The least believable thing about this movie is how a tech billionaire is an actual genius scientist who invents things and not a rich kid underpaying developers to make exploitative apps
I'd like to say as a person who was abused by their parents their entire life, I think the comparison of not believing abuse and not believing an implausible sci-fi scenario is actually great. My parents built up an image that made me look insane when I told anyone that they were doing horrible things to me. They made sure to look like the most wonderful, charitable, supportive people anyone could know and no one ever considered that something could be wrong, from their friend groups to work groups to even local businesses while they were abusing me in nearly every way possible. I think it's also brilliant because I used to feel insane for thinking my parents could be abusive. Me telling anyone I knew that my parents were abusive would have been the equivalent of saying I was being chased by an invisible man. It's not even that people can't see the effects of abuse, but lots of people can't see the abuser for what they really are. I haven't seen the movie, but from everything you described I don't actually see anything problematic, and it feels like a perfect metaphor to describe what I was going through.
From what I understand that was exactly the aim of Wanell. I thought that was actually pretty obvious, but that may be because I recognized it from personal experience. If you appreciate a sympathetic yet thoroughly professional exploration of that, Cinema Therapy used the 'this is what it feels like from the inside' as one of the major cornerstones of their discussion of the movie. And it can be very satisfying to see a therapist go 'screw that guy, he does not deserve any sympathy' (and, spoilers... to see him think 'and he deserved everything that he brought on himself. And more...')
movies like this scare me more than any other horror movie. the whole 'try not to overreact to something threatening your life because all it will do is make people think you're crazy and push them away' movie plot (and also very real life event) freaks me out in a way no other thing does
Take this with a grain of salt, since I haven't seen the movie, nor have I ever told someone about an abusive partner and not been believed, but I wonder if the whole "telling someone about abuse" vs. "telling someone there's a literal invisible man after you" analogy is meant to be seen from the victim's perspective. Maybe it's like how telling someone that a person they like is secretly an abuser is as frustrating as trying to tell someone that the person they thought was dead has actually gained invisibility powers. You keep trying to explain what you've witnessed first-hand, but people are just acting like they think you're crazy. Gonna have to see this movie now, though, it sounds bonkers good.
This was kind of my thought. Less "trying to teach the audience to react right to someone else being abused" and more "trying, through a fantastical story, to get the audience to feel what it's like to be an abuse victim, and use that to fuel a sense of horror '.
Yes, coming from your same place (never watched the movie, though I want to) I think this is *probably* what they were going for. That said, Matt points out that apparently in the movie the protagonist is believed *at first* about abuse and then *later* when her partner becomes invisible, they don't believe her anymore, and that *does* significantly muddy the waters, IMO.
@@beautifulbearinatutu4455 True. If I'm right, it probably would have come through more clearly if she simply hadn't told the other characters about her partner's abusive behavior first.
@@beautifulbearinatutu4455 i mean, not really. there is a tendency for people to hear abuse is happening and initially seem supportive and believing but as more is shared they either become burned out on it(and become frustrated to keep hearing it) or something said butts up against their preconceived understanding of the abuser and doubts form that it is actually abuse and not just the victim trying to get attention abuse that do not have highly visible visible easily-distinguished injuries aren't something that a lot of people are prepared to tolerate more than briefly and so if the victim continuing to talk about it and suffer from it wears thin pretty fast even though objectively it really oughtn't
I think the fact that they won't believe her is what's scary. That real life kinda already feels like you're talking about an invisible person when seeking help.
My partner stood up for his rights around safety during Covid at his minimum wage retail job. He is RIGHT NOW in a meeting having to deal with the fall-out while his managers decide his punishment. I know it's small in the face of something so big, but knowing he'll get to come home to chill out and watch this vid (with surprise Bloomer's donuts!) is going to make his day just a little better. Thanks for all you do Scaredy Matt/Mr. Slime, truly.
@@gateauxq4604 Amazon are obviously shitty and evil but there's not been much media attention on the smaller corporations and companies forcing workers to risk their lives during this pandemic.
I figured the untouchability of the invisible, presumed dead, man lends itself pretty well to how society treats women who come forward with allegations against powerful, untouchable men irl
I think the sci-fi explanation works really well actually. Like many people respond to claims of abuse as if the claims were a rediculous sci-fi story and that the claimant is delusional.
"receiving the power to become invisible drives a man to do bad things." And just like that, Matt made me realize that most of these stories are just Plato's The Ring of Gyges
@@rook9714 Doesn't Gandalf say that the Ring would corrupt him and make him do terrible things, were he to take it? He says it would come from wanting to do good with its power, so it sounds to me like the ring can corrupt even benevolent entities. Either way, your take is interesting.
I don't hate the movie as far as its theme (I am an abuse survivor), and the source material is solid. I just have trouble enjoying anything when I know Scientology has a hand in it. They're reliant on their celebrity members' popularity to recruit people and I don't want to feed into that. The movie's "believe survivors" message becomes, for me, negated when given by someone who has ties to an organization that isolates its members from their families, extorts them for money, has a history of controlling their bodies, and will use its enormous financial reserves to silence people from speaking about what they've done.
I like this video and I think you have a point, but I remember telling people about my abusive ex and being treated like I WAS talking about her gaining the ability to turn invisible. And I felt like it too, so many people would try and explain to me that she was way too sweet and harmless to actually have done anything I was claiming, I ended up feeling uneasy and delusional about my own perception of reality. The protagonist’s journey (I’m so bad with names) in this movie really resonated with me, sometimes the behaviours of an abuser ARE invisible to outside observers and accusations feel fantastical to them. And that’s a special kind of personal horror this movie did really well. The message struck me more as being from the perspective of the survivor, saying ‘sometimes you’re going to feel like reality doesn’t make any sense and doesn’t line up with what the world should be, that’s pretty scary, right?’
Actually, it's about how society makes abusive men invisible. The mechanisms of patriarchy serving the interest of giving men escape from legal ramifications.
Wow, a comment that begins with "actually" that actually adds valid context and a unique way of seeing? What alternate internet dimension have I fallen into?
This movie hit me really hard, and I went in expecting to be disappointed. I was abused as a kid, mostly due to the fact that adults straight up didn't believe me. People thought I was exaggerating or making stuff up altogether so my issues were often dismissed. I wasn't diagnosed until I was 17, but I'm autistic and in retrospect everything I was confused about over this now makes sense. I was absolutely the easiest target for bullying, and children are evil. I once had to go to a teacher and say "hey, the entire class is conspiring against me. They're being more awful than usual and they told me that they're conspiring against me" and that teacher was like "go practice your cursive, your Zs are bad" and then the same thing happened again in Hebrew school -for 6 years- and those adults didn't believe me either (also they didn't want to deal with it because then they'd have to confront their biggest donors about how terrible their children are). Every time someone didn't believe/severely doubted Cecilia, Elizabeth Moss fucking nailed it. That's how I felt for years. I honestly wasn't prepared for the movie to be that good. I had really bad anxiety for a few days after I saw it. I will probably never watch it again, but I think it's one of the best horror movies I've ever seen and I super appreciate how effective it was even though it triggered my cptsd.
