Welcome again to We Have Always Live the Kraken, a pop culture blog transmitted directly to you from the belly of the beast. Here in the Notes we’ll show you this month’s posting schedule, but first, here are some thoughts.
So Oscar Awards season is finally upon us, and despite the many… many… hiccups that have happened in recent years, it is still one of my favorite times. Now, first things first: unlike in past years, there will be no extensive coverage here at the Kraken for Oscarathon. We decided that we needed a break. That doesn’t mean there will be nothing, but there will definitely not be much. Instead, we are going to just try and enjoy the ride like everyone else, with maybe a slight increase in Twitter comments (@insidethekraken).
Still, I would be remiss if I didn’t at least make a comment about the current state of things, which is why I decided to wait until after the Golden Globes before commenting. The Golden Globes are mostly a joke, but at the same time they are the first major award that people actually pay attention to (sorry, critics). Also, the HFPA lately have tended to take some big swings in hopes of shaping the awards narrative in some way, like when they helped create the juggernaut La La Land became by having it sweep in 2017 (they also picked Moonlight as Best Drama, so they ended up having all bases covered) or last year when they picked Bohemian Rhapsody as Best Drama and jump-started its Oscar campaign. Now, neither of these films won Best Picture, but their strong showings at the Globes definitely shifted the conversation around them. This year was no different in two big ways.
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Is this the year that Laika secures that missing Oscar?
The first was Sam Mendes’s 1917, which picked up both Best Drama and Best Director. This has completely changed the ceiling of this film. Before it was likely destined to be like Hacksaw Ridge or Dunkirk at best– a war film that wins some technical awards and gets some mention in the Best Picture race, but never really has a chance at the top prize. Now, however, you can at least argue 1917 could actually win. At the Globes it had to beat The Irishman, Marriage Story, and Joker, which are likely Oscar nominees (sigh for Joker with this) and The Two Popes, which could be one. This win also perfectly coincides with the film’s wide release this month to create great buzz for 1917. Add in that Sam Mendes has now gone from looking like the likely Golden Globe-nominated director to get replaced in future awards to probably a lock (maybe that person can now be Todd Phillips, because he is a terrible director, but it probably will be Bong Joon-ho, because Joker has to ruin everything), and things are really looking up for a film that is going to be talked about as a favorite for the rest of the awards season.
The second way the Globes successfully changed the awards conversation was honestly even more shocking–Missing Link won Best Animated Feature. In the 14 years this category has existed, it has picked a non-Disney/non-Pixar movie three times, and one of those times was the Cars 2 year, so like, that doesn’t count because that film is not good. The other two were 2014 with How to Train Your Dragon 2 and last year with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse. This year, in a category with three Disney/ Pixar films plus How to Train Your Dragon 3, the winner was Missing Link. Laika has been knocking on the door for years in awards consideration, but they never been able to quite break through. Hollywood, though, has shown increasing reticence to reward sequels in the animated space and that may allow Laika to finally win come Oscar time. I am still dubious about this prospect, but I would never have even considered it before the Globes, which means the HFPA did its job.
This year’s Oscar race promises to be quite an exciting one, as there is once again no clear favorite and so much could happen, whether that be Parasite building on Roma‘s success last year and breaking through with a Best Picture win (yes please) or a movie like Joker drawing support from both sides of the Academy voter divide (please no, just no). So buckle up because this is going to be a wild ride.
-David
From the depths of the Kraken, here is what we are bringing you this month (hopefully).
Kyu pontificates on whether video games these days are too “gamified”, and what the design space might be like in a world where they weren’t.
David returns, probably, with How Haven’t You Seen That!? This time he will be looking at the horror manga Uzamaki by the master Junji Ito.
Our new wing continues to allow you to reflect on past works of ours whenever you might want, so please enjoy this month’s highlighted works:
Explore our past Oscarathon coverage, including David’s still evolving Top Ten List for 2019, and loads (and we mean loads) of content examining the past Oscar races.
Catch of the Week Month:
Each and every week the residents here in the Kraken will offer one recommendation for the week that we think you all would enjoy. It might be a movie. It might be a book. Who knows? This is your… Catch of the Week Month.
David: I am going to use this as a more general plea. With Oscar season coming into focus, documentaries are going to get a rare spotlight, and you should take advantage of it because there are so many excellent choices from this year’s Oscar doc shortlist. Starting with a quartet on Netflix right now: American Factory, The Great Hack, The Edge of Democracy, or Knock Down the House; continuing with Amazon’s One Child Nation; and then moving to ones you can hopefully see in theaters, like Apollo 11 (wondrous and awe-spiring), Honeyland (somehow both inspiring and devastating all at once), The Cave, For Sama, or Aquarela. Those are just the tip of the iceberg, so take it upon yourself to see one or two of these at least, and get a different movie experience than normal. You will not regret it!
Kyu: As always, my pop culture obsessions swing from medium to medium like a drunken monkey in an elliptical orbit. Currently I’m getting back into comics, including catching up with a few I’d missed from the last decade. This month I really want to highlight Scott Snyder’s Wytches. A series that unexpectedly ended after its initial six-issue arc (published 2014-2015), Wytches‘ short run is still a phenomenal book. Stylistically innovative, from artist Jock’s hallucinatory watercolor overlays to Snyder’s scrambled chronology, which deftly layers the emotional set-ups and payoffs between past and present, Wytches is also a textbook example of how to reimagine an age-old horror concept. Gone is the notion of green-faced, warty women riding broomsticks; in Snyder’s world, “wytches” are horrifying, otherworldly beings that offer a demon’s bargain: power, but only for a price. The book’s intricate weaving of new and reinvented mythology parallels and intensifies the equally compelling story of a family struggling to build a new life. Twisted, eerie, and also very touching, at bottom Wytches is about the isolation of trauma, and how the only way out of those troubled woods is together. It’s a shame that this six-issue origin story is all we have, but don’t let that discourage you from enjoying a great read: if you’re a fan of comics, especially horror comics, do yourself a favor and pick this one up.
That’s it for this month’s notes. Welcome to the New Year, the Year of the Shoggoth! Talismans of protection ($49.99) are temporarily on back order at the Kraken gift shop; please allow at least five to ten business days for restock. We take no responsibility for anyone out at night during the Time of Feeding without a talisman (or equivalent proof of purchase).