A God Demands

Content Warning: References to racism, murder, torture, and sexual abuse.   It’s easy to imagine yourself as a god. Fiction constantly invites you to do so; the best characters have agency, after all, and with more power comes more agency. In political thrillers, you’re invited to imagine how you would command a nation. In war … Continue reading A God Demands

Wind River: Six Miles in the Snow

At first glance, Wind River seems like nothing but a film about a man killing a predator. That’s how Jeremy Renner’s Cory Lambert starts the story: the first time we see him is just after he shoots a wolf from a distance with a high-powered rifle. Before the wolf abruptly dies, it menaces a herd … Continue reading Wind River: Six Miles in the Snow

The Necessity of Gray in Batman: The Animated Series

Much is made of the style of Batman: The Animated Series. A mixture of film noir and art deco that the producers called “dark deco,” the visuals and cinematic grammar of the 90s WB series are simultaneously classic and innovative. To achieve this look, the animators would begin with black paper instead of white, so … Continue reading The Necessity of Gray in Batman: The Animated Series

Emperor

“Not the knife, boy, I want to look presentable at the funeral.” “What then? What do I use if not the knife?” “You’re going to use your hands. You need to feel this in your flesh, in your bones. You must feel it when you take a life.” “I don’t want to take a life.” … Continue reading Emperor

It’s War: Thoughts on Killing Nazis from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

When I first watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, I didn’t understand the full connotation behind the term “Nazi collaborator.” To be fair, I was eight. At that age, I wasn’t in the habit of looking too closely at the morality of the movies I watched. I understood that the bad guys lost because … Continue reading It’s War: Thoughts on Killing Nazis from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade