CuriousCat Archive Page 87 of 202

  1. Do you think what you said in your neoliberalism video could also apply to UK politics? I think one of the reasons why the Labour party constantly loses elections is because it's full of centrists who want to relive the "glory days" of Tony Blair.

    I can't speak with any authority on UK politics

  3. Thoughts on the work of Ari Aster?

    they're intense

  4. In "They Go Low, We Go High" you said that liberal's only plan for fighting fascism is to "just never lose an election, and they're not very good at that." This election has proved that losing just emboldens conservatives, so that the next time they win they'll be even *worse*. There hasn't been two consecutive Democrats in the White House since Lyndon Johnson was inaugurated after the death of John F. Kennedy. So what's the plan for harm reduction the next time the worst elements of conservatism *win*?

    in response to They lost in 2020 and they just convinced themselves it was stolen and not a legitimate loss.

    you're broadly right. I'm unconvinced that losing emboldens them. more accurately, it emboldens SOME of them, and then it remains to be seen whether the ones it emboldens will gain influence over the party. I've heard it convincingly argued that one reason Biden claimed victory is that a lot of conservatives wanted to distance themselves from Trumpism (too little too late to call themselves good people, if you ask me).

    but, yes, it's only a matter of time before they win again, especially if Dems can't offer up any kind of bold strategy to serve as counterpoint. Dems owned Congress for the whole Boom Years by riding the prosperity of the New Deal. I don't see Biden doing anything to give Dems a good name for decades to come.

    I don't know what the plan is. if I did, I'd have told you already.

  5. Are you optimistic that we will tackle climate change well?

    I think "not completely fucking it" is about as good as it gets

  6. You mean "let's watch the ancoms and other far-left people sit out 2022 because Biden Bad and then the Republicans make major gains and stymie even the appearance of reform", right?

    in response to They lost in 2020 and they just convinced themselves it was stolen and not a legitimate loss.

    it's nice that you think there are enough ancoms in America's swing states that what they do in an election year makes a significant difference, but, I promise you, the Dems gaining or losing ground has much more to do with how the average neoliberal American feels about them, and with how much Republicans are allowed to suppress their opposition's vote

  7. They lost in 2020 and they just convinced themselves it was stolen and not a legitimate loss.

    in response to Do you think the modern conservative movement in the US is relatively more dominated by an obsession with "winning", as opposed to misinformation, conspiracism, and bigotry? For example, there's the "Are you tired of winning yet?" meme in the MAGA crowd. Conspiracism and misinformation is also on the rise, but there seems to be a rise in the types of conservatives who don't even care about the concepts of right or wrong, good or bad, or truth and lies, such that they'll avoid getting vaccinated out of spite rather than fear. And how do we fight against this type of trend? How do you talk to consevatives who mostly only care about winning?

    lets beat them a few dozen more times and see what happens

  8. What’s the story behind ass danced off by danskin

    I feel it speaks for itself

  9. Kind of want to get a bidet or that one stool that gives you better poop posture but then also don't want to be The Guy Who Has The Poop Posture Stool and Bidet

    the trick is to have That Guy as a housemate and take advantage of it but you're like "I'm only using it because it's there"

  10. Are you tall, and if so is it nice

    I am of average height

  11. Are all slurs equally bad?

    in response to What’s the difference between a slur and other bad words?

    given that there's never a justification for using a slur unless you're part of the community it denegrates and are reclaiming it, this question seems moot

  12. Is being white all that its made out to be

    we can talk about the ways that privilege can poison your mind, make you less empathetic, and ultimately irrational and unhappy, but you lay that against "not getting shot at traffic stops" and it's hard to claim being white is some kind of burden

  13. Do you think the modern conservative movement in the US is relatively more dominated by an obsession with "winning", as opposed to misinformation, conspiracism, and bigotry? For example, there's the "Are you tired of winning yet?" meme in the MAGA crowd. Conspiracism and misinformation is also on the rise, but there seems to be a rise in the types of conservatives who don't even care about the concepts of right or wrong, good or bad, or truth and lies, such that they'll avoid getting vaccinated out of spite rather than fear.

