Well there is actually another exhibit, discussed in the Brent Bozell column linked above: the advertising industry deliberately seeking out "bad boys" (and girls) to sell products.
Did the public - or at least a sizeable portion of it - know, as they watched those guys' squeaky-clean Christmas specials, or their Western and detective morality plays - that they were actually scoundrels? Certainly, but the cultural climate was such that the public insisted on decency in its entertainment.
Yes, where are the Rat Pack now, such beacons of moral probity?
ReplyDeleteAnd who said they were?
ReplyDeleteAnd did their movies feature the kind of goings-on one sees weekly on 2 and a Half Men?
Did the public - or at least a sizeable portion of it - know, as they watched those guys' squeaky-clean Christmas specials, or their Western and detective morality plays - that they were actually scoundrels? Certainly, but the cultural climate was such that the public insisted on decency in its entertainment.
ReplyDeleteThey were gateway amoralists.
ReplyDelete