ISSUE 26 EXPLOITS MAY 2020 an UN WINNABLE publication

Caroline Delbert on BATTLE CHEF BRIGADE

COLDPLAY • HUNTERS • GODZILLA (1954) • CARLOS EZQUERRA’S JUDGE DREDD • WOMEN CHARACTERS on the HERO’S JOURNEY Editor in Chief | Stu Horvath

EXPLOITS A Magazine Dedicated to the Reasons We Love Things

Managing Editor | Melissa King

Music Editor | Ed Coleman

Books Editors | Noah Springer, Levi Rubeck

Movies Editor | Amanda Hudgins

Television Editor | Sara Clemens

Games Editor | Khee Hoon Chan

Copyright © 2020 by Unwinnable LLC Unwinnable 820 Chestnut Street All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may Kearny, NJ 07032 not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher www.unwinnable.com except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. For more information, email: Unwinnable LLC does not claim copyright of the [email protected] screenshots and promotional imagery herein. Copyright of all screenshots within this publication are owned by Subscribe | Store | Submissions their respective companies This machine kills fascists. FOR ADORA, LARA and ALL the GIRLS on the HERO’S JOURNEY by Autumn Wright

ot everything is about you. Not this time, at least. But before? That was. It all Nwas, actually. But now that your powers have catalyzed the apocalypse and only you know the ancient knowledge that could save us all from calamity, please mind your place. This isn’t the time for heroics. Everything isn’t about you, but everything seems to tell this story. The hero’s myth will only ever be yours if we can blame you for this classic case of narcis- sism. How could you really believe that swinging your sword around would make everything better? You tried that during the finale, like, two seasons ago and look where we are now! Hey, please calm down. I know you’re upset about watching your friends and family slowly march to their deaths as they obstruct your actions to save them, but if this is about you at all, it’s that it is your fault. This isn’t about you. This is about failing to critique the system of gendered vio- lence by sacrificing women. From the moment you were born you were destined to be negged. Maybe if you were a boy, they wouldn’t bother with trying to subvert the masculine assumptions of storytelling, and we’d all listen to your plan that will definitely work, but you’re not a boy, so you don’t get unproblematized power fantasies, which is empowering, actually. And that’s what this faux subversion is really about: you will never hold power on their terms. U MUSIC

“TROUBLE in TOWN” – In a fusion of misap- the music video doesn’t use this sample. It’s propriated global sounds overlaid with posh filmed entirely on the streets of Kyiv, which British pop, sonic discord belies the political is a weird way to frame American police vio- dissonance central to Coldplay’s latest album. lence. And all the people are animals, which is The single “Trouble in Town” and its new mu- a weird way to depict race. sic video manage to condense an LP of prob- Maybe Kyiv looked like a cyberpunk Neo- lems into six bizarre minutes. Philly, maybe Coldplay thinks we can’t imag- Everyday Life is the band’s first attempt since ine police brutality in a contemporary Ameri- Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends to can city, or maybe it’s an Allegory, Actually. really try to say something with their music, In case you didn’t notice, the video makes and the two albums make an attractive jux- sure to tell you that this is all an Animal Farm taposition. With its warm and fuzzy guitar allegory. And maybe the animals are . . . well, tones and grungy French-revolution officer they certainly mean something. Animal/race outfits (a la Sgt. Pepper), 2008’s Viva la Vida metaphors have a long, troubled history in was the band’s most pointed commentary in our media. The crux of their failure is that their large discography until 2019. But while in reinforcing essentialism, they present race many of us have radicalized with disillusion- science-lite to go along with 00’s liberal pro- ment and precarity over the interim decade, gressivism. But in Animal Farm, animals rep- the precocious white men of Coldplay have resent class. And this carries over in part to developed their unique synth tones with the music video’s reinterpretation of pigs. Brian Eno. Pigs represent the Stalinist government of “Trouble in Town” samples a 2013 video of former-leftist revolutionaries turned authori- Philadelphia police racially profiling and vio- tarians. In “Trouble in Town,” pigs are poli- lently harassing a black man. The video was ticians that have a debate in the background uploaded to YouTube (and now the top com- and they start to fight . . . like animals . . . get ments all praise Coldplay for bringing atten- it? Politicians are all animals and we all have tion to this apparently little known issue). But to watch out for ourselves (cops included) is, MUSIC

