WHAT? SO YOU CAN DRESS HIM UP AS JIMMY PHANTASM AND SUCK HIS DICK?
she/her. 20s. balthazar malone kinnie. sideblog for movie discussion. not associated with oscar boyson. avatar made by walnut_liu.
i have been sititng on a long post about eye symbolism in the movie...maybe i need to finish it and post it. in spite of me thinking it's 100% just crazy speculation and me seeing things that aren't there LOL
this is the highest quality i could find the scene in sadly. i tried my best to do it properly lol correct me if i’m wrong on anything. or on any words i missed but i really did try to get them all.
the other page is way too hard for me to read with the quality this video is in :-((
he mentions having a “decent childhood” though. poor guy
how old do you think balthazar is meant to be? i thought he was 16 turning 17 but i see people say otherwise
honestly, the toughest part for me is that both 16-turning-17 and 17-turning-18 are interesting in different but equivalent ways. my true answer is i like both interpretations. if you want to know my preference, i'll just say my own fanfiction imagines him as 16-turning-17.
on one hand, him being about to turn 18 makes a lot of the interactions he has with those close to him more eyebrow-raising. not that it isn't abnormal for his mother/life coach/chauffeur to treat a 16/17 year old balthazar like he's as innocent and aware as a literal child, that is still strange, but i think it's funny to imagine him being a senior in high school who should be focusing on college and post-grad plans and instead he sits in his frighteningly minimalistic room with his stupid childish baseball bedsheets and allows everyone around him to talk down to him like he's five (because, of course, he has about the same emotional intelligence and awareness as a manipulative child anyway). ultimately, we all know balthazar would realistically continue to do the "i'm just a sad kid :(" act until it stops working. as long as it works, he will ride off of it forever.
on the other hand, that amazing letterboxd review i reblogged introduces the very true thing that, if he's about to turn 17, solomon is by all accounts keeping a minor in his home without said minor's parents knowing where he is or who he's with. it speaks more to his mother's negligence then, because leaving an almost-18-year-old alone for that long is honestly viewed as far more socially acceptable in america than an almost-17-year-old. i obviously do not think solomon is some sort of predator; he sees balthazar as his equal, both because their age difference isn't actually that massive and because solomon is not the most emotionally mature adult by any means. where balthy's "eternal twelve year old" behavior is orchestrated, intentional, and done to make others do his bidding, solomon's is entirely out of his control because he simply doesn't know any other way to be. this is all to say, i personally prefer the visual of a younger balthazar because it helps illustrate how similar he and solomon are while also better showing off the many sizable differences between them that, ultimately, make them incompatible in such a way that ends in...how the movie ends.
tl;dr i think him having just turned 17 is more narratively interesting but i don't think him having just turned 18 is a bad thing. i imagine the latter take will be more popular with people who watched the movie solely for yaoi purposes because like, yeah, 16-almost-17 and 21 can be a bit much for some people and i get that i guess.
Headin' for the Texas Border - Blind Dog Cooley (note that Blind Dog Cooley's cover is not available and thus I have linked the original.)
Vendetta - Iceage
Jimmy Phantasm theme - Adrian Simon (sorry about no Spotify link for this one, I WISH)
BABYMETAL DEATH - BABYMETAL
What Are You Waiting For? - Nickelback
Onedari Daisakusen - BABYMETAL
note that this list doesn't include all the original songs made for the film, by james william blades. honestly props to him because his compositions make the movie infinitely better in so many ways as an experience.
Since more people are seeing the movie I'm gonna cross-post my long-ass psychosexual analysis of Our Hero Balthazar over here. Warning for spoilers + discussion of CSA/incest.
