…and tonight’s paper mule is brought to you by Robert Rodriguez and Dimension Films:
I remember my amusement and enthusiasm upon seeing this as part of a previous Rob Rod flick (Planet Terror); put it down to the faux-grim narration, offset by that irreverent little punchline; plus the fact it has all the usual ingredients that make Rodriguez flicks such fun: gunplay, violence, grizzled antiheroes, and a general air of trashy audacity.
As such, I greeted the plans to make a full film of it with a nod of approval.
Fast forward to May the 5th, 2010, and this public service announcement from the eponymous star:
Once again, laughter ensued upon seeing this new, star-enhanced trailer; what better way to get arses shaking through the aisles than pressing a hot-button political issue of the moment? A textbook marketing ploy, but no less potent for that.
It seems other parties didn’t get the memo…
Here I sat, embarking on some internet trawl or other, when I encountered a blog post on the somewhat grating paleocon site Alternative Right; its author, Richard Spencer, saw something much more sinister in the trailer (and movie) than shock opportunism:
So that moviegoing Whites won’t get spooked, Hollywood execs have apparently decided to depict “Machete” as a down-on-his-luck special agent with a heart of gold. One doesn’t get the impression that the film has anything to do with immigration, race, and the assassination of a populist White senator…I hope as many White Americans as possible get duped by the new trailer and go see this film. It might bring them closer to recognizing that the media and political establishment thinks of them as “the expendables.”
Not unexpected, coming from an Alt Rightist. A little overblown, but nowt out of the ordinary for them.
Funny how reactions can grow from a little overblown to full on zeppelin-sized in the space of days…
One paleo’s polemic inflates to another paleo’s protest:
Andrew Yeoman, from my readings of Keith Preston’s anarcho-pluralist blog Attack the System, has garnered quite a bit of notoriety in anarchist circles; he espouses “national anarchism”, a stance which combines staunch anti-authoritarianism with the hardcore identity politics of the alt-right crowd. Given his outlook, he’s not gonna be too thrilled with a flick which demonizes whites sharing his anti-immigration stance—especially one funded with their pilfered earnings.
With that understood…a machete is ”the international symbol of GENOCIDE”!?!?
Seriously?
Sure, I won’t deny that if you wanted to hack someone into bloody chunks, a machete might not be a bad choice; I imagine—or, to be more accurate, know—that it’s also a great aid when it comes to pruning foliage, or snagging that pesky fruit and stubborn vegetable.
Maybe I failed to get the memo; does using it a for crop harvest violate its intrinsic function as a tool in the flesh harvest?
In all seriousness, that kinda statement reeks of the bombastic essentialism I encounter when debating anti-burqa folk: the view that an object has an built-in, incontestable, one-size-fits-all “meaning” to it, regardless of the variety of ways it’s actually viewed and used. It’s the same flawed schematic the gun-control, religionist and “hate speech”-penalizing folk operate from, something which—as an anarchist with paleoconservative views—Yeoman might want to keep in mind.
As things stand, the whole episode places Yeoman and co. in the same pen as all the PC-roids, and feminazis he’d usually stand against, not to mention the garden-variety religious puritards. Sure, BANA don’t want the government to enforce their aesthetics on all and sundry, but there’s still that stench of moral panic and social scolding wafting through the air.
And all this over a grindhouse flick, a genre of film that, once again, thrives on offensive extremity? Actually, as far as offensive extremity goes, I doubt Machete even qualifies, being a tale of personal revenge thrown onto a borderpolitik backdrop which, like a Slayer lyrics sheet, sounds too cartoonishly grotesque to take seriously.
Compare Machete to a grindhouse gem like Fight For Your Life, a flick yet to get a release here in Bad Ol’ Blighty…
…or the Spaghetti grindhouse mockumentary, Addio Zio Tom…
Different era. Similar political plundering. Much greater emphasis.
And, of course, one needn’t journey into the B-movie inferno to find inflammatory content: Birth of a Nation, anyone? 300?
I can’t recall reading of any race wars breaking out in the wake of any of those flicks.
