I will not be seeing Episode III: Revenge of the Sith until next
week, but have noticed the continuation of a trend in the gushing
reviews to date–reviewers like it because of its politics. Movies such
as Million Dollar Baby, books such as The Plot Against America, TV shows such as The Daily Show, and albums such as American Idiot
are praised because of the parallels or condemnation of US policy as
much or more than their actual artistic worth. I’ve read more in the
last week about the line “You’re with me or you’re my enemy”than I have since my Confirmation and how republics become empires than since reading Julius Caesar in high school. I’m sure I’ll like the movie just fine, but does all of life have to be a Frank Rich column?