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starcookiechu · 3 years ago

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ROTT Review

SPOILERS FOR THE MOVIE. You have been warned.

FYI: I just finished the movie. So my opinions may change a bit but here I am writing a full review.

Before I talk about the movie, I have to say this movie has fantastic animation. The music is as good as usual.

Ok now the story. Let’s start with the our Trollhunters.

Fair Lady Claire. My girlie Claire really brought her all into this. I’m really proud of the young woman she has grown up into. However for the sake of the plot and story they make her run out of magic juice quite a bit. But my girl is still the best and gives it her all.

Wingman Domzalski. I will be perfectly honest. Toby is kind of the annoying best friend at times and bothers me as a plus size person. (They really push the over eating thing to the point that it’s his biggest factor.) Toby is a very eager kid who is ready to get in the action. Never being negative to his friend but the best emotional support who will always be at his side. Sure Toby was used a bit as comedic relief in the movie but when push comes to shove, Toby will always be there to do the right thing.

Blinky is amazing as always. One of the best father figures out there.

Aarrrgh was there. Was great for the scenes he was in, but all together didn’t do much that altered the story.

Our Trollhunter, Jim Lake Jr. Someone I admire and basically see as my little brother/child. Kiddo really did it. I know everyone is upset that Jim’s arc was redone when we had the “Unbecoming” episode. If I could come to a peaceful middle ground, I saw we all need to blame Merlin. He really rocked Jim’s world and self worth. When the creator of the object you need to save the world with tells you “You’re not enough”, it really can be a great setback. But once we past that, Jim really pulled through. Amulet or not, he is our Trollhunter.

Mommy Dr. Lake was there. Barbara was mostly there for our emotions.

Dilf Strickler. I felt that he was changed a bit since we last saw him, but he had a new purpose. He was more cautious and happy because he had a chance at a happy life with Barbara. Which makes what happens to him more upsetting.

Nomura my sweet. This movie did not deserve you. At least she was with Draal.

And Not-Enrique (seriously why didn’t they ever give him an actual name) just wasn’t in the movie.

How about some CreepSlayers?

BABY ELI PEPPERJACK CAME BACK LOOKING SO CUTE. So proud.

Bumbling knight oaf Steve the Palchuckian was great as usual.

I will say though. The whole pregnancy plot was just a way to get Eli and Steve out of the way. I could feel that the writers maybe didn’t like Steve so much since Wizards. But Steve was once again someone to laugh at. Pregnant and out of the way.

How about some Akiridions?

Aja my darling girl, oh how you’ve grown. I understand some think she has changed. However I must say that her preparing a plan B on the side was smart. She isn’t just a princess on earth anymore. She is a queen on a distant planet. So if she thought evacuation was best, it would ensure that everyone would live. And avoid losing more valuable people from her life. So no, I can’t blame her.

DJ Kleb was there. He was kinda doin his own thing and messing with Steve. Brother-in-law stuff.

It was good to see Varvatos Vex.

Stu was the man in the background working on the busy important things like working on the amulet. Personally I feel like the series REALLY underutilizes Stu A LOT so I was so happy to see him being a part of something huge.

And finally some Wizards.

Douxie my love, you were amazing as usual. His powers have grown greatly and have contributed to the adventure. But god the writers really do love to take everything away from him don’t they. It’s unfair.

Archie was kinda just there and just... I understand leaving Douxie but that doesn’t mean I like it.

Nari the sweetest. I can only imagine the guilt she felt to end Nomura. Her self sacrifice was probably the one in the movie most called for.

Alright now I’ll talk about the movie.

I can whole heartedly say this movie was rushed. To be honest I feel like the original writers weren’t completely in this. At least it felt kind of not so much Trollhunters or 3Below vibes but more Wizards, if that makes sense whatsoever. Something is off.

I just want to blame Merlin for everything. To hell with that guy.

The beginning sequence was great. A car chase to a moving train. Which ends up with Toby of course screwing up and breaking the brakes. Of course. The train falling off the tracks which ultimately ends up with Nari gone. Oh yeah, and video recordings of Magic, trolls and being taken in by the police. Great.

WHY TF WAS TOBY TELLING THEIR STORY TO THE POLICE. YOU DON’T MIX THE POLICE IN STORIES UNLESS YOU KNOW THE COP PERSONALLY. CUZ IT’S A MESS AND THE POLICE GET IN THE WAY. GDI TOBY.

Our heroes go back to base on the new and improved Camelot. Where we discover that Barbara and Strickler are now engaged. Happy news and would secure that Jim has another Father figure in his life and his mother’s happiness. Which explains Strickler’s “stay behind” advice. Now he has a family to watch over. He must be careful and warns that Jim’s actions could cost so much that he might not be able to afford.

Enters our Majesty Aja and the new stud on the block, Eli. Dang I wish puberty hit me like that.Truck-kun strikes again. And also enters... the pregnancy thing. I will say, I didn’t mind it too much... at first. But there are complications. Steve is too young to be a father and dang 7 kisses?? I can’t help but feel like Aja should have mentioned that or it was a last minute plan to write out Steve and Eli. (Which it was.) It was funny sure cuz omegaverse and ALIENS but all together it’s really iffy.

They really had Douxie preform a body-swap spell only so it would be undone. And undoing the spell only hurt them both?? C’mon. C’mon.

And they mention the Krohnisfere. We’ll get back to it. Jim gets a brand new amulet infused with Akaridion tech. However theres an issue. It was created by Merlin right? Who is a wizard right? Who uses MAGIC. Shame Douxie wasn’t there to help make it. Ya know. 1/2 of the original creator of the AMULET. So it’s missing a huge part and for the sake of the plot, Jim doesn’t test the Amulet which is out of character personally.

Toby makes a silly big deal over a penny. I was actually hoping they would make it a silly Chekhov's gun later on. But no, it’s just Toby being loud and comedic relief.

The titans are released and we visit a very pregnant Steve. Ok so it’s a rushed kind of thing. ok.

Aja suggests evacuation. You can say it’s out of character but we need context. When Aja helped in the Doomsday Battle, she was ensured a way out but if she let the people of Arcadia perish. She decided to stay and help. But now the Trollhunter himself can’t help. So to ensure the survival of everyone, evacuation. A best chance for everyone to survive. Plus she is now a Queen. She rules over a whole planet which must change her thinking.

Now our characters are split into 3 teams:

Blinky, Archie, Archie’s dad and Claire for the Krohnisfere.

Jim, Aja, Toby, Strickler and Barbara for the Glacial Titan.

Nomura, Douxie and Aarrgh for the Earth Titan.

Now here is where I have problems. WHY. DID. THEY. SEND. TROLLS. TO. BRAZIL. IN. THE. DAY. Nomura dying was just so out of pocket. Unnecessary. I couldn’t even grieve properly I didn’t have a chance to process. The best thought I could think was “At least she’s with Draal now.” 10 seconds later, Strickler makes the choice to sacrifice himself. Because of Jim’s heroic’s, Strickler decided to try to save the most important people in his life. The person who was always dishonest finally had a chance to live a happy life with his family. The one who played it safe now had to make the final impulsive move. And unfortunately, his death was in vain. These deaths were just so forced. It wasn’t in any way good. And Strickler being one of the best written characters just going in such a way was just off. He died for nothing. He could have turned back and fought another battle but... no.

(BTW Barbara was just there... for Strickler’s death.)

We move to Babara and Jim having a heart to heart. I’m glad she didn’t blame Jim but a small moment of anger. Something a little more real for me but no I guess. Barbara will always just be Jim’s mom. She mention’s Jim’s father and it passed so quickly I missed it on my initial viewing. I’m happy that Jim’s father is never revealed or made a bigger part in his story. This is good representation for those of us who did have our fathers walk out on us. That we can grow despite our parents failing us.

