Medusa (AKA Brazilian History X?) w/ Joe Corallo
Emily: Got my plane ticket
Jeremy: Nice.
Emily: I'm bringing Amanda And
I don't know if anybody is going
to be there that I know, but,
Jeremy: Uh, I think Brie
is going to be there
Emily: really?
Okay, cool, cool, cool,
cool, cool, cool, cool, cool.
Joe: My, gut instinct was to make a
bad joke before when you said you're
bringing Amanda and I was going to
be like, you're bringing Amanda what?
Yeah, I don't know.
Emily: It's pretty good.
Jeremy: so dismissive.
Oh my God.
Emily: Listen,
Amanda's understanding
men, on the other hand.
It's pretty good.
Jeremy: Not as understanding as bears.
Good evening and welcome to
Progressively Horrified, the podcast
where we hold horror to progressive
standards that never agreed to.
Tonight, we're talking about a movie that.
I would say feels unfortunately
timely, but damn it, if it wouldn't
have felt unfortunately timely
every day for the last 10 years.
From Brazil, it's the film Medusa.
Uh, I am your host Jeremy Whitley.
And with me tonight I have a
panel of cinephiles Encino bites.
First, they're here to challenge the
sexy werewolf, sexy, vampire binary.
My cohost Ben Kahn.
Ben, how are you tonight?
Ben: Alright, who's ready
for Brazilian History X?
Jeremy: oh boy.
Yeah,
Ben: Tell me I'm wrong.
Jeremy: I mean,
Emily: I won't.
Jeremy: not exactly.
And the cinnamon roll of Cenobites,
our co host Emily Martin.
How are you tonight, Emily?
Emily: You know, sometimes I think
about watching horror movies and think,
and like the fantastical aspects.
you know, it softens the
blow a little bit sometimes.
This one was rough, buddy.
yeah.
I mean, it's not quite you
know, Nazi pie, but it's there.
It's close.
Yeah.
Yeah,
Jeremy: got some,
Ben: lot of fascism.
Jeremy: some daring filmmaking, I
feel like, considering the state of
things in Brazil, even as we speak.
Ben: it is Harsh, it is a glaring film.
It holds nothing back,
but it is a poof of a watch
Jeremy: and our guest tonight,
comics writer and editor and
friend of the podcast, Joe Carallo.
Joe, welcome back.
Joe: It's good to be back, thank you.
Jeremy: You know, we have a
real soft movie for you here.
Just coming in easy.
Ben: you know what?
This movie kind of reminded me of
like vibes wise just in terms of like
a real rough one to watch But not
in a bad movie kind of way was Titan
Joe: yeah.
Jeremy: There's less straight Titan.
Nobody does bodily fuck
a car in this movie.
Ben: you know what, I think it's
more just because they're both movies
that I'm like, they're good movies.
I'm glad I watched him.
I never want to see either of them again.
Emily: this movie would have been
a little bit easier for me to
take if there was car fucking.
You
Ben: The car fucking is more is less
morally objective than the actions of
most of the characters in the movie.
Emily: yeah,
Ben: to be clear, the characters in
this movie are very, very fascist.
The movie itself is in no way fascist.
Emily: Oh, yeah, yeah,
yeah,
Ben: want to make that
distinction clear from the get go.
Emily: from the top.
Ben: Welcome to Progressively Horrified.
Today we're talking about
Triumph of the Will.
Birth of
Emily: yeah, that was
what I was thinking about.
What was the other
one about the nation?
Ben: a Nation.
Emily: birth of
Jeremy: we're gonna hold off on watching
those two, right along with Rosemary's
Baby, which I've been asked about on here.
I'm just like,
Ben: god, no, that is
Jeremy: I don't particularly want to
talk about the filmmaker that made
Ben: No, no, we we've delved into
some hornet's nest of filmmakers
and actors, but uh, Yeah, I think I
think we can give that one a skip.
Jeremy: yeah, so this one is written
and directed by Anita Rocha de Silveira,
who has a handful of movies to her name.
This is, I think, the first one that's
really broken through into America at all.
It's on Shudder, as much as that counts as
breaking through into America, honestly.
It's written and directed incredibly.
The cast is all pretty, pretty
young, pretty new actors and
actresses, mostly actresses.
Uh, Marie Oliveira is
our, our main character.
Laura Chemeru is, uh,
sort of her best friend.
And, uh, we have Joanna Medeiros
and just sort of an army of
supporting girls in the cast.
And boy,
this one is going to be one of those,
like, Even if you don't know a lot
about Brazilian politics as an American
and especially like an American in
the South, there were a lot of points
in this movie where I was like, Oh,
Brazil got one of them too, huh?
Like,
Ben: It's not subtle.
Emily: So,
Jeremy: yeah, like the,
Ben: Turns out brown shirts, uh,
are a pretty universal symbol.
Jeremy: yeah.
And the, there's very heavy,
Christian, like, I don't know what
Ben: Oh, I noticed!
Jeremy: I'm, I'm looking for in here,
but like the same sort of, It's a
very similar brand of Christianity to
what pervades in a lot of, like, the
American South of proselytizing and,
Ben: fascism!
It is Christian, it is Christian
nationalism with the explicit aim to
take over the government and instill
their own values through state power.
It is just straight up Christian
nationalism, Christo fascism, it is
Everything, there is nothing that this
crazy ass preacher man is saying that you
won't see in the Steve Bannon podcast.
Emily: Yep.
Jeremy: yeah, absolutely.
It'd just be not in Portuguese.
That's the biggest difference,
I feel like, in a lot of this.
Emily: these shows that this guy's
putting on are actually well lit.
Like, you know, production
values are better.
Jeremy: yeah.
Yeah, there's a lot in this movie that I
was like, this feels incredibly familiar.
It's like, like if you've ever, I just
remember the experience of like, my
high school and the high school across
my county were built at the same time.
So like, if you walk into the
other high school, it's laid out
exactly the same as my high school,
but all the colors are different.
And so like, that's what this felt like
is like, Oh, I've been to this church.
It just didn't look quite like this.
It's a little different, but the, the
sort of like gender dimorphism of the way
the like stuff is done in the church and
the sort of like, the treasures, these,
you know, girls who were you know, their
whole value is wrapped up in their purity.
I gotta say I've never been to a
church that had a a group of guys
who were, I don't know, street
Ben: Doing choreographed karate dances
Emily: yeah, that was
Ben: for like 85 percent of the movie?
Jeremy: yeah.
Emily: is like some equilibrium shit.
Jeremy: I don't know what the move
is where they all turn and hold on
to each other's arms, I don't know
how that works in the streets, but,
Emily: That's how they throw
each other at the infidels,
Ben: Jeremy, Red Rover is a very important
part of his, oh my god, what is fucking
Emily: That was good.
No, I liked
Jeremy: it's an important port!
Emily: It's an important
part of the ecosystem.
Ben: Jeremy, Red Rover is an
important part of street violence.
Fuck.
Oh boy.
No, you're watching the
playoffs in the background.
Emily: Listen, this
movie affected us, okay?
Ben: I gotta tell ya, that, like,
Jewish, I'm in danger Spidey sense,
God damn, was going off the whole film,
like, just an extra alarm blaring in
my head the whole time watching this
movie of just, like, Man, you're not
you're in your home, and you gotta get
the fuck off the streets right now.
Emily: yeah.
Oh, God.
Jeremy: Yeah.
Do you want to, you want
to get into the, uh,
Ben: Let's do it.
Let's I I am doing recap duty Ladies
and gentlemen and non binary wonders
of all kinds, Let's start it.
And we start the movie with some
intense weird lighting and some
weird rhythmic dancing like a sexy
crab walk, Which, honestly, just a
great Intro to this movie's vibes,
Jeremy: The ring, but make it sexy.
You know,
Ben: Yeah, yeah,
Emily: I
Ben: at least, or at least,
you know, not sexy, sensual,
Emily: Yeah, no, but I mean, there's
some talent.
Ben: much ownership of the performer's
body, like self actualization
of rhythmic crab walking.
Emily: Nice.
Ben: don't know, this movie's weird,
y'all, it's really fucking weird.
Anyway, doesn't matter, it's a video
that a woman is watching on the bus,
and when she gets off the bus, she runs
into the true monsters of the world.
Christian fascists,
are, hmm, Protagonists?
Question mark?
A strange masked girl gang who beat
up women in the name of Jesus love.
And yeah, man, this, this movie's tough to
watch, like, not like, in a bad way, just
like in a Requiem for a Dream kind of way.
Emily: Yeah,
Ben: But then we get Suzie and the
Banshees, and that fuckin rips.
Emily: yeah, that was cool at that point.
I was like, yay
Ben: cities, cities in the dust,
cities and dust starts fucking hitting.
Oh, I'm there.
It really makes the fascism go down
a little easier is the good, is the
baller ass soundtrack this movie has.
Jeremy: that's just going to real
reservoir dogs walk moment in the, the
opening there where they're all just
like, it's like a solid two minutes
of them walking toward the camera.
Emily: Yeah,
Ben: I, I have made a bit of
a habit out of trashing needle
drops, uh, lately on this podcast.
And the reason I throw hate is because.
When the because I see how good it
is when needle drops are this good,
this well chosen, this, like, fits the
mood, like, all of the needle drops in
this movie are pitch fucking perfect.
Emily: there was real
consideration that went into it
Ben: Absolutely.
It was not just, well, who
can we get the rights to?
WHITETOWN?
Sure, yeah, fuck it!
Emily: Yeah,
Ben: I will never stop making fun
of Whitetown being in Fear Street.
Never.
Joe: sure.
But, uh, but yeah, I mean, this starts
with what, like, Susie and the Banshees
Ben: Oh,
Cities in Du Cities in Dust, one
of my favorite songs of all time.
Fuckin incredible.
And great and great use of it.
Again, Twilight having the
fuckin gall to use Eyes on Fire.