I wanna talk abt the CSA subtext in the film, so content warning. Spoilers etc. I'm very interested in the psychosexual angle here, as many
Full text under cut 👇
It's of course integral to Solomon's primary character conflict that he is struggling with his sexuality and performance of masculinity, which has led to his social isolation and unhealthy behaviors, and one obvious manifestation here is Sol's obsession with Not Danny Phantom (a teenage cartoon character) bleeding into his decision to pick up a teenager (not explicit what bday Balthy's celebrating, but I don't think any of the characters are thinking about it) who he could've just abandoned, and get very close to him. But it's interesting to think about where the Danny Phantom/anime obsession comes from and how it relates to his relationship with his abusive father. There's a psychosexual undercurrent in Sol's relationship with his father, and Beaver's aggressive attempts to "make a man" out of him. It's clear that Beaver recognizes that Sol isn't straight or "masculine" enough, starting since childhood it seems, and his attempts to "fix" Sol I would characterize as sexual abuse. Beaver has introduced Sol to pornographic videos featuring himself, seemingly early enough that Sol considers this normalized, and references his "catchphrase" from his stint in porn acting as positive reinforcement in his interactions with his son. He and his buddy Supes are quick to try and pressure Supes' gf into sexual contact with Sol, which they relent when she clearly isn't into it, but this is followed by Beaver grabbing Sol by the genitals aggressively, then laughing it off as a "joke", which Sol is pressured to also laugh off. All this is indicative of a longer history of similar behavior (I guess the timeline puts this before Sol was 13 years old) and thus colors what Sol considers to be "normative" sexuality, as well as producing a degree of sexual fixation on his father. (I've noticed Sol also brings his father up when sexting with "Terra", in a line on screen where he mentions being "hot for teacher". Dark!) This is, however, very off-putting to others when expressed (as it is to Taylor), which runs a direct line through his struggles with sexuality and "failed" masculinity, and his experience of psychosexual abuse, and his broader social alienation.
So where does Danny Phantom come in (I'm just gonna treat it like it's literally Danny Phantom, it's clear the filmmakers mean for it to literally be Danny Phantom, I think this is a reference to supermarket shooter Randy Stair?)
I think it's pretty clear that Solomon's obsession with Danny Phantom is on account of the character having been a sexual awakening for him at a young age, but due to the shame and abuse directed at his sexuality (which one has to assume started around the same time/was likely motivated in part by Beaver noticing his fixation on him), he is unable to express as much and just compartmentalizes it as a fictional character he "really likes" for no specific reason. I think it's pretty normal for children to have sexual awakenings on account of cartoon and other children's show characters. We have a distinct social conception of "age appropriate" sexuality in fiction that we see in the romantic leads of Disney films and the like, and a lot of media aimed at pubescent age groups is deliberate in its appeal towards that. That said, it's expected for kids to grow out of this as they age, and find new "age appropriate" subjects for their sexual attraction. Solomon, however, has a stunted sexuality on account of his abuse, and was never able to fully examine and internalize his attraction to Danny Phantom as attraction to boys in general, and thus remains fixated on a high school aged cartoon character instead of finding "age appropriate" subjects as he's grown older.
Interestingly, Sol still owns a Pride flag (amongst his Nazi paraphernalia and "Don't Tread On Me" flag) which he describes as a "past phase" he has since discarded. Given the timeline of the film puts him at about 20 years old, he was likely a teenager/still in high school during his out of the closet "phase". Given his father's absenteeism, one has to wonder if this was at a time when he could explore his identity with more support, which was rescinded with his father coming back into his life for a period, and thus any open gay/bi identification was discarded in an effort to gain his father's approval. I'll also make a side note of Danny Phantom in real life having a somewhat significant fanbase amongst the Queer Youth (I can't say why, I didn't have cable tv growing up), so one can imagine Sol would've been able to find plenty of openly-queer (as far as the internet is concerned) peers in his teen years when engaging with the show online, which may have encouraged his "out phase".
With all the above characterization in mind (and Taylor's comments that he's always talking abt finding cartoon characters hot), it's somewhat easy to imagine that Sol spends some of his time looking up Danny Phantom pornography (and other hentai, if his room decor is any indication: the specter of goonerism haunts the set dressing) and not being shy about bringing it up. I figure this was probably a habit he started young, after he was introduced to pornography in general by his father, and he probably doesn't think much about "why" he continues looking at hentai of a high school aged character as an adult. Solomon is pretty emotionally stunted and acts childish in general, which one could chalk up to his history of abuse/neglect, and the fact he's still living in the same trailer he grew up in, so I think he identifies with Danny Phantom more than he fetishizes his youth, and probably doesn't think anything has changed much with what his habits reflect about him now that he's 20 years old. Not to mention, whatever internet platforms he's finding it on have presumably contributed to the normalization of sexualizing the character in his mind. If he ever does think about it, he probably compartmentalizes it as not "really" child pornography (and maybe not "really" gay at that) if it's just a cartoon. I'll also point out that some of the anime characters on his walls are wearing schoolgirl uniforms, and the generic shirtless anime twink he has over his computer looks like he could be a high school aged character too (ambiguous). And then the water gets a bit murkier when he starts getting involved with an actual high schooler...
