Oh Marvel, Why

Peter Parker can be nearly anyone. That's a part of his charm. He's been remade a number of times. His personality is malleable. And Spider-Man is not always Peter Parker. In essence anyone can be behind the mask. But Spider-Man nearly always tries to be the good guy (or girl in the case of Mattie Franklin that one time she posed as Spider-Man.)

Peter Parker is not gay. He has never been depicted as being queer. He's had long-term girlfriends and a wife (sometimes a daughter.) I recently stumbled on an article by the Huffington Post, which lays out a leaked legal agreement between Marvel and Sony Pictures. In the document it is reveled that Peter Parker cannot be a homosexual.

While I have never expected Peter Parker to be gay or necessarily want him to be gay. But he represents a queer perspective for me.  In the clip below from Modern Family, Mitchel lays out his feelings on Spider-Man at the 2:52 mark:

http://abc.go.com/shows/modern-family/video/pl5520993/VDKA0_gtckp8k1

“Spider-Man, he… he spoke to me. I… I think it's because it's about this nerdy kid who has this special secret side of himself that he can't share with anybody, and… and that's how I always felt. Spider-Man made me feel like it was okay to be different. And... It made me fee tough enough to… to get through the rough times."

As a straight character, he could have indefinitely continued to represent a queer perspective; however with the leaked agreement, it is clear that Peter Parker cannot be gay. So to reiterate I'm not troubled by the fact that Peter is straight; I am troubled by the declared fact that he cannot be gay.

After 20 years of reading the Amazing Spider-Man, I finally found out who Spider-Man cannot be: Me.

I found out that there is no Santa Clause around age 3, so I don't remember what it was like finding out (my guess is that I didn't care because I still got presents from mom and dad)... perhaps this is the closest to it that I'll feel. Or maybe it's more like checking a jug of milk and finding it's gone bad, you're going to drink milk again once you get a new jug, but... ugh.

I'm disappointed in learning this. In the back of my brain I always knew these were the rules to Peter Parker, it's just frustrating that it was leaked. I love Marvel comics. The only DC character that I really like is Ollie Queen. Marvel has a social conscious. They have always championed human rights and have been along time ally for the gay community.

It's also not like they intended for this to get out. And any controversial statements from Marvel that I have noticed seem to have been in response to this leak.

I guess the moral of the story is be careful of what you say even behind closed doors, and perhaps Roland Barthes was right: don't listen to the artist.

Below is a list of what Spider-Man and Peter Parker can and cannot be. Please note that under murderer and directly below pedophile, Spider-Man cannot be a homosexual:

a. Mandatory Spider-Man Character Traits. 
Spider-Man (whether Peter Parker or an alternative Spider-Man character) must always strictly conform to the following “Mandatory Character Traits”:
• Male
• Does not torture*
• Does not kill unless in defense of self or others*
• Does not use foul language beyond PG-13
• Does not smoke tobacco*
• Does not sell/distribute illegal drugs*
• Does not abuse alcohol*
• Does not have sex before the age of 16, does not have sex with anyone below the age of 16
• Not a homosexual (unless Marvel has portrayed that alter ego as homosexual)

b. Peter Parker Character Traits. Depiction of Peter Parker or his Spider-Man alter ego must conform to the following character traits: • His full name is Peter Benjamin Parker. • He is Caucasian and heterosexual. • His parents become absent from his life during his childhood. • From the time his parents become absent he is raised by his Aunt May and Uncle Ben in New York City • He gains his powers while attending either middle school or college. • He gains his powers from being bitten by a spider • He designs his first red and blue costume. • The black costume is a symbiote and is not designed by him • He is raised in a middle class household in Queens, New York • He attends or attended high school in Queens, New York, and he attends or attended college in New York City, New York.

Alright done for now.


Liam '15

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

Ted Nugent, Butt Pirate?!

Yeah it looks like someone wants attention. And apparently Ted Nugent didn't commit suicide in 2012 like he promised. Eye roll.

Well... President Obama did attend Trinity United Church of Christ for around 16 years...  so yay excuse to republish this image!

And remember to yo ho blow the man down, just not Ted Nugent. The idea of him naked makes my dick shrivel and my asshole clench.


Liam '15

Happy Talk like a Pirate Day

In honor of International Talk like a Pirate Day, I created this flag to celebrate a certain kind of pirate. I'm talkin' 'bout Butt Pirates of course.

The Jolly Jassper

Go get some booty!


Liam '15