565 - The Great Dictator (1940) with Kevin Allison of Risk! and The State
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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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