Harrison Ford, Michael Winner, Peter Coyote: Three Perspectives on Money

winnerDM_468x700Michael Winner: Just a Working Class Bloke

A BBC news anchor revealed her salary on air last week, the next twist in the expenses scandal that may be about to bring down the British government.  The newspaper that broke the story has asked various figures in public life whether or not they would be willing for the public to know what they earn; and, probably because he's a good sport willing to talk about anything to the media at any time, Michael Winner, director of 'Death Wish' responded:

"A trained gorilla can read an autocue and look at a camera. [Carrie Gracie's £92,000 salary] doesn't represent any discernable value – unlike box office takings in a theatre, for example. It's only what these people say they are worth.

Of course, I do commercials and things, and the difference is they can see how many insurance policies have sold, or how many cups of coffee are selling. Whereas newsreaders are just part of the furniture.

With most television programmes, there's a gauge. You can tell what kind of audience they attract because the public are interested in watching. But not with the news. People are always going to watch the news.

As a movie director, I earned a great deal. As for my income now, well, it varies year by year. Am I prepared to put a figure on it? That's a no."

I remember Harrison Ford giving an interview to the effect that he considered himself an emplyee within a service profession, and deserved to be compensated proportionate to the amount he made for his bosses.  If his presence in a movie meant a difference of a few hundred million dollars then Ford wanted an appropriate cut.  He has a point, but so did Peter Coyote in his suggestion last year that well-paid stars should forgo a portion of their income:

"You cannot grow roses without mulch. While stars represent the beautiful blooms of the industry, the soil of the industry, the medium of growth supplied by all those who surround you, is being starved for nourishment. Eventually, this lack of payback to the medium supporting all the growth will kill, if not the plant itself, at least its quality and vitality. Our industry is not secure while the majority of its players are not. To change the situation requires consciousness, solidarity, and power. We have the consciousness and solidarity. We appeal to you for help with the power."

I rather like Peter Coyote.

Please Stand in Solidarity Against Gun Violence: A Note from Friends in Philadelphia

Earlier this year in Philadelphia, I was privileged to participate in a gathering opposing violence and imagining creative strategies for faith-based peace activism.  Dozens of the participants took park in a non-violent witness against gun violence, specifically the lax protocols on weapon sales, and some were arrested.  The trial is next week; if you're in the Philadelphia area, please consider attending to show your solidarity with the defendants; if you're not nearby, there are several other options suggested below, alongside the proposed code of conduct for gun sales.

Gun violence goes on trial!

Be there

On Tuesday, May 26

twelve people of faith will face trial

for an act of conscience witnessing against the plague of violence

in our streets and our communities

fueled by the availability of illegal weapons.

In January 2009, 12 people were arrested while participating in nonviolent direct action to pressure Colosimo’s Gun Center to sign a Code of Conduct for Responsible Gun Dealers.  Following several weeks of discussion between the gun shop owner and a delegation of local religious leaders, these 12 individuals went to the store to once again ask the owner to sign the code.  They remained there waiting for his agreement, and were arrested.

They were charged with a variety of crimes, including misdemeanor trespass, misdemeanor disorderly conduct, blocking a sidewalk and criminal conspiracy. They spent between 12 and 27 hours in jail before being released.  The defendants include community advocates from Camden and Philadelphia, ordained Christian clergy from 3 denominations and a Jewish rabbi.

Please stand with us to send a dramatic signal on behalf of the young people that suffer most from this epidemic of violence.  They’ve lost friends and siblings, they’ve lost hope.  We need to show that we are willing to risk, to sacrifice, to struggle for ourselves, for them and with them.

“With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope.” Martin Luther King, Jr.

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For more information, please contact

info@HeedingGodsCall.org

267-519-5302

www.HeedingGodsCall.org

REPONSIBLE FIREARMS RETAILER PARTNERSHIP:

A 10-POINT VOLUNTARY CODE

The 10 points of the Responsible Firearms Retailer Partnership are:

Videotaping the Point of Sale for All Firearms Transactions. Participating retailers will videotape the point-of-sale of all firearms transactions and maintain videos for 6 months to deter illegal purchases and monitor employees.

Computerized Crime Gun Trace Log and Alert System. Mayors Against Illegal Guns will develop a computerized system that participating retailers will implement over time to log crime gun traces relating to the retailer.  Once the program is in place, if a customer who has a prior trace at that retailer attempts to purchase a firearm, the sale will be electronically flagged.  The retailer would have discretion to proceed with the sale or stop the sale.

