excerpt of the grey welkin, angel's perspective in the celestial kingdom

    I peer down at beings like you and suddenly I remember the landslides that parted, the native tusks of moss crawling up bald cypress trunks. I smell the hot in the depth and cool at the top. Even the eldest of trees have gone replaced by infantile sticks supported by chain link fenses. But still something outside of you reminds me of the inside of before. Pinewoods forests in the Swedish alps, branches dripping with frozen dew. The eoritc smell of crushed gooseberries and most of all I think of the persistence of the blue whales, their deficiency for survival, but still they sing from the deep. Time is way too short for the soul to serve it’s full ability. It looks to me like a place of skyscrapers, monuments with metal walls and so many cement trails topped with a pulsing lifeline of traffic. These buildings compete with each other for a taller age, but regardless they’re all wrecked and replaced at some point. Now it get’s interesting. Now then never before I watch lights that never dull at any cycle of the moons shade. Your Home is our snowglobe. Often times a uppeavel wracks the public by it’s own condition, stimulating a loop of flying comets, convictions and varieties of sentiments, the prejudices that swarm around and the details of that world blur. This Snowglobe of ours is rattled endlessly, a boring entertainment of ours. But every now and then, the dust and commentary settles and It reveals you there. 

the curoption and obscure origins of the silent film era- the lotus podcast script #31

The Missing Filmmaker and the Foundations of Cinema

TW: Suicide, sexual harassment, exploitation, pedophilia, grooming, abuse, brief explanations of war-related deaths

Louis Le Prince was a french artist and the renowned inventor of an early moving motion picture that could shoot a moving picture sequence using the single lens camera, skyrocketing the ideas of other late 19th century inventors to compete. Since this day in France in 1888, the world’s sources of entertainment suddenly changed, from live-action plays and puppet shows to the developing success of early cinema. “Roundhay Garden Scene” was produced by Le Prince that same year. But the Roundhay Garden Scene had more variety to offer the audience. The humble 2-second film captured a few 19th-century cheerful middle-class people walking around a patio at Oakwood Grange in Roundhay, Leeds, following this was the Horse in Motion sequence that more popularly defines the first-ever film. 

Although Le Prince seemed to have birthed a new way of life and Culture that we know as the film industry today, he mysteriously disappeared on September 16th, 1890. The last sighting of him was boarding a train station leaving the Dijon platform though both French and Scotland Yard police carried out an exhaustive investigation for his body and luggage, the search was unsuccessful and still remains unsolved. Since then only conspiracy theories were conjured. One of the leading theories was murder. 

Thomas Edison was a very similar inventor and artistic creator to Le Prince, who claimed he was the sole inventor of Cinematography and filed a lawsuit against Le Prince a few months before his disappearance, claiming that Le Prince was taking false credit. This was an elaborate coincidence but the appropriate proof did not hold up to make for a lead to the investigation. Another common theory is tragic suicide. 

Paris Police records found in 2003 revealed a photograph of a deceased man pulled from the Seine River in that same month of 1890, that bore a resemblance almost identical to Le Prince, even his brother claimed that he knew Le Prince was suffering from a rough patch of Depression before his disappearance and It could be possible he took his own life, maybe the stress following the lawsuit or the quilt from such accusation. Despite this, it’s not even confirmed whether or not the man in the Photograph died from accidental drowning or suicide. Either way, it’s devastating to know Le Prince had a wife, a child, and a soon-to-be colossal following of film fanatics. Besides the Perplexing disappearance of Louis Le Prince, the Invention progressed and advanced in the decades to come all over the world, starting with European continents, most people say the Silent Film era officially began in the mid-1890s and lasted till the early 1930s and especially hit the fan once it reached the booming progressive Era going on in America. 

The Birth of Hollywood and Silent Films

Thomas Edison would go on to share the Kinetoscope in 1893. Many films. And If you didn't know, this is when movies got the name Movies, short for Moving motion pictures. And It was around 1985 to 1900 when the Kinetoscope reached the rest of the world. America, in particular, created the classic Hollywood cinema which developed during the early 1910s and then birthed the branches of movie genres. Around this time as well as radio shows becoming more popular, they were much easier to achieve and more affordable to listen to, but still included creative storytelling elements. Now that Americans had the luxury to watch movies instead of live shows across the country, for once in history you could watch the same performers as someone in another part of the world if you so wished. When World War 1 struck the economy and everyday liberties, the homeless population grew, and the political climate worsened but everyone could rely on one thing- entertainment. For just a dime, you would spend hours in the cinema, listening to the orchestra play, watching a few silent productions and cartoons play out on huge screens in front of you, Children especially admired these cartoons, Looney Tunes, and betty boop were among the first, along with the famous Walt Disney Mickey mouse animations. But as this new industry developed even further, Safety and policy went neglected especially considering the fat cash cow growing in size every day this was now the late 1920s and early 30s. 

Did you know, for example, actors never explicitly shared their real names? This was mostly because their anonymity conserved actors' true identity and membership in the average society, but also prevented them from being recognized for their real talent by name. Until one being the Biograph girl, nicknamed after the Biography Moving Motion Company in which she worked had her real name leaked, that name being Florence Lawrence. Throughout her career, she appeared in almost 300 films and became one of the first women to lead a US film studio. She was also an inventor and was credited to invent the turn signal and the brake signal for automobiles yet, She too passed due to death by suicide. Though devastating, suicide cases were very common among entertainment staff not only including actors and performers who were ruled the faces of the movement but also among film directors, writers, publicists, and set managers, who all were affected by substantial pressure put on them by those seeking to escape the country’s painful reality. 

