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The Derek Halliday @dthalliday.bsky.social · 4h

FIRST BLOOD makes no attempt to say if the war was right or wrong, or say that those who fought in it were heroes...instead it just highlights how SHITTY the veterans were treated by when they came back...often scarred both physically and mentally, and without support or understanding.

The Derek Halliday @dthalliday.bsky.social · 4h

...but rather just takes the stance that he is a person with feelings, and that his feelings are VALID.

That it hurts to think you're doing good serving your country, only to return and find yourself reviled, rejected, and with no place in the world you left with the ambition to protect.

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The Derek Halliday @dthalliday.bsky.social · 4h

I like that the film does not glorify Rambo's violence (even though there is a bit of awe when it's revealed he's a Green Beret, and Creena really sells him as an unquenchable killing machine) in the end, or say that he's in the right...

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The Derek Halliday @dthalliday.bsky.social · 4h

Instead of running from all his feelings, or expressing them as tremendous, gory, violence...he finally accepts them and releases them in a torrent of vulnerable emotion, which leaves him pacified.

It's sort of WILD that they decided to just turn him into a soulless killing machine in the sequels.

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The Derek Halliday @dthalliday.bsky.social · 4h

...his pride and stubbornness, justifying his murderous killing spree as being justified because, "All I wanted was something to eat. They drew first blood."

And in the end, the solution to all of this dick-swinging bloodshed?

John Rambo breaks down and has a good, cathartic, cry.

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The Derek Halliday @dthalliday.bsky.social · 4h

...about what he's up against, and tells him that John Rambo will easily be able to kill an untold amount of untrained men, Teasle seems to take this as an offense to his manhood, and commits those men to DIE for his PRIDE.

But on the other side of it, is John Rambo, who is similarly motivated by..

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The Derek Halliday @dthalliday.bsky.social · 4h

And with DEADLY results.

Brian Denehy is particularly good as Sheriff Will Teasle, who comes off somewhat jovial when he feels his authority is unmatched, but becomes threatening and bitterly stubborn when it's challenged by John Rambo. Even when Richard Creena's Col. Trautman warns him...

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The Derek Halliday @dthalliday.bsky.social · 4h

What stands out most to me; as I mentioned previously; is that this is a film that makes a pretty great condemnation of toxic masculinity, as the entire tragic affair basically comes down to two men who are unable to let go of perceived slights against each other...and keep doubling down.

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The Derek Halliday @dthalliday.bsky.social · 4h

Coming back to this now that I've finished it, and I think that FIRST BLOOD is a fucking great film that aptly delivers on genre thrills with style and artistry, while also exploring a lot of deeper themes and ideas...including ones that I don't know it meant to.

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The Derek Halliday @dthalliday.bsky.social · 5h

Brian Benben is another underrated actor.

The Derek Halliday @dthalliday.bsky.social · 5h

Steven Weber is MASSIVELY underrated. I love that guy.

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The Derek Halliday @dthalliday.bsky.social · 5h

I really want to see this one. It's such a Larry Cohen premise, and man...you mean I get MICHAEL MORIARTY AND FAIRUZA BALK!?!?!

a cartoon of a chef with a needle in his mouth is playing at 4:32

ALT: a cartoon of a chef with a needle in his mouth is playing at 4:32

media.tenor.com

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The Derek Halliday @dthalliday.bsky.social · 5h

I really love the Mucha influence in many of his posters.

Joshua Dysart @joshuadysart.bsky.social · 6h

Drew Struzan posters you might not see others post today... rest in peace, king.

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Reposted by The Derek Halliday

Joshua Dysart @joshuadysart.bsky.social · 6h

Drew Struzan posters you might not see others post today... rest in peace, king.

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The Derek Halliday @dthalliday.bsky.social · 5h

I LOVED 13 GHOSTS OF SCOOBY-DOO as a kid...it legitimately TERRIFIED me.

Even the opening...just he OPENING...is fucking scary as shit for a little kid. >___<

Reposted by The Derek Halliday

Joshua Dysart @joshuadysart.bsky.social · 5h

This is a good thread. Authoritarianism hates satire, silliness, and surrealism. But it has to be framed against authoritarian imagery to be meaningful.

talia jane ❤️‍🔥 @taliajane.bsky.social · 6h

as charming and whimsical as some will view this, it bears noting that absurdity—not militancy or might—are what people have chosen to repeat from the portland standoffs against ICE.

why is that?

what purpose does this serve?

a mini 🧵:

50501: The People’s Movement ❌👑 @50501movement.bsky.social · 1d

The Portland Frog army has now infiltrated Tulsa, OK and they’ve made an unlikely alliance with the T-Rex infantry and Sharks on Hoverboards mercenary forces.

