#but the decision to create the Wachowskis

[delicatefury]

I think the weirdest decision in the Sonic movies, and weirdly the very same thing that makes the Sonic movies work, was the decision to give Sonic a Dad™️ (and a Mom™️, but let’s face it, the moral lessons come largely from Tom.)

Like, the movies gave Sonic the one thing we never knew he needed, a guiding role model he could admire and base his worldview on. It’s not a thing in the games or the cartoons (it may be more of a thing in the comics, but I don’t read them enough to weigh in on that). Sonic’s a hero because he’s a hero. He’s grown enough for Big Moral Issues even when he’s theoretically still a young teen.

And yet giving him a Dad worked.

[theuniversalscat]

So I love watching videos, reading articles, and watching shows about consciousness, but admittedly I don’t know that much about the physical brain and how it functions. So I was watching a special about consciousness this morning, and they mentioned the “Neo cortex” where a lot of brain function occurs. And that made me think of root word, Neo, the character in “The matrix” so I decided to look up its meaning.

The word, “Neo” according to Greek origin, means “new”. So that got me to thinking, I wonder if that was why the Wachowskis named Keanu Reeves’s character, “Neo” in the movie, as he was busting myths about consciousness as it pertains to the overall human condition.

The Neo cortex, of which the cerebral cortex is 90% comprised, makes way for “the New” to gather more pertinent and up-to-date information for the furthering of the specie’s evolution. According to the Cleveland clinic, “…Your cortex is divided into four lobes: frontal, parietal, temporal and occipital. Each of these lobes is responsible for processing different types of information. Collectively, your cerebral cortex is responsible for the higher-level processes of the human brain, including language, memory, reasoning, thought, learning, decision-making, emotion, intelligence and personality.” Basically most everything that makes us who we feel and think, we are.

And the Neo cortex is where consciousness is created or housed, depending on your individual beliefs; it’s the awareness of new information to deliberately create our lives. It also is in charge of our decision making, whether we can choose to create “better” or “differently” in the present moment And in doing so bring humanity further into its mindfulness, thereby bolstering and altering our internal power of recognition, and of how our feelings can quickly become thoughts, beliefs, and actions. (if we so choose to focus on it.)

Neo, the new, decided to do this for himself, thereby adding all of what he discovered in the collective’s consciousness as well for anyone to glean.

Pretty cool… 👍😎

[the-convergence]

💰 LORE PREVIEW: CORRUPTION. 💰

"The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it."

- The Wachowskis, The Matrix

Earth's position at the center of Convergence has only complicated an already troubled landscape. For most individuals living on earth, day to day existence is dominated by the influence of three monolithic institutions: the global government, enormous corporations, or insidious syndicates. Each of these represents the easiest way out of dangerous parts of the landscape — joining the local police can help someone move to a part of the city with better filtration systems and less pollution exposure, for example, but they share a parasitic relationship that constantly undermines each other: the corporations have become too influential to curb with laws alone; the government is spread too thin with too many problems to tackle; the syndicates are skirting the rules of both. Characters do not have to work or operate within one of these three groups, but not doing so does come at the cost of life being just that much harder.

The Government

Following the centuries of conflict at the end of the last millennia, the remaining countries of earth have finally ascribed to global membership and cooperation on executive, legislative, and judiciary functions. Characters can choose to be members of police or military forces, judges, diplomats, or newly-created Convergence observers who are doing their best to monitor interplanetary activity at the nexus sites. A global parliament makes much of the legislative decisions, which are then directed to local courts, but often these laws are undermined by the special interests of corporations and syndicates — or a lack of funding and resources to truly improve conditions. The government is struggling to respond to Convergence, having to deal with all of the previous challenges of postapocalyptic earth along with the mysteries and dangers of convergence zones and the sudden emergence of sentients. Where some see opportunity to restore earth, others see dangers and the threat of revolution.

The Corporations

You could say that both the biggest winner and biggest loser of earth's late-stage wars were: corporations. Late-stage capitalists have achieved monopolies in many categories, albeit perhaps at the expense of a literally scorched earth. Corporations control many of the daily essentials that people need, which is what drives so many folks to go to work for them in hopes of better access to clean air, water, food, or bionic devices. A character could be a grunt at one of these organizations or perhaps an executive, and we have available roles listed on our canon roles page. Corporations use their economic power to adhere to the letter of the law (most of the time), but never the spirit of it. In many cases, syndicates are sneaking employees into their ranks for all manner of white collar crime, yet another drag on behemoth institutions that are too big, too bloated, and too greedy to truly innovate their way out of problems. Many of them have begun to take note of innovations from the other three convergence planets, and are ravenously waiting to incorporate those technologies into their own products: maybe that's theft, but everyone bows to the god of revenue.

The Syndicates

Those who couldn't make their way into legitimate institutions found their way into another kind of organization — that of organized crime. Regional syndicates have sprung up all over earth and even on the lunar colony, where they provide a black market to individuals who can't get the basic goods, devices, or help they need through the other two channels. Syndicate leaders and members are, on paper, wanted by the government, but in practice often escape punishment either by bribing officials or by exploiting how few government resources can be directed towards criminal activity. They also frequently work to steal key materials and secrets from corporations, often to sell those insights and technologies off to the highest bidder. In the wake of Convergence, many syndicates have turned their eyes to the stars: these other planets seem like they, too, have resources that the black market would be ravenous for. They're not the type to turn down an opportunity, and now is the time to strike while the iron's hot.

[heckinconfusedparade]

Sonic's first Christmas with the Wachowskis is surprisingly bittersweet for him, as it brings back painful memories of feeling especially alone on the longest, coldest, darkest nights of the year when they're expected to be the warmest and brightest for everyone else spending time with the people they love together. Noticing his best friend's melancholic mood, Tails goes on a mission to get the perfect gift for the person who means the most to him (while lowkey hoping he doesn't get a bad present and pretty much spoil the whole thing), while Knuckles struggles to understand the holiday season.

Tails is a man on a mission. He will either find or create the best present Sonic could ever want! He and Knuckles put their heads together.

Would Sonics gift be for comfort? Dopamine? Something he can use every day? Decisions decisions!

Sonic has no idea this is going on, and is on a mission of his own (STAY TUNED FOR DECEMBER)!

Tails asks Tom and Maddie. Tom thinks a coupon for free chili dogs would probably work, and Maddie thinks a new baseball glove. They’re just thinking within TAILS’ budget. Yes, he only has his allowance saved up, but he ultimately decides that the best gift for his brother would be from his heart.

So he makes light up sneakers that can be charged with chaos energy so Sonic runs out of stamina slower, and the extra energy goes somewhere. He also makes ear pieces so Sonics lil ears won’t feel sore from the wind.

Sonic nearly cries when he gets these gifts. Tails gets the tightest hug from him.

[bobgoesw00t]

Just finished watching The Matrix Resurrections and HOLY SHIT BALLS WAS IT GOOD (IMO at least x3)!!! Lana Wachowski did such an awesome job with this movie and good lord, the two people from IGN who interviewed her at the premier weren’t kidding when they said how funny the movie was. One of the things that most surprise me was *WARNING FOR MAJOR SPOILERS HERE!!! PROCEED TO THE BOTTOM OF THE POST IF YOU DON’T CARE* Bugs was BY FAR my favorite of the new characters and to all the people complaining about how Morpheus and Smith got recast, here’s my take on that. Firstly, Lana and Hugo Weaving stayed in contact throughout pre-production and early filming and they discovered that Hugo didn’t have a clearing in his schedule so they HAD to cast Jonathan Groff. So while there’s no way in hell that he would ever be able to be as good as Hugo Weaving, I think he did a great job filling the shoes of the character to the best of his ability. As for Yahya Abdul-Mateen II replacing Laurence Fishburne, it made sense in the context of the story that someone else played the character and he did a PERFECT job taking the previous Morpheus and creating a brand new character that has the same spirit as the original, while adding a sense of wonder to him. Lastly, the fact that they actually addressed the ending of Revolutions by saying that peace DID come and was still around, just not in the way Neo was thinking it would was a great idea IMO. Overall, my stance on the movie is that same as it usually is. If a movie looks good to you and you think you’re going to enjoy it, go see it and decide for yourself if it was worth paying for the ticket. 99% of the time if I go into a movie thinking I’ll enjoy it, I will and I’ll want to see it again. Don’t let what one or two people think about a movie effect your decision, embrace the fact that you have a choice and take the red pill if you want to. You might just like what you find in the end.

Neil Patrick Harris getting cast as a villain was something I was NOT expecting, even with my knowledge that he played Count Olaf in the Netflix Series of Unfortunate Events.

