The Substance

[Felinx]

It kinda has to be that way though. You couldn't have a film about the horrors of war and not show any violence.

 

[Dave_W]

That’s reality.

Girls don’t want a guy who’ll be available like their big brother or father, unconditionally.

That guy was painted to be an *****,
just like the rest of the men in this.

He hands her a wet ripped paper with his number on it despite having dry paper on hand to re-write his number down.

This is to make him appear weak, soft, no confidence; a loser.

All the other men are painted as the devil reincarnated.

I’ve never in my life ate food like the guy eats shrimp, it’s meant to make him appear like a beast, like men aren’t there mentally.
Zero self awareness.

She only called the nerd to get her confidence back up, for her ego.
As her confidence has since faded.

Exactly. That's real life. There's no Hollywood agenda against men here. It was showing that the beautiful people are hideous and treat the nice guys as losers. They even abuse themselves for power.

Of course you could, and its been done many times -- you could show the aftermath, the death and destruction. You could do things through suggestion -- for example, many movies generally don't show the specific horrors of the gas chambers functioning in Nazi Germany, instead you hear screams, see reactions, see smoke billowing from stacks, etc. There's a million ways to do things as opposed to exploiting what your shaming as exploitive.

Don't show the shark, show the barrel.

Having that violence right in your face though has a more shocking impact though.

What would mess you up more, hearing the screams from those gas chambers or seeing what happened in every detail as well?

 

[Wor-Gar]

Having that violence right in your face though has a more shocking impact though.

What would mess you up more, hearing the screams from those gas chambers or seeing what happened in every detail as well?

That's a matter of opinion, and ability. There's been a lot of good scares in cinema that weren't about showing the worst part of something.

But I think we're digressing into something else. Somehow we're equating showing people being gassed as the same as showing a hot girl's buttocks and that's not what I was saying, and it certainly doesn't appeal to the same urges.

Let's take Sucker Punch. So the incarcerated girl suffering from severe exploitation is having escapist fantasies about going off to battle giant samurais in thigh high stockings and a mini-shirt that barely covers her? Does that message make sense to you? Snyder shows how she's being exploited in the real world but then, in her woman-power escapist dreams he also exploits her visually -- her own fantasies are exploitive.

I haven't seen The Substance, but I was gathering that maybe its one of those movies that exploit the subject matter to sell tickets but then shame the audience for being aroused by the exploitation.

 

[Dave_W]

Snyder stuff doesn't count I just think trying to put across how vulgar something is, is done best by being vulgar. Put it right in your face so you can't escape it, you can't interpret it how you want to. This is what it is, and you will see it.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Snyder stuff doesn't count

That is truth.

 

[Nick D]

It was showing that the beautiful people are hideous and treat the nice guys as losers. They even abuse themselves for power.

Hot girls talk to me and often initiate conversations first. I mentioned how it feels to have a hot girl tell you she’s falling for you / falling in love with you without any effort from your end, because that happened to me, about two weeks ago and I barely know her, but the feeling was there, not just empty words. I read people and feelings in person.
Will she continue to feel that way? Who knows.

It’s not lost on me that they simply like my appearance at first, as well as how I carry myself, with the ability to attract other women. That’s what draws the attraction, what hooks them is when they see the depth in me, but also my indifference to them. That I’m an artist who likes the art of filmmaking, can nerd out about it, my vast love for music, being an oil painter, my eye for interior design and details. That I’m not just some lazy guy addicted to Monday night football on the couch like the majority.
Some girls prefer the mundane everyday men, some don’t.

When you attract beautiful women and plenty of them, you start to look past their looks, as their looks are all comparable to eachother, you hone in on their individual personalities and which ones you like to be around more. It’s no longer all about their bodies when they all look great.

I’d argue ugly people are more hideous,
as they feel like they deserve the best of the best without being anywhere close enough to obtain it, themselves. An ugly guy thinks he deserves a model simply because he exists and sees other men with beautiful women. Eventually settling on a girl that’s in his league or using their financial status and the gym to help level themselves up a bit on the ladder.

The nerd in this film was captivated by Sparkle’s looks, repeatedly calling her beautiful, but because she was out of his league and he lacked confidence, he’s seen as a nice guy, when in reality he was attracted to her looks like the other men in her life.

 

[Felinx]

Snyder stuff doesn't count I just think trying to put across how vulgar something is, is done best by being vulgar. Put it right in your face so you can't escape it, you can't interpret it how you want to. This is what it is, and you will see it.

To quote Truffaut, showing anything onscreen ennobles/glorifies it. From war to the exploitation of booty.

 

[wormlander]

So... this is actually a terrible movie, just has female nudity and blood so boys are lining up? That's sad to hear.

There's not enough female nudity to make it anywhere near worthwhile unfortunately. Unless you've always dreamed of seeing the offspring of the thing and the fly do onlyfans...