I'm just copying and pasting my other post since there are several anti american threads about. But I'm pretty passionate about my view this movie is not anti American because Clint Eastwood did the same thing almost.
I don't believe it is anti-american. Although you could make a case for the closing credits, but I'll discuss those later. The closing credits didn't seem to have anything to do with the film. To say this film is anti American is to say Clint Eastwood is anti American for making High Plains Drifter and Unforgiven. Which is what this film reminded me of. Those films came first, so this film ripped off those films. And it is possible those films ripped off films that came before it. Not too many people are going to say Clint Eastwood is anti American for making dark movies of evil towns. The only reason they are saying this here is because the director is European.
The closing credits however, are a little different. But they seemed to be a cheap dig at capitalism. I say cheap, because it's easy to paint the worst of capitalism, but it's cheap because you aren't portraying the best of capitalism. If I may be so presumptuous, I'll include myself as the best of capitalism. I rose up from poor to upper middle class. I have no debt, and significant assets. People act like only the rich can invest in the stock market. That is not true. Much of my money was made that way. The rest was made using my brain (I do physical labor too, but that's not a major part of my job). Work smarter, not harder. Get an education, and by education I don't mean BS classes for a piece of paper, I mean actually improve how your brain thinks, and try to learn to think logically and problem solve. The left will have you believe it is impossible to raise to a higher economic class in this country, I call BS because I have done it. And if I had kids, I have enough money to send them to an ivy league school, and they could be even richer than I. That's how you build wealth.
It's also cheap because you are not showing the worst of socialism. I didn't see any pictures of Caracas in the ending. Why not? Because the director was a weenie. He made a great movie, and almost ruined it by the closing credits. The closing credits had nothing to do with the movie. Unless the director is trying to imply that had the town's residents been wealthy with the extravagant wealth Socialism brings, they wouldn't have committed such evil acts. But I don't even think the director is that stupid. Only liberals in the U.S. are.
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wholesomebeans
10 years ago
For a brief moment there it seemed as though you might be making a serious attempt at constructing a coherent point of view. And then you went all cliche conservative on us.
What the *beep* is it with right-wing nutcases that no matter what subject material they happen to be commenting on, they'll inevitably drag it into the mud so they can rant about "dem damn commies" some more.
1. No one gives a rat's about your rags to riches story.
2. Only the most paranoid of GOP faithful would assume that the closing credits was an "attack on capitalism". Does the mere mention of The Great Depression leave you in a fit of capitalistic rage?
3. Your personal experience is in no way indicative of the experiences of many others who suffer as a result of unfettered capitalism.
Yet another conservative self-parody.
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crissttigaldames
10 years ago
While it's a general commentary on human nature, there's also a clear intention to talk about a supossed bad treatment of immigrants in the US and yes, capitalism. In that sense you can say it's anti-American.
I much prefer the psychological reading of the film than the political one.
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Zoomorph
8 years ago
I don't see any such political message in this film. If anything, the ending seems pro-Capitalism and anti-immigration. The psychology or morality that the film destroys in Grace is the morality held by communists.
~ Observe, and act with clarity. ~
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Diss
8 years ago
Yet another conservative self-parody.
I voted for Obama, and plan on voting Demo again, I'm not a conservative. The Republicans haven't been any good since the 50's (although realistically since the 19th century).
I support things like gay marriage, and I'm athiest. It's impossible for me to be a conservative. But I do believe in Capitalism (with regulations of course). It works. It's hardly perfect, but it works. You Bernie Sanders supporters can shove it. You belong in Venezuela.
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Zoomorph
8 years ago
The message of Grace's father in the film is somewhat similar to Trump's message, and to a classic American message: we (America or the Western world in general) have power, and it's waiting for us when we grow up, and we just have to assume it and take responsibility again and stop giving away our power to everyone else, believing that it's the "moral" or "good" thing to do (such a moral view is really just an even more egotistical and sick view than a more natural selfish view). The West is currently in decline and is allowing foreigners to take advantage of them and plunder their wealth (led by their own treacherous government) just as Grace allowed herself to be exploited and abused. Finally, hopefully, some day, we will say "enough" as she did and stand up for ourselves again.
~ Observe, and act with clarity. ~
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Drooch (5333)
3 years ago
I wonder if Von Trier, who has described himself as a ‘socialist’, realised that he accidentally made a film that exposes the evil and hypocrisy that lie at the heart of socialism, then scrambled to conceal this truth by shoving a montage of photos of America set to Bowie’s ‘The Young Americans’ at the end.
Or perhaps he cunningly always intended Dogville to dissect socialism and knew that if he plastered some anti-American pablum at the end he could get the braindead Lefty arthouse establishment to promote a film that savages their own ideology 🤣
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