Purchaser Declaration. For sales flagged by the trace alert system, participating retailers will ask purchasers to fill out a declaration indicating that they meet the legal requirement to purchase the firearm.

Deterring Fake IDs. Participating retailers will only accept valid federal- or state-issued picture IDs as primary identification.  Retailers will utilize additional ID checking mechanisms.

Consistent Visible Signage. Participating retailers will post signage created by the Responsible Firearms Retailer Partnership to alert customers of their legal responsibilities at the point-of-sale.

Employee Background Checks. Participating retailers will conduct criminal background checks for all employees selling or handling firearms.

Employee Responsibility Training. Participating retailers will participate in an employee responsibility training program focused on deterring illegal purchasers.  The Responsible Firearms Retailer Partnership will create an online training system based on Wal-Mart’s training program.

Inventory Checking. Participating retailers will conduct daily and quarterly audits.  Guidelines will be based on Wal-Mart’s existing audit procedures.

No Sales Without Background Check Results.  Participating retailers would prohibit sales based on “default proceeds,” which are permitted by law when background check has not returned a result within 3 days.

Securing Firearms. Participating retailers will maintain firearms kept in customer accessible areas in locked cases or locked racks.

Participating retailers will phase in the provisions of Responsible Firearms Retailer Partnership over time.

Films to Revisit: The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada

three_burials I took another look at Tommy Lee Jones' directorial debut 'The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada' at the weekend - I was struck on my first viewing three years ago at the level of craft and understanding of how to tell a story, not to mention the meaning of the story it's trying to tell: one of how America (or any other protagonist) needs to grow up.  This time round, I was even more astonished - this film is so knowing about human relationships, loneliness, the power of economics to kill or liberate, and so delicate in its handling of what could otherwise have been either a horror film or a zombie comedy.

On the surface, it's a simple story - undocumented Mexican migrant worker Melquiades becomes inseperably best friends with Cowboy Pete, before being killed by a border patrol agent of the jock-revenge school.  Pete has promised Melquiades that he will bring his body home if such an event were to occur, so Pete abducts the agent and together they travel the harsh terrain from South Texas to the village of Jimenez.  Along the way, a world of sorrow and loss.  And one of the most believable redemptions I've ever seen.

My previous viewings had left me with compassion for the individual characters on screen - two formerly popular high school students later broken by the pressure to meet unworkable standards in adult life, a cop whose ED reflects his sense of swimming in circles, a blind man who has seen it all, and two men who just wanted to be allowed to be friends, despite the oppression of national borders.  But this time, I saw something else: 'The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada' is ultimately about the sins of colonialism and what it might take to learn interdependence. There's no sentimental closure here, just honesty about what guilt feels like, and how a desire for revenge can turn into letting go.  It asks an obvious, and enormous question: What are the responsibilities of friendship?  What can we forgive?  How can nations whose forebears have slaughtered each other bring the cycle to an end?  This film gets better with age.

Angels and Demons

angels-set02 Our Film Talk podcast review of 'Angels and Demons' is now on-line, with just the kind of vital theo-political comments you'd expect from myself and Jett Loe.  In other words, I had a cheesy grin on my face for the first hour, because this film knows exactly what it's doing: it's having fun, and taking us on a rollercoaster.  Then the priest-burnings began, and all of a sudden I was watching a remake of the most gruesome scenes in 'The Name of the Rose' - a smart thriller based on Umberto Eco's vast novel about symbols, language, and the meaning of religion, but with an uncomfortably literal portrayal of the way supposed heretics were executed.  There's far too much burning flesh in 'Angels and Demons', given its PG-13 rating.  There's far too much absurd coincidence, given its pretentions to be a story.  There's far too little humour, given how much fun its makers appeared to be having.

And at the end of it all, the questions of the interaction between faith and science that the film mentions deserve a better hearing than they're getting either in movies like this, or in the work of Richard Dawkins.  Though I suspect Ron Howard and Tom Hanks wouldn't consider themselves, unlike Dawkins, experts in fields they haven't studied.

P.S. [Spoiler follows]: Nice to see that the most heroic figure in the movie turns out to have been from Belfast.  Just before he turns into the evil force behind it all and sets himself on fire.  Ah well.