Hello everyone! It’s that time again when we at Speculative Chic come together to discuss timely and important matters! This month’s roundtable was suggested by Kristina Elyse Butke. A little while after Kristina suggested this topic, Nicole Taft announced something on Twitter that I had no idea that I needed: Mortal Kombat was available to stream on Netflix. Readers, I watched the movie immediately after seeing that it was there. This film is a prime example of a guilty pleasure. Why? So many reasons, and I’ll break them down for you in a bit. Anyway, watching Mortal Kombat again made me decide to go ahead and use Kristina’s excellent suggestion.
We all know that there are things that one “shouldn’t” like in the vast world of speculative media. There are things that aren’t considered “good” for one reason or another. For example, there’s a cosmically popular vampire book / film series that is widely shunned in certain circles. But do we love it anyway? Maybe. Perhaps it’s something that we know we shouldn’t be doing, because we have better things that we know we could be doing with our times. Maybe reading back through my old Fear Street collection is not the best use of my time, but if it makes me happy…why should I feel guilty?
That said, come with us and watch as we spill the beans and share some of our favorite guilty (and not-so-guilty) pleasures!
Kelly McCarty: True Blood! (spoilers ahead)
Normally, I believe that guilt is something you should feel if you steal money out of the church collection plate, not what you should feel for reading books, playing video games, or watching TV. However, one time when True Blood was on, my brother walked in and asked, “Are you watching porn?” I think that qualifies the show as a guilty pleasure. HBO certainly made sure that viewers got their money’s worth on the sex and violence front, as every time a vampire got killed, they dissolved into a puddle of bloody goop and season two’s villain was a Maenad who forced the townspeople of Bon Temps to have orgies.
The show did try to serve as a heavy-handed metaphor for gay rights. The church sign in the opening credits reads, “God hates fangs,” and there was even a subplot about a vampire rights amendment that would let vampires marry humans. But the reason that I kept watching the show was not the sociopolitical commentary, it was the shirtless hunks. There was brooding Civil War soldier Bill (Stephen Moyer), sexy Viking vampire Eric (Alexander Skarsgård), and kindhearted werewolf Alcide (Joe Manganiello). My heart belongs to Eric but it was a difficult choice. I had a coworker whose favorite guy was shapeshifter Sam (Sam Trammell) and I maintain that this is the equivalent of going to a fine steakhouse and ordering a hamburger. Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) was in a love triangle with almost every man on the show except her brother Jason (Ryan Kwanten, who also looks good shirtless), but can you blame her?
I’m more than a little embarrassed to admit that a show I watched every episode of was basically just a graphic soap opera. Not only did you practically need a chart to keep track of Sookie’s love life, both Bill’s and Alcide’s ex-girlfriends tried to kill her. I’ve lost track of the number of murders and kidnappings that went down. But the real soap opera proof is that the entire plot of season four revolves around Eric getting amnesia. I do feel a bit guilty, but not so bad that I don’t want to see Alexander Skarsgård take his shirt off again.
Kristina Elyse Butke: Diabolik Lovers!
Let’s just get this out in the open: this series is trash.
The lead heroine, Yui, serves as the passive blood bag for the Sakamaki brothers, six vampires who have the worst personalities on the planet. Ayato (who is a triplet), the lead character who “falls” for Yui, is the bad boy who decides that calling Yui “pancake” (due to her breast size) is an acceptable form of flirting. The second of the triplets, Laito, also fails at flirting by absurdly referring to Yui as “bitch-chan” as much as possible. The third triplet, Kanato, is a murderous man-child always whispering to his teddy bear. The rest of the brothers (of varying ages) consist of Shu, who is Too Cool to Care; Reiji, aka Serious Eyeglasses; and Subaru, aka Hulk Smash! The brothers’ personalities can be so over-the-top that it borders on parody. They’re depicted in one way or another as falling for Yui, but spoiler alert: NONE OF IT IS ROMANTIC. These boys are incapable of treating Yui as an actual human being, so the whole thing comes off as an extended exercise in squick, or unintentionally hilarious.
Each 15-minute episode takes turns providing snippets of backstory that attempt to humanize or explain why the boys are so messed up (it’s all about family!), and there’s a lot of potential for a genuinely interesting story – read the synopsis and character backstories and you can see threads of it there. But because the episodes are so short, the audience tends to only see how abusive these characters are to Yui, so it’s difficult to hold any sympathy for them. I feel guilty for feeling this way, but because Yui is completely devoid of personality (and a backbone), I don’t have sympathy for her, either.
