Love Should Not be Separated, a Thought From Film Little Evil

In China, many young male adults work in the big city and leave their wives in the small village. These women are known as left-home wives, who are responsible for raising children and taking care their parents in-law. Some people may hold a view that these men left their wives behind because their earnings could not support a whole family to live in a big city. However, I have different opinions that these men do not care and respect their wives.

First of all, they do not care their wive. Many couples live together and both work in the city at first, but their wives would be sent home if they get pregnant with the excuse that they can’t take care of their wives while they are working and they can’t support their pregnant wife live in a city without working. They think their parents can take care the pregnant women. However, in the most of cases, the truth is that after being sent home, these women are responsible for taking care their old parents in law. Pregnant women need to do almost all the housing, such as cooking, cleaning, and so on. What’s worse, some may need to work in the field like growing wheat (poor village doesn’t have mechanized agriculture). These women usually deliver their child without the company of their husband. Another aspect is that, these hardworking men do not really working hard to support their family. Some people just moving around the cities and change their jobs frequently.

Secondly, these husbands do not know how to respect their wives. The left-home wife is responsible for almost everything at home. The wives have to grow their children alone and take care her parents in law. Wives are not free maids, but most of the men do not understand that. In their opinion, wife should always be responsible for taking everything at home, and the husband only needs to work and earn money. Couples should take care children and parents together in order to build a respective relationship. If they can, women would like to work in the city and let the husband take care the whole family in the rural village. So, leaving the wife behind to bear all the responsibilities is not respective to the wife at all.    

People may argue that living in the big city is too expensive. However, if the husband can work and support himself in the city, then the wife can do so too. The primary education in the city is free for everyone, so there is no worry about the education of their children. In real life, many factories will offer housing for couples, so housing should not be a problem either. In the film Little Evil, the protagonist’s stepson is the portal of Satan who tried to kill him, and everyone knows about the child tried to persuade the protagonist to kill the child in order to save the protagonist and the world, but the love to his wife stopped him from doing that. The protagonist determined to live with the little evil with the risk of his own life and his love to his wife and stepson finally saved the child and the world. If the husband really love and care his wife, there should not be any reason to live apart except for the special army mission or other missions.

After dealing with the housing, food, and education problem, the last problem is that the husband’s old parents need to be taken care. Consequently, the husband will send his wife home will different excuse in order to take care the old. To conclude, in the most of cases, the left-home wife has a selfish husband. If they really love each other, they should not live apart.

13th: A History of Oppression

It seems that many people do not want to acknowledge the hardships and discrimination that black people face in America. The only time that we as a country have deemed it acceptable to consistently discuss and appraise the accomplishments of black people is in February, the shortest month. The issue of racism in this country and colorism in the black community are issues that are actively ignored and minimized by those who do not experience it, and internalized and repressed by people of color,

This weekend, I viewed “13th” on Netflix, a documentary detailing the systematic incarceration and social criminalization of blacks, especially black males. This documentary characterizes these issues chronologically, beginning with the passage of the 13th amendment. “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” While this amendment should have signified a hard departure from all racism altogether, it simply paved the way for a new form of racism and encouraged the development of creative, surreptitious methods of keeping the black community under control.

The common argument is that it isn’t racism that so many black men are in jail, a criminal is a criminal. However, if you view the very relatively short history of events since the passage of the 13th amendment, many details point towards foul play at the hands of our own government. The figurative War on Drugs declared by Nixon in 1971 turned literal war on drugs by Ronald Reagan in the 1980’s is proven to have been just a ploy to incarcerate a larger number of black and hispanics in the inner cities of America.

Another thing that I have heard many times in my short life is that black people hurt black people more than whites or non-blacks do, coined as black-on-black crime. I can say with confidence, from my own experience, that in some cases, black people are definitely hostile to each other. This all leads back to the criminalistic, second class citizen image that blacks have been painted in since we were forcibly brought to this country. The past century has been host to minstrel shows with whites in blackface, and segregation, among other things that subliminally conjoins blackness with depravity. Not even the black community is exempt from anti-black sentiment.

It can be easy to believe that there is no discrimination when it comes to law enforcement, especially for those who are not of color. However, it is important to realize that that is the way that we ALL are supposed to see it. “13th” is a great educational film for those who may not have all of the information needed to see the major flaws in America’s prison system. It is important to understand the oppressive origins of events involving black people  such as the shootings of Trayvon Martin and Mike Brown, in order to make any real progress with the functionality of America’s justice and social systems.

A Message from The OA

This week I decided to take on The OA. After hearing a ton of people talk about it, I decided to give it a try. People have told me it was a little difficult to follow, and a great deal happens all at once, so I imagined it would be a good idea to write about why people should watch, even if it is a little more perplexing. Towards the end of the pilot, the OA begins to tell her story to the people she recruited to help her. She must convince them that they can trust her, and opens up to them so they will help her on her journey. So, for my blog post this week, rather than me tell you, the reader, why watching the show is in fact worth the watch despite it being quite a wild ride, I decided to let the OA speak for herself, and gain the trust and guidance of the opposition, as to why you should go with her on her journey, despite it being quite the mystery at first.

Thank you for finding my post. That means you are here because you’re considering helping me. It is crucial I get to the border. Please, don’t click away. I need your help.

I know that this might sound insane, I know you may not want to trust me right now, I know my story is unlike one that you’ve ever heard of before, and my reasons might sound unearthly, but I am the OA and I need your help. I need to tell you why I am worth helping and following.

I am unlike anyone you’ve met in your life. I know that that is a longshot statement to say, but I believe it to be true. Have you ever sympathized with a friend going through hardships? They’re quite easy to help, as you know them, you trust them, you want the best for them. And in the end, you know that they’d do the same for you. Well, have you sympathized with a stranger before? I know, it isn’t as easy to do. I know, that is who I am to you right now. But if you come on this journey with me, I can be your friend, and I will repay you in more ways than you could ever imagine. I know that someone like you can begin to trust me, and find it in your heart to help me on my way.

While trusting me is the first big step, I can’t have you quit on me along the way. The road to my success will be difficult and somewhat confusing, and I will always need the most courageous and strong people to aid me. That is why I have chosen you. There’s countless stories you have yet to hear, to be able to hear my tales I’m sure will excite you! There’s so much more to me, and my life. Or, should I say my many lives. I’m sure if you continue on with me, you will not be disappointed.

