WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.160 --> 00:00:05.839 Meaning a live man like this, man letting butterfly flattening 2 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:07.440 wing big down in the forest. 3 00:00:07.480 --> 00:00:10.240 Man, it gonna cause the tree fall, letting five thousand 4 00:00:10.279 --> 00:00:18.079 miles away. Man, nobody's seen nobody else. I see. You 5 00:00:18.079 --> 00:00:21.879 don't need to know. Man, they like you another story 6 00:00:21.960 --> 00:00:24.559 and you got bacted like that. That's the way. Man. 7 00:00:24.960 --> 00:00:30.760 Don't blackly dag on the panel. Man, Man, you matter. Man. 8 00:00:35.880 --> 00:00:39.039 It's pretty common to hear the phrase they could never 9 00:00:39.119 --> 00:00:43.240 make that today talking about a book, a video game, 10 00:00:43.399 --> 00:00:48.520 a movie from the before times, from before the kind 11 00:00:48.560 --> 00:00:51.719 of woke era, before the era where you needed a 12 00:00:51.719 --> 00:00:56.000 certain percentage of demographic characteristics in order to be considered 13 00:00:56.280 --> 00:00:57.439 for the oscars. 14 00:00:57.920 --> 00:00:58.119 Now. 15 00:00:58.320 --> 00:01:01.240 Look, this doesn't mean that these films are hours. They 16 00:01:01.280 --> 00:01:04.040 have our values, but it is an interesting sort of 17 00:01:04.079 --> 00:01:09.280 before and after comparison, particularly if, like me, you've really 18 00:01:09.319 --> 00:01:12.120 only known the woke era, that is what you came 19 00:01:12.159 --> 00:01:16.239 of age and and so on today's movie conversation, I've 20 00:01:16.280 --> 00:01:20.519 got Dave Green, the distributist, talking about the twenty fourteen 21 00:01:20.640 --> 00:01:25.519 film Gone Girl, something I watched fairly recently and really enjoyed. 22 00:01:25.959 --> 00:01:29.159 The question, well, why couldn't it be made now? Is 23 00:01:29.200 --> 00:01:36.079 because it's a pretty uncompromising, pretty savage take on female narcissism. Right, 24 00:01:36.280 --> 00:01:41.159 The kind of female combined consciousness that forms up couldn't 25 00:01:41.200 --> 00:01:45.159 be made now After Me Too. The whole sort of 26 00:01:45.280 --> 00:01:48.959 plot of the movie is a woman faking a series 27 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:52.959 of crimes against her She is the victim well as 28 00:01:53.000 --> 00:01:56.400 a play for victimhood, as a play for social status. 29 00:01:57.120 --> 00:02:00.719 Really interesting. Highly recommend it. If you watch it with 30 00:02:00.840 --> 00:02:03.239 wives or girlfriends, they'll probably get a kick out of it. 31 00:02:03.840 --> 00:02:05.640 Yeah, it's a unique. 32 00:02:05.319 --> 00:02:08.120 Film, don't get me wrong. Like I've said, there's a 33 00:02:08.120 --> 00:02:11.080 lot of progressive morality in it. You don't have to 34 00:02:11.080 --> 00:02:14.360 be particularly adroit to pick up on it. But because 35 00:02:14.400 --> 00:02:17.080 it is running an older version of the software, the 36 00:02:17.120 --> 00:02:19.879 sort of pre woke version of it, it's an incredibly 37 00:02:19.919 --> 00:02:22.719 interesting compare and contrast. It shows you how far we've 38 00:02:22.759 --> 00:02:27.800 moved in only twelve years. And also, this conversation is 39 00:02:27.919 --> 00:02:30.560 about the movie. We talk about it for most of 40 00:02:30.560 --> 00:02:35.439 the time, but really it's about feminine psychology, right, the 41 00:02:35.560 --> 00:02:37.919 gender war, the war between the sex is whatever you 42 00:02:37.960 --> 00:02:40.520 want to talk about. How do we get out of 43 00:02:41.000 --> 00:02:45.319 this incredibly destructive cycle? And one of the conclusions that 44 00:02:45.439 --> 00:02:47.280 Dave and I come to that I think is entirely 45 00:02:47.319 --> 00:02:51.439 accurate is that there isn't going to be a great 46 00:02:51.520 --> 00:02:56.800 realization where the curtain is torn away, where women are 47 00:02:56.840 --> 00:03:01.000 forced to accept their responsibility, are forced to face their crimes. 