"Conservatives Angry At 'Elysium' for Showing World Their Ideology Would Create"

[applegrove]

Conservatives Angry At 'Elysium' for Showing World Their Ideology Would Create

by Ari Rabin Havt (Media Matters for America) at the Contributor.com

http://thecontributor.com/ari-rabin-havt-elysium-biased

"SNIP..............................

Neill Blomkamp's sci-fi summer action film "Elysium" is raising hackles in the conservative media.

Set 140 years in the future, the rich have relocated off a crowded and polluted Earth and live life isolated on a space station called Elysium, filled with plenty of greenery, large homes, private security, and most importantly, a machine that can cure all medical issues -- technology not available to anyone not a citizen of Elysium. This paradise exists only a quick 19-minute shuttle flight away from Earth; with no hope of breaking the class barriers, immigrants attempt to sneak onto the space station in rickety and dangerous shuttles. Most of them are killed in the process, and those who make it there alive are instantly sent back to Earth.

Rush Limbaugh denounced "Elysium" as "a full-fledged anti-capitalist, pro-socialism movie" before expressing anger that the filmmakers and star Matt Damon deny there's political bias in the film.

At the Daily Caller, R.J. Moeller wrote that Damon and Blomkamp "know that the movie-going audience is primarily comprised of 12-21 year old boys who wouldn't know socialist propaganda if it spit in their Monster energy drink."

By contrast, progressive culture critic Alyssa Rosenberg wrote that, far from a political screed, "Elysium" "fails in its mission to speak truth to power." The film never discusses the causes of inequality nor advocates real solutions to the problem. The right's real objection to Elyisum is that the very nature of the economic disparity at the heart of the story illustrates a world suffering the consequences of the policies conservatives advocate.

.............................SNIP"

[Blanks]

1. I was disappointed in the resourcefulness of the people on earth.

That's what didn't seem realistic to me. There were no gardens, forests or even farms on either the 'space station' or on earth.

The story wasn't that great either. I found the movie lacking. If there was some kind of anti-conservative agenda - it wasn't successfully communicated.

Elysium (the place) was kind of neat, but it wasn't cool enough to carry the crappy story. Special effects weren't bad, but really a movie needs a good story.

Poor Rush, everyone's picking on him. Even when they make crappy movies - he finds a way to be offended.

[Skittles]

2. I was disappointed it just turned into a run-of-the-mill action film

with such cartoonish characters - I wanted more explanation of what was going on - issues like you raised

[Spitfire of ATJ]

5. So it was almost Ann Randian where the elite take off leaving the poor stupid masses to rot....

It's like the Bush Administration was talking about Iraqis.

One minute the Iraqis are so clever they can thwart our spy satellites with their massive underground chemical labs under Saddam's palaces and the next they need us there to rebuild because the people are too stupid to figure out how to properly wire a shower.

[Blanks]

11. That's it. The underlying assumption that...

The wealthy posses not only the bulk of the money, but all of the 'smarts.' Without them to lead and guide us - we wouldn't know how to grow food or utilize any natural resources or even walk to our job at the factory without pissing off the cops. All the rest of us are just mindless victims waiting for a hero.

The people on the planet couldn't even muster the resources to steal one of these 'healing machines' - the machines were only on the satellite.

[Sirveri]

26. that ignores the robotic aggro police force they left behind.

The robots maintain the system, by being a space Jesus and sacrificing himself, Max destroyed the entire system. Since everyone was now a citizen, the robots no longer had anyone to oppress.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

27. Meanwhile ACTUAL robots in Japan are programed to say, "Oh! You so big! You monster!"

[Jackpine Radical]

39. Wire a shower?

Is that anything like plumbing an electrical circuit?

[Spitfire of ATJ]

40. KBR did a shocking job on our troops.

[tblue37]

41. I imagine the reference was to the electrocution in showers of

American soldiers in Iraq because of faulty electrical wiring.

KBR took the contract, then increased their profit by subcontracting at very low cost to incompetent Iraqi subcontractors--(whose incompetence, BTW, was unrelated to their being Iraqis).

