I watched 'Don't Look Up' at Christmas. I went into it blind because it was someone else's pick — but it was weirdly funny in a darkly satirical way. A sort of modern day Dr Strangelove.
I especially liked the Trumpian under-theme that the rest of the world, irrespective of politics, was going with the accepted science — and the end was kind of redemptive in a nihilistic sort of way.
In RL, we tend to get two types of reporting on America over here — the 'Leader of the Free World' (although in latter years Angela Merkle quite often got that title) type of reporting, and the rich but basket-case type we often get about China. So, for example, today we've got the statesmanlike 'let's not go hasty into war' stuff from the Whitehouse over the Ukraine — and the 'America is a barely functioning democracy' type in three stories reflecting abortion bans, locking up parents whose partners have abused their children, and the whole Maus thing is still up there. In the UK abortion is a healthcare issue (and there are now moves to pass specific legislation to stop disruptive protests, rather than simply relying on 'breech of the peace' type laws, over concerns about the effects on woman accessing the services — and Northern Ireland, an abortion hold-out, was finally made to step into line with the rest of the country and has been put on warning about dragging its feet); we put parents deemed to have allowed harm to come to their children on trial as co-accused, although they are often given lighter sentences, and if they are also victims they may not be tried at all; and we don't really 'ban' books anymore — the last attempts were in the 80s — the debate has kind of moved on. So it's more about criminal publications — like how to make a bomb or groom a child for sex. But that sort of stuff isn't likely to be in a book — it'd be online.
America does operate very differently to Europe, for example, there's no explicit human rights charter and famously no universal health care, but then America didn't have gas chambers either, which is why Europe has an explicit human rights charter — and now we've left Europe the Govt is talking about doing away with the human rights charter. I thought the film was wickedly skewering, and you could make a 'Don't Look Up' about UK stupidities — just look at 'The Thick of It' or 'Yes Minister' — not to mention the original 'House of Cards'. So I wish our reporting was more even-handed and less either/or, I also wish they spent more time reporting on UK injustices. Of which there are many.
I'm not sure when I'll get round to seeing 'Power of the Dog' - and, apart from Desilu famously giving us Star Trek 🙂, I agree Lucille Ball was an extraordinary woman — I think there should be more about her.
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I watched 'Don't Look Up' at Christmas. I went into it blind because it was someone else's pick — but it was weirdly funny in a darkly satirical way. A sort of modern day Dr Strangelove.
I especially liked the Trumpian under-theme that the rest of the world, irrespective of politics, was going with the accepted science — and the end was kind of redemptive in a nihilistic sort of way.
In RL, we tend to get two types of reporting on America over here — the 'Leader of the Free World' (although in latter years Angela Merkle quite often got that title) type of reporting, and the rich but basket-case type we often get about China. So, for example, today we've got the statesmanlike 'let's not go hasty into war' stuff from the Whitehouse over the Ukraine — and the 'America is a barely functioning democracy' type in three stories reflecting abortion bans, locking up parents whose partners have abused their children, and the whole Maus thing is still up there. In the UK abortion is a healthcare issue (and there are now moves to pass specific legislation to stop disruptive protests, rather than simply relying on 'breech of the peace' type laws, over concerns about the effects on woman accessing the services — and Northern Ireland, an abortion hold-out, was finally made to step into line with the rest of the country and has been put on warning about dragging its feet); we put parents deemed to have allowed harm to come to their children on trial as co-accused, although they are often given lighter sentences, and if they are also victims they may not be tried at all; and we don't really 'ban' books anymore — the last attempts were in the 80s — the debate has kind of moved on. So it's more about criminal publications — like how to make a bomb or groom a child for sex. But that sort of stuff isn't likely to be in a book — it'd be online.
America does operate very differently to Europe, for example, there's no explicit human rights charter and famously no universal health care, but then America didn't have gas chambers either, which is why Europe has an explicit human rights charter — and now we've left Europe the Govt is talking about doing away with the human rights charter. I thought the film was wickedly skewering, and you could make a 'Don't Look Up' about UK stupidities — just look at 'The Thick of It' or 'Yes Minister' — not to mention the original 'House of Cards'. So I wish our reporting was more even-handed and less either/or, I also wish they spent more time reporting on UK injustices. Of which there are many.
I'm not sure when I'll get round to seeing 'Power of the Dog' - and, apart from Desilu famously giving us Star Trek 🙂, I agree Lucille Ball was an extraordinary woman — I think there should be more about her.