#not to mention Guillermo del toro

[mikilavellan]

Latines have won Hollywood

[rhys-ravenfeather]

[the-shipping-forecasters]

The Monster/Human Romance Special

Do you ever wonder if Bigfoot hides from humanity because he realises how much erotica focused on him? This week, we answer this question and many others, as we begin our foray into Monster Fucking.

Why not join us, as we judge James' very questionable taste, find out about Grace's first crush, and settle once and for all if Bowsette counts as a monster.

(By the way, Good Omens S2 spoilers at 51-54:30)

If that sounds your thing, the full episode is here, and all the other podcast places too:

And join us again in two weeks, when we pick out our favourites!

[nerdystarlightlove]

pov: I have just experienced something that changed my life forever (I just watched Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio)

[of-monsters-and-werewolves]

Pinocchio unionises with his coworker and they collectively tell Mussolini to eat shit and that's all the convincing you should need.

[toastsnaffler]

tagged by @dykeandballs MUAH !!

rules: list your five all time favorite films and have people vote on which one matches your vibe

ummm uhh okay tagging @athetos @alectothinker @mercymornsimpathizer @fettucine-al-pacino @romansmartini and anyone else who sees this n wants 2 play.. u can tag me im nosy 😚

[spiders-in-the-valley]

i find it really funny that i've never seen elliott ask about money in game, he already knows the farmer is stacked through means that are beyond comprehension

[positively--speculative]

Okay, but when I think of that dumb-dumb take on the book version Louis Pointe du Lac and his ownership of Black slaves that was all like, 'You all are dumb and media illiterate because clearly the point is to challenge you to be sympathetic towards awful people!'

And it's like, it's clear who is media illiterate because such a take reveals the lack of ability to understand the concept of *framing.* Rice framed slavery in a very neutral light and made Louis an obvious racist in the way he described his slaves. At no point is this ever challenged. At no point does Louis suffer any social consequences for it even in the present day. I mean, again, it very much illustrates how white audiences are not horrified by the atrocities of slavery, which is probably *why* this person can so easily pat themselves on the back for being able to sympathize with Louis while insulting the intelligence of Black people who prefer Jacob Anderson's Louis.

Like, if you want a better example of a gothic story that challenges the audience to be sympathetic towards horrible people, you need only look at Guillermo del Toro's Crimson Peak. I remember when watching it for the first time, I was able to figure out really fast what the twist was going to be because I am pretty familiar with the kind of thing that goes down in gothic stories. And I think that made the movie an interesting experience for me because I wanted so badly to be wrong. I wanted Thomas to be good. I didn't *want* to have a crush on someone who I was pretty sure was having an incestual relationship with his sister and who was trapping wealthy women into marriage with the intention of murdering them. But the harsh reality of the story is that Thomas and his sister are bad. Thomas loves Edith, sure. Thomas tries to protect her from Lucille, yes. But he is still guilty. Lucille and Thomas are tragic characters. They were isolated from the world and abused by their mother. In different circumstances, they could have grown up to be good people...but they are also not blameless. The framing of their relationship is not good, nor is it neutral. Any reasonable person is as horrified as Edith is at the reveal. This man who she is DEEPLY in love with should not be kissing his SISTER that way. It's very clear the point isn't to walk away with the mindset of "incest isn't that bad actually" just because we're in love with Thomas and *want* him to be good.

The problem with the way Rice handles Louis is that no one, not even Daniel, is horrified that Louis not only owned slaves but did not even view them as *people*. And Daniel was the *perfect* opportunity for that. I mean, for fuck's sake! It was published in 1976. Daniel wasn't at all uncomfortable with this? I mean, perhaps he was enthralled at the idea that he's sitting across from a literal vampire, but that's the thing right there. That right there is the missed opportunity to do what Crimson Peak did so brilliantly. Maybe it's easy to be drawn to a handsome immortal, but his lack of remorse for owning slaves should, at the very least, make him UNCOMFORTABLE with his attraction towards him. And that's the problem with white Rice fans. She didn't challenge your own ideas. She didn't challenge your biases. If anything, she validated them, because CLEARLY none of you are uncomfortable with your attraction to white Louis despite his misdeeds. Despite his blatant racism. Despite his treating his Black slaves as disposable but is conflicted about taking WHITE human lives.

And this is not me saying that any of you have to like Jacob Anderson's version of the character. But the way some of you act so smug about your preference for the book version or even Brad Pitt's version and want to accuse Black people of having a lack of media literacy when you barely have a good hold on FRAMING is laughable. And the way a lot of you are acting like you have a better understanding of the gothic genre than anyone who prefers AMC IWTV is straight-up embarrassing. Read a different author besides Anne Rice, please.

[monsterblogging]

NOTICE: This is not a hate post. This is a post to express my absolute bafflement with two guys whose work I genuinely appreciate having a very... shall we say, weird opinion in one area.

While researching Pacific Rim stuff, I occasionally find comments from del Toro and Beacham essentially claiming that Japanese media never depicts technology as a bad thing or a double-edged sword. And it's just so ?????? because it's just. Straight-up wrong. Like, what in God's name did you guys think Godzilla 1954 was about??? You even fucking named your kaiju category scale after Dr. Serizawa????? You know, the guy who destroyed his research and fucking killed himself so his oxygen destroyer could never be recreated and used as a weapon???????

