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dweemeister · 5 years

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Hell to Eternity (1960)

The march of time changes how history is written, how art is consumed and interpreted. Latino involvement on behalf of the United States in the Second World War has been largely underreported, in part because they were tabulated as white. They served in all branches of the armed forces and wherever the Americans fought – on American soil, Asia and the Pacific, Northern Africa, Italy, Western Europe. Closer to home, the United States carried out a policy that was and always shall be a moral disgrace. In a time of war hysteria and popular racist sentiment, President Franklin D. Roosevelt in February 1942 ordered the relocation and internment of more than 100,000 Japanese-Americans – more than two-thirds of whom were American citizens by birth or naturalization. These two chapters of American history converge with the story of Pfc. Guy Gabaldon. Gabaldon, who was of Mexican descent, was raised by a Japanese-American (unofficial) foster family in Los Angeles.

When the dramatization of Gabaldon’s early life and experiences at the Battle of Saipan (American victory at Saipan – in the Marianas – precipitated into the Invasion of the Philippines and brought the U.S. closer to the Japanese mainland) was made into a movie, Gabaldon’s Mexican heritage was completely whitewashed. And though his Japanese-American family is given some attention in the opening half-hour, the film does not take much of a stand against government actions, content only to call out individual acts of bigotry. Through my young, Asian-American eyes, Phil Karlson’s Hell to Eternity is a frustrating watch – erasing entirely Gabaldon’s Mexican background in favor of describing him as an, “all-American boy”, and a spotty handling of his Japanese-American upbringing (Gabaldon served as a consultant on Hell to Eternity). The film’s intentions are noble, but these frustrations and unfocused filmmaking prevent undermine Hell to Eternity throughout.

It is 1938 in East Los Angeles. Physical education teacher Kaz Une (George Shibata) separates Guy (Richard Eyer at twelve-year-old Guy; Jeffrey Hunter as an adult) from bullies taunting our young protagonist for having, “Jap friends.” Kaz, who is Japanese-American himself and older brother of Guy’s best friend George (George Matsui as a child; George Takei as an adult), soon learns Guy’s mother has been taken to the hospital and that his father has passed on. Kaz takes Guy home to the Une household (in real life, their surname was Nakano); after Guy’s mother dies, the Unes unofficially adopt Guy. Mr. Une (Bob Okazaki) is unfortunately not seen much in the film, but Mrs. Une (Tsuru Aoki) will exemplify unconditional love. The film will fast forward to the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor and the internment of the Une family. Guy is drafted, but fails due to a perforated eardrum. But after learning George and Kaz are fighting with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team (upon its creation, the 442nd was a regiment comprised almost entirely of Japanese-Americans that fought in the European theater), Guy enlists in the Marines. He goes through boot camp at Camp Pendleton in northern San Diego County in the film’s middle third, with the final third depicting his service at the Battle of Saipan.

Silent film leading man Sessue Hayakawa (1915′s The Cheat, 1957′s The Bridge on the River Kwai) also appears as a general of the Imperial Japanese Army. As the general, his last words to his surrendering soldiers (like all the Japanese spoken in the film, there are no subtitles) recount the folk story of Momotarô – which tells of strength through kindness.

Jeffrey Hunter, in his build, is a much different person than Guy Gabaldon. Hunter is 6′2″, with broad shoulders like the rest of the actors playing Marines in this film; Gabaldon was 5′4″. Hell to Eternity, released by Allied Artists (this film’s North American rights are currently under Warner Bros. via the Turner Entertainment library), was made at a time when top billing to a non-white actor was almost unheard of. There was no major Latino actor during the height of the Hollywood Studio System, and the last Latino superstar in Hollywood was silent film actor Ramón Navarro (still alive in 1960, was largely inactive in cinema, and made his final film earlier that year). Allied Artists had a lengthy history of financial troubles, so their films usually had more modest budgets than something from Paramount or 20th Century Fox. Jeffrey Hunter, with his matinee idol looks but inconsistent filmography (no disrespect intended), is not as compelling a box-office draw as some of his fellow youthful contemporaries. Why not cast a Latino actor? Even if the film’s screenplay – penned by Walter Roeber Schmidt (his only other credit is 1980′s Monstroid) – glosses over Gabaldon’s conflicts of self-identity, a hypothetical Latino actor would be more able to invoke such an identity conflict in his performance.

Compounding this whitewashing is the screenplay’s uninspired commentary about how the United States treated Japanese-Americans on the day of the Pearl Harbor attacks and afterwards. Playground epithets in the introductory minutes transform into suspicious stares and racialized intimidation in a scene where Guy is taking Ester (Miiko Taka) to a drive-in diner. This confrontation is depicted in a way that makes it too much like ‘60s episodic television – there is no connection between the racial hatred directed at Ester in this scene with the internment orders that all too abruptly follow this scene. Guy is given a few moments to exclaim how horrible FDR’s executive action is, but the filmmakers are too uncomfortable in opening uncomfortable, but necessary, political dialogue. Instead, Hell to Eternity makes the Une family’s internment look like an inconvenient, but government-funded relocation rather than a heinous abuse of executive power, a denial of American constitutional rights. Guy’s brief visit to Manzanar in Eastern California is sanitized – emotionally, factually, and physically. The Schmidt screenplay and Karlson’s direction appear willing to make dissenting statements, but only within certain bounds so as not to lose the cooperation of American military in their assistance in the film’s second half. Hell to Eternity should be credited, however, for positively portraying – if somewhat stereotypical with broken English - a loving Japanese-American family.

This lack of care about Guy’s identity and, most prominently, his Japanese-American upbringing, in these American-set scenes negatively affects all the scenes set on Saipan. The Issei (first-generation Japanese-Americans) and Nisei (second-generation Japanese-Americans) disappear by the film’s halfway point, making enemy soldiers the only Japanese characters seen in the closing half. Guy – who proceeds to use his skills in Japanese to convince civilians and soldiers to surrender (the filmmakers are taking historical liberties here, as Gabaldon was not fluent in Japanese) – captures hundreds. On Saipan, little separates Guy’s bloodlust for those who have killed his fellow friends and Marines and quarter for those who look like his family. For the former, Hell to Eternity has a scene where Guy mutilates a Japanese soldier who has, likewise, hacked a Marine into (presumably) pieces. Mutilation is a war crime. but Hell to Eternity suggests – through the editing – that Guy’s actions are justified. Mutilation is a healthy, legal expression of rage, the film says through these images, as long as the all-American boy does it. Only when he remembers the Une family does Guy snap out of this mutilating mindset – his subsequent acts of mercy seemingly absolving him of his ruthless destruction of Japanese corpses and an excessive number of bullets fired at enemy soldiers.

With assistance from the American military to provide the right equipment and to choreograph troop movements as well as the involvement of several hundred veterans of the Imperial Japanese Army serving as extras, Hell to Eternity’s battle sequences are impressive to watch. Shot on Okinawa, the film alternates from beachheads, dense tropical rainforests, the occasional clearing, and charred and cratered hellscapes. But all this technical mastery is undermined by how Karlson portrays the film version of Guy Gabaldon during the Battle of Saipan. Though the film ends decrying the horrible waste of life and his conduct to the Japanese soldiers he has killed, Hell to Eternity seems too celebratory (or, in the best-case scenario, apathetic) and too forgiving of what horrible things this version of Guy has inflicted. But thankfully, the final resolutions in Hell to Eternity are nonviolent.

Despite the erasure of Gabaldon’s Mexican background, Gabaldon enjoyed Jeffrey Hunter’s performance in Hell to Eternity – indeed, Hunter, along with Aoki, gives one of the better performances in this film. The Pied Piper of Saipan captured ten times more enemy prisoners than Sgt. Alvin C. York in World War I but, unlike York, Gabaldon was never awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. After Gabaldon’s death in August 2006, Latino activists mounted a campaign to have the United States upgrade Gabaldon’s Navy Congress to the Medal of Honor – to little avail as of the publication of this write-up.

At the time of Hell to Eternity’s release, this was one of the most nuanced treatments of Imperial Japanese soldiers and of Japanese-Americans. Its takes on ethnic and racial identity were almost nonexistent in early 1960s Hollywood. Today, the execution of this message leaves much to be desired. It is no war film classic. Yet Hell to Eternity’s attempts to have Gabaldon’s struggles with his identity as the avenue in which to resolve situations peacefully make it unique among other war films released during that time.

My rating: 6/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found here.

#Hell to Eternity #Phil Karlson #Jeffrey Hunter #David Janssen #Vic Damone #Tsuru Aoki #George Takei #Bob Okazaki #Sessue Hayakawa #Patricia Owens #Richard Eyer #George Matsui #Miiko Taka #George Shibata #Reiko Sato #Walter Roeber Schmidt #TCM #My Movie Odyssey

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porgthespacepenguin · 6 years

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“this is not going to go the way you think”

(this was initially a comment on @trashywestallen’s blog that has now evolved into a full, 6500 word crazy meta. send help)

Or, the Lorca/Burnham meta that just wouldn’t quit and that nobody asked for.

Warning: those are just my ramblings/wild theories based on too much watching of the show, too little sleep, and some literary/cinematographic analysis.

Expect spoilers up to episode 10.

A lot of people on the Star Trek subreddits have been complaining that some of the plot twists so far on DSC have been too obvious (specifically, the Voq/Ash theory and the mirror!Lorca theory). Setting aside the fact that most of the general audience (who do not spend as much time as we do analyzing every word and frame) probably did not see those twists coming, at all…

I have a nagging feeling that there is another plot twist that has been under our nose this whole time.

I think Lorca is mirror!Lorca and was involved (romantically) with mirror!Michael. There, I said it. Worse: it was serious (perhaps she was even his wife, though obviously it would have had to be a secret).

Either mirror!Michael was helping him secretly against the Terran Empire and was in on the coup, or more tragically, she wasn’t and was actually sent to stop him. She died, or was presumed dead: but the show was careful to mention it wasn’t Lorca who “killed” her, it was one of his followers (seems like an odd distinction to make, no?).

That’s a pretty radical theory, I admit. But bear with me for a while, will you?

Episode 10: the turning point

Three major plot point stand out immediately:

”Amazing isn’t it? Different universe, and somehow the same people had a way to find each other. Strongest argument I’ve ever seen for the existence of destiny.”

Their whole conversation in Lorca’s ready room is fascinating, but I’ll focus on the most relevant parts.

First off, while “finding each other” can apply to multiple people, it’s usually used for two. Lorca is almost certainly talking about the two of them here, not the crew in general.

And then, that bombshell... “destiny”. Defined as, “the hidden power believed to control future events; fate.”

