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shadowkat1. Uhm, they actually did a graphic novel of the life of Ed Gein and scans daily scanned all of it. At work, one of the guys that sits near me (but works for another agency/department within my agency), was talking about the Ryan Murphy television series loosely based on Gein's life - entitled Monster : the Ed Gein Story - it turned his stomach, but he couldn't look away or stop watching it. The two people who did the graphic novel - didn't like the television series - which they felt took liberties with the story and exaggerated bits that didn't require exaggeration. (It's important to realize that Ryan Murphy is an American satirist (subtly is kind of lost on him?) and his shtick is exaggerated satire or parody - specifically horror tropes and toxic societal tendencies. All of his series, anthology and otherwise do this - from Nip/Tuck through Glee to well Monster. I watched Nip/Tuck - so I know that Murphy uses exaggeration as a means of satirizing something. What interests him most - is the human tendency to rubber neck at an accident, or be thrilled by horror. He likes to push our noses in it. You either love Murphy, or you don't.)
Watered down Murphy tends to be overseen by Tim Minear - which is the Feud franchise, and the 911 franchises. Full blown, offensive over the top? Is Murphy and Brad Falchuck.
Some people love this stuff. My co-worker did. He likes the horror - and shock value. (And I get the appeal - I get curious to. There's something in humans that makes us want to look? Or watch the horror film? And be glad, it's not us? This fascinates Murphy, also he likes to take it to extremes.)
What's interesting about Ed Gein's story, as opposed to the Mendez Brothers or even Dahlmer (which were Murphy's previous outings in regards to serial killers) is Gein's story influenced two iconic horror films - the 1960s Hitchcock classic Psycho (was heavily influenced by Ed Gein, and Hitchcock may have even talked to Ed Gein, and based Psycho on Gein. (I saw the making of Psycho recently - a film with Anthony Hopkins playing Hitchcock and Helen Mirren playing Hitchcock's wife, its not very good.) The other flick that is based on Ed Gein's story, is the far more harrowing, Texas Chainsaw Massacre - in which Leatherface is based heavily on Gein. As is the serial killer in Silence of the Lambs, not Hopkins, the other one.
I'm curious about the Perkins and film-making angle, but I don't think I can watch the bits about Gein. Also, I'm not sure I can watch the bits about Anthony Perkins - who played Gein in Psycho - and went through conversion therapy. (Perkins died of complications from AIDS or HIV in the early 1990s.) That saddens me. Perkin's life is so tragic. [I can see why Murphy was drawn to the story - the mental/emotional and physical abuse and childhood trauma that created Gein, and the ironically similar mental and physical trauma that Anthony Perkins suffered in his personal life while portraying Gein in the film.] Murphy like most artists who tell stories about Monsters - tend to focus on how we are culpable in their creation.
And alas, we are. We have a toxic society that continues to create all too human monsters.
2. Buffy S4 rewatch. I just finished watching "Wild at Heart" - the episode that marks the return of Spike to the series post-Angel, and the beginning of Spike's redemption arc. And the exit of OZ from the series, although he does briefly return later. Spike's entrance is brief and at the very beginning of the episode. And it's interesting that Spike collides with the Initiative (the actual big bad of the season) in the same episode that Buffy collides with them, although she does it later. And it's Buffy that brings them to Giles' attention as a potential threat - they'd delayed her in her pursuit of OZ (ironically I think they were also pursuing OZ). We also have "boy scout" Riley pop up and save Willow from being hit by a car - slowly building on his relationship with Buffy. He's kind of the Anti-Angel? Much like Angel, he is in the background. But not exactly lurking? Also he's trying to fight demons on his own - but is oblivious to Buffy as she is of him. The Initiative and Riley - is the writers expanding on the world and answering a vital question - which is, is anyone else fighting demons besides Buffy? Wouldn't the military or others be aware of them? They aren't exactly hidden?
This is actually all very clever. Along with the introduction of Veruca who was supposed to have a six to ten episode arc with OZ. But Green wanted out, so her arc was cut short to about three episodes. The actress kind of overplayed it, and apparently did not sing in the episode. The band is actually THC and it's their album Adaigo that is being featured. Paige Moss who played Veruca didn't last long as an actress, and has been out of the biz for a while now.
