#HE MADE LITTLE PLAYS AND STORIES AND HAD HIM AND VICTOR AND ELIZABETH ACT THEM OUT WITH HIM LIKE☹️☹️☹️

[franken-loser]

I wish my brain had the capacity to actually analyze frankenstein characters cause they're sooooo interesting and i adore them and i would LOVE to write an analysis on some of them

but most of what goes on in my brain all day is literally just victor and henry kissing, i wish i was joking

[charlemange1]

Holding Out for a Hero (Frankenstein one-shot)

*Victor just returned from Ingolstadt. Now what does his family do with him? Sometimes caring too much is worse than not being there at all…*

A full moon enveloped the ballroom in shining silver, giving those sitting across from me the appearance of ghosts. From the way their shoulders slumped beneath the weight of life, they seemed more dead than alive.

“We appreciate you seeing our son back home, Monsieur Clerval.” Alphonse repositioned himself on the couch. “I only wish it were under happier circumstances.”

“I could not allow my friend to return alone after such tragic revelations, Monsieur Frankenstein.”

“Please, call me Alphonse.”

“Alphonse.” I echoed, my tongue fumbling with the word. I still wasn’t used to the informalities that came with adulthood. I wasn’t used to the little portrait of William hanging below the painting of Caroline, either. The surrounding candles made their painted eyes look alive, as though they too were part of this most miserable occasion. The ghosts of the dead eager to pass judgment on the living.

Elizabeth slipped into the room like a shadow, settling on the couch beside Alphonse and stroking his hunched shoulder. Ernest sat to their left, his eyes on the floor.

“I’ve put him to bed,” Elizabeth said. “Victor is exhausted, we shouldn’t worry about him wandering in on us.” The kind smile she held for Alphonse soured for me. “Henry, what has happened to Victor? He didn’t write for years, and when you visited him in Ingolstadt you wrote back that he was fine. Fine! The man—if you can call him that—who walked through our doors this morning is anything but!”

“What happened to William has unnerved him, that is all.” My voice faltered. I couldn’t say murdered.

“The news of William alone couldn’t wither a man like that,” Elizabeth paused as Ernest stood and walked to the window. With his back to us, he dragged a finger across the dusty sill. “Caroline’s death shadowed Victor when he left for university, but now it has consumed him. Grief must have been eating at him for years. You promised you would bring him back to us, Henry. How could you have let him fall to such a state? You were his friend!”

My fingers dug into my palms. My feelings for Victor extended far beyond simple acquaintances. She couldn’t understand how wretched his state had been on my arrival. Of the contents I had found in that horrid dorm. Who could explain those racks of rotting flesh seasoned with strange salts rising to the rafters? Sanity does not linger on a floor where bits of animal and man have liquified into mush carelessly tracked across alchemic symbols written in flaking blood!

To think that the son of the renowned Alphonse Frankenstein, fiancé to the fair Elizabeth, brother to sweet William—would be an accursed resurrection man! Our Victor—a graverobber!

I knew he wasn’t writing home, yet where was I while he grieved? I’d remained in Geneva, lost in my world of poets and prose while obeying father’s every order like a dog. I wasn’t fit to wear the crown of heroes in the plays I had forced Victor and Elizabeth to partake in as children—I was a coward. No amount of memorizing the escapades of Odysseus and scripting grand adventures would change that. It was all I could do to throw Victor’s instruments into the Danube before the authorities of Ingolstadt sniffed them out.

My silence to Elizabeth’s question was not to protect the grieving family from Victor’s sins, but to cover my own shame. Father, Victor, the noble Frankensteins, when would I stop disappointing the people I loved?

At least Victor had returned to the light. He had renounced his dark practices—whimpering in his sleep of imaginary monsters that haunted him. That history was buried, and I saw no need to dig it up again. So I held my silence as Elizabeth held my gaze with teary eyes.

“Accusations will not fix the past. What’s done is done,” Alphonse laid his hand over Elizabeths. “What matters now is protecting the son that still remains to me. Henry, you were with Victor at Ingolstadt. Would you consider him a harm to himself?”

“A harm?”

“Yes. He nearly collapsed when greeting us, and when he raved about knowing William’s killer his eyes were…wild. I have never seen such misguided certainty in any sane man.” Alphonse rocked in the chair. His knotted fingers pressed together to ease their shaking. “Henry, we, I—"

“Must I be the one to say it?” Ernest faced us from his place by the window. His eyes were cold chips of the moon behind him. “Henry, is Victor mad? Is it best to send him to the asylum before these fits of his are noticed by higher society?”

“Ernest,” Elizabeth croaked. “Do not say such things!”

“My apologies. I forgot Victor can do no wrong!” Ernest spat. Out of all of us, he had known Victor the least and William the closest. “My brother has been murdered and an innocent woman imprisoned for the crime! All this talk of Victor, Victor, Victor! He never wrote, he wasn’t here! He was never here—but Justine, little William, they were! Now they’re gone, and it’s still all about him!”

Silver tears spilled down Ernest’s cheeks. Elizabeth approached him as though the boy were a wounded animal. “Breathe Ernest, calm down.”

Ernest wrung his hands, turning away. Elizabeth stood still. I was mute.

“He wanted to play hide and seek,” Ernest said. “I let him run off and hide. I abandoned him.”

“You did all you could.”

“You didn’t find him sprawled on the grass,” Ernest’s voice was barely a whisper. “Those horrible bruises around his neck were inflicted by a force of evil. Pure evil! Justine could not have done such a thing. Not her. Not her!”

Ernest’s fingers clawed at his messy hair. Elizabeth yanked them down to his chest.

“Acting this way will not help Justine,” she said firmly. “We must present ourselves in court as sensible people if she is to stand a chance!”

Ernest raised his head, really seeing her for the first time.

"You owe that to your brother.”

“Yes, yes I supposed I do.” Ernest nodded. “I won’t let her be taken from me too.”

“Of course,” Elizabeth smiled, holding back tears. Her eyes flickered to the paintings of the dead. “We owe them that, William.”

“William?” Ernest ripped his hands from Elizabeth’s grasp. “ERNEST! MY NAME IS ERNEST!”

Elizabeth scrambled to correct herself. “No, Ernest, I didn’t mean—”

Ernest slammed the door behind him, cutting her off. The portraits of the dead swayed from the force. Had his yelling woken Victor? Would the noise send his weak mind into another fit?

“Ernest,” Alphonse called after his son, though his voice had lost the authority of a magistrate long ago.

“I will see to him,” I stood, tracing the route to Victor’s room in my mind. Backing toward the door, I added, “Victor is not mad. But his mind is…” my hand circled in the air. “Fragile. Like a budding flower. The Victor we love is there, he’s just not ready to emerge in full yet. We can cox him back out with time. Just, give, me, some, time!”

A handful of candles lit the hallway, and I jumped at the figure slumped against the outside wall. Victor flinched like a startled cat, his watery eyes lowering in shame like a dog. “Victor, you are supposed to be resting,” I whispered, glancing back to the open door where his family waited.

“Resting is all William can do now,” Victor’s voice rose and fell unsteadily. “As long as I live, I intend to act! The monster’s out there, plotting who he’ll take from me next. I know it, Henry!”

“Yes, Victor,” I smiled, stepping closer.

“You don’t believe that I did it,” Victor shook his head, his tangled locks falling over his eyes. “That I conquered death.”

“Indoor voices, Victor!”

“Out of everyone, you alone dared to imagine the impossible. You filled your head with tales of knights and grand adventures! I had thought you’d believe me. You saw my lab. My notes!”

“Those alchemical scribbles have never made sense to me, Victor. You know I’m but a humble poet.”

Pandering to his genius often evoked an eye-roll or a good-natured punch, but now Victor’s arms only trembled in his oversized nightshirt. When Alphonse had the garment purchased, he expected a confident intellectual well accustomed to German cuisine to wear it. The loose fabric made Victor look small, an underwhelming shell wrapped in expectations that didn’t fit. My arm wrapped around his boney shoulders, leading him down the hall toward his bed.

“Let me tell you a story, Victor. One we’d read as kids.”

“I do not need to be fed children’s stories,” Victor chided, stumbling despite my support. “William is the child! Was, he was a child…”

Victor pulled away. I feared where this was going.

“His blood is on that daemon's hands. I must tell the court the truth. They can raise an army. We’ll scour the mountains until that monster is destroyed!”

“Victor, you’re much too weak!” My mind raced. I’d have to appeal to him and play along. “Save your strength! If we are to destroy your ‘monster,’ it must be done the right way. With caution.”

“We?” A bit of life returned to Victor’s eyes.

“Yes!” I nodded, leading him forward. “But you mustn’t speak these things to another soul. They’ll claim insanity and lock you away!”

Victor didn’t look convinced. That stubbornness was what I loved and hated about him.

“If you are institutionalized, how can William be brought to justice. You need to be here, Victor.” Victor lowered his head, considering. “Promise me you won’t speak at Justine’s trial,” I pressed. “Elizabeth has memorized a speech to woo the judge if he leans toward a guilty verdict. You needn’t trouble yourself.”

“Yes,” Victor sighed. His head slumped on my shoulder in exhaustion. The air around us was filled with his shaky breathing. It felt like we were the only two in the house. In the world. “He shall not claim another soul. I won’t let him hurt you, Henry.”

I pulled his shivering body close to mine, away from life, from the pain that had reduced him to this state. “Of course, and I’ll protect you.”

For a moment, just a moment, a massive shadow fell on the moonlit tile. My head snapped to the window, but nothing was there. The shadow vanished. A passing cloud, no doubt. No mortal man could boast such massive size.

“Henry, do you still believe in your adventure stories?” Victor whispered suddenly. “Of Robin Hood and King Arthur? That good can vanquish evil? That we can win?”

Pulling away, I led Victor to his room and settled him into bed.

“We’re men now, Victor. It’s time we gave up such childish inclinations and lived in reality.”

I couldn’t waste time fantasizing about the impossible. To be the hero he needed—to rescue my friend from himself—I had to exist in the real world.

[hello-robin-goodfellow]

TOP 12 FAVORITE IAN HOLM ROLES

@superkingofpriderock​ @amalthea9​ @ohiwannatakeyouhome​

DAVID PETERS (MOONLIGHT ON THE HIGHWAY, 1969)

A troubled young man, David Peters (Ian Holm), claims, "Once dreams were possible, that's what the popular songs told us." Rejecting rock music of the day, Peters is immersed in the tunes of Thirties crooner Al Bowlly (killed during the London blitz). He collects Bowlly memorabilia, publishes the Bowlly fan-club newsletter, and finds pleasure in lip-synching Bowlly records but his obsession with Bowlly masks certain darker events in his past.

DOCTOR ASTROV (UNCLE VANYA, 1991)

In this televised production of Anton Chekhov’s play, Sir Ian Holm plays a village medic who, at the start, is an idealist with great passion for the preservation of trees. But, as time passes, everyone ignores what he says and he falls in love with a married woman, the character of Doctor Astrov slowly grows more and more tired and disappointed with himself, the world and humanity, fallin in alcoholism.

POD CLOCK (THE BORROWERS AND RETURN OF THE BORROWERS, 1992-93)

I dare say that, despite being 61 years old at the time, this is the role in wich i felt Sir Ian Holm performed the most of phisical acting. Pod Clock is the patriarch of a family of people that are the size of little fingers, and to raise his family, he has to ride sinks, run away from cats and big birds and be carefull of mouse traps to borrow food and other needs. All the while trying to avoid being seen by humans. That’s what i call an action hero.

ASH (ALIEN, 1979)

The amoral android that made him a movie star. Do i need to say more?

CAPTAIN FLUELLEN (HENRY V, 1989)

In this Kenneth Branagh adaptation of the William Shakespeare historical play, we see Sir Ian Holm performance as Captain Fluellen, a man that is a geek of military tactics history as he is proud of being welsh. Fluellen has a fun energy that makes him likable, at the same time that he is intimidating in his ruthleness in support a cruel execution in the name of military discipline.

VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN/THE CREATURE (MISTERY AND IMAGINATION: FRANKENSTEIN, 1968)

Before Benedict Cumberbatch in theater, there was Sir Ian Holm portraying both Doctor Victor Frankenstein and his Creature in this televised 1968 adaptation of Mary Shelley’s famous gothic sci-fi novel. His portrayal of the two characters is one of the most closest to the book characterization’s to this day: Victor Frankenstein as an ambitious and self-absorved student, and the Creature as a person who tries to be good, but due to abandonment and discrimination suffered due to his phisical appearance, becomes corrupted with an obsession for revenge against his creator. And Sir Ian puts those foil personalities marvellously.

LENNY (THE HOMECOMING, 1973)

The Homecoming is a 1973 British-American drama film directed by Peter Hall based on the play of the same name by Harold Pinter.

In a dreary North London flat, the site of perpetual psychological warfare, a philosophy professor , Teddy, visits his family after a nine-year absence, and introduces his father, Max, his uncle, Sam, and two brothers, Lenny and Joey, to his wife Ruth.

Sir Ian Holm plays Lenny, a pimp who only makes discreet references to his "occupation" and his clientele and flats in the city (London). He is the character with the most cynical lines and who start the sexual tension between the man of the family with Ruth, not carrying at all if she is married to his brother Teddy.

There’s a character that anyone will love to hate.    

PHILLIPE D'ARNOT (GREYSTOKE: THE LEGEND OF TARZAN, LORD OF THE APES, 1984)

A Belgian explorer who discovered Tarzan (John Clayton) in the jungle, taught him the way of man, and brought him to his family in England. Is Phillipe’s friendship with Tarzan and their eventual departure that becomes the emotional core of the picture.

LEWIS CARROLL (DREAMCHILD, 1985)

“Dreamchild” is a film written by screenwriter and playwright Dennis Potter. It was actually effectively a remake of an earlier project of his: the 1960s TV Play “Alice,” which had starred George Baker as Charles Dodgson, a.k.a Lewis Carroll – the man behind the “Alice” stories. But while “Alice” had been focused on Dodgson himself and his experiences with Alice Liddell (the little girl who inspired him to write the stories) and her family, “Dreamchild” takes a different approach. The 1985 film focuses instead on an elderly Alice Hargreaves (nee Liddell), who visits America to celebrate Dodgson’s centenary. During her stay, she has various nightmares, flashbacks, and hallucinations. Some of these have her seeing characters from the books, such as the Mock Turtle, the Mad Hatter, and the Caterpillar. Others are reflections on her childhood and the time she knew Lewis Carroll. Holm plays Carroll in these sequences, and the film plays with several myths and rumors about his relationship with Alice and her family…but it does so in a very clever way. Unlike the earlier TV play, which seems to treat these rumors and myths as fact, “Dreamchild” is far more ambiguous: nothing is confirmed or denied. It’s simply presented, and the audience is left to decide what is true, what is false, and how much it all really matters in the end. Holm brilliantly handles this ambiguity: in another actor’s hands, the character could have been perceived as thoroughly unsavory, but there’s such a gentleness, kindness, and overall innocence to Holm’s work that you can never really feel frightened or bothered. You feel for the man, no matter his flaws, and it makes his story just as compelling as Alice’s own.

RICHARD III (THE WARS OF THE ROSES, 1965)

The Wars of the Roses was a 1963 theatrical adaptation of William Shakespeare's first historical tetralogy (1 Henry VI, 2 Henry VI, 3 Henry VI and Richard III), which deals with the conflict between the House of Lancaster and the House of York over the throne of England, a conflict known as the Wars of the Roses. The plays were adapted by John Barton, and directed by Barton himself and Peter Hall at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. The plays were adapted by John Barton, and directed by Barton himself and Peter Hall at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. The production starred David Warner as Henry VI, Peggy Ashcroft as Margaret of Anjou, Donald Sinden as the Duke of York, Paul Hardwick as the Duke of Gloucester, Janet Suzman as Joan la Pucelle, Brewster Mason as the Earl of Warwick, Roy Dotrice as Edward IV, Susan Engel as Queen Elizabeth and Ian Holm as Richard III.The plays were heavily politicised, with Barton and Hall allowing numerous contemporaneous events of the early 1960s to inform their adaptation. The production was a huge critical and commercial success, and is generally regarded as revitalizing the reputation of the Henry VI plays in the modern theatre. Many critics feel The Wars of the Roses set a standard for future productions of the tetralogy which has yet to be surpassed. In 1965, the BBC adapted the plays for television. The broadcast was so successful that they were shown again, in a differently edited form, in 1966. 

In this production, the major theme is how the dispute for the crown of king is an endless cycle of violence that traps people, and this theme is highlighted in Sir Ian Holm’s performance as Richard III. His portrayal is more humanized and tragic, showing he was first a loving son and brother, until the vision of his father’s death in battle and the mistakes that his older brother, Edward IV,  makes at the start of his reign, motivates him to become king, no mather if it is even at the cost of his relatives lifes. At first, Richard looks like he is in control of the situation, but later, as the final battle comes close, frightened by the ghost of the people he killed, he has to confront the harsh truth: Richard is only another pawn in the game of chest of a bloody History. Just like every other king that camed before him.

PUCK (A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, 1968)

Sir Ian Holm played the character of Puck, a.k.a Robin Goodfellow, in a 1968 feature film adaptation of the play. The feature was poorly received at the time, but has gained a bit more of a following in recent years, particularly from avid Shakespeareans. Its chiefest pro is probably the casting of Holm in the role of Puck:  he’s quick-witted, curious, and just a little baudy, but with a sharp and slightly dangerous intensity to him. You’re never quite sure what to make of Puck, and that makes him interesting, as he leaps from scene to scene, spreading chaos everywhere he turns.

FRODO AND BILBO BAGGINS (THE LORD OF THE RINGS, 1981 AND 2001-03)

The most famous nephew and uncle in literature. He played the nephew in the radio in 1981, and the uncle in the feature films between 2001-03.

A lot of people were introduced to Sir Ian Holm’s work and becamed Lord of the Rings after being introduced to those performances.

In both roles, he was merry, he was funny, he was frightened, he was scary, he was brave and determined, he was sad. And all of us, listeners and viewers, related to those feelings transmited by his performances as Frodo and Bilbo.

Everyone has talked a lot about those performances, and everyone will probably will still be talking about them in the future.

[the-gay-prometheus]

🍄🍂🌻🌿 for the main three of your AU + Ernest

What are your OCs favourite snacks? Their favourite comfort food which always cheers them up when they’re down? Favourite meal to make? Do they enjoy baking and cooking and are they any good in the kitchen?

>Victor: Oat cakes? Oat cakes. ...Oat cakes. Yes I am 100% leaning heavily into the Victor Loves Oat Cakes thing. Because I also love oat cakes. He can't cook to save his life though. This poor man couldn't even make toast without it ending up either raw or literally turned to charcoal. All of which is highly ironic because he actually had cooking lessons due to ~circumstances of his birth~ - he just never paid any attention.

>Henry: Henry's favorite snack is literally any kind of bread. If Henry gives you his bread, that must mean he really likes you, because Henry would never give his bread away to just anyone. (<casually thinking back to the 'home again' segment where Henry smuggles like half his bread to take back to Victor> heh. gay.) Anyways- As for go to comfort food, rabbit stew - because when he, Victor, Ernest, and Elizabeth were all allowed to spend a weekend essentially camping in the woods, the first meal he cooked on that outing was an improvised rabbit stew. It didn't turn out well the first time, but the memories surrounding it are what made it special - so now even though he's really perfected his recipe and techniques and what he makes is practically unrecognizable to that first attempt, he can't help but feel all warm and fuzzy with the thought of spending the night goofing off with all his best friends. As for if he enjoys cooking, he loves it! It's one of his favorite things to do! He loves the creativity and freedom he finds in cooking for himself, and especially loves seeing others enjoying what he makes.

