#neo is an excellent storyteller

[gunsatthaphan]

💀💀💀

[thevindicativevordan]

Year in Review: 2022

Damn what a year. Not his best but definitely one that we will probably look back on as the defining year of the 2020s for the character. Held off on posting this until practically the last minute just to avoid any final surprises for Superman in a year that's been full of them.

Comics

On the comics side this was another great year. PKJ brought the Warworld Saga to an overall satisfying conclusion, wrapping up a storyline that brought the character to one of his lowest points ever at the start, and ended with Superman ascending triumphantly to new levels of power. While he fell short of his stated goal in differentiating Mongul from Darkseid, he did successfully create a Warworld brimming with future storytelling potential, and his Mongul is an entertaining foil for Superman regarding parental influence shaping their character. The post Warworld Saga issues have been solid, and I thought he, Williamson, and Taylor handled the restoration of the secret identity in Action Comics #1050 as best as they could have. Sad to see Federeci go but he gave us some all time great Superman covers and interiors regardless, and there's always a chance he and PKJ might reunite for a Superman BL book.

Mark Waid managed to actually live up to the hype surrounding his return to DC, with his World's Finest series being easily the best thing he's written since Daredevil. Convinced me to care about Magog outside of Kingdom Come for the first time ever, no mean feat. Champions had made me want to keep Waid far, far away from any teen characters ever again, but his writing for Dick, Kara, and the Teen Titans has been shockingly great, to the point calls for Waid to write a Titans book no longer strike me as utterly insane. Dan Mora of course is a key part of the book's success, his visuals being critical to selling the Neo-Silver Age atmosphere, and he managed to do the impossible: make Composite Superman cool. Many artists have tried to modernize that design, Mora finally succeeded by tossing everything out but the basic concept of a Superman/Batman merger. Starting from that simple idea he created a new design that captured everyone's interest.

Tom King stands out as someone who did excellent work with both Superman and Supergirl. His Dark Crisis Superman tie-in was a powerful exploration of Clark regaining the lost years with Jon. Burnham as always was the perfect fit for showing both characters wrestling with deep seeded emotional issues, and plenty of gore filled fisticuffs. Meanwhile he gave Kara her first standalone "classic", which has proved quite popular in trade sales judging both from King's own words and the Amazon sales list that I've seen. Bliquis Evely's art is for Supergirl what Frank Quietly is for Superman, scenes like the one where Supergirl takes red kryptonite to go fight space monsters are permanently seared into my brain due to sheer beauty and spectacle.

Elseworlds wise we had Venditti and Torres giving us the Superman III that never was with Superman '78. An entertaining execution of the standard "Brainiac shows up and tries to bottle Superman/Metropolis" plotline with a few twists that wrapped up this year, it had a few genuinely novel ideas that shaped my perception of Brainiac. Venditti also did a World of Krypton mini that retold the story of Krypton’s final days. Writing was mediocre but Oeming’s art is beautiful and was enough to keep me from dropping the book. Russel is doing a great job with a "Life Story" for Superman in Space Age, even if I wish he didn't give Batman as many pages as he does. Would buy an Absolute just for all that Allred art regardless, Allred is a vital component in my enjoyment of that series. Over at the Marvelous Competition, Gaiman and Buckingham are at last giving us the resolution to their Miracleman run. Unsurprisingly I am greatly enjoying it and very excited to read where it goes.

Sadly while Clark had a great year, and Kara didn't do bad herself, there were a number of crashes and burns too. Jon and Kon had a horrible year. Not since Byrne has a new Superman been given such a totally broken foundation, with Taylor doing his damndest to smother any potential Jon ever had. At this point I no longer care about Jon until they get him out of Taylor's clutches, which thankfully may be soon judging by his words in some recent interviews. Only bright spot for me regarding Jon was that, terrible as Dark Crisis was, Williamson wrote a really enjoyable and scrappy Jon there that reminded me of why I was interested in him being Superman in the first place. Kon meanwhile was in a garbage event tie-in that did zero of worth with him. 2022 ends as one of Conner's worst years ever easily.

Media

Outside of comics the simplest word to summarize Superman's treatment would be chaotic. Cavill makes his shocking return to the role for film, greeted by joyous fans!... who don't show up for Black Adam which bombs hard. Yet word is released that Man of Steel 2 is in the works, to much anticipation and speculation!... until Gunn and Safran get hired to run DC and promptly cancel MoS2, with Cavill acknowledging that his time wearing the cape has come to an end. Paired with this announcement is word that Gunn is writing the script for a new Superman reboot, and that Coates/Abrams project continues to be worked on as an Elseworld project. Other than Clark being already established as Superman, we know absolutely nothing about the proposed film, which didn't stop meltdowns across the Internet as the Cult finally realized that the Snyderverse was well and truly over. Momoa may be switching to Lobo for the DC cinematic universe, and if they're already talking to him about playing the role, it's a safe bet the first place he'll show up is the new Superman movie. The new DCU "Gunnverse" therefore is betting it's future on Gunn being the first one to succeed since Donner in adapting Superman, which means that the new head of DC is personally invested in ensuring Superman succeeds because it's his job on the line. At least he mentioned on Twitter that he loves Morrison's Superman, and he's been posting Andy Kubert art from Up in the Sky! which is very encouraging to say the least. Going from Snyder to Gunn might end up being the best upgrade Superman has gotten since Donner took over the first movie.

Another live action Superman got his second season this year and it was judged to be a step down from the first. Hoechlin, Tulloch, and Parks all did excellent with what they were given, and the actress playing Parasite tried her best with the flimsy characterization and lines she had to deliver. Jon's actor departed the show and was recast, whether that will cause a change in direction for the character is up in the air.

Animation was the best medium for the Supers outside of comics. Young Justice S4, while retreading old ground regarding Conner being reduced to a weapon, at least treated him better this year than the comics did. He got his happy ending with M'gann, and the show's take on the Zods was the best since Shannon. The season ending on a post credit tease for Kara becoming one of Darkseid's Furies, which is never getting followed up on unless that deal with Amazon bails the show out again, is hilarious. Fucking Weisman chooses to end the series on another big Darkseid tease despite knowing that it wasn't renewed for more seasons! If YJ is finished for good this time then I am at least satisfied with how Conner's story ended, and don't mind if that is the end. Jon and Krypto got entertaining animated movies too with Battle of the Super-Sons and League of Super-Pets, neither of which was anything special, but certainly worth a watch for anyone craving more Superman content. Whether either will see a sequel remains to be seen.

