S2E24.5: The Power of The Dog

The way you all described the menace of the spurs reminds me of the menace of the guy from Night of the Hunter, another movie about a small town in the middle of nowhere where a menacing guy comes and ruins a woman’s life and there is some pedophilic undertones.

Squash fei

I think this movie gave me real insight into the building blocks of the cycle of adult-teenager abusive relationships that often gets associated with the gay community. I found it really easy to get in Phil's head, and feel how lonely, insecure and isolated he is, and how it would feel to find a teenage boy who reminds him of himself at that age. The instinct would be to assume he's likely to grow up just as isolated and confused as he, Phil, is. Or worse--he might not even know the things men do in the woods alone. He could end up even more lonely than Phil. I can understand why-- in a homophobic society-- the urge to combination mentor and seduce a young boy would feel... important. Life-saving, life-giving, like a ritualistic welcoming into a secret society. All muddled up, of course, with the desire to soothe his own loneliness and trauma. I'm not saying it's a positive thing, but that I can very much see how the adult could interpret the relationship as protective and nurturing.

Rebeccaej

Three things as someone who strictly knows THE PLOT but not actually seen the movie: one I think it does have the problem of having multiple interpretations because it COULD be that Peter did what he had to because he had to protect his mother, or he is a psychopath that was looking to kill Phil the whole time and just used defense of his mom as an excuse. It could be he is a morale person inspire of the horrible murder, it could be he had to stoop to Phil's level to stop him. It could be both but I'd only want one to be my doctor. Two they changed the wikipedia page because I had to read they synopsis before I decided to watch it and good call past me. I cried reading the wikipedia page but we'll get to that. So I was halfway through listening to the episode and also insanely high when I decided ok I need to know ahead of time or I will die of anxiety. And in that state I really would have appreciated the clarity at the end implying Peter did it on purpose because that was and currently is not, clearly mentioned. It doesn't set up the anthrax, or comforting the rabbit before killing it, but it does mention the rubber gloves. So three, HOW DID THEY NOT NOTICE THE HIV/AIDS SYMBOLIZISM? Phil dies after succoming to an illnesses he recieved in a hot steamy night of passion SPECIFICALLY BECAUSE HE WASN'T WEARING RUBBER. I know the book was written in the sixties, but the movie was made after and you can't have gay people dying by not using appropriate PPE during erotic activities anymore. It's like when JK Rowling was like "ah I'm going to make my werewolves a metaphor for HIV and gay code my teacher character who gets fired for being DIFFERENT" only to turn around next book and say "ok now we have werewolf who enjoys infecting children with his gay metaphor disease". I know it isn't 1-to-1 like Anthrax doesn't have a cure which was slow to release to the public, but I can't not think about it maybe it's the acting but you made it gay, don't make the method of death a gay seduction where someone secretly passes them a deadly pathogen. Do note I'm still high and sleep deprived when typing this but I feel the analysis might still be relevant. Take everything I say with a fist full of salt.

Knathaniel C

Now could the noise that is being made by Mr Cumberbatch's spurs be characterized as a jingle, possibly followed by a jangle?

Emerson Dillon

was the power of the dog to clock you

I had the HARDEST time making it thru this film when I watched it not long after its release for reasons summed up far more brilliantly and eloquently here by Alice than I could ever have managed. It had been sold to me as a film about cowboys with gay characters and narratives in it - so I approached it with sort of an open heart and, while watching it, I kept finding myself feeling - as Alice described so well - not trusting it. It felt like it was luring me in with promise of something that was gonna end up being toxic to have consumed and, for me, that was my ultimate experience. It left me with a bad and homophobic taste in my brain and I have avoided talking about it or consuming any content about it since. My read on the cultural consensus around the film from people who love cinema and people who are queer or queer allies was "this film is complex but handles its subject matter well and it is a must see film as a result." While my experience was, instead the movie snared me and then gave me anthrax targeted at my queerness. I observe that you all had very different experiences, but your conversation really helped to sort of drain the Power of the Dog anthrax out of my brain so that my post cinematic trauma from watching it has notably decreased. Thank you for that - y'all remain superb.

Knights Who Say Sledge

4:48 thats what sheep are for... it gets cold up there in the Mckenzie Country at night lol

Alfred Lang