Don't need to get dive back into that.
Anyway, cause now we've met our
main character, Mari, the perfect
Christian brown shirt girl.
And she's been tasked with getting a
new girl who just came from I guess the
country, and she needs to get her into
their fascism church, which she does.
The girl doesn't really have any
bearing on the plot, and that
storyline honestly goes nowhere.
I think this movie is really good,
but it does have a few too many
elements like that of just elements
that don't really add up to much.
So, it could be a little, it
could be, you know, It's a
little, it's a little unwieldy.
It introduces a little more
than it actually then makes
time to use, to fully utilize.
Joe: yeah, to sort of jump on what
you're saying there I think there's, with
what is there, there is a, like, more
streamlined version of this you could
probably make that's like a tight hour 40
Ben: Yeah.
Yeah.
Joe: Yeah, that I could see
being like, oh, this is great.
They cut all the fat and this is just, you
know, really, you know, submerges you in
it and you just are there for the ride.
But, but yeah, I, I did think at a few
points, I was like, Oh, I feel like
we could tighten this up a little bit.
Ben: Yeah.
That's what it is.
Yeah.
Jeremy: they made the choice, I
think, to go with a protagonist who
is, is one of the older girls in
the group who is sort of influencing
what the other girls are doing.
And in this case, like we see it, I
think it's important that we see how
quickly, like, her influence has an
impact on this other girl, that this
girl goes from, like, not necessarily
a progressive, but sort of, like, a a
somewhat middle of the road mindscape of
like, she just, she cares about people
and when people do things that aren't
nice, she's like, oh, that's unfortunate.
And you know, Mari and her, her
friend, uh, Michelle are both
like, no, it's not unfortunate.
You should punish people when
they, you know, are ugly or
do things that are wrong.
Ben: I think there's a version, again, I
made the American History X joke, and I
think there is Again, a parallel to Edward
Norton and his little brother character in
that movie, in that as Edward Norton comes
out of his own, like as Edward Norton
starts to unlearn his own bigotry and
hatred, he is then confronted with What
his, like, through his brother, a living
embodiment of what his hatred is and the
influence he's had in spreading that, a
living reminder of that guilt and what he
then needs to work to redeem in others.
And it really seemed like that's what
they were setting up in this movie,
but then for the most part, she really
just kind of disappears into just the
gaggle of the other girls in the group,
rather than continuing to be this.
Embodiment of corruption of the
corrupting influence or what or like
mistakes that Mari now needs to redeem.
Jeremy: Yeah, there's, there's a version
of this where she's the, protagonist
and it's a little more 1984 y.
Know where she is.
Then turning on Mari, who was the one
who, you know, taught her all this stuff.
So,
Ben: Yeah, like, my issue isn't, oh,
she should have been the main character,
like, I'm talking about if Mari is
the main character, it's just, for how
much she is almost our POV intro, that
she is then just goes, like, into the
background, is where I'd say, like, again,
the movie could use a little tightening.
Joe: Yeah.
Ben: anyway, we get we get fuckin
the church band, Ma Michelle and the
Treasures, led by Mari's best friend
in fuckin air quotes, uh, Michelle
is I don't know, Trad Wife Barbie?
Does that get the message across?
Emily: Yes,
Ben: I mean, it seemed to me
like, I couldn't tell what all
the songs were, but it seemed like
all of their songs were like weird
Christian remakes of 60s rock songs?
Jeremy: they did do a like rewrite
to like the house, the Rising
Ben: Yeah, that was the one I, that
was the one I absolutely, I absolutely
recognized was House of the Rising
Sun, which just fucking sent me.
Jeremy: I was like, that is a
song about a whore house, sir.
Knock it off.
Emily: well that that was It was very
Kidz Bop in that way, and I feel like
it was trying to make a point with
that, which I felt was like, I was
like, I see you, I see you there.
That's good.
Especially at the end,
Ben: Symbolically, it's great.
It just fucking took me the fuck out
of the movie to be like, I'm sorry, are
they singing House of the Rising Sun?
it is a choice that works.
But it is a CHOICE.
Emily: It's a powerful, powerful
Jeremy: It is a very like, religious
right wing thing to do, to like
steal the musicology of somebody's.
music and just like rewrite fucking
terrible lyrics over the top of it
and be like, this is the good version.
This is the Christian version.
It's just like, fuck you.
You didn't write that shit.
Ben: this church does not believe in
the separation of church and state,
because the minister explicitly advocates
for them to take over the government.
So, uh, watch your back,
Lula.
Joe: Well, that's, that's what
separates this from American politics.
We don't have any of that here.
So.
Ben: Uh, we wouldn't, we
wouldn't Politics from
the
Jeremy: like, that's the
wild thing to me about this.
you know, this writer, director and
the girls in it, for that matter, are
like, they're very close to the fire
at this point, like, you know, because
that is like shit that was happening
while they were making this movie.
Ben: Oh yeah, like this was inspired
by actual fucking vigilante girl gangs.
Like, at the time, like, shit, like,
again, this is, we've done movies where
I've felt that the filmmakers pulled the,
like, pulled their punches and didn't
go all the way in really exploring their
subject matter, and, you know, we had
used the caveat of like, oh, it's too
controversial, it's too present, we don't
understand what's going on, but man, let's
be honest, we can tell when a movie's
pulling its punches and when it's not,
and this movie ain't fucking pulling shit.
Emily: which is good, you know,
Ben: yeah.
Oh, this movie fucking, okay, when it
comes to just like the raw politics
of this movie, it is fucking anti
fas It is in your face anti fascism.
Joe: I agree.
And one of the things though, with this,
and I think since I was also on soft and
quiet, I think we touched on this too, but
Emily: That
Joe: that, that I.
Yeah, that, while that's good, and that
appeals to all of us here, probably most
of the listeners, that approach, like,
being that heavy handed is like, you know,
maybe an unfair way to say it, but that's
the first thing that's coming ahead.
It's very clear on what it's trying
to do, and very clear on its message.
Is that, what does that do in terms
of, is that message then getting to
The people that need to hear it because
again, like we're all on, on board.
It's reinforcing what we're trying to do.
And you could also then extend that to,
does it matter if it's reaching other
people, is that the point or is the
point to reinforce the people who already
believe it to like reinvigorate them?
You know?
So it's like the, just different things
I was thinking about while watching it.
Jeremy: Yeah, and I mean, I think the
question for me with that is like,
are those people even listening?
Like, are those people going to
watch this movie regardless of how
Blatant it is about its politics.
Like, you know, those
people don't watch movies.
Movies are the devil.
Ben: I mean, what I've learned
is
Emily: not watching anything
that went, that was at Kahn.
Jeremy: Yeah, and that the
name is a reference to Greek
mythology of all things.
Ben: The movie that really made me
give up on people's media literacy
was Matrix Resurrections, because I
watched that movie and was like, damn,
I feel like that movie beat me in the
face of a sledgehammer with its themes.
There's no way people could misunderstand
how fucking queer this movie is.
And then I went on YouTube and just
saw straight people reacting to it.
I'm like, fuck.
But, like, I felt like this movie
could not have been made more in
the spirit of, like, let's make
something so fucking blatant even
the straights will understand, and
they still can't fucking understand.
So, like, I don't know I feel like
any movie that just throws subtlety,
like, I totally get what you're saying,
absolutely, but, I, I feel like sometimes
people are so, can be so fucking dense,
I appreciate any movie that is just
like, fuck you, fuck subtlety, I'm
shoving it down your fucking throat.
Emily: yeah.
And it's also, this movie and it's,
depictions.
Ben: again, this is not me exemplifying
a moral philosophical stance.
This is just, I like it when
the movie says Nazis are bad.
Emily: Yeah,
Joe: Sure.
Emily: and I think in this case,
there's a different layer to it
you know, sort of like American
History X has its, discussion
Ben: starring fucking Avery
Brooks, just being a boss.
Emily: That's right.
But then this movie itself, I think
is more about how people interpret
The consequences of their actions
in that echo chamber, and I think
that's what this 1 really focuses on
because, like, soft and quiet was,
Ben: was I here for Soft and Quiet?
I don't think I was.
Jeremy: I don't think you were.
Emily: Yeah, I think you would
remember the swastika pie.
Yeah.
Ben: and Quiet.
Joe: Yeah.
Okay.
No.
Was it Greg Silver on that
one
or?
Emily: on that one.
Yes.
Yeah.
And so, with soft and quiet, you saw
that echo chamber, but it was also,
it's like a microcosm, you know, and
then this one has a little bit longer
of a timeline where you see how these
ideologies just cannot be sustained.
Yeah.
And, the attempts to sustain
them are just going to get like,
infinitely more difficult for
these people to keep this up.
And not just because of the toxicity,
Ben: and it's a good, Show of just how
fundamentally inhuman an ideology it is,
Emily: Yeah, it's inhuman and
that bites the, uh, you know,
the hand that feeds it, really.
I mean, like, it's not human and therefore
it will never be sustainable by humans.
Joe: so to be clear, fascism only
works for a select few at the top?
Jeremy: And even then,
not
Ben: Joe,
Joe: Yeah, exactly.
Emily: yeah.
Ben: look, Joe, it's a flawless system.
We just need to keep creating an
endless series of outgroups that we
can keep the persecution machine going.
So we therefore stay one step ahead
of our own murder camp machines.
It's a flawless system.
Joe: eventually
Jeremy: have to be faster
than the bear situation.
Joe: that's good.
Cause you know, I feel like if
they take a more like trickle down
ideology to, uh, rights and, and
human, uh, dignity, that would be,
Ben: Why defeat fascism when I can just
stay one step ahead of the next out group?
Anyway, get ready for my new
op ed in the New York Times.
Joe: Anti fascists are the real fascists,
which I feel like was an actual New York
Ben: I I'm pretty sure Bret Stephens
has definitely written this already.
