For those who are, as one commenter said, "Dying to know what kind of movies get watched at Libertarian Movie Night", this week's film is cult classic The Americanization of Emily. It's a comedy starring Julie Andrews as a patriotic British woman during World War II, who falls in love with an officer (James Garner) whose self-proclaimed ideology is "cowardice". I first watched it with my dad more than twenty years ago, and highly recommend it to everyone, including the friends I am about to inflict it on.
Suggestions for future movie nights more than welcome in the comments; so far I've come up with "Enemy of the State" and "The Incredibles".
The Matrix
Pleasantville
Well, there's The Fountainhead, obviously.
The Conversation
Did they ever make a movie of Fantasyland?
Zing!
How about "All Quiet on the Western Front?" I would think that any thoughtful anti-war movie is probably inherently libertarian, since 'War is the health of the State.'
BTW, I've never seen "Emily." I've looked for it several times in my local Blockbuster & independent movie rental places, but they don't seem to stock it. Is it worth shelling out $15 to Amazon for? Is it something that one would want to watch more than once?
It's rather right-wing, but there's always "Red Dawn." Wolverines!
Reefer Madness.
Serenity
The Castle, Australian comedy about a family fighting eminent domain.
I've always thought there was a libertarian streak running through You've Got Mail (the Tom Hanks one), but I expect most people would think I'm crazy for thinking so.
What else... Oh yeah, The Godfather.
The Incredibles of course, but Ratatouille also has a strong libertarian streak ("not everyone can be a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere", anyone?)
UHF, the 1989 Weird Al movie that runs like a very bent Horatio Alger tale with no State interference whatsoever. Noteable for including Michael Richards and Fran Drescher before they were famous, and a brief cameo appearance by Dr. Demento. Preferably watched near midnight with at least five friends and a selection of drinks containing either caffeine or alcohol (or go for broke and serve spiked coffee).
The Aviator, Day Without a Mexican, V for Vendetta, The Power of One, A Man for All Seasons, The Wall, Doctor Zhivago....
How about Cool Hand Luke.
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
"Lonely are the Brave" with Kirk Douglas.
And what about some of the other classic Westerns, like "Shane" or "High Noon" that extol the virtues of private property, self-defense, personal responsibility, etc.?
A second vote for Serenity--all the plot threads follow how a powerful state with good intentions does evil. It's not just appropriate, it should be the headliner for a libertarian movie night.
For more Andrews and Garner:
Victor/Victoria
Forgive me my ignorance, but how is The Incredibles libertarian? Randian perhaps, but where is the government coercion / lack of liberty within that movie? The only government actor I remember is the old handler that moves the protagonist from job to job in order to maintain his secret identity. Although there is also the judiciary backing up the trial lawyers that drive the heroes into the underground.
There was an underlying critique of egalitarianism, but that isn't the same thing as statism, necessarily. Right?
Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier is delightfully campy and cheesy, but it showcases a man who sacrificed his political career to fight Andrew Jackson's vicious Indian Removal Act that led to the Trail of Tears and who gave his life fighting for Texan independence. It is also remarkably un-PC.
Harry's War is a perennial favorite. I'd also nominate any movie which demonstrates the futility of the drug war (Traffic) or the corruption it engenders (American Gangster, Serpico)
Duck Soup, Animal Crackers, Night at the Opera, Yojimbo, Iron Giant
What is it about Cool Hand Luke?
Did he deserve to be in jail?
I know it isn't a movie, but The Wire is the most anti-drug war of any show I've ever seen.
"Red Dawn" gets my vote for its portrayal of totalitarianism, the horrors of war, and the the way it celebrates the virtues of citizen soldiers.
I'm with Brian 2: Serenity should be the headliner on Libertarian Night. Much as I love The Incredibles (I think it's the best Pixar film, and that's *saying* something), the latter is more a critique of society than of government specifically. We should throw in a recommendation for those who *think* they know what libertarians are all about: Cheech & Chong's "Up In Smoke."
You've Got Mail celebrates the value of competition, so while it might not be libertarian per se it promotes a worldview consistent with libertarianism.
