Berri's Couch

The cultural exchange of a century, two animated mediums that borrow from each other but with different degrees of care, implementation and desire to influence. From classic 4kids censorship dubbing to the idea of certain character tropes entirely. We talk about anime and it's impact on current and possible future media aimed at a younger generation.

So in a not at all surprising dive we compare Avatar the Last Airbender to Raya and the Last Dragon in how they show and care for the cultures they drew influence from. One came and went like a brief gust of wind but the other is still being talked about to this day, does the world building have anything to do with that?

Yes but still go for a listen cuz why not?

And finally we come to the last 3 of the children of Roderick Usher. They have more limited screen time but the depth of writing gives each a lasting impact and a showing of relationships that speak to a history that, while not shown to us, is rich and worth thinking about.

We finally get to look at the adult children in this family. Starting with the self identified (mostly by Victorine) "bigs". Tamerlane, Victorine and Frederick get the arm chair look at and attempted breakdown's on how they are the victims and perpetrators of generational and new types of trauma.

The matriarch and decision maker of the Ushers, or is she? An almost case study of how different people react to the same traumas with Madeleine Usher and the questions on why she makes the decisions she does. Her hypocrisy and inability to see things clearly make her an intriguing study that can effect us more due to nothing more than lived bias.

The storyteller and first domino that lead to the fall of an entire familial line, a man who is as defined by his trauma as he is ignorant of it. What makes the man who lead to a fictional opioid crisis? We sift through the lies and decisions that lead to deals with birds, many children and an inevitable fall.

Back on our bollocks to discuss the characters from a piece of media we've already discussed. Verna just flies into the narrative and haunts us so we must attempt to grasp at what she is or at least what we can interpret of her. *Insert obligatory Poe reference here*

We are finally unearthing the problem with depicting beauty standards through a historical lens. We have discussions of Shakespeare, the Tudors, Borgias and the great poet of the times Sir Mix-a-lot.

Get in loser we're talking about makeovers and how they are secretly a trope that enforces classism, unjust beauty standards and the idea that changing yourself for male validation is a good thing. Sounds fun right!

All right we are back on track, with a discussion about visual media and it's reliance using forced physical differences to denote morality and the problems it has run into doing that. We cover such franchises as Bond, Batman, The Witches, and even Fury Road.