#hollyecc

[inthehollystuff]

when watching the video for Ethel Cain’s “Punish” I was reminded of this piece from the soundtrack of High Life (dir. Claire Denis, 2018).

the entire film has sweeping overtones of sexuality and the scene where this piece is used was by far the most impactful for me when i first watched it.the way it’s edited is evocative of “Punish” with startling cuts that feel like your eyes are being flayed with light and Juliette Binoche’s waist-length hair. 

I believe both Stuart A. Staples’s and Ethel Cain’s works deal with perversion as an externalized internal force (if that makes any sense). In other words, sexuality is often deemed a haunting presence which we’re taught to associate with shame and distance ourselves from to the point of separation. Sexual gratification is so squandered that it’s almost an alien entity, something especially clear in “High Life”'s deep space setting.

Both tracks frame the pervert’s point-of-view and eerie vocals abound as their distinct femininity is not only reminiscent of siren calls, but also the subconscious: another voice that either dissents or echoes the grotesqueness being centered. Seeing as the “fuck box” scene is an act of masturbation and “Punish” uses associated language: “whatever’s wrong with me/I will take to bed”, “only God knows”, “shame is sharp” I believe both pieces provide a striking perspective on themes surrounding the alienation and perversion of sexuality (be it by science in the case of “High Life” or societal deviants in “Punish”) through the use of horror and production choices that amplify a haunting atmosphere. 

The exploration of human sexuality and sexual depravity is so foreign to many that it can literally feel like you’re an astronaut trying to make sense of a whole new world, and in the latter case just as horrifying. Both “Punish” and “High Life” aim their focus at the cosmos in order to look into those ideas head-on, to stare straight at the sun and ask what perversion is, how it operates, and gives us the space as viewers and listeners to do the same from the perspective of the sexually deviant.

Overall, I am greatly fascinated by both tracks and the visual components that accompany them precisely because they look into black hole of the repressed subconscious and pull from it unsettling but gripping glimpses into what lurks in such unexplored depths. 

[inthehollystuff]

my claustrophobically small hometown has shaped me into the person i am. wouldn’t change it for the world. but i can’t wait to move away.

[inthehollystuff]

white trash dick but I love him to death