United States | News & Politics

Oh you completely misunderstand the modern fascist playbook. Putin Erdogan Orban or Modi don't usually ban semi-obscure shows outright. They use their near complete control of all major media to ensure these shows never become a major cultural hit in the first place (by not funding nor platforming them). Cult classics aren't burned, their meaning is just subverted; Star Wars isn't a critique of fascism, it was always an allegory for the Righteous Traditionalists (the Jedi) working against The Woke (The Empire). No-one quite knows what Tolkien meant with Isengard, surely no allegory there, but I can tell you The Shire shows how good the tradwife life can be so get back to pumping out kids and churning butter missus!

Slight deviations are tolerated of course. Who cares if the urban elites have some woke media. As long as they keep to themselves, it's just convenient to keep the intellectuals distracted. Just don't make the mistake of making a nationwide cultural hit that questions the official narrative a bit too directly, because that's when you'll find yourself accidentally defenestrated.