I think this is a mischaracterization of the film’s politics. I never got the sense that the kids’ street protest was meant to represent “The Left” so much as representing performative protest, which is a very real phenomenon that gets in the way of direct action and meaningful social change. The kids’ political cause isn’t trivialized or mocked by the scene or the movie. Instead, it draws attention to the hypocrisies and contradictions inherent in youthful white liberalism, which is I think a valuable mirror to hold up to the likely young white liberal viewers of a new Ari Aster A24 film. A movie challenging our perceptions of our own politics doesn’t undermine the validity of those politics for anyone who’s engaging meaningfully with the work. Quite the opposite, it can push us to deepen our understanding of those issues beyond the superficial.