Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to the Sinister Sisters podcast. I'm Lauren. I'm Felicia. We're best friends. And we like spooky stuff. And it's officially spooky season. Yay! We've become fully ourselves. That's right. Our final form only from October 1st to 31st. And then we go back to normal.
Speaker: Then we go back to just being average girls. Oh, so sad. So sad. Yeah, really excited. We mentioned it last week, but so every week we're going to cover a different kind of bigger topic that feels associated with spooky stuff for Halloween. And we're just also going to talk about, you know, our Halloween plans and stuff like that because, you know, we're best friends and that's what we talk about.
Speaker: Yes, exactly. I was just going to say I have a couple recommendations. Do we want to start? I guess we can start with those, right? Yeah, go for it. I just told Felicia, but I did see Don't Worry, Darling, the new Florence Pugh Harry Styles directed by Olivia Wilde movie. The most dramatic press tour in American history. I know. Have you been following all the tea?
Speaker: A little, yeah. It's so ridiculous and amazing. And also like, I don't know, I had a thought the other day where I was just like, they really are gonna have better ticket sales because of all of this. Oh, yeah. I was gonna say, my biggest fear, is the tea better than the movie? I think yes.
Speaker: No. But that depends on what you're looking for. Like if you're looking for like Oscar award winning great movie, like it is not that. If you're looking for. I don't think I'm looking for that.
Speaker: Yeah. I mean, there are some good performances. I will say, again, I don't want to ruin this for you, but I just wish it was a different director. That's all I'll say. Got it. I feel like she did not do a great job and based on some of the gossip, it feels like she was maybe not super focused. She was a little distracted.
Speaker: Yes. And it kind of feels like, yeah, that's what I like. I feel bad for Harry Styles, honestly, because I also don't know. Like I feel like he was hurt.
Speaker: by not having a director that would push him. I don't think he's terrible. Especially as someone that's not an actor first. Exactly. He feels like he's pretty one note and I'm like, I just think it was probably because she was like, you're doing great, baby. Oh, no. God, that's sad. Maybe not. I'm very excited to see it still in my head because I saw a trailer
Speaker: I don't know a ton, but my brain just has a darker Stepford Wives situation, but like a different outcome maybe. Yes, that's pretty close. I won't say anything too much. I guess my other kind of thing is that I don't feel like it had any new ideas, I guess. The Stepford Wives thing is pretty much what it is. It's going on.
Speaker: I do think Florence Pugh is amazing. I think there are other really good performances too. I thought Chris Pine did great. It's kind of interesting because it's like 98 % Florence Pugh. Wow. Like Nick Kroll is - Which is probably what I would want anyway, but - Yes, yes. That's a lot of Florence. It's a lot. I think I was expecting it to be kind of more of an ensemble movie.
Speaker: There are big stars in it, but even Chris Pine is a pretty small role when all is said and done. Interesting. I don't know. I'll be interested to see what you think and maybe I was too jaded going in, but I don't know. I would say to see it still. Yeah. Yeah. It's fun thinking about it in the context of like, oh wow, this could have been Shia LaBeouf, all of that stuff. Oh man.
Speaker: You are just so you saying that I'm like, I already wish that was true. I know. I mean, I know he's got his own drama, but yeah. Yeah. Also just him and Florence, if you and a movie together, I'd be like, that would be some sick acting. I agree. I agree. I mean, I know. Or some other third person that just would be a better actor. Yeah. Yeah, I hear you.
Speaker: Anyway, I also wanted to say very briefly because it kind of feels like when you watch The Office, I finally, after much begging and pleading, got James to start Game of Thrones for the first time. Oh, he's never seen it? That feels like something he'd be so into. That feels shocking. Yes. I don't know what to say about it. I truly, when he first told me, I was like, that might be a deal breaker.
