PatD

I wanted to bring up movies that were meant as satires and/or cautionary tales that were picked up by...well...bad people who twisted it to fit their agenda.

A few come to mind. The biggest is Oliver Stone's Wall Street. This scene has now been adopted by the very people it condemns:


Another one is Falling Down (also featuring Michael Douglas). It is a pretty savage satire of white male entitlement. This scene kind of proves it:


It's like Joker, but with a point and a moral center. But there are people who admire the character of D-FENS.

Speaking of white male entitlement, there's always Fight Club:


Once again, we have a blistering satire perverted into the very thing its subtly railing against. Tyler Durden is now revered by many of the "fuck your feelings" movement.

Thoughts? Is satire in movies even effective at all in light of the aforementioned? Are there any other movies you can name?

Dan

Fuck, you literally named the exact few I was thinking of, just by the title

I'll have to think harder about this... I seem to recall talk about They Live being one of those movies, co-opted by neo-Nazis thinking it's actually about Jews. This article talks about it.

There seem to have also been white nationalists that used scenes from American History X in recruitment videos or something.

Decker

Apocalypse Now and especially the Robert Duvall scene were made to show the insanity and cruelty of the Vietnam War but has been kind of corrupted as a glorification of military might and to now represent how “Awesome” the US Military was before it was constrained by more humanitarian guidelines.

orangerunner

Scarface (1983) was supposed to be the portrait of a greedy, amoral, violent malcontent with a twisted, misguided desire for success and the American Dream who sees everyone he loved die in a hail of bullets and yet this portrayal seems to be the glowing gold-standard for aspiring criminals in real life.

Natural Born Killers was a satire on America's strange obsession with violence and the celebrity status of those who commit violent crimes. The film was criticized for embracing violent behavior and inspired some copycat crimes.

Beavis & Butthead was a satire on rising tide of American stupidity among youth but ended up being cultural icons of those very same kids who emulated their behavior and attitudes.

Paff

I think a lot of dumb people use Forrest Gump as an example that it's not important to be smart or knowledgeable.

JeffTheAlpaca

American Psycho

People thought it was a glorification of the 80's yuppie and success and something to aspire too but that was not the message of the movie.

Nick Danger

Nazis love the first half of American History X. I saw the comments on Stormfront before it was taken down.
Nazis love the (obviously prearranged) "spontaneous song" in Cabaret. I've seen the comments on YouTube.

PatD

I'd also like to add The Matrix (even though the morality of it is iffy since Neo and Trinity slaughter a bunch of innocent people to rescue Morpheus). Men's Rights Activists got the term "red pill" from the movie to justify their blatant misogyny.

The Godfather and Goodfellas both show the dark consequences of the life of organized crime by showing the main protagonists both selling their souls for money and power. Meanwhile, many people see it as an exciting advertisement to enter Tony Soprano-world.

A Clockwork Orange, like Natural Born Killers, was also an inspiration for many violent copycat crimes despite it being clearly shown that Alex was an evil being who is ultimately pathetic when his ability to commit violence is taken away.

And, of course, here's one of the reigning champs:

Hadrian7

Has anyone said Starship Troopers yet? An obvious satire that espouses fascist, nationalistic, and military might being the basis for future society. And yet people see it as a typical sci-fi action movie, or even worse, an endorsement of pro-military might makes right.

PatD

Nope. You are the first! Damn it, I totally missed that one! Great job!

Ash Ketchum

The point of Heinlein's book was to push the author's idea that only people who've served in the military should be allowed to vote, since, in his view, because they're willing to die for their country, they're the only ones who deserve to decide who should govern the country. The battles with giant insects didn't come into the story until the end of the very last chapter.

Nick Danger

Perhaps. But the war against the bugs is in the background throughout the book. His hometown of Buenos Aires got turned to rubble while Juan (Johnny) was still in basic training. His mother was killed, and he got an angry message from his aunt blaming him because he joined the military.

Dan

I thought about Starship Troopers, but it's complicated. Yes, the movie is pure satire, as already stated. Also as already stated, the original book was not. Heinlein really believed that shit.