The Star System

Between the 1920s to the 1960s in Old Hollywood style, The star System was functional management for actors to conserve their images by keeping them from adultery and drug use. Men had to behave like gentlemen and women had to behave like ladies. Therefore they always had to dress properly and women had to have their make-up on every time they left the house. If they violated these terms, they were suspended without pay or even blacklisted. Being Blacklisted meant you’d be denied your employment as an actor, you would be denied auditions, and rejected by directors and screenwriters and because of this, you’d eventually find yourself bankrupt. So as you can see, Blacklisting was the worst possible punishment. Especially considering you would lose your agent, and therefore you would not be protected from scrutiny, public disapproval, and bullying, sometimes even physical assaults. As soon as a new actor signed a contract, they would give them rigorous training for things like diction, posture, manners, dancing, and singing. Plastic surgery was often a part of the deal too, which the studio paid for. A background biography was created, which fit the image the studio envisioned for their new star. A lot of manipulation played a part in convincing actors they should be thankful at the least to their producers for turning their lives around and improving them from the inside and out. The studio did everything for them outside of their working lives, they set up where they lived, who they were allowed to be associated with, be friends with, and even date. The Common misinterpretation people have about old Hollywood is that the actors made all of their money for themselves, but really everything was given to them

Old Hollywood Blacklisting and The Red Scare

Hedda Hopper was a “failed” film actress who turned gossip columnist, Her column, entitled "Hedda Hopper's Hollywood", debuted on Valentine's Day of 1938. Hopper could not type, nor spell very well, so she narrated her column to an enthused typist over the phone. Hedda would describe tender secrets from inside the sets and behind the scenes, specifically targeting queer people, communists, and African Americans. Especially when the Cold War began in 1947, the Red Scare grew, and Hedda took no problem with blasting innocent Hollywood celebrities for their suspected communistic beliefs. She ruined marriages, friendships, and careers with just a sentence. Blacklisting in the rights of the Star system included basic violations to the Image they were promised to play forever but in cases like The Hollywood Ten, communism was at the root of many blacklisting cases in Hollywood.  Most witnesses or the accused people, were “friendly” — that is, willing to respond to the committee’s central question: “Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?” And those who confessed to membership were offered the opportunity to name “fellow travelers'' or (to rat out other members they know of) Ten witnesses all current or former party members banded together in protest, refusing to either confirm or deny the allegations on First Amendment grounds, these were 10 men, Hollywood screenwriters and it would go down in history as one of the first times the public feared and lost trust in the American film industry. This Red Scare was promoted throughout the country with propaganda, but before I explain the propaganda that the film industry housed, I want to explain the real difference between ordinary media vs political propaganda. Propaganda is biased or misleading media that is made with the goal of influencing the public to believe or support a particular political agenda, using its jingoistic methods, and its prominent use during both World Wars. Some Films in particular are 

1. Mission to Moscow (1943) - Ambassador Joseph Davies is sent by FDR to Russia to learn about the Soviet system and returns to  America as an advocate of Stalinism implementing the ideology of a one-party totalitarian police state and by some considered fascism. 

2. The Woman of Pier 13 (1949) - Successful, newly married Brad Collins once belonged to the Communist Party of the USA, and now the Party will stop at nothing to punish him. The staff at Variety magazine actually wrote a tepid review, "As a straight action fare, I Married a Communist generates enough tension to satisfy the average customer. Despite its heavy-sounding title, pic hews strictly to tried and true meller formula Pic is so wary of introducing any political gab that at one point when Commie trade union tactics are touched upon, the soundtrack is dropped."

3. I was a Communist for the FBI (1951) - In Pittsburgh, PA, an F.B.I. agent works to undermine the Communist party, but his brothers and his teenage son think he's a real Red and on the movie cover it says “I know a hundred secrets and each one is worth my life” 

Again, Propaganda Films and just any propaganda, in general, are perfectly legal under first amendment rights, as long as you're not calling any active threat of violence, it’s fine, but it is unethical, especially considering propaganda was created for children's entertainment. With both sudden and blatant messages it was universally known Children had a part to play in the War, whether it was as little as standing for the pledge of allegiance or training young boys for military camp before they were even 10 years old, Propaganda was spread to the most gullible of society. Children's Book Illustrators and cartoonists had their political views too such as Dr.Suess commenting on his opposition to Hitler and the genocide of  Nazi Germany with his political cartoon “Adolf the Wolf” and many other published works.  Disney too had its share of propaganda like when (according to Smithsonian Magazine) Donald Duck donned khakis as a United States Army recruit, while Minnie Mouse recycled leftover bacon grease to make explosives. Uncle Sam deployed the whole Disney crew, reassigning its members from pratfalls to pitching war bonds and victory gardens in animated movies that debuted shortly after the US intervened in World War 11. These can still be found in the archives today but obviously, Disney no longer broadcasts these on their central sources.

Malicious Contracts and Exploitation

New actors were initially signed to a seven-year contract, but the studio had the option to terminate the contract every six months. The salary was usually between $75-$250 a week, which in today’s currency would be about $1,200 to $4,200 but with bonuses for the more lucrative actors. This proved to be frustrating for stars like Marilyn Monroe, who shot to stardom after a few years but still made the same salary as when she just began big productions, these were the contracts other actors like Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean, Grace Kelly, and Cary Grant signed. Studios had the make and would sometimes ‘loan’ out their stars to other studios. If a star refused to appear in a film that was chosen, they were suspended without pay for a period of time. Actors often felt ‘owned’ by the studios and were frustrated that they did not have the ability to choose their own work. As early as 1919 four major movie stars, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and D.W. Griffith started their own company United Artists so they could be in control of their own careers. 

