Civil War (A24 - Alex Garland, Spring 2024) • Page 9

I have not seen it yet.

 

oh ok

 

I feel like I'm crazy, most people who have used the internet to keep up with politics even a little bit should at the very least recognize Andy's name if not immediately associate it with the far-right, no? He was all over Twitter for such a long-time (maybe still is, I got off the platform). Was absolutely talked about quite often around the same time Jordan Peterson was popular. Even had that dude from Mumford & Sons extensively praise his book. I don't think he's a household name, but even if Garland somehow didn't know who he was, we really think nobody involved recognized the name and brought it to his attention?

Then it happened a second time with a TERF journalist? But not any leftist sources? Again, I want to give Garland the benefit of the doubt, really. But that seems like a huge stretch to me.

 

the big difference in the credits is that Ngo is listed as an archival footage source, while Lewis gets thanks. even if all that Ngo was used for was a short video clip, it still doesn't excuse the contributions from Lewis, whatever they may be.

 

This clarifies things a bit so thank you. I guess my follow-up would simply be, they couldn't get archival footage from anywhere else? Lol

 

Yeah I know who Andy Ngo is from being on twitter a lot but we shouldn't overestimate the number of people that *are* Terminally Online enough to know. Like, if I asked my 30 year old best friends or my 27 year old wife if they knew who he was, I'm certain they'd say no.

I know almost nothing about Garland's political leanings to be fair, but what's more likely? A: Garland silently endorses Ngo and that other person (I have genuinely never heard of them) or B: it's random footage that was found, used in the film, and then rightly credited?

I think B, but unless we're sure it's A, why get upset about it?

I hate to do the "look at these other examples of bad people involved in movies" but like, that's the movie industry man lol

 

yeah absolutely but again, is it a conscious choice or not? I don't know!

 

This is all I'm expecting of this whole controversy so this checks out lol

 

someone on Twitter also said he apparently thanked a TERF in the credits for one of his other films (i'm assuming Men?), but i have no clue whether this is true.

update: here's the tweet.

 

Hey man, I know you're a rational person and vice-versa, I understand what you're saying. I think we just disagree on what's worth being bummed out about. The journalist also getting special thanks definitely gives me pause, and whether it was brought to his attention before or after the fact what these people stand for, I think it would be nice to hear him clarify. That will likely never happen, and that's okay. People can definitely pay no mind to it if they wish, I'm not saying it's worth expending a ton of energy on. But I also don't think "there are worse people in the industry" makes it unreasonable for someone to be rubbed the wrong way about their contributions, however small, to the film.

 

how many people are checking all of the credits in every movie they see

 

C'mon man, I really feel like this is a purposeful misreading of what's happening here. There's a reason those names (and Andy's in particular) stuck out to people. It seems perfectly normal to give their inclusion the side-eye

 

I'm pretty sure people are just going to put this movie under a microscope and find things to scrutinize purely due to the nature of the movie

 

No I agree it's NOT GREAT at all, I think my issue with the reactions to those credits is more of the "what's worth being bummed about" like you mention above, and the whole "no ethical consumption under capitalism" of it all

I personally do not have the energy (but I do understand this is a privilege) to fret about who's being credited or thanked in a movie that I have not seen

 

Bottom-line, as far as I know, Garland isn't some insane facist and I don't think we need to burn him at the stake over anything. At the same time, I think those credits fucking suck and make me suspect and it would be nice to hear some further context from him, because selfishly, I like some of the stuff he's made and consider it a win anytime someone with a platform doesn't absolutely suck shit. I feel like that is a very normal reaction for me to have about this information

 

A film tiktoker I follow really liked this and said it's actually not as apolitical as people are making it out to be. I trust her but agree with her takes maybe 80% of the time so idk. I'm not in a rush to see this just yet

 

Yes, that's accurate. It's tied into Offerman's character addressing the nation at the beginning of the film. Now that I think about it, it's truly shocking that not once in this film is any political party, religion, or racism mentioned once.

It's sad how hollow this film really is, if he was going to always go this route at least flesh out the characters in lieu of the events of happening. It's wild that Offerman's character has maybe 5mins of dialogue the whole film.

 

Again - this just makes me want to see it more. Every single time the trailer has been played (and it's been a lot in a variety of movies and crowds,) it's elicited a collective groan of 'nah, too real' so all the reviews that make it seem detached from political reality, but also realistic in what a modern war would look like, makes me on board more so than I would have been with some big, soap box movie ripped directly from todays headlines.

I also thought I paid attention to politics and the right wing grifters on X (formally known as twitter) and I have zero clue who Andy Ngo is and have never heard his name mentioned in any kind of important political capacity. I also am not sure what the credits mean, and what kind of compensation if any, is going towards him for that credit. I don't necessarily see what the big deal is with just a name. It blowing up and going viral like this is going to direct more people towards him than a silent credit in the movie ever would have.

 

Not trying to harp on it, but if Jordan Peele gave Jordan Peterson a shout-out in the credits of his next film, I would want people to call it out, personally.

 

If Jordan Peele used Jordan Peterson footage (in a way that wasn't pro) and had to credit it in order to have done so, and that 'shout out' was buried in the credits where most people don't look, I'm not sure I'd immediately think it was nefarious or going to cause trouble.

But I get it. I have nothing else that will add value till I've seen the movie. I have enjoyed what I've seen from Garland with Ex Machine being an all time favorite (have not seen Men) so I just want to see how well it crafts the suspense and action.

 

It's being pushed as a wide release blockbuster. Of course it is going to be devoid of context and apolitical. Americans love violence without any real-world connections. There was never going to be some MAGA parallels or any touchy issue to reflect on.

 

the action goes OFF…so if that’s what you’re looking for you’ll love this. If you’re looking for a film to make a statement or make you think, this is not it.

 

Seeing this Saturday at 11am

 

Seeing it tonight at 17:00. Is there no civil war popcorn bucket?

 

it's just a bucket of green toy soldiers with popcorn mixed in.