#Category 2021 films

[courseyoulovemeyoudontknowme]

Lei mi parla ancora (2021, Pupi Avati)

15/11/2024

[doyoulikethissong-poll]

LL Cool J featuring Boyz II Men - Hey Lover 1995

"Hey Lover" is a song by American rapper and actor LL Cool J, released as the first single from his sixth studio album, Mr. Smith (1995). He is one of the earliest rappers to achieve commercial success, alongside fellow acts Beastie Boys and Run-DMC. In 2017, LL Cool J became the first rapper to receive the Kennedy Center Honors. In 2021, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with an award for Musical Excellence. LL Cool J has appeared in numerous films, including Halloween H20, Any Given Sunday, Deep Blue Sea, S.W.A.T., Mindhunters, and Edison. He played NCIS Special Agent Sam Hanna in the CBS crime drama television series NCIS: Los Angeles. He was also the host of Lip Sync Battle.

"Hey Lover" features American vocal harmony group Boyz II Men. The song samples Michael Jackson's "The Lady in My Life" from his 1982 hit album Thriller; thus Rod Temperton, the writer of that song, was given credit as a writer of this song. "Hey Lover" would prove to be the most successful single from the album, making it to number three on both the US Billboard Hot 100 and Hot R&B Singles charts. It also reached number 17 on the UK Singles Chart, number six in Sweden, and number five in New Zealand. In 1997, the song won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance, becoming LL Cool J's second Grammy in that category after 1992's "Mama Said Knock You Out".

"Hey Lover" received a total of 53% yes votes.

[theheightofdishonor]

GL Recs Masterlist

I've watched a couple hundred gls now and so I thought i'd put it to good use and help other people find some. There's not enough gl rec lists anyway

First things first, I'll like to direct you to https://mydramalist.com/list/1xrpwdW3 which is a gl rec list on mdl with more than 200+ titles + links. It's an EXCELLENT resource, kept up to date and even tracks upcoming titles.

Now for stuff that I've watched and thought are decent. I'll link all of these to their mdl page and the links to watch the show can usually be found in the comments. If you're new to gl, be warned that a lot of these are pretty short, ranging from 1-30 minutes.

1 in 10,000 (2018) Korea. This is a soulmates piece told in 3 parts following two girls through different parts of their lives. I think this got more confusing as it went on but I really liked Act I and I think it's worth watching. It's beautiful and angsty and a bit artsy. I'm pretty sure it has a happy ending but don't quote me on that.

Afraid of (2019) Korea. A short film about a girl struggling with her sexuality. Yeah, I know, there's a THOUSAND of these but I do like this one. It's beautifully shot and there's a lot of heart.

Am I the only one with butterflies? (2018) Korea. A girl blogs about falling in love with the manager at her new job. I like part ii better than part one but it's just cute and the pining is very similar to het kdramas.

Anonymous high school girl (2022) Korea. A low stakes love triangle. Good chemistry, low budget, awful kisses.

The Beauty of the Law (2023) China- If you're not familar with chinese gls, I think it's certainly something to get used to. This is like in the top 1% of the category. It's an ad for Adolph Shampoo and i'm going to let you know that they're going to appear often on this list because they make excellent gls. It's a historical about a female unlicensed lawyer trying to help a woman escape her abusive marriage. Makes great points about gender imbalances and women's historical lack of legal rights in China. (f you like this one, Sheng Wei, one of the actresses stars in 50%+ of all chinese gls, check her out)

Beguine (2018) Thailand - It's if the school dancing scene in My School President was a 30 minute sequence with two girls. No plot but adorable.

Cat in the eastern palace (2020) China - Watch this just to have the surreal experience of seeing like 3 whole cdrama arcs which normally take 20ish eps executed in a 7 minute timeframe. Also because it stars laoji who's in the other 50% of chinese gls. As for plot, it's about a cat spirit and a girl pretending to be the crown prince.

Clasper (2021) Thailand - And they were roommates! I liked the production, the dialogue and the acting was pretty decent.

Couple of Mirrors*** (2021) China- Wait to watch this because it will ruin you for everything else. This is like typical thai bl length, like 12 45~min episodes. It's a historical mystery about a wealthy woman who finds out about her husband's affair with her bff and the photographer she enlists to help her. If you watch one thing out of China, watch this.

Dear My Girlfriend (2021) Korea - A group project ft love triangle. It´s pretty classic. A girl starts dating someone who likes her only to realize she might instead be in love with her best friend. The editing is cute. It's a touch angsty as love triangles are and pretty well done.

Dear Uranus (2021) Taiwan. Another school love triangle. Does feature an adorkable female character, you know a bit awkward, a bit cutesy, if you hate this archetype, ignore this one. Personally I think the chemistry for the lead couple was lacking (genuinely shocking considering taiwan tends to be great at this) but both the love interests are hot and I am not immune to hot women

The Demonic lord and the virtuous cultivator (2021) China - Avoid this if you don't like toxic yuri. I personally love it so this is 10/10 for me. Orphan gets taken in by a benevolent benefactor who turns out to be her parents' killer and eventually....you know what go watch it.

Encore Martha (2021) Taiwan. One of the few gls about older women. A tomboy reunites with her first love. This one's only available on gagaoolala so you'll either need a subscription or sometimes they promote it for free. If you can find it though, it's worth a watch.

Family Plan (2016) Korea. This is a bit of an odd one to describe. The first half is two high school girls who are dating. And then the second half is their relationship as adults where they marry guys and use it to have a kid that they raise as theirs. I liked how this examined how two gay people would go about their relationship in in a world where they can't freely be with each other.

Favorite Girl (2022) Thailand. Very standard plot about a girl suffering from a breakup and her roommate but something about it stuck out to me.

Five steps to accept farewell (2016) Korea. Warning for unhappy ending. This is all pure angst, a 9 minute snapshot into a breakup. I like how it's done and the messiness of the situation.

Fragrance of the first flower (2021) Taiwan. A beautifully shot, beautifully acted, slightly too short show about two ex-lovers reuniting ft. all the angst about living in a homophobic society. It stayed in my head for weeks after I first watched it.

Girls Blood** (2014) Japan. A movie about 4 "girls" in an underground fight club. warnings for rape, trauma, domestic assault. One of the main characters is a trans man. There are sex scenes. It's very queer and I highly recommend.

