Conservatism in Thor: The Dark World, Thor: Ragnarok, and Good Morning, Vietnam
Hi! I'm not sure who you are, because I can't imagine who would want to read this essay. I'm writing it in the context of American Conservatism in the early 21st century, and that's not really Conservatism so much as Fascism. I mean, if Conservatism is the belief that whatever institution continue based on its founding principals, then that's not really American Conservatism in the 21st century. I guess founding principals in American politics is a fraught subject because we're talking about a government that was founded by slave owners so they could pay less taxes and still have slaves, and I'm not saying that to say they didn't do great things that fundamentally changed the way the world looked at government and who gets to rule, I'm just saying by-and-large that's who they were (most notably Washington and Jefferson), and those were their political interests.
But a lot of the ideas they introduced were pretty good! A government without a monarch or a system of lords was novel, and it's still kicking around, and pretty much everywhere has abandoned their political monarchy by now, sometimes in favor of a cultural one, like in Britain. And that was America, baby! As Americans, it's at the very least kind of neat that we get to say "We did that."
That pride comes with a lot of baggage, though. That slavery thing went on for a hot minute, and then the thing that ended it was the American Civil War. I grew up near Antietam National Battlefield, where McClellan is widely considered both by historians and his contemporaries to have let it all go to waste. This turnning point in the war is also a turning point in American history: it's where we embraced this need for military victory and supremacy. Grant waged the first modern war against the American South and fucked their shit up in ways the world had never seen before. We had again pioneered a new mode of being for the world.
There's a myth that the Reconstruction of the American South was a failure. In reality, terrorist organizations like the original Ku Klux Klan sabotaged efforts and turned social favor against spending money on the South. The end of Reconstruction also accelerated the bleeding of wealth from the South, which has led to the culture of poverty there that's produced stunning art including A Streetcar Named Desire, the horniest movie I have ever seen. Yes: Bloody Lane is the small domino, and oiled up Marlon Brando yelling "STELLA!" is the big one.
Ok, so I know I've presented extremely well-documented facts about the Civil War, the Battle of Antietam, and Reconstruction, but it turns out those terrorists who were doing terrorism against federal grant money coming into their communities also just told a whole bunch of lies about it, like how Reconstruction was a failure. You see, by telling lies about it, they legitimize their actions. One of the first Epic Films--a genre which has by-and-large died out--is literally a revisionist narrative about the original Ku Klux Klan saving the South from the evils of Reconstruction, and it was so successful and so popular that it spawned a revival of the Ku Klu Klan that is the Klan that still exists today. These same people today will tell you the Civil War was about "State's Rights," because that's the same shit they were pedaling about the "Lost Cause" for Southern Honor. It is literally always a dogwhistle and always has been.
I'm sorry, I promised we would talk about movies and conservatism, and we're talking about the Civil War and its consequences instead. That was very rude of me. Have you seen Thor: The Dark World recently? I haven't, but it's stuck with me pretty well. Well, ok: the general plot and one specific scene have really stuck with me. So Chris Hemsworth just met all these amazing humans with superpowers, and he's just excited that the universe is full of possibilities that he didn't even know could exist. And that's great for him! But then the Ninth Doctor is Exactly 50% Blackface Elf, and this makes him hate existing, and that makes him want to kill everyone and everything and then himself. Or, maybe it was himself and then everyone and everything? In either case, literally everything in reality is the thing he wants to destroy. He represents the concept of Annihilation, which is from the Latin "to make into nothing."
So Chris Hemsworth's dad, Hannibal Lectar, is like "No: actually, existing is pretty worth it. I will use every single ounce of my power--both magical and political--to make him not win even if it costs me my life because if literally anything is left after this, then I will have won and the insution of existance itself will sustain. There is nothing I will not do to stop him from wiping out literally everything," but he does say this when Chris Hemsworth is whining about how if they just Steven Universe talk about their feelings things will be better, instead he just growls to cut Chris Hemsworth off, which is not only pretty rude, but just really fucking weird, right? I mean, Hannibal can't figure out what to say here? He can't articulate that directly and say something like "Now you listen to me, and you listen well: this enemy is does not care to talk; he only cares to destroy literally everything. Not everything we are, but everything that is. Everything, my son. I fight him now because I must. If you would not join me, then do not interfere. If anything is left--anything at all--I will have won." But he doesn't, he goes "Hnnnnng" and then walks out like he just dropped the mic.