I will respect your story if this journey is not for you, or if you are unsure you will be able to keep up. But I strongly encourage you to try, and to believe that you may understand who I am and what I must achieve. So, if you choose to stay with me, I’d like for you to close your eyes, and see what I see.

Hush Now, Everything Won't be Fine

So after watching Blade Runner 2049 and being completely wrecked and drained on an emotional level (in the best possible way), I decided to calm down and watch a Netflix Original. Because it's October, I obviously had to watch a horror film, so I settled on Hush. Hush is directed by Mike Flanagan (the same guy who directed Gerald's Game) and stars Kate Siegel as a deaf woman who is being hunted by a deranged serial killer (John Gallagher) in the woods. While Hush is obviously nowhere near as epic and masterful as the new Blade Runner, it was definitely one of the best slasher films of the 2010s.
Going off of our prompt of arguing someone of the opposing opinion, I feel like this is the perfect movie to do that with. Most modern slasher films are very poorly regarded and deservedly so. Some of the most recent in the genre include the Hatchet trilogy, The Gallows, and a whole slew of remakes based on the original slasher flicks. It really is no question as to why the genre has gained such a poor reputation over the years. This film, however, is one of the best made slasher films since the original Scream. Unlike most modern horror films in general, Hush is well written, well directed, and well acted. Most films of its nature over bloat the runtime with obnoxious characters that are there simply to be cannon fodder for the killer. In this film, only a few people are murdered, and none of them are annoying. In fact, some of the people that are killed in the film only appear to be killed. However, like I previously stated, only a few people are actually killed in the film, which to me makes it more suspenseful than most slashers. It is common for films in the genre to have the killer slaughter dozens of people usually in creative ways which completely undermines the overall intensity of the situation.   So, not only is the film just a better movie than most slasher films, but it is also more thrilling than most.
Another reason people could oppose the film is because it seemingly is just like any other run of the mill killer in the woods kind of film. However, that is where they would be seriously wrong. The main character in the film is deaf, which means that much of the film is completely silent. This is honestly incredibly original, which is fascinating considering how many horror films there are. The character's disability also allows the writing to avoid deus ex machines that many films have to rely on to keep the survivors in the situation, usually by having them make stupid decisions such as hiding in obvious locations. In fact, the main character is also incredibly intelligent. This is a case where somehow the film is able to make a cake and eat it as well. Remember how I mentioned only a few people are killed in the film? Well, that's because there are only five characters in the entire movie. That's right: FIVE. This is completely fresh in the stale, tried and true formula horror films use which involves using as many characters as possible. Additionally, the lack of characters helps to keep the film going at a steady pace as well as never becoming an overly long film.
I would also like to point out another fresh idea that the film brings to the table: we actually follow the killer quite often. Not only that, but he has a face and a personality, a far cry from horror icons such as Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees. Not only that, but the killer in this case is the less intelligent one, another far cry in horror films. Most horror villains are the smartest characters in their films, such as Freddy Krueger and Hannibal Lecter. Even though the likes of Jason and Michael Myers may not seem smart, they are quite cunning in their own rights as well as creative when it comes to using makeshift on the spot weapons. John Gallagher's killer here, simply credited as The Man, is not one of these characters. In fact, he at times has more in common with the Three Stooges, constantly injuring himself.
Finally, one of the sharpest and most common criticisms to befall slasher films is that they commonly are unrealistic and that most of the situations in those films would never happen in real life. Hush, on the other hand, feels all to real at times. The main antagonist is unmistakably human as he can be beaten and is hurt often. Unlike other "human" horror villains, The Man is built like an average sized person with no seemingly superhuman qualities that many slasher villains seemingly possess (I'm looking at you Leatherface). Not to mention, we never actually get some lame motivation for why he kills. All we know is that he just does kill. The film additionally double as a home invasion film, which is one of the more realistic and possible genres in horror films. Most importantly, the main character is not invincible. In fact, she is fighting consciousness following an injury she receives from the killer throughout a decent chunk of the film. Much of the film has both the antagonist and protagonist exchanging small blow to each other. By the end, both are seriously banged up and have one foot in death' door. For most of the film, I actually believed that she could perish at the end, something almost unheard of in horror films.
Overall, Hush is definitely an inventive, original film in a genre that has seemingly played out ever single scenario possible. It also helps that the film is much better edited, acted, directed, and written than most films in the genre. If you aren't a fan of slasher films or the current state of horror films, I definitely recommend checking out this underrated flick.

Neo Yokio (god help me)

Hoo boy. Where to begin?

Well, first off, I would like to say I am not an active watcher of anime. In fact, one could say that I hate anime, and that most anime I have seen has been garbage. Now, that's not to say that I think all anime is garbage, such as Studio Ghibli, Ghost in the Shell, Neon Genesis Evangelion (I LOVE Evangelion), and Cowboy Bebop for example, and I don't have anything personal against "superfans" of anime (also called otakus). It's just most anime I've seen has been either very dark, graphically violent and so edgy Trent Reznor would blush, overtly perverted, borderline porn with an unlikable male protagonist that constantly switches between wanting to be and being ashamed of being a pervert, or cutesy kid show-esque stuff that doesn't offend me but I don't like either. That may be generalization, but that's just all the anime I've seen (I've not seen Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, so I have no formal opinion on that). However, when even the biggest of otakus have to laugh and mock an incredibly terrible anime, that's when you've got my attention.

Enter Neo Yokio.

My mind was in a sort spiral as I was watching, so I'll try and summarize the plot to the best of my memory. Neo Yokio is about (indiscriminately googles synopsis) Kaz Kaan, a wealthy, sophisticated "magistocrat" (who is played by Jaden Smith. Good for him, I guess) and resident of Neo Yokio (an industrial/futuristic rendition of New York. Yeah, this is what we're dealing with here) who wants to distance himself from his demon-slaying past and focus on his average life with friends, at the expense of his aunt Agatha (played by Susan Sarandon). The first episode (and only one I watched) is basically a day in his life, where he mourns the death of his relatonship with some girl, gets into a fight with an preppy douchebag, and he has to prep himself for the big field hockey game with his best friends that night. Oh, and he also has to exorcise a demon that possessed a girl through the clothes she was wearing.

