Very Effective Anti-Heroin Propaganda

I can’t even begin to talk about this film. It made me feel all sorts of uneasy and horrified and as an end result it gave me the conviction to never touch any hard drug ever.

Perhaps I’ll start with the opening sequence itself and its tone-setting recklessness. That one scene of Mark and his friends running from who knows what, coupled with his monologue of choosing what seems like the mundane or the stable, made me anticipate more of that tension, and the film did not fail to deliver. I felt its sustained thrill as the movie progressed. A lot of times, I was just so absorbed by the tone and the pace of the movie, which often left me slack-jawed in how visceral it all was. See: that one scene in the Worst Toilet in Scotland. See: that scene with Allison screaming and the slow yet nonetheless dreadful reveal of why. But even when it shifted its direction, slowing down and showing the characters at their most vulnerable, I still felt the palpable tension and the traces of uneasiness, much like how I imagine it would feel like to be on the last few moments of one’s high.

Secondly, I found it confusing that I felt thoroughly sorry for Mark Renton and his friends, even though I did not like them so much. Mark had a semi-permanent angry expression on his face but sometimes the knots fade and he has these moments of boyishness that make me feel drawn to him. Moreover, what these characters experience are real-life predicaments that do not get talked about enough. God knows I can relate to how resigned Mark is even though he knows some part of him still wants to change. God knows I can relate to Tommy knowing the truth about something and wanting to say it out loud just for the sake of doing so. I can even somehow relate to Spud in how he wants to remain loyal to his friends no matter how difficult they get.

All of these contribute to the film’s incredibly nuanced take on drug addiction, showing how destructive it is but also how hard it is to let go, especially if your reality is not that appealing without it. When joblessness, loneliness, and grief plague your everyday life, one is rightfully inclined to find some form of relief.

Unfortunately, this kind of temporary relief can have long-term consequences. Where are the long-term solutions? Do these characters have access to them? Is it entirely up to individual choice and determination? Perhaps not. What I appreciated about this film is how it treats the characters as flawed human beings, never neglecting the human aspect and always complemented with the fickleness of life. It depicts what makes these characters feel and what makes them motivated, and it is from acting on these motivations that the characters either live miserably or comfortably, though not always in a predictable way. Quitting heroin is not a guaranteed way of making your life better. Helping a friend out might make you feel worse about yourself. Ultimately, we still have to live with our choices, be they mundane and stable or the complete opposite.

What Money Can Do

Sorry to Bother You (2018) is, at heart, a social commentary on racism, capitalism, and the rapid commodification of human workers in an industrialized and modernized society. Despite all of the serious and pressing issues it tackled, the movie was still able to package it in a way that was entertaining and fun — all without trivializing any of the heavy matters.

At first, I thought this movie was the easiest to connect with in comparison to the other movies we’ve watched in class because of its recent release date, but when I thought about it more, Sorry to Bother You could have been made from any era. I thought seeing a reality portrayed on screen to be very similar to a time I’m familiar with was easier than imagining what a time like the 60s would have probably been like but then again, movies are meant to be timeless or meant to effectively transport audiences to a different world and/or time. At the end of the day, it all comes down to the quality and approach of the movie’s storytelling, which I think Sorry to Bother You excelled at. Unfortunately, the issues the characters faced in this movie are the same issues people from generations ago experienced as well. Of course, they may differ in degree and in their relation to technology among other things, but the core of the different problems remains the same — the overpowering of human greed.

We have all dreamed of a glamorous and successful future where money is not an issue. Ever since I was little, I always wanted to grow up rich and successful like the women I saw on screen. I wanted a beach house in Malibu like Barbie or a walk-in closet with remote-controlled drawers like what Mia Thermopolis from the Princess Diaries (2001) had. Although, the means I would take to attain those goals were not as particular as the goals themselves. Cassius Green had dreams of living a boujee life and if it meant needing to sell slaves to big companies, so be it. He just wanted to keep his girlfriend happy and live a better life as opposed to living in someone’s garage and driving a “bucket”. Life was hard and it was hard because he didn’t have access to money that would have made it easy.

While it is one thing to call him a sell out, he’s always just been hustling for a better life. With the color of his skin, it’s especially difficult to find opportunities and succeed in getting a job, so when he was offered to be a Power Caller with a favorable paycheck, he took the chance. His situation is the reality some people actually have. They have to do a job that opposes their values because it seems like the only option that can help them and their families. They do whatever they can to help sustain both themselves and those they care about. It’s why some turn to crime or other illegal activities because it’s an easy, nonetheless risky, shortcut. This is not to take away how great of a coward he was for conforming to a capitalist system that profited off exploitation and loss of human lives. It may really just be a harder decision to make for some people than others.

