The Bitter Medicine of Unhappy Endings

Horror writer G. Emerald, who has a background in the medical system, joins us to talk about the healing power of stories that leave us with a bad taste in our mouths. Audiences like happy endings, but do we really need every story to end on a high note? Are we being pacified? Why did the Hays Code require movies to have uplifting endings? Do happy endings sublimate the revolutionary energy that we should be putting into activism instead? Why are horror fans handling the pandemic better? What does it mean to have a Cronenberg day? Why is KA Applegate the Chad to JK Rowling’s Virgin TERF? We also touch upon Apocalypse hunks, the inevitability of death, and the nightmare that is the human body.

Links:

• The Unknown: A Covid-19 Charity Anthology

• Pandemic Practice: Horror Fans and Morbidly Curious Individuals Are More Psychologically Resilient During the COVID-19 Pandemic

• Toxic Positivity

• The Just World Fallacy

• On “cozy revolution” stories

• KA Applegate’s extremely badass letter to fans disappointed about the ending of the Animorphs series

• Vietnam’s Success in Containing COVID-19 Offers Roadmap for Other Developing Countries

• Rent: Look Pretty and Do as Little as Possible

• On Writing about Trauma and So-Called “Misery Porn”

• Self-Care Won’t Save Us

• The MCU’s relationship with the military

• The Far-Right Coup in Bolivia

• This TV movie about nuclear war depressed Ronald Reagan

• A 28-year-old woman is the first COVID-19 survivor to receive a double-lung transplant in the US

About Rite Gud: R.S. Benedict is an author, appearing in Fantasy and Science Fiction and Gardner Dozois’ The Very Best of the Best: 35 Years of The Year’s Best Science Fiction. Matt Keeley, founder of Kittysneezes, is producing Rite Gud for KS Media, LLC. Rite Gud is a Kittysneezes production. If you have questions, comments and concerns, email ritegud – at – kittysneezes – dot – com. Rite Gud is also on Patreon, at patreon.com/ritegud. Patrons receive access to the official Kittysneezes Discord, exclusive episodes, critiques and more.

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