No, really.

Now, aside from the show essentially being made out of mostly Cliff Notes, this show is....truely an experience. Not a good one, but I honestly can't say it's bad. I can't even say it's middle of the road. I can ALMOST say it's The Room of anime. Almost, because while The Room was so over-the-top in its incompetence, the show's outrageousness is balanced out by absolutely painful cliches (kid has to leave behind his mystical past to live a normal life, and older relative keeps pushing him back into that life, he gets into a fight with his rival, who is better than him and an asshole). But not only that, the voice acting is another thing to point out. Now, mostly everyone gives an "eh" performance. They're okay, but nothing to write home about (though the writing takes some of that "eh" out, but we'll get to that later). But Jaden Smith. God, Jaden Smith is just absolutely terrible. 3/4th of the time you can't really even tell what emotion he is supposed to be conveying in his voice. Kaz will be ecstatic and smiling from ear to ear, but Jaden will just be speaking in his "signature" monotone voice, and it's just so baffling to witness that it's hilarious. For the writing, when it's not boring and unoriginal, it's...baffling, to say the least. I can't even describe most of the stuff because it makes no sense outside of context (and barely sense WITHIN context), but I will just say that Kaz finds a way to defeat a demon after having a conversation with an old man at his wife's grave about perfume. I'm dead serious. As for the animation, it's like an alien creature's idea of anime, seeming to have a few of the basics about anime down, but being almost oblivious to the rest of the principles. The animation is like a mix between early Pokemon, that mid-2000's cartoon Kappa Mikey (anyone remember that?), and someone's DeviantArt. In layman's terms, it looks like shit. Bad lipsync, boring, unoriginal, and not even stylized characters and scenery (except the underwater Neo Yokio, that was actually kind of cool looking), and laughable character movement.


So, to summarize, Neo Yokio is a thing. That's all I can say. It's a thing. I honestly can't say anything much about it because it's just that much of a puzzle. Some parts of the show seem like they're taking potshots at "popular" (lotta air quotes today) animes, and even some people will say that this is a parody of modern anime. But there's just so much other stuff in this show that makes it seem like it's serious and not just a satire. So, while it was certainly a "so-bad-it's-enjoyable" kind of deal, it's certainly not strong enough of a "so-bad-it's-enjoyable" kind of deal to make me come back for more episodes to laugh at it. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go take a cold shower.

Burning Sands

Molly McGrady

            I decided to check out a Netflix original movie for this weeks blog post because somehow I actually had a little extra time! I asked a girl that I work with if she had a favorite or any suggestions and she told me to watch Burning Sands, so I went for it. She told me it was about fraternity hazing, so it seemed pretty interesting to me and it’s a very prevalent issue in American society today. The biggest takeaway from this movie is that a college freshman going through a fraternity rush died in the process, and it was a very sad and messed up film to watch.

            This movie is pretty much what you would think of when you hear a movie is about fraternity hazing. It follows a group of five college freshmen rushing Lambda Lambda Phi, an African American fraternity with a strong history. All five of them have a father, brother, or grandfather who were members of the fraternity in college and have been instilled the task of keeping up the family tradition. They go through countless humiliating and painful circumstances over their pledge season in order to become a part of this fraternity. The main character, Zurich, even fractures a couple of ribs and loses his girlfriend in the process and continues to go through this to get to be a part of the brotherhood. At one point he even goes to the dean of the university, also a former fraternity brother, to seek refuge and get advice on how to quit or change the process of all of it and make it safer for the pledges. What he gets in return is shocking and terrifying, not what you would at all expect; the Dean yells at him to get up and recite the fraternity’s motto and then tells him he needs to suck it up and get through it for brotherhood. In the end however, on the last night of the boy’s hell week, one of them is beaten to the point of death. The older fraternity members simply leave him with the other pledges and run away to try and not let anything that happened be traced to them. The boys try to get him to the hospital in time, but they are too late.

            I don’t think that anyone would argue that what happened in this movie is extremely tragic and things like this should never occur. I’d like to talk about it in a little different light, however. I think a lot of people see things like this and wonder why on earth anyone in their right mind would go through this type of treatment, but in a lot of ways, I do understand it. The fact that these boys were able to go through all the physical and emotional torment they endured shows one of the most basic human instincts in action: the will to survive. When it comes down to it, everyone just wants the chance to prove themselves to others and more importantly for their own pride. Being in a fraternity that hazes is a priveledge, and being able to say that you were able to make it seems pretty glorious to anyone in my opinion. Another reason this occurance makes sense is that people have another trait in common all over the world that unites us: we all want to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. Let’s face it, life is just a weird thing in general and things like fraternities are the biggest example of a social construct known to mankind, but it gives people purpose and a sense of belonging. That’s something that no one could argue of not wanting for themselves. Basically what I’m getting at is that I totally get the intent and will of these boys in the movie, and I’ll go as far to say I think the whole thing is pretty noble. I think what the problem is here is simply that people have taken all of it too far. As time goes on and traditions deepen their roots, people tend to get more and more intense with what may have started as something small. This to me is what is the root of the problems we have with hazing in greek organizations. Not something bad, actually just the opposite, the problem is people being so dedicated and loyal that other things like human empathy and compassion get pushed aside. It really just boils down to basic human psychology at the end of the day and could happen to any of us. It needs to change and things like deaths due to hazing most definitely need to end, but that energy that it comes from is not the problem, it just needs to be channeled in something better that doesn’t hurt people.

Disjointed

I recently watched the first few episodes of a new Netflix original called Disjointed. Disjointed is about Ruth Whitefeather Feldman the owner of Ruth’s Alternative Caring (a legal pot dispensary). She is a longtime activist for legalization and is pretty much always stoned. This show is based around the lives of Ruth and the employees at her shop, including an on-site grower, a few “budtenders,” plus her son Travis. 

I had heard this show being talked about as a few different things so I decided to watch it myself. I am someone who is all for legalization of marijuana and I am fully aware you are strongly against it. During this day in age whether or not pot should be legalized is a big discussion and I think that Disjointed opens up a door for people who are against it or don’t know how they feel to see some inside facts, with that being said this show is not entirely accurate.

