Zulawski did not set out to make a film about a refrigerator; he set out to make a film about a golem—a moral fable, a quarrel with God. A Cold War climate and a divided city give a larger material and ideological backdrop to an intimate crisis of a marriage and identity. The less evident but more expansive material backdrop of the cold chain connects intimate domestic life to a great, tentacular other—a Leviathan on the seas, a Behemoth on land, a beast that defies nature and snakes into nearly every kitchen, where it consumes energy and exhales hot breath to stave off the inevitable rot that makes us retch and reminds us of death. A refrigerator is an ally in a continual fight against the abject, but one not far removed from the corpse cooler—a device to temporarily house an object no longer considered a living thing. Possession troubles the identity of the refrigerator and puts the appliance to perverse uses. As the golem approaches its final form, the two refrigerators of the film meet opposite fates: the one in Anna and Mark’s apartment is returned to its clean and proper state, and the other, having served its purpose, bleeds out all of its “cold” and dies in an explosion. Zulawski did not intend to make a refrigerator film, but from eggs and milk nestled in the door to rotting flesh on a shelf, the refrigerator is both womb and coffin, both life-giving and abject. If ever an appliance were a golem, it would be the refrigerator.
Marc Oliver, excerpt from Household Horror: Cinematic Fear and the Secret Life of Everyday Objects
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First time I possessed someone and tested my capacity to experience sunlight in such a condition I will share with no shame the fact I was terrified. Going from incidental to full? To look out upon green pastures, to feel that warmth, to be considered another- the high of finally spitting in the face of gods curse... The terror that at any moment whatever protection was there might get burned through... Oh how giddy.
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Connected to my last ask but I wanted to separate bc it's a whole new issue
But, like you mentioned Arthur being a captain by 15, and the Druid raid we all know went so wrong, that he still blames himself for (yet the writers didn't follow through, AGAIN) and that had me wonder if he actually was to blame.
Like, he said he lost control of his men, but....I don't think that would happen. These would have been trained knights, probably all older than him, more experienced....and more loyal to Uther. They would know better than to disobey their Prince, bc that risks being punished by the King.
Unless they knew they wouldn't be in trouble.
I think that raid was a test, Uther seeing just how obedient his son was, if he was too "soft" on what he decided was the enemy. And if he was, he told the knights they were to finish the job themselves against Arthur's command, bc the only order that trumps Arthur's, is Uther's.
MHM MHM MHM BECAUSE YEAH
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arthur was still a teenageer, he was at the age where most are still considered squires (at least...i think so?) but obviously he went up the ranks faster because he's the prince. he was still finding his footing with his role as prince and heir to the throne. he was probably still holding on to this naivete about kingship that uther wanted to squash out of him.
arthur probably hasn't seen much of the purge other than trials and executions of alleged guilty sorcerers (which he probably believed to be fair trials). he has not yet seen the true disregard of empathy his father and the kingdom has towards magic users.
i am a firm believer that that raid arthur led was a test. and a test he almost passed because he told his men to "spare the women and children" but it is highly likely that uther had a contingency plan if arthur's raid didn't eradicate all of the druids from that settlement.
now, look at the episode's transcript (s4 ep10), arthur is immediately disturbed when he realizes where they are and when merlin explains the shrine to the knights as something built "to appease restless spirits" in an area.
[Arthur seems slightly disturbed as he looks at a red flag picking up in the breeze.]
and even later he seems so out of it
[Arthur stares into space has he absentmindedly unbuckles his bracers.]
it's like he, himself, is haunted by the memory. a memory he probably made himself forget because of how horrible it was. he's had this old memory locked away so tight but now that its back, now that arthur remembers, he can't help but go through the what ifs, and berate himself for not being experienced enough to stop his men.
gaius calls uther's raids "relentless", not even considering arthur himself in that description. this could be either because gaius is too used to uther's persecution that he assumes any magical persecution is uther or gaius knew (or had some semblance to know) that uther was the true one at fault for arthur's raid.
but back to arthur
KING ARTHUR (begins to cry)
I am responsible for what happened to you. And for all the violence that happened here. When I led the attack on your camp, I was young and inexperienced. I was desperate to prove myself to my men, to my...father.
KING ARTHUR (still crying)
I told the men to spare the women and children, but I know that some of them ignored the order. And there was so much happening. I wanted to stop it...I froze. I didn't know what to do.
KING ARTHUR (completely breaking down)
I can still hear the screams. I cannot right this wrong. Nothing I can ever do will change the horrors that happened that day. But I can promise that, now that I am king, I will do everything that I can to prevent anything like this ever happening again. From this day forth, the Druid people will be treated with the respect they deserve. I give you my word.
uther how fucking dare you traumatize my boy like this
arthur can still hear the fucking screams....like shit.....that sound is burned into his memory, the blood, the smell of rot and possibly fire, everything about that day how he thought himself ready but froze when things began to go wrong.
did he think himself a coward when the day came to night after the raid? did he struggle to even put on the pendragon cape? did older knights creep behind him and try to remind him that this was his father's mission? did they speak to him with false sympathy as they told him that this was all for the good and safety of camelot?
so yeah that raid was something uther placed into the hands of an inexperienced child (reminder that he only turned 20/21 in s1 so he definitely led the raid in his teens) as a way to see if arthur would do what it took to prove himself worthy for his father.
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i love writing bc i love interrogating my life choices. like i’m implying billy having a possessiveness already after like... what? 2-3 days or something of knowing emily and i’m out here like “why? does this make sense? am i projecting knowledge of that being a future plot point too far ahead in the story?”
so i sit here and think about it and think about his characterization and like yeah it’s uh, a lil early in knowing anyone to get possessive but at the same time it’s not a big reaction it’s closer to annoyance than like full anger and at this point emily would be considered the closest thing he’s got to a friend and he’s worked out by himself and had it confirmed by the twins their parents are as bad as his. so like.... ofc he’s possessive????? it’s both his own selfish want to horde what little positive attention he gets and his protective instinct being warped by his abuse. along with that billy is prone to extreme responses so that’s gonna take his reactions even to like, a mild inconvenience up a notch lol.
really half the fun for me is just plotting things out and writing them and then looking at it like “now why is that going on here???”
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1:54
Out here playing some fucked up vocaloid songs and I'm thinking of some weird shit tbh
the old mv by ghost(chelovek). dmth smth had to deal with a doll and then my twin asked smth bout like. if balloon boy IS possessed, and how old how the kid would have to be. i kinda said a infant but i did also say that would be way too low for william. so we went with how game lore kid ages are; 3-12 yrs old.
So we went with the kid possessing Balloon Boy, being 3yrs old as well. and well. they also kinda said smth bout like "how bout like william could've taken apart a kids body and yk. did some hide n seek w/ it" (talking about how he could've cut apart a kid's body). And it just kinda made me think bout my hc of Garrett and the whole "find me" thing
I shared this hc with @iys-cloud before !!
so like. the hc is that. garrett's body is hidden in the forest ; under the pizzeria ; somewhat also under the schmidt household.
Yeah
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