Creepy Creatures

by Courtney Hilden
Spoiler Alert!: Some of the endings of the stories are revealed in this review.

Earlier, we here at Recommended reviewed Terror Trips, a collection of horror stories from Goosebumps told in a graphic narrative style. Creepy Creatures is the same basic format: three horror stories from R.L. Stine. Because this is Goosebumps, the stories are meant to still be appropriate for younger readers. "The Werewolf of Fever Swamp" is about a family that moves into a new neighborhood and finds there may be werewolves living in the forest. "The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight" is about two siblings whose trip to their grandparents farm is ruined by animated scarecrows. And "The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena" is about a scientist father and his children bringing home Bigfoot.
The artwork is all three stories is distracting. Both "The Werewolf of Fever Swamp" and "The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight" have art that is relatively realistic, particularly the latter. The art for "The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena" is much more cartoony, but the eyes are really distracting, with uncolored pupils.
The two superior sections, in terms of storytelling, are "The Werewolf of Fever Swamp" and "The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight." In the werewolf story, in the end, the young man and narrator turns into a werewolf, which, considering these stories are meant to be for children (just about no one ever dies), is surprising. "The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight" is actually interesting because it depicts one of the grandparents' employers, Stanley, who is depicted as having some kind of special need.
It is this character who is the most problematic. Stanley is the bad guy in the story, who has created zombie-like scarecrows based on things he read in a magic book. People with disabilities are often depicted as stupid, pathetic, evil or combinations thereof. In this story, Stanley is depicted as all of them. He is evil enough to use his scarecrows to threaten the grandparents and the siblings, but too stupid and pathetic to effectively control or destroy the scarecrows. No real motivation is given for his actions; apparently his "inabilities" do that for him. No critique of the family that employs him or society that marginalizes someone like him is given (which would have served for a more reasonable and sympathetic motivation.) Instead, he is just bad. Instead, he is just like his zombie-scarecrows; dangerous and needing to be controlled by the employers (easily read here as capitalists) and the abled.
Creepy Creatures is not as good as Terror Trips, both in terms of art and storylines. Creepy Creatures also has some problematic depictions of those with special needs, which discerning parents might want to shield their children from or at least discuss with them.

Everything is Broken

by Courtney Hilden
Spoiler Alert!: Almost all of the surprises in this episode are revealed in this review.

In the latest episode of True Blood, "Everything is Broken," Sookie and Hadley met up in an aquarium to see Hadley's son, Eric gave a testimony to the Authority, white womanhood continued to be the chief concern of Jason, Tara continued to heal from her rape, and Sam cut loose after another series of struggles over parenthood.
First and foremost, our show's heroine: Sookie. It's interesting to note that even though Sookie would provide a safe sanctuary for Eric and Pam, he chooses someone else. Even though Eric has decided to get his revenge, he also is still loyal to Sookie.
Sookie will probably never be able to appreciate Eric's loyalty, because, as the episode showed, she is too busy being happy with Bill. Her and Bill shared one of the show's few calm moments with an intimate shower between the two. Then Bill and Sookie had a conversation about the secrets Bill has been hiding from Sookie. She rightly asserted that she is not a thing and not something that needs protection, especially now when she has been through so much. It was a nice change of pace from the usual powerless Sookie that fans are always complaining about.
As discussed in the review of the last episode, there is a lot of defending white womanhood. A lot of it apparently centers on Jason, who this episode was taking care of Crystal, his new potential girlfriend. Parts of it were admirable, since Jason told Crystal's boyfriend that Crystal was allowed to do what she wanted. But parts of it weren't, since it quickly turned into him controlling her.
Black womanhood, in the form of Tara, continues to be sidelined, though she too has gone through a terrible, traumatic event. (And unlike Sookie, recognizes how much danger she was in.) Sam wisely suggests that she consider a shrink. These scenes are troublesome because, again, it's a man protecting a woman, but nice in that they show that these characters do really care for one another. It was so wonderful to see Tara yell at Franklin for being a rapist. But again, as part of the whole "men saving women" meme on this show, Jason ended up saving Tara. For once, can a woman be the one to defend herself?
I will credit the show for at least trying to be progressive. It was also great to see women coming together to support each other. Hopefully, this group will help Tara deal with her situation and save herself from further emotional damage. Women coming together to help each other and fight rape culture? That's feminism. It doesn't make up for the rest of this show, but it's a start.
In terms of race, the show introduced a really interesting concept: snitching. Snitching has been an issue within minority races, particularly African Americans. But the connection between meth-doing, rapist shapeshifters and the African American community is a very dangerous one to make. The outside community doesn't understand why they are the way they are, but at the same time they beat Crystal. It's an unflattering portrait of people of color at best.
One of the many nice things about this episode was the lack of Bill. Sadly, one of the scenes we did get with Bill included another romp through the heaven-garden, which was even more boring than the first time when it was Sookie running around.
Eric and Pam's scene together afterward made up for it. Eric and Pam genuinely do care for one another and it was nice to see that. Eric is not just loyal, he's strong. And far more admirable than Bill.
Finally, after waiting a few episodes, the audience got to see this mysterious Authority, which, unsurprisingly, is represented in the form of Nan Flanigan, the spokeswoman for vampires across America. This Authority is just as unfrightening as it sounded it would be, though Eric took it seriously enough. (Seriously, though, web cams? Those things are scarier in dystopian novels.) Eric has a lot on his plate these days, and Alexander Skarsgaard does a great job of making himself look like a scared puppy. (He even swallows dramatically.) Watching him rat out Russell was a joy, especially since giving this kind of information is usually a thankless task. Watching Russell becoming unhinged at the end of the episode was also a pleasure. His speech almost came off as a piece of slam poetry. And unlike the Authority, he was slightly scary.
Sam is basically a parent now, and managing it better than Bill has done so far with Jessica. At least Sam tries to be a positive influence and guide his adopted kid to being a normal, successful citizens. It's too bad that parenting Tommy is such a thankless task. (Sam parenting Jessica would also be fun to watch, though she would probably realize what was for her own good.)
Gross out moment of the night was brought to you by Talbot, whose remains were disgustingly pawed by Russell at the beginning of the episode. It was creepier than what happened later in the episode, when Russel started carrying around a jar with Talbot's remains inside. It's so macabre and strangely Victorian. Quote of the night goes to Andy, who discussed how he has an ulcer so big coffee was coming out of his bellybutton. The cutest nickname of the night award goes to Lafayette, who was referred to as "Lala" by his Mom. Aww. And the fashion moment of the night was also brought to you by Lafayette (who has by far the best wardrobe on this show) wearing a rosary as a necklace. Haven't seen that look since the late nineties with the Spice Girls. Nice.
Also, as a final note, Holly seems like a wonderful and kind person, which means that she is probably really evil and about to destroy someone's life.

