cagreyson · 2 years ago
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Asian Horror Movies VS American Horror Movies
What are some of the differences in American Horror movies and Asian Horror movies? #horror #horrorfilms #asianhorror #americanhorror #horrorcommunity #horrorfam #horrorfamily #horrorblog #blog
Asian horror movies have been gaining popularity in the US for the past few years. There are many reasons why but one of the biggest reasons is that they are just so different from American horror movies. Asian horror films tend to be much more psychological and integrate practicality even when the supernatural are involved.In America, many horror movies use violence in the forefront with little…
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horrorvillaintourney · 5 months ago
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HORROR'S NEXT TOP GENDER, ROUND ONE MATCH SIXTEEN: Edward Hyde (The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) vs. The Biologist (Southern Reach)
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PROPAGANDA FOR EDWARD:
"Simultaneously a toxically hypermasculine hairy cunt AND a bitchy effeminate dandy. Literally indescribably uncanny. Ugly as fuck but implied to suck and fuck men all night every night. Needs cocaine to exist. How is that not a gender?"
PROPAGANDA FOR THE BIOLOGIST:
"Let’s see: a buff, severely autistic, stone-faced Asian-American environmental scientist that likes bugs more than people and can and will beat the shit out of you IS already a gender in and on itself… but if that doesn’t convince you already, I have to inform you that (SPOILERS FOR THE AREA X TRILOGY) she turns into a many-eyed interdimensional whale monster. Btw."
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catsvrsdogscatswin · 1 year ago
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Thanks to my post about the 28th, it’s come to my attention that a significant portion of humanity don’t read history books for fun, so here’s a few broad strokes of what, exactly, is going on with the cultural connotations of race within Dracula, as understood by an American:
European racism of the day was predominantly based on cultural ethnicity rather than skin color, and one of the main sliding scales (other than how old and prestigious the ancestry was) was how far west you were on the Eurasian continent. The further east you went, the less “civilized” things became, until you hit Asia and Oceania and just became inundated with absolutely rancid racist caricatures. Stuff from the “Orient” was there for exotic/shiny toys and moral lessons about how much better the West was, and not much else, so you can imagine what depictions of actual Asian people thus became.
(We’re faced with this east vs. west scale in Jonathan’s very first entry: Budapest straddles the line between the “civilized” western part of Europe and the “uncivilized,” opulent, and exotic world of eastern Europe. Jon is going from the known and familiar city into the mysterious, unfamiliar wilderness, an extremely common Gothic horror archetype.)
Both the fear of the unknown and the exoticizing/othering of Eastern Europe play heavily into Dracula’s themes, with the sexually predatory Count Dracula coming to England to do all sorts of unspeakable sordid things to innocent English women. (Not exactly Stoker’s finest hour, but this was a typical attitude of the day.)
Following that, it was also thought at the time that one’s moral character was essentially genetic. Certain people of certain races were predisposed to be “better” or “worse,” and your own moral character was also influenced by your parents’ status in society and behavior. A prostitute mother or a criminal father meant you would inherit their dubious moral quality, which is partially where “this person has bad blood” comes from. Bad blood is literally the negative morality passed onto you from your parents: you’ve inherited the bad qualities carried in their blood.
Linking back to the east-west thing, the further east you go -you’ve guessed it- the worse this supposed ancestral bad blood gets. People of “lesser” races included the Romani, Jews, Slovaks (and sometimes the Russians), and they were just supposed to be, like, naturally inclined to be bad. They were Programmed For Crime from the moment they were born, so you didn’t need to explain why such a character was evil when they showed up in your novel: I mean, they’re [INSERT RACE], aren’t they? It’s in the blood. No explanation needed. Everybody knows that. 
The assumption of the time was that such people were literally born bad, which of course naturally justified how they were treated. When they showed up on a page, you were supposed to distrust them on sight. 
Occasionally, low-class people were also treated as a race all their own, like poverty was some kind of moral failing. After all, the older, more prestigious, and wealthier your family was, the better their inherent moral quality, so poor people are obviously uncouth and have bad blood, right? 
(It’s an extremely stupid circular way of thinking, but that’s bigotry for ya.)
Dracula is a nobleman with old lineage, but he’s also steeped in the flavor of Eastern Europe: “barbaric” and proud, yet initially treating Jonathan with extreme courtesy; threateningly exotic and yet also familiar with English customs. As we go through the book, you’ll see that he almost exclusively hires Romani, Jewish, or extremely poor for his henchmen: he’s a force of evil that uses other “evil” tools, who bend easier to his will than “normal” people of “proper” races. 
(By all means, please pause here a moment to scrub yourself of the nauseating feeling that such a bullshit attitude evokes.)
In any case, Dracula himself is a pretty good example of all these racial ideas converging, which was also why he made such an effective monster to the Victorians: there’s just enough that’s familiar and proper in him that they couldn’t quite properly Other him, which links back to the transformative horror of vampirism turning something formerly good into something very very bad, which with their worldview of “you are born with this moral code because of racial predisposition and lineage” is just shocking. You mean this Eastern European man can infect our formerly good and pure citizens and make them act his way, just by an act of force? Uh-oh.
Anyways TLDR Dracula is a book steeped in the cultural traditions and expectations of the day which means that it’s lovely horror but also an absolute crock of shit at times due to racism (and several other -isms, which I will not cover here because I am trying not to make this an essay). 
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Stats Part 3
Now that Round 3 is over, we're down to 32 (well, 33) remaining artworks which feels about time to check in on how our statistics are doing!
