Turn of the Screw / The Innocents (1961)

 

                             


Watched the movie The Innocents last night after I got bored reading Ouija Board testimonials at sometime around midnight. The thing is, it is an adaptation of Henry James' Turn of the Screw and when  I read the plot summary in Wikipedia, the movie plot was close to book itself. I guess a visual  representation of the movie would greatly help someone to intrepret this seriously open-ended book.

This is my interpretation: I think each of the characters had an individual malady that somehow had been  mistakenly bunched together as one connecting event.

If we look at each of the characters' 'malady', we would see why the governess intertwined the supposed  haunting to the children's obvious unstable state of mind.

1. The Governess (Ms.Giddens in the movie, unnamed in the book apparently)

Her assignment as the governess to the Bly House children was her first. Though dedicated and  passionate, she is inexperienced and nervous. Being away from home and nervous on what kind of  children she would deal with, Ms. Giddens had already shown signs of impending (great) stress. First, Mrs.Grose's casual remark about the devil got Ms.Gidden's shaken up a little. Strange, I thought. Later it is  revealed that she grew up in a warm, loving house of large religious family. So remarks about the devil got her reeling a bit. She had only known love and comfort, and does not comprehend, nor acknowledge serious symptoms in children that needed intervention. It is like she unconsciously refuse to admit that her wards are pair of children with serious mental illness.

2. Miles

He came across as a charming and polite boy. But the way he speaks tells me something was off about him. At first I simply thought since he is with adult more than children his age, he adopted an adult's speech. But then his behaviour consequently rang all sorts of alarm bells. The first one was the sexually charged poem he recited during his role play with his sister. Only an educated person with a strong  inclination towards literature can decipher a poem. Ms.Giddens was distressed, as she was rightfully so. Children that age shouldn't have come across poems like that and show signs of understanding the meaning behind that poem! The second one where he uses phrases like 'My Dear'. One would think he is just mimicking the high-society gentlemen he might have seen chatting with ladies but the more he shows abnormal reactions to things, the more I became suspicious. When Miles kissed the governess goodnight, right on the mouth like a freaking adult, it confirmed my suspicions that Miles was sexually abused. It could be Quint, the former handyman who used to live in the house, or someone from his school. His sexual abuse, his loneliness of having dead parents with no one to turn to but a sister and an old housekeeper who doesn't really raise them added, and turned him into one messed up little boy.

3. Flora

This girl creeped me out since the beginning. She says things that comes across as simply a child with high imagination, but if you really took her words into perspective - you would see that she was extremely lonely and extremely depressed (hints of imaginary friends imminent). There are times when she would simply tune out her surroundings and not realize if anyone is watching her. She has a tendency to stare into distance, which I suspect is a compulsive day dreaming disorder, a means of escapism from her boredom, sadness and loneliness. When Flora was staring ahead in a daydream, coincidentally straight ahead where the spirit of Ms. Jessel was standing, Ms. Giddens mistook this as Flora being "lured in" by  Ms. Jessel's spirit. Which is why Flora went into a hysteria when she was broken from her daydreaming reverie and a frantic Ms. Giddens pointing towards nowhere saying her dead governess is looking at her across the lake.

4. Quint and Ms. Jessel.

These two had a complicated relationship, but well-known that they were fucking each other, often times  at inappropriate times. I wanted to write them separately but figured clumping them together seems best  fit. Mrs. Grose disclosed that Quint was not a good person, hinting that he had a notorious reputation and that someone as educated as Ms. Jessel had no business dallying with the likes of him. He is also revealed to be quite good-looking, which means he had used his looks to get his way. Mrs. Grose had revealed that Quint once hit Ms. Jessel across the face and the dead governess looked like she was turned on by that violence. Hinting strongly that these two odd couples engaged in S &M sex. When Ms. Giddens walked around the house inspecting its doors and and corners, she head whispers and clear moans and groans of  pleasure such as "knock before you enter!", "the children!", "love me! love me!", "you're hurting me!". It is  strongly implied that the children had walked-in on Ms. Jessel and Quint going at it, but Quint being a depraved sort of man, did not stop and continued having sex. S & M involves some humiliation-play,  perhaps Quint 'humiliated' Ms. Jessel who was clearly naked and exposed by continuing to have sex with her while saying words like "damned hussy", "old hag" etc. We could imagine many vulgar words were
spoken during this sex act and Miles eventually picked it up. Children repeat what adult's do and say.  Miles repeated these words to his friends in school causing his expulsion. In Ms. Gidden's dream sequence, there was a very brief scene of Quint leading Miles to a small room [door?], presumably to molest him. Miles did look up to Quint as a strong male parental figure, Quint being a deprived human being, took advantage of him.

