‘TRANSFORMING’ INTO POLITICAL PABULUM…. A reader emailed me the other day to let me know about the political subtexts of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, a big-budget action flick released last week. Reader P.C. told me the movie mentioned President Obama in a less than flattering light.
I haven’t seen it, but Matt Yglesias also saw the movie, and noticed its “searing indictment” of the administration.
[O]ne critical turn in the storyline comes when a heroic Major in the United States Army (or possibly Air Force) decides to disobey orders and mutiny against a civilian operative specifically sent by POTUS to take command of the operation. But what’s more, this is no rogue special forces officer, he’s clearly supported in his action by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who elects to turn a blind eye, and leave President Obama (who’s named specifically) in the dark as he cowers in fear in an underground bunker. Obama, you see, has ordered American forces to attempt to appease the Deceptecon threat by halting all collaboration with the Autobots, and agreeing to turn Sam Witwicky over to the forces of evil. By defying Obama and staging what amounts to a coup, the military saves the day.
What’s more, the film appears to indicate that Jordan and Egypt share a border right near the tip of the Gulf of Aqaba. For this to be the case, of course, Israel would have to be wiped off the map. The film doesn’t specify how this horrific turn of events took place, but I think we can take for granted that Obama’s cowardly of a settlement freeze is ultimately responsible.
This might be less annoying if the movie didn’t make $200 million in its first five days.
I’d just add, by the way, that the movie was apparently filmed last year, before we knew who’d win the presidential election. Presumably, post-production continued into 2009, and filmmakers could add Obama-specific references after he took office in January. Great.
Maybe Michael Bay could stick to explosions and steer clear of political messages? (If we’re lucky, he might also stay away from cameras, the movie industry, scripts, actors….)
