Chappelle: The Backlash to the Backlash is the Story, The FBI Stops...Law Enforcement for a Month, Are Movie Theaters Only for Teens Now? 2001's "Brick Phone" Returns! (The Five for 10/15/21)
Hey, welcome to The Five.
As a reminder, I’ll be moving The Five to the Revue platform (probably next week).
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Remember, The Five delivers 2x/week:
Tuesdays at noon CST (hard news)
Fridays at noon CST (culture & commentary).
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Let’s dive in,
[one]
Over the summer, Scott Smith of Louden County, VA gained national infamy after fighting at a school board meeting (and being arrested) in the D.C. suburban county.
Shortly after that, Attorney General (and one time Obama admin Supreme Court hopeful) Merrick Garland directed the Justice department to focus on “domestic terrorism, pulling the FBI off of other cases to focus on the alleged threat.
From Garland’s official memo:
Coordination and partnership with local law enforcement is critical to implementing these measures for the benefit of our nation's nearly 14,000 public school districts. To this end, I am directing the Federal Bureau of Investigation, working with each United States Attorney, to convene meetings with federal, state, local, Tribal, and territorial leaders in each federal judicial district within 30 days of the issuance of this memorandum. These meetings will facilitate the discussion of strategies for addressing threats against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff, and will open dedicated lines of communication for threat reporting, assessment, and response.
Before we continue with the story, keep in mind that the Attorney General of the United States halted operations of the nation’s most powerful federal law enforcement agency…to talk to high schools.
I have friends in the Bureau. Heck, I nearly joined the Bureau in 2016, but was prevented from going down that road due to the low starting salary and the cumulative price of the monthly student loan payments Amanda and were required to pay.
The folks I know in the FBI are brave, hardworking, highly intelligent…and spend their time rescuing children from sex trafficking and tracking down bank robbers.
How in the hell the nation’s highest ranking law enforcement official can halt work on interstate kidnappings, blackmail and actual terrorism to…talk to high schools is beyond me.
I don’t doubt that some threats have been made against school boards in this highly divisive time. I also…don’t doubt that these threats occurred in places that have local law enforcement.
In order for this to be a “federal” issue worthy of investigation for “domestic terrorism,” there would have to be a network of parents who were collaborating on plans to kidnap, maim or murder school board members, teachers or principals…across state lines. This is an absurd idea, and clearly not the case.
Which means that if a parent issues a threat or hits somebody…call the local police department, not the feds.
This was, in part, justified by Mr. Smith’s violent outburst in Louden County.
Well, the rest of the story broke this week, thanks to an investigative journalist from the Daily Wire.
Smith was enraged at the school board meeting because his teenage daughter was allegedly sexually assaulted by a boy who had been moved to a new school after another alleged sexual assault, weeks earlier and was being monitor via an ankle monitor, according to prosecutors.
Smith is now suing the school on Title IX grounds, claiming Loudon County schools did nothing to prevent the sexual assault against his daughter.
On one hand…you can’t just hit people.
On the other hand…Smith would have never been in a position to be pushed over the edge if the school district hadn’t allowed an alleged rapist to roam freely, and then allegedly covered the whole thing up.
And while all of this is disturbing…the most grave consequence likely came from the man hours wasted in the FBI, when crimes were not being solved as federal agents followed orders to talk to school about “parental domestic terrorism.”
That sweeping policy move that was based on a parent losing his temper after the alleged sexual assault against his child was covered up.
[two]
On his podcast, my friend Vance Crowe asked me about the new music featured in the Friday edition of the Five, and how I picked who was featured.
If you didn’t catch the episode (you still can, BTW), my answer was that new music is like a preview of what’s coming in society…see what ideas are coming out in songs and books (the fastest media to create/release) and later TV and movies (which take longer, and therefore lag) and you’ll see what will be debated in mainstream America within the next few years.
Well, TikTok is either…oddly prophetic, or driving the national conversation in ways we don’t fully understand yet.
You weren’t gifted, talented or smart. You were just, most likely, an upper middle class white kid. So your school district used that as an excuse to pull resources from your black and indigenous, disabled, neurodivergent peers and gave them to you.
You benefited from the system of white supremacy and classism, because you could uphold it, as, more likely than not, an upper middle class white kid.
You were the reason and the excuse for withholding resources from marginalized students and you were complicit in accepting them. And I know you were a child, I know you didn’t have a lot of say and didn’t have a lot of perspective.
But as an adult, if you were still holding onto this idea that you were a gifted once, when all that meant was that you could thrive under white supremacy…unpack that.
Wednesday, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the end of Gifted programs in New York (despite the fact that he sent his own kids to “Gifted and Talented” schools). I’m not claiming this was caused by TikTok, but it’s a heck of a coincidence/correlation.
