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acilykos · 2 years ago

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Senku Ishigami is Aromantic and Asexual and here is why:

Because I'm sick and tired of Senku ships (yes, the queer platonic ones too because he's a loveless AroAce, and the x reader. Sorry to burst anyone’s bubble) and because AroAces deserve good representation where we’re not labled as heartless or boring (because Senku has a heart and is kind, as much as he likes to give snide remarks at times, and is an AMAZING character), I have gathered every instance where Senku shows clear disinterest (and distaste) in romance and sexuality to prove once and for all that he has been 10 billion percent Aromantic and Asexual since day ONE.

I will talk about his responses to romance and physical touch as well as look at his "romantic relationships" throughout the manga (We’re talking about the entire work, so spoilers ahead!!)

I've cited the chapters, as well as have included the panels to which I'm referring in this post so you all can look at the proof yourselves and added the various links too.

Also Happy Pride Month everyone, it’s finally the Aces' Day of it, so it felt right to make the post today!

Now then, get excited!!

On his Sexuality:

Unlike Taiju, Senku seems to averse the idea of romance, already seen in Chapter 1, as he mocks Taiju's interest in, but refusal to act on five year long crush on, Yuzuriha, even having created a "love potion" that actually was petrol and offering it to Taiju. His expression when Yuzuriha was revived in the same dramatic sense as would be in a cliché romance, points to Senkū being very nonplussed by the show of romantic acts as well (Chapter 5).

Senku seemed equally unamused when Tsukasa stated his admiration towards him “Senku, you are… an incredible man.” (Chapter 4), replying to Tsukasa “A man who’d praise another man to his face… is either flirting or scheming. What’re you really trying to say?” (Chapter 4), clearly showing that both the flirting and the scheming are equally unwelcome.

He also mocks Hyoga‘s mannerism during their battle, saying he behaved as if this was some sort of „awkward“ love confession and that he is not interested even if he is „divorced“ (Chapter 80).

Senku claims romance and love to only cause problems due to its highly illogical nature, „A brain clouded by love is the most irrational kind. It leads to nothing but trouble.“, as he explains to Kohaku (Chapter 17) because he mistook her interest in him as romantic. Even saying „Annoying crap like that makes me wanna curl up and die.“.

He instantly dismissed the idea of getting Garnet, Sapphire and Ruby any boyfriends, saying “Not a chance we’ll make one of those with science!!” (Chapter 22) with a very shocked and appalled face.

When it comes to inquiring about his type, he doesn’t give any actual answers, like when Ruby, one of the prettiest girls in the Ishigami Village, asked what his type of girl is and Senku replied, without even paying any attention to her “Girls who can pump tons of oxygen into an iron forge.” (Chapter 23), a blunt answer as Kohaku calls him out on using Ruby’s ‘interest’ for his personal gain with no sincerity or care for Ruby herself.

He also responses to Nikki’s exclamation of possibly falling in love with him with clear repulsion, kindly asking her not to do that and to “nip that bud” (Chapter 66) as he does not want people to have romantic feelings towards himself. As seen with Kohaku and Nikki, he is not afraid of telling people openly that their romantic feelings are not welcomed when directed at himself, trying to kill any aroused feelings towards him as soon as possible.

He also stays unaffected by Amaryllis love confession as she tried to fool them, looking absolutely baffled and repulsed by this advance and act (Chapter 105). Senku cuts Amaryllis off, saying “I’m the one for you? Blah, blah, whatever. Where’s the treasure?” (Chapter 105), showing not even a millimetre of interest in her and being his practical self in search of the Soyuz capsule. Kohaku add to it, saying that Amaryllis has finally “Met her match” (Chapter 105), which shocks Amaryllis, making her exclaim “Resisting my irresistible charms? Is that even possible?” (Chapter 105) as everyone else, including Soyuz and Gen found her very appealing. Gen even claimed that “Dear Senku is immune to those acts” (Chapter 105) before proceeding to flirt with Amaryllis himself. As we later see as well, Amaryllis starts to understand that Senku is uninterested in romance, able to tell from Kohaku hugging him, which Senku does not reciprocate, that he has no romantic interest in others as she says that it’s “not that kind of hug” (Chapter 138).