Girls Love** (2016) China. Pre-censorship China had some very wonderful queer work and one of them was this movie It's about a girl who falls in love with her hot butch roommate ft all the tropes AND we get to see them function in a relationship instead of the movie ending when they get together. Warning for both characters being forcibly outed at the end. (nothing bad really happens to them after though). Also do NOT watch the sequel. If you go to mdl, everyone else will also tell you not to watch the sequel and I foolishly did not listen to those people because I liked these girls so much and I suffered for my mistake.

The Girls on Rela (2016) China. It's an anthology of short, I wouldn't say stories, more like moments, sponsored by a lesbian dating app. Each one's really short but the acting and scripts are all pretty good.

The Girls on Rela Season 2** (2016) China. This is sponsored by the same company but it's a totally different format. It's one long show about two girls cohabiting. Pretty well executed if a bit slow.

Graduation, Present + Propose (2021) Korea. A short about a high school girl giving a graduation present to her crush. What it does it does well. It's pretty.

The Handmaiden (2016) Korea. Historical set movie about a conman and thief girl who plot to steal a heiress’s fortune. I make it sound boring but that's only because it's a pretty popular movie and everything to be said about it has already been said.

Happy to have you here (2021) Thailand. Two friends have a sleepover and figure out their feelings. This is definitely in the top 20% for this trope, even though they rushed just a tad into the kiss.

Hello, spring is coming (2019) Korea. I'll let you read the synopsis for this one. What you need to know is that it's pretty, well acted, has good chemistry and is as brightly colored as a lollipop. It's a bit disorienting, parts of it doesn't make a lot of sense but it's a fun time.

I broke up because of you (2023) Korea- A bartender and their client catches feelings for each other. The dynamic is nice, the kiss less so but it can be forgiven.

I’m her weapon (2022) China- It's kinky, it's angsty, it's 3 minutes long and still fits in a separation arc. I would pay money for an extended version.

Kanojo no Kuchidzuke Kansensuru Libido (2022) Japan - two girls fall in love in a hospital. I like the tone of this one.

The L Bang** (2015) China- Another Rela production. It's a 4 episode comedy about a bunch of lesbians + (1) gay man who live in the same apartment complex. It's got queer friendship, queer acceptance and queer love. It's just wonderful. It feels like 2000s American sitcoms but queer and Chinese.

Led Astray by Love (2022) China- Fairly long for a cgl. A girl gets transported to a manhwa and falls in love with the ruler. Sunshine/grumpy. This baby is 52 minutes long and covers like the same amount of plot as word of honor does in 30 something episodes.

Legend of Yunze (2021) China - A human and a half demon vanquish demons from a village. It has a second season and a special that I haven't watched yet.

The Lost World** [Xia Ye Zhi Dao Feng De Tian] (2023) China - After watching as much cgl as I have, I was shocked to see Laoji in a modern piece. This is a college setting running-into-a-childhood-friend trope. The pacing and chemistry are both pretty good. It's one of my favorites from her.

Love in the Tinder Age** (2019) Korea- A black comedy about a bullied lesbian's failed suicide attempt ft psychics, ghosts and a teacher/student relationship. It's not really a gl because the main character doesn't get a romance BUT it's really fun so you should watch it anyway.

Love of Secret** (2022) Thailand- More of a slice of life than a love story but it's cute and fluffy and the main character very much is in a relationship. The actual plot is about a med student who's hiding both her relationship with her best friend and her dreams to be an idol. I found it positively charming.

Lover’s Concerto** (2002) Korea- Calling this a gl is a stretch. It's more just queer? The girls were most likely in love but they don't end up together and the movie itself doesn't really have a happy ending. I did find it beautiful though.

Mayfly angel (2024) Korea- Classic discovers-feelings-for-bestie-after-a-breakup plot. Warning that this is angsty and they don't end up together. But I found it realistic and I liked that they felt like two real people. Take that how you will.

Miss shen and the woman warlord (2023) China- a woman cross-dresses as another young woman's fiance and they fall in love. Despite how i describe it, there's a decent amount of plot and some political commentary.

More or less than 75 celsius (2019) Korea- A tea master and her supervisor fall in love. It's sparse and short but cute.

My Dear (2021) Thailand. A drunk girl confesses to her friend and luckily for her, it's mutual. It's 5 minutes long but it uses its time well and the acting is nice. It feels a bit like gmmtv's confessions. If you like it, the production company ShakeShoulder makes TONS of gl shorts and i'd recommend checking them out.

No distance left to run  (2022) Hong Kong. a 15 minute short film about how fame causes issues in a pop star's relationship. Unhappy ending. The song's a bop though and it's well done.

Nü er hong** (2023) China. I forgot to mention but this one, the legend of yunze and the lost world are all produced by the same studio. They do a lot of fairly long chinese gls. The story is about these two beings from an alien world who crash land on earth and are hunted. One is a healer and the other is a killer, they're in love, the killer goes insane so her lover kills her. Unbeknownst to them, they're immortal so the killer wakes up with no memories 200 years later. The pacing is better than some of their earlier stuff but it's not quite perfect here yet. It is one of my favorites from the studio though and it ends happily.

Our relationship ended before it began (2022) Korea. A barista falls in love with her manager at a coffee shop ft gender roles, miscommunication and the classic "cool one picks on the nice one to show affection" trope.

Pyramid Game** (2024) Korea. This is more gl adjacent like Devil Judge and Beyond Evil. There is a secondary gl couple that's more explicitly canon though. If you've watched other kdramas about school bullying, this is pretty similar except it's an all-girls school and everyone is so gay. It's got so much heart and is one of my favorite shows of the year.

Really, Lily? (2019) Korea. A 6 minute short about two girls who visit a cafe and beats up two men who were making homophobic remarks about them. It's surprisingly comedic and the coloring is bright to match. Features a pretty decent kiss. Watching it, I wished it was longer but what's there is still good.

Secret of us (2024) Thailand. The only longform thai gl that i've liked enough to finish. It's about an idol who comes back to win over her doctor ex. It falters from ep 6 onwards but until then, the show is really good at showing the emotional thought processes of the characters and the way they construct the story is compelling, even though I don't even like second chance romances.

Shackles (2023) China. Another one from the Chinese shampoo ad. The pairing itself is not my favorite but it's so cool that this is basically a warning against nuclear pollution AND features chinese mythology that's used in the brand's marketing. Like a 3 in 1. It's so interesting.

