I hesitated to write about a Nicholas Sparks movie,
because it would be obvious to the reader that I had watched a Nicholas Sparks
movie. But in my defense, I was interested in ‘The lucky one’ because it
starred one of the stars of a (sucky) semi-libertarian movie ‘Atlas shrugged,’ Taylor
‘Dagny’ Schilling.
What do you know, the film presents the state in a bad
light. Perhaps this was part of why Ms. Schilling was cast as the girl. I
dunno, and I couldn’t be bothered to google about it.
How is the state demonized? Well, for one thing, Zac
Efron’s Logan is a veteran of the Middle East, and his post-traumatic stress
disorder after his service is not glamorized at all in terms of ‘saving the
country’ or ‘defending our freedom.’ It simply ruins families.
 |
Worst line in a movie (‘Atlas shrugged’) in decades. Haven’t seen ‘Twilight’ yet though. |
Second, the contrabida of the movie is Schilling’s
character Beth’s ex-husband, sheriff and son of a powerful politician. By
exploiting his political privileges, he is able to keep Beth and their son Ben
in his sight, where they despair of ever leaving town to escape.
A more perceptive viewer just might infer
not just the inefficiency, but the outright danger, of having police protection
services monopolized by the state. Police monopolies bar people from choosing
their means of protection. Competition would otherwise encourage improvement of service, which
also involves some cooperation between competitors so as to best ensure clients’
safety.
And in worse cases, as in Beth’s situation, police monopolies
become the very threat to be opposed but for lack of choice of protector. I will not bother to narrate how all this was resolved, but safe to say it had nothing to do with government intervention.
So who would have thought? Nicholas Sparks is an
anarchist. Sometimes the best way to transmit ideas of freedom is via cheesy, oh-so-convenient-ending
mush!
No comments:
Post a Comment