mysomyso

[mysomyso]

Dandy Dust: A Grotesque Genderqueer Cyberpunk Adventure

“Remember the extra selves: waste products of unification.” -Dandy Dust, 1998

Produced, directed, written, edited by Hans Scheirl. Five and a half years in the making, Hans Scheirl’s “Dandy Dust” is an elaborate, gender-bending camp sci-fi epic with no aspirations toward narrative clarity. Redolent of everything from “Metropolis” to “Pink Narcissus,” with plenty of outre sex and violence, this objet d'art is often funny and always visually inventive. […] Dandy Dust is a “split-personality cyborg of fluid gender” living on artificially created sphere called 3075. His/her memory has been erased, so Dandy is alarmed by flashbacks to his early life on the Planet of Blood & Swelling. There, s/he was evidently sexually abused by an over-doting dad; that intimacy upset a harpy mom, who may have killed Dandy’s pa in retaliation. Or did Dandy do the deed himself? Did it even happen? (Vanity review)

A far as I know, this film has had no official release and only made limited rounds on the queer film fest circuit. There is a lot going on here. For one, the zombie cyborg mutant mother looks a lot like Kathy Acker (or at least they were getting the same fashion advice). The structural complexity of this film makes it difficult to follow the first time through, but this intricate narrative structuring is not executed in vain. The whole film revolves around the concepts of excess and multiplicity, which is mirrored in the splintering of subjectivities and realities. Dandy Dust is two characters living between multiple worlds and genders. But there are also other characters that emerge as literal embodiments/disembodiments of disparate parts of Dandy Dust. In one part, a mummy who represents the non-embodied part of Dandy Dust lusts after Dandy’s body, which is said to be perverse, vile, dirty (the things of the flesh) and serves as a potential metaphor for confrontations between the mind and body. (See the video uploaded by my partner at the bottom of this post.) The disembodied aspect of his character also manifests as another character–a bodiless figure that has a flame for a head.

In another scene, Dandy Dust pulls his pants down to find a pulsating fuzzy creature between his legs. It rips off his body, and fuzzy black ball unfurls. It appears to be a spider, but a spider whose body is a big vagina. Such is the beginning of the character Spidercuntboy. Dandy Dust cries, “you horrible, horrible little thing!” at the creature that was just attached to his body, and Spidercuntboy replies, “I can change into a long, big pleasant thing if you want.”

This trash, sci-fi art film is actually deeply rooted in “queer underground, feminist art, dyke culture and contemporary radical body art.” Lo-fi special effects, crude futuristic sets, and lowbrow animation created by an artist team of self-described “sex mutants” are laced throughout the film. And what’s interesting is–beneath all the cinematic experimentation–we get a perspective that falls more on the trans male side of the spectrum (transmen are often rendered invisible in the media). Hans Scheirl–a gender bending trans person–plays the film’s protagonist. Hans was the co-director of the lesbian sci-fi film Flaming Ears. The colorful, hyper-stimulating, high-speed feel of Dandy Dust is reminiscent of the videos of artist Ryan Trecartin, but with much more substance and a decidedly queer sensibility.

[mysomyso]

Dandy Dust (1998)

[mysomyso]

Dandy Dust [dir. Hans Scheirl, 1998]

[mysomyso]

Worms in film: Dandy Dust [1998]

^ tokin' it up lol

Dandy Dust is a surreal movie by trans filmmaker Hans Scheirl. It follows a cyborg named Dust who just got his memory stolen. She travels across planets, evading her family who is trying to capture him back. Most of the events involve sex.

While not really a worm, Dust called this mummy-like figure a glowworm. With all the wacky stuff happening in this movie, could've fooled me! Glowworms aren't actually a worm, but a larva, but i'll give a half point anyways.

0.5, an honourable worm mentioned.

[mysomyso]

is this the guy from that ghost band u guys like

[mysomyso]

I could save the world but lose you

[mysomyso]

they got a bit sidetracked

[mysomyso]

i had a vision

[mysomyso]

as requested, my header :)

[mysomyso]

I want Billie Piper to be the next doctor.

We already know the doctor's memories and emotions can affect his appearance in regeneration (12 and 14 wandering around going 'why this face') and Billie KNOWS the doctor.

She knows the Doctor's personality, mannerisms, values and Eccleston/Tenant's acting across the most popular seasons of the modern show (by viewership). She holds up to date accolades as an actor with her performances always showing improvement and actual change in skill level (was amazing in KAOS) which I don't see in many actors who either pick one character or stagnate in ability.

She has a good working relationship with many of the show's writers/producers and has shown a willingness to return, further enhancing her intimate observation of how to embody a 'true doctor.'

I think she could do a great fucking job, and after Whittaker's unfortunate shit-show seasons in terms of viewership and audience enthusiasm (at no fault of her own), I think we need a female doctor people actually engage with, to prove women can be the doctor again and shouldn't be ruled out completely.

If she's an interim because they couldn't replace Ncuti fast enough, I get it, but I think they're genuinely missing a golden opportunity. If she was CHOSEN to be a cheap two or three episode party trick with the intention of replacing her, essentially nixing any chance of her being the actual three-season doctor, I see that as a massive cop out and a dick move.

[mysomyso]

where’s that 1900s painting of the centaur mother playing with her child in a grassy field?

[mysomyso]

[Image ID: A Doctor Who version of the Destiel confession meme. It shows Rose Tyler tearfully saying 'I love you' to the Doctor on Bad Wolf Bay in the episode Doomsday. Under that is a screenshot of the Doctor from the same scene, his answer is 'I regenerated into you'. /End ID]

I am sorry, but I just had to do this.

[mysomyso]

the doctor’s “last of the time lords” thing gets funnier every season like sure bestie you’re the only one left apart from the master and the rani and mrs flood and susan and jenny and omega and fourteen and tentoo and

[mysomyso]

but we’ll never be rid of each other/my song, my sorrow and i

[mysomyso]

face card

[mysomyso]

Doctor. Oh, Doctor…

[mysomyso]

They all deserve so much more time✧⁠