#also whitney houston plays the fairy godmother!!!

[caramelmochacrow]

rodgers and hammerstein's cinderella is so good, give it a watch if u havent!!!

[youremyheaven]

vedic astrology observations

philosophical songwriters often have tropical virgo and pisces placements. many of them have jupiter ruled nakshatras. mrigashira nakshatra pops up a lot as well. all of these placements contribute to the contemplative nature of these natives, they are deeply reflective and take on an almost religious tone with regard to how they speak of things.

hozier- pbp sun + mercury, anuradha moon with ashlesha ketu

leonard cohen- uttaraphalguni sun, purvaphalguni venus, pushya ketu

sufjan stevens- ubp moon, mrig mercury, jup revati amk, punarvasu saturn amk, ketu in krittika

(in my previous post, i had mentioned how ubp & punarvasu natives love butterfly imagery and here's sufjan on stage with wings!!)

bob dylan- rohini sun and venus, krittika moon, mrig mercury, ubp ketu

bruce springsteen, uttaraphalguni sun, chitra moon+ mercury +ketu, swati venus, mrig rising

joni mitchell vishaka sun + mercury, pbp moon, punarvasu rising, mrig mars atmakaraka

2. Shatabhisha & Pushya natives make great teachers. They thrive in positions where they're able to empower and encourage others.

Sidney Poitier in perhaps his most famous role, as a teacher, in To Sir With Love. He has Shatabhisha sun.

Robin Williams, in one of his most iconic roles, as a teacher in Dead Poets Society (he also plays a teacher in Good Will Hunting). He has Pushya sun, Shatabhisha moon.

Aamir Khan plays a teacher in one of his most known roles in Taare Zameen Par. He has Pushya moon.

3. Fairy Godmother roles in cinema are often played by either Taurus rashi or Pisces rashi individuals

In the 1987 movie Maid to Order, the fairy godmother is played by Beverly D'Angelo who is Rohini moon

in the 1997 movie A Simple Life, Martin Short plays the fairy godmother. he has UBP stellium (sun, mercury and rahu)

1997's Cinderella has Whitney Houston playing the fairy godmother. she has Revati moon & jupiter (ive talked about pisces rashi's connection to butterflies before and look at how whitney's spreading her wings in this picture!🥺)

in 2015's Cinderella, Helena Bonham Carter plays the fairy godmother. she has Rohini sun & Ketu in Revati

Maleficent is played by Rohini sun, Revati moon native, Angelina Jolie

i've previously talked about how Rohini nakshatra is associated with shape shifting and transformation and Revati nakshatra is known as the wealth giving star. These two combined create the ability to deeply transform one's life, heal from old wounds and ways of living and rise to the high echelons of society. They're both known for creating wealth. it only makes sense that these natives would be chosen time and time again to play the "fairy godmother" responsible for transforming the lives of a virtuous person trapped in unjust circumstances

4. ive noticed that many mars ruled men (mrigashira, chitra, dhanishta) go after older women 👀 bharani is another nakshatra that pops up often (bharani is the meeting point of mars and venus)

my personal take on this is that mars influence makes natives interested in taboo and unconventional topics and areas. all 3 mars ruled nakshatras belong to the "servant caste" and bharani is an outcaste nakshatra. what this says is that these people have no desire or need to conform or adhere to the norms set by society. they don't care for the status quo and feel no sense of belonging to mainstream society so they simply do as they please<3

Ashton Kutcher, Dhanishta stellium (sun,moon & venus) was married to Demi Moore who is 15 years older than him. Demi is a Bharani moon.

Aaron Taylor Johnson has Mrigashira sun, Dhanishta moon and venus in Bharani and his wife Sam Taylor Johnson is 24 years older than him.

Hugh Jackman, Chitra sun (and mercury) and Mrigashira moon is married to Debora Lee Furness who is 13 years older than him.

Emmanuel Macron, Bharani moon is married to Brigitte Macron who is 25 years older than him

Nick Jonas, Bharani moon, Chitra venus and Ketu in Mrigashira is married to Priyanka Chopra who is 10 years older

Nick Offerman is married to Megan Mullaly who is 12yrs older than him. He has Mrigashira mercury atmakaraka and Saturn in Bharani amatyakaraka

Nick Cannon, Bharani rising was married to Mariah Carey who is 12yrs older than him

Blake Shelton, Mrigashira sun & venus, Jupiter in Bharani atmakaraka with Ketu in Bharani is married to Gwen Stefani who is 7yrs older

Roger Moore was married to Dorothy Squires who is 12 yrs older than him. He had Chitra sun & mars (amatyakaraka & atmakaraka)

5. others have made observations regarding how Jupiter influence blesses a native with voluptuousness. imo Jupiter, cancer rashi and Moon ruled nakshatras can make a native naturally busty.

Jupiter being the largest planet creates voluptuousness in its natives often blessing them with large breasts (obviously other placements will also impact your appearance) Cancer rashi because well, cancer rules the moon and the chest so its kind of a no brainer and honestly every cancer girl ik irl has a big bosom. Moon is yin and bestows its natives with a very curvy physique.

Christina Hendricks is Shravana moon

Billie Eilish is also Shravana moon

Emma Kenney is Vishaka moon with Ketu in Shravana

Ariel Winter is Shravana sun

Scarlett Johansson is Vishaka moon,rising and ketu

Katy Perry is vishaka moon & saturn

Jessica Simpson is Punarvasu sun & mercury and Vishaka rising

🐲🕊🧚🏼‍♂️👼🏼👸🏼🦋🦢🧜🏼‍♀️🧚🏼‍♀️🕊👼🏼🦋🦢🧜🏼‍♀️👸🏼🦋🦢🧜🏼‍♀️🧚🏼‍♀️👸🏼🦋🦢🧜🏼‍♀️🧚🏼‍♀️

Tumblr has a 30 image limit per post so I cant include more examples :( but look forward to pt 2 <3

[francesderwent]

my brain is fried i'm so overtired I've cried spontaneously at least once a day for the past three days will you please help a girl out with a soft cozy wholesome movie recc please and thank you

I’m so sorry my dear!! I dug to the depths of a bunch of old tag games and my film tag and this is what I came up with!

when I’m strung out I tend to gravitate to movies that will make me happy-cry so this list will at moments tend in that direction. I tried to sort by what was available to stream now, and the sub-lists are in no particular order

if you have amazon prime (the basic package):

Penelope (2006). highly recommend, a funny little modern fairy tale about a lonely young girl searching for a way to break her curse. this one heals something in my heart

Stardust. also highly recommend! a chaotic fairy tale about true love and what a person would do for it.

Street Gang. the Sesame Street documentary. sometimes people are good and they’re trying to make the world a better place and they’re doing it with their friends.

How To Train Your Dragon. it’s a perfectly executed film and the score and animation is gorgeous. (also available on netflix)

if you have netflix:

Feel the Beat. a dance flick about a seemingly cold-hearted ambitious young woman becoming a dance teacher in her hometown

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. so so so rewatchable.

She’s the Man. the funniest movie on this list and possibly of all time. I have never shown this movie to a person who didn’t end up loving it. it’s Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night at boarding school as a soccer movie

if you have tubi?? you might not need a membership I don’t know how tubi works??

The Music Man. some of the best costumes and choreography my favorite age of movie musicals had to offer. a con man comes to a small Iowa town and starts to want to believe in the beautiful lie he’s selling.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. this movie was written by Roald Dahl and it is buck wild. widowed inventor and his two children buy a broken down racing car and?? hijinks and musical numbers ensue

if you have disney plus:

Princess Diaries (1&2). we know them, we love them.

Sky High. if you haven’t seen this, I highly recommend it because it is silly fun but it understands the genre it’s playing with.

Newsies (1992). scrappy newsboys form a union, sing songs, punch each other, ???, profit

Holes. the single best adapted book to film ever? the cast commentary is also hilarious

Rodgers and Hammerstein Cinderella (1997). absolutely delightful. Whitney Houston as the godmother! Jason Alexander as the butler! Brandy as Cinderella! Bernadette Peters as the stepmother!

if you feel up for a trip to the library, things to look for:

The Hundred Foot Journey. I only saw this one once but it’s about a family who opens up an Indian restaurant across from a Michelin-starred French restaurant and it’s gorgeous

A League of Their Own (1992). sisters! best friends! married women and their disreputable drunk coach friends!