48 00:03:02.400 --> 00:03:06.080 Female Nuremberg. If you will, it won't happen. But there 49 00:03:06.159 --> 00:03:09.319 is a way out. There is a way towards a 50 00:03:10.159 --> 00:03:12.960 satisfactory conclusion, a way that we can get out of 51 00:03:12.960 --> 00:03:16.479 this sort of horrible prisoner's dilemma between men and women 52 00:03:16.680 --> 00:03:21.599 as separate classes. In fact, I think that situation where 53 00:03:21.599 --> 00:03:26.039 men and women have become voting blocks, particularly in younger generations, 54 00:03:26.080 --> 00:03:30.439 in opposition to one another, is profoundly unhealthy. One of 55 00:03:30.479 --> 00:03:32.319 the things that Dave and I talk about, this is 56 00:03:32.560 --> 00:03:36.759 apparent even in relatively distant history, is that women do 57 00:03:36.919 --> 00:03:39.599 act as a collective, or at least they can. They 58 00:03:39.719 --> 00:03:43.240 see themselves as being part of a whole in a 59 00:03:43.280 --> 00:03:48.439 way that men until very very recently have it. We 60 00:03:48.479 --> 00:03:51.280 don't operate that way naturally. We have sort of been 61 00:03:51.319 --> 00:03:54.840 forced to in response, although even then only partially to 62 00:03:54.919 --> 00:03:59.479 kind of current political realities, but nonetheless the prisoner's dilemma 63 00:04:00.039 --> 00:04:02.960 where both people are going to get screwed unless they 64 00:04:02.960 --> 00:04:06.479 find some sort of mutually beneficial compromise. I mean, that's 65 00:04:06.520 --> 00:04:08.800 kind of what we're stuck in. I mean, look at 66 00:04:08.840 --> 00:04:12.159 the ever declining number of people who are simply having sex, 67 00:04:12.319 --> 00:04:15.719 let alone pairing off foring families. That has become a 68 00:04:15.840 --> 00:04:18.839 more exclusive thing, much less common than it used to 69 00:04:18.839 --> 00:04:22.160 be reserved for. To be honest, for the most part, 70 00:04:22.279 --> 00:04:24.519 religious extremists, you know, the kind of people on the 71 00:04:24.560 --> 00:04:30.639 outsides of culture. But it is clearly not working. Female 72 00:04:30.720 --> 00:04:34.279 rates of unhappiness, suicide, self harm are through the roof 73 00:04:34.759 --> 00:04:38.000 young men are obviously not doing well. That's basically what 74 00:04:38.079 --> 00:04:40.600 a third of my episodes are about. And so I 75 00:04:40.600 --> 00:04:43.560 think that this is a very productive conversation, like how 76 00:04:43.560 --> 00:04:45.839 do we get out of this? What is the functional 77 00:04:45.879 --> 00:04:49.920 way we can deal with the feminine mass, right, the 78 00:04:49.959 --> 00:04:53.079 sort of female hive brain. And this film, while not 79 00:04:53.279 --> 00:04:57.600 technically about that, is a very interesting explanation or I 80 00:04:57.639 --> 00:05:03.319 guess you could say exploration. Excuse me of exactly that idea? Right, 81 00:05:03.560 --> 00:05:06.839 well worth your time. The film is easy enough to 82 00:05:06.920 --> 00:05:09.079 find anywhere you know, you can look for it. If 83 00:05:09.079 --> 00:05:10.720 you sail the high seas, you can find it in 84 00:05:10.759 --> 00:05:14.480 two minutes. Right, probably better quality than you can on Amazon, 85 00:05:14.920 --> 00:05:18.560 but nonetheless really happy to have Dave here to discuss it. 86 00:05:18.759 --> 00:05:21.120 I think it's a good episode. Even if you're not 87 00:05:21.199 --> 00:05:23.439 interested in the film, you should check it out because 88 00:05:23.680 --> 00:05:26.199 we do spend a long time talking about other kind 89 00:05:26.199 --> 00:05:30.519 of grander, more philosophical topics. But that said, you can 90 00:05:30.560 --> 00:05:34.519 find me on anywhere you listen to podcasts, Apple, Spotify, YouTube. 91 00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:37.480 You can also check out the episodes early in ad 92 00:05:37.519 --> 00:05:40.759 free on Patreon, Substack or gum Road supports. The channel 93 00:05:40.800 --> 00:05:43.519 supports me. I appreciate it. This is what I do, 94 00:05:43.560 --> 00:05:46.839 and I depend on your guys' support. And also you 95 00:05:46.839 --> 00:05:50.560 don't have to listen to ads for casinos or pharmaceuticals, 96 00:05:50.600 --> 00:05:52.720 which is apparently the only people who decide I'm worth 97 00:05:52.759 --> 00:05:57.480 advertising for. So without further ado, here's Dave Green, distributist. 