And if you're not interested in statistics, I (Mod Salix) wanted to talk about the polls. You may have noticed that I've been trying to keep to 4 polls a day, which would mean that Round 4 is only going to be 4 days, and Round 5 would post everything in two days. Starting in Round 6, we'll probably re-institute week long polls. Hopefully none of us will lose track of what day to post the next round!
We have 20 artworks by male artists, 10 by female artists, and 4 by groups or unknowable entities! And of those, one person is Black, two are Aboriginal (one of whom is Mestizo and Kichwa, the other of whom is Aboriginal Australian), one is Asian-American (and two are Chinese living in China as opposed to living somewhere they're a minority), and one is Indian-British. And also three are left from gay men about the AIDS crisis, in addition to the AIDS memorial quilt, and one lesbian comic.
There are six American artists (including the Asian-American mentioned above), and three Chinese artists (including the Asian-American mentioned above), as well as three Russians (including Ilya Repin, who was born in the future Ukraine and lived near St. Petersburg), technically two different pieces by the same Dutch artist (hi van Gogh), and one each from Argentina, Serbia, Ecuador, Colombia, Canada, Italy, Northern Ireland, Poland, Australia, Finland, Germany, France, and Britain. And one artist I have listed as Denmark/Germany/France, because August Friedrich Schenck was born in a place that was Denmark at the time, Germany now, and worked mostly in France.
Of the pieces with known locations, eight are in the United States (four specifically in New York), two each in Australia and Russia, and one each in Argentina, Finland, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland and one in a private collection.
There are two archaic pieces of art, Judith is our last standing piece from anything between archaic and 1843, 8 pieces of art from the 1800s, although five are from 1878 to 1896, one from 1903, two from the 70s or 80s, 5 from the 90s, four from the 00s, four from the span of 2014 to 2016, and three from the last two years. And two unknown dates and the AIDS memorial quilt which is still being added to.
There are 15 paintings, 7 installation arts, one comic, one photograph, one cave art, one sketch, one tattoo, and one fiber art slash installation. And the most common subject of the art are five queer related art pieces, although I have four each I summed up as either horror or grief/anguish.
And, lastly, someone sent in an ask in like Round 1 asking about statistics regarding whether being in first or second place in the poll biased anything. I'm not actually a statistician, so I can't answer that question, but I did compile the numbers of how many first-positioned vs second-positioned arts won! Surprisingly, Round 1 had 64 firsts to 63 seconds (and one tie), Round 2 had 29 to 35, and Round 3 had 15 to 17. Technically speaking that's not a large enough sample size to determine bias but it's... interesting?.
I was going to make a scatterplot featuring the number of votes in each poll to track engagement, but I haven't actually figured out how to do one in Google Sheets yet so maybe at the end of the bracket.
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fullmetal-scar-simping · 9 days ago
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In addition to not being Ainu and having never claimed to be, I remember reading some of the extras that went with the FMA manga. Arakawa sometimes went on anecdotes and during one comic she explained how she interviewed veterans of WWII when doing research for FMA. One can see the parallels between Amestris’ atrocities and Japan’s own imperialism during that time period, with the remnants of those beliefs still present in other works such as Attack on Titan.
With that in mind, I guess it makes sense the FMA is so skewed in favor of the military’s perspective because it seems Arakawa didn’t interview any of the victims of Japanese war crimes, which occurred in mainland Asia. She also seems familiar with American media, and Americans have a lot to say about how Japan hurt them first.
But the conflict between Japan and America was between two colonial powers of fairly equal standing; So I can see Arakawa’s Both Sides take being influenced by this, as well as a lack of perspective from the victims of Japanese atrocities in mainland Asia. I think these factor into FMA’s lack of Ishvalan perspective. Likewise, Ishval becomes a center for commerce for Amestris and Xing at the end of the series, and I can’t help but wonder if knowing how Japan was occupied by the US after WWII, and turned out relatively fine (in her eyes at least) influenced this writing decision as a ‘desirable’ outcome for Ishval.
The Ainu claim really is just a network of broken telephone rumours meant to cleanse the mind of critical thinking regarding mangahood's politics. I have to laugh when anyone perpetuates the "Arakawa is Ainu" rumour.
Like American and European media that centers around their own involvement and perspective of the world wars, with their tendency to soften the horrors committed by whichever nation produced the stories in question, Japanese pop media carries its own biases that tends to absolve/soften Japanese imperialism and atrocities. This fact alongside Arakawa's interviews with Japanese WW2 vets is such an important point to bring up, so I appreciate this ask very much.
What stuns me is the (potential) implication that the Ishvalans could ever be a stand-in for an equal imperial power. Despite how desperately mangahood pushes the both sides perspective, nothing in its canon illustrates Ishval as a powerful nation state on its own, let alone one of any imperial might. Yet all the same, given Arakawa's focus on the perspective of Japanese WW2 vets (so traumatized by the slaughter, rape, sexual slavery, and fascism they carried out in Korea, China, the Philippines, etc) and the horrific dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan, I can see how this becomes the bedrock for mangahood's politics. Of course inspiration and a direct analogy are two different things. I won't claim that Arakawa "definitely sees Ishval as a stand-in for xyz powerful nation," but it does seem that she mapped the experiences of an imperial aggressor eventually made to heel at the foot of another imperial power onto her fictional non-imperial victims of genocide. (The USA should have never occupied Japan, but that occupation was in many ways quite unlike the bloody, often genocidal occupations the USA has done in, for example, Afghanistan, Iraq, and its ongoing military proxy of Israel occupying Palestine.)