Joe: I, I'm pretty sure.
Yeah.
Emily: this movie's called Medusa
because it literally turns you to
stone with how much it shakes you.
Jeremy: I, okay, let's, get into
the thing because I, I do want to
talk about why it's called Medusa in
Ben: yeah, cause you
do have, cause I mean,
the sexuality inherent to the Medusa
myth, and God, again, if there are themes
to this movie, like, it is sexuality.
Anyway the girls, they're getting
off on how many views their
psychotic violence has gotten
online, and we learn about Melissa.
Melissa was, according to legend,
just a b The sluttiest slut
who ever slutted around town.
Just fuckin and suckin her
way through town like a champ.
the real Nancy Reagan of her day.
Throat goat supreme.
Jeremy: she did all the like, all
the bad things plus sex too, like
she was an actress and a model,
Emily: She flaunted her body!
Ben: Again, the way Nancy
Reagan is fucking Melissa
and Michelle in this movie.
Anyway, that's a podcast I don't
want to do because I don't feel like
learning that much about Nancy Reagan.
Anyway, so Melissa, yeah, Melissa
was just being, you know, the
debaucher, you know, the debauchery,
bell of the debauchery ball.
So some just masked person
set her face on fire.
Jeremy: person dressed as an angel.
Ben: Dress as an angel,
set her face on fire.
And Michelle thought that was the
coolest shit she'd ever heard.
And so now they are hate crime girl gang.
Also, I know recap, but I find very
interesting the choice of masks that
the Cristo fascist used this blank
white emotionless mask while our
baan and friends wear animal masks.
Emily: yeah.
Jeremy: Yeah,
Emily: that's that's pretty
up front right there.
Ben: I, I, I used the
word baan incorrectly.
I think there, I think
that would, that worked.
Emily: Yeah,
Joe: I think you're, you're fine.
No one's going to call you out on that.
I think you're good.
Jeremy: I didn't see
Ben: the Symbacus I think that's
Symbacus the Anesius myths going
on with animal heads and shit.
I feel like that's somewhere in the book.
I don't know.
His chapters were near the end.
I didn't usually get that
far before I fell asleep.
Emily: It's a masquerade party, it's
a bo it's a Sabbath, it's a whatever.
You know, it's we're we know.
You know.
Ben: also, boys are here.
They are, as previously mentioned,
just doing like, I don't know,
synchronized hate crime karate for like
an hour forty of this movie's runtime.
But they get in on the hate criming
at the end too, so don't you
worry, unless you don't like being
hate crimed, in which case worry.
Anyway, during one of their raucous
nights of Christofashion, Mari gets
slashed in the face, and, honestly, good.
Good.
Fuck Mari.
I felt no sympathy for Mari.
She does, like, nightly hate crimes.
Emily: Yeah.
Jeremy: she also gets she also gets
scarlet marked on her mask there.
She gets red spray paint
and sprayed on her mask.
Ben: also, I cannot emphasize
enough, like, Mari's quote unquote
redemption does not in any way
involve actual guilt or like remorse
for her actions or doing anything
to repair the harm of her actions.
She just gives up on fascism
because she's ostracized for
an injury and is really horny.
Emily: I mean, sometimes
that's what it takes.
Ben: It is, but it doesn't make, but
at no point of like, I'm like, good,
I'm glad you're not a, you're
not a fascist, Mari, but I'm
still not really rooting for you.
Jeremy: I, I think it's interesting.
It, sort of makes a point of, and
I mean, this is obvious to anybody
who's, who's been around one of
those sorts of machines of like
how fast that machine turns on you.
Like, because you know, her, her
big sin is like, getting cut.
Like, she gets cut by this woman
while she's trying to, you know,
beat her for being an artist
walking in a park at night.
And, you know, she loses her job.
All of her friends are just
like, well, he used to be pretty.
So I guess maybe, you know,
maybe God wants to fix something.
He wants you to fix something about
yourself because, you know, whatever.
Yeah, it's like,
Ben: Well, we get that bonkers
ass part where it's like, Ah,
names beginning with M are slots.
Which, I don't know, look, I'm not a
Christian, but isn't there some lady
named Mary who's pretty important?
Emily: Yeah, well, there's Mary
Magdalene, but she named her, she, she
changed
Ben: she did get name dropped, and
I'm like, I don't know, maybe just
Whatever, whatever, christian, christian,
whatever, authoritarian christians being
hypocrites and picking and choosing from
their own scripture, say it ain't so.
Emily: right?
Yeah.
Ben: Anyway, yeah, so, again, she
lost her job because the plastic
surgery, surgeon was like, scars, ew.
And so, needing something to do and a
job, Mari decides to find Melissa and
further traumatize a burn victim by
finding her and posting her online.
Again, Mari, not sympathetic.
So she gets a job in a nurse, so she gets
a job as a nurse in a coma weird, coma
weird, coma ward, but also it's a weird
coma ward, so, you know, coma weird.
Emily: is Wacoma
Jeremy: Does anybody else
love her boss at this thing?
This bizarre dancing
Emily: Oh, yeah.
Ben: had in my notes, dancing older
hipper, hippie lady can get it.
Emily: she's
got real Tilda Swinton vibes.
Ben: oh, we find her in a, we find
her in a room just doing a dance,
and I just wrote in my notes, would.
Emily: It
Ben: the most weirdly sensual
coma ward, for reasons that
will not become clear later on.
Emily: gets a little
uncomfortable, just so you know,
Ben: I mean, you've seen, you've
seen nudity in movies, but have
you seen coma boobs before?
Emily: yeah, but nobody
fucks a car though.
So,
Ben: No, nobody fucks a
car,
Jeremy: freaky when the
lights go out there though,
Ben: or a coma patient, so this
movie has one up on Kill Bill,
Jeremy: Yeah,
Ben: um,
Emily: well, didn't someone
fuck a car and kill Bill?
Or am I,
Jeremy: no.
Joe: I know.
Emily: Oh, the car was a,
it was the pussy wagon.
Okay.
Nevermind.
Ben: yes.
Emily: I do want to interject here the
detail that there is a, an energy crisis.
And so there are regular
blackouts that happen.
Ben: We haven't gotten
Jeremy: not planned or at least not
announced.
Ben: Yeah,
Emily: yeah.
Ben: we're getting to the blackout.
But first, we learn more about Michelle.
Like, uh, she has a Christian
influencer YouTube channel, and
her boyfriend is hitting her.
You know, fun facts!
And now we get to the power outage.
We're because of it Mari.
I don't know why I said that so loud.
I apologize.
Emily: It's important.
It's an important part of the
Jeremy: There's a lot of power outages.
Ben: Oh, I love it.
Emily: I know how you
love those in New York.
Ben: they're always a party.
Uh, so Mari has to spend the night at
the hospital, which turns into a Sexy
dance party, that's probably a dream?
Maybe?
But Mari decides to break into
the super secret room where she
finds Melissa in the coma ward.
But Melissa wakes up and we see her face,
it is indeed burnt, and then she hits
Mari with a magical knockout scream, which
is a thing people can do in this movie.
At first I thought that was just a
Melissa power, but I guess it turns
out everyone has the knockout scream.
Emily: Well,
Joe: Well, I,
Jeremy: screams at Mari, Mari goes
unconscious, and then Mari wakes up
in the woods at some point later.
Wakes up naked in the woods.
Ben: and she runs right to her, you know,
fuckin judgmental ass fascist community
who is like, a scar and a bruise?
Gross.
What?
What next?
How else will you be a bruised,
fleshy human, being Mari?
Uh, anyway, at this point,
we dilly dally for a while.
Mari's worried she's possessed
by a demon, but she's just horny.
Like, just so fucking horny.
At which point we get, uh, she goes back
where we get some full frontal from, uh,
the other nurse that she's been working
with, and Mari and him just go at it.
Does he have a name?
Jeremy: yes.
I don't know what it is, though.
Ben: This boy's laying pipe.
Like, damn.
Like,
this boy got that make
you quit fascism dick.
Emily: Yeah, good for him.
Ben: Good, good for him.
Ever gotten dick so good you
stopped being an authoritarian?
Emily: mean, I'm ace but like,
Ben: I mean, I'd hope you'd also never
start being an authoritarian in the
Emily: I
I, haven't,
Ben: I think that was more the issue.
I think that would be more the
Yes.
Multiple reasons why it
wouldn't work, but yes.
Emily: I will say this, I think he, he
was all opportunities handing out that
anti fascist dick, like he was, he was
giving me big pan vibes, and I'm not
talking about the goat, but he is the goat
of, of anti
Ben: Oh.
Well, I I wouldn't
quite call him the GOAT of this movie.
She's coming.
She's coming up next.
Emily: Well, I'm saying the
goat of anti fascist dicks and
like penises, not like assholes.
Joe: are we in the movie
recap at this point?
Yeah.
Emily: She, yeah, they, she just woke
up from her weird, bacchanal that, uh,
also happened while she was trying to
take a photo of the comatose Melissa.
Who just screamed at her so hard
that she went comatose and then woke
up naked in the garden of, outside.
Ben: Yeah.
Jeremy: It must be
fascinating to live in Sao Paulo, because,
like The way that it's shot in this movie,
it appears to be, you're in the city, and
you step slightly to the right, and you're
in the fucking rainforest, like, and I
know, like, Brazil is like that to some
extent, it's wild to see in this movie,
though, like, they're, he just, she's
just like three steps from the hospital,
but she's in the fucking rainforest.
Emily: It's like, I've been in, places
like that where, you know, there's
like, Right next door, just like a
walking path, but it's like, full
of, you know, dick dicks and stuff.
Jeremy: Diptychs.
Emily: I,
Ben: speaking
Emily: this, I
Ben: dicks, we now move on to
the best character in the movie.
She appears in just this one
scene, and she's fuckin legend.