[Jackpine Radical]

42. I totally missed that.

[tblue37]

44. The story back then--or this reference to the story?

If you missed the story back then, I can guarantee that it really happened. There was at least one person who died, and if I remember correctly, more than one.

People I know who were sent to Iraq were explicitly (& officially) warned of the danger.

[Jackpine Radical]

45. Probably both. I do recall a lot of bad acts by KBR & others--

contaminated water, etc., but probably just forgot this one.

[tblue37]

47. The one death I know of for sure was of a soldier named Ryan Maseth--and it was his second tour

of duty in Iraq. He had barely avoided death more than once, but of course he would never have expected to be killed just because he took a shower!

I know some other soldiers were electrocuted by way of showers, but I don't know if any others were actually killed that way.

[Lordquinton]

13. I could buy that the earth is kept unstable by the station

or there are places like that, obviously because how else would we food. but they would have to explain that. Maybe a director's cut?

[tclambert]

3. Were they mad about the Terminator movies, too?

After all, they were about a dystopian future in which Arnold Schwarzenegger tries to kill all human beings. And Ahhhnold is a . . . REPUBLICAN. Plus, in the first movie, a woman kills the robot. Talk about an empowered woman! Definitely anti-Republican propaganda right there.

[azureblue]

9. more like

Robocop

[azureblue]

10. actually

all this fake outrage is to cover for the fact that they have nothing positive to offer and a35 +year long track record of failure and looting of America

[Bjorn Against]

17. Robocop would infuriate them

Anyone who has not seen that movie should really watch it, it may be disguised as a typical sci-fi action flick but below the surface is a brilliant social satire that was way ahead of its time. It showed the very future the Teabaggers envision.

There is a reboot coming out next year, I am keeping my fingers crossed and hoping they stay true to the original and give the Teabaggers a heart attack.

[rucky]

34. "I'll buy that for a dollar"

[RedRocco]

36. I wouldn't hold my breath

most "reboots" change the message from what the original was. In fact, I think a lot of them are put out to shift attention away from the original work ans it's message.

I know, I know. It sounds all tin foiley...

[Bjorn Against]

37. Judging by the teaser they released the reboot seems to have at least some political message to it

The teaser trailer below mentions drone strikes, government surveillance and the militarization of the police force. The trailer focuses on Omnicorp so it seems the privatization theme is probably still going to be a part of the reboot. It looks like they updated the political message to more closely resemble modern times, but at least for this trailer it seems they are not abandoning the political message.

Of course this trailer does not actually contain any scenes from the actual movie and we don't know how well it will reflect the finished product. You may be right in the end and the reboot may disappoint in the end, but I am going to remain hopeful for now and give the makers of the new film a chance.

[2ndAmForComputers]

49. Hell, it showed the very future of DETROIT!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

4. Their funniest freakout was over the Star Wars prequel....

The Right was OUTRAGED to see George Lucas showing the rise of the Empire by lying to the people about a war and staging terrorist attacks to gain absolute power and were screaming at him. How DARE he depict what Republicans were doing under the Bush Administration? Lucas told them it wasn't Dubya he was depicting, it was Hitler.

The right promptly dropped the whole thing like it never happened.

[applegrove]

6. I did not know that. LOL!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

19. Wiki mentions it too...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Episode_III:_Revenge_of_the_Sith

Go down to the "Critical reception" part.

Also this:

http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-890_162-695449.html?pageNum=2

Lucas began researching how democracies can turn into dictatorships with full consent of the electorate.

In ancient Rome, "why did the senate after killing Caesar turn around and give the government to his nephew?" Lucas said. "Why did France after they got rid of the king and that whole system turn around and give it to Napoleon? It's the same thing with Germany and Hitler.

[applegrove]

20. Looks like a little light shone into the captive brains of the GOP base. A moment of

shock and maybe self knowledge before they slam the door to knowledge shut again and go back to being used. It isn't really funny. But when you live with this stuff for years your sense of humour can get dark...if you still have a sense of humour that is.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

25. Most of the hard core right wingers act like the Bush Years never happened....

They HATE it when you bring those times up and some of the real nut cases claim it was the fault of all the Jews he put in charge. Then they'll spout names like Wolfowitz, Perle, and Feith. Even Ari the Liar was seen as "proof" of Bush being a "Liberal" because to them, there's no such thing as a right wing Jew.