98 00:05:57.839 --> 00:06:00.839 Thank you all right, Dave, welcome back to Jay Burdens Show. 99 00:06:00.839 --> 00:06:01.480 How you doing? Man? 100 00:06:02.040 --> 00:06:04.079 Great glad to be back on here and not so 101 00:06:04.319 --> 00:06:06.800 sure when the last time was, but a big fan 102 00:06:06.879 --> 00:06:07.319 of the show. 103 00:06:07.920 --> 00:06:10.800 Well, thank you man, I'm I'm glad to have you on. 104 00:06:11.160 --> 00:06:11.759 It's funny. 105 00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:13.959 I've joked before that the whole reason that I had 106 00:06:13.959 --> 00:06:16.360 a podcast is so I could talk to interesting people 107 00:06:16.720 --> 00:06:20.319 and have some sort of justification for it. And I'll 108 00:06:20.319 --> 00:06:22.759 be honest, man, I'm excited we're going to talk about 109 00:06:22.759 --> 00:06:26.920 Gone Girl. An interesting movie, but I'll be honest, I 110 00:06:27.040 --> 00:06:28.879 just enjoy a chance to hang out with you on 111 00:06:28.920 --> 00:06:31.040 the internet. So you know what, this is the excuse 112 00:06:31.079 --> 00:06:36.319 we've come to. So yeah, obviously get into the film 113 00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:39.240 in more detail, but if you're comfortable sharing it, you 114 00:06:39.279 --> 00:06:42.000 have a fairly interesting first experience with this movie. 115 00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:44.319 Correct, Yeah, So, I mean this is one of the 116 00:06:44.720 --> 00:06:48.839 like the four horsemen of the pre woke Apocalypse. It 117 00:06:48.959 --> 00:06:53.160 was like kick Ass Scott Pilgrim versus the world Gone Girl, 118 00:06:53.360 --> 00:06:56.079 and I'm blanking I'm the fourth one. But there were 119 00:06:56.120 --> 00:06:59.000 there were there are four movies I remember being the 120 00:07:00.120 --> 00:07:05.319 you could see the great Wokening happening in their prefiguration. 121 00:07:05.680 --> 00:07:08.720 I got maybe Gone Girl's not the best one. I 122 00:07:08.759 --> 00:07:12.920 feel like Juno, you know Mighty you could. But Juno 123 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:15.319 is from a different era because you know, predated the 124 00:07:15.360 --> 00:07:19.800 global financial crisis by about a year, and so Juno 125 00:07:19.920 --> 00:07:23.800 comes from the Bush era, from the Four Times. This 126 00:07:23.879 --> 00:07:29.480 is the what you see in these movies from this era, 127 00:07:29.639 --> 00:07:33.399 which is the two thousand and fourteen twenty thirteen, was 128 00:07:33.519 --> 00:07:38.480 you know kick Ass? And was it? Scott Pilgrim came 129 00:07:38.480 --> 00:07:43.040 out in twenty eleven, twenty twelve. And what happens during 130 00:07:43.040 --> 00:07:45.240 this period is you see American culture becoming kind of 131 00:07:45.319 --> 00:07:50.480 radically tired with itself. The weird thing about Gone Girl is, 132 00:07:50.560 --> 00:07:52.800 you know, first of all, the interesting story is that 133 00:07:52.959 --> 00:07:56.199 I had a first day watching this movie. You know, 134 00:07:56.199 --> 00:07:58.600 I probably shouldn't talk about this too much since I'm 135 00:07:59.240 --> 00:08:01.279 not the first to have my wife. I watched a 136 00:08:01.360 --> 00:08:03.439 much worse movie on the first date with my wife 137 00:08:03.519 --> 00:08:07.480 than this one. I think. I think that the the 138 00:08:07.920 --> 00:08:11.879 movie for the first date is inversely proportional to how 139 00:08:11.879 --> 00:08:13.639 successful the relationship is going to be. 140 00:08:14.240 --> 00:08:17.720 Uh to that point, Dave Green, my first movie date 141 00:08:17.800 --> 00:08:20.720 with my wife was to see Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. 142 00:08:21.040 --> 00:08:25.199 So your inverse quality, uh to date quality. We have 143 00:08:25.240 --> 00:08:27.120 at least two solid data points here. 144 00:08:27.240 --> 00:08:29.480 Yeah, your your your your marriage will be in destructible 145 00:08:29.480 --> 00:08:32.519 after that one. I'm just in the movie though, but 146 00:08:32.840 --> 00:08:35.759 any rate, I mean, it was it was weird because 147 00:08:37.559 --> 00:08:41.120 you know, it's it's a strange some people are talking about. Uh. 148 00:08:42.039 --> 00:08:45.759 Before the Greater Wokening hit in earnest Hollywood was still 149 00:08:45.759 --> 00:08:49.720 producing movies that were kind of objective observations of reality 150 00:08:50.159 --> 00:08:53.679 such that you could kind of not be so sure 151 00:08:53.679 --> 00:08:57.559 what the eventual conclusion would be, whereas obviously, if this 152 00:08:57.600 --> 00:09:00.559 movie were made today, there is no they could have 153 00:09:00.600 --> 00:09:03.879 come to the conclusion they had come to and just bizarre. 