Your optimism is refreshing and very welcome. I both admire and envy it, I really do, but I confess that I find myself on the other side of things. I haven't gotten much pleasure from watching films lately and at times I've wondered if there is even any value to cinema at times like these beyond infantile escapism. I've been thinking a lot about Godard, who gave up every ounce of political and commercial goodwill he had generated during the New Wave in order to spend 8 years trying to develop a new kind revolutionary cinema that would be politically conceived, politically produced and would lead directly to political action, only to realize that the kind of people who would watch those films didn't need them, and the kind of people who needed them wouldn't watch them.
If I had to push back a bit on the morality of US cinema (or cinema as a whole, really) I would say that everyone thinks they're John MacLane and nobody thinks they're Hans Gruber. MAGA operates as if they are underdogs fighting against an illegitimate oppressor, despite being the establishment in every sense of the word. And the most successful contemporary films are about superheroes: millionaires operating outside the law, accountable to no one, mistrustful of (or even antagonistic to) public institutions, imposing their will on the world, to great applause. I admit I haven't been keeping up with contemporary cinema much, but I suspect I haven't missed out on too many films in the vein of "The Grapes of Wrath" or "Modern Times", you know?
I don't know., maybe I'm just catastrophizing. I hope I am, anyway...
Great to hear from you. I hope you're holding up okay in all this madness. I'm a bit on the edge of things myself, which maybe explains my turn to a sunnier view of movies than I've had at times in the past.
As usual, you're bringing really helpful thoughts to the mix. On Godard (and other like-minded artists) to my way of thinking, there are a couple of relevant points. First, I think one question is whether the world would have been better of had he worked instead as a labor organizer or university professor. Perhaps. But my sense is that he would have, in that case, been ignoring his particular genius, which was for putting images on film. We are all locked, I think, into our own capacities; or perhaps freed by them. Which isn't to say that I disagree with what have been a bitter lesson learned about the capabilities of the movie-going audience to hear political messages, simply that I'm not sure he (or any of us) had much of a choice. He did the best he could do with the tools he was given, and to me that is a necessity to be celebrated.
Relatedly, I think there is a way in which tragedy is inherent in leftism, particularly in our era, because the political left has a much harder job than the political right. The right, in essence, says to people: Indulge your most base demons, and we'll all agree to call that a good thing. Be greedy. Go ahead and believe that having a better car than someone makes you a better person. You're right that homeless people are where they are because they're lazy. If you think someone's sexuality is weird, it's okay to denigrate them. etc. etc. The left, on the other hand, has the incredibly hard job of urging people to run counter to the easiest streams of culture. They have to try to make the argument that solidarity in the face of denigration is the noble cause. They have to make people try to see the true nature of the forces aligned against them (economic, cultural, etc.), which is very, very hard to do, because people just want to put their heads down and go with the flow. So Godard's job was much, much harder than someone like Tom Clancy's. But to me, there's a nobility of being on the right side, of being able to say I gave the finger to the people who deserved it, and tried my damndest to help the people who deserved it, that mitigates at least the most bitter sting of the (perhaps inevitable) failure.
On modern movies, as I think you and I have talked about in the past, I'm not the biggest fan of the superhero cycle (to put it mildly) for both industry and ideological reasons. I totally agree that there is a real (and revealing) issue in the contemporary American worship of the powerful, wealthy, unaccountable savior; I also agree that this is a departure from a lot of the American tradition of heroic portrayal. (Say what you will about Dirty Harry, but a least he never tried to set himself up as the almighty protector of the universe.) Is this an aberration, an extended moment like the disaster or eco-horror cycles of the '70s that we will look back on as an object of sociological curiosity? Hopefully. Might it signal a tectonic shift towards fascism on the part of the American people? Hopefully not. But at stake - and at stake as well in the way that the MAGA spitlickers (absolutely) try to see themselves as McClane and not Gruber) - is the fact that it's the American tradition itself, I think, that gives one the leverage to point out that the superhero film is troubling in many ways and that anyone who says Trump is acting like McClane is deluding themselves. If there is a bright spot, it's that I suspect the moment of the uber-hero may be waning, and there will be (if Hollywood artists are still worth their salt, always a dubious proposition, but one I actually have faith in) a reaction in film to what's happening.
TL;DR: I'm not super hopeful. But I do think we're on the right side, and anyone trying to talk film who says that we're not doesn't know ball, as the hoops fans say about the casuals.
Definitely on the right side, but it's become the increasingly unpopular side in ways that I would have considered unthinkable even two years ago. I think I need to find myself an outlet in order to survive the current madness and impending hellscape. Film hasn't been it, but maybe that's been on me and the way I've approached it. You've given me a lot to think over.
I could read your title as What Are Good Movies In A Time Like This. I would say Casablanca, Citizen Kane, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The Great Gatsby, My Man Godfrey, Parasite, The Social Network, The Sound of Music, They Live, Trading Places, You Can't Take It with You...
Great post, as always.
