#a variety of interests and w/ similar attitudes etc etc etc and i Am only so young. i'm just abt to go into uni etc... <3< /div> Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[astrxealis]

i am Again in that mood where i rlly want to make more friends/mutuals into ffxiv but 1. don't know how + 2. it's Tough bcs (for understandable reasons) i am still a minor (17) and most players are very much older than me ............... i hope the future will be slay tho 🥺😁💖💞

[mrs-nate-humphrey]

That’s a good point!!! It really is the symbiosis of the writing and the acting, and for Blair it really all came together. I think in light of that, it’s also interesting to think about Dan’s reception as a character, mostly because (in my opinion) Penn Badgley was by far the most talented and versatile actor in the male cast and basically the only actor (outside of Leighton, in the right project, and maaybbee Blake) who I could see actually winning an Emmy, yet Dan - for most of the show’s run, at least - was hated. It’s not like Penn Badgley became a significantly better actor since the show ended, either - he was always damn good, but the way Dan was written obviously incensed a lot of people. It’s just been really interesting (and weirdly satisfying, if I’m being honest) to see the way that viewers - and even journalists! - that dismissed Badgley as an actor because of their dislike of Dan flock to him now as Joe Goldberg. It makes me wonder how things could have been with Gossip Girl if they had kept Dan as the central male character, kept giving him weighty emotional arcs regularly, the way they did with Blair… if the writing had been there for him, would the fans have followed?

Yeah, you're right about it all coming together for Blair!! and i do feel the same way about Penn, the way he played Dan was just... idk. there was a lot of heart in there, if that makes sense to say, and he did a really good job at working with the bits of Dan that are contradictory/morally grey....

I agree that it's amazing seeing Penn being successful and praised now!! and honestly, yes, we're back in the territory of that Constance Grady Vox article we pass around here like 20 times every week - the narrative choice to cherish & elevate Chucky traits/values automatically turned Dan, and everything he represented, into something totally different, by virtue of how 180 Dan is to Chuck, and all that. best case scenario, you'd think dan humphrey was naive, average scenario, you'd think dan humphrey was a joke, worst case scenario, you'd think dan deserved every bad thing he got and more, because hey, the universe GG runs in has different morals than the real world, right?

idk, something I hate to see is how fans treated Vanessa, and by extension, Jessica Szohr. i don't think i'm really Jessica's biggest fan for various reasons, but on a recent-ish interview for the Orville in which she'd talked abt being friends with Leight (2018, if i remember right) people flooded the comments of that video with all kinds of rude, disrespectful stuff, going as far as to say that Jessica was "faking" her friendship with Leighton because she was "pathetic" and stuff like that.

I think it's just a big problem of the fandom, and I think it's one of those chicken & egg situations, probably. the show is pretty racist, classist, misogynistic, etc etc in a variety of ways, so it only follows that a large portion of fans - and indeed, the ones who love the show in its entirety, unlike some of us here who love parts of the show and condemn other parts ... it follows that those fans WOULD likely have similar problematic attitudes.

so like..... yeah, maybe! if the show had centred dan, and kept the heart it used to have (sibling relationships, found family, kids who feel like they don't belong, etc etc) it would've probably attracted a different viewer-base, who would've engaged differently.

also.......... they could've done a lot more with Dan than they did. like. Penn is a good enough actor to pull off the kind of absurd plots this show loved to throw around. they could've given him more fun scandals, like, idk.... take some of Serena's scandals and let Dan have those, I guess. i bet Badgley would've done justice to them. yes, i am thinking of that s3 dan/tripp AU that margottenbaum took down a while ago... if you've read it, you know what I mean. if not, don't worry; just imagine the serena/tripp arc with dan/tripp instead. and imagine Badgley acting that out. he would totally ace it, right?

[tm0500042]

Research Proposal w/c 8th March

Considering one of two options for my Research Report both extended essays

Idea #1

 How will Britain’s new relationship with the EU affect the distribution of European Animated films?

 When the British public hears the term “European Animated film” they might think of something more “artistic”, “refined” and perhaps “cerebral” than the average American production.

But a large number of such productions are low-mid budget features aimed at competing with mainstream American films on similar terms. These have a reputation for being “cheap”, and are often released as “programmers” in the UK during half-term breaks and school holidays, prior to getting DVD releases, Streaming etc.

