A little annoyed by the way the invaders just looked like generic middle eastern terrorists and not actual theocratic revolutionaries from 1979 but u kno whatever
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surrealitychecklonely, but not unloveddreaming of faulty keys and latchesRegistered Userregular
edited June 2017
it was just a really great out of left field scene
the fro, the music, particularly in contrast to the very dramatic, mysterious atonal screeching of the ritualistic orgy beforehand
the framing of the previous scene had also been very blockbustery with all the overhead shots
then snap to the disco scene with her face emerging from the literal moon with even the transition itself being 70s style and everything is close up
even the music mix moves around you - the preceding scene has much more forward presence, with the drums seeming to come from in front, while the disco scene is aurally encompassing with that ridiculously thick baseline panning from side to side
its gr8 12/7
EDIT: also her planefro with the headband is great
the fact that her friend seems to last well into the 90s rather than getting vaginamunched is also a nice little touch - it looks like she genuinely picked up a friend. also the idea that it is something which primarily worked by sexual fear - hiv - drives her off... good clean grist for the interpretation mill
A little annoyed by the way the invaders just looked like generic middle eastern terrorists and not actual theocratic revolutionaries from 1979 but u kno whatever
I feel it worked okay.
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TTODewbackPuts the drawl in ya'llI think I'm in HellRegistered Userregular
Finished up.
That was totes good.
I dedicate these deaths to Ostara! What deaths? BOOOOM
It was interesting to see an update on Bilquis's story. Since the temple destruction happened between the book's release and the show.
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ObiFettUse the ForceAs You WishRegistered Userregular
This was the teasiest show I've ever watched.
I felt like it held all the good stuff just out of reach for the entire season and as the payoff grazed my fingertips in the finale, they froze it in place and said come back next year.
It was essentially a super long prologue. I want to hate it, but I can't. I want to say its a great show, but I can't.
No but if I ever make it in or near Wisconsin I'll make a point to remedy that. Apparently Gaiman actually toned down the weirdness when he wrote about it in the book. So it aught to be pretty incredible in the show.
Speaking of locations, I saw some photos of (location spoiler only)
The center of America. Which looks exactly as depressing as the book version
No but if I ever make it in or near Wisconsin I'll make a point to remedy that. Apparently Gaiman actually toned down the weirdness when he wrote about it in the book. So it aught to be pretty incredible in the show.
Speaking of locations, I saw some photos of (location spoiler only)
The center of America. Which looks exactly as depressing as the book version
So do they need belief or prayers? Or both? Different things. Guess we may get more in season 2.
I think they need power, but they can get it in a lot of different ways.
Sacrifice is obviously one (and the subjects don't have to be complicit in it. If someone dedicates these deaths to a god, the god gets the power). Pretty powerful, but hard to pull off constantly.
Belief and/or prayer may be less powerful individually, but tend to be in far greater numbers. God and Jesus clearly aren't hurting from all this.
The New Gods seem to be mostly getting by on attention. People aren't praying to Media, or dedicating deaths to her (except maybe on the more extreme areas of fandom), but billions of people are giving Media their attention every day, and it all adds up.
Best I can figure is to think of it in terms of devotion. They can get by on belief, but believing in Leprechaun's doesn't give much devotion. Worship gives a greater measure of devotion while sacrifice is the ultimate form of devotion.
One thing that I'm still trying to figure out. Who was the Woman in red at Easter's
She's too distinctly dressed to not be a God. But she doesn't look like any Mary I've ever seen. Best I can guess is she's either a Christian figure or someone associated with Easter. Maybe another god of spring?
I could ask the same thing about the Crown headed King. But I think he's just a representation of the Kings of the time.
Or the Virgin of Guadelupe, a hugely important figure in Latin American brands of Catholicism
it should be noted that most images of the Virgin of Guadelupe are dressed in blue much like Mary is.
and Helena's crown has the same number of points as the lady's crown does is in American Gods where the Virgin of Guadelupe had a 12 point crown.
Blue is actually just the traditional color of Mary in paintings. It's everywhere, regardless of region. Medieval France? Blue. Renaissance Italy? Blue. Baroque Holland? Blue.
The color blue and the lily are how you can instantly spot who she's supposed to be in a painting.