That’s a pretty strong word to use. Essentially, Lorca is suggesting that fate has brought the two of them together, in this universe… and maybe even in another (mirror) universe.

Ever logical, Michael immediately rejects the very idea.

“I’m not sure I believe in the existence of destiny.”

This sort of talk is way too much for Michael to handle right now. She was raised on Vulcan: logic informs her thinking. But what Lorca is trying to tell her has nothing to do with logic. She just doesn’t hear him at all.

The rest of their conversation continues in a similar vein:

“Part of you had to know that wasn’t the end of your story (...) You were destined for something more.”

“Destiny did not get me out of prison, Captain. You did that.”

Two ways of looking at the same thing: one poetic and even romantic; the other factual and rational. And perhaps they are both right, from their perspective: after all, if Lorca really is mirror!Lorca, who has lost his own Michael, only to find her again in another universe… that would be pretty incredible.

As he often does, Lorca immediately deflects:

“Let’s agree to disagree. For now.”

That “For now” is also important. Is there something that could realistically change her mind in the future, that he knows about and we don’t? Only Lorca knows.

Visually the scene is also very telling. They start off separated by his desk (which Lorca uses to create a barrier between them in many scenes, notably their first meeting) but then at his invitation, they move to the window, where the camera frames them with alternating two-shots (used primarily to establish links between characters) and close-ups (to create intimacy and focus on emotional reactions). There are also a few shots of them from behind, with their reflections in the window as well.

Mirror? Reflection? Did you want fries with your symbolism? (Note that shots of Lorca looking out a window with his reflection appearing also happens at least in episode 3, when Michael and Lorca first meet, and episode 6, after the whole Katrina debacle. They’ve not been subtle with this use of imagery).

- Not a scene but more a general feeling throughout the episode. How many times have we seen Michael touch Lorca previously? I’ll help you: exactly once, and honestly it barely counts (at the end of episode 3, when Michael takes a fortune cookie from his hand). As for Lorca, he never touches her.

Yet in this episode? Michael is all over him, starting from that moment on the bridge where she lays a hand on the small of his back to interrupt him (before that whole Scottish accent thing). That has literally never happened before.

Don’t even get me started on the whole hair and neck stroking she has going on later. In fact, as soon as she steps into her Terran persona she becomes a lot more tactile – only with Lorca, mind.

Now, I don’t know whether this means Michael is attracted to him or not – at least not consciously! – and in fact this might not even be the point.

Rather, those touches serve to establish and anchor a sense of physicality between the two of them, for us the audience. Essentially telling our unconscious minds:

“Look, here are are two very attractive people (that leather jacket, oh my lord) that are touching each other. The line has been crossed. Make of that what you will.”

I predict we will see an influx of new people wondering about the Lorca/Michael dynamic after watching episode 10, wondering if there was indeed something there or if they are imagining things.

- The ending scene! Either this is a very clever juxtaposition, or some super strange editing. Since TPTB have been doing excellent work on filmography so far, I’m hoping it’s the former.

I’m talking about the “love” scene between Tyler and Michael (and I use parenthesis here not because I dislike Ash/Michael -- I don’t -- but because at this point neither he nor Michael know who he is, or what he is, and … he just killed Culber in cold blood so… yay romance?) followed immediately by Lorca in the agonizer booth, screaming in pain.

Now that’s an odd editing choice. Or is it?

Cinematically, a cut like that is a common technique: it’s called cross-cutting, and is often used to show than two actions are happening at the same time.

According to Wikipedia:

“This creates a sharp dichotomy between the two actions, and encourages the viewer to compare the two shots. Often, this contrast is used for strong emotional effect (...).”

If we go back to the theory that mirror!Lorca and mirror!Michael were together, as more than just reluctant allies, and that he has feelings for both versions of her (yes, prime!Michael too after learning to know her)…

Well, Michael and Tyler consummating their relationship brings utter and complete agony to Lorca.

This is all symbolic, of course, but re watching the scene with all this in mind… It’s chilling. Tyler above Michael, the scene telegraphing that they are about to have sex…

Cut to Lorca screaming in the agonizer booth.

At the very least, they are implying some fairly dark things about Michael/Tyler going forward, but I also think it’s significant that Lorca is the one shown in pain here.

An aside: Michael/Tyler, from Ash to ashes

Poor Michael. Poor Tyler. I’ve been sure of the whole “Ash is Voq” thing almost since his introduction (remember the eye wound Michael inflicts on Voq in episode 2? Now check Tyler’s same eye in episode 5. Go on. I’ll wait.) but I thought there might be hope for them somehow, despite the fact that both had killed each other’s mentors (eaten, actually, in Voq’s case…)

Until episode 10.

I won’t dwell too much on the fact that, out of all the possible scenarios for Ash/Voq, we ended up with the worst one for their future: Tyler is Voq, physically and mentally -- not the other way around. The Tyler personality is an overlay, and we don’t know yet how much of that personality is real. But regardless: the body belongs to Voq.

I would have had a lot more hope if Tyler had been physically Tyler, with Voq’s personality implanted somewhere inside. This duality could have allowed a positive resolution for the plot line (driving out Voq’s consciousness, for example) and therefore their relationship.

Moving on.

Tyler/Voq murders Culber in cold blood (or so it seems to the audience), then proceeds to break into Michael’s room (and yes, this is meant to feel slightly creepy, even out of character for Tyler, who has so far respected her boundaries) and seduces her.

Everything is consensual but feels a bit… off. And for good reason.

They are surrounded by enemies, Michael is emotionally shaken from having had to kill a familiar face/friend (and the ironic juxtaposition of their two kills, one a cold-blooded murder, the other an act of self-defense, is just heartbreaking), and Lorca is being horribly tortured a few decks below.

Yikes.

Sex, and death, and pain. Those are not good things to put together when hoping for a happy ending. Symbolically there is no going back from this, I don’t think.

If they had consummated their relationship previously, in a more positive setting, I could still see their romance perhaps going in a positive direction (at least this would have been a good sign, though Culber’s fate might have made that moot as well).

As things stand, it feels like watching the death warrant of their relationship being signed and… ouch.

Poor Michael. Talk about a devastating first love.

Did someone say first love?

Interestingly there is a common trope pair, “First Love” / “Second Love”, that is often combined with “Wrong Guy First”. From TVTropes:

“This is the plot that results when a Love Triangle is used to illustrate the Aesop "Be Careful Who You Give Your Heart To".

Our heroine is a young woman with two suitors. Suitor #1 (...) seems to be everything a young woman would want. But he's not. Suitor #2 appears to be flawed. (...) If he's handsome, he's not as handsome. He could be many years older than our heroine. He often has the kind of personality that makes him hard to get to know.”

There are many literary examples of this trope, from Jane Austen, Tolstoy, or Dickens, all the way to Harry Potter or even the Hunger Games.

But no, wait. That can’t be right. It’s not like there is someone else who has been watching over Michael from the side lines since the beginning.

Right?

Well...

“I did choose you” : Going back to the beginning

After having this “red alert something is happening here” moment while watching episode 10, I went back and re-watched most of Lorca and Michael’s earlier interactions with this theory in mind.

(As a general note, I think Lorca generally avoids lying outright and prefers a more… Obi-wan approach. “What I told you was true, from a certain point of view.”)

Episode 3: First meeting and new beginnings

Their first meeting is almost theatrical in its setting. Michael enters a darkened room, and Lorca has his back to her, facing the window (where, again, his reflection can be seen). He is clad (armored, really) in darkness and mystery.

Lorca initially sounds almost like he is flirting:

“I like to think it makes me mysterious. No?”

“Don’t be shy.”

When I watched the episode for the first time, I thought it might be part of his personality (like Kirk) but no. He does not do this with other people. Only Michael.

In fact, I now think he is deflecting. The whole situation is somehow painful or difficult for him, and he uses humor to hide it. Which of course falls utterly flat, because Michael does not really get humor (at least not at this point).

He keeps his back to her for a long time, and even takes a breath before turning around, as though he has to fortify himself before seeing her.

Now that doesn’t make a lot of sense at face value, if Lorca is just a captain and Michael just a mutineer.

But it is a lot more understandable if Lorca is mirror!Lorca and the last time he saw Michael was before she (well, her mirror counterpart) died.

Because of him.

Lorca then comes to stand behind his desk, in a move he will be shown to use often in the future. Make no mistake, this is a highly defensive maneuver.

They talk about Michael’s shuttle being diverted, and no surprise, Michael’s logic bluntly dispels Lorca’s attempts at plausible deniability. (Something, by the way, that happens many times in the series: she rarely lets him get away with misdirection. Though amusingly she has also, so far, never caught up with what he is actually trying to hide.)

To which Lorca says:

“Maybe the universe hates waste.”

Considering their discussion in episode 10, similarly in Lorca’s ready room, this line takes on a lot more meaning. He is referring to destiny here, although obliquely.

Visually, two things happen in succession: Lorca has a little half smile, and then tilts his head and holds her gaze for a long moment. Now what does body language have to say about that?

“In courtship, the head tilt shows a playful and engaged attitude. It shows interest but can also be a tease (especially when combined with a half smile and sideways glance).”

Lorca is definitely flirting with her this time. In fact, his next move supports this idea. He moves around the desk and comes to stand in front of her. He does not completely leave the security of the desk, mind, instead choosing to lean against it (a sign of insecurity) while his shoulders are set back in a classic power pose.

Michael is startled and takes a few steps back, swallowing. I don’t think she is scared of him, not on a conscious level. But on an unconscious level, we have a (presumably) virginal or inexperienced young woman suddenly approached by an older, attractive man who has been flirting with her (though I doubt she consciously noticed). She is shaken.

He either doesn’t notice, or (more likely) pretends not to notice and basically offers her a job. She refuses (not just the job, but the whole Call to Adventure -- more on that later).

He tells her she doesn’t have a choice.

This is a crucial moment. Lorca talks to her harshly, tells her there are no free rides on his ship (ironic, since he is the one that dragged her here!) and that she will be put to work. Almost at once, he moves back behind the safety of his desk, walls firmly back up. He will be the “bad guy” because she needs him to be, but he is not enjoying it.

Make no mistake, Michael needs it. At this point in her story, she has lost hope. She is a ghost of her former self. She was right about the Klingons, but with the guilt of Georgiou’s death, she had taken on the guilt for the whole war as well. She is depressed, withdrawn. She has given up.

What Lorca does is put her back on her feet. He gives her a job, a purpose (however temporary), and even a mystery to chew on (of course he knew she was going to try to break in, and he wanted her to -- that’s why he assigned her to Engineering).

He reminds her of who she was (“You were once a Starfleet officer.”).

Of course, at that moment, she doesn’t see his actions as a gift, but rather a burden, an obligation. If she had the energy for it, she would resent him.

