Issue 20: The Nostalgia Issue

Cover by Annick Harvey

Editor’s LetterThe nostalgia Issue

Wazzzzzap guys? This week’s issue takes a dip dive into nostalgia, and what that means for us. Whether you were born in the nineties (like me!), the noughties, or the twenty-tens, we all have memories that are rose-tinted, fairy sprinkled and oldskool. In our nostalgia issue, Aiden looks at the current obsession with remakes; Molly uncovers what was hot in the school playground; Liz investigates trends in dystopian fiction; Tui explores literary cliches; and yours truly delves into dance films that made me. Our regular news section, brought to you by Sammy and Brett, is bursting with juicy revelations as we keep you informed and on the pulse of what’s happening across the campuses. So grab a tea, sit back and have a geez at MASSIVE, da bombest student mag in NZ.

WEEKLY NEWS

‘It’s dodgy’: Massey student association quiet about cuts

Sammy Carter (she/her)

It’s been months of huge job and course cuts at Massey University, and yet its student association has said very little publicly about one of the biggest issues facing students.

Te Tira Ahu Pae’s website said it was “your students’ association at Massey University, run by students, for students!”

It continued to say the association was “independent from the University”. Design student and advocate against the cuts Ruby Christoffel said the association was almost advocating for Massey instead of students when it comes to the job and course cuts.

Up to one third of the papers currently offered at Massey could be cut as it recently announced a year-to-date operating deficit of $14.2m.

Christoffel said in comparison, the Victoria University Wellington Student Association (VUWSA) had publicly taken a stance on the cuts at its university. On the 1st of August, Massey and Victoria students protested at Parliament for the ‘Funeral for Tertiary Education’ and VUWSA president Jessica Ye addressed the crowd.

While Massey Students Against Cuts were there, no representation from Te Tira Ahu Pae attended.

When researching for her art exhibition called ‘Off Cuts’, Christoffel first went to the association’s website seeking information but found “nothing”. She expected its website to at the bare minimum explain the situation, “They didn’t even have to oppose them, they could have just said ‘this is what is happening’.”

On the 9th of August, a student and staff forum called ‘The Neoliberal War on Universities’ was held on every Massey campus.

The association held a sausage sizzle on every campus at the same time and did not advertise the forum.

The association had almost no social media posts about the cuts, one being advertising a ‘Feeling kept in the dark’ survey, until when it posted following Massive’s questioning it posted a new ‘Stop The Cuts’ survey.

The association’s first survey resulted in 95% of students saying they would support the association campaigning against staff reductions.

General president Andrew Steele planned to hold consultations including Stop the Cuts events on all Massey campuses.

Christoffel appreciated the support Steele had given Students Against Cuts behind the scenes, however, felt the association as a whole wasn’t doing enough.

“From the outside I would not know, I would think the association's doing nothing, almost advocating for Massey.” When asked what the association’s stance is regarding Massey’s job and course cuts, general manager Wendy Carr said it had very little information to make a stance, despite many media reports.

She said Te Tira Ahu Pae was independent from the university, “however are funded by them and try our best to partner with them”.

“Te Tira Ahu Pae student representatives must always consult with their cohorts before speaking on behalf of the student body.”

Carr said student reps did not attend the ‘Funeral for Tertiary Education’ protest as they “are students too and have classes and other commitments”.

Posters were spread around campuses about the ‘Neoliberal War on Universities’ forum and reminders were posted on

Massive’s social media.

Carr said, “It would have been very helpful to have been informed about the forums so we could share the information.”

She said the BBQ’s held simultaneously as the forum were planned for months. Some Te Tira Ahu Pae representatives attended a snap rally at the start of the month to protest against further budget cuts by the Tertiary Education Commission, however, this was not in protest of Massey University’s actions. A fine arts student advocating against the cuts, Julia Kohlhaas, said the association’s actions were “dodgy”. She said the association should have “at least” informed students about the ‘The Neoliberal War on Universities’ forum. She said the cuts were a huge issue affecting students, “so if you are a student association you need to reflect that and not be silent about it”.

Kohlhaas said if Te Tira Ahu Pae is independent from Massey, she would expect it to inform students about the cuts, “I just wonder why it is so quiet.”

Six years of sold-out drops propels Massey student’s clothing brand to more

Brett Kerr-Laurie (he/him)

Massey student and co-founder of BushLeague Finn de Hamel described the brand as “slightly above average”, with a big emphasis on community.

The fashion label is set to open a brand-new website in early October –accompanied by its largest clothes drop yet.

The industrial design student said, “We keep it as organic and ‘naturally us’ as possible because that's what people buy these days; they like to buy an image, they don’t want to just buy something because ‘it’s cool’.”

He first imagined the brand with his friend Max Paterson in intermediate maths, 14 years ago.

Their first release of 50 branded caps in 2017 sold out within two months, setting the stage for many other “sporadic” drops over the years.

Previously, the co-founder would advertise clothing drops on his social media stories and by word-of-mouth, which would be enough to sell out. But it didn’t always go to plan: In year 11 the pair lost $900 dollars when their socks didn’t sell.

“We literally had to rebuild from $100 in our account and order four shirts, because that’s all we could afford, sell them, order six shirts, sell them, that type of thing - until we built up enough money.” They’ve since been careful to ensure what they release will sell, with inflation also taking a toll as manufacturing hoodies had nearly doubled in price since they started, De Hamel said. The pair have refined BushLeague, with Paterson now handling the financial side at University of Canterbury, and De Hamel working on the creative side in his Wellington flat.

De Hamel said the co-founders reinvest every sale back into the brand, rewarded

when they see people wearing it. “When people are willingly wearing a T-shirt, especially in a city like Wellington where fashion is quite a thing, and this person has gone: ‘this is the shirt I want people to see me wearing today’ - that makes me really, really happy.”

BushLeague sources its manufacturing from China - but never used sweatshops. “Every time we work with a company, we ask them to send videos of the factory floor, where it’s most often just a bunch of bored old looking guys.”

The brand had also used local materials, like leather from New Zealand brand Xavier Napoleon, which was sent to China for manufacturing into hats to be released this year.

Since studying at Massey, De Hamel had “100%” noticed an upgrade in BushLeague’s designs, “being surrounded by creative people all day every day”.

