#had a lotta fun revisiting the film for this one!

[solivagant-stimboards]

Marine/Age of Sail themed Captain Amelia stimboard for @fancyhats-and-fennelsbuds!

sources: x x x / x x x / x x x

[retconnc]

Attention all superhero and horror fans!

We are excited to announce that Samantha Bryant will be a guest at Ret-Con 2023! Check out our Guest Q&A below to learn more about her novels, her biggest inspirations, and her recommendation on what to check out at Carolina Theater's Retro Film series this year. - - - - - ____________________ If someone was interested in your work, what would you recommend they check out first? - Since my novels are a series, readers should definitely begin with Going Through the Change, the first one. You can meet Flygirl, Fuerte, Flamethrower, and The Lizard Woman when they were Jessica, Linda, Helen, and Patricia, before the resident mad scientist Cindy Liu stepped in to “help” and changed their lives forever. If you want to try on the series at a lower commitment, The Good Will Tour novella stands alone well, too. ____________________ What is your most popular or best-reviewed work? - Besides the Menopausal Superhero series, I also write short form horror. One of my most universally praised stories is “His Destroyer” in Slay: Stories of the Vampire Noire from Mocha Memoirs Press. It takes place during the 10th plague of Egypt, my Passover vampire story. It chilled me to write, and many readers find it disquieting. If you’re a horror fan, you should definitely check it out and all the other fine work in this unusual collection. ____________________ What are you working on right now, and will it be out by Ret-Con (the last weekend of February 2023)? - I’m writing the fifth and final novel in the Menopausal Superhero series. It won’t be out by Ret-Con, unfortunately, but readers can get the other four and the collection of shorts from Falstaff Books. Once I finish that, I’m excited to get back to my Gothic romance. I love trying on new genres and styles. Keeps the writing fun! ____________________ Who or what are your influences or inspirations? - My earliest influences were the tales of the Brothers Grimm and the Old Testament, mostly as recounted for me by my grandmother and great grandmother, who didn’t believe in sanitizing the stories for little Samantha. Later, I discovered Shirley Jackson. At the same time, I was reading comic books stolen from my uncles or bought in the used comic bin in my small-town bookstore and watching all the 1970s hero shows (and older ones in re-runs), with my dad. So, I’ve always had a mixture of horror and hero running through my literary veins.

I’ve been fortunate to have some great writing mentors in my life, too. Writer-teachers who gave freely of their time and energy in my college years, workshops through organizations and my public library, and countless supporters and friends found through convention life and publishing connections. I’ve been very lucky. ____________________ What are you reading, watching, listening to, playing, or otherwise enjoying that you'd recommend to Ret-Con attendees or your own fans? - I’m finally watching Supernatural. I know, I’m late to the party, but what a party it still is! I’m also finishing up some of the new speculative fiction programs out there: Stranger Things, Sandman, She-Hulk. On the big screen, I’m a devotee of the Retro Film Series at the Carolina Theatre in Durham. They’re having a Kaiju Quest this season!

I’m also an enthusiast of board games. Some recent favorites: Azul, Ascension (all the Ascension!), Gloom, Riftforce, Ticket to Ride, Lanterns, Qwirkle, Horrified, Forbidden Island. When I married my husband, I really leveled up in the games department. You should see our game hoard!

In terms of music, I have a teenager, and I let them choose what we listen to a lot of the time. Thanks to the kiddo, I’ve been getting into Will Wood (Dr. Sunshine is Dead). His music is sort of punk-klezmer. I’ve also been enjoying Penelope Scott (Lotta True Crime), and The Stupendium (The Fine Print). I’ve been revisiting Dolly Parton here lately, too. She’s still amazing. We could all do well by asking ourselves What Would Dolly do?

As for reading, I help run the classics book club at my library, so I read one classic novel a month. Recent choices were David Copperfield, Anna Karenina, and Sense and Sensibility. Otherwise, I try to keep up with some new releases, both on the indie and the mainstream front. Recent great reads: The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish, The Beautiful Ones by Sylvia Moreno Garcia, Akata Woman by Nnedi Okorafor, The Princess and the Peonies by Lucy Blue, and The Half Life of Ruby Fielding by Lydia Kang. ____________________ Is there anything you'd like to share with our social media followers that isn't included above? - I’m a nature enthusiast. Follow me on instagram (@samanthabwriter) for pictures of flowers, mushrooms, and other small beauties seen on my daily walks. Find me at Ret-Con to talk about Universal monsters, baking, superheroes, old movies, board games, books, and writing.

