#idk i do think there are things to critique in this movie but a portrayal of 'bad' pakis/muslims would certainly not be the first

[roobylavender]

on one hand i do tend to be more critical of non-white produced media than white produced media but on the other hand within paki and more specifically paki muslim circles there's this constant tendency to look at a diaspora work and read it first and foremost to see if it has a positive portrayal of pakis or muslims. and it's like okay i get it we've been terrorized a lot and our rep in media at large is not particularly stellar but i also think there's a difference between critiquing that in media produced by white people versus critiquing that in ownvoices stories that are largely written as a reflection of these authors' lived experiences. like at some point you gotta understand how insulting it is to tell a diaspora author "you should be ashamed that you're making us look bad and giving white people more reasons to stereotype us" like first of all i don't think white people are their concern if what they're writing about is truly traumatic to your perception of culture outside of the bubble you live in. these are people trying to unpack their own experiences and yes maybe there is something to be said of trying to sell it off as an easy product (rupi kaur) but that is not to say every diaspora creative is like this and esp not the authors who are from smaller labels or who even self publish. like they have no grand white audience to which to pander and are often working off of word of mouth to get their story into people's hands. and admittedly this is a dynamic that changes as you move into tv and film but i nonetheless am not one to really embrace the idea that bc of white people's ignorance and bigotry we have to stick to telling "good" paki or muslim stories. like why? what is so bad if our current generation is questioning certain things and expanding their world view? if anything this constant focus on "good" portrayals of paki muslims leads to the obscurity of critiquing anything else in a review. i can't count how many times i've read books where that's all other reviews talked about meanwhile i had concerns like: well the mc's best friends felt underdeveloped, or i can respect that the mc felt suffocated by the idea of an arranged marriage but her white boyfriend didn't have enough personality to really feel like his own character, or the book painted parents as one dimensional villainous caricatures rather than fully realized people who are as much victims of abuse as they are perpetrators of it, etc. those are the kinds of things i'm thinking about when i dissect diaspora media. not whether what they've portrayed is close to an ideal that combats all pre-existing bigotry but whether they've given me a complete and fleshed out story with which to engage, rather than a collection of stereotypes that is never actually afforded any real analysis. this is where our critiques need to go if we want to get anywhere

[eldritchwyrm]

finally watched dune (2021). assorted thoughts

i really enjoyed this movie but i'm having serious trouble explaining why. i didn't get the same type of enjoyment out of it that i'm typically looking for in a big-budget sff movie. i wasn't worried about the characters' fate at literally any point. i didn't find it "exciting," i didn't "relate" to anyone, and i wasn't "emotionally invested" in the character relationships. i wasn't even intellectually invested in the adaptation project from a critical perspective. i was drawn in by... something else?

felt like timothée chalamet phoned in all his lines. it was like he was doing a cold read of the script over a zoom call and the vibes were just absolutely flatlining. but i don't actually think that was his fault? i think that was an accurate depiction of the character as given to him?

as far as i can recall this is the first time that a sci fi movie actually gave me a gut-swoop feeling via its portrayal of LARGE SCALE. every other sf movie tries soooo haaaard to get me to care about Identical Giant Spaceship #28489211 Did I Mention It's Big, but this is the first time i actually had a "oh that's BIG" feeling

pretty sure that effect was almost all shot composition. lots of extreme wide shots in which architectural features / space objects formed austere, abstracted shapes

i really liked every shot EXCEPT, ironically enough, the ones that featured dunes (lowercase).

me pointing at a generic sand dune: i've had enough of this guy

related to the sand imagery. i am Aware that dune enacts a complex critique of imperialism over the course of several novels and that the Point is to make you uncomfortable at first. i am still uncomfortable. this is fine. this is the point. but i find the move of "immerse you in white saviorism for a whole novel, then subvert it" a lot easier to handle in book form? the cinematic gaze is very different from the novelistic gaze. it does Things to the portrayal of otherwise very similar plot events. still deciding if i like that

then again it's been so many years since i read the novel... idk

i did feel like maybe i should've seen this on a big screen. and i will probably attempt to see the sequel in theaters? something i have not done of my own volition in many years, even before the pandemic?

whatshername who played jessica was an incredible actor. profoundly weird in exactly the correct way

i was surprised by how little emphasis they gave to the litany; it was present just enough but they didn't Make A Scene of it. i'm guessing that's being saved for the sequel

okay now that i've thought about it more: i think i enjoyed this movie the same way i might appreciate an art film.

so the thing about arthouse films is many of them prioritize reflective, reflexive commentary, often in a brechtian or approximately brechtian mode. often this promotes certain kinds of immersion (an ill-defined term! which we use a lot regardless!), especially the intellectual and aesthetic, at the cost of other kinds of immersion.

there's a certain liveliness of character that can be found in the best "commercial" artworks — the sort of thing that makes people say the characters "jumped off the page". that particular brand of liveliness is much rarer in "literary"/arthouse texts because the particular flavor of reflective mode that's fashionable right now puts up a barrier between that "liveliness" and the reader/viewer/etc.

i don't mean that these texts can't directly engage audience emotion or deliver a gutpunch or whatever -- i'm trying to get at the fact that they exhibit a deep distrust of charm. charm as an affect is contradictory to brechtian detachment. that's not particular to 21st century literary fiction or arthouse film, that's a cultural movement that's been happening in fits and starts in america and britain for a while now?

(this is reminding me i still need to read erin horáková's dissertation)

(damn that's reminding me i need to find her dissertation)

(i could always. ask. but that seems. embarrassing)

anyways these aren't inherent qualities of genre. they're not foundational.

you see plenty of texts that employ "commercial" modes of audience engagement that are later recuperated into the literary canon and treated as literary fiction, even if they weren't originally marketed as such. to kill a mockingbird is a decent example of this

ANYWAYS i'm almost sure i enjoyed dune (2021) as an arthouse film? i found myself wishing i could turn down the character voices into a low murmur so that i could just be whisked through the interplay of light and shadow without being bothered with "plot"

despite my apparent lack of investment in the characters, i thought duncan's death was a great example of a classic trope done right? i just found the whole scene incredibly satisfying, narratively? idk.

i got seriously tired of seeing dreamy wordless visions of zendaya's face tho. so you paid for zendaya to be in this movie. WE GET IT.

[the-marcos-family-sucks-ass]

Hi....If you don't mind, can I ask, what are your top 10 (or top 7) favorite media (can be books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series)? Why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before......Thanks....

of course 👍👍 i have not answered this question before . here u are :

1. Mob Psycho 100 - i genuinely think this anime has completely changed the way i view life, other people and also myself forever, and also has made me feel more comfortable in confronting and talking more with people. its also really cute uniquely-animated show with silly funny characters. #reigen4life

2. Mystery To Iunakare (Don't Call It Mystery) - while i think this jdrama/manga is fairly unknown internationally, in japan its quite popular. Even with the lack of international love, i am obssessed with it, because i like how its homoerotic as hell, the little mysteries, how it portrays did (dissociative identity disorder; this disorder is extremely stigmatized so its nice to have a character that is a somewhat realistic portrayal of it), sympathy for abuse victims and that they're completely justified in killing their abusers, silly guys befriending random criminals on ths street, etc. It's a fun show that has an aura of tragedy surrounding it, and i love comedy and tragedy!!!!!!

3. Move To Heaven (kdrama) - every episode, i cried, straight up bawling my eyes out at how this show chooses to portray the dead through their belongings. the cinematography is so breathtakingly beautiful and makes me feel so calm and peaceful even though ik im gonna be crying in the next few minutes.

my favorite episode is episode 9, where i relate to kang seong-min/matthew green, being treated as a foreigner in your own home country hit hard. the loneliness and the frustration of people treating you differently because they see you as an alien that doesn't know where it is and doesn't understand anything. it hits even harder the more times i rewatch it.

it also has my 3 faves things in a show: autism, queerness and tragedy!!

4. D.P (deserter pursuit; kdrama) - this show is such a good critique of the military and toxic masculinity. i haven't finished season 2, but it's still at the top of my list because of how much emotions it made me feel, anger sadness disgust etc. like !!!!!!! i hold so deeply in my heart the nuances of trauma. queerness. tragedy. the way mandatory rotc brings so many people to their lowest point in life while the military does nothing to help them. victims of abuse never being able to get their voices heard or make an impact despite sacrificing their own life in order to make a change.

idk, its just a really cute and silly show ^-^

5. I Told Sunset About You (tv series) - in every episode i cried as well, sobbing screaming running around the walls WAILING. i like how it portrays the struggle of being a poor bisexual asian person who has just recently found out they're queer.

i love the whole "self hatred and unwillingness to accept your identity, causing you to hurt others in the process" thing, because it makes teh a more nuanced character to me, that he's not perfect or flawless and that he's a person that does not know how to react to finding out he's queer, having to constantly feel pressured to be better than his older brother, feeling pressured to repress his identity, etc. etc.

(i don't know if i can say the same for the second addition, "i promised you the moon", though, that one was mostly just fine, not as good as the original, but fine.)

