Dear Evan Hansen: A Tasteless Exercise in Forgiving White Male Mediocrity

I love me some musical theater. So while I had heard from a friend that Dear Evan Hansen had a deeply unpleasant storyline, when my mom offered to buy me and my brother, who was visiting from my hometown, tickets, I figured I’d give the show the chance to prove itself. I headed into the theater last Saturday night knowing none of the music and with only my friend’s brief synopsis of the plot to go on. What followed was two and a half hours of the most disgustingly tasteless story I have had the misfortune to experience in a theater. I spent the entire first act feeling like I was actually going to be sick to my stomach, and found no real solace in the second act, which was frustratingly absent any repercussions for the title character’s reprehensible behavior.

(via playbill)

Spoilers for the show and a trigger warning for discussion of ableism and suicide after the jump.

A Locke & Key Vol. #1 Review: In Which I Ponder My Credentials as a Comics Fan

(via wikipedia)

One of the hottest comics when I got into the medium was Locke & Key, written by horror author Joe Hill and illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez. At the time (about four years ago now), it was far enough along in its run that it would have been silly verging on impossible to attempt to find single issues, so when I came into a gift card, I bought the first trade. From the slew of awards it had won or at least been nominated for, and the strong recommendations from both friends and comics personalities whose opinions I trusted, I started to read it expecting to have my socks knocked clean off… and never finished it. This week, it caught my eye from between my Sandmans and my DC Bombshells on the shelf, and I figured, welp, might as well try again.

Time and distance, apparently, do not make the heart grow fonder. Maybe I have bad taste in comics, but I have no idea how this won an Eisner or anything else. Locke & Key Vol. 1: Welcome to Lovecraft did absolutely nothing for me.

Spoilers for the first volume after the jump!

Web Crush Wednesdays: Unboxing with Dylan Marron

These days we spend a lot of time talking about abstract concepts like toxic masculinity and rape culture, and whether discussing them in the realm of politics or in a more geeky way as we do on this site, we rarely spend any time defining these terms or arguing with people who say that these concepts aren’t real. Fortunately, for people who want to either understand these concepts a little better or who want real-world examples of how these concepts work, there’s the internet. Today’s web crush is for people who want to laugh and educate themselves on intangible concepts at the same time.

Throwback Thursdays: The Langoliers

(via screenagekicks)

I know that Stephen King is pretty much considered a god in the literary world, but I’ve never been that big a fan. Growing up, I could never quite figure out why that was—I don’t like horror, but with the exception of It, none of his works ever truly scared me. Instead, they were the perfect amount of macabre and creepy that I normally enjoy. The Stand, The Secret Window, and even The Langoliers were all things I loved—they had fun adventures, interesting premises, and neat twists to keep me engaged. I read and watched all three of these, and loved them at the time. But none of his stories truly stuck with me after experiencing them—and the more I thought about it, the more I hated the narratives and the characters.

I think the biggest problem with these works is that they ended up using tropes that really didn’t age well over time. This is especially true for 1995’s The Langoliers—the story has a fascinating premise, but the characters are all walking stereotypes, the worldbuilding is almost non-existent, and the more I thought about the plot, the less it made sense.

Oh, My Pop Culture Religion: The Problem with Exorcisms

(via mubi)

Catholicism has a long history of belief in exorcisms, and while many people today may not believe in exorcism, for other Catholics, it is still a very real thing. Exorcisms are also a favorite trope of Hollywood horror films and TV shows, especially during the month of October. However, exorcisms have some issues in regards to ableism and sexism, and the movies rarely seem to want to explore those issues.

Trigger warning for discussions of ableism and disability below.

Ramsay Might Be Dead, but Game of Thrones Is Still Awful

Game of Thrones’s sixth season ended up being a vast improvement on the series after the abysmal catastrophe that was Season 5. However, being better is not the same thing as being good, and if Season 6 is any indication, the show still has a long way to go. While many of the scenes throughout the season were fun to watch, the plotlines that we get fall apart the second you really start to think about them. Thankfully, the silver lining to all this is that the misogyny is less apparent. The downside to that, however, is now there’s review after review proclaiming Game of Thrones to be a feminist masterpiece, and I find myself once again questioning: are the other reviewers watching the same show I am?

Spoilers and a trigger warning for suicide and discussions of rape and sexual assault up ahead.

Teen Wolf: “The Last Chimera” Review

So, this is the season premiere of Teen Wolf… or is it the midseason premiere? I’m gonna be honest: the long hiatuses in between Teen Wolf are really starting to confuse me. I literally thought that I was going to be watching the Season 6 premiere, but whatever. Anyway, this apparent start to the second half of Teen Wolf‘s fifth season was just kind of meh. I’m not as enthused about Teen Wolf anymore, and neither are many of the other writers here, which is why we won’t be reviewing every episode this season. And I really don’t know what to say about this episode, because other than a few stand-out moments this was really just a lot more of the same for Teen Wolf—and not in a good way.

Spoilers, and a trigger warning for continued mentions of rape and sexual harassment, after the jump.

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for/at Scream Queens

This Halloweentide, a new spoopy show graces us with its presence: Scream Queens. Ryan Murphy has once again blessed/cursed us with yet another television show; the font of his creative juices is ever-giving. As an avid American Horror Story fan, I was excited but also scared—frankly, I was worried Scream Queens would be AHS Season 5, because there were rumors of AHS going in a “different direction” this year. Thankfully, this was unfounded as American Horror Story: Hotel has premiered in all its provocative, disgusting psychosexual glory that we all love to be horrified and appalled by. As it turns out, Scream Queens is an entirely different beast than AHS. In its tongue-in-cheek, girl-power feel, you can see a sort of line of inheritance from AHS: Coven, the show’s third season. But take Coven, add in liberal doses of slasher flicks like Scream and Halloween, then multiply exponentially by Mean Girls, and you get an idea of what Scream Queens is like. Let’s take a closer look after the jump. Spoilers for the first season so far.

Trailer Tuesdays: Teen Wolf Season 5 Part B

Is it January yet? The Teen Wolf trailer for the second half of Season 5 is out and while it still looks much darker than I would like Teen Wolf to be, I am pleased with some of the things we see in this trailer and a bit confused by the absence of others.

Web Crush Wednesdays: The Satrians

A while ago, I recced Welcome to Night Vale in ASL, a series that translated the popular Night Vale podcast into American Sign Language. The creator, Carlisle Robinson, seemed like an interesting guy, and after I’d finished watching the series to date, I went and checked out his website. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Welcome to Night Vale in ASL, as great as it was, wasn’t his only ongoing series. He’s also currently writing and illustrating an ongoing webcomic called The Satrians.