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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   2794 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for September 29, 2024

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Did anyone watch Megalopolis? What is it, what are the CW elements?

I did see Megalopolis! Its a self-produced, self financed movie by Francis Ford Coppola! There are some superficial culture war elements that are mapped onto this neo-Roman America (death of democracy through appeal to a mob, vestal virginity, question of striving for future utopia vs present concerns?) but they were removed enough from the main storyline and really not presented 'believably' enough (there is no hammered home moralizing of the 'correct' position, and really no demonizing of the 'incorrect' position) that I don't consider the film 'waging' the culture war.

The final dedication at the end of the film, and I think cinema-insiders fears of the future of movie production are why this movie was made now.

So, uh, was it good?

I liked it, but it does have some significant problems. It succeeds as spectacle but not as a narrative. I want more film-makers to take chances like this, but also this wasn't a masterpiece.

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