One of the
(many) insights that an English professor of mine conveyed back during one of
the film courses I took in college (Jaysus, I never thought those would prove
so useful), was that the underlying political and cultural paranoias of a time
can often be discerned from the subtext of its movie plots. How do we know that nuclear annihilation
preyed on the population in the 50’s?
Because nuclear experiments created movie monsters in “Godzilla” and “Them”. What reflected the “Red
Scare” fears of the same era? “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”, with
its ending of “They’re here!, They’re here!” is often cited as reflecting the
fears of a population certain that they were being overtaken by insidious
invaders. In the ‘70’s there were a
number of political thrillers which perfectly reflected the fear of government conspiracy
such as arose out of the real life Watergate affair. The
Parallax View, Three Days of the Condor,
The Conversation and more reflected the vision of a government out of
control and conspiring to do the sorts of things to its own citizens that
previously would have been attributed only to an outside agency. Other eras all have their own set of films
with their own cultural watermarks.
So what do
we have now in the latter teens of the 21st century? Well, if you were to look at just this year,
you’d have to at least consider the possibility that we are collectively calling
for a second chance to get things right.
Consider the following: (Warning: Some
spoilers)
Yesterday – A struggling musician wakes from a worldwide
power outage induced coma to find he is the only one in the world who remembers
Coke, Oasis and – The Beatles. While
creating a sensation by covering the songs that only he is capable of “re-composing”,
he experiences what can best be described as “cultural survivors guilt” –
leading him to nearly give up the effort until he is reminded that there are
other survivors (one in particular) for whom the chance to do things over is
not so troubling.
The Irishman – In many ways Martin Scorsese’s star-studded entry
to this list seems to be an attempt to tell a straightforward, rather than a
revised, history of the Jimmy Hoffa tale.
That is, until you realize that the book upon which the story is based
is almost certainly a complete fabrication.
Scorsese is no fool – he knows that what he is putting on film is as
much a re-write of history as any of these other films – but he has a point to
make, and if he has to go back in time to make a few … “adjustments”, he’ll take
that trade off. (By the way – this wasn’t
Scorsese’s only history changing release this year – he also dropped “Rolling Thunder Revue” a documentary
that mixes the real with the unreal – including a previously non-existent
documentarian).
Once Upon a Time…In Hollywood – For Quentin Tarantino reworking
history is not anything he hasn’t done before.
In both Django Unchained and Inglorious Basterds QT imagines
alternative scenarios under which Hitler is fried alive and slaves take bloody
vengeance on their ostensible masters.
His latest offering follows the same path, with the Manson family
killings resulting in, well – Manson family killings.
Of course,
the biggest “do-over” both in terms of the change to the history of the universe
and (perhaps most importantly to Hollywood) box office, was that enacted in Avengers – Endgame wherein half of the
living things previously exterminated in a colossal extinction event are
resurrected. The universe in question
is, of course, the Marvel universe but, hey, when your take goes over a billion
worldwide – you make your own reality.
All of this
begs the question – why? Why now? What is the zeitgeist that gives rise to the
need to take another crack at things?
C’mon. In this age of Brexit and Trump do we
seriously have to look very far for the reason why there are millions out there
who are begging for another go? There
has never been more of a cry for a “do-over” than there is now. Given the chance there would be truckloads of
volunteers ready and willing to find another 75,000 people throughout Michigan,
Wisconsin and Pennsylvania to drag to the polls if they could just go
back to November, 2016. “I know you’re hung-over – but this
is IMPORTANT!” There are an equal number who would brave the rain to be
willing to re-think their decision that it “wasn’t that big a deal” to vote
since no one would ever go along with that moron Boris Johnson. Just give me ONE MORE CHANCE…
Well, for
those pining for the fjords of the past there is a solution short of the
invocation of a parallel universe or time travel. Democracy does indeed give the ability to
have a do-over. It’s called “the next
election” and, if an alternative ending was really what was meant to happen –
it will. The downside – Quentin Tarantino
or Danny Boyle cannot supply the ending you want. Hard work alone can re-write the script. If you want an alternative ending you have to
get up off your ass and write it yourself. Of course – you can be a pod person, sit in a darkened room and
eat popcorn – your choice.