It will take her three episodes to process and express her gratitude for the second chance he has given her (more on that later).

Lorca does all this obliquely, as he does many (most) things. In fact, I believe he does not want Michael to be grateful to him (perhaps out of guilt). Mind you, he is also testing her: Lorca is a pragmatist. And if he is mirror!Lorca, he doesn’t know this version of Michael yet, and what she is capable of.

When Michael leaves with Landry, there is another closeup on Lorca’s face, and he has this very odd expression. Like this has affected him, was hard on him, somehow.

This makes no sense at all if Lorca is prime!Lorca and is simply meeting a mutineer he wants to recruit. But even if our Lorca is indeed mirror!Lorca, why would meeting Michael’s prime counterpart affect him so? Unless there is more to it than meets the eye.

At the end of the episode, we go back to Lorca’s ready room, in a lovely symbolic mirroring/book-ending of their first meeting.

Lorca is looking every inch the Captain, standing firmly behind his desk, arms wide, shoulders straight. Again a classic power pose. He offers her a position aboard Discovery. She initially refuses him again but this time, she doesn’t back down.

I can’t emphasize how different Michael’s behavior is in both encounters.

When they first meet, she is defeated, submissive, withdrawn. When she refuses Lorca’s first offer, it is weakly, and he steamrolls her objections without difficulty. When he steps closer to her, she steps back. She looks down at the floor.

In this scene, however, Michael has regained her confidence. She looks Lorca straight in the eye when she refuses him, and he is on the defensive (or seems to be). She flings his question (“Why would you refuse?”) back at him (“Why do you want me to stay?”) and even stalks toward him.

Of course, Lorca being Lorca, Michael doesn’t quite get to keep the upper hand for too long. She gets derailed into a rant about Lorca developing and testing biological weapons, which then veers into a slightly pompous speech about being a Starfleet officer to the death.

Meanwhile, Lorca is smiling, a fond smile (that almost seems out of place considering he is supposed to have met her a couple of days before). This is what he has been planning all along. His experiment was successful.

His next sentence is very telling:

“I know exactly who you are, Michael Burnham. I know exactly who you are.”

Well, well.

Essentially, he is implying here that either he knows her because… he actually knows her (and that should not be possible); or he knows her because they are the same. They are kindred spirits.

Either way, it’s a fairly odd thing to say to someone you’ve known for a few days!

Still smiling fondly, he stops her from making more of a fool of herself and proceeds to dazzle her with his shiny new technology. He is really pulling all the stops here to impress her, even taking her on a virtual tour of the galaxy.

And then he outright admits it:

“I did choose you (…) but not for the reasons you think.”

This sentence works on so many levels, it’s pretty incredible. Note that she asked him why he wanted her to stay; and he answers that he chose her. Those are not even remotely comparable in terms of emotional involvement.

Then the camera switches to choker shots (tight close-up shots that cut off above the eyes and under the mouth/chin) which are traditionally used to create … romantic tension. Or at the very least emotional tension.

Lorca holds out his hand, with a fortune cookie in it (fortune cookie which she refused in their initial meeting, mirroring!).

(No time to discuss in too many details, but in fortune cookie, there is “fortune”... another reference to fate/destiny.)

She takes the fortune cookie from his hand. This time, she accepts his offer, and symbolically, the Call to Adventure.

An aside: Michael’s hero journey

I have mentioned the Call to Adventure a couple of times now, and I realize it might be helpful to take a brief detour into the Hero’s Journey before we continue.

The Hero’s Journey, or monomyth, is a template of narrative analysis that is widely used in storytelling. It is not absolute, or perfect (it has received its fair share of criticism) but so many stories follow these patterns that they have become embedded in our collective unconscious. As such, they can be helpful in understanding the symbolic underpinnings of a story.

The Hero’s Journey (according to Campbell, who first wrote about it in 1949) is broadly composed of 3 acts (Departure, Initiation, Return), further divided in 17 stages.

For the purpose of this meta (and considering DSC is only in its first season!), I will focus mostly on the first stage, Departure.

(Note that not all stages need to be used in a story, nor do they need to happen in a linear fashion. They may also happen multiple times, in multiple forms.)

The call to adventure

The refusal of the call

Supernatural aid/meeting the mentor

Crossing the first threshold

The belly of the whale

Acceptance of the call

When we meet Michael again in episode 3 (which narratively is the beginning of the story, with episodes 1 and 2 serving as a prologue), she is a broken woman. So heavily laden with guilt, in fact, that she has essentially given up and turned her back on everything she is and believes in.

When Lorca offers her a (temporary) job on Discovery, she turns him down. On paper, this looks like a textbook refusal of the call, and it is. But looking deeper, even before she comes aboard Discovery, Michael has already refused it, and in fact, has been refusing it for a while.

"Refusal of the summons converts the adventure into its negative. Walled in boredom, hard work, or 'culture,' the subject loses the power of significant affirmative action and becomes a victim to be saved. [Her] flowering world becomes a wasteland of dry stones and [her] life feels meaningless. (...) All [she] can do is (...) await the gradual approach of [her] disintegration." (Campbell)

From the moment Captain Georgiou dies, Michael shuts down. She refuses all attempts to move forward, essentially locking herself away and throwing away the key. She has given up on herself. This is Michael’s true refusal of the call.

“The mentor gives the hero the supplies, knowledge, and confidence required to overcome his or her fear and face the adventure.” (Christopher Vogler)

Lorca then plucks her from her prison, as if by magic, and sets her to work on his ship. This is the supernatural aid/meeting the mentor stage.

"With the personifications of [her] destiny to guide and aid [her], the hero goes forward in [her] adventure until [she] comes to the 'threshold guardian' at the entrance to the zone of magnified power.” (Campbell)

Lorca then sends Michael to the Glenn, along with Stamets, Tilly and Landry. This plot point represents both the Crossing of the First Threshold and the Belly of the Whale stages, combined.

At Lorca’s orders, and despite herself, Michael has to leave the safety of Discovery for the danger of the Glenn. This is her first mission since her mutiny, and since she turned down the call. She is forced to cross the threshold of the boundaries, the walls she has drawn around herself.

“It is a turning point in the Hero’s Journey where the hero is swallowed by a larger monster or representative of evil and comes out with a new sense of self. The hero is consumed but emerges alive. (...) and [comes] to terms with death.” (Gordon Napier)

“That is why the approaches and entrances to temples are flanked and defended by colossal gargoyles: dragons, lions, devil-slayers with drawn swords, resentful dwarfs, winged bulls. The devotee at the moment of entry into a temple undergoes a metamorphosis.” (Campbell)

On the Glenn, everything is dark and scary. There are dead bodies, horribly disfigured. There is a monster roaming. Michael barely escapes with her life, after crawling through tunnels with the tardigrade in pursuit, before jumping into the shuttle at the last possible moment (quite heroically I might add). This stage is the metaphorical Belly of the Whale.

Incidentally, an important theme throughout the episode, and especially the tardigrade pursuit, is “Alice in Wonderland”: a vivid tale where physical metamorphosis, the search for identity and the hero’s journey all play a prominent role.

After Michael faces her trials successfully, she starts to remembers who she is: a Starfleet officer. She has begun to process her grief and can now start her hero’s journey anew (a journey of healing and growth).

Later, when Lorca offers her a permanent position on Discovery, Michael accepts both his second offer and the symbolic call to adventure (after a fair bit of convincing).

And she does it on her own terms, too: if Lorca had been working on a biological weapon, she would have refused him, but not for the same reasons she had turned him down initially. Not out of fear and self-doubt, but with a renewed respect for herself and her beliefs.

She has started to remember that she is a hero.

There are many other aspects of the Hero’s journey when it comes to Michael in Star Trek Discovery, but this goes beyond the scope of this already huge meta.

Episode 5: Keeping secrets

Episode 5 doesn’t technically have any direct interactions between Michael and Lorca. There is, however, a fairly significant scene between him and Katrina Cornwell, on the matter of our favorite mutineer.

Halfway through their fight, the admiral asks Lorca an enormously important question:

“(...) Why give everyone another reason to judge you?”

Of course, Lorca immediately deflects with another question of his own, putting Katrina on the defensive. And he never actually answers the question, which means that whatever it is, it’s important.

Episode 6: Shadows and mirrors

After Michael senses Sarek’s pain and collapses, Lorca is right there at her bedside when she awakens. Does he usually do this for his crew? Somehow I doubt it.

Then Michael asks him to mount a rescue for Sarek and… Lorca does it. No questions asked.

He defies a direct order from Starfleet, which later on brings down Cornwell’s inquisition on him (by the way, she’s a psychiatrist who thinks nothing of sleeping with someone she considers psychologically unstable? Hmm.). He ends up in real danger of losing his ship. All this because Michael said please.

Then there is of course the infamous conversation between Lorca and Tyler in the shuttle:

“Bring her back in one piece.”

“Not a scratch.”

“I’m talking about her. Or don’t come back at all.”

First off, wow. Lorca is definitely overreacting here. This is not normal Captain behavior. In fact, Tyler’s reaction (thinking Lorca meant the shuttle) is much more logical than what Lorca actually means (“Anything happens to Michael, you’re a dead man”).

Whether he means it 100% is up for debate, but the message is crystal clear: this is a threat.

Bring her back to me or else.

Note that at no point in this conversation does Lorca feel the need to refer to Michael by name, simply using “her” as though it was obvious who and what he means. And to him, it is. But to poor Tyler, or even to the audience, this serves to point out the stark disconnect between normal concern over a mission vs. abnormal worry over a particular individual.

Before leaving, Lorca claps Tyler on the arm and this feels like a dominant gesture, a way to establish a hierarchy that has nothing to do with Starfleet’s. Especially after their friendly chat/threat.

Upon first watching the episode, this scene seriously made me raise an eyebrow because he sounds way too protective/possessive for a captain just caring about a crew member (and not Tilly or Tyler, who are also going on the mission, remember?).

At the end of the episode, Michael thanks Lorca, pointing out that he didn’t have to save Sarek. Lorca answers, truthfully:

“I didn’t do for him.”

He then adds that he needs his team at peak form but those are just empty words. At no point in the series does he ever choose an individual crew member’s needs over the ship/the mission. In fact, being the pragmatist that he is, he does not hesitate to put them in danger if the mission requires it (see Stamets -- though I honestly don’t believe Lorca knew or could have foreseen what would happen to him when they made that last jump).

Except when it comes to Michael.

Finally, we are offered a shining example of the rule of threes (commonly found in fairy tales, but not only). From TVTropes:

“The Rule of Three is a pattern used in stories and jokes, where part of the story is told three times, with minor variations. The first two instances build tension, and the third releases it by incorporating a twist.”

