Peter Sellers as The Imperial Me |
I’ve written several “New Year” entries, some hopeful, some less so, such as this one after the Trump-inspired violence and invasion of the Capitol on Jan. 6,2021.
Also, this is not the first time I found a profoundly eerie prescient message in an old movie such as the dialogue from the 1957 film A Face in the Crowd , written by Budd Schulberg and Directed by Elia Kazan, about the power of a megalomaniac. There are parallels to Trump’s first run at the White House.
On Christmas Eve Turner Classic Movies carried Carol for Another Christmas, Ron Serling’s warning to the world about the consequences of a nuclear holocaust modeled after the Dickens’ Christmas classic.
While Serling’s 1964 TV movie is focused on the doomsday clock, a portion of the film directly relates to where we seem to be going in a 2nd Trump administration: controlling the masses for the benefit of a few while abandoning decency and honor and lawfulness. It is also ironic that the main character in the film is named “Grudge” as grudge seems to be a motivating factor in Trump’s Cabinet choices, all seemingly designed to destabilize societal norms.
The film portrays a wealthy industrialist, Daniel Grudge (Sterling Hayden), who like Scrooge, needs a lesson in ignoring the needs of mankind. As Wikipedia details, Grudge emerges into destroyed ruins that he recognizes as having been his local town hall, where he encounters the Ghost of Christmas Future (Shaw). This Ghost explains that the town hall was wrecked in a disastrous nuclear conflict that killed most of the world's people. A handful of survivors enter, led by a demagogue called "Imperial Me" (Sellers) who wears a Santa suit and a cowboy hat cut into a crown. The crowd cheers as Imperial Me is paraded in and gives a speech exhorting each person to act as an individual in their own self-interest. Grudge watches his butler, Charles (Rodriguez), try unsuccessfully to convince the crowd that acting collectively for the greater good of all is essential for humanity's survival.
It is the dialogue that begins with Peter Seller’s appearance, playing a cult leader (sound familiar?) by the name of “Imperial Me” (sound familiar?) who gleefully whips up the rage of his followers to abandon all vestiges of civility and law (sound familiar?)
Here’s the part that can serve as a metaphor for Trump’s role in January 6:
IMPERIAL ME: Now, folks, the first item on today's agenda is this business of the people from down yonder and the people from across river wanting to come in here and talk about what they call our mutual problems, our common differences.
[ Crowd murmurs ]
Now, they want to talk, talk, talk, talk, talk about our problems. They want to debate, debate, debate about solutions until somehow they get their problems solved. They want to waste our time. They want us to commit ourselves to that kind of surrender.
[ Indistinct shouting ]
Unpatriotic!
They're...
They're insane.
Unpatriotic!
[ Shouting stops ]
Now, then. They don't come out in so many words and say that they want to take us over.
[ Chuckles ]
They're too clever for that..But that's what they want. They want to take over us individual me. And if we let them seep in here from down yonder and across river, if we let these do-gooders, these bleeding hearts propagate their insidious doctrine of involvement among us, then, my dear friends, my beloved mes, we'se in trouble...Deep, deep trouble.
[ Laughter ]
And because...Because we have now reached a pure state of civilization, the world of the ultimate me is finally within our grasp...This world where only the strong will exist, where only the powerful will love, where finally the word "we" will be stamped out and will become "I" forever. Because we are each the wise...We are each the strong...And we are each the individual mes!
[ All chanting "me!" ]
[ Chanting continues ]
CHARLES: Listen! Listen! No, listen!
CROWD: No!
CHARLES: Please!
CROWD: No!
CHARLES: Listen! Listen to me!
[ Chanting continues ]
Please, let me speak!
[ Chanting stops ]
IMPERIAL ME: Let him speak.
CHARLES: To the best of our knowledge, we are all of humanity who remain alive, all that's left. Now, we have survived the Holocaust, and if we are to go on surviving, we must work together now. We must talk together.
[ Light laughter ]
And if other people want to join us, if they want to talk with us, we... we must listen to them.
[ Laughter ]
And we must respond to them. We must begin again. We must have law again and ethics and honor and decency.
[ Laughter ]
These things were not destroyed by the bomb!
[ Laughter continues ]
This time, they must be made real! They must be made facts! Only these things can guarantee our survival!
[ Laughter continues ]
The potential goodness of man.
[ Laughter continues ]
The potential morality of man.
[ Laughter continues ]
The capability... that's it! The capability of human beings to achieve dignity and decency. Together! Not "I" or "they," but "we." Don't you understand? The only alternative to that is nothing! Don't you see that, people?! Don't you see?!
[ Laughter continues ]
[ Microphone bangs ]
IMPERIAL ME: That's enough. Bring him over here. Come. Bring him over here. You are charged with the treason of involvement. You are charged with the subversion of the individual me. How do you plead?
WOMAN: Guilty, guilty!
ALL: Guilty, guilty, guilty!
[ All shouting ]
[ Microphone bangs ]
[ Shouting stops ]
IMPERIAL ME: You anything to say? It's your right as an individual me, you know. Just say anything that comes in your head. You don't have to think about it. Just say it. Go ahead. Oh, you want to use the microphone?
CHARLES: I may be all the sanity that is left. I may be all the conscience that remains on earth. I can't let you kill me!
[ Laughter ]
The “treason of involvement and the subversion of the individual me,” chilling in every respect. This was the America when Trump left office and we voted for a reprise. The death of Jimmy Carter and the impending passing of the baton, again, to DJ Trump mark the laying to rest “we” and the reemergence of “me.”
It will be the 4th anniversary of the January 6th insurrection tomorrow. Indeed, the American Flag should fly at half mast out of respect for Jimmy Carter, but as well for abolishing justice for the events of January 6, 2021. At least there will be poetic justice: it still will be at half mast inauguration day.