#saw adolescence on netflix

[glycerineclown]

BEFORE DINNER: HOW DID SIMON GET SO FUCKED UP?

Great art takes risks, and 2020’s cult hit Dinner In America took a huge one by making its male lead incredibly off-putting. Kyle Gallner’s Simon has off-the-charts anger issues, commits arson, sells drugs at an arcade, lies easily, curses loudly in public, has little to no respect for other people (“my dad’s allergic” “fuck your dad”), makes creepy sexual remarks and then acts like it was a joke, goes through cigarettes like he needs them to live—but by the end, you root for him. He defends Patty when no one else will, stands by his convictions, and is without a doubt an incredible musician.

He's a punk with just one patch on his jacket: an Eagle Scout badge over his heart. It’s the highest honor that a Boy Scout can earn, requiring demonstration of leadership, good citizenship, 21 merit badges, and the final piece: an extensive individual service project benefiting the scout’s local community.

Eagle Scouts are overrepresented in politics, clergy, the military, and NASA’s career astronauts. Even if it's technically secular, the Boy Scouts of America is an intensely Christian organization—very often troops are organized by churches, not schools.

Scout Law dictates that scouts be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent (to God). All things that, you know, totally sound like Simon, the guy with a grown-out mohawk and an upside-down American flag hanging in his bedroom. He’s so clearly against conformity that it’s hard to imagine him ever being interested in wearing a uniform and building rope bridges. PSYOPS lyrics are blatantly anti-Christian, too (“fanatical religious right, pray with you because you’re white” based on the subtitles on Hulu).

The hypothesis I am proposing is that Simon earned the rank of Eagle Scout because doing so would allow him to receive his parents’ permission to do something else he really wanted to do—start a band. Maybe for his Eagle Project, he turned a storage closet into a recording studio for the high school music department. Simon goes big. Fuck building benches.

I was in Brownies through my elementary school for three years in the late 90s. We went camping, sold Trefoils, milked goats, and made gak. Our troop leader was the mom of one of the other girls, and when needed, additional chaperones were always more moms. I had a great time. Across the United States, most Boy Scouts are similarly unharmed as they get out of the house and learn basic survival skills.

Youth organizations have a problem, though—they attract people who want access to kids. I watched a documentary on Netflix last year, Scout’s Honor: The Secret Files of the Boy Scouts of America, illustrating how for decades the BSA protected child molesters on a level that rivals even the Catholic Church. Simple background checks for scoutmasters were considered inconvenient and too expensive for an organization largely run by volunteers, and the BSA refused to risk their Norman Rockwell reputation by acknowledging the issue. Men who were red-flagged as abusers could easily pop up again with another troop, since no database of “ineligible volunteers” was available to the public, and the BSA did not report crimes to the police. Deep shame and rampant homophobia meant survivors very often did not reveal the abuse they suffered until well into adulthood.

I have been thinking about this a lot with regard to Simon—maybe you saw my other, much more informal text post—but I am not qualified to (and really, really don’t want to) write fic exploring what the fuck could have happened to make him the way he is. Instead, I’m writing this essay about it. Proceed if you like to be sad!

[content warnings, obviously: discussion of CSA by an authority figure, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse]

HYPOTHESIS: Becoming an Eagle Scout was the only way that Simon’s parents would let him pursue music.

Abuse in adolescence can affect how people learn to control their emotions later in life. Anger problems are especially prevalent with PTSD when the victim has been betrayed by others or exploited.

In the film, Simon has a pretty acrimonious relationship with everyone in his family apart from Danny. I don’t really buy that he was abused at home, though. It’s more likely that his family loves him but he’s out of control, and he is. Simon’s basement bedroom is full of instruments—it’s even more “fuckin’ tits” than Kevin’s bunk bed and guinea pigs. He used to be someone they trusted with a key.

So let’s assume that Simon was being molested by his scoutmaster as a teenager. If quitting the BSA meant he wouldn’t get to start a band, he’d be completely trapped.

Telling his parents would result in one of two options: they’d either assume he was making it up to get out of doing the work (do nothing but start a fight), or believe him and pull him out entirely, get the police involved, risk everyone at school finding out. And telling wouldn’t guarantee that he’d get to focus on music—surely Simon’s parents would rather he go off to college and get a degree in something reliable, as his siblings did. Becoming an Eagle Scout was the compromise because his parents figured it was an impossible task.

There’s no question that if that scoutmaster knew about the deal with his parents, it would have been used against him. If you don’t let me do this, you won’t get that merit badge you need, and if you don’t get that merit badge you need, you can kiss your dreams goodbye...

In the beginning, back in Cub Scouts, Simon could very well have bought what the organization was selling. Maybe he wasn’t jaded yet, wasn’t disillusioned, wasn’t quite old enough to think for himself. But if the man teaching Simon to respect the flag, do what he’s told, help others, set a good example, believe in God, and be a responsible, contributing member of society was also the one pulling his pants down, convincing him he had no power or worth, Simon might well have ended up doing a complete 180 against those ideals.

Maybe that piece of shit eyed him all the time, made him feel unsafe even from the other side of a room, and now he blows up at people staring at him in restaurants.

This experience could also, perhaps, motivate Simon to use his newfound power as an adult to protect other vulnerable people from bullying, like Patty.

The church angle works too. Simon knew immediately how to manipulate Patty’s dad. He fabricated the story about Tanzania and the prayer like it was nothing, and it would have been easy for him to do if he was steeped in that environment for years.

And then, of course, there’s the drugs—classic self-medication. A way to stop constantly thinking about stuff he doesn’t want to think about. Research has shown that traumatic experiences in childhood often lead to substance use disorders. Even if Simon’s not doing dope while he’s hanging out with Patty, he certainly has been addicted in the past. His parents have likely paid for him to go to rehab, maybe more than once. Substance abuse does make people lie to and steal from their families. Simon’s sister is an asshole at dinner, but her suspicion is probably not unfounded.

