I have a Great American Family Christmas movie on that is a perfect example of how these films construct conservative fantasies with an air of liberalism, and it is so scarily good at this that we need to analyse the channel.

Deck the Halls with Emotional Manipulation: A Thread So this is Christmas at the Drive-In (2022), a GAF movie. The premise is that the guy is selling his late-father's drive-in and the woman is a property law professor who pleads with the town's historic commission to see "the spirit of Christmas" in the drive-in to save it.

So, someone rightfully pointed out that a lot of people are lashing out against the potential merger without a solid explanation as to why so let's do a very quick thread on why a WBD and Paramount merger is the worst Christmas present ever.

How Zaslav Stole Christmas: A Thread

https://twitter.com/gvaughnjoy/status/1737600205271212116

So the first thing to understand is that Hollywood accounting is whatever executives want it to be. It is not real.

It works by Christmas magic rules, "believing is seeing" shit.

Every November, once a day, I share something for which I'm grateful.

This is my 9th year of posting daily gratitude and getting way too personal way too publicly but sharing is caring, especially when it can spark a positive reflective moment.

Let's get grateful, loves I have noticed a serious shift in my way of thinking, not only because I was 20 the first year but also because I have seasonal depression.

When I was 20, it was severe and debilitating, especially on top of the frequent hospital visits trying to get my endo under control, etc.

Okay. So. Let’s talk monopolisation in Hollywood (again).

Spoiler alert: It’s way worse now.

Vertical Exploitation: A Thread A year ago today I tweeted about the Paramount decision, its repeal, & the need for new antitrust regs against streamers to address destruction from billion-dollar mergers, Trump-era deregulation, & the Rock inserting himself in our lives every chance he gets

Welp

Strap back in

I went to an antique shop thinking it would be a lovely afternoon.

Who wants to see the horrors within it? Okay. First of all, I loved this weird ass shop and all of this is filtered through adoration for the batshit experience I had in this antique shop/art center/barber shop/tattoo parlor.

Let's start small with a massive green ceramic camel in the bright orange basement.

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck have reimagined the production model with a worker-first profit-sharing system and I don't know if enough people know this.

Their Artists Equity is one of the most impressive, inventive, and intriguing production companies at the moment. Okay. So. Why did they start a new production studio, what does this even mean, and why am I hyping it up? Well, SURPRISE, it's a sneaky history thread because of Frank Capra, Ben Affleck, and Matt Damon.

How You Like Them Apples?: A Thread

I met one of my mentors a decade ago when I was a freshman in college.

He stood at the front of the room and said something to the effect of "there's a reason I'm here and you're there."

He was arrogant and abrasive and brilliant and wonderful.

I wanted to learn from him. I learned throughout that year of two intensive semesters of honours history that he was a hardass on his freshmen in a pseudo-boot camp he invented.

And he was, a hardass. His class was difficult, his exams so stressful.

But I'll be damned if I didn't learn so much from him.

I want to do two threads about purity culture in the film industry.

The first, this one, is an analysis of my favourite film to show how sex on screen can be a plot device.

I'm angry this needs to be said.

Sexual Healing in Pretty Woman (1990): A Thread So, first thing, I'm not angry at the young people who are uncomfortable with sex on screen. Sexual aversion is a very real thing and it's not the person's fault for being uncomfortable with what they see.

I am angry at the purity movement and the grown ass adults pushing it.

I need some positivity, babes.

Tell me a love story? Yours, a friend's, a family member's, whosever as long as it's true. Tell me the most beautiful, most powerful, longest lasting or most ephemeral real love you've ever witnessed.

Let's start Valentine's Day with some passion Disclaimer: Love is for everyone. Your love story doesn't have to be romantic love. It can be with a friend, a family member, a pet, a stranger's passing comfort, a long lost acquaintance's return, yourself. Wherever the love is deep and true, darlings ❤️

So. Residuals.

Here's a thread (it's gonna be long) on the history of residuals and what we can do now to stop fucking over everyone who makes the content we enjoy 24/7.