Like you guys are both incredibly skilled when it comes to certain things and I love a lot of your work but good grief dudes what the fuck. How did you fuck up this badly on this one.

[boymadeofpine]

How do you think the Pinocchios will react to the fact that the original story almost ended with them being hanged.

What a way to start off the ask blog!

That's a really big bombshell to be dropped for some, but others have already gone through their fair share of tragedies..

[softlytowardthesun]

just for the record, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio is my favorite movie of the year. and this is the same year we had Entergalactic, Wendell & Wild, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, Prey, 3000 Years of Longing, and Everything Everywhere All at Once. 

Seriously, it’s brilliant. The Fascist Italy setting with the old children’s story seems strange when you first hear it, but it connects so smoothly I’m surprised this hasn’t been the go-to choice for every adaptation. Fascism demands blind obedience, so who better as a hero than a living embodiment of independent thought and free will -- a puppet with no performer?

No one literally turns into donkeys in this version, but the transformation into fascists is just as chilling if not more so. For the first time in my life, I pitied the Candlewick character and held back tears when it was clear there was no saving him from his fate. (Seriously, Collodi’s novel just treats it as a punchline that donkey Candlewick is literally worked to death; the original story is basically a black comedy and how it got transmuted into a coming of age fable is fascinating and befuddling.)

At the same time, it also takes a much more elegant approach to well-worn Pinocchio ground. Once again, Geppetto constructs the wooden boy out of grief for his dead child, but that’s not glossed over or used for pointless angst: Carlo is a real character who’s in real relationship with Geppetto and later his “younger brother” Pinocchio. The Cricket and Pinocchio have a more developed relationship, and Ewan McGregor is clearly having the time of his life in this role. 

The production design is next level. Like every Jim Henson Company project, you start off thinking “How in the world did they do that?” but soon enough the magic washes over you and you forget to be impressed by the astonishing amount of work that went into every frame. I’m so happy that the Creature Shop is still continuing Jim’s legacy, and I got a little teary eyed imagining what Jim Henson himself would have made of this.

Is there a weak link? Of course; no movie’s perfect. This movie’s a musical, and there’s no competing with the 1940 score from the cartoon. I doubt that many of the songs will make a lasting connection, but one in particular more than justifies the whole affair: I won’t spoil it, but it’s the best scatological joke of all time.

Guillermo del Toro, Lisa Henson, Patrick McHale, and Mark Gustavson have made something to be very proud of. I can’t wait for this to come to Netflix next month; I’m sure there’s dozens more details for me to find and further geek out about. If it’s in your area, please try to find time to check it out. 

[pinksilvace]

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[fusionkitty23]

so what'd you think of GDT Pinocchio? :D

Omg I LOVED it!!! It’s so so good!!! And heart wrenching?!! The animation is flawless!!! The character design is amazing!!! The story is so so incredible! (but holy crap they were not kidding when they said that fascism is in the movie)

⚠️spoilers to anyone who haven’t seen the movie⚠️

- I can’t get over on the bitter sweet ending it’s so AAAA and I cried!!!! The fact that Pinocchio’s motivation is different from all the other Pinocchio’s, that he wants his papa to see him as a son instead of a burden, and in the end he became mortal, not human, but mortal and I find that so clever Guillermo is a genius!!!

- And Holy shit I LOVE the anti-fascism in this movie, (but oh my god I’m still shocked that they added the salute, youth camp, and MOTHER FUCKING B*NITO M*SSOLINI?!!!) and that the one of the moral of the story is to tell fascism to literally eat shit and rot in hell, this puts a smile on my face!

- I also find it clever that they names Geppettos former son Carlo cuz that’s the name of the creator of the book: Carlo Collodi

- The build up on every character is also one of my favorite things about this movie! how Geppetto kept saying “your not my son!” And “why can’t you be more like Carlo?” To “don’t be like anyone else, be yourself, be Pinocchio.” Same with Sebastian Cricket, instead of wishing for fame and fortune, he wishes for Pinocchio to come back to life. And Candlewicks instead of continuing being a jerk, later became Pinocchio’s friend (god I really really hope he’s ok, I’m placing a headcanon that there is a rescue team that came to the island and saved all the children there and brought them home) the fact that we get to know Candlewicks story that his dad is forcing him to do what he wants and to act like a bitch instead of candlewick being a bitch just because. And Spazzatura hating Pinocchio because he became Count Volpes favorite but then realizing that Pinocchio cares about his coworker and later joins his family. And lastly Pinocchio’s glow up, from a curious grimlin to learning about the exemption of life and death.

There’s so much more I love about this movie, it’s incredible and beautiful and bittersweet, I can’t get over how we slowly watch as each character in Pinocchio’s family slowly pass away and watch Pino walk away from the graves, it really makes me cry just thinking about it. There’s other stuff I want to mention about the movie but idk if anyone wants to continue reading this already long post so ima just cut it here.

Either way I love this movie and it’s heart breaking sweetness. Guillermo Del toro is amazing!

[naivesilver]

Your Pinocchio post about the trauma related to Catholicism really hit hard seeing the movie for a second time.

Sometimes you feel represented by a character and other times you watch the Italian kid on screen realize they're unforgivably sinful and miles away from Jesus and go "...oh."

[vifetoile]

Maybe I SHOULD order hardbound copies of all my Tessa Dare favorites

[my-shining-sun]

what’s the best dub of this movie and why is it finnish