Sometimes, constructing the moral world doesn’t go smoothly. Maybe the hero doesn’t seem to stand for anything good, and so there’s no reason to accept them as the hero. Or perhaps the villain isn’t especially villainous; a sympathetic villain is common enough but something about this character makes it seem like they’re just straightforwardly in the right. There are a few ways a film can deal with this problem. I call one way ‘moral warping’.
Launching Pop(Culture)Corn: short and tasty morsels for your reading pleasure. In this instalment, we introduce the Supernatural Detective trope - not to be confused with the Occult Detective, the narrower Vampire Detective Series, or broader Exotic Detective - with some of our favourite examples.
And now, the winning entry: Pen Tynan's 'Universal Non-Translation'.
Our final editors' pick: Mini Darth's 'Mini Darth of Firetop Mountain'.
Our second editors' pick: Tired & Tireder's 'Working Beauty'.
Our first editors' pick: Luca Saitta's 'The Consumptive Heroine'.