    And how do we fight against this type of trend? How do you talk to consevatives who mostly only care about winning?

    at this point I feel the greatest lesson in how to not be obsessed with winning is for them to lose

    stop talking to them, start defeating them, and wake them up after

  15. Why is it that "the left" seems to be much less unified than "the right"? Can this be combatted without causing more problems than the answer solves?

    there are a hundred ways forward and only one way back

  18. How does one go about, say, criticizing China or Russia (modern day or Soviet Union) without falling into imperialist propaganda or simply doing an unintentional bigotry?

    well, I would consider two things: 1) how much do you know what you're talking about? and 2) how big is your platform? these things should correlate to each other. if you have a small platform and you get something wrong, people may yell correctives at you, but now you have the correct information, or at least something new to look into (people who yell aren't always correct). but being incorrect on a big platform can misinform people, people who don't see your days-later retraction.

    but, generally, the only answer is a LOT of nuance and understanding, which not ever platform supports. but there should be room for it if you're just talking with your friends.

  19. Is freedom overrated?

    I'll tell you when we're free

  20. I am a bigot

    the first step is admitting you have a problem

  21. Why do you think the Jimquisition has been on a subscriber freefall since coming out while PhilosophyTube is bigger than ever?

    I don't watch The Jimquisition much, but they started out on The Escapist and have made a name for themself as a shouty gamer, which is going to cultivate a certain type of audience, while Abi has been cultivating an audience full of queer and trans folk for a long time, more than happy to engage in those subjects well before coming out as either, and collaborating with other queer and trans creators. I don't mean this as a dig at James Stephanie Sterling - to an extent, you choose your audience, but, to another extent, your audience chooses you. But they're in a phase now where they have to shed a lot of shitheads, and, frankly, good riddance. It'll take a bit to recover the numbers, but the new audience will be far better, and probably give them room to expand beyond shoutiness, which I've gathered they're getting sick of but have to keep around for metrics.

  22. Why is it easy to recognize our past selves as cute but hard to recognize our current selves as cute?

    don't know what you got til it's gone

  23. Have you not played Majoras Mask? Oh man, you should really give it a look if not. It's a super interesting game and a really weird sequel to OoT. It's held up about as well as OoT.

    yeah, I know it's interesting and I want to get to it. one thing at a time.

  24. We all agree micro-aggressions are harmful to women and minorities but we don't seem to consider the effects that "all men are terrible" and things like that have on people. Why is that?

    a microaggression is a thing like the clerk at Macy's surreptitiously following Black shoppers around the store, because white people often - consciously or unconsciously - assume Black people are there to steal. it's a reminder of one's second-class status.

    the first class doesn't have microaggressions. try not to conflate "reminders of the ways in which you are systemically oppressed" with "things that bum you out."

  25. What's on your clipboard rn

    Pizza

  27. Which version of Moonsong from Cave Story is better - original or remastered?

    original. basically nothing about the Nicalis remaster was an improvement.

  28. Sorry if you already answered this back when it aired, but what's your opinion on "The Good Place"?

    i like it

  29. Which Zelda do you like the most? Which the least?

    I feel underqualified here. The Link's Awaking remake is the only 2D Zelda I've ever finished. I got some ways into Link to the Past back in high school but got stuck and gave up. Of the 3Ds, I guess Breath of the Wild is my current fav, though I think Ocarina of Time holds up REALLY WELL. Twilight Princess is more interesting than good, so I'd put it at the bottom, but maybe that's because I haven't played Skyward Sword.

  30. When you inevitably make a video that's over 2h long (you can do it, we all believe in you), what will it be about?

    no

  31. What's a game that you can recognize is seriously flawed, but you love anyway?

    Life is Strange. I made a video about how I love that disaster of a game.