Paint Your Wagon
How can you not love a Lee Marvin/Clint Eastwood musical?
The only movie the late great Richard Widmark ever produced and directed: The Secret Ways
After Soviet tanks crush the Hungarian uprising, soldier-of-fortune Mike Reynolds is hired to help a threatened Hungarian scientist (Prof. Jansci) escape from Budapest. He and Julia, the professor's daughter, cross the boulder posing as journalists, but they encounter a problem. The staunch freedom fighter doesn't want to go.
What about "Dances With Wolves"? No, don't laugh. It's all about a noble minority whose way of life is crushed by the cruel and witless hand of the state.
"Scent of a Woman" distilled my distrust of educational institutions, which directly grew into distrust of my local government, which then expanded to encompass government generally. Maybe that's just me though.
Pump Up The Volume
A Boy and His Dog
Lord of the Flies
Jackass, the Movie
BASEketball
Birth of a Nation
Aynl Action 23
WALL STREET
Just Kidding. But seriously, one film, which while it does contain the obligatory idealism and what not for Christmas fare is delightfully subversive compared to the collectivist romp, "It's a Wonderful Life".
Miracle on 34th Street uses the premise that the quest for profit ultimately leads Macy and Gimbell to give customer referrals when they see that such practice by Kris Kringle leads to customer loyalty. A bidding war ensues as to which store can be more generous in their honesty to consumers, and this eventually leads to, of all things, a de facto merger, smiled over by Santa Claus himself (though not the FTC, I'm sure). In the end also, Kringle gets off by mode of the courts and the navigation of legal technicalities as well as a lawyer's manipulation of his public servants' ultimately being beholden to the whims of the people and their fancy.
OOOOOOH!
The Inner Circle.
Tom Hulce plays Stalins private film projectionist. Made right after the fall of the Soviet Union, and very underappreciated.
The Lives of Others
Serenity
V for Vendetta
The Lost City
Brazil
The Lives of Others
Serenity
V for Vendetta
The Lost City
Brazil
Lord of the Flies strikes me as being a fairly anti-libertarian film, actually.
For all the accusations of Liberal Statism, Hollywood is rife with anti-governmental themes:
Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind (the government manufactures a fake catastrophe to monopolize information and access to the greatest discovery in human history; intrepid everymen overcome all obstacles to participate)
The Abyss (government militarism, meddling and cooption of private sector resources almost brings ruin to mankind)
Wag the Dog (IMDB.com: "Before elections, a spin-doctor and a Hollywood producer join efforts to "fabricate" a war in order to cover-up a presidential sex scandal." Must-see movie for all Clinton-bashers; gave us the "wag the dog! wag the dog!" slogan throughout the Lewinsky scandal and impeachment)
Babylon 5 episode 203 "The Geometry of Shadows" (enigmatic "technomages" pass through the station on a mysterious journey; it is revealed that in fact they are very Randian in outlook.)
The Road Warrior (realistic portrayal of libertarian Heaven on Earth)
This weekend it would be fitting to have a Charlton Heston night:
Planet of the Apes
The Omega Man
Soylent Green
The Agony and the Ecstasy
Anything here ought to be in the "libertarian" movie-goer's wheelhouse.
Giant w Rock Hudson, James Dean young kid get rich
in spite of opposition
Ratatouille - rat finds fame and fortune
The Wheeler Dealers - James Garner which reveals the secret to getting rich legally
The Professional - Natalie Portman - a young girl becomes apprentice to a successful entrepreneur
Ahem:
Idiocracy.
Seriously: It's one of the best critiques of central planning and regulatory capture on film.
Sounds like we have the entire Brad Bird canon represented. Shall we just go ahead and add his upcoming 1906 to the list too?
From IMDB:
The day before the great San Francisco
Earthquake, anti-graft crusaders were about to arrest the entire city administration in the greatest corruption probe in history, launched in President Roosevelt's office. Under the cover of the ensuing fire and chaos, corrupt officials struck back at their enemies. Incompetence and corruption only fed the disaster: the army shot dozens of innocent people as suspected looters, and used dynamite in an attempt to blast fire breaks, which started hundreds of other fires. More than 28,000 buildings burned, still the nation's largest disaster. Music by the tenor Enrico Caruso, who sang at San Francisco's opera house just hours befor the earthquake tore a 300 mile path through Northern California.