At this point you might wonder, how does all these fit in the seemingly supernatural part of the story? My guess is Turn of the Screw/The Innocents was meant to be a psychological thriller with both elements molded into one, beautifully by the author. Most people are trying to clump it in either the horror genre or the psychological genre.

Quint and Ms. Jessel are roaming around the house as ghostly apparitions because it is said people who die without their wishes unfulfilled tend to roam around as spirits. Quint who died in a freak accident obviously loved his life and Ms. Jessel who mourned the sudden death of her lover, her sexual needs unfulfilled (supplies of men who consent in S&M are hard to come by in the late 1800's), eventually had rot away with despair and consequent suicide.

Coupled with Ms. Giddens' determination to protect these sad lonely children from further harm, she came to a conclusion on what best made sense to her. A pair of couple who got separated too soon from each other are trying to reconcile/rekindle their relationship by possessing the living children. This may be the truth, or maybe the ghostly couple are merely stuck in a dimension that doesn't belong to them. Ms. Giddens is also religious, which means she is inclined to believe in the supernatural and mystic, referring to the ghostly pair as 'abominations'.

The equation:

Ms. Giddens religious background + her determination to look after sad children + the children's own  manifestations of their mental illness + wrong attribution of the governess of the children's mental illness  as ghostly possession taking place.

It is all a big misunderstanding because Ms. Giddens used the wrong approach to tackle the obvious issue  at hand - the children's unstable psychology.
This is what I mean when I said  - each of the characters had an individual malady that somehow had been mistakenly bunched together as one connecting event.

BONUS: Symbolism in the movie.

1. Butterfly on Ms. Gidden's back.
Something that is free and beautiful. Ms. Giddens can be assumed to have had a happy childhood.

2. Butterfly getting caught in spider web.
The happy and free butterfly has now landed herself on some real trouble, without her knowing.

3. Cockroach from Cherub's mouth.
Corruption. Ms. Giddens is going to face a lot of negativity/obstacles in her life, something her happy childhood had not prepared her well for.

4. Falling white rose petals.
Ms. Giddens is supposed to be 'pure' in mind. Her imminent challenges in the house will make her lose her pure mind.

5. Pendulum tapping on window.
The pendulum can be seen as a phallic object, the window as a yonic object, symbolizing the intense  sexual acts of Quint and Ms. Jessel. Moans of pleasure was also heard during this scene.

6. The dove with the broken neck
Miles was hiding a dead dove with a broken neck under his pillow. Doves had always been a symbol of  purity/virginity. A broken neck signify that this purity had been sullied, a somewhat dead giveaway that  Miles 'purity' had been compromised. The act of hiding the dead dove may signal he is keeping it secret and hidden (shame and guilt), we could imagine Quint telling the boy to not speak of their adventures together. This uncomfortable scene ended in Miles kissing the governess goodnight on the mouth, something Quint might have done to Miles, or seen Ms. Jessel and her lover do it.

7. The Bly House itself.
Ms. Giddens repeatedly says how the house is so beautiful and large. I see a isolated, desolate, bleak house with too dark an aura. Despite having lots of windows, it is still dark and gloomy inside. Many closed doors in the house symbolize a lot of painful negative memories embedded in the walls of the house. Freshly cut flowers become limp immediately, suggesting the strong maladies in the house is making the living things inside it sick. Beautiful things do not thrive there. The house, just looking at it, gives me a claustrophobic, trapped feeling. It's gothic Victorian design makes you depressed just looking at it. Strange statues and figurines of odd humans and creatures makes the house completely unsuitable for living. Seriously, why do they have random statues of men in the garden, and if Ms. Jessel really killed herself, why is she buried in a churchyard?

So yah, that's it.

Mother's Day Crochet Projects.

Mother's Day is around the corner. Although by logic you should express love to your mothers every day and just not one day in particular. Although mainstream store-bought gifts seem to be preferred by the mass, I personally think gifts should have a personal touch to them. Hence, using my recent hobby, crochet, I made about 6 doilies for the Mothership.