6. The Untamed/Mo Dao Zu Shi (cdrama vers.) - i feel like you already know the answer as to why i like this one alot. its tragic, its queer, its convuluted, it has so many dead characters, etc. everything i love to see in media all put together!! wen ning my son 🫶🫶🫶

7. Everything Everywhere All At Once (movie) - this movie made me kind of understand me and my foster grandmother's relationship more, and has really influenced me to work on communicating with her better, and that i can do silly shit that makes me happy all i want. Forever. seriously made me want to continue living on despite my own country not being able to accept my queer existence.

8. Call Me Chihiro/Chihiro-san (movie) - one thing i love about call me chihiro is its calm chaoticness, how the protag just seems to go with the flow of life. i think the relationships chihiro forms with the people in the town are so beautiful and personal ,, it feels so peaceful and happy despite all the bad things that happen in it, like there's this hopefulness and composed even under pressure type of vibe to it that made me tie it close to my heart

9. Saving Face (movie) - this movie is pretty much SUPER ICONIC in like, the world of asian lesbian films, and for a pretty good reason too,, i feel like it emulates so much of the average lesbian experience with having an Asian family. the casual racism from the mother, the lesbophobia, the matchmaking, the constant peer pressuring into getting a boyfriend, etc etc. i cannot think of one scene in this movie where it didn't directly remind me of lesbian tomfoolery that happened in my life.

it's also just a really cute movie about acceptance and has a good ending (which is rare for lesbian films)

10. Marry My Dead Body (movie) - the concept of this movie is unusual but the execution is so good i can't even. like it made me cry 3 seperate times. while not obssessed with this movie that much, so i can't talk too much of it but its cute!!!!! i thought i was going to get the ick bc of the homophobic main character but he started to grow on me the more he changed his views when he got accidentally ghost married to a guy. and also how they got each others backs all the time and won't hesitate to sacrifice themselves to protect the other is so real. #lintzuchingfan4life

[starsweepers]

me: i'm not going on another cleo rant reality: so anyways that was a lie-

lemme start off with cleo is not meant to be nice. she is not some sweet, misunderstood character. she's a mean, misunderstood character. if the live action is truly drawing from g3 then less so because apparently g3 cleo has like. no family problems because nefera's apparently an angel and all that? i haven't watched but that's what i've gathered. so then she's just a mean character but she's a mean character who's a love interest and can be nice on occasion. which is so counterintuitive to the absolute experience that is g1 cleo. the core of cleo ( in g1 and in my canon ) is a girl under pressure to be perfect and to be a princess due to the horrible manipulation and anxiety caused by her father and older sister. sometimes i think the writers of the movies or at least jy understood this because based off her portrayal in the movies, i actually don't think cleo's character is written that badly ( not perfect but compared to some- ). she is haughty, she's a bit snide, she says a few mean things here and there to sell her nature, she is pretentious... but she's far from being the character that the others make her out to be. deuce at one point basically says her heart is rotted and it's just? it's so obvious the writers are trying to shove down the viewers' throats that deuce doesn't like cleo anymore and has moved on to clawdeen lightning fast. he's genuinely pretty mean to her. he's the one who talks behind her back about her and everything, and clawdeen disguised at bloodgood even tries to be critical of her when all she was doing was literally dropping off notes as she was asked to do. cleo just gets upset deuce and clawdeen liked each other so fast which like?? valid? her heart was broken and it was recently? like a summer during highschool is not a long time?? and if they're following g1 at all then she's under a lot of pressure and tension from her family to remain cool, confident, and royal like. so yeah she does and says some slightly mean things but also like?? compared to what the others said and did to her, it's a little weird. she becomes the brunt of the "she's mean" jokes despite the fact she's barely mean in comparison to the other characters. they treat her very badly but then make her part of the crew and a good person in the end which makes all the cruelty feel a bit gross? especially from deuce.

idk. i have problems with the fast he got turned into obsessed lover boy for claw in the movie. and he's generic love interest in the show i think? ( i haven't watched so while i'm not saying the show is bad, when i critique it, it's more just me feeling like the writers were lazy... i think they made some weird choices but g3 ultimately is different from g1 so not fair to compare... though doesn't feel like live action follows g3 entirely so it's this weird mix and i have to address everything ). and then cleo just gets turned into generic love interest for frankie? no family trauma or struggles she's just. the snootyish popular one who can be loyal and is apparently obsessed with humans? which is even weirder given she's one of the only monsters who was born human and turned monster eventually? and the show must give them better chemistry because movie cleo and frankie is nothing. and then in regards to their relationship in g1 honestly i think making them a couple would invalidate the super important friendship they have. so much of the g1 show is around frankie being able to connect people ( because she's/they're made up of different parts, she/they knows how to help others come together ). making cleo her/their love interest invalidates that ( i'm using both pronouns currently because i'm referencing both g1 and g3 frankie ). unpopular opinion maybe but they did it because deuce was easy main character love interest and so then just throw cleo into the gay ship for the brownie points. gestures wildly at all the other characters that weren't in a healthy and adorable relationship prior. gestures wildly at toralei and clawdeen?? twyla and howleen? all the other incredible characters who were perfect for a relationship with frankie? again. haven't watched the show so biased thoughts on that lol. ( disclaimer: g3 cleo and frankie could be totally adorable and make sense i just think it's a poor and weird decision by the writers in such a vast and creative universe of characters when cleo was in a loved and respected and healthy ship people enjoyed prior? ) but basically cleo in the movies isn't terrible and gives me room to pull g1 content in and make her a fun mixture of live action plot and drama and then g1 backstory and cutes. but man she gets sidelined hard in the movies. she was the one who was following frankie to begin with to get the message for help and she listened. she was the one who came up with the selfie idea and gave her phone to clawdeen for deuce because she still loves him but the writers made him move on from her like old cheese. she ran clawdeen's entire prefect campaign. cleo listened and was willing to change and was one of clawdeen's first supporters through it all. and yet the writers are supposed to have us believe she was atrocious to deuce as a girlfriend because of the things he says? like no her family has to be mean in the live action because it makes no sense otherwise for her to seem like two completely different characters. that or deuce is just a liar to the max in the live action. which, again, could be possible because the writers are trying to sell the idea that cleo and deuce aren't a thing. it's very weird to me because i love live acton cleo and i love g1 cleo. and i think it's more how the movie cleo was treated that irritates me more than anything because she did cleo things but was just. absolutely ignored or mistreated or etc.

[the-catbeast-lawfirm]

Jurassic park trending is what will finally talk about just finishing the book is what’ll finally put me over the edge and talk about it after finishing the book last week

I’ve never seen the movie so I got to go into it with no expectations which is fun. And I really liked it! I absolutely do plan on reading another work from Crichton again

I will say I was a bit shocked that it kinda starts up with some pretty noticeable racism and misogyny and it’s pretty clearly there to dismiss both women and brown people (like the beginning of Dracula daily how Johnatan dismisses the locals as superstitious) however there’s some cases where I’m not entirely sure what the purpose of putting some things in and no matter the purpose some just leave a weird taste these are mostly all contained at the beginning before our protagonists are established. (There’s fat phobia also but it’s got no purpose other than stereotyping)

The narrative tbh sometimes feels like one of the books that predicts the future if you swap out developing dinosaurs with Elon musk doing anything at all it’s very clearly a critique of rich people poking around with things they don’t know shit about bc they’re rich. It even starts with how the company behind Jurassic park declared bankruptcy quietly and no one really cared at all bc there’s a whole lot of other shit with these bio-experiment companies and it’s just not surprising they’re all failing.

The rich ass hole only brought his grand kids to show to his lawyer that it’s safe for children btw. It was something his lawyer did not agree with and tried making him send them back because clearly the unfinished dinosaur park that dinos are escaping out of is not a safe place at all.

The little girl (lex) feels poorly written and by that she and only she is constantly complaining (which is fair! She’s 7 but that complaining should’ve been shared among other characters. Her brother is 11 or12 why’s he never complaining???) however she’s the only one pointing out that these people should be hungry. The portrayal of hunger is unrealistic they go like a day and a half without food. Also idk how the dinosaurs see non moving trees or meat or cars but not non moving people that didn’t make sense. It’s the type of error I’m most afraid of making.

The book is pretty blunt on what it thinks, you’ve got to have bad reading comprehension to think that any part of this park was a good idea. This is mainly done through Malcom and Hammond

This book has a lot of graphs and sections of coding language even which I think was a trend at the time of writing but uncommon to see it made you feel the effort and research put into the book

Thanks for reading my word soup but I don’t really have a point. I’m bad at getting people into things because I bring up anything I didn’t like to properly warn people while I get vague on what I do like to not spoil it. I will say that from a convo with my husband the deaths are completely different from book to movie so if you enjoyed dinosaurs killing people and getting killed it’ll still be surprising in the book even if you’ve watched the movie.

[bookwyrminspiration]

I think I’m a bit late on the whole blue eyes discourse, but isn’t the whole thing with the elves being “special” part of their thinking that they’re superior to the humans? Idk I feel like there’s already a lot of controversy with the diversity in KOTLC, and this one thing is a bit of a nitpick.

The discourse perpetually pops up again and again in fandom spaces, so I think it's more of a continuous under the radar thing that anything else. I just happened the be the blog it was on this time.

