My Cultural Creative Visit to the World of Moderns
The movie that should have been the blockbuster for the month of November didn’t even come close. Michael Moore’s “Capitalism—a Love Story” was in competition with the totally distracting movie “2012.” Let’s keep The Masses asleep to their own pain and suffering. Let’s actually play on their deeper psychological desires and wishes.
I am outside that Modern culture of malls and materialism. Here is what I saw, in that horrible film. Moderns watching that film might not notice the intense manipulation of their emotions. It is no accident that the hero—John Cusack’s character-- represents everything to which Moderns SHOULD be waking up. He is a writer, who writes well, yet whose books don’t sell. He neglected his family in a vain attempt to live up to the dominator culture’s role of husband and Dad, then was divorced by his frustrated wife. As the movie begins, he is sinking, and sinking fast. He is employed as a chauffeur for a big nasty Fat Cat.This is exactly the type of viewer that should be over at “Capitalism—a Love Story”, getting an education on plutocracy, dead peasant’s insurance and gotcha capitalism. The promise of stuff, and the reality of debt, exposed. But we aren’t at the Michael Moore film. We are at the big Blockbuster Fantasy.
Enter the end of the world, as we know it. Mr. Failure has an opportunity to re-invent himself, shining through adverse situations one after another, ordeal after ordeal after ordeal, winning the love of each member of his family back along the way, and guiding them to safely take their place in the New World Order. That is the narcotic, designed for unhappy middle class American men. Ignore your creativity, continue to just stuff it down. A better day will come for you, lottery style.
Then we move onwards, to the manipulative message for middle class women. John Cusack’s wife is described as having dropped out of med school to support her family, when her husband was trying to write. Her character arc, as the world falls apart, is clearly written by a man. Ms. Former Pre Med is portrayed as a woman who doesn’t even get up off of her ass to SEE what is going on as they are escaping, but simply cowers in the corner, guarding her children. The plot development and character arc on this one feeds on Modern women’s CONFUSION about their roles in their families. Many are finding that—without a sufficient connection to a consciousness raising men’s movement (similar to what happened for women in the 1970’)—their men are behaving like adolescent boys. Here, the adolescent boy grows up; he morphs into the man of her dreams (despite a pretty decent step-dad to her children who has entered the picture, but is too “geeky” to merit a place in the New World Order), The couple, reunited, come out of the ark into the sunlight together, Mr. Adam and Ms. Eve.
No Lillith, anywhere in the picture.
There is a homogenized version of the above scenario for us African Americans, too. We are represented, magic negro style, in the characters who earn their place in the New World order. Yes, we take meritocracy values forward, with us. In this case, the man is smart. And the woman is the daughter of the president. No, I don’t consider her title of “Doctor” (a PH.D in art history) a suggestion that she has actually EARNED her spot; it is her status as the daughter of the president and her drop dead gorgeousness that gets her a “yes” vote.
Dare I continue on to the manipulative psychological messages for middle class Modern children? In a culture of broken families, children viewing this movie are presented with the option every child of divorce longs for; their biologic parents are reunited.
And, having been so blatant in seeding this “my family is gonna win the lottery as the world ends” this movie grinds it in, laughing in our faces with a few other disturbing messages:
The brilliant brown scientist from India, the one who discovered the disaster that will take us all out, isn’t even picked up to take a place on the ark with his family. Oh well.
A mysterious figure whose wealth is evident, but whose political position is never fully explained (Oliver Platt’s character), is always at the right hand of the president. When the political ship of our democracy begins to go down, he places himself in charge AND STAYS IN CHARGE.
Fat Cats buy space in the arc at a billion euros a ticket. We are manipulated into actually rooting for these scandalous plutocrats to be successfully saved.
Why is all this of any importance? Because I pay attention when I am feeling manipulated, emotionally. I remember the comments after 9/11 that some folks made: “I felt like I was watching a movie”
PAY ATTENTION: forces out there want to shape Moderns’ reaction to a real life catastrophe. Post “2012: The Movie” don’t be surprised if Modern Americans react to the next volley of severe weather as we ratchet it up on global warming with something like: “What an opportunity to get back together with my ex!”
