Try to imagine a worse film for our current political climate than one that pits liberals and conservatives against each other in a violent, Hunger Games-esque encounter. The elites set out to kill the unenlightened “deplorables,” who in turn fight back.
Yes, this is exactly the type of satire our public discourse needs. All snark aside, I could be wrong; I haven’t seen the film, nor will I or anyone else have the opportunity to do so, at least for now.
The Hunt, an upcoming Universal thriller, had its release indefinitely canceled after criticism that it fell too quickly on the heels of this month’s mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton.
Despite the fact that the red state residents in the film appear to be its heroes, many Trump supporters weren’t happy about The Hunt, either. President Trump himself, apparently referencing the film, tweeted, “The movie coming out is made in order to inflame and cause chaos.” Trump was wrong about The Hunt being anti-conservative, of course. The “deplorables” are victims of the classist, intolerant elites.
Some Twitter users claimed that it was Trump’s fault the film was pulled, crying state-directed censorship. But the movie is probably not worth censoring.
Universal didn’t have to pull the film from its Sept. 27 release, though waiting until time had passed from the shootings seems prudent; there’s a reason radios chose not to scare young children by playing Kesha’s “Die Young” after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. But if Universal’s reasons have to do with a misdirected attempt to curb gun violence or placating a confused Trump, it should still release the film at a later date.
Satire, done well, can have a powerful effect, though it is harder to pull off in a politicized age such as ours. It seems unlikely, however, that The Hunt’s brand of satire would really end up with any positive results.
Its trailer is a disturbingly specific catalog of violence, with a woman stabbing her shoe into a man’s eye and others getting shot, as is the pretense of the film, for sport. (Incidentally, advertisements for the film ran during the Democratic debates.)
Can you imagine a liberal and a conservative walking out of the theater, both thinking, I have so much more understanding for my fellow man? The less on-the-nose themes of the Hunger Games packed more of a punch.
Self-censorship aside, maybe Universal made the right call in pulling The Hunt. It’s not the anti-GOP screed some Trump supporters think, and neither would it be a major contributor to gun violence. But is it really the film that we need right now?