Senku is apathetic and repulsed to any advances made towards him, as is also later seen with Luna. Every relationship he has had was only due to circumstantial needs and always with a face of pure confusion and / or a certain amount of distaste, like his accidental marriage to Ruri, after Chrome fell unconscious and couldn't fight and he in his stead won their staged battle for the village chief's position, and whom he divorced seconds later, only wanting to take the alcohol of the village to finish the sulfa drug for Ruri (Chapter 39 - 40).

Later on, after he was shot by Stanley, and as an effort to save his comrades as well as his own life, he agrees to Luna's proposal to become her boyfriend, claiming it to be "Sorta like a political marriage!" (Chapter 178), again showing no actual romantic interest in her, which is supported time and time again by characters claiming "that you people don't know Senku at all" if they think his interest in a person is of romantic nature (examples: Chapter 51, Chapter 178).

Chelsea even claims that "Doesn't sound like you're an item to me." (Chapter 178) with Kohaku agreeing that she assumed as much as Senku isn't romantically attracted to anyone. Another example for it is when he wanted to gather information on Homura, who was spying on them, and Ginro thought Senku meant it in a romantic or sexual way, to which Chrome and Kohaku both replied that "No, pretty sure that's not the case. You people don't know Senku at all." (Chapter 51).

When he was a young child and wondered why the moon was following him, Byakuya jokingly insistent on the moon loving him "Having a thing for him" (Chapter 42), to which Senku replied in disgust, claiming that he was "doing serious science" in the Anime and "Huh? Enough bedtime stories. Gimme cold, hard science facts." in the manga with a displeased expression (Chapter 42).

When Luna expressed doubts about her dating Senku, since later was gone working against Xeno, she said "I mean you're not about to tell me... That Senku ten billion percent doesn't give a crap about dating... and would say whatever I want to hear... Just to accomplish his goals, right...? Because obviously nobody'd ever be that outta line... Right?" to which every character present made clear that he does those things, with Kinro adding that "Actually, in order to further his goals, he even went as far as getting married." with Luna expressing shock that he is married, to which Kinro clarified that "Well, then he ended it..." to which she again expressed shock (Chapter 163).

He despises and is disgusted by physical contact, escaping any hugs (Chapter 74) and even threatening Taiju for hugging him buck-naked (Chapter 1). He also shows disgust at Amaryllis act to charm him as she hugs him tightly and expresses her “love” towards him (Chapter 105). Another show of absolute disgust from physical contact being when Kohaku kissed his cheek in an effort to fool Kirisame from discovering that they're intruders and enemies (Chapter 107).

Another strong instance is the amount of disgust he expressed at the thought of having had to cuddle with Magma to prevent hypothermia (Chapter 56), calling it the "Worst-case scenario" and even putting emphasis on it being the worst-case.

At best, Senku exhibits little to no reaction about naked bodies, being very neutral about the fact and rationalising that in an emergency like that, it doesn’t matter whether or not one is naked, making no comments about appearances or the like. The complete opposite of Taiju, who became very worried for Yuzuriha’s comfort, not wanting her to be naked at revival (Chapter 3). He’s equally unimpressed with Ryusui at his revival and the confidence he showed, being more bewildered at Ryusui’s sudden comment about his naked state being “tacky” in front of three beauties (Chapter 85).

There are only a few rare times where he actually allows physical contact, most of them being little touches or even hugs after hard-fought battles or difficult tasks (not counting in the high fives and handshakes since they're not as "intimate" and Senku clearly has no problem with them), such as allowing Kohaku to hug him after defeating Ibara on Treasure Island (Chapter 138), noticeably not hugging her back. Amaryllis in that instance explains how the hug they shared is not of romantic love, saying "No, it isn’t like that. It’s not that kind of hug.“ when Gen claimed that Kirisame still thinks they're a couple when they absolutely aren't.

Another time being that he allows Suika, after seven years of her trying to break the second world-wide petrification event, to hug him (Chapter 196, start of Chapter 197), as well as Taiju and Chrome, after they seized victory and regained control of the Miracle Cave (Chapter 75). Here Inagaki himself confirmed that Senku is not the type of person to be considerate of others feelings, so he doesn't hug back. Even in the special chapter Senkū doesn't hug Kohaku back while lost on sea and doesn't even blush, despite the circumstances, which Kohaku calls out (Chapter 232.5).