She Makes My heart flutter (2022) Korea. Baby lesbian finds out her aunt runs a lesbian bar and starts working there. It's so goddamn cute but it has this weird relationship with homophobia where everyone in the show is apparently 100% ok with queerness but a lot of the aunt's actions is so driven by her being a queer person in an unaccepting society. A bit like how Moonlight Chicken deals with Jin and Li Ming's different attitudes towards being queer except they don't dwell on why the aunt is the way she is or what she's been through. Anyways, it's worth a watch.

Sleep with me (2022) Philippines. A 6 episode series about two girls who are disabled in different ways fall in love. One of them can only sleep during the day and the other is in a wheelchair and the show does a pretty decent job at showing how these disabilities affect their lives and their relationship

Soshite, Yuriko wa Hitori ni Natta** (2020) Japan. If you follow me, you may have seen me talk about this show earlier this year because I found it and promptly fell in love. It's not quite gl but Mizuki's actions are all driven by the fact that she's in love with Yuriko. It's queerer than you would expect, less queer than you might want. It's a supernatural-adjacent school horror about a girl who's new school has a weird thing where every year, a girl named Yuriko becomes "Yuriko sama" and rules the school while everyone else in that year with the same name mysteriously dies. Yuriko's best friend Mizuki plots to make the sweet innocent Yuriko the newest Yuriko-sama to save her life. It's weird, there's plot holes everywhere by the end, it definitely vilifies it's gays and the ending is weak but it's such a compelling watch.

Stand-in love (2023) Philippines. 2 best friends have a ‘stand in’ relationship where the straight one helps the lesbian one learn how to court someone but they end up falling in love with each other. Like 20 min long and I love it.

Ti Shen** [The substitute] (2017) Taiwan. The mdl synopsis can describe the plot better than I can but it's a romance between an idol and a normal girl that's split into two parts. The first half is about them meeting in high school, the second is when they reunite later on a movie set where one of them is the other's stunt double. I think the first part could've been a bit longer but it's a great movie.

Transit Girls (2015) Japan. Stepsisters. Happy ending though and it's fairly long. I liked this mostly because I like Japan's moody stuff. I also liked how they handled the male love interest.

Truth or Dare (2022) Korea. A 10 minute short about two girls who like each other playing truth or dare. It does a great job at building tension and revealing things without saying it.

Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna** (2022) Japan. A woman who loves to cook comes to an arrangement with her neighbor who loves to eat. Japan does food-centered dramas better than everyone else and this is no exception. The romance itself is slow and you watch how their dynamic changes through this and the season two that came out this year.

The Twelve flower gods: Camelia (2020) China. A xianxia romance about a girl falling in love with a flower but it's a minute twenty so I promise you're not watching for the plot. You're watching to witness the ridiculous amount of innuendos that they manage to fit in under two minutes.

Twin souls of destiny (2023) China. Xianxia romance between two elves, one who is made from the memories of the other's past life. I want someone else to watch this so we can discuss whether or not this is selfcest. The color combination is interesting because I very rarely see lovers in red and purple. The time travel is confusing but it's a good time and laoji is in it.

Until Rainbow Dawn** (2018) Japan. Movie about two deaf girls falling in love ft homophobic parents. The director is a deaf lesbian herself so the movie does a wonderful job in how it depicts deafness and their relationship. It's really well done

When the light pours (2022) Korea. A girl's boyfriend wants her to sing him a song so she enrolls in guitar lessons and ends up falling in love with her teacher. The girls don't get together and I really wish they had! So if you watch this, don't watch the ending and pretend that they did end up together.

[canmom]

Animation Night 189: Nonphotorealistic

There is a funny trend in animation-related terminology to define things by what they aren't. Animation is any technique for creating film that isn't live action. Limited animation is any style of 2D animation that doesn't follow the conventions of Disney's 'full animation' on 1s and 2s - a category that includes a wildly diverse range of approaches and techniques, as this wonderful history by Animation Obsessive describes.

In 3DCG circles, there is a similar term: nonphotorealistic. Which describes, naturally, anything that isn't trying to look like a photograph of a real scene. There has been a real boom in this of late, and just like the other terms, it really doesn't narrow it down very much. Other terms like 'hybrid animation' add a bit more hints.

Of course, if you've been anywhere near animation in the last few years, you'll probably know another term: 'Spiderverse style'.

There is no denying that Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse (2018) by Sony Pictures Animation was an absolute landmark for animation. (I wrote about it way back on AN21, focusing more on the cultural angle.) The ludicrously stylish film pretty much set the direction for animation in the 2020s - making a bunch of money and awards and thus finally throwing open the door to 3DCG animation that doesn't look like the style set by Pixar/Dreamworks in the 2000s. Its sequel, Across the Spiderverse (2023), was even more ambitious and successful (despite a troubled production involving a lot of needless crunch). We'll be showing that soon in a Spiderverse double bill so look forward to it!

So perhaps not surprising that when people see the use of graphical styles, 2D elements, limited framerates and the like in 3DCG these days, Spiderverse comes to mind. In its wake have come various films and series that apply these and related techniques: 3DCG animation is more varied than ever, and it's cool.

It isn't really a style, tho.

Here I'm indebted to youtuber Camwing who has made a nice video overview breaking down the animation of recent movies in this vaguely defined paradigm. Among them we have The Mitchells vs the Machines (2021, also Sony), Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022, Dreamworks), and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023, animated at the French/Canadian studio Mikros animation), and of course over on Netflix you got the wildly popular League of Legends spinoff series Arcane (2021, Fortiche Productions), and the romance film Entergalactic (2022, DNEG), tying in with an album of the same name.

None of these films has exactly the same style, but they all pull from a related bag of tricks. The core techniques are animating on reduced framerates for a 'snappy', high-clarity feeling, the combination of 2D and 3D elements in some fashion, and taking inspiration from traditional media such as paintings or comic books.

For example, Arcane and Entergalactic both use the trick of 2D backgrounds/projecting paintings onto 3D geometry, inhabited by 3D characters with a stylised shader. Arcane is dripping with 2D visual effects. Puss in Boots drops the framerate during its action scenes - the opposite of the old paradigm of full animation, where fast actions would get more frames. Spiderverse draws 2D expressions onto its 3D models to push them further, and is full of all kinds of colourful stylised rendering - screentone effects, kirby dots, outlines, the works.

It's tempting to link this to 2D-in-3D animation, and certainly many of these films apply this technique - this is the major niche where Blender has found its way into industry pipelines. But using 2D isn't mandatory to count here. For example, TMNT Mutant Mayhem has an incredibly striking storybook-painting style, accomplished largely by clever shader work and a strong sense of graphic design. Genndy Tartakovsky's canned 2014 Popeye project was planning to use a ton of 2D-style posing and squash-and-stretch, accomplished largely with rigged 3D models. There are many paths to take!

