#72: thoughts on sunset blvd and the substance; a venn diagram perhaps
but even a movie about looks being deceiving, we were still deceived...
hi hi hi sisters ♡ for those of us in new york, we got to experience a beautiful snowfall on saturday night. I love the snow so much and I truly think that everything feels so much more magical when it is covered in snow. so that was really special to experience.
beyond that, just chugging along. part of me is really glad january is behind us, the but other part is spooked that it is already february 7 of the year 2025. its cliche but time really does fly !!
also if you ever cant read the email in full because I decide to write so much that it gets cut off in the email, you can read the full substack piece on substack.com !!
keeping the recommendations section to recommendations for different substacks that I read. I find it to be really important to support small “businesses” (that sounds odd to use here, but maybe influencers is another word I can use?) and one way I can do that is by sharing about them!
i’m actually sharing a substack article in my adulting section where I chat extensively about the substance !!!
movies: the bulk of what i’m talking about today is based off of my thoughts from watching the substance on friday. I enjoyed it quite a bit, I mean you get to see margaret qualley and shes GORGEOUS, also so is demi moore! its obviously very sad and disturbing and disgusting and a hard watch, but extremely effective in execution. honestly most grotesque part of the film was dennis quaid eating shrimp and the camera is SO zoomed in on his mouth (YUCK). for movie church we watched the sister act 2, a lovely lovely lovely film that I really enjoyed !!! so funny and silly and lighthearted.
podcasts: the popapologists have done a really good job at breaking down the blake lively v. justin baldoni law suit in a way that is easy for everyone to understand. some of the episodes are for subscribers only, but since I am not a subscriber, I can attest that the public episodes were very informative. they go through both law suits in full, and honestly a law suit is so fascinating because you will be on someone’s side while reading it and then flip when you read the other. here is part one, part two, and part four. i’m excited to see how things unfold.
music: kendrick lamar’s halftime performance at the superbowl last night was truly so good. sza performed with him and she was incredible. the whole performance was very visually appealing and intriguing. a lot of hidden political commentary was also sprinkled throughout. well worth your time to watch it if you have not yet
in my stomach: for galentines we had yummy roasted garlic bread, tortellini soup, and a red velvet cake !!! the soup is one of my favorite recipes and truly so delicious. we doubled the recipe to have enough for everyone, and since we doubled it I did one pound sweet italian sausage and one pound hot italian sausage. if I dont double it i do all hot italian sausage because I find that its really not too spicy in the soup as a whole. I also got to use a cutie heart shaped tin that I thrifted for the cake and it turned out perfectly !!!
lets chat about sunset blvd. and the substance shall we?
just about a week and a half ago I was able to see sunset blvd on broadway. the production of this show was PHENOMENAL. but thats not what i’m talking about today. I want to talk about the storyline of the show instead. so sunset blvd is a broadway show based on a movie by the same name and it is essentially about a very old silent film actress, norma, (who was a ☆ during her prime) who refuses to accept that her stardom has ended and that people are moving on from her. norma drives herself into insanity because she cannot let go of her past and wants to be a star and to forever have the camera on her.
the substance, demi moore’s character is a former actress/movie star who is “past her prime” and essentially forgotten news. she is approached with a medical opportunity called the substance in which she can create a newer younger more beautiful version of herself quite literally create from her own body (but its not supposed to be like her character has all of a sudden become the younger version of her current self, she is instead completely brand new). she performs this operation and low and behold margaret qualley appears, while demi moore’s old (yet still very hot) body lays on the floor for 7 days at a time while the young vivacious margaret qualley gets to be a new person. but heres the thing, THEY ARE THE SAME PERSON, and that is what is really important to the whole plot that demi moore’s character misses. she treats the newer version of herself and the older version of herself as two separate people.
i thought that the substance was really really really well done. its not a movie for everyone because beyond it being quite gross, its pretty sad. its sad because demi moore’s character hates herself so much and more than anything else, she wants to be loved like she was when she was younger. so much so that she is willing to do ANYTHING to get that attention and adoration again. she hates herself so much that she decides to destroy her body in the hopes of achieving some sort of stardom again.
from the shared some highlights that she gleaned from the film; I really like her list so i’m going to share a tidbit of each one here, but you can read her piece as well:· We have been taught to see ourselves as a constellation of still images (like the posters of Elizabeth that she walks by in the beginning of the movie), making it harder to accept that we are constantly in flux and continually morphing over time. Because we see ourselves through the lens of photographs, we’re fooled into believing that freezing the effects of time is possible.