And finally team Krohnisfere. Archie just leaves. He’s gone. Poor Douxie. A mentor and now his closest companion.

Our heroes meet up to go against the Volcanic Titan. In comes Varvatos Vex on a Gun Robot. Nice to see some good ol Gundam with a character mentioned throughout the entire trilogy. However it doesn’t last. BTW for the sake of survival, Aja leaves Jim and Toby. Iffy.

Douxie pulls a “Jason stop. This isn’t you.” thing with Nari and is reunited with his friend.(+ points for the shippers. It’s kinda winning me over?) Also, Claire now has the power to teleport a Titan. I know she’s much stronger than she was for the Trollhunters Sn 2 finale, but cmon. You can’t just say she’s out of magic juice and then pull this. C’mon.

(btw did the titan make a War of the Worlds tripod sound? No? Just me?)

Nari sacrifices herself and takes the other god with her. Which takes away Douxie’s other companion. Mr. Stark I don’t feel so good. Why does this movie hate Douxie so much. (I am so sorry shippers. Angst.)

BLINKY DIDN’T SEE A PAGE? ADDRESSING IT IN THE SHOW DOESN’T GIVE YOU A PASS. I forgot the word but this irony isn’t greatttt.

Jim now has to pull out the legendary sword Excalibur. But he can’t cuz he hasn’t harnessed the power of friendship.

And Steve is giving birth. At the worst time. What is this a zombie movie??? C’mon.

Jim says “Magic is friendship” And Stu is finally being used for one grand act. Seriously Stu is just so unappreciated. So he fixes the amulet with magic.

Basically everyone who went on top of the Volcanic titan falls off at some point. Except Jim cuz of course some 1v1.

ONCE AGAIN Claire is out of magic juice. Because... reasons.

Toby makes the choice to race to Jim’s side with the technology to cancel out magic. (Wait how does science stop magic again)

BTW, For the Good of all doesn’t hit as well BUT it’s not mentioning any glory towards stinky Merlin so I am happy with the change.

JIM HAS A NEW TRANSFORMATION. MY BOY. MY SON. I’M SO PROUD.

Toby races to Jim and his helmet falls off the taco truck. That honestly should have been a huge warning sign. I was worried he didn’t have armor but we know how this goes.

Jim defeats the final titan and everyone is happy. The fight is finally over.

STEVE HAS 7 KIDS. OUCH.

Seeing Jim run to Toby was heartbreaking. Now this is the one scene where the movie really let out actually process a character’s death. How on earth can you process your best friend, your most faithful companion dying. Jim goes through too much I swear to god.

Now let’s discuss the time travel plot. I honestly feel like they pulled some kind of Attack on Titan ending. The main character burdened with knowing the future and what could have been. And if everything is meant to be how it will be, destiny will reconnect them again. (Jlaire reincarnation AU???)

I’m actually ok with this ending. I understand people would want the time stone to return only a few minutes. But even then, the kiddos still have police records, so many people dead at the titan’s hands (or feet) and now the world knows about the existence of trolls thanks to the internet. In New York no less. And people are still dead.

We return the the beginning of everything, reflecting the “Unbecoming” episode.

(NGL I’m bothered that they didn’t do anything to stop Steve from bullying Eli, but Jim can’t do it. He’s saving it for Toby.)

And now finally, let’s discuss Toby becoming the Trollhunter. From the beginning, Toby never considered himself good enough to be the main star. Always the wingman, the 2nd best. Support. Now it was Toby’s turn to climb the ranks and be the Hero he’s always wanted to be. It’s Jim’s turn to live an easier high school life. I don’t doubt that he won’t follow Toby. But now he knows what to avoid and how to make the story process more smoothly.

I understand some are unsatisfied with this ending, which is kinda trademarked with Dreamwork’s shows. I get it. But honestly as of right now, I think I like the ending.

The amulet didn’t choose Jim because this Jim is not the same Jim as in Sn 1 Ep 1. He is a new man. And I think we all can agree that it’s his turn to be happy.

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I still love this series so much. It is my favorite cartoon. Of course it has it’s flaws, but this ending is at least satisfactory and not heartbreaking. Now it’s up to us to either continue the story or contribute our ideas in fanfiction. I look forward to everyone’s creations.

Don’t think. Become.

#rise of the titans #rott spoilers #trollhunters rott #wizards rott #3below rott #Trollhunters #3below #wizards #tales of arcadia #toa trollhunters #toa 3below #toa wizards #toa

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vanillapie-80 · 4 years ago

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The Road To Recovery Chapter 2: Filling In the Gaps

Chapter two boisss. I suprised myself with this chapter because I thought it’d be shorter. So there’s that, anyways. Here the aftermath of last chapter as well as some new problems.

AO3

As the rain poured through the streets of Arcadia, the police station was crowded with officers. Detective Scott had some paperwork he had to fill out after finishing a case of his. After that, he hoped to go home and spend some time with his daughter, if she wasn’t out with her friends. But he knew that Darci was at home since both Claire and Mary were said to be in detention for most of the day, so surely there was nothing to worry about. From a few desks away from him, an officer saw that their phone was going off and answered it.

“Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?” They asked.

“Hello? Me and some students were in a car crash and one of us is missing.”

The officer tensed at what they heard from the person’s voice on the other line, they began writing down the details they were given. “What’s your name?”

“C-Claire Nuñez.” Crap, the officer knew that was the councilwoman’s daughter.

“Okay, and where are you?”

“Uh. I don’t know, somewhere around the campsite- Toby! Did you find Jim?”

The officer continued to silently listen to the other line. “Yeah, but he got seriously messed up! I- I think he might be dying Claire. Please tell me you called for help!”

Then, the other line hung up. The officer immediately began to contact dispatch to anyone who was close around the area and began to call an ambulance. By that time, Detective Scott was done with paperwork and was heading home.

Barbara looked up from her phone as someone announced that there was trauma incoming. She had been trying to contact her son for a while but to no avail, calling lead to voicemail and texting lead to no response. With a sigh, Barbara tucked her phone away and got ready to return to work. She anxiously waited for the ambulance to arrive, and in a matter of a few minutes, they arrived.

As the paramedics swung the door open, Barbara made her way to assess the patient they brought in. But when she got close enough to see who it was, the doctor froze in complete shock. The sight of her son bleeding out in a gurney made it feel like Barbara’s entire world was going to shatter right then and there. Her baby boy, her ray of sunshine, was now dying right next to her. No, she thought. This was the irrational part of her mind speaking, Barbara did not know the full extent of Jim’s injuries. But, she had to let another doctor take care of her son. Holding herself as tightly as she could, Barbara watched her co-workers take Jim away. They did not question why she didn’t treat him, because practically everyone in the hospital knew it was her son, and Barbara knew that because of this fact, they would do everything they can to save him.

“Dr. L!!” The doctor snapped out of her train of thought and turned around to see Toby making his way towards her with tears in his eyes. Barbara braced herself as the teen came to her for a hug.

She stayed quiet and let the tears stream down her face while allowing Toby to break down. A paramedic came through the entrance and spotted the teen. “Hey! You can’t go running off like that without a doctor examining you.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of that.” Barbara muttered, her voice sounding dull and hollow. As more patients came to the ER, she began to recognize them to be students from her son’s class. “Come over here Toby, I need to examine you.”

“But Jim-”

“There’s nothing you can do right now except allowing me to make sure you’re alright.” Toby silently agreed, slowly making his way to one of the gurneys that were in the ER.

Barbara couldn’t do anything to help her son, but what she could do was to make sure these kids were alright and healthy. That’s all she could do, and the doctor hated that fact so much. As Barbara examined the redhead teen, she heard some commotion in the waiting room. The doctor saw Ophelia, shouting at one of the nurses to let her see her daughter while Javier was trying to calm his wife down.

