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The National
8 hours ago
- Business
- The National
Elon Musk's downfall could mark the end of a cultural era
A century ago, TS Eliot mused about the world having ended, not with a bang, but with a whimper. In his poem The Hollow Men, he described a generation unable to do anything with conviction, whether for good or ill, as societies, institutions and communities in Europe struggled with the new morality and the political upheaval following the devastation of the First World War. 'Between the idea And the reality Between the motion And the act Falls the Shadow' The parallels between 1925 and 2025 are legion, but perhaps none has been as striking as the culture wars that have shaped the current public discourse. Trust in government, experts and institutions is at a low ebb. Amid such a divisive political landscape, it is little surprise that individuals with maverick personalities have grown in influence. Arguably, no one illustrates this point as strongly as Elon Musk. His public image, cultivated through antics on X, meme culture and polarising rhetoric, has helped fuel a rise in his wealth and status as a business and technological prophet. Most pertinently, Mr Musk's vision of the future has also lacked empathy. His dreams of Mars colonisation, AI-human interfaces and radical innovation are as ambitious as they are detached from societal needs or human connection. There have also been actions that bring into question his ethics. For example, markets have been disrupted, if not manipulated, following his social media posts about Dogecoin and Tesla stock. Yet, until now, Mr Musk had insulated himself from the ire that enveloped other tech leaders. He had avoided the political theatre in the US Congress that Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, Google's Sundar Pichai and Amazon's Jeff Bezos were obligated to take part in. His purchase of X (when it was still called Twitter) and his subsequent alliance with the Republican Party seemed to keep regulators at bay while amplifying his influence. His track record means very little now, however, after his spectacular falling out with US President Donald Trump. On Wednesday, the shockwaves from the detonation of the most famous political alliance of our time seemed to finally fade with the words: 'I regret some of my posts about President Donald Trump last week. They went too far.' Could Mr Musk's post on X also be the waving of the white flag for his style of leadership? With never-seen-before gusto, Mr Musk had supported Mr Trump's presidential campaign and after the latter won the White House, he became a regular fixture in the Oval Office, even parading his four-year-old son in front of the cameras, such was the familiarity between the two men. It seemed a stunning triumph of his convictions. Eventually Mr Musk seemed to tire as his personal behaviour and his brainchild, the Department of Government Efficiency, became magnets for sustained controversy. So, he stepped back from the front lines. There had been a very clear cost, too, from such an unprecedented high-profile political affiliation. The Tesla share price is still down 14 per cent in 2025, but it had been even lower. After he was no longer on the inside of the administration, it took only days for him to turn against the President, attacking the 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act', a key part of Mr Trump's legislative agenda, and drawing return fire online and in the media from his one-time ally. Then, after Mr Musk made the explosive and since-retracted claim that Mr Trump appeared in the files related to the late financier and alleged sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, it became clear there could be no way back. Not only is Mr Musk's aura now diminished, but it could be the end of the techno-libertarian myth that has been at the root of so much divisiveness during the past decade. Figures like Mr Musk and Peter Thiel – also a supporter of Mr Trump – championed the idea that private innovators could outpace and outthink the state. The equivalent of shadow nations grew out of Silicon Valley and undermined the ability of governments to govern, further eroding trust and bringing extreme ideas to the mainstream, enabled by an unregulated flood of technological advances. The truth is, once any company achieves the scale of a country, it becomes nigh on untouchable. Mr Musk seemed to be trying to reach these heights while remaining bigger than his companies in the minds of the public. The social media age helped him to try to do this, and his approach has been very much a blueprint for the broader rise of content creators and influencers. Yet, back in the 1920s, TS Eliot warned of the perils of such hollowness. 'Between the desire And the spasm Between the potency And the existence Between the essence And the descent Falls the Shadow' Looking back 100 years from now, the Musk-Trump fallout will probably help mark the closing act of a cultural era defined by deficiencies in human connection and empathy for others.
USA Today
14-02-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Apple TV+'s ‘The Gorge' mashes love, monsters for a thrilling Valentine's Day watch
Hear this story Here's a welcome Valentine's Day present for everyone: The most romantic new movie out isn't a good-hearted action comedy or a Bridget Jones jam. Instead, it's a sci-fi thriller with sharpshooting assassins, skull spiders and icky plant people. There's a bunch of mysteries at hand in director Scott Derrickson's horror-tinged, playfully amorous creature feature 'The Gorge' (★★★ out of four; rated PG-13; streaming Friday on Apple TV+). The searing, spot-on chemistry between Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy is not one of them. That's fairly obvious, even across a ginormous foggy valley where two lonely secret operatives work to keep its unholy terrors from escaping. Levi (Teller) is a retired Marine sniper and gun for hire deemed expendable by his latest boss (Sigourney Weaver) and tasked with a yearlong assignment. Drugged and dropped off in a remote mountain region, Levi has to man a tower on one side of a huge gorge and has plenty of weaponry at his fingertips to keep a host of weird monsters (like creepers nicknamed 'The Hollow Men") from reaching the surface. Most of the time he's just there to be a highly skilled maintenance man, but he has to be ready for anything that happens. Join our Watch Party! Sign up to receive USA TODAY's movie and TV recommendations right in your inbox. And oh, yeah, he's forbidden to contact the person at the tower on the other side. That would be Drasa (Taylor-Joy), a Lithuanian markswoman who occasionally watches him through high-tech binoculars. Rate your 'Film of the Year': Join our Movie Meter panel and make your voice heard! After a couple of months of quiet co-existence, on her birthday, Drasa decides she wants to know his name. They first communicate via signs (a la 'Love Actually') but then get to know each other through other means: shooting glasses off the other's perch, using kitchen accessories for dueling drum solos, and even some long-distance chess. Teller brings the charm (with some hefty emotional baggage) while Taylor-Joy enchants as a punk-loving Eastern European rebel. Flirty smirks and rule-breaking shenanigans lead to them figuring out a way to take their 'relationship' to the next level – in this case, a rabbit pie dinner date – but they are occasionally reminded of the dangers below. Eventually, one winds up in the gorge, the other follows and together they investigate the dark, weird truths of what lies beneath them. Even hardcore action fans will dig the interesting rom-com aspects and star-crossed love story that takes up a good chunk of 'The Gorge.' Once Levi and Drasa get to the monster fighting and big reveals (which slow the film's considerable momentum), you miss the intimacy of them getting to know each other. The movie plays with shades of pandemic isolation and a therapeutic understanding between two soulmates both scarred by their chosen profession. Derrickson has done strangely trippy ('Doctor Strange') and deeply chilling ('Sinister') before, yet he finds a new gear with a rock 'n' roll heart and B-movie thrills that give the flick an original flavor rather than the same old monster mash. (Although if you're a fan of 'Annihilation,' you're going to seriously dig this.) The script by Zach Dean ('The Tomorrow War') leans smart – bone up on your T.S. Eliot beforehand – and the nightmarish inner gorge is a spiffy mix of nature run amok plus terrifying ghouls that would give Swamp Thing the willies. Does 'Sleepless in Seattle' slathered in supernatural madness sound like a good time? Then dive into 'The Gorge," a Whitman's Sampler of film genres with a delightfully sweet center that belies its freaky packaging.
