#moonlight chicken color analysis | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

telomeke · 10 months ago

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✨2023: A Summary✨

Post your most popular and/or favourite edit/gifset/analysis for each month (it’s okay to skip months!)

I was tagged by:

@colourme-feral (here);

@lurkingshan (here);

@dribs-and-drabbles (here);

@ranchthoughts (here);

@chickenstrangers (here).

Thanks for tagging me, sweeties! 🥰 Hope the new year is treating you well. 😍

Apologies for being a bit late with this, but after I got back from my 2023 year-end break there was a ton of stuff to attend to, with deadlines suddenly looming much closer than they had seemed looking through eggnog goggles. 👀

But anyway I have a bit of time before the next deadline, so I'm going to use this window to try and summarize my 2023 on Tumblr. 😁 (Some of the posts referenced below may not fall into the definition of "edit/gifset/analysis" but that's just me being honest: my output on Tumblr is definitely a bit of a mixed bag! 🤣)

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✨JANUARY 2023✨

MOST POPULAR POST – A meme summarizing Greta Thunberg's epic takedown of toxic masculizard Andrew Tate, with the help of Jerry's Pizza boxes, Elon unbanning Andrew on Twitter, and the domino effect:

‌ (above) Post linked here

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FAVORITE POST – Of course it's something to do with Bad Buddy. 🤣 I posted about my experience viewing Bad Buddy's corner at the GMMTV Exhibition in Osaka, with photos and write‑ups about actual wardrobe and props that appeared in BBS (especially Baseball Mom and the Ep.12 memory board! 🤩):

‌ (above) Post linked here

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✨FEBRUARY 2023✨

MOST POPULAR POST – A write-up about Jim and Li Ming's confrontation in Moonlight Chicken. More than just a teen-versus-(surrogate)-parent argument, the scene was also an insight into elder/junior dynamics and the importance of self-control in Thai culture:

(above) Post linked here

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FAVORITE POST – Oh don't make me choose between my kids! It's a toss-up: the more popular one is a Bad Buddy post about the pause before PatPran's second kiss on the rooftop in BBS Ep.5 (yes, THE Kiss™):

(above) Post linked here

But also sharing the Feb 2023 favorite spot in my heart is a post about GMMTV producer/director cameos (in My School President and other series) and what they might mean beyond the show:

(above) Post linked here

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✨MARCH 2023✨

MOST POPULAR POST – This was written after Michelle Yeoh won a SAG Award for Best Actress and was nominated for an Oscar in the same category. I thought most of her newer fans wouldn't be aware of Tan Sri Dato' Seri Michelle's death-defying stuntwork (I'm really not exaggerating here) during her earlier years as an action hero in 80s and 90s Hong Kong moviedom, so I wrote a piece about it:

(above) Post linked here

If you've not watched the video linked therein yet, you should. And then carefully pick your jaw up off the floor (as I had to, the first time I watched this). Not to give too much away, but it involves Michelle riding a motorbike helmetless atop a rickety Malaysian train carriage with no safety measures at all. 👀

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FAVORITE POST – My favorite post for March 2023 is about the characters' names in Moonlight Chicken, and it's so long I had to break it into two parts. (Whenever it's an Aof show, you can usually expect the characters' names to carry some significance, as was the case with Last Twilight and Bad Buddy too.) So Part 1 of the Moonlight Chicken post is about the names in general, what they mean for their characters and any relevance they might have for the narrative:

(above) Post linked here

And Part 2 of my favorite post for March 2023 is about Wen's name, with a detour into political color symbolism in Moonlight Chicken:

(above) Post linked here

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✨APRIL 2023✨

MOST POPULAR POST AND FAVORITE POST – It's the same post doing double duty, about the prevalence of the chue len Korn as a character name in Thai dramas:

(above) Post linked here

There aren't that many actors named Korn, so I found it quite befuddling that so many characters would have that name, but there you go. And "Korn Kob" Songsit Rungnopakunsi was ultimately crowned king of the Korn harvest: 😂

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✨MAY 2023✨

MOST POPULAR POST – Our Skyy 2 x My School President's red-hot comment on Thai politics, with Principal Ratchanee (Gun's mom) announcing a subversion of the election process:

(above) Post linked here

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FAVORITE POST – My favorite post in May 2023 was a look at linguistic wordplay on some t-shirts in Moonlight Chicken, touching on the themes of generational change, eggplants, etymology and cute little weiners:

(above) Post linked here

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✨JUNE 2023✨

Well! Our Skyy 2 dropped its Bad Buddy episodes beginning 31 May 2023, so June 2023 was dominated by BBS for me. 😍

MOST POPULAR POST – A (sort-of) review and analysis of the Our Skyy 2 x Bad Buddy x A Tale of Thousand Stars episodes:

(above) Post linked here

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FAVORITE POST – Do I really have to choose? Top of my own list is the most popular post above, but I'm going to list another one that was just a Phupha-whisker away in second place, and it's the OS2 x BBS filming locations:

(above) Post linked here

I love research and analysis, and tracking down the Bad Buddy filming locations was especially fulfilling because it combined the opportunity for me to exercise my bloodhound instincts and also find out more about this show that I love so much. (The locations were not very well-credited in the original BBS, unlike later GMMTV offerings, so it was very satisfying hunting down mystery BBS locales based almost solely on visual clues.) I've got almost the whole list of BBS locations now, although I've yet to post the last few (which are minor locations only).

So I'm very proud of the work I've done on identifying the BBS filming locations – and also a little alarmed at how powerful Google plus a bit of logical deduction can be.

Stay safe on the Internet people! Don't ever reveal too much private information about yourself, because my time doing this and other location posts has shown me that online info can all be tracked down and consolidated to identify what might have seemed to be pretty well-hidden at the start. Which bodes ominously for privacy and safety, online or off. 👀

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✨JULY 2023✨

MOST POPULAR POST – A write-up about Bad Buddy's Nong Nao, Pat's beloved comfort object. But in the unraveling of Nong Nao's significance to BBS (and this was surprising to me too) we got further insight into Pat's character as well:

(above) Post linked here

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FAVORITE POST – OK, so the Nong Nao post above is quite my favorite for July 2023, but it also shares that spot atop my list of faves with this reply to a Bad Buddy Ask from @pandasmagorica about Pat and Pran's emotionally-laden verbal zingers on the Ep.5 rooftop, before they took that step forward beyond the point of no return and fell into The Kiss™:

(above) Post linked here

It's not just about how well the dialogue was written, or how well Ohm and Nanon brought the scene to life. Part of why this post is special to me is because the scene demonstrates how well-crafted BBS actually is, with an underlying logic and consistency that holds up no matter how hard you prod and poke at it (which, for the record, wasn't quite the case for OS2 x BBS). When you can analyze the characters, their actions and reactions in-depth as though they are real people with real motivations, and no inauthenticity shows through, you know there's been a whole lot of deep-rooted work sunk into it. I'm still in awe of what Khun Noppharnach has wrought. 👀

But there's another reason why this post is also one of my faves, and it's rather more personal.

It's because this Ask is the first one where @pandasmagorica lifted the Anon veil to use his own Tumblr name. And that was when I felt I'd made a new friend right here on Tumblr. 😍 I'm actually quite reticent in real-life, so I don't make friends easily – but I do treasure the friendships I have once made (even though I can be pretty bad at staying in touch; doesn't mean the feelings aren't there still – far from it). I'd learnt to recognize @pandasmagorica's voice even when his Asks were anonymous, and this particular Ask made my heart swell with happiness. So even though we haven't communicated directly in some time, dear @pandasmagorica, please know that you're still a treasured friend to me! 💖

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✨AUGUST 2023✨

MOST POPULAR POST – This was a bit of throwaway fluff, an assembling of images pointing out the visual similarity between a promotional poster for Only Friends (on the same day as the show's debut, which was 12 August 2023) and a poster for the iconic 1990s sitcom Friends:

(above) Post linked here

Image posts and zingy hot takes always garner likes and reblogs so much more easily than long, thought-driven essays on Tumblr, especially when they ride on a wave of hype (as this one did, on the absolute tsunami welling for Only Friends). Doesn't mean the post or the series are really anything of substance though! 😂

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FAVORITE POST – I have more than one in August 2023, and they were momentous for me. 🤩 The first is my analysis (loving, yet incontrovertibly loopy to the point of near-lunacy) explaining my finding why Director Aof put the incongruous Baseball Mom t-shirt on Pat in Bad Buddy Episode 5. If you've not read the explanation yet, the answer will surprise you:

(above) Post linked here

There's also a Part 2, because as usual I had so much to say, and this second part explains why PatPran's Ep.7 rooftop encounter is also a parallel with (and counterbalance for) the Epic Rooftop Kiss in Ep.5.

Anyway, my other favorite post for August 2023 is also dear to me because it points out some very clever visual rhetoric in Be My Favorite that was carefully woven into a particular scene, taking up the clarion call for marriage equality in Thailand:

(above) Post linked here

Screenwriter/director Waa Waasuthep Ketpetch really piled on the magic into this one scene. It was fun to pick it apart and look at all the different elements, within what was otherwise an only somewhat complex and not too challenging series (that still managed to be highly entertaining nonetheless). 😍

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✨SEPTEMBER 2023✨

My MOST POPULAR POST and my FAVORITE POST are one and the same, which was an apology to any legitimate Tumblr user I might have blocked (as we were facing yet another onslaught of porn bots with believable names suddenly following our Tumblr blogs):

(above) Post linked here

I then got a few snarky comments (from people whose names I didn't recognize) letting me know that people whom I've blocked can't read the post. 😮

But that's not exactly true (this is Tumblr after all). 🤣

I've since found out that if you've been blocked, you can still view the blog that blocked you, as long as you read it in blog view but not dashboard view.

If you've been blocked, here are some salient points to know:

You can't search for that blog on Tumblr (but Tumblr's search function is pretty much rubbish anyway, and you can still find the blog with a Google search).

If you know the name of the blog, then typing the URL (in the address bar) using blog view format (as opposed to dashboard view format) will still bring you there. For the difference between blog view and dashboard view (using my own Tumblr as an example) – typing telomeke.tumblr.com into the address bar will take you to my Tumblr in blog view, while typing tumblr.com/telomeke into the address bar will open my blog in dashboard view. You can still view my Archive (if I haven't hidden it) and read my posts, even if I've blocked you.

This one should be obvious – you can't like, comment on or reblog any of a blog's posts if that blog has blocked you. You can't DM that blog either. You can send Asks, but they will not be received. And that's part of the delicious irony that Tumblr bestows if you block any hater troll from your blog – you can continue posting everything that set them off in the first place, and they will still be able to see it, but they can no longer send any negativity your way. (You can also troll them back with impunity, but why waste precious time and energy like that? You won't know if they've seen your trolling, just that they can. 🤷‍♂️)

Asking to be unblocked is a bit trickier if you've been mistaken for a bot and inadvertently blocked. You'll need to ask a friend with a Tumblr account to request the unblocking on your behalf, or you'll need to set up a new Tumblr account just to send in this new Ask/message.

Anyway, the point of my post above was to let newbies know how important it is to humanize your blog, so as not to be mistaken for a bot and blocked – it would be especially rueful if the blog that blocked you (thinking you were a bot) was one you followed because you liked the content in there!

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✨OCTOBER 2023✨

MOST POPULAR POST – This was a jokey review of/(slash)/reaction to the newly-released Red Peafowl trailer:

youtube

(above) Post linked here

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FAVORITE POST – @pandasmagorica sent me an Ask about PatPran's sex life in Bad Buddy, and this was a fun look at the physical side of their love (that they, and Director Aof, kept mostly hidden from view):

(above) Post linked here

Because BBS is extremely self-referential, part of me now thinks they kept so much of PatPran's sex life under wraps in order to squeak by the ratings – this is what the cookout scene with Junior in Ep.11 seems to be telling us, IMO.

And they succeeded in getting a 13+ age rating, allowing Bad Buddy's message about LGBTQ+ positivity and growing into your authentic queer self to reach exactly the audience demographic that needs it (and of course even beyond them too 😊).

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✨NOVEMBER 2023✨

MOST POPULAR POST – This was a look at the meanings of Mhok and Day's names in Last Twilight:

(above) Post linked here

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FAVORITE POST – I'm cackling with fairy godfather glee because I got to inflict the warm fuzzies on people in the Bad Buddy fandom, by helping them relive their first time watching The Epic Rooftop Kiss in BBS Ep.5 (on the two-year anniversary of that event).

YouTuber "Chib" had put together an absolutely genius montage of a myriad reaction videos to The Kiss™, and my post was simply a link to it. But the ensemble of gasps and outpouring of unbridled emotion onscreen had so vividly brought back memories of my own first time watching PatPran's rooftop moment that I just knew I had to share it. I think Bad Buddy fans who watch the video will absolutely see themselves in it:

youtube

(above) Post linked here

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✨DECEMBER 2023✨

MOST POPULAR POST – The Sign really happened in a big way when December 2023 came around, and my most popular post is testament to that. I wrote about the naga and garuda mythology underpinning the narrative (hat tip to @respectthepetty for getting the ball rolling 👍) and the subject seems to have resonated with a lot of viewers because the post is still getting notes a month later:

(above) Post linked here

But the post above really should be read in tandem with others that followed, because the series is really going all in with the naga and garuda, and there's lots to take away if you're a culture and linguistics fiend like I am. Additional info linked below: 🤩

Evil jellyfish (Tharn's pet name for Phaya, a mistranslation of the Thai แมงกะพรุนไฟ that actually means fire jellyfish, which is a nod at the flames of the garuda);

Nong Khai, naga fireballs and the dance of adversaries;

More naga and garuda references in Ep.4 (although the storytelling had become a bit muddled by then).

