Monthly Archives: June 2021

ISTANBUL -- Producer Timur Savci knows a good story when he sees one.

In 2009, Savci was sent by his mentor and collaborator, the late respected screenwriter Meral Okay, the draft for a script on a legendary Ottoman sultan. By the time he had finished reading it at 2 a.m., "I knew we had a project that had vast international potential even on paper," Savci told Nikkei Asia.

The rest is entertainment history. "Magnificent Century," the epic Turkish drama narrating the reign of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and featuring memorable characters like his beloved concubine-turned-wife Hurrem, has so far been viewed by 500 million people around the world and acted as the trailblazer for other dizi, which literally means "sequence" or "series" in Turkish but is also used to refer to the unique genre of Turkish drama.

Since then, these shows have been subtitled, dubbed, adapted or exported to more than 150 countries, including Japan, where "Magnificent Century" became the first dizi ever sold. Exports rose from a modest $100,000 in 2008 to $500 million in 2020, making Turkey the second-largest exporter of TV content, surpassed only by the U.S.

According to Eurodata, Turkish shows now comprise 25% of the imported shows around the world, and are expected to top $1 billion in global sales in 2023.

Savci, the founder and a partner of Tims&B, is behind other classic hits, including "Calikusu" ("Lovebird"), a 2013 literary adaptation of the story of an orphaned teacher from Anatolia, as well as "Bir Zamanlar Cukurova" ("Bitter Lands"), a "Dallas"-style family saga set in the 1970s that was shot in Savci's hometown of Adana in southern Turkey.

For him, common themes such as "[strong] women, family ... and authenticity" are embedded in the DNA of Turkish drama, with broad appeal to viewers across a range of cultures around the world.

To many of the scriptwriters, producers, directors and actors who spoke to Nikkei Asia, the power of authenticity that Turkey's realistic, socially conscious and relatable middle-class dramas hold makes them a unique art form perfected over decades.

"Viewers adopt stories that blend a modern lifestyle that doesn't reject traditions," said Burak Sagyasar, Savci's business partner and the "B" in Tims&B and himself a former actor. "Our dramas have long been inspired by real stories and strong characters. These clues are modernized to develop new concepts, which is why the projects we realize have multiple axes and are fertile and long-lasting."

For Western and Eastern viewers alike, the slow-burning T-dramas are a window to a world many long for, especially Western women who connect with the romance and old-school passion that today's American dramas lack. Eastern audiences, on the other hand, like the fact that Turkish stories portray secular modernity, with relatively traditional values and principles, in contrast to an emotionally corrupt society. The fact that most Turkish shows are family-friendly, with zero nudity or coarse language, adds to their popularity.

"We take great care for our dizi to have literary depth, its characters to be credible, and their motivations to be realistic and sound," said Ayfer Tunc, the main screenwriter behind "Bir Zamanlar Cukurova," or BZC, as its die-hard fans like to call it. "Solid story structure," she said, and an "epic storytelling style" add to its appeal overseas.

For actor, director and screenwriter Ercan Kesal, whose string of hits include "Once Upon a Time in Anatolia" and the phenomenally successful mafia dizi "Cukur" ("The Pit"), Turkish dizi and films these days are now defined by sincere stories shot in real locations. "Anatolia has started to tell its own tales again," Kesal said.

BZC director and dizi veteran Murat Saracoglu, whose "Mrs. Fazilet and Her Daughters" was an instant hit when it was aired in Latin America, remembers being surprised when women from places as far away as Chile and Peru began writing to him saying how much they had cried while watching the show.

For Saracoglu, the storytelling tradition and power of myth creation in Turkish lands resonate across the world. "We are still telling humanity's 'ancient matters' ... especially portraying issues like belonging to the land," said Saracoglu. "Our difference from the productions in the West is that we are not trying to create make-believe; these are still the real causes and the real problems we care about on these lands, " he added.

Even if the story is an adaptation from a foreign original, the success of the Turkish version often surpasses the original. Two series originally from Japan, "Anne" and "Kadin," which portray strong women trying to live their lives despite the trials of modern society, won the awards for best foreign drama at the Tokyo International Drama Festival in 2017 and 2018, beating strong competition from South Korean dramas.

When "What's Fatmagul's Fault?" -- a drama about a young woman's search for justice after being gang-raped -- was aired first in Latin America and later in India, it provoked such a storm of commentary that it was even credited with kick-starting the #MeToo movement in Peru and Mexico. Now seen in 154 countries, it received the audience award for the best foreign drama in France in 2019 and is now being remade in Spain under the name "Alba."

