Thoughts on violence and empathy in Marvel's The Punisher

I initially set out just to review a television series; what ended up happening was a lot broader than I could have imagined. I still don't have any firm answers, but much of what facilitated my curiosity in how the violence was used in this show stemmed at least in part from how I have reacted positively to what I considered to be personally relevant (fictional) violence in the past--the primal rage that guided the actions of Kill Bill's Beatrix Kiddo. When each of my children was born, I felt such a fierce, protective love for them that I completely understood the idea that a mother could react with violence at someone's harming her kids; even though I don't think I would be able to hurt someone who hurt my child, I think it would occur to me to do so and thus I found Tarantino's acknowledgement of it validating. Over the top and again, acknowledged through fiction, but validating. I don't know if this series can achieve the same kind of validation for those who may find it personally relevant, and I don't think I could, in good faith, ask someone who might find it personally relevant to watch it. 

In any case, I suppose if Ebert can review The Human Centipede, I can review this.


The Punisher (2017)
starring: Jon Bernthal, Amber Rose Revah, 
Ben Barnes
creator: Steve Lightfoot

"After the murder of his family, Marine veteran Frank Castle became a vigilante known as "The Punisher" with only one goal in mind, to avenge them." (summary by IMDB).

Shane Walsh: The Good Bad Guy

I came to this series the way I've come to a lot of recent ones, through Jeffrey Dean Morgan's Twitter recommendations. I haven't read many graphic series, but the one I have experience with (Kirkman's TWD) put me in a good position to at least approach this show with curiosity. Fans of the television series already know Jon Bernthal as the ill-fated Shane Walsh from The Walking Dead, and if you were left wanting more from him, this show delivers it and then some. 

This is not to say that this is a program for everyone, even fans of the Marvel Universe, it's really not. It's very explicit. No superpowers, no magic stones, and no real optimism to speak of, it's a mostly plausible tale of government corruption and military trauma and is presented in a raw, unapologetic way. To be completely honest, this show might be the most violent thing I've ever seen on television to date in the form(s) of gun violence, hand-to-hand fighting, stabbings, torture, military combat, assassination, vehicular assault, and terrorist-motivated explosions. 

The story takes you through a combat veteran's active duty experiences, the murder of his wife and children, the continuing corruption of the government agencies that sanctioned these events, and the difficulty many other veterans have in reconciling their past military actions with their current civilian lives.

Can a show with all this still be a worthwhile experience? It really depends. My initial responses were either a firm "no" or a somewhat wavering "maybe." If you enjoy Marvel comics but can't handle extreme violence, then no. Definitely not. If you've experienced any of the previously described violent acts firsthand, then also no. If you're able to stomach it and to put the violence in its context, then maybe. There are a few supporting plot lines that do a little in providing slightly positive challenges for the narrative such as a member-organized support group for veterans, another insider-ally who has faked his own death to protect his family, and an Iranian-American Homeland Security officer who takes on her own department and several others in order to uncover the corruption and abuse that Frank is avenging. It's hard to know how much is too much with a topic like this given the fact that our troops' time in Afghanistan hasn't really ended yet; presenting a fictional situation in the middle of a very real, ongoing conflict comes off as crossing a lot of lines, no matter how comic-book loyal or over the top they tried to keep it, however, it does accomplish a level of empathy for our servicemen and women and builds awareness that more is needed in order to support them throughout their service. 

Also: BEN BARNES. 

Speaking to the technique of the series of course seems a little dismissive after working out all of my complicated feelings about the fact that this even exists as a work of art, but I think still think it matters. Overall I found the experience of this show to be a combination of something like the procedural feel of Kathryn Bigelow (such as in The Hurt Locker or Zero Dark Thirty) meeting the more reality-based aesthetics and violence of Quentin Tarantino (such as Inglourious Basterds or The Hateful Eight). 

Bernthal's portrayal of the character was very much downplayed; he seemed quiet and sullen for his deliveries suggesting a cold, controlled, beaten-down kind of soldier, which he absolutely was. It almost felt like he put a lot of TWD's Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) into his lines, doing them as straightly as an Englishman portraying a Southern boy would do. 

