#european film market

[richardarmitagefanpage]

The Boy in the Woods Billboard at the European Film Market in Berlin, Germany.

📷: boyinthewoodsfilm

[cejav13]

This is not The Bear related but I have been anticipating my friend Lexi Alexander getting a distribution deal for her new movie, Absolute Dominion which she wrote and directed. I am so excited!

There are some Marvel Universe fans on here so I want to point out that Lexi was the first female director of a Marvel adaptation, Punisher: War Zone.

She has also directed episodes for television series such as, Supergirl, Arrow, S.W.A.T., How to Get Away with Murder and others.

Other films that she has directed.

Johnny Flynton

Green Street Hooligans

Lifted

[synonymouswithanonymous]

Hollywood opinion

Opinion, skip if uninterested. ☺☺

Post fires from google:

Impact on Production

However, the wildfires did cause production to pause in the area. 

FilmLA, the Los Angeles film permitting office, canceled permits for filming in or near evacuation zones. 

New applications to film in or near those areas were denied. 

Production in the area was expected to return, but live-action movies were no longer being shot in the Los Angeles region for the most part. 

If they're not even filming live action films in LA anymore "for the most part"......why would anyone make that their home base if they didn't want to?

From before the fires, article Sept 2024.

Mostly, impo a high 90+%, continuous Box office and critical flops, bad scripts, cheesey lacking of depth characters, and studios in crisis. Outsourcing etc to countries overseas......nah I think he made a good choice to stay in Europe. Why not help build up the great Danish film industry and work in Europe? I don't see it as a comfort zone, just smart business. Post covid and strikes, streaming services taking over, locations are mostly foreign now though that's nothing new (cheaper production/taxes). Imo most of the quality is coming from Europe, even what I suspected was a cheesey French movie about sharks was actually really good (jaws you've been replaced for aquatic terror) . the Bombardment was fantastic, both AHA and FB (I semi dislike they changed Ole B's title to appeal to viewers in the USA). And recently watched a series Burning Bodies from Spain and damn that was great! And based on a real murder. Europe is killing it for quality. Pun intended.

In today's world actors don't have to live in LA.

George Clooney and Amal Clooney (France), Lily Collins and Charlie McDowell (Denmark), Christina Milian (France), Richard Gere (Europe), Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi (England), and Josh Hartnett and Tamsin Egerton (England). Vincent Cassel (France), Cillian Murphy (Ireland).

More:

And more

Peace of mind/mental health should come first, but in a jetset world where you can just fly to locations, why would you have to sacrifice peace of mind, or friendships/family to move if you didn't want to?

What opportunity could he not fly out for? In the past year he's been to Poland, Spain, New York, France and more for regular fun travel. He can do all that and still call his home home. And build up a budding film industry, he and MH came up with their own show and it was greenlit and it was a hilarious modern satire-comedy drama. Would failing stateside studios have greenlit him or their ideas? Questionable. Even viaplay was affected by the fallout of the strikes and pandemic, but at least it went ahead instead of getting shelved unlike season 4 of GLOW (still sad, strong women that were like family who supported each other. And also told how hard it is to make it in LA as an actor).

He said he wanted to be a character actor, not a Hollywood heartthrob. He also says he's comfortable where his fame is at right now. And the labour laws are better over there.

Wow, I didn't realize Lilly Collins moved to copenhagen!! 💚 it's so sad also that so much of LA burned. 😢😢 it's affecting the industry and so many people lost everything they ever had or worked for, that's unimaginably horrible. Just like so many places recently, mother nature fights back with storms, bc to some preserving & creating wealth is more important than the planet we live on. Not looking forward to hurricane season.

[gagarinpost]

Goodbye Berlin

[haute-lifestyle-com]

From EIN Presswire - Janet Walker Presents Slate of Projects at EFM. #janetwalker #hautelifestylecom #theentertainmentzonecom #thesixsidesoftruth #thewednesdaykiller #theassassinsoffifthavenue #TheManhattanProject #project13thelastday #moviestowatch #movies #screenwriter #projects #producer #director #efm #efm2024

[gregor-samsung]

Tout ce qu'il me reste de la révolution [Whatever Happened to My Revolution] (Judith Davis, 2018)

[thydungeongal]

W/r/t "batman guy", while obviously that is a reasonable take I feel like there can be a sort of elitism presented by certain people in the space who have developed this sort of calvinist stance that The Popular Thing (5e) is inherently Bad, and thus they do tend to view people who (usually through no fault of their own as a player) end up playing mostly/exclusively D&D and/or Pathfinder.

Moreover, while obviously there are a lot of systems that support an ongoing campaign (Blades, VtM, or what have you) I would bet that very few people have run a Monsterhearts game that meets every week for years. Certain systems are just better at supporting an ongoing campaign, and those tend to be the more popular ones for a reason.

As someone who enjoys both D&D and other games I have very little sympathy for any argument that relies on evoking the specter of the nasty elitist indie RPG player: D&D is the most popular game there is, there is a huge community of people playing it and producing content around it; the self-consciousness about a diet of just D&D resulting in a myopic view of RPGs as a medium to me seems to arise out of a desire to get validated like one has a deep knowledge of the medium while just having a surface level knowledge of it.

Also, I feel the idea that D&D is popular because it supports longer campaigns has it all backwards. It is very easy to see that D&D's current popularity has very little to do with the game itself, because the way you'd hear people describe the appeal of the game it's either things that apply to all RPGs at large or things that can only be true if one has a very shallow understanding of the medium (i.e. "D&D can do anything"). D&D is the most popular simply due to economic realities, and very little of it has to do with what's inside the books.

