Hollywood values

Hollywood values Hollywood is a very powerful and profitable business world wide. Like any other money making organization, its values reflect that of those who control the organization. As with many other powerful organizations, its leaders follow Ayn Rand's teachings that greed and selfishness are virtues, and that any form of outside control of this greed, is the enemy.

This is why Hollywood as a profit oriented business is very willing to create products (movies) that reflect what ever negative values their advisers recommend, since they believe promoting such values will result in higher profits. Decadence, narcissism, rampant drug use, promiscuity, an easy willingness to commit acts of violence, are common characteristics of film protagonists. A shift from the past where only the villainous antagonists displayed some or all of these negative characteristics. The point of 95% of Hollywood films is to achieve a high profit margin and do so in any way necessary. Of course as with any organization that chooses such a reprehensible business model, those who pocket the profits & make the decisions, blame others (the movie viewing audience) for the content and negative influence of their products.

Matthew 6:21 "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Hollywood celebrities have become an important secondary product created & promoted by this unethical money making machine. Those in power realize that the viewing audience can be more easily manipulated to see a particular film if the actors in that film are the object of uncontrolled obsession for that audience. That way the viewing audience becomes an indiscriminate purchaser of any product Hollywood produces, as long as one of their idols is in the film.

1 Corinthians 10:14 "Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry."

Hollywood films fit in 2 basic categories. The fast & dirty money maker: where young people are shown displaying their most baser instincts (vacuous sex & senseless violence) with the thinnest of plots holding the film together. Theses films are produced quickly & inexpensively, and are assured money makers. And second the expensive Celebrity Vehicle: where fan obsession assures that this product has a built in audience. Even if the more expensive Celebrity Vehicle fails to make huge profits in its initial release, the international market of indiscriminate obsessed fans will secure the film good returns.

The "Celebrity Machine" & the ethical values of a "product"

It's like a corrupted fairytale. One day he/she is an unknown, struggling to make a living as an actor, while barely able to make ends meet. Then the next day he/she is "discovered", showered with seemingly endless gifts & ever more exaggerated praise, surrounded by "yes men", and then transformed into the object of the irrational obsession of millions. That is how these days a star is born. The younger, more naive and more ambitious the newly minted "product" , the more profit can be squeezed from the investment.

Under those circumstances & the ever growing mountains of temptation that come with it, how can anyone keep their center? How can anyone keep from loosing themselves to the corrupt & unapologetic money making machine, and inevitably mimic the twisted values practiced & promoted by that machine?

Many Celebrities are tragically swept away & the "death" list below is testament to how far and how often they fall. But the greatest tragedy of all is that, while so many talented young men & woman are destroyed, the money making machine that created & exploited them can quickly move on to a fresh and younger group of new celebrities ready to be pushed down the same deadly path.

Deaths

A sampling of deaths caused by the values promoted by the Hollywood money making machine include:

• Nick Adams, 36, TV actor died of an overdose from barbiturates.
• John Barrymore, 60, cirrhosis of the liver from heavy drinking
• John Belushi, 33, was a repeated drug abuser who ultimately died of a lethal injection of cocaine and heroin
• John Bonham, 32, after too much drinking, asphyxiated on vomit
• Elisa Bridges, 28, 'Playboy' magazine model, drug overdose combining heroin, methamphetamine and other drugs
• Joseph Brooks, 73, Hollywood producer, composer, lyricist, and accused multiple rapist committed suicide.
• David Carradine, 72, died from suffocation, most likely suicide, had history of suicidal thoughts, alcohol and narcotics abuse
• Stephen Clark, 30, Def Leppard guitarist, drug and alcohol overdose
• Lana Clarkson, 40, actress and model murdered by Phil Spector
• Kurt Cobain, 27, lead singer from the band Nirvana, a heroin addict who committed suicide with a shotgun blast to the head.
• Ray Combs, 40, host of the TV game show Family Feud committed suicide by hanging himself in a psychiatric ward.
• Jeff Conaway, 60, film and television actor died from a suspected overdose. He struggled with addictions to cocaine and alcohol.
• Don Cornelius, 75, "Soul Train" TV creator died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
• John Costelloe, 47, actor from HBO's The Sopranos known as "Johnny Cakes", shot himself in the head.
• Bob Crane,49, the actor's success led to a bizarre life of sex addiction. He was bludgeoned to death.
• Karl Dane, 47, suicide by gunshot
• James Dean, 24, a notoriously reckless and frequently ticketed driver crashed fatally head-on into a car turning left in front of his Porsche (see also crime, below)
• Kevin DuBrow, 52, lead singer of 80's metal band Quiet Riot died from an overdose of cocaine.
• Ryan Dunn, 34, MTV's reality star from the series Jackass, died in a 3:00 AM auto accident after a night of drinking. [1]
• Eazy-E, 31. AIDS contracted through drug use.
• Peg Entwistle, 24, leaped to her death from atop the Hollywood sign.
• Brian Epstein, 32, overdosed on sleeping pills and alcohol
• Chris Farley, 33, overdose of morphine and cocaine
• Judy Garland, 47, overdosed on sleeping pills
• Lucy Gordon, 28, British actress from the movie Spiderman 3, hung herself
• Paul Gray, 38, bassist of heavy metal band Slipknot, died of an overdose of morphine and fentanyl.
• Lee Grivas, 26, the on-again, off-again boyfriend of actress Christina Applegate, 36, was found dead of an apparent drug overdose
• Corey Haim, 38, teen idol who starred in many movies and then a reality show, died of a drug overdose.
• Russell Craig Hamer, 42, child actor, self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
• Phil Hartman, 49, murdered in his million-dollar house by his drug-addicted third wife Brynn Hartman
• Margaux Hemingway, 42, suicide
• Jimi Hendrix, 27, an enthusiastic abuser of illegal drugs, choked on his own vomit after overdosing on sleeping pills and alcohol.
• Whitney Houston, 48, singer/actress autopsy reports showed cocaine and drowning as contributors to her death.
• Rock Hudson, 59, AIDS
• Michael Hutchence, 37, asphyxiated during an auto-erotic act while alone in a Sydney hotel. His wife, Paula Yates (see below), also fell victim to Hollywood Values.
• Michael Jackson, 50, cardiac arrest from a toxic mixture and abuse of prescription drugs, improperly prescribed by doctors.
• Richard Jeni, 49, suicide
• Russell Tyrone Jones (a.k,a. "Old Dirty Bastard"), 35, musician, died of drug overdose two days before his 36th birthday
• Janis Joplin, 27, heroin overdose
• Andrew Koenig, 41, child actor in the TV series Growing Pains, committed suicide.
• Jani Lane, 47, lead singer for the rock band Warrant was found dead in a hotel room. He had a history of alcohol abuse.
• Heath Ledger, 28, found dead in his Manhattan apartment. "Ledger died of an accidental overdose of painkillers, sleeping pills, anti-anxiety medication and other prescription drugs, the New York City medical examiner said Wednesday."
• Bruce Lee (Li Xiaolong), actor, 33, collapsed and died; trace amounts of cannabis found in bloodstream at postmortem; the official cause of death was acute cerebral edema (swelling of the brain) from hypersensitivity to aspirin. Cannabis probably didn't contribute to his death.
• Stuart Lubbock, 31, found dead in the swimming pool of popular TV entertainer Michael Barrymore, having suffered severe anal trauma, after a drug-fueled party at the star's home
