#johnny depp discourse

[beemovieerotica]

wait why do we hate johnny depp again? i thought we established that amber heard was a liar who was just parroting back dramatic speeches she had for other characters in dramatic movies on the stand. is he being canceled for another reason now?

idk how to tell you this but you were lied to and it was established that he abused her and the US trial was a sham

[curfewplugs]

So I watched Possession (1981) last night and all these people analyzing the movie are calling it a "breakup movie" and saying it's "obsessed with division" like ? Did we even watch the same thing ? I get that they're both manic and that's kinda the point but Anna clearly states multiple times that she's not interested in Mark anymore. And in response he screams, cuts off her sentences, gets up in her space, does all he can to prevent her from going anywhere. Gee, I wonder why she wants to leave him. But the reason she can't is because there's a power imbalance, which is reflected in the filmmaking too; look at the contrast between the scenes of them in the apartment (claustrophobic, suffocating camerawork, the space is always a colossal mess) and the scene at the beginning where Mark is talking with those guys in that comically open, unfurnished room. He has so much more freedom than her. Someone in the movie confronts him about this, and he's all like "I don't want freedom". We also get a taste of the backstory when Heinrich's mom tells Mark that Anna came to Heinrich because of how Mark acts toward her. It's just so clear to me that Mark's controlling behavior is the instigator of Anna's madness, it's not some mutual clashing of personalities. The blueprint for ending the relationship is right there, the obstacle is that Mark literally won't let Anna leave him!! Is my reading of the film. And the film is so real for that, 10/10, but like what am I missing?

[messy-does-cosmology]

I genuinely take this so personally, like if you are a Johnny Depp fan in this day and age, I actively will dislike you on sight. Like, sorry but you've made it abundantly clear that you are extremely easy to manipulate into hating women and you will not do any kind of good-faith introspection on these issues. 100% I do not like you.

[so-what-then]

Look at this point if you think Depp is guilty because of your own trauma or academic theories about patriarchy, then fine. No one can help that except you and as long as you aren't trying to change the world for worse based off your personal issues, it doesn't matter.

But that means don't seek out posts like mine - which was about the existence of false accusations - to vent your struggles and Depp fixation onto others. Use that energy to find a therapist. I can't help you, sorry

[communistkenobi]

sorry to jump in cruise morality consumption discourse as well, but i think he really hits at that debate for people on the basis of his enduring popularity, his raw competency, and his refusal to poke holes in/downplat his magnetism. you can’t really extract the darker stuff from his star image, but you can’t deny the star either. so whereas a lot of times people who want to believe media engagement = morality and want not to have to wrestle with it might be granted a sliver of something by another star image, a hint of underdog, of diversity or whatever, cruise stands in for the big beautiful awful hollywood machine. personally i think all celebs are (statistically most likely) terrible people and it can still be fruitful to engage with the images/careers they build in the hollywood gallery of blood, and there’s no real advantage to be had in choosing one celebrity over another to find interesting or charming or talented. if i’m going to be a little bitter, i think people end up choosing certain celebs as hard objects/scapegoats for the whole deal of it more or less at random, and if you start poking at that it all falls apart fast

yeah like I think when you have a giant buffet of golden calves you’re going to see people pick ones at random/for seemingly irrational reasons. And I think more generally they act as conduits for public discussions about social issues. I’m again thinking about Johnny Depp, whose actual celebrity was secondary to discourse around domestic abuse. The ‘gaylor’ phenomenon has essentially nothing to do with whether Taylor Swift the human being is actually gay, but how you position yourself and your artistic tastes re: liking the richest most popular musician in the world (being gay is cool and niche = I want to be cool and niche = I like Taylor Swift = Taylor Swift is gay). It’s likewise cool and niche to hate popular things = Tom Cruise is about as popular as Jesus Christ = I hate Tom Cruise. etc etc etc. Again I have this stance with JKR. Even if you pirate all of her work and give her no money I will still think you are both cringe and bad for trans people to be around, and that has less to do with her as a human being and more to do with how Harry Potter is culturally positioned re: trans rights

[yoursweetvalo]

List of books and movies mentioned by Acchan!