To answer your question, yes, part of the elves being special is thinking that they're superior to humans. They seem them as lesser and unrefined and idiotic, making dumb choices and not knowing all the things the elves do. However, that's something that exists and is part of their species outside of the blue eyes. It's not them having blue eyes that makes them think they're better, it's their advanced technology, supernatural abilities, prejudice-free (so they claim) society, peaceful methods, superior (so they think) government, etc. There are a plethora of things that they think makes them better than humans. The eyes are separate from that.

It's true that Stina mocked Sophie for not having blue eyes in the first book, saying she'd finally turn them blue during the splotching match, but I believe that's a manifestation of Stina's dislike for Sophie, not a true importance of blue eyes over brown from their perspective. It was something that singled Sophie out and as such Stina could capitalize on. She'd do the same with any other trait.

I do disagree with you on it being nitpicky, as it sounds like you're saying that it's a small enough detail that compared to the rest of the diversity issues within the series--the portrayal of the songs, the clear lack of characters of color--that it's not worth the effort. I think that the pattern of altering poc features in media has become prevalent enough that's it's no longer nitpicking and is instead a valid critique when it comes to portraying characters of color. If it was only a few characters within the whole sphere of media, then it wouldn't matter as much and would be nitpicking like you said.

But it's not just a few and it's not just eyes. Hazel Levesque from PJO has gold eyes, Princess Yue from ATLA has blue eyes and white hair, Kida from the Disney movie Atlantis has white hair and blue eyes, Esmerelda from Hunchback of Notre Dame has green eyes, Storm from Marvel has white hair, and so on. To be very clear, that's not to say that these are awful characters and should be completely dismissed. Not in the slightest! Several of them are wonderful characters with fantastic stories, but that doesn't change how they fit into a trend of characters of color having natural features replaced. On their own each of them are fine, but when looked at from a more zoomed-out perspective it becomes more of a problem as it becomes more prevalent.

Should no character ever be like this? No, but there seems to be a lack of balance. People deserve to see themselves in stories, and right now there are enough characters lacking their natural traits for it to be uncomfortable and warrant discussion. That's why seeing the elves in kotlc all have blue eyes, meaning black and asian (and other non-mentioned poc) characters have blue eyes, is upsetting. They're another instance in this trend. I think it's only fair people critique it. No matter how small it may seem, if someone finds issue with representation, I think that merits discussion.

Hopefully that was clear. It's true that there are many diversity issues within the series, but I think the blue eyes isn't a nitpick and is instead a worthy critique on the representation in the series. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the matter!!

[neroushalvaus]

Top 10 favourite characters from any fandom

I was tagged by @limalepakko , thank you! Since I have recently listed male characters here (or you know, in August, but we all know time hasn't been a thing for many moons), I took the liberty to list characters in general this time. I also went with which characters feel right at the moment, so does not show all my favourites. I also try to keep these short. (edit: okay so these are not remotely short, I will post a list first and have the explanations be under the cut, read if you want to hear my ramblings c': )

1. Fantine, Les Misérables 2. Javert / Jean Valjean, Les Misérables (yes i am cheating) 3. Carrie "Big Boo" Black, Orange Is the New Black 4. Jane Marple, Agatha Christie's Marple 5. Aunt Lydia, The Handmaid's Tale 6. Bridget Jones, Bridget Jones books & movies 7. Rock Lee, Naruto 8. Sarah O'Brien, Downton Abbey 9. Marilla Cuthbert, Anne of Green Gables / Anne with an E 10. Sister Monica Joan, Call the Midwife

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1. Fantine, Les Misérables

I love Fantine with all my heart. I remember reading Les Mis for the first time and her story sending chills down my spine. Her character development makes me so sad, from a girl who falls hard and fast and won't deny anything from her lover, to a woman who is so beaten down by society that she can't do anything but laugh at her fate. But I love how she doesn't lose her pride or her fighting spirit and how she still has the guts to spit in Valjean's face when she sees him after being arrested. And I love how all she does is for her daughter and how despite selling "the gold on her head and the pearls in her mouth" she is content, because all that matters to her is that Cosette will live.

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2. Javert & Jean Valjean, Les Misérables

I was really trying to limit this list to one character per fandom, but alas, I am but a weak little person. Thus, I am cheating already. The thing is that when it comes to Les Mis characters, Fantine, Javert and Valjean are the eternal top 3 for me, but I'm never quite able to say who I love the most. Last time I picked Javert for the male character meme because I love the symbolism and critique of society his character embodies, but let it be known that Jean Valjean is the best character in all of literature and I will fight you on this. The original soft on crime icon (aside from Jesus Christ but they're the same and you know it). Valjean's character journey is such a complicated one from an ordinary man (no worse than any man) to a person, who had been shaped by society and criminal justice system to be a very dangerous man, to someone you could compare to a saint if you wanted to... To an ordinary man, who would do anything for his daughter. He has so many character-defining moments, the biggest ones being in my opinion the trial of Champmathieu and letting Javert go instead of killing him. I just love Jean Valjean so much and could speak about him for hours.

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3. Carrie "Big Boo" Black, Orange Is the New Black

Hopping away from the Les Mis hole and into a OITNB hole. I was debating on whether I'd put Boo or Pennsatucky on this list since I love them both so much, but I've been feeling so much love for my angry butch king that it had to be her. First of all, I'm just so happy to see butch lesbian representation where the butch identity is not just a joke. I know OITNB sometimes uses Boo questionably, but in general she is a nuanced character and one of the most interesting ones in the series in my opinion. I'm so sad they forgot all about her on the last seasons. I love everything about her, how she has trouble with feelings besides anger and often deflects serious stuff through humor, how fiercely protective she is of those she loves (boosatucky otp forever fucking fight me), how proud she is of her butch identity ("i refuse to be invisible")... Also, not to express attraction, but... Mama I'm in love with a criminal. And not to be a slut for how characters view religion/spirituality/God, but the relieved smile she has in one of her flashbacks when she says "there's no God... there's nothing", like you can't just do stuff like that and expect me not to love the character to bits.

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4. Jane Marple, Agatha Christie's Marple

Last time I listed Poirot and was a bit frustrated I couldn't list Marple, but now it's time to right that wrong! I love this little old lady so much. I love Agatha Christie so much for just going "you know who is the person who knows everything that's going on in a community, and thus would make the perfect detective for a detective story? the nosy old woman". As she is introduced in The Murder at the Vicarage: "Miss Marple is a white-haired old lady with a gentle, appealing manner — Miss Weatherby is a mixture of vinegar and gush. Of the two Miss Marple is much more dangerous." She is so likable and witty, you can't help but love her. My favourite portrayal of her is by Geraldine McEwan, she looks so gentle but has such a sharp gaze. I would spill all my secrets to her any day. I also am compelled to tell you that when I was a child we had a costume party at my school and I dressed up as Marple and learned some old lady things in English (it was before third grade so I didn't know much English back then) just for the occasion (such as "thank you, my dear", "what a lovely necklace you are wearing" or "there has been a murder"). Teacher might have thought me rather morbid but I remember that day being quite good.

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5. Aunt Lydia, The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaid's Tale is such a great series and a book and Aunt Lydia is such a great character. The way she's capable of being absolutely cruel and vicious, but how she is also protective and caring in her own way. One of my favourite scenes in this series is when Serena Joy (my other favourite, can you tell) tells Lydia to "remove the damaged ones" from a line of handmaids and Lydia tries to argue with her. Sure, she is responsible for some of the punishments these women are now "damaged" by, but she truly believes those punishments were for a greater good and now the handmaids deserve their place with the others as much as anyone else. It is chilling and the character is such a dark shade of morally gray, but I can't get enough of it. The actress who plays her, Ann Dowd, has so interesting thoughts about her, like here. I just love this character so much I could scream.

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6. Bridget Jones, Bridget Jones books & movies

I'm mostly talking about the movies here because Renée Zellweger's performance is iconic. Plus the movies are what made me love this character first. But I'll give it to the books, they're one of the few books I've laughed out loud while reading. Anyway, how do you even begin explaining the love I have for Bridget Jones... I love how she is a character so many people can relate but who would be a comic relief side character in some other story. Yes, yes, it is really bad that she is constantly described as fat when she really is not, but when I was growing up she gave me hope that people who are viewed as fat and/or unattractive by other people can be admired and appreciated, and they don't have to be super talented at everything and highly intelligent and some kind of a super smooth social butterfly to "make up" for what they "lack". And also that they can have standards (i once dodged a bullet by rejecting someone by pretty much subconsciously quoting Bridget Jones so..). I also love how the comedic tone of everything does not dismiss Bridget's feelings. For example in some other movie we maybe would concentrate on how "stupid" Bridget was to trust that Daniel was in love with her, but in Bridget Jones we concentrate on how Bridget was hurt by Daniel cheating on her, how he is the one who did wrong. Idk I just love Bridget Jones so very much can you tell.