Your optimism is refreshing and very welcome. I both admire and envy it, I really do, but I confess that I find myself on the other side of things. I haven't gotten much pleasure from watching films lately and at times I've wondered if there is even any value to cinema at times like these beyond infantile escapism. I've been thinking a lot about Godard, who gave up every ounce of political and commercial goodwill he had generated during the New Wave in order to spend 8 years trying to develop a new kind revolutionary cinema that would be politically conceived, politically produced and would lead directly to political action, only to realize that the kind of people who would watch those films didn't need them, and the kind of people who needed them wouldn't watch them.
If I had to push back a bit on the morality of US cinema (or cinema as a whole, really) I would say that everyone thinks they're John MacLane and nobody thinks they're Hans Gruber. MAGA operates as if they are underdogs fighting against an illegitimate oppressor, despite being the establishment in every sense of the word. And the most successful contemporary films are about superheroes: millionaires operating outside the law, accountable to no one, mistrustful of (or even antagonistic to) public institutions, imposing their will on the world, to great applause. I admit I haven't been keeping up with contemporary cinema much, but I suspect I haven't missed out on too many films in the vein of "The Grapes of Wrath" or "Modern Times", you know?
I don't know., maybe I'm just catastrophizing. I hope I am, anyway...
Hey -
Great to hear from you. I hope you're holding up okay in all this madness. I'm a bit on the edge of things myself, which maybe explains my turn to a sunnier view of movies than I've had at times in the past.
As usual, you're bringing really helpful thoughts to the mix. On Godard (and other like-minded artists) to my way of thinking, there are a couple of relevant points. First, I think one question is whether the world would have been better of had he worked instead as a labor organizer or university professor. Perhaps. But my sense is that he would have, in that case, been ignoring his particular genius, which was for putting images on film. We are all locked, I think, into our own capacities; or perhaps freed by them. Which isn't to say that I disagree with what have been a bitter lesson learned about the capabilities of the movie-going audience to hear political messages, simply that I'm not sure he (or any of us) had much of a choice. He did the best he could do with the tools he was given, and to me that is a necessity to be celebrated.
Relatedly, I think there is a way in which tragedy is inherent in leftism, particularly in our era, because the political left has a much harder job than the political right. The right, in essence, says to people: Indulge your most base demons, and we'll all agree to call that a good thing. Be greedy. Go ahead and believe that having a better car than someone makes you a better person. You're right that homeless people are where they are because they're lazy. If you think someone's sexuality is weird, it's okay to denigrate them. etc. etc. The left, on the other hand, has the incredibly hard job of urging people to run counter to the easiest streams of culture. They have to try to make the argument that solidarity in the face of denigration is the noble cause. They have to make people try to see the true nature of the forces aligned against them (economic, cultural, etc.), which is very, very hard to do, because people just want to put their heads down and go with the flow. So Godard's job was much, much harder than someone like Tom Clancy's. But to me, there's a nobility of being on the right side, of being able to say I gave the finger to the people who deserved it, and tried my damndest to help the people who deserved it, that mitigates at least the most bitter sting of the (perhaps inevitable) failure.
On modern movies, as I think you and I have talked about in the past, I'm not the biggest fan of the superhero cycle (to put it mildly) for both industry and ideological reasons. I totally agree that there is a real (and revealing) issue in the contemporary American worship of the powerful, wealthy, unaccountable savior; I also agree that this is a departure from a lot of the American tradition of heroic portrayal. (Say what you will about Dirty Harry, but a least he never tried to set himself up as the almighty protector of the universe.) Is this an aberration, an extended moment like the disaster or eco-horror cycles of the '70s that we will look back on as an object of sociological curiosity? Hopefully. Might it signal a tectonic shift towards fascism on the part of the American people? Hopefully not. But at stake - and at stake as well in the way that the MAGA spitlickers (absolutely) try to see themselves as McClane and not Gruber) - is the fact that it's the American tradition itself, I think, that gives one the leverage to point out that the superhero film is troubling in many ways and that anyone who says Trump is acting like McClane is deluding themselves. If there is a bright spot, it's that I suspect the moment of the uber-hero may be waning, and there will be (if Hollywood artists are still worth their salt, always a dubious proposition, but one I actually have faith in) a reaction in film to what's happening.
TL;DR: I'm not super hopeful. But I do think we're on the right side, and anyone trying to talk film who says that we're not doesn't know ball, as the hoops fans say about the casuals.
Definitely on the right side, but it's become the increasingly unpopular side in ways that I would have considered unthinkable even two years ago. I think I need to find myself an outlet in order to survive the current madness and impending hellscape. Film hasn't been it, but maybe that's been on me and the way I've approached it. You've given me a lot to think over.
Always here if you want to chat about things.
I could read your title as What Are Good Movies In A Time Like This. I would say Casablanca, Citizen Kane, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The Great Gatsby, My Man Godfrey, Parasite, The Social Network, The Sound of Music, They Live, Trading Places, You Can't Take It with You...
Yes, yes, and yes.
Another incredible piece.
Thank you.
(Also, amazing piece!)
Thanks!