Harlan Jacobson's post-election reflections: The Queen's Gambit and On The Rocks

After all that has been said about Mssrs. Biden and Trump and how they differ from soup to nuts, in that order, the one thing they shared as candidates and men was being old, part of a generation that is leaving the stage, gracefully or otherwise. And which is devoutly being anticipated by younger generations—as we saw from the primaries through the general election.

It’s no surprise then that the great Unconscious of Film Culture is regularly providing films that anticipate young men and women wrestling in their fashion with how they break free from the Trumps in their lives. Children overthrowing parents, after all, is the generational split we see working out in our politics and our films. Contrary to the idea of escape, we engage better with entertainment that mines the things we’re mulling in our daily lives, that scares, excites, or makes us anxious and where attention must be paid...