The movie takes the modern commodification of humans to an absolute extreme as it introduces another Worryfree project that concerns the mutating of humans into muscular horses aimed to enhance their productivity and quality of labor while keeping wages as low as possible. Cassius eventually stood up for his values and exposed the industry for what it was, but in doing so, we were also shown a glimpse of another issue society faces — the media. The media have sensationalized multiple problems and turned almost everything important and serious into entertaining content. Everything was turned into a show, which is why majority didn’t take Cassius seriously. There were still protests but that was just for a select group of people, and even then, it was turned into a mere form of entertainment for others. In this way, the general public were desensitized to the issues society was facing; they merely tolerated the unjust inequalities that existed and chose to fend for themselves because it seemed like there was nothing they could do anyways. That was how Cassius initially reacted to the union revolt and his Power Caller job offer. The system was far too large to challenge or change, and it’s not too hard to imagine that it wasn’t just Cassius that saw it to be that way.

Like what was mentioned in class, while it did expose and discuss multiple things that were wrong with society, it, for some reason, didn’t feel all that heavy leaving the classroom. It was an enjoyable experience following Cassius and the progression of his life through all of the chaos. It had the perfect fusion of comedy and social relevance that not a lot of filmmakers can pull off. It wasn’t an in-your-face social commentary, but an invitation to reflect on capitalist systems and current class struggles while still finding the humor in its absurdity.

Stick to the Script

Sorry to Bother You (2018), is a film that I would most likely recommend to everyone I know. It provided a comedic touch to so many controversial yet relevant issues like corporate hostility, capitalism, white privilege, and identity politics that people need to be talking about more. It is the kind of movie that makes you pay attention to the screen because of how all the elements were integrated into a cinematic masterpiece.

The film is so message heavy yet it does not appear that way because of its unique rhythm of effects and storytelling techniques. It is able to say so much but conveying just enough to keep viewers engaged. There were also many minor aspects of the film that the director clearly wanted to point out like Detroit’s earrings which matched with her personality — someone who is always trying to make a statement. One of my favourite pair of hers was the gold-plated set of earrings that featured a guy strapped to an electric chair. After showing a close up of her earrings, the camera then diverts the viewers attention and focuses on a WorryFree billboard of a guy sitting on a couch with a remote in hand and the words “Show the World That You Are a Responsible Baby Daddy.” With this, Detroit’s earrings could mean that WorryFree is robbing the free will and in a sense, taking away the lives of these workers by making them machines in a world fuelled by capitalism.

While the film presents this kind of dystopian reality that consists of dark humour, bizarre occurrences, and magic realism, it doesn’t make viewers get lost in the absurdity of it all. Instead, it both entertains and challenges the viewers to think. One of my favourite scenes would have to be when Cassius Green became an internet sensation for being the guy who got hit by a soda can by a woman who shouted, “Have a cola and smile, bitch,” I found it funny yet completely unsettling that people focused on that rather than what was of importance — the actual protest. It served as a commentary on how people are so caught up in entertainment that they can easily see past what is of relevance. The show “I Got the Sh*t Kicked Out of Me” also shows what is wrong in the entertainment industry. When Cassius finally got on the show, he was so eager to play the video that revealed the dark truth about Steve Lift and WorryFree. However, the show’s host kept delaying the process by asking Cassius to do various inhumane tasks that honestly put me off. Again, it goes to show how people can turn entertainment into a negative thing.

I couldn’t count the amount of times I said “I love this film” in my head throughout the entire duration of the film. It perfectly explains how messed up our system is and how the reality portrayed in the film may not be as far-fetched as we think it is to the reality we have today.

Repo Man

After hearing that we would be watching another punk rock film, I was slightly excited to explore this genre further. I think knowing what a repo man is helped in my understanding of the storyline of the film. The first scene was very odd for me since I was a bit confused as to why the cop got disintegrated when he popped open the trunk of the scientist. At the same time, I was interested to know how the movie would go about. I can admit that I was disappointed to find out that another genre of the film is sci-fi since it would probably be my least favourite to watch. The concept of an alien invasion didn’t exactly seem exciting to me in any way and it felt too much of a fantasy for my liking.

