‘Hillbilly Elegy’ Didn’t Need Politics To Tell A Heart-Wrenching Story By Edward Chang for The Federalist
GNN Note – If you’re not familiar with JD Vance you should be. He is one of very few people to bring the reality of societal collapse to the conversation. Listen to some of his views – CLICK HERE /END
If a movie can make people less judgmental of others based on politics, that’s progress, isn’t it?
Perhaps the reason critics so often get under our skin is that they’re not always wrong. In the case of “Hillbilly Elegy,” the Ron Howard-directed Netflix feature film based on the bestselling 2016 memoir of the same name, a recurring criticism is that the book’s sociopolitical commentary was all but excised from the movie.
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This is a fair point, since “Hillbilly Elegy” isn’t exactly a rags-to-riches, pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps tale of inspiration. Instead, it’s a harrowing, true-life, insider’s look at how Appalachian America has entered a tailspin of self-destruction from which it seemingly cannot escape.
The story’s central figure, J.D. Vance, is one of the fortunate few to have found a way to break the cycle, but he still finds his cultural and familial legacy is something that, for better or worse, will always stay with him.
‘Hillbilly Elegy’ Tells a Tragic Human Story
The film adaptation certainly omits the broader commentary of the book, which means those who have read it might be disappointed or find the movie something of a different story. It becomes clear, however, that the movie wasn’t necessarily made for those who read the book. Just as a young Vance speaks of marijuana in the film, so this on-screen adaptation is a “gateway drug” — a way for audiences to become introduced to Vance and his story and to cultivate an interest in learning more about its central sociopolitical themes.
In fact, to criticize the film for omitting politics and hot-button issues is ironic, particularly for conservatives. After all, what we often hear from the right is that Hollywood, or near everything, has now become politicized to the left’s satisfaction.
It’s thereby refreshing to watch a movie with such strong sociopolitical undertones so effectively sidestep these tough questions, saving them for another day. Nor did we get a politically correct adaptation, rewritten to conform to the sensitivities of the self-described “open-minded” elite. Instead, what we have is a tragic human story, intended for audiences to empathize with, if not relate to, on a gut level.