[canmom]

Animation Night 73: Stor Wor

Good evening jizz-wailers! It's time for Animation Night!

The occasion for tonight is the release of a certain project of old Darth Walt's evil empire - essentially an attempt to copy the Animatrix formula by throwing a bunch of money at some of the best known anime studios and directors to produce a short film anthology for the Star Wars franchise.

With the Wachowskis, that was because they are big weebs who personally love anime and, having made a successful movie, had the opportunity to work with some of their objects of fandom. With Disney on the other hand, it's nakedly because they've noticed anime is making a lot of money (for everyone but the actual animators who make it) and want a slice of the pie.

So this is an utterly cynical bit of showbiz capitalism but whatever, I like anime short films and if nothing else, this is a chance for great studios like Science Saru and Trigger (with Imaishi himself directing no less) to make something goofy and shortform. So yeah let's fly the 'copyright strike' run in less than twelve parsecs and check this stuff out.

So, Star Wars. Nowadays it's inescapable, but to begin with, it was the project of a fairly minor director with a couple of successful, somewhat more arthousey films like American Graffiti in the 70s attempting to update the format of the Republic serial. A serial was a kind of weekly film series popular in the 30s and 40s (pre-TV) that would be watched at a theatre; often these would be Westerns or sci-fi stories such as Flash Gordon, and they had a pretty strict formula with cliffhangers at the end of each week; the company Republic seems to have further specialised in superhero stories and special effects shots in shows like King of the Rocket Men. For Lucas, the particular one he wanted was Flash Gordon, but he could not get the rights, and resolved to tell his own story.

Star Wars was fully expected to be a small release, and perhaps the props could go ahead and be used to make a TV show and wring a bit more money out before it was done. Instead it somehow became one of the first mega-franchises; rapidly its potential to flog toys to children was recognised and new films were greenlit.

So why was it so successful? We can't really give a definite answer for which ingredients were essential and which were dispensable. But my best guess is that it has a lot to do with the series's at the time startlingly strong sense of visual design.

The 70s were a time of extensive aesthetic experimentation (c.f. @70sscifiart), before the genre conventions of 'fantasy' and 'sci-fi' would get nailed down the way they have today. We saw this a bit in the case of films like Bakshi's Wizards (Animation Night 63), and 70s anime like Galaxy Express 999 (Animation Night 62). A lot of this was fed by a lavish fantasy painting scene; you may well know the name of e.g. Frank Frazetta. Alongside that there were comics, then just leaving their 'silver age' and still vastly more popular than they are today (when thanks to a whole series of incomprehensibly terrible business decisions, comics have been reduced to an appendage being bled dry by the film industry).

So one of Lucas's major inspirations for the look of his new film was the paintings of Ralph McQuarrie (examples in a rather marketing-hagiographic article); the story seems to be that Lucas approached McQuarrie and asked him to work together on a film titled The Star Wars, and McQuarrie did a great deal to define both the striking shapes of the costumes and the particular uses of texture and lighting that the film would make iconic. Along with Alien, McQuarrie is credited with creating the idea of a 'used future' with realistic grime.

But Lucas had a more specific stroke of luck: shortly prior to his effort to shoot a new sci-fi film, the Jodorowsky Dune project that we discussed two weeks ago on Animation Night 71 collapsed, leaving a lot of talented French comics artists in want of new work in film. Among them, Dan O'Bannon was left homeless and dependent on his friends; he would go on to create the CG interfaces in both Star Wars and Alien. I'm having trouble finding the names of other artists who went directly to work on Star Wars (as opposed to Alien which scooped up most of the Dune crew including Giger and Moebius), so perhaps the influence was more indirect:

[French documentary Jodorowsky's Dune] notes that Jodorowsky's script, extensive storyboards, and concept art were sent to all major film studios, and argues that these influenced and inspired later film productions, including Star Wars, the Alien series, Flash Gordon, the Terminator series, and The Fifth Element.[5][6]

Other artists who made major contributions include Colin Cantwell (pictured here in an extremely 70s outfit) who designed the ship's spaceships, which are one of the strongest elements: a fantastic sense of shape and design balance between large shapes and greebled texture. (Perhaps it's not going to be a surprise that I loved the Star Wars Incredible Cross-Sections series as a kid.)

So the situation was perhaps ripe for someone to take all these stark aesthetic concepts and turn them into a film. Cue a summer of gluing battleships together in Tunisia to make greebled surfaces and all of that other stuff you can read about on the wiki.

As a standalone film, with no premonition of what is to come, Star Wars has a lot of good qualities. Its story is maybe a simple pastiche of samurai movies like Hidden Fortress by way of World War II with a sci-fi veneer and a paper thin new-agey spiritualism, but all those creative designs and lived-in settings do a lot to gesture in the direction of an expansive, strange universe.

So when Alec Guinness turned his Shakespearian voice on mentioning the 'Clone Wars', you don't need to know who the clones were or what they were fighting about: the allusion adds texture to the setting and works best as a tantalising hint. George Lucas's wife at the time, Marcia Lucas, gave it a fantastic edit which did a lot to elevate the film's weaker writing decisions (as we can see after she divorced Lucas and he started making changes). As simple as it is, the story has enough support to carry us through the locations and setpieces; if this were a toku film I'd be more than happy.

Then they made a bajillion dollars and it went to their heads.

The next two films don't exactly drop the ball, and continue to deliver strong visual setpieces and a functional story about family drama played out over a large scale war, though you can see the spectre of 'we can sell so much shit to kids' coming in with characters like the Ewoks in movie 3. Following that, Lucasfilm started something that was at the time quite novel: an 'expanded universe' of linked books, comics, games etc. which allegedly would come together to make a much grander story. (Starting with projects like the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special.)

And the movies? Well, unfortunately, they started to be treated as...

Every single line and visual setpiece started to take on an 'undue reverence'. Entire fan subcultures formed around arguing over Lucas's changes in the re-release, like a fraction-of-a-second flash of light that allegedly compromises Han Solo's entire character. Within the now sprawling and contradictory 'expanded universe', a bizarre 'canon hierarchy' was fashioned in which Lucas's films were authoritative, and everything else on a series of rungs beneath it.

Especially in the 90s, the Expanded Universe grew and grew; writers desperate for material took each minor character to appear and attempted to flesh it out so that their behaviour on screen is somehow representative of the paradigmatic behaviour of their race. Chewbacca isn't just a big hairy guy with a funny voice: there's a species who are all just like him and they're all bad losers and they love swearing life debts to random humans etc. etc. Even minor extras in the film, like the ice cream maker guy, were given names, backstories and their own comics, each one devotedly imitating the canonical emotional moments of the original films. As some sort of spectacle of modern capitalist entertainment ouroboros you couldn't ask for much better!

Some of those Expanded Universe creations became popular enough to get a kind of esteemed status as near-to-canon. Timothy Zahn's scheming space admiral Grandmaster Thrawn was popularised by a series of novels. A minor villain, the bounty hunter Boba Fett, had such a striking design that he was expanded into a culture of "guys like Boba Fett" with a specific language and creed by author Karen Traviss, who would later have most of her ideas overwritten in the Clone Wars TV series, leading her to leave the franchise. The 'Old Republic' setting defined by the Knights of the Old Republic game series became quite popular in its own right.

Meanwhile, in the early 2000s, Lucas decided to make a prequel trilogy about the rise of the fascist Empire from a liberal democratic Republic, in part as a special effects showcase leaning heavily on new developments in chromakey compositing and CGI. The result was a set of movies which made their own massive impact (with the early internet ready to make them into memes) even though the near universal consensus opinion is that they are terribly written and acted 'bad movies'.

Perhaps the major reason for this was the ongoing commitment to novel visual design and concept art driven setpieces; as tedious as the racing segment of A Phantom Menace was considered by many viewers, 'high tech rocket chariots' is a fantastic concept and definitely captured the imagination of the kids who went to see it like an eight year old Bryn Canmom. Naturally, this could equally go in quite terrible directions, like the incomprehensible decision to include a minstrel character alien, or layer a slave-owner character in an almost parodic amount of antisemitic signifiers. But I guess it's not surprising for a descendent of French comics.

Following the prequel trilogy, Star Wars enjoyed a brief period of living primarily in animated TV shows. This began with Genndy Tartakovsky's Clone Wars series (Animation Night 35), but this was overwritten by Lucas's decision to make a CGI TV series with Dave Filoni. Star Wars: The Clone Wars began by rather mechanically imitating the formula of the Republic serials with its opening narration and battle-focused storytelling formula, and if that is all it managed it would be worthless. As Lucas drifted away and Filoni became the primary director, The Clone Wars managed to escape that start and come into its own, managing to deliver some reasonably compelling dark dramatic storylines like Darkness on Umbara and The Wrong Jedi, and a lot of absolutely off the wall goofy stupid shit, which is to be honest one of the most valuable parts of Star Wars.