Andrew Osmand’s review of Robinson Crusoe in Sight & Sound perhaps surmised the general attitude to these films ““It’s very much aimed at children, with none of the surprise adult appeal of Disney’s Zootropolis – is the new offering from Belgium’s nWave studio. While nWave may never get name recognition, parents with young children have likely seen some of its cartoon wares, such as the lame Fly Me to the Moon (2008) and the better The House of Magic (2013)… However, Robinson Crusoe is still an infinitely finer kids’ cartoon than the recent, wretched Norm of the North.”

The market for this was perhaps not huge; a 2015 report by the European Audiovisual Observatory noted that European Films only got 20% of the market for animated films in Europe.

On the flip-side of this are UK-produced animated films which aim for the same market. The report notes that as of that time UK animation with 53.5 million admissions abroad UK Animation had the best overseas admissions of any animations produced in Europe between 2010 and 2014

Although the Brexit deal should theoretically mean that distributing European animated films in the UK and vice versa should not become exponentially more complicated, there are complications;

·        ICAEW notes that between 2007–13, UK businesses received over €20m in EU funding to support the release of European films in the UK, and that almost €45m was spent to make UK films available to European cinema audiences. (https://www.icaew.com/archive/technical/media-and-leisure/entertainment-sport-and-media/film/implications-of-brexit-on-the-uk-film-industry)

·        Screen Rant suggests that knock on effects on the strength/weakness of the Pound as currency could deter distributors from buying European films due to the increased cost (https://screenrant.com/brexit-uk-film-tv-industry-impact/)

 Pros

·        Relevant, contemporary subject

·        Offers considerable opportunity for primary research (e.g. interviews of distributors)

Cons

·        Pandemic means that distribution is being affected in ways that are not necessarily related to but difficult to isolate from the impact of Brexit. In response to the pandemic film distribution and the operation of cinemas is changing in ways that may be temporary or permanent. As such it is possible the report may become dated as soon as it is published

·        Secondary research may rely on sources which are heavily influenced by confirmation biases.

Idea #2

 What do different portrayals of the “future” in animation (e.g. The Jetsons in the early 60s vs Futurama in the early 00s) tell us about the culture that produced them?

The Jetsons was an animated sitcom which initially dealt with a ���traditional” White American family unit (plus their robot maid and dog) in the year 2062 airing in Prime Time for a single season in 1962-1963 season. After that it had a long run on Saturday morning television and other outlets primarily as children’s programming, before being revived for new seasons and a movie (which dealt with then contemporary environmental concerns) in the mid-late 80s.

Futurama premiered in 1999, and deals with a non-traditional family unit (Humans of different races, characters from alien races invented for the series and a robot with only one familial connection between all of them) in the year 3000. It aired in Prime-Time from 1999-2003, before being revived for a series of Direct to Video movies and new TV shows.

William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, who created The Jetsons, although they had taken a significant risk by establishing a studio to produce TV animation were very much part of the American Animation Industry Establishment by 1962, having won seven Academy Awards while producing Tom & Jerry cartoons for MGM in the 40s and 50s. Matt Greoning, creator of Futurama, in contrast, was initially established as an underground cartoonist, before being plucked from relative obscurity to produce interstitials for The Tracy Ullman Show which span off into The Simpsons. By 1999 The Simpsons was one of the most popular and acclaimed TV shows of all time, and had made untold millions in merchandising, but was still seen as somewhat “subversive”.

 Early reviews of Futurama noted the lineage between the show and The Jetsons; e.g. Ray Richmond in Variety.

 1962 in America:

·        President JFK set the goal of landing on the Moon by the end of the 60s and John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth in February of 1962

·        Cuban Missile Crisis when USSR plans to deploy Missiles in Cuba brings the world to the brink of world war, the US blockades Cuba and the USSR agrees to dismantle Soviet Silos Begins On October 15th ends on November 20th

·        Wall Street Experiences the “Flash Crash of 1962”; JFK responds with tax cut, hoping to incentivize large, self-financing companies. Little effect on interest rates or public confidence

 1999 in America:

·        Excitement and concern about the new millennium

·        U.S. GDP growth was steadily accelerating. a continuation of a trend that the economy had been experiencing for the previous few years

·        The unemployment rate drops to 4%, the lowest level since January 1970.

Science fiction at the time of The Jetsons was generally optimistic and hopeful about the future, anchored by a particular aesthetic which would ultimately become retro

By the time of Futurama, images of the future in popular culture had become increasingly cynical and dystopian

Pros:

·        Lots of ground to cover

Great opportunity for secondary research

Cons:

·        Limited scope for Primary Research

·        To what end am I conducting this?