Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale and The Wrestler are very different films, but both center on a broken person, unable to achieve their former high, estranged from family and facing a new, less satisfying reality. Yet, one of these films sucks while the other is a cinematic masterpiece.
Brad and Chad take a hard look at The Whale and dissect how prior knowledge of The Wrestler makes its themes, style, and premise hard to digest.
Show Notes:
Fatphobia and The Whale:
https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-whale-review-darren-aronofsky-brendan-fraser/
Daily Beast takes the “Pizza Binge” scene way too seriously:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/obsessed/the-whale-brendan-frasers-shocking-binge-eating-scene
The scene where the Gremlins eat chicken:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qs1RPclm5MY
Wrestlers love The Wrestler:
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99825912
Intro Music: https://pixabay.com/music/indie-pop-fun-punk-opener-14343/
Other Music: https://pixabay.com/music/id-105/ and https://pixabay.com/music/upbeat-rock-it-21275/
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