Is Salt a Feminist Movie?

A review of Salt.
by Courtney Hilden
Spoiler Alert!: Part of this plot, though not the final twist, is given away in this review.  

There was a lot of talk on blogs and forums on the Internet about Salt, a movie starring Angelina Jolie.  Before the movie came out, there was a lot of enthusiasm over how the movie was originally written with a male main character, but once Jolie became interested in the project, the gender was changed to reflect their star's.  Feminists celebrated this as a moment where gender didn't determine the casting of an actor.  After the movie came out, the movie was given mixed reviews, discussing it as a fun and well-made popcorn movie, but complaining it was not especially deep.  But it must have captured someone's attention, as it managed to make $70.8 million in ten days. 
But after the movie came out, there was not much of a discussion about if the film was feminist in and of itself.  And, given that other reviews have already dissected so much of the other aspects of the film, it seems important to talk about how this movie, being the only film I can think of where the gender of its main character was purposeless changed, about how gender operates in the movie
First and foremost, it was a relief to see Jolie not play up her sexiness or body.  She wore frumpy work clothes that looked unflattering and unfashionable.  She had a miserably bad haircut throughout the beginning of the movie, her blond locks looking like a bad dye job.  (While her character's actually dye job looked utterly normal on her, the kind of hair someone who only washes it every other day looks.)  Considering Jolie is the woman who, about ten years ago, played Lara Croft, where, because she apparently was not what the directors and producers wanted, had to wear fake breasts.  In a world where one of the most beloved film stars has an imperfect body, you know the standards are far too high.  It almost felt like Salt was purposeless not more than just a woman with a government job.  It was nice to have a heroine who was relatively ordinary.
But the plot's reliance on Salt's dedication to her husband is troublesome.  Early on in the film, Salt's husband, Mike, is taken by Orlov's group.  After he is killed by Orlov's men, it becomes Salt's apparent motivation, leading her to follow enough of Orlov's plan to dismantle it.  (I say apparent motivation here because it is possible that other things are motivating her, but her husband's murder is the only clear force propelling her.)  Salt's dedication is admirable, but it's troublesome that her only motivation throughout the movie is her love for her husband.  If this movie really had been about a man, it is hard to believe that it would follow this same plot.  A male character in those circumstances would have other things motivating him.
It is also important to note the lack of female character, beyond Salt.  All the other characters are male, and apparently, other than Salt, everyone important at the CIA is male.  Although women have historically struggled with jobs in the CIA, they do exist.  The complete lack of other female characters within the story just serves to remind the audience that even if the main character's gender was changed, that it was because one of the biggest stars in the world became attached to the project, not because it was a moment to make a statement about gender and characters in the movies.  And of all the things about this movie, from the ludicrous chase scenes and the McGuyver moments and the unbelievable idea that Russia has trained children to eventually bring down the U.S., that indifference to gender within the story is the most disappointing.