Monday, November 15, 2021

theme: a cynical burnout falls in love

Burn Out by Johnny Goth

Alone by Jack Gilbert

I never thought Michiko would come back
after she died. But if she did, I knew
it would be as a lady in a long white dress.
It is strange that she has returned
as somebody's dalmatian. I meet
the man walking her on a leash
almost every week. He says good morning
and I stoop down to calm her. He said
once that she was never like that with
other people. Sometimes she is tethered
on their lawn when I go by. If nobody
is around, I sit on the grass. When she
finally quiets, she puts her head in my lap
and we watch each other's eyes as I whisper
in her soft ears. She cares nothing about
the mystery. She likes it best when
I touch her head and tell her small
things about my days and our friends.
That makes her happy the way it always did.

Wednesday, November 10, 2021

Flowers in Midsommar and Annihilation


"Earth laughs in flowers, to see her boastful boys
Earth-proud, proud of the earth which is not theirs;
Who steer the plough, but cannot steer their feet
Clear of the grave." 
 
- Ralph Waldo Emerson


Florence Pugh as Dani in Midsommar (2019)


Tessa Thompson as Josie in Annihilation (2018)

Midsommar's Dani and Annihilation's Josie both succumb to the forces of nature in their respective films. Both characters journey into unknown territories: Dani travels to a reclusive tribe in Sweden; Josie investigates "the Shimmer," a mysterious zone at a meteorite crash site.

At the end of each of their journies, they are consumed and transformed. Dani is crowned as the May Queen and has to don a heavy, engulfing dress made of colorful flowers. Josie, due to the anomalous properties of the Shimmer, is transformed into a  flower person. 

Their transformations wouldn't be possible without their self-destruction first. By the point Dani is crowned as the May Queen, she has already imploded. She is suffering from the grief of the death of her family and the death of her relationship. Josie has witnessed the death of team members and is suicidal, indicated by the scars on her wrists. 

They are both able to be reborn through nature, specifically flowers. Although the floral dress is heavy at first, at the end of the film, Dani wears it gleefully, becoming a new member of the tribe. Her past is behind her, and she has gained a new family. As Josie becomes a flower person, she can live and thrive without her sorrow and suicidal thoughts burdening her. She can escape everything.

The flowers consume these characters, but they also heal them. 

Nature is beautiful. It is lush. It is colorful. It is magical. It is awe-inspiring. It is chaotic. Untamed. Indifferent. Life-giving. Life-taking. It is ever-evolving yet ever-unchanging. To take inspiration from the Emerson quote above, the same earth which gives vibrant flowers is the burial site for humanity. Everything begins and ends in the ground.

Monday, November 8, 2021

religious imagery in non-religious movies pt. 1 #Alive (2020)

 

#Alive was a decent and fun zombie movie but what really impressed me was the imagery. Especially the one above, which is actually one of my favorite scenes in a movie in the last few years.

Our protagonist covers his windows with paper as a way to safeguard against the zombies which surround his apartment. The result resembles stained glass representing the sanctuary and haven his apartment has become; much akin to a church.



A window of the Chartres Cathedral                           

Candyman and Hellraiser


Virginia Madsen as Helen in Candyman (1992)


Clare Higgins as Julia in Hellraiser (1987)

Here we have two dreamy, surreal movies which are both presented as horror films but at the core, they are both love stories.

Each romance is tragic: in Candyman, a black slave falls in love with a white woman and is brutally murdered as a result. He becomes an urban legend - a haunting figure coming back to torment anyone who dares to say his name. In Hellraiser, a woman does everything to bring back the man she loves - no matter what the cost. 

loves haunts us all
                                        

The immaculate Tony Todd as the titular Candyman 

a history of hauntings pt 1

As emotional as I may seem to people, I am a fairly logical person. I always defer to established facts and science, even for phenomena that...