Steely Dan Dirty Work - Plot and Theme

“One Battle After Another”: a Complete Satire of Polarization

October 23, 2025 by Derek Jacobs

Split image showing two opposing characters from One Battle After Another. On the left, a woman in a military jacket (Perfidia Beverly Hills) speaks tensely into a pay phone, her face half-lit in blue neon. On the right, a stern older man (Colonel Lockjaw) stands behind a chain-link fence under harsh white light, his expression rigid. The contrasting color tones and framing emphasize their ideological opposition and mirror-like symmetry.

A film that turns America’s ideological fever into satire— and dares us to see the joke’s on us.