Why
is Oliver Stone Making a Second Movie About George W. Bush?
If
you have the HBO/Cinemax package, you’ve no doubt noticed the Oliver
Stone marathon going on. Seems like they’re showing JFK, Alexander,
and Natural Born Killers on an endless loop. Stone
announced last week that his next project would be a bio of the current
president. Why the remake?
I mean,
I saw the original. It was called Alexander. It starred a bunch of Celtic
actors portraying Greek warriors who spoke with heavy Scottish brogues.
Before I
get ahead of myself, I should note that I have a contrarian view of who
Oliver Stone is. While most people view Stone as a Hollywood liberal,
I find no evidence that this is true. His glorification of violence, power
and war are easily seen and his choice of films betrays his bias; Conan,
Nixon, Talk Radio, Wall Street. I even hear he wants to make a film of
Ayn Rand’s Fountainhead.
The worst
of all, however, was Stone’s movie, JFK. Anybody who wants to know
what theory Stone really believes only needs to watch the first five minutes
of the movie. Here’s a link to a
clip which gives away Stone’s real beliefs. The rest of the movie
is just right-wing conspiracy theories to confuse the issue mixed in with
lies and pornographic images of the assassinated president.
I wrote
an
article on how the John Birch Society was behind most of the assassination
theories if you’re interested.
Back to
the subject at hand. Why is Stone intent on making another movie about
“the most powerful figure in the world” (his words) portrayed
by an actor with “the same drive and charisma” as Bush? It seems
redundant. The movie Alexander was his salute to Bush.
Stone views
Bush as the modern incarnation of Alexander the Great, the man who came
closer than anybody to conquering the world. Follow the story of Alexander
and you will understand Bush’s motivativations and aspirations.
Alexander’s
empire was based on individual freedom and the spreading of democracy.
He is best known for his invasion of Babylon, modern-day Iraq, and his
victories over the Persians, modern-day Iran.
The Greeks
hated the Persians who burned Athens to the ground. They had battled them
at Marathon and were under constant threat of attack. The Greeks dreamed
of conquering Asia and extracting their revenge. Alexander was the man
who carried out the dream. Like Bush, Alexander felt he was chosen by
God and could do no wrong. The parallels are unnerving.
If this
is a simplistic view of history, remember that Bush has a simplistic view
of history. The mystery number 322 is meaningful to Bush because 323 B.C.
was when Alexander died. 322 represents the start of a new Empire, the
American Empire, which will be grander than anything Alexander could imagine.
Some have
said that Stone distorts history, but if you look carefully, you’ll
see that he is accurately depicting events. Why he disguises his views
and spreads misinformation is a question only he can answer.
With this
in mind, watch Bush’s State of the Union. Watch to see what he says
about Persia. Don’t be surprised if has his mind set on trying to
make history once again.
This article
was first
published on the Daily Kos on Mon Jan 28, 2008
Aaron
Dahl
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