Observations:
A. There’s a bit of truth in that white, upper middle class kids are more likely to get into Gifted programs when those programs operate on a referral (teacher nominated) system. When Gifted programs are determined by screening…the numbers of poor and minority students in these programs goes up. This is important and worth calling attention to.
B. There. We fixed it. So keep Gifted programs.
C. The idea that Gifted programs “steal resources” from other students is absurd. You could make the same (illogical) case for nearly anything in the public school system. Special ed for autistic students. Sports. Band. Chorus. Theater. Heck, spending money on school busses technically puts more dollars towards kids who live far away.
D. This is yet another case of someone who wants to burn the whole world down…and has no idea of what might be built back from the ashes. Without the highly intelligent inventing new things and solving complex problems that benefit us all, everyone suffers.
E. Holy cow…the loudest and dumbest among us have way too much sway over policy.
[three]
In a surprising move, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos (politely) told his employees who were complaining about the jokes in Dave Chappelle’s stand up special The Closer…to just shut up.
From an internal memo leaked to Variety:
Several of you have also asked where we draw the line on hate. We don’t allow titles Netflix that are designed to incite hate or violence, and we don’t believe The Closer crosses that line. I recognize, however, that distinguishing between commentary and harm is hard, especially with stand-up comedy which exists to push boundaries. Some people find the art of stand-up to be mean-spirited but our members enjoy it, and it’s an important part of our content offering.
In terms of our commitment to inclusion, we’re working hard to ensure more people see their lives reflected on screen and that under-represented communities are not defined by the singe story. So we’re proud of titles like “Sex Education,” “Young Royals,” “Control Z” and “Disclosure.” Externally, particularly in stand-up comedy, artistic freedom is obviously a very different standard of speech than we allow internally as the goals are different: entertaining people versus maintaining a respectful, productive workplace.
Whatever your opinion of Chappelle and his latest special (which I still haven’t hade time to watch), Sarandos is correct that Netflix does cover a wide variety of stories, voices and perspectives.
The question the extra-loud employee few never ask is “what if another group demanded the company drop all female led action movies because they’re “not as good” as their male-led counterparts? (This is only an example and not my opinion on the genre, because: Salt, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Columbiana, The Old Guard, Underworld, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, T2: Judgement Day among others).
Let’s just say the Netflix Prez bowed to removing Chappelle…and then had an equal number of employees who wanted The Old Guard not to get a sequel, killing one of the biggest original franchises the streaming giant has launched. In this hypothetical situation, Netflix is down two popular pieces of content, with additional mutinies as a strong possibility. Sooner or later, the subscriber base would drop, and Netflix would be forced to lay off employees…which may be the reason Sarandos isn’t going down this road.
This does feel like a bit of a cultural turning point, as companies have moved more and more towards bowing to the demands of the angry few on their respective payrolls…and Sarandos didn’t play that game.
Which may cause other CEO’s to follow suit when “employee rebellions” pop up.
And that would be no small cultural change.
[four]
The evidence is building that movies as we knew them in the pre-COVID era…may be gone.
After nearly two years of delays, Daniel Craig’s final turn as James Bond in No Time to Die…fizzled at the box office with just $56 million in opening weekend tickets (we’ll get into why that’s signficant, next).
Expectations were high for "No Time to Die," which cost $250 million to produce, especially after the recent success of "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" and "Venom: Let There Be Carnage," two theatrical exclusives that suggested audiences were ready to return to cinemas.
Box Office Pro forecasted the movie to open with $84 million over the weekend, while Sam Mendelsohn wrote for Box Office Mojo that "Spectre" numbers were possible for the movie.
"'No Time to Die's' performance can't help but feel like something of a letdown after tracking skyrocketed in the days leading up to release, with some indications pointing to a debut north of $100 million," Chris Eggertsen wrote for Box Office Pro on Sunday. "That was admittedly a major longshot, though 'Let There Be Carnage's' supersized opening had spurred hopes of a nine-digit opening."
From my perspective, there are three things going on here:
A. Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings draw large crowds of teens, who hit the local multiplex to congregate with friends and get away from their parents. Also, for those movies, being in the “out group” and not being able to talk about the films…puts a teen at a social disadvantage.
B. Conversely, Bond fans are adults, not teens. There isn’t the social pressure to talk about the “hot gossip” of what happens in the movie. There’s also likely more hesitancy around older Bond fans to venture to the multiplex due to COVID cases.
C. It’s likely that more adults are happy to wait for video on demand, possibly paying a premium for early home access, to view their favorite movies on increasingly giant home TV’s.
D. No Time To Die didn’t fail…it just didn’t perform well in the U.S. The movie pulled in $300 million globally, which is a huge success. This means Hollywood may be in America, but will see the handwriting on the wall that it’s better not to make movies for American audiences, primarily. Expect to see more casting like the upcoming spy flick The 355, starring Americans Jessica Chastain (Lawless, Molly’s Game) and Sebastian Stan (Avengers, Captain America and the Winter Soldier), German Actress Diane Kruger (Troy, Inglorious Basterds) and Chinese superstar Bingbing Fan (who’s been mostly in Chinese films until this one).
