Hollywood and the Free Market

Posted by gonzo309 10 years ago to Entertainment
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From Laissez Faire Today:

Making a movie promoting the benefits of the free market can be a tough job in Hollywood. The big shots in Tinseltown aren't too keen on the laissez faire way of living. More often than not, they make the government or politicians the heroes who come in at the last minute and save the day. These moviemakers have always been good at creating great works of fiction...

But there was one film released almost 30 years ago that broke that trend. In fact, it's beloved among people of all ages all over the political spectrum. And few people realize it has one of the most pro-capitalist, pro-free market messages ever.

We're talking about Ghostbusters.

Shortly after the death of Harold Ramis, Philip Klein of the Washington Times penned a piece claiming Ghostbusters was the most libertarian blockbuster of all time. Many people on the Internet quickly got on his case, claiming he was wrong. But he made a pretty solid argument.

Remember what happened in the city. A problem arose in New York, and the city government did little to solve the problem. Private entrepreneurs stepped in and provided the people of the city a service. And they were good at it. So good, in fact, the government had to come in and shut things down.

If you remember the movie, then you'll remember the big bad guy at the end was Gozer the Gozerian and her creation, the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. But the real villain of the film was none other than a government official from the Environmental Protection Agency. After all, he was the one who shut down power in the Ghostbusters' building, releasing all the ghosts they had contained.

If you turn on the TV or go out to the movies, you expect to see the free market as the typical bad guy. It's the greedy CEO that steals from the workers' pensions or the manipulative businessman who dumps chemicals into the town's water supply and high-tails it before anyone catches him.

But every so often, you get gems like Ghostbusters: a universally acclaimed film peppered with support for free enterprise as well as criticism of government meddling. We can think of a few more films with a positive laissez faire message, but we want to hear from you. Send us an email with a movie you've come across that sends the right message to its viewers.


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