And mind you, I haven't even covered one of the biggest angles here. Search for nonphotorealistic 3DCG on Youtube and what you'll probably find most is information about cel-shading - aka 'anime style'. This has also advanced considerably in the last few years, with the techniques pioneered by Arc System Works in Guilty Gear such as editing the normals of characters for more precise control over shading, and minute adjustments to break up the mechanical feeling of 3D, becoming widely copied in both games and films. (And particularly, animated porn.)

Vtubers in particular have really run with this technique, generally speaking using cel-shaded models with edited normals, inverted eyes, etc. etc. to try and get the feeling of an anime character come to life. [You can see a lot of these state of the art techniques if you download Pixiv's free VRoid Studio software and import the model into Blender using the VRM plugin.]

Naturally this kind of cel-shaded approach has found a particular home in Japan. In anime, the biggest champions of it are certainly Studio Orange, whose hybrid approach involves planning out shots with 2D animation before matching them with the rigs. We've covered their adaptation of Houseki no Kuni in great detail on Animation Night 97; their Trigun reboot was perhaps even more popular. But cel-shaded techniques, 3D previs and the like have also made their way into big films like Eva 3.0+1.0 (AN66).

Although this type of rendering aims to recreate the look and feel of 2D animation as much as possible, it always ends up being something new: character models that would be too complex to draw, an ease to 3D movements and camerawork that would be challenging in 2D, and generally a new hybrid style. This is good! 2D animation is already very good at being 2D animation - it's fascinating to see what 3DCG becomes with that inspiration.

So with that brief overview, where does that take us tonight?

I'm not quite ready to do a Spiderverse double bill tonight, so instead the plan is to check out a couple of recent American franchise films that are taking on the new suite of techniques. I've mentioned them up above, but let me introduce them more fully here.

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is a sequel to a fairly unpopular spinoff about a side character of the Shrek franchise (AN75). Not, on its face, very promising - which is why it is all the more striking that I was told on all sorts of sides that I must watch this movie. I'm finally going to make good on that.

The title character is a kind of feline musketeer type, now facing the end of his swashbuckling career as he's lost 8 of his 9 lives. Not wanting to hang up his hat, he goes on a quest to restore them. What makes it stand out its the action scenes, which go all in on the anime-influenced, extreme perspective and lighting, limited framerate style that we're discussing above. Apparently it looks sick as shit.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is a fresh reboot of the venerable TMNT franchise, which pretty much describes itself in the title: four turtles (named after Renaissance painters, of course!) live in a sewer as ninjas, led by their aging master who is a rat. Starting as a comic book, it became one of the iconic toyline-driven TV shows of the 80s - but it's still going! Indeed, Turtles has been on a roll of late (at least going by animator scuttlebutt), with Australian studio Flying Bark Productions turning a lot of heads with their neo-Kanada School style (and for really stretching the definition of 'storyboard').

This new film takes a different approach to the bombastic action of Rise. It focuses on a new origin story for the turtles, telling a kind of coming of age story - but what makes it unique is the animation style and cinematography. Cinéma vérité is not a phrase you really expect to be associated with ninja turtles, but the film seems to really go all out in a way you wouldn't really expect from a franchise movie, shooting the young turtles in a handheld style and focus heavily on character. Marcel Reinhard's shader work, allowing the animators to isolate lights to specific objects and characters and introducing graphical elements of cross-hatching, stippling, etc. etc. to the lighting, gives it a uniquely painting-like feeling, augmented by a lot of 2D creativity in lighting and effects.

Turtles has never really been my thing, but this film looks unique enough that I really want to see it - and I hear it's a good film too.

So that's our bill for tonight! Puss and Turtles. Let's see what the big studios have been cooking of late...

Animation Night 189 will be starting around 10pm UK time (roughly three hours hence) and carrying on til about 2-3am same! We'll be on twitch.tv/canmom as usual. Hope to see you there!

[mrs-stans]

‘A Different Man’: Oscar-Nominated Makeup Artist Explains the Link Between Storytelling and Prosthetics

Mike Marino, who also worked on HBO’s “The Penguin,” earned his third Oscar nom for the Sebastian Stan film about self-acceptance

Face masks from the making of "A Different Man" (A24)

“I’m basically a storyteller, just with the skin on a character’s face,” explained Mike Marino, the prosthetics maestro whose reputation is fast becoming as lauded as movie makeup legends Rick Baker and Stan Winston.

At this year’s Golden Globes, Marino was acknowledged not once, but twice by winning actors on stage: First by Colin Farrell, who is unrecognizable in HBO’s “The Penguin”; and then by Sebastian Stan, who won for his role in the dark indie comedy about disfigurement and self-acceptance, “A Different Man.”

“That was a huge compliment,” Marino told TheWrap of the shoutouts. “People were texting me that night — producers and actors and heroes of mine like Rick Baker — joking, ‘These are the Marino Globes.’ I’ve been doing this for my whole life and I’m just super thankful and fortunate to do what I do. Prosthetics work isn’t the crazy, booming business it once was, but I’m following in the footsteps of my mentors and trying for greatness every single time, because that’s what I learned from them.”

Makeup artist Mike Marino and actor Sebastian Stan on the set of "A Different Man" (A24)

For his work on “A Different Man,” Marino notched his third Oscar nomination in the makeup category (shared with David Presto and Crystal Jurado). His previous noms were for “Coming 2 America” (2021) and “The Batman” (2022), but “A Different Man” is in a whole other key – the lowest budget of Marino’s three nominated movies, by many millions, with a svelte shooting schedule of just 22 days.

Directed by Aaron Schimberg, the story follows Edward (Stan), a man with facial disfigurement whose insecurities worsen after he undergoes a treatment to improve his face. After the change, he meets Oswald (Adam Pearson), a warm, chatty Englishman with the same facial condition as pre-transformation Edward.

A few weeks before the film began production in 2022, Marino was contacted via text message by Stan, who is also an executive producer on the film, asking if the makeup artist could lend his prosthetic gifts. Marino, who is based in New York, where the movie would be filmed, was intrigued.

“I read the script and thought, ‘This is totally strange and original and I need to do this,’” he recalled. “We’re living in a time where everyone’s trying to look as perfect as possible, and this story actually has something to say about that. Edward goes through this metamorphosis, where he becomes a handsome guy like Sebastian Stan, but after he loses his face, he doesn’t know who he is.”

