empathising with the women who feel forbidden from expressing desire over villains by some imaginary morality clause. villains are so, so sexy. villains transgress all manner of societal norms which is especially appealing to women as we have been confined and restricted all of our lives.
[kind of personally thought woman loving villains who want to burn it all down should make far more sense to everyone than woman identifying with heroes who want to keep everything intact? heroes uphold the status quo. the status quo in our world is patriarchal. there is no catharsis for women in seeing the current state of a world upheld, even if that world is in a galaxy far, far away. but seeing a character played by a handsome actor want to carve up the status quo? yeah. that's sexy. obviously.]
we aren't attracted to villains because we don't understand that they're bad; we like them because they are bad. because in their otherness we find symbolic representation. because in their defiance of societal norms we find catharsis.
Hiii, I really love you fake film meme’s and was wondering if you could explain 4 of them because they sounds so interesting!!!! I’d love to know ur full outlook on Flameringer, White Jane, Sully and Jane and Cherry Picker.
It’s okay if you don’t have a storyline in mind!! just really curious cause they sound so awesome😊
Hi!
Sorry for the late response, but it's such a weighty question - not in a bad way, but in a very intentional and attentive way - so I had to take some time out to answer it.
Nevertheless, all of those were super fun to come up with. Each of them have a theme, of course, but all of them are eerily similar to each other (because I actually didn't mean to make them be; it just so happens my brain is into those dark things, yikes).
Anyway, let's delve into them because we can! Yay!
//
1. FLAMERINGER -
theme: search for identity / the power of imagination / generational connection (and trauma) / the importance of storytelling / revenge / most importantly: un-actualized self vs ideal self
With Flameringer, Sam struggles with not knowing who he is and feeling "ostracized” within himself, which creates a bitterness at all the 'well-connected’ and ‘wealthy' folk around him, so he's always defensive. This is nothing new in any angry lead, but what makes this story so compelling is his ability to fill this ancestral (and individual) loss of identity by creating stories of who his father and grandfather were. And, naturally, he imagines them as 'Dirty Harry' types, which we find out later in the movie they're not, but by that point he's regressed so far into his identity that it's too late.
So... he gets revenge with all his other resentful friends, dealing with the same ancestral problems, by setting the 'corrupt' governor's house aflame with him in it. Because it was never about the dog - well, maybe a little. He destroys several properties around town, hurts several wealthy - and non-wealthy folks in the process - and all the while the movie is glittered with surreal sequences of Sam's imagination of his father - and, somehow, those moments are so sweet, because even if he paints them in this violent lighting, he also lends them these quiet, intimate, and vulnerable moments where he intertwines his own softness with theirs. Like the kindness he lends to his black horse, alcoholic mother, and sister that never was. It's like all his softness extends only to that world, but it's more murkier than ever when he dreams about his grandfather killing people, like -
I suppose it also gets into the analysis of white supremacy and the patriarchy without meaning to, but it makes for a surreal ride if it's done well.
2. WHITE JANE -
theme: 'actions have consequences' / nostalgia / memory / un-actualized self vs. ideal self / 'the butterfly effect' / search for identity / the parallel aspect of life
This is one of those movies where there's three different plots, but they all connect in the end. Obviously, Lee is a chemist so he made a bad batch of cocaine - or laced his batch with something he shouldn't have - and Jane was a secret addict so she died. Now, they're onto him, particularly the lawyer Joel who wants to make a difference. At the same time, Kierra skips school - for the first time - with her classmates. By the time Joel finds Lee out, Kierra dies from Lee's bad batch after doing cocaine with her friends. Throughout the movie, Lee meets Joel several times, and they talk, unaware of each other, as does Kierra - once - with Lee and Joel separately. As if these parallel lines were connecting for the first time and it's kind of heartbreaking because they'd all be good for each other, if not for the different choices and selves they've made.
Now, the point here isn't 'never skip school' or 'don't do drugs'; it's more like choices work like a river: they move endlessly down a mountain and are extensive as they go. There's no way to control these actions once they're done; Lee tries to track his batch, but it's out of his hands, and he finds out Kierra dies and finally understands the depth of the 'one' thing he did. Nostalgia and memory here are key, because the other time the characters spend reanalyzing their lives and actions. Their childhoods. The fuzziest, grainiest moments in their lives. And use those very things to almost justify and propel their actions forward - even Jane does, and it's dangerous, especially when some of the events never even went that way. Especially when it makes them do dumb things -
Lee goes to jail, Joel gets hired by an amazing law firm, and Kierra's family is devastated. In the end, Joel visits Lee in prison and the camera fades out to them having this moment in time together; parallel lines finally deciding to meet. And it's good, because maybe someone doesn't have to stand in for misfortune; maybe they can just be good. Obviously, the audience is unsure of whether this is a fair ending, but you sort of can't help but be happy about it. Maybe that river of evil can end somewhere. Maybe it ends here -
Also, there’s a very powerful critique of race when it comes to tragedy and crime; everyone cared about governor Jane, but Kierra and many others are forgotten, and Joel isn’t credited, which is why it’s called White Jane, but also because the ‘river’ traces back to her.