· We have come to glorify faces and bodies that resemble plastic---durable and impermeable---rather than real flesh. The movie shows us in an extreme way that real bodies can’t be contained or made durable: they have openings, bumps, bulges, wrinkles, and soft insides and fluids, and they are vulnerable to injury and death, however much we invest in an impenetrable exterior.
· Our vulnerability and imperfection are the keys to connection with others.
· We’ve been taught to see ourselves in distorted ways when we look in the mirror.
I see the desires of norma and demi moore’s characters in so many of us today. especially with the ever growing list of body modifications that can be done and are being done without us realizing. its so easy to look back at our younger selves (or others) and think “i’ve let myself go. I have wrinkles now. my hair is gray. I’ve gained so much weight. etc. etc. etc.” don’t get me wrong, I would loveeeeee if I was skinnier, my hair didnt fall out, and my boobs were perkier1. but *almost* thankfully, I don’t have a younger hotter version of myself to compare my current self to. for the most part I look back at younger photos of myself and think “dang shes so young.” i’m not saying that aging is going to be easy for me, hell I have major joint and back issues already, but I think maybe the part of accepting it will be easier for me than it would be for a conventionally hot person (i’m not hating on myself people i’m just being honest, I think i’m quite cute). aging bodies are hard to look at sometimes, even if you weren’t hot. your body you once could rely on to do anything, is failing you! I also know its going to be really hard for a lot of my friends to be pregnant one day because they wont be able to see their feet for the first time when they look down; on the other hand, I havent been able to see my feet for years because of my stomach. I also know that if i ever lose my hearing or eyesight or WHATEVER aging brings my way, that will also be hard for me to handle. but adding any sort of beauty societal expectation on top of it, thats toughhhhhh man.
I bring up both of these media pieces because it is so interesting to me to see how society treats old people in hollywood (i’m using hollywood as general term for fame and such). even taylor swift sings about it in nothing new with the lines “are we only biding time 'til I lose your attention? and someone else lights up the room? … I know someday I'm gonna meet her, it's a fever dream. the kind of radiance you only have at 17. she'll know the way, and then she'll say she got the map from me. i'll say I'm happy for her, then I'll cry myself to sleep” a big fear in hollywood is getting old, because when you are old, you are forgotten and the next new young thing comes along to take your place. but when did this happen? because betty white, as we know, is beloved, even well into her old age. why was it okay for betty white to be old, but not others? I was about to say, maybe she actually wasnt that hot or beautiful when she was younger and she just got famous because of her personality and charm instead. but then I looked up photos of her, and DAMN she is gorgeous.
i think some people are helping to change the narrative around aging and societal expectations, like pamela anderson and drew barrymore. women who are embracing their natural looks (i know that pamela anderson has had work done, but she is wanting to embrace aging). but lets face it, plastic surgeries are still happening, and they are increasing in commonality and occurrence. its not going away anytime soon, but hopefully movies like the substance, or shows like sunset blvd., will continue to come out so we can see how ridiculous we all are that we have a fear of aging.
i also dont want the irony of demi moore being so stunning and desirable as she is (especially for her age, shes 62 and is portraying someone who is supposed to be 50 in the movie), being portrayed as a washed up ugly woman with a bangin bod to go past us. ALSO they even used prosthetics on margaret qualley’s boobs after she tried to work out to improve her body for this role. so even the dream girl in the movie, had to use fake body parts to achieve the dream bod.
I think, and maybe hope, that society will change, or that people will wake up and realize that aging is okay, that aging is cool, and the wrinkles on our face are a sign of living a full life. I like my apartment to looked lived in, so maybe I should like my body to look that way as well?
PSA you can get your ads to go away on pinterest if you put in a little effort and click on the three dots of every ad you see and click the options of not interest and why and ads will stop showing up. its magic.
pinterest: taking care of me for future me; fruit art
instagram: I love ceramics; this cake looks amazing; love her
hehe that got LONG. I dont expect everyone to see the substance now that I chatted your ear off about it, but i do think the concept of the movie is really important and something that should be talked about by more people!!
also, i’m not saying that at some point in my life I wont get an elective procedure. theres a very good chance that I do get a boob lift, my boobs grew incredibly fast when I was younger and have been saggy ever since. I also am not saying that I wont be proactive with my skin care routine or supplements to make sure that my skin stays nice and that my hair is healthy. but i’m going to do these things for ME not because society has told me that that is how I am supposed to look.
Kaitlynn, thanks so much for quoting from my post on the Substance! I enjoyed your discussion too. What you said about the fear of “letting ourselves go” is something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately—-like aging is something we can control. I also didn’t know about Margaret Qualley’s prosthetics—wow! Fascinating since she is such the ideal body in the film.