#it's still a blockbuster movie

[nocek]

Ok I know it's a little bit late but turns out my big Okoye rant just has to be written down or it will keep bothering me. So here we go. Screaming into the void.

The thing is I like Okoye and I think she had nice thing going on in Wakanda Forever. That is up until the point that her plot threads were axed midway and rest of it was given to Nakia of all people? Which sucks for both of them. So in this essay....

The first Black Panther movie build her up nicely as Lawful Neutral character. Which is rare and for me makes really interesting character. She dutifully followed the law when Killmonger took the throne and then just as dutifully was about to kill her husband when it was revealed the throne taking wasn't so lawful after all. Both of those choices were incredibly emotionally hard for her and actually quite rare storytelling wise. Which I loved. What is even better: on top of all that she wasn't punished by the narrative for being lawful instead of going after her heart.

Great! I really, really loved it. Especially when in the new movie they started to nicely build up on that to give her own little plot and character growth.

Well. Up to a point.

But lets focus on what they were clearly building up to.

Okoye loves Wakanda. It's her character virtue since she is Lawful Neutral. But at the same time loving it too much and too blindly is her character flaw.

Wakanda is the best and thus doesn't need to change.

First we saw it in Infinity War with a little side joke about opening Wakanda to the world meant maybe Starbucks and not, well... war.

In Wakanda Forever in one of the first scenes she tells Aneka to give back the daggers since spears are traditional weapon. Which, by virtue of being traditional, are better and it's not going to change on her watch.

For that, the obvious plot resolution would be that Okoye needs to open up to new things (particularly technology). Unfortunately, the thing is, they sort of did that in the movie but in the worst way possible (and I don't just mean that Midnight Angel armor is ugly, you are right sister. It's ugly af) but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Wakanda is the best and thus I'm the best.

Okoye is a bit full of herself, or to be more precise thinks others are not as good since they are not Wakandan. She assumes she can deal with Americans and duh, she is right. She can actually deal with them like nbd. So does it really count as being blinded by her own/ Wakandan awesomeness?

Yes. Yes it does. I love that she is confident in her skills and she has all the right to be but she also knew there is new unknown threat. It was overconfidence on her part to think she can deal with Talokans too.

And she got her ass handled to her in fair fight.

And she broke her promise to queen Ramonda and lost Shuri.

Consequences as plot resolution? It's more likely than you think.

Because yeah. That's where clearly her further plot was axed and given to Nakia (which could be whole other big rant but just so you know: she was done dirty here too). Because let's be real it would fit perfectly.

Classic plot. Hero gets overconfident. Fucks up. As consequence hero loses their privileges/status/whatever. So they go on a quest not to regain their privileges or prove themselves but to right their wrongs.

Often they initially want to prove themselves, but then they learn they need to fix their mistakes because it's a right thing to do. Just after that the narrative can reward them with actually-you-just-have-proven-yourself-plot-twist - here are your privileges back and then some.

In Okoye's sake we can even cut on the second part of that plot. She just goes on a quest to right her wrongs and to save the princess.

Rewrite of a rewritten plot?

So her first overall wrong was dismissal of new technology. Could be righted easily by going to Griot to ask it to help her locate Shuri. It's even still in the movie but instead it's Ramonda who talks with Griot. It shows Griot can locate Shuri, they just added little scene with Nakia doing spy stuff and talking to people because it's her forte.

It would even fit the underwater cave rescue scene better. Because the forceful solution of going in guns blazing would fit more Okoye's desperation. Nakia is a spy. She would be more level headed and just sneak in and out unnoticed. Moreover, since she is more caring people person she wouldn't just leave that one girl to die.

But hey. If they didn't do that they wouldn't have the excuse for war and to have whole second part of the movie and "big" action scene at the end. Which is sadly mandatory in Marvel movies.

But going back to Okoye before I get sidetracked too much.

Just a rewrite... please.

With that the last plot thread for her to resolve would be redo of the fight with Attuma.