What I appreciated the most from the film was its themes. One of which is the theme of reckless consumerism as seen through the liquor store and the grocery store scene. In these scenes, it showed how consumer items were labeled using generic packaging. It then made me realise that packaging gives such a huge impact on regular items we see on a daily basis. Our decisions on what item to choose over the other is impacted by the packaging as we typically pick the item we are most familiar with or the one that has the best reputation. Sometimes, we even go for the consumer item that we find appealing to the eye. Another aspect of the film that I liked was the differed concepts of self-identity as seen through the characters or the repo men of the film. All of them gave their definitions of what it means to be tough or manly, which is what repo men are. Bud for one, gave his advice on dressing like a detective and the Repo Code. Lite, acted like a bulletproof hero when he brought out his gun and engaged in a gunfire battle. Every one of the repo man had advice for Otto and he tried to learn as much as he can from them. The irony, though, is that their reality is not what they claim. These self-proclaimed repo men just go around stealing other people’s cars then brag about what they’ve done as if it’s some huge achievement, just to make themselves feel better about their current state of livelihood.

The film was set in Los Angeles during the 1980s and it really showed how the rural area of LA looks like — a dangerous wasteland for violence. In comparison to the sunny LA people are used to, the film focuses on the unseen parts of the city where life is nowhere close to bright and sunny. The only thing that was bright in the entire film was the Chevy Malibu filled with aliens as it was literally as bright as a yellow highlighter. Overall, the film was able to mix punk rock, sci fi and comedy all in one. Although it isn’t one of my favourite films, I would recommend it to someone who likes cars.

beast mode: a failed social experiment

From the get go, I was interested in Beastmode: A Social Experiment (2016). I already had previous knowledge of Baron Geisler, his short temper, and crass actions. However, I wanted to see him from another perspective – a socio-political one. I did not think I would leave Escaler with another favorite documentary added to my list. This film was made by intelligent minds who were able to juxtapose the staged Geisler and Matos fight with the Duterte administration. It was also able to tackle how Filipinos perceive violence nowadays, along with how quickly information is disseminated online.

For one of the world’s most dangerous countries, the Philippines is ironically very entertained by different kinds of violence. I wrote in my COM124 paper that when Geisler and Matos’ first fight went viral on every social media platform, people immediately longed for more, thus the final battle organized by the Universal Reality Combat Championship (URCC). It’s as if memes, news articles, and viral videos were not enough. As long as people were safe behind a computer or phone, they did not feel the need to peel their eyes away from danger. In the mockumentary, director Manuel Mesina III was able to compare this to the Philippines’ war on drugs. As someone is being murdered on the streets, the Filipino people tend to watch from the sidelines or even bring out their phones to record what has just happened. They do not feel the need to back away and fight safety and shelter in their own homes.

The cast and crew also tackled how violence overshadows truth. The first fight was staged in a beneficiary event organized to free political prisoners in Mindanao. However, because Geisler and Matos fought there, the media only paid attention to the details regarding the brawl and not the event itself. Through their first fight, the production team was able to get their message across – when violence is involved, truth is overshadowed.

However, what was most interesting to me was the mockumentary’s ironic ending. Originally, the production team was supposed to stage the final fight in front of a ‘No to Lumad Killings’ mural in UP Diliman, but URCC requested Geisler and Matos to settle their differences in front of a live audience and on television. Because of this live fight, the essence of the film was lost. Both director and producer, during the Q&A, admitted that their film was a failed social experiment for the message was trampled by the publicity gained by the final fight. Both actors also confessed that, to them, everything became real. There were no more rehearsals or reassuring phone calls – just punches thrown in front of a live audience.

What saddened me the most was that when the production team finally revealed, in a magazine spread, that everything had been a social experiment, media barely picked up on it. The big reveal did not gain as much traction as the fights. Staged or not, everyone only cared about what happened inside the ring – nothing beyond that. In the end, even in their own film, violence prevailed and the search for truth was lost.

Repo Man: A Quote Treasure Box

I would define a “stoner” film as a movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously while still having dialogue or scenes that come off as deep or philosophical. Usually a movie that would fall under this category would be something that has a ridiculous plot, or in the case of a movie such as say The Big Lebowski no concrete plot at all. Due to this, a movie of this nature is usually carried by an excellent script. Another thing to note about these sorts of movies is that usually, they’re watched with low to nonexistent expectations, thus people emerge from their viewing experience thoroughly amused. This is exactly the case with Repo Man. This comedy’s dialogue combined with its quirky feel made for an enjoyable sober viewing experience.