When I was growing up in Washington County, all my friends were conservative, and their parents were conservative. Generally speaking from my personal experience, conservatives prioritize the perpetuation of a given institution and uses the founding rhetoric as justification for their beliefs. It's in the Constitution (or at least the Bill of Rights) that we can have guns, and my god do guns make me feel like I have the potential to defend my life. I mean, I have dyspraxia and have long divested myself of the illusion of control by and large, but I think I understand the appeal. Frankly, I think more people should have access to proper firearm training and safety.
Ok, but that's all well and good, but what about the bad stuff? You know, the Chattel Slavery and Genocide of Native Americans of it all? How do conservatives deal with the cognitive dissonance of those realities? By and large they don't. Because these subjects tarnish the otherwise pure goodness of the institution of our government, conservatives have a taboo around discussing them. It really kills their vibe, and they just ostracize anyone who kills the vibe. You're either with that program that America can't be bad, or you're against America.
I'm sorry: we're talking about heavy, unfun things again. Have you seen Thor: Ragnarok? It's actually really fun. Ok, so anyway, you remember how the plot of the movie was Chris Hemsworth gets sent to the faggot planet where Jeff Goldblum is eternal and God, and Chris Hemsworth meets the drunk lesbian outcast, but while that was happening his Nazi older sister just waltzes through the palace and takes over everything in Asgard because her power is drawn from her physical proximity to her countrymen as though her power literally comes from the very idea of this people united? Yeah, great. So anyway, I thought it was neat how she was kind of the spectre of imperialism that lurks in some cases literally obscured out of sight due to cultural taboos around discussing certain parts of Asgard's history. Like how Thor's lack of education about her, her powers, or Asgard's past all caught him by surprise and let her gain a fast upper hand that caused him to end up on the faggot planet where Jeff Goldblum is eternal and God.
Ok, maybe there's a trend here, actually. For me, the positive associations of conservatism are familiarity, tradition, and patriotism, and none of those are mutually exclusive with a thorough and nuanced understanding of history. You can definitely have a kind of patriotic pride in America for many of its historical exports, several of which are aforementioned in this article. Those are parts of America's legacy we can definitely take pride in. There's plenty of opportunity for shame or guilt, too, but let's set that aside in this moment to recognize that there is good here that has been done, that can be done, and that somewhere, somehow will be done again.
Tradition can be good! For me, Christmas is an opportunity to spend some of the darkest days and nights of the year with the people you love most and create new, positive memories together. I understand that's not everyone's experience with it, but I like to do my best to brighten people's days during the holidays. People collaboratively doing this, or gathering for a "Friendgiving" are events I can look forward to.
And in terms of familiarity, well to be honest with you I just like the physical country--the geographical region that is America. It's very beautiful! I love traveling about it whenever I have the chance, and literally everywhere I go has something cool and interesting! It's a massive privilege to be legally able to travel throughout this place unrestricted, and frankly I'm happy I've been able to. I understand things "could" or maybe "should" be different in terms of who has agency and stewardship over which land, but that's not the reality in which I live: I have to come to terms with this reality's history and navigating its power structures as they are.
That actually reminds me: have you seen Good Morning, Vietnam? So in that movie Robin Williams is a wise-cracking US Armed Forces radio DJ and English Teacher sent to an Army Base in Saigon where he quickly captures the hearts and minds of the base's populace. Unfortunately, the radio station's rather conservative CO doesn't like the cut of his jib, and repeatedly tries to start shit with him before being told point blank by the entire base's CO that everyone is listening to Robin Williams twice a day because they like him and his show has had a tremendously positive effect of base morale. However, Viet Cong forces bomb the bar that everyone likes to go to, and it turns out that Robin Williams' best Vietnamese friend is VC. His association with someone who did a terrorism makes him a proven security risk, and he has to be reassigned out of the country, both for his personal safety and the safety of those around him.
So anyway, when Robin Williams is chasing his Viet Cong best friend to ask him why he did a terrorism, his best friend eventually confronts him and explains that the US Armed Forces have invaded Vietnam and are waging war against his country, that they are an occupying force, and that these material forces make it impossible for them to be friends. They are star-crossed besties in the worst way.
oof, i have a hunger headache again. i'll have to continue this another time. if you read it in this state, i hope you see my vision, and i hope you enjoy it!