When during the Communications Arc they catch Homura, to avoid her informing the Tsukasa Empire of Senku's recreation of telephones, Senku pinned her to the ground, to which Homura told him to be careful where he touches with Senku replying "That won't work on me, so drop the act." (Chapter 62), having her show a defeated face that Senku exhibited no reaction in being in such a compromising position. He also implies that he is not one of the men Homura can flirt with even after civilisation is up again (but considering her own affections towards Hyoga, she also wouldn’t try) "After our scientific civilization is up and running, there'll be plenty of impressionable young boys for you to flirt with.".

Senku, unlike other characters, has never been stated to be or have been in any romantic entanglement before the petrification event either in the Q&As (Big example in Volume 22 or 23 as seen in this translation from Reddit, the link is at the end of the post), as well as the relationship chart from Chapter 179, where love interests are shown, but Senkū himself has none because he’s not attracted to anyone romantically.

Even with the fanbook, the types of people each character enjoy are general statements, not indicative of romantic/sexual attraction considering that most characters talk about and say "people" in general. Senkū's for example are "people who do what needs to be done", which is reflected by the people he's surrounded by, as he says he likes those who quickly catch onto the situation, for example Ryūsui and Stanley, who get a verbal shout-out (Chapter 85, Chapter 221) since Senkū values intelligence.

He has yet to refer to himself as being in a relationship with anyone too and by the end of the manga, Senku stays single with his sole focus still being science, confirmed by Luna still trying to win Senku over, showing she hasn’t had any success in the past years since they first met (Chapter 232).

Senku's sole interest has been in science and science alone. Rather he exploits the romantic entanglements of others for himself, like getting Chrome on his site to make his Kingdom of Science grow using Chrome's attraction to Ruri (Chapter 21). The only two instances of him being in a relationship have been purely accidental and / or of strategic nature to reach a goal.

As seen in the Spin-off Chapters which notably take another few years after the series’ main storyline conclusion, Senku is still not in any sort of relationship. When Chelsea asks after Ruri and Chrome’s wedding whether Senku has any “romantic prospects” himself, to which he looks clearly confused and irritated going “Huh?” (Spin-off, Chapter 1, also see panel above). Moreover, he straight up says himself that “You oughta know I ain’t got the time for all that.” (Spin-off, Chapter 1) when Kohaku suggests she wouldn’t mind (which also doesn’t sound like she’s romantically interested either, and regards it more like another duty to fulfill). Afterwards any sort of romantic discussion for Senku is promptly shut down and never brought up again as the series reaches its final conclusion. Senku also agrees to Whyman’s statement that the “Heart and Emotions are just sophisticated programming to persevere social groups”, saying “Yep. No lies detected.” (Spin-off, Chapter 3), which mirrors exactly what he also told Kohaku when they first met in Chapter 17. It shows that to Senku STILL after over 10 years, these type of emotions are not something he regards with any positivity nor interest on his part.

On Ruri:

Never mind that Ruri herself isn’t interested in Senku, their accidental marriage due to Chrome fainting before he and Senku could finish their staged fight for the position of village chief and Ruri's husband was solely completed on Senku's part to get his hands on the resources necessary for the completion of the sulfa drug to save Ruri's life, claiming “Aaargh… This just got a whole lot more annoying“. He divorced her barely a few seconds in, as he wasn't allowed to leave the village due to his "marriage celebration" to which he instantly uttered "Then I demand a divorce" (Chapter 40) before taking off with Kaseki, Kohaku and the alcohol to complete the drug. Ever since their divorce has been referenced as pure comedic effect, even from Senku when he ridiculed Hyoga during their fight saying "What is this, an awkward confession of love at school? Hate to break it to you, but I'm married. Well, divorced... But still." (Chapter 80) as the other wanted to Senku to join forces with him. Kinro confirmed later on that the marriage was only "to reach his goals" (Chapter 163).

