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keiko-cornetto · 7 months ago

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Contrary to what “catphiles” think, for most people cats are bad, egocentric, individualistic and completely insensitive animals. In fact, the film industry has been saying this for years, as the world is the world and Disney is Disney. However, there are some approaches, like the film The Aristocats, in which the good guys are (incredibly) THE CATS! OOOOOOH! And this is actually the only exception, because in all other cases felines are the cruel ones in the movies.

While dogs participate in films filled with love, cats in cinema are generally associated with villains.

Disney

Dogs are by far the population's favorite animals. Due to the ease of acquiring and maintaining at home, they have become ideal partners for anyone who has a pet at home. Cats come next in this dispute and associating a “rivalry” between animals (very associated with films), created this duel between pets and naturally those who have fewer fans end up being the “villains” of the story, in this case the cats

I can mention here several cartoons, books and films with the figure of the cat associated with the villain. Obviously, it's not just the same ones that tend to be associated with the villain, just look at the wolves that are also widely used. The thing is that it has even become a culture to create a production and place the cat as the villain because it is easier to associate and less complicated, even in several cartoons, such as Sylvester being less of a villain than

Sincerely? I have NOTHING against dogs, they are all beautiful, intelligent animals and deserve respect for their feelings, but the whole world has a wrong view about the personality of cats, aaaah yes they do!

So, let's get to the point: Another photo gallery, featuring the best-known feline villains in the history of cinema and television.

You've seen her in every Sylvester and Tweety cartoon you've watched. In them, Sylvester is always shown as a malevolent and stupid cat, whose only objective in life, to eat Tweety, is frustrated at every attempt by the canary's supposed superior intelligence. Sylvester and Tweety, who already existed separately in cinema, were coupled in 1949 by a Warner Bros. designer, Friz Freleng. In other words, for 51 years, children all over the world

Jerry the mouse, from Tom and Jerry, is perhaps even worse. Alone or with his minion, the mouse Spit, Jerry tortured the honest, sincere and gullible cat Tom in no less than 160 cartoons for the cinema, from 1940 to 1967. The creators of the duo were Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera (in fact, also responsible due to the impoverishment of cartoons with the "simplified animation" technique, which they invented when they started producing for television in the 60s). The latest designs were already delegated by Hanna and Barbera to bagrinhos, but the initial concept of the series never changed; While trying to protect his home from the presence of the parasitic and disgusting Jerry, Tom is electrocuted at the socket, set on fire in the fireplace, drowned in the sink, crushed by pianos and blasted through the ceiling. Insensitive and perverse boys watch this laughing in front of the TV - and probably repeat such violence with their cats.

There are no cat heroes in these powerful opinion makers that are cartoons. The heroes are always dogs, rabbits, ducks and, incredibly, especially a muddy mouse who hasn't made a film in 47 years and, even so, remains a symbol of a cartoon empire – have you ever heard the sound of Mickey Mouse? Walt Disney himself, although always careful that his studio did not offend anyone) was unable to hide his prejudice: in his films, the dog is the noble animal (see Lady and the Tramp and 101 Dalmatians, not to mention the 44 drawings of Pluto and 42 of Goofy made between 1940 and 1965). Nothing against that and Walt could like whatever animals he wanted. It turns out that almost all of his most famous drawings are also Anti-Cat

In Pinocchio, one of the villains is a weak and filthy cat who helps the fox deceive the doll. In Cinderella, the fat and treacherous cat Lucifer is a frightening threat to the mice Gus and Jaq. (clean rats that do not transmit any danger to humanity) In Alice in Wonderland, the Cheshire cat is far from being a sympathetic character – he knows that Alice could get into trouble and does nothing to stop it.

(I particularly love this cat)

In Lady and the Tramp, Si and Am are the two Siamese who destroy the curtains, attack the canary and the goldfish and attack the family's baby, causing the chaos that will send Lady to the cart.

And even in The Aristocats, which is supposed to be a pro-cat film, there are a handful of nasty stray cats on the scene, and the hero turns out to be, in fact, a mouse named Roquefort. And it's worth remembering that, in Mickey's very first cartoon, Steamboat Willie, from 1926, he tortures and executes a cat by turning it by its tail and throwing it into the sea. Come to think of it, Disney couldn't really like cats - he got rich building human mousetraps like Disneyland and Disney World.

It is normal that cinema has never done for cats what it has done for countless dogs, since Lassie and Rin-Tin-Tin; cats refuse to be actors and it is impossible to train them to do things that dogs, seals and even elephants accept naturally, such as climbing stools, doing somersaults or balancing balls on their noses - the intelligence, dignity and independence of cats does not allow them to play these humiliating roles. It is only possible to make a film like Stuart Little, in which the cats seem to "do" things, by filming them naturally and adapting the scenes to the script, when not altering them electronically

but remember that all cinema portrays cats like this

as a cartoon that really disappointed me because it was one of my favorites, it's Shaun the sheepwhere the cat is shown as a villain and is evil in every episode

There are people who say that cats in cartoons like Lady and Tramp are villains because the story is portrayed through the eyes of dogs where cats will always be the villainsbut because when the cartoon is about cats, dogs are never villains, since dogs don't like cats, cats are afraid of dogs and in cat cartoons their friends are dogs

For those who love cats, don't be sad as there are many, many animes that don't portray the cat as a villain

In fact, cats have more space in anime than dogs, there are hero cats, there are villain cats, there are all types of catsCats are everywhere, it doesn't matter if the cat isn't there there will always be something that reminds you of the cat like clothes or cat ears in anime

44 cats and superkitties and they're really good

another very good film coraline:

and as always, those who don't like cats have theories that the cat was the biggest villain in the film

but I disagree since the cat always helped Coraline, even at the end when she wanted to open the door the cat went ahead because he knew she was in danger

This was the post about the poor cats, this post is not originally mine, I just added some things and I also didn't make this post with the intention of offending anyone.bye Bye

EDIT:

and the Oscar for most disturbed people goes to: Lim Yirang & Heo Sunhaeng two soulless South Korean directors

these two together directed a ridiculous and disturbing crap animated short film is a colorful and lively animation that takes place in a garden, it seems to be a type of children's and educational cartoon for children, where there are several cute stuffed animals and elves and even a princess everyone spends the seasons happily every day, until one day a huge evil CAT comes into action and kills everyone in the garden except the ''poor defenseless girl (the protagonist)'' what was supposed to be a beautiful and enchanted cartoon turned into a horror film, that's the kind of thing they want children to watch a scary CAT Everyone knows that most people who have a phobia of cats are because they only see them in films as villains or hear people who hate cats saying how dangerous they are. And the worst part is that this stupid cartoon actually takes place in a potted plant and they are all stuffed animals and die because the evil cat killed them, and the biggest destroyer of stuffed animals is man's dear best friend, that is, the puppy. but how these two Koreans probably fuel this rivalry between dogs and cats so something bad that the dog does they go and make a cat do it instead because the only villains in this world are cats Just like Mr Walt Disney (Koreans also show their huge preference for puppies) this animation should be remade and the big planes being two giant South Korean men with enormous evil in their hearts, children watching this later become afraid of cats and this even contributes to animal abuse these two men should be arrested

This animation could be beautiful but with a very low budget and stupid ideas the big villain should be a human since the biggest destroyer of nature is humans themselves, an animal would never destroy nature These two and Disney have a lot to learn from the great studio Ghibli, there are only good films for people of any age to watch

the biggest villains are humans and not cats

#cats #cat #kitty #kitten

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velvet4510 · 3 months ago

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Apparently I’m in the mood for expressing an MCU hot take at this hour, so here goes:

Steve going back in time was NOT a betrayal of his and Bucky’s friendship.

Look, at first glance, I get why Steve’s Endgame ending feels like it’s going against “I’m with you to the end of the line.” Even I had my reservations about it for a while, once my Steggy-shipping heart calmed down from its thrilled palpitations when I first watched the film.

But after giving it a lot of thought, I think in the end, it was for the best that Steve and Bucky went their separate ways, and here’s why.

Once they reunited in the present day, Steve and Bucky’s relationship became extremely codependent, and their entire arc was learning to grow out of that.

We see in Civil War especially how far Steve was willing to go to protect Bucky, and how Bucky became fully dependent on Steve. And remember that Steve had just lost Peggy before finding Bucky again, meaning that Bucky was all he had left of his former 1940s life. The fact that he fought so hard for Bucky is symbolic for his arc, far beyond their friendship. Of course he did it because he loved Bucky, that’s never in doubt. But I also think that he felt an equally strong love for what Bucky represented, which is the life he lost. His clinging to Bucky already showed us that he was unable to truly let go of the 1940s, though he tried. He tried to believe he had let go - Age of Ultron is all about him trying - but Civil War makes it clear that he will never truly belong to the present day.

Same goes for Bucky. Steve was his only reminder of his true self, of who he used to be, of the life he lost. He loved Steve himself, of course, but he also clung to Steve because Steve also represented something beyond just their friendship; he represented the hope for Bucky’s soul. That he was not HYDRA’s monster anymore, that he had a chance of living life as himself again.

The ending of Civil War set the two of them on the path that always inevitably led to what we got from Endgame. Steve and Bucky finally loosened their metaphorical grip on each other; Bucky chose to turn himself over to Wakanda, and Steve let him go. They both acknowledged that Bucky’s need for healing went far beyond Steve. While Steve was his starting point, Steve’s faith the thing that gave him hope for himself, Bucky needed far more work on himself than Steve alone could provide. So they started taking baby steps away from their codependency; Bucky moved to Wakanda and Steve continued with the Avengers. Fans who talk and act as though Steve and Bucky’s lives fully and completely revolve around each other, and each other ONLY, clearly have not actually watched the movies critically.

The narrative always acknowledged that Steve and Bucky’s codependency was not healthy, and that as much as they loved each other, they needed to learn to be their own people, and not be defined only through each other’s eyes.

Which brings us to Endgame. Perhaps the most significant detail about Steve’s final choice is that he canonically told Bucky about it ahead of time. Bucky confirmed this verbally in TFATWS. Steve did NOT return to the 1940s on short notice; he let Bucky know about it. And, on the other side of the same coin, the exact details of this conversation are private. For all we know, Steve could’ve asked Bucky to come with him, to also seize a chance at getting back the life he lost. Steve could’ve ensured that Bucky was alright with this, and if Bucky really wasn’t ready to lose his support, then he wouldn’t go. All of these are very in-character possibilities for Steve, and there is NOTHING whatsover in canon that states that he didn’t say these things.

But what happened? Bucky let him go. Bucky told Steve to go live his dream, to go be with the love of his life. Bucky was alright with it. (Remember Bucky knew from the start how important Peggy was to Steve. He was a first-hand witness to Peggy declaring Steve “the right partner.” He knew what this chance at time travel meant for Steve.) And by letting him go, Bucky chose to stay in the present. Would he have been able to do this in Civil War? No, and that’s because since then, he grew. They grew. They got to a place where the cords of codependency were finally cut, where they both knew they could live their own lives and not rely on each other to keep one another upright. They finally knew what paths they wanted to follow to live their fullest lives, and those paths were not the same one. Steve embraced a future in the past, while Bucky embraced the present moment. In other words, they finally reached “the end of the line.”

Oh, and I find it absolutely hilarious that some people are like “how dare he retire with Peggy while Bucky is out there being tortured in the 40s?” Steve made a branched timeline when he returned to Peggy, meaning no matter what he did from then on, the Sacred Timeline wouldn’t change. And he knew that. And there is not a single piece of text to be found anywhere in canon that tells us that he didn’t immediately tell Peggy that HYDRA was still around and that they didn’t team up, take HYDRA down, and rescue Bucky before New Year’s 1950. So that argument is ridiculous.

Also, did Steve “leave Bucky alone,” as many have said? Uhhh, NO. We see this in TFATWS.

After Steve left, Bucky was not alone. He had Sam, aka a professional counselor. He had tons of friends in Wakanda, and those friendships were close enough that he could successfully request a new suit for Sam on a whim. And Sam told him exactly what he’d been needing to hear for so long: “It doesn’t matter what Steve thought. You gotta stop looking to other people to tell you who you are.”

On top of that, as we see at the end of the show, Bucky now has an entire family: he’s bonding with Sarah (who knows what that might lead to), and he’s another uncle to AJ and Cass, and he’s bringing cake to the cookout and the arm that used to be a killing weapon, he now uses as a plaything for the children to dangle from. The entire community has welcomed him as one of their own.

Steve and Bucky’s story is a beautiful one because it shows how true friends help guide you to where you need to be in life, and their support sets you on the path to being your best and fullest self. The health of Bucky and Steve’s friendship was destroyed by their shared trauma of being taken from their normal lives in the 1940s, and they clung to each other for emotional survival. Then, gradually, they helped each other get back on their own two feet, and when the time came, they learned to let each other go, because they loved each other so much.

In other words, the finale of Endgame was the natural and inevitable endpoint for their story arc. If it ended with them still together, and clinging on to each other, then what would be the point? That would just be character regression for both of them. But instead, the story concludes with both of them finally free from the codependency, leaving only their love for each other, which they will always carry with them.

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fishfingersalad · 5 months ago

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Rvb bbc ghosts x buzzfeed unsolved au Leonard “Alpha” Church III and his older sister Carolina Church inherit a creepy manor in the middle of nowhere halfway across the country after their great grandfather Leonard “Epsilon” Church dies of old age (yes Epsilon being their great grandfather is odd, it's for lore reasons).

Church’s college roommate Tucker has a ghost hunting youtube channel (Church edits his videos for him) and decides the manor seems spooky so he tags along to check it out with his co host (Kai) and camera/audio guy (Caboose) as well as Junior. Tex (Churches on again off again gf) comes along to bully them for getting scared, whenever she ends up on the show their views go up so they don’t complain. Carolina doesn’t wanna be stuck alone with Church’s friends so she invites her workout buddy Wash.

Unbeknownst to them, Tuckers “rival” youtube channel (the reds, Simmons is video and editing, Grif is audio, Lopez is in charge of their other equipment) catch wind of their plan to investigate the manor (Kai told Grif who accidentally let slip to Sarge) and they (literally just Sarge) take it as a challenge and they decide (are forced by Sarge) to follow the others to the manor to do their own investigation (Donut flirts with Locus the gas station attendant. This is important to me for some reason). Doc is unofficially part of the red team crew as first aid aka he follows them around bc he's worried about them going to all these abandoned buildings with no medical knowledge

Cw: talk of deaths in some detail, especially fires.

The Manor is actually haunted, by fifteen different ghosts:

Wyoming: 1840’s, fell out a window onto a weathervane

Florida: 1960’s, aspirin overdose

York: 1980’s, car crash, has poltergeist abilities

North: 1850s, arsenic poisoning

South: 1850s, arsenic poisoning

Maine: 1910s, hunting accident, can sometimes be seen as a looming shadow in the dark

Ct: 1940s, military spy, shot

479er: 1960s, pilot, small aircraft crash

AI: 1920s, Children of a rich man who burned his house down while his wife was away with their youngest son, Leonard “Epsilon” Church (age 2 at the time). Delta (17), Theta (7), Eta (11), and Iota(11) died from smoke inhalation, Gamma (15) and Omega (14) were burned, Sigma (18) escaped the fire but succumbed to infection while still on the manor grounds. All of the ai ghosts carry a smell of smoke wherever they go (I have a drawing of them somewhere)

The only ones who can see the ghosts without outside influence (cameras, sensors, that stuff) are Church, Carolina, Wash, Donut, and Caboose, due to all five of them having near death experiences in their pasts, and later Doc after he’s possessed by Omega. Junior is also able to see ghosts though no one is sure why.

