The Devil is in the Details

Or in this case being raised by a perfectly average middle class family in the small British town of Tadfield. This, of course being a mistake on the part of several parties not the least of which is one of the two protagonists of this tale Crowley the demon. If you've seen the show, you'll know immediately that I'm talking about the series Good Omens which was based on a book co-written by Neil Gaiman. There is a lot to like about this show, and it is what I consider dark comedy at its best. But the best thing about it are the characters. You have the demon Crowley played by David Tennant (you might recognize him from his portrayal as one of the better looking versions of Dr. Who, or you may have seen him in his riveting portrayal of Hamlet) and his best friend, the angel Aziraphale. The whole story revolves around the relationship between these two men and their forbidden trysts. Some shows take two characters with obvious chemistry and flirt around the idea of letting you see them get together (I'm looking at you x-files with your 7-seasons-before-the-first-kiss nonsense). I feel like many shows do this way too often with homo-erotic pairings and it's a bit of a problem, I admit. However, I will say that despite the lack of a romantic resolution between these two, the solution they found which (for the time being) solved the problem of "being on the wrong side" was probably more intimate than any kiss or hug or sex scene would have been.

So let's delve a little deeper into the characters. The ones I liked include (obviously) the main two Crowley and Aziraphale, but also Adam Young and to a lesser extent Anathema Device (the oddball witch who follows her ancestor's prophesies to the letter). I didn't really care for the romance between Newton Pulsifer (the descendant of someone who literally murdered one of her ancestors) and her, but mainly because it tends to seem like the story is adding a hetero romance to distract one from the obvious attraction that exists between Crowley and Aziraphale. And it does this one more time, much more subtly with two other minor characters Witchfinder Shadwell and Madame Tracy (his landlord). The character of Pulsifer did end up being crucial to the plot, but I would argue that the romance element was not. They could have had him do the very same things in the very same way to resolve things without the sex. However, it was a bit comedic especially as Shadwell describes the heinous things he imagines his poor private Pulsifer is being subjected to by the witch.

So Crowley is a demon, but he's grown attached to humanity and human inventions and, well his friendship with Aziraphale, so when he's asked to deliver the antichrist to jumpstart the apocalypse, he's none too pleased. He can't just say no, Hell doesn't take kindly to rebels after all, so he attempts to do as he's asked but a comedy of errors puts the baby not in the hands of the wealthy and influential American diplomat to whom it was supposed to be delivered, but to a middle class family from Tadfield. Crowley has no idea this mistake has been made, and for eleven years he and Aziraphale try to influence the (wrong) child each more towards their side hoping that in the end he'll turn out normal and not start the apocalypse. On his eleventh birthday a hellhound is released and the boy is supposed to name him something that will cause him to take the shape that forms his identity. Since they are monitoring the wrong boy they aren't there to see that the dog comes to the real antichrist Adam Young and the free-spirited (and very normal) boy names him 'dog' and so the hellhound becomes a mutt and the boy adopts him.

Antics ensue as heaven and hell try to figure out what went wrong all as the clock is ticking to the end of the world. Not only that, but our main duo must keep their superiors from finding out about their connection lest it be severed forever. The show does a nice job (with flashbacks) of showing various stages of the relationship between Crowley and Aziraphale and it is just so clear that these two love each other it seems a shame that there was no romance other than small flirtations. I've heard the term for this type of homo-erotic media that tantalizes you with hints but never gives you any definitive proof is called "queer-baiting". That being said, the fact that it has a little bit of that is the only down-side to an otherwise perfect story. The comedy is perfect, the story arc is just ludicrous enough to be hilarious and not so ludicrous that you have no idea what in the world you just watched. It kind of gives off Monty Python and Douglas Adams vibes, but that could be because MP is written by British writers and DA was British. I think there's something to that dry, sardonic, wit that I just find absolutely fascinating.

I can't tell you too much without ruining the story but I can tell you that it is really worth the watch and I hope you like it as much as I did. Thanks for reading, signing off for now.

The Woman in -- Who can remember a title that long? You get the idea.

I watched this Netflix special with the absurdly long name of "The Woman in the house across the street from the girl in the mirror" starring Kristen Bell and I have to say it was absurd but not exactly funny. I'm no stranger to dark comedy, and it isn't that Kristen Bell can't deliver comedic material. "The Good Place" had me in stitches, but there's something less funny about the untimely death of a 9-year-old girl and a mother so grief stricken she can't go out in the rain. The show is filled with absurdity, and absurdity can be funny if done right. Perhaps it is because I am less filled with schadenfreude (taking joy from the misery of others) that this show did not elicit a single laugh even in the most absurd and potentially comical of times. It seems that the show is trying to parody horror films that get their thrills from mining the human psyche (like rear-window, vertigo, etc) without realizing that the same empathy which makes those classic horror films work would stifle any potential laughter for this piece of work. 

I watched it straight through from start to finish, but never laughed once. The absurdity was enough of a disconnect to confuse me and cause me to realize that the show could not be in earnest, but never made it to the point of making me laugh. There is enough of a psychological connection with the main character to make you binge, but too much for you to laugh at her pain, if that makes sense. Because I haven't really come up with a numerical system for rating movies, I won't try to give this a rating, but I believe it deserves to go somewhere in the middle. It completely failed at being a comedy. It felt rather tone-deaf and all the absurdity in the world can't make you laugh at the woes of a person you feel connected to. One of the selling points of "The Good Place" was that her character was just enough of a bad person that it didn't feel wrong to laugh at her misfortunes. However, I can't exactly give it the lowest of ratings because I did binge it from start to finish. It was more because it felt like a train wreck and I couldn't look away for wanting to know what happened.

