"Olympus Has Fallen" And The New Patriotism Narrative

It's sometimes so bizarre that I can't help think there is something more to it.

Just as "Olympus Has Fallen" -- a movie about evil Koreans bombing and taking over the White House -- does gangbusters at the box office, North Korea suggests, through a conveniently placed bulletin board in a war-room photo, that they are readying missiles for Washington, D.C.:

How weird is that? Does art represent life, or does life reflect art?

What is the psychological impact on an American citizen from watching "Olympus Has Fallen" and then having this news plastered all over our media right afterwards?

"Olympus Has Fallen" took in $30.5 million in its opening last weekend

Some might theorize that this makes the American people more fearful and paranoid -- but I would offer that the prevailing feeling throughout the public, at least according to social media, is one of gung-ho patriotic jingoism -- of the "well then we'll just bomb them into the stone age" variety.

I might also humbly suggest that such an instinctual and joyously defensive appeal to said patriotic impulse distracts the populace from such domestic issues such as financial crisis -- instead, giving people a shared threat to rally against. Some say that Kim Jong-un looks as if he just stepped out of central casting for a James Bond movie.

Let's look at the cast for "Olympus Has Fallen," for there are several actors involved who have subtextual meaning as it relates to discussion and their previous movie roles.

The film's protagonist is played by Gerard Butler -- who of course played the mighty warrior King Leonidas in "300." Leonidas is the ulitmate macho war-dude, rallying the "troops" to battle.

The president is portrayed by Aaron Eckhart, part of the symbolically-loaded Christopher Nolan "Dark Knight" trilogy. POTUS has the name Benjamin Asher, which has very Biblical overtones; both Benjamin and Asher are part of the Tribes of Israel.

One person the president in "Olympus Has Fallen" does NOT seem to allude to is our current president, Barack Obama. Often, movies such as this will choose an "analogue" to the sitting president. But this does not seem to be President Benjamin Asher's function. Asher seems to function as some sort of idealistic character straight out of the Good Book; functioning in what is essentially an Apocalyptic film as the representation of the United States as a "promised land" that needs defending from the Philistines.

HOWEVER, when Asher is incapacitated in the Korean takeover, Morgan Freeman's character, Speaker Allan Trumbull, is made Acting President. Freeman also played the U.S. president in "Deep Impact," alluding to the recent spate of asteroid paranoia that has recently filled the news.

While Freeman resonates both the President-During-The-Apocalypse symbol as well as a possible "stand-in" for our own president, I would also suggest that in the bigger scheme of things, he also resonates a paternalistic, transcendent, "God" figure (as he literally was in "Bruce Almighty).

And Freeman, of course, was also a figure in the Nolan "Dark Knight" movies, especially the third one in which his character was the creator of a bomb that Bane hijacks and threatens to use on Gotham; as Kim Jong-un threatens to do to the U.S. as present.

All-in-all, rather than being a true eschatological movie as "Deep Impact" or "2012," "Olympus Has Fallen" is more a narrative designed to rally the American public against the outside Enemy -- as the successful "Red Dawn" remake has done (featuring the North Koreans), as the upcoming movie "Iron Man 3" will do (with the Asian Mandarin as villain), and as the immanent movie "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" will do (swapping out a specific ethnic group for the generic evil of "Cobra").

In truth, we have moved out of the end-of-the-world cycle of films, spurred on by the 2012 prophecy, and are travelling into a "we can win this war dammit we are Americans!" phase; the phase of "let's bomb them into the stone age!"

And why is this? As I've mentioned before, this appeal to patriotism distracts the public from economic turmoil at home. It also more helpfully "defines" what it means to be a Patriot; taking control of the word and concept from various Constitutionalist groups etc. labelled as "fringe."

In short: this narrative, running through both news media and entertainment, attempts to push the United States out of the "paranoid," untrusting-of-government periods of the 70s, 90s, and 10s and into something more manageable. Witness the 80s and "Aughts" -- both eras where the U.S. have been threatened with, in the latter even hit by, attacks from abroad.

And if "Olympus Has Fallen" doesn't float your boat, you can check out the #1 movie in America, about cavemen.

GOT Season 3 New Character

Winter is Coming and getting closer: Season 3 of HBO's Game of Thrones series is upon us - I, like many others out there, must prepare for weeks of frustrations (courtesy by wait between episodes).

During the break between season 2 and season 3, I went through all 5 novels of A Song of Ice and Fire; finishing A Dance with Dragons on this very same week before the start of season 3 [and now waiting for The Winds of Winter]. 

Like every annoying person that complains about book-to-screen translations I feel compelled to throw in my reactions to the look of some key characters and the actors that will play them.

Meera and Jojen Reed:


Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Jojen Reed and Ellie Kendrick as Meera Reed: These seem to have been born for the roles of the Reed siblings. Similar to Ron Pearlman and Hellboy.

Mance and Tormund:


Ciarán Hinds fits in perfect as Mance Rayder. Kristofer Hivju is a pretty good choice for Tormund Giantsbane, however, I have to wait for some on screen acting to see how well he pulls off the 'HAR.'

Qybur and the Queen of Thorns:


Throw some dirt on Anton Lesser face, make that smile a little more evil, and we have a perfect Qyburn. Dame Diana Rigg is a great choice as Lady Olenna Redwyne "the Queen of Thorns." She has that 'intrusive grandmother' look. But we all know that the role of Lady Olenna was meant for Dame Maggie Smith.

Dondarrion's Sword and Tyrion's Scar:


I don't really care much about the sword, but I do hope for a little more flashiness. But Tyrion's scar is a character on its own with a large role to play. But from the looks of this image, the scar may have been toned down a little.

