BEETLEJUICE, BEETLEJUICE, BEETLEJUICEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!

 Okay so I recently just found out that for every blog post that we post this week (except for the last one i just posted you should check it out :D) we had to research not only one but TWO media texts within each!! GAH! Luckily, it's not that deep cause I already have a list of stuffs to research but I still should've read a little closer so I could come up with titles that'll fit each post more LMAOOO

I don't wanna change my titles though I think they're pretty boombayastic so uhh Cambridge lads! Tstok! Random viewer! Whoever you are! Here's how the next 3 posts are gonna be layed out! (excluding the very first post that I made for the week duhhhhh) (its the one below this one you should read it :D)

Post 1- Beetlejuice and Dan Da Dan

Post 2- ENA and ENA: Dream BBQ

Post 3- The Amazing Digital Circus and Parasite

Alrighty! Now that we have all that sorted out let's dive straight into today's first media text:

BEETLEJUICE (1988)!

As of present day, I have watched both Beetlejuice's! (except for the new movie that came out in like 2024 I don't have any intention of watching it lolz) I've seen the movie from 1988 and the musical adaptation! :D Twice! The first time was like a year ago in Miami or Fort Lauderdale (i forgor) with my family and the second time was just last week here at my school! Both were INSANELY good, the immersion, the costume design, the characters, the comedy, Beetlejuice himself, oh MAN all of it was AMAZING!! I am going to watch this musical more times than twice that is very for sure! As for the movie, I've only checked it out once with my family after watching the musical out of curiosity :D I don't quite remember that much but I do remember laughing a lot so HECK YEAH LETS GOOO

me cause I'm literally researching my fav pieces of media rn

Now that I look back on both viewings (or uh..thrice viewings?), I decided to choose specifically the movie cause it's freaking awesome and I don't quite remember it as much as the musical, so why not learn some more about it? :D I love learning things that actually appeal to me, so let's do it!!

okay wait brb cambridge i gotta go to lunch bai :DD

Konichiwa Mr/Mrs. Cambridge, Tstok, or random viewer!! I am back for like 10 minutes cause I brought myself some free time in English class! :D Time to talk to you all about Beetlejuice (1988)!

Directed by the one and only Tim Burton, the plot of this movie is quite literally the same as the musical (except for a couple things like Juno's relationship with Beetlejuice, how the Maitlands die, and how Lydia's mom is alive hehehehahhahaheehehehe). It revolves around these two lovely people, Adam and Barbara Maitland who recently died due to a car crash and are left to haunt their own home for seemingly the rest of eternity. Soon after though, a new family, the Deetz, move into their house and start to stay there.
Driven to get their house back from these grimy alive humans, they recruit this creepy old half demon guy called Beetlejuice to scare them all away! The entirety of the film (I have to watch this again), contains a bunch of wacky antics which include giant sandworms, going to literal hell, meeting Mrs. Argentina, watching Mr. and Mrs. Maitland get their faces stretched out, and much, much more!

Looking back, I can confidently say that this film is super duper koo-koo and quite disturbing at the very same time. Beetlejuice himself was obviously the star of the show and surely added to the overall comedic/surreal effect of the film as he's just a hilariously scary, outrageous, silly, old guy looking to scare the shit out of everybody and their mama. However, in contrast to the musical adaptation, Beetlejuice doesn't really have such a major scene until about halfway through the film, but it was for good reason! Tim Burton did this because it adds some tension and more mystique between the audience and the creepy character. When [Beetlejuice] does come on screen, a lot of his personality and actions are for shock value (El-Mahmoud, 2023). As surprised as I was to learn this, I also really liked how Burton decided to do it just to create more tension and add to that supernatural and mysterious side of the production to make audiences shiver in their timbers while also having a grand ol' time watching a surreal, horrendous, rotting +probably100 year old man being a menace!