Video game wise we got the first WB cross-property brawler in Multiversus, with Superman in the starting line-up. Found the game fun enough, although it did nothing to diminish my craving for a proper Superman solo game. There were also multiple Superman Easter Eggs in Gotham Knights that referenced him directly or members of his family. Perhaps teases for future DC projects, perhaps not. Not sure I even want WB Montreal to attempt a Superman game after the Wattpad fanfic tier bullshit they submitted for Gotham Knights. Outright Games is also making a fun looking JL: Cosmic Chaos game that has the team dealing with Mxy.

Future

Next year is Superman's 85th and it looks like it will be a milestone anniversary indeed. First up we have PKJ's Action book switching to be more Superfamily focused starting in January, pitting them against a revamped Metallo. He's teased that after the Metallo arc is done, coming up the next arc will feature another revamp of a Superman fan favorite Rogue, a Multiversial Supermen team up is happening, Superman and Constantine may end up working together, and revealed he has ideas for Maxima, Toyman, Mxy, and Bizarro. Then in February Williamson is on a new Superman ongoing with art by Campbell and Dragotta, with a tone aiming to be reminiscent of the STAS cartoon. Finally we have Taylor launching a new Jon mini where he teams up with Val-Zod to stop Ultraman from killing variants of his dad across the Multiverse. Totally on board with PKJ, interested in Williamson, skipping Taylor entirely. Waid is continuing on World's Finest for now, and has teased there may be more spinoffs coming out of that series. I expect something involving Magog to come at some point in the future.

Waid and Yang are also overseeing Lazarus Planet which is an event that will shake up the status quo by giving characters new powers and changing the powersets of those who already have them (such as Jon getting the Electric Blue powerset). Hoping to see Waid and Yang use Clark, Jon, and Kenan in the event.

For upcoming Superman and Super adjacent characters comics that are for sure happening, first we have Steelworks by an unknown creative team (praying it's Pak writing) about John Henry Irons and Natasha working together to reshape Metropolis with their tech. Venditti is already writing a second season of Superman '78, no word on if Torres will return too. Porter's Superboy: Man of Tomorrow mini with Jahnoy Lindsay comes out next year. Premise is very similar to King's Supergirl series but this has been described as Superman meets DBZ which is definitely different tone wise from what King did. Christopher Priest is reuniting with his old Deathstroke team to make a Superman: Lost mini telling what happens when Superman is gone on a mission that's only a little while for everyone else, but centuries for him. Now's the perfect time to let Priest deconstruct Superman while the mainline books do more straightforward storytelling. While not officially announced, Waid and Hitch's Superman: Testament Black Label book is said to be coming out next year per Hitch himself.

More uncertainly there is Mark Millar saying he's having discussions regarding doing a Superman book for DC again, whether that's just typical Millar making a play for attention before announcing another Millarworld project remains to be seen. Geoff Johns may be working on a Legion book, his Flashpoint Beyond series teased a War of the Four Legions story that would doubtlessly result in the Retrobook ousting the Bendisboot from being the "canon" DC future. Would also no doubt restore Clark's childhood ties to the Legion and thus make Secret Origin canon in full. Scott Snyder talked about returning to DC in 2023 or 2024 for Metal 3 which he said before would be Superman focused, although given he described Death Metal as a "Wonder Woman" event he may not have the same definition on what constitutes that as the rest of us.

Live action wise, Gunn has said we will get more information about the coming slate, with Superman being one of the projects we'll learn more about no doubt, in Jan. S&L S3 promises a return to Metropolis, more journalism work for Lois, Intergang making moves, and a new Lex Luthor not played by Cryer complicating the status quo. John Henry Irons should remain a key character given Intergang killed his counterpart on the show's Earth, and is said to be involved going off of the solicit for S3. If the writers acknowledged the feedback on what worked and what didn't with S2 then I think the show can find it's footing again. If not I'll keep watching for as long as the Hoechlin/Tulloch/Parks trio keeps getting cool stuff to do.

Regarding animation we have two movies set in the "Tomorrowverse", Legion of Superheroes which stars Kara joining the titular team, and JL: Warworld which is our first movie following the Tomorrowverse incarnation of the JL. There's also a JL/RWBY movie which will have Superman in it, but having never watched any RWBY myself I plan on skipping it. Against all odds and in total defiance of what you would expect, WB chose to send the new Batman cartoon out to be shopped around and keep the new Superman cartoon for themselves as originally planned. A recent leak - which I won't share here - gave us some details on what the show has planned, and what I read has me eager as hell for MAWS to debut.

Despite all the craziness of the past year I feel incredibly upbeat going into 2023. The uncertainty surrounding Superman's film future has at last been put to rest, his new animated cartoon survived the purges, he's got a comic for everyone either out now or coming soon, the Superfamily and his Rogues are getting focus, and Multiversus broke the trend of all the video game Supermen being evil (although there's still Rocksteady's Suicide Squad game to contend with). Quite the turn around compared to where he was a decade ago, even if it doesn't give me everything I want.

[onewomancitadel]

I wonder if you have any thoughts regarding Neopolitan in the story, since aside from being murderous towards Ruby, I can't really think of what greater role Neo would actually have in the story or if she has any narrative foil stuff or anything you've talked about before. In my mind she kind of occupies a nebulous story grey zone/limbo in what might happen, but I'm curious to hear your thoughts. Do you think Cinder allying with Neo has any greater significance or what?

Neo was initially one of those narrative weakspots with a fit-for-form purpose (and literally based on an icecream). She provided a purposeful (and showy) exit for Roman, a fight for Yang (conflict for Yang's character) and the entry for Raven. Functionally speaking she did all she needed to do; fandom latched onto her, because she was evil and cool.

