This is old news, but it’s been bugging me.
Prior to the presidential election, the campaign ads were coming fast and furious. You may have seen the MCU Assemble Kamala Harris Campaign Video.
It’s a Kamala Harris “Get out the vote” ad aimed at politically apathetic MCU fans. There was one aspect of the message that is troubling. The video has banter and fan service to make it engaging, so I edited it down to the relevant bit.
In this NYT survey, Democrats consider the “state of democracy” to be the fourth most important issue facing America. The related topics, “protecting democracy” and “threats to democracy”, often come up in Progressive commentary.
Paul Bettany, the actor who voices Jarvis in the MCU, introduces the slogan as, “I’m down with democracy.” The clear meaning is that he supports democracy.
Chris Evans restates it as, “Kamala Harris, down with democracy.” In context, it’s ambiguous. Without context, “down with democracy” is a rejection of democracy.
Mark Ruffalo, points out that, “I don’t know if that sounds the way we want it to sound, though.” He is calling attention to the ambiguity, and does it again later.
This campaign video is staged as an impromptu video call amongst prominent MCU actors. The intended audience, disengaged MCU fans, may believe that this is spontaneous conversation. It obviously isn’t. A script was written, there were a few takes, and the best clips were edited together.
Ruffalo’s statement is there to inoculate the campaign ad from the type of criticism offered here.
Scarlett Johansson, repeats the message, “Down with democracy.”
Danai Gurira, repeats the message, “Down with democracy.”
Don Cheatle, clears up the ambiguity with, “Yeah. Together we got to tear down democracy.”
Cheatle’s comment is the last substantive statement by an actor on screen.
By engaging actors on screen, we got one soft statement in favor of democracy, four statements against democracy and two cautionary statements.
Transparently, I do not favor the Progressives. I am partisan and believe them to be repressive authoritarians.
In an objective and non-partisan viewing, this campaign ad attempts to undermine support for democracy. If there is a persuasive explanation that I am being unfair, I’d like to hear it.