JohnRawls wrote:Sorry to disappoint you skipper. There is no "liberal" conspiracy against you.
You are yet another person who doesn't understand the meaning of the term "conspiracy."
Clearly, there has been an effort in Hollywood to push feminist themes over at least the last four years in an effort to propel Hillary Clinton's assumed presidency. It failed. It has another odd effect though. Traditionally, politics has been downstream from culture. So the political left thought that by pushing feminist memes years in advance, that would saturate the electorate and they would vote in droves for Hillary Clinton. It did not work.
Plenty of critics saw the feminist themes, which you obviously missed.
Here's what the Guardian had to say about The Last Jedi.
A Force for good: why the Last Jedi is the most triumphantly feminist Star Wars movie yetWriter-director Rian Johnson has delivered a film that’s funny, exciting, spiritual and true to the original essence of the series while also having well-rounded female characters who actually interact with one another. Both in terms of women and non-white characters, there’s a celebratory inclusiveness that seems entirely in the Jedi spirit.
It was a huge plug for feminism and multiculturalism. The irony is that it isn't downstream from culture, because what's happening in culture is Middle Eastern Muslims raping European women, blacks engaged in knive murders (in the UK) and gun murders (in the US) and many other dystopian scenes which inspire the political class but horrify the population at large.
Rey’s character is as developed as any in the series, and bears no relation to her gender.
Right. It bears no relation to her gender, which is what makes it weird. She behaves like the men in Star Wars, not the women. The name is "Rey," which is pronounced like "Ray"--typically a short form of Raymond. I suppose you could characterize that as trans-gender, but again it doesn't seem to have a place in Star Wars.
The Last Jedi also contains what Ophelian says is the “first truly Bechdel Test passing scene” in the history of the franchise. ... Other commentators think the Star Wars series has always been ahead of the curve. “The franchise has been a trailblazer for women in command,” says Beth Webb, a film journalist and programmer for the Bechdel Test Fest, an ongoing celebration of women in film.
Here’s hoping the post-Weinstein era is finally ushering in the changes so many feminists have been campaigning for in film. Says Webb: “We’re already seeing it in next year’s big releases, from A Wrinkle in Time to Lady Bird to Ocean’s Eight, and we’ve got solid proof in record-breaking box office figures and Metacritic scores to back us up. Wonder Woman was one of the highest-grossing superhero origin films of all time. Girls Trip was the first comedy of the year to cross the $1m mark. Lady Bird broke the Rotten Tomatoes record. And television is already light years ahead.”
There you have it @JohnRawls. They make these movies with an eye to the "Bechdel Test." Consequently, they tend to have feminist themes--in other words, they put feminist politics ahead of a storyline that makes sense.
But both Webb and Ophelian have one more new hope for Star Wars. ‘The next step is a female director, which I’m hoping the rapidly expanding franchise will allow,” says Webb.
Star Wars was never sexist. It just depicted traditional gender roles. In the original trilogy, Princess Leia had men fighting for her naturally, not as part of some sort of feminist power trip.
Mad Max: Fury Road was also replete with feminism--I can't say I saw all of it, because I walked out. Here's a review of that:
Mayim Bialik: My Feminist Review of ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ANTI-FEMINISTS: OK, men. I get it. I can see how you see this movie as a “women taking the reins” kind of movie. It features some women who choose to live without men, eventually fighting those men they chose to live away from. It highlights most men as villains complicit in the manufacturing of women designed to be breeders. (Reminding you again that none of this is depicted, it’s simply spoken about, or rather shouted about over the sound of cars and trucks racing at 90 mph.) Ultimately, the film is very light on any plot, and there is no true message of any kind that women or men should have a problem with.
Whether this film is anti-male or not is kind of a non-issue for me. Eve Ensler (of “The Vagina Monologues”) was involved in teaching the actresses playing the abused women what it’s like to be abused to help with their performances. But to be brutally honest, these women and their acting chops were not that big of a part of the movie, and none of the actresses seemed like they had enough material to even incorporate deeper issues.
Mad Max was never about feminism. These stories are not meant to "incorporate deeper issues" of the political left. It ruins the story when it becomes propaganda.
JohnRawls wrote:Also Trump got elected more than a year ago so this so called "circular firing squad" that you are talking about is nonsense.
The points you obviously missed are:
1.) Politics is downstream from culture
2.) So, the political left tried to shape culture, so that they could shape politics.
3.) Their effort failed miserably; and,
4.) As a result, we have a lot of movies that don't make sense, because they were supposed to be released with Hillary Clinton as president.
Even U2 shelved their new album, because it wasn't music from the heart. It was feminist propaganda that made no sense with Trump as president of the US and Britain moving toward Brexit.
JohnRawls wrote:On the other hand, it is fun that you have to find conspiracies and "Liberal" plots in movies/games etc.
Movies don't get made by themselves. Every movie is a conspiracy of sorts. There isn't even a problem with overt liberal movies. The problem is that the political left is trying to inject itself like a parasite into stories that have nothing to do with the political left. Like parasites, the political left is draining these stories of their life force.
JohnRawls wrote:Yeah, it is not you being a stupid twat, it is obviously a conspiracy theory of liberal deep state poisoning your movies to brainwash you.
Personally, I think the rules on this forum and the moderators can be a little overbearing, because it stifles what you are actually expressing. For example, in this Rule #2 violation, you attack me personally. However, you use the term "twat," which is a derisive slang for the female reproductive organ. Your Rule #2 violation illustrates your embedded sexism and your use of a misogynistic term against a man--obviously, thinking it has greater effect in this way. For someone who refers to himself as JohnRawls, how does that work with your "veil of ignorance"?
Godstud wrote:This should not be in the Literature & Art section...
Where would you put it? Nothing else seemed appropriate.
Heisenberg wrote:I love that people think left-wing politics is somehow new to Star Wars, when the original trilogy was a not-at-all-subtle allegory for the Vietnam war told from the perspective of the Vietcong.
I'm all for a thread about Apocalypse Now versus Platoon, We Were Soldiers, Full Metal Jacket, etc. Star Wars wasn't about Vietnam at all.
If you want to take the storyline somewhat seriously, consider Lucas as an early filmmaker. He says himself that the Empire was in many ways the Hollywood movie establishment. The story itself is Republic vs. Empire. The dynamics are that a gaggle of people with varying individual identities that otherwise would never know each other find common cause against an individualist destroying Empire. Most of the Empire's characters are masked or cloaked in some way. Vadar's face isn't seen until the end of The Return of the Jedi. The Storm Troopers are faceless--and use a term from Nazi storm troopers.
The irony is that the political left thinks it can use the powers of "the Empire" as it were, but employ those powers for their idea of "good." The problem with the modern left in a democracy is that the modern left has no faith in freedom. That's why its parasitic injections into long running stories doesn't work.
"We have put together the most extensive and inclusive voter fraud organization in the history of American politics."
-- Joe Biden