>Creature/Agape: For most of the AU he would say any sort of wild nuts and berries are his favorite snack because, well, they're just about the only snack he's ever really had access to. Later on he'll agree with Henry that bread is The Best, but is made even better when accompanied with a good goat cheese - so that easily becomes his favorite snack. As for comfort food, really just... Anything anybody cooks for him - the mere gesture of somebody making him food is enough to make him feel so incredibly loved, so it doesn't matter what it is, as long as it's being made with care. When it comes to cooking, he definitely enjoys it! He's not quite on Henry's level, but Henry is a great teacher and he cherishes every moment he gets to spend helping to prepare meals with him.

>Ernest: Favorite snack is... Any kind of sweet he can get his hands on. Bonus points for cakes and cookies. As for comfort food, he doesn't really have a comfort *food* but his comfort drink is hot cocoa, mostly because it's delicious but also because he has fond memories of sneaking into the kitchen with Victor late at night and making hot cocoa - because everyone knows the best thing to accompany Victor's "world famous" ghost stories was hot cocoa! As for cooking.. Ernest doesn't cook. He's convinced he's no good at it despite really never having tried. This is much to his detriment because when everyone else is gone and all the servants have been laid off, Elizabeth is the only one left to cook - and Elizabeth's cooking is.... Edible, at best.

Does your OC enjoy hugs? What do they do as a show of affection for: their friends, their family, their significant other(s) or for strangers? Over all what are they like with recieving affection from others?

>Victor: ...Sort of enjoys hugs. Victor is a little iffy about touch being initiated by anyone other than Henry. He prefers to show affection to others by way of compliments (or by clearly-sarcastic insults if it's someone he really trusts), and prefers to have affection shown to him the same way. There are only some exceptions to this rule, all of which include him either initiating physical contact himself or by explicitly stating that it's ok to touch him.

>Henry: Oh Henry loves hugs 🥺 Henry loves giving everyone hugs. You get a hug! You get a hug! Everybody gets a hug!!! Victor is his favorite hugging target obviously. Despite being a generally sharp and pointy object, Victor is surprisingly very huggable - this is probably because he just absolutely melts in Henry's arms. Henry gives hugs to show just about anyone affection tho, and loves getting hugs in return.

>Creature/Agape: How do you say "absolutely fucking touch starved on main" in french? Because yeah. Yeah. That's him. If you hug him he will cry. If you let him hug you he will cry. If you so much as rest your hand on him he will cry. And by cry in every case I mean a mixture of emotions ranging from joyful at the thought the somebody really cares and that they’re not afraid of him/don’t hate him - to mourning the fact that such acts of affection are seen as a rarity and something he’s not worthy of. As for showing or receiving affection, his best ways of showing it are either by giving gifts or by mimicking a person's behavior, or by just telling them he really appreciates them. And as for receiving affection, he'll take all the platonic/familial affection he can possibly get. It doesn't matter what kind.

>Ernest: Eh. Hugs are alright. They've gotta be gentle tho because Joints Hurty. Generally he shows affection to others by offering to do things for them or trying to help them with tasks, and as for his preferred way of receiving affection? Simple. Tell him not to help you. Let him have a fucking break for once in his life and he'll be absolutely thrilled. Either that or just tell him you can see he's really doing his best.

What little things do they notice about people or the world around them that make them happy? What tiny little treasures do they find in the normal every day that makes the world seem a little brighter for them?

>Victor: <gestures vaguely at Henry> This guy. This guy right here. Everything about this guy. Literally everything. I would go on but that would make this post way longer than it already is. So just. Everything. Also mountains, forests, grass in early spring, waterfalls, any body of water really - all of those things make him happy too. Also bones and shiny rocks. Oh. And moss and lichen. And moths. And stars!

>Henry: <gestures vaguely at Victor> I mean seriously loving each other is like 90% of these guys' personality. (that's not true but still lmao) Anyways other than Victor, he also is made happy by just about anything in nature, as well as just... Life itself. He thinks life is a wonderful gift and he's just glad to be living it.

>Creature/Agape: <gestures vaguely at literally everything all the time every day> Agape is a simple lad. He sees nature, he sees people that care about him, and he is filled with so much goddamn serotonin. Or at least he would be if he wasn't also filled with so much anxiety and trauma. The only thing that doesn't make him happy is people he doesn't know. People absolutely terrify him.

>Ernest: Ernest tries to see the best in everyone around him, so any time he does that he can't help but smile and feel a little more hopeful. Other than that, he's thankful for having such a beautiful home and, despite all the tragedy and all the responsibility that was placed on him because of it, he does enjoy the freedom of just... Being able to live as he pleases for the most part. Tending to the gardens outside makes him happy, finding new litters of rabbits emerging from their warrens makes him happy, baby goats make him happy, goats in general make him happy (humble goat farmer Ernest simply loves to vibe in the field with his goats), sharp pointy objects make him happy - so many things make him happy. So then why is he so sad all the time?

What way does your OC show that they care without using words? What way do others show your OC that they’re cared about without using speech?

>Victor: Despite generally not being a very touchy person, his best way to show that he cares without speaking is through touch. Either by taking that person's hand, resting a hand on their shoulder or back, giving them a hug, just... Anything to let them know he's there for them. As for how someone can show him they care? If it's Henry, literally anything will do. Hugs, hand holding, snuggling, gentle little kisses on the cheek or forehead or lips too. If it's anyone else, the best thing they can do is just... Sit with him. Just be there beside him. They don't have to say anything, just exist in his general space and that would be enough. He'll let them know if/when he needs any more reassurance than that.

>Henry: Did I mention Henry loves hugs? Hugs are the go to method for showing somebody he cares. He also loves receiving hugs as signals that somebody else cares. The H in Henry stands for Hugs.

>Creature/Agape: Well ideally he would show he cares by being attentive to their needs - so like, say, if it's Henry he'll give him a hug, if it's Victor he'll just sit with him for a bit (as long as Victor is ok with that). But unfortunately usually he feels like the best way he can show he cares without words is... by disappearing. He still thinks of his presences as being unnerving or a nuisance, so he often feels the best way he can let somebody know he cares is just by... leaving them entirely alone. As for how other show him they care, very few do, but those who do know the best way is through some kind of physical contact.

>Ernest: Growing up with a variety of different kinds of personalities meant that Ernest came to realize very quickly that there is no 'one size fits all' for how to show others he cares. So if it has to be done without speaking, then he'll simply try to find something to write on and try to ask through writing what the person needs. Either that, or sometimes he'll pull out his guitar and play them something to help get their mind off of whatever it is they're worrying about. As for others showing him they care, just leave him be, usually. Either that or write him a note just saying 'im here if you need to talk.'

[stereogeekspodcast]

[Transcript] Season 1, Episode 6. Flashback Favourite – Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn

Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn may be less than a year old, but it's one of the freshest takes on superhero films in a long while. In our second Flashback Favourite, we're talking why this film is such a ground-breaking experience.

We will be discussing spoilers in this episode so please watch the film before continuing with the podcast.

Content warning: Some of the content of the film, and the episode, can be disturbing.

Read Mon's review of Birds of Prey at Bam Smack Pow.

Listen to the episode on Anchor.

[Continuum by Audionautix plays]

Ron: Welcome to our second Flashback Favourites episode! I’m Ron.

Mon: And I’m Mon. Usually when you think of a Flashback Favourite, you’re thinking about going way back. Not this time. In this Stereo Geeks episode, we’re looking at a film that’s not even a year old.

Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn may be a mouthful, but it’s worth every minute of that tongue-twister title.

Ron: Before continuing, please note that this episode includes spoilers for Birds of Prey. If you haven’t watched the film yet, we have to ask? Why are you waiting?

Content warning: some of the content in the film can be triggering, please proceed with caution.

Mon: Written by Christina Hodson and directed by Cathy Yan, Birds of Prey is a vehicle for Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn.

At the start of the film, she and the Joker have broken up, and now Harley’s got a target on her back.

Said target leads her to work for and against the local crime boss—Roman Sionis, aka Black Mask. Played by Ewan McGregor and ably supported by Chris Messina’s Victor Zsasz, these villains are going to soon be up against the Birds of Prey.

Ron: The film introduces us to the future team - Rosie Perez as Renee Montoya, Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Helena Bertinelli aka The Huntress and Jurnee Smollett as Dinah Lance aka Black Canary. They’re all embroiled in a hunt for Cassandra Cain (played by Ella Jay Basco).

We were in two minds about going to see this film. People loved Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad, but her character was problematic, to say the least. We were worried that this film would continue in the same vein.

And then came the title—we weren’t sure if it was trying to be precocious or precious. But we held out hope because it was written and directed by two women, and Robbie was also one of the producers.

Mon: When I was asked to review Birds of Prey, I took it as a sign that this film was meant to be something special. And it was!

The film kicks off with giving us a little bit of an intro into Harley’s origin story. There's an animated opening sequence that leads into her being dumped by Joker, though that’s not how she tells the story.

And then she's on her own and it's the first time since her supervillain career started that she's on her own. So how does she work in this new circumstance? Who does she turn to? She doesn't have anybody. Everybody she knows works with the Joker.

Ron: Even the few friends that we see her having outside of her supervillain life, they keep talking about how she's going to go back to the Joker. Because that's what she done a million times. And that hurts her feelings.

Mon: Yeah, I like that the film really tries to subvert everything that we know about Harley or how she's been written all this while, which is exactly what makes it different. And you know from the start that yes this is going to be different because they're treating Harley as a person. Not as Joker squeeze.

And then we meet the other character. How do they play a role in Harley's life? And how do they get involved in the search for Cassandra Cain?

Cassandra lives in the same building as Black Canary. Canary understands some of the problems that Cassandra is going through. She has foster family that obviously have issues; Canary lost her mom when she was very young, so she's had to go through that situation as well.

The person who took her in was Roman Sionis and Canary’s been singing and working with him all this while. Canary gets a promotion with Black Mask when Harley accidentally breaks Black Mask’s driver’s legs, and that's how she becomes a bigger part of Harley’s life.

And aside from that, there is Renee Montoya. She’s a detective. She is desperately trying to take down Roman Sionis, but she can't get any traction from her department.

When Renee comes across the scene of a whole bunch of people who are dead, she can envision who this killer is. But she's not being taken seriously. And you find out why. It's because her former partner took the credit for her work and is now her boss. So, she's been undermined at work all the time, even by this rookie cop who's her partner. It's ridiculous, but it's so real.

And the final piece of the puzzle is Helena Bertinelli. Now, we don't actually see this character till well into the film. And there's a reason why; she's supposed to be the mysterious crossbow killer. So, who she is and how she plays into the final storyline comes to the fore much later in the film.

So, these are the main character and I think they’re the main reason we love this film so much.

What do you like about them?

Ron: Well, from the opening sequence we're just hooked because, even though you and I aren't huge fans of Harley especially because of the Suicide Squad version, the writers give us this quick-fire origin story that made Harley believable and funny.

And her origins were about beating every obstacle to become successful and then chucking it all up for a misguided romance.

And I also love the fact that they, kind of, snuck in Harley's bisexuality, without making a big deal out of it. So that means there's a possibility that we might see her with Poison Ivy, which I understand that Yan is very interested in exploring in Birds of Prey 2.

But I also love the fact that Harley is just a hot mess. Like the whole thing with her breaking the Black Mask’s driver’s legs, it's because she's super drunk and she just can’t take any crap anymore.

The entire scene where she's at the Black Mask’s club just drinking away and dancing and having the time of her life, all the while knowing that she can only do this because everybody still thinks that she's with the Joker. It's quite an unusual way of exploring the character’s mental state.

And then when she opens up to the Black Canary, it's such a sweet bonding moment even though you can see from Black Canary’s face that, a) she doesn't care, and b) she's also worried about what's going to happen to Harley. I just love that. You don't get to see stuff like that.

Mon: And it's a subversion of what Harley Quinn was like in Suicide Squad, where she is very much on display rather than being a character who's having fun. That's exactly what she does at Black Mask’s club. As long as she has the protection of being Joker's partner, she can have as much fun as she wants, because she's invincible.

But the bubble pops when she confesses to Canary the truth and it's such a believable scene where these two women are bonding at a club; having a good time. And some creepy guy overhears what she's talking about.

That puts Harley in a rather difficult and uncomfortable circumstance, which Canary gets her out of. Despite that fact the two of them, throughout the rest of the movie, continue to have snarky banter. But that scene, where Harley is in danger: we're so used to seeing roguish male characters come to her rescue—the knight in shining armor—but instead we have Canary and she's got this gold trim going on and she's beating people up. I love it. I just love subversion.

Ron: And I also love the fact that Canary doesn't want to get involved and this is unfortunately very true to life. You see something bad happening and sometimes you just don't want to be a part of it because you don't know what's going to happen to you.

Canary is very capable of taking care of herself, so she’s able to get involved. But you see that hesitation in her, even though she knows that if she were in Harley's position, she'd want Harley to come and save her. And she does finally act on it and she saves Harley.

Mon: But, in essence, I think there's a lot of underlying fear inside Canary. Because if she gets involved, she’s working for Roman Sionis, how does that affect her? So there's a lot going on.

Ron: Especially since, soon after, she gets the driving gig, which she really doesn't want. Because as long as she's a singer, she's still slightly apart from the Black Mask gang. But the moment she becomes involved as something as important as a driver, who can sometimes be a getaway driver, then she's embroiled in this. She can't get out.

Mon: Yeah. And you can see how beholden Canary is to Sionis, even though she doesn't want to be. But there is this amazing scene after she's got the new driving gig and Sionis is showing her around his office. Now she's never obviously been there, because she was just a singer, so, she's never had to be in his office. He's showing her all stuff, all the conquests, all his travel mementos that he's got and she is so not interested. But she's putting on this act and it is amazing, amazing acting by both of the actors over there.

Ron: I love how understated Jurnee Smollett is. She just embodies a real person in a really uncomfortable situation. And Ewan McGregor is having the time of his life in this scene! You know, I'm thinking about one of his best roles which kind of went under the radar for him for some reason.

That was in The impossible. He was really good in that. But that was a movie which was very dark, very suspenseful. It is based on a true story. Real people were very badly hurt. And his character has to embody that. This movie? It is completely the opposite. He is mean and horrid and flamboyant. He is enjoying every second of being on screen. And you can see that Ronan is so self-involved. He doesn't even realize that Black Canary isn't paying attention. It's not about her appreciating what he's got. It's about him showing off. I love it!

Mon; Honestly, the characters are what makes this entire movie come alive. You can see these little nuances that actors have put into creating these characters and making them these full-fledged people that we can understand. I mean, they're in Gotham, which doesn't exist. They're faced with these weird, crazy situations that probably aren’t realistic. But they themselves are very real.

Ron: It’s not what you expect in what is technically a superhero film. Even though this is basically a supervillain film. I know Joker tried to do that. But it was so in-your-face that it didn't feel real. Here, they go in the opposite direction. They are loud and colourful and they are out there. But you believe it.

Mon: That’s because these characters are relatable. The problem with a lot of superhero and genre films is that sometimes they are so interested in the spectacle, that they forget to make the characters relatable or real.

Ron: The spectacle in Birds of Prey is secondary to the characters. Now I do want to mention the fact that Black Canary is essentially race-swapped in this film. In the comic books and in most of the iterations of the character, she's always been a white woman. Here, she's played by Jurnee Smollett, who is a black woman.  And I love it because it doesn't matter. Why don't they keep doing this?

Mon: I would have loved it even more if Huntress had been played by a Latina woman because in the comics, Bertinelli is a Latina woman in some iterations. So, people were a little bit upset about that. I understand. That being said, Many Elizabeth Winstead is so fun in this film. She has a really curtailed role but she is incredible. She's this ball of rage that doesn’t know how to fit into society because she hasn't been part of society for so long. She has a mission. She has to execute this mission and she goes about doing it the only way she knows how. But when she has to deal with people? She just doesn't know!

Mon: And then there's Renee Montoya, who is technically the everyman. In a movie about supervillains, Renee Montoya should be the obvious bad guy. But you can’t help but root for her. A – she is in a position that a lot of women find themselves. They do the work, they don’t get to take the credit.

She also has an ex who is doing quite well for herself. But she's kind of mean?

Mon: And they constantly have to work together and also Renee keeps using her ex's name to get stuff done, which her ex does not like.

Ron: Her ex, played by Ali Wong, the two of them have this really great antagonistic chemistry, so, I really love their scenes together. But she's the Assistant District Attorney, who is obviously somebody that a detective will turn to for the most part. They've got this really difficult relationship so, everything that would have worked before? Now, not so much.

Mon: What I liked about Renee’s characterization is that she’s so dogged. She doesn't become bitter because of all the promotions that she's lost or that her status at work isn't that great. Instead, she's rather dogged. You can see her obsessed with this one case, because she knows that this is the linchpin that can get her all the glory that she needs, and she deserves. But in the end, even that is snatched away. Because that's just how life is unfortunately, sometimes.

It's really the believability of Renee Montoya and how are understated Rosie Perez’s performance is. She was my favorite character in the film. Despite not having those kinds of action scenes. You can really see yourself in her. She's just a good person trying to be a good guy in this really rotten world. And she's not getting anywhere. Until she finds a team who understand her.

Ron: Also, let's not forget the fact that we get these little snippets of how good she is at her job. The scene which we mentioned earlier, where she's looking at Huntress’ work, she can immediately imagine where the killer was standing. Who the actual target was. Who the collateral damage was.

Mon: What their motivations were.

Ron: And she's conveying that as she's looking at it. Her partner doesn’t care. He’s decided that oh, this must be a mob hit. No, it's not a mob hit. There is a very particular reason why this person was killed. Also, that scene is interrupted by Harley blowing up the ACE chemicals factory, because she wants to get back at the Joker. And the moment Renee gets there, and she sees what's happening, she's like, Harley is in trouble now, she's put a target on her back. Because she knows how Gotham works. Do her partners know that? Does her boss know that? We know that Renee's really good at her work. We know that she's got the experience, but nobody else in the film realizes that until she meets the Birds of Prey.

Ron: So, the characters are fun because there’s a ton of humour in this film. And it's not forced humour. I feel like that was one of the problems with Suicide Squad. There were these moments of humour, which I just felt like somebody had shoehorned into the film. It wasn't natural here. Here, it comes off naturally. One of the people in the film that I didn't expect to be as humorous as she was, was Black Canary. The moment that it was announced the Black Canary was going to be in this film, I went back and read Gail Simone's run on Birds of Prey. This film was partially based on that. But it's quite dark. It doesn’t really have the kind of humour that you get in this film. Which I feel like harks back to the Birds of Prey: Rebirth comics, which is much lighter, more humorous and Black Canary in that is just the best. She is so adorable. I just loved her in that and that made me want to see Black Canary in Birds of Prey so much more. The balance that we get in this film is really quite enjoyable. She's harsh, she’s humorous, she's witty, but she's also sarcastic. And she understands what her role is in the world around her. So, I quite enjoyed that.

