#Taika 'Jenga Block Boy' Waititi

[blindtaleteller]

After finally getting to read this one, I don't actually have much to add; except that.

A. There was a second and just as important set of reasons for Loki to start purposely grinding their gears the way he did in Stuttgart Germany, in Avengers 2012: Clint, Selvig, and keeping himself from another round of long distance torture through the Other by securing the Tesseract (or at least, making it look like he was.)

Remember that, in scenes prior, Barton had already given him what briefing he had to give on the team: and it was giving Barton and Selvig that diversion in appearing so publicly and plainly too. (Interesting in and of itself that this scene also came up after he was briefed about the potential team by Barton; meaning it was likely he had an idea who they would have directly on hand to stage that play perfectly for getting and keeping Rogers' riled and at attention in particular... but mm that's a whole other discussion.)

The whole lot of them had escaped notice and searches including facial recognition that utilized cell phones and more for two to three solid days at that point: all the way from New Mexico in the United States, to Stuttgart Germany.

Which means either they crossed both the entirety of the Pacific, Eastern Asia, Russia and more headed west: or crossed the entirety of America, the Atlantic and either the Mediterranean or middle of western Europe to get there by Terran (Earth) means heading east.. and were still not tracked down after the carrier either.

Tony had to work even that out, based on his own ego (which was pure luck and plot device combo; just sayin'.)

B. In Thor the Dark World which ALSO picks up it's opening scenes directly after A1, they don't treat the character with this little consideration either. Even in that scene, the chains are not enough: Two of Odin' honor guard remain holding them at all times in the court scene alone; and until Thor himself breaks him out: Loki remains in his dungeon cell, in solitary confinement while other prisoners are shown as being confined as many as half a dozen to a cell.

In fact, he is why Asgard isn't attacked a second time and survives: as it's his knowledge and skill that gets Jane and what she has off the planet and to Darkalfheim specifically to avoid that. His actions also shield and save both Thor and Jane at varied points in that battle: taking on four other fighters about two and a half if not three times his age/experience from that elder race, who had survived both Bor, and that next attack on Asgard during the movie, as well as taking a sword to the gut to down the infinity-deformed dark elf Kurse, who had delivered the killing blow to Frigga while she was already engaged in combat with Malekith.

Not only do they continue the respect for his character in that film? They quadruple down on it between the above, and the scene after Thor breaks him out where the long line of Sif and the warriors three all recognize his ability as a potential threat enough to threaten him. Repeatedly. In a freaking line, on screen.

I could keep going on? But yeah. Long enough and, a lot already said up above.

So Imma just leave you with a few other links; like the fact that Waititi knew what he was doing and not only didn't care: he was flying a blatant screw you flag at the entire MCU franchise and it's audience from day one (yes this is the link, with his official interviews in print and otherwise stating as much.)

(Another aside..? Anyone remember what Loki was offering in the above gif directly after Thor's arrival on Sakaar either? I do. The Jenga Block did some small things right. Look up the dialogue that goes with it if you don't.)

And hey while we're at it, let's not forget how they screwed over the character ALSO belonging to one of the few MCU POC actors of TDW's era; Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje: whose place and importance to the plot the series tries to force Loki take while they were at pushing that 'Like you killed your mother?' garbage line set (or you know the fact that even if it were true: the entire reason why the series awful attempt at Loki was even there was because none of that was going to happen? But hey. )[Yup, here's that link too: with the recap of the actual movie they tried to cherry pick that BS from.]

(Yes that was Mjolnir. And yes, that is Kurse/Algrim.)

So, I recently came across a reddit thread about how Loki’s been degraded since Ragnarok, what I found interesting was some of the responses which assert that Loki’s “villain decay began the moment the Hulk smashed him in the iconic ‘puny god’ scene in Avengers’’ and that he was already the butt of most jokes in the movie -  the Black Widow outsmarting him, Hawkeye of all people got to one up him by blowing him out of the sky, Coulson blasting him through a wall - were a few examples cited. Which was then used to argue that Loki’s always been a bit pathetic, never much of a threat with Thor being an exception to the norm so it follows that his current portrayal in the MCU is not something to be surprised of. I feel most people would consider this a good argument but only if they haven’t given much thought to the narrative(s) and Loki’s role in it. So I want to discuss why The Avengers propping up Loki only for it to tear him down is not only different from what Ragnarok and The Loki Show set out to do but also entirely acceptable. 

