The Los Angeles fires have clarified who the real villain of a 2024 disaster movie is

Two nights ago in Los Angeles fires, my wife and I blew out the dozen scattered tea lights that had been illuminating our apartment as electricians worked around the clock to restore power, even as the wind uprooted ancient trees around them. Within a few hours, we were stuffing our bags into the trunk, packed with the six Ps (people/pets, papers/phone numbers/documents, recipes, photographs, personal technology, and plastic/credit cards) of evacuating to safety. . . I’m lucky my apartment building is still standing, but the last update I got was from a friend saying, “It looks like ‘Silent Hill’ in here.” I need sleep, but I haven’t, too enthralled by the 24-hour news of the devastating fires ravaging Los Angeles County, and staring in horror with eyes too dry from the smoke choking out any semblance of fresh air.

The annihilation is unimaginable. Tabloid publications cover before-and-after photos of multimillion-dollar celebrity mansions razed to rubble. Meanwhile, local news stations interview crying working-class families picking through the rubble of their homes, and drones capture the sight of razed mobile home properties on empty lots. “You can replace things, you can’t replace people” is a cliché drenched in toxic positivity, pushed by people who have never known the feeling of losing. all. We will spend years debating “who is to blame” as mutual aid foundations desperately try to help the thousands of people who are now homeless, adding to the already catastrophic number of homeless civilians.

“We will rebuild,” has been repeated a lot with clenched teeth and deep, retreating sighs, but rebuilding takes time, supplies, labor and money. Unfortunately, as we move ever closer to an oligarchy, there are undoubtedly people who watch the news about the destruction not with empathy or horror, but with dollar signs in their eyes. I always turn to movies in tough times (see also: my experiences watching the “Inside Out” movies), but it’s hard when real life feels like the emotional cut of something made by Roland Emmerich.

It’s especially difficult after “Twisters,” which spotlights a predatory villain so despicable it should radicalize anyone who watches it at home.

When we meet the Storm Par in “Twisters,” they are a highly organized team of storm chasers who receive funding through big-name investors, including the wealthy Marshall Riggs. The storm chasers use the funds to continue their work analyzing tornadoes in the hopes of eventually finding a way to slow or weaken the storms, but their financial backers aren’t funding the team because they don’t actually give a damn about protecting the people in the area. tornado alley. . In reality, it is quite the opposite.

Investors like Riggs provide financing in exchange for the names of people whose homes were destroyed by the tornadoes… so they can offer them cash for their land, often for less than it is worth. They take advantage of and exploit emotionally compromised and vulnerable communities that have lost all because these capitalist pigs care more about profits than helping people. While we were too busy debating whether or not Kate (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Tyler (Glen Powell) should have kissed, the real debate was over Storm Par’s financial backing and how capitalism has invaded and corrupted every industry imaginable.

Javi (Anthony Ramos) is undoubtedly conflicted about where Storm Par’s funding comes from, but he’s clearly made this deal with the devil because, as his business partner Scott (David Corenswet) has rightly learned, It’s one of the only ways they can afford it. to continue his research. Javier is trying to help people with their tornado research, and people like Riggs know that without their investment, their work can’t continue. Javi is another vulnerable person who acts against his own interests because our world has demanded that those without wealth be forever at the mercy of those who have it, while Scott has been corrupted by their influence and is now the fictional version of the storm chasing people. living in poverty defending the reputations of tech billionaires like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.

Unfortunately, people like Marshall Riggs are very real, and even as the fires continue to burn, they quickly come running out of nowhere like the aggressive monsters they are. People have already done it taken to social media talk about being offered 15% or less of the value of his house for the land where it previously stood. Weird “get rich quick” scammers are also encouraging people to “invest” in land in the Pacific Palisades area “while it’s still cheap.” As of press time, the fire has spread to more than 17,000 acres and is at zero percent containment. The fire hasn’t even gone out and these Storm Par-esque monsters are already plotting their ascension as the richest in the wasteland.

And like “Twisters,” their profit margins are completely shortsighted. Sure, they can buy land cheap after tornadoes or fires ravage communities, but if the tornadoes or fires never get better, any profit these jagaloons make from selling properties built on their cheaply purchased land will eventually have to be used to pay for reconstruction. again when Mother Nature proves once again that she is not one to mess with. We’re less than six months away from when “Twisters” hit theaters, and unfortunately, this major plot point feels too real for our comfort. It’s time to be like Javi, Kate and the Tornado Wranglers led by Tyler and finally put these opportunistic villains to the ground.

For information on how to actually help those affected by the Southern California wildfires