#or made it campier

[appropriate-as-always]

me: honestly, I thought The Menu did a little too much Telling and not enough Showing

me, seconds later: wait, was that the point

[rattusrattus3]

CALLING ALL MUSICAL FANS I need recs for more musicals to watch (must be able to find online) I love stuff with a spooky edge (some favs are Phantom of the Paradise, little shop of horrors, tripod vs the dragon, RHPS, repo!, stage fright…) please if you have reccomendations I’d love to hear them !

[husband-steve-cortez]

It's so funny the way I'm like Ezra and Miles can't be xyz thing so long as they're still alliance soldiers, it always has to be after they get out that they're more free. Particularly in regards to gender stuff. Something about still feeling bound by the constraints of mass effect as a bit of a dudebro game where you can't be gay in practice until me3 and until then heterosexuality is going to be shoved at you from all angles.

[msculper]

THEY 👏 NAILED 👏 THE 👏 CHARACTER 👏 WORK 👏 AND 👏 CASTING 👏👏👏

[alwaysahiccupandastrid]

I’ve seen so many people complaining about the Springlock scene in the FNAF movie because it’s not like the SFM animations made by fans - he’s not screaming, there’s little to no blood, etc. But it’s actually realistic if we’re being honest with ourselves, the spring locks probably punctured Afton’s lungs and other organs/parts of his body so he wouldn’t have been able to scream; as for blood, the spring locks piercing him keep the blood in (which is why if you’re stabbed you don’t pull the object out as it will cause you to bleed out) and the costume in the film is so thick that it probably would have absorbed any blood that did leak out.

Also I’ve seen people complain about scenes like the ghost children and Abby building a fort, about the lighter or campier scenes etc., and it’s like… that’s kind of the whole point? People are acting disappointed that the animatronics are literal children and have behaviours like little children - plus the scenes of them befriending Abby take on a darker meaning when you realise what their plan was the entire time (killing and trapping her in a suit so she can be with them forever). I don’t know, it made sense to me as a fan of FNAF that the animatronics haunted by ghost children didn’t want to harm a child but attacked adults.

Don’t get me wrong, the FNAF movie wasn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination but a lot of complaints I’m seeing seem to come from people who didn’t play the games or who didn’t follow the lore over the years, and were expecting a plain old blood bath with evil animatronics.

And that’s not me gatekeeping and saying you HAVE to have played the games: I myself haven’t played much of FNAF (despite the fact I had the first four games on my kindle) because my anxiety shoots up to 100 playing horror games, but I’ve enjoyed watching people like Markiplier play it over the years (for some reason I find it easier watching horror then actively playing horror games if that makes sense). This film was very much made for the fans of the games specifically, but that’s just my opinion.

[thebibliosphere]

What is the gameplay like on Gotham Knights? I have poor coordination so I have trouble with anything more complex than LOZ: Ocarina of Time. Like, on a scale of Pokémon->Dragon Age->LOZ->Dark Souls?

It's a bit clunky like Dragon Age 2, tbh. Except it doesn't have the excuse of coming out in 2011. The mechanics and camera controls are one of the things that let it down a lot, IMO.

I’m constantly getting stuck on walls and the edge of ledges because the controls feel laggy and the game’s not consistent about which surfaces you can climb and which ones you need to grapple. It's fine if you’re fighting in more open spaces but it turns the timed events into an exercise in frustration. Not to mention the number of times it feels like I’ve taken damage through an obstacle from enemy ranged attacks when my own ranged attacks bounce off invisible walls if I’m not standing in the exact spot the game needs me to be in. This results in me just key smashing melee a lot until every around me stops twitching.

I’m still enjoying it, but it is v. glitchy and I understand why people are leaving angry reviews. Especially if they are deeply committed to the immersive elements and were expecting the same level of polish from the Arkham games, which this studio also made.

I’m just casual enough a gamer that I’m enjoying muttering “parkour” to myself as I accidentally fall off buildings and plumet to my death because my graple hook glitched out and went the exact opposite way I’d been aiming.

I’m really just playing it for the characters. It feels like playing a a game written by people who understand the appeal of found family that went hard on the campier elements of the franchise while still maintaining a decent level of aching sadness for the tragedy they’ve endured.

You can feel the group fracturing under the weight of Bruce’s death with Dick doing everything he can to fill the void and stay positive and “normal” for the sake of everyone around him, including Alfred who is devastated but also trying to keep it together. Barbara, mourning an extra loss, is trying so hard to stay level headed and useful for Dick. Being both Oracle and Batgirl while also acting like a fun big sister to Tim who stands out as really young in this iteration.

Sure he’s a kid genius, but he’s also only 16 with a monumental caffeine addiction (you can’t tell me all the energy drinks on the shopping list pinned to the fridge aren’t for him) and mourning the loss of Bruce while also just wanting to do normal teenage shit, like asking the group for help with his art homework and being annoyed that his role as Robin is keeping him from spending time with his online boyfriend.

Jay is very raw and angry and obviously processing his own trauma on top of everything that just happened but even he steps up, trying to be there for Tim, teaming up with Babs to gently pick on Dick when he’s being particularly Boy Wonder-ish. Seeing him stress cook is also a nice added touch as are the photos of him and Bruce working on stuff. Bonding.

Which is another thing I Love. From what we see of him, Bruce is in his absolute DILF element in flashbacks and in recordings. All sad smiles and a gentle, head-shaking tolerance for the absolute ribbing the kids put him through for being too serious and neglecting himself. Not to mention all the pictures of him with Dick and Tim and Jason. And so many of him and Alfred and Ace. (The one on the fridge of him and Alfred showing them adopting Dick at the courthouse almost killed me. They all looked so young and happy.)