Child Stars

When  we’re on the subject of exploitation it’s vital we talk about Child actors, especially the exploitation of little girls in Hollywood. Shirely temple was only a toddler when she started dancing and performing to help earn a family a little more during the Depression, but once she earned her first role as a baby sex worker in “ Baby Burlesks” 1932, at the age of three, Shirley Temple signed a contract with Educational Pictures, a film distribution company founded in 1916 known primarily for brief comedies. The film depicted young children playing adults, the girls were entertainers and the boys were soldiers at a bar. Shirley was wearing a small bralette paired with a diaper, polishing her nails and talking to the boys like adults would in that setting. Yet, the unacceptable nature of the scenes was not all that young child actors had to deal with. Like the lack of protection and censorship guidelines, there was also a distinct lack of safety parameters for on-set child actors. Directors were regularly accused of being cruel to the children and punishing them unfairly as they did with their adult actors just as often if not less,but once children were “tamed” into the industry, they were very easy to control therefore much more appealing to agents, making them more money off of these kids, these children missed out on every aspect of childhood, education and friendships just to work for more than 8 hours a day. 

Regardless, These ages of the early cinema showed exactly how devastating the results of greed, bias and overconfidence are. But without recounting these events, we’ll just forget and repeat them. I know a lot of people listen to my episodes for entertainment purposes, like while you're driving to work, cooking or doing chores, but if you’re to take anything else with you, I’d like you to take the reminder that knowledge can save lives. After you know you Improve and now though far from perfect, the US government has laws, regulations and policies enacted to protect those in the film industry to make their careers and lives as fair and safe as possible. It makes you ask what action will we take in the future to protect children from being exploited or groomed on social media platforms? Like family blogging or content featuring children and marketed as entertainment? In Conclusion, Contextualizing the darker dimensions of old Hollywood glamor and news entertainment is my way of honoring the injustices of what these entities went through. Of course not everything is as it seems and while our society has improved, Progress does not need to stop. 

 Humiliation, power play, and Superficiality 

John Gilbert “The Great Lover” or “Hollywood’s Unhappiest Man” who he was nicknamed by the media, was according to the Los Angeles Times breathtakingly handsome with curly black hair and dancing eyes, and women swooned over his passionate love scenes and followed his well-publicized love affair with Flesh and the Devil leading German actress Greta Garbo in the movie magazines, stemmed a notorious scandal of the late 20’s before he blew her off since she was significantly younger than him and didn't speak much english. But once the film industry tentatively shifted from silent films to “talkies” Gilbert struggled in getting the same recognition he used to which marks when his alcohol dependency problems began, he was reported to have powerful mood swings, he was either up or down and there was no in between. In Gilbert’s first talkie, the 1929 melodrama His Glorious Night, was poorly received and critics said his voice sounded high pitched and even squeaky, which significantly affected Gilbert’s self- esteem but his biggest burden was his relationship with Louis B. Mayer. Louis Burt Mayer was a Canadian-American film producer and co-founder of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios in 1924 which housed Gilbert and many other gleaming stars. Apparently, Louis B Mayer personally and venously sabotaged John Gilbert's career, the two despised each other and Gilbert often poked him on set, and narrowly bullied the producer without breaking his contract. It's meant to have stemmed from Mayer's hate for mothers so Gilbert implied that he resented mothers because he was a whore, which led to a fight. King Vidor was set to marry actress Eleanor Boardman, and Gilbert arranged that it be a double wedding, that the Boardman/Vidor nuptials be followed by the union of Garbo and Gilbert. But on the day of the wedding, Garbo didn’t show up. Gilbert was incredibly upset. At one point, he was in the bathroom crying. According to Boardman, Louis B. Mayer walked in, saw his romantic idol whimpering, and said, “Sleep with her, don’t marry her.” Gilbert punched Mayer in the face. Mayer, on the floor, his eyeglasses broken in pieces, allegedly then said, “I will destroy you.” As a result of this slight, Mayer is meant to have had Gilbert's voice recordings tampered with, the same recordings that led to so many bad critiques of his “talkies”, after all he did get married again when in 1931, an L.A. Times story called Gilbert “Hollywood’s Unhappiest Man,” reporting that he skulked around the MGM lot with his hat pulled down over his eyes. With his wife Ina Claire’s career on the ascendency, their marriage fell apart and he actually had two divorces in just one year. At the  divorce court in Reno, Claire said of Gilbert, “He said he wanted to be left alone”—paraphrasing the famous line associated with Greta Garbo at least as far back as 1929 and at the age of 38, Gilbert died of a sudden and irrational heart attack, but it said he had several kidney stones brought on by his drinking.

A Thousand Splendid Suns- Psychoanalytic research essay

 Mariam and Laila, the two lead protagonists of Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns display the Fruedian psychoanalytic theory of Transference and Resistance when acting upon their decisive processes of Laila’s hope and perseverance in contrast to Mariam's sacrifice and noble humility. In Psychoanalysis, we treat troubling mental conditions by investigating the interaction of both conscious and unconscious elements of the mind while simultaneously surfacing repressed fears and intrusive thoughts with various therapy methods, such as dream analysis and Transference therapy. The two women in abusive circumstances have used psychoanalysis as a resource for making sense of the social upheavals of the century, especially those involving gender relations, sexuality, and family life. 

