Leatherface and the Nixon Mask: Political Satire in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre premiered in October 1974, a few weeks after Richard Nixon’s resignation in August and his pardon in September. The film was conceived, written, shot, edited, and produced precisely as the Watergate scandal played out, and the filmmakers unhesitatingly spoke of the horrors of contemporary politics as having directly inspired the ones they created for the film. My book Leatherface vs. Tricky Dick: ‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’ as Political Satire explores many uncanny connections between Chain Saw and Watergate, covering the White House Horrors, the Saturday Night Massacre, and other aspects of “our long national nightmare.” My paper discusses instances where the film specifically exploits slasher elements when delivering its political satire. In particular, I focus upon the significance of the killer wearing a mask. While many mask-wearing slasher villains exhibit an absence of “self,” Leatherface’s identification with the masks he wears is unique in its totality. Even his name is not a name at all, but a label describing his mask. At the time, the popular Nixon mask delivered a similar commentary in a satirical way, an apt metaphor for a president whose duplicity and shifting positions also suggested a lack of “self.” As Adlai Stevenson once said of Nixon, “This is a man of many masks. Who can say they have seen his real face?” While other factors in the film link Leatherface’s character to Nixon, the mask highlights the connection in an especially direct fashion, thereby furthering the film’s broader political messaging.
- Martin Harris (University of North Carolina at Charlotte, US)
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre premiered in October 1974, a few weeks after Richard Nixon’s resignation in August and his pardon in September. The film was conceived, written, shot, edited, and produced precisely as the Watergate scandal played out, and the filmmakers unhesitatingly spoke of the horrors of contemporary politics as having directly inspired the ones they created for the film. My book Leatherface vs. Tricky Dick: ‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’ as Political Satire explores many uncanny connections between Chain Saw and Watergate, covering the White House Horrors, the Saturday Night Massacre, and other aspects of “our long national nightmare.” My paper discusses instances where the film specifically exploits slasher elements when delivering its political satire. In particular, I focus upon the significance of the killer wearing a mask. While many mask-wearing slasher villains exhibit an absence of “self,” Leatherface’s identification with the masks he wears is unique in its totality. Even his name is not a name at all, but a label describing his mask. At the time, the popular Nixon mask delivered a similar commentary in a satirical way, an apt metaphor for a president whose duplicity and shifting positions also suggested a lack of “self.” As Adlai Stevenson once said of Nixon, “This is a man of many masks. Who can say they have seen his real face?” While other factors in the film link Leatherface’s character to Nixon, the mask highlights the connection in an especially direct fashion, thereby furthering the film’s broader political messaging.