Mon: She's not unsympathetic. That's what I liked about this character. And in a way that how you feel about most of the characters. They don't come across as unsympathetic. You really want to root for them. And even Harley. We've already mentioned that we weren't all that enthused with this character, or how much she’s pervaded all of pop culture. But this film really made you want to love this character. And protect her. Because she gets into scrape after scrape, because she really doesn't know what she's going to do with herself. She's a little bit guileless. And the biggest problem is, in Gotham, people see her as an easy target. They’re wrong. They find out soon enough.

It's hilarious, the way when it becomes obvious that Harley is no longer attached to the Joker. How these people come out of the woodwork because of all the things that she's done to them. We even have Renee going after Harley because if she doesn't get Black Mask, getting Harley is another coup for her. But she doesn't succeed either.

Ron: I love those screen cards, which explain to us exactly what Harley did to these people, and some of them are so hilarious. Like, really dude, move on, it's fine! And then when she sees Huntress? She's like, ‘huh, what's this?’ And there's just like question marks? It’s so funny. It’s these simple, silly little gags that make this film so much fun to watch. Like, we watched it with a huge smile on our face the entire runtime.

Ron: And you know what, because the characters are so enjoyable, that's what powers the plot. You care so much about them because everything that happens, matters. The story is just so well structured You have the protagonist finding her team. They all start off in a bad place. By the middle they’ve found their footing. But then the villain gets the upper hand. And the final act is about this team working together to win. It's a very classic storyline. But the reason why it's elevated is because the characters are well written and the direction for this film was excellent.

Mon: A lot of people might find it jarring that Harley is basically narrating this film. But what makes it work is that Harley is an unreliable narrator. And we find that out from the very beginning. She's talking about how she dumped the Joker or that they have an amicable relationship despite the break-up. All of that is untrue and so you have to ask yourself are we seeing the truth when we are seeing it from Harley's eyes?

When Harley really gets involved in the actual plot of the film. We see her going to the police station, searching for Cassandra Cain, because Cassandra has the MacGuffin of the film. We see Harley shooting with glitter and paint. Now when I first watched it, I was sure that, oh this means that Harley has turned over a new leaf. She's not going around killing people. She's actually knocking them down with glitter guns. But are they glitter guns?

Ron: When I watched the film, I was like, hundred percent, this is Harley's imagination. That's how she sees the world now. Maybe the ACE chemicals, they got to her brain somewhat. I wouldn't be surprised if that was the reason why she sees things differently. But there was no way, in hell, that those were glitter guns.

Mon: So, there's a lot of dead bodies that we didn’t see. And that is such a cool thing to do with the direction! It makes it friendly. It makes it watchable without making it gory. But at the same time, it makes you question what's happening on screen and it makes you question Harley's mentality.

Margot Robbie has a lot of action scenes in this film and she's brilliant. She and her stunt double—I know she does a lot of stunts herself, but you can tell in a few scenes, that definitely a stunt double was used. They are so good, so impactful. But even those action scenes, they're not just about fighting. They're about relying on who this character and advancing her journey, as well.

One thing I had read about the action scenes for the film was that the choreographer specifically tailored the stunts for the characters in them. So, it's not like these small, tiny, slim women going around judo-kicking everybody. It's about them using their powers as well as using their surroundings to get the bad guy.

Ron: That becomes most obvious in the evidence locker that Harley finds herself in when she's trying to protect Cassandra Cain. She's using the cages. She's using whatever weapons that she can find. She uses a cell phone at one point. And one of the scenes that I absolutely loved was when she's hiding behind this massive crate of cocaine, which gets shot up. So, there's cocaine everywhere. She inhales some. And at this point she's a bit tired, she's been fighting for a while. She gets this jolt because of all the cocaine, and it helps her fight even harder. And I was like, you know what, it really works!

Mon: Yeah, I completely agree with you. It's these moments in the writing and the direction that really keep you immersed in the film. It never takes you out of it because it feels like yeah, that makes sense.

Ron: Every single thing that happens in this film, whether it's in the background, the foreground, around the characters, around the bad guys, everything has some kind of relation to the plot. I love that about it that's really tight writing.

Ron: So, we've talked a lot about the good guys, or rather the good bad guys, because there are bad bad guys. But the villains here, they really are engaging in themselves. What did you love about them?

Mon: First of all, Ewan McGregor as Black Mask, I never saw that coming.

Ron: I've read Black Mask in the comics. He tends to appear in a lot of the Jason Todd/ Red Hood storylines. He's so boring. I don't care about this guy.

Mon: He's a generic crime lord. He's nothing exciting or different. But here in Birds of Prey, Roman is more than that. And what works with Roman, he isn't just an evil bad guy. He's an insecure, petulant, man-child.

Ron: Absolutely. And what better villain in a superhero film for 2020? Because for the last four years, we have seen an insecure, petulant, rich, man-child, run a country, and the world, to the ground.

Mon: Ewan McGregor is such an unlikely casting for this character. First of all, we think of him as Obi Wan Kenobi. He's this really, nice Scottish gentlemen, we really like this guy. How can he be playing Black Mask? It's obvious that he is loving every moment of playing Black Mask. And more than Black Mask, he is loving every moment of playing Roman.

Roman is so flamboyant, so larger than life, that you can make out that everything that he's doing is to stave off that insecurity that he has. He didn't live up to his father's expectations. So, everything he does is to get back in his good books. Roman’s plan to do that is by being evil, by making connections with other mob bosses. And when they don't go his way, he sets Victor Zsasz on those people and their families.

Ron: Speaking of Zsasz, it took me a little while to realise Chris Messina was playing Victor Zsasz because he looked quite different from what we've seen especially in the video games that we've played for Batman. I really like Zsasz. He is so creepy. The version that we get in this film is quite different. But I feel like he's kind of a good mix between the video game and comic version of Zsasz and the version that we get in Gotham, who was a little quirky, a little bit funny, really enjoyable to watch. Chris Messina is a bit darker and kind of smarmy. But also injects a little bit of unintentional humor into Zsasz.

Mon: There was a lot of talk about Roman Sionis and Zsasz, and what their relationship would be. People wondered if there was something a little bit more than just a professional partnership. I feel like the creators were smart enough to not go deep into how their relationship works. But you can really tell that there's a kind of closeness between the two. For example, it's obvious that Sionis sees Zsasz as his right-hand man. But Zsasz isn't too sure about his place next to Sionis.

Well, he's Roman Sionis. He's like a fairweather friend. So, with Zsasz, he's always trying to grab intention. Anytime he sees that Roman is interacting with somebody else, or somebody else seems to be getting higher in Roman’s affections, Zsasz tries to bring the attention back to himself.

So, we talked earlier about when Canary is in Roman’s headquarters and in his office and she's being shown around all the stuff that he's got. So Zsasz is in the background. And he's very uncomfortable with how much attention is being given to Canary. So, you can just see in his mind he's thinking oh no, becoming his top favorite, I have to bring it back to me. And then immediately he drops a bomb on Roman. Attention is back on him.

And, even later, when they capture Harley, he's like all in your face about it. He's just putting up a performance for Roman. So, you can tell that this isn't an equal partnership. Zsasz is trying very hard to remain indispensable. So, he trying every possible way to be relevant.

Ron: Yeah, kind of like the fact that eventually we see that it's not a romantic relationship between Zsasz and Roman. There's a power dynamic that would make it a bit uncomfortable. Queer-coded characters tend to become villains so often, we really didn't need to go in that direction for this film. It's up to everybody's imagination and that is the best way to go about it. Because it would be alright if we already had a huge bunch of queer characters who were on the good side. But we don’t have that and it's going to take ages for genre films to catch up that regard. So not making this obvious, worked.

But you can see that whatever Zsasz does feel, whether it's romantic, whether it's some kind affiliation, he really needs to be all up in Roman’s business. And the way he keeps that physical closeness constantly, and the moment Roman steps away from him, it makes him so uncomfortable. Those are the little things that I really liked.

Now, this is something that we were talking about. I have been noticing that in film and television recently, sometimes you can see that characters who aren't involved directly within the dialogue or the action in a particular scene, they blank and they’re just waiting for their turn to speak. You don't get that in this film. Whoever is around the main cast, they still have something to do. So, in that scene where Roman is showing Canary around his office, yes, they're both engaged but even those Zsasz doesn't really have anything to say or do, his expressions tell you so much about the character. And that's throughout this film, which is really good.

Mon: So, let's talk about that scene. Man, that was an uncomfortable scene in Roman’s club. Hoo boy!

Ron: Okay, so let's describe it. Now, what we’ve seen is a bunch of people just enjoying themselves, and Roman seems to enjoy fostering that kind environment, he wants people to enjoy themselves.

But we find out just how difficult Roman can make things when he's not happy. He gets some bad news and instead of acting like a normal person and letting the party continue while he seethes inside and tries to plan his next steps, he decides to take it out on a patron.

We meet Erika, just for this one scene. She's played by Bojana Novakovic—apologies if we didn't pronounce her name properly. She's just a party-goer; she's enjoying herself, she's with her friends. They're laughing. Roman takes that as an affront. He thinks they're laughing at him.

Mon: And let’s just point out here that Erika and her friends are on the other side of the room. They couldn't possibly have heard what happened to Roman, or why he's upset. They wouldn't have been laughing at him in any respect. But this is his insecurity coming to the fore.

Ron: He tries to embarrass her and initially she takes it as a joke. So, she doesn't really act on it but then he’s so aggressive about it that she has no choice. The whole scene becomes so uncomfortable for everybody—for Erika, for her friends, for Black Canary who's literally standing quietly crying in a corner. And for every single viewer in the hall, you're holding a breath and just feeling sick inside.

Mon: When we very first watched this scene, I felt Ewan McGregor wasn't quite connected with what his character was doing. By the time we watched it a second time, maybe because I knew it was coming, I was more appreciative of how hard he was trying. He was definitely uncomfortable as well. Just as uncomfortable as the rest of us, but the entire scene is made for that. It's supposed to make you recoil in horror.

Apparently, director Cathy Yan had to fight to keep this scene in because the studio couldn’t why it needed to be there. One could argue that we didn't need to know how evil Roman can be. But, you know that if it was any other kind of director they would have made it very sleazy, very salacious. But with Cathy Yan, you can tell that this scene is supposed to highlight the discomfort of the characters and not make it gratuitous.

Ron: I'm not surprised that the studio fought back against it, because I don't think they would have understood what it means for the people who are watching it. When we were in the hall and this scene happened, there was a pin drop silence.

Till then, we were all enjoying ourselves, we were laughing. The discomfort of every single viewer was palpable. And none of us could breathe till this scene was finished.

Mon: One thing I noticed was that when this scene begins, Ewan McGregor is very obviously made-up a little bit. You can see he's got a little bit of eyeliner going on. He looks absolutely gorgeous and then he does this, and you just forget about how good he looks.

You know that there is a constant argument that people are more likely to acquiesce to somebody who's good looking. But in truth, if somebody is evil, they're evil. So, with this scene, I think the creators really highlight that.

And then you can tell that Roman knows that he’s probably lost a bit of respect in the eyes of everyone in the club. And so, he's trying to grab on to the last vestige of respectability. So, he immediately grabs Canary, and goes, ‘no, no, don't go’. And she's literally trying to run away from him because he's a horrible person.

Ron: But let’s talk about how this scene was shot. You mentioned how, if this was any other director, it would have been quite different. I love that this scene does not involve the male gaze at all. You know that there's a person standing without much on, but we don't get to see that.

And that’s where the female gaze comes in. We are put solely in the shoes of Erika, of Canary not in Roman’s shoes, or Zsasz’s.

Ron: And that is where the difference between a female director and female writers comes in. I'm glad Cathy Yan fought that battle and won, because we rewind to the beginning of the scene when Erika and her friends are laughing and Roman takes that as an affront. That’s something that happens a lot. I mean, there's the whole joke about how men can't stand being laughed at, whereas women are terrified of being killed. That's pretty much exactly what this scene is envisioning. Yes, in a slightly more heightened fashion in the world of Gotham which isn't real. But this is something that could happen as clubs tend to be uncomfortable places at times for somebody who's not a guy. I'm glad Cathy Yan won this.

Mon: And this scene also pushes Canary away from Roman. Up until this point, she's been secretly working with Renee Montoya, but now, now she really wants to take down Roman.

Ron: And she's desperate. You see her in the bathroom, hanging on her phone and she's desperately yelling into it, telling Renee that they have to find Cassandra Cain and get that diamond back and take down Roman. And that's the kind of frenetic movement that we haven't seen from Canary up until now. Because all this while, the threat was away from her. She was just the driver. Now, she's involved.

Mon: And this scene cements Roman’s arc into being an actual evil person. Up until this point, he's been a bit comical. But from this scene onwards, he becomes the real villain of the piece.

Ron: Going back to the face slicing off scene, he was still kind of funny in it. He wasn't also involved directly in it. He was telling Zsasz to do everything. And he was enjoying himself. And you were like ‘okay, this is a bad guy. He’s cutting people's faces off, that's fine’. But here, it's completely different. And I really appreciate how the creative team made this happen.

Mon: And that segues into the final arc of the film, which is when Harley and the Birds of Prey get together. So, it’s just them, these five women—well, four women and one child—against Black Mask and his hordes of henchmen. And interestingly, I noticed that they specifically cast only male extras as Black Mask’s henchmen.

So, the final action sequence takes place in Amusement Mile, where Harley needs to get the Birds of Prey on her side so that they can together fight Roman. And, it’s another fun scene. It brings to characters to the fore; it shows how out of touch Harley can be with just how unimportant she was in Joker's life as well as in the world of supervillainy. Poor thing. You just feel sorry for her.

Ron: Somebody give Harley a hug!

Mon: But the way the characters come together…that final action sequence is exquisite.

Ron: It is so much fun to watch. And you know what? It's so colorful. Where is the color on genre films? I love that about this. They're in a theme park. There’s gonna be all sorts of colourful rides around. And again, they use their surroundings as an advantage against the bad guys. It's so enjoyable.

And, of course, let us not forget the epic hair-tying scene.

One of the most annoying things about genre films is these beautifully made-up women with their open hair gloriously flying around them. And somehow it never gets in their eyes when they're fighting people.

Mon: Anybody with long hair can tell you that it's a pain in the neck.

Ron: It doesn't matter how long it is, it will get in your way. It will always get in your way!

Mon: So, there is this moment where Jurnee Smollett’s Black Canary, she’s fighting and her hair’s getting in her face. Because she's literally just run off to fight this battle. She hasn't really had time to think about it.

And Harley, as we know, she's always had these cute little ponytails. So, she obviously keeps hair-ties with her. As somebody who uses hair-ties, you know that sometimes they snap, so you got to keep extra. So, Harley's got extra hair-ties, and she goes up to Canary and says ‘hair-tie?’, and Canary takes it and she can fight better.

Ron: These are the moments that you get in a film when you have diversity behind the screen and on the screen, and that's why this film works.

That final battle, why is it so enjoyable? Because it’s four women and one child, who we can relate to, being written by women and directed by women. So, it looks, it moves different; and it just feels like something that we haven't seen before.

Mon: And with Cassandra, she's a young teenaged girl. She's not going to go out there and start beating people up. So, the entire premise of that final action sequence is really to protect Cassandra, not only from being captured but also from being hurt. They're all trying their best to keep her out of site.

Ron: And everybody gets in on the action. Renee, who is drunk, and doesn’t really have any weapons also gets in on the action, because she's a detective. She knows how to fight.

Huntress, who has her crossbow, does a great job keeping everybody at bay.

Black Canary, who doesn't really have any weapons, she more than holds her own in this fight. And Harley, just loves smashing things.

Mon: If anybody has read the comics, or is vaguely familiar with the Black Canary, you'll know that she actually is a meta-human. She has a superpower.

Throughout the film, Black Canary does not use that superpower. But why? We find out during this final action sequence.

Renee is the only one who knows about Black Canary’s past. She knows about her mother. That's another sweet little moment, because we find out that Dinah Lance’s mom was also a superhero and she was obviously killed before her time. And that’s why Dinah is obviously afraid of using her powers/

When she finally unleashes the Canary Cry, it takes so much out of her, she actually collapses.

Ron: But the scene is epic. You've kind of been waiting for it throughout the firm, but I felt like I didn't miss the fact that we hadn't seen the Canary Cry before them. But when she does, it's amazing.

But let also talk about Renee's bulletproof vest.

Mon: I love that so much. Harley uncovers a chest which includes a lot of her old stuff. So, she finds her giant hammer, she finds her old outfit. She suggests that one of the others, Renee especially, tries to put it on because it's bulletproof. And, of course, Renee scoffs at it because, have you seen Harley’s outfits?

But it turns out that Renee did take Harley’s advice and she'd actually got the bulletproof outfit underneath her clothes. So that when she does get shot, she's actually still alive. Phew! I was really scared for a moment.

Ron: The final act was kind of setup to make you think that we were going to lose a character, but fortunately we don't. Instead, we got this extremely fun moment when Harley rips open Renee’s jacket to check that she's going to be okay and she's so impressed because Renee is wearing her suit, and she's so impressed; and Renee looks great in it.

Mon: Once again, you have to commend the creators. It’s not like Renee rips off her rather practical detective outfit and starts walking around in Harley’s skimpier clothes. No, she has it hidden underneath, because you don’t want to advertise that you're wearing a bulletproof vest. Otherwise, you will get shot.

Ron: That's a good point.

But we’ve forgotten to mention the central romance in this film.

Mon: Oh yes, of course. It's the most important relationship in all of DCEU.

Ron: Absolutely. Now, Harley and Joker have been a part of the DC world for a very long time. You could say that their pairing is iconic. This film makes you forget the Joker was even a thing, because Harley has a new and proved love interest: the simple egg sandwich.

There is no better scene in cinema than Harley running through the streets of Gotham hanging on to her freshly-made egg sandwich. And then just as she is close to being freedom, Renee’s car stops her, Harley falls to the ground and her sandwich flies out of her hand.

The sheer magnitude of her loss is felt from within and without the screen.

Mon: It really is these sweet moments in the film that make you love not only the film but the characters.

The entire scene is shot to show us that Harley was having a really good day. It's not really about the egg sandwich. It’s just about her being herself. And once again, every moment in the film is about advancing—each character’s arc and their journey. This egg sandwich was a very huge part of Harley's journey. And now it's gone.

Ron: But it's these simple little things that you don't expect to see in genre films. But also, they don't get to be associated with female characters.

Mon: You're right. Tony Stark and his burger have gone down in the annals of comic book history. Now, it's been dethroned.

Ron: And I love the fact that we weren't the only ones who loved that relationship. Twitter, the day after Birds of Prey came out, was awash with tweets about Harley and her sandwich and I was like, ‘You know what? This is a small moment.’ I don't know whether the writers and the director even realized how much it would matter to people but it was so good to see a character like Harley, who has been sexualized and demonized and discarded, just become a person that you absolutely and utterly loved.

So, the plot, the characters, the cinematography is beautiful. But let's not forget that this film has an amazing soundtrack. We could not stop listening to it when we first watched the film. We listened to it on loop for weeks. And then again when we re-watched it for our birthday—we were listening to it again.

For me, Diamonds is one of my favorite songs this year. I can't not dance when I hear it. It’s sampling Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend, but with this super cool hip hop beat. And it just makes me move.