Most of the au’s “story” is just silly interactions with the ghosts pranking the youtubers and various shenanigans. Wash deadpan pretends there are no ghosts to annoy both York and Tucker. Junior befriends Theta, Eta, and Iota, which concerns Tucker to no end especially since he tends to act like a horror movie child, all “Daddy, the lady with the hole in her head is in the corner again, daddy my friends with no faces wanna go play outside”. Sarge has a holy water super soaker that he carries everywhere incase of “ghouls”. South takes great joy in tormenting Simmons specifically. York follows the youtubers around and throws things at them, he only uses his poltergeist abilities for mischief. Ct finds a secret joy in sneaking up on Church to make him jump. Donut keeps telling his friends that the ghosts are there and real but none of them really believe him despite York pelting them with random objects. Wash finds a stray kitten and the ghosts are all immediately infatuated and begin following it around. Florida and Donut gossip together. Doc has to figure out how to deal with a rage fueled fourteen year old taking over his body. Tex punches Tucker on camera and it becomes their most popular video to date. Their second most popular video includes Tucker being attacked by Sarge with his holy water super soaker.

I just have so many little silly ideas about them...

#rvb #red vs blue

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imaginedreamwrite · 2 years ago

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Brat Taming: Part 11

Hues of red and orange, soft pinks had been drawn across the sky almost as if one of the great artists had taken a brush and cleared it against the sky. There was such warmth in the skyline, the iridescent colours that drew the day to a close and welcomed the night were breathtaking.

It was gorgeous, the sunset that had been cast upon the city, although the moment was made more perfect by the company you kept.

Steve hadn’t let you go since you’d taken his mark, his hands and his body had been upon you as if you truly had been made one unit. There was never a moment where you didn’t feel the heat of his body, the great depths of his affection and his instincts to protect, provide and love. It was borderline intense, in the most toe-curling way, to feel him and have him.

The sunset had ushered it in, the last night you were going to be in the city with Steve before you had to leave tomorrow. Steve was coming back with you for a few days, a temporary stay in Boston before he would head back to NYC and then beyond for the missions set out for him.

“Do you wish we could’ve done more?” Your eyes fluttered closed as he spoke, the rumble of his chest against your back was verbally pleasing to your ears almost like his voice was laced with honey.

A purr had slipped from your lips in place of a verbal answer, the sound in tune with the soft caress of Steve trailing his fingers up and your body, in no particular pattern, while you lay against him on the bed. The two of you had closed the final night out in his apartment with dinner, a classic movie he loved from the ‘40s before you had finally gone to bed.

Instead of sleeping, you found yourself launched headfirst into long conversations. Some had been deep and meaningful about your past and what had helped shape the people you had become, while others were far less deep and intimate. There was never a true lull, never a moment where it had been clear that there was nothing left to say, or any residual awkwardness.

If you were silent, you were enjoying the feeling of each other.

“No,” you finally and verbally gave him a response, only after you had dug deeper under the blankets in the nest, “I liked this. It felt…good.”

Your heat had spanned almost all the time you had in NYC, and the two of you were confined to Steve’s place more often than not. The few times you had gone out when your heat had dwindled enough to leave, or even when it was over and you were marked by Steve, you had stayed close.

You didn’t wander far, at most taking a walk around the block just to get some fresh air and take a break from the building. Your plans to meet the team, or at least a few, would have to wait for you although you had brought up the idea of bringing Jake here and showing him Stark Tower.

“He would love it, honestly he would have so much fun.” You had let it slip that it would be a good date idea after Steve had relayed his hesitation toward his courting dates with Jake.

Steve was a dom, through and through he was a dom, but this was still relatively new to him. Steve being able to be with Jake out in public on a date, without fear of backlash or verbal assault was new. He was comfortable with who he was, he was reassured that he wanted both you and Jake wholeheartedly.

However, Steve was born and raised in a time where being an alpha with two omegas, let alone a male and female, was a scandal. Not to mention what would have happened to Steve if the government or army, back then, had found out that he wasn’t as straight as they would have liked him to be.

Back in the 1940s’, anyone who was found to live an ‘alternative lifestyle, would’ve been heavily punished or jailed, and the consequences were even worse in other countries.

Even if Steve had wanted to be open about his bisexuality, they would have silenced him. They would not have allowed that part of him to be out in the open.

Now, when the world was so much more accepting and agreeable, Steve had been proud and open about his feelings.

Even if he was still a little hesitant, he was proud.

“We go home tomorrow.” You muttered, watching the colours of the sunset against the New York City skyline pressed tightly against his body. “It feels good to have a mark.”

“You and Jake bet which of you can have all three first,” Steve’s soft lips trailed along your neck, his teeth lightly nipping your skin, a growl building in his chest when you shuddered and airily whimpered his name, “my money is on you, doll.”

“Me too,” your voice was growing with exhaustion, your eyes fluttering when the heaviness of sleep started to draw you in, your body craving rest.

Steve had drawn the blanket further up the bed, tucking you both in. He had rested his hand against your stomach, fingers curling against Jake’s shirt that you packed with you. You felt the warm caress of his breath against the back of your neck as he sighed softly, mumbling his next greatest wish against your flesh.

He had stumbled forward, his feet caught in the legs of his jeans, barely catching himself from the fall with his free hand. A sense of panic had surged within his veins when he woke up and found the time on the clock mocking him, egregiously reminding him that he could have slept through your arrival home if you managed to catch an earlier flight.

It was a necessity for him to greet you when you got home, he had to be the first one to watch you walk through the door and he had almost missed it.

“Fuck!” Jake’s loud curse had been heard through the closed door, and a chuckle from the other side made him pause.

He hadn’t managed to push himself off the floor before the door had been cracked open and then his eyes were directed to the alpha who had heard the events. Jake felt his mouth going dry, his chest heaving with heavy breaths as he sucked in Ari’s scent as drew himself closer.

Jake wasn’t able to look away, he couldn’t have possibly drawn his attention off of Ari’s bare chest and the ridges of his muscles that were draped and framed by a crisp white dress shirt.

“You’re going to hurt yourself.” Ari helped lift Jake from the floor, setting him back on his feet. “Let me help you.”

Jake felt heat blistering his cheeks and the bridge of his nose, the touch of pink afflicting him was endearing to the alpha before him. And when Jake had cleared his throat, glancing away from the intense look in Ari’s eyes, he was greeted with another pulsing surge of his alphas scent.

“Steve said they’ll be here soon.” Ari hadn’t faltered from his task of yanking Jake’s jeans over his ass, his fingers nimbly pushing the button through the hole and then dealing with the zipper all while Jake had been squeaking and purring continuously. “Are you recovered enough?”

Jake had been made to look at Ari when the latter had cupped Jake’s chin. Ari drew Jake into a kiss, lips meeting lips and a soft whimper dying on Ari’s lips. Jake’s hands rest against his shoulders, his fingers clenching against the shirt that remained open.

There hadn’t been any kind of urgency in the kiss, in the exchange of affectionate passion until Jake heard the faint sound of a car door closing from the cracked window, the sound immediately drawing him away from Ari.

“Bear!” Jake yelled his excitement and darted around Ari, tearing himself out of the door and down the stairs until he was just over halfway down and was able to push himself over the railing.

Jake landed on the floor, almost misstepping but caught himself at the last moment. He had pushed past Ransom on the way to the front door, his excitement unfounded as he ripped open the door and screeched your name at the top of his lungs like it was a battle cry.

You had reacted with as much excitement, dropping your bag in the middle of the driveway, and bounding toward Jake. He met you in the entranceway and immediately set to wrap his arms around your waist, lifting you from the floor to spin you twice before he set you back down.

You threw your arms around his neck and stood on your tippy toes, slating your lips against his. Jake rested his hands against the curve of your ass, grabbing handfuls of you as you boldly and unapologetically greet each other with increasing and intense passion.

You had only pulled away when you both needed to catch a breath and when you had, Jake leaned forward and rest his forehead against yours. You both closed your eyes and breathed in each other’s scents, taking your fill of each other as you’d been apart for a week.

“I missed you,” he whispered to you, softly and tenderly, “I missed you so damn much, baby bear.”

“I missed you too.” The world, at least temporarily, was confined to you and Jake.

It was you and him, reuniting even if you hadn’t been separated long. It was Jake’s hands on your body, his chest pressed against yours as you breathed each other in. Your hands pressed against his chest, your fingers curling against him while your head was tipped back and your eyes were locked on each other.

The corner of Jake’s lips twitched a different kind of smile slowly building on his face. He raised a hand from the curve of your ass to the side of your neck where Steve’s mark was, his thumb rushing the healing mark tenderly. A shiver rippled down your spine from the gentle friction created by the pad of his thumb, the raised mark soon to heal, was a claim and a promise of the future.

“I’m so proud of you,” Jake praised you with every intention of making you melt against him, “look at how far we’ve come.”

“Proud of me? I’m proud of you.” Standing on your tippy toes, you pressed your lips to his again in quickened haste. “I promise I’ll tell you everything.”

You finally pulled away from Jake, patting his chest twice before you stepped around him and looked toward Ari and Ransom.

While Ari appeared to be readying himself for work, Ransom was standing nearby with a cup of tea in one hand and his phone in the other.

Ari had been the first you studied, the dress shirt he chose for the day had been left open to draw attention to his wide, broad and toned chest. His long legs are accentuated by the fitted black pants, the image of two creating this alluring and seductive image of your alpha.

“I missed you,” you drew yourself toward him, greeting him with as searing of a kiss as you had given Jake, pressing yourself against his warmth.

You spoke honestly, affectionately and endearingly drawn to the big, thick and strong alpha. You had hugged him, sighing in contentment when he had hugged you in return.

“You look good with that mark on your neck. Gonna let Levinson mark you next?” Ransom’s voice drew you from Ari, and you stepped toward the rich playboy.

Ransom wore the same light blue sweater, with tattered sleeves and a rip on the front, as he had when he dropped you off at the airport. His hair was falling slightly into his eyes, the soft dark strands stirring your attention and as pushed them out of his face, Ransom reached for you.

One had rested on the small of your back, thumb moving languidly in small motions that drew an elicit whisper. You had chirped softly while caught in his gaze, his hands on your body providing a level of security you hadn’t felt yet with him.

“No,” you drew yourself closer to him, the tip of your nose brushing against his, your lips parting with a soft murmur, “I want yours next.”

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bombsonboard · 2 years ago

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the day after yesterday: chapter three

Summary: Time travel is volatile, dangerous, playing god. And then sometimes it drops you in just the right place at the perfect time. It’s a matter of perspective. You decide.

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader (no Y/N)

Word Count: 4.4k

Series Masterlist | Masterlist | Read it on AO3

A/N: So my scheduled post didnt work! But i’m still uploading this on Wednesday, just a little later than planned lol. Hope you’ve all had a good week and sorry for the lil bit late chaper!

You stood outside ‘Stillman’s Gymnasium’ feeling grateful it was a warm summer’s day and you didn’t have to brave the New York cold without a jacket. Bucky said he’d meet you here, he cleaned the gym after hours in exchange for weekly boxing lessons, promising it would be all theirs so you could work on your escape in peace.

Turns out, jumping the turnstile to get on the subway was a hell of a lot easier in the 1940s, it just took avoiding every man with a conductor hat, which the crowds made easy, and you made it to midtown.

All alone, you let yourself take a breath. Yes, you were stuck in the wrong time, but with the hope of getting home, it was quite an astonishing thing. This place wouldn’t even be here in twenty years, bulldozed for apartments. Having the privilege to be here was something you could hardly fathom but you tried to let yourself enjoy it, at least for the time being.

It was too easy to imagine yourself having a life here, who could be waiting for? Maybe a good girl friend, or maybe some guy was picking you up to go and see a movie, one of those old ones that are only on at Christmas or Sunday afternoons. Your dress would be a bit cleaner, your hair pinned out of your face and you would see him approaching in the distance.

In your mind he had a kind smile on his face, a few roses, not too many and he would walk up to you and say:

“Steve is gonna kill me when he finds out I took his nice sketch paper, this better be worth it.”

You blinked out of your fantasy to see the roses had flattened into a stack of paper and the kind smile you dreamed of was replaced by Bucky’s blank frown. He looked at you curiously.

“What?” He brushed his hair back with his free hand.

“Nothing” You felt caught out.

He shrugged, slowly growing used to your strange looks, and pulled a bunch of keys from out of his trouser pocket and slid them into the door. Unlocking it and pushing the door open with a clunk.

“After you.”

The smell of sweat and floor polish hit you like a wave as you stepped inside and Bucky locked the door behind the two of you. On the bare brick walls hung dozens of pictures of men in boxing gloves, raising their arms in victory. Along the surprisingly clean wooden floor punching bags were lined up, the rich brown leather cracked and beaten from excessive use and just waiting patiently to be used again.

The great big boxing ring was the main event, a square stage of battered cream, held together by rows of red rope. You wondered if it was red on purpose.

You pictured one of the boxing matches happening right there in front of you, the crowd of screaming men, praying for their bet to come clean and bracing for the final take down. The champion raising his godly fists, shirtless, shining and soaking in the sounds of his glory.

So, this is what Bucky wanted to be before the army? You tried to see him there, posing for one of the pictures on the wall with his grin plastered to his face. Though, maybe thinking of him shirtless and sweaty really wasn’t the most efficient thing you could be doing at the time.

“So…” Bucky comes to stand next to you, and offers you the paper

You take it with a quiet thank you.

“Do you have a-”

He hands you a pencil.

You swallow, turn around and begin to lay out the pieces of ‘borrowed’ sketch paper out on the glossy brown wood..

“There’s a desk in the office, y’know” Bucky points out, watching you crouch to the floor.

“That’s okay, I’m fine here.”

He looks at you, confused and waiting for any kind of explanation you would offer.

“I’m gonna need…quite a bit of space.”

Bucky raises his eyebrows, accepting that’s all he was getting, and goes to lean against the wall.

You start your chicken scratches, numbers in the tiniest handwriting you could manage, but the nagging sensation of his presence there itches at you incessantly. You lift your head and notice he’s just standing there, watching you.

“Don’t you have cleaning to do?” It came out a little more spiteful than you intended.

“Looks pretty spotless to me” He kept his eyes trained on you, not bothering to look around at all.

“Okay, so you don’t need to be here then?” You didn’t mind the company really, but why did it have to be him? It was better for you both if he just left you alone.

“I’m responsible for this place, how do I know you won’t mess it up?” Bucky narrowed his eyes at you.

“Christ, I don’t need a chaperone.”

“I’m sure you don’t, spitfire” He scoffs “but I'm not leaving, so…” He gestures for you to get back to your work “Go on.”

Rolling your eyes with maximum effort you go back to work and start to lose yourself in the math. Spread out on the floor with your ass in the air probably wasn’t the most ladylike position but who cared, Bucky didn’t seem to make a comment.