I’m getting serious “Bruce is a good dad with a warped sense of humor who hugs his kids and spends quality time with them, actually, and you’re wrong if you write him otherwise” fanon vibes, and that's honestly my favorite Bruce.

It’s basically appealing to everything I love about the franchise while scratching an itch in my brain the way crackfic taken seriously does.

And that’s enough to make me forgive the bad controls and glitches. But I could see it not being enough for some people, especially if you’ve already got poor hand eye coordination. Which I do. But again, I don’t really care about being good at games. I’m just dicking around and having fun wringing dopamine out of the narrative.

[lafemmemacabre]

My personal top albums of all time

If anyone who respects my music opinions is interested, IN NO ORDER because I can't choose between my babies. Also, warning, it's mostly gonna be albums from the 90s. Only the albums that are described as Gothic Rock, Darkwave (Neoclassical or not), Deathrock and Ethereal Wave are goth, the rest are some other flavor of dark alternative.

Aégis, by Theatre of Tragedy (1998)

Exquisite Gothic Rock, despite the band usually playing Metal, with themes of mostly Greco-Roman mythology with some other European folklore thrown in. The most angelic and soft soprano vocals delivered by Liv Kristine with baritone whispers delivered by Raymond. Ethereal yet complex atmospheres with soft guitars, strong bass, poetic lyrics in Shakespearean English.

Highlights: Cassandra, Venus, Poppæa, Bacchante.

Inferno, by Lacrimosa (1995)

Gothic Rock that flirts slightly with Metal in some tracks. This is when they made the jump from Neue Deutsche Todeskunst (basically late 80s/early 90s German Darkwave except it's a little weirder than most other Darkwave at the time) to more Rock-based styles of music, as well as the first album Anne Nurmi was featured in. Tilo's best studio vocal performance in my opinion. Beautiful lyrics about love, passion, devotion, and the end of the world, could only be written by a goth guy with a gift for poetry who just fell in deep love. Only iffy track is Copycat but even that one is still a classic among fans if only because of its high energy, and killer guitars, bass and percussion.

Highlights: Schakal, Vermächtnis der Sonne, No blind eyes can see, Kabinett der Sinne.

Passion's Price, by Diva Destruction (1999)

Diva Destruction's debut, from back when Darkwave was actually dark and dreary in sound. Songs about heartbreak, betrayal, abuse and love, in the band's most musically complex and hauntingly atmospheric album. A definite classic with nothing but great track after great track.

Highlights: The Broken Ones, Snake, Prey, Glare.

Selected Scenes from the End of the World, by London After Midnight (1992)

Some of the best Gothic Rock to have ever come out, in my opinion. Deep, rich, dark, mysterious, sensual, macabre, romantic (arguably too romantic even by 90s goth standards as the album apparently got criticized for being almost entirely love songs? Wtf). The song that introduced me to goth in February of 2007 is in this album and it's the reason why I never looked back.

Highlights: The Black Cat, Claire's Horrors, Sacrifice, Spider and the Fly.

Annwyn, beneath the Waves, by Faith and the Muse (1996)

Ethereal Wave royalty in maybe not their most iconic album, but definitely the one closest to my heart by them. Despite goth music being associated with darkness in the minds of most, this album is full of glittering light in the most poetic and heartfelt way possible. The vocals are soft and tender when they need to be, delivered by Monica Richards, or firm and epic when needed, as delivered by William Faith. The lyrical themes are full of Celtic folklore, love, hope, magic and a feeling of reclamation of nature and an ancestral past (but not in like, a white supremacist way, I promise).

Highlights: Annwyn, beneath the Waves, The Hand of Man, The Silver Circle, Rise and Forget.

Treasure, by Cocteau Twins (1984)

Walking a thin line between Ethereal Wave and Dreampop (as they're pioneers in both genres). Some tracks are darker than others, but they're all equally delightful, full of beauty and a dreamy gaze hovers over every single song, all of which contain some of the most heavenly vocals in the scene. One of Robert Smith's favorite albums (he also really liked Diva Destruction's debut!). If you're into more relaxing and atmospheric music, this might be your intro to goth.

Highlights: Beatrix, Persephone, Pandora (for Cindy), Lorelei.

Anthology, by Nosferatu (2006)

Legendary Gothic Rock band among those of us who enjoy a campier vampiric goth sound that takes itself too seriously, and deliciously so. Yes, I know I'm cheating by going with a compilation album, sue me. It's simply a collection of their best tracks and I honestly couldn't choose between all their actual albums, so there!

Highlights: Inside the Devil, Lucy is Red, Rise, Witching Hour.

Es reiten die Toten so schnell (or: The Vampyre Sucking at his Own Vein), by Sopor Aeternus & The Ensemble of Shadows (2003)

Probably the gothiest and most elite Neoclassical Darkwave out there. Deeply macabre, equally horrific and beautifully crafted, with expressive and dramatic vocals, themes of vampirism and death masking more human subjects such as social rejection (Anna Varney-Cantondea is a trans woman/transfeminine person who's battled suicidality and depression from a very young age), depression, gay/trans desire, and suicidality. It truly is a masterpiece of macabre and neoclassical goth.

Highlights: The Feast of Blood, Holy Water Moonlight, Baptisma, Dead Souls.

