Friendship

Got a chance to go to the movies with Balaji this weekend. Watched "Bourne Ultimatum". Enjoyed the movie. This post is not about the movie, but the trailer for another movie, "Kingdom"!

The trailer pretty much shows Saudi Arabia as an enemy of the United States, a HOSTILE nation for Americans, etc. etc.

I chuckled out loud during portions of the trailer. The people around me actually turned to look and see the "chuckling dude"!

The reason for my amusement? Here is my train of thought..

1. Hollywood is 95% pro US government (whichever party is in power, the movie industry shamelessly totes their policy).

2. Depending on who the US is about to target and go to war with in the immediate future, or depending on who stops supporting, or speaks against US foreign policy, countries and people from those countries will be made the villains for the biggest summer blockbuster. eg. any dude with middle eastern background was the villain in the mid nineties after the first gulf war as in "True Lies" and the rest of the movies those years.

3. Even countries which are portrayed as friends of the USA in the previous seasons blockbuster can see a role reversal the next summer, if they don't agree with the US!
Classic case in point, Saudi Arabia! These dudes were friends during the first gulf war. Now they are the bad guys. Have to go find out if they have said something bad about the US war in Iraq or if they have pulled out some support!

4. It is also possible that the US government uses this villanous depiction in blockbusters as a warning sign to other countries. "Hi, you better support me and my policy, or you will be the next villain in our 4th of July blockbuster! The entire country will stand united in that blockbuster to fight a common enemy, YOU!". Note that if there are no countries in that year's list, Aliens will be cast as the villains.

I do sound like some kind of conspiracy theorist. This whole train of thought was only amplified because Jr. came home and said "she is not going to be my friend anymore. She is not listening to me at all". I was going to ask her "who do you think you are? Hollywood?".

Friendship should go beyond agreement and like mindedness, should it not ?

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