I think it’s fair to say that a lot of your work falls into the category of satire. And I’ve seen people since 2016 talk about how satire has become more difficult in the Trump years because it feels harder to get ahead of the world. Is this something you find yourself up against – how to refine satire in a world that can seem crazy? The world will always seem crazy, no matter what time period you’re in. I’m sure after Civil War, people were like, Hey, this is crazy right now. If your satire is about the concerns of what is happening today, you may not be hitting on a truth that is universal. I prefer to go after human flaws rather than the flaws of the moment. Guilt, embarrassment, feeling inadequate – these things are timeless.
But do you think we are fooling ourselves into thinking that we are facing new problems? I mean, obviously every time period has unique problems. But we’re all at that age where we’re interacting with the world the way it is for the first time. We. I was thinking about U2 the other day. A song appeared on my wife’s iPhone, a new song. And I was like, U2 has been around since the 80’s. When we were kids, it was like listening to a band from the 1940s. The entire culture has been preserved. I don’t think other generations have had easy access to things made so long ago.
That easier access can also mean that the culture feels more stable, because it frees up space for newer, younger stuff to come in. I completely agree. It feels like the culture is a little flat. You’re not seeing decades as distinct as you used to be, and that probably has something to do with the fact that we have so many things. Even with TV: You create this thing, you put all your energy into it, you never get to experience it with an audience. You never get that final “Oh, did it work? Did it not work?” And then as soon as your last episode airs, there are 20 new shows, and then 20 more. Nothing has a moment in the Sun.
Wait until your book arrives! (laughing) That’s what I’m hearing.
Also, I don’t mean this as sarcasm, but rather at the idea of culture recycling: You rebooted the “Halloween” movies! Completely. (Director) David (Gordon) Green came to me with it and he said, “They want me to reboot ‘Halloween.'” My first thing was, “Don’t do it.” And he says, “I think I’m going to.” Then it was like, “Okay, I have to do this with you to make sure we don’t mess it up.” So, yes, to some extent we’re contributing to the repackaging of old stuff, but we’re at least Kam is trying to bring some honesty into it.
Earlier I asked if you ever get notes about comedy, but when you’re making a horror film do you ever get notes about anything being out of line? In the “Halloween” movie you made, there’s a scene where Michael Myers cuts out a guy’s tongue, and I thought, I’m out, this is too much. It’s fun to write comedy and then write horror. Obviously, jokes can offend people. But there is nothing scary about it. We’re coming up with brilliant ways to kill people, and no one is bothered by it. You are allowed to do this. But tell the wrong joke and you could be in trouble.