Speaker: I'm just kidding. But we finally started it, so it's been so fun to watch it again. He's teasing me because I always fall asleep when we watch stuff, have not fallen asleep once. Oh, good for you. I know, like a show that I've seen. I don't know what it is. There's a meme that really makes me laugh where it's like a girl holding a pillow next to her between her and her boyfriend so she could go to sleep without him noticing, which is just to bury me.
Speaker: I'm watching, I'm watching. Yes, I always get mad too. He's like, you're falling asleep. I'm like, no, I'm not. Yeah, how dare you? Just my eyes were closed for a second. I'm like, I'm about to sleep through this. Why am I? Why am I not? I know, I know. It's so hard. But anyway, so I will keep you all posted if there's any fun stuff from that. Without Game of Thrones spoilers, I guess still, I mean, people could still want to watch it, right? Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, to be fair, like I've seen most of it, but I didn't really watch it like how everybody else watched it. Yeah, I mean, like, but you watched it casually. I watched it very casually. Yeah, for me, I haven't really been watching a ton stuff, honestly. So I'll just recommend what we did in Horn of the Club last week on my YouTube channel, which was this 90s, very not well known film called Mirror Mirror.
Speaker: Which is, it really feels like a TV movie. It's very low budget. Is there Snow White that's called that too? Like a Snow White retelling? Yes, there is with Julia Roberts, I think. Yeah, it is not that one. I thought the entire time I saw your posts for Horror Movie Club, that's what you were doing. That would be hilarious. I was like, she's really straight. Yeah, she's really straight from the spooky stuff, huh?
Speaker: No, so we're doing a horror movie club. We're doing movies directed by women this month. And this was directed by a woman named Marina Sargenti, who hasn't really done a ton of other things to be perfectly fair. But it's a it's a very honestly like kind of a cool movie. Like I feel like if I had seen this in the 90s, I would have been like obsessed with it. But it is very, very low budget. But it's basically this girl that she moves into a house
Speaker: with her mom and there's this mirror that's been left there that has basically like a mirror demon inside of it. But the girl, the teenager in it is this girl named Rainbow Harvest. That's true. That's just her name in real life. What? Rainbow Harvest. And she is just like this goth queen in this movie. Like the most goth, like 90s dark wave, whatever. Like it's just freaking great.
Speaker: And then someone else that's in it is Yvonne DiCarlo, who is the original Lily Munster for the Munsters. Oh, wow. Yeah. That's so cool.
Speaker: I mean, these names might not mean anything to some people, but Karen Black, who's an actress that's been in a lot of like, she's Mother Firefly and House of Thousand Corps. I also did a lot of like more like exploitation style things back in the 80s.
Speaker: But it's a cool movie. I don't know. I liked it. I thought it was cool. Like clearly they had no money, but I thought it was pretty awesome. Yeah. So that's my recommendation for the week. I don't know. You can watch it on 2B for free. There's a bunch of sequels that everybody said was really bad. But oh, yeah, it was cool movie. Oh, actually, oh, something I did mention that I will tell you as well is the mirror mirror two and three.
Speaker: both star Mark Ruffalo and his first film debut. What? Wow. Mira Mira 2, Brave and Dance. Wow. I have no idea. Are you guys that weird? Yeah. Yeah. And they're so bad. I feel bad for them. Yeah. I mean, I haven't seen them, but apparently they're very, very, very bad. Like American Psycho 2.
