I'd like to offer a positive response to this. By about fifteen years ago I was lamenting American inaction on this kind of stuff. At that time, the Brazilian poor were so aggressive against their ruling class that the plutocrats had to basically live in bunkers. They had to armor all their vehicles, and in reading about it I found out what a tremendous undertaking it is to armor a Mercedes Benz so your child doesn't get kidnapped on the way to school. Today, Brazil is doing far, far better, and creating wonderful video all the time. I'm sure you saw "City of God", but maybe not the Netflix shows "Nobody's Looking" and "Omniscient". They're worth checking out, and their existence makes it seem that America is currently in the darkness before the dawn.
Also, most of the stuff in the anarchist's cookbook is bullshit. I had it as a teenager and bounced things off, like, my chemistry teacher. IIRC, he even got the recipe for acid wrong. You could probably write a more dangerous book. I know I could.
I did print out your sabotage manual. I like that kind of veracity in my stories. Didja ever notice that "Hardcore Henry" teaches you how to self-set a broken wrist?
There's a lot here to digest, and I've just woke up here in Australia. I'm going to come back in a day or two once there are more comments here! (HARDCORE HENRY is a surreal film for someone like me who doesn't play video games, and yet I think about it all the time.)
I love HH. It's the only first person movie I've ever seen that works. Ilya must have been absent the day the film teacher told the class not to use jump cuts :)
If I made movies, they'd be like Kevin Smith films--two heads talking. So I really, /really/ admire quality kinesthetic films. I couldn't write HH. Or 'Nobody', his 2nd. I'm in awe of anything that far above my own abilities.
IIRC, it was an article in Harper's magazine. Plus a gradual accretion of stories and articles regarding the class war down there. The article about armoring Mercedes might very well have been inspired by or tangentially related to that documentary.
I'm so grateful that you're sharing your experiences and your analysis. As a writer myself, I've often felt the dynamics you're describing... especially coming into industries (like film, like publishing) that position themselves as disruptors when they are the farthest thing from that. It's easy to feel gaslit by this dynamic when you're a creator. There's also something super devastating about stepping out of feeling gaslit and into accepting that the biggest platforms for our work are actually don't want to take any risks. Do you think we should accept that indie media/platforms are just where we have to go?
I literally moved out of America, in some part, to begin pursuing and working on smaller, more personally relevant films, TV series, and other stories. For the most part, yes, I do believe American cinema, in particular, is incapable of seriously challenging the establishment. There are acceptable means of protest, and everything else is a threat to be overlooked. Go watch HOW TO BLOW UP A PIPELINE and ask yourself how you've never heard of such a well-made, dramatically effective, and thrilling film. I don't think it's a specific mandate as much as a cultural aversion that is nearly impossible to overcome with regard to specific subjects.
i saw a quote by Keith Richards the other day, that said something like: I never believed brainwashing was real, but now I live in the USA and see all these people supporting capitalism, despite not owning any capital themselves
a lot of people – all of us to some extent and at some time – have so absorbed and the capitalist myth, that we react against anything that questions it without examining why, or even realising it
I just finished reading American Psycho - a damn tough read, by the way - and I appreciate the satirical commentary on Western capitalism and toxic masculinity. The novel has a hell of a reputation and caused quite the uproar, but that was also kinda the point. We generally flinch when artists hold a mirror up to society and condemn them for it. I think what many fail to see is that this is the monster we've created.
AMERICAN PSYCHO is a masterpiece, as far as I'm concerned. I remember reading it around 2001. When I bought it, it came wrapped in plastic, to make sure random impressionable minds couldn't peek inside it and be corrupted by its contents. And yes, the monster we created...with one edit. "The monster THEY created."
i remember as a kid, reading some selections from the novel in the Murdoch press (in Australia) – of course it was the really nasty stuff without context – the article hypocritically claimed that the book should be banned, but here's all the' juicy' bits in a newspaper where any kid can read it
This is a brilliant article! I'm posting it on LinkedIn (I'm sure it has been done already ).
Thanks, Yolanda. Please do share away!