First I’ll tell you why I think it is something you should watch. This show is based around the lives of people who work in a dispensary, which gives you some insight into how weed is grown, distributed and smoked. Along with that you get to see what is involved in their life and see that ordinary people from all kinds of different backgrounds and cultures can smoke marijuana. Another part that is focused on in this show is the medical side to smoking and the different things that marijuana can help with showing you insight on how medical marijuana can be helpful. All of these are great aspects of the show and it shows you this information while keeping it funny and entertaining.

Now the downsides of this show, the people are sometimes portrayed in an offensive way. It tends to show the people that are high decently accurate and not offensive but in some cases they have someone be the “typical stoner” which isn’t really something that exists anymore considering a wide variety of people consume marijuana products for a wide variety of reasons. There is also a couple in the movie that basically is a couple of idiots which could make you think all people that consume these products are stupid, but I do not think they are there because of this. This couple was included to make the show seem a little more funny and humorous but kind of makes it seem like they are stupid because they are high which is not the case.

Overall this show has its ups and downs but I think for someone like you who opposes weed it would be a good opportunity for you to get to know a little more about it and maybe open your mind up to the idea a little more. I hope that you’ll give it a try and learn a little bit more about it.

Endurance: Nick Toti

Don't we all wish to have endurance in life? Whether it be academically, physically, or mentally; we all wish to have some form of endurance or else we will continuously be tired. Going into the guest speaking event I did not know what to expect. A guy simply telling us how hard the process was, a guy telling us how important school is, or a guy speaking to us on how cool the film industry was. What I experienced was non of those things. Nick Toti, the guest speaker endured a lot, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue his dreams, he had a very bad divorce, but none of these things stopped him. Nick Toti is the definition of endurance and he reminded me a very motivation-like movie on Netflix titled "Beast of No Nation."

Beasts of No Nation is about a young boy named Agu who had his father killed and was separated from his mother and two youngest siblings. The reason why I correlate Nick Toti and this movie with each other is because Agu went from having his family killed so becoming a soldier of one of the top rebellions of the country. I'm not saying that that was a good thing but Agu did what he needed to do to survive and make it someway. That, in a way, reminded me of Nick Toti because he took to the risk to leave Kirksville or his hometown and move to the dream-filled city of Los Angeles, and he is striving because of it. How? It is evident because he has the prestigious credentials that are impressive enough to be a guest speaker at the number 1 Public liberal arts university in Missouri.

Agu and Nick Toti are the same person to me, kinda weird I know, but I tend to associate role models with movie characters. I always thought about going into film and becoming some sort of actor. That is why I always thought it would be risky to get any form of tattoos because it could somehow deter me from a future dream. As I continued to watch Beasts of No Nation, it started to remind me of myself. I do not come from a pretty place and neither did my parents. Both my parents are from Haiti and decided to come to Florida/USA for a better life for their children. At the time in Haiti there was huge political corruption. So corrupt that the president and his officials restricted thousands of individuals and families from fleeing their tyranny.

Agu's family is very similar to mine. His family initially left their village to flee from political corruption that caused the deaths of thousands but initially died in the process. My family made it out and now their children are children in college aspiring to be contributing members of society. I maybe going off-topic but this is what I found interesting about Nick Toti, the Netflix movie, and how they both have an effect in my life. Everyone in this story endured and are now doing great things with their lives.

In between the lines

In between the lines

Dear Nick Toti,

American Vandal. It took me a while to figure out that this show was not an actual documentary series. American Vandal could be categorised as a mockumentary or a mock documentary. There are many shows that follow this same mockumentary story line that are already on Netflix, for example: Making of a Murderer and Jinx. The only difference about those two shows and American Vandal is that in shows like Making of a Murderer and Jinx, the characters are based on real people, whereas in American Vandal, the characters are all actors. I could see American Vandal being the type of production that you would enjoy taking a part in the composition of.

I am just going to go out and say it. Twenty-Seven dicks were spray painted onto Twenty-Seven cars in Hanover High School, which is located in Oceanside, California and the suspected felon is Dylan Maxwell. For starters Nick, I feel like after completing the first season of American Vandal, you would have many positive takeaways. Not only would you get a good sense of how the production business flows, but also a good sense on how to pick the “right” directors, actors, and most importantly, the film editors.

One editing factor that stuck out to me the most was how clips changed very abruptly, and when there was a transition slide between one scene and the next it would be something that we have all seen before in documentaries. This was the fact that when Hanover High School was interviewing class clown, Dylan Maxwell, and his family members, peers, and teachers, the director would always make sure to include one very simple factor. Lighting.

Lighting made such an impact on how the viewers perceived the severity of each interview or interaction. For instance, when Peter Maldonado (the reporter on the Hanover High School news show/ the student who documents all the allegations) documents Dylan’s mother, she is first shown outdoors giving Dylan a big hug and kiss and saying, “ I’m sorry.” In a crying tone. The next scene flips very quickly to Denise Kavanagh (Dylan’s mother) sitting in her kitchen pleading that her son is innocent. The light has a very soft flow to it, and Denise’s hair is illuminated from the open window that she sits in front of. Although the her hair and eyes are glowing, everything else in that one particular scene are dull and depressing.

Overall, American Vandal is the show for you, and I am confidant that after watching a few episodes of it, you will have learned at least a few tricks to keep up your sleeve for those times you feel in doubt. Also, chopping each episodes off with a cliffhanger question is one of the smartest moves in film making. Not only does it make people beg for more (manipulations without them even knowing it), but in the act of doing this it gets the heart rate up of the viewer, and therefore the viewer will impulsively click on the next episode. So, with that said, I will leave you with one question: Who will be the next big thing in this array or chaos?

On Luke Cage

Throughout your presentation on Thursday you made a lot of interesting points about life, but the one that stuck out to me the most was your phrase: "Filing the gaps in my damn education." This stuck with me because that's exactly what I didn't do in high school that I'm trying to do in college. For this post today I decided to watch Marvel's Luke Cage. The show is filled with characters of varying educational levels all at different successful parts of their lives.

