The Haunted Palace (1963)

What seems like such a simple story of survival is so much more than that—it’s a story of family, and of war, and of destruction. It’s painful to watch, but not in a bad way. It makes its audience reflect on their own actions, and in how they are complicit in the sufferings of others as the adults in this film are. Grave of the Fireflies does not hold back from being heartbreaking, and it shouldn’t. It tells a message that needs to be heard decades after the war, and a story that cannot be forgotten by history.

Set against the backdrop of the Jim Crow era, the film offers layered representation.

True crime media is notoriously obsessed with the “missing white woman” trope, and yet the vast majority of American murder victims are male, and well over half are people of color.

A refreshing twist is that all the kids’ powers are…kind of useless. There’s a kid who can only move in slow motion, a kid who has every power in the world but can only use them randomly, and our main character Missy who has no powers at all. The thesis of the film seems to be that it doesn’t matter what kind of powers you have, its the way you use them, which is good for the warm and fuzzies.

Typically in film, characters suffering from mental illness are used as plot devices or exaggerated for comedy. 'The House that Jack Built's representation exceeds in accuracy and realism of OCD.

Presenting a bold and unapologetic narrative focused on strong Muslim female characters, the show beautifully incorporates punk rock as a feminist movement in their lives.