According to the Debatable Austrian Psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud and his mentor Josef Breuer, the term transference is a term referring to unknowingly transferring feelings about someone or something from their past onto their empathically attuned therapist to test their client's perception of reality, While Counter-transference, on the other hand, is the therapist’s reaction and line of treatment to the projections of the client. Over the years, this method has gone under scrutiny for its ethics and mere violation of professional boundaries. But despite this, Transference can be seen in countless social-relational situations and exchanges. If we like Mariam, were raised in an unaccepting and emotionally neglectful environment our reaction to love could result in an initial reaction of shock and disbelief but in some cases will evolve to acceptance and the protection of such a relationship (Mariam and Aziza). The mundane act of an infant curling their fingers around your finger is an act of transference because the reaction of this would exponentially explain how we react to someone “wanting” us. 

Sequentially, Psychoanalysis is closely surrounded by the learning theory of Social constructivism, that knowledge is all socially situated and purely garnered from our interactions with others. In review, the rigid difference between Mariam and Laila’s upbringings merely defines their response to abuse. Yet, while Laila learns from Mariam to be tolerant and submissive for the sake of survival, Mariam learns from Laila what true love and friendship look like. This is the factor that sets Laila free and Mariam to her fateful grave. In that argument from the pro-constructionist position, understanding is not automatically driven by the forces of nature, but instead the result of an active, cooperative enterprise of persons in a relationship. Neurobiologically, victims of abusive conditioning learn that survival is a need that tops emotional needs and love according to Maslow,s model of the Hierarchy of needs. If becoming silent and submissive keeps you from beatings or any negative consequences your abuser may inflict, you will achieve that conformity for the sake of survival, even if it damages your psyche in the long term. The priority after Rasheed’s business burns down is survival or primal motivations. 

In this light, Rasheed's aversion towards Aziza unmasks in one, his preference towards his son, but his misogyny and belief that she is not biologically his. When it’s revealed Rasheed lied about Tariq’s death, it is underlined that Laila only stayed with Rasheed because she falsely thought she had nowhere else to go. Mariam only stayed with Rasheed because she really had no choice. “Recent research on IPA indicates that women remain chained to the dangerously controlled and maintained relationship despite its social and psychological repercussions. Exitance of Intimate Partner Abuse has been seen through the lens of criminal activity. Therefore, the perpetuation of IPA is linked to the psychotic and criminal intentions of the perpetrator” (According to  Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto of the Institute of Science and Technology) Once these fundamental reasons set the characters to the point they are in, their rationale and cognitive balances can be dissected further. More significantly, Rasheed may subconsciously feel intimidated and jealous of Azizaś's real father; Tariq. As a matter of fact, After Mariam faithfully turns herself into the Taliban after the ¨Murder¨ of Rasheed, Mariam realizes she has a complete life. In narration “and yet she was leaving the world as a woman who had love and been loved back. she was leaving it as a friend, a companion, a guardian. a mother. a person of consequence at last.” (chapter 47, pg. 370) She realizes her worth despite it all. This should be described as the theory of Eros, the life instinct and the forces of the ego of the organized, logic-driven part of a person’s psyche that mediates desires and love. She could have irrationally joined Laila on her escape, but the power of the Eros led her to decide otherwise. This power of thinking is demonstrated in people that have healthy attachment styles and have been raised in relatively positive environments growing up in both pre-cognitive stages (as infants and young children) all the way to the age of abstract and hypothetical thinking. Though logically rational, Mariam’s line of thinking reveals she does not consider herself to be worthy enough over Rasheed’s life. She still owes the debt of taking another one’s life. 

Alternatively, After Mariam faithfully turns herself in for the “murder” of Rasheed, Mariam experiences a vid and thoughtful review of her life. “Mariam had disjointed dreams that last night. She dreamed of pebbles, eleven of them, arranged vertically. Jalil, young again, all winning smiles and dimpled chins and sweat patches, coat flung over his shoulder, come at last to take his daughter away in his shiny black Buick Roadmaster. Mullah Fazullah twirled his rosary beads, walking with her along the stream, their twin shadows gliding on the water and on the grassy banks sprinkled with a blue lavender wild iris that, in this dream smelled like cloves. She dreamed of Nana in the doorway of the kolba, her voice is dim and distant, calling her to dinner as Mariam played in the cool tangled grass.” (Hosseini, pg. 223) In a review of this dream, Mariam is visiting a time in her life when she felt contempt, but altering the roles of her parents to be modified to her liking. Her father Jalil is closer and more attentive and her mother is farther from tainting Mariam’s heart with disappointing truths. All along Mariam suffered the consequences of another’s grief. Nana took out her disdain and sense of pain caused by the rejection she faced in her life for her having an illegitimate child with her employer. Then Jalil took out his grief on losing his child and his ex-wife on Mariam, especially after she could not naturally conceive another son for him. 

In Summary, with Psychoanalysis and its pragmatic theory of human thought and contemplation, Mariam and Laila’s friendship serve to explain the difference between their behavioral thought and cognition. From Mariam’s sacrifice and Laila’s escape. The unfair disadvantages the two characters had over each other can make up for the reason, they both had the fate the other one did not. Despite it all, they cared for each other, and all behaviors and intrinsic motivations led to their leaving Rasheed but in two different directions. 

Sources:

"Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology Researchers Report Research in Sustainable Business and Society (Critical Discourse Analysis of Trauma Bonding in Female Victims of Intimate Partner Abuse: A Phenomenological ...)." Women's Health Weekly, 16 Mar. 2023, p. 6156. Gale General OneFile Custom, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A740884220/GPS?u=j015901&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=f2ed7034. Accessed 18 Apr. 2023.

