{"id":770,"date":"2011-06-06T12:28:32","date_gmt":"2011-06-06T16:28:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/faithmediaandculture\/?p=770"},"modified":"2011-06-06T12:37:13","modified_gmt":"2011-06-06T16:37:13","slug":"how-not-to-make-a-pro-life-movie-reese-witherspoons-positive-message-the-mtv-awards-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2011\/06\/how-not-to-make-a-pro-life-movie-reese-witherspoons-positive-message-the-mtv-awards-and-more.html","title":{"rendered":"How not to make a pro-life movie; Reese Witherspoon&#8217;s positive message @ the MTV Awards and more"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Here are today&#8217;s dispatches from the FM&amp;C Hot List.<\/p>\n<p>1. <strong>How not to make a pro-life movie. <\/strong><em>New Jersey state Senate candidate and ex-judge Kenneth Del Vecchio premiered his latest film The Life Zone,  in association with his Justice For All Productions, on Saturday at the  Hoboken Film Festival, which he co-founded and chairs. The movie, an  anti-abortion twist on the Saw franchise, centers around three  women &#8220;kidnapped from abortion clinics&#8230;being held for seven months &#8212;  until they all give birth.&#8221; <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.villagevoice.com\/runninscared\/2011\/06\/kenneth_del_vecchio_the_life_zone_abortion_movie.php\">More @ The Village Voice<br \/>\n<\/a><strong>IMHO: <\/strong>Granted I&#8217;ve only seen the trailer (available <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=sn_Iq9D_Clg&amp;feature=player_embedded\">here<\/a>) but I&#8217;m pro-life and find this absolutely hideous. It actually looks more like a movie created by those seeking to make abortion opponents look like nuts but, alas, the guy who made this dreck of a trailer is apparently serious. If you really want to move hearts and minds, try engaging the subject seriously, without judgment and with genuine compassion.\u00a0 Also, present the simple facts and allow people to make up their own minds.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Fetal Development Week 9 (Pregnancy Health Guru)\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FsKz2Etf1_E?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>2. <strong>Reese Witherspoon delivers positive message @ MTV Awards.<\/strong> <em>With controversial shows like \u201cSkins\u201d and \u201cJersey <span style=\"color: blue\">Shore<\/span>,\u201d MTV isn\u2019t exactly known for promoting wholesome values. However, actress Reese Witherspoon proved to be a refreshing change during the network\u2019s 2011 MTV Movie  Awards on Sunday, when she sent some words of wisdom not only to her  female fans, but her fellow screen stars too.<\/em><br \/>\n<em>\u201cI get it, girls, that it\u2019s cool to be a bad  girl,\u201d the 35-year-old told the audience as she accepted the MTV  Generation Award at the Los Angeles-taped show. \u201cBut it is possible to  make it in Hollywood without doing a <span style=\"color: blue\">reality show<\/span>. When I came up in this business, if you made a sex tape, you were embarrassed and you hid it under your bed.\u201d<\/em><br \/>\n<em>&#8230;The \u201cWalk the Line\u201d star then ended her speech by vowing to make \u201cgood\u201d behavior a predominant Tinseltown trend. \u201cSo, for all the girls out there, it\u2019s totally possible to be a good girl,\u201d she urged. \u201cI\u2019m going to try to make it cool.\u201d <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/entertainment\/2011\/06\/06\/mtv-movie-awards-reese-witherspoon-vows-to-make-good-girls-cool-in-hollywood\/\">More @ FoxNews.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>But then there&#8217;s this&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>3. <strong>Sexual harassment: Hollywood style?<\/strong><em> Director  Michael Bay has a new toy in \u201cTransformers: Dark of the Moon\u201d \u2014 British  model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, who replaces Megan Fox as the love  interest for Shia LaBeouf\u2019s human hero\u00a0in the center of\u00a0the  warring-alien-robots franchise.<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Huntington-Whiteley is equipped for Bay\u2019s brusque shooting style in a way that Fox (who <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.moviefone.com\/2009\/09\/03\/megan-fox-compares-michael-bay-to-hitler\/\" target=\"_blank\">in the media<\/a> likened her director\u2019s on-set behavior\u00a0to Napoleon and Hitler) was not, according to LaBeouf.<\/em><br \/>\n<em>\u201cMegan developed this Spice Girl strength, this  woman-empowerment  [stuff] that made her feel awkward about her  involvement with Michael,  who some people think is a very lascivious  filmmaker, the way he films  women,\u201d LaBeouf said. \u201cMike films women in a  way that appeals to a  16-year-old sexuality. It\u2019s summer. It\u2019s  Michael\u2019s style. And I think  [Fox] never got comfortable with it. This  is a girl who was taken from  complete obscurity and placed in a  sex-driven role in front of the  whole world and told she was the sexiest  woman in America. And she had a  hard time accepting it. When Mike would  ask her to do specific things,  there was no time for fluffy talk. We\u2019re  on the run. And the one thing  Mike lacks is tact. There\u2019s no time for  [LaBeouf assumes a gentle  voice] \u2018I would like you to just arch your back 70 degrees.