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WYO Explores the Pull of Gravity on "Changes"
Cinematic textures amid cool pop flavors.
07.03.2019
WYO
Monika Sed
Indie-pop outfit WYO just dropped their sophomore album, entitled Changes, featuring ten-tracks of lushly textured music narrating the tale of a couple trying to stay together even as circumstances conspire to divide them.
Vocalist Andy Sorge explains, "Changes explores the many colorful phases of a relationship and of life. From the album's start to finish, each song represents a new season of 'change.' It displays a wide range of nuanced emotion from song to song that follows the raw intricacies of both being in and out of phase with your partner, and being on and off course with life."
Currently based in L.A. via Jackson Hole, Wyoming, WYO is comprised of Andy Sorge (vocals, keyboards) and Scott McKay Gibson (multi-instrumentalist). Since releasing their debut album, Untamed, in 2018, WYO has shared the stage with Robert Earl Keen, Avi Buffalo, The Fruit Bats, and Whitehorse, along with composing soundtracks for films, documentaries, and commercials.
WYO - Moonlight youtu.be
Showcase tracks on Changes include "Don't Stop," opening on gleaming guitars riding a driving rhythmic pulse."Moonlight" ripples with effervescent colors flowing into an indie-pop melody rife with underlying seduction.
"Hot Lights" features glistening keyboards atop a hefty throbbing rhythm. Crying guitar accents infuse the tune with yearning , leading to an irresistible chorus. "Do It Alone" offers bluesy savors, while Sorge injects the lyrics with nuances of smoldering tumescence.
"Queen of the Bees" rides tropical hues. "Stay Awake" blends lingering pop sensibilities with retro-flavored guitars, simultaneously suggestive and dangerous.
Imagine a superlative balance of Coldplay and George Strait, with hints of Maroon 5 laced in for good measure. That's WYO—cool, silky, and zesty.
Follow WYO Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
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Film News
Gal Gadot's Cleopatra Biopic Is Missing Intersectionality
A very simple question: Was Cleopatra an Egyptian ruler?
10.19.2020
A very simple question: Was Cleopatra an Egyptian ruler?
If you didn't know, the answer is yes. Do we, as a global consumer society, have access to internationally-acclaimed Egyptian actors who could potentially play the role of Cleopatra? That answer is also yes. So, could Patty Jenkins, the director of an upcoming Cleopatra biopic, have picked an Egyptian actor to portray one of the most iconic Egyptian rulers in the country's history? Say it with me: Yes.
<div id="5186e" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="33b563b6656286b7184d80fc0bfbe392"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1315443922957729792" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">As you might have heard I teamed up with @PattyJenks and @LKalogridis to bring the story of Cleopatra, Queen of Egy… https://t.co/LUtuQQuAB3</div> — Gal Gadot (@Gal Gadot)<a href="https://twitter.com/GalGadot/statuses/1315443922957729792">1602461245.0</a></blockquote></div><p>In light of <em>Wonder Woman</em>'s Gal Gadot being announced to play the historic Egyptian queen, Twitter has been in an <a href="https://twitter.com/Complex/status/1315375321131167746?s=20" target="_blank">uproar</a>. As an Egyptian American, I feel like it's helpful to acknowledge simple history before we get too carried away breaking down each other's 23andMe scores. <a href="https://twitter.com/AbdulElSayed/status/1315431912895320065?s=20" target="_blank">Many</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/SameeraKhan/status/1315338540306313217?s=20" target="_blank">feel</a> that picking an Egyptian, or even North African, actor to portray Cleopatra would have been more faithful to her cultural heritage.<br></p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-632"></div>
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<!-- End Ezoic - under_second_paragraph - under_second_paragraph --><p></p><p>The debate gets even dicier as defenders of Gadot's casting have been <a href="https://twitter.com/BlackMajikMan90/status/1315323196548276224?s=20" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">all</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/NathalieWriter/status/1315349521271054336?s=20" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">too</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/roberthchapman/status/1315532547019988992?s=20" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">eager</a> to point out that Cleopatra herself was of Greek descent, and therefore the role is up for grabs for any Greek-passing actor. Probably the most infuriating, gaslighting<a href="https://twitter.com/LKalogridis/status/1315426753175785472?s=20" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> tweet</a> is from the writer of the untitled film, Laeta Kalogridis, who undercut Cleopatra's Egyptianness entirely by calling her the "the most famous Macedonian Greek woman in history." Pardon my language, Kalogridis, but kindly f*ck off. Why don't you wait until you've written the movie before you try to rob Egypt of its history? </p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-633"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent1 - mid_content --></p><p>What are we even debating?