Story time on day 224 of the challenge, thanks to the salty Trump supporter I sat next to at my special screening of BlacKkKlansman. It ended up being one of the most unique theater experiences I've ever had.
I was really excited for BlacKkKlansman to finally arrive in theaters. The (true) story sounded amazingly bonkers, it was produced by Jordan Peele, directed by Spike Lee, and featured Adam Driver in the cast, so plenty for me to get behind on. And if things weren't great enough, my sister found a special screening at our local Alamo Drafthouse that was featuring a live Q/A and book signing with Ron Stallworth, the real life Black Klansman that infiltrated the KKK and wrote the memoir that inspired the film. Great right? So my sister and I got our copies of the book and headed out to the theater. Everything was pointing towards a great night at the movies!
Cut to later, and we're in our seats waiting for the event to start, gobbling down popcorn as we do. Walking in, I couldn't help but notice everyone buying copies of "Black Klansman" at a special merch table (or people walking around with bags from Barnes and Noble). Seemed like people were very excited for the event! I also couldn't help but notice the older white "gentleman" in the seat next to mine. He was wearing a "MAGA red" shirt, an observation I didn't expect to mean anything. Not like I was trying to profile the guy, his shirt color just reminded me of those idiotic caps. Anyway...
The Drafthouse theater lights dimmed, and the usual program of movie party ads and trailers started on the screen. You know, the usual. The difference this time around was that after the final trailer, the lights came back on and we were all introduced to Ron Stallworth and his wife Patsy. The theater applauded the couple as they took their seats at director chairs placed below the screen. The Q/A was the usual fair you would expect (How did the scripting process work? How did Spike Lee get involved? How has the press junket been treating you, etc). Things got more interesting, however, when both Ron and Patsy began to tell us about the time David Duke himself gave Ron a call. Apparently he was concerned with how he was being portrayed in the film. Funny! These days, however, when you start talking about David Duke or racism in general, the conversation inevitably always turns towards our current Commander in Chief, Donald Trump. Cue the uncomfortableness in the red shirt sitting next to me.
Almost immediately, Mr. Red began mumbling inane...counter arguments (is that what they call them?) to everything Ron was saying.
"Fake News." "He's not racist." "Obama did it first, so..." "Of course you do." " Bullshit."
In other words, he was the stereotypical angry Trump supporter you always hear about, and I was fortunate enough to be the one seated right next to him to hear it all. "You have got to be fucking kidding me" was my initial response when he started. Also, putting this out there right now, I DO NOT think all Trump supporters are racists (but that's a different blog post). Eventually, Mr. Red deemed it necessary to start yelling above all the applause Ron was getting for his "stand up to hate" closing remarks.
"Bullshit!!" "BULLSHIT!!" "YEA IT'S BULLSHIT BOOO!!" "BULLSHIT!!"
He had been gradually getting louder and more disruptive over the course of the talk, but this was also the turning point for everyone else in the audience. There were shouts aimed at him that ranged from "shut up and stop interrupting" to "throw him out!", which only escalated the whole affair.
"Try it!" "Do it!"
The more people in the audience stood up to him, the angrier he seemingly got. Someone even yelled to get the police involved. In short, it was getting ugly. Well, uglier. I was mentally prepping for any potential violence.
At this point, someone from the management team made their way up to him, warning him to calm down or be forced to leave. His response to this? Some bogus and angry rant about how he came here to watch a movie and how he didn't have to put up with "all his political bullshit." That was interesting to listen to if I'm honest. Somehow, Mr. Red was offended, despite having paid to watch an incredibly political movie directed by an openly liberal and progressive filmmaker, based on a memoir by a retired black cop that infiltrated the KKK. Confusing right? He even paid the little extra to be in the screening with the Q/A. Imagine ordering a burger at your favorite restaurant, and then losing it because it's not a pizza. I don't know what he expected.
Eventually, he calmed down enough not to be kicked out, but there was a huge sense on unease and tension as the movie started (for me anyway. My sister later told me that she was shaking, not out of fear, but something she couldn't place her finger on). The movie itself was incredible. Incredible story, acting, score, everything, all beautifully packaged in Spike Lee's iconic camera work. It was also hard not to see the parallels between the arguments and points being made in the film and those in our current day sociopolitical atmosphere.
You can easily apply any of those points to something going on today, a point the final moments of the film emphasizes in an IMMENSELY heavy and powerful way. It left us all shocked, and gave my politically active sister a...strong reaction to say the least. Mr. Red didn't seem to appreciate it one single bit, or much of the movie at all for that matter. As soon as the credits started rolling, he stormed right out of the theater, plenty of looks and gestures following him out. Being right next to him, I felt every angry mumble or back handed comment he made to either himself or to whom I assume was his son in the other seat next to him (who stayed mostly quiet during the whole Q/A mess).
There was some light and funny moments of small talk with the other audience members that were in the same row as us in the theater about him, and he seemed to be the biggest topic of talk among all the people in the book signing line afterwards. Final point for me I guess is that, as off putting and potentially scary as the ordeal was, I got some comfort in the fact that he was outnumbered by everyone else. He was the outsider and not the norm. I don't know about you, but that's a glimmer of hope for me. On a funnier note, he also ended up in the middle of a group he didn't belong in, something that made me laugh later when I realized he essentially pulled some sort of reverse Black Klansman. Life's funny that way sometimes.
To wrap up this extra long post, he and other people like him emphasize the reason we need movies like BlacKkKlansman. Art is a powerful tool that reflects the times they are created in, but they also have the power to infuelce those same times. Hopefully for the better.