And finally, games that support extended campaigns are a majority of games on the market. Like, games that support long campaigns are very much the norm. And I feel bringing up Monsterhearts here has the same energy as those "I'd rather watch a Marvel movie than a black and white art film from a country that's Slavic enough to sound weird but European enough for people not to call me racist for it" posts.

[razistoricharka]

Very interesting + concise article, pertinent with how much I've seen the joke about that "sadness in his eyes you only see in east european gay porn". Warning for pretty much everything you can expect.

Describing the wave of Eastern European gay pornography that flooded the US market following the dissolution of the USSR, Jones said: “They were products of a crude imperialist enterprise: cheap and nasty looking, with an atmosphere of coercion and cultural misunderstanding pervading them. Customers adored these videos, and expressed their breathless admiration whenever given the chance”

It gets pretty rough from here onward.

The Fall… opens with a short clip of a young man in profile, undressing. He looks uncomfortable, alternating between staring forward and glancing in the direction of the camera, his eyes showing a mix of discomfort and contempt. Jones’ voiceover states: “even in an unlikely place, it is possible to find traces of recent history” followed by b-roll taken from the aforementioned porn films including maps of the former USSR, market scenes, beggars and street footage. Their purpose in the aforementioned films appears to be part exoticism and part poverty fetishism, attempting to show the former glory of the Eastern nations as an emphasis on their subsequent fall. They’re an essential part of the set-up, speaking directly to what made this genre of pornography appealing to a western, primarily American, market. It’s easy to comprehend the mixture of exploitation and exoticism that made these videos popular in the US, but Jones goes further, aiming to establish a firm link between the booming Western economy and a more global, less visible form of exploitation.

The latter half of the film compounds the atmosphere of coercion, focusing specifically on the casting and screen tests of performers. The voice from behind the camera probes the subject on their sexual preferences, their motivations for being filmed: “I’m doing it for the money” “That’s a very good reason” Western audiences were turned on by the idea that the performers were under some form of duress—the ostensibly straight man either consuming their sexuality through the guise of pornography, or in the case of several scenes, the performer showing visible discomfort at either the sex or the presence of the camera. The films are low budget, low production value and low brow—by intention, rather than necessity. Jones speculates that the developing Eastern European sex industry, with the influx of Western producers and a Western market in mind, could be seen as an indicator of fertile ground for fascist ideologies—an aspersion confirmed by the global rise of far-right ideologies in tandem with the economic pressure of late-stage capitalism, a point at which more contemporary comparisons can be made.

The brief conclusion on the contemporary form of this exploitation aesthetic is also noteworthy:

In the same way that the fall of communism was exploited by the West, the financial and social insecurity of a generation living in recession, under permanent austerity, is exploited now. The aesthetics utilised in Jones’ film are still broadly present, albeit perhaps in a slightly altered form, now accompanied by a new visual language born from a culture numb to being told to “like, comment, share and subscribe”.

[doyoulikethissong-poll]

Tarkan - Şıkıdım (Hepsi Senin Mi?) 1999

"Şıkıdım" (Shake) is a song by Turkish singer Tarkan. It was originally released on his 1994 album lending its title to the album's name, Aacayipsin (Hepsi Senin Mi?). It is written by Sezen Aksu, reproduced by Laurent Marimbert and re-mixed by Yves Jaget for the European music market and included in Tarkan's self-titled compilation album in 1998. It was released as a single after the success of his previous single "Şımarık" (poll #94) in 1999.

This song was later released in English as "Shikidim" on Tarkan's 2006 English-language debut, Come Closer. This song has been covered in Persian by a girl group called Silhouettt, with the song re-named "Paeez". It was also covered by British grime artist Skepta, Russian pop singer Philipp Kirkorov, the Israeli duo Datz, Ukrainian singer Viktor Pavlik and Bulgarian singer Georgi Hristov. For the 2004 Indian film Dhoom it was covered in Hindi as "Shikdum", with lyrics penned by Sameer.

"Şıkıdım (Hepsi Senin Mi?)" received a total of 66% yes votes! Previous Tarkan polls: #94 "Şımarık".

[hrrtshape]

what’s in my better cr's bag (and i actually packed it!)

i'm on a high since my last shift. let's spill. if you ever see me strutting around my better cr, just know that my coach tote is my ride-or-die, my mobile command centre, my mary poppins bag of shifting essentials. this isn’t some hypothetical, pinterest-board fantasy. this is a real, tactical, battle-tested inventory that i had to pack everyday when going to skewl. let’s unpack the magic.

　　　　　　　　　　　  ⊹　 ︶︶　 ୨୧　 ︶︶　 ⊹

　 i , my phone (aka my lifeline) : yes, obviously. but not just any phone. this one is pre-loaded the lifa app (because why not?), and an absurdly well-curated playlist that makes me feel like the main character at all times. the battery was always at 100%, because i am not about to deal with a dead phone in another reality. also, notes app ramblings that make me seem both unhinged and poetic.

　 ii , wallet : my fifth ave life requires a fifth ave budget, and trust me, i came prepared. my wallet has sleek black cards that swipe effortlessly, a few aesthetically crumpled bills (because i���m casually rich, not obnoxiously rich), and my ID. because in this reality, i am effortlessly chic and always prepared. and about 17 random receipts that i swear i’ll throw out but never did.

　 iii , lip products (pls, hydration is sexy) : listen, i refuse to be caught in another reality with crusty lips. my tote always carries a trifecta of essentials: a hydrating lip balm, a perfect nude gloss, and lip liner so powerful it could start wars.

　 iv , sunglasses (for drama and disguise) : sometimes, a girl needs to throw on her oversized shades and pretend she’s too famous for nonsense. essential for avoiding unnecessary interactions or simply adding to the mystique of ‘who is she?’ vibes.