\u2019\u201d <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/herocomplex.latimes.com\/2011\/06\/02\/megan-foxs-absence-changed-transformers-vibe-says-shia-labeouf\/#\/0\">More @ The LA Times<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>IMHO: <\/strong>Hollywood should follow Reese Witherspoon&#8217;s lead and present self restraint and self respect as positive attributes to be developed and not failings to be embarrassed about.\u00a0 At the same time, the industry should acknowledge the unseemly sexual pressure it sometimes places on young actresses. Obviously, some parts require a degree of sexuality but, come on, <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Transformers\"><em>Transformers<\/em> is based on a kids toy<\/a>!\u00a0 You&#8217;d think the film would be safe for kids and modest actresses alike.<\/p>\n<p>4.<strong> Backlash from videos revealing Hollywood&#8217;s political bias. <\/strong><em>An organization of politically active TV heavyweights is in turmoil  over partisan remarks that some say smack of discrimination, all related  to videos The Hollywood Reporter <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/news\/tv-executives-admit-taped-interviews-193116\" target=\"_blank\">revealed<\/a> on its website last week. Two members, Lionel Chetwynd and Norman Powell, have already quit the Caucus for Producers, Writers &amp; Directors, an honor society founded in 1977 by Norman Lear, James Komack, Aaron Spelling, Richard Levinson and others to promote creative freedom and quality and diversity in television&#8230;<br \/>\n&#8230;<\/em>Powell, who once ran CBS Entertainment Productions, hasn&#8217;t made his resignation letter public, but he emailed his thoughts to T<em>he Hollywood Reporter. <\/em>&#8220;Certainly the fact that our industry has a liberal bias is no  surprise,&#8221; he said. &#8220;What is troubling is that now it seems  discrimination is an acceptable practice to stifle divergent opinions. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/news\/controversial-tapes-hollywood-execs-lead-195029\">More @ Hollywood Reporter<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>5.<strong> Mrs. O urges Hollywood to show support for military families.<\/strong> <em>Michelle   Obama is hitting Hollywood on June 13 to drum up support for her   campaign to draw attention to military families. The First Lady will   meet with\u00a0AFTRA, the DGA, the PGA, SAG and the WGA  \u00a0at the Writers   Guild Theatre, the White House announced on Friday. <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/media\/column-post\/michelle-obama-hitting-hollywood-support-military-families-27941\">More @The Wrap<\/a><\/p>\n<p>6. <strong>Demi Moore teams with CNN on child trafficking doc.<\/strong> <em>&#8220;Nepal&#8217;s   Stolen Children,&#8221; which will air June 26, will feature Moore&#8217;s   interviews with kids as young as 11 who have been forced into   prostitution. <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/news\/demi-moore-host-documentary-child-195110\">More @ Hollywood Reporter<\/a><\/p>\n<p>7. <strong>Sarah Palin was right about Paul Revere.<\/strong><em>You may have heard recently something about that <strong>Sarah Palin<\/strong> telling a reporter that Paul Revere warned the British on his famous rousing revolutionary ride. Now, that so many Americans have wallowed in their smug confirmation that Palin is an idiot unqualified for anything but  repeating  sixth-grade history, how far, wide and fast do you think the   contradictory news will spread that the former governor of Alaska was   indeed correct?<\/em><br \/>\n<em>&#8230;The well-known fable is Revere&#8217;s late-night ride to warn fellow revolutionaries that<strong>&#8230;.<\/strong>the  British were coming. Less known, obviously, is the rest of the   evening&#8217;s events in which Revere was captured by said redcoats and did   indeed defiantly warn them of the awakened militia awaiting their   arrival ahead and of the American Revolution&#8217;s inevitable victory.<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Palin knew this. The on-scene reporters did not and ran off like   Revere to alert the world to Palin&#8217;s latest mis-speak, which wasn&#8217;t.<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Like a number of famous faux gaffes in American politics, the facts of the situation no longer really matter.<\/em> <a href=\"http:\/\/latimesblogs.latimes.com\/washington\/2011\/06\/sarah-palin-says-paul-revere-warned-the-british.html\">More @ The LA Times<\/a><\/p>\n<p>8. <strong>Herman Cain&#8217;s music video. <\/strong>An African-American tea partier could pose unique political challenges to both Sarah Palin and President Obama.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"The Herman Cain Train Music Video\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MOFB-2yJzCY?start=121&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>9.<strong> Is the World Wide Web killing the planet?