Serenity is a wonderfully entertaining movie with a strong libertarian message. My one reservation is that it helps an awful lot if you've seen at least some Firefly episodes (sadly, there are only about fifteen of them) first. It's still enjoyable if you haven't, but you'll miss a lot of little nuances. If you showed the pilot (which is also called "Serenity", and is available as part of the series DVD set) along with the movie as a double-feature, that would probably be a good compromise solution.
Michael: There was an underlying critique of egalitarianism, but that isn't the same thing as statism, necessarily. Right?
Right, but it's close enough for this purpose.
While this isn't exactly libertarian, "Thank you for Smoking's" portrayal of individual liberty and business is strikingly at odds with most of what you'll see in film.
And its hilarious, and well-done, and beautiful!
Also:
Being There
Chance's vaguely Hayekian mumblings about gardens and organic growth stops a president from taking "emergency powers" over the economy. At the time, the speeches by the big bad dying businessman probably sent chills down the spine of the audience. Today, a lot of us here would respond "Hell, yeah."
And I nth the motion: Serenity. And second the motion for a Serenity/Serenity double feature.
might try "'Breaker' Morant"
http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~pyle/pla4020/Breaker.html
Michael B.: In the first half of The Incredibles, the state uses its coercive power to stop the elite few from doing what they love and do best. The Judiciary branch is also the state.
I should add Casablanca and Errol Flynn's Robin Hood.
"The Mouse that Roared" with Peter Sellers.
Tucker
Regulation thwarts a brash automotive innovator from entering a market dominated by the Big Three cartel.
I agree with the earlier poster who mentioned "The Conversation," Francis Coppola's thriller about surveillance and privacy.
I would also add Milos Forman's "Fireman's Ball" and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."
A lot of good suggestions, such as Serenity, Brazil and V for Vendetta. And you *must* see the Castle and the fight against imminent domain. it's my Aussie inlaws' favorite.
I would probably add Braveheart. Waco: Rules of Engagement, Fahrenheit 451 (*not* 911), Casablanca.
All kidding aside, George Lucas's THX 1138 is a great movie and definitely one that would be appreciated by libertarians.
"V for Vendetta" is an obvious choice, followed by "Red Dawn" and "Brazil."
I'd also throw in "Death Wish" with Charles Bronson as a modern day vigilante, "They Live," and a rather obscure "Amerika," a 8 hour ABC miniseries from the late 80s about a Soviet dominated America and how a former presidential candidate who spent 10 years in an American gulag is able to start up an uprising against the Soviets (and no, this isn't just a rehash of "Red Dawn.")
The Last of the Mohicans, particularly in its portrayal of citizen militias.
Gattaca
The "Prometheus Awards" for libertarian Science Fiction gives "special awards", which sometimes go to films. "Serenity" and "V for Vendetta" were two films they gave awards to.
http://www.lfs.org/awards.htm
Outside SF I would guess that "Thank You For Smoking" is somewhat libertarian, but I've not actually seen it.
Somewhat relational to "Serenity", via its parent show "Firefly", I would think some of the great pioneer/Western films lean libertarian.
My two top choices would be "Quisling: Portrait of a Hero" and excerpts from BigBlueMarble (U.N.-sponsored propaganda for kids).
Maybe someone could sneak one of these in to the next festival:
youtube.com/watch?v=GIW-BZ8oLrk
youtube.com/watch?v=SiMiMuMqXrE
youtube.com/watch?v=t3vdz-V7yoc
What sort of movies scream "give me liberty or give me death"?
"The Sea Inside". Actually more like "give me liberty AND give me death".
Open Range
Gattaca
Master and Commander
Pleasantville
Serenity
V for Vendetta
Brazil. Blows all others away in depiction and style. Harrowing and hilarious at the same time, not heavy handed like other scifi dystopian flicks.
