Posted: 02/20/07

Five-YEAR POLITICAL STUDY OF MOVIES

Moviegoers Prefer Conservative, Patriotic, Moral Movies

A new five-year study of the top 250 to 300 movies released by Hollywood each year in North America shows that moviegoers prefer conservative, patriotic, pro-American movies with traditional, Judeo-Christian values rather than movies pushing a left-wing, anti-capitalist, socialist, atheist, or homosexual agenda.

"Movies with very strong Judeo-Christian values, or capitalist ideals, patriotism and Pro-American attitudes, do much better at the box office than movies promoting socialism, Marxism, radical feminism, left-wing political correctness, atheism, and homosexuality," says Dr. Ted Baehr, publisher of MOVIEGUIDE®:  A Family Guide to Movies and Entertainment and chairman of the Christian Film & Television Commission™ ministry, a Christian advocacy group in Hollywood.

For example, movies in 2006 with very strong Judeo-Christian values, strong pro-capitalist content, and/or pro-American or patriotic attitudes, such as CARS, THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS, ROCKY BALBOA, THE PINK PANTHER, SUPERMAN RETURNS, MISSION:  IMPOSSIBLE III, FACING THE GIANTS, THE NATIVITY STORY, LOVE'S ABIDING JOY, LASSIE, WORLD TRADE CENTER, CHARLOTTE'S WEB, UNITED 93, and SOPHIE SCHOLL, earned far more money per movie than movies with politically correct, socialist, Marxist, Anti-American, strong anti-capitalist, and/or very strong atheist, feminist, or homosexual content, such as TALLADEGA NIGHTS, BORAT, SCARY MOVIE 4, V FOR VENDETTA, THE ANT BULLY, ANOTHER GAY MOVIE, AN INCONVENTIENT TRUTH, CLERKS II, THE NIGHT LISTENER, SLITHER, HALF NELSON, WHY WE FIGHT, AL FRANKEN:  AND GOD SPOKE, SWEET LAND, FAST FOOD NATION, LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA, THE GOOD GERMAN, EDMOND, CSA, and MAN OF THE YEAR.

MOVIEGUIDE® will release the full details of its 2007 Annual Report to the Entertainment Industry, which includes figures on Christian content, pagan worldview, occult content, environmentalist content, anti-Christian content, MPAA ratings, as well as box office averages on the amount of foul language, sex, nudity, violence, and substance abuse, in 2006 movies, at its 15^th Annual Faith & Values Awards Gala, Feb. 20 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif.

MOVIEGUIDE® is dedicated to redeeming the values of the entertainment industry by influencing industry executives and informing the public about the influence of the entertainment media.

For more information about Movieguide® and the Awards Gala, please visit www.movieguide.org and www.movieguideawards.com or call 1-800-577-6684.

To arrange a personal interview with Dr. Ted Baehr, , please contact Joe Turman at Shirley & Banister Public Affairs at 703-739-5920 or jturman@sbpublicaffairs.com.

Political Content Charts, 2002-2006

2006 Movie Content

Number of Movies Analyzed -- 300

* MOVIEGUIDE® believes that the basic moral principles in both the New Testament and the Hebrew Scriptures are the same, though individual Bible-believing Jews and Christians, or individual churches and synagogues, may differ greatly on the issue of morality in the past, now or in the future due to non-biblical influences. The term Judeo-Christian Morality refers to MOVIEGUIDE®'s traditional understanding of what the Bible teaches, morally speaking.

2005 Movie Content

Number of Movies Analyzed -- 268

2004 Movie Content

Number of Movies Analyzed -- 282

2003 Movie Content

Number of Movies Analyzed -- 279

2002 Movie Content

Number of Movies Analyzed -- 299

For examples of 2005 movies with positive, more conservative, patriotic, pro-American movies, please see such movies as BATMAN BEGINS, THE GREAT RAID, THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE, CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, CHICKEN LITTLE, MADAGASCAR, THE ISLAND, THE LEGEND OF ZORRO, CINERELLA MAN, VALIANT, BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE, THE PACIFIER, PRIDE & PREJUDICE, and SKY HIGH. These movies made significantly more money on average in 2005 than left-wing oriented movies like SYRIANA, GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, KING KONG, BREAKFAST ON PLUTO, TRANSAMERICA, CASANOVA, THE CONSTANT GARDENER, MATCH POINT, XXX: STATE OF THE UNION, MR. AND MRS. SMITH, NORTH COUNTRY, THE FAMILY STONE, DEAR WENDY, RENT, and THE NEW WORLD.