"What makes Fatmagul so special is the fact that a social wound [like rape] is being narrated not over a woman's body but over her soul," said the show's director, Hilal Saral, adding that Turkish dramas are built heavily on emotion.

While Turkish dramas manage to create a cultural zone that appeals beyond Turkish lands by blending Eastern and Western values, an added dimension is their value as pillars of soft power, something Turkey badly needs.

There is perhaps no better example of this than "Resurrection: Ertugrul" -- nicknamed the Muslim "Game of Thrones" -- a five-season epic dramatizing the adventures of Ertugrul Ghazi, the father of Osman, who founded the Ottoman Empire, that aired in Turkey from 2014 to 2019 and was later exported to over 100 countries worldwide.

"Do you think they teach in the Middle East how just and protective the Ottomans were?" Savci asked. "They tried to paint Turks as invaders next to colonialist Westerners and bend history according to their political objectives," he added, arguing that Turkish dramas have achieved what years of diplomacy has failed to do, creating fans and even allies of Turkey in regions historically hostile to the Ottoman Empire.

Even in traditionally hostile countries such as Greece, Bulgaria and Russia, viewers can't get enough of two of Tims&B's most recent hits: "The Trusted," about an ex-SWAT team member fighting drug barons; and "The Shadow Team,"which is loosely based on Turkey's National Intelligence Agency.

"When communism collapsed, democracy arrived [in Bulgaria and other former Eastern bloc countries], but so did capitalism," said Yasemin Celikkol, an ethnic Turk whose family migrated to Turkey from Bulgaria in the 1980s and is now an academic at the University of Pennsylvania whose PhD thesis on Turkish televisionseries in Bulgaria and Russia is aptly titled "The Terribly Charming Turk in the Global Media Matrix." She thinks the popularity of Turkish dizi in the Balkans cannot be explained just because they inhabit the same neighborhood and share strong cultural ties.

"Families disintegrated and people faced poverty," Celikkol said. Slowly, people began to miss the "comfort of moral values" and were nostalgic for the feelings that come with a sense of community and big families. It is this emotional vacuum, she argued, that Turkish dramas fill: "There was a reaction to Hollywood. [The viewers] realized that it's not all about money, sex, and drugs."

International streaming giants are also showing interest in Turkish content, with Netflix commissioning a handful of hits, including the dark humor series "50M2" and "Fatma," a murder drama about a cleaning-lady-turned-serial-killer, with local over-the-top streaming services BluTV, Gain and Exxen all getting in on the act.

"It's even nicer to see brands that strive to carve out their unique broadcast philosophy and identity from the start," said Efe Cakarel, a Turkish entrepreneur, doyen of art-house movies and founder of the MUBI movie platform, who is pleased to see the launch of new streaming platforms in sync with the zeitgeist.

"Having more options is something that will give the viewers the freedom to choose and move their viewing experience forward," said Cakarel, whose recent releases include "Hayaletler" ("Ghosts"), a long feature directed by Azra Deniz Okyay, and "Seni Buldum Ya!" ("Hey There!"), a musical comedy shot entirely on an iPhone directed by Reha Erdem.

MUBI is also preparing to produce and release more Turkish content next year, including several TV dramas created by prominent Turkish filmmakers.

For Ayfer Tunc, the screenwriter behind "Bitter Lands," says the Netflixization of Turkish entertainment risks industry making it uninspiring as a result of being tweaked to appeal to the same cohort -- whether they are in Thailand, Russia, South Africa or Belgium.

"If our stories are no longer ours due to the intervention by Netflix, our DNA will be corrupted," Tunc said. "And a corrupt DNA does no good for anyone."

Continued here:

Turkish dramas are rewriting the global entertainment script - Nikkei Asia

Photo Submitted

TheFulbright College of Arts and Sciencesat the U of A has selected the 2021 recipients of several of its most prestigious endowed faculty awards, including:

"I can't tell you enough how outstanding these faculty members are and how lucky we are to have them as part of our college," said Todd Shields, dean of Fulbright College. "Each has dedicated themselves and their careers to helping our students succeed, furthering their respective fields and ultimately bettering our world - and each is an inspiration."

"It is my great honor to thank them on behalf of the college, our students, faculty, staff, alumni and community," Shields said. "We can't wait to see what they'll achieve next!"