　 v , a notebook (for logs & epiphanies) : i’m a writer, a dreamer, an archivist of my own legendary existence. this notebook is where i jotted down experiences, fleeting genius thoughts, and the occasional dramatic diary entry about the tragedy of my cravings (see: bagel incident). doubles as a coaster, impromptu grocery list, and a place to doodle when i pretended to be deep in thought at the cafeteria and coryo was near me.

　 vi , perfume roller (because scent is a weapon) : smell is memory. my scent game in my dr is lethal. i owned a rose water one that my dad gifted me<3 . one swipe and people remember me for eternity. period. also!!!! necessary for spritzing on my wrists before dramatically running into someone important.

　 vii , snacks (because hunger waits for no one) : a (tasty !!!) protein bar, a tiny tin of fancy european mints, a bag of dried mango that i swore is just for emergencies (but was always mysteriously half-empty), and some rogue chocolate that melted into an unintentional fondue at the bottom of my bag. i’m always prepared for hunger strikes and dramatic rooftop contemplations.

　 viii , a silk scarf :  it’s fashion. it’s function. versatility !!! it’s the thing that turns a ‘meh’ outfit into an ‘are you a film star from the 60s?’ moment. i can tie it around my neck, my bag, or dramatically let it catch the wind while i make an entrance.

　 ix , a book (because duh) : will always have something to read. Usually something pretentious yet gripping. for the first week, i carried around bonjour tristesse and after changed to ulysses. i need my intellectual fix, even in another reality.

　 x , keys (to my dream life, literally) : keys to the penthouse. keys to my porsche (!!!!!!!!). keys to places i haven’t even explored yet (read: gotten at a flea market on a sunday).

　 xi , hand cream : i will not be caught in another reality with dry, cracked hands. my go-to was the l'occitane one!!!

　 xii , a lighter : we smoke in this house. also. it’s about the aesthetic, the casual offering of a flickering flame in dimly lit rooms, the quiet power of being prepared for anything. mhmmm. and i liked clicking it open and closed absentmindedly when i was bored.

　 xiii , wired headphones (for personal 2010s soundtracking) : sometimes, i need to drown out the noise and cue up something cinematic while i strut down the streets. bonus: it was key for ignoring irrelevant conversations.

　 xiv , a macbook (for skewl) : sadly. sadly..........in maths class we weren't allowed to open them?? during history i'd be scrolling on twitter...or the dior website.

anyways....this was my arsenal. it held the tools that make me feel poised and prepared for anything my dr threw at me. so if you see me slinging my coach tote over my shoulder with an air of (feigned) nonchalance, just know.......it’s not just a bag. it’s a statement. and probably at least five crumpled receipts and a lone bobby pin, because realism.

[forsoobado137]

🍨dolly_as_prez Follow

🍨dolly_as_prez Follow

It's been five years since I made this meme and nothing has changed lol

156,932 notes

🧻Dorpblorpw93 Follow

Watching Alfred's short films on youtube are always fucking hilarious because I never know if he's being ironic or not. They all look like they were written produced by an over-caffeinated film student but if they had an actual budget. Like they are legit the funniest pieces of media out there and I have no idea if the comedy is intentional or not.

🏞fromthevalley89 Follow

Where do I begin here? The fact that he basically plays everyone? The fact that he included Arthur but didn't let him play as himself and cast him as bad guys? The fact that he was able to get Roderich and Francois on board with this? The fact that he doesn't even name himself and just puts ME? The fact that the end credits are three times longer than the movie? AND HE LITERALLY CAST HIMSELF AS GOD?! This is peak cinema.

🧭justintime12oclock Follow

Also what is up with Tony? Did Alfred just rotoscope his roommate and make him an alien? is it CGI (Really badly done)?

47,459 notes

🌌galaxylesbian Follow

AGAIN?!

🐝beemybestie Follow

Translation: wahhh wahhh my president won't give me money for Louis Vuitton and my seventh mansion so I'm gonna sit on my ass while the stocks plummet and the trains malfunction 🥺

🌟bugdrinkbugrink Follow

Actual translation: I've literally fought in dozens of wars and bent over backwards for this government and all I get in return is a minimum wage paycheck, demeaning insults from my own politicians, and disrespect from tourists that I'm forced to put up with. I deserve better, and by not working, I'm going to demonstrate how fucked you all would be without me. I hope this opens people's eyes to the lack of rights me and my fellow nations have, and that it will force governments everywhere to actually give a shit.

🌷Azaleyaaaaah02 Follow

Also that mansion thing is such bullshit. The reason nations have so many houses is because they have been ALIVE FOR CENTURIES and they can't just stay in one place forever. Also they have had more than enough time to buy houses when they were cheap and pay off multiple properties. Nations aren't just secretly a bunch of out of touch millionaires. They have been homeless, in debt, and have lived in far worse conditions than you could ever imagine.

🌟bugdrinkbugrink Follow

For everyone trying to call nations "selfish" for going on strike because it has negative effects on their countries, that is literally THE ENTIRE POINT OF STRIKES. World leaders think that all nations do is look pretty and die over and over in petty wars. In the THREE DAYS that France (and other European countries) went on strike back in 1976, the stock market plummeted, trade slowed, transportation stopped working, and other citizens stopped going to work. The leaders realized pretty quickly that they fucked up. After they got better wages, the nations returned, and everything was up and running again.

Moral of the story: PAY YOUR NPS A LIVING WAGE! These people have literally sacrificed everything for their nations. So what if France wants to be able to afford iconic French fashion brands? If I was an immortal being who died thousands of times in mankind's worst wars, you better BELIEVE I would demand that I can afford to treat myself.