154 00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:06.559 It is kind of funny people were posting like the 155 00:09:06.600 --> 00:09:10.559 Incredibles and Wally and all this stuff, and you know, 156 00:09:10.600 --> 00:09:13.559 it's depressing that all these base messages were included in 157 00:09:13.600 --> 00:09:16.960 mainstream movies because to pick probably the worst movie of 158 00:09:17.000 --> 00:09:20.559 the entire two thousands, Battlefield Earth, which was one of 159 00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:24.440 the there's a scene where the scientology alien takes the 160 00:09:24.519 --> 00:09:28.159 hero into the Museum of Earth History and says, here's 161 00:09:28.159 --> 00:09:29.759 all the weapons Earth used to have, and you can 162 00:09:29.799 --> 00:09:31.759 have all of them you want, because none of these 163 00:09:31.759 --> 00:09:35.320 weapons lasted five seconds in the face of our onslaught. 164 00:09:35.600 --> 00:09:38.000 And that's you know, that's what I feel about a 165 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:40.240 lot of these old movies from the before times that 166 00:09:40.320 --> 00:09:43.799 had based messages. You had all these based messages, but 167 00:09:43.879 --> 00:09:46.440 none of these lessons you learn from Wali or The 168 00:09:46.519 --> 00:09:50.240 Incredibles are Gone Girl lasted for five seconds. Once the 169 00:09:50.279 --> 00:09:53.720 Greater Wokening started, you forgot all of them instantly. So 170 00:09:54.039 --> 00:09:57.480 it's weird to think about that this movie came from 171 00:09:57.639 --> 00:09:59.960 really the before times. I mean, I guess the Great 172 00:10:00.159 --> 00:10:04.600 Wilkening had just started up when this movie hit the theaters. 173 00:10:04.600 --> 00:10:07.759 I mean it started in twenty twelve, and so it 174 00:10:07.840 --> 00:10:10.200 was already starting in earnest with things like gamer Gate 175 00:10:10.279 --> 00:10:14.000 and stuff like that. But you know, it hadn't really 176 00:10:14.039 --> 00:10:16.919 carried over to Hollywood. There's no way that this movie 177 00:10:16.960 --> 00:10:19.720 could have been made in the Hollywood to twenty eighteen 178 00:10:20.399 --> 00:10:23.879 or post me Too. There's no way it post me 179 00:10:23.919 --> 00:10:26.639 to Hollywood would have created this movie. Maybe we should 180 00:10:26.639 --> 00:10:29.559 give a background about what this movie is about. Yeah, 181 00:10:29.720 --> 00:10:30.120 you want me. 182 00:10:30.159 --> 00:10:34.240 So the broad strokes of this is that this movie 183 00:10:35.080 --> 00:10:39.080 and the way it's shot. You don't understand this till 184 00:10:39.120 --> 00:10:43.440 about halfway through the film, but effectively it starts off. 185 00:10:43.720 --> 00:10:49.159 We have Ben Affleck is celebrating his fifth anniversary with 186 00:10:49.240 --> 00:10:52.519 his wife. It's clear the marriage isn't going well. When 187 00:10:52.559 --> 00:10:57.639 he goes home, there is a break in scene. She's gone, 188 00:10:57.840 --> 00:11:01.480 hence the Gone girl, and what on folds is a 189 00:11:01.559 --> 00:11:04.960 situation where it seems as if he is being framed 190 00:11:05.039 --> 00:11:09.440 for the disappearance of his wife. That the sentiment of 191 00:11:09.480 --> 00:11:12.360 the town turns against him more and more sort of 192 00:11:13.000 --> 00:11:16.279 unflattering things or revealed about him. He's a community college 193 00:11:16.279 --> 00:11:19.799 professor who's having an affair with a student. And then 194 00:11:19.840 --> 00:11:23.039 halfway through the film we realize his wife has set 195 00:11:23.080 --> 00:11:27.080 all of this up. She has, out of spite, deliberately 196 00:11:27.159 --> 00:11:32.240 engineered and immaculately planned this situation to basically frame him 197 00:11:32.240 --> 00:11:33.120 for her murder. 