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How capitalism underdeveloped Appalachia: The economic truth ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ ignores December 1, 2020 10:27 AM CDT By Michael Berkowitz
Fog hovers over a mountaintop as a cutout depicting a coal miner stands at a memorial to local miners killed on the job in Cumberland, Ky. Kentucky coal miners bled and died to unionize, but the days when King Coal dominated the lives of people here are long gone. The legacy of this exploitative period is missing, though, from Ron Howard s film adaptation of J.D. Vance s Hillbilly Elegy. | David Goldman / AP
Tired of the formulaic diet of high-density superhero fat clogging our entertainment arteries? The new Netflix series
The Queen’
s Gambit offers a brilliant, well-etched study of a different kind of superhero. Instead of non-stop fighting between cartoon characters representing good and evil,
Queen’
s Gambit is the story of growing up in a difficult society under adverse circumstances, amidst more subtle shadings of morality.
The show’s creators Scott Frank (
Out of Sight) and Allan Scott (
Don
’t Look Now) richly adapted Walter Tevis’s 1983 novel of the same name. The world of
Queen’
s Gambit spills out far beyond the chessboard. Orphanages drug children into compliance. High school society ostracizes the smart and the different. Right-wing politicians and religious institutions bully and bribe high achievers into propagandizing for them.
Director Frederick Wiseman has gifted us with a movie for our times.
City Hall is all about democracy how it works, who does it, and why it is so vital. In a time of authoritarian challenges, it could not be more important.
Wiseman’s documentary is a brilliant mosaic. He pieces together the work of civil servants in the City of Boston: public meetings, official functions, strategy sessions, field work. A civics lesson in action unfolds as we view police, building inspectors, teachers, garbage collectors, planners, parking enforcers, senior service assistants.
City staff and housing advocates strategize to cope with draconian Trump Administration rules which make it almost impossible to bring discrimination complaints. Service workers not only give public and staff instructions on how to cook but use the cooking to promote diversity and civic pride. Justices of the Peace conduct marriages. Emergency services and police deploy to protect lives and property.