Pink Monkey Farm: The Blog

Confederate States of America

The PMF is not in the habit of recommending movies, but the world finds itself in the middle of a big ass financial storm, with nobody understanding what is going on, and with a re-design necessary. For times like these, the 2006 movie, “C.S.A. The Confederate States of America” makes for interesting viewing. The film is based upon the single simple conceit: what if the confederates had won the American civil war? They tell the “what if” story in a clever way. The bulk of the movie is made in the style of a BBC history documentary, which recounts the principal sequence of events, turmoil and upheaval that followed the rout of the Union by the South, and the institutionalization of slavery. In this parallel universe, Lincoln escapes in dark face to Canada, along with those very few American intellectuals that can not accept the consensus of the confederation: Twain, Emerson, Anthony… In a wonderfully executed twist, the documentary itself is embedded in a broadcast from the future C.S.A., so the viewer is constantly jolted from the sanity of a BBC-like reconstruction of events, into commercial breaks originating in the “present-day” C.S.A., hawking products such as Sambo 95 engine cleaner, and similar. It is a very sophisticated piece of media, constructed out of various styles that all tell a similar story.

But the story that unfolds is telling. The ghastly society of the future that is depicted in several ways, is clearly seen to run on economics, and the people are seen to be complete dupes, believing the explanations of clever men and scientists, no matter where it leads them. The few dissenters, to our eyes, are marginalized cranks. The present upheavals have engendered a lot of well-placed distrust in very many people about the official corridors of power, about the basis for our economy, and many of us are asking ourselves what the entailments of our particular economic model really are. Faced with the problem of redesigning a financial system, or an economy, from scratch, we have to ask ourselves, what is our “slavery”? Where have we gone wrong. If we defined things differently, how would money flow? Mankind is resettling. The present elephant in the living room seems to be poverty, and economic imbalance. When things get this upset and unstable, fundamental questions are asked. Our response now must be to admit the injustice of the former system. and improve upon it in a globally inclusive manner. A project worthy of the PMF indeed…