The John E. King Award for Outstanding Servicewas created and endowed by Fulbright College faculty members to recognize colleagues who exhibit exemplary service to the campus and community. They named the award for King, a professor of social work, as a tribute to his "leadership and extraordinary ethic and record of good deeds."

Recipient Lindsey Aloia's research focuses on elucidating the causes and consequences of verbal aggression in interpersonal associations. She studies how qualities of interpersonal interactions, as well as individuals, shape the use of and reactions to verbally aggressive experiences. Aloia's work also considers consequential communication and illuminates the personal, relational and health implications of verbal aggression.

Aloia is director of the Center for Communication Research, serves the Northwest Arkansas community as a court-appointed special advocate (CASA) volunteer, is the Adopt-a-Professor for Reid Hall, faculty adviser of the Mortar Board National College Senior Honor Society, serves on the Institutional Review Board, is Fulbright College's Faculty Senate representative, a Faculty Peer Mentor and a First-Generation Student Mentor.

"In addition to her continued impact through her active, innovative research, Dr. Aloia's extraordinary record of service and servant leadership extends broadly - significantly bettering the communication discipline, the University of Arkansas, Fulbright College, the Department of Communication and the Northwest Arkansas community," said Stephanie Ricker Schulte, chair of the Department of Communication, who nominated her.

Schulte said Aloia also serves on several college and department-level committees, multiple editorial boards and in several professional groups. She often teaches overload classes, university perspectives courses and supervises independent studies. She has been selected for multiple prestigious teaching awards and has published 34 manuscripts, including 28 peer reviewed journal articles and six book chapters.

The Nolan Faculty Award was endowed by the William C. and Theodosia Murphy Nolan Foundation to support the career advancement of faculty members who provide the highest quality teaching research and service to the college.

Recipient Jingyi Chen's research centers on the development of novel multi-metal nanostructures and new methods for functionalizing their surface with soft and hard materials, with an ultimate goal to establish the structure-property relationship and further explore their applications in energy conversion, tribology and nanomedicine.

Her lab is currently working on projects that have implications for nanostructures in fuel cell applications, nanoparticles for bio-related applications and nanoplatforms for controlled release drug delivery to fight against antibiotic-resistant infectious diseases and cancer.

"Her meticulous work ethics strongly influence her students and motivate them to excel. It is a pleasure to see graduate students mature quickly under the tireless and effective guidance of Dr. Chen," said Matt McIntosh, professor and chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, who nominated her. "She continuously works with students in the lab, helping them to develop lab protocols, training them in basic techniques, independent thinking, clear presentation and paper crafting, and caring for their intellectual and personal wellbeing."

McIntosh said that in addition to her prolific research activities, Chen serves on more than 30 graduate student committees annually and has done tremendous work to strengthen the pipeline of new students for the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry's graduate program.

"Dr. Chen is keen to identify talented undergraduate students, motivating them to advanced degree programs at the University of Arkansas. Many of our best incoming graduate students were recruited by Dr. Chen," he said.

TheOMNI Keeling/Hansen Climate Science Awardwas created to "promote cutting edge climate science research conducted by Fulbright College faculty and students in developing knowledge of the causes and impacts of global climate change, in developing tangible solutions to mitigate global climate change and its deleterious effects on humanity and global ecosystems, and in communicating the urgency of the climate catastrophe."

Recipient Kusum Naithani's research focuses on general and landscape ecology, and she teaches courses on these topics as well as on ecosystem ecology, with the goal of understanding the effects of land use and land change on ecosystem structure and function, species diversity, species migration and landscape resilience.

"Dr. Kusum Naithani is an ideal selection for the 2021-22 OMNI Keeling/Hansen Climate Science Award," said Peter Ungar, distinguished professor in theDepartment of Anthropologyand director of theEnvironmental Dynamics Program(ENDY). "Her publication record is extraordinary and includes studies of impacts of climate change at sites around the world, from Louisiana to Borneo. Moreover, she is deeply committed to training the next generation of environmental scientists."

Ungar said Naithani currently has a grant to provide research experiences on ecosystem management for undergraduates and is also actively mentoring several graduate students in environmental studies, including two distinguished doctoral fellows in the ENDY Program.

TheOMNI Center for World Peace and Justice Faculty Awardwas created to "recognize exceptional research, teaching and service by faculty who promote the studying and teaching of peace and justice and the practice of nonviolence, conflict resolution and diplomacy."

