Leni Refiensthal is alive and well and Making The Invincibles
I've been trying many things to cheer myself up after George Bush's victory a few weeks ago. Generally I try to block it out, but I'm such a junky for News that this is impossible for me. I console myself that while I can watch the Simpsons and listen to Yo la Tengo to my hearts content, I don't actually have to live in the States and Dubya isn't going to be invading Ireland any time soon. If he does go to war in Iran or anywhere else, at least I'll have lots of colourful protests to go to.
Yesterday I tried some good, old-fashioned escapism by watching The Invincibles.
Big Mistake.
I should have known I was onto a bad thing when Right-Wing nutter Peter "Brother of Christopher" Hitchens praised the Movie in the Mail on Sunday. He claimed that it was taking on the culture of litigousness in the US, never mind that while individuals have been severly restricted from suing corporations, the opposite does not apply.
I'm aware that there's something almost inherently Right-Wing about superhero comics, that the "heroes" always use their power to save rich Americans rather than help people who really need it, as the real heroes of the world like Gandhi and Mandela have done. There's always a presumption that people commit crime because they're evil rather than poor.
I didn't pay to see the movie. I wathced The Manchurian Candidate first, then hid in the toilet and snuck into the cartoon.
I don't like giving money to the Disney Corporation. Though they do some progressive things, like providing the same benefits for co-habiting gay couples as wedded ones, their record on employer rights generally and the environment is abysmal. They also gave money to Dubya's election campaign, so I can't be supporting them, now, can I?
The Manchurian Candidate was a bit of a disspointment. It seems to have enough faith in the checks and balances in the American system to believe that a brain-dead puppet of the petrochemical industry could never become president which seems a bit naive, to say the least. It also suggests that to brainwash people you have to implant circuits into their skulls, when all you really need to do is repeat the same lies over and over.
Nothing could prepare me for the jingoism of The Incredibles, though.
It starts with bullet-headed saxon mother's son Mr. Incredible foiling an oleaginous forner called Bomb Vogage who talks in a French accent. Real subtle, guys.
Then it turns out that the so-called superheroes have been out of commision for 15 years, much as the neo-cons in Washington were in the post-Cold War era.
When Mr. Incredible is found acting covertly (don't get me started), he's given an oppurtunity to start using his powers again. He's given a new lease of life, and it's not hard to see in him the triumphalist smirks of a Rumsfeld or Bush.
He's held back, though, by his wife, who seems to represent liberal America, afraid that the massive powers that America has, may not always be used responsibly.
She tells her kids that everyones special really, which she never seems to believe herself. She gets the reply that that's another way of saying no-one is. It's a nasty dig at more egalitarian societies and a perputation of the myth that some Americans are richer than others because they are more talented rather than more priviliged.
It turns out, of course, that they need to use their powers because America is in Danger. It's in danger from someone who's jealous of the enormous power the Invincibles yield, and spends all his time thinking of ways to hurt them. Thus the movie perpetuates the belief that turrsts attack America because they are jealous of it's wealth and power.
What's most insidious about the movie is that the family always act on instinct, and always turn out to be right. Though Mr. Incredible is clearly no intellectual, he always knows what to do. Mrs. Incredible reminds her kids that they'll know when to use their Fantastic Four-like powers when the time comes as well. Well, they're American. How could they do anything wrong? The movie seems to belief in manifest destiny just as much as Birth of A Nation.
At the end of the movie we're reminded how much the world needs superheroes, as there are always threats out there, but people don't have to be afraid because someone is looking after them.
Perhaps I'm being a little hard on the movie. In one of the opening scenes, Mr. Incredible uproots a tree to save a cat, which might be interpreted as a comment on the propensity of the US military to use excessive force. But then he puts the tree back again and everything is OK, so any satirical effect is dampened.
I'm looking forward to Dreamworks response. The rival animators, who donate to the Democrats, were the ones who made ANTZ, a wonderful study of how capitalism exploits workers, though I'm worried that like so much of America, they might have gone over to the dark side as well.
