Glad you liked it! Saw Margaret for the first time last fall and couldn’t get it out of my head. Was fortunate enough to see a screening of the extended cut in theaters last month. Kenneth and J Smith Cameron were there. Awesome time.
*This was filmed in my home city, Vancouver Canada. This is 1 of 4 Cult Punk Rock themed movies shot here....* 1. Out Of The Blue (1980) 2. Ladies & Gentlemen The Fabulous Stains (1982) 3. Terminal City Ricochet (1990) 4. Hard Core Logo (1995) *and concert films like....* 1. David Bowie - Serious Moonlight (1984) 2. Loverboy - Live In Vancouver Canada 1983 (1984) 3. Metallica - Through The Never (2013) 4. D.O.A. - To Hell & Back (2013)
Love the chill vibe of your “what I watched” videos. You had so many great films, so I’ll just add that ‘Starman’ is a gorgeous film, and Allen should have been a star. So, are you gonna keep teasing us with that WH box, or are we going to talk about ‘Heart of Glass’?
Nostalgia is that one with the beautiful shot of the house on fire at the beginning? I can barely finish that one, the weirdest and inaccessible Tarkovsky that I ever seen
this is so weird. About two months ago I saw an episode (never heard of the show before). I looked it up and saw a youtube short showing that the main actor spent a long time in addiction recovery. I needed to know more about this show now and gained a weird hyperfixation on it. The moral of the entire Mcgee and Me series is to discourage kids from having big dreams and trying too hard to escape the status quo. It's ingenius how they do it Any time Nick does something even a little rebellious or selfish or just feels an extreme emotion, it's painted in the nastiest of light and the punishment is tragicomical. He can't just be a little prideful, he has to be a snivveling little shit. The suffering before and after is exaggerated. It's like, "This is how YOU look when you sin." and when he gets punished we can shake our heads in "That's what you get for sinning." I kept thinking, "What kid would want to watch a show where the leads do nothing but lose? I would have hated that. it's depressing." it's because we aren't enjoying a narrative, we're watching a mini passion play. See the sinner express a feeling that I feel from time to time. The sinner does something I might have imagined doing but resisted. I can allow my feelings to be expressed, and a little meaner than I would in reality but that's to show to me that it's a bad thing to do this. See the sinner carry my imagined sin to the slaughtered for sacrifice so I didn't have to do it. And anyway, even if you DO sin, it's not fun anyway. It'll be disappointing. So why try? Btw the baseball episode is the best one. And yes that house is insane.
Just discovered your channel (through the "Brave Little Toaster" vid) and I have to say, it happened at The Perfect Time. I'm going to watch this video again, but first, some thoughts that went through my brain: Strophics, prosedy, alliteration, insight, Harry Dean Stanton, my thinking thing, so my brain isn't alone... At first I thought "How did you get inside my head?" but by the end I was thinking " Don't go" Thank you
Childhood trauma? I saw this at a friend's place when we were approaching our 30's and it traumatized us like nothing else! We'd both worked selling Kirby vacuums, so we delighted in the depiction of that character. "It's a G2!" we crowed (this was about the time the G3 was being introduced). We spent the first part of the movie quoting selling points: "A complete home-care system." and "Machined from airplane-grade aluminum." and such. Then the AC unit self-destructed. We spent the rest of the movie gasping, crying, we clutched each other in fear. We became closer friends after watching it together. Shared trauma, I suppose. Solidarity. To this day I find the sheer *menace* of the landfill's crushing machine both an example of masterful nonverbal characterization, and a terrifying intrusive image
It's more realistic when you aren't given reasons why people behave as they do. In life, you will encounter many people and never have a clue why they behave in certain ways.
This wasn't a childhood movie for me -- I only saw it starting in my teenage years, but I connected to it immediately. The fear of being unable to perform your function and the tragedy of thwarted function hit something deep. I actually interpreted the objects' differing perspectives as being linked to their function -- for example, in the scene where the blanket doesn't have anyone to cuddle with, the tragedy doesn't come merely from its loneliness, but from the fact that it is made to cuddle and be cuddled, and this function is being thwarted. You can see how it tries to cuddle with itself, but fails, because of all the objects it most of all requires relationship to be what it was made to be. I do think the fact that their fierce, hopeful alliance to their function is validated by the movie's end suggests that rather than being nihilistic, the movie walks through nihilism and emerges on the other side. Kind of similar to The Man Who Was Thursday in some ways, or some of the more hopeful 40k fan content. "Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all... As long as matters are really hopeful, hope is mere flattery or platitude; it is only when everything is hopeless that hope begins to be a strength." - G. K. Chesterton But there is some inherent tragedy, since the appliances' master is also mortal and flawed. This is something I've wrestled with in my object stories -- humans make very poor gods.