So, you know, Michelle and her
treasures, they go a vigilante ing,
but this time they find a woman who
Just will not give them a fucking inch.
She is a proud slut.
She is queer as fuck.
And she ain't apologizing for nothing.
She is sucking dicks and licking pussy
and just being an all out boss who has
no time for, like, fascist violence
when she could be getting some action.
She, she's a fuckin legend.
She's the best.
Um,
Emily: like hellish rebukes
them so hard that they get like,
almost just too grossed out.
They're like, but you know,
Ben: again, like, why is she
not, why is she not the star?
Why is there not a movie
about this fuckin icon?
But anyway, because this movie is about,
like, Mari, this scene where, like,
Mari is meeting, again, like, fuckin
What, who, Mari should just be like,
You're amazing, let's run away together.
Instead Mari, well now she doesn't
like being a fascist, So she just So
she just half heartedly kicks her a
few times while she's unconscious.
So she just, you know, to show
Mari's evolving character,
she just hate crimes a little.
Again,
Jeremy: crimes out of
discomfort at this point
because because if she, if she
didn't, then they would start
asking questions about her.
Ben: Again, fuck you Mari,
this bisexual queen is the
real protagonist of the movie.
Uh, next we get Michelle and Mari
filming a video for Michelle's social
media about covering up bruises.
But Mari gets upset, uh, about
everything and Michelle's controlling
nature, and Mari just takes off.
She doesn't want to film anymore.
And then we get, honestly, one of the best
and most effective shots of the movie.
This was so well acted and directed
and it's Michelle taking off her
makeup to reveal her own black
eye as she just, like, stares
into the camera and breaks down.
again, I, I absolutely want to give a
special shout out to, uh, Lara Tremerew
Michelle's actress, who, again, just
does incredible work with that scene.
Jeremy: Yeah, I mean, and they've
been setting up to this point with
Michelle, like her entire life's goal
is to get married to this dude who is
a complete asshole, is never nice to
her once in this movie, and like we
learn at this point has been beating
her and this is like all she wants.
She gets upset that like one of the other
girls is getting married before her.
Because this guy won't get off
his ass and propose to her, which
is all she wants in the world.
Ben: Oof.
But then at least we get the funniest
scene of the movie, which is the
priest having a heart attack.
Emily: A quote unquote heart attack.
Jeremy: I mean, it, I assume it seems
like he has a real, a real thing.
He's giving a whole thing about
like, God's fighting the people
who like deserve it in the church.
And then he has a heart attack and almost
dies and everybody's like, Oh, wow.
So glad they saved the pastor.
We really need him.
And not like, huh, it's weird how
he was like, I wish God would just
kill the people who deserve it in
this church and then almost died.
Ben: Again, it's Mari
who fucking saves him!
Jeremy: Mari saves him and
then her ex boss, the plastic
surgeon, takes credit for it.
Ben: That was hilarious.
Emily: here's the thing is I
thought that was set up by Michelle
for to make Mari look better.
Okay, I guess I'm I was
reading I was reading a little
too far into it But I just
Ben: No, because at this point,
Michelle is just like spying on
Mari and following her to work and
watching her flirt with, Guy ners.
And eventually, and you know, and
eventually, Marissa, or Michelle, says
she's gonna find Melissa herself, and
she threatens to expose Mari's new
independence, and her sexy times, and
Mari hits her with a knockout scream
that knocks the fascism, the hetero,
right out of Michelle, because as soon as
Michelle wakes up, she is now extremely
into two things, dancing, and Mari,
Emily: Yes
Jeremy: I mean, I would argue she's
been extremely into Mari the whole time.
She's just, she's finding a lot of good
Christian reasons to be around Mari.
Ben: and need to control Mari's life.
Keep her under thumb.
But yeah, turns out Michelle
is just real, real queer.
Good on you, you fucking you
recovering sapphic fascist.
That's the real, that's the way
most people find their way out of
fascism that they're raised in.
Be gay.
Emily: yeah, well, yeah,
Ben: It's like you hear about like
Laura Ingram's brother and he talks
about it's like, oh, we were completely
raised in like Nazi ideology.
And they're like, oh, well,
how'd you break out of it?
He's like, ah, I'm gay.
Emily: Like I said, it's inhuman.
Ben: It's an extremely inhuman ideology.
Emily: Yeah, unsustainable.
Ben: this movie, does a good job
showing how people, how even people
who buy into fascism obliterate
their souls and destroy themselves
in the name of adhering to this.
impossible, utterly inhuman, and ideal.
Anyway, they have a big dance, fun
dance party, uh, until the brown shirt,
the brown shirt boys arrive to do all
fascist violence, and it's, uh, just
a real bad time, and at this point
Michelle is, Michelle is done, which is
very interesting, because Mari is like,
oh, well, I can do sexy times on the
side and keep being a christofascist.
I like sex but I don't want to
fully give up on the cristo fascist.
Michelle is immediately
done with all of it.
Jeremy: well, Michelle has a has
an abusive boyfriend that she's
having to put up with whereas
Mari is just like, hanging back.
She's like, nobody fucking cares what
I do anyway, because I got cut once.
So like, nobody, nobody will
look at me a second time.
Whereas
Emily: been doing this for the community
and then, you know, she, I'm, this is
the, the logic here is that, you know,
she's, she's making the sacrifice for
the community and never thought that,
you know, it would fight her back, you
know, because she engaged in violence.
You
Ben: She never you mean she thought
the leopards would never eat her face?
Jeremy: Yeah,
Ben: yeah, so Michelle's done.
She's fallen into pools.
She's not singing.
She's just fucking done with fascism.
And she just wants to be gay.
And not beaten anymore.
Who hasn't been there.
And, you know, her boyfriend
finally proposes and she's
just like, no, fuck, no.
And she tries to leave, but then like the
fucking, the vigilante boys are like, no.
So she just hits him
with the knockout scream.
And then all the women start screaming,
even the ones who are still completely
bought into the church, and the fa and
like, the authoritarianism, and then they
all burst down the street, and Mari finds
her fellow self face to face with Melissa,
and she smiles, and the movie ends.
Emily: so really quick important
note that I want to share with
everybody here and that is listening.
I've made some, uh, efforts
and there is no Wikipedia about
this film, which is a shame and
Ben: Best I could find was an IMDB,
which at least gave me the cast.
Emily: Yeah, and there's no, like,
official I guess, interpretation
as much as you can count Wikipedia
as that, which is barely.
But there are very many interpretable
elements to this movie.
You know, there's, there's weird dream
sequences, there are sequences that we're
not sure are literal or symbolic, like
in the, uh, Uh, in the hospital, what
the, the dancing in the hospital is,
because it's very, almost seems like,
Mari is having this vision, it's unclear.
but, it doesn't really matter
because we do know that she
is banging the hot nurse and,
Ben: nurse is hot.
Once he got out of those
scrubs, I'm like, okay.
Jeremy: you got all the
way out of those scrubs.
Joe: part of what you're describing
is the influence, at least partially
for the film came from like those
Dario Argento, Giallo films.
There's like
those Italian horror.
elements in there and a fundamental
part of Italian horror is that blending
what's real and what's fantasy,
what's a dream, was it, what isn't.
So I, I think that's a big part
of why that's in the movie.
Emily: yeah, it's just a very symbolic,
you know, the way that the
scream is symbolic and Michelle
or Melissa is symbolic.
Jeremy: I, I wanna talk a little
bit about the sort of like Medusa
thing in this, because I mean, no,
they never say Medusa in this movie.
It's the name of the movie.
They never talk about Medusa.
They never name checker.
They never talk about Greek myth at all.
But they do like.
Medusa, I mean, for, for anybody who
doesn't know, uh, is a, was a priestess
of Athena who was raped by Poseidon
and then she was the one punished for
having sex in in Athena's temple by
being turned into a monster who then,
you know, turned, people couldn't
look on without being turned to stone.
She's also,
Ben: that's some Greek mythology
Jeremy: Greek shit, but like, I feel
like this is very specifically like this
idea of Medusa is reflected in Melissa.
The names are very similar sounding,
but like she is punished for having sex,
for being, for controlling her own body.
By this sort of ethereal force
this, you know, woman dressed as
an angel, which is as close to
Athena as Christianity can get,
And so, like, I was really fascinated
by, like, a lot of the stuff around
Melissa, especially when they're, like,
When she's having this vision of Melissa,
there is eerie green light anytime that,
like, they start talking about this.
Mari ends up, like, her face
keeps getting lit green anytime
that this stuff is going on.
And this scream is passed between
the women in this movie, like a,
like a virus, and like Medusa, like,
Like, looking on Medusa, right?
So like, Mari gets it when Michelle
screams in her face, or when
Melissa screams in her face, and
then Mari passes it to Michelle,
and Michelle, who has this, you
know, huge influence over people,
passes it to all the women in this.
And it, like,
Ben: I like that.
I like that metaphor.
Jeremy: Yeah, and it strikes each of
them as they hit this point where, like,
they can't put up with this shit anymore.
Where, like, the options are break
shit or get broken, and they all,
like, choose this throughout.
And finally, like, I love the end of this
movie because, like, Michelle, Michelle
yells and all of the other women in
the church take up this yell, and they
start beating the shit out of the dudes.
Like,
there's a, there's a huge brawl in the
middle of the church, and then they just
like run into the streets screaming, and
like, you know, take, taking over the
streets in the middle of the night, which
we've been told repeatedly throughout
this movie, women should not be out
at night, it's not safe for them to
be out there, and they just like run
out screaming and take over the city,
and it's incredible.
Ben: did, An incredible job
exploring and showing was the
vital role that women play.
In extremist far right movements and
the contradictory nature of it that
you will always, you know, like free,
queer turned Michelle, you know, there
will always be women who will seek
to attain prominence and power by
arguing that women should have neither.
Emily: Yeah.
I mean, it's, it's, definitely again
that, self eating system, right?