</p><p>First, race-matching doesn't work here. As NYU historian Arash Azizi<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/gal-gadot-cleopatra-new-movie-about-egyptian-queen-causing-misplaced-ncna1243743?cid=sm_npd_nn_fb_ma&fbclid=IwAR3Uzwtycn1GPnOSxusc-hMEmwFpk6Ll1fPXWMKeXVfow7WhFJcqXN1xCqk" target="_blank"> puts it</a>: "The fact that neither [Cleopatra's or Gadot's] background can be easily distilled shows why it's wrong to insist that artists fit rigid identity boxes to qualify for a role." So if you fell down this Twitter rabbithole of people pointing fingers about who's more qualified to portray whom, then you might not make it out the other side.<br></p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-635"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent2 - long_content --></p><p>So let's keep it simple: Gal Gadot is of Middle Eastern descent. As white-passing as she is, her DNA isn't up for debate. So if you want to say casting her as a Middle Eastern leader is culturally appropriate, fine. But apparently, hiring an Egyptian actor was never an option for the project in the first place, since the idea reportedly came from<a href="https://deadline.com/2020/10/cleopatra-gal-gadot-patty-jenkins-movie-deal-paramount-pictures-wonder-woman-reteam-laeta-kalogridis-writing-1234595246/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Gadot herself</a>. So the reason <a href="https://twitter.com/MorganJerkins/status/1315333271438462981?s=20" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">people are upset</a> that a darker-skinned actor wasn't chosen to play Cleopatra has nothing to do with historical accuracy and more to do with North Africans not seeing ourselves in films about our own history. When Americans think of Cleopatra, they may think of <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/1998/03/elizabeth-taylor-199803" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Elizabeth Taylor</a>, but when I think of Cleopatra, I think of an Egyptian.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-636"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent22 - long_content --></p><p>What worries me about this Cleopatra biopic is what it has in common with every single other Cleopatra biopic: an entirely white creative team. Jenkins herself is no slouch; she reached international acclaim for her 2003 Academy-award-winning film, <em>Monster</em>, starring Charlize Theron and Christina Ricci. When she was tapped to direct the first Wonder Woman film in the DC Extended Universe in 2017, she made arguably the best-received blockbuster of that summer. In addition to its critical success, <em>Wonder Woman</em> brought in over $800 million against a reported $120 million budget. This was in no small part to Gal Gadot's <a href="https://time.com/4606107/wonder-woman-breaks-through/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">fan favorite</a> performance as the Amazonian Princess, reprising her role from the critically disastrous, albeit financially successful, <em>Batman v Superman</em> film in 2016.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-637"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent3 - longer_content --></p><p>Jenkins and Gadot were <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/01/movies/wonder-woman-gal-gadot-patty-jenkins.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">regarded as an unstoppable duo</a>, successfully shattering a cinematic glass-ceiling that seemingly existed purely out of<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/may/26/wonder-woman-director-patty-jenkins-people-really-thought-that-only-men-loved-action-movies" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> patriarchal ignorance</a>. Together they proved that not only was there room in Hollywood for a summer blockbuster with a leading woman – there was a craving for it. So after the inevitable <em>Wonder Woman</em> sequel wrapped in 2018, Jenkins and co. set their sights on… a Cleopatra biopic?</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-638"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent33 - longer_content --></p><p>This film is less about telling an authentic story of Cleopatra and more a vehicle for Gadot and Jenkins to flex their filmmaking might. This is made all too clear by Gadot's<a href="https://twitter.com/GalGadot/status/1315444129346789376?s=20" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> tweet</a> regarding the film: "To tell [Cleopatra's] story for the first time through women's eyes, both behind and in front of the camera." Nowhere in that statement does she mention an interest in honoring or elevating the history and culture of Egypt – which, personally, I find more important than simply telling the story of Cleopatra "through women's eyes." By that, I mean it matters <em>which</em> women's eyes.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-639"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent4 - longest_content --></p><p>America (and the West at large) has a duplicitous habit of producing Euro-centric depictions of the Middle East whereby<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Philippe_de_Champaigne_-_Moses_with_the_Ten_Commandments_-_WGA04717.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> white people are portrayed</a> as the main arbiters of influence. I appreciated writer Hannah Flint's <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/oct/14/gal-gadot-cleopatra-backwards-step-for-hollywood-representation" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">succinct take</a>: "From <em>The Ten Commandments</em> to… nearly every movie in <em>The Mummy</em> franchise… North Africans are either sidelined, underwritten, negatively portrayed or erased to centre white characters and – especially – to champion white saviors."