With Pearson as a blueprint (the actor, who made his film debut in Jonathan Glazer’s “Under the Skin,” has neurofibromatosis), Marino crafted a three-piece silicone prosthetic for Stan’s character.

“In a previous era, it would have been seven or eight pieces, but the majority of this was one main piece, with also a tiny eyelid and a lower lip,” Marino shared. “And with Sebastian, we got it down to a two-hour application, once the hair and the eyebrows were glued on.” While not filming, Stan wore the makeup on the streets of New York City, both to test its credibility and to feel the reactions of passersby, a theme that the film handles with a mixture of poignancy and irony.

The story also called for several stages of makeup, as Edward is experiencing his facial transformation. For a scene in the bathroom, Marino paid homage to a moment from an 1980s ghost horror classic.

“Aaron, Sebastian and I, we’re super film geeks, and we watched that nightmare sequence in ‘Poltergeist’ where a guy in a mirror peels off part of his face. The funny thing is that for that movie, they only had one shot to get it right, so [screenwriter] Steven Spielberg stepped in and did the peeling himself. Those are his hands in the scene. For us, Sebastian had the responsibility to get it done just right, which he did perfectly.”

Marino also cited “The Elephant Man” as his favorite movie — the one that most determined the path of his life and career — and is grateful that critics and audiences have understood the ideas in “A Different Man” on similar terms.

“David Lynch captured the beauty and the humanity of Joseph Merrick in that film,” he said. “And I love the reactions to Adam’s performance in our film, which prove that people get it. People love Adam when they see him and talk to him, and it doesn’t matter what he looks like and all that superficial stuff.”

The history of movies, Marino mentioned, is notable for the contributions of makeup artists, as far back as Lon Chaney in the silent era and Jack Pierce, who worked on the original “Frankenstein.” Marino is an avid devotee of their efforts and even studied as a protégé under Oscar-winning makeup man Dick Smith (“The Godfather,” “The Exorcist,” “Amadeus”).

“I look at my work as who I am,” he said. “I’m not just a hired gun, which sometimes people want on their production. I have to be interested in the material and feel that it’s right, like with this movie. I love to approach a character and ask, ‘How did this person grow up? How do they live? What are they thinking?’ Makeup is storytelling.”

[thinkingimages]

Oracles, Owls…Some Animals Never Sleep 2021-2012 3D animation, sound

🪄👁️

In Anne Lislegard’s Oracles, Owls…Some Animals Never Sleep an animated owl delivers a prophetic monologue of aphorisms and latent fragments from I-Ching. The monologue is interrupted by compressed dramatized and distorted samples from Blade Runner—Ridley Scott’s 1982 film adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. These unruly voices are at times menacing yet they are also humorous, doubled – a multiplying self – with unsynchronized dancing and trance-like movements. The owl appears as a visually unstable oracle, breaking-down linguistic structures, and engaged in a squeaky quest to interrogate the notional coherence of self and gender. Oracles are entities that serve as portals to hidden worlds, connecting to what is buried beneath the surface of things. Their messages are usually abstract or coded, which means that we have to learn how they speak. When we try to comprehend their messages and stories we are not just discovering or conversing with these non-human beings, rather we are learning their system, habitat, and language. Yet, Oracles are also tricksters who inform us about the future while breaking rules of coherence and proper conduct. It is a non-human voice that causes language, categories, and identities to shake.

[youhavebeentraceyd]

It’s so inspiring to see Flow win Best Animated Feature—for several reasons.

The director is only 31 years old. Incredible.

It was made entirely in Blender—a FREE 3D program, for anyone who doesn’t know.

It was created by a small team of just 45 people, on a very modest budget of around $3 million. (For context, Inside Out 2 cost $200 million.)

A few years ago, some anonymous Academy members admitted that when it came to the animation categories, they often hadn’t watched any of the nominees. Instead, they’d just vote for the Pixar/Disney film because they were familiar with the studio. That has always pissed me off. It felt like Pixar and Disney had a chokehold on the category—like it didn’t even matter what they put out; they were practically guaranteed a win.

But now, I can see that times are really changing.

Last year, The Boy and the Heron won. The year before that, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio. The last time Disney truly deserved their win was Encanto in 2021. Since then, all they’ve put out are cash-grab sequels (or AI-generated sludge like Wish).

Academy members—and audiences in general—are demanding creativity and originality. If your highly-produced, algorithm-generated blob doesn’t have either, no one cares.

amen to that!

Congratulations Flow!!!!

[vdragon-creations]

Happy 40th Anniversary TMNT!

It's really crazy to think that after all these years, I still find myself loving these bois! I've talked about it before, but i found this franchise when I was 9, that was in 2005, and I had just started watching the 2003 series. I believe the first episode I saw was "The Darkness Within" from season 3. I was hooked instantly! Then I watched 87, the 90's live action films, then the 2007 movie! When Nickelodeon got a hold of them, they made 2012, a version that too this day I still don't like. But there were aspects of it that i enjoyed. The Bayverse Films where in the same "This makes me feel a way" category, and while the second film has grown on me, the first one is still pretty rough.

And then RISE came, and....oh boy. I was part of the crowd that was of the foolish mindset of "It's different, and therefore ruined"! But it wasn't until pretty recently, in 2021, that I actually watched it. And it floored me! I hadn't realized just HOW MUCH I missed this franchise in my life, but this series pulled me back in. And I've since been swimming in a pool of Turtle Content, learning more and more then I ever thought I would about this fandom set around four turtles!

This show taught me a lot as a kid, and it's continued to help me through some of the worst times of my life! And it helped be discover a lot of things about myself. For better or for worse.

I've since seen some amazing artists in the fandom like @shellsweet @sassatello and @mishacakes ! I've learned so much from the fandom too, both about the series itself and how to hone my craft better!

I owe a fuck ton to this brand, and I honestly think, if it hadn't been for The Turtles, I don't think I'd be the same artist I am now! So thank you! Thank you to the fandom, to Kevin Eastman & Peter Laird, to Sam Riegel, and to so so many others for making this fandom and series! I don't think I'd be here without you! And most of all, thank you four brothers! Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo.

Cowabunga!

[not100bees]

The acting Oscars can never ever be combined Into one long category because look at best director. 10 films with a woman directing them have been nominated, nine women have been nominated, and it took until 2021 for a woman of color to be nominated.

