Political Discussion

ayayrawn said:
Could've sworn he co-wrote the screenplay too, but you're right👍
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Funnily enough-- other than Men, my least favorite Garland film is probably Never Let Me Go. The book is exceptionally close to my heart and the film, while mostly well received, simply can't hold a candle to it. I'd guess that Garland learned a lot in adapting it and that the process shaped his approach to Annihilation. Never Let me Go sticks closely to the book in a way that highlights the inherent gap between the mediums. To my understanding, Annihilation doesn't even attempt to stick to the book's plot and instead deviates in an attempt to serve its medium while retaining core themes.

But now we are full blown into a conversation that probably belongs in the movie thread :LOL:
 
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DownIsTheNewUp said:
Very excited for Alex Garland's new film and find the visceral reaction people are having hilarious. The guy writes some of the smartest sci-fi of the 21st century and people are worried it's going to be a pro-war movie? The test screenings have been very positive, trailers are always misleading.

It's also an A24 produced film, with their largest budget to date (by a wide margin) at 50 million. Considering the have the most consistently great output of anybody in the movie industry, I'm really hoping this thing doesn't bomb.

Thoughts?



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The hand-wringing has to do with a large portion of the audience; the kind of people that worship Fight Club, The Matrix, or The Watchmen for all the wrong reasons might see this in much the same way, unintended propaganda of it all.
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
The hand-wringing has to do with a large portion of the audience; the kind of people that worship Fight Club, The Matrix, or The Watchmen for all the wrong reasons might see this in much the same way, unintended propaganda of it all.
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A) Fight Club and Martix are stone cold classics and if Civil War is on their level, I'll be estatic even if a small subsect of dipshits can't think critically.

B) Those same dispshits aren't ever going to be capable of creating a civil war in this country. The only people who can trigger us getting to that point are politicans like Trump and JD Vance who are dead set on underming our constitution and electorial system.

And to that end, I'd argue that if the film is good, it may help economic leaning center right types to reconsider the implications of a 2nd Trump presidency. At least, that's far more likely that it having any impact on how the alt-right goes about its business.

C) Propaganda has intent and is created with the goal of short circuiting critical thinking. Or in the case of something like Rogan, is riddled in mistruths masquerading as intellectual conversation.

I understand what you are saying but it's not the right word for films that are misinterpreted but are actively encouraging critical thinking and are thematically layered.
 
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DownIsTheNewUp said:
Those same dispshits aren't ever going to be capable of creating a civil war in this country
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Those dipshits won’t, but they’ll sure as hell follow someone who is capable. January 6th was only the start.

DownIsTheNewUp said:
C) Propaganda has intent and is created with the goal of short circuiting critical thinking
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Wasn’t this kind of the point of Leave the World Behind? Ways to basically dismantle a nation and have it turn against itself.
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
The hand-wringing has to do with a large portion of the audience; the kind of people that worship Fight Club, The Matrix, or The Watchmen for all the wrong reasons might see this in much the same way, unintended propaganda of it all.
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The people who love Starship Troopers but are unable to recognize that all the human characters are fascists.
 
DownIsTheNewUp said:
A) Fight Club and Martix are stone cold classics and if Civil War is on their level, I'll be estatic even if a small subsect of dipshits can't think critically.

B) Those same dispshits aren't ever going to be capable of creating a civil war in this country. The only people who can trigger us getting to that point are politicans like Trump and JD Vance who are dead set on underming our constitution and electorial system.

And to that end, I'd argue that if the film is good, it may help economic leaning center right types to reconsider the implications of a 2nd Trump presidency. At least, that's far more likely that it having any impact on how the alt-right goes about its business.

C) Propaganda has intent and is created with the goal of short circuiting critical thinking. Or in the case of something like Rogan, is riddled in mistruths masquerading as intellectual conversation.

I understand what you are saying but it's not the right word for films that are misinterpreted but are actively encouraging critical thinking and are thematically layered.
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Yeah, I agree with all of this. I was just offering up an explanation why some are nervous. I don’t think art should ever surrender to the dipshit lowest common denominator.
 
Indymisanthrope said:
The people who love Starship Troopers but are unable to recognize that all the human characters are fascists.
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Yet that doesn't change the fact that Starship Troopers is a masterpiece nor that it has had 0 impact on the rise of facism in this country or around the world.

Melt Face Molly Drop said:
Those dipshits won’t, but they’ll sure as hell follow someone who is capable. January 6th was only the start.



Wasn’t this kind of the point of Leave the World Behind? Ways to basically dismantle a nation and have it turn against itself.
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Agree with both of your points. But the larger point is that keeping Trump out of office prevents that (for now). And that waking up the people who don't like Trump but dismiss the threat he poses because they are frustrated with Biden (for a array of justifiable reasons) is what matters.

Not to mention that when you have Fox News openly embracing Vlad and an entire infrastructure feeding the masses misinformation, those people are already long lost.

The idea that (smart) art and comedy should worry about how its interpreted by the lowest common denominator is basically sacrilege to me. Half of this country's problem is that everyone has been dumbed down by things like reality TV and a constant chase for the lowest common denominator.
 
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TenderLovingKiller® said:
Yeah, I agree with all of this. I was just offering up an explanation why some are nervous. I don’t think art should ever surrender to the dipshit lowest common denominator.
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Yeah I know. We've had enough conversations over the years to understand your intent.