Babara let out a tired sigh and told Toby, “Your injuries seem to be minor, but I want to run more tests to make sure you don’t have any internal injuries. For all of you.” She took a quick glance at the other teens before walking toward the waiting room. “Mrs. Nuñez, there is no need to cause a scene.”

“Cause a scene? My daughter was in a car accident! Do you know how common it is for someone to die in a car crash?!” Of course, Barbara did, she was a doctor. That’s why she was always anxious at the idea of her son riding a vehicle.

“How can you say such a thing? Your child wasn’t the only one in the accident and yet you don’t see us shouting at others like they own the place.” Detective Scott interjected, obviously offended by how the councilwoman was acting.

“Claire wasn’t supposed to be out there! None of them should have!”

Soon enough the other parents joined in on the argument while Barbara watched them with a tired stare. The doctor drowned out their voices with her own thoughts, not wanting to take part in this pointless bickering.

“Don’t tell me you’ve never broken the rules before! Going behind your parents’ backs for the sake of rebellion!”

It was very apparent that Jim needed surgery, but to what extent? She didn’t have enough time to see all of his wounds.

“Not when it comes to risking my own life for it!”

Should she call her family? They never gave the effort to be a part of her son’s life but that didn’t mean they never care about him. Barbara wasn’t sure how much of a support system he would need after this.

“Oh don’t give me that-”

What about his mental state? The traumatic experience will very much affect him in more ways than one. Does this mean she’ll have to get a counselor of some kind, or would her son be more comfortable with someone close to him? When it came to therapy, it was hard for Jim to adjust to such a change at a young age. But what if it wasn’t enough? What if thinking ahead was a pointless endeavor in the end? Jim not making it was still in the realm of possibility.

“People please.” The parents went silent by Nana’s stern voice, something that even Barbara rarely heard. “Arguing among each other will lead us to nowhere. Our children are hurt. This is not about you, so you must let Dr. Lake and the others do their jobs.”

Once the silence filled the room for a few moments, all eyes were on Barbara. “Some of them appear to have minor injuries as far as we know, and while others have more serious wounds, none of them seem to be fatal.” The doctor explained bluntly. She couldn’t have any emotion in her voice, otherwise the grieving mother in her would come out and that wouldn’t be so professional of her, she had to keep her emotions in check. “I will let you know when you’ll be able to see them.”

Each parent began to calm down and some of them took a seat. The doctor noticed someone she didn't expect to see from the waiting room. Coach Lawrence sat amongst the other parents. She only knew him as one of the teachers of the public highschool of Arcadia and nothing more. Barbara took a shot in the dark and guessed that one of the kids was one of his. She didn’t dwell too much on it, after all, their children were going to be fine.

Barbara took a deep breath and went back to the ER. The doctorly mask she’s been struggling to keep was still intact, but it was inevitable that it would have to come off, and she knew that.

After further testing, it is safe to say that Toby wasn’t suffering from any internal injuries, rather some lacerations and small head trauma. Barbara told him and the other students that some of them would stay here overnight for observations, just in case. The redhead didn’t want to leave with his nana just yet, he wanted to be there with his friends for support.

“You alright Claire?” Toby asked anxiously as he sat next to her.

“Yeah.... just the morphine that’s all…” She answered, her speech slightly slurred.

“Don’t worry Toby, in a few hours the drug will probably wear off,” Darci reassured, taking a seat on the right side of the bed. She had her in a cast on her arm and had a sling around her to support it. “Though I get the feeling that it isn’t Claire who you’re about.”

The redhead teen looked at the person next to him, her expression hesitant but still determined to obtain answers. He let a dry but quiet chuckle and said, “I would think that would be obvious by now.”

“Sorry. But you haven’t talked about it. I’m just trying to make sure that you’re alright, well that everyone is alright mentally, but for you specifically. Jim is your best friend and anything can happen. You might even have to brace yourself for the worst-case scenario.”

Toby cringed at the thought of losing Jim, grabbing the fabric of his pants with a tight grip. “Jim’s a fighter. You’d be surprised how much he can take.”

Darci couldn’t help but pity him, but she did not understand the true extent of Toby’s words. She did not know the countless fights the trollhunter faced with creatures that were twice his size.

“Did...did you see what attacked Jim? You and Steve are the only ones that found him and he won’t talk.”

The redhead’s eyes were glued to the floor with an intense stare. The image of one of his companions, his friend’s protector, slamming Jim deeper into the ground and leaving him there with no remorse. “I-it looks like a bear.” He muttered.

“A bear?” Darci repeated, who was having doubts.

“I think so. Look it was dark and I was still in shock, but to me, it seemed like it was a bear.” Toby couldn’t handle more of his classmate’s interrogation, he just didn’t want to replay the awful images in his head.

“Hey. Where are you going?”

“I’m going to get something to eat.” He responded.

“But we’re at a hospital.”

“I’m sure I can find something around here.” With that, Toby left before Darci could continue their conversation.

The girl’s eyes then wandered to the blonde bully. Like she said to her departed classmate, Steve refused to speak with anyone the moment the ambulance came. He just stood frozen, sitting in one of the gurneys with a blank stare. Darci cautiously shuffled towards the unresponsive student.

“Um. Toby told me what happened.” She said nervously. As much as Darci wanted to believe Toby, the girl always liked to double-check her facts. It’s helped wash the worries away.

“Why do you care?” Steve asked, his voice quiet but somehow intense enough that it made Darci uncomfortable. But she stayed persistent because if today meant anything, it was that Steve was like everyone else. That there were people he thought mattered and wasn’t so terrible, or at least that was what she hoped.

“Police get involved in this kind of stuff, so they ask questions. I thought It’d be easier on all of you guys if I asked first so there wouldn’t be any added stress on talking about it with a stranger. ” She explained before continuing with, “Toby said it was a bear that attacked Jim. Is that true?”

The blonde teen blinked, then said, “A..... bear?”

Darci only nodded. She could see how Steve was reeling in this information. “Yeah. That’s what I saw, probably the biggest bear I’ve ever seen.” The intense tone of his voice never left, but only grew. What would Steve be mad about? Unless Toby’s statement was false. “Where ‘s Domzalski?”

She didn’t want to tell him, cause it felt like that would only stir the pot. But they were at a hospital, so Darci had nothing to worry about, right? “He said that he was going to get something to eat but-”

Steve immediately got up and pushed his classmate aside to leave the ER. Darci groaned in frustration, already feeling her regret. The young student looked around and saw the police. She took a deep breath and tried to shake off her nerves, Darci needed to be there with her friends for this. She tried reassuring herself that there was nothing between the two boys.

Toby sat on the floor next to a vending machine, all while staring at the amulet that dimly glowed a blue light. The redhead managed to grab it just before the ambulance took him away. He dreadfully waited for the small object to do something, for better or for worse. Suddenly, someone grabbed Toby by the collar of his shirt and began dragging him into a secluded area in the hospital.

He was then shoved into a wall and dropped the amulet from his hand. The redhead gazed upwards to see Steve in front of him, who had a furious expression. While rubbing his neck, Toby muttered, “Oh come on…” to himself.

“A bear? That’s what you went with?!” He shouted.

“So I see you’ve talked to Darci,” Toby remarked, trying his best to smooth-talk his way out of this.

“Are you stupid?! No one is going to believe that a bear caused all of this!”

“You’d be surprised. There’s a lot of bears in California, you know?”

“Oh, my bad. I didn’t realize bears had enough strength to flip a car over, let alone breaking trees in half!” Toby wasn’t sure why the blonde teen was so mad at him for doing it, it’s not like he did anything better or anything at all when Darci asked him what he saw.