Joe: But, but the,
Ben: these girls going out being.
Assertive, aggressive, vile, like,
perpetrators of violence in the name of
women should be submissive and peaceful.
Emily: Yeah.
Joe: but like the way that works in
these different societies, like I
get it and it works in this movie.
But, but so much of it is this idea of
these people do that because they're
like, yeah, I'm going to do that.
And because I'm one of the good ones,
they're going to be lenient to me.
They're going to let me have more control.
And this movie, it's And that's
basically what, you know, this movie
is showing, like, that's what these
girls think, to some extent, of like,
Well, I don't want to do the bad stuff
anyway, so, this, the, the stuff they're
limiting, for the most part, doesn't
affect me, and the little bit extra,
they're not gonna take all my rights
away, because I'm one of the good ones.
They might, to the other people who aren't
helping them out, but, I'll be fine.
And, and that's how you get
these people in these movements.
Emily: Yeah.
It's the privilege that is promised.
Ben: and that concept of that privilege,
that extreme protection to the in group
in the name of conformity and how easy
it is to find that machine turned against
you, again, very well exemplified by,
Mari's downfall being getting wounded
in the name of care of like doing
violence in their name by serving the
church she was cast out of the church
Jeremy: Yeah.
And I think like that, that
system can only hold up as long
as it's internal logic holds up.
Right.
And so all of the rest of the people in
this group have to say, well, for you
to have gotten injured for this thing
to bad thing to happen to you, you have
to have done something wrong, like you
have to have had impure thoughts or
have a, you know, she assumes that she
has a demon inside her at one point,
like, that's, that's what she ends up
coming to the conclusion of when the
reality is like, in Michelle's case, All
Michelle, like Michelle is very simple.
All she wants is love and protection
and she's getting neither.
Like, those are the things that
she's promised and those are the two
things that she is not given by this,
you know, guy that she is basically
turning herself into a Barbie for.
Ben: yeah, no, again, this, this movie
does a very good job showcasing how,
like, the long nights can come out
for anyone, and yet everyone has their
excuses and reasons for why they're so
convinced it'll never happen to them,
Emily: yeah,
Ben: which is all so fucking true to life.
The one thing I need to talk about, not
because I necessarily have analysis or
themes, but just because it's buck fucking
wild, is, uh, the Christian selfies.
Emily: that was, I mean,
I can see that happening.
I have never seen a Christian
selfie channel or anything,
Ben: I have to imagine that the
mo I, I want to imagine they made
it up because it sounds so real.
It's so fucking stupid that
it almost has to be real.
Emily: yeah, I mean, it's like making
room for, you know, leaving room for Jesus
Ben: listeners,
Emily: at the school dance.
Ben: you want to have a proper Jesus
approved selfie, you can't take your
selfie from below because that's
hell's gaze, and you can't take your
selfie from above because that's God's,
like, vantage point, and who are you
to have the vantage point of God?
Emily: Yeah,
Jeremy: So you
Joe: or a taller person.
Ben: Only straight angles looking straight
into looking directly into the lens,
Jeremy: But also watch out for your
double chin, because that's important.
Emily: I mean, yeah, Jeremy, you were
talking about the Medusa aspect and the
Medusa story and how I feel like Melissa
at certain times isn't exactly real.
But she is also, you
know, she's iconographic
Jeremy: Yeah, I mean, Mari, Mari
thinks she takes a picture of her,
but what she ends up with is blurry.
She definitely got a picture of something.
So, like, we don't, there's, in that Mari
section, they have the little, like, dance
party, and that seems to be mostly real,
but then she falls asleep and wakes up
on, like, with her head on the guy's lap.
And it's already that like eerie green
light at that point and she wanders
down to a part of the hospital we
haven't seen before and finds this,
this bed with a woman in a mask.
She, she unwraps and this stuff
happens and then she passes out
and wakes up in the, in the garden.
Ben: There's symbolism in this movie that
I definitely do not know the meaning of.
Like, one repeated imagery is
different color liquids going down.
I think we get like, green, red,
and then like, dirty yellowy brown.
And I don't kn And I know it has to
symbolize something, but gun to my
head, I couldn't tell you what they do.
Emily: well, that's, it's, what that
was, was them washing off the various,
whatever was on their face, right?
Like, there was blood.
There was, um,
makeup.
Yeah.
And so, like, I think a lot of that is
representative of, like, you know, I mean,
you could, we can get extra metaphorical
with it and say it's like removing a skin,
like, peeling back the skin like a snake.
Because a snake image
does show up and they talk
Ben: Oh, there's a there there is quite
a lot of snake in Between the there's
a painting or a picture that shows it
up a lot, and the priest talks a lot
about, like, the snake and women in Eden.
I don't know.
Emily: Yes.
Joe: There there's also a level of y
you know, again, like you're saying, I'm
just spit balling here, but like o of
Ben: this is the spitball
Joe: o of a Yeah.
O of a, a level of surface,
like surface level purity.
Right?
Like you're, you're washing away the
impurities, but it's, it's just skin
deep kind of thing and, you know.
Ben: I wonder if there's supposed to be
a contrast you're making between this,
like, you know, a purification of water
versus this more violent purification
of fire advocated by the church.
Joe: Mm-Hmm.
Ben: I mean, I think at one, I mean,
at one point you got that, like,
purified in the fire, purified in
the fire, and then the girl throws
away her, I don't know, naked Harley
Quinn and Poison Ivy dolls, I think?
Jeremy: from the proportions,
I think they're Bratz dolls.
Emily: They are Bratz dolls, but I
think they've been, they have been
altered to have special makeup on
because, you know, kids do that.
Cause like, why, why not?
But um, the, I can't remember the name of
the new girl that shows up that is sort
of indoctrinated into this, but this is
part of her purging of her previous life.
You know, so she can become one with.
Everybody in this community.
And I think it's also a, you know,
and now that I'm grown, I have put
aside childish things kind of thing.
And, you know, I've
realized there's a lot of,
Ben: You have?
I haven't.
I got
way more po I got way more Pokemon
figurines than I ever had as a kid.
Emily: Oh, hell yeah.
Now that I, like, you know, I have an
adult income, I can waste it as I see fit.
I have a lot of Mothra's, but, uh, anyway.
Ben: I don't have any TMNT figurines,
but I did get a hold of four
turtles, don't ask me where, and
I got a sketchy karate connection.
Emily: Interesting!
Jeremy: Everybody knows a guy.
Emily: Yeah.
Ben: All right, that's as
far as I could take that bit.
We're done.
We're moving on.
Emily: I'm actually
interested in this premise.
Pitch this to me.
Jeremy: I was gonna say I'm, I'm
interested in the, like, interweaving
of, of Greek and Christian myth in this
with a little, like, with the snake
symbolism, because, you know, they talk
a lot about, he gives a speech about the
Garden of Eden, we see all these, like,
posters that are popping up, but we don't
know where they're coming from of, like,
you know, they're just, they're just
images of, like, snakes wrapped around
arms and people and stuff like that.
And yeah.
You know, that is sort of a crossover
between the Garden of Eden and Medusa.
You know, the snake symbolism
pops up both places.
Ben: It seems to be a way of conflating
of of taking the iconography of
the Greek myth, and And possibly
using it as a way to conflate the
snake and the woman in Christian
myth that were previously separate.
Emily: Yeah.
Well, and
Ben: Again, within the authoritarian
structure of this fuckin hate pit.
Emily: yeah, and this
movie, again, very symbolic.
And I don't know if the
director is really into dance,
because there's a lot of dance.
Elements in this movie.
I mean, there's
Ben: I had in my notes,
possessed by the spirit of dance.
Jeremy: I think there's a, I think they're
really pointing out the difference between
the types of dance, because like the dance
that the girls do, as part of the like,
christ of the church, they are like, it's
not sexual, it's not about their body,
it's a lot of rocking back and forth,
and that's like the whole thing, they
might spin, that's all they got, whereas
Ben: this very chased, very
choreographed, very measured,
very controlled, versus the
dancing at the party, which is,
it is wild, it is physical, it
is unplanned, it is untamed, and
Jeremy: Yeah, we see the same
thing from the female doctor
at the, you know, coma place.
She dances with her whole body.
We see the same thing when the
video at the beginning of the
woman doing the Samara dance.
Ben: it just goes to show, again, it's
another Illustration of the way of
the inhuman nature of fascism ideology
and how it turns things that are
fundamental and wild, beautiful parts
of humanity and turns them into empty,
soulless facsimiles of themselves.
Jeremy: yeah.
And I mean, that goes perfectly with
the, we talked about the fucking,
not remix, rewrite of House of Rising
Sun that's in there for, you know,
where they've, stolen the music and
stripped all of the soul out of it.
And they're doing that the same way that,
you know, the dancing is in the service
of the church rather than anything that's
meant to actually be enjoyed by the people
doing it, which like if you've spent
an amount of time and specific sects
of the Christian church that I have,
like, you're not supposed to take joy.
in dancing.
You're not supposed to
take joy in playing music.
It's, if it's done in the church, it
is done for the service of the Lord.
And it is not something that, um, you
should be expecting even applause for.
Like I, I used to go to a church, it was
very anti applause at the end of music.
Like if people performed, they
were, you did not applaud for that.
It was not for the person.
It was for God.
So, Yeah, I don't, it's,
Emily: It's
Ben: Jesus
Jeremy: a lot, it's a lot to watch
having grown up in the church,
and then it's,
Ben: it's a lot, yeah.
I mean, this is,
Emily: I feel like, 1 of the things that
comes up for me about this particular,
like, TV pastor kind of, you know, who's
also running for office kind of character.
Is that there are a lot of places in,
in America, for sure, that kind of
look at that and think how cute it is.
