Confident people portray their enemies as ridiculous and buffoonish because they have no respect for them. They know that they will overcome their opponents, even if it takes some work. Fearful people imagine their enemies as terrifying and powerful, because those are the demons that haunt their darkest thoughts. Their enemies are often portrayed as eternal, impossible to defeat.
That comes to mind watching a movie like Raiders of the Lost Ark. Like all old films, it was made for a different people. America in 1981 was a vastly different place than we see today and it is obvious in the film. There are no heroic blacks or expectation subverting females. The movie is set in the Middle East, but the cast is whiter than a white nationalist convention.
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