I’d like something more extended and literally episodic the way the word looks?
It’s a novel, but “It Can’t Happen Here” follows a scenario where a populist becomes President and removes all opposition.
The historical precedent is the rise of Nazi Germany during the 1920s and 1930s. You should now be somewhere in the early 1930s.
Nazi Germany was the template, so there can be no answer more right than this that isn’t based on Nazi Germany.
And Canada and Greenland are Poland.
or Poland and Austria
To get spoilers, watch Downfall.
Not a good example, since that shows the happy ending where powerful countries are finally finishing off the fascist regime after years of war and millions of lives lost. That is the amount of effort and determination it took to rid Germany of its fascists.
No such prospects for the American fascist regime. On the contrary the most powerful countries in the world will happily support it, because it undermines Western dominance.
Ever heard of the rise of Nazism in Germany?
Elysium; the Matt Damon movie where the rich live on a space station and leave the rest of us to rot.
I’m not saying it’s what’s going on right this moment, but it’s the end-goal of everything that Musk, Bezos, etc… are doing.
But who will do all the work?
Automation controlled by AI
Idiocracy
VEEP
Seriously. “Today the secretary of defense with a drinking problem reveals military secrets to a reporter due to a texting error.”
Along the same lines, from the same writer/creator, Armando Iannucci, there’s The Death of Stalin. The absurdity of how the inner circle navigated the politics around Stalin, including after his death, is hilarious but also a good look at how these power dynamics work in an authoritarian, despotic government.
Or also from Iannucci, Avenue 5, which basically is set in the future where all of this political nonsense continues, and is in the background of a comedy about a space cruise ship.
I’ve tried watching veep twice and couldn’t
Game of Thrones.
The Plot Against America by Philip Roth. Great book and a TV miniseries. An alternative history that has Lindbergh winning the presidency in the 30s and the US government enacting fascism domestically. The book does a great job of portraying the chaos that ensues. The series is also very good.
Leaving off with an ellipsis makes it look like I should click your comment to continue reading.
As intended!
BrainDead, can recommend.
There’s a satirical (well, don’t know how long it will be considered that) movie about it… it’s called Idiocracy
It’s a great movie, but the eugenics theme is bullshit. The causes of modern decline have nothing to do with the half-baked idea that idiots will overrun the world through breeding.
Idiots aren’t born in increasing waves, they’re made by chronically underfunding education and flooding the world with propaganda and manipulative social media algorithms.
I don’t think the reason for the setting of the movie was to be taken very serious. It could have been much more realistic in its scenario, but then people would have criticised it for being too “on the nose” or similar, like they did with Don’t look up.
Yeah, I watched it again not too long ago and it really hurts the movie in my opinion. It’s still fairly funny, but I can’t really recommend it.
I would much rather have Camacho as president than Cheeto Benito.
Terry Crews 2028!
I used to think this movie was funny but now it’s just kind of painful because it’s largely true.
Except Camacho was a caring president, in his own way.
He is the most unrealistic part of the film, he had a problem, found the most qualified person to fix it, listened to them (eventually), and then didnt take credit for it.
That applies as far as the dumbing down of the population, but even they didn’t go for fascists as leaders. That’s right, the population of Idiocracy was smarter than what we have now.
I find the last days of the Qing dynasty China to be somewhat analogous. Institutional rot, rampant corruption, a complete failure to adapt to crises and open hostility to anyone proposing workable solutions or trying to learn from foreign examples. Basically the two voices in government were, “Learn how guns work while completely refusing to understand the scientific principles that allowed them to be developed” and “Learn absolutely nothing.” The “lesser evil” was woefully inadequate, and once the government finally collapsed, both factions that emerged (communists and nationalist) were far more influenced by Western ideas than even the most radical in the Qing government were.
Black mirror. Maybe a ww2 documentary
The wave of fascism going throughput Europe in the 19th and 20th century of course.
But the state of the American people is also portrayed well in The Hunger Games (books and movies).
A lot of what he talks about prior to previous insurrections are pretty similar to what’s happening now.
They also have a podcast called It Could Happen Here. Originally it talked about what to expect if a civil war breaks out basically, but it’s now a news show about stuff going on and also with some leftist political discussion thrown in.
(Robert Evans created these, Behind the Bastards, and wrote the book It Could Happen Here.)
Oh hey, it’s the same host as Behind the Bastards. Thanks for the recommendation!
But, do you know who, allegedly, would never instigate an insurrection?
The wonderful people at BLEEEP. So long as you leave them and their child-hunting island alone they’ll never instigate an insurrection against anyone.
Babylon 5.
Rewatched this again a year ago and it has never been more relevent
Star wars episode 3.
