Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Movie Idea Part II

No, no. It's not a sequel. I haven't finished describing the film idea I brought up in yesterday's post.

So, the black, female heroine comes from a working class background and her parents are rendered unemployed by the forces of capitalism. They descend into poverty and religious hucksterism preys on them.

Of the two young men in her life, her brother and her boyfriend, one will be shot dead by the police and the other will enlist in the military only to become maimed and subsequently abandoned and betrayed by the country he fought for.

As a result of her parents' unemployment, she will, at the age of 16, get a job in one of the few industries available, fast-food. There she will (obviously) be treated poorly by her employer and join the movement for higher pay. Perhaps it will be anger at the specific injustices of her workplace; more likely her participation will be based on a growing awareness of the institutionalized injustices of the wider US-American society that will motivate her.

In the preparation for the ...

It occurs to me now that it should be the boyfriend who is killed by the cops. That gets him out of the way for her to meet her white boyfriend. The white boyfriend's role (you will recall) was to be a foil for a number of issues, especially the trope of the white male "chosen one" that most mainstream movies utilize.

In preparation for the big demonstration for a higher minimum wage, there is going to be a meeting. This meeting is going to depict at least two things: One, is that the fast-food workers themselves have a natural sense of justice and a desire to do something about their predicament, but little confidence in their ability to navigate the complicated legal and political realities of organizing.

That's why there will be union organizers present, who will make a big show of their knowledge of the law and who will argue (understandably) for union certification, and (corruptly) that the movement be "responsible" in order to attract the support of the LIBERAL POLITICIAN.

The LIBERAL POLITICIAN (henceforth to be written uncapitalized) should probably be introduced early on, in little snippets, showing him mouthing platitudes about hard-working ordinary Americans, while driving around in chauffeured limos and hobnobbing with obvious representatives of the 1%.

Along with the boring union hacks are a few young radicals. This group will include the white boyfriend. They will be talking about the power of non-violence. They will be talking all sorts of airy-fairy stuff, as well as some sectarian nonsense. Perhaps it will be here that the white boyfriend gets his opportunity to say how "colour-blind" and cool he is about racial differences. Perhaps that will come later. Because when he says it, the heroine is to give him a dressing-down for it and I'm not certain if it works that she's so articulate and assertive early on.

The point of the meeting scene is to show how the union movement has been co-opted into the system and how the radicals are sectarian and delusional.

That's all i feel like typing for today.

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