Tag: Civil War Movie

A Lot Of People Are Missing The Point Of The Movie ‘Civil War’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Now that the A24 movie “Civil War” has gotten wide release, a lot of people online have felt compelled to give their hot takes on the most notable absence in the movie — any sense of who the “good guys” in the story depicted are.

The more I think about it, the more the absence of any thorough world building on the part of the producers of the movie is the only way a movie called “Civil War” might have any chance of being a success. What a lot of people interested in the subject of a potential second American civil war want in such a movie — a chance to see their partisan bloodlust on the big screen — they did not get.

The movie is not meant to be a roughly two hours of cathartic, violent hate for one side or the other. The movie is, at least in my view, is meant to be a warning to both sides as to how bad a modern civil war would suck.

And I say this, even as I note how the the civil war shown in the movie is probably a best case scenario. The lights are pretty much on for the entirety of the movie. And there was no talk of the use of WMD during the movie. And, what’s more, my dark fears about a fucking race war in the Deep South were also not included in the scenario.

So, I understand why people with a more critical eye may deem the movie “vacuous,” but that is a serious not seeing the forest for the trees evaluation. By simply presenting a scenario in as value-free way a possible, the producers of the movie ensure that it won’t be seen through a hyper partisan lens.

A Spoiler Review Of The Movie ‘Civil War’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

HERE BE SPOILERS
HERE BE SPOILERS
HERE BE SPOILERS

The interesting thing about the movie Civil War is how hard it works not to take a position on who the “good guys” are in the scenario it presents. And, yet, it does kind of slip up at one point when it gives us a bit of exposition about the current president of the United States.

The key element is the president “abolished the FBI.” That is very curious because that is definitely something that Trump rants about a lot. That is a very MAGA thing for a president to want to do. As such, I think it’s safe to say that the POTUS in Civil War is something of a proxy for Donald Trump.

Which makes on wonder if it’s possible that MAGA may latch on to this element of the story and flip the fuck out. It seems to me that the more popular the movie becomes, the more likely there is a chance for an angry MAGA reaction to the movie.

It is interesting how divisive this movie has become on social media. It makes you wonder what people were expecting. I really liked the movie — despite some obvious flaws — and I think it did a good job of puncturing some of the jingoistic, overwrought MAGA rhetoric about the need for a Second American Civil War.

I continue to believe that there is a chance the movie will be popular enough and culturally significant enough that it will begin to generate some significant Oscar buzz.

A Spoiler Free Review of The Movie ‘Civil War’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I listened to Vanity Fair’s movie podcast “Little Gold Men” this afternoon before going to see the new movie Civil War and it was interesting how harsh they were on the film. I was really looking forward to the movie and for a beat or two I wondered if it was going to suck.

I went to see the movie tonight and there were a surprising number of people in the theatre.

Anyway, my top line reaction to the movie is it’s far better than the snooty people of the Little Gold Men podcast would have you believe. And, I must note, these are the same people who were enthralled with any number of gay rom coms that tanked over the last few years. So, I think that gives you some sense of how clued-in they are to the appetites of the general viewing audience.

I found the movie a serious, compelling tale about a serious subject. It was very violent, but what else do you expect from a movie called “Civil War.” And I can understand why bloodthirsty MAGA people might find the movie “boring” because it refuses to take a stance on who the “good guys” are.

There is some hint of who the POTUS is modeled after, given his policy objectives. But there’s a chance that this will fly over the heads of most MAGA people. Add to this the seemingly surreal decision to have California and Texas on the same side and it’s easy to imagine that MAGA people might grow frustrated that they aren’t able to see their dreams of dead liberals show on the big screen.

But there was a specific reason for taking such a “value free” approach to the politics presented in the movie — the moment you grounded the movie’s scenario in reality, it would be seen through a very brutal partisan lens that would have people on both sides pointing fingers.

In general, I really liked the movie. It was really good. And I could see a chance — if the movie strikes the zeitgeist in just the right way — that it might become popular enough that it begins to generate Oscar buzz.

In passing, I will note that a real civil war in the US would be a lot worse than what is portrayed in the movie. The lights were still on for the most part. There was no talk of using WMD anytime during the movie.

Anyway. I liked Civil War. I just hope I don’t have to live in starting in late 2024, early 2025.

People Are Totally Missing The Point Of The Scenario Found In The Coming A24 Movie, ‘Civil War’


By Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

There is a lot of discourse online about how the producers of the coming A24 movie, “Civil War” apparently are completely clueless about modern American politics. But, to me, it’s clear they know damn well what they’re doing by coming up with such a weird scenario for a civil war.

Had they decided to do a hyper realistic Blue vs. Red scenario, it would have been a no-win situation. They would have had to have picked a “good” side. Or, really, even if they had been non-judgmental about who was “good” and who was “bad” in the civil war, both sides in real world would have gotten VERY ANGRY at how “objective” the producers were trying to be.

So, the producers of the movie punted and came up with a fictional scenario with no connection at all to the real world. The more I think about it, the more I realize there just was no way for the producers of “Civil War” to give people what they want — a battle royal between Reds and Blues in movie form.

As an aside, I think what we need is a Threads-type movie about a civil war in the United States. Any civil war / revolution in the United States will suck so bad that we’re all going to regret we let it happen, no matter what our politics may be.