On Luna:

Their relationship is very one-sided on Luna's part, as Senku does not refer to Luna as his relationship partner, nor exhibits any interest in her that goes beyond her usefulness, as the only one with surgical and medical knowledge and skills, and as an ally. When Luna expressed her doubts about their arrangement saying "I mean you're not about to tell me... That Senku ten billion percent doesn't give a crap about dating... and would say whatever I want to hear... Just to accomplish his goals, right...? Because obviously nobody'd ever be that outta line... Right?" with everyone in her vicinity making clear that he did and that it's not his first time, as he got married to Ruri to "Further his goals'' as Kinro explains to Luna (Chapter 163). Senku calls their arrangement to be like a "political marriage" (Chapter 178), again clearly showing that there are no romantic or sexual feelings on his part towards her. Chelsea, as well as other characters, have noted that they aren't or don't seem like being in a relationship (Chapter 178) and Kohaku agreeing with her, claiming "This is Senku we're talking about, so I assumed as much" (Chapter 178), the only one claiming it to be one being Luna herself who is a very idealistic romantic herself, blind towards Senku's disinterest in romance and sexuality.

Senku has shown multiple times throughout the entire work his disinterest and open distaste towards both romantic and sexual advances, actively saying that love creates problems and is illogical next to stating that crushes and love is "Annoying crap" and makes him want to "curl up and die" (Chapter 17), next to openly telling Homura that her flirting and attempt to embarrass him on an intimate level "does not work on me" (Chapter 62) He has equally as often shown time and time again that he despises any kind of physical contact, referring to it twice as "worst-case scenario" (Chapter 56) even if it could save his life. Also evading every sort of attempted hug and showing displeasure at even a fake kiss on the cheek in a situation where he was forced to pretend being in a relationship (Chapter 107). Just like Ryusui has been only through the work itself confirmed as interested in both women and men, Senku has been confirmed to be aromantic and asexual through his open distaste towards romance and sexuality which is also called out in his own wikia.

Senku's "romantic" relationships have been purely for strategic purposes, mostly to literally save a or his own life.

Senku's sole interest lies in science and his self-proclaimed job and goal to save all of humanity, exhibiting zero interest in romance, sex or any sort of the like. He's a loveless AroAce. However, he can and does form strong friendships, caring for the people in his life in his own special kind of way.

Quotes:

"DON'T DARE HUG ME ALL NAKED LIKE THAT! I'LL KILL YOU!" - Senku to Taiju as later tries to hug him at their reunion after 3700 years, Chapter 1

“Wait! Senku!” “?!” “Yuzuriha… is naked!! We can’t revive her like this!” “Really, more irrational nonsense outta you? Who caaaares about crap like that? We live in a brutal stone world now!! Nobody’s gonna mind seeing a bare butt or someone’s junk swinging around!” - Senkū being completely unimpressed and neutral about naked bodies in the stone world emergency situation, Chapter 3

“Senku, you are… an incredible man.” […] “A man who’d praise another man to his face… is either flirting or scheming. What’re you really trying to say?” - Senku reacting negatively towards Tsukasa’s admiration towards him, Chapter 4

"Sheesh... Annoying crap like that makes me want to curl up and die. I mean really? You've got a crush on me now? In an Emergency like this...? [...] A brain clouded by love is the most irrational kind. It leads to nothing but trouble." - Senku to Kohaku, after she expresses that she likes him, Chapter 17

''Then I demand a divorce!'' - Senku, trying to escape with the liquor for the sulfa drug, Chapter 40

"Huh? Enough with the bedtime stories. Gimme cold, hard science." - Senku in response to Byakuya telling him that the moon must have a thing for him, Chapter 42

"No, pretty sure that's not the case. You people don't know Senku at all." - Chrome and Kohaku in response to Ginro thinking Senku is interested in Homura romantically or sexually, Chapter 51

"We avoided the ''worst-case scenario''! [...] Wrong! I would've kept freezing... And then the worst-case scenario would've been... Hugging Magma tight to conserve body heat..." - Senku explaining to Chrome and Magma his worst-case scenario, Chapter 56

''Heh, heh, heh... That won't work on me, so drop the act. After our scientific civilization is up and running, there'll be plenty of impressionable young boys for you to flirt with." - Senku in response to Homura trying to get him to let her go, Chapter 62