But I'm putting my hope in them. It's not much to cling onto, but you have to have hope.
For a Suil Eile on the movie, click here (Warning: Mucho Advertising)
Yesterday I tried some good, old-fashioned escapism by watching The Invincibles.
Big Mistake.
I should have known I was onto a bad thing when Right-Wing nutter Peter "Brother of Christopher" Hitchens praised the Movie in the Mail on Sunday. He claimed that it was taking on the culture of litigousness in the US, never mind that while individuals have been severly restricted from suing corporations, the opposite does not apply.
I'm aware that there's something almost inherently Right-Wing about superhero comics, that the "heroes" always use their power to save rich Americans rather than help people who really need it, as the real heroes of the world like Gandhi and Mandela have done. There's always a presumption that people commit crime because they're evil rather than poor.
I didn't pay to see the movie. I wathced The Manchurian Candidate first, then hid in the toilet and snuck into the cartoon.
I don't like giving money to the Disney Corporation. Though they do some progressive things, like providing the same benefits for co-habiting gay couples as wedded ones, their record on employer rights generally and the environment is abysmal. They also gave money to Dubya's election campaign, so I can't be supporting them, now, can I?
The Manchurian Candidate was a bit of a disspointment. It seems to have enough faith in the checks and balances in the American system to believe that a brain-dead puppet of the petrochemical industry could never become president which seems a bit naive, to say the least. It also suggests that to brainwash people you have to implant circuits into their skulls, when all you really need to do is repeat the same lies over and over.
Nothing could prepare me for the jingoism of The Incredibles, though.
It starts with bullet-headed saxon mother's son Mr. Incredible foiling an oleaginous forner called Bomb Vogage who talks in a French accent. Real subtle, guys.
Then it turns out that the so-called superheroes have been out of commision for 15 years, much as the neo-cons in Washington were in the post-Cold War era.
When Mr. Incredible is found acting covertly (don't get me started), he's given an oppurtunity to start using his powers again. He's given a new lease of life, and it's not hard to see in him the triumphalist smirks of a Rumsfeld or Bush.
He's held back, though, by his wife, who seems to represent liberal America, afraid that the massive powers that America has, may not always be used responsibly.
She tells her kids that everyones special really, which she never seems to believe herself. She gets the reply that that's another way of saying no-one is. It's a nasty dig at more egalitarian societies and a perputation of the myth that some Americans are richer than others because they are more talented rather than more priviliged.
It turns out, of course, that they need to use their powers because America is in Danger. It's in danger from someone who's jealous of the enormous power the Invincibles yield, and spends all his time thinking of ways to hurt them. Thus the movie perpetuates the belief that turrsts attack America because they are jealous of it's wealth and power.
What's most insidious about the movie is that the family always act on instinct, and always turn out to be right. Though Mr. Incredible is clearly no intellectual, he always knows what to do. Mrs. Incredible reminds her kids that they'll know when to use their Fantastic Four-like powers when the time comes as well. Well, they're American. How could they do anything wrong? The movie seems to belief in manifest destiny just as much as Birth of A Nation.
At the end of the movie we're reminded how much the world needs superheroes, as there are always threats out there, but people don't have to be afraid because someone is looking after them.
Perhaps I'm being a little hard on the movie. In one of the opening scenes, Mr. Incredible uproots a tree to save a cat, which might be interpreted as a comment on the propensity of the US military to use excessive force. But then he puts the tree back again and everything is OK, so any satirical effect is dampened.
I'm looking forward to Dreamworks response. The rival animators, who donate to the Democrats, were the ones who made ANTZ, a wonderful study of how capitalism exploits workers, though I'm worried that like so much of America, they might have gone over to the dark side as well.
But I'm putting my hope in them. It's not much to cling onto, but you have to have hope.
For a Suil Eile on the movie, click here (Warning: Mucho Advertising)
posted by seamus @ 4:59 pm
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