I think it's interesting to look at the above in a similar context to the school shooting content of the film, in that Solomon is engrossing himself in fantasy scenarios as a reaction to his real-world alienation and general dissatisfaction with his lot in life, and Balthazar entering his life brings these fantasies to a head with reality. Balthy is under the impression that he's in Texas to stop a Real school shooter, and he wants to see action. Balthy also made his way to Texas after sexting with said "school shooter" (under false pretenses). I don't know that Solomon would've otherwise been forward about propositioning a boy for sex (though there is a sexual element in the shock meme he first sends to "troll" Balthy), but here is a teenager he sent a dick pic to online (under false pretenses), who flew all the way from New York City to be his "friend". And this teenager's "friendship" with him is predicated on his school shooter fantasies. Everything else is falling down in his life, meanwhile his fantasies are coming true whether he likes it or not.
As a side note: while it's ambiguous, I don't think it's an unreasonable assumption that Balthy is celebrating his 18th bday during the film, but proving the "legality" of the scenario is less of interest to me than the more general social implications (and even if Balthy was """barely legal""", he would've still been sexting with Sol while underage). Are Sol's intentions "predatory"? That's a grey area. Do the other people in his life assume best intentions in his relationship with Balthy? Absolutely not. He's already treated like a sick fuck for his (transparently sexual) Danny Phantom obsession, and here he is with a conspicuously high school aged boy following him around all of a sudden. Certainly nothing about this scenario will improve his social alienation, and yet this is the only person beyond his house-bound grandmother who's ever expressed an interest in him, so he can't bring himself to reject Balthazar outright.
Taylor, at the gas station, clearly recognizes the sexual undertones in Sol and Balthy's relationship, as Sol has been a bit too vocal about his Danny Phantom interest in the past, and calls it out in an effort to get him to leave. When the two of them meet up with Beaver and Supes at the bar, there's a lot of puzzling by the two of them over what exactly Balthy's relationship with Sol is. This colors their challenges towards Solomon's masculinity, and how quickly Balthy's presence (as an underage-looking boy from New York who seems a little too close to Sol) causes the situation to deteriorate. It's kind of an interesting choice that this film never gets into explicit hate crime-ing or throwing around homophobic slurs, which I think works in its favor, but I think it's clear homophobia is an underlying motivation throughout the whole scene (especially when Beaver seems like the kind of person to characterize all gay people as child predators, and probably would not have the same reaction to Sol carting a conspicuously high school aged girl around).
I think Balthy's motivations are interesting here too, in that he seems to have an abstract idea that he can "seduce" Solomon into doing what he wants, and then doesn't know how to respond when Sol actually engages with this. This first time we see this of course is when Balthy is catfishing Sol, wherein his first instinct to get close to him after getting blocked is to immediately initiate sexual roleplay, but doesn't know how to respond when pushed, and turns to ai assistance. Later, when they're outside the school and Balthy tries his hand at aiming the rifle at the janitor, he sounds like he's trying to push buttons he thinks Sol wants pushed when he asks if he wants him to shoot. This scene is followed by Eleanor revealing to Sol that Balthy has a sexual fixation on gun violence, the two of them popping pills and going shooting again, which Balthy gets a little too into, and then Sol trying to bring up their sexting history again, which Balthy responds to by bringing up Beaver rather than engage directly. There's very much a dark parallel here in their relationship to one another, where Balthy wants gun violence out of Sol, and is trying to use sex to get it, while Sol wants sex out of Balthy, and is trying to use gun violence to get it. And certainly the most romantically framed scene in the film is earlier when Sol is teaching Balthy to shoot, synthesizing the two desires...
It's kind of ambiguous whether Balthy is categorically "into boys" at all, but it's also ambiguous whether he's categorically "into girls" either. His interest in Eleanor seems more to be about what she represents, as someone with a serious take on the zeitgeist that would receive positive attention online (though not so much irl), than in her as a person. He is able to do okay with her through mirroring, but when left to his own devices fumbles horribly at reading the appropriate social cues and scares her off. He doesn't actually care enough about her to understand why she doesn't respond well to his "interests" (meanwhile she thinks she's about to get Benny's Video-d), and treats her more as a prize to be won. Similarly, he doesn't pick up on the PA girl flirting with him at the end, because she doesn't represent anything he wants, while he's still hung up on clawing for Eleanor's attention despite her complete disengagement from him. This outlook is colored more by misogyny than romantic or sexual attraction (although this is also an attempt to perform masculinity "correctly", rather than a rejection of sexuality), and that same misogyny is present in his decision to make an ai dupe of his mother's voice without her consent to use in sexting with a stranger. This isn't a decision made out of explicit Oedipal desire (although it's still A Choice, especially when he continues playing with the voice dupe later), but one that was made just because it was convenient. She was the first available woman he could use for his ends and he didn't think much farther than that, how she might feel if she ever found out never crossed his mind. His interest in Solomon, therefore, is more about what he represents, and how Balthy can use him for his ends, than it is about any interest in Sol as an individual, which we can see in the way he perks up when Sol leans into his "school shooter" performance early on. By the end, however, Balthy has no qualms about dropping him once he realizes Sol isn't the twisted fucking psychopath he pretends to be.