Grey Worm and The Unsullied:


It may just be this specific image, but these Unsullied don't really look like much. As for Grey Worm; I was thinking more of Rodrigo Santoro as Xerxes in 300. But let's wait and see what Jacob Anderson can do.

Missandei, Daario Naharis and Krazynys mo Nakloz:

Nathalie Emmanuel has that wise look which we all imagine Missandei with. No comment on Ed Skrein as Daario Naharis (good enough). However, Kraznys mo Nakloz is suppose to have boobs larger than Daenerys Targaryen. Dan Hildebrand doesn't look like a fat man with big boobs.

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Images for this post were lifted from many website - but most are from hbo.com.

A Short History of Marriage in America

Today, some Americans want the act of marriage to be considered something scared which should only be allotted to some.

What many don't know, is that there was a time when marriage was used as a way to civilize those which [at the time] were not viewed as equal citizens.

THE BRAND OF SHAME
The leaders of Reconstruction were as united against sex as they were in favor of work. During the war, Congress established the American Freedmen's Inquiry Commission to recommend what to do with the emancipated slaves. In its hearings, the commission heard from administrators of the "contraband" camps that were set up to house black refugees. Colonel William Pile, who oversaw the camp in Vicksburg, Mississippi, testified that

one great defect in the management of the Negroes down there was, as I judged, the ignoring of the family relationship.... My judgement is that one of the first things to be done with these people, to qualify them for citizenship, for self-protection and self-support, is to impress upon them the family obligations.

In its reports to the secretary of war, the commission upheld the dominant view among that blacks were uncivilized, but it also overturned the assumption that they could not become civilized. Just as it had done for whites during and after the American Revolution, the government and its allies would teach blacks to whip themselves. For the newly freed slave, "the law, in the shape of military rule, takes for him the place of his master, with the difference - that he submits to it more heartily and cheerfully, without any sense of degradation." There was no more heartily and cheerfully, without any sense of degradation." There was no more effective mechanism for this transformation than marriage, "the great lever by which [the freed men and women] are to be lifted up and prepared for a state of civilization." -- A Renegade History of the United States By Thaddeus Russell >> Google Books

Many which oppose Gay Marriage today, do so because of their religious views - But there was a time when marriage was defended as a 'provision' which was 'necessary for the safety of the white race.'

The apology for a law according to which a woman' cannot testify against the violator of her person, or a son against the murderer of his father, is, that in a community where negro slavery prevails such a provision is necessary for the safety of the white race. The same apology is adduced to justify the taking from the slave the right of property, of marriage, of family ties, of education, of self-defense. -- Final report of the American Freedmen's Inquiry Commission to the Secretary of War - Chapter 1 -- Slavery http://www.civilwarhome.com/commisionreportchapt1.htm

Tiny-Ass Can Of Budweiser

To this day, I still can't seem to understand the point behind an 8oz can of beer — the same goes to the 8oz bottles. Sure, they are cute, but in a city where I think most would agree, that the pint is the appropriate serving size for beer, I just can't see the point to an 8oz can (or bottle).


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On another point — The takeover of America's favorite beer company by a bunch of foreigners never actually bugged me. Mergers and acquisitions seems to be the only way of becoming a market force in today's economy - and Budweiser had long faded as my cheap beer of choice. I had already settled for Coors Light before the big-deal (price one reason, girth another).

Like many, I too had vocalized to my drinking buddies that this foreign-company taking over a beloved-American-company experiment would leave a sour taste on the tongues of patriotic Bud lovers which would make them go over to Coors. 

Flash forward to 2012

First came, The Plot to Destroy America's Beer;

For a number-crunching manager like Brito, an old, family-run company like Anheuser-Busch provided plenty of opportunities for cuts. He laid off approximately 1,400 people, about 6 percent of the U.S. workforce. He sold $9.4 billion in assets, including Busch Gardens and SeaWorld. AB InBev also tried to save money on materials. It used smaller labels and thinner glass for its bottles. It tried weaker cardboard for its 12-packs and cases. The old Anheuser-Busch insisted on using whole grains of rice in its beer. AB InBev was fine with the broken kind. “Our purchasing of rice has to do with how fresh the rice is, not whether it is whole or broken,” says Vallis.

Then Coors Light became number 2:

The brewer's flagship beer saw a 7% decline in U.S. sales in the third quarter. That's a pretty dramatic fall, continuing a trend we've seen for years. Coors Light booted Budweiser from the No. 2 spot in America last year, though Bud Light still has the top spot. The company also makes Stella Artois and Beck's, and said overall U.S. beer sales fell 0.9%.

Flash forward to March, 2013

Someone has actually accused AB-InBev of watering down America's favorite watered down beer - and in a blind taste test; many could not tell the difference between the real stuff and the watered-down stuff.

Acceptable Forms of Inequality: GoProud and the GOP

"GOProud Chief Agrees With Marco Rubio: Opposing Gay Marriage Doesn't Make You a Bigot"

Has there ever been an enigma such as GoProud; the proclaimed organization for gay conservatives and their allies?

In his speech to the CPAC crowd, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) said:

"Just because I believe that states should have the right to define marriage in the traditional way does not make me a bigot."

Lending a hand to the future leader's outdated state of mind, Jimmy LaSalvia, co-founder and the executive director of GOProud added:

"Well, our country is dealing with changing attitudes and prejudices relating to gay people... I think that people who just don't like gay people are bigots, but I don't think that people who are wrestling with the issue or thinking about the issue differently are necessarily anti-gay. I just don't .... I know that many people, like you heard tonight, come at it from a religious tradition, and you know, they're struggling with the issue. But I can't call them bigots, because I don't believe that many people in their hearts truly just don't like gay people."

Quotes were lifted from the daily/intelligencer