Category: Analysis & Commentary
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Woe, Boypussy Be Upon Ye: Transing Characters in Fanfic & Fanart
What’s the deal with envisioning your blorbos as transgender? Originally published in Prism & Pen. It’s been unbelievably positive for me as a trans dude, the change in approach to trans characters in fandom and subsequently in media in general, and I just wanted to write a bit about my experiences with the cultural shift…
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Raped and Ruined: Themes of Sexual Assault and Reproductive Coercion in Alien (1979)
Theme: Capitalism, Theme: Debt & Money Troubles, Theme: Gender Exploration & Nonconformity, Theme: Horrors & Thrillers, Theme: Misogyny & Sexism, Theme: Monsters & Monsterfucking, Theme: Patriarchy & White Supremacy, Theme: Pregnancy & Reproduction, Theme: Science Fiction Movies & Books, Theme: Sexual Abuse & Rape, Theme: Sexual Health & MidwiferyExploring the underlying anxieties around sexual assault, loss of bodily autonomy, and forced impregnation in Alien (1979). From Merriam-Webster: Rape: unlawful sexual activity and usually sexual intercourse carried out forcibly or under threat of injury against a person’s will or with a person who is beneath a certain age or incapable of valid consent because of…
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Yentl: A Trans Man Studying Talmud is Distracted by Gay Thoughts
Yentl (1983, dir. Barbra Streisand) and Yentl the Yeshiva Boy by Isaac Bashevis Singer. Any of us would be distracted from study by Mandy Patinkin. Via IMDb. It’s a sad thing, hearing cisgender people talk about Yentl — especially the short story — and think they understand it, that they’re getting everything from it, while at the same time, they can’t…
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Close Reading: A Deep Dive into the Process
An in-depth guide into applying analysis to a piece of text and extrapolating meaning. A close reading is what we call an in-depth analysis of a piece of text, which might be in the case of fiction a short story, or for novels and novellas might be a portion or an extract from the text.…
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The Wicker Man (1973, dir. Robin Hardy)’s Spit in the Face of Cops and Colonialism
Exploring The Wicker Man’s themes of authority and control on its 50th anniversary. Still from The Wicker Man (1973, dir. Robin Hardy), via FILMGRAB. The Wicker Man (1973, dir. Robin Hardy) is a stalwart classic of the horror genre, and particularly the folk horror subgenre. It was re-released in 4K for its 50th anniversary on…
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Movie Review: Lawn Dogs (1997, dir. John Duigan)
What an interesting fucking film. This review also on Letterboxd. One of the end stills of the film, via IMDb. So like… This is a film from the perspective of a ten-year-old girl who grows up emotionally neglected and isolated in a picture-perfect gated community — having survived a heart transplant, she is in many ways morbid and isolated…
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The Straight Male Gaze on Pretty Male Gays
How does it feel when straight men want to fuck us? A quick little intro — I went ham on this one. I watched A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge and it just gave me a lot of feelings. Warnings throughout this piece for discussion of the film’s gore and violence, the homophobia both in- and…
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M3GAN and a lonely child:
M3GAN (2022) on child neglect and avoiding one’s caregiving responsibilities “She’ll take care of the little things, so you can spend more time doing the things that matter.” Note: spoilers ahead! There are in-depth spoilers for the entire film throughout. M3GAN, directed by Gerald Johnstone and written by Akela Cooper, is a great little horror film — it’s…