Movie Viewing Habits Of Conservatives and Pornography

The  major issues separating left and right are largely cultural, with liberals generally supporting individual liberty and diversity of thought  while conservatives, with all their phoney talk of supporting limited government, tend to want to impose their views and values upon others. It comes as no surprise that liberals and conservatives have different opinions of movies. Politico summarizes some of the major differences discussed in poll conducted for The Hollywood Reporter:

Also looking at the general moviegoing tendencies of both parties, the poll found that Democrats go to the movies more often, like their movies with an edge and think that Hollywood portrays America well. Republicans are more likely to wait for the home movie release, prefer family films and are more likely to “tsk-tsk sex, violence and cursing.”

The Hollywood Reporter  pointed out that Republicans and Tea Party supporters are likely to base their movie going decisions on the political views of celebrities, pointing out how Morgan Freeman’s recent comments about the Tea Party and racism affected their view of Dolphin Tale. They found that ” 35 percent of Republicans and 45 percent of Tea Partiers consider a celebrity’s political position before paying to see their films, compared with 20 percent of Democrats.'” It comes as no surprise that liberals are more likely to be willing to view the work of those they don’t agree with.

The poll also found that conservatives are less likely to go to the movie theater due to Hollywood’s reputation for promoting liberal views. Republicans are less likely to want to pay to see a movie in the theater which might assault their views, and therefore they will wait to watch at home.

While this poll shows conservatives as objecting to sex in movies, consistent with their desire to regulate the lives of others, there might be another aspect to their preference to watch movies at home. Back in 2009 a study of credit card receipts showed that Republican areas are higher consumers of pornography. Such hypocrisy from conservatives hardly comes as a surprise.

3 Comments

  1. 1
    Jim Z. says:

    Mel Gibson politically and culturally to me is a sack of mud, but I have enjoyed some of his films, incl. Braveheart, What Women Want, and Apocalypto (I didn’t see “Passion”).  Too bad such talent is welded to such extreme world views.

  2. 2
    Ron Chusid says:

    Mel Gibson is also a special case. I’d be more likely to avoid something of his due to his antisemitism while in general I don’t pay attention to the political views or actors or producers when choosing a movie. 

  3. 3
    John Sonntag says:

    RT @ronchusid: Movie Viewing Habits Of Conservatives and Pornography #p2 #p21 #topprog http://t.co/Iph6Jxrv Now why did I know this?

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