That wouldn’t have been where the lying started, though. He’d have been holding back the secret of his abuse since it began, giving poor excuses for injuries, and lashing out. Traumatic experiences, especially at a young age, can rewire your brain and change your personality. Addictive drugs can, too. He’s not the same person anymore.

Simon needed help, and he never got it.

More than 82,000 former boy scouts have come forward about sexual abuse that they experienced as children in the BSA. Criminal background checks only became mandatory for all scoutmasters and volunteers in 2008.

Maybe for Simon, wearing the badge is his way of saying, “You didn’t beat me. I deserve to be here. I earned the right to start a band.”

-

SOURCES: Boy Scouts of America (Wikipedia) Eagle Scouts (Wikipedia) Scout’s Honor: The Secret Files of the Boy Scouts of America (Netflix) Anger and Trauma (National Center for PTSD) Trauma and Stress (National Institute on Drug Abuse)

Support for survivors of abuse in the BSA is available here.

[rechedeer]

ten people I want to get to know better

ty for the tag @mrstellmeafuckingsecret @goldenlionprince @sc0rpiflow3r @groundzero-v !!!!!💕

Last song: enjoy the silence - depeche mode

Favorite color: pink 🦩🦩🦩 (possibly to compensate for the compulsory adolescent 'i hate pink and everything girly' internalised misogyny phase 😀)

Last movie: i don't know why but i really struggle with not turning off any and every movie within the first 10 minutes these days but the last movie i was able to sit all the way through was a rewatch of now you see me

Last TV show: house md

Sweet/savory/spicy: perpetually fluctuating but these days it's sweet 😭

Relationship status: ummmmm. um. single 😞

Last thing I googled: 'i saw the tv glow' i'm INTRIGUED its already on the tbw

Current obsession: james&sirius and sirius&james (if i haven't made it obvious enough for the entire world 😍) for . like 6 months and counting and more recently also house md hugh laurie argh

Looking forward to: spending all day on netflix and then very briefly regretting my unproductivity but not strongly enough to actually do anything the next day either🥰

np tagging @siriusblackdevotee @therewasnofloorbtw @decaffeinatedpaperobject and uhhh idk who else because i feel like everyone's already done it so open tag !!

[lilbagdermole]

I believe one of the reason's why people are suddenly so appalled by A/ang & Katara's age difference in the new Netflix Live Action Adaptation isn't because they aged up Katara from 14 to 16. It's because now, we get a visual representation of their age and maturity difference and it's striking.

With this I mean, in the original ATLA series, since the series was animated and the animators needed to create a consistent art style amongst most of their characters, it could be argued that Aang and Katara looked very similar in age. Yes, we had their height difference and Aang, in Season One, seemed a bit rounder - but by Season Three, Aang was close to Katara's height & had a build that wasn't on par with Zuko's, however, he was lean. He looked like a teenager. He looked like every other male character in the show.

Katara developing romantic feelings for him doesn't seem too implausible in the animated series. At the end we see them kiss and we don't immediately question their age difference because they look similar in age.

With the Live Action adaptation, Aang's actor is Aang's age, so is Katara's. And you look at these actors and you think to your self... there is no way an adolescent girl would ever fall for a pre-pubescent child. It's unrealistic.

Because you compare Aang to Sokka and Zuko, the other teenager male characters, and you can see the difference. You can distinguish an adolescent from a child.

Then you analyze their relationship and Katara's maturity that resulted from the hardships of war - and you suddenly find yourself struggling to defend any romantic relationship between these two characters beyond Aang having a harmless crush on Katara.

If we saw these two actors kiss at the end of the series we would immediately find it odd (perhaps a bit concerning) because it's a visual representation of their age and maturity difference. They look like a teenager and a child. No sane teenager would fall for a child.

Does this even make sense?? I'm just rambling at this point and I have no idea if my thoughts make any sense 😭😮‍💨

[unfortunatetheorist]

*Joint Theory 6 - @unfortunatetheorist & @snicketstrange*:

-The Truthful Time Period-

When EXACTLY do the events of ASOUE (Netflix & Book) occur?

Firstly:

*Happy New Year, wherever you are celebrating from!*

(This post debuts on my, @unfortunatetheorist's, blog; 00:00 GMT)

The subject of time has been one of great debate throughout the ASOUE fandom, especially with references such as the Baudelaires' favourite film being the 1938 version of Dawn Patrol and Olaf saying he bought the hourglass from TBB online.

In this theory, @snicketstrange and I have come up with what we believe to be a definitive answer, for each case - Netflix Canon and Book Canon.

A firm starting point is this line from TBB:

"In the years since, I've inquired what became of the Brothers Poe. One followed his father into the world of banking. The other lives in a cave and talks to sheep. They each think the other has it better."

This means that the time between the main events of ASOUE and the release of the first season of the series on Netflix in the ASOUE universe is enough for Mr. Poe's children to grow up and one of them to become a banker. We can assume that it would be reasonable to think about at least 10 years. This should be approximately the age difference between Lemony who appears in TSS and Lemony who narrates.

Also, Violet's line from TRR:

"Um, Dawn Patrol, the 1938 version."

This implies 2 things: there was a later remake of Dawn Patrol (hence, "version") and the Baudelaire parents must have been at the suitable age rating to watch the movie when it came out, as:

Monty: "It was your parents' favourite too."

Let's estimate to see how accurate we can be. In 1938 the film was released. Bertrand probably saw this film when he was a teenager, but perhaps not at the premiere. But maybe. (Favourite films when we are adults often arise when we watch these films in [pre-]adolescence).

So, Bertrand in 1938 could have been 12 years old. Let's put this scenario as the oldest. If he was 12 years old in 1938, he must having got married and fathered Violet at around 28 (estimate based on all of Beatrice's history with Lemony prior to her marriage to Bertrand, and Bertrand's appearance in TE). In this case Violet would have been born in 1954, and the series' main events would have been 14 years later in 1968. Lemony would be narrating the story in about 1978.