You willed yourself to stop wondering about him for just a moment so you could focus on the task at hand. If you were going to figure out the coordinates to put into the GPS, you needed a start point. It was 1943, that you knew but, the specific date was what you really wanted. There wasn’t anything that showed you today’s date in your immediate vicinity, so your eyes wandered and landed, unfortunately, on Bucky, who had his feet propped up on the front desk, head stuck in a newspaper.

"Is that today’s?” You ask from the floor.

“Yu-huh” He mumbles from his wall of news.

Of course he had the thing you were looking for.

“...What’s the date on it?”

He folds over one corner so you could be victim to his blank stare. “You don’t know what day it is?”

You stare back.

“11th June.” He supersedes.

“Thank you.”

He flips his corner back up and you go back to your work silently.

“11th June 1943.” You mumble quietly as the numbers take over your head again.

Hour One

The silence didn’t last half as long as you hoped it would.

“So, how long does something like this normally take?” Bucky wonders after a while, as if you launched yourself into the wrong time all the time, you felt yourself getting offended until you remembered he had absolutely no idea.

Scribbling down the total days you needed to travel you hid your face from Bucky.

“A while.” You hoped he didn’t hear the small crack in your voice.

“Great. Maybe it’s enough time for me to figure out why you’re so weird.” He chuckled lightly.

Bucky Barnes, ladies man.

“Oh you’ll figure it out…in 29,209 days” You mumble under your breath, you didn’t mean for him to hear, but when you’re the only two people in a room, it’s hard to keep secrets.

Bucky shakes his head in amusement, ignorant of just how truthful you had just been, but he was quiet for a little while longer after that.

Hour Three

Eventually grew restless of the front desk and sauntered over to the back office. You wondered who might usually be found in there, some short and stubby gym manager, dark hair slicked back with wiry eyebrows that look so much like caterpillars they might crawl off his face. A cigar permanently between his lips.

You cracked a smile at the image until you heard exactly what Bucky was doing in there. The crackle of a gramophone interrupts your thoughts and the smile falls from your face. You had no complaints about forties music, really, but you were convinced he was doing this on purpose, taunting you with warbling jazz.

With a frustrated grumble you threw down your pencil, abandoned your work and stalked over to the back office. He was there, leaning back on a chair with his arms crossed, eyes closed and absorbing the music echoing around the room.

Sure, he looked peaceful, but there were bigger stakes here than Bucky Barnes enjoying a record.

You rapped on the door forcefully but he didn’t jump to attention like you wanted.

Bucky slowly opens his eyes and looks up expectedly.

“Could you…turn it down?” You mimicked turning down a volume knob, and he looked at you blankly.

“Please.” It pained you to add.

“Turn it down?” He mimics your action, eyebrows furrowing. “And what’s that?”

“The music” You impatiently pointed it out and walked over to the small gramophone, singing pleasantly in the corner. It would be a relic any other day but right now it was just annoying you.

Shoot, no volume control you realized, it seemed people were just happy to hear music here, nevermind the volume. A little joy in a somewhat bleak time in history.

You needed your peace though, one way or another.

“Could you just turn it off?” You turned to leave.

“If this is gonna take long, I’d like to have something to entertain myself.”

You stopped, breathing in and out to stop yourself from killing him before his inevitable death date.

“You don’t even have to be here” You crossed your arms across your chest.

He smiled at your irritation “Tell you what, I’ll give you a chance.”

While you were occupied with how he just had the audacity to patronize you, Bucky stood from the chair and took the trash can from the corner and placed it at the other end of the office from you.

“What are you doing?” You watched him closely.

He walked back over to you with a self- satisfied smile, taking his time as he stopped just inches from you, the tips of his shoes touching yours just about.

“Bucky?” You felt your heartbeat palpate, your chest go tight.

He wordlessly leaned past you to grab an old coffee mug full of pencils that sat on the desk behind you. Bucky pulled away to stand next to you and embarrassment fizzed in your stomach. Bucky smelt like leather and his mothers cooking.

“First one to get three pencils in a row in the trash can wins. If you win, I’ll turn it off and I’ll keep my mouth shut.”

You found that hard to believe and it must’ve shown on your face.

“...mostly,” He added. “But if I win, the music stays and you can’t say a thing about it.”

“Seriously?”

“Cross my heart and hope to die, swee- spitfire.”

He looked at you with his blue as a cloudy sky eyes as you sized him up. It seemed fair and you were always one for a good bet, but the way he looked at you made you feel like he knew something you don’t. Figuring that look out would have you spinning for days.

“Do you need me to move it a bit closer?” He suggested condescendingly.

“Fine.” You grumbled.

“Ladies first.” He held the mug out to you and you grabbed three pencils with a roll of your eyes.

It had to be easy right? You didn’t have the worst hand eye coordination in the world but it wasn’t one of your most notable qualities. The only thing you had going for you was a desire for Bucky Barnes to keep quiet, and you were about to find out how good of a motivator that was.

You toss the first pencil and it lands in the trash can with a happy little clang. The second pencil was subject to pressure and bounced on the edge before landing safely inside, you celebrated inwardly, trying to hide how invested you were in a game of throwing pencils, but you were so close to victory, sweet victory.

One final pencil in your hand, you looked to Bucky “Any final words?” you ask smugly.

“I’m good.” He stared straight ahead.

The last pencil is in the air and you swear you’ve never felt this tense in your life. Maybe apart from the time you landed in the 20th century by accident. Taunting you, it bounced off the edge like the second but this time it was the wrong way. You watched in disbelief as it clattered to the floor.

“Shit.” You muttered and tried to hide how actually sad you were to miss your final throw.

“I’d offer condolences but you were a little cocky at the end.” Bucky plucked three pencils from the pot.

He effortlessly tossed his pencils in without a second thought, one, two, three, in quick succession, giving you no time to think of a plan to sabotage him at all.

Bucky looked at you with a smile “I believe congratulations are in order.”

“Best of three?” You grasped at any chance he might give you.

Bucky just laughed. In your face. You let out a combination of a grumble and a sigh and stomped out of the office.

He had won, the music stayed.

Hour Five

“C’mon you should take a break.”

Bucky had stayed mostly in the office, humming to his music. You had migrated to the boxing ring to lay out your findings. He had been leaning against the door, keeping his eye on you for the last five minutes.

“Can’t take a break.” You didn’t look up.

“You’ve been scribbling for like ten hours” He groans.

“I’m not scribbling” You retort, but looking down at the paper ‘scribbles’ was definitely an accurate word, not that he needed to know that.

“What are you doing then?”

“I’m working out- ugh, stop it!” You needed to be more on the ball with his incessant questions.

“It’s for your own good” You told him as sternly as you could manage.

“Yes Ma'am” He grins cheekily.

He moved from the doorway, you cursed yourself for having half your attention on him again.

“I don’t think you’ve ever taken a break in your life, you’re so…tightly wound.”

You had half a mind to tell him why you were really ‘tightly wound’ right there and then. But then the fatal implications and so on…blah blah blah.

“I take breaks.”

“Hard to believe, you ever been to the movies? Or a dance, maybe?” His analyzing eyes felt like they could see right through you.

“Sure, I’ve been to dances.” You brushed him off and continued writing. Maybe they weren’t the dances he would be familiar with but you had been to some. They just played the Black Eyed Peas, not Vera Lynn.

“Really? Because you haven’t recognised a single song I've put on.”

Oh. He had you there.

“Maybe I just like different music.”

“Who doesn’t like Dick Haymes?”

You put your head back down, ignoring his teasing and diving back into work, and hopefully convincing him that you just weren’t interested in extracurriculars.

“Don’t worry, Spitfire, I’ll get you dancing.”

Hour Eleven

He had run out of records a couple hours ago and was now entertaining himself by standing by the entrance and using some spare paper to fashion a paper airplane and seeing how far he could throw it.

The boxing ring was covered in a blanket of math now, you sat cross legged in the center, surrounded by stretches of equations, statistics, and graphs, traveling along y axis and x axis, finding each coordinate you would need. You had worked this long before but after a day of exerting yourself physically, the strain was weighing heavily on your brain.

You close your eyes for just a second but a rude and painful awakening comes from a sharp poke in the side of your head.

“Sorry!” Bucky calls from across the room.

You sigh and stand, rubbing the side of your head “It’s fine, I needed to wake up anyways”

You were in the land before energy drinks, your go to when the numbers become squiggles in your eyes.

“There somewhere that sells coffee around here?” You grumble.

“Um” Bucky points to the window and you see nothing but black.

How had you missed the sun going down?

“Nevermind.” You ran a hand over your face, eyelids growing heavier by the second, but you knew you couldn't afford to sleep, not now.

But your brain was too exhausted to make sense of the final coordinates you needed and there was no point in half-assing this and ending up in the wrong time again. You had read in some study that regular breaks actually proved to help total productivity, as hard as it was for you to believe, you weren’t opposed to a little experimenting.

Tip toeing carefully over your working, you sat on the side of the boxing ring, waiting for productivity to strike.

Bucky abandoned his paper airplane to sit next to you. The air felt heavy around you and all you could feel was the incomprehensible weight on your shoulders. You had no idea what Bucky thought, you had hardly been nice to him. But the way he was looking at you made you think he just wanted to lighten your load, just a little bit.

“So, how's it going?” He asked after a minute.

“It’s…getting there.” You fiddled with your hands “Maybe.”

“You really are weird, y‘know?”

He was smiling at you, like he had just paid you a sweet as sugar compliment.

“Thanks, Bucky.” You gave your sarcastic gratitude.

With a sudden burst of energy, he practically waltzes to the back office, you watch with amused curiosity, and when he appears again, he’s carrying the gramophone with both hands, a record under his arm.

He places it happily on the corner of the ring, lifting the red rope, he slides under and stands in the boxing ring. What was he doing now?

“C’mon.” He tilted his head at you with a smile.

Waiting for you, you supposed.

“What?”

Bucky began to pile up you papers covering the space and you flew into a panic, if he messed them all up you’d have to spend another hour putting them back in the correct order so they made sense, you hadn’t thought to number your pages because you thought he wouldn’t be stupid enough to touch them. You thought wrong.

“Bucky!” You shrieked with wide eyes.

He looked at you, calmly “I’m keeping them in order.”

His habit of reading your mind was getting pretty annoying. You follow his lead and shuffle under the ropes out of curiosity. With your math tower tucked safely to the side out of harm's way, you faced him with a confused look.

“You needed to wake up, right?”

“Are we going to box? Because I don’t think I'm up for that right now.”

“No, no” He takes the record out of its sleeve with a flourish and places it on the gramophone, setting the needle down, humming with excitement.

An upbeat song begins to play, filling the hall with hearty trumpets and jiving double bass. It almost felt like they were in the room somewhere, hiding under the boxing ring with their instruments.

You stood a meter away from Bucky, no closer and no farther. He held out his hand, you looked around you as if there was any one else he could offer it to.

“What are you doing?” You ask, you could barely hear yourself above the music reverberating around the walls.

“Dancing.” He said it like it was obvious.

You didn’t think you get stage fright in the absence of an audience but Bucky had a funny way of making you nervous. For the third time, you were stuck gawking at his open palm. The vibrations of the music sent waves through the boxing ring, an invisible hand urging you closer to him.

“I don’t think that’s, maybe not-” You splutter.

You tried to think of the ripples in time this could cause but all you could really focus on was how much you wanted to feel his hand in yours again.

“Spitfire.”

When would you ever get the chance again? Never, that’s the answer. Sure, time might crumble before you but he looked so happy standing there, and he didn’t have many of those moments left.

“I swear every time you look at my hand it’s like you’ve seen a ghost.”

That’s what he had in store. Becoming the most infamous ghost story history had ever heard. You made peace with the universe in a surprisingly short amount of time and decided Bucky Barnes needed this more than anything else in this world.

“You gonna keep on staring at my hand or are you gonna take it?”

You take a few tentative steps towards him and slide your right hand into his left. He directs your other hand to rest on his shoulder and he slips his hand behind you. He tucked you closer to his chest with a shy smile and a gentle pull, you gazed up at him with bright eyes, a smile hiding in the corners of your mouth just waiting to blossom.

The next ten minutes, Bucky spends teaching you how to swing dance after coming to the conclusion you had never danced with anyone in your life.

“I have!” You insist after you step on his toe for the seventeenth time.

“Do they still have feet?” He asks in fake concern.

“Ha Ha.” You poorly cover your genuine laughter, but you couldn’t hide the smile that had crept up on you anymore.

Dancing with Bucky was a whirlwind in the most literal sense, you spun like a pinwheel in and out of his arms. You spent half the time spiraling into danger and he would be there to catch you as if there was no risk at all.

When he kept you close, you could just about hear him counting to the music under his breath. It was an endless night of numbers for you, but you were convinced you had never been as dizzy as this before, dipping in and out and twisting up and down but you knew he wouldn’t let you fall. There was something transporting about it, bringing truth to your daydreams.

Dancing with him felt more like time travel, than well, actual time travel.

You were glad he wasn’t enhanced yet, or he would hear your heartbeat picking up speed. For a moment he was all you could think about, and you finally had no complaints.

Until you saw your papers topple and scatter on the floor, the jolting of the enthusiastic swing dance lesson had your precious work falling all over the floor.

Quickly, it all got too much, heat rushed through you and the music was thumping in your head. He was too close to you, chests stuck together that should never have touched in the first place, Hands glued to his, you were trapped in his time and you were losing yourself by the second. If you didn’t let go now, who knows what you could cause.

“Stop, stop!” You pulled away, ripped your hand from his, stumbling back and catching yourself on the ropes.

“You alright?” Bucky spoke cautiously behind you.

“Yeah, yes I’m okay, I just-”

You swallowed down the bile rising from your stomach, and turned to see him standing there with concern in his eyes. Damn him. Damn him for helping you.

“I need to get this done.” You hurried to pick up your work and put it back into the correct order, scared to even look at him again.

“Okay.” He sighed quietly.

Hour Fifteen

Bucky had fallen asleep sometime ago.

The sun had come up again, the cloudless sky left the blinding beams of sunlight to burst through the windows.

His gentle snoring was the only sound as you held your breath,staring at the coordinates. Double checked, triple checked. All you had to do now was put them into the GPS and go.

But something was keeping you here, just for a few moments more. If it had anything to do with the man sleeping a couple meters away, you weren’t sure. All you could do was keep your eyes on the key to your exit.

“You worked through the night?”

Okay, so he wasn’t asleep anymore.

You could disappear right there in front of his eyes and leave him questioning everything for the rest of his life, even though you thought it would be a little funny and maybe he deserved it, it was just too risky.

“Done it before” You shrugged.

“Well my sleep was great, surprisingly sound” He began to walk over “Oh, and if my Ma asks where I was all night, do me a solid and say the recruitment center, something about long queues i don’t know.”

Hang on.

“You haven’t enlisted yet?”

“No?”

“Haven’t been to the recruitment center at all?”

“Been a bit busy” He chuckles

“Well you should go, go do it now”

“What?”

You thought he had gone by now.

“I’ll do it later, suppose” He shrugs

You looked at the coordinates. You could go home. But you couldn’t. Bucky hadn’t enlisted. And if he doesn’t join the army then, then Steve probably wouldn’t either and Captain America wouldn’t exist and maybe we didn’t win the war, maybe we lost all of the wars, the battle of new york, the battle of the earth.

Him not becoming a sergeant . you couldn’t begin to think of the implications.

Was it all your fault?

