In reaction to Trump fans' use of The Kingsman church massacre scene, I wrote on FB this morning the following:
It is beyond contradictory and ironic how right wing activists created the Trump killing media people video used "The Kingsman" church massacre scene. That scene remains one of the most amazingly outrageous scenes in the entire history of cinema. As we see in the beginning of the clip (and I wish there was more of that beginning because the preacher is a hate monger right out of Trump-David Duke land), the church is a hate factory sadly not completely made up in the history of the South and near South (Kentucky). The background, for those who are not familiar with the film, is the billionaire villain--Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson), speaking with a humorous lisp--has hatched a plan to rid the planet of about 1/3d to 1/2 of humanity to fight climate change, but protect the 1% (or at least those who are willing to go along with him). Valentine's solution is a Malthusian solution (note: Karl Marx was the early 19th Century's most brilliant critic of Malthus, explaining capitalism would help in resolving any issue of over population and food development, and that the issue remains one of distribution, not population numbers). The billionaire's plan is based upon his giving away free cellphones, with people not knowing the cellphones contain a frequency which, when activated, will cause people to lose all non-violent inhibitions and suddenly want to kill each other. It affects all who are in the range, as it did Colin Firth's character, who is the essence of decorum, restraint and dignity, but can fight like the dickens when necessary.
The scene is not only a choreographically visual wonderment, but the soundtrack chosen is brilliant. It is Lynyrd Sknyrd's classic, "Free Bird,"* and the song is used from the last words in the song, "Lord knows, I can't change...." LS was a Southern rock band in the 1970s (tragically, it lost members in a plane crash in the late 1970s) which hoisted a large Confederate flag behind them in shows and were notoriously reactionary and perhaps racially insensitive in their politics (unlike the greatest Southern rock band of all time, The Allman Brothers). Infamously, LS' songwriters wrote "Sweet Home Alabama" as a rebuke to Neil Young's "Southern Man," never wanting to come to grips with the racist hatred and violence which is a main legacy of the Southern region of our nation.** If one listens carefully to the lyrics in "Sweet Home Alabama," one sees the direct rebuke to Young amidst the very catchy and great tune.*** To use "Free Bird," the real LS anthem, as the backdrop for the murderous reaction of The Kingsman (Colin Firth) right after the preacher gives his hate sermon, and the first woman killed is a horrible, hateful person spewing hatred at Firth's character, who had mischievously set forth all the things the woman hates (blacks, Jews, abortion, etc.), is a stunning stroke of brilliant creativity. I always wondered how the filmmakers, Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman, got away with using LS' song in this way. I wonder if the song's copyright owners understood the use--as I saw no corporate media critics note these points and most filmgoers certainly seemed to have been unable to articulate just what was going on in the scene.
I appreciate how some smart right wing activists may have wanted to take back the scene, but all I can say is nice try, but it is a Fail. The preacher does them in every time and the woman's racist hatefulness does in any such attempt to change context. This scene in the original film has a worldview, a point of view. And the entire film is a Chomskyian version of a James Bond film, where the people who are right wingers and racists are the ones who die amidst "funny" or "ironic" music, while the nicer people, when confronted with death or are killed, have more typical somber, scary music within the soundtrack. The NY Times corporate media critic thought the film incoherent and The Guardian critic actually thought the film was right-wing. No, it was neither. The bad guy may have been concerned with climate change, but his Malthusian solution was a typical selfish oriented capitalist accumulation in reverse. The other bad guys in the film are the British version of Rush Limbaugh-FoxNews fans who hang around in pubs and bully people--and they get theirs a couple of times at least in the film. The film also attacks the 1% who nearly all get theirs--yes, Chomsky fans--even Obama and other "corporate liberal" 1%ers get theirs, too. As I say, this is a film with a decidedly left radical bent, and it was amazing to me how hardly anyone seemed to get it, even when seeing it.
All the Trump fans see in this scene is a glorification of violence, which is a projection of their own adoration of violence (and hate). However, the film itself is a demand we solve this climate change problem saving people, and not killing them. Even the full scene shows Colin Firth's character recognition of remorse, guilt, disgust as to what he has done and wondering how and why it occurred. And we see it in the faces of his compatriots helplessly watching the carnage. Firth's character is then shot by the bad rich guy at point blank range when he steps out of the church, with a recognition that motives may not count as much as actions in karma-based justice.
* The lyric in "Free Bird" speaks of stubborn selfishness as a virtue. It makes Dion's self-parodying and self-ironic "The Wanderer" from 1962 seem closer to "Get Together."
** A FB friend challenged whether LS ever recanted their worldview before the tragic plane crash, also properly noting they had a good relationship with Neil Young on a personal level--Young being a pall bearer at the post-plane crash funeral of Van Zandt. After reading this article from Rolling Stone, I think the point made below, which is LS and Van Zandt were extolling George Wallace, and the band being fine with the Confederate (Northern Virginia flag) up through and well after the plane crash, tells us my initial point is still on point. And, really, "the record company forced us to show the stars and bars?" Really? I don't believe that for a minute. Sounds like a post-cultural moment whine. And certainly some LS fans knew better and reacted with anger and betrayal when a recent incarnation of the band jettisoned the flag.
*** Here are a sample of the song's lyrics, which most don't even hear as the music covers it like a nice, warm blanket. "I miss Alabamy once again and I think its a sin yes/Well I heard Mr. Young sing about her/Well I heard ole Neil put her down/Well I hope Neil Young will remember/A southern man don't need him around anyhow."
*** Here are a sample of the song's lyrics, which most don't even hear as the music covers it like a nice, warm blanket. "I miss Alabamy once again and I think its a sin yes/Well I heard Mr. Young sing about her/Well I heard ole Neil put her down/Well I hope Neil Young will remember/A southern man don't need him around anyhow."
And here is a little tasty reminder of how right wingers viewed the Nixon scandals in the next verse of the song:
In Birmingham they love the governor
Boo-boo-boo
Now we all did what we could do
Now watergate does not bother me
Does your conscience bother you?
Tell the truth
Sweet home Alabama
Where the skies are so blue
Sweet home Alabama
Who, first off, was Alabama's governor in 1973-1974 when this song was released in 1974? George Wallace, the face of American racism in the 1960s and early 1970s (although he was trying to show some change in 1974). One can reasonably envision LS marching in Charlottesville with those other "nice people" in 2018....
