Category Archives: good & evil

Joe Rogan & Dr Robert Malone. Conspiratorial Storytelling.

Posted on 03/02/2022 by fesmontemaggi

Rogan and Malone play the heroes persecuted by the evil authoritarian State, bought by Big Pharma and Tech. In this conspiratorial tale there are heroes and villains. The only thing missing is the truth. Critical Thinking, What Critical Thinking? Rogan … Continue reading →

Posted in America, autonomy, capitalism, consciousness, conspiracy theories, freedom, good & evil, individualism, institutions, knowledge/epistemology, reality, Truth | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Dogman: Manhood and Belonging

Posted on 26/02/2019 by fesmontemaggi

Far from the aestheticising mania of much contemporary film-making, Garrone’s film-making feels neo-expressionist. He captures what is underneath: the chagrin of the characters, the social desolation, and the violence. Continue reading →

Posted in Dogman, expressionism, gender, good & evil, innocence, italy, loyalty, masculinity, morality, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: Testing Goodness and the American Family

Posted on 31/10/2018 by fesmontemaggi

The Netflix series comes from the 1990s programme Sabrina The Teenage Witch. It is slightly tainted by Hollywood obsessive market segmentation which dictates specific styles and motifs to appeal to specific demographics; yet this Sabrina is really not for young … Continue reading →

Posted in Christianity, family, fantasy/supernatural, gender, good & evil, Halloween, horror, magic, morality, myth, religion, ritual, Sabrina, Satanism, TV, witchcraft | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Star Wars: the ambiguity of religion

Posted on 15/12/2015 by fesmontemaggi

There is something compelling about the Star Wars saga (I’m only referring to the original films 1977-1983). It manages to be original whilst being heavily plagiarised (from 1940s war movies and 1950s B-movies to pirates and Robin Hood movies, mixed … Continue reading →

Posted in belief, Empire Strikes Back, faith, fantasy/supernatural, gender, good & evil, humility, masculinity, monasticism, morality, myth, religion, sexuality, Star Wars, The Return of the Jedi, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Calvary – Justice and Compassion

Posted on 10/09/2015 by fesmontemaggi

A good priest is threatened to be killed by someone who has suffered abuse from priests when he was a child. Father James (Brendan Gleeson) sees through the shit of people with irony and the occasional confrontation; yet he is … Continue reading →

Posted in Calvary, Catholic Church, Christianity, compassion, emotions, Enlightenment, faith, good & evil, institutions, justice, love, morality, personhood, power, reason/rationality, religion, sexuality, society | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Inside Out – No emotions, only feelings

Posted on 10/09/2015 by fesmontemaggi

Inside Out seeks to hide its lack of originality behind clever ingenuity. It tells the story of a young girl through her ‘emotions’, except these are nothing more than instinctual reactions. Instead of depicting the different sides of one person, … Continue reading →

Posted in America, consciousness, emotions, family, good & evil, individualism, Inside Out, love, morality, personhood, reason/rationality | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Ida – the aesthetics of fake religion

Posted on 06/06/2015 by fesmontemaggi

The cinematography is truly beautiful, the film is not. It’s an emotionally deprived intellectual exercise. The characters are barely sketched and not allowed to emerge. Nothing really happens and nothing is really said. The photography quickly becomes pretentious to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Christianity, faith, good & evil, Ida, monasticism, obedience, religion | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Better Call Saul: Moral Agency and the American Dream

Posted on 23/05/2015 by fesmontemaggi

Better Call Saul goes back in time to reconstruct how Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) became Saul Goodman, the criminal lawyer (with a stress on criminal) of Breaking Bad. In Breaking Bad, Saul employs his cunning mind and wicked charm in … Continue reading →

Posted in America, American dream, authenticity, autonomy, Better Call Saul, capitalism, crime, freedom, good & evil, honour, humanity, individualism, morality | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Good Women, Bad Women, and Witches – Hocus Pocus, The Craft, Practical Magic

Posted on 27/04/2015 by fesmontemaggi

Hocus Pocus is fun. It is for children so the evil witches are more fun than scary. Yet, they follow the traditional cinematic construct of the evil witch as a bad woman, a woman who does not adhere to the … Continue reading →

Posted in 'othering', body, family, fantasy/supernatural, femininity, gender, good & evil, Hocus Pocus, love, magic, morality, nature, patriarchy, Practical Magic, sexuality, The Craft, witchcraft | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Breaking Bad – The Puritan American Dream & the Family

Posted on 25/04/2015 by fesmontemaggi

Breaking Bad is one of those rare series that understands character development. The series is about Walter White (Bryan Cranston), a chemistry teacher, who discovers he has cancer and starts making top-notch meth. This is initially to cover his health … Continue reading →

Posted in America, American dream, authenticity, Breaking Bad, capitalism, Christianity, entertainment, family, good & evil, individualism, morality, Protestantism, Uncategorized, western | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment