Good Boy (2022)

[00:00:20] Speaker A: Hello, everyone. [00:00:21] Speaker B: Welcome back to the final Girl on 6th Avenue podcast. My name is Carolyn Smith Hilmer, and I am 6th Avenue's very own final girl. I'm also back. You might have noticed that I haven't been posting. I have been traveling, and then I was really sick with a terrible sinus infection and a cough. So I do sincerely apologize, but didn't really feel like you guys wanted to hear me coughing for an hour and a half, twice in a row. So sincerest apologies for that and sorry for the impromptu month off that I took. But today, like every episode, it is a very special episode because we are going to be talking about a film. [00:01:09] Speaker A: That I have been trying to watch. [00:01:12] Speaker B: For quite some time, and it's finally been released on Amazon prime for free. So I was able to finally watch it. We are talking about 2022 film. Good boy. Good boy. [00:01:27] Speaker A: It's a norwegian film. It. I saw like a TikTok or something about this whenever it first came out, and I was absolutely mesmerized by the concept. And I couldn't wait to, you know, watch it and try to digest it. And I've now seen it twice, so I feel like I am qualified to talk about it with you. Good boy was released in 2022. It is rated r. It is 1 hour and 16 minutes long. It's very short, and there's a lot packed into 1 hour and 16 minutes. Let me tell you. You are in for a ride. So now we have to look to our bible. IMDb. Christian, a millionaire heir, meets Sigrid, a young student on a dating app. They hit it off quickly. But there's only one problem. Christian lives with Frank, a man who dresses up and constantly acts like a dog. [00:02:28] Speaker B: Hmm. [00:02:29] Speaker A: Yeah, that's tough to swallow. But when you really think about it. [00:02:34] Speaker B: You'Re probably thinking like, okay, so he's. [00:02:36] Speaker A: Just, you know, a guy who's walking. [00:02:38] Speaker B: Around on all fours, and he just. [00:02:41] Speaker A: Is pretending to be a dog or engaging in some kind of kink or fetish play. And I so wish that that was. [00:02:50] Speaker B: A story that I was going to. [00:02:51] Speaker A: Be telling you today because it's so. [00:02:55] Speaker B: Much worse than that. Yeah. [00:03:00] Speaker A: There's really not a good way to. [00:03:03] Speaker B: Explain any of this to you without. [00:03:05] Speaker A: Just jumping right in. [00:03:06] Speaker B: But I do want to highlight quickly. [00:03:08] Speaker A: Director and writer, villiar, beautiful, responsible for this film. And so if you are upset with what I'm about to tell you, then you can take it up with him. Okay, so let's get started. Our film opens with a man preparing steak dinner for himself. He's got steak, potatoes, asparagus. He's slicing it up. He's quite the chef, I must say. He has, like, a red wine reduction going on. I mean, this is, you know, this. [00:03:46] Speaker B: Is the real deal. [00:03:47] Speaker A: This is a real deal dinner right here. He slices up his steak and plates. [00:03:52] Speaker B: You know, plates it for himself. [00:03:54] Speaker A: And then you also see him taking pieces of steak and potatoes and throwing it into a dog bowl. And he sets it on the floor and calls for his dog frank to come and eat dinner. This scene is pretty genius. [00:04:09] Speaker B: So at this point, we haven't seen what Christian or Frank look like. Well, you are about to. All we see is Christian's, you know, appendages his arms, his legs as he walks through the kitchen, and his arms. [00:04:24] Speaker A: And then we get a still shot of the doorframe. [00:04:28] Speaker B: We're, like, on the floor looking at the lower third of the door frame. [00:04:32] Speaker A: And in crawls Frank, who is our man, wearing a dog costume. So, like I said, it was okay with me at first when I discovered, you know, okay, he's a grow. [00:04:50] Speaker B: He's a man. [00:04:50] Speaker A: He's a consenting man. He's pretending to be a dog. Fine. He's also dressed like a dog. And that, to me, makes it worse. [00:05:03] Speaker B: We get the title screen right away. You know, I love an early title screen. [00:05:08] Speaker A: Directors out there. Be bold. Put the title screen at the beginning. Put it within the first two minutes. The man then eats his dinner and. [00:05:21] Speaker B: Gets onto a dating app. Christian. [00:05:24] Speaker A: And it looks remarkably like Tinder. And he matches with a beautiful woman named Sigrid. At night, Christian brushes Frank's teeth. And then it appears that Frank is allowed to get out of his costume to take a shower because we get a still shot of, you know, the water running and the shower is on, and the costume is on the floor. Frank then goes and lays on the bed with Christian until it's time for bed, and then he leaves. Christian sends Sigrid a message and falls asleep. The next morning, Frank wakes him up. He's hungry. And I think this time Frank is eating actual dog food. Christian lives completely alone in this absolutely stunning home. He exercises. And while he does so, Frank plays with a ball, like an actual dog would do. And Sigrid and Christian make plans to meet the next day. And these two, by the way, are polar opposites. So Christian wears a suit, and he's on time. Sigrid is late and wears sweatpants, but to make up for her late arrival, she goes to the bar and gets them both a beer. She sits down and immediately starts checking her phone, which visibly annoys Christian because he really doesn't use his phone. Throughout some discussion, we find out that Sigrid is in school for a one year psychology program because she didn't get good enough grades in previous schooling to get a bachelor's degree. Christian is wealthy and admits to her that he really does nothing. It doesn't work. [00:07:05] Speaker B: He doesn't go to school. [00:07:06] Speaker