Like, it seems like a cute thing that
people in the country do the same way
that for a long time, like, you know,
Americans felt like, in the media about
American Nazi party or the, or even like,
the KKK, like, I remember seeing a an
interview with KKK members on, like, the
Daily Show way back in the day, and it
was kind of making fun of them, like,
oh, you know, look at these guys and
they're so stupid, you know, like, they're
Ben: I mean, the Daily
Show's still doing that.
They'll, they'll fucking send
Jordan Klepper to anything.
Emily: well, and then, I mean, then
that's what that is, but like, there
was this idea for a long time that, you
know, this was so esoteric and weird that
people were like, you know, it's not,
it's just these people doing this thing,
you know, this, it's not hurting anybody.
Oh, it is though.
Like, this is, this is the, the
point of this particular movie's
presentation of this book.
Particular group.
Ben: amount of damage and abuse.
That an authoritarian can inflict,
even in a unit as small as a family,
Emily: Yeah, yeah, and it doesn't matter
where it is or who it is, you know, if
it's, if, you know, and it doesn't have
to be Jesus either, but in this case,
you know, it was very specific to Brazil.
Ben: Look, only listen to Jesus if
he tells you to kill the president in
order to regain your ability to walk.
Emily: I mean, and that's
like, I forgot that was a
Ben: Look, le le let's be proud of my
let's be proud of me for how long it
took me to drop that Jojo reference.
Emily: Jojo reference.
Ben: Yeah,
Emily: Oh
Ben: that's the plot of part 7.
Emily: because Jesus was
the original Joestar.
I know that much.
But anyway, I
Ben: People say, that's not
actually, he doesn't actually
tell Johnny to kill the president.
Shut the fuck up.
Yes, he does.
Jeremy: and this movie's got obvious Jojo
connections, it's got obvious Neon Genesis
Evangelion connections, you know, down to
like, Faceless angels destroying people
Emily: yeah, it was also interesting
how Melissa had that mask, like
a, basically the same mask as
Jeremy: you know, like
a golden one though,
Emily: Yeah, but she also, but
hers was like, out of necessity,
Jeremy: yeah.
Emily: right?
And it that's that in and
of itself is really powerful
image and a powerful metaphor.
Jeremy: I was gonna say
Ben: a powerful image.
Jeremy: I was gonna say anime
wise, I do think after this movie
ends, Mari turns into a car to
drive Michelle out of the city.
Ben: And then Deja Vu
from Initial D plays.
Emily: Yeah, and then they turned
into a street luge and kiss.
Ben: And they, they, they change their
names to Nana and they start a band.
Emily: And then everybody
says congratulations.
But yeah.
So, but, but another thing, you know,
another image that I wanted to, to, to
go back to the, the Medusa thing and the
Melissa versus Mari and Melissa being
kind of symbolic is, you know, and whether
Melissa was even ever there because Mari
keeps going to that space where there
Melissa's body was, and then it was gone.
And then she lies there with her hair
out when she has stopped straightening,
you know, she stopped wearing makeup
and sort of assumes the same repose as
this figure that she that she saw then.
But, you know, there was no there
was no evidence other than her blurry
picture that there was anything there.
So, and then at the end, she sort of
sees Melissa and I feel like the way
that I've interpreted that was that she
sees the monster that she has created
and become and, you know, and maybe
will be destroyed by in that moment.
Because she looks like the final scene
of this movie, the final shot is Mari
looking at Melissa and looking her into
into her eyes, into her burned face.
And kind of smiling with this, you
know, she, she casts a knowing smile
and perhaps even a a relieved smile.
So, you know, it's very
open ended that way.
But I feel like there's, an
apocalypse that happens because
they keep talking about this, like,
how all these things represent.
The end times and, you know,
which is very familiar.
It's not like anything on, you
know, nothing really unusual is
happening, but there there's like a
couple of events that they're like.
To start panicking about,
because, you know, their
system isn't sticking together.
Jeremy: they're fucking Christians and
everything is a sign of revelations,
Emily: Yes, yeah, that too, you know,
Ben: Funny how everything is assigned
for the things they already wanted to do.
Uh,
Emily: Yeah and that's how you get that
echo chamber and that's how you get
that kind of reasoning that circular
reasoning to to propel itself for so long.
You know, and then
that's how they justify.
Things that they can't control or horrible
things that they can control and, and,
you know, atrocities that they're doing
is because it is, it is written, right?
And it can be interpreted
in this particular way.
You know, and like, there's a, there's
that whole thing about the roads
of hell, et cetera, but, you know,
that only applies when other people
don't agree with what you're doing.
That is to say the good intentions etc.
But yeah so is this feminist?
Ben: uh,
Emily: Very long pause.
I don't know if Alicia's gonna
edit out that pause, but don't.
Joe: Well, you
Ben: Joe, you wanna
Joe: know, well, I mean, you're
asking if this is feminist, so, so
I'm going to start with the caveat
of, when you're doing this as a
yes or no, as opposed to a scale,
Ben: There is a
Joe: it's very.
Ben: in our system.
Joe: Yeah, I, I, promise I was not
trying to criticize the system.
I was just,
Ben: You, you can criticize the system.
Systems need to be criticized.
Emily: Think for yourself,
Ben: Do not put systems above people.
That's the usage of the movie.
Emily: Yeah,
Joe: that's, that's, that's true.
But in a, in a binary yes or
no, is this feminist or not?
I'm going to say
probably, I I,
yes,
like,
Ben: that's right.
That's where I come down.
yeah,
Jeremy: I think the answer is that the
movie is incredibly feminist, and then
part of that is that the characters
themselves are frequently not.
They are
Joe: yeah, exactly.
Jeremy: they
Ben: It very much, it's very
much exploring deeply complicated
and nuanced women's issues.
Joe: Yeah,
Jeremy: they are, they are having
their asses kicked by this system
that they are participating in.
Ben: And also kicking the
asses of completely innocent
women just living their lives.
Which is mad fucked, but the movie
explores all that in great depth.
Emily: I, I weighed in on Soft and Quiet
being extremely feminist and I'm going
to say the same, you know, this is, this
is equally feminist, and it comes from
a very knowledgeable, uh, experiential
place, the, the, the story you know,
you can see the, the experience there.
Yeah and the, the complexity
of these relationships.
So yeah, I would say absolutely feminist.
Jeremy: I, I think, I mean,
I absolutely agree with that.
I think, to me, the real interesting
question from our set here is something
that like, never gets talked about in the
movie, but I feel like is intrinsically
expressed within it, which is the
racial and, and colorism question of
it, because I don't think it is at all
coincidental that Mari are heroines
such as she is who, who does not have
romantic prospects, who is not viewed
as particularly desirable by the guys.
And it is the, the dark skinned girl
who, you know, is, is competing with her
friend who seemingly is like artificially
blonde and light skinned, who is, you
know, doing her best to conform to this,
this model of, of what people look like
in a way that, Is not talked about in
the movie, but also is not talked about
in South American cultures generally.
You know, despite their being like, I
think Brazil is particularly notable for
like, Oh, everybody here is Brazilian,
but they don't really acknowledge the
colorism that like bleeds through not
just Brazilian society, but, but all
societies, but, you know, societies like
Brazil and France and stuff like that, who
intrinsically don't acknowledge color and
shade and in the way that they talk about
people within their, their own country.
Have a tendency to, like, for
people like that to be oppressed
and not have a way to talk about it.
Emily: Yeah.
And I did also notice that a lot of the
guys, In the, uh, the Watchmen crew, like,
Night Vigilantes or whatever they were
pretty varied in terms of their, their
skin tones and then a lot of the girls
were, and I mean, Michelle made a point
of talking about skin lightening with
the makeup tutorials that she was doing.
Um, and then another big process of, the,
Presentation in this group was the hair
straightening, which I think is really
important here because both both Mari
and her, adopted sister or whoever, you
know, I think it was sort of an, like, an
adopted family member, we're straightening
their hair and then towards the end,
I noticed that the sister had stopped
straightening her hair when Mari had
sort of stopped straightening her hair.
You know, definitely again, you know, we
could have seen more of of that story,
but there was plenty of story already.
Jeremy: Yeah, it's, I don't know
how, I don't know how common the
societal setup in this is in Brazil.
And, like, it is very, like, 1940s
in that, like, all of these teen 20
something girls live in a boarding house.
That's for, you know, single women
specifically, where they're being sort
of influenced and raised by auntie
type characters and are, you know,
they're encouraging the older girls to
sort of, you know, mentor the younger
girls, cause we learned that that, that
other, girls, I think, that's Clarissa
the youngest one that's just brought
in, uh, is, attending the, like, fancy
school nearby that uh, that Mari would
have liked to have gone to, but either,
she doesn't say why, but she is, on
a, she was put in vocational route.
And so she's either, you know, too
poor or her grades were too bad to
be going to the, the nice school.
Uh, which again is like another like
class and race thing that is, is not
addressed, but it's very much there.
Emily: Yes.
Yeah.
And I do like that that is present
because, you know, it is, it,
it acknowledges that passively.
Jeremy: But we, we do learn that
Clarissa was sent there by her family
to, I guess, have sort of this, this
influence of these, You know, other
girls and aunties and stuff around her
as she goes to this fantasy school.
Emily: Yeah.
And whether that is, you know, what,
what causes that, we're not sure, but,
you know, it's, it's probably, we can
be pretty safe in assuming that it's
probably nefarious, you know, there's
something going on, whether it's between,
you know, like, some sort of relocation.
Jeremy: Yeah, or if it's just a question
of like, they don't want her living
in dorms, they want her to be in this
place with just these godly women, where
she can't be getting into any trouble.
How do they know?
Yeah, so that's, I mean,
that's interesting.
The, it's not knowing enough about Brazil
to comment a lot on the class stuff.
It's still like the class
stuff is very obviously there.
It's baked
into.
Who the people are.
Ben: 100%.