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TraceGNU Terry Pratchett; GNU Gus; GNU Carrie Fisher; GNU Adam WeRegistered Userregular
Or the Virgin of Guadelupe, a hugely important figure in Latin American brands of Catholicism
it should be noted that most images of the Virgin of Guadelupe are dressed in blue much like Mary is.
and Helena's crown has the same number of points as the lady's crown does is in American Gods where the Virgin of Guadelupe had a 12 point crown.
Blue is actually just the traditional color of Mary in paintings. It's everywhere, regardless of region. Medieval France? Blue. Renaissance Italy? Blue. Baroque Holland? Blue.
The color blue and the lily are how you can instantly spot who she's supposed to be in a painting.
I know. It's how we can tell who Mary is in the show. Outside of the baby jesus having a nom of course.
So do they need belief or prayers? Or both? Different things. Guess we may get more in season 2.
I think they need power, but they can get it in a lot of different ways.
Sacrifice is obviously one (and the subjects don't have to be complicit in it. If someone dedicates these deaths to a god, the god gets the power). Pretty powerful, but hard to pull off constantly.
Belief and/or prayer may be less powerful individually, but tend to be in far greater numbers. God and Jesus clearly aren't hurting from all this.
The New Gods seem to be mostly getting by on attention. People aren't praying to Media, or dedicating deaths to her (except maybe on the more extreme areas of fandom), but billions of people are giving Media their attention every day, and it all adds up.
“The TV's the altar. I'm what people are sacrificing to.'
'What do they sacrifice?' asked Shadow.
'Their time, mostly,' said Lucy. 'Sometimes each other.”
Those look like grapes on her plate in that pick. Jellybeans do not lay like that.
@Nobeard and I are both senior engineers at a leading confectionery architectural firm. If anyone was wondering.
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AtomikaLive fast and get fucked or whateverRegistered Userregular
So I'm left wondering a few things (and I haven't read the book):
- Is Wednesday & Co. the good guys here? Do we want the Old Gods to win? The Old Gods are petty and fickle and mercurial and kill people for shits and giggles, and they're insecure as all hell. They do bad things for selfish reasons and express very little remorse, and Odin/Sweeny/Ostara seem to be as guilty of this as anyone.
- Conversely, outside of Technoboy being insufferable, what exactly are we to oppose about Media and Mr. World? Their forms of worship are subtler and gentler, their needs and pettiness far less, their willingness to compromise far more.
So I'm left wondering a few things (and I haven't read the book):
- Is Wednesday & Co. the good guys here? Do we want the Old Gods to win? The Old Gods are petty and fickle and mercurial and kill people for shits and giggles, and they're insecure as all hell. They do bad things for selfish reasons and express very little remorse, and Odin/Sweeny/Ostara seem to be as guilty of this as anyone.
- Conversely, outside of Technoboy being insufferable, what exactly are we to oppose about Media and Mr. World? Their forms of worship are subtler and gentler, their needs and pettiness far less, their willingness to compromise far more.
I think the gist of it is that the old gods have a give/take relationship (Ostara bringing the spring, Sweeny helping Elsie etc...) while the new gods only take.
So I'm left wondering a few things (and I haven't read the book):
- Is Wednesday & Co. the good guys here? Do we want the Old Gods to win? The Old Gods are petty and fickle and mercurial and kill people for shits and giggles, and they're insecure as all hell. They do bad things for selfish reasons and express very little remorse, and Odin/Sweeny/Ostara seem to be as guilty of this as anyone.
- Conversely, outside of Technoboy being insufferable, what exactly are we to oppose about Media and Mr. World? Their forms of worship are subtler and gentler, their needs and pettiness far less, their willingness to compromise far more.
Addendum to the second question:
Was I supposed to understand what Mr. World was a god of?
So I'm left wondering a few things (and I haven't read the book):
- Is Wednesday & Co. the good guys here? Do we want the Old Gods to win? The Old Gods are petty and fickle and mercurial and kill people for shits and giggles, and they're insecure as all hell. They do bad things for selfish reasons and express very little remorse, and Odin/Sweeny/Ostara seem to be as guilty of this as anyone.
- Conversely, outside of Technoboy being insufferable, what exactly are we to oppose about Media and Mr. World? Their forms of worship are subtler and gentler, their needs and pettiness far less, their willingness to compromise far more.
Addendum to the second question:
Was I supposed to understand what Mr. World was a god of?