Then in 2012, the Mouse came to swallow it up as part of its acquisitions spree. The new overlords were not going to let their new franchise sit cold; they quickly announced a new movie trilogy and a followup animated series with Filoni, while officially discarding basically the entire Expanded Universe to start over.

Disney's take on Star Wars is, well, very corporate, and excruciatingly conscious of its status as a fandom-generating machine at all times. All the weird goofy parts of the Expanded Universe had no further place in the new order. The goal, especially in the hands of Abrams, was to devotedly recreate the general arc and aesthetic of the original trilogy.

At first this approach felt like it could have some merit - seeing the visual language of the Empire and Rebels come back in the first spate of Disney Star Wars movies (especially near-immediate prequel Rogue One) seemed refreshing, and they made some great casting decisions like John Boyega of Attack the Block as a Stormtrooper defector which seemed to have a lot of potential. The film was basically a retread of the first Star Wars with a larger CGI scale, but it had a certain sense of fun 'oh we're doing Star Wars again!' enthusiasm as Abrams did his usual mystery-box plotting.

It would not last.

Rian Johnson's second movie attempted to take some small risks with the franchise, trying to deliver a rather muddled critique of its core premises, and tried to shoot down some of the tedious mysteries that Abrams's film raised as unimportant; it was also one of the only films to deliver anything new visually. Unfortunately it also completely sabotaged John Boyega's role - the first film was clearly setting him up to share the main character status, but the second film relegated him (and Kelly Marie Tran's new character) to a distinctly secondary status, and refused to engage with any of the thematic potential he'd had in Abrams's film. Meanwhile, the effort to shoot down the Rey/Kylo Ren ship bait from the first film backfired spectacularly.

The fans got upset for all the wrong reasons, and Disney apparently panicked and immediately brought Abrams back to overturn all of Johnson's risk-taking decisions into a fascinatingly mechanical movie that seems to rush through every expected character moment at speedrun pace, and indeed when I saw it (don't worry I didn't spend money, my friend was going and she had a spare ticket ;p) it got the whole theatre laughing during what was supposed to be a climactic moment. So you end up with a movie trilogy that's a completely muddled mess, ending on the most inane note possible. I honestly can't think of anything more fitting.

However, Disney aren't done with yet, not when there's still money to be made. They found some success with streaming-targeted series The Mandalorian, which is by and large a rote space-Western/dadcore series mostly notable for its unusual production technique of filming in a box covered with screens showing real-time Unreal Engine renders of the environment, with the section behind the camera specifically reprojected to match its POV, which avoids some of the lighting and compositing issues of chromakey. Then the Mouse tried to announce about 50 more TV shows to capitalise on that success, only for one of them to almost immediately fall through when the lead actress got cancelled for too publicly being a far right conspiracy theorist. Such is entertainment media in 2021.

So instead I guess they went anime!

tThe studios tapped for Star Wars visions may well be familiar if you've been sticking with me all these animation nights. We have...

Studio Colorido, whose major works we watched last week, with Tattooine Rhapsody dir. Taku Kimura with a musically themed one

Studio Trigger, with Hiroyuki Imaishi (Animation Night 18 for Promare, Animation Night 30 for Gurren Lagann, and extensive animation in an episode of FLCL) himself directing The Twins which basically seems to be 'what if Lio Promare was a Jedi'. They have a second film, The Elder, directed by Masahiko Otsuka who also worked on FLCL and TTGL.

Kinema Citrus, of Made in Abyss (Animation Night 45) and Revue Starlight, doing one of several 'Jedi as samurai' shorts in The Village Bride dir. Hitoshi Haga

Production I.G., renowned for many works including all the adaptations of Ghost in the Shell (Animation Night 39), with GitS:SAC director Kenji Kiyama giving us a story about a Jedi exile fighting off a bunch of assassins in The Ninth Jedi

Science Saru, the studio of Masaaki Yuasa (Animation Night 12, Animation Night 28), bring two shorts: one a story about a droid trying to become a Jedi by one of their younger directors Abel Góngora, the second by Eunyoung Choi of Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! fame telling another samurai type of story.

Geno Studio, a member of the Twin Engine group alongside Colorido and Science Saru, bring Lop and Ochō about that rabbit Jedi you may have seen in pictures...

The general account is that it's generally solid - necessarily mixed bag like any such multi-studio anthology, but I hear tell there are some fantastic shorts and excellen animation. So I'm looking forward to seeing what some people who still have some kind of distinctive aesthetic vision can do with Star Wars.

Since these nine episodes won't be quite enough on their own to really flesh out an Animation Night, I'm also planning to show you some of the better standalone episodes of The Clone Wars (namely, the Darkness on Umbara arc), and any others by request (maybe one of the goofy bounty hunter ones or one with the fantastic pirate king Hondo, who has a great dynamic with the series's rather more gay sarcastic take on Obi Wan). It's been quite a long time since I watched these, so I hope they hold up as well as I remember them lol. I also have one of the less fondly remembered entries in Star Wars animated history - @mogsk has tracked down a copy of, well, the animated segment in the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special which I'm certainly curious to see.

Star Wars has managed to attain a kind of status where it kind of doesn't matter whether you think well or poorly of it; like Marvel movies, its cultural saturation has reached the point where no matter what, if you're even slightly interested in science fiction or film, you'll see its imagery and hear people discuss its major plot points. But it at least has the decency to not look, in its past iterations anyway, as utterly bland and ugly as Marvel movies. I hope Star Wars dies and becomes a historical artefact to give everything else some breathing room, but while we have to contend with it, let's see if we can wring some enjoyment from the machine :p

Animation Night 73 will be starting very soon! Head over to twitch.tv/canmom now and we'll be live any minute, and starting films in 10-20 minutes probably...

[akthedirectorscut]

THE MATRIX

Director: Lana and Lilly Wachowski

Year:11 June 1999

Age rating: R

Cast: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne

Synopsis: Neo belives that Morpheus (The most dangerous man alive) can answer his question to what is the Matrix.

Plot:Neo is contacted by Trinity, a beautiful stranger who leads him into an underworld where he meets Morpheus. Which leads to them both fighting for more than just Neos life.

Does it have a slogan?: “Reality is a thing of the past”

Merch from the film: Tops, most types of clothing and also accessories like cups and much more.

Is it in the top 100: N/A

Cnspiracies: The conspiracy of humans being stuck in a stimulation and that we are being used to create power.

Keyscene: Slow motion scene of Neo effectively stopping the bullets that are coming at him (at the second photo) and also the part of the slow motion scene of the bullets flying(at the 3rd photo).The decision of Neo of which pill he takes the red pill which allows him to “stay in the wonderland and getting shown how deep the rabbit hole goes” or the blue pill “ends the story and you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to BELIEVE”

[themosleyreview]

The Mosley Review: Alita: Battle Angel

It seems almost every 2 or 3 years there is a leap forward in the evolution of filmmaking and imagination. Now I have never read the manga that this film is based upon on, but if it is anything this imaginative and stunning then I should pick up a copy. To create a new and vibrant world with endless possibilities has been one of the cores of science fiction and this film does that expertly. The set up of the world and its rules was great and although it felt a little like Elysium and many other dystopian worlds that have an hierarchy that separates the wealthy from the disenfranchised, it has its own identity. There's no doubt that this film was stunning in every way and it features some outstanding action scenes that are truly innovative. It has been a long time since one of my favorite directors has had a film on the big screen and this has almost all of his tricks and style, but it is also an example of a filmmaker that has evolved.

Rosa Salazar has always been a shining star in every role I've seen her in and as Alita, she gives an career defining performance. The level of genuine curiosity and emotional turmoil the character goes through is brilliantly portrayed and her astounding physicality was something to truly marvel. Christoph Waltz is always fantastic and as Dr. Dyson he brings out part of the film's heart and alot of Alita's in many beautiful scenes. Jennifer Connelly was great as Chiren even though she goes through some quick character decisions and changes. Mahershala Ali will always be an image of cool and professionalism and as Vector I thought he was good. The switch between him and his boss Nova was fun, interesting and subtle. Ed Skrein was perfect as the pretty boy cyborg bounty hunter Zapan and I liked his scenes with Alita as he shows what the bad side of being a Hunter-Warrior could be like. Keenan Johnson was really good as Hugo and the chemistry between him and Alita was immediately strong and I liked how their story ended up. Jackie Earle Haley as Grewishka was awesome and a great constant threat to Alita. Their fight scenes are some of the highlights of the film.

