Dogtooth

[sycasey 2.0 2301]

Paul & Amy highway into Yorgos Lanthimos’ jarring family parable Dogtooth! They learn how audiences around the world interpreted the film differently, discuss how parents can radically shape their children’s world, and lament that more American films don’t use Lanthomos’ method of high allegory. Plus: A snippet of the younger sister’s real-life art punk band.

This is the final episode in our Kinspooled series on “effed up families”; next week we kick off “Couple Goals” with When Harry Met Sally! Learn more about the show at unspooledpod.com, follow us on Twitter @unspooled and Instagram @unspooledpod, and don’t forget to rate, review & subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and Spotify. You can also listen to our Stitcher Premium game show Screen Test right now at https://www.stitcher.com/show/unspooled-screen-test, and apply to be a contestant at unspooledpod@gmail.com! Photo credit: Kim Troxall

[AlmostAGhost 2718]

I have no idea how highly I think of this or what. I liked it, for sure. I haven't listened to the ep yet, though, so maybe they'll convince me one way or the other.

I do think we found a winner for most fucked up family in the Fucked Up Family series!

[sycasey 2.0 2301]

I think it's a very good, interesting film, but I'm not sure it's quite rocket-ship worthy. If I'm looking at Lanthimos' films, then The Favourite is probably the more accomplished film overall and The Lobster maybe the more pure-grade Lanthimos effort. Voting no to table it for a bit.

[FictionIsntReal 79]

I saw this after watching Killing of a Sacred Deer and The Lobster. I don't think I would have wanted to see more from Lanthimis if I'd started with this. One of the issues is that there's no apparent reason for any of the things the parents are doing to their children, so we really don't grasp their motivation. The various lies don't seem to be directed toward any goal, but instead simply because it's weird onscreen.

My thinking on parenting is influenced by Trivers' theory of genetic conflict. He noted that children share only half their genes with their parents, so this means their interests aren't identical. Often this manifests as the child wanting more resources at the expense of their parents' other children. But we should keep in mind the half-full side of the glass: parents actually do share a genetic interest in their child thriving. People unrelated to the child have no particular shared interest, so in general my default assumption is that parents should make decisions for their children rather than unrelated people (such as the government) until said children are capable of acting independently.

[AlmostAGhost 2718]

8 hours ago, FictionIsntReal said:

 

ne of the issues is that there's no apparent reason for any of the things the parents are doing to their children, so we really don't grasp their motivation. The various lies don't seem to be directed toward any goal, but instead simply because it's weird onscreen.

I'm fine with this, because I just generally took the parents as 'evil.' Paul & Amy never really brought up this side of it, just how evil the parents are, which I find interesting. They kept saying it was universal and relatable, but I'm not sure that's the way to look at it? I get that there's all sorts of different metaphors you can take from the movie, but let's not miss that this is about two evil people doing horrendous things to their kids.

[sycasey 2.0 2301]

2 hours ago, AlmostAGhost said:

I'm fine with this, because I just generally took the parents as 'evil.' Paul & Amy never really brought up this side of it, just how evil the parents are, which I find interesting. They kept saying it was universal and relatable, but I'm not sure that's the way to look at it? I get that there's all sorts of different metaphors you can take from the movie, but let's not miss that this is about two evil people doing horrendous things to their kids.

Yes, I actually like that the parents' goals are unexplained. It's just an accepted circumstance about the world of the film, because of course all of the main characters have by now accepted it as the way things are. Lanthimos wants you to live in that space.

[AlmostAGhost 2718]

Right, yea, and it ties into what Amy noted about the way the kids find little bits of life to grasp on to. Because we're trapped in without any external explanations, it makes those moments stronger (both for the kids and for us watching).