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21 Feb, 2020 20:58

Trump hates ‘Parasite’ because it predicts his election defeat

Trump hates ‘Parasite’ because it predicts his election defeat

Recent cinema history shows that movies are a bellwether of public sentiment, and last year’s crop of class-conscious Oscar nominees, like Best Picture winner Parasite, spells doom for Trump’s re-election.

Last night, President Trump told a raucous rally crowd that he was not a fan of Parasite. I think Trump despises the South Korean film because he unconsciously understands that it is a foreboding omen that foretells his electoral defeat come November.

My theory is that cinema is a crystal ball that predicts presidential elections. I know, I know… this sounds idiotically insane… but it’s true.

For example, cinema accurately foreshadowed Trump’s 2016 win, as in the preceding year, Spotlight and The Big Short, two stories about outsiders taking on a corrupt establishment – the Catholic Church and Wall Street – won Oscars.

Also on rt.com ‘Parasite’ director was right about the ‘one-inch’ barrier: Subtitles are better than dubs, and here is why

Three other nominees, The Revenant, The Martian and Mad Max: Fury Road, were about men overcoming long odds and surviving in the starkest of situations.

Trump then ran as an outsider taking on Washington, and survived bleak odds and the grueling gauntlet of the media to win.

The box office also presaged Trump’s election as 2015’s big earner, The Force Awakens, should’ve been titled ‘The Populist Force Awakens’, with Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation and Minions also being titles that perfectly summed up Trump, his followers and their improbable victory.

Besides the deliciously Trumpish title of 2016’s Rogue One, it was the superhero movies of that year which most accurately predicted Trump’s success, as Captain America: Civil War and Batman v Superman told stories of internecine warfare with blue versus red as the opposing colors.

Suicide Squad was another big box office earner and astutely summed up the anti-Trump establishment Republicans.

But the biggest clue to Trump’s impending victory was the success of Deadpool. Is there any more Trumpish a superhero than the irreverent, anti-establishment Deadpool?

Other presidential elections prove this crazy ‘cinema as crystal ball’ theory as well.

Also on rt.com RT presents… The Alternative Oscars based on artistic achievement (but we’ll tell you who wins the real thing)

In 2012, Argo, Zero Dark Thirty and Lincoln, films about government at its greatest, were nominated and monopolized attention throughout the year leading to Obama’s re-election.

In 2007, No Country for Old Men won Best Picture and could have been a bumper sticker for Obama’s campaign against old man John McCain.

Leading up to November of 2008, the box office was dominated by Hancock, a story of a black superhero, and The Dark Knight, both metaphors for Obama as the man to save America from the disastrous Bush reign.

In 2003, The Return of the King, a title that’s an incumbent’s wet dream, won both the box office and Best Picture, and a plethora of sequels, Spider Man 2, Shrek 2, Meet the Parents 2 and Ocean’s 12, all foresaw Bush’s re-election.

As for 2019, of the nine films nominated, six of them deal with issues of class. Parasite, Joker, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Ford v Ferrari, The Irishman and Little Women all tell varying tales of class warfare and struggle.

At the box office, Endgame – which signifies a definitive ending – and Rise of Skywalker, indicating something rising, dominated, as did the populist Joker.

Cinema is clearly telling us that the thing ending is Trump’s presidency, and the thing rising is Bernie Sander’s class-fueled populist revolution.

You want more proof? Aladdin, the tale of a blue genie who grants wishes, was a big box office winner last year, and if that doesn’t prove Bernie is going to win, then nothing does.

Even though the media keep saying the same thing about Bernie that they once said about Trump, that he could never win the nomination, never mind the presidency… Bernie Sanders is going to be the next president of the United States.

The crystal ball of cinema never lies!

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The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

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