Spoilers for Kingsman: The Secret Service below.
I have to say, I'm a little surprised that Kingsman: The Secret Service hasn't garnered a bit more outrage. As I noted in my review, it's a film with populist-conservative, occasionally outright reactionary, tendencies. And it's also a movie in which the Democratic president of the United States' head is blown up—a moment played for big laughs.
This isn't the first time in recent history that a world leader's head has been demolished onscreen for giggles. In The Interview, Kim Jong Un's cranium went kablooey, leading to months of angst as hackers allegedly tied to North Korea leaked reams of internal Sony documents whilst demanding the film be pulled from theaters. Some argued that North Korea "has every reason" to be angry about the film, passively aggressively excusing the cyberattack because, hey, the feels.
It's worth noting that Americans haven't reacted with anything like the same level of outrage to Kingsman. In part, this is because we are a more civilized lot, with a keener understanding of things like "artistic expression" and "freedom of speech" than the North Koreans. You're not going to see a wave of state-sponsored hacking of the Brits because one of their kinsmen made a joke about killing Barack Obama. Additionally, I doubt many people have actually seen the flick yet, and the death of Obama hasn't been used as a selling point for the movie.
Still: It seems to me that Kingsman's decision to violently kill Barack Obama in a movie with so many conservative undertones is at least a little problematic. Like, half-a-problematic. Maybe a full problematic. I'm curious to see when the backlash will begin in full. As my friend Alan Zilberman noted after our preview screening:
In a more just, fun world, all the think pieces would be about Kingsman.
— Alan Zilberman (@alanzilberman) February 11, 2015
Those are think pieces I'm actually kind of excited to read!