A: It doesn't do anything. And during their date, she sees a dog outside of the restaurant, you know, being cute like dogs do, and so, you know, that's some nice foreshadowing. It's pretty convenient. She admits to Christian that she would love to have some structure in her life between work and school. This is only after Christian admits that he, while on his phone, is counting calories because he needs some sort of structure in his life, and apparently that's the only way he can think about getting it. He admits to Sigrid that he is generally not good with people and is a bit antisocial. But being that the two are hitting. [00:07:55] Speaker B: It off, they decide to go back. [00:07:57] Speaker A: To Christian's home to spend the night together. [00:08:01] Speaker B: They share a glass of wine in the sitting room and talk about how beautiful his home is, and she makes a comment about how, you know, oh. [00:08:10] Speaker A: It'S just like my dorm room, you know, being facetious. Obviously, her dorm room is nothing like this house. And Christian tells her that he's claustrophobic, so he actually loves to have this large home all to himself. He says he has a dog, and when Sigrid asks what breed, he says it's hard to explain, but that maybe one day he could introduce her to the dog. As they're talking, Frank peeks his head into the frame from, you know, around the wall that's leading into the sitting room and slowly backs away so he's not seen. Christian admits to Sigrid that he inherited this home from his parents who died. And Frank watches the two have sex from a crack in the door. The next morning, Sigrid wakes up to find Frank in the bedroom with them. She's obviously freaked out, and Christian makes. [00:09:05] Speaker B: Her breakfast, but she's not so hungry. [00:09:08] Speaker A: After getting a good look at Frank, she asks Christian what is up with the dog because she thought he lived alone. And Christian says he does live alone. Frank is a dog. [00:09:23] Speaker B: So thinking that she's in some, you know, horribly nightmarish episode of the Twilight Zone, she gets up and leaves and tells him that she doesn't want to hear his explanations behind Frank and attempts to walk home before realizing it's actually a little too far to walk. And she asks Christian to drive her home. [00:09:40] Speaker A: He takes her back to her apartment, and when she goes inside, her roommate starts asking about the date. And she explains to her roommate that there's always, you know, something wrong with these guys. You know, they can be perfect, and then they do. There's always just one thing. And so this one thing just so happens to be that Christian is perfect. However, he lives with a guy who constantly pretends to be a dog. So the roommate asks if it's a fetish thing. And Sigrid tells her, like, no, I don't think so, because they didn't engage in any form of intimacy that she could see in front of her, you know, in front of her own eyes. So she shows the roommate a photo of her date of Christian, and this girl cannot believe that Sigrid went on a date with this man because he is a multimillionaire. Then they sit down and watch videos online of people in kink and fetish communities that engage in dog play. And you're never gonna guess this, but she gets a call from Christian, who tells her that he feels bad about what happened this morning. And Sigrid says that she feels the same. He explains that he understands how she could have gotten freaked out and invites her over for dinner the next day to make up for it. Over dinner, she asks Christian to explain Frank to her. He tells her that, simply put, he's a dog. If you're, you know, listening to this and you're thinking, how many fucking times is this guy gonna say that this man is a dog? I had the same thought, same thoughts as you. It's not a dog. It's just not a dog. It's not possible. It doesn't make sense. He has not been mutilated in any way to become a dog. He is not a dog. So he goes on to say that Frank doesn't have anybody else and that he enjoys acting like a dog. He tells her that he's tried to get used to having Frank around, and she's like, okay, can I then be formally introduced to Frank? So Christian agrees, but reminds her that she must treat him completely as a dog and not at all like a human. So he comes in. She's scared at first to touch him, which I can completely understand. And eventually she reaches out to stroke his head. And then Frank, pretending to be a dog, jumps on her and starts to sniff her everywhere. And this obviously freaks her out a little bit. Okay. Like, we just got to the touching point, like, don't need any aggression. That's a little much. So this scares her. And Christian yells at Frank to go back to bed and lay down and apologizes for Frank's actions. He offers to drive her home, but she says that she wants to stay. So Christian explains that he and Frank met as kids, and Frank never really had any friends except for Christian. But Christian had a lot of friends. They were just superficial friends. And once he stopped letting these quote unquote friends take advantage of him, the only person who stuck around was Frank. The next morning, Christian brings Sigrid coffee and breakfast in bed, and it does appear that he truly enjoys spending time with her and cooking for her. At this point, Christian goes on to tell her that Frank feels very badly about what happened yesterday. And she's like, did he tell you that? Because, like, I haven't heard him say anything. And Christian's like, yeah, in his own way. He told me that. Frank comes into the bedroom to quote unquote, apologize, and Sigrid accepts the apology, but Christian sends him on his way. So Sigrid tells Christian that she realizes that she needs to be at school in 15 minutes. And Christian jumps at the opportunity to drive her there and drop her off. [00:14:05] Speaker