It's been fun reading people's responses to National Review's already infamous list of the "25 best conservative movies of the last 25 years," which features obvious choices like Red Dawn and Forrest Gump and Metropolitan, as well as baffling surprises like Ghostbusters and—wait, Brazil?! Yup, Brazil, because it "vividly" depicts "the miserable results of elitist utopian schemes." Brazil is obviously something out of Orwell's anti-Commie nightmares, sure, but I can't wait to hear Terry Gilliam's response to that. The Dark Knight is also on the list, which makes perfect sense, according to the arguments of at least two smart people. I wound up in a group email exchange about the list's absurdity, and my friend Harper Langston nicely summed up a contradiction:
It's off that they like The Dark Knight because of the Patriot Act aspect of it—that is, unbridled surveillance power used supposedly for good: a totalitarian act. Yet they like Brazil because it shows defiance in the face of unchecked power and surveillance. Basically, they want the government to spy on everyone except themselves.
Exactly. National Review's assessment of Dark Knight also refers to the "stubborn integrity" of George W. Bush. Now that's funny.