Might post an anime version of this soon <3

BOOKS:

仮面の告白 “Confessions of a Mask” by Yukio Mishima (1949)

生きるヒント “Living Tips” by Itsuki Hiroyuki (1993)

斜陽 “The Setting Sun”  by Osamu Dazai (1947)

“The Picture of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde (1890)

こころ”Heart” by Natsume Soseki (1914)

“Crime and Punishment” by Fyodor Dostoevsky (1866)

人間失格“No Longer Human” by Osamu Dazai (1948)

死霊“Death Spirits” by Yutaka Haniya (1948)

猫鳴り “Neko Nari” by Numata Mahokaru (2007)

“Coin Locker Babies” by Ryu Murakami (1980)

グロテスク “Grotesque” by Natsuo Kirino (2003)

“Notes from Underground” by Fyodor Dostoevsky (1864)

“The Brothers Karamazov” by Fyodor Dostoevsky (1879-1880)

“Salomé” by Oscar Wilde (1891)

破局 “Catastrophe” by Tono Haruka (2020)

新宿鮫 “Shinjuku Shark” by Arimasa Osawa (1990)

堕落論 “Discourse on Decadence” by Ango Sakaguchi (1946)

五分後の世界 “The World Five Minutes from Now” by Ryu Murakami (1994)

*Manga*悪魔の花嫁 “Bride of Deimos” by Etsuko Ikeda, illust. By Yuuho Ashibe (1974-1990)

九月が永遠に続けば “To Continue Forever in September” by Numata Mahokaru (2005)

彼女がその名を知らない鳥たち “Birds Without Names” by Numata Mahokaru (2006)

銀河鉄道の夜 “Night on the Galactic Railroad” by Kenji Miyazawa (1927)

怒り”Rage” by Shuichi Yoshida (2014)

悪人 “Villain” by Shuichi Yoshida (2007)

MOVIES:

The Green Mile by Frank Darabont (1999)

Bohemian Rhapsody by Bryan Singer (2018)

The Godfather by Francis Ford Coppola (1972)

Pierrot the Fool by Jean-Luc Godard (1965)

The Elephant Man by David Lynch (1980)

老ナルキソス Old Narcissus by Tsuyoshi Shouji (2023)

時計は生きていたThe Clock was Alive by Seijiro Kouyama (1973)

The Mission by Roland Joffé (1986)

Poongsan by Juhn Jai-Hong (2011)

Midnight FM by Kim Sang-man (2010)

Pusher by Nicolas Winding Refn (1996)

Misery by Rob Reiner (1990)

From Paris with Love by Pierre Morel (2010)

異人たちとの夏 The Discarnates by Nobuhiko Obayashi (1988)

Purple Noon by René Clément (1960)

Bonnie and Clyde by Arthur Penn (1967)

狂い咲きサンダーロード Crazy Thunder Road by Gakuryuu Ishii (1980)

Undo by Shunji Iwai (1994)

犬神家の一族  The Inugami Family by Kon Ichikawa (1976)

The Shawshank Redemption by Frank Darabont (1994)

The Brave by Johnny Depp (1997)

Antartica (Nankyoku Monogatari) by Koreyoshi Kurahara (1983)

Here is the link to my actual twitter thread, I update it every time I run into a new book or movie he has mentioned! The information to make this list was taken from several inerviews, radio programs, and even some of the Fish Tank Bulletins. If you know any other book/movie he has mentioned but is not here, do not hesitate to let me know!

ENJOY!

[drew-dopamine]

Jesus Christ, this is fucked up. How are trials even allowed to become public, especially like this?

oh sweet depravity beyond my wildest imagination

[mariacallous]

“She’s really giving throwback oblivious mean girl, it’s kind of amazing.” “Omg her saying she got her husband involved, she is SO that woman.” I would love to tell you that these comments, written this summer about Blake Lively, the lead actor in domestic violence drama It Ends With Us, were posted on Reddit by some anonymous misogynistic troll.

