Today is Independence Day in the United States, my homeland, but I don’t feel much like celebrating — everything in America is too grim these days. My adopted home of the United Kingdom seems hellbent on following in the US’s footsteps, so things aren’t much cheerier here, either. It’s difficult to find much hope for the future on either side of the Atlantic at the moment.
Movies aren’t much help. Our pop culture is very good at imagining the worst that can happen: dystopias and apocalypses prevail in our collective imagination. It’s almost impossible to think of a movie (or a TV show) that is uniformly optimistic: even the Star Trek franchise has taken a dark turn in recent years. Just about the only movie of recent vintage that even tries to embody a spirit of genuine optimism about human possibilities going forward is Brad Bird’s Tomorrowland (aka in some regions Tomorrowland: A World Beyond), from 2015.
Are there others? What movies can give us hope for a better future? I vehemently believe that positive visions are essential for helping us imagine better for ourselves. Where are they?
I just saw Crush on Hulu. It's a standard teen rom-com. The main character and her potential love interests are gay/bi, other minor supporting characters are LGBTQ as well, and nobody cares.
Is the part about nobody caring realistic? Maybe not right now. But it was nice to see something that modeled the world as it should be for 90 minutes.
RRR shows the joy and friendship in kicking the ass of The Empire, unlike Star Wars movies these days that wallow in the lost opportunities of the past.
Encanto From Disney with very special lyrics from Lin-Manuel Miranda. Tough times when you have to look to animation for an inspiring gem. Watched Casablanca last night - 1939-
& that was an affirmation of the human spirit during dark times.
I just saw Crush on Hulu. It's a standard teen rom-com. The main character and her potential love interests are gay/bi, other minor supporting characters are LGBTQ as well, and nobody cares.
Is the part about nobody caring realistic? Maybe not right now. But it was nice to see something that modeled the world as it should be for 90 minutes.
RRR shows the joy and friendship in kicking the ass of The Empire, unlike Star Wars movies these days that wallow in the lost opportunities of the past.
Encanto From Disney with very special lyrics from Lin-Manuel Miranda. Tough times when you have to look to animation for an inspiring gem. Watched Casablanca last night - 1939-
& that was an affirmation of the human spirit during dark times.