</p><p>This is harmful representation for all Middle Easterners – and that includes Gal Gadot. It indirectly asserts that white people are the ones who are important to Middle Eastern history, and we, as darker-skinned descendants of the people of that time, are less important. </p><p>To be clear, when you look at Hollywood's track record for depicting Cleopatra in particular, it's <a href="https://youtu.be/UsKK9Z4EUrQ" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">very clear</a> she deserves to be portrayed in a story outside the licentious bounds of the male gaze. On the whole, Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot make an incredibly capable and invigorating team; they are without a doubt the future of big-budget Hollywood hit-makers.</p><p>But when it comes to depicting Middle Eastern history that has long been marred and exploited through a western lens, intersectionality – not just feminism – is needed to give our stories the dignity and respect they deserve. If the only thing Patty Jenkins, Laeta Kalogridis, and Gal Gadot are attempting to do with this film is <em>not</em> to depict Cleopatra from a male gaze, I don't feel that's enough to sincerely do justice to my country's history.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-640"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent44 - longest_content --></p><h2></h2><p>But when it comes to depicting Middle Eastern history that has long been marred and exploited through a western lens, intersectionality – not just feminism – is needed to give our stories the dignity and respect they deserve. If the only thing Patty Jenkins, Laeta Kalogridis, and Gal Gadot are attempting to do with this film is <em>not</em> to depict Cleopatra from a male gaze, I don't feel that's enough to sincerely do justice to my country's history.</p>
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Film Reviews
"Trial of the Chicago 7" Is a Cautionary Tale for the "Radical Left"
Aaron Sorkin's new film tells a familiar story of a divided America that takes on new relevance in October 2020.
10.19.2020
At one point in Aaron Sorkin's new film, Trial of the Chicago 7, a crowd of protestors round a street corner and are confronted by row upon row of armed forces.
As they face down the police and the military, and someone with a megaphone begins telling them to stand back, I couldn't help thinking of some of the protests I attended in NYC this summer. The scene sent me straight back to a moment when protestors ran out over the Brooklyn Bridge towards rows of police. It's one of the many moments in the film—which takes place in 1968—that feel eerily reminiscent of 2020.
Though it takes place deep in the crosshairs of the '60s, Aaron Sorkin's Trial of the Chicago 7—which debuted on Netflix this weekend—is clearly meant to remind us of today's political landscape. From its underlying narratives about police brutality to its emphasis on the brokenness of the U.S. government and depiction of a fractured so-called "radical left," the film was clearly saved specifically for this moment.
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<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">The Trial of the Chicago 7 | Official Trailer | Netflix Film</small>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVb6EdKDBfU" target="_blank">www.youtube.com</a>
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<!-- End Ezoic - incontent1 - mid_content --></p><p><em>Trail of the Chicago 7</em> feels designed for <em>this </em>particular October, where we are caught in between a summer of anti-police brutality protests and a fall that could be filled with political protests, the nature of which depends on who wins at the polls and whether Trump decides to concede, should he lose.<br></p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-634"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent11 - mid_content --></p><p>This story has been <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/consumer-reviews/sns-nyt-chicago-7-netflix-20201019-mnfozaaxrrgbpi4nkvayrzhcou-story.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>told before</u></a>. <em>Trial of the Chicago 7</em> is Aaron Sorkin's sardonic take on the infamous 1968 trial, which followed Chicago riots outside the Democratic Convention that August. The protests, namely anti-Vietnam war efforts in response to Lyndon B. Johnson's wartime policies, drew over 15,000 people. They broke curfew; the police charged; blood and tear gas were spilled. </p><p><!-- Ezoic - under_second_paragraph - under_second_paragraph -->
