Issue 72: Thirst Traps Archives - Bright Wall/Dark Room

Well before Christian Grey donned his dumb ripped jeans, James Spader embodied the paradigmatic combination of vulnerability and composure; his appeal, from Crash to Secretary, requires our conviction that he would, and would like to, and could, punish us—only gently.

Richard Gere in Breathless (1983) | art by Tony Stella

You Americans, You Only Think About Sex

Travis Woods·

Issue 72: Thirst Traps

Breathless is at once a ferociously horny and formally audacious remake of Godard’s hyper-referential film, as well as an all-or-nothing, frenetically American and self-aware meditation on desperately empty people lost in the thrall of the pop culture that gives form to their wants and needs.

Everybody Loves a Man in Uniform

Ross McIndoe·

Issue 72: Thirst Traps

We can’t all agree to keep the planet inhabitable, yet somehow we all agree about Dwayne Johnson. He’s a universal, human, humanist thirst trap—irresistible because he trades in things we can all agree on.

Don’t Hate the Player

Madison Miller·

Issue 72: Thirst Traps

By reframing fandom as tried and true romance, showing characters committing under the best and worst circumstances, Bull Durham raises different stakes than both traditional sports movies and traditional romantic comedies.

Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor in 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' | artwork by Brianna Ashby

Kiss Me or Kill Me: Sexual Desperation and Identity Erasure in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Roxana Hadadi·

Issue 72: Thirst Traps

In Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, a carnal energy roils and simmers in the air, like the thunderstorms rolling in over the plantation, drenching everyone to the bone.

A Couple Thousand Words On Charli XCX’s “Boys”

Fran Hoepfner·

Issue 72: Thirst Traps

Let us thirst again, we beg. It’s one of the few things we have left.

Last Action Hero (1993) | Columbia Pictures

Last Action Hero: The Action Movie to End All Action Movies

Jason Siegel·

Issue 72: Thirst Traps

On the surface, Last Action Hero seems to be an action-buddy comedy with a gimmick—enjoyable for its humor, action set pieces, and clever metafictional gags—but at bottom it is a trenchant critique of action movies, the model of exaggerated masculinity they promote, and the real-life violence they both reflect and project.

Tom Cruise in 'Interview with the Vampire' | Warner Bros.

The Seductive Bloodlust of Tom Cruise’s Lestat in Interview with the Vampire

Megan Bernovich·

Issue 72: Thirst Traps

Interview with the Vampire contains far more complex themes about human desires than initially meets the eye, and at the center of it all is Tom Cruise’s Lestat—the embodiment of a literal thirst trap, and a proud entry in the larger cinematic tradition of vampiric eroticism.

American Psycho (2000) | Lions Gate Films

Patrick Bateman, Everyman

Dan Brooks·

Issue 72: Thirst Traps

The further we get from American Psycho’s release, the closer we get to the world it depicted. The satire becomes more pointed, but instead of being a fun indictment of the ‘80s, it becomes an unsettling reflection of the way we live now.

Saturday Night Fever | art by Tony Stella

What We Don’t Remember about Saturday Night Fever

Katherine Karlin·

Issue 72: Thirst Traps

Like amber traps a dragonfly, Saturday Night Fever catches, mid-flight, the moment of ‘70s zeitgeist that accommodated various—and conflicting—definitions of rape.

To the Plunder

Tyler Malone·

Issue 72: Thirst Traps

Harmony Korine's Spring Breakers is To the Wonder’s shadow, its doppelganger, its evil twin, and perhaps its better half. It’s Malick through the looking glass.

Reach To Your Heart

Isabel Cole·

Issue 72: Thirst Traps

I want to be Big Dick Richie, drenching myself in water to the beat of my favorite song. I want to be that alive to the present moment, that connected to my own heart.