Re: The Man Who Would Be King 👑
Thrig wrote about the Kipling story, The Man Who Would Be King
The film version made a big impression on me as a child. Sean Connery and Michael Caine have big adventures in the mountains of central Asia. I remember really wanting it to be a true story, and also knowing it wasn't. I looked at an atlas, trying to find places that don't exist.
Now, the story seems quite close to racist. The reason they have such adventures is because they are white. It could have been written about any outsider arriving from far away, but it was written by a British colonialist, and he had a certain view of the world.
I saw the film in a small town in Wales. The cinema didn't show adverts before the film. Instead they had a psychedelic display of swirling colours that I assume involved a rotating filter with coloured oil in front of a lamp. It was a suitable way to mark the transition from normal life to exotic fantasy.
And "exotic" is another dodgy concept.
I saw the film again as an adult, and although it now seems a bit dubious, the adventurousness is still fun.
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