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Thanks Netflix. I found this oddity the other night. It was a mockumentary supposedly produced by a British TV network complete with commercial interuptions and it was about the CSA or The Confederate States of America. Back to 1865 the South has won the Civil War, Lincoln goes into hiding with Harriet Tubman and is later banished to Canada. Without the Emancipation Proclamation slavery continues and is forced on the North as a tax. It was a interesting take on a "what if". In it America becomes a seperatist country that stays out of WW1 and WW2 in Europe, believes in what Hitler is doing but does strike first at Japan. America builds a great "Cotton Wall" to keep out Canada except in later years with technology like TV and Radio the CSA Government cannot keep music from the likes of Elvis Presley from affecting the kids. Propaganda!!
The CSA is also on a nation building kick and invades Mexico, Central and South America plus the Caribean to become the tropical fruit producers of the world.
It was a crazy movie. The kennedy assasination was spun that he was the first president elected from the North before the War of Northern aggression and he planned on reintroducing the Emancipation so the good folk of Texas took him out.
Like I said it was a crazy movie with tongue in cheek racist undertones but it was interesting.
Has anyone seen this movie and what did you think?
I've seen it a couple of times. It has some amusing parts, but I guess it would depend on your personal frame of reference. I found the actual ads for products particularly interesting.
Not for the masses, but most of Spike Lee's films aren't.
I wondered about the Spike Lee influence. I saw his name in the credits and was surprised by it but then again a movie like that probably couldn't have been made by a white director in this day and age when race is such a hot button to people.
I'm working my way through it now ... I keep falling asleep through it. Pretty amusing so far in terms of its mockumentary quality.
Same here.. because it's very disjointed and doesn't really have a steady plotline, I fell asleep watching it.. But I did go back and watch it thru.
I thought it did a good job mimicking Ken Burns' (Civil War) documentary style. And some of their alternate historical timeline was (surprisingly) thoughtful.
Some of the commercials (utilizing and/or channeling old fashioned racist marketing images) were funny.
To me, these ads were the strength of the movie, for a couple reasons. One, they seemed to put the most entertainmement energy in to this part of the movie. It's the aspect of the movie the audience seems to remember most. I've seen these ads posted online & referenced for years now. Second, they broke up the mostly monotonous boredom of the mockumentary. Third, I think they may have had some real life impact on America's attitudes about vestigial depictions of Blacks in advertising. The effective eradication of Aunt Jemima & Uncle Ben weren't too long after this movie. And their use of ads was a good commentary on how advertising is a barometer for (& method to reinforce) a power system's values. I see this all the time now, corporate America using commercials to further/normalize their Left wing causes.
I guess I rate this movie a 4 (10 point scale).
Very scary to see how close this could have happened.
I respected the amount of research put in to the movie (tho I still think it's strength was it's humor: satirical commercials).
But one theme they advanced that is kind of a common, slanderous misunderstanding. The Confederacy wasn't interested in conquering Northern states. They were fighting to get away from them. Even the brief invasion of PA was designed to demoralize the Union war effort, not conquer land.
And Jews were well integrated in to Southern culture. Movie made it seem the South was against them as a group, suggesting expulsion. If anything it was the Union army and order 11, that was instutionally opposed to Jews (as a group).
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