Keeping in mind that part of the inspiration for the Ishvalans are the Ainu, and remembering Arakawa's place as a Japanese settler in Hokkaido, it would seem that settler-colonizer anxieties and guilt is at play here too. That any animosity towards the settlers from the Indigenous populace is no less "disruptive" towards peaceful coexistence. With the added layer of imperial aggressor vs imperial aggressor (and victims invaded by these aggressors thrown under the bus entirely), the focus on the experiences of veterans from her own nation sans mainland Asian and Polynesian victims, the patriotism for Amestris that may echo her own perspective on the duties of citizenry and soldiers, and a deeply liberal "apolitical" lens filtering these matters down to the most trite, wishful perspective possible, we end up with mangahood's politique.
This explains the dogged insistence that all players in a conflict (a term that easily implies both sides as well) are to blame for any and all violence. That all wars can be solved if we all awoke to the fact that we're all people and connected to one another. If we're all capable of great harm, then acknowledging the harm done should be enough to move forward with forgiveness. (Don't retaliate, that makes you just as bad.) It's all so frivolous and frustrating.
It's such a capitalist-colonial dream, that a former geopolitical enemy (who had been ethnically cleansed and torn apart by imperialism) can be resuscitated into a thriving economic arm of more powerful nations. And somehow peace will be established in this transformation. You could be onto something, that there's a belief that since Japan was so devastated by America's atomic bombs yet its occupation by America, in part, led to its restructuring as a capitalist, "advanced" society, therefore the same could be mirrored with Ishval and Amestris. Hm.
What a mess.
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vera-keller · 1 year ago
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currently thinking about writing a chinese american oc into the pacific (2010) and what that entails.
their hatred for the imperial japanese army down to the individual soldier is visceral because even growing up overseas they would have had family who remained in china and possibly in nanjing and harbin and they would have been exposed to horror stories about the nanjing massacre and unit 731 and unit 100 and the countless death camps built through slave labour across the country for chinese prisoners of war and civilians and the atrocities occurring within occupation zones. at the same time they would be conflicted, because the second sino-japanese war was all but a secret war that didn't receive all that much coverage in western media, their other homeland where they grew up.
and let's not pretend anti-asian racism wasn't rife in america with japanese internment camps and propaganda that told you every slanty-eyed yellow something was an enemy to the free world. east asians weren't given the benefit of the doubt. they would have been called a "jap" or a "chink" or something else that this oc can't repeat without feeling a cold and terrible sensation descend upon them like a guillotine blade. and were they supposed to sympathise with the actual japanese american citizens and civilians who may or may not have wanted any part in the war, who may or may not have had any knowledge of the war crimes being committed against their people? of babies bayoneted in the streets? were the americans who they fight among situational allies or a bigger problem down the line? could they afford to even think of that right now?
how does it feel to be on okinawa fighting under an american flag with american weapons knowing that you're fighting the enemy who is occupying your country and killing your people, but being so far from the mainland, your home, where it's actually happening? how does it feel knowing that your company and unit and some of your best buddies don't understand your inherent need for vengeance or your wariness of the american propaganda machine and your need to question the very institution of american involvement in the war – while being grateful for it – and wonder whether it's only become another flagship conflict of, broadly, east vs west, orient vs occident, savagery vs culture? if the americans use racial rhetoric against the japanese, what does that mean about what they must also think of the chinese? do the japanese not also use racial rhetoric to justify their crimes against humanity? it was a war fought on all fronts. it must have been devastating lonely
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natalie-wilhelm · 8 months ago
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It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s @emeraldcitycomiccon 2024!
This was my first time attending a general “comic” con. In the past, I’ve only attended anime conventions with the exception of a horror convention (CryptiCon) a few years ago. The biggest difference between these more generalized comic-cons vs. anime-cons is that comic-cons tend to place more of an emphasis on American/Western comics, fandoms, and pop culture whereas anime-cons focus on Japanese/East Asian comics, fandoms, and pop culture. ECCC in particular is focused on superhero and science fiction fandoms. The largest fandom that I saw represented cosplay-wise was Star Wars. This could be due to the release of their new trading card game through Disney. It’s interesting to see the differences between these two convention cultures, it helps with understanding their target audiences.
Since I was only attending this con for one day and it’s held during the off-season for cosplay, I chose to put together a “pseudo-cosplay” from clothing items that I already owned vs. building an entirely new one from scratch. I call this look “Franken-cyberpunk.” I took a normal outfit of mine, slapped some green body paint on, and voila an OC is born! I felt like this aesthetic would best fit the theme of the con.
Here are some highlights from Saturday:
Slide 1: Franken-selfie outside of the Exhibitor’s Hall (Arch).
Slide 2: Candid pose inside of “ECCC” logo monument outside of the Artist Alley (Summit).
Slide 3: Frankenblossoming in front of what appears to be a backdrop depicting the UW Quad.
Slide 4: Selfie with Maile Flanagan, English voice actor for Naruto.
Slide 5: Batman and Catwoman posing dramatically.
Slide 6: The scariest Darth Vader cosplay I’ve ever encountered.
Slide 7: Funky Darth Vader (he’s your daddy).
Slide 8: Cosplay Contest finalists, 1st place won $1,000!!!
Slide 9: Cruella posing next to an unknown cosplayer.
Slide 10: Alice Cooper about to feed me, his Frankenstein, at the Nerd Prom in the Main Stage (Summit).
Thank you again ECCC 2024 for putting on such a fantastic exhibition.
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generationexorcist · 1 year ago
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Ringu vs Ju-On: Which J-Horror Franchise Has the Deadliest Vengeful Ghost?
