i have a new theory called alive internet theory where i propose that the internet is full of real people and you can befriend some of them even and maybe actually kiss them and more
Not me scrolling through the Conclave tag only to see no one talk about the deliberate positioning and framing of the women in this movie.
Pulling up this movie I completely expected to only encounter Sister Agnes as the one woman we see in the trailer, the conclave a space that has been kept from the female members of the church. Now, color me surprised when I started the movie and most of the establishing shots we got were focused on all the women working in the Vatican.
And it is such a deliberate choice, it does the film a disservice not to talk about it.
Because while Cardinal Lawrence is having his fifteenth breakdown during sequestering and Bellini finds the ambitious asshole within himself, Ray does all the leg work, and Bel—- we see the women work.
We see the kitchens, we see them cook, we see them stand aside. Most of the time when the Cardinals are conspiring it is the women who interrupt because they are busy working, walking, running errands.
And there is power in that.
I think it is very deliberate how often (and with such lingering gaze) the camera shows us the lives of the other half - partially to connect to the wider themes of the movie, on how Bellini asks for women to get more power but never thanks them, and how Benitez stumps them all by thanking the women preparing their meals when asked to say the prayer (considering his own probably tumultuous relationship to gender within the church).
But it also stands in direct opposition to a long tradition in story telling: servants don’t exist. How often the heroes of a regency romance are “alone” because the two hand maidens and three maids don’t really count.
Conclave doesn’t do that.
It doesn’t let us look away.
Between all the petty drama, the politics, and the real life consequences of the conclave, we never stop looking at the people doing all the work.
Yes, we follow the ups and downs of Lawrence and Co, but in doing so the movie reminds us again and again of the women working the kitchen.
And that was just such a powerful artistic choice in a movie about a famously misogynistic church… I loved it. And I had to talk about it.
In the book, it’s also a woman who prompts Lawrence/Lomeli to change his homily.
There is a woman before him who reads Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. He says that she reads it in a “monotone” voice, but it still touches him.
So many holy men around him, so many times he preys and begs for a sign, and in the end, the Spirit comes to him in the form of a woman. Someone who “doesn’t matter”, someone who isn’t really someone at all. But none the less, the one who is deemed worthy to deliver the message.
i like working at plant store. sometimes you ring up someone and there’s a slug on their plant and so you’re like “Oh haha you’ve got a friend there let me get that for you” and you put the slug on your hand for safekeeping but then its really busy and you dont have time to take the slug outside before the next customer in line so you just have a slug chilling on your hand for 15 minutes. really makes you feel at peace with nature. also it means sometimes i get to say my favorite line which is “would you like this free slug with your purchase”
@holyknuckled you get it. lterally what are we here on earth for if not to occasionally impose gastropods upon unsuspecting customers. this story is delightful
is anyone else also doing ultimately fine + dying of stress + it’s not that bad + if i don’t wake up tomorrow hotter and better at every hobby its fucking over for me
gluten is not bad for you if you’re not allergic/don’t have celiac disease
superfoods aren’t real, they’re just healthy things with maybe some nicer levels of certain vitamins
vaccines do not cause autism or really anything else and the chemicals present in them that typically scare you are in such minute amounts that they do precisely fuck-all in your body (we’re talking scales of one part per million)
you cannot do a cleanse or diet to “rid your body of toxins,” your kidneys and liver have that covered
GMO foods will not kill you; most genetic crop modification just makes our crops hardier and produce more food (and genetic modification doesn’t inject more chemicals into your food, it’s just minor altering of DNA that is made of the exact same stuff your DNA is made from)
if you feed your cat a vegan diet I will personally come to your home with the skull of a long-dead predator, point out the shape of its jaw and teeth as indicators of predatory feeding habits, and then beat you with it