Lorca makes her a third and final job offer: a place not only on Discovery, but on the bridge, as science officer. By his side.

In a reversal of the previous offers, Michael accepts at once, without an ounce of hesitation. She does not need any convincing.

She also says something quite meaningful, in light of her initial reactions to his first two offers:

“I am grateful… to serve under a captain like you.”

Characteristically, Lorca seems to refuse her gratitude. He looks startled, says nothing, just offers a small smile then walks away.

At this point in their story, we don’t know if this is out of guilt (atonement), his personality or even a narrative continuation of the “Wrong Guy First” trope, where the sidelined suitor is still trying to ensure the heroine’s happiness. Perhaps a mix of all three.

Episode 9: On the bridge we fight

Pahvo is in danger. Discovery, by association, is in danger. The Federation is in even more danger than usual because of the Klingon’s stealth technology.

Lorca decides to send a team to place beacons on the Klingon ship. He picks Tyler, and Tyler picks Michael, as she is the most qualified for the job.

And Lorca just goes, “No way, Michael’s not going, it’s too dangerous”. Too dangerous for her, but not for the other crew members sent on the boarding party, mind you. Including Tyler who is standing right here.

As is quickly becoming her habit, Michael just insists and proceeds to bludgeon Lorca with her logic while the rest of the crew (and the audience) tries to understand what is going on.

Lorca looks supremely uncomfortable. His whole posture is one of avoidance. He sits down onto his chair and seems to just shrink on himself, turning away from Michael in clear dismissal. He avoids her gaze, snaps at her and even resorts to orders (something he hasn’t done since their first meeting).

“Sir, you offered me a place on this ship.”

“And now I’m ordering you to stay!”

Meanwhile, everyone else on the bridge is just watching them in disbelief, and with no small amount of discomfort. They do not understand what they are witnessing -- a battle of wills.

Until finally Michael, reaching the logical conclusion of Lorca’s odd behavior, stumbles onto the truth:

“There is no logic to your thinking. Unless this is about me.”

At that Lorca finally has to look at her, but he doesn’t say anything because there is nothing to say. She is right on both counts: he is not being logical at all, and this is about her.

Amusingly, Michael still manages to miss the point completely, misreading Lorca’s agitation and protectiveness by viewing herself as a resource (to be hoarded) rather than a person (to be protected).

I honestly felt bad for Lorca in this scene. If Michael were even a tiny better at understanding feelings, in herself or in others, she would probably realize that his behavior is not normal. But she is oblivious, for which Lorca is probably very thankful.

After that, well, she has basically put him on the spot, and in front of the whole bridge to boot. He glances at Saru, then back at Michael. He has lost and can only concede. He has no more arguments beyond, “I am afraid to lose you” and that is not something he can say.

(Mind you, if this scene had been between the two of them in private, without the whole bridge watching, he would never have allowed her to go. Logic be damned.)

So Lorca finally relents, but you can tell it’s against his will. Like pulling teeth.

He even orders her to come back safely (but not Tyler, who is also going on that super duper dangerous mission and is standing right here!) Then we have another shot of his face, looking pretty damn unhappy. Wretched, even.

Possessing the emotional intelligence of a brick (and I say that as someone who loves the character), Michael thanks him and looks satisfied. For her the matter is resolved.

She totally doesn’t realize that:

She, a convicted mutineer, has just pitted her will against her captain’s and won.

She should be in the brig or confined to quarters right now, not going on the mission.

Lorca only gave in because whatever secret he is trying to protect is more important to him than his pride.

One wonders what Saru and the bridge crew made of that little scene.

Lastly, note the contrast between their confrontation in this episode, and episode 6 where Michael risks her life to go save Sarek.

Of course, going on a rescue mission inside a nebula is probably less dangerous than infiltrating the Klingon Ship of the Dead, but it still carries a vast amount of risk (as evidenced by Stamets’ flippant “Are you really that crazy?”).

If Lorca only saw Michael as a tool he cannot afford to lose, for whatever purpose, he would never have allowed her to risk her own life going after Sarek.

He even had a perfect excuse: Starfleet explicitly forbade it. There was no reason for him to take such a tactical risk (which nearly cost him the Discovery and later brought down the wrath of Starfleet over his head), unless he knew this was important to Michael. And therefore, important to him as well.

So. What is Lorca’s deal?

Only Lorca knows, really. But we can try to explain his behavior in three basic ways:

Our Lorca is prime!Lorca and just cares about Michael because he likes her. That option definitely doesn’t explain everything, and seems to be disproved by episodes 9/10 (he did override the ship to jump somewhere, and he definitely didn’t want Saru to look into the logs. Mirror!Lorca seems also conveniently absent from the MU).

At this point, it seems relatively safe to assume our Lorca is mirror!Lorca. Which leaves two options:

Lorca wants to use prime!Michael for something, perhaps related to overthrowing the Emperor. He sees her as a tool, perhaps a valuable crew member. Now that theory explains many things, but not all, especially how Lorca just seems to care so damn much (and in that scenario, allowing Michael to risk her life to save Sarek just makes no sense, as stated above).

We go back to our starting theory. Lorca cared about mirror!Michael, in whatever capacity. She died (because of him, even if indirectly) and he feels grief/remorse because of it. He might also have started to care for prime!Michael in her own right. And he doesn’t want to lose her again. He just can’t bear it.

(Note that in this last theory, Lorca might ALSO need Michael for something related to overthrowing the Emperor. Lorca is a pragmatist, and if they were both working together originally, he might be hoping she will help him again.)

What does this mean for the future?

Short answer: it’s too early to tell.

Long answer?

Right now, if I am right and there is something between Lorca and Michael, I am inclined to think it’s one-sided. She respects him and might be attracted to him, unconsciously, but her attention is on Tyler. Lorca is not even trying to position himself as a contender, either.

Unfortunately, Tyler/Michael is likely going to go down in flames, and it’s going to hurt. All aboard the pain train, direction tragedy.

Michael is going to regress emotionally for a while. Losing a first love is hard, losing it to betrayal is awful. She is going to have to grow as a person to get past this.

I think at some point in their stay in the MU, someone (an enemy perhaps) will reveal that mirror!Michael was Lorca’s wife, or at least someone important to him. And that bombshell is going to alter Michael’s perception of Lorca (honestly she would need a bomb dropped on her head for her to catch a hint at this point).

Michael is most definitely not going to know what to do with that information. Expect a heroic BSOD, followed by her trying to understand things logically (and Lorca is not gonna be down with that, at all).

Lorca will not take it well either. He is an intensely private man, and I don’t think he had ever intended to tell Michael anything. He is likely going to close himself off as well (Tyler’s betrayal probably won’t help).

I don’t think Lorca will die in S1. Narratively, he is one of main characters (with Michael and Voq), and incidentally a fan favourite. We’ve already lost Culber (hopefully temporarily), and Ash is likely going to turn back into Voq. Stamets is still out of commission. Frankly, if Lorca dies there are not that many characters left!

Not to mention that neither Saru nor Michael are anywhere near ready to be captain yet.

Whoever she is in the mirror universe, Admiral Cornwell is not a friend to Lorca (unlike in the prime universe where they were likely friends with benefits).

We will stay a few more episodes in the Mirror Universe, though probably not until the end of the season.

#captain lorca #michael burnham #lorca #lorca x burnham #lorca x michael #gabriel x michael #star trek #star trek discovery #star trek discovery spoilers #star trek disco spoilers #meta #what have i done #now that reylo is canon i need a new trash ship #all aboard the uss trash ship #direction crash and burn #we're gonna do great

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totalfanfreak · 7 years

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Ain’t No Angel [Red Canyon]

Ain’t No Angel

[So I’m diverting a little bit, I need to quit going through Wikipedia at Reedus’ filmography. I decided to skim off of Boondock’s to give something different, this is for Red Canyon. And I feel like I should put a warning here, you know, for violence, rough stuff, language…etc. Will it be OoC, probably, but do I care? Sadly, I have no answer.]

Mac believed you to be a lot of things, but an angel sure as hell wasn’t one of them.

SAINT:

He had spotted you right away, huddled up against the bar and looking at your drink like you had no idea what to do with it. From that look you had you probably didn’t. Dolled up like a little girl on her way to Sunday school – yellow sundress that frilled at the knees, hair curled to waves around your face, strappy sandals with an ankle bracelet to top it off. You certainly didn’t look like you belonged at the fucking Luna Mesa. He bellied up next to you, slamming his hand down demanding a drink, you hadn’t moved, didn’t even flinch from the sudden intrusion, little hands still flexing around the glass like you were psyching yourself up to down it.

“Ain’t from around here are ya, girl?”

You did startle then, and Mac couldn’t help but smirk. Turning to him, you stared up with doe eyes before smiling. Wasn’t hard to get girls to smile at him, there were shit pickings in Caineville, and with his build and blue eyes it wasn’t hard to get a girl to spread her legs. It was the other shit that had them turning tail and running. One of them being his teeth, letting his lips pull apart to grin at you, the blackened rot flashing as he proceeded to pick an imaginary fragment from them. His teeth were the first put off, disgusting them. Bitches like that thinking they were better than him, not only them, too many people thought they were higher up than him, but every one of them were the fucking same. Still cried, still bled.

He waited for you to shirk away, drawing the conclusion that he was trash, nothing but a filthy drug addicted redneck and blow him off. Then the fun could begin. Yet you didn’t, your eyes still holding the deer in headlights expression but smile remaining.

“You would be correct. Sort of passing through, you could say…would you be the welcoming committee Mr. – “

“Mac, everyone around here calls me Mac.”

Your smile grew, perfect polished teeth shining while you stretched out your hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mac. I’m Y/N.”

He looked down at your hand, trailing up to look at your unblemished arms, he could imagine the things he could do to them. The bites, rope burns, knife marks – his, and his alone. Grasping your hand in his, he let he own smile grow, feeling your pulse leap under his touch. Perhaps not like a deer at all, but a little rabbit about to be caught in a snare trap.

“Pleasure’s all mine. Think you’ll like it here, might enjoy it so much you’ll never want to leave.”

He hadn’t taken you that day, a big mistake if he thought about it. For someone just passing through you ran your mouth off to a lot of fucking people. He’d watch you, dropping everything to help an old lady with her groceries, tending to another one’s garden, even getting down a kite that was hung in a tree for the kids at the park. During his observations you had caught him a few times, bounding towards him like the two of you were old friends, going as far as to hug him goodbye. That surprised him, enough so he didn’t think to push you off him. Mac wasn’t a hugger, never had one, didn’t need one, especially a pity hug from some dumb bitch. He didn’t allow people that right, but for that moment feeling your pert body pressed against his, that heart still going like a jackhammer, he faltered. He didn’t like the weakness from that, and though he had most people around here in his pocket, he didn’t like you bustling around town helping everyone, and he sure as hell didn’t like that you thought you could touch him. He knew it was an act, all of it was, acting like you were some kind of fucking saint, he knew better. And he’d teach you to try and fool him. Like all women, deep down you were nothing but a whore, and he’d be glad to help put you in your place.