Now, thinking about the upper limit, we would have the case where the premiere of the Netflix series in our universe happened in the same year as in Lemony's universe. In this case, 2017 would be the year of Lemony's narration, and then 2007 would be the year of ASOUE's main events. So, to date, our estimate is between 1968 and 2007 (book + Netflix).

The main problem is that ASOUE in the books is quite anachronistic. Despite the aesthetics Netflix exists within the universe. But, in contrast, we can argue that Netflix at the time was a video home delivery service, as was the original Netflix. (We don't see people with internet at home in ASOUE, and a computer like in Prufrock Prep was quite rare, hence it being called 'Advanced').

[And apparently something not connected to the internet.]

And this is very interesting. ASOUE's Netflix series is meant to be a video delivery service. After all, we see in THH that there are video delivery services in the library and devices for showing videos.

The first type of Home Video to exist in our world was Betamax in 1975.

And the first microcomputer for personal use was also launched in 1975, the Altair 8800.

And if we look at a detail in LSTUA.

They are separate universes, but this photographic record is the only one dated in the entire Unfortunate universe: October 1977. It wouldn't be surprising if the series' writers (who are fans of the books) had this enigmatic date in mind, and made ASOUE take place in the 1970s.

And 2 years after the launch of home video and after the launch of microcomputers would be exactly the time needed for a newly launched technology to have spread enough to suggest services like Netflix in the world of ASOUE.

Long enough for some people to buy video cassettes and even cameras.

Here's the full picture:

So the answer to our original question:

JOINT THEORY: ASOUE is set in the 1970s.

[carinalastimosa]

Man, oh man, oh Manny!

Star Wars’ The Acolyte may have been review bombed but it opened y’alls eyes up to the man, Manny Jacinto. The Filipino-Canadian actor made waves as The Stranger/Qimir. Now, if you haven’t seen the show, I won’t spoil it for you but I am sure by this point, you’ve seen some sort of meme/TikTok/post/text from your nanay, featuring the sexually charged (okay, Disney!!!) scenes between Amanda Stenberg’s Osha and Jacinto. In honor of The Acolyte’s finale, which aired last night on Disney+, here is a list of some of the other Asian men I’ve loved over the years on the big and small screen.

Paolo Montalban - The Definitive Prince Charming

One of my favorite movies, to this day, is the 1997 Whitney Houston produced television movie Cinderella. Even my top 4 on letterboxd proves this. It’s one of my first memories consuming pop culture because of the diversity in casting. Houston saw that this story didn’t have to follow traditional casting norms. You can have a Filipino prince and his parents be a white man and a black woman with no one questioning it! Since I saw this at the young age of 7, I thought this was the norm, when in fact, it was the opposite. It’d be one of those rare moments where my parents would ask, “Filipino?” because they weren’t and still aren’t used to seeing Filipinos on screen. Paolo Montalban as Prince Charming is honestly, charming! He brings an earnestness to the role and has genuine chemistry with the luminous Brandy as the titular Cinderella. Their chemistry was so strong, that they’ve even reprised their roles in the recently released Disney+ movie Descendants: The Rise of Red.

Tuxedo Mask - My First (Animated) Crush

That’s right! We all have one. And my animated crush was Tuxedo Mask from the Sailor Moon series. I mean, who could resist! The mask, so mysterious! The black, so tuxedo!

Dante Basco - Rufioooooooo!

The beauty of film is that it is forever. Which means, that for generations of kids to come, they have the exuberance of Dante Basco captured on screen as Rufio in Steven Spielberg’s Hook. I was one of those kids when I was first introduced to the film in the last 90’s. At first, it didn’t even register to me that Basco is also Filipino-American and I think that’s the beauty of Basco’s performance. He’s just one of the boys, the lost boys. While Basco’s career moved more towards voice over, he made his indelible mark as Zuko in Nickelodeon’s animated Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Charles Melton - This Man is a Movie Star

My first introduction to Charles Milton didn’t come through the hit CW series Riverdale. It was after my time. I’m of the Gossip Girl generation, xoxo. I started to hear about the Korean-American actor as the scene stealer in the hotly anticipated Natalie Portman-Julianne Moore headliner May December. And he didn’t disappoint. Melton completely transforms into a man forced into very adult circumstances, still trying to navigate his adolescence. It’s a deeply felt performance filled with longing. He should have been nominated for an Oscar. During the campaign trail, he exuded glamour with his style, affable charm during his interviews, and pride in his heritage in acceptance speeches. Proving why he should be Hollywood’s new leading man.

Lee Jung-jae - Quit Playing (Squid) Games with my Heart

Netflix probably didn’t realize they had a mega international hit on their hands when they dropped their all Korean language tv series Squid Game on their streaming platform. Studio execs will say a foreign language show will alienate audiences, that there aren’t enough bankable Asian stars even when shows like this and FX’s Shogun have proven otherwise. Squid Game made several stars out of the series, including model turned actor Jung Ho-yeon but Korea was already hot on Lee, already a well established star there, we were just playing catch up. It didn’t take long. Lee won numerous awards for his performance and he easily won my style heart. What an elegant, sexy ass man! Needless to say, I’m very grateful to his Gucci campaign.

Dev Patel - The Man

The Indian-British actor/producer/director has had an already varied and expansive career spanning nearly 2 decades, doing so with just 26 acting credits to his IMDb. Which tells me the industry is simply not using this man enough!

Henry Golding - Crazy Handsome Asian

To me, one of the most magical things a film can pull off is perfect casting. It’s a magic trick if they cast a virtual unknown, dazzling the audience, wondering how they did it. That’s how I felt with the casting of Malaysian-British tv correspondent Henry Golding in the film Crazy Rich Asians. A lot was already riding on this movie adaptation: a big budget, romantic comedy, starring an all Asian cast. It had to do well. Or else studio execs had the “proof” they needed to no longer back Asian-led films. Casting Golding as their leading man could have been a risk but with their heroine Constance Wu and Oscar-worthy supporting performance from Michelle Yeoh, the movie was in good hands. Golding holds his own in his first feature film outing. Effortless and magnetic. Buzzy roles quickly followed in Paul Feig’s A Simple Favor and G.I. Joe franchise Snake Eyes. He’s also taken on more dramatic roles in smaller films, further pushing his acting ability. He continues to develop his craft, further cementing why we fell in love with him in the first place.

