I think ultimately my concern is if it localizes the issues

Posted on: November 17, 2017 at 15:44:35 CT

explored in the movie too much, such that national audiences project a sense of "otherness" onto the racial or backwards culture problems presented. i.e. audiences in other places just come away going "geez Missouri is a messed up place" rather than taking away the idea that "hey that kind of stuff could happen anywhere/there are problems or issues like that in my area too."

During the Mizzou protests I thought that was a massive problem. The protests could have happened anywhere on any campus in America and the issues being discussed were no more pervasive in CoMo than just about anywhere else in the nation. But the narrative nationally was and has been "Mizzou has problems, avoid Mizzou, that place is messed up."

I'd like to think this movie isn't more of the same. But putting Missouri in the title with an outline of the state is not a good start. More projecting a sense of "otherness" onto that backward place somewhere else seems to be what national audiences are in store for. Hope not.