“Been thinking about it a lot and I know my dad did and all that, but…I don't know”

You had currently beaten your record for amount of shits in a twenty four hour span ten times over.

Getting home, All of this means absolutely nothing if Bucky doesn’t go to war.

He needed to enlist, he had too, you were to blame for this, and you were damn right gonna fix it.

You had to make him join the army, no matter the cost.

Maybe you could afford a couple more days here, you supposed.

“You figure out all your math?” Bucky asks.

You turned to him and stood.

“Not quite.”

Tag-list: @emily-roberts @enchantedbarnes @marygoddessofmischief @nickangel13 @elxvrr @pixiesbored @skittle479 @sweetwritingfanficfriend @curlycarley @acceptedbyace (bold means I couldn’t tag you)

#Bucky Barnes #bucky x you #bucky #bucky x reader #bucky x y/n #james bucky barnes #james buchanan barnes #marvel imagine #the day after yesterday #Clara writes

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casinotrio1965 · 7 months ago

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Disney Descendants: Alexander (From Pinocchio 1940 ) X Princess Eilonwy story ideas Part 12

Alexander adds to his maps every day. He loves showing them to Eilonwy and explaining the significance. She tries to find out more about the places on them and they have a great time learning about them.

Alexander likes to get stuff made for them and the kids. He feels a little suffocated surrounded by this ancient royal stuff. They agreed it's nice to have things that are just theirs, that they had made for them.

Eilonwy likes to surprise him by bringing his adoptive parents to Llyr sometimes. She knows he gets homesick and since they can't often travel on a whim and be away, she brings them to him.

They like to cause a little trouble still every so often. Obviously they have to calculate it to avoid a huge, damaging blow out from the press, but it's kinda fun navigating the balance. And spiking punch bowls and not getting caught.

He likes to bring back local food for her to try when he visits his home. He found these spicy sausages she really likes and now he has to bring some back whenever he visits. Their chef can make them but it's not the same. Anything for the wife!

They have tea time so they can have a specified quiet time for twenty minutes. It keeps them from freaking out on everyone and they can enjoy the calm together and make each other feel better before they get back to work.

She always asks him about what he wants in Llyr. She doesn't want him to feel alone and stuck doing things he hates for her sake all the time. She wants him to feel at home too.

They like to meet other royals somewhere cool. A cruise ship, a nice hotel, or even plan something fun when they meet like going to a movie. It's how they sneak their dates and vacations in!

Eilonwy keeps a close eye on how much Alexander drinks. She knows he had a problem before and she won't let him relapse into it. She wants him to be healthy and she NEEDS him to be stable. So does Llyr and so do the children.

Eilonwy and Alexander kinda mainline caffeine whether it's coffee or tea. They know it messes with their sleep and makes it harder to handle, but they need something to get them through all the work they have to do.

Thanks again @askauradonprep

#disney descendants #descendants #pinocchio 1940 #pinocchio #disney pinocchio #alexander pinocchio #alexander #alexander x eilonwy #princess eilonwy #eilonwy #the black cauldron

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ariel-seagull-wings · 1 year ago

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CINEMA'S GOOD FATHERS

@thealmightyemprex @makingboneboy @themousefromfantasyland @professorlehnsherr-almashy @amalthea9 @princesssarisa @bixiebeet @spengnitzed @inevitablemoment @angelixgutz @softlytowardthesun @tamisdava2 @inevitablemoment @theselfshippingwitch

So, the main reason I am so drawn to fiction is that it presents, not as it is, but a way in which it could be better: rather that being content in reproducing the problems in reality, it imagine:

"Alright, so that is what is wrong with humanity and the world right now. Let's make an effort to imagine how to get rid of the wrongs, and show that happier alternatives can exist."

Case in point: the role of father's in society.

We live in a society that is sexist, so we were acustome to think that all the effort in raising and educating children to become functional adults is exclusively of the mother, while the father's should only make the bare minimum, enjoy only the fun aspects of interacting with the child, or even don't be present in their child's life at all, so we tend to treat father's abandoning their children as a given, rather than act shocked or indignated (like likely most would act if the situation was reversed and the mother was the one doing it).

Sometimes that would even be treated as heroic too: how many times we heard stories of man who go to die fight in wars, while their wives stayed at home, pregnant, with no guarantee that their husband would return alive to meet their children, and heard this situation be treated as a beautiful story, rather than something sad!

In a lot of fiction (movies and TV shows), this backwards kind of tought was usually seen as the norm: people usually went to watch movies and shows waiting for the father to be some deadbeat character who either does the bare minimum or even nothing, sometimes constantly complaining about how having children ruined "their lives", while mother characters have to carry the pressure of being the voice of reason.

And if the father was portrayed as decent and present, that would be received with just a shrug and the comment of: "Whatever, he is just doing his basic obligation."

But actually, going to how started this text, since the role of fiction is to present a world that can be better than what we have, when making an effort, we can actually examples of GOOD fathers, who don't think than being a father is just making the baby and putting his surname on the birth certificate, but actually goes trough the effort of being always present, learning from trials and mistake, doing sacrifices to take care of his children, loving and being proud of their child even if not always agreeing with them and having to deal with family conflicts.

Those characters are GREAT, and should be more praised, so we encourage more man with children to be more like then, instead of comforming in doing the bare minimum and being seen as dumb.

And maybe, they can inspired more writers to create father figures like them, instead of constantly reproducing the Absent or Dumb Dad tropes as a norm.

Here are GOOD examples of father's in film who I want to highlight.

Gepetto from Disney's Pinocchio (1940)

Going back to the year of 1940: the whole movies starts because Gepetto wished for a child. He was poor, and single, and yet this didn't stopped him from creating a little puppet boy and begging for a star to turn the puppet into a living person. The night that the star (the Blue Fairy) concedes the wish to give life to Pinocchio, Gepetto is at first surprised, but fully embraces the now living puppet as his son. In his first day as a parent, Gepetto makes a mistake of sending Pinocchio alone to school, and the puppet boy is manipulated by two strangers to go into more dangerous paths. What Gepetto does? He waits the whole night, without eating, and decides to go in search of his son, even sailing the sea and getting swalowed by a whale on the way!

You can feel his sadness when he thinks that he will never find Pinocchio again, the joy at the moment that the two are reunited, not even letting the weirdness of the donkey tail and ears disconcetrate him, the fear for their lives when they set fire inside Monstro, the grief when his son apparently dies saving his life, and his renewed hope when Pinocchio is ressurected and turned into a flesh and blood boy.

Gepetto longed for a child, and moved heavens, land and sea to make that dream come true. It wasn't easy, yet he never expected to be easy, and he never gave up in frustration. This is what makes him such an inspirational father figure.

Guido Orefice from Life Is Beautiful (1999)

This movie may be unpopular in America, but in Brazil: most of us love it! I atribute this to the fact that in Brazil, humour historically was a very important way to cope with misery and opression, so we indentified with the lenghts in which the italian jewish man Guido Orefice used his sense of humour to protect his son when the two were turned prisoners of the Concentration Camps: deep down, Guido knows that he will likely die. He is not a fool who thinks that all is alright, and soon it will be like nothing happened. But he doesn't want to sucumb to despair: he wants to fight for his son to live, and his way to do so is making sure that little Giosue believes that they are in a game of imagination. All the time he hides the little boy from guards, makes sure that he has enough to eat, keeps him close, and finds way to comunicate with Dora, his wife and Giosue's mother, to encourage her to also fight to continue alive. When he is caught by a nazi soldier, searching for his wife disguised as a woman, the last moment we see Guido alive, is him smiling and winking at a hidden Giosue: he is walking to his death, happy, because he knows his son is safe and will be free!

Guido Orefice teaches us a lesson that there are more ways that father's can sacrifice themselves for their children, while still being present and participant in their lives.

Nurullah from The Breadwinner (2018)

"When I was young, Parvana, I knew what peace felt like, here in the city. Children went to school, women went to university. All day empires forgot about us, for a while at least."

A wise, well-learned former schoolteacher, who lost his leg in the Soviet-Afgan war, and whose young son Suleiman died when mistaking a bomb by a toy, Nurullah struggles to make ends meet for his family. He becomes a peddler, selling his family’s non-essential belongings and valuables (most notably a dress that his daughter Parvana never wore) in the street in order to bring food to the table. Despite of this, he maintains a cheerful outlook on life and works to pass down his knowledge to his children, to whom he teaches the history of their country in the form of stories.

After his arrest by the Taliban, his daughter Parvana takes up the mantle of breadwiner under the disguise of a boy named Otesh, and tells stories like Nurullah does to keep everyone's spirits up.

The climax of the film is when Parvana goes to the place where Nurullah is imprisoned, where a shooting is happening, to rescue him.

Nurullah can be astute, tricking a Taliban soldier who was harasshing Parvana to think that she is already engaged to another fiancee. But in reality, he wants his daughter to have a childhood, to play with other children and go to school, and hopes that someday she will graduate, have a profession, and know a world of peace. The only reason he becomes absent is due to being unfairly imprisoned, but when he has the chance to choose, he is always there for his family.

Ebi from Persepolis (2007)

Based on the real life father of cartoonist and film director Marjane Satrapi, Ebi at first starts as someone who is underestimated by his young daughter.

The family lives trough the political turmoil of Iran between the 1970s and 90s, and Marjane at first sees other people's fathers and uncle as strong figures because they directly dealt with persecution, imprisonment, torture and death.

As the years pass, and Marjane sees the ways both Ebi and her mother Tadji find to try helping people more directly involved in activism, while still working to keep a sense of estability for the family, she comes to understand that her father is one of the strongest people she will ever know.

While all this happens, Ebi doesn't forgets his humanity and vulnerability: he encourages his daughter to be resilient when he and Tadji sent her to take refuge in Austria, so she can survive the war between Iran and Iraq, while also crying to be separated from her.

He could have flaws, like a bit of pride, but they never overcome Ebi's love for his daughter, and his convictions for what is right.

Goofy from the Goof Troop franchise (1992-2002)

"There are times you drive me, shall we say, bananas

And your mind is missin', no offense, a screw (none taken)

Still, whatever mess I land in

Who is always understandin'

Nobody else but you

So your jokes are all, let's face it, prehistoric

And your music sounds like monkeys in a zoo

But when life becomes distressin'

Who will I be SOS-in'

If you're having trouble guessing, here's a clue"

Goofy's name means that he is bumbling, but there is something that makes his bumbling personality standout from your typical bumbling character: usually, bumbling characters are hopeless idiots who don't care for anything or anyone around.

Goofy is the oposite: he cares for others, specially to be a good, present father to his son, Max. He may comit misunderstandings, be a bit impulsive, and his son may find him embarassing, but there is no denial that Goofy never regrets having a son: he really, really LOVES being a father, and will give up anything if it means the chance to share moments with Max.

Maurice from Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Maurice is a bumbling inventor who sometimes has his had on the clouds. But his passion for his work never comes above for his love for his daughter, Belle. He is always supportive of her, just like she is always supportive of him. When she takes his place in the Castle of the Beast, Maurice gets desperate. He runs to the town's tavern to beg for help, but his cries are mocked as madness. This makes him give up? Nope! He goes walking alone trough the woods, facing a snowstorm that makes him ill, determined to rescue Belle!

No wonder Belle is always determined to make everything to save her father's life: we are constantly shown that Maurice values her, and will even sacrifice his health for her. Their reunion, when she takes care of his health after finding him passed out in the snow, is one of the most touching moments in film!

Fa Zhou from Mulan (1998)

What I find touching by Fa Zhou is that while he has strong belief in traditions, and has expectations that his daughter follows them, we were soon shown that his love for Mulan could go above those expectations: when Mulan returns from a failed meeting with the matchmaker, she is very embarassed, fearing his disapointment, but rather than reprimanding her, Fa Zhou comforts her, comparing her to a flower that will soon bloon.

There is a conflict between then when Fa Zhou thinks that he should sacrifice himself in a war for the concept honor, yet is clear that their fight is painfull for both of them, and Fa Zhou shows regret for their fight when Mulan takes his place in the Army.

When Mulan returns, bringing victory presents from the War hoping that will honor the family, Fa Zhou doesn't care for honor anymore: he ignores the gifts, and goes to hug Mulan, glad that she returned home alive!

How can't someone not be touched when Fa Zhou that his greatest gifts are having Mulan as his daughter?

Pacha from The Emperour's New Groove (2000)

That man can embrace the world: he is a loving husband to his wife Chicha, a good father to his biological children, the trusted leader of his village, and even assumes the role of being the moral guide to Emperour Kuzco, teaching him to care for other people's well being and calling his selfshiness out!

Basically: he is the father, brother and husband that everyone dreams to have.

Stoick from the How to Train Your Dragon franchise (2010-19)

Stoick's arc is incredible to watch: he starts as someone who is sad, stuborn and emotionally distant, grieving the disappearance of his wife and dealing with the fact that his son Hiccup is not what he expects a viking to be. As the two movies and TV show progresses, we see Stoick grow, learning how to comunicate with his son, understanding his different point of view, and accepting him as an equal partner in leading their village, by working together trough their different methods of solving problems.

A father doesn't need to be perfect, but is important that they become conscious that they are flawed, and can always learn to be better, specially with the help of their children's perspective.

Searcher Clade from Strange World (2022)

The botanist and farmer Searcher was abandoned by his father, the explorer Jaeger Clade, when he was young, because of their differing dreams in life clashing.

Because of that, Searcher goes to great lenghts to be a good father to his son Ethan. However, his trauma of abandoment causes problems in their relationship when Ethan grows interested to become a explorer: Searcher fears that his son will abandon him, like his father did.

As their journey trough the subterranean world of Pando progresses, Searcher learns to accept that while present for his son, he can also comit mistakes as a parent, and apologizes for trying to force Ethan to follow his path as a farmer, like his father once tried to force him to become a explorer.

Searcher tells about his fears, and learns to accept that Ethan will forge a different path for himself, but will never abandon him.

He also finds his father Jaeger, and gets to call out how much he hurt him, before the two can slowly start to reconcile.

Strange World is a great movie about how different generations can both enter in conflict, yet learn from each other's perspectives, and explores both flawed ways of parenting, and alternatives for father's to become better.

Is a shame that the studio Disney didn't promoted the movie, and let it go under most people's radar.

#parenting #parenthood #fatherhood #fandom musings #tumblr mutuals

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stevetonyweekly · 2 years ago

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SteveTony Weekly - April 2nd

It’s been a quiet reading week for me, but I reread a favorite fic which was nice. Give a look see to all of this week’s stories and be sure to leave a comment/kudos for your author.

given you a number, taken away your name by janonny

As Tony behaves more erratically, S.H.I.E.L.D. sends in Steve as an undercover agent in S.I. to be Natasha’s back-up. Except Steve is really, really not cut out for this undercover business.

Before the lift’s doors closed, Stark suddenly grinned and said, “Call me Tony. Have a better rest of the day, big guy.”

Awkwardly, Steve lifted his free hand and waved as the doors slid shut between them.

What...what was he doing? Why was he waving? Steve hurriedly put his hand down and turned around sharply.

Second Opinion by Annie D (scaramouche)

Written for an anon on tumblr, who requested "short domesticity fic where you can tell that Steve and Tony have been together for THAT long".

I kinda failed at at the domesticity portion, but this Steve and Tony are very, VERY together.

