S2E24.5: The Power of The Dog

The way you all described the menace of the spurs reminds me of the menace of the guy from Night of the Hunter, another movie about a small town in the middle of nowhere where a menacing guy comes and ruins a woman’s life and there is some pedophilic undertones.

I think this movie gave me real insight into the building blocks of the cycle of adult-teenager abusive relationships that often gets associated with the gay community. I found it really easy to get in Phil's head, and feel how lonely, insecure and isolated he is, and how it would feel to find a teenage boy who reminds him of himself at that age. The instinct would be to assume he's likely to grow up just as isolated and confused as he, Phil, is. Or worse--he might not even know the things men do in the woods alone. He could end up even more lonely than Phil. I can understand why-- in a homophobic society-- the urge to combination mentor and seduce a young boy would feel... important. Life-saving, life-giving, like a ritualistic welcoming into a secret society. All muddled up, of course, with the desire to soothe his own loneliness and trauma. I'm not saying it's a positive thing, but that I can very much see how the adult could interpret the relationship as protective and nurturing.

Three things as someone who strictly knows THE PLOT but not actually seen the movie: one I think it does have the problem of having multiple interpretations because it COULD be that Peter did what he had to because he had to protect his mother, or he is a psychopath that was looking to kill Phil the whole time and just used defense of his mom as an excuse. It could be he is a morale person inspire of the horrible murder, it could be he had to stoop to Phil's level to stop him. It could be both but I'd only want one to be my doctor. Two they changed the wikipedia page because I had to read they synopsis before I decided to watch it and good call past me. I cried reading the wikipedia page but we'll get to that. So I was halfway through listening to the episode and also insanely high when I decided ok I need to know ahead of time or I will die of anxiety. And in that state I really would have appreciated the clarity at the end implying Peter did it on purpose because that was and currently is not, clearly mentioned. It doesn't set up the anthrax, or comforting the rabbit before killing it, but it does mention the rubber gloves. So three, HOW DID THEY NOT NOTICE THE HIV/AIDS SYMBOLIZISM? Phil dies after succoming to an illnesses he recieved in a hot steamy night of passion SPECIFICALLY BECAUSE HE WASN'T WEARING RUBBER. I know the book was written in the sixties, but the movie was made after and you can't have gay people dying by not using appropriate PPE during erotic activities anymore. It's like when JK Rowling was like "ah I'm going to make my werewolves a metaphor for HIV and gay code my teacher character who gets fired for being DIFFERENT" only to turn around next book and say "ok now we have werewolf who enjoys infecting children with his gay metaphor disease". I know it isn't 1-to-1 like Anthrax doesn't have a cure which was slow to release to the public, but I can't not think about it maybe it's the acting but you made it gay, don't make the method of death a gay seduction where someone secretly passes them a deadly pathogen. Do note I'm still high and sleep deprived when typing this but I feel the analysis might still be relevant. Take everything I say with a fist full of salt.

Obviously this pod is never going to do a single episode of King of the Hill, but this episode really reminded me of the King of the Hill episode "An officer and a gentle boy" where Hank worries that his son is too soft so he sends him to military school at the behest of Cotton Hill, his own father. Then Cotton takes over the military school and makes it extremely harsh and tries to break Bobby with a variety of harsh shit, and Bobby just tanks it all by being so mellow and affable. Finally, Cotton locks Bobby in an outdoor solitary confinement cell that he had been put in as a kid and says bad broken him after three days. Hank discovers that his fash father took over the military school and rushes to intervene, where they discover that Bobby has just been napping in the cell and pleasantly greets his dad as they let him out. Hank tells Cotton that Bobby's softness is stronger than Cotton's hardness, and the episode ends with a shot of tally marks scratched into the wall of the cell that says "Cotton Hill-3 days" and below it, there's a freshly scratched "Bobby Hill-4 days" and I'm tearing up just remembering that. Also the "strength thru malleability" reminds me of Accented Cinema talking about the gay tailor's kung fu style in "Kung Fu Hustler". He uses a style that translates as "wire fist" which emphasizes power thru malleability, that a rod can be bent but a wire can't be damaged as easily. TL;Dr: softness is strength

Now could the noise that is being made by Mr Cumberbatch's spurs be characterized as a jingle, possibly followed by a jangle?

was the power of the dog to clock you

I had the HARDEST time making it thru this film when I watched it not long after its release for reasons summed up far more brilliantly and eloquently here by Alice than I could ever have managed. It had been sold to me as a film about cowboys with gay characters and narratives in it - so I approached it with sort of an open heart and, while watching it, I kept finding myself feeling - as Alice described so well - not trusting it. It felt like it was luring me in with promise of something that was gonna end up being toxic to have consumed and, for me, that was my ultimate experience. It left me with a bad and homophobic taste in my brain and I have avoided talking about it or consuming any content about it since. My read on the cultural consensus around the film from people who love cinema and people who are queer or queer allies was "this film is complex but handles its subject matter well and it is a must see film as a result." While my experience was, instead the movie snared me and then gave me anthrax targeted at my queerness. I observe that you all had very different experiences, but your conversation really helped to sort of drain the Power of the Dog anthrax out of my brain so that my post cinematic trauma from watching it has notably decreased. Thank you for that - y'all remain superb.

