The Year in Film 2004
It's very easy to evaluate this election year as the battle between The Passion of the Christ and Fahrenheit 9/11. I'm not gonna go there. These were films made by zealots to appeal to drones. Look, I realize both films appealed to many people with IQs. I'm also sure that there were some contemporary Jews who disliked Jesus and that Saddam Hussein's Iraq had a peaceful day from time-to-time. But when you seriously portray Jewish political influence as the reason Jesus was murdered or 2002 Iraq as a land of tranquility and harmony, you lose all credibility with the thinking public. Movies are more than propaganda.
The 2004 year in film did mirror our political scene in the United States not through gratuitous indulgence, but through more subtle demonstrations of ideology. The films I thought most representative of Republicans and Democrats as they approached the Presidential election were Ladder 49 and Spider-Man 2, respectively.
Ladder 49 is the life story of Jack Morrison (Joaquin Phoenix), a simpleton hero fire fighter. Why is he a hero? He fights fires. Why does he fight fires? Probably, to be a hero. The movie never gets into that; there's a great many things this film glosses over, which is why it's such a poignant metaphor for Republicans. When a co-worker dies, our hero opts for his job (a more dangerous one). Why? To be a bigger hero. Has he thought about his wife or his children? No, not really. Has he given any thought to his profession? No, not really. We don't question heroes; we just sit back and thank them for being such. Why should they question themselves? Is it coincidence that the firehouse is like a frat house? Amazing how our group of heroes is exclusionary of women, homosexuals and non-Christians. Check out the numerous scenes of hazing in the firehouse. What is hazing but a way of saying "to be one of us you have to act like of us"? Check out how anxious our rookie is to haze another newbie when the time comes. But the most striking thing about this tale of simple-minded "heroes", to me, is how often in the film our fire fighters have acknowledged a job done prematurely. More than once in Ladder 49 a fireman says, "let it burn" after saving what (he felt) needed to be saved. I can't think of a more perfect phrase to describe the Republican Party.
Contrasting our IQ-challenged firefighter is Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man. It is quite fitting that Spider-Man 2, a sequel, is our Democratic representative, because I don't believe a single solitary new idea came from the Demos this summer. Not an effective method for unseating a popular incumbent, by the way; Spider-Man wants to be everything: a great student, a great employee, a great scientist, a great boyfriend, a great grandson and yes, a great hero. Spidey knows it doesn't matter what he did yesterday, be it Green Goblin or Vietnam; the public wants results now. And, fittingly, in his effort to be everything to everybody, he becomes nothing to anybody. Not even a superhero can be everything and it's absurd to imagine otherwise. Meanwhile, our Democratic party wants to serve everybody as well… it just ain't gonna happen, people; and as a result, you alienate the people who know you can't deliver and get charged as "flip-flopper" by your opponents. If Spider-Man could just concentrate on being a hero, maybe the rest would fall in place, like in the movie. The Democrats still haven't got that one down.
In the end, even the timing was a perfect match for our candidates. Spider-Man 2 came out in the summer, when America seriously questioned its role in world politics. It looked like Americans would roll that way. But as fall arrived, Americans gave in to paranoia and fear (and the belief that Republicans were better prepared to fight both). Ladder 49 found its way to theaters on October 1, quickly taking the top spot at the box office. As the election arrived, Americans looked for more realistic heroes, ignoring how thoughtless they were or how little they actually had to offer to somebody who isn't already a member.
On to the rest of 2004:
As usual, I do not expect you to agree 100% with me. I would be alarmed if you did. No two people should think that much alike; not even twins. But, that shouldn't stop you from being entertained.
Once again, bad film conquered good film in 2004, so I'm going there first.