There's also an interesting parallel drawn between Balthazar performatively imitating another "cryfluencer" who made a video about child sexual abuse in an attempt to make his life coach look bad, and Solomon actually having experienced childhood sexual abuse, but downplaying it as normalized. (I really dislike that people online seem to have turned this scene into a meme, but I digress.) To Balthy (and perhaps to the "cryfluencer"), this is just a fantasy concept to be weaponized, but when faced with the reality of someone actually struggling with the experience, he is disgusted and calls him pathetic. Sol, meanwhile, doesn't recognize his father's treatment of him as sexual abuse, nor does he identify his attraction to a high schooler as "pedophilic". All he knows is that he's angry and alienated and his attempts to find connection only alienate him further. And even after he thinks he's finally found a friend he can connect to over the things that have only served to isolate him before, Balthy eventually turns on him like everyone else.
I don't think the film is necessarily "excusing" Solomon's behavior as much as it's just painting a tragic portrait of contemporary chudism. This kinda behavior doesn't spring out of nowhere, and its origins are typically a lot more complicated than what is easily commodifiable for the internet, and I think the film does a lot of things right in exploring where it comes from with nuance. I think it also brings up a lot of complicated questions, that it isn't so interested in answering outright as it is in letting you, the audience, stew on them. "Anime-obsessed edgy right-wing loner" is an easily recognizable stereotype, but what do those traits reveal about someone like that? How might the compartmentalization of "it doesn't count if it's a cartoon/a meme/a fantasy" affect someone's willingness to engage in behaviors they would otherwise avoid, whether genuinely harmful, as in the sexual exploitation of children or valorization of gun violence, or simply counter to their worldview, as in same-sex attraction for example, or attraction to trans people (I think the right-wing's obsession with "femboys" runs parallel here: a sex object it simultaneously "isn't gay" to be attracted to, while also under no obligation to affirm her trans womanhood), or to people of color, etc? At what point does clinging to childhood interests go from "age appropriate" to "creepy"? At what point does antisocial behavior go from a symptom of a rough life to something actively harmful? Lots to unpack here, lots of thoughts rotating in my brain...
Anyway. RIP Solomon Crockett, if you were born 10 years earlier you woulda loved DeviantArt.
got tickets to see it a second time; hoping i'll be able to take notes on some things i missed on my first watch, namely music related. i will, obviously, post any additional findings.
Halsey posted about Our Hero, Balthazar, a film she produced which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival last night.
The film tells the story of a wealthy teenager who tries to get his crush’s attention by posting videos pleading for stricter gun laws. When his videos gain the addiction of an online troll, he becomes convinced this person is a mass shooter and heads to Texas to confront them.
alternate title "what's wrong with balthy?" because it bears asking. spoilers for "our hero balthazar" under the cut. not a long-form rant.
can anthony be considered a credible source in regards to balthazar's mental health? definitely not. he says "you're coming off manic right now" to balthy at the beginning—something that'd perhaps be a bit of an offensive dig if balthy really had bipolar, though i am skeptical about that as a diagnosis for him. he takes xanax, prescribed, and perhaps abuses it—that's for anxiety. but is balthy really anxious?
during the q&a that i attended, oscar boyson commented that balthazar is intended to have antisocial personality disorder. this, i understand. i can see that in him and i'm inclined to agree, but i don't think balthazar is entirely lacking in empathy. i think a part of him feels a level of understanding and kinship with solomon. he's just so young, and so unaware, that it's hard for him to really grasp those feelings and hold them. he does feel an inclination to protect solomon, but it is fleeting. he wants to impress solomon, but does (in my opinion, very genuinely) view him as lesser. he wants to connect to solomon.