However, an industrial design student himself, he doesn’t think a fashion major is a prerequisite to work with clothes as he’s incorporating design theory from many majors into the brand.

De Hamel said in five years they plan to be “a stable brand that's doing four drops a year and pretty widely known”, hence the new website.

“It's definitely something I enjoy as a side hustle, almost as a creative break … purely whatever’s in my head I can do. There’s nobody telling me ‘no’ or ‘yes’ or ‘that doesn’t fit the marking criteria’.” He would advise others who want to create their own brand to “understand manufacturing methods” and said “you’ve got to be awfully passionate about it”.

“You can learn so much stuff from YouTube. Where there's a will, there's a way.”

De Hamel quoted something he heard last year: “A lack of budget forces creativity”, which he said resonated with BushLeague’s history.

www.bushleagueofficial.com will go live early October with their biggest drop yet of hats, tees, hoodies and more. In the meantime, updates can be found on the @bushleagueoffical Instagram page.

BushLeague is run from Finn de Hamel’s Wellington flat.

Photo / Supplied

Co-founder Finn de Hamel works on BushLeague’s creative direction and manufacturing. Photo / Supplied

BushLeague co-founder Max Paterson handles the finance end from Christchurch. Photo / Supplied

Over $51 million dollar budget cut for struggling universities

Sammy Carter (she/her)

Massey will be having baked beans on toast for dinner with more budget cuts of millions for it and other universities.

Almost $52 million will be cut from the next budget to four major universities struggling with enrolment, announced the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC).

On September 1st, Massey students and student reps gathered on the Wellington Terrace to protest the cuts announced by TEC.

Student protesters were holding signs saying, “cuts so bad even the introverts are here” and “stop suffocating tertiary education”. The other universities affected are University of Otago, Auckland University of Technology, Victoria University of Wellington, and Polytech Te Pūkenga.

Andrew Steele, general president of Massey student association Te Tira Ahu Pae, attended the strike, “We stand in alliance with the other university student unions against these cuts … we will not stand by.” Stuff reported falling student enrolments at the affected universities and polytechnic were behind a forecast $107.7 million shortfall for the already cashstrapped tertiary education providers. The Tertiary Education Commission defended its action, saying it was predicting enrolments for next year to be “significantly lower”.

Victoria University of Wellington and Otago University asked the TEC to delay reducing their funding this year and instead recover it in 2024. When asked why Massey did not

join this plea, a spokesperson said, “Massey asked for the TEC’s consideration in making any adjustments during the wash up process in April 2024.”

The university received a letter from TEC in August proposing a downward amendment to its 2023 funding and were given the opportunity to respond.

The university confirmed there would be under delivery in 2023 and added that any early recovery would create additional financial pressures for it. The TEC responded saying it would be progressing the proposal to amend Massey’s funding to reduce the anticipated 2023 recovery amount despite the added pressure on universities.

“Massey is disappointed at the response and notes the additional

financial strain this decision will impose,” said the spokesperson. They said recoveries due to lower than predicted enrolment numbers were part of the regular funding process the university had planned for in its financial forecasts for 2023.

“The difference this year is that TEC is recovering funding in-year rather than year end, as in previous years.”

Massey was asked if the further budget cuts would increase job and course cuts. The spokesperson said, “To ensure our university has a sustainable future in the current economic environment, we are focused on the important work of examining the university’s academic offering to reduce the proportions of courses with low enrolment”.

23 electives from the College of Creative Arts cut for 2024

Sammy Carter (she/her)

Massey University confirmed its website was not updated to show all of what won’t be offered in 2024, so Massive is figuring it out bit by bit. After comparing next year’s course and qualification guides to this year’s, Massive was able to figure out what won’t be offered next year from the College of Creative Arts and confirmed this with Massey. More information from other colleges is to come as more course guides are released.

Electives not offered from the Bachelor of Design with Honours:

• Interaction and Interface I 197.238 (200 level)

• Intro: Web Development 289.101 (100 level)

• Fashion Construction 212.101 (100 level)

A Massey University spokesperson said, “Important learning from here is being incorporated into the fashion core, as largely fashion major students are the only students enrolling in this course.”

• Contemporary Design Project 1A: Jewellery 197.193 (100 level)

• Drawing The Body I 213.155 (100 level). A Massey spokesperson said, “Key learning will be incorporated into the 213.154 Contemporary Drawing”.

• Product Design Visualisation 198.212 (200 level). A Massey spokesperson said, “This course and Visualising Space are being delivered as two

modules of the same new course 197.238 Communicating and Visualising Space.”

• Garment Block Pattern Drafting and Grading 212.200 (200 level)

• Photography and Digital Practices I 221.221 (200 level)

• Materials Lab 223.207 (200 level)

• Design for Display 224.205 (200 level)

• Concept Design for Imaginary Worlds 222.333 (300 level)

• Interaction and Interface II 197.338 (300 level)

• Photography and Digital Practices II 221.321 (300 level)

• Design for Festivals and Events 197.435 (400 level)

• Photography and Visuality 221.457 (400 level)

• Contemporary Letterpress 222.409 (400 level)

• Innovations in Illustration (VCD Special Topic F) 222.496 (400 level). A Massey spokesperson said, “This is now an established elective, not a special topic, so this course is being offered with the updated title of:

Illustration Art Now 222.424.”

• Embroidered Textiles 223.411 (400 level)

Electives not offered from the Bachelor of Fine Arts:

• Contemporary Art Project B: Printed Matter – The Art Book 213.257 (200 level)

• Fine Arts Internship 213.358 (300 level) A Massey spokesperson said, “We now will have only one internship course across Art and Design, and this is offered under Internship 197.383.”

Electives not offered from the Bachelor of Screen Arts:

• Advanced Audio 289.341 (300 level)

• Intro to Programming for Interactive Projects 289.114 (100 level)

Electives not offered from the Bachelor of Commercial Music:

• Vocal Performance and Production 133.179 (100 level)

If you know a course that won’t be offered in 2024, email it to Massive at sammy@massivemagazine.org.nz

electives won’t be offered in 2024 for the design degree alone. Photo / TeenLife

What is Nostalgia to me?

Yesenia L. Pineda

Nostalgia to me is my mother’s and father’s cooking. It’s about thinking back to the simple days I had with my family as a little girl with my little dog. Where I would smell the magic my parents would make in the kitchen as me and the dog played around with his chewed up lion toy.