I'd like to offer a positive response to this. By about fifteen years ago I was lamenting American inaction on this kind of stuff. At that time, the Brazilian poor were so aggressive against their ruling class that the plutocrats had to basically live in bunkers. They had to armor all their vehicles, and in reading about it I found out what a tremendous undertaking it is to armor a Mercedes Benz so your child doesn't get kidnapped on the way to school. Today, Brazil is doing far, far better, and creating wonderful video all the time. I'm sure you saw "City of God", but maybe not the Netflix shows "Nobody's Looking" and "Omniscient". They're worth checking out, and their existence makes it seem that America is currently in the darkness before the dawn.
Also, most of the stuff in the anarchist's cookbook is bullshit. I had it as a teenager and bounced things off, like, my chemistry teacher. IIRC, he even got the recipe for acid wrong. You could probably write a more dangerous book. I know I could.
I did print out your sabotage manual. I like that kind of veracity in my stories. Didja ever notice that "Hardcore Henry" teaches you how to self-set a broken wrist?
There's a lot here to digest, and I've just woke up here in Australia. I'm going to come back in a day or two once there are more comments here! (HARDCORE HENRY is a surreal film for someone like me who doesn't play video games, and yet I think about it all the time.)
I love HH. It's the only first person movie I've ever seen that works. Ilya must have been absent the day the film teacher told the class not to use jump cuts :)
If I made movies, they'd be like Kevin Smith films--two heads talking. So I really, /really/ admire quality kinesthetic films. I couldn't write HH. Or 'Nobody', his 2nd. I'm in awe of anything that far above my own abilities.
If you want to see a second film where first person works, check out LADY IN THE LAKE (it's a Marlowe noir!): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_in_the_Lake
I believe you are referencing a documentary that came out in 2006 called Manda Bala (Send A Bullet), about the kidnapping epidemic?
IIRC, it was an article in Harper's magazine. Plus a gradual accretion of stories and articles regarding the class war down there. The article about armoring Mercedes might very well have been inspired by or tangentially related to that documentary.
I'm so grateful that you're sharing your experiences and your analysis. As a writer myself, I've often felt the dynamics you're describing... especially coming into industries (like film, like publishing) that position themselves as disruptors when they are the farthest thing from that. It's easy to feel gaslit by this dynamic when you're a creator. There's also something super devastating about stepping out of feeling gaslit and into accepting that the biggest platforms for our work are actually don't want to take any risks. Do you think we should accept that indie media/platforms are just where we have to go?
I literally moved out of America, in some part, to begin pursuing and working on smaller, more personally relevant films, TV series, and other stories. For the most part, yes, I do believe American cinema, in particular, is incapable of seriously challenging the establishment. There are acceptable means of protest, and everything else is a threat to be overlooked. Go watch HOW TO BLOW UP A PIPELINE and ask yourself how you've never heard of such a well-made, dramatically effective, and thrilling film. I don't think it's a specific mandate as much as a cultural aversion that is nearly impossible to overcome with regard to specific subjects.
i saw a quote by Keith Richards the other day, that said something like: I never believed brainwashing was real, but now I live in the USA and see all these people supporting capitalism, despite not owning any capital themselves
a lot of people – all of us to some extent and at some time – have so absorbed and the capitalist myth, that we react against anything that questions it without examining why, or even realising it
Absolutely.
I just finished reading American Psycho - a damn tough read, by the way - and I appreciate the satirical commentary on Western capitalism and toxic masculinity. The novel has a hell of a reputation and caused quite the uproar, but that was also kinda the point. We generally flinch when artists hold a mirror up to society and condemn them for it. I think what many fail to see is that this is the monster we've created.
AMERICAN PSYCHO is a masterpiece, as far as I'm concerned. I remember reading it around 2001. When I bought it, it came wrapped in plastic, to make sure random impressionable minds couldn't peek inside it and be corrupted by its contents. And yes, the monster we created...with one edit. "The monster THEY created."
i remember as a kid, reading some selections from the novel in the Murdoch press (in Australia) – of course it was the really nasty stuff without context – the article hypocritically claimed that the book should be banned, but here's all the' juicy' bits in a newspaper where any kid can read it
Ha! Perfection.
Excellent piece!
Thanks, John!