Speaker: No, oh my God, so bad. That's actually what we're talking about this week is American Psycho, but dang, American Psycho 2, so sad. That was pretty bad. That was bad. Amazing. Well, the other thing we wanted to talk about, just to get everybody in the spooky mood, we were going to talk a little bit about our Halloween costume planning. As you know, we always start early, but I don't have you started thinking, do you know what you're doing yet? Yeah, so okay, I know one,
Speaker: like I haven't figured out what like my thing is gonna like my costume I don't know I'm trying to be so dramatic but yeah yeah like I always like to do one that feels really for me uh so I am doing a couple's costume with Travis and we're doing we're doing Sonia and Kano from Mortal Kombat nice really for Travis because he loves Mortal Kombat so so much so I'm happy to do it
Speaker: I love a crop top. I'm going to look great, I'm sure. You are going to look great. Thank you. But I haven't really figured out what I want to do for my spooky costume. I don't know if I want to do a cosplay for a movie or if I want to create a character. I'm not sure what I'm going to do this year. What about you? I always love a Felicia creation. I still think about the bleeding eye angel that you did that one year. Oh, yeah. That was a really good one. That was really fun. It was so fun.
Speaker: What are you doing? We also are thinking about, I don't know what our real one will be or what my real one will be, but we are doing Chrissy and Eddie from Stranger Things, which I'm sure everyone else will too.
Speaker: Oh, sure. Yeah, but it just felt so good. I was like, it looks like the both of us, like I literally got a bang piece that matches my hair perfectly. So I'm like, it will be great. He'll get the wig. It'll it'll all be good. But the funniest probably will see quite a few of those this year. Oh, yeah. Oh, my gosh. A lot of really just the eddies. I know. I could not believe Spirit Halloween has Chrissy's costume. Like I just bought. Oh, really? Yeah. Wow.
Speaker: I know. I was like, she really made an impression in her two episodes or whatever that was. Are you going to do her like dead? I don't think so, but maybe I should. I mean, that's what I would want you to do, but I understand that's not like the hot version, I guess. No, I mean, I kind of like it too. People won't be doing that. I feel like I would need more intense contacts of someone. Oh, that's true. You would need the contacts. I don't know. That might be a lot of ground in all night. Yeah. I mean, we'll have to see what like,
Speaker: what we want to, because that's the hardest part. I'm sure you're this way too, but it's like you want to make sure the costume fits the event as well. Or like whatever you end up doing. Yeah. And have fun. Totally. That's why I loved all those superhero costumes because I was like, I'm so flexible. I can move. Oh my gosh. I'm using. Thank you. But then we are trying to convince Willow because it's,
Speaker: Hocus Pocus 2 is coming out. We're trying to convince her to have her be Bette Midler, maybe Sarah Jessica Parker and James be Kathy Najimi. I think that would be so funny. That's hilarious. I support that.
Speaker: If Willa doesn't do it, then your dog's going to have to do it. That's just what we have to do. I just think that is the funniest thing in the world, especially because she'll be so small that I'm like, you have to be that middler. That's just hilarious. That's too good. And then we were joking about dressing up Rufus as Banks to put a cat costume. Oh, that's good. That's good. I like that, actually.
Speaker: Yeah. So anyway, we'll keep you posted if we do convince her, but we still have to think about I want to do something else that's like more, yeah, more elaborate or not just. Yeah. Yeah. So that's how I have any ideas. I'm not sure yet.
Speaker: Yeah. I know. One thing I did think about because people mentioned, I know you've done Lydia before, but the cartoon version of Lydia. Oh, yeah. I thought about that because people were saying the girl in Mirror Mirror looks like the cartoon Lydia. I was like, oh, that's kind of interesting with the cartoon version, but I don't know. I like it. Yeah. I always like a new take. A lot of thinking. A lot of thinking. I know.
Speaker: I've always thought, and I think, I don't know if he would do it with you, but I do think like you guys as Beetlejuice and Lydia is pretty good too. Oh yeah, Travis would be amazing, Beetlejuice for sure. Yeah, yes, and he would have fun. We'll see how many events we have planned, how many costumes we need. Yeah, that too. I know. Well, I think I'm going to jump in. Are we ready? I am so excited.
