Supernatural Movie Machine: Recent Episodes
Supernatural Movie Machine
Despite having dialogue as sparse as its title, Sweetheart finds a way to be a lot of things at once. Addiction, depression, complacency - all hindrances that can be blamed on our own actions, but should they be? Sweetheart faces down these metaphorical monsters, as well as one hella buff shark-man.
The Craft is youthful angst meets Eldritch gods. It takes trauma and folds it into a teen girl drama that’s less about teens or girls and more about processing the oppressive forces of poverty, misery, and injustice. In this episode, I go deep into the story structure, setups & payoffs, and character motivations. Hence the length. I could actually go on, but I’ve reeled it in as best as I could!
Cronenberg has said that Possessor focuses on Vos’ relationship with violence, and the way she experiences and processes it. Taking that idea and merging it with comments he makes in the same interview about the pandemic - Vos’ relationship with violence isn’t monogamous. We all have a relationship with violence. Efficiency and consumption make violence a fact of our lives.
Night Teeth is a reminder that our obsession with vampires is also an obsession with sex, wealth, and power. We'll push past the glamor of Night Teeth and run into the brick wall that lies closely behind - the one spray-painted with well-intentioned but ultimately meaningless graffiti that reads: I, TOO, WANT TO BE RICH! We're defending it because it's pretty, shallow, and fun - the way having money is!
Raw is one of those films that often makes it onto Top Ten Best Body Horror lists. It’s got elements of everything a horror snob could love; it’s French, it’s well-shot, it stars two women who give fantastic performances as sisters, and the slower pacing combined up-front gore leave you wondering wtf is going to happen next?
One thing Raw ISN’T is a Coming of Age movie.
The Shape of Water is about a person who discovers their true self and strives to live that truth despite the pressure of society and its active, literal, persecution of their lifestyle.
See? Real quick.
The metaphor isn’t the problem. What was problematic, for me - at first - was the execution.
A short way to go about mainstreaming my initial complaint is to say: it wasn’t horny enough for me.
The Mighty Paw Smart Bell saved our floors. Really.
When adopting from anywhere, there’s a chance that your puppy will have picked up bad habits.
Our dilemma when we adopted Val was that it became obvious rather quickly that she’d been “trained” using pee pads.
Using a pee pad is not the same as being housebroken; it means that your puppy has been taught that it’s okay to pee on some things in the house. When they move in with you, they then try to figure out, hmm, what can I pee on here?
This is almost worse than having a completely un-housebroken puppy because your puppy thinks that there is a code to crack. Yes, peeing outside is good. But there is something that I can pee on inside. Somewhere.
No rugs in the house were safe.
After weeks of implementing a consistent and successful “pee break = treat” routine, we presented her with her very own fluffy dog bed for the living room.
She immediately peed on it.
Because, in her mind, she’d finally been given a puppy pad.
We had to redouble our housebreaking efforts. We were strict with her eating and drinking schedule. We walked her even more regularly and for longer. We would jump up in the middle of the night at so much as a whimper so that she wouldn’t mess her crate. We scolded when we were frustrated; we more consistently used positive reinforcement with treats and praise. We pleaded. We begged. We cried to the heavens, damn you, puppy pads! We just weren’t breaking through.
The doggy doorbell was kind of a wild idea.
Our thought process was to remove as many obstacles between Val and her ability to relieve herself outside. We needed her to clearly communicate with us when she needed to go and to give her the freedom to get our attention if we were busy. I get it - I’m pretty non-confrontational myself and given the choice between asking for help and not, I’ll go the not route every time.
The Mighty Paw Smart Bell is exactly everything we’d hoped it would be.
The mechanics of the bell and receiver are simple and, importantly for us, not an eye-sore. The button sticks to the door, low enough that your pup can press it with a nose or paw. The bell plugs in wherever is convenient and in range for you. (No batteries needed!)
There are instructions for how to encourage your puppy to utilize the Mighty Paw Smart Bell packed in the box. We were worried about that part since we can’t use peanut butter due to Val’s dietary allergies. It seemed like a complex idea for a puppy to grasp. It’s not like there are buttons in the wild. Luckily for us, Val’s whip-smart!
She immediately took to the Smart Bell, curious and excited! Val’s pitbull sociability and lab enthusiasm means that she’s a people-pleaser, to the point of being willing to clown around for a few laughs. She went nuts ringing the bell, we belly-laughed in surprise, and she learned that it was a good thing to ring the bell.
Next, any time she rang the bell we put her outside. This showed her that it wasn’t just a toy, but a tool. If she wanted to go outside, all she had to do was ring the bell and one of us would stop what we were doing and let her out.
With the exception of the increasingly rare (like, zero now) overnight crate accident, Val has never again peed inside since installing the Smart Bell Our rugs are finally safe! And she now has several nice, clean, dry, comfy beds to lounge on.
Responding to criticisms of Pooka, Pooka Lives! dares you to have exactly what you asked for. Cutting the metaphorical and juicing up the cynicism, Pooka Lives! basically sums up what it's like to be an older Millennial.
There's a genuinely sinister aspect of our mommy dearest on this plane, and it isn't that she turns into a bloodsucking monster. Take deep panicked breaths through your oxygen mask so that you can be calm during the dissection of this mile-high disaster horror.
In a world of metaphorical monsters, Pooka sheds its Creature Feature suit to reveal that, yet again, humans are the real bad guys here. A dreamy waltz into the self-denying mind of an abusive husband and father, Pooka lovebombs us into a limbo of red and blue lights, violence, and misery, then tells us that next time, it'll be better.
We're holding your hand through every step of the escalating terrors of Splice. When a metaphor about family trauma goes off the rails, Splice boldly declares that where we're going, we won't need rails.
Wildling dares to clumsily fumble with the bra straps of a "coming of age" movie, adding much to ongoing discussions such as: What Really Makes a Woman and How Old is Old Enough. Supernatural Movie Machine picks apart the two main metaphors presented in Wildling: A: Puberty (for a Woman) B: Nature vs Nurture (or all Mankind).