#MAG 171

[one-sad-pancake]

Rip Jared Hopworth, you would have loved looksmaxxing.

[dinnerthyme]

[fluffyfrogfriend]

Jared hopworth cannot hold down a career.

is he a BUTCHER?

is he a GYM OWNER?

is he a FARMER?

is he LIVING WITH HIS MUM AND TERRORISING LOCAL LIBRARIANS FOR FUN?

gotta hand it to him boys got variety

[a-mag-meme-a-day]

Meme for @a-mag-a-day Day 176

MAG 171 - The Gardener

[3y3-see-you]

the beginner’s manual to tending the mortal garden!

[a-mag-a-day]

Literally such a transgender concept

d-diversity... w-win?

[moved-to-piersgender]

Am I the only one that gets massive "macho douchebag is a massive closet case" vibes from Jared the Boneturner? There's the half-assed toxically masculine bravado of the infamous "and who's this, your boyfriend?" exchange from the episode he gets exploded in, but also his extreme petty jealousy when he felt like his bestie was moving on without him. And the man has a passion for art and gardening, both the sort of hobby that assholes would revoke your "man card" for, but only goes about them in the most brutal and fucked up way possible, as if compensating. And he's the most notable scion of the Power associated with hating your body.

Ah, Jared. If only you'd accepted your feelings. Then maybe you'd be nurturing orchids not made of people meat.

@a-mag-a-day (for tomorrow)

[loveabledustbunny]

Jared Hopworth is such an interesting dude like whaaaat ha ha

[fireball-me]

@a-mag-a-day

I really like MAG 171: The Garden. It's definitely one of my favorite episodes. Perhaps my #1 favorite. It ties in really well with the overarching story, doesn't fail to terrify and unsettle the listener, AND it's one of those episodes with clear connections as a metaphor for real life issues.

I'll start with what each of the "flowers" represents.

Gristlebloom Orchid: Muscular body insecurity. Reese is never able to reach the obviously impossible body standards of society, hating himself for not looking muscular enough. Thus, he can only grow into something entirely inhuman.

Bone Rose: Fatphobia. Patricia is haunted by the idea that to be wanted you must be less. She develops a "grotesque horror of her own flesh," desperately trying to get rid of anything that stops her from being perfectly thin. Losing fat becomes losing flesh becomes losing blood. Until finally, she is like a delicate flower, made of nothing but bones.

Cutaway Tulip: Anti-aging. Leopold is deeply afraid of looking old. He seems to flee decay, carving and tearing himself to stay smooth and young-looking. He cuts parts of himself away, and they become petals.

It's important to note that for the first three flowers, "harsh, judgemental light" is stated as an important part of their cultivation. This is because the terror that drives this grotesque transformation really starts from judgement from others.

However, there is one flower that doesn't need this judgemental light to experience the terror of everyone else.

Lily of the Damned: Gender dysphoria. This fear comes completely from within. "Light levels need only be high if the preoccupation with its body’s presence has a visual component." There are quite a few details in the fourth section of the episode that prove as solid evidence that the Lily is a metaphor for the transgender experience of dysphoria. Maeve wants to hide her body from everyone including herself, which is why the flower must be pulled up. All of her fear comes from that of the development of her own body, new sensations she's uncomfortable with, and becoming something she doesn't want. "She is trapped in the same soft prison of skin she has always so despised."

It's almost poetic, the way the creatively woven words create thoughts and ideas about ourselves.

(I was going to make a second section detailing what makes this episode very effective and well-done horror, but I believe my quotes and descriptions from before have served that sufficiently. I'm also not going to go into its connections to the rest of the story, as to not spoil it for people who haven't reached this point but I still think should be able to read my analysis.)

In short, The Gardener is one of my favorite episodes because it uses body horror very very well, and serves as a very powerful and thought-provoking metaphor for body fears in real life. The Mortal Garden represents the world of beauty standards in which we find ourselves forced to dehydrate ourselves, lose weight, hate the future and our very selves in order to look attractive to others. It's where the desire to not be weak, or ugly, or fat, or old, or you makes us afraid, desperate, and starving to be attractive.

It is the worst place that has ever been beautiful.

And it should not exist.

[burninginthegymplplinko]

MAG 171 - The Gardener

doodle 171/200; days left - 15/110 3/128

WHY DOES JARED LOOK NAKED HERE THAT WASN'T SUPPOSED T- OU MAJ GAWD 💀💀💀 i did this at like 2am and just picked some random colours that would go nicely w the greens and HAVEN'T NOTICED the whole nakey thing untill it was done 💀pls don't judg me

[interpolationz]

listening to mag 171 except i cannot for the life of me pay attention when jared is speaking

[st7arlight]

in MAG171 Martin says to Jared Hopsworth "you've already made your mark" implying that he and Jon had a conversation about the ribs thing and also that Martin is still pissed abt it

[zombielenin]

[ID: Digital magnus archives fanart. Digital art of a rose-shaped rib cage being supported by two tall and thin bones stacked atop each other on the top of a mound of soil. Wing-like protrusions come from the top of the upper bone. The piece is minimally shaded with gray against a white background. End ID]

The Bone Rose

My first drawing posted to Tumblr ever, and a first of a series of drawings based on the flowers from the Mortal Garden in MAG 171.

Thank you @princess-of-purple-prose for the ID.

[social-mockingbird]

MAG #171: The Gardener

When the silly horror podcast makes one of the most powerful treatises on body image I’ve ever heard

[a-mag-a-day]

I’m gonna be honest, when Jared teases Jon about his ‘boyfriend’ I was so used to like… zero homophobia in this series… that I was convinced that Jared meant that to make him feel awkward with a friend/travel buddy … vs… an insult. Idk, it felt right to me that Jared would toss a comment as weak as that and it just fall flat. I’m not sure what’s the most cannon, but for i moment there I was so caught up in the despair of the end of the world I forgot homophobia existed

Oh god same. I forgot that Jared was a bully and that it was meant to be an insult.

[xelidonia]

Straining fennel (Maratho adynaton) is excellent both as a garden flower and in bouquets. Don't hesitate to harvest the cut flowers-- they will come back again and again, as the plant sends up stalk after bony stalk in a desperate attempt to escape its bulb.

@a-mag-a-day