i don't think it's a coincidence that the boyfriend warehouse merchandise sold for the film mentions missing and longing for a lost presence. i do not view balthazar as entirely sociopathic purely because i think he can feel a rumination and a longing. so what's wrong with him?
i'm so bad at using tumblr on mobile that i keep reblogging posts fully intended for my main onto here. but hello to my main mutuals i see you and i <3 you
i tried to take notes on the movie focused on the specific things you can see in solomon's room. here's some scattered thoughts. spoilers for "our hero balthazar" under the cut, as per usual.
obviously there's the body pillow. we never see her face in full view—a choice i was absolutely transfixed by and loved—but it makes it hard to identify her. i feel like a lot of conclusions can be drawn about solomon based on who she is. some objects within solomon's room are designed for the sake of the movie (jimmy phantasm being the most obvious) but i assume this is a purchased item. my personal vote is that this is kurumi tokisaki from date a live; it's interesting to see solomon as the type to be interested in a character like her, who is simultaneously young, pretty, and elegant while also being incredibly violent and mysterious. almost makes one think of balthazar malone, hm? and an antagonist-turned-antiheroine no less. perhaps solomon is attracted to the fact she's so young looking and dresses faux-fancily, sure, but i feel like you can make an argument for him being allured by her character as well. a woman that is brutal and has a dark past, but with a strong sense of justice and a love for those around her. i see similarities in solomon himself, too.
we see the items that solomon lines out for balthazar—i love how he chooses to make balthazar wait as he lines everything out in one big pile. it's very orchestrated, which i suppose can be said about all of solomon's behavior (funny to say when he is also so explosive and impulsive). he has the nazi memorabilia (perhaps a turn to the far-right was done to appease his father, because obviously beaver jackson is that type of republican, is it even a question?) and the pride flag (it's interesting to me how, when displaying it to balthazar, he states "[he] went through lots of phases"). he holds onto these things, why? even when he himself says none of them reflect his identity anymore? i suppose there is sentimentality, but solomon's relationship with "sentimentality" is conceptually very flimsy. he doesn't seem to be so upset selling beaver's guns, a gift to him, after all—the anger comes from the realization that they weren't really intended as a gift, not the action of disposing of them.
i liked seeing solomon's bed as well, i took many notes on that. no headboard, tissues and lotion on the nightstand, manga beside them (possibly porn; i didn't get a good enough look to note that). i thought the squishmallow was cute. the emoji pillow, too. both things i'd say are stereotypically "woman associated" items, so for him to have them fascinated me. gifts, or purchased himself? it's funny to see solomon, who is absolutely and definitively broke, own things from what i'd consider to be trend brands like squishmallows. which does remind me...
the funko pop wall. oh my word. i did not bother to note what funko pops were there, it doesn't really matter. what characters they are is hardly relevant. the people who own these things due it as a status symbol. i don't think so low of solomon. i think he, genuinely, feels an investment in owning them. i think it's almost like another way of performing masculinity for him, through an explicitly internet-brain-poisoned lens. he's a man, he spends money, he spends them on collectibles to display. he has more than funko pops, though! lots of miscellaneous little toys and pokemon and gimmicks. a pretty decently sized bookshelf, with a mix of books, action figures, mugs. he had a signed baseball which i liked. i am inclined to say these are gifts, once more held onto for sentimental reasons. it's interesting to view solomon as one with mild hoarding tendencies, though i don't think they're at concerning levels. besides, being poor doesn't mean he can't own things he enjoys. even if, of course, they rot on shelves and go unused.
also, his desk. i didn't take many notes on his desk; it's more filled with trash and debris than it is items with which to comment on. he has a gamer chair at his desk, which was not only a funny thing to see (as those tend to be on the expensive side; why, solomon? what a dumb thing to waste money on, which i'm sure he himself was thinking after buying it.) but also a bit haunting because, and i am not joking, it is the same one i own at my own desk. i guess he and i are not too different. i liked how a majority of the jimmy phantasm pieces, posters and photocards and such, were centered around the desk. they encircle the place where i imagine he spends the most of his time. i can see solomon wanting jimmy phantasm to be present with him as he works. i like that thought.
as one final note, i'll say that i loved solomon's bright red walls. red painted walls make a room feel so small and constricting. solomon's room, in general, feels too tiny to even breathe.
"couldn't you make a post just like this about balthazar?" oh, absolutely. & i eventually shall. his stupid baseball blanket is burned into my brain. he truly lives like a modernist gen-z child prince. solomon, on the other hand, is not so lucky.