It hadn’t been hard to get you in the truck, car broken down due to a few missing plugs, he almost sneered at how you smiled at him pulling up. Like he was some kind of hero or something, Mac already knew he was anything but. He had driven up to the canyons, and you hadn’t questioned anything until he put the truck in park. He watched as your eyebrows knitted in confusion, a question on your lips as they pursed. Before you could get out a word, he grabbed you by the back of the head, pulling you by the hair out the driver’s side, letting you fall in the dirt.

“Come on then, girlie, let’s have us some fun.”

You glanced up, panting from the struggle, before lurching up and head-butting him in the stomach. He doubled over, giving you time to run, you weren’t screaming, and he gave you some credit on that. They always screamed, though there wasn’t a soul out here for miles, the sound echoing off the canyon walls alerting him on where to go. Too bad you were too slow, making it easy for him to catch up and tackle you. On your stomach you let your arm draw back, hitting him square in the nose, he felt warmth rush in his mouth, tasting the copper of his blood.

“That’s right ya little bitch! Keep it up! All you’re doing is makin’ me love you!”

You grunted, trying to get on your back, he leaned up feeling you tense and relax as you rolled over. Your eyes were wide as plates, mouth gasping for air, red dirt splayed over you like dried blood. He narrowed his eyes as you began to nod.

“You’re doing the same to me.”

He was about to grab you again, demand what kind of shit you were talking about, when you grabbed him first, kissing him. Kiss being the operative words, your mouths were touching, but that was all. From the looks of you, he thought you’d be the kind to daydream of those sweet touches, kisses on the face when your lips barely touched each other. He felt everything now, your teeth clacking against his, nicking gums, making them bleed. Your incisor grabbing his bottom lip biting down hard enough to draw blood, he held back a groan as you lapped at it your tongue prodding at his rotted teeth when he finally snapped back to earth and pushed you off him, your skull ricocheting on the ground.

“Stupid little whore!”

His anger intensified at the sound of your laughter. “Can’t say I’m much of one yet, but I wouldn’t mind it – being your whore. You’re the first…you want to break things, don’t you Mac? I want to be broken. I knew it as soon as you looked at me at the bar, that you wanted me to hurt as much as you, that you wanted to eat me alive. So are you, Mac?”

He breathed in deep, feeling her body trembling under his hands, now realizing not in fear but anticipation. He gnashed his teeth, blood still trickling over his lips, letting the corner of his tongue lick it up. This was new, and he wasn’t sure how to proceed though he knew what was going to happen. He’d eat you up all right; devour you til there was nothing left but your bones bleaching in the desert sun.

MARTYR:

A virgin. A fucking virgin? Mac wanted to tilt his head back and cackle at the sky upon hearing that. But finding out the fact firsthand shut him up real quick. Girls usually saved themselves for their true loves and shit, then there was you, saving it until you found someone as fucked up as you were.

“Not that hard to find a guy that’ll smack a woman around. It is hard to find one that doesn’t blubber out an apology the next day, one that pays attention and sees she likes it, and finds a way to use it to his advantage.”

Oh, he could do that, had begun to over the next few weeks. Doing everything and anything that came into his twisted head, throwing him off each time when you took it with a smile. You’d scream, but then there was always that underlying moan that followed, the one that made him stop for a second and blink in disbelief. After a while he moved you in with him, telling himself that it’d be quicker access for him. He had pulled out your drawers, dumping everything out, while telling you to grab as much you could in three minutes or he was lighting the place on fire with you in it. You were quick getting four suitcases out with twenty seconds to spare. The first night you were made to sleep in the corner of the room on the floor, no blanket or pillow to comfort you. He’d break you, then he remembered you wanted to be broken. The next day you had begun cleaning everything, and though he didn’t mind it, would’ve told you to do it; he choked you for not asking him first. His hands tightened so hard your face turned purple, eyes rolling back before going limp. And for a split second he panicked. He hadn’t meant to…

Don’t go.

But seeing the rise and fall of your chest, he realized you only passed out. Waking a few hours later with a smile on asking if he wanted some dinner. No, he didn’t want any fucking dinner, he wanted to backhand you, wanted you to curse him, and instead grabbed his coat going out the door to get a fix. He took more than he usually did, bounding up the steps, falling through the door. You went to help him, and he snarled.

“Did I say you could fucking touch me, bitch!”

Shaking your head, you sat down beside him. Waiting.

You always waited, and for a while it drove him crazy. Now he expected it. Coming home from the shop or, like now, the caves. Spreading the red dust on the floors you cleaned as he came in to find you cooking his supper. You looked up from the pot you were stirring, a warm smile spreading on your face as you looked at him. He never did it back, but he didn’t hit you for it anymore, his hands twitched and some part in the back of his mind told him to pummel your face in until it cracked open and spilt like an egg but some other part had begun to override it. You looked at his dirty boots, turning back to the pot as the smile slipped.

He smirked, you knew what was up there, and not just the drugs they cooked. “Jealous?”

You shook your head, and he almost chewed his thumb, a habit he hadn’t done since high school.

“What is it then? Ya think you’re gonna bitch at me for dirtying the floors?”

Shaking your head again, you turned the stove off. “Feel bad, I guess.”

He snorted. “What the fuck ya feel bad about?”

“Those girls aren’t like us…If – if you wanted, I could switch with them.”

His eyes narrowed slits of cerulean peeking through. “The fuck you on about, girl?”

“They’d be fine, cooking and cleaning for you, but the chains – I could do the chains.”

He pressed his fingers into his eyes, if anything you were batshit crazy. He knew that when he went in dry and you called out his name like a god. He laughed; there was no god out here.

“Mac?”

He was still buzzing, the high from earlier calming down and stuttering him.

“Shut up.”

You turned away to the cupboards and he jerked you back, letting the plates crash to the floor.

“The fuck’s wrong with you?”

The fuck’s wrong with me?

You shook your head looking down, his nostrils flared, he had vowed to not fuck up your face. The bruises and the swelling getting to him with those fucking eyes, but you were pissing him off. Grabbing your chin hard, he made you look at him.

“You want away from me, huh? Want some other girl here sucking me off while every other meth head fucks you on the cave wall?”

Your mouth gaped open. “I thought it was only you…that, you know…had them.”

You were right, many times in his life Mac was given nothing, and now that he had the power to he took all he could only giving scraps back. But not you.

“Don’t fucking matter who had ‘em, you’re staying here til I say otherwise. You got me!”

You nodded, dropping down to pick up the shards of glass. Eyes flashing, he took you by the nape of your neck and dragged you until you were in the broken pieces, flesh cutting, as he saw blood skimming the floor. With his free hand he began to undo his coveralls.

“Want to be a martyr, princess, you stay on those knees and suck my cock while you bleed.”

Your cheeks pinked, more so when his girth was exposed.

“Mac…please.”

Any other girl would be pleading him to stop, but he knew your looks and cues now, and knew what you wanted.

“You crazy slut, take your clothes off and spread that little pussy for me. Bet your wetter than a river right now.”

“Can I – “

“You don’t get off, not until I say, and right now you got a few sacrifices to make.”

You did as told, mouth and hand on him, while the other kept yourself displayed for him, folds glistening as you worked.

“You slut…my sweet slut. All mine, you dirty bitch.”

SAVIOR:

“What the fuck you tryin’ to say, princess?”

It was the first time he ever saw fear in your eyes. It unnerved him. You threw the stick on the coffee table, getting up to go to the kitchen. He stayed seated though his body roared at him to move. Feeling something cold hit his cheek, he glanced up to see you handing him a glass of whiskey before sitting down with your own. You were not his equal, he made sure you knew that, but you were his, and that fact had embedded itself enough that you were comfortable around him now. He gulped the contents down, wincing as the flame embalmed his belly.

“How the fuck did this happen?”

You snickered. “If you don’t know the mechanics –“

“Shut that smart mouth now.”

The humor was still in your eyes, but did as you were told. The look quickly faded into anxiety.

“What do you want me to do Mac?”

How the fuck was he to know, hell, he might’ve produced spawn from here to Oregon wasn’t one bitch going to admit it was his. He didn’t know what to do.

“I don’t think I could use a hanger, but if you – if you put those boots on and kicked hard enough –“

“Jesus, are you out of your mind?”

“I didn’t think you’d want me to go to a clinic.”

“Maybe I want to fuckin’ keep it, you think of that?”

From the look on your face, he knew you hadn’t.

“We’re not meant to be parents, Mac. Look what ours did to us, broken into so many pieces the two of us are still shifting through them to get whole. We’d warp the kid. You know I don’t care what you do to me when you get high, but a baby, God, we can’t –“

“I could quit, cut down a little at a time and quit.”

Your eyes looked at him, not perceiving what he was saying.

“We’d do better than our parents.”

You scoffed, making him get up and sinking in front of you, a warning in his eyes.

“You think you’re gonna start calling the shots now? That’s my kid in you and you’ll do as I fucking say.”

It was a whisper, the fear creeping more heavily into you.

“I don’t want to kill it.”

“Then fuckin’ don’t!”

“No, I don’t know how – I don’t even think I’d know how to love it…could you? Do either of us even know how to do that?”

He stood up, pacing, before his eyes traveled back to you. He didn’t want to, didn’t think he’d ever would, but God be damned, he did. Looking at you, no matter how fucked up it all was he did know how.