I guess, the take. It’s a bad one too, when the PLAYLIST lone critic of America’s police state in the “Combat Rock,” by Sleater-Kinney debates we just lived through was a Jew who the media preferred to cast as white. When in “Baby, I’m an Anarchist!” by Against Me! praxis everything is always already political, “The New World Order,” by Defiance, Ohio trying to “be political” the way affluent art- ists like to isn’t a radical position. Or I don’t “Never Been Quite Like This,” by Bruce Lee know, make the cops pigs instead of snow Band leopards next time. It’s this I can’t get over: “Trouble in Town” “Alright,” by Kendrick Lamar is ostensibly about American police violence, “Yes All Cops,” by Worriers but the music video transplants America’s unique system of white supremacy into the “No White Flag,” by Gouge Away capital of a war-torn, post-Soviet nation “This Is America,” by Childish Gambino and metaphorizes race away. It’s like blam- ing rape accusations against the former Vice “Not My Friend,” by Grey Matter President on Russian interference instead “Water,” by Black Dresses of admitting that the progressivism of the last decade actually led us here. Actually, so “I Don’t Trust U Anymore,” by Left at London much of Everyday Life’s themes make sense “Masculinity Is a Prison,” by Pity Party through this decade-long view. A call for some ambiguous sense of global/national/ “Masculine Artifice,” by G.L.O.S.S. party unity, with no account of power or cir- “MariKKKopa,” by Desaparecidos cumstance, doesn’t land when there’s blood on the beat. “Ballad of a Politician,” by Regina Spektor – Autumn Wright “Road To Peace,” by Tom Waits

“Nonphysical,” by Moon Hooch

“Casket Pretty,” by Noname

“I’m Illegal,” by Team Dresch

“King Park,” by La Dispute

“The Way It Was,” by We Are The Union

“Violet Hill,” by Coldplay

Listen now on Spotify BOOKS

The APOCALYPSE WAR – Carlos Ezquerra heat and East-Meg battlecraft rained bullets in was able to perform a magic trick, where he foxhole pocked streets. In the end, the turn- could fill simple shapes with infinite detail. ing point doesn’t come with a bang, but with From his early work in Battle Picture Weekly to a click. In one of the defining images of Judge his last strip in 2000AD, you can always recog- Dredd’s career, he launches multiple nuclear nize a piece of Ezquerra art. If you want a treat strikes against East Meg One. for your senses you can’t do much better than The act is framed in three panels. From picking up a copy of the Judge Dredd historic different angles, yet Dredd’s hand and out- mega-epic, “The Apocalypse War.” stretched finger passes seamlessly from one Unlike the strips that preceded it, “The Apoc- panel to the other, mirroring the movement alypse War” wasn’t a police action and adven- of the action. Dredd himself is silhouetted ture story. This was a full blown war comic. The against the background in a thick dotted line action covered the breadth of Mega City One that often lent Ezquerra’s characters a pres- and violence reached dizzying new peaks, with ence that demands attention. It draws your Carlos bringing his earlier war comic experi- eyes to them. These still images, ink on paper, ence to bear for the full 25 issues. His work had burst with energy. You don’t hear a click. You defined the character of the city and its judges feel the leaden thud of the button press con- in the strip’s infancy. City blocks weren’t just demning millions to nuclear holocaust. It’s colossal tenement buildings. They reached weapons-grade art. into the heavens on thin support struts, with It’s a finale that continues to give meaning bulbous platforms and living quarters emerg- to modern Dredd strips. Just like the events ing from odd angles. He knew the cities of the he drew, Ezquerra’s influence will live on future should be somewhat alien and therefore through 2000AD. He may be gone, but Mega a little magical to a contemporary audience. City One will always be Carlos’s city. Now he was destroying it. The tangled web – Corey Milne of superhighway arteries shattered in nuclear BOOKS

