A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

On Quora, Ian Ruth asks: Have the Democrats always been left wing? When I was in high school, and even well into my college years, my instructors (whether they were “teachers” or “professors”) drummed one concept into my consciousness: In any discussion, whether it’s about history, politics, literature, movies, or religion,  never  fall into the habit of making gross generalizations. For instance, not all Germans were Nazis, not all Russians are Communists, not every blonde is dumb, and not every foreign film is inaccessible or otherwise unwatchable. It seems that at least since the 1960s, the go-to gross generalization used by people who self-identify as either Republicans or “conservatives” is this:  The Democratic Party is left-wing, embraces Socialism, and rejects American patriotic values. Nonsense. First, no political party consists of a monolithic mass of unthinking drones, sort of like the Borg Collective minus the cool shit like cube-shaped starships and cy

Do any liberals see ways to work with Trump to make improvements for us all, or are they only about getting him out of office? Short version: No. Detailed version: In all honesty, this question is based on a flawed premise, which seems to be this: Donald Trump is working hard to make things better for all Americans, so why don’t the Democrats in Congress and the voting public work with him instead of trying to kick him out of the White House? This is the narrative that Trump supporters, even ones who claim to be middle-of-the-road voters who are “socially liberal but fiscally conservative,” try to push, especially on social media. The Devil, as they say, is in the details. And the details show, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that this narrative simply is not true. Or, as George and Ira Gershwin so wittily put it in a song from  Porgy and Bess: It ain’t necessarily so. First, it is my firm belief, based on careful observation of Trump’s actions and utterances since J

Photo Credit: Evan Vucci/Associated Press (AP) Photo Are people being too harsh on Ivanka Trump for attending world leader meetings with her father? It depends on who you ask. If you ask the more fanatical Republicans (aka the Party That Lost Its Collective Mind), the “evil Demonrats” are so mean to the lovely Ivanka Trump simply because she’s gorgeous, blonde, and nothing like the previous First Daughters, Sasha and Malia. Her father is “the Best President Ever,” so he’s entitled to give Ivanka and her hubby Jared Kushner plum jobs in his Administration, even though there’s no evidence that either one is qualified to have a government position higher than Assistant to the Chief Dogcatcher in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. If you ask the rest of us, including serious-minded conservatives who disapprove of what the Twitterer-in-Chief is doing to the U.S. and the wider world in general, then no. People have every right to be “harsh” on Ivanka because she has no business attending importa

© 2019 Rick Atkinson. ℗ 2019 Macmillan Audio  This is a review of the audiobook edition of Rick Atkinson's The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-177, Volume One of the Revolution Trilogy. For a review of the print edition, please see:  Book Review: 'The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777' On July 4, 2019, the United States of America will celebrate its 243rd year, making the nation the oldest surviving federation in the world. As usual, millions of Americans will celebrate Independence Day in different ways; many will go to the beach, others will have backyard barbecues, while still others will watch The Capitol Fourth concert live on their local PBS station. And because it's a long-established tradition, Americans from coast to coast will ooh and aah over fireworks displays either in person or by watching coverage of the festivities on television. Some of the more historically minded

© 2015 Lucasfilm Ltd. and Buena Vista Home Entertainment What happened to the Galactic Empire in the Sequel trilogy? In   Lucasfilm’s Sequel Trilogy ( The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi,  and  The Rise of Skywalker,  the Galactic Empire created by Supreme Chancellor/Emperor Sheev Palpatine 19 years before the events of  Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope  is no more. With the destruction of the second Death Star, the death (presumed, anyway) of Emperor Palpatine, the death (confirmed) of his fearsome agent Darth Vader, and thousands of Imperial senior commanders and field-grade officers at the Battle of Endor and elsewhere, the old Empire shattered and was defeated after several years by the New Republic. The Galactic Civil War ended when the remnants of Palpatine’s government led by Grand Vizier Mas Ameddas signed the Galactic Concordance five years after the Battle of Endor. However, a core of Imperial fanatics, including Brendol Hux, his young illegitimate son Armitage, a