(above left) Post linked here; (above right, top) post linked here; (above right, bottom) post linked here

The props, lighting and wardrobe are also playing their part to add to the visual feast of naga and garuda references. I may post more about these if I can find the time. 🤩

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FAVORITE POST – All the above (Signposts? 😂) are dear to me. But tying with them for top spot on my favorites list at the end of 2023 is this one, a tongue-in-cheek look at QL objects of carnal affection:

(above) Post linked here

Not meant to be taken seriously (and maybe I shouldn't have been focusing on the actors themselves instead of the characters they play) but it's all in the name of good fun. 🤣

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And that's a wrap! 🥳

Dunno who to tag next because I'm so late with this, and I think everyone will have already played by now. So I'm just going to tag creators at random (excluding those already tagged above) – if you've already done your post, please send me a link because I'd love to read (and re-read) what you've done!

@waitmyturtles

@grapejuicegay

@neuroticbookworm

@airenyah

@absolutebl

@williamrikers

@wen-kexing-apologist

@respectthepetty

@pandasmagorica

@recentadultburnout

@visualtaehyun

@inventedfangirling

@dimplesandfierceeyes

@bengiyo

@befuddledcinnamonroll

@btwinlines

@twig-tea

@blmpff

@hereforlou

@solitaryandwandering

@brazilian-whalien52

@hughungrybear

@callipigio

@dudeyuri

@kattahj

@jemmo

@non-binarypal7

@lovelyghostv

@isaksbestpillow

@shortpplfedup

@rythyme

@squeakygeeky

@starryalpacasstuff

Apologies if I've missed anyone out – if I've ever liked and/or reblogged a post of yours, please know that you're special to me too and do feel free to play along. (And do tag me please, so I can read your post! 😍)

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P.S. This site (JetBlackCode) is super-helpful in searching for and filtering your posts: 👍

#tag game #2023: a summary #YouTube

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grelleswife · 6 years ago

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Vanitas no Carte Challenge: Day 10

A song that reminds you of the series/a character/pairing

*rubs hands gleefully*

Oh, I have several, my friends. 🎶 I always feel über-prententious when I pontificate about music, but I love it so much. Please bear with me, y’all! ❤️

Noé

You Are My Sunshine (no explanation required)

La Vie en Rose (as illustrated quite well in the latest chapter, our sweet boy manages to view life though rose-colored glasses even in the bleakest of circumstances)

Vanitas

Shatter Me (💔💔💔💔)

Hand in My Pocket by Alanis Morissette (with lyrics such as, “I care but I’m restless,” “I’m brave but I’m chicken sh*t,” “I’m sad but I’m laughing,” and “I’m sick but I’m pretty,” this song might as well have been written for Vani. It perfectly captures his contradictory, beautifully broken personality)

Auprès de ma blonde (I headcanon that Vani hums jaunty French tunes like this one to himself when he’s in a cheerful and/or sassy mood)

Vanoe (You know what they say...music is the food of love!)

Clear by Needtobreathe (this song is PERFECT for them. Favorite lyrics of mine include “You are the moonlight in the sky that I’m pursuing/You are the reason for what I’m doing” [Noé to Vanitas] and “You’re the catalyst of high hopes/You are the beauty/that sparks revival/You are the oxygen inside these lungs that’s giving life to my bones” [Vani to sweet, soft Noé]. Although tender and loving, the song also has an undercurrent of sadness that tends to make me tear up just a bit. I even found an excellent Vanoe MMV featuring this song on YouTube!)

Diamonds and Rust by Joan Baez (it makes me think of Noé’s reminiscinces on all that they gained...and lost. 💔)

Claire de Lune (the French art song by Fauré, not the Debussy piano piece. I sometimes “see” songs in colors in my mind’s eye, and this one has a lovely silvery-blue hue that reminds me of Vanitas. The melancholy, wistful lyrics also make me think of these two)

Im wunderschönen Monat Mai by Schumann (the lyrics of this lied are about the singer’s feelings of love that have blossomed in the spring. Without going into the nitty-gritty of a true harmonic analysis, let’s just say that the harmonic language/tonalities Schumann uses in this piece depicts conflict between feelings of sorrow and joy— the pain of (possibly) unrequited love)

#vnc #vanitas no carte #vnc challenge #noé archiviste #vanitas #vanoe #music is the food of love

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pjbookblog-blog · 6 years ago

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Genre 2 Traditional Literature Book review by P. Johnson

**This is an assignment for my TWU course LS-5603 of book reviews for traditional literature.

BOOK 1

The Three Little Tamales by Eric A. Kimmel Illustrated by Valeria Decampo

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Kimmel, Eric A. 2009. The Three Little Tamales. Ill. by Valeria Docampo. New York: Marshall Cavendish Corporation. ISBN 9780761455196

PLOT SUMMARY

Three little tamales set out to leave their taqueria due to the dilemma that tortilla has addressed to them. First, tamale finds a cozy sage smelling place to live. The second, tamale finds a casita in the cornfields. The third, tamale build a cactus home that will be help protect it. All three tamales live happy until another dilemma occurs. Senor Lobo is looking for yummy tamales to eat. The first and second tamale narrowly get away and make it to the third tamales cactus protected home. Senor Lobo has a hard time getting to the three tamales. The three tamales teach Senor Lobo a lesson and the three little tamales have a fiesta.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Kimmel sets this unique story in Texas. With it’s Mexican style and soft colored illustration. Docampo’s illustration invites you into light browns and festive colors as you turn the pages. The reader will enjoy seeing three characters with features of a headband, red glasses and a mustache. The story provides senses of smell, sound and touch. Smell is the scent of the taqueria and also the scent of the sagebrush. The sounds of the cornstalks in the night wind and the texture of cactus pricking paws. The reader will want to know what will happen next as the tamales flee their home to the third tamales house. As the reader senses the good will win over evil a sigh of relief passes over. At the end of the story a celebration brings the story to close.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

From School Library Journal “ Kimmel has pulled the pork from “The Three Little Pigs” wrapped it in masa, and cooked up another traditional tale flavored with Southwestern spice.”

CONNECTIONS

Gather other Eric Kimmel books to read such as:

Cactus soup. ISBN 9780761455196

Three Cabritos. ISBN 9780761463092

Use this story as an introduction to learning Mexican words.

BOOK 2

The Three Horrid Little Pigs by Liz Pichon

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Pichon, Liz. 2008. The Three Horrid Little Pigs. Wilton: Tiger Tales. ISBN 9781589250772

PLOT SUMMARY

Once upon a time a mother pig kicks out her three horrid pigs. Due to their constant destructive behavior. The pigs ventured out to find their new homes. The first pig takes straw from the cows to build his home. When a big friendly wolf sees this house and as a builder, Wolf know this first pig needs some help. Unfortunately, pig rudely tells wolf no. As wolf moves on he runs across a home terribly made of sticks. When he asks the second pig if he needed help, again this pig shouts for wolf to keep moving. On his way home wolf finds the third wolf not even in his house. The pig has taken over a chicken coop. Wolf approaches the third pig and again he is told to leave. Wolf kindly takes in the chickens. Lots of issues happen and the pigs have no place to call home. Overall, this story mixes up the three little pigs” into a unique and caring story at the end.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

The cover of the book explains a lot about these three little horrid pigs. Eyes are tiny and the face look like these pigs are bad. One pig has his tongue sticking out. Another with his arms cross holding tight a bushel of straw. The last one has a chocolate donut and really needs to clean his face. The reader will be intrigued when seeing this cover. Far behind the pigs on the cover is a wolf who looks well dressed with a red box in his hand. Curiosity will captivate the reader by the title with questions like “What is horrid? and Is it the three little pigs or the wolf.” These bright colorful illustrated pages takes the reader into a world of talking pink pigs and a tool welding wolf. Movement in the book is illustrated with wispy lines to show stick and straw falling. At the end of the story the reader will be on the edge of their seat wondering what happen to those three pigs and a wolf who has a big pot of boiling at the bottom of his chimney. With hilarious laughter and some nail bitting suspense “The Three Horrid Little Pigs” will want you to read it over and over again.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

From Booklist “This fracture take on “The Three Little Pigs” is infused with humor and lesson about community and compassion.”

CONNECTIONS

Gather other Jon Sciezka books to read such as:

The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. ISBN 9780140544510

Gather other Eugene Trivizas books to read such as:

The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig. ISBN 9780689815287

BOOK 3

The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Pinkney, Jerry. 2009. The Lion and the Mouse. New York: Little Brown and Company. ISBN 9780316013567

PLOT SUMMARY

This is the story of a lion and a mouse. A meeting that could have ended badly but, the lion kindly releases the mouse. Saving the mouse life. The lion moves on roaming the lands of Africa. The mouse moves on searching maybe for food. Two men lay out a net to capture animals. The lions luck surprisingly changes and he gets caught in the net. Ending with a grateful lion saved by an unexpected hero. This story of “The Lion and the Mouse” takes you on an African journey of surprising encounters and odd couple acquaintance.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

This picture book begins before opening the book. A huge lion is painted on the cover. With eyes looking to the side. Pinkney has out done himself as the author and illustrator. One the title page the illustration shows huge paw prints in the mud and a small mouse sitting in one of those large prints. As the reader turns the page they have stepped into an African night.

Pinkney uses few words to create sounds of the night like a owl who, who among the moonlight sky. The read will then see a large lion and a mouse in its paw the reader wonders if this is the end for the mouse. The suspense is overwhelming as Pinkney illustrates a lion with its large mouth and teeth open as it holds the little mouse. The reader will wonder will the lion eat the mouse. To the readers surprise the little mouse is release by the big lion. The motions of two men hammering a net catches the readers attention. Illustrated on the next page is a close up of a two large paws about to cross over a part of the net. The reader will watch as such a huge lion is rescued by a small mouse and an unbelievable association is created. “The Lion and the Mouse” is like the odd couple you never thought could happen. Jerry Pinkney’s illustration is a masterpiece in its own right.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

2010 CALDECOTT AWARD

From Publisher’s Weekly: “Other than some squeaks hoots, and one enormous roar, Pinkney’s ( Little Red Riding Hood) interpretation of Aesop’s fable is wordless-as is its striking cover, which features only a head on portrait of the lion’s face.”

From School Library Journal “ This wordless iconographic rendering of Jerry Pinkney’s Caldecott winner (Little, Brown, 2009), is filled with action, suspense, and song.”

CONNECTONS

Gather other Caldecott Medal books to read such as:

Wiesner, David. Flotsam. ISBN 9780618194575

Have students draw a picture book and share with class in their own words what the story is about.

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stanleystockwell-blog · 7 years ago

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Obtaining The 9 Days Inappropriate

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thenicedolphin · 8 years ago

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Oscars Analysis With Biting Commentary: 2017 Edition!

Better the day of than never, amirite??? The 5th annual Oscars post from The Nice Dolphin (see links here for 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013), where Matt always provides excellent, impressive, insightful, groundbreaking commentary, and Alex comes in flaccid, flubbing around, rambling about James Harden, Andy Dalton, and some scary movie that no one watched. It’s a tradition for the ages! Matt will be in regular font, and Alex will come in with the bold font.

Okay, first of all, say what you want, but if there’s one thing my takes AREN’T it’s flaccid. Anyhow, fun production note: Matt emailed me his musings at like 3am last night in hopes that I wouldn’t have time to take his shoddy, poorly-reasoned, informed-by-Buzzfeed opinions to task. Bad news, Matt -- ya boy is WIDE awake and ready to talk Oscars!

Best picture:

“Arrival”

“Fences”

“Hacksaw Ridge”

“Hell or High Water”

“Hidden Figures”

“La La Land”

“Lion”

“Manchester by the Sea”

“Moonlight”

I’ve seen all nine films this year. I think I once was sorta embarrassed by that, but at this point, I don’t care… I WANT THE WHOLE WORLD TO KNOW. We got some classics in this field, and I would say I generally appreciated all of these films, but we gotta hand some critiques out too. Buckle up.

I’ve seen five out of the nine nominees: Arrival, Hell or High Water, La La Land, Manchester by the Sea, and Moonlight. I’m watching Hidden Figures as I’m writing this, so that should tell you all you need to know about my level of interest in Fences, Lion, and Hacksaw Jim Duggan.

First, I want to talk about the 3 films that were originally the top contenders before La La Land took the frontrunner perch solo on a storm of bright colors and happy dancing. Leading into the season, we had La La Land, Moonlight, and Manchester by the Sea.

I watched Moonlight first (out of all of these films actually, cool story bro). Moonlight was hyped in the critic circles and fairly unknown to the public… this made for an interesting watch at a fairly general Regal theater. Let’s just say the crowd was NOT expecting it to be an indie film about a gay black man in Miami struggling with his identity and they were NOT digging it. Sorta a weird atmosphere to sit in, but that didn’t stop the movie from shining through with its brilliance. Moonlight is a great, great film. It’s a beautiful study of a tragically hurt and isolated lead character. It is full of unique, fully-breathed characters.

Moonlight is a film of three acts following the life of our main character Chiron, and in each act, we have Chiron played by different actors portraying different ages of his life. That shouldn’t work as seamlessly as it does, but Barry Jenkins somehow pulled that magic trick off. The actors look enough alike, and they have enough similarities in their wounded souls, to show that they are Chiron. It’s remarkable. As much as I love Boyhood, it sorta makes that film’s structure feel more like a gimmick. Who needs to film scenes over 12 years when you have a vision as strong as this?

