Topic: The Movie Thread

@FuriousMachine should find that particular fairy taile in the collections of Asbjørnsen & Moe. Here's a link to one on Goodreads, but I expect it is included in pretty much any edition of their collection, as it is quite famous.

• I'm after getting two from the names mentioned, 'The Complete and Original Norwegian Folktales of Asbjørnsen and Moe' and 'East of the Sun and West of the Moon' (Østenfor sol og vestenfor måne) also from the same authors.

And it sounds like we are pretty much on the same page in regards to the subject of masculinity as well and I think your observations on Fight Club and what it has to say about the subject is quite apt. Great movie, by the way. I need to read the novel at some point as well, but again... once I win the Eurojackpot I'll start dedicating entire days to reading, that way I may get through most of my reading list before I go the way of the Norwegian Blue parrot in the classic Monty Python skit.

• I think part of it is experience, that's another way I learn and it's possible and highly likely that going from a Bateman who turned out to be a Bundy and then to a Blofeld helped me understand the psychology. I had to survive it and part of surviving it came from understanding it. Clinical psychologists think they understand Sadism and psychopathy but you never truly know a Person until you live with them. I learned a lot from those years, without both I couldn't recognize right from wrong. That's the problem with that kind of thinking becoming an accepted ideology, it's completely one-sided and like cannibalism (it's the only example I can think of) people assume it's so taboo that no one will do it in the first place. Which is why it's so hard to convict, there weren't enough cases for it to really be entered under law in so many countries.

Societies do change and the law needs to change with it, influencers are dangerous, toxic ideology is dangerous and unless societies take it more seriously it will only get worse. I haven't been on this site that look but I've seen the escalation in hate, homophobia and bigotry, it's not getting better. I'd say the world needs another Fight Club but I'm not sure everyone would understand the deeper meaning, it's also possible that some people might mature out of it. I see similarities to our Far Right, during times of economic crisis they grow in power, frustrated people need a target and I don't think sexuality is any different. I did see a documentary on incels and femcels, it was very disturbing psychology, especially the girl. She was around my age and felt like a ball of bleak nothingness, she blamed everyone but herself for her situation and people listened to her too. To think a whole generation has access to that hate/toxicity is genuinely terrifying. The only cure I see if outright banning the content and in teaching children to understand the dangers of that kind of thinking.

For the longest time I did want social-media, I did want to be part of the big internet something. I was given my first search engine just over two-years ago and there's a kind of strange constant and almost daily dichotomy daily of 'I missed out on this' followed by 'yes but look at the cons too'. I still can't understand racism and multiple people tried to explain it. People have to want to be good people, part of it is a Role-model too. Laurence Fishburne in Boyz in the Hood was a perfect example of doing it right, Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird too. I hope movies like that are still being made, the lesson has to come from somewhere.

I may even get through all the games and movies I've bought, too

• Even with as they say all the time in the world I've barely made a dent, I don't think it helps that so many aren't big into respecting a persons time. That's another reason I like Indies, I can experience a well crafted story in a short amount of time. I should look for a Asbjørnsen and Moe audiobook too.

@GirlVersusGame Thanks for your thoughts! The goat was something that I didn’t fully grasp, so your explanation of it as an omen helps make sense of that. Beyond that, our readings of the film are very similar, despite me not being anywhere near as knowledgeable on Irish folklore as you. Your added context is super helpful, thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.

@Metonymy Technically the donkey was too, I thought it had been a bunny but a donkey makes more sense. It goes right back the shape-shifting aspects of the Puca, I didn't know I was seeing a donkey at the time. It's technically a Faerie and is mostly seen as a donkey and sometimes a goat. I like all Folklore from all cultures and read the stuffing out of all of them but Faerie lore is something I really focus on. A well respected Ufologist (I do too) draws strong comparisons between the Faeries and the classic extraterrestrial experience. Passport to Magonia: On UFOs, Folklore, and Parallel Worlds and Dimensions are two of his greatest works. I just love studying Folklore in general but mixing fields like that is a passion too, as you already know. Obsession will be next.

Started Spooky season a few days early with Poltergoost 2, apparently they’re here (already).

@GirlVersusGame Yeah, it doesn’t exactly read as a donkey at first pass. Its credit as ‘Jack the Jackass’ gave me a chuckle. Once I saw its final form at the centre of the children’s program, I read it as an abstract and twisted representation of his guilt, of course rooted in his childhood. It’s nice to know that it too holds some connection to folklore that inspired it.