[whileiamdying]

‘I’m Still Here’ Makes Oscar History as First Brazilian Film to Win International Feature Category

By John Hopewell

Rich Polk

Walter Salles’ deeply moving drama “I’m Still Here” has won the Academy Award for best international feature, marking a historic first for Brazil.

The film, which tells the real-life story of Eunice Paiva’s decades-long search for justice after her husband’s disappearance during Brazil’s military dictatorship, has been gaining momentum in recent weeks. Its surprise nomination for best picture — alongside expected nods for international feature and best actress for star Fernanda Torres — solidified its status as a major contender.

The film beat out France’s “Emilia Perez,” Germany’s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” Denmark’s “The Girl With the Needle” and Latvia’s “Flow.”

“I’m so honored to receive this, and in such an extraordinary group of filmmakers,” Salles said during his acceptance speech. “This goes to a woman who, after a loss suffered during an authoritarian regime, decided not to bend. And to resist. So, this prize goes to her. And it goes to the two extraordinary women who gave life to her, Fernanda Torres, and Fernanda Montenegro.”

Brazil has submitted films to the international feature category every year since 1960, earning five previous nominations: “Keeper of Promises” (1962), “O Quatrilho” (1995), “Four Days in September” (1997), “Central Station” (1998) and now, “I’m Still Here.” Until tonight, however, the country had never secured a win in the category.

This victory is particularly poignant for Salles, who also directed “Central Station,” the last Brazilian film to receive a nomination. That film’s lead actress, Fernanda Montenegro, made history as the first Brazilian actor to be nominated for an Academy Award. Now, her daughter, Fernanda Torres, follows in her footsteps as the second Brazilian performer nominated in the same category.

Their nominations place Montenegro and Torres among an elite group of Oscar-nominated mother-daughter duos, including Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli, Diane Ladd and Laura Dern, Janet Leigh and Jamie Lee Curtis, Goldie Hawn and Kate Hudson, and Ingrid Bergman and Isabella Rossellini — the latter of whom is also nominated this year for “Conclave.”

Heading into the ceremony, many pundits expected France’s submission, Netflix’s musical crime drama “Emilia Pérez,” to take home the prize. An “Emilia Pérez” victory would have marked France’s first win in the category in more than 30 years since “Indochine” claimed the honor in 1992.

Adding to the night’s excitement, “I’m Still Here” and “Emilia Pérez” were nominated for best picture — the first time international feature submissions and nominees made the top lineup in the same year. Only 10 previous films have achieved that feat: “Z” (1969), “The Emigrants” (1971/72), “Life Is Beautiful” (1998), “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2000), “Amour” (2012), “Roma” (2018), “Parasite” (2019), “Drive My Car” (2021), “All Quiet on the Western Front” (2022) and “The Zone of Interest” (2023).

Of those, “Parasite” remains the only film to win both best picture and international feature. With two international contenders in the best picture race this year, one was bound to leave Oscar night empty-handed. Ultimately, Sony Pictures Classics’ “I’m Still Here” prevailed, delivering a landmark win for Brazilian cinema and cementing Salles’ legacy as one of the country’s most celebrated filmmakers.

See all the Oscar winners here.

Read More About:

Brazil, 

Im Still Here, 

Oscars

[someawesomeamvs]

Warning: Spoilers, violence

Title: The Purse Imagination of Hayao Miyazaki

Editor: FanEditz

Song: Pure Imagination

Artists: Bryan Nguyen, Merethe Soltvedt

Anime (films): The Castle of Cagliostro, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Porco Rosso, Whisper of the Heart, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Ponyo, The Secret World of Arrietty, From Up On Poppy Hill, The Wind Rises

Category: Drama

Awards: Anime Expo 2019 - Best Sentiments Anime Boston 2020 - Best Drama Anime NYC 2021 - Best Action/Adventure MomoCon 2022 - Best Nostalgia

[aokozaki]

RE: Previous anons: Okay, so, there are 2,688 articles in the English Wikipedia category “2005 births”. This seems excessive, and maybe it is, but it seems almost all of these articles are about footballers and cricketers, and I don’t go there. There are 1,636 articles in the category “2006 births”, which is probably a proportional dropoff relative to the number of articles about 19-20 year olds. There are 832 articles in “2007 births”, which again is a pretty steep decline. For “2008 births” there are less than half again, at 376. For “2009 births” it’s 174 articles. Footballers still seem to be the plurality of entries at this point, although they’re far less dominant (note that roughly a quarter of the total articles on English Wikipedia are biographies of footballers, at least if one excludes all the articles about random geographic features in Iran that were mass created by a bot and may or may not have been deleted by now). For “2010 births” there are 108 entries, with very few appearing to be footballers at this point. A far greater proportion of the entries are also redirects at this point, for example to articles about films that child actors have appeared in. “2011 births” has 50 entries, and at this point probably a majority are redirects. “2012 births” has 38 entries, and frankly quite a few of these look like astroturf promotional articles posted by talent agencies, which may well get deleted soon. “2013 births” has 22 entries and “2014 births” has 21 entires, marking a distinct levelling off in the decline compared to previous years. A lot of these seem to be the children of celebrities or aristocrats, and it’s honestly surprising some of them haven’t been deleted and their URLs salted yet. “2015 births” marks another decline, with 12 entries. “2016 births” marks the first increase, with 14 entries, although 8 of these are redirects. “2017 births” only has 4 entries, and 3 of these are redirects. “2018 births” has 14 entries, with the only two that look like particularly legitimate entries both sadly being about children who are now deceased, marking a general trend of martyrs, murder victims, victims of structural and state violence, and victims of rare diseases regularly appearing in these categories. “2019 births” has 5 entries, 3 of which are redirects. “2020 births” has 10 entries, with 6 being redirects. “2021 births” basically just seems to be a list of celebrity’s children plus an article about a chess prodigy. “2022 births” has 2 entries, both redirects, one of which just seems to be about the day that the WHO estimated the world population reached 8 billion. “2023 births” has 3 entries, 2 of which are redirects, and all of which regard members of royal families. “2024 births” has 1 entry, about a member of the Jordanian royal family, so technically there is at least one article about a literal baby on the English Wikipedia, although it will probably be deleted and converted to a redirect to an article about said baby’s parents or the Jordanian royal family as a whole once more scrupulous editors notice it exists. “2025 births” has 2 entries, both of which are redirects to pages about members of royal families. So overall, it seems that the main conclusion to draw here is that monarchists are weirdos who are obsessed with the children of strangers? The chess prodigy born in 2021 may just about warrant a Wikipedia article, although personally I think the article looks fairly promotional. Sadly, the most recent birth to have garnered an unambiguously warranted article is probably Hind Rajab. I don’t know if that helps you or either of your previous anons at all.