How can I take pleasure in a show that is so problematic?
Well…I also have a terrible personality. Jokes-but-not-jokes aside, sometimes the series works. The moments are rare, but when I catch them, I enjoy them. I like the visual aesthetic – the character designs (like their dip-dyed watercolor hair!), the overall use of color, and the gothic Lolita/bad-boy idol/nouveau-Victorian style. I also think the series got a lush musical score it didn’t deserve (catch a sample of Yuki Hayashi’s soundtrack here), and I count the gorgeous music as a genuine pleasure.
Lastly, I like that the vampires in the series are terrible. I am not condoning their behavior or icky personalities, and do not find heroism or sympathy in abuse; but I appreciate that the vampires are depicted as monsters. For example, the moment that pulled me into the show is the famous “swimming pool” scene. Ayato is bullying Yui and tosses her into the school pool. Yui can’t swim. When Ayato jumps in to save her from drowning, a haunting piano plays, Ayato looks deeply into Yui’s eyes, and to give her air, he kisses her passionately, demonstrating his true love for—OH WAIT NOPE WAIT A MINUTE THAT’S NOT LOVE THAT’S A VAMPIRE YUP HE’S A VAMPIRE DRINKING BLOOD, YEP, YEP VAMPIRE.
…Honestly, I thought the animation here was gorgeous, especially the watercolor rivulets of blood flowing all around them. This scene succeeds for me visually but also, I like that before the scene got too “romantic,” the audience is immediately reminded that we are dealing with monsters here. Diabolik Lovers succeeds as a vampire story when it constantly shows us that you can never let your guard down around a vampire. Love cannot overcome the hunger.
J.L. Gribble: Fanfiction!
For the past few years, I’ve been writing and publishing a novel a year (not the same novel; I try to stay a book ahead). This is on top of a full-time day job, my editing for Speculative Chic, my freelance editing, and a ton of fiction reading and Netflix-watching. So how on earth do I have time for a guilty pleasure? Easy. I make time.
Sometimes, I just want to turn my editorial brain off and just have fun. For that, I turn to fanfiction. After all, that’s how I got my start as a writer *cough-mumble* years ago. Back in the day, this meant pouring through homemade fan pages in search of individual authors. Gradually, this transformed to curated websites with search options. And now, Archive of Our Own (otherwise known as A03) provides not only search options, but also the ability to favorite certain works and subscribe to both authors and unfinished tales. The *cough-mumble*-year-old in me would be ecstatic.
Because I have to specifically create recharge time to enjoy this guilty pleasure, I no longer have the option of browsing new authors. Instead, I subscribe to a handful of writers who have created their own versions of worlds that I enjoy, such as behind-the-scenes shenanigans of daily life on Stargate’s Atlantis, the Avengers team as found-family in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and mind-bending crossovers that combine fandoms in ways which shouldn’t be possible, but absolutely work (Hawaii Five-0 plus Sherlock, anyone?).
A03 is a nonprofit database hosted by the Organization for Transformative Works. There, you can find fanfiction, podcast versions of fanfiction, fan-art, and fan-vids in pretty much every fandom imaginable. Be prepared to fall down the rabbit-hole.
Nancy O’Toole Meservier: Why feel guilty?
I dislike the phrase “guilty pleasure.” What’s the point in feeling guilty /ashamed for enjoying something, just because a certain set of the population discounts it for being frivolous, shallow, or stupid? I say this as someone as someone who used to fall on both sides of the fence. In high school, my favorite TV show (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) was disregarded for being too soap opera-ish, or downright weird. Before it crossed over into main stream, my favorite book series (Harry Potter) was rejected as “kids’ stuff.” And if anyone were to ask me if I liked anime, I would outright lie about my after-school ritual of watching Rurouni Kenshin. Of course, to make myself feel superior in turn, I’d look down on others who enjoyed what I felt was cheap entertainment-mainly boybands and reality TV.
As an adult, I see my how my perspective was flawed. Hiding the fact that I enjoyed anime didn’t do me any favors. It just made me feel ashamed about watching it. And my habit of looking down on others who enjoyed popular entertainment just made me a snob. Combine this with the fact that what is considered shameful is often mainly enjoyed by women and girls (the Twilight Saga for example- a book series that I enjoyed plenty in my late teens/early 20s), and it can make the phrase “guilty pleasure” a tad worrisome.
