I need to watch Bone Tomahawak again. I didn't even think of any racial undertones, but since this author mentioned it, it sounds even more badass now.
I really like it but I never thought of it as a racialist film for God sake. I mean yes it's Europeans vs Indians but so what? They're savages? Well I hate to tell you this some tribes were savage -- as were more than enough Europeans. I'm not one of these 'keep your politics out of my thing' dudes. All art is, to a certain extent, somewhat political. But these guys never stop searching for racist demons even when they're not really there.
Also worth nothing is that the tribe was fictional, which I would assume was meant to curtail talk like this. The movie felt more like a western version of Predator to me than anything else.
Yeah it's also worth noting that, from what I can remember, like the Predator but kind of more mystic the tribe has a certain magical, super natural power which is actually kind of cool. It just never pays to be too pedantic about this stuff -- though I'm probably guilty of that when I see leftist tropes.
Remember when Apocalypto came out? They did the same shit. It was racist because the natives or whatever were portrayed as savages. Which I found odd at the time, because it was the first time I thought these shitskins south of the border were kind of fucking cool.
I also think the criticism against Cell Block is insane too. I can kind of see where he is coming from in describing the character as a "white nationalist," just because Vaughn in that movie reminded me a lot of white dudes I knew in central CA - drug addiction, towing a thin line between patriotism and criminality, etc, and I could understand how someone can get that vibe. There are presumably people everywhere who know these kind of folks, in the midwest, central PA, and so on. But if this premise is to be believed, that Vaughn is playing a white nationalist dude seeking vengeance for his wife, so what? Casting this kind of character, and as accurately as Zahler did, as some kind of hero makes for an interesting film and gives a perspective you're not used to seeing.
It's kinda like people years after the fact discarding Heinlein's book "Starship Troopers" as fascist propaganda. The guy was a libertarian weirdo, why can't he just maybe explore a taboo for art's sake without some faggot ass moralizing message behind it.
And the thing they didn't get about Apocalypto -- another film I fucking love -- is that the Mayan civ is an allegory for what Gibson thinks of the American Empire -- a dying culture rotting from within. The hunter gatherer tribe is portrayed in a semi-idyllic manner. How the fuck did you get racism from that? Jaguar's Paw is fucking awesome as is the tribe he comes from.
Casting this kind of character, and as accurately as Zahler did, as some kind of hero makes for an interesting film and gives a perspective you're not used to seeing.
Totally. I found it refreshing. It's just the type/class of person you don't much see portrayed in a positive light anymore. I was so happy. When you see those guys they're usually so stupid or evil as to be caricatures.
This guy is an idiot. Vince Vaughn wasn’t a drug dealer, it was established he worked at a garage and went back to old times after he got laid off (commentary on the current lack of jobs for lower class, but why would a film critic be looking for subtext?). I really don’t think there’s anything more to the cross tattoo than it being a cool image. Believe me, if everyone I knew with a cross tattoo had to demonstrate Christian behavior or be deemed a white supremacist, I’d be surrounded by nazis. Does he expect nobody in Bone Tomahawk, a down and dirty western, to have anything but great reverence for native Americans? Finally, to say the puppets in Puppet Master are committing hate crimes is a joke. It’s a fucking over the top slasher movie, and more than half the victims are white.
Zahler’s movies are straight-ahead homages to 70s and 80s grindhouse action. If I had to guess, I’d assume he probably doesn’t think of the racial implications of his movies one iota, probably because he’s too busy thinking about badass ways to kill bad guys and shit. I think to say these movies are problematic is silly but inoffensive, but to accuse him of white supremacy is just straight up libelous and unprofessional.
11 comments
1 literalotherkin 2018-10-18
God I hope so.
1 AtlanticCityAttorney 2018-10-18
I need to watch Bone Tomahawak again. I didn't even think of any racial undertones, but since this author mentioned it, it sounds even more badass now.