  32. I just saw a tweet that said "both the republicans and the democrats hate Facebook, but since they have different reasons for it they won't work together to dismantle it". Don't you think having a center would be good in cases like that?

    in response to What happened to the center in american politics?

    no.

    take teen pregnancy. the left wants to lower the teen pregnancy rate by providing contraceptives. the right wants to lower it with abstinence-only education. on the surface it appears they have the same goal but they have fundamentally opposed ideologies. so opposed, in fact, that both sides would, to some extent, rather the teen pregnancy rate stay where it is than cede ground to the other side. because one accepts that teens have sex, and one says they shouldn't be allowed to. the center has been trying and failing to find a compromise on this for decades.

    the idea that policy can satisfy two completely opposite viewpoints is that values-neutral governance I talk about in You Go High, We Go Low. it's just not a real thing. inevitably, it just means one side gets most of what they want and the other side is bullied into making concessions just to get SOMETHING accomplished. you can't just ignore the ideologies on this. everything the left hates about facebook is what the right wants to keep.

  33. If you had one chance to actually change the mind of a right-wing political figure, public speaker, or content creator, and bring them over to the left, or at least substantially farther left than they had been, who would you choose, and why?

    Rupert Murdoch. The ripple effect of the head of Fox News abandoning conservatism would be HUGE.

  34. Do you think the constitution is fundamentally good or fundamentally flawed?

    I think it is good in places and flawed in places. I don't think it's fundamentally anything.

  35. Do you find that your series on Angry Jack applies to non-vegans? I recently got into animal rights activism and find that a lot of the things you argue in that series resonate with how people respond to having their carnism challenged?

    I mentioned how people respond to veganism in Part 2!

  36. What happened to the center in american politics?

    the right moved right faster than the left moved left, so the center went right. also the center was ineffectual and uninspiring and seemed partially responsible for a lot of problems we face, so people tended to drift away from the center and become solidly right or solidly left. I'm not sure what purpose the center is supposed to serve anymore.

  37. How to best avoid No True Scotsman when contending with "successful' Socialisms.

    nuance

  38. I think it's fucking garbage how many leftists write off irony, moral ambiguity and facetiousness as tools of the alt right when there is nothing more Fascistic than insincere 'wholesomeness' cynical romanticism and 'positive vibes' that seek to destroy nuance and complexity Directed at you because you have absolutely been guilty of perpetuating this

    I literally EMPLOY irony, moral ambiguity, and facetiousness in my videos

  39. Why do so many people act like emotional devastation is a risk only of romantic relationships? Have these folks never had complicated friendships, or been seriously emotionally harmed by the actions of a friend?

    in response to This is why I don't date. Because it seems like romantic relationships are an infinitely complex clusterfuck that's impossible to navigate without causing emotional devastation to all parties involved. Not to mention the potential for actual, criminal abuse. I know you're just a dude on the internet, but how do you manage it? And why, in your opinion, is it worth it to try?

    I suspect people who consider dating an emotional minefield maybe don't have a lot of intimate friendships

    or possibly are just aromantic and don't know why we bother with it all, which, fair enough

  40. That's a potentially loaded prospect though, right? If the US does military intervention on Brazil, after factoring the human cost, won't the rest of the world just return to thinking we're world policing again? Do you think any other countries would back us up in that situation? Does the Paris agreement allow for the use of force in extreme circumstances like this? If it is, why is it taking so long to mobilize, and if it's not, how long do you reckon until it's added?

    We can see that there's just cause, but how many new problems will this dredge up?
    I think though obviously we should help liberate people and we should stop massive environmental damage! There just seems to be a hornet's nest of optics and a nagging question of "and then when do we stop invading other countries for crimes against the planet?"

    and (I say obviously joking, to lower tensions) when do we liberate Terf Island?

    in response to I situation involving the Amazon Rainforest and Brazil is really difficult. Climate change affects the whole planet but the leaders of that country aren't protecting that vital part of the ecosystem. My question is this: Is some kind of military action against Brazil to stop its deforestation activities justified if it helped slow down climate change and prevent the extinction of species in that area? Even action that lead to a temporary loss of freedom for people living in that area?