The Secret Garden (1993). highly recommend! this one fixes me down to my bones.

This Beautiful Fantastic. also highly recommend! a woman who’s afraid of the world falls in love with it.

Secondhand Lions. also highly recommend!! a boy gets dropped off with his great-uncles for the summer, hears possibly made-up stories of their wild and adventurous youth

August Rush. a young musical prodigy searches for his parents.

Sense and Sensibility (1995). if you need Austen energy, this is the one.

Cinderella (2015). this movie is so gentle and so lovely.

Little Women (1994). life is gonna be hard and sad but it’s gonna be beautiful and the love will endure!!!

I hope this helps and I hope you feel better! ❤️❤️

[fairytale-poll]

PRELIMINARY ROUND! MATCH 2 OUT OF 5 - BATTLE OF THE RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN'S CINDERELLA ADAPTATIONS!

Propaganda Under the Cut

Julie Andrews as Cinderella (1957 Movie):

((This movie is the Julie Andrew’s one.))

Lesley Ann Warrens as Cinderella (1965 Movie):

tbh I think that both other films for this version are superior to this one, but I want the full 128 bracket so I might as well submit this. Starring Lesley Ann Warren as Cinderella, it's a distinct remake of the Julie Andrews version (which was incredibly popular, but hadn't been filmed in color, thus the studio's decision to make a new one). It is admittedly more similar to the 1957 version than the 1997 version was, so if you don't want to accept it as its own story that's fine; but there *are* some differences in the script, songs, and acting choices for the characters. I haven't seen this version of the film since I was VERY young, so I can't speak on the quality or anything lol, but I remember that I really really liked it when I was five, before the 1997 version came out and consumed me lol. I had briefly considered submitting it earlier because it felt unfair to have Julie Andrews and Brandy Norwood both have a slot while poor Lesley Ann Warren was left out, but ultimately decided she probably wouldn't get very far. But now I'm reconsidering lol sooooo yeah. A third version of Rodger's and Hammerstein's Cinderella for your consideration XD

Brandy as Cinderella (1997 Movie):

Because she is so cute in this, I love her outfits before and after the transformation, and this movie is just such a good adaptation of Cinderella.

the 1997 cinderella movie is the best one ever to me like. you have whitney houston as the fairy godmother and brandy is so so so pretty and she's such an amazing cinderella. 10 minutes ago the best cinderella song of all time ever she sounded so good <3

does this movie even NEED propaganda?

Brandy Cinderella with Whitney Houston! Need I say more?

Brandy plays one of the best iterations of Cinderella actually.

I just think she's neat. Also she looked the best in the ball gown.

One of the most iconic Cinderellas of all time, Brandy brought tenderness, earnestness, and heartfelt poignancy that transformed the story and emphasized its humanity and themes of dreaming for the future. Her voice is celestial! The power of her performance is undeniable! As a lifelong Cinderella fan she was always one of my favorites.

A lot of children grew up watching this movie around the holidays.

This is my favorite version of Cinderella and Brandy absolutely KILLS IT as Cinderella!! Her voice is so sweet and beautiful. And her dress!! I love her peplum. ALSO HER BRAIDS MAKE A BUN AND ITS SO ADORABLE. just look up the soundtrack for this movie PLEASE.

Various Actresses as Cinderella in the 2015 Musical:

[No Propaganda Submitted]

[imagitory]

Okay, disclaimer here. I can't really call myself a true fan of Disney's Wish, just as it is. I do think the film had a LOT of really good ideas and I do think that a lot of artists and creative types put sincere work into it -- I mean, all one really has to do is look at the Wish art book to see that the creators wanted to salute a lot of Disney's overall legacy with their work. However the result turned out -- and I personally found it a bit half-baked with a lot of story and character elements that just didn't quite come together for me -- I like the overall concept enough that I've really enjoyed seeing the fandom embrace those good ideas and reinterpret them. I like the art people have started doing based on Star's old designs by artists like Brittney Lee. I like people writing drafts with villainous-couple-goals Amaya and Magnifico. I like people envisioning Asha as becoming a fairy godmother more in the vein of Whitney Houston's version of the Fairy Godmother in the 1998 Rodger's and Hammerstein's Cinderella! So everything I'm going to write here is from a place of sincerely wanting to add onto the original concept and perhaps improve on it, rather than just out of a desire to make petty pot-shots at the film.

With this out of the way, let me get to the crux of it.

(concept art by Brittney Lee, found in Disney's The Art of Wish)

Now of course people have discussed the concept of Star as a love interest for Asha before. And I won't lie, I do think it's cute! It could even offer a great potential for diversity if Star remained androgynous gender-wise, the way they are in the finished film. Honestly, even having a completely mute leading character and love interest throughout the entire picture would undoubtedly be a unique and special challenge for any animator and storyteller...and for those people who want to evoke old Disney projects, it would prove a great opportunity to build on the legacies of voiceless Disney characters like Dumbo, Bambi, and Tinker Bell, while still adding a new twist in the form of this character being magical and therefore being able to express their feelings not just through colors and body language like Tink does, but perhaps also through the instrumental score! You could embody the whole core of Fantasia -- a passion project of Uncle Walt's that he never saw appreciated in his lifetime but is widely considered to be a masterpiece of animation and music -- in one character!

This leads nicely into another tack this could've played into -- the idea that Star could be an embodiment of Golden/Silver Age Disney, while Asha embodies Renaissance/Revival Disney. Star could be endlessly optimistic and a bit naive, but strangely resilient -- something that seems fragile and helpless at first glance until you realize just how many people and creatures alike gravitate toward them and want to help and protect them. Meanwhile Asha could be all about proving herself -- she could want to become a powerful magician and do great things like her master King Magnifico, but lack confidence in her own abilities and feel isolated thanks to how much her service to and desire to honor Magnifico has isolated her from others.

Star would be Snow White to Asha's Tiana. The Aurora to her Mulan. The Tinker Bell to Asha's Elsa. The bright star to Asha's cool, thoughtful night.

And this is what I love most about this idea -- their relationship wouldn't need to be romantic. It could be platonic. It could be romance-adjacent. Or, if one wants to really go and do something different for a Disney movie...Star could be a child. A mute, sweet, brand-new star, one just born, that responded to a wish that Asha made when she thought no one could hear -- a wish she has trouble admitting to anyone, especially her mentor and toxic father figure, King Magnifico -- because as much as she plays contentment, there is a part of Asha deep down that wants something more. That remembers the loving embrace of her deceased parents and how much Magnifico can't quite capture that warmth and nurturing, however tight his hold might be and placating his words might be. And out of that wish is born this little bundle of stardust, which Asha is now suddenly responsible for and wants desperately to hide and protect from Magnifico.

In essence, Asha would be put in the same position that Willow is put in, when he suddenly becomes the caretaker for baby Elora in the film Willow.

Now that would change up the context for At All Costs, wouldn't it? This lullaby-like song would resonate awfully well in a story where Magnifico sees Asha as an apprentice and almost surrogate daughter and wants to "protect" her a la Mother Gothel by controlling everything in her life, while Asha sees this new Star who's now reliant on her and feels this strange, new desire to protect them from the man who filled the role of her father after his death in a selfless way that man could never understand?

If someone tried to hurt you... I don't see how that could happen! I'd fight for you in ways you can't imagine! Felt this? No, I haven't -- I hope it would be alright to Stay right here beside you...

It would be such a beautiful picture on how love can be both selfish and selfless -- how a villainous person can love, perhaps, but that that love is poisoned by the desire to mold someone into your image and hoard that person away from others who could "take them away" or "change" them...how love at its truest core is selflessness and fighting on behalf of others, to give them a world where they could live safely. And again, this could be either in a scenario where Star is Asha's "child" or her peer -- for a world can't be safe for all if anyone is under threat because of who we are. And Asha, Star, and Rosas all deserve to know true happiness, not just mindless, complacent contentment -- the happiness that can come from the birth of ideas we never thought possible, until we're given the freedom to dream and dream big.