Invisible Man was the last movie I saw in theatres before "The Event" as well, and my boyfriend and I were literally the only ones in there (small town, late night), so we were able to chat with each other if we wanted, but the whole time we just kinda sat in terrified silence, like I was holding my breath at that incredibly tense opening scene where she's clearly afraid (and the creators of this film did an excellent job in showing that sort of fear, like, where you have to map out the whole environment to avoid waking the abuser).
I was in an emotionally abusive relationship for years so I felt some empathy for the main character of The Invisible Man. I wouldn't dare speak on the more serious abuse many have unfortunately been the victims of but I think The Invisible Man works as both a literally scary presence and also an allegory for trauma. PTSD is common in abuse survivors and those can cause all sorts of irrational feelings and responses that it is difficult for others to understand. Many abuse survivors still think their abuser is coming to get them, you see similar reactions from people who have escaped cults, they're afraid that somehow they're going to get taken back one day. Especially if you've been gaslit into doubting your own sanity, you're going to be especially afraid of how you sound to others. Having a literal invisible monster in your home is a pretty on the nose way of communicating this but I think considering this is a mainstream horror flick it made sense to make it a bit more obvious about it. In the end it is a fantastical situation so things are taken to extremes not possible in real life which leads to the final act being pretty out there but again, being that this is a mainstream horror flick it had to give us some catharsis. I freaking loved this movie, thank you for doing such an awesome video on it.
I wonder if some victims get initial support from family and friends, and even have police take their side, only to have a new nightmare start when the case goes to court and the victim's character gets questioned and people line up to sing the praises of the perp?
I saw it as how abusers are able to affect how the people see victims and make them look crazy to others, effectively gaslighting others as to drive them away so Cecilia will have no choice but to comply.
I really appreciate your content warnings. It's never been a reason for me to not watch a video, but it allows me to put myself in a certain frame of mind. And I think for people who might be uncomfortable it's really useful and kind hearted.
Bringing up "innocent until proven guilty" is a good point. We _should_ give people the benefit of the doubt. So if someone says they are victims of abuse, we should give them the benefit of the doubt, and believe them.
I think that people not believing her is less about believing abuse survivors. And more about the lasting effects and how sometimes people think they should just "get over it". Personally, that's what I figured while watching it. Obviously some parts don't make sense, but that is expected for metaphors, especially in movies
oof i read ralph ellison's invisible man in high school and it was... haunting. i didn't know what i was getting into, we just picked books off of a list w/ no description for summer reading. not really sure there's a way to make a joke about it from what i remember of it tbh. also, while i havent seen the movie, i think it would have been interesting for the character not to be believed when she told people about the abuse and by the time she figured out he faked his death & was invisible, she didn't trust telling anyone because it could mean putting her in danger of being found by him (like if they tried to hospitalize her or convince her she was delusional and should relax). something that is common even among therapists is underestimating the level of power that abusers have over their victims, even when they believe the victims. my ex could have killed me and made threats along those lines but my therapist at the time thought i just needed medication to stop being so crazy. he knew where i lived and actually stole my bike and at one point left a note on my car windshield. like yeah i needed meds but my reaction was perfectly rational given the situation i was in.
This is def my favorite youtube channel currently. It's really rewarding to see someone thoughtful explore my favorite genre in a grounded, honest way. This film slaps and I will not be brooking arguments at this time.
The opening sequence does an amazing job, with no dialogue, of setting up how afraid of the guy she is. I don't think I breathed for the first 15min, and it really sold me on how afraid she was even after learning he'd died. It was a great choice keeping the focus on her.
hey Matt I just want to say how much I appreciate the content warnings on all your videos here and over on ThoughtSlime. It makes me feel really safe watching your videos, because I love the horror genre but there are things I can’t watch without being triggered and it’s really comforting to know I can watch an awesome movie review and not have that kinda shit pop up on me unexpectedly. Thanks, man.💛
Just wanted to pop in before watching the video to say you do an amazing job of putting content warnings out there. Like, not just saying “tw: abuse, bad stuff, etc” but also reminding people “If you’re sensitive to that type of stuff, you should probably not watch the video, even though I benefit from you watching the video. It will upset you and you don’t need that.” This particular subject matter isn’t triggering to me, but some of us with trauma struggle to take our own feelings seriously, and we might just forge ahead thinking “oh I’m fine because I got a content warning!” without taking the time to seriously consider that we’re even allowed to walk away from something that triggers us. Anyway, just wanted to say that I sincerely appreciate that. Time to enjoy the hell out of some horror movie analyzation!
Innocent until proven guilty is for both sides. A person making an accusation shouldn't be assumed to be making a false one just as the accused shouldn't be assumed to guilty.
Good work as always, Matt. Another great example of how it's possible to criticise something using a particular lens without (necessarily) condemning it wholesale. Cheers from quaranti- I mean, Sauga.
so round 5:00 I can oddly relate to this, I will be upfront that I haven't seen this film but I did have a very "toxic" relationship and what they did was incredibly ludicrous to the point people wouldn't believe it, so sometimes having a weird premise can make it more relatable as sometimes abusers do super weird things that sound crazy
Okay dude I've gotta say, you're honestly one of my favorite UA-camrs of all time. The way you self-analyze and how your "wokeness" isn't performative but a genuine conversation with yourself and your viewers is incredible and every time something comes on the screen, even something as simple as the text "I'm using a woman in this example but this can happen to men and nonbinary people too" is so refreshing and makes me want to watch your videos even more because the content and the analysis are both so concise and self-aware that it inspires others to be introspective as well. I actually watched this video before the movie (I know, that's usually a no no and I didn't want to spoil it for myself) because domestic violence and gaslighting are difficult subjects for me, but watching this helped me going into it and gave me something to think about during the watching so thank you for all that you do and all your content
I think that for a lot of people who know an abuser, the idea that they could be abusive is just as unthinkable as them being invisible. "he's always so nice to me!" etc. and imho it's also more about societal response than individual. Maybe your friends and family believe you, but do the police? The courts? Your workplace, or his? It doesn't matter if people believe you - abusers are protected and "vanished" by the system which refuses to acknowledge them, so they get away with it. Leaving your abuser, even if you leave to a supportive place, is one of the most dangerous parts of an abusive relationship because no one can or will do anything about even acknowledged abusers until after they've already killed you, even when everyone knows and agrees they're abusive. Anyway, my two cents. Love your videos
imo i think it works on the level of 'my abuse looks impossible from the outside and feels impossible to explain from the inside and i don't even fully understand it myself', like trying to explain certain aspects of abuse can make you feel (or feel like you sound) just as paranoid and ridiculous as someone claiming an invisible man is after them. it might also reflect how well-intentioned people who think of themselves as supportive will only really be supportive if the abuse takes a form they can comfortably recognise, or happens in a way they can confirm with their own eyes.
matt, you're such a good writer! I literally laugh out loud because of the way you phrase things in every video you make. thanks for being so cool and making good stuff!
Thank you Matt for this suggestion. I was in a dis functional relationship and am still trying to escape from his home town. I thought I was going crazy, his control ....my son introduced me to your work and I’ve been grateful ever since. Thank you for this, you give me strength
Matt, please talk about Color Out of Space. I'm so obsessed with it I saw it 3 times in theaters and it was really scary, I even had a bad dream about the monsters the night I first saw it
I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it. I was disappointed because I didn't manage my expectations. I was hoping for something far weirder and feel like I deprived myself of the enjoyment I should've felt by watching what is clearly a well made horror movie.