    Right, but the larger philosophical question is: does Brazil have the right to doom the planet? That's somewhat reductive, because they're by no means the only one doing it, so why would they be the first to get invaded, etc. etc. But it's reasonable to ask what is and isn't justified if someone is threatening the survivability of the entire species? Like, in material terms, climate change is a greater threat to humanity than anything we've gone to literal war over in the past. But, at the same time, it's not like we've tried even a fraction of the peaceful options to address it. We won't even address the ways we contribute to it ourselves!

    So... yeah, it's a moral quagmire.

  41. I see, that makes a lot of sense. Is there a way that you have in mind/can articulate how you would have preferred the show to handle the sociological aspects? I recognize the complaints and their legitimacy, but once the interpersonal and sociological elements have been fused by the narrative, it's hard to know how they could condemn the sociological metaphor for fascism while still accomplishing their goal of emphasizing the humanity of every character, no matter how much of an enemy.

    in response to What do you find abstainable about SU:F? I thought it was a lovely little epilogue that gave Steven a slightly more realistic narrative of his trauma and some of my favorite moments are in it.

    yeah, no, I've mentioned elsewhere on CC that I don't envy the dilemma and don't know what the better solution would be. like... ok, if the Diamonds are literally fascists but metaphorically family members who won't accept your queerness, you can fuse those pretty directly: sometimes no amount of talking will change a person's mind about your identity, and you need to do the hard thing and cut them out of your life. That aligns pretty well with "there's a point where you have to stop reasoning with fascists and start fighting them." but the thing is... we already have SO MANY STORIES about queer people not being accepted by their families. what makes SU remarkable is the way it allows for the possibility of change, and the ways that change really engages with how the Diamonds ideology makes THEM miserable as well. if this were the only show dealing with queerness I would consider its "talking things out always works" a major flaw, but there are SO MANY stories where it doesn't that I don't think this is a problem. it doesn't claim to be the whole conversation, just maybe a part of it that isn't explored enough.

    so doing the "fighting fascism" part right would weaken the narrative about queer identity. I don't think the show would fall apart, and maybe it would be a less conflicted, more complete experience, but something that IS genuinely remarkable about it would be missing. but now that remarkable thing sits alongside something I find really troubling.

    maybe if Future introduced some Diamond Authority dead-enders who COULDN'T be reasoned with, and really engaged with what happens when Steven's primary talent - talking to people - isn't enough, and maybe part of his arc is having to confront that limitation... but it's easy enough to pitch ideas when you don't have to actually write them.

    maybe it's time for an SU fanfic

  42. What do you find abstainable about SU:F? I thought it was a lovely little epilogue that gave Steven a slightly more realistic narrative of his trauma and some of my favorite moments are in it.

    in response to SU:Future - yea or nay?

    I didn't abstain from the show, I just abstained from weighing in on it, because the question was just "yea or nay" and my feelings were more complicated than that.

    the shortest version of my feelings I can manage is: as an exploration of trauma I found it incredibly insightful and moving, and my discomfort with how literally *every toxic person* gets a redemption arc was addressed somewhat by Jasper's more complicated journey, but it also fully embraced the show's treatment of its more sociological elements - and, indeed, most of its plot - as metaphors for emotions and interpersonal relationships, which I still feel weird about given that those sociological elements were, like... fascism and institutional bigotry.