[Enthusiast]

38. I did not know that.

Funny!

[riqster]

7. Awwww neocons has a sad?

Poor babies.

[underpants]

8. You think that is bad - they are FREAKED about the rodeo clown thing

I see multiple FB posts about it. Rush can't stand over-explaining it. He even denies it happened.

[RZM]

12. A borderless continent where LA is almost all Latino?

I'm not sure that's the world a lot of conservatives have in mind.

[freshwest]

14. When the reviewer says this, I agree, as films are meant to desensitize people to accept it.

The film never discusses the causes of inequality nor advocates real solutions to the problem. The right's real objection to Elyisum is that the very nature of the economic disparity at the heart of the story illustrates a world suffering the consequences of the policies conservatives advocate.

The goal is to make it all seem inevitable and play on the fears of those who know full well this is where we're heading right now, but allow those fears to stop them.

The Second Amendment Solution and Tenther movements are dividing the masses and telling them to hide out and not get involved to stop this. It is foolish indulgence to think guerilla warfare as the RWNJs say is the only solution will stop this juggernaut.

Dropping out won't help either, since they will get you in time. Our time to change our institutions is short. IMO we have less than twenty years to work to make this a more humane system. That's why I'm still a Democrat. There is no other party that is more humane in its vision.



Carl Sagan wrote in The Demon Haunted World:

...A personal statement, reflecting my love affair with science. But there’s a second reason:

Science is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking. I have a foreboding of an America in my children’s or grandchildren’s time – when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what’s true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness...

I think we see this world already with our fact free stories, lack of logic and reflection, hatred and fear, and the unwillingness to work in a concrete way to solve our problems. There is great danger as he also said:

This world as we know it is only just one brief moment that appears to us to be an endless horizon of time... this time grants comfort... and this comfort breeds complacency... and from complacency stems ultimate stupidity and eventual destruction.

~ Carl Sagan

[AverageJoe90]

43. I'm not quite convinced of that, TBH.

The goal is to make it all seem inevitable and play on the fears of those who know full well this is where we're heading right now, but allow those fears to stop them.

To be honest, I don't doubt there's probably some dishonesty going on in Hollywood right now; but I'd be careful, though, because this kind of thinking does come close to the Alex Jones/David Icke school of nuttiness: There may be crooks in Hollywood, but if anything, Elysium seems to be making a very positive statement and not fooling with us; if it was the latter, the far-right wouldn't have been up in arms against this movie at all, I can guarantee you that much.

[freshwest]

46. That's all true, but as the reviewer says, did it offer solutions? What action would the audience

take when they left the threatre?

One of the effects of Moore's film SICKO was to get people involved in health care reform. That is what I mean.

The vision presented is not a new one, it's been explored in science fiction for years. People watched the programs or movies and they never connected with science fact, but left it safely in the realm of fiction. Thus they did nothing.

We now live in a world that was considered to be impossible within my own lifetime. We have been witnessing such a concentration of wealth that it staggers us. It is a cycle that has been repeated many times in history. Now we see it presented, as you say, Jones/Icke style, and they do not offer any solution that is concrete.

I admit to not having watched the film, only read the reviews, so forgive me my opinion. It is formed partly by seeing how media pushes the envelope to normalize things like torture and brutality as the series 24 did. People do reflect what they see in media, and much of it is inhumane and doesn't teach anything positive. But it's drama.

That the conservatives were stung by it may meant it was closer than we think to the mark.

But did you see the film, and if so, what did you take as path of action to prevent that future?

I remember having to read 1984 and Brave New World in public school in the sixties. The year 1984 was spoken with dread after reading it and some later said, 'Well, he had the year wrong, it was 2000 with Bush.' It seems to be that every concept in that book has been enacted by the GOP and conservative media, mostly FOX. It was horrifying in line with that dystopian vision to see Hannity doing his two-minute hate rants about liberals destroying America as a regular feature of the shows years ago. Soon, I was unable to see it without feeling targetted.