41,246 notes

[richardarmitagefanpage]

The Boy in the Woods was screened today at European Film Market Berlin as part of Perspective Canada in Berlin, Germany.

[apoloadonisandnarcissus]

Ellen’s agency and her connection to Count Orlok in “Nosferatu” (2024)

“Someone said to me in a interview the other day, well, isn’t Ellen like this victim? How is it like to play this victimized character? And I was like, well, I don’t think she’s a victim at all. Because she’s kind of calling the shots the entire time […] She has a great deal of agency in this story that I feel we haven’t seen in, you know, iterations of the past.” Lily-Rose Depp

Many are confused as to why Lily-Rose Depp says this, and even accuse her of not understanding her character nor the “complexities of victimhood”. A bit high on ourselves, are we?

The majority of the audience and mainstream media does not understand this film. At all. This is “Jennifer’s Body” (2009) all over again. Including the marketing. This film deals with references the general audience doesn’t recognize, and it will take years or even decades for the mainstream to actually realize what this story is about. And while the fanart coming out of this is beautiful, it should actually be the other way around (Ellen commanding Orlok). This story is also inspired by Serbian horror cult classic “Leptirica” (1973). Robert Eggers already shared his entire list of inspirations (2 books) and 8 movies. That has nothing to do with American Netflix, by the way, and “The Batman Returns” inspiration is merely aesthetic. You are all making comparisons with pop cultures vampires; when Orlok is a strigoi from Romanian folklore, and that’s his lore. He has nothing to do with “Interview with the Vampire” or whatever. Stop “americanizing” other people’s cultures. Robert Eggers subverted everything about 1922 “Nosferatu” and the “Dracula” novel by Bram Stoker. We are entering Balkan territory here, and European Paganism.

The occult themes are rooted on Pagan beliefs (the opposite to Victorian Christian society), and we have a lot of references to Aleister Crowley because he lived during the Victorian era. All the Şolomonari rituals we see in this film (and they are three, and I’ll talk about them here) are Sex Magick rituals based on Crowley and Paganism. The core themes here are sex and death, and female sexuality repression and liberation. Robert Eggers wants “to stay through the lens of the 19th century” because he has no interest in doing “modern films”, and Historical Feminism is his thing. Orlok, himself, is not only a follower of Zalmoxis, owner of the secrets of immortality, he's also a worshipper of the Divine Feminine, the opposite to patriarchal and male pleasure centered Victorian society. But more on that later.

This film starts with Ellen performing Black Magic (necromancy); and this should tell you everything you need to know about her nature. Orlok’s spirit was in a limbo (“darkest pit”) and only by the power of her words (“enchantress”) she makes his soul return to his former body (dead and rotting since the late 16th century) and curses him to be a strigoi (that’s why he calls her “his affliction”, as in “sickness”, “plague”). As Ellen sexuality awakes (15 years old), so does Orlok (resurrection).

Ellen and Orlok Connection

Let’s talk sexual abuse (some of you favorite topic): did Orlok ever had "astral sex" with teenage Ellen? No, he only has sex with her at the end. And the story itself tells us this.

Everyone already decided that he did, including mainstream publications that trap Robert Eggers into calling Orlok a “disgusting abuser” (this is also the only interview where he call Orlok such a thing but he doesn’t even elaborate). This doesn’t validate anything; Eggers just doesn’t want to deal with backlash because mainstream media already made up their minds on what his story is about, and creators can’t afford to lose investment for their next projects.

If we take Herr Knock’s ritual into context, at the prologue, it’s Ellen masturbating. Because when Orlok does touch her (when he reveals himself), she has a seizure (metaphor for orgasm). Eggers established a difference here. In Freudian symbolism, gardens also represent the female sexual domain. And these lilacs are in full bloom; awakening sexuality and fertility. This is Ellen’s realm. Metaphorically being attacked by a demon because of Victorian views of female sexuality.

Ellen tells Orlok (in a very sexual tone) she felt him like a serpent in her body, he says it’s not him, but her nature (her sexuality); this implies Orlok never actually had any astral sex with her (as in penetrating her), and what she has been doing this whole time is masturbation: a huge taboo on Victorian society, and the ultimate sin, as Ellen’s father calls it when he finds her naked, and yes, masturbating.

Orlok was there watching and/or talking with her; as a presence really because he’s a haunting, as that’s how Robert Eggers describes him. Either way she was fantasizing about him (“your passion is bound to me” and she believes he took her as “his lover”). She tells Thomas “you could never please me as he could” because the purpose of masturbation is orgasm (which is what she associates Orlok with) and vaginal orgasms by penetration (alone) can be difficult for most women to achieve.

While on his way to Wisburg, Orlok says to Ellen: “Soon I will be no more a shadow to you. Your spirit was never enough. Soon our flesh shall embrace and we shall be as one”; which, again, implies he never had sex with her (“and we shall be as one” = finally, at last). He has only been a shadow (haunting) to her, until now; they have not yet been as “one” (sex). He also tells her, after she gives him her soul; “as our spirits are one, so too shall be our flesh”, which indicates he hasn’t touch her in that way (penetration) before. Which also explains why he is hyperventilating before actually having sex with her at the end; and he stands there, waiting for her consent.

His entire demeanor with the locket also indicates a profound longing and yearning. You all are taking Orlok saying he’s an “appetite” too literally, because he’s talking about his consumption of blood after Ellen accuses him of being a “villain to speak so” in answer to “you are not of human kind”. She’s pretty much saying: “you are one to talk, you are a evil vampire”. And he denies being evil, he’s “an appetite, more nothing”.