B: Before she gets out of the car. He tells her that tonight they're gonna. [00:14:08] Speaker A: Watch an Alfred Hitchcock movie and have Bolognese for dinner. [00:14:13] Speaker B: Sigrid's roommate finds her at school and asks her if she wants to go out for drinks after school with the class. But Sigrid tells her that she already. [00:14:20] Speaker A: Has plans with Christian. Her roommate tells her that people like him are used to getting what they want, and she needs to keep him on his toes, basically not making it too easy to get, try to make it a little harder to get. So she goes over, she has dinner. Presumably they watch this film, and she tells him that she needs to go home because she has to get up early, but she ends up staying the night, and he basically catches on to her act and is like, look, playing hard to get is not going to work with me. So after they have sex, they're cuddling in bed, and she asks Christian if Frank has sex, which catches him by surprise. And he tells her, no, not unless Frank is doing it behind his back. He never goes out. No one ever visits him, so he can only assume that Frank never has sex. He jokingly asks Sigrid if she is volunteering. I just like, if we're living under the con, if we're living with the idea, like the idea that Frank is truly a dog. This is an entirely inappropriate conversation. Linda Lovelace would like to have a word with you all about, you know, how fucked this is. If you know, you know. And then Christian invites Sigrid on a trip to a cabin, get her apartment. She packs, and her roommate tells her she's concerned, but obviously it's her decision to go. And so Christian picks her up. Frank is going also. Sorry, I forgot to say that. They arrive at the cabin. Sigrid is mesmerized by it. Christian is telling her all about how it was built and with what materials, and he jokes with her that there's only one bedroom, so Frank will have to see sleep with them. That's not true. Frank is not going to sleep with them. The two have dinner. Sigrid picks up her phone, and Christian is again annoyed by this. And he tells her that he was thinking they could be phone free this weekend and convinces her to put her phone in a box with his. And he goes off to hide it, but he won't tell her where he's hiding the box. After dinner, Sigrid sits on the floor with Frank and loves on him, which is just so fucking weird because he's not a dog. [00:16:57] Speaker B: And Christian tells her that he loves. [00:17:01] Speaker A: Her and goes to get more wine. When Christian leaves the room, frank opens, you know, his dog head mask thing to show his face. And he goes to Sigrid and tells her that they need to get out of here because Christian is crazy. And now this freaks her out even more because she was trying to get used to the idea that Frank was actually a dog, but that now he's talking and he has a face, and it's a human face. And so then also, like, Christian's been telling her that he likes pretending to be a dog, but then now Frank himself is telling her, like, no, we need to leave. Very jarring. [00:17:46] Speaker B: So. [00:17:49] Speaker A: Basically, she's like, hey, I am sorry. I I need to go to bed. I need to go to bed right now. And he's like, look, we have the whole weekend. That's fine. Let's go to bed. Sigrid really doesn't sleep that night, like, at all. And she wakes up before Christian the next morning and goes downstairs, where she checks one of the exterior doors to find that it's locked. And while she's looking for the key, Christian comes downstairs and scares the shit out of her and is like, oh, I'm sorry. Like, I locked the doors at night. I lock the door in case someone tries to get in or get out. They go outside and sit together, and she asks if she can have her own key to the door, but he says he only has one key and to just wake him up whenever she wants to go outside. Yeah. So they go back to the cabin. She's freaking out. She throws up in the bathroom while Christian makes breakfast. Over breakfast, she tells him she's sorry, she's not hungry. And Christian says, well, I wish you would have told me, because now I have to throw everything out. But then after realizing that she feels bad, he says he can just give the leftovers to Frank for lunch. She asks if she can have her phone to check it because she's afraid and makes up a lie that her mom has been ill and she wants to check on her. [00:19:28] Speaker B: So he brings her the phone, but. [00:19:30] Speaker A: He goes, hey, I checked your phone. You have no messages or calls. You have a couple snaps like Snapchat, but I'm sure that's not important. So she's a little afraid. So now she's already lied, so now she has to, like, follow through with the lie. So she calls her mom, who doesn't sound sick literally at all, and says she's very busy and gets off with Sigrid very quickly. He knows this whole thing was a lie to get her phone back, but he goes, hey, I know what's going on. You're addicted. You literally can't go with your phone for a whole weekend. He takes the phone back. He asks her if she has any plans for the day, which is, I think, kind of a stupid question because, like, he invited her, so, like, shouldn't he be planning all this stuff out? That's my opinion. And she says, not really, but that she would like to take Frank for a walk, and while she's gone, then Christian can plan something on the walk. Okay, it's just her and Christian, or, sorry, it's just her and frank. Christian is at home. She asks him if she can take off his collar or if he wants to walk normally. So Frank tells her that she's talking too loud and Christian is probably spying on them. So he says, hey, bend down and act like you're petting me. So she does. Frank tells her that essentially, right? She has to kill Christian in order for them both to leave. When they get back, she admits to Christian