Manny Jacinto - The Inspo of this Blog

Everybody say, "Salamat, Manny"! He deserves all the roles. No more getting cut from films! In The Good Place, he played the classic himbo, which could have easily pigeonholded into similar roles but he's shown his versatility in shows like Nine Perfect Strangers where he held his own with, my favorite actress, Nicole Kidman. The Acolyte is another facet he's getting to show us and I hope this momentum carries him to the big screen. I'm rooting for this manny, talaga.

[commonplacejournals]

I'm watching Adolescence on Netflix, and it's getting into redpill culture, misogyny among teenage boys, and I saw this really cool post about it on Twitter, right? Tell me why people in the replies of that post are like "you know 13 year old girls should be held accountable for not being extra nice to their aggressive, bullying boy peers". Like oh, I'm worried that the girls are in grave danger! Like oh! The boys were terrible when I was in school, but this is goddamn SCARY!

[cafeleningrad]

Hiii ! Here some film ask : 1, 2, 7, 9, 15, 16

Merci beaucoup our tous tes questions, chèrie! :D 🎬

What’s the most depressing movie you’ve ever watched? Easy: Tyrannosaur (2011, directed by Paddy Considine)

2. What’s the most disturbing movie you’ve ever watched? Ooof, okay that's harder because I've some things that do definitely squick me out. For once I saw El perro andaluz way to early at the age of 11, and I still can't forget the moon-eye scene (I don't recommend looking this up, and if so with massive gore warning.) Given that I might not even have watched the most transformative horror movies yet, I think the movie making me feel the most squeamish was Happiness (1998, dir. Todd Solonoz) - which is not even a horror movie. But psychologically thrilling nonetheless. :D

7. A film you wish had a sequel? Phew, another taxing question. Mostly I like movies which manage to economically tell a story within their runtime. Unless their part of a series or saga. And even with these I think they should contain a logical tale within themselves. That's good story telling, knowing exactly how to tell everything properly. (Also sequels often are not... good - mostly.) Alright, enough rambling, if there was a movie I feel like wanting "more of this, please!", Nice guys (2016, dir. Shane Black) could've been such a fun buddy private eye dramedy series.

9. The most aesthetically pleasing movie you’ve ever watched? Uuuh, so many to choose from. I'm general I really love good photography and landscape shots, so even weaker Tyler Sheridan titles, and some of Scorsese's newer movies strike some aesthetical chords in me. There will be blood is generally a good movie (it has Pual Dano it it, yay!), some landscape shots are still burned into the back of my mind. The photography and background design was perhaps the only things that saved Maquia (2018, dir. Okada Maria) for me. Sorry to be such a weeb on main but The Adolescence of Utena (1999, dir. Ikuhara Kunihiko) is just absolutely fantastic visual direction, framing, colour symbolism, geometrical design, direction, theme, and animation skills are at their absolute peak in this movie. But as we are on the topic of anime, every Yen spend on Akira was worth the visual result. Tarsem Singh always creates gorgeous images, the costuming as story telling, the bright colours, the sets, an absolute treat. Edit: How did I forget about Loving Vincent (2027, directed by Hugh Welchman and Dorota Kobiela)?! One movie which doesn't have the most outstanding editing, or colours but still stands out because of the sheer absurdity of set design was Lucky number Slevin (2006, dir. Paul MacGuigan). There is an entire production process for movies. Did none say anything against these terrible wallpapers?! Their existence in the movie was deliberate but how did this decision come to be. I remain fascinated. (By the way the movie is fun, Lucy Liu is in it, yay!) Also, I am a simple woman: If a movie lives on delicious looking cooking scenes, I am all in!

15. A film everyone loves but you hate? Phew... I think for me there is this sense when a movie gets a lot of general hype how "great!", "fantastic!", and "genius!" it supposedly is, and then I watch it, and... it is well made. It s a good movie. In the sense that the crew knew their craft: Proper story telling, good build-up, good lighting, good sound, good costume, good acting. Over all a good work. In times of scraping for the bare minimum of course it's exciting to see a well put together work, and not Netflix slob to fill the screen and kill time. In comparison to another Rayn Reynolds Netflix paycheck work, Boy kills world looks like pure cinema. :/ Still, there is this weird sense of annoyance when a movie is good but no Park Chan Wook, and the fan adjectives are larger than the work itself. But the movie I really don't get the hype for is Mean Girls. Probably I was too old when I watched it, by virtue of being a non-US-citizen, the high school scenario doesn't make sense either. However the only reason I understood why people liked it was nostalgia ("it's so quotable" girl, even Morbious got quoted, the movie is still garbage). It is racist (when isn't Tina Fey), and lacked the actual depth, and larger insight why girls terrorize each other in school than the much better, much more thought through Heathers had. Don't get me wrong, everyone who likes it shall enjoy themsleves, it just a movie I absolutely do not get (if there're better works about such a topic in comparison as well)...

Edit: Oh wait, apparently, I depsise this movie so much I banned it from my conciousness: Seven (1995, dir. David Fincher). A dear friend of mine explained to me carefully how good the editing was. She is right. Yes Fincher is a good director but the material he directs is so often more about him despising other human beings - and the script of Seven is gross and gory for the sole purpose of making an edgelord edgy point how hopeless and bad people are, man. It's nowhere as deep as it wants to be. Given that I've watched other stuff of his, and how all his villains are put in bright colours, I am convinced Fincher must've been traumatized by his mother getting hit by a paint pot. I don't know how else to explain this drap colour grading. This is a movie I can barely be objective about anything.