The score by Tom Holkenborg was outstanding and nailed the action and emotional beats. Like I said before, this film is leap forward in evolution and the visual effects in this film show it. The performance capture technology has come a long way and just the facial expressions alone are astounding. Alita's eyes may be larger so to look like the manga, but the emotion is still present in her eyes. Many have tried to replicate it, but I think we're finally there. The action in the film was amazing and the Motorball sequences reminded me of The Wachowski's Speed Racer in a good way. The style and visual flare was all there and yet stripped down. The sound design in the film was very impressive as well. Robert Rodriguez has made an excellent film that pushes the boundaries of visual effects and imagination. I absolutely recommend seeing this film in Dolby 3D or IMAX 3D for the full depth of the visuals and the incredible sound.

[phoenixshine]

Fun fact: Village Roadshow has sued Warner Bros. for sabotaging the film's theatrical profits by releasing it simultaneously on HBOMax (a horrendous move, in my opinion, which could potentially have been fueled by the constant burn against them in Resurrections, as seen on this brilliant scene above). Warner Bros. has responded that they never promised an exclusive theatrical release for M4, therefore there is no ground for such lawsuit. The ridiculousness of it all is that WB is at loss here anyway, because had they released the film in cinemas only, the Box Office (which dudebros complain about and turn to in order to accuse the film of being bad) would have had significantly bigger figures, which means more money for them. If anyone has to sue anyone, then WB should be suing themselves for making this stupid decision.

Meanwhile, while all the money seeking companies fire gunshots at each other, Lana Wachowski and co. are probably still cheering the fact that they got paid millions to create the most perfect fix-it canon coffeeshop AU in cinematic history.

THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS | 2021, dir. Lana Wachowski

bonus:

[thetheateroffensiveblog-blog]

Positive Trans Representation in TV and Movies

Now in 2018, we have more trans characters being created than ever.  But as I’m always pointing out to people, more is not necessarily better.  Sure, popular media like Silence of the Lambs and The Rocky Horror Picture Show did bring trans characters into the mainstream, but I would argue that representation that paints trans people as serial killers and rapists is representation we’d probably be better off without.  So to combat this sort of demonization, I’m compiling a list of shows and movies that give us positive trans representation. The way that I define positive will definitely be different from the way that others define it, but here are my criteria:

The character must not be “evil”.  To elaborate on this, the character in question cannot be a murderer, a sociopath, or one of those trans characters who “tricks” innocent cis people into having relationships with them.  

The character must not be murdered.  This is a trope I see far too much, and frankly while perhaps realistic in some ways considering the rate of violence against trans people, it still doesn’t feel positive to me to further a culture of violence against us by killing our characters in disturbing and gruesome ways.

The character must have a personality/plotline outside of being trans.  In other words, trans characters should be presented as people with thoughts and feelings and lives that are influenced by their trans identity, rather than their trans identity being the thing mentioned about them.

They must be respected by other characters and, if not the main character in a movie or show, be respected by the main character.  Having a protagonist who mocks or misgenders trans characters is not positive representation.

Must not be created as a joke or a character to be mocked (the “man in a dress” trope is tired, offensive, and needs to be retired.)

Trans characters should be portrayed by people of their gender: cis women can play trans women; cis men should not play trans women.  This one does get a little tricky because there are portrayals I have found to be very compelling in which people of a different gender are playing trans characters.  In cases where representation is otherwise positive I will make a note.

Character is fictional.  Documentaries and dramatic retellings can definitely be good representation, but I’m currently interested in the ways in which storytellers incorporate us into their writing.

  And now, onto the titles!

  Sense8: This incredibly diverse series is notable for its portrayal of Nomi (Jamie Clayton), a trans woman, who is one of the main characters.  Nomi is strong, intelligent, caring, and highly respected by the other members of the sensate. Furthermore, her relationship with Amanita is one of endless, dedicated love, something not often given to trans characters in media.  The show is also written by the Wachowski sisters, who are both trans.

Grey’s Anatomy: In season 14, Casey Parker is introduced as a trans intern, and is played by Alex Blue Davis, who is trans.  There is also buzz about Candis Cayne, a trans woman, playing a trans character in the upcoming season. (She’s confirmed, edit)

Little Evil: This Netflix original movie presents Al, one of the main characters, who is presented as trans or perhaps gender nonbinary.  Al is played by a cis woman, Bridget Everett, but his portrayal is important in that his identity is accepted by all other characters and dealt with casually and respectfully.  Al uses he/him pronouns and calls himself a “stepdad” but that’s all that is stated specifically about his gender.

Tangerine: Tangerine premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.  Shot entirely on iphones, this movie follows two trans sex workers, both played by trans women (Mya Taylor and Kitana Kiki Rodriguez).  The film is marketed as a comedy/drama.

Transparent: While there have been many criticisms of this show revolving around a cis man playing a trans woman, this show is still notable for its trans characters portrayed by trans women and its production, which heavily involved members of the community.  While I personally am unwilling to support this show following accusations of harassment and transphobia against Jeffrey Tambor, I think trans actresses Alexandra Billings and Trace Lysette deserve credit for their portrayals. The show is also created by Jill Soloway, who is nonbinary.

All My Children: This deserves a mention for its character Zoe, one of the first trans characters on daytime television.  While Zoe is portrayed by a cis male actor which is obviously not ideal, she is given a full story arc which involves discovering her identity, surviving an attack from a killer (it is a soap opera after all), coming out to and reconnecting with her parents, making thought out and informed medical decisions that are right for her, and having a positive romantic relationship with a female character on the show.

The Fosters: This show featured a recurring trans character (Aaron Baker), played by trans actor Elliot Fletcher, who has a positive romantic relationship with one of the show’s main characters, Callie.  Aaron’s character is an important one for a number of reasons. He is more than just a romantic interest; he also helps to prove the innnocence of another recurring character who is falsely accused of murder.  He was introduced in season 4 and is expected to continue into the upcoming season six.

Elementary: Candis Cayne, trans actress, portrays Miss. Hudson in a twist on the original character in the Sherlock Holmes stories.  While her character is seen relatively infrequently, her transness is only really mentioned once and then accepted by all of the characters on the show.  She is an expert in Ancient Greek and Latin and is revealed to have helped Holmes in solving a cases before. While only in a few episodes so far, I have hope that we will see more of Miss Hudson as the show progresses.

One Day at a Time: Last but definitely not least, this list would not be complete without mentioning the groundbreaking sitcom that introduced a nonbinary character named Syd who uses they/them pronouns and has a positive romantic relationship with Elena, a main character on the show.  Syd is not played by a nonbinary person as far as I know; but for me that didn’t take away from this portrayal too much. I can count on my fingers how many nonbinary characters I’ve EVER encountered in any type of media, and seeing my own gender represented in a positive and respectful way by such a popular show is enough for me right now.

A Fantastic Woman: Since this film just won the Oscar for best foreign language film, I think it’s absolutely necessary to include it here.  A Fantastic Woman tells the story of a transgender woman as she deals with life, love, family, self acceptance, and grief.  Trans actress Daniela Vega gives an unforgettable and three dimensional performance that on its own makes this Chilean film deserving of its award.

  For me, the takeaway from this project has been, perhaps unsurprisingly, that we still have a long way to go.  I look forward to a day where I can write a list and not settle for mentioning cis people who play trans people because trans people are being cast in roles by and for them.  I look forward to the day when I can update this article to 10, 15, maybe 100 entries of well written, positive, and nonbinary inclusive representation. But for now, this is a good start and I was happy to watch shows and movies that made me feel positive about a future that includes accurate portrayals and acceptance.

[adamwatchesmovies]

The Animatrix (2003)

The Animatrix sounds like a glorified special feature, but this animated anthology is so much more. It’s 8 shorts (technically 9, The Second Renaissance is split into two), all completely original in terms of story and visuals, that compliment the Matrix films and also stand alone as compelling pieces of science fiction storytelling.

Final Flight of the Osiris

Taking place immediately before The Matrix Reloaded, this short written by the Wachowski siblings tells of the final flight of the hover-ship Osiris, during which they discover the mechanical army burrowing towards Zion. This is the only CG-animated film and displaying it first was the right idea. It sticks out and would have even more somewhere in the middle. What I like best about this story is the opening training sequence. It feels perfectly at home with the rest of the franchise with it’s got over-the-top fighting sequences, virtual dojo, and gender-equal fan service shots. It’s one of the more inventive sword fights I’ve seen and wraps itself up nicely by having a lot of tension and high stakes. It sets the right mood.