Blood Death Ivory, by Angelspit (2008)

Probably one of the few modern Industrial bands who have thoroughly kept the spirit of early Industrial alive, fashioned after greats such as Skinny Puppy and Die Form, especially in the 00s when the Industrial scene heavily turned to more superficial lyrics based on the aesthetics of cyberpunk art rather than its subversive content. The music is aggressive, simultaneously animalistic yet robotic with a touch of demonic, rarely ever without smartly phrased critiques of capitalism and consummerism. At this point in time the band was a duo between Amelia Arsenic/Destroyx and Zoog Von Rock. It's definitely some edgelord shit (affectionate), but by no means in a vapid, only-for-shock-value way.

Highlights: Skinny Little Bitch, Lust Worthy, Devilicious, Jugular.

Alles für dich, by Grausame Töchter (2012)

Some of the most dynamic, deliciously quirky, sexual, hyper and twisted Dark Electro bands currently making music. The lead vocalist and lyricist of the band, Aranea Peel, is a lesbian dominatrix, fetish model, trained ballet dancer, and lover of Weimar republic era artistry who absolutely imprints lots of dark flapper energy into the band's music and imagery. The lyrics are unabashedly perverted, kinky, sapphic and fucked up. Her singing is nothing short of chef's kiss worthy, always expressive and strange, but with pristine execution and technique.

Highlights: Tanz für dich, TABU, Therapie für dich, ICH DARF DAS!

The Astonishing Eyes of Evening, by Cinema Strange (2002)

KINGS of 00s Deathrock with touches of Dark Cabaret influences, as inescapable in the goth scene in the 00s as She Past Away and its many copycats are now, and for very good reason. Delightfully macabre, not the first to use ghostly androgynous vocals but certainly one of the bands who better utilize that style of vocals. Imo, this and their homonymous album are must-listens for people interested in the goth music scene in general, but especially those interested in Deathrock. Truly Halloween turned into an album.

Highlights: Tomb Lilies, Catacomb Kittens, 'Ere the Flowers Unfold, Legs and Tarpaulin.

Opheliac, by Emilie Autumn (2006)

Literally music for mentally unstable sapphic girls with a poet's soul and flare for both irony and intense earnest feeling. It's a very original combination of Synthpop, Punk Cabaret, and Neoclassical music, with influences of Industrial and Darkwave. It's all masterfully crafted by classically trained violinist, poet, writer, actress, and somewhat of a burlesque performer with a rich alto voice; Emilie Autumn. She wrote this album after suffering medical abuse at a mental hospital after a suicide attempt brought on by an abortion and emotionally abusive relationship. I'm not exaggerating when I say this album saved my life and also changed me as a person.

Highlights: Opheliac, Liar, The Art of Suicide, 306.

Of the Want Infinite, by Requiem in White (1995)

You don't often hear of bands combining Deathrock and Ethereal Wave as they're often perceived as the polar opposite ends of the spectrum of goth music; Deathrock being the goth subgenre closest in sound and idiosyncrasy to punk, and Ethereal Wave being one of the goth subgenres furthest from goth's punk roots. Add in an operatic soprano and you get... Some of THE best, most underrated goth bands of the 90s. Dramatic, ethereal, creepy, elegant, ghostly and complex, with incredible vocals. Truly a pity they only released one album and a couple of EPs.

Highlights: Everlasting Peace, Beneath the Leaves, My Shame, Acanthus.

Agony of the Undead Vampire Part II, by Two Witches (1992)

Truly another giant of vampiric Gothic Rock, absolute 90s legends and Finland's most iconic goth band. Themes of vampirism, occasionally anti-Christianity, sex, sensuality and kink abound. The vocals might put some people off, but it's definitely worth it.

Highlights: The Hungry Eyes, The Omen, Mircalla, We All Fall Down.

Mors Syphilitica, by Mors Syphilitica (1996)

Requiem in White may have disbanded after their first proper album, but two out of its three core band members, then spouses Lisa and Doc Hammer, went on to form pure Ethereal Wave act Mors Syphilitica right after and while it's generally less dark and spooky than its predecesor band, they're still a delight to the ears.

Highlights: The Woman Who Believed, Fell a Dance, The Vain Stroke, Below the Baleful Star.

Beyond the Veil, by Tristania (1999)

I've raved about this album so many times. Just... THE definitive Gothic Metal album to me. The lyrics, the choir of sopranos (aka all Vibeke Stene and her rich, sensual, dark, gorgeous voice), the perfect growling, the somber baritone vocals, the perfectly crafted guitar riffs (no guitar salad, all expressive and precisely timed), the exciting epic percussion, the piano, the violin solos, THE SYMPHONICS. Oh, my God. There's not one second wasted in the entire album, and I'm not being hyperbolic, I mean that. Truly the perfect Gothic Metal album.

Highlights: Beyond the Veil, Angina, Heretique, Opus Relinque.

Serpentine Gallery, by Switchblade Symphony (1995)

Tbh all of Switchblade Symphony's discography is fantastic, but their debut truly is a masterpiece. Creepy ragdoll vibes all over, great vocals, rich composition, poetic yet accessible lyrics. If you're into a more kindergoth vibe (Wednesday Addams, creepy dolls, child-like or even lolita-esque looks), this might be the band for you.

Highlights: Clown, Mine Eyes, Dollhouse, Bad Trash.

Vampyre Erotica, by Inkubus Sukkubus (1997)

The other band that introduced me to goth in 2007 and got me to never look back. Though the first song by them I ever listened to, Samhain, isn't from this album, this album is the one that truly got me hooked for life. Vampiric, sensual, decadent and dark. It has everything including really sweet vocals.

