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Twin Peaks

Twin Peaks is an iconic narrative TV show that aired in 1990. It forever changed the way television would be produced, the type of shows seen and the expectations of viewers. Created by David Lynch, Twin Peaks is a narrative crime/horror show that follows the murder of Laura Palmer in the small, mysterious town of Twin Peaks. It is a terrific piece of television that brought film production styles to the small screen.

The pilot sets up the crime that will be solved throughout the season, the murder of Laura Palmer. Her body is found by Pete Martell washed up on a beach wrapped in plastic. The sheriff, Sheriff Truman, comes down and the two of them confirm that it is indeed Laura Palmer. As this is happening Laura’s mother, Sarah, is calling for her to get ready for school. She obviously never responds and her mother begins to freak out, calling her boyfriend Bobby’s house, her best friend Donna’s house and the sheriff’s office. Throughout the episode we watch as different people learn of Laura’s death, her family, her friends, the towns people. It is an emotional episode that shows just how small of town Twin Peaks is, everyone knows Laura and Laura is involved in nearly everyone’s life one way or another. We then meet Agent Cooper from the FBI who has come to investigate the death of Laura Palmer. We watch as he meets all of the main characters and begins to get an understanding of what has happened. He makes some notes, always talking into his recorder, and eventually begins to ask questions. In this episode we also meet another girl who was kidnapped and tortured along with Laura. The episode ends with Agent Cooper heading to the Great Northerner Resort to stay for the duration of the investigation.

Episode 1 is filled with scenes of the Sheriff Truman and Agent Cooper trying to figure out what happened to Laura. We also see the other girl who was with Laura, Ronette, and has suffered severe trauma. We learn more about Laura, like that she isn’t such a perfect girl. She got involved with people who sell cocaine and was doing it herself. We also learn that she was cheating on her boyfriend with a biker named James. The only other person who knows about this is Donna. James gets questioned  by the Sheriff and Agent and reveals the truth about his and Laura’s relationship to them. He explains why it was kept a secret, which was Laura’s wish. Throughout the whole episode we learn more and more about the town of Twin Peaks and the people who live there. We learn about the secret relationships, secret plans, who’s sleeping with who and more. It is a very action packed episode, filled with lots of things that reveal a tremendous amount about the town.

Both episodes sparked my interest into the show and made me want to watch more. The pilot did a great job drawing me in and getting me interested i the characters, the town and the story. You get very into the crime aspect very quickly, which is extremely interesting and a great way to pull in viewers. The first episode was really good and left me with a lot of questions. I’m interested to learn more about the mysterious town of Twin Peaks and why so much is happening here. Why is this town so mysterious, what about it adds this feeling of supernaturality? I am very interested in this show and can’t wait to watch more of it.

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Alternate Justice?

Warning: There are spoilers ahead! Just saying!

Black Mirror has some amazing episodes, episodes that are truly terrifying. One of them is White Bear a terrifying episode because it does not stray far from our own reality. To be completely honest it could easily happen in our own reality and that is what makes it so scary and hard to grasp.  

The episode is about a woman who wakes up unaware of who she is or where she is. As she begins to explore her surroundings she notices that no one is helping her but instead just recording her on their phones. She then begins to get chased by a “Hunter” who tries to kill her. She runs into a pair of people who are also trying to escape the hunters as well, together her and another woman get away from the hunters and begin to make it to white bear power plant to cut a transmission. They get tricked into being brought into the woods and almost die at the hands of another hunter, however they get away and make it to white bear. At white bear they enter the control room and begin to dose gasoline on it. They almost light it on fire but before they can they are attacked by hunters again. However the main woman grabs a gun and tries to shoot it. Confetti comes out. The wall opens up, revealing a huge crowd. It was all a show, a sort of “theme park” called a “justice park.” The main woman is then strapped into a chair and explained the situation. She was an accomplice to a murder of a little girl where she recorded the entire thing and watched as the girl was killed and burned. Her fiancé, who was the actual murderer, killed himself before the trail so it seems she is taken the full justice and suffering for the both of them. After this explanation she is put back where we found her at the beginning of the episode. They then run through the episode from the actors and spectators point of views.   

