While The Michigan Daily
Film Beat is full of film lovers
and film reviewers, our actual
taste in movies can often vary
quite a bit. And every once in
a while, we need to encour-
age each other to step out of
our comfort zones and try
something new. The Movie
Swap series does just that: It
gets writers to watch movies
they otherwise wouldn’t and
explore these new genres and
flicks with one another.
“The Godfather” (1972)
When Mitchel and I decid-
ed to do these movie swaps
— he picks a movie for me to
watch and I pick one for him
— I knew that I would end
up watching a lot of classic,
award-winning films that I
probably should have seen
by now but never made the
time for. So it was no surprise
when he chose “The Godfa-
ther” as the first movie for me
to watch.
I forced myself to read
the book first — I admit, I
am a total nerd. I probably
shouldn’t have. The book
was sexist and misogynistic
and problematic and a waste
of three days. But I came out
victorious and ready to see
what is considered one of the
best films of all time.
I was surprised to actually
enjoy the movie. Older mov-
ies don’t typically appeal to
me. The quality of the mov-
ies always feels grainy and
dark,
and
there’s
usually
something problematic that I
can’t convince myself to over-
look. Admittedly, “The God-
father” was grainy and dark
and not without problems,
but I found myself swept up
in Francis Ford Coppola’s
(“Apocalypse Now”) story-
telling, which allowed me
to see more than just the
problems I knew existed.
Everyone involved in the
film seemed so committed
— the lighting always had a
purpose (usually to show the
dark nature of the Corleone
family), the characters felt
three-dimensional and the
story was all-encompassing.
It was thought out and elab-
orate, capturing my atten-
tion seamlessly. That doesn’t
exempt the issues that exist
in the film, of course, but it
did allow me to understand
how “The Godfather” has
achieved its acclaim in pop-
ular culture.
Of course, Marlon Bran-
do’s (“A Streetcar Named
Desire”) Don Vito Corleone
stole the show. Never mind
the fact that he had less than
an hour of screen time — it
was
assuredly
the
Don’s
story we were watching.
His voice, his mannerisms,
his quiet but commanding
voice all contributed to the
character that has rightfully
gone down in film history.
It wasn’t the greatest film
I have ever seen. That said,
I understand why after all
these
years,
people
still
praise “The Godfather” as a
critical piece of film histo-
ry. Brando’s delivery of the
iconic line “I’m gonna make
him an offer he can’t refuse”
alone
makes
this
movie
deserve its spot.
“Anastasia” (1997)
When
Sabriya
picked
“Anastasia” for our movie
swap, my tepid expectations
of the film came from the
couple of Don Bluth (“The
Land Before Time”) animat-
ed features I had seen, none
of which were among my
favorites growing up, and a
few of the film’s songs that
I’d heard during produc-
tion nights at The Michigan
Daily last semester.
I did not anticipate enjoy-
ing “Anastasia” much given
nostalgia would not play a
role and animated children’s
films not being my taste.
However, I found myself
appreciating things about it
that I wouldn’t have noticed
had I seen it for the first
time as a child.
I found the integration of
2D and 3D animation quite
impressive
and
relatively
seamless. I was surprised by
how well the 3D animation
held up given the novelty of
the technology in 1997, and
it added a great deal to the
film’s tension. When Ras-
putin (Christopher Lloyd,
“Back to the Future”) sends
demons to destroy the train
taking
Anya
(Meg
Ryan,
“When Harry Met Sally…”)
and Dimitri (John Cusack,
“High Fidelity”) out of Rus-
sia, the 3D animation of the
train gives it a speed and
dynamism that 2D likely
wouldn’t have allowed and
makes
the
sequence
far
more exciting. In the film’s
climax, Rasputin tries to
attack Anya by enchanting a
Black Pegasus statue, which
is animated in 3D. The 3D
contrasted against the rest
of the scene’s 2D animation
creates a sense of other-
worldliness that makes for a
more menacing foe.
