{"id":136354,"date":"2015-09-16T08:23:17","date_gmt":"2015-09-16T08:23:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/2015\/09\/16\/so-what-movie-did-matthew-vaughn-think-he-was\/"},"modified":"2015-09-16T08:23:17","modified_gmt":"2015-09-16T08:23:17","slug":"so-what-movie-did-matthew-vaughn-think-he-was","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/2015\/09\/16\/so-what-movie-did-matthew-vaughn-think-he-was\/","title":{"rendered":"So what movie did\u00a0Matthew Vaughn think he was making, exactly? [Kingsman meta]"},"content":{"rendered":"

pairx2<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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gothartwin<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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mustardprecum<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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maxamori<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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I have to raise an eyebrow\u00a0when he says things like, \u201cThis movie really is the origin story of Eggsy,\u201d<\/i> or, \u201cI joke that we\u2019ve made the prequel to the Eggsy movie.\u201d<\/i> This movie is a Pygmalion story.<\/b> It\u2019s about Harry Hart shaping Eggsy Unwin in his image. So when Vaughn says he\u2019s making the\u00a0\u201corigin of Eggsy\u201d, which trope is he playing to, exactly?<\/p>\n

Kill your father to become a man? The offspring is new and improved?<\/i><\/p>\n

Or tragic death-of-lover origin story? Older gay mentor and young man?<\/i><\/p>\n

One could say\u00a0\u201cboth\u201d, but I personally think there\u2019s a disconnect between the movie Vaughn thought he was making and the movie the audience saw. He says things that seem to jive with the\u00a0\u201coffspring\u201d trope:<\/p>\n

\n

Eggsy is really the real, true modern gentleman spy. It really isn\u2019t Harry Hart. Harry Hart is the old clich\u00e9 of what you think a gentleman spy is. [x<\/a>]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Even blatantly talking about\u00a0\u201cnew blood\u201d:<\/p>\n

\n

Harry even says, \u2018There is a reason why we\u2019ve developed weak chins.\u2019 He said that meaning, \u2018Look at us, we need to get new blood into this system,\u2019 and that\u2019s what Eggsy is. [x<\/a>]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Comments like these seem go jive with the\u00a0\u201ckill your father\u201d trope. Harry was lesser, he was a clich\u00e9, he needed to make way for a new generation. I think this is what Vaughn means for us to see when he sets up all these mirrors between Eggsy and Harry. Having Eggsy repeat Harry\u2019s lines, dress in Harry\u2019s clothes, even movie into Harry\u2019s house (according to cut footage). The odd absence of on-screen grief also seems to back this mentality. When Eggsy is left to finish the mission\/movie on his own, he doesn\u2019t do so in a tear-stained homage to his lost loved one\u2013in fact, upon Harry\u2019s death, he fully comes into himself. He puts on the suit. His confidence goes through the roof. He shows the world what he can do. He fucks one of his enemy\u2019s hostages and seems to have forgotten Harry\u2019s existence. All of this is classic\u00a0\u201ckill your father.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vaughn didn\u2019t even seem concerned with Harry Hart\u2019s presence in future movies\u2013as a reborn character or<\/i>\u00a0as a ghost hanging over Eggsy\u2019s head. From what I can tell, he sees Harry Hart\u2019s part as fulfilled. Maybe he\u2019ll find a way to bring him back if ticket sales in America look good, he says callously. But he clearly doesn\u2019t see Harry Hart as particularly important beyond his role in Eggsy\u2019s origin story.<\/p>\n

Thing is, this is not the movie ANYONE saw.<\/b><\/p>\n

Okay, maybe that\u2019s hyperbole, but come on. The only thing people wanted to know after the first movie was,\u00a0\u201cSo when does Harry come back?\u201d In the kill-your-father model, this would be a step backward. But people didn\u2019t see Harry as the father. They saw him as the love interest.<\/b><\/p>\n

Love interests don\u2019t have to be explicitly sexual or romantic to be love interests. Hmm, what\u2019s a great example of a movie where there was no explicit on-screen confirmation of a sexual\/romantic relationship, but the audience clearly understood that they were seeing the dynamic of lovers playing out before them\u2026? Oh right. My Fair Lady.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

See, this conversation trips me up:<\/p>\n

\n

Harry:<\/b> Did you see the film \u201cTrading Places\u201d?
Harry:<\/b> How about \u201cNikita\u201d?
Harry:<\/b> \u201cPretty Woman\u201d?
Eggsy: No.
Harry:<\/b> My point is, the lack of a\u00a0silver spoon has set you\u00a0on a certain path, but\u00a0you needn\u2019t stay on it.\u00a0If you\u2019re prepare to adapt and learn,\u00a0you can transform.
Eggsy: <\/b>Oh, like in \u201cMy Fair Lady\u201d?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The one thing all these movies have in common is that it involves someone who finds themselves in a\u00a0\u201clow\u201d position in life (a street con, a convicted murderer, a prostitute, a low-born) being placed into a position of higher status by outside forces, and subsequently earning it. Exactly what Harry is preparing to do for Eggsy. The thing is, those last two movies involve the elevation happening via a romantic relationship. Which brings us to the eternal queerbaiting question: is it subtext, or is it a joke?<\/b><\/p>\n