I guess Nick Cage is having a bit of a renaissance? Between this, Mandy, and his role in Spiderverse, he’s had a few hits in the past couple years. Of course, it helps that he apparently will not turn down any role no matter what.
@@metroidkillah I feel like every third movie he makes is labeled a comeback or a renaissance. I'm biased though. I love his acting and always have. Even when he's in shit movies, he is worth watching.
I adored the first 4/5ths of this film. I couldn’t stand the way at the end it twisted itself up in knots for the sake of it at the expense of its superb allegory and premise. And also suggesting at the end “oooohhh maybe she’s crazy and dangerous after all that abuse she’s scary now”.
this movie's premise and story give me flashbacks and trigger me and stuff, but my parents asked me if the movie was good so they could rent it for us to watch as a family. i responded by telling them that it was a really bad movie, because i really really didn't want to have to explain why i was so distressed about it. does this make me a bad person?
Not at all. If they press you about it or you really think they deserve more of an explanation, there's a phrase I like to use - "It was a good movie, but watching it did not feel good."
Please title your next video with "Scaredy Cats with your host King Smarty-Boy". (I appreciate your jokes and smarty-boy-ness, thank you for another really good video.)
I think this is a fair criticism-but I also think that sometimes things are more about an emotional truth. Abusers often try to make their victims feel crazy, they frame their abuse in a way that makes you feel like you can’t talk to anyone else, and if you did they’d just tell you the same things your abuser is. You feel trapped and alone, the abuser feels powerful and larger then life. Maybe the movie is trying more to create the emotional reality of abuse rather then a physical metaphor
They should make a Freddy vs Jason version where the Invisible Man is rampaging through an apartment building and the only person that can stop him is a unnamed college educated black man hiding in the cellar who has to stay invisible because he's not allowed in the building. Final fight comes down to the celler where his collection of lights come into play.
I think horror stories especially the fantastical can be a safeway in encountering those repressed feelings, IT being a fantasy recreation of childhood trauma, Invisible Man about abusive relationships. That opening scene of her trying to leave quietly, saying goodbye to the dog and hoping the car shows up to take you. That is spot on what i went through. This movie nails it.
This is the last movie I saw before quarentine.....my boss yelled at me and made me cry so before I left I called one of my little stoner friends and convinced him to come see a movie with me. We smoked a double blunt before going in and the theater was packed and everyone was laughing and screaming together and it was so fun I miss this shit 😭😭😭
I went into this knowing absolutely nothing about the movie, expecting some standard B-Movie schlock like Hollow Man. I genuinely can't remember the last time being this unnerved watching a movie.
i totally get ur apprehension about about the analogy being a little muddy. metaphors for social commentary in genre fiction is really hard to pull off perfectly if at all.
my spouse and i saw it at the drive-in theatre, which i am so glad still exists. I think the reason the movie works isn't because it's an allegory, but that it aims to put you in the shoes of somebody that is being abused and not believed. it's trying to convey the feelings that come with that, which it does effectively. and I was thinking: there aren't a ton of pro social things you can do with the power of invisibility.
I don't know why I waited so long to check this channel out. Please continue posting more videos! Thought Slime is one of my favorite YT channels right now and this channel is just icing on a yummy yummy cake.
A friend of mine and me had a hilliarious misunderstanding because he thought it was an adaptation of the Ellison novel and was really confused when I told him about the movie.
Your “complaint” about the movie is similar to an observation I made about Machinegame’s Wolfenstein series. The inclusion of ancient, highly advanced Jew Tech™ inadvertently introduces a reason for oppressing an entire ethnicity that begins to border on reasonable. “These people have crazy technology? Of course others are going to want it, and they’ll do whatever it takes to get it!” It’s an element meant to make the story more interesting or workable, but reading into it can raise uncomfortable questions.
I feel like the developers may have been aware of the potential problematic implications, and tried to soften them by making the secret jewish society non-interventionists who were interested in creating cool technology purely for the sake of knowledge
In the story by H.G. Wells, the invisible man is permanently stuck in his invisible condition. And by that, he is separated from society. In this movie, the villain sacrifices nothing to gain his invisibility.
My favorite iffy analogy of all time is the Captain Marvel comic where Mr. Tawny (The talking tiger) wants to move to the suburbs, but the home owner's association tries to stop him because Tigers are famously violent and their children wouldn't be safe. On one level it's a great story to teach kids about the horrors of redlining and genteel suburban racism, but on the other, it doesn't work as an analogy because tigers actually do eat children.
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That was the most unexpected appearance of The Cheetahmen I've seen so far.
Tonight I've finally watched the film. I've really wanted to. I was somewhat worried that it might be triggering. But considering what unexpected media sometimes end up triggering emotional flashbacks, it seems fruitless to try to predict and avoid that sort of thing. And I can survive that when it happens unexpectedly. It can't be worse when I'm prepared for it, right? But it was alright, actually. As you say in the video, focusing on Cecilia works wonders for the film. If anything in it ever felt hauntingly familiar, it were things Cecilia did in order to escape or to detect what's hidden from her or to assert what she knows - you know, the (kind of) good things. I wasn't exposed to the real-life non-sci-fi experiences that would drive her to do those things. Psychological abuse happens in ways that are pretty much invisible. And when you try to just describe it without having thought enough about _how_ to describe it, then you'll easily sound crazy. - Well, not like you're talking about things that couldn't possibly happen. But if you describe on a low level what the abuser specifically does, then it sounds like you're getting upset about someone just doing very normal things and trying to deal with you without constantly upsetting you must be a chore. And when you describe on a grand-scheme level what's going on, then you may easily sound like the kind of person who would believe that people lie about the shape of the Earth for no discernible reason other than that deceiving us gives them a sense of power over us.
I think the level that the metaphor is working on is the way the apparent impossibility of intimate partner abuse to some people. When someone reveals that a partner their parents loved is actually an abuser often sounds as impossible to them as that person turning invisible.
Well after hearing two glowing recommendations for this film from two trusted horror UA-cam channels (one from Ryan Hollinger, and one from King Smartypants Scaredy Matt), I pretty much have to watch it now. Thanks for the recommendation and the analysis.
"Technology turns a good guy into a bad guy and it gets scary on an existential level" -- a movie made by some fedora-wearing dudeguy "Technology is wielded bad guys with inherently more power than the good guy and there is no incentive for anyone to support or believe the good guy" -- a movie made by a trauma survivor
All hail King Smartey Boy!!! All praise the Emperor's New Ellison "Invisible Man" puns that only the most brilliant and subtlety minded amongst us could see!!!
Good critique of a good movie. Perhaps the contrast was there to show how a support network ideally should act to witnessing and being made aware of abuse, and later how a support network should not act to that.
I file this movie as another addition to the list of movies I thought were great or even loved and will never, ever watch again. I walked into it 100% blind (only knew the title and year of release) and spent the entire runtime in the headspace of teenage me. I didn't even get a fraction of the treatment that most others got, but it was enough to keep me on edge all night. Very effective horror film in terms of evoking what gaslighting felt like to me.
