The Premise of the Movie 'The Hunt' Is Appalling
A movie entitled 'The Hunt' is set to be released this
September. I don't usually notice those things, but I came
across this one by accident, when I saw a
news article discussing the fact that ESPN
thought it would be 'insensitive' to run trailers for the
movie in the wake of the shootings in El Paso and Dayton. I
suppose we should be glad that ESPN was sensitive enough
to realize that the premise of the movie is problematic.
However, their decision is pretty
much beside the point, because the REAL problem is
that the movie exists at all. The central plot revolves
around a group of liberal elites hunting 'deplorables'
- that is, ordinary Americans with conservative values.
Yes, you read that right. This movie is about liberal elites
hunting the kinds of people who voted for President Trump.
Now, it is worth pointing out that one of the functions of
art is to allow people to explore very dark things - it allows
people to bring evil, horrible things into the open in a way
which allows them to be examined and understood. Indeed, the
idea of hunting humans is not new - I remember reading the
short story "The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell in
high school, in fact.
It also is worth pointing out that there is some chance the
movie is not as politically one-sided as it appears at first
glance. The trailer suggests that one of
the deplorables turns the tables on the elites. I am not sure
how we might interpret that. Given the reality of the extreme
left-wing political bias in Hollywood, however, I strongly
doubt that the message will favor the 'deplorables'.
More importantly, it is ridiculous to ignore the fact
that this movie is being created in a cultural context -
a context which makes the very existence of this movie
appalling.
One part of that context is that the political left
(including those who participated in the creation of this
movie) has spent roughly three years claiming
that the coarse and boorish and insulting rhetoric
used by President
Trump is divisive, and is going to lead to violence.
Another part of the cultural context is that the
perception of the political left is precisely the opposite
of reality. The hate-filled rhetoric which is circulating
in America at this moment is produced almost entirely by
the left. The major news media and Democrat politicians are
locked in a 24-hour cycle in which they berate and
dehumanize President Trump and his supporters. Amongst
the smears they do not hesitate to use are bigotry,
racism, sexism, white supremacy, and even treason
(stemming from the comprehensively
disproven 'Russia collusion' conspiracy theory).
Really, there is no way to depict this other than hatred
- the political left in America vociferously hates President
Trump and his supporters. Consider that during the Obama
Administration, a cartoonist drew President Obama with
big ears and big lips, and the political left insisted
that was entirely un-civil and unacceptable.
Today, Democrat presidential candidates
use words like 'white supremacist' and 'traitor' without
blinking an eye. If anything, the entertainment industry
is worse:
Kathy Griffin
;
Johnny Depp
;
a New York Shakespeare company
;
Rob Reiner
;
and Bette Midler.
Worth noting is that I believe in free speech. I am not
saying that this movie should be censored or shut down in
any way. However, I repeat that the entire premise of the
production is APPALLING. Consider that people in Hollywood
actually pitched this proposal, that others accepted it,
funded it, and performed it . . . a multi-million dollar
motion picture does not just happen. That this
movie went through the entire process and nobody asked
whether this was maybe a bad idea . . . well, I guess I would
say there is no longer any doubt about the depths their
depravity has reached.
The entertainment industry has evolved from voicing its
hatred for President Trump, to fantasizing about his
assassination, to fantasizing about the murder of those
who support him.
I suppose, in a sense, this film is serving the purpose
of art. It is revealing something about human nature. In
this case, what is being revealed is the hate and bigotry
which currently is consuming the American left.
Perhaps the movie will surprise us. Perhaps the overall
message will be something unifying, like "Hey, deplorables
are people, too. Maybe we should stop fantasizing about
killing them."
Somehow I doubt that.
UPDATE: Just before I published this blog post, I learned
that Universal is canceling its release of the movie. In fact,
I had written this post with a link included, then the link
changed, less than five hours later. Here is the new link:
The Hunt cancellation
notice. I considered dropping this post, but - well, the
reality is that I don't think the cancellation changes much.
The movie was made - that reality has not changed, and that
means what I have written remains true. And - well,
all the statement says is "now is not the right time", which
suggests that maybe they will put it out on streaming
services or DVDs . . . which is not really the same as
cancelled.
