Anti-Anonymous/Libertarian Imagery In "The Purge," "The East," and "The Following"

I wrote in November and December about The Year Of The Mask -- and mask imagery is still going strong in our popular culture. But while this all started as a riff off the Guy Fawkes "Anonymous" mask, it has taken a very cult-like, Manson-like, serial-killer turn.

Exhibit One: The TV show "The Following," about an Edgar Allan Poe-obsessed cult led by a charismatic, Charles Mansonesque leader. Here's a visual of the masks the followers -- who are in "sleeper cells" and could be anybody -- use:

Apparently the show -- which is incredibly disturbing and visceral -- has made concrete connections between the Poe cult and the Tea Party/Libertarian movement, as seen by this still from an episode where the "Don't Tread On Me" flag is displayed:

Next, we have the recent trailer for the movie "The East," about an Occupy-type group who targets big corporations. Here is a sample of their mask imagery:



While the corporate "Bad Guys" in the film have all the standard "Illuminati" imagery like a Bohemian Grove type get-together and a company name like "Hawkstone" (Horus-Stone, Horus-Mason), we find a quick cut from the trailer where one of the "rebels" is wearing a Baphomet symbol:

Who are really the "bad guys" in this movie? More than likely, The East will be revealed to be a Manson-like violent "cult" that should never have been trusted.

Lastly, here are images from the upcoming film "The Purge," about the beleaguered government announcing a 12-hour period where any crime is legal.

The trailers also have a strong "America Reborn" theme that is reminiscent of Alex Jones-type rhetoric and graphics:



"The Purge," then, features mask-wearing gangs that seem at the same time Anarchistic (Occupy, Anonymous) and Tea Party/Libertarian.

What we can glean from all this? No matter what political extraction of the mask wearer, the message is CLEAR -- these are dangerous people who need to be stopped. That is the message of all this -- that they are all cults, no different from a Manson/Waco type scenario. It is taking the Guy Fawkes symbology and consciously turning it "evil."

Good thing, perhaps, that the next major superheroes to grace our silver screen either have armor (Iron Man = military tech) or are maskless (Superman = Ubermensch, Thor = Aryan ideal).

Read More

Dorner: A Real American Hero? (Nobody Wins)

The plot of the upcoming "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" involves the framed "Joe" members
(like Roadblock, pictured above) who have to clear their name.

"The question is, what would you do to clear your name?"
--Christopher Dorner

I wanted to say a few words about the Christopher Dorner situation.

It's very interesting to me that some of the public is so hungry for a hero that now Dorner -- who has allegedly shot up LAPD and their relations & is now on the run -- has now been adopted as such. By both public and media. He now has several Facebook appreciation pages and many supporters.

Apparently tossing in some good words for certain parties (Anonymous, Charlie Sheen, POTUS, etc.) in his 20-page manifesto gave some people the "OK" sign that this guy was a true and legit "anti-hero" on the run, in the mold of Billy Jack, Rambo, and etc. You know: "Fuck the NRA," but love "The Hangover" and Christoph Waltz. I mean, it's fucking adorable almost, right?

A collage of Chrisopher Dorner pics

This is not to minimize his points regarding racism and corruption in the LAPD -- whistleblowers are indeed treated like crap and discredited, and this particular police force has had a terrible rep for many decades. I truly understand his frustration with such a scenario, such corruption unfortunately being the warp and weft of much of our current society.

But the cult that has now formed around him is of the same basic cloth as cults that have built around "right wing" killers such as Tim McVeigh, WTF shooters such as Columbine and James Holmes, and etc. "Folk Heroes"? "Real American Heroes"?

To put it in terms of the popular parlance: is Dorner Bane or Batman?

Doesn't matter, because in the end we all still lose.

Dorner's "Manifesto" is indeed a compelling read, but also quite contradictory. He talks at length about how we should have gun control, but also uses this "Patriot" verbage and quotage that is classic "Tea Party"/Alex Jones:

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants"

Dorner says he is not using this against the U.S. Government, but his talk of righteous vengeance against "dirtbags" (and their families) mirrors a similar viewpoint that members of the extreme "right" fringe express. How is this different than McVeigh bombing a government building, killing not just govt. workers but their children?

"Superhero": Rambo

But regardless of being on the Left or the Right, everybody wants a superhero -- they want a figure to believe in.

And so this isn't a post saying people who support Chris Dorner are idiots. I understand the primal mechanism to find figures to venerate, who represent one's own frustrations & do the things that one can never do.

It's just that Right or Left, we're fighting against each other -- flinging names across the barrier -- and not really looking at the important issues. We want drama and superheroes and saviors too much. And in an oft-dreary world, maybe this constant turnover of such figures -- whether they are made-up or real or "real" or who the fuck knows -- is needed as a catharsis, a palate cleanser, a release valve, a shot of Prozac, something.

Monica Quan, allegedly shot to death by Christopher Dorner

Lost in the media and social media clutter is the fact that a 28-year-old woman has been murdered -- who, according to said Dorner manifesto, "deserved" to die:

" I never had the opportunity to have a family of my own, I’m terminating yours."

Praise for Dorner

And so the "Dorner Manifesto" accomplishes two seemingly disparate goals:

1) Discredit OWS/Anonymous movements by goading them into backing a person who, under scrutiny, really shouldn't be backed or emulated.

