Editor's note: The following article was prepared for the print edition of Fight Back!, which is now on hold due to the pandemic.

Jacksonville, FL – I'm not sure how we'll look back at film in the 2010s. Much of it already seems like a blur, leaving me asking questions like, “Was that the Batman movie with Ben Affleck or Christian Bale?” or “Which of the five Spider-Man and five Star Wars movies did you like the best?”

Jacksonville, FL – It’s tempting to say the outrageous moral panic and woke-scolding over Joker made it a less effective movie. Tempting but wrong. What really undid this Scorsese-esque ‘supervillain’ film was the rampant over-production of comic book movies (and television shows) in the last three decades.

Jacksonville, FL – The outcome of Jacksonville’s 2019 runoff elections looked remarkably like the general election back in March. Even fewer people participated in the runoff, which saw voter turnout sink from an already dismal 24% in March to just 14.35% two months later. By all accounts, Republicans came out on top. Dixie money ruled the day again, with the candidate who raised and spent the most money winning every single runoff.

Jacksonville, FL – Dixie money rules in Jacksonville, Florida, but it shouldn’t.

Jacksonville, FL – With 58% of the vote, Republican Mayor Lenny Curry outright won re-election as mayor of Jacksonville, Florida on March 19. Sheriff Mike Williams, also a Republican, garnered about 62% of the vote, easily trouncing Democrat challenger Tony Cummings. Republicans also won Property Appraiser and Tax Collector by sizable margins.

Jacksonville, FL – We’re in an era of capitalism cannibalizing itself. Look at the Trump tax cuts that handed out $1.5 trillion to corporations, which then used the windfall to take out loans, buy back their own stock, and inflate their share prices – all to attract more investors and repeat the cycle! Since art reflects our social conditions, we’d expect to see this same ‘cannibal capitalism’ at play in our movies and television – and we’d be right.

Jacksonville, FL – As the partial government shutdown entered its 35th day on January 25, federal workers gave the country a lesson in the power of labor. Citing “a slight increase in sick leave” at two of the largest air traffic control centers on the eastern seaboard, the Federal Aviation Authority ordered a 90-minute ground stop for flights going into LaGuardia Airport in New York City.

Jacksonville, FL – In 2018, I saw fewer movies in theaters than any time since age 3 or 4. It wasn’t just because the high price of tickets and snacks practically requires taking out a small loan. There’s a real lack of original storytelling in American films – especially horror and science fiction – and I’ve gotten tired of countless remakes, reboots, sequels, prequels, sequels to prequels, and so on.

Part two of two

This is part two of a two-part series. View part one here. The specter of socialism in South Florida