[actuallylorelaigilmore]

2023 Movie Journey #10: The Little Mermaid

, 

the little mermaid. okay, so this one was really interesting! i didn’t go into it with high expectations, but i also wasn’t expecting to hate it--i’ve seen very few of the disney live action remakes, so i didn’t really know what i might think at all. (as a matter of fact, i think the only one of the remakes i’ve seen is beauty and the beast? i have a couple others on my watchlist cuz @actuallylukedanes​ recommended them, like tarzan and pete’s dragon, but i haven’t seen aladdin or the lion king and i can’t remember if there are more.)

i did go into this one expecting to have fun whether i actually liked it or not, though, because i saw it in the theater with my family and i have a good time doing that with any movie. and i knew i loved some of the cast--awkwafina, daveed diggs, and melissa mccarthy were all selling points for me. i wasn’t familiar with the actress playing ariel but i knew she could sing, so i looked forward to seeing what she did with the role.

before it actually came out, i was originally worried about melissa mccarthy playing ursula, because i adore her and know she’s super talented, but the whole ‘ursula was modeled after a drag queen’ history of the animated character made her casting surprising to me, for some reason. it made me wonder what angle this version would be going for, with ursula. i didn’t get excited about it until they released a snippet of poor unfortunate souls and i was like ‘ohhhhh. okay she’s really going for it.’ 

after that i think i watched the clip at least twice before even seeing the movie, cuz it made me happy to feel like her interpretation was probably going to be true to my childhood attachment to the original character. honestly, it seems tricky to bring animated characters to life, especially beloved ones, and i’m not sure how a person does it well rather than the much more likely result of screwing it up--but i think a large part of it must be wholeheartedly committing to your ideas and then flinging yourself into it, without concerning yourself with whether or not other people will agree with how you interpreted it. 

and that may not actually create widely beloved interpretations, i wouldn’t really know--i feel like emma stone did the same thing in cruella, and for the same reason, i loved her portrayal. it was off-the-wall insane, but she committed to it, and that movie knew what it wanted to be and it won me over against my expectations. 

back to the little mermaid! i felt like this movie had several big problems, but most of them were the direct result of having live actors play these characters in this story without changing the basics (and changing the basics would make it a different story). the parts of the little mermaid that are abstractly weird/concerning when it was animated in the ‘90s become actively, unavoidably difficult or more creepy once everything is three-dimensional.

first of all, ariel’s scenes once she couldn’t talk were just...rough. the movie tries to give ariel and eric more of a connection, more bonding time and things to bond over, but she just can’t communicate very much with the wide-eyed lack of emoting that was happening until she got her voice back. i honestly don’t know if it was the actress herself, or the result of how she was directed, or if the real problem is that a cartoon face can just be made more expressive to balance a lack of words. but for me and both of the people i saw this movie with, there was just nothing there on her face, to a weird degree, while her voice is taken.

while i know this wasn’t the case for everybody, though, i did like her singing. i liked the moments in classic ariel songs where she made them her own, little vocal flourishes that reminded me of whitney houston playing the fairy godmother in cinderella. (though i was horrified by her addition to under the sea, which was totally unnecessary and cut into an otherwise great take on another classic by daveed diggs.)

his voice acting, along with awkwafina's, was great as well. her new added rap, i would also file under ‘totally unnecessary,’ but whatever, it’s fine, i know they always add stuff now and with lin involved i would’ve been surprised if it wasn’t a rap. this version of flounder made me miss the animated one a lot, because i remember loving him and i felt like in this one he somehow wasn’t nearly as endearing, or lacked personality or something. i’m still not sure why. 

the massive cgi might be part of it, though. i could tell it would be a problem for me as soon as there was a trailer--and i was not wrong. there’s just so much of it. i get that it’s not exactly convenient to, say, make your cast work underwater in tanks or anything...but real fish exist! the ocean exists! i don’t care if it was cheaper to just build the ocean out of pixels; jurassic park is cool because it made an effort with physical effects, and this movie could have looked so much better if they’d tried. even just for the Hey Look Fish scenes.

the other element of this movie that feels a lot worse in a live-action version is the basic love story between ariel and eric. it wasn’t exactly ideal when they were hand-drawn, but we didn’t have to think about it as much. the love at first sight concept is always pretty thin, and it’s no different here--she likes the look of him on his ship, possibly appreciates his willingness to risk his life to save his dog, and is ready to make a deal with ursula on the strength of that. it’s a little more believable for me on eric’s side because even without a voice she has a personality he seems charmed by, during their time together once he’s conscious. but the age gap between them is still gross. 

i had to look it up to learn that officially, they made her eighteen for this version instead of sixteen (and the actress was 21 while filming it). but the movie is vague about eric’s age and makes it possible that he could be as young as 21--only the actor playing him was 26 at the time, and to me he looked it. so despite their efforts to tweak the ages to make them closer together and to age her up, i watched this believing that she was an inexperienced teen and he was a fully adult sailor and that was supposed to be totally fine. romantic, even.

even if i wanted to be in favor of them, the actors really didn’t have any chemistry i could see. i don’t remember feeling the same way watching the animated one, but during this version when her friends are trying to manipulate them...it just seemed fully comedic. like, how ridiculous, and not because it’s a bird and a fish and a crustacean wanting them to kiss--the idea of them kissing at all. if it wasn’t required to save ariel’s soul, it wouldn’t have been clear to me why we should want that.

however, i did also like eric! it felt like in the beginning, they put more time and effort into trying to establish him as a character than i remember from the original. making him figuratively more than two-dimensional, not just literally. and it mostly worked.

his most memorable part for me was not necessarily for good reasons, though? i don’t think i’ll ever forget it, but it definitely undermined whatever success they had in making him a love interest hero worth taking seriously. 

they...gave him a song. and not just any song. this was a song that reminded me so painfully, so specifically, so unavoidably of another song, that i couldn’t unthink it and he immediately seemed ridiculous when he hadn’t before. 

anybody who has seen frozen 2 might remember a little number called ‘lost in the woods.’ it was one of my favorite parts of that movie, because it was very clearly done in the style of ‘80s hair bands, with kristoff overdramatic in his movements and full of emotion and played seriously while not taking itself completely seriously. it struck the perfect tone in what it was aiming for.

but what they do with eric is literally the same sort of thing: overdramatic movements, loudly emoting, Very Serious Despite Looking Silly. the problem is that he’s not an animated character! and he’s not troy bolton from high school musical, either (troy could emote at 1000% like nobody else and get away with it). eric can not get away with it, or at least he doesn’t, and i suspect it’s because the movie gives no indication that there’s a joke we’re supposed to be on. 

as far as i could tell, that scene was just eric’s big power ballad, and they wanted him to have a big power ballad, and whether they modeled it after frozen 2 or not, they clearly thought it was a good thing. i’m not so sure they were right about that. 

i gotta say, the scary parts of this movie were much scarier than i ever found the animated version to be, though they didn’t change the actual story a lot in those scenes so i’m not sure if i was just less affected as a child (which seems unlikely when the dogcatcher from lady and the tramp gave me nightmares). both her father destroying her collection and the final battle with ursula felt more intense than i remembered, and maybe that comes from having the characters played by real people. a Scary Dad is much scarier when he looks like an actual person, merman or not, and the same is true i guess for a sea witch. 

the final battle with ursula was also the worst scene for me when it came to cgi, though. i spent a lot of it not being able to tell what was going on, because eventually that’s what happens--my brain just sees pixels and can’t turn them into whatever they’re supposed to be, and i’m confused until it stops.

but ursula was definitely my favorite part of the movie, in terms of this familiar story going from its animated roots to live action. melissa mccarthy, who is truly so much more talented than her choices in projects always show, took on this role which was iconic when i was a kid. and she somehow approaches it both very sincerely and straightforwardly, giving us the drama and the danger and the snark of the original, while also adding just enough camp. i was genuinely surprised disney let her get away with being so good at it! 

at one point, she pauses during a song just to push up her breasts--and i had a flashback to queen latifah in chicago, throwing her all behind ‘when you’re good to mama,’ and teenage me could not have been more delighted. i know there was no deliberate connection there, but for me, that’s such a random moment of flair and sass in the middle of ursula’s singing and it didn’t have to be there. since they didn’t cast an actual drag queen to play her, i really enjoyed that moment that felt, on its own, even the tiniest bit subversive. melissa mccarthy was alive and loving it, playing this character, and we were blessed.

overall, i wouldn’t say this movie was my favorite new disney movie, or even my favorite live action remake (i don’t think i have one). but it had good elements, and i had a good time watching it--it’s just also fun to critique.