The Second Renaissance Part I and II

My favorite segments, The Second Renaissance chronicles the rise of the machine empire, how the sun got blotted out, and the origin of the Matrix. This story excels at shaping the franchises' world, without administering any useless information that makes it feel less magical. If anything, this two-parter makes the world significantly more emotionally complex than before, as a series of bad decisions escalate into all-out war. There are many haunting visuals (including references to real-life events given a different spin), some striking scenes, and disturbing material that's hard to shake. The animation is top-notch and The Second Renaissance stands on its own as a compelling piece of sci-fi. If the Wachowskis ever pull a George Lucas and make a prequel to their own trilogy, I hope they expand this story and turn it into a 2-hour epic.

Kid’s Story

Kid’s Story is about a young man ("Kid", whom you'll recognize from the other Matrix films and is again played by Clayton Watson here) who has what's necessary to escape The Matrix. He’s got that spark, that rebellious spirit, that drive, whatever it is that sets him apart from the rest. This segment's visuals appeal little to me. It’s all rotoscoped which I understand takes a significant amount of skill, but when compared to the other stylized pieces, it looks sub par. The highlight is an exciting chase between the Kid and The Matrix's Agents. This chase utilizes the animation style well. As the characters move faster and the situation gets more frantic, so do the visuals.

Program

Program is largely set inside a Feudal Japan-themed simulation where "Cis" (Hedy Burress) is tempted by her lover "Duo" (Phil LaMarr) to leave the real world forever and return to The Matrix with him. What I like about this segment (which would be my favorite visually if it wasn’t for “World Record”) is that it perfectly captures the fantasy element of this franchise. The entire story is set within this world that reminds you of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It’s got the energy of your inner kid, the one that picked up a stick and announced to the world “this is my sword, and it can cut through anything”. Program perfectly captures the "overlooked" element of The Matrix; that it’s a world of fantasy for hackers where the most inarticulate, uncharismatic computer nerds can suddenly find out that they’re special, cool-looking babe magnets and that there, no feat is impossible. I like the drama here too. It’s a way to give the action some weight.

World Record

This story is about a man with the potential to escape The Matrix. Not a hacker, an artist or even a philosopher, but an athlete. Dan Davis (voiced by Victor Williams) is so determined to be the best, to push the limits of what his body can do that it becomes clear to the agents around him that he might be able to break out of this phony reality he’s been born into. If you’ve seen Redline, this segment uses the same animation style and it’s gorgeous. Bold shadows, thick expanses of flat color and a certain indelible crunch to the way the characters are drawn make every impact feel like an iron bar to the stomach. I also love the concept. Dan doesn’t find out about any white rabbits or blue pills or red pills, he does what a true athlete does, he pushes the limits of what he can do. It gives more credibility to the world these stories are set in and has some of the most memorable sequences.

Beyond

One of my favorite things about The Animatrix is the variety. Beyond is essentially a ghost/horror story. Yoko (Hedy Burress) chases her cat into a strange abandoned building, a place where glitches within The Matrix create all sorts of bizarre phenomenon. This short has a dynamite concept, one I wish someone would steal and use as a full-length horror film. This place is eerie, frightening and wonderful. It takes the essential elements of a ghost movie... minus the ghost. It’s a weird place where lights that aren’t there light up, gravity takes a vacation and with a number of other weird happenings. It chooses a whimsical approach (fitting for the style of animation and stylish color palette). There’s a lot of imagination here. It plays with the idea of the virtual/computer world in a truly original way, it’s visually appealing and will get your imagination going in all sorts of directions.

A Detective Story

What I remember best about A Detective Story isn’t so much the story, as it is the style in which it’s told. It’s about a private eye that’s hired by the agents of the Matrix to find Trinity. Told in muted colors and in black-and-white, I like the way this short drips of Noir. Just like Program and Beyond played with different genres and applied them to this universe with great effect, a hard boiled detective story fits right in. The mysterious women, the conspiracies, the shadowy agents, the sunglasses with the long black coats are already here, so why not throw in a gumshoe? It is a bit of a retread (since Neo also had to evade bad guys and figure out exactly what’s going on), so ADS isn't the freshest segment. It isn't as memorable but is otherwise enjoyable.

Matriculated

Matriculated is unfortunately placed in this anthology. I have some affection for it but this is the weakest short. It tells of a group of humans who seek to convert machines to their cause via a Matrix-like virtual reality program. If you’ve ever seen Aeonflux (the show, not the horrible movie) you will recognize this style. You’ll also recognize the story. I like the approach, with the humans basically using the machine’s weapons against themselves and people trying a more diplomatic solution to the war, but it doesn't really fit in. Needlessly strange at times, but also stimulating and a nice change.

Overall I found The Animatrix to be one of the more enjoyable anthologies I’ve seen. It’s varied in terms of visuals, tone, and storytelling. This wide range makes the 101-minute running time feel like nothing at all. I wish these stories had been re-organized (as it stands, the two weakest segments are back-to-back and at the end of the compilation) but even the flimsier segments are well done. I could actually see people disliking the sequels, or even the original film and thoroughly enjoying these science fiction stories. Even if you’re not a fan of animation you’ll be impressed with the quality of the visuals. I may be biased, but The Animatrix might just be my favorite of the series. (On Blu-ray, April 17, 2015)

[robedisimo]

Home-video review: Ghost in the Shell (2017) [MILD SPOILERS]

[Disclaimer: this review is based on the Italian dub of the film. As such, all opinions on the quality of dialogues and acting are subjective and partial.]

What a strange case this film is. Strange, and yet increasingly common: with all the remakes and reboots coming out each year, we’ve gotten used to most of them being predictable duds and only a precious few of them being rare, unexpected gems. What we don’t usually talk about are the ones that are duds by default – in that they don’t manage to overcome their inherent needlessness – but aren’t bad movies per se, when viewed in complete isolation.

This year’s Ghost in the Shell is one of those unfortunate middle-ground children of Hollywood’s current creative drought. If you’ll pardon the scandalous comparison with Paul Verhoeven adaptations, it straddles the line between the surprising validity of 2014′s Robocop and the alleged crappiness – I haven’t actually watched the supposed 2012 clunker – of the Colin Farrell-led Total Recall reboot. A fitting place for it, when all’s said and done, as those films’ themes of transhumanism and memory-based self-image come together in this one in pretty equal measure.

Still, despite its solid premise, Ghost in the Shell’s first and foremost issue is one of timing. The original 1995 animated film by Mamoru Oshii – itself loosely adapted from Masamune Shirow’s manga series – was a seminal work of fiction, reimagining Blade Runner’s themes and aesthetic for a new generation of filmmakers: the Wachowskis’ first Matrix movie, coming out just four years later, borrowed heavily from it and popularised its cyberpunk tropes in Western cinema, often without credit being given to the source. In 2017, this remake simply comes too late in the game to make any significant impact, risking if anything to look like a rip-off of the same wave of movies its predecessor inspired.

Despite all that, this live-action adaptation isn’t a bad movie in and of itself. While trailers marketed it as a shot-for-shot rehash of the original, what it does is borrow a few key scenes – always shortening them to more of a visual homage than a real recreation, and almost always to lessened effect, sadly – to tell a vastly different story. Which is, it must be said, a staple of the franchise: from the manga to the animated movie, and from that to its sequel Innocence, the Stand Alone Complex anime series and then its Arise reboot, the property has gone through a number of variations, featuring palpably different approaches to the themes and characters, including its protagonist.

So, if anything, this remake stays true to the franchise’s legacy of mutability. In this respect, even Scarlett Johansson’s casting as the film’s heroine doesn’t really clash with established lore, as her markedly feminine frame and features – so far from the androgynous, towering Sigourney Weaver-esque design from the animated movie – reconnect the character, in part, to its manga roots. A different point must be made about racial casting, however, which was a topic of major contention during the film’s marketing campaign: while it’s obvious that the choice to cast a white actress in the role was simply motivated by monetary concerns, in an effort to give the remake more traction on the Western market through sheer star power, I must in a way applaud director Rupert Sanders the film’s screenwriters for not only choosing not to ignore the elephant in the room, but rather to turn the character’s “whitewashing” into a major plot point.

