Fist Fight, Catfight, Gotham Cribs & Powerless

This is actually an interesting poster. We know that blue, the background color, denotes both wisdom and depression, because it's from the sadness in life that we obtain wisdom; we know Campbell (Charlie Day) isn't able to control his class or anyone else at the school, in spite of being a teacher who should be capable of such things; we know Strickland (Ice Cube) who is capable of controlling the students, loses his job (we aren't exactly sure of why he loses his job at this point, but he does). The blue background, therefore, IS the background of the story: Strickland loses his job. The red title, Fist Fight, denotes Strickland's hunger for revenge against Campbell because Strickland is willing to spill Campbell's "red blood" to appease his wrath. What about the two men? They are in a typical "dominance showdown" with Strickland proving he's the bigger of the two of the two of them; looking down on Campbell, he's also metaphorically "looking down" on the little guy who, basically, isn't strong enough to defend himself (so, from the narrative's point of view, if it weren't for the principal, Campbell wouldn't have any one in his corner to help/protect him, Strickland is, literally and metaphorically, a bully, as he tells the 911 operator). Now notice their hair (on their heads): Strickland's is quite short while Campbell has a full-head; since hair symbolizes our thoughts, Strickland--who has little hair--is being made out to be a simple-ton, one not giving much thought, whereas Campbell is depicted as "thoughtful," especially since we see him thinking about the fight through the entire film. What about their facial hair? Facial hair--in art, and this isn't meant to offend any of you men, this is just the artistic interpretation--usually denotes a man who lives by his appetites, is uncivilized, whereas men who are clean-shaven are men who live according to higher principles and discipline themselves. That both men have facial hair means that we are dealing with very raw, basic masculinity issues: Strickland's is a nicer, fuller beard, whereas Campbell's is scraggy and patchy, so--because we know Campbell is the "hero" of the film because it's his point of view through which we experience the plot and narrative--Campbell, in not being as masculine as Strickland because he can't successfully grow a beard, is therefore less masculine, and therefore, more of a "modern man" than is Strickland. What about their clothes? We see a lot of Campbell's neck, his top button undone and we don't see a tie, unlike with Strickland who has his top button closed and a black tie on. Necks symbolize that by which we are led in life, so we can interpret Strickland as being led by tradition (the traditional way men dress with a shirt and tie) and strutured, whereas Campbell is "open" to being led by whatever comes along and tradition doesn't "tie" him down, rather, he's free to go wherever he wants, meaning, Campbell is more "open-minded" in what leads him in life than is Strickland. Strickland's dark gray shirt is revealing, as well: gray is the color of ashes, so gray denotes a pilgrim (sometimes a novice, but rarely) or a penitent, sometimes both simultaneously. Strickland, we know, has no regrets about what he has done, because he believes action has consequences, and that's what he wants to instill in his students; Campbell, however, doesn't share that philosophy, which is why his shirt isn't white, but it isn't dark either (no penance), so he isn't a good man, but he doesn't believe he needs to be sorry for anything he has done; isn't that what liberals believe about themselves?   

If you are watching the Super Bowl this weekend, I hope you have a great time! Of course, since so many people will be watching the exact same program, at the exact same moment in America, companies splurge on incredibly expensive ads to get people's attention (at the exact moments when everyone has gotten up off the couch to get more dip, more beer and use the bathroom before the game starts again), and during those incredibly expensive moments that no one is watching, an ad for Hulu's dystopian post-Trump America called The Handmaid's Tale will air. What is the tale this woman is going to tell? Well, there is a bible fanatic, okay, and he gets the whole US to vote for him, except for all the women, who hate him, and then he tells men that if their wives aren't fertile, they can have any of the "handmaids," who are given value based on how fertile they are, and these fertile women will have children in place of the infertile wives! With Hulu buying a story like that, and paying to have it aired during the ultimate day of patriarchy in the US (Super Bowl), the "plot" of revenge and "resistance" the handmaids are working up against these horrible men are sure to sweep the Left right into a tizzy of ideas about their own rebellion.
So, anyway,...