First of all, I think a lot of it is retroactive projection with audiences subconsciously comparing Loki’s threat level to that of Thanos later in the MCU who was obviously set up to be the heroes’ worst nightmare over the span of a decade, I mean c’mon the writers had him kill Loki who was up until that point the defining villain of the MCU as a very on the nose statement that yes THIS is the ultimate big bad and he’s unlike anything you’ve seen before so of fucking course the Chitauri Invasion from 2012 would seem like a minor skirmish if you’re looking at it through the post-snap lens of the abject horror that is Thanos’s M.O. - destroying half of all life in the UNIVERSE and succeeding at it to boot.

Now that’s out of the way let’s talk about The Avengers. Loki is, of course, the villain of the movie. He makes a dramatic entrance at the S.H.I.E.L.D. facility in Mojave, threatens to take over the world, brainwashes two agents and a scientist, and skedaddles with the Tesseract which will eventually allow him to open a portal through which he can bring in his army. So narratively speaking Loki is in a position of power, in fact he has power over the heroes for about half the duration of the movie since his capture was meant to be a ruse to blow out the Helicarrier’s engines and let the Hulk loose on it which did in fact leave our heroes scattered. So he’s in a position of power and he intends to abuse that power by doing standard bad guy stuff, in this case, taking over the planet (let’s forget about the mind control debate and theories of intentional self-sabotage for a sec here). He has made himself out to be a big enough threat for the earth’s foremost global intelligence agency to be forced to assemble six superpowered individuals to combat him and his actions in the first two acts have hurt our heroes a great deal plus he has personally slighted almost all of them (some more than others, what he did to Hawkeye is a pretty big personal violation). Which is why in the narrative sense, he has to earn his comeuppance by the end of the third act because The Avengers, like most superhero movies is written with the standard “the good guys always win” trope in mind. We want to see the heroes triumph because the alternative is the planet being conquered by a bunch of ugly blood thirsty aliens and that ending’s a downer.

Acts such as a dying Coulson blasting Loki through a wall mid-sentence, Hawkeye blowing him out of the sky because Loki didn’t expect the arrow to explode in his hands, and Hulk creating a Loki shaped depression in the floor are supposed to make audiences laugh, yes, but they’re also supposed to be a way to even the scales (in a narrative sense) between the good and the bad guys by serving the villain some karmic justice. This is not character degradation, especially because the movie has never denied Loki his intelligence or eloquence. The narrative tears him down multiple times but he gets back up every time with all his snark intact. He defiantly stands up to The Other even when it’s pretty clear that the latter has power over him and can inflict pain on him (“until your forces are mine to command, you are but words”). I have some issues with the reading of the Nat scene as her outsmarting him, chiefly because Loki was practically shouting in all their faces about his intentions for Bruce and the leap of logic Nat makes between “Oh no, you brought the monster” to “Banner? That’s your play” is pretty absurd but anyway, Natasha outsmarting him isn’t ultimately treated as a victory because the Hulk’s unleashed either way. Loki gets back up just fine after he’s taken the beating of his life thanks to the Hulk and is still trying to get in the last word even after he’s been thoroughly defeated. (“If it’s all the same to you. I’ll have that drink now.”). None of this makes him look pathetic. The Avengers treats him with dignity, it not only respects him as a villain but also encourages audiences to sympathize with him. Every conversation with Thor is another reminder that Loki wasn’t born evil but he’s doing what he’s doing due to a mental breakdown, the scenes with The Other are an indication that he’s clearly acting under duress, that there’s more to the story than just Loki wanting a throne.  