I generally tolerate Neo fans (one of my mutuals is one, after all) but I can't help but notice a female character who doesn't speak is the fandom's darling. She can't disabuse them of their fantasies and projections about her character. Whilst I think they accidentally stumbled into some interesting disability representation, it wasn't really done so with the best of intentions, and I don't think her fandom overall cares much about that. Forgive me for thinking poorly of most of them. It's not lost on me that for a fandom which largely doesn't care about or pay attention to dialogue, a character who doesn't really have much material is one they're vocally attached to. My wish would've been that they'd write a character who speaks sign language, if she had more narrative importance.

My exception here is my mutual who likes her because they obviously have developed opinions I think are more interesting and actually tease out Neo's character.

That being said, I think Neo is also an excellent case study of how the allusions/influences can be used to paper over narrative weakspots, and generally what most writers - probably universally, especially with a serial work - take advantage of whilst writing on the fly. There are going to be subconscious elements in your story you never knew worked properly. Fandoms seem to think that there is the 'original idea' - and this isn't just a RWBY thing - and everything thereafter is some corruption, or that anything ad hoc is inherently weak and unjustified. This doesn't appreciate that storytelling is organic - and deeply, profoundly subconsciously motivated, and if you've got something at hand to play with, like the use of allusions, you actually have an incredibly elastic work. So it is totally absurd to refer to a prescriptive idea of a work when it's also evolving (and with RWBY specifically there is a lot of nonsense surrounding this topic I'd rather avoid - but all of the things I talk about on here, the monomyth, alchemy, Jung, are all conceptually rooted in red, white, black and yellow, the very foundation of the show - the phases of alchemical transformation, technically in order of black, white, (yellow), red - if they're following these ideas, they are structurally 'staying true').

If you look under my Raven anabasis theory tag, I recently discussed how they ad hoc justified Neo's character. With influence from Hekate (referenced through one of her names as Trivia, an epithet for Hekate), I think Neo was the set-up for what will amount to their exit from Ever After (Hekate's torch lights Persephone's way on her return from the underworld). In terms of her reintroduction - read as fanservice, and it was a bit of that - what that actually sets up is the resolution of Volume 9, so it was actually very necessary to do - to boot, the illusory world accompanied by an illusory enemy is pretty successful conceptually. From a practical perspective, she also gave Cinder someone to play off of in her relative exile - and Cinder is also a character who can talk a lot, and enjoys monologuing, so she works with Neo well. Especially because we get lines such as Cinder pointing out Neo is 'free' - there's some tacit jealousy implied in this in Volume 6, and I'm deadset on the idea they've known Cinder's backstory the whole show - and Neo is able to do things Cinder can't. It works for Cinder's character, but I don't think we're really meant to be learning as much about Neo by contrast. But she's very important in this respect - and then, of course, you've got the fact that her desired vengeance against Ruby is false; Roman died to his beliefs.

(As an aside - the people who say Neo should be angry at Cinder instead, because she's responsible for Roman's death, need someone to sit with them and tell them what's happening in the story. If one is actually so narratively ill-equipped as to fail to understand that Roman is eaten by a Grimm in a sudden fashion realising his worldview - and it's a monster protecting Ruby - one genuinely needs help).

The set-up is obviously forgiveness. That's a gimme. Forgiveness, communication, putting down the weapon - hard-earnt, no doubt, and with the mood Ruby's in it's not going to be friendship-is-magic bullshit - but this is also great because it revisits Roman's absolutely absurd beliefs which are textually rejected, and which right now Ruby is basically feeling like - that everything is cold and hard and everyone loses and there's no hope and no way out and there are no heroes coming. That is the kind of ad hoc shit I am totally here for, because there's a direct tie between Raven's introduction (Neo, saving Yang) and Raven's potential reintroduction (heroes are real - hard-won, and imperfect, but real).

But that Neo is a villain who's angry is an interesting reversal - it's a swapped position, from the hero feeling vengeful against the villain for what they've done - and it's a position of narrative empathy, really. It's very important. It's very important from a thematic perspective - of exploring someone else's experience, getting the whole story (lol Ozlem) and generally setting up how the major villains of this story are going to be dealt with. It's very, very clever. So Neo is totally fit-for-purpose in this respect. However, I don't think she necessarily has as developed a character arc as to the likes of Winter or Emerald - or at least that degree of narrative importance - and so the resolution of her story, once she's served her role, might even be something as strange as her choosing to stay in the crossroads/Ever After (Hekate's domain). She doesn't have the same ties emotionally, thematically, beyond what she's serving right now, and whilst the ad hoc definitely works, I don't think it's really possible to fix this fundamental weakness.

Or - it's not really a weakness, unless you're really attached to Neo and thought she was going to singlehandedly fistfight Salem.

So in this sense, I think she's a very interesting character (because they even managed to make Roman Hekate's 'torch'), she's just not psychologically or emotionally interesting to me because I don't think that's her narrative role. Then you've got the absolute absurdity which is these same people who refuse to take Cinder seriously as a character earnestly and openly make out Neo to be of enormous narrative importance - because it's based on feelings. It's why writing a post out like this is likely to incur upset, because narrative importance is, after all, predicated upon personal feelings, not the text proper. It's complete bullshit of course.

This was a great ask, thanks anon. Hope you're having a good one.

[astroponcho]

Astro Poncho Mission Statement - Version 1

What is Art?

I spend a lot of time thinking about Art, Entertainment, and Culture. I see them as three(?) sides of the same coin. Art is the human ability to express emotion, made manifest. Entertainment is the art that is made not only for the artist but for the audience. An accessible, designerly, art. Culture is the confluence of influence from art, geography, society, and the myriad of other ways in which humans permeate the world. Culture informs the art and entertainment made, and that art and entertainment feed back into the culture that it touches. Let’s call the intersection of these disparate parts Pop Culture. For reference…when I use the word art, I’m talking broadly about the conception of creative production broadly, from mass media to fine art.