Gerald's Game: Yes, Your Kinks Will Get You Killed

After listening to Nick Toti's speech, I decided that I definitely wanted to watch a horror film for this week's blog. While I'm a huge horror fan regardless, Mr. Toti made me more interested than usual in watching one of the specific genre. So, I picked the most surreal and psychological horror film that Netflix Originals had to offer: Gerald's Game, based off of the 1992 novel of the same name written by horror icon Stephen King. The adaptation is directed by one of horror's brightest new stars Mike Flanagan (Hush, Oculus). The basic plot of the film revolves around a married couple played by Carla Gugino and Bruce Greenwood. After experiencing extended marriage problems, they decide to get their kink game on in the remote summer house to spice their love up a bit. The situation turns a 180 when Greenwood's Gerald suddenly dies of a heart attack during their "love making," leaving Gugino's Jessie handcuffed to the bed posts, unable to get out of them. Gerald's Game, along with It, has definitely made 2017 a strong year for Stephen King adaptations (minus The Dark Tower of course).
The first thing I want to focus on is the psychology of the film. This is a film that is every bit about a woman forgiving her tragic past as much as it is about her trying to escape. Essentially, the plot is just there to act as a window to exploring this woman's past, eventually taking a back seat to the real plot: Jessie becoming psychologically strong enough to escape her demons, which I think is incredibly interesting. This is the closest movie that I may have ever seen before that actually allows you to know what the character is thinking without a narration. While tied up, Jessie talks to imagined versions of Gerald and herself, which also helps the audience understand how she views Gerald herself as well as how she wishes she really was with the imagined version of herself being calm, strong, and always offering good advise. Had the film been solely about her trying to escape her sexual death trap, then it would have gotten very old very fast.
The film also has a very interesting and thoughtful look at sexual abuse, something that was also explored in It. Unlike It, the sexual abuse is a much stronger element here and, while It did handle the controversial topic well, Gerald's Game handled it stupendously. Without getting to deep into spoiler territory, the events in the film are all basically caused by Jessie being abused as a child by her dad, played very well by a creepy Henry Thomas (by the way, that's Elliot, the little boy from E.T.). Through the use of superb editing, Jessie's past is gradually revealed through impeccably timed flashbacks, something most King adaptations struggle to do well (the original It from 1990). At first, Jessie will act in an odd way towards something seemingly innocent, which at first appears to be annoying. Later, however, the audience is shown why a certain event makes her tick in such a way, not only making her actions understandable but making the audience feel bad after judging her actions. The editing of the film is almost poetic and very reminiscent to the work done on last year's multi-Oscar winner Manchester by the Sea. Had the editing not been done well, the whole sexual abuse aspect would come off as odd and out of place.
I really must also sing the praises of the acting in this film as, for the most part, the film consists solely of the three actors I have previously mentioned, all who did a wonderful job. Gugino definitely shined in her dual role as her imaginary and real self, easily flipping between helpless and distraught to confident and strong. Greenwood is also terrific in probably the best role of his career. For most of the film he plays the imaginary Gerald, a far cry from the lovable, reserved real one who lays on a floor dead while being eaten by a stray dog for much of the film. This Gerald is insincere, narcissistic,  and manipulative. I personally have never seen Greenwood go so far out of his acting range as he did here, not to mention he did a great job of doing it as well. As I already have mentioned Thomas himself was also very good, mainly due to his creepy performance. His performance is very important to the success of the film as it is he who holds the whole abuse plot over his head. His performance as a perverted father feels all too real and far more accurate than these kinds of characters are normally portrayed as. It really is so weird seeing the lovable, cute Elliot from E.T. turn into a pedophile creepy dad, but Thomas really does pull it off quite strong.
The only real problem I did have with the film was the last 20 minutes. Without getting into spoilers, the first part of the finale is pretty generic and cliched. It's the kind of ending just by reading this blog post you could probably figure out. The second part is just odd and completely out of nowhere, concluding an unnecessary subplot that felt like it was in the movie just to make it more of a horror film than a thriller. While this subplot is actually generally creepy, it bogged the film down and messed with the overall themes and point of the film.
Overall, I think that Gerald's Game is the second best Netflix Original that I have seen up until this point. If you have not checked it out, I definitely recommend it, especially with today being the inaugural day of October, a.k.a. the month of Halloween. To Mr. Toti, I also recommend the film. It may not be overly surreal like a David Lynch film such as Eraserhead and it may not have an overly indie feel like It Comes at Night or It Follows, I still think it is one of the strongest hollywood horror films to come out in the past couple of years.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

            This week in class we had a guest speaker come in named Nick Toti, a former Truman student who is now pursuing his dreams in film making. I loved hearing all about his life and how he got to where he is today. I am not going to be going into a field even close to what Nick is doing, but pretty much all of his advice was very applicable to life no matter what you are doing, which I thought was awesome and took a lot from. I really enjoyed his philosophies on life and how he has gone about going for what he wants to do. The fact that he is really in it for the joy of doing what he loves and not for money is very inspiring to me, and probably the biggest take away I got from his visit.

            To tie this into a Netflix series, lately I’ve been watching the show Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and there is a lot of correlation between Kimmy’s life and Nick’s life. The show follows the story of a thirty year old woman named Kimmy Schmidt who was in a bunker for several years with a reverend who told her and three other girls the apocalypse was happening. This sounds like it would be a super depressing tale, but it’s actually a comedy. A lot of the comedic elements of the show have to do with the fact that everything Kimmy knows about the world is from the 90’s, and she is learning a ton about the modern world when she decides to move to New York after getting out of the bunker. This reminds me of Nick’s story when he talked about filling in the holes in his damn education, because in this show Kimmy is doing the same, just with her life. At one point, she decides to go back to school to get her GED because all she has is a middle school education. She’s also getting to experience things like dating, having a job, and having adult responsibilities for the first time, all in very comical fashion. People tend to have strange impressions of Kimmy because a lot of things she says and does are very childlike.

            I would definitely recommend this show to pretty much anyone, not only because it is hilarious, but I do think there is a lot that can be learned from this show. It is one of my biggest beliefs that it is never too late to turn your life around for the positive and that you have to take your happiness into your own hands. Kimmy Schmidt is a perfect example of this. Obviously if these same events actually perspired in real life the outcome would most likely be very different. Regardless, the way Kimmy handled the situation was pretty amazing and inspiring if you ask me. The other people that were in the bunker just continued on with the way their life was before they went in, as if nothing had changed. Kimmy however, didn’t want to let those few years define her entire life and immediately began a new chapter. This show is a huge exaggeration, but the biggest take away is that bad things happen to everyone in our lives, but you have to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and make the best of it. I think we can all learn something from Kimmy Schmidt.

