Wallace labeled Doctor Zhivago "a little commie"
On the September 18 broadcast of Fox Broadcasting Co.'s Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace described Doctor Zhivago, one of two films named by chief justice nominee John G. Roberts Jr. as his favorites, as "a little commie." Weekly Standard editor William Kristol concurred, calling the film "a sappy, liberal movie." But the exchange mischaracterized both the film and the Boris Pasternak novel from which it was adapted, ignoring its anti-communist message and the persecution Pasternak suffered in the Soviet Union for expressing these beliefs.
Originally censored in the Soviet Union, Pasternak's novel, Doctor Zhivago, was published in Italy in 1957, and Pasternak was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1958. Soviet authorities resisted the novel from the outset. Although Pasternak had smuggled a manuscript out of the Soviet Union to be published in Italy, The Guardian of London recently discovered that the Soviet government had forced him to send false telegrams rescinding his approval of the manuscript. Pasternak finally managed to send a genuine letter to his publisher, complaining of "moral pressure, repulsive in its duplicity." MSN's Encarta Encyclopedia reports that upon being awarded the Nobel Prize, Pasternak was forced to decline the award because the novel was anti-communist. According to the Academy of American Poets, the Soviet government took extreme measures to ensure he rejected the award as "all publication of his translations came to a halt and he was deprived of his livelihood."
Commentary on the novel suggests that it is not communist. The protagonist, Dr. Yuri Zhivago, is a doctor and poet himself persecuted for his rejection of Soviet dogmatism. After serving as a military doctor for the czarist regime in World War I, Zhivago returns to a local hospital where "his co-workers are suspicious of him. Influenced by Bolshevism, they dislike his use of intuition instead of logic," according to the New York University Literature, Arts, and Medicine Database. Dr. Zhivago flees Moscow for the country but cannot escape Russia's political struggles. Eventually conscripted as a doctor by communist partisans, he spends the revolution caught up in a struggle he cannot understand. His loyalty is not to any political system, but to his art, as the NYU database notes:
For Dr. Zhivago, philosophy, literature, and medicine are all part of the same thing. They all are spaces in which he can express his love and respect for the beauty of life. In all these spheres, he is undogmatic, unrational, but wholly devoted to justice. He prizes sensory experience over dogmatism or logical argument.
Hardly "commie," the novel and film describe the struggles of an artist to express himself under a repressive regime.
From a panel discussion with Wallace, Kristol, Fox News host Brit Hume, National Public Radio (NPR) national political correspondent and Fox News political correspondent Mara Liasson and NPR senior correspondent and Fox News political contributor Juan Williams on the September 18 broadcast of Fox Broadcasting Co.'s Fox News Sunday:
[video clip]
SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D-NY): -- what kind of movies you like. You won't name one. Then I ask you if you like Casablanca, and you respond by saying lots of people like Casablanca.
ROBERTS: First, Doctor Zhivago and North by Northwest.
[end video clip]
WALLACE: That exchange during this week's confirmation hearings when democratic Senator Charles Schumer complained he couldn't get straight answers from Judge John Roberts. And we're back now with Brit, Mara, Bill, and Juan. All right. Let's review this week's Senate confirmation hearings for Judge Roberts, and let's start with the lead player. Bill Kristol, how did Roberts do, and should conservatives worry that perhaps this fellow is more moderate than they had expected?
KRISTOL: He did great. The only conservative worries I've heard are about Doctor Zhivago. Isn't that kind of a sappy, liberal movie, you know?
WALLACE: It's a little commie.
KRISTOL: Yeah, right. Anyway, no, he did great. Republicans, conservatives are happy. Democrats looked foolish. And now they've got a problem that they don't know what to do. Should they vote to confirm him or not? The New York Times says vote no. The Washington Post says vote yes. Huge dilemma for Democrats this week.
The huge dilemma for the Conservative media is to justify the seven-figure salaries these two NeoClowns are probably getting to make such ignorant statements on the air.
Sad...really sad....such literary and cultural ignorance is not a hallmark of conservatism, look at William F. Buckley, but it does seem to be one of theses kneejerk no nothings...Garrison Kiellor in his book "Homegrown Democrat" refered to them as nilhists and he was so very correct.
I can't believe the right's "intellectuals" did read, watch or get Zhivago. Then again "intellectuals" on the right are a little thin on the reading list, after the Bible, Rush, and Coulter's lastest swill. I am more interested that these two heavyweights think that the Democrats looked foolish for asking questions, something that if the right did we could have avoided a lot off issue.
