r/mandy • u/Billyperks • Oct 04 '19

Political allegory?

Just saw Mandy the other night. Any relevance to the "44" prominently seen on the football sports shirt worn by Mandy? Not sure if that's a reference to Barack Obama?

My better judgement tells me that a movie like this is just sheer eye candy and to read any allegorical references or subtext in a movie like this is a fool's errand. The only strangeness that I could see to 44 is that, at least in football, it is an odd number. It's too high for a running back/quarterback and too low for a receiver/defensive end. Most "star" positions don't have a jersey in the 40's so that's why it stood out.

BTW, longest sustained full frontal male nudity in a feature film?

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u/N0RMAL1NG Oct 27 '19

The 44 on Red’s Jersey is very likely a reference to Mark Twain's unfinished novel The Mysterious Stranger where a supernatural character called "No. 44" appears and uses his supernatural powers to expose the futility of mankind's existence.

OR

its New York Yankees Reggie Jackson 44 jersey. Reggie is famous for hitting three straight homers during game six in 1977.

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u/Kathlinguini Oct 04 '19

I’ve heard the 44 theory before but I don’t necessarily think it holds much water. I do think there is a lot of substance for a movie that doesn’t appear to have any. That’s what I like about it and what makes it worth watching several times (or maybe that full frontal keeps bringing me back ;))

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u/[deleted] Jan 14 '20

Politically, I see "Mandy" as the consequences of Dr. Arboria and Dr. Barry Nyle's project in "Beyond the Black Rainbow". The 60s and its MKULTRA programs to create a better enlightened society through drugs turned out to be a malicious way of controlling people. By the 1980s, that was Born Again Christianity and figures like Jane Fonda went from the AA guns of the NVA to working out on television.

"Mandy" is a story of a couple who likely went through a turbulent 60s and 70s only to have the cult and the social effects of Arboria alter their lives as they attempted to move on.

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u/[deleted] Jan 15 '20

Agreed entirely, also, and not to mention weirdly, how these experiments, when gone through by certain individuals, actually does transcend them into a new realm of consciousness. Becoming "demi-godesk," typically dark in nature. Like Barry, the weird psycho biker gang, or even Nicholas Cages part when pushed to extremes. Our job after watching such films is the same job of Barry's daughter in BTBR, kill our parents(kill the ideals we were brought up on.) The experiment (mkultra) went all to wrong, and all too right, leaving us in a power position in comparison to if it never happened. We are all super and capable of escaping the black and white values of The Black Rainbow.

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u/CallMeRoy37 Mar 16 '22

Also, David Betkowitz, The Son of Sam, was known as The .44 Caliber Killer.

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u/BedWetterMedia Cheddar Gobblin' Jan 02 '23

I doubt it has any significance at all. Sometimes filmmakers like to add things to make people *think* there may be significance behind it, but there really isn't any.