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The J-horror craze of the late 1990s changed the face of the genre as profoundly as contemporaries like The Blair Witch Project. It was led by a pair of films centered around vengeful ghosts: 1998’s Ringu and 2002’s Ju-On: The Grudge. Both films introduced Japanese horror to a larger international audience, opening the doors for horror movies from other Asian countries, notably South Korea. Both films resulted in popular American adaptations — 2002’s The Ring and 2004’s The Grudge — that helped the genre escape the rut of slasher films that had dominated it for decades. Both spanned lengthy franchises with sequels and spin-offs of varying quality in both Japan and the US.
Both franchises successfully updated two of the horror genre’s oldest clichés — ghosts and haunted houses — for the 21st century. With all of that in their corner, the two films’ respective spirits have racked up quite an impressive kill count, including implied murders that are never seen and make a raw body count impossible. That beggars the question of which monster — Ringu’s Sadako Yamamura or Ju-On’s Kayako Saeki — is the deadliest. Their comparative similarities result in very different modus operandi, which lends some heft to the debate. The two characters have even faced each other onscreen in the gimmicky 2016 movie Sadako vs. Kayako, where they ultimately combine into a single entity, Sadakaya. The issue goes beyond simple body count…
CBR
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juurensha · 11 months ago
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For the book ask! 2, 3?
Wooo, so happy to get asked!
2. Did you reread anything? What?
I did! The Secret History by Donna Tartt is a favorite I like to read around October (it's a very Halloween book to me, idk), and I always reread some Terry Pratchett throughout the year, and this year was no exception with Small Gods and Night Watch. I also reread Possession by A.S. Byatt, mostly to see if it would stand the test of time, but surprisingly, I liked it as much as I did in college. I also reread Artificial Condition and Network Effect by Martha Wells, my favorite of the Murderbot Diaries series because of course of ART. I also reread Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith, which was just as weird and ghosty as before. Also, got to love The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley for its time travel weirdness again, All the Murmuring Bones and The Path of Thorns by A.G Slatter for such good dark fantasy, and Burning Roses by S.L. Huang for the best combo of Western and Asian fantasy that I've ever seen. Also reread Yiyun Li's A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, for her reading, and have to say, I liked it better than her more current stuff, and the Robots Vs. Fairies short story collection in which I'm Team Faerie all the way, but willing to listen to the other side as well.
3. What were your top five books of the year?
So not in any particular order but:
Spirits Abroad by Zen Cho - I initially bought this book for the "If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again" short story because I LOVED that one, but this entire collection was so good, I can't recommend it any more. Lots of heartfelt Asian fantasy (more Chinese-Malaysian diaspora specifically)
Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher - who doesn't love a fantasy story about a princess plotting murder? But this was great, very solid, and I loved all the characters.
Lonely Castle in the Mirror by Mizuki Tsujimura - a moving fantasy story about a bunch of lonely teens coming together, will definitely make you cry at some point.
Mister Magic by Kiersten White - spooky, and although it had its missteps, this was my #1 horror read of the year, with a bunch of former child stars coming back to revive their mysterious show.
The Sense of Wonder by Matthew Salesses - it's probably a combo of its Asian American characters trying to navigate being a second generation Asian American, and also for more personal reasons, but this really hit home for me.
Loved answering these, and if you want to ask more, please do!
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forkaround · 1 year ago
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Can you imagine a British author writing an Indian story from your culture? That’s Mame writing gay stories. There’s BL that is more fanatical and can be written by anyone vs Queer Stories that are written by real life gay people. Most BLs fall somewhere in that spectrum.
Great work using Britain. Thank you for the colonial lecture. As if what Britian did to India is the same as what you are saying MAME is doing. What a way to reduce the impact, horror and tragedy of one of the worst things to ever happen.
More to your point: I'm not a big British Drama watcher but I do watch American shows. I've seen the most stereotypical depictions of Indians (Rajesh Koothrappali from The Big Bang Theory) and some brilliant ones (Priyanka Chopra as Alex Parrish in Quantico) and some mid-level ones like Kal Penn's character on House. I've enjoyed them all. My friends have enjoyed them all. Raj is one of our favorite characters.
Anyway, yeah, queer media exists on a spectrum. Realistic isn't superior to fantastical and vice versa. So why is it that the general consensus is that a gay man is the only one who can write honest and realistic queer characters? I don't see the same being said for lesbian women. Or Trans people. Has anyone wondered if MAME might be queer herself? No. She has been assumed to be straight. The cishet woman here to destroy the queer man.
And this is a distinctly foreign phenomenon. Asians love her. MAME hasn't done anything that men in BL haven't done. But she is the only one getting vitriol thrown her way.
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dwreader · 1 year ago
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What is your opinion on Oppenheimer the movie?
I have some issues with the structure and how much it tries to cram into 3 (albeit very fast moving) hours but I thought it did as good a job as any mainstream hollywood blockbuster could on the subject. It's surprisingly not red baity for one and it gives a pretty balanced portrait of both the dread and excitement in the scientific community without absolving any of the characters of what they took part in or the horrors they unleashed onto the world. The movie is so obviously NOT saying the atomic bomb was great and it was totally awesome that it was used and killed/maimed hundreds of thousands of people?? I don't know how that discourse started.
