1. I'm tired of having to explain this, but The Dark Knight is not a conservative film. It's not a liberal film, either. It features both liberal and conservative themes.

Posted at 10:17PM on Feb 24th 2009 by Oliver

2. You know, it's a legitimate topic of debate to ask "do conservatives have a lock on themes of family, patriotism, etc?" But when you say, "....because I guess it is impossible for someone with Liberal political views to care about those things," then really, you're just stirring up shit.

Posted at 10:19PM on Feb 23rd 2009 by Cincinnati Mike

3. while i would say that Milk was a liberal film, thats because it was politically based. unless a film sets itself up to be political, i don't think you can really classify it in a political spectrum.

Posted at 10:30PM on Feb 23rd 2009 by Chase

4. Sadly, the recognition of the existence of Gay Conservatives is as of yet really far behind. That's why whenever an anti-gay rights posturer turns out to be gay, he's seen as a hypocrite.

Posted at 12:41PM on Feb 24th 2009 by Batzarro

5. I think Ghostbusters was a good inclusion - the answer to its question about "who you gonna call?" was not "the government" but "small businessmen"! Plus, as stated, the EPA was the bad guy, and they only become Ghostbusters after losing their Columbia grant money (which Venkman was wasting on trying to pick up women) etc

People may not have been thinking about Bush/Cheney when watching 300, but the film's huge sucess did (IMO) show that there was a huge audience for films about soldiers willingly fighting for freedom etc. Same with Braveheart. I am happy to bet that if an Iraq or Afghanistan war film was made showing highly trained volunteer soldiers fighting and dying for a cause they believe in, it would also do very well. Compare it to the films we have actually got (hello Redacted!) and their box office success.

Posted at 10:34PM on Feb 23rd 2009 by attila

6. But would such a movie really be called "conservative?" How is depicting soldiers fighting for a cause they believe in "conservative?"

Posted at 8:46AM on Feb 24th 2009 by john

7. I have to agree with John, what is "conservatrive" about a soldier fighting for what he believes in? One can surely say soldiers are, in a large part, Republicans, but that doesn't make the idea of a patriotic soldier "conservative." If you want to look at the political make-up of many recently elected Congressmen and women who are veterans, a goodly number of them are Democrats, many of them "liberal" in their polticial views. This belief that the patriotic soldier is somehow a "conservative" ideal has always been bogus.

As for the success of films that are the "ra ra" type of soldier films conservative supposedly love, one only has to look at the mediocre ratings of Generation Kill to see that the "politics" of the film has little to do with its success. Redacted was a bad film not because of its subject matter, which is important to many American soldiers and their families, but because it was just a bad film. Moreover, it would never have been the kind of film that would grab a large audience to begin with.

Posted at 1:09PM on Feb 24th 2009 by Jimmy

8. Milk was definitely a liberal film, but thats becuase it was a political film. i mean, v for vendetta was obviously a liberal film. but unless the core of a film is political, i don't think you can really classify it one way or another.

Posted at 10:33PM on Feb 23rd 2009 by Chase

9. The best, hands down. God, this was priceless.

"Brazil (1985): [...]The film is visually arresting and inventive, with especially evocative use of shots that put the audience in a subservient position, just like the people in the film. Terrorist bombings, national-security scares, universal police surveillance, bureaucratic arrogance, a callous elite, perversion of science, and government use of torture evoke the worst aspects of the modern megastate."

I laughed, I cried. I could take no more.

Posted at 11:39PM on Feb 23rd 2009 by kmh219

10. I am a conservative who loves movies. Let me set the record straight about something I'm tired of hearing:

Bush/Cheney is not our mascot.
Bush/Cheney is not our role model
Bush/Cheney is not the alpha and omega of conservatives

Those movies weren't picked by people because Bruce Wayne reminded them of Bush.

Also, I thought Milk was great (gasp!)

Posted at 12:47AM on Feb 24th 2009 by brian

11. I've argued for years that Bush is not a conservative...he's a moderate. No conservative would've increased spending on so many non-essential projects the way Bush did.

Hell, I haven't seen a real conservative run as GOP for years. Wonder where they went...

Posted at 10:16AM on Feb 24th 2009 by dukrous

12. People who think ' The Dark Knight ' reminds them of Bush are a buncha desperate bastards.

That did not win them the 2008 elections, and neither will that win them this argument.


Plus - I only realized this about now - but, mascot jingoism aside ( ' coz that's what the parrots are only capable of doing, anyway ), the very idea of a superhero is ANTITHETICAL to conservative values. Protecting the weak, saving the innocent, caring for the citizens, and pouring hard-earned resources for the common good ' ? Repugs won't fucking give a shit !

It's the Joker that resembles these brand of Rightist morons a lot more - the enterprising, cold, uncaring sort, with disdain for laws, and regulation, and through it all, is after absolutely nothing but psychological gratification.

Stop coopting things in your name, dorks. Yer done.