Ragnarok’s treatment of Loki is different. To put it simply, he’s retconned into someone who’s incompetent, who’s narratively speaking useless to Thor which is why he has to seek out other people for help (Valkyrie, The Hulk, Korg). The scene in the Sanctum Sanctorum where he’s bested by Doctor Strange as he comically falls out of a portal and is hurled through another right after isn’t just supposed to be a joke at his expense, it’s the movie establishing that Loki isn’t all that great with magic either (which is why he won’t actually use any of it aside from one or two illusions). I totally get it, Strange was probably trapped in that time loop with Doramammu for tens of thousands of years and likely became a master in practical magic during that time so there’s no reason to think he can’t be a worthy match for Loki but implying that there’s such a huge skill imbalance here that Strange was able to shut down Loki even before he was able to do anything to him just comes off as purposeful humiliation. The confrontation with Hela where Loki immediately freaks out after Mjolnir is destroyed and calls for the Bifrost was an easy way to make Loki look entirely responsible for bringing forth Ragnarok. Oh, it’s just supposed to be a harmless reference to the myths where Loki and his children do in fact, bring forth Ragnarok? Well then it’s a shit fucking reference because it misses the bigger picture where Loki and his wife were made to watch one of their sons kill their other son after he was transformed into a wolf by the gods, the now traumatized wolf son ran out into the wilds while the dead son’s entrails were then used to tie him to a rock with venom dripping over his face for all eternity. All because he showed up drunk to a party and insulted all the gods in attendance. I mean, who wouldn’t be plotting Ragnarok after that? 

His interactions with the Grandmaster who obviously has power over him show him being completely subservient to him. I know a lot of people don’t agree here but I think there’s also some subtext for Loki being in a (probably unwilling) relationship with the Grandmaster (he’s also wearing his colours, blue and yellow) but the story doesn’t linger on that because the entire thing is treated as a joke even though the implications are quite horrific because the narrative has no sympathy for Loki and he’s certainly not treated with respect. This is what character degradation looks like. Loki is retconned from someone whose motivations are multifaceted and stubbornly ambiguous to a shallow trickster who has compulsively betrayed Thor all his life and hey he’s not even doing all that good on the trickster front anymore because Thor easily got the drop on him in a scene which makes no sense at all. What’s damning is that unlike The Avengers, Loki is not in a position of power here, he’s actually quite powerless so repeatedly poking fun at him doesn’t achieve the same effect here at all because attacking a powerless person is just bullying and that’s exactly what Ragnarok is doing. The narrative might assert that he deserves it but that assertion is based on a retcon of his characterization so it’s inherently unfair.  

Finally, The Loki Show. Loki’s suddenly made out to be less physically powerful and struggles in fights because the writers have to prop up Sylvie as the better fighter. He’ll also fail to reliably manipulate people even once and is so incompetent that he’ll also mess up the simplest of plans knowing that he isn’t just dooming himself but also his partner (Lamentis). He’s going to sit in a chair making more anguished faces by the minute as the big bad drops exposition on him and will have nothing of note to say, no counter arguments of any kind. This is character degradation because Loki’s being denied both his intelligence and eloquence. Sure, you can make an argument for him having an existential crisis after watching the time theatre in Ep. 1 so he’s failing to operate at his best for a while but continuing to do this for all six episodes is unacceptable. The interrogation with Mobius in Ep. 1 and the time loop cell in Ep. 4 are both instances where the narrative completely tears Loki down but he’s not allowed to pick himself up in a dignified fashion afterward in either scenario. An excuse could be made for Ep. 1 which made an attempt to understand his character motivations but ultimately the narrative is not treating him with sympathy because both instances of assault (mental and physical respectively) are framed as something necessary to humble him with. The narrative here too, asserts that Loki deserves it but that assertion does not consider his past history of trauma and abuse and therefore does not have a full handle on his character motivations which again, makes it inherently unfair.  

That’s the difference. The Avengers treats Loki with respect and sympathy so much so that his failings also appear to be dignified. Ragnarok and The Loki Show don’t. 

[blindtaleteller]

That and other non-dialogue scenes like it are more telling of his character internals than most current content manages today: which ..is pretty amazing for those previous creators, and kinda sad with some if not all of what we've had since.

Scenes like this one frustrate me in some terms too, for as happy as they make me: because the capability (budget, and otherwise; prior to the series anyway) was there to do as well in continuing both brothers stories.. or at least tell their continuing separate stories just as well. And they've failed at that since hiring and keeping on Taika Waititi after he bragged about making Gagnarok with every intent to destroy everything beloved enough about those characters TO land him the job, and then continued to brag about succeeding at doing exactly that during 'promos' for L&T: only to have Waldron, Herron and the series crew continue on in that mentality cranked up to 17 of 10 in Loki's own title in between.