that Frank did not go to the bathroom. They just were walking. So Christian takes him out. While he's gone, she takes a knife from the kitchen and hides it under her pillow and makes the bed. Christian comes back, and he has, you know, a fresh set of sheets. And he's like, oh, I was going to change the sheets on the bed before I start dinner because, you know, isn't it so nice that we have two sets of sheets so we can have fresh, you know, sheets to sleep on each night? So she's like, look, you do so much. You've been cooking dinner. Let me take care of the bed. And he jokingly comments that, you know, she can do it on one condition, which is that there are no wrinkles. After she makes the bed, he goes downstairs. She changes the bedding, and then she takes a shower. After her shower, while she's washing her face, Christian knocks on the door and asks her to talk in the bedroom. The way that this scene plays out is a little odd, but essentially he pretends to be angry, and he makes her believe that he wants to talk about the knife under her pillow, but really he ends up scolding her about the bed not being made well enough until she's so fearful that he starts to laugh and tells her that he's joking. And he never addresses the knife. Dinner's gonna be ready in 15 minutes. And rather than go downstairs to finish it, he starts to kiss her and touch her aggressively. And it was pretty much it's an effort to initiate sex. And she tries to get him to stop, but he doesn't, so she resorts to slapping him, and he falls back on the floor and finally leaves. They have the most awkward dinner in the entire world, and Frank is sleeping, apparently, and not joining them, which she found to be a little strange, and you should, too. [00:23:07] Speaker B: She tells him that the wine is good, but says she's feeling weird and tired. And after she gets up to walk. [00:23:12] Speaker A: To the bedroom, she passes out into Christian's arms because she has been drugged. [00:23:20] Speaker B: She wakes up with Christian in bed and goes to feel for the knife. [00:23:22] Speaker A: Under her pillow, but alas, the knife is gone. Christian hears her moving around and wakes. [00:23:29] Speaker B: Up to tell her to come with. [00:23:30] Speaker A: Him because he wants to show her something. [00:23:34] Speaker B: So they go downstairs. [00:23:36] Speaker A: He tells her to sit and snaps. [00:23:37] Speaker B: At her like he's talking to a dog. They both sit down. [00:23:42] Speaker A: She plays dumb, like she doesn't know why he brought her downstairs to talk. And he plays a recording on his phone of her and Frank's conversation from their walk, which she's like, okay, this is fucked, and then also pulls the knife out of a drawer in the end table to show her that he found it. [00:24:05] Speaker B: He tells her he probably could have. [00:24:07] Speaker A: Tied her up, right? But he's a nice guy, so he decided not to and is giving her the chance to prove that she can be trusted, even though he doesn't think that she deserves it. Let's be fucking for real. [00:24:22] Speaker B: Who deserves? [00:24:23] Speaker A: Like, she is not the problem. [00:24:26] Speaker B: She is not the problem. They go upstairs. [00:24:32] Speaker A: They find Frank and his crate because apparently he has a crate. And Christian says that Frank confessed immediately to this righteous, you know, sin that that has been committed. And now it's Sigrid's turn to be punished. So he opens the crate for Frank to come out. And as he starts to pet Frank, he comes out of his crate and bites Christian and starts to fight with him. And I assume that this was a distraction for Sigrid to take Christian's keys and run because the kennel has a. [00:25:10] Speaker B: Lock on it that can only be. [00:25:11] Speaker A: Unlocked with a key. [00:25:12] Speaker B: And again, we already know that Christian. [00:25:14] Speaker A: Only keeps one set of keys for everything. So she grabs the keys and she runs. She leaves Christian and Frank alone. And Christian pretty much gives up on Sigrid after realizing that she left. Like, he's just like, that's fine, and takes Frank to the barn for a nice little torture session after his, you know, disobeying and also speaking, which he's not allowed to do. Sigrid is a very slow moving person. And I say this because it's often a theme throughout the film that she. [00:25:52] Speaker B: Like, sleeps a lot and she's tired a lot, what have you. [00:25:56] Speaker A: But even in danger, she's fucking slow, okay? Because she starts running. And after, like, five minutes, she's still in earshot of this barn. So she really made no progress. And she, like, she's so close that. [00:26:12] Speaker B: She can hear Frank, like, calling out. [00:26:14] Speaker A: Saying, like, no, please don't do this. Inside the barn, Frank is gagged, blindfolded, and Christian puts these noise canceling headphones on him. He's tied to a chair. [00:26:29] Speaker B: Frank pours. [00:26:30] Speaker A: Excuse me. Christian pours water over Frank's head and then takes a plastic bag and puts it over Frank's, you know, face and head to suffocate him. Essentially, Sigrid is having a breakdown in the forest again. She has not gotten literally anywhere. She is the worst. [00:26:50] Speaker B: She's the worst final girl in any. [00:26:52] Speaker A: Movie, and she's not even a final girl. [00:26:56] Speaker B: I just say that, like, literally because she's the only girl, and she doesn't do anything. I mean, she didn't get anywhere. Back in the barn, Christian removes the. [00:27:08] Speaker A: Plastic bag before Frank actually dies, and then puts Frank back in his crate, removes the, you know, the gag and the blindfold and the noise canceling headphones and puts two big, enormous speakers next to it and turns up this. This horrible music, by the way, to an extraordinary volume, which obviously