More importantly, Moonlight’s story is so powerful, and so well-told. This isn’t just some story about a gay black male who is bullied and conflicted about his sexuality. This is that story, done in such a poetic and powerfully told way. The patience it has telling its story. The way each of the 3 acts ends. Moonlight is a film that haunts me when contemplating its best scenes. I don’t think it’s for everyone. It certainly wasn’t for everyone in that theater when I watched it. But I would vote it for Best Picture.

Moonlight is a FANTASTIC film and if there was any justice in the world (there’s not), it would win Best Picture. Director Barry Jenkins is a master behind the camera, showing the audience everything we needed to see and nothing we didn’t. Moonlight is at once heartbreaking, uplifting, uncompromising, and relatable. Nothing is phoned-in or painted in broad strokes. Jenkins withholds judgment as he lets his characters’ lives unfold against one of the harder backdrops in recent memory. Plus, I’ve always wondered what 50 Cent looked like as a child.

Also, I gotta hand it to the bully in the second act for mocking Chiron’s jeans for being “too tight,” even though they were your typical straight-leg variety. Taking something completely innocuous and turning it into a source of mockery is a classic bully move. Outstanding work here.

NOTE: as I’m writing this, our hip-hop correspondent Kavi D. texted me the following: “Moonlight > La La Land. But like Adele beating Beyonce, we know what’s going to happen tonight. Such a joke.”

But Moonlight probably won’t win. La La Land will. And I’m ok with that too! I really loved La La Land! I love the vision of Damien Chazelle (Whiplash was aces). I love musicals. It was really fun. The love story was pretty good! La La Land has flaws to be sure. The white-man-saves-jazz issue is hard to deny, even if you try to justify it with the fact that well, John Legend’s character is cooler than Gosling’s, and their band’s song is pretty good! Gosling and Stone aren’t Gene Kelly or Rita Moreno in terms of their singing and dancing abilities. In the end, I was still enamored with the film’s joy along with the story’s emotion. And that ending was great. How is Chazelle so good at ending his films?

La La Land’s other backlash is that it’s another movie about Hollywood, appealing to the Oscar voters. Some also think it’s winning on a gimmick, as the first original musical in a while, sorta like how The Artist was the first silent film of note in a while. Well let me tell you something… The Artist? Sucked. La La was way better.

The amount of love La La is getting does annoy me. I mean, I’m cool with it winning Best Picture in the end, but getting like 10-11 Oscars? Some of these other films deserve some love too.

/Locks the door

//Looks out the window

///Takes the phone off the hook (lol landlines)

////Re-checks the locks

I gotta be real here: La La Land SUCKED. Before we get into it, let’s cover the positives:

1. John Legend’s song - that was sick!

2. The montage at the end - that was real!

3. La La Land did manage to be a very serious movie while keeping the tone light and bouncy, which is no easy feat, so I can give it some respect for that. Everything else though…?

The music was terrible. I’m not a big musical guy to begin with, but I can certainly appreciate a catchy showtune. Here? Not a one to be found. Gosling’s creaky-ass voice grinding out a third reprise of “City of Stars” doesn’t cut the mustard.

The dancing was shitty. Whether it was those losers rolling on the hood of their cars in the opening number, Stone’s way hotter roommates bumbling around their apartment, or the leads irritatingly floating in the planetarium, everything looked stilted and unrehearsed. The “Dick in a Box” video had sicker moves.

The leads had zero chemistry and were completely unlikable. Fishface Emma Stone and Jazz Hero Seb were such bores, I couldn’t find it in my cold, black heart to care about either one of them.

Also, do we really need white-as-a-sheet Ryan Gosling lecturing us about saving “real” jazz music? Here’s the thing, Seb: Jazz is/was all about innovation and being on the cutting edge of music. So the fact that he’s obsessed with sticking jazz inside some snow globe time capsule is actually 1000% more harmful to jazz than John Legend freshening things up and pushing jazz into a new, modern direction.

Chicken on a stick up my ass, gump!

Personal note: each year on Christmas, my family goes to the theater to watch a flick. The past few years we’ve seen joints like The Wolf of Wall Street, Django Unchained, Fury, and The Hateful Eight. Real family-friendly stuff. Well, this year we let my sister pick and of course she picked La La Land.

For the record we ALL hated it, even my sister. This is only the second movie I’ve ever seriously considered walking out of (shout out to Adventureland, you piece of crap). Anyhow, I would like to thank La La Land for giving me this nugget to hold over her head for the rest of eternity.

The last of the original top contenders, Manchester by the Sea, made me cry numerous times. I mean, I thought that shit was gonna be sad, but that trailer definitely made me figure there was a little more levity in it than there was. This ain’t Good Will Hunting. I thought Manchester had some great acting, a story that really weighed on you, and had several scenes in particular that really devastated me.

Matt must’ve fallen asleep during the last third of Manchester because for about forty-five minutes it becomes a network TV sitcom, with Affleck helping lil buddy get laid and selling enough pints of blood (BAC .08) to buy a new engine for the boat.

But hey, this is a good-to-great flick, although it could’ve used a re-edit -- what, was Billy Walsh too busy working on the new season of Johnny’s Bananas? Manchester suffers from what I call the “Boston bloat.” Any film set in New England is automatically twenty minutes too long because it has to constantly remind the audience that it takes place in New England. It’s already called Manchester by the Sea! We don’t need close ups of analog TVs showing the Celtics or slo-mo shots of ugly white guys in various shades of grey and khaki shooting Irish Whiskey.

SPOILER ALERT: (Matt’s note: the next paragraph has massive spoilers)

Also, uh, is it just me or does Lee get off kinda light (in reality and in the movie) for essentially murdering his three kids? Like hey motherfucker, you did an awful thing maybe you should at least TRY to atone for it? The cops are like “you burned your house down in a drunken stupor and it claimed the lives of your three children -- we’ve all been there!” “Yeah! I torched my place last spring, lost two kiddos and the dog, a real shame.” I get that you’re tortured bro, but maybe think about someone other than yourself for once?

Also if this movie (and most NE-set movies) are to be believed, women are only good for banging; otherwise they’re shrill nags, out to ruin a good time. Exactly none of the women in this movie are given any sort of depth or character beyond “I want to fuck her” or “She won’t stop bothering me.” The movie even kinda blames Lee’s kids’ death on the mom!

And the climactic conversation between Randi and Lee? The crux is that even after all this time, she still wants to fuck him! She can’t resist his grubby, down-home, chawm! Pathetic.

Arrival is my favorite film that didn’t ever get in the talk for Best Picture. And why the hell not? It’s loved by many who’ve seen it, it was a popular box office hit. Arrival got on my radar early 2016 when I heard about the film starring Amy Adams and the guy (Villeneuve) who did the superb Sicario. I checked out the short story Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang, and it blew me away. Arrival takes a pretty challenging high-level concept and somehow manages to portray it well onscreen. When I read it, I thought damn, how are they gonna make that a film? But they did. Villeneueve is a true talent. Arrival is intriguing sci-fi with an ending that truly impacts you.

Arrival was the bomb! Great flick and an amazing adaptation of “Story of Your Life.” Matt’s right about the movie breaking down an insane concept into something that’s easy to understand while still delivering that emotional gut-punch.

Amy Adams had better rapport with the fuggin aliens than Stone did with Gosling, just sayin.

I’ve seen a few pieces mention Hidden Figures as a possible late surprise winner. While there’s no real chance at that, it’s cool to see the box office love it’s gotten. When I first saw the trailer for Hidden Figures, I thought it came off to me like standard Disneyfied civil rights fare (like 42, if you will). But then the critics’ reviews came out, and then my friends spoke of how good it was. And it is good! Hidden Figures has 3 strong leads in Henson, Monae, and Spencer. They have well-developed characters. They don’t need to have strong white heroes saving them – the white characters (primarily Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst, Jim Parsons), aren’t overly white saviors or overly mustachioed villains. There’s some prejudice. There’s some goodwill from good people like Costner’s character or John Glenn. But these are supporting details surrounding the main stories of these brilliant black women facing the shit they had to deal with at the time. That’s good cinema.

Hidden Figures is sounding pretty good in the background right now, so I’ll probably go back and actually watch it at some point. I was initially put off because it looked like The Help in Space and I didn’t need to see another scene where Sandra Bullock tells a black mother what’s what. Apparently it’s not like that? That’s good.

Fences is a well-acted adaptation of a powerful play by the great August Wilson. Fences covers the story of a black family dealing with their issues, primarily stemming from the father, Troy Maxson, during the civil rights era. Maxson is a stubborn, difficult man, and that causes some strife in the family. It’s uncompromising and tough stuff to watch, and it’s really a challenge, in a good way, to the viewer. I’ll have more thoughts on it below with Best Actor, but I thought that it had a great story and a somewhat limited vision with its adaptation. The direction by Denzel could have been more creative, but its lacking transcendance from the stage reminded me too much of the Doubt adaptation.

Fences looked like Denzel sitting on a porch for two hours. That’s cool for Denzel, but I’d just as soon sit on my own damn porch.

Hell or High Water was a really solidly done film. Jeff Bridges, Ben Foster, and Chris Pine basically are the film, and they’re great. Really glad to see Pine get to do something good outside of his always strong role as Kirk. The story’s pretty straightforward - Foster and Pine play brothers trying to rob banks. Bridges and his partner are going after them. But it’s not Point Break, and the nuances of the clever dialogue, the creative characters, and the way the movie builds - that makes the film a special quality film.

This is a movie right here! I love me a modern western, and Hell or High Water delivered! The cinematography was gorgeous and bleak at once, really bringing home the message of the movie. It was good to see Pine bounce back from that atrocious Star Trek 3 film, and the banter between him and Ben Foster really pushed this movie to the next level.

I gotta be real though, the audience I saw this with was laughing a little too hard at Jeff Bridges’ racist-ass character. Kinda uncomfortable.

I was pretty dubious about Hacksaw Ridge. I think I found it to be somewhat cheesy and somewhat excellent. The first half of the film is basically cheesy goodhearted Andrew Garfield as he decides in life that he doesn’t want to hold a gun during WWII but still wants to help, and the struggles he faced trying to convince the Army to let him do that. At this point, it felt pretty cliche and lame to me. Then the battle scenes began, and I was pretty impressed and enthralled… what Garfield’s character, Desmond Doss, did was heroic and incredible. The film is strong when showing those aspects. It’s just a little held back by the stuff around that.

Hacksaw Ridge, the Finest Hours, Deepwater Horizon -- can we tell any of these movies apart? Do we care? Really happy for Mel Gibson though, getting to film another critically-acclaimed gratuitous bloodbath.

Lion was my least favorite film, and I’ve seen a few friends here and there who disagree with that. But I found it to be lacking. The true story is amazing, the emotions of that conclusion are powerful, and Dev Patel is my boy. But the story is poorly paced for me; at times, just a little too much focused on his childhood. At times, a bit slow and clunky in his search. That being said, that film made me cry still, because that story is sad and moving. And I got love for my girl Rooney Mara. But it was the least of the 9 for me.

Just go back and read my rationale for skipping that awful Life of Pi remake. I’m sure all the same arguments apply here.

I can’t speak too much of Best Picture snubs this year. I was pretty content with this field. EXCEPT FOR CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR; WHERE’S DA LOVE.

Captain America: Civil War was great...as long as Cap was off-screen. Dude is the most vanilla-ass leading hero we got out here. More Iron Man, Black Panther, Spider-Man, Ant-Man, really anyone else, PLEASE.

Allow me to play to type and suggest that The VVitch got snubbed! Along with The Lobster and Deadpool, some real contenders got left at the altar. Also, let it be known that Matt had a huge bone for The Accountant despite it looking like trash from day one. Apparently some non-studio-plant redditor promised it would be great. Once the reviews started trickling in though, Matt was inconsolable.

Best director:

“La La Land,” Damien Chazelle

“Hacksaw Ridge,” Mel Gibson

“Moonlight,” Barry Jenkins

“Manchester by the Sea,” Kenneth Lonergan

“Arrival,” Denis Villeneuve

Chazelle is the likely winner here, and it would be well-deserved. He had a great vision for La La Land, and his visuals and energy are such strengths in the film. I would also wholly support my dude Villeneuve getting some love here. He really put together a great film for a short story that deserved it. He has lots of patience getting to the points he wants to make, and he treats the audience as adults, not holding their hands.

Jenkins’ direction of Moonlight leads to some damn good poetry, so I gotta give him props too. Lonergan does good work, but I don’t really consider the strength to be in his direction but more for his writing (to discuss later). Gibson put together some awesome battle scenes, but man, he had some corny scenes building up to it.

If Jenkins doesn’t win this, I’m jumping out my window like dude from the Mad Men credits.

/moves into first-floor apartment

Matt touched on it earlier, but how stupid does Richard Linklater look now? It took him like two decades to make Boyhood, and Jenkins knocked out a better version in like a month! It’s like Linklater, bro, we have actors for a reason..

Apparently Chazelle winning is a done deal, but cmon! Jenkins told three PERFECT stories, tied them together with the exact right amount of narrative tissue and knocked it out the f’n park! But yeah, Chazelle sucked off Hollywood and made the smog-trap that is LA look halfway redeemable.