But I also love Boss Bitch, which is noisy and fun. And really gets your heart pumping.

We also have Jurnee Smollett’s It's a Man's World. It's so soulful and beautiful. It's very different from Boss Bitch and Diamonds, but it just penetrates your soul.

Which songs do you love?

Mon:  I love Joke's on You. It pretty much kicks off the film and echoes Harley's journey. Plus, it's really beautiful to listen to.

But the arrangement for Hit Me with Your Best Shot in this film, it is so surreal and eerie. The song itself is a huge contrast to the scene that it plays along with. But I think it fits with this scary, haunting world of Gotham, especially in that final arc when everything is all foggy and mysterious.

Ron: And what I love about this film is that the soundtrack ties so beautifully into the score by Daniel Pemberton. That's something that I'm always looking for in films. You hear these songs, and you hear the background score, but somehow, they don't work together. This film, for the first time—at least for me—that works brilliantly. When I heard the score, you can hear parts of the songs as well. And that segue between the two of them is absolutely magical.

Mon: Was it just me, or was the entire soundtrack only sung by women?

Ron:  That's absolutely right, it was. It's another great way to showcase diversity behind the scenes when your film is about diversity as well.

And that comes through, also, in the costumes. I read about Cathy Yan speaking with the costume designer, and the actors. So, Margot Robbie, because she was also involved as a producer, had some input into how the characters would look.

We have spoken about Suicide Squad and Harley’s costumes, which were extremely impractical, highly sexualized and kind of disturbing to watch. The clothes in Birds of Prey; are they revealing? Yes. Harley walks around in shorts for a lot of the time. Black Canary has a golden sports bra on view most of the time. But they aren't sexualized, and again it comes back to the gaze of the person behind the camera. Plus, the clothes are fashionable versions of what we see in everyday life.

Mon: The practical look of the costumes, apparently, was the start of a lot of backlash towards the release of this film. I would say a lot of it was unnecessary. There's no point in having Harley walk around in tiny hot pants, because it isn't practical. And also, I feel like a lot of people used the costumes and the general casting of these actors as an excuse to not watch this film.

There is a very vocal set of fandoms, usually the most conservative, who've decided that some films aren't for them. We'll never know why they feel like this.

Films like Birds of Prey cater to a larger audience—not to a different audience—a larger audience. Because superhero and genre fare has, for a very long time, targeted a very narrow demographic. It's the 21st century, there's a whole world out there, and they’re bringing in the money. Who do you think helped Birds of Prey, make buck? It was the larger; marginalized female audience who were flocking to see this film.

And they were watching this film because the characters were given agency, were given storylines, were given fleshed out characterizations.

Ron:  Some of the criticisms towards the film was that it became a Harley vehicle, instead of being about the Birds of Prey. But if you look at the DCEU universe, and the fans that are watching it, you can't just say this is a movie about the Birds of Prey, you need to have some connection with the rest of the canon, because otherwise people won't know what's happening.

Mon: And they don't even try to find out either. It's like ‘oh, who are these people? I want to see Harley’. Okay, this is a good way to get them in.

Ron: Exactly. So that's a criticism that I don't understand at all.

Another thing that people were saying was that the Birds of Prey has always had Batgirl in it. Not having Batgirl in this film, yes, her absence is felt, because she is a huge part of this group in the comics.

But we don't know the inner workings of Warner Bros. and the DCEU. We don't know why Batgirl couldn't be in this film; we don't know whether we will see Batgirl on screen anytime soon. Apparently, there was a movie being written by Joss Whedon, but fortunately that is gone. That man should not come near superhero films at all.

But what happens to Batgirl? We don't know. There is going to be The Batman movie. We have seen Jeffrey Wright’s Jim Gordon in the film trailers, but we haven't seen whether he has grown-up daughter who can become Batgirl. So, we don't know which direction this particular franchise is going to go.

So, yet another criticism was about Cassandra Cain and how she came across as a bit of a generic teen character, instead of as the Cassandra Cain/ Orphan that we meet in DC Comics. That is a valid criticism. But on the other hand, Orphan is a very different kind of character, and perhaps trying to explain her backstory without giving viewers some time to connect with the character before she becomes the superhero that we know in the comics, would not have worked.

Maybe we’re giving the movie a lot of leeway because it was an enjoyable experience and we do like the diversity that was showcased in this film. But in all honesty, the kind of things that were being said about Birds of Prey would not have been said about films that feature male leads.

Mon: The only valid criticism I'm willing to take against this film is that we don't necessarily need assault storylines in a film empowering women. I know that a lot of people were disturbed by that.Perhaps if it had come with trigger warnings. People would have known what to expect.

But aside from that, the way that these scenes play out are very subtle, very nuanced; again, not gratuitous. The film based itself in reality, despite being fantastical.

Will we get a second part?

Ron: I am desperate for Birds of Prey 2. I want to see more of Black Canary, of Renee, of Huntress, and maybe even our first glimpse of Batgirl in the DCEU.

I think the wider reception of this film, amongst the audience that doesn't usually get catered to, is really positive. It does deserve a second part, especially when films like Suicide Squad are also getting sequels, and that film was critically panned and widely disliked by the fan base that it was catering to.

Mon: I completely agree with you. There's so much scope to expand the universe of this film. We could possibly see Poison Ivy, we could possibly see Oracle, who knows, it would be so much fun. Just getting to see those Birds of Prey fight and work together as a team, with no strings attached, would be worth every penny.

Ron: Absolutely. Bring on Birds of Prey 2, DC.

What did you think of Birds of Prey? Let us know.

Ron: You can find us on Twitter @Stereo_Geeks. Or send us an email stereogeekspodcast@gmail.com

Ron: We hope you enjoyed this episode. And see you next week!

Mon: The Stereo Geeks logo was created using Canva. The music for our podcast comes courtesy Audionautix.

[Continuum by Audionautix plays]

Transcription by Otter.ai and Ron.

[moviemunchies]

Birds of Prey Review

Comic book movies don’t have a great history with fight choreography.

Okay, yes, there are some spectacular fight scenes in Marvel movies, but seriously, how many of those are done with actual fight choreography? With actual actors or stunt people and not just CGI models? Because the most awesome fight scenes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe are mostly CGI involving powers or lasers or the like. When it comes to actual hand-to-hand combat, Marvel movies are sorely lacking. I mean, yeah, those scenes exist, but they’re not good.

Take the fight in the street in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. It’s full of close-ups and shaky cam, so you only have a vague idea of most of the moves they’re making. The first time it’s exciting to watch but every time afterward I remember thinking, “Wow, this fight scene sucks to watch.” 

And to be clear, Marvel isn’t the only one to do this. All of Hollywood was doing it for about a decade, and DC movies did it too. The fight scenes in The Dark Knight don’t exactly show off choreography well either. I think that the comic book movie with the best fight choreography was, until this point, Kingsman: The Secret Service.

Until Birds of Prey that is.

Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn is a female-led comic book movie. Basically, because Margot Robbie’s got enough clout and her take on Harley Quinn was the most popular part of Suicide Squad, she helped put pressure on studio execs to get this movie made. So not only does it star Harley Quinn, it stars one of comics’ most well-known female superhero teams, the Birds of Prey. And it’s directed by a woman, Cathy Yan, which means that DC now has TWO released comic book movies starring and directed by women and Marvel hasn’t done that. Unless you count Captain Marvel, which had two directors, one of whom was a dude so I don’t really count that.

I’m not sayin’ anything, I’m just sayin’...

The Plot is a bit like this: Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) broke up with the Joker. Thing is, her relationship with the Joker is part of what’s been keeping her alive, as no one would bother her as long as she’s attached to the clown who scares the stuffing out of everyone. At the top of the list is Roman Sionis (Ewan McGregor), aka Black Mask, a crime boss who runs most of Gotham’s underworld. Tangled up in this are Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez), a grizzled detective that’s building a case against Sionis, and Dinah Lance (Jurnee Smollet-Bell), the singer at Sionis’s club who becomes his driver after he witnesses her beating the snot out of some crooks. Sionis is after a specific diamond which contains the secret to the Bertinelli crime family fortune, but that diamond gets jacked by a teen pickpocket named Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco), and now everyone’s after her. And then there’s someone (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) who is taking out prominent mobsters in Gotham City and everyone assumes is working for Sionis.

It’s a bit of a tangled Plot with several characters, and in truth it’s not helped by the fact that it’s told a bit out of order. Our narrator is Harley Quinn, and she tends to forget details, so she backs up and explains them in a way reminiscent of someone telling a story. And that makes sense, especially because Harley Quinn is explicitly an insane woman. But it can be a bit hard to follow who is doing what and when until it all converges about halfway through. It’s not a bad plot either, though its structure and shape kind of screws some of the characters in terms of screen time and character development.

Because, at its core, this is Harley Quinn’s movie. She gets the most screen time, narrates the story, and it’s mostly about her trying not to die. Which isn’t bad at all, but I would have liked to have seen more of Huntress, or watched Montoya solve more crimes, or Cassandra’s home life. There’s enough in the movie that you don’t feel like they’re ignored characters; they all have good scenes and distinct personalities, but I don’t think that they’re used to their full potential. It is slightly frustrating, because Harley Quinn has little to do with the comic book version of the Birds of Prey. But I can’t fault the film too much; Margot Robbie lobbied to have this film made, after all, and without her involvement as Harley I don’t know that it would have been greenlit.

What makes this movie stand out is that it’s got fantastic fight scenes. I mean, spectacular fight scenes. Chad Stahelski (as in, the guy who directed John Wick) was brought in to work on them, and it shows that they put a lot of work into them. They’re over-the-top, yes, and not like the gritty and rough action scenes you’d see in John Wick films; but they are glorious to watch and oh so much fun.

And this is a film where these sorts of scenes work. Part of what makes comic book movies not really conducive to great fight scenes is that they’re almost always about the fate of the world or some such thing; we don’t need kung fu, we need lasers and explosives and crap! But this is a film about taking on a crime lord who has a city in his pocket. It’s more low-key, and so of course we believe that a bunch of women who know how to kick ass can take down our villain and his minions.

Margot Robbie is loads of fun as Harley Quinn, which was expected I think, by most people who went to see this movie. As to the rest of the cast:

Ella Jay Basco injects a lot of likability in Cassandra Cain; she’s an in-name-only adaptation of the character, but despite that and being a pickpocket she shines as sort of innocent in the moral swamp that is Gotham City. Rosie Perez is a fantastic Montoya: a grizzled cop who wants to help but is limited by the system that rewards others for her work, and grew up watching way too many 80’s cop movies. Smollet-Bell does great work as Dinah Lance/Black Canary, a woman who wants to do the right thing but also knows that it’s not in her best interest. Mary Elizabeth Winstead does great with what she’s given, as the angry vigilante, but I really would have liked for her to have more to do.

As for our villains, Ewan McGregor is having a ball in this role. He’s a bit over-the-top and I think maybe it goes too far at times, but a terrible sleazy hate sink of a mob villain is the sort of antagonist a movie like this needs. And his right-hand man, Victor Zsasz, is played by Chris Messina with a lot more depth than I would have expected, but you still want to deck him because he’s a creep and a monster.

What makes this film really stand out though is that it feels like it was made by women. That’s a difficult statement to qualify, but watch the movie and you’ll see. There’s no objectifying shots of the camera lingering on cleavage or a woman’s rear end. The villains aren’t just violent mob criminals, they’re sexist creeps; and yeah, some of the behavior is exaggerated, but not all of it, and there’s a lot of problems that women deal with every day, like Montoya not getting credit for her work while her male partner did, and Sionis acting like the women in his club are there for his enjoyment, or no one taking Harley seriously unless she’s attached to a man everyone’s scared of. And hey, there’s a fight scene in which Harley throws Dinah a hair tie so that it doesn’t get in the way while she’s fighting.

But even if that all goes over your head, this is a great film. It has likable characters, fantastic fight scenes, and while there are some intense scenes (usually involving Sionis murdering or torturing people), it’s a fun movie. It doesn’t feel like it’s trying to pull a twist on its audience, play with your expectations, punish any of its lead characters, or deconstruct anything. It’s straightforward in what it wants to do and what kind of audience it wants to be shown to.

If you like comic book movies, or superhero, please check it out. If you love action scenes, you have to check it out. I know this movie might not appeal to everyone, but to those that it does, it’ll be fantabulous.

[briangroth27]

Gemini Man Review

I thought Gemini Man was cool! Will Smith has no trouble leading the film in both of his roles, Mary Elizabeth Winstead is a solid co-lead, and the movie felt like a fun throwback to 90s-style action thrillers.

Full Spoilers…

Henry Brogan (Smith) is the world’s best hitman, but senses he’s losing both his touch and his soul, so he retires. I really liked that he was self-aware enough to feel his skills slipping and that he was becoming desensitized to killing people (even if he only killed villains). That was a great bit of introspection and willingness to act on it—particularly for a male action lead—rather than having someone else tell him he was losing his touch, leaving Brogan to insist (and probably prove) that he’s still got it. Having Brogan choose to quit to live a peaceful life before he becomes a true monster was a much better and more interesting path. 

Junior (Smith, Victor Hugo) was also a well-developed character and I liked that he wasn’t the cold, professional assassin villain the trailers made him out to be: he was on his way to that, but still wanted to prove himself to his “adoptive” father Clay Verris (Clive Owen) and still had time to change course. Smith did great at playing the angst, anger, confusion and sadness Junior went through, and saddling that character with the vast majority of those emotions was a risky move (given he was a digital character) that totally paid off thanks to Smith’s performance and the technology. The CGI was noticeable in the action scenes (Junior moves a little too jumpily) and in the final scene of the movie, but otherwise he was well done. I don’t think I’d mind it on rewatches. Having Henry's clone sent to kill him was a very cool thematic way to give the older Henry a chance to fix his past (if he can redeem his younger self), while Junior has a chance to erase his doubt (and thereby the doubt Henry feels about his past as well) if he can kill his older self. The movie does play a little fast and loose with how much a clone would really think and act like the original, but the emotional payoff was worth it so that didn't bother me at all. This was a neat way for Henry to heal himself of his past by helping his clone break out of his patterns so he could make connections instead of using his duty as an excuse to keep everyone at arm's length. I didn't fully buy that killing Verris would forever tarnish Junior's soul—it clearly wouldn't be his first kill—but perhaps it would be his first vengeance killing versus one he was hired to do. 

Dani (Winstead) was great as an agent caught up in the plot to assassinate Henry, holding her own throughout the film and forming a strong friendship with Henry despite a rocky start. I liked that the film took the time to give us an idea of what she wanted from her future (running the agency, and doing it more fairly than how it's being run in the present); it feels like a lot of action films don't even give a hint about what their leads want out of life were they not involved in death-defying action set pieces. I liked that while Henry wanted to quit to save his soul, Dani’s dream was running the agency so she could save its soul; that’s a nice parallel between them. Dani was cool and Winstead played off of both versions of Smith really well.

I also liked the friendship Henry had with Baron (Benedict Wong): they were fun together and Wong gave us some fun little character bits to flesh out his character. The script and actors did a good job of making all Henry's old contacts feel like longstanding relationships, both personal and professional. Also, even though he wasn't throwing out wisecracks like in his earlier action films, Smith had an easy chemistry with everyone; an invaluable asset to making these relationships feel established even if they're just starting or if we only see a few minutes of them. I could've stood to have Yuri (Ilia Volok) come back into play at some point towards the end, given his antagonistic relationship with Henry and his threat to have him killed at some point, but ultimately that would've been unnecessary and not as emotionally resonant as Henry facing off with Junior and Henry 3.0 (also Smith), who was Henry with all his pain (and his choice) removed. Henry 3.0 was all I needed to see of the super soldier program, and he was certainly imposing! He felt like a human Terminator and that was very cool.

Clive Owen was solid as the villain, attempting to grow perfect super soldier assassins under the guise of protecting normal soldiers from having to go into dangerous territory. Of course, by brainwashing Junior and completely "programming" Henry 3.0, he's really talking about using slaves to fight the country's wars. It’s not spelled out in the movie, but I don't think it's an accident he was a white man using black men as his weapons under the guise of “making them their best,” much like our military recruits people with slogans like "be all you can be" and promises educations and futures in exchange for service. Henry's old, white, male handler (Ralph Brown) also cooperates with the system against Henry and manipulates him into killing a good man, which I'm also sure was not accidental casting. Henry's attempt to save Junior from making the same mistakes he did gave him a chance to save himself (in a way) from being used by the system all over again, breaking that cycle. I did think it felt more obvious why Henry was being targeted by the system than the characters thought it was—he learned that they'd lied about who his target really was—rather than him believing the agency needed to kill him just because Junior was in the world. It didn't bother me though and it played into Junior's arc to have him trying to eliminate the version of himself that had doubts very well.

The action scenes were very cool! I loved the inventive use of the motorcycle and the incorporation of Junior's parkour into the fights. The fights and shootouts really sold the fact that only Junior and Henry 3.0 could get results that the rest of the agency couldn't when facing Henry and Dani. I thought it was interesting that they didn't show anyone's deaths onscreen (nameless goons aside) until Henry 3.0 died (and Smith completely sold that in all three roles). I don't know what they might be saying with that choice: it could just be to build suspense (like whether or not Henry makes his movie-opening kill) or stylistic choices (like on the boat), but it felt like a deliberate choice that differentiated it from other action films. Perhaps Henry 3.0 dying is symbolic of the end of Junior’s ties to the agency and Verris, particularly as it leads to Henry killing Verris so Junior won’t have to, also resolving his doubts, so Ang Lee felt that one should be given more weight by showing it onscreen.

The inventive action scenes aside, this felt like a 90s action thriller and I loved that throwback feel. Lee directed clean and clear shots—even for the action scenes—which was a nice change of pace from today's oversaturated or simply too-dark-to-see styles. I also liked all the vibrant colors in the settings on display here. The pacing was brisk and the actors took what they were given to craft a compelling character study. I’ve heard complaints about the writing quality, but I didn’t think it was bad at all. Maybe Junior could’ve had punchier dialogue—something recalling Smith’s 90s action heroes—to further differentiate them and display Henry’s growth since his older self didn’t have that humor. Regardless, it was also cool that this was a standalone film. 

Gemini Man didn’t get many glowing reviews, but I thought it was definitely worth the watch and I had a good time! I'll be picking it up on blu-ray. Check it out!

Check out more of my reviews, opinions, and original short stories here!  

[garbagecann24601]

I was going through some old notebooks and found some real gems.

Look theres a spider craling up that tree.

Look theres a spider apan that girls knee.

Look a spider spinning a web.

Spiders have eight legs.

There’s one craling up your leg.

They eat flys.

They eat moths.

But they don’t have aney claws.

“An Author I must Be”

An author’s the job for me,

An author I must be.

The title page should say this book was made,

By Jayde.

I love to write yes I do.

Do you like writing too?

To write a book,

You just have to look,

In your imagination for the right thing to write.

It might be hard yes it might.

“Diary of Anna Sulfer”

May 9th 1900

Today my mother had her baby. It was a boy named Joshua J. Sulfer. You would think I would be happy but I am not for mother has died.