We see Strickland with at least three phallic symbols (symbols invoking the penis and, thus, male dominance): first, the ax in the trailer with which he shreds the student's desk; the baseball bat (pictured above) and the switchblade knife held by Christina Hendrick's character while he sits at his desk. Axes are used for that manly chore of chopping wood; bats in that manly game of baseball and, knives, of course, in street fights. All three of these activities are traditionally masculine, so they are being associated with the "neanderthal" villain liberals want to distance themselves from, and want to indoctrinate audiences into believing represents what they describe as "toxic masculinity." 

We've talked a bit about the upcoming Fist Fight and how it will probably be a very pro-liberal, anti-masculine film (what is, after all, more masculine than a fist fight? Well, yes, King Arthur, a white horse and big broad sword, but an old-fashioned fist fight is at least second to that).

Now, you MIGHT be saying, "But Campbell is going down. He's obviously going to lose the fight, and like the guy said, he's a worm" and no one respects him. It's Ice Cube's Strickland that everyone's rooting for and afraid of,..? You've totally gone off the reservation on this one, Fine Art Diner,.... and perhaps I have. However, Campbell is the "hero," in a non-heroic way: it's his side of the story we are hearing and he's the one with whom we are being forced to identify,... why would we have a cowardly hero? Aren't those opposite states of existence? They are, unless, of course, you want to turn everyone into a coward, and then, you have weak men being the sensitive, intelligent, superior man compared to the brutish, harsh, uneducated and extremist villain who uses violence to achieve his petty revenge.

Strickland doesn't appear to be married, but Campbell is; why is this important? What Fist Fight will basically prove to be is a reversal of The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow, with Ichabod Crane (Campbell's weakling character) getting the girl and his children (symbolizing the future) recognizing him as the father (his pregnant wife pictured above The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow and the Battle For America for more); yes, of course a weak man would have a daughter, he can't have a son because, heaven forbid, he might have an urge to play baseball with his son, or go fishing, or,... watch a football game together! No, he has a daughter, like Obama, so there is no more sperm being produced in the world). Please note the wife wearing green: green has come to symbolize socialism because it acts like it offers hope--which green symbolizes, like the new life at spring, the new life the women carries in her womb--but it also symbolizes that something is rotten, molded, as in Warcraft and the fel magic (please see To Kill a Demon: Warcraft for more). 

Now enter the new trailer for Anne Heche's and Sandra Oh's new film, Catfight. As you watch this, remember the symbolism for women: women of child-bearing age, which both women are in this film, symbolism the "motherland" the land which gave birth to us, so we have two different "versions" of the "motherland" competing for dominance against each other:

Veronica (Sandra Oh) can be seen as the prosperous Americans before 2008, who had success and everything going their way, while Ashley (Anne Heche) can be seen as Liberals who didn't have anything going for them. The fight they get into at Veronica's party takes place in a stairwell, so we need to both "ascend" to a higher level of consciousness (look at the fight in metaphorical terms) and "descend" to the level of the appetites and see what motivates both women. Veronica's two-year coma is analogous to conservatives "waking up" around 2010, 2011 when Obama's un-Constitutional executive orders started coming to light, and there wasn't really anything we could do about it. It's also important to note how it was a doctor telling Veronica she was "out of money" and she's turned out of the hospital because that's how conservatives viewed Obamacare and the changes it brought to hospital care.
So then what happens?

"Catfight" is one way to describe the current civil war taking place in America.Notice that both women have bloody noses. The nose symbolizes our character, because it's a dominant feature on our face, which is the anchor of our identity (it's by our face that people recognize who we are). That blood (a symbol of life itself) comes out of the symbol of the character of each woman translates to each side (liberals and conservatives) having lost their character during the 2008 election (which is what this particular fight in the film symbolizes, as opposed to other fights the two women have). 

Things are going pretty well for Ashley, as they were for everyone in the so-called gay, transgendered, etc., community. The baby Ashley and Lisa (Alicia Silverstone) have together (like the one above) symbolizes the future, that the gay, etc., community has a future with liberalism under Obama. Then, Veronica shows up and wipes out the art show, and that's like the 2016 election when conservatives "wiped out" all the hard work the liberals had done to transform America into Sodom and Gomorrah. Now, if you think me describing the transformation of America into Sodom and Gomorrah is harsh, remember, Veronica's last name in the film is "Salt," and it was on the plains, fleeing the destruction of Sodom that Lot's wife turned into a pillar of salt (please see below).

