From: thf2@midway.uchicago.edu (Ted Frank)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.theory,misc.legal,rec.arts.cinema
Subject: The Bogeyman in Pop Movies
Date: 21 Jul 92 21:29:01 GMT
Reply-To: thf2@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations


In article <1992Jul18.215536.17874@Princeton.EDU>
egnilges@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Ed Nilges) writes: 

>Take, for example, the philosophy expressed in the films of George
>Lucas and Steven Spielberg, films (including the Star Wars trilogy)
>that pit apparently democratic, non-dogmatic characters like Luke
>Skywalker against "evil" servants of dogmatic and tyrannical
>"empires" like Darth Vader.  Although many members of my generation
>view these films as inspiring celebrations of individual initiative
>and condemnations of the implicitly dogmatic and racist Empire (an
>Empire committed to believing in abstractions like "nation" and
>"gender"), I was very uneasy when I saw my first Star Wars film.  At
>first, I thought my unease was merely a product of my inability to
>suspend disbelief when confronted by the physics of space battle, a
>battlefield strangely devoid of any sort of Clausewitzian friction in
>which the "fog of war" would render Luke Skywalker considerably less
>than the all-knowing god he appears.
>
>However, Mark Crispin Miller (Miller 1990) crystallized my unease by
>pointing out that Lucas, Spielberg and other popular filmmakers of
>the 1980s were far from being the liberals that the populace believes
>they are.  Spielberg, for example, voted for Reagan, and the Star
>Wars trilogy, of course, gave its name to the Strategic Defence
>Initiative.  I realized with a shock upon reading Miller that what I
>uneasily witnessed in a San Jose multiplex in 1984 was Fascist
>cinema, as Fascist in its own way as Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of
>the Will or the countless "Fredericus Rex" movies that inspired
>Hitler to emulate Frederick the Great.  Not only can it happen here,
>it will happen here in its own way.  Since in America we are not
>nearly as racially homogenous as Germany, the bridge of our space
>battlecruiser shall be multicultural and multiconfessional, featuring
>Han Solo, furry aliens, Ewoks et al.; but (and here is the key) no
>member of any acceptable subgroup shall pretend to any crossover
>solidarity with any other acceptable subgroup.  Ewoks must be
>identifiable Ewoks; men may not express solidarity with feminism;
>even BSD unix gurus shall form their own tribe and push out A T & T
>unix.

David Lynch voted for Reagan; please reinterpret "Eraserhead" for me.

For that matter, do "Dances with Wolves," because Kevin Costner plays
golf with George Bush.


[Moderator's note to readers of talk.politics.theory and misc.legal:
Please note that this article is cross-posted to rec.arts.cinema,
which is a moderated newsgroup.  If you intend to reply to Ted Frank's
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-- 
                      ....................................
                      ted frank | thf2@midway.uchicago.edu
                      the university of chicago law school 
                      official member of the cultural elit