“Diary of Elizabeth Adams” (silly stories)

The second day of September, 1870

Mother found out she is pregnat today. I do so hope it’s a girl! Father said babies take about six months to fully develop and come out. Mother says I should be happy even if the baby’s a boy. I think we don’t need a boy because we already have Mark, Timothy, Andrew, Paul, Joseph, Caleb, Willie, Marcus, Benjamin, Thomas, Frank, Charlie, Albert, Eddie, Christopher, Peter, Samuel, Levi, Josiah, Edward, Cole, Clark, Lewis, Brad, Austin, Jacob, Jack, Michal, Alexander, Zackery, Amadeous, Ezekiel, David, Isac, Jeremy, Terry, Victor, Matthew, Ted, Luther, Lin, Fredrik, Alfred, Allan, Horace, Arther, Walter, Charles, Colton, Bert, Simion, Ryan, Kyle, Evan, Grant, Paul, James, John, Jesse, Anthony, Pat, Jerimiah, Hezikiah, Malici, Curt, Joe,

“The Lost Rubies”

Mical and Milissa were two twins. Mical was a smart boy who loved science and Millisa on the other hand was always amagining things but she loved history.. Mical and Millisa had solved one mystery before.

On the lovely spring day of May 28, 2000 Mical and Millisa weregoing to a old building. When they drived up Millisa had her amagenation going like crazy. Their father told them about the lost rubies that once belonged to a queen might be in that building.

Mical was talking about how rubies are formed. “And remember don’t touch anything” reminded their father for what seemed like the hundrenth time. “We will we will.” said Millisa and Mical. “Bye dad.” said Millisa. As they entered the building Mical said “This would make a great place to do science explosons!”

“No way! It should be used as a Laura Ingalls memorial sesiety!” exclaimed Millisa. “No way! It should be used as a place you learn about vertabrates and invertebretes.” said Mical. “What are we arguing about?” said Millisa. “Let’s look for the lost rubies.” said Mical. They went upstairs and looked around. “What was that?” whispered Millisa. “What?” asked Mical caususly. “Over there.” said Milllisa pointing. “Woof.” said a dog. “It’s just a dog. And dogs are carnivores.” said Mical. “What’s a carnivore?” asked Millisa. “A meat eating animal.” said Mical. The dog howled. “Michel are you sure this is a dog it’s acting a little wilder.” said Millisa. Michal aproched the dog not knowing what to expect.

“This is defenetly a carnivore look at it’s sharp teeth.” said Mical holding the jaws of a wolf.  “If it’s teeth are so sharp I’d let go.” said Millisa. A light from the lantern they held for there were no electric lights danced from the lantern and Millisa saw fierce eyes looking at her brother, shaggy gray fur fell from his body. “Mical that must be a old dog. It’s furs gray and long.” said Millissa. “Snap.” wen the olfs jaws on Mical’s hand. “Mical!” shouted Millisa. “I’m okay.” said Mical. “Why it’s face.” said Millisa.

“It’s stoped hurting now.” said Mical. “I’m taking my jackknife and cutting it open.” said Mical. “Be careful.” warned Millisa. When Mical cut the fake wolf open they gasped. “The rubies.” said Millisa half speechless nd half imagining her as a royal girl with hundreds of rubies on. 

The MM twins did it again!

The End.

^^These were all from a notebook that I had when I was maybe 7 or 8. The next ones are from Jr High and High School when NO ONE UNDERSTOOD ME 

“Kiss Me Once” (I have **NO** idea what prompted this or who it’s supposed to be about)

Kiss me once, my love.

Kiss me once before you go,

Before your soul soars high above.

Kiss me once, my little pet

For night is drawing to an end

And we shall soon all but forget

This love we shared but no one knew

And which I can scarcely call reality,

But if I can but once kiss you,

My fear will go away,

and all my dreams will then come true

For I shall see that you were more than a dream,

or else, the fairy tales are coming true.

“All Alone” or “The Box” (This one was dated 2-24-12, which means I would have been 14)

I poured my heart into a box

And sealed it with a kiss

I left the box upon my shelf

And nothing was amiss.

And on the days when skies were dark,

When wind and rain and tempest blew

I drew upon my little box

And whispered “I love you.”

And every day my box was safe;

It rested there upon its shelf

And long before I realized why

I had begun to call it “self.”

But one day when I came back home

I missed my little box’s song

And that’s when I began to call

Each thing that I did “wrong.”

For my heart went missing

With my box that disappeared

And life seems so much worse now

Than everything I’ve feared.

For now I see what I have done;

My chest is home to a dark black hole

And all that I now ever feel

Is coldness in my soul.

For I have nothing left.

I am all alone.

(The context for this next one is that I really really hated playing piano, but my parents made me keep taking lessons)

That wretched thing

I’m forced to play

Like a ball and chain

Ties me down today.

That horrid thing

Made my cry

And day after day

I wish it would die

And oh how I long

To worship the King,

But how could I ever

With this foul thing?

No one understands

How this tears me up inside.

They told me I played well,

As I ran and hid and cried.

They don’t notice

The hatred that I feel.

But very deep inside me

The emotions are so real.

“Forever Satisfied”

They threw me into prison

They locked me up in jail

I sat in there forever

‘Cause I couldn’t pay the bail.

They told me to run faster

They told me not to quit.

And though I ran forever

I never did get fit.

I got blisters on my hand

From where the pencil rubbed me wrong,

And though I wrote forever

She condemned it as too long.

I sat and played piano

Then just broke down and cried.

And though I practiced forever,

They were not satisfied.

I tried to fit in with them.

I tried to be their friend.

And though I was with them forever,

I was rejected in the end.

Then one day I stopped breathing.

I had up and died.

And I was with Jesus forever.

Forever satisfied.

“Why Did You Lie?” (I wrote this my freshman year of high school about a senior who in no way ever promised me anything)

Why did you lie?

You promised not to leave

You promised me forever.

You promised me a bond

That time could not sever.

But now you ever see me.

You never look my way

And now I see the other one.

The one you love today.

Is this all my fault?

Now I’m lonely and afraid.

You promised me your love

But the promise never stayed.

I thought we had a future

I hoped that this was real.

But whatever I thought I felt

Was too good for you to feel.

For your heart is cold and hard as ice

Your chest is a deep hole.

And I see myself as I am

The fool whose heart you stole.

(I think I wrote this one when my sister graduated high school and was preparing to move away to college)

And I fade into the wall.

There’s nothing much to look at.

There’s nothing there at all.

You’re going on a journey,

And I’m saying here behind.

You’re in for an adventure,

Who knows what you may find.

Your life is changing,

But mine isn’t at all.

I’m the phantom in the shadows,

And I blend into the wall.

You talk about your leaving

And your following your call.

And my heart is quickly breaking

In the darkness of its fall.

“Black. White” (Warning: This one is quite angsty, touching on themes of self harm and suicide, and then very religious)

I AM BLACK

I am shadows in the night.

I am nothing by day.

Hatred and bitterness spew out of my heart and cut others.

I made my mother cry. Again.

I really didn’t mean to. A careless word. Insensitivity. I didn’t know.

Now I feel invisible. Obscure. despicable. Like a spot on a bright white shirt.

A mistake. A misunderstanding. A vain struggle to survive.

Why aren’t I dead?

I’m sure my bad outweighs my good. I should burn. I should bleed. I should pay.

My world feels cold and empty now.

No more tears. No colors. No smiles.

I am the absence of light. I repel it. It hides from my face.

Even it thinks I’m hopeless.

I am a sinner.

I am black.

I have a Savior.

He is white.

He is the morning star.

He is the sweet breath of life.

His heart is full of love and kindness and compassion for others.

He paid the penalty for all my sin.

He really didn’t have to. The world hated Him. Rejected. Few cared.

He became mortal. human. weak. needy. Like one of us, but

Perfect. Spotless. Beautiful. Lamb of God.

And yet He died.

He had done no wrong. He should be praised. magnified. exalted.

He created the world and filled it with life.

He shed His blood. He paid my ransom. He died.

He is light. The grave could not hold Him. Darkness shudders.

Even nature screams His praises.

He is my Savior.

He makes me white.

[bbclesmis]

Josh O’Connor: Every actor should just turn up on time, be nice and learn the lines

The actor has charmed as Larry in The Durrells and next up he plays Marius in Les Miserables and Prince Charles in The Crown

Unremittingly grim is how I would describe the BBC’s Les Misérables. Andrew Davies’s song-free adaptation of Victor Hugo’s novel is a litany of grinding poverty, injustice, corruption and exploitation occasionally leavened, if that’s the right word, by short bursts of extreme peril. It’s also completely gripping.

This weekend’s episode introduces a new face. Until now Marius Pontmercy has appeared only as an angelic moppet, parroting royalist slogans fed to him by his overbearing grandfather, Monsieur Gillenormand. Now time moves on and we see him as a young law student, played by Josh O’Connor. It’s an episode full of upheaval for young Pontmercy: without giving too much away, there’s a girl, a family bombshell and a political awakening.

When we meet in a central London café, O’Connor, 28, whom viewers might recognise as Larry from ITV’s The Durrells, is considerably jollier than his earnest student. Dressed in jeans and a well-loved chunky sweater, his very dark, very curly hair constantly threatening insubordination, he is excellent company — all smiles and unfailingly polite. As we talk, it’s clear that, although he’s having a delightful time at the moment (the cast and crew on Les Misérables were “lovely”; working on it and The Crown — he will play the young Prince Charles in the third season, of which more later — had him “wide-eyed and pinching yourself”), he’s very serious about work. He has even read Hugo’s novel, which in unabridged English translation tends towards 1,500 pages.

“I know, that’s mad, isn’t it?” he says. “And I’m a terrible reader. I’m very dyslexic and I find it incredibly hard. It was a struggle, but the themes of it — it’s all about redemption essentially. I was obsessed with that idea, which I’ve stolen from my dad, who is an English teacher. He’s always been really interested in forgiveness and redemption and hope, and it’s very present in that book.”

Although the story is set in Paris between 1815 and 1832, O’Connor thinks it retains its relevance. “There were different translations for the title, like ‘The Wretched’, ‘The Wretched Poor’, ‘The Dispossessed’. I think they’re more accurate. It’s all about class, and the forgotten and the sidelined, which is obviously relevant to now. Marius has an important role in that he is like the audience looking in — he exists as part of a higher social class, but he has this social conscience.

“Obviously we’re in different times, but I would say that we’re experiencing politics in the extreme on both sides at the moment. And while we’re not building barricades, we are setting up camp outside parliament, and how that has manifested itself in recent news has been pretty nasty. To me it seems that there are lines to be drawn from that.”

So upright is Pontmercy — even when languishing in a filthy garret — that you might not immediately make the link between the young lawyer and the role that made O’Connor’s name, the taciturn Yorkshire farmer Johnny Saxby in Francis Lee’s extraordinary 2017 film God’s Own Country. The similarities are almost non-existent — apart from anything else, it took O’Connor’s Saxby about half the film before he cracked a smile. O’Connor’s committed performance as the emotionally inarticulate youth being painfully and beautifully taught how to love and be loved by the tenderness of another man was universally praised and earned him a Bafta rising star nomination and a best actor win at the British Independent Film Awards, among other accolades. Not that he had much choice about commitment: Lee made him spend nearly four weeks working full-time on the farm where the film was shot before they started.

“John, the farmer, he’s an incredible man. He hadn’t had a holiday I don’t think for 25 years. We’d get up at 6am and we’d go and feed the sheep, then we’d come back and have these sandwiches [he uses his hands to indicate something about the size of an entire standard loaf] — plain white bread, greasy bacon, ketchup, more bacon, bread. I turned into an animal, but it was the best energy source. His lifestyle is non-stop. Of course he can’t have a holiday. Sheep don’t rest.” The physicality of O’Connor’s performance is one thing that gives it authenticity — all from John, he says.

“He was hunched over. There are practical reasons — the rain in Yorkshire even somehow rains up, so you’ve got your hood up, and the sheep are down here.” It helped his casting that O’Connor has huge hands. “They’re like spades.” You don’t see much of them in Les Mis — apparently his “city hands” had such terrible eczema when he started filming the series he could hardly open them, which he puts down to subjecting them to farm work on God’s Own Country, although he concedes that the diet may also have been a factor.

If you think Pontmercy and Saxby are different, his next TV role, as Prince Charles, is an even bigger leap. He’s filming at the moment and says it’s “probably the most enjoyable job I’ve done”, perhaps because, instead of a freezing Yorkshire hillside, the locations are “every nice stately home in England, seemingly. We’ve been in Grantham, Buckinghamshire — we rock up and are, like, ‘Who lives in this house?’ I feel like I’m on Antiques Roadshow a lot of the time.”

It’s odd, he says, playing someone so present in the public consciousness, but for him, finding that performance “starts with the voice, and then they’ve got teams of researchers and professionals who work on dialect and movement. If you watch footage of the young Charles, there’s this thing — when he turns, he doesn’t turn with his body, he turns with his neck first, in a weird sort of Justin Timberlake-esque dance move. I find it helpful to have an animal to imagine, because it gives a certain pace to someone.”

Er, OK, I wonder, fearing treason, what animal is the Prince of Wales? O’Connor laughs. “I like to think of Charles at the moment as a sort of tortoise, because he puts his neck out. It’s not even that he’s particularly slow, it’s more this idea of inquisitive head first.” This time it wasn’t the hands that helped O’Connor get the role, but the ears — they’re not, in fact, particularly large, but they are sort of swivelled forwards, as if anticipating something of great interest.

O’Connor was more or less ambivalent about the royal family before — although his grandmother takes a keen interest, he says — but since taking over the role he has developed a fascination with and, he admits, an affection for Charles.

“Essentially you have someone whose whole life only comes into focus when his mother dies. That keeps hitting me — he only has meaning when his mum dies. Where does that put a young man? And then you’ve got his relationships — you can’t just get married or be with someone, they have to meet a set of [outside] criteria. That is a lot to get your head around. I’m discovering something every day about him and the world he exists in.” He tells me about a scene he has just done with Derek Jacobi, who plays the Duke of Windsor, formerly Edward VIII. “You’re playing that interaction, and you think, ‘Who does Prince Charles have, at that stage, as a guide?’ ”

Of course, there’s always his mother, played in the new cast by Hollywood’s queen of the moment, Olivia Colman. O’Connor is predictably adoring of the star of The Favourite, which he thinks is “the film of the year”.

“She’s everything that’s said about her. She’s a proper actress and a proper person. Turns up on time, does her job professionally — she’s wicked. It’s great that the world is loving her because we should.”

He is equally gushy about his co-star Emerald Fennell, who will play the young Camilla Shand, later Parker Bowles, and whom he describes as “such a laugh” (series three and four take us up to 1976, so we’ll have to wait a while for the appearance of Lady Diana Spencer — her casting has not been revealed).

He seems to take immense joy in things, which he puts down to “a pretty perfect upbringing” in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, as the middle son of three to John, an English teacher, and Emily, a midwife, both now retired. “I’ve got two lovely brothers and I’ve got cracking parents.” He recalls a phrase improbably culled from the American TV crime drama Ozark — “I’m rephrasing it, but if I were to have kids, and they’re half as proud of me as I am of my parents, then I’m sorted. They’re decent and kind and considerate, and as I’m getting older I’m learning that those qualities are the most important things.”

Inspired by his parents, last year he came up with a manifesto for his career: “Turn up on time, be nice and learn your lines. If everyone just did that in the acting world, everything would be just great.” His younger brother, Seb, is an ecological economist and is doing a PhD; the eldest, Barney, is an artist.

O’Connor lives in east London with his girlfriend, whom he politely declines to name, but hopes that they’ll be able to live predominantly outside London in future. “Drama schools say you have to be in London because that’s where the work is and that’s where the auditions are, but more and more the auditions seem to be tapes, for film and television, so maybe we’ll all move up to Yorkshire.” I’m sure Yorkshire would be delighted, I say. “Yeah, who are all these people with scarves? They’re all wearing scarves!”

Soon, although the release date is uncertain, we’ll see him in another film, Hope Gap, in which he plays the son to parents divorcing later in life (Annette Bening and Bill Nighy). It’s a “tiny little film” written and directed by William Nicholson, who is better known for such epics as Gladiator, Tom Hooper’s Les Misérables and Elizabeth: The Golden Age. It won’t surprise you to learn that O’Connor is unfailingly enthusiastic about it and his co-stars. There’s another film, with a much bigger cast, coming up, he says, but it hasn’t been announced, so he can’t tell me what it is, except that it isn’t Star Wars. He is, of course, very apologetic.

As I’m leaving, something occurs to me — is it indeed him shoving his arm inside a cow in an early scene in God’s Own Country? “Yeah!” he says, with startling enthusiasm. “And that was actually really nice. As you know, it’s incredibly cold in Yorkshire, and it’s incredibly warm in there. You go in through the bum, because there’s a thin membrane between the bum and the womb, and you’re checking to see where the head is. And it’s really comforting to the cow. It’s just really pleasurable because you know you’re caring for this animal, but also you’re, like, at least this arm is warm.”

I think we could all learn something from Josh O’Connor’s outlook on life. Les Misérables continues on Sunday at 9pm on BBC One. The third season of The Crown will be on Netflix this year

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/josh-oconnor-every-actor-should-just-turn-up-on-time-be-nice-and-learn-the-lines-r8bqkcpcb

[omilicevic2025]

Frankenstein Entry 21: (2/7/22)

After watching the Frankenstein film from 1931, I had a lot of questions. 

First off, why did they name him Henry Frankenstein and his friend Victor? 

Is this an alternate reality of what it would be like IF Henry Clerval was the mad scientist instead of Victor Frankenstein from the novel?

I believe that could be one of the reasons because Henry Frankenstein was passionate to talk about his experiments with his friends and family, He also had an assistant to help him. When the creature came to life, he wanted to prove that he isn’t crazy to Elizabeth, the professor, and Victor by letting them see how he brought the creature to life. Henry had hope and reassurance in the creature that he’s made, even though it has the brain of a serial killer. He believed he could teach it how to be a regular citizen. Unlike Victor Frankenstein from the novel, he kept to himself and never spoke with anybody about his experiments, and he did the whole thing solo. He abandoned the creature the minute to stared at him and the creature didn’t even have an abnormal brain! He never told a single soul besides Walton. 

Now, with the creature since I think the whole story is some sort of alternate dimension of Mary Shelley’s novel, I believe it fitted well. However, I was confused with how he became so quick to let out his rage and anger onto people. He started off being so obedient to Henry but when his assistant harassed him with the fire torch, it instantly set the creature off to kill him and anybody who got into his way. I think he should’ve had a redemption arc because I saw that he did have some kindness in his heart when he interacted with the little girl, Marie. 

Marie saw the creature and instantly went up to him and smiled, asking him if he could play with her. The creature followed her and smiled at the kind gestures Marie was sending him, like giving him the flowers and talking kindly to him. When she threw the flowers into the water, this excited the creature almost like a child but when he threw the girl in the water, he knew that he shouldn’t have done that and ran away. I think this happened because the creature was never taught what was right and what was wrong. He was naive that this action would be bad for Marie, but he simply assumed she could float like the flowers too. 

This is very opposite as to what happened when the creature interacted with the little girl in the novel. He stayed hidden when she was running through that area and slipped and fell into the river. The creature threw himself into the water and struggled to make sure to save her. When he brought her back onto land, the rustic saw him and ripped her away from him and shot him. 