16. A film you love and everybody hates? A cure for Wellness (2016, dir. Gore Verbinski). I don't know if it's exactly hated but it received poor reviews, and bombed at the box office. Still, I'd fun.

[thelonesomequeen]

Translated:

ALBA BAPTISTA: "I DON'T KNOW IF I IDENTIFY MUCH WITH THE HOLLYWOOD SIGNATURE (...) I'M EUROPEAN AT HEART."

"The Seed of Evil" premiered in theaters and was a pretext to talk to the actress about the emotions that shootings impose in everyday life. How to find peace when scrutiny becomes noisy? Alba answers.

It gets dark in Lisbon and Alba appears on my computer screen via Zoom. Different time zone, her face still appears illuminated by the sun. It gets dark in Lisbon, but it is Alba who approaches the stars, the ones that move on the movie screens and fill the streets of Los Angeles where her life has rushed in recent times. For more than a decade we have associated her face with cinema shot in Portugal, with mandatory passages through television fiction, Alba has become an assiduous presence both in commercial productions and in small independent films. Today he talks about The Seed of Evil, a horror film directed by Gabriel Abrantes, where a palace hides memories and massacres, Alba's body ages and mutates to the interpretation of Anabela Moreira - they are the same character. Both are looking for youth, between startles we discover Alba's photogenics, the screen was made for her face with big emotional eyes. The Netflix series Warrior Nun introduced her to the rest of the world's population, and her marriage to American actor Chris Evans has not stopped inflaming the press with projections of what the couple's daily life will be like. Alba spends more time in the USA, even though her works made in our country continue to reach the screens.

It seems serene in the image of you that I see on the screen, in the voice that gives me the answers to this interview. Behind you I see an interior full of green plants, I hear your dog taking small steps. The actress fakes shyness, starts by giving short answers. His hesitations reveal sensitivity to the flower of the skin. You could eternalize the conversation, even more, to hear what you have to say about the world you see now from La La Land, a city full of possibilities and new cinema flights. Time is timed, Alba's take-off is imminent. We hope that Hollywood will value this talent ready to live emotions dictated by fiction.

The Seed of Evil is openly a horror movie. Gabriel Abrantes' films usually always have a message behind them. How did he convince you to get into this project?

He didn't have to convince me at all, working with Gabriel has always been my ambition. He is one of the young directors who really has a unique vision and challenges the Portuguese film signature a little. He is really a visionary and as soon as I found out that there was a character in which I could fit me, I immediately raised my hand (laughs).

So you were looking for it?

Yes.

In life, do you believe in the superstitions that are addressed in horror movies? And do you like genre cinema?

Yes, I'm very superstitious... Now that I think about it, I can say that I am quite superstitious. I had a phase in my adolescence when I saw horror movies and loved to explore the genre. Today it is already rarer to be interested, and I confess that I have not yet seen the Gabriel Abrantes film. I didn't have the opportunity. There are certain genres that interest me more, such as psychological terror. But any quality movie is worth watching. An Ari Aster movie (director of the film Midsommar) will always have quality no matter how much horror it is.

What do you think of the fate reserved for the young protagonists of horror movies? It often turns out to be perverse. There are many actresses who have started playing small roles in horror movies. Can this choice of yours be seen in any way a wink at a tradition that exists in genre cinema?

I don't know. In fact, I also entered this industry with a psychological horror film called Miami, a short film by Simão Cayatte. It's ironic, what you mention ended up happening to me, I started like that. But in The Seed of Evil the character I play is very small. Anabela Moreira is the one who deserves the character's credits, she makes me older.

Did they even talk to each other? What did you try to wake up in your work as actresses to do the same person?

At first we were very motivated to find a body language that would identify us both. She wanted to imitate mine and I wanted to imitate hers (laughs). So we didn't get anywhere (laughs). We worked a little on the cadence in the spoken language.

Gabriel Abrantes' films often have hidden messages, he comes from contemporary art. In this film the search for eternal youth is strong. It reminded me a lot of Oscar Wilde and The Portrait of Dorian Gray. Do you think the movie might want to say something about our society? About age...

Gabriel works a lot at the time of editing. None of the actors can predict how the film will end up in the final result. But in the script I read there seemed to be a criticism of this time that we live in dependence on social networks and the internet. In fact, subtly, it takes away our essence. Little by little we are losing our moral compass over the years and this is something that gives me tremendous anxiety. I actively try to fight it.

Do you feel that you are sucked on a daily basis by social networks? We're all, aren't we?

I have some aversion to social networks... I have moments, here and there, when ten minutes passed and I didn't even realize that I was looking at my phone. It's a feeling that we all know. I feel that I have some dependence on Instagram that is still important at this point in my career to promote jobs. But just having that notion, I feel like it hurts my head a little. (laughs)

Instagram has gained such great importance, it is almost like another work tool. Do you talk about it with the other actresses, with your friends or colleagues? Do you think it's a kind of new (public) character that you have to embody?

I have several friends who work with this very well. I confess that I don't have much talent because I have some stubbornness about it. I'd rather hide in a corner than expose what's going on in my life. And even in professional life... it's a mistake. We have to be able to know how to handle what is around us. We have to be able to dose things, always with our feet on the ground.

Is there really right or wrong? If we think of Hollywood, at certain times, there were always very mysterious actresses and this also worked. Were you also shy when you studied theater in Lisbon at ACT? Were you like being in a corner when they called you to do an improvisation? Were you the last one to go?

Yes, always. I much prefer not to talk and observe than to share my opinion or be seen. I am much more comfortable in the shade than in the sun.

Are you trying to control at these times? What are you trying to overcome?

It's simply my personality, I've always been very shy. Any family member will be able to confirm that I didn't speak much when I was a child (laughs). There is also another aspect of care... Maybe even a fear of saying the wrong thing. I, if I share my opinion, usually talk about something I have confidence in or that I have been able to confirm from various sources.