Speaker: I'm so excited. So this week I am doing the history of the Grim Reaper so I'm very excited because I will say like I you know obviously an icon obviously in a lot of pop culture oh yeah I really had no idea what the origins were or how he came to be so I was really excited to research that this week
Speaker: But in case you don't know, the Grim Reaper is usually a skeleton -like figure, often shrouded in a dark hooded robe and carries a... Do you know how to say this? This is so embarrassing. Scythe. Scythe. Scythe. Scythe. I only know that from Buffy. Oh my gosh. I should have known too. Okay. That's okay. Go ahead. Scythe to reap human souls.
Speaker: So he's a figure that appears normally at the moment of death to take you away with him. I'm going to kind of go a little bit broader. So many cultures have this, you know, grim reaper kind of figure, but there's also, you know, thinking about him as like the idea of like a personification of death or thinking about like, you know, gods and goddesses and all of that. So I do think this is interesting that in English and German culture,
Speaker: Death is typically portrayed as male, but in French, Spanish, and Italian culture, it is not uncommon for death to be female. So I know. So I'm going to talk about a couple different versions, but there is, so Thanatos, who is the Greek god of death, is probably one of the earliest ones we know.
Speaker: And that literally translates to that. Is that where Thanos comes from? Sorry. I think so. No, I had that exact same thought where I was like, that feels too close. That feels really close. Okay, go ahead. Go ahead. I think must. But he's sometimes depicted as a beautiful winged man, kind of like, you know, I don't know, like Hermes, I guess, sort of, or like more angel -like and occasionally is cloaked in black and carrying a sword.
Speaker: And then kind of as time went on, later depictions, he looks more like Cupid, kind of like this little winged boy, which I also think is interesting. But in those versions, he carries an upside down torch, which represents a life that has been extinguished, which I like. Oh, that's cool. Right. And then I did want to cover a female representation before we get into kind of like closer to
Speaker: Grim Reaper type. So there is Our Lady of the Holy Death, or now you can help me, right? You know, Spanish. Santa Muerte, how do you say that? Do you know? Santa Muerte, death. Muerte, yes. So she's a female deity or folk saint of Mexican religion, and she's definitely gotten more popular in recent years, which I love. And as we were kind of talking about with last week's episode,
Speaker: Mexican culture has a certain reverence towards death with Day of the Dead and all of that. She is associated with healing and protection and safe delivery to the afterlife.
Speaker: So she normally appears as a skeletal female figure with a long robe and holding a scythe and a globe. And her robe can be any color and images of her kind of very follower to follower and relating to, you know, whatever you're praying for or whatever the right being performed is. But what I think is really cool about Our Lady of the Holy Death is
Speaker: She has a cult that began in Mexico sometime in the mid 20th century, but it was secret until the 1990s. So it feels kind of like, I don't know. And we join? Yeah. That's why I'm like, it feels almost like alternative or like,
Speaker: Yeah, kind of like cool culture that was like under wraps for a long time and now is, you know, grown in popularity and cool factor and all of that. But I will say that I think overall it was interesting to look at all these different
Speaker: you know versions of death where it's like if they're male they do seem to be more on the scary side and if they're female they do seem to have more of the like healing and protection and all of that side of things so I like you know I liked that side too yeah yeah for sure but more close to kind of this Grim Reaper idea or the idea of these like
Speaker: figures that escort a soul from the world of the living to the land of the dead. This idea goes back to all the way to cave drawings in North America that had cave drawings, exactly what I said, that were otherworldly beings that would accompany souls into the afterlife.
Speaker: And so of this kind of idea, I'm going to start with the Greek version again. So there is Charon, who is a hooded figure who ferries the recently deceased over the River Styx on the way to the underworld, which I feel like I've like,
Speaker: read about before. Yeah, heard about before. But I forgot he's even like very briefly, of course, Hercules is one of my favorite Disney movies. And he's even very briefly, there's like a scene of him like rowing when Hades comes to the underworld. So that's supposed to be Charon, which I think is cool.
Speaker: There's also a Korean myth. There is the Yosong Saya, which is a netherworld emissary who's depicted, I think this is really cool, depicted as a bureaucrat.