hurts Frank's ears. Now, Christian has the noise canceling headphones because, you know, you always put yourself first, right? Then he takes a bat, and he starts to hit the crate and shake it and rock it and scream at Frank. And back in the forest, Sigrid has still made absolutely no progress at all. So back in the barn, he takes Frank out of the crate and rips off portion of the costume that he's wearing and pulls down his underwear to expose his bare ass and starts to spank him. And, like, I'm not saying, like, in, like, the nice, like, funny way. Like, no, this is, like, crazy. [00:28:18] Speaker B: Like, insane. [00:28:21] Speaker A: So then Sigrid. God, she sucks so bad. She. [00:28:28] Speaker B: I don't even want to say this because you're gonna be like, oh, what's the point of even watching this movie? So Sigrid stupidly comes back to the. [00:28:35] Speaker A: Barn with a very large stick, and she sneaks up behind Christian because the music is still so loud and he's still wearing the noise canceling headphones. And so she hits him across the head. Then she goes to check on Frank and tries to get him to walk, but Frank obviously hasn't, like, used his legs like that. Like, he hasn't walked on two legs, like, in who knows how fucking long, right? [00:29:00] Speaker B: And he's also tired and he's been battered and, like, he's just, like, not. He's not here for all of this. [00:29:08] Speaker A: Christian is, like, on the floor, rolling around stunned. And Frank, like I said, can't walk. And although Sigrid has made a very noble attempt to try to rescue him, Christian knocks them both out with the bat before falling on the floor and sobbing. The screen goes black. Christian is now shown making breakfast for himself, also taking breakfast to Frank and. [00:29:35] Speaker B: Spitting in his food bowl before serving it. [00:29:40] Speaker A: Frank appears to be confined to his crate at all times for the time being. Then he takes another bowl of food out to the barn, where, you guessed it, Sigrid is now also a dog. He tells her that if she's good, she can sleep in the house tomorrow. [00:30:01] Speaker B: I would like to make one thing that I noticed here very clear. [00:30:06] Speaker A: Although she's in a barn, she has a dog bed, and Frank is in. [00:30:11] Speaker B: The house, but in a crate. You tell me which one you would rather be. [00:30:20] Speaker A: But then, now there's a third bowl of food and, you know, if you're me, you're thinking, what the fuck? Like, there can't possibly be another dog. But this time there's not a person necessarily dressed like a dog in the. [00:30:44] Speaker B: Same way that Sigrid and Frank are. And it's not an actual dog. [00:30:53] Speaker A: But there is a toddler in a grayish colored onesie walking on all fours and. [00:31:04] Speaker B: Eating from a dog bowl. And that's the end of the movie. So I bet you weren't expecting that. [00:31:15] Speaker A: Because I wasn't either. [00:31:19] Speaker B: So now is when we ask ourselves. [00:31:22] Speaker A: What does it all mean? Well. [00:31:27] Speaker B: I don't really know, but I'm gonna try. I'm gonna. [00:31:31] Speaker A: I'm gonna try this with you first. [00:31:35] Speaker B: I think we can start with something relatively simple. Okay. [00:31:41] Speaker A: Dog play, pup play. Puppy play is essentially a form, like I said, of, you know, fetish or kink participation, where participants dress up in dog costumes. Now, it doesn't always mean that they're in a dog costume. They might also simply just act like a dog. [00:32:20] Speaker B: I love that. On the Wikipedia page for this, there's another reference. So it's like, according to Wikipedia's article. [00:32:30] Speaker A: Men'S health defines puppy play as a form of consensual adult role play popular in the gay leather community, where people dress up and embody the characteristics of a dog. Um, I mean, I can. I like this. This makes sense to me right there. There's consent at play. I don't have any problem with two consenting adults doing whatever the fuck they want. Okay, that's fine. Most of the time, it is centered around being, like, cheeky or instinctive or playful. Mischievous. They essentially simplify. They take their desires and simplify them and all of their motivations to embrace essentially just. Just something that solely acts on. Based on instinct, right? And I think, like, we can always. We can always try to. [00:33:44] Speaker B: We can always relate to something like that, right? [00:33:46] Speaker A: Like, I don't know if all of. [00:33:48] Speaker B: You out there listening are always fully aware that you are part of, you know, the animal kingdom, but you are. [00:33:54] Speaker A: And so are dogs. [00:33:56] Speaker B: And therefore, we act in certain ways and we have certain instincts. And no, we don't share all the same instincts. And we might react differently to some than others or to external stimuli, but this is something that we can conceptualize at the very least. Right. [00:34:17] Speaker A: One really key thing, though, that I. [00:34:19] Speaker B: Think is important to talk about here. [00:34:21] Speaker A: Is that if there is a dominant role, right, this would be the person who handles. Handles the person who is pretending or playing as. As a dog. So they're seen as, like, a master or a trainer. And if that's the dynamic, right, then that would imply that the person who was participating as the actual animal would be seen as the more submissive person in this. [00:34:57] Speaker B: So, like I said, I have no issue with two consenting adults doing whatever the fuck they want. I think that's a beautiful thing. [00:35:06] Speaker A: You may do whatever you want with your own body at any time. I have no issue with that. What I do have issue with is this man, Christian, pretending that he is some sort of, like, fetish martyr by