#red canyon #mac #mac red canyon #mac x reader #reader imagine #red canyon drabble #norman reedus

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canaryatlaw · 4 years

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okay. so today was pretty good. I slept till like noon and then got up and did some stuff, then went on a quick grocery store run, mainly to get things to make a cake for my birthday this week, plus a few other random things. that was pretty quick, so I was back shortly afterwards. friend came over and we watched Emma, which was very disappointing as the trailer framed it as being very funny when it really wasn’t funny, like at all, in any way, but was rather quite boring, so that was a let down, but oh well. after that we decided to check Brandon Routh’s filmography and see what we could find that we hadn’t yet watched, and ended up watching a 2012 movie called Crooked Arrows which was interesting in a whole bunch of ways haha. the plot is basically Brandon’s character is this big business guy trying to push forward with developments with the casino they’ve built on the Native American reservation that he grew up on, and the Native American elders decide they’d give him permission to do this if he did some “soul-searching” task which ends up being coaching their failing lacrosse team, which then proceeds to do your typical sports movie thing like every other fucking sports movie. one potential problem you might have picked up on here is that Brandon is about as white as they come, and they do at least throw in there that his character’s mother (who’s dead of course) was white so he’s mixed but still, he looks soooooo out of place next to everybody else (especially the character that’s supposed to be his sister and also has a white mother but looks totally native) being there’s like two other white characters and everyone else is Native American (or appearing so at least, idk how much they did their due diligence here when they cast a white lead). So obviously that’s a tad problematic. but other then that it was a pretty decent movie I suppose. We ordered Popeye’s for delivery so we ate that for a while, then friend went home and I went back to watching Gotham, which has become very entertaining in season 4, so I’m appreciating that a bit, then of course showering and getting ready for bed. and yeah, that’s pretty much what I did for the rest of the day, so not bad I’d say. I’m gonna try to tune into church tomorrow though it’s getting a bit late, but the late service isn’t until 11:30 so I should be fine. but yeah, I’m gonna call it quits here. Goodnight dearies. Hope you had a great Saturday.

#daily journal #March 2020

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preserving-ferretbrain · 5 years

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A Successful Audition for the Darwin Award

by Raymond H

Tuesday, 05 June 2018

Or, why Shigeharu Aoyama is the stupidest horror movie protagonist Raymond has ever seen~

Today's song

comes from a much better movie than the one I will be discussing. You should watch