And it could and SHOULD follow the classic plot of like Rocky and countless others:

Hero loses a fight

Hero trains some more/ learns new things

Hero wins second fight fair and square

but nooooooo

Instead of mixing it with with opening to new technologies plot - as in asking Griot to help her find weak spots of Talokans. Or even just upgrading her spear to be better in fight with another vibranium spear if you really need to go this way (and clearly don't have time for training montage in this bloated movie)...

nope. Instead we go sorry Okoye you are just too weak. Here, have an armor. Which ok ties to the same new technologies plot thread but at the same time is so damn insulting to Okoye and her skills.

Like really fucking insulting.

It's like going to Cap or Black Widow and saying you are cool with all the fancy kicks and all but lets be real here. You are to week to fight real super powered villains - here have an armor.

Would anyone do that? No. Because it's insulting and goes against what those characters are at their core. Even if they are "too weak" they still would win by their skill, their smarts, their cunning nature or just by their sheer stubbornness.

Because those are their cove virtues.

Because that's how storytelling works.

And just FYI I'm not shitting on characters actually using armors. Oh no. Tony or Riri would win by learning and then building smarter armor. Rhodey would win because he is a solider and for him the armor is just tool of the trade - it's just a tank he happens to wear. But for Okoye or Cap or Natasha or any other hand to hand badass fighter it would go against the very idea their character was built on. It would be plot breaking Deus Ex Machina solution. Everyone would be bitching that writers written themselves into a corner and found very unsatisfying plot resolution that doesn't work.

But since Okoye is a side character and this movie has way too much going on in general, it's just left as it is.

And I'm very salty about that.

[sob-dylan]

rip benson thepassenger, you would have loved david cronenberg's crash. good thing you were alive to see it. too bad you weren't alive long enough to stare at your twink co-worker/hostage for 98 minutes straight while you forced him to watch it with you.

[gowns]

i had a moment of cold shock yesterday as i tried to remember a bad movie i've seen in the past year -- couldn't think of one -- then i tried to remember the worst movie i've ever seen and i was like "wait i'm remembering this godawful movie where this woman is escaping a mental hospital and "army of me" is playing over it, and it was directed by this really overrated male director" and my partner was like "wait... i know that one... it's suckerpunch" and with those words the whole movie came back to me and i was like nooo nooooooooo. oh my god that movie sucked so bad. has he done anything since? and my partner was like "...zack snyder? yeah. a bunch of DC movies" and i was like WHAT and i looked up his filmography and was SHOCKED to see that this man has made SO MANY MOVIES. this is why we need feminism tbh. karyn kusama makes one movie that's kinda flop-y and she's never allowed in a studio again. zack snyder makes suckerpunch and receives millions of dollars to make more of that. over and over again. the feeling of dread that came over me...

[spacemancharisma]

REDBOX IS DEAD I WILL CRY FOREVER

[vertigoartgore]

Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2 movie turns 20 today. Feel old yet ?

[mwagneto]

sorry sorry sorry but the CONSISTENT way they show how easily holmes gets sensory overload and gets overwhelmed in crowds and cant focus on what he actually needs to do UNLESS watson is there with him. like there's multiple scenes where they literally show his attention jumping all over the room and then immediately quieting and sharpening as soon as watson is there. god

[robinsnest2111]

oh well, guess I can't watch the passenger even if I could get into my father's account BECAUSE IT'S NOT AVAILABLE IN GERMANY APPARENTLY

fucking hell man........

[agentdammers]

V funny to me at least but my bf's frame of reference when it comes to media is absolutely fucking terrible, like they don't watch tv they barely watch movies they just melt their brain on youtube 12+ hours a day and then ask me stuff like "who's billy crystal" as if im supposed to be able to explain that to someone who just doesnt watch television.

anyway before we were dating i posted a screenshot from Sharkman on twitter like "bruh this dude is making furries instead of curing cancer" and fen literally fucking IMMEDIATELY responded to me saying "oh my god is this from Hammerhead: shark frenzy"

