American diplomats are expected to promote American commerce, in all its forms. I always enjoyed "showing the flag" at openings of American films, and once met a favorite director, Terry Gilliam (of Monty Python fame) at a retrospective featuring his excellent "Twelve Monkeys." But American insistence on allowing completely free reign to Hollywood - which, last time I checked, had no problem in selling its wares throughout the world - has always bothered my conscience.
Since I'm no longer a serving diplomat (that sounds a bit like "I'm no longer a practicing priest"), I can say what I want. Which is: I'm all in favor of Europe subsidizing its film industry, and putting money behind projects that would otherwise be lost in the marketplace scramble for dollars.
While not ignoring blockbuster American productions, we find ourselves reveling in Brussels' truly worldwide selection of films. Some of the independent, non-cineplex theaters here are part of a Europe-and-beyond (it stretches across the Mediterranean) network of cinemas, Europa Cinemas. Thanks to funding from European Union programs like MEDIA and Eurimages, we get to see lots of films that don't fit the Hollywood star vehicle, shoot 'em up, mode.
Don't get me wrong: not everything American is bad (we jumped at the chance to see the Coen Brothers' latest, "No Country For Old Men"), and not everything French or European is good. But the "cultural exception" argument is, I believe, the only way to fight a homogenization of cinematic storytelling. "The Death of French Culture," a Time Magazine piece last year that got the attention of the French press, poked fun at the excesses of French fears of American influence:
France has led the charge for a "cultural exception" that would allow governments to keep out foreign entertainment products while subsidizing their own. French officials, who believe such protectionism is essential for saving cultural diversity from the Hollywood juggernaut, once condemned Steven Spielberg's 1993 Jurassic Park as a "threat to French identity." They succeeded in enshrining the "cultural exception" concept in a 2005 UNESCO agreement, and regularly fight for it in international trade negotiations.
Somehow France has survived Spielberg's dinosaurs and other existential threats, but the sensitivity is perhaps justified. In recent years, the Bush Administration has been preoccupied with its wars, and what focus there has been on the screen has been to push its "strategic communication" messages of war on terror, etc. Bush has been no friend to Hollywood, and the feeling is mutual. But what of a future Democratic administration?
"Hollywood Starry-Eyed For Obama," reads the Variety article on the Senator's successful fund raising efforts. Barack Obama has sworn off "lobbyist" money for his campaign, but simply keeping a distance from registered lobbyists, though laudable, while continuing to accept money from their industry sponsors won't reassure anyone. Will Hollywood demand its quid pro quo come next year? European film patrons, be on your guard.