Jodie Foster coming out

So…Jodie Foster coming out of the closet today gives me a perfect opportunity to talk about why I think that Hollywood’s only real agenda is making money. A couple of my attitudes and observations first:
1) Arts communities typically have more gays, or at least more openly gay people.
2) Hollywood is no different. They’re all over the place, in positions to hire, fire, make movies—all up and down the decision chains.
3) There are virtually no demonstratively gay MALE relationships in movies, in relation to their statistical presence either in America in general, or Hollywood in particular.
4) Female homosexuality is more tolerated than male. In fact, men love fantasizing about lesbians much more often than straight women seem to fantasize about two gay men being together.
5) Far more female actors and singers have “come out” than male.
6) Male stars who HAVE come out, like Rupert Everett, report that it has absolutely damaged their careers.
7) In a climate in which a major Presidential candidate can say that gay marriage “will destroy America” (Mike Huckabee) it is perfectly reasonable to assume that there is a very strong anti-gay sentiment. If someone said “black intermarriage with whites will destroy America” it would be absurd to think they had no negative feelings about blacks.
8) Most people will say that a movie star’s sexual orientation doesn’t matter. Like most will say that they treat and feel about all people equally, regardless of race.
9) Studies of UNCONSCIOUS racial attitudes reveal a much different picture: the 80% negative response, the lack of black male sexual images in blockbusters, the Amygdalic response to the “other.” And the perception of gay stars that if they “come out” it will damage their careers.
10) If Hollywood is driven by political agenda, and gays are disproportionately present in Hollywood, why wouldn’t they present themselves as sexual beings in mainstream movies? Why don’t gay male stars come out?

Easy. They don’t because the primary dictate of Hollywood is to make money. They aren’t being stopped by ‘the establishment.” Hell, in many cases they ARE the establishment. They don’t do it because they want to keep their BMWs and swimming pools. I can promise you that there are HIGH level producers who can get any movie they want made, who are gay, and won’t put those images on the screen. That is nothing but financial savvy. That is not their agenda, and what they put on the screen is MORE conservative than the actual statistical representation…because the risk of an audience NOT coming is more frightening than the risk of “not representing an underrepresented minority.” Even if it’s them.

Hollywood has no identity, no ethics, no morality or politics…any more than Detroit, New York, or Memphis does. Human beings have these things. Corporations have one major thing—the urge to make money. That’s it. Try to motivate a corporation on any other basis, and you’re screaming at the wind.