Girl...... how do YOU know hammerhead shark frenzy 👀

[evature]

erin!! is there anything you watched this year that really stuck with you? (In a good way :3)

THABK U FOR ASKIMG ME THIS NOW HEHE

I feel like I've forgotten all the films I've seen this year so bear w me 😭 and if I do remember one I'm not sure if I watched it this year 💀

OK

I'm not sure this would be considered in a good way, but I watched Snatch and it immediately became one of my faves. I think it was more to do with the creative shots and editing of scenes (which I loved) and some of the character's lines, than the actual story, but I remember thinking about it for days on end afterwards. Actually no the story was also a banger too, but I remember thinking 'man there are so many characters in this movie'. I definitely want to rewatch it tho!

I also remember a short clip from the evangelion anime (not the whole show or even episode though help) that i saw on youtube, really resonated w me! It was from the last episodes of the season, where it becomes more philosophical and a bit cooked, and there was dialogue between Shinji, Asuka and Misato - and I felt like i deeply understood what they were talking about!! Anyway this isnt even a movie it was like a 2 minute clip 😭 but! It's made me want to rewatch the eva anime :)

I watched Zoolander for the first time too! It made me realise, how good it is to watch a silly movie that has a plot but, it's just silly. Anyway I was surprised by how much I liked it 🩷✨️

I HOPE THIS WAS ALSO INTERESTING FOR YOU 😭 because I can't really remember what I watched this year (I think i watched most of the star wars movies in the first 6 months and some other stuff but it didnt stick with me yknow) anyways

Thank u sm for the ask btw!!!

[un-pearable]

oh yeah saw blue beetle last night and one million thumbs up. going into having heard it’s very tokusatsu and comic booky made it one million times better. goofy and stupid in fun ways. i’m so glad we’ve looped back around to comic book movies being like comic books: confusing chronologically and catered to fans willing to put up with wildly specific nonsense. also heck of a great job making a movie about gentrification and colonization out of the chaos of blue beetle lore and corporate blandification i genuinely had fun

[neoneggs]

hot take but now with vinyls getting more popular BRING DVDS BACK TOO

I am TIRED of only being able to watch my favourite shows and movies by having a subscription online. I hate having to pay for something I can't directly own and that could disappear at any second for the sake of money and tax cuts. I am all for pirating in this age since none of the money seems to be going towards the people that deserve it, but I hate having to go through multiple pirating sites trying to find the wildly popular show I want to watch because streaming sites don't make it available in my region, or because none of the pirating sites have it, when it would be so much easier to just buy a DVD. I miss going through the extra and deleted scenes after watching a movie, the director's discussions, fake bloopers, everything. I want to be able to display DVDs next to merch and books. I love the special creative boxes. I want my money to go directly to the creators and not have it go towards some rich CEO because streaming rules are weird. I want to actually be able to own the things I pay for and love and not be worried about it disappearing off the face of the internet because some stupid corporation wanted to save a couple hundred dollars by removing it off the playform

[reyiosa]

be brave. let your sci-fi/fantasy cities have juxtaposing architecture. let there be 2,000-year-old monuments astride 10-year-old monoliths. let there at least be one Old City Hall.

the same thing goes for general technological advancement btw.

[narumi-gens]

“the academy has a gender bias and a genre bias working against Greta and Margot’s favor” and “the academy loves Ryan Gosling and probably tripped over themselves in the rush to nominate him in a showy comedic supporting role in a movie that was a box office hit” are two statements that can both be true at the same time.

[closeted-goth]

y'all ever go to the monster festival and, while at the monster festival, purchase the blu ray human centipede trilogy from the lovely people at the monster pictures™ stand and then decide to marathon all three in a single night. we are so fucking back?

[carouselcometh]

The other day I was listening to a podcast, and the guest was promoting his new movie, he said something like “it’s one of the next great low budget horror movies, we had a really small budget, only 17 million.” Babe when you say low budget horror movie, there’s an expectation there that what you just said did not meet

[cyrsed]

you ever think about how mainstream gaming is the way it is bc it evolved from arcade games?