Berri's Couch

Allrighty people we begin our defence of the feminine with the classic trinity of bad faith criticism princess. These poor girls are dragged enough and we stand tall and defend them and their narratives, they do have value and aren't bad role models despite what pop feminism says.

The ending of a legacy and we wish it was with more of a bang. Discovering the past through the journey of Strife while a world and lore building wonder how does the story itself hold up? How do we feel about the final horseman and O.G influencer Strife? Why does this feel unsatisfying as a Darsider game? All of these questions answered and more.

So we finally talk about the only female horseman and her girl fail journey through dealing with the deadly sins of man. In true human fashion we do mostly focus on the presentation of the often treaded, duplicated and revisited personifications of mankind's sins.

We're getting into the lore now, Bee is tethering herself down to try and stay on focus as we delve into the follow-up and expansion to the small breadcrumbs set up in the first game. Did the sequel hold up as far as story or should this have been a DLC to the first game?

In a change of pace we start to look at the video game Darksiders and the story it's telling through it's medium. Bee tries to stay focused on just this first game, Jerri looks into the uniqueness of storytelling through interactive media, and why this particular game stayed in our minds and quickly won us over.

How does a stylised Irish animation studio handle short films and shorter content? Really well as it turns out. We close off the discussion of Cartoon Saloon with a look at their short films and easily accessible behind the scenes content.

We finally watch a timely (and hard to find) film that stands out amongst the Cartoon Saloon filmography, The Breadwinner. A story set in Afghanistan during the beginning of the war on terror and how a family through bravery makes it despite their circumstances. Beauty, horror and a reminder that people are not the regimes they live in all balanced in this film and we discuss it to hopefully get y...

Despite the roughness in a voice we look at the finale in the Irish mythology trilogy produced by Cartoon Saloon and how it holds up amongst the others of its pack.

Selkies, sea, parallel story beats, Bee spewing ideas out at record speeds, family drama. We have everything in this episode that we dive deep into the themes and symbolism used in Song of the Sea. No seriously this film is deeper than one may think once you start paddling out into ocean of interpretation. Okay I'm out of swimming and ocean bits now.

An animated movie about the debated history of a book of prayers from the 9th century is certainly a description that could put off some viewers, but not us! Enter the forest of animation with us and see if there is an act of higher power or if all that lays there be wolves of mediocrity.

It is totally thematic for us to be all over this place for this *eyes move shiftily* totally thematic. We take a look back at the music video program that weirdly became a huge part of Oz kids lives because we needed something to watch before Saturday cartoons started. So what was Rage and why do we remember it?

Two children's entertainers both alike in possibilities, in fair Australian lounge rooms we lay our scene. In one corner a long running formerly 4 man troupe that became a global phenomenon and in the other 3 dags on an obvious soundstage. Who shall reign victorious The Wiggles or The Hooley Dooleys?

SOMEONE LET THIS BE SHOWN TO CHILDREN! AND THEY ENCOURAGED IT! So we go to the other end of Australian kid's programming spectrum this time with the mentally scarring Round the Twist. We try to explain this mess but I believe it would be easier to describe an intense trip to a sober friend then summarise this *gestures disgustedly* mess.

It finally happened we are now talking about the blue heeler who took over the world of kids media and made adults cry. In a quite abridged form (we are not joking this could have been hours longer) we discuss a selection of episodes that we feel explain why this show took the world by storm.

Finally a movie that's theme is so obvious we can are forced to discuss how something a small as a change in voice actor can dramatically change a character and their reception.

We are gong al the way back to the beginning. Wind, bugs, and war define this early Ghibli film but does it come in like a hurricane or should it be lost in the breeze? Let's get on the gliders and find out.

A little story about how saving a cat can backfire quickly while also being about finding yourself as a person, and it's the only made for TV Ghibli movie. Come lay in the grass in the bright sun with us as we rest pleasantly through this nice film.

If we had a nickel for every time a piece of childhood media involved people being turned into pigs we'd have 2 nickels. Which isn't a lot but it's weird it's happened twice.

We end the month wrapping up with the emotion of love in media it was just too big to fit into one episode so here ya go, the vivisection of true love. The limitations of elevating only romantic love under the false belief that your romantic partner will just get you with no work.

So we're all supposed to want to seek love but then why does media make out long term partnerships as a burden and war? Why are there so few loving couples once they tie the knot? Let's walk down the aisle and try to find out.

It's not bad but, its not necessarily good It feels sudden but, it's not. It's a simple emotion until, it isn't. Anger is so personal but so easy to misinterpret so how does visual media handle this problem child? With simplified over easy boxes that everyone gets shoved in, listen in as we explain further.

Sometimes media leads to unhealthy views being continued and made worse in society more often than not unintentionally. Join us as we discuss how this family film address the harmful idea of toxic positivity or at least starts to begin the dismantling process.

We unearth the "legally distinct and totes not Dracula" vampire film that has secured itself in pop culture but yet somehow remains almost entirely untouched by the ghoulish hands of soulless studio executive husks. Truly a marvel for this uncanny valley-esque film even if it perhaps does not elicit the feelings it once did in a modern audience.

Notorious. The most notorious rendition of Dracula to date, trashed in its time but was it earned? Yes, but now it's campy and retro funny. We look back on this and discern what could work about it and why it should be revisited in correct company.

Now for the most told untold story since Coppola introduced the worst addition to Dracula. How does the more modern take on a badly written and re-enacted faux history based on true history hold up in the line of the undead? Badly but lets view a sad, broody Dracula that absolutely no one wanted or asked for.