Whatcha Watchin' (Season 2)

Finished with Sons of Anarchy, next is Prison Break.
Any recommendations for 13 Reasons Why?

aargh, I need to get in on S3… @politeruin TY for using spoiler tags!

@anajames 13 Reasons - watched it over the last week and a half. I think this one will speak to most of us mutants, for many or most or all of us have spent some or most of our time on the fringes at some point. The main motivation for watching it was that my preteen said a lot of schoolmates were talking about it or watching, and said preteen still hasn’t hit the immersion point for a lot of the subject matter so I wanted to see if this series might be a good point to watch together to broach and introduce some of these topics like advanced social bullying, slut shaming, sexual assault, substance abuse, depression, suicide, etc. I think it was well done and touching. Maybe not a good intro piece for a preteen, but for a high schooler it all seems age appropriate. Does it glamorize suicide? Well, I don’t know, maybe, it tries not too, but it is a glamorous production, even when they are trying to look haggard most of these kids look pretty good. Many articles have compared it to the John Hughes stuff, and for me I do think it is like a modern day Breakfast Club - in the new long form binge friendly extended mini series format they spend more time with more cliques, presentations are more shocking, adults and authority figures seem as clueless as ever. Passes the Bechdel test and has non-Long Duk Dong asian, characters, both of which is nice. Can’t avoid all the stereotypes, but I think it is one of the better integrated multi race, multi socio economic caste casted shows I’ve seen. As an adult looking at my past, it speaks to me as a reminder of days past, not sure how it is received by the kids of today. I would recommend for parents who aren’t sure if they are familiar with the underbelly of how things can be in high school if they are curious.

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I concur, and frankly [spoiler]whether Jimmy stole from their parents store when they were kids is not only totally irrelevant to the present state of affairs, but it’s a big insight into Chuck’s lack of emotional maturity despite his perpetually pompous attitude - he’s still carrying grudges that are over 30 years old.

The little sympathy I have for him stems from the idea that Chuck has probably resented Jimmy from birth, because no matter how ‘good’ Chuck is, people still tend to like Jimmy better, despite the fact that he’s a ‘fuckup.’ Especially their parents; when their mom called out for Jimmy and not him on her deathbed, Chuck looked like he’d been bitch-slapped.[/spoiler]

Yeah you do; it’s probably one of the best shows on the air right now. Hopefully my comments were vague enough that even without spoiler tags you’ll still be thoroughly engrossed by the narrative.

:slight_smile:

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Also, I finally watched both Dear White People the series, and Get Out, the Jordan Peele film.

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How’s Get Out? I’ve been wanting to see that.

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I have mixed feelings about it, actually.

I like the premise, and the ending but certain parts of the plot just aren’t very believable for me.

Holla at me once you’ve watched it, and we’ll dish…

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Saw it this weekend. I loved the twist of what was going on. Found the family creepy from the start and the best friend was awesome.

I’m curious as to what parts you didn’t find believable?

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Aside from the brain surgery aspect, you mean?

I find it extremely implausible that [spoiler] so many old and obviously bigoted people would actively choose to become Black, if given the chance to take over someone else’s body.

Merely having money and affluence doesn’t negate the existence of the systemic bigotry of our society, or the problems that automatically come with being a person of color; no matter how much of a self imposed bubble one attempts to live in.

Especially when the only reason stated was simply because they are “in style right now.”

O_o

It makes absolutely no sense to me that they would not pick other younger ‘hearty and hale’ White people who would have the same level of privilege that they have been accustomed to their whole lives.

​I mean I get it that it was probably meant to be commentary on cultural appropriation and fetishism, but it just doesn’t work for me from a logical standpoint.​

To quote Chris Rock, even a one legged bus boy wouldn’t give up that privilege to be in his shoes as a rich and famous Black dude.

[/spoiler]

That was where Mr. Jordan Peele failed to suspend my disbelief.

Does that make any sense?

But other than those two aspects, I did enjoy the film.

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Absolutely that makes perfect sense. As always, astute observations.

But I did think that Peele was trying to make a point about rich white people who fancy themselves progressives on issues of race (“I’d have voted for Obama for a third term,” says the dad), that they consistently deny the continued existence of systemic bigotry, imagine it a problem of the past, and think that having money just negates the problems faced by people of color.

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I agree and I edited my comment to reflect an acknowledgment of what I think Peele was trying to convey.

And if he had included a scene depicting how erroneous and short sighted such thinking is, I might have been more inclined to accept the premise.

But alas, he didn’t; and thus I couldn’t stop thinking “yeah, right.

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I think that’s more than fair enough criticism. [spoiler]Even rich progressives likely wouldn’t want to actually be black - they more likely want to be friends with blacks so they can say they have a black friend.

I did not expect the brain surgery twist, though. I was thinking it was totally about mind control (and a sex cult). Oh, and the part where he stopped and picked up the grandmother after hitting her? I mean, didn’t he realize that she would be a white person in that body? But I guess it was supposed to show his still lingering trauma over his mother’s death. But still! That was more a typical stupid move someone in a horror film would make.[/spoiler]

All in all, it was a great film. The acting was great.

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Agreed; that was the penultimate ‘dumb move’ of the movie.

Also when I see films like this one, I have to wonder if I’m the only person who has a serious aversion to going anywhere where the nearest neighbors are “miles away?”

That’s not a selling point for me; it’s an immediate red flag.

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It’s funny. Even though we keep hearing “we need to talk about bullying, mental illness and suicide” when something comes along which does broach the subject in a somewhat realistic way, those same people are screaming about glamourisation which is the exact same excuse people made not to talk about it in the first place.

I don’t think kids should just watch it with no discussion, but I don’t think it glamourises or normalises suicide any more than Cobain or Cornell. It is a semi-decent conversation starter for those willing to actually have the conversation. Teens are capable of processing a lot – if it sometimes seems that they aren’t, it’s because we’ve forgotten what it’s like to be a teen and just how much they do process, every day.

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We are all hooked on “American Gods”. I love that it has a sense of humor, which was firmly established early on when a character was pincushioned fabulously.

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It depends for me… as much as I love living in an urban area I could happily give a go at living out in the desert miles from neighbors, not in the woods or such it has to be all sandy rocky Arizona, New Mexico etc.

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I grew up where the closest neighbours were less than 200 yards away, and most of my coworkers are horrified at the idea of living “in the middle of nowhere” like that, so I would say no, you are not the only one… In fact, I think you’re more common than us hermity types. It just seems otherwise because land and status have been conflated FOREVER and therefore if you aspire to status, you must aspire to land. Especially if it’s non-working land (e.g. a farm or ranch). So everyone pretends to want that place out in the country.

Me, I don’t really like people and would prefer to be as far away from them as possible and still have Internet.

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That’s much more doable; I can run 200 yards if absolutely necessary.

Please believe; I know those feels.

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In the middle of the latest season of Homeland. It’s great to see Elizabeth Marvel and Rachel Ticotin (even if it’s just a glimpse of her once in a while - she doesn’t put a lot of emphasis on a working life).

As for the character Dar Adal (F. Murray Abraham), god that guy’s an asshole.

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[quote=“Melizmatic, post:273, topic:94426, full:true”]Also when I see films like this one, I have to wonder if I’m the only person who has a serious aversion to going anywhere where the nearest neighbors are “miles away?”
[/quote]

I much prefer being in places where there are no humans between me and the horizon in any direction. Not too hard to do in Australia, fortunately.

A clifftop cave overlooking the desert would be my dream house.

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To each his own.

Ideally, I want people far enough away from me for privacy and personal space, but with decent dependable neighbors still close enough to get to; just in case some shit goes awry…

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