Dreamboat to the rescue by shetlandowl

When the last single person in Tony's close friend-group finds her special someone, said person makes it her personal mission to make sure Tony doesn't die alone. Getting her off his case will take a miracle, so Tony tries to fabricate one. It doesn't go according to plan.

The Stolen Shirt by RiotFalling

Tony steals Steve’s shirt. It has an effect.

Ripple Effect by sabrecmc

After the events of Infinity War, Steve is sent back in time on a desperate mission to find the Tesseract. Instead, he meets up with 21-year old Tony, still reeling from his parents' deaths. Who, naturally, tries to climb Steve like a tree. Somehow, this fixes everything.

Fuse is Fireside by GotTheSilver

if Tony lived post Endgame au.

Because, here’s the thing, he loves Pepper. He does. He’s not so much of an asshole that he’d marry her if he didn’t.

But Steve.

Steve is like gravity. Always has been.

We're Dating by Whothefuckyduckyisbucky

Tony thinks they're dating. They totally are. Someone should tell Steve.

Set after The avengers movie. In the 1940's male friendships were a lot more affectionate, so Steve doesn't always get that the affection Tony shows him isn't platonic.

of dreams, ice and scales by janonny

Tony is Iron Man. He’s also a dragon who has learned that you can’t keep everything you love.

Steve is Captain America. He’s also a knight who falls into deep sleep for decades and wakes to a different world.

Together, they rescue each other.

At nine, Tony trembles when Maria comes to him and says with hushed urgency, “Never give your scales to anyone. You’ll only regret it.”

At sixteen, Steve trembles when they lower Sarah into a hole in the ground.

A Moment In History by itsallAvengers

Everything was going fine until Tony Stark from ten years in the past landed on his ass in their kitchen.

Present-day Tony supposes this is just another Sunday Morning.

The Goddamn Suit by orphan_account

Steve is attracted to Tony's suits. Tony finds out that the Captain is a slut.

Ride by FestiveFerret

“Oh god,” Steve’s hips jerked in their confines. His cock was so hard it hurt, his jaw ached in the best possible way, and it was all too much. “Tony, please.”

For A Good Time Call by BeenAsleepFor70Years

Steve explores his sexuality by trying out a phone sex service. He may just leave the situation crushing on the guy at the other end of the phone. He already had feelings for his teammate Iron Man, now a new crush gets thrown into the mix. What ever shall he do?

couldn't whisper (when you needed it shouted) by only_more_love

Steve still can't let go of that damned flip phone. (Really, he can't let go of Tony.)

i want the green grass and the tomato plants by Anonymous

When Tony arrives to Stardew Valley, he spends the first five minutes staring.

(Or, a Stardew Valley AU. Tony rebuilds a farm and owns chickens. Steve paints.)

#Stevetony weekly #Stony weekly #stony #stevetony #stony fic #stevetony fic #fic rec #rec list #stevetony rec list #steve rogers #tony stark #iron man #captain america

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sarahlancashire · 7 months ago

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random question time ✨ favourite movie? (or if you don't do favourites then a good movie you would recommend to someone) And if they were remaking it/never made it and you could recast/cast it, who would you chose? Would you change director/dp? Maybe change a soundtrack? (kinda build-a-bearmovie question I guess :)))

thank you! i'm really terrible at choosing favourites, i have like a collection of favourites for each oddly specific genre i like lmao (apart from rebecca which stands alone) so let's see:

favourite gothic daphne du maurier adaptation: rebecca (1940)

favourite lesbian angst films: daphne, losing chase, the night watch, the hours, the children's hour, ammonite

favourite lesbian non-angst films: g*po (the title is a slur 😒 also it is quite angsty but it's a rly good film with a happy ending about a girl who falls in love with pauline mclynn, which, same), late bloomers

favourite nineties romcoms: you've got mail, while you were sleeping

favourite eighties classics: overboard, romancing the stone, trading places

favourite musical films: hello, dolly!, the sound of music, white christmas

favourite period dramas: little women (2019), miss pettigrew lives for a day, mrs. harris goes to paris, their finest

other favourite dramas: the children act, the history boys, the lake house, military wives

other favourite comedies: about time, a bunch of amateurs, the best exotic marigold hotel, cold comfort farm, the first wives club, love actually, the holiday

animated favourites: beauty and the beast, monsters inc., the incredibles, kiki's delivery service, only yesterday, spirited away, the sword in the stone, treasure planet

#majoris #ik i didn't really answer this properly but i really am terrible at favourites #honestly i wouldn't change or recast anything apart from little women #i'd keep laura dern and saoirse ronan but recast the other marches #oh and meryl can stay too #ik that's probably going to be a very unpopular opinion bc nearly everyone loves two of the other actresses but oh well #personal

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laurasimonsdaughter · 2 years ago

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The movie nights, Yule decided, were genuinely nice. Yes, it was absolutely ridiculous that she was forced to sit in between Ev and Chris every time. Especially since Chris was now constantly a pile of blankets and hot water bottles, basking in the rediscovery of warmth, which he wouldn’t have to do if he had sat next to Ev, who was an absolute furnace.

But of course he couldn’t possibly do that, because there were only three days left until full moon, which meant Ev was already so hairy and uncomfortable when fully clothed that they had stripped down to their shorts and sports bra as soon as they got home. It was a wonder Chris hadn’t fully left the room yet just to prevent himself from accidentally looking at their midriff. One day, Yule thought, she was going to snap and forbid him to spend so much time with vampires from the 1940s.

But right now his eyes were glued to the action on the TV screen and Ev was lounging comfortably, both of them at least temporarily relaxed on either side of her. And that was really very nice.

“You know what,” Yule said, handing Ev the bowl of crisps and bumping companionably against Chris’s drawn up knee. “I think movie nights should be on the list of house rules. Movie nights every Friday, to improve human-vampire-werewolf relations.”

“I’m game,” Ev grinned, teeth glinting and Chris made a pleased sound from inside his cocoon.

Wonderful. Surely they’d start actually hanging out and talking to each other eventually. Yule sat up, reaching for her soda. “Speaking of house rules,” she remembered. “Stop stealing my foundation, Chris. I can get you your own. Mine's too dark for you anyway. You ought to have one closer to your current skin tone.”

“I can't even see my skin without make-up!” Chris protested.

“I know that,” Yule said fondly. She knew that was why he wore it, to be able to see himself in the mirror every once in a while. “But I can. I‘ll help you choose something you like. Maybe two shades lighter, I think.”

“More olive though.”

“Hm?” Yule turned to look at Ev, and so, amazingly, did Chris.

“Not just lighter,” they said intently, gesturing at his face. “There’s a more olive tint to...Chris’...complexion...” Ev's voice inexplicably trailed off to mumbling silence rather suddenly and their gaze dropped to the floor.

Yule looked thoughtfully at Chris, too distracted to notice the calamity unfolding on her couch. “Yeah I think you’re right! An olive tone would look very good.”

She tried to give him another encouraging smile, but he was still looking at Ev, with rather wide, startled eyes. And Ev's cheeks had gone worryingly pink under their stubble.

The horror of it all hit Yule just a bit too late. “Oh dear,” she said loudly. “I’ve completely missed where this scene was going. Chris, where were we?”

“What?” Chris stammered distractedly. He looked as close to flustered as a cold, bloodless vampire could possibly get.

She could just tell them. She could just turn off the TV, and tell them, and leave them alone in here. Possibly lock all doors and windows and tell them she’d be back when they had sorted their shit out. Tomek would probably let her crash on his couch, especially if she repaid him with more gossip.

Yule took a deep breath. “Where were we in the movie? Two minutes back?”

“Uh, sure.”

“You’ve got the remote, hun.”

“Oh, yes.” Chris hastily grabbed for the remote, one pale arm reaching out of the tangle of blankets.

On the other side of the couch Ev had pretty much curled up into a ball, their limbs folded at odd, inhuman angles to make up for the lack of a tail to hide their face behind. Yule could feel the flustered heat of embarrassment radiate off them as clearly as if she was sitting next to a damn campfire.

The movie resumed and Yule sat, looking at the screen without seeing it, flanked by two friends doing exactly the same. They were both frozen in place, acting as if they would bloody combust as soon as they’d look at each other, and neither of them was doing anything about it. And neither was she, because Yule was genuinely afraid which words would come out of her mouth if she dared to open it right now.

She made it five whole minutes before she took out her phone and began frantically texting Tomek.

He was not at all sympathetic, and she spitefully resolved to bring a chocolate covered coffee bean for his familiar the next time she came over.

[Read ‘And they were flatmates’ chronologically on AO3]

#and they were flatmates #(most of this story is on tumblr in that tag but not all of it)#(so go to ao3 for the full experience)#laura drabbles #werewolf #vampire #urban fantasy #roommates #nblm romance

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rabbitcruiser · 7 months ago

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McDonald’s Day

McDonald’s Day falls on April 15, the anniversary day of when Ray Kroc opened his first McDonald’s restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois, in 1955. Most, if not all, people around the world know this name, we believe. It’s one of the world’s largest fast-food restaurant chains. Did you know that Ray Kroc was not the founder of McDonald’s? The founders were the McDonald brothers. The current corporation credits its founding to Ray Kroc. So, let’s celebrate this McDonald’s Day in honor of Kroc as well as the restaurant founders, the McDonald brothers.

HISTORY OF MCDONALD'S DAY

The very first McDonald’s restaurant was opened by New Hampshire brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald on May 15, 1940, in San Bernardino, California. The McDonald brothers started by serving slow-cooked barbecue, and the business took off quickly. They later found out that 80% of their sales were from hamburgers, so they closed it for three months. They then remodeled it as a self-service restaurant, where customers placed their orders at the windows. It is said that they simplified their menu to just nine: hamburgers, cheeseburgers, three flavors of soft drink, milk, coffee, potato chips, and pie.

The McDonald’s brothers developed the “Speedee Service System,” allowing them to prepare the food quickly. All their hamburgers contained ketchup, mustard, onions, and two pickles. Although this newly remodeled McDonald’s struggled at first, once the brothers replaced potato chips with french fries and introduced triple thick milkshakes, the business started to grow again. In the early 1950s, they saw their profits double. They then established several franchises in California and Arizona. Ray Kroc, a milkshake mixer salesman, visited them in 1954, wondering why McDonald’s would order eight of his multimixers.

Once Kroc knew about McDonald’s restaurant operation, he saw potential in it. He then bought the rights to franchise the brothers’ restaurant across the country. He opened his first McDonald’s franchised restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois, in 1955. But, their relationship was contentious due to philosophies that differ on how to run the business. Kroc later purchased the company from the McDonald brothers in 1961. The brothers who lent their name to the business and were pioneers of the business concept gradually faded to the background. They kept their original San Bernardino restaurant until they were out of business eventually.

MCDONALD'S DAY TIMELINE

1940

The First McDonald’s

The first McDonald’s restaurant is opened by Richard and Maurice McDonald in San Bernardino, California.

Early 1950s

Doubled Business Profits

McDonald’s profits double, and the brothers establish several franchises.

1955

The First Ray Kroc’s McDonald’s

Kroc opens his first McDonald’s franchised restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois.

1961

The Business is Sold

Kroc purchases the McDonald’s company.

MCDONALD'S DAY FAQS

How much is McDonald's worth in 2021?

Reportedly, McDonald’s has a net worth of 36.53 billion U.S.D.

What nationality is McDonald?

It’s Scottish, and McDonald is probably the most famous Scottish clan surname.

How rich is the owner of McDonald's?

Chris Kempczinski is reportedly paid 5.22 million U.S.D. annually as the C.E.O. of McDonald’s, with a net worth of 17.9 million U.S.D.

MCDONALD'S DAY ACTIVITIES

Go to McDonald’s: There’s nothing better than going to its restaurant on its day. Order some Chicken McNuggets for a starter. Then continue with the well-known Big Mac along with the World Famous Fries. To finish up, get Coca-Cola and a Vanilla Cone, or McFlurry, or Hot Fudge Sundae.

Spread the word: Tell your family and friends about this fun day in case you want some company. You can order through McDelivery and enjoy the food and drinks together at home. Or, you may want to bring them to McDonald’s and dine in.

Watch “The Founder”: If you’re home alone, you may want to watch the movie “The Founder.” Watch the story about the famous McDonald’s while you’re munching your Double Cheeseburger and McChicken along with the World Famous Fries.

5 FACTS ABOUT MCDONALD’S HAMBURGERS YOU NEED TO KNOW

The burger cost only 15 cents: In the beginning, a McDonald’s burger cost only 15 cents.

Billions of burgers have been sold: It is estimated that billions and billions of McDonald’s burgers have been sold.

A Big Mac was once 45 cents: The first Big Mac was created in 1967 and cost only 45 cents.

It can be a source of protein: It is said that a McDonald’s hamburger contains 25% of your daily value of protein.

Happy Meals were first introduced in 1979: McDonald’s launched its first Happy Meal worldwide in 1979, and in 2021, McDonald’s announced that Happy Meal’s plastic toys would be phased out.

WHY WE LOVE MCDONALD'S DAY

It’s convenient: McDonald’s can always be an option when you don’t have any idea where to go to eat. They’re everywhere, you know.

It’s affordable: McDonald’s food and drinks are affordable. Not only that, but they are also delicious. They’re worth buying.

It can be a nice place to hang out: If you’re going to hang out with your friends for hours, McDonald’s has got you covered. Sure, they have many selections of food and drinks. Besides that, most of them have spacious dining-in.

Source

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kylesvariouslistsandstuff · 1 year ago

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ELEMENTAL Box Office Nonesuch

So... ELEMENTAL looks to make $28-33m over the weekend... The autopsies are already being done, the expensive Pixar original is already deemed a flop... Here's what I say...

Box office is absurd: I mean really, box office runs seem more and more absurd by the year in the post-COVID outbreak era... Having to make so much money, in a very competitive field and in a time where audiences can't see too many movies a year, in around 3-4 months? Like c'mon, it's literally the infancy of a movie's existence. It's not the '00s, or even the '10s anymore.

Longevity: Especially since animated movies from both Pixar and Disney Animation traditionally have had long, ever-fruitful second lives. Whether it was thru theatrical re-releases (1940s-1980s), home video (1980s-onward), or streaming... ELEMENTAL will likely be no different by the end of the year, probably will rack up a million streams on Disney+. This has a very good "A" CinemaScore grade, so it could have very good legs over the summer, even if it doesn't top that ridiculous budget.

$200m budget... Making around $500m at the worldwide box office is a lot of pressure to put on an original animated family movie, let alone most movies, especially in this day and age.

"Well, if they had made a good movie-" OK, now do every blockbuster smash hit that got mixed to negative critical reception. Heck, do this year's SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE. Critical reception/one's own opinion doesn't mean shit. If it did, CARS 2 - the go-to for "worst Pixar movie" - would've flopped hard back in 2011, regardless of any goodwill brought over from the first movie.

That William Goldman quote/marketing/blah blah: "Nobody knows anything... Not one person in the entire motion picture field knows for a certainty what's going to work. Every time out it's a guess and, if you're lucky, an educated one." Whatever was in that marketing... And there WAS marketing... LOTS of it... Just didn't motivate audiences to shell out lots of money for tickets and concessions to see this film in a theater where it's possibly disgusting, noisy, or... Both!