Lead actor:

Casey Affleck, “Manchester by the Sea”

Andrew Garfield, “Hacksaw Ridge”

Ryan Gosling, “La La Land,”

Viggo Mortensen, “Captain Fantastic”

Denzel Washington, “Fences”

This race has come down to Affleck and Denzel. I haven’t seen Captain Fantastic and have heard Viggo is pretty good. Garfield does good work in Hacksaw, though his accent is a little spotty, and I can’t get over how corny he is at times in the film. Gosling was better to me than Stone in La La Land, but I can’t quite say that either of their lead performances screamed “Best Actor/Actress” to me. I think the race should come down to Affleck and Denzel.

Casey Affleck was the frontrunner for a while until Denzel Washington won the SAG award, which shifted the momentum in people’s mind. Affleck’s history of sexual harassment has come up a bit leading up to the Oscars, and some think that has affected his chances here. I’m not sure how I feel about that. I think the accusations were likely true. I think if so, it’s fair to make the argument that you don’t vote for him here. It’s an award for who’s the best actor, but there isn’t strict criteria, and these are voters who have a right to show support for who they want to. If that means denying a vote to a sexual predator who was privileged in what he got away with, then maybe that’s what people should do. Constance Wu broke it down pretty well, as you can read here.

If I somehow had an Academy vote, I don’t know what I’d do. I think I might vote for Casey in the end. But that debate aside, I wanna talk about their performances now, and I’d say I thought better of Casey’s.

His performance as Lee Chandler really really impressed me. It’s one of my favorite acting performances of recent years. I’d take this role over other recent winners like my boy DiCaprio in The Revenant or McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club. Affleck embodies this character, full of subtle sorrow and guilt and pain. I felt for him every step of the way, and I never felt like it was done with cheap acting or overly acted emotion (see: Sean Penn; Mystic River). Lee Chandler is the film, and Casey Affleck is the film, and he carries it all on his tortured shoulders.

I gotta agree with Matt. The entirety of Manchester by the Sea rests on Casey Affleck’s shoulders and he absolutely crushes his role. The pain and the patheticness that define Lee Chandler come through even in the film’s happier moments and Affleck never fails to show how Lee’s grief is hardwired into his DNA and informs all of his decisions, from where to live, to whether he should punch out the drunk Santa lookin’ guy at the bar (he does).

That being said, Affleck is a sexual harasser! So I’m not shedding any tears if he loses to Denzel, who is great and keeps me in good hands, insurance-wise.

Denzel is really good too. Casey is better. Denzel has a tough character to grapple with here. I think he might be hurt a little for me just because I don’t very much like the character of Troy Maxson. I felt like this when I first read the play for a class in high school, and I feel that way now. It makes it tough. Maxson is not a likable character. I like him less than your usual villain, and I think that’s always somewhat hampered my view of the story. Maxson is not good to his family, and he infuriates me in several ways. I know that in some ways that’s supposed to be showing the effects the time period had on a man like him, but some of his decisions in the story are too much for me to overcome.

That’s somewhat the brilliance of the story by August WIlson. It’s uncompromising and brutal. But it’s always been a tough pill for me to swallow and affects my view of Denzel’s performance. When I separate that take, I do think Denzel was excellent in the role though. One of his best roles in recent memory.

Lead actress:

Isabelle Huppert, “Elle”

Ruth Negga, “Loving”

Natalie Portman, “Jackie”

Emma Stone, “La La Land”

Meryl Streep, “Florence Foster Jenkins”

This category is hampered by the lack of Viola Davis, who pushed to be labeled as Best Supporting even though she’s very clearly a lead. Stone is the frontrunner, and she’s pretty good, but she didn’t blow me away. As mentioned before, I liked Gosling’s work more. I saw Jackie, and Portman was quite good in her portrayal. I would support her getting it too. But I’d be surprised to see the Academy give her a second Oscar this early on.

Amy Adams got robbed of a nomination here. She was the heart and soul of Arrival, and Louise Banks is a great protagonist. I thought she was wonderful in it. Why again is Streep nominated for everything she does? I feel like she could voice a 5-minute role in an animated film and still win Best Actress. Was she really better in Florence than my girl Amy? I’m dubious.

I haven’t made it to Loving yet so I don’t have a take on Ruth Negga. Huppert is apparently a dark horse for Elle; a film I haven’t gotten to yet that has a fascinating premise.

What the hell is always up with the movies the Best Actress noms come from? With a few exceptions, they’re always floating out on their own, like “Best Actress” is its own movie genre. Needless to say, I haven’t seen any of these besides La La Land, and that’s one I wish I hadn’t seen.

Supporting actor:

Mahershala Ali, “Moonlight”

Jeff Bridges, “Hell or High Water”

Lucas Hedges, “Manchester by the Sea”

Dev Patel, “Lion”

Michael Shannon, “Nocturnal Animals”

Mahershala is all you gotta know here. After some solid turns in House of Cards and Mockingjay, this charming-ass mofo is magic in Moonlight. Juan is one of the best supporting characters in recent memory. He has several brilliant scenes, not requiring overacting but just sheer nuance and charm. He makes such an impression on the film in not much time. He’ll win, and he’ll deserve it big-time.

After this year, they should rename this the Mahershala Ali Award for Best Supporting Actor. Ali is amazing as Juan, Chiron’s unlikely father-figure. He commands the screen in every scene he’s in, but like Matt says, it’s not with overacting or scenery-chewing, but with the amount and specificity of emotion resonating from his character.

Bridges is his usual awesome self in Hell or High Water, and I really dug what he brought to the table. Hedges is a quality support role to Affleck in Manchester, and he does good work as the young nephew struggling through his father’s death. He’s Boston as hell and he does it well. Dev is great too, even though he’s clearly a lead role. Glad to see him getting continued work after Slumdog and good to see him knocking it out of the park. Dude is jacked now! He ain’t no babyface lucky punk anymore.

I’ll give props to Hedges for staying focused on banging out two chicks at the same time despite his dad randomly dying. I love that speech he gives Affleck (“I don’t care that I’m an orphan! I can’t move to Boston -- I’m banging two chicks!”).

Bridges was cool; I always wondered what Bad Black would be like if he were on the other side of the law.

I love Michael Shannon. I haven’t seen Nocturnal Animals. But Shannon could make any role magnetic. He’s just sheer willpower tour-de-force. I don’t know what that means, but it makes sense to me.

Supporting actress:

Viola Davis, “Fences”

Naomie Harris, “Moonlight”

Nicole Kidman, “Lion”

Octavia Spencer, “Hidden Figures”

Michelle Williams, “Manchester by the Sea”

Viola Davis is remarkable and is so key to Fences. She’s great. I hope she gets the Oscar. And she probably would have won for best Lead too. Rose is a tough character to portray to me. She’s often reactionary to her husband, and she doesn’t have as much stage presence per se. But Viola brings that necessary gravitas and strength to the role to make it not just a one-person show. She’s lovable, tender, compassionate, etc. AND she does a good job explaining how she deals with/puts up with Troy. It’s a hell of a role.

If not for Viola in supporting, I would give the win to Michelle WIlliams. She’s really good in some key scenes in Manchester by the Sea. She’s emotional, tortured, hurt, and so relatable in the things she says and does. Otherwise, Naomi Harris really nailed it as Chiron’s mom during Moonlight (and in only 3 days of filming apparently!). Spencer was quite good in Hidden Figures (though I loved Monae more; I also just love Monae in general, what can I say). Kidman is good in Lion, but I can’t say she really knocked it out the park for me.

From what I understand, Viola Davis probably deserves an easy win here, but man, Naomie Harris was raw as hell in Moonlight. That scene where she shakes Chiron down for cash nearly made me call in sick to work the next day.

Michelle Williams in Manchester by the Sea was...not great, though I blame the material more than her. “But but but Lee! I still wanna fawk you! Let’s have lunch! We can get ya favorite chowdah!” She tried her best, but the dialogue was never going to let her rise above Southie Harpy #2.

Adapted screenplay:

“Arrival,” Eric Heisserer

“Fences,” August Wilson

“Hidden Figures,” Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi

“Lion,” Luke Davies

“Moonlight,” Barry Jenkins; Story by Tarell Alvin McCraney

Moonlight is bizarrely marked as adapted even though it was based off an unpublished play. Whatever. It’s an excellent story. I think it’s supposed to win, and I’ll approve of Barry getting his Oscar here.

Damn, I gotta agree with Matt again! This is truly a weird spot for Moonlight to be in. It’s like “oh shit, I adapted this movie from an idea I had once -- okay!”

I do wish Arrival could win too, because Heisserer’s feat is impressive considering the degree of difficulty here. Story of Your Life (Arrival’s short story) is a lot simpler than the plot of the film. Heisserer had to develop more of a global conflict to the story and had to figure out how to take plot elements from the short story and make it work on film (the short story is a lot more first person narrative; he did a lot to adjust that for the screen).

Still, no one has to be madder about Moonlight’s odd placement than the Arrival folks. They took an impossible-to-adapt short story and fuckin flamed it out into an amazing motion picture. Really impressive stuff.

Fences is cool because Wilson had that screenplay around for a while, and it got made after his death once a black director (Wilson stipulated that the director be black) finally was able to put the project together. And it’s a great story. Just not as deserving to me as Moonlight/Arrival.

Original screenplay:

“20th Century Women,” Mike Mills

“Hell or High Water,” Taylor Sheridan

“La La Land,” Damien Chazelle

“The Lobster,” Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthimis Filippou

“Manchester by the Sea,” Kenneth Lonergan

I still haven’t seen The Lobster and want to. I think Alex will vouch for it. Otherwise, this is a category where La La won the award at the Golden Globes, but I really hope it doesn’t win here. Manchester’s screenplay is so good to me. The way it intercuts between past and present, the way it slowly reveals different plot points, and the way it writes dialogue of sad scenes - that’s some good stuff right there.

I gotta go with The Lobster here. To call it’s screenplay efficient is a severe understatement. I previously lauded Barry Jenkins for showing audience exactly what they needed to see. In The Lobster, Lanthimos strips the entire endeavour down to the bare essentials. Why use three words when one will do? Shit, why even use words at all? Beautiful stuff, b.

On the other end of the spectrum is Manchester by the Sea, where every possible scene and/or conversation gets its moment to shine. This leads to a lot of great moments and conversations, but also to a fair number of middling ones.

Cinematography:

“Arrival,” Bradford Young

“La La Land,” Linus Sandgren

“Lion,” Greig Fraser

“Moonlight,” James Laxton

“Silence,” Rodrigo Prieto

Bradford Young can get it.

Dayum.

That Linus dude will probably win for La La, and it’ll be deserved. I just thought Moonlight had some hella cool shots. Also, Silence gets a nom here. I wanna see that at some point, even if it ended up not getting the love it expected to get.

La La Land will win here because Hollywood loves seeing itself glammed up for the silver screen and not as the tepid, plastic cesspool it is (note: I actually love LA, but am I wrong?).

Film editing:

“Arrival,” Joe Walker

“Hacksaw Ridge,” John Gilbert

“Hell or High Water,” Jake Roberts

“La La Land,” Tom Cross

“Moonlight,” Nat Sanders and Joi McMillon

Another La La win, probably suggesting its best picture victory.

I already burned my Billy Walsh joke, so I’ll just say this HAS to be Moonlight, right? I mean, it won’t be, but it’s economy in telling such a resounding tale defines Oscar-worthy.

Best documentary feature:

“13th,” Ava DuVernay, Spencer Averick and Howard Barish

“Fire at Sea,” Gianfranco Rosi and Donatella Palermo

“I Am Not Your Negro,” Raoul Peck, Remi Grellety and Hebert Peck

“Life, Animated,” Roger Ross Williams and Julie Goldman

“O.J.: Made in America,” Ezra Edelman and Caroline Waterlow

Really strong year for docs. I still haven’t gotten to the long, really-a-TV-documentary-series OJ, but I’ve heard such incredible things about it. The 13th was brilliant and would certainly deserve a win too. And I can’t wait to see I Am Not Your Negro.

Gotta confess, I haven’t seen any of these, but this looks to be one of the strongest years for docs in recent memory.

Animated feature:

“Kubo and the Two Strings,” Travis Knight and Arianne Sutner

“Moana,” John Musker, Ron Clements and Osnat Shurer

“My Life as a Zucchini,” Claude Barras and Max Karli

“The Red Turtle,” Michael Dudok de Wit and Toshio Suzuki

“Zootopia,” Byron Howard, Rich Moore and Clark Spencer

Zootopia appears to be the winner here, and it really was an impressive animated film to me. As I watched it, I was like damn those themes got a lot deeper than I expected for a kid’s film! Moana was really enjoyable too, though it didn’t quite reach the highs for me that some other recent animated classics have (I would put Frozen ahead of it, for instance).

Zootopia is my JAM. Love that sloth at the DMV. Moana was fine, but did nothing to distinguish itself from any other generic-ass cartoon.

No love for Sausage Party? Damn.

Best foreign language film:

“A Man Called Ove,” Sweden

“Land of Mine,” Denmark

“Tanna,” Australia

“The Salesman,” Iran

“Toni Erdmann,” Germany

The director of The Salesman, Asghar Farhadi, was not allowed to come to the Oscars after the executive order a few weeks ago, and then he decided not to come too out of protest. He also directed the incredible A Separation, which I finally recently saw. That film was so devastating and moving to me, and if The Salesman is comparable at all, it would certainly deserve a win here too.

Toni Erdmann is apparently going to be remade with Jack Nicholson, so I’m for sure curious about that too.

Give it up to Tanna, man. It was filmed in Nauvhal, which has like 4,500 native speakers.