Posted at 2:35PM on Feb 24th 2009 by monstermac

13. Oh, and for all intents and purposes, George W. Bush is THE most ' conservative ' U.S. president in any possible way or manner you can put it - from Buckley to Friedmann to Reagan to Generalissimo Franco. And it showed. Man, did it.

Posted at 11:35PM on Feb 24th 2009 by monstermac

14. I disagree somewhat with the characterization of "Brazil" as conservative--which is not to say that I found it particularly liberal either. Maybe because it's a dystopian fable more than any kind of seated-in-the-real-world narrative. And who knows, maybe it is a conservative film, I just didn't read it that way. Also, I had never thought of "The Dark Knight" as having any political bent to it, although the argument makes sense.

I do think it's interesting that a number of the films on this list weren't so much conservative as they were anti-communist--which is as much as definer of the conservative movement as any specific morality. I wonder if those will still be considered conservative in twenty years.

And I think several of these involve some reading-into. "Blast from the Past" lampoons the paranoia of the Cold War as much as it celebrates the values of that era. "300" and "Lord of the Rings" are epic fantasy stories that include epic battles, and the fact that good guys are fighting bad guys does not automatically make them conservative (although, to be fair, Tolkien the man certainly was). Similarly "Juno" is not a pro-life movie, it simply is a movie about a girl who chose (and for those of you who weren't paying attention, the word I just used was "chose") to keep her baby.

But to extrapolate even further, the movies on this list that ARE great aren't made great by their politics, they're simply great. "The Incredibles" is golden, and that's because its story is not driven by politics but by character and plot. "Team America" was completely politically-driven, and it has not aged well (noteworthy: while it certainly roasted the Hollywood left, "America, Fuck Yeah" was, in fact, making fun of the right--nothing sacred with those hombres).

And, why not?--there are plenty of lousy liberal movies out there. "Crash" was pathetic and will not stand the test of time. "Milk", I think will.

Posted at 1:19AM on Feb 24th 2009 by Kurt

15. Why should it even be a topic of debate that both sides of the political spectrum should care about family, etc.?

I think it's insulting that the National Review would suppose that those values make something more valuable to conservative audiences, hinting that those who are liberal don't value those topics as much as conservatives do. Liberals are generally against war violence, does that instantly mean that all conservatives love it? No, in fact conservatives and liberals can like the same kinds of movies. I think the list is created by and geared toward those who think films which don't have family values and tradition are created for liberals.

I apologize if I blew your comment out of proportion, I just disagree with whomever opted to title the list "The Best Conservative Movies." I happen to agree with Jessica when she says that movies aren't either liberal or conservative, because to me people are people and to generalize and select movies, deeming them appropriate for a certain very specific political group, is just a tad offensive to me.

Perhaps the title of the article should have been "Great Movies That Offer Compelling Messages About Freedom, Families, Patriotism, Traditions, And More" - or something to that effect ;)

Posted at 1:32AM on Feb 24th 2009 by Wendy

16. no, not batman

Posted at 2:33AM on Feb 24th 2009 by joey

17. This kind of thing really confuses me about America.

Are the views of 'the left' & 'the right' really so black & white? Of course they aren't.

In politics, everything has an agenda, and this is no exception. It's a list that's trying to cover all the things that are 'good' & 'right' about the Conservative agenda, whilst blatently ignoring the fact that being Liberal doesn't disclude agreeing with a large part of those 'good' & 'right' things.

I live in the UK & the lines between the political parties weave & turn every week so to say I'm a 'Tory' or 'Labour' or even 'Liberal' would be pretty useless.

I know that by election day everyone has to tick one box, but life isn't as black & white as the politicians & news shows like us to believe & their existence depends on moralistic conflict.

Oh, and I agree about that Brazil quote being a bit too ironic.

Posted at 2:41AM on Feb 24th 2009 by LordPaul

18. Wow....

So the writers of that article pretty much missed the entire point of about half those movies. To name a few, there is Team America, Juno, Gran Torino, and Forrest Gump. Also, to a certain extent, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Lives of Others, The Incredibles, The Pursuit of Happyness, The Dark Knight, and United 93. And those are only the movies I've seen.

Oh yeah, and a lot of the "also-rans" are ridiculous too. Knocked Up? Thank You For Smoking? Serenity? The Truman Show? Were we watching the same movies?

Posted at 2:48AM on Feb 24th 2009 by Greg

19. Great little piece, Jessica. Good job.

And by piece I mean article. Ugh, I just got slapped with a harrassment suit, didn't I?

Posted at 5:30AM on Feb 24th 2009 by Scott Weinberg

20. My sister would be thrilled at the inclusion of "The Incredibles," whose conservative themes thrilled her. (Great film!)

I myself am glad "Gattaca" was included. It is such an underrated film with with an extraordinarily relevant plot.

Posted at 8:41AM on Feb 24th 2009 by Meredith