Lively had made what looked like tone-deaf promotional appearances to push her haircare and drinks line alongside the film. It was revealed that she had had a scene rewritten by her husband, actor/director Ryan Reynolds, and that she took control over the final cut, which also featured a song by her best friend, Taylor Swift. Everything from Lively’s conduct to her predilection for florals seemed like fair game, spawning a vast amount of negative discourse and tanking her reputation. But the comments above were texts written by me, made in my most active group chat.

On Saturday, Lively filed a complaint with the California civil rights department against Justin Baldoni, both the film’s director and her male co-lead, producer Jamey Heath, production company Wayfarer Studios and its public relations/crisis management retinue, alleging that they actively sought to harm her reputation to pre-empt any possibility of her going public with an HR complaint she made during the film’s making.

Alleging the violation of physical boundaries, sexual and inappropriate comments and the absence of intimacy coordination, the court filing is an astonishing read. It claims that Heath showed Lively unsolicited footage of his wife giving birth as they filmed a scene where her character does so; that Baldoni’s “best friend” was drafted in to play the obstetrician-gynaecologist in that scene, in which Lively was “nearly nude” in front of dozens of crew; that Baldoni talked to her about non-consensual sexual encounters; that he wept in her trailer over reactions to paparazzi photos from shooting that called her old and unattractive, prompting her to remind him that in those scenes her character had just been abused by her husband, and that she should look authentically distressed, not “hot”.

In January, prior to resuming filming after the Writers Guild of America strike, a meeting was held in which Lively sought to have 30 new set protections implemented. Wayfarer said: “Although our perspective differs in many aspects, ensuring a safe environment for all is paramount, irrespective of differing views. Regarding your outlined requests, we find most of them not only reasonable but also essential for the benefit of all parties involved.” One of those protections was that Lively should not be subject to retaliatory action for speaking out. Instead, her complaint seeks to illustrate that the parties behind the film allegedly engaged PR and crisis management – including a company that has represented Johnny Depp and is partly funded by music mogul Scooter Braun, who bought the masters to Swift’s first six albums – to destroy Lively’s reputation via media and social media manipulation.

“You know we can bury anyone,” crisis management expert Melissa Nathan wrote to PR executive Jennifer Abel, one of thousands of messages subpoenaed by Lively. (Bryan Freedman, a lawyer for Baldoni, called the accusations “categorically false”, saying a crisis manager was brought in due to “multiple demands and threats” allegedly made by Lively.)

In a subsequent message, Nathan told Abel that Baldoni didn’t realise how lucky he was given the allegations they had heard about his on-set conduct: “the whispering in the ear the sexual connotations like Jesus fucking Christ”.

While the film’s stars were told to keep their promotional activities positive and uplifting – “grab your friends, wear your florals and head out to see it,” Lively said in a promotional video – Baldoni, who most of the cast had unfollowed on social media, as fans had noticed, positioned himself as a feminist ally engaged with domestic violence issues. In response to the social media response “really ramping up” in terms of criticism of Lively, Nathan texted Abel: “It’s actually sad because it just shows you have people really want to hate on women.” A “scenario planning” document by Nathan’s firm, TAG PR, said it could “explore planting stories about the weaponisation of feminism and how people in [Lively’s] circle like Taylor Swift have been accused of utilising these tactics to ‘bully’ into getting what they want.” Baldoni told Heath that he “didn’t love” the document because it didn’t leave him feeling sufficiently protected.

“The weaponisation of the ‘weaponisation of feminism’.” That is how a friend in our group chat put it as we pored over the New York Times report that broke the news of Lively’s allegations and the subsequent release of her entire complaint; as we looked back, horrified, on what we had said about her in recent months (entirely in private, I hasten to add). We realised the degree to which a group of supposedly media-literate journalists were potentially manipulated by a confected misogynistic narrative; how persistent and pernicious internalised misogyny can be when another woman doesn’t meet your standards.

Of course, feminism can be weaponised and leveraged for personal gain. The flourishing of pop-cultural feminism a decade ago paved the way for “girlboss” and lean-in “feminism”, which didn’t fight for much more than a woman’s right to act and earn as rapaciously as men; it’s now considered a joke, with even girlboss creator, Sophia Amoruso, distancing herself from it in … interviews to promote her new venture capital firm. These are nuanced conversations about not allowing a fight for equality, respect and safety to be seized for self-gain. But the idea of the Hollywood and PR machines perverting that concept to discredit a woman apparently intent on ensuring the safety of herself and others – on the chaotic set of a film about ending cycles of domestic abuse – is a level of 4D chess that is terrifying in its imperceptibility, effectiveness and potential prevalence.

