Berri's Couch

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.

Now to get more critter-y as we look into Burrow's End as it's tale of fascism, rebellion, family trauma and survival. An actual play story that continues the weaving of human morality vs critters and their behaviours into a fun watch that we happily delve into.

Now in a more eclectic discussion about critter media we look at an actual play dnd campaign and why it works that the characters are critters, why we enjoyed these characters and their adventures, and most importantly why reskinning spells can be some of the greatest bits of comedy in a players arsenal.

The classic tale of siege warfare amongst various rodents in the English countryside that launched many copycats and got some children into reading. What is it about the first book in a massive series that captured the imagination of so many so quickly? And can it hold up without the fuzzy feelings of nostalgia.

Well this the end, the show stopping number to cap off the Hatchetfield series as a whole. A satirical take on weak gender swaps, a small town murder, and the continued trend of characters getting proved right in their world view that ends in much more blood than it probably should. We discuss the work itself, a type of story being utilised and it's pitfalls therein, and finally theories based on...

The final of the main trilogy of musicals about this weird little island town and it's multiple timeline goings on. We're going back to school where they may be a god of some sort, there are definitely nerdy prudes and there's murder singing. Who doesn't love a throwback with modern twists?

We return to Hatchetfield, in a different time, but with some familiar faces. However they aren't the focus of this musical (not sure they know what should be but eh) rather the loss of sense to capitalistic desires to fill the emptiness we feel inside with a dash of Lovecraftian elder one's seeking the end of days.

An indie theatre production company doing a horror-comedy musical set in the tropes and character styling's of the body snatcher sub-genre, leads to a trilogy of genre bending musicals? Yes it does. We're starting our look at Starkid's Hatchetfield series with the one that started it all, The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals.

The Crow defined so much of the Goth subculture and their presentation to the wider world, we have a look at the movie, it's effect on pop culture and all of it's little hatchlings that came forward after this hit the public.

Okay so know we have the lasting horror icon of a small boy in a silly hat. No seriously this movie has effected things in ways we were both prepared and unprepared for. The tracking of understanding of certain biblical passages and misunderstanding/misattributions all trace back to here.

It's a classic, it's referenced everywhere, you know it but you don't. It's Casablanca. We start to look at film's that altered the pop culture landscape with one that both gets it's flowers but also doesn't. So let's look at THE classic and see what's going on and how it shaped us even now.

All right so the long awaited (?) continuation of the saga that started with Caesar and now comes to Noa. A film that divided fans in that is either a great evolution of what was started before or a complete betrayal. But where do we land? Listen and find out.

We made it to the end of the trilogy no one expected to succeed but did and captured the hearts and minds of many but can it end on a good note? How does Matt Reeves intend on closing out a story people don't want to end? LIKE A FUCKING CHAMP IS HOW! It's another long one but we can't not talk about the meta textual readings and the characters while keeping it brief.

These movie titles get wordy so shall we. We got A LOT to say on the unexpected sequel movie, including a new criteria for directors going forward, new characters, and how on a metatextual analysis Caesar continues his journey through the Moses/King Arthur mythos as both character points and how society has added to the character archetype.

We going back to 2011 for the hit film Rise of the Planet of the Apes. How does a film balance being a restart, a prequel and technically midquel, an origin for some and more importantly a film that washes the taste of a terrible film away? Pretty well with these damn dirty apes, it's deeper than one would expect and took us places some of us didn't expect at all.