Fashion and fascism
Eli
Can I interview you?
About what?
Dictators and fashion.
Fashion is fascism. Well obviously your young friend is wearing fur here. Definitely oppressive.
Oppressive? But everyone has their own individual fashion sense. Everyone wears a uniform in some sense.
Oh, that’s what I’m saying; it’s far reaching.
But is there, say an evil dictator that, even though you’re a liberal –
I’m not a liberal!
Well –
I’m not a fucking liberal!
Well, you’re at a Bush protest so one might say you’re left of center.
Oh definitely, I’m very left but I’m not a fucking liberal.
But since you’re of the left wing, do you still find certain dictators that looked kind of cool?
Oh please! Definitely Stalin and Hitler had really good visual teams making sure they and all their troops look good.
How so?
Um, kind of like today we have all these like graphics on the news and um – I mean um – it’s not so much the presentation of the soldiers on the news it’s still – um – white washing.
Angela
What’s your name?
Angela.
Why are you here?
Yeah, I just ran into this; I’m actually lost and I’m trying to like figure out where I am right now. I just noticed it was going on so I’m just curious to see what was going on.
Would you say there was a dictator that maybe dressed better than other evil dictators?
Yes, my perspective of Bush is that he [giggles] is the anti-Christ coming to kill us all. I’m very anti-Bush.
But do you think he’s a good dresser?
He’s alright; I wouldn’t go as far to say he’s a good dresser.
What do you think could be done to improve his fashion sense?
Put him on “Wild on ‘E'” so they could give him a style changeover.
Do you think he’d look good in a uniform?
It would be fitting.
What if he wore like a baseball uniform? What would his number be?
13.
Why 13?
Thirteen is a negative number. I don’t know as for him dressing, maybe the kimono look.
What would a fascist kimono look like?
Maybe give it a higher collar and maybe one of those little muff warmers. That might work for him.
What if it had like the stars and stripes on it, do you think that would be good for him?
Wow, this is getting scarier and scarier.
Would you think that would catch on?
I think anything would catch on, I think not to be – but I’m not -even though, but it seems like they’re supporting him no matter what. I mean, my dad was a conservative Republican for years and he just changed his party affiliation this year. But it seems like a lot of them are just supporting him just for the sake of being Republican and they’re not really – it’s almost like brainwash. Anything he does, I feel like at this point, people are following.
So it would catch on?
Yeah.
Kelsey
Do you think there’s ever been an evil dictator that dressed really well?
Yeah, I think most of them – uh – Kim Jong Il.
What do you like about Kim Jong Il?
Well, he’s short, kinda fat. He’s just all around a really good person. Hitler too, the mustache?
If Bush had a Hitler mustache, do you think it would catch on in the Republican Party?
I would hope so. I would like that connection made, Bush to Hitler.
Is there anything Bush could do to improve his look?
I would say the Hitler mustache would be a start, and maybe a white-person Afro kind of like the MC5. Yeah – and I think he should start a band.
What would the band sound like?
Okay, their influences would be Yoko Ono, New Kids On The Block and Metallica. A combination of the three.
Would they have a lot of hits?
Among the Young Republicans, yes, maybe not on the charts.
Adam Sorsky
Why are you here?
Stomp out fascism.
Has there ever been an evil dictator that you think had good fashion sense?
No.
What if someone were to point a gun to your head and make you answer that question?
Wait – what?
Do you think there’s an evil dictator that dressed really, really cool? Like a fascist dictator that had good fashion sense?
No.
What if someone forced you to answer that question? What if someone pointed a gun to your head to get you to answer that question, what would you say? What would you do?
Try not to get shot but resist.
What if you couldn’t resist? What if you were chained down?
Ah – shit, I might say yes, I probably would say yes so I could crawl back to fight him once again.
Who would you say yes to?
I don’t know, the end of the barrel.
You would say yes to the end of the barrel, well of course! But it’s not a “yes or no” question, the question is who is a cool evil dictator, who is the best-dressing evil dictator? All you have to do is answer that question and you get off scot-free.
Nobody.
But “nobody” is not a dictator.
But Bush is an evil dictator! He’s a fuckin’ asshole!
But is he a good dresser?
No.