I did figure out the twist villain very early on in the series, but there was another suspect I had in mind and they almost got me to believe it was that person for about five minutes before he was taken down. Perhaps horror parodies just aren't my think. I don't doubt that there may be some that could find the absurdity in this piece funny, given the volumes of people who laugh at shows like Family Guy which has always fallen flat for me as well. The difference is that at least Family Guy elicits some laughs (however few and far between) whenever I decide to give it another chance, even though I always decide it is not funny enough to offset the annoying nature of the voice acting.

Under the Surface: What "Encanto" says, and doesn't say, about anxiety and familial pressure

The new Disney film Encanto may be a goldmine of accurate cultural references (unlike past films, we're looking at you Pocahontas and Mulan) but there's more to it than a peep into the world of Columbia. At its heart, Encanto is about family. Three generations live under the same roof and the family matriarch guides all their paths so there is a great familial pressure to live up to her expectations. We see this as Mirabel (the movie's protagonist) frets about her place in the family and it comes to a climax when Mirabel finally confronts her Abuela about the pressure she and both her siblings feel.

Mirabel and her two sisters, all pressured by their grandmother Alma in different ways, are the main focus of the film, while it kind of glosses over the estranged son Bruno who hid himself away (forsaking his gift) because it didn't meet her expectations. It does show enough to let you know that Bruno also feels this pressure. His siblings are shown dealing with Alma in different ways, but neither too afraid to speak up to her as Bruno and the three sisters seem to be. For one thing, Mirabel's mom Julietta is seen several times in the film confronting her mother about how she treats Mirabel, and Tia Pepa, although she does try to keep it together, is too emotional to stay quiet when Alma scolds her for her inability to reign in her feelings. 

It makes sense that Mirabel's immediate family, and how they relate to her, are the main focus of the film, since she is at its center, but it is disappointing that there was not enough time to show the ways in which Alma's influence affected the other members of her family. Sure technically Deloris is standing idly by while the man she longs for pursues her cousin, but she seems to have her own catty way of dealing with that as shown in the scene where she states that he "wants five kids", probably to scare Isabella. Neither of the male cousins seem to have a problem with their gifts, although it is uncertain whether Antonio might have developed the same issues had things gone on the way they were indefinitely. So, since the most we get, and definitely all that Alma is called out for, is Mirabel's family, let's examine how each of these is handled.

Isabella, the oldest, is the seemingly perfect sister. She does little early in the film to indicate she feels pressure and there is no indication (save perhaps for the fact she punched Mariano with a flower in the proposal scene, and that certainly seemed, to all involved anyway, to have been a result of the magic going haywire much like Camilo's random shapeshifting) that she is at all unhappy with the way things are except where it involves Mirabel. Their contention is finally put aside when Isabella realizes that she doesn't need to be perfect, and Mirabel encourages her to be her authentic self rather than some idealized version. Her character arc is mostly about showing the cracks in the Madrigal family and how the weight of Alma's expectations created them and nurture them and how all that is needed to heal the family is some honest communication and authenticity. Her character isn't very flushed out, but it is clear she is using perfectionism to win Alma's approval, even going so far as to marry someone she doesn't like to please her Abuela.

The real shame is how Luisa's character is treated, because the song "Surface Pressure" sums up the anxiety that being "the strong one" in a family brings along with it. The lyrics include lines like: "Who am I if I don't have what it takes?" and "Give it to your sister and never wonder, if the same pressure would have pulled you under." Although generally the role of the "strong one" in a family falls on the mother, it can be pushed onto an elder sister, father or brother. This person is usually expected to shoulder the problems of the rest of the family, and be the rock that holds the family together. The shame in Luisa's character was that the song was the height of her character arc. Her anxiety for the rest of the film seems to be a punchline rather than being taken seriously. Like "ooh, look, this big strong character is crying" when the song brought up real issues of inadequacy and fear that plague many people who suffer from anxiety and depression but try to hide it for the sake of their loved ones.

So let's look at the character whose anxiety and fear is taken seriously, the star of the film: Mirabel. Mirabel puts on a façade of being upbeat and positive, but secretly she's hoping that Antonio's door dissolves the same way hers did as can be seen in the song "waiting on a miracle" after the realization comes that she will still be the only child born into her family who isn't granted a gift. As she begins to unravel, so does the house and the rest of the family follows suit. Mirabel is like the anti-Alma. While Alma puts pressure on the characters to live up to expectations and serve the community, Mirabel focuses on the characters themselves and what makes them special with or without their gifts. Alma drove Bruno into hiding and Mirabel pulls him back out (literally, since it is to save her that he finally shows himself after the house falls and Mirabel has had her reconciliation with Alma, but also in that promise to bring him home after she has fixed the magic). Alma pressures Luisa to be strong, but Mirabel suggests that she take it easier on herself. Everywhere that Alma can be seen to cause problems within the family, Mirabel does the opposite. That is, until the final confrontation where Alma realizes that she really is the problem and apologizes for the damage she has done to her family. In real life the problems would not be fixed this easily because many people who damage their families in the way that Alma has, cannot admit to themselves that they were wrong. They may look at the devastation and see only the foolishness of the people around them. And because not many children raised with these unhealthy expectations are willing to confront the abuser, the cycle continues as they pass the very same messages and trauma on to their own kids.