#and then i suggested we watch The Haunting of Bly Manor. my first rewatch

[parakeetpark]

I'm so obsessed with Midnight Mass, somehow we've only been watching an episode a day, and today finished ep3. But I cannot stop thinking about it so I'm just rewatching the first episode right now, it's so much fun

It's great when you find a new fiction hyperfixation to sink your teeth into, I haven't had this in a while!

Usually I don't get into tv shows, I'll rewatch things but probably the last new series I watched was one of Mike Flanagan's earlier things like 3 years ago. Something about his stuff just works well for me. I've not found another horror series maker I've enjoyed (would love recommendations btw bc I'm so hesitant to start series, it's a commitment y'know)

But for now I'm gonna rewatch the first three eps probably, or as much as I can until we watch ep4 tomorrow >:)

[localhorrornerd]

Horror Shows for the Halloween Season

I was gonna do the 31 horror movies like I did last year, but that took up way too much time that I do not currently have so - Here’s a list of 10 horror shows you may wanna check out for the season!

1. Ghost VRos

A fairly short horror comedy series consisting of eight 10 minute or so episodes, it focuses on a duo who runs a sort of ghost hunting business in which they talk to ghosts through VR technology. It’s just a fun little thing you can watch in one sitting, and I think it’s fairly enjoyable!

2. Lost Tapes

So if you watched Animal Planet back in the day you probably know this show. It’s basically an anthology show where each episode discusses a different cryptid/monster and also shows ‘found footage’ of it on tape. It always discusses the creatures as if they could be real and it’s honestly a lot of fun! Especially if you watched it when younger I’d say to give it a rewatch for nostalgia. 

3. Goedam

Another short little series consisting of eight short episodes, this focuses more solely on horror, and it’s basically just a series made up of different short films. There’s not too much for me to say without going into talking about each short, but I’d say it’s worth the watch (warning for a lot of body horror though)!

4. Psychoville

So this series is actually done by the same people who did Inside No.9! Though this one is not an anthology series and is about a group of people all connected by someone sending them weird letters all indicating that they know that they did something wrong. It’s a lot more comedic than horror, but it still has those aspects!

5. Slasher

So this series currently has 3 seasons, and each season has a different plot. I would recommend the first season the most, but that’s just my personal preference. I will give a heads up though as Slasher has a lot of triggering content.

6. Re:Mind

A group of classmates all find themselves waking up in a room with them trapped together and their feet locked down to the floor. They’re all trying to figure out why and how they got there, but in the process start uncovering many secrets about each other.

7. Two Sentence Horror Stories

Another anthology show, though this one is based off of the short two sentence horror stories that float around the internet. Each episode focuses on a different story where you see the first sentence at the beginning and the second at the end. It’s a lot of fun and is confirmed it will have at least two more seasons!

8. Strangers from Hell/Hell is Other People

If you’re looking for a show about serial killers, well look no further. This centers around a man who moves into a cheap residency- the only place he can afford- and starts to learn quickly his new neighbors might not be all that they seem. And that he might just be risking his life by living there. This series was actually based off a webtoon/comic and I believe is very interesting.

9. What We Do in the Shadows

This one is definitely more comedy than horror but it does not matter to me because I feel like everyone needs to go watch the TV series for this - which was originally a movie. Especially if you like vampires as it’s a mockumentary type series that follows a group of vampires living in the modern day world, and it’s really fun. It currently has two seasons with a third planned.

10. The Haunting of Hill House/Bly Manor

Okay, I’m sure most know about this series already, but I’m bringing it up as it has a second season (Bly Manor) about to come out on the 9th. The second season will be a completely different story from the first, but the first focuses on a family who’s lives were pretty much ruined from a Haunted House they lived in as kids. If you haven’t seen it, I do suggest you go watch it now before the second season comes out.

[brittie-frog]

Haunting of Bly Manor

Right.

I love horror and after spending sometimes days watching video essays on gay history, specifically in (horror) movies and film, I now kinda understand why so with the Haunting series and its gay rep and them not being the villain of the story, I loved it.

(Quick note I have only rewatched the show twice and can only take from my own experience of media)

My phone also knows me so will suggest news stories on things I've recently watched or current murder cases. So it suggested me this story today:

I went in open minded knowing that some people were angry about the ending falling into the 'kill the gays' trope (which I will come back to).

At first it was fine, talking about the ghost story/love story comment and how it relates to the show and has good analysis that I agree with. Then it goes on to basically summarise the show.

It keeps mentioning that all the gay subtext is implied:

why Dani broke up with her fiance

why Jaimie is reluctant to be vulnerable with Dani (before the monologue)

And that there needs to be a “lot of filling in between the lines” to understand their romance despite their practically constant flirting (Jaimie's 'Poppins' for Dani is the cutest nickname) and multiple kissing scenes. However, I digress, it can be sometimes hard to understand certain attitudes to each other at the beginning.

