And So it Begins…Our Beautiful, Dangerous Assignments, Part II

1/21/17

THIS HAS HAPPENED.

I’ve been repeating the phrase, “This has happened,” over and over like a mantra since the 2016 presidential election. I still don’t quite believe it.

The unfurling horror of it all has such a bizarre and surreal flavor to it. It feels like we’re in a futuristic, dystopian, apocalyptic comedy. Something Terry Gilliam might make. Something about the end of life on earth with all sorts of terror, and sci-fi wonders, and catastrophes. Danny Elfman might collaborate with Tom Waits on the sound-score.

And when the heroes look back to see how all the destruction started, they trace it to the barely plausible inauguration in 2017 of a millionaire reality TV celebrity who was born into extreme wealth, recklessly ran businesses all over the world, had no integrity or values, lied through his teeth throughout his career, mongered hate, and somehow convinced people that he was ordinary and an under-dog and “one of them.”.

“TrumpleThinSkin” they called him.

In the movie, the myths about TrumpleThinSkin all seemed too ridiculous to be true to our characters living in the 22nd century. But it was one terrible thing leading to another from the moment he took office, that eventually set off war after war after war, leading to the earth becoming an unending, radioactive rubbish pile.

And now it’s the heroes’ quest to right the wrongs. Perhaps they even have to travel into the past to somehow prevent TrumpleThinSkin from ever running for president, or being born. It’s a political, sci-fi comedy, in the tradition of Back to the Future, 12 Monkeys, Terminator, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and so many others.

The inauguration of TrumpleThinSkin is a part of the movie that we all suspend our disbelief in order to watch. Like time travel and giant CGI monsters. Someone like this being elected as president? Come on! We know this would never really happen, but it helps the plot and we want to escape into the movie so we allow it.

Hopefully this isn’t our future, and instead just paves the way for someone to create an entertaining B-movie down the road. But Donald Trump being the president of the U.S.A. is our present reality. We have to suspend our disbelief to take in this reality. This has happened. So what now?

This has happened. This has happened. This has happened.

It’s still not completely sinking in…

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