By ‘Matt Lewis & The News’ guest blogger R.J. Moeller
There are few things in this life that I enjoy more than observing committed progressives in the entertainment industry jump through self-imposed rhetorical hoops to explain why their book, film, play or interpretative dance is not the poorly-disguised political metaphor that they are about to tell you it actually is. Oh, and if this can all be done in the most passive-aggressive way imaginable, even better!
From FoxNews.com:
[Neil] Blomkamp, who rose to fame with the Oscar-nominated sci-fi hit “District 9” in 2009, said his highly-anticipated film has no agenda whatsoever, and claims he isn’t a political filmmaker.
“’Elysium’ doesn’t have a message,” Blomkamp told Wired Magazine, saying he found it unfortunate that critics were drawing parallels between his movie and the Occupy movement, a phenomenon he says wasn’t even a consideration.
The film’s star Matt Damon, too, insists that “Elysium” is not trying to push any political buttons.
“I don’t think it is trying to say anything. It just presents the issue – the distinct difference between the haves and the have nots…A science fiction film will work if it is a whole new world, but speaks to the world that we live in, but not in a heavy-handed way…”
The story continues:
The South African born director did admit that his big budget offering at least reflects a personal interest in the class system.
“Growing up in South Africa has a lot to do with (that). Those formative years growing up in a country where things are so separate, it’s institutionalized thought in this military complex,” he said. “Moving to Canada gave me an outside perspective… I can’t shake it; I am interested in those topics.”
So Elysium is not a political movie. But it is a science fiction movie. And science fiction movies are the best vehicles to offer up social – some might venture, “political” – commentaries. And this is a story about the politically-charged “haves vs. the have nots” subject matter. And both the star and director of the movie are deeply interested (and heavily involved) in political causes of a specific ideological persuasion.
But you’ve got to be high to insinuate that there is any agenda or message here! And don’t you dare listen to those well-known conservative rags Variety and The Hollywood Reporter!
The reason Leftists like Matt Damon and Neil Didn’t-Quite-Catch-the-Name don’t ever admit to something as blatant as their film’s political posturing is because they don’t have to. We all know what’s going on here, and they know that the movie-going audience is primarily comprised of 12-21 year old boys who wouldn’t know socialist propaganda if it spit in their Monster energy drink.
In the movie, Damon literally becomes a tool when he welds the weapons created by the excesses of capitalism and the military-industrial complex onto his body to defeat the 1%-ers living in the ultimate gated community. He expends a Herculean effort to save himself and an inter-planetary life raft of “little guys” because they couldn’t get the health care they needed back on earth.
Somewhere, in a gated community of his own, Michael Moore is smiling.
I’m just excited to see how Neil Apartheid will work in the Damon character’s “circular conversation” with his family about his decision to send them all to the same private school their enemies’ kids attend!
There are none better suited to detail on film the specifics of how the rich and powerful live than the rich and powerful themselves.
I know he’ll hate me for saying it, but Matt Damon – Mission Accomplished!