Stolitz, Helluva Boss, and Genre
Moving this over from the other apps... i may come back and add more to this, but here's some thoughts i jotted down about the genre conventions and whiplash in this show.
a common critique or observation about Helluva Boss is its tonal dissonance, the way that the episodes shift from drama to comedy, tragedy to slapstick, etc. many fans of the show understand that this is a feature of the narrative, a purposeful thing.
i also think it ties back to the way the show, and primarily Stolitz, are tied to different genres and genre conventions. Blitz lives in an action comedy, with all the slapstick physical comedy, raunchy humor, and nonsensical gags befitting that genre.
Stolas, on the other hand, lives in tragic melodrama. High emotions, high contrast, loneliness, isolation, crying, love and yearning. Physical comedy doesn't really exist here, and any physicality is weighted seriously as befits the genre.
which also explains why most of the physical comedy and gags, whether they land for the watcher or not, are in the I.M.P. world - most often depicted on blitz and moxxie, sometimes millie (murder family with the bottle smash/chicken noise lol)
and those genres also affect how character information is given to us - for blitz, background comes in the form of flashbacks that interrupt the action. Oops and Ghostfuckers. for Stolas, they come in the form of solitary songs, often sung in a tragic, minor key.
the cool thing about the two main characters, who are also the main couple, living in different genres is that it also fits for the different worlds they've lived in. it makes a lot of sense for a prince to be in a melodrama and a ragtag business team to be in action comedy
and then the show gets to do really cool things about MIXING the genres when the two of them are together in the same space - when they get pulled into each other's worlds. ozzie's being a melodramatic episode, seeing stars being comedic
and we get to see how the characters fare being pulled in those directions, their comfort and discomfort. blitz in emotionally intense moments, stolas actually enjoying comedy and finding a home there.
full moon - blitz starts in the action comedy area of I.M.P. but then is pulled in the melodrama as he tries to find toys for him and stolas, IGNORING the action behind him. the duet being an exact example of their different genres colliding and making communication hard
Apology Tour being INTENSE emotionally, not very comedic aside from one cutaway joke (which belongs to stolas!). Ghostfuckers being a mix of heart and comedy, but largely lighthearted. the sneak attacks of horror and gore are there, too, though.
in a way, as the story of stolitz took center stage, the genres mixed more and more and colored each other's lives.
by the time we get to the end of season 2, mastermind and sinsmas, we see a blended version of the genres happening because stolitz are FINALLY in the same fucking room. mastermind is HIGH drama, BIG stakes. grand sweeping songs and gestures
and how do they both fare? well, andre is determined that things go to shit, but stolitz are on the same page even if they don't hear each other.
sinsmas is probably the BEST blend, with a mix of comedy and heart. stolas is pulled fully into blitz's world and I.M.P., and notably he gets to BE comedic more, he's even animated more goofily
AND he gets to crash out and fight! he gets unleashed and feels/expresses his feelings! the fight with andre is largely comedic and cathartic, becoming high fantasy when blitz arrives to the battle
blitz gets his grand hero moment and he brings romance into the equation, but he keeps the humor as well. the mix feels a lot more blended rather than clashing. one thing i look forward to in s3 is how their genres continue to blend as they become more and more tangled.
more could be said also about the way the show uses the "body genres" (cred. theorist Linda Williams) - comedy, horror, horniness, melodrama, all focusing on bodily responses in the viewer
in helluva, these different genres match the characters and their situations and reflected their errors in communication and why they might struggle to understand each other
and lastly, my very FAVORITE thing about this genre mixing is the way that stolitz affect each other's genres - a mirror to how they affect each other's lives. storytelling/narrative form matching the beats and characterization!
from a storytelling perspective, the genre mixing works on so many levels and i really enjoy it as another vehicle of characterization. blitz's sweet, romantic doting side being let out because stolas is with him all the time and pulling him into melodrama/romance
stolas getting to be snappy, sassy, silly, getting to crash out and have a lil violence as a treat lol, getting silly faces and smear frames and being his cute, awkward, dorky self, even getting to be outwardly, obviously sad in front of others without masking
and i'm thinking too about the ways that each of them hid parts of themselves or kept them away because they either felt they couldn't express it or it wasn't in line with their world/genre. the parts of them that couldn't find a place before finding a home now in the other.
blitz brings the lightness and freedom of comedy to stolas' world, stolas brings the heart and earnestness of melodrama to blitz's.
almost like blitz is stolas' light and stolas is blitz's heart idk
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