For all their professed respect for other “tribes”, I can’t help wondering if the BANA crew think that Mexican-American moviegoers are automatically gonna become fully-fledged members of La Raza upon exiting the cinemas. They sure as fuck don’t value the cognitive capacities of many of their own tribesmen, tending to see non-racialist whitefolk as self-hating, unreflective receptacles of Cultural Marxist dogma; very much the ol’ “you’re either with us, or you’re with the terrorists” line of thinking: a definer of many an ideological crusade.
Still, at least Yeoman and co. can argue against media-endorsed “genocide” with a semblance of integrity and validity; over at the less cerebrally-adept Stormfront forums, the typical Hitler-worshipping hakenkrauzers have been ever the more vehement in their outrage:
Of course, the fine, upstanding Herrenvolk of Stormfront would never, ever, endorse anything like that! Nuh-uh!
Oh wait…
Those motherfuckin’ Mexicans: invading a white man’s country; stealing a white man’s shtick….
~MRDA~
Didn’t plan on getting sucked into chapter II. of the same shit, but since you had me in mind…
In all seriousness, that kinda statement reeks of the bombastic essentialism I encounter when debating anti-burqa folk: the view that an object has an built-in, incontestable, one-size-fits-all “meaning” to it, regardless of the variety of ways it’s actually viewed and used. It’s the same flawed schematic the gun-control, religionist and “hate speech”-penalizing folk operate from, something which—as an anarchist with paleoconservative views—Yeoman might want to keep in mind.
Bombastic essentialism, uh?
Sure, a piece of sheet can be used in many ways. A piece of sheet on a Muslim, trotting around Europe, has only one meaning.
A machete can be used in many ways, too. A machete, in the hands of a Mexican, illegally crossing the American border, massacring Americans, can and does have only one meaning. Haven’t seen the movie (yet), but based on what I know about it, I will dare to guess it’s not about how to cut a coconut from a tree. Unless, of course, the underlining massage is that an American life, more specifically – a life of a White American is worth just as much as a coconut.
When we, occasionally, hear about blacks murdering each other with machete in Africa, we collectively sigh and shed a tear. When we see a movie of a Mexican, cutting up whites left and right, it’s just a movie and has no symbolism in it. I mean, it’s not like there’s an illegal invasion of Mexicans. I mean, it’s not like Mexicans are hanging beheaded heads on bridges. Nope, it’s just a movie.
And anyone, who thinks otherwise, is just a less cerebrally adept Stormfronter (there are many more variables of adjectives for ”those people”).
Gotta admit, it’s pretty interesting, to find yourself within words I used to throw at ”those people” back in the day. Slightly embarrassing, too.
Kinda like getting 1 on a test. For being totally wrong about everything, when you thought you’re gonna ace it with ease.
Typical Hitler worshipers? Heh, typical.
As far as pulling the movie? No. Send it to every possible movie theater. I’m not naive enough to think that every Billy and John will get the point. I know some will high five each other, saying: dude, that was like so fucking awesome when he cut his head off!
Some will leave the theater all guilt ridden (with Sotomayor’s beautiful face on their t-shirts), how po’ oppressed Mexicans were forced to defend themselves from racist whitey (and they will max their Goldstein credit card to donate money to La Raza).
But some will get the point. And because of those I say – distribute this movie ”from the east coast, to the west coast, down the Dixie Highway, back home, this is our country”.
Now, in the light of ”everyone’s equal” and art and shit like this, I propose an idea. Kinda same, kinda similar plot like Machete, with Dolph Lundgren. The movie is happening in Sweden, and he goes after Muslims.
Mel Gibson can have the same plot, just in USA, and he can have Jews, Muslims, Mexicans and blacks.
Oh, and I volunteer for a movie about where I play a Serbian Dolph. We know who the ”damn whiteys” are in my movie.
As for the contra Inglorious Basterds? How about the whole Europe vs Khazaria?
*crickets*
Hey, it’s JUST a movie!
A movie is just a movie up until the slaughtered are racist whites. Anything else is hate speech, racist nazi supremacist oppression. Case in point: ”Turner Diaries” vs ”Machete”.
Is it just me, or have we been seeing the same movie for about 100 years?
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I absolutely despise the Altards as much as the Leftards. Just like Humanists v. Christians, my response is “a pox on both your houses.” They’re mirror images of brain damaged apes, obsessed with breeding and social mores and all sorts of other revolting human effluvia.