What would happen if modern-day America descended into a civil war? That’s the premise of Alex Garland’s Civil War, which opens on April 12th. I’ve been looking forward to this movie all year, ever since the first trailer dropped. I have so many questions, too, like everyone else seeing these trailers.
Who is fighting whom? What happened to lead to civil war? Who are the good guys, and who are the bad guys? Are there any similarities with actual real-life America that inspired the plot? After all, the premise seems a bit more realistic than it should these days.
Obviously, we’ll have to watch the movie to get answers. But the folks at A24 published a brilliant teaser on social media that answers at least one question. And it only makes me want to see Civil War even more. Mind you, some spoilers will follow below.
A24 invited fans to pledge their allegiance with the following map of the US, which shows the divided regions that are at war in the movie. It’s a great trick to have people talking about the film because it changes everything you might have assumed about Civil War.
I personally thought we were looking at a division between two parts of America. No matter the reason, these two associations of states would fight each other. One of the two leaders would have to be the natural successor of the current US, or the one claiming to lead the original US. Then, you’d have the likely secessionist group of states that form their own union.
As the map above shows, the premise isn’t entirely wrong. But it’s not correct either. We have multiple warring factions in Civil War, each pursuing their own interests. But it’s not just two groups that are battling in the movie.
There’s the Loyalist States, which run from the northeast through the mid-west. These might be the states loyal to the pre-civil war US, but I’m just speculating. You then have a mysterious New People’s Army taking up the northwest.
More intriguing is the Western Forces group, which consists of California and Texas. The two states are not connected by land, which can be an obvious problem in a military conflict. It’ll also be interesting to see how these unlikeliest of allies joined forces since California and Texas are polar opposites in the real world.
Finally, there’s the Florida Alliance taking up most of the south.
This map really complicates things, and that’s why I want to see Civil War so badly. We don’t just have a difference of opinion between the two parties. It’s multiple players fighting it out in the streets, and no one knows why.
The best part about the teaser is that it doesn’t provide any sort of explanation. You can pledge your allegiance, sure, but you have no idea who or what you’re backing. You might root for your geographical region, but whatever they’re standing up for might go against your principles.
I’ll also point out the obvious: This is a movie, so I don’t really expect it to be based on anything happening in the world right now.