allowing Frank this, like, sexual freedom to pretend to be a dog and have, you know, control essentially over him and makes it sound like Frank is the one who imposed this onto Christian. [00:35:44] Speaker B: Right? [00:35:44] Speaker A: Like, he makes the comment of, like, well, you know, I try to get used to it. You try to get used to it? Like, present tense? I don't fucking think so. Like, you've been used to this. You just have been. But really, I mean, that's the most obvious thing that I think is important to talk about here. [00:36:08] Speaker B: The other thing that I think is really, you know, interesting is that ultimately, for me, this film is just an illustration of different forms of domestic violence and what this can look like. Right. And I want you all to just drop what you think about the term domestic violence for just a second. Domestic violence is not something that only occurs between a man and a woman in a relationship. Domestic violence is violence that occurs in your domicile. It occurs in your home or at home. So being that Christian lives in his own home and has, you know, Frank, who we later uncover, he is forcing to engage in this sort of activity, I think we can talk about battered person syndrome. I say person, because in some cases, it's referred to as battered person syndrome, and in other cases, it's referred to specifically as battered woman syndrome. But it doesn't only happen to women. So I think it's important to call it battered person syndrome. And essentially what this is, is. And I'll link this for you, it's a pattern of signs and symptoms displayed by a person who has suffered persistent intimate partner violence, and that can be psychological, sexual, or physical. It can be diagnosed as a subcategory of PTSD, and many victims exhibit ranges of behaviors, including suicidal thoughts, substance abuse, self isolation, signs of physical injury or illness, such as bruises, broken bones, or chronic fatigue. The condition of battered person syndrome, or battered woman syndrome, is the basis for, you know, a type of legal defense that has been used in cases of abused women who have killed their male partners. And this is essentially, this is kind of based on, I would say, learned helplessness, which is the behavior exhibited by a subject after enduring repeated aversive stimuli beyond their control. So it was initially thought to be caused by the subject's acceptance of their powerlessness and by way of discontinuing attempts to escape the stimuli, the negative stimuli, even when the alternatives are unambiguously presented. Basically, exhibiting this behavior meant that the subject was said to have acquired learned helplessness. Neuroscience, you know, God bless. God bless you guys out there. Hmm. They've pretty much taken this concept of learned helplessness and gotten it to a more condensed definition, I would say. So the original theory initially was that the brain's default state, it assumes that control is not present. So that helplessness is what is learned first. But actually it's unlearned when the subject is faced with prolonged stimulus. This aversive stimulus, it's related to the concept of self efficacy, which is, you know, your ability to believe, you know, your ability to achieve certain goals. And it is the view that clinical depression and related mental illnesses may result from real or perceived absence of control. This is coined, well credited, let's say credited by Martin Seligman, who is an american psychologist from the University of Pennsylvania, which he started researching this learned helplessness in 1967 at the University of Pennsylvania because he was already expressing and looking into depression. So obviously, the research was later expanded upon. But one of the first experiments was in different groups. So I will try to explain it to you the best that I can. In part one, three groups of dogs are in harnesses. In group one, the dogs were put in a harness for a short period of time, but then were taken out of the harness later. In groups two and three, dogs in group two were given electrical shocks at random times. The dog could end the electrical shocks by pressing a lever. Each dog in group three was paired with a dog in group two. So whenever a dog in group two got an electrical shock, the dog that it's paired with in group three got a shock of the same intensity and duration, but its lever never stopped the shock. So to a dog in group three, it appeared that the shock was administered randomly because it was, you know, the paired dog that they were with in group two that was causing it to stop. So for the dogs in group three, the shock was something they couldn't escape. In part two of this experiment, the same. Right. Three groups of dogs were put in this apparatus, which is essentially a chamber that has two compartments, and the two compartments are divided by a barrier that's like a couple inches high, so, like, they can still maneuver over it. The dogs in group one and two learned that they could, you know, jump over this little barrier and escape the shock. But most of the dogs in the third group, which previously learned that it didn't matter what they did because they were still gonna get shocked anyway, lay down passively and whine when they're shocked. So that is. That is that what I find interesting. [00:44:16] Speaker A: About this is, is. [00:44:20] Speaker B: Well, number one, that it was done with dogs. And that's. So that's such an interesting thing to talk about, considering that the film I just got done telling you about is mostly consisting of dogs and. But looking at it now through this, right, I mean, Frank. Frank basically is just saying to Sigrid, like, look, reading between the lines now, it doesn't matter what he does, he's gonna have to stay. He can't leave. No matter what he wants to do, no matter how hard he