“Hee hee… I could see myself falling for you.” “Let’s nip that in the bud, ‘kay?” Senku’s response to Nikki’s declaration of possibly falling in love with him, Chapter 66

''I wanted… To speak with you, Senku. Just the two of us!'' ''What is this, an awkward confession of love at school? Hate to break it to you, but I’m married. Well, divorced… But still.“ - Senku mocking Hyoga as Hyoga wanted to get Senku on his side, Chapter 80

“I’m the one for you? Blah, blah, whatever. Where’s the treasure?” “She’s met her match” “Resisting my irresistible charms? Is that even possible?” “Until civilisation is back up and running, I’m afraid dear Senku is immune to those acts” - Senku, Kohaku, Amaryllis and Gen as Amaryllis was shocked to find out that Senku is immune against her charms, Chapter 105

"I mean you're not about to tell me... That Senku ten billion percent doesn't give a crap about dating... and would say whatever I want to hear... Just to accomplish his goals, right...? Because obviously nobody'd ever be that outta line... Right?" - Luna, as he expresses her doubts about her relationship with Senku, Chapter 163

"Actually, in order to further his goals, he even went as far as getting married." "HE'S ALREADY HITCHED?!" "Well, then he ended it..." "HE'S A DIVORCÉ?!" - Kinro confirming to Luna that Senku indeed tricked her, Chapter 163

''Sorta like a political marriage!" - Senku to Luna's proposal that she'll save him if he becomes her boyfriend, Chapter 178

"Doesn't sound like you're an item to me." - Chelsea, as Luna explains how she started "dating" Senku, Chapter 178

"This is Senku we're talking about, so I assumed as much." - Kohaku agreeing with Chelsea that Luna and Senku aren't dating, Chapter 178

“Heh heh heh… You oughta know I ain’t got the time for all that.” - Senku in response to Kohaku’s suggestion, Spin-off, Chapter 1

Citations:

https://dr-stone-online.com/manga/dr-stone-chapter-1/

https://w1.dr-stone-online.com/manga/dr-stone-chapter-3/

https://w1.dr-stone-online.com/manga/dr-stone-chapter-4/

https://w1.dr-stone-online.com/manga/dr-stone-chapter-5/

https://dr-stone-online.com/manga/dr-stone-chapter-17/

https://w1.dr-stone-online.com/manga/dr-stone-chapter-21/

https://w1.dr-stone-online.com/manga/dr-stone-chapter-22/

https://w1.dr-stone-online.com/manga/dr-stone-chapter-23/

https://dr-stone-online.com/manga/dr-stone-chapter-39/

https://dr-stone-online.com/manga/dr-stone-chapter-40/

https://dr-stone-online.com/manga/dr-stone-chapter-42/

https://dr-stone-online.com/manga/dr-stone-chapter-51/

https://dr-stone-online.com/manga/dr-stone-chapter-56/

https://dr-stone-online.com/manga/dr-stone-chapter-62/

https://w1.dr-stone-online.com/manga/dr-stone-chapter-66/

https://dr-stone-online.com/manga/dr-stone-chapter-74/

https://dr-stone-online.com/manga/dr-stone-chapter-75/

https://w1.dr-stone-online.com/manga/dr-stone-chapter-80/

https://w1.dr-stone-online.com/manga/dr-stone-chapter-85/

https://w1.dr-stone-online.com/manga/dr-stone-chapter-105/

https://dr-stone-online.com/manga/dr-stone-chapter-107/

https://dr-stone-online.com/manga/dr-stone-chapter-138/

https://dr-stone-online.com/manga/dr-stone-chapter-163/

https://dr-stone-online.com/manga/dr-stone-chapter-178/

https://w1.dr-stone-online.com/manga/dr-stone-chapter-179/

https://dr-stone-online.com/manga/dr-stone-chapter-196-scientist-all-alone/

https://dr-stone-online.com/manga/dr-stone-chapter-197-a-stony-eden-and-its-forbidden-fruit/

https://w1.dr-stone-online.com/manga/dr-stone-chapter-221/

https://w1.dr-stone-online.com/manga/dr-stone-manga-chapter-232/

https://w1.dr-stone-online.com/manga/dr-stone-manga-chapter-232-5/

https://dr-stone.fandom.com/wiki/Senku_Ishigami

https://www.reddit.com/r/DrStone/comments/qjnpe0/dr_stone_vol_22_23_extras_translated/

https://stone-dr.com/manga/dr-stone-chapter-232f/

https://stone-dr.com/manga/dr-stone-chapter-232h/

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mst3kproject · 8 years ago

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206: Ring of Terror

This was the only episode in the show's entire run where they showed the movie before the short. I assume this was because they wanted to get the damn thing over with and forget about it as quickly as possible. I sympathize.

