Movies - TV
Rian Johnson Wrote Knives Out About 'What Politics Does To Your Thanksgiving Dinner'
By MICHAEL BOYLE
Alternatively touted as a deconstructed whodunnit or a classic mystery a la Agatha Christie, Rian Johnson’s “Knives Out” is an excellent installment in the genre. However, “Knives Out” is more than just a murder mystery, and the director has said that his film was directly affected by the politics of the era and the conversations his audiences were having at the time.
In an interview, Johnson explained, “’Knives Out,’ it's about politics. It's really about a family arguing about politics, and it's about what politics does to your Thanksgiving dinners.” The filmmaker said the film is an exploration of the question, “What happens when somebody you grew up loving suddenly supports something politically that you find abhorrent?”
Of course, while the larger story of “Knives Out” is a timeless murder mystery, Johnson said that he didn’t want to shy away from topical questions of the era. Just like Christie’s novels were set in her day and age, Johnson set “Knives Out” “right here and right now” with the intention to “talk about exactly what everyone is talking about right now."