A Star is Born! (#932)

Because I am a “Hollywood Brat,” who has taught at least 2 film classes a week for more than 25 years, my thoughts and opinions have always held a lot of sway with my students. My favorite movie of all time? Casablanca. My all-time favorite comedy? Buster Keaton’s brilliant 1924 5-reel film Sherlock, Jr. Best musical? 1951’s An American in Paris, starring Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron. The best western of all time? Unquestionably, 1939’s Stage Coach, directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne as “The Ringo Kid” (top billing went to Claire Trevor, who played “Dallas,” a “lady of pleasure”). #🟦

John Wayne (Marion Michael Morrison) and John Ford (John Martin Feeney) had a long, long love-hate relationship. The two originally met in 1929, when Ford went to direct a sports-themed film called Salute at USC, where both Wayne and Ward Bond were members of the Trojan football team. He put the two to work hauling furniture and eventually started giving them uncredited bit parts in his films. After 21 walk-on roles, Wayne was signed to star in a major western called The Big Trail - a 1930 Fox Films stinker which, in old Hollywood parlance, “wasn’t released . . . it escaped.”

Ford was incredibly angry with Wayne for having been disloyal and signing with Fox without even informing him. For the next 9 years, Wayne had to learn his craft without any help from Ford. He wound appearing in 61 grade-B/C films, playing everything from playboys and mill workers to singing cowboys. Finally, in 1939, Ford approached Wayne, told him he was finally ready for the big-time, and hired him to play the Ringo Kid in Stagecoach (based on Boule de Suif, a French story written by Guy de Maupassant). In order for the movie-going public to know that John Wayne was going to be a major star, Ford crafted an incredibly long-range “zoom shot” (a “star maker”) to hone in on Ringo when he first enters the picture. At that moment his face filled the screen, a star was born.

As I was watching in rapt - though horrified - attention as the overwhelmingly Republican state Legislature voted to expel two young, Black male representatives for their roles in leading youthful protests calling for gun control, after a mass shooting at a Christian school in Nashville which killed 3 nine-year olds and 3 adults, one thought kept going through my mind: “Two Stars Are Born” and both are named Justin, which, most fitting, is Latin for “just, honest.” (It should also be long remembered that the white Republican legislators voted not to expel the 3rd protestor, Gloria Johnson, 60, a white female lawmaker who had stood with her Democratic colleagues; nonetheless, her expulsion came within 1 vote of enactment).

During the Thursday debate, Democrats argued that the Tennessee Three’s actions were a mistake, but that expulsion would set a dangerous precedent for democracy. Republicans said expulsion was necessary to prevent further potential attempts to disobey the chamber’s rules. The GOP representatives used a more aggressive line of questioning during cross-examination of Jones and Pearson, calling the two lawmakers disruption makers and attention seekers.

In expelling 2 Gen Z-ers, Justin Jones, 27 and Justin Pearson, 28, House Speaker Cameron Sexton compared the 2 to the rioters who breached the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. During debate, he called the “Tennessee Three’s” actions in joining protesters chanting “no action, no peace,” “unacceptable” and a violation of House rules of decorum and procedure. (It should be noted that Speaker Sexton and his Republican colleagues have repeatedly referred to the January 6, 2021 insurrection as nothing more than a “loud tour” of the Capitol by patriotic Americans.)

Tennessee, of course, is the state where the Ku Klux Klan first drew breathe in December 1865 in the town of Pulaski, and then, 60 years later, in Dayton, put high school teacher, John T. Scopes on trial, accusing him of violating Tennessee's Butler Act, which had made it illegal for teachers to teach human evolution in any state-funded school. Despite having elected such stalwart progressives as Senators Albert Gore, Sr. and Jr., and Steve Cohen, Tennessee has long been a state where racism and white supremacy refuse to die. Today, as in 1925, the state is once again a laughing stock. The Republican members of the state legislature should be hanging their heads in shame; they won’t, because their rendering of history and fundamentalist Christian values makes them, at least in their own eyes, filled with merit.

Rather than respond to – let alone even consider – changes to gun laws in the Volunteer State (especially when it comes to dealing with semi-automatic weapons), Republican members of the legislature are far more concerned with blaming transgender people for gun violence (the shooter at the Christian Charter School in Nashville was transgender), outlawing drag shows, removing “unacceptable” books from school libraries, and making abortion virtually impossible. Tennessee leads the charge in passing laws which target LGBT rights. Their religious beliefs and principles force them to put partisan politics above people, and declare that a zygote is far more worthy of legal protection than an elementary school child. Indeed, for them, life begins at the very moment of conception . . . and ends at the moment of birth.

