{"id":47786,"date":"2021-09-25T13:09:06","date_gmt":"2021-09-25T18:09:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/?p=47786"},"modified":"2022-01-13T17:11:08","modified_gmt":"2022-01-13T23:11:08","slug":"70s-mixtape-hit-tom-nichols-and-the-deplorables","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/2021\/09\/25\/70s-mixtape-hit-tom-nichols-and-the-deplorables\/","title":{"rendered":"70s mixtape hit: Tom Nichols and the Deplorables"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From studying the polls, I would guess that about a third of the American people at any given moment would welcome a fascist state.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gore Vidal, 1975<\/em><\/p>\n

DB here:<\/p>\n

For American conservatives, Hollywood is a prime villain, coarsening the culture and spreading liberal propaganda. Yet when Reagan promised to veto tax-increase legislation, he quoted Dirty Harry<\/em>\u2019s \u201cMake my day.\u201d He also promoted a \u201cStar Wars\u201d space defense system. Now Steve Bannon<\/a> models his political ethos on Twelve O\u2019Clock High<\/em>. Stephen Miller is reported to idolize the Robert de Niro character in Casino<\/em>, even mimicking his dress code. When Brad Parscale wanted to scare the Democrats, he compared<\/a> his Trump campaign organization to the Death Star (evidently he didn\u2019t see the movie’s ending). Roger Ailes\u2019 son Zach quotes Tombstone<\/em>, and Sidney Powell compared her bumbling assault on 2020 election results to an attack of the Kraken. The red pill\/blue pill choice from The Matrix<\/em> is at the center of the ideology of QOnan (not a typo). A conspiracy \u201cmeme queen\u201d<\/a> had a cinematic epiphany about Pizzagate: \u201cThe world opened up in Technicolor for me. It was like the Matrix \u2014 everything just started to download.\u201d<\/p>\n

An academic might argue that right-wingers are practicing their own version of ad subversion, twisting the Hollywood product to their own ends, like a Situationist d\u00e9tournement<\/a>. But actually, most of these associations may betray the Republican fascination with violence. Pat Buchanan\u2019s command that his followers \u201cLock and load\u201d and Sarah Palin\u2019s evocation of \u201cSecond Amendment solutions\u201d would plausibly lead to a mindset that results in zealous young Republicans in 2007 calling themselves \u201cThe Young Guns,\u201d after a now-forgotten western. A famous line in The Town<\/em>\u00a0(2010) about going out to hurt some people found an eager GOP takeup<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One would think that the more conspiracy-minded right would fetishize the long-running cycle of Deep-State political thrillers like JFK<\/em> (1991), Clear and Present Danger<\/em> (1994), Air Force One<\/em> (1997) and Enemy of the State<\/em>(1998), up to Equalizer 2<\/em> (2018). Such films center on rogue cadres within the government aiming to undermine official policy by working with ambitious office-holders, zealous bureaucrats, free-lance killers, and terrorists or drug smugglers. This \u201cparanoid political thriller\u201d is one legacy of a cascade of US assassinations in the sixties, resulting in classics like Seven Days in May<\/em> (1964) and The Parallax View<\/em> (1974).<\/p>\n

Perhaps these too are Golden Oldies for Y’all Queda. But one of the most ingenious appropriations I\u2019ve encountered comes from a less fringe figure. 3 Days of the Condor<\/em> (1975), another in the Deep State cycle, is invoked in an unusual way in a new book by Tom Nichols. Like other conservatives, he finds that it illuminates contemporary politics, but not because of its revelation of off-the-books intrigue.<\/p>\n

When the hero-on-the-run Robert Redford says he’s revealed the conspiracy to the press, Cliff Robertson as the CIA man isn’t worried. The Times<\/em> may not print the story, but even if it does, the public won\u2019t care. When the next crisis comes, the people will ask only not to be discomfited. They will expect their government to solve problems they have happily ignored for years.<\/p>\n