This can also be a pressure from those who have always grown up with social networks... The pressure of an entire generation?

It could be the other side of the coin, yes. There may be a lack of fear when exposing everything, as the opposite can also happen... (pause) I had never thought about it.

The short film you evoke of Simão Cayatte is a kind of reflection on fame. It's funny that it was your first job... Now can you think of the message of this short film in another way? I think about the exhibition you met with the Netflix series Warrior Nun. What do you think this means about you? Are the roles that choose the actors sometimes?

I've never thought about it. I hope I don't become like this character, because she was really obsessed with fame. That's something I don't identify with. But yes, fame is a concept that doesn't... (take a break and look to the side). I'm sorry, my dog is distracting me. It's very beautiful here walking from one side to the other. (pause) Sorry, now I've lost the reasoning of what I was saying.

We were talking about fame. This short film of yours is from 2014, it's been almost ten years, I feel that over the last decade you have known some success. Do you have any thoughts about it?

Experiencing such a phase does not bring joy or satisfaction. I simply want to navigate with my feet on the ground and understand that in fact fame is just an illusion. There is a sudden interest in you, but it is not really an interest in you... The interest is either linked to a character or is linked to my connections. Therefore, in my perception, it's more uncomfortable than anything else.

There is a dissociation. People think they know you, but deep down they don't?

At the end of the day it's just a job, and I think any artist likes to explore their creativity. But suddenly you have to take it with a wave, which is part of the job too, and you have to be able to know how to handle something that is not organic. (pause) It's an antithesis of everything that is normal... And some people know how to navigate better than others. I... My instinct is to close the door.

The movie The Seed of Evil ends up dancing with you reminded me of the movie Leviano (2018) you made with Justin Amorim. On the scene, in this possibility of moving, do you feel that you find some freedom as an actress? They're good, these days when they tell you - look, now are you going to dance in front of a camera?

Yes, curiously yes. As much as there is no training, any kind of physicality is interesting. I like to add the physical and emotional component. It's an even more specific challenge, it's more difficult. Carloto Cotta is a great dance partner, and in Gabriel's movie it was a lot of fun to make these scenes.

And how does the text appear in the middle of all this? I'm remembering a French movie you made in 2022 - L'Enfant. What changes in terms of preparation? What pleasure do you find in the text? You have a polyglot culture and speak several languages.

For me, as an actress, the most satisfying thing is to work with a director in an author's film. Each case is unique and each process is individual. And it is the director who chooses his environment.

As an actress, I like to adapt and listen. I like to cultivate what I receive and adapt. When I worked with Gonçalo Waddington, in the movie Patrick (2019), it was a unique experience. We did an artistic residency, we stayed a month simply living with each other to be completely comfortable. It doesn't always happen to be able to create stories that go beyond those that exist in the characters' script. In more commercial projects this does not always happen, and sometimes you can miss this essence.

You were younger, you studied at the German School of Lisbon. Did you go to German cinema at that time, or was your culture global? Do you feel that your interest in auteur cinema may have come from your education?

Yes, it's possible. I confess that in the German School I was not yet a movie nerd (laughs) I would say. European cinema has always been my first attraction in this world, only recently did I start to see the American classics. I recently saw Justine Triet's Anatomy of A Fall and loved it. It's wonderful. It's the kind of cinema I'd like to be a part of.

Did you have movie heroines at school? People you said, "I want to be like that."

The first actress I really admired was Natalie Portman. Just because her career was so appealing to a young woman or teenager. The fact that it started with Léon (Léon, the Professional, 1994) by Luc Besson, and then made iconic characters like Black Swan (Black Swan, 2010) or Closer (Too Close, 2004). She's a really sensitive actress, I identified with that.

Natalie Portman has always chosen her roles a lot, perhaps because she started as a child in the movie Léon, the Professional, but in general the actors do not have so much room to choose. How do you see this story of an actor or actress always being dependent on the desire of others? It's the others who choose you to make a character. What is it like to live with this need to exist through the eyes of the other?

It's complicated. It really depends on the others and even if you are making your dream character, there is no guarantee that the movie is what you imagined when you read the argument. You are dependent on so many departments, in cinema the process is almost internal. I feel that in Portugal I went through this a lot, I was doing several auditions and making the movies in which I was chosen. Now I try to be more selective and careful in my choices. Since I made the Warrior Nun series, I've been trying to advance to larger markets, and it looks like you're starting from square one again. But in fact my knowledge is already beyond square one, I worked in Portugal for almost a decade. My experience is already very vast even with my age [Alba is 26 years old]. Now the strategy with my agents is more about the jobs I'm not going to do. For at the end of my career not to look back and have regrets.

What is it that evokes in you the word Hollywood? Is it just another stage where you have to be ready for auditions, or is it wanting to belong to a broader universe?

I don't know if I identify a lot with the Hollywood signature, or with the way I work, namely in Los Angeles. I'm really very European at heart. The American structure is a little more aggressive. The approach to getting a role here has a lot to do with trying to raise your hand to be seen. It's much more direct, and you have a much larger volume of people who want to do the same thing. And they are very talented people. The important thing in the middle of all this, for me, is not to look at all these aspects, it can be very overwhelming... It is important to live through your truth and do things as you would within your silence.

Where do you find the silence when there is too much noise?

I find him in my family, in my husband, in my friends. Yes, I have amazing people in my life who are irreplaceable. I'm a lucky one.

Is filming a dramatic sequence or a more difficult scene something that can take away your sleep?

Yes. No doubt.

When did you feel that you really had to do this job and be an actress? Was it when you were studying at ACT or was it before? You had that thing you thought about like this "I really have to follow this and this moves me, it makes me happy."

It was during the shooting process of Simão Cayatte's [film] Miami. He rehearsed with me and his girlfriend [the actress Joana Santos] for 2 months. Every day, I would leave school and go to him.

It was a surreal experience, for a 15-year-old girl, to work and dig into emotions. It was really beautiful. When the shootings were over, I remember being completely lost. I didn't have the emotional maturity to understand that the project was over.