Highlights: Vampyre Erotica, Danse Vampyr, Hell-Fire, Heart of Lilith.

Link to a YouTube Playlist containing all the songs from all the albums above.

[miraculan-draws]

Dragon Age 2 is THE best Dragon Age to write for because "Varric made X up to cover up that what REALLY happened was Y" is so fucking powerful. Thedas between the years 9:31 and 9:37 is happy hour for content creators. Varric is a campy writer. So the campier the in-game scenario, the more likely I personally am to mark it as rewritable. Orsino's sludge blob monster? Leandra's cause of death? Fenris/Anders eternal rivalry? Anders dialogue in the romance scenes? Varric practically confessed to making that one up bc Anders wouldn't tell him. I love it here.

[soapskneebrace]

Whats your opinion on if the 09 ghost comic lore applies to reboot ghost? I'm interested in your take on it

I think the lore itself is terribly melodramatic and little better than something a 12 year boy in 2009 could come up with. Unfortunately I adore it precisely because it is so stupid and over the top. They could’ve just given him a dead wife and called it a day, but they did something a lot campier and, perhaps unintentionally, more sincere as a result.

As for whether or not it applies to reboot Ghost, I’m pretty sure it’s supposed to; Ghost coaches Johnny in guerilla warfare through the Alone mission, mentioning that he’s had firsthand experience with it and “years of practice.” Considering that Ghost’s backstory occurs in Mexico as well, I think the allusion is intentional.

Let it not go unsaid, though—the depiction of Mexican characters in the 09 comics are textbook racist caricatures that the reboot made only a halfway decent effort improving upon.

[storiesbyrhi]

The slightest break in our usual Eddie Munson programming for me to scream about Teen Wolf: The Movie.

Spoilers below the cut.

I'm an original Sterek shipper from back in the glory days. I watched the new episode each week. I was queerbaited to death. In the year 2023, why must I continue to suffer like this?

You chose the villain most associated with Stiles, but can't convince Dylan - the heart of the show - to come back? The reason Stiles is M.I.A. is that he has his 'own fires to put out' with the F.B.I. Lazy?! Lazy writing! He would have come A.S.A.P., but especially after Sheriff was taken by the Oni!

"Maybe you should call your son." What the fuck?

You give me this shitty Stiles-free movie, and then make Derek's son Eli a) obsessed with Stiles' Jeep and b) have the personality of Stiles? And have Derek and Sheriff Stilinski buddy up? And have Sheriff kind of go all dad on Eli too?

Don't get me started on Derek's death. I'm very pro-major characters dying but Derek has suffered unbelievable cruelty and yet, he triumphs. He builds a real life. Then you kill him. Not just kill him, but send him to, what, hell?

"Derek had complicated feelings about that Jeep." Give me Sterek or leave it alone.

Also, on the subject of Derek as a hero - @thisdiscontentedwinter made a succinct and absolutely correct post about it here.

AND, you chose a villain heavily reliant on Kira, her culture, and her family but won't pay Arden what she's worth? You use Japanese folklore and Japanese-American history (e.g. internment camps in the U.S.) but can't even begin to service the meaning or legacy of that? Kira isn't even mentioned?

You replace Kira with Hikari, a young Japanese-American woman, and a Kitsune. Don't worry - she's also Liam's love interest! That means she's got character! Right?! RIGHT?! She literally is just there to deliver Japanese lore, be another body in the fight, and make foxfire and ramen. "We're here for our pain," she says. Yeah, Hikari, you sure are. (Hikari is played by Amy Lin Workman, who is not Japanese.)

Nostalgia couldn't even save this. When you bring something so problematic into the current year, all it does is draw attention to how fucking problematic it was to begin with. Jeff Davis' ego is far too big for him to admit mistakes and rectify them here.

The only good things were Jackson being so Jackson, the introduction of more gore and swearing into the Teen Wolf universe (sorry but I love a "fuck" where there were previously no fucks allowed), Peter's entrance (he's even campier now), and Lydia and Allison's friendship being important.

There's already a huge catalogue of posts on Tumblr about why the movie was so fucking shit lmao. I'm going to enjoy reading them. And, oh my god, am I going to start reading Sterek fanfic again?!

Also, why is everyone wearing flannel?

I miss Isaac Lahey.

How'd everyone else feel about it? Are we all crying in Beacon Hills?

[jennilah]

For the saw ask!! 5, 11, 14 <3

5) A character you wish could have lived

there are many characters I wish I could watch an AU where they lived, but am generally not torn up that they had to die to move the plot forward because I thought the final story was compelling. but there is one character I really did not like seeing die for many reasons, and that was Jill :(

11) Thoughts on Saw VII

Saw 3D they cant make me hate you. i dont often dislike movies at all, actually. in most films, even widely hated ones, i like trying to find the positive. i can usually list at least one aspect i enjoyed & Saw 3D was no different.

I know theres some argument about how in-character some people were, but i dont like getting into that sort of thing. I dont want to dig into writers and script n shit that much, that reminds me too much of how I used to fandom. ugh, barf. thats taking things way too seriously for my taste now. Going into it, I had no idea about any of that, I was just thinking about how things progressed from the last film, right?

so whatever characters do, thats canon now. i just gotta deal w it and adapt my characterization accordingly whether i like it or not

so I explain things like Hoffman and Lawrence's behavior as simply losing what little humanity they had left. Listen. Like, the guys have been though an absolute hell of an experience in different ways, and spent a significant amount of time drinking John's kool-aid. He had a way with words and was a master manipulator.

