By Dunke 
| Image: DC Comics |
While doing reading for the economics week of my current semester in Uni, I came across the following passage in Marleen Stikkers book ‘The Internet is Broken, but we can Fix it’:
“Friedman implies that we need the free market, because otherwise people will simply look at each other based on their race, ethnicity, religion or political conviction. They’re people who might hate each other if they could meet. He’s basically saying, don’t trust in the good of man, the social structures, democracy; let the free market, the corporations, make sure that people behave themselves.”
It has gotten me to think a lot about the state of the world we are in. Especially after two of the movies and a series that have released this year: Superman, One Battle After Another and Andor respectively. The three are naturally very different, but somewhat alike in a way as well. James Gunn’s Superman is a near – well, aggressively – campy superhero movie, One Battle After Another sees Paul Thomas Anderson give us a look at current-day America through the lens of revolutionaries long after the fighting is done and Andor is one of the most poignantly relevant projects to come out of the Star Wars franchise, maybe ever.
At the end of the day, films and series are entertainment for many. But all of these projects have made a very distinct impact on the way I view the world. I’ve talked about Superman’s impact on my Substack and the importance of kindness when I turned 21 years old, and did a slight analysis concerning the position of Andor as a political work of art within the Star Wars universe here – in Dutch.
Yet the passage above made me think once again. Why have we stopped being kind? Is it truly part of being human that we will choose personal gain over the comfort of others? Do we need to be essentially tricked into working together so we get things done, that will ultimately just make us feel better about ourselves? It’s a bit of an existential crisis.
Because it genuinely is such a mixed bag in todays day and age. On one hand I’m generally surrounded by utterly lovely and caring people. Ones that either have a healthy balance of self-knowledge and helpfulness, and ones that would drop everything for everyone – even to their own detriment.
But then there’s the flipside. The people who only care about themselves, trying to lure others to their side by promise of riches. That their success can be replicated, when it’s all built on the backs of those they could lure to their camp. The ones that see something not befitting of their world view, and their first instinct is to crush it, like a child would demolish a colony of ants.
Superman’s central theme of “kindness is the real punk rock” thus feels appropriate. While I’m surrounded by love and care, the pain that’s being inflicted on others is within my grasp thanks to the internet. And it’s important to stay informed, to know what happens all over the world – about the liberties that are being taking away and threatened every day. Even worse: we vote it into existence ourselves. In America, the Netherlands, UK: the works. In a world like that, yeah: it feels like kindness is against the norm. It feels punk rock. It makes Superman vindicating in its sincerity and campiness.
In comparison, One Battle After Another – Paul Thomas Andersons recently released flick – takes a much more straight up look at a version of America where above infringement of liberty is even more normalized. Main character Bob Ferguson is an ex-revolutionary, many years past his prime. Where once he fought hard for the freedom of everyone, these days he is moreso a husk of a man. Constantly high, drunk and wallowing in sadness. Yet he has imbued some of the revolutionary spirit in his daughter. So it lives on, and it is one of the most compelling aspects of an already incredibly captivating narrative – brought to live perfectly in its camera work, which I simply HAVE to mention.
Revolution… Revolution is not for the sane. So echo the words of Forest Whitakers Saw Gerrera in Season 2 of Andor, which released earlier this year. Star Wars is always a step ahead for me, after all it’s my favourite franchise, but Andor was truly special. And the speech gave at the end of the fifth episode of the season really hit me in the gut. It can be seen down below.
There are many more such moments in the show. The season-long build-up of the evil, controlling Empire slowly expanding their reach on Ghorman, crushing the local way of life all in the pursuit of conformity and recourses, and its aftermath is hauntingly real, and the portrayal of rebellion in every form once again fills me with a strange sense of calm. Hope for the future? I’m not fully sure. But maybe it will all be okay.
“Remember this, Freedom is a pure idea. It occurs spontaneously and without instruction. Random acts of insurrection are occurring constantly throughout the galaxy. There are whole armies, battalions that have no idea that they’ve already enlisted in the cause.
Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward.
And remember this: the Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear.”
What struck me about One Battle After Another explicitly, and also about both Andor and Superman, is how they highlight the importance of companionship. Cooperation, and the very act of being together to build the future that we want to see. It’s the complete antithesis to what Friedman implies; that man can only work together and tolerate each other if there’s a goal or reward – a light at the end of the tunnel. It’s a means to an end. But companionship is more than that, it’s about being seen, and in our working together that we can build a beautiful future.