198 00:11:33.840 --> 00:11:34.759 And then. 199 00:11:36.440 --> 00:11:39.360 Her plan starts to fall apart. She plans on killing 200 00:11:39.399 --> 00:11:42.360 herself as kind of a final act of defiance, and 201 00:11:42.399 --> 00:11:45.440 she's forced to pivot. She ends up reconnecting with an 202 00:11:45.679 --> 00:11:49.759 X that doesn't go particularly well, so she pivots again. 203 00:11:50.279 --> 00:11:54.320 In a very dramatic scene. Again, if you're upset about spoilers, 204 00:11:54.360 --> 00:11:57.600 just watch this movie. It's a pretty good one. She 205 00:11:57.759 --> 00:12:02.559 basically kills him and then recast the whole situation as 206 00:12:03.039 --> 00:12:06.879 her being kidnapped and abused by this ex. Her husband 207 00:12:06.960 --> 00:12:09.799 knows the truth, and then they are forced to basically 208 00:12:10.200 --> 00:12:14.279 live together as now she is this sort of media figure, right, 209 00:12:14.360 --> 00:12:17.279 she is the girl who escaped from her attacker, And 210 00:12:17.360 --> 00:12:20.639 so the chilling conclusion to the movie is basically ben 211 00:12:20.679 --> 00:12:25.120 Affleck deciding because his wife is pregnant. I've got to 212 00:12:25.159 --> 00:12:29.279 continue living this lie so massively alighted over the plot, 213 00:12:29.320 --> 00:12:33.639 but obviously the core conceit of a woman manufacturing a 214 00:12:33.720 --> 00:12:39.559 crime against her for her own social advancement is highly controversial, 215 00:12:39.840 --> 00:12:42.320 to put it mildly, even just a few years after 216 00:12:42.360 --> 00:12:43.639 this film came out. 217 00:12:43.840 --> 00:12:47.840 So it is fun of the throughout the nineties, there 218 00:12:47.919 --> 00:12:51.919 were I'm blanking on their names, but sort of a 219 00:12:51.960 --> 00:12:55.519 hallmark of the late nineties and early two thousands. You're 220 00:12:55.559 --> 00:12:58.360 too young to remember this, but if you were watching 221 00:12:58.360 --> 00:13:02.799 network television before the Internet came out, their favorite story 222 00:13:03.440 --> 00:13:09.120 was stories of like marginally successful affluent husbands usually white, 223 00:13:09.200 --> 00:13:12.240 actually almost always white killing This is after the O. J. 224 00:13:12.360 --> 00:13:15.279 Simpson trail. This is really what kicked it off. And 225 00:13:15.320 --> 00:13:17.519 there's so many of them I can't quite enumerate them, 226 00:13:17.559 --> 00:13:20.080 but there are a few, very very high profile ones 227 00:13:20.120 --> 00:13:23.080 in the Bush administration. And when that happened, that was 228 00:13:23.120 --> 00:13:25.720 near my hometown. So I remember that one killing their 229 00:13:25.799 --> 00:13:27.960 wives and then or their wife disappears in their front 230 00:13:27.960 --> 00:13:30.279 of the body, and then there's this big kind of 231 00:13:30.279 --> 00:13:34.519 public hate campaign, and it was this thing that was 232 00:13:35.200 --> 00:13:36.639 it was kind of a way for the country to 233 00:13:36.679 --> 00:13:40.879 come together. I hate to say it, because everyone couldn't 234 00:13:40.919 --> 00:13:46.279 agree on politics, or on feminism, or the War on 235 00:13:46.440 --> 00:13:48.639 Terror or any of this other stuff, any except out 236 00:13:48.679 --> 00:13:51.240 for the Bill Clinton O. J. Simpson trial. And this 237 00:13:51.360 --> 00:13:53.960 is like Bill Clinton O J. Simpson really kicked this off, right, 238 00:13:54.759 --> 00:13:57.399 And you know O. J. Simpson and Bill Clinton both 239 00:13:57.519 --> 00:14:01.840 have this property where it's it's bad men hurting women 240 00:14:02.320 --> 00:14:04.919 or you know, in Bill Clinton's case, just being a douchebag, 241 00:14:05.639 --> 00:14:09.559 and the Liberals don't really want to go after them, 242 00:14:09.639 --> 00:14:12.279 even though the feminism they were pushing in the nineties. 243 00:14:12.320 --> 00:14:14.159 Again you're too young to remember this, but they were 244 00:14:14.200 --> 00:14:17.440 pushing feminism. This is the first eruption of focism. Right 245 00:14:17.519 --> 00:14:21.320 up until the O. J. Simpson and Bill Clinton scandals. 