luna_doggo_joy

imagery in film is never random! at least, i trust adrian chiarella as a filmmaker to know that every shot and every object in leviticus definitely has an express purpose. i haven't really had the chance to research and do a deep dive into it but the snake is obviously meant to represent the biblical idea of tempation (garden of eden, eve, fall into sin, etc). not seen many others talk about the significance of the frog, but i find myself toying with the idea that it could be a symbolic placeholder for ryan (and by extension, naim and hunter). after the ritual, we cut to a scene of a frog being dissected. all it's innards are out in the open, the frog violated and exposed, which is an interesting parallel to what ryan has just experienced through the ritual-- being outed to the entire community through the public healing ritual being a sort of "dissection". then the boys at school harrass himryan by throwing frogs at him, coating him with guts and gore and sort of painting ryan as one of frogs.

and then to jump back to the beginning to that initial scene of the snake eating the frog if you operate with my interpretation that ryan is the frog (being "swallowed" by his temptation), the way the two boys treat it so differently is a neat little insight into their approach to intimacy that follows. while ryan pokes the frog and shows violence against the creature which represents himself (maybe), naim tells him to stop, upset by seeing the animal suffer. then when they get to the mill, we see this paralled. ryan intially pursues naim with aggression and violence the same way he has hunter, until naim "tells him to stop" by responding to that aggression with a gentle touch.

its a curse i cant break (and i gave my soul to it) by disembarks

for once in my life, i didnt care that i was scared by disembarks

the shape of contrapasso by littlegroves

i’ve never been so fragile by gyokyuken

pretty boy by welosteverything 

quiet hours by uglypluto

Bad Idea by brennansmith

Burn in Hell by brennansmith