Jeremy: But there's not a lot to deal
with as far as disability in this movie,
other than her getting cut, um, and
sort of the, the way that that, like
so many disabilities is sort of treated
as, as something that's wrong with and
the fault of the person dealing with it.
By, you know, these people but they,
Emily: there's not a subtle argument.
There's, yeah, there's, the ableism
is part of the entire package,
Ben: Yeah,
that's deeply baked into
the plot of the movie.
Jeremy: It's deeply baked into the Nazism.
Emily: yes.
Ben: Ah, it sure fucking is.
Emily: There was that one bit where
they were when Mari showed up to
the treasures or whatever, one of
their practices, and they're, they're
freaking out because she has not one
but two scratches on her face gasping.
And, uh, they're all saying
things like one of them says
almost in a comforting way.
Oh, you know, you deserved it.
Like, literally.
Jeremy: Yeah.
Emily: and it was one of those things
that, yes, like, you know, we hear it
and we hear this, it sounds monstrous,
like, how could you, how, but then the
way that they frame it is that it is a
sacrifice that she is making, you know,
yet another sacrifice that she is making.
Ben: They got like wounds for Christ.
Jeremy: And one of the
most like insidious.
bits of dialogue in this is when
she is being fired when her boss is
like, hey, you're too ugly to work
for a plastic surgery place now that
you're unnerving for them to see.
Uh, she's like, how could
this possibly be my fault?
I was just walking home and I
got attacked and she's like, oh,
you know, that like good moral
women don't walk alone at night.
Like, it's just like, Just like that's,
that's reason for her to be fired because
whatever she was doing that she got Her
face cut up was obviously not upstanding,
Ben: No, but like
this is also where, this is also where
it gets like everybody's terrible,
but Mari is also kind of a bad person
and it's like, yeah, the only thing
that, the only evidence you had for
all those women you attacked was
they were out walking alone at night.
That wa That was all
the evidence you needed.
Why should anyone else need any
more evidence to condemn you
Emily: yeah, just like we've been
saying, that it's, uh, self destructive.
Ben: Yeah.
Deeply inhuman and
self-destructive ideology.
Emily: Yeah.
Jeremy: Now the, the queerness in this
movie, while like very notably a part of
it, her, like, Michelle and Mari kissing
is like a very important part of this
movie, uh, is not really commented upon.
It's not really talked a lot about.
It's very like close to the end,
and then, you know, things start
going rapidly downhill from there.
Emily: Yeah.
and Mari seems into it.
Jeremy: Oh, yeah, they both seem.
Emily: yeah, they both
seem very much into it.
And I, you know, it does beg a few
questions, but I think, you know, again,
I don't think Mari is gonna be long enough
for this, you know, this world, her world.
She's gonna be, you know,
revolutionizing her own world.
Ben: Yeah.
Emily: by that either, some kind
of ego death or literal death
Joe: Well, yeah, this is a very It's
a positive, I guess, portrayal of
queerness that you would say, or
message they're trying to get across.
But, this movie would be a stretch
if you pitched it for like a queer
movie night with your friends,
Ben: Yes.
If someone pitched this movie
to me as a queer romance, I
would be pissed off at the end.
Joe: Yes.
Jeremy: What if somebody was like,
we should watch this during pride?
As I did.
Joe: Yeah.
Emily: Someone's got to do it.
And, and we here at Progressive, we
watch the movies, so you don't have to.
Jeremy: Yeah, I think it's,
it's interesting and it
doesn't do a
Ben: we made up just now.
Jeremy: yeah.
I'm curious, like, what's really
interesting to me is I, I feel like
when trying to think of movies that
this movie reminds me of And that,
especially the ending, it feels a
lot like Magnolia to me, where it's
just like, it's very real problems
throughout, and everything is going
very badly, and then like, the ending
is just sort of like, magical, right?
Like, it's, you know, the rain of
frogs at the end of Magnolia is, is,
like, intrinsically sort of, biblical,
magical, but like in this, it's like
that sort of like passing of this scream
into active like revolution at the end
of this, uh, which, you know, we don't
see how that goes, where that goes.
We just like literally all these women
launch out from the church out into
the streets and they're just like
taking the, taking the city by storm.
In a, in a very like.
You would hope, you would hope someday
that something like this were to happen,
but like, it's a very like, magical
realism sort of moment within the movie
that like, They scream at each other and
then it's like, let's fuck this place up.
Emily: Yeah.
The, uh, Chuck Jones
ending of Animal Farm,
Ben: Yeah,
Emily: as opposed to the
actual ending of Animal Farm.
R.
I.
P.
Jeremy: So do you guys feel like
this movie was worth seeing?
Is it something
Emily: yes.
Ben: it's good.
It's definitely good.
It's not a great movie.
It's got a lot, it's
got a lot of strengths.
It's got, it's a little too
messy or overstuffed in places.
Again, when it gets right,
it gets really right.
It has some issues.
Definitely a movie worth watching once.
Joe: Yeah, I would say a lot to
like, but maybe not a lot to love.
Ben: Yeah,
Joe: know, uh, throughout, but this
is also the director's, like, second
big movie or something, right?
Like, this is, this is pretty early.
Ben: The directorial voice
and the style is very strong.
This is a very promising director.
Joe: Yeah, I, I would, I am, I am
interested to see like the next movie
from this director, because some of the
strongest parts of this movie were like
the, the visuals and the direction.
so yeah, I, I think, you know,
this is the kind of director
you want to keep an eye on.
And this is definitely, if you're, if
you're specifically looking for newer
voices to like check out in, in cinema.
You, you should probably
check this one out.
Emily: yeah, absolutely.
I would this is not a fun
movie, much like Soft and Quiet.
This movie is more fun
than Soft and Quiet, let me
Jeremy: Oh yeah.
Joe: Yes.
Jeremy: I'll tell
you what,
Emily: yeah, this movie
at least has some magical
Jeremy: it's an incredible
catharsis at the end of this movie.
Emily: Yeah, it's not the
grueling, just downward spiral
that, that Soft and Quiet is.
So, you know, if you want to watch
something that is challenging definitely.
And yeah, I agree with you, Joe,
that's well said, because, like, it's
a very Panos Cosmodos moment for me
of seeing, you know, this director
has a really awesome style, and, you
know, more so than Panos Cosmodos in
terms of message as much as I love him.
You know, Beyond the Black Rainbow was.
About, I don't know, droning?
Um, and this movie has like a
really awesome, strong message.
it is also the situational horror, right?
Is that a term that's been coined yet?
Cause you have situational Sid horror?
I mean, that would be a
term that might Sid horror?
Jeremy: Yeah, I, for me, it's like, I
really like this movie, partially because
of the ending which is interesting for
me because the ending to this and, and a
lot of the, the main plot elements of it.
So that leads towards the ending
throughout it reminds me a
lot of like David Lynch who is
often a person that I do not
like.
Um, I often have issues with David
Lynch's like kind of non committal you
know, storytelling where it's like,
yeah, and some weird shit happened.
It was weird, wasn't it?
What do you think it means?
That, you
Emily: Me, I'm like, I'm
not, I'm not, I'm not.
Jeremy: yeah, it, it, it gets me.
But in this, I was like, Yeah, fuck yeah.
Like, like, at the end of it I was just
like, leading up to the end you're like,
I don't, I don't know where this is going.
It's gotten as bad as it
can get at this point.
And uh, I ate it up.
Yeah, I definitely recommend it.
It's not, certainly not an easy
watch, but so many of the things
that we watch on here are not.
Emily: Yeah, that's, that's very
true.
I
Jeremy: So yeah, I
guess keep that in mind.
So I guess a qualified wreck.
I do very much like it though.
on the wreck front, Joe, did
you have, uh, anything else
you wanted to direct tonight?
Joe: Sure.
Um, since a lot of the influence here
came from a lot of like giallo films while
they're not necessarily paralleling this
movie in message, in, in terms of, you
know, style and some of the things that
are going for, I definitely recommend
something like the earlier giallo films,
like, blood and black lace You know,
Argento's like girl with crystal blue,
uh, bird with crystal plumage and deep
red, uh, Lucio Fulci's The Psychic.
Some of those kind of, uh, giallo
films that, you know, some of them
that I just mentioned have you know,
strong feminist themes in there too.
But you know, overall, it's a lot
more with the style of the movie
rather than the message of this one.
Jeremy: Uh, Emily, what about you?
Emily: am going to piggyback
on that because what this movie
really reminded me of in terms of
its, basis in dance is Suspiria.
but I, I think the movie that resembles
this movie more is the new Suspiria
with, uh, Tilda Swinton as everybody.
And, it's, more about art, but
there is some fascism commentary
in there, and there's some, some
really interesting symbolism there.
You know, it's, it's the
definitely a different shade.
But, uh, if you enjoyed the, the
choreographed elements of this movie and
the style, the lighting, the symbolism.
The, the new Suspiria,
definitely recommend that.
And if you want to see really
good Medusa and Greek, sapphic
representation, I was, thank you.
Thank you to one of my favorite
streamers, Brian David Gilbert.
I got to see him play some of Hades 2.
And Hades 2 I mean, that
was eye opening for me.
And, you know, like,
I'm, I'm a nice person.
I'm sort of like, you know, into
whoever, whatever, but, I enjoyed it.
I, you know, there's very few
times where I'm like, mommy, I'm
sorry, mom, sorry, mommy, sorry.
Seeing some of those character designs.
So I definitely would recommend
that if you're, if you're a gamer,
or if you like to watch games, once
those are streaming check that out.
And, uh, Gen Z, not the generation,
although Gen Z has a lot of great artists.
There's the, the actual artist Gen Z
is the artist who made a lot of those
designs, for Hades, so check them out.
Jeremy: Yeah, that's, it's available
like early, early release on stream
and PC, or on Steam and PC right now.
I am, I'm waiting on the console
version, which who knows,
could be two years before it.
Fucking shows up somewhere but
I'm, I'm very excited about that.
