[funkylittlebats]

Iron Lung is great bc it asks the question what if the sacrificial lamb was evil. What if the lamb thought itself evil. What if everyone else thought the lamb evil. What if the lamb wasn't evil what if the lamb is just a lamb, bleeting desperately to escape its undue sacrifice. What if the lamb knew it was a sacrifice from the start. What if the lamb just wanted to live. What if the lamb wanted to live so fucking bad. What if the lamb wanted the flock to live more. What if the lamb accepts its own sacrifice, leans into the glinting knife, in the hopes that the flock survives.

[sokodraws]

this is not an expedition...

[everthefractal]

I can't get over how human Simon was. He apologised for his outbursts, even when punching the sub at one point, he repeatedly apologised for the radiation in the exact same way like he was still reeling from the shock of that information. Whenever the oxygen ticked down you can see a new wave of horror washing over him that he needs to take a second to cope with. When Ava gives him the login details he stumbles on remembering control-shift-9 never mind the password she rattled out.

They managed to present a man with a dark past and anger issues who is also not a monster. He is a human being desperate to survive and nobody even knows his name anymore. The closest thing he had to a family he resents but still obviously misses terribly as he clings to that pendant and shakes.

And Ava. Ava too. She's in an impossible situation. She doesn't want more humans to die. She has no idea how much damage radiation has done to her. This man, who she thought was a heartless killer, is begging and pleading and apologising like a child and it's getting increasingly harder to lie to him that he's going to be ok. Her screaming and begging that this is bigger than him is so achingly desperate I can still feel it, humanity is almost entirely gone. I fully believe that she hates this as well, all of it, but if she doesn't follow orders and take calculated risks then what else is there to keep her tethered and sane? What else can she cling to? They're almost entirely alone in an empty universe. She needs this hope.

[kat-witha-k]

[mapleworms]

puts him inside tin can and rattles him around

[polarity-disturbed]

Could you imagine making your own movie, making like 20 million dollars, and then going “awesome, now to install a DVD duplicating machine in my house and personally burn copies by hand like a medieval monk preserving sacred texts”

Like I need people to understand the mental image here of a multimillionaire internet creator personally overseeing DVD production in his own house like he’s running an underground bootleg operation out of a basement in 2007.

It’s weirdly charming because there’s something very “old internet” about it, this energy of “I made a thing, and now I will physically hand it to people myself like an artisan at a craft fair.”

The man really said: “The future of cinema is me standing next to a humming disc burner at 2am”

And like... I can't help but believe he's onto something

[sykosixx]

MARK E FISCHBACH IPLIER. I BEG YOUR PARDON.

[allykatsart]

Ok so the thing about radiation is that it's hot.

Like there was an incident with an orphan source where 3 men found this piece of iron that was warm and used it as a heater. Stayed around it all night for warmth and carried it on their back. All three got really bad radiation burns from it and were often in and out of the hospital. At least one of them died.

(And if an orphan source is glowing, you're fucked. You need to throw that thing as far away from you as you can and fucking run. Your hand may not survive but you might.)

Onto Iron Lung: you remember how Simon was complaining about how hot it was in the ship? Do you remember how long he was in there for? How many pictures he took? How many times he used the camera for light?

He was never coming out unscathed.

[living-force]

Simon "the butcher", who is horrified when he finds out he sentenced a man to death by pressing the camera button.

Simon "the butcher" who keeps apologizing for not knowing better, for causing harm to the people in the room, for being rightfully angry and lashing out, turning every knob and lever and pressing that damn button because why would it work when he doesn't have any power and why didn't they just Tell Him??

Simon "the butcher" who gets teary and has the look of a hurt child on his face when ava mentions filament station and his voice trembles when he is quick to say "that wasn't supposed to happen"...

Simon "the butcher" who apologizes to the sm-13, an inanimate object, after hitting the console.