Shrek's Swamp Stories

This week, I have met an awesome guy Nick Toti who was a graduate student at Truman State University and now has a wonderful job in the film industry in LA. Throughout his discussion, he has mentioned one statement which I impressed the most: “Horror is an accessible form of surrealism.” This week, I decided to watch the first episode of Sherk’s Swamp Stories. At first, people will think that what is the connection between a cartoon movie and element of horror which I referred above. Do not underestimate a movie through it outlook until you actually experience it. Like me, when I choose this series, I did not imagine that I would pick Nick’s statement about horror. However, when I saw it, this episode had changed my perspective. Although this is cartoon movie, they all include horror materials in a well organized.

The first element in every scary movie is sound effect. With the support of enigmatic music, the audience can easily understand the main theme of the movie. Introduce the movie with the wind whistled and the wolf howled, the movie seems to create a door which leads the audience to the world of mystery. Nothing is more effective in panic the people than the wind whistled and the wolf howled. By watching a movie in a dark room or watching alone, these elements bring to the viewer the image of he or she is standing in the open area with no human activities. All he or she can hear is the sound of the animal which is represented by the night and the scary sound of nature. This will bring a slightly cold feeling along the back of the audience. Another sound which is very useful in getting people attention is thunder sound. Noisy, combined with lightning, and happened after the silent scene, thunder sound brings to the audience the surprise element. Similar to jump scare, the thunder is a wonderful tool which may cause people a heart attack. 

Besides the sound effect, the visual image is a magnificent material which is also crucial in conveying the horror movie. Furthermore, by associating with the sound effect, the frightening scene at that time can convey its full potential. In every horror movie, especially cartoon (I think), mysterious jungle and haunted castle are very useful. In the magnetic jungle, there will be many unexpected things which the audience cannot predict, and that is the most interesting part in horror movie. People’s imagination is magnificent. The more they want to know something, the more they will imagine it in an ugliest and scariest image. Moreover, combine the scene with the thunder sound, it will be scarier. Similar to the jungle is a haunted castle which also contains many scary elements. Another detail in the movie which is also adequate is the torch when Sherk and his friend enter the castle. The light from the torch is very weak and can only illuminate a narrow area. To the audience, it pretty normal, but if you imagine you are the character in the movie it is another story. Visualize you are entering the haunted castle, and the only thing you can use to see things around is the torch. You cannot see everything clearly, and you will imagine that there will be something come out of nowhere. The filmmakers are very intelligent when using this material because they understand the audience’s psychology: they scare what they do not know.

Food for Thought

I have found that  I really struggle with picking a Netflix Original to watch every week. I don’t want to watch something and write about something that I ended up not liking. I can admit I am a little picky.  This week I watched a  documentary. I expected a full length movie, but this in particular documentary was a series that essentially broke the documentary into separate parts. The parts stress why cooking so important for the human race and how to get back to the original cooking.  The documentary I chose was Cooked.

Cooked is a documentary based off of a corresponding book written by Michael Pollan. His book and the docu-series are broken up into the four elements and how those affect the way people cook and eat. Therefore, this docu-series is only four episodes long. Fire. Water. Air. Earth. These elements continually play a role in how we cook, eat, and ultimately live our lives. I think this series is a kind of wake up call for how our cooking industry has shaped our world, and how we are straying from the original path.

Michael Pollan fully embraced learning about how to better his cooking when he was researching for this book. He completely immersed himself. I think that is what makes this documentary so satisfying to watch.  He is truly passionate about teaching people where their food comes from and how that has changed over our lifetimes.   Each element impacts the way we eat and cook significantly. People don’t realize just how much. Each episode goes in depth in that specific element. To me that puts this docu-series one step above the rest.

Fire. This episode goes into the details of how a culture still uses their old customs of fire to attract and kill food for their people. The Martu are a group of aboriginal people  from Western Australia. They live in the modern world but, travel back to their homeland to hunt like their ancestors did. With Fire. They burn vegetation, which attracts animals to those barren lands. It shows exactly how important fire has always been to humans finding food. This episode also goes into the theory of humanary evolution.  It goes into our closest ape relative and shows the difference in their jaws, which are distinctly similar to ours, and the jaws of other apes. It tells you the theory of why fire is so important to our cooking and why we can’t eat the same foods as the apes.  

Water. In this episode Pollan goes into pot cooking in India, and processed food. He also learns how to cook stews, and other foods in pots. He examines how water plays the part in processed foods, and why there is an increase  in the rise of processed foods. Contrary to the first episode though, Pollan points out that cooking with water is a relatively new concept compared to cooking with fire. He also talks about patience. You have to wait for the water to start softening  some of the foods we can  eat today, that we couldn’t earlier in history. This topic leads into the talk of processed food. It all leads back to the time people allot to cooking and how processed foods are faster. He then brings in a specialist in the history of processed foods.

Air. Everything we do is affected by air. In this specific episode Pollan goes indepth into bread as a staple food. Bread is simply a mixture of flour and water, along with some fermentation. Yet, people could live almost entirely off of bread. Just not the way we think of bread now. Pollan goes into the details of how bread has originated and changed within the last 60 years. This leads the topic of discussion to the fact that people all over the world are reporting an intolerance to gluten, a protein found in wheat and other grains. They tie this all back into food processing. They talk about how if we maybe went back to the basics of cooking, with basic foods, we might not be seeing this rise in intolerance.

Earth. Obviously, we all know that the earth plays a major role in eating and cooking. This episode is all about fermentation.  Fermentation is everywhere.  Cheese, chocolate, kimchi. All of these things have to ferment before they become what we truly think of them as. Fermentation plays a major role in all foods. Foods like chocolate and cheese wouldn’t be what they are without fermentation. Fermentation used to be the way to preserve foods to eat during the winter.

