The Churchill Review!

Occasional writer. Her body, her choice, period. Trans rights! Consent is sexy. Hates disrespect, misogyny, the patriarchy, gender inequality, xenophobia, homophobia, racism, capitalism, and injustice. Digs gardening, photography, fiction, music, art, gender equality, sharks, dinos, nature, musical theatre, animation, cinema, comics, and video games. Neurospicy. Likely asexual.

[gaytanic-panic]

credit: @homuncuIus101

[good-fwiend-in-wome]

i think it's worth remembering this xkcd from 2013 that's still equally true

[mochiwei]

Pink Links!

[90smovies]

Addams Family Values

[bienvieille]

Assimilation vs. Complicity in Sorry to Bother You

Boots Riley’s 2018 film Sorry to Bother You is a fascinating look at assimilation as a means of survival and when this assimilation bleeds into complicity in oppression.

The film follows Cassius “Cash” Green, a young man struggling to pay rent who seeks a job as a telemarketer for a company called RegalView. He gets the job, only to be met with limited success. After receiving advice from a coworker to “use his white voice” when calling customers, he finds he is making much more progress than before. This process, commonly known as codeswitching, is a prevalent reality for many Black people in professional workplaces. The way we speak is often seen as “unprofessional,” so we alter it to sound a bit more like our white coworkers as a means to assimilate.

Cash’s white voice method is extremely effective, as he is eventually promoted to the Power Caller position and invited to work on the top floor. At this level, Cash’s white voice is no longer an effective strategy to get ahead; it is mandatory. Cash’s normal diction isn’t an option for him anymore. In order to survive, he must maintain this assimilation.

And make no mistake, this is about survival. Before working at RegalView, Cash’s options were very limited. If he couldn’t afford rent, one option was to work for WorryFree: a company that exchanged guaranteed food and housing for lifelong labor. Rather than submit himself to modern-day slavery, Cash chose assimilation to survive. This survival, however, also comes at the cost of abandoning his fellow workers who were beginning to unionize.

There is another aspect to assimilation other than “pretending to be white.” Despite performing whiteness to earn a profit, when invited to a party by WorryFree’s CEO (almost ironically played by Armie Hammer), he is expected to play up his blackness by rapping to entertain the white guests.

Cash’s assimilation does have its limits, however. When he discovers that WorryFree is turning workers into “Equisapiens” to improve obedience and productivity, he turns on them. Rather than accept their offer of infiltrating the Equisapiens to act as a false revolutionary, he reveals their existence to the world in hopes of exposing WorryFree for their inhumane actions. When his actions began to cross from survival to being actively involved in oppression, he turned on the company and career that benefitted him to that point.

Clearly, Cash’s actions could not have come close to being as bad as those of WorryFree; an oppressed person trying to survive cannot be blamed to the same extent as the oppressor. But what I enjoy about this movie is that it does make it clear that one can be complicit in the oppression of others, and the choices one makes at that point can make a difference.

[druidpunk]

"Most people that saw you on that screen knew calling their congressman wasn't going to do shit. If you get shown a problem but have no idea how to control it, then you just decide to get used to the problem."

Saw Sorry to Bother You yesterday and apart from from the surreal end-stage-capitalist acid trip of it all, the bit that's going to stay seared in my brain forever is that line from Steven Yeun's character towards the end.

That one's gonna haunt me for a bit. That and hearing Armie Hammer say "horse cock."

[onyxhellebore]

I'm still thinking about Sorry to Bother You and frankly always will be.

Detroit's performance piece will especially stick with me forever, because it is so brilliant in what it encapsulates. The facade she puts on to gather everyone there together with her own "white voice" only to create a piece that utterly obliterates the facade.

Her piece says, "This is my body as the body you exploit to enjoy the creature comforts of our society. Will you harm it to my face? Will you accept seeing my body harmed? Will you feel guilty after?"

And the answer is a resounding yes to the first two, and I think in that moment we really do see why she loves Cassius and why she ultimately chooses him. Because Squeeze buys into the art of it, puts the message over the person, and that's appealing for a second, right?

But Cassius looks at her being hurt and says no, I can't stand here and watch this happen to you. And that's why she loves him.

[sine-cinematography]

SORRY TO BOTHER YOU  (2018)

DIRECTOR: Boots Riley CINEMATOGRAPHER: Doug Emmett

[depsidase]

[wasjopara]

the fact that you can work full time in this country and still not afford to live disgusts me more and more every day

[ladytuarach]

Thank you @posttexasstressdisorder for the complete picture

[farminglesbian]

Honey Don’t! (2025) Ethan Coen

[flamboyantdepressed]

-After that, Sensei had the old equipment closet converted into the women’s changing room. He said that I had tempted the upper belt. That it was my fault. -But it wasn’t your fault. -I know.

The Art of Self-Defense (2019) dir. Riley Stearns

[freshmoviequotes]

Someone, Somewhere (2019)

[astragifs]

[juney-blues]

*makes no effort to include self* what the fuuuuuck why do i feel so left out

[juney-blues]

*makes great, unseen efforts, that ultimately result in nothing because my brain is broken and outwardly look like no effort was made at all* fuuuuuuck fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck

[msdbzbabe]

Rosalina gif set from the new Mario Galaxy Movie trailer!