MOVIE: Emilia Pérez (2024)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Emilia PérezYear: 2024Rating: RLength: 132 minutes / 2.20 hours I know it takes some time for certain themes to work their way through the cinematic zeitgeist so that they are more accepted by the public. For a decade or more, Best Picture nominated films pushed LGBTQ+ ideas that were meant to be shocking to the cis-white majority of Americans. That controversy has died down, but with the current political landscape pushing anti-trans (the “T” in LGBTQ+) rhetoric, it was only a matter of time until it once again had the spotlight. Unfortunately, Emilia Pérez (2024) feels like a tone-deaf compromise that feeds off negative stereotypes of trans people and Latinos. While I’ll admit that a crime lord changing genders to escape heat from the authorities is a unique take for a plot, it emphasizes the idea that people only change genders so they can escape consequences or get a pass to do bad things (like assault women in bathrooms). The bigger problem...
Read More

BOOK: How to Talk to Your Cat About Gun Safety (2016)

by benmweilert1 Comment
How to Talk to Your Cat About Gun SafetyYear: 2016Author: Zachary AuburnLength: 144 pages I had seen this book cover on the internet a few years ago and found it to be an amusing concept. When I ran across the paperback version of this book at a thrift store, I bought it and gave it a read. Presented by the fictional "American Association of Patriots," How to Talk to Your Cat About Gun Safety is a satire parody of right-wing and evangelical pamphlets that seek to inform readers of the "right" way to do something. In this case, talk to your cat about gun safety. This book is actually a collection of a few different pamphlets that cover a variety of topics, including safety for guns, sex, online, and the apocalypse. To its credit, if you didn't realize this was satire, you'd think this book was being serious. Perhaps this is more an indictment of how crazy some people have become since...
Read More