As far as Hollywood is concerned, they do have consultants on their films that come from government, academia, science and many fields. The future has been here with for a long time, and I think sometimes the film makers are trying to get the truth out to the public to get them to act and prevent it as many of us responded to 1984.

Sometimes I think they are seeking to confuse us with their emotional techniques. Gotta have a crisis, danger, heroes and villains. I see that played out all the time, and now it's more of the 'life imitates art' than the other way around.

I don't want to go with the Jones/Icke view even if it's entertaining, as it doesn't leave me much room to live. I would hope this fillm would wake people up to the dangers we are in within a technocracy, even though technology of all kinds, science and knowledge, is what gives power to nations. The gun overcame the bow and arrow, like the atomic bomb overcame other forms of warfare.

We are not going to go back to some idyllic past where this stuff won't be part of life. There is a divide on technology that is economically based. Some will benefit and some will not. That's always been.

Ah, tired from trouble sleeping and appreciate your thoughtful analysis of my post.

[kairos12]

15. I started calling local gated communities Sleazium and Galt estates

[Berlum]

32. Sleazium (R) !

there you have it. The Repubbies hate the movie Elysium because it exposes their OCCULT agenda. They do not want people to know what they are up to, and so everything they do is OCCULTED -- hidden.

[Phlem]

16. Totally seeing it now.

That's all the prodding I needed.

-p

[Kennah]

18. Great minds! I'm taking my 12 year old to indoctrinate him!

[Phlem]

21. great idea!

If my girl were 5 yrs. older I'd do the same. I've heard the ending is not realistic, but that's different for every viewer.

Envy you, hope my girl and I could connect like that a conscious level in the future.

Enjoy and get the good seats!

-p

[Initech]

22. OK anything that pisses off the conservatives is automatically at the top of my watch list.

[rrneck]

23. "a full-fledged anti-capitalist, pro-socialism movie"

Oh, well. In that case I'll have to go see it.

[Rex]

24. How is it anti-capitalist? The rich all live in paradise!

GOD I WISH for once in Gush Limpball's LIFE he could be consistent with his er...message...but like a small fart in a large storm, you just never know which direction that fucker is heading!

Gimpballs is mad because the movie depicts the perfect world for Repukes? Why so mad bro? Need a soda?

[hunter]

28. Would Create??? It's already been created.

Plenty of cities already look like the "Earth" of Elysium.

It was filmed on the site of a dump surrounded by bad neighborhoods in Mexico City.

There are bad neighborhoods in my own city, middle and working class neighborhoods like my own (but always graffiti on the other side of our wall), and then, very nice homes in isolated gated communities outside of town.

Both Mexico and the U.S.A. have unacceptable disparities of wealth. The very wealthy are getting wealthier, a certain number of people are hanging on, but most everyone is sliding backwards.

I don't consider the U.S.A. a true first world nation. There are some really bad places here in the U.S.A..

[applegrove]

29. So true. In Mexico 1/3 are rich and

2/3 are poor. The USA is heading in that direction.

[delrem]

30. I don't recommend this movie.

It only excels in every degree of banality.
It isn't helpful.
It isn't entertaining.
It's a pile of crap.

[olddots]

31. I agree it is tedious

I was expecting some originality -----wait for TV on this garbage .

[Inkfreak]

33. We just saw the movie and it kinda blew.

Seemed to be formulaic and really just plodded along till the enevitable end. Which was kinda cheesy. In all, I thought District 9 was ten times better.

[Shankapotomus]

35. Never happen

Conservative policies would never get us permanently habital space stations at the expense of human rights. That is too big a project to sustain by naked exploitation. The workforce is going to want a cut in so big a gain. You're not going to get that kind of large scale voluntary cooperation from a purely exploitative capitalist system.

Such an acheivement is going to be a highly cooperative and socialist endeavor.

I haven't seen the movie but if, indeed, it concedes such high technological acheivement to a purely capitalist system, it is granting way too much and in the wrong direction.

[Berlum]

50. All the so-called conservatives* run on is fear and anger

* In 2013 the term "conservative" is no more than occult mindf*ck trickery to disguise reality: Totalitarian, Inc. (R)