tries, there's no possible way for him to get out of this situation. Whereas for Sigrid, she's not been in this condition for as long as Frank has. She's not been in this situation for as long. So she actually does have a bit higher of a chance at escaping. And throughout the film, Sigrid starts to learn things about Christian. Like, you know, at first everything seems amazing, but then he has this person who lives with him who's dressed like a dog. And then they go to the cabin and he makes this comment that he locks all the doors that no one can get in or out, which obviously sends her into panic. Then he doesn't want her to have a phone. Why did he take them to this cabin? That's the question, really. The house that he lives at normally not this cabin, but his normal home. I mean, there's really not much around it. So he could have easily inflicted whatever he wanted, you know, onto either Frank or Sigrid in the comfort of his normal home. But he chose to take them somewhere remote, so we don't really know. Or more remote, I should say. So we don't really know what exactly it is that he had planned or why. But we do know that Frank is exhibiting patterns of this learned helplessness, taking it to, you know, a more textbook social situation. Emotionally abusive relationships. Right. The victim can oftentimes develop learned helplessness, which occurs and presents itself whenever the victim of the abuse tries to leave their abuser or confront them. Just to have their abuser pretend to care, you know, trivialize their feelings, dismiss their feelings. They say they're going to change. They pretend that they're going to. They don't. And this eventually prevents the victim from actually leaving because they're guided under these false pretenses that he's gonna change. This is something that, you know, he promised me he's gonna do. And eventually, you get to a point where you don't know up from down and you don't know left from right, and so you basically rely on this person to do everything for you because they get into your brain in such a way that makes you feel like you could. You can't possibly do anything on your own because they know better than you. So as the abuse gets worse, learned helplessness develops, which can obviously result in traumatic bonding. Stockholm syndrome. Battered woman syndrome, which I already spoke about, battered person syndrome. It's definitely something interesting. What I find to be the most interesting specifically about this is that the way it's presented is that there's such an inequality of wealth, inequity of wealth, which is listed and has been studied to have an impact on mental health. Right? So Christian is obviously stupid rich, and he talks about how Frank has never really had anyone. Frank, you know, he. He has lived a hard life, and all that's important is that we're there for him. And basically makes Frank and himself feel better by saying, like, look, I have all this money. And because I have all this money, that means I have all this power. And not only do I have this power, I have the confidence to demonstrate to others that I have this power. And so, no, it's not me being a rich asshole who's holding Frank captive as a dog. Frank wants to be a dog. And so then Frank hears this and is like, okay, yeah, like, whatever he says is true. I mean, I'm here, and I want to be this dog. I want to live this life of service. That's certainly not true, because Frank doesn't want this. And Frank does still have this slight awareness that, you know, he's trying to warn Sigrid. He's trying to get her away from the situation. He's like, look, this is dangerous. You need. We need to leave. The only way to do this is if we kill him. And it's true. It really is at the most dangerous time to leave. Any form of abusive relationship, whether that be romantic or not, is when you're trying to leave. That's the most dangerous time to be in one. So for Frank, right, to have, you know, attempted to orchestrate this type of departure of him and Sigrid via the death of Christian. Christian, as the abuser, feels that he is entitled to something. He's in control. He will not have his power tested by having these two undermine him, which is why he controls who comes in or out of the house and who you communicate with on your phone and even down to recording conversations that Sigrid and Frank are having with one another. So we can assume, right, Christian is super wealthy. Frank is likely not wealthy. Frank, this is speculation. Could have developed this learned helplessness from, you know, looking up to Christian his entire life. Let's say that that story is true. They've known each other for forever. Fine. And so he's already been developing it by simple way of constantly feeling like he has no power over anything. And so he just relinquishes to say, fine, I'm done fighting. I don't have the power to change the standard, you know, the way that I was, the life that I was born into. And Christian offers him some sort of way out by providing frank with things like, you know, sweets and dinners and video games and friendship and whatnot, and lulls Frank into this false sense of security. And he essentially does the same thing with Sigrid. You know, she tells him that she's in school and she's working. She's working as a cashier. That doesn't really present itself as a super high standard of living to Christian. And so he immediately knows that that coupled with the fact that no one had been trying to contact her when they were at their cabin, he checked her phone for her. He said no one was. No one was trying to reach her. Then when she called her mother, her mother didn't really seem to give a fuck that she called. So he knows that her family doesn't care about her. So by removing everything, removing her control to leave and come and go as she pleases, removing her ability to freedom of conversation