Hollywood has a red state/blue state of mind about political movies

With the Fourth of July on the way, it's a yankee-doodle-dandy-good time to reflect on red, white and blue movies.

Not so much white ones. Mostly Red State ones and Blue State ones.

Hollywood has been churning out what I call #8220;Red State#8221; and #8220;Blue State#8221; movies long before those colorful terms entered our lexicon during the 2000 presidential election.

Red State movies emphasize self-sufficient, go-it-alone heroes who don't necessarily play by the rules and view established institutions with suspicion and mistrust.

Blue State movies emphasize community-minded heroes pulling together for a common goal in the belief that collective efforts can be more effective and fair than those of the individual.

Weirdly enough, Hollywood studios seem to be subconsciously linked when they produce movies catering to opposite ends of the political spectrum. Different studios will inexplicably offer us Red and Blue takes on the same subject, even during the same year.

Call it Hollywood's #8220;buy-partisan#8221; marketing strategy.

The 2000s

Red State: #8220;Gravity#8221; (2013) #8212; Oscar nominee Sandra Bullock plays an astronaut stranded alone on a space station. With no NASA cavalry on the horizon, she uses her training, courage, intelligence and confidence to avoid being killed by the elements, starved, and drowned by underwater plants that seem to grab at her after splashdown.

Blue State: #8220;The Martian#8221; (2015) #8212; Stranded astronaut Matt Damon will die on Mars despite his inventive survival skills #8212; unless Jessica Chastain's still in-flight crew agrees to add months to their time in space, plus undertake a risky rescue mission that could kill them all #8212; just to save Jason Bourne?

Red State: #8220;The Legend of Hercules#8221; (2014) #8212; Kellan Lutz's demigod takes on six warriors at once and leads a mass rebellion. But Herc's 12 Labors take a back seat to finding his girlfriend before she marries a rival. Still, Hercules ranks as one of mythology's greatest, self-sufficient Red State heroes.

Blue State: #8220;Hercules#8221; (2014) #8212; Dwayne Johnson's Hercules starts out as the expected Red State hero. Then, he pulls a switcheroo. He reveals Herc to be a mere mercenary whose hired crew of crafty con artists preserves and augments his mythical status so he can charge top-dollar for his supposed protection services. Apparently, it takes a village of PR professionals to raise a demigod's paycheck.

The 1990s

Red State: #8220;Dante's Peak#8221; (1997) #8212; Erstwhile 007 Pierce Brosnan plays a volcanologist who single-handedly saves his family (except for grandma, but we knew she'd be toast) when a dormant volcano blows its top near the quiet town of Dante's Peak. If only the bureaucrats had paid attention to his warnings of imminent disaster.

Blue State: #8220;Volcano#8221; (1997) #8212; At the end of this L.A.-set disaster movie, a little boy observes the exhausted first responders of different races and faiths, all covered in ash and soot, and says, #8220;Look, they're all the same!#8221; A community comes together to deal with a calamity that Tommy Lee Jones' by-the-book emergency management director could never manage on his own.

The 1980s

Red State: #8220;Places in the Heart#8221; (1984) #8212; Sally Field won the Oscar as a sheriff's widow in one of several #8220;save the farm#8221; dramas popular during the Reagan administration. Although she receives help from a blind John Malkovich and Danny Glover's drifter, Field provides the sheer will to save her farm by bringing in the cotton crop.

#8220;I don't care what it takes!#8221; she screeches. #8220;I don't care if it kills me! I don't care if it kills you! I'm not going to give up! And if the two of you do, you can go straight to (H.E. double hockey sticks)!#8221;

Now, that's a Red State hero.

Blue State: #8220;Country#8221; (1984) #8212; The neighbors and friends of Jessica Lange and Sam Shepard's destitute farmers become the true heroes of this save-the-farm drama.

When the bank forecloses on their farm and tries to liquidate its assets at an auction, the people who came to get a bargain suddenly understand what's happening. They made no bids for their neighbors' belongings. Instead, they invite the auctioneers to leave. Quickly.

The 1970s

Red State: #8220;Dirty Harry#8221; (1971) #8212; Clint Eastwood's tough, .44-magnum-packing San Francisco cop defied the early '70s culture of peace signs and flower power. He shot and tortured suspects. He was joyously quick on the trigger and became a target for liberals who accused #8220;Harry#8221; of being fascist.

Blue State: #8220;Magnum Force#8221; (1973) #8212; This surprising sequel felt like a 124-minute apology for the original thriller. Harry inexplicably becomes a pro-establishment team player, tracking down renegade vigilantes within his own department.

#8220;I hate the system!#8221; he growls, #8220;But until someone comes along with changes that make sense, I'll stick with it!#8221; Harry returned to a shadow of his former self in three more sequels. Clearly, he's a man who got to know his limitations.

#8226; Dann Gire's column runs Friday in Time out! You can follow him on Twitter at @DannGireDHFilm.ENT24561050Sandra Bullock stars in the thriller "Gravity," the Red State version of the Blue State space survival drama "The Martian." ENT