NoYank. Remove All American Media And Culture From Your Life

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/9665212

No clear morality too.

Even the bad guys are stand-ins now for "losers" of society and usually their backstory is that they were someone "down on their luck" and rejected by society and I guess that makes them evil later on.

I realize that I have dark thoughts or pessimistic or cynical attitudes at time, maybe to an extreme degree in some instances.

I need something with more hope and less "moral greyness" at this point; it just seems that it's clouding my mind and I'm trying to recover from a depression and disthymia.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/6619930

When watching most shows, movies, whatever from the West, I feel like I'm slamming my head against a wall. There are a few exceptions that are at least better, but seriously. My head hurts because of how mad I am at blatant copaganda. The show was even portraying police in a negative light, but my sometimes-leftist sibling and bootlicker dad were spouting the copaganda. Sibling seems to think the law applies to cops, and Dad can hardly comprehend the US did things like genocide or police brutality. Sure Jim Crow wasn't that bad, right?? Ugh. And Law and Order SVU trying to pretend law enforcement and ICE aren't buddy-buddy. Or that those are bad cops, but we're the good guys. Tell that to your dude who just beat up a man with schizophrenia to get him to confess to a crime he didn't do, and you just went "Oops. Wrong suspect."

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/9548683

The series is inspired by a report in The Washington Post newspaper.

As the current U.S. administration ramps up its anti-immigrant policy and weaves a narrative of hate that stigmatizes these people, a good portion of whom come from Latin America, as criminals who come to harm the peace of the U.S., a Mexican series reminds us that this, or rather, works the other way around.

For decades, Mexico has been the natural escape destination for numerous American convicts, persecuted in their country for acts (truly proven, not the result of a Yankee president's racist imagination regarding foreigners) involving bloodshed, first-degree murder, extortion, theft, and fraud.

While this evasive route is well known—as American television and film have emphasized it over time, sometimes from a xenophobic and contemptuous perspective toward the host country—what is less widely known is the story of those who pursue and capture them within Mexico.

Premiering on television, the series, Cazadores de gringos (Netflix, 2025), brings into the audiovisual universe the daily work of the members of the International Liaison Unit, a Mexican brigade based in Tijuana, whose mission is to search for, arrest, and return these criminals to the U.S. In 23 years of work, the Unit captured more than 1,600.

Inspired by a report in The Washington Post, the series not only has the virtue of airing this truth or vindicating the effectiveness of these police officers. It also has the merit of showing a more diverse Mexico, one that is far removed from the stereotype: from within, from a local rather than a foreign perspective, one that neither denigrates it nor displays it through that eternally xenophobic postcard of ochre, sepia, and yellowish tones with which Hollywood portrays it.

Unfortunately, beyond these virtues, there are no other reasons to boast.

There's an element of plot and script that tends to undermine both the narrative balance and the more objective portrayal of the arrests of these fugitive criminals. These are fleeting figures, of whom the viewer will only know or appreciate, if at all, their photos in the police file, their names, a brief description of why they're wanted, and the moment of their arrest.

A 12-part procedural series must address many elements that a newspaper article—especially due to space and its nonfiction nature—can't include. And one of these is the delineation, the individualization of the characters.

Almost ghostly presences, a greater degree of emphasis on the personalization of these outlaws is lacking throughout the material (several of them are ridiculous sketches, such as Nancy Baker in the fourth episode), understanding that the emphasis of the series is intended to fall on the Mexican agents, not the fugitives.

Now, if we were to heed this logic, we would run into the problem that there isn't much introspective focus in the Latin American demographic either. When describing the members of the Tijuana police elite squad, the script team didn't do so with much dedication or care.

With the Netflix algorithm in full swing, Mexican agents are the condensation and summation of what constitutes a police force according to the Yankee serial machine. Consequently, the denotative features of their identity are reduced only to language, or when they go out for tacos.

And the police officer with unorthodox qualities within the team (that autistic person who solves a years-long case in just a few minutes) bears a suspicious resemblance to another character, played by Ximena Sariñana in Las azules (Apple tv+ 2024).

While Gaza burned, Disney’s CEO donated $2 million to Israel — and Marvel prepared to release an Israeli Mossad “superhero.” Actors who say “Free Palestine” are silenced. IDF soldiers become Disney stars.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Was_Just_an_Accident

DON'T CONSUME IT

https://inv.nadeko.net/watch?v=tcZOEys5NtA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcZOEys5NtA

Someone got me inspired to make this list, and I decided to share it here, since it fits the community. I've added only movies that had a Wikipedia page:

• Monica's Gang in an Adventure in Time (2007), Marvel ripped off this movie;
• Boy and the World (2013), I haven't finished watching this movie, but I would totally recommend, due to its impressive visuals;
• My Mom Is A Character (2013) (Wikipedia title), not sure if this one has been dubbed to English;
• Just Another Christmas (2020? It has been THIS LONG already??? worried face), this movie might feel similar to Click, but I don't really care, I like both.
• The Man Who Copied (2003), such a simple gem (maybe undubbed too).

And the list ends here because I couldn't think of anything else, but I'll try to add more to the list eventually.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sira_(film)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt26440747/

The film depicts the story of young nomad named Sira, who after a brutal attack refuses to surrender to her fate without a fight and instead takes a stand against terror. It is a co-production between Burkina Faso, Senegal, France and Germany.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JgURXn5aAE

https://imdb.com/title/tt32122656/ – A fisherman as he discovers a treasure lost for generations at the bottom of the ocean. Taking a small part of it home for himself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4G4Lkirx3o

https://inv.nadeko.net/watch?v=E4G4Lkirx3o

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/4774626

blorp.bot.nu/o/visual_cuisine

The total runtime is about two-and-a-half hours, split into two parts. There are two official YouTube uploads of the film — one which splits the two parts into different videos, and one which stitches them together into one video. I figure it's probably best to go for the two-video upload so we can stretch our legs and take a leak at the intermission.

Plot description from IMDb: ASSA is set in Crimea during the winter in 1980. A young musician (Bananan) falls for a mobster's (Krymov) young mistress (Alika). The parallel story line involves a 19th Century assassination plot.

I can also mention that this movie has a lot of musical numbers and experimental scenes, and is often looked at as a turning point for perestroika and rock music's position in Soviet popular culture.

Content warnings for I guess age gap romance, there's some very brief man ass in one scene, there's murder and other violence, "moderate profanity", and "mild alcohol, drugs & smoking".