There is a chilling disconnect in the way the crisis and publicity parties rejoice in their apparent PR victory – “So much mixed messaging It’s actually really funny if you think about it,” Nathan texted Abel – and the covert warfare they allegedly used to manipulate the tabloid media into parroting their narrative. “This went so well I am fucking dying … We have the four majors standing down on HR complaint,” Nathan told Abel. When MailOnline published a piece in August asking “Is Blake Lively set to be CANCELLED?” Abel texted Nathan: “You really outdid yourself with this piece.” These methods are deadly, acutely attuned to how to form and nurture media and social media sentiment against a woman. As Taylor Lorenz writes in her newsletter User Mag, it takes its cues directly from the Gamergate playbook.

How many women has this happened to? How many smear campaigns have seduced our most base and ungenerous instincts into swallowing their line? How many male directors and actors successfully positioned themselves as feminist allies post-#MeToo for cynical reasons? Beyond celebrity narratives, how has this affected how we perceive the women in our own lives? Culturally, we seem to have progressed – rather,regressed – from ostracising figures who act badly to grasping for politically legible ways to take against anyone whose greatest crime might be “seeming a bit annoying”. Is someone “not a girl’s girl”, as you often hear online, or do they just have different values to you? Does their behaviour just feel confrontational and uncomfortable to you because it might reflect your own insecurities?

Lively’s complaint has left my head spinning. What can you really trust? How do we question accepted narratives without descending into tin-hatted conspiracy theory? Why do so many people hate women this much? How much internalised misogyny roils under my own skin every day? I’d like to reach for a cute ending, to say that through assiduous, informed questioning and acute media literacy, cases like Lively’s might, you know, end with us. But the truth is I don’t think we stand a chance.

[whoishotteranimepolls]

Why does the Undertaker have such a passionate fan base? I'm assuming it's because he looks like a wannabe Tim Burton character in anime form, but why do you guys act like he's so hot? He's no anime, Johnny Depp, but some of you sure act like he is

Defend Your Blurbo # 40

Please remember this post is about curiosity and genuine fandom discourse. Be kind with your answers because this is not a debate essay, this is a discussion between fans

Meet Undertaker from Black Butler. He owns a funeral home and basically provides information for the right price. I don't want to spoil too much, but he is a beloved side character who plays a much more significant role in several arcs. Now, since that's out of the way. Black Butler fandom, defend your blurbs

[newplayingsmash]

The one good thing they have, however:

It's the fucking guns

[thealogie]

Went to see how much frothing at the mouth the right-wing tinhatters were doing about Georgia's looking forward to "watching this babe lose bafta" and found out most of them are Johnny Depp's admirers to boot. Like seriously comparing "poor Johnny suffering" at the hands of Amber Heard with DT suffering GT's abuse. Every time I visit I find new surprising depths in this discourse, I probably need a sonar already.

My skin just crawled. I mean I’m not surprised because everything I’ve seen from them drips with genuine hatred for women but it’s still sad to be reminded people like this are out there.

[spectroscopes]

It's not that surprising but I hadn't reflected that much until recently about the fact that Depp v. Heard and fandom's overwhelming support for Johnny Depp, and the degree of ostracisation I faced, and the number of people I ended up breaking ties with, absolutely destroyed my ability to ever really engage in a serious way again. The fact that people in fandom who weren't even there, didn't say anything, didn't take any of the social damage that I did, want to apply what happened in 2022 to discourse about ships and fictional characters really underscores the contempt I have for most people in fandom and especially the moralising discourse. It's pointless isn't it, if you don't say anything when it counts. And it's shameful to act like you did, or would have, just for the sake of whatever idiotic discourse you're trying to create to control the flow of conversation in fandom. I mean it's just shameful.

