Let's Talk About Luigi
I was talking to a friend over drinks last night. As seems to be the case lately, the conversation drifted over to Luigi Mangione.
A couple of things dawned on me as we were speaking. First, this already seems destined to become the most significant crime story since OJ Simpson. And second, it feels like we are witnessing the emergence of a true American folk hero for what I think is the first in our lives.
I have a unique vantage point on all this. As the person behind FCTRY, it's my job to keep a close eye on current events. Basically, I read the tea leaves and say which way the wind is blowing so we know who to turn into our next action figure. What I'm looking for when I do this is the rare moment when someone sort of transcends the day-to-day news cycle and starts to take on a certain mythological quality - when they go from being human to being hero.
I've been doing this for a long time now, since 2006, and I've only seen it really, truly happen twice: when Obama emerged in 2008, and when Ruth Bader Ginsburg became a symbol of the Me Too movement in 2018. Luigi Mangione may very well be the third.
To be clear, it's not my job nor my place to comment on the morality of all this. I'll leave that to everyone else. I'm simply here to say unequivocally that Luigi Mangione has become a cultural icon and, if I'm reading the tea leaves right, he is on track to become a full-on legend along the lines of maybe Che Guevara. And as a fan of the whole phenomenon of cultural icons, I am completely riveted.
In fact, it may be the most riveting real-life story I've ever seen. If you think about some of the details - the inscriptions on the bullets, his ridiculous good looks - it's hard to believe this is not fiction.
Circling back to something I'd mentioned earlier, I believe it all adds up to something we've never truly seen in our lifetimes, in America; the rise of a folk hero.
I can tell you right now that, if we were turning him into an action figure and I were directing the project, we'd be using Robin Hood as the template.
If you place this all in the larger context of everything that's going on in the world right now, maybe that's exactly what we need.
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30 comments
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Everyone is clutching their collective pearls over Luigi Mangione, but the reality is this had to happen. Too many massive corporations have literally milked the American people to death. Did Luigi do the right thing? No, but his actions sent the right message to the money hungry companies. We pay you to take care of us so take care of us instead of letting us die from things that can be easily fixed. I’d buy a Luigi figure
James on
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I have a decent little collection of FCTRY figures, and they’ve always seemed so good, so much about positivity (I don’t have any “bad guys”), and I’m so sorry to have come across this bizarre account of a murderer being spoken of as a “folk here,” and as anywhere near the greatness of Obama and RBG. I wish I could unsee what you have written here. It’s beyond disappointing. I have been burned by the health-insurance industry, saddled with a giant surprise bill a few times; no matter how much I might despise how the industry is run or how health problems are a moneymaker in this country, I would never, EVER, condone violence against anyone because of it. To support vigilantism is madness. I have to hope that you had all these thoughts over drinks of absinthe, because this doesn’t sound anything like the public image of FCTRY. You already have my money from the last Kickstarter, but I don’t care about these figures anymore, if this is what you they represent.
Cam on
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I’ll be very disappointed, disgusted actually if FCTRY elevates Luigi to ‘folk hero’ status, and/or makes him an action figure.
And so will most, if not all, of the humans you’ve already made action figures of.
BAD IDEA!Suzanne Coonradt on
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How many lives has the executive assigned to the trash heap? How many fathers, mothers, and children has this man consigned to suffer, and die, for no other reason than saving the company a few, blood soaked, extra dollars? People who crush the sick and wounded under foot deserve no mercy. Eat the Rich. (It’s a metaphor…)
Craig Druitt on
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It is dangerous to believe that vigilante justice is acceptable. We all have our own ideas as to who is a criminal and who is not, and our opinions vary greatly. Punishing people that we, as individuals, perceive as criminals, without legal authority, can easily get out of hand if we the people decide it is admirable and acceptable to do so. I have a friend (male in his 20s) who suffers from the insurance industry’s abuse of the disabled population. He is a fan of Luigi and keeps me up on the latest news. Being a female in my 70s, I long ago learned better than to make a hero out of a murderer even if the person they murdered was a criminal, but I haven’t convinced my friend of this yet. He is pissed, and rightly so, but vigilante justice is a dangerous precedent.
Janice Ninomiya on
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Free Luigi! Lock up Trump
Kelly Manning on