In my 30s, I am far more comfortable embracing things that others might consider guilty pleasures. For example, I’m a huge Pokémon Go fan, a game derided by both hardcore gamers and the mainstream. I also love Zombie Orpheus Entertainment’s web series Journey Quest, and The Gamers, despite their admittedly not-Hollywood sized budget and style of humor. And I am totally proud of enjoying the shit out of the DC Superhero Girls books, a series clearly meant for children.
I don’t see anything wrong with knowing the things you love are flawed-and in the case that they are problematic, understanding why they could be hurtful to others. But seriously, could we stop looking down on people for liking something just because it’s silly, or for kids, or (gasp!) meant for casuals. Making others feel like shit for genuinely enjoying something doesn’t help the world in anyway. It just makes you (like my teenage self) a snob. And who knows, you could be cutting yourself off from enjoying something great.
Lane Robins: More fanfiction!
So let’s stop briefly and unpack the guilty part of guilty pleasures. What makes me feel guilt about something I’m enjoying? Not content. If I’m enjoying the content, I refuse to be ashamed for it. But what I do feel guilt for is wasted time. Time that could be better spent doing something productive or creative or even just experiencing something new. You can probably guess from that last that my guilty pleasure is going to involve repeat entertainment.
Well, here it is. Copperbadge’s Foodie-verse. About 30k of linked stories that rewrite all the MCU Avengers as restaurateurs. Want to see Captain America running an organic food truck? You can do that here. Tony Stark and Bruce Banner as molecular gastronomers? Yup, here, they are. SHIELD as avante garde foodies who run a restaurant where the gimmick is you’re served and fed in the dark? Where the villain is Loki threatening to open a Chili’s franchise? Where Bucky is a bike messenger on the make, and Kamala Khan and a whole slew of other neat superheroes show up as cameos?
But have you tried the Triple Dipper™ appetizer platter?
I have no shame about the content. I love my comfort stories, now more than ever. I only have shame that I read this whole series, beginning to end, at least once a week. When I could be keeping up with the news (um, wait, no, that’s a bad plan.), or reading Facebook (really, that’s better?), or reading a real book! Okay, there’s that.
But there’s just something super-soothing and pleasant about watching Tony be a crazy chef, about Steve Rogers, ex-Michelin chef turned hipster foodie, about Peter Parker shoe-horned into a kitchen where Tony threatens to fire him every other moment. In this case, I think the pleasure definitely outweighs the guilt. And I hope Copperbadge/Scifigrl47 write more in this world. I’ll be there, feeling a smidge guilty, but reading from the beginning, all over again.
Nicole Taft: “Bad” movies!
I feel like some of the movies I adore are 100% not on anyone else’s radar. While Casey and I have already waxed poetic together about Mortal Kombat, that was still a rather large movie release, and most people at our age who played the game know about (and generally are fond of) the movie.
No, what I’m talking about are movies that are stranger, possibly a little more looked down upon, and the kind you don’t normally see unless it’s 3am and you happen to stumble across it on TV. That’s how I’ve found a few of these. Earth Girls Are Easy is one of them. I love this movie. I love how stupid it is, I love how adorable Jeff Goldblum is (and I’ve never had a thing for him the way other folk do, but he is really damn cute in this movie), I love how absurd the young Jim Carey and Damon Wayans are, and I don’t usually get into musicals, but the numbers in this movie are pretty fun. It’s such a weird, colorful, enjoyable film and yet I feel stupid just admitting how much I love it because that’s the kind of movie it is.
Immortal is another. No, not the one you might be thinking about with Henry Cavill. The one I own was made in 2004 and based off a graphic novel series by Enki Bilal – who is also the director of said movie. The first time I saw it, the movie made no damn sense. A lot of it still doesn’t, but I’m okay with that. I was intrigued by the weirdness I saw on screen. There’s a mix of live action and straight computer graphics (including characters). There are Egyptian gods. There is poetry from Baudelaire. The year is 2095. The main character, Jill, has blue hair and tears. But I love it. I like how it looks, how weird it is, and I love Linda Hardy as Jill (she’s intriguing as well as stunning) and Thomas Kretschmann as Nikopol. I like to put it on and just…chill.