[knickynoo]

A McFly Family Dinner

Buckle up, kids, because my brain is about to dump a whole lotta words out on this here blog post.

When I watch a movie, I love to closely examine little details. Look at all the pieces that are woven together to create characters and the world they live in. And when I see a particular scene that I think was put together really well, I like to ramble about it on tumblr. Well, the other night, I was thinking about the dinner scene, particularly the way that it’s able to add to Marty’s characterization. I know what you’re thinking. “But wait, Marty only says 3 words in that entire scene!” 

Exactly. And it was a great choice on the part of the filmmakers, because it accomplishes the job of showing us how much this environment is able to impact him (vs.when he’s in other environments), as well as implying what he might experience as his “norm” in his home. 

As dysfunctional as the McFly family is, at least they seem to make an effort to eat dinner together. It’s certainly an uncomfortable dinner though. George is glued to the TV & his notebook, Dave rushes off to work, Linda is doing her hair, and Lorraine is beginning (or continuing) what is probably a long night of drinking. And what is Marty doing? Sitting very quietly. What?? When does Marty ever do that?

Prior to this, we spent part of the day with Marty. We saw him destroy the amp in Doc’s house, watched him confidently skateboard to school, and saw how in love he is with his girlfriend. Following him to dinner is probably a great opportunity to listen to him banter with his family, right? We could really get a feel for how he relates to each individual member! 

Well...that doesn’t happen, but I think it’s through Marty’s silence that actually speaks volumes. He has a single line in the entire sequence (”Uncle Jailbird Joey?”) and the rest is just demeanor and body language. 

First, let’s revisit the scene that just happened prior to this one, where Marty walks in to see Biff bullying his father. Marty is likely used to this. His father doesn’t stand up for himself. Never has. But what about Marty? Does George ever stand up for him, his own son?

Considering George is behind Biff during this scene and says nothing, no, probably not. And it’s one thing to not defend yourself, but to not defend your own kid when your supervisor turns the bullying on him? Needless to say, no matter how much he may love him, Marty most likely doesn’t consider his father someone he can look up to or depend on. Just like how he is at the dinner table, George is probably oblivious to most of the goings-on in Marty’s life.

What about his mother? Oh, you mean the depressed alcoholic who only addresses Marty in the scene so she can criticize Jennifer? Yes, it obviously is used to set up how Lorraine “supposedly” was as a teenager, but it also provides a glimpse of what Marty’s relationship with her is like. Does Marty try to reason with his mother? Defend his relationship or attempt to explain why Jennifer is important to him?

No. He gives her a glance and then kind of shrinks away, none of the stubborn attitude or hotheadedness that we’ll later know to be part of Marty’s personality anywhere in sight. Maybe he’s simply learned that trying to reason with his mother when she’s drinking doesn’t work. Who knows? The point is, we see someone who probably does his best to go unnoticed while at home, restraining himself emotionally (& physically-Marty is usually always moving/fidgeting) so that he can sit silently through dinner and not make waves.

I think the entire scene works well at doing what it set out to.Showing us all the dysfunction and pointing out how this type of environment impacts Marty. It’s enough to take a boisterous, inquisitive, chatty kid and reduce him to little more than a prop sitting at the dinner table. 

It’s become familiar to him. His father is in his own world and his mother is an empty shell. There’s no support here, so why bother trying to engage people who are so wrapped up in their own issues that they can't see much else?

It's got to be such a bizarre, lonely, environment to have grown up in, and for as enthusiastic and fun-loving as Marty seems to be, this sequence is a little reminder that he's got to feel sad a lot in this house. (And if you're aware of an early draft of the film, you know just how sad Marty was originally portrayed as. So much so that his being accidentally sent back in time was the result of a very dark route they had planned for his character.)

So where does that leave Marty? When his own father tells him it’s better not to get his hopes up, and his mother can’t stand his girlfriend, and he’s told at school he’s nothing but a slacker who will never amount to anything? Who can he possibly turn to in order to get that encouragement, and to be seen, and told that he’s capable? 

...oh yeah.