Original score:

“Jackie,” Mica Levi

“La La Land,” Justin Hurwitz

“Lion,” Dustin O’Halloran and Hauschka

“Moonlight,” Nicholas Britell

“Passengers,” Thomas Newman

Original song:

“Audition (The Fools Who Dream),” “La La Land” — Music by Justin Hurwitz; Lyric by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul

“Can’t Stop the Feeling,” “Trolls” — Music and Lyric by Justin Timberlake, Max Martin and Karl Johan Schuster

“City of Stars,” “La La Land” — Music by Justin Hurwitz; Lyric by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul

“The Empty Chair,” “Jim: The James Foley Story” — Music and Lyric by J. Ralph and Sting

“How Far I’ll Go,” “Moana” — Music and Lyric by Lin-Manuel Miranda

La La will definitely win for best score, considering it’s a damn musical. Arrival should have gotten some love here, but the Academy dqed it because they were worried that this brilliant song used in the film would get confused as part of the original score. But the score is great on its own!

La La Land will win, which is garbage! As a Houston native, I will no doubt be pulling for Moonlight, as the whole f’n thing was chopped and screwed.

Two La La songs are nominated here, and City of Stars should likely win. I would love to see Lin-Manuel get the win here and complete his EGOT. How Far I’ll Go didn’t really stay with me the way other classic animated film songs have. Heck, I would rather have seen You’re Welcome get the win here.

Yeah, the two songs in Moana worth a damn (“You’re Welcome” and “Shiny”) got robbed, and both those LLL songs are trash. I gotta take a moment and recognize the special kind of horrible that is “Can’t Stop the Feeling.” I dare you to find a more written-by-committee, “Happy-”humping piece of corporate garbage that polluted the airwaves this year.

Does this mean I’m cheering for Sting? Fuck.

Also, Sing Street should have DEF got some love here. It was robbed. Sting got a nom instead? FOH.

Sound editing:

“Arrival,” Sylvain Bellemare

“Deep Water Horizon,” Wylie Stateman and Renee Tondelli

“Hacksaw Ridge,” Robert Mackenzie and Andy Wright

“La La Land,” Ai-Ling Lee and Mildred Iatrou Morgan

“Sully,” Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman

Sound mixing:

“Arrival,” Bernard Gariepy Strobl and Claude La Haye

“Hacksaw Ridge,” Kevin O’Connell, Andy Wright, Robert Mackenzie and Peter Grace

“La La Land,” Andy Nelson, Ai-Ling Lee and Steve A. Morrow

“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” David Parker, Christopher Scarabosio and Stuart Wilson

“13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi,” Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Mac Ruth

Kevin O’Connell apparently hasn’t won after 21 nominations, and he’ll probably lose to La La Land here. Well, I hope he somehow gets a win.

Let’s revisit a Matt quote from the top of the article: “Matt always provides excellent, impressive, insightful, groundbreaking commentary.” You’ve really outdone yourself here.

Last fall I was at WB Studios and they explained the difference between sound editing and sound mixing and I was like “Finally! I’ll have a real opinion when the Oscars roll around!” Well, I don’t remember what I learned that day, so let’s just give these awards to Arrival for that little pewpew sound of the aliens squirtin’ their ink.

Production design:

“Arrival,” Patrice Vermette, Paul Hotte

“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” Stuart Craig, Anna Pinnock

“Hail, Caesar!,” Jess Gonchor, Nancy Haigh

“La La Land,” David Wasco, Sandy Reynolds-Wasco

“Passengers,” Guy Hendrix Dyas, Gene Serdena

Visual effects:

“Deepwater Horizon,” Craig Hammack, Jason Snell, Jason Billington and Burt Dalton

“Doctor Strange,” Stephane Ceretti, Richard Bluff, Vincent Cirelli and Paul Corbould

“The Jungle Book,” Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones and Dan Lemmon

“Kubo and the Two Strings,” Steve Emerson, Oliver Jones, Brian McLean and Brad Schiff

“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” John Knoll, Mohen Leo, Hal Hickel and Neil Corbould

Rogue One had some good visuals, bro.

Damn, my X-Men couldn’t get a nod here? I guess the Academy is saving all their mutant love for Logan next year. Hail, Caesar! Is such a joke of a movie and represents Hollywood’s masturbatory tendencies at their worst. So it’ll probably take home an Oscar here.

I’ve heard Doctor Strange is like trippin off acid without trippin off acid, so if you’re trippin off acid when you watch it, it looks pretty normal. Yeah, I’m certain that’s how it works.

Makeup and hair:

“A Man Called Ove,” Eva von Bahr and Love Larson

“Star Trek Beyond,” Joel Harlow and Richard Alonzo

“Suicide Squad,” Alessandro Bertolazzi, Giorgio Gregorini and Christopher Nelson

Costume design:

“Allied,” Joanna Johnston

“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” Colleen Atwood

“Florence Foster Jenkins,” Consolata Boyle

“Jackie,” Madeline Fontaine

“La La Land,” Mary Zophres

Apparently Matt died before he could finish this? Anyhow, Star Trek for makeup and hair? Except for that one chick, who was really lookin all that different? Give it to Suicide Squad, I guess.

Is the real Florence Foster Jenkins still alive? I wonder how she’d feel knowing that, in a twisted way, her awfulness was winning all kinds of awards. She’s probably dead, so it doesn’t matter, but still.

#by Alex and Matt #Oscars #Jimmy Kimmel #Moonlight #La La Land #Manchester by the Sea #Hidden Figures #Lion #Fences #Denzel Washington #Ryan Gosling #Damien Chazelle #Barry Jenkins #Emma Stone #Natalie Portman #Viola Davis #Lin-Manuel Miranda #movies

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wen-kexing-apologist · 2 years ago

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So, I started writing a completely different post about the Heart confrontation scene and was gonna start it with "[Episode 5] was just so well done and they laid everything out on a platter for me to digest that I don't really feel the need to wax poetic about colors in this episode" but uhhhh, haha oops, I played myself. I was looking back through part 4/4 to talk about Heart's confrontation scene, and uh...

IT'S COLOR TIME.

Fuck you @respectthepetty! you created this monster.

So we already have Wen = Blue and Jim = Red but I've given the internet too many analyses about Wen and Jim and because once again the side couple strikes, all I care about is supporting this precious first love between Li Ming and Heart so that's what I'm gonna write.

Like father-figure uncle like nephew, Li Ming is red, and his love interest, Heart is blue. But because Wen and Jim are also red and blue I think there needs to be something else tying Li Ming and Heart together visually and that is stripes. (shhh, yes, I know Wen had a shirt with stripes on in it episode 4 but that served a very specific purpose of being red/blue color coded for the purposes of being caught between Alan and Jim) THIS however:

stripes.

stripes

STRIPESSSSSSS

Is exclusively a dedicated HeartLiMing motif.

And stripes makes sense as the connecting factor between the two of them. The plot line for Heart and Li Ming centers so much around how trapped they both feel in their respective lives. Li Ming trapped by poverty, Heart trapped at home. Li Ming trapped on the cusp of adulthood and independence, having a difficult time being understood by his uncle (despite Jim's best efforts), Heart trapped in his own body and mind, because his parents refuse to learn how to understand him. Their plot is about being teenagers, teenagers testing boundaries, breaking boundaries, rebelling against the authority they have known their whole lives in order to better understand who they are as people. In order to be able to make their own mistakes and start learning how to navigate the world without a "true adult" there to make decisions for them. It's about breaking free of the barriers your family has always placed around you to keep you safe.

Horizontal stripes of course, also make me think a bit about paper, and writing is a crucial, vital, and important part of how Heart and Li Ming started getting to know each other. If you want to get even more abstract about it, lines in relation to Heart and Li Ming make me think of hands, of fingers (the vertical lines especially) in reference to sign language and its importance in allowing these two to communicate and understand one another.

Okay I said it was color time, I lied again, sorry, it actually was stripe time.

NOW IT'S COLOR TIME.

We've seen a lot in this show, in my opinion, with blue lighting around the Red Rascals, both Jim and Li Ming. Especially Li Ming because all of his interactions with Heart until the middle of Episode 4 have been immersed completely in Heart's home.

and what I love about blue lighting is that it makes red pop so Li Ming is still the most central and eye catching presence on the screen, despite the fact that he is bathed in blue. Despite the fact that he is in Heart's room, in Heart's house, he is the center of attention for viewers in this moment, but also for Heart as a whole.

And even in Ep. 4 once they finally leave Heart's home, Li Ming is still constantly covered in blue because he is doing all of this for Heart.

And when they go to the church where Heart is introduced to other Deaf people for the first time, Li Ming is still immersed in blue because, once again, he is in Hearts's world. The world that Heart should have always had access to from the minute that he became deaf. The world he's been deprived of by his parents for three years.

Also notice, by nature of Li Ming wearing a red shirt in these scenes that the white and amber lights that act as the secondary wash in these scenes casts far more red tinted light on to Li Ming than it does to Heart. For the majority of episode 4, Heart's lighting pallet is blue or white, blue or amber. Li Ming's has a bit more red to his. AND AND AND AND it speaks to the talent of the lighting designers and directors and just general film crew in this show that they are able to use so much blue in this show and have it signify so many different things. Alan's blue lighting is colder than Wen's, Heart's blue lighting is colder at home than it is when he is outside. It's more of a blue green outside because they are mixing it with more reds/oranges and less white, you can even see it in these screen caps how much bluer and colder the first picture in Heart's room (and even when they are in his driveway) looks compared to the pictures outside where they are also lit with warm tones.

We know already that Heart cares about Li Ming, because he is his friend, because he finally has a life line, because he finally has someone to talk to, who treats him like a normal fucking human being, and trusts him, and and and...and we know that Heart is attracted to Li Ming because we got that scene where Heart pretty obviously checks out and is flustered by Li Ming without his shirt on. But I don't know if Heart fully has a crush on Li Ming at either of those points. And my argument for that is the lighting, because until Heart is standing in front of the speaker at the church with Li Ming, we don't see Heart in any objectively warm light.

I think this is the moment that is supposed to indicate that Heart is fully leaning in to having a crush on Li Ming, because this is finally the moment where his face is warm not blue, not bright, not cold, and not in white light. And I'm asking you to compare this image with the ones above it, at the street vendor, the secondary light wash on Heart is not amber, it's white. The back lighting on Heart's neck in the picture of him and Li Ming talking to the Father at church is definitely warmer, but it is not as warm as the light on Li Ming's face. But at the speaker scene, he is fully bathed in warm light. But the warm light isn't red light either, it's not objectively or definitively Li Ming's color, though it is his emotions.

You know what is objectively, definitively red light?

This is.

And like yeah, we can talk about the red bag on Heart's side, or the fact that in this lighting the blue square of the American flag on Li Ming's sweater matches close enough to the blue in Heart's shirt. We could talk about getting on each other's level by swapping colors through their clothes or their accessories. But I don't want to do that this time, because I am a slut for lighting and this lighting this definitively red lighting on Heart's face is what this episode is about for me. I think this is the point Heart realizes that he is in love with Li Ming, and Heart is fully ready to accept Li Ming as part of his world. Probably the most important part of his world.

Anyway, off to go take a million more screen shots of the confrontation scene so I can shout expletives about Heart and Li Ming's reactions to everything going on in that scene. Talk about a side track of epic proportions.

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wen-kexing-apologist · 2 years ago

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Isn't It Difficult Enough to Be Born Poor?

Once again, I must start this post out by saying...Fuck you @respectthepetty. You did this to me, I currently have eleven (11)...ELEVEN (this will be 12) long as all hell analysis posts about Moonlight Chicken and at least half of them are your fault. Because you started posting about colors and then I had to start thinking about my feelings when I watched television. And here we are. If you are worried about what your legacy will be as a role model. Don't be. Your legacy has been talking about colors so much you have converted half the interest in to color analysts. This one isn't about color though, I just needed to curse you out for creating an analysis demon.

All that said, let's get in to Jim and Li Ming this episode.

So, Li Ming has just had a very emotionally draining conversation with his mother, and he is trying desperately to leave the house and just go, go anywhere cause Heart's not home, when Jim comes waltzing in and accidentally blocking his exit. "Where are you going now?" and GOD LI MING DOES NOT HAVE FUCKING TIME FOR THIS.

The most exasperated face to date. But it's not really Jim's fault that Li Ming is acting like this, he's just a casualty of war. A safe vessel that will hold all Li Ming's emotions.

"Outside." "Where?" "Don't know yet," "What do you mean?"

Guess who's making eye contact again after a conversation with his mother where he very rarely looked in her direction????

Side note: I love this line "I haven't decided where I want to be yet," because it can be relevant to so many things and is a foundational theme of this episode, with no one acting on the choices they have before them until Gaipa's mother dies

"Then stay home and study," and here we go, another adult, telling him what to do, not being there for the conversation beforehand and having no idea they are plucking at an already frayed cord.

"I'm going to Heart's home," he tries to leave, Jim stops him.

Li Ming already knows exactly what Jim is implying here. But his mother is home, and he's already exhausted, and he just...he just wants to leave. But he's not afraid, he's calm, if annoyed.

He's happy to entertain the conversation, just not right now. Right now he is tired, and he just wants some time alone, some time with Heart.

Jim, once again, does not respect Li Ming's question, and forges ahead, because he needs to know, needs to confirm his fears.

Get, his ass Li Ming! To me, it helps so much prevent a fundamental breakdown in Li Ming and Jim's relationship here to have Li Ming know that Jim is gay as well. I think that knowledge, coupled with the exhaustion he is already feeling, just lets the rest of this conversation go over surprisingly smoothly.

