Review of American Animals (2018) by Mickey S — 28 Jun 2018
Tough to give this one star because it's a well-crafted, well-performed, well-written film. However, in the context of our current awareness of ongoing racial injustice in this country, this film is about the least "woke" piece of garbage imaginable.
It's the story of four privileged, spoiled white boys who deal with their ennui in a way that only privileged, spoiled white boys could. And what do they get for their arrogant, megalomaniacal stupidity? Light prison sentences and a film deal in which their egotism is romanticized into heroism and comedic boys-will-be-boys absolution.
Were these young men of color these events would not have taken nearly the same trajectory, and not pointing THAT out is the unforgivable failure of this film. This film adds to the white supremacist mythology that the evil of young white men is mere naivete.
Weeping parents, teacher testimonials, even a head-scratching dismissal by their primary victim all transmit and bolster the sympathy we offer naive, middle-class white boys. Want to know why researchers find that young people of color are perceived as less innocent and naive than their white counterparts? See this film and you'll see how we keep that myth alive.
Whoever greenlighted this project is complicit. This is disgusting.
This review of American Animals (2018) was written by Mickey S on 28 Jun 2018.
American Animals has generally received positive reviews.
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