It\u2019s such a fine line, because if it\u2019s a joke, then it\u2019s a self-aware joke. If it\u2019s subtext, then it\u2019s subtext in the form of a joke. You could slice that distinction with a hair. But it means everything in terms of the director\u2019s intentions.<\/p>\n

Going by what I\u2019ve seen of the director\u2019s personality? I think it was a self-aware joke. But I think the audience saw subtext in the form of a joke. Again, huge distinction.<\/p>\n

The father-offspring thing is a total miss. The vibe that everyone got from this movie was romantic tension between older mentor and young lover.<\/i>\u00a0That\u2019s<\/b>\u00a0what people see in the mirroring. That\u2019s what people see when Eggsy wears Harry\u2019s clothes, speaks his lines, moves into his house. That\u2019s what people see when Harry Hart fucking says things like,\u00a0\u201cOne does not use dressing room two when popping one\u2019s cherry,\u201d and generally saunters in front of Eggsy in an opaque cloud of pheromones while Eggsy trails after him with stars in his eyes.<\/p>\n

Maybe part of the garbled messages is that nothing ever dimmed those stars in Eggsy\u2019s eyes. I think the church scene was meant to be Harry\u2019s fall from grace, but no one read it that way\u2013not even Eggsy. In other words, the metaphorical father-killing never takes place. Eggsy is never disillusioned.<\/p>\n

Vaughn also completely fails to communicate his assertion that Harry is an old clich\u00e9 who needs to be replaced. In fact, the movie tells us the exact opposite<\/i>. It practically punches us in the fact with constant dropped hints that Harry is a rebel, that he\u2019s new skool, that he\u2019s got rebellious ideas of how to do things. He comes across as Eggsy\u2019s perfect match, not Eggsy 1.0.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Why does any of this matter?<\/p>\n

Because people are going to show up to the sequel and go,\u00a0\u201cWtf?\u201d<\/p>\n

We were left without an emotional resolution to Harry Hart\u2019s death in the first movie. That\u2019s the only cliffhanger anyone gives a shit about. That\u2019s the only reason they\u2019re going to pay money to see movie #2. They want to know if Harry Hart is really secretly alive<\/i>\u00a0and see the emotional reunion, or they want to see Eggsy spend an entire movie wrestling with Harry\u2019s ghost. I have a sneaking suspicion that Vaughn is just going to make an entire movie of Princess-Fucking Eggsy that in no way connects to the emotional plot of Harry and Eggsy\u2019s relationship that he dedicated the first movie to. To the audience, this will look like he just completely dropped the main character\u2019s journey. It will be an incomprehensible non-sequitur.<\/p>\n

The nail in the coffin here is that Vaughn cut that breakfast scene specifically<\/i>\u00a0because it\u00a0\u201cunintentionally\u201d made it seem as though Harry and Eggsy had hooked up. It tells me that he was explicitly trying to avoid the love interest read, and it also tells me that he had already hopelessly shot himself in the foot. If all it takes is them eating breakfast together, then your audience already has enough to fill in the blanks.<\/p>\n

I could<\/i>\u00a0be wrong, here. What do others think?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I think you\u2019re a fucking genius. Take my keys, go to my house, fuck my wife. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

God I live for meta like this<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Exactly what I thought after the movie: Matthew doesn\u2019t understand the movie he actually made. And it\u2019s clear in that he thinks the anal sex joke works. It doesn\u2019t. Eggsy\u2019s not looking for a tumble then. Would Harry have done that?? No way. Eggsy\u2019s 100% going to check on his mum and he\u2019s going to Kentucky. He\u2019s not looking to get laid. He\u2019s going to bring Harry home, even if it\u2019s in a coffin. He\u2019s going to honor Harry. <\/p>\n

The movie is better and more emotional than he planned. It\u2019s not a spoof. Matthew had better actors than he anticipated, and far more subtext between them than he realized. Those characters loved each other, gay or not. They hurt for each other. Adored each other. It\u2019s not Austin Powers. Your movie is better than you know, Matthew. Step back and watch it with fresh eyes.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

pairx2: gothartwin: mustardprecum: maxamori: I have to raise an eyebrow\u00a0when he says things like, \u201cThis movie really is the origin story of Eggsy,\u201d or, \u201cI joke that we\u2019ve made the prequel to the Eggsy movie.\u201d This movie is a Pygmalion story. It\u2019s about Harry Hart shaping Eggsy Unwin in his image. So when Vaughn says … <\/p>\n

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