This episode is a fantastic episode that shows the possibility for a bizarre, alternate form of justice in our world. The mental suffering this woman goes through is meant to atone, in a way, for what she did. It is meant to simulate the experience that the little girl was going through. The woman doesn’t know who she is, mimicking the innocence of a child. She is unaware of what is happening, doesn’t understand the world she finds herself in and just wants help. These are all things that the little girl must have been going through after being kidnapped and eventually killed. The spectators using their phones to record her is also something that the girl was going through and is meant to show the woman what the girl was feeling as she was so helpless and begging for help. Basically everything she goes through is meant to put her through emotional trauma as a way of paying for her crime. It shows what prison could possible become, at least for “famous” trials, ie. serial killers, crimes that garner national attention etc. This alternate form of justice could be paired with a sentence as well, almost using the prisoners as exhibits. But that raises the question of ethics. Is it ethical to use these people as exhibits? Wiping their  memories and torturing them for the entertainment of the masses? It is an interesting debate and shows why Black Mirror is such a good show! 

I would highly recommend this episode to people and also just Black Mirror in general. It is a great show that says a lot about society and our own future 

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Russian Doll

Warning: There are spoilers ahead! Just saying!

Netflix is back at it again with another fantastic show, honestly one of the best shows i’ve seen in a long time. Russian Doll has been such a pleasant surprise for me! I’ve only been able to watch three episodes but I will definitely be watching more. Every episode builds upon what happened in the last episode, which I really enjoy.

The basic premise of the show is that the main character Nadia, played by Emmy award winning actress Natasha Lyonne, dies over and over again. And every time she dies she goes back to the scene of her in the bathroom at her party, the first scene in the show. She slowly begins to realize how to survive but also sometimes slips ups and freaks out leading to her constantly dying over and over again, look at episode two where she keeps falling down the stairs. This mysterious loop leads to her figuring out how to communicate with other and teaches her that she has to care and help others. It’s a slow process that she has to go through but she does learn more and more throughout it. However she believes she has to go through this process alone until the end of episode three, where she is about to die, everyone is freaking out and she’s just standing around. Next to her is a guy who is also relaxed who says to her “I die all the time” which leads to her realizing she isn’t alone. And that’s all i’ve gotten up too! But the show has me hooked and in the little free time I have I plan on watching this show and only this show!

Russian Doll does such an amazing job using lighting to distinguish the path that Nadia is on. The use of subtle lighting tricks to hint as to what is about to happen appears throughout the show and is an amazing piece of foreshadowing. If you pay attention you can actually know what’s going to happen before it happens. An example of this is if you look closely there will be a subtle green light, maybe coming from a storefront or traffic light, that is indicating that she won’t die this time. The same goes for subtle red lights. There are also subtle purple lights, a combination of red and green for times when you’re just not quite sure what’s about to happen, when you don’t know if its good or bad. The lighting is amazing and I can’t help but to find myself constantly pausing to look for the subtleties in it.

Russian Doll so far has me hooked and I can’t wait to watch more! I would highly recommend it to anyone and everyone who is looking for a new show to binge watch because I know i’ll be.

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Black Mirror: National Anthem

Warning: There are spoilers up ahead. Just saying!

Black mirror. You love it, you hate it. The visually stunning show on Netflix draws in viewers from all over who well, love it and hate it. They love watching the realistic scenarios where technology is taken to far, or where we are exposed for what we truly are and well that's why they hate it too. The idea that you are watching something that could very well become a reality within the next few years, or even few months, is terrifying, it’s thrilling. It makes you question what you do on a daily basis, it makes you question your dependency on technology. Where would you be if you didn’t have your phone? Laptop? TV? What would your world be like? Black mirror makes you think about this by showing you what it's like to be obsessed with these technologies, by showing you how the extreme end of the spectrum looks.

