Rich lechers in the 20th C: The Aviator, The people vs. Larry Flynt

Two biopics to be reviewed for this week's entertainment assignment.

The first one is "The Aviator", chronicling the life trajectory of the obsessive-compulsive mogul Howard Hughes and the other is "The people vs. Larry Flynt", featuring the pruriently political story of Larry Flynt. Both biopics are about American millionaires of great achievements. Although neither Hughes or Flynt is well-educated or respectfully decent in the orthodox sense, they are well-known public figures in the 20th C for their unswerving pursuit of their belief. This is the common highlight of both movies: Endure the hardship and keep on believing and pursuing whatever you believe in, and you will eventually win the public vote of championship. But would either man rise to their stardoms were they not wealthy? Would they gain public support if they could not financially sustain the long and costly legal battles with the US government? What is more important? Their affluence or perseverance?

At any rate, I am impressed that the US provided a public space to accommodate and commemorate these unorthodox figures. For better or worse, I doubt if the same status will be assigned to either man, esp. the porno king Flynt, in the Chinese society. But the nation-wide respect to these rich lechers in the 20th century also reinforce the intensified structural inequality. As sexually alluring as Althea Flynt is (Courtney Love is flawless in her character, I mean, WOW!), she was married to Larry Flynt when she was 17 and died at the age of 33. What does it tell us about gender relations of this couple? What does it tell us about the growing salacity of media violence today? These two men might have made irreplaceable private achievements but they also paved the public road for "American Philistinism". Is this as celebratory as the victory over the triumph of the First Amendment?

But who am I to judge? At least they have the guts to go nuts and coarse, right? Somehow I don't feel bad about my strict upbringing. Substituting bad taste with freedom doesn't sound too ambitious to me.