Hollywood Ignores Socialism’s Rot

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is the hipster choice for president, even if Hillary Clinton eventually secures the Democratic Party’s nomination.

Millennials cheer Sanders’ rhetoric, particularly the openly socialist candidate’s call for “free” college tuition.

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“Bernie Sanders uses socialism in the way it makes sense, which is just good, common, moral, ethical policy,” 20-something Nick Kowalczyk told The Guardian in August.

Socialism isn’t a dirty word to many of today’s youth. It’s a political call to arms, a chance to smite income inequality once and for all. Never mind that socialism, applied in its purist form, has been a debacle many times over. Or that countries with socialist-leaning policies, like Sweden, aren’t the utopia depicted in some media outlets.

Today’s young voters can’t rely on the media to tag Sanders’ penchant for applauding socialism as they do some GOP policies. Yet there’s another, bigger reason why socialism is suddenly cool: Hollywood hasn’t told them anything different.

We’re still waiting for a big-screen biopic of Hugo Chavez, the late Venezuelan leader who left his country veering toward economic calamity thanks to his socialist policies. Instead we got Oliver Stone’s hagiography on Chavez, the 2009 documentary “South of the Border.” Nor have we seen movies capturing the chaos in modern Cuba, the product of Fidel Castro’s failed revolution.

The closest we got to a North Korean tell-all came with last year’s “The Interview,” a comic romp featuring Seth Rogen and James Franco gunning for that country’s dictator.

A movie demonstrating how Guevara slaughtered those with whom he disagreed has yet to be greenlit.

How could Hollywood ignore socialism’s greatest misses? Films have tackled so many challenging topics, from race relations (“The Blind Side,” “12 Years a Slave,” “The Help”) to voting rights (this month’s new film “Suffragette”). Tragedy and suffering can translate into stirring feature films. “Schindler’s List” managed to convey the horrors of the Holocaust while applauding one man’s efforts to alleviate suffering as best he could.

Are there no Cuban heroes amidst Castro’s failed policies?

Instead, we get “Sicko” and the forthcoming “Where to Invade Next,” documentaries from far-left filmmaker Michael Moore. These films applaud socialism while smiting our capitalistic system.

Movies like 2008’s “Che” and 2004’s “The Motorcycle Diaries” humanized socialist hero Che Guevara, downplaying his monstrous side and the impact of his socialist philosophies. A movie demonstrating how Guevara slaughtered those with whom he disagreed has yet to be greenlit.

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Later this month, an Oscar-bait look at communist screenwriter Dalton Trumbo will hit the big screen. Bryan Cranston of “Breaking Bad” fame stars in “Trumbo,” which details how the McCarthy era chased James Dalton Trumbo and his fellow Hollywood communists temporarily out of the business.

Will the film showcase the horrors that Trumbo supported, even if few would argue he should have been treated as he was by Hollywood and the U.S. government? Not likely.

It’s easy to dismiss Hollywood’s inability to critique socialism. After all, it’s just the movies. But pop culture continues to seep into mainstream thought. It’s no wonder President Barack Obama teamed with a gaggle of Hollywood stars to secure his re-election in 2012, or how political views were often influenced by Jon Stewart’s “Daily Show” musings.

If today’s millennials want to learn more about socialism, they can’t count on Hollywood to tell them the whole story.