[mediaflamingoos]

Why I love Black Cinderella by Rone Niño Lam

When I first found out about this particular movie through a random YouTube video. It piqued my interest right away, the reason being that I have always been fascinated with media including underrepresented groups especially Filipinos and black people.

The movie is called Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella which to my surprise features BOTH a black princess and a Filipino prince! I can tell you with absolute certainty that the movie highlights both the actors and actresses in a good manner without relying on any stereotypes. The film does an excellent job of highlighting parts of what makes them special through their various wonderful costuming, singing, and dialogue.

What I love especially about this film is that it never made the actress who played Cinderella, Brandy Norwood's race and appearance the focus of the film but instead focuses on her character alone: her dreams, wishes the sort. A lot of films don't really do this for black people because stereotypes and cast typing make it easier to make any sort of monetary accomplishments rather than treating them as actual human beings. (which sadly does not make them any money).

Also final note on why I love this movie in particular is COME ON Whitney Houston as Fairy Godmother. Absolute queen in the film, full of magic and joy to be had!

That's pretty much some of the reasons why I love Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Written by Rone Niño Lam

-234 words

[thewickedmerman]

Winx Club Headmasters

I finally got around to doing some of the teachers from the three magic schools.

Faragonda

Lets address the elephant in the room here. YES, I racebent Faragonda. Why? Mostly because of how my fan-cast to voice Faragonda in an ultimate dub of the series is Toks Olagundoye, who you will recognize as the voice of Mrs. Beakley from the 2017 reboot of Ducktales and the voice of Mel Medarda from Arcane. I basically just took the rich old lady from The Aristocats, Madame Adelaide and racebent her. Plus, nothing wrong with a black fairy-godmother figure, as Whitney Houston has proven in Cinderella lol. I REALLY love how she turned out. Her hair was a MAJOR pain to do but I love it. I especially love her fairy form. In my version, once a fairy gets to a certain age, they leave behind their Enchantix and get a form called Ethearix. Besides, we ALL want some older fairies. I did take inspiration from Morgana's fairy form (Since Morgana and all the characters introduced in season 4 onward don't exist in my version). What's Faragonda the fairy of? Quintessence! She basically has power over life-force, lightning, and being able to give life to inanimate objects. Pretty much what it is in W.I.T.C.H. I actually got the idea of her being the fairy of quintessence from my pal @tiredcloudd (Whose stuff you should check out because it's amazing and they are really talented) when we were discussing our own Winx canon on the private Union of War Discord server. So I have them to thank for this. Also, her and Griffin are a couple in my version.

Griffin

I had A LOT of fun with editing for Griffin because I feel like darker characters a lot more fun design-wise. YES, I did use Maleficent for her face but I also gave her the eyes of The Evil Queen from Snow White. I made her the witch of oracle magic. She doesn't really see the figure but can summon vectors of magic and do some powerful magic. I thought of that because of The Owl House and how Griffin was able to play mind games with the Winx Club back in season 1. I took inspiration for her witch form from @taiyoooh.

Griselda

Out of all three of the professors I've redesigned so far, Griselda was definitely the biggest pain in the ass to design, at least for her fairy form. I mean, Griselda seems like someone who wouldn't actually be a fairy. She seems more like she'd be a witch or a sorceress. I made her a mind fairy, because that's one of the few interesting things that Fate: The Winx Saga did. However, she can do offensive attacks as well. I also love the idea of that being her way of knowing whenever someone is up to something. She's the queen of detention for a reason. For her fairy form, I got rid of her glasses and replaces them with glowing eyes. Her hair is full of barrette thingies that look like brains because she is a mind fairy. For her outfit, I took inspiration from Nebula from season 4 but made it more conservative looking. I had to make sure the colors were more subdued compared to other fairy forms because it's Griselda and that also meant NO SPARKLES. Hell, the only makeup I gave her was purple lipstick because she's not the type to wear makeup at all. I love the way she turned out. Also, pants suit her better than a dress. Her fairy form was an absolute NIGHTMARE to work on. You have absolutely NO IDEA! Also, just imagine the voice of Mindy Sterling (Who played Ms. Briggs from iCarly and was the voice of Lin Beifong from The Legend of Korra) coming out of this character. PERFECTION!

Saladin

Well, I finally got around to posting my redesign of the last head of the three major magic school, Headmaster Saladin. He is also the grandfather of Helia (Even though the original show NEVER actually does anything with that) and in my version, I would actually do something with that. Considering in my version of season 2, part of Helia's story arc was gaining his Believix by learning to stop holding back his true potential anymore. Helia was sent to Red Fountain instead of a fairy school like Alfea so that his grandfather could help him. This also means that Saladin is also East Asian, which I wanted to show with his attire, which includes his Sorcerer form. While his regular form is in more Earth-tone colors, his sorcerer outfit does have more color too it with the white, gold, and purple.

Credit for the character base for Griffin goes to SelenaEde of DeviantArt

Credit for the character base for Griselda goes to Lady-Angelia-13 of DeviantArt

Credit for the wings goes to Feeleam and WinxClubRus both from DeviantArt

[zindabadzine]

the movie motive: so, I rewatched brandy's cinderella

by amy evans / instalment 002 of her column the movie motive

For me, it’s always hardest to write about films that I have already watched multiple times and know that I like. As 2022 is the 25th anniversary of Cinderella (1997), which stars Brandy and Whitney Houston, being released, I knew that I wanted to dedicate an entry of my film column to it.The film also stars Victor Garber, Whoopi Goldberg and Bernardette Peters, which actually makes it quite star-studded, especially for a made for TV film, as well as the (then-)newcomer Paolo Montalbán as Prince Christopher. This 1997 production of Rodger and Hammerstein’s Cinderella is a really fun film and for me, it stands out amongst the array of live action fairytale films that we have had as one that works well and is able to take risks that pay off. The movie is also especially relevant considering the conversations that are being had currently about inclusivity in film and colour-blind casting - such as the likes of Disney’s upcoming films The Little Mermaid starring Halle Bailey and Snow White starring Rachel Zegler.

The movie is also especially relevant considering the conversations that are being had currently about inclusivity in film and colour-blind casting.

Rodger and Hammerstein’s Cinderella was first adapted for Broadway in 2008 - I was surprised that it wasn’t produced on Broadway until over a decade after this film version was released. The first version of Rodger and Hammerstein’s Cinderella was actually also a made-for-TV movie, in 1957, starring the legendary Julie Andrews in the title role. Another TV movie version was also made in 1965. Like many others who were born decades after the 50s and 60s versions aired, I am only familiar with the 1997 version, as it’s the one I grew up watching. Though I haven’t watched the older TV versions, from listening to the soundtracks and watching clips from them, they seem very different despite using some of the same songs and having the same basic story. For example, the 1997 version adds additional songs from Rodger and Hammerstein’s catalogue in order to give a song to the stepmother (Falling in Love with Love, originally from The Boys from Syracuse) and for the fairy godmother to sing as the finale song (There’s Music in You, originally from Main Street to Broadway). Before the 1997 version, there were also theatre productions, both in the UK and US. The legacy that the 90s version is following is, therefore, both a TV and theatre legacy.

The colour-blind casting of this version, with a Black Cinderella (Brandy) and Filipino Prince Christopher (Paolo Montalbán), is definitely one the things it is best known for. Considering that it is only really in recent years that it has become expected for films to have more inclusive casting, particularly in fantasy or period pieces, the 1997 Cinderella is years, if not decades, ahead of its time. Even today, people are still divided over how casting should be done. From the previously mentioned upcoming Disney remakes, to period dramas (think Bridgerton and the recent Persuasion), to fantasy (such as Rings of Power), casting decisions seem to be a point of clash for many TV and film fans. I think this version of Cinderella really shows that colour blind casting does work. The cast works so well together and their performances are a large part of what makes this film still stand up to this day. They just look like they are having fun on set, and they bounce off each other really well. I loved the humorous moments between the king and queen played by Victor Garber and Whoopi Goldberg.

