MovieChat Forums > The Edge (1997) Discussion > Very disturbing elitist/racist sub-text

Very disturbing elitist/racist sub-text


The film seems to imply that only the old-money blue-blood WASP has what it takes to survive the harsh elements, and that the black man and the self-made working-class guy do not.

I'm very surprised to see this message from one of America's pre-eminent Jewish play-writers but perhaps it is indicative of David Mamet's sad transition from a politically-moderate writer to a reactionary conservative. It is also more representative of a more controversial proposition, that Jews who were once demonised and treated along with other ethnic minorities as social outcasts and thus gravitated towards progressive left-wing causes like the civil rights movement, feminism and socialism in general, are now more likely to be, alongside the old-money WASPs, part of the 1% conservative elite, preaching Islamophobia, neo-liberalism and right-wing Zionism (and to be clear, I am a Zionist, who staunchly believes in the importance of the state of Israel, I'm just not a right-wing pro-Netanyahu one). Mamet's sympathy for the old-money WASPs over the less powerful and privileged characters is sadly representative of that betrayal of the progressive Jewish movements that preceded his generation.

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The black guy was an idiot, constantly whining and contributed nothing, he was too stupid to live. The other guy was a murdering criminal.

The smart guy lived.

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So in your little paralel universe only white people die and if a person of color dies it's rayyyy-cissss. Right.

Get the facts first - you can distort them later!

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HarveyManfredSinJohn:

The film seems to imply that only the old-money blue-blood WASP has...


You are racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic, you name it.

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...not to mention, misogynistic, misandristic, transphobic and every other 'phobic' word!!!

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You are stupid.

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OP is a total idiot lol.

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yea he went total way off base. This film isnt racist or any of that. It's a very well made film.

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I think the OP was overthinking things but I couldn't help but laugh at the "black guy dies first" trope. That guy was useless and basically used as a "redshirt".

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Go watch the movie again.

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Blah blah blah blah blah! If you're "disturbed" by this, you got problems.

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