Pollan analyzes cooking and eating in society, then and now. I probably would not have thought about all of the things Pollan brings attention to, if I hadn’t watched this docu-series. I think the specifics of his analysis and his strive to learn and understand how we have evolved from then to now. Another admirable aspect for me is that in the first episode, the camera is not steady and always straight. This shows that they are truly there, that they weren’t worried about how the tapes would look. They only wanted to get to the core of what they were discussing, and wanting to teach. I have admiration for that because while a smooth shot looks nice, an authentic shot looks and makes the audience feel like they are actually there. I enjoyed watching this docu-series and would definitely recommend it to others wanting to learn.

Death Note: Post Mortem

I watched Death Note, the Netflix Original, and well it was not that bad. Save for the ending it was alright. If it hadn't been an adaption of one of the most famous and deep animes of all time, I would have written it off as just another movie with a good premise but poor execution.

The premise of the movie follows some of the shows cliff notes, save for some names, (we're in America now, for some reason, not that it affects the plot at all). Light Turner finds the notebook of the shinigami, (literal translations, death god, death spirit), Ryuk. Light decides he will rid the world of crime. He attracts the attention of interpol and the mysterious detective known as L.

My peers JBurns, and WSills gave their thoughts on the movie. While I agree with mostly agree with what they said and I suggest you read them. I'm going to look more at why I think this movie fails as an interpretation and will heavily pull on the anime for comparison.

Almost anyone who has read the manga, watched the anime, or watched the Wisecrack video on Death Note can tell you it focuses heavily on asking what is justice. Each character has a different take and understanding on what justice is. The show then heavily takes a Socratic take on the various perspectives of justice. Rather than telling us what justice is, the show rather tests the ideals of “justice”. It's obvious you couldn't put that much dialogue on such a topic in a less than two hour movie. The writers clearly understood that, but they went the wrong way about it. They hand waved it away instead of the better but slightly harder way of ADAPTING the themes. In case you're curious as to what the movie did with these deep ideas, they just gave one sentence on the topic with a very Original idea. “There is no such thing as good and evil, only bad and worse”, which we've never seen a Netflix Original ever.

In it's place for central themes we have, we, I don't really know. If you look online you will find a joke that says the central theme is “Don't give your crazy psycho girlfriend a book that can kill people”, as ridiculous as that sounds that is the strongest/most obvious theme of the movie. I embarrassingly forgot to take notes while watching the film, so I'm working from memory. I had three main ideas as to what the themes could be. The first could be that it was making a criticism on the U.S. gun safety laws. The only thing I have to go on is the prominence of the American flag in the movie, but this idea would fail since we have nothing to compare the usage of the Death Note to, the cops use state issued guns so maybe that's the theme. The other idea I had was maybe it was talking about how power will always corrupt people. This fails since only Mia (the American Misa) gets corrupted while Light (unlike in the original) stays a “good” person. The only other thing is a commentary on the abuse of authority. This one is the strongest, we actually have a few scenes that bring seem to talk about that idea, but it's not strongly conveyed enough to convince me of this theory.

In my opinion a good adaption that shows the writers really cared about the series is proper theming and characters. I feel like there is definitely more wiggle room on adapting a central theme, after all many people will have a different idea on what the central theme is. The characters however are something that should be kept very consistent to the original. How did the movie do? bad, really really bad. At the start of the anime and through the stint where Light gives up the notebook we can get a decent understanding of what Light was like before the notebook corrupted him. He was a logical, intelligent, character of a strong moral position, hesitant to even try the notebook, and had a great respect of the law. The movie version of Light is the exact opposite of this, and never changes. He runs heavily on emotions and hormones, quickly revealing the notebook to Mia because he has a crush on her. In the original series Light would plan several steps ahead and never second guess himself. While we did see movie Light use on or two clever tricks, he wanted to pull out of using the notebook as soon as things got out of hand.

I feel like we should talk about L now, he seems to have been ignored during this entire paper. L is probably the most accurate portrayal of a central character. We see him be weird and eccentric, but most importantly in this case, we see him make logical deductions and use critical thinking. That is until Watari dies and he becomes an irrational emotional character. Instead of losing to an unavoidable trap like in the anime/manga. He loses to a cook knocking him out because he was too stupid to not think that the person might support Kira.

Mia is most likely supposed to be based on Misa from the anime/manga. I can only guess this because she is Light's girlfriend shares a similar name. Personality wise she is nothing alike. I think like most people the writers hated Misa and decided to change her. While I have nothing against making Misa less annoying or less pointless I think they did it too much. Mia is far closer to the anime Light. Manipulative, driven, ruthless, and plotting, she even gets corrupted by the note instead of Light. To a point I think making her the main character would have been a better change of pace.

Interesting thing about these characters is how tightly the are tied to each other. If one of them changes they all do. Light and L are the clear rivals and the two sides of the same coin, while Misa/Mia is the foil to Light. I think by trying to make Light the hero and a “relatable character” they ruined the whole cast and the show as a side result. I don't think a character needs to be sympathetic to be likable or relatable. The anime Light was repulsive, but we all rooted for him while we also cheered at him losing.

I don't think the movie was awful, sure it wasn't great, it was rushed, and I don't think the team behind it cared about the franchise so much as how much money they could get fans of the franchise to pay. As an adaptation however; this movie is terrible. It changes things that don't need to be changed, and things that should've been changed were ignored. I think the root of the problem was a lack of love and passion more than a lack of talent.

The Fundamentals of Caring

One major takeaway I had from hearing about the life of a seemingly part time film-maker, full time friend, Nick Toti, was that caring is splendid. This week I wanted to find a Netflix Original show that ran the same lines as his life story and focus on one aspect that I found interesting and, frankly, inspiring. To explain The Fundamentals of Caring, simply, is like explaining why people do what they do. They just go for it and do it, right? The movie is intrinsically about a kid with disabilities trying to do what he wants (and sometimes what he doesn't, but he needs) and a caregiver that's helping him along the way. I honestly think it's a rad film and it reminded me of Toti's story on how he got to where he is today.