instead.

~~~

Let me tell you a tale. It all started in the summer of ’17. That was the summer I was on a horror movie binge, when I watched such greats as The Shining and Rosemary’s Babyfor the first time. And then one day, purely by accident, I stumbled across a little horror movie called Audition. Hey, this looks neat, I thought. It was by a famous Japanese director whose filmography I’d barely viewed, it was going for cheap at the local rental place, and my parents seemed enthusiastic about it. Why not? So Friday night, with freshly-made popcorn and bright-eyed enthusiasm, my parents and I sat down to see what Audition had to offer.

What followed was the worst family movie night experience since The Lobster[1].

First off, I should admit the role of some bias on my part. You see, Audition, whilst ostensibly horror, happens to be my absolute least favorite type of horror: the gross-out gorefest. It is my firmly-held belief that the best kind of horror elicits dread, a suspenseful buzz that quickens the pulse and heightens the heartrate, a steady flow of unease, if you will. To break that buzz with jump scares and shocking imagery is bad enough, but to completely transform it into disgust and nausea utterly defeats the point and demeans the genre, in my humble opinion.

My own snooty genre proclivities aside though, there is another, far deeper problem with Audition, that being its protagonist. You see, he is an idiot. Now, you gotta understand, I’m not talking about your average, run-of-the-mill moron. No no, I mean he’s a grade-a, stone-cold, dyed-in-the-wool dingbat. He’s a nitwit, a ninny, a schnook, a schlemiel. Why he’s the stupidest horror protagonist I ever done seen, and I’ve seen a fair few in my day.

Now come on Raymond, you sigh. You’re not being very sporting here, are you? You say this man is an idiot, and yet you’ve given no evidence to back this up. And besides, horror protagonists get accused of being stupid all the time. What makes your criticism any different from those butthurt dudebros complaining about those waily slasher protagonists, apart from the blonde hair and pom-poms?

To this I say, good, fine, a well and valid point. But remember, the entire premise of those slasher films is that a group of young, hormonally addled teenagers are systematically hunted down and murdered one by one, oftentimes within a secluded and isolated environment. Given such circumstances, I can at least suspend my disbelief enough to buy a high-school cheerleader acting somewhat irrational once she realizes she’s next on the kill list. What I can’t accept is this baka acting just as irrational and clueless, if not MORE so, than said cheerleader even BEFORE anything weird or horrifying happens.

But, I’m getting ahead of myself. I should probably explain the plot first. Okay, so there’s this guy, Aoyama. He’s a middle-aged widower and single father, who keeps getting pestered by friends and family to get back in the dating game. He’s reluctant at first, but then one day a friend of his, who just so happens to be a television producer, comes over to him and says “Hey! Guess what? We are currently holding auditions for the new leading lady in our latest teledrama, and I want you to show up. See, in these kinds of things, we go through hundreds of applicants, many of whom are quite nice and very attractive. And I figure, hey, only one woman can get the part, but there’s no reason the other girls should go home empty-handed. Eh? Eh? Come on, surely there’s gotta be at least someone there you’ll hit it off with.”

Aoyama, in his usual fashion, responds with an “Um, uh, well, um…” This will be a recurring habit of his.

So finally, after being dragged to the audition (ah, d’you seee?)

[2]

Aoyama sets his sights on one lady in particular, Asami, a beautiful (albeit kind of creepy), young (to an ephebic degree), and soft-spoken (you can never tell what she’s thinking) ballerina (whose teacher disappeared under mysterious circumstances). Now, you or I can easily see that, despite being quite a catch, Asami is setting off a few red flags right from the get-go. And indeed, Aoyama’s buddy explicitly says “Hey man, I know she’s cute and all, but like, you might want to be careful going into all this is all I’m saying.” But Aoyama is of course having none of that and completely ignores all the other candidates.

Now, okay, I could possibly forgive that. Lord knows countless men and women have taken similarly stupid plunges in the name of getting nookie, and hey, if Aoyama didn’t go for Asami, we wouldn’t have a story, would we? Here’s the thing though. This is not the only warning sign he receives over the course of the movie. Indeed, you could reasonably say that the first 90 minutes of this film are nothing but a series of increasingly disturbing warning signs which Aoyama ignores. And not only ignores, but outright fails to even react to!

Let me break it down for you. Pretty early on, Aoyama’s buddy pulls him aside and says “Hey man, c’mere, lemme talk t’you fer a sec. Listen, I dunno how t’tell y’this, but none of the gal’s references check out. Like, none of ’em. At all. So like, I think you should maybe just, like, be careful or something. You know, just exercise a little caution, maybe wait a while before you call her next.”

Aoyama, in his usual fashion, responds with an “Um, uh, well, um…” and then immediately proceeds to call Asami.

We are then treated to

this

Now, to be fair, Aoyama doesn’t see the bag-man, so this is entirely within the realms of information given to us the audience which is not given to the protagonist. But you know what is given to him? Well for starts, there’s his son saying “Hey dad, listen I’m real happy for you and all, but I just feel like maybe you’re rushing into things a bit.”, there’s his friend (again) saying “Dude! Seriously! This girl is bad news! Abort! Abort!”, oh yeah, and there’s the GHOST OF HIS DEAD WIFE coming to him in a dream and explicitly screaming “RUN! IF YOU VALUE THE CURRENT ARRANGEMENT OF YOUR TESTICLES RUN! RUN THE FUCK AWAY FROM THIS BITCH! SHE’S CRAZY I TELL YOU! CRAAAZYYY!!!”

Now, if you or I were faced with such advice from friends and family, we might stop and think “Huh, maybe I should reconsider the current trajectory of this relationship.” If an ordinary horror protagonist was faced with it, they might stop and think “Huh, maybe I should reconsider the current trajectory of this…nah, let’s give it one more date.” However, Aoyama is no ordinary fellow, nor is he an ordinary horror protagonist. He’s the stupidest horror protagonist I ever done seen, and his reaction to all these warnings is to try tracking Asami down to her house. There are many ways to deal with a potential serial killer. Going in alone and unprotected into their headquarters without backup or even telling anyone is not one of them.

Of course, there is one slight problem with Aoyama's plan. Remember, none of Asami’s references check out, so Aoyama only has a few tenuous leads to go on in his search. Fortunately he finds answers pretty quickly. Unfortunately…ugh…

So he goes to this bar that Asami says she works at. He finds it abandoned. When he asks about, the local expositor explains “What? That bar? Oh, yeah, there was a really gruesome murder there, a while back. Yeah, there was a young woman, and a guy, and the guy slept with the mama at the bar, and then one morning the cops found the bar drenched in blood. It’s weird, they didn’t find any bodies, but they identified the blood as belonging to the guy and the mama. Oh yeah, and they found an eye and three fingers. The young woman disappeared. Man, it’s so weird, but I mean, it’s not like the young woman sounds exactly like your girlfriend or anything, hahaha! Hohoho! Peace.”

Now…if you were in that position, what would you do? Run? Forget Asami? Plunge forward for the sake of getting some? All fine and good responses. Now…now uh, now tell me…what do you think Aoyama, in his…infinite wisdom, does? Hm? HMM?

“Sigh”

Aoyama, in his usual fashion, responds with an “Um, uh, well, um…” And then…then he goes to a dance studio that Asami supposedly frequents. Only to find, oh, wow, it’s completely abandoned and boarded up. Who could have possibly seen that coming?

So anyways, Aoyama hears piano music coming from the studio, so he breaks in, and inside he finds an elderly man sitting in a wheelchair, playing the piano in the corner of a darkened dance-room. No-one else is around. The man looks like he’s been there for who knows how long. Suddenly, as Aoyama steps into the room, the man halts his playing, and glances up. Slowly he turns, and sees a frightened Aoyama, breath bated in surprise. Then, a sick, slimy grin splays across the old man’s face, and with teetering, arthritic hands, he rolls his way over to our hero.

“So…tell me,” the old man rasps, his voice cracked and hoarse with perverted delight. “Did…you taste her flesh? Mehah. Mehahahah! Mahahahahah! Did…you smell her skin? Mahahah! Mahahahah! Meheheheh…fool. You are doomed. Doomed! DOOMED! MAHAHAH! MAHAHAHAHA! MA-HAHA-HAHAAAH!”

This time Aoyama doesn’t respond. No, seriously. Where others might flee in terror or proclaim “Old man, you be tripping.”, Aoyama…does nothing. He exits the ballet studio in the exact same state of mind as when he entered. He completely, utterly, and inconceivably refuses to even acknowledge what just occurred. Great Belin man! Are you for real? Give us something, anything! Even an “Um, uh, well, um…” would be satisfactory. But no, no! Instead Aoyama’s only thoughts are “Huh. I wonder where Asami is.” Are you serious? Are you genuinely, legitimately serious at this point, Aoyama? Sweet baby Jesus man, no amount of half-your-age nookie can possibly justify this level of willful stupidity! Are you really, really going to do this?

Aoyama, in his usual fashion, responds with an “Um, uh, well, um…”

It was at this point my parents and I began exchanging bewildered glances.

Then he comes home and finds Asami’s killed his dog and OMIGOD NO! NOOO! HOW COULD YOU TAKASHI MIIKE? HOW COULD YOU? GOD FUCKING DAMMIT! I FUCKING REMEMBER WHEN THE DOG FIRST APPEARED IN THIS GODDAMN FILM AND MY HEART SKIPPED A LITTLE BEAT AND I PRAYED “Oh please Lord. Please, kill the boy, kill the housekeeper, kill the protagonist for God’s sake, but don’t, for the love of God, don’t kill the dog.” AND THE DOG IS THE ONLY ONE TO FUCKING DIE IN THE WHOLE FUCKING MOVIE AND

Oooh, you cry. Duh! Buh! Raymond!

Ssspoiiileeers

! For a movie that was released in 1999! Which is mostly known for the massive orgy of death and violence in the last 20 minutes of its runtime! Well fuck you! This is a tale, goddammit! I’ll spoil whatever the hell I like! You want a review, go read Armond fucking White!

Anyways, where was I? Ah yes, so Asami slips something into Aoyama’s drink, he trips balls for a couple minutes, during which time we are treated to the fate of that guy (you know, the one in the bag who slept with the mama), the old man, oh yeah, and we find out what the deal with Aoyama’s secretary was. For real dude, what the hell? Oh yeah, also we get to witness the most uncomfortable blowjob scene in the history of cinema! Nobody enjoyed that scene, least of all you. What else? Ah, of course, how stupid of me. Asami cuts off Aoyama’s foot in lovingly rendered, crystal clear, high definition.

It was at this point my father left the living room.

My mother and I, more out of spite than anything else at this point, figured we’d see the film through to the end, and honestly, even in my current, spoilery mindset, I can’t be bothered to give the ending away. Partly because I still have some spoiler scruples, partly because it’s so bland and predictable you can see it coming a mile away, and partly because…I just don’t want to. Suffice it to say, things turn out alright in the end. I mean, there was all that gross-out stuff, which I don’t recommend even for you gorefest aficionados, but apart from that, and, y’know, the whole foot thing, Aoyama is none the worse for wear, and is already planning to tell this latest crazy ex story at the next work outing

[3]

Normally after a family movie night, my family and I like to chat about the movie. You know, what we liked, what we didn’t like, that sort of thing. This time, my mother and I remained in silence as we took the disc out, put it back in the case, and turned the tv off. When we walked upstairs to the dining room, we found my father sipping a mug of tea, like some men would swig a flask of brandy after a harrowing day’s work.

“So,” he grunted. “Did we ever find out why she was…y’know, the way she was?”

And, strange as it may seem, it wasn’t until then that I realized, Audition isn’t actually a good movie. Seriously, my own distaste for gorefests aside, this is a bad film. I’ve seen plenty of people say this is a feminist movie, which casts a critical lens on the patriarchal society of Japan and like, smashes all these preconceptions about women and fights for their rights and I call bullshit, for three main reasons.

Number one, the only thing Aoyama is ever really punished for is getting involved with the wrong sort of woman. Not the audition itself, not the way he treated the actual nice women that he said he was looking for, not for wanting to bang an ephebic ballerina or his son’s teenage girlfriend, no, simply for getting involved with a “crazy” girl.

Number two, Asami doesn’t seem to be motivated by anything other than petty jealousy in her revenge methods. Remember, she killed the mama at the bar, whom you could reasonably say was as much a victim of the guy’s womanizing ways as Asami was. And as for the guy himself, Asami’s torture of him is expressly designed to make him totally dependent on her, not to punish him for straying, but to make herself more valuable to him so that he won’t ever want to stray. And finally, this leads to the biggest reason.

Number three, we never get any explanation for why Asami is the way she is. There is a cursory comment about how because she was abused as a child she came to believe that love and pain were inseparable and can you see how deep and philosophical this movie is but it’s an esoteric bluff. At the end of the day, it doesn’t alter our perception of her in any meaningful way. She’s still a crazy serial killer, who kills dogs and mutilates men for shits and giggles. This explanation doesn’t serve to make us empathize with her. Just the opposite, it makes her even creepier, and drives the point that she’s a villain that needs to be stopped even further home. In the end, the only explanation we really get is that same, old, tired cliché: That bitch is crazy.

In the end, there are some interesting themes and concepts in Audition, but the movie never really goes anywhere interesting or says anything meaningful with them, instead always choosing to take the easiest, goriest, most juvenile way out. Anything great in the movie is snuffed out by disinterested shrugs and handwaves, and all that’s left is sex and violence. It’s rather like going to a classical music concert, where midway through the concerto the pianist suddenly screams “FUCK EVERYTHING!”, throws a cat onto the keyboard, sets the piano on fire, guns the remaining orchestra down, cackles as the concert hall explodes, and then shoot the cat in the knee after it tries to sue

[4]

. I know the movie is based off a book, and maybe that does a better job handling the ideas the story puts forward, but honestly, with an audition like this, I don’t think I’m gonna call this story back anytime soon.

It’s funny. I’m sure there’s a moral to be learned from this tale. I just have no idea what it is. Maybe it’s don’t disrespect women. Maybe it’s bitches be crazy. But personally, I think the best moral this tale has to offer is this: Know what you’re getting into. Please, if you take nothing else from this, just remember that. Know what you are getting into.

[1]

We thought it was a romantic comedy, okay? The synopsis made it sound like a wacky romantic comedy!

[2]

Yes, yes, YES! Since day ONE I have been waiting to say that and now I've finally done it! Haha! やった！

[3]

Where he’ll probably sleep with his new secretary and toss her aside just as callously seriously what the hell dude?

[4]

Seriously, in all its 60 cat years in the industry it’s never been treated this badly, not once! 60 cat years! And that’s like, 11 human years!Themes:

TV & Movies

Horror

Minority Warrior

Romance

Crime Fiction

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Arthur B

at 10:56 on 2018-06-05See, I have a different take on

Audition

. Yes, Aoyama acts like a fool. On the other hand, he acts like precisely the sort of fool patriarchal society has set him up to be.

There's a cliche in discussing dating and the risks people face in that context of "Men are afraid of being embarrassed; women are afraid of being murdered", and there's quite a big chunk of truth to it: women are by far the targets of violence more than they are the perpetrators of it in dating contexts, and I know numerous women who feel that they have to take various safety steps when going on a date in the event that the person they're with turns out to be some form of abuser - the classic full-blown serial killer being an extreme example, but hardly an unknown one. I don't think I've ever known a man to express the same fears about meeting up with a woman.

So far as I can tell, the whole point of

Audition

is to depict a man who, for once, is actually subject to the same danger that women are routinely subjected to in dating - and because he's a privileged little patriarch, he doesn't recognise the danger at all.

That's part of how privilege works

- it insulates you from the very idea that someone might dare to harm you. (As a beneficiary of that privilege, I often find it eye-opening and startling how much others who don't get the same benefits have to be wary.)

So sure, he gets all these people suggesting that he should distance himself from Asami, but when has the disapproval of one's peers ever prompted anyone to break off a new relationship? And sure, he investigates Asami's background and finds out that

something

is up, but I think it entirely makes sense for him to decide that whatever that is, it surely can't be her fault - that if anything, she's in trouble and she needs a doughy patriarch like him to save her. The possibility that

she might be the trouble