I have a very strong connection to the material because most of my family was subjugated by the japanese occupation like my grandma was literally kidnapped as a child to be an officer's servant it was crazy and my great uncle was killed by an explosion when he was 7, so it really annoys me when white americans or westerners try to talk about the Pacific theater of the war like in a really performative way and always with the suggestion that the occupation in Asia wasn't as bad as Europe or something. Idk like its still a very complex and sensitive topic even decades later within various Asian countries (like if I ever married a Japanese person I would probably have to lie to my grandma or she'd have a PTSD stroke) and white people speaking on behalf of what they think is the "correct" take will never not irritate me. But I think this was really well done in the movie cause the reasoning for using the bomb was all the AMERICAN soldiers who would've died in a hypothetical land invasion not the people throughout Asia who were suffering the brunt of the casualties vs. the way European casualties of the Nazis are spoken about with much more concern/care. Civilian casualties in Asia whether Chinese, Korean, Filipino or Japanese are just not really a big consideration white Americans took very seriously and the movie does demonstrate this perfectly like you have two prominent Jewish characters talking about how they were impacted but the victims of the other theater of the war is just a dead silence.. which is deafening. Again the discourse about how there were no Asian characters in the movie is so idiotic cause that was the point!! They were not a consideration for these white man making the decision!!!
Also, Cillian Murphy pretty. Josh Hartnett still a hottie.
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nicolemossmer · 2 years ago
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I felt that Sontag’s first essay, “In Plato’s Cave,” was blemished by the problematic ethnic stereotype statements and strong takes that lacked the necessary nuance to make a convincing argument. One statement that was particularly alarming to me was her explanation of the increase of use in tourist’ photography. On page 10, Sontag points out the photography habits of a select few cultural groups, “Germans, Japanese and Americans” who she believes are. “handicapped by a ruthless work ethic,” and “have to pretend that they have something to do that is like a friendly imitation of work: they can take pictures.” As a multi-racial woman, who identifies with both my Japanese German ethnicity and American culture, I found this particularly offensive. Especially given the “model minority” stereotype of Asian Americans who have continued to suffer from this white perception that all Asians are the same and love to work is incredibly harmful to our community. 
Sontag’s view is elitist and racist in nature. Not only does the addition of this quote not add anything substantive to her essay but it essentially states that these communities are actually unable to take pictures and enjoy the art form. This is especially concerning given the fact that Sontag is a white woman, who is not a person of color. Therefore, she lacks the perspective and experience to be able to speak for this community. I also took issue with her statements surrounding the use of photography as capturing moments of history. On page 11, she states that “photography is essentially an act of non-intervention” and criticizes photographers of war and other horrors. She criticizes photographers who choose to take photos during events of disaster instead of helping save someone’s life. This comment really undermines the power and importance of journalism in photography and further unveils her overwhelming privilege. Sontag’s elitist views are embedded in this essay and overwhelm any meaningful messages that could have potentially been taken away from this piece.
 I also felt an air of that same elitism when watching, “The Allegory of the Cave.” I think the story is very interesting and fun to follow but the metaphor itself essentially seems to say that people who are “enlightened” or know the truth about things should be expected to not be believed. I think that this inherently puts people into two different categories. I can;t help but think of the book, “The Racial Contract,” which discusses the divide amongst white and “non-whites” and how white people have throughout history seen themselves as human and everyone else as “subhuman.” This of course has had long lasting effects on gatekeeping bi-poc communities from education, arts and other great things that took place during the enlightenment era. I cannot help but think of this idea of the enlightened vs. the not enlightened as really just a separation of those who were educated (wealthy, white men) and those who were not (bi-poc, women, poorer classes). 
Despite my criticism of the previous two assigned videos/readings, I felt almost the opposite way about Glover’s ‘10 Myths about the Rule of Thirds’. I really enjoyed the “demystification” on how to guide art composition. I particularly enjoyed “Myth #4, it gets the object out of the center.” I am someone who loves pictures in the center of the frame. I think that it is visually appealing to me as I really enjoy “weight balance” and symmetry in my photography. Glover was able to explain how to use the ‘Rule of Thirds’ without having to abide by overly rigid rules. I chose a picture of myself, an ethnically Japanese-German American born tourist in Europe as my picture. I was lucky enough to travel around the world to play tennis in high school and I am so grateful for all of the pictures that I took. I took this picture not because I did not know how to have fun or know what to do with myself but because I wanted to be able to look back on these memories and relive these moments. This picture was one of many that I had taken in this exact same spot. Of all fifty pictures that I took, this one was the most aesthetically pleasing to me. Although Glover argues against the idea that the human eye naturally gravitates to the intersection points, from my own perspective I think that the center subject(s) of this image falling at the intersections of the lines is what has helped make this picture interesting to me, I am curious in what others may think about this image.
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noahsbookhoard · 3 hours ago
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🦇📚September 2024 Book Review (Part 1/4)📚🦇
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Today is Halloween so in honor of that I pulled every spooky read from September and put them all together!
The Eyes Are The Best Part by Monika Kim
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Ji-won's life has fallen apart since her father left her mother and her mother found a new boyfriend, George, a misogynist, condescending man who eyes out every Asian waitress. Adding to this stress due to her collegue studies and the persistent nice guy who won't take no for an answer, Ji-won starts having wierd dreams, dreams of bright blue, delicious looking eyeballs.
In terms of taboos, cannibalism ranks pretty high. It is deeply uncomfortable to hear stories about it yet it is an interesting question whwne it comes to moral vs survival. Yet I had never read a book that dived into the subject. What is interesting here is that Ji-won's hunger is 1) pretty specialised 2) entirely opportunistic and not driven by a need to survive. There's no point in judging the moral values of a fictional characters and I know that's kinda the point of horror as a genre but Ji-won's action sometimes made me really uncomfortable.
