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Culture War Roundup for the week of December 5, 2022

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Last night I watched the absurdly stupid and awful-looking surprise hit movie of 2022, the Tollywood epic RRR.

Absurdly stupid? Yes. Awful-looking? Only if you're expecting Hollywood-level SFX/CGI and aren't used to South Indian cinema approach to 'realism' in stunts etc. (which is basically "physics is for wusses, does it look cool on-screen?")

Look, I'm Irish, any movie which portrays British colonialism as the baddies is going to have some sympathetic attention from me 😁

Think of it as nationalist mythology, every country has its own foundation myths. Do you think an American movie about the Revolutionary War is going to be any more concerned about "Redcoats Bad"?

One of the protagonists has the stated goal of “putting a rifle in the hand” of every colonial subject, and suggests that a bullet only attains its true value when it kills an immigrant (or, in this exact case, any white person).

Yes, but that is in response to the Head British Baddie declaring that the value of a bullet is more than the life of a native. Exploration of where this line comes from in Indian movies here.