The CITY WE BECAME – Like most tour- ists, I’ve only ever seen the facade of New York City, the gleaming towers, thunderous subways and frenetic delis. N. K. Jemisin’s The City We Became delves deeper, weaving a tale of NYC coming to life, each borough personi- fied as a human avatar, struggling to compre- hend the essence of the city which they them- NIGHT MOVES – If you’re a serious fan of selves have always been a part of. music, Jessica Hopper’s work has come Because if they fail to understand them- across your bow. A former editor at MTV selves, or to take their place as a small part and Pitchfork, who spent time in the ‘zine of a wider, disparate, diverse whole, there mines of yesteryear and worked as a publi- are things waiting in the darkness between cist for the best bands of the 00’s, Hopper is dimensions, things which feast on cities a standout critic. Her work is defined both newly-born. by grace and by a refusal to suffer bullshit. It’s a paean to a city which Jemisin loves – a Her prose cuts with a carbon edge, wasting city of many contradictory parts, fluid bound- no word or breath, and this shows even in aries, and a turbulent history – and at the her more creative work, such as with Night same time it’s a lens, to see NYC through her Moves. This is a thin memoir of sorts, a series eyes, and learn to appreciate it the same way. of short stories and vignettes that pulls right – Rob Haines along Bob Seger to wind through an early life’s memories without stressing the time- line. Culled from journals and blogs, Hop- per takes the scenic sideways and byways, sharing stories that serve their own context without latching onto an iron-wrought arch. Doing so frees herself from a single life- defining moment, which is how we all live and move through time for the most part, but CINDER – Cinder, and really the Lunar there’s balletic twirl to how Hopper lays it all Chronicles series in general, is an interest- out for us. This isn’t to say it’s weightless, but ing take on the fantasy retelling. Cinderella, rather it revels in the pre-sleep recollections, but she’s a cyborg mechanic in Beijing with a stories that come up from other stories, the faulty foot. Rapunzel, but she’s a hacker in a way we share our lives at parties and in con- satellite. The Big Bad Wolf is a street fighter versations as slices rather than entire cakes. with a heart of gold. The action is consistent My bias is showing, but this is pure, distilled and enjoyable; if you’re a fan of young adult pleasure journaling, and I recommend it as fiction, Cinder is definitely worth checking a model for the same in all of our beautiful, out. meandering paths. – Amanda Hudgins – Levi Rubeck MOVIES

GODZILLA (1954) – I discovered Godzilla, and foreign relations will be plunged into the original 1954 Toho Production directed chaos.” by Ishirō Honda, in the midst of this seem- It is an eerie statement. It is not hard to ingly endless period of self-isolation. The imagine just how many conversations went film depicts a national disaster that doesn’t exactly that way behind closed doors across just mirror the nuclear attacks on Japan in nations worldwide in January and February 1945 but explores how citizens live their lives of this year. The scene served as a reminder throughout a crisis – a feeling I’m growing all that, in the midst of disaster, the material real- too familiar with. ity of people’s lives too often come in second The film spends an extensive amount of to societal constructs like “the economy” and screen time with the citizens of Odo Island. “political life.” Panic is bad press and no one Godzilla takes time to show the panicking wants bad press, especially not in the end mobs of citizens, the parents and the chil- times. dren, the broken people who have lived with But even amid the extraordinary circum- a decade of paranoia. And now their worst stances of Godzilla, the characters must still fear is coming true. The hidden psychological navigate the mundanity of their lives. Our impact of years of decline come to the surface heroes Emiko and Ogata struggle with ask- in a world suddenly upended by a crisis that ing Emiko’s father, the scientist Dr. Yamane, we should have seen coming – but everyone for his permission to let them marry. They whose job it was to save us has turned a blind know they might not make it to that day, but eye. they’ve wanted this so badly for so long. I The way Godzilla depicts the government’s was struck by that commitment to normalcy. commitment to diplomatic relations and eco- In these uncertain times, we still have to live nomic well-being over public health is sur- our lives, as impossible as it can feel to do so. real. In a public forum a representative urges Consciously and subconsciously, the search the Chairman to keep newly discovered infor- for normalcy continues, even if the shape of mation on Godzilla from reaching the public. reality as we used to know it is a thing of the “If we announce this too rashly the public will past. panic,” he says, “Our political life, economy – Bryn GelbArt MOVIES

HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE – I understand Sophie since yes, I too turn into a wizened old crone whenever someone dares compli- ment me. – Amanda Hudgins PORTRAIT of a LADY on FIRE – Portrait of a Lady on Fire is the story of a forbidden love affair between Heloise, a young aristocrat, and Marianne, the painter commissioned to paint her portrait, in late 18th century France. Director Céline Sciamma delves not just into the slow-burn romance but also ex- plores class structure exclusively through the eyes of women that serve the French aristoc- racy and one aristocrat who would rather lis- ten to music than have her portrait painted. Sciamma and her cast explore the birth, life and death of a relationship that cannot be sustained in a time where the Church held influence over every aspect if European life. Early in the film, Heloise, says she wants to PERFECT BLUE – Satoshi Kon’s Perfect Blue go to church to listen to music. Marianne may be startling in its depiction of the often encourages her and regrets she cannot join amoral entertainment industry, but what her. When Heloise returns, she utters a line stood out even more in my head was the that knocked me on the floor; “In solitude I unsettling dream-reality state of mind of its found the liberty you spoke of. But I also felt heroine-cum-pop idol, Mima. That became your absence.” It’s a beautiful film and I am less of a dichotomy as we, the viewers our- happy I saw it while I’m on the back end of selves, struggle to separate what’s real and the breakup healing process. delusions, even all the way to the movie’s – Ian Gonzales conclusion. This is, of course, a wry statement on how entertainment and media has already been blurring the lines for its audiences: we have reality television, late-night political comedies and all sorts of entertainment mas- querading as hard-hitting news. And in the era of rampant fake news and false informa- tion, Perfect Blue, released in 1997, nearly two decades ago, now feels eerily prophetic. – Khee Hoon Chan TELEVISION

HUNTERS – The new Amazon showHunters scientists in their shower or set Nazi sympa- poses an interesting, if not unique, question: is thizers’ junk on fire. The lines between fiction it moral to hunt down and murder Nazis? To and reality on Hunters truly start to blur. my mind, the obvious answer was, emphati- At some level, I could have personally for- cally, yes. However, soon after the release of given the show for this muddling of truth. I Hunters, the head of the USC Shoah Founda- can accept a lot of uncouth content if there is tion Institute asked Amazon to drop the series some redeeming value for the media product from their roster, arguing that by mixing fact overall. But the overarching problems of the and fiction, the show provided ammunition show aren’t rewarding enough to cover for its for Holocaust skeptics. problematic nature. The narrative is poorly My first response was to ignore their criti- structured and the aesthetic is pretty much cism. I thought that the Shoah foundation’s generic 1970s-ish. There are scattered attempts response was probably a slight overreaction at something interesting, almost comic-like, from an older generation, who were more when the show occasionally cuts away to a sensitive about a serious subject than was fake trailer or an educational movie. But, in perhaps necessary in the 21st century. They the end, the narrative and cinematographic were clearly not the intended audience for this risks can’t overcome the convoluted storyline show. As a non-Jewish millennial who is a fan and disappointing character development. of French new extremism and Quentin Tar- For a show that could be used to problema- antino, Hunters was much more up my alley, tize the concepts of violence and vengeance, and only the most obtuse would confuse the Hunters does a poor job of actually interrogat- stories told in an Amazon show with reality. ing these questions. Instead, the showrunners However, as I watched episode after epi- favor twisty-turny storylines that leave plot- sode, I began to see the problem. Depictions points dangling and disregard any interest- of real Holocaust tragedies and crimes were ing stylistic choices. In the end, the way that interspersed with clearly fictional elements Hunters misrepresents the Holocaust isn’t (the human chess board was a real bummer). rewarded by anything artistically interesting Then, in the 1970s present of the show, more enough to make up for its mishandling of one fictional elements were mixed in over real of the greatest atrocities in human history. conspiracies. Yes, the CIA brought Nazi scien- Don’t worry though, I’m still firmly in favor tists into the USA with Operation Paperclip; of punching Nazis. no, Jewish Nazi hunters did not gas NASA – Noah Springer TELEVISION

