Vigilantes in the 21st Century, part 2
Vigilantes in the 21st Century
September 11, 2014meltwood Leave a comment Edit
Part 2 – When Your Average Joe turns Vigilante.
Following in the wake of the Savillegate and Rotherham child-sex-abuse scandals
in the UK, it’s transpired that some police forces, with mass scandals like those to
deal with, have “almost given up” on investigating certain lesser crimes, such as
theft from cars and criminal damage, and are asking the victims – ordinary citizens –
to pick up the burden of such investigations themselves. See:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-29058472
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/11073394/Crime-victims-forced-to-turn-into-DIY-detectives.html
This has led the Telegraph to coin the phrase “DIY detectives”.
Don’t ask what that is.
All well and good – funding is tight and we should, as citizens, take some
responsibility for maybe not leaving valuables in our cars, particularly if the
car’s not alarmed, and for keeping an eye out for anything suspect in our
own neighbourhoods. But neighbourhood watch schemes are nothing new,
and writing off a whole section of crimes immediately begs the question,
what kind of message exactly is this sending to criminals? To those who’d
sooner nick your stereo than say ‘Hello matey’. Having worked in prisons for many years, I can offer the reassurance that
most criminals do not want to hurt you; yes, there’s all that bravado,
but the majority have grown up with very little materially and generally
speaking they just want an easy life like the rest of us, which always comes
down to money. Like your average law abiding citizen, some criminals are
happy with just enough to live on, while others, like your average law-abiding
financier (or have you seen The Wolf of Wall-Street?), want a big phat car, class dames
and designer drugs. And criminals are actually very innovative when it comes to getting what they want,
for instance adapting to cyber-crime at an almost parallel speed with legal
technological advances. But one thing all criminals have in common is that they are opportunists.
If the message is ‘the law is no longer bothering to police theft from cars and
criminal damage’ then one thing we are guaranteed is that theft from cars and
criminal damage will rise. And this isn’t just about certain offenses being shoved
to the bottom of the crime pile, it’s about those offenses slipping from the police
consciousness to the extent that they are actually deemed as decriminalised. And with a sense of lawlessness comes the additional risk from that small minority
of criminals who do want to hurt people, who take pleasure in it, and will take
advantage of any level of lawlessness in their own nasty ways. Many serial rapists,
for instance, are known to have started off as burglars. A global recession has no doubt contributed to the current climate of fear and
vulnerability. I started to write Melt, a vigilante horror novel, at the height of the
recession, tapping into the public consciousness and ‘climate of fear’ that is
exacerbated by funding cuts to essential services; particularly highlighting the
outrage that people feel at being left to the mob. Thus, the novel is set on a
troubled council estate where gang-rule, drugs and the prostitution of victims
is what the protagonists have to deal with day-to-day. Acquired supernatural
powers bring both a blessing and a curse to them. So how would you deal with society’s problems, if you had the power?
If you could write a book or make a film reflecting the current climate creatively,
what would your protagonist be? A two headed beast with a taste for the blood
of miscreants? Or just your ordinary Joe or Josephine on the streets? In the last episode we looked at mysterious strangers and superheroes acting
as vigilantes, tackling lawlessness and tyranny to different degrees and with
varying levels of brutality. Vigilantes of film and game are definitely getting tougher and more merciless
in their dealings with the bad guy. Nick Rice, played by Jamie Foxx, in the 2009
Law Abiding Citizen, broke out of prison on multiple occasions to carry on his
vendetta, not only against those who wronged his family, but the corrupt
criminal justice system that let them go. This is the difference between an avenger and a vigilante – with your
Average Joe vigilante, it’s personal. We have to go back to the 20th century, most prominently to the 1970s,
to see where this genre really took root. In 1972 Bruce Lee as Cheng, a manual worker in an ice factory, avenges
his ever diminishing family by wiping out the drugs gang using the factory
as cover for their operations. The film was Big Boss. And yes, you’re right;
he wasn’t so big by the end. The film, of course, launched Lee to stardom. But perhaps one of the most convincing portrayals of a vigilante came
shortly afterwards in 1974 in the film Death Wish. Any ‘top 10 vigilante movie’
lists will have this and its sequels close to or at the top.
See: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls003456861/ Loosely based on the book Death Wish by Brian Garfield, the story is of an
Average Joe, Paul Kelsey who, distraught after the murder of his wife
and sexual assault of his daughter, turns anti-hero, cleaning up the streets
with several rounds of sharp shooting (and yes, Bronson, traditionally as
rugged and expressionless as a mug-shot, does pull it off). The film achieves
what a good vigilante movie should, in that, by the time this fellow gets going,
it’s the bad guy you begin to fear for. Next: “You lookin’ at me?” is the much-mimicked and unforgettable line from a
timeless classic by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Nero. Taxi Driver
might have been released in 1976 but the dark and at times uncomfortably
weird character of Travis Bickle reminds us of the potential for carnage in all
of us. This one breaks the mold because it’s not about the death of a character’s
family, but a kind of war on sleaze by a lonely impotent man. Globally
acknowledged as one of the greatest films of all time, if you haven’t seen it,
put it on your bucket list now. I’ll end part 2 with Dead Man’s Shoes. Here we’re back in the 21st century with
the producer Shane Meadows, one of Britain’s finest in the last two decades,
co-written and starring Paddy Considine as the cold and calculating soldier
home on leave, to avenge the sexual assault of his mentally disabled young brother. The 2004 film embraces the vigilante theme wholeheartedly, but with an added
twist. Another must-see. Sorry if I’ve missed your favourite, but there’s more to come. Next time we’ll
meet the ladies with a bone to pick – cover your nuts boys – and what happens
when the law itself, or elements within it, turn vigilante. COMING SOON – MELT, the novel: ‘Desecrating an ancient graveyard can
unearth enough trouble to shake up the world.’ Follow me at: https://twitter.com/wood_melt Friend me at: https://www.facebook.com/janinelangley.wood Visit my website at: http://janinewood2012.wix.com/janine-langleywood Book website: http://janinewood2012.wix.com/melt—horror-novel
