It should have been an early clue that the next decade’s worth of politically-charged blockbusters wouldn’t quite reach the masses exactly as intended. That few caught on to the politics of the first two prequels made me laugh at those who decried the sledgehammer subtly of Revenge of the Sith. George Lucas’ Star Wars was always a political tract, one that began from the post-Watergate cynicism and ended on a pretty clear “Ewoks = Viet Cong” allegory that positioned the American government as the Empire. It earned just $218 million on a $130 million budget. Nonetheless, Kingdom of Heaven received (unfairly) mixed reviews which implied that everyone was expecting Gladiator 2 and not quite playing to escapist-seeking audiences. The filmmakers relied on a perhaps optimistic presumption that moviegoers could actually comprehend the moral shades of grey as opposed to surface-level “good versus evil” melodrama. Namely, post-9/11 entertainments like 24, Zero Dark Thirty or Iron Man emphasized, not victims of post-9/11 foreign policy good, but rather good/decent American/white/European men and women who either tried to be the exception to the rule or felt really bad about bending their moral codes. While it was refreshing to see a major Hollywood production portraying armed Muslim soldiers as equally human compared to European forces, the film still fell into the defining trap of many seemingly well-intentioned post-9/11 movies and TV shows. Today’s ‘Quordle’ Answers And Clues For Friday, May 5
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