Franchise Entertainment’s Impact on Art

Modern pop culture is influenced greatly by franchise entertainment. On any given day, massive communities are discussing new episodes, announcements, or content from and about the Disneys and the Warners of the world. The commercial success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has changed the way that audiences interact with media. Just look at how long people stick around after the credits start to roll in any given movie theater. More than 10 years in, and multiple phases later, not to mention the bungles of other IPs such as Star Wars (also Disney, hmm), there’s an undercurrent of fatigue with the franchise model. People love these stories and worlds, as evidenced by the continued box office success, but the discussion around franchises tells a different story.

Some see these franchises, especially Marvel, as creatively bankrupt, templated cash grabs. This has also led to what is a resurgence (or emergence) of the mid-tier movie, decently budgeted films that give the feeling of high-budget outings, but are more targeted, focused, and intimate. Generally, you have two camps: the people that love the Marvel outings and see the smaller movies as pretentious, or the fans of “cinema” that think that the MCU has ruined movies. This doesn’t have to be an either-or situation. I know that I personally love a lot of the MCU, and I also love my Sundance darling, neo-mumblecore movies, and my mid-budget thrillers, horrors, and dramas.

Many people bemoan franchise-based content, and due to their extreme commercialization, I can’t necessarily blame them. It can be tiring to get (what is perceived as) a remix of something that’s been seen before, over and over again. Franchises could be so much more. They could be one of the best ways to tell immersive, communal, and equitable stories, creating the avenue for similarly impactful experiences that connect to those stories.

This isn’t to say that all “franchise-style” storytelling and experience-building is in the Marvel, Star Wars, or DC styles. SCPs, Assassin’s Creed, and Unkown9 are reasonable steps in the right direction and have excellent audience engagement, but varying levels of story quality and intertextuality, and don’t necessarily tackle equity AND community at their cores.

The Problem with Pop Culture and Art

The world of art is in a weird spot, across the spectrum. I’d say that much of the issue comes from the current infrastructure, which is in need of some innovation. There’s a tug-of-war between the three main stakeholders: Creatives, Audiences, and Patrons. Creatives want to express themselves, audiences want familiar but fresh and exciting experiences, and patrons want returns on their investments. Intersecting with this is the ever-important conversation of representation, where those in the margins are held there in no small part by the very institution of media, creative production, and distribution itself. We have to figure out how to solve the issue of creating work that is financially sound, creatively-lead, and audience-loved while showcasing the humanity of people that don’t usually get that luxury.

How Might We create art and entertainment that gives creatives freedom of expression, allows them (and any “patrons”) to make good on their “patronage”, is socially-minded with an eye on inclusion and sustainability, and is appealing to pop culture audiences, by allowing them to have meaningful interactions with those stories and experiences?

Where AP Fits

Enter Astro Poncho (later referred to as “AP”). An entertainment label that zooms out from specific mediums, looking at storytelling and experiences as opportunities for innovation. We’re looking to meet the desires of the audience, of the creatives, and of those who invest in the projects getting made. To do that, we gotta think outside of the box.

Participatory culture / co-creation of media

If you think of any famous artist, from a filmmaker to a painter to a game designer, they represent one of the greatest misnomers of art; an individual auteur, a lone ranger, making their way through the tumult and toil through to a finished masterpiece. Even in obviously collaborative mediums like filmmaking, the person at the helm is credited for the project. By flipping the script and focusing on creating art that highlights collaboration through its production, the hope is that more people will get their due credit in meaningful ways and that more people will get to have meaningful contributions to the creation of the art. Essentially, changing the dynamics of a very gatekept space to include those on the margins.

Cooperative Governance

To strengthen the ownership of the art created, the enterprise would be owned by the workers. So, the artists would decide how the enterprise would be run and would work with the communities that the art appeals to have a more cooperative relationship. The importance of creating with instead of creating for can’t be understated. From the facilitation of creating user-generated content, to constantly listening to the community and understanding what they want, allowing the art to be owned by everyone involved can create a more active and meaningful connection. It can also lead to better art.

Human-Centered, Equitable, Liberatory Design

I went to school for design, so I’m very biased, but I see design as an amazing creative framework for solving problems. Being able to explore a problem from all sides and have a process that centers on those who’ll directly benefit from the problem being solved is the ideal way to address the issues we find in our world. Historically, both as I’ve seen in my learnings in school and in the world at large, design is a tool that is wielded by the elite, furthering their interests. It doesn’t have to be this way, and I definitely see design as a tool to unlock the potential of the future; we can use design as a way to work toward liberation, and AP’s work will be centered on this idea of equitable, liberatory design practices.

Transmedia

One of the benefits of living in the modern era is unfettered access to art, thanks to the internet. This means that the barriers to enjoying different art are lower than ever. Even with this, a lot of the ways that art is made don’t tune into the possibilities afforded by the time period that we live in. By breaking down silos and focusing on story worlds and experiences instead of specific mediums of art, AP can innovate in the art space, providing evolutions of what audiences, creatives, and patrons want while being flexible enough to find creative revolutions to art production.

Diversity

I see many paths to liberation. While some people write off art, and especially entertainment, as being commodified escapism, I see so much more potential than just that. Many people talk about and use art as activism, and I’d want to continue that tradition with AP’s work. I think that art that has “political” messaging has the strongest resonance, and can lead to change in the real world, for better or worse. Some of my personal favorite pieces of art are inherently political: Neon Genesis Evangelion, Rosie the Riveter, Princess Mononoke, HBO's Watchmen series, and the list goes on. Art imitates life, and life in return imitates art. If we can use the power of accessible art that connects people with very intentional messages that showcase the humanity of all, helping us imagine more equitable futures, more progress can be encouraged in the real world.

To summarize: AP’s strategy for art creation plans to innovate by centering equity, inclusion, participation, and shared ownership to lead to more awesome art that helps inspire action towards a positive future.

This is a pretty complex nut to crack, and AP’s solution will probably change a bunch before it’s all said and done, but that’s the name of the game. To date, a lot of the advances that the creative industry has made have been based mostly on feasibility, as in how much the tech can do. Think VR, AI, the Metaverse, Blockchain, etc. The pieces that these advancements are missing are viability and desirability. The humans a lot of these advances are for don’t seem to be as interested in the tech as the makers do. AP is looking for that balance. By creating art with a focus on community, expression, and inclusivity, we want to be able to create a real impact in the space on the people that are touched by it.