This is truly terrifying.

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The Derek Halliday @dthalliday.bsky.social · 5h

This would have fucked.

Marc Laming all singing, all dancing comics guy. @marclaming.bsky.social · 18h

What if Peter Wyngarde was Doctor Strange in an ITC tv show in the early 70s...

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The Derek Halliday @dthalliday.bsky.social · 5h

It's WILD how underrated FREAKAZOID was.

That they got 2 seasons to basically do WHATEVER THE FUCK THEY WANTED, and spent it doing the CRAZIEST anthology show based on inherited designs from Bruce Timm is still just STUNNING to me.

That shit was HILARIOUS!

✪ Jonathan H. Gray: “Professor of Halloweenery” ✪ @jongraywb.bsky.social · 9h

Small factoid:

To be fair the Freakazoid/Animaniacs/Pinky & the Brain team got their start writing at Hanna Barbera: specifically on 80s Scooby Doo!

Check the credits for New SD Mysteries, 13 Ghosts, and Pup Named and you’ll see the same writer/runner cross pollinate w/ later Kids WB era cartoons.

🪦"Pushing Up" Daisy 🥀 @daisyfm.net · 13h

The Freakazoid/Animaniacs writing team was kind of unusual in that they were constantly referencing current events, though.

It'd be weird to see Scooby-Doo reference an actual president the same way those shows did.

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Reposted by The Derek Halliday

✪ Jonathan H. Gray: “Professor of Halloweenery” ✪ @jongraywb.bsky.social · 9h

Small factoid:

To be fair the Freakazoid/Animaniacs/Pinky & the Brain team got their start writing at Hanna Barbera: specifically on 80s Scooby Doo!

Check the credits for New SD Mysteries, 13 Ghosts, and Pup Named and you’ll see the same writer/runner cross pollinate w/ later Kids WB era cartoons.

🪦"Pushing Up" Daisy 🥀 @daisyfm.net · 13h

The Freakazoid/Animaniacs writing team was kind of unusual in that they were constantly referencing current events, though.

It'd be weird to see Scooby-Doo reference an actual president the same way those shows did.

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The Derek Halliday @dthalliday.bsky.social · 5h

Man, fuck 'Dr.' Phil.

Nitish Pahwa @nitishpahwa.com · 15h

wrote about how Dr. Phil pivoted to wholesale MAGA punditry after leaving daytime TV to start his own company—and why his Trump friendship and ICE ride-alongs couldn't save his new venture from the bankruptcy proceedings that now have him tied up in court slate.com/business/202...

He Used to Dominate Daytime TV. Now He’s Sucking Up to Trump—and His Media Empire Is Collapsing.

When Dr. Phil signed off his talk show in 2023, he pivoted to MAGA politics. It’s not working so well for him.

slate.com

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The Derek Halliday @dthalliday.bsky.social · 5h

a cartoon of three men standing in front of a house says avert your eyes son

ALT: a cartoon of three men standing in front of a house says avert your eyes son

media.tenor.com

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Reposted by The Derek Halliday

Dracula’s Dog’s Groomer (1979) @jamiroqueer.bsky.social · 5h

imagine Mike Johnson getting trapped in the street with a naked bike ride zooming around him, one hand up to a cheek as he says “goodness!”

I sure can. I’d call him the ice milk of people if he were more cheerful

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Reposted by The Derek Halliday

Dracula’s Dog’s Groomer (1979) @jamiroqueer.bsky.social · 5h

he didn’t have to lie for this one lmao

The Oregonian @oregonian.com · 6h

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson calls Sunday's naked bike ride in protest of the Portland ICE facility and and Trump troop deployment "the most threatening thing I’ve seen yet"

www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...

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The Derek Halliday @dthalliday.bsky.social · 6h

...leads to Rambo becoming increasingly desperate, which leads him more death, which leads to more pursuit...etc etc.

A vicious circle of toxic behavior.

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The Derek Halliday @dthalliday.bsky.social · 6h

But as John Rambo's PTSD is triggered by these dudes being really shitty to him for no reason, everything that happens after this is just sort of the tragic by-product of men not being able to let anything go.

The COULD just let him walk...but instead they pursue him, and their pursuit of him...

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