It’s a bold move, and while it means that the remake ultimately strays from most of what the original was about, it at least tries to justify this new adaptation by giving fans of the animated movie something new and unexpected to chew on. On the other hand, unfortunately, the choice comes with a clearly-defined villain – and an all-too-American way of dealing with the concept – and with the thematically uncomfortable decision to frame the main character as a victim of sorts in her own story, which as narrative approaches go is certainly debatable. Nonetheless, the layering of themes which blur the lines between racial identities on top of those – mostly concerned with genre and sexuality – found in the original is a welcome, if slippery, development.

Indeed, although the writing doesn’t really ever measure up to the themes it wants to tackle, this Ghost in the Shell remake tries its best to make interesting points about reality, identity and perception of self, through a plot more reliant on action and less on long, verbose philosophical asides. In a way, this film tells a more coherent, more cohesive story than the original... but also an undeniably less interesting one. By discarding themes of Artificial Intelligence and focussing so heavily on a classic origin story for the movie’s heroine, the final product falls even further into the mire of unexceptionality, similar as it is not just to so much of today’s sci-fi but also to the currently saturated superhero genre.

The film’s visual department shares that duality: the production wasn’t an especially expensive one by today’s standards, and so the all-pervasive CGI isn’t really as impressive as it could be, although it certainly does its job in creating an intriguing vision of a future populated by cybernetically-enhanced individuals. Johansson does her best to keep things grounded in (so to speak) flesh-and-blood reality while literally swimming in digital imagery, but the end result is still fairly overcrowded. As with everything else, this Ghost in the Shell fails to capture the simple allure of the original and, while the anime version remains an impressive feat of animation, it’s easy to imagine this one’s effects quickly fading into obsolescence.

In conclusion, Ghost in the Shell doesn’t manage to be good enough to justify its existence – except, perhaps, as an excuse for younger generations to rediscover the original. Nor does it manage to be bad enough to complain about. It just is, which perhaps isn’t quite enough. Will we be having the same conversation about Blade Runner 2049, a couple months from now? My money’s on yes, but hey. I’ve been surprised before.

[Verdict: MIXED]

[smallcavedragoon-blog]

Sense8 to win final episode of two hours

Netflix has confirmed a closing episode of Sense8 - check out the video announcing the completion of the story:

INSTAGRAM

In addition to the video posted on Instagram, a letter written by Lana Wachowski was also published to confirm the return of the story created by her and her brother Lilly - see:

INSTAGRAM

"Dear Sense8 family, I've been thinking about writing this letter for some time. The flood of love and sadness that came after the news that Sense8 would not be renewed was so intense that I often found myself unable to open my own e-mail. I confess that I was in a very strong depression. I've never worked so hard or put as much of myself on a project as I did with Sense8 and its cancellation made me very sick. I felt the disappointment of my amazing team. I felt the sadness of the actors who had worked so hard. But most of all, I felt we left our fans disappointed. Everyone was asking. 'Is there nothing you can do?' And the truth was, no. I could not do anything myself. But as the characters in our series discover that they are not alone, I have also learned that I am not just me. I'm one of us, too. The passionate letters, the petitions, the collective voice that stood as Sun to fight for this series was something more than anyone could expect. In this world, it is easy to believe that you can not make a difference, that when a government or an institution or corporation makes a decision, there is something irrevocable about that decision, that love is always less important than the rest. But here is a gift from the fans that I will carry forever in my heart: although it is often true that these decisions are irreversible, it is not always true. Unpredictably your love has brought Sense8 back to life. (I could kiss each of you!) It's a great pleasure for me, as well as Netflix, to announce that there will be another two special hours released next year. After that ... well, if that experience taught me anything, you never know. Thank you all. Now let's find out what happens to Wolfgang. "

The eight main roles in the series are played by Toby Onwumere (who replaced Aml Ameen earlier in season two), Doona Bae, Jamie Clayton, Tina Desai, Tuppence Middleton, Max Riemelt, Miguel Angel Silvestre and Brian J. Smith.

[firecrackerroot]

Open letter to Netflix from a Sensate

Dear Netflix,

We need to talk.

First, I’ll show you why Sense8 is one of the most important shows your platform has ever created and then I’ll present you the reasons for which we, the fans, ask you to reconsider and give us one final season.

Please, bear with me for a moment.

From the very beginning, we knew this show would be groundbreaking because that’s what we expect from the Wachowski’s. That’s their standard. And, once again, they delivered. Over and over. Episode after episode. They managed to create a Universe within our Universe and expanded it across the entire planet. So not only was it groundbreaking for being a world wide story, but it was also groundbreaking because it was a smart story and it was a real story.

So let’s break it down.

#WORLD WIDE DIVERSITY

Lately we’ve witnessed a growth in shows that pride themselves for having a “diverse” cast, and although we’re making progress in regards of real diversity, more often than not, shows simply “acquire” someone who doesn’t look white to fill their quota. If the showrunner is feeling frisky, they’ll get another “diversity” role and make them queer. Twice the quotas filled... but two episodes later they’re rushed away into a corner. 

The way people found to fight this back was by making shows specifically for certain communities: Dear White People, Fresh Off The Boat or One Day At A Time, are a few examples. But globalization demands change and therefore television (and movies, for that matter), need to change as well. Shows about a white guy who meets a white girl, they white date, tell white lies to keep the drama going, have a big white wedding and white babies need to end. Just like the trope of giving said white guy a black best friend and making said black best friend the only black person in the show, as if he was some sort of shadow. And yes, I meant for it to sound this bad because it is this bad.

And in this matter, Sense8 was absolutely groundbreaking because the show centered about 8 human beings from different cultures, who spoke in their own languages, who lived in their own cities, who celebrated their own cultures. Sense8 was the only show that actually paid attention to what “diversity” truly means and delivered it. By having this much diversity, both story wise and culture wise, Sense8 managed to reach public in all continents. Because people could actually see themselves on the screen and not a version of themselves that they knew was fake but people told them to accept it.

Sense8 gave people in all continents someone to look up to, a culture that mirrored their own and truthful diversity.

#LOVE AND REPRESENTATION

Most shows only focus on that main heterosexual couple and building their relationship. Most shows also give them a lot of heterosexual friends and if we’re lucky enough to see a queer character show up, it’s either

A) a hyped gay man on steroids clearly used as comic relief

B) a lesbian friend, sometimes closeted, who falls for the main girl and when she finally gets over it, she dies

These are pretty much our two options on television. Again, there has been some progress in terms of queer representation but it’s still not enough. And when there is queer representation, it falls flat to deliver truthfulness about the community it is trying to represent.

And in this subject, Sense8 was once again groundbreaking. It was a show written by 2 trans women, staring 1 trans women and included at least 5 queers (2 lesbians, 2 gays, 1 bisexual). One single show had more queer representation and diversity than one week night in any TV channel. Not only that, but Sense8 had quality representation. 

Lito and Hernando’s relationship was one of the healthiest I’ve ever seen. Neither of them were “hyped gay man on steroids used as comic relief” and even when Lito had one of his drama queen moments, we knew it was his telenovela vein speaking. They were both real, complex, well developed characters.

Nomi and Amanita’s relationship was also one of the healthiest I’ve ever seen. Neither of them fell for the main girl or died and even though Nomi could’ve died on season one, we knew it was because her family disapproved her transition and made a deal with the devil to “cure” her. They were both real, complex, well developed characters.

Lito’s pride speech echoed through the entire world and became an anthem for the community because he spoke what needed to be spoken. He was the hero we needed, when we needed him the most.

But Sense8 was also groundbreaking by showing us all the ways you can love someone. They showed us real and unconditional love in the form of any place in the sexuality spectrum. They showed us real and unconditional love in the form of strong and powerful friendships. They showed us real and unconditional love in the form of family. 

Where we had Nomi and Amanita getting engaged, we also had Will and Riley professing their undying love for each other. Where we had Daniela willingly giving up her safety for Lito’s, we also had Min-Jung risking a sentence of life in prison to help Sun escape. Where we had characters with single parents (Lito’s mother, Will’s father, Capheus’ mother, Riley’s father, etc), we had Amanita and her three fathers.

All kinds of love where portrayed in Sense8, giving everyone at least one kind of love to relate to. Just like with the diversity of the cast and cultures, we had a little bit of love and representation for everyone to connect to.

#REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD RECONSIDER AND GIVE US ONE FINAL SEASON

After the 1st season, we realized just how expensive this show is. There is obviously a cost on having a global cast and filming on the correct locations for each character. And we understand that the cost isn’t one you’re willing to pay for if there’s not enough people watching the show. But here’s the thing.

