#but this is already so long

[basilibino]

I watched Boys in The Band 2020 within 48 hours of watching Boys in The Band 1970 and I think that helped to doom 2020 for me in a way that an obviously strong cast performance couldn't stop.

bc when they cut lines and changed what the slow moments were and who they focused on I noticed and it felt wrong. Like why cut the bit where Michael and Donald half convincingly insist they aren't really lovers? Why cut Cowboy getting to be high and not worry and not be talked down on for daring to exist? Why have Larry only flirt with one guy and try to make excuses for it when the original had him in a gaggle of men with too much pride to acknowledge it with Hank? Actually, on the topic of Larry, small potatoes but why did we change from Commercial Photographer to Commercial Artist? There's a scene when all the guests are there before Alan shows up where Emory gives Hank grief abt drinking beer—insisting teachers drink Sherry, and conceding, when Hank insists he drinks beer, on allowance for "maybe public school", we don't get that in 2020 tho, we get Hank asking for beer jumping straight to Emory asking Larry how a sensitive artist like himself can live with someone like Hank, and then we skip AGAIN over Bernard teasing Emory that "[he]'d live with [Hank] in a minute if he asked [Emory] in 58 seconds." And Why cut Emory's first reponse to Bernard abt making the phonecall, his "why not? I'm pissed, I'll do anything three times" ? And while i liked the addition of Bernard's experience on the subway for his part of the Opening Montage, why did we cut the connection he has to Donald in that he is smuggling books out of his workplace for his friend! We didn't get that moment of the delivery coming in, and we didn't get confirmation that he was breaking the rules bc the dialogue when he gives Donald the books jumps straight to Hank's "stocked up for the summer" Line instead of his "I didn't know they had a lending library" one. It seems insignificant but you best believe I fuckin noticed when Michael didn't prolong taking the Valium bc he didn't have any water and didn't want to take it dry. Like these are all character moments! And frankly, I'll admit, I didn't like the flashback visuals—and I really wanted to! But the original movie was pretty much a direct lift of the stage show with some added establishing moments for the cast, and I think there's a power to only showing the monologue recollection, with everybody drunk and closed in a living room together. (To that point actually the kinda uniform warmth and space of the apartment...didn't kill that second act vibe but it didn't heighten it either in the way the og did. And I loved how Andrew and Tuc played Larry and Hank, especially in their pair of phone calls, this point isn't at all on their performances, but--that window in the kitchen, man—again, different approach to the scenes but it was emotionally impactful imo that in 1970 all u had was the walkway into the kitchen to see in/out to the living room. The way it was used to frame Larry's call.

And anyway my point to all this (and more points!) is that I'm not sure all of this would have stuck out to me like it did if I didn't have 1970 so fresh in my mind. Part of why I have zero notes on anything Zachary Quinto!Harold is bc iirc they only cut his line to Larry about "Gay Pop Art!" And asking if he "blew [The Boardwalk Tile] up himself".

And I think even more to that point is that the remake, despite lifting the cast of the Broadway revival, didn't approach the 2020 movie as adapting the play, they approached it as remaking the movie but tweaking it enough to justify it (and frankly, fixing Emory would have been enough imo*) and as a result it's like. Why are cutting this, that, and the other? Oh, so we're not completely identical to the movie! But then I feel like we lose depth of characters and relationships in the interactions and lines that didn't make it to the 2020 movie.

You also, of course, have the issue of 2020 being a deliberate period piece vs 1970 being contemporary. The original film came out when being gay was a diagnosable mental illness. The play itself just barely predates the stonewall riots, and the movie predates the AIDS epidemic that would take the lives of half the cast. That's not me saying 2020 should have made the show set in present day, to be clear, bc that wouldn't work at all—the script takes its own historical context for granted—it's offputting, in a post-AIDS community, to talk so off handedly abt going to bathhouses after so many of them were shut down, or for sexual health to not be a bigger point of argument for Larry and Hank. Beyond that, the cake delivery has everyone scramble to look as not-gay as possible for fear another tenant has called the cops; Emory has been repeatedly arrested by Vice Squads for his time at the baths; the state of gay existence in the 1960s is as core to the text of the show as anything else, timeless as the characters are, so it does need to be a period piece.

But again. I think where 2020 was kinda doomed from the start was its approach to remake the older film, instead of adapting what was onstage in 2018. Of course I'm going to notice these lines and beats being removed that were there in the original, you've set the scene and styled everyone to evoke that original! Idk if I'd have liked 2020 any better if it was more distinct in its presentation from the 1970 film, but if nothing else it would have been its own reimagining, with more room to argue that lines and beats were cut here and there to serve this new vision

*IMO, the level of overt racism from Emory in the original feels obnoxious, it's almost conflated with his Camp personality, and the attempt to address it is minimal and incomplete as the film seems to just forget about the "Chinese Laundress" joke he makes on his entrance--that is to say, I know he's racist on purpose and as an intended character flaw, but i don't think the script in its eventual address of it thru Bernard is effective, especially compared to the response of unanimous condemnation to Michael's racism (we could theoretically argue in circles abt whether or not Emory's racism being conflated with camp is deliberately why no one else called him out but like i think at that point the theme would be so detailed as to need its own play to begin to unpack, one not written by a White man, and given Emory's supporting role in the story if that was the intention then that's too much to examine for a character with a limited spotlight and, especially for a modern audience, sympathizing with Emory is made harder when his racism is as pronounced as it is in the original), and I am not against the 2020 film getting rid of Emory's introductory racism, reworking his most egregious comment, allowing Bernard more of a takedown of Emory's mindset, and, yes, shock of shocks, having Emory apologize for the hurt he's caused the person he's closest to at this party.