<\/strong> <em>If the Internet was a country, it would be the planet&#8217;s fifth-biggest  consumer of power, ahead of India and Germany. The Internet&#8217;s power  needs now rival those of the aviation industry and are expected to  nearly double by 2020. <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.vancouversun.com\/business\/Could%20killing%20planet%20search%20time\/4891461\/story.html\">More @ The Vancouver Sun<\/a><strong><br \/>\nIMHO: <\/strong>Nobody move! It&#8217;s the only way to save the planet! Seriously, reasonable environmentalism is terrific but let&#8217;s stop guilting ourselves out over every move we make.<\/p>\n<p>10.\u00a0<strong> <\/strong>Quote of the Day: <em>&#8220;If they <\/em>(NBC, CBS, ABC, The New York Times)<em> did fair and balanced news, we&#8217;d be out of business.&#8221; <\/em>&#8211; Fox News boss Roger Ailes (to Newsweek&#8217;s Howard Kurtz) accusing the MSM of liberal bias while responding to Rolling Stone&#8217;s allegation that he has <em>&#8220;built the most formidable propaganda machine ever seen outside of the Communist bloc.&#8221; <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/news\/foxs-roger-ailes-wants-hire-195107\">More @ The Hollywood Reporter<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Encourage one another and build each other up \u2013 <\/em>1 Thessalonians 5:11<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here are today&#8217;s dispatches from the FM&amp;C Hot List. 1. How not to make a pro-life movie. New Jersey state Senate candidate and ex-judge Kenneth Del Vecchio premiered his latest film The Life Zone, in association with his Justice For All Productions, on Saturday at the Hoboken Film Festival, which he co-founded and chairs. The&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":225,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,10,18,20,24,26,31],"tags":[35,589,584,602,595,600,579,378,601,580,578,591,588,593,583,603,592,582,587,604,598,599,586,594,596,581,597,590,585],"class_list":["post-770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-abortion","category-current-events","category-internet","category-journalism","category-movies","category-politics","category-television","tag-1-thessalonians-511","tag-caucus-for-producers","tag-director-michael-bay","tag-fox-news-boss-roger-ailes","tag-ftra","tag-herman-cains-music-video","tag-hoboken-film-festival","tag-hollywood-reporter","tag-is-the-world-wide-web-killing-the-planet","tag-justice-for-all-productions","tag-kenneth-del-vecchio","tag-lionel-chetwynd","tag-megan-fox","tag-michelle-obama","tag-mtv-awards","tag-newsweeks-howard-kurtz","tag-norman-powell","tag-reese-witherspoon","tag-ritish-model-rosie-huntington-whiteley","tag-rolling-stone","tag-sag-and-the-wga-at-the-writers-guild-theatre","tag-sarah-palin-was-right-about-paul-revere","tag-shia-labeouf","tag-support-for-military-families","tag-the-dga","tag-the-life-zone","tag-the-pga","tag-writers-directors","tag-transformers-dark-of-the-moon"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How not to make a pro-life movie; Reese Witherspoon&#039;s positive message @ the MTV Awards and more<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2011\/06\/how-not-to-make-a-pro-life-movie-reese-witherspoons-positive-message-the-mtv-awards-and-more.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How not to make a pro-life movie; Reese Witherspoon&#039;s positive message @ the MTV Awards and more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here are today&#8217;s dispatches from the FM&amp;C Hot List. 1. 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Kennedy","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/e5d5ef9caeb6b01bcbf08ca6de6591c2","name":"John W. Kennedy","description":"John W. Kennedy is the founder and Dir. of Development of The Creative Universe Entertainment\u2122, a media consultation and development company focusing on the creation, development and support of high-quality mainstream entertainment that upholds positive timeless values, including trust in God. Current projects include \"Bryant Park\" (an uplifting romantic-comedy) and \"Photo Finish\" (an award-winning sci-fi TV pilot). He has written over 100 children's novels based on episodes of the Cartoon Network series \"Ben 10\", \"Ben 10: Alien Force\", \"Ben 10: Ultimate Alien\", \"Ben 10: Omniverse\" and \"Generator Rex\" among others. He also writes Beliefnet\u2019s \"Faith, Media &amp; Culture\" blog. Previously, he has produced successful news and talk programming for CNN, Fox News, Pax TV and SiriusXM. Specialties: Script Writing, Movie\/TV Novelizations &amp; Adaptations, TV Content Creation and Development, Creative Consultation, Producing and Booking News and Talk shows. He can be reached for writing, producing and consulting services at 516-640-1182.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/author\/jkennedy"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/225"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=770"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":772,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770\/revisions\/772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}