Even today, people are still divided over how casting should be done.

Having a diverse cast means that the world of the film feels like a place where anyone can belong, and though it is ‘just a movie’, I think that the impact, especially on young people, of seeing a range of people in lead roles cannot be underestimated. In my opinion, films that have more inclusive casting are often criticised in a way that blames any shortcomings on them being too ‘woke’, ignoring the other elements that contribute towards the quality of the film. Blaming everything on casting decisions feels rooted in racism and prejudice - the idea that something that includes people of all races is somehow automatically worse is something that I really disagree with. It seems ridiculous that 25 years after Cinderella, colourblind casting is still something so contentious.

It’s important to also note that there are different ways of creating inclusive projects - colourblind casting is one approach, but it can also be about producing stories that highlight different groups and cultures and casting people from those communities in the roles. There are valid criticisms of casting in a way that diminishes the struggles that marginalised people in history - one example that comes to mind is Bridgerton’s treatment of race, which, though it could be praised on the one hand for presenting people of colour as romantic leads in a period setting, at the same time also glosses over the way that the actual Regency period that it romanticises was also a time of empire and colonisation. I don’t think there is one ‘right’ approach to casting something for the screen, but I do think it is worth thinking about which approaches work for different projects.

There are a lot of reasons that Cinderella is still so watchable to this day. The cast performances, as I touched on before, are really just fantastic. For me, Whitney Houston is definitely the stand-out supporting cast-member, as her vocal performances are so stunning and wonderful, and I think she plays really well opposite Brandy’s Cinderella. Of course, I have to mention Brandy in her role as Cinderella. It could be seen as a risky choice casting an R&B singer in the role, but I feel like she is so believable in this role and performs it really well. Paolo Montalbán is also great as the prince, a character who is more developed in this version than in some other adaptations. Cinderella splits the focus between the prince and Cinderella, and I feel like we spend more time seeing the prince’s perspective, which adds more depth to the story.

Colourblind casting is one approach, but it can also be about producing stories that highlight different groups and cultures and casting people from those communities in the roles.

The actors all perform their characters with a kind of groundedness and modern sensibility which helps make the well known plot feel more believable and stops it from tipping too far into pantomime territory (even the stepsisters and stepmother, who do provide a lot of the comedy and silly moments in the film, are not played as exaggeratedly as they could be and often are in Cinderella adaptations).

Beyond the cast though, the soundtrack is wonderful. There are some lovely songs in this movie - I think my favourites are probably ‘The Prince is Giving a Ball’ and the final song ‘There is Music in You’. I also love how colourful this film is - as I was re-watching the film I kept thinking that it looks almost like Disneyland because of how everything looks so bright and magical. The costumes are just full of colour as well which I really like, and it adds to the joyful tone of the movie .

I feel like this film is an example of how a fairytale story can be modernised well. For me, when it comes to fairytale movies, the story by itself isn’t really enough to keep my interest, because we’ve all heard them a million times. I love when adaptations bring a bit of extra charm and fun to the story. I think that Rodger and Hammerstein’s music, combined with the wonderful cast, and the fun and colourful costumes, bring a lot of heart and a warm tone to the whole film. It shows how a fairy tale can be modernised even without setting it in the real world, which is often the approach taken to ‘update’ a story. For example the Cinderella Story movies place the story structure of Cinderella in a modern world with cell phones (who can forget Hilary Duff’s iconic ‘Laugh Out Loud’?) and college admissions. Obviously this modernises the story by literally setting it in the 21st century, and updating characters to have the same concerns as their audience, like being unpopular in high school and trying to fit in.

For me, when it comes to fairytale movies, the story by itself isn’t really enough to keep my interest, because we’ve all heard them a million times.

Meanwhile, the 1997 Cinderella is still undoubtedly modern, even though it is set in the historically inspired storybook world that we expect from fairytale adaptations. Even with my lack of musical expertise, comparing the soundtracks for the older TV versions to the 90s version, it is clear that the music has been ‘updated’ in terms of moving away from the more traditional sound to something more current. Additionally, having the recognisable voices of celebrity vocalists Whitney Houston and Brandy also brings a more contemporary feel to the soundtrack. The film also clearly takes inspiration from its own time in how the actors are styled and dressed, with Brandy having iconic box braids for much of the film, and the costumes often looking like they wouldn’t be too out of place at someone’s prom or wedding. The dialogue is also relatively modern.

The story of Cinderella is one that seems to keep inspiring more adaptations on stage and on-screen - from the many versions of Rodger and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, to Disney’s animated and live action versions, to the Cinderella Story movies. I think it’s really cool that one story can inspire so many different retellings, and the 1997 movie is definitely one to watch (or rewatch!).

[thechanelmuse]

It's Possible: An Oral History of 1997's "Cinderella"

When shooting began for Rodgers and Hammerstein’s "Cinderella" in July of 1997, the closest Disney had come to showcasing a black princess were the muses from "Hercules." In fact, it would be another 12 years before an (animated) black girl got the lead in "The Princess and the Frog." But megastar Whitney Houston didn’t want to wait. Instead, the Grammy and Emmy Award-winning artist set out to make a diverse, multicultural "Cinderella," starring a young Brandy Norwood — who would become Disney's first black princess.

Remaking "Cinderella" had been on Houston’s mind for years; long before any footage was shot, before glass slippers were fitted, before anyone thought that Cinderella could have microbraids. Houston and her co-producers knew how important it was for each modern generation to have their own "Cinderella" — and for many young black girls growing up in the 90s, Brandy was ours.

Once Upon a Time: How “Cinderella” Came to Be

Neil Meron (Executive Producer): Surprisingly, the journey began at CBS — not with Disney. Craig and I had just done the musical "Gypsy" for CBS starring Bette Midler. It was a gigantic success and it was really the first movie musical that was done on TV I think in forever. This was in 1993. [...]

Craig Zadan (Executive Producer): At that point, Whitney was going to play Cinderella. She was also attached to be a producer with us from the get-go. We actually didn’t meet her partner, Debra [Chase Martin], until way down the road. But Robert Freedman, who wrote the script, was around pretty quickly if I’m remembering correctly.

Casting Cinderella

Brandy Norwood (Cinderella): Whitney called me at home on my house phone in Carson, California. Imagine — anyone could have picked up! Luckily I grabbed it, and I hear Whitney on the other end, "Brandy, what do you think about being Cinderella?"

"Cinderella-Cinderella?" I asked.

And she said, "Yes, I think you would be great in this role." I mentioned that I thought she was going to be Cinderella, because it was going around that the movie was going to be made. I’d heard through the grapevine that Whitney was going to be Cinderella, and I thought that was great casting. 

But she said, "No, I’m gonna be your Fairy Godmother." I screamed at the top of my lungs and ran all around my house. I left Whitney Houston on hold! [...]

Craig Zadan: Though I’ll tell you what was going on behind the scenes: There was an executive at Disney — who will remain nameless — and he was very nervous about a black Cinderella. He loved the idea of Whitney being the black fairy godmother, but he came up to us and said, "Well, if you’re coming up with someone like Brandy as Cinderella, why can’t you go get Jewel instead, and have a white Cinderella and a black Fairy Godmother. It’ll still be multicultural." I think he was saying to himself, "Who’s a white version of Brandy?" We said absolutely not. The whole point of this whole thing was to have a black Cinderella. We didn’t want to make it with a white Cinderella. We weren’t interested in a white Cinderella. Still aren’t! We never approached anyone other than Brandy for the role, and Jewel was never approached.

Debra Chase Martin (Executive Producer): Jewel as Cinderella would have been a nonstarter.

Neil Meron: It was always Whitney and Brandy. This exec was doing this independent of the network. Michael Eisner had nothing to do with it— he backed us completely.

Craig Zadan: But it’s important to mention because it shows that even at that moment there was still resistance to having a black Cinderella. People were clearly still thinking, "Multicultural is one thing, but do we have to have two black leads?"

Finding Prince Charming

Neil Meron: The last person we cast was the Prince.

