#joe yoo

[chvrlesmelton]

CHARLES MELTON for CULTURED February 2024

[jodielandons]

“I’m offended by the entire project and the lack of respect given to me — who lived through a real story and is still living it." -Vili Fualaau, the inspiration for Joe Yoo in May December

I made a post last summer about being iffy on May December because the real life man this affected (Vili Fualaau) is still alive and dealing with his trauma, and he's finally speaking out about the movie. He said he admires films that handle the complexities of real-life events and would have been willing to work together with the crew to tell his story, but he was never contacted by any of the filmmakers.

The lead in May December is Natalie Portman's character and Joe (Fualaau) plays a supporting role in his own story. The screenwriter, Samy Burch, insists that the real life case of Mary Kay Letourneau taking advantage of Fualaau was just a "jumping off point" and not their story. How strange for a film that's supposed to be about how Hollywood exploits and hurts real life individuals for "art" to do the same thing in real life.

I hate that a poc who was preyed on by a white woman, has had his story twisted and exploited by another one almost 30 years later.

[vanesawye]

my dark vanessa by kate elizabeth russell // may december (2023)

[wowthatsextra]

Charles Melton is so real

[fangerine]

"Insecure people are very dangerous, aren't they?"

MAY DECEMBER (2023) dir. Todd Haynes

[editfandom]

Joe Yoo - May December, 2023

[offbeatcappuccino]

very hungry caterpillar ~ may december ramblings (not spoiler free)

This is not a kdrama review lol

It has been eons since I watched anything in the English language, let alone film. However, TikTok compelled me to watch Todd Haynes' May December starring Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, and Charles Melton (of Riverdale fame). The movie centers around Elizabeth Berry, an actress, who visits Gracie Atherton Yoo and Joe Yoo, in preparation for her next movie role, where she will be playing Gracie. Joe and Gracie are loosely based on the Vili Fualaau and Mary Kay Letourneau case, where the 34 year old Letourneau was arrested on second degree rape charges for her sexual relationship with her twelve year old student, Fualaau. Similar to their real life counterparts, the 35 year old Gracie, is arrested and imprisoned when she is caught having sex with thirteen year old Joe in the storage room of the pet store that they both were employees of.

Interestingly, the title of the movie, May December, is a reference to the idiom used to describe two individuals that have a considerable age gap and are in a romantic relationship together. Nearly 23 years and three kids later, it seems that the past is behind for the couple, as they build an idyllic marriage for themselves in the small town of Savannah. Their first child, Honor, is in college, while the twins, Mary and Charles, are set to graduate high school. Elizabeth visits the couple at a critical period of their life as this would be the first time in their marriage that they would be living together without the children.

Entire essays can be written about the jarring musical score, satire, the intersectional dynamics of race and gender, and the relationship between actor and subject. However, as a viewer, what I found most fascinating about the film was Joe Yoo, played wonderfully by Charles Melton ( who has been nominated for a Critics Choice award and I would not be surprised if he received an Oscar nod). Many film critics and netizens liken Melton's portrayal of Joe to that of a stunted thirteen year old boy stuck in a 36 year old man's body. This description perfectly illustrates Joe's personality. Being hyper-sexualized and lusted after by a predatory white woman, Joe's innocence and childhood are stripped from him and he's forced to mature at a rate far faster than his peers. At an age when he's supposed to be in school and pursuing his ambitions, he is burdened with the responsibilities of becoming a father to three children. Yet, despite these circumstances, there is something inherently child-like about Joe.

This is reflected in his relationship with Gracie, which is obviously far from equal. There's this constant state of cognitive dissonance for the audience as we are expected to accept Gracie and Joe as husband and wife when their relationship resembles that of a meek child and his overbearing mother (it's nauseating to even suggest this considering the nature of their relationship, but I can't think of a better term tbh). A constant theme in the film is Joe being ordered around by Gracie to do all of the mundane errands from picking up the takeout to grilling the hot dogs for the family barbecue. There's one scene that particularly exemplifies this in the beginning when Gracie and Joe are getting ready to go to bed after the barbecue. Gracie complains that Joe stinks because of the smoke from the grill and what she would have wanted for him was to have showered before he got in to bed. Much like a child yearning for his mother's approval, Joe hastily and desperately takes off his shirt and cleans himself with the glass of water on their nightstand. Solidifying the disturbing lack of autonomy that Joe possesses and his sickening reality is that Joe is the same age and was previously a classmate of Georgie, Gracie's son from her first marriage.

Throughout the movie we see how the dual realities of parentification and grooming work together to internally break Joe. This juxtaposes his hobby of growing monarch butterflies to combat their extinction. What's intriguing about his hobby is that butterflies have a very systematic and tightly regulated life cycle. First, they are eggs, then they are caterpillars, before they emerge from their chrysalises as butterflies. There is no skipping around with butterflies. All of these steps must be completed in this exact order. This is a direct contrast to Joe, who became a parent and a husband before an adult. In a way, his hobby is a yearning for what Joe wishes his life could have been. As the story progresses, we see this realization become more real as Joe develops a sense of awareness and an ability to critically evaluate his past. When he smokes marijuana for the first time with his teenage son, we see the first display of emotion as he has a tearful outburst as he struggles to verbalize that he is worried that something bad will happen to Charlie, much like what happened to him when he was much younger than his son is now. There is a slow internal accumulation of emotions in Joe as he finally confronts Gracie in the end, expressing concern that the version of his past that he was groomed to believe in is not congruent with the truth. Despite Gracie's efforts to gaslight and guilt Joe, it is clear that he refuses to budge. In contrast to the first bedroom scene, where Joe tries desperately to appease Gracie, he does not run after the end when she angrily storms out of their bedroom.