Never mind that I spent my one hour break during my work hunting for yarns in Daiso and spent 2 days crocheting 3-4 doilies in a day so she could have a surprise on Monday when she came back from Penang (prayers coz her mother died), only to have lukewarm response upon giving her the gifts because I know she's bummed they weren't in the colours she wanted. Well gee apologies then I can only made do with the cheap but excellent quality yarns Daiso has got to offer for me.

Anyway, despite the initial disappointment from her response, I actually enjoyed making them doilies. I had always loved doilies, whether I used them or not is another question but I just like them a lot, mmkay?

So without further ado, here are my renditions. Link to patterns will be posted.

a) The supply.

I seriously fell in love with these yarns. My favourite is the grey one and the one called Spicy Linen. I have eyes on their Kira-Kira yarn line too.

b) Doily Numero Uno: Granny Circle.

As opposed to its more popular counterpart - the Granny Square, the Granny Circle makes an equally solid and sturdy piece, with the most classic design in the world of crochet.

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This tri-colour one was challenging to do, but the result is seriously satisfying.

This blue and chocolate combination is my 2nd favourite piece. Love the electric shout of the blue yarn and the more sombre colour of the chocolate one.

b) Mini Flower Doily

Although it is supposed to be made with fine yarn, I had used the regular worsted-weight yarn and this doily ended up being triple its intended size. Eh heh.

This was an incredibly difficult piece to do. I am never doing it again.

c) Small Flower Doily

This was the first to be made. And it remained my most favourite because I am simply crazy about the way the yarn just worked itself and its weight/feel in my hands. I am thinking to buy more of Daiso's Spicy Linen line and their Kira-Kira yarn line.

I decided to omit the V-shell seams and opted for a more traditional round shape.

c) GirlyBunches Doily and Maybelle Flower Coaster.

My favourite yarn! 

GirlyBunches Doily pattern. I made one in red - 

this one. I made this on a whim for my aunt on Mother's Day. The Mothership liked it and asked 6 doilies. I suspect she didn't like it that I made hers in grey.

I had A LOT of grey yarns left. So I made a flower coaster. =)

Maybelle Flower Coaster.

I liked this one too. Would randomly twirl and touch this between my fingers and hands. =) 

So this had been enlightening and absolutely enjoyable to make. I still have lots of yarns left from this project save the Spicy Linen one. I am not sure what to make of them. 

Any ideas? Probably more doilies I would only keep for *sangiam. 

*A Tamil word to mean doing something for the sake of it. 

First Crochet Project: Estelle Button Cowl by Fiber Flux

So, some people may know that I have recently taken up crochet, teaching myself the techniques and shit.

I had long since wanted to crochet something as a gift. What better chance for my childhood friend whom I am meeting after 9 years being apart?

Scouring the entire Youtube on a crochet pattern that a novice like me could do, I stumbled upon The Estelle Button Cowl by Fiber Flux. You can watch the tutorial video here.

Don't even get me started on yarn-hunting. I went high and low to get a yarn that'll be of a yellow-green shade to compliment my childhood friend's line of work - a United States soldier. I was hoping it'll give off a 'camouflage' effect.

It costed quite a bit - the yarn, but I don't mind. I haven't seen the idiot for a long time I am hoping the scarf would be well-maintained.

So..here it is!

Made a swatch to test my gauge and technique for the pattern.

Ball of yarn in all of it's unused virginal glory.

Me grabbing some balls because I am related to Azog the Defiler.

This particular yarn is a wool-acrylic combination.It eyelashes easily and it's ply's also comes apart easily. I wouldn't use this yarn again. A little rough feel on the skin but strong and durable nonetheless. 

Getting started.

Close up.

The colour-run is pretty.

Close up of the pattern.

First ball of yarn being used.

At this point, I have started a second ball of yarn.

One ball of yarn used up 27-28 inches.

And measures 7 inches across.

Site where yarn change had taken place. The straggler pieces had been weaved in.

2nd ball of yarn using up.

Finished product.

Close up.

More close up because I am a show-off.

This had been a fulfilling project. Very happy with how it turned out despite being a 6 month-old novice in crocheting. 

The Mother was jelly and made orders. Figures.

The Downfall of Bronies and Otakus.

I am expecting to get a lot flame and hate over my convictions over this piece so I am here to stay that I am firm in my standpoint and I have no plans of budging away from it.

So here goes nothing.