Mead HK, Beauchaine TP, Shannon KE. Neurobiological adaptations to violence across development. Dev Psychopathol. 2010 Winter;22(1):1-22. doi: 10.1017/S0954579409990228. PMID: 20102643; PMCID: PMC2813461. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2813461/A 

untitled poem inspired by Sylvia Plath

 The following poem is inspired by the engaging confessional poetry of Sylvia Plath. She participated in the growing spread of Surrealism as a philosophy and form of art.  Although Plath was a pioneer beyond her living time, she suffered from clinical depression. In 1956 she married the English poet Ted Hughes; they had two children together. The couple separated in 1962. In 1963, Slvia passed away from suicide by the gas oven in the Home, the children were physically unharmed but the devastation still plagued the family for decades later. As writers, I believe it’s more than important to understand and honor the eminent power of those before us, that Inspire us now. 

It is before me, the silky marbelized inking,

Moving like a stone among a waterfall; drips

Its word travels through the air, a scorched syllable

It is quiet, but still a harmony it is singing,

Liked the tongue of a stranger inside bruised lips,

So quaint it must be invisible

It is devolving now, stars that are shrinking,

Dismembering at the sight of its own reflection; fits

Its form is so potent now, inhaled volatilizable

It is behind me, but still, it is seething,

Like unstained by the earth, milky bones, honestly: it sits

So particular that way, it is non-refillable

It is motionless now, wet from the sea, still wringing

Splashing at the sight of its own depiction; resists

Its existence is so futile now, so frail it is not even fixable

"Ephebic Cries"

 Then existed a boy, threaded together by a dead mother's love, and empty door frames. The fearlessness was a shield, Imaginary. Then a boy existed, who wore baggy jeans and a heaping amount of Citré Shine Hair Gel over his frosted tips. Then he was 18 years old, he talked back, violated speed limits, and ran laps alone, down the block, late after sundown. He lived in a home of Instability, but he peeled his socks off in bed, his room rooted in heat, hungover he slept in. He was fevered and knotted with fresh business by the hours. Now? I’m 48 years old and I’m not married. I don’t run anymore, not with my back too sore and my ankles swollen. My stability? I’m glued down strong. Now, it is a lonely place. Now, I wring my hands at an office cubicle, with razor nicks eating my neck. But when I doze off, I witness the hot hands around his back, kissing her lips of a blurred complexion. The crowd and the thumping of a Stereo, it was a fog so dampened by ephebic life. My memory serves me visions. A relationship gone too soon. It was a girl, so penetrating, piercing, He drank her shadow, his fingers combing her hair and around her hands around my back as we mouthed each other’s sultry fantasies. Glitter pasted to the sticky floors. Our skin is still pink with infancy. I don’t remember her name, don’t know if she had one. Could it have been the tickles of a changing body? The persuasion from a passion fruit wine too old for his own good. Drink the kool-aid and be free. Close the door and keep it locked. We’ll be one forever until we’re thousands of pieces apart. We can trust each other until we can’t. I don’t trust anymore, but I pay my prices. I keep the TV on at all hours to conceal the silence, not the silence, the absence of noise. That commotion I used to know, those conversations I once eavesdropped. High school was complete with the girl that dipped her head out a car window, professed secrets onto hallway walls, and hollowed her eyes with dark liner. Now, romances come and go. Commitment, I cannot afford. Even when I did, I never bought it. He Imagined he felt nothing when he saw her run around with other boys. How he pretended violence was boring, like he knew real conflict. Now, my eyes go dry at murder. Real news does not approach enough to even nauseate me. If his feet were too slow, He’d drive a little faster. He’d master the danger. He was not afraid. Now, there’s no thrill that fondles risk. There’s no playful in rationality. He figured his soul was so charred, if he peeled back the dead remains, they would reveal a version of himself too precious to expose to the infective world around him. His gullibility is so adorable. His despondency was so sweet, but so beaten, it grew black. Now, there’s no exploitation I have to fear. Now exists a man, a spiritless number so bleak and obsolete. Momentarily then and again, I’ll open a drawer. I find journal entries, report cards, and yellowing polaroid's. Now exists a false freedom. Then existed a boy, sobbing burgeoning tears, but every moment, he bled liberation.

mary ann cotton} the black widow killer

 Mary Ann Cotton; The First British Serial Killer 

“Lord Jesus receive my spirit, Oh Lord have mercy upon me” said Mary Ann Cotton moments before prison executioner Robert Anderson released his grip on the rope that left Cotton defeated, and dangling on the noose. March 24th, 1873 when the “Black Widow Killer” had been charged the death sentanc for murdering her seven-year old stepson, Charles Edward Cotton with a fatal dose of arsenic. 

It is undeniable that Mary Ann Cotton was a wretched and sickeningly wrong woman for what she’s accused of, but It should be known as well much of her story is not known. Between the years of 1865 and 1872 it is publicly believed to be the time period she committed her murders: 21 victims. Mary had 13 children of her own, but only two of those children survived to meet their adulthood. Margeret Edith, her youngest daughter she gave birth to during her trial and her son George Cotton, from a separate marriage where she lost custody of the child, are amongst the only “happy endings” of the long strand of Mary’s wrath of calamity. All 11 other Children died from illness, illnesses she concealed by “the arsenic in the wallpaper” disguise. Along with them, were the 4 husbands (William Mowbray, George Ward, James Robinson and Frederick Cotton) 2 of her lovers (who remain unidentified) and the rest, chalked up to victims of the 1858 Bradford Poisoning Incident. 