[andkeeponplaying]

So of course the attack diddy’s legal team have chosen to use on Cassie is “mutual abuse.” DARVO 101. I truly believe the 2022 Depp/Heard trial has been the most deleterious, heinous, ruinous thing to happen to happen with victim’s rights and discourse therein in the past decade and will continue to be so. I think the masses buying it with Diddy is doubtful, but it just shows how this has become the defense de jour for abusers. I was just thinking about those of us who knew from the beginning that he was irrefutably an abuser. I had heard a little bit about it before the trial, but I didn’t even know who amber heard was and I didn’t grow up with any of Johnny depp’s movies so there was no nostalgia and it wasn’t something I’d ever thought about at length. But as soon as the trial began and it was everywhere it was immediately all so obvious that people’s ingrained misogyny and abuse apologism was being courted via yt and tiktok clips and pithy commentary. I felt like I was going insane because it was so self evident but it didn’t matter to anyone and amber heard’s crying was manipulative but depp cracking jokes and hanging out with jurors was charming and showed what a good guy he was. This was really the only place where I saw and followed and was mutuals with people who got it. It was and still is extremely triggering for me because early on I related to her as a “bad, provoking” victim and even at 9 years old I had no one who empathized with me being abused by my father. The same people who practice abuse apologism with adult abuse victims oftentimes very much do believe the same thing with children. I get physically nauseous thinking about all of this. The perfect victim myth was always there but had been getting a little better with me too but every single progress was eroded in the blink of an eye and sometimes I think that the myth of mutual abuse became more prevalent than it was in the 2000s. I will never forgive and forget any celebrities let alone people working in victim’s rights for defending Depp. Hasan piker is super cringey and slimey to me to begin with but I don’t know how anyone who sincerely identifies as a feminist continues to watch him knowing he made a dozen videos during the trial, literally compared her to Alex jones, and I just found out was only months ago saying he “wished he ripped into her more.” What’s crazy too is that people who themselves had been abused were defending Depp just the misogynistic brainwashing is insane. Again I do doubt the public at large will buy this with Diddy bc there’s estimated thousands of victims but it still absolutely terrifies me.

[cherienymphe]

I think you should get into Rihanna discourse because if im going to be honest her fenty bras and underwear is not all that. They break very easily.

See I never bought fenty bras because the majority of them aren't cute to me but I always wished her and the business and the consumers well lol. I'm always down to support a black business esp when the competition is questionable but then she had Johnny Depp in her show and the breakdown of the practices and ethics behind the scenes of the brand came out and I just washed my hands of that

[sluttynurse]

ok that johnny depp adhd tweet i reblogged earlier today represents everything i hate about modern twitter/tumblr discourse for 3 key reasons

the infantilization of mental and developmental disorders - because of course someone with adhd would be the type of person to bring crayons and gummy bears to a trial

the pathologization of behaviour/projecting of status onto others - how can you discern all of that from someone you don't know

using that status projecting to excuse bad faith actors and deliberate bad behaviour - how can you see all of that and not come to the conclusion that he is considers the whole thing a joke (similar to that reddit guy where people started claiming he was maybe autistic for not eating vanilla icing on a chocolate cake, or that a guy asking for exclusive fwb was aromantic)

[msclaritea]

It’s actually insane that Variety is singling out DaCosta for something that all directors do and then tried to put a bad spin on it. Absolutely disgusting behaviour that’s furthering the unnecessary discourse surrounding The Marvels" BSL

Reminder that #variety is owned by Penske Media, whose owner is a Trump supporter, received a disingenuous award from Trump, whose racist son got arrested for peeing on a woman in public, who's own journalist got shamed in Venice by Johnny Depp, for their negativity and rightwing bias and who are obviously on the side of the other shady studios, to hurt Disney, and any Marvel film that comes out, not featuring a white, male lead. I hope young people look past this negative campaign and go and just have some fun with The Marvels.

I know what dudebros are driving at with accusations of preachy, feminized fare. Gerwig movies are that. Waller-Bridge movies are that. Captain Marvel was never like that. It doesn't preach. It just shows a young woman and her life experience, leading to an incredible journey and adventure. Quite honestly, Captain Marvel has become a favorite because it's so unproblematic and just straightforward Sci-fi fun.