#mostly yelling about the new trailer looking like some ridiculous action shit

[kollapsar]

what is this death note bullshit to come home and read about

like.

past the fucking white boy ass protagonist.

past that.

i honest to god don’t even believe that the main components of what made death note so damn great translate to an american version. without the cultural contexts of the japanese society there are scores of subtlety and mind games that literally just won’t happen in a western setting.

part of what made light a realistic and compelling villain-protagonist was the fact that he was a clean, attractive, smart young man, and a valuable citizen to a culture that strongly prioritizes keeping the harmony. that was compelling- his underlying sinister sentiments were highly subtle and artfully concealed. if anything (in the beginning anyway) he sought to crush the criminals undermining the harmony of his society and preserve order in the highest- lawful evil etc etc.

was light wasn’t was a walking counterculture symbol- if you had to translate him to a western context he’d be a kindly, popular prep school kid.

not a messy ass hoodie motherfucker.

like, come on- past the white protagonist shit- the fields were ripe with conceptual translation to try to keep some of the fundamental qualities there and create a startling social commentary that translated into our culture effectively. this just feels like grabbing a single aspect of the concept and literally running away from everything else into michael bay land.

and i know L was supposed to symbolize a subversive yet ingenious counterelement to light’s sinister lawful evil philosophy but being black is not visual shorthand for being alternative

stop that

stop that shit right now. this shit better really fucking come through on the diversity past what i’m seeing or i’m going to flip my shit.

(lowkey though, on the other hand there’s a lot of potential for representation in an eccentric genius being portrayed as black and i’m glad the actor gets a role for this and showtime as a hero-antagonist- a very cool role to be in- but i’m leery of a lot of the context surrounding this and knowing hollywoody writing the hero-antagonist/villain-protagonist parallels and nuances will get thrown out the fucking window.)

and if this was directed by the guy who did the new blair witch, lol i can’t say i’m inspired. as much as i liked that movie for some things, i highly doubt the directing style will apply to something as goddamn involved as the mind games that made death note what it was. most if not all of the action movie shit of that manga/anime occurred toward the end, and even then sparingly. and especially because i know the kind of bullshit that happens to creative freedom with directors on bigger-budget projects so even if he did try to innovate his hands would be tied

the point is if you gotta steal something, why not at least be a thorough shit and take the good parts instead of, like, jacking a single beam off the foundation and then running like hell. it’s an insult to our intelligence and to the original product to think that just taking a shallow aspect of the plot and calling it an effective adaptation w/o regard for any thematic translation will ‘make money’.

also please kill me bc the misa/light dynamic was far more restrained than any of the ‘bad cheerleader chick making out with you’ shit. if anything death note was powered by restraint and keeping a quick head to do complex chessmastering on the spot- blowing us away with their minds.

not looking like the kid who’s got no sleep or friends at school fucking making out against walls with cheerleaders and hanging off breaking ferris wheels like could america even do subtle if it tried

[lieutenant-wake-up-blog]

Let's Talk About The New Voltron Season 3 Trailer

shall we? I’ve seen some things about it already and most of it was about Lotor and the galra themselves, ie:

•Lotor is using smaller, single pilot fighter ships to attack the lions •Hunk yelling “it’s too much for the four of us!” Not only confirming that they are unable to/reluctant to find a new pilot for the black lion but that Allura still has yet to step up at this point as a paladin •Lotor is very confident in his ability to take on Voltron, taunting them with “Where’s your protector now?” Alluding torhe fact that he is aware of Shiro’s disappearance and knows how much they depended on him. And his confidence is not unwarranted as we see that Team Voltron is having an extremely difficult time (hearing Coran’s terrified “No!” Is going to give me nightmares)

But what I mean to talk about here, briefly-and this kinda ties into the last point I made above- is how the team looks to keith as a leader all throughout the trailer.

Although he blatantly states that there is no Voltron without Shiro, we hear him giving the team a rather shiro-esque pep talk: “The only way we’re gettin out of here is if we work together! We have to believe in ourselves- this is our team! Who’s with me?” And I think we can attribute that to the fact that, from the beginning, it seemed as though Keith was the one closest to Shiro. The one Shiro entrusted the team to if anything were to happen to him. Now, I don’t think he did and I am not sure if he does mention that incident to the team, but we see them relying heavily in Keith during the trailer for guidance, no matter how they came to that conclusion. Everyone is shouting at Keith during the fight scene, “Keith what should we do?” “We need an actual plan!” And before his “we’re a team!” Spiel, he is seen giving out commands. Everyone is kind of depending on him to pick up the slack left behind in Shiro’s absence and although he seemingly throws himself into Shiro Mode™ (I say that because he is quite obviously trying to emulate Shiro in order to be this pillar of strength and the team doesn’t argue this. I think everyone involved is starting to feel the effects of Shiro’s disappearance and is eager to grasp at any straws that can give them the same leadership as their blavk paladin and trusty Dad Friend), he is definitely struggling. Voltron is still in shambles. They can’t form the Defender of the Universe without the Black Lion, but they don’t have time to gather themselves and find a new one because Lotor? He’s quick. We see how quick he is to jump into an arena full of Zarkon’s soldiers and officers in order to impress them, spread his message and gain a large following in no time at all as team Voltron stands now? They have no chance against Lotor and his Generals’ cleverness, quick action and presumably well thought out agenda. (I’ve got my eye on Lotor’s masked General. She’s very intimidating and gives off very danverous, assassin-y vibe. And now that we’re on the topic, I’m really into the theory of Lotor and his generals being a dark counterpart to voltron, an even scarier thought considering lotor has got the advantage of a head on them-quite literally) Honestly though? This trailer makes me afraid for team Voltron, partially because if how the ending seemed to imply they were not doing so hot in that battle, and because they need to find a way to pull together. Because Keith, no matter how much growth he has had, nor any of the team members, even allura or coran, are in no shape to be a leader in the way that Shiro had to be. (Drinking that respect shiro juice tonight amirite because damn if that man didn’t have a ridiculous amount of shit on his plate and he still kept it together) I’m really curious about how this will pan out in terms of finding a new Black Paladin (I’m thinking about Lauren’s admission that the leader is mostly coming from an outsude source. ((Kolivan, anyone? The BoM seems to be a likely candidate for a resourceful, outlying leader position))) Anyway, that’s all for now, this post is a monster and probably a mess of typos as I’m currently typing this all on mobile and my phone’s keyboard is my worst enemy. Here’s a link to the trailer because I can’t format it nicely on mobile: https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=vy6BXq0Pg6A

Oh and I almost forgot: There was a suspicious lack of Allura during the fight scene, and the only person shown in the Control room when we see Coran shout “No!” Is Coran himself. Perhaps Allura is just at a different station in the room, but it seems strange to me that Allura didn’t also react like Coran did and why they didn’t show her there at all. Granted, we did get her voice saying “lotor is always one step ahead of us” but i d k seems kinda sketch to me. Or maybe it’s a reach. A n y w a y.