Recipient Lisa Corrigan's research focuses on gender and nonviolent protest strategies in the Civil Rights and Black Power movements; on social movement, prison and feminist studies; the Cuban Revolution; and the history of the Cold War. In addition to being a professor of communication, she is director of the U of A's Gender Studies Program and affiliate faculty in both the African and African American Studies Program and Latin American and Latino Studies Program.

Corrigan has received multiple awards for her book Prison Power: How Prison Influenced the Movement for Black Liberation, which examined the role of prison in shaping nonviolent activism from the early Civil Rights movement to the end of the Black Power era. Her book Black Feelings: Race and Affect in the Long Sixties, traces how feelings shaped Black activism in an era marked by anti-Black violence and suppression. Her edited collection, #MeToo: A Rhetorical Zeitgeist, offers a feminist decolonial perspective on #MeToo activism and tackles the complexities it presents.

"While her research is outstanding, Dr. Corrigan also excels at teaching," said Stephanie Ricker Schulte, chair of the Department of Communication, who nominated her. "Her students have won SURF awards, major dissertation fellowships and top publication honors."

Schulte said Corrigan has also received numerous national and local awards for her teaching, widespread acclaim for her community work and mentorship, as well as being named the university's Faculty Gold Medal winner in 2018.

Read the original post:

Fulbright College Announces 2021 Winners of King, Nolan and OMNI Awards - University of Arkansas Newswire

Elden Ring was originally announced during Microsofts 2019 Xbox showcase as the next game from FromSoftware, the studio that single-handedly created the souls-like genre. Beyond that pedigree, Elden Ring has an additional element that makes it a highly anticipated title: a narrative created by A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin.

Collaborating with George R.R. Martin to create the Elden Ring mythos has been a genuinely delightful experience and a source of wonderful inspiration, said FromSoftware President Hidetaka Miyazaki at the time of the announcement.

Then Miyazaki and the studio went radio silent for two years.

With Elden Ring's Summer Game Fest reveal, it's clear that the much-anticipated game will bring the heat to its open-world peers. The game's debut trailer tosses a gauntlet at the competition by showcasing FromSoftwares excellent craft combined with an all-new, open-world environmenta first for the studio. This could represent FromSoftware once again changing the game, and it could be a much-needed fix for a stagnant genre.

Elden Ring's trailer showcases a game thats not aesthetically dissimilar from FromSoftwares previous works, such as Bloodborne and Dark Souls. In this world, the Lands Between, you play as The Tarnished, a seemingly unique being who can wield the eponymous Elden Ring. You wander the landscape and fight fiendish monsters to become an Elden Lord.

Its also clear that FromSoftware is expanding its horizons. In the game's original press release, the studio promised its largest game to date. True to that, Elden Rings trailer features an open world, with vast expanses to explore. The studio normally crafts huge worlds, but they tend to be ones that loop and bend back upon themselves. The levels are typically massive labyrinths of decaying architecture and ancient evil that twist into intriguing shapes for you to explore. Exploration is tentative and slow, because everything wants to kill you.

Elden Ring appears to carry FromSoftwares familiar murderous intent, but in a different format. Its a similar world as the Dark Souls games, but much larger and crafted for greater movement. The Tarnished can jump distances, or summon a horse-like creature to ride across the world. Jumping didnt enter FromSoftwares modern games until Sekiro, and none offered an alternate mode of transportation. The trailer even shows the horse double-jumping, and leaping up the side of a tall cliff.

Open-world games are the current zeitgeist. Publishers and developers throw vast amounts of money into creating sprawling environments. Games like Grand Theft Auto V, Assassins Creed Valhalla, and Horizon Zero Dawn promise miles of game world and hours of play.

The problem? Filling those worlds. Many studios resort to the infamous "Ubisoft towers" format, cluttering your world map with a mess of icons and collectibles. Yet, they're devoid of life. The worlds are filled with characters that don't react to your presence, barren environments that don't change, or even colorful worlds that don't feel cohesive and believable. They're more theme park than real world, closer to games rather than their promised, immersive experiences.

2017's The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild surprised everyone because it dared to be different. It featured towers, but those were really just vantage points from which you could take in the landscape. Breath of the Wild created a sense of wanderlust; if you could see something in the distance, you could go there. It just took time and perseverance.