246 00:14:21.399 --> 00:14:24.120 The stuff they were pushing there, it would say that 247 00:14:24.120 --> 00:14:26.039 they should go after these guys, but they didn't want to. 248 00:14:26.480 --> 00:14:29.360 So we spent on network television kind of coming together 249 00:14:29.440 --> 00:14:33.840 as a country around these scandals over acceptable people to hate. 250 00:14:34.320 --> 00:14:37.120 And these were always kind of like white husbands who 251 00:14:37.159 --> 00:14:41.759 had murdered their wives. And conservatives liked it because conservative 252 00:14:41.799 --> 00:14:46.320 Christians still like the woman victim man bad story. You know, 253 00:14:47.279 --> 00:14:49.720 they just liked to have played well on Fox News. 254 00:14:50.159 --> 00:14:53.279 It had kind of a feminist slant to it as well, 255 00:14:53.919 --> 00:14:56.480 you know, and the mainstream media just loved it because 256 00:14:57.320 --> 00:15:00.480 they had kind of like this very very convenient person 257 00:15:00.519 --> 00:15:03.519 to hate that match all their stereotypes of who the 258 00:15:03.559 --> 00:15:08.159 bad people were, Like semi affluent, kind of koolock coated 259 00:15:09.159 --> 00:15:13.480 white male does a horrible thing, and is this yerrors 260 00:15:13.559 --> 00:15:18.080 person that you should hate. And what's so brilliant about 261 00:15:18.080 --> 00:15:22.919 this is that the plot is kind of inverted, and 262 00:15:23.679 --> 00:15:25.279 I mean, this is sort of a pattern that we 263 00:15:25.360 --> 00:15:27.799 realize and the social media age just became all too 264 00:15:27.799 --> 00:15:32.840 obvious that the women who manufactures the situation of her 265 00:15:32.879 --> 00:15:36.879 own victimhood and then uses that for a way to 266 00:15:36.960 --> 00:15:40.679 manufacture a cloud. One of the important things about the 267 00:15:40.679 --> 00:15:44.320 Plotlind of this individual movie the Wife, which is named Amy. 268 00:15:44.440 --> 00:15:49.720 I think Ben Affolck's characterist Nick Amy, comes from an 269 00:15:49.720 --> 00:15:54.600 incredibly affluent wasp family that, addition to hav An old Money, 270 00:15:55.279 --> 00:15:59.440 has become famous worldwide for creating a set of children's 271 00:15:59.440 --> 00:16:03.159 books with Amy as the subject, and the books are 272 00:16:03.200 --> 00:16:07.039 called like the Amazing Amy Series. So she's already a 273 00:16:07.159 --> 00:16:12.799 childhood celebrity. She spent her entire childhood being celebrated internationally 274 00:16:12.840 --> 00:16:18.039 for being this awesome person. And that's kind of an 275 00:16:18.039 --> 00:16:22.639 interesting dimension to it because it it creates this environment, 276 00:16:22.759 --> 00:16:27.840 or it creates this suggestion that that she's not I mean, 277 00:16:27.879 --> 00:16:32.360 she obviously the move suggests that she's a not bipolar, 278 00:16:32.759 --> 00:16:37.759 a borderline sociopath, but her you know, the fact that 279 00:16:37.799 --> 00:16:41.559 she doesn't seemed to care about pain, her incredible dark 280 00:16:41.639 --> 00:16:47.080 triad personality traits. Uh you know, her breaking breaking was 281 00:16:47.120 --> 00:16:51.200 a breaking white, breaking back on black on people, aka 282 00:16:51.440 --> 00:16:54.200 shifting them from a friend enemy with no middle ground 283 00:16:54.360 --> 00:17:00.200 in between. And you know, but it suggests that the 284 00:17:00.200 --> 00:17:03.840 the movie suggests, with that backstory for Amy, that this 285 00:17:03.960 --> 00:17:07.039 kind of extreme sociopathy is born from this kind of 286 00:17:07.079 --> 00:17:10.720 childhood narcissism, which is another kind of dark implication for 287 00:17:10.799 --> 00:17:14.079 the social media age. I know how accurate that is, 288 00:17:14.160 --> 00:17:15.720 but it's an interesting. 289 00:17:15.440 --> 00:17:19.240 Well, I mean, we're this is a very stupid social 290 00:17:19.279 --> 00:17:23.359 media scandal, but we are in the midst of the 291 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:25.240 is her name Ashley Saint Clair? 292 00:17:25.480 --> 00:17:29.519 Right? Oh yeah, perfect, liney, I should Saint Clair baby almost, 293 00:17:29.640 --> 00:17:32.920 But I mean, like we have a very similar dynamic, right, 294 00:17:33.000 --> 00:17:36.160 someone who in a previous era was quite famous and 295 00:17:36.279 --> 00:17:41.759 is now trying to reinject themselves into internet relevance via 296 00:17:42.559 --> 00:17:44.400 you know, a story of being. 