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Rob joins me to talk about the film Civil War. We both have already posted (spoiler-filled) reviews. I really didn’t like it, while he gives the movie a kind of lukewarm endorsement. The greatest weakness is clearly its lack of explanation of how the US got to the point where Americans were killing each other. The movie doesn’t simply ignore the question. It goes out of its way to be unrealistic by putting California and Texas on the same side. The film is also notable for the lack of texture with which it presents American society, or whatever America is supposed to be in this alternate universe.

For a sample of the conversation the film has motivated, see reviews by Tyler Cowen, Michelle Goldberg, and Ross Douthat, all of which we touch on here.

We discuss different ways in which the movie is politically correct, including the lack of sexual violence. This appears to be an aspect of reality that contemporary audiences are particularly unable to handle. This ties in to larger issues about what kinds of stereotypes this film either reinforces or tries to refute.