By the end of the film, Beetlejuice is then banished by Barbara Maitland to the Netherworld's waiting room and he just sits there still being good ol silly Beetlejuice while accompanying this witch doctor that shrinks his head after being annoyed by him. It's really cool and kinda scary :D

he's so me

Speaking of which, the main thing that really stood out to me in this film were the insanity of some of the special effects. The scenes that I remember the most clearly are the ones with the Maitland's getting their faces stretched out in very weird and uncanny ways. Just seeing these pictures again of the scenes creeps me the helly out even if there are comedic undertones to it BAHHAHA here look check out these images that are still living in my subconscious (probably some good reasons why my dreams are actually insane half the time)

Barbara and Adam Maitland (nightmare fuel version)

Throughout my research of this film, I was surprised to learn that not absolutely everything aligns entirely with the musical. Like sure, the plot of both are still relatively the same, but the original, while there are tons upon tons of comedic aspects, is arguably the scariest most disturbing version of all. Emi from a year ago was surely a little disturbed at one point during her viewing of this film, and the same goes with many other viewers around the world! It's one of those movies that stick with you, and definitely scared many as kids (El-Mahmoud, 2023).

Like Beetlejuice (1988), I'd like to take the "HAHAHAHAHAH funny omg I'm actually kinda highkey lowkenuinely a little scared right now" approach with our short film :D It'd be so awesome and super duper intriguing and quite unforgettable if we make it all koo-koo-kookey while also spooking audiences with costume design, special effects, or what have you :]] More to come as time goes on, but I'd love to implement some aspects of Beetlejuice's absurdity into action! Annie Christopher is literally Beetlejuice if he was the actual devil :D

Anyway! That should be all of my research on Beetlejuice :] I definitely would love to give this movie another watch again as there are probably so many other cool scenes and details that I surely forgot about but for the time being, Thank you Beetlejuice for being super cool and awesome and inspiring a couple kids to make their shortfilm the weirdest and koo-koo-kookiest it could ever be! :D WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Okie dokie now time to move on to our 2nd media text of today's post! HOLD YOUR HORSES

DAN DA DAN (2024)!

Okay so I myself haven't actually watched the entirety of this show yet, maybe only like the first 4 episodes :D I've been way way wayyy more locked in on the manga instead, but after watching a couple eps of the anime right after coming out of reading a few manga issues, I could confidently say that both versions, kinda like what I just talked about with Beetlejuice, are very similar. Both Dan Da Dans are VERY similar though, really the only difference being with the dialogue and all that, but it really isn't that much :D With all that being said..                                                                                                                                                                DAN DA DAN IS SO (FREAKING) AWESOME YO                                                                                                                             Getting through the first ep/issue was a lil hard due to some uh..some 18+, Her-esque scenes that made myself and many others in the fandom a tad bit uncomfortable but it didn't last for so long like how other animes do it, so I survived just fine :D BUT THE REST, ONCE YOU GET PAST THOSE PARTS, IS SOSSO COOL. That's one thing about this anime that really stood out to me by the way, not only how 18+ it can get at times, but HOW WEIRD IT IS. If you're already wondering what the plot is all about, it literally revolves around a guy (Okarun) getting his nuts stolen by evil ghosts and in order to get them back, he has to team up with a friend (Momo) and fight said evil ghosts :D! Weird right :D! I love it! :D 

Okay wait hold on I need to tell you something like right now before I explode. I'm currently in media class right now and today we were critiquing a whole bunch of trailers that we made for the distribution project a bit ago :D I worked with my super awesome peers, Zach, Nico, Robbie, and Samara, and acted as the writer for all of our critiques. Dude when I tell you, I am a HUMAN COMPUTER. LIKE GENUINELY. WHY ELSE DO I YAP SO DANG MUCH IN THIS BLOG??? HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED?? I BET YOU HAVEN'T. I never really acknowledged that fact but today Zach did, and right after I finished writing everything, he coined the term "Emi slop" to describe the way I do things (in a good way). 