And who among us actually liked the Thor title and where it was going and intended to gothen, as a continuous universe apart from the comics: can honestly say that isn't a reason to be frustrated, as we look back at especially moments like this that are eleven years old now, including the filming time alone for just this second Thor title? And still...

Gorgeous, well written and directed scenes in character display: with barely a word was said.

Meanwhile, ten years later.. all the exposition in the world and see-sawing excuses off screen, still haven't managed to make sense of the character whose name is the title as they've tried and failed to remake him; or the shoddy Sylvie Lushton ripoff they slapped that name onto to pass her under said title.

So I love these scenes still.

But it also makes me sigh and drop my head: because I miss the story we never got, or any mention of the 5 years he was the King separating the Stones and ruling Asgard --with Odin's face so he didn't get any credit either as a 'narcissist' (pardon me while I roll my eyes to the moon again)-- nor that time they skipped of the year he spent in Thanos' hands that every creator involved equated to the Seventh Circle of Hell in the hands of a "horrifying terrorist" for not one film but for three years straight in official and unofficial interviews both: only to be baited into thinking they fixed that on screen in the series through Con interviews and ad campaigns to... whatever that dumpster fire of an opposite series using the name it was.

They had time travel and multiple universes to use as tools and premise. And Discount Larry aka Bob: the Account was what lazy we got, under the Loki title. Just ...ugh. The rehash and multiplication of Taika's mess ups and ignorant ego we didn't ask for, or need: especially not being done in a Loki title.

Anyway imma stop there, in part because I totally didn't intend that to become even a near-rant (especially of that length) but if you see this and do read and are either a newer fan not getting it, or an older fan who might have missed these things: yes those posts and more have this shite eternally chronicled between the films themselves, official interviews and more.

[blindtaleteller]

The major reason we didn't get this with any of the current lineup is, and quite frankly: the behind the scenes crews in charge of portraying that and his character didn't care enough to even try to know about hardly any of it: and that's been a running theme for the MCU since Gagnarok taht, the main writer Waldron (who unsurprisingly was also in charge of writing for the 'Loki' series, too) has proven repeatedly that just like Waititi, he had no interest in for the MCU under it's 15 year standing premise, or retaining the integrity of the characters he was entrusted with writing for, from the start.

Raimi, sadly, kept on this same laughable and unprofessional trend: of all the background there for even the main character whose name was in the title (Doctor Strange) he was making a sequel to? Not only for the three films (or four if you count Gagnarok at all, which I don't given Waititi's repeatedly stated and well documented promises to wreck every character in that film; which he not only pulled off, but was patted on the back for to continue in that flavor as promised all the way through to Love & Thunder) but was completely unfamiliar with Wanda's background story and character to manage her portrayal either: having admitted to not having brushed up on any of that, or watched any film past watching part of DS1 years ago when it first had released in theaters.

And yes you read that right: he did not watch or familiarize himself with the entirety of the first film he was making a sequel to, or any of the rest involving the rest of the main cast to know what story belonged to the characters in it, he was haphazardly trying to tell to begin with. (No Ultron, no CACW, no Infinity War, no Endgame, no WandaVision, none of it; according to his own official statements when asked about how prepared he was for the job.)

You said one out of 14 million, we win, yeah? Tell me this is it. If I tell you what happens, it won’t happen.

[blindtaleteller]

lmao! Pretending they don’t care? They’ve been stating their disinterest in the franchise, it’s entire premise, and characters they’re supposed to be displaying since Jenga Block Boy Waititi was hired to direct Ragnarok: not just plainly but very, very openly to boot.

Waititi made his stance and intent to literally make a mess of the Thor corner and every character in it during Ragnarok’s creation and release VERY clear in every interview he did at the time, until Disney’s PR teams had full control and was not only unapologetic about it but downright insulting: and gen fans lapped it up, fed him & teh studios more of their money as a response, and still defend it today to stupid levels while complaining that he followed through with Love & Thunder and did EXACTLY what he said he would.

