Slay the Dragon (2019)

Slay the Dragon review by Mark McPherson - Cinema Paradiso

Watching a documentary such as Slay The Dragon after the 2020 election is quite the odd experiencing. The film concerns gerrymandering and how a collective of citizens decided that they have had enough of this rigged system, aiming to remove it from how the country votes. Katie Fahey led this charge when she was tired of how the voting system was stacked and began a grassroots campaign in Michigan to stop this process. She was successful. Well, kinda.

Fahey’s campaign was easy enough to start up after Michigan’s political corruption was literally killing its population. It’s a story that has become so common now that I doubt I even have to mention what is wrong with Michigan. But if you’re late to class, here’s the short version. In the city of Flint, politicians passed a change in the water system that would divert the city’s water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River. This move, however, led to lead being found in the pipes and causing undrinkable water for the community. The few that did drink it, however, were stricken with illness and even died. An entire community is left without drinking water and a damaged generation of those who consume it. Their government merely shrugged.

With this problem, Fahey’s campaign got up and running quickly. People started getting interested in gerrymandering, learning all about it and how it has effectively damaged their communities. For those who need a crash course, the various districts are showcased in how absurd they are posed to squash out voters from having an impact in certain communities. Of course, establishing districts is a rather arbitrary process, but it’s pretty clear what’s going on when you look at how the lines are drawn. One particular voting district looks more like a vertical sliver than a block of a community.

As if it weren’t obvious what’s going on here, as implied by the theme of painting the country red, the act of gerrymandering is a bigger benefit to Republicans. The demographics are showcasing a declining influence for the political party and, after the 2020 election, this desperation has grown all the more vocal and vibrant as the overton window shifts for the scattershot direction of conservatives. It’s why Republicans will try to keep gerrymandering in place for as long as they can. It is a crumbling pillar held together with duct tape in order to maintain an invisible influence, declaring anybody who opposes gerrymandering just a sore loser or socialist who wants to ruin America’s law. That was the narrative being pushed in 2019. Now that the Democrats are once again in the White House and Senate, the excuse changes: those opposing gerrymandering are no longer sore losers but authoritative politicians who want to ruin America.

The film ends with Fahey’s bill being successful when voted upon but the documentary doesn’t frame this as the end of the story. Republicans are still trying to keep gerrymandering in place and oppose the redistricting at every turn. They can see the writing the wall. A 2020 study revealed that gerrymandering is still a big issue and impedes numerous party functions at both the congressional and state house levels, as well as erodes the democratic process. It’s further proof that it’s an act which needs to be dismantled but the struggling Republican party, in their bitter desperation, will always push back on this aspect. It’s why the fight can’t stop not merely because it’s important but because those in power who need it are starting to fall. For that reason, this is an exceptionally important documentary on very crucial aspect of voter suppression.