"While the real-life grown-ups on TV were again rebooting Vietnam, the kids at “Wall-E” were in deep contemplation of a world in peril — and of the future that is theirs to make what they will of it. Compare any 10 minutes of the movie with 10 minutes of any cable-news channel, and you’ll soon be asking: Exactly who are the adults in our country and who are the cartoon characters?"
Frank Rich pretty much hits it out of the park with his column that skillfully uses an animated children's movie to illustrate what's wrong with our political process.
By the way, I saw Wall-E a few days ago and enjoyed it a lot. I'm not sure it's quite as spectacularly good as some of the reviews suggest, but it is very enjoyable, and the social/environmental commentary is on target and not heavy handed at all. It's hard to focus sometimes when your 2-year old is complaining of being "caird" and your five-year old is consuming a bag of popcorn nearly as big as he is, so I think I'll need to watch it again to really catch everything. But I recommend it.
2 comments:
Obama's campaign all the way back to the early days of the primary seems to go hot and cold to me. There were times in the primary where he seemed outright flat. It seems to be in one of those spots right now. My theory is that he's taking some positions now to prepare for debate questions and shore up the obscure corners of the campaign topics to come. But none of what is being talked about now is going to be central come the general elections, when it's all going to be about gas prices, the economy and Iraq. Some of it sure does appear calculated though. I seems right now the biggest difference between the Republican and Democratic candidates that people are paying attention to, is who supports and who opposes offshore drilling.
The previous post may not seem to have much to do with Wall-E as much as Frank Rich's column where seems to be more tactical tweaking of positions and fewer big ideas about the real challenges that confront us. I too liked the movie, maybe not as much as the critics, but it gave me enough to think about that some day I'd like to see it again. Maybe both campaigns will get real over the next few months and deal honestly with the big issues. That's what people want. Unfortunately, that's not what seems to win elections.
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