I absolutely love your content♥️ You are the most genuine human I’ve ever seen as a content creator on UA-cam- and honestly I didn’t think genuine human beings could exist and succeed on this platform before k found you. Thank you for giving a voice to the demons of generalized anxiety, suicidal ideations, imposter syndrome,body dysmorphia, anorexia, etc that you continue to fight on a daily basis. I relate to Your struggles soooo much and hearing you describe your own struggles with mental Health helped me to feel less like a miserable freak. Keep being genuine you and please keep posting content ♥️ (unless it eventually becomes detrimental to Your mental health- then stop. Immediately. Just know I’ll miss you ♥️)
One way the analogy does actually work is that even after people do see with their own eyes evidence that her story is true, they continue not to beleive her.
When watching invisible man, I kept wondering weather the titular man was even real for a good half of the movie. I thought the movie might be trying to unpack the psychological damage of abuse from the victim’s standpoint. The tension of wondering if the main character was imagining things based on her trauma or actually experiencing a real sci-fi horror was super thrilling.
I saw this in theaters before the end times happened, and I loved it. Again, a horror film that most people didn't see, but was most definitely fantastic and deserved far better.
My speakers were at around 30% to listen to this video, and I had to turn them all the way up before I could hear the vacuuming. So, don't worry about it!
Fun fact, hg wells original story legit did have the guy be scary before invisible, was Hayes code stuff that made it so the movie version got corrupted by the potion, if I remember
as someone with ptsd (not from domestic abuse, but i think this is still relevant), i feel like the invisible man is probably going for how trauma manifests in victims. now, i haven’t seen the movie yet-i’m going based on what you’ve said and what i’ve seen from trailers. so i could be wrong here, but it does sound like they’re going for that metaphor. as far as the invisible man doing things like killing people, i think that represents the way that trauma can cause people to do horrible things and lash out at people around them sometimes, typically uncharacteristically (not that most mentally ill people are violent, just that people with trauma often do things that are out of character and very angry or unfair to others). like, it’s super hard to try to explain to someone that you weren’t trying to guilt trip them when you started to freak out because they triggered you, or that you didn’t mean to compare them to your abuser. but again, i didn’t watch the movie. i want to now, though! i had assumed it was another shitty horror movie that elizabeth moss decided to work on mistakenly. glad to hear otherwise :)
I really like this movie, along with Midsommar and I recently watched Moonlight, that show women looking "ugly" and having negative emotions and are treated sympathetically. When that is usually shown It's just "ugly face" makeup and we are supposed to champion her meekness, not her vulnerability.
I'm kinda upset that these days "abusive relationships" are subtly deemed to mean only "abusive intimate relationships" and not, say, the abusive relationship between a parent and a child. But that's my personal bugbear, and I don't want to detract overly from a great video. Thanks for reviewing this film, I'm glad I chose not to see it, but I'm also glad that you did.
Late to the party, but I'd be curious to see Scaredy Matt's take on the recently released Smile movie. For my money, it's a really well executed film. The only time I've ever felt like a movie made almost entirely out of jump scares actually earned every single one of them and delivers super well on the premise. But it also tries to deal with some heavy subject matter and fails so spectacularly that it ends up having some truly heinous messaging about the mentally ill and people suffering from traumatic experiences.
I haven't seen the movie, so I'll phrase these in the forms of questions. 1. Is there a reading available of the abuse theme whereby we can see a criticism of the disbelief in real life, as though to disbelieve someone who comes out conversationally in real life is like saying she's claiming her abusive partner is invisible? 2. Is there, perhaps, a way to read institutional discrimination in terms of, say, revenge porn (i.e. losing one's job, family, loved ones, etc. because of something someone posted online) into the not believing that happens suddenly in this movie? Is there a virtual element? 3. When I was being gaslit and abused, the people whom I went to for support did support me until they spoke with my partner who was abusing me, and then they were either unsure or unsupportive. Is there a way to read that kind of thing into the development of disbelief in this film?
I am at 6:43 but it seems you are asking why this analogy exists and it seems you have missed an important thing many many many abusive men do. There is a book by Lundy Bancroft I highly recommend called "Why Does He Do That?" which explores the mind and behavior of abusive men. One tactic abusive men use is to make a partner *look crazy* in front of cops, their peers etc. For example after an episode where the man abuses his wife and the neighbors call the police, by the time the police arrive the man acts calm, rational and collected. The wife just having gone through a traumatic event is of course, incoherent, anxious, hard to understand and "hysterical" making her look crazy, mentally unstable, in front the cops. The Invisible Man is a metaphor *for this specifically*. She is supposed to look crazy and that's exactly what this abusive man wants to accomplish. Abusive men are very aware of what they're doing, and another example of a related thing is a story of a man Lundy worked with who would hide his wife's keys, watch her search frantically for them, and then put them back in plain sight and tell her they were there the whole time. So that now she thinks she is crazy as well
I've been a fan of Leigh Whannel since the first SAW movie. I got to see Upgrade at it's Sydney Film Festival Premiere and meet him after which was very exciting. Upgrade probably isn't the best fit for your channel since its more of a cyberpunk action horror than a true spookster but you should definitely give it a shot if you skipped it because of disliking SAW, Insidious and The Conjuring.
The least believable thing about this movie is how a tech billionaire is an actual genius scientist who invents things and not a rich kid underpaying developers to make exploitative apps
Sounds like Thomas Edison
Username relevant
haha word!
@@darganx Or Musk.
@@tracyh5751 No, Just Edison.
I'd like to say as a person who was abused by their parents their entire life, I think the comparison of not believing abuse and not believing an implausible sci-fi scenario is actually great. My parents built up an image that made me look insane when I told anyone that they were doing horrible things to me. They made sure to look like the most wonderful, charitable, supportive people anyone could know and no one ever considered that something could be wrong, from their friend groups to work groups to even local businesses while they were abusing me in nearly every way possible. I think it's also brilliant because I used to feel insane for thinking my parents could be abusive. Me telling anyone I knew that my parents were abusive would have been the equivalent of saying I was being chased by an invisible man. It's not even that people can't see the effects of abuse, but lots of people can't see the abuser for what they really are. I haven't seen the movie, but from everything you described I don't actually see anything problematic, and it feels like a perfect metaphor to describe what I was going through.
Bravo to you and your strength and will.
From what I understand that was exactly the aim of Wanell.
I thought that was actually pretty obvious, but that may be because I recognized it from personal experience.
If you appreciate a sympathetic yet thoroughly professional exploration of that, Cinema Therapy used the 'this is what it feels like from the inside' as one of the major cornerstones of their discussion of the movie. And it can be very satisfying to see a therapist go 'screw that guy, he does not deserve any sympathy' (and, spoilers...
to see him think 'and he deserved everything that he brought on himself. And more...')
Thank you for sharing. This made me consider the film a little differently.
movies like this scare me more than any other horror movie. the whole 'try not to overreact to something threatening your life because all it will do is make people think you're crazy and push them away' movie plot (and also very real life event) freaks me out in a way no other thing does
Relevant username?
Take this with a grain of salt, since I haven't seen the movie, nor have I ever told someone about an abusive partner and not been believed, but I wonder if the whole "telling someone about abuse" vs. "telling someone there's a literal invisible man after you" analogy is meant to be seen from the victim's perspective. Maybe it's like how telling someone that a person they like is secretly an abuser is as frustrating as trying to tell someone that the person they thought was dead has actually gained invisibility powers. You keep trying to explain what you've witnessed first-hand, but people are just acting like they think you're crazy.
