Thought Hollywood was crazy? It’s about to get crazier
July 28, 2021
Democratic socialism has taken root in many areas of American life – from the halls of congress to college campuses. Hollywood is no exception. The Hollywood Reporter recently covered the growing movement of Democratic socialism in the entertainment industry, writing:
“In the past few years, a new wave of Hollywood leftists seeking transformational change has been growing in number at the Los Angeles chapter of [the Democratic Socialists of America]. These entertainment workers believe the industry’s entrenched style of corporate neoliberalism, with industry moguls wielding outsize political power and the glorification of young artists living on little while attempting to achieve their dreams, needs structural recasting, not to mention a narrative correction.”
Hollywood is a union town and guild status is not only reserved for the top brass, like actors, writers, and directors. Almost every person who works on a film set is in a union, from production accountants to art directors to script supervisors, and so on. Even some lower-level assistant positions are unionized. California is not a right-to-work state, so many people who get a job in the industry are forced to join some type of union, whether they like it or not.
There is a strong cross-pollination between the DSA and Hollywood’s biggest unions, like IATSE Local 871, which is home to many of these lower-level Hollywood workers. This “new wave of Hollywood leftists” that the Hollywood Reporter article cited are often recent college graduates and newcomers to the entertainment industry – the precise people who begin working in the industry as assistants. They’re also much warmer to the idea of socialism and are often the same ones pushing to have more and more industry positions unionized:
“Another popular talking point for [DSA] members: how Hollywood’s much-touted diversity efforts ring hollow when early-career industry salaries remain so low, a point IATSE members (and particularly those in Local 871, which represents writers’ assistants and script coordinators and has members in DSA-LA) are making with their #IALivingWage campaign.”
The entertainment industry has long been accused of pushing left-wing talking points in its films and TV shows. Just recently, Marie Claire magazine published an article titled, “We Need to See More Parents Having Abortions in Film and Television.” Apparently, the abortion storylines on popular shows like Parenthood, Scandal, and GLOW don’t go far enough for activists. Their calls are not falling on deaf ears, however. Far from it.
With young, passionate Democrat Socialists of America climbing the ranks and gaining steam within the industry, it’s safe to assume that the trend of Hollywood churning out ever-more radical leftist storylines is not only going to continue, in fact going to get much worse.