Anyone seen 'The Confederate States of America'?? (movie)

[chiefMOJOrisin]

Has anyone seen the movie 'The Confederate States of America'?? Its a mock documentary released in 2004 that follows post-civil war American history......if the south had won the war.


It is very funny. And quite sobering aswell. The satirical humor is great.....the writers took actual American historica events and changed them around as if the south had won. The whole movie tells that slavery was legal and that slavery was a big part of the economy...and many other things too.

The whole flick is made to be a documentary by the BBC, made in 2004. It even includes commercials every 20 minutes or so..... they are ads for products using intense racial slurs/undertones....and then ads that really do give a feeling of what life would be like if the south had won. And it turns out that the racial products in the movie were actually real American products that were once sold in our country....after the Civil War. In addition, there are ads for things like an electronic slave locating device called 'The Shackle'....and a prescription drug that stops a disease that causes slaves to want to escape.



One example how they switched things up for humor is a part when a senetor who is running for president has to deal with allegations that he is part black/slave...and that his great great (not sure how many greats) grandfather got down with a slave woman. The slave woman being the presidential candidate's 'loyal servants' great great grandmother. The senator's servant leaks this info to the news crew in a secret location.

The senator holds a press conference in which he says, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman."



The movie had us, the 'CSA', bombing Japan on December 7, 1941...instead of the way it really happened. The CSA takes over South America and builds a wall along the Canadian border to seperate the 'abbys' (abolitionists).



The movies is quite good. Besides being funny, it shows how ludacris some of the historical events of our country really are. It brings up several different emotions throughout.....humor, anger, disgust, joy, frustration, empathy....and pride. Pride in our ACTUAL country.... not the ficticious one in the flick.

I suggest it to anyone interested in American history. Or anyone looking for to laugh.


*** There are a lot of racial slurs used in the movie. Not just towards blacks. The humor is not based on these types of things....however I can easily see how some people could be offended. Just remember that it's all in good fun. The movie doesn't at all make fun of blacks...or any minorities for that matter. It really just pokes fun at our country and our history.

[Buzzard]

It's idiotic. Most historians will agree that slavery would have died out by the 20th century regardless of the war between the states. This movie is nothing more then an attempt to make light of the last great American Revolution

[RavenousDank]

sweet thanks for the heads up, i'm DL'n it as I type

[effektz]

Originally Posted by Buzzard

It's idiotic. Most historians will agree that slavery would have died out by the 20th century regardless of the war between the states. This movie is nothing more then an attempt to make light of the last great American Revolution

Would it have just "died out" because every other western country already got rid of slavery? America is a paradox and doesn't really care what the rest of the world thinks or does. Are we not the only western country in Iraq still? If our leaders kept telling us slavery was okay, I'm sure the sheep would follow.

[CosmicSerpent]

Originally Posted by Buzzard

It's idiotic. Most historians will agree that slavery would have died out by the 20th century regardless of the war between the states. This movie is nothing more then an attempt to make light of the last great American Revolution

I agree... the changes brought by the Civil War were pretty much inevitable. But, there is a side of me that's interested in alternative historical fiction. I'd like to see a documentary like this about what it would have been like if JFK and RFK were never assassinated.... I wonder if they would have the same legacy and be viewed as "American royalty" the way they are now. I guarantee modern American politics would be completely different.

[Buzzard]

Originally Posted by effektz

Would it have just "died out" because every other western country already got rid of slavery? America is a paradox and doesn't really care what the rest of the world thinks or does. Are we not the only western country in Iraq still? If our leaders kept telling us slavery was okay, I'm sure the sheep would follow.

Well slavery was a dying practice. The average Southern man did not own a slave and one needed to be very wealthy to own slaves. With the rise in industry in the North and the sharp decrease in crop value (especially around the 30's) slavery would have been an uneconomical practice to continue. One can assume as more and more Blacks were freed from slavery there would have been a gradual movement to increase liberty and allow voting rights. The overall hate generated towards blacks that exists nowadays is mainly brought on by the injustices of the Reconstruction so that would have been avoided.