Nostalgia is hearing my family speak in Spanish over the phone with my tias and tios whose children try playing angry bird or candy crush to pass the time. It’s going to my cousin's party where the tortillas are made so spongy, round, and softly burnt that it soaks up the juices of the steaks marinated overnight with cilantro and bright white onion that are grilled over a bright red flame. It’s the feeling of my cheeks being pulled and hugs so tight that I squeak out a breath.

Nostalgia feels like my grandma's hands moved over mine to soothe my growing worries as I aged on. It’s feeling her hands touching my forehead to give me the morning blessing as I ran out the door to do an errand that lasted hours as we always got something we didn’t really need but wanted. It’s feeling the shape of the toy I keep hidden away that she got me when she first came to live with me in Mother Nature’s enemy: Maryland.

Nostalgia sounds like my 15-year-old chihuahua’s snoring and loud bark. Where he’d run down the flight of stairs to bark his little heart out because another dog dared to walk by. Or it’s his little tornado

spin he did whenever I said “you wanna go outside?!” My chaos made real is him, the staple of my childhood, teenage, and blooming young adulthood, he is the dog that I raised since he was three months old.

Nostalgia is the homesickness I have towards the life I have in the states. It’s wishing for dreams to come to me on those heavy and long nights where my brain doesn’t know what to picture. Between my siblings, nieces & nephews, parents and my whirlwind of a dog I call my own little snaggle-toothed fuzzball, nostalgia to me is remembering the senses I associate with the feelings I have when I think about my home.

I’m far from my little corner of the world but my adventure has only begun.

Scrambling for Scented Pencils: An Ode to Primary School

By Molly Richards (she/her)

This week I am feeling extra nostalgic. So, we’re going back to basics, it’s the 2010s, primary school, life is a bit simpler. This week I’m going get nostalgic and head back to a time where high school was an idea looming and rent wasn’t so shit.

If your primary school experience was anything like mine, you may have experienced some of the following… Coming in swinging let's talk about the Scholastic Book Fair; the hottest ticket in town and possibly the only occasion many of us hit the library. I went absolutely feral for that week. Much like school assembly, you had no idea it was coming. I begged my parents for this spy starter kit from the booklet one year. I ran home every day hoping it had arrived and the day it did I lost my shit. Looking back, it was just a crappy pair of not so discreet recording glasses, plastic, neon green and loud, but I was well chuffed.

In a similar vein, do you remember being shunned from the class if you didn’t get your hands on those scented Smiggle erasers? They were absolutely useless at their one job (at the time, I cannot speak on their functionality at present) but regular erasers were out and Smiggle was all the rage. I scraped together my pocket money to get that motorised electric eraser, which actually worked pretty well despite the obnoxious sound and the whole batteries not includedtm. I’m not sure why we all wanted our stationery to smell like fruit salad, but those scented pencils were far more useless than any of the erasers. If you ever dared to sharpen them, the scented wrap would peel off. Tragic but

let’s face it: pencil cases never smelt better.

If you went to primary school in the early 2010s, you may recall those fateful days – usually at the end of term – where you got to watch movies in class. Projector and weird electric whiteboard craze wouldn’t cut it. No, you had to wheel in the big guns; the T.V that was so chunky it needed its own cart and three 10-year-olds to bring it into the classroom. Those were the days.

Ask anyone if I love a lolly scramble and you’ll realise I take no prisoners on that front. You had to be ruthless back in the day, you wouldn’t survive otherwise. ‘Dog eat dog’ and all that. You had no friends in a lolly scramble, only allies and enemies. It was what it was. Fruit bursts were the currency but the thing is, they hit you like a truck if you’re at point blank range. Brutal but worth it. One year the lolly scramble was botched when the lollies were unwrapped. You had to catch those bad boys before they made contact with the ground. The five second rule wasn’t going to save you. You knew it was going to be a good day when it rained. Inside lunch? Absolutely. Remember Papa’s Freezeria? Now that was a GAME, I spent many a rainy lunch time hunched over the crappy school PCs making frozen yogurts. Was it frozen yogurt? No one cared, it was fun and we were so cool. Club Penguin and Moshi Monsters were huge, too. I can’t say I was that big a fan of Poptropica but I love to customise a character so at least that was cool. Or how about Cool Maths Games? I’m sure many of us back in the day stepped up the drama and managed to convince the

teachers that it was educational. I witnessed Meryl Streep respect for acting on those days.

Math games have loomed in my brain for so long. I’m not sure what those little counters were for, but I can still picture them vividly. And those little plastic blocks, no clue still, but the primary colours have never looked so vivid.

Outside of school, I played with the iconic Bratz dolls, Lego, and if I was lucky my dad brought out the Scalextric track. I raced Ferrari but had no concept of Formula 1 back then, only that red was my favourite colour. Polly Pocket was a big thing, not really for me, but those rubbery shoes did look tasty. As a disclaimer, I deny consuming any of my doll’s accessories, but I can’t say I didn’t want to. Moving on, Moshi monsters and the collectable Moshlings were HUGE amongst my friends. Each week I’d get a new mystery pack with my pocket money and spend upwards of thirty minutes trying to get a pack I didn’t already have. Double ups became a year group stock exchange. Same thing for the New World minis. It was a rat race and I wanted a monopoly. Even the teachers got involved. Exchanging mini milks for the can of marmite was a hard sell.

On those after-schools you needed to chill, hard work on primary school wall street was tough. So TV may have been the go, I was partial to Cartoon Network back in the day. I was and let’s face it, still am obsessed with Scooby Doo. I loved that show so much that prior to the aforementioned Moshling craze I would spend my pocket money on Scooby Doo DVDs from the Warehouse. Over time I did build up a

Illustration by Eden Laing

Dystopian Fiction: The End of an Era or a Reality?

By Elizabeth Chan

I loved YA dystopian fiction. In fact, it was the only subgenre that kept me reading when there wasn’t any good fantasy fiction left to read.

There was just something fascinatingly unique about the re-imagination of how the world would look when it teeters towards its end.

For one, it was unnatural and unorthodox.