Ring of Terror begins with a graveyard custodian, who looks rather like a corpse himself, calling to his cat Puma as if he intends to molest it. He happens across a gravestone belonging to a Lewis Moffitt, who supposedly died at twenty-two – we then flash back to meet this 'young' man, a dedicated medical student who claims not to be afraid of anything. Blood doesn't shake him, and rattlesnakes merely piss him off. His one terrible, secret fear? Zombies.

For a fraternity hazing, Moffitt is dared to steal a ring from a corpse. When he tries to do so, he is startled by Puma the cat, thinks the corpse is coming to life, and dies of a heart attack on the spot. I think we're meant to assume that the fraternity brothers were deeply sorry and promised never to haze anybody ever again, but there's no denoument. We just cut back to the graveyard custodian, and the movie ends.

A good indication of the general level of creativity on display here is that the screenwriter, Lewis Simeon, and the main character, Lewis Moffitt, have the same first name. He named the main character after himself. Bert I. Gordon at least named Glenn Manning after the actor who played him.

Let's begin by dealing with some of the most obvious badness in the movie. As Joel and the bots observe, repeatedly, almost all the actors are way older than the characters they're supposed to be playing. It's hard to tell the difference between the students and the professors. George E. Mather was forty-two when he played twenty-two-year-old Lewis Moffitt. That's gotta be some kind of a record. Esther Furst, playing Moffitt's girlfriend Betty, can't be that much younger, but I’m not gonna complain too much about that. I mean, how creepy would it be to have an actual twenty-two-year-old playing opposite Mather? Apparently this was something that figured prominently in the original reviews, too – when people think your actors are too old in a business that's used to overage movie college students, you know you screwed up.

The acting is distractingly bad, stilted and recited. Everybody looks bored – in a scene at the snappily-named Campus Cafeteria Club, the dancers look bored, the diners look bored, the band looks bored. Even the skeleton in the dissection theater (hanging out in between shoots for Teenagers from Outer Space) looks bored! The only characters in the whole movie who honestly seem to be having a good time are Tiny and Ragdoll, who are there to be the butts of a series of fat jokes. It's not funny the first time, and it gets less and less funny as the movie progresses.

Actually, Tiny and Ragdoll probably show more character – in the sense of both personality and fortitude – than the rest of the cast put together. Tiny refuses to starve himself to gain the fraternity's approval. He'd rather hang out with people who accept him for who he is. He feels ill and momentarily passes out at the autopsy, but does not leave the room. He thinks Ragdoll is the most beautiful girl at the school, inside and out, and does not qualify it with references to her weight. Ragdoll herself enters a beauty contest, apparently not a bit bothered by the possibility of ridicule. They appear to be a committed, happy pair who honestly adore one another, and they're the only couple in the movie with any chemistry or anything in common. Just let them eat their ice cream and be in love! You wish you had that kind of confidence!

The bad actors get no help at all from the terrible script. Simeon barely even attempts to give anybody a personality, and everything that happens feels contrived, as if the entire movie is serving a plot purpose rather than showing us natural events. We are more told what people are like than we are shown. Characters inform us that Betty is intelligent and devoted, but we don't really see any evidence of either. Betty says she feels like there are two sides to Moffitt, always battling for control, but he seems like one person, one bland and boring person, to us. We are told that Moffitt brags and swaggers because he's proudly not afraid of anything, and that this behaviour upsets Betty, but we never see it. Actually, since she uses the phrase 'they say', perhaps this is rumour with no truth to it, but we don't see anybody else talk about it, or any other effect it has on Moffitt or his reputation. We hear that Wayne Arnold, the boy who died in a car accident halfway through the film, was a daredevil and close to the others, but we never met him – or if we did, nobody ever called him by name.

