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The Civil War sunglasses - blood red, retro and slightly 5am at Glastonbury - appear for less than five minutes in director Alex Garland's long, cortisol-drenched war epic. And they stick out like a Trumper at a Bernie Sanders rally. Because, in a film that's deliberately sapped of hope and sunshine, Jesse Plemons' unhinged militia man is a flash of colour: he interrogates Kirsten Dunst's ragtag bunch of journos from the backdrop of a mass grave. And, as the concern grows that Dunst and co could be the newest tenants of said death pit, the pop of red feels like a warning. The sunglasses happened by accident. "When Alex [Garland] and I spoke, he wanted Jesse's character to be in a military uniform. There was no other discussion to it," the film's costume designer Meghan Kasperlik tells GQ. "Jesse brought the sunglasses to the fitting and asked what we thought… I was hesitant at first, as I did not want them to take away from the intensity of the scene." But, despite the novelty of a frontline nutjob in silly party shades, it only adds to Plemons' menace - and his character joins a long line of other military lunatics that use menswear to unhinge. In 1979's Apocalypse Now, the napalm enthusiast Bill Kilgore peacocks around Vietnam in a US Air Cavalry hat that was worn by the 1st of the 9th Cavalry. Platoon's chief villain Bob Barnes goes for a bandana. And, in a similar move that predates Civil War, the Francoist flagbearer Captain Vidal wears some tiny Dr Robotnik sunglasses in Pan's Labyrinth. The Civil War sunglasses in one of the film's more terrifying scenes
Sure, Plemons' shades could be cartoonish: a Pokémon villain quirk in a film that feels deeply serious. But look to real-world vigilantes, and it's not that far removed. During the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, the motley coalition of rioters paraded around in found treasures far more outlandish than a pair of red sunglasses. Naturally, there was a sea of scarlet MAGA caps. But there were Proud Boys in counterfeit Fred Perry bulletproof vests. According to the Huffington Post, someone dressed up as Abraham Lincoln, another as George Washington. There was a plastic bald eagle mask photographed by the New York Times atop a star-spangled suit. And most infamous of all was Jake Angeli, the internet's much-memed 'QAnon shaman', roaring and marauding in furs, horns and tribal tattoos. Add in a pair of party shades, and it all belongs to a civil mutiny for the Burning Man generation. Plemons' militiaman isn't really all that weird in a damaged and divided America, then.
"The purpose was to make the characters and the costumes feel real and believable, sometimes into the setting, not drawing attention," says Kasperlik. "In the case of Jesse's glasses, this was a moment to stand out." After watching Civil War, the most pressing question was where this character even got the sunglasses? Kasperlik hints at their provenance. "To me, the sunglasses should make the audience question everything about this character. Who is this man? Why is he wearing them? Did he remove them from a person before taking their life?" In this age of grim trophy hunting, maybe that's a question best left unanswered.
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