Unlike the archetype narrative of the villain trying to find a way to live forever with the protagonist fighting to save the world from the enemy’s actions, dystopian fiction showed the readers why living so long to see the world’s end wasn’t so great after all.

As a girl who always wondered how we would all survive if we managed to live to witness the end of the world, I got pulled in even more into the world of YA dystopian fiction. I loved it so much that even though I didn’t like the Hunger Games, I watched many of the film adaptations even though I didn’t know what was going on. I finally quit watching them when my brain couldn’t take it.

This meant that even though The Maze Runner scared the living hell out of me, I tried to bear reading the books to “expand my reading horizons” while keeping up with the movies when the books were too spine-chilling to read. This meant that even though Divergent was the only mainstream dystopian fiction I actually liked, I dropped reading and watching both the book and movie series out of rage when my classmate immaculately spoiled the whole thing by telling me that Tris Prior died in the end. (For the readers who didn’t know this, Divergent ended a decade ago, so this doesn’t count as a spoiler).

Why did YA dystopian fiction drive me to do all the things a reader who genuinely loved the sub-genre wouldn’t do? Because that was just how powerful the hype around dystopian fiction was, which, unfortunately, drove it to its end.

The Decline of Dystopian Fiction

I admit that the build-up of the hype around mainstream dystopian fiction was what kept me reading. In fact, it simultaneously made me disregard other lesser popular dystopian fiction like dystopian fantasy books because it just wasn’t what everyone was reading and raving over. As an awkward tween who took pride in reading books because she just wasn’t confident in socialising, the hype in mainstream books meant everything. It was the key to connect with what everyone else loved at the time and a part of me hoped that I would be able to gain more friends if I knew all about the “hottest” topic.

Well, there were probably a lot of like-minded people who were attracted to dystopian fiction because of the hype, who binge-watched and read both the books and film adaptations. According to Canta and Michigan Daily, dystopian fiction faded out due to a lack of new original ideas and a lack of revenue produced.

But aren’t the most trending books fuelled by the hype thanks to the massive success of their publishers, marketers and connections? Was the downfall of YA dystopian fiction really due to a faded-out hype?

‘Dystopian Fiction’ or Our Current Reality?

Many of us probably thought the main reason behind the decline of dystopian fiction was because end-of-world scenarios that were once fiction has become our reality. We have several elements to check off the list of end-ofworld re-imaginations, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the falling economy, the increase of natural disasters around the world, The Simpsons predictions becoming true. We’re already experiencing the worst that could be imagined, so what can dystopian fiction writers possibly write about now?

I personally believe that this line of thought is the reason why dystopian fiction has died out.

But I also believe that dystopian fiction still can be revived, and it has not truly lost its spark. After all, there are still a few dystopian fiction books out there that just aren’t mainstream.

Perhaps one day I will be able to revive it as a writer and a sincere dystopian fiction lover. Fingers crossed.

Illustration by Annick Harvey

Illustration

Cliché: A Time and a Place?

By Tui Lou Christie

We’ve all sat through an English class where a teacher warns us against using clichés. Sure, a few clichés in a piece of fiction can make the whole text feel unoriginal, but there are much more complex reasons why cliché impacts a story so much when overused or not utilised properly. Cliché does present a genuine problem with originality and meaning-making at a cognitive level. However, in my opinion as a BA Creative Writing grad, there are some instances where, when used appropriately and in the right context, cliché can be used to benefit rather than detract from creative writing.

Merriam-Webster dictionary starts its entry for the term cliché with one of the most common definitions, that a cliché is “a trite phrase or expression.” This is familiar, but doesn’t encompass other elements that many people would associate with the term ‘cliché’, like overdone plot points or characters and so on. The remaining Merriam-Webster entries show the wider scope of what cliché has come to mean, including “a hackneyed theme, characterization, or situation” and “something… that has become overly familiar or commonplace.” For this article, I’m going to define cliché as a phrase, wording, idea, or image that has been repeated to the point where it feels predictable or overdone. That includes tropes, idioms, character archetypes, metaphors and phrases that could be considered ‘overused’.

Cliché is not a simple problem with an easy solution, as it can present deep, cognitive level issues. In “On Cliché: Expression, Cognition and Understanding”, Craig JordanBaker argues that the problematic elements of cliché in creative writing go beyond unoriginality or aesthetic reasons, and genuinely inhibit the cognitive processes of thinking about and making meaning of writing. He draws on research that shows clichés are stored as ‘whole units’ in the brain, rather than as individual components that need to be picked apart and made sense of by the reader. Cliché, he argues, inhibits any complex thinking because “where we can anticipate, we need not listen” (p.11). While cliché does present problems for a story, the numerous think pieces about avoiding cliché do not leave room for when cliché may be appropriate or even useful.

Using a cliché in a character or in dialogue can be useful for showing character elements like personality, age, and ethnicity. Clichés are part of our everyday speech, whether English teachers like it or not, including some that do not register as being clichés at all. Nigel Fountain’s “Clichés: Avoid Them Like The Plague” covers many of thesephrases like ‘whatever’, ‘work-life balance’, or to take an idea and ‘run with it’ (2012). Take the example above, a comic from Punch Almanac for 1885, which is a humorous take on the clichéd metaphors that were popular in the literature of the time. In this example, the action that this phrase implies is so ingrained that subverting it by taking it literally is a source of surprise and humour. This demonstrates how ‘hidden’ some clichés are, and how difficult they can be to avoid. So, including cliché can make for authentic dialogue, it makes it sound like an actual person is talking. Using carefully chosen, specific clichés in dialogue and description can also demonstrate character. Speculative fiction author Jo Eberhardt writes a passage of dialogue

Fig. 1. Atkinson, P. (1884). Our Three-Volume Novel at a Glance.

to show this, asking us to consider the character who says this: “The old digger may have a few ‘roos loose in the top paddock, but you stop stirring the pot and she’ll be right.” (writerunboxed.com, 2016). From this, we can quickly gather that this character is probably a gruff older bloke from rural Australia, just by the use of location and time specific clichés. If he was also described as wearing a black singlet, rugby shorts, and gumboots (an example of a visual cliché), this would characterize him further. Cliché can be effectively utilised as a kind of ‘shorthand’ (Eberhardt, 2016) to show character.