Pixar is not in a slump: This is also all subjective. And if I was a filmmaker, and I had a slump of movies that ranged from roughly 70-85% Rotten Tomatoes scores - not that RT aggregate scores mean anything anyways... That'd be quite alright! Anyways, the movies they're currently making just aren't to your liking. That's all it is... and they don't have to release a specific kind of movie. This, ideally, should be a studio where a director makes THEIR film. Not a collective. Like it used to be at one point... Speaking of which-

John Lasseter: I've seen so many people, from inside animation fan circles... to even pundits writing for major movie publications... Suggesting that Lasseter's ouster left a real hole in Pixar, and Disney Animation as well. Never mind implying that a misogynist pervert should be brought back to the studio, but this also suggests that every Pixar success is because of him... And him only. Like, all the filmmakers are just untalented hacks without him? Like he's the guy who waves a magic wand and suddenly, everyone on board made a good movie? Do you want animated movies made by FILMMAKERS? Or films determined by a small COMMITTEE? I'm also old enough to remember when Lasseter was THE problem with Pixar, that he was a dictator making every director bow to his every demand. (Which was true.)

I'm sorry, but I'm just exhausted from how people are talking about ELEMENTAL... Which I haven't even seen yet, but it feels like people are trying to write such nuanced industry-related things and outside factors off and use their personal opinions/biases to explain away these box office mishaps, wrapping it up in neat simplistic bows...

I'm just concerned about what will happen with the studio from here on out, especially after 75 people - including veterans like Galyn Susman, Angus MacLane, and Steve Purcell - were laid off.

"Make better movies, then!" Okay, how subjective, it's not like the studio's people are all sitting there not putting in effort and calling it a day. Okay? These movies take years and years to plan out, make, remake, and finish. Like Goldman said, it's all a guess each time out. A gamble. When these people are making these movies, they're making decisions that they think are the right decisions at the right time. ELEMENTAL, by all accounts, went into development around 2016-ish. Around the time director Peter Sohn had finished THE GOOD DINOSAUR... How would the crew, and the studio as a whole, had known what the world would like in 2023? What audiences' ever-changing tastes would be? What the zeitgeist would be?

And again... "Make better movies"? MARIO might've pulled in $1.3b worldwide and became one of the highest-grossing animated movies of all-time, but the critical reception for it wasn't great. Mostly mixed to negative, not as good as this movie. Or TURNING RED, LUCA, SOUL, ONWARD, even LIGHTYEAR! And even all the recent WDAS movies, including big box office flop STRANGE WORLD.

Again, it's as simple - and boring - as "They made a movie... People didn't show up."

So... What do I think happens next?

Pixar hasn't had a genuine financial success in theaters since TOY STORY 4 all the way back in 2019. ONWARD got cut off by the pandemic, SOUL, LUCA, and TURNING RED all went straight to Disney+ in most parts of the world. LIGHTYEAR lost money, this might, too... How much did ELIO cost? Why should that film be expected to make the amount of money usually reserved for a massive superhero movie? INSIDE OUT 2 is all but a lock for a huge gross... A sequel, no less.

I would hate to see Pete Docter get removed as CCO (and who the hell would they replace him with anyways? The rest of the "Brain Trust" is either no longer working there or off doing other things), but I fear that could be a very real possibility. I know most of the internet declares Docter's Pixar to be some kind of failure, but I for one like his Pixar. Even if I didn't like the films coming out now, the place is a lot more director-driven than before, and more experimental. John Lasseter would've probably fired Enrico Casarosa, Domee Shi, and Angus MacLane off of all of their films... Or would've blockaded them every step of the way whenever they tried to make something in their respective films interesting. So yeah, I don't feel Docter is the problem here... it's really all down to how Disney handled the release of many of the recent Pixar films, how much the studio spends on their films, and the marketing just not enticing audiences to go see the films.

That's beyond Docter's control, and he even partially touched upon this in a recent interview... And for what it's worth, again... Audiences... The ones who actually saw the movie already... seem to be liking ELEMENTAL. "A" CinemaScore is pretty good. SPIDER-VERSE Deux and MARIO had an "A" CinemaScore as well. If this movie has excellent legs, it'll show that people - not internet-dwelling weirdos who seem to be the authority on all things animation - actually DID like the film... It just cost too much to make. Like a modern-day CLEOPATRA or SLEEPING BEAUTY. A movie that quite a few audiences went to, but it wasn't enough to cover the gargantuan costs to make it...

Like, if ELEMENTAL cost around BAD GUYS/PUSS IN BOOTS 2/DC SUPER-PETS/SPIDER-VERSE numbers... You know, around $80-90m in budget and NOT $200m+... this thing wouldn't be written off as a flop.

I'd imagine more sequels will happen, which was always a given, but maybe more so than ever before. INSIDE OUT 2 and TOY STORY 5, they weren't going to stop there, that was a given... Docter did say in that same interview that the originals in Pixar's library are fair game for sequels. And no smart exec walks away from movies that make $1b at the box office... Unless they're something like, say, TITANIC.

Maybe there will be stricter mandates put on Pixar films to "make them more appealing to audiences"... That's very possible, as it sometimes happens at these studios. Micromanaging, ya know? Trying to create that next big hit the mechanical way, by overthinking it... Instead of just making something and seeing how it all goes. How it does at the box office is often beyond a filmmakers' control anyways... Again, what the world will look like 4 years after you've started your endeavor...

Or maybe nothing happens, Pixar has special privileges, and keeps making what they make...

To me, the smartest thing would be to either... Step back and realize how silly box office has become, that it's absurd to expect a smash hit out of something in a crowded marketplace in just 2-4 months, hinging an entire studio's future on that... Or lower the budgets of these movies...

Anyways, sorry to rant, but it's all just absurd to me... Yes, the movie may indeed lose money, but it's not clear-cut.

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the-rewatch-rewind · 10 months ago

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The final episode... for now, at least.

Transcript below the break

Hello and welcome to the conclusion of The Rewatch Rewind, the podcast where I counted down my top 40 most frequently rewatched movies from 2003 through 2022. To those of you listening to this on the day it’s coming out, Happy Cary Grant’s Birthday! This felt like an appropriate day to release this fun bonus episode to analyze my list a bit more, get into some statistics, talk about what I’ve learned from this project, wrap things up, etc. If that sounds boring to you, that’s totally fair, I won’t hold it against you if you want to skip this. But before you turn it off, I want to mention that my brother Quinn, my guest from the Ella Enchanted episode, put together a “Sounds of the Rewatch Rewind” Spotify playlist featuring the songs and soundtracks from the movies I’ve talked about that he could find on there, which I’m going to link in the show notes, so now that you’ve listened to me talk about these movies, you can listen to parts of the movies themselves.

Assuming the runtimes on IMDb are correct, I spent approximately 99,258 minutes watching these 40 movies from 2003 through 2022, which is 1,654 hours and 18 minutes, or 68 days, 22 hours, and 18 minutes. So almost 10 weeks. Which sounds like a lot, but it was spread out over 20 years, so I don’t feel like that’s particularly excessive. I wouldn’t have been surprised to learn I had spent more time watching these movies. And that’s one of the main things I’ve learned from actually keeping track of the movies I watch: I’m very bad at estimating how frequently I rewatch movies. Before I started writing down what I watched, I thought there were lots of movies I regularly watched dozens of times per year, and probably several that I’d seen over 100 times. But now I know that watching a movie five times in a year can feel like a ton, and there are relatively few that I feel like sitting through more than 20 times total, let alone 100. Part of that could come from maturing, or from having a much wider array of movie choices at my fingertips, but a significant part of it is that it takes fewer rewatches than I think it does for a movie that I love to stick in my brain. There are plenty more films that didn’t make it anywhere near my top 40 that I feel like I know backwards and forwards and inside out. So I just want to reiterate what I said in the introductory episode: I don’t think these are the 40 best movies ever made, and I don’t even think they’re my 40 favorite movies. But I do love them all, and I don’t regret getting to talk about any of them.

When I first started keeping track of what I watched back in 2003, I thought of myself as someone who primarily loved “old movies,” with a few newer movies managing to worm their way into my heart. I would have expected most of my top 40 movies to be in black and white, and almost all of them to be from before 1970. But as it turns out, 18 are fully live action and in color, 16 are live action in black and white, four are fully animated, and two are a mix of animation and color live action. The breakdown of which decade these films are from tells a particularly fascinating story. Five of these movies came out in the 1930s, nine in the 1940s, three in the 1950s, three in the 1960s, zero in the 1970s, four in the 1980s, four in the 1990s, nine in the 2000s, and three in the 2010s. Which means that exactly half were from before the 1970s and exactly half were from after the 1970s. Many of the views of movies from the 2000s occurred in the first few years I kept track, so clearly the pretentious “I only love old movies” persona I tried to cultivate as a young teen was never very accurate. Stories from a variety of eras resonate with me. But what, you may be wondering, do I have against movies from the 1970s?

First of all, to be clear, there are several movies from the 1970s that I love, they just didn’t happen to make it into my top 40. But the thing about the ‘70s is… that’s when Hollywood movies became more explicitly sexy. By which I mean that after the Motion Picture Production Code was abandoned in the late 1960s, filmmakers started putting much more explicit sexual content into their movies because they were finally allowed to. Now, I’m not saying I’m in favor of censorship. I think people should be able to make movies about whatever they want, provided they’re not actively hurting people. But a lot of 1970s movies feel particularly overwhelmingly sexual to me, like Hollywood was trying to release decades’ worth of previously forbidden sex scenes as quickly as possible. And I want to be clear that I don’t necessarily think there’s anything inherently wrong with that, although I feel like it was often executed in ways that objectified women, which I do have a problem with. But I also think a not insignificant reason I’m not as into movies from that era is related to my asexuality. I’m not judging 1970s movies for having too much sex, and obviously not every movie from that decade has explicit sexual content, but I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the decade after the production code went away is the one that doesn’t have any representation in my top 40 most frequently rewatched movies. While movies with sexual content continue to be made long after the 1970s, it does feel a bit like once the novelty wore off, filmmakers kind of toned it down a bit, or at least incorporated it into more interesting stories. It’s kind of like when a kid learns a swear word. At first it’s like, a huge deal, and they get in trouble for using it, and then when they get older they’re like, “allowed” to swear, and they feel so cool for a while, but then it stops feeling cool and they learn how to use it more selectively and effectively. That’s how it feels like sexual content in the Hollywood film industry evolved. So as a relatively sex-indifferent asexual who doesn’t exactly mind sexual content, but doesn’t particularly like it either, it makes sense that that transition period doesn’t appeal to me as much.

And I do have to keep saying that I’m specifically talking about the Hollywood film industry because the vast majority of the movies I watch are from Hollywood. Really the only “foreign” film in my top 40 is Pride and Prejudice, and even that was co-produced by an American company. I have seen and enjoyed several films from other countries, but I could definitely watch more. There is an upsetting lack of diversity on this list: the vast majority of these films are primarily about white, straight, cis, allo, middle-to-upper-class Americans or Europeans. There are characters who don’t fit all of those, but most of them play relatively minor supporting roles in the main stories. I’m pretty sure that all of the directors on this list are white, and all of the screenwriters are at least half white, but I don’t know all of their backgrounds, so forgive me if I’m unintentionally erasing the identity of any of these filmmakers. Regardless, I definitely need to watch more movies made by people of color. As I addressed in previous episodes, only two of these movies were directed solely by a woman, one was co-directed by a man and a woman, and the other 37 were directed by men, so I also need to watch more female-directed films. The screenwriter gender breakdown is a little better, with eight written solely by women, eight written by a combination of men and women, and 24 written solely by men. I would personally love to see more movies written and directed by non-binary people, but mainstream society doesn’t seem to want to give them much of a voice, so I think I’ll have to look into more independent films to find that. The two newest movies on this list were independently produced with funds raised through Kickstarter, so I do seem to be moving in that direction, even though the vast majority of my top films were made by major Hollywood studios. I wasn’t surprised that Disney was the studio with the most films on this list, with nine – what can I say? I grew up during the Disney renaissance, I was indoctrinated. But I wasn’t necessarily expecting RKO to have the second most, with seven, considering that studio hasn’t been around since the 1950s. MGM is in third place with six, but I would have expected that to have more than RKO, considering it made a lot of classic Golden Age gems and still technically exists today (even though it’s now owned by Amazon). Over half of the movies on this list were made by one of those three studios. Again, an embarrassing lack of diversity.

I’m not sure how many LGBTQIA+ filmmakers were involved with the films on this list, since even now people don’t always feel safe or comfortable coming out publicly, and in the past it was even more dangerous to do so. However, the director with the most films on this list, George Cukor, with four, was openly gay, and as I mentioned in several episodes, sometimes movies with supposedly straight characters give off queer vibes. No character in any movie on this list is openly aromantic or asexual, but I was still able to spend a lot of this podcast talking about the ways I related to these stories as an aroace person. Since I’ve been so focused on how much I wish there was less romance and sex in movies, I thought it would be interesting to give each of my top 40 a score indicating how important romance and sex were to the story, on a scale of 0 to 3 for each, with 0 meaning there’s essentially none and 3 meaning there’s a lot. Now, I will point out that no movie on this list is rated higher than PG-13, so a 3 on the sexual content scale is still pretty mild. I also feel like reasonable people could disagree about how to rate some of these movies, so please indulge me as I go through each movie and state and briefly justify my scores.

Mary Poppins gets a zero for both, even though there is a kiss between Mr. and Mrs. Banks, but they were already married at the beginning and their relationship is far from the main focus of the story, which goes out of its way to keep Mary and Bert’s relationship platonic.

Similarly, while Emperor’s New Groove does show that Pacha and Chicha are in a loving married relationship, that’s such a tiny portion of the film that I’m also giving this one a zero for both romance and sex. So we’re off to a great start.

Legally Blonde is a bit trickier because at the beginning Elle is extremely focused on romance, but she becomes less so as the story progresses, although other characters remain focused on romance throughout. Also there are no sex scenes, but there are still some rather explicit sexual references. So I’m giving Legally Blonde a 2 for romance and a 2 for sex.

The Princess Bride has a lot going on, but the romantic love between Westley and Buttercup is consistently one of its main focuses, so I’m giving it a 2 for romance, but apart from some very slight innuendo I don’t remember any sexual content, so it gets a 0 for sex.

Frozen is another kids’ movie, so another 0 for sex, but the romance aspect is fascinating because it starts out tricking you into thinking it’s going to be very romance-focused, but ends up demonstrating that the initial romance was fake and other kinds of love are just as important, so I’m giving Frozen a 1 for romance.

Chicago is probably the most sexually explicit movie on this list, so I have to give it a 3 for sexual content, but there’s only a little bit of romance, so it gets a 1 for romantic content.

The Sound of Music has quite a bit of non-romantic stuff going on, but the relationship between Maria and Georg, and Maria’s internal conflict between wanting to be a nun and wanting to be with him, are important parts of the story, so I’m saying romance 2, sex 1.

Holiday is mostly about Johnny thinking he’s in love with Julia and learning he’s really in love with Linda. The social commentary keeps it from being a 3 on the romantic content scale in my opinion, but I can’t give it lower than a 2. I suppose sex is meant to be implied because they talk about marriage so much, but I don’t recall any specific innuendo, so I’m giving it a 0 for sexual content.

