Simple action stories depict conflict with an outsider villain/monster. In fighting that monster, the hero often gets help from their usual social allies, such as friends, family, and local authorities. In a more “modern” story, however, the villain may be a friend, parent, boss, teacher, police, or government agency. The hero must now learn to distrust many usual authorities, and judge who are their real allies.
I appreciate the logic of this blog post. That logic suggests: Fictional narratives should exist (or may need to be created) that sound the alarm about harms done by the currently dominant liberal (or non-conservative) cultural elites.
I'm trying to think of possible harms to be warned against. It isn't easy to come up with anything. So, trying hard, I've thought of these 3:
"Feminists told me I could be both a mother and have a career, but I waited too long and am childless..." (this disappointment has been documented and parodied)
"Non-white males from historically marginalized groups are valued for all the important, high status jobs; as a white male I can't get ahead, therefore, I succumb to depression and substance abuse..." (the documented 'deaths of despair' of middle-aged white males, reported in PNAS 12 years ago approx.)
"Liberal educators told me that emotional regulation, social skills, learning-how-to-learn and finding out what I loved doing should be my educational goals. I did that, but now I don't have the math, writing and science skills to get a job, so I'm 32 and still making working as a waiter."
It is hard to think of harms or curtailments to happiness that are a consequence of liberalism (or the ideology of liberal elits now in power). Does anyone have any ideas?
Regarding: "Any movies that do this must be pretty far out into the long tail of niche products." --> Do you know of any movies that do this (even if they are very obscure, niche...)?
I think media still warns against itself. Major villains in American Gods and Hazbin Hotel are supernatural personification of TV and other modern entertainment. In The Boys, the evil Vought has an entertainment division similiar to Disney+(and ironically also Amazon Prime) that does blatant propaganda.
Not sure about the Fight club - sure, in the end, the 'hero' looks bad, but that movie does not get its power and cultural impact from the end. But mainly from the disgust at modern, "liberal society".
The movie Demolition Man might have been intended to critique 90s social conservatives... but I think most modern people watching the movie would likely be struck by how it's future setting has striking parallels to the real world of America in 2024. And in recognizing those similarities, it definitely comes across as a critique of modern language-use norms and "safe space" concepts. In other words, Demolition Man now comes across as a critique of the non-conservative authorities of 2024.
If you've never watched Demolition Man, I would recommend checking it out.
I appreciate the logic of this blog post. That logic suggests: Fictional narratives should exist (or may need to be created) that sound the alarm about harms done by the currently dominant liberal (or non-conservative) cultural elites.
I'm trying to think of possible harms to be warned against. It isn't easy to come up with anything. So, trying hard, I've thought of these 3:
"Feminists told me I could be both a mother and have a career, but I waited too long and am childless..." (this disappointment has been documented and parodied)
"Non-white males from historically marginalized groups are valued for all the important, high status jobs; as a white male I can't get ahead, therefore, I succumb to depression and substance abuse..." (the documented 'deaths of despair' of middle-aged white males, reported in PNAS 12 years ago approx.)
"Liberal educators told me that emotional regulation, social skills, learning-how-to-learn and finding out what I loved doing should be my educational goals. I did that, but now I don't have the math, writing and science skills to get a job, so I'm 32 and still making working as a waiter."
It is hard to think of harms or curtailments to happiness that are a consequence of liberalism (or the ideology of liberal elits now in power). Does anyone have any ideas?
Regarding: "Any movies that do this must be pretty far out into the long tail of niche products." --> Do you know of any movies that do this (even if they are very obscure, niche...)?
I think media still warns against itself. Major villains in American Gods and Hazbin Hotel are supernatural personification of TV and other modern entertainment. In The Boys, the evil Vought has an entertainment division similiar to Disney+(and ironically also Amazon Prime) that does blatant propaganda.
Not sure about the Fight club - sure, in the end, the 'hero' looks bad, but that movie does not get its power and cultural impact from the end. But mainly from the disgust at modern, "liberal society".
The movie Demolition Man might have been intended to critique 90s social conservatives... but I think most modern people watching the movie would likely be struck by how it's future setting has striking parallels to the real world of America in 2024. And in recognizing those similarities, it definitely comes across as a critique of modern language-use norms and "safe space" concepts. In other words, Demolition Man now comes across as a critique of the non-conservative authorities of 2024.
If you've never watched Demolition Man, I would recommend checking it out.
Please expand on this post
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