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<!-- End Ezoic - under_second_paragraph - under_second_paragraph --><p></p><p>Eight people who attended the riots were later indicted, and their endless trial is the plot of the film. The eight include Yippie organizer Abbie Hoffman, played by a brilliant Sacha Baron Cohen, and an acid-fueled Jerry Rubin, played by Jeremy Strong. </p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-635"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent2 - long_content --></p><p>Eddie Redmayne is Tom Hayden, the ambitious and poised leader of the Students for Democratic Society who had led occupations at Columbia University earlier that year. Alex Sharp is Rennie Davis, Hayden's friend who was beaten badly by police during the protests and who keeps a running list of Vietnam deaths throughout the trial. Then there's David Dellinger, the pacifist leader of the National Mobilization Committee, a seasoned activist decades older than his compatriots.</p><p>And then there's Bobby Seale (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), a Black Panther who clearly never should have been on trial at all, as he was only in Chicago for two days, did not have his lawyer present, and wasn't involved in organizing the protests. </p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-636"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent22 - long_content --></p><p><strong>The trial was so theatrical and chaotic in real life that even then it practically begged to be dramatized, and it has been many times over the years. </strong>From the beginning, it was clear that this was not to be an ordinary event—early on, the insane Judge Julius Hoffman clarified that Abbie Hoffman was not his relative, prompting the latter to cry out, "Dad, dad, have you forsaken me?!" At one point, Hoffman and his co-organizer Jerry Rubin showed up in judge's robes; when asked to remove them, they revealed police uniforms underneath. </p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-637"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent3 - longer_content --></p><p>The actual trial featured so many surreal moments that the film couldn't even come close to including all of them.<strong> Instead, the movie is less of a historical document than a theatrical reinterpretation of an era.</strong> (Allen Ginsberg is mentioned briefly, but the fact that he delivered a <a href="https://allenginsberg.org/2019/12/w-d-11-allen-ginsberg-chicago-trial-testimony-2/?fbclid=IwAR0r2HE_Ak9-idtVbiZkdb9_gedPI_3wA8_bb2MNy0UrUAIx8rMpGu4XhVM" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>long, obscene testimony full of poetry and chants during the actual trial</u></a> is conveniently left out, as are other testimonies by the likes of Phil Ochs; even so, the movie does a good job of paying tribute to the hippies). </p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-638"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent33 - longer_content --></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
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<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 Real Life Characters and Ending Explained!</small>
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</p><p><br></p><h4>Sacha Baron Cohen and Eddie Redmayne Shine</h4><p>This tension—between performance and activism—carries on throughout the film. Sacha Baron Cohen's Abbie Hoffman balances intelligence and revolutionary spirit with comedic dryness, whereas Eddie Redmayne's character, Tom Hayden, frames himself as Abbie's opposite, a student dedicated to ending the war in Vietnam and obsessed with respectability during the trial and eventually making change by winning elections.<br></p><p>But it quickly becomes clear that Tom is no poised angel, and his respectability isn't always in alignment with his actions. This isn't the first time Redmayne has played a student revolutionary (remember <a href="https://www.popdust.com/lets-get-miserable-les-mis-soundtrack-likely-to-hit-number-one-next-we-1889588359.html" target="_self"><u>Marius</u></a>), but here his performance is rougher and more unhinged; ultimately, he does a good job of playing the genuine radical at odds with his desire to succeed inside the system. </p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-639"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent4 - longest_content --></p><p>And then there's Bobby Seale, a Black Panther who was falsely accused of killing a police officer at the time of trial. At one point, Seale turns to Hayden and says that his whole revolution act might be rooted in rebellion against his father, but he has to understand how "that's a little different from a rope on a tree." It's a time-stopping moment that draws the film out of its own echo chamber and shocks it into a space of uncanny relevance.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDUzNDY0OC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzOTYzODM3MH0.m_AJA6arRp70jCBy2K0ZTH-JVpVz9fDdgNSjFyeGVWs/img.jpg?width=980" id="861c9" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="195f05c7edba15e6374c56e21fab1f7a" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="trial of the chicago 7">
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit..."><a href="https://thefilmstage.com/first-trailer-for-aaron-sorkins-the-trial-of-the-chicago-7/" target="_blank">Thefilmstage.com</a></small></p><p>At one point, after confronting the judge and calling him a fascist and racist, Seale is bound and gagged in court—a spectacle that eventually results in his being released from the trial (turning the eight into seven). The scene shocks the jury and courtroom, sharpening their perspective and changing the mood of the trial.<br></p><p>At the end of the movie, Hayden stands and reads out a list of 4,725 names of soldiers lost in Vietnam—a list that his friend had been keeping since the beginning of the film, so they could remember what they're all fighting for. Perspective is what the organizers all want to instill, and perhaps it's what the film aims to achieve as well, though both often lose it in the theatricality of it all.