There Is No Such Thing as a Neutral Terminator

When I first processed the news that Ron Howard was directing a feature adaptation of Hillbilly Elegy, J.D. Vance's 2016 memoir, I made it my personal mission to see the movie. Given the book's reputation, I was expecting a sensitive portrait of Appalachia that drew from Vance's childhood memories to offer insights into the lives of the white working class. Instead, I was faced with perhaps the most catastrophically misguided work of pop sociology ever committed to film. I didn't even make it to the hour mark before I had to shut everything down in disgust, because 49 minutes into the movie, Mamaw (Glenn Close), the fierce but tender matriarch of the Vance family, offers young J.D. the following advice: Everyone in this world is one of three kinds: a good Terminator, a bad Terminator, or neutral. I have always known that coastal elites like Howard look on some groups of Americans with incomprehension, fear, and even hatred.