The Greatest Conservative Media and the Worst Liberal Media

[Alolan_Apples]

Before I would like to go deeper into this topic, I would like to talk about the conservative wiki called Conservapedia. Because of some beliefs that Wikipedia is liberal biased, someone decided to create a conservative version of Wikipedia, which basically lists the facts, but with a conservative angle of inclination. However, just like Breitbart, Townhall, and National Review, Conservapedia is more biased on the right wing, and is not a credible source.

Anyway, I read some interesting essays on Conservapedia on what TV shows, movies, and video games they deem good or bad. It praises the media that has a conservative slant while it trashes the media that has a liberal slant. Judging by the descriptions, here's a summary of what they consider conservative:

• Anything that...
  • Embraces Christianity or teaches Christian values
  • Mocks Paganism, Satanism, or Atheism
  • Villifies the government, a government organization, or journalism
  • Teaches the importance of family or friendship
  • Teaches morals or responsibility
  • Explains how bad it is to play God (i.e. Human creation of life)
  • Villifies communism, political correctness, or other left-wing coercion.
  • Does the opposite of anything in the list below.

And what they consider liberal:

• Anything that...
  • Is pro-environment or pro-animal rights
  • Embraces LGBT values, veganism, or feminism
  • Encourages immoral behaviors
  • Hates tradition or logic
  • Is anti-American or anti-law enforcement
  • Embraces icons and activities favored by liberals while demonizing what the conservatives like
  • Demonizes capitalism, either by portraying them as greedy or by shaming people that are simply doing their job
  • Does the opposite of anything in the list above.

In my opinion, some of the stuff listed in these essays make sense when compared to actual politics, whether or not they are intended to be propaganda. Here are some examples:

• Conservative:
  • Indiana Jones Series: The first and third movies embrace Christianity by featuring artifacts like the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail while the second movie villifies Paganism by depicting the main antagonist as a Pagan priest. And in the fourth movie, the faction on the bad side are Soviets/Communists.
  • The Lion King: Not only it demonizes political change and the rebellion of logic, but it depicts the main villain as a communist tyrant. While we have the animated movies that villify capitalism by associating it with greed, this movie shows the true colors of communism. Mufasa's Pride Rock understands the importance of hard work and the circle of life, while Scar's Pride Rock did the opposite, thus leading to no food left.
• Liberal:
  • Sausage Party: Despite the portrayal of racial stereotypes for the purpose of being offensive, the idea is that we should get rid of religion completely in favor of highly obscene activities like seen at the end of the movie. If you were on the side of the humans, it basically tells you to stop buying or using grocery products because "they have feelings too".
  • Supersize Me: This documentary is a diatribe against McDonald's and accuses the corporation for making people fat, while it dismisses personal responsibility. It also suggests that people should stop eating fast food completely, which fits the liberal agenda that thinks fast food should be banned.
• Debatable:
  • When a movie, TV show, video game, or whatever has both elements of liberal propaganda and conservative propaganda and embraces both, Conservapedia puts them on the "Debatable" list, which means they are neither liberal nor conservative, but they would swing one way.
  • Chicken Run: This clay-animated film is a pro-vegan film and depicts the main antagonist as a greedy capitalist that wants to make chickens into pot pies. However, she did tell her husband that his male ancestors are a bunch of poor, worthless nothings, which suggests that she is a feminist.
  • The Simpsons Movie: The movie is pro-environment as it tells us to keep the environment clean. But it also depicts the EPA as the main antagonists, and makes them the most corrupt government organization anyone could imagine.

Strangely enough, many movies, TV shows, games, songs, or books they listed aren't intended to be political propaganda, yet some people and groups, including Conservapedia, look for political messages and interpret them. They would also twist them to make them look like they are following the propaganda rather than their true intentions (i.e. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) was accused of encouraging the persecution of Christians, yet its real purpose was to teach tolerance and not to be judgmental).

Although I find these essays very interesting, it's best that you do not take them for granted. Conservapedia is a very biased site, and anything they deem as liberal is deemed as evil.

 

[Antonio]

what

 

[Arstotzkan]

Interesting article! Reminds me of Watership Down, which if you hadn't heard of before, was a book teachers took and was preaching that it had all of this hidden symbolism, and finally the author came out and was like "lol no i just wanted to make a book about bunnies". People will find intention when looking for it, be it the author's intent or not.

