While some may be surprised by presidential hopeful Donald Trump's rise in the political sphere, film critic Owen Gleiberman told HuffPost Live on Wednesday that a film may have foreshadowed the current events.
In a conversation with host Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani about his new biography, Movie Freak: My Life Watching Movies, Gleiberman said Trump's appeal can't be separated from the rise of pop culture fantasy that's been growing since the 1980s.
"For those of us who really look askance at Donald Trump's candidacy ... he is just spitting out this stuff in this very irresponsible but entertaining way. I think he represents the culture of unreality," Gleiberman said.
But Trump's acceleration hasn't been without warning, Gleiberman said. He pointed to one "prophetic" 1957 film titled "A Face in the Crowd," in which Andy Griffith plays a character who rises up on television to become a demagogue. He explained:
This character seems to look forward to Elvis Presley, ... Ronald Reagan and now Trump in the sense that "Lonesome" Rhodes, Andy Griffith's character, is a singer, a guitarist, a pop culture figure who crosses over and becomes a political demagogue. I think you also see this in [the film]
"Network." The movies have gotten there before us, and these movies were real warnings about what could happen.
Editor's note: Donald Trump is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist, birther and bully who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims -- 1.6 billion members of an entire religion -- from entering the U.S.
Before You Go
