Ex Machina director Alex Garland’s recent comments about political differences not being “moral issues” have caused controversy on social media.

Garland was speaking in a recent interview about his new film Civil War, which imagines a dystopian future when the USA is engaged in the titular conflict.

During the interview, he said that he thought political differences had been made into a matter of morality, which he argued was “fucking idiotic”.

“Left and right are ideological arguments about how to run a state. That’s all they are,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “They are not a right or wrong, or good and bad. It’s which do you think has greater efficacy? That’s it.

“But we’ve made it into ‘good and bad.’ We made it into a moral issue, and it’s fucking idiotic, and incredibly dangerous … I personally [blame] some of this on social media.”

Garland’s remarks have sparked divisive responses among social media users. “What a hideously boring take for a filmmaker making a movie on the subject,” one person wrote.

“Hate it when you make your existence and bodily autonomy and stuff into a moral issue,” said another, while a third added: “Politics *are* a moral issue. This is infuriatingly obtuse.”

Meanwhile, Jeff VanderMeer, the best-selling author of Annihilation – whose film adaptation was directed by Garland – called him out for his comments.

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VanderMeer re-shared a post by Garland alongside the phrase “self-annihilation” – an intentional play on the title of the project they worked on.

Civil War will come to cinemas next month after premiering at SXSW last week.

 



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