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PETER GERLER's avatar

Dear Bret (part 2)

Some victims never break the spell. Rational thought has left their building As I like to say, cult members don’t know they’re in a cult any more than fish know they’re swimming in water.

This, of course, applies to MAGA. The reason they “don’t know and don’t care”. is that surround-sound social media has taken them in, removed them to an actual fake reality. They don’t know what hit them. I didn’t. You mention Lonesome’s contempt for his followersSome victims never break the spell. Rational thought has left their building As I like to say, cult members don’t know they’re in a cult any more than fish know they’re swimming in water.

You mention Lonesome’s contempt for his followers. I had the pleasure of studying screenwriting with the phenomenal Robert McKee. One night, he defined a “hack writer” as one who looks down on his audience. I suppose this could apply to any occupation, including those of Lonesome Rhodes and Donald J Trump. .

Bill Benzon's avatar

Great article about a great film. I think I only saw it once, but maybe twice. It would have been decades ago. It came on TV. I don't know why I started watching it. I'm sure that by that time I knew Griffith as Andy Taylor. Heck, for all I know, maybe that's why I started watching it. Just curious. But I became riveted to the TV and, in the end, was stunned.

Manuela Thiess Garcia's avatar

Inspiration to watch it, again, for I saw it so long ago I have forgotten what I saw.

Sadly, the film is no longer available on the link you shared.

PETER GERLER's avatar

Dear Bret, (part one)

Great piece on “A Face in the Crowd.” To see it (as I did) during the Trump years was stunning. You make a fine point about informers “telling the public what they want to hear.” I never thought of it that way—but it fits Trump like a sock. One caveat: He never promised them anything real in the first place. You mention that the Kazan and Schulberg still “believed in a rational audience.” When I was younger, I spent years in a California cult. When it comes to following a con artist, cult members can rationalize ANYTHING. I know, I did it.

Justin E. Schutz's avatar

Clip blocked in my country by WB. Apropos.

Bret Primack's avatar

What is your country? Do you have a VPN?

Justin E. Schutz's avatar

US, VPN-yeah. I'll try again,thanx.