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thought experiment
Sep. 17th, 2024 01:57 pmI thought this when I first watched it, and I still think this:
it is fascinating to imagine a US resident from, say, January 2011 watching the Celebrating America special from January 20, 2021 and trying to work out what had happened in the intervening ten years.
Why is Tom Hanks speaking with steely resolve? Why is he reassuring me that the nation's capital has been secured? Why are there no live audiences for these musical performances or speeches? Why are people standing so far from each other? Why are we talking about doctors and nurses so much? Was there a bioterrorist attack?
If the 46th President has just been inaugurated, what happened with #45 and why is no one mentioning their name? Why are #44, #43, and #42 having a conversation about unity and supporting the new guy, across party lines, and how the new guy can count on their support, but the most recent tenant at the Resolute Desk is not present to say the same thing? Is this a damnatio memoriae situation? Did they die?
The tone of the whole thing, to me in 2024, brings home how much we had just been through and were still going through. What they emphasize, what they refrain from explicitly saying, the song choices, everything. And I find a kind of grim reassurance in it. Like: yes, it really was that bad. You aren't misremembering that. Your scars come from something real.
it is fascinating to imagine a US resident from, say, January 2011 watching the Celebrating America special from January 20, 2021 and trying to work out what had happened in the intervening ten years.
Why is Tom Hanks speaking with steely resolve? Why is he reassuring me that the nation's capital has been secured? Why are there no live audiences for these musical performances or speeches? Why are people standing so far from each other? Why are we talking about doctors and nurses so much? Was there a bioterrorist attack?
If the 46th President has just been inaugurated, what happened with #45 and why is no one mentioning their name? Why are #44, #43, and #42 having a conversation about unity and supporting the new guy, across party lines, and how the new guy can count on their support, but the most recent tenant at the Resolute Desk is not present to say the same thing? Is this a damnatio memoriae situation? Did they die?
The tone of the whole thing, to me in 2024, brings home how much we had just been through and were still going through. What they emphasize, what they refrain from explicitly saying, the song choices, everything. And I find a kind of grim reassurance in it. Like: yes, it really was that bad. You aren't misremembering that. Your scars come from something real.