You don’t have to look any farther than the very first episode, The National Anthem. This episode shows something that could so easily happen today, and that just adds to the sheer fear of it. In the episode the princess of the royal British family is kidnapped by a supposed terrorist. That terrorists then releases a video on youtube of the princess reading a list of demands, except its only one demand, that the prime minister engage in sexual activity with a pig on a national broadcast. The video then gives details about the broadcast, making sure that there cannot be any “cheating”. The episode follows the prime minister and his cabinet as they try to locate the princess or figure out a way to rig the broadcast to not really be the prime minister. It also follows the story as it develops in the media and 24 hour news cycle. The terrorist finds out they are trying to rig the broadcast and sends one of the princess’ fingers to a news station with a note saying no cheating and a video of them cutting the finger off. Eventually the prime minister decides that he has to do it and does the broadcast. Everyone is staring a telly watching the gory, gross sexual act occur and well the princess is the released just as promised. Only instead of being released at 4:00 pm the promised time, she’s released 30 minutes earlier at 3:30 pm. And no one was outside to find her because everyone was getting ready for the broadcast. It ended up that the terrorist was an artist trying to make a statement about our need for television, lack of empathy and drive for gory, disgusting media.

Of course if you haven’t seen it you have to go watch it! My description does not do the story justice at all. The episode is truly fascinating and they did a fantastic job with the filming and design of it. The use of light to create a mood of hope in the beginning with the sun rising and then a mood of lost hope as the sun slowly sets and the world becomes an overcast, cold, tense world is perfect. It truly engulfs you and brings you into the emotions of the characters. The contrast between the happiness of the people to the sadness of the prime minister is also shown through lighting as well. The prime minister is always in a bluish tinted light, thats cold and brings about an idea of hopelessness. Compare that to a brighter, warmer reddish yellow tint that is seen in the bar and hospital scenes and it really drives home the idea that people really don’t care about others as much as they used too and this could be because of social media, media in general really, and technology. Then you get to the studio, with the bright studio lights beating down on the prime minister and you see him for what he is, a sad hopeless man who is doing whatever he can for his country and the mood instantly shifts. People can’t watch, everyone’s sad, no one is cheering because people have realized what is actually happening and well, it got to them. I’m absolutely obsessed with the lighting for this episode and I think it really helps push the emotions that the writers wanted. Black Mirror always does a terrific job at using light to portray emotions, even in the very first episode of the show, which really shows you the talent they have.

I would recommend anyone who hasn’t watched a lot of Black Mirror to watch more and really look at the way lighting is used. Look at the way they use artificial light, the way they use natural lights, the way they use cool and warm light to contrast different emotions. It will all blow you away.

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Marshall McLuhan: A Man Behind Media

I would first like to say that it is insane to think that Marshall McLuhan was saying this all in the late 1960s, the 1960s! Not the 90s not moden day, no, the 1960s, yet all of it is still relevant today, if not more relevant today than ever before. It baffles me that he was able to talk about this and have everything he was saying would stay important for decades to come. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this interview and found it to be extremely insightful and meaningful.

The thing that stood out the most to me was how we remain so unaware of the technology that surrounds us and how we have developed this coping mechanism of not caring about others as much as we used too. This is an extremely dangerous coping mechanism for multiple reason, besides the obvious that we are more likely to put ourselves, and others, in danger because we just don’t care. Another reason this is so dangerous is because of how we lose connections with people and slip into ourselves more, which can lead to anxiety and depression, as McLuhan mentioned. This is so present in our current society which is littered with depression and anxiety on every turn. This coping mechanism pushes us away from what we need to do, which is recognize the effects of the technology around us and understand what it is doing to us on a constant basis. When we do realize the effects there is pain, but without that pain we cannot improve ourselves and get better which is necessary in order to simply survive.

The message that McLuhan gets across in this interview is that as humans we have become numb to the technology that we live with everyday due to subtle electronic interactions that have become mainstream in our everyday lives.

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What should I research?

