ASTEROID CITY is a play about a fake news project. At the start of the movie, we are introduced to the actors and their roles. "The character of Augie Steenbeck in the imaginary tale of our production was to become famously and indelibly connected to the actor who created the role, a former carpenter discovered in a bit part by the play's director, Schubert Green (born Shylock Grzworvszowski)." The crisis of the play pivots on an alien visitation. The military attempts a lockdown, which is soon circumvented by the kids, who whistle-blow and attract a media circus. Thus we have all the essential roles of fake news: hired actors, the military, and the fake news event. Sometimes it's a pandemic, sometimes it's a riot, sometimes it's an alien, sometimes it's Guadalcanal.
All the characters (Augie, Midge, Grandfather, Parents and Stargazers) are professional actors who have actual lives outside the play. Some are bused in for the fake news event, some are pre-placed, like the Mechanic. Twins and triplets are often used in celebrity roles because they can be in more than one place at a time. Hickenlooper represents Consensus Science ("the math doesn't work") and the General represents the military (giving out awards and seizing inventions, including a DEW). The Playwright, Director and Acting Teacher never enter the play itself. The Host plays the talking head role, not in the play but pushing the narrative. The only people not working for the production are the ordinary folks who are alerted by the media ("everything's already in the newspapers").
Fake news events are scripted and directed by people behind the scenes, like the Playwright, Director and Acting Teacher. Fake news events are role-played by professional actors like Augie and Midge. Fake news events are always guided by media personalities like the Host, who provides us with the information we need to make sense of the staged drama (and utterly failing). With all this professional Crisis Acting, the fake news event itself hardly matters. In the background are the usual fake news events run by the locals (represented by the car chases) and the military-industrial complex (represented by the nukes). The targets of the fake news are the ordinary people who show up for the media circus.
While modeling the essential elements of a fake news project for us, the play also takes the opportunity to role-play a sample alien encounter (depicted as partly CGI, partly Jeff Goldblum). The military is on hand, of course, on one pretext or another, and so are the actors. The alien arrives, a professional photographer snaps an iconic photo and then it leaves without a trace. Whistleblowers manage to ignite a media circus in spite of a total military lockdown, and--at the peak of the public furor--the alien mysteriously returns the asteroid, indelibly stamped with alien writing. We have all the elements of a psyop: the ordinary folks, the cover-up, the whistleblower and the undeniable proof.
On a metaphorical level, the asteroid represents the moon, specifically the moon landing grift, which has gone so stale that even India is faking it. The asteroid is stored in a little jail cell, which represents the sixty years of transparent fakery that is strangling NASA and all the other space agencies. The alien frees the asteroid, and then returns it, forever stamped it with proof of alien life. A riot is staged by the actors, the lockdown is released, the media circus evaporates, the playwright fakes his death ("Death of a Narcissist") and the actors bow out. This is how history is made. The final result is a re-characterization of the moon landing and a general loss of faith in God ("I hope you're still Episcopalian").
Why does Augie burn his hand? He doesn't. It was the old "hot burner" trick. Midge had a different script than Augie, so she didn't see it coming. Augie and his family, arriving on the scene earlier than the other actors, had their own script they were following. Augie's Crisis Actor family was artificially created with child actors. The mother's role was cut, which naturally confuses the children who are too young to understand, but no one else actually grieves. As photographer, he has special access to Midge, the Playwright and the Director. When Crisis Actors have different scripts, even the actors can get freaked out and provide an authentic performance. Note that his hand being bandaged was part of the script ("They're bandaging the understudy's hand right now.")
"You can't wake up if you don't fall asleep" is a catch-phrase, meant to catch you. It's meaningless until someone invests it with meaning. It starts off controversial ("What?" "That's not true." "Who cares?" "Why should you?" "Maybe not.") but with repetition everyone begins to parrot the phrase. Meanwhile the catch-phrase is accompanied by traumatic images which work upon our collective unconscious. The zombies yelling and staggering around mindlessly. The alien carrying the moon towards us. This scene models an MK-Ultra class ("shared experience of a bewildering and bedazzling celestial mystery") that imparts a narrative through repetition and trauma. In this case, the moon landing spell is being replaced by the alien asteroid spell.
All the characters (Augie, Midge, Grandfather, Parents and Stargazers) are professional actors who have actual lives outside the play. Some are bused in for the fake news event, some are pre-placed, like the Mechanic. Twins and triplets are often used in celebrity roles because they can be in more than one place at a time. Hickenlooper represents Consensus Science ("the math doesn't work") and the General represents the military (giving out awards and seizing inventions, including a DEW). The Playwright, Director and Acting Teacher never enter the play itself. The Host plays the talking head role, not in the play but pushing the narrative. The only people not working for the production are the ordinary folks who are alerted by the media ("everything's already in the newspapers").
Fake news events are scripted and directed by people behind the scenes, like the Playwright, Director and Acting Teacher. Fake news events are role-played by professional actors like Augie and Midge. Fake news events are always guided by media personalities like the Host, who provides us with the information we need to make sense of the staged drama (and utterly failing). With all this professional Crisis Acting, the fake news event itself hardly matters. In the background are the usual fake news events run by the locals (represented by the car chases) and the military-industrial complex (represented by the nukes). The targets of the fake news are the ordinary people who show up for the media circus.
While modeling the essential elements of a fake news project for us, the play also takes the opportunity to role-play a sample alien encounter (depicted as partly CGI, partly Jeff Goldblum). The military is on hand, of course, on one pretext or another, and so are the actors. The alien arrives, a professional photographer snaps an iconic photo and then it leaves without a trace. Whistleblowers manage to ignite a media circus in spite of a total military lockdown, and--at the peak of the public furor--the alien mysteriously returns the asteroid, indelibly stamped with alien writing. We have all the elements of a psyop: the ordinary folks, the cover-up, the whistleblower and the undeniable proof.
On a metaphorical level, the asteroid represents the moon, specifically the moon landing grift, which has gone so stale that even India is faking it. The asteroid is stored in a little jail cell, which represents the sixty years of transparent fakery that is strangling NASA and all the other space agencies. The alien frees the asteroid, and then returns it, forever stamped it with proof of alien life. A riot is staged by the actors, the lockdown is released, the media circus evaporates, the playwright fakes his death ("Death of a Narcissist") and the actors bow out. This is how history is made. The final result is a re-characterization of the moon landing and a general loss of faith in God ("I hope you're still Episcopalian").
Why does Augie burn his hand? He doesn't. It was the old "hot burner" trick. Midge had a different script than Augie, so she didn't see it coming. Augie and his family, arriving on the scene earlier than the other actors, had their own script they were following. Augie's Crisis Actor family was artificially created with child actors. The mother's role was cut, which naturally confuses the children who are too young to understand, but no one else actually grieves. As photographer, he has special access to Midge, the Playwright and the Director. When Crisis Actors have different scripts, even the actors can get freaked out and provide an authentic performance. Note that his hand being bandaged was part of the script ("They're bandaging the understudy's hand right now.")
"You can't wake up if you don't fall asleep" is a catch-phrase, meant to catch you. It's meaningless until someone invests it with meaning. It starts off controversial ("What?" "That's not true." "Who cares?" "Why should you?" "Maybe not.") but with repetition everyone begins to parrot the phrase. Meanwhile the catch-phrase is accompanied by traumatic images which work upon our collective unconscious. The zombies yelling and staggering around mindlessly. The alien carrying the moon towards us. This scene models an MK-Ultra class ("shared experience of a bewildering and bedazzling celestial mystery") that imparts a narrative through repetition and trauma. In this case, the moon landing spell is being replaced by the alien asteroid spell.