Cliché can also be used to effect within a story by building an expectation and subverting it, or ‘anti-cliché’. This surprise is the basis of humour and shock. Terry Pratchett often uses these to effect within his Discworld series, with phrases like “and that which does kill us makes us dead” (Carpe Jugulum), “If a thing’s worth doing, it’s worth doing badly” (Equal Rites), and most famously “Build a man a fire and he’ll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he’ll be warm for the rest of his life” (Jingo). These humorous malapropisms can also be useful for showing a story’s or a character’s sensibilities, background, and intellect or lack of. Another example is Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage. The protagonist in this story holds a clichéd idea of war, one of honour and glory. During the novel, he learns the horrors of warfare including being treated as expendable by superior officers and facing the grim terror of combat. He sees his own previously held ideals were clichéd, unexamined, and uninformed. The clichés here show a certain bravado and naivety of character and become the basis for the true shock of the story. Occasionally, cliché goes beyond being useful to being necessary. Conventions and tropes, the defining building blocks of genre, can often be considered clichés due

to the repetitive nature of them. Sometimes, these are necessary for the functioning of a story entirely. New York Times bestselling fantasy and sci-fi writer Susan Dennard concludes that genre fiction entirely relies on these tropes, saying “I wouldn’t pick up a mystery if I thought the killer wasn’t going to be revealed at some point. I wouldn’t pick up that romance if there wasn’t a happily-ever-after ending.” They can be important story driving aspects, like the ‘ticking clock’ in a thriller, or used to signal ideas quickly, like a cape on a superhero. Most importantly, certain conventions create catharsis, as our history of stories teaches us to expect certain results and feel satisfaction when they are fulfilled. According to Adolphe Haberer’s ‘A Defense of the Cliché’ from the Journal of English Studies, clichés can articulate symbolism and find their own merit through commonality. “What it has lost in the way of novelty and piquancy,” he says, “is made up for by its familiar smoothness.”(p. 150). Tropes can also be exaggerated for comedic and character purposes, like Austin Powers playing with spy genre tropes, or Scary Movie playing with horror conventions.

Cliché definitely presents an issue with authentic cognitive understanding in a text and can quickly alienate a reader or obfuscate meaning. However, this does not mean that clichés are always negative: not only are they occasionally unavoidable, but there are also many instances when they can be used to the author’s advantage within a story. Some clichés are unavoidable, and others still have a timeless truthfulness or universality that makes them socially valuable. Clichés do come from generations of human experience and storytelling and are a touchstone for many people in day-to-day life. At the end of the day, there is a time and a place for cliché.

Sexcapades

Three way on D-day

I’m approaching the end of my marketing degree, and apart from the absolute nightmare that is leaving behind my Unidays discount codes, I’m starting to realise that nearing grad means a shitload of assignments.

It’s giving povo, sad girl winter, and ‘where is my social life?’, because every single time an assignment d-day hits, I’m riddled with anxiety and calling my bf to tell him I’m dropping out. That is until the most recent one.

After handing in another coffee stained 3000-word paper, I made my merry little way over to my bf’s flat, kicked off my shoes, stripped off my pants and hopped into bed with him. Sure, it was only 7pm, but that’s the thing about assignments, they suck out all your human ability.

So, there we were lying in bed. Sooky and needing something to distract me, my hand slid under the covers towards his Johnson as a “joke”, but the reality was that I was ovulating and insatiably horny (iykyk).

Next thing you know, I’m bouncing on top of him like a cowgirl whose rent was due, and he was grunting more than a Neanderthal, when things took an intriguing turn. His flatmate walked in.

This particular flatmate had a Chuck Bass vibe in the sense that he would fuck anything with a pulse. Men, women, non-

binary, he could turn anyone on with his sultry voice, so much so that we had actually talked about having a threesome with him before.

At the time it was 5am at kick-ons and said as a joke, but with him now standing in my bf’s room, shirtless with a glimmer in his eye, it felt like fate was doing our bidding for us. So, my bf and I looked at each other, silently exchanged consent and invited him into bed with us.

Unsurprisingly, he wasted no time in kicking off his jocks and finding his spot as our third. All the attention was focused on me at first, but the boys got their own spicy moment and big-O’s were shared all round. Queens, I’ll be honest, the three way isn’t something I’d partake in everyday, but it did put a positive spin on D-day.

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Happy vibes always, Girls Get Off

Solicited Advice

From Pocket

Solicited advice is a weekly column where Massive’s own four-legged Agony Aunty, Pocket, shares her wisdom and experience with you all. She speaks only truths.

Dear Pocket, I’m officially brain-dead from trying to complete my heap of assignments all at once. Any advice for the deadline rush?

Plan ahead and take one thing at a time, my stressed-out hooman. But sometimes, you can’t avoid clumped-up deadlines when they all happen to fall in consecutive days even if you plan ahead. Sometimes you’re not even allowed to ask for deadline extensions. So, here’s what I suggest; hone your time management skills and create a to-do list, try to stick to it as much as possible. Basically, in the face of a heap of assignments, continue planning ahead and do your very best. Most importantly, take some breaks!! You can’t work if you don’t take care of your health! Also, snacks.... I personally never do anything without a treat.

Do you have a question you’re dying to have answered? Massive Magazine on Instagram or editor@massivemagazine.org.nz and look out for next week’s issue - no question is too difficult for Pocket.

Aquarius Pisces Aries

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Jessie: You’re a boss baddie who takes no bull. Embrace it. Buy that expensive coffee, strut down the street like you’re the main character BECAUSE YOU ARE. Remember, it feels like a party every day. This week, really embrace that ideology.

iCarly: You’ve had highs and lows for a while now, but you know how to make a stellar comeback. While crazy antics are on their way, tackling them with your friends will make them all the easier… and possibly all the wilder.

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Spongebob: Work is a slog, it’s alway a slog, and this week will be as much of one as the last. Keep going in with the smile on your face and attitude you always have. Make everyday the best day ever, you might end up becoming employee of the month.

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Sonny with A Chance: Your smile is as big as your dreams, and that ain’t a bad thing! Got some big plans in the works, you can make it! Having dreams really is just the beginning. Keep in mind though, just being here is the best, but it really is only going to get better and better.

Ben 10: Sometimes it feels like you’re all over the place, constantly watching the clock as well as your back. Take a breath, enjoy every moment. It might not be anything spectacular, but the mundane can be tonnes better than constant stress.