Speaker: who is kind of intense and trying to reach like a quota of souls that he has to get for the day. Oh, no. Yes. So I'm like that I think is such a tax collector. Yes. Yes, exactly. Just like trying to get his numbers. Yeah. Crazy. And then people also try to relate the grim reaper back to Azrael who is the angel of death in the Bible.
Speaker: But there aren't really physical descriptions of what he looks like in the Bible. There's no like skulls or scythes or anything like that. And the Angel of Death's job is to try to kill people. But we don't know, you know, the Grim Reaper is not associated with killing people himself necessarily. More just like showing up when people die.
Speaker: But it also could be related to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in the Bible, in the Book of Revelation. So death is the fourth and final horseman, and he's also the only one that's actually named in the Bible. But again, there's not really a physical description of him. So, you know, maybe more just like in ideas of how he started, but maybe not in like what he looks like.
Speaker: Yeah. I mean, that's pretty fascinating to me that it's just it feels a creature associated with death that feels that it doesn't have much to do with the devil or with Catholicism is interesting because it feels like most of those things do, like they go hand in hand somehow, but not really the grim reaper. It's interesting. Yeah. He somehow is not part of all of that or the Bible.
Speaker: But there is a case to be made that he's related to this folklore in Europe. So in the Netherlands, or I guess I guess I'll more get into the the Europe side of things in a little bit. But in the Netherlands, they had the Magair Hein B. Enderman, which translates to bone man. And he's very similar to the Grim Reaper and how he looks.
Speaker: A very skeletal figure would appear at times of death and disease. But the one that I thought was closest is there is a figure named Anku who is from Celtic folklore. He appears, just like the Grim Reaper, as a man or a skeleton, wears a cloak, and sometimes carries a scythe.
Speaker: And in some stories, he also appears as just a shadow or he can appear as a shadow on this cart kind of collecting the dead. So he always wears a black robe with a large hat, which conceals his face. And he's one of death's henchmen, which I also feel like is just something that I've always thought about the Grim Reaper, that he's kind of like
Speaker: you know, going out for death or like his like sidekick, you know. And that's just like his job. So, Anku's job ranges from protecting graveyards to even going out and collecting souls. And I like this too. According to a later Christian legend, Anku was the first child of Adam and Eve.
Speaker: but then died or was very quickly evil. And so I like that depiction as well. But yes, I think Angkoo is probably like the closest of those sort of older stories.
Speaker: But our modern idea or like what we think of the Grim Reaper now sort of first appeared or made his big appearance in the 14th century. So this was right around the time that Europe was dealing with the Black Death, which is a pandemic that was thought to be a result of the plague.
Speaker: And I didn't really know any of these stats, but it is estimated that about half of Europe's entire population died as a result of this pandemic. Really bad. It's wild to me. And only over the course of a few years. So I just thought that was wild, especially as sad as it is, as we're kind of thinking about our pandemic that we're in.
Speaker: Obviously, it's just, it puts things, I don't know if it puts things into perspective, but it's just kind of crazy to me that that happened then and we're now experiencing something so similar. Our own version of one. Yeah. Yeah. Scary. It's very scary. So globally, it was about 350 million deaths and about 25 % of human population on earth, which is crazy. That's basically like all of America being gone, right?
Speaker: I think. I don't know. I don't know. I bet we're not. The population of America, 329 million. Oh, I see. Yes, 350 million deaths. We are close to that. That's crazy. That's so crazy.
Speaker: But the original outbreak of the plague was in 1346 to 51. And then outbreaks reoccurred several other times after that. So, you know, people at that time had to deal with I always think of
Speaker: Monty Python when I think about this. Bring out your dead. Yes, exactly. Like there were just dead bodies everywhere. It smelled like dead bodies. Dead bodies were just like on the streets being loaded into carts and then dumped into clay pits. So to me, it's like no surprise. This is when the Grim Reaper, you know, when they had to kind of create this figure to deal with that process or think about death in that way.