1 literalotherkin 2018-10-18
I really like it but I never thought of it as a racialist film for God sake. I mean yes it's Europeans vs Indians but so what? They're savages? Well I hate to tell you this some tribes were savage -- as were more than enough Europeans. I'm not one of these 'keep your politics out of my thing' dudes. All art is, to a certain extent, somewhat political. But these guys never stop searching for racist demons even when they're not really there.
1 WaterFromTheWell 2018-10-18
Also worth nothing is that the tribe was fictional, which I would assume was meant to curtail talk like this. The movie felt more like a western version of Predator to me than anything else.
1 literalotherkin 2018-10-18
Yeah it's also worth noting that, from what I can remember, like the Predator but kind of more mystic the tribe has a certain magical, super natural power which is actually kind of cool. It just never pays to be too pedantic about this stuff -- though I'm probably guilty of that when I see leftist tropes.
1 AtlanticCityAttorney 2018-10-18
Remember when Apocalypto came out? They did the same shit. It was racist because the natives or whatever were portrayed as savages. Which I found odd at the time, because it was the first time I thought these shitskins south of the border were kind of fucking cool.
I also think the criticism against Cell Block is insane too. I can kind of see where he is coming from in describing the character as a "white nationalist," just because Vaughn in that movie reminded me a lot of white dudes I knew in central CA - drug addiction, towing a thin line between patriotism and criminality, etc, and I could understand how someone can get that vibe. There are presumably people everywhere who know these kind of folks, in the midwest, central PA, and so on. But if this premise is to be believed, that Vaughn is playing a white nationalist dude seeking vengeance for his wife, so what? Casting this kind of character, and as accurately as Zahler did, as some kind of hero makes for an interesting film and gives a perspective you're not used to seeing.
It's kinda like people years after the fact discarding Heinlein's book "Starship Troopers" as fascist propaganda. The guy was a libertarian weirdo, why can't he just maybe explore a taboo for art's sake without some faggot ass moralizing message behind it.
1 literalotherkin 2018-10-18
And the thing they didn't get about Apocalypto -- another film I fucking love -- is that the Mayan civ is an allegory for what Gibson thinks of the American Empire -- a dying culture rotting from within. The hunter gatherer tribe is portrayed in a semi-idyllic manner. How the fuck did you get racism from that? Jaguar's Paw is fucking awesome as is the tribe he comes from.
Totally. I found it refreshing. It's just the type/class of person you don't much see portrayed in a positive light anymore. I was so happy. When you see those guys they're usually so stupid or evil as to be caricatures.
1 TheElDan 2018-10-18
This guy is an idiot. Vince Vaughn wasn’t a drug dealer, it was established he worked at a garage and went back to old times after he got laid off (commentary on the current lack of jobs for lower class, but why would a film critic be looking for subtext?). I really don’t think there’s anything more to the cross tattoo than it being a cool image. Believe me, if everyone I knew with a cross tattoo had to demonstrate Christian behavior or be deemed a white supremacist, I’d be surrounded by nazis. Does he expect nobody in Bone Tomahawk, a down and dirty western, to have anything but great reverence for native Americans? Finally, to say the puppets in Puppet Master are committing hate crimes is a joke. It’s a fucking over the top slasher movie, and more than half the victims are white.
Zahler’s movies are straight-ahead homages to 70s and 80s grindhouse action. If I had to guess, I’d assume he probably doesn’t think of the racial implications of his movies one iota, probably because he’s too busy thinking about badass ways to kill bad guys and shit. I think to say these movies are problematic is silly but inoffensive, but to accuse him of white supremacy is just straight up libelous and unprofessional.
1 Ilovemesomereddit123 2018-10-18
Proof not everyone in Hollywood is a pansy
1 WilliamHenryJustice 2018-10-18
He makes great movies regardless
1 BeerCanThick 2018-10-18
He didn't praise Dragged Across Concrete because this article was released before that was.