13: White SquallAnon (with David Hains)

Junk Filter

Toronto-based journalist David Hains joins the pod on the eve of Trump’s exit from the White House, in the wake of the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6. Many people in the melee were members of QAnon, an elaborate pro-Trump online conspiracy theory that has picked up more believers during this pandemic year.

QAnon hates Hollywood for its supposedly depraved celebrities but ironically much of their language and belief structure comes from their misunderstanding of certain (unlikely) Hollywood movies, in particular Ridley Scott’s forgettable 1996 boys-on-the-high-seas adventure White Squall.

We talk about other random movies that influence the QAnon community’s conspiracy theories, including The Godfather, Part III (?!?!) and Dan Crenshaw’s recent “Georgia Reloaded” political commercial, with his problematic appropriation of Marvel movie imagery that inspired the most deranged of Trump’s supporters. How will this movement handle reality potentially shattering their certainty?

Plus: after his recent feud with Warner Bros, will Cyborg survive the Snyder Cut of Justice League?

Follow David Hains on Twitter.

Trailer for White Squall (Ridley Scott, 1996)

Georgia Reloaded (Crenshaw, 2020)

Jack Kirby’s son didn’t like the use of Captain America imagery being used by the violent mob in DC.

“A Former Marine Stormed The Capitol As Part of a Far-Right Militia” - Ronan Farrow, The New Yorker, January 14