Repo Man’s dialogue is what makes me call it a stoner film. Some of its most memorable lines include “Let’s go eat some sushi and not pay” and “Let’s go do some crimes.” These lines are worded so awkwardly; so absurdly, that they just work. By deconstructing the dialogue in this way, the writers had no need for overused one-liners or obvious jokes; the film does not try to be funny, it just is. I would also like to acknowledge that the delivery for these types of lines is spot on. The deadpan, “I am unaware of how ridiculous this line sounds so I will say it in a completely serious way” style that the actors used for the dialogue assisted in making the film more comedic. The film also has the philosophical deep lines that make stoner films so unique. Having these intelligent, sometimes pretentious, lines in a film that is not supposed to be thought-provoking is another joke in itself. Overall, the dialogue was written and delivered very well and I could definitely see myself quoting the movie in the future. Sadly, I don’t think most people would get the reference.

I really enjoyed the overall tone that the film has. Set by the dialogue, the film does not take itself seriously and in effect, becomes unafraid of experimentation. One example of this experimentation is its use of debranding all of its food items. I’m sure the director had a reason for wanting to do this but I am just glad that I would not have to complain about annoying product placement in this film. Even its effects, from its sounds to its absurdly bright green car, though dated, all have a unique touch to them. I find it to be quite fitting that the film also uses a lot of punk rock music, a music that is founded on the idea of going against the norm; perfect for its overall style. I would also like to commend the fact that I have no idea who any of the actors were. By not knowing anybody, I allowed myself to see the characters for who they are instead of seeing actors playing a role.

I found Repo Man to be incredibly enjoyable. It is a diamond-in-the-rough and I am glad that it was shown in class because I do not think I would have discovered this film without it.

Repo Man (1984) – Social Commentary in Film (Part 1)

I must admit my strong favoritism for films projecting philosophical and societal messages. They would vary from the cathartic kinds like American Beauty (1999) and Roma (2018) to the stern ones like Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017). In any case, they splendidly reveal a reality of the human person and society, be it of a redemptive or a deplorable quality.

Perhaps I have found another addition to this list in Repo Man (1984), yet at first viewing, it did not seem like a film that I would find as interesting or as enjoyable as the three films aforementioned because it initially looked like a film whose elements are all over the place. It had extraterrestrials, evangelists, government officials, conspiracy theorists, and so on, yet at the same time, I did not care about it; it may look like a mess, but it is surely not a boring mess and it was truly rewarding when you see all of its aspects cohesively come together in its conclusion when it all made sense.

And this is where I wanted to start the discussion, for one part I noticed curiously was how Miller, among the side characters, became the sole person (not counting Otto) to be openly welcomed by the possessed Malibu car while the other characters attempted but were uninvited by it. What then made Miller some kind of “The Righteous One” to the vehicle in comparison to the televangelists, the repo men, the government, among others?

After re-watching certain scenes, one dialogue in particular stood out when Miller and Otto were conversing on coincidences and time machines while they burned stuff taken from the repossessing job, one of which was a book named Dioretix: The Science of Matter over Mind.

“Miller: I think a lot about this kinds of stuff. I do my best thinking on the bus. That’s how come I don’t drive, see?
Otto: You don’t even know how to drive.
Miller: I don’t wanna learn how. I don’t wanna learn. See? The more you drive, the less intelligent you are.”

It would make sense on the surface, as when one drives, he needs his full concentration, and he would not focus on anything but what is in front of him; hence, we never saw him taking part of the repossession, but mind the fact that he does not want to learn which could suggest how focusing on driving can also be a subtle and ironic metaphor for the blindness of society to its surroundings.

Come to think of it, perhaps it would explain the ending when Miller and Otto rode the alien vehicle when the others could not. Only he was able to comprehend its existence and use because the others were focused on other stuff. The filmmakers have portrayed this with a very odd production design that only the audience took notice but the characters took it as part of normal life; this is a brilliant use of dramatic irony. Otto’s parents blindly donated much of their wealth to a televangelist, citizens buy and sell whatever foods and drinks in the store in spite of its peculiarly generic branding, and so on.

As the burned book suggested, matter was chosen over mind, resulting to the people failing to see the broader picture, as Miller theorized. It really tingles my spine thinking how the filmmakers want to show how they see modern life in their lens through a fun-fulled motion picture.