But, for all my apprecia-
tion of the film’s technical
aspects, the storytelling in
“Anastasia” is too simplistic,
formulaic and empty for my
taste. I probably shouldn’t
have expected this chil-
dren’s film to dive deeply
into Russian political histo-
ry, but I wanted that. Where
is Vladimir Lenin in all of
this? Can we get some Soviet
film history in here? I want
to
see
Eisenstein
trying
to film “Strike,” but being
interrupted by Rasputin’s
dastardly plans.
Some of the film’s early
scenes take place in the Win-
ter Palace in St. Petersburg,
and as I was taking in some
of the beauty of the ballroom
dance sequences, I couldn’t
help being reminded of the
film “Russian Ark,” a film
that traverses the Palace in
one take and explores cen-
turies of Russian history —
also including some stellar
ballroom dancing. I think
“Anastasia” would make for
an interesting double feature
with “Russian Ark,” creating
a fascinating, dreamlike tap-
estry of Russian fantasy and
reality.
Content warning: this article
contains references to suicide.
Over this holiday break, I caught
myself on TikTok, a lot. I’m sure
I’m not alone in this; having sudden
free time allowed me to catch up
to what the internet has been up to
without me. My For You page has
become a strange amalgam of cute
animal videos, cooking tutorials,
K-pop fancams, “Breaking Bad”
edits and more. However, a new
phenomenon
suddenly
began
appearing on my timeline over
the past month with which I have
become fascinated.
It was a gloomy day when I first
saw it. I had been in bed all day,
and nighttime had arrived without
me realizing it. I scrolled my usual
timeline to stop on something
puzzling, almost unnerving. What
was laid before me was an odd
combination of media clips set
to the song “Lavender Buds” by
MF DOOM: a scene from “The
Lighthouse,” in which Willem
Dafoe calls a sobbing Robert
Pattinson a “filthy dog”; then a clip
from a YouTube video titled “Eye
Contact Practice – Affection,” in
which a woman lovingly gazes at
the camera; the last scene of “The
Truman Show”; a clip of a cat
jumping out of a river. The video
had no caption except for the tag
#nichetok. The top-liked comment
said, “You get it.”
I wasn’t sure what I was supposed
to feel, but I was intrigued. I
watched it over and over, only to
find more of these videos appearing
on my feed throughout the next few
days carrying the tag #nichetok.
Another common tag rose to the
front:
#corecore.
Commenters
would refer to this style of video
as “corecore” exclusively. While
most corecore videos followed
the format of generic, depressing
media clips set to somber piano
music or Aphex Twin songs, there
were some outliers. I saw one
centering on divorce, using clips
from
“Everything
Everywhere
All at Once” and public speakers
reflecting on the subject. I saw one
about “karoshi,” a Japanese term
meaning “death from overwork.”
This video included a clip from
“Spongebob” showing a fish’s work
routine. The fish drives to work, sits
at his office job and comes home,
not changing his vacant expression
throughout the day. In the original
context of “Spongebob,” this would
be played as a joke, poking fun at
the monotonous office job life.
Yet in this video, drowned out by
ambient and reflective music, it
becomes infinitely depressing. One
comment reads, “It’s like I’m slowly
being choked to death.”
After coming across so many
corecore
videos,
I’ve
begun
to understand how they are
constructed. They’re reflections
of culture, of societal concepts,
clearly made by sad people. They
have a dedicated audience of
reflective commenters, all seeming
to understand what “corecore” is
all about. One comment on a video
reads, “corecore is literally the
human brain. I love it.” Yet the term
itself is so vague, so meaningless.
The clips in the video aren’t
intertwined, so they don’t create
an innate aesthetic. So what does
“corecore” refer to? What does it
say and mean?
The root of this term comes
from the trend of attributing the
suffix “-core” to words in order
to attribute an aesthetic or “vibe”
to them. For example, the term
“cottagecore” denotes an aesthetic
similar to that of Little House on
the Prairie books or fancy picnics.
