Saturday, December 31, 2016

Coming Attraction

(GRAPHIC: The following PREVIEW has been approved for APPROPRIATE AUDIENCES by the Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. The year advertised has been rated PG-13: Parents Strongly Cautioned. Some events and personalities may not be suitable for children under 13, or anyone who craves a middle ground. Intense sequences of partisanship, non sequiturs, distortions, simplifications, villainization, violence, stereotypes, sexual content, language and graphic nudity are likely to be included. Note: Final rating not yet confirmed.)

(SOUND: Relaxing Music)

(VISUAL: Small town activity mixed with urban everyday life. Shots of people going about their daily lives: shopping, working, playing.)

VOICEOVER: It looks peaceful. Moms and dads raising their families, going to jobs and activities. Kids having fun, heading to school. Factories running, stores selling, offices working. But it's about to change.

(SOUND: Hyper music: loud, frenetic scary.)

(VISUAL: Frantic cuts of Congress, wars, attacks, rallies, White House, planes, marches, newscasts, hospitals, guns, etc.)

VOICEOVER: In a world turned upside down, nothing is set in stone. For some, 2017 will be the beginning. For others, it will be the end.

(SOUND: Brassy, triumphal music, rally crowd cheers.)

(VISUAL: Bold pictures in color: factories humming, people dancing, doctors and smiling patients, politicians backslapping)

VOICEOVER: One vision is bright and shiny. A new day is dawning, with more jobs and better healthcare, with more security and better opportunities for all. A government that encourages people to do more, and then gets out of their way to let them try. Where the most successful, most well to do bring their talents to bear for the average Joe and Jill, freeing them to soar to heights they can't even begin to imagine. A world where we stand at the apex, a bright and shining symbol of strength once again!

(SOUND: Tense, scary music: Angry crowd jeers.)

(VISUAL: Black and White pictures. Violence, confrontations, factories idle, wars, deportations.)

VOICEOVER: The other vision is disaster. A dark, hopeless place, where anyone different is threatened, where disease and persecution are common, where only the privileged few have rights. A place where the government is bought and sold, where gigantic corporations run amok, profiting off the backs of downtrodden workers. A world where we are hated by all, a small and insular country that cares only about itself!

(SOUND: Discordant music, unsettling.)

(VISUAL: Split screen, person on right side, person on left side, each talking to camera in turn. As one finishes, the other begins, the first is replaced, then the second etc.)

PERSON 1: It's gonna be great, I tell you. Finally, someone who gets it!

PERSON 2: A demagogue, a fascist. There's no other way to describe it.

PERSON 3: We'll have jobs again! We'll be respected! No more apologizing!

PERSON 4: It's a joke. Jobs aren't coming back. And he's dangerous besides!

PERSON 5: Enough with this political correctness. Finally we can say what we really think!

PERSON 6: Boorish, crass. No role model. I don't want my kids acting like that!

(SOUND: Calm, relaxing music)

(VISUAL: Dawn in towns and cities, the beginning of a new day, but split screen. Vibrant color on one side, gray and grainy on the other. Dissolve to title graphic.)

VOICEOVER: Same world, two outlooks. Which will it be? There's no middle ground, no place safe. With an all star cast of those you know and those you will know. Buckle up for the year they'll be talking about forever! Or at least until 2020.

Live it. Like It. Dread it. And you won't how it will really turn out until it's over.

2017. Opening everywhere on January 1. Be there.

(SOUND: Music up and out.)

-END-

Marc Wollin of Bedford can't wait to see how the ending turns out. His column appears regularly in The Record-Review, The Scarsdale Inquirer and online at http://www.glancingaskance.blogspot.com/, as well as via Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

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