A Populist Rant

One of the best things about Easter weekend is that it always seems to be a big movie blowout. This weekend we had a choice of some older Hitchcock films, Independence Day and of course, The Ten Commandments. (MO-ses!)
We chose Hitchcock's Saboteur, which is a 1942 film about a man (the puppy-faced Robert Cummings) wrongly accused who must run from police as he hunts down the true saboteur.
I know I've seen this movie before but apparently I didn't remember it well. Because, whoa! WTF?
This was out in 1942, you say?
Knowing that, plus the fact that it was about the extremely unpopular wartime crime of sabotage gives you a few expectations. You'd expect the movie makers to go way over the top because all the films back then put in a lot of pro-war propaganda, right? So at the very least, Cummings' character should be hunted and beaten by angry mobs, adults and children alike.
Surprise! The good citizens do not hold him captive at gunpoint while someone runs for a rope. In fact, just the opposite. They actually hide him from authorities and help him get away.
First it's the truck driver who points police in the wrong direction, then a train of circus performers and finally a kindly blind man living out in the country.
This was a little weird, to say the least, for my post-9/11 brain to take in. In fact, it's hard to imagine any modern movie in which common people would routinely work against the authorities. It's almost as hard to imagine as having a TV courtroom drama where every defendant is wrongly accused and the defense lawyer is the good guy. (Looking at you, Perry Mason.)


Speaking of good guys and bad guys, in Saboteur, the bad guys are--ta da--the wealthy! They have servants at their country homes and put on elaborate balls. Rather than be grateful to an American system that made them rich, they wish to install fascism, because it "gets things done" for them.

Which makes me think that maybe there's been a form of reverse brainwashing going on for the past 20 or so years. Almost all the shows now portray authority figures and prosecutors as the good guys. Accused criminals are always scumball lowlifes. Normal working people, like those in the Hitchcock movie, are most often either dangerously stupid or clueless. And the rich? They're to be admired for their extravagance because don't we all want to be like them?

I know what you're thinking. Where's my optimism peg? Hold on, it's coming.

Now that the disgraceful immorality of some of our wealthiest citizens has been revealed, I think it's not too much of a stretch to think that the anti-common-folk spin in the entertainment industry might go back the other way. The little guy will be a hero for a change. Bankers will be evil, just like they were during Bonnie and Clyde's day.
I know it would mean a lot to have normal working people portrayed as smart and resourceful, instead of just a drain on the tax and health care system. A few of us might even be cheered and empowered enough to get up and find a fix for the mess we're in.
Maybe we'll even see some stories with us little people sticking together. A most dangerous concept indeed.