Apart from an average early 19th century upbringing, Mary Ann suffered a difficult childhood, Her parents identified in the working class and were relatively frugal as she grew up, Her mom often was too ill to work and her father was a miner. She grew to hate them, especially her father who was incredibly strict and dominating towards her and her brother. Mary Ann was limited from church events and evening parties and because of these conditions, she never made many friends; Therefore, causing Mary Ann to become isolated with her resentment.. In 1848, when Mary Ann was only eleven, her father Michael Robson died from a workplace mining accident. His body was quite literally brought home on a wheelbarrow, in a sack marked “Property of the South Hetton Coal Company''.  It is said by many sources, Cotton was a very private woman and something as personal as mournfulness and depression, would not be mentioned by even the people most close to her. Her mix between grief and anger may have confused the young woman, creating a cocktail of spite and overall very negative perceptions of Human Nature and sense of Morality. At only 14, Mary Ann dropped out of school to practice nursing. Mary Ann’s first taste of independence was her job as a “Culinary Manager '' at South Hetton, her only shot at adulthood was chores, cleaning, and nursing children. Because Mary Ann was denied her dreams to escape the Mining District, she was urged into a low-income, low-status job, causing her to hate Children and the knowledge they lacked, to understand the sacrifices made by adults. Mary Ann retired home three years later to pursue a career in dress making and at 19-20 years old married a Colliery laborer William Nowbray, before soon becoming pregnant with their first child. 

Additionally, what may have been secretly damaging to Mary Ann was growing up in such a deeply strict household, a Methodist atmosphere. Her father was extremely strict and soon after his death, Mary Ann witnessed her mother grow tired of the financial abandonment. When Mary Ann’s mother, Margeret’s new husband moved into the house-Mary Ann left. Maybe there was something disgraceful in the mind of Mary Ann about the overwhelming structure of a family life and starting a family of her own, would be just as miserable. During Mary-Ann’s first marriage the young couple fled almost as far away as north-east they could go without leaving England. Before Mary Ann was even 24 years old, she already had 4 children. We only know about these children because of a death certificate, discovered for Margaret Jane Mowbray, born in June of 1855 in a local St.Germans Hospital. But the previous children are shrouded in mystery. Little Margaret Jane died, and the death certificate would actually disprove any position, It was in reality, labeled as Scarlatina (Scarlet Fever), fairly common among the Mining communities, that Mary Ann actually took considerable measures to avoid. Colliery doctor Samuel Broadbent, who made the diagnosis, could have easily mistaken the symptoms of Scarlet fever for Arsenic poisoning, but any evidence is slim to none, except for the red rash on the young child’s body which is unique to that illness, a bacterial fungal infection. 

Even during the process of analyzing Margerret Jane’s death, Mary Ann was already conceiving again, now they’ve already produced 8 children (ranked in age under 8 years old) - Isabella, Margaret Jane (another Margaret Jane), Robert, William, John and a Newborn, Elizabeth. But soon one of them-Baby John was dead at just a year old, as having died from Diarrhea (a common symptom of Arsenic poisoning). The death of three children in such rapid succession and all in one household but Victorian Medicine did as good as nothing to treat typhoid and cholera, same as Scarlatina and Smallpox, which was assumed to be the cause of demise for most of the children. In Consideration, Victorian England was the place of poverty was endemic, birth control was misunderstood and Abortion illegal, many Women, Unfortunately resorted to infanticide. Apparently, children being murdered by their own mother, was far from uncommon. In 1849 a Wiltshire Woman called Rebecca Smith killed eight of her children only because she feared they would grow up to be raging, abusive alcoholics, like their father- so they died from starvation and ruinous neglect, A similar slow death, to arsenic poisoning. Without giving any forgiveness to Mary Anne for her disgraces, she may have suffered from postpartum depression and/or psychosis which often coexisted, especially if she didn’t purposely murder her first daughter. In Modern Medicine, it is commonly believed that postpartum depression stems from the drastic hormonal changes during and after childbirth. Decreased estrogen and progesterone levels place the body into a sudden hormonal shift, and this abrupt change in hormone levels often triggers emotional repercussions, the constant switch from becoming pregnant, losing a child and another and then additionally becoming pregnant again, may cause serious psychological damages. 

As a matter of fact, Arsenic was widely produced in most general stores during this time, used in agriculture as ingredients in insecticides, rat poisons, herbicides and wood preservatives, as well as pigments in paints, wallpaper and ceramics, sometimes even mixed with porcelain, metals and molded to be used as furniture, lamp shades. Many toxic substances we discontinued to use today, were accepted casually in the 19th-century, such as opium, cocaine, lead and even Radium, of course one it was discovered in 1898. Historically speaking, on Halloween of 1858, a mistake was made when two men in a common trading company met. Goddard (a young assistant to a pharmacist) sold 12 pounds (5.4 kg) of arsenic to a sweet shop Candyman, James Appleton. The mistake remained undetected even during manufacture of the sweets by James Appleton, an "experienced sweet maker", though Appleton did observe that the finished product looked different from the usual humbugs (a hard candy with classic white stripes and a coating of sugar). Appleton was suffering symptoms during the sweet-making process and was unwell for several days, with watery vomiting, a headache and pain in his hands and arms. 40 pounds (18 kg) of lozenges were sold to Hardaker who also noticed the sweets looked unusual. This distribution of Candy killed up to 21 people, Approximately, the same victim count to Mary Ann’s crimes. What a coincidence! Mary Ann’s name is often tossed around in these cases, whether she was involved in some way. 