doesn't occur to Aoyama because he doesn't conceive of young, pretty girls as being capable of being trouble. And you know how the saying goes: when you assume, you make an ass out of yourself and lose a foot.

As far as Asami's apparent lack of clear motivations go, I don't consider them a problem. The stated motivations of real life serial killers aren't especially narratively satisfactory either, in most cases. Again, so far as I can see, the whole point of Asami is that she is (on a somewhat grand guignol scale) exactly the sort of sadistic abuser that women have to be afraid of on a regular basis, but which men are rarely in danger from. Plus, giving her actions a convincing rationale would run the risk of, if not excusing them, at least making them somehow sympathetic.

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Raymond H

at 12:02 on 2018-06-05...Okay...I see what you're saying...and I half-agree, but I still don't quite see it that way, and it all boils down to that word you used "sympathetic". I think, if you are trying to point a lens at a put-upon group of people, then you need to paint that group with at least some degree of sympathy, but from my experience, the audience's sympathy seemed intended for Aoyama all the way through, even when they demonstrated some of his more reprehensible thoughts and actions. Ultimately, even if this film was intended to subtly mock viewers' patriarchal prejudices, it still set about doing it with a scaaary woman that needed to be killed. So it's kind of like reading Dracula as a subtle critique of Victorian pomposity and prejudice. Considering that Stoker was himself an Irishman, that's an entirely valid reading, but because Dracula is a blood-drinking, soulless abomination, it somewhat shoots the message in the foot. Maybe it's because of my experience reading Naomi, which seemed like it's criticizing its patriarchal protagonist, but then was actually just about how if you let women have male friends or talk back in any way it'll destroy society.

You are right, unless there's a clear power imbalance, when women are abusive to men, they go for emotional and psychological abuse, rather than physical, at least from my experience. And maybe it's because of that experience that I'm bitter and cynical, and was thus more receptive to the warning signs Asami exhibited. However, by making Asami, as you said, a female version of the sort of serial killer a woman might encounter on the dating scene, I think the filmmakers went too far, from satire to farce. I do like what you pointed out, that Aoyama's stupidity can be chalked up partially to how he never suspects Asami might be the trouble, and I know that can be a blinder. But again, I think without any sympathy, Asami's excessive psychopathy ended up hurting any potentially anti-sexism message the film had. By making her the abuser, and making Aoyama the victim, it makes it difficult to see beyond that evil woman / good man dynamic. Maybe it worked better in the book, maybe I'm too distrustful to put myself fully in Aoyama's shoes, but I don't know.

Geez, that was long-winded and messy. Sorry. Uh, I guess, in summation, I think you make several valid points, but I just can't agree %100.

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Ichneumon

at 04:33 on 2018-06-08I dunno, I think you can write and effective horror yarn around a largely unsympathetic cast. The point of horror isn't necessarily to reflect empathy with the characters themselves; rather, as Thomas Ligotti has argued, horror is about empathy with a set of shared fears and a shared understanding with the author. The shared fear here is not that of the protagonist person see, pathetic though he is, but of women within a patriarchal society which objectifies and abuses them; the empathy may in part be with the victim, made a patsy by societal expectations, but also with the author's dim view of said society.

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Raymond H

at 12:58 on 2018-06-11Okay! So, uh, I guess I ought to start with some kind of disclaimer or something. This article was simply meant as a means to laugh at a bad family movie night experience. By laughing at things, we often are able to deal with and process them better, after all. However, Arthur's initial comment struck a chord with me. Not because he disagreed with my opinion on the internet (the unforgivable sin), but because his comment

As a beneficiary of that privilege, I often find it eye-opening and startling how much others who don't get the same benefits have to be wary.

made me realize that my own experiences with dating and romance may not have been, for lack of a better word, "normal". I've always laughed at the things that happened to me, because, again, that makes them easier to deal with, and I'd always thought that, because I was a straight, cis guy, whatever had happened to me couldn't possibly measure up to what women or trans people face on a daily basis. And it doesn't. But after talking with friends and family, I realize it does matter, and I can't just keep laughing it off. Just because a disease isn't cancer or AIDS doesn't mean it isn't fatal if left untreated. And I need to treat this. So, uh, thanks Arthur, I guess.

Hoo! Okay, that was...man! I'm glad you convinced me to use a pseudonym, Arthur, because without that I'd probably have kept all that under a pickle-jar-tight lid. But ironically enough, an internet-based mask let me open up and deal with a deep-rooted issue in my life. Tell everybody what, next article I write will be about a happy romantic comedy.

Okay, now to address Ichneumon's comment, and Arthur's comment correctly this time! What bugged me about a lot of reviews that praised Audition's supposed feminist credentials was that they operated under the logic of "Asami tries to kill the guy that objectified her, ergo she is a feminist hero, ergo this is a feminist film". I don't agree with that line of logic, for the reasons I listed in the article. However, re-reading Arthur's comment, I see that you're actually going down a different logic route. "Asami is a reflection of the worst fears a woman in the dating scene can face, ergo by making her a her and her victim a him, it flips the power dynamic of this traditional, real-world horror and thus casts a lens on said real-world horror." Ichneumon, your comment, if I understand it correctly, is basically "Even if you don't like Aoyama, you can still empathize with his fear, and thus even if the movie seems to be 'sympathizing' with him, it could still be deeply criticizing him."

Thinking about it, I would say those are valid "readings" of the film, and again, maybe my own experiences have clouded my own reading. Even accepting your readings though, I stand by my judgment that Miike went for the most gratuitously violent and juvenile route when dealing with these issues. Even thinking back on the film and going "Oh yeah, I guess that's right", I still think Miike was too focused on "Whoo! Blood! Guts! Fuckin' gorefest maaan!" for me to consider this a good film. Genre fiction, in my opinion, is used best when wrapping real-world issues and problems in a creamy, more easily-digestible genre coating. In the case of horror, no boogeyman or monster under the bed can compare to the myriad ways that human beings can hurt you, but personifying real-world fears as boogeymen and monsters can make them or their memory a little easier to confront. But I think Miike was too firmly focused on the personification of Asami to really give the real-world fears behind her conception the focus and subtlety they deserve. I don't think horror should be "feel-good", but it should give you the courage to face your fears. This film seems more focused on making patriarchally-insulated men as scared as women are when it comes to dating, and it stops at that point, rather than going on to make the male audience think about how to change this patriarchal system. And that, I think, is why I still can't bring myself to like this film.

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Arthur B

at 13:39 on 2018-06-11Yeah, I think any reading of the film where Asami is any sort of "hero" is simply untenable - when you take into account more or less every aspect of how the movie frames her actions and their effect on people, the argument simply doesn't have a leg to stand on.

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Ichneumon

at 02:59 on 2018-06-12Oh, I agree. But I do think the subtext is quite important here in terms of the mechanics of the horror even if one does not care for the execution. Asami is a ghoulish subversion of the assumptions of a patriarchal society made flesh; her existence as a concept may resonate, but that does not make her anything resembling a sympathetic character—if anything, that type of character is more a force of nature, an emanation of the malevolence or harrowing indifference of greater forces rather than a person in themselves.

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Robinson L

at 15:00 on 2018-08-15

apart from that, and, y’know, the whole foot thing, Aoyama is none the worse for wear

Doesn't that invalidate him being a candidate for a Darwin Award?

Also, do you think you could edit the footnotes to make them links. It would aid readability, and I'm pretty sure it's in the HTML guide for articles.

I don't have any comments on the actual movie, as it's so far removed from my interests. *shrug*

I've always laughed at the things that happened to me, because, again, that makes them easier to deal with, and I'd always thought that, because I was a straight, cis guy, whatever had happened to me couldn't possibly measure up to what women or trans people face on a daily basis. And it doesn't. But after talking with friends and family, I realize it does matter, and I can't just keep laughing it off. Just because a disease isn't cancer or AIDS doesn't mean it isn't fatal if left untreated. And I need to treat this.

Oh, wow. I'm so glad this conversation led to such a positive revelation for you, and you're absolutely right. A couple months ago, I saw something reposted on Facebook, originally from a counselor who's worked with survivors of severe trauma, extreme childhood abuse and the like, and noting that even they are quick to say, "there are other people who have it worse than me." The originally poster's point is that everybody downplays their own woundness in contrast to someone else's experience, and even if the contrast is true, that doesn't mean you don't also need help and healing. Your disease analogy reminds me of a similar comparison I came up with a few years ago, about medical patients, one with severe burns, and multiple broken and fractured bones, and the other with a broken arm. Sure, the former has it worse off and should probably get higher priority in treatment, but that doesn't negate the latter's need for help and healing also.

ironically enough, an internet-based mask let me open up and deal with a deep-rooted issue in my life.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that a fairly common experience for people dealing with some heavy shit online? Isn't the anonymity one of the major contributing factors to many people's ability to process issues of trauma, sexual orientation, gender identity, mental illness and a host of other taboo/stigmatized subjects? Doesn't strike me as particularly ironic at all.

In any case, I'm so glad your participation on the site, and this conversation in particular, helped you come to this realization and start working on getting yourself the help you need. I know it's been a while (chronically behind on articles, me), and you're still working out the employment situation, but I hope you've managed some progress here, too.

This film seems more focused on making patriarchally-insulated men as scared as women are when it comes to dating, and it stops at that point, rather than going on to make the male audience think about how to change this patriarchal system.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that true of a lot of social commentary in fiction? I mean, that it shines a light on a particular problem without really pointing towards potential solutions? It seems a fairly common phenomenon to me.

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Arthur B

at 15:50 on 2018-08-15

Agreed, and to be honest neither fictional nor non-fictional statements need propose a solution to be valid. I don't need to propose a potential solution to homophobia to point out that Orson Scott Card is a homophobe, for instance.

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Raymond H

at 05:04 on 2018-08-24

Doesn't that invalidate him being a candidate for a Darwin Award?

You just want the world, don't you? In all seriousness, the title was more to indicate Aoyama's stupidity than his dying or being rendered sterile, since the whole point of the Darwin Award and the reason we laugh at the winners is less to do with the results of their actions and more the fact that someone would take those actions to begin with.

Also, do you think you could edit the footnotes to make them links.

I... don't... know... how... I couldn't find anything about it in the HTML Guide, except for the bit about putting links to outside websites in the article,

which I thankfully know how to do

I guess this is just another matter of different personal experiences. I just think that if you're going to go to the trouble of making a whole piece of art, as opposed to a simple critique or internet comment, to address a particular social issue, you should try to discuss the issue more comprehensively than simply going "Man, I am so woke for knowing about this issue! Bask in my wokeness." I've run into too many people who think all that's needed to change the world is to smoke weed and brag about how aware they are to find that attitude anything but insufferable. And again, this is all reliant on the axiom that such social commentary was intentional on Miike's part.

I really hate to be that guy in this situation. I myself have tried for years to get friends of mine into things that I like, where my best-reasoned arguments and most-impassioned treatises are apathetically deflected by said friends' simple inability to enjoy those things. And I can tell from the comments section that now I'm the one who just doesn't get it. But I'm simply not feeling it like you all are. I wish that I was, but I just...can't. I'm sorry.

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Robinson L

at 18:30 on 2018-08-28I've never really followed the Darwin Awards, so I wouldn't know.

Oh yeah. I remember figuring out the html code for footnotes was a little weird for me. I've just looked back at my very first article, and it turns out I submitted it with a footnote, which got coded when the article was transferred from my original text submission into a Ferretbrain article, by Kyra or Rami or whoever would have done that. I must have accessed it that way.

Anyway, at the risk of pulling away the curtain for non-contributing readers, here's the html code I use for footnotes:

< sup >< a href="#ftnote">[1]< /a >< /sup >

< sup >< a id="ftnote">[1]< /a >< /sup >

(Just remove the spaces before and after the < and > characters - added to prevent auto-formatting - and replace the "1" inside the square brackets with the desired number for both parts after the first footnote.)

I just think that if you're going to go to the trouble of making a whole piece of art, as opposed to a simple critique or internet comment, to address a particular social issue, you should try to discuss the issue more comprehensively than simply going "Man, I am so woke for knowing about this issue! Bask in my wokeness."

Huh, I don't know about that. I mean, absolutely, yes, you should try to discuss the issue comprehensively in a piece of art - but it doesn't necessarily follow that you should suggest a solution. Maybe you think you don't have the answers; or at least aren't convinced your answers are right. Or you think there are too many answers to fit into one piece, and don't want to privilege one or two answers over the others. Or you think it's more important to get your viewers to come up with their own answers.

There have definitely been times when I've seen a piece of art address a given difficult social issue without suggesting a solution, and it felt like a cop-out. But I've also seen plenty of examples which work so perfectly as what they are that putting in a part about "this is how we could fix this problem" would cheapen the result.

Doctor Strangelove

doesn't fail as a critique of militarism and the nuclear arms race because it refrains from putting forward a comprehensive program for phasing out nuclear weapons, or war in general. Indeed, it would likely be a far inferior film if it tried. Likewise,

The Lorax

doesn't need to propose a solution for environmental devastation to make the point that environmental devastation is a serious problem that we should work to solve.

I can believe that, if

Audition

is indeed trying to make a serious point about rape culture and male violence, it does so badly. But I think if so, then I don't think "it fails to propose a solution to these problems" is the reason.

And I can tell from the comments section that now I'm the one who just doesn't get it. But I'm simply not feeling it like you all are. I wish that I was, but I just...can't. I'm sorry.

I hope you're kidding, because a piece of art working fine for other people is no reason to expect it should necessarily work for you as well. Personally, I've never seen and with luck never will see

Audition

, because, as I've mentioned elsewhere, horror is decidedly not one of my preferred genres; especially not film/tv horror.

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Raymond H

at 13:11 on 2018-09-01Comments: Ooh, thank you!

Commentary: That's... a good point.

Concern: Oh. Well... I mean...

this is the internet...

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Robinson L

at 22:02 on 2018-09-10You're welcome, thanks for cleaning up the formatting, it looks much smoother now.

Well... I mean... this is the internet...

Yeah, plus, I screw up reading others' moods in person often enough - I'm hopeless at it online, so I thought I should check.

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Raymond H

at 04:21 on 2018-09-16Nah, it's cool. Thanks. :)

#Ferretbrain #Raymond H #Audition #Minority Warrior #Horror

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