Funnily enough, I didn't see your comment until after basically typing the exact same thing in regards to the lowest common denominator.
 
DownIsTheNewUp said:
Funnily enough-- other than Men, my least favorite Garland film is probably Never Let Me Go. The book is exceptionally close to my heart and the film, while mostly well received, simply can't hold a candle to it. I'd guess that Garland learned a lot in adapting it and that the process shaped his approach to Annihilation. Never Let me Go sticks closely to the book in a way that highlights the inherent gap between the mediums. To my understanding, Annihilation doesn't even attempt to stick to the book's plot and instead deviates in an attempt to serve its medium while retaining core themes.

But now we are full blown into a conversation that probably belongs in the movie thread :LOL:
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Not fully following this part of the thread but for some reason I am reminded of a reviewer’s observation while critiquing the film version of “The Prince Of Tides”, Pat Conroy’s powerful novel of family strife in the American South. He stated, basically, that you should never judge a book by its movie. So true.
 
RenegadeMonster said:
Wow, that's weird. That YouTube video was February 18th Episode of John Oliver. Which appears t o have been pulled from YouTube now.

Anyways, here is a news story on the portion of the episode I was referring too.



deadline.com

‘Last Week Tonight’: John Oliver Returns To HBO & Offers To Pay Clarence Thomas $1M A Year To “Get The F*** Off The Supreme Court”

John Oliver started a new season of Last Week Tonight on HBO with a million-dollar offer to Clarence Thomas.
deadline.com deadline.com
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Looks like Team Discovery Channel is up to some fuckery again…
tvline.com

HBO Delaying Last Week Tonight Clips on YouTube

HBO has opted to delay adding 'Last Week Tonight' clips on YouTube — find out when they will be uploaded.
tvline.com tvline.com
 
DownIsTheNewUp said:
The idea that (smart) art and comedy should worry about how its interpreted by the lowest common denominator is basically sacrilege to me.
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I don't think anyone here took that position. Art doesn't need to worry about how it's interpreted. But the public at large should remain vigilant that art is not weaponized in a way that ignores, misunderstands, or otherwise contradicts its actual meaning (See: decades of conservative politicians misusing "Born in the U.S.A." and "Fortunate Son").

That's where these films get propagandized: not because David Fincher or the Wachowskis are overtly drumming up political support for one cause or the other, but because the films fall into the hands of trolls on 4chan and reddit and get distorted until you reach the point where being "redpilled" is synonymous with going full MAGA and Tyler Durden is no longer satire but the actual platonic ideal of masculinity. That's not the films' fault, but it's still something to watch out for.
 
I'm grateful that I paid off my credit cards over a year ago by taking a fixed rate loan out.

Despite having a credit score above 750 after paying them of, several of my cards variable APR are now over 29%! That is absolutely insane, highway robbery and should be illegal.

I'm scared for people who have to charge things because they have no money after paying for rent. Credit cards are much more dangerous now than they have ever been in the past.


While we are on the topic of everything being more expensive, car insurance on average across the country is up 20% over this time last year. While the fact that new cars are much more expensive accounts for some of why, as well as inflation, car insurance rates are still up more than they should be. And the car insurance companies are not giving any explanations other than new cars are more expensive and explanation. Was reading about it in it an article yesterday, and there were several hypotheses as to why this is, with the most likely one being plain old "greed".
 
Immigration is a very hot button issue in MA. Every one is bitching about the state housing migrants in hotels and about their tax dollars being used for that, and how this is devaluing property value and changing neighborhood dynamics.

The latest news on this topic occurred in a zoning board vote in Dedham.

A hotel management company was seeking to get a permit to allow them to expand their catering. They currently use a vacant restaurant that's next door to one of their hotels the migrants that are located in the neighboring hotel. The permit they were seeking was to expand their catering business so that they could also cook food for 9 other hotel locations they own that are currently housing migrants.

It became a very heated and divided debate in the community. People with very very strong opinions on both sides. At the end of the day, the super majority vote from the board denied the permit.

The board before the vote was reminded that the vote was for whether or not they can expand their catering business, not whether or not the illegals should be here. But at the end of the day, not in my back yard (NIMBY).

The sentiment was pretty much they are not against helping migrants, but this is not the proper place for it. They seemed very concerned that this would open the flood gate up for more migrants and impact community safety.
 
RenegadeMonster said:
Immigration is a very hot button issue in MA. Every one is bitching about the state housing migrants in hotels and about their tax dollars being used for that, and how this is devaluing property value and changing neighborhood dynamics.

The latest news on this topic occurred in a zoning board vote in Dedham.

A hotel management company was seeking to get a permit to allow them to expand their catering. They currently use a vacant restaurant that's next door to one of their hotels the migrants that are located in the neighboring hotel. The permit they were seeking was to expand their catering business so that they could also cook food for 9 other hotel locations they own that are currently housing migrants.

It became a very heated and divided debate in the community. People with very very strong opinions on both sides. At the end of the day, the super majority vote from the board denied the permit.

The board before the vote was reminded that the vote was for whether or not they can expand their catering business, not whether or not the illegals should be here. But at the end of the day, not in my back yard (NIMBY).

The sentiment was pretty much they are not against helping migrants, but this is not the proper place for it. They seemed very concerned that this would open the flood gate up for more migrants and impact community safety.
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Well it seems you’re having the same debates in MA as everyone else in every other part of the western world is having right now.
 
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