"And I shall taste of you" [he doesn't mean her blood, alone]

And Robert Eggers gave us a parallel with Thomas, where Orlok does behave like a sexual predator, and Thomas is his prey, completely at his mercy. With Ellen, he awaits her command, she’s in full control. These two scenes are meant to show the difference in Orlok’s behavior.

He also uses Thomas as his masturbation assistant (sexually assaults him) and as part of his Şolomonari Sex Magick ritual to annul his marriage to Ellen, spiritually. Thomas, being her husband and fresh out of their honeymoon, has her sexual signature on him: “your husband is lost to you” = “you are single now”.

"Your husband has signed his name, and covenanted you to my person for but a sack of gold. For gold he did absolve his nuptial bond."

With Ellen, at the end, it’s also a Şolomonari Sex Magick ritual to consummate their own wedding and to break Nosferatu curse, with her full consent: “and so the maiden fair did offer up her love unto the beast, and with him lay in close embrace until first cock crow, her willing sacrifice thus broke the curse and freed them from the plague of Nosferatu”.

And this is all according to her will because that’s how Magick works; they are both manifesting the breaking of his curse, and harvesting sexual power to do it, and the ritual ends with her orgasm, as it’s suppose to in Sex Magick devoted to the Divine Feminine. And in this scene, Orlok does have penetrative sex with Ellen because we can hear the penetration in the sound design. Thank you, Robert Eggers, for that detail. He really wants his audience to know penetrative sex is happening here. And this is connected with sexual energy, not only him drinking her blood: that's the willing sacrifice part, she's allowing him to kill her, as the dawn will kill him (setting their spirits free to be reunited in the spiritual realm as their covenant says).

When Orlok tells Ellen "we shall be as one”, she doesn’t have any seizure nor “hysteric spell”. She’s at the window. Waiting. Robert Eggers is giving us a lot of visual information about Ellen and Orlok’s connection.

Besides, Orlok is a strigoi, not a incubus (nor has Robert Eggers ever described him as such); strigoi have to be physically present in order to do things. And his scene with Thomas proves this. He made Knock drag him all the way to Transylvania to perform a Şolomonari Sex Magick ritual to divorce him from Ellen. Which indicates he can’t astral projecting himself to do this kind of stuff.

Robert Eggers also said that Ellen, unlike Anna, doesn’t conceal her sexual desires, which I find really interesting, because Ellen spends the entire story repressing her sexuality and nature (until she fully embraces it at the end); this implies all the moaning in on Ellen herself, and not Orlok actually doing things to her body (but more on that later). Because the prologue established that, when he touches her, she has a seizure (and this is the only time we see this happening). Von Franz exorcism doesn’t count because he was compelling her to speak what Orlok says to her.

Him asking her “remember how once we were? A moment. Remember?” is probably connected with the reincarnation themes in this story; and Romanian strigoi myths in general. This is a Gothic Folk Horror story.

Ellen also has premonitions (she knew Thomas would be sent away and later she confirms to Von Franz she has this gift). Orlok is a monster of her own creation (and she confirms this twice, to Von Franz and to Thomas). Her being an enchantress parallels Orlok himself who, according to the Nuns, was a “black enchanter” in life. These are their archetypes in the narrative: Ellen is the great Pagan priestess, and Orlok is the Pagan priest-shaman follower of Zalmoxis, the Dacian God of life and death.

Romanian folklore: strigoi showing up at their loved ones window, asking for entrance

Herr Knock had to set a whole room and perform a Şolomonari Sex Magick ritual (masturbation) just to talk to Orlok, Ellen doesn’t need any of that; her spiritual power is insane in this film.

And this scene tells the audience that Orlok has to be summoned for these communications to happen. He’s haunting Ellen because she wants him to haunt her. He’s exactly where she wants him to be. She controls their entire connection; she’s the one who calls out to him, always (not only at the prologue and at the end, which is what Lily-Rose Depp says in this interview). It was her spiritual power that put an end to their communication when she met Thomas (her socially acceptable sexuality). She has full control over everything that’s happening in this story.

Ellen’s communications with Orlok are very sexual in nature because it’s sexual energy that conjures him (like we see with Herr Knock). So, when she’s moaning she’s channeling her sexual energy to summon him to come to her. “He’s coming to him”, it’s her yearning for Orlok.

The maiden’s token was meant for Orlok; she knew Thomas would be sent to him, her hair smells like lilacs, and the next scene after Ellen makes the token is Knock’s ritual (Eggers is not even being subtle here).

Orlok knows what this means, and to him it’s confirmation of her yearning for him. He also remembers lilacs from when he was alive, which further strengthens the reincarnation theme at play here. And that’s why he accuses her being “false” when she claims to hate him; she has been calling out to him this whole time.

Ellen and Orlok’s connection runs deep and it’s spiritual at its core. Orlok has the divine feminine heptagram (seven-pointed star) on his sigil (not an alchemist heptagram), connected to Isis and Babalon. That’s why Robert Eggers calls their marriage sacred. Orlok magic isn’t only about the secrets of immortality, life and death; but also divine feminine, the worship of female energy. Which is the opposite of Christian Victorian society; patriarchal, male dominated and male centered, including sexually (sex for male pleasure alone). Which is why Eggers gave us the parallel of Thomas (Victorian society) vs. Orlok: Victorian men see sex as male-centered, while Orlok, the worshipper of the Divine Feminine, focus on female sexual pleasure, as Ellen finally experiences a vaginal orgasm with him.

Orlok has to be invited into places, like your regular vampire (and the film establish this with all the windows; the Nuns saying he can’t enter that house of God, it has nothing to do with God, but with him not being giving entrance; and Dr. Sievers saying they should go home because Orlok has certainly risen from his grave at that time, implying they aren’t safe in the streets). And it’s Ellen that gives him entrance into Wisburg, into the Hardings household and into her own home, at the end. He can only attack those in the street at night, and he threatened to kill Thomas knowing full well he couldn’t if he stays indoors and isn’t invited in.

