Political radicalism borrowed its self-presentation directly from cinema

Evidence

An uncanny echo of Jane Alpert, who, on a mission to plant a bomb in the Federal Building on Foley Square, set out with fifteen sticks of dynamite in a large purse shoplifted from a midtown department store. “I boarded a bus heading downtown. I was wearing a white A-line dress, kid gloves (to avoid leaving fingerprints), and a touch of make-up. I looked as if I were going to a business lunch or matinee.” Of course, Alpert was modeling herself on the female terrorists in The Battle of Algiers. — J. Hoberman, Everything Is Now, 2040

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the book’s core thesis that the counterculture and political movements were constructed through film imagery — echoes the argument that avant-garde scenes are produced by cultural conditions rather than spontaneous genius.
• SEED: Angle: how a specific film (The Battle of Algiers) directly scripted the dress and behavior of real-world political actors — cinema as training manual for protest and terrorism.