portland independent media center  
images audio video
newswire article commentary global

arts and culture | imperialism & war

Why Oliver Stone is a Putz

Kissing Commie butt, Stone weasels himself into the world's 2nd largest film market
So there's Oliver Stone, that "radical" American filmmaker infamous for the films "JFK", "Platoon", and that dumb yawner about the Twin Towers. He's being interviewed live in Beijing, China by CCTV's most notorious propaganda artist (posing as a journalist/anchorman) about his views. According to Stone, the Vietnam War was simply a case of the two countries trying to "reunite" as one. The brutality of the NVA, the corruption of the Diem regime when US involvement began, the grab for rubber and other resources by Japan and China- there are many reasons that war continued besides the usual jingoistic excuses. Blame Russia- they forced JFK to start up Vietnam to save face after the debacle of the Bay of Pigs and Russian nukes in Cuba. Stone says that every single conflict we've been involved in was nothing but pure capitalist evil to begin with on our part. I'll agree that Iraq was a Cheney/Bush/NWO scam from the start, but Afghanistan was invaded by Russia not too long ago. They started us down that road too. We organized "Al Qaeda" to stop them, just like we organized Cuban refugees to kill Castro and retake Cuba. And just like in Dealy Plaza, the rule of cause and effect played out again karmically on 911 as "Al Qaeda" attacked the USA with the full support of at least some crucial members of our own government and military riding shotgun, and the media cowered into submission through false patriotism. But 911 is one subject Stone deftly avoids in his China interview, although he made the ultimate wimp-out movie about the greatest American conspiracy of them all. Maybe he doesn't want to end up like Hunter S. Thompson, but I think he just likes to financially exploit these sort of blockbuster events. They have built-in PR and require little to brand them controversial since the very subject matter wriggles with built-in infamy already. The film "Platoon" is a case in point. From the point of view of a suburban college kid who 'volunteered' for Vietnam, it instantly had appeal to the majority of American filmgoers: Suburban kids. "That could have been me" they gasped as Charlie Sheen played a priestly sort of Dante in hell, running a silent dialogue with "Grandma". Designed to, well, make money. Anyway, Stone's performance on CCTV just reeked of ass-kissing, as if he were trying to worm his way into Chinese hearts by condemning virtually absolutely every move America has made since WWII. He condemned Japan for crimes committed over 70 years ago, called The Phillipines and South Korea fascist dictatorships that the US should just abandon, and generally ran down America to a guy who must be #1 on the CIA's list of Chinese media brainwashing specialists. He bragged about his apartment in Beijing and, I quote- how "much I love the Chinese people". The Chinese film market is now the second largest in the world after the USA. There are BILLIONS to be reaped in China selling them American films and this appears to be the only reason Stone is over there at all. His entire interview avoided any mention of international co-operation between the US and China. It focused on how detrimental America is to the rest of the world and how we are pretty much to blame for everything. CCTV should give him the Medal of Mao, but he's not a real communist and neither is the creepy, spinmeister interviewer. It's all an act- Stone still trying to pawn himself off as some known brand of revolutionary, when in reality he's just another plastic Hollywood hustler trying to remain viable in the new global marketplace by selling out to the highest bidder. It's really a sad thing because "JFK" really woke up the world while his "911" flick put it to sleep with a cheap patriotism that was no where to be seen in that CCTV "newsroom".