But doesn’t Ellen suffers because of this haunting? She does and she doesn’t. She wants to interact with Orlok, but Victorian views of female sexuality tell her she shouldn’t want this (married heterosexual sex was the only social acceptable sexual expression and everything else was seen as “deviant”, “sinful” and “evil”; sex was a marital duty and for male pleasure alone; women’s sexuality was owned by their husbands; motherhood was a woman’s destiny). She’s conflicted. She also pretends to be innocent and naive because that’s what socially expected of her, and we see this with Anna Harding, as she infantilizes herself before her several times (“everything I say sounds so childish”).

And things get even darker because she gave Orlok entrance into the Harding household but then is enraged because Friedrich Harding sends her and Thomas home. The place where Thomas is actually safe from Orlok. And she pulls off her "possession scene". And during the carriage scene (when everyone is talking about destroying Orlok), she gets restless and intervenes: at first she plays it innocent by saying to Thomas "let me come with you", which he, obviously, refuses. Then she tells Professor Von Franz: "Professor, allow me to walk you to your door" but her voice sounds different here. We can't forget she's an enchantress, after all.

And, Professor Von Franz, the man who “saw things in this world that would make Isaac Newton crawl back to his mother’s womb”, actually looks scared of Ellen here:

Ellen is not letting anyone put a stake of cold iron on her lover demon, sending him somewhere she cannot reach him, and she finally accepts his covenant of being one with him, ever-eternally. Driving home the point: everything that happens in this story is according to Ellen's will. She's the one calling the shots, like Lily-Rose Depp tells us.

And she wins at the end because she gets exactly what she wants, as does Orlok himself, but he's scared of what will happen next because he probably knows there will be horrible pain in his physical death, and Ellen comforts him, as makes him look at her, instead of the sun.

[theplantbish]

Helsingin Sanomat Käärijä article (11.10.) translated

Käärijä licks a carrot and makes OF content - It’s not just about clowning, the artist says

Käärijä’s CCC era comes to an end, when he releases a new album in November. On the album he sings about sex, among other things.

At the moment Käärijä is on an European tour. Between summer’s festival gigs and his fall tour he had time to take three weeks off.

Summary box:

Käärijä, Jere Pöyhönen, released a new song called Sex = Money, and makes OF content

OF-account has a couple of hundred of followers, subscription costs 40e per month

Pöyhönen is on an European tour, in Germany his gigs have been nearly sold out

New album People’s Champion comes out on Nov. 1st. It includes a personal song

“I started to sell sex because sex sells.”

Sings Käärijä, Jere Pöyhönen, on his new song Sex = Money. In the song’s promo video Pöyhönen licks a dirty carrot on a balcony. Fans know what the carrot is a reference to. On a video (plant note: it’s a pic HS get your facts right) posted on Käärijä’s OF account, a carrot sticks up from between Pöyhönen’s buttcheeks.

Yes, Käärijä makes OF content.

On the paid adult content site he has a couple of hundred followers. Subscription costs 40e per month.

When asked about his adult content career, he laughs.

“It’s more just a little fun for the fans,” he tells HS on the phone.

Pöyhönen is currently on an European tour. On the four gigs held in Germany the tickets have been nearly sold out, he says. The venues have been theaters and clubs that fit from 700 to 1,500 people.

On the stage Pöyhönen has been speaking rally-English and has been on his element. The audience has been a bit more grown up compared to Finland, he says.

Käärijä gathered a big audience in Hamburg on Oct. 8th

In Finland Käärijä is an Eurovision hero that also kids admire. At all ages gigs he can’t curse and make dirty jokes the same way he does at club gigs.

Pöyhönen hopes that kids won’t find his OF account. That’s why he hasn’t posted about it much on his social media.

The new song that tells about selling sex won’t be left out of all ages gigs. The lyrics of the song will be changed, though, Pöyhönen says.

“Maybe we’ll sing about selling Lego.”

Whether parents play the new song to their kids or not is out of his hands, according to him. As a child he listened to Petri Nygård’s songs.

“And I’m still sane.” x

Pöyhönen talks about OF as a branding tool, that mostly gives him just a bit of extra money.

He created the account with Häärijä last December. At first it worked as a paid advent calendar for the fans. Pöyhönen told in the Urheilucast podcast that they made 40K euros on the first month.

Pöyhönen won’t reveal what he makes with the OF account these days, but evidently he has made more during the year.

“If someone wants to pay for it, that’s nice. But I have completely different sources of income,” Pöyhönen says.

In the videos Käärijä and Häärijä do mildly naughty things to each other. It’s like a dirty Kummeli show. More like soft porn than actual porn, Pöyhönen describes. 

“We’ve filmed stuff for the account that has made us laugh.”

(there was a pic of the crowd but I don't feel comfortable posting it here. The text under the pic: According to Pöyhönen, the audience at his European gigs is mostly just adults.)

It’s not all just about clowning. OF account and Sex = Money song are an ironic statement on how the world runs around sex too much. As if it was easier to sell sex than music.

Even though Pöyhönen himself says that he objects to marketing music with sex, Käärijä the character does it blindly with everyone else.

“In a way I’m taking a stand without taking a stand.”

Käärijä’s CCC era comes to an official end, when his new album People’s Champion comes out on Nov. 1st.

On the new album we’ll hear the first song fully sung by Käärijä. The topic is personal, Pöyhönen reveals, but won’t comment on the new music more than that.

“There probably won’t be any radical changes,” Pöyhönen says.

