Comment by ButlerianJihad
3 days ago
> popular films that just straight up depict overthrowing the ruling class [won't] happen
What now? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Uprising_(2026_film)
3 days ago
> popular films that just straight up depict overthrowing the ruling class [won't] happen
What now? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Uprising_(2026_film)
I have a sneaking suspicion the entire apocalypse category is also a reflection of the public wanting to see the rich and powerful fall.
[dead]
Wat Tyler's Rebellion failed.
It went similar to Sparticus', which was also a movie. Braveheart is also in that class, even if William Wallace was himself landed nobility.
These are films of the underdog class trying to overthrow the ruling class... and failing. The leaders are dealt with gruesomely (IRL and movie depictions).
Half of the action and sci-fi movies US has been producing in the 2000s is some form of this. Man vs. Evil Government. Man vs. Evil Corporation. People vs. Evil Government. Etc.
Frankly, it's boring at this point.
And actually makes me wonder whether the cause-and-effect isn't the opposite to what people assume. Perhaps it's not that the movies reflect people's sentiment. Perhaps it's the movies that cause the problem in the first place.
It would be subversive if the large corporation doing science in space turned out to be benign
What now? Move the goalposts! I see movies about historical uprisings as more of a "those governments in the past were sure bad, good think the good guys overthrew them"--I mean, that's the story of the founding of America if you watch the movies.
I was looking more for movies that depict overthrowing the government in the near future, and depicting it as a good thing. I think those types of movies are a little more distasteful to audiences, and perhaps for good reason.
Well, The Hunger Games series is exactly about that. Of course, it portrays the rebels as utterly heroic, self-sacrificing, and ultimately victorious.
However, I prefer to take a more nuanced reading, in context, considering the entire story. The rebels of The Hunger Games really don't succeed in building a better world. I mean, that's pretty obvious by how their first "President" Alma Coin goes about things and her fate. And it's fairly obvious, in the epilogue, that Katniss has a placid married life with Peeta and their children, but they are permanently and profoundly damaged by the entire revolution thing in their past.
So, while most people would say "rah rah brave Katniss and the rag-tag rebels overthrew The Oppressive Man", I would contend that, after all that bloodshed and revolution, nearly nothing changed.
My other favorites, of course: Star Wars is about the rise and overthrow of a villainous, oppressive galactic government, albeit a long time ago and far, far away.
And Harry Potter is also about the rise and overthrow of a tyrranical, fascist, supremacist "government" [within a government] as a very positive and necessary thing.
> My other favorites, of course: Star Wars is about the rise and overthrow of a villainous, oppressive galactic government, albeit a long time ago and far, far away.
Well, about a militant group of religious fundamentalists overthrowing a secular, oppressive galactic government.
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Civil War was on the nose.
The best thing about movies is that you get to experience the vicarious thrill of being a heroic revolutionary without having to spill the popcorn.