@@anonymouswitness3835 what a wonderful quote! I've felt the premise is similar to what you said; that the act of "being hopeful" can be, in itself, one's purpose. And that's what I took as the movie's message (if it in fact needs one). But the Chesterton quote says it far more articulately than I ever could. Thank you for that
your description of the ending is inaccurate. a lot of fans of this movie joke around that the "master" may be too attached to his appliances to the point he follows then into a certain doom. even if he didn't know that these where his appliances he tried to take them because they looked like his old appliances. if anything it negates your point on the film's nihilism and turn into optimism. the appliances are saved because of the master personal beliefs in preserving them' so despite the many reasons to the contrary they should have faith in the mater and toaster was right all along. I'm not saying that is reasonable what I'm saying is you should omit details that don't align with your point.
While I agree that the master holds onto the vacuum cleaner and ends up on the conveyer belt of doom, to me at least, it doesn’t read as explicitly love for these specific objects so much as a demonstration of his own nostalgic impulses generally. The appliances and the master all have nostalgic goggles on regarding a certain feeling they have about the past. While the master seems put off by modern technology, he also hasn’t gone back to his childhood home in years despite owning a car and making the trip in less than a day. In the source novel, none of the stakes of the master almost dying are present, and I should have been more explicit on that point in discussing the ending of the film. Regardless, I really appreciate this comment and your input.
Nostalgia can be a powerful force. I've noticed it becoming more so as I get older. Nostalgia, optimism, nihilism. After seeing the movie years ago, watching this video to the end, and now reading the excellent comments section, I wonder: Are the three at odds, or are they allies?
1. The King of Comedy 2. Taxi Driver 3. Goodfellas 4. Bringing out the Dead 5. Raging Bull 6. Casino 7. After Hours 8. Cape Fear 9. The Aviator 10. Killers of the Flower Moon Close call: The Irishman, Wolf of Wall Street and Mean Streets
I am a simple woman. I see a video recontextualizing a childhood classic, I click. I had no idea the film was based on a book, but I also barely knew how to read back when I had the VCR lol
Made it through, after a few existential pauses. Genuinely fascinating analysis that recontextualized a film I always thought I had made up growing up. I'd love to hear your thoughts on complex themes and philosophies found in modern children's media or the lackthereof.
It's weird how so many kids, including myself, loved this movie even though it was quite uncomfortable to watch. This analysis just upped how dark it is. And AI! I feel like people don't understand how dark that film is. Like this little guy goes through the most incredible adventure, survives all odds, but can't see any of that. He can only see that he lacks his only desire. Man, now I need to go watch an absurdist film to cleanse my palate lol
To me the final act of AI is the most haunting part of the film. He finally gets his heart’s desire, but it’s only for one day, and it’s just his own version of a David robot.
I would love new BLT stories that center on planned obsolescence, screens replacing knobs and levers and dials, and the trend of adding precarious computers to appliances that have gotten along just fine without them
That would be amazing, and could easily show how fallible they are if the wifi goes out or how many of the features are based on novelty rather than convenience or utility. As well as the lack of repair ability for both new and old; I can't personally or easily fix an old VCR or a new iPad, but the former lasted two decades and the latter less than 5 years.
I finished the video! I had such vague memories of this film, your video was so interesting! I love when you analyze media through the lens of philosophy
Very good video, keep going like this and you'll grow in no time. A thought that occurred to me is how this fits the postmodern notion of desiring machines, as in Deleuze where humans too are included in this category. I guess when you look at it like that you can say it's a story of addiction, or even the addiction to addiction (will to will). For a machine, to do its job is heaven, would the state of the machines be better if they didn't seek their master? With Nietzsche, too, the will to life is a life birthing instinct, whatever maximizes it is the best even if it means self delusion.
Oh I love that insight. The idea that their addiction is to will itself is so fascinating. The nightmare sequence in the film is identical to the way it’s depicted in the novel, and it’s interesting that the greatest fear of the toaster is essentially boiled down to performance anxiety.
Watched it all the way through. Love your videos. I work in the industry and want to make things better. Watching your videos makes me want to make great films that will last for generations.
Yes! Did finish it! Lovely company while preparing ingredients for a stew. Caught the princess bride line, definitely loved the deep dive on a fondly remembered film
Always loved watching The Brave Little Toaster. I need to rewatch it now following your video. Great lesson on nihilism. Your analogies were really helpful in understanding the concepts and related themes. Great video!
I’ve never seen this film, but will definitely check it out after seeing this. My childhood trauma film was ‘The Last Unicorn’. I don’t know if it meets the definition of nihilism, but certainly left me feeling deeply sad every time I saw it. Great video, as always.
@@creativedestructionvideo yes, you definitely need to check out "The Last Unicorn"! I saw it years ago, remember it fondly, see in retrospect certain aspects that escaped me at the time, would love to watch again, and yet dread experiencing again in it's fullness. It's just that good
I remeber watching this around Tumblr days like 2016, it was around the Harmonie Corine, Chloe Seveny, Gummo art days for me. But I can remember the title song and story was so sad and rang in my head for months.. I then just remembered how it ended 😣
I will like if you mantain on the screen the name/year/director/poster for each review. Also timestamps/chapters will be good to improve the watching experience
I loved The Swimmer, it is a mix of a linear and structured story with an abstract and dreamy touches, it was the oldest film that after the credits I said oh, I didn't know that those type of movies were made at that time. If you like it please watch Antonioni's The Passenger