Off Topic — HabitableZone

Off Topic » in reply to The Archie Bunker character was a simple minded bigot...

OK, how would you create an acceptable Conservative character?
Robert — (archived)

I think the pragmatic reasons you don't see as many Conservative characters as Liberals coming out of Hollywood is that it seems impossible to satisfy the Right. Hollywood's gotten consistently burned when it tried for a nuanced portrayal of Conservatives as human beings. Remember the Reagan docudrama a couple of years ago? Republicans actually managed to prevent it from ever being aired, because (reportedly, because few people, including Conservative critics, have ever actually seen it) it portrayed Reagan as a human, with both strengths and flaws, rather than the one-dimensional action figure that Republicans would prefer as the Reagan Mythology. The Conservative-as-human meets derision from Conservatives who consider such things the exclusive wussy province of Liberals.

On the other hand, when Hollywood portrays a Conservative as one-dimensional and absolutist--the kind of person who uses simplistic absolutisms such as "stay the course", "yer either with us or yer with the terrorrists", and "mission accomplished!"--Conservatives are just as offended...even though that's generally the kind of politician they elect.

So, Larry, show Hollywood how it should be done. What would an acceptable fictional Conservative look like?

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