Craig Zadan: We had an issue: Do we cast a black or Latino prince, do we cast a white prince, or do we cast an Asian prince? We wanted to make sure that we were true to the multicultural vision, and also we wanted to make sure Brandy was comfortable.

Brandy Norwood: I trusted our team, our producers — but not everyone was open minded back then. I was, but my concern was, "Is this going to look realistic to America?"

Debra Martin Chase: It was like we had the glass shoe that we were trying to fit for the Prince. We held auditions in LA and we saw everybody from Wayne Brady to Antonio Sabato, Jr. It was a huge deal. We just didn’t find the person in LA, so we went to NY. Taye Diggs even came in in New York and there was a lot of anticipation because of "Rent."

Neil Meron: I believe we even saw a young Marc Anthony as well!

Debra Martin Chase: Towards the end we were like, "We haven’t found him. Oh, God." Literally Paolo was the last guy to come in on the last day in the last hour.

Paolo Montalban (The Prince): I was understudying for the Young Lover in “The King and I” on Broadway, and was also in the chorus. It’s like one of those things where forces outside of myself were at play that day. I actually had an understudy rehearsal that day, and I had to tell the "Cinderella" casting people that I couldn’t make it until much later. Then I was running late on top of that, and when I got there, I think I was the last person to audition for them.

Debra Martin Chase: He opens his mouth and he sings like an angel. And we’re just like gasping, "We’ve found him."

Read more

[shelovescontrol91]

In order to lure Camila Cabello to “Cinderella,” Kay Cannon borrowed a page from Prince Charming’s playbook. Sony told Cannon she could direct the film — she had already been writing the screenplay — provided she could convince the pop star that “Cinderella” should be her acting debut. So off Cannon went to Miami to meet with Cabello, having packed a glass slipper she’d bought on Etsy, even though her producers told her that would be “weird,” she says.

“I was there for, like, 30 seconds. And I’m like, ‘I hesitate to do this!’ And I pull out this glass slipper. ‘Does it fit?’”

However embarrassing, the gesture worked. In May, Amazon Studios bought “Cinderella” from Sony — with Cannon’s blessing — and it will premiere on the streamer on Sept. 3. While it’s disappointing that the movie musical won’t primarily play in theaters, the director, who has a daughter too young to get vaccinated, sees only the bright side.

“If the goal is for people to feel joy,” Cannon says, “I think we’re going to reach more people.”

At 47, Cannon is among the still-too-small group of women directors who have a Midas touch for mainstream, feminist comedies. After getting her start as a writer for “30 Rock,” Cannon wrote the three “Pitch Perfect” movies and directed “Blockers,” an emphatically R-rated comedy with a dirty mind and a loving heart.

In summer 2017, Cannon had just completed filming “Blockers” when her agent told her that James Corden wanted to speak with her about a “Cinderella” project. She jumped at the chance — but only because she wanted to meet the late-night talk-show host, not because she had any interest in fairy tales or princess culture. In fact, Cannon was certain that any new “Cinderella” would be a non-starter, since Disney’s 2015 live-action version, starring Lily James, had grossed more than $540 million worldwide so recently. “Nothing’s going to come out of this,” she remembers thinking.

But when Corden and his Fulwell 73 producing partner Leo Pearlman pitched her the idea of a “Cinderella” musical with contemporary songs, saying she could rewrite the fable however she liked, she immediately changed her mind. “I have no poker face,” Cannon says. “And I was like, ‘I want to do this!’”

Cannon’s “Cinderella” has a thoroughly modern message. Ella isn’t interested in marriage, wanting instead to travel the world and be a designer.  Cannon also toned down the canonical cattiness of Ella’s stepfamily, and upped the story’s comedy potential. All the while, characters such as the stepmother (Idina Menzel) and the prince (Nicholas Galitzine) are singing songs like “Material Girl” and “Somebody to Love” and “Pitch Perfect”-style mashups like “Whatta Man” with “Seven Nation Army.”

At every step, her guiding principle was “How can it be different?” “I wanted people to get their money’s worth,” Cannon says, “or why do it at all?”

In an interview with Variety, Cannon talks about how COVID-19 affected “Cinderella,” her experience as a woman director and how things have changed in comedy.

The Cinderella story has been told and retold, and had just been a live-action movie when you signed on to write this. How did you want your version to be different? And is it significant here that Camila Cabello is a woman of color?

Yes, I wanted to make sure it was incredibly inclusive. And her being Cuban Mexican is no small thing, and what she represents to millions of people — not only her fans, but to millions.

The story has mostly been told and retold almost exclusively by men: I feel it when I watch. The 2015 Kenneth Branagh “Cinderella” was hugely successful, and it was beautiful. And I love the Whitney Houston, Brandi “Cinderella.” It just feels a little told from their gaze. And I really felt like it was important to me to tell it through my gaze.

Can you talk about creating the Fab G, and what you wanted from that character?  

So many amazing actresses have played that role — so I’d written that role to be a man. And, quite honestly, the only one who fit all of everything I wanted was Billy Porter; I wrote it with him in mind. He’s just such a great singer. He’s just so talented. Because I wrote it specifically for Billy, the character kind of came easy. I just wrote it in his voice, and tried to make it funny. I had actually had another song in there, and then as soon as Billy was confirmed, we picked “Shining Star.”

Is the Fab G gender non-binary?

We talked about it. In having many conversations with Billy, I was like, “I think the answer needs to come from you.” He has said “they/them,” and “magic has no gender.” Non-binary for sure.

You started filming in England in February 2020. Tell me about shutting down because of COVID.

We had shot the ball the first week of March, which is something I do not believe I would have been able to do coming back — and it wasn’t a super-spreader. I’d shot all of the Fab G stuff, and all the basement stuff.

It felt like something out of “The Amazing Race” — like, pack up all your stuff! I’d been in the U.K. for like four months, and my family was there. My daughter was going to school there, and my husband was the writer on set. So we packed everything up, and then Camila and her family and my family, we flew back. My husband’s family is in Maine, and so we just stayed in Maine the entire time.

That sounds so nice, actually.

I did all of post in a boathouse in Maine. It was pretty awesome, actually.

During the break, what were you doing?

It was like getting a second prep, really. I was working with my editor, Stacey Schroeder, and we were putting together what we had. And then I was able to see what I needed and what I didn’t need. And I was doing a ton of rewriting, and I was doing a ton of prep that we didn’t necessarily have. Because I had all the opening, I had the finale, I had “Somebody to Love,” I had “Am I Wrong,” “Material Girl” — all these big numbers.  

Movie theaters have reopened, and this was obviously made with a theatrical audience in mind. How did the Amazon of it all happen?

Sony is a business, first and foremost. I know that Sony loves the movie, and that partnership was really great on that level. So I think it was hard for them to give it up, but I’m really quite happy that people can see this in this safety of their own homes with loved ones. And it is a wonderful theatrical experience, especially with the music and the sound and everything. And it will open theatrically in some theaters.

It not being a wide release in theaters means that we’re not healthy yet. And so that’s what’s the most upsetting — that we’re not healthy.

As you were moving from being a performer to being a screenwriter, did you always have directing in mind, or was that something that you discovered you wanted to do?

I was led to it. When I was at “30 Rock,” by like Season 5, I really wanted to direct an episode. And I was too chickenshit to ask. I was the writer/producer who was always on set — at that point, I’d spent my 10,000 hours on set for sure. And it wasn’t until I had a meeting with Nathan Kahane at Lionsgate, and he was like, “You should be directing your own stuff.” I have such a respect for academics, and I never went to film school, so I just didn’t think I could do it.  And then once he put that in my head, I was like, “Yeah, you know what? I can do it.'”

And is that how “Blockers” came about?  

Exactly. Yeah, they sent me the script with an offer to direct. And with no questions asked. I didn’t have to do any kind of auditioning.

That is very rare! Obviously, things have gotten better for women directors in the past few years, after years of the most appalling statistics. What obstacles do you feel like you’ve faced as a woman director?  

Especially with “Blockers,” I had a very good experience. I feel like the obstacles I have to face really are from the powers that be that still fight me at every level on what women want to watch, or think is funny. Or what is funny — forget gender.