Hoffman just spent the last four movies slowly spiraling further down and down into the hole he was digging himself in, i had no problem with him going full terminator in the end. He was off the deep end and his penchant for revenge reared its ugly head once again, and he couldn't be stopped. he was blinded by his own bad decisions and nobody could stop him- he killed them all. He was drunk with power and behaved at times like a cornered animal that snapped.

his slasher rampage made me fall in love with him, after all. it opened my eyes to him being more than just "boring cop jigsaw" (though my tune was starting to change by Saw VI)

Lawrence was recruited during likely another vulnerable position in his life, recovering from the trauma of the trap, likely also dealing with a divorce and more. Him returning to be an apprentice was fanfiction, but what can I say? I dont hate fanfiction movies. I like what apprentice!Lawrence has brought to the table in the grand scheme.

i also enjoy some of the campier sillier moments. Horsepower trap, my beloved

i dont love all of it. but idk. im forgiving w "bad films". very few are completely without any intriguing moments

14) Favorite trap

oh god this is so unbelievably hard to answer

the Horsepower trap has an absurdity to it that makes me laugh a lot. The Glass Coffin had my favorite characters & ship fodder.

I also really like the Nerve Gas House & Fatal Five but maybe more as like, a vibe and plotline? I guess those are "games" more than individual traps right?

maybe the Glass Coffin. i did make this, after all

[high-functioning-fang1rl]

I am absolutely terrified for this evening, so please enjoy my reminiscing of simpler times when I got to meet my idol- THE Fiona Dourif!

MonsterMania con with Fiona Dourif!

Her normal laugh is the Chucky laugh so the whole time you were waiting you could hear her and see how fun she was having!

She was SO attentive and asked everyone numerous questions-what got them into the franchise/what their favorite was/etc. She really took the time to connect with each person. When she looked at you she was completely interested in who you were/what you were saying/why you were there.

When signing the autograph, she asked how long I’d been into horror and when I told her I was relatively new/still had my limits of what I’d watch and preferred some of the campier or more classic movies, she said “Oh my god me too! I was screaming so hard and couldn’t sleep after seeing Hereditary!”

When I made a joke and called Chucky the “Happy Killer Doll” this happened:

Her (Adorably cocking her head/eyes narrowing): “What did you call him?”

Me: “The Happy Killer Doll! He is always laughing!”

Her (cackling now): “Oh my god I’ve never heard that before! I LOVE THAT!” (Proceeds to write “To Sami- thanks for introducing me to the term Happy Killer Doll! Love, Fiona”)

Her: “You know, you’re so right- but he’s kind of a dick, right?!”

Me: “Of course! But he loves his job!”

Then we took pictures and she immediately pointed out we were wearing matching necklaces, saying “I love your necklace!”

“I think we should Insta Pose!”

“And now we’re bored, kinda mean…” (I was so in awe I could barely pay attention to what she was saying and I was trying not to scream/cry/throw up 😂)

“And now for our last we should be that painting…Oh my god, what’s it called…Oh god I’m delirious! Oh! American Gothic!” (I personally think it’s giving the twins from The Shining 😂🥺)

Then she gave me the BIGGEST hug and thanked me…And I walked away shaking and in tears.

Genuinely one of the warmest people I’ve ever met and I’m counting down the days till September when I can meet her again! 🥺😍🥰

[cchsunday]

In Defense of Jerry Lewis — by Mark Simpson for Out Magazine, 2009

Forget hair whorls, genomes, amniotic fluid, older brothers, domineering mothers, or disco. I can reveal with absolute certainty the cause of my homosexuality in just two words. Jerry. Lewis. As a kid in the 1970s, I watched reruns of his movies—especially the ones from the early 50s with his on-screen boyfriend Dean Martin—with a level of breathless excitement that nothing else came close to until I discovered buggery in the 1980s. Films like Money From Home (1953), where he pins Martin to the bed wearing a pair of polka-dot shorts campier than Christmas in West Hollywood, and Sailor Beware (1952), where he is pricked by several burly Navy medics wielding ever-bigger needles until he squirts liquid in all directions and faints, made me the man I am today.

In February, after a lifetime of being ignored by a cross-armed Academy Awards committee that never gave him so much as a nomination when he was making movies, Lewis finally got an Oscar. But not for his charming films with Dean Martin or his solo classics such as The Disorderly Orderly—in which, memorably, he happily Hoovers with the appliance plugged up his own ass—but for his fund-raising for muscular dystrophy. Its a charity Oscar in every sense. Lewis is 83 and has been unwell for some time. The Hollywood gays, though, are Not Happy. They have a Hoover up their ass about Lewis. Some tried to block his Oscar because this ill old man, born in 1926, almost used the word faggot last year after hosting a 12-hour telethon. In effect, the gays are running down the street screaming Ma-a-a! Likewise, because he isn’t gay himself and because his nerdy, sissy persona has been deemed exploitative.

Lewis has been almost completely spurned by queer studies, when really he should have his own department. Certainly, though, his films should be set texts. But it was in his anarchic, early-50s TV shows with Martin that the 20-something Lewis was at his queerest and giddiest. Their heads were so close together in those tiny 50s cathode-ray tubes—gazing into each others eyes, rubbing noses, occasionally stealing kisses or licking each others neck to shrieks of scandalized pleasure from the audience. They were a prime-time study in same-sex love. And they were adored for it—literally chased down the street by crowds of screaming women and not a few men.