"Li Ming, I'm your uncle," "Adults can do no wrong? Adults can kiss but kids can't? Is it the wrong thing to do? Is the world coming to an end?"

For Jim? The answer feels like a yes. Because Jim grew up in a very differently world than Li Ming has. He has internalized so much homophobia, not just from society but from his own sister, the person he had to rely on the most when he was young. A person whose opinions are very clearly shown to matter to Jim. Everything Jim has repeated so far in this show that is homophobic is a direct quote from his sister.

To Jim being gay has made life so much harder for him. Hell, he himself was a victim of the legal system, with Beam's family taking all the money he and Beam had saved, because gay marriage is not recognized so they could not open a joint bank account and everything was in Beam's name. This is a very real struggle, and a possibility Li Ming himself could face one day. A reality that Li Ming has no concept of because he's eighteen, and he hasn't lived his life yet, he hasn't faced society the same way Jim has...

But to Li Ming? Being gay isn't a big deal. Because Li Ming was raised by an openly queer man. Even if Jim is far more careful and restrained about showing physical affection or giving too much attention to Wen men in public, his friends all know. Leng teases him about it, Leng teases Gaipa about it. Jam knows about Jim. Beam's family knew. Wen literally walked in to Li Ming's room the night Wen and Jim had their "one night stand". Li Ming knows Jim is gay.

So while Jim and Beam were navigating being queer even just ten, twenty years ago with no one obviously queer elders around them to guide them, Li Ming has grown up around multiple queer seniors, one of whom is his uncle. Of course he has an entirely different perception of how significant it is to be gay. He had nothing but positive queer role models around him to guide him as he grew. Role models who were open. And I love the post from @respectthepetty and this post from @heart-ming that talk about the pressure Jim puts on himself, especially after he realizes that Li Ming is gay. All he can think about is every way that he has failed, when the fact that Li Ming is able to say so casually, so quietly, with a touch of disgust on his face: "So what? What's the big deal [that I'm gay]?" proves that he has succeeded at being a queer role model. Because Li Ming does not hate his queerness.

I love this shot once Li Ming leaves, because there is a moment of recognition. Oh shit, Jam is here.

Followed by Oh shit, I outed Li Ming to his (historically homophobic) Mom. Yet another thing for him to be able to blame himself for.

Something that I have really appreciated about the two Fourth and Gemini shows from this year, is that in both of them, the children are spared from their own parent's ignorance. Li Ming does not know he has been outed to his mother, and he will not hear her say the homophobic things. Jim is the one that will carry that weight. He is the one that will address her concerns, and tell her she is wrong. Li Ming does not need to experience that.

"Was it my fault I left my child in your care?"

YEAH JAM. GIVE HIM A BREAK, HE'S FUCKING RAISED YOUR CHILD FOR YOU.

And God this moment sucks so bad because you know that she is voicing his worst fear. He already blames himself, the sentiment Jam states, and Jim repeats "Li Ming might not have become gay if he didn't live with me," that is 100% what I knew Jim was thinking in this moment in Episode 6. "oh shit, Jam is gonna tell me that I rubbed off on him,"

And it's so interesting to me the way they placed the sequence of events in Episode 7, Jim talks to Jam and Jam asks if she can blame Jim for Li Ming being gay because he wasn't gay when he lived with Jam, and JIM IS IN THAT MOMENT ABLE TO BE LIKE "what if he was that before living with me?", "What's the point of placing blame? He does nothing wrong."

When confronted with ignorance, he is able to stand up against it, speak out about it, and confront his sister's biases. But when he goes to see Wen, he repeats the same thing she did "Li Ming might not have become gay if he didn't live with me,"

Also, best part of the talk between Jim and Jam was this moment:

Jim is finally starting to listen to his nephew's wishes. He will not make a decision as big as having Li Ming move back in with his mother. He understands that Li Ming needs to choose this. And, I will note that this is a conversation she has already asked Li Ming about, and she didn't get the answer she wanted so she has resorted to asking the family member Li Ming loves and trusts to get him to change his mind. And she holds the deed title over Jim's head about it, trying to give him the ultimatum that he can only get the deed if he helps her rob Li Ming of even more of his autonomy. And Jim finally says no. "Don't do this" he begs, and at the end of the episode he returns the deed to Jam.

Cut to soon-to-be-father Leng, talking about how expensive it is to have and raise a child. And this is something Li Ming is painfully aware of in his own right, he's held Jim's "I pay your tuition" statement right back over his head. Li Ming is aware that Jim is struggling to make ends meet, he's aware that they live in poverty.

"Don't have kids," Leng says, only partly joking, but with a smile on his face. And Li Ming has just come from a terrible conversation with his mother where he was faced with the thought of actually having to leave Jim to go back to a home he didn't used to be wanted in. "Did you ever consider abortion?" is a very answer-seeking question, it's intentional, and it's not about Leng, it's about Li "I didn't ask to be born" Ming. Leng is honest "I thought about it, but Praew's parents want a grandchild so I'm okay ot have this baby. But I can barely make it through the day, how am I supposed to raise a child?" and I think that is a wake up call for Li Ming in a way.

Jim is his parent. Jim is barely making it through the day. How is Jim supposed to raise Li Ming? No one knows, but he does it. And he does it cause he loves Li Ming.

To preface this, if Li Ming ends up going to America and doing the Work and Travel thing, I am completely fine with that, but I am on the Interpreter!Li Ming train so I at the very least want a seedling of doubt to be planted in Li Ming's mind. And I am choosing to believe it is this moment. Right after Li Ming is faced with the actual, very real potential threat of having to leave Pattaya, Heart, Jim, his community here, he asks Leng if he would still want to stay with his parents if they were alive. Leng says "Probably not. Everyone has their own life to live. And parents cannot be with us forever," (I see you P'Aof and P'Best, you evil evil motherfuckers)

This is Li Ming's face after Leng makes that comment. That boy is haunted and that boy is thinking. The wheels are turning. He is evaluating.

Cut to Wen and Jim. "What fight did you have with your nephew?" is literally the first question Wen asks when Jim shows up at his apartment. And I both love and hate that Wen so often has to act as the go-between. I mean from the sense that he is between the two generations and can be respected at both ends of it, it's great, and it's nice that we establish that Li Ming trusts, values, and listens to Wen, that Wen fits in this family. On the down side, I really wish Li Ming knew and could see how many times Jim has sought out council to better understand his son nephew.

Heart is Li Ming's safe zone when he feels misunderstood, Wen is Jim's.

Jim gets done denying everything his sister said, telling her she is wrong, that being gay does not work like that, that there is no one to blame, but he internalized that shit and immediately went to Wen to try to process his feelings.

"I can't help blaming myself for it. Li Ming might not have become gay if he didn't live with me."

"How come Saleng is straight? He's been with you for a long time as well. Trust me it has nothing to do with you."

We need this scene to explain Jim's behavior. To show the struggles he is having with his internalized homophobia. To how how deeply he loves and looks up to his family. That he catches and carries the shame, the guilt, the blame of his queerness when it's called in to question by his sister. But that he is able to recognize and shed that shame when Wen asks him very simple questions. Because he knows the answer to them, you can't catch queerness, Li Ming isn't gay because of Jim, in fact, Jim being queer was a protective factor in Li Ming's own relationship to his queerness.

"And what era are we in now?" Wen says "No one really looks for reasons why people are gay anymore."

That is the question of the hour for Jim isn't it? What era are we in now? Jim is stuck in the past. He is trapped under decades of struggle and strife, and the behavior he had to have to survive. He is shifting his paradigm, slowly but surely, and this is the question that Jim will need to answer for himself in order to better understand his nephew and in order to shed some of the weight he carries.

"What era are we in now?"

Not Jim's era. We're in an era of change.

Jim does not remove Wen's hand. We are in an era of change.

"You are gay, aren't you? Why can't you accept your nephew is gay?"

"I can accept that. I'm just worried about him,"

This is Jim's fundamental character trait in his relationship with Li Ming. He's just worried about him.

"You do know that it's not easy being gay in this country. I can't see how he is able to lead a good life."

We are in an era of change.

"If [Li Ming] wants to tell someone you will hear it before me, trust me," Jim says.

"Because you are strict,"

Li Ming has been telling him this from the beginning, but that's his child, and it's difficult to give up that need to protect him. We are in an era of change. It is time for Jim to accept that Li Ming is growing up, and he has to start seeing Li Ming as an adult if he wants Li Ming to trust him.

So it's time to listen:

"No,"

"Why?"

"I hadn't seen her in 5 or 6 years. Out of the blue she showed up and told me she loves me. Do you expect me to love her back just like that?"

"Can't you love her simply because she is your mother?" Jim certainly loves her just because she is his sister. Even though she's hurt him. Even though the blame he places on himself, the internalized homophobia, all of that comes from her.

"I know I owe her gratitude. But being a mother or father should not be an excuse for everything,"

Li Ming is smart in this way, he is showing Jim that he has opinions, he has justifications for his behavior, and they go against tradition, sure, but that has always been li Ming's thing. Why do powerful people have the right to hurt us? Why do I have to love someone who's hurt me?

"But I think your mother loves you too,"

"Love can't be forced, right? Just because she gave birth to me, must I love her back? If you ask me if I love you or not, I can answer that more easily,"

"I can easily say that I love you,"

Moonlight Chicken is a show about family, found or otherwise. Li Ming has shown his love for his uncle repeatedly in this show. In the way he steps up to take responsibility for the broken alcohol so Jim doesn't have to stress about money. In the way he listens to Jim and calms down when his emotions get too out of control. In the way he shows up for Jim's birthday party even though they fought. In the way he always looks Jim in the eye. But he hasn't said the words "I love you," to Jim, not since we've been following them at least.

Jim gives Li Ming a olive branch beer.

"Get a taste of being an adult," WE DID IT FOLKS! WE GOT THERE!!! JIM HAS FINALLY DONE IT, HE HAS FINALLY FIGURED OUT WHAT LI MING HAS BEEN ASKING FOR THE ENTIRE GODDAMN TIME!!!! *airhorn noises*

And because this is literally all Li Ming has been wanting, the apologies, the trust, the honesty, the willingness and need to explain, to help Jim better understand his actions follows quickly. And Jim reciprocates that gift with his own, "I wasn't mad at you for the cigarette, I was mad at myself for demonstrating that behavior,"

"What about Heart?" he teases "Have you tried him out already so you know you like him?" and it's not really an apology, but it doesn't have to be. Because I do think Li Ming understands where Jim was coming from, it's difficult to be gay. Uncle Jim is worried about him. But this, again, is Jim's way of showing Li Ming he is on board with their relationship. He is teasing him, and they are back to their regularly scheduled program after this.

God, Jim loves his nephew so much. And God, this is the happiest and most carefree that I have seen Li Ming be outside of when he's spending time with Heart.

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wen-kexing-apologist · 2 years ago

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Red, Wen, and Blue

So I have watched the confrontation scene in Moonlight Chicken Episode 4 approximately a million times, and @respectthepetty has rotted my brain with all the red/blue color analysis for all of BL which means of course…I have been thinking about Red, Wen, and Blue.

We know that Alan is supposed to be blue, I mean it’s his entire color scheme, whether it’s his costumes or the lighting, or even his personality it is and has been blue, been cold.

Jim is red, the inside of his shop is red, he wears red, his personality, his restaurant, it’s warm.

(I'm choosing this image of Jim in red because I wanted to point out how the color of his shirt matches pretty closely to the color of the wooden bench he's sitting on [yes i know this is his house and not the diner but humor me for a second] which allows the audience to correlate the wooden interior of Moonlight Chicken Diner with red as well)

(See?)

And Wen is caught in between. As evidenced by his costuming in the confrontation scene, with his shirt being both red and blue striped.

(A brief tangent based on another post by @chicademartinica about the framing of the confrontation scene but theirs was specifically about First, here you have Wen not only trapped in color between two worlds, but also physically being placed between Alan and Jim. This image directly mirrors the one that chicademartinica posted about.)

We have additional visual commentary on Wen being trapped between these two worlds with the bed sheets in his apartment being literally red and blue.

And, even earlier, before we are ever introduced to Alan in person there is foreshadowing to Wen being trapped between these two worlds when Wen first comes back to his apartment after his one night stand. He is laying on top of a freshly made bed, his body laying on the blue part of the sheet and his head on the red (physically still around Alan and his past relationship, mentally and emotionally envisioning his night with Jim)

So, that's all basically been covered before by people, but I want to talk about another instance of how the red/blue, Jim/Alan sandwich comes through, specifically in The Cock Fight, and that is after Alan accidentally pushes Wen down. Wen gets a cut on his forehead, and that cut begins to bleed. So here's the thing. The order of operations, the last image of Wen being trapped between these two worlds.

First Step: Jim makes the first move to comfort Wen

Second Step: Alan prevents Jim from being the one to comfort Wen

However, now we've shifted the color framing. Wen is hunched over so the blue parts of his shirt are not visible, he fits in with the scenery almost cause his shirt matches (obviously not perfectly, but pretty closely) with the red table cloth of the Christmas decorations and the wooden wall behind him. And Alan is the sore thumb, off to his side. Wen is still trapped here between red and blue, between Jim and Alan, but Wen fits so much more into the scenery here than he did previously.

As we know, Wen rejects Alan's comfort and immediately seeks out Jim. Jim who, despite being visibly upset and confused, does grab Wen by the arm, and ask to see the cut, gently and with obvious concern. And the blue begins to fade out in this scene, the only remnants are in the lighting.

