The Optimistic Hero with a Thousand Faces (well, maybe more like 40)

I spent a good part of this afternoon in the valley talking with compatriots about story. Well, not really talking so much as listening and then talking a little about story as well as other things pinging, post-election, around the minds of conservatives. Most of what I heard was well spoken and well thought, coherent, intelligent and on point (rather unlike this blog). Not exactly how the typical movie would present a scene with a group of conservatives. In fact there was not one evil capitalist (played by Richard Dreyfus) chuckling in the corner while plotting to steal Christmas geese from the mouth of whatever Tiny Tim happened to fall into his greasy arthritic claws.

But with all the talk and ideas, there is a definite feeling among creative conservatives that our stories need to be told. America needs heroes and many of my ilk feel that we can provide them. There's an obvious problem of course, in that Hollywood is a place where the keys to the realm are held by people who clearly oppose what we believe and believe themselves, in many cases, that our beliefs stem from either ignorance or evil. Without question, getting our stories out is a daunting prospect. But it is representative of the eternal optimist extant in both those who have endeavored to make a career in Hollywood and conservatives in general that talk of how difficult it might be never really came up. How ironic that the general feeling of the day tended to be - to borrow a phrase - yes we can.