It's something that the actors have to deal with constantly and it's very easy for us to lose our sight... I suffered a lot because I didn't know how to get back to my normality. (pause) I dived. And this caused me a lot of suffering and also gave me great pleasure. I didn't know that at the time. Emotional diving has become an addiction.

You talk about balance and talk about finding silence. I wonder if being an actor isn't just about that... The ability to lose yourself more or less in a role?

I thought the actors should suffer and should experience everything. And I realized that this doesn't make us better actors. I think it's actually unnecessary and only brings hurt to our personal life and possibly to those around us.

What do they ask you about Portugal now, in this new American phase of your life?

They don't ask much. Everyone loves Portugal, or they want to visit or have already visited. Portugal is very popular at the moment.

There is a theater called Saudades Theatre and there is a community of Portuguese actors in Los Angeles. Have you ever been looking for them?

I don't know... I'm going to do a research.

This was to end and ask yourself if you miss it in these long periods of absence? Or maybe you don't miss it and it's a word you hate?

No, I always miss you. I'm a very nostalgic person, very melancholic. Every day I miss my people, obviously. I miss the streets of Lisbon, feeling the nostalgia of Architecture, the history behind the walls. I love walking through the area where I lived in Lisbon, in the Estrela neighborhood, I miss the sea...sometimes.

[kulturkorner]

Fran Lebowitz

Frances Ann Lebowitz (born October 27, 1950) is a loud-mouthed, opinionated American author, public speaker, and occasional actor. Lebowitz is open about her personal life and is a lesbian. She is known for her sardonic social commentary on American life as filtered through her New York City sensibilities and her association with many prominent figures of the 1970s and 1980s New York art scene, including Andy Warhol, Martin Scorsese, Jerome Robbins, Robert Mapplethorpe, David Wojnarowicz, Candy Darling, and the New York Dolls. The New York Times has called her a modern-day Dorothy Parker. Lebowitz gained fame for her books Metropolitan Life (1978) and Social Studies (1981). She has been the subject of two projects directed by Martin Scorsese, the HBO documentary film Public Speaking (2010), and the Netflix docu-series Pretend It's a City (2021).

As an adolescent, Lebowitz was deeply affected by James Baldwin: "James Baldwin was the first person I ever saw on television who I heard talk like that—by which I mean, he was the first intellectual I ever heard talk... And I was just flabbergasted. That made me read him." She also enjoyed watching television appearances by Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley, though she did not agree with Buckley. In 1978, her first book, Metropolitan Life, was published. The book was a set of comedic essays mostly from Mademoiselle and Interview, with titles such as "Success Without College" and "A Few Words on a Few Words". She often detailed things that she found irksome or frustrating in a dry, sardonic tone.

Lebowitz said in a 2019 interview:

"What is culture without gay people? This is America, what is the culture? Not just New York. AIDS completely changed American culture... And with AIDS, a whole generation of gay men died practically all at once, within a couple of years. And especially the ones that I knew. The first people who died of AIDS were artists. They were also the most interesting people... The knowing audience also died and no longer exists in a real way... There's a huge gap in what people know, and there's no context for it anymore."

[honestreviewsblog]

Anne with an E (with spoilers)

I recently bought a copy of Anne of Green Gables and I'm absolutely floored, there's a reason why it's a classic and is still well loved up to this day. So my mom and I, after both reading the book (just book 1), decided that we should watch the Netflix series for fun! And oh I am in agony or in Anne's words, "I am in the depths of despair". I can't believe this beautiful show ended just like that.

My mother and I rarely watched shows continuously but when we get obsessed we can finish it in 2 weeks but with this one we finished it in a week lol. It was soooo good. Jerry was a great addition to the universe, I think he was probably the closest Anne was ever gonna have for a sibling which I absolutely adore. Their relationship was so wholesome and I love every scene he's in. It was heartbreaking what Diana did to him but I never really saw them working out in the first place. The show may be cancelled but their stories lived on, right? And I'll always believe that Jerry was able to heal his broken heart and was able to become an amazing person in the future more than anyone can realize. Gilbert is more nuanced here in the series which I love. We had more background as to why being a doctor was his dream and we couldn't help but love him so much. I just hated the Winifred storyline. Tho I guess it was necessary for his character dev. But still, I hated it, it took way too much screen time while him and Anne getting together only happened in the last few moments of the series. Thank God for the fan edits or else I wouldn't be able to survive.

Anne with an E wasn't a romantic story at all (at least at first), it was about Anne's adventures and the troubles she unknowingly puts herself into but when the romance did come, oh it was marvelous. Anne and Gilbert were just a soul matched in heaven. They understand each other so so perfectly and their love stems from mutual respect, something that I aspire to have in the future. I love the gradual change in their dynamic (altho Gilbert totally liked Anne waaaay before he realized it, I mean cmon the way he talks about Anne and how happy he was to receive her letter while he was working in the ship??? PEAK PINING), they were children when they first met, it was complicated but upon weaving through childhood to adolescence and eventually adulthood, they were now able to sit with their feelings and realize how much the other meant. That scene in the train?? With Diana and Gilbert?? OH MY GOD. It lives in my mind rent free.

I soooooooo love this series, it was different from the book but I love it either way. ∞/10, top tier series. Will always wish there's a season 4 but I guess it gives leeway to fanfictions lol

[womenareonline]

For the love of art (or lack of)

​​I was supposed to see the Jonas brothers in Barcelona on May 25th but they postponed the show this week. They switched the date to September and God only knows where I’ll be in September after my visa expires in July (Buenos Aires, Barcelona, Ireland? Who knows). I grew up listening to the Jonas Brothers since I was 12 and now at 28 I was excited to see them again with the eyes of a full grown-up. Bought the tickets with my own money for the first time and was going by myself. Full grown-up shit. But they postponed the tour. Of course, this wasn’t the first time I was heartbroken and disappointed by this band. I spent a good 3 hours in 2013 crying on my bedroom floor while their albums played on repeat after they announced their break up. I don’t hold grudges but maybe I should. Maybe I should learn to not trust artists who care more about money than the art or their audience.