So I'm left wondering a few things (and I haven't read the book):
- Is Wednesday & Co. the good guys here? Do we want the Old Gods to win? The Old Gods are petty and fickle and mercurial and kill people for shits and giggles, and they're insecure as all hell. They do bad things for selfish reasons and express very little remorse, and Odin/Sweeny/Ostara seem to be as guilty of this as anyone.
- Conversely, outside of Technoboy being insufferable, what exactly are we to oppose about Media and Mr. World? Their forms of worship are subtler and gentler, their needs and pettiness far less, their willingness to compromise far more.
I think the gist of it is that the old gods have a give/take relationship (Ostara bringing the spring, Sweeny helping Elsie etc...) while the new gods only take.
I don't think the distinction between Old and New is that simple. Media provides entertainment, Techboy is similarly useful, while Mr. World is far more sinister in form as the personification of (minor spoiler, depending on if they make more of a mystery about it than the book did)
Big Brother. Men in black and all that.
The New Gods want the Old Gods to serve them or fade away. The Old Gods want what they once had, and Wednesday's group refuses to prostrate themselves to get it.
Good and bad aren't functional terms here. They are opposed forces, no more no less.
There's a lot to unpack. American Gods, like a lot of the mythology it is using as a foundation, uses gods as figureheads to help make big questions and struggles more personally identifiable. The opposing forces of the old gods and the new is a reflection of the complicated relationship we have between our old, fading, and lost traditions, and the new cultural phenomenons that are succeeding or even actively displacing them.
Are the media, the internet, and globalization forces for good or evil? Yes.
Are the old gods dying because they no longer serve us, because they are trapped in traditions that we now find to be unwholesome, barbaric, and bigoted, or are we losing essential, complex, and primal pieces of ourselves as we lean further into an agnostic and increasingly technological society? Yes.
The story wants it to be made clear that humanity is abandoning a magical, if also brutal, view of the world in favor of being swept up by a cleaner, smoother, but charmless new "religion" of consumption and capital. The POV of the story also makes it clear that the creators have taken a side, for what its worth, but they at least are giving credit to the opposing side where it's due.
Media especially is presented almost as a "good guy", if there is such a thing, which is a fun idea for its self-awareness, if nothing else. If not for Media, how would we be getting this story?
Loved the finale, although I too was surprised that they ended the season here. I was discussing the show with a friend who's a huge fan of the book and just re-read it, and she thinks they'll need at least three seasons at this pace. I can't really second-guess that as it's been years since I read it. But I do generally like the pace they're going with. I really enjoy the way they allow the characters and stories to come to life through these long, lingering scenes. It's a brave way to run a show in this day and age.
I don't know how I'm going to survive the wait for the next season.
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this is the song from the tehran disco scene btw
The Tehran scene surprised the hell out of me
I mean
NNID: Hakkekage
the fro, the music, particularly in contrast to the very dramatic, mysterious atonal screeching of the ritualistic orgy beforehand
the framing of the previous scene had also been very blockbustery with all the overhead shots
then snap to the disco scene with her face emerging from the literal moon with even the transition itself being 70s style and everything is close up
even the music mix moves around you - the preceding scene has much more forward presence, with the drums seeming to come from in front, while the disco scene is aurally encompassing with that ridiculously thick baseline panning from side to side
its gr8 12/7
EDIT: also her planefro with the headband is great
the fact that her friend seems to last well into the 90s rather than getting vaginamunched is also a nice little touch - it looks like she genuinely picked up a friend. also the idea that it is something which primarily worked by sexual fear - hiv - drives her off... good clean grist for the interpretation mill
I feel it worked okay.
That was totes good.
I felt like it held all the good stuff just out of reach for the entire season and as the payoff grazed my fingertips in the finale, they froze it in place and said come back next year.
It was essentially a super long prologue. I want to hate it, but I can't. I want to say its a great show, but I can't.
No but if I ever make it in or near Wisconsin I'll make a point to remedy that. Apparently Gaiman actually toned down the weirdness when he wrote about it in the book. So it aught to be pretty incredible in the show.
Speaking of locations, I saw some photos of (location spoiler only)
Edit: A neat article about Orlando Jones being cast as Mr Nancy. Best of all apparently his Grandmother used to tell him Anansi stories: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/bespoke-trickster-how-orlando-jones-landed-american-gods-n769361
It's quite something, by the end you do feel like all life has been drained from you.
