I love this essay! I get that societal expectations of masculinity might make this more relevant for men, but plenty of women pride themselves on their strength too, to the point that it is difficult to ask for help. I’m not sure it is a mindset divided along gender boundaries but it is probably an unhealthy one either way. In my mind the most vivid and compelling self-surgery in film is Blake Lively in The Shallows where she sews herself up using a metal chain. Makes me grimace every time I think of it.
"Noomi Rapace’s gnarly robot cesarean in Prometheus is the best scene in that surprisingly baroque cosmic sci-fi horror." Amen to that. It is the scene I look forward to whenever I rewatch Prometheus (for the life of me I don't know why it is so under-appreciated: it is chock-full of terrific performances and scenes and it works very well as a found manuscript of the Alien canon, too) and it was also the scene that put Noomi Rapace on my map. Have you seen Black Crab?
"I have considered writing a Netflix pilot titled “Action Hero Hospital”" You should pitch that scenario to Robert Rodriguez.
The whole masculine stoicism thing is something I feel is a bit unrealistic. It's probably one of the reasons why I chose to write about female superhero characters, because they can easily shout and scream in pain without the norms of their gender being contested....
I don't really know how to respond to this. I always distrusted feel no-pain characters in movies. However, I inherited an unusually high pain tolerance. I always thought of it as a party trick rather than a life philosophy.
I love this essay! I get that societal expectations of masculinity might make this more relevant for men, but plenty of women pride themselves on their strength too, to the point that it is difficult to ask for help. I’m not sure it is a mindset divided along gender boundaries but it is probably an unhealthy one either way. In my mind the most vivid and compelling self-surgery in film is Blake Lively in The Shallows where she sews herself up using a metal chain. Makes me grimace every time I think of it.
i have not seen the shallows and i will correct that soon
I'd stream “Action Hero Hospital” every damn day.
I do notice the whole action hero thing of killing a man and just moving on to the next one. In real life, Rambo would NEVER leave therapy.
Fromtheyardtothearthouse.substack.com
"Noomi Rapace’s gnarly robot cesarean in Prometheus is the best scene in that surprisingly baroque cosmic sci-fi horror." Amen to that. It is the scene I look forward to whenever I rewatch Prometheus (for the life of me I don't know why it is so under-appreciated: it is chock-full of terrific performances and scenes and it works very well as a found manuscript of the Alien canon, too) and it was also the scene that put Noomi Rapace on my map. Have you seen Black Crab?
"I have considered writing a Netflix pilot titled “Action Hero Hospital”" You should pitch that scenario to Robert Rodriguez.
i have never heard of black crab and will research immediately
The whole masculine stoicism thing is something I feel is a bit unrealistic. It's probably one of the reasons why I chose to write about female superhero characters, because they can easily shout and scream in pain without the norms of their gender being contested....
I don't really know how to respond to this. I always distrusted feel no-pain characters in movies. However, I inherited an unusually high pain tolerance. I always thought of it as a party trick rather than a life philosophy.