Oliver Stone, Conspiracies, and The Onion

A couple days ago over at The Onion Noel Murray reported that Oliver Stone is lining up a 10-part documentary series for Showtime called Oliver Stone's Secret History Of America. It promises "to focus on events that 'at the time went under-reported, but crucially shaped America's unique and complex history of the last 60 years'".

It is sure to be interesting and extremely controversial.

Good news but I found myself irritated when Murray said, "Oliver Stone will be returning to the world of conspiracies and insider politics that's been his bread-and-butter for decades now."

Seriously?

Look at Stone's record at IMDB. Where are all the conspiracies in his early screenplays? Where is all the political intrigue in Scarface or Conan the Barbarian? Stone has made several movies about the Vietnam War experience. So where are all the conspiracies in Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July, and Heaven and Earth? These are films about the grunts and their experiences, not panoramic views of the political causes of the conflict that the characters found themselves caught up in.

Sure, JFK and Nixon were full of shadowy figures pulling the strings behind the scenes but such elements don't figure into the vast majority of his films. Talk Radio, The Doors, Any Given Sunday - where's the conspiracy mongering? The only conspiracy in U-Turn was to get into Jennifer Lopez's pants.

Contrary to Murray's assertion, "the world of conspiracies and insider politics" has hardly been Stone's bread and butter for decades. Almost from the beginning of his career, Stone has concentrated on strong, powerful men. You can complain about the very masculine worlds in which his stories are set and the comparatively subordinate roles that women generally have in them, but to say that insider politics and conspiracy mongering are Stone's bread and butter indicates that you aren't familiar with his career.