  43. This is why I don't date. Because it seems like romantic relationships are an infinitely complex clusterfuck that's impossible to navigate without causing emotional devastation to all parties involved. Not to mention the potential for actual, criminal abuse. I know you're just a dude on the internet, but how do you manage it? And why, in your opinion, is it worth it to try?

    in response to How are you supposed to have healthy relationships with women both platonically and romantically? Like for example, what happens if you express romantic feelings for a female friend of many years and it's not reciprocated? Does that friendship just end? Can you just hop in and out of being partnered with someone and just being acquainted? Perhaps this is too complicated a topic to be asking you but seeing how you mentioned in one of your vids that most of your friends are women, I'd like to hear some of your thoughts.

    surprisingly, not abusing people is shockingly easy to do, as is treating people with kindness and generosity.

  44. How concerned should we be about the wobbling moon thing? Also, I keep on getting very depressed regarding climate change even though I know that I shouldn't, because it doesn't change anything and makes me feel worse. Any tips?

    the moon has always wobbled, it's the climate change rising sea levels that we should be concerned about.

    I think there is some power in this line of thinking: if we ARE going to address climate change, how best can I help the cause? and, if we AREN'T, how do I want to spend the waning years of the world as we know it?

    find something that satisfies both.

    my feeling is that, the things I would do to fight climate change are also things I would do to lessen its effects even if it's not enough to stop it, and helping each other is the only thing to do in a crisis.

    but the hard part is starting to treat climate change as a tangible future rather than an unbearable possibility, and then choosing to fight it anyway. it can feel unbearable to consider it as more than a possibility. but the only way out of existential terror is to face what terrifies you.

  45. I situation involving the Amazon Rainforest and Brazil is really difficult. Climate change affects the whole planet but the leaders of that country aren't protecting that vital part of the ecosystem.

    My question is this: Is some kind of military action against Brazil to stop its deforestation activities justified if it helped slow down climate change and prevent the extinction of species in that area? Even action that lead to a temporary loss of freedom for people living in that area?

    well, point of clarification: Brazil is currently run by fascists so deposing them would probably make MORE freedom for the people living there.

    but you question is a major philosophical quandary about how to prioritize and guarantee different types of freedom, and I won't pretend to have an answer. I'm sure there's a Philosophy Tube video about it somewhere.

  46. re: the line between platonic and romantic relationships being unclear, how do you feel about the opposite extreme viewpoint - that there is no meaningful difference between platonic and romantic attraction, it's all just "relationships" with an arbitrary social taxonomy attached?

    in response to How are you supposed to have healthy relationships with women both platonically and romantically? Like for example, what happens if you express romantic feelings for a female friend of many years and it's not reciprocated? Does that friendship just end? Can you just hop in and out of being partnered with someone and just being acquainted? Perhaps this is too complicated a topic to be asking you but seeing how you mentioned in one of your vids that most of your friends are women, I'd like to hear some of your thoughts.

    I feel like there's a difference in feeling between romantic and platonic love, given I have friends I'm incredibly close with but don't feel romantic about and people I've had exclusively romantic feelings for (i.e. "being friends" couldn't work). but I don't think there's some kind of hard line dividing the two, and a lot of relationships can live in the grey.

  47. How would you feel if it was announced that Gravity Falls would be receiving a epilogue-style miniseries similar to SU:Future?

    in response to SU:Future - yea or nay?

    mmm, Gravity Falls had a very deliberate endpoint and doesn't need to be continued. but, then, if the showrunners were so deliberate about ending after two seasons, they probably wouldn't do a years-later epilogue unless they had an idea they were really excited about, right? question is, will I agree the idea is good?

    I'ma say I'd be cautiously optimistic.

  48. I'm jewish and my whole jewish environment is profusely sionist. I acknowldege how wrong thing can be from such an extreme standpoint but at this point, after being mistreated and abused for being jewish most of my life, it feels like if I don't agree with this people, I'm left alone in a world that will make every effort to crush me. I think ethnostates are inherently wrong and despite being a lot of Israels neighbors explicitly antisemitic, that is not a excuse for Israel to try and place an ethnic jewish state in a land that is so important for other cultures aswell, let alone any mistreatments received by non-jewish people living in ISR or Gaza.
    I'm exhausted by it, at this point I would like to put a blank paper in an empty bottle, label it "my opinion", toss it to the first fucker I can find and tell him or her to do whatever he or she wants with it.
    Is there any advice you can give me?

    well, I'm a gentile, so I haven't shared your experience. my best guess would be to find some reform/leftist Jews who are critical of Israel but also probably have some complicated feelings about it. at least then you won't feel so isolated.

    here are a few I follow on Twitter, for what that's worth:
    https://twitter.com/jessfromonline
    https://twitter.com/Delafina777
    https://twitter.com/AndyEyeballs

  49. You ever heard of boob

    I'm a fan of Boob Maarleey

  50. How are you supposed to have healthy relationships with women both platonically and romantically? Like for example, what happens if you express romantic feelings for a female friend of many years and it's not reciprocated? Does that friendship just end? Can you just hop in and out of being partnered with someone and just being acquainted? Perhaps this is too complicated a topic to be asking you but seeing how you mentioned in one of your vids that most of your friends are women, I'd like to hear some of your thoughts.

    I don't want this to come off too snarky, but I feel it needs to be explicit:

    Women are people.

    Some people can talk about romantic feelings with each other, learn that they aren't reciprocated, and remain friends. Other people have trouble with that. Some people can date for a while and then break up but remain friends; sometimes they are close friends for much longer than they were dating. Some people need to not be in each other's lives for a while after a breakup, but can be friendly sometime down the line. Some people can be friends who have sex. Some people can be in love without sex. Sometimes the lines between platonic friendship and nonsexual romance is unclear, just as the line between friends-with-benefits and relationship is unclear, and sometimes clarity isn't necessary.

    I'm just a dude on the internet. I don't have a list of rules for you, because all I know is what applies to my friends and partners. None of them are alike, and, while there are commonalities, no set of practices is fully transferable from any one to another.

  51. Thoughts on noted masterpiece The Nice Guys?

    fun, but weaker than both Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang and Iron Man 3 in Shane Black's oeuvre, if I'm honest

  56. Your opinions on guys like Dan Harmon and Joss Whedon are well known by now. For a change, do you have any favorite show runners?

    For the record, I have criticisms of Whedon, but Buffy was a deeply formative show and, for all its myriad flaws, it's still one of my favorites. And the first Avengers is one of the best popcorn movies I've ever seen.

    I have so far loved everything I've seen that Phoebe Waller-Bridge was in charge of.

  57. Are you a member of a co-op?

    I have lived in a few co-ops, but I don't currently

  58. do you like Brick

    yes, very much

  59. Steven Universe or Gravity Falls?

    in response to Tangled or Frozen?

    SU, but both are good

  60. I am pretty sure you have weighed in before but I could not find it for the life of me. What order should I watch Haruhi? (this isn't a troll I am about to start the show but the internet discourse is like, REALLY no help.

    Start with Episode 00, then season 1 in broadcast order (Kyon order), then season 2 DVD order, then movie. And I'm a purist who says to sit through ALL of Endless Eight, but that may not be your vibe.

  61. What single quality of the left would you, given the power, remove?

    Peter Coffin

  62. A little of both I guess. Is there a generally accepted rule? If not, what is your opinion?

    in response to How shitty does someone who was involved in the making of a work of media have to be and how prominent a role in making the work of media do they have to have to ruin the work? Also, does it make a difference whether or not the shitty person in question is dead?

    There aren't any agreed-upon rules, and, honestly, I don't think there should be. I feel we get too hung up on our media habits as though deciding not to rewatch Braveheart because of Mel Gibson is some sort of powerful political act.

    Let's unpack this a little: what are the concerns about watching media made by shitty people? Well, there's the capitalist concern: paying for their work means adding to the demand for Mel Gibson in "the market." There's also the social concern: watching Mel Gibson signals to others that they can feel okay watching him as well. Then there's the personal ethics concern: watching something made by Mel Gibson may be a compromise of your own ethical code. Finally, there's the ideological concern: by consuming this media will you unconsciously absorb some of Mel Gibson's beliefs?

    These are all different questions, some operating on different conceptions of morals, and we kind of lump them all together. I think each can be addressed if you're intentional about it: denying the cost of a single movie ticket doesn't meaningfully affect Mel Gibson's career, and, regardless, it's easy enough to see things without paying for them; it's entirely possible to watch a Mel Gibson movie in private so it doesn't encourage others to do the same, or to say "I think Mel Gibson is a bad person and I'd like to talk about why" whenever you mention watching his movie; I would generally say that one's code of ethics should be strong enough that it won't be compromised by a single movie, and, also, you can counterbalance by doing some of the above to make yourself "karmically neutral," if you will; and I believe the danger of absorbing ideologies typically comes from consuming them mindlessly, and I think engaging critically can prevent it, and can even help strengthen your own beliefs if approached the right way.

    None of this is to say "you can watch anything, it doesn't matter." I think it's good to have lines you don't cross! I have several. It's more that I think we should consider what it is we're trying to accomplish, what our motives for consuming or boycotting art are, and draw our lines thoughtfully and intentionally. Generally, if you're not part of a collective boycott, your viewing habits don't have much meaning in the larger world, so this is more to do with your personal comfort and beliefs. And that's worth thinking deeply about.

    For me, if we're just talking about watching a movie, my line is just "if I think honestly about what Gibson did to his girlfriend, can I even enjoy the Road Warrior anymore?" And, so far, the answer is no. That's not a political statement or a call to action, it's just... knowing what I know, I can't see myself looking at his face and being able to enjoy the movie.

  63. How shitty does someone who was involved in the making of a work of media have to be and how prominent a role in making the work of media do they have to have to ruin the work? Also, does it make a difference whether or not the shitty person in question is dead?

    in response to Is there any media that in spite of the shittiness of the people who made it you can't help but be sentimental for

    are you asking how I feel, or if there's a rule?

  64. Is there any media that in spite of the shittiness of the people who made it you can't help but be sentimental for

    I'm extremely sentimental for Firefly and Serenity. I also unabashedly love Baby Driver but haven't brought myself to rewatch it since all the shit went down with Spacey.

  65. What are your favorite og noirs, what are your favorite modern noirs, and what are your favotire neo noirs?

    in response to If that’s what noir is, what do YOU like about noir?

    Classic:
    Sunset Boulevard
    Out of the Past
    Sweet Smell of Success
    The Asphalt Jungle
    Rififi
    The Lady from Shanghai
    Odds Against Tomorrow

    Neo:
    Brick
    Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang
    Point Blank
    Night Moves
    Blood Simple
    Long Day's Journey Into Night
    The Missing Person
    Phoenix
    Motherless Brooklyn
    Destroyer
    Gemini
    No Sudden Move

    I'm not sure what "modern noir" means as distinct from "neo-noir."

  66. do you like The Third Man?

    in response to If that’s what noir is, what do YOU like about noir?

    probably my favorite of the classic noirs, though Out of the Past and Odds Against Tomorrow could challenge it for the title

  67. Tangled or Frozen?

  68. If that’s what noir is, what do YOU like about noir?

    in response to Different anon, but your description of noir sounds very similar to the concept of cosmic horror Do you think that's why most modern day cosmic horror, or broadly "Lovecraft-based" works tend to star detectives as their lead, especially in video games? Or is that a case of just modern adaptation story-telling making things more action focused? Is it both? Something else?

