#hello dankness

[incrediblemelk]

At MIFF this year I saw Hello Dankness, the new film by Soda Jerk, which won several festival awards. Using Soda Jerk's signature pop-piracy sampling style, it draws heavily on American film and TV depictions of 'the suburbs' to stitch together an account of the US's post-truth journey into the heart of dankness, from the 2016 presidential elections onwards.

As their artist statement says, "We tried to scream, but all that came out was a meme."

It was literally the first time I had thought about the "dicks out for Harambe" meme since 2016.

Hello Dankness quite extensively samples This Is the End (2013), which left me with a hankering (a dankering?) to watch the film. When I saw it pop up on Stan last night, I thought, "Now's the time."

I missed the film when it was new, because there was a preview screening clash where two screenings were scheduled on the same night, and I chose the Pacific Rim screening instead (a film with which I became obsessed).

It's such a fascinating time capsule of the Apatovian heyday of gross-out 'manchild' and 'stoner' comedy. At the time it was mostly hailed as a self-indulgent minor entry in a subgenre already running on fumes.

But when I rewatched it last night, I was struck by how fresh and culturally relevant it still feels. Has public discourse just got danker over the past decade?

There's a whole act in the middle when the narrative momentum sags as the central group of frenemies barricade themselves in James Franco's house. But now to me it reads like the Covid-era lockdown malaise, when an initial fun buzz ("let's do all the drugs!" "let's make Pineapple Express 2!") gives way to boredom, bickering and a sense of mounting threat from outside.

It's also pre-#MeToo and yet it's prominently about unpleasant, self-obsessed men trying to reassure each other that they're 'good'.

There's a scene where the group get so worked up about their need to reassure Emma Watson that they don't pose a sexual threat to her that she ends up being convinced they're absolutely going to rape her, and ends up leaving, along with all their food and drink.

(Watson notoriously refused to participate in a later scene where Danny McBride has become the cannibal king of ruined Los Angeles, with Channing Tatum as his gimp.)

It was striking to watch an apocalyptic moral punishment come for people like James Franco and Jonah Hill.

Meanwhile, Seth Rogen and Jay Baruchel, who end up in heaven dancing with the Backstreet Boys, have basically turned out to be IRL mensches.

Even Craig Robinson, who's had some drug troubles, seems to be living a pretty wholesome life.

In a Daily Beast podcast appearance from May 2023, Baruchel said, "Jonah and I don't get along super well – or at least didn't back then." When the host observed that this comes across strongly onscreen, Baruchel replied, "Yeah, no shit it fucking does!"

Baruchel also recalled:

It was this weird thing of mining personal shit. But not for catharsis … mining it just for comedy. So mining it in the most monetized, capitalist way of, "we’re going to dig up real personal shit," but nobody’s going to go home feeling better about it. We’re just going to turn it into a fucking product.

We never talked about any of the real shit. Like, it never came up for real. Because we’re both 1982 kids, which means we were raised in a great misogynistic tradition of not talking about shit. Especially two boys … we'll air grievances. When we're mad at each other and say that, but it’s very rare to be vulnerable.

I don't know why I'm so frequently drawn to stories of male friendships, but at their best, the Apatovian cycle does create a mainstream space for male vulnerability – even though they frequently can't help undercutting the intimacy with 'no-homo' mockery or self-mockery, or diverting it into jokes about dicks and bodily functions.

As Baruchel said in 2020, "Crass, male gazey shit is definitely in the DNA of the thing, but so was heartbreak and wearing your heart on your sleeve and not being blessed with with every fucking advantage. They’re deeply human things, and were really imperfect and super honest and devoid of vanity."

[pacingmusings]

Seen in 2023:

Hello Dankness (Soda Jerk), 2022

[catchymemes]

[romeclipse]

[benthesoldiersjeanshorts]

[creativethought]

Just an orange cat things 😂

Cat Tree : click here

[salmonella-destroyer-of-worlds]

[dudja]

Lol word #spiderman

[finessinyournigga]

[slappinstudios]

Hello!! >:3 World!!

[activemagnesiumcream3000]

lately they been calling me Wet Toes Michael the way i keep accidentally stepping in very large puddles of rainwater

[kittycatvamp]

Ahhh I colored the ears and tail with some eyeshadow and the choker has bells that jingle at every movement it’s soooo cute

[indica-illusions]

girly stoner sesh essentials ✨️🌸💕🎀💘

[melowkeyart]

Hello there

[n1ghtmxre97]

[creativethought]

Another orange cat 😺🤣