The Fairly Odd Parents: You might find people are hovering 'round you a little more this week, maybe sometimes questioning your decisions. Remember that they just want what’s best for you, and to always listen to what they have to say.

Jimmy Neutron: It’s hard being the smartest in the room, but it’s also hard to not be. Keep in mind that some people won’t understand things as quick as you, and to keep your frustrations with them in check. Be on the lookout for additional challenges this week that will test your brain!

Drake and Josh: Be patient. It’s gonna take some time to realise that the little things don’t matter in the long run. That bestie you have, they’ve got your back 100% in everything. This week, do your best to not stress the little stuff and trust in their wisdom, even if they do irritate you at times.

Scorpio Sagittarius

Phineas and Ferb: I know what you’re gonna do this week! It’s looking creative, and there’s inspiration around every corner, even if you don’t realise it. Even the smallest items might hold the biggest ideas for you, so take note of your surroundings and observe every detail, no matter how small.

The Killian Curse: Feeling a bit different, maybe unknown or ignored? Don’t worry, your admirers are out there, and people remember your best qualities deep down. Keep being you, and know you’ve inspired so many more people than you realise.

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Suite life of Zack and Cody: Things are looking a little cruisier this week. You’ve gotten through the hard stuff, but now is the time for you to relax. Indulge in some much-needed rest and really embrace the suite life for a change.

Capricorn

Total Drama: Every day feels like another challenge but remember that all those around you aren’t your competition –they’re your team. Even those you find yourself opposed against might just be your true allies.

Basic Witch

By Tui Lou Christie (she/they)

A humble review brought to you by a local Witch-aboutWellington, reviewing the places and things that will help you develop your pagan practices, revel in your arcane knowledge, and ascend to your highest self. Recently, the process of my own aging has been catching up with me in equally satisfying and terrifying amounts. As I’m growing into a fully mature witch, the prime of my career, I’ve been looking back at my youth; the good times and the bad. Here’s a brief glimpse at some of the most memorable parts of my early life, adolescence, and young witchhood.

Axolotl

2 stars ★ ★

My first familiar was a brutish, squishy, and deeply sarcastic axolotl. I was only a young witchling, and I named her Vampira, after my favourite TV show host of the time. These days, any pets/familiars/thralls of mine are more likely to be named after mythological creatures, seraphim, or the major arcana, but back then I was just obsessed with that gorgeous, glamorous, screaming woman— she was everything I wanted to be when I grew up. I have to say, however, that axolotls make terrible familiars. They can’t sit on your broom with you like a cat, carry messages for you like an owl, or engage in blood-letting and ritualistic chanting with you like most mice and rats. However, she was a darn good pet and I do miss her indeed.

Familiar: Film:

Dracula (1958)

4 stars

You can just imagine how seeing Christopher Lee as Dracula affected me as a teen witch. He had this dark sensuality and such wild eyes and held me absolutely spellbound. I was a changed witch when I left that cinema. It was also the first Hammer horror, starting off a chain of incredibly influential films that defined the monster genre. It would be irresponsible of me to bring up these films without bringing up their problematic presentation of monsters, which has increased monster-phobia in society tenfold. However, I know plenty of vampires, wolfmen, and creatures from the black lagoon that count these as some of their favourite films, which goes to show the power of feeling represented on the screen.

Cafe:

Suzy’s Coffee Lounge

5 stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Nothing makes me more nostalgic than thinking back to my uni days, and my most frequent haunt for coffee to fuel the long nights studying was Suzy’s. While I was copying out my spells and hexes or memorising lists of cryptids, Suzy worked her magic (haha) and kept my mug full of Cona coffee. She was so much fun and totally out there, so she never commented on my appearance or odour, just welcomed me like I was any other guest. Unfortunately, Suzy’s is no more as the Majestic Centre stands where it once was, and Suzy herself passed away in 2018, but she truly changed Wellington into the coffee-focussed place it is now.

Illustration by Eden Laing

The Cult of Cera

By Jenn Arthurs (she/they)

The stunned, meek, geeky, somewhat malleable, beta submissive Michael Cera.

We all know that Tumblr post that every so often appears on our Instagram explore pages. The one that goes, ‘I feel like Michael Cera never intended to act but ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time and was too awkward to tell them he wasn’t an actor so just filmed stuff anyway and now he’s let it go too far and can’t back out.’ I wouldn’t say he was Hollywood-breed, nor would I want to believe his cult classics pigeonholed him into the shy, awkward indie boy we all know and love. Recently, he’s played darker characters in Twin Peaks (2017) and Black Mirror (2023). But our shy, awkward indie boy has made his way back into our hearts with Barbie’s (2023) discarded Allan, Ken’s best friend, who was discontinued due to lack of consumer interest. As untrue as that is for Cera’s fans, he’s back, and awkwarder than ever, standing hipwidth apart, waving a stunted wave at his fans who won’t forget his totally meme-able face anytime soon.

I love our deadpan man, our leader of outcast kids, Aubrey Plaza’s “weird little freak”. He’s cool, and here’s why.

If I’m going to be honest, whenever I think of Michael Cera I always think he’s a 40-year-old who just pops up on our screens every now and then out of absolute oblivion. But he’s not – he’s 35 years old. I tie him to films and television shows like Napoleon Dynamite (2004), Freaks and Geeks (2000), Dazed and Confused (1993), and Third Rock from the Sun (1996-2001), despite the fact that he’s not in any of them. These films and Cera’s cult classics popped up during this time of offbeat, idiosyncratic, comical yet whimsical television that I’ll admit is somewhat comforting. Comforting and nostalgic like how I would wake up and pour myself a bowl of cereal to watch early morning Saturday shows like Adventure Time (2010-2018) and Pokémon (1997-2023). There’s just something about those shows and Michael Cera that’s easy and funny, not to mention incredibly intriguing for whatever reason.

My first induction into the Cult of Cera, as for many, was by watching Juno (2007). I thought, “He’s cool. Odd, but cool.” To me, wimpy track-runner Paulie Bleeker was unwittingly cool, and still is. His demeanour was down-to-earth, shy, sensitive, geeky, and overall good. He just went about doing his own thing, and supported Juno’s decisions with her impending pregnancy. I adored the indie-folk soundtrack and of course, being a music geek, relished the ending as the camera slowly zoomed out as Juno and Paulie sat playing their guitars singing The Moldy Peaches’ ‘Anyone

Else but You.’