Yet another late night movie discover? Snow White: A Tale of Terror. With Sigourney Weaver and San Neill as the king and queen, no less. It’s an interesting take on the story because Sigourney Weaver doesn’t start out evil. She lives for years with little Lilli (the Snow White of this story) and it’s only after a tragedy does she go bad. Sometimes you wonder what makes an actor or actress take on a film like this one. This was never in theaters, it’s not that long of a movie, and it’s odd. It’s definitely horror. Even so, Weaver’s performance in this film is excellent and absolutely worth a watch.
There are others (Mirrormask, Surviving the Game), but I’d say those are my top three weird movies that I doubt you’ll find on a lot of folks’ shelves. I’m always on the lookout for additions, though I’ve yet to find any (despite my current New Year’s Resolution), so I’ll just continue to treasure them quietly…and preferably when no one else is around so I don’t have to worry about anyone barging in and asking me what the hell I’m watching.
Casey Price: Mortal Kombat
I told you that I’d go into further detail! So, let’s talk about this cinematic wonder, shall we? Mortal Kombat, based upon the video game franchise of the same name, is not what one would consider a “good” movie. There are so very many problems with it.
If you’re not familiar with the movie, here’s a quick breakdown: three heroes, chosen by Raiden, god of lightning, travel to an amazing martial arts tournament known as Mortal Kombat. Somehow, nobody questions what this event is, where it’s held, where it came from, none of it. People just hear about it, hop on the boat, and go on their merry way.
The writing is not great. The dialogue is pretty terrible (though to be fair, some of this stems from the writers trying to shoehorn catchphrases from the video game into the script). Some of the actors give performances that are so over-the-top that I worry that they injured themselves when they fell down the other side. Strange plot elements are everywhere. My favorite example comes about when Our Heroes are getting ready to depart for the mysterious tournament. They gather at a port in Hong Kong to await their transport. Here’s what shows up:
And everyone thinks “this is fine.”
This doesn’t even get into the actual problematic issues that the film contains. There are exactly two named female characters. They seem to exist solely as plot devices to carry their male counterparts’ tales forward, despite being powerful warriors all on their own. Sonya Blade is reduced to the role of kidnapping victim (even though she broke a man’s neck with her thighs just a few scenes prior), and Princess Kitana is little more than a spiritual guide for Liu Kang. These two badass ladies aren’t even allowed to talk to each other.
Then there’s Raiden. Don’t get me wrong, I like Christopher Lambert. I even liked him in this movie. And yet, something about this particular God of Thunder and Lightning, whose temple is in China, who is worshiped by Shaolin monks, being portrayed by Lambert just doesn’t feel right. I never played the video game, but my research tells me that Raiden’s face wasn’t generally visible, and that he can change his appearance. That’s well and good, but my 2018 sensibilities suggest that perhaps it would have been better to go in a different, less white-washed direction.
Despite the problems, it’s still a lot of fun to watch. This, in essence, is what a guilty pleasure is. I know that I shouldn’t be so fond of this movie, but I am. It has several redeeming qualities! The fight scenes are extremely well-choreographed, the elaborate sets look great, and even the special effects didn’t age that badly. I have always loved the soundtrack (“Juke Joint Jezebel” was my jam). Are there “better” movies that I should be catching up on? So many that I may have to take on the Silver Screen Resolution challenge myself in the next year or two. Am I going to watch Mortal Kombat again? Absolutely.
We’ve shared ours, now tell us yours! Let us take Nancy’s wise advice, shed the “guilt,” and just focus on the pleasure that we derive from these things.
Copperbadge and Scifigrl47 are ABSOLUTELY two of my subscribed authors on AO3. Foodie-verse FTW!!!
They are wonderful. And Owlet! And oooh, have you read the Stargate Atlantis Retrograde series? Super good. We are going to have to compare notes, JL. Nicole, for a really odd little vampire movie, you might try Pale Blood, which last I saw, was streaming for free on youtube
I adore Retrograde, too.
Mission says: “Accurate” regarding Owlet. 😉
Ooooh. I am intrigued.
Okay, if I’d had time to write it, I ALSO would’ve been fanfic. There are some Hannibal fanfics that are freaking fantastic, and I adore them to PIECES. Also, this Avengers one you talk about, Lane? I think I’m going to have to check this out…..
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