However, answering the question (by Roberts), while smug very clever. At least he is more cultured than most of the nominees I could see Bush putting up. He is a good judge of movies, hopefully the judgement carries over to the bench. Because absent a filibuster, he is confirmed.
Isn't this a really stupid thing to worry about? Is MMA really this desperate to rip FOX?
Isn't this a really stupid thing to worry about? Is MMA really this desperate to rip FOX?-by vrwc -
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Who¡¯s worried?. I think most here consider the absolute moronic commentary of these people vastly amusing.
"Isn't this a really stupid thing to worry about?"
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No, "a little commie" was a stupid thing for Wallace to say. I don't think Media Matters is "worried". Kristol and Wallace, however, ought to worry about how they'll explain why they misinformed viewers.
Shouldn't this thread be on the right-hand side of the page? I mean ok these two don't know squat about Doctor Zhivago...and they THINK it's a commie movie...oh I get it...you're thinking they mean:
Liberals = Commies
Nah...they'd NEVER insinuate such a thing ;-)
Still kind of a weak topic for the left hand column...IMO.
BTW, not that it ADDS anything to the discussion here BUT North by Northwest is one of MY all-time favorites :-)
"BTW, not that it ADDS anything to the discussion here BUT North by Northwest is one of MY all-time favorites :-)"
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Great minds...
NXNW is my all-time favorite film.
It even has some anti-"commie" moments that Wallace would enjoy.
I think it's worthy of note. Isn't Wallace pretty high up in the Pox News pecking order? And Kristol is one of the Right's leading "thinkers". When these two make totally stupid, partisan comments, I think they deserve to be nailed for it.
jeter2 - Monday September 19, 2005 07:41:05 PM EST
I dont think so, I think calling a film with an overall anti Communist message a little commie qualifies as misinformation
Isn't this a really stupid thing to worry about? Is MMA really this desperate to rip FOX?
=== by vrwc
Nope, not really. FNS is a continuous source of dittys like this. Again, it amazes me that these people are on the air flat out lying. But, you'll note that Fox isn't the only media source which MMFA takes to task - just examine the archives here.
I bet Wallace would've preferred that Robert's favorites were reruns of any of his dad's shows from the 50's and I bet Kristol would've preferred that Roberts had said "The Green Berets with John Wayne."
The only kinds of movies Roberts could have said he liked that would have pleased conservatives would have been "Dukes of Hazzard", "Rambo III", or "The Blue Collar Comedy Tour." Remember, GET 'ER DONE!!!!
I disagree strongly with those who minimize the significance of this item since it is not directly political. It reveals in stark and rather depressing terms the narrow frame of cultural reference the right maintains and assumes in its audience. After all, it presumes its viewers will associate anything Russian with communism. What could possibly be more parochial or more ignorant of Soviet history? If one wants to see where the neo-cons are really coming from culturally, one need look no further than a recent list in the far-right rag Human Events of "the most dangerous books ever" or some such thing. Or perhaps Kristol's and Fred Barnes' self-satisfied smirks say it all.
I agree with you, notbuying, and I think it might be even worse than that. I would be surprised if Wallace and Kristol are in fact so ignorant of the story and Pasternak's own history to have got this so indescribably wrong. I suspect that what gives them pause about the story is that there are a few commie characters in it that actually have human feelings and sensibilities, primarily the character played by Sir Alec. This doesn't fit into their black and white views; they would rather see all commies portrayed as cartoon characters.
If you are forced to see others, particularly your enemies, as human beings, then it is difficult to maintain hostility towards them. Witness the utter inability of such commentators to even consider the possibility that Iraqis who are resisting the occupation might actually be demonstrating the ordinary human reaction against foreigners taking your land and telling you what to do.
Pasternak wrote "commie" novels? So says the great literary critic Chris Wallace. And gee...a Court Jew like Bill Kristol goes write along. No surprises especially at their cowardice over attack a dead writer. Filth.
I have a lot of problems with Kristol but his ethnicity isn't one of them. Your remark is way out of line.
Knuckle draggers dwell in both the left and right.
"I have a lot of problems with Kristol but his ethnicity isn't one of them. Your remark is way out of line."
Hmmm. I doubt if kenwolman could be called anti-semitic. I don't think you understood the reference. Look here for a piece on the term CourtJew
You might also look here in Wikipedia and this is fascinating, if you need a little light reading.
I am perfectly familiar with the reference but I fail to see the relevance. Kristol's Jewishness has no more relevance to the topic than Condi Rice's race has to her performance as Secretary of State. (Likewise her predecessor). If Kristol is a Courtjew is Rice Bush's House Negro? It's still knuckledragging to me.