It also states that its like they want on the pat on the back for "making them queer, without making anything about them very queer". I don't know what this means, but I took two interpretations:

That not all queer people need to stereotypically look queer to be and that is a step forward for gay rep (I prefer)

That the creator wants to be celebrated for making gay rep without truely showing their queerness (which I think is pretty false)

Then it talks about the fireside chat and Jaimie's backstory, describing the monologue as "shoehorned" into the scene and "devoid of any mention of her sexuality". This is where the first part of my 10 minute research for context comes in. This is set in 1987 in a small town in England with an American. In charge of England at the time was the famously homophobic Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher that implemented Clause 28. No one in this setting and right mind - especially after being ridiculed for most of her life - would come out to any one, flirting or not, that they have known for at most a month or two. Also, this entire scene resolves around Jaimie's attitudes towards people, and why she's reluctant to get close to people, favouring taking care of her flowers over interacting with others.

Then it talks about Owen and Mrs. Grose having "more meaningful screen time and backstories that continue throughout multiple episodes".

First Hannah. We basically get Hannah's entire backstory in episode 5: how she met Owen, scenes of her working at the Manor (in non-chronological order) and how she died in the first episode. Then that continued into the final episode when she finally comes to terms with her death and her love for Owen to save everyone. We don't actually get much backstory in the way of her childhood or even how she met the family (from what I remember, correct me if I'm wrong).

Now Owen. His backstory is that he grew up in Bly, left to go to France and became a Sous Chef, only coming back because his mum got diagnosed with dementia and he needed to take care of her despite her constantly mistaking him for other people. That is also only explored through Hannah's memories of the interview and the bonfire-side chat.

Those are both sad backstories but you can't call them any more or less meaningful than Jaimie's of in depth about how her and her family were ridiculed and bullied throughout her life and even spent time in juvie. They all have points mentioned in their stories that I would love more indepth on: how Hannah met the family/met Sam, either Owen's childhood in Bly or his time in France and why Jaimie spent time in juvie. But I also realise this is a short series that has to make fleshed out characters and tell an entire story in 8 episodes.

The article then talks about how even the ghosts got an entire episode to themselves when they barely show up. If you look in the background of the majority of scenes you'll see them and personally I really enjoy getting their stories of how they died. However, that episode is about more than just finding out about the ghosts and Viola's life, it’s mainly about what led to her being the first ghost and causing other dead people to stay as ghosts and the origin of those specific words that give a ghost access to an alive person’s body, to help explain the majority of the show. If I showed my friend this show and removed that episode I would have more questions asked than when my mum finished it.

Now I don’t know what to say. I agree there is no law on art so it can be anything and I usually think that the haunting series are in a slightly different universe (it’s how sleep at night knowing that someone can’t be so stubborn they become a murdering ghost) but also yes, trans-roles should be given to trans people more often. However they are actors and their job is to play some they aren’t for entertainment so for the most part I agree with Scarlett about being able to play anything. Also yes the self-congratulatory approach after playing an LGBT+ character when you’re cishet is kinda bad unless you have the full support of the community telling you it was a good portrayal and accurate representation. It won’t be enough for minorities if our representation, that people outside the communities are calling great, are just surface level characters that are just there for tokenism but you can’t compare Bly Manor characters to those types of characters. All of them have so much development and are well done that the majority of the community that has watched the show have no problem with and love their representation.

Personally I love both Theo Crain and Jaimie and Dani because they represent different things. Theo Crain is on a basic level. as a lothario, a stereotypical butch lesbian, constantly hooking up and struggles to actually open up and love people. Dani and Jaimie are soft, domestic cottage core lesbians in a flower shop AU. This is not a bad thing and just because they have a “tepid romance” doesn’t mean it’s a step back. Also more context time:

 As said before Thatcher was in charge and heavily homophobic, creating laws to stop people from teaching children about homosexuality since gay sex had been decriminalised recently

 It was the middle of the AIDs epidemic. Dani was coming from a country that was doing nothing about the deaths of thousands and going to a country where hysteria about AIDs was rampant but they were doing more, like the ‘AIDs: don’t die of ignorance’ information leaflet despite it not being as huge with 46 deaths by 1984. (That assumes that the AIDs epidemic happened in this universe)

Dani clearly had some form of internalized homophobia before even coming to England because she spent so long with her fiance hoping to feel the way she’s supposed to (I think the ghost of him is her guilt and internalized issues personified as it constantly appears when she’s trying to move forward.)

Also in the final episode it shows that is probably at least some homophobia in America as they kiss in the shop then look outside and go to the back so no one can see. (This could be interpreted as seeing if anyone is planning on coming in so they can escape without having to stop early for customers but Jaimie had already changed the sign to closed.)

Now onto the ‘kill the gays’ trope. Yes this is a huge trope that is so damaging to the community that we’re constantly the ones killed off for views or when their tokenism is no longer important, that is fucked up! However this doesn’t mean that we should give every gay character plot armour, cause that’s also unrealistic, just to please the select few that will call it out as a damaging trope. There is huge difference between say, The 100 killing Lexa and Bly Manor killing Dani as one has plot relevance and brings the story to a close while the other enraged an entire generation so much they started a brand new convention to celebrate queer relationships/characters in media. It’s also not like she was the only one to die, it’s horror after all, Hannah, Rebecca and Peter, the parents and all those ghosts died or were already dead.

Like many of the comments on the article - If all you got from this show was it falls into kill the gays, you have completely missed the entire point of the show.