“Listen. It’s a lot more believable than what actually happened. I’m trying my best here so cut me some slack alright.” The redhead tried to leave but he was shoved back again, only this time Steve didn’t let go. “Urgh! What is your problem?! I was trying not to make us look crazy and yet you’re mad at me?! You have no right to treat me this way!”

The blonde teen faltered and let go of Toby. Jim’s words began to echo in his mind, “You just have a reputation okay? And not a good one, but you already know that. I know you are capable of being a nice person.”

He was doing it again, and Steve didn’t realize it. He was going back to the school bully that tormented others, going back to the person that everyone hated. “I.......I’m trying to be a better person....” Steve muttered, but more to himself than to Toby. “Sorry....”

“Well, at least you got it out of your system right?” The redhead bitterly said back.

Of course Toby didn’t forgive him, why would he? The blonde teen would’ve probably hurt him if he continued.

“Steve Palchuck....”

Both of them froze at the new voice, Steve wasn’t able to recognize it. “Steve Palchuck.....” He turned to the right to see a small object on the floor, the hands ticking away.

Toby quickly fell to his knees and snatched it from the floor, his hands shaking. The redhead looked absolutely terrified. “No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!” He got up and ran out of the room they were in, with Steve following behind.

This isn't happening. Jim was fine, he was fine. What Toby heard was just his mind playing tricks on him. His best friend wasn’t dead, he can’t. But the amulet said Steve’s name, that wouldn’t have happened if...... if......

The redhead stopped at a screeching halt at the sight of doctors blocking his path, one of them being Barbara. “What are you two doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be at the ER?”

“Uh,” Toby looked back to see Steve, who was glancing away at the group of people. “We... just wanted to grab something to eat Dr. L, but we got lost. It’s a big hospital you know.” He couldn’t hold back the tears, as the idea of Jim being gone finally settling in. “Sorry about that.” Toby sobbed.

“No. Don’t apologize, this all must be very hard on you.” Barbara took one of his hands while wiping her tears away. She then took him to a few corridors until they made it to the ICU. When Barbara led Toby to one of the rooms, he quietly gasped. “He’s still in critical condition. But there’s hope that Jim will make it.

The redhead felt a tidal wave of relief wash over him. He wasn’t dead, his best friend was still here. But if that was the case, then why did the amulet call for Steve. Toby began to worry, was the amulet just preparing for the inevitable. Can it even do that?

Barbara left the room to go talk to the doctors again. She saw Steve standing outside of the room like he was afraid to even enter with Toby. The doctor had heard a lot about him, with none of it being good. However, Steve was just a child, and just like the rest of his classmates, he was terrified about this ordeal. So, despite her hesitance, Barbara silently allowed the blonde teen to stay.

Steve had expected Lake’s mother to kick him out, he wasn’t close to her son, not by a long shot. Now that it was just him and Toby, he felt intrusive and out of place. Steve was about to leave until the redhead spoke.

“Something’s wrong.”

“What?” He asked while seeing Toby holding his friend's hands.

“The amulet. It won’t call someone unless the previous user has died.” Oh. Steve sensed a chill slowly running down his spine.

“But Lake’s fine. He has tubes in his mouth, but he's still alive.” The blonde teen rationalized.

“I want to believe that too. But there has to be a reason why the amulet said your name.”

“Maybe it’s broken.” Toby raised an eyebrow at Steve's suggestion. He showed the small object in his hand and tossed it at his classmate.

“Does it look broken to you?” Steve inspected it, there didn’t seem to be any cracks or anything out of place as far as he knew.

“It’s magic, right? It’s messed up and we don’t see it.” The redhead groaned in frustration and pulled his hair back.

“Look man, I don’t have all the answers. I’m just spouting stuff other people told me.”

The blonde teen was unsure if this was the right time, but at this point, he couldn’t stand being in the dark anymore. “S-so, you know what caused this?”

Toby stayed silent for a moment, the lump now in his throat made it difficult to get the words out. “Yeah..... I guess I do.”

“Then can you please tell me what is going on? Because you can fool everyone in this hospital, but you sure as hell can’t with me.” Steve was able to control himself from shouting this time.

Once again, there was a long pause from Toby. All he wanted to do today was to get his peers to enjoy themselves. He wanted Jim to have one day, one day where he was at peace and didn’t have to worry much about his responsibilities. The redhead had never expected this to blow up on his face this hard. Now Steve was the trollhunter while there was a huge possibility of his best friend dying.

“Well then, you might want to sit down for this part. Cause it’s a lot to take in.” Toby said with a sigh, his eyes focusing on Jim. Hoping that the universe will be kind enough to keep him alive.

After a few hours, the sedative the doctors gave Claire wore off. She began to feel extremely sore in some parts of her body, most likely where the more severe injuries she suffered were treated. At some point, her parents were able to see her when Claire was moved to her own room. Most of the time it was just her mother scolding the young teen while her father watched with a sympathetic look. Like always, the councilwoman had to make it about her instead of her own daughter.

At this point, Claire had learned to just tune out the lectures. She had heard it enough times to understand her mother. That she’d be disappointed in her no matter what if Claire didn’t fit the perfect image the councilwoman envisioned. Soon, the young teen had the room to herself. As she waited for some of her friends to come, her phone began to vibrate from the counter on the right side.

Claire picked it up and that it was Blinky. She took a deep breath and braced herself. “Hello?”

“Ah, Lady Claire. Is Master Jim with you? There is something important we need to discuss and he hasn’t been answering my calls.” The troll greeted, his voice sounding somewhat relieved but still worried.

The young teen bit her lip, before saying, “Blinky. We were in an accident and-”

“Great gronka morka! Are you alright?!”

“I’m fine, Toby is too, but Jim...... he..... he was hurt pretty badly. I don't know what happened to him yet but I'll let you know as soon as I find out.” Claire explained nervously. She had started to wonder where the redhead even was since there was no sign of him despite being hours since Claire last saw him.

“Oh dear. This.... this is not good. What are we going to do now?” By the sounds of it, Blinky was talking about something completely different.

“What’s going on Blinky?” She asked.

“I’m afraid that this night will not get any better. The Tribunal has requested for the arrest of Master Jim.”

“What?! Why?”

“Apparently Usurna has evidence that Master Jim has released Gunmar into the surface.” This could not be happening right now. Jim was not in any shape of getting out of this hospital, but knowing how stubborn trolls could be, there was no telling what the Tribunal would do if the trollhunter didn’t show.

“Can you just explain what happened and just postpone it?” She knew all too well that trolls weren’t so kind to humans, especially for Jim’s case, but surely they can give him some form of sympathy and stop this.

“I’m afraid with an accusation as severe as this, it cannot be dropped so easily for the Tribunal are very adamant for punishment. If it’ll not be Master Jim, surely they’ll find someone else who was involved in it to take responsibility.” Claire quickly dropped her previous sentiment once Blinky clarified that this situation was not going to be easy to get out of. “Telling the ordeal you’ve been through tonight could give you for a few days at the very least. However, that’ll make the Tribunal restless which might not help your case.”

The young girl pinched the bridge of her nose, their options weren’t great, but there wasn’t much they could do. “Well, you’re doing your best. That’s really all I can ask for. Me and Toby will try and be there as soon as possible.”

“Very well then. I wish the best for you all.” As Blinky hung up, Claire sank herself further to the mattress of the hospital bed. Too much, there was too much going on with little time to actually process it. She then heard a knock on her door and saw Toby standing in the middle of the door frame.

“Hey Claire.” He sheepishly said.

“Toby, you just missed a call I got from Blinky.”

That caught the redhead’s attention as slowly walked closer to his friend. “Really? What did he say?”