Gonna have to see this movie now, though, it sounds bonkers good.
This was kind of my thought. Less "trying to teach the audience to react right to someone else being abused" and more "trying, through a fantastical story, to get the audience to feel what it's like to be an abuse victim, and use that to fuel a sense of horror '.
Yes, coming from your same place (never watched the movie, though I want to) I think this is *probably* what they were going for. That said, Matt points out that apparently in the movie the protagonist is believed *at first* about abuse and then *later* when her partner becomes invisible, they don't believe her anymore, and that *does* significantly muddy the waters, IMO.
Glad to see you also thought about the same *and* wrote it down so I don't have to
@@beautifulbearinatutu4455 True. If I'm right, it probably would have come through more clearly if she simply hadn't told the other characters about her partner's abusive behavior first.
@@beautifulbearinatutu4455 i mean, not really. there is a tendency for people to hear abuse is happening and initially seem supportive and believing but as more is shared they either become burned out on it(and become frustrated to keep hearing it) or something said butts up against their preconceived understanding of the abuser and doubts form that it is actually abuse and not just the victim trying to get attention
abuse that do not have highly visible visible easily-distinguished injuries aren't something that a lot of people are prepared to tolerate more than briefly and so if the victim continuing to talk about it and suffer from it wears thin pretty fast even though objectively it really oughtn't
I think the fact that they won't believe her is what's scary. That real life kinda already feels like you're talking about an invisible person when seeking help.
You got me with the line, "make the man scary, then make him invisible.".
My partner stood up for his rights around safety during Covid at his minimum wage retail job. He is RIGHT NOW in a meeting having to deal with the fall-out while his managers decide his punishment. I know it's small in the face of something so big, but knowing he'll get to come home to chill out and watch this vid (with surprise Bloomer's donuts!) is going to make his day just a little better. Thanks for all you do Scaredy Matt/Mr. Slime, truly.
@IntrepidFinch I'll have to leave that up to him, I'm sorry.
No apology needed. You don’t need to say but blink twice if its Amazon
💜
@@gateauxq4604 Amazon are obviously shitty and evil but there's not been much media attention on the smaller corporations and companies forcing workers to risk their lives during this pandemic.
Your partner is a hero for standing up for the safety of he and his colleagues ♡
I hope things have turned out alright for your partner right now.
I figured the untouchability of the invisible, presumed dead, man lends itself pretty well to how society treats women who come forward with allegations against powerful, untouchable men irl
I think the sci-fi explanation works really well actually. Like many people respond to claims of abuse as if the claims were a rediculous sci-fi story and that the claimant is delusional.
"receiving the power to become invisible drives a man to do bad things." And just like that, Matt made me realize that most of these stories are just Plato's The Ring of Gyges
@@rook9714 Do you mean how Sam and Frodo eventually overcome the Ring's power over its bearer?
@@rook9714 Then, how exactly do you mean that Tolkien inverts that trope?
@@rook9714
Doesn't Gandalf say that the Ring would corrupt him and make him do terrible things, were he to take it? He says it would come from wanting to do good with its power, so it sounds to me like the ring can corrupt even benevolent entities.
Either way, your take is interesting.
That pause for laughter was not long enough for how hard and long I laughed at that incredibly funny joke!
I don't hate the movie as far as its theme (I am an abuse survivor), and the source material is solid. I just have trouble enjoying anything when I know Scientology has a hand in it. They're reliant on their celebrity members' popularity to recruit people and I don't want to feed into that. The movie's "believe survivors" message becomes, for me, negated when given by someone who has ties to an organization that isolates its members from their families, extorts them for money, has a history of controlling their bodies, and will use its enormous financial reserves to silence people from speaking about what they've done.
Sorry but what’s the Scientology connection? Honest question.
@@moofoogee The lead actress, Elizabeth Moss, is a Scientologist.
valid point! thank you for that!
@@MisantropicFruit Ew, yikes. Scientologists are gaslighting champions
Might I remind you all that "Scientologists" includes the *victims* who buy into it, not only the abusers who gaslight them.
That ought to be the tagline on the aftermarket media sales. The Invisible Man is a must-see even if you can't see him.
"saint jackulus" was my nickname in middle school
I'm glad that someone else agrees that that was a noteworthy highlight of the video. Thanks.
I like this video and I think you have a point, but I remember telling people about my abusive ex and being treated like I WAS talking about her gaining the ability to turn invisible. And I felt like it too, so many people would try and explain to me that she was way too sweet and harmless to actually have done anything I was claiming, I ended up feeling uneasy and delusional about my own perception of reality.
The protagonist’s journey (I’m so bad with names) in this movie really resonated with me, sometimes the behaviours of an abuser ARE invisible to outside observers and accusations feel fantastical to them. And that’s a special kind of personal horror this movie did really well.
The message struck me more as being from the perspective of the survivor, saying ‘sometimes you’re going to feel like reality doesn’t make any sense and doesn’t line up with what the world should be, that’s pretty scary, right?’
"The invisible man is a must-see"
shut up, dad
Actually, it's about how society makes abusive men invisible. The mechanisms of patriarchy serving the interest of giving men escape from legal ramifications.
oh, that is a very interesting thought!
Wow, a comment that begins with "actually" that actually adds valid context and a unique way of seeing? What alternate internet dimension have I fallen into?
@@TheSparrowLooksUp You're in The Schmuck Zone. Don't be alarmed. 💗
@@TheSparrowLooksUp Opening with actually is still p dogshite tbh
@@callusklaus2413 yeah, it was late at night and I was tired. Everybody is shit sometimes.
This movie hit me really hard, and I went in expecting to be disappointed. I was abused as a kid, mostly due to the fact that adults straight up didn't believe me. People thought I was exaggerating or making stuff up altogether so my issues were often dismissed. I wasn't diagnosed until I was 17, but I'm autistic and in retrospect everything I was confused about over this now makes sense. I was absolutely the easiest target for bullying, and children are evil. I once had to go to a teacher and say "hey, the entire class is conspiring against me. They're being more awful than usual and they told me that they're conspiring against me" and that teacher was like "go practice your cursive, your Zs are bad" and then the same thing happened again in Hebrew school -for 6 years- and those adults didn't believe me either (also they didn't want to deal with it because then they'd have to confront their biggest donors about how terrible their children are).
Every time someone didn't believe/severely doubted Cecilia, Elizabeth Moss fucking nailed it. That's how I felt for years.
I honestly wasn't prepared for the movie to be that good. I had really bad anxiety for a few days after I saw it. I will probably never watch it again, but I think it's one of the best horror movies I've ever seen and I super appreciate how effective it was even though it triggered my cptsd.
Matt has anyone ever told you that you look like this other youtuber thought slime?
Matt is thought slime.
no that's thought slime this is scaredy matt. easy mistake to make.
Look at the kjones on this guy, saying who's who
He does, they def should collab
@@kjone5086 r/whoosh
Invisible Man was the last movie I saw in theatres before "The Event" as well, and my boyfriend and I were literally the only ones in there (small town, late night), so we were able to chat with each other if we wanted, but the whole time we just kinda sat in terrified silence, like I was holding my breath at that incredibly tense opening scene where she's clearly afraid (and the creators of this film did an excellent job in showing that sort of fear, like, where you have to map out the whole environment to avoid waking the abuser).
