Ari Aster Dissects the Meaning of 'Eddington'

The Meaning of 'Eddington'

I love when a director just breaks down everything they were thinking and why they made certain decisions. And I believe Ari Aster is one of our most open and honest filmmakers working today.

It may shock you to find out that this movie is based a little bit on real life.

The seeds were sown in the volatile atmosphere of May-June 2020. Aster found himself in New Mexico, scrolling through Twitter and sensing a palpable feeling of impending doom.

It was this sense of a world on the brink that he sought to capture, a snapshot of a society grappling with immense uncertainty and division.

And from there, he began to craft a story.

Characters in a Divided World

At the heart of Eddington is Joaquin Phoenix's Joe Cross, a character Aster describes as a "vivid real person" with deeply held beliefs.

Cross embodies what Aster says is a "libertarian shift in American politics," where the language of 1960s liberal activism has been co-opted and "distorted" by the right wing.

This ties into the characters in this world, who are all the main characters in their own stories, with their own points of view of what's wrong with the world and how to fix it.

A central theme of the film is the fragmentation of reality.

Aster points to social media as a powerful tool that has been "harnessed" to distract from larger power operations, further isolating individuals in their ideological bubbles.

The Weight of the Past and the Influence of Media

The past looms large in Eddington, personified by the unseen but significant character of Louise's father, a former sheriff and Joe Cross's mentor.

This character, along with the film's Western mythology, serves as a symbol of a bygone era, helping to illuminate the present state of American culture.

Things in this town used to be "great," and Cross carries the weight of trying to find a way to get back.

And the pressure on everyone mounts thanks to a mayoral election and the use of media to change perception about all of them.

Aster notes that these characters are "media literate" to a degree, their self-perception and actions shaped by the Westerns and 80s/90s action movies they have consumed.

This self-awareness, filtered through the lens of popular culture, adds another layer of complexity to their motivations.

The Collaborative Spirit

Aster also shed light on his collaborative process, particularly with actor Joaquin Phoenix. He emphasized the importance of keeping questions alive and avoiding a "dead" or "acted" performance, a testament to his commitment to authenticity.

Cinematic Influences

We already looked at some movies that influenced Eddington, and it was fun to see how many Westerns were part of Aster's development process.

To immerse his crew in the spirit of the film, Aster showed them The Last Picture Show and Nashville, praising the former for its specific, funny, and non-condescending portrayal of small-town characters.

The Internet Rules

The biggest influence on Eddington was the internet and, more specifically, Twitter.

We've all gone down those dangerous rabbit holes of falling prey to fake news, memes, and outrage. This movie personifies all these inside different characters.

Aster's goal was to foreground screens in the film, highlighting their "insidious and transformative" effect on individuals and society as a whole. "

What's the Meaning of the Movie?

At the end of the day, this is a film about the exploration of a nation at a crossroads, and a must-see for anyone seeking to understand the complexities of our modern world.

It shows how each individual person is sculpted by their own ideas of how they look and what they put on social media, and how that influences them to make decisions about who they love, hate, have sex with, and vote for.

At the end of the day, the real masters in all this are the corporations that feed into that world, while they work above the law to take our resources, as long as they keep us happy online.

It's one of my favorite movies of the year, and I hope you check it out.