For all its features, Breath of the Wild has a key fault, though. When you arrive at your location, you enter one of the game's many shrines, or dungeons built inside huge, mechanical beasts. These shrines and dungeons lack the life, wonder, and sense of purpose that fill past Legend of Zelda games. The older titles have memorable dungeon locations, such as the Forest Temple, the Snowpeak Ruins, the Sandship, or the Forsaken Fortress. For the most part, Breath of the Wild doesn't, and thats something FromSoftware should be keen to avoid with Elden Ring.

FromSoftware has a knack for crafting memorable locations. Bloodborne and the Dark Souls games bleed a sense of place. For example, Dark Souls II's Tower of Flame features bright spires and torn bridges, while the vista on the way to Drangleic Castle looks like it was carved out of shadow. Bloodbornes Yharnam is a city that has long forgotten that it was a city. Instead, it stands as a monument to hubris, with homes and streets without people. Only raving monsters fill the void.

FromSoftware's locations etch themselves on your soul through a combination of beautiful aesthetics, cracking level design, and repetition, because you'll die a lot. In fact, the gleaming tree that towers above the dead world in the Elden Ring trailer opening is already a testament to how FromSoftware creates memorable environments.An open world paired with FromSoftwares masterful levels? That sounds like an absolute winner.

Elden Ring's release will likely be joined by Nintendos Breath of the Wild sequel. Breath of the Wild 2 is a question mark: We dont know when its coming out, or the type of game that Nintendo is crafting. Nintendo tends to use follow-ups to paper over cracks that appeared in the previous game, so Breath of the Wild 2 should have far more memorable dungeons. Its entirely possible the game will drop in back-to-back fashion, as many rumors suggest that Breath of the Wild 2 will launch in the first quarter of 2022. Regardless, 2022 could see a open-world game rebirth, with Elden Ring leading the pack.

Elden Ring is currently dated for a January 21, 2022 release on PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series S/X, and Xbox One.

This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time.

See original here:

Elden Ring Aims to Fix Breath of the Wild's Main Problem - PCMag

The eight minutes of Sean Donnellys short film confronting his mother are uncomfortable to watch.

In the aftermath of the US Capitol riots, epithets against QAnon believers in the cultural zeitgeist graduated from the basic basket of deplorables to insurrectionists tearing down Americas democracy.

Against that backdrop, the California director turned the camera onto efforts to pull his mum, Tammy (surname withheld), from the spiralling rabbit hole of plandemics and paedophile cannibals.

The result is an uneasy contrast between a sons compassionate attempt at deprogramming his mothers sincere belief in the truth, and the unspoken image of Q-supporters burned into the psyche of non-believers by the countrys media apparatus; Racists, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic, you name it.

I dont think my mum is a bad person. I think shes actually one of the sweetest people Ive ever met, I think she means very well, and I dont think that shes full of hate or something, Mr Donnelly said.

Its a thing a lot of people struggle with. I have a lot of friends whose parents have gotten into this stuff, and I think its difficult for a lot of relationships.

Discussing the short, QAmom - Confronting my moms conspiracy theories, with Mr Donnelly and Tammy is as uncomfortable as watching the film itself.

In an interview with The Independent, the mother and son pair grappled with their relationship from opposite ends of an ideological spectrum in an earnest, if awkward, attempt to reach some seemingly impossible understanding.

Tammy, she suddenly revealed, didnt know her son was making a movie. Yes, she did, Mr Donnelly insisted. She did know he was going to make a video, but not this documentary, she said. He said she obviously knew she was being interviewed on camera and he told her a movie was being made. It wasnt some sneak attack or trick.

Those videos were just to help with their memory on the bets, Tammy said. She didnt know he was filming a documentary until he came to collect the money.

That money is the $700 Mr Donnelly won from seven $100 bets that seven QAnon predictions would not come true, which formed the basis of the film documenting his attempt to dislodge his mum from the spell of conspiracies.

The film ended on the hopeful note that Tammy may be at least be less confident in the so-called truth, if not convinced theyre simply conspiracies theories.

Two months later, did it work?

To me, theyre not conspiracies, theyre all truth, Tammy said. You might be interested to know, do you know where the word conspiracy theory came from and why it started?

Well, sure. Or as the story goes, at least. It was supposedly created by the CIA to demonize anyone looking too closely at the assassination of John F Kennedy in the 1960s.

