"Not very hard, is it? News service says one thing. Website says another. Society starts to fray. All we can turn to are the people we care about. But what if those people weren't who we thought they were?" So far, so chillingly authentic to this era of information bubbles and conspiracy thinking. But then Agent Prescod (Richard Dormer) continues: "What if they weren't even human?"
It turns out he's talking about Skrulls: reptilian space aliens who hide behind human faces on earth. According to his theory, a series of international terrorist attacks, each claimed by a different group of militants, are really all part of the Skrulls' plot to overthrow humanity. It's a shrewd setup, familiar enough to resonate in the real, chaotic world of 2023 but vague enough to be universally palatable. Depending on your perspective, the Skrulls could be the lizard people of proto-QAnon conspiracy theories or Russian intelligence operatives undermining democracy.
This slippery approach to political subtext is nothing new for Disney-owned Marvel, which is constantly recalibrating its family-friendly superheroes for a time when extreme partisanism can render even the most anodyne entertainment controversial-and when Hollywood products must satisfy the conflicting mores of the many nations that import them. What's notable about Secret Invasion, styled as a Cold War spy thriller but abstracted from the ideological conflicts of the real Cold War, is how common its particular form of evasiveness has become among TV's most popular thrillers. Shows set within the crucible of politics suddenly seem allergic to political ideas of all kinds.
Denne historien er fra July 24, 2023-utgaven av Time.
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Denne historien er fra July 24, 2023-utgaven av Time.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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A timely thriller for a mad, mad world
A’70s-style paranoid thriller grounded in the partisan polarization of today
Freshwater reserves
A troubling dip
An exuberant ode to human possibility
VERY RARELY DOES THE RIGHT MOVIE ARRIVE AT precisely the right time, at a moment when compassion is in short supply and the collective human imagination has come to feel shrunken and desiccated.
Broadcasting a crisis for the world to see
ON SEPT. 5, 1972, A 32-YEAR-OLD PRODUCER NAMED Geoffrey S. Mason was working in a control room for ABC Sports in Munich while 12 hostages, including several members of the Israeli Olympic delegation, were being held in a building nearby.
The Power of the Peer
WITH MENTAL-HEALTH CARE IN SHORT SUPPLY, CAN REGULAR PEOPLE FILL THE GAP?
QUEERING THE STORY
Luca Guadagnino directs Daniel Craig in an adaptation of William S. Burroughs' 1985 novella Queer
Shopping under the influence
LTK CO-FOUNDER AMBER VENZ BOX SAW THE FUTURE OF RETAIL. IT TOOK YEARS FOR THE REST OF THE WORLD TO CATCH UP
The Kingmaker
Elon Musk's partnership with the President-elect
Turkey's Erdogan plots his next power grab
RECEP TAYYIP Erdogan is a political survivor.
Why maiden names matter in the age of AI and identity
IN THE DIGITAL AGE, A NAME IS MORE THAN JUST A label. It's tied to our professional history and social media presence.