Unfortunately for both the Initiative arc and the Werewolves in Lust arc - Lindsey Crouse and Seth Green became unavailable - more lucrative elsewhere. Buffy didn't pay that much - apparently. So the writers had to rethink the story arc. They were able to bring back Crouse and Green later in the series. Also Crouse sticks around until I think the tenth or eleventh episode, while Green ducks out in the sixth. Green ducking out changes the dynamic quite a bit. Enter Anya and Tara, also Riley and Spike.
Marsters demonstrates his comedic chops in the entry of the episode...when Buffy laminates the lack of an appreciative audience for her puns and quips, Spike announces she shouldn't tempt the Universe - because here he is to answer that demand - when the Initiative soldiers come up behind him and taze him. (He's not all that shocked by it - he's over 150 years old, and lived through WWII, and met the Nazis...so...his reaction when this happens, is .."is this the Nazis, take II?" No, it's the US government. Spike's like - eh, same difference.) It's a minute or two scene, and is rather funny. I laugh every time I see it. Marsters plays Spike with a kind of Wile E Coyote comedic timing, with Buffy as the road runner. He keeps trying to take her out, and gets foiled every time, to great comedic effect. She dumps a pipe organ on his head in Season 2, confining him to a wheel chair, and in S4, she manages to take off his ring, leaving him to run off trying not to burst into flames. Neither can quite kill the either - so instead they have this entertaining dance, with one or the other taking off.
I was certain there was a line about Willow's shirt by Veruca, and an exchange between Buffy and Willow about it. But I didn't see it in the episode, so maybe I misremembered it? It's possible?
I wish I can say I'll miss OZ. But no. Oz's absence actually makes Willow more interesting and gives the actor more agency. Willow is the one in charge with Tara, and the cool one, when in the Willow/OZ dynamic, Oz was the cool one. Also OZ didn't really add much? I can see why Green wanted out - the makeup must have been annoying to say the least, and he really had very little to do, and next to no lines. They didn't do a good job of developing him - while Anya, Tara, and Spike are far better developed. OZ, Riley, Cordelia and Harmony less so - and as a result fall too heavily into stock or timeworn tropes, as did Faith. I will state - that to some extent this is remedied in Angel for Cordelia and Harmony - who both get a bit more depth in that series than they really got in Buffy. Cordy gets more than Harmony, obviously.
I like Riley at the moment. I always did. I did not share the fandom's dislike for the character, and was more ambivalent. I didn't see him as being with Buffy for long - they came from different worlds, and wanted different things. He was a lot like Angel - and I think she may well have realized, being with him, why long-term with Angel wouldn't have worked.
Two Alpha characters or leaders don't work. They both want to play boss. Angel and Riley are a lot like - Riley is kind of what Angel would have been if he were American, a solider, and not a vampire. They also both fit the "Father Figure" trope. But Riley is also a bridge to the sick mother trope - before the writer's realized they could do it much better with Spike. Part of what makes Buffy so universal - is the family/parental issues dealt with throughout. Buffy's demons are just her peers, but also her parents and family, or lack thereof. She's come from a dysfunctional and broken family - her parents divorced, and her father slowly distancing himself from her - to the point that his visits, and hers with him, break off completely by mid-S2, around the time Buffy sleeps with Angel (replacing her father with Angel and to a degree with Giles), and Ted pops up to date her mother. He doesn't show up again - until Normal Again - and that's in the AU or dream verse. He's left them for his new family. And her mother is increasingly unavailable - repurposing her room, taking off for long stretches, or spending long hours at the gallery. It's not until Dawn pops up that her mother becomes available again - only to get ill, and eventually die - leaving Buffy in the parent position with Dawn. But that's much later, and I'll wait until S5 to talk about it in depth.
I'm enjoying watching this again without having to argue with insane shippers. I was constantly biting my tongue. And not always very well.
3. Also watching mindless comfort shows such as : Great British Baking Show S13, Grey's Anatomy S22 (dear god, that show has actually been on 22 years, and Bailey looks exactly the same), 911 Nashville (it stars Chris O'Donnell - who makes me feel old, since he's a Dad with a grown son in the show, Jessica Capshaw, married to O'Donnell with a grown son) - but kind of like the others. I like Lone Star and the original better. This one is kind of soapy, which I'm not sure works with the trope? And "Call the Midwife" - S6. Of the comfort shows, the British ones are the best, hardly surprising, that. I just wish they were on better streaming services - Netflix is making me crazy.