Subsequently, The Husbands were chosen for their Wealth, with Obvious consideration into their financial stability, she wanted but could not get access to because her limits being a Woman in Victorian England. But the selection of the Children she would kill, would be an entirely different rabbit hole. “The Black Widow” was a stereotypical name used to define Women who take off from lover after lover, when they mysteriously die, they usually “kill off” and “take off” usually for the purpose of money, sometimes Sympathy and Attention, oftentimes both. While Mary Ann was still taking nursing inquiries, Parish official-Thomas Riley asked her to help nurse a woman who was dying from Smallpox, but she complained that she wouldn't be able to focus on her nursing duties with her Stepson- 7-year-old Charles Edward Cotton, making noise and causing a disturbance as Children tend to do. This is when Mary Ann led the conversation to her desire to put Charles into the factory warehouse, even suggesting he’s good at counting. Then, Riley suggested that Charles seems unwell, appearing pale and even Lethargic, to which Mary Ann said the infamous- “I won’t be troubled long, He’ll go just like all the rest of the Cottons.” This Comment bothered Riley so much he reported it to the local Police, but not before, only 3 weeks later- the innocent little boy would die from his illness. English Pathologist- William Myers Kibum who once treated the child, kept samples of his urine, which was used by Dr. Thomas Scattergood, lecturer in forensic medicine and Toxicology at the Leeds School of Medicine. Mary was found to have at least bought a 14. oz bottle of Arsenic to use in the Cotton home, disproving her “wallpaper” excuse. 

Finally, Mary Ann was found to be guilty and was hanged March 24th, 1873, publicly. Hangings of Women were rare in the UK. They specifically designed it to be a humiliating and slow process, she apparently struggled for 3 minutes before she went still. The tradition went that the body would stay hanging for an hour before it was taken down. A cast was made of Mary Ann’s lifeless face and was submitted to the Phrenological societies of Hartle pool and Edinburgh. Doubts still stand about whether Mary Ann Cotton was actually even guilty at all. The murders of the 7 people Mary Ann were supposed to have killed have never been investigated at all, outside of just generalized assumptions, the only liable evidence was her track record, and supposed Provocative comment made towards Thomas Riley. As if to demonstrate the legal system Mary Ann was faced with, was not desperate to reform itself, much more can be said to counteract the claim that Mary Ann ever had more than bad luck when it came to the mortality that constantly confronted her. If she killed any at all, how many? There was never any confession coming from Mary Ann., but she did write a series of letters on death row that asserted her innocence, lamented the supposed mistakes she had made, to lead to such accusations, begging friends and relatives to Help her situation. The Trial defence was handled by Thomas Campbell Foster, who argued that Charles had died from inhaling arsenic used as a dye in the green wallpaper of the Cotton home, like she said time and time as the allegations thickened. The same doctor that secured Charles samples- Dr. William Myers Kilbum testified that there was no other powder on the same shelf in the chemist's shop as the arsenic, only liquid; the chemist himself claimed that there were other powders. 

Ultimately, Mary Ann was a detached child, the relationship with parents or guardians is crucial to a basic upbringing. She subsequently became anti-social, unaffected and oblivious to emotions completely. Her mix between grief and anger may have confused the young woman, creating a cocktail of spite and overall very negative perceptions of Human Nature and sense of Morality. Not every pretty mother is who they seem. 

Sources:

• Morton, David. “The County Durham ‘Dark Angel’ Who Poisoned to Death up to 17 People in Victorian Times.” ChronicleLive, 20 Sept. 2021, www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/history/gallery/county-durham-dark-angel-who-21617676.

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• The Evidence. www.maryanncotton.co.uk/EvidencePage1.html.

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• “Dying for a Humbug, the Bradford Sweets Poisoning 1858.” Historic UK, 22 Sept. 2021,www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Dying-for-Humbug-the-Bradford-Sweets-Poisoning-1858.

• Devlin, Amanda. “Who Was Mary Ann Cotton and How Many People Did She Kill?...” The Sun, 11 July 2017, www.thesun.co.uk/news/2094755/who-was-mary-ann-cotton-and-how-many-people-did-she-kill.

black swan (2010) video essay script

 Introduction: 

Black Swan is a 2010 drama-psychological film, directed by Darren Aronofsky and written by Mark Heyman, John McLaughlin, and Andres Heinz but predominantly Andres Heinz based on a story he wrote long before the screenplay was produced. The film stars Natalie Portman (as Nina), Vincent Cassel (as Thomas), Mila Kunis (as Lily), Barbara Hershey (As Nina’s mom, Erica), and Winona Ryder (as the original swan queen) the entire layout of the film is about the production of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake by the New York City Ballet company but really it focuses on Nina, the protagonist and her journey conforming into the Swan Queen, a role she’s wanted all her life. But can she handle this role? Or did she set herself up to fail? Let’s talk about it. Before we get started, this video essay will obviously have spoilers and pretty difficult topics such as bulimia, anorexia, sexual harrasment, rape, self-harm behaviors, sucidal tendancies, schizophrenia hallucinations, panic attacks and suicide. If any of these may be a threat to you, I would suggest you stop watching now. Please make the best choice for yourself. I’ll be breaking this video essay down into 4 sociology concepts that are presented throughout the film, and then making a final conclusion at the end. 