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7. Rock Lee, Naruto

Aka the boy who would have kicked Madara in the balls if Kishimoto had any sense of drama and good storytelling. I think I robbed Lee by not putting him on the fav male characters list. You know that post that goes like "gays be like 'these are my comfort characters', 1 literal ray of sunshine, 2 war criminal" etc? This child is the sunshine. I've been reading and watching Naruto again ( @hapanmaitogai is my sideblog for that nonsense) and I'm so ready to adopt Lee and/or Gai. Rock Lee is just such an earnest character, he has a goal he will give anything to achieve and he's the one true underdog in this manga. I love how he's so kind and polite (it's not so clear in English but in the Finnish translation he speaks as formally as he does in Japanese, he uses singular polite "you", calls Sakura "Sakura-neiti" = "Miss Sakura" etc... i love one polite boy). Also, he has the best fights in the series. Like Lee vs Gaara is a Classic, but we simply can't forget that time Lee absolutely crushed Sasuke in just a few minutes, or that time he politely asked Kimimaro not to kill him while he drinks his medicine. The best boy. I love that boy so much.

*

8. Sarah O'Brien, Downton Abbey

Last time it was Thomas' turn, so now I must talk about the snakiest snake, the queen of weaponized handmaidenry, Miss O'Brien. She is such a great character especially in the first two seasons (I obviously love her on season three as well but Julian Fellowes really tried to make it hard by not explaining her actions at all, didn't he. Well, luckily I am ready to stuff the gaps with my headcanons). She has some of the best comebacks in the series and brings some needed realism in some conversations. I also love how she uses her position as a lady's maid for her advantage and how she is proud of her profession despite being highly aware of the power structures in the Abbey. And then there is the soap. That is such a good character moment, because for a character who always plans ahead, who is ruthless and cunning and intelligent... I don't think O'Brien thought about the soap thing at all before she left the room ("Sarah O'Brien, this is not who you are" hit me like a train). Just once she did something with nothing but anger motivating her and that became one of the defining moments of her character. And one of the defining things of the future relationship between her and Cora. That's why I find the Sarah/Cora ship so interesting, because there will always be the undercurrent of bitter regret. Also Sarah O'Brien and Thomas Barrow are the greatest brotp and Fellowes was a coward for driving the smoking scheming gay best friends apart, and

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9. Marilla Cuthbert, Anne of Green Gables / Anne with an E

I'm not saying L.M. Montgomery is entirely responsible for me having a fondness for strict, older women who first act unkind but have a heart of gold, but she most certainly did not help. Between characters like Marilla Cuthbert and Elizabeth Murray, how can you not fall in love with the type? It's been a while since I read the Anne series, but I really love how Marilla's character has been adapted into the Anne with an E tv series. Geraldine James looks like she was born to play her, she has me in tears so often. She has the ability to portray someone like Marilla, who is a very hard and stern person but feels deeply for her loved ones. I was watching the episode that dealt with Matthew's heart attack and Marilla berating her brother while hugging herself like she was trying so hard to hold herself together absolutely destroyed my heart.

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10. Sister Monica Joan, Call the Midwife

It was a tough choice between her and Sister Evangelina. I just love these nuns very much. Sister Monica Joan is such a lovable and wise character. She is so knowledgeable of many subjects, from the Bible to astrology, and I feel like her unspecified memory problems and confusion are handled very tastefully. I also love how she's such an important part of her community despite not working as a midwife anymore. She is such a kind woman and gets visibly upset when others are treated poorly. And how could I not mention her saying "I do not believe in weeds. A weed is simply a flower that someone decides is in the wrong place", like... I love her so so much.

*

I won't tag anyone, but if you read this and you want to do this, consider yourself tagged and you're no allowed to mark me as the one who tagged you!

[galaxygolfergirl]

Things to make Attack of the Clones possibly a better movie

Stuff about Anakin

Anakin would take after Matt Lanter’s portrayal in the Clone Wars in terms of charm and personality, though not that Hayden Christensen doesn’t do a good job. Here me out; when not speaking that terrible dialogue, Haydensen brings the right amount of sensitivity, physicality, and frustration in Anakin’s evolving maturity. 

I’d like to think Anakin would be like a romantic-era poet in the body of a jedi (like a samurai John Keats?). After all, I can see some of Lucas’s intent with him spouting off that half-baked prose in the movies. When he’s Darth Vader, he does a better job with wordplay and Shakespearean themes. Anakin more likely resembles a Byronic hero, “Historian and critic Lord Macaulay described the character as ‘a man proud, moody, cynical, with defiance on his brow, and misery in his heart, a scorner of his kind, implacable in revenge, yet capable of deep and strong affection’”

In wooing Padme, Anakin has secretly been an avid scholar of galactic literature (reading stuff the Jedi order would frown upon) in hopes to try and meet her on her level and mature. He’s a fan of space fantasy novels (in the likes of Edgar Rice Burrough’s John Carter of Mars, but for Star Wars), and is a hopeful romantic. He wishes to explore more that the galaxy has to offer and feels constrained by the rigidity of the Jedi order. He and Padme connect on that level of Byronic romance.

As I said in my previous post, the age gap between Anakin and Padme is considerably smaller. (only about 3 years; he’s 23 and she’s 26)

Anakin is much less predatory around Padme than in the original film. I’d more rather have it that they’re both into one another but tragic pining ensues because they find out how much they get along after they’ve been apart.

I don’t know how to solve the mass murder of the tusked raiders scene; I wish it wasn’t there and I wish his mom didn’t get fridge as hard as she did

If there had to be a more docile option, maybe Anakin arrived on Tatooine and learned his mom died years before and he didn’t know about it until just then. It’s too literal to have him holding his dead mother in his arms, and I would think it’s much more cold and painful to learn that your loved one died years ago and you were unaware of it. 

His “early turn to the dark side” scene could involve him being more reckless and cutting down flesh and blood enemies during the arena scene, perhaps he kills Jango???

Stuff about Padme

Padme is much more proactive and #thatbitch when it comes to standing up against the rising imperial/fascist mentality within the senate, one of the reasons why some people might want her dead; make her AOC but in spaaaaaaaaaace

Darth Sidious wanted Padme killed for her opposition to the Military Creation Act which would allow the creation of an army to fight the Separatists for the Republic. Since Sidious was manipulating both the Separatists and the Republic, he put a bounty on Padme's head as Nute Gunray's grudge against her was powerful enough that he demanded her death as the condition for secession of the Trade Federation from the Republic

However, not only because of that, but also through her own investigative journalism, Padme discovers the Trade Federation’s shady business practices and ties to the growing separatist alliance and exposes this to the public, thus causing more of a demand for her death and exacerbation of tensions

She’s been having a hard time forming true relationships because of her position of power and being under public scrutiny all the time, thus after coming to respect and care for Anakin, resolves to minimize that scrutiny as much as possible

Stuff about Obi-wan

Jedi Mullet? I don’t think so. Make it more like this

(something a little less mullety, still luxurious, and he keeps the beard)

He’s not necessarily a paragon when it comes to no attachments, and he uses his attractiveness to his advantage and he knows it. 

Anakin does serve as his foil, but when he’s on his own it would be nice if he had a companion as well to mirror Anakin and Padme’s journey together. Perhaps an introduction of Satine, thus developing their relationship early on? A different female foil? Or just a buddy from work like Quinlan Vos? Idk.

He’s still in the sort of learning curve when it comes to being a master, and there can be a few times Anakin can prove him wrong. Obi-wan comes to respect his initiative by the end of the film and not be so critical of him (I mean Anakin had just lost an arm and all)

His relationship with Padme is still amicable, but meets a point of tension when discussing Anakin’s behavior and development. Their points of view differ when it comes to how Jedi can express themselves and she critiques some of the more questionable morals and practices of the Jedi

Things about the plot

Officials within the Republic government knew about the clones (and so did some Jedi). Palpatine organized a committee (engineering the pointless war behind the shadows) and they ordered the clone army after the whole Naboo crisis ten years prior to the events of Attack of the clones. Everyone knew tensions were brewing between the potential Seperatists and the Republic and the Republic wanted to beat them to the punch.

Which Jedi in particular knew? 

(Ooh! Ooh! What if some Jedi, even on the council, had already turned to the dark side and were working for Palpatine, and in the end by the time of Order 66 they help bring down the order, only to then be killed themselves by Palpatine and Vader (rule of 2)?)

The fight scene between Sidious and the jedi would have them turning against each other while Sidious finishes them off to show the ineptitude and corruption of the once pure Jedi order

Syfo Dyas was the Jedi ambassador to the senate and was convinced/manipulated to assist Palpatine; he helped order the clones and was ready to defend the republic, but when the full plot was revealed to him, he tried to make a run for it and tell the Jedi Order, only to end up assassinated. The order of the clone army a secret was kept until the Separatists fully declared war on the Republic. 

Count Dooku also knew when he was still a jedi and on the council. However, he had secretly turned to the darkside and was working for Palpatine/Sidious as a spy until he ultimately left the order to become the leader of the separatists. He had prior knowledge that Palpatine had engineered the war (note: an addition to my Phantom menace post, Syfo Dyas and Dooku would make appearances in Episode 1 to establish a precedent to the plot of this movie).

@whatlomalikes​  @cinna-wanroll​ y’all like Star Wars, right?

[gothsic]

THE POSITIVE & NEGATIVE; Mun & Muse - Meme.

fill out & repost ♥ This meme definitely favors canons more, but I hope OC’s still can make it somehow work with their own lore, and lil’ fandom of friends & mutuals. Multi-Muses pick the muse you are the most invested in atm.