There is also a critique of misogyny and Asian fetishization which is well handled as far as I could tell. The father cheated and left with another woman, George to is cheating but he is even more disturbing than the whole eye eating thing, he is a creep, a cheater, demanding, borderline pedophile and just unsufferable as a person. If I was Ji-won I would have done more than hide is car keys in the fridge.
As for the end, it's wierd, it's just wierd. It's hard so say what was really murderous pulsions because George deserved it and what was Ji-won being sick, what was real and what was supernatural (if any of it was).
Overall it was a pleasant enough read in term of style. As for the theme I don't know if I like it or hate it. Maybe it's also a matter of setting, I usually like my horror a little bit less modern and down to earth but that is a matter of preference.
Ring Shout by P Djeli Clark
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Just after World War I in the South of the US, the KKK is everywhere. Most of them are human, except among their ranks are hidden monsters just as dangerous as those men and women. Maryse and a group of resistant are fighting the Klan, through skirmish and sabotage but something more evil than before is brewing in Macon...
It has a really creepy but really cool twist on the Klan: there is still human member who embody the values of the KKK, and that's horrifying; but there are monsters with the same white form but wierd limbs, eyes and teeth. I love the author's way of introducing those supernatural elements: they are the first Klan members we see and it is unsettling to see them pounce on a dog carcass when you were expecting humans in costume. It's interesting to use real historical racist threats (the KKK, Birth of A Nation) and add to it a supernatural element while still maintaining the actual real life danger. It also raised the classic question: where is the line between man and monster?
I am neither American nor black so I can't really comment on the African American cultural aspects but they were really interesting and fitted well in the fantasy aspect of the novella as well as creating a contrast with the white side of Macon.
The characterization is great, I love the characters, Maryse and her comrade Sadie especially but the antagonist really brought the "Love To Hate Them" feeling for me. Also the Aunties, they are just the best.
I really liked it, but I might have appreciated even more with a deeper understanding of the period and the culture (too bad for me). Lots of actions, great characters and a really cool battle at the end, go for it!
What Moves the Dead (Sworn Soldier #1) by T Kingfisher
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Alex Easton just arrived in the most rural and isolated part of Galicia at the request of Madeline Usher, a childhood friend. Her brother, Roderick, reveals what has been going on for the last months: Madeline is ill, dying probably. However some things sticks Easton as odd: why is Madeline sleepwalking all of the sudden? What is the white fur like substance growing on her skin? And what does it have to do with local superstition of Witch Hare?
Short but incredibly impactful. Fungi are really a freak of nature that works really well in horror: there's a ton of them, they interact with other living things in wierd ways and they are really hard to classify for non mycologist. The rewriting of Poe's classic short story The House of Usher is good, it keeps the key elements of the plot and characterization but develops everything around it. Roderick and Madeline are pretty much in character and I liked what she added to them. I liked Galicia, the country Kingfisher created for this story a lot: the land sets and atmosphere, it's cold, gray and wet. It also all happens in a very isolated place, ifused with traditions and superstitions that serves as foreshadowing and red herring.
Alex Easton also is a treat. A gender non conforming former soldier with no people skills whatsoever. The Sworn Soldier system is really cool and allows some ambiguity with Easton's gender that I loved. The PTSD is really well treated and adds both to the characterization and to the atmosphere. I also loved Angus and Miss Potter who added some much needed common sense to the cast.
I really loved it. The traditions, legends and history of Galicia are imersive and the way it tied supernatural elements with more natural but just as spooky threats works really well. I have just finished reading What Feat at Night, I heard somewhere that a third novella will be released somewhere in 2025 and I'm really looking forward to that.
The Book of Blood (Vol. 1) by Clive Barker
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A series of twisted stories, from a serial killer on the subway in NYC to a theater of undead, not forgetting a monstrous man eating sow.
This was September's blind draw, let's say many of the book club members skipped this one. This is a collection of short stories, they vary a lot on theme, ton and unfortunately the enjoyment I took reading them: some where really good and disturbing, some where forgettable, some still baffle me six weeks later.
"The Book of Blood" is the prologue, and it sets the tone: creepy, characters that are deeply flawed and supernatural gory elements. It is also the shortest. It did well as an introduction but it wasn't very memorable to me.
"The Midnight Meat Train" left me divided: I was sold on the serial killer butchering people in subways. I was interested in the part where the city knew and let it happened. I was mildly disappointed by the supernatural element that fell a bit short after the adrenaline of the subway train scene. Yet it was interesting and well written.
"The Yattering and Jack" didn't left me much memories, except that it was quite funny. It is a Beetlejuice meet the Grinch kind of atmosphere. I liked the twist on the demon haunting that made the main character aware of what was going on but pushing through and frustrating the demon to no end. I never felt any real threat from the demon, though.
"Pig Blood Blues" is the gory twisted tale I was promised in the back cover: ghost, scary animals, possessions, ritual sacrifice and cannibalism; you name it, it's in it! Redwal's as a very down to earth character that you usually see in Stephen King's main character and his discovery of the giant sow who is at the center of human sacrifice rituals is just as satisfying. The sow itself gave me shivers, it is described in an entirely too human way to be comfortable. Lacey, a young boy that starts as the frightened victim scared of ghost and ends up just as monstrous as all the over character perfectly sets the mood. I was really wiered out by Redwall's attitude toward Lacey but his punishment at the end is really satisfying.
"Sex, Death, and Starshine" is my favorite but not the scariest! The living characters takes some time to realise that other are dead but once they do it's all fun and games and playing Twelfth Night in front of a ghost audience before going on a road trip! Just the tiny bit of whimsy, loved it!