The music was extremely well-matched to the dark content of the narrative and many times included driving percussion and sweeping chord progressions to set the tone for danger as well as jarring, electric guitar chords to herald Frank's entrance into situations and to present him as a threat, a badass, and ultimately the victor in every situaton. The opening credits introduction (shown below) is really quite good but don't be fooled by the folksy guitar--things are bad and get much, much worse. It's hard to know what else to say. I can't really recommend it, but should you take it on, just tread lightly and look into the pillow once you hear the metal guitar or the skull shirt comes onto the scene.




I had a "Who is this for," and "Who shouldn't watch this" all written out and ready but I deleted it. Just proceed with caution and know your limits. 

All the Updates

I tried to take a picture out the front and back doors as so to document the fact that it is snowing today, October the 27th, 2017, but the camera on my phone couldn't capture it and I thought posting a picture with superimposed snow (even though it is happening) would be a fake, cheater thing to do.

I've never not loved the piano.

Someone asked me today where my film review of It was, which means that this one person must have enjoyed my film reviews at some point over the years and therefore this validates me as a person, as a writer, and as someone who paid for and is still paying for a (mostly useless) film degree. The truth is, I haven't done many film reviews because I took a full-time job two years ago with Americorps as a reading tutor, and then just last May started full-time graduate school at Augsburg University for a masters degree in music therapy, which is to say my spare moments are all pretty much spoken for. In addition to piano, my at-one-time major instrument, and violin, my at-another-time second major instrument that's been left to sit way too long, I'm learning guitar, ukulele, and . . . (shhhhhh) voice. The interesting thing about this is the fact that my voice is not particularly ideal for singing, it's low and nasally, so more equipped for things like humming, ranting, or annoying people but it's coming along.

The education piece been exciting, challenging, and at times, very scary, but I really do love it, and have found myself more than once appreciating all the years of writing at Iowa's Summer Writing Festival and The LOFT Literary Center, because as it turns out, graduate school, even for music, is a shit ton of writing. Although in an interesting side note I'll add that chemistry, biology, and anatomy (all prerequisites for my admission) did not draw upon any writing, liberal arts, or narrative-based skills at all, and having to re-learn how to be tested on solid, scientific facts was somewhat of an adventure for someone whose main scholastic efforts tended to be, "GOOD ENOUGH," or "ALL MY BULLSHIT SOUNDS LEGITIMATE WHEN WRITTEN OUT THUS," (see former).

Regardless of my life, work, and educational commitments, I have missed writing about film and television. I taught a film appreciation class for Minneapolis Community Ed for five years and had to bow out this semester, and I find myself missing that, too. Funny how the things you tell yourself are too much seem to find their ways back to you if they're important enough.

We've started The Walking Dead and everyone loves it, especially the dynamics between Rick and Negan, which are admittedly very graphic, very unpredictable, and kinda sick. Here's the reason I'm okay with it: YOU CAN USUALLY ACCEPT AN ENEMY AS LONG AS THEY HAVE A SOMEWHAT WINNING/UNSTABLE-YET-NOT-ABRASIVE PERSONALITY. And I think a bit of comedy is also necessary. Some favorite examples:

  Howard Payne in Speed. Intelligent (he makes bombs), mildly unstable, but high on the comedy factor. Loved this guy.

  Bobby Peru in Wild at Heart. Not terribly smart, quite abrasive, and extremely unstable but enough comedy to carry him through (and by comedy in a David Lynch film I mean grotesquerie.) 

  Annie Wilkes in Misery. This bitch is crazy AF but still finds time to play with her pet pig, listen to Liberace records, and watch The Love Connection. Bonus points for being a dedicated fiction reader.

There's just something about a bad guy/girl who manages to entertain you while being bad. You don't necessarily root for them, but you get a little excited when they come on. This isn't always the case; there have been tons of terrible, disgusting villains that you really just wish would piss off and die. Scorpio in Dirty Harry, Martin Keamy in LOST, or Ramsay Bolton in Game of Thrones. Gross, abrasive, and no redeeming qualities therefore prompting wild applause in their respective deaths. Do you have any favorite villains? Or any you absolutely hated? I'd love to talk more about this, Walking Dead, or any other similar topics!

I don't like you, Negan, but I don't want you to go, either.

Tomorrow, I'll talk about It: why I loved it and why I took the family to it.

Miscellaneous Wins; The Walking Dead, Turn of the Screw, Spartacus

Poor horse. . . 

The Walking Dead, created by Frank Darabont.

