Sure, call me Graham. Reminds me of Manhunter.

And thank you.

Moneyball is all about bucking conventional trends, rejecting the things baseball scouts hold dear, and trying something bold and new. It's about adapting -- progressing, if you will. So in this sense, it's not about revering traditional values. But I wouldn't label it political.

Political correctness can be succinctly defined as 'aiming not to offend.' Feminism - "equal rights for women." So in this very narrow sense, I'd have a hard finding fault with either ideas and their presence in movies.

Generally speaking, R rated movies will make less money than PG-13 movies because then kids can go see it. There's countless examples of a director being contractually obligated to turn in a PG-13 rated movie because it means an extra 20-30 million.

I can understand using 'Conservative Film' as shorthand, but my point on the Muppets is they aren't politicizing their material. I can understand feeling sucker-punched by certain agendas, but when someone make the claim that the Muppets are declaring class-warfare, he/she sounds like a nut. The main villain is supposed a comment on cliched villains. His name is 'Tex Richman.' When he laughs, he says, 'maniacal laughter.' This isn't an attack on capitalism.

Tree of Life is a two and a half hour retelling of The Book of Job as seen through the prism of Middle America. You might enjoy it.

part 2:

“Nominees for best movie for family audiences are… The Muppets”

So here is the mention of the Muppet movie, infamously described by Fox News as belonging in ‘Communist China’ (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/fox-business-network-calls-muppets-269706)

This site cited this initially here: http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2011/1...

“What a beautiful time to be alive”, the author wrote, “at least if you’re not trying to propagandize children behind the backs of their parents.”

The commenters added:

“As soon as soon as I learned the Evil Bad Guy was named Tex Richman, I knew what the movie was really about and will now not see it.”

“Kids stuff has always been about propaganda, nothing new. “

“Making (the Muppets) political now is basically ruining my childhood.”

A related article is here: http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/hollywoodland/2...

Sample comments:

“I just want communists to admit their communists.” [sic]

and

“Just watched the Muppets Christmas Carol this week and something jumped out at me. Ebeneezer Scrooge's favorite teacher/mentor was played by Sam the Eagle (you know, the symbol of America). He was teaching Scrooge how to make a profit and be capitalistic--but the tone was very derogatory--like it was a bad thing and anyone who got behind that must be a mean old Scrooge. I didn't want to believe this of my precious Muppets, but it was there. No mistaking it. :(“

(This last comment is my favorite.)

And here:
http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2011/1...

" Panicked, Left-Wing Entertainment Media Mocks Conservative ‘Muppet’ Backlash”, the headline breathlessly announces. The accompanying picture is Kermit and company in communist garb. I think the implication is pretty clear: this is not conservative entertainment.

Sample comments:

"Professor Honeydew does look an AWFUL lot like Mao."

"Today's episode of Sesame Street is brought to you by the letter L for Liberalism."

"It'll be Obumscum's favorite movie alongside Reds that is."

Over course, not every person thinks the Muppets have a liberal/communist agenda. Because some people are, you know, sane. But of course the majority of these comments are quickly mocked.

So in conclusion, a movie that had been derided as liberal propaganda is now being cited as a fine example of conservatism. My initial comment pointed out this irony.

(Apparently my post is too long, so here's the first half)

Let's take a quick look at the article before I address the Muppets:

"Patriotism and traditional values... are what moviegoers want."

Fair enough. But what defines 'patriotism and traditional values'? These are, after all, rather broad terms. Let's find out:

"For two decades, that has been the message Movieguide has been pushing...."

Methinks Moveguide might have an agenda.

".. the organization will present a 76-page report designed to back up its assertions. This year’s report sells for $1,000."

As scorching a read as this sounds, I don't see myself shelling out a grand for this report.

To continue:

"The report praises such 2011 releases as Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, Battle: Los Angeles, Moneyball, We Bought a Zoo and Hugo while heaping scorn on the likes of Super 8, Red State, A Good Old Fashioned Orgy, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Bad Teacher and Happy Feet Two."

The only movie I've seen of these is Moneyball. And its inclusion is rather odd: wasn't questioning traditional values the whole point of this movie?

Continued:

"The Movieguide report rates movies using more than two dozen criteria, such as whether a title promotes capitalism or socialism...."

Okay, we're finally able to understand ‘patriotism’ according to their terms. I omitted a long list to save space, but the article states that "violence', 'sex', 'political correctness' (this is inherently a bad thing?), and 'feminism' (ditto) are 'considered.'

Of course, anything with violence and sex will be given an 'R' rating. And movies centered around feminism, political correctness, and environmentalism are likely to be niche films. Both translate to less box-office. Does the article admit this? It does not:

“Conservative (movies) earned an average of $59 million apiece...Liberal (movies) earned an average of just $11 million.

To continue:

'Most moviegoers want good to conquer evil, truth to triumph over falsehood, justice to prevail over injustice and true beauty to overcome ugliness' Movieguide editor Ted Baehr writes in the report."

So any movie in which good conquers over evil is labeled conservative? He's just described every comic-book movie, every Harry Potter movie, every Pixar movie... basically any movie marketed towards teenagers. OF COURSE these will earn more money. As ScottDS pointed out below, “they're confusing conservative with family-friendly - the two are not synonymous.”

See above. I'll post there.

"You've taken one source that describes the film as conservative"

The source that this article links to, otherwise known as the "topic of discussion."

"You mention no reason why it could be conservative."

I don't need to. The article this links to does that. You did read it; didn't you?

I'm not going to provide citations for you. The Muppets-as-liberal-propganda argument has been on this site before. You can begin your own research by reading above where someone labeled the Muppets 'Marxist.'

Interesting... sort of similar to a Super PAC. But if Melissa Leo's self-promotion didn't hurt her last year, this shouldn't cause too much harm.

Streep should do more comedy -- i liked her in Adaptation.

Since this site decried the film as liberal propaganda, my comment is appropriate. I'll try and meet your word-count quota next time.

I'm still uncertain what is 'silly' about my original post.