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@kalviter@hol.ogra.ph
2026-07-15 09:06 UTC
Has anyone else here watched The Substance?
i was quite disappointed by it tbh - i really liked how it started but i felt a lot like it didn't trust me to get the point on my own. So much revisitation, so many things either told or so obviously shown you might as well be telling.
Like "process that makes you hot and young but its excruciating and yucky" is a great metaphor for so many things about the U.S. obsession with aging and youth, but i felt like we missed out on so many more interesting story ideas because of the hyperfocus on "wow isn't this excruciating and yucky?" I got it the first time. Maybe let's have a more honest conversation about where the desire to do that to yourself comes from than just "men are gross and perverts" (which they totally are but you could easily talk about whyyyyyy)
Replies (1)
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Watched "Shell" today and i actually liked it more! i felt like it trusted us to get the point about "wow aren't beauty standards rough" and tried to explore the systems that benefit from that a bit more. What does it mean to be the one providing the treatments, and how does it warp your perspective on things like feminism and progress? How does the beauty/power hierarchy affect the relationships between women? Shell at least has a crack at thinking about it, and I didn't get that from the Substance.
also i thought the decision to film it like an older 90's movie and all the aesthetics were gorgeous :cryign: like the weird watch phones and the retrofuturistic cars just gave it such a weird, ethereal feel
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