Chapter 50 No salvation

On a very ordinary weekend, Owen and Bill walked into the cinema and bought two tickets for "The Human Eradication Plan."

Entering the relatively small theater, due to their tall stature, the two went directly to the last row where there was more legroom, and sat in the middle seats.

As people trickled in, Bill tossed popcorn into his mouth one by one, while Owen looked around a bit bored. As the theater filled up, he found it odd and scratched his head.

"Something's off today," he muttered.

Bill, with a mouthful of popcorn, asked, "What's up?"

Owen nodded towards the front with his chin. "Feels like there are a lot of black folks today."

Bill paused his popcorn throwing and looked ahead for a moment. "Yeah, fewer white folks."

This reminder intrigued Owen. Originally bored before the movie started, he looked around again and said, "Usually, movies are filled with white people. What's going on today? Look over there, lots of black folks. And look over there, I've never seen that many Arabs. Oh, and Asians..."

Bill shrugged and continued with the popcorn. "Doesn't matter to us."

Owen nodded but still wondered. In any other theater, the audience would mostly be white, but here, white folks were scarce, maybe just a little over a third?

As the ceiling lights dimmed, the movie began, and Owen stopped thinking too much, focusing on the film.

In Los Angeles, at a regular theater in North Hollywood, Ronan sat in the last row, quietly waiting for the movie to start.

This film had limited promotional investment, with no premiere. The week before the screening, Lionsgate bombarded the midnight TV slots with ads, the most significant single advertising investment.

As a producer, Ronan bought a ticket himself, contributing to the box office.

Since it was Friday night, the theater was relatively crowded. Although Halloween was still a week away, the boost effect of Halloween on horror films was quite apparent.

Before the lights went out, he observed carefully. In the theater with over a hundred seats, at least thirty people were present.

Among them, there were only about ten white folks, and most were minorities.

Ronan hoped these minorities enjoyed watching the downfall of white families.

As the movie started, Ronan watched for thirty minutes. No one left prematurely, which was a good sign.

For any movie, if the audience watched the first thirty minutes without leaving, they would likely stay until the end and see some value in the film.

Among the horror films released that weekend, "The Human Eradication Plan" wasn't the highest or lowest in terms of budget.

As long as the current attendance rate could be maintained, the box office wouldn't be bad.

In Chicago, a screening of "The Human Eradication Plan" was nearing its end.

Jonathan Rosenbaum from the Chicago Reader sat with his hands crossed on the chair, staring intently at the screen, seemingly completely engrossed in the movie.

As a frontline renowned film critic, it was his job to watch new releases every weekend. Tonight, there happened to be a showing of "The Human Eradication Plan" at the theater, so he went in.

Any new film released that week, Jonathan had to watch it.

Different from ordinary film critics, having served as a film critic for the Chicago Reader for 10 years, Jonathan not only focused on the films themselves but also paid attention to cultural, social, political, and historical issues within them.

Bang, bang, bang...

The gunshots in the movie were particularly loud as the black man, accompanied by two Arabs, returned to his home and unleashed havoc, leaving bodies strewn across the floor.

As the masks came off, typical white faces appeared. Their gruesome appearance contrasted sharply with the greatness of the black man and the Arabs, who came in like saviors.

"Good, very good," Jonathan nodded repeatedly. "This film is really good."

Especially the ending, which instantly elevated the entire movie. Even though white folks dominated, they couldn't do without black people and minorities!

This movie must be highly recommended in his column.

The villainous white male lead died, along with the evil white neighbors, and the black man returned with the Arabs, saving three women.

As the movie ended, Jonathan didn't move, closing his eyes to filter the film in his mind to deepen his impression.

The initial setup was quite interesting and meaningful, directly addressing the deepest issues of American society—government and societal violence.

Then, the core of the film shifted to the issue of race, where white supremacy viewed minorities as a joke.

The father despised the Arab neighbors, sold them a faulty security system, remained silent during the purge night because he disliked black people. In contrast, the youngest daughter, full of humanity, saved the black man, which ultimately led to the black man bringing back the Arab neighbor, saving the remaining family of three.

Before, when he heard some audience members saying the kid was the troublemaker...

At that moment, Jonathan felt those white audience members were beyond saving: Yes, remaining silent for self-preservation during the darkest times was indeed the best choice. Some people foolishly thought about resisting, but that was simply seeking death.

But in a society where everyone remained silent, what would happen?

During the darkest times of human nature, the light of humanity often shines brightest.

Because the little girl saved the black man and treated the Arab neighbor kindly, she saved her family. The neighbors had already decided to kill them; even without those high schoolers chasing the black man, could they have escaped?

Think about it, the little girl got along well with the Arab neighbor, had sympathy for black people—children had no racial biases, so why did so many people turn into someone like her father when they grew up?

Where was the problem? Jonathan had only one answer: our society and country have problems!

The rights of minorities must be taken seriously, not just when problems arise.

This movie, though seemingly a rough horror thriller, was actually a good film that addressed real social issues. Underneath the thrilling horror exterior, it profoundly explored various aspects of humanity, race, and society.

"I mean, what a trashy movie."

A departing audience member passed by, clearly cursing the film: "The final winners turned out to be blacks and terrorists, unbelievable!"

Someone else chimed in, "A terrible film!"

Jonathan opened his eyes and saw the two white folks, shaking his head with a sigh. The road to equality still had a long way to go.

He stood up and walked towards the exit of the theater. It was time to go back and write a column; such a profoundly meaningful film couldn't be buried!

In Queens, New York, Owen and Bill had just left the cinema.

"This movie is pretty good," Owen said with a satisfied smile. "All those jerks who look down on us should end up like the white folks in the movie."

They had been chanting slogans for many years, but discrimination still persisted, so Bill nodded vigorously. "If it were me, I'd never go back to save anyone."

But Owen said, "There are good people among white folks."

Bill thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "Yeah, Jack and John are our friends."

The two of them hitched a ride back to the community, walking together towards the inside. They hadn't gone far when they ran into four or five people they knew.

"Hey, where have you guys been?" asked a bald man. "Didn't see you at the ball field tonight."

Owen grinned, showing his teeth, "We went to see a movie."

Behind the bald man, a chubby guy asked, "Did you go see a horror movie?"

Going to see horror movies on Halloween had become a popular culture phenomenon.

Bill chimed in, "We watched a really cool horror movie. Hey, if you guys have time, you should go check it out too. It's called 'The Human Purge,' it's awesome! The black characters in it are really interesting, they kill a bunch of bad white guys."

The bald man became interested, "Really? I'll go see it tomorrow."

After a brief conversation about movies and the game, the group quickly dispersed.

Targeted promotion and accurate audience positioning gradually began to take effect. With more and more people seeing "The Human Purge," word-of-mouth spread rapidly.

Moreover, in the eyes of some professional film critics, this film was interpreted as addressing numerous profound social issues.

This was something even Ronan hadn't anticipated.

By Saturday, the second day of "The Human Purge" release, it appeared in the highly recommended columns of several film critics.

Speaking up for minority ethnic groups and disparaging white people as much as possible were the inherent responsibilities of left-leaning white film critics!

Of course, there were also plenty of voices criticizing the film, especially from white audiences.

In just one day since its release, "The Human Purge" had already divided opinions, showing a significant polarization trend.