Tag: Tony Kaye

Mark’s Initiation Ritual (Skinheads)

3,958 words

Part 4 of 7 (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)

Translated by Ondrej Mann

Czech original

If we study Caesar’s statements, we find that the ancient Romans used the same methods against the tribes they enslaved as the fascists did in our time. Over two millennium, the means have not changed, only the techniques. I do not mean to say, of course, that humanity is the same as it was two thousand years ago, but we undoubtedly find disturbing similarities.
—Miklós Jancsó

Sweat, muscles, gym, “sieg-heil techno,” bodies, bodies, bodies, motto: Boia chi molla. [1] This is how the Italian film Skinheads (1993, dir. Claudio Fragasso) about the “crazy fashion” of skinheads begins. [2] (more…)

2,616 words

Director Tony Kaye’s anti-skinhead morality tale American History X (1998) is proof that propaganda is far from an exact science. Just as Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket caused a surge in Marine recruitment, American History X actually increases audience sympathies with neo-Nazi skinheads, despite its best efforts to present them as hateful hypocrites and losers.  (more…)

2,434 words

American History X (1998)
Director: Tony Kaye
Writer: David McKenna
Stars: Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, Stacy Keach

Looking back at it, the 1998 film American History X might be a bit tricky from an Alt Right perspective. The story takes place during the mid-1990s and deals with a young Nazi skinhead whose time in prison forces him to reconsider his life. (more…)