Feathered

Walking through the last section of the Montezuma exhibition at the British Museum, there is a slightly regretful attitude to the displays. Even today, we have little option but to accept that the destruction of the Aztecs is a story seen through Spanish imperial spin. We see paintings of a noble savage, Montezuma, chatting pleasantly with Spaniards, giving up his kingly status to the better catholics. That Spanish court society obviously didn't exist in Technotichlan wasn't a problem. This stuff played well back in Castille.

It is just a solid reminder of the well turned phrase - winners write the history. While the conquistadors had the guns, germs and steel advantage, there was also a fatal misreading of signs. As fascinating as their society was, continuous blood sacrifices really didn't help read runes. What did Quetzalcoatl mean by sending these white strangers? Were they emissaries of the feathered serpent? No. Cortes was not the Messiah, he was just a very naughty boy.

And so we have today's remake of Christian people killing (ig)noble savages in a nation that are also confused over signs. But in this version, the steel advantage is smaller, and the invaders are not lead by Cortes. And this version is playing badly with the audience back home.

In this new blockbuster, the President is both supporting production and trying to change the ending. You see, he doesn't really like the script. He is willing to repeat the old lines about fighting in Afghanistan to make the streets back home safer. Though he wouldn't bomb the Chicago projects to make Illinois safer.

Puzzling about how many troops to send also breaks with the whole vision. The ad campaign has already been paid for. Just Do It!

And you can't change the baddy. Its The Taliban yeah? They wear beards and don't approve of rock music. Why change the enemy to Al-Qaeda? Those guys were written out of the plot in the prequel, and are not due to comeback in for at least another two films. And EA have bought options.

These themes were really developed for the faith based Yoda style politics of Bush and Blair. When a Nobel prize winner repeats them, they lose meaning because, of course they, never had any. But it seems he is unwilling to sack the writers.

To many naïve observers, it would be better to stop prosecuting a war where comparsions with Vietnam loom larger. But from a political point of view, the story comes first. And while the working script is a well known one, it was written for different voices. Ones who wouldn't worry about small details like the resulting corrupt regime.

Lets face it, the whole War on Terror franchise is looking clunky, and was done better in Battle Star Galactica anyway. Whatever the outcome, this one is going straight to DVD.