1) One possible topic for my research paper is how individuals with disabilities are represented in TV shows and Movies and how good or bad these representations are. I would also like to look at how many roles with disabilities are played by individuals with these disabilities versus actors with no disabilities. I will have a strong focus on Deaf/Hard of hearing individuals due to a personal biases. I will look at reviews of movies/tv shows and discussions about these movies/tv shows. I will also look at discussions from the communities that are represented, for example the Deaf community.

2) Another possible topic for my research paper is how women/men are portrayed in pornographic images/videos and how pornographic mediums pray on peoples fantasies pushing them away from their realities. I will discuss these topics through medical journals and discussions which cover the human psyche and how pornographic images affect individuals emotions and

3) Another possible topic for my research paper is covering how binge watching has become an epidemic amongst a generation of young adults. This is extremely interesting to me because I am a part of this generation and have binged watched many shows myself. I would be using medical journals to pinpoint the psychological effects that binge watching has on young adults, especially in regards to anxiety and depression. I would also use discussions/debates by people of the affected generation.

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Nightcrawler

Nightcrawler was a terrific movie, with terrific acting that sent chills down my back and scared me without even trying to be scary. It was psychological and puts fear in your head when you realize Lou could be among us. Jake Gyllenhaal’s acting as Lou was impeccable and deserved him much praise. However he didn’t receive the praise he deserved, which seems to be a common trend for him as an actor. The story itself was erie and dark, sending chills down my spine. The way Gyllenhaal portrays Lou is amazing and showcases the character in a very strange light, he is quite literally the epitome of an anti-hero. We shouldn't want him to succeed but we just do, and in a weird way we love watching him manipulate people to move up in the world. It’s what makes this movie so good.

I really loved the lighting and aesthetics of the movie. The lighting added to the eerie, creepy atmosphere set up by the story and by Gyllenhaal’s acting. The entire movie itself had this undertone of darkness too it, with many scenes obviously taking place at night and in darker rooms. It also has a feeling of being retro without being retro at all. I feel like i’m watching a movie set in the 80s/90s but rather it’s taken place in present day. I think this is because of the choice of props as well as locations.

Overall I really enjoyed the movie and was impressed with the writing, storytelling, acting and pretty much everything. However, the one flaw I found was the ending of the movie. It just felt short or that it didn’t completely finish, it left me desiring more. Other than that I really liked it and want to watch it again to pick up on the smaller, more subtle details within the movie.

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Politics, oh boy

I’ve never been one to be extremely interested in politics or the workings of politics. However, I have always believed it is important to have access to the news and information, on any scale. In our modern society this access is changing drastically due to social media and online news sources. It is altering our political discourse within this country.

Modern political discourse can be described as the debate, teaching and spread of political ideas. In modern day there are many ways of getting the news, from traditional sources like newspapers and other forms of prints, to more modern forms like social media and online news streaming. You can get your news from so many different sources today, however, so many people are limiting their choices. Today, with the ability to curate your own social media feeds people are only following news sources that have the same political view as their own. This causes strong, deep rifts between people and also begins to limit the debating process of politics, which is crucial for the conservation of ideas and thought. Rather than debating most people will just argue on social media with others, sometimes with people who share the same view but have just lost the ability to communicate their ideas effectively. However, it is important to understand the benefit of social media in political discourse. While it can be limiting, it can also allow people to experience opinions and views they would not have experienced before. Along with this it also allows for people to begin to share their own ideas and develop a following and can even stir political change. Revolutions have happened solely online, plans for protest can be shared online and more, all because of social media's ability to reach the masses.