On the other hand, I do feel like an author's views (not necessarily political, but it is a good example) end up leaking into their artistic media. I think in the end it's a balancing act of the author having to be aware of their biases and the consumers having to discern when their agendas weren't the author's intent.

 

[Alolan_Apples]

One thing I have to agree with is that Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney's 34th animated feature) teaches a liberal message, but not like what Conservapedia is saying. It's more like 50's and 60's liberalism. The key issues are judgement, tolerance, and revolution. It condemns judging others, encourages tolerance, and if a policy is wrong, yet dominant, it would encourage revolution.

 

[Tula223]

Interesting Article. It has cleared my mind. Admin192

 

[N e s s]

Really don't think I agree with a lot of what is being said here. A majority of what was said to be considered "liberal leaning" is all things that isn't what democrats stand for. I'm not saying that Republicans stand for what is said on the things listed for liberals, but it's kinda ironic considering some of what's stated for the Conservative side is things that, well, any american would stand for. If this is your view on these movies, then I don't disagree with you that entertainment can leak political messages into films, but I really just can't see that from a lot of the movies being listed here. Anyone is free to interpret them however they want, but there is a difference between what is actually trying to be taught and actual political messages.

First of all, I think there needs to be a clear line drawn here when separating children's media with adult media. Three of the films listed here (The Lion King, Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Chicken Run) are all made for the purposes of entertaining children. I think a key political commentary from a recent kids film, Zootopia, is the only thing I can think of that is trying to teach children a political message (in Zootopia's case, it's trying to convey the dangers of racism in a way everyone can understand).

1. The Lion King isn't about capitalism and communism, it's a different take on Shakespeare's "Hamlet", which is all about the theme of justice and revenge. Nothing in Disney's "The Lion King" makes a reference to capitalism and communism. Honestly, I guarantee you 99% of the people who have seen The Lion King wouldn't have came out of the theater thinking that it was remotely about the threat of communism.

2. Chicken Run is a story that should actually be considered conservative based on what the list says? The entire message of Chicken Run isn't about veganism, it's about friendship. I don't particularly understand how veganism is a bad/political thing either? It's nothing but a dietary plan lols.

3. I've never seen The Hunchback of Notre Dame, but I don't think that it has a political message either. My general impression of the film is that it teaches children not to condemn others for their appearance, as well as teaching kids that while you can be a hero it isn't always about getting a reward at the end, but doing it to help others.

Secondly, the movies that have an adult audience do contain political messages, but 2/3 of them are MADE to be satire like that.

1. Sausage Party...okay. I understand that it's message is mostly about being rid of religion, but...didn't they *kinda* make it obvious that they weren't being serious about any of it? The entire plot of the movie is spelled out to you from the beginning: they want to get to a better place in life and they want to, well, f*** like crazy lol. All in all, it's made that way to get a laugh out of someone, and I think the ending of the film is ridiculous enough to make anyone realize that the entire plot of the film was just stupidly funny.

2. Supersize Me, while I haven't seen this............what does fast food have to do with a "liberal agenda of banning fast food"? What human being has ever said that comfort food should be banned? A majority of people in the United States eats that stuff daily, what liberal would go out of their way to think that fast food should be banned? Now THAT is propaganda. And yes, the film does illustrate that fast food isn't healthy for you, I'm near certain that everyone knows that. There are obese people out there who ARE getting unhealthy from eating at McDonalds or Burger King every single day, but nobody has ever said that they wanted to ban fast food lols. That's literally prohibition, and everyone knows how bad that was.

3. The Simpson's Movie, I don't really feel like going into this one because it's in a lesser case of Sausage Party. Yes, there are themes of environmentalism in it, but again, it's all satire. Haven't seen the movie since I was 12 but I got more of message of family instead of save the environment.

All in all, I don't think it's very fair (not directing this at you) to twist what a film's purpose is with the themes and messages of the film, because a lot of what was said here doesn't make sense when you boil it down.

 

[Alolan_Apples]

Like I say, I wouldn't take this to heart if I were you. Conservapedia is biased, and they would blast anything they consider "liberal" (even when no political messages are intended). This is overanalyzing at a much higher degree. I agree the movies have no purpose other to entertain. But if they were to teach any lessons, they wouldn't take sides. They would teach moral values as the other purpose.

 

[Ghostkid]

Good thing i dont see things in a political way it would ruin these perfect movies