565 - The Great Dictator (1940) with Kevin Allison of Risk! and The State
This week we are joined by special-guest Kevin Allison (of Risk! The Podcast and The State) to talk about a powerful and hilarious film: Charlie Chaplin\u2019s\xa0The Great Dictator.
So, you know when fed-up people call fascists on their practices and they respond by saying they aren\u2019t \u201ctechnically\u201d fascists? \xa0So then they are pressured to walk back their language a little bit and the criticism gets all muddied on a point of semantics based on strict political definitions? \xa0Like when a leader who clearly would have been pretty cool with Nazi tactics and ideology gets all butt-hurt because his political party is technically called something else? \xa0So, fearing a populist backlash, studio films tend to hold back on that metaphor, coming at the subject from a more oblique angle? You know who didn\u2019t placate to these pressures and just made a movie about Nazis and how much they sucked? \xa0Who didn\u2019t pull a single punch and made out Hitler and his cronies to be petulant, childish, narcissistic, and still incredibly dangerous? \xa0The Little Tramp himself: Charlie Chaplin.
If you\u2019d like to watch ahead for next week\u2019s film, we will be watching Celine Sciamma\u2019s\xa0Portrait of a Lady on Fire\xa0(2019) with special guests Briana McZant and Maddy McZant of Chapter One: Take Two.
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