Which, with that as an example for them to hold up thanks to that dumb; is how we ended up with hacks like Waldron, who adapted the crappiest, second most misogynistic script in Phase 4′s roster into the Loki title, while admitting he had never watched or researched the TITLE character, any of the background: and proving he didn’t understand what Phase 4 and why it’s called that, means: BEFORE he admitted multiple times that not only was it never his intent to write the Loki show they advertise, promoted for LIVE at Cons prior .. but that he when he did adapt that crappy script replacing the name ‘Dixie’ with Sylvie among others? He did so writing a Sylvie Lushton series NOT, ‘Loki’ (or more appropriately named by some of us who know better and are aware of this: the Larry/Bob: the Accountant show.) Which, did not go over as well as their PR teams like to pretend either: as most viewers they pulled the false advertising and bait and switch on, dipped out either mid first episode or, mid second episode. It’s that much of a dumpster fire and unrecognizable mess with lie of the title name over it’s head. It’s so bad.. that now coming up on two years later and trying to promote a second season with the same premise line (which they never saw through in the first season at all EITHER by the way) they have been and are STILL making excuses and new lines for them up to try and make it pass so people will watch season 2... who Waldron’s buddy has taken over writing in the same spirit (his interviews are very telling) just to make sure it keeps on suckin’.

And mentioning that, it’s no great surprise then, that with Waldron and Taika still having jobs during that period (and in Waldron’s case also being the one responsible for MOM’s equally dismissive or the characters script) That the Second Doctor Strange movie, and SMNWH (through great on nostalgia & good cast to carry even this GAPING HOLE) completely ignored the premise of the first Dr. Strange film and the Masters of the Mystic Arts that was in fact the first film to start the multiverse off.. only for Waldron and the Accountant crew to try and pretend otherwise BEFORE that second film for Doctor Strange was even released.

Add in the train wreck of what they dropped for She Hulk, especially at those price tags and uh no, honey. People are hating on the MCU at current, because the MCU at current is mostly trash.

The current hires and mentality in the studios has completely forgotten the premise and quality over quantity which people paid their hard earned money to watch: any of it.

Personally, I don’t think Disney in particular is entirely to blame here though. This shit started to get out of control, when the ship threw it’s officers, navigators and maps overboard in dismissing the Marvel Creative Committee that kept it on course as a major contributor, and it’s just been going downhill between that and hires with this mentality.

I was really, really hoping MOM would escape that when Raimi took over Multiverse (his experience and examples as a professional gave me --and others-- false hope) but, nope: unfortunately Raimi failed ALMOST in the same unprofessional way Waldron has, in not bothering to know even the film he was making a sequel to, well enough to correct any of the issues in that film along the same lines, and again like Taika, said as much in his official interviews.

Marvel Cinematic has lost the Universe in it’s title; and is going down the toilet. And guess what? People are allowed to notice, and get annoyed/angry when they spend their money on one thing, and are given a shoddy knock off instead: and, allowed to say something about it.

You want to keep your blinders on and have to rewatch, and rewatch, and rewatch.. and then cling to PR-generated excuses made after the fact to find anything good in it? That’s on you. Not other people. Just sayin’.

‘it’s just trendy to hate on marvel’ no. marvel has done this to themselves. they overwork underpaid and non unionized vfx artists, they don’t allow actors to have access to the full scripts, they gloat about continuity but don’t have consistency, very few of the writers care even slightly about the characters or the source material, and they have gone for quantity over quality / are overproducing their product to the point of consumer exhaust. they are a multi billion dollar creative monopoly that should be held accountable

[blindtaleteller]

Irritatingly maddening; and.. welcome to the club. Classic’s very briefly touched story has the meat of what we were promised; the capable Loki with a story we wanted to see developed and we had even for TDW, which Taika ‘Jenga Block Boy’ Waititi went out of his way to demean, water down and just plain destroy his characterization & story in the Marvel Cinematic Universe along with the rest of the Thor corner.

The series was plugged for two years prior to airing as being just that; getting to his story as it should have happened, while picking up after Avengers & undoing the BS of Gagnarok, Infinity War, and EG for his character.

Instead, and ignoring that: Waldron who had only watched clips at the time (obviously) watered down that same bullshit even more. So yeah, and of course the other characters even for their brief showing feel more like Loki than the title char Tom was portraying. And likewise, not giving a shit about that title character enough to bother?

Of course they killed the ones remotely close to what his actual character was in the Universe prior, off.

|| How maddening it is though that Loki as a side character who is considered to be an another universe version of him - Classic, President - is written better than our main one? I just realised this and I am in so much fucking pain. 🥲