I think this is one of the very best things you've written on here.
"our culture has long been obsessed with the ideas of roads and travel"
And of course, the road film was invented in the US and remains largely a US-centric genre. I had always assumed that it had something to do with the unique elements, cultural and photographic, of a country that is massive, beautiful, sparsely populated (relatively) and organized around smallish enclaves separated by miles and miles of empty road (which means that going anywhere or doing anything pretty much requires a road trip), but you make a very good case for the road film as the natural extension of a broader cultural, idealistic pursuit.
"The film opens with an extraordinarily beautiful image of airplane-dropped napalm destroying a tree line while Jim Morrison of The Doors croons the lyrics to "The End."
I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way. It's a gorgeous image, one of my favorites in all of cinema, but I always feel bad about liking it.
"Freedom provokes crisis, which in turn makes the violent reaction to the fear feel comforting, necessary,"
One of the things my parents always told me is that there is absolutely no argument that the US is, by far, the freest country in the world, and by a wide margin, when it comes to individual liberties. But it possibly the only country in the world in which individual liberties trump collective freedoms. I didn't always agree, not completely anyway, but it's hard for me not to these days. And your point is absolutely true: it's these same people that are so preoccupied with freedom at the individual level (the originalists, the gun nuts, the MAGA crowd) that desperately seek out and cling to authoritarians who they feel will protect them, even at the expense of those very same freedoms. I used to think it was cognitive dissonance, but I've changed my mind. I think that they are coherent in their ideology, and the so-called dissonance just the product of semantics. When they say freedom, they aren't referring to a value or a principle or a human right. They are referring to the ability to do what they want, when they want, often at the expense of others, and for others to be deprived of the ability to do anything about it. Seen though that lens, it's all perfectly logical.
"And Kurtz was insane."
I struggle a bit with envisioning Trump as Kurtz just because I love 'Apocalypse Now' so much, and because I view the monstrous Kurtz as a wee bit of a tragic, self-loathing figure (who has actually read a book or two), but the thing about the followers, yes. Absolutely. An army that willingly follows a decrepit, incoherent lunatic, despite being at least somewhat aware of the fact he is a decrepit, incoherent lunatic, just because he gives them permission to act out their most sadistic fantasies under the guise of some vague, impending victory of some sort. 100%.
Man, just realized I never responded to this. Great thoughts about the piece - I'm also conflicted, because it's one of my favorites, and I agree about the Kurtz not being exactly like Trump stuff. I've been thinking about trying to put together a book - maybe I'll work it out better there. And the Krugman coincidence was nuts. He could have at least given me a nod, with his 300K subscribers!
This is brilliant writing Tyler. I know a few of those Williams drinkers, having been one as well and had similar experiences as the one you opened with. I know we were all capable of having conversations like this but writing it down as you have is exceptional.
Most of us chose to join the parable you write about: doctors, lawyers, captains of industry. I worked to help build and sell the technology infrastructure that has been harnessed by our oligarchs to control the minds of the uneducated with disinformation. Today I am willing to do most anything to stop the unfettered trampling of our government in the name of freedom.
Editor's note... small grammatic commission here: " if it allowed to rush forward unchecked and unconsidered, where will it lead us?"
Did you ever step on a rugby pitch while in that small Massachusetts town?
Many thanks for reading, and for the kind words about the piece. I was not a rugby player while at Williams, although looking back it probably would have been a better fit for me than the soccer team, which is where I spent a couple of years.
Thanks also for the edit - always appreciated!
I'm not sure when you were in college, but when I was there, in the '90s, the world seemed a very different place, and I think there was a real, enthusiastic belief that many of the depredations of history were behind us. If I remember right, my freshman year for winter study we all had to read and discuss Fukuyama's "The End of History," about how societal evolution had reached its ultimate end point in liberal democracy and capitalism and we could all just coast on forward.
Many of the people I knew there (almost every single one, in fact) went on to do similar things as it sounds like you did; I think in part this was simply because we all took our moment in history and mistook it for the bigger movement of history in general.
In the 90's I did grad school, got married and started raising kids, in addition to marketing and selling internet infrastructure like network hardware and software, so there was no time for Fukayama. But to paraphrase one of our great philosophers of the period, Alan Greenspan, it was an ever upward time of exuberance, irrational as it was, til it was not. We had "won" the cold war and endless prosperity seemed to be the payoff.
Then the tide went out and we saw that most of us were naked below the waist. 9/11 was a turning point. Our allies and most of the world came to our support. It could have been for good but we started a war with Iraq that cost considerably blood and treasure for the wrong reasons.