Watered down Murphy tends to be overseen by Tim Minear - which is the Feud franchise, and the 911 franchises. Full blown, offensive over the top? Is Murphy and Brad Falchuck.
Some people love this stuff. My co-worker did. He likes the horror - and shock value. (And I get the appeal - I get curious to. There's something in humans that makes us want to look? Or watch the horror film? And be glad, it's not us? This fascinates Murphy, also he likes to take it to extremes.)
What's interesting about Ed Gein's story, as opposed to the Mendez Brothers or even Dahlmer (which were Murphy's previous outings in regards to serial killers) is Gein's story influenced two iconic horror films - the 1960s Hitchcock classic Psycho (was heavily influenced by Ed Gein, and Hitchcock may have even talked to Ed Gein, and based Psycho on Gein. (I saw the making of Psycho recently - a film with Anthony Hopkins playing Hitchcock and Helen Mirren playing Hitchcock's wife, its not very good.) The other flick that is based on Ed Gein's story, is the far more harrowing, Texas Chainsaw Massacre - in which Leatherface is based heavily on Gein. As is the serial killer in Silence of the Lambs, not Hopkins, the other one.
I'm curious about the Perkins and film-making angle, but I don't think I can watch the bits about Gein. Also, I'm not sure I can watch the bits about Anthony Perkins - who played Gein in Psycho - and went through conversion therapy. (Perkins died of complications from AIDS or HIV in the early 1990s.) That saddens me. Perkin's life is so tragic. [I can see why Murphy was drawn to the story - the mental/emotional and physical abuse and childhood trauma that created Gein, and the ironically similar mental and physical trauma that Anthony Perkins suffered in his personal life while portraying Gein in the film.] Murphy like most artists who tell stories about Monsters - tend to focus on how we are culpable in their creation.
And alas, we are. We have a toxic society that continues to create all too human monsters.
2. Buffy S4 rewatch. I just finished watching "Wild at Heart" - the episode that marks the return of Spike to the series post-Angel, and the beginning of Spike's redemption arc. And the exit of OZ from the series, although he does briefly return later. Spike's entrance is brief and at the very beginning of the episode. And it's interesting that Spike collides with the Initiative (the actual big bad of the season) in the same episode that Buffy collides with them, although she does it later. And it's Buffy that brings them to Giles' attention as a potential threat - they'd delayed her in her pursuit of OZ (ironically I think they were also pursuing OZ). We also have "boy scout" Riley pop up and save Willow from being hit by a car - slowly building on his relationship with Buffy. He's kind of the Anti-Angel? Much like Angel, he is in the background. But not exactly lurking? Also he's trying to fight demons on his own - but is oblivious to Buffy as she is of him. The Initiative and Riley - is the writers expanding on the world and answering a vital question - which is, is anyone else fighting demons besides Buffy? Wouldn't the military or others be aware of them? They aren't exactly hidden?
This is actually all very clever. Along with the introduction of Veruca who was supposed to have a six to ten episode arc with OZ. But Green wanted out, so her arc was cut short to about three episodes. The actress kind of overplayed it, and apparently did not sing in the episode. The band is actually THC and it's their album Adaigo that is being featured. Paige Moss who played Veruca didn't last long as an actress, and has been out of the biz for a while now.
Unfortunately for both the Initiative arc and the Werewolves in Lust arc - Lindsey Crouse and Seth Green became unavailable - more lucrative elsewhere. Buffy didn't pay that much - apparently. So the writers had to rethink the story arc. They were able to bring back Crouse and Green later in the series. Also Crouse sticks around until I think the tenth or eleventh episode, while Green ducks out in the sixth. Green ducking out changes the dynamic quite a bit. Enter Anya and Tara, also Riley and Spike.