The initial project that I have in mind with AP is a semi-frequent collection of works in a zine that focus on sustainability and the solarpunk genre and movement. It’d include fiction that encourages working towards positive futures for people and the planet, information on the current advances and movements being made, conversations with those people who are working in sustainable fields moving the needle, and things that you can do right now to help create a positive future.

I’m looking for more creatives, collaborators, and entrepreneurial spirits that are interested in going on this journey with me. If that seems at all interesting to you, I have a pitch deck with more info. It covers some similar but different information about our conversation here. It also doubles as a window into how AP might tell stories; you get the picture through one channel, but by going to a different channel you get more context…a fuller picture.

Thanks for sticking through to the end. Again, here’s the deck for more information, and a place to sign up for a chat with me about the project. Hope to talk to you soon! thx :) - Dip

[sweetretribution]

3 and 12 !!

Canon Questionnaire.

3. What’s the best thing about the show/series/books/comics/etc.?

A lot of people will tell you the one and only answer to this is "the fight scenes," and it's hard to disagree. Especially early on, the action scene choreography was a major draw to the show for people. However, this did fumble for a while with the tragic loss of show creator and lead animator Monty Oum, and while I never expected anyone to be able to fill his shoes- the man was a wizard I s2g- I do want to take the dip in quality for a while into account. They've absolutely improved since then, and I feel like he would be happy with the work the animators do.

Something that has been consistently great is the music. Jeff Williams was the lead producer on the soundtrack for volumes 1-8, with his daughter Casey(who was 13 when doing her first recordings for the show)often providing vocals. Lots of songs are told from the point-of-view of certain characters, and make for excellent storytelling tools in that regard, on top of just about every one of them being a bop/banger/jam/etc. Jeff retired from the show after volume 8, with Casey taking the reins for volume 9, and she continued to do an excellent job.

Lastly, I think something great about the show is just...that it's kept going. When Monty passed away shortly after volume 2 concluded, there was lots of concern about whether or not RWBY was going to continue. The crew ultimately decided that the show must go on, and I really admire that. Monty was their friend, and they didn't want his story to die with him. They've kept his world alive up to this point, and whether or not people think the show's quality is better or worse than it was when we had him, I feel like they've done their best with what they were left. People criticize changes they've made to the ideas he had, and while I don't think ALL of them are great, do people not understand that Monty himself would change shit up all the time? Hell, my muse's entire existence was a result of a snap decision he made. The RWBY he had in his head after volume 2 ended would not be the RWBY we have today even if he were still here, and it pisses me the hell off when people always attack the crew for not following his plan to the letter. As if THEY have any idea what his plan was- as if THEY were his personal friend and would be able to do the show so much better than the people whose help he sought out.

...Sorry for the tangent. I get passionate about that topic in particular.

12. What would you say is the most unique trait about your character?

Speaking of Neo's existence as mentioned before, I think that, from a meta perspective, is what's most unique about her. Her original design was based on a female cosplay of her boss, Roman Torchwick, and her Semblance was created solely for her first major scene so that Roman would have a means of escaping team RWBY. She was basically a last-minute addition Monty made, and yet has become such a fan favorite that she became the main antagonist of volume 9, and she and Roman have their own spinoff novel.

As a character, though, I think her most unique trait is how she expresses herself. Being actually physically mute requires her to be much more animated than the majority of the cast in order to get her point across. It does wonders to have her avoid the serious, stoic trappings that are so common in most characters that just prefer to be silent rather than having a disability. Her Semblance also helps her communicate through her own images rather than words, though I feel like that would be cheating to cite since it's not something a lot of universes with silent characters could do. Her physical demeanor, on the other hand, is something they COULD do but elect not to. It creates a wider pool of characters she's included with and makes her stand out more amongst them because of it.

[atmospheretattoo]

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[ear-worthy]

"In the Room with Peter Bergen" Podcast Investigates Domestic Terrorism

Don't get turned off because Peter Bergen is from CNN. This guy is good. Very good. Look at his photo below. He could be the protagonist, or villain, in any John LeCarre or Robert Ludlum spy novel. I think Bergen even knows Jason Bourne.

Here's the pitch for In the Room with Peter Bergen. "Overwhelmed by conflicting narratives and sensationalism in the news? Wondering where you can get an objective analysis and direct-from-the-source reporting?"

"Look no further than In the Room with Peter Bergen. In his weekly nonpartisan news podcast, longtime national security journalist and bestselling author Peter Bergen goes beyond the headlines, to explore the world’s most important and captivating stories."

While there's some hyperbole there, it's also true that Bergen is a traditional journalist, searching for the truth and not worrying about ideological camps. 

Each week, Bergen covers a news topic like war, artificial intelligence, UFOs, and more, including a rare peek inside the FBI's unit that is trying to prevent mass shootings. Balancing various perspectives on the subject, he combines narrative-rich storytelling and interviews with top experts and leaders like former Acting US Secretary of Defense Chris Miller, US Army General David Petraeus, Jen Easterly who leads US efforts to prevent cyberattacks, former US National Security Advisor John Bolton, first-ever female Afghan ambassador to the US Roya Rahmani, and CNN Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward.

 The conceit of the podcast is that Listeners go “in the room” with Peter Bergen as he presses his contacts for accurate, on-the-ground information to help his listeners contextualize and understand the impact of these stories on their lives through a quality, trustworthy, and engaging lens.  Recent episodes I've enjoyed are "Is The Pentagon Really Hiding Crashed Alien Spaceships?" and "Yes, the United States has a Space Force. Stop Laughing." Bergen is excellent at drilling down below the headlines.

  On this week’s episode of his In the Room with Peter Bergen politics podcast, Bergen - CNN’s National Security Analyst, and world-renowned terrorism/extremism expert who landed the first TV interviews with both William Pierce, a key leader of the American neo-Nazi movement and The Turner Diaries author, and Osama bin Laden - dives deep into the ongoing issue of domestic terrorism in the United States.

During the episode, titled “Why America’s Biggest Terror Threat Is Homegrown,” Bergen is joined by his fellow domestic extremism expert Daryl Johnson, Northwestern University professor Kathleen Belew, and American political analyst Bruce Hoffman to investigate how the January 6th, 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol was the culmination of political trends in the United States that have festered for many years and how it may be a dress rehearsal for what comes next. 