But that, as Mr Donnelly interjects, is a conspiracy theory in and of itself. Theres evidence going back to the 1800s of conspiracy theories. As far back as the War of 1812, the Federalist and Jeffersonian Republican Parties engaged in conspiracy theories by rhetoric, if not by that name, as traced out by Smithsonian.

Heres a quick rewind to the seven conspiracy theories featured in the film that Tammy bet would be proven true by 1 April.

1) Joe Biden will not be in office. 2) Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, James Comey and the rest of them will be arrested. 3) A Hollywood star like Tom Hanks or Oprah Winfrey will be arrested for paedophilia, satanic worship and sacrifices. 4) Huge election fraud with the Dominion machines will be 100 per cent proven, with no dispute. 5) The Capitol Hill riot on 6 January was definitely Antifa and Black Lives Matter and it was 100 per cent arranged. 6) FEMA and the military are in control. 7) The Pope will be arrested for being a paedophile and molesting children.

It took about four years, or roughly a single presidential term of Donald J Trump, for Tammy to go from a New Agey and health-focused suburban mum who never watched the news and rarely followed politics to fall down the spiritual yoga pathway into her click of freedom friends.

Her first exposure to QAnon were giant Q signs, Q hats and Q shirts in an Instagram video of a Trump rally. To this day, she doesnt believe she follows QAnon or its Q drops.

I found it very patriotic, it looked like it was a way for patriots and freedom fighters and people who were fighting for the Constitution and their liberties to kind of unite, Tammy said.

So I dont follow Q per se, but some of the people I listen to probably follow Q my beliefs arent really related to QAnon.

The people she listens to are podcasters and content creators that often pivoted from previous careers in government, health, science, biology or another profession of expertise to disseminate alternate perspectives to an audience thirsty for views outside the mainstream orthodoxy.

But as Mr Donnelly points out, one of the first videos his mother shared four years ago was an explicit Q-drop repeating the greatest hits of the worlds conspiracy theories, like the 9/11 terror attack being an inside job.

I was like, where are they going with this, what is this building towards, then at the eight or nine-minute mark it went, and the person thats going to fix it all is Donald Trump. And I was like, whoa what is this? Then it said, QAnon. That was my introduction, I thought that was the craziest thing Ive ever seen. What was that? Mr Donnelly said.

At some point, Tammy added drinking what is effectively bleach to her health regime of yoga and spirituality.

The US Food and Drug Administration warns consumers of the life-threatening danger of Miracle Mineral Solution, or sodium chlorite, in distilled water. When activated by the citric acid in lemon or lime juice per directions, it becomes chlorine dioxide a powerful bleaching agent.

It scares her son.

Its illegal in this country, its basically bleach, and they tell people to drink it to cure Covid and Autism and all this stuff, Mr Donnelly said. This stuff is pretty serious. People have died from it. And my mum says, I take it all the time, whenever I feel bad.

Its not bleach, its one step away from bleach, Tammy said, and its actually cured a lot of people.

Ive been drinking it off and on for 30 years, I have it in the house all the time. Two to three times a year if I feel like Im really getting sick, because it kills everything. I take two or three drops at the most, she added.

Theres no nudging Tammy from the firmly held beliefs, and her insistence she would have won those seven bets if not for the corruption of mainstream media news, like The Independent, supposedly protecting criminals and making Joe Biden look like a saint.

"Can you imagine if our borders looked like this when Trump was president? Every media station would be up one side and then the other. I believe theyre all true, the problem is, is that Hollywood is run by satanic paedophiles, Tammy said.

And the film wasnt a cathartic exercise in bridging the familial divide.

I dont think theres anything about it that would bring you closer. I feel like I lost money, I was made out to look a bizarre conspiracy theorist. So I dont think that it portrays me very good, she added.

But Mr Donnellys point wasnt to bring them closer together, or make fun of his mum, or make her look crazy. He hopes to help families grappling with internal division caused by a sophisticated movement that targets different demographics through different pathways, whether its the 8chan computer nerds or suburban housewives.

"I see it more like a drug addiction. Its kind of like, my mum is really addicted to this stuff. She really likes it, shes got to know the truth, and she watches it all the time, he said.

They kind of get these people hooked on this thing, and in the same way you shouldnt blame a drug addict too much, I think its sort of like a disease or something. So I guess I think of it that way. Shes put under a spell, and shes fallen under this stuff and I think its scary and sad.

See the rest here:

Shes under a spell, its scary: Son chronicles his mothers descent into the dark world of Qanon - The Independent