Claire sighed as she began to fiddle with her phone. “Nothing good really, but before I tell you, any word on Jim?”

A tired smile formed on Toby’s lips. “He survived the surgery. Dr. L says that he has a long way to go but he’s doing fine all things considered.” The young teen felt a lot of her anxieties washed away and glanced at her phone.

“That’s.... that’s good to hear. I’m going text Blinky about right now.”

“Uhh sure you do that, but while you’re at it, there’s just one more thing I need to say, or show you in this case.” Toby didn’t make it seem like it was anything bad, but he was good at sugar coating things.

The redhead looked outside from the room and made a small gesture to someone to come inside, and that someone was Steve.

Claire blinked in surprise. “Oh. Hi Steve.”

Toby scratched the back of his head while saying, “Sorry I didn’t come sooner. I was giving out some good ol’ exposition to our “buddy” over here.”

The tension then came back to her and lifted herself out of bed. “You told him?”

“Easy there. He saw Draal the moment we found Jim, so there was no point in lying.” Toby was leaving something out, she could tell by the tone of his voice.

“The stupid amulet called my name,” Steve muttered. “But I guess the person who had it before is supposed to die.” It was obvious that he was uncomfortable at the thought, and who would be?

Claire stayed silent with a blank stare before saying, “I thought you said that Jim was alright,” with a frantic voice

“He is! It’s just that the amulet picked Steve for some reason, but before you take the chance to freak out more, mind telling us the not-so-good news Blinky gave you?” Right, there was also that. Man does this day keep getting better and better.

“Uhh, he said that the Tribunal wants to arrest Jim for releasing Gunmar.” Toby’s eyes widened in shock while Steve’s shoulders tensed up.

“That’s bad, right?” The blonde teen asked.

“Yeah, it really is. So what do we do now?” The redhead moved closer to his friend and sat next to her.

“We have to go to Trollmarket as soon as possible. Or least until I get discharged. If we don’t show, things will probably get worse.” Claire explained with a sigh.

“Do I have to come?” Steve didn’t want to ask that question, he really didn’t. But this was starting to sound serious, and maybe there was a small chance that he could help. How exactly? The blonde teen wasn’t sure.

“It’s really risky, especially since you never had any combat training.” As much as a frustrating person Steve was, she would never wish any harm on him. And if what she heard about Trollmarket’s reaction when they found out that Jim was the trollhunter was true, then bringing him along could lead to the exact opposite of what Claire wanted.

“But what if the Tribunal thinks we’re lying about Jim? We’re not someone who they really trust, and he could be backup, a fancy sword made of magic can do much wonders as a defense.” Toby suggested with a shrug. “And if something goes wrong, he has you, me, and Aaarrrgghh to help him out.”

The two boys watched the young girl weighing the options. Sure, it was two out of one, but Claire was smart. And at this point, she was silently placed as leader until further notice. “I can’t believe I’m going through with this, but we’re all pretty much screwed right now. So, do you have any trouble sneaking out of the house at night Steve?”

“Not at all.” He had successfully snuck out a few times to go to some late-night parties, this shouldn’t be any different.

In one of the private offices of the hospital, Barbara laid head first on the desk. She was on break and finally had time to let all of her exhaustion set in. The information given to her about Jim’s condition and the outcomes it might lead to.

The worst of her son’s injuries was the one on his spine. The doctors stated that most likely that he will have permanent damage to his nerves. There was no telling he would regain complete function of his limbs or would have to deal with something else. Either way, Jim’s body won’t work the same way as it used to.

As Barbara put her hands above her head, an elderly voice called to her. “Ah, there you are. I’ve been looking for you everywhere.” The doctor straightened herself and turned her chair around to see Toby’s grandmother. “Mrs. Domzalski-”

“Dear please, how many times do I need to remind you to call me Nana.” The old woman teased as she entered the room.

Barbara let out a tired laugh, removing her glasses to rub her eyes. “Old habit I guess. Though why were you trying to find me? I discharged Toby a few hours ago.”

“He wants to check on the councilwoman’s daughter. They’ve been friends for awhile you know.” Nana explained. “And also wanted to see how you were doing.” “What you’d expect I suppose.” She wanted to grieve, to let all of those raw emotions free, but Barbara just couldn’t at this point. And she knew that there wouldn’t be enough time even to do that if she could.

“Dear, I don’t believe I know the answer to that. Only you do.” Nana placed her hand onto Babara’s left shoulder. “And if you’re willing to talk to me about it, then I’ll know. It’s never healthy to keep everything bottled up.”

Barbara allowed the old woman’s word to sink in. “ I will give anything to do that, but I’m just so tired right now. I don’t have enough energy to even fall apart and cry for hours.”

“You know for someone whose job is to take care of people, you don’t seem to do that for yourself.” Nana never understood that. She could forgive those who didn’t have any extensive knowledge of health, they just didn’t know any better. Doctors, however, did. The old woman could remember the countless times she has seen medical professionals ignore their health.

“Well, I’d like to think that we’re the biggest hypocrites on earth,” Barbara explained with a quiet voice.

It took two days for Claire to get discharged, the doctors told her parents that she just had to take it easy for a few days. That statement made the young girl second guess herself about going to trollmarket but pushed the idea aside. Sooner the better, because there was no telling when the Tribunal’s patience would wear thin. When the night came, Claire took her shadow staff and created a portal while a small changeling watched from behind.

“Remember NotEnrique, you have to keep watch to make sure mom and dad don’t know I’m gone.”

“I hear ya. And I’ll let ya know if they come running over here.” The changeling added. Claire smiles at him before entering the portal.

In Arcadia’s canals, Toby and Steve stood below the bridge there waiting for the young girl to arrive. The two never said a word to each other for a good while now. Something about being alone with Steve made the redhead uneasy, bringing back the memory of him and Claire trying to retrieve the bridge pieces. Meanwhile, the blonde teen was too anxious about seeing trolls to even talk to Toby. He tried to play it cool at the hospital when learning that there was an entire society hidden underground in their town, but when Steve made it home, that’s where he took the time to openly show his nervous breakdown in his room.

Everything that felt out of place in Arcadia suddenly made sense. But very quickly he wanted to forget it, the mantle of being a trollhunter sounded too dangerous for his taste. Steve had no intentions of dying, and going through with this sounds like the exact opposite of what he wanted. However, the blonde teen would be lying if he said he wasn’t curious. And who wouldn’t? It’d be near impossible to just ignore the existence of magic and trolls and not look into it.

Steve’s were ripped away at the sight of a dark portal appearing in front of the two boys. Claire then hopped out of it and it quickly disappeared. She pulled her hair back and exhaled.

“Okay. We’re all here, now it’s time to face the music. Would you like to do the honors, Toby?” The redhead nodded and took out an orange crystal that had a wooden handle attached to it.

Toby made his way to the canal’s wall, with Claire and Steve following behind, and began to draw a curved line as big as he could. Once he was done, the redhead pressed his hand on the wall and in a matter of seconds, it began to break away into various pieces and disappear. Steve watched as Toby quietly went inside the glowy entrance. He extended his arm but pulled it away when it made contact with the magical wall.

“It’s now or never.” The blonde thought before jumping headfirst inside the canal’s walls.

What he was met with were massive blue crystal staircases that twirled around until they reached the ground. The blonde teen stared in awe by how beautiful the sight was, but had to divert his attention away to getting all the way down. Claire noticed her classmate’s reaction and decided to catch up to him.

“You know. I really wished this was under better circumstances.” Steve jumped at the sudden sound of the girl’s voice, almost falling off the stairs. He looked at her in confusion, so she continued as they walked. “Coming here for the first time, it’s a one of a kind moment. But the difference between now and before is that there were no lives at stake or trolls coming to arrest us. I just hope that when all this blows over, you get to share the same experience that we all had.”