Their very first TV show opens with our boys arriving at a posh ball, full of Waspy straight couples being announced: Mr. and Mrs. Charles Cordney! Mr. and Mrs. Walter Christiandom! And then: Mr. Dean Martin and Mr. Jerry Lewis! The Dago and the Jew same-sex couple. Setting the tone for their series, Lewis promptly trashes the place. The Martin and Lewis partnership was queer punk rock before even rock n roll had been invented. It trashed normality right in the living rooms of 1950s America, courtesy of Colgate. No wonder they’ve almost been forgotten. They should never have existed. True, the explicitness of their pairing depended on the official innocence of the times and perhaps a nostalgia for buddydom in postwar America, which allowed the audience to enjoy the outrageous queerness of what was going on without having to think too much about it. Literally, to laugh it off. But official innocence is a mischievous comedians gift horse.

A skit depicting the (fictional) meeting of Martin and Lewis—or Ethel and Shirley, as they called each other—climaxes with them being trapped in the closet together: pushed together mouth to mouth, crotch to crotch. In another skit our boys end up sharing a bed with Burt Lancaster, playing an escaped homicidal maniac. Boy, Dean, these one-night stands are moider! says Lewis. Moider was exactly what they got away with. In a skit set in prison, Jerry’s bunk collapses on Martin below. What are you doing? asks Martin. I felt lonesome, replies Lewis.

Lewis’ on-screen queerness may have been just a phase, but what a phase! It was so unruly, so indefinable, so crazy, so ticklish, so exhilarating that gays—and probably most people today—don’t really know what to do with it. It’s a bit scary, really. But that—in addition to the fact that it’s still piss-your-pants funny—is precisely what is so great about it. [And] why I still think Jerry Lewis is at least as much fun as sodomy.

[emma-d-klutz]

Ok the explosion of affection I felt immediately at Batman Unburied's Riddler being a condescending little jackass made me, like, really click in my mind how I feel about the character in a way that I can word now. And keep in mind, this is just going to be MY personal feelings and preferences and not real character analysis with reasoning behind it, so like if you feel differently, I'm not saying your take is wrong.

We good? Ok.

I think Riddler's best as an ally rather than an antagonist.

Why? Because he feels most like himself to me when he's just a little guy. A silly little billy with a genius intellect that he wholeheartedly devotes to riddles and puzzles and escape rooms just because that's genuinely what he’s passionate about and how he wishes to spend his time, and he will steal, hack, blackmail, and even take hostages as a means alone to this life's calling. He is a person who needs everyone everywhere to know all the time that he is the smartest and cutest person in the room or so help him god. He deeply loves Batman/Bruce Wayne in the way one who unironically called themself a “sapiosexual yandere” an online rp forum back when they were 14 deeply loves, and he will throw a tantrum if he doesn’t get enough attention. He roasts and gets roasted. He annoys and gets annoyed. He is just a funny little guy to me!

Now here's the issue:

In Gotham, rogues can be funny. Goofy - wacky even! It is in many ways encouraged. Securing your own campy gimmick is integral to getting into the rogue business there, and they mean it, the campier the better. HOWEVER, a rogue must still be seen as a threat. A real threat. Otherwise, you are nothing but a third string gag character.

So what is one to do with Eddie, who is a main and major rogue of Gotham's gallery so high ranking and OG he can contract and subjugate lower level villains into his plans and who is also just a funny little guy with motives that do not necessitate mass killings or disabling psychological torture? Well, I have seen properties tackle this by making him into a real threat with new or expanded end goals, and I have also seen properties decide to make him pathetic and snubbed, sadly relegated to a dejected gag.* And I don't particularly dislike or disrespect these as a whole. I'm more lukewarm to them, I guess. They still have my affection, but it is proportionally incomplete.

But when you make him an ally?

Well now! That’s a horse of a different color!!!

When Riddler’s an ally he can be competent and taken seriously while also being entirely a silly little guy who is insulting you and bragging. Full bombastic personality and full respectable skillset. AND I LOVE IT SO MUCH!! When he works as an ally, I go from “Eh, it’s the Riddler,” to becoming putty in this character’s gloved little jazz hands! And it’s not even about if he’s actually a reformed “good guy” or not. It’s entirely about letting him be powerful without making him scary. Er, to the audience. (You know, like how we know the Batfam scares the shit out of everyone, but as the audience, we’re not scared; we just think it’s funnier and cooler, because we’re in on it? I realize I’m overexplaining, and I thank you if you have read this ramble this far.)

I think comparable examples are Catwoman and Harley Quinn. Big, big name villainesses, yes. But Selina has always been more of a career thief than a coldblooded killer, and since she has a romance with the Bat, we don’t think of her as anything but an ally even when she continues to act as a rogue. She is allowed to cool and respected as a character without having to be the kind of crime you expect Batman to spend his time prioritizing. Harley, on the other hand, seems much more prone to murder now and forever, but because we always knew it was something she had been pulled into by the Joker, the audience already kind of saw her as an ally, and she often is one. Now she’s just a freewheeling antihero with a girl gang of roller derby baddies and other villainess/ex-villainess friends, associates, and love interests. And she’s still herself! She is just a funny little chick with a M.D.! She is bombastic and adorable and still very much able to pull her shit off. She annoys and is annoyed. A gremlin girl if you will. She is the easiest parallel, and I do not think it is pure happenstance that one of the times Eddie turned coat, she was involved in (and all the sirens were clients to) his detective agency. Nor, would I say, is it a coincidence that Eddie and Selina have also had a longterm friendship that’s-sometimes-slightly-more. Similar things are going on here, yaknowhaddimean?