"In the Hills, the Cities" is the most disturbing to me because I'm still wondering what the hell that was. Every years two cities straps themselves together to create a giant man shaped structure and they merrily go as a Flesh Transformer to the other city's Flesh Transformer. People die. Not because of the battle but because there assigned place in the comstruct is the sole of the feet. I guess I was supposed to feel some sort of eldritch fear but mainly I was working out the how and why and couldn't focus on the scary parts. Just plain bizarre.
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robthegoodfellow · 2 years ago
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I saw your tags in the reblogs for a clip from the movie NOPE and it got me thinking about the movie's connections to American history/literature. I'm just going to share a few thoughts:
The relationship between Ricky Jupe Park and the Haywood siblings has some interesting historical subtext as it is korean/african-americans interacting with each other. When Ricky has his non-confrontation with Em over her "Re-Location" of the "Decoy Horse" he may have been thinking about the LA riots of his youth and a certain incident where a Korean shop owner shot and killed an African-American teen on the suspicion of shoplifting.
It's cool that Jordan Peele incorporates the principles of pacifist resistance into the horror movies. The main characters in each one are less interested in killing the threats to their lives and more interested in uncovering the truth or just surviving.
It's ironic that Jean-Jacket's creature design incorporates elements of marine biology while the movie takes places entirely on land.
A non-fiction book that I would connect to Nope is "Stampede: Gold Fever and Disaster in the Klondike" by Brian Castner as NOPE is an inversion of the gold rush: The pursuit of wealth is what lead to the deaths of men and beasts of burden (mules and horses) whereas Ricky Jupe Park sees the consumption of horses as a possible source of profit.
A non-fiction documentary I think would be highly relevant to NOPE is "Buck" (2011) which is about Buck Brannaman, a horse trainer who is a leading advocate for intelligent and empathic animal handling. From what I vaguely remember of the movie, his method basically calls for the needs of the horse to be equal to the needs of the rider and vice versa, and that if one takes priority over the other then bad things happen. But people who don't know what they actually need then transmit their confusion through the reins to their steed. Anyways, I believe this method is now mainstream and is practiced by the Compton Cowboys who trained Daniel Kaluuya in preparation for his role as OJ.
I feel like NOPE was made as a counter-point to the movie "Arrival" and the short story it was based on, "Story of your Life" written by Ted Chiang. The basis of the latter is that while knowledge and communication are powerful enough to prevent conflict, it's not powerful enough to prevent one's own inevitable death. Jordan Peele basically spent the entire movie going "Death might be inevitable but it comes a helluva lot quicker if you don't know what you're working with." Which I think is a much more clear and consistent than what Dennis Villenueve was trying to state with his film (Which has a lot more of everything than what was in the short story).
Sorry for dumping all this on you, hopefully you find it interesting or relevant to teaching American literature.
You raise so many compelling connections to history/culture that I don’t even know where to start, so I’ll just take it point by point and also explain where I’d broaden vs refine certain topics:
- Re: RJP & his relationship with the Haywoods—it opens the door for exploring both the history of solidarity between Black and Asian-American communities but also the sources of racial prejudice/violence between marginalized communities. I’ve also seen other posts pointing out the damaging effects of different stereotypes (ex: “model minority”), which is especially apparent in the scenes where we see RJP vs OJ interacting with the entertainment industry.
- Introducing the competing push for violent vs non-violent resistance throughout the history of civil rights activism would be valuable to discuss, especially given how to the legacies of MLK and Malcolm X (and other leaders) have been warped and/or misappropriated by mainstream society, and given how different forms of violence are justified or criminalized by mainstream power structures... The differences between pacifism and non-violence would also be important to highlight (and it’d be interesting to examine how/why Peele depicts violence in his films)
- As for the inspirations behind JJ’s design—endlessly fascinating. There have been such compelling comparisons to old timely daguerreotype cameras (which thematically I adore) but the vibe was equally eldritch jellyfish/tentacled sea monster, and that offers its own entry point for discussion of frontiers of the unknown existing not just between earth and outer space but also between land and sea… and how there are forms of intelligence right here in front of us that on the one hand conform to recognizable patterns of behavior (predatory vs prey behavior, for example) but on the other present such a totally foreign/otherworldly modus operandi that we lack the frame of reference to fully comprehend them (OCTOPUS, for example, which are my favorite animal for that very reason)
- Never considered a connection to the gold rush!! But I’m immediately intrigued by the thematic relevance given the film’s exploration of greed, exploitation, ambition, consumption… and who profits or suffers in such scenarios. Thanks for the book rec :)
- The depiction of animal (mis)handling as an allegory for supremacy (as in, the pitfalls/problematic aspects of humans viewing themselves as superior to animals, but also the horrific history of humans positioning fellow humans as inferior on account of their supposedly being “animals”) wasn’t something I’d been able to articulate fully, but you also bring up the role of humility/empathy in establishing healthy relationships between beings (giving equal priority to differing needs of all parties). The connection to BB could really help highlight that.
- FINALLY I dunno why it hadn’t occurred to me, maybe because I just associate Peele with cerebral horror films, but I ALREADY teach a sci fi unit as part of the American lit course (which includes a different Chiang story), and it would be sooo easy to justify adding NOPE into the mix there, because yes, it is definitely an entry into the grand tradition of extra terrestrial/“first contact” narratives a la Arrival (which I must admit I haven’t seen, but it’s been on my to-watch list for ages). But where so many of those narratives are an allegory for colonialism/imperialism (basically the reflexive fears of the Western world—what if something did to US what we did to the rest of the planet??? Oh noooo), films like NOPE and series like VanderMeer’s Area X instead approach first contact in a way that more explores… ecosystems, in a way? How we participate willingly/unwillingly, knowingly/unknowingly in all kinds of ecosystems, and what happens when specimen of vastly different ecosystems interact for the first time. The crisis of self when confronted with the other—themes related to identity, communication, annihilation… SUPER METAPHYSICAL SHIT and I love it.