2) Discredit NRA/"gun nuts" by making a strong argument for tight gun control laws -- not just by example of violence but actually making a premeditated, long, specific argument in the manifesto itself for said laws.

That's strange and contradictory to me, but that's the nature of Dorner's manifesto. In the end, it's playing both sides against each other. Surely a smart guy like Alex Jones can figure that one out.

Really, if you were writing a movie -- or purposely manipulating the public -- you could not do better than this story of a "modern day Rambo". It is media GOLD.

Dorner sends what is essentially a "PR Package" to Anderson Cooper

Of course, Dorner himself is just being used -- whether as a devil to the Right, or a "hero" to the Left. Being used to sell papers and running up web hits. Used by Charlie Sheen to sell his own fucking movie, a movie that just happens to come out at the same time he makes a public appeal to Dorner to contact him and "talk it out."

And, just as in the James Holmes case and so many others, Dorner's "rise to fame" will doubtless be an example for other unstable people.

Dorner is just another "celebrity" in this TMZ promo montage

And maybe that explains so many references to movie stars and other celebrities in Dorner's manifesto. In the end, not only does the public (feeling helpless and nondescript) "need" a hero -- but individual persons (feeling helpless and nondescript) need to feel popular. Need to feel heard -- but more than heard, need to feel like they are themselves celebrities.

Speaking of which, another sullen "Joker" has turned up causing trouble, this time at Applebees. Hasn't anyone told him of the "New Hotness?" Is this literal clown joining Beyonce with being "behind the curve" on the new zeitgeist?

"Old Hotness":  Jokers

For shame.

Lastly, here's a video from Stench of Truth talking about how the public gets distracted by shit like this and then turns on each other:

"It’s kind of sad I won’t be around to view and enjoy The Hangover III. What an awesome trilogy."
--Christopher Dorner

Read More

The Year Of The Mask, Continued

Last month I wrote a series of posts referencing "The Year Of The Mask":

"Globally, the iconography of the mask is being employed as one of rebellion, free-thinking, anarchy, and protest -- while at the same time co-opted by others as a symbol of darker things, a warning against this very same rebellious impulse in society."

This morning, Drudge Report placed this picture above their website's headline:

Another photo that ran yesterday in the Washington Examiner showed four protesters in Egypt wearing Guy Fawkes (a.k.a. "V for Vendetta") masks:

A question has to be thus raised here: how did these four men get these masks for such a "perfect" media-ready & incendiary photo opp?

Loren Coleman's Twilight Language blog collects even more images of protesters wearing the masks at the American Embassy protests in Egypt, two days ago on September 11th:




Can u spot "V" in this picture?

Again, I ask the question: where do people get the masks for these protests? Are they available locally? Do protesters order them in advance from online costume shops or eBay?

In other news, the man who made the inflammatory anti-Islam film that sparked these deadly September 11th riots apparently does not quite exist...

It's all quite strange to me. But what is not strange is the use of the mask image to hit definite chords with the public.

Update: film critic Roger Ebert suggests that the origins of the "YouTube" film that started this latest series of rioting may have origins that, once fully discovered, will "be vile and explosive":

"Isn't it transparently clear that that this whole affair was intended to offend Muslims and stir up trouble? Isn't Jones the infamous Quran-burner? How did he get out in front of this story so quickly?"

I have to agree with him -- this whole thing seems coordinated (including tying it to the 9/11 date) to purposely create a violent situation and war-like sentiments not only with radical Muslims, but radical extremists in the United States. Further, I believe that the image of the Guy Fawkes mask in relation to these ongoing events in the Middle East is also being purposely manipulated in the media.

Read More

These Chinese Sun-Blocking "Face-Kinis" Look Strangely Familiar...

Following up on my post yesterday regarding the current social and political relevance of the mask (Anonymous, Pussy Riot, etc.), I bring you this recent slice-of-life story from the Daily Mail about the newest fashion craze hitting China:

The "Face-Kini," designed to protect the face from the sun's harmful rays at the beach. Compare with:

Pussy Riot mask or Face-Kini?

The zeitgeist always finds a way...

Read More

Anonymous, Pussy Riot, And The Year Of The Mask

Despite "Cosmopolis" director David Cronenberg's recent assertion that superhero movies and themes are for kids, a look at the most provocative news stories of the day suggest otherwise.

Outside the Ecuadorian embassy in London, protesters in Guy Fawkes (or, as some media refers to them, "V for Vendetta") masks decry the "persecution" of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange (himself looking like someone from James Bond central casting):

And around the world people are donning ski masks in support of recently-convicted & sentenced Russian punk band Pussy Riot:

Globally, the iconography of the mask is being employed as one of rebellion, free-thinking, anarchy, and protest -- while at the same time co-opted by others as a symbol of darker things, a warning against this very same rebellious impulse in society:

At any rate, the idea that superhero and "comic book" themes do not deserve serious study or treatment is pointedly ridiculous. From political activists to the much-underestimated phenomenon of "real-life superheroes" to mass killers, the imagery of Comics is all around us -- sometimes used to inspire, sometimes used to terrify...and sometimes used as an inscrutable mirror of our own ever-mutating, ever-contradictory selves:

Read More