In the “old times,” such as the 50s shown in Good Night and Good Luck, newspaper, radio and television were the main sources of news for the people. This means that journalist needed to make sure they were presenting all the information necessary from both sides of the argument and staying neutral, as true journalism should be. I feel like today’s journalist could take a look at people such as Edward R. Murrow and learn from what he did. He was not afraid, he brought light to a topic that scared many people and exposed it for what is truly was. If today’s journalist could have even the slightest bit of strength that Murrow showed than we would be in a much different political landscape. If journalist could report on both sides, evenly and fairly, it would very much change the nature of the conversation. But due to the current format of the 24/7 news cycle a lot of news is fluff or filler used to draw in viewers. With this mentality it also draws in specific niche commentators and analysts who focus on their own beliefs and argue them on television. Many times I have looked at a video of analyst discussing the news and watched it turn into an argument, basically who can be louder, a pissing contest of sorts. This is not the way to report the news and it needs to drastically change. A change like this would be hard to come by but when it does happen it will completely alter everything and propel this country back into a better place.

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Goodnight, and Good Luck.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and found it to be extremely interesting to watch. The choice to go black and white made the movie feel even more like a timepiece which fits well with the archival footage. There were many times that I caught myself thinking we were watching a film directly from that era. David Strathairn’s performance was truly amazing. It genuinely felt as if Strathairn was Edward Murrow. The acting and dialogue was fluid and had movement to it, it wasn’t stiff like I was expecting. The dialogue didn’t feel like it was forced, it didn’t feel like the 60s the way other movies do, but rather it was human. An example of more stiff language is Mad Men, where despite being a fantastic show, sometimes the conversations between characters feel off. However in Goodnight, and Good Luck It felt like they were actually humans interacting, which goes to show you the caliber of the writing and everyone in the movie. 

The editing and cinematography were also superb. The combination of slow jazz and fast, heart pounding moments, like the opening scene at the award show, was amazing. It pushed the mood of the movie and fit surprisingly well. The movie also has historical significance. While I learned a little about Joseph McCarthy and McCarthyism in high school and from my own findings, this movie does a terrific job showcasing what it was really like to be in the McCarthy era. It showed the fear that was instilled and the fight against it. Goodnight, and Good Luck is an all round solid movie that I will definitely be recommending to all of my friends. 

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Mad Men

I have personally just finished watching all 7 seasons of Mad Men and I have to say it has become one of, if not, my favorite show. I love everything about this show, the characters, the writing, how beautifully shot it is, everything. Of course it has its flaws and I can say i’m completely happy with all of the endings, but all in all it’s a fantastic show that I would recommend to anyone.

During class we watched an episode from an earlier season simply titled Nixon Vs Kennedy, which is a fantastic episode that really showcases the 1960s office work environment. The way the man treated the women, how the women behaved back, it was all put out there in the episode and I believe it was done very well. It felt like I was dropped into an office and got to see its everyday workings, which of course is unpleasant as the office is. The scene where they are partying and make comments about Peggy is a clear example of how women were viewed by men in the workplace. They were viewed as secretaries for them to flirt and sleep with and nothing more, hell they were barely viewed as employees. This mindset is also evident in the scene where Ken chases down one of the girls just to pull her dress up to see the color of her underwear, and then she gets up and walks with him like it never happened. Thankfully if this happened today then he would have been fired and rightfully so. 

The show does do a terrific job of showcasing 1960s culture and the attitude of the people who lived during that time. The endings were clever and quite amazing. Of course Peggy’s ending bothered me a little bit because we know her as this career women who would do anything to move her career ahead but then turns down a partnership because she was in love? I would have thought Peggy would try to do both, be a partner with Joan and, well, be a partner with Stan too. However she turned Joan down which I thought was out of character for her. Don’s ending was a great ending. At first I thought he might kill himself and that would be how it ended but he didn’t, he learned to come to terms and forget the past in order to move forward and I think that it was a good ending to a great character. There could have been more but there didn’t need to be, its simplicity worked, especially with the addition of the coke commercial at the end. And it ended on a classic Don bender, which kind of summarizes the entire show.

Mad Men is a fantastic show that captures the essence of 1960s America and shoves it in your faces. It’s filled with great characters and unexpected twist that will leave you wanting to binge more. I would highly recommend it to anyone who loves good television.

