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
Criticism
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
Refusing the Call: Conflicting Motivations in The Mask of Zorro
Sitting down in front of the TV and putting in the DVD, I did not expect much from The Mask of Zorro. But I needed something to write about with regards to Campbell’s monomyth, and this was the movie that sprang to mind when I thought “hero.” A formative adventure for me as a child, … Continue reading Refusing the Call: Conflicting Motivations in The Mask of Zorro
The Pacifism of LAIKA
“I’m sure if they just bothered to sit down and talk it through, it’d be a different story.” Norman hears these words from his grandmother at the beginning of ParaNorman, a film by the stop-motion animation studio LAIKA. She says this after seeing a zombie eat a woman’s head in a movie, because, as Norman … Continue reading The Pacifism of LAIKA
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
To Go Where Film Noir Does Not: Les Bonnes Femmes
This is an old essay from a film class, that may only make sense if you've seen the 57-year-old movie. It also spoils the movie. It's a good essay though, I promise. Critics and audiences are occasionally divided over Claude Chabrol’s 1960 film Les Bonnes Femmes. The film is not the easiest to watch: it … Continue reading To Go Where Film Noir Does Not: Les Bonnes Femmes
A Conversation, A Climax: The Clashing Worlds of Moonlight
Some spoilers. Tarell Alvin McCraney, a successful playwright known for his Brother/Sister trilogy of plays, wrote In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue in drama school. It was not published or produced, and there are no copies available to the public. People who have read it describe it as an emotional work that relies on sensory … Continue reading A Conversation, A Climax: The Clashing Worlds of Moonlight
No Character Is Safe 