Berri's Couch

More killings, an actual creek and a lot of implications. This indie Australian horror gets to be viewed and discussed on why it fits as Australian horror while also being an overall more enjoyable watch than the iconic Wolf Creek. Let's all go down to the Killing Ground

Gotta start with a ripper of a film that apparently was a horrifying, sensationalist, glorification of violence. But was it? Is perhaps Wolf Creek a victim of a trend that it wasn't really ever part of? Can it hold up all these years afterwards? What marks this film as the almost quintessential Australian horror film?

From the perspective of people who grew up post Ausploitation and weren't yet old enough to watch Wolf Creek when it came out we are breaking down our thoughts and theories on why the Australian made horror movies garner such a unique reputation for supposed brutalism.

Now we shall discuss the differences between a creepy kid vs a spooky kid. It's a distinction many won't be bothered with but after watching multiple films in this topic and horror in general they are different and it should be defined. Nebulous though it may be.

Well now we have the quintessential creepy kids story, or at least the remake of it. How do these creepy children stand against others? Can such iconic creep be recreated or are the children are victim to studio meddling in what might have been a fresh take on something everyone is familiar with?

Scariest movie ever gets to be looked at with fresh modern eyes. Does it hold up to that title or is it just a victim of it as time passes. More importantly to the actual theme of the month how does Regan as a scary kid work in the context of her movie? Does she even count given the nature of the spookums?

We're going back to Mr Stephen King to begin talking about creepy kids and, at least in this case, they brought a snack. We got corn puns. We got murder. We got religious schism based on doctrine interpretation. We got adults playing kids roles. And for once we're not in Maine.

This is absolutely not going to have a bunch of knee jerk responses. While we supposedly all learn about Greek myths and the pantheon attached to them have we ever actually represented them correctly?

The cultural exchange of a century, two animated mediums that borrow from each other but with different degrees of care, implementation and desire to influence. From classic 4kids censorship dubbing to the idea of certain character tropes entirely. We talk about anime and it's impact on current and possible future media aimed at a younger generation.

So in a not at all surprising dive we compare Avatar the Last Airbender to Raya and the Last Dragon in how they show and care for the cultures they drew influence from. One came and went like a brief gust of wind but the other is still being talked about to this day, does the world building have anything to do with that? Yes but still go for a listen cuz why not?

And finally we come to the last 3 of the children of Roderick Usher. They have more limited screen time but the depth of writing gives each a lasting impact and a showing of relationships that speak to a history that, while not shown to us, is rich and worth thinking about.

We finally get to look at the adult children in this family. Starting with the self identified (mostly by Victorine) "bigs". Tamerlane, Victorine and Frederick get the arm chair look at and attempted breakdown's on how they are the victims and perpetrators of generational and new types of trauma.

The matriarch and decision maker of the Ushers, or is she? An almost case study of how different people react to the same traumas with Madeleine Usher and the questions on why she makes the decisions she does. Her hypocrisy and inability to see things clearly make her an intriguing study that can effect us more due to nothing more than lived bias.

The storyteller and first domino that lead to the fall of an entire familial line, a man who is as defined by his trauma as he is ignorant of it. What makes the man who lead to a fictional opioid crisis? We sift through the lies and decisions that lead to deals with birds, many children and an inevitable fall.

Back on our bollocks to discuss the characters from a piece of media we've already discussed. Verna just flies into the narrative and haunts us so we must attempt to grasp at what she is or at least what we can interpret of her. *Insert obligatory Poe reference here*

We are finally unearthing the problem with depicting beauty standards through a historical lens. We have discussions of Shakespeare, the Tudors, Borgias and the great poet of the times Sir Mix-a-lot.

Get in loser we're talking about makeovers and how they are secretly a trope that enforces classism, unjust beauty standards and the idea that changing yourself for male validation is a good thing. Sounds fun right!

All right we are back on track, with a discussion about visual media and it's reliance using forced physical differences to denote morality and the problems it has run into doing that. We cover such franchises as Bond, Batman, The Witches, and even Fury Road.

All right nice easy, non controversial topic change. Beauty standards throughout various media and we start with the classic of classics. Literature and oral stories. With a nice sprinkling of Grimm slander we try and track the narrative creation of many beauty standards, why it exists and the problems they have started. Apologies for the rain sounds we had no control over that.

Now we wrap this up with a final check on the list of subtypes of chosen one's. Chosen by foe, peers, and the meta at large thus the committee meets to determine importance. We even have Ferris Bueller on the agenda.

The bloodline has chosen someone to do something, when? We don't know. Who? We don't know. Is it ever really clear or is it just vague nonsense to justify propaganda of incumbent royals? Well yes and no.

All right a higher power as demanded we cover this subset first, and not just because it's arguably the oldest rendition. A higher power commands the narrative and what comes from it biblical stories, Berserk, A Song of Ice and Fire, Fear and Hunger, and many many more. How do they all hold up to their interpretations and story structure of perhaps the oldest part of human stories?

All right let's try doing this from the top. A chosen one is an old trope but the intricacies are worth a brief exploration, before we dive deeper into the very particular types of chosen one's.

And now to end the month we actually get into the weeds of definitions and why we chose to focus on the media we focussed on. The heavily venn-diagramed (no I don't care that that's not a proper adjective) world of animal based fiction gets an attempt to untangle the sub genres and their benefits and negatives when telling stories.

We're re-visitng the Watership Down warren as they are next on the graph of critters to human nature. There is a bigger focus on why these decisions were used and why some of the choices end up reflecting humanity in a way that only animals can.