Warning: This post contains major spoilers for Armageddon TimeWritten and directed by James Gray, who is best known for Ad Astra, Armageddon Time first premiered during the 2022 Cannes Film Festival and released in limited theaters on October 28. The film, which stars Anne Hathaway and Anthony Hopkins among others, follows 12-year-old Paul Graff through the ups and downs of his life in 1980.
Armageddon Time gets real very quickly as Paul (Banks Repeta) and Johnny (Jaylin Webb) are arrested for stealing and attempting to pawn a school computer for money. While Paul is ready to take full responsibility for his idea, and because he senses Johnny will get into far more trouble, a police sergeant comes to Paul’s rescue. Because Irving (Jeremy Strong) fixed something for the officer for free once a few years ago, the middle schooler is let off the hook with no consequences, while Johnny takes the fall for the incident. Paul doesn’t see Johnny again after that, and, after a chat with his father, Paul goes back to school more disillusioned than before.
What Is Armageddon Time’s Story Based On?
Armageddon Time is a semi-autobiographical work that is based on writer-director James Gray’s life growing up in Queens, New York in the 1980s. The Graffs are all characters inspired by Gray’s own family , as are the elements of racial and socioeconomic disparity that make up the central narrative. Like Paul Graff, Gray also enjoyed painting, though he wound up becoming a filmmaker instead of an artist. Gray’s family was also Jewish, survivors of the Holocaust, and Paul’s friend Johnny was also inspired by a friend of the director’s when they were kids. Even the Graff family home is designed after Gray’s own home growing up.
Why Paul’s Family Hates That He Wants To Be An Artist
Throughout Armageddon Time, Paul’s family — and especially his father Irving — diminish Paul’s dreams of being an artist, often calling it a hobby, one that he’ll move on from as he gets older. Paul comes from a family of Jewish immigrants on his mother’s side, and his father was a plumber who, while successful enough, could not afford to give Paul the things he wanted him to have. As their son, Esther and Irving hung their hopes and dreams set on Paul having a better and brighter future than the both of them; they believe he could live the American dream. Being an artist was not considered a lucrative career, and was thus not taken seriously by any of his family. Having faced some prejudice and wanting to gain a better footing in the U.S. The Graffs believed sending Paul to a private school would set him on a path towards financial success, a way to realize the American dream, which is something they didn’t think he could legitimately achieve as a working artist.
Johnny’s Backstory Explained: Why He Runs Away From Home
Johnny’s family and background is only glimpsed throughout Armageddon Time, whereas Paul gets a fully fleshed out story. He runs away from home because he doesn’t want social services to send him into foster care. His grandmother, Johnny’s guardian, is ill and can no longer take care of him; Johnny had hoped to take refuge at Paul’s house for a while, but that would have only lasted for so long before social services caught up to him. Johnny had no one else to turn to, which was why he believed running away to Florida, where his stepbrother lived, would help alleviate the stress of his situation.
Why Paul Wants To Steal His School’s Computer
Paul is a dreamer, and he feels the weight of his family’s expectations throughout Armageddon Time. Attending a private school doesn’t deter Paul from his artistic aspirations, and he piggybacks off of Johnny’s desire to move to Florida. Paul believed that if they stole his school’s computer and sold it, he and Johnny would have enough money to buy a bus ticket all the way to Florida, where they would achieve their dreams of being an artist and an astronaut with NASA, respectively. The computer itself was a beacon of hope, a way out of the current — and often restrictive — lives the middle schoolers led, and a step towards some semblance of freedom.
How Paul Ultimately Fails His Grandfather
Before Paul’s grandfather Aaron goes in for surgery, he tells him to stand up to bullies when he sees them, and to Anthony Hopkins’ character, the 12-year-old falters.
The True Meaning Of Armageddon Time
Armageddon Time is a criticism of late-stage capitalism, and an exploration of the ways in which racial and socioeconomic inequalities are so deeply embedded into the system of oppression that it’s actually impossible to achieve the American dream, which the film presents as a fallacy. Through Paul and Johnny’s friendship, the film showcases how Paul’s privilege — however small in comparison to his rich, private school classmates — gives him a leg up in the world. Whereas Johnny does not have the same opportunities and is treated differently (and far more harshly, as his experiences with the police and Mr. Turkeltaub reveal) because he is Black. Paul’s family is an example of how turning away from systemic inequality, rather than fighting against it, perpetuates the status quo. Paul is just a kid, though, and he isn’t portrayed as a bad person, but a benefactor of a system that continually acts in his favor. Armageddon Time purports that systemic inequality and oppression hurts everyone except for those at the top.
