The Force was with us tonight
Thinking back on a big week
Oh wow. Where do we even begin to start? I suppose at the end. We had an amazing night tonight on HATM. We finally got around to watching Return of the Jedi this week, which I had planned due to its 40th birthday on May 25th. We were head to head with the Succession finale, but that’s ok, HATM stops for no one. Besides, it’s totally cool for people not to come every night. If folks drop in every now and again to spend time with us, then I’m flattered to have their company. But I knew we’d have a big night. HATM tends to trend Gen X/Millennial and both of those groups have strong ties to Star Wars, which despite all its flaws (yes I’m tired of people fighting over the sequels) is still the most important film franchise of all time. No other series can possibly come close.1 True to form, we had a big night. I struggled to keep up with all the tweets, which is par for the course when we’re rocking. We finished up, said our goodnights, and planned on slumber.
And then it happened.
Mark Hamill—Luke Skywalker himself—jumped on and started liking and commenting on the community’s tweets. As thrilled as I was (and I was freaking out) I was more excited for folks in the community who also received a kind word from Hamill. I’m over the moon because I know it meant as much to them as it did to me. Maybe even more. That happiness is something to be happy about. Thank you to Mr. Hamill and all the HATM community for jumping in tonight.
HATM Podcast
Last week was a big week for the pod. Kathleen Belew stopped in to talk about one of her favorite films, Con Air. The movie is over the top and crazy but that’s part of what made the chat so fun. I’d never spoken to Kathleen before and was a little shy about even asking her on the pod. She does really important work that is super relevant to our lives at this very moment, writing about white power movements and armed nationalism here at home. You can find her book here: https://a.co/d/gUfNkfY
You’ll often find her on cable news talking about this stuff. She’s the real deal and it’s all quite terrifying. What isn’t terrifying is Kathleen herself, who is just one of the coolest people I’ve ever met. We even found that we both loved a certain small restaurant in Christiana, Tennessee of all places: Miller’s Grocery.2
And that’s ultimately what I want this podcast to be: using some familiar movie as a way to get to know historians and other scholars as actual human beings who love comfort food while at the same time using their expertise to dive down into topics that affect us all. I want to enter history from the side door where no one is looking. If you haven’t heard this one, you’re in for a treat. We had so much fun and are already conspiring on another. Here are some links:
I’ve got the amazing Jeffrey Melnick coming up Wednesday to talk about Once Upon A Time in Hollywood and I think you’re gonna love it too.3
This week with Historians At The Movies
With June upon us it’s time to celebrate the end of school and the start of summer. Join us on Amazon Prime at 8pm eastern on June 4th to livetweet Dazed and Confused.
Hey, it’s Memorial Day! I hope you’re having a great day with people you love. Take care of yourselves. See ya soon.
Sure the MCU films have made more, and there’s a bunch of James Bond films and while they definitely have fans (I’m one of them) do they mean as much as Star Wars? I think we know that’s not the case.
If you’re near Murphreesboro, you owe it to yourself to go. Seriously.
If ya get a chance, leaving a review on Apple or Spotify helps to get it noticed, or if you retweet it or share with friends. I’m still learning how to popularize these pods, so I definitely appreciate your support.
Consider 1985.
In the pod you asked when did movie villains shift from being Russian to Middle Eastern? I was thinking "Back to the Future." But then I looked at other 1985 movie villains. The top three grossing films were "Back to the Future" (Libya), "Rambo: First Blood Part II," (Vietnam), and "Rocky IV," (Soviet Union). Also spending time as a box office #1 that year was "Commando," set in the fictional Latin American dictatorship Val Verde.
Of course there is the obvious Reagan/anti-Communist Cold War through line. But there is something deeper at play that I can't put my finger on. It seems as though in 1985 the US was the only safe place for Americans. After all, Africa/the Middle East, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America were rife with bad guys. And don't forget, 1985's "European Vacation" did little to acquit Western Europe and Australia, at the time, was "Beyond Thunderdome."
So, 1985 showed Americans that bad guys were everywhere and traveling to friendly countries was bad news. In hindsight, this seems like a gift to nationalist and isolationist movements. You mentioned that 1984s Red Dawn was problematic for the same reasons, but if I were to curate an 80s White Nationalist Film Festival (of movies that I, not a white nationalist, love), I might begin in 1985.