My muse is:   canon / oc / au / canon-divergent / fandomless /

Is your character popular in the fandom?  YES / NO. in his own head maybe

Is your character considered hot™ in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK. lol what fandom does jo have a fandom here???

Is your character considered strong in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK. ???

Are they underrated?  YES / NO. / IDK. jo thinks he’s underrated does that count??

Were they relevant for the main story?  YES / NO.

Were they relevant for the main character?  YES / NO / THEY’RE THE PROTAG.

Are they widely known in their world?  YES / NO.

How’s their reputation?  GOOD / BAD / NEUTRAL.

How strictly do you follow canon?  — Jo is the master of his own story so yeah. I’m following my own canon and whatever I come up with to a T ( unless some good suggestions in writer’s workshops or even here come up! ). He is the main character of my limited series pilot that I hope to write soon called The Insomnia Trap.

SELL YOUR MUSE! Aka try to list everything, which makes your muse interesting in your opinion to make them spicy for your mutuals.  —  Jonathan has many sides to him. The child of mixed Latinx parents and the youngest of three kids, he has had a relatively normal life ( save for early childhood, when he killed his mother by “accident” - should’ve mentioned that! ) and his very long goth phase in middle/high school, but always deemed himself to be on the outskirts of society. Because he was aware from a young age that he was simultaneously unwanted and unplanned, Jonathan came out of his upbringing with the idea that he never should have existed. This planted in him a very nihilistic, misandrist, and generally flippant view of the world despite pursuing his dream to work in comics and cartoons. Though he was hungry for recognition and dreamed of a world not on Earth, he often found himself to be a ghost wandering the streets of town, looking in on the people having fun in their homes without understanding why they were happy. His insomnia developed when he in his teens, though he still had trouble sleeping as a child after seeing his mother’s mangled corpse at the bottom of the stairs - his doing, of course. Whether he lives with the guilt or not is up to you to decide; it’s my personal feeling that there is a part of him, the human part of him, that feels horrible about what he did. He feels monstrous for it, in fact. This is part of the reason why, if he gets extremely close to someone, he warns them that he’s not a good person; the shred of good left in him. But he also feels his “metamorphosis” into the nihilist that he is today was inevitable, given that he was never supposed to exist in the first place. It should be mentioned, of course, that this nasty cocktail of things has not only stressed his insomnia, but he eventually was pushed into going to a sleep clinic to get to the bottom of his problems once and for all. He only encountered an extremely traumatic lucid dream that forced him to confront his past head-on. He was unable to save his rotting humanity ( D., a small girl that looked like his character Deirdre ), and was eaten alive by The Other, a creature that looked like a younger version of himself and eventually absorbed him into itself. He awoke, now in what can only be described as a constant lucid dream in waking life. He encounters monsters and hallucinations from his dreamspace frequently, and will sometimes see D.’s forest crop up in his backyard. To this day, he still believes D. is alive and well - and, of course, that the object of his obsession, the one person who ever understood him in his point of view, Annie Kaye, is going to one day return to him as he’s always dreamed. Sadly, she could want nothing less to do with his sorry ass.

Now the OPPOSITE, list everything why your muse could not be so interesting (even if you may not agree, what does the fandom perhaps think?).  —   Around the time that The Insomnia Trap was simply going to be a screenplay, I workshopped it every few weeks in my senior Screenwriting class in undergraduate school. The overwhelming response I got was that Jonathan was abhorrent, creepy, and the question a lot of people had was why we were following him versus Adri, his ex girlfriend who was documenting his struggles with insomnia. My only answer to this is that is the point - you aren’t supposed to necessarily like him, I instead invite you to understand why he does the things he does. I’m asking you to do something you don’t like, something that makes you uncomfortable, maybe. I don’t believe entertainment in any capacity should be forced to be all about how “great” a person someone is. He’s a horrible person you can observe at a safe distance, and pick apart - a real puzzle who has his nasty qualities and his strangely good qualities mixed into one. I’m not asking you to forgive him, either. I’m asking you to see him for what he is and judge him for yourself. Jonathan is a gigantic mess of things - he’s deeply traumatized, but has chosen to live a life where he’s given in to his narcissism and self-importance, and he’s deeply hurt many people in his life - the most obvious being Annie, whom he feels he “deserves” after suffering so much in his life ( sure... ). He is in many ways a deeply unlikable character, and I wrote him keeping this in mind. That said, he has his better qualities, though they’re few and far between, that I think can keep him human in the eyes of the audience ( his love of animals, guilt towards his mother’s death, his intense self hatred, his genuine love for his nieces and nephews and for children in general, etc. ). Since he’s the protagonist of The Insomnia Trap, I can only hope that he is a complex and interesting enough character to follow for audiences if/when the limited series gets picked up!

What inspired you to rp your muse?  — Jonathan is based off of a very long personal experience I had, and I’ve always been fascinated by intense psychological horror. The two things came together, at first, when I was 12 and simply evolved from there. Originally, the project was going to be an animated flash movie that was divided into parts - but that of course never happened, I was too young and too impatient to ever do that. Over time, I ended up focusing Jonathan’s character, and he first appeared in high school - sophomore year, actually, in a different context. He’s been in development for a very long time, in other words, and I grew fascinated with a variety of different concepts over the years that got incorporated into his story ( doppelgangers, lucid dreaming, revenge, obsession, tragic protagonists, etc. )! He is one of the most intimate characters I’ve ever created, and I love him to death.

What keeps your inspiration going?  —  Music is a big one, there are specific songs I want to get the rights to use in the project if it ever gets made, and that really helps keep me focused on this blog and develop Jonathan further. Also, threading with my fellow muns and seeing how Jo evolves over time. What’s he capable of? Can he change? Is he capable of change, or is he afraid of it? These are questions that are asked with each character he interacts with, and I sincerely live for it. Also, drawing helps me out a lot too - maybe you’ll see The Insomnia Trap in webcomic form soon... just a thought!

Some more personal questions for the mun.

Give your mutuals some insight about the way you are in some matters, which could lead them to get more comfortable with you or perhaps not.

Do you think you give your character justice?  YES / NO / no idea honestly lmao

Do you frequently write headcanons?  YES / NO / depends!

Do you sometimes write drabbles?  YES - I also draw them! / NO, I HATE DRABBLES.

Do you think a lot about your Muse during the day? YES! / NO.

Are you confident in your portrayal?   YES / NO / sorta

Are you confident in your writing?  YES / HAHA NO.

Are you a sensitive person?  YES / NO. / though i can handle critique, film school definitely hardens you to that!

Do you accept criticism well about your portrayal?  —  I do. I’ve been explicitly told Jonathan is disgusting and totally unlikable by people to my face, and I have made leaps and strides to prevent my portrayal from going completely in the “this person is deplorable” category that was tempting to head towards. It’s easy to explore someone’s bad side rather than explore their good side, which I can forget about with him. That said, critique really does help me develop my writing further, and I desperately need it even if it can be hard to hear sometimes!

Do you like questions, which help you explore your character?  —  I love questions. If people ask me questions, I do my best to answer no matter what they may be. They can be challenging sometimes, but that’s what makes it so fun!

If someone disagrees to a headcanon of yours, do you want to know why?  —  Sure, I’m happy to hear what people have to say. I may not agree with it, but hearing different perspectives is so important in my point of view.

If someone disagrees with your portrayal, how would you take it?  —  As well as I could. It can be frustrating, but everyone’s tastes are different, so I don’t really take it personally and move on. I’m really here to do what I want to do in the end, as the rest of us are, so I try to prioritize that over any negative feelings I might have.

If someone really hates your character, how do you take it?  —  Again, I just let it be. I’m used to people not really understanding Jonathan or not caring for him while understanding him, and that’s fine! Everyone has their preferences for what they like in leading characters or just characters in general. He is a triggering character with very triggering themes, and I’m writing him from a very prolonged experience I had ( and it’s very cathartic ) so I can understand why people may not want to engage with him or with me. I’m perfectly fine with it and invite people to put themselves first, and I move on like I mentioned in the above question.

Are you okay with people pointing out your grammatical errors?  —  Yes! Please go for it. I literally do not proof my replies before I post them half the time so feel free to let me know if I misuse words or put commas/colons/semicolons or whatever out of place.

Do you think you are easy going as a mun?   — I think so! I try to be open and inviting to everyone I speak to here, and always encourage people to come talk to me if they’d like to. No pressure though! Roleplay is for fun, and it shouldn’t be anxiety inducing or any kind of work - do things at your own pace here, that’s what I say ( though I’m trying to follow my own advice! ).

That’s about it, congrats for filling out!

Tagged by:  @forseenclade !!. thank you flower... luv Tagging: whomstever wants to !! feel free to tag me so i can see !!