My stuff happens to have female leads, and it’s female driven. So the jokes are coming out of women’s mouths. And I cannot tell you the amount of fighting I have about what they think is going to work, and what they think isn’t going to work. And there’s a lot of like, “I have all the expertise, you do not have the experience.”

And it’s just like, ‘I’ve been working in the comedy side for 15 years now — successfully.” And so what ends up happening is, I fight and fight and fight, and then I just do it and get it in. And then it gets put in front of an audience and the audience laughs. And then they have to say, “OK, that does work.” And you might not think that that’s that big of a deal. Maybe that’s creatively for everybody. Maybe it’s not gender specific. I tend to believe that it is gender specific.

Is that at the studio level?

From my experience, it’s mostly the studio level. And maybe I’m just sensitive to it or whatever. But I just feel like there’s a lot of conversations about what is funny out of a woman’s mouth. What’s allowed. And I feel like no matter how much success I had with “Pitch Perfect,” I think it’s still as much of a fight now as it was then. Which doesn’t make sense to me.

With “Cinderella” too?  

Oh, especially with “Cinderella.”

And now we’re back on the record after going off for a bit! I rewatched the “Black Tie” episode of “30 Rock” yesterday, which you wrote with Tina Fey, in which Paul Reubens plays an afflicted prince. That was the moment in Season 1 when I realized, OK, I love “30 Rock.”

[Affects Prince Gerhardt voice] “THANK YOU FOR COMING TO MY BIRTHDAY.”

That was the first thing I ever wrote! You know, professionally.

An unbelievable calling card to have as your first screen credit.

Yes! I was asked recently who is my Fab G, and my answer is Tina Fey. I wrote stuff as a friend she was reading. And I never thought that she would consider me for her staff, and she just grabbed me and was like, “You’re gonna do this!” I thank her every day for giving me that opportunity.

There are so many conversations right now about what’s acceptable in comedy. As a screenwriter who’s done mostly comedy, how do you feel about that?

Right now I think we’re in the muck, and I think we’re striving for equality. And we’re trying to work things out! Of course we should look back at things that were done 15 years ago, and be like, “Oh, no!”

I don’t know if this is a story I should tell. But I can remember getting notes to put the f-slur into “Pitch Perfect” as them being bullied like by the cool athletic guys. And I was like: “No! I can’t do that.” I think I put it in for a draft, and a friend of mine read it, and she’s like, “You cannot have that in.” And I was like, “It’s a note I was given!” I was told to do that, you know?’ And then like realizing, no, it’s unacceptable. You cannot use that word. Even if you’re trying to show that it’s awful, don’t do it.

You have to have your moral compass, and know what’s right for you. And there’s just some things we just shouldn’t tolerate anymore. And they’re just not acceptable. I’m certain if I looked back at stuff that I would cringe, you know? Or just, that’s how people thought then. And I was one of those people. But certainly now if you know better, you do better, right? Is that too soapboxy?

This interview has been edited and condensed.

[wandering-bitch]

Annotations on Falling in Love with Love (Again) pt 1

Falling in Love is my 3zun Cinderella/Qin Su Solidarity Fixit fic. It’s got some dumb angst, but i promise every ch with Angst (tm) has at least some soft gentle fluff with it. 

It’s structured like cinderella (servant gets surprised with the clothes + disguise for the ball, falls in love, runs away but leaves behind a trinket, gets found out later and happily ever after), but really it’s About recognizing the growth you’ve gone through, and uh. falling in love again. It’s also, to a lesser degree, about how important Qin Su is.

Notes on writing the first third of this below the cut

Every chapter title is a riff on a song lyric from Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (which you might remember as the Brandy and Whitney Houston movie from 1997). Title is “falling in love with love,” the BITCHIN ballad from the stepmother

i keep stumbling on cinderella aus from parts of 3zun and i never like them bc im picky so i started thinking about this and now im HERE, writing thousands of words and thinking about social shit

in this house we love qin su, by the way

Don’t Believe in Sensible Rules

this chapter was called “Enter the Fairy Godmother” in my outline

writing this fic made me like jin zixuan pfffff

look im not saying that qin su is fucking vital BUT

having qin su know that she’s meng yao’s sister means that he has someone who can empathize with wanting but hating jin guangshan’s attention, and so someone who can remind him that jin guangshan’s respect isn’t worth the effort

aka qin su being actively meng yao’s sister fucking stops him from making terrible choices aka this is my fixit.

originally i just was hand-waving away “it’s a good au bc i said so” but as i built the timeline more, i realized that it all comes down to qin su

which is valid!! because yeah, the middle and end of the fic are about qin su

anyway back to this first chapter

i know in canon qin su is probably younger than meng yao but counterpoint i wanted her to have more respect built into her role

what’s up with meng yao’s makeup? it’s a combination of opera + tang dynasty makeup!! 

you know that promo image of zzj playing an opera performer for a movie next year???  this one??? it’s basically this but on crack

if you’re not thinking about that promo image twice a week then i highly recommend u do it bc it certainly brings me joy and serotonin 

oh hmmm meng yao is wearing a fancy emotionally important accessory??? i wonder what might happen

You’ll Never Know a Finer Night

”a lovely night, a lovely night/ a finer night you know you’ll never see”

qin su + meng yao rights!!!

qin su + meng yao rights!!!

the mengyin han sect is something my spouse came up with for their Nie Parents fic that they’re never gonna write.

you should bug @isimplydonotvibewithjgy to write it. why???

it’s about happy healthy nie parent polyamory!!! 

nie huaisang is named in part after nie mingjue’s mother’s sword

meng yao is only a little bit kidding about stealing a baby for qin su. qin su, in turn, is only a little bit kidding about stealing a baby for meng yao

meng yao fucking with wangxian is very important to me, a bitch

Back In the Past, lan xichen wasn’t so much Jealous as he was frustrated with himself for not saying anything for so long (so long was barely a few months)

“second daughter of a third rate sect” is the type of dumb meng yao shit i love

qin!!!! su!!!! rights!!!!!!!

Most Entrancing Sight Of All

from “the greatest love,” the first song from the brandy version

i actually hate this song whoops

i lov every time i get to write meng yao being clever

it is very convenient for me that im writing the entire fic from his perspective

it’s sword content!!!! hooray!!!!

i looked up so much sword dancing for this it made me so happy

swords!!! good!!!

i do wish i had been better at figuring out ways meng yao could eat li bolin alive, but i wrote it, it’s done, im never editing it again

sword! content!!

The Sweet Invention of a Lover’s Dream

AWWW YEAH my favorite chapter because the xiyao troll showed up and said “oh so meng yao’s a selfish little slut now then” and i think about that every fucking day

the title is from “do i love you” 

the breakup was hard to write bc like. neither’s in the Wrong, sometimes u just don’t fit, and that sucks

like it wasn’t Hard emotionally, but it was hard to balance properly

“Eat Wen Xu Alive” -- meng yao

in my early draft, meng yao + qin su had an agreement to check on each other every hour. i scrapped that but u can see 

“time to meddle”

i had fun learning about azaleas + azalea poisoning

i spent SO LONG trying to decide who meng yao would pin the poisoning on but settled on the li sect being complicit in wen imperialism

nie mingjue is here because nie huaisang whined about it. lan xichen is here because he wants to date someone to move on from meng yao

what’s that? he’s dating nie mingjue? that’s not enough to move on? no, actually, it isn’t

sorry lan xichen the way to move on is just time, not dating

to be clear it’s not that lan xichen is greedy or nie mingjue Isn’t Enough, it’s just that there’s an ache still in lxc’s heart

(there’s an ache still in nmj’s heart)

we’ll actually go over all of this in an auxiliary chapter where nmj + lxc snuggle in the middle of the night

healthy polyamory rights

in case it’s somehow not Obvious, the song lxc is distracted by reminds him of meng yao. 

lxc is one hundred percent that friend who doesn’t let u say anything slightly mean about urself

my one ex specifically wouldn’t let me say i wasn’t smart enough to talk about a sociological issue/socialism thing. it was so sweet honestly

like she would let me not have an opinion but i couldn’t say i wasn’t smart enough

lxc is so proud of himself for that “tell me what this song is about” line and he SHOULD be. it WAS sexy it WAS polite it WAS a good line!!!

im not tooting my own horn im just talking about lxc being a polite, sexy hunk

never forget: so meng yao is just a selfish little slut then lol ok

come back next time for ch 5-8 where we see boys being cute and together and also where qin su gets many more rights

[somewhatavidreader]

Top 7 comfort films

Tagged by @fkyb thank you! 💕

Not sure I can get to seven but let’s try!

Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella (1997) with Brandy as Cinderella, Whoopi Goldberg as the Queen, and Whitney Houston as the Fairy Godmother. Do I really need to add anything else?

Seven Days: Monday - Thursday (2015) and Seven Days: Friday - Sunday (2015). Very sweet and tender romance following two young men within the span of a week as their feelings for each other emerge. Jane Austen adaptations. My favourite are:

Northanger Abbey (2007). The adaptation that made Henry Tilney my favourite Austen male lead. With a youthful Felicity Jones as Catherine Morland.

Pride & Prejudice (2005)

Persuasion (1995 or 2007, can't choose between the two). My favourite Janes Austen novel, and also one of my comfort reads. All of Hayao Miyazaki, but my preference for comfort would go to:

Spirited Away (2001)

My Neighbor Totoro (1988)

Oh! I made it to seven!

Not tagging anyone specifically. If you see this post and want to play, then consider yourself tagged!

[hamtigers]

Look I didn’t even know the little mermaid was up for live action/cgi but I am absolutely down for non-Caucasian Ariel

This is coming from someone who has been in love with the movie for as long as I can remember. Like my childhood bedroom was decked out in the little mermaid themed stuff some of which my mom made for me. I wanted to be a mermaid in the worst way growing up bc of it and Ariel was my fav Disney princess.

I also don’t give a shit bc my fav Cinderella isn’t even the animated one, which is the first one I saw. It isn’t the more recent live action one either. Nah, my fav cinderella is Disney’s remake of the Rodgers and Hammenstein’s version, played by Brandy. (We also had Whitney Houston as the fairy godmother and Whoopi Goldberg as the queen, that adaptation is amazing)

Everyone needs to accept that even the “original” animated movies are just retellings of the original Hans Christian Andersen stories and that deviation from what Disney already established ruins Jack shit when it comes to the character.

[jeff-stillcoolasazombie]

I saw this post today for the first time in a while, and yes of course it’s one of most glaring problems with Cinderella. Everyone has thought this before.

But today for some reason, when i read this, i immediately thought “it’s cutting off my circulation!” And i think i finally figured out the reason why it never fit anyone else.

Let me explain:

I grew up LOVING the 1997 tv movie version of Rogers and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella” starring Brandy and Whitney Houston. (And if you haven’t seen it get on that asap! There are so many quotable and memorable moments because the cast is top notch.) The evil step-mother is played by Bernadette Peters, who famously originated the role of the Witch in “Into the Woods” on Broadway. She’s great, always over the top.

Anyway, at the end of the movie when the Prince and his advisor(?) are going around the kingdom looking for the girl who’s foot fits into the slipper and they make it to Cinderella’s house, her step-sisters try it on, clearly to no avail. But then the step-mother takes the slipper and forces it onto her foot. AND IT DOES FIT HER! “IT FITS!” she yells! She’s so excited and everyone is in shock.

And then the Prince says, “Impossible!”

Now before i get back to my theory, it’s important to know that in R&H’s musical version of “Cinderella”, the word “impossible” is kind of a big deal for the fairy godmother. She has a whole song about it. You could say that “impossible” is like her magic word.

And since the fairy godmother gave Cinderella the glass slippers, who’s to say that they aren’t also magic, magic that hypothetically will work at the sound of her favorite word?

So i think that when the Prince says “Impossible,” that somewhere the fairy godmother heard it and was like “you’re right, it IS impossible, those are Cinderella’s shoes!” And she activated the magic in the slipper while it was still on the step-mother’s foot. Or maybe the slipper magically knew it’s wasn’t Cinderella’s foot and started getting tighter.

So then the step-mother, previously shrieking in joy that slipper fits, suddenly realizes that the shoe is now too tight, and IT’S CUTTING OFF HER CIRCULATION! And wouldn’t it be just as likely that if there were any other girls in the kingdom who were the same shoe size as Cinderella that the shoe might fit them for like a second before starting constrict and feel super tight?

It’s possible…

TLDR: Cinderella’s slipper didn’t fit anyone but her because her fairy godmother magicked it.

But why does Cinderella’s shoe only fit her? Like is she really the only size 6 in the whole damn city?

[reviews-22]

#Blog 2

Welcome everyone back to my blog. Where we discuss past, present, and future films and TV. On today’s episode I will be discussing a movie that has become a hot topic due to its major support and backlash. I will give you a couple of clues and you can try to guess what upcoming movie about which I am talking. I thought of todays topic based on the way I am currently wearing my hair. I recently decided to try something new with my hair. I wanted to do a completely different style and color. Since I have never worn color in my hair, I wanted to try something different but natural, so I chose a reddish copper color. I also wanted to try a new style, something pretty, low maintenance, and natural so I decided on faux locs. Have you guessed what movie I am talking about yet? Final clue, a lot of people have been saying that I look like a new live action Disney princess. That is right today I will be discussing The Little Mermaid. Since the release of the trailer The Little Mermaid has received a lot of positive and negative attention for one main reason. The princess Ariel will be played by Halle Bailey or in other words a Black woman with locs. I will be honest when I first heard Ariel would be played by a Black woman, I was a little upset. Not because I think the little mermaid should be white or any other racist reason. Simply because I am tired of big films companies remaking films and making the main character black or apart of the LGBTQ+ so it will be considered more diverse and inclusive. I was and still am tired of constantly seeing remakes be done in a way that makes old popular shows more socially acceptable. For example, Gossip Girl was a popular show from 2007-2012.But the main cast was all white and straight characters. Therefore, when they remade the show, they added Black characters and characters withing the LGBTQ+ spectrum. I personally would like to see fresh and new movies and shows created that promote diversity. For example, to all the boys I ever loved before, Love Simon, and Insecure.

                Coming back to the topic of the day I was a little upset that the little mermaid was casted as a Black woman. But once the trailer came out, I must admit seeing it gave me chills and I cannot explain why it just did. Furthermore, seeing all the videos of people reactions especially little Black girls made my heart swell. I had a Black princess to look up to when I was a child. It was Rodger and Hammerstein’s Cinderella played by Brandy with Whitney Houston as the fairy godmother. That was an iconic movie, and I do not know a single Black girl my age who does not know and love that movie. I still watch it and listen to the soundtrack. If I am being honest, I am listening to the soundtrack right now. My point is movies like this have a huge cultural impact and it really is important for little girls to see someone who looks like them on the screen. Now concerning the backlash, I am genuinely confused why so many people would be so upset that a Black woman plays her. The person playing her, Hailey Bailey has never been in any major controversial or inappropriate material. Furthermore, her voice is beautiful and more than capable of playing an excellent version of Ariel. The main argument against her playing Ariel is that a fictional mermaid should not be black. On social media some trending hashtags have been #notmyariel. YouTube had to hide their dislike counter on the original video after it was littered with negative comments and received 1.5 million dislikes. They even went so far to replace Hailey Bailey in the teaser with a white woman. Some popular claims against the movie were The Little Mermaid is a Danish story so Ariel should be white. A similar claim is mermaids are a European mythical creature and so they should be white. The most popular claim that I have personally heard is because mermaids live under the sea its impossible for their skin to be dark because the sun would not be able to reach her skin. A simple rebuttal to that is if that is the case should all people on earth be dark skin since we all have the sun shinning on us every day? With all the progress I have seen growing up I never thought I would see so much hate about a children’s movie. It is a shocking reminder that there are still a lot of people in the world that do not feel Black people are equal to white people. Its fine for us to have a Black princess like Tiana in Princess in the frog. Just not in a movie where the princess is traditionally white. Furthermore, it is scary to think that the world still has a lot of people who believe in a form of segregation. Sometimes it makes me feel movies like Get Out are not that far off. I personally will be going to see and support The Little Mermaid when it comes out in theatres, and I will be wearing my red faux locs. And I hope that all of you will do the same.

Thank you for watching and until next time toodalo!