Looks kinda good honestly. I wonder if the words "socialist" or "marxist" or "communist" will make an appearance.
honestly, i'm not that cynical for one simple reason: the current rise in revolutionary thought, though imo very overstated, still has kind of created an actual demographic (whether those claiming to favor revolution are being real or just in for the aesthetics is another matter)
and as the old saying goes, a capitalist will sell you the rope you're gonna hang him with if he thinks it'll make him money
not only that, those people are arrogant as fuck. i could definitely see them going "yea yea, sure, kids are talking about revolution now, who the fuck cares, they won't do shit. let's make some money off this before they grow up"
this is why i don't like comparisons with the malcolm x movie, we're living a very different cultural context right now
Lenin also said, "The Capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them." You're probably right though. This will play out more like the opening of State and Revolution - with a blunting of Hampton's revolutionary character and perversion of his message.
That said, it is amusing to see more "radical" publications springing up. I think there is a real anarchy of production going on here. There is a growing revolutionary counterculture, and with it, a growing untapped market for revolutionary cultural products and materials. While Condé Nast is shutting down forums with a revolutionary edge on Reddit, they are allowing glowing praise of Marx to be published in Teen Vogue. We have a growing cottage industry of leftist magazines, podcasts, and film springing up. Some of it is legitimate agitation, while some of it is nothing more than capitalists trying to commodify an untapped market (i.e. Ché Guevara tee shirts). There is a lot of potential for opportunism here, and we should hesitate to embrace any of it, but it is fascinating to watch.
I'm shocked that they're doing a Hampton movie.
I'm fully expecting a full scene where he explains about how he's not a Communist and is a lot like MLK, who also wasn't a socialist.
Same! Just to have a trailer where a black guy is repeatedly yelling "I am a revolutionary" is pretty wild imo. Hopefully it's not too whitewashed (literally)
Hmm, doesn't look good, in that regard. Here's what the writer/director said about the movie:
King wanted Hampton Jr on set every day to ensure they were doing his father’s and the Black Panthers’ legacy justice while also wanting to create a film that would have the audience question their position on “the capitalist, cowardly” O’Neal, and the “socialist, revolutionary” Hampton.
“We can attach judgment to both of those ideologies, but I think most people kind of actually fall somewhere in between,” the writer-director said. “You want to make a movie where the audience watches it and comes away questioning, ‘Which ancestor am I?’”
I'm cautiously optimistic.
Also, didn't know that guy betrayed him over a fucking five year sentence (assuming that's true--I was under the impression there was only ever implicit evidence that there was a rat).
God damnit they are going to make the FBI and fucking William O’Neil the heroes against these radical terrorist. “He had no choice but to do this not only for himself but for the people” and all that dumb shit.
I long for the day an uncompromising movie gets made about him.
Communism and socialism are things of the past, they'll probably mention it cuz it's a history movie