The movie is also a study in padding. The framing story, with the custodian and the cat, exists merely to make the movie longer (and to emphasize that, despite all evidence to the contrary, Moffitt is twenty-two years old). All the 'comic relief' with Tiny and Ragdoll is padding. Moffitt wanders around the mausoleum for far longer than necessary, also padding.

Then there's Moffitt's scare, which is supposed to be the whole point of the film. In a previous scene, he let a friend in on his one fear: as a child, Moffitt had to sleep in the same house where his grandfather's corpse was waiting to be buried, and his mother told him that if he didn't stop complaining and go to bed, the body would get up and 'give him a licking'. He's had nightmares about it ever since, and sleeps with the light on. And yes, that's scary – but I'm not sure what it is about this particular situation that reminds him of the incident.

At the funeral home, with Arnold's corpse laid out in a coffin and comfortable surroundings, the lights go out and Moffitt immediately panics as he remembers his chidhood scare. That makes sense. But in the clinical environment of the autopsy room he shows no fear of the John Doe corpse whatsoever. When he finds it later in the mausoleum, it's stored away in a drawer and the environment doesn't appear to be particularly dark. It's clearly not as dark as it was in the funeral home, and Moffitt has no trouble reading the signs and lables. The setting is completely different. The music suggests that the ring is somehow important in Moffitt's mind, but we don't get an explanation for this. Was his grandfather buried with a similar one?

Why is Moffitt given such a dangerous and illegal fraternity assignment at all? The other characters' hazings are harmless. One guy gets doused with Coca-Cola, another has to dress up as Cupid and surprise couples making out, a third has to go begging for pennies, and Tiny is merely asked to lose some weight. Yet Moffitt is told to break into a place, desecrate a corpse, and steal a piece of jewelry? What sense does that make?

Not to mention the rather obvious fact that the movie makes no attempt to scare the audience. Rather than trying to put us in Moffitt's shoes, where we might experience the heart-stopping terror along with him, it presents its story in a dry, textbookish way that lacks interest or mystery. From the very beginning we are told how it ends, with the shot of Moffitt's headstone, and it continues to be dull and predictable from there. Nothing in the script is even surprising, let alone scary, which comes across as an absolute ripoff in a movie with such an evocative title.

Now, let's talk about how this movie depicts women. I honestly wonder if Lewis Simeon ever met a woman. He clearly had no idea what they do when there are no men around. Maybe he thinks women are quantum waveforms who only collapse into actual people when they are observing or being observed by men. None of the female characters in the movie appear to have lives of their own. When we see them, they're talking about their boyfriends. Or going to the Cafeteria with their boyfriends. Or visiting the beauty parlour to look nice for their boyfriends. Or entering beauty contests for the approval of their boyfriends. Are they even at school here, or are they just hanging around so that the boys can get laid? None of them appear to study or even attend classes.

Oh, silly me, they're all taking Home Economics! They don't have to study when cooking and sewing come so naturally to women!

The women are also notable for their peevish selfishness. They collectively give the boys the cold shoulder for 'abandoning' them at a dance in favour of attending an autopsy. As Moffitt points out, though, they must have known that attending the autopsy was necessary for obtaining full course credits. Perhaps if the women have no lives outside of the men, they assume the men should not have lives outside of them? Betty is an exception to this, as she's annoyed with Moffitt over the rumors of his bragging rather than because he stood her up, but as I noted above, that doesn’t make sense either. I'm kind of astonished that we never get a reference to the idea that they're all just dating medical students in the hopes of being wealthy doctors' wives someday.

At the end of this movie, Joel asks the bots if they can name something good about it. Nobody can, but I think I've got one: despite what Crow says, I'm pretty sure they did use a fake snake for the scene in which Moffitt stomps it to death. The snake in the back of the car was probably an Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake, but it is never seen in the same shot as any of the actors and I expect they had a professional snake handler to work with it. The snake Moffitt stamps on does not show the rattlesnake's bold markings, so if it wasn't rubber it was at least not the same snake. I hope it was rubber. Killing things just to put it in a movie is inexcusable –I'm looking at you, Ruggero Deodato.

Do I get a ram chip?

#mst3k #reviews #ring of terror #fuck this movie #60s

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