Category Silk

May 15 2015

Silk 4

silk 4

Today, Patrick and Spencer are discussing Silk 4, originally released May 13th, 2015.

“My body can stretch all around this building. It’s natural state is a giant puddle of, well, me. It takes everything I have to hold myself together. So, yes. I’ve had anxiety.”

Reed Richards, Silk 4

Patrick: For obvious reasons, most superhero narratives that deal with mental illness stay pretty close PTSD or anger management problems. While debilitating issues in real life, in the realm of fiction, that all sounds very sexy — these afflictions either steam from or drive a character to action. Usually both. And it doesn’t much matter how negatively a writer tries to paint Bruce Wayne’s grief- and guilt-ridden revenge episodes, the reader always wants to see Batman kicking ass. Punisher may not be able to sleep without a gun under his pillow, but we sorta like that. Silk 4 toys with the idea that mental illness isn’t always so obvious and often isn’t so action-packed. Continue reading →

Mar 20 2015

Silk 2

Alternating Currents: Silk 2, Drew and Spencer

Today, Drew and Spencer are discussing Silk 2, originally released March 18th, 2015.

That’s gonna be a…you know, a…fascinating transition.

Walter Bankston, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Drew: And just like that, Silk‘s story of a girl trying to make it in New York after spending several years in a bunker has entered the zeitgeist…as the logline of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Two narratives having similar premises and release dates is a common phenomenon in Hollywood, from A Bug’s Life and Antz to The Prestige and The Illusionist, and while the similarities are often superficial, the perceived sameness can rob both narratives of their sense of originality. Silk has the benefit of being released first (with its title character’s origin introduced back in Amazing Spider-Man 4), but Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt has managed to get more of its story out quicker. I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve already watched every episode of Kimmy Schmidt (which may explain why I’m picking up on the similarities so strongly), so I’m decidedly biased in terms of who owns the narrative, but the overlap actually lends Silk 2 the familiar charm of a series that has been around much, much longer. Continue reading →