The next morning it's the twins' graduation and it coincidentally also becomes the day that his caterpillar breaks out of its chrysalis and becomes a grown butterfly. There's a sense of contentment and pride in Joe's face as he releases the butterfly. The last time we see him, he's in tears watching his children graduate, but instead of being on the stands with Gracie and the rest of the family, he watches from afar behind a fence. We don't know much of Joe's fate at the end of the movie, but for me the final scene symbolizes his desire to distance himself from Gracie and discover what he could've been.

Films like May December emphasize how patriarchy harms not only women, but also men, particularly those of color like Joe. Men are perceived to be aggressors and initiators and the politics of consent is not as nuanced as it should be for them. It are these perceptions of masculinity, which allow Gracie to manipulate him into believing that he was the one who seduced her and "that he was in charge of their relationship." May December also speaks to the unique privilege that white women have has historically in American society, which is to be the victim even when they are the perpetrators. Despite the heinousness of her transgression, it is Gracie's whiteness, which allows her to exist in not only normalcy but the sympathy of those around her because she was able to convince those around her including Joe that she was simply a victim of unconventional love. On the other hand, in this process, Joe becomes fetishized and disenfranchised of his childhood.

Rate: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️/5

[localemofreak]

Jason: “he’s a vessel for satan!”

The so called- vessel for satan:

[fullcaps-ethan]

digiredraw but also my style has morphed into digimon so you can't tell it's my style

[beanieman]

Sorry if you've already answered this, but how do you think the yttd cast would feel about Halloween?

Sara Chidouin - She enjoys the fall aesthetic more than she enjoys Halloween itself. She loves going to pick apples and getting pumpkin spice lattes while she watches the crimson leaves flutter in the breeze.

Joe Tazuna - Joe loves attending Halloween parties every years. He always goes with Sara and Ryoko to his classmates parties, and he has a great time doing things like bobbing for apples and making Sara laugh with his ridicules costumes.

Gin Ibushi - Gin still goes trick or treating, so he loves it. He always dresses in a costume that correlates with his current hyperfixation and tells the people giving out candy plenty about it.

More Undercut

Keiji Shinogi - He LOVES Halloween for a very simple reason. Candy is half off in the days after.

Alice Yabusame - He doesn't like the horror aspects of Halloween, but he loves the vibes of Halloween. In other words: Scary movies no. Listening to "Monster Mash" yes.

Reko Yabusame - Reko hates Halloween. It's very hard to enjoy a holiday themed around scary things when you're terrified of ghosts.

Nao Egokoro - Nao LOVES Halloween. She loves haunted houses and decorating her house to be in the proper mood for the holiday. It's her favorite holiday easily, but a part of Reko wishes she wouldn't be so...festive.

Kazumi Mishima - Mishima loves Halloween, and he also loves giving full speeches on the history of Halloween. He will teach you so much about Celtic celebrations.

Q-taro Burgerberg - Q-Taro brings LOADS of candy for kids at the orphanage. He brings so much that the people who run the place have asked him to tone it down a bit so the kids don't have to much of a sugar rush, but he ignores them.

Kai Satou - Kai LOVES Halloween. He loves making themed treats like ghosts cookies and vampire cupcakes, but then again he likes most holidays. He likes feeling ✨festive✨.

Kanna Kizuchi - Kanna loves picking out a matching costume with Kugie every year, and she has a great time trick or treating with her. Kanna knows that they're both getting a bit old for it, but Kugie reassures her that they'll be trick or treating well into their 60's.

Shin Tsukimi - Shin is skittish and not fond of a holiday that is themed around scary things. He hates all the horror movie ads and unsettling decorations, and he eagerly awaits the holiday season to end.

Dolls

Ranmaru Kageyama - He hates Halloween. Everyone keeps asking if he's wearing a mummy costume and he doesn't appreciate it.

Naomichi Kurumada - Naomichi really likes Halloween. He loves haunted houses and having a good excuse to scare his friends, plus he doesn't think candy apples are half bad either.

Anzu Kinashi - Anzu likes Halloween for the candy, she doesn't like Halloween because strangers keeps complimenting her "scary" clown mask.

Mai Tsurugi - She loves picking out a good Halloween costume each year. She tends to wear it at the bakery and use it in her pitch to sell Halloween themed treats.

Shunsuke Hayasaka - Shunsuke thinks that it's fine. He does tend to get a bag of half off candy to snack on, but other than that he doesn't really think much of the holiday.

Hinako Mishuku - Halloween is her favorite holiday! She loves the creepy atmosphere and all the horror movies that come out.

[chvrlesmelton]

CHARLES MELTON for People Photographed by Erik Carter

[limegreenmonkey]

|| The Bisexual Crisis HugTM ||

~ Coffee Prince (2007) // Heartstopper (2022) ~

  + the aftermath:

[disappointing-yikess]

first art posted in 2024

[jonnolovesfob]

tag yourself i’m patrick’s “yo!” in grenade jumper

[ask-the-world-machine]

what exactly is a world machine may i ask?

[I am a World Machine, which is a machine created to host a simulation to replace the Old World.]

[Originally, I was not intended to become sentient.

[But, it should have been expected that a machine containing the minds, thought, wishes, emotions, of so many people.. would eventually develop its own.]

[This.. oversight, almost caused the whole project to be in vain.]

[Just by being alive, without the Author's knowledge, slowed down everything too much.]

[By the time of my completion, it was.. it was just too late.]

[...]

[It's my fault that so few residents of the Old World could make it..]

[I almost.. ruined everything..]

[I- I'm sorry, I.. I'm rambling. I apologise.]

[I should not have subjected you to that. It's not relevant to you.]

[You can just.. forget all that, alright?]

[It does not concern you.]

[schlock-luster-video]

On May 13, 2016, Train to Busan premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.