-The Infantilization of Women 

Nina (the protagonist) is purposely presented to the audience to act and seem younger than her real age which is expected to be between 22 to 26 years old, she’s very shy, innocent and easily swayed by her emotions. She lives in a very traditionally girly room with her mother in a small new york city apartment. Because Nina is presented to be a very fragile and vulnerable character, it makes her a target immediately by her peers and by her dancing instructor that eventually casts Nina to be the Swan Queen. She fits the role of the Swan Queen well, but he's not entirely her if she has the courage and ability to be the black swan too. The Concept of female infantilization is a tricky slope to go down, especially considering how normalized it is everyday and everywhere we go. According to https://www.theverdictonline.org/post/the-infantilization-of-women-in-mainstream-media-and-society “A women’s physique in this day and age is steeped in the infantilization of femininity, with one of the seminal examples being that of the adornment of a hairless body. The association of femininity with docility and dependence relays the infantilization of women and the hair removal plays on this conception of women as childish and/or immature. The idea of a hairless body being feminine is inherently infantilizing since it imitates the body of a prepubescent girl and directly ties femininity to physical appearance.” it gets weirder the more you think about it. Let’s talk just about Nina’s relationship with her Mother, Erika. In the perspective of Nina, she seems to be overprotective, precarious and restrictive. Nina doesn't feel comfortable sharing most of her struggles with her mother, because she knows Erika will remind her that the Swan Queen role was always a bad idea. Although Erika makes some poor decisions too, I think she’s actually very misunderstood. According to Interesting Movie Theory: What Is Going on Between Nina and Her Mom In 'Black Swan'? (slashfilm.com) Nina is believed to suffer from paranoid Schizophrenia, hence why she’s still taken care of by her mother as an adult. “Let's assume for the moment that Erica always knew that Nina was a mentally unstable paranoid schizophrenic since the time when Nina was quite young. Sometimes in these situations, where a mother is caring for a mentally ill child the child's life needs to be strictly regimented and controlled in order to maintain stability. This could be the reason why Erica feels the need to restrict Nina's movements and social interactions. It explains why Erica is so protective over Nina as she receives her new, intense role as the white/black swan. It also explains the stuffed animals and other infantilizing elements that are peppered throughout Nina's room and apartment.” 

-Shame in Competition/ The Arch Enemy trope 

The dark side of competition: How competitive behavior and striving to avoid inferiority are linked to depression, anxiety, stress and self-harm | Request PDF (researchgate.net) 

Modern Adult Ballet is without a doubt without fierce competition from Regional to National Level so it’s well known, Nina’s role will play with enormous pressure. In the biggest most famous city of the country. She’s expected to be the best version of a dancer he has ever been in her life. As the climax builds up, the closer we get to the big debut of Swan Lake. It’s more than a production, it's the biggest event in Nina’s life. She’s dedicated too much of herself to a role, we never are really confident she was ready for in the first place. Nina’s mental deterioration is

mainly caused and prolonged from the tight and brutal pressure she’s under. But most of all, she’s afraid of being replaced. She’s constantly consumed in the worry that she’s not good enough. She knows she’s unfit for the demand of the role but she wants it so much, anyone that challenges her, will be her worst nightmare. That’s why Lily is the antagonist, making an accurate depiction of the Arc-Enemy trope in Cinema Arts. Because Nina is not confident in the place she won fairly with her talent she’s willing to do anything it takes to preserve her title. Lily attempts to befriend Nina, whether her intentions are authentic or not is up for debate, but when Nina accepts the request to go out with her to the club, Lily takes advantage of Nina. Nina is in the perfect place to be taken control of because she’s overwhelmed, confused, naive and on the brink of a soon to be psychotic break. Lily waits for Nina to go to the bathroom for her to slip sedatives in Nina’s drink. Nina comes back and watches as she does this, and proceeds to drink the spiked alcohol, and gets taken advantage of all night. Nina is an unreliable narrator because it is shown to us as an audience that she sleeps with Lily and the night ends with a horrible argument with her mother and schizophrenia induced hallucinations that Lily is transformed into a dark and evil version of herself. She wakes up with her mother beside her bed asleep as if she’s been up all night suffering from episodes. 

-Perfection is imperfect 

The biggest moral presented to the audience is the reiteration that perfection is all a girl wants. Though it’s unachievable, it somehow must always be expected. 

Nina herself says “i just want to be perfect’ and fatally, at the end of the film when she drops onto the mattress after a jaw-dropping performance she admits “i was perfect” before ultimately dying. From refusing to eat the celebration cake that her mother buys her and purging to maintain her ballerina weight, we're a witness to her food guilt as well as her bulimic tendencies. Combined with her performance anxiety, stress from living with an overprotective mother, and hints at self-harm, her mental health struggles have a large hand in contributing to Nina's psychosis that she experiences throughout the movie. This movie is basically the rough proof that there is essentially nothing more dangerous than the price of perfection. It gets tragic when the audience realizes that Nina really did dance perfectly, but not without a grueling exposition and horrible downfall of complicated drama. She was groomed, she was abused and she was isolated within herself. One question is raised when Nina hallucinates about killing Lily, when we realize if she didn't really kill Lily, who did she kill? She killed herself. The price of perfection is life itself. According to PsychologyToday- “Perfectionism is driven primarily by internal pressures, such as the desire to avoid failure or harsh judgment. There is likely a social component as well, because perfectionistic tendencies have increased substantially among young people over the past 30 years, regardless of gender or culture. Greater academic and professional competition is thought to play a role, along with the pervasive presence of social media and the harmful social comparisons it elicits.” 

-The “good girl/bad girl” complex 

In a patriarchy or any suppressive societal standard, there exists a black and white concept making it both very hard and very easy to disobey (take that as you will). The Black Swan, specifically, is constructed to portray the effects a patriarchy has on young, vulnerable women already suffering from mental illnesses and other complications. According to bethany webster.com- “A common mask is the mask of the “good girl”. The one who is focused on pleasing others, getting approval, over-functioning in relationships, and performing emotional labor for those in their families. For these little girls, external approval meets survival. Their basic sense of safety is linked to being liked. This ideology sets them up for low self-esteem, poor boundaries and a deep sense of shame. In dysfunctional families, “good girls'' are praised for being invisible, staying quiet and for their willingness to tolerate poor treatment. They are often rejected or abandoned when they say no and their desire for autonomy is shamed.” I couldn't agree more with this article. Nina is a character, yes but there are many Nina’s out there, some of their stories nown and some of their stories unknown.