[fantasiavii]

Youtube kept recommending me videos critiquing The King and I didn’t watch them but I was intrigued enough that I (like the little cog in the capitalist machine that I am) did watch The King and honestly, I spent most of the time watching that movie wondering why it was made. (Indulgently realistic portrayals of medieval battle?) (also: spoilers below)

It took awhile for me to figure out the plot (I guess it’s Henry V’s character arc to becoming a “good” king? And his friendship with Falstaff?). And the reason I didn’t think it could just be that (i.e. I thought there should be something more) is because his character growth didn’t seem to be saying anything special. He essentially flipped a switch when he became king from family disappointment who does his best not to care at all to serious and responsible man who cares a lot. Which is fine. But it also came with a heavy dose of toxic masculinity (in this case, the suppression of emotion and the isolation of the new role he’s taken on) and English nationalism. (Henry’s whole thing is that he wants to unite England—idk if that included Wales and Scotland bc I know fuckall about English history during this time period but he does want an end to the rebellions mentioned at the beginning of the film, most of which seem to originate in Wales and Scotland.) Maybe they (the creators of this film) didn’t mean anything by it, maybe they just thought it was an accurate representation of Henry V, or maybe they thought it made for a compelling story (a king that actually tries to care about his people for a change) but me being me, I’m just thinking of Brexit and what it means to be telling this story right now (where England unites because England is set against France/their neighboring countries).

So about twenty minutes from the end I’m just thinking “what was the point of this? Henry V is a perfectly good play, why not just do the play? Does anyone really care about Henry V enough for this?” (For the record, I have not seen Henry V either but I have seen Henry IV Part 2)

But the moment that really turned it around for me and made me reconsider everything was when Catherine, the daughter of the king of France (who Henry’s going to marry since he conquered France), essentially takes this persona that Henry’s built up—of a good, even-tempered, wise, reluctant to fight, chivalrous king—and rips its guts out. She tells him from her perspective he looks foolish, childish, and bellicose, to go to war and lose so many lives over a false assassination attempt and a playful insult from her brother. And it’s MAGNIFICENT. I love that scene so goddamn much. It just completely eviscerates him and every reason he had for doing what he did.

Of course, what’s happened is that one of his advisors lied to him and the problem is quickly dealt with and you can assume Henry becomes a better king with Catherine by his side (who he asks to always speak truthfully to him). But I just loved (loved loved) that everything he had worked towards was torn down so quickly and easily by a woman (a woman who said she would not be cowed by him, that he would have to earn her respect, even though he just conquered her country). It’s hardly the most revolutionary feminist moment out there, but to have it come and destroy the previous narrative (which as I said before, seemed to mostly be about toxic masculinity and English nationalism) is just so satisfying. It makes me think there might be better interpretations of this film available other than the (weirdly pro-Brexit?*) one I originally thought the movie was going towards.

*To be clear: I don’t think the movie was actually trying to take a stance on Brexit (though I could be completely wrong bc I haven’t looked up any interviews or anything) but you still always have the question “why are they making this movie that tells this story now?” and that’s where things can get political even if they weren’t intended to be.

[rontufox]

I don't care about the Lion King remake the way other people do. I think there are legitimate points being made (as with all critique) and I understand feelings of annoyance (especially with the nostalgia factor and Disney’s remake rampage). but I think a big thing being missed is that there’s NEVER been a movie like this before. where the cast is 100% animals, all rendered hyper-realistically

these aren’t cartoony animals rendered with hyper-realistic textures. or cartoony animals taken through an uncanny valley redesign. these are animal characters rendered as realistically as possible. they look amazingly true to their real life counterparts. AND they’re the main focus of the movie. I think that’s cool

maybe it’s cuz I’m obsessed with animals and natural history... but I always been fond of live action movies starring animals--where voice actors narrate over the animals. and the animals get to portray themselves. with no anthropomorphization of their bodies. I love when animals are allowed to be themselves. and believe me, I love colorful, expressive, stylized portrayals too. but that’s not the format chosen for this movie. the format is akin to those live action animal movies. I honestly don’t have a problem with that format

I know for some people, that’s exactly the problem. because Disney’s running the Lion King through the same realistic conveyor belt as its other recent movies. I see it as fundamentally different, being a fully 3D animated movie of hyper-realistic animals on a scale never seen before. but I know the lack of emoting is another big factor. I don’t think people are wrong for feeling that at all. I’d like to see more emoting than we’ve seen so far. I just kinda think... 

idk. I personally don’t see much wrong with the movie? I’m not interested in seeing it, but I can’t relate to the types of things being said about it

[jatamansi-arc]

So, the movie Split. Let’s talk about that. And before I dump my spoiler-laden commentary about it beneath the cut, let me say this: about 60% of the problems I have with this movie were about how the clips they used manipulated the previews into a ‘Villain with DID Kidnaps Some Kids!!! CRAZY STUFF HAPPENS YEEHAW!’

Completely ignoring all my critiques for a second, what Split is actually about, is an allegorical tale on how complicated the nature of trauma is on the human psyche. But, with that, I’m gonna cut the rest.

Fair warning, talk of sexual abuse and violence and mental illness below. 

The trick with the trailer, is that what it shows you are exclusively things that happen within the first 20 minutes of the film. This doesn’t absolve it of any of its actual problematic elements, which trust me, there are still a lot of them. Like... I don’t even know where to start levels of ‘a lot of them.’ But I think if it had been more honest about the content of the film, people would have had a much better idea of what to expect going in. It plays on the stigma to get you in. That’s gross as fuck. But at least it’s not like... two hours of torture porn, either?

Like I said, I wanted to watch it without giving any money, because I’m trained as a historian and it’s like... they really push that whole ‘come to your own conclusions with what the source gives you’ thing. Which, while we’re on that subject?

What this film is actually about, is trauma, triggers, and respect (or that lack thereof.) The writing of the DID is ridiculous and grossly problematic, and I won’t sit and sing praises of M. Night for it. You’re not gonna find that here. There were a lot of things that could have been done differently -- much better -- so that we didn’t have to rely on an already stigmatized population to tell the message the story is getting at. Because while this film exists as an allegory, and a metaphor in and of itself, most people are too oblivious to read between the cracks to see any of that. Just ‘PERSON WITH MULTIPLE PERSONALITIES IS TOTS CRAY AND KIDNAPPING WHEEE!’

So, I’m gonna just lay out what the trailer doesn’t as bluntly as possible. 

The actual breakdown of the character of Kevin is this: beginning in late toddlerhood, Kevin begins to be viciously abused and beaten by his mother. This trauma eventually results in a split, to which Dennis is the first, who studies and learns what behaviours will keep Kevin’s mother at bay and develops characteristics in line with several anxiety disorders. As they grow older, Dennis, despite protecting Kevin from his mother’s abuse, begins to show problematic paraphilias. How the rest of his “alters” come about is not said in film, but what is later implied is that, once Kevin learns what are healthy coping mechanisms are from his therapist (before the professional portion of the relationship goes belly up, but I’ll get to that later), that his “healthier minded” alters do not allow Dennis to front for this reason. Nor do they allow Patricia to either, who is another alter, because of her manipulative and aggressive behaviour.

The alters (which I’m not going to put in quotes beyond the above, because it’s 3am, but assume they are there) you see in the trailers? Those are Dennis, Patricia, and Hedwig (who is apparently nine and easily impressionable.) Who they don’t show, but you see in the film, are a few other alters in diary entries that last about 30 seconds to a minute a piece:

Jade: Shown that this alter has diabetes and has to take insulin. Their journal entry is complaining about how hard it is to obtain insulin, because doctors refuse to take their condition seriously at all. Barry: Enjoys fashion and “has control” of the system. Or used to. Seems to be extroverted and is the one that their therapist seems to have most contact with. Is coded as being a gay, overly feminine guy very overtly, which ughhhhhh. Orwell: You see this alter twice and literally, speaking as an autistic person, if Orwell is not meant to be read as autistic, I will eat my own shoe. Obsessed with history and Islam, from what I gathered.

That said? Here’s some other relevant... idk. Relevant something:

#1) The girls Dennis kidnap, outside of Casey, are the very same girls that ended up triggering Kevin into this downward spiral. Doesn’t make what happens to them okay, and it certainly doesn’t explain the behaviour of a grown ass man, but there you go. They ‘prank’ Kevin, triggering him and forcing him to confront his traumas without prior warning. This fractures the system he has in place and allows for Dennis to take control, and sick of being mistreated, him and Patricia set about unleashing ‘The Beast.’

The Beast, by the way, is literally the personification of the anger and resentment Kevin feels at being abandoned by his father, because I imagine it meant many more years of abuse that could have been perhaps been avoided. He exists not in the ‘room with the chairs’ where all the alters seem to metaphorically sit, but in Kevin’s memories of the train station his father left him at. Basically, I don’t think he’s meant to be an “alter” insomuch as just a feral combination of trauma and rage that wasn’t properly treated or healed because the therapist was too busy preening over her own career.  

( Which, well, I was abandoned with my stepfather by my mother and abused sexually/physically/mentally/etc. repeatedly for years by him -- which lead to partial fragmenting of my personality -- and honestly, I think that’s the hardest part of my trauma/PTSD component to reconcile with? So maybe that’s why I’m reading it that way. )

#2) Casey is a survivor of sexual abuse and the talk of being ‘pure’ and ‘impure’ has less to do with what those words mean and more to do with the fact that The Beast is relating that she understands what trauma is capable of doing to someone. Literally, he spares her because ‘oh, you get it.’ Then he walks away, laughing. Alrighty. If you say so. 

