“THIS IS A MAN’S WORLD. BUT IT WOULD BE NOTHING,
NOTHING WITHOUT A WOMAN OR A GIRL.”
– James Brown
STEREOTYPE – A widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing.
Some of the most iconic places to see stereotypes are in the media. When you think BEER, you think, commercials with tall, skinny blondes clad only in drawstring bikinis playing volleyball on a beach. And when you hear the words HORROR FILM, you think of the silly young cliché pretty girl who should have run out the front door, but instead ran upstairs, only to obviously meet her untimely death.
But my, oh my, how things have changed.
October’s Movie: “THE BABADOOK”
Meet JENNIFER KENT, writer and director of the Australian psychological-horror film, “THE BABADOOK”. Kent started her career as an actress, but quickly realized filmmaking was where her real passion was. Despite horror being a genre commonly dominated by men, Kent thought there was something missing from the horror film scene. “I feel like a lot of the people who make horror actually don’t understand its depth and its power,” she said. “Unbeknownst to themselves, they’re looking down on the genre. I also think a lot of horror is made cynically, and by that I mean that it’s made to make money.”
“THE BABADOOK” explores grief and depression. It is the story of an emotionally fragile young widow whose disturbed young son seems obsessed with the boogeyman in his picture book. That is, until, similarly in style to “The Exorcist”, her troubled son seems to be telling the truth about the monster. You know this isn’t just your typical thriller film when the director of “The Exorcist” himself tweets out, “I’ve never seen a more terrifying film than THE BABDOOK.” What Kent creates in this film is not just skin-crawlingly creepy, but also a testament to what horror films are really about at their core – broken and complex characters dealing with real-life traumatic situations the only way they know how.
https://youtu.be/szaLnKNWC-U
October’s Beer: STOUDT’S OKTOBERFEST
Women in the craft beer scene are definitely on the rise, both in presence and popularity. Where once upon a time female brewmasters would never have been taken seriously, nowadays, people bow down to the likes of someone, say, like CAROL STOUDT, Masterbrewer and President of STOUDT’S BREWING COMPANY in Pennsylvania. Carol is the first woman in America to oversee the design and development of a craft brewery from start to finish. Dubbed the “Queen of Hops” by her peers, she never let gender discrimination prevent her from taking beer to the next level. “When I started, no one knew what the word ‘craft’ was,” she said. “No one knew what fresh beer was. They didn’t know about hops or malt. Beer was basically what brand you were drinking.”
It is her attention to detail in her specialty brews that got my attention. That’s why, for a film like “THE BABADOOK”, her OKTOBERFEST BEER is definitely the only way to go. A traditional German-style Oktoberfest, this medium-bodied beer combines subtle hops with a slightly sweet maltiness. There’s a little bit of nuttiness that goes a long way as well. STOUDT’S OKTOBERFEST’S toasty depth will both entice you during the quieter times of “THE BABADOOK”, and comfort you during the darker times.
Drink well, good luck, and Happy Halloween! Cheers!