    Well, like a lot of films from the era, there's a degree of engagement with dark and compelling themes that are ultimately backed away from because the Hays Code wouldn't allow them, or because the filmmakers were too privileged to commit to them. But I find them very compelling even in their half-explored form! Like, yes, the femme fatale is required by the Code to be either dead, reformed, or in jail by the end of the movie, but, before that happens, she's the most fascinating thing on the screen. There's a clear fixation with powerful women who are proud to be sexy that was captivating to audiences at the time, and it wasn't JUST because she needed to be punished. It was because, on some level, men found the idea of liberated women appealing. Their anxieties prevented them from fully embracing it, but, within the confines of a movie theater and with the knowledge that she'd face retribution in the end, she was allowed to run free for a time. And it's the same with the smokey jazz clubs and the sad-eyed crooks - they were all appealing and sympathetic and FREE.

    The air of fatalism has always struck me as a way of dealing with the fact that none of these people were allowed to win, because the Code said anyone who breaks the law must be punished before the story ends. Like, okay, we can't let liberated women or crooks who listen to Black music be live happily ever after, but we can make them likable, and make their deaths tragic. And we can also portray the straightlaced world whites are supposed to live in as stifling, and point at the deeper political conspiracies that keep it running. There's a lot of questioning whether the life we're "meant" to lead is in any way fulfilling, and awareness of how small and powerless we are in the face of society, and how unfairly the deck is stacked against us, and how the real players get away with evil acts all the time because they're the ones writing the laws.

    It's a genre divided against itself, because it's simultaneously drawn to what makes it anxious.

    This is a big part of why I like neo-noir even more, because it often takes those same themes while also deconstructing the genre itself, or using the post-Code freedom to do what the classic noirs weren't allowed to. Neo-noir can be queer (Bound, Swoon), it can be Black (Deep Cover, Devil in a Blue Dress), it can be female (Gemini, Black Widow). It's my feeling that the reason Shane Black's neo-noirs are so FUN rather than fatalistic is the unspoken acknolwedgement that maybe the straightlaced world white men were so afraid of losing NEEDED to die, and that the criminal underworld where all the minorities and losers congregate is the better place to be.

  71. Do you have any favorite space western media? Can be anything you might fit into the vague umbrella

    I used to really love Serenity, though it's hard to watch anything from Joss or Adam Baldwin nowadays

  73. isn’t nightcrawler about a petty thief being pulled in to an industry of legal and legitimate exploitation? it’s like a reverse noir. he breaks laws but most of the things he does which make him successful are legal and expected by capitalism.

    in response to Genuinely curious: why do you think Collateral and Nightcrawler aren’t noirs?

    kind of, though he's not pulled into it, as soon as he discovers it he pursues it with gusto

  74. Different anon, but your description of noir sounds very similar to the concept of cosmic horror

    Do you think that's why most modern day cosmic horror, or broadly "Lovecraft-based" works tend to star detectives as their lead, especially in video games? Or is that a case of just modern adaptation story-telling making things more action focused? Is it both? Something else?

    in response to Genuinely curious: why do you think Collateral and Nightcrawler aren’t noirs?

    I mean... film noir was, in many ways, a white, male reaction to the growing prevalence of Black culture and women in the workplace, mixed with a heavy dose of trauma from the war and the depression. Men were terrified of what liberated Black and female folk could mean, while also being attracted to music ad sexiness they brought, especially while feeling stifled by the conformist, suburban prosperity of New Deal America. So they imagined a world just off the beaten path, full of Black music and openly sexual women, and treated their audiences to their sounds and images, but then framed it as a path to inevitable ruin. It's a whole psychosexual response to white men no longer being certain of their place in the world.

    From what I know of Lovecraft, he was anxious about the same things, but was also weirdly fixated with fish.

  75. Did you do anything fun to celebrate 4th of July? (maybe some light flag burning?)

    actually the first year in a while I DIDN'T burn a flag! attended a small gathering of vaccinated people, first such gathering I've been to in a looooooong time. it was nice! there was blueberry lemonade.

Anon commented:
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