I'd like to take this meme list intro to pay tribute to my favorite sci-fi movie of 2024, The Substance. If you haven't seen it, please do, unless you have a weak stomach and a low tolerance for body horror. It begins with an aging exercise video star, Elisabeth Sparkle, whose hypocritical boss thinks she's getting too old for the biz. She's then introduced to "The Substance," a shot she can take to grow a younger, hotter version of herself out of her spine. She can live as her for one week at a time but has to switch back to her old body every other week or else she will suffer consequences. Spoiler alert, she suffers consequences.
It's one of my favorite kinds of sci-fi because it takes something very real in our world- ageism, especially in Hollywood, and takes it to extreme ends. It ends up being a grotesquely sublime parable for aging women.
It's one of my favorite kinds of sci-fi because it takes something very real in our world- ageism, especially in Hollywood, and takes it to extreme ends. It ends up being a grotesquely sublime parable for aging women.
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