If you're around my age, you loved Disney's wonderful 1993 film Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey as a kid, and probably still have fond memories of it to this day.
You remember it, right? The old and wise golden retriever Shadow, the plucky youngster Chance, the sassy cat named...Sassy (naming things is hard) venture through the wilderness, facing death at every turn in order to make it home and reunite with their family. The final scene where we don't know if Shadow is going to come over the hill and we wait, holding our collective breath, is almost physically painful. Finally, after an agonizing wait he emerges, battered but alive, and it is almost impossible to watch without shedding a tear or lots.
Given the powerful emotional roller coaster the movie sends us on, it's really kinda a shock to think about how ultra right-wing this movie really is.
Now, I know what you're saying, and what you're saying is: "You dumb, computer man." (because for some reason you are a hillbilly)
But let's go back to the reason why the pets undertook this "incredible journey" to get home in the first place:
Was it because they were abandoned by the side of the road? No. Was it because their owner accidentally left them at home when they went on vacation? No. Was it because something tragic happened that meant that they had to go home right away and just could not wait one more minute? No.
What really happened was that their family went on vacation. As good people tend to do, they left their pets in the hands of a family friend who worked on a ranch. That friend, perhaps a bit irresponsibly, had to leave the ranch and left the pets in the hands of one of her friends. This new person did not AT all abuse the pets, and they were doing quite fine, despite the fact that their original caretaker had left them.
At this point, the pets freak out, think they have been abandoned, and decide to take matters into their own hands and light out across the wilderness to get home. This decision puts them in extreme danger as they go on an insane journey across the mountains, while most of the wilderness is trying very, very hard to kill them.
So how does that make the film fascist/right-wing? I mean, it's just about adorable animals overcoming adversity in their quest to get home, right?
But, the pets would have never faced any danger or adversity at all, if they had just NOT EXERCISED FREE WILL. If they had simply listened to the humans (the better race) and stayed where they were, despite not understanding the situation, they would have been fine.
This is the idea that right-wing and fascist regimes are built on. The people don't understand anything, and it is up to the state (the humans) to tell the people (the pets) what to do, because the people are too stupid to do it themselves. When the people finally decide to make their own decision, which is contrary to that of their masters, they almost die over and over again. But, if they had listened to the humans (the state) they would have had all the safety and prosperity that they needed.
Conservatives (big "C" Conservatives, not little "c" conservatives; I don't have the time to explain the difference, just Bing it) think this way: there are only a privileged few who understand, and everyone else just doesn't have the ability to understand, and should listen to their masters. And that is exactly the message that this film is sending; not only to the general populace, but to children. If you listen to the government you will be safe and warm, and if you question what they say and do, you will probably die.
And if I haven't ruined a blissful childhood memory for you with this post, come back next week when I talk about how The Princess Bride is a thinly veiled endorsement of the KKK.
Have a great week!
You remember it, right? The old and wise golden retriever Shadow, the plucky youngster Chance, the sassy cat named...Sassy (naming things is hard) venture through the wilderness, facing death at every turn in order to make it home and reunite with their family. The final scene where we don't know if Shadow is going to come over the hill and we wait, holding our collective breath, is almost physically painful. Finally, after an agonizing wait he emerges, battered but alive, and it is almost impossible to watch without shedding a tear or lots.
Given the powerful emotional roller coaster the movie sends us on, it's really kinda a shock to think about how ultra right-wing this movie really is.
Now, I know what you're saying, and what you're saying is: "You dumb, computer man." (because for some reason you are a hillbilly)
But let's go back to the reason why the pets undertook this "incredible journey" to get home in the first place:
Was it because they were abandoned by the side of the road? No. Was it because their owner accidentally left them at home when they went on vacation? No. Was it because something tragic happened that meant that they had to go home right away and just could not wait one more minute? No.
What really happened was that their family went on vacation. As good people tend to do, they left their pets in the hands of a family friend who worked on a ranch. That friend, perhaps a bit irresponsibly, had to leave the ranch and left the pets in the hands of one of her friends. This new person did not AT all abuse the pets, and they were doing quite fine, despite the fact that their original caretaker had left them.
At this point, the pets freak out, think they have been abandoned, and decide to take matters into their own hands and light out across the wilderness to get home. This decision puts them in extreme danger as they go on an insane journey across the mountains, while most of the wilderness is trying very, very hard to kill them.
So how does that make the film fascist/right-wing? I mean, it's just about adorable animals overcoming adversity in their quest to get home, right?
But, the pets would have never faced any danger or adversity at all, if they had just NOT EXERCISED FREE WILL. If they had simply listened to the humans (the better race) and stayed where they were, despite not understanding the situation, they would have been fine.
This is the idea that right-wing and fascist regimes are built on. The people don't understand anything, and it is up to the state (the humans) to tell the people (the pets) what to do, because the people are too stupid to do it themselves. When the people finally decide to make their own decision, which is contrary to that of their masters, they almost die over and over again. But, if they had listened to the humans (the state) they would have had all the safety and prosperity that they needed.
Conservatives (big "C" Conservatives, not little "c" conservatives; I don't have the time to explain the difference, just Bing it) think this way: there are only a privileged few who understand, and everyone else just doesn't have the ability to understand, and should listen to their masters. And that is exactly the message that this film is sending; not only to the general populace, but to children. If you listen to the government you will be safe and warm, and if you question what they say and do, you will probably die.
And if I haven't ruined a blissful childhood memory for you with this post, come back next week when I talk about how The Princess Bride is a thinly veiled endorsement of the KKK.
Have a great week!