People don't really grapple with the themes of a movie. There are a lot of people who listen to music and don't pay attention to the lyrics, there are just as many who watch RoboCop and think "wow, he's a robot AND a cop, that's nuts."
A lot of movies with seemingly radical themes often just take place within a radical conflict but have very centrist/lib/reactionary themes. You could read an anti-fascist subtext into Star Wars for instance, but the emotional core of the movie is the conflict between Luke and Vader which is resolved by the liberal/rebel refusing to engage in violence.
Most people aren't actually that committed to capitalism, but are committed to capitalist parties because politics is only presented within a certain window of acceptable practice. If we had a direct democracy where policy gets decided by a mandatory poll of the entire population, the result would be far to the left of the current US government.
Oh absolutely. Don't get me wrong, I'm not banging on RoboCop at all, or even necessarily people who don't think about the political subtext. I think Mad Max Fury Road is the greatest action movie of all time, and a big reason is that it's as deep as you want it to be: you can enjoy it as a dumb action movie, you can enjoy it as a piece about how fascism maintains itself by deliberately alienating and dis-empowering people through capitalism, patriarchy, etc. and that the only way to defeat it is to break down the arbitrary barriers that exist between the lower classes. Just providing an explanation as to why people are able to enjoy movies with wildly different politics than their own. Hell, I can enjoy superhero movies despite them all having terrible politics.
People don't really grapple with the themes of a movie. There are a lot of people who listen to music and don't pay attention to the lyrics, there are just as many who watch RoboCop and think "wow, he's a robot AND a cop, that's nuts."
A lot of movies with seemingly radical themes often just take place within a radical conflict but have very centrist/lib/reactionary themes. You could read an anti-fascist subtext into Star Wars for instance, but the emotional core of the movie is the conflict between Luke and Vader which is resolved by the liberal/rebel refusing to engage in violence.
Most people aren't actually that committed to capitalism, but are committed to capitalist parties because politics is only presented within a certain window of acceptable practice. If we had a direct democracy where policy gets decided by a mandatory poll of the entire population, the result would be far to the left of the current US government.
One thing that makes great art great (and RoboCop is absolutely great yes I will fucking fight you) is that you can enjoy it on a bunch of levels.
Oh absolutely. Don't get me wrong, I'm not banging on RoboCop at all, or even necessarily people who don't think about the political subtext. I think Mad Max Fury Road is the greatest action movie of all time, and a big reason is that it's as deep as you want it to be: you can enjoy it as a dumb action movie, you can enjoy it as a piece about how fascism maintains itself by deliberately alienating and dis-empowering people through capitalism, patriarchy, etc. and that the only way to defeat it is to break down the arbitrary barriers that exist between the lower classes. Just providing an explanation as to why people are able to enjoy movies with wildly different politics than their own. Hell, I can enjoy superhero movies despite them all having terrible politics.
A fun way to watch Batman v. Superman is to look at Superman as what America thinks it is, and Batman as what America actually is.