Fuck Around with Unions and Find Out: A Thread (This thread was inspired by this tweet and the absolutely abysmal residuals payment this writer received for their work, so let's get down to why)

https://twitter.com/BlkAssFeminist/status/1573744829061701633?t=qZtEQdSjBmcg-KADb7Jw8Q&s=19

Doing some research and just had a mind-blowing realisation.

Walt Disney really was an evil genius.

Your man was a founding member of the Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers (SIMPP (yes, SIMPP)) which sued Paramount in 1942, strengthening the need for the Accords. Disney himself. Walt. The guy with the mouse that became a symbol of the 20th century. The one whose company is now one of if not the largest film corporation in the world. The one with the monopolies and franchises and theme parks and books and video games and toys and stores an

Here's a list of other historians, podcasts, and accounts who are far more amazing than I. Please follow them and reap their brilliance:

@rebeccafachner
@AmericanStudier
@ColdWarChannel
@TheDevilHistory
@Kassie_Jo_Baron
@paulomdiashist
@dididrama
@BEldridg39 @Jessicabrode
@UM_Stevenel
@Scandalous_Pod
@DrHistoryBrad
@meredith_ancret
@leesa_charlotte
@Robinfield
@JasonAHiggins
@KristophLovell
@Unsung_History
@sheededonem
@UncorkedHistory

Well. Good morning, 8,000 new followers 😂

Just some notes about me so you can unfollow if you want.

I am:
- First gen ac
- From Philly living in UK
- Bi and very pro LGBTQ+
- Left-wing
- Pro-disabled rights
- Sometimes wrong
- A human
- An advocate for learning history
- A leo And when I say the last one, I want to add that history is not one single narrative; it's interpretations of the past through different lenses and perspectives. There's tons of nuance we won't be able to accommodate for on Twitter 100% of the time. So please be kind to historians

I can't sleep until I make a clarification:

This tweet needs explanation (I'm sorry! The dangers of tipsy tweets accidentally going viral).

SCOTUS made the decision in 1948 and then had the right to renew it or appeal the repeal.

Let me explain:

https://twitter.com/gvaughnjoy/status/1566914960705331201?t=jM_On7e39get53QtKuKSMg&s=19

The original case was filed by the Southern District Court of New York and the SCOTUS affirmed their decision that the existing Hollywood studio system was in violation of antitrust legislation in 1948.

I'm a little tipsy and explaining to a friend how Hollywood is essentially crumbling for profit and it's interesting so I'm going to make it a thread.

Strap in.

Bankruptcy Goes to Hollywood: A Thread So Hollywood has like two options at the moment unless the government steps in (we'll get there):

1) The studios go bust or stream

2) They just call in The Rock for every movie ever and hope enough Chardonnay Moms™ pay to see him in cinemas (The Rock Solid Plan)

For the first time in maybe 8-10 years, I had an overwhelming feeling of being proud to be an American while watching Biden's speech.

It really caught me off guard, but I think it was just nice to know that someone with power is willing to fight for values I do believe in.

https://twitter.com/DavidLimbaugh/status/1565538864613163008

I grew up just outside of Philly and lived in it as an adult, so Independence Hall and all the patriotic trappings have felt like propaganda for a while, but while he was speaking, even though I was aware of the propaganda tactics being used, it really brought me comfort.

I'm going to weigh in on the "sex in film/TV is mostly unnecessary" debate as a film historian and human.

Get Fucked: A Thread

Sex is a beautiful and wonderful part of humanity and if you think it's unnecessary, I need you to think about why you want access to sex restricted. Sometimes people have sex and sometimes it drives the plot in a show, but sometimes it's just two (or more) humans being intimate with each other and it shows character development, or sometimes it's to let off steam, or maybe it's literally just because they want to have sex.

In 1934, photographer A. L. “Whitey” Schafer staged this photo to violate the Hays Code's censorship decrees in as many ways as possible in a single picture. A short thread: The Hays Code (also referred to as the Production Code, later the Production Code Administration, and eventually becming the Motion Picture Alliance of America, or MPAA, in 1968) was Hollywood's internal watchdog and censorship board from 1934 to 1968.