The good thing that comes about from this, is that by tearing her clothes in the climax (which you think is kind of pedo-y fanservice at first)  exposes the scars she has from years of dealing with her own abusive guardian. They are noticed by the medical staff in the ambulance, and through her reluctance to go with her uncle, it is implied that they take her somewhere safe for her to recover. Which may be the only positive of this entire fucking movie, and even then it’s like jesus christ. 

#3) The therapist in this is hella flawed. Like she sits and glorifies her patients as showing us what the mind/body connection is capable of and at first you think maybe there is going to be a decent rebuttal to the fuckery of how it’s portrayed in Kevin at some point. Nope. She projects her own problems and desire to be recognized for greatness onto her patients and Dennis in particular misreads this as cues about the Beast. 

( I actually liked the therapist character for all the wrong reasons because I recently had a fucking psychologist who started projecting her feelings about her daughter onto me as a patient and how confusing and frustrating it was for me to navigate as someone who had been recently diagnosed with PTSD and had literally just survived almost being strangled to death a few months prior. )

So, that said? Is it a good movie? The story is weak and problematic as fuck but also not as literal as the trailer implies but also like worse in other ways? The upsides are that the acting is actually good and so is the cinematography. Literally probably the entire reason I sat through the whole thing and didn’t get bored at the 45 minute marker. That and I literally was confused for two hours by how well James pulls off a South Philadelphian accent (I lived in Camden for awhile, so.)

Basically? I’ve seen worse film-wise, and the acting is definitely like 10 Beefy James McAvoy Arms, but the marketing relied on the whole ‘mentally ill people are always violent’ thing to bait you, but then gives you a bunch of other problematic shit to irritate you with until you, too, develop Beefy James McAvoy arms and an urge to smash shitty portrayal of mental illness in 2017. I would see it to draw your own conclusions, because I’m a big one about doing that sort of thing, but I would further suggest not paying for it if that’s possible. 

Side note: Wasn’t Taylor-Joy in The VVitch? I swore I recognized her terrified face from some other movie I’d seen recently. Idk. Speaking of movies that are basically torture porn. D:

[harryandmeghan0-blog]

To Hate-Watch Or Not To Hate-Watch: A Discussion Of 'A Christmas Prince 2' - HuffPost

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To Hate-Watch Or Not To Hate-Watch: A Discussion Of 'A Christmas Prince 2' - HuffPost

Warning: Spoilers below!

Every good romantic comedy needs a sequel. How else will we find out about how that fluffy, swoony happy ending turned into a relentless morass of disappointment and misery? That’s entertainment!

So it was with immense excitement that audiences awaited the sequel to Netflix’s breakout 2017 holiday rom-com “A Christmas Prince,” titled “A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding.” American blogger Amber Moore (Rose McIver) would finally be tying the knot with budget Armie Hammer and Aldovian King Richard (Ben Lamb)!

But is “A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding” a frothy nuptial romp or a grim look at what comes after the whirlwind fairy-tale betrothal? Is it, as some viewers have suggested, an oddly timed cinematic attack on labor unions, a clumsy piece of pro-monarchy propaganda?

Claire and Emma, two “Christmas Prince” fans, talked through their complicated feelings about every second of this romantic comedy cum political procedural.

Emma: Claire! From one intrepid journalist to another, I can’t tell you how #blessed I feel to be talking about the instant holiday classic “A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding” with you. There’s a lot to dig into here. Cryptocurrency! Class tensions! Blogging! But let’s start with a general review. Did you … enjoy this sequel?

Claire: “Enjoyment” is such a simple metric to quantify my reaction to this movie. I felt a lot of emotions, such as irritation and confusion. I enjoyed tweeting my critiques. As a romantic, I felt no thrills when Amber and Richard were onscreen together, which saddened me. However, hate-watching is one of my favorite hobbies. In that sense, I did enjoy it. What about you? Was this the sequel you were hoping for?

Emma: As someone who both loves hate-watching terrible holiday rom-coms and has recently felt very bitter about love, who can even say what I was hoping for? I laughed several times, so that seemed like a plus ― though perhaps not during moments that the writers intended to be played for laughs. I also got a wry enjoyment out of watching a movie that so terribly portrays journalism writ large and specifically female journalists. (Although I did note that even in Amber’s fictional world, media seems to be falling apart. RIP, Beat Now magazine!)

You bring up an important point when you say you felt nary a flutter in your heart watching Richard and Amber’s chemistry. I was struck by how … un–in love they seemed to be with each other. They are supposed to be playing a couple that has just been through a yearlong long-distance engagement, and now they finally are in the same place and get to be married. And yet … they didn’t even make out until the very end of the movie??? Was this movie even a love story, or was it more like a story about saving an increasingly irrelevant and antiquated monarchy?

Claire: I think you already know the answer to that question. We see a montage of them romping through North America and Europe, holding hands and giggling like teenagers, but when they’re supposed to speak lines of dialogue to each other, they seem like distant acquaintances. Or maybe she’s his Uber driver?  

Netflix

The chemistry is undeniable!

She has arrived in Aldovia for the holiday season, which will apparently be spent feverishly planning a wedding for Christmas Day. (They’ve had all year to plan a royal wedding, and they’re just starting now, about three days in advance? Sure, fine.) Due to protocol ― keep an eye on protocol, it’s one of the central players in this drama! ― Amber has her own bridal suite instead of staying with her fiancé. But they also never, IDK, sneak off to make out? Have naughty assignations in the armory? Do these people feel visceral repugnance for each other’s bodies? It’s so bizarre.

When Amber arrives in Aldovia, we also see that her chemistry with Richard is not the only element from “A Christmas Prince” that has been downgraded in this sequel. We need to talk about Rudy. Emma, please explain what happened to Amber’s sweet diner-owning pops.

Emma: So this took me a beat after he was introduced ― I hadn’t watched the original since last year ― but I quickly realized that they had recast the father. I get it: It’s a Netflix holiday movie. Actors have conflicts. It happens. But more concerning than the fact that they made her father a totally different human ― something that the writers wink at the audience about when Richard’s little sister, Princess Emily, comments that “he looks different in person” (apparently it’s all about his shaved facial hair) ― is that this new Papa Rudy has a completely different personality from the old Papa Rudy.  

The new Rudy has zero sense of manners or decorum, constantly threatens to fight people when they do things like attempt to get a taxi from the airport, and decides that he is more qualified to cook for an official event than the (female) royal chef. This personality transformation is an inexplicable choice on the part of the writers. It added nothing to the plot and just made me even more aware that Rudy had been recast. All I could think was, “Oh, I guess her dad is a total asshole now. That’s weird.”

Another frustrating character that we desperately need to talk about is Sahil, the royal wedding planner who is flown in from India. Claire, please let the people know why we both were supremely peeved about Sahil’s portrayal.

Claire: Well, I’m not the expert here, but it’s pretty simple. He’s the only character of color with a significant speaking role, except for Amber’s friend who shows up halfway through and immediately starts trying to get with villainous dweeb Count Simon. Sahil is by turns obsequious and hysterical, as he caters to the grandiose vision of the queen mother and important secretary Mrs. Averill while ignoring poor, blond, innocent Amber, who doesn’t want his ridiculous high-fashion designs. He’s played by British actor Raj Bajaj, but he speaks in an exaggerated Indian accent. He’s a caricature and not a flattering one. His portrayal felt tone-deaf at best and, ironically, a reminder of how snowy white Aldovia is.

Though Sahil is in charge of the royal wedding, he actually spends most of the film off camera … because this movie isn’t about a wedding. It’s about Richard bumbling around like your grandmother with her spectacles pushed up on her head asking, “Now where have I put my spectacles?” ― but instead of his eyewear, it’s all of Aldovia’s money. Where did he put it? Why can’t he find it? Emma, what the ever-loving hell was the political plot of this movie?

Emma: Claire … The short answer is, I have no fucking clue. The longer answer is that I can list off some elements of the political plot, and they all add up to one excellent lesson: Monarchic rule is where it’s at.

1. All of Aldovia’s money is flowing mysteriously out of the country causing all of the working people to lose their jobs.

2. The biggest issue with said unemployment and the ensuing mass strikes is not, in fact, that Aldovian people are unemployed. Rather, the true tragedy of this loss of wage labor is that Emily might be denied her right to awkwardly flirt with one of her classmates in the upcoming Christmas pageant.

3. It will take Amber’s “journalistic instinct” that “something more” is going on with Aldovia’s bleeding economy to solve this economic crisis.

4. Also, hacking!

5. The answer to said economic crisis is ― dramatic pause ― CORRUPTION. But not the corruption of an antiquated government system in a nation that has a prime minister but for some reason gives its hapless king all power over its economic policy. The real corruption comes down to one powerful individual who no longer lives in Aldovia, the white-bearded Lord Leopold, who has created a shell corporation that is publicly registered under his name and is single-handedly draining all of Aldovia’s business profits.

This all seems very plausible and definitely has no holes, right? Shell corporations are bad, monarchies are good. The end.

Claire: I’m a monarchist now, thanks to this good, good propaganda movie. Let’s rewind this to the beginning: King Richard, having ascended to power thanks to an enormous acorn in the first movie, is trying to make his mark with a new agenda. That agenda is: modernization. Modernize Aldovia! This is supposed to be an investment in the country’s economy, but instead, the money is all going somewhere else, and the Aldovian businesses are all bleeding capital and laying off workers.