Anyway, the movie could only be set in the early 2000's, like 2005 or 2007, because there has to be this ting of nostalgia and haze to it. Like we're staring into a snow globe or something. It makes you unable to resist the same thing the characters are using to drive their choices, but also make you realize you're watching a 'movie' so it's untrustworthy in the sense of perspective.
3. SULLY AND JANE -
theme: the power (and danger) of imagination / the importance of storytelling / un-actualized self vs. actualized self / lust / greed / love / dreams / nostalgia / nihilism
So... most of the movie is fuzzy to me, but it’s incredibly similar to Flameringer in that the characters live a lot of their lives in their imagination. The whole movie is surreal and combines scenes inside of the characters’ heads, even the sadistic Yeun. All of them create their own stories and reasons for why they make the choices that they do, but ultimately, like White Jane, it’s all tainted and never justifies the havoc they wreak on people. However, this is different in that it highlights the importance of a good story for the human; while Flameringer highlighted the importance of ancestry (and deconstructing it), Sully and Jane recognizes the importance of a good story (perhaps a moral one too) for the person. If not, it could disrupt their whole sense of self, like it has to all the characters.
To them, their lives are not real - as if matter itself bends to their desires - which is where the musical sequences become both terrifying and irresistible. All of them hurt people, but to us it looks like the people want to be involved.
Anyway, the story goes Sully and Jane borrow Gregory’s (Steven Yeun) money, but their ‘friends’ take it from them, and so they have to recover it, while all the while - just like in White Jane and Flameringer - hurting everyone around them. But they don’t care, because it’s as if the world isn’t real to them and only their stories are; nihilism is at its worst in this one. However, as an audience, you can’t help but root for Sully and Jane, because it’s almost as if they’re unaware of what they’re doing, while the others know very clearly. Riding around town, chasing each other, having shoot-outs; it’s all this fun fantasy they’re unaware is destroying towns. Both of them spent most of their childhoods watching TV or reading a book, but never really talking to people.
In the end, they die by sacrificing themselves for the sake of ‘cutting their story short.’ The longer they live, the worst the story gets, so they overdose everyone’s drinks with a sort of hallucinogenic and they all sort of have this whimsical dance sequence together (’Mucho Mungo/Mt. Elsa’). It’s beautiful, but bizarre.
4. CHERRYPICKER -
theme: self vs. self / lust / ‘the butterfly effect’ / search of identity / creativity / art vs artist / nihilism
With this one, the issue is the two leads are artists unable to make art. One works at an art gallery and the other at some museum curation thing; they’re cherrypickers, who curate art and find it, but can never have it; endlessly, they see these beautiful pieces of art that they can’t replicate. Who are they if they can’t be creative? If they can’t make art? They’re bored, unable to resist their desires, and blame this lack of ‘creating’ on the world around them; it’s people that make it hard to make art. Therefore, one night, in their car, they’re high, not paying attention to the road, and kill someone by accident. Naturally, they hide the body, and seem to get away with it, but when they find out the person wanted to die anyway - after doing some digging - they believe there’s something ‘artistic’ about that sort of death.
And thus it begins. Just like in White Jane, while these deaths seem ‘justified’ with their own reasoning, a person is never just one person. A person is a family, friends, or co-workers, so someone finds out their loved one died and, also struggling with their self-control and desires, unleashes their bloodlust of sorts. Now, someone else is killing people too - for the hell of it - and cops start to figure it’s a revenge of sorts. But it’s weirder than that; it’s an anger that resembles Hader’s and Bridge’s; someone took her ‘cherry,’ her thing, and that’s that -
Again, this idea of filling the void of self, like Flameringer, with creation and ideation. This idea that creativity (and art) is intrinsic to the person, whether they know it or not, and if they don’t have it... well, they’ll go wild. Of course, there’s depression and anxiety also intertwined here; neither of them value themselves outside of what they do, even if it’s something as ‘positive’ as art - though, is art always positive? Anyway, they hate themselves so they lash out and take ‘art’ by taking lives.