Sacrifice is obviously one (and the subjects don't have to be complicit in it. If someone dedicates these deaths to a god, the god gets the power). Pretty powerful, but hard to pull off constantly.
Belief and/or prayer may be less powerful individually, but tend to be in far greater numbers. God and Jesus clearly aren't hurting from all this.
The New Gods seem to be mostly getting by on attention. People aren't praying to Media, or dedicating deaths to her (except maybe on the more extreme areas of fandom), but billions of people are giving Media their attention every day, and it all adds up.
One thing that I'm still trying to figure out. Who was the Woman in red at Easter's
She's too distinctly dressed to not be a God. But she doesn't look like any Mary I've ever seen. Best I can guess is she's either a Christian figure or someone associated with Easter. Maybe another god of spring?
I could ask the same thing about the Crown headed King. But I think he's just a representation of the Kings of the time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helena_(empress)
ST. Helena
Virgin of Guadelupe
Definitely a resemblance in both cases. I have to wonder if the Flower is a hint though.
it should be noted that most images of the Virgin of Guadelupe are dressed in blue much like Mary is.
and Helena's crown has the same number of points as the lady's crown does is in American Gods where the Virgin of Guadelupe had a 12 point crown.
Blue is actually just the traditional color of Mary in paintings. It's everywhere, regardless of region. Medieval France? Blue. Renaissance Italy? Blue. Baroque Holland? Blue.
The color blue and the lily are how you can instantly spot who she's supposed to be in a painting.
I know. It's how we can tell who Mary is in the show. Outside of the baby jesus having a nom of course.
Oh it's just a cupcake with a peep on it. Damn tiny screen.
Fun fact: Fuller's set designer from Hannibal helped design the spread. I though those speared rabbits fell into a familiar sort of motif.
“The TV's the altar. I'm what people are sacrificing to.'
'What do they sacrifice?' asked Shadow.
'Their time, mostly,' said Lucy. 'Sometimes each other.”
Nevermind. Or maybe not?
Grapes? I saw lots of Jelly Beans but no grapes.
What a wild ride/show.
Which isn't to say one wouldn't glue a pile of jelly beans together to get the shot... but probably grapes.
They are Jellybeans of the Gods
anyone else peckish?
edit: above are Brach's Jelly Eggs in case anyone wants to know.
@Nobeard and I are both senior engineers at a leading confectionery architectural firm. If anyone was wondering.
- Is Wednesday & Co. the good guys here? Do we want the Old Gods to win? The Old Gods are petty and fickle and mercurial and kill people for shits and giggles, and they're insecure as all hell. They do bad things for selfish reasons and express very little remorse, and Odin/Sweeny/Ostara seem to be as guilty of this as anyone.
- Conversely, outside of Technoboy being insufferable, what exactly are we to oppose about Media and Mr. World? Their forms of worship are subtler and gentler, their needs and pettiness far less, their willingness to compromise far more.
I think the gist of it is that the old gods have a give/take relationship (Ostara bringing the spring, Sweeny helping Elsie etc...) while the new gods only take.
They're all bastards. Except Jesus it seems.
Addendum to the second question:
Was I supposed to understand what Mr. World was a god of?
Globalism? Multiculturalism?
It's not terribly clear at this stage
I don't think the distinction between Old and New is that simple. Media provides entertainment, Techboy is similarly useful, while Mr. World is far more sinister in form as the personification of (minor spoiler, depending on if they make more of a mystery about it than the book did)
The New Gods want the Old Gods to serve them or fade away. The Old Gods want what they once had, and Wednesday's group refuses to prostrate themselves to get it.
Good and bad aren't functional terms here. They are opposed forces, no more no less.
Are the media, the internet, and globalization forces for good or evil? Yes.
Are the old gods dying because they no longer serve us, because they are trapped in traditions that we now find to be unwholesome, barbaric, and bigoted, or are we losing essential, complex, and primal pieces of ourselves as we lean further into an agnostic and increasingly technological society? Yes.
The story wants it to be made clear that humanity is abandoning a magical, if also brutal, view of the world in favor of being swept up by a cleaner, smoother, but charmless new "religion" of consumption and capital. The POV of the story also makes it clear that the creators have taken a side, for what its worth, but they at least are giving credit to the opposing side where it's due.
Media especially is presented almost as a "good guy", if there is such a thing, which is a fun idea for its self-awareness, if nothing else. If not for Media, how would we be getting this story?
That's the plan.