In awe,

JoMar Fernandez, a.k.a JMCthefilmystan

sorry to bother you

Sorry to Bother You (2018), by far, is my favorite film we have watched in class. It was an underrated film I would repeatedly watch. As I stepped out of class, I could not help but rave about how clever everything was put together. It was comedic, yet political – thrilling, yet distressing. With his directorial debut, Boots Riley, was able to discuss themes regarding capitalism, white privilege, and slavery in ways that were not hard to dissect.

Personally, I was very engaged in this film’s whole narrative for I thought it was such a clever way to discuss sensitive social, political, and even cultural issues. The whole cast and crew set aside the technical aspects of these matters and focused more on creative ways to relay their message to audience members. Despite its politically charged message, because of its comedic vibe, script, and color grading, I consider Sorry to Bother You (2018) the lightest film we have watched so far.

Immediately, in one of the very first scenes, main character Cassius Green or Cash questioned his existence. He was tired of being an average citizen. He wanted to leave a legacy. As the film’s plot progressed, he was finally faced with a crisis – to fight RegalView alongside his co-telemarketers or accept a promotion and start anew as a power caller, RegalView’s top telemarketers. Of course, because he wanted a better life, he chose the latter.

One of the characteristics of a power caller, and also one of Cash’s promotion strategies was to use his “white voice”. Apparently, according to an older co-worker, using one’s white voice to sell products is the key to success in their telemarketing world.

Through this concept of a white voice comes racism. When people are only inclined to purchase a product because of a certain accent or race, they are lowkey racists. There were multiple instances where in Cash was turned down by people for using his normal, “black” voice, but as soon as he faked a white voice, his sales rose. Irony is also present here because, as soon as he became a power caller, Cash started selling slave labor. Because Cash is someone who comes from a race ruined by early age slavery, and as someone who is well aware of the inhumane treatment done to these slaves, scenes where Cash would neglect his own ethnicity and use his white voice were disheartening and unpleasant to watch.

This film did not only discuss comedy, capitalism, and social conflicts, but also made use of fantasy as an important element in the narrative. Adding the concept of equisapiens or half-human, half-horse hybrids was such a creative and significant twist to the plot. It just shows how far humanity is capable of going for the love of fame, fortune, and power.

This film was filled with great social commentary. It had a dash of humour and a bucket full of current societal conflicts – capitalism, slavery, white privilege, and the like. For everyone who has a knack of for every kind of film genre, Sorry to Bother You (2018) is the film for you.

Stick to the script: On Sorry to Bother You (2018)

Sir prefaced the film that day with the disclaimer that if we didn’t like Repo Man, we probably wouldn’t like Sorry to Bother You. I guess I could see why he said that, as they’re both insanely odd stories with different quirks all over the place. While I wasn’t a big fan of Repo Man, I felt that Sorry to Bother You was an out-of-this-world experience. Here’s what stood out to me:

There were many bits and pieces that served as social commentary. Choosing a black person to be the central character of the story was a grand choice in itself, as it allowed both stereotypes and contradictions to that stereotype to thrive in different parts of the story. You have the black man desperate for a job and desperate for money, but he’s also the guy who gets promoted to be a Power Caller. The whole “white voice” motif speaks volumes about racial discrimination in general, and having the black actors sort of “lip sync” and have recordings of white actors edited onto the scenes give off a very disconcerting and disconnected kind of feel. All the scenes with Steve Lift were oozing with luxury—and accompanied with vices of all sorts, of course—sex, drugs, what have you. Power Callers literally sell slave labor. While everything about the film is so strange, there’s no part of the movie that isn’t totally removed from reality.

It was also a very colorful film, both literally and figuratively. The production design was very clean-cut, and the dramatic lighting in several scenes really set the mood for whatever was happening. In the first scene, the light during Cash’s interview at the RegalView office was bright yellow, and as soon as he stepped out of the office and into the cubicles, everything was toned with a grim blue. The lighting in Steve Lift’s place was also always eerily, dimly lit, especially during the orgy, and the camera was slowly zooming in on Cash just sitting at the other end of the hall. The fact that the film focuses on such a seemingly mundane job—telemarketing—provides a weird juxtaposition next to all the other absurdities in the movie.