But for some reason, Eddie’s switch to ally is the one of those three that just never sticks. And I have no theories as to why at this time. I just think, personally, that being a weird little grey-area character that is usually on the same side of the heroes is the best place for him. It is where he can best express being both a worthy rival and a little guy with glasses. You wouldn’t hit a guy with glasses, would you? Oh, you would. Ok.

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk, and goodnight. 

*Shout out to instances that split the difference and go, "The Riddler will mislead Batman into thinking he's a real and present danger, but the punchline is no humans were harmed and he has tricked the Batman into playing riddles with him and hanging out." Those feel like an achievable, believable compromise and also are always funny/cute.

[olderthannetfic]

"Why interact with American fandoms at all", really? Disney is American. Many adaptations of classic British literature are American. Hollywood is American. Hollywood produces SO MUCH Material by sheer quantity, some of which happens to be "good", or somewhat original, or meets some need, and excluding everything American just because some of the other people who like it/talk about it, are obnoxious in specific ways, would EXTREMELY limit the quantity and diversity of what you CAN consume.

--

Weeeell...

I agree that other person was being silly, but how strict are we being here? Are we excluding everything made with some American backing, or just things made primarily by a US team? And even if we're being strict... I agree that if you're looking for something similar to live action Star Wars, you're probably fucked, but the world produces a lot of media.

If someone wanted to go on a Nothing American media diet for a year, there would be plenty to check out, even if they only wanted things with big fic fandoms.

I think the stranglehold Hollywood tends to have is due to 1. heinous business practices and 2. people wanting longform serial media that is live action and big budget and within a narrow range of genres. If you have a taste for comics or cartoons or novels or even campier or lower budget live action or for a genre like wuxia instead of US flavor space opera, the options open up.

[bornforastorm]

ok hannah, explain the saw thing to me (curious, not combative)

hooboy ben, good luck to me!!

first off, I think the appeal of Saw (and it's nine sequels lol) is partially and simply the appeal of all horror: it allows us to watch horrible things and think about horrible things from a safe, distanced place. It allows us to feel repulsion and horror and terror without any real risk. It's fiction, so however nasty it is, it's fake so it's fine, but the outlet for yuck and yikes still remains and can be cathartic. I think this is especially true in long running horror franchises, where after the first couple you know what you're getting into and can just enjoy the ride.

Now, for Saw in particular, yes there's the catharsis of the Scare and the Ick, the shiver and the shudder and then the laugh to release tension. Now, I understand not being into the Ick. I am not particularly into the Ick. I initially stopped watching the franchise after 3 because it was too icky for me! Eventually I went back and watched them all, but it took a long time and even now as someone less sensitive to Ick, I still look away from some parts. When I rewatch them, I tend to scrub through the ickiest parts (which makes each of these 90 minute movies only about 50 minutes long, natch).

So if not the traps and the Ick (which is the main appeal for some and certainly what my mother thinks the appeal is and is why she is therefore worried for me), what is the appeal? What makes Saw so compelling? What about these movies has driven me to madness? I can't speak for everyone, but for me--

(this may get long and it may not make any sense at all)

partially it's that I saw the first one when I was 14 and it changed me, and I'll always love it for that, and by extension I love what it spawned. It gave me the gift of horror movies! I had no idea a movie could do what Saw (2004) does, and suddenly the word of horror opened up for me. If a horror movie could be that, what else could horror be? That first movie made me insane. I watched it non-stop for months. It's a good little thriller starring Cary Elwes and a cute boy I had never seen before but was captivated by, and I was obsessed by this cheap little picture that's mostly playing in the sandbox of interpersonal dynamics against a backdrop of the Worst Day Of Your Life. "What would I do in this situation" is part of the fun mental game the audience plays when watching a Saw movie, and that first one engages with that question in such a small scale, almost sweet way and I love it. What would you do if you woke up in a crusty bathroom, chained to the wall, and your only instruction was to kill the other guy in the room with you? Well, you'd talk to him for eight hours and in the end you would hold his face and tell him everything was going to be okay. Love!!

After Saw 1, the movies get campier and goofier and, yes, ickier. 2 and 3 are pretty good! Icky! Then 4-7 are pure melodrama and camp and I looove the melodrama and camp. I recently bemoaned to dear friend Emily boasamishipper that it's a shame it's essentially impossible to watch these movies and experience the silly melodrama if you can't handle gore. So many good melodrama/plot scenes take place in locations where, like, there's a rotting corpse in the background. If you skip the gore completely, you will miss key information. It's unavoidable. And the traps are nasty. They're gross. I get it. It's undeniable.

BUT if you can handle gore enough to at least to close your eyes while it's happening, then tune back in, what you get is a really bonkers series with an insanely complicated timeline and even more complicated lore, populated by characters who are both complicated and complex and sometimes embarrassingly simple. Which is fun as hell. To me.

Mr Jigsaw himself is a very old man. He has 14 motivations that are constantly changing depending on what the movie feels would be most useful. Literally his motivations for doing torture crimes are: he has cancer, no wait and he's divorced, no wait and he and his wife lost a baby (the creepy doll was FOR the baby), no wait and he got denied health insurance coverage, no wait and he resents liars, no wait and-- and it just keeps going. He DIES in Saw 3, but they keep doing flashbacks so he can keep being in the movies, which complicates his history So much. These movies are dropping new Jigsaw lore constantly. This man claims to have never committed a murder, and in fact says he hates murderers, when he is personally responsible for dozens and dozens of gnarly deaths. Hypocrite king of all time. He's a civil engineer so he obviously knows how to design and build torture machines. Of course.