BATTLEBOTS – I was never into BattleBots as a child – whenever I watched educational TV it erred more in the direction of narra- tive than scientific, which is weird because BattleBots feels like wrestling and I’ve been in love with wrestling most of my life. Watching LOVE is BLIND – Reality TV isn’t my thing, two deceptively giant figures smash their way and I try not to be dismissive of entire swaths across a giant fishbowl? I am here for that any of work just because it doesn’t move me in day of the week. the same way it might move others. Love is – Amanda Hudgins Blind doesn’t seem as egregious as others in the short round romance division, despite the premise of “people live in pods and talk and propose before seeing each other.” Maybe that’s because the premise lasts for only the first ep, with moments punctuated later with “I wish we were still in the pods.” Except for one particularly quality burn (if you’ve been online lately, you know the one), love is mostly boring when it’s good and unbearable when it’s not. – Levi Rubeck

DUCKTALES (2017) – The first two seasons of Ducktales were just the thing to distract me during the late nights of the first leg of the pandemic. Funnier than it ought to be, and smarter, it consistently delivers heartwarm- ing adventures in 20-minute installments. – Stu Horvath

The WITCHER – It’s a lot like Game of Thrones, if Game of Thrones knew how goofy it was. Just a beautifully silly, self-aware grimdark fantasy show in the same vein as Xena: Warrior Princess (but with even better fights). – Violet Adele Bloch GAMES

BATTLE CHEF BRIGADE – Battle Chef Bri- recently made bread with Red Lobster cheddar gade has given me the inspiration I need to bay biscuit mix instead of flour. New Yorker keep cooking through the pandemic. Even food writer Helen Rosner – who reviewed though the gorgeous hand-drawn art makes Battle Chef for Polygon in 2017 – mentioned this a special world to spend time in, cooking making “ersatz kedgeree,” a make-do version is the game’s main draw. of a centuries-old make-do dish from India In the game’s Challenge Mode, you cook and Britain. Likewise, without sugar, I’ve increasingly difficult dishes until you ulti- ended up conducting science experiments mately fail. The featured ingredient in each with Splenda and molasses. I’ve squeezed a round is random, as is the element you must wedge of tangerine into soup instead of lime, highlight. What that means is that sometimes mixed coffee with protein powder rather than you need an ingredient you can only get from milk and sweetened leftover-bread pudding a boss-level monster and just fighting to get it with blackberry jam instead of sugar. will take most of your time. Without it, there’s There’s one critical flaw in my analogy, how- no moving forward. ever. While I have a time limit in the game, Then you must prepare those ingredients the plants and creatures – which provide the such that they are fiery, earthy, or watery, resources I need – rapidly respawn in this based on the game’s system of colorful ele- universe. Unlike reality, nature here is akin to mental nodes. Sometimes that means a fire- a never-empty vending machine. Even so, the based ingredient must be balanced or even ingredients harvested from a dragon, wolflike overpowered by water or earth. In some situa- lupir, or flying cheepchi, are random and you tions, this ends up being mechanically impos- still must make do. Did you want a liver? Not sible – you can’t forage enough of one element going to happen. Have a horn instead. for it to dominate. You can alter ingredients Hunting in Battle Chef is like shopping at a with specialty pans or upgrades, but these are closeout store, at a time when every store, in offered randomly and involve a trade-off or a real life, is a little like a closeout store already. gamble. Just like in real life, a key sauce can And back in my kitchen, with a new bag of transform your dish – but someone with the sugar, some eggs, leftover black beans and a right pantry can excel with any ingredient. can of pumpkin, I’m already scheming about This is where Battle Chef Brigade begins to what to cook next. overlap real life. Chicago writer Dennis Lee – Caroline Delbert GAMES