Pöyhönen wants to hold onto his underage fans. He sees the all ages gigs as great opportunities to talk about bullying, for example.

“Even before ESC Käärijä character was obscene. I don’t want to change my musical style too much. I make art that looks like me, my own thing.”

[chaos0pikachu]

Is BL Being Overly Influenced by Modern Western Romance Tropes?

Short answer: No. anyways, in the following essay I will explain that James Cameron is a weeb...

(okay fine~~ lets actually do this)

TLDR: discussing what media globalization is, how fandom can distill it down to only American/European cinema, showcasing how a lot of current BL is influenced by countries within it's own proximity and NOT "the west" but each other, also James Cameron is still a weeb

I had seen a post that basically proposited that BL was being influenced by modern western romance tropes and had used things like omegaverse and mafia settings as an example. I found this, in a word, fucking annoying (oh, two words I guess) because it's micro-xenophobic to me.

It positions western - and really what we mean by this is American/European countries, we're not talking about South American countries are we? - cinema as the central breadbasket of all cinema in and of itself. Inherently, all following cinema must be in some way, shape, or form, influenced by American/European standards, and as such America/European countries are directly responsible for cinema everywhere else, and these places - namely non-white countries - do not influence each other, nor have their own histories in regards to storytelling or cinema and do not, in turn, also influence American/European film making either.

Now like, do I think all of that~~ is intentionally malicious thinking on behalf of folks in fandom? No, so chill out.

I do, however, think a lot of it is birthed from simple ignorance and growing up in an environment where ~The West~ is propagated to be central, individual, and exceptional as opposed to the monolith of "Asia" - by which we mean China, Korea, Japan don't we? How often in discussions of Asian countries is Iran, India, or Saudi Arabia brought up even tho they are all Asian countries? - or the monolith that is South America - in which some folks might believe regions like the Caribbean and/or Central America belong to, but nope there both North America.

Anyway, what we're talking about here is the concept of "media globalization":

"The production, distribution, and consumption of media products on a global scale, facilitating the exchange and diffusion of ideas cross-culturally." (source)

"The media industry is, in many ways, perfect for globalization, or the spread of global trade without regard for traditional political borders. [...] the low marginal costs of media mean that reaching a wider market creates much larger profit margins for media companies. [...] Media is largely a cultural product, and the transfer of such a product is likely to have an influence on the recipient’s culture." (source)

Typically when I see fandom discussing what falls under MG the topic is usually focused on how "the west" is influencing Thai/Korean/Chinese/Japanese media.

Enter, Pit Babe.

Surely Pit Babe was influenced by Supernatural right? Omegaverse is huge in the west - love it, hate it, meh it - it originated in the west - specifically via Supernatural after all.

Nah.

Omegaverse has been popular in Japan and China for almost a decade, if not longer. The earliest omegaverse manga I can think of is Pendulum: Juujin Omegaverse by Hana Hasumi which was released in 2015, almost a decade ago.

(what if you added furries into omegaverse? WHAT IF?? - Japan)

There's countless popular omegaverse manga too, and the dynamics only moderately resemble the ones we're familiar with in the west. Juujin is part omegaverse and part furry/beastmen - the alphas are all beastmen the omegas are humans - while something like Ookami-kun Is Not Scary only slightly resembles omegaverse dynamics as a hybrid series - beastmen are really popular in Japan in part b/c of historical mythology (you see the combination of romantic Beastmen and Japanese culture & folklore in Mamoru Hosoda's work The Boy and the Beast and Wolf Children).

Megumi & Tsugumi (2018) is so popular they're an official English edition published by VIZ's imprint SuBlime and that's a straight up omegaverse story.

(look at the omega symbol on the cover loud and proud baby)

So if Pit Babe was influenced by anything, it certainly wasn't "the west" it was Japan, Korea and China. Because those countries have a thriving omegaverse sub-genre going and have had such for 10 plus years now. Supernatural is popular in Japan, yes, and that may be where Japan and Japanese fans originally found omegaverse as a fictional sub-genre.

HOWEVER

Japanese fans took the sub-genre, bent it, played with it, and evolved it into their own thing. As such, other countries in their proximity, like Thailand, China, and Korea who read BL and GL manga, found it and were like "hey, we wanna play too!"

(is that an omegaverse yuri novel I spy?? yes, yes it is)

When I watched the Red Peafowl trailer, it had more in common with Kinnporsche, History: Trapped, along with films and shows like: Jet Li's The Enforcer, and Fist of Legend, Donnie Yen's Flash Point, Raging Fire, and Kung Fu Jungle, Han Dong-wook's The Worst of Evil, Kim Jin-Min's My Name, Lee Chung-hyeon's The Ballerina, Baik's Believer & Believer 2, Yoshie Kaoruhara's KeixYaku, popular Don Lee films The Gangster, the Cop and the Devil and Unstoppable alongside BL manga like Honto Yajuu and Bi No Isu (probably one of the most well known yazuka manga to date).

Like, we're seeing a rise in mafia based BLs and people think that's because of "western influence" and not the absolute insane success of kinnporsche??? Especially in countries like China, Korea, Taiwan, Philippines and other Asian countries???

Mafia films and gang shows aren't even that popular here in America/Europe; don't get me wrong, they still get made and exist, but the last full length film was The Irishman which did not make it's budget back, and while Power is still on-going it's not a smash hit either. The heyday of Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, The Wire, Goodfellas, and Scarface are long gone. And if you've watched any those shows or films they have very little in common with Kei x Yaku, Kinnporsche, or Red Peafowl in tone, or style.

(who knew martin just wanted to make his al pacino/robert de niro fanfic come to life all these years?)

