Joel Schumacher’s 1993 film Falling Down has acquired a certain reputation as a cult classic. It’s been discussed from various angles, but most of those discussions have taken for granted that William Foster (DFENS) is a villain. This analysis will challenge that reading, not so much by arguing that Bill is NOT a villain, but by showing how his transformation INTO villain is a manipulation meant to poison the well against certain kinds of social dissatisfaction. In effect, my intent here is to expose Falling Down as a work of political propaganda by discussing its historical context and relating it to some relevant sociological and political works, demonstrating that, even if Bill dies the bad guy, his critique of society still has teeth.
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It’s the most divorced movie I’ve ever seen. Nothing did more to turn me off to the reactionary film violence I was raised with, with Falling Down being the wet dream of every right-wing boomer who wears a gun like a security blanket. If Patrick Bateman wrote American Psycho, the protagonist would resemble Bill in how masturbatory the violence is.
The thing I always get mad at it is people never examine the fact he’s a part of the defense industry. Yes he’s a hardworking Joe who wants to just be with his family but the dudes job is literally building the infrastructure to make other hardworking Joes in some far away land unable to do the same. I agree with/empathize/understand a few parts of the movie but I have never liked the fact the dude doesn’t seem to understand his job is apart of the system he loathes. The movies does a good job of making a CHUD a somewhat reasonable man with somewhat reasonable frustrations with the world. Even his portrayal of directing his rage and ire at the wrong targets makes sense (sadly a rather real thing), I yearn for a movie that has a the courage to go beyond that.
Movies like this are always SOOOOO close to understanding and portraying real power structures but always flake in the narrative and the seeds of liberalism brake the underlying soil of the film and bloom with the bitter fruit of individualism. He’s a bad guy, the system is fine. I hate that shit
I found a YouTube link in your post. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
