Not to put on my filmbro meta analysis hat on here but watching the knives out trilogy shows how front and centre right wing radicalism has become in the last 6 years. In every movie, there is one character who is the chronically online right wing man, but he seems to increase in importance each time.
In knives out, Jacob is the character defined by his right wing views. However, he is a child, he experiences pushback on his views from his family (even if it's somewhat performative) and is often the butt of the joke. He isn't shown directly influencing anyone, he is only seen engaging in petty online fights in niche spaces. Although the film acknowledges that his views are bad, and they are reflecting in the world around him (with the looming threat throughout around Marta's family being deported in a conservative world hostile to immigrants) they are not the key themes of the Thrombleys or the movie, more commenting on the ingenuity of the rich which applies to all of the Thrombleys, whether they took the left or right leaning side of the argument around immigration in that scene.
In Glass Onion, we find the character reflecting right wing radicalism is no longer a young boy who is dismissed, but a man who has a sizeable following online. Duke (I personally feel and might not be the intention of the story) is what Jacob could become when he has grown up, unchecked in his beliefs and resentment towards women (who were the primary people in his family pushing against his right wing radicalism) with money and a platform to spread these ideas that were once fringe into the mainstream. He utilises this money and influence from Miles to push this agenda, but we do not see the fallout that comes from that. Duke is also the butt of the joke for quite a few scenes he's in, he's seen by Blanc to be overcompensating for everything with his gun to not wearing masks, and even his friends, equally out of touch rich weirdos comment on his behaviour. Right wing radicalism in glass onion has been brought into the mainstream and is being invested in by the rich, however it is still seen as a joke by others. It's still something to make fun of without consequence, and the impact of this new acceptance of right wing influencers dominating so much of the political space online has not been fully felt yet as it is a phenomena only just beginning to become a dangerous problem.
Finally, in wake up dead man, we feel the fallout of right wing radicalism in local communities and regular people swept up in a craze that had been introduced into the mainstream by the rich who had control over the media they consumed whether they liked it or not. Right wing radicalism in wake up dead man is not a character, or the butt of a joke, but a fully fledged, pervasive, deadly problem that is the centre of the story. These ideas of the world being against them, the "woke agenda" was peddled by both Jacob and Duke in the previous movies, but here we see the effect this has when radicalism isn't just accepted, it's the norm. They go to Wicks' sermons expecting this rhetoric, they expect it to be received well when they repeat it elsewhere like Cy, who believed the only way in politics was that fear mongering ragebait of right wing radicalism that Jacob was doing in comment sections in the first movie. It wasn't a joke anymore, it was the norm. Vulnerable people, who otherwise would have trusted their support system, modern medicine or the rights their ancestors fought for, now believed this was the only path. Because that was right wing radicalism is: scaring people into listening to you because any alternative is simply not viable anymore.
And that's how Wicks trapped his audience, based on the acceptance of those radical scare tactics peddled by Duke, which was indulging a child's personal ignorance enhanced by his own privilege. The knives out series is a really great way of showing how right wing radicalism has changed our political climate frighteningly fast over the past few years. I want everyone here to know it wasn't like this 6, 3 or even 1 years ago. That it's changed and can be changed again. Who was the young boy online for too long mocked by his family instead of having a support system to help him out of the radical right pipeline, turning into a bitter influencer repeating all the things he read as a child in Reddit and 4chan posts with the money behind him as his scare tactics work immensely well in the rich's favour, eventually becoming a borderline cult leader, manipulating and destroying the lives of those who follow him, and crushing everyone who dares disagree. Because his way is the only way to win, right?
Thanks for reading guys, I just had so many thoughts on the changing portrayal of the radical right in the knives out series I could write a whole paper. Forgive my yapping 🙏🙏
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