297 00:17:44.599 --> 00:17:48.240 Taken advantage of by a man. Don't particularly care to 298 00:17:48.279 --> 00:17:50.279 get into the details of that, but like you see 299 00:17:50.319 --> 00:17:55.160 that same sort of motif echoed. There are a couple 300 00:17:55.160 --> 00:17:58.960 of things that I think are particularly interesting because there 301 00:17:59.000 --> 00:18:01.839 is also a heavy ilication that she is sort of 302 00:18:01.920 --> 00:18:05.759 the echo of her own mother. Her parents are not 303 00:18:06.440 --> 00:18:11.079 exactly they're secondary characters in this, but there are a 304 00:18:11.160 --> 00:18:17.000 number of very kind of interesting scenes contrasting this. So, 305 00:18:17.039 --> 00:18:19.160 for instance, we kind of have this back and forth 306 00:18:19.240 --> 00:18:24.759 between Ben Affleck trying to prove his innocence obviously as 307 00:18:24.799 --> 00:18:27.440 the walls sort of close in, while he is also 308 00:18:27.559 --> 00:18:31.680 fighting a media battle. So there's a lot of kind 309 00:18:31.680 --> 00:18:33.559 of back and forth on you know, the news and 310 00:18:33.640 --> 00:18:37.400 daytime television. And there's also a pretty heavy element of 311 00:18:38.119 --> 00:18:41.279 class I guess you could say snobbery or analysis to this. 312 00:18:41.400 --> 00:18:45.000 Because he and his wife met in New York City, 313 00:18:45.119 --> 00:18:47.400 they were in kind of a you know, an affluent 314 00:18:47.519 --> 00:18:51.240 circle of creatives, and then the financial crisis hits, so 315 00:18:51.319 --> 00:18:53.960 they end up, you know, moving back to his hometown 316 00:18:54.079 --> 00:18:55.640 in middle of nowhere, Missouri. 317 00:18:56.119 --> 00:18:57.039 Now they are. 318 00:18:58.799 --> 00:19:00.960 Exactly they are the kind of you know, city mouse 319 00:19:01.039 --> 00:19:04.799 come home to small town America, and so this kind 320 00:19:04.799 --> 00:19:10.440 of force of suburban mothers right mobilized by daytime television 321 00:19:10.480 --> 00:19:13.319 in the local news. So he's constantly fighting this battle. 322 00:19:13.519 --> 00:19:16.039 And early in the film there's a very interesting scene 323 00:19:16.519 --> 00:19:21.720 where you know, he's done the official police response. They've 324 00:19:21.759 --> 00:19:23.920 got a photo printed out of his wife, you know, 325 00:19:24.000 --> 00:19:27.200 talking to the camera, please come home, Amy, And of 326 00:19:27.200 --> 00:19:29.240 course he looks weird and awkward. You know, he's just 327 00:19:29.319 --> 00:19:32.839 a normal guy. He gets sort of pilloried in the media, 328 00:19:33.279 --> 00:19:37.400 and he's leading this effort to try and find her body, 329 00:19:38.000 --> 00:19:40.799 and her parents have flown in, and there's this really 330 00:19:40.880 --> 00:19:45.799 interesting contrast between Amy's mother don't remember her name, you know, 331 00:19:46.039 --> 00:19:48.720 crying on camera saying, oh, we just want Amy back, 332 00:19:49.079 --> 00:19:51.440 and then it sort of cuts to them walking along 333 00:19:51.519 --> 00:19:54.680 the Mississippi River in the middle of summer, and she's 334 00:19:54.720 --> 00:19:57.640 complaining about how bad everyone stinks. Why are they in 335 00:19:57.680 --> 00:19:59.559 this town? I just want to get out of there, 336 00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:04.160 And you see that same sort of extremely manipulative dark 337 00:20:04.200 --> 00:20:08.640 triad behavior exemplified in her mother, which is not a 338 00:20:09.200 --> 00:20:11.000 core central part of the plot, but sort of an 339 00:20:11.000 --> 00:20:13.000 interesting I didn't. 340 00:20:12.799 --> 00:20:18.279 Notice that the point that that is interesting. Other interesting 341 00:20:18.319 --> 00:20:20.680 thing is you know that there are the two characters 342 00:20:20.680 --> 00:20:23.279 we didn't mention. I don't know how relevant these are, 343 00:20:24.119 --> 00:20:28.559 but there is the who is the black doctor of 344 00:20:28.640 --> 00:20:30.839 plays media? Isn't the guy who plays. 345 00:20:30.559 --> 00:20:34.119 The Tyler Perry. Yeah, Tyler Perry is a lawyer. 346 00:20:33.799 --> 00:20:38.279 In the O. J. Simpson lawyer that is hired to there. 