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taravangianlistenstothebeachboys · 7 months ago

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Some notes from watching Ghibli's Tales from Earthsea:

I guess they were hoping having Lebannen be a killer runaway would make him more engaging a character than he was in Le Guin's books. Certainly its a more exciting introduction than "was sent to Roke and Ged decided he should tag along." But this is hampered by how Lebannen and all these characters have maybe two character traits between them.

No matter how bad the movie is, if its a Ghibli film its gonna be beautiful. The background artists for this should be given a medal. Hork town especially is incredible:

Although these are clearly Ghibli asthetics more than Earthsea aesthetics. We got all your Ghibli staples: the weird mammals that are almost real animals, the random fighterpilot elements in the costume design, that one weird type of hood, etc.

I do like the action scene of Lebannen dealing with the slavers. Only well-paced part of the film I've seen.

The shadow "visiting" Lebannen while he rests was done very well. The color dimming, the shadow on the water, the rushing wind towards him, its all great. I'm especially a fan of how when Lebannen looks over his shoulder, he sees nothing but a stream of water coming out of a wall. Fits with what's actually happening on in the dryland very well.

The "Ged rescues Lebannen but only takes the chains off the other slaves" is a weird detail to keep in the adaptation, though I guess it's less an obviously dick move when the slaves aren't trapped on a boat with their former captors.

I feel mixed about this version of Cob? Making him the slaver lord isn't a bad choice, though it does kind of positions slavery in Earthsea as "the bad thing that the one bad guy is doing" instead of, y'know, a cornerstone of Hork Town's economy.

They don't make him an especially originally villain either. He's literally introduced with the old "flash of villains castle, lieutenant comes in nervously to report on escape, almost gets killed until he mentions something important" trope. They did kind of flatten him into the stock fantasy big bad.

But Cob from the books didn't really have a lot going on character-wise either, so its less offensive a flattening than some of the other characters. And I do like his character design alot. That eye makeup is some Hot Topic Shit but it works. The thin lips and tall everything is a type of exaggeration I don't see in Ghibli's character design very often.

Christ, Ged's monologue about the balance and true names is really just plopped on the audience's lap like a dead mouse. The bridge from "why does a wizard like farming" to "everything has a true name that wizard's use for its power" is nonexistent. They really couldn't find another place to explain the basics of the magic system? Couldn't seed it with Ged using true names while freeing the slaves? No? Lord.

The ghibli food twitters aren't gonna touch this movie. No love was put into that cheese.

Oh this depiction of the dry lands fucks. Love how the sky is a completely different artstyle than anything else in this movie, really sells this as a weird and alien place.

Hare and two suspicious women clutching each other and going "they're not from around here" are the only time this movie has felt like it knew what it was doing. They're giving them banter and the actors are being allowed to put emotion into their voices. They're actually breaking out facial expressions for these guys.

God all the dialogue is so bad.

WHEN IS THIS SONG GONNA FUCKING END

What the fuck is Lebannen and Tehanu's relationship. None of their emotional beats have any real connection.

The thing haunting Lebannen (are they giving him the gebbeth plotline?) always makes the best scenes. Lebannen struggling to wade through the muck while the shadow casually strolls atop the water's surface creates such great tension and horror.

Tenar keeps talking about being rescued from the tombs and pausing like there's about to be a flashback. Why are they bringing so much attention to that detail if they're not gonna tie it in to anything. Either have it be an aside to make the world feel richer without it being a thing your constantly gesturing at, or don't bring it up at all.

It really was a choice to take the worst Earthsea book as the main thing they're adapting. All the "life without death is no life" rubbish and not even Le Guin's prose to save it. It's not even a theme the rest of the movie seems concerned with.

Why are they taking something called "Earthsea" and making 90% the outskirts of Hork Town. We saw the ocean like twice. This supposedly expansive fantasy world feels twenty feet across.

Having Tehanu follow the gebbeth to the castle is honestly a really cool adaptational choice. I do like the weird conflict they set up between the gebbeth and Cob over who gets to have Lebannen.

Great shot of Cob getting amputated. Thats some Mononoke-level satisfying gore.

See when Ged didn't do shit for most of The Far Shore it was fine, because it was the third book in the series and the reader already knew why he was a big deal. Here we keep hearing how cool and powerful he is but get shown nothing.

2D has grown odd in his old age.

They have not set up dragons as a thing (or connectd them to Tehanu) nearly enough for this ending to work. Having Tehanu transform instead of calling Kalesin works adaptation-wise though.

Final analysis: I liked Hork Town. I like how the dragons trail sparks from their eyes. I like Cob going all gooey. I like Hare. These were the isolated pockets in an otherwise bland experience. The plot was barely held together and I can't imagine someone who hadn't read the books would be able to enjoy this at all.

#mals says #studio ghibli #tales from earthsea #ursula k. le guin #mals reads earthsea

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twostepbucho · 4 years ago

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tagged by @collectoroflovelythings

1. name/nickname: Jared

2. gender: dude

3. star sign: gemini

4. height: 5′3

5. time: 5:45

6. birthday: Sep 29

7. favorite bands/groups: Chelmico, The Mountain Goats, The Dreadnoughts

8. favorite solo artist: Anjimile, Mitski, Mal Blum, Orville Peck, Serpentwithfeet, we are the dirt, Johnny Cash

9. song stuck in my head: Don’t Stop Me Now by Queen

10. last movie: Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

11. last show: probably Demon Slayer

12: when did i create this blog: late 2018 i think

13. what do i post: on this blog i only post podcast related stuff

14. last thing googled: ursula le guin

15. other blogs: @toddfrommario and @dicedescriptions

16. do i get asks: rarely

17. why did i choose this url: it’s a reference to naddpod

18. following: 386

19. followers: 137

20. average hours of sleep: no two nights are the same

21. lucky number: 27

22. instruments: i used to play clarinet

23. what am i wearing: a summer camp tshirt and pe shorts

24: dream job: eccentric owner of a used book store

25: dream trip: a mountain lake with swimming hiking and fishing

26. favorite food: sushi

27. nationality: American

28. favorite song: currently Maker by Anjimile

29. last book read: currently reading A Wizard of Earthsea

30. three fictional universes you’d like to live in: Drawga, Mob Psycho 100, and Full Metal Alchemist

I tag @p-otato-s @chubbswithhuggs @wingpiercing and anyone else who wants to

#i love getting these but i hate tagging people

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