The pillar is known as "Lot's Wife," just outside the plain where ancient Sodom was in Israel. The story of Lot fleeing Sodom, but his wife looking back at the ruin, then turning to a pillar of salt is uniquely associated with gays because of the threat of the town's men and the sin of sodomy which they practiced. But why did Lot's wife turn into a pillar of salt? Salt was an absolutely essential ingredient for life in ancient times because it was necessary for the preservation of food. We can say with certainty that Lot's wife was a bad woman because she has no name, and those without a name in the Bible have followed the path of the devil, who had been the highest angel in heaven, until his rebellion, and then his name was stricken from the Book of Life; likewise for all who follow him. As is the case with typology, when we find an example of a bad person in the Old Testament, it's because they serve as a foreshadowing of the good accomplished in Jesus and Mary. In this case, we can see how Lot's wife, who--in looking back and disobeying the angel's command to not turn around anyway--has chosen to "preserve" the memories of Sodom rather than the angel's command to preserve her life; Mary, on the other hand, "preserved" the teachings of her Son as she and the Apostle John left Jerusalem, so Mary became the "good salt" of which Jesus spoke in Luke 14:34 because the Words of Jesus flavored her life and understanding of what she was to do and why. So, what does this have to do with Catfight? The name "Veronica" means "true image" because of the saint who, during the Passion of Jesus, gave Him a towel with which to wipe the blood and sweat from His face, and He left the exact image of His face upon the towel which is preserved at the Vatican. So, Sandra Oh's character, Veronica Salt, is supposed to be the "true image" of the "good salt" (remember, in the trailer, Veronica  mentions that Jesus drank wine, but Veronica appears to be drinking too much wine). She's supposed to be, but that doesn't mean she is. In the woods, when she tells Ashley that she will make her breakfast, the woods symbolize their sins, but Veronica wears a gold-colored jacket, which means she has learned about her true dignity, which means she is in a position to appreciate the true dignity of others. On the other hand, Ashley, as a homosexual, has completely lost her "savor" (as Jesus would say) because she has traded the teachings of Jesus for her worldly appetites, specifically, her sexual appetites, and that has killed her ability to give up everything and follow Jesus Christ. Ashley is, then, the salt that should be thrown out. I am not going to say that Veronica is the hero of the story, I have no idea what happens, but this does make for an interesting situation.

On an entirely different note, do you remember that Lego film I hated so much? Yea, well, they have done and made one with Batman, a Lego Batman, and as a promo for the socialist film, they give us an MTV style Gotham Cribs tour of Wayne Mansion meant to make you absolutely hate rich people and their pet dolphins because you don't have pet dolphins.

What's the purpose of this promotion, you may ask? Well, I think it's rather like The Handmaids Tale, to make people want to revolt. In this case, Wayne Mansion isn't meant as a means of inspiring people to achieve great things, rather, it's meant to make you "sick" of ultra wealthy people,... like Donald Trump. Why? Because that's what the Left does, they cause dissension, because they don't know how to do anything else but ruin things. Okay, a new TV show called Powerless is starting, and this is deceptively harmful.

The same premise as Lego Batman Gotham Cribs promo applies here: if you aren't rich, something is wrong with the rich; if you don't have a super-power, something is wrong with those who have super-powers. Anyone who isn't "mediocre," normal, plain and average, is a problem for society, and those who are exceptional and different, those who are better than others--in whatever capacity--have to be done away with so the mediocre will finally triumph. So what about those super-hero battles that cause so many casualties? Maybe you remember the end of The Avengers (when Loki came and tried to take over NYC, yea, big mistake) and there were two people interviewed: one man complained about the damage and who was going to pay for it, while the woman said, "Captain America saved my life." The buildings that get damaged, the wrecks, the debris, etc., is all a metaphor of our own life when we make choices to behave in certain ways--like heroically--and we battle and defeat the temptations, urges and mediocrity in our own soul. Liberals don't want us fighting spiritual battles, they want us to be mediocre and they want us to be weak like Campbell. So, as you watch the Super Bowl this weekend, be inspired, be inspired to be great and awesome and the best you can be in whatever it is you do, and piss off a liberal.
Eat Your Art Out,
The Fine Art Diner