So Zombies, finally! I hesitated for a very long time in taking on this show, partly because I'm already committed to so fricking many, but partly also because I knew it would scare me (I won't watch 28 Days Later ever again, nor its sequel because I'm chicken). But, This. Was. Amazing. I'm gonna gush now:

1. One of my favorite sort of characters is an able, attractive policeman (coming in just behind an able, attractive firefighter). This show has one, and damn. There is something ridiculously thrilling about a man with authority having to kick ass or prove himself (Clint Eastwood and Sylvester Stallone choose these roles often and play them skillfully)---and here, Sheriff's Deputy Rick Grimes succeeds. Every time he takes a gun out I get giddy. Bonus for the patriotic theme that peppered the first episode----framed artwork (not Jasper Johns, but a cleaner, more Oprah version of something of his) in the Grimes house on the wall, and American flags throughout the police station. Zombies (Godless, flesh-eating, maniacs with no souls) are very un-American, after all, so what better to unite the country than a tribe of Americans taking them out with rifles? I LOVE IT.

2. The first episode opens with a crazy car chase/shootout, and then has Rick regaining consciousness in a hospital apparently long after the zombie apocalypse happens, stumbling around in a mostly empty town. This is like The Twilight Zone's "Where Is Everybody?" but, much more terrifying since instead of the military doing experiments on him, zombies want to eat him and his wife and son are missing. Whether these hell-creatures are off on their own shuffling around or in groups, they're horrid. Thanks for the nightmares.




3. Morgan and Duane, a father/son pair, have to not only hide out from the zombies casing their house but deal with the fact that one of them is their recently departed wife/mother. Duane's crying into a pillow after seeing her through a window was bad enough, but when Morgan plans to take her out from an upstairs window (with a photograph of her in her smiling, human form hung on the ledge as motivation) and sobs as he can't bring himself to pull the trigger . . . Jeez. There always has to be a parent/child aspect in zombie stories, doesn't there? I could be selfish and wish there wouldn't be, but those closeups, those human connections, and all that emotion just wouldn't be there, then, and a lot of the urgency would be lost. Ask a parent what their worst fear is and it will be some variation of losing his or her child(ren); I'd say losing a child and then dealing with the zombie version of them (or becoming a zombie oneself while a child is in one's care) blows that one right out of the water. Yuck.

What a show.

yikes!

Turn of the Screw (and other short stories), 1898, by Henry James.

I don't know exactly how to describe these stories as "winning," exactly, as I believe it took me nearly an entire year to finish them and it felt like physical labor every step of the way---but they were very much worth the trouble. But make no mistake----he's treacherously difficult to read, this man, and sometimes my head would hurt with all the effort. For instance:

"My perambulations had given me, meanwhile, no glimpse of him, but they had tended to make more public the change taking place in our relation as a consequence of his having at the piano, the day before, kept me, in Flora's interest, so beguiled and befooled."

And it's literally all like that, every story, 90% of the sentences, the entire book. The fucking commas were out of control. But after probably the fourth story (there were eight) I kind of got used to it and could enjoy whatever the Christ he was blathering about, mostly. The Turn of the Screw is clearly the best in the collection, and genius for what it implies (but never actually confirms), which is most likely child abuse or pedophile behavior. The story scared me very much, mostly in how it had its two enemies hovering around here and there, in all sorts of creepy, disquieting ways. This too, felt to me very much like The Twilight Zone, and how sometimes those enemies would be subtle in their threats, just sort of waiting or lingering, but obviously much, much darker in theme.

I recommend the story highly, but you'll need a lot of patience.

My husband has been strangely giddy and optimistic
since Illythia's triumphant return . . . 

3. Spartacus, Vengeance.

The new Spartacus (Liam McIntyre) is a good one, though every fan of the show's thoughts were obviously on Andy Whitfield and being conflicted about accepting the new guy . . . he's going to be just fine. What better way to come back with a bang than to TEAR UP A WHOREHOUSE, uh, during business hours, as it were. Jeez.

Ilythia is pregs; Lucretia is no longer pregs but alive; Oenomaus is hunted with the rest of the gladiators (where is Ashur?) and Crixus wants his girl back. Spartacus and Mira are now a confirmed item (boo!). Aurellia is out (good riddance, I couldn't stand her). Who were those fools in the arena, and how much longer until Gannicus comes back?

Fridays just got hot again.