Originally Posted by CosmicSerpent

I agree... the changes brought by the Civil War were pretty much inevitable. But, there is a side of me that's interested in alternative historical fiction. I'd like to see a documentary like this about what it would have been like if JFK and RFK were never assassinated.... I wonder if they would have the same legacy and be viewed as "American royalty" the way they are now. I guarantee modern American politics would be completely different.

Oh if the Kennedy's had lived

[CoughDrop]

that movie was soooo bad =/ It was a concept that had potential but was horribly implemented.

All I got from it was "Hey southerners, look at us make fun of you! Fucking mongoloids!" Maybe the writing wasn't horrible, but the film-making was so sad that it overshadowed the punchlines, felt like it was put together by a 14 year old. The flow of the film was sporadic, jumping from story to story, more like a large collection of skits than a mockumentary. It is possible to make a documentary that follows a plot, excitingly (King of Kong, Air Nation, even in Pot we Trust).

I'm sorry I can't give more exact examples of it's shittiness, it was really so bad I barely remember most of it. Maybe my brain burned the memories out so I didn't kill myself, some sorta self-defense mechanism.

[Buzzard]

A couple more things

• The War between the States was never about total southern domination. The South wanted no part of the north and would not have taken over it.
• I highley doubt Christianity would have become mandatory.
• There was no reason for Anti-Semitism back then and I doubt a Libertarian oriented Confederacy would have allied with a FASCIST Germany.

This movie is crap

[Buzzard]

A couple more things just because I really hate this movie

• If France and England helped the CSA form why on earth would the CSA turn on them in WW2?
• Why on earth would the CSA launch an aggression campaign against Japan? They would have been a fellow Axis ally and would have put Germany in a sticky place.
• Also, the movie incorrectly uses the battle flag as the CSA flag.

I should mention I have a battle flag hanging in my room and am a Proud Southerner. This does NOT mean I am a racist.

[CosmicSerpent]

Originally Posted by Buzzard

I should mention I have a battle flag hanging in my room and am a Proud Southerner. This does NOT mean I am a racist.

You bring up some very good points... unfortunately, most of the country is under the impression that the Confederate Battle Flag = Civil War = Slavery = Racism. People don't understand that the flag today is about southern heritage. The bigger issue of the Civil War was not slavery or racism, it was states' rights. The South wasn't simply fighting for slavery, they were fighting for their right to govern themselves as they wished, without all the rules being made solely by the federal government.

You're also totally correct about the South not wanting to take over the North. IF the South had won, those states would be a Confederacy, and the rest of the country would still be the USA. This would not have worked out well... with most of the heavy industry in the North, the CSA would immediately be in an economic crisis. I'd even go so far as to say that we would have probably come back together eventually.... and the CSA would certainly not be on the Axis side in WWII.

All these inaccuracies you've pointed out kind of make me want to watch this documentary now.... not from an informative standpoint, I just want to get an idea of some of the misconceptions people are so willing to believe.

[chiefMOJOrisin]

You guys are funny. You argue about these hypotheticals that no one could ever prove. There is no way whatsoever to know what who would of done what...and who wouldn't do this......why these people did that.


Let me just say this....... ITS A MOVIE!!!!!!!

Do you go around watching every FICTICIOUS movie and critique whats invalid about it?? 'Hey you know that John McClain would have totally died during that fall from the cable to the boat in Die Hard 3, right?' 'Braveheart is so horrible because low-landers didn't wear kilts.'

There is a part in the movie where Lincoln has to go on the run. He paints his face black and Harriet Tubman helps him escape through the underground railroad. Obviously thats meant for humor. Not an hypothetical opinion on what would happen. Its a ficticious movie script.

Anyone can say anything about every movie. The movie was meant to be stupid. It was meant to be a 'mock-umentary'. It was meant as entertainment.



One thing you guys are forgetting is that cotton was the main swinging dick back then. The south controlled the fields where it grows and the north controlled the factories and textile mills. If I wanted to play hypotheticals too, I could say that the south and north would have needed each other.

You say the south wouldn't want the north. In real life, why did the north want the south?? To unite the country. Northerners hated the south. It works both ways.

But it is a movie.

[leerox]

Any one thats interested in historical 'what ifs', Id recommend What Might Have Been edited by Andrew Roberts. Its basically a collection of essays examining what might have happend, such as the Japanese do not attack Pearl Harbour etc.