but only to smite a rising GOP star with a limited grasp of the facts.
Cutting through the pop culture noise demands something extra – the biggest stars in entertainment blasting the freedom-snuffing woke mindset.
Enter Steven Spielberg.
The Oscar-winning director not only mocked efforts to revise classic art, but he also regretted doing just that to one of his most iconic films. The director spoke during a recent master class event at the Time 100 Summit.
The Q&A found him rising to cinema’s defense while admitting his own shortcomings.
Spielberg edited the 1982 smash “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” for its 20th anniversary to remove the guns held by FBI agents chasing the film’s heroic children. The weapons became walkie-talkies with some CGI trickery, a switch Spielberg now sees as wrong.
“That was a mistake,” Spielberg said. “I never should have done that. ‘E.T.’ is a product of its era. No film should be revised based on the lenses we now are, either voluntarily, or being forced to peer through.”
Wait. Stop.
Spielberg specifically said, “or being forced to peer through.” That matters.
News outlets covering Spielberg’s interview focused on the “E.T.” regret, mostly. Others zeroed in, and rightly so, on the director shredding “sensitivity readers” for censoring books by Ian Fleming, Roald Dahl and Agatha Christie.
“For me, it is sacrosanct. It’s our history, it’s our cultural heritage. I do not believe in censorship in that way.”
That matters.
What Spielberg alluded to speaks to the heart of the matter. We’re being “forced” to re-examine classic films, books and TV shows by a tiny minority of woke scolds who want to erase western culture.
- Change words
- Tear down statues
- Shred free speech
- Limit dissent
- Alter classic literature
- Destroy the nuclear family
Said minority wields tremendous power, alas, supported by the mainstream media, timid corporations and radicals who crave a Marxist makeover of the grand American experiment.
Spielberg’s comments hit the press roughly two days ago, and he hasn’t rushed out to apologize or amend his statements.
That matters, too.
Think how quickly Blume rescinded her defense of author J.K. Rowling when the woke mob descended on her virtually.
News travels fast in the Internet age.
None of this erases Spielberg’s political leanings. He’s a rock-ribbed progressive who has written more than a few checks for Democrats over the decades. He also remade “West Side Story” last year, embracing woke “upgrades” along the way.
The film proved one of the biggest commercial failures of his illustrious career.
Politics shouldn’t matter when it comes to creative expression, free speech and protecting art. Spielberg proved that this week, even though he should have been speaking out on the matter long before the Time event.
Now, will more A-listers follow his lead?
The post What Everyone Missed About Spielberg’s Anti-Woke Decree appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.