The term “scenecore” refers to the
aesthetic of scene or emo fashion.
In many cases today, referring to
something with a -core suffix is
akin to saying it fits in with that
aesthetic, that structure of ideas.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Nichetok/Corecore: TikTok’s trendy
nihilistic echo chamber
Wednesday, January 25, 2023 — 3
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
Arts
Courtesy of Katelyn Sliwinski
puzzle by sudokusnydictation.com
SUDOKU
WHISPER
“Why did
Sally fall off
the swing?”
“She had no
arms. Happy
Halloween.”
WHISPER
The Michigan Daily Crossword Puzzle
Sunday, January 22, 2023 - Puzzle by Pavan Kannan
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ACROSS
1 Speaks hoarsely
6 Suffix for avoid or do
10 This or ____
14 Arm bones
15 Make a petulant face
16 Prefix meaning “half”
17 In a video game, the place
you return to after a death
(one point)
19 Hamburg’s river
20 Surface layer with the
highest concentration of
organic matter
21 Italian astronomer who
developed the scientific
method
23 Depend (on)
25 A squirrel's food of choice
26 A certain Australian
marsupial's form of attack
(five points)
32 Alter ego
33 Social misfit
34 An archer’s weapon of choice
37 Musician behind “Bad
Habit”: Steve ____
38 Board game with 64 squares
or a hint to the circled letters
40 Domesticated, as an animal
41 Suffix for people from Japan
or Senegal
42 Santa's “gift” to bad children
43 An antonym of 40-Across
44 Death via meat grinder,
perhaps? (nine points)
47 101-level college course, e.g.
50 Horse's strap
51 Capital city of Venezuela
54 Lex Luthor and Superman,
e.g.
59 Cosmetics brand that shares
a name with a river
60 Burn unit procedures
(priceless!)
62 Blend
63 Greek goddess of marriage
and wife of Zeus
64 Incendiary crime?
65 ____ Woods, main character
in “Legally Blonde”
66 Mothers of lambs
67 Detroit’s football
team
DOWN
1 Go bad, as metal
2 Popular dog food brand
3 Noise made using a thumb and
middle finger
4 A golden retriever’s feet
5 Madams in Madrid
6 Greek sun god
7 Avril Lavigne’s “Sk8er ___”
8 Carbon dioxide expelling
organ
9 Soul singer ____ James
10 You might lose feelings for
someone if they give you this
11 A greeting... or a hit song by
Adele
12 Johnny Depp’s now ex-wife
_____ Heard
13 Attach to something using a
knot, perhaps?
18 Santa Monica ____
22 To not have
24 Mason Ramsey, when he
first went viral, e.g.
26 Green ingredient in some
smoothies and salads
27 “It's a shame”
28 Pleasant
29 Like Anderson Cooper
or Neil Patrick Harris
30 Mike Tyson uppercuts,
often
31 Tax organization
34 Nude
35 Middle Eastern nation
bordering Yemen
36 Join two pieces of metal
38 Pigeon noise
39 A snapback or a sombrero
40 MSU alum ___ Grizzley
42 Gator's cousin
43 Not a mourning of death,
but rather a celebration
of life
44 Pop star Ariana ____
45 Viewed to be
46 China's last dynasty
47 Beginning of a famous
Caesar quote
48 Belly button
49 Cave dweller
52 Tennis great Arthur ____
53 A pair of lines that are
neither parallel nor
intersecting
55 Husband in French
56 “In that case...”
57 Famous English college
by the Thames
58 Nine digit gov't issued
IDs
61 Anger
Read the constructor notes
Movie Swap: ‘The
Godfather’ and
‘Anastasia’
KATELYN SLIWINSKI
Daily Arts Writer
SABRIYA IMAMI &
MITCHEL GREEN
Daily Arts Writers
Design by Phoebe Unwin