This year, this 2nd season, was released during the month of exams. And you must know the core audience of your shows is young enough to be in university and college right now. Which means that when the season came out, I’d risk to say 40% of the fans couldn’t watch it right away. And still haven’t. Because they’re busy studying. 40% of people not watching would be a major hit on the ratings and we know you’d notice it. But giving the show not even a month of life isn’t enough for everyone to watch it. And therefore it shouldn’t be enough for you to measure up the show’s ratings.

Before deciding to cancel it on the ratings/money ratio, you should’ve given it a chance to actually thrive. Wait 3-4 months. Wait for people to end their exams, get on summer vacation and watch it. You should’ve waited longer to count the ratings and make a decision.

And there’s one decision that would’ve been better than just plain out canceling the show: giving us a smaller third season to wrap up the story and end the show in a good place.

Hear me out.

If we assume that each 50 minutes - 1 hour of television has a 9 million cost and considering that the Christmas Special was 2 hours long, it would mean this season was over 126 million dollars. Now, considering that at the end of season 2, everyone was in the same location (London), it would cost less so let’s say it’d be 7 million per episode. If you had given us a third (and final) season with 8 episodes, it would be around 56 million dollars. And if you had given us a third (and final) season with 10 episodes, it would be around 70 million dollars.

A smaller season would cost you less and considering that all we, the fans, want is for the Wachowski’s to be able to finish telling their story, I’m sure 8-10 would be more than enough to wrap it up. Plus, considering season 2 ended with everyone in the same location, it’d be cheaper to you and easier to finish the story. And then maybe have the final episode with everyone back in their place. Who knows.

If you’re concerned that not enough people would watch this, give us a number of viewers you need and we’ll collect enough signatures to prove you that the show will have those views. Because it will. So long as you give it enough time for everyone to watch it.

We know you already issued an official cancellation but we urge you to reconsider. Give us a smaller season. Get a reunion with the Wachowski’s and settle on a number of episodes that’s not too expensive for you and enough for them to finish this story. Because that’s all we want. That’s all we need.

Let the sisters finish their story.

Let the fans see how the story ends.

Give us one final season, no matter how small it might be, how long it’ll take to make it happen.

Just think about how much this show means to so many people around the globe and reconsider. Please.

Love,

A Sensate trying to use her birthday wish to see how the story of her global family ends.

[rosetintmyworld84]

Sense8, a Masterpiece in Modern Science Fiction Storytelling

In the wake of Netflix’s decision to cancel Sense8 I am trying to remain hopeful. That they will change their minds, that they will let go of the rights so it can be shopped to another network, that the Wachowski’s may continue the story as a comic or novel series. What it comes down to is that I need more. There is so much more story to tell, and while that can be done by fanfiction authors I would like to know what direction the creators would have taken.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Sense8, I warn you now that there will be a great many spoilers ahead. I will be outlining the things about it that I (and many fans) love, and why I want more of it.

Firstly, the diverse cast/characters. The main case of the sensate cluster we follow are a Chicago cop, a Trans woman hacktivist, an Indian pharmaceutical tech, an Icelandic DJ, a closeted Mexican actor, a Kenyan bus driver, a Korean financier/kick boxer, and a German criminal. The cast includes actual Trans actress Jamie Clayton. These 8 people are connected by their minds, and can both borrow the talents and abilities of the others in their cluster and visit each other, unconstrained by physical travel. They are more than just diverse by race, religion, gender, and sexuality. They are also diverse in their various skill sets, which are used to help each other in pivotal scenes.

“I’m not like Sun. I don’t know how to use my fists, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know how to fight.” – Kala

There are the traditional fighters, Sun, Will, and Wolfgang. There are those with technical proficiencies, Kala, Capheus and Nomi. Riley, from her nomadic lifestyle, knows many places and ways to stay off the grid. And Lito can slip into virtually every roll needed. This diversity of traits and strengths makes them a formidable team.

And the fight scenes! They are masterfully coregraphed and filmed, switching out between the various sensates involved. They are fierce, and brutal, and seriously some of my favorite parts of the series.

They have done a wonderful job of creating unique realtionships between the sensates. Lito and Wolfgang have come to each other’s aid many times, and Wolfgang has an almost protective older brother roll in relation to Lito. Lito and Nomi understand the difficulties of being LGBT in a many times cruel and uncaring world. Kala, Sun, and Riley provide each other great emotional support. Will and Nomi fight the good fight together. Capheus helps Sun and Riley to look at the world optimistically. Will and Sun help Capheus to protect himself and his loved ones. Sun makes Lito to stop feeling sorry for himself. Will and Riley love each other. Wolfgang and Kala love each other.

They all have full and fulfilling relationships outside of their cluster. Aminita is so supportive of not only Nomi, her soulmate, but of everyone in Nomi’s cluster, and everyone the cluster loves. Bug is like the crazy but dun Uncle who would do anything for Nomi. Lito an amazing relationship with Hernando, and Dani is their third in a non-sexual polyamorous threesome. Will’s father, though flawed, loves his son. Riley’s dad loves his daughter. Capheus would do anything for his mother. Rajan is a devoted and doting husband to Kala. Kala’s family is very close and loving. Lito’s mother is accepting and loving. Wolfgang would die for Felix. Sun has her dog, her coach, and had the love of both her parents. She also discovered a family of wronged women while she was in jail.

They all have individual struggles, along with the shared struggle in the fight against BPO, the shadowy organization that hunts their kind. They struggles are mundane, or grand, or scary, or ordinary. You come to care about all of them, and are invested in their lives.

Above all it is an original science fiction story, in a world full of reboots, and sequels, and been there done that’s. And it is such a positive story, in a landscape littered with dystopias and gritty reboots, where people do such terrible things that the protagonists face losing their own humanity, we have these wonderfully diverse misfits coming together to effect actual positive change.

There is still so much left unknown. Will the cluster save Wolfgang? What will they do with Whispers, now that they have him? What about Jonas? Can he be trusted again? How about all the newly discovered clusters, who know so much more than our cluster? It is a rich, fictional world, one rooted in our own every day, and I for one am thirsting for more.

[movies-are-magic]

Jupiter Ascending - pt. 1

The film Jupiter Ascending has been called a number of things, and ‘disappointing’ tends to be quite high on that list. I did not have high expectations when I watched it for the first time, but what can I say? It left me mind-blown enough to raise the count of times I’ve seen it now to a two-digit number.

As this essay is well about 5.5k words long, I will post it in several parts, this being the first.

part 2 part 3

WARNING: Contains heavy spoilers. If you have not seen the movie, chances are that this text will be difficult to understand.

Jupiter Ascending has been criticised by many reviewers and audiences for being too sweet, too much of a Cinderella story, of narrative incoherence and, most of all, of having a bland heroine. As so often, I’d wonder if I saw a different film, if I didn’t know that I did for the two reasons of being female and tremendously bored by Hollywood’s standard sci-fi dude flicks. If that is what you expect, Jupiter Ascending is not for you.

We are introduced to the main character, Jupiter Jones, being a young woman in the devastating situation of having no nationality. She was born in a container on the ocean, when her Russian mother smuggled herself to America after Jupiter’s father had been shot by burglars.

The circumstances of her birth – somewhere in the middle of absolutely nowhere, having no official papers, but being surrounded by the women of her family – makes this a strangely symbolic scene for the three main themes in the film: femininity, family, and privilege.

I will say so right away, the cast would have been much more effective on an American audience had Jupiter been played by a WOC. Being white, she will be able to slip most of on-face discrimination. For Europe and Russia though, Jupiter’s Russian roots reflect painfully the discrimination people of ‘Eastern’ look and/or origin have to face in ‘Western’ Europe, in all its forms. We see this reflected in Jupiter’s living circumstances: she is bright enough to, probably, receive college education, but instead she scrubs toilets for the wealthy. She is shown trying on jewellery when nobody is looking, imagining herself in all that luxury, only to be reminded again that she has to get up at unholy hours in the morning to dust and scrub and take the rubbish out. She wants that luxury, that freedom to do and have whatever she wants. She wants to consume, to have what others have right in front of her every single day, while in the here and now she shares a room with her mother and her aunt – and is accused of wanting money for nice clothes or a new phone.

What she actually wants is a telescope. Of course she does not tell anyone.

With these handfuls of scenes, we already know her character very well. We know her dreams, but also her hopelessness, her weakness in pursuing what she wants, but without judging her. How should she ever finance an education – maybe she wanted to follow her father’s path and get into astronomy, or astrophysics – when even her mother, who used to work as a professor of mathematics in her country of origin, is now a maid? And before you roll your eyes about clichés, this is a realistic thing that happens to a whole lot of academics from the east. Especially when they don’t have any papers. So yes, Jupiter’s story is real, and probably still much nicer than what real people have to face in similar circumstances. Did you notice that she doesn’t have any friends, no visible hobbies? Well, she’s working all day and half the night, when do you think does she have any time?