And, obviously, there's additional changes to the context in Emory being played by a Puerto Rican actor, as well! And Robin de Jesús has spoken about his version of the character in interviews and how, naturally, his own identity figured in shaping his interpretation of the character. ( x , x , x )

But that running theme of (specifically anti Black) racism from Emory is clearly a part of his character regardless of casting, and I do think the new version's lowered egregiousness + longer condemnation from Bernard are more effective in communicating that the racism itself was always supposed to be Emory's big character flaw, not that his racism was too campy.

[stealingpotatoes]

tried to tell my faithful eunuch Tucker that he was basically tumblr famous, but he was too focused on defending the homestead to care

[incredubious]

MODERN AU ACESAN !!!! first impressions with a guy who barely passes the No Shoes No Shirt No Service rule

[sergle]

ALSO IMPORTANT TO NOTE, people dropping mad mad sums of money on gfms and charities and stuff are extremely impressive but that DOES NOT MEAN that putting like $5 towards someone's fund or any good cause is any less valuable, a lot of crowdfunding is about momentum and those single digits add up super fast, you do not need to be Rolling In The Dough to make someone's day!! moving the dial at all is extremely positive!!

[rapidhighway]

the thing that caused me so much grief last night but now i feel better about it fdnghgdfggd

[magentasnail]

long distance

[egophiliac]

last chance to guess what the new round of birthday outfits will be!

[jinxnvi]

1.01 / 2.09

+

[floccinaucinihilipilificationa]

[torisprlng]

bonus:

Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman Go Claws Out While Eating Spicy Wings | Hot Ones

[fanaticalthings]

Bruce coming home one day to find Robin Jason clinging onto a chandelier with Dick below him cheering him on.

Bruce: Jason what are you doing?

Jason: Dick said that you missed his antics after he moved out and so he’s teaching me how to be a better son

Dick: After this we’re going to drive the Batmobile into the bay :D

Jason: We’re going to what? I mean yeah! Right into the water.

Jason trying to whisper to Dick: Dick I can’t swim though

This just further fuels the chaotic dynamic of Dick and Jason during a time where Dick was still going through his teenage angst and was absolutely not a benevolent role model LMAO

I mentioned it in this post, but it's just so funny to me to imagine a Jason who grew up with an absolutely WILD Dick Grayson as an older brother, while the younger batkids grew up with a more mellowed out and mature (arguable but when measured against the other kids, he wins by a landslide) Dick Grayson.

Robin!Jason era:

Dick: You wanna go out and get high?

Jason: I can't, I have homework.

Dick, sputtering: HOMEWORK?

----

Dick, about to do an elaborate (and totally not dangerous) acrobatic move in the manor: Watch this, littlewing

Jason: You shouldn't do that, it'll make Bruce upset.

Dick, on the brink of angry tears: Why are you like this.

----

Jason, dejected: Listen, I know you don't approve of me because you think I'm not good enough as Robin, but-

Dick: Not good enough as Robin? I don't care about that, I just think you're a little bitch

----

Dick taking Jason out on a hangout for the first time: OK, looks like I got my work cut out for me. Take out a notepad and write everything down. I will NOT have my successor embarrass me like this. So what you wanna do to piss off Bruce-

---

[Years later, Jason returning to Gotham with the fury of a thousand suns and the chaos to match it]: I'm gonna make your life a living HELL, Bruce

Dick, older and relatively more chilled out: Okayyyyy, maybe let's just– calm down a lil, haha, no need for the theatrics

Jason, betrayed, observing a Dick Grayson who is teaching his new younger siblings to behave and be mature: Dick, what the FUCK

-----

Present!Dick, mentoring Tim: Make sure not to be too impulsive, don't wanna raise Bruce's blood pressure

Red Hood!Jason spying on them from afar: Who even ARE you??

-----

Jason: So you teach me ALL of that, only to turn into the ONE thing you despised so greatly all those years ago

Dick, sweating: Well-

Jason: I'm ASHAMED. How can you be worthy of being called my PREDECESSOR?

[courfee]

17 December 1975 / 15 May 1976

[mythicalcoolkid]

You don't wish your disability was worse or more visible, you wish your disability was taken seriously. Please stop confusing the two, I guarantee you would not get the support you need JUST by being more severe or more visible. Please listen to visibly disabled people when we tell you it isn't better on our side

[remxedmoon]

y’know what? fuck you. *UNGRAYSCALES YOUR ISATS*

no wait come back there’s greyscale versions under the cut :(

[krysmcscience]

Call this the Whoopsie AU (it's barely an AU)

I mean. Narinder never explicitly SAID the Lamb would stay dead... :3c He probably should have been more specific. >:3c

Part Two:

Well. The Lamb tried, but...sorry, Nari, the crown hates you now. Shouldn't have been so quick to lend it out, I guess. :D

Aaaand Part Three:

'Isn't he just adorable?' -The Lamb, probably, while their followers smile and nod and internally scream at the brand new hellcat they now have to share living space with...

Anyway, nothing says 'Dead To Me' like following a person around to loudly remind them of how dead they are to you. Right? Right. Narinder's got this all figured out. <:]

[chloesimaginationthings]

FNAF movie Mike meets Jeremy Fitzgerald