I figure in the end they realize they don’t love (and need) art as much as they need (and love) each other. They’re not willing to go through with each other’s suicide, which would be their form of finalizing their ‘artistic’ piece. So they choose love over art. Figuring that love in and of itself is creative. So they turn themselves in, after fighting tooth and nail with Comer before she falls to her death. And, just when they get back in their car, a fire starts up and they burn in the car together. And the frame looks like a chiaroscuro painting - bright, but dark, and beautiful, and unforgettable -
What that means I do not know. But that’s that.
//
Anyway, what do you think? Is it what you envisioned? Is it different? Would you end any of these differently? Is there another fake film meme you’d like me to dissect?
So I know I requested something already but if I could request another, I’d really like a William Moseley/Paloma Kwiatkowski rom-com, either just them or with Jay Hernandez/Courtney Eaton. Huhuhu so sorry for this other one 😭 Thank you!
Okay!
I still have to do the other one, but this one will be done right after it.
jacob blake was shot seven times in the back by cops in kenosha, wisconsin, on 23 august 2020. he is currently in critical condition and fighting for his life. here are a few links to support him and aid the pursuit of justice:
gofundme for jacob blake and his family
petition to charge the cops who shot jacob blake
milwaukee freedom fund: bail funds for protesters in kenosha
call or email kenosha state officials, compiled by twitter user @ankita_71
split a donation to bail funds across the country
feel free to add updated information or other links!
You don’t get the pressure that I put on myself, that my family puts on me. One of my brothers is chief oncologist at Johns Hopkins, and the other runs a billion-dollar hedge fund. Well, I’m sure in a few years, you too will be. They’re my younger brothers.
And because my mind is only filled with William Moseley and Sean Biggerstaff at the moment, I'd like to request a paranormal romance with William Moseley/Paloma Kwiatkowski and Sean Biggerstaff/Amanda Seyfried. :D If it's okay!!!
i agree so much with liking (well... i didn't like it that much, but i really respected what they did with certain things in the story) palm springs (2020) but not loving it. can you embellish on how you wanted them to go further with it? because i agree. they def could have gone further. but also, it wasn't horrible. it was excellent in some ways, but eh... it just didn't excite me at all.
^^^^ yeah, i admired a lot of what it set out to accomplish and i liked many of its moving parts, but the movie as a whole could’ve used an extra 20-30 minutes to flesh out the protags’ relationship and also to figure out what they want nyles to be. it seems that they wanted him to be a resigned cynic (which makes sense, given he’s spent so much time in the loop) but also a reformed individual who has already learned from the loop. one moment he says “fuck it, let’s burn this shit down”, the next he’ll be “our actions hurt ppl and that stays with us, trust me i know”, which is all very fine and good, but that makes him kind of passive. what is the point of nyles’ journey? by time he gets stuck with sarah he’s already the same guy who will go in the cave with her (i don’t buy that him being scared of what they’re about to do is unreasonable or that this is a satisfying character arc...). nyles, in effect, doesn’t have much to do except help sarah process her shit and i really like the twist of having the girl work on her issues more than the guy, but nyles is just...there. even his conflict with roy sort of fizzles out. and that disappointed me because i really like andy in this part. but he feels like window-dressing, and i wouldn’t mind this movie being more about sarah, but i don’t feel they dug deep enough with her either. i think the abe stuff got swept under the rug waaay too quickly. oh and i really wanted more of her and nyles exploring the ugly side of the loop. montages are cute and fun, but i wish we’d had more bizarre/sad moments like the dinos in the desert scene. anyway, i agree with u that there was an element of excitement missing; i was expecting them to go deeper, be a bit more thought-provoking, but it’s still a very fun and engaging experience and sometimes that’s all it needs to be, i guess.
(as a sidenote, it would’ve been way more interesting if nyles’ gf, misty, wasn’t just a caricature. what if nyles had a perfectly okay gf, what if they actually got along well, what if the loop damages that relationship, no matter how hard he tries, and he sees it happening over and over again. what if then it still feels “wrong” to fall for sarah under these circumstances? i imagine a scene where sarah asks him why it’s different with her, and whether they will end up him like him and misty. idk that would’ve been way more interesting to me.)
Sully and Jane
Emma Stone, Tim Roth, Steven Yeun, Lakeith Stanfield, and Pedro Pascal
A day in the life of two bank-robbing lovers (ROTH, STONE) goes awry when two friends (PASCAL, STANFIELD) successfully steal their stash, leaving them to try and recover it all while running from the very person (YEUN) they owe.
Stinkbug
Andy Bean, Lizzy Caplan, Britne Oldford, and Raven Goodwin
When perpetually lucky siblings, Erin and Julian (CAPLAN, BEAN), pull off a successful bank robbery, they end up stuck in a time loop. With bank teller Sydney (OLDFORD) and witness Sheila (GOODWIN) connected to the whole ordeal, they must figure out a way to uncross paths with everyone involved and undo it all.
