Jewish World Review August 23, 2002/ 15 Elul, 5762

Marianne M. Jennings

Marianne M. Jennings
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Hollywood Joe's admission


http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | So rare is the phenomenon of Hollywood types getting religion that one is hesitant to derogate on those rare occasions when admissions and reform haunt the Beverly Hills fast-laners. We're still waiting for Robert Downey, Jr. to wake up, preferably in his own bed as opposed to those of his Malibu neighbors, and realize drugs aren't a career advancer. Winona Ryder could be wearing a shoplifted Versace one day and find that confession is good for the soul whereas Saks' stealing raps don't land parts or Oscars.

If a pig flies, you don't fault it for not staying up long. Joe Eszterhas, author of such moving materials as Flashdance, Sliver, Show Girls, and Basic Instinct, has found religion. He has repented of glorifying smoking in his screenplays because he has lost most of his larynx to cancer caused by a lifetime of smoking. Joe wrote a piece for the New York Times' op-ed page on August 9 revealing his painful battles with cancer and guilt because in his 14 movies, "My characters smoke, . . . and they look cool and glamorous doing it." He reveals that he "made a deal with God." "Spare me," Joe wrote, " and I will try to stop others from committing the same crimes I did." I wonder what Michael Ovitz got as his agent on this deal.

Mr. Eszterhas has always looked so crusty; a combination of Granny Clampett and Ted Kennedy, that I assumed he already had cancer of everything. I wish him and his family strength in their ongoing battle, but his born-again activities are a bit shallow in their focus and a tad hypocritical.

Mr. Eszterhas's films feature strippers, prostitution, murder, sadomasochism, Michael Douglas's behind and most of Sharon Stone and this man makes a deal with God over tar and nicotine?

In 2000 Eszterhas wrote several articles for Salon condemning Sen. Joseph Lieberman, Mr. Gore's running mate, for what he characterized as Lieberman's dangerous censorship attitude and frightening invocation of religion and the Ten Commandments. In one piece Joe wrote, "There was even a quote from Sen. Lieberman in the newspapers that said, 'Hollywood doesn't understand piety.' Piety? What was there to understand? Piety didn't sell, period, unless you dressed it as "E.T." No one was talking about remaking "The Ten Commandments." All the Tibet movies failed . . . The last pious movie that blockbustered was "The Exorcist," and that was helped by the pea soup."

Lieberman's condemnation of violence and explicit sex in Hollywood films prompted Eszterhas to write, "I say no more money for Al Gore and Joe Lieberman until Joe Lieberman "clarifies" his views about Hollywood. No more money until we are satisfied that the Gore-Lieberman ticket won't mean the curtailment of our creative freedoms." He went on to add, "Why should we in Hollywood vote or donate money to a man who threatens our creative freedom, our freedom of expression? Now we're going to finance Lieberman, a man who wants to tell us what to put up on screen? As the conservative writer (and Salon columnist) David Horowitz said recently, 'If Lieberman were a Republican, there would be a devastating attack against him for being a religious conservative, for trying to impose his morality on us, for being a censor.'"

Joe resented comments on film content and influence until his recent illness led him to conclude that Hollywood is "the advertising agency and sales force for an industry that kills nearly 10,000 people daily."

Joe, I can't tell you how happy I am to hear you admit that Hollywood influences conduct, which brings me back to the content of your films. Do you see children scooped from their beds at night for singular sexual use, followed by their savage murders? As you recover, watch the news reports on 5-year-old girls abducted from their lawns, their corpses found discarded in the desert, with their young lives' last moments spent as victims of perverse sexual predators.

Joe, face the reality that if Hollywood influences the use of Marlboro's, it surely must take responsibility for sexual perversions brought about by movies such as yours. Remember how you spoke out during the Clinton/Monica years, concerned about the atmosphere the president was creating for your young children? Your book American Rhapsody was a big seller among conservatives because it reflected your outrage over Mr. Clinton's tawdry sexual liaisons permeating society. Movies also influence, whether through chain-smoking characters or those with chains and little clothing.

Joe, you suggest self-control, a self-imposed censorship for Hollywood. Great angle, but try a wider lens on your camera, one that lets you see past the cigarettes to all the harm films can do, including pervasive and perverse sexual suggestion, the kind for which your films are infamous. Try a deal with Heaven in this realm.

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JWR contributor Marianne M. Jennings is a professor of legal and ethical studies at Arizona State University. Send your comments by clicking here.

Up

08/15/02: Cheapskates
08/08/02: Ode to a coal miner
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02/14/02: Ease up on the brothers and sisters
02/11/02: Because I was courted
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07/06/01: Patient's rights and the Valley of Death
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03/01/01: Pardon the temporary outrage
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04/05/00: Endowing the Hooters Chair for Literature Appreciation
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03/14/00: The volunteerism of conscription and pomp
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02/29/00: Ditzes in TV Land
02/22/00: Cranky nitpickers make writing a [sic] experience
02/15/00: Those chameleon 60s activists
02/08/00: McCandidate McCain: Flirting with principles
02/01/00: The demise of marriage
01/25/00: Stroke of the pen, law of the land: Clinton's Camelot
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01/11/00: Oprah's lemmings
01/04/00: Struggling mightily amidst the comfort
12/23/99: Confused fathers
12/14/99: Drop-kicking the homeless
12/07/99: Turtles and teamsters, side-by-side in Seattle
11/29/99: When conservatives behave badly
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11/18/99: The elusive human spirit and accountability
11/11/99: Succumbing to the intellectual child within with the help of crackpots and screwballs
10/28/99: Live by litigation, die by litigation
10/22/99: Jesse, Warren, Cybill, Donald and Oprah
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08/10/99: Ruining the finest health care system in the world
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06/17/99: True courage is more than just admitting troubles

© 2002, Marianne M. Jennings