Where is the money going? Richard doesn’t know! He barely seems to care, to be honest. Much of the movie is just the king and his family and advisers standing around mutually affirming that modernization is very good for the economy in the long run and that unfortunately the workers just don’t see it. The plebs’ lack of foresight is ruining Christmas for the royal family; they’re sending mildly peeved holiday cards to the queen mother about their financial ruin, for example. Tween Princess Emily is meant to be starring in a Christmas pageant in which she’ll kiss a very cute boy. But then the theater workers go on strike. Those unbelievable assholes! Don’t they know the princess of the realm wants a smooch from her handsome subject? That is their job!

Amber, our little go-getter, brings her American no-nonsense approach to solving this little union problem: She orders the palace workers to be scabs. The pageant is held at the palace and staffed by palace employees. Strike busted! It’s honestly so heartwarming.

But Amber isn’t just a great anti-labor innovator; she’s also, as we know, a journalist. And being a reporter-slash-royal, she has all the tools to uncover what’s really going on. Emma, did Amber’s journalistic capers ring true to you?

Netflix

Amber does journalism!

Emma: Every good journalist knows that joining the royal family while reporting on the royal family and matters that intimately affect them is totally kosher. What are journalistic ethics, even? But seriously, all jokes about Amber’s completely egregious conflicts of interest aside, I want to talk about the way she does journalism.

To Amber, journalism isn’t so much a process as an instinct. She was born with that instinct, and she’ll have that instinct until she dies. That instinct is Amber. Amber is journalistic instinct. And that instinct leads her all over Aldovia, from the confines of the palace to the virtual Hall of Records to a dive bar where a bedraggled and beaten-down unemployed man is drowning his sorrows in beer. Oh, did I forget to mention that she found this source because he wrote a justifiably embittered holiday card to the royal family that they read aloud in their parlor as a fun Christmas activity?

Amber recruits her #journalism friends ― both of whom seem to exist solely to bolster Amber’s confidence in her journalistic skill rather than to do any reporting of their own despite the fact that they both worked at Beat Now mag with her ― to join her on her renegade reporting mission. They approach the man and give Amber, cleverly disguised with sunglasses in a dark bar at night, the in to talk to him. She asks him if he knows what the hell is going on with all of Aldovia’s money disappearing. And in a stroke of unbelievable luck, he does! This low-level worker not only names one of the three companies that seem to be behind all of the economic corruption, but he also tells her that the aforementioned company seems — what’s the word? — fishy. And being the investigative blogger that she is, Amber takes painstaking notes.

They read as follows:

– Meadowlark – Fishy

Netflix

Amber is very good at journalism!

Everything you need to write an explosive single-source story about high-level corruption in the Aldovian government! Naturally, our fair heroine does not write any pieces about this. Instead, she takes that info right to the king so he can save the day by announcing that corruption has been rooted out and everyone gets a Christmas bonus! One-time bonuses: the tried and true way to solve an entire nation’s labor issues. Long live King Richard!

Claire: Let’s not forget Princess Emily’s contribution: Staying up all night hacking into the Hall of Records database to find the incorporation documents for Meadowlark and the shell corporation. Why is this necessary? Wouldn’t these be public documents? Even if not, Amber is engaged to the king of the entire country ― is he not able to look at this?

The monarchy seems like a flawless system: He is completely in charge of the entire economy, but when it comes to questions like “Where is all our money?” he isn’t allowed to check or just doesn’t feel like checking in the most obvious possible places, like “Who owns all the companies that we’re giving huge government contracts to?” Amber, your man is useless.

But of course, Amber is also pretty much useless. Aside from her little corruption exposé ― which she uses to help a monarch consolidate political power ― her blog is not so much journalism as a platform for expressing her me-ness. After a year of engagement, she tells her readers at the start of the movie, she’s unaltered by proximity to royalty. She’s still … just her! Unlike Prince Harry, it seems, Richard did not have the hard conversation with his fiancée about shutting down her personal blog before joining the royal family. When she pisses off the protocol police by posting, er, a fun photo blog about the royals having humanizing holiday fun, the post is removed. “DID YOU CENSOR MY BLOG?” she asks. Yes, Amber, they did ― but finally Richard relents and lets her have it back.

At the end of the first movie, the idea that Amber could continue to be a hard-hitting journalist while being a queen seemed untenable. What’s weird is how the second movie keeps trying to make this work.

All this, and still there is a wedding ― planned in three days, only to be scrapped for something that Amber feels is just a little more “me.” Emma, what did you think of the fairy-tale wedding at the end?

Emma: So, one of the moments that I was truly on Amber’s side was when she objected to the heinous, fluffy cupcake dress that Sahil and Mrs. Averill wanted her to wear for the wedding. And yet ― even when presented with the chance to pick something new that would reflect her, with, one can assume, an essentially unlimited budget, Amber went with a dress that I found almost equally repellent. I think the first time we talked about this, you described it as the gown version of a white collared shirt that old women wear? And that summed up its aesthetic perfectly. 

Amber in her wedding dress! 

I’m sorry, but being a “normal girl” doesn’t mean having terrible taste. I know lots of normal women who got married in all kinds of traditional and nontraditional wedding outfits. And let me tell you, not a single one was as hideous as Amber’s get-up. It was ill-fitting, had lace stripes that served no purpose, aesthetic or otherwise, and was primarily made of a shiny fabric that showed every single wrinkle in excruciating detail. Whyyyyy, Amber? Why? Your coats are far better tailored than this blousy monstrosity!

Claire: If my mother-in-law wore this as a blouse to a summer dinner party (ideally in a linen-cotton blend), I would find it quite nice. The appeal just doesn’t translate to ballgown length. Not everything needs to be the same! That’s all.

This is perhaps supposed to convey that Amber is normal and not like the royals, but most of us boring heteronormative lady proles wear sweetheart necklines and heels for our weddings, so this didn’t exactly feel relatable. Nor did it feel like escapist, marshmallowy fairy-tale fun. So thanks for ruining royal weddings for me, Netflix.

This has been “Should You Watch It?” a weekly examination of movies and TV worth ― or not worth! ― your time.

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Source: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/a-christmas-prince-sequel-netflix_us_5c0aedb1e4b0ab8cf693490b

[thatwitchrevan]

I did see No Way Home last night, and.... It was way better than I expected, and I enjoyed it, but it was also the most surreal movie experience I've ever had because it was trying to be like. So many things at once, all while having this fanservice fest and being an mcu film.

And it worked?? Kinda? But also kinda not? Idk I love each actor's Spider-Man and each of the rogues gallery characters they brought in (particularly Alfred Molina's Doc Ock 💚), but seeing them in the MCU was so jarring. Each franchise has a different visual and tonal style and they don't blend together easily, and Disney is not especially adept at crossovers no matter how much they like doing them.

I did enjoy how it felt like a heartfelt longfic about multiple Spideys coming together but I also feel like the weirdness of it detracted from it being able to be A Serious Spider Man Film About Tom Holland. His storyline was pretty good, but everything got a little muddled there sometimes. And I felt like the villains deserved more screentime and development.

I did love seeing Tobey and Andrew come back to their roles and show off the differences and similarities in their portrayals and Tom's. I really enjoyed the rogue's gallery hanging out and working with Tom!Peter, especially Norman imprinting on him - that line where he says 'remarkable - the technology and you' absolutely killed me. I felt for Norman so much in those brief scenes. And Otto... I love him sm,, and he was so soft with Norman at the apartment, it was adorable. They are gay. Also when Tobey!Peter sees Otto and gets emotional, and Otto asks how he's been and talks about how he's grown up??? I did have emotions about it.

MJ is everything. I love Zendaya as MJ so much, she could redeem the MCU Spider Man franchise on her own. She's the funniest character but also in many ways the most emotionally mature. I love how supportive she was of Peter and Ned and eventually the other Peters, and I loved getting hints of more of her backstory and her own life. I think her not going by Watson implies she's not in contact with her birth father and that the dad her and Peter reference is a step dad, because MJ's birth father is abusive in other continuities - and if she does have a better family life than usual I love that for her. I do think it's very weird that she and May hadn't met yet because weren't Peter and Michelle friends for a little while between the first and second movie? I know they just started dating when Peter's identity was revealed but there must have been some time in there either before or after they got together when he could've introduced them. Also in most continuities May knows Mary Jane before Peter does, so to show May meeting this MJ in the middle of the chaos was just weird. And I wish they'd had more of a relationship in this one because MJ and May's relationship is incredibly important.

Matt Murdock's iconic cameo was beautiful ♥️ I love him. Ditto to Eddie and Venom, my confused bi disaster boys.

Anyway this is not at all an organized ramble but yeah this was a weird and weirdly fun movie but also my brain is confused and I have many questions and critiques. It's neither a seamless crossover or a crossover with deliberate, funky seams... It's kinda just a bunch of stuff thrown together and lampshaded a million times, mcu style.

I could see them soft-rebooting Tom's Spidey as the movie went on and I don't entirely appreciate it. Pressing undo and having Peter joke about being broke when that's never been evident in the MCU doesn't magically give him back what he was supposed to start with. If he ends up working at the Bugle in the next movie I will be zero percent surprised.