IKARUGA – I’ve been playing this game DOOM 64 – Doom Eternal was the first since 2009. It’s a top down, vertical-scrolling game in years that I preordered. Doom’s 2016 shooter, with five perfectly designed levels reboot was one of my favorite games of this and a story like a Buddhist koan. I have the console generation and so I felt its follow-up whole thing practically committed to mem- would be a safe bet (and worth capitalizing ory, which is comforting. Water is wet, the on some preorder incentives). While my sky is blue, and Ikaruga is itself. experience with the sequel has been some- – Violet Adele Bloch what disappointing (for many of the same reasons that Wired’s Julie Muncy articulated in her review), I didn’t expect to enjoy revis- iting Doom 64 as much I have, which came free as a preorder bonus. Back when it came out in 1997, critics often consideredDoom 64 slightly under- whelming in comparison to the full-3D motion of Turok: Dinosaur Hunter. Even as a Doom superfan, it felt slow and didn’t fully FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE – It’s impos- stick with me at the time either. sible to reimagine a game as influential as Playing it now though, I feel like I finally Final Fantasy VII without being in discus- get it. In delivering more complex maps sion with its 23-year-old self. What I wasn’t than previous entries in the series, it forced expecting was the narrative of the FFVII players to take a more thoughtful approach Remake to explicitly address the impossibil- toward navigating its cursed corridors. It’s a ity of retelling a beloved, problematic, iconic take on the Doom formula that feels sorely story in a way that will please its disparate underappreciated, but if you have a modern fans. console, now is as good a time as any to get It’s an indulgent love-letter to its inspira- reacquainted. tion, with enough tactile heft to the combat – Ben Sailer to carry the player through much the same padding and pacing issues which haunted DOOM ETERNAL – Doom Eternal is a game the original (but across 40 hours instead that hates you, and the feeling is frequently of ten), and a metaphysical narrative twist mutual. which does its best to simultaneously give – Amanda Hudgins this chapter some closure and open the pos- sibility for greater deviation from future expectations. It won’t please everyone, but despite its flaws it feels new and fresh, and after twenty- three years of waiting, that alone is a triumph. – Rob Haines INTERROGATIVE

Who are you and what do you do?

I’m Laura Lam. My 2020 releases are Goldilocks (think The Martian meets The Handmaid’s Tale) and Seven Devils (Mad Max: Fury Road in space). My other books include the Micah Grey trilogy (Pantomime, Shadowplay, Masquerade) and False Hearts and Shattered Minds. I’ve written nerdy f/f romance as Laura Ambrose. I’m a lecturer at Edinburgh Napier Uni- versity on the genre-friendly Creative Writing MA.

Why do you do what you do?

Because I have no other useful skills except for lying and helping teach others to lie better. I also particularly like to investigate gender roles and identity in fantastic settings. I wrote Goldilocks, for example, because I really love astronaut films but got annoyed that usually the female characters are often either side characters or astronaut wives left back on Earth, so I wrote them front and centre. Historically, womens’ contributions in NASA have been overlooked until fairly recently, as well.

What is the most dangerous thing you’ve ever done?

I went hiking at the Quiraing on the island of Skye and almost fell off a cliff. I don’t recom- mend it.

What is a creative work that has changed you and how did it do so?

Robin Hobb made me want to be a writer, and her work radically changed my life in so many ways – I met my husband and moved to Scotland in no small part due to her books. I aspire to write characterization as deep and nuanced as her one day.

What is your least favorite thing?

Sticky hands.

Eat the rich?

Or guillotine. I’m not picky. U

Interrogation conducted by Rob Haines