A lesser known 70s Charles Bronson action movie called Mr. Majestyk, is a pretty strong contender. About a melon farmer trying to mind his business without hassle from the local smalltime thugs, while getting mixed up with a mob hitman, with law enforcement full of good intentions but ineffective at best. Bronson does a little better than his usual one dimensional archetype in this one.
A similar, if somewhat darker movie is Straw Dogs. Though I find it surprisingly brutal even by today's standards. Actually several of Sam Peckinpah's movies could fall into the "give me liberty or give me death" theme.
I know, I know, this isn't a movie, but -- just to kick off the festivities -- how about a reading of Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron"? It's only a few pages, and makes a nice thematic preface to something like "The Incredibles."
And yes, a Serenity/Serenity double feature ("I'm going to show you a world without sin") is a great idea.
I would like to note that in "Gattaca", there is absolutely nothing illegal about having non-genetically-enhanced children. The rigid control over procreation in that movie is entirely enforced through class privilege, private hiring discrimination, and insurance premiums. I would think that the libertarian perspective in "Gattaca" would be that private corporations should be free to decide who can or cannot pilot their rockets on any rational basis, including that of genetic fitness, since after all they are the ones who are risking their spacecraft.
I find it strangely amusing that the thing that libertarians like about "The Incredibles" is the plot point that is the only annoying thing in what is otherwise one of my favorite movies -- the entire plot depends on the fact that the characters live in some kind of bizarro universe where you can sue someone for interfering with your attempted suicide. IIRC, all the supers were government-sanctioned, federal employees, and an act of Congress granting them civil immunity for damages caused in the lawful performance of their jobs would have eliminated the need for heroes to go underground entirely.
Personally, I've always felt that libertarians are much more likely to be super-villains than super-heroes, based both on philosophy and temperament. I mean, doesn't "Ayn Rand" just sound like a Bond villain?
Dawn of the Dead - I'm talking about the original here, not the remake. The first act of the movie is as strong a critique of New Deal liberalism, and there's the strong suggestion that the living dead overrun the world not despite the best efforts of the government, but as a direct result of those efforts.
For example, local militias get the problem under control in the Philadelphia projects. However, the state responds by sending police and the National Guard to forcibly move the inhabitants of the projects to supposedly secure rescue centers, which have become breeding grounds for the living dead.
Ultimately, the main characters choose to opt out of the whole fiasco and strike out on their own. The movie makes it clear that this is both a sensible and laudable choice.
Of course, Romero had enough balls to offer a critique of the movie's central argument. Gangs of marauders form as America collapses, and one such band causes a great deal of trouble for the plucky protagonists.
Libertarians may balk at this, as well as the film's critique of consumer capitalism, but that doesn't change the fact that Romero's sympathy to the main characters makes it a distinctly libertarian film.
Serenity - Probably the most overtly libertarian film to be released since the late 1960's. However, unlike most libertarian-themed science-fiction literature (especially Heinlein), the main characters are fully realized individuals instead of cartoonish adolescent fantasies.
The film is probably most notable for having been written by someone who admits that he's basically a run of the mill Liberal politically and would probably get into heated arguments with the film's lead protagonist. But nonetheless he does a wonderful job of articulating both the characters and the world they inhabit.
Serenity also has one of the most fully realized antagonists in any film that I've seen in years, which is saying something since most sci-fi films are written for adolescents and tend to be lacking in characterization, especially when it comes to villains.
"I've always felt that libertarians are much more likely to be super-villains than super-heroes" atalex
TR: Basically I agree. Although I think Randian villains would be easier than just generalized libertarians as Randians really are jerks. (At least I've yet to meet one who wasn't a jerk) Still anarchists of all stripes used to be the stock villains in many old stories and libertarianism borders on being a form of anarchism.
Still I think some people develop libertarian principles on good intentions and good faith. Also movies that appeal to libertarian sentiments will often appeal to the ones that are the most mainstream. Namely just a belief in generalized personal freedom and small government. Specific notions of ending the FDA or minimum wage laws aren't going to happen much. Lastly a film can be artistically good even if the philosophy behind it is troubling. That Chinese movie "Hero", although too slow, is in many ways quite beautiful. It's also one of the most unabashedly propagandistic films for authoritarian dictatorship I've ever seen.