Now I must say

  THIS IS THE GREATEST TERM OF ALL TIME EVERYBODY ALL MY PROJECTS ARE FROM NOW ON REQUIRED TO BE UNDER THE GENRE OF EMI SLOP

Forgive how I went so off track back there, but I thought it was super important to introduce to you all the term "Emi Slop" and just say that if I created and directed an anime I would SO make something similar to Dan Da Dan. LIKE SO SIMILAR. I probably wouldn't make it revolve around a guy getting his junk stolen but it would still be so fucking weird. So amazing. So Emi Slop. 

Throughout my research of this piece, I really just want to touch on and learn all about what makes it so weird and why it works for so many people who consider themselves lovers of this amazing work of fiction (myself included if you couldn't tell yet). As for what specific version of it would I like to research?? I mean genuinely, they are highkey carbon copies of each other with only SOMMMEEE difference so I personally think it doesn't matter, but I think I'm gonna go with the show here :D BUT THEN AGAIN IT DOESNT REALLY MATTER THEY ARE STILL THE SAME AND EQUALLY STRANGE so pretty please don't mind if I get most knowledge of Dan Da Dan based off the manga and not from actually watching the entirety of the show itself. OKAY MOVING ON

Genuinely, what I think sets the tone so well for the Dan Da Dan anime is absolutely the intro of season one. The visuals, the music, the general vibe? HOLY SHITTTTTT I swear the first time I watched it I stayed in an absolute trance and I actively listen to the song used in it TO THIS DAY even though I discovered it like a month ago shhhh shut up

LOOK AT THIS PEAKKKKKKKKKKK

The song itself was made by Japanese hip-hop group, Creepy Nuts, and the visuals were animated by animation studio, Science Saru. Everything about the intro really factored into the general immersion of the entire piece, fueling the anime's popularity and making it a fan favorite among Netflix audiences :D I know this is an animated intro with music and super professional looking stuff, but the vibe and pure weirdness it constantly radiates throughout is truly something to behold and to be inspired by. Our film is going to be a bit darker in terms of art direction and color palette but I also would really like to open by immediately establishing and communicating to audiences "HEY!! WHAT YOU'RE WATCHING??? YEAH! YEAH!! IT'S ABOUT TO BE REALLY FUCKING WEIRD!!!!! HOLD YOUR HORSES! STRAP IN! UR NOT READY!!!!!!!!

Jokes aside, even though I am the living embodiment of silliness so never mind I'll never put my jokes aside, this anime is truly so bizzare. It's not only just a comedy, but a romance, coming of age, supernatural, thriller, drama, horror, action mix of a masterpiece. Every single thing and every single thought that has been conjured up at one point in time is likely included and or mentioned in Dan Da Dan. It has EVERYTHING. What it has most of all though is absolute weirdness, which I'm pretty sure we have established already :D But aside from the intro and the insane mix of genres, what else makes Dan Da Dan so weird and why do we, the audience, eat it up? 

This show, from first glance, is all about fighting supernatural creatures like ghosts and aliens for a specific motive (balls) (BAAHHAHAHAHAH she said balls everybody laugh). 

However, alongside fighting very strange looking beings that are out to get your nuts, this anime also has a focus on not only the romantic tension between main characters Momo Ayase and Okarun but also the topic of sex and facing its pressures and expectations from it at a young age. (OOOOOO SHE SAID THE S WORDD OOOOO EVERYBODY LAUGHHH)

But yeah! :D I'd definitely say that this anime is perfectly profound while having intense weirdness on top to still keep audiences hooked and intrigued in what it has to offer with the topics I just mentioned before that dog busted in again and stated that I made a statement. ONE more time dude and I SWEAR

Anyway :D Similar to how we're trying to approach our film, Dan Da Dan's weirdness has meaning and heart behind it. The piece often represents sex and how discomforting the topic can be for a teenager, being the reason behind some of the 18+ish scenes with the female lead. Nothing ever truly heinous happens, but you still feel genuinely disturbed, discomforted, a lil scared, while also feeling that discomfort from Momo herself.