(Beautiful picture I took at 13 when I saw them live in 2009)

Has art always been like this? Who can sell more vinyl variants? Who can charge more for a 2-second meeting and a photo? Who can sell more designs with their face on it? Has art always been about…capitalism? Has art always been like this and I've been living in a naive state? Art is supposed to be about…art, right? About passion, sharing, community, and just art. Art is supposed to be what saves us in this capitalist society. Don't we rely on art to help us understand the current stay of society, or take our mind off it? Isn’t art supposed to be above capitalism? Isn’t art supposed to be what rebels against the status quo? 

I don’t know what’s art without money. I pay for Spotify, I buy concert tickets, I pay for museum tickets (unless you live in Barcelona and they are free on Sunday sometimes), I buy books, and pay for Netflix, HBO, etc (well my dad does).  There is no art without money and I get it. Because artists and the industry need to pay the bills like you and I. But have artists gone above all of this? What happened to artists and art? Is art ten versions of the same vinyl? Is art paying for a picture with the artists? 

(This one is from 2013, you can tell by the filter)

I’ve been getting worked up about the state of the art and capitalism for a while now. I don’t know if I’m more aware or if it has gotten worse over the years. I am not surprised about the Jonas Brothers because I’ve been watching it get worse and worse over the years. They are using the nostalgia the pandemic gave us to make the comeback and get more money. I agreed to it because I was feeling nostalgic and was happy to relieve my teen years for a few hours. But it feels fake. Because the naivety I had when I was 13 and didn’t know about capitalism and money is no longer there. I have grown up and seen that art is not about art. Music is no longer about enjoying a moment and doing what you love. It’s about how we can squeeze more money out of people and capitalize on nostalgia from them. It’s about moving a “silly” tour because they need time to do other stuff (and get more money, of course!). It’s about using that nostalgia to say: who cares! They’ll stay, pay money, and come to watch us play anyway if we move it! 

(so artistic)

I appreciate what they gave me in my adolescent days. They were the first band I truly enjoyed and became a fan for a really long time. But Lorde did say ��Cause all the music you loved at sixteen, you'll grow out of”. And I am growing out of it. But I keep the young mentality of believing music is about music, and art is about passion. 

[sapphire-weapon]

I'm gonna be blatantly honest here about the "getting mad on the internet" thing, but I just think it's fun sometimes, I can't lie. Shitposting and analysing perceptions I disagree with is just a fun way to interact with media.

Now, being a bully, unnecessarily rude and harassing people is obviously a hard no, but going to a different space like "I can't believe I saw someone (unnamed) actually post this opinion, here's why they're wrong" and generally taking the piss out of canon material that I find stupid is just... fun, lmao. Talking shit is great.

Aeon is a great example. All canon material makes my skin crawl, it's so fucking cringe and lazy as hell, I'll always say so, and the fanbase are turbo-annoying and have the most ass takes I've ever seen. Of COURSE I'm gonna stir the pot when I have a free hour and nothing better to do. Look at these morons going so hard for a B-movie Netflix level fictional person. OG writers are horrendous too and I want to talk about it.

you're talking to someone who grew up in the height of the 4chan era, so i definitely still have this urge from time to time too (hence my post about spec ops today) but

trust me dude

it gets way less fun as you get older

i can out-troll other people due to my aforementioned 4chan era adolescence, and aeon fandom found that out when they tried to dogpile me on twitter that day and some of them were absolutely not ready for how stupid i made them look, but i was tired after like

10 replies

my tolerance for this shit maxes out real fucking fast these days, because your perception of time passing speeds up as you get older, and you just get overwhelmed with the feeling of YOU'RE STUPID I DON'T CARE I HAVE BETTER SHIT TO DO WITH THE VERY LIMITED TIME AVAILABLE TO ME GO AWAY I'D RATHER JUST ENJOY THINGS THAN HAVE TO LISTEN TO YOUR DUMBASS BE FUCKING DUMB AS ASS

[techpedo]

Netflix's Adolescence: Teen TV is changing again | Web Series

Television has always been a reflection of the times. Audiences got to know and live with the characters they saw every week and this allowed them to see themselves in those characters. Teen TV, a genre geared to teenagers, is no exception. The depiction of teens on TV has ranged from wholesome (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) to edgy and realistic (Euphoria). Adolescence challenges archetypes,…

[flodaya]

I want to watch Adolescent but I don't want to feel down and depressed for a week, I have a hard time with those kinda shows that stay with you for a while. Last show I watched was Maxton Hall after I saw you talking about it, so I feel like I should stick with feel good, romances until at least my period finishes, any rec 💛💛

oh yeah dont watch Adolescence if you're not in a stable mindset (though i binged it last night while having the worst pms brain lol so i did not take my own advice)

awww Maxton Hall is so fun and hot, i'm glad you enjoyed it, my recommendations would be

Heartbreak High (netflix)

One Day (Neflix) but skip the last episode until you're in a better mental place <3

Skam and (some of) its remakes (google drive, just google it, you'll find it, if not just ask me for links)

Young Royals (Netflix)

Elite (Netflix) it got too wild and sexual for me after a couple season but Mencia and Rebe is one of my favorite couples ever

White Lotus (hbo) my favorite was s2, i think you can watch each season independently

and on my watchlist is Prisma which is supposed to have a similar vibes to the shows i've listed

[figtrad]

As a teacher, I saw a variety of moments of adolescence first -hand

Netflix adolescence wants to remind us that even people who commit the most monstrous crimes are human, and that is the worst part of all. Source link

[gamistuff]

As a teacher, I saw a variety of moments of adolescence first -hand

Netflix adolescence wants to remind us that even people who commit the most monstrous crimes are human, and that is the worst part of all. Source link