Check out In the Room with Peter Bergen. You can actually witness what a real journalist does. Or is he a spy?  

[clapperboardtalk]

WE OWN THE NIGHT (2007)

We Own the Night (2007): A Gritty Tale of Blood and Brotherhood, But...

Genre: Neo-noir crime thriller

Runtime: 115 minutes

Country: USA

Year: 2007

Plot Story: Philadelphia's underbelly pulsates with a neon symphony of sin, where the Green brothers, Joseph (Mark Wahlberg) and Bobby (Joaquin Phoenix), walk divergent paths under the same moon. Joseph, a steely-eyed cop, upholds the law with unwavering conviction. Bobby, his enigmatic nightclub-managing brother, dances with the Russian mafia, secrets his currency. This volatile dance erupts in a hail of bullets during a fateful car chase, claiming their father's life and forever altering their destinies. Bobby, fueled by grief and vengeance, dons the badge, vowing to become the law his father could no longer enforce.

Cinematography: We Own the Night paints a gritty masterpiece with its visuals. Think rain-slicked streets reflecting shattered dreams, smoky back alleys whispering conspiracies, and close-ups that capture the simmering rage in Phoenix's eyes. This ain't your Sunday afternoon rom-com; it's a feast for noir aficionados who crave the seductive dance between light and darkness.

Clashing Personalities: The film thrives on the contrasting personalities of the Green brothers. Wahlberg's stoic cop, haunted by internal demons, grapples with loyalty and duty. Phoenix's nightclub kingpin, a tapestry of charm and desperation, walks a tightrope between survival and morality. Their interactions are electric, crackling with unspoken tension and simmering resentment.

Acting Prowess: The cast delivers stellar performances. Phoenix smolders with intensity, his portrayal of Bobby's emotional journey nuanced and captivating. Wahlberg lends gravitas to the conflicted Joseph, his quiet resolve masking a storm of emotions. The supporting cast, including Eva Mendes as Bobby's love interest, adds depth and texture to the narrative.

Personal Rating: 3 out of 5 blood-soaked stars. We Own the Night is a gritty and compelling neo-noir experience, but its predictable conclusion drags it down from greatness. Still, the performances, cinematography, and exploration of family, loyalty, and vengeance make it a worthwhile watch for fans of the genre.

But Here's the Thing... While the film excels in its atmosphere, acting, and visual storytelling, the ending stumbles into predictability. The final showdown feels familiar, lacking the raw punch that earlier scenes deliver. It leaves you wanting more, a satisfying resolution just out of reach.

Just remember: Grab your metaphorical raincoat, a healthy dose of skepticism, and maybe a therapist on speed dial. This cinematic odyssey through the darkness is worth exploring, even if the ending leaves you feeling a tad unsatisfied.

Trivial Fact: Did you know the film's iconic car chase sequence was shot entirely without CGI? That's real stunt driving and Phoenix clinging for dear life in the front seat. Talk about commitment to the craft!

[yourstormthlaylirahh]

A bit late for this because I took the app off my phone for a while and missed the event (I was going to make a bingo this year but oh well) but here are my reactions to the 2024 gmmtv trailers, from most to least anticipated.

On Sale: I have liked every ghost themed drama I have ever watched. I adore Jan. I think while this appears very silly and over the top, it has the potential to have very poignant moments, and I'm holding out for some class commentary through News character 🤞

Pluto's Love: Namtan! Film! Sapphic! Drama! I am very excited! Some hesitancy is felt because I'm always anxious about the treatment of disability in media, so I hope it's not patronizing or disrespectful to the blind community. 🤞

Ploys Yearbook: finally another female led drama. I have high hopes for this, even if it seems like it's retreading plots from other recent gmmtv dramas such as Warp Effect

Kidnap: the plot looks relatively fresh and dramatic. It seems up my alley. Ohm seems to be typecast now.

My Golden Blood: I am really excited for this, corny as it looks and all. A genre romance with Neo and Mond in evil roles, plus a plot pulled straight out of a pulp romance? Sign me up

My Love Mix Up: I'm a little torn on this one, but more positive than negative. I really love Kieta Hatsukoi, and I'm not sure the type of over the top humour and acting from Aoki will translate very well into a thai series. That being said, both Gemini and Fourth are very talented young actors and I think even if not as iconic as the original, their performances will still be enjoyable and heartfelt.

Ossans Love Thailand: another remake? And then another Japanese series but it's a sequel to the thai remake? I'm confused, I think I misunderstood something. I do however have a strong bias towards seeing Earth and Mix together on my screen, I think they act very well together. I also really loved Au Kornprom's directing for MSP

Enigma 2: I guess I need to get my ass moving and watch the first one. The trailer was very artsy

Wandee Gooday: I'm not super interested in the plot based on what we got in the trailer, but I screamed twice, once when I saw Drake and once when I saw Ploy. I love both actors, and I had thought Drake had quit to pursue acting in America so I was pleasantly surprised. I know In Sarin can act well because of Miracle of Teddy Bear (which you all missed out on and should have watched, it was excellent). Also, the scene at the end when he has to stop sex cause he got a cramp from holding his leg up was genuinely funny and relatable. Golf directing is a bonus.

Summer Night: I am a bit letdown, because I initially thought they were breaking up the CPs to put Dunk and Phuwin together in a bl and that would open up so many storytelling avenues for them and other actors, but that seems not to be the case. Regardless, this looks cute and fluffy and I am tentatively interested.

High School Frenemy: it wouldnt be a gmm line up without a homoerotic tale about 2 enemies in some sort of dark school setting. The trailer doesn't give one much to go on, it's a lot of very repetitive fighting scenes. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the female characters to get some good scenes which showcase their acting abilities as well as the male characters.

