Macbeth and Politics

I've been trying to listen to Bill Maher's interview with Maureen Dowd for a few days now. It's been hard because my internet seems to be dropping out a lot. This is the Club Random show, a podcast which Maher hosts, usually while smoking pot, and showcases more casual conversations as opposed to his show Real Time with Bill Maher. Rightwing media has been parading Maher as a hero lately because he calls out woke bullshit, a fact he's remarked on, saying how many among the young Right and Left have two different experiences of him because they watch only clips of him supporting their views instead of his whole shows. Really, it's Maher's ability to be critical of both sides while remaining friendly with them that has made him the most important commentator in U.S. politics of the last thirty years. Can you think of anyone else that has had the prominence and longevity he's had?

Anyway, in this political landscape in which people tend to only listen to voices within their bubbles, Maher is one of the few people who can effectively act as a bridge.

The funny thing about his interview with Dowd, though, is listening to how much they both get wrong about old movies and Shakespeare. Maher identifies Dowd as a Shakespeare nut but when he asks her, after she'd compared femmes fatale to Lady Macbeth, if Lady Macbeth stayed with her man, unlike Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity, Dowd said no. What? The whole point of Lady Macbeth is that she supported Macbeth more than he was willing to support himself. I remember one of the Shakespeare professors I had in college said she was "a terrible woman but a great wife." I always thought that was pretty accurate. For this reason, she's more complicated than a femme fatale tends to be. She's like a trad-wife Dalek.

I was watching a bit of Roman Polanski's Macbeth last night. I've packed up most of my DVDs and blu-rays because I'm moving to a new apartment, hopefully soon. The one DVD I'd neglected to pack was this Macbeth so when my internet went down yet again last night it was the only DVD I had to watch. If I were superstitious, I might make something of the fact that this cursed play has been popping up in my life over the past few days. Anyway, I think Polanski's film version of Macbeth probably has the best cinematography of any (the cinematographer was Gilbert Taylor, also the cinematographer on Doctor Strangelove and Star Wars). The costumes are great, too. I love how much green is in Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's wardrobes.