#do more historical statements and go lighter on the pseudopoetry (the solo one

[daisyachain]

Haven’t posted enough of late. MAGP listening experience has been pleasantly noncommittal. I’m in no danger of getting back into it. Works with a formula are a certain kind of catnip to me when I enjoy the formula, because then I can eagerly set my clock and wait for each beat to fall into place. Redwall, MAGPOD original, Furuya Nagisa manga. MAGPOD worked best for me when it was:

So I was going to my job, a rare occupation which logically has to exist, but which doesn’t have enough of a market to open many slots

When I received some kind of reminder of a) my emotionally cold parents, b) my ex with whom I had a committed relationship, c) a childhood friend with whom I have little in common

I completed my relationship-triggered detour and continued to my job and/or then returned to my overpriced and run-down home with black mold (British)

A mundane incident caused me to go on another detour, putting me in a worse mood due to the unearthing of some uneasy emotions earlier

Something went wrong that I chalked up to the break in routine

I failed to return to safety until a second thing went wrong, by which point it was too late

I, myself, enjoyed the formula. Trivia tidbits about weird jobs, estranged relationships, bad housing. The horror relied on a sense of realism to become scary; the thing that made it get to me was how likely it all seemed. The glacial pacing contributed to the effect. By grounding the work so heavily in an extremely boring daily routine, each whiff of the supernatural had an outsized impact. The sense was of a very, very slowly tightening noose. The breaks are few and far between: in s1, it’s Martin’s spider outburst, Sasha’s Michael encounter, and then the finale that mark the only events. Each one stands out in the stark minimalism of the fore/afterwords. [old woman voice] I remember when it was an event to talk to more than one character. You gotta make ‘em wait

MAGP, on the other hand, doesn’t take time setting up a status quo in its statements or in its plot. The audio drama parts introduce subplots right off the bad without much buildup—each character has their assigned schtick, which, fine, storytelling 101, but crucially it transforms an atmospheric attempt at a Twilight Zone type thing into a mid-tier network drama. The horror becomes more cliche’d, turning to tropes like the scary mascot (boring) rather than the in-between zones where Magnus flourished. Seriously. Between the 2012 deviantart nonsense of the needle man and the 314th ranked creepypasta Bonzo, the audience is informed of the need to feel weird rather than just allowed to interpret it. Compare the far more abstracted horror of the s1 two-parter Confession/Host, where the grounded storytelling of muddled events leaves you feeling like you’re the one who can’t tell up from down. The safe rituals of life perverted are a lot creepier to Moi than The XFiles Comedy Episode creatures of MAGP. I genuinely would’ve thought that it’s meant to be a parody if it weren’t for the fact that Bonzo is apparently our arc villain. Good grief. Maybe they’re trying to do something Savile-analogous? There are a lot more creepy ways to go about it while still being tasteful

Regardless, Magnus original flavour didn’t reinvent the wheel. For 4 good seasons it was a purveyor of ghost stories in the classic horror style, adapted surprisingly well to the anxieties of the developed world (eroding relationships, drudge work, housing crisis). MAGP neglects what Magnus did well while doing poorly what almost every other serialized piece of media in the world does at least as well, if not better (episodic work dramedy). Rip. Alas.