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TV Critics and Criticism

What is TV criticism? TV criticism is a “mix of subjectivity, analysis and evaluation” that leads to appreciation and discussion of works of television. TV criticism is a newer form of art that many people do not take nearly as serious as some of its counterparts, such as film criticism. This may be because TV is deemed as less serious and more social than individual works of Film and in the end is not considered by many to be an art form. This is changing however, with the rise of cinematic television that uses many of the same rules as film. In some cases one could even say television is becoming film through its character development, cinematic styles and storytelling. If you just look at shows like Twin Peaks, Mad Men, Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Carnivale (and many more) you can really see films influence and just where television is going.

It is hard to find an individual who is specifically a TV critic and not both a TV critic and Film Critic. Many of the tv critics that I like are not your typical critics, but rather employ a new media to get their message across. One of these critics is Caillou Pettis, who reviews movies and TV shows on his youtube channel, TwistedFalcon. The use of youtube to get his opinions out there is what interest me the most, because you can really get  a sense of the emotion and passion someone has when you can see them talk about it. He is a very critical individual and focuses a lot on movie reviews and criticism but does do some TV criticism.

Another critic that focuses much more on the small screen and does so using more traditional methods is Daniel Fienberg. He is currently a writer for a few different websites, including The Hollywood Reporter. I really like Daniel’s writing style, he’s very personable and makes the reader feel like they are having a conversation with him. It seems like every time you read one of his reviews it’s liked you just asked him to tell you about the show in person. He also offers solutions to things that he deemed problematic, rather than just stating the problem. This is something I really love because it shows that he really does know what he’s talking about. Daniel has recently become one of my inspirations when it comes to TV reviews and I will continue to read his work for years to come.

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Carnivale - Episode 2 Review

Episode 2 of the show, Carnivale, was an exciting and quite interesting episode. The episode started with a practical joke being pulled on Ben, but instead of being a joke he actually does go to the baggage trailer and finds a suitcase which ties to his visions. He learns from the trailer that his mom was involved with someone in the Carnival after he finds a picture of her in the suitcase with a man’s tuxedo that was in his visions.

The episode also felt more focused, it focused more on Ben and the main characters rather than showing everything in the Carnivale. It still showed other characters but less so than the first one. I also really liked the transformation of the Chinese Brothel into the church, specifically a church for migrant workers. Brother Justin’s visions are really interesting because he uses them to get what he wants and openly uses them to other, despite not being 100% accountable for his actions. An example of this is when he uses the vision to expose Mr. Templeton sins at the Chinese Brothel it ruins his life and he goes and kills himself. He may not heal things and kill other things around him but he, in one way or another, does harm people by acting on and using his visions.

The episode was really well done. The show continues to amaze me with the accurate representation of the time period in it’s costume and set design. Every little detail is accounted for and it really shows. I also love the references to other shows hidden throughout the episode. A great example is the cherry pie and coffee in the dinner. While rewatching the episode I would just pause and appreciate the design and just how well done it is. Every single shot has so many little details thrusted into it that you have to pause to get the full effect. It really is no surprise that it was canceled due to costs.

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Carnivale - Episode 1 Review

The first episode of Carnivale jumped right into the story. It was a lot to take in at once. I felt because of that I was maybe distracted and didn’t fully appreciate the first episode. Hopefully it will become a bit more focused, having each episode focus on one part of the storyline rather than jumping back and forth between them.

The style, an old-timey feel of the show was fantastic and I really enjoyed that aspect of the episode. The intro was extremely interesting and finding out it was, and still is, the most expensive intro to make is a really interesting fact.

However, because of how well the sets were designed and the intro being so expensive it’s easy to see why the show ran into budget issues. It attempted to do a lot and I can easily see how the budget would dry up rather quickly. If I had found this show when it was first released on air I would’ve been all over it just because of the way it looks and I guess ultimately that was it’s downfall.  

The first episode drew me in, made me want answers and explanations but also made me feel like too much was going on. Hopefully throughout the seasons it will become more focused. With all that said it’s still a show I would watch on my own time and is something i’m extremely interested in.