It was very strange. Hearing someone genuinely talking to him, was it supposed to feel like this? First from Coach Lawrence, then from Lake, and now Claire, would he be able to get used to such a thing? As the three of them walked down the final set of stairs, two large creatures, which Steve assumed were trolls, pointed their spears at them. The trolls barely looked like the one he saw in the woods, but that didn’t make them less terrifying.

Toby and Claire stood in front of the blonde teen and took their weapons out with a defensive stance. It didn’t take long for more trolls to contribute to this ambush. They all looked the same except one, who came towards the group. Their appearance was formal and very fancy in Steve’s perspective.

“Where is the trollhunter?” Usurna hissed while glaring at them.

“Didn’t Blinky tell you? He’s at the hospital and is in no condition to come right now.” The troll scoffed at Toby’s notion.

“You could easily be lying. Trying to hide him from our grasp.”

The redhead glanced at Claire and muttered, “Told you they wouldn’t believe us.”

She turned to the blonde teen with a nervous expression. “Steve, take out the amulet.” He did as he was told and heard many gasps from the trolls at the sight of him. “Read the incantation.”

“Incantation?” Steve looked at the small object more closely and noticed there were words inscribed on it. “For the Glory of Merlin, Daylight is Mine to Command.” He read slowly.

The amulet began ticking and its blue aura shined. Armor then appeared out of nowhere and was placed onto Steve. It felt tight at first before the armor adjusted to his size. With a flash, Steve was holding a sword, which made itself slightly bigger than before.

“Holy shit.” He whispered, amazed by such magic.

“So..... the trollhunter died, and amulet dared chose another fleshbag to hold the mantle,” Usurna stated, disgusted at that fact.

“Did not listen to what I said. He’s still alive.” Toby quickly corrected, but before he could say anything else Usurna spoke.

“I believe it does not matter at this point. Arrest the human trollhunter.” She commanded before turning their back on them.

“What?!” The three of them shouted in unison.

The troll guards grabbed Steve by both arms and dragged him away. A fight or flight instinct came over Steve, an instinct that has been proven useful to him countless times. “Let go of me! Or else I’ll beat the hell out of you!” He thrashed and kicked at the trolls, yelling with all his might. But it was futile.

Claire ran for Usurna and blocked her path. “You can’t arrest Steve! He had no idea about all of this! Wouldn’t it make more sense to arrest the people who took part in the release of Gunmar?!”

“You have no authority over me, fleshbag. If James is unable to attend to his own arrest, might as well let this new trollhunter to fill in the role.” The troll pushed past the girl with such force to almost make her fall to the ground. “And besides, it’s more than Gunmar’s escape that will be put into question.”

As Claire helplessly watched Usurna leave, Toby sprinted to Blinky’s library for aid. Because this was not going according to what they planned at all. God, could there be one day where everything went smoothly without any issues?

#tales of arcadia #trollhunters #jim lake jr #steve palchuk #toby domzalski #claire nuñez #darci scott #nana domzalski #barbara lake #blinky galadrigal #jeves #vanilla writing

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creativespecialism · 4 years ago

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Film Language: Taking A look At Black Swan

Black Swan is an American Psychological horror film directed by Darren Arronofsky. I is based on an original story by Andres Heinz. he film stars Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel, Mila Kunis, Babara Hershey, and Winona Ryder. The plot revolves around a production of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake ballet by the New York City Ballet company. The production requires a ballerina to play the innocent and fragile White Swan, for which the committed dancer Nina (Portman) is a perfect fit, as well as the dark and sensual Black Swan, which are qualities better embodied by the new rival Lily (Kunis). Nina is overwhelmed by a feeling of immense pressure when she finds herself competing for the part, causing her to lose her tenuous grip on reality and descend into madness.

SPOILERS AHEAD

The film opens with a shot of Nina’s feet. she is wearing ballet shoes and the light is white. This establishes her character very early on as it tells us that she is pure, naive and that dancing and ballet is the most important element of her life. I think it’s interesting that this opening scene is also a dream sequence. Nina dreams that she is the Swan Queen so at this point in the film it is but a fantasy and is even interrupted by the nightmarish black swan creature and we are made aware of this through the use of music. It quickens in pace making the situation seem panicked and dire. It could also be said that the fact that the surrounding area is symbolic of Nina’s underlying darkness and her blindness to the reality of the outside world.

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When Nina is walking outside it is always a shot from behind and the camera is slightly shaky. This makes us feel like we’re following Nina in a documentary style film and it makes the whole thing very personal. like we’re their on this journey with her.

Early on in the film we get introduced to Nina’s foil, Lily. Lily is a stark contrast to Nina’s innocence and naivety. She’s confident and sexually secure.

This is where the wardrobe really comes in. Even before this contrast we have a pretty good idea that the costume design is gonna play a huge role because Nina’s scarf looks particularly like a swans plumage. and could be seen as restricting.

Lily wears black and grey throughout the film and rarely wears white, using it as an accent to the black, most notably with her delicate white feather earrings. Whilst Nina wears mostly white, pale greys and very pale pink. All very delicate colours that preserve her innocence. This carries over in the makeup choices as Lily’s eyeshadow is dark and bold, heavy and Nina’s is light, more natural with hints of glitter.

The crux of the film is Tchaikofsky’s Swan Lake. Thomas the director of the dance company has to choose his swan queen but they have to be able to play both Odette and Odile. The white and black swans. The wardrobe choices eludes us to the fact that Lily is the black swan or at least resembles what the black swan is supposed to be.

Nina finds out that she isn’t picked to be the swan queen and goes to confront Thomas who assaults her with a kiss. this is what earns her the role because she retaliates with a bite. After this scene Nina calls her mother and calls her “mommy” this is a reaction of regression to childhood, perhaps a retreat to a time of safety? I say this because it’s already established that Nina refers to her mother as mom and has her saved as this in her phone. This regression is Nina’s way to deal with this unwanted advancement. But later on in the film we get the impression that her mother is narcissistic as their apartment is littered with self portraits and she resents Nina for ruining her ballet dreams by being born.

Whilst we’re on the subject of childhood I find Nina’s bedroom incredibly interesting.

The main colour is this incredibly pale pink, almost off-white and it’s cluttered with lacy furnishings and stuffed toys that scream Sanrio aesthetic. Don’t get me wrong I love stuffed toys and I have many at home but within the context of the film and how they’re used here. It’s clear that they are supposed to be this symbol of childhood and childishness.

One time when Nina is walking home she has a visual hallucination.

She sees herself in a darker attire with darker hair and more confidence as if she’s daring herself to defy and question the inevitable existence of her darker side. This can be seen as foreshadowing to the point in the film where Nina begins to embrace the darkness that’s underlining her innocence.

At one point in the film Lily takes Nina to a club. there’s lots of flashing lights, red lighting. It’s quite intense. Lily offers a skimpy black top to Nina so that she can dress more club appropriate. At first Nina refuses but later we see her wearing it over her white top. This not only shows us that Nina hasn’t fully embraced the darkness but it also marks the start of her transition into the black swan. Lilly also offers Nina a white pill of Ecstasy. Which she takes, albeit with reluctance.

The sex scene is very interesting especially since it was completely fabricated. Lily wore black underwear and Nina wore white underwear. Lily was on top, the more dominating position. Nina was very submissive and and at the end she saw Lily as herself. This tells us that Nina will eventually allow her darker side to take over and dominate what she is now.

Nina actually oversleeps after this night and because she comes in late Lily is named as her alternate. This makes Nina paranoid and is the true catalyst to the decline of her sanity. She also has a visual hallucination of Thomas getting it off with Lily and Thomas turns into the black swan creature we saw a the start of the film.

