Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich
Movie Monday
I had all good intentions of watching Underworld Awakening on Saturday and reviewing it today. It's the fourth in the series of these shoot-em'-up, CGI, vampire vs. lycan vs. human films starring the amazingly fit (yes, when you're dieting you notice things like that) Kate Beckinsale. All the Underworld films bring in more than budget (UA with a budget of $70M grossed $160+M) but I don't know if that makes them profitable since Hollywood seldom makes a profit (Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.- as Monty Python used to say.) I was only starting with #4 in the series because that was the "new" film in my movie package this week and I didn't know much about the plot behind this series.
And it was destined to stay that way because 15 minutes before showtime, the kids descended on the TV room from the far corners of the house where kids usually squirrel into. So, I turned on C-SPAN because for the good of mankind, C-SPAN was invented to give parents free time. Sure enough, within a minute they were gone. However, my brilliant plan took an unintended turn as I started to listen to economist, Richard Wolff, talk about the flawed economic system called capitalism. An hour later, I was still hooked for not only is he a facile, well-informed speaker but, as he explained 1930s economics, I felt like Moses had placed his hand on my head and said: Yes, kid, your wacky theory wasn't that wacky after all.
I'm not going to go into all of Wolff's talk just the part where he explained about Franklin Roosevelt (FDR) and the 1930s worldwide depression. If you've been reading me from the get-go you may remember that in an early Movie Monday I looked at the presentation of the rich in the Hollywood movies of the 1930s. My premise was that Hollywood made a calculated decision to portray some of the rich as greedy and useless but always pulled back ((My Man Godfrey, You Can't Take It With You, Holiday, Dodsworth, Dinner at Eight, Midnight) so that the audience was never stirred up to revolution.
Fast forward to last Saturday and Wolff is talking about the 1930s when the specter of communism and revolution was worldwide as was economic depression. While Roosevelt became the author of massive government programs to help the unemployed in the US, coming from a patrician family, he didn't enter office in 1933 thinking: Let's drastically up-end the traditional role of government. However, his advisers warned him early on that he'd better act quickly if he didn't want European chaos imported to the US..
That's when Wolff says Roosevelt had a meeting with US corporate leaders and told them that he was going to institute programs to help the unemployed and they were going to pay for it because if they didn't they would wind up paying much, much more in the future. Wolff said that about half these people signed on and that's how FDR got the seed money for what Republicans today lovingly call the welfare state.
When I heard that all the bells and whistles went off in my brain because my "wacky" Hollywood theory finally had some credence. After all, Hollywood was a big business leader and making movies such as I described above would not be a burden for them. Talk about early-on subtle propaganda.
When you have the time, google Richard D. Wolff. Unless you're married for life to the economic theory called capitalism he'll make a lot of sense. And, if it matters to you, he's got good creds: Harvard, Yale, and Stanford.
So I have no review this Monday because when I finally did get to see UA for a bit on Sunday, I decided not to review it. Maybe you have to start watching this series from the first movie. However, I have a movie website for you:
It's a site which is trying to sell you movies, hence that annoying flashing sign. If you ignore it and move down and click around on the actors, films, directors, etc. links you will find the mother-lode. You get sent to a zillion websites. Some want to sell you something but most are just prepared by people who really, really like their subject.
Not that I would EVER use hyperbole but this site is a gold mine, a treasure trove, a nirvana for movie lovers of movie history. Be sure not to miss it. See you next week.
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