today's nope post: thinking about how i read someone point out the way we expect a cut to black during the star lasso experience, because that's essentially what happened with gordy. we weren't permitted to actually SEE the chimp carnage. it sets an expectation for star lasso which is horrifically shattered as we watch the people get sucked up, squeezed, screaming. that scene felt so gratuitous seeing it for the first time. i was shrinking in my seat hoping it would end. never ever saw it coming. how spectacular.
then i thought about what my husband said to me after we left the theater, and i was so so affected and scared by that scene, and he was ok. he loved it. and i started to talk about it and dissect why we had such different reactions, and he said something that shifted my brain on horror, cuz i can't always handle horror and violence on screen.
he said, "when there's something scary i just think: this was made for me to enjoy. people worked hard on it exclusively for entertainment."
and THAT'S when i really started to fixate on nope!!!! like..... you're right this is for me to enjoy!!!!
so tying that back to the disconnect between gordy's violence being hidden behind set pieces, followed by jean jacket's violence being all too explicit, it works SO FUCKING WELL GRRRRRRR gordy is rooted in reality this has happened in real life to really people. but jean jacket??? terrible and horrifying as she is, she was CREATED, she was written, she only exists for ME TO ENJOY.
it's like the movie saying, hey. spectacle is a double edged sword, and we're all addicted to it. so look at THIS look at this shit we MADE for you. like let's make art the spectacle, not people. let's create let's collaborate let's not exploit real actual people let's make the spectacle