We spent the following years trying to refind our way. I recall reading Harari's Sapiens in which the author echoed Fukayama's messaging and nearly declared the end of war, despite what we had done in response to 9/11 and what Putin was doing in Crimea and the Donbas, prior to the invasion.
The world is full of evil, usually led by a small number of leaders who crave money, power, and/or fame. We flip flopped on which direction we wanted to follow til the first Trump admin.
That's when I learned that aside from email, which even my Luddite father used to make his life easier, the most powerful app running on the infrastructure I had helped proliferate and secure globally was Social Media. It seemed like a great way to keep in touch with far flung friends and family, but the real power was disinformation used to influence and make even the least privileged people in the country decide to support the objectives of the most privileged, the Billionaires.
And here we are with Elons DOGE Boys looking for nickels and dimes in an illegal search of the sofa cushions and junk drawers of each department of the government so they can make life great again... for Billionaires by permanently lowering their taxes with bupkis for the rest of us. But we get the huge payoff of not having to be politically correct anymore.
I have to admit that when my former classmates started correcting my politically incorrect speech in the early 90's I kept telling them that one day there would be unforseen consequences. I did not know how severe. I tip-toed through that minefield and also started to think more about the audience of my words. But most Americans are too lazy and/or impatient to do so.
Recently I have retreated to Bluesky and refuse to click on X or any Meta product.
Sorry for the long ramble. Keep this stuff up. When is your first film coming out? Also best to your lovely wife. We've never met but during the pandemic I gave her a piece of Williamstown art that I posted on Facebook in the years I was handling my parents affairs.
Thanks for all the thoughts/ideas and for reading the piece. Also, I had no I idea that painting of Griffith Hall was from you! We just hung it in our new place today (which is when I realized I'd completely forgotten to respond to this...) Both Kai and I had our first classes at Williams there, and think of it fondly. It's great that it now has a personal connection!
I will say hello to Billsville next weekend for you. A couple Olde Fart rugby alumni and I are hosting a 50th anniversary celebration in honor of the first Alumni game played in the fall of 74.
BTW I see a handful of films each year in the theatre. I am not a fan of the horror film genre, but I am a big fan of Sinners on so many levels.
I think this is one of the very best things you've written on here.
"our culture has long been obsessed with the ideas of roads and travel"
And of course, the road film was invented in the US and remains largely a US-centric genre. I had always assumed that it had something to do with the unique elements, cultural and photographic, of a country that is massive, beautiful, sparsely populated (relatively) and organized around smallish enclaves separated by miles and miles of empty road (which means that going anywhere or doing anything pretty much requires a road trip), but you make a very good case for the road film as the natural extension of a broader cultural, idealistic pursuit.
"The film opens with an extraordinarily beautiful image of airplane-dropped napalm destroying a tree line while Jim Morrison of The Doors croons the lyrics to "The End."
I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way. It's a gorgeous image, one of my favorites in all of cinema, but I always feel bad about liking it.
"Freedom provokes crisis, which in turn makes the violent reaction to the fear feel comforting, necessary,"
One of the things my parents always told me is that there is absolutely no argument that the US is, by far, the freest country in the world, and by a wide margin, when it comes to individual liberties. But it possibly the only country in the world in which individual liberties trump collective freedoms. I didn't always agree, not completely anyway, but it's hard for me not to these days. And your point is absolutely true: it's these same people that are so preoccupied with freedom at the individual level (the originalists, the gun nuts, the MAGA crowd) that desperately seek out and cling to authoritarians who they feel will protect them, even at the expense of those very same freedoms. I used to think it was cognitive dissonance, but I've changed my mind. I think that they are coherent in their ideology, and the so-called dissonance just the product of semantics. When they say freedom, they aren't referring to a value or a principle or a human right. They are referring to the ability to do what they want, when they want, often at the expense of others, and for others to be deprived of the ability to do anything about it. Seen though that lens, it's all perfectly logical.
"And Kurtz was insane."
I struggle a bit with envisioning Trump as Kurtz just because I love 'Apocalypse Now' so much, and because I view the monstrous Kurtz as a wee bit of a tragic, self-loathing figure (who has actually read a book or two), but the thing about the followers, yes. Absolutely. An army that willingly follows a decrepit, incoherent lunatic, despite being at least somewhat aware of the fact he is a decrepit, incoherent lunatic, just because he gives them permission to act out their most sadistic fantasies under the guise of some vague, impending victory of some sort. 100%.
Did Paul Krugman steal your idea?