Another example, The Sign, which is clearly taking inspiration from Chinese costume dramas: Ashes of Love, Fairy and Devil, White Snake (and it's many adaptions), Guardian, & Ying Yang Master Dream of Eternity. Alongside Hong Kong and Korean cop and romance shows like Tale of the Nine-Tailed, Hotel Del Luna, Director Who Buys Me Dinner, First Love, Again, and previously mentioned cop dramas.

Like, I know y'all don't think Twins is influenced by, what, American sports classic Angels in the Outfield?? Gridiron Gang?? Rocky?? Nah that shit is inspired by the popularity of sports manga like Haikyuu!!, Slam Dunk, Prince of Tennis (which even has a Chinese drama adaption), and the like. And also probably History 2, & Not Me but I'm like 87% sure Twins is just Haikyuu fanfic.

So like, does this mean that there's NO history in which American and European cinema influenced these countries? What, no, obviously that's not true, American/European totally have had media influence on countries like Korea, Japan, etc.

Astro Boy by Osamu Tezuka considered "the father of manga" was inspired by Walt Disney's work on Bambi. Another more recent and prominent example is director Yeon Sang-ho and his film Train to Busan.

"And it was Snyder’s movie [Dawn of the Dead, 2004], not the 1978 original, that filmmaker Yeon Sang-ho recalled as his first encounter with the undead. “That was when I started my interest in zombies,” Yeon said, in an email interview through a translator from South Korea. Even today, he added, “it’s the most memorable and intense zombie movie I’ve ever seen.”" (source)

HOWEVER, the global influence doesn't stop there. It's not a one-way street. Yeon Sang-Ho was inspired by Zack Synder's Dawn of the Dead, a remake of George Romero's own work, but Yeon Sang-Ho's work has inspired countless Korean film makers to make their own zombie media; following Train to Busan there's been: Kingdom (2019 - current), All of Us Are Dead (2022), Zombie Detective (2020), Zombieverse (2023), Alive (2020), Rampant (2018).

And hey, wouldn't you know it now we're starting to see more zombie media coming out of places like Japan (Zom 100 the manga, movie, and anime) and High School of the Dead.

Do you know what Domundi's series Zombivor (2023, pilot trailer only) reminds me of? It's NOT The Walking Dead (which is the only relevant zombie media America has created in the last decade) it's Korea's All of Us Are Dead (2022). Comparing the trailers, the settings, the tone, it's clear where Zombivor is pulling inspiration from: Korean zombie cinema. NOT American zombie cinema.

In fact a lot of Domundi's shows - Cutie Pie, Middleman's Love, Naughty Babe, Bed Friend - are all very clearly inspired by Korean filmmaking, specifically that of romantic kdramas from the 2016 - 2020 era. Not always in story, but rather in technique.

This is media globalization. It's not simply ~The West~ influencing non-American/European countries but countries who are often more close in terms of: proximity, culture, and trade are going to have more influence on each other.

It is far more likely that Aoftion (Naughty Babe, Cutie Pie, Zombivor) was influenced by watching Train to Busan, All of Us Are Dead, and other Korean zombie shows and films than a single episode of Walking Dead.

My point isn't that this goes one way only, but rather it is very literally a global thing. This includes American and European film makers being influenced by non-American and European cinema.

Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Darren Aronofsky, Christopher Nolan, the Wachowski sisters, George Lucas and James Cameron have all been influenced by Japanese film making, especially the works of Akira Kurosawa, Satoshi Kon, and Mamoru Oshii.

John Wick's entire gun-fu sub-genre is heavily influenced by classic Hong Kong action films, specifically John Woo films. Legend of Korra, The Boondocks, Voltron, Young Justice, My Adventures with Superman are all obviously inspired by Japanese anime but animated by a Korean animation studio (Studio Mir). Beyond that, the rise in adult animated dramas like Castlevania, Critical Role Vox Machina, and Invincible to name a few are very clearly taking inspiration from anime in terms of style. The weebs that were watching Adult Swim's Inuyasha, Bleach, and Dragon Ball Z have grown up and are now working in Hollywood.

Okay so like, what's the point of all this? What's the issue? Since American/European cinema does influence et all cinema does any of this really matter?

YES.

I take contention with this line of thinking because it centers "the west" and our supposed individual importance way to much. Declaring definitively that "BL is being influenced by western tropes" and then including tropes, narratives, and film making styles that aren't inherently western and actually have major roots in the cinema of various Asian countries, removes the existence of individual history these countries have which are rich, varied, and nuanced. It removes the "global" part of globalization by declaring "the globe" is really just America and Europe.

It distills these countries down to static places that only exist when American/European audiences discover them.

BL doesn't exist in a vacuum you can trace the development of Korean BL to the development of Korean het dramas almost to a T. You can also trace their development to the queer history of each country and how Thailand interacts culturally with China, Japan, Korea, etc and vice versa. It also ignores the history of these countries influencing American cinema as well. Don't mistake "the globe" for only your sphere of experience.

Anyway James Cameron is a damn weeb y'all have a good night.

Check out other posts in the series:

Film Making? In My BL? - The Sign ep01 Edition | Aspect Ratio in Love for Love's Sake | Cinematography in My BL - Our Skyy2 vs kinnporsche, 2gether vs semantic error, 1000 Stars vs The Sign | How The Sign Uses CGI | Is BL Being Overly Influenced by Modern Western Romance Tropes?

[like these posts? drop me a couple pennies on ko-fi]

[haute-lifestyle-com]

The European Film Market (EFM) the largest gathering of film buyers, sellers, producers, Independents, Studios, all in one place. This year, I was fortunate to receive Credentials! Granted it's online, and I won't be heading to Germany (this year) still, it is the perfect introduction for me, and my filmography as I look for interest. So, I think it's awesome!😎🥳