Anon, thank you, this is a fascinating look at random data. Love that kinda shit.

[welcome-to-green-hills]

the vibe I’m getting from the movies thus far is that they pick new characters based on how much hype they’ll bring and how much they can raise the stakes from the last film. With that in mind, Amy and Rouge don’t fit either category, so I can’t see them showing up at all :/

Hello my dear!❤️✨

I completely understand the frustration that you’re feeling on your end. Let me assure you that it’s perfectly okay to feel upset not seeing your favorite character(s) on screen. It’s a normal feeling. I promise.

This information is all in my pinned post. I think that it goes back to the “January” tab. (I’m not sure, my brain is fried from course work today). The way that the crew includes characters is based on how the story is projected, as well as audience familiarity with characters. They also follow a standard of introducing one or two characters at a time.

Sonic a very popular game franchise. It’s been that way since the 90’s. This logic would actually fit myself (a 20+ year fan) and my mom, who was a fan of Sonic in the 90’s with her cut-off year being Sonic 3 & Knuckles. They’re going to include Sonic characters that people know. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Dr. Robotnik, and Shadow are recognizable characters.

It’s understandable that they’re going this route. I do recall that I’ve said back in 2021 not to expect Amy Rose or Rouge. With what I’m seeing so far, the main story revolves around Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Dr. Robotnik, and Shadow. And that’s okay. Shadow has a lot to unpack and it’s one of the most rememberable stories in the franchise.

Here’s the good news: the SCU crew engages a lot with Sonic fans. That, and most of these crew members have worked on Sonic games. They listen to fans a lot and value feedback (if you’re civil, mind you). I believe that if you’re vocal about it, then you could get them included in a potential fourth.

I hope that this helps, my dear.

[matan4il]

Mileapo did a live today, and I thought I'd share some of my fave moments from it.

For starters, the way Mile touches Apo is always just so gentle:

Then I also have to mention that Apo didn't like how far apart their separate chairs were positioned, so he moved closer:

But that proved to STILL not be close enough, so Apo kept leaning in:

Somehow that was STILL not enough, so look at Apo sitting half way out of his chair:

But my fave part is that there's flirting, and then there's whatever it is that these two have got going on...

Since I like throwing extra stuff in, apparently... I wanted to add to this post from the other day. When Apo went to Song Wat with his parents, we got a pic that showed all three were wearing green, which is Mile's fave color.

Not that I'm saying I know anything. I have never known anything ever in my life. BUT. Statistically speaking, what are the odds that three people will all randomly choose to wear a green shirt on the same day? If we go for the basic color categories, I could think of 11 colors that most people would name for an item of clothing (black, white, grey, brown, red, blue, yellow, green, purple, orange, pink). So the probability of one person randomly wearing a green shirt would be 1/11 (or 0.09). The odds of three people ALL randomly wearing a green shirt would be 1/11*1/11*1/11 (or 0.0007).

So, did the Wattanaghithipats all randomly wear a green shirt on this day? Or did Apo maybe tell his parents at some point about Mile's love for green, and they decided to give their son's partner a small nod? Who knows... But since Mile and Apo both chose to wear green today for the live, I thought I'd throw this out there. (AND they chose to share not one, but three new selfies while matching like this...)

Oh, and just for the heck of it. Mileapo were in Song Wat this morning filming an interview. At some point during it, Mile took a pic of Apo... with Apo's own phone. We have plenty of pics where it's Apo taking Mile's pic with his phone (earliest I can remember is 21 Feb, 2021), so it's nice to have the reverse, too. You can see the phone in Apo's hands in the bottom right pic.

(if you're looking for more of my Kinnporsche/Mileapo posts, you can find my madness here, it's about as serious as Apo in those last two selfies they took today)

[tangents-within-tangents]

I can't believe people still say The Clone Wars and The Bad Batch are "just kids shows" when whatever this show is literally exists:

analysis of target audiences below (there's a TL;DR don't worry)

Okay so the whole "it's just for kids" fallacy/excuse/conversation stopper is such an issue as it is. Here's a good video about it, I'll probably do a whole rant at some point, but in short: the level of storytelling merit, emotional depth, and thematic exploration a work can and should achieve has never been limited by it's target audience/age group, nor it's storytelling medium. (And if you don't think that's true, try to tell me Pixar has never made you cry, go on)

So it doesn't matter if it was made for kids or not. There's nothing wrong with that and anyone can enjoy it anyway. But what I actually wanna talk about here is not the merits of "kids shows" but the misconception on what "kid show" even means.

For one thing, I think when some people say "it's a kids show" they are lumping anything from like Winnie the Pooh to Avatar: the Last Airbender into the same category, and that's just not how it works. The above example demonstrates that not all kids shows/stories are the same anyway (partially bc level of development/education changes drastically between the ages of like 3 and 12, and these are things that are really taken into account in the publishing industry).

I found Disney's ratings guide and I think this should clear some things up:

For reference:

Young Jedi Adventures is listed as TV-Y

Clone Wars (2003), Rebels, and Resistance are TV-Y7-FV

Clone Wars, Bad Batch, and the Tales of the Jedi/Empire are TV-PG

Mandalorian, Ahsoka, Kenobi, Book of Boba Fett, Andor, and Acolyte are all TV-14

And if we put that in context with the films:

The Clone Wars (2008) film and the Original and Prequel trilogy are PG except for Revenge of the Sith which is PG-13 along with the Sequel trilogy, Rogue One and Solo.

So basically TCW and TBB are considered by Disney's own system to be about the same level as most of the films. They are 4 degrees away from 'Young Jedi Adventures' and only 1 degree lower than the live-action shows. Which frankly feels like we got some animation bias going on since all the live-action shows are automatically in one category (which is silly as is and undue here anyway (here have another video) esp since the Clone Wars animation style is clearly meant to be older/more realistic). But regardless, it's literally right there:

And again there is nothing wrong with TCW/TBB being kids shows, but some internet-ers dismiss it as "made for 7 year olds" and that's just objectively not true. Strictly from this system (which idk how it compares to whatever system Cartoon Network used when it aired) you could say the TV-PG might mean 8-13 years old (which is a wide range tbh, there's a big difference between being 8 and being 13), but since TV-G says "suitable for ALL ages" it's also not limited to that.