Thank you for taking the time to highlight so many connections and suggest so many relevant texts!! Is there a limit to the depths of this film?? Nope.
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chilewithcarnage · 4 years ago
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big list of fave yt reviews/video essays/docs pt.2
How Disney Ruined Culture
The Strangest Christmas Horror You've Never Seen (cw for blood, horror movie violence, familial/domestic abuse)
I Found the Most Poorly Edited Lifetime Movie (cw for fatphobia)
How Heathcliff Lost His Cool
Why The Cynical Super Hero Isn't That Interesting
Future Danny Phantom is the Ultimate Nicklelodeon Villain
The Problem With Monsters University
Mr. Peanut Deserved to Die (cw for antiblack/anti-native racist imagery)
Kairo & Pulse: Fear Lost In Translation (cw for flashing images, horror movie violence, mentions of suicide)
Kids (1995): Can Realism Get Too Real? (cw for sexual assault, child exploitation, drug abuse, mentions of suicide)
NEO NED: THE MOVIE THEY DIDN'T WANT US TO FIND (cw for mentions of csa, nazi imagery, white supremacy, antiblack/antisemitic language)
I Rewatched Girlfriends as an Adult And...
"Very Special People" (cw for mentions of antiblack violence, white supremacy and alt right politics)
Is Satire Dead?: Edgelords vs Bo Burnham (cw for mentions of alt right politics, misogynistic/homophobic language)
Brooklyn 99: COPAGANDA?! (cw for mentions of police brutality)
Did Homosexuality Kill the Dinosaurs?
BISEXUALITY: Here's The Thing (cw for biphobia, mentions of suicide ideation)
Indigenous People Review Native American Characters In Film & TV (cw for anti-native racist imagery/language)
How Fraggle Rock Ended the Cold War
The (Slight) Return of Action Cartoons
Let's Stop Worshipping Troubled Celebrities
I watched every ILLUMINATION movie
Cultural influences in the clothing of Avatar: The Last Airbender
How 'Relationship Channels' Turned Into The YouTube JOKE
The Wonderfully Diverse World of Arthur
Black Women Are DONE Playing Nice
The John Hughes Paradox
Wes Anderson and the Follies of Modern Orientalism (cw mentions of anti-asian racism/imagery)
Aaliyah, Britney & the Apathy of Lifetime "Biopics" (cw for death mention)
The Absurd Horror of Marge Simpson (cw for suicide ideation, domestic abuse; there's also mentions of literary works discussing multiple/alternate realities, so this may be triggering for people with psychotic disorders)
The "Blaccent": Nonblack Creators' Key to Fame
we need to talk about Lolita (cw for mentions of pedophilia, child sexual exploitation)
Why 'Friday' Was Made
Sleepaway Camp: Ending Explained (cw for blood, horror movie violence, pedophilia, transmisogyny)
I'm Done With Harry Potter (cw for mentions of antisemitism, transphobia, anti-asian racism)
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choppedcowboydinosaur · 3 years ago
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The whole media push for Asian-American representation feels disingenuous, hollow and artificial to me. I’m saying this as a hapa ( I’m half Japanese, quarter German, quarter Irish) because people value race so much on this site it’s the only way to legitimize this post. That and they think all ethnicities operate under a hivemind so if anyone dares say a different opinion then they must not be real. 
When I see the push for Asian-American representation it feels like it’s mostly pushing corporate Hollywood stuff that happens to have Asian-Americans in it. Rather than trying to delve into the actual culture or personal stories anything like that. It never feels genuine. The way they talk about issues and culture feels so artificial. Some of the experiences they push don’t really match for me. Then again maybe that’s my own bias because most of it is from Asian Americans from California while I’m from Hawaii so it doesn’t feel the same. That and in Hawaii there are cultural differences compared to California. 
It’s kind of sad because I like stuff that is down to earth and focuses on people’s experiences. There are indie movies that do a better job of it. I remember seeing this film about a Japanese photo bride that has to work on the sugar plantations with her husband in Hawaii. I guess I like stuff that feels natural and presents itself in an earnest, matter of fact kind of way. I also do want other stuff like horror, sci fi, action and noir with Asian American perspectives. It doesn’t all have to be historical dramas. (I know there are sci fi films and tons of action films with Asian-americans but it’s still cool to see more. And some unique takes on it.) Now “representation” just feels like shallow crap people will eat up.
I’m very distrustful of Hollywood and any major corporation when they say they care about Asian-Americans when they don’t. It’s just marketing and they will cynically use people. The whole push feels fake. It’s all identity politics.
 My point is Asian-American representation does not have to legitimized and created by crappy Hollywood films in order to be good. You can have indie films that do Asian American representation and explores the culture. Hell you could even get into cultural differences between Asian-Americans from Hawaii vs the ones from the mainland. And also the experiences of different ethnicities like Japanese and Filipinos and the different diasporas.  And honestly the indie films will probably do a much better job at it.
P.S.: I’m sorry if this comes off as corny and identity politics ridden bullshit. It’s something I’ve been seeing a lot lately and felt the need to get it off my chest. It’s something personal tbh.
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