Issue 6 of The Joe Bob Briggs Fanzine was insanely rushed due to the fact that our printer is shutting down indefinitely because of a little something called a pandemic. As a result of panicked and hurried editing, I completely left out this kick-ass article by Danny Lee (who was accidentally credited as Danny Horn in Issue 5; seriously, what do I have against this guy?!). I'm sharing it with you here, because it's an excellent article and would have (should have) been a fabulous edition to Issue 6. So, give it a read and share the shit out of it, please. Thanks! (Jen)
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| Society (1989) dir: Brian Yuzna |
Imagine living in a world of unrelenting paranoia where nothing is as it seems. A world of illusions ruled by shadowy figures, where any moment, beloved friends, family or anyone you thought you knew and loved could suddenly morph into a hideous blob and “shunt” away your life. Such is the world in which our fictional hero, Bill Whitney, finds himself at the climax of Brian Yuzna’s Sci-Fi/Horror gross-out classic, Society. Yuzna’s vision has, in a way, come to pass and is no longer imaginary. It is real and we are living in it. Only WE are the Society and shunting is one of our favorite pastimes.
A brief recap of the plot may help explain my point. Bill is the son of a wealthy, Beverly Hills family and has emotional problems due to paranoid schizophrenia. He does not trust his family and many of his fellow students and friends. His psychiatrist attempts to assure Bill that all is well. One of Bill’s friends gives him a tape recording of Bill’s sister attending a secret, murder orgy with Bill’s parents, providing proof that Bill isn’t crazy, his family is evil, and everyone IS out to get him. He provides his shrink with the tape as proof of his sanity, but because this is a horror movie, Bill does not do the logical thing and immediately listen to the tape with his doctor. Instead, our gullible hero leaves it so it can be easily substituted with an innocent recording of his family attending a normal party. His paranoia only increases when anyone that tries to warn him of danger falls victim to unfortunate accidents or mysteriously disappears.
In the final betrayal, Bill is forced to attend an orgy held by Society’s power elite where it is revealed that rich and powerful people aren’t people at all, but a different species that has co-existed on Earth alongside humanity. Assuming human form, this species has worked in the shadows to seize control and there’s nothing we puny humans can do about it. They morph into their true form, a massive, pink, collective blob and the “shunting” commences. Bill’s friend is thrust into the middle of this grotesque orgy of slime while the Society uses their “mouths” and hands to start sucking the life and organs out of him until he melts into the rest of the blob. Not wanting to be “shunted” himself, Bill escapes with the help of one of the monsters that has taken a liking to him. Unfortunately, for the rest of us, the Society is still in full control when the credits roll.
Pretty gross, huh? Now, while we may not attend slimy blob orgies and devour meddlesome teens, some of us have become quite adept at shunting. Ridiculous you say? Are you part of a Society on, say, SOCIAL media? Have you ever had any long-term friendships negatively impacted or even END due to a single, stupid Tweet, Instagram photo or Facebook post? How many have decided to shut out a parent or child because they fell on the wrong side of the MAGA line? How many of us have morphed into the Society blob and dog-piled a once beloved hero when they had too much Pinot Noir with an Ambien chaser and made the mistake of Tweeting out something best left to the locker room? How much glee and dopamine did it give the blob to shunt them out of existence for a single, misguided SOCIETAL misstep?
Even our own Joe Bob, a man we love and adore PRECISELY because he’s no bullshit and says the un-PC things that need to be said has been in the middle of the shunting. Our rebellious redneck had the AUDACITY to post a rather innocuous tweet about not thrusting politics into horror movies or, at the very least, have the artistry to keep it in the subtext. Unfortunately, this happened to coincide with the release of the somewhat feminist remake of Black Christmas. Within moments Joe Bob’s Twitter followers, fans and, in the ultimate betrayal, members of the MutantFam, suddenly morphed from loving friends and family into the monstrous blob and shunted the big man like it was their last meal.
“…He’s not reviewing or critiquing the content of the film. He’s challenging the very idea that movies need perspectives outside his own cis-White-straight worldview…*” SHUNT!
“It’s like he’s an out of touch old man whose sole pleasure is belittling other people.*” SLURP!
“I stopped listening to that fool when I found out he was right wing.*” Riiiiiip!
The man who introduced many us to the insane, subversive, perverse, gory world of horror was, with one tweet, transformed into an intolerant, Alt-Right, out of touch, cis-White-straight, old fool! Decades of goodwill and trust gone up in a few, harmless words on Social Media. The globulous, mob feasted on his soul without a moment’s hesitation. “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child,” uttered another out-of-touch, old fool who gave his children everything before they turned on him. No mercy, no slack. All are grist for the shunt. Even our long-time heroes.
So, the next time you feel the need to put the “jerk” in knee-jerk and fire off some mean-spirited Tweet at someone, take a deep breath and just…don’t. Think of that mutated, pink, disgusting blob of heads, genitals and shunting mouths and ask yourself, “Do I want to be a part of that Society?” Or do you want to be a normal, decent human being? Or, at the very least, a member of the MutantFam that remembers the Drive-in Oath? Social media, like Society, is a world of illusion run by shadowy figures. Do we really want to give them all that wealth and power by shunting each other?
*Quotes are taken from Joe Bob’s America: Only Nazi Misogynists Watch ‘Chopping Mall’ January 15, 2020 www.rebellermedia.com