The movie opens up with a classroom full of aspiring caregivers learning about the rules of how to care, but not care too much. I'm sitting here absorbing the information, thinking why would someone need to take an actual class on how to care? Following that, if people in this class need to know how to care, they must have had really shitty lives up until this point not caring. Cut to the next scene and one of the students in caregiving class and main characters of the film, Ben, is perched on the couch in a potential client's living room. He is asked why he wants to become a caregiver and responds, simply, that he wants to help people. Some small scene cuts thereafter reveal some unfortunate life events of his and that's when I start thinking to myself, okay so it seems like this guy is trying to fill in the gaps in his life by getting a simple job to help deal with or even distract himself from his crappy life. Without giving away too much detail, Ben and the kid, Trevor, hit it off and become joke cracking, unidealized human beings that set out on a trip to explore the world of "big stuff" (since that's apparently what America is known for). Now, at this point, I'm not sure if he's purely trying to help Trevor by granting him new experiences out in the real world, or if he's trying to work through some tough stuff himself, but Ben seems serious about getting to know Trevor and wanting to get out of Seattle.

The movie goes on and more and more things remind me of Toti's life. For example, along their journey Ben and Trevor run into a hitchhiking girl that they end up helping out by driving her to Denver, Colorado. In the car she explains that her mother was always big on helping people and that she "did shit for people... like without them even asking." It seemed like that was the best thing she could say about her mom and it brought me back to Toti explaining that he tries to anticipate peoples' needs before they even ask. That level of care is quite amazing and almost a guaranteed positive reputation. As Toti was going through a divorce, as he explained, he dove into a grand project helping a friend produce a movie. The project was just what he needed to distract himself from the emotional breakdown that he would've had, so in a way the project helped him just as much as he helped it. That's essentially what The Fundamentals of Caring means in my eyes. Ben helps Trevor get through his life with muscular dystrophy just as much as Trevor helps Ben get through his crumbling life.

All in all, it was a movie that allowed everyone involved to benefit from caring about each other. Thank you Nick Toti for reemphasizing this important message, even if it was just a small sidebar of your story.

Movie Hush

Blog Post to Nick Toti

Nick Toti is a Truman State University graduate who is purchasing a career of film direction. His wife is a scriptwriter. Both of Nick and his wife lost direction after getting their bachelor’s degree, and both of them decided to gain a master's degree in Truman, where they found their new direction.

Hush is a horror movie similar to Don’t Breath. The reason why I decided to watch this movie was its rating was a little higher compared to other Netflix Original movies. Honestly, I don’t like Netflix original very much which was not as good as its original TV show. It is hard to connect to this horror movie to you Nick Toti, the positive young director, but I have to do it.

The protagonist was a deaf-mute writer Madison, who lived in an isolated house in a forest. After her friend and neighbor Sarah came to visit her and returned her books, Sarah was chased back to Madison house and killed by a masked man. The man took Madison’s phone, cut off the power in the house, and decided to kill Madison after he realized she was deaf-muted. Sarah’s boyfriend came to the house to look for her girlfriend, but was killed by the man too. Strangling by the man, Madison began to lose her conscious, however, before she became unconscious, she managed to grab a corkscrew and stabbed in the man’s throat.

Without screaming and crying, Hush was a very different movie compared to the normal horror movie. Even though the movie lack of sound effect, the director still set up a successful horrible atmosphere. This movie gave audiences a special experience of horror movie. Audience can feel the protagonist’s desperation via her facial expression and body language.

One thing interesting me was that, when Madison sat on the floor desperately, there was an inside voice talk to Madison. Madison talked to herself that she could not run because of her bleeding leg, she could not hide, and the one way to survive was to kill the man. Inner speech is important to our cognition to the outside world and ourselves. With my limited knowledge, I tend to hold a view that writers would have more inner speech compared to ordinary people because they always sit with silent and write their story down. I wonder if a script writer would have more inner speech compared to common people that are not writers?

In this film, the protagonist seemed to very enjoy her isolated life. I am interested in why the protagonist would like to live in an isolated house. It was easy to understand that a quiet environment contribute to the creation process, but is it necessary to live in an isolated place? Some people like to work at midnight in order to get an inspiration, but the protagonist was a deaf person which keeps her away from any noise. Living inside wood is a horrible thing. Maybe horror can inspire one’s creation.

In all, Hush was a great movie.

Haters Back Off

     A fairly new series on Netflix, Haters Back Off, is a comedy but there was nothing comedic about it, not even the terrible acting. The ratings on Netflix said that I had a 91% match for this show but after watching the first episode, I'm 100% sure I'll never watch another episode of Haters Back Off again. 

     The storyline is not clear at all. The show began with the main character, Miranda, singing pitifully to a video camera someone is recording her on. Throughout the episode, Miranda anxiously waited for reviews to come but they never did until the end of the episode. The confusion is her purpose for the video that she's uploading in the first place. Why is she so determined to get views on this horrendous video of hers? Why would she want anyone to see that video and why is it so important? Without being able to clearly follow the storyline, made it very difficult to focus on what I was watching.

     The role of the characters are unclear. Miranda cannot possibly think that her high pitched voice is appealing to the human ear. It's just impossible unless she has a condition that was not specified in the first episode of the series.  Unless that's the punchline of the show...I sure hope not. Secondly, it took the series some time to verify what family member was recording Miranda singing in the opening of the episode. Miranda’s mom made a comment about her and who I learned to be her uncle Jim, discussing things that could've been taken the wrong way if they were out in public. At first glance, a person would believe that Jim was her father because typically when there's a man and a woman in the house, you'd think husband and wife but not in this case. It wasn't until towards the end of the episode that I found out the guy in the house was Miranda's uncle, which made some of the scenes obscure.
     One thing I noticed in the series is the depiction of the way mother's are treated in today's society. Miranda is very rude to her mother and that made it that much more difficult for me to watch. Miranda speaks to her mother as an equal, actually even less than that. Consequently, I believe shows like this give children the approval of treating their parents as if they're equals. It was frustrating because I give my mother the utmost respect so it was uncomfortable watching Miranda speak to her mother that way. 

    I would not recommend anyone to watch this show because it's absurd and strange. Haters Back Off is not a family comedy, it's the exact opposite. The punchlines are not funny; the main character is different but not in a pleasant way, therefore, I could not relate to her. A show is not enjoyable if you can't relate to the main character which is why I struggled watching it. I survived the first episode but honestly, I don't think I could tolerate watching another episode of Haters Back Off.