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/stop-looking-for-methods-in-the-madness
Man, just realized I never responded to this. Great thoughts about the piece - I'm also conflicted, because it's one of my favorites, and I agree about the Kurtz not being exactly like Trump stuff. I've been thinking about trying to put together a book - maybe I'll work it out better there. And the Krugman coincidence was nuts. He could have at least given me a nod, with his 300K subscribers!
This is brilliant writing Tyler. I know a few of those Williams drinkers, having been one as well and had similar experiences as the one you opened with. I know we were all capable of having conversations like this but writing it down as you have is exceptional.
Most of us chose to join the parable you write about: doctors, lawyers, captains of industry. I worked to help build and sell the technology infrastructure that has been harnessed by our oligarchs to control the minds of the uneducated with disinformation. Today I am willing to do most anything to stop the unfettered trampling of our government in the name of freedom.
Editor's note... small grammatic commission here: " if it allowed to rush forward unchecked and unconsidered, where will it lead us?"
Did you ever step on a rugby pitch while in that small Massachusetts town?
Many thanks for reading, and for the kind words about the piece. I was not a rugby player while at Williams, although looking back it probably would have been a better fit for me than the soccer team, which is where I spent a couple of years.
Thanks also for the edit - always appreciated!
I'm not sure when you were in college, but when I was there, in the '90s, the world seemed a very different place, and I think there was a real, enthusiastic belief that many of the depredations of history were behind us. If I remember right, my freshman year for winter study we all had to read and discuss Fukuyama's "The End of History," about how societal evolution had reached its ultimate end point in liberal democracy and capitalism and we could all just coast on forward.
Many of the people I knew there (almost every single one, in fact) went on to do similar things as it sounds like you did; I think in part this was simply because we all took our moment in history and mistook it for the bigger movement of history in general.
In the 90's I did grad school, got married and started raising kids, in addition to marketing and selling internet infrastructure like network hardware and software, so there was no time for Fukayama. But to paraphrase one of our great philosophers of the period, Alan Greenspan, it was an ever upward time of exuberance, irrational as it was, til it was not. We had "won" the cold war and endless prosperity seemed to be the payoff.
Then the tide went out and we saw that most of us were naked below the waist. 9/11 was a turning point. Our allies and most of the world came to our support. It could have been for good but we started a war with Iraq that cost considerably blood and treasure for the wrong reasons.
We spent the following years trying to refind our way. I recall reading Harari's Sapiens in which the author echoed Fukayama's messaging and nearly declared the end of war, despite what we had done in response to 9/11 and what Putin was doing in Crimea and the Donbas, prior to the invasion.
The world is full of evil, usually led by a small number of leaders who crave money, power, and/or fame. We flip flopped on which direction we wanted to follow til the first Trump admin.
That's when I learned that aside from email, which even my Luddite father used to make his life easier, the most powerful app running on the infrastructure I had helped proliferate and secure globally was Social Media. It seemed like a great way to keep in touch with far flung friends and family, but the real power was disinformation used to influence and make even the least privileged people in the country decide to support the objectives of the most privileged, the Billionaires.
And here we are with Elons DOGE Boys looking for nickels and dimes in an illegal search of the sofa cushions and junk drawers of each department of the government so they can make life great again... for Billionaires by permanently lowering their taxes with bupkis for the rest of us. But we get the huge payoff of not having to be politically correct anymore.
I have to admit that when my former classmates started correcting my politically incorrect speech in the early 90's I kept telling them that one day there would be unforseen consequences. I did not know how severe. I tip-toed through that minefield and also started to think more about the audience of my words. But most Americans are too lazy and/or impatient to do so.
Recently I have retreated to Bluesky and refuse to click on X or any Meta product.
Sorry for the long ramble. Keep this stuff up. When is your first film coming out? Also best to your lovely wife. We've never met but during the pandemic I gave her a piece of Williamstown art that I posted on Facebook in the years I was handling my parents affairs.
Hey Stephen -
Thanks for all the thoughts/ideas and for reading the piece. Also, I had no I idea that painting of Griffith Hall was from you! We just hung it in our new place today (which is when I realized I'd completely forgotten to respond to this...) Both Kai and I had our first classes at Williams there, and think of it fondly. It's great that it now has a personal connection!
I will say hello to Billsville next weekend for you. A couple Olde Fart rugby alumni and I are hosting a 50th anniversary celebration in honor of the first Alumni game played in the fall of 74.
BTW I see a handful of films each year in the theatre. I am not a fan of the horror film genre, but I am a big fan of Sinners on so many levels.