347 00:20:38.160 --> 00:20:42.440 Are there are two characters in this who are When 348 00:20:42.480 --> 00:20:45.279 I say miscast, I don't necessarily mean that they do 349 00:20:45.359 --> 00:20:48.240 a bad job in the role, but their prominence as 350 00:20:48.400 --> 00:20:51.480 media figures makes it hard to take them seriously. Tyler 351 00:20:51.519 --> 00:20:54.720 Perry is one. And then also Amy's ex is played 352 00:20:54.720 --> 00:20:59.079 by Neil Patrick Harris. Oh yes, so clearly a gay 353 00:20:59.119 --> 00:21:00.839 man pretending to be a straight man. 354 00:21:01.680 --> 00:21:03.039 It really does not work. 355 00:21:03.119 --> 00:21:06.799 But to your point, yes, they were trying to, well, 356 00:21:06.839 --> 00:21:10.240 this is I'm super imposing the politics of twenty twenty 357 00:21:10.359 --> 00:21:14.400 six onto this movie. But they were kind of trying 358 00:21:14.400 --> 00:21:16.559 to make the Neil Patrick Harris character kind of in 359 00:21:16.680 --> 00:21:20.279 sell coded, like sexually obsessed man. But he does not 360 00:21:20.440 --> 00:21:23.640 come off that way. They should have had somebody, I 361 00:21:23.640 --> 00:21:27.000 don't know, someone a little bit more is sexually desperate 362 00:21:27.079 --> 00:21:28.640 play that I can't think of a good actor off 363 00:21:28.680 --> 00:21:30.119 the top of my head, but. 364 00:21:30.400 --> 00:21:36.960 Someone who doesn't immediately scream I am a extremely educated, 365 00:21:37.079 --> 00:21:38.000 liberal gay. 366 00:21:37.839 --> 00:21:43.920 Actor, right exactly something, do something all all the actors. 367 00:21:43.960 --> 00:21:45.480 I think it would be good in that roller way 368 00:21:45.480 --> 00:21:50.119 too old to play it, but uh, either way. The 369 00:21:50.119 --> 00:21:54.559 the other character is his sister, who's kind of a 370 00:21:54.680 --> 00:21:57.880 you know, a character that's a very sympathetic character to 371 00:21:58.319 --> 00:22:03.319 the main Nick character. From from that, the the the 372 00:22:03.440 --> 00:22:05.720 main tension, at least for the first part of the 373 00:22:05.759 --> 00:22:09.039 plot is uh, you know. From Knick's point of view, 374 00:22:09.720 --> 00:22:13.200 is the interests of fighting his legal defense against a 375 00:22:13.240 --> 00:22:16.960 murder accusation or directly in opposition to his attempt to 376 00:22:17.000 --> 00:22:22.880 fight the media battle. And what saves him is that 377 00:22:22.960 --> 00:22:25.400 he makes a decision that is incredibly stupid from the 378 00:22:25.400 --> 00:22:28.920 perspective of a murder trial. He goes on a talk 379 00:22:29.000 --> 00:22:34.359 show and essentially pleads his case in a very confessional way, 380 00:22:34.359 --> 00:22:36.559 which is, you never want to do that, right, because 381 00:22:36.559 --> 00:22:40.400 you're giving the defense all these pre trial statements that 382 00:22:40.440 --> 00:22:44.319 they can go off of, and you know, you're showing 383 00:22:44.359 --> 00:22:46.200 your hand for what's certainly going to be a murder 384 00:22:46.240 --> 00:22:49.759 trial against you. You're you're you're You're you're leaving yourself 385 00:22:49.799 --> 00:22:52.519 open to getting into an argument with the houst and 386 00:22:52.680 --> 00:22:56.720 having your confession to be part of public record, which 387 00:22:56.720 --> 00:23:01.880 I think can abused as evidence. Right he Cruckliss surmises 388 00:23:02.839 --> 00:23:07.160 that the legal question of the murder is almost secondary. 389 00:23:07.720 --> 00:23:10.599 Was really playing out as a contest of public perception, 390 00:23:11.079 --> 00:23:14.319 which is what makes this truly a movie for the 391 00:23:14.400 --> 00:23:19.200 online age. You know, the the contest of murder is 392 00:23:19.319 --> 00:23:22.440 and people do get killed, but the contest of murder 393 00:23:23.079 --> 00:23:28.960 and of bodily harm is secondary concern to the social 394 00:23:29.000 --> 00:23:32.960 perception of being evil or bad. A great example of this, 395 00:23:33.279 --> 00:23:35.359 you know, and I don't know exactly how true life 396 00:23:35.400 --> 00:23:37.799 is like she's actually planning to kill herself to make 397 00:23:37.839 --> 00:23:40.440 her point, Like that's on her schedule. It's like, I'm 398 00:23:40.480 --> 00:23:44.200 going to kill myself to ensure that my husband goes 399 00:23:44.240 --> 00:23:47.559 to jail for the rest of his life or whatever. Right, 400 00:23:48.680 --> 00:23:52.240 this is like insane, Right, It's an insane thing, even 401 00:23:52.279 --> 00:23:55.640