 

Sex at this age is scary; it carries with it intense but different pressures for every gender. Dan Da Dan's plot is weird and fraught with danger, but so are relationships as a teenager (Cannon, 2024). As I mentioned before, the relationship (friends but clearly like each other typa thang going on) between Okarun and Momo is a main plot point of the entire series and is always built upon no matter how scary or disgusting the freaky, insane, diabolical supernatural being they are fighting that episode is. They begin as rivals of some sort, become friends, and then start to develop feelings for each other, and it's a super confusing time for the both of them. Not only do they have to deal with freaky deeky aliens and spirits, they also have to deal with each other, their feelings, and how to navigate them. It all comes back to these two kids, trying to figure out their relationship with each other at an age where they have no baseline for normal. (Cannon, 2024) (again) (thank you random anime journalist for your lovely review) (I didn't even know your job was real until today)

If I were an anime, I would be this one :D I seriously love Dan Da Dan with my whole entire heart and truly resonate and feel just kinda sorta seen by its meaningful weirdness. Yes, I am an adolescent trying to figure out her life without a sustainable concept of what it means to be grown up in today's society. Yes, the world seems so big and large and new to me still even though I'm almost legally an adult. Yes, my feelings are hard to navigate, especially when it comes to love. Yes, sex is scary to me. And YES, I am unapologetically weird because that's just who I am. I love being authentic and I love just being me. It's fun :] 

AND SO THATS WHAT I REALLY WANNA DO! WITH THIS SHORT FILM! I touched on this a bit in the first post I made for this project last week, but I'm gonna say it again :D I truly want our product to just be a raw reflection of each one of our kooky personalities, Joaquin, Andrew and I. I think we all have an idea of what it means to be the "weird kid" and personally I think it's just something so beautiful. To be one of a kind :D A limited edition if you will :D

 I sit in the far back of Tstok's class, but every time I end up zoning out, my eyes always go to one decoration she has on the other side of her room. It's a canvas looking thing that says something along the lines of, "I'm not weird, I'm a limited edition" and I LOVE IT SO MUCH. Even on the bad days, it always manages to cheer me up and make me go "Yeah!! YEAH! My kookiness is truly one of a kind! I should appreciate myself more :D!"

But yeah, with everything being said, I want this short film to be a limited edition. Something so special, something so US!!! It would be lovely to make it have the spookiness and disturbingness of Beetlejuice along with the meaningful, unapologetic weirdness of Dan Da Dan. We are going to have so much fun with this thing and I can't wait to garner much more inspiration from the couple next media texts I'm about to research and yap all about to you guys  :] As for now though! I must go eat :D I forgot to eat my sandwich for lunch earlier today at school so I must eat it now before I can eat this super yummy ass looking meal my mom prepped for me at the buffet in Whole Foods. Life is truly so awesome right now!!

Hasta la vista friends, remember to never be normal!!

                                                                               CITES:

 El-Mahmoud, S. (2023, July 27). It’s Showtime: I Saw The Beetlejuice Musical, And I Actually Think It’s Better Than The Movie. Cinemablend. https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/its-showtime-saw-beetlejuice-musical-better-movie

to, C. (2024). Beetlejuice (movie). Beetlejuice Wiki; Fandom, Inc. https://beetlejuice.fandom.com/wiki/Beetlejuice_(movie)

                     Netflix Anime. “DAN DA DAN OP | Otonoke by Creepy Nuts | Netflix Anime.” YouTube, 5 Oct. 2024, www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1dnxXrpN-o&list=RDA1dnxXrpN-o. Accessed 26 Feb. 2026.

                Cannon, Trent. “Dan Da Dan Is Weird, Profoundly Inappropriate, and the Perfect Anime This Season.” Popverse, Nov. 2024, www.thepopverse.com/tv-popverse-jump-dan-da-dan-dandadan-is-the-perfect-weird-anime-crunchyroll-netflix-jump.