Only Boo: let the record show 'boo' is the most annoying form of endearment in English, why did they translate it this way? The main character is pretty annoying, but to me the trailer got more interesting as it went on, so it should be fun at any rate, and Louis and Book are always nice to see

My Precious: still haven't bothered to watch the movie

The Interest: Yayas character looks wonderful and compelling. Brights looks like a fucking creep, though incidentally those are the characters I think he is best at playing, so hey

The Trainee: I just don't like office settings, I find them uninteresting and a lot of the formalities and etiquette of offices seems really silly and pointless to me. This trailer won major points for seeming to feature a wlw couple, so I'll watch for them anyways, and I got really excited to hear Sizzy so there's that.

We Are: I could barely get through the trailer, this looked really bland to me. I like most of the actors involved so I'm willing to be pleasantly suprised, but I'm not expecting much

Overall, even though there are 7 to 9 series I would say I'm looking forward to, I'm really disappointed overall. A lot of the series are really bland to me this year, so I'm hoping I'm more excited by Pt 2 whenever that is. I want roles for Khao, First and Fah :(

Roles for Mild too, though I know she is a freelancer and not under gmm

[losangelestattooshop]

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[kicksaddictny]

PUMA "We Are Legends" Platform Led by PUMA's New Era of Black Designers

PUMA’s new storytelling and product developing platform, “We Are Legends”, which celebrates Black excellence and cultural impact. The collection seeks to honor the Black creatives trailblazing influence on cultural progression around the globe and strives to empower and amplify the voices of our Black community – our legends. Championed and led by an internal collective of Black designers, the name, “We Are Legends”, reminds us to celebrate the now in Black culture and not just the rich history of past.

The debut collection with the We Are Legends platform, “The Yard”, is inspired by Homecoming – a tradition in many high schools and colleges in the United States where they welcome back former students and members. The collection features men’s and women’s apparel in a bright palette of maroon, purple, and orange. Designs use material mixing and multi-placed collegiate graphics that unify schools, yard culture, and heritage. Designs use material mixing and multi-placed collegiate graphics that unify schools, yard culture, and heritage. PUMA classics like the Suede are revamped with modern accents, shapes, and a neo-archival head-to-toe style. Design details references styles worn by HBCU students in the past and currently, capturing the culture’s deep history and honoring their contributions to American style.

“The Yard”, the first collection under the We Are Legends platform is now available globally on the PUMA app and at the New York City Flagship store.

The collection is currently available on PUMA.com and select retailers worldwide with a retail price range of $40 to $120.

[arofili]

@tolkiengenweek day one | mentorship ● community | the lambengolmor

Though Fëanor after the days of his first youth took no more active part in linguistic lore and enquiry, he is credited by tradition with the foundation of a school of Lambengolmor or ‘Loremasters of Tongues' to carry on this work. This continued in existence among the Noldor, even through the rigours and disasters of the Flight from Aman and the Wars in Beleriand, and it survived indeed to return to Eressëa. Of the School the most eminent member after the founder was, or still is, Pengolodh, an Elf of mixed Sindarin and Ñoldorin ancestry, born in Nevrast, who lived in Gondolin from its foundation. He wrote both in Sindarin and in Quenya. He was one of the survivors of the destruction of Gondolin, from which he rescued a few ancient writings, and some of his own copies, compilations, and commentaries. It is due to this, and to his prodigious memory, that much of the knowledge of the Elder Days was preserved.

—The History of Middle-earth: Volume XI: The War of the Jewels, “Quendi and Eldar”

Notes:

“Loremasters of tongues” and “linguistic loremasters” are two canonical translations of the word Lambengolmor

Fëanor, Rúmil, and Pengolodh are the only characters who are canonically part of the Lambengolmor

Rúmil’s epessë Saratitamo is my headcanon; it translates literally to “maker of the Sarati”

We don’t know for certain that Rúmil taught Fëanor, but it is likely considering Fëanor’s expansion of his work (adapting the Sarati to the Tengwar)

Fëanor obviously did many other things besides founding the Lambengolmor and creating the Tengwar, but those are his two achievements related to this topic

Quennar i Onótimo was a loremaster of Aman and possibly of Beleriand; he wrote mostly about timekeeping (thus his epessë i Onótimo, meaning “the Reckoner”); though he is not specified to be among the Lambengolmor, his first name means “elf-speaker” and he canonically devised the word menel, “heavens/firmament,” which in my mind makes him an excellent candidate for a linguistic loremaster

The Quettúri (“word-masters”) were a concept related to the Lambengolmor; we don’t know Quennar was associated with them, but I wanted to include them in this edit so I used him as a link between the two organizations; in coining new words, the Quettúri specifically exercised lámatyávë (“sound-taste”), the practice of taking pleasure in the sounds and forms of words (phonaesthesia)

Penlod’s place among the Lambengolmor of Gondolin is my headcanon; I put them as the leader of the House of the Pillar (later taking on the House of the Tower of Snow as well) and the chief loremaster of Gondolin

I adapt the Cottage of Lost Play into a school of learning and lore, and so I have given the characters who appear as storytellers in The Book of Lost Tales the role of loremasters, thus making them part of the Lambengolmor

Evromord was a proto-Rúmil character, and Gilfanon lived in the House of a Hundred Chimneys; I also headcanon they are survivors of Gondolin’s fall who sailed to Tol Eressëa after the First Age; Evromord’s headcanoned epessë Fennatir is neo-Quenya for “door-watcher,” a nod to his role in BoLT as the door-ward of the Cottage

Lindo and Vairilmë are the keepers of the Cottage of Lost Play in BoLT (Vairilmë’s name there is actually Vairë, but I tweaked it to distinguish her from the Valië); they are a married couple

Ilverion Littleheart is the son of Voronwë (though I headcanon Voronwë adopted him), and is another storyteller at the Cottage in BoLT

Meril-i-Turinqi is the Queen of Tol Eressëa in BoLT, and since she also tells stories I have made her a loremaster as well, though she acts primarily as a patron of the Cottage and does not dwell there herself

Quendingoldo is the Quenya name for Pengolodh

For more on my headcanons about these characters, check out these posts in my Peoples of Arda edit series: Lambengolmor, Cottage of Lost Play, House of the Pillar

[hussyknee]

Hey lovelies. A couple of you sent me asks about Lankan politics. First off - I'm really glad my posts are helping you, and I'm having a blast writing them! I'm going to take a break today and outline a thorough but simple explainer for your questions tomorrow. Still toying with the idea of making a series of them since there seem to be a surprising amount of Lankans on Tumblr now!