Just... Simon being so unbeliebably human throughout the whole movie, it makes my heart ache for him

[justanotherrandomwriter]

"I just wanna live... is that so wrong?" ~ Simon the Butcher

[purpurlilies]

I saw iron lung twice in three days and drew this in a feverish delirium so needless to say I enjoyed it a perfectly normal amount

[roiidart]

hrgnrnhmhnhh……

[xandyflare]

Simon saying "fuck that" to literally every other problem was so real of him. He really felt like one of the top five horror movie protagonists that I've watched. Cursing up a storm seeing the dark crawlspace for the first time. Labelling the map with stuff like "buncha rocks" and "alien shit". Drinking the rubbing alcohol like it's the last liquor shot he's gonna get before deployment. Wasting almost all of his tape just trying keep that damn button taped down. The more I think about him the more I'm delighted by him. Mark played him so damn well

[corvid-khaos]

An ignorant god sees a sliver of our universe through a pinhole and thinks it understands all that is and all that will be-

[sajdd]

im also obsessed with the interpretation of the blood ocean not being inherently evil or malevolent, in fact, it starts off rather loving. or at least, what it perceives to be loving. it wants simon to become part of it. it could've absorbed the iron lung and mutated it so long ago - we saw how quickly things went to shit in the final act. but its slow, always there in the corner for simon to be constantly aware of it, like a friend letting you know theyre always in your corner. it keeps the oxygen supply going despite the fact it should've run out days ago. it throws him into the cave. it talks to him, tries to entice him to join in anyway it can. come see the truth, it could save you, it has the answers you've been looking for. if that doesn't work, maybe guilt tripping is the answer, reflect on filament station, simon. "i see you". an acknowledgement. simon runs out of tape so the blood mutates to hold the photograph button for him. but the more defiant simon becomes, the more focused on his own survival he is, the angrier the ocean becomes. the creature couldve swallowed him so many times. clearly the radiation isn't actually a threat to it, we see it being blasted so many times in the end, but it continues its chase after him once it kills ava. the creature backing off in the caves after the photograph was a conscious decision. it couldve lashed out right then and there, but it backed off. "hey, im not a threat, im just watching, im right here for when you're ready".

just like eden, just like the COI, the ocean tries to force simon into a life he never really wanted. because he never seems to get a choice.

i just can't stop thinking about an ocean that thinks itself benevolent, when really, its just as cruel as the rest of humanity. or maybe, its humanity that is as cruel as nature. or is it a God? does it even matter?

[sokodraws]

iron lung, eh?

cool movie, I liked it

[ongreenergrasses]

anon asked

also I would love to know what you think of gales ending, it felt so abrupt and inconclusive for such a major character, like SC was just shoving him away quickly. And am I really supposed to believe gale would never come back to d12 or not even try at all to make amends with Katniss? (X)

I feel like she really does shove him away very quickly. the part that doesn’t make sense to me at all is less him and Katniss having an irreparable breakdown of their relationship (because Prim’s loss destroys their relationship forever…Katniss recognizes she’s being unfair blaming him for it but can’t stop, and Gale recognizes that he’s failed at the one thing he wanted to do most for her. I actually think that’s painfully well done and realistic) and more never returning to 12. Gale is a figurehead. he is a beloved and valued community member. he is the only reason anyone from 12 survived at all. I can’t believe for a second that someone who’s that committed to the survival of the district, who risks everything for those people, who keeps them alive in the woods for days, is going to walk away and not participate in the rebuild.

and to be fair he may not want to participate! it may be too painful for him to return at first, not because of Katniss, but because of what he could see as his failure to not save more people, and the memories of the years of systemic oppression and trauma he endured, but he’s so entrenched in the community that I can’t imagine everyone would just be fine with him walking away. they’d want his opinions and guidance. he feels a strong sense of responsibility, I think he’d feel responsible for them still and want to help. it’s something I’m working with in the Paylor fic, trying to make that ending make sense for him.

in terms of reconciling with Katniss, I feel like they have such an unraveling that it really could go either way. I do think Gale would be concerned with her trajectory of isolation in 12 and really debate trying to reach out and connect with her, but in the end Katniss ended their relationship and Gale’s one of the few people narratively who respects her, so I think he’d respect that decision and not be the one to reach out first.

I also have to note that I think there’s a lot of racist undertones in Gale’s ending. SC has made the brown guy angry and violent to uplift the white guy as peaceful and the One True Love right choice when like. one of those guys explodes in anger and has put his hands on Katniss before. other one hasn’t. Gale is involved in the depersonalized war machine of Thirteen, but so is Katniss! so is Peeta! they’re all in the same squad, they’re all morally grey and that’s the point! but because SC’s committed to this reductive narrative of Gale being angry and violent in contrast to Peeta being calm and peaceful, she makes Gale be involved in continued violence to end his character arc (training the military), when as a realistic character outcome it feels slapdash and makes little sense. I think SC was very limited by her biases and didn’t think through any of the connotations or repercussions of the ending she designed for Gale.