Speaker: And so at that time, you'll see even in literature and art and all these different things, death and skeletons and disease and mortality were all so much more present than they had been previously.
Speaker: And so, you know, it makes sense to me that this is when they started talking about him, but basically like why we think he looks this way, obviously all the influence that I spoke about, but also the robe is thought to be related to the robes of religious figures at that time when they were conducting funeral services. And then the scythe was taken from agricultural practices of the time, harvesters use them to, you know,
Speaker: reap harvest crops and so it makes sense that it was kind of the same thing for, you know, people that were ready to be plucked from the earth. And so, you know, he and the idea of like him reaping I think is such a, you know, obviously affected by agriculture and the harvest of that time. I would have never put that together. That's so interesting. Right? Yeah, it's cool to think about him in like a, yeah, like a farmer way almost.
Speaker: But anyway, that's pretty much my research. I was going to kind of end it with us talking about if you have any like pop culture references to the Grim Reaper. I was thinking about the Grim Adventures of Bill and Mandy. It's obvious. Amazing. Star turn for him. Yes. And then my first ones that come to mind are A Christmas Carol or wait. Oh, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. It's like the third ghost of Christmas. Yes. Future is very grim reaper -y. Definitely. Oh, I also think about Harry Potter. Death and Harry Potter is grim reaper -y. That's a great one.
Speaker: Yeah, they're like in the Three Brothers story. Yeah, exactly. Oh, and Dementors too, I guess. Oh, totally. Yeah. Dementors, they take your soul. Sucking souls. Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure there's more. I mean, also I feel like, oh, you mentioned this before we actually hopped on, but like you also just see it in like a lot of cartoons. Family Guy. Yeah, totally. That's coming to visit you. Yes. I feel like that's in a lot of cartoons for sure.
Speaker: Oh, and like, yeah, and like, I feel like comics and newspapers, like the... Yeah, yeah. The comic strips. I also, I was thinking about too, were you a big Sims player or no?
Speaker: I mean, I played a little but not so much. Not enough. There's anytime a Sim dies and like the probably like Sims 2 on, the Grim Reaper comes and in like some of the later versions you can plead with him or like other people can plead with the Grim Reaper to keep your Sim alive. Yeah. Oh, that's funny. I never heard of that. Yeah. So he's definitely, you know,
Speaker: in our pop culture, but I think it's really interesting to see kind of all the inspirations for how he
Speaker: you know, became what he is now. And it does feel kind of like Santa Claus to me too, where it's like all these different like, all these different ideas sort of like formed together and gave us what we have today. But I think he's definitely a cool kind of helpful, or maybe not helpful, a cool representation of death and just another way for us to
Speaker: to think about things or personify it in some way. And just with a quick Google search, I was also reminded that a lot of people get the grim reaper as like a tattoo. Oh, yeah, that's a good idea. Oh, and probably music too. Yeah, yeah, maybe. Don't fear the reaper, right? Yeah.
Speaker: But that was cool, yeah. Especially, I had never really taken time to think about what the scythe is and thinking about it as a farming tool of reaping your harvest and reaping souls. That really was fascinating. That's cool.
Speaker: Yes, and I love whichever one that was that was reaching his quota. I think I've always thought of that too. That's good. You have to get to your number so people have to die. Yeah, they just have to. That's good. Well, thank you all for listening this week. We're going to be back with Felicia. We'll be covering a topic next week. We already revealed it, right? I already spoiled it. It's a Baphomet. I'm going to talk about goats as devils and all that fun stuff.
Speaker: Yeah. Amazing. Maybe we can also do some pop culture discussion in that one. Yeah, I would love that. Perfect. All right. Well, we hope you have some sweet, sweet nightmares and happy October. Woo. Bye.