4:48 thats what sheep are for... it gets cold up there in the Mckenzie Country at night lol

Though not feasible for an episode bc it's a series, Outer Range starring John Brolin is really incredible. A lot of high weirdness, time-fuckery, and of course deep examinations of masculinity, colonial violence and western expansion. Four words - THERE IS A VOID.

a slight correction: alice mentions that the piano is jane campions first film—this is not the case! her first film is 1989s sweetie, a film that should be covered on the podcast. its very "the straights be secretly crazy" but in the most australian/new zealand way possible. it's about a normie couple whose life is ruined when the sister of the wife (the titular sweetie) invades their life. its sarcastic and kind of surreal, to the point of becoming hermetic. please consider covering it on the pod.

http://challengingmalesupremacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Misogyny-gangsta-rap-and-The-Piano-bell-hooks.pdf Here's the Bell Hooks article on The Piano Alice mentioned.

Now reevaluating the Smolensk Air Disaster in light of the possible lack of gay pilots

When can we expect a shirt that says "Big Slut for Landscape Shots"?

So glad you didn't bleep out when people say "faggot" - it's our word and we can use it if we want to!!

I can' believe nobody noticed it. Femmeboy Fatale!

Is there another way to listen to the podcasts than via the Patreon post? I listen to episodes across several commutes and everytime I need to re-find where I left off using the terrible little unprecise search bar where I tap and it randomly jumps 5-10 minutes in a direction when I just want one or two

Oh boy another Abi pick, time for what I assume is a kids' movie about the power of friendship.

One of my colleagues, while quite lovely had a rather bad BO problem, so now THIS IS ALL I CAN THINK ABOUT WHEN I TALK TO HIM NOW. FUCK YOU! XD

The whole conversation about the rope made me think of Hitchcock's Rope and how old the idea of the devious murdering homosexual is. It feels weird because this story of abused brothers in codependency and queerness could have been explored much better but no Trauma isn't real and doesn't leave scars and the evil queerness is dead in the happy end :/ bummer. Still an incredibly enjoyable episode both with the insights and the femboy jokes. Good Luck Abi hope you had a fun night anyway xD

Inside baseball here- I’ve been assisting the editor for this on another film and he is super laser focused on performance, so I’m glad that all comes through. Of course, I didn’t text him any of your praise, just the bit about cows and boys.

The overt incest subtext I think ends up adding to the homophobic aftertaste that the film leaves. Perhaps if George hadn't dropped off the face of the film and it had explored the impact of his own abuse more, or suggested that the brothers had been abused together, then Phil's obsessive and jealous behaviour wouldn't so strongly carry the implication of the-gays-are-perverse-and-so-is-everything-they-do.

Activating Twink Fatale mode

I'm sorry but I need gold member. I need closure. if we're doing westerns try Last Man Standing. It's a bit of a genre blend

Sam Elliot played a club bouncer in "Roadhouse".. but to be fair, it WAS set in a "Cowboy Bar"

Sam Elliott, real cowboy from *checks notes* Sacramento.

As noted by Willie Nelson, "Cowboys are frequently, secretly, fond of each other".

Devon, if you’re looking for a “western”, you can watch ‘Bunraku’. No guns only punching. Staring Ron Pearlman, woody harlson, josh harrnet, Demi Moore, and Motherfucking GACKT! What does it have to say about masculinity? Yes. The most Dudes rock movie can be.

I truly feel for you Abby.

rly appreciated your perspectives on this film (extremely worth finally subscribing, thank u abi for that intro) and just want to say how incredibly well-written the book is. problematic fav, highly recommend.

If Abigail hasn't seen this, as a fan of who Kirsten Dunst has become as an actor, I hope you do yourself a kindness and find a way to watch "On Becoming a God in Central Florida." It only lasted one season because of Covid, but in that 1 season, wow!

It wasn’t until you mentioned the spurs that I realised “hey wait, I’ve watched this film!” 😅

I really, really hope y’all review the John Sayles film Lone Star. Talk about themes…hoo boy.

I know y’all don’t review episodic shows for the podcast but I am begging everyone here who likes Westerns to watch The English. It’s so incredibly good.

Really have to thank Abi for the experience I just had wherein I started the podcast and got into the car, and with all my windows down in a crowded car park, had my phone connect to the stereo at full volume so the learner driver next to me would snap and turn and laugh at me as "I CHARGED ALL THE VIBRATORS" rattled my windows