Media - Tumblr Posts
The Evil Dead (1981) - dir. Sam Raimi
The Thing (1982) - dir. John Carpenter
aperturescience.com - Aperture Science Applicant Form (pg. 4)
"Well last night, I get my ass kicked. I came up laughin'. Because now, I'm in Camelot."
Knightriders (1981) - dir. George A. Romero
Cassian James - (7/8/23) Loveland, Ohio
Under The Bushes Under The Stars (1996) - by. Guided By Voices
"How about coming over for a few drinks and a little media?"
Illustration from Relax! This Book is Just a Phase You're Going Through by Christopher Street, Charles Ortleb, and Richard Fiala
Quick Farley Granger appreciation post
Made these about 2 or 3 years ago and I still stand by them to this day
The Cabin in the Woods (2011) - dir. Drew Goddard
Stranger Things: The Tomb of Ybwen (2022) - writ. Greg Pak Illustrators: Diego Galindo, Francesco Segala | Lettering: Nate Piekos
Montauk (Pitch Booklet) - writ. Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer MONTAUK PILOT - writ. The Duffer Brothers
Candyman (1992) - dir. Bernard Rose
Fright Night (1985) - dir. Tom Holland
Hollywood Studios’ WGA Strike Endgame Is To Let Writers Go Broke Before Resuming Talks In Fall
Regardless of whether SAG-AFTRA goes on strike this week, the studios have no intention of sitting down with the Writers Guild for several more months.
“I think we’re in for a long strike, and they’re going to let it bleed out,” said one industry veteran intimate with the POV of studio CEOs.
While some dismiss this as just “cynical strike talk,” studio and streamer sources around town confirm the strategy. They also confirm that the plan to grind down the guild has long been in the works for a labor cycle that all sides agree is a game-changer one way or another for Hollywood.
“It’s been agreed to for months, even before the WGA went out,” one executive said. “Nobody wanted a strike, but everybody knew this was make or break.”
Receiving positive feedback from Wall Street since the WGA went on strike May 2, Warner Bros Discovery, Apple, Netflix, Amazon, Disney, Paramount and others have become determined to “break the WGA,” as one studio exec blatantly put it.
To do so, the studios and the AMPTP believe that by October most writers will be running out of money after five months on the picket lines and no work.
“The endgame is to allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses,” a studio executive told Deadline. Acknowledging the cold-as-ice approach, several other sources reiterated the statement. One insider called it “a cruel but necessary evil.”
The studios and streamers’ next think financially strapped writers would go to WGA leadership and demand they restart talks before what could be a very cold Christmas. In that context, the studios and streamers feel they would be in a position to dictate most of the terms of any possible deal.
Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) is notable for a number of reasons, one of these is the first use of the “man gone wrong” antagonist. Although this is a common and popular narrative device in many modern Horror films, such as Patrick Bateman in American Psycho and Michael Myers in Halloween, at the time Norman Bates was a revolutionary character as he would change the role of antagonists forever. Norman’s name was chosen simply because it would close to the word “Normal”.
Hitchcock was obsessed with the idea of verisimilitude throughout the filming of Psycho, he used television actors from his series “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” rather than high profile actresses and actors, as he had done in films such as Vertigo (1958) and Rear Window (1954). The audience is encouraged to identify with Norman as soon as Marion leaves the narrative, the spectator follows Norman cleaning the mess and film critic Zizek argues that we identify with this as he undertakes cleaning jobs like the spectator.
Hitchcock’s innovation with the “man gone wrong” antagonist has changed horror films and furthermore, highlighted the horror of true life. Part of the attraction in horror films is that fact that, most of the time, the antagonist is caught and the spectator revels in the idea that the protagonists are safe. However, in real life this is rarely the case, numerous murderers and criminals are not caught and this was what the man gone wrong antagonist proves- it points out that serial killers/murderers/general criminals look like the everyman and we are living amongst them, just as Marion lived next door to Norman Bates.
Alfred Hitchcock is notorious for his use of the ideal Hitchcockian woman, many of the female protagonists or figures of romance in Hitchcock movies look incredibly similar. An example of the “ideal Hitchcock woman” is Madeline in Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958), her hair is blonde and she wears a tight, almost fetishised, suit. Tippi Hedren matched this criteria and her relationship with Hitch become one of great controversy. During the filming of The Birds (1963), Hitchcock became incredibly controlling over Hedren, particularly controlling what she ate and drank. He reportedly told cast and crew they were not to talk to Hedren and furthermore, Hedren claimed that Hitchcock tried to kiss her in the back of a car.
This behaviour only enhanced during the shooting of Marnie (1964), a film that can be read as solely about Hitchcock’s fear of female identity and his need for control over Hedren, specifically her sexuality. Hedren said, “Everyone - I mean everyone - knew he was obsessed with me. He always wanted a glass of wine or champagne, with me alone, at the end of the day…he was really isolating me from everyone”. The relationship reached a climax when Hitchcock refused to allow Hedren the opportunity to visit New York, Hitchcock claimed that he’d ruin Hedren’s career, before it had truly started.
Hitchcock’s control over Hedren’s contract allowed him to decline or accept offers as he wished, he turned down several offers on Hedren’s behalf.
Identity can be an ambiguous subject in Horror but increasingly, Horror narratives are turning towards the theory of the “Other”. The Other acts as the antagonist, one that the spectator cannot identify with and that the spectator realises in quintessentially different from themselves. The Other often takes on the form of the foreigner in Horror, thus increasing the xenophobia in modern horror and furthermore, exploiting current xenophobic social fears.
The three films above, The Strangers (2008, Bertino), Funny Games US (2007, Haneke) and The Purge (2013, DeMonaco) all feature the “Other”. All three films use this technique as it places the audience as the vulnerable voyeur, enabling the spectator to fully engage in a cathartic experience with the protagonists. If the spectator does not understand the motives of the antagonist we are forced to constantly ask questions and therefore, continue to become engrossed and interpellated into the film.
One of Hitchcock’s repeatedly used narrative techniques was the concept of libido ripping it’s way through to reality, this is seen in Vertigo (1958) and The Birds (1963). However, Psycho (1960) provides a different narrative technique.
Psycho can be read as a film solely about the repression of our true desires and how horrific the release of our “Id” can be. Norman Bates acts as the embodiment of the classic Hitchcockian film whereas, Norma Bates acts as the films repressive figure. The ambiguity regarding Norman’s identity towards the end of the film further proves this, if only Norma exists than the only thing we can truly do is repress our desires as society rejects the freedom of our Id. Norma’s final actions prove this as she states, “I’m not even going to swat that fly. I hope they are watching… they’ll see. They’ll see and they’ll know, and they’ll say, “Why, she wouldn’t even harm a fly…”. This highlights how important repressing actions is to her character.
Whilst The Birds find it’s narrative progression through the freeing of our desires, Psycho (and definitely, Vertigo) highlights the horror of male desire and how the world cannot exist along with desire becoming reality.
Fargo: The Crocodile’s Dilemma (S1, E1)
“Your problem is you've spent your whole life thinking there are rules. There aren't. We used to be gorillas.”