*You should have an idea of what Bronies and Otakus are to read this piece.

Let us start by Bronies since I have always been a fan since the first generation by Hasbro.

Urban Dictionary defines Brony as such: A name typically given to the male viewers/fans (whether they are straight, gay, bisexual, etc.) of the My Little Pony show or franchise. They typically do not give in to the hype that males aren't allowed to enjoy things that may be intended for females.

The female fanbase is called a Pegasis, though not popularly used.

Recently, the My Little Pony fanbase had been under ire by the media because the fans had taken to sexualizing cartoon animals. Just google MLP r34 and have a look at the disgusting monstrosity yourself.

My Little Pony, since it's conception, had always been intended for preteen girls. It wasn't until Gen 4.0 My Little Pony - the ponies that we know today - that catapulted into overnight sensation. Among the male fanbase. 

This was indeed unexpected and a pleasant surprise, as MLP Gen 4 is a sign that gender roles and norms are breaking, that boys are no longer afraid to be part of a seemingly exclusive female fanbase.

What My Little Pony is that it is a feminist cartoon for girls - it is empowering, encouraging, intelligent, filled with excellent life lessons, good morals and overall goodness.

It teaches girls to be themselves, it teaches girls to stand up for adversities, it teaches girls that there is no competition between them, that they're not beneath other people - subtly hinted 'not beneath their male counterparts'.

It is a fucking good show for girls, each of the main characters in the show has her flaws, and she overcomes them, learns from them with the healthy support of her peers and environments.

But something happened along the way - something absolutely fucky.

Some irresponsible people started to draw these ponies in explicit sexualized forms, performing acts that only adults can comprehend.

Granted, the cartoon has a strong male fanbase - but did they not forget that this cartoon was made for little girls and will remain so? A quick google image search of MLP is sure to have a smattering of R34 ponies in full view of children who are barely out of puberty.

The very mention of being a fan of My Little Pony had resulted a bastardized perception of the fanbase, thanks to a handful of assholes who don't know the limit between personal choices and borderline bestiality.

I find myself hesitating to admit that I am a Brony. The last thing I want is to people picture me as a deprived human being scribbling ponies in nefarious elements. I want to be known as a fan who appreciates the show for all its goodness glory.

It is a shame that something so phenomenal has had its reputation tarnished because the actions of the minority of the fanbase had been brought into attention in wrong magnitudes.

Now on to Otakus.

The very mention of Otaku, automatically links the term to the wonderful world of anime.

I am NOT a middle aged man living in his mother's basement, spending my day surfing hentai of the most depraved nature and wanking off to 9-year-old virtual girlfriends with double D's.

Do not mistake an Otaku for a NEET, these two are not the same. It just happens to that these NEET's, are oftentimes an Otaku.

There is a difference with being synonymous and being a sub-group.
It is as bad as saying all Christians are bible-thumping homophobes.

Granted - the anime genres themselves, the artwork and intended population of the anime leans heavily towards the male population. With what having preteen girls in the bodies of young women, anime girls in barely there clothes, skirts a little too short for reason. Don't even get me started on stereotypical anime girls with screeching voice and peppy attitude. I have no idea why that is considered attractive, seriously.

But then, have a look at these diagram.

Can you see? Can you see where exactly is the problem??

As long as there is a demand, there will be supply - this is the basic principle of a Capitalist society.

Anime had never been about providing fap material to its audience. It has always been a genuine expression of art.

Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle and other Studio Ghibli productions are also animes, will you group them with the mainstream genres that you are currently in perception of?

Can't stomach the thought, can't you?

Why give exclusivity to one but hard on the other? 

Anime is an intelligent industry. It is ever evolving, ever surprising, always wonderful.

It is a source of comfort to many. Admittedly, animes leans towards being dramatic and exaggerating but fiction is fiction and imagination fuel is imagination fuel. You do not have the right to disrespect someone's source of comfort, exclusion being with those deprived ones we discussed earlier.

I am especially affected by this negative notion of being an Otaku - anime literally saved me from suicide and depression. The stories in animes taught me important life lessons. 