with others, removing her, you know, contact to others via phone, he has gotten her to accept that no matter what, he's gonna win. He just is. You know, she tries to put the knife under her pillow. He finds it. She sits down for dinner. He drugs her. I mean, it's just like, constant. It's constant. And people like Christian oftentimes take advantage of those who are less financially blessed or less wealthy. And that's a horrible thing to do. And obviously, this is not the first, like, time that we've ever seen this in a film. But I think it's one of the most glaring examples in film, other than vini viti, vici which is a great film that also truly exhibits the power that wealth has. But that's obviously a story for another day. We also see this too, right? So Sigrid is going to leave. She has the keys. She makes a run for it. Why doesn't she keep running? Why does she give up? Why does she stop? Is it because she's trying to become a martyr to save Frank? I don't think so. I think there's something much deeper going on. I think she's too right, exhibiting these. These types of behaviors that are accompanied with learned helplessness. So I think I've talked enough for now about. About the psychology here, although it is absolutely fascinating. And again, I'll post all the sources for you, like I always do, so that you can see it and read it yourself. But what is the most shocking part of this entire thing is when we're in the last 30 seconds of the film and we see a fucking baby eating out of a dog bowl dressed in a onesie, where did that baby come from? Well, if you're asking me, which I could think you are, if you're still listening, I feel like although Christian and Sigrid were having sex semi regularly, I mean, he drugged her. Could he possibly have impregnated her while she had been drugged? And it was implied and not explicitly shown? Maybe. I think that's what makes the most sense to me. What I also think is that he kept her, right? He basically coerced her into becoming, you know, a dog or a person who acts like a dog, like Frank, with his efforts of control and discovered she was pregnant and is keeping the baby for himself. Christian is so fearful of being alone because his parents are gone that he'll do anything he can to keep people around him, even if that means he can't have genuine relationships and has to have forced relationships. Is this a form of child abuse? I mean, you fucking tell me. I sure as shit think so. Okay. Like, you have. It's a baby and he has it dressed in a onesie, just like Frank is dressed in a onesie and sigrid is dressed in a onesie. And then I also think there's this aspect for sigrid of survival and protection of her child, right? She's chained up outside in a backyard, in a barn, and all she can think about is that her kid is in there. And so she'll do whatever she can to keep her baby safe. And hopefully it will grow up to live a long life, and hopefully it will escape the circumstances that it's been brought up into. And that's why she's so excited whenever he says that she can sleep in the house because her kid is in there. She wants to be with her child. These motherly instincts are things that, you know, you just can't make up. So in all wrapping this one up, short film worth a watch. Mixed reviews. And if anyone on Tinder shows up to a decently casual dinner date with you in a full suit and admits to you that they're relatively antisocial. [00:58:52] Speaker A: You. [00:58:52] Speaker B: Should take that very seriously. I'm, like, half joking, but, like, that can potentially be a red flag. So, yeah, give it a look. Give it a. Give it a watch if you want. I mean, the way to me, these giant, these costumes that are in this film are, like, made. They're not like the ones in the fetish community, okay? They're not. Those are, like, nice, right? And, like, intended for a specific purpose. These ones that they have in the film, I feel like, are made intentionally to look, like, jarring to the eye. And whether that's done on purpose or not, I'm not certain. I'm pretty sure it is. So no disrespect, obviously, to the fetish and kink communities out there, keep doing what you're doing. Safe, consensual adult love that, oh, also, don't inflict, you know, or subject others that are non consenting to this, please keep doing what you're doing. And for those of you who are considering gaining control over others under the guise of it being something that's part of the fetish or kink community, please don't. Just don't. It's just, it's not in good taste. And although I think it was maybe a creative plot device for this one, just don't do that. It's not worth it, and it's disrespectful, and it hurts those people that practice it. So just don't. Anyhow, to wrap up today's episode, very interesting take on domestic violence and interrelationship, violence and abuse. Highly suggest watching it. And before I let you go, of course, I have to tell you that the final girl on 6th Avenue is part of the incredibly morbidly beautiful network. Morbidly beautiful is your home for horror. If you love horror in any way, shape, or form like I do, then you are welcome at morbidly beautiful. You can find my podcast and many others like it [email protected]. dot. You can find this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Amazon Music, and Pocketcasts. If you enjoyed the show, it would mean the world to me if you left me a five star review and subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts. For any questions, comments, concerns, suggestions, or requests, you can email me at finalgirlon six mail.com or send me a message on Instagram iinalgirlonsix. Thank you so much for listening. I promise I will not take another impromptu month off without letting you know in advance. And yeah, I'm excited to be back and I'm excited to talk to you in two weeks. Never forget that I'm csat.