"and 'Triumph of the Will', by Leni Reifenstahl", said Roberts
"Excellent cinematography", agreed Wallace and Kristol.
Is it asking too much for people, who are televised flapping their gums to people who are likely to be influenced by same gum-flapping, to perhaps actually WATCH the movie or READ the book that they are commenting on??? My 15 and 16 year old sons were amused by how clueless Wallace's comment was - the younger one said that if Wallace had tried to say that in his sophomore English class, the teacher would have flunked him on general principle since it was obvious that he hadn't read the book or watched the movie. Obviously the American people are giving a pass to these idiots - so much for No Child Left Behind... the adults have already been left behind. (We had to watch Fox as part of an assignment that one of the boys was doing on what constitutes "journalistic integrity" - none was found on Fox. Perhaps this indicates hope for the next generation? If they can see through the crap, maybe they'll be able to survive the long-term damage that this administration has caused.)
Imagine what they would have said if Roberts said he liked "The Battleship Potemkin?"
Actually, I would have loved to see their reactions if he had said that his favorite TV show was Queer as Folk.
How can it be that Chris Wallace is the son of '60 Minutes' mentor Mike Wallace? The Christian Right can rest easy. Chrissie is proof positive that the Doctrine of Evolution is suspect since the son progeny is evolving to a level far beneath the higher mental capacity and credible insight of his father. Evolution in Reverse!
As for William Kristol. Ah, yes, the founder of PNAC, NeoCon Central who glibly resorts to labelling 'Doctor Zhivago' a sappy liberal movie. Perhaps, Kristol should review his earlier years as a progressive, some say even Trotskyite with its world revolutionary concept of continuous warfare and revolutionary upheaval. The origin of the NeoConmen stems from their Neo-Liberal bacgrounds handed down to them by Leo Strauss of the University of Chicago WHO thought that the minions, that's you and me folks, needed to be led by their higher intellects, reminiscient of the role of 'Philospher Kings' so characterized in PLATO'S REPUBLIC.
The NeoConmen are not Republicans by any measure. They are former leftists WHo saw an opportunity with the Bush Administration to implement their globalist ambitions of precipitating 'World Revolution' across the Mideast. So, Kristol should feel right at home with the theme of Dr. Zhivago and its portrayal of the Russian Revolution. The Bolsheviks stated, "First Russia and then the world". Kristol reminds me of the young revolutionary, Chelnikov who is the fiancee of Lara but allows his mission and revolutionary fervor to dehumanize his entire being, becoming a hollowed-out soul all the while aligning his psyche to the REVOLUTION.
Comrade Kristol is a modern-day Chelnikov!!!!!!
First--I love Media Matters, Second-- I'm a LIBERAL and proud of it, Third-- I detest FOX "NEWS" channel, Brit Hume, O'Reilly, Hannity, etc. All that said, I think that what Wallace said was "It's a little comedy" not "Commie". If you listen to the remark again I think you will agree. There are plenty of reasons to hate these "people" but we need to make certain that we get it right, or we're no better than Limbaugh or the idiots I mentioned above.
"...a little comedy" You're right. That's what I hear too. Not that I'm a supporter of Fox "News". I think Wallace was inferring an attempt, on Judge Roberts’s part, to inject levity into the exchange. He does that quite effectively - disarming people seems to be one of his strengths. I can only hope he has others since he is going to be the next Chief Justice of the Supreme Court no matter how we feel about it. There's just no evidence to disqualify him. Take solace in this; he's a brilliant man. Perhaps that means that he can be reasoned with.
He definitely said "a little commie" In the context of the exchange with Kristol, it makes much more sense for it to be "commie" and not "comedy". The asinine question that Wallace asked Kristol was whether conservatives should be worried that Roberts is too moderate. And Kristol's response was that they *were* worried about Roberts' choice of film favorites. At which point Wallace said, "it's a little commie."
Both of them are showing their cultural idiocy which is generally quite vast. Russian topic + Hollywood movie = a little commie, in their book.
I believe Wallace said "little commie."
Aside from the fact that either they lied about the movie's theme or couldn't tell what the theme was, I am more bothered by the lack of reaction from the others. Apparently, they didn't know anything! And if they don't know something as basic as a classic movie, what else don't they know? It's so obvious to me that they were lying about even having seen it. I thought Bill Kristol was smarter than that.
I sent an enraged email to Fox about the mischaracterizion of such a great piece of work, which I am currently reading. Indeed, not only is it anticommunist, it is procapitalist and proclaims through Uncle Kolia that christianity is the religion of liberty because it focuses on the individual.