Hollywood vs. America: Popular Culture and the War on Traditional Values.

The tone of Medved's critique of American film, popular music, and television is indicated in one of his concluding paragraphs:

In the final analysis, I worry about the impact of medial messages not only on my children but on myself -- and on all the rest of us. No matter how sophisticated we believe that we are, or how determined our best efforts to counteract their influence, the poisons of the popular culture seep into our very souls.

The major questions addressed in this book include: What are the values which today's movies, TV, and popular music transmit to America and to the world? How are Hollywood's messages affecting our society and our children? What are the underlying motivations of the moguls and creative artists who control the media culture? What can be done to make the entertainment industry more responsible and responsive to the public it is supposed to serve?

The book is divided into six parts including: "The Poison Factory," "The Attack on Religion," "The Assault on the Family," and "The Glorification of Ugliness." "Promoting Promiscuity," "Maligning Marriage," "Encouraging Illegitimacy," "The Infatuation with Foul Language," and "The Addiction to Violence" are just a few chapter titles.

While he is careful to state that negative media messages (i.e. anti-Medved's value system) do not cause antisocial behavior, Medved does claim that the accumulated impact of irresponsible messages certainly encourages antisocial behavior. The constant glorification of sex and violence and the negative values concerning religion and the family eventually take their toll on the American psyche.

Medved contends that Americans do not want their media to broadcast such negative values.

For a long time, the American people have been trying to send the message that they want more wholesome entertainment. Whenever they are asked their opinion by pollsters (as they were in a comprehensive Associated Press survey in 1989), overwhelming majorities indicate that they want less violence in movies (92 percent), less sexual content (72 percent), and less foul language (80 percent). Their recent box office behavior indicates that when they express such opinions, the members of the mass audience might actually mean what they say. (290-291)

Medved's critique may well express the concerns felt by middle-class Americans who share his value orientation. There is much to think about in these pages. However, there is also much to argue and debate.