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Archive for the ‘essays’ Category

“There’s something wrong with Esther”: Disability, deception, and Orphan

Posted in disabilities, essays, monsters!, movies, tagged , , , on July 25, 2009 | 25 Comments »

WARNING: Major spoilers for the movie Orphan, including the twist.

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I am Lord Voldemort

Posted in essays, monsters!, video games, tagged , on July 15, 2009 | 7 Comments »

“Nearly everybody expected spectacular things from Tom Riddle, prefect, Head Boy, winner of the Award for Special Services to the School. …The next thing the staff knew, Voldemort was working at Borgin and Burkes.” –Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince p.430-1

How do you get a job in a store that sells magical artifacts? Ask the [...]

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Can Child’s Play be completely scary?

Posted in essays, monsters!, movies, tagged , on June 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

“Oh, those terrifying symbols of normality, dolls, I thought.” –Donna Williams, Nobody Nowhere
Don Mancini, screenwriter of all the Child’s Play movies (and director of Seed of Chucky) wants to remake the first movie. From the scarce but tantalizing rumors, it sounds like a series reboot. “[U]nless we really screw it up, I think it [...]

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Monkey Shines: An Experiment in Fear (of disability)

Posted in disabilities, essays, monsters!, movies, tagged , , on April 29, 2009 | 6 Comments »

(Trigger warning: descriptions of horror movie violence)
(Spoiler warning: in-depth discussion of Monkey Shines, including the ending).

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Man vs. man: Kanji Tatsumi’s sexuality in Persona 4

Posted in essays, video games, tagged , on January 28, 2009 | 1 Comment »

In Sexuality and Homophobia in Persona 4, Samantha Xu examines the relationship between Persona 4’s “rough-and-tumble teen” Kanji Tatsumi and his flamboyant alter-ego:
Kanji is feared by the locals and maintains a confrontational machismo toward the other characters throughout the game. He is a loyal son and employee at his family’s textile shop, and it’s not [...]

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Garbage People

Posted in disabilities, essays, monsters!, movies, tagged , , , , , on September 2, 2008 | 1 Comment »

[Note: I originally wrote this for Blogging Against Disablism Day 2006]

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The Screen is the Retina of the Mind’s Eye: Videodrome Essay

Posted in essays, movies, tagged , , , , , , on March 25, 2008 | 1 Comment »

(Originally written August 11, 2006)

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Jack Hill’s Happy Accident: Spider Baby Essay

Posted in disabilities, essays, monsters!, movies, tagged , , , , on March 19, 2008 | 1 Comment »

[Image description: a black and white photo of three teenagers and an older man sitting in front of a house. From left is a girl with blond pigtails and a sundress with white stripes. On her right is a girl with long, dark hair wearing a headband and another sundress, with sleeves that come a [...]

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Outlander! or, Whose Neurodiversity is it, Anyway?

Posted in disabilities, essays, monsters!, movies, words that annoy me, tagged , , , , on March 19, 2008 | 1 Comment »

And He Who Walks Behind the Rows did say, “I will send Outlanders amongst you…and these Outlanders will be unbelievers and profaners of the holy.”
–Isaac (John Franklin), Children of the Corn
All right, go ahead and sacrifice me to your respective vegetable-god. I like Children of the Corn.

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