Angelique taught me to do whatever I can to keep myself happy as my happiness should come above everything else. Rurouni Kenshin taught me self-redemption and the importance of forgiving myself for things that I can't control. Psycho-Pass recently taught me that I must always question my government and demand to be freed from a large-scale tyranny because a society is run by the people, not the country. Shingeki no Kyojin  and Dragonball taught me that every life is important and precious, and if we have power to change something for the good, even if it means sacrificing yourself - you must do it. Bartender taught me that people are always burdened with problems, no one has it easy, no one lives through their life traipsing on daisies. Each one of us has our problems and with good social support, we can help others and ourselves find light in darkness. Great Detectives Poirot and Marple (yes, the very same Poirot and Marple by Agatha Christie) taught me that my decisions in life led me exactly where I should be, and that I am exactly where I should be. 

If you still regard Otaku's as some dungeon-dwelling perverts, well too bad and shame on you. We are more than that. We are lovers of art and everything that is fine. We do have a good and firm grip on reality, thank you very much. Anime provides a refreshing and inspirational getaway from life's troubles, temporarily and effectively.

I may not have convinced to alter your initial perceptions of Otakus and Bronies, but here's hoping you'd look at things from both sides of the coin from now on.

Peace out.

MH370 - What the Fuck Happened?

And what the fuck is going on?

Illustration purposes only.

Let's recap.

• Plane went missing.
• Plane is said to have lost it's signal in the Vietnam Gulf.
• Intense SAR was initiated. Malaysians bore witness the unity of all the 14 countries that is helping Malaysia to locate the missing plane. As a Malaysian, you have my vast gratitude.
• The ministry and military and marines release contradictory statements one after the other. People are reasonably angered.
• Malaysia attempts to give monetary compensation to the affected families in Beijing.
• The Chinese government expressed great anger over Malaysian government's incompetence to handle this professionally.
• The parties involved suddenly revoked all issued statements and began searching for the missing plane in the Malacca Straits, where the plane is said to have made a U-turn. 
• The Vietnamese troop froze the search for the plane temporarily because the Malaysian government is exhausting their resources and frankly, they're exasperated by continuous misinformation from the Malaysian troop. 
• Search continues but no one knows where now - it can be assumed it is being done at both the Vietnamese gulf and Malacca Straits. 
• A self-proclaimed 'world-class' Bomoh (read that as Charlatan) is making a fool of himself at the KLIA airport, performing some epic WTF rituals involving a magic carpet, umbrella, basket and 2 coconuts. The world is laughing.
• At this point, more clusterfuck is to be expected.

Side note:

1. The pilot is revealed to have broken various ethical codes when it comes to flight regulations.

2. Safety check was not done on the plane prior to take off.

3. Two Iranian passengers were said to have boarded the plane via stolen passports, acting as some Australian pax. This was highlighted for a while, not it has completely died down.

4. It's last known recorded transmission of the flight heard the pilot said "Goodnight". It is assumed that at this point the plane was still fine and someone deliberately turned off the transmission.

Book Review: Zombie Apocalypse! by Stephen Jones.

Zombie Apocalypse!!

The title of this book is pretty simple and straightforward, but not so much it's content. It is set in the modern world, the catalyst of this whole mess starting with excavating a graveyard that is fabled to house plague victims of the old - we are talking about 5 or 6 centuries ago, with the possibilities of some 'evolved' Bubonic plague.

So this graveyard mostly has countless of those who died of horrific plagues and were all stacked in one bundle and sealed until it was to be excavated to make way for a self - serving political festival that had inadvertently unleashed basically every plagues that were known to mankind and plagues that were kept in such tight secret because they were too horrific to comprehend. The book is a collection of perspectives - a professor who followed her gut instincts to delve deeper into the history of the kind of people who were buried there because it is a very old graveyard and that Health regulations for excavating sites had been breached to the highest order, from doctors who deal with patients who were infested with this plague, civilians confined to their homes under military supervision, live tweets of a boy with an errand zombie ON A PLANE that killed everyone, medical journal entries and teenage girl's, newspaper cuttings, history backstories, transcribes of various documents and so much more. I'd say the book is brilliantly executed.

This is not your typical White person saves the world and tryna survive flesh eating entities. Nay, this is a very realistic representation of what it is really like, on various walks of life that is struggling to survive a fast-deteriorating world. As the book progresses, you will sink further and deeper into despair and hopelessness. Because quite frankly it's chaos out there. I am seriously liking this book, a concise hypothetical outcome should a catastrophe befall mankind, because humanity is at it's most peaceful right now and we will NOT survive the shock of having it disrupted.

Imagine M.J rising from the dead and started doing Thriller.

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