Newsies is mostly about the strike but there’s still the Jack and Sarah romance stuck in there, and the “Lovey Dovey Baby” song is pretty suggestive, so I’m saying 1 for romance, 1 for sex.

Stage Door is one of the few Production Code-era movies that actually has more sexual content than romantic content – there’s a lot more focus on potentially using sex to get ahead in show business than on romance, although there’s still a bit of romance in there too, and the sex isn’t super explicit, so I’m saying 1 for romance, 2 for sex.

Monkey Business is mostly about the formula to make people young, but that seems to manifest itself by stirring up relationship drama. The sexual aspect is mostly innuendo, so I’m going with 2 for romance, 1 for sex.

Father Goose starts out with no romance, but by the end becomes mostly focused on Walter and Catherine’s relationship, and there are some mild sexual references, so I’m again going with 2 for romance, 1 for sex.

Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House is mostly about the house. There’s some minor relationship drama, but even that is more about stress caused by the house situation than actual romance, so I would argue that it only deserves a 1 for romance. I’m tempted to give it a 0 for sex, but there’s enough innuendo when Bill spends the night alone with Muriel that I think I have to give it a 1.

Adam’s Rib is another tricky one because it’s about a trial that impacts romantic relationships, but the focus is rarely on the romantic aspect of those relationships. And by today’s standards, there really isn’t that much sexual content either, although for its time it feels pretty explicit. So I’m saying 1 for romance, and 2 for sex.

Mamma Mia has enough focus on non-romantic relationships that I’m only giving it a 2 for romance, but even though there aren’t any explicit sex scenes, there’s enough talk about it and enough suggestive dancing that I think it deserves a 3 for sexual content, at least on my scale.

I know that The Lion King features one of the most romantic Disney songs of all time, but I would argue that a relatively minuscule amount of the plot is actually dedicated to the romance between Simba and Nala, so I’m giving it a 1 for romance. And despite the misinterpretation of the leaves spelling SFX as the word SEX, and the rather suggestive look that Nala gives Simba in the middle of their love song, overall I don’t think it has enough sexual content to justify a rating above 0.

Freaky Friday appears at first glance to be heavily focused on romance, since Tess is about to get married and Anna wants to pursue a romantic relationship, but it’s way more about the mother/daughter relationship, so I’m giving it a 1 for romance, and also a 1 for sex because there’s a bit of innuendo.

The romantic aspect of The Major and the Minor is weird and kind of toxic, but it’s still there and it’s pretty important, so I’m giving it a 2 for romance. Then there’s the whole Pamela assuming Phillip slept with Susan part and some sexual harassment before it was called that… it’s not super explicit but I’m still saying that’s a 2 for sexual content, at least for its time.

I argued in the Bringing Up Baby episode that I don’t really believe that the main romantic storyline is actually romantic, but the characters seem to think it is, and Susan at least is pretty focused on that, so I’m saying 2 for romantic content, and once again there’s a bit of innuendo, so 1 for sexual content.

Enchanted is very much a romantic story, so I have to give it a romantic rating of 3. And while I’d like to give all kids’ movies a sexual content rating of 0, I’m sorry, that shower part boosts it up to 1. Kids might not know they’re talking about sex, but… there’s really no other way to interpret that.

Ella Enchanted has quite a bit of romance, but the main storyline is Ella trying to get rid of her curse, so I think that keeps the romantic content rating at a 2. And again, I want to say 0 sexual content because it’s a kids’ movie, but then I remembered some of the things Char’s fangirls say and…yeah I have to give it a 1.

Notorious is ultimately a spy movie, but the spying is accomplished by Alicia seducing and pretending to fall in love with Alex, and actually falling in love with Devlin, so that sounds like a 2 for both.

It’s a Wonderful Life is about a lot of other things, but a good chunk of it is devoted to George and Mary’s relationship, and there’s enough innuendo that I’m going with 2 for romance, 1 for sex.

Again, I argued in the Beauty and the Beast episode that I’ve never seen Belle and the Beast’s relationship as a typical romance, but most characters and audience members seem to. I still maintain that there’s enough other stuff going on to keep it from being a 3, but I don’t think I’d be justified in giving it a romance score below a 2. But I’m not giving it a sexual content rating above a 0, despite what the childhood ruiners say.

A Mighty Wind is mostly about a concert, but it gets a bit into Mitch and Mickey’s romance, and there are a few sex jokes, so I’m saying 1 for both.

His Girl Friday is pretty focused on Hildy wanting to marry Bruce but still being in love with Walter, but that’s not the only thing it’s about so I’m giving it a 2 for romantic content. If you read between the lines and interpret Molly as a prostitute, I guess an argument could be made to give it a higher sexual content rating, especially because there are a few other veiled sexual references as well, but I’m sticking with 1 because it’s all innuendo.

Gaslight is an interesting one because it’s very focused on the relationship between Gregory and Paula, but it’s more about the abuse than the romance, and nobody should think of this as a romantic movie, so I’m saying 1 for romantic content, and 1 for sexual content, because while there’s nothing explicit, it is very heavily implied that Nancy is sleeping with Constable Williams.

Edgar Allan Poe’s Murder Mystery Dinner Party is quite focused on friendship, but the party wouldn’t be happening in the first place if Edgar wasn’t trying to woo Annabel, and there’s also the whole Lenore/HG Wells thing, so I’m saying 2 for romantic content. And while it’s not at all explicit for the 2010s, there are definitely some sexual references, so that’s a 1.

The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer is almost entirely about romance, so I can’t give it below a 3 for romantic content. And while the movie does make it very clear that the bachelor does not sleep with the bobby-soxer, again, there’s enough innuendo that I have to give it a 1 for sexual content.

North by Northwest is mostly about Roger trying to figure out what’s going on. While he does fall in love with Eve, for a good chunk of the movie we think she’s trying to kill him, so I don’t think it deserves higher than a 1 for romantic content. But it was fairly sexually explicit for its time, so I’m giving it a 2 for sexual content.

The Sure Thing is very focused on both sex and romance, so that one gets a 3 for both.

Ishtar has a little bit of romantic content, but it’s mostly about the incompetence of the bumbling songwriters, so I’m giving it a 1 for romantic content. But there is some nudity and rather frank conversations about sex, so I feel like I have to give it a 3 for sexual content. I actually thought Ishtar was rated R until I double checked before making that episode. It’s PG-13, but just barely.

My Man Godfrey is about a lot of things, but although Godfrey the character would prefer to keep romance out of it, Irene keeps forcing it into the story, so it gets a 2 for romantic content. And, like most movies of its era, there’s no explicit sexual content, but there’s enough innuendo to earn it a 1.

The Princess Diaries is mostly about Mia learning she’s a princess, but enough of it is about her relationship with Michael and her crush on Josh that I have to give it a 2 for romantic content. But, as my sister Rosemary pointed out in that episode, the romance is very innocent, and I don’t recall even enough innuendo to bring the sexual content rating above a 0.

The Case of the Gilded Lily mirrors the innuendo but no real sexual content of production code-era films, but with significantly less romance than most of them, so I’m giving it a 1 for both.

Top Hat is extremely focused on the confusing romance between Jerry and Dale, so that’s a 3 for romantic content, but despite the fact that their dancing has been compared to making love, I’d argue that as far as sexual content there’s barely enough innuendo to earn it a 1, let alone anything higher than that.

Singin’ in the Rain is mostly about the change in the motion picture industry from silents to talkies, but Don’s love life pulls enough of the focus that it gets a 2 for romantic content. And while there’s barely any sexual content, Cyd Charisse’s dancing is suggestive enough to earn it a 1.

I’m going to be bold and say that Clue has zero romance, because even though there is some kissing, none of it is really romantic. But most of the suspects are being blackmailed for sexual reasons, so it gets a 2 for sexual content.

While I don’t watch Pride and Prejudice specifically for the romance, I can’t deny that that’s what most of the story is about, so I have to give it a 3 for romantic content. And the whole Lydia/Wickham thing brings the sexual content score up to 2 – one could even make an argument for 3, since we do briefly see them in bed together, but I think it’s a small enough proportion of the mini-series to keep it at 2.

Similarly, The Philadelphia Story has lots going on, but it is all about Tracy’s wedding, and which of the three possible grooms she’s most in love with, so I have to give it a 3 for romance. And even though she doesn’t actually sleep with Mike, there’s enough talk about it that I’m giving it a sexual content score of 2.

To sum all that up: as far as romantic content goes, 3 of these movies got a score of 0, 13 got a score of 1, 18 got a score of 2, and 6 got a score of 3. For sexual content, 8 got a score of 0, 19 got a score of 1, 9 got a score of 2, and 4 got a score of 3. And if we add the romantic and sexual ratings together, only 2 movies got a score of 0, two got a score of 1, 11 got a score of 2, 13 got a score of 3, 8 got a score of 4, 3 got a score of 5, and one got the maximum score of 6.

So why did I go through all of that? Well, aside from wanting an excuse to go back through all 40 movies again, I also wanted to emphasize that even when you’re not interested in sexual or romantic content, it’s extremely difficult to avoid. Allonormativity and amatonormativity are everywhere. I was able to find ways to relate to these movies from an aroace perspective, but every single one ultimately leans, at least to some extent, into the pervading societal assumption that every normal human fundamentally desires a long-term, monogamous, romantic and sexual partner of the opposite sex. This is so normalized that the two movies that earned a zero for both romantic and sexual content still include romantic kissing, and while I stand by my assertion that those movies don’t have enough romantic content to justify a higher rating, I also know that if those throwaway background romantic moments had been between two characters of the same sex, a bunch of people would have made a huge deal about how the LGBT+ “agenda” was being “shoved down their throats” and “forced on their children.” You know who really shoves their lifestyle down people’s throats and forces them on children? Straight cis allos! If children’s sexual and romantic orientations could be changed just by seeing them in movies, I would be incredibly straight and allo by now. But even spending all those years bombarded with the message that normal people were like that, it didn’t make me feel attraction that my brain wasn’t wired to feel, it just made me confused. What I would love to see in my next 20 years of movie watching is more normalization of other ways of being outside of amatonormativity. Right now that’s feeling very unlikely, given the enormous backlash against LGBTQIA+ rights that is currently escalating throughout much of this country. More awareness of aspec identities has led to more explicit aphobia. But it has also led more people like me to understand ourselves better, and I would love to see that continue until acceptance overwhelms the bigotry. And that could be greatly helped by more aspec artists getting to tell their stories. I know of some good aspec representation in books and TV shows, but I really haven’t heard about much in feature films, apart from the sort of vague ace coding I’ve discussed throughout this podcast. But I would love to hear recommendations if any listeners out there know of any openly asexual and/or aromantic movie characters.

Many of the movies on this list are silly comedies, which don’t tend to be recognized by the Academy Awards, but I thought it would be fun to look into the Oscar stats a bit anyway. Of these 40 movies, 23 were nominated for at least one Oscar, and 10 had at least one win. Among those, there were a total of 98 nominations and 28 wins. The most nominations for a single film was 13, achieved by both Mary Poppins and Chicago, and the most wins was 6, again by Chicago. Two movies that were nominated won 100% of the Oscars they were nominated for: Frozen with two and The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer with one. I did go through and watch all the Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar winners, at least up to a certain year, and those projects added to the view counts of five of the movies that made it into my top 40: Mary Poppins, Chicago, The Sound of Music, Gaslight, and The Philadelphia Story. I have considered tackling other Oscar categories, and I’ll probably make a podcast about it if I do, so that could potentially be on the horizon, we’ll see. Another movie podcast idea I have is to pick either an actor or director and go through their entire filmography chronologically and talk about that. I’m not sure if or when any of those ideas will come to fruition, but I have greatly enjoyed talking about movies on this podcast and would love to continue in a similar vein.

As for The Rewatch Rewind, I like to think that for now it will just be on a rather long hiatus rather than being completely finished. I have continued to track the movies I watch, and my top 40 has already changed in the last year, so it will be interesting to see how my movie watching continues to change in the years ahead. After I’d been keeping track for 10 years, I blogged about the 35 movies I’d seen at least 10 times, and 30 of those movies were still in my top 40 after 20 years of keeping track. The 10 new movies that were added for this list obviously include the three movies that hadn’t come out yet 10 years earlier – Frozen, Edgar Allan Poe’s Murder Mystery Dinner Party, and The Case of the Gilded Lily – in addition to Notorious, Adam’s Rib, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, Father Goose, Holiday, The Emperor’s New Groove, and Mary Poppins. The five movies that were in my top 35 after 10 years but were not in my top 40 after 20 were Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Neptune’s Daughter, Duck Soup, and The Phantom of the Opera. For the 30 movies that were on both lists, I still had a lot of new things to say about them ten years later. I’m not sure if I’ll wait until I’ve been keeping track for 30 years to return to this podcast, or if I’ll also do something for 25 years, but I do have every intention of returning for another season of something similar eventually. I probably won’t do the exact same thing, maybe I’ll do a top 100, or I’ll talk about my top movies from each decade or year, either of keeping track or when they came out – I haven’t decided yet. So stay subscribed or following to hear more from me in a few years – assuming these podcast platforms are still around in a few years.

Regardless of what the future has in store, thank you so much for listening to my analysis of the 40 movies I rewatched the most in my first 20 years of keeping track. Since I don’t know what movie I’ll be talking about next, in honor of his 120th birthday I’ll wrap this up with a quote that at least has been attributed to Cary Grant, although I couldn’t find where or when he said it, so maybe he didn’t, but it’s a good quote anyway: “My formula for living is quite simple. I get up in the morning and I go to bed at night. In between, I occupy myself as best I can.”

#the rewatch rewind #movies #aromantic #asexual

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blogofblogofblogs · 1 year ago

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50 CELEBRITIES YOU (MAYBE) DIDN'T KNOW HAD TIES TO PRO WRESTLING

Even before Mr. T got involved in the first Wrestlemania, celebrities of one form or another have been stepping into the squared circle. A list of those well-known famous folks appearing just on WWE shows over the decades would be near-infinitely long, let alone once you add the ones that showed up in WCW, ECW, IMPACT and, now, AEW. But this list/article, which I first started putting together over five years ago, is an attempt to go beyond the more mainstream publicity stunts. With only a couple of exceptions, this list is going to be a little different, covering 50 of the movie stars, athletes and even politicians who appeared outside of those notable promotions. Now, in fairness, some on the list were wrestlers first and foremost, but I feel their connections with popular culture outside of the squared circle qualifies them for such a list. And now, the list:

50. BELA LUGOSI

Kicking things off is Dracula himself. One of the earliest examples of a celebrity taking part in a wrestling show, Bela Lugosi appeared on one show managing/seconding NWA legend Lou Thesz. While this may sound unreal considering Thesz' stance on theatrics in wrestling, Lou himself verified it on his old message board. It was essentially a publicity stunt (as all these things are, honestly) arranged by Sandor Szabo, as all three men with ties to Hungary had been acquaintances prior. Sadly, beyond Thesz confirming it happened, little else of the match and event have surfaced; no date, venue or opponent (possibly Szabo?) is known, nor is whether or not Bela wore his famous Dracula cape to the ring.