After watching, my induction into the Cult of Cera was solidified. I was 11 years old, unimpressed with The Breakfast Club (1985) (don’t ask me why – I still don’t even know why) and trying to figure out why the world was so fucked beyond repair. I thought Michael Cera was a fun guy, a funny lad. Over the years, I loved his offbeat, sometimes “outcast” characters that, looking back, definitely led me to pick up the bass guitar in year 12. My Instagram and Pinterest are littered with Gen Z-coded memes and photos capturing him in the most uncomfortable situations. My Spotify

playlist covers are all Michael Cera including my profile picture. Even my laptop background is of him sitting down holding a cactus. He’s just a fun guy, a funny lad, and somewhat intriguing and refreshing in how he goes about things. He doesn’t have a cell phone, and oh how I wish I didn’t have one, all of the time.

Michael Cera has become a meme, for sure. There’s no doubt about it. He’s just, like- look at him!! He’s a silly, goofy lad and every photo I’ve seen of him is just ridiculously funny. It seems these typecast characters aren’t far off from his actual personality, but, of course, we must realise that Michael Cera isn’t Paulie. He isn’t Evan, not Scott or Allan. Sometimes it’s hard to believe that, but debates over separating art from the artist will forever circulate internet discourse and will forever cloud my mind.

Cera’s affiliation with Jonah Hill amid the ex-girlfriend text message scandal came crashing onto my TikTok with one singular video. Someone saying that Michael Cera is just as bad as the rest of them. All of Hollywood is what they were alluding to, with no reasons why, and no context, just screaming, ‘Michael Cera is just as bad as the rest of them!’ I’ve read other peoples experiences with Michael Cera, saying he was standoffish, wouldn’t shake their hand, or wouldn’t even look at them. I’ll admit, even Cera’s New York Times article in 2013 ‘My Man Jeremy’ was strange – so strange I’m not putting anything past the guy.

Still, Michael Cera makes a good meme, a good photo to laugh at amidst the fuckery of the world. To me, he’s like a beacon of hope for Gen Z. He’s just a funny lad living offline, wandering about a fairy-infested forest growing his own fruits and vegetables, torn away from the requirements of our shitty capitalist world. To me, he’s a reminder to not to take yourself so seriously, amidst the fiery shithole that is our world. Though this offline lifestyle was only afforded through his film portfolio, let a girl dream with her bowl of cereal.

I recommend you go watch his films. Go listen to True That (2014). If not, just go and look at the memes that throw me into a fit of laughter every time I see them (which is every time I open my laptop). Michael Cera’s a fun lad, a funny guy, a silly goofy dude whose PR team begs him to have an online presence. I believe he’s better off without one, living his best life that’s sometimes captured at the most awkward moments. He’s cool, odd but cool.

Nostalgia-bait

By Aiden Charles (he/they)

I love media content. Every day I consume media content. Do you know what I love more than media content? Variety. You know what the entertainment industry loves more than media content? Milking a franchise for all it’s worth until it’s a husk of its former glory. Especially in the film industry, it feels like all we get are remakes and sequels. Only a month ago did we get a fifth Indiana Jones film, one which featured the 81-year-old franchise lead alongside a younger, increasingly popular actor, most likely in a bid to keep up franchise relevance and longevity. In the realm of TV, we just got the revival of cult animated series Futurama, a series that had such a definite and impactful ending that follow-ups don’t make a lot of sense. And in video games it’s more or less the same: Mortal Kombat going back to the original designs of the characters due to convoluted story reasons, all the mainline Resident Evil games being remade, the milquetoast Ratchet and Clank reimagining from 2016, and not to mention lazy HD remasters of classic IPs which are broken beyond belief but turn a profit due to the nostalgia factor.

I am NOT unbiased at all. However, if your film is relying so much on nostalgia for what came first that you’re reusing old footage every time a name drop occurs or a past event is mentioned, I think you need to do some rewrites. As a movie goer, I don’t want keys jangled in my face whenever something from a prior film is mentioned. It feels lazy, and it can make the audience feel stupid, as if the director doesn’t trust them enough to remember prior films and needs to go “hey hey! This is that thing! Remember thing? You loved thing so much, here it is again!”

Again, I love The Matrix and enjoyed the latest film, but I didn’t enjoy it due to the rehashing of plots from the first three, or the remade shots, or the shots literally taken from the first movie. I enjoyed it because of the fun set-pieces, interesting special effects, and stellar cast. The jangling keys were at times a bit distracting. All of this culminated in an ending that was punctuated with a somewhat decent cover of Rage Against the Machine’s Wake Up, the same song used in the end credits of the first Matrix movie. Opening with a callback and ending with one, Matrix Resurrections is a film bookended by nostalgia.

It seems playing on people’s love of yesteryear content is here to stay, and I gotta say that, to an extent, I’m fine with it! To an extent.

A favourite example of mine is the recently released The Matrix Resurrections, a movie so heavily in love with the prior trilogy that it used footage from the original films in place of new content, while also remaking entire sequences and recycling story beats. Look I’m a fanboy, I ADORE The Matrix films and everything that comes alongside them, so

The Matrix (1999) vs The Matrix Resurrections (2002) Hear the, keys jingle-jangling?

A different film, albeit one that relies solely on audience nostalgia, is Solo: A Star Wars Story. While it does not rehash plots or reuse footage, it feels the need to have

Ratchet and Clank (2002) vs Ratchet and Clank (2016) The same level 14 years apart.

“What if we made a whole-ass movie explaining how Han Solo got his windshield dice???”

an explanation for every single detail about the titular character. In this one movie we find out:

How Han Solo got his ship

How Han Solo met his best friend

How Han Solo met his rival

How Han Solo got his blaster

How Han Solo’s ship got the iconic look

How Han Solo did an event which is mentioned in passing in the first Star Wars

How Han Solo got the name ‘Solo’

And finally, how Han Solo got his windshield dice. The windshield dice only seen in the movie which came out a year prior. I swear this film is trying to drum up audience memories for things which the average film goer won’t have even thought of. At best it’ll get a slight chuckle or acknowledgement from a die-hard fan, but at worst it just makes the plot feel disjointed and contrived. There’s no longer room for audience interpretation. If details from ten years ago have not been explained, it will be explained in the most obnoxious way possible. Studios love to jangle them keys before the audience, thinking that the best way to get a good reaction is to remind them about things they did enjoy.