Also if TCW was aimed for ~8-13 year old's back in 2008 then those same people, who TBB was clearly meant for based on the marketing, were ~21-26 when it premiered in 2021 (and I think that is definitely reflected in writing).

Age of the protagonist is another a good indicator, though it's not a strict rule (i.e. Ender's Game and To Kill a Mockingbird have younger pov characters but are clearly meant for older audiences) and we have a wide range in these shows (Ahsoka 14, Anakin 20, Obi-wan 35, Clones early 20s, Omega ??? 10ish?? idk it's unclear) and time passes. (And while a lot of TBB is filtered through Omega's perspective, there's also plenty of scenes/subplots/episodes where she isn't even there. Also I doubt anyone would call TLOU a kids show just bc Ellie is 14)

But also target audience is a lot more than just content ratings. Note how the first few ratings above say "this program is designed for" the age group, while after TV-G it's about if it contains anything that could be unsuitable for age groups. And ratings can be pretty vague and arbitrary, especially since they change over time (like I get RotS but I could not tell you what makes the Sequels PG-13 compared to the PG films. And why is 13 the age we draw the line at? And why is it 14 for TV instead?)

I think TCW confuses a lot of people because it jumps around a lot; some episodes are about Jar Jar or the droids, and then some are, you know, Umbara. But on a rewatch, even some of the more serious episodes like the Citadel or Kadavo arc still tend to have a more juvenile or simplistic tone/writing style, like repeating information a lot or joking in the middle of the mission (like right after Echo died, hello?!). This actually feels like a writing issue to me, like maybe the writers weren't very clear on what they were going for. (Reminds me also of the only episode I watched of the live-action Atla, where compared to the original it increased the violence/death, but also dumbed down the exposition and didn't seem to trust the audience) Though there is also a clear difference between the seasons, again because the audience and characters are growing up as time goes on. I don't think TBB really had that issue though. It never talked down and it was much more tonally consistent, even in the lower stakes episodes.

Personally TBB feels generally grittier than TCW, though it doesn't really have any of the dark/gruesome deaths and "this is a kids show?!?!" moments like TCW (i.e. clones getting airlocked, decapitated, cut in half by doors, squished by Grievous, and whatever the ever living eff Colt's death was). Though actually come to think of it, there are a few things (like Crosshair killing civilians, the electro suicide pills, and the clone on Tantiss who got skewered (rip)) but I don't think they stand out as much, maybe because they're given the proper weight so they fit the tone rather than feeling out of place. Well, most of the time at least...

Like the friendly fire incident is probably one of the heaviest moments in TCW but I don't see it in those compilations, maybe because the characters respond appropriately and it fits within the Umbara arc. Verses when stuff happens in the middle of lighter more childish plot lines that feel more shocking because they are somewhat brushed off.

But also here's the thing. I think people get really fixated on the darkness/violence/death thing, but it isn't actually as big a deal as we tend to think. Like you'll find "this is a kid's show?!?" compilations for so many shows like these (with a similar age range, like Gravity Falls) that are just anything remotely creepy or intense or related to death, as if kids can't handle anything at all. Like I'll admit it's surprising sometimes (Infinity Train traumatized me bro lol) but most of the time I think we're underestimating kids. Like do you remember being 12? It's not that young.

There just seems to be this misconceived barrier, like the argument goes: "Clone Wars is just a kid show" "No it's not, look at this death scene!" But like there's death scenes in Disney movies all the time, you know? I think that's also why we get so many of these MA animated shows (i.e. Invincible and Vox Machina) that feel the need to overdo the blood and gore to like prove themselves as adult shows (bc again, animation bias).

As a writer that's just not really where the distinction is. This came up in my 'Writing for Children and Adolescents' class and we were all a little surprised when our professor said that death/violence is actually fine for middle-grade (8-12, the 'golden age of reading' and probably the equivalent to TV-PG). Like think of stories with ~12 year old protagonists like Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, Gregor the Overlander (tho Suzanne could stand to tone that one down imo lol). Basically, violence is okay actually. And most of the TCW and TBB characters are way older than middle-grade.

(Also I think the difference is usually more in the delivery. Like death and violence being more implied (no blood, or cutting away/seen with shadows), and themes/emotions generally being more clear, simple and stated upfront rather than more nuance, subtle and subtextual. (And tbh writing for kids is actually usually a lot harder btw))

The distinction we did learn about that has been most insightful for me has a lot more to with the story itself: what topics and themes does the story deal with? And what age group/phase of life does that speak to?

For example, Love You Forever is a picture book (generally considered 3-6 yr old range) but it deals with topics that are clearly aimed for an adult. It follows the parental character until they are on their death bed being taken care by their kid, that's not something a 6 year old would care about or relate to. That's why age of protagonist typically aligns too, bc they will be dealing with/worried about things that the reader is dealing with in their life too (like high school struggles vs career and family struggles etc).

Aaaand this post has (once again) gotten away from me lol so I don't feel the need to analyze all of the topics and themes in TCW and TBB, but basically look at what is being explored and how it is being talked about (since a lot of things, esp with war, aren't necessarily age exclusionary) and that can give you a good idea. I think it's clear TBB generally deals with things in a more nuanced and complex way than TCW (most of it at least, honestly the difference between seasons is stark). And there is a main emphasis on family and parenthood, especially with the very end speaking to both young adults growing up and moving out, and the parents letting them go.

TL;DR:

-Animation doesn't automatically equal for kids

-For kids doesn't equal lesser

-Not all kids media is the same bc not all age groups are the same

-Violence doesn't necessarily equal NOT for kids

-Age of protagonist and themes/topics are a better indicator

-The Clone Wars is def middle grade, and The Bad Batch is probably more YA to adult

-But nothing is exclusionary regardless

[ao3feed-piltovers-finest]

Pretend to the Beat

by PurpleHearted

Caitlyn Kiramman’s life was complicated enough with her ex stirring up drama and her new indie film just few months from its promotional push. The last thing she needed was to fake-date some loud-mouthed, tattooed rockstar with a reputation for punching paparazzi.

Words: 3235, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Arcane: League of Legends (Cartoon 2021)

Rating: Mature

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/F

Characters: Caitlyn (League of Legends), Vi (League of Legends)

Relationships: Caitlyn/Vi (League of Legends)

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fake Dating, Actress Caitlyn, rockstar vi, Alternate Universe - Celebrities, Banter as Foreplay, another self-indulgent fic sue me, the internet loses their shit, no beta we die like maddie

Read on A03. from AO3 works tagged ‘Caitlyn/Vi (League of Legends)’