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It's About a YouTuber with Cancer

2023-08-11 · review / recommendation · Hank · 5:23 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Pop culture (also: History & curiosities) · mode: Personal essay · tags: heavy topic

Hank reads Puss in Boots: The Last Wish as a film about a beloved entertainer facing death (a YouTuber with cancer): Puss fears not death but his fear of it, and learns to fight death for time with his family while accepting he cannot ultimately win.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — The Last Wish as a movie about a YouTuber with cancer; Puss as a beloved entertainer driven by fear

  • ★★★ Hank says Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, which he watched last week (week of 31 July 2023), is a weird movie because it is about a YouTuber who gets cancer. (playful) — 00:00:01
  • ★★ Hank reads Puss as a beloved entertainer who over-invests in how strangers perceive him, under-invests in deeper relationships, and is driven deep down by fear. (hedged) — 00:00:20

00:00:44 — Side quest: cancer named after crabs, medieval folk called it the wolf

  • ★★ Hank says cancer is named after crabs, and that in the medieval period ordinary people simply called cancer 'the wolf'. — 00:00:44 · cancer

00:01:13 — The wolf, a bounty hunter, is death; fearless Puss runs away

  • ★★★ Hank says the film's true villain is not Big Jack Horner but the wolf, a bounty hunter who is death and appears after Puss loses the eighth of his nine lives. — 00:01:13

00:02:16 — Puss's accidental family compared with Hank's own

  • ★★ Hank likens Puss's accidental family (love interest Kitty Softpaws, an adopted chihuahua son) to his own: his romantic interest Katherine and his very cute six-year-old son. (playful) — 00:02:16 · Katherine Green, Orin Green

00:02:45 — Fear of the fear of death, deeper relationships, and fighting death while knowing it cannot be beaten

  • ★★★ Hank argues Puss is afraid not so much of death as of his own fear of death: he flees when he starts to feel afraid, not when confronted by death. — 00:03:07
  • ★★ Hank says he is leaving out lots of amazing stuff in the film, and it is on Netflix right now. — 00:03:07
  • ★★★ Hank says Puss learns to deal with his fear through deeper relationships with his new family, which his former lives lacked. — 00:03:07
  • ★★★ Hank says that in the end Puss is afraid of death but not of his fear, so the cat, the YouTuber, can fight death while knowing it cannot ultimately be defeated. — 00:03:37
  • ★★★ Hank says Puss keeps fighting death as much and as long as he can, not to look good for the crowd but to preserve what he loves: time with family and friends. — 00:04:06
  • ★★ Hank says Puss still loves big adventures and making things for people, but knowing the next fight with death may be the last gives him a new perspective: he needs and wants more. — 00:04:35
  • ★★ Hank wonders why anyone would make a kids movie that is definitely about coming to terms with mortality as a middle-aged professional entertainer, but is glad they did. — 00:04:35

00:05:13 — Penguins of Madagascar line to John and sign-off

  • ★ Hank tells John he has finally found his own Penguins of Madagascar. (playful) — 00:05:13 · John Green

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description says Hank is off to get the final radiation of his current treatment plan. — video description
  • ★ The description concedes Hank may be bringing his own particular experience to his reading of the film, but insists on it anyway. (hedged) — video description

Humor (significant)

  • Hank claims the animated Puss in Boots sequel is about a YouTuber who gets cancer and voices John's objection. — 00:00:01

    “You're thinking, Hank, no, that's a movie about a cat who has boots.”

  • Puss loses the eighth of his nine lives; Hank is unsure of the count. — 00:01:13

    “I never counted. I am not really a math guy.”

  • After describing Puss's love interest Kitty Softpaws, Hank introduces his own romantic interest. — 00:02:16

    “her name is Katherine and her hands are soft”

  • Puss's adopted son has a heart of gold; Hank's son is very cute and has a heart of... — 00:02:16

    “you know, he's six. He's working on it.”

  • After reading a kids movie as a meditation on mortality, Hank addresses John. — 00:05:13

    “John, I finally found my Penguins of Madagascar.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Death · death anxiety · Puss in Boots · Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

Also: cancer · Jack Horner · Katherine Green · Kitty Softpaws · Netflix · Orin Green · Penguins of Madagascar · The Great Gatsby

Only in the description or credits: Radiation therapy

Also centred on death anxiety: Oinkbarf Pandemic! An Intellectual Response to Swine Flu · Our Grandfather · You Will Be Forgotten ...And That's OK · The Necessity to Struggle / The Futility of Effort · Let's Talk About Death

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