In fact, in 2005, 100 percent of the Top 25 Movies at the Box Office in North America had no communist, socialist or Anti-American content in them, only 20 percent had any politically correct content whatsoever, only eight percent had any feminist content in them (despite for the hype over the feminist movie NORTH COUNTRY), only 12 percent had any homosexual content whatsoever (despite the hype over BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN), and none of them had any very strong atheist content in them. Yet, 56 percent of the Top 25 in 2005, and 80 percent of the Top 10, had conservative, patriotic, pro-American content with strong or very strong traditional, Judeo-Christian values. By the way, only 20 percent of the Top 10 received an abhorrent rating from MOVIEGUIDE®.

For examples of 2004 movies, conservative, patriotic, pro-American movies with traditional, Judeo-Christian values included such movies as THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST, THE INCREDIBLES, NATIONAL TREASURE, AMERICA'S HEART AND SOUL, SPIDER-MAN 2, THE AVIATOR, HOME ON THE RANGE, and IN THE FACE OF EVIL: REAGAN'S WAR IN WORD AND DEED. Movies promoting socialism, communism, radical feminism, left-wing political correctness, atheism, and homosexuality included such movies as THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW, FAHRENHEIT 9/11, KINSEY, THE CORPORATION, A DAY WITHOUT A MEXICAN, TYING THE KNOT, THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES, SUPER-SIZE ME, VERA DRAKE, SAVED!, THE HUNTING OF THE PRESIDENT, and Spike Lee's SHE HATE ME, which averaged much less money at the box office than the more conservative, patriotic movies.

For examples of 2003 movies, we believe that SEABISCUIT had a strong positive portrayal of a capitalist, the Jeff Bridges character, despite a couple brief, minor instances where we felt the movie supported a "socialist" perspective of the policies of the New Deal. Movies with very strong moral content include such big movies as FINDING NEMO and RETURN OF THE KING as well as very small movies such as THE GUYS and LUTHER. Movies with very strong atheist or humanist content include such movies as SWIMMING POOL and THE STATEMENT. Movies with anti-capitalist content or negative portrayals of a capitalist include PAYCHECK, THE LAST SAMURAI, and TUPAC: RESURRECTION. Movies with anti-patriotic or Anti-American content include THE LAST SAMURAI, BEYOND BORDERS, THE HULK, and BUFFALO SOLDIERS, while patriotic or pro-American movies include MASTER AND COMMANDER, TEARS OF THE SUN, SPELLBOUND, and THE BATTLE OF SHAKER HEIGHTS. Movies with politically correct content include such things as BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM, BOAT TRIP, HEAD OF STATE, RUNAWAY JURY, MONA LISA SMILE, THE TRIP, and MARCI X.

The movies analyzed in 2002 with positive, pro-capitalist content include SPIDER-MAN, MINORITY REPORT, MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING, THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES, LILO & STITCH, and SPY KIDS 2. Patriotic, pro-American movies during that year are HART'S WAR, WE WERE SOLDIERS, XXX, and THE SUM OF ALL FEARS. Negative movies analyzed in 2002 include BOWLING FOR CULOMBINE, THE HOURS, GANGS OF NEW YORK, FAR FROM HEAVEN, ADAPTATION, THE BANGER SISTERS, and NOTORIOUS C.H.O.

Our focus is on religion, morality, and philosophy, not politics or economics or patriotism, so the statistical comparisons reported herein are striking. They clearly prove our point that, if a filmmaker or studio wants to be successful at theaters in North America, he or she should film a story with pro-capitalist, patriotic, and pro-American content reflecting very strong traditional moral values reflecting a biblical worldview. Radical, left-wing politics, atheist humanism, and strong homosexual content offend and annoy the average moviegoer.

By Ted Baehr Click here for bio and archived articles