The Ragged Old Flag
Good afternoon, everyone.
In remembrance of the adoption of our nation’s flag in 1777, June 14th is set aside as National Flag Day. In 2024, we’ve seen the flag flown upside-down as a sign of distress and burned during pro-Palestine protests. The enduring use and abuse of the Red, White, and Blue should remind us that the American spirit contained within the folds of Old Glory still has some powder left.
Though it was written in 1974, Johnny Cash’s Ragged Old Flag still rings true:
She waved from our ships upon the briny foam,
And now they’ve about quit waving her back here at home.
In her own good land she’s been abused,
She’s been burned, dishonored, denied and refused.
And the government for which she stands,
Is scandalized throughout the land.
And she’s getting threadbare and wearing thin,
But she’s in good shape for the shape she’s in.
‘Cause she’s been through the fire before.
And I believe she can take a whole lot more.
Onward.
Maya (Madelaine Petsch) is a vegetarian. It’s a statement that her boyfriend, Ryan (Jeff Morell) utters to the townspeople of Venus, Oregon, often in The Strangers: Chapter 1 after the couple’s malfunctioning BMW X leaves them stranded there overnight. Maybe writers Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedman succumbed to such low-hanging fruit to foreshadow the blood that was about to flow in the latest installment of the horror franchise. Or it was a lazy way to show the difference between these rural and city folk. Perhaps an inside joke about Petsch’s long, eye-roll-inducing history as a vegan activist.
Regardless, it’s a point reviews have endlessly mocked on the way to positioning the film as the first Razzie contender of the summer movie season. It’s also a deceptively simplistic moment that makes critics feel superior while assembling a subversive case against their complicity in cultural fragmentation.
In her review for Deadline, Valerie Complex condensed the critical consensus on the film into a statement that also lays bare the faltering M.O. of Hollywood movies: the third helping of The Strangers fails to capture the essence of its predecessors. As she writes, “My philosophy is, if a film is to be rebooted, remade, or re-purposed, it must find a way to distinguish itself and justify its existence.”
The bar Complex sets for Hollywood’s IP onslaught seems like an apt litmus test, a more eloquent version of the rad dad critique that Hollywood has run out of ideas. But it also evades a fundamental trait of the horror film–a visceral genre that, more than any other, balances a primal emotion like fear with contemporary anxieties. The Blob of 1950 was a red menace that consumes Anytown, USA, for a reason. Freddy Krueger didn’t just cut through suburban teenage dreams of American prosperity weeks after Reagan’s 1984 landside victory because it was creepy.
What made The Strangers connect so much with 2008 audiences was that its premise of three masked intruders massacring a couple, “because you were home,” could happen to anyone–just like the effects of the Great Recession audiences that summer could already feel in the pits of their stomachs. For many critics, the problem with the series’s latest is that it extinguishes this universal threat in favor of a more insular horror world. However, The Strangers: Chapter 1 is about the horror of insular worlds, a central premise its detractors seem to willfully elide.
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🎨 The Arts Get Audited After long last, an official audit of Metro Arts was released this Wednesday, revealing a paper trail of problems. The commission was found to have cut corners around contracting standards, HR rules, and payroll, among other things, adding to the department’s inexhaustible list of issues.
Over a year and a half, the commission hired three contractors in which they “circumvented the Metropolitan Nashville Procurement Code” by repeatedly issuing payments just under $25,000 which evaded the department requirement that any payments over that amount go out for bid to multiple vendors. Not only did the cumulative purchase total amount to nearly $300,000, one of the vendors was Hillombo Consulting.
You’ll recall that back in January, the Pamphleteer uncovered a number of bizarre slides made by Hillombo proprietor Justin Laing, one of which outlined how “ ‘Race’, ‘the arts’, and ‘white people’ emerged at a similar point in history and worked together to facilitate the development of colonial and imperialism.” Records also revealed that one temp worker was paid for 279 hours of regular pay over a period of two weeks– in other words, if we’re to believe Metro Arts’ tabulations, the worker clocked at least twenty hours per day.
All in all, Nashvillians can now determine how much of their tax dollars went to dismantling the “Nonprofit Industrial Complex’s systemic oppression,” and certain council members are not pleased. “It's funny how the Metro Arts audit is suddenly available when people are scrambling to try and save face,” Councilmember Joy Styles posted on X. “We were told they didn't have an idea when it would be ready just last week. Too late.....” MEGAN PODSIEDLIK
💧 Leaks Beget More Leaks As we reported on Wednesday, the Tennessee Star’s Michael Patrick Leahy is scheduled to appear in chancery court on Monday in front of Judge I’Ashea Myles, who will determine whether his publication of documents related to the Covenant tragedy puts him in contempt of court. In response to this order, Leahy filed an emergency motion to set aside her order, citing concerns about revealing his sources and claiming that it is not clear what Leahy is actually accused of. Myles denied the motion yesterday.