The plot twist about the equisapiens was something no one ever saw coming, and I don’t think anyone could’ve guessed that outcome correctly. I admit that it gave me the same vibe as the aliens subplot in Repo Man, in the same way they’re both starkly out of place, and they both make you wonder where the hell that idea came from, and think about how executives and directors sat down at a table and thought this was a good idea. What I liked more about the equisapiens was that it was only uncovered later on in the film, and it wasn’t initially established as a central point of the story, the way that the aliens in Repo Man were revealed in the first five minutes of the film. The horses didn’t keep us on our toes the whole film because they weren’t revealed when the film started. Rather, it was more of the mysteries behind the life of a Power Caller that kept us interested, and it was only until later on in the film where more and more things were starting to show themselves, where they introduced the odd plot twist of the equisapiens. Because this wasn’t revealed right away, the weirdness only showed itself to the viewers when they were already invested. To introduce a plot point this weird too early in the movie won’t give you the same buildup, and may scare away more close-minded viewers, leaving you with a very niche audience.

Sorry to Bother You was an insane film, but it managed to make all the crazy parts work, anyway. I don’t think a lot of films have the liberty to combine this many weird elements into one work, and the ability to make it make sense. While Sorry to Bother You may (quite funnily) bother some viewers, once you get past how bizarre everything is, you might actually find yourself hooked—you might not know what exactly it is about the movie that has you reeled in, but you go along with it anyway.

Velvet Goldmine (1998) – Visualizing Isolation (part 2)

Brian Slade, the pop rock musician, and Arthur Stewart, fan-turned-journalist, are respectively the thesis and antithesis of queer personalities of a glamorous bygone era the film pays tribute to, with the former’s fearless expression of his sexual fluidity and the latter’s seclusion from his queer interests. As the film progresses, we see how the two’s journeys would go onto different directions in a similar fashion to the primary protagonists of My Own Private Idaho, all revealing the paradox of one’s open identity resulting to one’s loneliness.

We see throughout the film how Brian Slade’s immediate success were founded on his brave and bold expression of his bisexuality in the debut of the persona named Maxwell Demon to which the media sensationalized it with reports of public ambivalence while simultaneously, adolescent fans like Arthur Stewart with enthusiasm finally found a figure they could relate. Interestingly, we see in the film’s early scenes how both of this self-discovery and experimentation started with an infatuation with another. For Brian Slade, it was when he was mesmerized by the sultry stage presence of fellow rock star Curt Wild, and in turn, Brian Slade’s coming out catches the optimistic attention of Arthur.

We then see the difficult progression they share in fulfilling and exploring their queer tendencies, albeit in a secretive manner due to other circumstances. Brian Slade, in spite of already being married to Mandy Slade, shared a sexual affair with Curt Wild and Arthur Stewart feared teasing in attempting to purchase one of Slade’s albums and masturbate to the album covers. We see an irony portrayed in these two situations where even with the coming out of sorts, the fears and secrecy linger within.

Their differences come with the consequences of their actions, both to the secondary characters they are related to and to themselves. Brian Slade soon found himself becoming unhappy with a career that once brought him the jovial freedom of self-expression, as his marriage with Mandy started to fall apart and his relationship with Curt started to interfere with their respective careers. Such event hinted a reason to eventually stage his own death. It is the exact opposite for Arthur where as soon as he gets out of his own parents’ home to be with other glam rock enthusiasts, he becomes a happier and freer man (at least until he had witnessed Slade’s assassination and learned that it was a hoax did his appreciation for him was lost). Here, Brian Slade’s happiness ages and fades gradually while Arthur’s own just started to flourish.

This dichotomy thus leads to the theme of art’s artificiality in the perspective of the maker and viewer which begs the question: does this artificiality be considered a lie of some sorts or something truthful. On one hand, the artistic creation is supposedly a projection or representation to something truthful or factual of the character. Maxwell Demon’s androgynous style best projected his homosexual side, and by extension, Arthur Stewart. On the other hand, however, is it really the complete picture one wants to be shown. Physical aesthetic expression could still be bended at the creator’s will. Slade was brave enough to show it off glamorously, but not entirely enough to include the complications and pitfalls of it. The same goes with Arthur where, although a fan of the rock star, he does not show it as fully as both Slade and other fellow fans.

If you think about it, in real life, these contradictory actions of concealment and openness do show in the music industry. How real are the musicians and artists? It is a curious yet frightening inquiry in itself.

Still in discernment,

JoMar Fernandez, a.k.a. JMCthefilmystan