relatively easy fascism

I'm considering adding the Hunger Games series to my list of architectural movies. I'm particularly struck by the portrayal of the Capital City. It does a good job of being surreal and familiar. The CGI isn't over the top and I get the sense of restraint displayed by the visual team that put it together.

Fascist architecture is most often associated with Albert Speer, but he was merely channeling the dominant themes of his day and rendering it in a manner that taps into the uncanny. His work cannot be viewed separately from his client, even for the purposes of intellectual discussion.

Meanwhile, they're remaking Robocop, and towers of ilium is not pleased by that. We can expect 60 million dollars of computer generated stunts and gunfights. Probably flying cars. The visceral power of the original cannot be repeated by the formulaic producers of contemporary Hollywood.

I'm wondering if the corporate modernism of the 50's, 60's, and 70's--which I thoroughly despise--was an accurate reflection of the prosperity of the nation. It feels like an aberration. The real story is in single family housing and the suburbanization of the country. 57 million houses and the thousands of miles of roads connecting them seems more important than the steel and concrete idiocy created by Rudolph, Kallman McKinnel, TAC, Ben Thompson, and others.