By Steve Evans
Let's play a game of perception v. reality.
Let's play a game of perception v. reality.
On this day in 1934 the murderous bank robbing duo Bonnie
and Clyde were machine-gunned to death in an ambush set by a posse of Louisiana
and Texas law enforcement.
Arthur Penn's celebrated 1967 film that bears their names
did no favors for the historical record, although accuracy was not Penn's
intent. Though possessed of low cunning, the real Bonnie and Clyde could best
be characterized as moronic and sleazy -- quite a departure from their charming
cinematic counterparts Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty.
Penn's film treats the pair as folk heroes and they were embraced as such by audiences watching the film at the height of the counterculture. The paradox here is that despite the picture's many liberties with historical accuracy, Bonnie and Clyde in their heyday were indeed heroes to many victims of the Great Depression, people who were angry at the system, at the banks Bonnie and her beau enjoyed robbing.
I could draw parallels here to Trump supporters, those disaffected yahoos who root for a rebel as balm (or distraction) for their own problems. There's no doubt in my mind that the rise of Trump coming on the heels of the Great Recession is no mere coincidence. His ascension is a maneuver of pure exploitation as clever as any Hollywood rendering of historical record.
Make no mistake: Bonnie and Clyde were only out for themselves. Trump is no different, as evidenced by each new day. He's just a little more polished than Clyde, a bit more slick.
As it happened, the frivolity came to an end for Miss Bonnie and her Clyde on May 23, 1934. Penn's film, in a daring-for-its-day climax, also brings harsh reality crashing down on the antiheroes of his long frolic of a film. It's a classic example of yanking the rug out from under an audience, forcing viewers to confront, finally, the nasty truth of the characters they've been rooting for and maybe don't even understand why.
Wondering if the Donnie Trump Story can deliver a conclusion at least as exciting.
Cinema Uprising copyright © 2018 by Stephen B. Evans. All rights reserved.
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