Algol: Tragedy of Power

In my quest to better-fy the internet, I have translated a film from German that was until recently considered lost. Algol: Eine Tragödie der Macht was directed by Hans Werckmeister in 1920.

As a heads up this film is not queer in any real way (well besides the fact that expressionism speaks to me as a gay man.)

Please watch this film (a copy is posted below) and read my criticism of it.

If you speak German and you think some of my translations are shit, please gently let me know where I go wrong. It's been a while since I've done any real work with German... so yeah.



Now that  that's over, without further adieu, I present Algol: Tragedy of Power.

So did you watch it yet? Thank you if you did.

I want to preface my remarks by saying that I in fact enjoyed this film. I think it is an interesting concept with beautiful scenery.

With that in mind, this film falls flat. I like it, but I know that it misses in places.  It's a sci-fi version of Faust, which if it would have been executed properly would have been one of the best movies in history. Particularly since it pre-dates Murnau's Faust.

The scenery is fun and is often in the mode of German Expressionism.

The plot is sloppy, it lacks a consistent voice, and it overreaches at times. After Mephistopheles the demon Algol gives Faust Robert Herne the perpetual energy machine,  Algol's purpose is next to pointless.

If Herne's perpetual energy is corrupted by humanity, class consciousness, and greed, then why is Algol necessary as the devilish, working-class provocateur.  Mephistopheles is perhaps in the top 10 literary characters of all time. It is painful to see a Mephistophelean character lack purpose after the bargain. We don't get a sense of motivation from the character. Algol is just evil.

The overarching theme is luddite/ conservative. Technology corrupts; let's go back to . Modern society is decadent and will be our downfall as represent through Reginald Herne (Robert's heir) and his bitch lover Yella Ward. The motherly/ worthy of love female characters are pure (sexually speaking) and rural. However city women are cock tease whore who demand power from their men for them to feed off of. It put it more concisely, it is the old Madonna/ Whore dichotomy without any nuance, complexity or cleverness.

Finally, my favorite part of silent films is that it forces the audience to develop the story. In this vein, silent films can be more similar to a paintings than "talkies." For me, the film answers questions that it shouldn't, and it doesn't address the questions that it should.


Liam '15

I Don't Want to be a Man

I posted this delightful short film:

Ossi Oswalda plays a young woman of means, who dislikes being treated like a woman. To remedy her situation, she decides to become a man. Holy shit, right?!  Cross dressing in 1918. Cabaret was not legal in Germany until the fall of the Prussian Empire (although this has as much to do with political censorship.)

Of course Ossi will find out being a man is not so easy. In exchange for money, power, respect, and dignity, men have to give up their seats to ladies on the train.  I mean what's the point of having a dick if you have get up to women. I do not get up to women. Alright, the bad pun is over.

Ok, so yes, this movie is problematic as a queer/feminist film. On one hand it is daring when you consider that movie was filmed in the twilight of the Victorian era. On the other hand, it reaffirms gender conventions. I don't want to give anything away in this post, so I will come back to this film with a more detailed vivisection.

Please watch this film if you haven't yet. It is fucking brilliant. Ossi is perhaps the most charming woman of her era.


Liam '15

Flapper Ninja: A Found Film

The fun thing about silent films is that you can easily change the inter-titles to make a brand new film.

So without further adieu Charlie Chaplin is the Flapper Ninja:

I thought this was funny as shit, but I sure others won't. Particularly I make several anime reference that are ultra nerdy.

Liam '15

New YouTube Channel

For the past little while I have been busy working on a side project, restoring and distributing public domain films. Awesome, I know. A lot of the films are created by queer folk or express gay themes. The channel is called The Flaming Vault, which is in reference to the 1937 Fox studio fire that destroyed 40,000 reels and wiped out the company's archive.

The Public Domain was established in the US Constitution with the Copyright Clause:

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.

Maybe one day I will write an article on why a future copyright extension should be viewed as unconstitutional, but the Supreme Court won't rule that way when congress pass the next extension sometime before 2019. Which reminds me Lessig 2016.

Anyway here is a promo for the channel:

As always the content is ad free on my end.


Liam '15

Bigotry by Any Other Name

Sorry about not posting much lately. Works been crazy. I thought this would be a fun little project that I thought up this morning.

Enjoy.



Liam '15

Puppet Theater: Obergefell v. Hodges Part 3

Part 3 of 3.

Liam '15

Puppet Theater: Obergefell v. Hodges Part 2

Part 2 of 3.

Notice how there is no Thomas puppet.


Liam '15

Puppet Theater: Obergefell v. Hodges Part 1

Liam '15

A Gay Reading of Lawrence v. Texas

Hey Look what I found on YouTube.

Some dickhead stole my voice, my image, and my childlike sense of humour. Oh, wait no, I was drunk again and decided it would be fun to post a video.

So go check it out if you fucking hate reading.

I'm planning on reading some of my favorite cases and doing my thing with them. So keep a look out for more.



Liam '14