/411/ What Kind of American Are You?

On Alex Garland’s new film, Civil War.

 

[Patreon Exclusive]

 

The boys discuss a film that seems designed to say something in the context of a US election year. But what? We ask:

• What kind of film is this: a dystopian fantasy, a war movie, a road movie?

• Why the focus on the media? Does the film celebrate or satirise journalists?

• Does Garland’s dystopia tell us anything about the landscape of US politics today?

• Why is political polarisation between liberals and populists seen in terms of civil war? 

• What would a civil war look like in geopolitical terms, along the lines Garland suggests?

• What side would you choose?

Links:

• Where will America's Civil War be fought?, Michael Lind, UnHerd
• The Civil War Will Not Be Mediated, Nina Power, Compact
• Civil War is a terrifying film, but Trump: The Sequel will be a real-life horror show, Simon Tisdall, The Guardian