Emily: yeah, it looks fantastic.
And, uh, it got me going.
It's very inspiring.
Jeremy: Ben, what you got?
Ben: so I have a bit of a
palate cleanser, uh, for us.
Equally Christian, equally fucked
up, but a lot more pleasant and
enjoyable to watch, and that
is The Righteous Gemstones.
Emily: What's that?
I don't know.
Ben: The, uh, the HBO comedy about
the megachurch family, starring,
uh, created by Danny McBride,
starring, uh, John Goodman,
Jeremy: Goggins.
Ben: Walter Goggins as Uncle Baby Billy
Bobby one of the wor Walter Goggins is
fucking incredible it has one of the
workaholics, I don't remember which one,
Jeremy: one with the hair, right?
Ben: Yeah, the baby faced one.
Jeremy: Yeah
Ben: He's hilarious, and the queer
storyline they do with his character
is really well done and yeah, again,
fucked up and Christian, but you
won't hate the world at the end,
and you'll laugh a whole bunch.
Jeremy: that's a, that's a good
rack and, uh, I'm watching Walton
Goggins and Fallout right now.
That man is tearing it up!
It's good as hell on that show.
Ben: Goggins is up there with Tig
Notaro in any character they play
in a fantasy setting has a more
mundane than their actual name.
Jeremy: yeah, I will watch
either of them in anything,
Ben: like.
I didn't say I refuse to believe
that Tig Notaro is the actual name
and not her Star Trek character,
Emily: mean, it could be Interactors
Guild, Nomdestage, or whatever.
Ben: like Nicolas Cage.
Emily: Yeah, hell yeah.
Jeremy: So,
Ben: Never, never ever get
tired of people, of letting
people know that Nicolas Cage
named himself after Luke Cage.
Emily: Yes!
No, that's something that we
as a species can never forget.
Jeremy: yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, I, so I haven't finished
Fallout yet, and inevitably I will
recommend that at some point because
that show's really fucking good.
But, what I did watch, This last
week, I took myself out to a movie
theater late last Sunday night,
and I went to go see Monkey Man.
Ben: Yeah,
Emily: I've been so stoked for it.
Jeremy: I fucking love this movie.
The, the fight scenes, as you
might expect from seeing any of the
stuff in it, are fucking terrific.
But like, what nobody mentioned to me
about this movie is that despite it
being a straight up, it's a straight
up revenge movie, but like there comes
a point where this, Avenger had, you
know, almost dies and like inevitably,
you know, he wakes up in a temple and
is being attended by a, uh, non binary
priest who is giving this sort of speech.
He has a, like, a non binary Miyagi.
The whole temple that he is staying in
is full of trans and non binary people
And, uh, you know, he ends up having
to, like, stand up for them as part of,
you know, his coming back but they don't
disappear when he goes back to doing
revenge, fucking watch monkey man.
I guess it's already.
on VOD.
I, it was down to like one
showing on the weekend when,
you know, I went to my theater.
Because, it is very rated R.
The violence is a lot.
But like, it's much less gun fu than
John Wick, which like, I love me some
John Wick, but you can only watch
so many guys get their brains blown
out by, by guns before you're like,
can we like swords or something?
I don't
know, man.
Emily: Yeah, yeah, let's just cage it up.
Jeremy: yeah.
Dev Patel, also extremely
fucking sexy in this movie.
Like, uh, he's, you know,
they, they put him in a suit,
they put him in a monkey mask.
They, you know, run them around in
these, doing badass shit, um, all
through, all through the movie.
So like, yeah, highly recommended.
It is very like, self serious.
There's
not many,
Ben: furries, the movie
for you has arrived.
Jeremy: I
Emily: I mean,
that movie's been out.
Jeremy: the, the monkey
mask plays a bit
Ben: movies for furries
Jeremy: than,
Ben: Zoo, we
Jeremy: disappointingly
little role, I would say.
But yeah, there's lots of,
you know, him, him boxing and
beating the shit out of people.
And it is also produced by Jordan Peele,
which like feels sort of evident in how.
well made the movie is.
But yeah, it's also, you know,
it's directed and co written by
Dev Patel as well as starring him.
So like if I can watch that
movie, it's incredible.
It does a lot of things that
you're like, I've never seen
that in an action movie before.
Also he does attempt to run away from
a group of like guys coming from either
side and he sees a little window to
jump out of and runs into this thing
full force and it does not give.
is
Emily: saw
Jeremy: one of the few laughs in
Joe: Yeah
Jeremy: It's very light on laughs,
but watching it go full force
into this thing after making that
decision is very, very funny.
Emily: Before before anything else
I have to ask Animal animal sad
death because you know, we talked
about John wick sad animal death.
Jeremy: I don't, I
Ben: movies are more scared to
kill dogs now, like, I feel like
they're worried John Wick will
come from another franchise.
To punish them.
Jeremy: Yeah, I mean there is
There's a cute dog in it, but the
dog doesn't die yeah, he is, he is
nice to a dog and then uses the dog
as part of his revenge plot, but it's
just that the dog brings him a gun,
so,
Emily: good boy
That's a good boy
Jeremy: yeah, it's, yeah, he's, he's,
He's working at a place where he has to go
through a metal detector when he goes in.
So he trains the street dog to
bring him a gun by feeding it.
So, nice,
Ben: Okay, I just figured out how The
Godfather could be a better movie if
instead Michael Corleone got the gun
from a dog instead of a bathroom.
Or from a dog in the bathroom, you know.
Emily: or from a cat
Jeremy: the dog attendant in the bathroom.
Ben: I'm still just imagining
the dog shooting people and the,
mm, whatcha say, from the O.
C.
playin
Jeremy: Oh my God.
All right.
That wraps it up for us.
Joe, can you let people know, uh,
where they can find you online and,
and what you're up to right now?
Joe: Sure, I'm, uh, both Twitter and
BlueSky, at Joe Corallo, so J O E C O
R A L L O, or Instagram, at CoralloJoe
and, you know, I've, I've got a decent
amount of stuff going on, the, um,
King Arthur and the Knights of Justice,
Volume 1, or, um, you know, graphic
novel, whatever, from Mag Cave, through
their Maverick imprint, is out, so.
So you can get that on, uh, Amazon
or right through their website.
And, uh, I have the, um, story
with Rye Hickman and John Workman
and the DC Pride, a celebration
of Rachel Pollack out June 4th.
Emily: Nice.
Jeremy: Fantastic.
So probably already out
as you're listening
fantastic.
And, uh, Emily, what about you?
What have you got going on?
Emily: Well, it's windy.
Cleaned the house a little bit today.
But no, for real I have a,
I have a Patreon, Megamoth.
Uh, on Patreon, and I'm, uh, also working
on, you know, a lot of different things,
but keep your eye out on my Instagram and
my Patreon, I do have the free tier and
I have 1 here, so, and then Instagram is
mega underscore moth, and for, for all
of your other megamoth needs, megamoth.
net has, is my card, and it has
everything, including my litter box that
you can see what I've been watching and,
and, uh, you know, sometimes I, I rate
things and sometimes I even review things.
But there's also other things
you can go to, like Ben's stuff.
Ben, what are you up to?
Ben: Oh boy, uh, Captain
Laserhawk, uh, Crushing Love
is still, is out from Tokyopop.
Oh boy, what, I, what will have been
announced by the time this comes out?
How about you check out the Monster
High comic book series from IDW.
I may or may not have something
to do with that depending on
when this episode comes out.
Emily: I know a lot of
people who love, who love,
Monster High though, so I'll make
sure that they, they're aware.
Jeremy: Yeah.
As for me, uh, if you were listening
to this the day it comes out, uh, which
I believe should be June 21st, on the
22nd, I am at Chapel Hill Public Library
on a panel talking about writing,
uh, queer books for YA audiences.
So you can come check that
out if you're in the, the
triangle here in North Carolina.
I will be at ALA in San Diego, so if you
are a librarian or a librarian adjacent
you know, come, come say hi to me at the
Mad Cave booth or at my own table there.
Because I will be talking about
the upcoming Navigating with You,
uh, which is coming out through
Mad Cave later this summer.
You can pre order it right now.
If you're in Germany, I'll be, uh, uh,
GalaCon later in June, and then I know
both Ben and I will be at FlameCon.
I'm assuming Joe will
be at FlameCon as well,
Joe: I will be.
Jeremy: yeah so you can
come see us there in August.
It's going to be a busy
summer full of Great stuff.
and, you know, you can find and
keep up with all that online.
My Twitter is jrom5a.
My, my Instagram is the same.
And then my blue sky
is just Jeremy Whitley.
Those are the only real
places I'm posting these days.
All right.
I think that, uh, that
about does it for us.
Thanks so much again for,
to Joe for joining us.
Emily: Thank you.
it's
always great to see you, Jeff.
Joe: You know, thank you.
I loved coming on.
Jeremy: Yeah.
Emily: Thank you for joining
us for these hard movies,
Ben: If you are going to be at
FlameCon in New York this August,
uh, you can join Jeremy, Joe, and
I, and a few other guests for a
progressively horrified live show panel
discussion about queer horror movies.
Jeremy: Yeah.
Emily: might call in,
Ben: So that'll be a really cool time.
Jeremy: it's our first
live attempt at this.
So, uh, we'll see how that goes.
I don't think there's going
to be any required watching.
I think we're going to go more of a, uh,
uh, recommendation and general love route.
All
Ben: have to say about the current
state of things in the history.
A little bit of a different format, but.
We gotta condense this shit into
an hour and we're not good at
that on the regular podcast.
Emily: It's the middle of set, like, on
the stage, being like, Alicia, cut that.
Oh, shit.
just shout and censor me.
Um,
Ben: cause, ah, fuck.
Alicia, memory wipe everyone.
Emily: yeah.
Jeremy: Yeah.
Hopefully we will see you all there.
And until next time, stay horrified.