The Tennessee 3: Johnson, Jones and Pearson

During the floor debate before his expulsion, Justin Jones - who represents parts of Nashville, where the three 9-year olds were murdered - told his colleagues: “This is a historic day for Tennessee, but it marks a very dark day for Tennessee because it will signal to the nation that there is no democracy in this state. It will signal to the nation that if it can happen here in Tennessee, it’s coming to your state next. And that is why the nation - indeed the whole world - is watching us, what we do here.”

Here, Justin Jones hit the nail on the head. Those who have been paying attention to Florida politics under Governor Ron DeSantis and his supermajority legislature, know what he has done to stifle both free speech and Democracy. Florida’s government implemented new state regulations this year requiring groups that want to hold rallies or events at the Capitol to be sponsored by a state agency or lawmaker. Democrats and liberal advocates say that is hard to do in a state where Republicans control the governor’s mansion and have supermajorities in both the House of Representatives and Senate.

In Montana, Republican lawmakers are advancing legislation that would open up next year’s Senate primary to allow the top two vote-getters in the primary — no matter their party — slots on the general-election ballot. This is a bald-faced maneuver to stymie the reelection of Sen. Jon Tester, the long-serving Democrat seeking a fourth term, because it would only be applicable to the 2024 Senate election. Third-party candidates, who in the past have cut into Republican candidates’ totals, would probably not be on the general election ballot, which could set up a defeat for Tester, the sole remaining Democrat elected statewide.

In Virginia, Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) tried to force a county school board to hold new elections, which would have shortened the terms of members he disagreed with. State observers said the governor’s move, which failed, was unprecedented in the state’s modern history.

And so on and so forth . . .

Now, before we all join hands and leap off the front lawn, let’s look at some positives which might be beginning to percolate. First and foremost, we are beginning to see the emergence of Gen Z-ers (or informally, “Generation Zer”) on to the political stage. Up until last week, the most prominent was 25-year old Florida Democrat Maxwell Alejandro Frost (born in 1997) who has already made a name for himself for his wise-beyond-his-years understanding of how politics works, his ability to think on his feet, and his inability to back down on the issues which he and his constituents in Florida’s 10th District truly care about . . . like abortion rights, the abolition of automatic weapons, and the furtherance of Democracy. Then there are the two new “stars” who were birthed on the national and international scene just this week: Justin Jones and Justin Pearson. They have already won rave reviews for their maturity, steadfastness of purpose, and poise. Both will likely be returned to the Tennessee legislature shortly by their respective city council/board of supervisors. Having watched them being interviewed by the national media, I am deeply impressed with how passionate and articulate they both are; I cannot remember either of them yet say “um” or “you know.”

Representative Jones is cut out of the same moral cloth as the late Representative John Lewis; like his predecessor, he too is an advocate of non-violence who instills in his constituents, Lewis’ concept of “good trouble.” (It should be noted that as a student at Fiske University, he was recipient of the “John R. Lewis Scholarship for Social Activism.” Like his mentor, he stands every chance of becoming a lightening rod for his generation; young people of all colors and ethnicities who are largely pro-choice, pro-gun safety (and anti-automatic weapons), and above all, pro-Democracy.

I am greatly impressed with the members of Generation Zer; to a great extent, they remind me of the political activists of the 1960s who became damn good organizers and, to this day (for those of us still alive) are still involved in politics. These new activists are bright, well-educated, and, for the most part, both color- and gender-blind. And, they will soon be running for school board, city council and county supervisor seats . . . and then on to state capitals and eventually Washington, D.C.

Once John Ford gave John Wayne the zoom-in “a star is born” treatment in Stagecoach, "Duke” (his nickname came from the horse he rode in all those grade-z oaters) starred in more than 100 more movies. Although his politics made me nauseous, I admired his filmmaking ability. Eventually, he became one of the most popular stars in the world.

This week, we have seen - I suspect - the birth of two new stars. They already have begun building up a following of twenty-somethings who can benefit from the likes of “The Justins,” and identify the "good trouble” which ultimately may well save Democracy for future generations.

#🟦