[five]
As always, let’s head into the weekend with a pop culture roundup.
Further expanding the franchise that just won’t stay dead (not normally my brand of humor, but low hanging fruit)…AMC announced a Walking Dead anthology series, further expanding their Zombie universe that now stretches across three different running TV shows as well as planned upcoming movies. To me, The Walking Dead is a prime example of just how difficult it is to gauge the cultural relevance of…pretty much anything in the hyper-individualized streaming era. I’m a couple of seasons behind on TWD, but plan to catch up at some point. From my perspective, the show peaked in popularity somewhere around 2012…but a decade later the universe isn’t just still standing…it’s a growing intellectual property, meaning TWD may still be a bigger phenomenon than most of us realize.
The first trailer for Bruised, dropped. The MMA based drama, with Halle Berry filling both the lead role and director’s chair, follows a washed up female fighter who’s forced to confront her drug addiction and return to the cage after the re-appearance of her young son (after the death of his biological father). This one has major Warrior vibes, and could be a legitimate awards show contender. On Netflix November 19th.
25 years after the teen horror classic Scream debuted, a fifth entry in the franchise is bringing back the original leads Courtney Cox (Friends), Neve Campbell and David Arquette (honestly, the latter two have been in...Scream movies and not much else). Scream 5 looks to be a soft reboot and a chance to hand the franchise to a new generation of teen stars.
Further expanding the franchise that just won’t stay dead (not normally my brand of humor, but low hanging fruit)…AMC announced a Walking Dead anthology series, further expanding their Zombie universe that now stretches across three different running TV shows as well as planned upcoming movies. To me, The Walking Dead is a prime example of just how difficult it is to gauge the cultural relevance of…pretty much anything in the hyper-individualized streaming era. I’m a couple of seasons behind on TWD, but plan to catch up at some point. From my perspective, the show peaked in popularity somewhere aruond 2012…but a decade later the universe isn’t just still standing…it’s a growing intellectual property, meaning TWD may still be a bigger phenomenon than most of us realize.
Female MMA pioneer turned Mandalorian megastar Gina Carano (Deadpool, Fast 6)will embark on her first project since being fired from the Star Wars streaming show by Disney over a pair of politically conservative Instagram posts. Terror on the Prairie will feature Carano alongside UFC star Cowboy Cerrone and Nick Searcy (Justified, Three Billboards Outside Ewing, MO) in a tale of a family fighting back against a gang of outlaws in the Montana wilderness.
Community alums Allison Brie (The Post, Glow) and Danny Pudi (Ducktales, Star Trek: Beyond) will reunite for the first time since the hit sitcom ended in Feels Like Home, which looks like a romantic comedy with a healthy dose of existential crisis. Brie wrote the script with her husband, Dave Franco (Neighbors, The Disaster Artist). Release date is TBD on Amazon Prime video.
While a piece of technology rarely counts as “pop culture news,” the 20th anniversary of Nokia’s iconic “brick” phone is worth noting. Like many, many people, I owned the original in 2001, which featured the classic phone game “snake,” and was one of the most rugged cellular devices ever built. The re-release will retail for $82, a price low enough I’m tempted to pick one up on a pre-paid plan and leave my regular phone in a drawer on the weekends (escape from social media and the world at the same time, since it would have a different number).
MUSIC NEWS: Following a wave of critics' praise and a lauded live performance on SNL, Kacey Musgraves will not be eligible for Country Album of the Year at the next Grammy awards. While it's true that Musgraves' latest effort Star Crossed is not the most country sounding thing in the world...neither is most of the garbage played on country radio. Musgraves is a country star who made an album no more, and no less country than most radio fodder...she did, however, write better songs.
NEW MUSIC: Adele dropped her first new single in seven years via a very…Great-Depression-ish (at least in the intro) music video for “Easy on Me.” I’m not the biggest music video watcher these days (‘cause, time), but this one reminds me of the old TV show The Waltons. Brit-rock act Coldplay releases Music of the Spheres. Prolific vocalist and songwriter (and obnoxiously smug social media user) Jason Isbell drops Georgia Blue, a…thank you album to his home state for voting in two Democrat Senators in the 2021 run-off elections, featuring covers exclusively from Georgia-based artists. “Nightswimming” and “Midnight Train to Georgia,” the latter featuring up-and-coming-country vocalist Brittany Spencer, are instant classics (for the record, my beef is not with Isbell’s politics, but his attitude of superiority). Billie Eilish producer/co-writer (and older brother) Finneas steps in front of the mic with Optimist, his solo debut.
Until the next one,
-sth