Third, and Final Step: Wen faces Jim, and tries to get him to listen, tries to tell him, to convince him, to assure him that Wen and Alan are broken up. That he is not cheating on his boyfriend. And he is doing so with blood dripping down his face, practically dripping in to his eye.

And I choose to see this as another instance of Wen being trapped between that red and blue: red blood dripping into his eye because all he can see and think about is Jim, all he is looking for is Jim. With some blue light behind him because he is moving on and away from Alan, Alan is his past and Jim is his future.

We began this episode with Wen being almost completely swallowed by blue. His blue pillow, his blue sheets, and Alan next to him with the glimpses of red sheets underneath. And we are ending this episode with Wen being almost completely swallowed by red. The wood behind him, the color of his shirt, and the blood on his face, with Jim next to him, with traces of blue light behind him.

Wen is making his choice,

And Alan knows it too

(Ah ha! The visual parallel of Alan now being caught between Wen and Jim as reality sinks in that he has lost Wen.)

Also, shout out to the costumers for dressing Jim in a neutral color for this scene, because while this confrontation was technically a way to establish Wen's allegiance and growing commitment to Jim, the fight was between Alan and Wen, Wen (already covering himself in red) trying to break free of Alan's clingy hope that they will get back together. Jim is supposed to be the innocent bystander in Wen and Alan's relationship drama here and having him in a neutral color really helps show that.

#moonlight chicken #wen x jim #wenjim #mlc #moonlight chicken the series #the midnight series #earthmix #earth pirapat #mix sahaphap #first kanaphan #moonlight chicken episode 4 #moonlight chicken analysis #red and blue forever apparently #will I ever be normal about this show? no.#gmmtv #aof noppharnach

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respectthepetty · 2 years ago

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Hello! 👋

I'm sure it's already in your drafts, but may I request some clarity on the colors in MLC?

I don't get a red rascal vibe from Jim, unless they meant something else putting him in all those reds and warm Earth tones (ha!). And Wen in blues/teals? A blue boy?

You're so good at this and I just can't wait to hear from you. 🤩 Also Infidelity Rooster the Series is fantastic so far, so thrilled that it's living up to the hype and everyone is Being So Normal about it 🤣

@abstractelysium - I’ve seen this show referred to as Gay Chicken, Infidelity Rooster, and Lunar Cock, so I love that all of y’all decided that Moonlight Chicken just wasn’t serving the juiciness we needed.

Now onto the COLORS!

Let me apologize for the confusion. I do not think Wen and Jim are color-coded, at least not in the way many other shows code their leads. Instead, the colors are symbolic of the moon and the sun. The Eclipse and Big Dragon both incorporated the moon and the sun into the narrative of the story. Colors, in both, were used to symbolize the moon and sun.

In my initial analysis for The Eclipse, I pinned Ayan as the moon (alone) and Akk as the sun (popular); however, Ayan was red and Akk was blue. Big Dragon did something similar by making Yai the moon and Mangkorn the sun, yet Yai’s safe spaces were during the day while Mangkorn’s were at night. These shows are demonstrating how the moon and sun need each other, and they must meet in the middle to to do so (during an eclipse or at dawn).

The moon is represented by yin which is darkness, water, and feminine energy, and the sun is represented by yang which is light, fire, and masculine energy (ex. Ayan and Akk eating at night by the water on the blue chairs versus them fighting on the red mat). Both are opposites but compliment each other and are needed for the balance of life. We saw this to some degree as well in KinnPorsche with Kinn (water) and Porsche (fire).

If Moonlight Chicken is doing the same, it is saying Wen is the moon and Jim is the sun, yet they exist in the opposite worlds. Wen’s apartment is full of cool tones and he wears blue in the first episode, while Jim’s house is full of warm tones and he wears red throughout the first episode.

Even when they come together in Jim's living room, they align with their colors.

Jim’s life is constantly full of people. Wen is alone most of the time. However, Jim naturally doesn’t start his day until much later because he works at night, while Wen has a day job. The visuals are showing us how they compliment each other. Night and Day. Dark and Light. Accessible and Isolated. Jim is not a red rascal. Jim is the sun and gives life to others through his warmth. Wen is not a blue boy. He is the moon and helps light the path for others in times of darkness.

Heart and Li Ming also show this dynamic.

Heart, the moon, is isolated and alone, but Li Ming’s life is full of interactions and conversations with others. Li Ming is the sun who gives Heart warmth and Heart will be the one to light Li Ming’s path during dark times.

There will still be an exchange of colors. There always is (unless you are Sam on GAP who REFUSES to wear Mon’s pink! AHHHHHH!), but the exchange won’t be as much about feelings as it is about balance. As the pairs begin to harmonize, we will see them exchange colors (or hues of them).

The moon only shines because it reflects the sun’s light, and the moon provides stability (the Earth would wobble without the pull of the moon, and it creates a rhythm through the tides). In order to have life, we need both the sun and the moon. We need their light. We need their love.

#Moonlight Chicken #The colors mean things #the sun and the moon #they must meet at dawn

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wen-kexing-apologist · 2 years ago

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A much smaller, much faster, much shorter analysis of the color red (and other colors too) compared to the behemoth of a post I just made about Heart.

And by that I mean, this isn't really an analysis I just wanted to continue from my post yesterday about Heart finally being lit with red light after multiple episodes of being lit in only blue.

I really like that the lighting designers/colorists in this show have chosen to wash the household scenes completely in blue or red for Heart and Li Ming. So much of the lighting in Heart's house is a cool blue color giving the impression of...well coldness. Li Ming's house however, has a red wash to it giving the impression of warmth. And while this house has not been warm to Li Ming of late, Li Ming is warmth to Heart, and therefore Li Ming's house is also warm.

First of all, Heart was wearing a pink shirt this episode and all I could think about when I saw him wear it was he Professional Life Ruin-er Formerly Known as "@respectthepetty"'s post about color swapping in Moonlight Chicken. It's important for me to note that Heart was looking at pictures of him and Li Ming right before this, and this is after the confrontation with his mother so it's totally possible Heart thinks he might not get to see Li Ming anymore, but he's wearing the closest thing he has to Li Ming's color, regardless.

And then at the New Year's Eve celebration with Li Ming, Li Ming puts him in a red hat.

Stripes my beloved!!!!!!

Li Ming has a blue confetti popper (blue being Heart's color) and Heart has a red one, because of course they do.

On the subject of color swapping, Li Ming does not wear any blue in this scene, however the blue light from the entryway is behind him.

And then I just want to commend the way they shot the kiss scene real quick and I'm putting this here because red is still relevant. Even though Li Ming is wearing almost entirely white, his red is still present on his shirt that says "Tomato Sauce" and he is still matching Heart here who has a giant white stripe going across his shirt.

I love the way these scene turns from general celebration into something soft.

And I didn't really get a picture of it, but I do have to point out that the confetti that Li Ming is pulling out of Heart's hair is also white. Which like, if you want to get a little silly, goofy about it, Heart having white confetti on his head can act as symbolism for Heart having Li Ming on his mind.

I'm putting this picture in a second time because I originally intended to use it here to talk about the little eyebrow raise he does to basically ask Heart to kiss him. I love that Heart catches on to it too, which makes sense, these two are honed in on one another, it doesn't take much at all for them to understand what the other one means.

Listen, we're all gay here, right? What gay doesn't love a good hand imagery moment? Holding hands for this couple also feels especially powerful because this is how Heart and Li Ming communicate.

And forgive the quality of this screen shot, but come the fuck on, the fucking fireworks in the background when they kiss? The red fireworks above them when they kiss? Like???? Talk about visuals representing the feelings of the characters...Jeez. Also, continuing along the color train, there is still so much red in this scene. Heart's hat, the fireworks, the garland in the top right corner, the banner above the television, the tapestry under the banner above the television. RED. (and also a little blue hat next to the TV to represent Heart's place in Li Ming's world)

And then my favorite moment, blissfully unaware that they had been seen, we get to watch them play again. Li Ming teasing Heart by repeatedly trying to kiss him in overly exaggerated motions, tickling his chin, the wrestling. And we get to see that lovely bi-color again. The blue at the front of the house, calling. And the warm light inside the house, where two people who understand each other, are free to play.

AND STRIPES!

#moonlight chicken #moonlight chicken episode 6 #moonlight chicken ep 6 #mlc #moonlight chicken the series #mlcts #heart x liming #heart x li ming #heartliming #fourth gemini #gemini norawit #geminifourth #fourth nattawat #gmmtv series #gmmtv #moonlight chicken gmmtv #moonlight chicken analysis #p'aof #aof noppharnach

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respectthepetty · 2 years ago

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Your color analysis is genuinely saving my life out here I am not a critical consumer of media so I appreciate being spoon fed the fun bits

Oh, shucks @whatisgodtoanonbeliever!

I appreciate you letting me know because I truly do think the colors and background noise are the "fun bits" when consuming media.

However, I don't think anybody, including you, really needs me to analyze anything considering all my asks from today clearly knew what was happening in the shows they were watching, but just didn't know how to get the words (and visuals) down or have the time:

Nueng and Palm being devoid of color and love

Wen trying to balance his day and night lives with color

Color exchange in Moonlight Chicken

Y'all got this! You see the colors too! You see the subtle background noise and symbolism. I'm really just hanging around because noticing these details is fun for me.

But I would like the record to state that I try really hard to contain myself, so it remains fun.

Because sometimes I get so obsessed with a color exchange that it's all I can think about when watching the show, like Sam taking her sweet ass time picking up Mon's pink (GAP).

Or solely watching a show (Cutie Pie) just to see if the lead is color coded the same as he was in a previous series (Why R U?), and if the color exchange would involve the same colors (red & blue).

He wasn't.

And it did.

Or, and this is the biggest one, colors have almost driven me to watch a MAME series to see if it really was about two Black Brooding brothers with a Red Rascal and a Blue Boy (Don't Say No)

So know I'll try to keep it fun and edible for those who want to enjoy it, but every now and then, if you see me going crazy over a single scene that shows a subtle color exchange (red & blue) that is so well done that it becomes my entire personality for the next eight years (Dark Blue Kiss)

Remember that you once told me you appreciated me and hope that I return to normal soon-ish.

#thanks for the appreciation!#the colors mean things #color-coded people in love #GAP the series #Dark Blue Kiss #Don't Say No #Cutie Pie #Why R U?

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wen-kexing-apologist · 2 years ago

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Re: your make me choose reblog,

Please choose between Moonlight Chicken and The Eighth Sense.

Please also choose between your 2 favourite tropes and 2 of your hated tropes separately. Unfortunately, I don't know what they are, so I can't be specific about them.

And enjoy some brown cow eyes 😂

Ooohooo hooo those are some good baby coo eyes!

Make Me Choose

Shows

Moonlight Chicken or The Eighth Sense

Moonlight Chicken! I absolutely loved The Eighth Sense and it too rotted my brain, but I feel like I personally connected far more to the story and the struggles of the characters in Moonlight Chicken, especially centering around Li Ming. I wrote endless analysis of this show from colors to scene breakdowns, to sign language indexes. And even backing away from the story itself, I have so many new friends I met on tumblr specifically because people were engaging so strongly with the things I had written so even if I find a show that I like better structurally at any point in the future, this one is important to me for helping me find a strong online community I did not have before.

Favorite Tropes

Hurt/Comfort or Enemies to Lovers:

Hurt/Comfort! Take this any way you want to, sickfic? Love it! Emotional distress and comfort? Love it! Wounded and bleeding out and needing to be bandaged up? Love it!

It's such a versatile trope because it gives you fluff, it gives you angst, it gives you role reversals, you get fevers, and cuddles, and people who otherwise are strong or reserved being forced to show vulnerability. In sickness and in health and all that I think it is a really wonderful way to make an audience understand why and how a couple works.

TAKE CARE OF EACH OTHER, DAMMIT!!!

Least Favorite Tropes

Boss/Employee or Stalking

Stalking (Sorry, Toh, I still love you I promise)

I do not like Boss and Employee as a power dynamic because I think it is so so easy to get in to toxic workplace environments, workplace harassment, etc territory with them, but there are ones that do it well (Boss and A Babe) and I will still watch them even if I don't like the dynamic (looking at you, GAP).

But stalking? Listen, I loved Secret Crush on You but I legitimately had to skip the first two episodes because I hated Toh's behavior so much and knowing ahead of time that Nuea was a.) aware and b.) into it is what made me even decide to start it.

I just think you get into really, really, really dicey territory around someone's ability to consent and someone's right to privacy when stalker dynamics come in to play.

And as much as I love a toxic couple, the narrative has to support and understand that they are a toxic/messy couple and not portray that dynamic as desirable, romantic, or healthy in order for me to be okay with it. If it is marketed as toxic, have all the cheating, miscommunication, six breaks ups in a row, whipping boy, obsessive shows you want! (Looks excitedly towards Only Friends)

Edward Cullen climbing in to my bedroom at night to watch Bella sleep? And that behavior being seen as completely reasonable and romantic? NO, THANK YOU! HARD PASS.

#make me choose #moonlight chicken #the eighth sense #mlc #tes #scoy #secret crush on you #bed friend #w-k-a thoughts

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waitmyturtles · 2 years ago

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1) It is an HONOR to have even been tagged in this post -- WHOA, @telomeke, this was incredible! (I’m adding it to the Big Themes list!) Holy wow. @the-nihongo-adventure, you might find this interesting from a langblr perspective here (if you’re watching Moonlight Chicken!).

2) ALERT @respectthepetty, we gotcha some colors here, and here with Wen’s name, too!