We can say that this is a wake up call of sorts. She rushes home and gets rid of all her stuffed toys. Literally disposing of the symbols of her childhood and by extension her innocence. She does it quite forcefully too.

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This is a great scene as It’s so unexpected and intense. Beth is the old and forgotten prima who winds up in hospital after a failed suicide attempt. Nina returns the items she stole from her dressing room, one of them boing a small knife, probably a letter opener. Nina hallucinates Beth stabbing her self with the knife. Since Beth represents a future version of Nina we can say that this is foreshadowing that Nina will be her own undoing.

We also get this scene.

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The ballet music is building in the background and is competing with the factitious screams and that her and her mother exchange. She forcefully locks herself away and pulls jagged black feathers out of the self-inflicted scratches on her back. Her eyes are red and intense. and we get a close up shot of them to give us a feeling that she’s looking at us, pleading for help.

This is the night before the show so it’s all getting very intense and we can see that the pressure is getting to Nina. She hallucinates her legs breaking which cause her to fall and bang her head. on her bed. This can be read as her not having a leg to stand on. Or that she’s on her last leg as it were. However you could also say that this is a nod to the idiom “break a leg” which is used to with good luck to someone out of superstition that “ good luck” would be a jinx.

In the final act it’s time for the show. Nina goes on and an is riddled with anxiety which is made worse by the fact that her prince drops her. We get a close up of her knee as it makes contact with the floor to emphasise the importance of this. In a high class ballet production you expect everything to be perfect and run smoothly and Nina knows this so this mistake really plays on her mind.

After this Nina returns to her dressing room to find Lily there, powdering her nose and wearing Nina’s costume for Odile. This is a fight scene of sorts.

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Nina hallucinates Lily as herself but a more dark and confidence version who is determined to take Nina’s place on stage as Odile so, Nina trusts this adversary against the mirror and stabs them with a piece of broken glass. After which they turn back into Lily. Personally I read this as symbolic of Nina killing her anxiety and insecurities and ridding herself of them so she can be free to fullylet go and embrace her darker self.

This is clear in the scene that follows.

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Here we can see right away that Nina is much less rigid and controlled as she was at the start of the film. The dance is her advantage rather than a prison her mother put her in. Nina undergoes metamorphosis into a black swan. It starts at the hands, a symbol that blood is on her hands due to the murder of Lily/her darker counter part. this grey colour travels up Nina’s veins and eventually consumes her arms. Feathers begin to form and her foot work sounds like feathers flapping. Her eyes are red and swan like and her makeup looks like a pair of angular wings. eventually her arms turn to actual wings and her dress grows to fit the rest of her body, drowning it in black. We get a striking shot of of Nina in the finishing pose with two large shadows cast on the bare brick wall. It’s wonderful. Also after this Nina forcefully kisses Thomas which is a parallel to when he kissed her earlier on in the film as this time Nina is the one who is in control and passionate. She’s now the seducer.

After this performance it is revealed that Lily is still alive and Nina actually stabbed herself. In the final part of the play Odette returns and commits suicide by jumping off a cliff but safely onto a mattress. This means Nina has to become Odette again so the film shows her taking the shard of glass out of her wound. she is effectively removing this part of her so she can resume her innocence but as she dances for the last time we learn that this isn’t possible. The wound begins to bleed and stain the white dress representing the underlying issues Nina has and how they are bleeding through into her life. She jumps and we discover that this wound was one of the only things that actually happened to Nina and her final words “I was perfect” fade to white.

I think fading to white is interesting. It represents peace but also vulnerability. Naked and in your face about it. I always get quite tense when I see a character wearing white. most of the time one of three things happen; there’s gonna be blood because it shows up nicely, they’re gonna get married because wedding dresses are normally white and it’s subtle foreshadowing, or they’re going to die, especially if it’s a bloody murder but more importantly because angels and heaven are often associated with white. So having Nina be a white swan in her final costume is very fitting.

Black Swan is an amazing film that probably needs a few watches to really catch everything. it has amazing performances and direction and the costume design and lighting and shot work are just amazing. There are still somethings I didn’t talk about and I know I’ve kind of already spoiled the majority of the film but I really recommend watching it for yourselves.

#filmlanguage

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sailingbrisa · 7 years ago

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Shelter Bay and the Panama Canal

We arrived in Shelter Bay Marina on Friday … sent an email to the Eric the agent who would help us get through the canal and did our Customs clearance and immigration after a taxi and ferry ride into Colon. Easy and friendly… wouldn’t say fast though. We had to wait until Wednesday to be measured and spent our time exploring the jungles around Shelter Bay, swimming in the pool and meeting fellow cruisers from all over the world on their way to many different destinations. Significantly for me.. most of the people here were a different type of cruiser to what I was used to. Mostly the St. Martin cruisers are used to sailing around the Caribbean, always fairly close to land and a bar. In panama they cruisers were more exploration oriented and had stories of great remote little anchorages all over Central America. Elwin and Ross went for a mega hike… I think in all about 18km round trip in brutal heat and humidity, out to the old fort. Lots of cool animals and good memories.

We finally had everything we needed so we packed up and shipped out for a 132 nmovernight hop to Boccas Del Torro. A surf/ party destination. We arrived, had a Red Bull and went for a walk around. There were a lot of hostels and Europeans and commercialization, so we zoomed across to one of the nearby islands and explored the mangroves. We were hoping to see lots of dolphin, but we were only welcomed in and out of the main channel and didn’t see any others. We decided to pull anchor and head off to Bluefields Lagoon… supposedly a beautiful anchorage filled with fish and fairly remote. It got its name from a Dutch Pirate… so Elwin was happy. WE went snorkeling and climbing around a big gannet hatchery.. loads of fish everywhere and beautiful warm water.. Almost too warm I think! We got back to Brisa and ross had managed to get 6 lobster for 7 dollars… good size ones too so we got stuck into barbeque lobster with garlic butter off of the grill. LOVING IT! The bay was beautiful and we enjoyed watching the local school kids in uniforms so white it hurt to look at paddling across the bay in their little traditional dugouts. They would all stop by to say hi and get some candy from us! I gave one of the bigger kids who was learning English a book about Babara Kendals windsurfing history…. He didn’t believe I knew her, but said he would take it to his school for the English library… now apparently they had 12 books in English! He was very excited.. so Babara.. if you ever wash up in Bluefields I imagine the kids will now who you are. J We anchored very close to a little fishing village in deep water. That night we had a flashlight on the ladder… but crazy jumping fish hit it and knocked it off the boat and it sank to the bottom in 50 feet of water, leaving just a faint glow. As we were right beside some mangroves and had heard of big crocodile stories… I wasn’t about to go in there and get it.. but came up with a plan to use one of our sinking lures to hook the string on the light. I was sitting there for about half an hour bouncing the jig of the bottom and I had only caught a couple of plastic bags, when all of a sudden there was the unmistakable strike of a big heavy fish… I handed Elwin the rod and he pulled … but nothing moved. I think we hooked a big ray or Nurse shark.. because it wasn’t even noticing it had been hooked. Sadly we snapped the end off the rod trying to get it up to unhook it… and then the line broke too…. Needless to say I didn’t go down there to get the light……

We pulled up the anchor and motored off to Isla Escudo DE Veraguas…. A little island about 25 miles off of the Panamanian Coast. 5 hours later we anchored in a spectacular little island. Beautiful sand beaches, awesome little islands and caves and bays, potential for surf.. but we didn’t manage to time the swell well. We brought more lobster and went exploring the island.. snorkeling incredible reefs filled with fish and lobster, touched nurse sharks… and napped in the evening. The next day was my birthday and we spent it eating lobster, snorkeling and windsurfing on the JP convertible stand up board as there was only light wind. Elwin was a pro after his first couple of hours of trying. I received a great hammock, a thermos to keep my water cold and my midnight watch coffee hot and a great mug from the boys! Awesome gifts. I have to say I enjoyed the day there very very much with a great crew doing exactly what I had always dreamed of doing with Brisa.