A harder question than finding Hollywood films that are anti-government is finding Hollywood films that are pro-capitalism. And by pro-capitalism I don't mean that an individual businessman is the protagonist; I mean that business generally is celebrated. Or, to put it another way, how often are greedy businessmen the villains of movies? (Of course, nothing in libertarianism suggests that business owners can't be villainous, but it's the overall theme of the movies -- big business is bad, being too wealthy is bad (unless you're a philanthropist), competition is bad because it harms the little guy, etc. -- that's at issue. It's like the difference between showing a black criminal and portraying blacks as criminals.)
I'm amazed no one has yet mentioned Ghostbusters. the villain is paradigmatic screen uber-prick William Atherton as a buttinsky EPA bureaucrat.
There's also The Rocketeer, where the anti-Nazi heroes of the piece are a garage tinkerer and Howard Hughes.
And William Wyler's Dodsworth, where the main character is the up-from-nothing founder of a giant automobile company, which, mirable dictu, is portrayed as a good thing.
Blood Diamond (2006) - the movie has a very unlibertarian, tacked-on ending, which I found flimsy and lame. But the body of the film is strikingly Smithian. Three very different people in a very difficult situation all help one another and end up in better situations not out of altruism, but rather out of self-interest.
Also: The Barbarian Invasions (2003). The first half is a pretty amusing -- and savage -- take-down of Canadian socialized medicine. There are more libertarian themes/subjects later, too, but I don't want to give away the end.
What? No mention of "Stranger than Fiction," which features a character who refuses to pay the portion of her taxes that go to military spending?
Also, I'd throw in "Pursuit of Happyness," in which the government keeps getting in his way, and ultimately makes him homeless for a time.
I should also add that "Pursuit of Happyness" is not just anti-government, but also pro-business. None of the bosses are really portrayed as villains, and several are portrayed as people who were willing to give him a chance, not out of sympathy but because they saw how hard he was working for that chance.
I'll add another vote for Serenity and will add that it is best viewed at the end of a Firefly marathon.
I'm amazed nobody has mentioned Mosquito Coast, whose protagonist (Harrison Ford) actually is a libertarian.
"What is it about Cool Hand Luke?
Did he deserve to be in jail?"
Yes he deserved to be in jail. He got put there for cutting the heads off of parking meters.
On being asked why he said he "was just settling some old scores" or something like that.
The movie is clearly anti-authority and anti-establishment if not purely libertarian.
To me it is ultimately a story of a man refusing to be bent to anyone's will at any cost (including ultimately his own death). That seems pretty libertarian to me.
Another James Garner movie: Tank. Silly title but it's anti-drug war message combined with a strong "right to bear arms" subtext (in this case, the right to have a tank), makes it appropriately libertarian.
Not sure if anyone has mentioned it yet but Idiotocracy by Mike Judge was great.
I'm surprised no one mentioned "Demolition Man".
Just Kidding. But seriously, one film, which while it does contain the obligatory idealism and what not for Christmas fare is delightfully subversive compared to the collectivist romp, "It's a Wonderful Life".
I always surmised that libertarians must identify with Mr. Potter. It's good to have confirmation.
roac - I don't think many libertarians (or many people of any ideology) identify with Mr. Potter. Thinking "Its a Wonderful Life" is "a collectivist romp", hardly means you identify with Mr. Potter. If one thinks it is such a collectivist romp, its at least partially because any private businessman (except for very small business owners, and George Bailey) are presented in such a negative light, by making Potter their example. And the small businessmen apparently can only succeed with Potter's help, independently they are shown as being helpless.
Still I'm not quite sure I would personally call it a collectivist romp. It doesn't call for application of state power to collectivize anything.
Oopps - I meant Bailey's help, not Potters
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg...Perhaps the finest movie ever made!! Catherine Denuve at her luminous best!
But don't libertarians believe that selfishness is GOOD and altruism is BAD? so would they not naturally identify with the selfish character (Potter) and dislike the altruistic character (George Bailey)?