Why then would Jupiter agree to sell her egg cells for five grand while her (male) cousin, for coming up with the idea, gets himself ten? Because she’s not smart enough? No, because she was raised that way: be grateful if you get anything at all, and hey, five is enough to get that telescope. Just scrape by. You wouldn’t win if you put up a fight anyway. That is what many women are taught, and it gets worse the less money you have. Again, Jupiter sees her mother yield to the patriarch of the family in the important matter of their work schedule, and that shows what Jupiter has seen all her life: that she should be grateful for what is granted to her, and not have any kind of ambition herself.

Your typical, real-life women’s story.

One of the movie’s most disturbing scenes takes place in the gynaecologist’s practice, when Jupiter, suddenly panicking, tries to stop the process, and all of a sudden the doctors turn into disgusting little aliens trying to kill her. As if the pose on that chair, that hospital gown, isn’t humiliating and vulnerable enough, it is also highly symbolic: instead of becoming a mother herself, she was going to sell at least some of her ability to create new life, and it does not happen out of goodwill, but out of financial need, or greed, if you want – and almost ends in murder, in a setting that also serves as an allegory of rape. Please don’t get me wrong here, I don’t oppose the practice of donating egg cells as it is a way for women who can’t get pregnant. What is disturbing is that the donation in this film is based on financial decisions, because of Jupiter’s lack of privilege and resulting lack of agency.

What Jupiter Ascending does very well is to illustrate this lack of agency as full-blown horror, whether in the scene mentioned or Balem’s ‘sampling’ chambers, even in her wedding scene. But back to the beginning.

Jupiter is saved by Channing Tatum with ridiculous dyed eyebrows. Fortunately they’re not too distracting, for the character he plays is, just like Jupiter, someone to look at a little more closely whilst ignoring actual looks.

The moment Jupiter wakes up from unconsciousness, Caine has done everything in his power to calm her down. Not just has he anticipated her anxiety, maybe has been schooled in how to deal with it, he has also given her a relatively comfortable space to wake up in, her old clothes (even if they are only a halo, or whatever), and a gun to point at him for which he tells her the way of handling. This certainly wasn’t in the book.

He is friendly, quiet, caring, and kind, when he didn’t have to be. He could have brought her into his spaceship and made the journey back to his employer Titus Abrasax before she came to. But he doesn’t.

Quite in the way of the comparison between how Hugh Jackman was recently depicted on the covers of magazines for men versus how he was shown in magazines for women, Caine has clearly been fabricated for a non-male audience. While this has earned the film even more criticism (and some giggles, I presume), there is one crucial point in this: this character was not written by men.

Lilly and Lana Wachowski did the heroic thing and wrote a male character who knows how to take himself back. He does think of himself as underprivileged for being a Splice, a genetically engineered human-wolf-hybrid, and in being so knocking at the Fourth Wall a little. Still, he is aware of his advance in strength and knowledge when he is around Jupiter, and from the beginning, without asking, holds himself back on both. You never see him being angry at her, especially when she is confused or frightened – because he understands that she is, and that it’s not her fault. His trademark tools are not guns, although he knows how to use those, but a holographic shield and flying boots, which he knows to put to creative, thought-out use throughout the film. You actually never find a scene where he ticks out completely, there is always his brain involved. Also, he never once does things against Jupiter’s explicit will. Even when she is afraid of stepping into the tracking beam to the spaceship and he lifts her up, it is a gesture of assistance. He has to bring her away from danger, but even he realises quickly that she has not been asked if she really wants that, and that headhunters and assassins are too much for him – and so he informs the police (called Aegis), works together with them, seeks their help, and has them save him, for the rest of the movie. While Caine does come to rescue Jupiter without her knowledge several times, it is only ever when he has clear evidence that she is in life-threatening danger, and there is no way to explain in advance. He does explain to her anyway once he has reached her, and then acts according to what Jupiter decides to do. If he has plans of his own, he asks for her consent and registers a no as a no.

Asks for her consent and registers a no as a no.

Let that sink in for a while.

Have you? Good. Now consider that never once do you see Caine pick up the feisty heroine, who angrily but uselessly pounds his shoulders with her tiny fists in protest, but he carries her away because Heroes Know Better. That’s the difference. Never once do you see the heroine heart-breakingly apologise to him for standing up for herself, having flaws, or just existing. Something is always the women’s fault in your standard Hollywood fodder, but that is not what Jupiter Ascending is.

There is a scene, after Jupiter has just learnt that every bit of faith she had in making the universe a little better by marrying Titus only to narrowly escape being murdered by him, when she is so broken, so disillusioned, that she won’t even talk to Caine. But neither does she gloss over her emotions, nor does she let them out on him. On the contrary, she explains as much as she can, and even remembers the pardon for Stinger and Caine, which she took care to bring along despite almost having been killed on Titus’ ship. That talk between her and Caine is a mature and quiet scene, full of brokenness in face of a very disgusting universe, but also one of mutual respect between the two of them, of development, and of an affection that is calm, that lets them both breathe, and has little to do with shallow romance.

The relation between Jupiter and Caine is not just puppy love, but something much more complicated, which makes it so interesting. Here is a woman who is never mentioned to have had a relationship before, what with her work schedule and zero privacy at home, and who knows that she lives somewhere at the bottom of human society, meeting an alien from a society who regards Earth’s population as cattle, and treats them accordingly. Here is a man who thinks he’s hardly much more than an animal, meeting the queen of a gigantic, space-crossing company.

They’re both tried hard to overcome their lack of self-consciousness, to work against the inferiority illusion worked into their brains, but they make it. Still, it’s Jupiter who does the flirting, over and over, which in every other movie would be the hero, always rejected by feisty heroineTM until the showdown shows her what twu wuv is. She starts out clumsily, that ‘I love dogs’ comment being completely inappropriate, but she learns. They both begin to gather that confidence they have lacked all their life, which made them accept the standing they had been assigned without actually acting to get out. Being different, they find out that they are in fact quite similar, and what they can learn from each other’s weakness just as much as their strengths.

It might be the reason why Caine’s ‘Your Majesty’ is the only rendering of the sentence Jupiter does not find uncomfortable: because the two of them have made their way around privilege, and reached a field where they are both equals, so the words neither lower him nor lift her up. Or these words represent the amount of their mixed privileges, which ultimately balance each other out, creating their equal status as partners. Jupiter herself is not quite sure yet. She does certainly look a fascinated at an otherwise very strong man who doesn’t require, but thrives under her ways of nudging his self-esteem, his friendship. Respectively, Caine does not start out seeing her as a mere lover, but as a pack member, as someone to belong to, someone who is friendly. Jupiter has to actively work against his anxiety that she might develop into one of those people who reject him as un-human, which consolidates her task for herself to make sure that never happens. Caine, on the other hand, goes against his instincts for her sake, against his only chances of rehabilitation, because he knows they’re wrong anyway, and because Jupiter’s cause is right, rationally so.

Jupiter Ascending turns the genderbending of story clichés into a sport. Where it’s usually male figures at the centre of the narrative, they hardly matter here except to do the heavy lifting and being evil. Jupiter is the fully fledged-out character with a family and biography, while Caine hardly gets more than a (funnily) tragic hero story. Instead of the perky female friend advising Jupiter on how to get the guy, Caine is told bluntly by his mentor Stinger that he has already started to depend emotionally on Jupiter and that it’s good. A male character who is neither young, nor openly homosexual, nor depicted with traditionally feminine qualities – a veteran and devoted father, cliché masculinity – advises the male hero on romance. And as if that wasn’t enough, the character is also not killed off for sensationalist emotional exploitation of the audience, despite being played by a certain actor. Jaw-dropping.

Stinger does a much more impressive bit of talking though, right when he first meets Jupiter. He tells her openly about Caine’s background, the crime and violence for which he was punished. Usually this dark secret is carried around as the hero’s melodramatic burden, only to shock the heroine and then give her a reason to forgive all. Not so here. Jupiter is told, not warned, and the first moment she has in quiet with Caine, she asks him about it – not angrily, but in the want of understanding. Which Caine honestly provides, as much as possible to him. He even distances himself from her, possibly the only person ever admitting that he is a potential danger to her, and the only person to make sure Jupiter has whatever she needs to be safe around him. Privilege recognised like this by its bearer, and put so rigidly under control, might well be unique in Hollywood popcorn blockbuster history.

I hope you’ll be around for the next part, featuring the Abrasax siblings, mythological aspects in the story, and a lot more.