I was in an emotionally abusive relationship for years so I felt some empathy for the main character of The Invisible Man. I wouldn't dare speak on the more serious abuse many have unfortunately been the victims of but I think The Invisible Man works as both a literally scary presence and also an allegory for trauma. PTSD is common in abuse survivors and those can cause all sorts of irrational feelings and responses that it is difficult for others to understand. Many abuse survivors still think their abuser is coming to get them, you see similar reactions from people who have escaped cults, they're afraid that somehow they're going to get taken back one day. Especially if you've been gaslit into doubting your own sanity, you're going to be especially afraid of how you sound to others. Having a literal invisible monster in your home is a pretty on the nose way of communicating this but I think considering this is a mainstream horror flick it made sense to make it a bit more obvious about it. In the end it is a fantastical situation so things are taken to extremes not possible in real life which leads to the final act being pretty out there but again, being that this is a mainstream horror flick it had to give us some catharsis. I freaking loved this movie, thank you for doing such an awesome video on it.
I wonder if some victims get initial support from family and friends, and even have police take their side, only to have a new nightmare start when the case goes to court and the victim's character gets questioned and people line up to sing the praises of the perp?
That Cheetahmen joke killed me.
The clip cut away at a very sinister part, which made it even funnier.
I saw it as how abusers are able to affect how the people see victims and make them look crazy to others, effectively gaslighting others as to drive them away so Cecilia will have no choice but to comply.
I really appreciate your content warnings. It's never been a reason for me to not watch a video, but it allows me to put myself in a certain frame of mind. And I think for people who might be uncomfortable it's really useful and kind hearted.
Bringing up "innocent until proven guilty" is a good point. We _should_ give people the benefit of the doubt. So if someone says they are victims of abuse, we should give them the benefit of the doubt, and believe them.
I think that people not believing her is less about believing abuse survivors. And more about the lasting effects and how sometimes people think they should just "get over it". Personally, that's what I figured while watching it. Obviously some parts don't make sense, but that is expected for metaphors, especially in movies
oof i read ralph ellison's invisible man in high school and it was... haunting. i didn't know what i was getting into, we just picked books off of a list w/ no description for summer reading. not really sure there's a way to make a joke about it from what i remember of it tbh.
also, while i havent seen the movie, i think it would have been interesting for the character not to be believed when she told people about the abuse and by the time she figured out he faked his death & was invisible, she didn't trust telling anyone because it could mean putting her in danger of being found by him (like if they tried to hospitalize her or convince her she was delusional and should relax). something that is common even among therapists is underestimating the level of power that abusers have over their victims, even when they believe the victims. my ex could have killed me and made threats along those lines but my therapist at the time thought i just needed medication to stop being so crazy. he knew where i lived and actually stole my bike and at one point left a note on my car windshield. like yeah i needed meds but my reaction was perfectly rational given the situation i was in.
This is def my favorite youtube channel currently. It's really rewarding to see someone thoughtful explore my favorite genre in a grounded, honest way. This film slaps and I will not be brooking arguments at this time.
The opening sequence does an amazing job, with no dialogue, of setting up how afraid of the guy she is. I don't think I breathed for the first 15min, and it really sold me on how afraid she was even after learning he'd died. It was a great choice keeping the focus on her.
hey Matt I just want to say how much I appreciate the content warnings on all your videos here and over on ThoughtSlime. It makes me feel really safe watching your videos, because I love the horror genre but there are things I can’t watch without being triggered and it’s really comforting to know I can watch an awesome movie review and not have that kinda shit pop up on me unexpectedly. Thanks, man.💛
Just wanted to pop in before watching the video to say you do an amazing job of putting content warnings out there. Like, not just saying “tw: abuse, bad stuff, etc” but also reminding people “If you’re sensitive to that type of stuff, you should probably not watch the video, even though I benefit from you watching the video. It will upset you and you don’t need that.” This particular subject matter isn’t triggering to me, but some of us with trauma struggle to take our own feelings seriously, and we might just forge ahead thinking “oh I’m fine because I got a content warning!” without taking the time to seriously consider that we’re even allowed to walk away from something that triggers us. Anyway, just wanted to say that I sincerely appreciate that. Time to enjoy the hell out of some horror movie analyzation!
Innocent until proven guilty is for both sides. A person making an accusation shouldn't be assumed to be making a false one just as the accused shouldn't be assumed to guilty.
Had to smash that like and comment for that sweet Cheetahman reference.
ALL HAIL KING SMARTIE-BOI, LORD OF BRAIN-GOOD! MAY HE LEAD US ALL TO THE GLORY OF THE EYEBALLS!
Good work as always, Matt. Another great example of how it's possible to criticise something using a particular lens without (necessarily) condemning it wholesale.
Cheers from quaranti- I mean, Sauga.
so round 5:00 I can oddly relate to this, I will be upfront that I haven't seen this film but I did have a very "toxic" relationship and what they did was incredibly ludicrous to the point people wouldn't believe it, so sometimes having a weird premise can make it more relatable as sometimes abusers do super weird things that sound crazy
The original was much scarier than H.G. Wells’ followup book: The Visible Man.
The other commentors have done you dirty by not awarding this comment with more likes.
Okay dude I've gotta say, you're honestly one of my favorite UA-camrs of all time. The way you self-analyze and how your "wokeness" isn't performative but a genuine conversation with yourself and your viewers is incredible and every time something comes on the screen, even something as simple as the text "I'm using a woman in this example but this can happen to men and nonbinary people too" is so refreshing and makes me want to watch your videos even more because the content and the analysis are both so concise and self-aware that it inspires others to be introspective as well. I actually watched this video before the movie (I know, that's usually a no no and I didn't want to spoil it for myself) because domestic violence and gaslighting are difficult subjects for me, but watching this helped me going into it and gave me something to think about during the watching so thank you for all that you do and all your content
I think that for a lot of people who know an abuser, the idea that they could be abusive is just as unthinkable as them being invisible. "he's always so nice to me!" etc. and imho it's also more about societal response than individual. Maybe your friends and family believe you, but do the police? The courts? Your workplace, or his? It doesn't matter if people believe you - abusers are protected and "vanished" by the system which refuses to acknowledge them, so they get away with it. Leaving your abuser, even if you leave to a supportive place, is one of the most dangerous parts of an abusive relationship because no one can or will do anything about even acknowledged abusers until after they've already killed you, even when everyone knows and agrees they're abusive. Anyway, my two cents. Love your videos
imo i think it works on the level of 'my abuse looks impossible from the outside and feels impossible to explain from the inside and i don't even fully understand it myself', like trying to explain certain aspects of abuse can make you feel (or feel like you sound) just as paranoid and ridiculous as someone claiming an invisible man is after them. it might also reflect how well-intentioned people who think of themselves as supportive will only really be supportive if the abuse takes a form they can comfortably recognise, or happens in a way they can confirm with their own eyes.
Cheetah men transitioned into a cinnamon toast crunch ad, and I thought it was a part of it.
matt, you're such a good writer! I literally laugh out loud because of the way you phrase things in every video you make. thanks for being so cool and making good stuff!
Thank you Matt for this suggestion. I was in a dis functional relationship and am still trying to escape from his home town. I thought I was going crazy, his control ....my son introduced me to your work and I’ve been grateful ever since. Thank you for this, you give me strength
Matt, please talk about Color Out of Space. I'm so obsessed with it I saw it 3 times in theaters and it was really scary, I even had a bad dream about the monsters the night I first saw it
I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it. I was disappointed because I didn't manage my expectations. I was hoping for something far weirder and feel like I deprived myself of the enjoyment I should've felt by watching what is clearly a well made horror movie.
I guess Nick Cage is having a bit of a renaissance? Between this, Mandy, and his role in Spiderverse, he’s had a few hits in the past couple years. Of course, it helps that he apparently will not turn down any role no matter what.
@@metroidkillah I feel like every third movie he makes is labeled a comeback or a renaissance. I'm biased though. I love his acting and always have. Even when he's in shit movies, he is worth watching.
Eli Stanley Make no mistake, I think he’s always delightful. He just needs to learn how to say “no” every once in a while.
@@metroidkillah Strong disagree - for every Mandy there's a Season of the Witch, and I love a Thursday night schlock films
I adored the first 4/5ths of this film. I couldn’t stand the way at the end it twisted itself up in knots for the sake of it at the expense of its superb allegory and premise. And also suggesting at the end “oooohhh maybe she’s crazy and dangerous after all that abuse she’s scary now”.
Your problem with it is great. It's a good example of how resorting to speaking with metaphor or allegory can muddy the waters at least somewhat.
this movie's premise and story give me flashbacks and trigger me and stuff, but my parents asked me if the movie was good so they could rent it for us to watch as a family. i responded by telling them that it was a really bad movie, because i really really didn't want to have to explain why i was so distressed about it. does this make me a bad person?
Not at all.
If they press you about it or you really think they deserve more of an explanation, there's a phrase I like to use -
"It was a good movie, but watching it did not feel good."
Not at all a bad person for keeping yourself safe ♡
No, it is ok to prioritize your privacy over accurate movie reviews
Please title your next video with "Scaredy Cats with your host King Smarty-Boy".
(I appreciate your jokes and smarty-boy-ness, thank you for another really good video.)
Moss does such a great job in this movie with her posture and mannerisms displaying how her character feels and sees themselves.
scaredy cats ft. downstairs neighbour vacuuming ambiance
I think this is a fair criticism-but I also think that sometimes things are more about an emotional truth. Abusers often try to make their victims feel crazy, they frame their abuse in a way that makes you feel like you can’t talk to anyone else, and if you did they’d just tell you the same things your abuser is. You feel trapped and alone, the abuser feels powerful and larger then life. Maybe the movie is trying more to create the emotional reality of abuse rather then a physical metaphor
They should make a Freddy vs Jason version where the Invisible Man is rampaging through an apartment building and the only person that can stop him is a unnamed college educated black man hiding in the cellar who has to stay invisible because he's not allowed in the building. Final fight comes down to the celler where his collection of lights come into play.
I think horror stories especially the fantastical can be a safeway in encountering those repressed feelings, IT being a fantasy recreation of childhood trauma, Invisible Man about abusive relationships. That opening scene of her trying to leave quietly, saying goodbye to the dog and hoping the car shows up to take you. That is spot on what i went through. This movie nails it.
This is the last movie I saw before quarentine.....my boss yelled at me and made me cry so before I left I called one of my little stoner friends and convinced him to come see a movie with me. We smoked a double blunt before going in and the theater was packed and everyone was laughing and screaming together and it was so fun I miss this shit 😭😭😭
I went into this knowing absolutely nothing about the movie, expecting some standard B-Movie schlock like Hollow Man. I genuinely can't remember the last time being this unnerved watching a movie.
i totally get ur apprehension about about the analogy being a little muddy. metaphors for social commentary in genre fiction is really hard to pull off perfectly if at all.
my spouse and i saw it at the drive-in theatre, which i am so glad still exists.
I think the reason the movie works isn't because it's an allegory, but that it aims to put you in the shoes of somebody that is being abused and not believed. it's trying to convey the feelings that come with that, which it does effectively.
and I was thinking: there aren't a ton of pro social things you can do with the power of invisibility.
I don't know why I waited so long to check this channel out. Please continue posting more videos! Thought Slime is one of my favorite YT channels right now and this channel is just icing on a yummy yummy cake.
The "pause for laughter" was way too short.
A friend of mine and me had a hilliarious misunderstanding because he thought it was an adaptation of the Ellison novel and was really confused when I told him about the movie.
Your “complaint” about the movie is similar to an observation I made about Machinegame’s Wolfenstein series. The inclusion of ancient, highly advanced Jew Tech™ inadvertently introduces a reason for oppressing an entire ethnicity that begins to border on reasonable. “These people have crazy technology? Of course others are going to want it, and they’ll do whatever it takes to get it!”
It’s an element meant to make the story more interesting or workable, but reading into it can raise uncomfortable questions.
I feel like the developers may have been aware of the potential problematic implications, and tried to soften them by making the secret jewish society non-interventionists who were interested in creating cool technology purely for the sake of knowledge
Nice touch having black background with black shirt to make yourself "invisible."
This channel has the best content warnings, honestly I'd tune in just for that part.
In the story by H.G. Wells, the invisible man is permanently stuck in his invisible condition. And by that, he is separated from society. In this movie, the villain sacrifices nothing to gain his invisibility.
Never apologize for making puns.
My favorite iffy analogy of all time is the Captain Marvel comic where Mr. Tawny (The talking tiger) wants to move to the suburbs, but the home owner's association tries to stop him because Tigers are famously violent and their children wouldn't be safe. On one level it's a great story to teach kids about the horrors of redlining and genteel suburban racism, but on the other, it doesn't work as an analogy because tigers actually do eat children.
That was the most unexpected appearance of The Cheetahmen I've seen so far.
Come for the film analysis... stay for Cheetahmen references.
Tonight I've finally watched the film.
I've really wanted to. I was somewhat worried that it might be triggering. But considering what unexpected media sometimes end up triggering emotional flashbacks, it seems fruitless to try to predict and avoid that sort of thing. And I can survive that when it happens unexpectedly. It can't be worse when I'm prepared for it, right?
But it was alright, actually. As you say in the video, focusing on Cecilia works wonders for the film. If anything in it ever felt hauntingly familiar, it were things Cecilia did in order to escape or to detect what's hidden from her or to assert what she knows - you know, the (kind of) good things. I wasn't exposed to the real-life non-sci-fi experiences that would drive her to do those things.
Psychological abuse happens in ways that are pretty much invisible. And when you try to just describe it without having thought enough about _how_ to describe it, then you'll easily sound crazy. - Well, not like you're talking about things that couldn't possibly happen. But if you describe on a low level what the abuser specifically does, then it sounds like you're getting upset about someone just doing very normal things and trying to deal with you without constantly upsetting you must be a chore. And when you describe on a grand-scheme level what's going on, then you may easily sound like the kind of person who would believe that people lie about the shape of the Earth for no discernible reason other than that deceiving us gives them a sense of power over us.
I had my eye on this movie since I saw the trailer on TV, and this really put it in my Must Watch list. Thanks!
I think the level that the metaphor is working on is the way the apparent impossibility of intimate partner abuse to some people. When someone reveals that a partner their parents loved is actually an abuser often sounds as impossible to them as that person turning invisible.
