missed this before i wrote my own reply. yeah john waters in general is fucking great. there’s a line early in his book ‘shock value’ that’s something like ‘to appreciate bad taste you must have extremely good taste’ and i can take some comfort in that
edit: i dug the book out. the actual quote is ‘to understand bad taste one must have very good taste’
msi is a weird one to me, i came across ‘hey tomorrow’ before and thought it was pretty good. but clicking through youtube nothing else grabbed me. no idea why
in books, some extreme horror/splatterpunk, i think the bighead by edward lee is the strongest one i’ve read & enjoyed
for films, i’m not that sure where the line is but i like new french extremity (martyrs, inside, irreversible) and that seems to fit the bill
i am soft as shit irl, even boxing can be a bit strong for me. but in fiction i can enjoy artists who describe situations well beyond the normal boundaries of decency. i suppose it’s something like rollercoaster riders or bungee jumpers etc where the immediate natural repulsion is tempered by the security of not being in any actual danger, and i take some sort of satisfaction in that? who knows really. other than horror, pink flamingos is probably the most transgressive film i can think of. i still don’t think i could watch the epilogue scene without looking away
got a mile long blocklist of comms but never block a user account unless the display name is obnoxiously long or full of emojis
no, of course not as long as it’s a genuine effort and not a cynical cash grab (there has been something of a backlash against celebrities knocking out children’s books). so it’s not the producers but the fans of it that come in for criticism. one complicating factor is that in older media children were not taken for idiots. the examples i used as suitable for children (except maybe lord of the rings when perhaps i should have said the hobbit? i’m not familiar) were written specifically for children but who could honestly look down on an adult for enjoying them. whereas if you’re hurtling into middle age and still really into dora the explorer or similar that’s obviously weird. but e.g. twilight? i still think you should have grown out of that but it’s in the grey area
i’d like to know this as well but i doubt there can be a definite answer. sometimes you can tell an obvious difference between ‘for children’ and ‘suitable for children’ but it’s not always clear.
personally i’d say e.g. paw patrol, my little pony, harry potter are for children and e.g. the witches, watership down, lord of the rings are suitable for children. but there must be a big grey area rather than a clear divide
tell your friend all emojis, immediate block. four nonstandard characters is thin ice but acceptable