I wondered what would’ve happened if the creature from the novel ran into Marie and she asked him to play with her? He probably would’ve felt so grateful for this interaction.

Another question I had in mind was

why was the creature in the film so afraid of fire? 

the creature in the novel was never afraid of fire and he even used it to end his own life. I think since film creature has the serial killer’s brain, it could be that the brain of the serial killer is in fear of going back to Hell and the creature in the novel accepted his fate and knew that Hell’s fire would be the perfect departure for his life. 

Overall, 

the film was amazing, but I personally think the book is so much better because I believe that how people act in the novel is more realistic than it was in the movie.

[emirhanhalil]

🌒 A ghost is whisperin' in your head, “No, you're not home” 🌒

Abdullah and Fadime Halil were newlyweds, young and in love. Abdullah felt lucky to finish university and to obtain a government job as an accountant. When the 1977 elections held no victor; however, he could feel the tensions rise in the city. One by one coworkers fled or disappeared or they asked him for money and favors. Arriving to work to find his desk in disarray and records missing, he called home and instructed Fadime to pack their bags. To his surprise she was quietly already doing so, a terrifying note left on the door. Abdullah, despite the lowly appearance of his job, had come across evidence that could sway support in a coup d’état. His choices were to lose his honor or his life; moreover, failure to decide fast enough would result in his and Fadime’s death.

The decision to seek asylum in the United States was not an easy one, but Abdullah had hoped he could find another accounting job in a big city. Having heard the great New York City immigration stories of old, he thought it would be a nice place to start his new life. It was a long process to be approved to leave Turkey and a longer process still to become U.S. citizens. Abdullah had tried and tried again to find a respectable job as an accountant, but no one would take him, prejudice and politics slammed door after door in his face. With family back home expecting him to pay their way to America too, he took a job as a cab driver and Fadime cleaned houses. After a few smart remarks, Abdullah wiggled his way into an accounting position for the cab company, giving it the opportunity to expand and for him to get the letters of reference he was lacking in his field so that he could get that ‘respectable’ job.

If there was one thing the immigrants never pictured it was a life lived paycheck to paycheck. With time it became more complicated with both of their parents crammed into their one bedroom apartment. While this provided Fadime and Abdullah with free childcare, by the time their third child was on the way, they had enough and Abdullah applied to jobs and pled with people to pass his name along. He did the taxes of people in the building, offered his services for minimal fees for the shops on their streets, and, then he got an unexpected call for a phone interview. The town of Cape Elizabeth, Maine was looking for an assessor and a friend of a friend had heard of him, a hardworking family man looking to get out of the big city. Naturally, they took the plunge.

Moving to Cape Elizabeth proved to be an absolute blessing. The government job provided them with temporary housing until they could buy a home on Abdullah’s new salary. That salary and the cost of living gave them a three level home where the grandparents took the basement, family time was shared in the center, and the upstairs rooms gave a master to Abdullah and Fadime, a soft pink room to their eldest child, Ayşe, a room off equal size and painted green to their middle child, Yasin, and a small nursery to their incoming boy, Emirhan. Unfortunately, life could not be so simple for the Halils and their extended family. On November 3rd, a heavy snow had fallen and as the ambulance took Fadime and Abdullah to the hospital for the birth of Emirhan, the crowded station wagon carrying all four of Emirhan’s grandparents and his two siblings lost control and crashed into the woods. The ambulance drove on, sending out a call for help as the stress sent the couple into further panic.

Only Ayşe and Yasin had survived the crash, but the trauma of sitting in a freezing car with blood and death of their love ones haunted them. Ayşe, who was nearly ten, suffered from night terrors. Yasin, at age six, began to act out or refused to speak at all, and there seemed to be no rhyme or reason behind his extreme mood swings. While Abdullah continued to work, Fadime stayed at home, caring for the children to the best of her ability, and pouring as much hope and love into Emirhan as possible. He seemed, for all intents and purposes, a happy baby. She had tried to have him made aware of his grandparents by wrapping him in their clothes and telling him stories, but once he could crawl he seemed to roam around too much for such things. Fadime packed up the rooms and left little of their memories out, which seemed to help Ayşe and Yasin. Then, Emirhan began to talk and the family was given a great shock.

Despite Ayşe and Yasin speaking solely English, Emirhan’s first words were in Turkish. He would walk to the shelf and touch the pictures and say “Merhaba dede!” or “Seni özledik”. While some parents may have found that sweet, the Halils were staunch Turkish Muslims that believed in Jinn and the Evil Eye. They feared for their son and put talismans in his room and Qu’ran verses in the common areas of the home. As he grew up and became more curious, Emirhan stumbled across the boxes of his grandparents belongings and found himself fascinated by them. He snuck item after item back to his room. Where he found stories and communication in the objects, relaying that to his family had concerning responses. For example, he brought up Dede’s watch and the inscription on the back, a verse about love and how it had been recited at Fadime and Abdullah’s wedding. They were surprised to hear it, but then more concerned when Emirhan looked to his siblings and said Dede wanted Ayşe and Yasin to carry love and happiness in their lives too. Was it wisdom or a curse?

They hoped their son was observant and intuitive, but they scolded him when these things happened in public to strangers. Emirhan learned slowly to keep his psychometry to himself, his own parents refusing to believe it, despite the evidence. The Halil children went through school and were considered to be odd. This led to different lifestyle choices and interests for each of the children, but also increased the bond between them, despite their age differences. However, Emirhan remained the sort of odd child out. Regardless of people believing in Heaven or Hell, ghosts and demons, a spirit world or intuition, Emirhan believed in what he saw or heard and always trusted his gut. In the end, that decision, despite his decision to not discuss his belief in psychometry (once he could put a word to the skill) would save lives and put others at peace.

With no fear of death and little interest in spending an excessive amount of money or time in school, Emirhan chose to be a mortician. However, to prevent being a burden on his father, who was already paying for the tuition of his older siblings, he chose to do so in the military. The idea alone terrified Abdullah and Fadime, but they let him go because they knew he was too strong willed to be told no. With their consent, he enlisted in the United States Navy, completing his training at Fort Lee, Virginia in 2011 before finding out he would immediately be sent to Afghanistan. Emirhan was fluent in Turkish and English, understood Arabic and could read it, and he was competent in Spanish, which he had taken in high school. Knowing he would be going to the Middle East encouraged him to learn Pashto and Dari, two similar languages, and to perfect his Arabic.

On paper, the job description was this: In a small unit of two or three Hospital Corpsmen and with volunteer security or local support, Emirhan would search areas for hasty or unmarked graves, unburied dead, personal effects, and identification media. They would also prepare, preserve, and ship the remains. This meant that he would frequently be in danger and then travel out of Afghanistan to Germany, Korea, or Puerto Rico, depending on the circumstances of his findings. In most cases, his trips were back to Germany and the remains made the next trip without him. As a result, Emirhan decided, after a couple of years of living on the Ramstein Air Base when he wasn’t in Afghanistan, he decided to rent a flat in Frankfurt.

Given the significantly higher rates of PTSD in his field, the military morticians were given longer and more regular periods of leave. Emirhan regularly uses these breaks to attend funerals in the states, leaving letters on the graves of those that have passed, to be found by the families. Passing on what he is given has largely been his way of coping with the terror of the world he lives in, but he does still have moments of overwhelming empathy that have impacted his personal life. From shaking a blind date’s hand and brushing against a bracelet that belonged to her mother, Emir could find himself catching flashes of a person’s personal life or the sorrow of a grandmother long gone. Other times he could be carefully moving through an antique store where his date had insisted they visit so he could get a second chair or more lamps, his fingers could brush the keys of a piano and he could be overwhelmingly compelled to sit and play. Then, despite never having training, if he indulged the urge the tune would come out. His partners had always, eventually, come to the conclusion that he was emotionally unstable or weird.

Despite the difficulties of his job, his interests, and the conflicts with his faith, Emirhan explored the world with hope and optimism. From learning Spanish guitar in Catalonia to praying in the Hagia Sophia before exploring the streets his parents grew up on in Turkey, traveling on the Lattice opened his eyes. Emirhan believes there is a delicate balance of cruelty and love in the world and that through travel, the balance can be tipped for good. While you may see him pausing awkwardly while exploring a museum, crying when he picks up items that spilled out of a stranger’s purse, or rubbing his temple as he tries to recall something he’d just said in a language he doesn’t actually know, Emirhan prides himself in his life having purpose.

[therighteousdingo]

Movie Review: Monster Mania I - Frankenstein (1931)

I’m going to be doing this the right way, with a Monster Mania. Even after Halloween is gone, I’m going to be following a consistency that runs with the monster genre and what better way, and time, than using Frankenstein as the first monster in our series. The legacy behind Frankenstein can’t be disavowed in any way shape or form. It’s the product of costumes, multitudes of sequels, an image that’s known worldwide and spurned the magnificent career of one, Mr. Boris Karloff. 

This movie is a paragon to the modern horror movie. It had the creepy scenery, the melancholy atmosphere, lonely mentality of a monster and the freakish psychology of a mad scientist. The monster is a simply misunderstood, the people are reasonably paranoid, and the scientist is with good intentions. The effects were rather ahead of their time and it even features scenes that were shocking to a lot of people, but this movie was created and released in a Pre-Code Hollywood allowing it to get away with some of the disturbing content for its time. Widely acknowledged as the movie that boosted monster star, Boris Karloff into international stardom. The role of the Frankenstein monster being a difficult role for the 6′3″ Karloff to do, considering the boots were lifted by an extra 3 inches and weighed 11 pounds each. Designed by Jack Pierce, Universal Pictures made sure to buy out the makeup rights to the design behind the Frankenstein Monster. 

The role for the Frankenstein Monster was supposedly given to Bela Lugosi following the success behind another famous Universal Studios monster movie, Dracula (do I smell Monster Mania II?). Following a few failed makeup tests and a lack of enthusiasm for the role from Lugosi, he abandoned the role and it was given to Karloff. This is widely regarded as one of Lugosi’s worse career moves, although Lugosi personally disagreed.

The Plot:

There’s quite a few things that are completely different from the novel written by Mary Shelley so I’ll try to keep those in place whenever I can.

Somewhere in Europe, Henry Frankenstein and his assistant Fritz attempt to build a human being out of body parts exhumed from buried bodies and hung criminals. The novel had Frankenstein named Victor and there wasn’t an assistant, Frankenstein built the monster himself.

Frankenstein sends Fritz to head to Dr. Waldman’s office at a medical school he teaches at, to steal a brain that’s in his possession but accidentally steals a criminal brain.

Frankenstein’s wife, Elizabeth, is worried about Frankenstein because he’s been locking himself away in his laboratory, so she recruits the help of his friend Victor (Actually named Henry in the novel) and Dr. Waldman to try and talk some sense into Frankenstein. 

The next scene is one of the longest lasting scenes in terms of legacy, it features Elizabeth and her crew of others, approaching Frankenstein in his lab as he and Fritz finally create the monster. The scenery is wonderfully dark and classic. It features the sounds of the lightning, the lightning itself and even Colin Clive infamously shouting “It’s alive! It’s alive!”.

Frankenstein boasts to Dr. Waldman about creating life but Waldman tells him that he has only created a monster. Eventually the monster enters into the room in a weird, but chilling and proper intro where he backs into the room and turns around while the camera does chop shots of his face showing off the elegance of Jack Pierce’s makeup work. 

The monster starts to behave Frankenstein who starts giving him simple commands, such as, sitting down in a chair.

Eventually Fritz sets off the monster by seemingly acting jealous over the monster, although he helped Frankenstein create the monster, which presents itself as a slight hole in the story, but the central point in this scene is that the monster doesn’t like fire, which Fritz was wielding.

Fritz starts torturing the monster in a basement cell that they’ve locked the monster into after the scene upstairs, using a whip and a torch. This scene became censored slightly during the beginning of its release. This ends with the monster killing Fritz off screen, who screams and is heard by Frankenstein and Waldman upstairs.

They see the monster has strangled Fritz downstairs and decide that they must suppress him and decide his fate. The scene that follows, in which Frankenstein and Waldman attempt to tranquilize the monster, was heavily edited by Universal Studios due to Waldman using a needle to stab into the back of the monster in order to tranquilize him. The censored version simply didn’t have the needle going into the back of the monster creating confusion because then the monster would seemingly fall down for no reason.

After the encounter, Frankenstein collapses and is eventually taken home by Elizabeth and his father. Waldman ensures Frankenstein that he will destroy the monster while he is gone but is killed by the monster while he attempts to vivisect it and the monster escapes, wreaking havoc on the people around.

The infamous scene that plays next is probably the most censored, and most known scene in the entire movie. The monster comes across a little girl that’s playing next to a creek, throwing petals from dandelions into the water. She shows the monster how to throw the dandelions into the water and watch them float, showing that the monster is actually kindhearted deep down inside and that it didn’t bother her how he looked. Thinking that she could float like the dandelions that they had been throwing into the water, he picks up the little girl and throws her into the water, which unintentionally drowns her. Frightened by what he’s done, he runs away. This scene was extremely disturbing back in the day and was entirely censored in most cases. 

Frankenstein and Elizabeth are about to wed when Victor informs Frankenstein that Waldman has been strangled, all while the monster enters Elizabeth’s room. once she notices him, she shouts, which alerts Frankenstein and Victor; Elizabeth falls unconscious. 

Frankenstein’s father brings Elizabeth into the room that Victor and Henry are in, and declares that she’s been killed by the monster.

The people of the town then lead a massive group to hunt down the monster. Frankenstein comes across the monster while the mob is searching for him and shortly fights with the monster before being subdued, knocked out and carried to a nearby windmill.

The mob hears Frankenstein’s cries and hurry to the windmill just to see the monster throw Frankenstein over the side of the windmill but hits the blade of the mill on the way down, saving his life. The mob sets the mill ablaze and the final scene is Frankenstein’s father rejoicing with Elizabeth and others about Frankenstein’s wedding and the soon-to-be grandchild.

Goodness. The plot behind this movie is pretty solid, despite that little bump in the beginning regarding Fritz’s angry intentions towards the monster. Its deals with the issues of someone wishing to manipulate life and create it, exemplified in Frankenstein yelling that it feels good to feel like God once the monster is successfully created. But it also deals with the issues of loneliness in regards to the monster. The soundtrack to the movie is perfectly fitting behind the wonderful and massive sets that surround the settings of the movie. One of the best scenes is when the mob has set fire to the windmill and there’s a zoom out on the windmill. Another is the instance in which the monster throws Frankenstein over the side and he hits the blade of the windmill on the way down and falls to the ground. These instances, along with the disturbing imagery of the monster being tortured and killing the little girl, are moments in which the movie was just simply beyond its time and perfect for the time frame that it was released. Although the golden age of films and horror movies was approaching its heyday, this movie helped clear the main path for any monster, horror, B-movie following it. Colin Clive steals the show, in some ways, with the way he acts as Henry Frankenstein and makes it deem as though he truly believes that he is godly and wanting to create new life. From the way he staunchly defends the monster and its creation to the way that he freakishly expresses his emotions when the monster is finally created. But Boris obviously is a fantastic actor when it comes to being a silent, lumbering strong monster. He grunts but expresses perfectly through these grunts and facial movements that make you sympathize with him although he unintentionally causes of all this havoc. 

You can’t question the impact of this movie in any way. It helped prove that horror movies can be easily as cinematic as movies outside of that spectrum and this was in a time before Wizard of Oz. The imagery and wonder of this movie stands to this day, so with that,

9.5 / 10

[walterfilmmemorabilia-blog]

Five Gay Actors in Mid-Century Hollywood

BY DAVID EHRENSTEIN

Now that gay actors like Nathan Lane, Jim Parsons, Victor Garber, Jonathan Groff, and Neil Patrick Harris are “out of the closet” and on the rise, it’s hard to imagine just how different things were in the relatively recent past. Not only was the notion of being openly gay and having a viable career unimaginable, but gayness itself was also a concept polite society couldn’t countenance. “Homosexuals” subsisted on society’s margins, mentioned only in whispered gossip, fearsome psychiatric studies, and Conservative diatribes decrying perversion.

HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT

Still, in spite of it all, gay men managed to make their way to very top of the acting profession in the gilded closets of Hollywood. In this covert context, bigtime careers and personal lives proceeded with a calculated risk that can fascinate us today. Here are five of the most noteworthy examples of gay actors in mid-Century Hollywood.

LIBERACE

Liberace was an utterly unique entertainer. A pianist whose act consisted of an abbreviated arrangement of select “classical” tunes (Chopin, Tchaikovsky) freely mixed with popular “favorites” that he’d sometimes sing along with. In addition, he offered a steady stream of cheerful patter about show business and his extravagant wardrobe. For Liberace wore jewel-encrusted suits, floor-length fake furs, sequined hot pants and any number of other attention-getting ensembles of the sort that might give a “RuPaul’s Drag Race” contestant pause. “I’ll be right back after I slip into something more spectacular,” he’d quip before taking a break in his program. This decidedly un-macho attitude won him a legion of devoted female fans. So enchanted were they by this act that few were inclined to object to Liberace’s sexual orientation being “Hidden in Plain Sight”. This vintage half-sheet poster for one of his most prominent theatrical features Sincerely Yours (1955) It’s a cheerily idealized picture of “Lee” as his intimates called him, and how he saw himself.

There he is at the piano with two attractive women gazing adoringly at him. A remake of the 1932 George Arliss-starred drama The Man Who Played God,  Sincerely Yours was a deeply serious film. It stood in sharp contrast to the frivolity of Liberace’s stage and nightclub act. In almost all his other film appearances, he “guest-starred” as himself performing his act. The most notable exception is The Loved One (1965) Tony Richardson’s darkly comic adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s satire of the funeral industry. Part of its all-star cast, Liberace gives a marvelously witty performance as luxury coffin salesman who’s subtly yet obviously gay.

Back in 1956, Liberace successfully sued William Conner, a British entertainment columnist, who went by the pen name “Cassandra,” for calling him a “mincing fruit-flavored, ice-cream colored heap of mother-love.” What’s most interesting about the case is that on the stand, Liberace denied that he indulged in homosexual practices. “Never in my life,” he lied. And he maintained this lie for the rest of his life. After being sued for palimony by ex-lover Scott Thorson in 1982, it was rather pointless to maintain the claim. Liberace tried but it didn’t work. After Thorsen left him, the Mainstream press revealed that Liberace had contracted the HIV virus. He lied about this, too; on his deathbed, he claimed his illness was the consequence of a “Watermelon diet.” Yet despite this mendacity, Liberace was well-liked within the show business community and regarded with no small degree of affection by the general public. The serious critical reception given to two of the postmortem Liberace biopic for television Liberace: Behind the Music (1988) with gay Victor Garber and a screenplay by the gay Gavin Lambert, and Behind the Candelabra (2011) with the straight Michael Douglas and Matt Damon, directed by the equally straight Steven Soderbergh reflects his popularity.

In October of the previous year, the “Liberace Museum” in Las Vegas, which exhibited his jewelry, pianos, gowns, and other artifacts, closed its doors. But even as the museum closed the biopics prove, no doors will close on the public’s abiding fascination in this rara avis of show biz.

ROCK HUDSON

Rock Hudson was one of Hollywood’s biggest male stars. The fact that he’s represented here by paper dolls is not at all inappropriate as he was one of the most unreal yet compelling of all Hollywood icons.

