I was going to make a list. But I gave up. The list would probably reference the majority of Hollywood movies.
The
common theme: a heinous crime is committed against the lone hero’s
loved ones. He goes outside the law to enact his revenge on the
perpetrators.
Why do producers and studios make so many of these films? They sell.
Why? Because
the audience knows the legal system of justice is broken. The audience
has a visceral desire to see actual justice delivered. They want to see a
hero make criminals pay.
Imagine
this: A new honest flaming reformer takes over Tony Fauci’s job as
director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases. On his first day, he holds a mass meeting in a giant hall,
where all his researchers are present.
He
says: “I know many of you people have been carrying out brutal research
on animals and children. This has been going on for years, decades. It
stops now. If I catch any of you committing these horrific crimes, I’ll
see to it you’re punished within an inch of your lives…”
During
the shocked silence that follows, a researcher stands up. He’s a
preppie, ex-yuppie, millennial, genial psychopath whose smile resembles
Gavin Newsom’s.
He
says: “How do you plan to punish us? Are you going to call in the
Department of Justice? Do you really think that old hack, Merrick
Garland, or some other tool of a sitting president is going to raid our
labs, seize our computers and files, put us in cuffs, and stick us in
jail on felony charges? That’s a nice fantasy, but it’ll never go down…”
Or
this: “Mr. Smith, this is a courtroom. I know you know that. You’ve
been here many times before. I’m the judge. I hold your fate in my
hands. Now let’s see. Your latest charge…assault with a deadly
weapon. But you also have three other older charges pending. Rape,
possession of opioids with intent to distribute, and witness
intimidation. You’re out on bail on those prior charges. So I’m going to
follow suit. Bail is set at $3000. Your next court date is 60 days from
now. The bloody knife will be kept as evidence. Your pistol will be
returned to you…”
You could say Hollywood makes its money on the back of a broken legal system.
However,
there are unspoken rules. For instance, you’re not going to see a movie
about a vengeful super-hero whose sister died in jail after being
arrested for repeatedly refusing a COVID lockdown order.
You’re not going to see a movie about a vengeful hero whose wife died after taking a COVID vaccine ordered by her employer.
There are limits.
If
the hero’s daughter died in the hospital because doctors gave her a
toxic drug, the hero will take hostages in the hospital. Cops will
surround the building. A negotiator will get on the phone with the
hero---who’s portrayed as mentally unbalanced---and try to talk him
down. This will be a very different kind of movie, and it won’t make a
profit.
For
that matter, you won’t see a movie about Mr. Smith, the man the judge
let out on bail even though multiple felony charges against him were
pending. You won’t see the brother of the woman Smith raped take his
revenge on Smith. Verboten.
There are rules and limits.
---Look,
Marty, I really think this script has possibilities. The hero has a
small café in Middle America. When the lockdown comes, he has to close
his doors. He goes broke. Bankrupt. He’s living in his van. So he calls
his old buddies who served with him in Special Forces in Afghanistan,
and they go after---
Stop right there, Sid. Are you crazy? They could put us in jail for making a movie like that.
Why? It’s just a movie. It’s not real life.
They’d
get us on incitement charges. A bunch of Special Forces crazies invade a
governor’s mansion? Come on. We’d rot in prison for a year before they
bring us to trial.
Think
of the box office. There are millions of people out there who are VERY
pissed off about the lockdowns. They’d pour into theaters to watch this
film.
Doesn’t
matter. I’m not going to risk getting canceled for producing
it. Besides, I bet the government would censor it, order theaters not to
run it.
Are you serious?
Of
course I’m serious. This isn’t the old America. We have to toe the
line. Now if you can find me a script about a simple kidnapping---the
bad guys take the hero’s daughter, and he tracks them to an Eastern
European country and disembowels them and rescues the girl…I’m all in.
You mean the movie that’s already been made 500 times?
Exactly. Tried
and true, baby. OK, look, I’ll give you an acceptable version of the
script you’ve got. There’s a very weird lab. Its evil CEO is really a
non-human entity from another dimension. He intends to kill people with a
new experimental drug. So we have a team of super-heroes who have
special powers. They can fly, shoot rays out of their eyes. They go to
war with the interdimensional CEO creature---
Which destroys the whole premise of my script.
I know that. I’m just giving you another way to go.
How about this? The evil CEO is trying to bring a new vaccine to market. It changes people’s DNA.
No dice.
Why?
Come on. It hits too close to home.
We could call the interdimensional CEO Omicron.
Hmm. Maybe. And
the super-heroes are all doctors who were injured in a research
accident---that’s how they gained their powers. They still wear white
coats in the film. They still work at a hospital saving lives.
And
OK…they have a boss, a guy who gives them mission orders. He’s an old
friend from medical school who’s now the head of the CDC.
Right. That
could work. The Omicron creature isn’t developing a new toxic
drug. He’s secretly spreading a super-virus from another dimension.
And the only way to stop it is to stop the economy and stay home under lockdown. The whole population.
Here’s the kicker. There’s something on Earth that activates the virus and makes it deadly. Carbon Dioxide.
Wow. So all industry has to be shut down on the planet. And then the skies are clear again.
We have a winner.
Lots of wrinkles we could add.
Like…the super-hero doctors discover there are certain people who are immune from the virus. And they’re all transgender.
Killer.
* * *
The movie was eventually made, on a budget of $200 million.
International ticket sales amounted to just under $50 million. It was a total flop.
But
reviewers, critics, pundits, news talk shows, prime ministers, and
presidents hailed the two producers as “the real heroes.” Within months,
the Ford Foundation and the Rockefeller Institute bankrolled a new
documentary-film studio, and the two producers were brought on board to
launch a series “exploring experimental cutting–edge genetic
technologies on the frontier of medical treatment for human enhancement
in the New Normal. ‘Soon, we may have modalities that render populations
innately immune from many classes of viruses’…”
The
two producers made 15 documentaries about genetic treatment and
enhancement. Television networks ran clips from the films as “medical
segments” on their news broadcasts.
“Genetic
alterations for the good of humanity in these troubled and desperate
times” was the new message. It flooded news and talk shows.
Editorial
and magazine writers, professors, politicians, and even social activist
groups pushed genetic alteration as “the herald of a better future for
all.” Some labeled it THE NEW SPIRIT OF OPTIMISM IN THE
COUNTRY. GENETICS, THE FINAL FRONTIER.
The
two producers launched an unprecedented six-hour special that aired
over the course of a month on CBS, NBC, and ABC. It largely consisted of
sit-down interviews with Bill Gates and Anthony Fauci, who both
asserted that very soon, genetic modification would make vaccination
obsolete…
And that’s how two shlock Hollywood denizens led the way toward a Brave New World.
“Humans
as they are, are obsolete and unsustainable. The pandemic proved
this. Our only option is altering humans.” This is was the emerging
theme.
It was hailed by those in charge as The Great Step Forward.
Until the worldwide riots started...
~~~
(The link to this article posted on my blog is here.)
(Follow me on Gab at @jonrappoport)
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