His main apprentice is a feral nightmare woman who also dies in 3 and largely appears in flashbacks after that. She's insane. We all love her. Mr Jigsaw keeps putting her in traps. She hates the other apprentices because she is daddy's favorite. It's the interpersonal dynamics, babyyy.

In 4, we're given another guy (Mark Hoffman! lame man of all time!) and are told he has always been in on the crimes, he was there the whole time we promise, and, oh right, he's a cop AND while on paper his backstory and motivation is pretty interesting, in practice he's weirdly boring AND he's honestly pretty bad at being the Jigsaw killer and other cops keep telling him that to his face. By movie 7 he's totally given up on the Jigsaw Killer thing and is just stabbing people. It's very funny. (and he's my favorite guy and I love him and he's in a total of 6 of these movies even though 99% of audience members can't stand him) (also when I say what in these movies drove me to madness? the true answer is this man's burly chest and bad acting)

Cops come and go and the movies can't decide how much cop drama they want to engage in. Luke Danes from Gilmore Girls is in 2 of these as the bitchiest cop I've ever seen. He weeps, he screams, he threatens witnesses, he's angry and suspicious and annoyed the entire time. He is part of two of the series' best traps. If the series brought him back tomorrow, I would cheer. Would it make sense? I don't care.

Characters who appeared in one scene two movies ago are now the main character because the other main characters keep getting Saw trapped. Sometimes characters essentially come back from the dead because they ran out of characters and needed someone to fill a certain kind of role in the story.

We never check in with Cary Elwes again, not even obliquely, until movie 7, and then we don't learn almost anything about what he's been up to.

Some people get put in traps for smoking or being depressed or engaging in light insurance fraud. Some people get put in traps for being rapists or murderers or Neo Nazis. Their crimes are in no way related to the severity of their traps. Does a private health insurance ceo who denies coverage sometimes (his job!) deserve to be melted in half by acid? Saw trap! Does a judge who shortened a manslaughter sentence deserve to drown in pig guts? Feels extreme! Saw trap! also there's a pig motif and nobody knows why! What's up with the pigs!!?? we may never truly know and that's part of the fun.

Movies 3 and 4 take place concurrently and that's a twist!! Movies 4-7 are so full of flashbacks it's sometimes hard to keep track of where in time you're supposed to be, and the question of "when did this series altering event actually occur?" can be hard to decipher. Movies fold in on each other at an alarming rate. Trying to explain the timeline of the Saw franchise is so bugnuts insane that my rl friend and podcast co-host made a game for me that was "Which Saw Event Happens First?" and honestly, it was hard!

So!!! I really love the goofy characters and the goofy plot machinations and the goofy lore-- and the movies take all these things so seriously, as they should. Any wink would ruin the magic, and how seriously 8 movies treat Mr Jigsaw and his very fucked up concept of morality and fairness is vital and delightful (I say 8 to mean 1-7+10, bc movies 8 and 9 are a little coy and smug about the whole thing in ways that rubbed me the wrong way. But then 10 is so We're Back Baby)

Then there's the general vibe and look of these things. The first one was made on one location with a budget of 1 million dollars. It's cheap as shit. It's so cheap they couldn't afford gore. Because the first one set the visual style for the series, they're all cheap as shit and they look it. They all look like shit. That's very comforting to me as a lover of the first one. It feels a little like being 14 again. The blue/green color timing, the frenetic editing, the grimy nasty sets (literally when a Saw movie has a true outdoor scene, it feels wrong), the at best c-list actors giving truly c-list performances, the goofy reveals set to a remix of the same song over and over again-- it all feels familiar and cozy, like cuddling up in bed during a thunderstorm.

It's a little bit nostalgia and a little bit the movie viewer I've become with age. I like to have fun. I like to be scared, but not too much. I like silliness. Saw is silly to me. I love it dearly. I love it's cast of nobody, not great, not that hot actors. These aren't hot teens getting murdered! I love it's heightened world where the cops never clean up a crime scene so if you want to revisit a trap from three movies ago, you can. It's outlandish and absurd and great.

I get why it isn't for everyone. It either clicks for you or it doesn't, you can either handle the gore or you can't, you either vibe with the silliness or you don't. Most people I know who like them, like them for that silly, camp quality and the ever increasing intricacy of the world, which one simply has to grin and bear and go, "yeah sure, this might as well be true." None of them are objectively five star films. Not even close. Their badness is beloved to me, their silliness, even their gross out traps and goops of gore. I've become someone who likes all that.

So in conclusion: It's silly!!!! it's so dang silly. If you can giggle and laugh at an icky movie, the Saw movies will make you giggle and laugh. There's much to laugh at. They're a roller-coaster ride of silly plot and gooey gore and weird characters and confusing, beautiful lore. It's the rules!!

The Saw Thing, for me, is that they're good, silly fun soaked in globs of corn syrup blood 🙏 they're all 93 minutes long 🙏 they're really fun to goof on with your friends 🙏 they gave me a crush for 14 year old me (leigh whannell, cutie) and a crush for 33 year old me (costas mandylor, burly brickhouse) 🙏 they gave me horror movies 🙏 they're the gift that keeps on giving and I can't explain it any more than that