I think nostalgia can be done right, a film like T2 Trainspotting shows this. Through callbacks and reused footage, alongside the original cast, T2 manages to pull off a story that relies heavily on nostalgia. It gives the audience a narrative all about people growing old and failing to recapture their youth, punctuating this with numerous homages and callbacks. I know it’s ironic of me to critique one and praise the other for basically doing the same thing, but the difference is one was jangling keys and the other did it right!

Thing is, I’m not completely against this trend, much as it sounds like I am. I can enjoy a callback or two here and there! I just really want more original stuff dammit! There is zero chance we’ve reached a point in our creativity where there are zero new ideas. Like, it’s just not possible. But if that is the case, then all I ask is that our nostalgia is touched upon a little less ham-fistedly.

Hollywood, stop treating the audience as if we’re dumb! You don’t need to jangle the keys every time a reference to the past is made. At least, not so obnoxiously.

Illustration by Annick Harvey

5, 6, 7, 8: Dance Movie Musings

By Leila Lois

Most of us have seen a dance movie or two in our time. Being a lifelong lover of dance, I have seen many. But what, you might ask, makes a great dance movie? I revisit some old and new favourites in pursuit of an answer.

Singin’ in the Rain (1952)

My first and most treasured introduction to dance film was unsurprisingly the godfather of tap dance, Gene Kelly. Even though I can’t remember ever attending a tap class as a young ballet devotee, I was fascinated with his rhythm. His footwork is enough to, as the song goes, get you ‘all a-quiver’. Kelly looped around streetlamps and hopped across the raining streets with flash lightning pace, a charming grin upon his face, making it all look like light work. The strength of this film was also its old Hollywood hilarity, as the female protagonist, Lina, tries desperately to train her voice melodically for the new “talky” films, after making her name as a silent film actor. Her shrieking voice as she tries to sing and read her lines is, quite literally, a scream. A highly entertaining song and dance is made of her awful diction as Kelly dances with Donald O’Connor, the elocution teacher, to the absurd tongue twister, ‘Moses Supposes His Toeses are Roses’. It is an annoyingly catchy rhythm, which is the hallmark of a good dance film.

The Red Shoes (1948)

The Red Shoes is widely regarded as the film that made the ballet film genre. It follows the story of Victoria Page (played by Moira Shearer), a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale ballerina who joins the world-renowned Ballet Lermontov, named after the ballet master, who tests her dedication by making her choose between her career and love, ultimately dancing herself to death. The director, Michael Powell, said himself that the central theme of the film was ‘about dying for art … that art is worth dying for’. I think it’s fair to say that this film is ballet trauma on the silver screen and paved the way for Darren Aronovsky’s Black Swan, a film that explores an obsessive/competitive relationship between two principal dancers in Swan Lake. Tortured and erotic, Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis in this film were responsible for my bisexual awakening. The difference between this old ballet misery memoir and the modern version is the lack of erotic undertones and opulence and ‘staginess’ of The Red Shoes set, and the wide and aerial shots and Tinseltown feel. But

both Moira Shearer in The Red Shoes and Natalie Portman in Black Swan do an exceptionally decent job at playing a neurotic, semi-psychotic ballet dancer caught in a shadowy world of mirrors and artifice. Not the bright and breezy vibes of Singin’ in the Rain. Another thing that is notable is that Moira Shearer was an actual ballet dancer, as well as an actor, whereas Natalie Portman did a short course in ballet and had a dancer body double for many of the scenes. This demonstrates how far drama has diverged from dance in contemporary cinema, whereas many old Hollywood movie stars were accomplished dancers and singers alongside their acting.

Flashdance (1983)

Look. The ‘80s seriously turned up the heat on the dance film genre. The scene in Flashdance where Alex, a steel worker aspiring to gain entry to dance college, dances around the studio in a crop top and shorts, sweat dripping from her curly hair is just pure steam. This film shows raw dedication and passion for dance, be it (again) with a little help from a body double, but Beales’ big brown eyes, tousled mane, and feisty soul as she shimmies in next to nothing across the dance studio in front of a desk full of stuffy judges is pure cinematic magic.

Dirty Dancing (1987)

As I say, the eighties were all about sex appeal, and the dance film realm echoes this with gusto. Dirty Dancing follows the story of a young dancer, “Baby”, who falls in love with her male dance instructor. In a scene that particularly blows the thermometer, Baby arrives at Johnny’s cabin late at night, to find him with his shirt off, the scene quickly progressing into some *dirty* dancing. The film has a complex plotline and, as feminist author Melissa McEwan points out, is not simply a ‘dance’ film, but a film about women’s bodies and their autonomy over their sexuality, offering feminist insights into class, desire, abuse, and abortion. Again, something that I may have thought was ‘just a dance film’ as a teen strikes me as so much more now, and I recognise was formative in my adolescence.

Billy Eliot (2000)

I was a ten-year-old when I first saw Billy Eliot. At the time, my parents split up and my mum moved us from our sunny

lives in the North Island of New Zealand to a gloomy town in the northern United Kingdom not unlike the post-industrial dereliction of the film’s setting. As such, I could really relate to the joy that dance was giving Billy in the absence of sunlight and, at times, the absence of hope in his family situation. My favourite scene is when his chain-smoking dance teacher dances with him to ‘We Love to Boogie’ by T-Rex in the crumby old school hall. They are both a picture of joy as they escape the grim reality of every day through interpretive dance. Seeing him soar across the Royal Opera House stage at the end of the film in Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake was the first moment that I imagined my dreams of being a professional dancer were achievable and inspired much of my following teenage years of devoted ballet training.

They’ve got the moves: a conclusion I could have listed many more dance films that have a special place in my heart and get my dancing feet moving, but time and space does not permit. A common theme with all these films is the joy and love of dance, at whatever cost, as a transcendent artform that is available to all of us, whether we are a child or an adult, trained or untrained…. Wherever we are in place and time. For this reason, dance films are uniquely moving (excuse the pun) and make for great nostalgic cinema.