© 2013 Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment On Quora, Jason Handleman asks:  Do you look forward to cinematic reboots and remakes or do you prefer original, untested offerings? My reply: It really depends on the film and/or genre, as well as other considerations, such as  who  is making the reboot/remake, the cast, as well as the  why. For instance, I would not care for remakes of such films as  Casablanca, North by Northwest, Jaws,  the original  Star Wars  Trilogy,  Raiders of the Lost Ark,  or  Stand By Me.  Those are films that are representative of the times in which they were made, and no matter how hard one tries, they can’t be replicated and be expected to catch lightning in a bottle twice. I am open to remakes and/or reboots of comic book movies; DC and Marvel Comics reboot their established titles every so often, so if the source material can be revamped by their respective publishers, then their movie adaptations can be given the same treatment. (That being sai

On Quora, David Bolick, a conservative troll who has been edit-blocked for violating site rules, asks this sarcastic and insincere question about Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA): Is one new rule that Pelosi is now more powerful than the President and that he now works for her? My reply to Mr. Bolick: No. One of the basic principles that all Americans are taught in school is that the Federal government is divided into three equal but separate branches, each one with powers and responsibilities specified in the Constitution. This was designed so that one branch would not become more dominant than the others. The three branches are: The Executive Branch, which includes the President, the Cabinet and the various Departments that run the day-to-day government operations. (Example of a Cabinet-level Department: the State Department, which handles our diplomatic efforts overseas). The Legislative Branch, which consists of a bicameral (two-chamber) legislature c

Photo Credit: Alex Diaz-Granados What would it take to recreate the Star Wars sequels based on the Star Wars Expanded Universe rather than the new Canon? For this to occur, you would need to be living in a totally different universe, one where: George and Marcia Lucas had never gotten divorced, thereby creating an environment in which a less stressed-out Lucas would not have taken a hiatus from making  Star Wars  films Lucas personally oversaw the Expanded Universe and gave it co-equal canon status to the films The EU was consistently good and written by a core of authors who could work with Lucasfilm - and George himself - and not have any tonal or narrative dissonance The EU authors would not bring any of their non- Star Wars  “eccentricities” or import weird versions of crossover stuff from other franchises ( Star Trek ) thinly disguised as  Star Wars Luke Skywalker would not become a ridiculously overpowered demigod whose portrayal differs from one author to another T

On Quora, Adrian J. Zarazua asks: If it’s true that Russia meddled with the 2016 US election then why did they want Donald Trump to win and not Hillary Clinton? My reply:  First of all, there is no “if.” Russian state-run hackers working for Russian Military Intelligence (or GRU in its Russian acronym) worked at the Internet Research Agency (IRA) to intervene in the ’16 elections in favor of now-President Trump. Second, Vladimir Putin had several motives for wanting Trump to win and Hillary Clinton to lose. And none of these motives were because he favors Republicans over Democratic Party pols or because he believed all the innuendoes and myths that the conservative movement has been crafting about Hillary Clinton since the 1992 Presidential election. In any criminal investigation, you have to apply the principle of  cui bono,  or, “who does it benefit?” Or more germane to the matter at hand, what does Putin’s Russia get out of a Trump Presidency? Well, it’s not

Poster art by Greg and Tim Hildebrandt. © 1977 20th Century Fox Film Corp.  On Quora, member Kisty Arant asks: How did George Lucas finance a big-budget movie like Star Wars when he’d only directed two movies previously? George Lucas did not self-finance 1977’s  Star Wars.  He had to get a major studio to put up the money in order for Lucasfilm Ltd. to make the film, and it was no easy task. First of all, while Lucas had helmed two feature-length films ( THX-1138  for Warner Bros. and  American Graffiti  for Universal), only one was a box office smash. Second, even Universal’s Ned Tanen, who appreciated the success of 1973’s  American Graffiti,  was reluctant to invest the studio’s money into such an iffy proposition as a space fantasy film aimed at young people. In the 1970s, American moviegoers tended to eschew escapist fare in favor of more gritty and realistic films. Furthermore, science fiction and fantasy films tended to cater to a small niche of genre fans and were