Liberals demand complete control of the culture.
That’s particularly true in the realm of cinema.
Now liberals are hilariously freaking out because conservatives like one movie.
Liberals always accuse conservatives of being reactionaries, but leftists have become the cultural reactionaries in recent years.
They have become paranoid about the specter of the “far right,” a nebulous term that continues to expand and encompass more people.
For example, liberal journalists Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi have been characterized by some as “far right” for daring to question the intelligence community and the deep state after Russiagate.
Now liberals are scared that the far right has “weaponized” cinema because some fringe characters enjoyed the Viking epic The Northman.
My piece on THE NORTHMAN, and how the far right has weaponised cinema. https://t.co/rSHYe1QNIo
— Steve Rose (@steverose7) April 22, 2022
In its review of the film, The Guardian, a far-left outlet, wrote:
“At the London premiere of The Northman in early April, the director, Robert Eggers, explained on stage how he was seeking to reclaim Viking history from rightwing groups. Many of these groups thrive on myths of an imagined European past: a time before racial mixing or progressive politics, when men were mighty warriors and women were compliant child-bearers. As Eggers told the Observer recently, such associations almost put him off making The Northman. ‘The macho stereotype of that history, along with, you know, the rightwing misappropriation of Viking culture, made me sort of allergic to it, and I just never wanted to go there.’ Eggers has spoken of his scholarly research and commitment to getting Viking history right, down to the smallest details. But as rigorous and accomplished as The Northman is, it might in fact be the kind of movie the ‘alt-right’ loves.”
So the director went through painstaking detail to make the film accurate, which meant that it was not “woke,” and liberals are upset.
It’s counter-productive to label masculine men, feminine women, and building families as “far right” concepts.
These are principles that resonate with a vast majority of the population.
Even feminist romance novelists write the masculine stereotype for their roguish heroes because that’s what women like.
But leftists are determined to subvert culture, so everything must be “white supremacist” and “bigot” and thrown in the dustbin.
Ironically, the progressive film reviewer loved the movie.
He explained on Twitter, “I should add that I thought THE NORTHMAN was magnificently epic and brilliantly made, and not uncritical of the machismo and violence it serves up. This piece is more about how it can be MIS-interpreted.”
So he loved the film, but he hates that some people with far-right views loved it, too.
Again, leftists have become reactionaries.
Instead of making a good film, they’re concerned with what fringe people with loathsome views think about it.
The Guardian added:
“In an ideal world, film-makers wouldn’t have to give a moment’s thought to how their films might be co-opted by these groups; we could simply enjoy a movie such as The Northman as a piece of rousing, skilfully made entertainment. The fact that it is no longer possible to do so could be seen as a victory of sorts for the far right, but failing to consider the stories we tell from first principles could be part of the problem that created them in the first place. By this stage, in fact, film-makers ought to have realised that if the far right doesn’t hate your film, you might be doing something wrong.”
This type of chaotic worldview is how liberals came to condemn the “OK” hand symbol, milk, or anything else online trolls pretend to like.