We sadly left the little island.. but knowing we would soon be crossing Central America in the Panama Canal started to sink in and as we motored ( yeah that’s all we do these days as there is almost no wind anywhere here ) back towards Shelter Bay I told Brisa to enjoy her last few days in the Caribbean salt and to get ready to explore a new ocean.

Now I wish I could say the trip back up was routine… but this time of year in the tropics we have massive land mass thunderstorms.. slow moving very active and covering between 6 and 10 miles. Darkness really makes these monsters impressive as you can see the forks of lightening very clearly and they were slowly getting closer and closer. WE were about 20 miles out to sea but the closer we came to the marina the less distance there was between the storms and the coast .. leaving us about 2 miles offshore in the middle of a big thunderstorm… luckily we made it through with no damage and popped out the other side and made out entry into the breakwater by the canal just as the storm we just went through came back and got us again. It was now about 130am… puring rain and I was driving around using the radar to know where I was… I found a big ship and went over beside it figuring if the lightening came this way it would hit that big boat before Brisa…great idea until Ross comes up and asks me why we are sitting bobbing around in the thunderstorm by an LPG tanker… lol. Zoom off we go and arrive in the tiny entrance to shelter bay with about 500 yards visibility and lightening everywhere. The dockmaster standing there at 3am flashlight and radio in hand smiling at us form under his raincoat. Thanks Dockmaster Frank! You rule. We tied up.. I took a shower under the rain and curled up in bed about 430 am after a loooong day. The highlight apart from making it in one piece was just after dinner… literally as I Said “ Ross thanks great meal! Now all we need is to get lucky before sunset.. “ at that very second the reel took off and we hooked a great little spearfish… basically a marlin with a little nose. Thirty minutes later he was by the boat, we gave him a little slack in the line, the hook fell out and I didn’t have to wrestle any angry pointy nosed fish again! Ross had requested to catch a marlin on the trip so we ticked that off the list! I think for Elwin he was pretty damn happy with having enough lobster that he could throw one in with his ramen noodles…J For me the highlight was the night thunderstorms and dodging them .. and making it into Shelter Bay marina in the middle of it all. Great fun.

The next day we spent getting ready for the Panama Canal crossing. Checking the engines, receiving the buoys and long ropes we would need for the locks… 3 up +100’ and 3 down – 100’ and about 37 miles of motoring through the canals with all the big ships. And about 5 pm we motored across the canal and anchored at the flats anchorage awaiting our advisor to arrive between 4 and 5 am the following day. Debbie and Bob were also onboard as our line handlers. I went up[ the mast to see why the anchor light wasn’t working and basically the wiring fell apart in my hands… oops .. maybe I should of waited until we got through the canala to “fix” that eh? I spent a very rolly hour and a half up there fixing the little wires back together and … voila problem not solved. Still no anchor light. So we had a look the next day in the control box in the anchor locker, joined a broken wire and voila problem fixed.

The advisor didn’t show up until about 1pm.. and with him onboard we followed a big ship up the canal and said our goodbyes to the Caribbean as we passed the construction of the new Panama Canal bridge and entered our first lock. We were with a big boat, a tug and a beautiful sailboat called Altos. WE tied up beside them and uneventfully passed through the three locks. We had to tie up to a mooring ball for the night in the Gatun Lake and as the sunset we spotted some manatees playing close to the boat, got some great photos and had a few Balboa beers as a reward for leaving the Caribbean. Brisa sitting 100’ above sea level in a fresh water man made lake!

The next day at 745 our next advisor showed up and off we went across the Gatun lake.. about 26 miles from start to the next lock… it was beautiful scenery, cool to see the huge new panama boats and be up close and personal with all the commercial traffic… but Brisa didn’t skip a beat. N fact since we left she has been nothing short of exceptional. We showed up at the next locks a little early so tied up to another bouy for about an hour waiting for the other ships we would go down the next locks with. We went in first, the dockhands threw us little lines on monkey fists and then pulled back out lines. As we would go through three locks, each about 30 feet down, we would need to pay out line evenly on all four corners to keep the boat straight. The three locks went by without incident and we pootled out into the PACIFIC! Brisa motoring under the bridge of the Americas and we took a mooring ball in front of the Balboa Yacht Club, went to TGIF and had some food and beer and then back to Brisa for a good sleep.

Bob and Debbie were a bit sad as they knew this was possibly the last time we would see each other for a while… but like all sailors.. they knew it wasn’t the last time. We really had a lot of fun going through the canal.. and it was an amazing feeling to see Brisa floating there with the Panama canal behind us and the Pacific Ocean calling her name. I guess that is one right of passage for every sailor, but not every boat.

The next day we went to Casco Viejo to take care of some paperwork with the rental of my little apartment there. We all stopped into the Red Bull office to say hi to everyone. Was great to see the guys and girls again!

Next we picked up some parts that had been ordered and went to the fishing shop to get a couple of our reels that were there being repaired, brought Elwin some flippers, a three prong spear gun and a replacement fishing rod for the one we broke in Bluefields. Heheheh. Great fun.

That afternoon refueled and relocated to the other side of the Amador Causeway. Interestingly the Marina wanted to charge us 21. Usd to park our dingy while we brought supplies and had dinner at their restaurant and shops….. ??? Huh? Incredible. So we told them we didn’t like their attitude and off we went to climb up the rocks and go get some supplies. Red Bull, beer, bread and coffee. The next day Ross and I zapped off to super 99 in the mall for some resupplying. WE had a great time there buying up everything we needed and an even more entertaining time while we watched the lady at the register try to work out how to use the Vale Panama food stamps that I had been keeping from my time working in Panama. Was pretty sad when even with a calculator the lady had to count 110 little $3 vale panama tickets 8 times to work out how much I had given her….. even with a calculator she couldn’t get that 10 x 3 = 30. It literally took us 40 minutes for her to sort that out and eventually the packing boy helped her count as obviously he had finished high school.

Then we head outside and I wont take the little yellow taxis in Panama. They continuously try and rip you off and have shitty attitudes. So I walk out with Ross and the bagging guy form super 99 that can count, and dial up an Uber. At least 40 taxis stop while im there and ask if I need a ride and a big police man comes over and asks why im not getting in the taxi. I explain the shitty time ive had with Taxis and that id wait a week for an Uber before getting in the taxi and he gives me some shit about Uber not being legal. The Uber dirver shows up, the cop stops him and asks for all his papaers… lol. Everything legal and the cop calls his boss… who explains that it isn’t illegal and the cop lets us go, saying Ubers time is almost up in Panama. Jajjajaja. The driver was super cool and wished the officer a lovely day.

We got back to the boat dropped off the food and I went for dingy gas while the boys organized the food. AS soon as I got back we started the engines and headed for Las Perlas Islands, showing up around 430pm and straight into glassy clean lefts and rights. Not so big, but just me and Elwin in the lineup. Lots of waves ridden before sunset. Very positive start to our surfing mission in the Pacific as the goal of it all is to surf un-crowded remote areas…. And this definitely was one of those.

Today we got up early and went for a look around the island. Dragged the dingy up the beach a little and went for a twenty minute walk.. when we came back the dingy was 20 feet up the beach. Huge tides here are something that will take us a while to get used to. We surfed a little bigger waves this am, but the wind was a little onshore in front of a big thunderstorm, so we came back, had lunch and played gin while we waited for the lightening to stop! Now as the tide drops we are foaming for another glassy evening surf session!!!

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