• Freddie Mercury, 45, born Farrokh Bulsara, lead singer of the band Queen, died from AIDS-related bronchial pneumonia.
• Sal Mineo, 37, murdered under circumstances that suggested "a homosexual motive".
• Marilyn Monroe, 36, overdosed on sleeping pills.
• Keith Moon, drummer of The Who, 32, overdose of Clomethiazole prescribed to treat his alcoholism.
• Jim Morrison, 27, died of an apparent heroin overdose.
• Brittany Murphy, 32, motion picture film actress died of cardiac arrest from combining prescription drugs Official death from pneumonia and drug intoxication.
• Chris Penn, 40, brother of Sean Penn, "died accidentally from an enlarged heart and the effects of a mix of multiple medications".
• River Phoenix, 23, died from an overdose of cocaine and heroin.
• Dana Plato, 34, Diff'rent Strokes star, suicide by drugs overdose after posing for lesbian pornography.
• Elvis Presley, 42, large drug intake causes a cardiac arrhythmia, and rumored to have suffocated on the carpet when he collapsed from a drug overdose.
• Freddie Prinze, 22, actor from Chico and the Man, committed suicide by gunshot to the head.
• Richard Pryor, 65, comedian with a history of smoking cocaine, died of a heart attack.
• Virginia Rappe, 30, died of a ruptured bladder incurred at a party hosted by Roscoe Arbuckle.
• Robert Reed, 59, actor known as Mike Brady on The Brady Bunch was a homosexual with AIDS, died from cancer in 1992.
• Brad Renfro, 25, became addicted to heroin and was found dead after a night of drinking
• George Reeves, 45, played Superman from the series Adventures of Superman, suicide by gunshot
• Rebecca Schaeffer, 21, actress in CBS's television series My Sister Sam, stalked and murdered by a crazed fan.
• Jean Seberg, 40, actress with clinic depression committed suicide by overdose of alcohol and barbiturates
• Michael Showers, 45, HBO actor found dead in the Mississippi River.
• Anna Nicole Smith, 39, accidental overdose on prescription drugs
• Layne Staley, 34, found dead in apartment two weeks after a drug overdose. Layne promoted the use of hard drugs in the 1992 Alice in Chains song "Junkhead"
• Dorothy Stratten, 20, murdered by spouse after engaging in extramarital affair
• David Strickland, 29, cast member of NBC's Suddenly Susan hung himself in a Las Vegas hotel.
• Sharon Tate, 26, an actress with a hippie lifestyle who was murdered by followers of Charles Manson, a Beatles-obsessed musician wannabe; Manson's followers murdered Tate, who was pregnant and only two weeks from birth, her unborn child, her prior lover, who was staying with her while her husband, movie producer Roman Polanski (see 'Crime', below), was away, and another unmarried couple staying in the house. (It is believed that Manson had actually intended his followers to kill the home's previous residents, Terry Melcher (son of Doris Day) and Candice Bergen.)
• Lou Tellegen, 52, a silent film and stage actor, suicide
• Lupe Velez, 36, 1920s-1940s movie actress, suicide by an overdose of sleeping pills; she was pregnant and didn't want an illegitimate child.
• Sid Vicious, 21. Heroin overdose while awaiting trial for his girlfriend's murder.
• Herve Villechaize, 50, actor who played the character Tattoo on the hit show Fantasy Island, committed suicide by self-inflicted gunshot.
• Kenneth Williams, 62, comedian and actor, heart failure from interaction of pain medication and sleeping pills.
• Amy Winehouse, 27, young singer with a life of substance abuse. Toxicology reports showed alcohol but no illegal drugs found in her system.
• Natalie Wood, 43, actress, drowned while intoxicated.
• Paula Yates, 41, television writer, heroin overdose. "Coroner Dr Paul Knapman told Westminster Coroners Court she had not committed suicide but said her behaviour had been "foolish and incautious". Her death was the result of "an unsophisticated taker of heroin" using drugs, he said. The court heard that 0.3mg of morphine per litre of blood was found in her body, which would not have been enough to kill her had she been a heroin addict."
• Bubba Smith, 66, football player and actor, died from an overdose of diet pills.
• Actor Jonathan Brandis committed suicide in 2003.
• Singer Elliott Smith committed suicide in 2003 by stabbing himself in the chest.

"Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. John 8:7"

External Links

• Read The Bible & and let Jesus' Wisdom guide you. [2]