Marsters demonstrates his comedic chops in the entry of the episode...when Buffy laminates the lack of an appreciative audience for her puns and quips, Spike announces she shouldn't tempt the Universe - because here he is to answer that demand - when the Initiative soldiers come up behind him and taze him. (He's not all that shocked by it - he's over 150 years old, and lived through WWII, and met the Nazis...so...his reaction when this happens, is .."is this the Nazis, take II?" No, it's the US government. Spike's like - eh, same difference.) It's a minute or two scene, and is rather funny. I laugh every time I see it. Marsters plays Spike with a kind of Wile E Coyote comedic timing, with Buffy as the road runner. He keeps trying to take her out, and gets foiled every time, to great comedic effect. She dumps a pipe organ on his head in Season 2, confining him to a wheel chair, and in S4, she manages to take off his ring, leaving him to run off trying not to burst into flames. Neither can quite kill the either - so instead they have this entertaining dance, with one or the other taking off.
I was certain there was a line about Willow's shirt by Veruca, and an exchange between Buffy and Willow about it. But I didn't see it in the episode, so maybe I misremembered it? It's possible?
I wish I can say I'll miss OZ. But no. Oz's absence actually makes Willow more interesting and gives the actor more agency. Willow is the one in charge with Tara, and the cool one, when in the Willow/OZ dynamic, Oz was the cool one. Also OZ didn't really add much? I can see why Green wanted out - the makeup must have been annoying to say the least, and he really had very little to do, and next to no lines. They didn't do a good job of developing him - while Anya, Tara, and Spike are far better developed. OZ, Riley, Cordelia and Harmony less so - and as a result fall too heavily into stock or timeworn tropes, as did Faith. I will state - that to some extent this is remedied in Angel for Cordelia and Harmony - who both get a bit more depth in that series than they really got in Buffy. Cordy gets more than Harmony, obviously.
I like Riley at the moment. I always did. I did not share the fandom's dislike for the character, and was more ambivalent. I didn't see him as being with Buffy for long - they came from different worlds, and wanted different things. He was a lot like Angel - and I think she may well have realized, being with him, why long-term with Angel wouldn't have worked.
Two Alpha characters or leaders don't work. They both want to play boss. Angel and Riley are a lot like - Riley is kind of what Angel would have been if he were American, a solider, and not a vampire. They also both fit the "Father Figure" trope. But Riley is also a bridge to the sick mother trope - before the writer's realized they could do it much better with Spike. Part of what makes Buffy so universal - is the family/parental issues dealt with throughout. Buffy's demons are just her peers, but also her parents and family, or lack thereof. She's come from a dysfunctional and broken family - her parents divorced, and her father slowly distancing himself from her - to the point that his visits, and hers with him, break off completely by mid-S2, around the time Buffy sleeps with Angel (replacing her father with Angel and to a degree with Giles), and Ted pops up to date her mother. He doesn't show up again - until Normal Again - and that's in the AU or dream verse. He's left them for his new family. And her mother is increasingly unavailable - repurposing her room, taking off for long stretches, or spending long hours at the gallery. It's not until Dawn pops up that her mother becomes available again - only to get ill, and eventually die - leaving Buffy in the parent position with Dawn. But that's much later, and I'll wait until S5 to talk about it in depth.
I'm enjoying watching this again without having to argue with insane shippers. I was constantly biting my tongue. And not always very well.
3. Also watching mindless comfort shows such as : Great British Baking Show S13, Grey's Anatomy S22 (dear god, that show has actually been on 22 years, and Bailey looks exactly the same), 911 Nashville (it stars Chris O'Donnell - who makes me feel old, since he's a Dad with a grown son in the show, Jessica Capshaw, married to O'Donnell with a grown son) - but kind of like the others. I like Lone Star and the original better. This one is kind of soapy, which I'm not sure works with the trope? And "Call the Midwife" - S6. Of the comfort shows, the British ones are the best, hardly surprising, that. I just wish they were on better streaming services - Netflix is making me crazy.
no subject
Date: 2025-10-12 07:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-10-12 01:53 pm (UTC)That said? I think it would have been more on the wolf inside all the time arc - which has been done to death? I think Tara and Anya's arcs were more challenging and interesting, because they hadn't been done previously. A lot of writing opportunities happened due to actors either leaving the show or not being available or a character unexpectedly taking off - and the writers had to find another way to make it work or change the story.
Juliet Landau was supposed to come back with Spike in S3, and potentially 4, but the actress was unavailable and busy. Tara was supposed to be a wood nymph, but Marti talked Whedon out of it - and into hiring Amber Benson, and short term, like Veruca, but Green left. Cordelia left - enter Anya and Spike.
I give the writers credit for finding a better way - it's among the many reasons the series has lasted and was successful.