As far as his first concern goes, Leahy needn’t worry: Axios Nashville took care of that this morning, reporting on the legal filings that tied the document leak to former MNPD officer Lt. Garet Davidson. Allegedly, Davidson was tasked with safely storing the investigation file, which he kept in a locked safe in his office. For anyone paying attention, it’s no surprise that Davidson is the mole: the initial leak was the FBI memo MNPD received advising against the release of Hale’s “public tokens”; just days prior, he’d sat down with Leahy and revealed that the FBI had sent the memo to MNPD. Davidson also filed a 61-page complaint alleging that the state had colluded with the department to draft legislation designed to quash the city’s Community Oversight Board. Seems he has a vendetta against the department.
In other MNPD news, the fired officer who appeared in an OnlyFans video this April was arrested and charged with two counts of felony official misconduct related to the incident. DAVIS HUNT
🪫 Low Battery According to a report from the Tennessee Lookout, State Senator Page Walley (R-Savannah) has confirmed that Ford is moving back production of its F-150 Lightning at the BlueOval City campus in Stanton by nine months. Earlier this year, Ford announced they’d be cutting production due to slackening demand. When Ford first announced the construction of the $5.6 billion plant and secured $1 billion from the state, the promise was that production would begin in 2025. Walley indicated he’s unconcerned about the state losing money in the deal because of a “clawback” provision that allows Tennessee to reclaim its money should Ford fail to bring the 5,800 jobs promised. Is EV euphoria dead? Sure seems like it. DAVIS HUNT
DEVELOPMENT
- Toll Brothers upgrades plans for Germantown apartment development (NBJ)
- Noko team to open new restaurant in East Nashville (NBJ)
- Work to soon start on second Paseo South Gulch tower (Post)
- East Nashville site set for storage building sells for $3.5M (Post)
- Smithfield to acquire South Nashville dry sausage production facility (Post)
THINGS TO DO
View our calendar for the week here and our weekly film rundown here.
📅 Visit our On The Radar list to find upcoming events around Nashville.
🎧 On Spotify: Pamphleteer's Picks, a playlist of our favorite bands in town this week.
👨🏻🌾 Check out our Nashville farmer's market guide and yearly festival guide.
TONIGHT
🪕 Red Mountain Boys @ Station Inn, 9p, $25, Info
🎸 Musicians Corner @ Centennial Park, 5p, Free, Info
+ Cedric Burnside, AJ & The Jiggawatts, Charlie Whitten and more
🎸 Bonaroo @ Bonaroo Farm, $435+, Info
+ Post Malone, Kruangbin, Interpol, The Mars Volta, Larkin Poe and more
🎸 Timbo @ Dee's Lounge, 9p, $10, Info
✨ Digyphus @ Springwater, 8:30p, $10, Info
+ Nashville-based experimental ambient
🪕 The Cowpokes @ Acme Feed & Seed, 12p, Free, Info
🍀 Live Irish Music @ McNamara’s Irish Pub, 6p, Free, Info
🎸 Kelley’s Heroes @ Robert’s Western World, 6:30p, Free, Info
✹ WEEKLY FILM RUNDOWN: June 14-20
The latest releases and special screenings hitting Music City this week. For a complete list of upcoming releases, check out our 2024 Film Guide.
Ride A bullfighter comes out of retirement to raise money for his daughter’s cancer treatment in this indie featuring Nashville resident C. Thomas Howell. Now playing at Regal Green Hills 16.
Coma A girl with autoimmune issues cultivates an obsession with a vlogger while in isolation during a COVIDish global pandemic. Bertrand Bonello already dissected the pitfalls of A.I. and new media with The Beast back in April. He might as well go ahead and lay claim to two spots on the best of 2024 lists. Playing Saturday, Sunday, and Thursday at the Belcourt.
Firebrand Why has there not been a shred of publicity for a movie with Jude Law as Henry and Alicia Vikander as his sixth wife, Katherine Parr? Now playing at AMC Thoroughbred 20, AMC Murfreesboro 16, and Regal Green Hills 16.
Tuesday A mother (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and her preteen daughter confront death in the form of a bird in a fairy tale from A24 that could be the studio’s unassuming summer hit. Now playing at AMC Theaters, Regal Green Hills 16, and Regal Streets of Indian Lake (Hendersonville).
1999 @ The Belcourt Throughout June, The Belcourt offers twenty-five titles in celebration of the best movie year ever’s 25th anniversary. This week’s offerings include the 35mm print of Michael Mann’s can’t-miss corporate thriller The Insider, Alexander Payne’s caustic teen movie Hillary satire Election, Jim Jarmusch’s urban mystical action flick Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, and Wes Anderson’s breakout Rushmore. Also on tap are universal crowd-pleasers Toy Story 2 , Run Lola Run, and Office Space along with male machismo masterpieces Fight Club and Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. Hands down the can’t-miss cinematic event of the summer.