49. KIWI KINGSTON

Lugosi wasn't the only Universal Monster to get involved with pro wrestling. Unlike Bela, New Zealand-born Erine "Kiwi" Kingston was a wrestler first - with a 20+ year career stretching back to the late 1940s. - but his turn as the Frankenstein Monster in the Hammer/Universal co-production THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN (1964) late in his career is undoubtedly what he is most well-known for today. He would have two more unremarkable cinematic outings and wrap up his wrestling career by 1969. He may not have been the most well-known Frankenstein Monster in either the Hammer or Universal series, he is technically the final Universal one, so that counts for something.

48. MAX PALMER

One of the legit giants of the wrestling ring, Max Palmer's billed height ranged anywhere between 7'7" and 8'2 While neither is likely accurate, he was still a tall, tall boy. Palmer originally took his massive frame to Hollywood, but only managed to snag a handful of (known) roles while there. Mostly used for sight gags on comedy shows starring the likes of Martin & Lewis as well as Jimmy Durante, Palmer would become somewhat iconic as one of the more prominent Martians in INVADERS FROM MARS (1953).

Palmer was also the titular monster in the B-movie KILLER APE (1953), sparring with Johnny (Tarzan) Weissmuller's Jungle Jim. Leaving Tinseltown behind, Palmer would soon find another calling in the squared circle. Originally billed under his real name, he would soon alternate between it and Paul Bunyan (and later, a third gimmick - Hercules) as he worked territories across the country, including (what would eventually be known as) Mid-Atlantic, CWF, AWA and Tri-State/Mid-South often taking part in battle royals and 2-or3-on-1 matches, but also working with the likes of Verne Gagne, Bobo Brazil, Dory Funk and Angelo Poffo. While it lasted longer than his acting stint, wrestling was also not Max's ultimate calling; he would retire from the ring after only five years. After that, he became an evangelist billing himself as Goliath For Christ. Most of us just know him as a classic movie monster.

47. TOR JOHNSON

An icon to bad movie buffs everywhere, Tor Johnson's wrestling career isn't *that* big a secret, especially if you watched Tim Burton's ED WOOD (1994). However, I'm a petty bastard and I want to use this as a platform to set one of that lovely film's many, many factual errors straight. While the movie shows the inept director discovering the brutish Johnson at a wrestling show and convincing him to be in a movie, the truth is Johnson's acting career (and to a degree, his wrestling career) were much more robust than Burton's take on things. In truth, by the time Wood and Johnson met, Tor had not only been wrestling for 23 years, but had been acting for 21 of them as well. With over two dozen film credits to his, er, credit prior to the Wood films, Tor had appeared (albeit often uncredited) in the films of W.C. Fields, Erroll Flynn, Abbott and Costello, and Bob Hope. His rasslin' career was nothing to sneeze at, either, with Buddy Rogers being the wrestler Tor worked with the most during his career. Very little of his actual ring work exists (the image used above is from a movie in which he portrayed a wrestler), which is a shame, but how many wrestlers can say they were a Don Post mask?

46. HAROLD SAKATA

Since we're kind of in the "actual wrestlers, just more well-known for some one-off in Hollywood" zone, let's continue with one of the most famous examples. First gaining some amount of fame winning a silver medal in weightlifting for the U.S. at the 1948 Olympics, Sakata began a wrestling career that would span nearly 30 years, working under his own name and as Tosh Togo. During that time, he traveled the world, worked over 2000 matches on record, feuded with the likes of Nick Bockwinkel and helped introduce Rikidozan to the business during a tour of Japan. In 1964, Sakata was cast in his first acting gig as the villainous henchman Oddjob in the James Bond film GOLDFINGER (1964). The film proved a massive hit, eventually amassing $124 million off a $3 million budget. With his sudden demand in Hollywood, Sakata would lighten his grappling schedule over the years as he took on more roles; while most of the films he appeared in were most of the B-movie nature, he fared better on television, where his instantly-recognizable appearance saw him cast in everything from the ROCKFORD FILES to GILLIGAN'S ISLAND. A memorable parody of Sakata's Oddjob would appear decades later in the first AUSTIN POWERS film, proving this great wrestler's legacy in the cinematic world doesn't look too shabby, either.

45. MACH FUMIAKE

Mach Fumiake (born Fumie Watanabe) is a legitimate legend of the ring. Starting off as a teenage singer and television personality, Mach would joining All-Japan Women's before she was 15. While her career was brief, she became a legend - winning (and losing) their top title, the WWWA World Championship before she turned 16 and retired before 18, leaving behind a legacy that influenced a number who followed and flourished.

BUT...as that may all be well and good and awesome, she's mostly known to western audiences as the lead superhero alien Kilara in the 1980 kaiju film GAMERA SUPER MONSTER. Sadly, little footage of her in-ring work has survived, so even many of those who know of her career have only ever seen her in this film.

44. / 43. LITTLE MAN MACHAN / LITTLE FRANKIE

Moving from Gamera to Godzilla, we have two wrestlers most widely known for portraying the Big G's son. Portraying Minya throughout the original Showa era staring with SON OF GODZILLA (1967), Masao Fukazawa - better known professionally as Little Man Machan - had been a theater performer and professional wrestler before stepping into a rubber suit and his most famous role. Sadly, very little is known about Fukazawa's wrestling career other than he apparently had one.

On the other hand, his successor Little Frankie (real name Masanobu Okamoto) had a very well-documented 10-year career, working for All-Japan, DDT and FMW. Two years into his wrestling career, he was hired to portray Little Godzilla in GODZILLA VS. SPACE GODZILLA (1994), essentially the same character as Machan's Minya in the rebooted continuity.

42. PAT ROACH

Another ring veteran with a long and storied career, Pat Roach enjoyed four decades as a mainstay on the British wrestling scene, stretching from 1960 until he retired in 1998 and holding the British World Championship in the mid-'80s. Nearly a decade into his grappling career, Roach was hired to play a small role in Kubrick's A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971) and spent the next thirty years working the two professions concurrently with pretty decent success. He ended up appearing in a number of notable films including three different Robert E. Howard adaptations (CONAN THE DESTROYER (1984), RED SONJA (1985) and KULL (1997), Harryhausen's CLASH OF THE TITANS (1981) and the James Bond vehicle NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN (1983). But there would be two roles in particular that would imprint Roach in wider social awareness, the German Mechanic in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981) and WILLOW (1988)

Roach's appearance in the first Indiana Jones film - he actually appeared in all three of the original trilogy in different roles - was brief but memorable, as his eager but ill-fated hulking mechanic spars with Indy for a few before eating an airplane propeller. It would prove memorable enough that his character received action figures, including a vintage Kenner release at the time of the film. Toward the end of the '80s, Roach would step before the camera again as General Kael for WILLOW, and while the film did not reach the heights of Lucas' previous STAR WARS, it was still marketed heavily and Kael's fearsome visage was plastered all over it.

41. MIKE LANE

Mike Lane may not be that well-known in either the wrestling or film worlds, but he definitely deserves a spot on this because, let's face it - how many wrestlers got to be villains on the 1966 Batman TV show? (Spoiler: There was at least one more, featured later on this list). Lane was a tall man - billed at 6'8" - and turned his size into a career, starting off as a circus act before getting into wrestling, where he was billed as Dick Hollbrook for a time before switching to Tarzan Mike. Throughout the 1950s, Lane worked mostly California promotions, battling the likes of Mad Dog Vachon, Hard Boiled Haggerty and Duke Keomuka.

But not long after getting into wrestling, Lane's height landed him a role as a boxer in THE HARDER THEY FALL (1956), which was Humphrey Bogart's final film role. While still wrestling, Lane picked up a side gig as an actor, parlaying his frame into multiple roles as the Frankenstein monster (FRANKENSTEIN 1970 (1958) and the 1976 television show MONSTER SQUAD) and Hercules in one of the many peplum films made in Italy at the time. Oh, and he was a Batman villain. Sure, he was just one of the "goons," as Tallulah Bankhead's Black Widow was the main villain for the two-episode story, but Lane's goon was a rarity in that he got his own villain name: Daddy Long Legs. Mike would bring his wrestling career to an end at the start of the '60s, devoting more time to appearing in the likes of KOJAK, KNIGHT RIDER and THE MONKEES, though he apparently returned for one single match in 1985, facing Outlaw Ron Bass.

40. RUSS FRANCIS

Moving away from movies to sports, here's one that has some of you saying "Wait, I thought we weren't counting WWF appearances and everyone knows this guy was in the Wrestlemania 2 battle royal." Well, yes, that's true, but here's what's also true: Russ was something of a "ringer" for the match. Russ was the son of wrestling promoter Ed Francis and teamed with his brother Bill for a number of years in the mid-1970s (all while playing football at the same time), even winning the NWA Hawaii Tag titles.

39. ERNIE HOLMES

And Russ wasn't the only ringer on the football side of that WM2 battle royal. About five years before taking part in that spectacle, two-time Super Bowl winner Holmes had previously dabbled in the wrestling territories, working a little over a dozen matches for the Georgia territory (feuding mostly with Baron Von Raschke), a tag team match with Buck Robley against the Freebirds (Hayes & Gordy) in Mid-South and a few sporadic appearances at a smaller Texas territory.

38. OTIS SISTRUNK

From a Super Bowl-winning Steeler with ties to the Freebirds, we turn to a Super Bowl-winning Raider with ties to the Freebirds. A Pro Bowler, Sistrunk's time in professional wrestling was fairly short. After a one-shot for Mid-Atlantic against Big John Studd, Otis went to Georgia, where he was recruited by Michael Hayes to help him against Terry Gordy and Jimmy Snuka. The ad hoc pair ended up winning the tag titles, but the business proved not to be for Sistrunk, as he would suddenly vacate the title and retire from wrestling after half a dozen or so matches.

37. WOODY STRODE

Few of the football players on this list are as legendary as Woody Strode. When the NFL finally allowed Black men to compete, Strode was one of two such men who broke the race barrier in 1946. Alongside a healthy film career (Woody was nominated for a Golden Globe for his role in SPARTACUS (1960)) that saw him appear in around a hundred roles in 55 years, Strode featured in Tarzan/jungle and Hercules/peplum movies, westerns, and was even a Batman villain at one point, as the Grand Mogul (told ya Mike Lane wasn't the only Bat-Villain on this list).

But before Woody ever played professional football, he was a pro wrestler. Strode first jumped into the squared circle in 1940, working the California area for a short time before his football career took off. Once touchdowns were in the past, Strode would again return to wrestling in 1949, spending the next eight years working the likes of Gorgeous George as he traveled everywhere from Hawaii to Canada. After a brief comeback half a decade later, Strode finally hung up the boots and focused on acting.

36. ALEX KARRAS

Few football players on this list had a more controversial career than four-time Pro Bowler Alex Karras. For about six months, Karras turned to pro wrestling between his college and NFL careers, having matches with the likes of Wilbur Snyder, Dick the Bruiser, the original Nicoli Volkoff, Don & Jackie Fargo, and Bronco Lubich. In the early '60s, Karras admitted to gambling on NFL matches, a serious no-no for an NFL player. With nothing else to do while serving out his suspension, Karras went back to his old grappling stomping grounds, joining the AWA for a losing effort against Dick the Bruiser before returning to the gridiron. Now, while a 4-time Pro Bowl player might be enough to get someone like Karras on the list, it's really what happened after both of his sports careers ended. See, Karras discovered he was only a pawn in the game of life.

Alex turned to acting, and in-between smaller roles in films like M*A*S*H (1974) and PORKY'S (1981) had two breakout roles that endeared him to millions. His supporting role of Mongo in 1974's BLAZING SADDLES and later starring with Emmanuel Lewis on the hit show WEBSTER (1983-87) as George Papadopolis. Oh, and he was the Hooded Fang in the children's cult classic JACOB TWO-TWO MEETS THE HOODED FANG (1978). Not bad for a guy that started off making some bad bets.

35. JACK DEMPSEY

While football is the most common sport one transitions from to wrestling, boxing isn't far behind it and some of the biggest names in the game have dabbled in wrestling as well. In the modern era, we have the likes of Mike Tyson, Muhammad Ali and Tyson Fury, but the legacy goes way back. In the 1920s, Jack Dempsey - while still World champion - would take part in public exhibitions with his friend Luigi Montagna, aka Bull Montana the wrestler to entertain crowds before his title matches. In 1925, the two fought at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as part of a celebration for military athletes and personnel, with Dempsey tossing Bull out of the ring to win the match. After his heyday, Dempsey would do some referee work in wrestling, apparently reffing at least one match between Lou Thesz and Buddy Rogers, and by the 1940s, he would occasionally pop up on North Carolina wrestling cards in straight-but-semi-worked boxing matches.

34. JOE LOUIS

Dempsey was only a pioneer in the pugilist-to-wrestler field, and many World champions would follow. Joe Louis, whose title reign still holds the record for length, found himself in the same place as his boxing career drew to a close. Shortly after retiring from one ring, Louis stepped into a new ring in 1954, working across the Midwest, but his life as a grappler would be short-lived, as an injury in '56 led to his retiring from active competition as well. Joe would then become a referee before he returned to active wrestling in later '60s, usually as part of tag matches, and retire from the ring for good in the mid-70s.

33. JOE FRAZIER

Knocking out the boxing round of this list, Joe Frazier. The first man to defeat Ali, once Frazier was done in the ring (for a time, he attempt multiple comebacks), he found himself in the world of wrestling. While many are aware of his shots as referee for the Flair/Dusty match at the second Starrcade and as cornerman for Mr. T at Wrestlemania 2, Frazier had been part of wrestling for years prior. As early as 1979, he was reffing for Carlos Colon in Puerto Rico. He would put on the tights himself in April of 1984, having matches against Colon and Victor Jovica before refereeing a match between Colon and Bruiser Brody that same month (with the finish seeing Brody taking a punch from Frazier).

32. BABE RUTH

Few names on this list - or many lists, for that matter - are more legendary than the great Bambino, Babe Ruth. Still considered by many to be the greatest baseball player ever, Ruth remains an icon many decades later. After his days as a slugger were over (and even during them, according to the Bleacher Report), Ruth spent some time in 1945 as a celebrity referee in the Maine, Boston and Portland areas, and as pics suggest, would get more physical with the wrestlers than many refs of the era would.

31. TONYA HARDING

After finding herself exiled from figure skating after her husband orchestrated an attack on a fellow skater, Tonya Harding became a tabloid regular in the mid-'90s. Seeking to exploit her notoriety, wrestling promoters quickly began courting her. Weeks after the attack, the WWF made her an offer to appear at Wrestlemania X (she declined) and soon after, Takashi Matsunaga offered her $2 million to work for All-Japan, but for whatever (likely legal) reason, that did not pan out. That didn't stop wrestling from wooing the disgraced skater.

On June 24, 1994, Harding would make her wrestling debut in less grand fashion in Oregon, agreeing to appear on a bizarre show comprised of Portland-territory regulars and lucha libre stars, with even the press conference for that getting air time on CNN. For one night only, Harding was the manager of Los Gringos Locos (Eddy Guererro and Art Barr) and their trios partner Brian Cox, facing off against Blue Panther Jr, Perro Aguayo and Konnan. Things got really odd, as the promoters never had time to procure a manager's license for Harding, so after the ring introductions, she had to spend the match sitting in a chair halfway down the entrance aisle. That would be it for Harding's time in wrestling for over a decade, during which she found a new calling as a professional boxer. Around 2008, while competing for a boxing promotion in Arkansas, Harding was confronted in the ring by local wrestling personality Boss Campbell, who trash-talked the crowd and Tonya before she punched him out.

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