Roger Schlafly of Eagle Forum writes today that the summer blockbusters “Elysium” and “World War Z” represent not only warnings against immigration reform, which his organization has strenuously opposed, but immigration in general. In a blog post titled “Anti-immigration summer movies,” Schlafly argues that the two films “seem to be saying that the Earth is being overrun by barbarians, and the only want to preserve a civilized society is to build walls to keep out the intruders, and to kill them when they try to invade.”
Apparently, Schlafly was rooting for the super-rich residents of Elysium, which he laments “lacks the political will to defend itself against the non-citizen attacks, so it is destroyed and ransacked.” He claims the film is “a warning against unrestricted immigration.” He suggests that World War Z has a similar message and that its zombie invasion is an allegory for immigration.
The big-budget, sci-fi, A-list-actor summer blockbuster movies are: Elysium,World War Z, Man of Steel, Oblivion, and Pacific Rim. All were fun to watch.
Do these have political messages? The first two seem to be saying that the Earth is being overrun by barbarians, and the only want to preserve a civilized society is to build walls to keep out the intruders, and to kill them when they try to invade.
Each movie has a hero who supposedly is saving the world, but he is really just pursuing his self-interests or trying to impress a woman who does not deserve it. The Brad Pitt character in WWZ reluctant to help fight the disease that is killing billions of people until he is forced. Then he burns up his mobile phone battery talking to his wife when he should have been reporting to his superiors. The country that does the best is Israel, because it builds walls to keep out the invading zombies.
In Elysium, Earth is overpopulated and miserable. A few people escaped, and created a better world. The Matt Damon character tries to sabotage that world so that he can steal their medical technology and remedy a horrible workplace accident. Instead he helps some woman he barely knows. The off-world civilization lacks the political will to defend itself against the non-citizen attacks, so it is destroyed and ransacked. As the Wash. Posts reviews, “Matt Damon storms the ultimate gated community”.
Some have suggested that Elysium is left-wing because of its theme to steal from the rich and give to the poor. Maybe so, but it is also a warning against unrestricted immigration.