Handsome, forcefully pleasant yet intriguingly remote, he went from contract player to superstar in 1954 with two Douglas Sirk directed dramas Magnificent Obsession and All That Heaven Allows. Their producer, Ross Hunter (who was also gay) cannily cast the young actor alongside veteran star Jane Wyman in both films, thus winning the heart of older female moviegoers enamored of good-looking young men. He went on to greater glory in George Stevens’ modern Texas spectacular Giant (1959) with Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean, then made a wildly successful career shift in 1959 when he co-starred with Doris Day in Pillow Talk  a lightly sophisticated comedy that showcased his playful side. More such comedies followed.

Meanwhile, way behind the scenes, the scandal press, particularly Confidential magazine, was doing its best to out Hudson, offering former lovers considerable sums of money to spill the beans. None would. But the truth about Hudson’s sexual orientation was in the air well before the mainstream media revealed it postmortem. Even before social media, stories were shared within the culture to a degree. Therefore, it was determined that he would marry. He wed Phyllis Gates, the secretary of his gay manager Henry Willson, in 1956. It lasted only two years, but it served its purpose., Still it didn’t forestall a joke rumor that he had married his friend, singer-actor Jim Nabors (who was also gay but not closeted) from making the rounds.

Hudson shifted from film to television in the 1970s with the detective series McMillan and Wife. In the 80’s he appeared on the glossy nighttime soap opera Dynasty.  But he did not stay long as he had contracted AIDS. When he died in 1985 after returning from a trip to Paris where he’s hoped to find a cure, Hudson became the disease’s most celebrated victim. A direct result was his friend Elizabeth Taylor devoting the rest of her life to raising funds to help AIDS-sufferers and finding a cure for the disease. His last public appearance was on his friend Doris Day’s afternoon talk show where his physical debilitation was so stark she declined to show the episode until after his death — which was only a few months later. As with Scott Thorson, Hudson’s ex-lover Mark Christian sued his estate on the grounds of “intentional infliction of emotional distress,” claiming Hudson continued to have sex knowing that he was HIV positive. He won the case in court but did not succeed in tarnishing Hudson’s reputation.

TAB HUNTER

Tab Hunter was also a client of Henry Willson, who, as he did with Hudson, gave him his stage name. Unlike Hudson, Hunter had a less troubled personal life and never saw fit to marry a woman for cover, though he went on studio-arranged dates with starlets. Among them, Natalie Wood who became a close personal friend. As can be seen in this vintage photo portrait, he was strikingly beautiful.

He also had a thoroughly ingratiating personality — which was of great help when his career hit what could have been a significant speed-bump. In 1950, he was arrested along with a group of other gay men for Disorderly Conduct when the police raided a private party, which was not an uncommon circumstance. His career began shortly afterwards with a few small roles. But when cast for his biggest role up to that time in Battle Cry (1956), Confidential ran a story about the vice arrest, displaying his rap sheet. Warner Bros. did not lose it’s cool over this. Confidential was, after all, a sleazy little rag, and the article was about the arrest of someone named Arthur Gelien — not Tab Hunter. Warner Bros. knew Hunter did not typically cause trouble by involving himself in scandals. He was happy to go on arranged dates with starlets. At one point, he cleverly avoided orientation detection by going on double-dates with his then-lover Anthony Perkins. His other romantic partners over the years included dancer Rudolph Nureyev. While he turned in fine performances in hit films ranging from Damn Yankees to That Kind of Woman and They Came To Cordura the 1960s his Hollywood career faded, and he did stage and television work. He starred opposite Tallulah Bankhead in Tennessee Williams’ The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore, transvestite superstar Divine in John Waters’ Polyester and Paul Bartel’s Western spoof Lust in the Dust. Quite matter-of-fact about his gayness by then, Tab told all in a book and documentary movie Tab Hunter Confidential. He was married to Alan Glaser, his lover of 35 years at the time of his death

ANTHONY PERKINS

Anthony Perkins  was very beautiful…

but most famous for being frightening as the sympathetic serial killer “Norman Bates” in Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece Psycho, (he went on to repeat this role in three inferior sequels), Perkins was a remarkably talented and wide-ranging performer whose credits include The Trial, Pretty Poison, Play It As It Lays and Remember My Name  in which he co-starred with his wife, photographer Berry Berenson. Perkins came quite late to marriage (1973) having spent the better part of his life as a closeted but a somewhat freewheeling gay man whose lovers included (the previously noted) Tab Hunter, actor-dancer Grover Dale, Rudolph Nureyev (who certainly got around), and Stephen Sondheim, with whom he co-scripted the comedy-thriller The Last of Sheila.

Sondheim also wrote the TV musical Evening Primrose for Perkins (a fine singer), in which he does this memorable number.

Perkins and Berenson were happy together for many years. They had two sons, one of whom has become an actor OZ Perkins.

It was, to all appearances, a happy marriage. Yet Perkins continued to have gay liaisons — so dangerous that he contracted HIV and died of AIDS. Just as tragically, Berry Berenson was in one of the planes that struck the World Trade center on 9/11.

GEORGE MAHARIS

George Maharis has enjoyed a long career. But for all the different roles he’s played on stage and screen, he’s most famous for the TV series Route 66. It was obviously inspired by Jack Kerouac’s On the Road. But Maharis and co-star Martin Milner played the most buttoned-down “bohemians” ever seen — riding their sports car from place to place and interacting with people in a style more like that of friendly grocery clerks than beatniks.

Maharis had a difficult time being his gay self, being obliged, as all actors were at that time, to stay in the closet. Arrested twice for having sex with men in restrooms (1967 and 1974), Maharis still managed to secure work up until 1993. At 92, he is officially retired and is still quite the looker.

OUR GUEST AUTHOR

DAVID EHRENSTEIN

Born in 1947, David Ehrenstein has been a film critic and political commentator since 1965, writing for such publications as Film Culture, Film Quarterly, Cahiers du Cinema, and the Los Angeles Times. His books include Open Secret: Gay Hollywood 1928-2000,  The Scorsese Picture: The Art and Life of Martin Scorsese and Cahiers du Cinema — Masters of Cinema: Roman Polanski .

Blog is originally published at: https://www.walterfilm.com/five-gay-actors-in-mid-century-hollywood/

It is republished with permission from the author.

[twentiethcenturymoviesandtv]

Frankenstein: The Story

Before Frankenstein even starts, the movie wants you to know that it isn’t messing around.  This isn’t a horror-comedy, or a mildly spooky drama.  This is a horror story, make no mistake.

The film opens up in a rather unconventional way.  Edward Van Sloan, who plays Dr. Waldman in the film, appears from behind a curtain in order to directly address the audience:

“How do you do? Mr. Carl Laemmle feels it would be a little unkind to present this picture without just a word of friendly warning. We’re about to unfold the story of Frankenstein, a man of science who sought to create a man after his own image without reckoning upon God. It is one of the strangest tales ever told. It deals with the two great mysteries of creation: life and death. I think it will thrill you. It may shock you. It might even horrify you. So if any of you feel that you do not care to subject your nerves to such a strain, now is your chance to, uh… Well, we’ve warned you.”

After this genial warning, Mr. Van Sloan steps back behind the curtain, and the music starts over the credits.  (This is the only time music will play during the film.)

The film opens proper this time, appropriately enough, in a graveyard.

The scene is a funeral, a sad occasion over which church bells are heard ringing.  Fittingly enough, the story of Frankenstein already is focused on death, and so is our possible main character.

Enter Dr. Henry Frankenstein. (Colin Clive) (Spoilers below)

Frankenstein waits outside the graveyard, alongside his hunchback assistant, Fritz (Dwight Frye), for the mourners to leave, and for the gravedigger to finish up.  As soon as the cemetery is deserted, the gruesome twosome move in, using their own tools to dig up the grave again, removing the coffin.  As they do, Frankenstein manically murmurs this:

“He’s just resting. Waiting for a new life to come.”

With that, the pair put the coffin on a wheelbarrow, and head off.  They stop at a gallows, where Frankenstein tells Fritz to clamber up and cut the body down.  Reluctantly, Fritz obeys.  The doctor examines the body, before proclaiming it useless.

“The neck’s broken. The brain is useless. We must find another brain.”

He’s 2 for 2 on the ominous foreshadowing, despite the fact that that’s not how neuroscience works.

Fritz, in a quest to find another brain, hides outside a medical college, where he listens to Dr. Waldman (Edward Van Sloan) teaching a seminar about brains.  He has two specimens: one, a perfect example of a model brain, and the other, the brain of a criminal.

After class is dismissed, Fritz sneaks into the classroom, intending to steal the well-adjusted brain.  At first, it looks like success, but a loud noise startles him, and he drops it.  Panicked, Fritz grabs the brain labeled: ‘Abnormal Brain’ and takes off.

Meanwhile, we are introduced to a few new characters: Elizabeth (Mae Clark), Henry’s fiancee, and Victor (John Boles), friend of Henry and Elizabeth.  Elizabeth has just received word from Henry for the first time in four months.  She reads the letter out loud to Victor, who explains that he is in the middle of an amazing discovery, and is working on his experiments in hiding in an abandoned watchtower, where they can remain secret.  

Elizabeth explains that she sent for Victor because she is worried about Henry, saying that he’s talking as though he’s crazy.  She also says that she’s heard him talk about these experiments before, and that when they were first engaged, Henry was happy to tell her about them, but now acts as though everything is a great mystery.  

Victor agrees that Henry’s acting strangely.  He tells Elizabeth that the last time he ran into Henry and asked to see the lab, Henry got very defensive.

So far, the movie really isn’t selling the audience on Henry.  Not many good traits for this guy if we’re being honest.

At this moment, Victor tells Elizabeth that he is in love with her, which doesn’t help the situation at all.  This is not the first time he has done this, but Elizabeth is already engaged to aforementioned mad-scientist.  

Victor also says that he will go track down Dr. Waldman (remember him?) who was Henry’s mentor, to see if he knows anything about Henry’s behavior.  Elizabeth runs after him, determined to go along, and the two set off.

The two arrive at Waldman’s office and begin discussing Henry and his odd behavior.  Waldman admits that Henry is brilliant, but he’s also erratic, possessing an “insane ambition to create life”.  Waldman also explains that Henry had wanted actual human corpses for his experiments

“You do not quite get what I mean. Herr Frankenstein was interested only in human life. First, to destroy it; then, recreate it. There you have his - mad dream.”

The university obviously wouldn’t allow the use of human corpses, and so Henry left, in order to pursue graverobbing for his experiments.  More worried than ever, Elizabeth convinces Waldman to accompany them to find Henry and bring him to his senses.

Henry, as it turns out, is inside his watchtower where a mighty storm is brewing.  It’s dark, there’s a thunder and lightning storm growing, and inside, Henry is busy about his laboratory, full of crackling electric gadgets and a table, on which lies a figure, with a cloth lying over it and bandages wrapped around its head, inside which is the brain that Fritz had stolen.

“The brain you stole, Fritz. Think of it. The brain of a dead man waiting to live again in a body I made with my own hands! With my own hands.”

As Henry prepares his experiment (powered by electricity, hence the storm), there is a knock at the door, interrupting him at his work.  Irritated, he sends Fritz down to send whoever is there away.  Upon realizing that Elizabeth is at the door, Henry changes his mind, and lets her, Victor, and Waldman in, albeit reluctantly.  He tries to persuade them to leave, but is stopped short when Victor accuses him of being crazy.

“Crazy, am I? We’ll see whether I’m crazy or not.”

Taking the accusation as a challenge, Henry brings his unexpected guests upstairs to the lab to witness his experiment.  He forces Victor and Elizabeth to sit, chases Waldman away from the hidden body, and describes his experiment.

In short, Henry has discovered a ray that is the foundation of life, and that he has created a body, stitched together from other corpses, super large, super strong.

Without further ado, Henry launches into the most famous scene of cinema history.  He starts up the equipment as the storm begins to rage, and the table holding Henry’s creation rises up the tower towards a skylight, where the thunder and lightning crash and flash.  Slowly, Henry brings the body back down, and the hand of his creation begins to move.

Say it with me:

“Look! It’s moving. It’s alive. It’s alive… It’s alive, it’s moving, it’s alive, it’s alive, it’s alive, it’s alive, IT’S ALIVE!”

In his euphoria, Henry compares himself to God, and in shock and horror, the others restrain him.

Weirdly enough, at this point, the movie decides to put itself on hold.

After an emotional, tension filled high point, one of the most famous scenes in movie history, the film decides that, rather than show you Frankenstein’s creation, to take you instead to the home of Baron Frankenstein, Henry’s father, and a conversation with Elizabeth and Victor.

The movie has been moving at a pretty good clip up to this point, albeit with rather sparse ‘monster’ action.  We don’t see Frankenstein putting his creature together, we only see the before and after, and now we don’t even get to see the after.  The sequence interrupting the ‘good stuff’ seems to come in, interrupting a continuous flow.

Henry’s father is also worried about him (it seems to be a pattern), but refuses to believe Elizabeth’s claims that he’s just tired.  The Baron believes there’s something legitimately wrong with him, and that he’s involved with another woman.  At this point, the Baron isn’t sure if there’s even going to be a wedding between his son and Elizabeth, which is unfortunate, since the whole town is preparing for it.

The Baron makes a decision: he’s going to go visit Henry now, too.

See, as it turns out, Henry hasn’t left the watchtower.  He’s still with his experiment, and so is Waldman.

Waldman, for his part, isn’t in the slightest happy about Henry’s experiment.  He explains that the ‘monster’ is dangerous, but Henry isn’t buying it.

“Dangerous? Poor old Waldman. Have you never wanted to do anything that was dangerous? Where should we be if no one tried to find out what lies beyond? Have you never wanted to look beyond the clouds and the stars, or to know what causes the trees to bud? And what changes the darkness into light? But if you talk like that, people call you crazy. Well, if I could discover just one of these things, what eternity is, for example, I wouldn’t care if they did think I was crazy.”

Waldman explains that the brain that Henry used was a criminal brain.  Henry looks disconcerted for a moment, but brushes it off, ignoring Waldman’s pleas to stop experimenting.

“I’ve got to experiment further. He’s only a few days old, remember. So far he’s been kept in complete darkness. Wait till I bring him into the light.”

As he finishes speaking, heavy footsteps are heard in the hallway.  Henry shuts off the light, casting the dark room into further shadow, as a towering figure steps, backwards, through the doorway.  It turns, slowly, facing the camera, with a dead, blank expression.

You already know what he looks like.

Henry tells the creature (Boris Karloff) to come in and sit down.  The creature, although mute, seems to understand him, obeying as Henry rolls back the skylight.

The monster stands, looking up, and raises his hands to the sky, trying to touch the light.  The expression comes to life, full of curiosity-

And Henry closes the light again.

The monster halts, looking dejected, as Henry gleefully brags about his creation.

Right here, we as an audience have been told a lot of information about a lot of people.

There’s Elizabeth, the loving fiancee, Victor, the concerned friend, Waldman, the dismayed mentor, and Baron Frankenstein, blustering father, but when you boil it right down, the audience’s concern lies with two characters: Henry and the monster.

We know that Henry is a raging egomaniac, who is determined to make his mark on scientific discovery.  He is proud of what he has done, to the point of hysteria, and has become so absorbed with his work that he has neglected family, friends, and his fiancee, to the point where he has driven them all to worry about him.  He’s obsessed with his creation, with his apparent success.

And the creature?

As famous and magnificent as the laboratory scene is, the scene where the monster first sees the light is almost as well-known, and with good reason.  Arguably just as important, this sequence gives the audience some very important information about the creature: he is not inherently a ‘monster’.  His expression is not that of a vicious beast, but a curious child.  His backwards lumber into the room and straining to touch the light stirs an emotion out of the audience: not fear, but pity.

Hold onto that, we’ll be coming back to that shortly.

After the monster sits back down, Fritz comes tearing into the room with a lighted torch, brandishing it at the creature.  The creature, naturally frightened, goes into a bit of a frenzy, barely restrained by Henry and Waldman.  The two scientists tie him up, and Waldman, more resolute than ever in his stance that the creature is dangerous, tells Frankenstein that he must destroy the monster.

The two scientists move the creature to the cellar, where Fritz continues to torment him, beating him with a whip and antagonizing him with the torch.

Upstairs, Henry and Waldman hear a bloodcurdling shriek, and rush downstairs, where they discover the monster, free, and Fritz, strangled.

The pair manage to get out of the cellar and close the door behind them, but it won’t hold for long.  The monster’s superior strength comes to bear as he struggles to smash down the door.

Henry, horrified at his own creation, reluctantly agrees with Waldman’s assertion that the monster must be destroyed, and allows Waldman to go up for a needle for a hypodermic injection.  After Waldman returns, the pair open the door, and as the creature attacks Henry, Waldman injects the monster in the back with the needle.  After a tense moment, the drug takes effect, and the monster slumps to the ground, unconscious.

Waldman and Frankenstein hide the body of the creature as they hear a banging on the door: Victor, warning Henry that Elizabeth and Henry’s father are on the way, right behind him.  Henry goes upstairs to clean the blood off of him.

When Elizabeth and Baron Frankenstein do arrive, they find Henry, collapsed from exhaustion in his lab, muttering mournfully about Fritz.  They decide to take him home, and Waldman promises Henry that he will preserve Henry’s research, and destroy the monster.

While Henry is taken home and helped to recover, Waldman sets about dissecting the creature.  Before he can get started, the sedative wears off, and the creature wakes up.  Seeing the doctor bending over him with sharp tools, the creature strangles Waldman, gets up, and wanders out of the watchtower, now loose across the countryside.

The story takes a little bit of a skip now.  Henry is recovered, and it is the day of his wedding to Elizabeth.  His father, the Baron, hands Henry and Victor orange blossoms, family tradition for weddings, and toasts the wedding, remarking about his hope for a future son of Frankenstein.

An interesting comment.  More on that later.

Meanwhile, the creature’s wanderings have taken him to a forest, relatively close to civilization.  There, he stumbles upon a girl named Maria, who is playing by the side of a lake.

Instead of being frightened at his appearance, the girl approaches the creature and invites him to play with her, bringing him down by the water as well.  She gives him a flower, which he reacts to with a look of genuine happiness.

Maria offers up an interesting look at how people approach the creature.  Up until this moment, he has been contained, tortured, and treated as an experiment at best, and a monster at worst.  This is the first time that anyone has treated him as anything close to ‘human’, and it’s a touching moment.

Unfortunately, this is a horror film, and we have to take a sharp left turn into disaster.  Or at least, tragedy.

See, Maria teaches the creature a game where they toss flowers into the water, demonstrating how they float.  Once the creature runs out of flowers, he tosses Maria in, not really understanding why that’s not acceptable.  As it turns out, Maria can’t swim.

Her floundering in the water frightens the creature, and, clearly upset, he runs away.

The scene switches once more to wedding preparations.  Elizabeth, already in her wedding gown, asks to speak to Henry privately, as she’s feeling rather uneasy.  As a matter of fact, she’s downright afraid.  She explains to Henry that she’s not sure why she’s afraid, but she is concerned for Waldman, and asks why he’s late.  She adds that she’s very afraid of losing Henry, but he reassures her that he’s not going anywhere.