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-640"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent44 - longest_content --></p><h4>Lessons from 1968 to 2020: The "Radical Left" and Police Violence</h4><p>One of the most striking things about the film is the way it resonates with the politics of today's America. In 1968, a war was killing thousands, young people were being forcibly drafted, Martin Luther King Jr. had been shot, and protestors sparred with cops and the military in the streets. <strong>Life was volatile, it was the dawning of the Age of Aquarius, and revolution felt inevitable. 50 years later, so much and yet so little seems to have changed.</strong> </p><p>We may no longer have the draft, but America is deeply fractured. The <a href="https://www.popdust.com/police-violence-against-protesters-2646148384.html" target="_self"><u>police continue to incite violence</u></a> in the street as protestors eat tear gas nightly while being blamed for rioting and looting. Racial justice issues continue to divide America, as do corrupt and biased judges (Hoffman's horrifying performance is oddly <a href="https://www.popdust.com/amy-coney-barrett-2648143062.html" target="_self"><u>reminiscent of Amy Coney Barrett's</u></a>, if only in its surreality and hypocrisy).</p><p>At the heart of the film is the so-called "radical left"—a faction that, in fact, doesn't really exist, but that continues to terrify centrists and the right. Today's so-called left lacks anything as tangible as Vietnam to unify it; but then again, the left has always been a tangle of organizations and contradictions. Today, these organizations run the gamut from Indivisible chapters whose sole objective is to oust Trump to full-on police abolitionists. </p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-641"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - bottomofpage - bottom_of_page --></p><p>Some things have changed. There are more female leaders. Extinction Rebellion may be the closest thing we have left to the hippie movement. Climate change, which was not on anyone's radar in 1968, looms over everything. Economic inequality is worse than ever. </p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDUzNDUwMy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNDA1NTk2OX0.2KYQ7OYax4mqK5hhhZsz1GlnQ60ykTJFwu11rg237Pw/img.jpg?width=980" id="c1262" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="311c921567174fe4ad24c9d48e8d156a" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Jerry Rubin during a riot ">
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit..."><a href="https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2020/oct/09/the-trial-of-the-chicago-7/" target="_blank">NWA Online</a></small></p><p>Other things have stayed the same. P<strong>olice have continued acting as arms of the state and legally killing people, and in response, Black Lives Matter briefly managed to unify and rally the left.</strong> Now, in the fallout of a wild summer, debates continue over the merits of nonviolence while riot police continue to spew tear gas. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands have died of COVID-19.<br></p><p>The current Democratic candidate is a centrist who leftists are throwing themselves behind because they have no choice. Clearly, the revolutions of the 1960s failed to generate the new and radical future that its orchestrators dreamed of. </p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-645"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent_4 645 - longest_content --></p><h4>The Legacy of the Chicago Seven in 2020</h4><p>At one point, the seven men on trial gather together in a room and start arguing about whether victory is political or cultural, and Abbie and Tom nearly get in a fistfight. They then look at each other and Abbie sarcastically marvels at the fact that the seven of them, who can't even be in a room without trying to punch each other, couldn't stop a war.</p><p>A year after the trial, Tom Wicker wrote in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1996/04/14/magazine/race-and-rights-aug-24-1969-chicago-where-all-america-was-radicalized.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u><em>The New York Times</em></u></a> that the Chicago Seven trial "tore the rubber masks of affluence and power and security off American society and gave the nation a new view of itself — challenged and unsure, contorted and afraid, in contention for its own soul." </p><p>Today, that mask of security has been burned like bras in a Woodstock bonfire, and the ugly face of American power structures are fully visible (at least to anyone who hasn't always been aware of them).<strong> As Joe Biden takes up arms to "fight for the soul of America," it's clear that a change is gonna come—in fact, change has been coming. But what that change will look like may depend on whether the left is able to get itself together.</strong> </p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-646"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent_9 646 - incontent_9 --></p><p>Today's left may have the best interests of people at heart, and progressives may truly want to stop poverty and climate change and racial violence. But unless the left somehow unifies and overcomes its internal violence and divisiveness, as the movie (and history) seem to imply, it will continue to fracture. </p><h2></h2><p><!-- Ezoic - under_second_paragraph - under_second_paragraph -->
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