Obviously I am conflating libertarianism with Randism. If that is a fallacy, I await correction. But I do think that for the poster I quoted, altruism is equivalent to collectivism.
Despite all the declarations of Hollywood values, the extent that Hollywood is anti-anything is pretty much a function of what will sell. In some ways, Hollywood as an industry is pretty libertarian.
Braveheart was suggested as suitable viewing for Libertarian Movie Night. It is to laugh.
Da, Gibson does scream Freeeeeeedom, even if he delivers line better in Chicken Run. But really, Braveheart is patriotic epic of defense of motherland from foreigners that come to rape our women and mince about in crushed velvet. Is about collectivist virtues of people united shoulder to shoulder against invader, except for traitorous splittists who are justly liquidated through nighttime visit from patriotic security forces in necessary breaking of eggs to make omelets. Is about heroic guidance of Great Leader, who wisely inspires laboring class to use pointed sticks against decadent feudalists, a tactic they were unable to deduce for themelves because only Great Leader can think of such a thing. Is about revolutionary overthrow of foreign authoritarian overlord and replacement by Scottish authoritarian overlord, which is of course wonderful improvement. Is about putting inconvenient historical events down the memory hole. Is movie that could have been made by Eisenstein for Lochnessfilm if he had had color stock and less talent.
Barbarian Invasions, for its savage attack on Canada's socialized medicine, and an open-minded portrayal of the relationship between the son, a futures trader in London, and his father, a Quebecois left-wing intellectual.
And I am surprised noone mentioned Green Card.
Roac - Re:
Rand said selfishness is good. Not all libertarians are objectivists/Randians. Also I don't think Rand meant exactly the same thing as some people do when she talked about selfishness.
Since I'm not an objectivists, I'll let one of them speak on the issue of what Rand meant.
http://www.objectivistcenter.org/cth--406-FAQ_Virtue_Selfishness.aspx
brooksfoe said: "I would like to note that in "Gattaca", there is absolutely nothing illegal about having non-genetically-enhanced children. The rigid control over procreation in that movie is entirely enforced through class privilege, private hiring discrimination, and insurance premiums. I would think that the libertarian perspective in "Gattaca" would be that private corporations should be free to decide who can or cannot pilot their rockets on any rational basis, including that of genetic fitness, since after all they are the ones who are risking their spacecraft."
brooksfoe, you don't seem to understand or appreciate libertarianism. There is no substantive difference whether an action is undertaken by the state or a corporation. Both cases are examples of the coercive power of the collective being wielded. Whether that power is directed by an individual, a group, a large group, or even a majority of the community is irrelevant. Neither popularity nor money nor strength nor, especially, arbitrarily granted authority make right. Only right makes right. That, I think, is the essence of libertarianism.
Libertarians have no greater love for corporate power than they do for government power. However, government power is ultimately backed by the threat of violence, whereas corporate power tends not to be (thus the moderate preference in the minds of libertarians). Ultimately, in the perfect libertarian world the coercive power of the collective would be exercised exceedingly sparingly to not at all.
Gattaca is a perfect example of the individual fighting against the coercive power of the collective used unjustly, and is for this reason a very fitting libertarian movie.
"it's the overall theme of the movies -- big business is bad, being too wealthy is bad" David N
TR: I think in at least some cases it's more bigness than business that's being criticized. There's been several films where you are encouraged to root for a small business over a big business, but you're not necessarily supposed to root against profit-making altogether. And there are libertarian writers I've read that will do the same. They'll have situations where a big business is trying to coerce the small business or use unethical practices to harm people. It's not necessarily saying "big business is bad" so much as "big businesses can be bad." I think libertarians do believe big businesses can be punished if they actually were shown to be wildly dishonest in negotiations or willing to use violence against competitors. (Although maybe there is a "pro-Mafia Libertarianism" out there I don't know)
_Other People's Money_, for Danny Devito's buggy whip speech. How often do we get to see a corporate raider make an extended argument - a good argument - that a failing company should be allowed to die so its resources can be reallocated to better uses? (full speech is quoted here)