The touching moment is interrupted by Victor, banging on the door, shouting about Waldman.  He’s been found, dead, in the watchtower where Henry had been working.  Henry locks Elizabeth in a room and rushes out, knowing that the monster must be loose.  He and Victor begin searching the house for the creature, all the while thinking that at least Elizabeth is somewhat safe.

Elizabeth is pacing the room, very nervous.  I can’t blame her.

As she paces, the monster comes through the window of the house, stalking her down.  Elizabeth screams, and tries to escape, but of course, Henry locked the door in his most brilliant move since reanimating the dead.  The monster gets out the way he came in, and Henry bursts in to find Elizabeth unhurt, but hysterical.

Henry proclaims that he cannot get married until his creation is destroyed, and leaves Elizabeth in Victor’s care while he leaves to track down the monster.

“I made him with these hands, and with these hands I will destroy him. I must find him.”

Meanwhile, interrupting the wedding festivities outside, a grief-stricken father carries the body of his little girl, Maria, into the town.  The townspeople, now subdued, follow him as the father approaches the Burgomaster, proclaiming that his daughter has been murdered.  (This is perhaps the one plot hole that I have the hardest time getting around, as if she’d been drowned, there’s no way the father could have figured she’d have been murdered.)

Still, it’s enough to get the townspeople in a riot.

The Burgomaster organizes the mob, splitting it into three groups and putting Henry in charge of one.  The mob storms off, armed with torches and pitchforks (what else?).

Henry’s group spots the monster, and stumbles upon an injured man who points them in the direction of the creature.  

Naturally, Henry gets separated from the rest of the group while up on a mountain, and, of course, runs into his creation.

Frankenstein tries to scare the creature with his torch, but the monster is well past the fear of fire by now.  He lunges at Henry, they struggle, and the monster knocks him unconscious, dragging him away.  

The creature takes Henry into a windmill, pursued by the mob of angry villagers.  As the monster lugs Henry up to the second story, the search party tries to break the door down.

Henry wakes up, and narrowly escapes another attack by the creature, hiding behind mill machinery before entering another losing grappling match with the creature.  After a brief struggle, Henry falls from the mill, unconscious.

Some of the search party stop to take Henry home, as the rest light the mill on fire.

The monster remains trapped in the flaming building, under a fallen beam, terrified and alone.

With the monster presumed dead, Henry begins recovering again, under the care of Elizabeth at his home.  His father, the Baron Frankenstein, breaks out the old wine for the wedding and makes another toast: a toast to the son of Frankenstein.

Cue closing credits.

The story of Frankenstein is not a long one, clocking in at just over an hour and ten minutes.  On a rewatch, it can seem like there isn’t even that much of the monster.  Instead, we spend a lot of time with the creator of the creature, watching him prepare for his wedding.  We even get a few scenes with Elizabeth and other supporting characters.  

At first, these scenes really seem to slow the story down.  The odd placement of a few scenes with Henry’s friends and family worrying about his sanity sprinkled in-between the monster’s creation sequences can seem to abruptly grind the movie to a halt as the audience is forced to sit back from the edge of their seats.  I mean, what is this story about, anyway?  Reanimating the dead or Henry’s wedding?

More specifically, who is this story supposed to be about?

That’s kind of the problem, isn’t it?  

The easy answer is to say that Frankenstein as a film is focused on Frankenstein as a man.  The scientist, bent on playing God, creating a monster and forced to destroy it.  Frankenstein, the son, the fiance, the student, the friend.

By the same token, it’s equally as simple to claim that the focus of the story is on the monster.

The mute creation of a madman, the childish brute who never asked to be made, who was never shown any kindness.  The lonely monster, tortured and brutalized for being ugly, condemned for the sins of his creator.  The monster, the son of Frankenstein.

Typically, finding the protagonist of a film isn’t that hard.  Luke Skywalker, Rocky Balboa, Dorothy Gale, are all easily presented as who the story is about, the person who pushes the action forward.  But unfortunately, protagonists aren’t as easy to spot in every case.

Protagonists, as it turns out, aren’t always at the center of the story.  In our study of Ladyhawke (nearly a year ago!), we discovered that sometimes, the protagonist and the character that the audience spends the most time with aren’t necessarily the same person.  In Running Scared, there are two protagonists, but only one major one.  In our analysis of Psycho, we discussed the fact that the protagonist doesn’t even have to be a hero.  

That’s certainly the case with Frankenstein.

Whichever way you slice it, there is no ‘hero’ in Frankenstein.  Neither monster nor man saves the day.  The climax, presented as a victory to the townspeople, is a tragedy: the creature, beaten and hated for his entire short life, is seemingly burnt alive, trapped, rejected by his creator.

This is not a happy ending.  But then again, it’s not a happy story.  It started with digging up corpses in a graveyard, remember?

It turns out, when you think back over the events of the film, it’s actually pretty easy to spot the protagonist.

When it comes to ‘spotting’ the protagonist in Frankenstein, it’s less an analysis of the actions taken by specific characters, and more the ‘blame game’.  Who’s fault is most of the story?  Is it the monster, for killing?  Is it Fritz, for antagonizing him unprovoked?  Waldman’s, for mentoring Henry in the first place?

Rather grimly, looking back over the course of events in the story and determining who is to blame gives us our protagonist.  It is, of course, Henry Frankenstein.

Henry Frankenstein is far from heroic, but he is responsible for nearly every action taken by every character in the story, from his friends checking up on him to his creation wreaking havoc.  It is his blind arrogance and refusal to take into account the consequences of his actions that lead to so much suffering, and, ironically, death.  Henry is bent on achieving the impossible, and in doing so, nearly dooms much of the main cast.  He digs up the graves.  He creates the monster.

Worst of all, he’s the one who won’t give the creature what he needs most: love.

For all intents and purposes, the creature is the son of Frankenstein, his creation.  Henry has been nothing but an active character up until the point where he creates the monster, and after that, he suddenly becomes passive.  His goal accomplished, he doesn’t treat the monster like a person, but a successful experiment.  He halfheartedly scolds Fritz for tormenting him, but doesn’t actively try to stop him.  Through his carelessness, he gives the monster none of the attention he needs, and as a result, the monster is treated terribly at worst, and with indifference or scientific curiosity at best.

Once people start dying, Henry wakes up a little bit.  His growth, his character arc, comes in the form of self-realization, of owning up and accepting blame for what he’s done.  After he realizes his guilt, he does something about it, going after the monster and trying to ‘right’ his wrong by destroying it.  

While still not exactly a heroic figure, at the very least, Henry does change by the end of the story.  And isn’t that what protagonists are supposed to do?

Yes, it is.

But there’s another character we’re leaving out of this equation.

The idea of the monster being a reflection, or another side, of Frankenstein is not a new one.  It’s an idea that’s frequently discussed and analyzed by plenty of experts.  Right now, though, we’re not looking at the monster as a reflection of Frankenstein.  We’re looking at him as a creation, as a son.

See, Henry isn’t the only person that changes throughout the story.  While Henry goes from mad monster to man, the creature has a reverse progression.

Throughout the first part of his existence, the creature is a passive character.  He is acted upon, created through no will of his own, and then tormented for no good reason.  He is a curious creature, a being that demonstrates a childlike joy at the world around him.

The creature doesn’t truly become a ‘monster’ until more than halfway through the film.  He kills Fritz, only because he tormented him.  He kills Waldman while the doctor is trying to dissect him.  In his early moments, the monster reacts to people trying to harm him, rather than lashing out, unprovoked.  His interaction with light, and people who aren’t cruel to him, demonstrate the monster’s potential true nature: a gentle giant.

When the monster breaks out of the tower and meets Maria, there is no hostility.  He is genuinely happy, enjoying interaction with the first person to show him genuine kindness.  Her death is an accident, the result of his misunderstanding, causing him great distress.

After that, a switch is flipped.  It is here that he goes after Elizabeth, (though not harming her) and attacks Henry after Henry pursues him.  At this point, it can be argued that the creature truly becomes the monster…but it’s hard to say that it’s his fault.

We as an audience don’t know what’s going on in the monster’s head at this point.  He can’t speak to tell us.  But it’s not a large leap of logic to wonder if the monster might be blaming his misery on Henry and the others in his life as well.  And in the end, he is seemingly killed, abandoned by his uncaring creator and shunned by a world who mistreated him without cause.

No matter who Frankenstein is about, it’s a sad story.  It’s also a good story.

Frankenstein learns his lesson, repents from playing God, and fixes his mistake.  The monster dies.  All of the human, ‘non monster’ characters live happily ever after.  (Until Bride of Frankenstein.)  Good…wins?

There’s no line drawn, no sides of ‘good or evil’ in Frankenstein.  The story is not good guy vs. bad guy, no good vs. evil, just a creator and his creation, the tragedy of a man too arrogant to realize the blasphemy of his actions, and the creature he made, turned into a monster due to mistreatment and misunderstanding.  

It’s sad, yes.  It’s also a satisfying ending.

It ties up loose ends.  It answers the questions.  It gives everyone an ending, happy or not.

While Frankenstein does have some plot holes, overall, it’s a tight story.  More importantly, it’s an emotional story, and a smart story.  It brings up questions of morality, of nature vs. nurture, and of what we perceive as monstrous.  It’s a gripping story with a great atmosphere, an iconic look, and immortal characters, setpieces, scenes and dialogue that have been remembered for almost ninety years for a reason.  It’s an iconic film, a memorable masterpiece of simple, but smart, storytelling, constantly driving at an emotional core that still holds up to this day.

A toast to the son of Frankenstein.

In the articles ahead, we’re going to be taking a look at some of the other important elements to the story of Frankenstein, so if you enjoyed this one, stick around and join us!  Don’t forget that my ask box is always open for questions, requests, comments, or just a conversation.  Thanks so much for reading, and I hope to see you in the next article.

[readbookywooks]

We were brought up together; there was not quite a year difference in our ages. I need not say that we were strangers to any species of disunion or dispute. Harmony was the soul of our companionship, and the diversity and contrast that subsisted in our characters drew us nearer together. Elizabeth was of a calmer and more concentrated disposition; but, with all my ardour, I was capable of a more intense application and was more deeply smitten with the thirst for knowledge. She busied herself with following the aerial creations of the poets; and in the majestic and wondrous scenes which surrounded our Swiss home - the sublime shapes of the mountains, the changes of the seasons, tempest and calm, the silence of winter, and the life and turbulence of our Alpine summers - she found ample scope for admiration and delight. While my companion contemplated with a serious and satisfied spirit the magnificent appearances of things, I delighted in investigating their causes. The world was to me a secret which I desired to divine. Curiosity, earnest research to learn the hidden laws of nature, gladness akin to rapture, as they were unfolded to me, are among the earliest sensations I can remember. On the birth of a second son, my junior by seven years, my parents gave up entirely their wandering life and fixed themselves in their native country. We possessed a house in Geneva, and a campagne on Belrive, the eastern shore of the lake, at the distance of rather more than a league from the city. We resided principally in the latter, and the lives of my parents were passed in considerable seclusion. It was my temper to avoid a crowd and to attach myself fervently to a few. I was indifferent, therefore, to my school-fellows in general; but I united myself in the bonds of the closest friendship to one among them. Henry Clerval was the son of a merchant of Geneva. He was a boy of singular talent and fancy. He loved enterprise, hardship, and even danger for its own sake. He was deeply read in books of chivalry and romance. He composed heroic songs and began to write many a tale of enchantment and knightly adventure. He tried to make us act plays and to enter into masquerades, in which the characters were drawn from the heroes of Roncesvalles, of the Round Table of King Arthur, and the chivalrous train who shed their blood to redeem the holy sepulchre from the hands of the infidels. No human being could have passed a happier childhood than myself. My parents were possessed by the very spirit of kindness and indulgence. We felt that they were not the tyrants to rule our lot according to their caprice, but the agents and creators of all the many delights which we enjoyed. When I mingled with other families I distinctly discerned how peculiarly fortunate my lot was, and gratitude assisted the development of filial love. My temper was sometimes violent, and my passions vehement; but by some law in my temperature they were turned not towards childish pursuits but to an eager desire to learn, and not to learn all things indiscriminately. I confess that neither the structure of languages, nor the code of governments, nor the politics of various states possessed attractions for me. It was the secrets of heaven and earth that I desired to learn; and whether it was the outward substance of things or the inner spirit of nature and the mysterious soul of man that occupied me, still my inquiries were directed to the metaphysical, or in it highest sense, the physical secrets of the world. Meanwhile Clerval occupied himself, so to speak, with the moral relations of things. The busy stage of life, the virtues of heroes, and the actions of men were his theme; and his hope and his dream was to become one among those whose names are recorded in story as the gallant and adventurous benefactors of our species. The saintly soul of Elizabeth shone like a shrine-dedicated lamp in our peaceful home. Her sympathy was ours; her smile, her soft voice, the sweet glance of her celestial eyes, were ever there to bless and animate us. She was the living spirit of love to soften and attract; I might have become sullen in my study, through the ardour of my nature, but that she was there to subdue me to a semblance of her own gentleness. And Clerval - could aught ill entrench on the noble spirit of Clerval? Yet he might not have been so perfectly humane, so thoughtful in his generosity, so full of kindness and tenderness amidst his passion for adventurous exploit, had she not unfolded to him the real loveliness of beneficence and made the doing good the end and aim of his soaring ambition. I feel exquisite pleasure in dwelling on the recollections of childhood, before misfortune had tainted my mind and changed its bright visions of extensive usefulness into gloomy and narrow reflections upon self. Besides, in drawing the picture of my early days, I also record those events which led, by insensible steps, to my after tale of misery, for when I would account to myself for the birth of that passion which afterwards ruled my destiny I find it arise, like a mountain river, from ignoble and almost forgotten sources; but, swelling as it proceeded, it became the torrent which, in its course, has swept away all my hopes and joys. Natural philosophy is the genius that has regulated my fate; I desire, therefore, in this narration, to state those facts which led to my predilection for that science. When I was thirteen years of age we all went on a party of pleasure to the baths near Thonon; the inclemency of the weather obliged us to remain a day confined to the inn. In this house I chanced to find a volume of the works of Cornelius Agrippa. I opened it with apathy; the theory which he attempts to demonstrate and the wonderful facts which he relates soon changed this feeling into enthusiasm. A new light seemed to dawn upon my mind, and bounding with joy, I communicated my discovery to my father. My father looked carelessly at the title page of my book and said, "Ah! Cornelius Agrippa! My dear Victor, do not waste your time upon this; it is sad trash." If, instead of this remark, my father had taken the pains to explain to me that the principles of Agrippa had been entirely exploded and that a modern system of science had been introduced which possessed much greater powers than the ancient, because the powers of the latter were chimerical, while those of the former were real and practical, under such circumstances I should certainty have thrown Agrippa aside and have contented my imagination, warmed as it was, by returning with greater ardour to my former studies. It is even possible that the train of my ideas would never have received the fatal impulse that led to my ruin. But the cursory glance my father had taken of my volume by no means assured me that he was acquainted with its contents, and I continued to read with the greatest avidity. When I returned home my first care was to procure the whole works of this author, and afterwards of Paracelsus and Albertus Magnus. I read and studied the wild fancies of these writers with delight; they appeared to me treasures known to few besides myself. I have described myself as always having been imbued with a fervent longing to penetrate the secrets of nature. In spite of the intense labour and wonderful discoveries of modern philosophers, I always came from my studies discontented and unsatisfied. Sir Isaac Newton is said to have avowed that he felt like a child picking up shells beside the great and unexplored ocean of truth. Those of his successors in each branch of natural philosophy with whom I was acquainted appeared even to my boy's apprehensions as tyros engaged in the same pursuit. The untaught peasant beheld the elements around him and was acquainted with their practical uses. The most learned philosopher knew little more. He had partially unveiled the face of Nature, but her immortal lineaments were still a wonder and a mystery. He might dissect, anatomize, and give names; but, not to speak of a final cause, causes in their secondary and tertiary grades were utterly unknown to him. I had gazed upon the fortifications and impediments that seemed to keep human beings from entering the citadel of nature, and rashly and ignorantly I had repined. But here were books, and here were men who had penetrated deeper and knew more. I took their word for all that they averred, and I became their disciple. It may appear strange that such should arise in the eighteenth century; but while I followed the routine of education in the schools of Geneva, I was, to a great degree, self-taught with regard to my favourite studies. My father was not scientific, and I was left to struggle with a child's blindness, added to a student's thirst for knowledge. Under the guidance of my new preceptors I entered with the greatest diligence into the search of the philosopher's stone and the elixir of life; but the latter soon obtained my undivided attention. Wealth was an inferior object, but what glory would attend the discovery if I could banish disease from the human frame and render man invulnerable to any but a violent death! Nor were these my only visions. The raising of ghosts or devils was a promise liberally accorded by my favourite authors, the fulfillment of which I most eagerly sought; and if my incantations were always unsuccessful, I attributed the failure rather to my own inexperience and mistake than to a want of skill or fidelity in my instructors. And thus for a time I was occupied by exploded systems, mingling, like an unadept, a thousand contradictory theories and floundering desperately in a very slough of multifarious knowledge, guided by an ardent imagination and childish reasoning, till an accident again changed the current of my ideas. When I was about fifteen years old we had retired to our house near Belrive, when we witnessed a most violent and terrible thunderstorm. It advanced from behind the mountains of Jura, and the thunder burst at once with frightful loudness from various quarters of the heavens. I remained, while the storm lasted, watching its progress with curiosity and delight. As I stood at the door, on a sudden I beheld a stream of fire issue from an old and beautiful oak which stood about twenty yards from our house; and so soon as the dazzling light vanished, the oak had disappeared, and nothing remained but a blasted stump. When we visited it the next morning, we found the tree shattered in a singular manner. It was not splintered by the shock, but entirely reduced to thin ribbons of wood. I never beheld anything so utterly destroyed. Before this I was not unacquainted with the more obvious laws of electricity. On this occasion a man of great research in natural philosophy was with us, and excited by this catastrophe, he entered on the explanation of a theory which he had formed on the subject of electricity and galvanism, which was at once new and astonishing to me. All that he said threw greatly into the shade Cornelius Agrippa, Albertus Magnus, and Paracelsus, the lords of my imagination; but by some fatality the overthrow of these men disinclined me to pursue my accustomed studies. It seemed to me as if nothing would or could ever be known. All that had so long engaged my attention suddenly grew despicable. By one of those caprices of the mind which we are perhaps most subject to in early youth, I at once gave up my former occupations, set down natural history and all its progeny as a deformed and abortive creation, and entertained the greatest disdain for a would-be science which could never even step within the threshold of real knowledge. In this mood of mind I betook myself to the mathematics and the branches of study appertaining to that science as being built upon secure foundations, and so worthy of my consideration. Thus strangely are our souls constructed, and by such slight ligaments are we bound to prosperity or ruin. When I look back, it seems to me as if this almost miraculous change of inclination and will was the immediate suggestion of the guardian angel of my life - the last effort made by the spirit of preservation to avert the storm that was even then hanging in the stars and ready to envelop me. Her victory was announced by an unusual tranquillity and gladness of soul which followed the relinquishing of my ancient and latterly tormenting studies. It was thus that I was to be taught to associate evil with their prosecution, happiness with their disregard. It was a strong effort of the spirit of good, but it was ineffectual. Destiny was too potent, and her immutable laws had decreed my utter and terrible destruction.