Cinema and War: Hollywood's response to September 11. (Interview).

After serving as a pilot in the US Army Air Corps in World War II, jack Valenti co founded the advertising/political consulting agency of Weekley &Valenti in 1952. Eleven years later he became a special assistant to US President Lyndon Johnson and served in that capacity until 1966, when

he became the third chairman and chief executive officer of the Motion Picture Association of America. Since that time, Mr. Valenti has led the US film and television industry as it has confronted a sea change in the entertainment landscape, both in the United States and abroad. In addition, he has authored four books, including a recent political novel, Protect and Defend. Senior Editor Honor Hsin recently spoke with Mr. Valenti about the current challenges faced by the entertainment industry and its role in the United States' war on terrorism.

HARVARD INTERNATIONAL REVIEW:

On November 11, 2001, you helped organize a meeting between senior Hollywood entertainment executives and White House advisor Karl Rove. Do you feel that Hollywood has a responsibility to contribute to the US effort against terrorism?

I think that all citizens have a responsibility to join in this effort against terrorism. People in Hollywood are citizens of the United States, as I am, and so I felt like we certainly need to be involved as much as we can, using whatever skills we can deploy to help the war effort, which is exactly what we are doing.

What do you think are the potential gains for Hollywood and/or the United States from Hollywood's support of the US war effort?

We are trying to have communication with the armed forces, telling them that we care about them, are grateful to them. We are backing them all the way. We are trying to develop compact, concise radio and television messages to go to the Middle East. We have not deployed any of those yet and are still working on them. We are also meeting with Middle Eastern experts from various universities.

The "Hollywood 9/1l" committee was born after that meeting to oversee Hollywood's contributions to the US war effort. What does this committee do and what role do you think it will play in the future?

What we are doing is what I think our skills make us capable of doing, and that is creating messages. We have created messages to be played in theaters and they have gone over very well. We have worked with people in the United States to use the national networks for messages of support for the armed forces, and that has been an ongoing thing. We have deployed messages abroad to US troops through the Defense Department network, we have sent literally thousands and thousands of videocassettes and DVDs to our soldiers in the battle area, to the fighting ships that are there, to air bases, to bases in Turkey and Germany and in and around Afghanistan. Of all the things we have done, I think what the troops admire the most and are the most grateful for is to be able to watch these movies. We have sent them to the US embassy in Kabul and are keeping them supplied. And as I said, all the aircraft carriers and all the ships at sea have received films, as well as the US bases. We have sent messages over the armed serv ices network, to US troops all over the world, and we have been involved in trying to help the United Services Organization have shows with the best celebrities we can find.

How do you think Hollywood can reconcile conflicts between its role and its need for independence, for example in making movies?

There is no conflict. When Mr. Rove came to Los Angeles, one of the things that we agreed on is that there would be nothing said about the content of movies. That is a province that is left to directors and writers and producers and actors and studios. The government plays no role in that at all.

When the movie Saving Private Ryan was released, you defended its R rating by saying that "realism was necessary for war movies." How do you think Hollywood should reconcile conflicts between its role and its responsibility to public audiences?

Well, first I also said that I thought every 13- and 14-year-old boy in the United States, any young girl, ought to see that movie, that their parents ought to take them, because what they would see is that freedom is a great gift. The gift of freedom was bought and paid for by the blood of 18- to 23-year olds. Therefore they ought to see how these young people fortified the sense of liberty and freedom in the United States. I see our responsibility as doing our best to tell the truth and to tell it in the most entertaining ways. War movies ought to be as realistic as possible and we do not want to airbrush out what goes on in a war. Those of us who have fought in wars understand that it is brutal and inhumane but every now and then you have to fight a war to preserve, protect, and defend your constitutional liberties.

Some believe that Hollywood's stereotype of the Middle East terrorist contributed to anti-US sentiment in the Muslim world. How heavily do you think Hollywood's image abroad has contributed to foreign attitudes toward the United States?

I have no idea. I do not believe that Osama bin Laden sat around watching many movies. I do not think he did that at all. It was a hatred of his own country, Saudi Arabia. I think he is one of those zealots. We have them in every religion and they exist in every country. And he believes that in the name of religion it is permissible to kill people. Throughout history millions of people have died in religious wars, more than have died in any other type of conflict. So you always have these fanatics and zealots in every era, in every country. This is what we are going through now.

Muhammad Ali was a recent recruit in Hollywood's contribution to the US campaign in Afghanistan. What do you think is Hollywood's role abroad in the current war effort?

Well, our people are talking to Muhammad Ali, but nothing has been agreed upon yet. All we can do is try to offer messages that say we are not at war with Islam. We are not at war with the Quran; we are at war with people who murder other innocent people. I do not think any religion condones murder and the slaughter of innocents. No religion does that, and we are not at war with Muslims. We are at war with shameless and uncomprehending lunatics who believe in murdering other people for no reason except for their own extreme beliefs.

In a recent CNN interview, Sheikh Ahmad, Osama bin Laden's half-brother, mentioned his ambition to play the role of Osama bin Laden should Hollywood make a movie about him. In light of the tensions mentioned above, how do you think the industry would or should respond to this?

Well, this is a free country. I have always fought for the freedom of people to make any kind of movie they want. That is their absolute constitutional right in the United States. But I also have a constitutional right not to watch a movie if I do not want to watch it. I say that anybody can make any movie they want and people can decide if they want to see it. But just as I have a right to speak freely, I also have a right not to listen to someone who is also speaking freely. I am a great believer in the First Amendment.

And you do not think this conflicts with the goals of Hollywood 9/Il?

This is not a dictatorship. All the people in Hollywood, just like all the people in journalism, all the people in universities, all the people on Wall Street, and all the farmers in the United States are individuals who have rights to do what they choose to do. There is no monolith in Hollywood. If somebody wants to make a movie about Osama bin Laden, there is no one to keep that person from doing it so long as they find some people to invest in it. But again, there is also no law that says people have to go watch it. That is my creed, and Hollywood is not a closed society where everybody thinks alike. We have people who think on all sides of an issue.

How do you think Hollywood's role compares to contributions Hollywood has made to US war efforts in the past, for example World War II?

World War II was a different kind of war than what the United States is fighting now. World War II is kind of like in the Mesozoic era, and this is a different time. But the one thing that has not changed is that Americans are leaping to the defense of their country and they are ready to preserve, protect, and defend the constitutional liberties that the people who founded this country gave them. Many people in Hollywood are veterans that fought in other wars and they are ready to fight again if their country needs them. Hollywood is no different from any other segment of society. That is to say, we are Americans first and we want to defend the United States against those who would try to destroy it.

You recently gave a speech at the ShoWest convention in Las Vegas on the state of the movie industry. How has Hollywood fared since September II and what do you predict the future holds for the US entertainment industry?

With more people going to the movies than in any time since 1959, 2Q01 was the biggest year that the movie studios have ever had in the United States. There was an all-time high in box office receipts last year, which proves that Americans find the movies as an antidote for their anxieties. People do not want to be umbilically connected to an electronic box. Every night they want to get out, go to a theater, be entertained for a couple of hours, be transported to some distant place that they have never been to before. The art of storytelling began in the lives of the Greeks 2,500 years ago, and since then nothing has really changed. The people wanted to be entertained during Desert Storm, during World War I, during World War II, and they want to be entertained now. Otherwise life would get awfully dreary if you were not exposed to some entertainment from time to time.

Jack Valenti is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Motion Picture Association of America.