(And @telomeke, you shouldn’t have linked your PatPran names analysis here, because now I’m in double tears, thinking about Moonlight Chicken and reading about BBS. All of this is AMAZING META.)

MOONLIGHT CHICKEN – FUN WITH THE NAMES

Not meaning to take away from all the big emotions in Moonlight Chicken, but they were really having fun with the names weren't they? 😊

JimBeam caused the biggest hangover for our dear protagonist uncle. And their furkid came about because, well, Jim + Beam = Jimbo.

Also, going back in time, can you imagine little siblings Jim and Jam running around their family farm? How cute are those names for a pair of little rascals! 😂

When I first started writing this post, it was because I thought the wordplay in the examples above was a bit of fun. But remembering how Pat and Pran's names in Bad Buddy were also able to represent deeper layers of meaning (write-up linked here) I took a closer look at some of the other names in Moonlight Chicken.

Here's what I've found – some of it's fun, some of it's heavier, and some are probably just the product of my fevered, moonlight-induced delirium, so be warned! 😉

First up is this guy, Wen's good friend Gong–

(above) Moonlight Chicken Ep.5 [3I4] 4.12

The Thai spelling of Gong's name (ก้อง) can be seen on Wen's mobile at Ep.5 [1I4] 16.16, and it translates to resonant. And the idea of a resounding gong (the percussion instrument, that in East and Southeast Asia was also used to signal announcements as well as in music) does fit rather well with Gong's depiction in the show. He's shown to us as kind of an unfiltered loudmouth, and this is established early on when his indiscreet nail-and-bail advice to Wen in the gym locker room was broadcast to everyone else there. 😂

(above) Moonlight Chicken Ep.1 [3I4] 7.12

This pun also works across many languages, where the word gong (the instrument) exists in homologous versions – in English, Malay/Indonesian, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Japanese, Portuguese, German, Polish… but not in Chinese and only partially in Thai, ironically, where the word ฆ้อง (for the instrument) is pronounced more like khong. 🤷‍♂️ (Still similar though.)

There's also another possible pun that plays on the show's overlap with Chinese culture (remembering that Moonlight Chicken is heavily Thai-Chinese) – the Chinese dialect honorific Ah Gong (阿公/亞公) that many grandkids use to address their Chinese grandpa. (In Bad Buddy, you can hear Pat's mother use this term when talking to him about his grandfather, at Ep.10 [4/4] 11.14.) In Thai, this Chinese loanword is spelt differently from Gong's name (ก๋ง instead of ก้อง) and the tone is also different. However, the pronunciation of Gong's name is similar enough to Teochew (the predominant Chinese dialect group in Thailand) that I think the pun does work too.

Based on the above, in my head at least Gong the character is very much a caricature of a worldly-wise gramps, dispensing advice to the less-experienced Wen. He's even got the near-white hair to suit, and in the scene at Ep.5 [3I4] 3.36 he's also dressed in yellow, which in Thailand is often associated with a higher, wiser authority – a reference to the saffron robes of monks, and also to the current king and his father.

OK I'll shut up about Gong puns now – just as Moonlight Chicken's art direction told Gong the character to do later, via his wardrobe: 🤣

(above) Moonlight Chicken Ep.6 [4/4] 6.33

Now Li Ming's name is packed with many layers of meaning, and this makes him symbolic of one of the show's major themes (that of renewal and a fresh start in the future).

(above) Moonlight Chicken Ep.6 [1I4] 14.09

I've written about Li Ming's name in previous posts so I won't go into it again, but the posts with more info are linked here and here. (I'll probably write more about Li Ming's name in relation to the show as a whole later.)

I think of Heart's character as a metaphor for LGBTQ+ love – which may seem a little unusual, given that gay romances are at the core of the whole series.

(above) Moonlight Chicken Ep.5 [4/4] 9.46 – it's so powerful that Heart's parents aren't even in the frame, because it highlights the communication gulf that separates them; it's like he's talking to a void

However, I don't think LGBTQ+ love is really the central theme of Moonlight Chicken (and will post about this separately). Rather, the romances are there to help move the ship of themes along, without being the central message. But as in any Aof-driven show there will always be some sort of political statement in support of LGBTQ+ rights, and I think Heart was so named for this reason.

Heart is fully capable of love, a complete human being in that respect. Yet his parents saw him as deficient because of his deafness, withdrew themselves from him, and left him feeling quite unloved, lonely and sequestered – not so much out of shame perhaps, but more out of a misplaced desire to protect him I think (eyes on Bad Buddy's Dissaya here! 😡).

But Heart wasn't deficient as a human being, or any less than the people his parents were comparing him to – they isolated him simply because the language that most clearly communicated his innermost self was different from that of the majority, and they did not understand enough to cope with it. He wasn't voiceless – he simply spoke differently, using his hands (thus all the discourse around not using the word mute at Ep.5 [4/4] 8.04).

All Heart needed was understanding in order for his full, authentic self to flourish (which he got first from Li Ming, and is what the Jintanas finally gave to him when they took up sign language).

Do we need a stronger parallel for the experience of young queer people, whose hearts love differently from the cishet majority's, growing up in families that cannot or will not understand them? 💖

Saleng's name (ซาเล้ง) refers to three-wheeler vehicles (and saleng is an abbreviation of the full form รถเข็นซาเล้งสามล้อ). These are usually the pedal-powered tricycles used by rag-and-bone men (who load recyclable/saleable trash into the barrow sitting on two wheels at the front of their vehicle) or (sometimes) motorcycles that are equipped with sidecars (see this link here for some images). In an example of metonymy, the scrap-pickers who ride the salengs are also known as salengs themselves.

(above) Moonlight Chicken Ep.5 [4/4] 1.22

And this name is especially suited to Saleng the cheeky, rough-and-ready rascal in Moonlight Chicken – just like the man himself, the vehicle saleng is zippy, unbound by rules of the road and gainfully shoulders its burden, while scrap-picker salengs are used to constant hustle and hard work in their lives, ready to capitalize on any opportunity that they might happen to find.

One of the more important names in the series is the name of the diner, because it's the same as that of the show – พระจันทร์มันไก่ (visible on the lantern at the front), and it's pronounced something like phra jan man gai.

(above) Moonlight Chicken Ep.1 [1I4] 6.02

Phra jan means moon, where the phra part is a prefix used for revered persons, places or objects and the jan part is a word derived from Sanskrit that also means moon (and is a cognate with the Chandra/Chandran of many Indian/Sri Lankan names – e.g., சந்திரன் in Tamil – as well as candra in Balinese, Javanese and Indonesian, and cendera in Malay).

The man gai part is the same as that in khao man gai (ข้าวมันไก่), the Thai name for chicken rice. The literal translation for the name of this dish is chicken-fat rice, where man means oil/fat/grease, gai means chicken and khao means rice (adjectives or descriptors follow the noun in Thai). This name refers to the fact that the rice is given its deep savory flavor by sautéing it in chicken-fat (the famously flavorful schmaltz, for those familiar with Jewish-American cooking – see @waitmyturtles's encyclopedic post on khao man gai linked here if you'd like to delve into more culinary detail 👍).

You might think the most obvious translation of the diner's name would be the decidedly unglamorous Chicken-Fat Moon, but I don't think that's the only way it comes across in Thai. It was probably worded that way because it plays on the khao man gai served within, but the words do have other meanings too. The word man (มัน) in the diner's name can also mean joyful, enjoyable, flashing, shining, sparkling, glowing, bright, audacious or interesting. The words shining, glowing and bright are of course often associated with the moon, and in this light (pun unintended 😂) the translation Moonlight Chicken maybe isn't that far off (since phra jan man can also mean Shining/Glowing/Bright Moon).

But remembering that in the Thai language descriptors follow nouns, another possible reading of พระจันทร์มันไก่/phra jan man gai (at least to my non-Thai ears) is Glowing (or Joyful/Enjoyable/etc.) Moon of the Chicken (just as khao man gai is literally rice of the chicken-fat).

And if it's Glowing Moon of the Chicken, I think (bear with me on this) that the Chicken being referred to here is actually Jim (don't laugh). He's the main protagonist and the center of all the action in the series, so it wouldn't be surprising for him to be referenced in the title. (And I'm thinking of chicken in the sense of the living bird, not the food on a plate.)

Remembering that the full moon in Chinese tradition represents completeness in life, especially completeness of the family (referenced at the Mid-Autumn Festival of Ep.1, and written up here), we also see that Jim is haunted throughout the series by a home life that is incomplete (ever since he lost Beam), partly because he is still hanging on to the past. We are also told in the theme song that the moon represents the heart (see this write-up linked here) and I think Moonlight Chicken is very much about Jim's search to fill the hole in his, and render it complete again (despite his instincts to do the contrary).

So if Jim is the avian protagonist in the title (remembering that chicken is also a synonym for timorousness, even as we see Jim unwilling to take that bold step to remedying the emptiness in his life), he's very much domesticated fowl (and we're also shown how fastidiously he motherhens his brood – not just Li Ming and Saleng, but also the late-night dining crowd who come to him to be fed). Noting too that Jim was also from a distant rural farm also echoes this idea that he's very much a gai baan (ไก่บ้าน or domesticated fowl), not so much a gai aawn (ไก่อ่อน, literally tender chicken, slang for naïve greenhorn)…

Anyway Jim is not the only gai in the village (this isn't Llanddewi Brefi, Daffyd 😂). Of course, the other gai is Gaipa (ไก่ป่า).

(above) Moonlight Chicken Ep.3 [3I4] 2.14

Gaipa's name is quite unusual (even Director Aof's good friend and sometime GMMTV director Jojo Tichakorn has tweeted about how wild it was, if I remember correctly). Because of this, I think it's very much a deliberate choice. The meaning of Gaipa's name also reinforces the idea of Jim the moonlight chicken because it brings up a very interesting contrast.

The word gaipa (ไก่ป่า) actually refers to this handsome beast:

(above) Red junglefowl (Gallus gallus) – photo by Francesco Veronesi on the Wikipedia article linked here, and image license linked here

It's not quite correct to call this bird a chicken (which is domesticated fowl) – this picture is of Gallus gallus or the red junglefowl, the wild ancestor of all domesticated chickens, that still lives in forests throughout Southeast Asia (including Thailand) and parts of South Asia. Bold, resourceful and adaptable, it's also commonly seen in urban areas that neighbor its natural habitat (while still remaining very much an untamed bird).

In Gaipa's name, the gai part (ไก่, sometimes rendered phonetically as kai) does mean chicken in Thai, but the pa part (ป่า) means forest or wild. So Gaipa's name translates to something like forest fowl or wild chicken, that is the wild counterpart to domesticated chickens.

I suspect Gaipa's character may have been originally written as more flamboyant, and thus the image of the loud, colorfully bold (and sometimes squawky) red junglefowl would have been a better fit. Red junglefowl will also freely pursue and interbreed with domestic chickens (they are basically the same species, like wolves are to dogs; it's just that domestic chickens also have some genetic input from the closely-related grey, green and Sri Lankan junglefowl, and are more placid than their wild versions). With this in mind, Gaipa's romantic interest in Jim also makes sense (since Jim is the domesticated version of the wild gai).

Part of me wishes they had gone with a campier portrayal for Gaipa thought – it might have been a chance to make up for the negative depiction of the screamy, predatory Green in 2gether. But at the same time it would have been a really delicate balance to get right (and flubbing it would ironically have become replication rather than reparation). So maybe Director Aof just didn't want to take the risk and opted for Khaotung's sweeter, more restrained rendering instead. 🤷‍♂️ I'm still a fan of what they've done nonetheless. 👍

OK, so on to Wen's name, and his is thought-provoking for the different questions and themes it evokes. The analysis of his name is so long that I've moved it away into its own post (linked here).

(top) Moonlight Chicken Ep.5 [4/4] 14.21; (bottom) Moonlight Chicken Ep.5 [1I4] 16.20

Keeping it simpler, Wen's name can be linked (via the wn that we see on his phone at Ep.5 [1I4] 16.20) to a political era in Thailand where opposing camps were known as the Red Shirts and the Yellow Shirts. The Red Shirts were identified with the country's lifeblood (its rural poor), and passionately championed the cause of the impoverished farmer. The Yellow Shirts were drawn from the urban elite (including intellectuals and royalists) and because of their origins among the intelligentsia can be seen as representing the message that passion should always be tempered with reason.

Not taking sides here, but very broadly I think that, based on the above, the colors yellow and red (including their various shaded incarnations like mustard/saffron for yellow and rust-brown for red) represent the different pulls of head versus heart, and we are shown both Jim and Wen struggling with knowing the right thing to do, and staying too long in the wrong situation because of emotional attachment (e.g., Jim with the diner, and Wen in his messy relationship with Alan). And we see Jim and Wen wearing more of each color at different stages of their journey, before they come to their final decisions allowing wisdom to prevail over their emotions. 💖 There's more detail in the write-up linked here if you want to read more (but it's a long post and a bit of a trudge to read, I must say 🤷‍♂️).

(top) Moonlight Chicken Ep.5 [1I4] 11.35; (bottom) Moonlight Chicken Ep.8 [3I4] 7.33

Anyway, I don't have any analysis for other names like Jim's and Alan's, so I'll end this write-up here. Maybe will expand more on these and other names after I've rewatched a few times! 💖

#WOW #THIS IS A MUST READ #moonlight chicken #moonlight chicken meta #moonlight chicken names analysis #jim is the chicken #honestly that is really helpful context for understanding his character #off to read about wen's name

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