Well after hearing two glowing recommendations for this film from two trusted horror UA-cam channels (one from Ryan Hollinger, and one from King Smartypants Scaredy Matt), I pretty much have to watch it now. Thanks for the recommendation and the analysis.
I have my housemates interrupt my videos all the tiiiime!
Loving your videos btw. I've just gone through about 5 in a row.
Aw crap. Domestic abuse is, like, my ONE thing that I can't deal. Thanks for the vid anyway Matt. Keep up the amazing work
stay safe, nanami :)
Hearing you talk about this makes me want to hear your take on "Before I wake" so badly
"Technology turns a good guy into a bad guy and it gets scary on an existential level" -- a movie made by some fedora-wearing dudeguy
"Technology is wielded bad guys with inherently more power than the good guy and there is no incentive for anyone to support or believe the good guy" -- a movie made by a trauma survivor
All hail King Smartey Boy!!! All praise the Emperor's New Ellison "Invisible Man" puns that only the most brilliant and subtlety minded amongst us could see!!!
Good critique of a good movie.
Perhaps the contrast was there to show how a support network ideally should act to witnessing and being made aware of abuse, and later how a support network should not act to that.
I file this movie as another addition to the list of movies I thought were great or even loved and will never, ever watch again. I walked into it 100% blind (only knew the title and year of release) and spent the entire runtime in the headspace of teenage me. I didn't even get a fraction of the treatment that most others got, but it was enough to keep me on edge all night. Very effective horror film in terms of evoking what gaslighting felt like to me.
I absolutely love your content♥️ You are the most genuine human I’ve ever seen as a content creator on UA-cam- and honestly I didn’t think genuine human beings could exist and succeed on this platform before k found you. Thank you for giving a voice to the demons of generalized anxiety, suicidal ideations, imposter syndrome,body dysmorphia, anorexia, etc that you continue to fight on a daily basis. I relate to
Your struggles soooo much and hearing you describe your own struggles with mental
Health helped me to feel less like a miserable freak. Keep being genuine you and please keep posting content ♥️ (unless it eventually becomes detrimental to
Your mental health- then stop. Immediately. Just know I’ll miss you ♥️)
One way the analogy does actually work is that even after people do see with their own eyes evidence that her story is true, they continue not to beleive her.
When watching invisible man, I kept wondering weather the titular man was even real for a good half of the movie. I thought the movie might be trying to unpack the psychological damage of abuse from the victim’s standpoint. The tension of wondering if the main character was imagining things based on her trauma or actually experiencing a real sci-fi horror was super thrilling.
This was the last movie I saw before "The Event" too, and this story mirrors my experience.
I saw this in theaters before the end times happened, and I loved it. Again, a horror film that most people didn't see, but was most definitely fantastic and deserved far better.
My speakers were at around 30% to listen to this video, and I had to turn them all the way up before I could hear the vacuuming. So, don't worry about it!
Fun fact, hg wells original story legit did have the guy be scary before invisible, was Hayes code stuff that made it so the movie version got corrupted by the potion, if I remember
as someone with ptsd (not from domestic abuse, but i think this is still relevant), i feel like the invisible man is probably going for how trauma manifests in victims. now, i haven’t seen the movie yet-i’m going based on what you’ve said and what i’ve seen from trailers. so i could be wrong here, but it does sound like they’re going for that metaphor. as far as the invisible man doing things like killing people, i think that represents the way that trauma can cause people to do horrible things and lash out at people around them sometimes, typically uncharacteristically (not that most mentally ill people are violent, just that people with trauma often do things that are out of character and very angry or unfair to others). like, it’s super hard to try to explain to someone that you weren’t trying to guilt trip them when you started to freak out because they triggered you, or that you didn’t mean to compare them to your abuser.
but again, i didn’t watch the movie. i want to now, though! i had assumed it was another shitty horror movie that elizabeth moss decided to work on mistakenly. glad to hear otherwise :)
I really like this movie, along with Midsommar and I recently watched Moonlight, that show women looking "ugly" and having negative emotions and are treated sympathetically. When that is usually shown It's just "ugly face" makeup and we are supposed to champion her meekness, not her vulnerability.
How ironic that in a video about the Invisible Man, the one thing I didn't see coming was the cheetahmen
I'm kinda upset that these days "abusive relationships" are subtly deemed to mean only "abusive intimate relationships" and not, say, the abusive relationship between a parent and a child.
But that's my personal bugbear, and I don't want to detract overly from a great video.
Thanks for reviewing this film, I'm glad I chose not to see it, but I'm also glad that you did.
Late to the party, but I'd be curious to see Scaredy Matt's take on the recently released Smile movie.
For my money, it's a really well executed film. The only time I've ever felt like a movie made almost entirely out of jump scares actually earned every single one of them and delivers super well on the premise.
But it also tries to deal with some heavy subject matter and fails so spectacularly that it ends up having some truly heinous messaging about the mentally ill and people suffering from traumatic experiences.
I haven't seen the movie, so I'll phrase these in the forms of questions.
1. Is there a reading available of the abuse theme whereby we can see a criticism of the disbelief in real life, as though to disbelieve someone who comes out conversationally in real life is like saying she's claiming her abusive partner is invisible?
2. Is there, perhaps, a way to read institutional discrimination in terms of, say, revenge porn (i.e. losing one's job, family, loved ones, etc. because of something someone posted online) into the not believing that happens suddenly in this movie? Is there a virtual element?
3. When I was being gaslit and abused, the people whom I went to for support did support me until they spoke with my partner who was abusing me, and then they were either unsure or unsupportive. Is there a way to read that kind of thing into the development of disbelief in this film?
I am at 6:43 but it seems you are asking why this analogy exists and it seems you have missed an important thing many many many abusive men do. There is a book by Lundy Bancroft I highly recommend called "Why Does He Do That?" which explores the mind and behavior of abusive men. One tactic abusive men use is to make a partner *look crazy* in front of cops, their peers etc. For example after an episode where the man abuses his wife and the neighbors call the police, by the time the police arrive the man acts calm, rational and collected. The wife just having gone through a traumatic event is of course, incoherent, anxious, hard to understand and "hysterical" making her look crazy, mentally unstable, in front the cops. The Invisible Man is a metaphor *for this specifically*. She is supposed to look crazy and that's exactly what this abusive man wants to accomplish. Abusive men are very aware of what they're doing, and another example of a related thing is a story of a man Lundy worked with who would hide his wife's keys, watch her search frantically for them, and then put them back in plain sight and tell her they were there the whole time. So that now she thinks she is crazy as well
On a character level this movie was very true to the book because in the book the invisible man was scary before they're invisible.
Sounds like it's time to re-read Invisible Man. That was a life-changing book for me
I loved this movie, but I really wish Elizabeth Moss wasn’t entirely complicit in all types of abuse by being a fuckin Scientologist.
"This movie's metaphor makes no sense when taken literally." [CinemaSins DING! sound]
Love your vids!! Keep them coming I look forward to them and to your cuteness!
I've been a fan of Leigh Whannel since the first SAW movie. I got to see Upgrade at it's Sydney Film Festival Premiere and meet him after which was very exciting. Upgrade probably isn't the best fit for your channel since its more of a cyberpunk action horror than a true spookster but you should definitely give it a shot if you skipped it because of disliking SAW, Insidious and The Conjuring.