You can follow me to see them, or just follow the "Sri Lankan politics" "Sri Lankan protests" or "අරගලයට ජය!" (victory to the struggle) tags.

Meanwhile here are some great accounts on Twitter you can follow:

Marlon Ariyasinghe (Sinhalese) is the Assistant Editor of Himalistan, and one of the people who covered the protests in Colombo end to end. I'm seriously in awe of how much tear gas this man has inhaled, as have so many others, and how long he stays on the ground during incredibly dangerous situations.

Vajra Chandrasekera (Sinhalese) is an award-winning Sci-Fi writer, insanely well-read about our modern history and has a better grasp of political reality than most self-styled pundits, probably because he never presents himself as anything except a wordsmith and storyteller. Here's one that provides a lot of context for the location of Gotagogama back when it first went up in April. He also put together one of the most comprehensive donation threads (please help/ boost!)

Amalini De Sayrah is an amazing photojournalist with Groundviews, documenting the ground realities of Lanka's most marginalized with pathos, joy and sensitivity. Her Gotagogama photos are the best documentation of the protest village IMO

Ambika Sathkunanathan is the former Commissioner of the Human Rights Commission Sri Lanka and the Chairperson of the Neelan Tiruchevalam Trust. Her threads are a little more involved and academic than the others, but she's also one of the people who have spearheaded the fight for minority justice for years.

Amitha Arudpragasam (Tamil) independent policy analyst , who focuses on economics from the South Asian female perspective.

Saritha Irugalbandara (Sinhalese) is a feminist and LGBT researcher and activist, incisively analytical and acerbically witty. She was the one who put together this crisis relief fund (please, please donate!)

Maryam Azwer (Muslim) post-colonial academic and journalist who is one of the strongest media voices on feminist issues in the Sri Lankan Muslim community including Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act Reform.

Dr. Thusiyan Nandakumar (Tamil) Editor in chief of the Tamil Guardian and a long-time activist for Tamil self-determination in Sri Lanka. If you're Sinhalese you might have heard that he's an LTTE sympathizer. Speaking as a Sinhalese Buddhist, you really need to follow him and the Tamil Guardian learn about Tamil perspectives and understand the struggle for Tamil self-determination, which preceded the LTTE by decades and continues on today.

Rehana Thowfeek (Muslim) and Chayu Damsinghe (Sinhalese). They're *twitches* economists and neoliberals but what we're in right now is an economic crisis. Capitalism is a fuck, but this particular situation is the result of astounding levels of corruption and incompetence, which is in turn a result of ethno-fascism and dynastic politics. They make truly excellent and simplified threads on macroeconomics for novices and laymen, don't demonize socialism and welfare states, and their aims and ideals have a fair overlap with leftists.

Please note Sri Lankan and South Asian discourses on economics are not at all the same as the US's. The US's left is barely left of center; South Asia has an intractably socialist foundation that is disabled by poverty and corruption created by colonialism and neo-colonialism. Our countries are equally traumatized by communism, neoliberalism and crony capitalism.

That's your a starter pack for the young Sri Lankan/ Desi novice and world affairs nerd. There's hundreds of prominent journalists, researchers, activists, academics, analysts, writers and artists who have throwing themselves bodily at social injustice in Sri Lanka for decades, through one of South Asia's longest and bloodiest civil wars. You guys should have nothing but contempt for international journalists who parachute in and take over stories with less context than any local, instead of simply boosting the local journos who have been covering these stories for years and can out-write them any day of the week. If there's anything this hellscape has taught us, it's how utterly trash international news outlets are. Reuters, The Guardian, CNN, BCC, New York Times—worthless.

Always:

- try to find local newspapers and source

- amplify people who are directly impacted by the issues you want to know about instead of trying to "translate for an English speaking audience"

- never trust political and economic commentators who aren't actually in the country they're commenting on (looking at you Steve Hanke)

- especially never trust white people with fancy degrees who are "experts" on colonialism and racism.

_____

Notes:

I mentioned each one's ethnicity because 90% of Sri Lanka's problems was created by Sinhalese Buddhist ethnonationalist supremacy. The 26 year old civil war was a slow genocide of the Tamils of the North and East, with Muslims massacred by both sides.

Our surnames are so long because the Sinhalese and Tamil alphabets have a letter for every syllable. So names that are only five letters long for us get unravelled like an accordion in English.

[itsclydebitches]

re: that ask you posted a couple days ago about the male and female representation in RWBY, part of what makes RWBY's whole 'girl power' thing ring exceptionally hollow to me is the fact that there are like... no women in positions of real power in remnant. like at all. except the big bad.

winter is second in command to james. glynda is second in command to ozpin. all of the headmasters are men (for no discernible reason, imo; why theodore and not dorothea?). the leader of the ace ops was a white man (and then winter seemed to take over clover's position instead of either of the women of color on the team, and she was still second to james). RWBY is an all girl team, but JNPR was led by a boy despite a girl arguably being far more qualified (pyrrha). the happy huntresses are all women, and robyn had no real power to speak of--she didn't even manage to win the election, because jacques rigged it, and then the council ceased to matter. there was one (1) woman on the council, but she was so inconsequential that i can't even remember her name. (i suppose we're lucky it was the guy and not her who james shot lol) jacques controls the SDC instead of willow, even though he's not even a schnee by blood and actually married into the family for power. (and we don't even know how he got it over his wife.)

and then there's the white fang, which ghira led and not kali--and it's ghira who leads menagerie itself, while kali seems to be a housewife. sienna had five minutes of screentime before being brutally killed and her position assumed by adam, a man. cordovin is basically a one off lackey we haven't even thought about before or since. neo was second to roman. you have cinder, sure, who is a second but to salem, a woman, and raven as the leader of the branwen tribe--but what does it really say about your 'girl power' narrative when the only women with genuine systemic power in your world are villains or antagonists with massive bodycounts??

atla has the same sort of problem--a couple great female characters, but all the leadership positions are men (except the kyoshi warriors, an all girls group, and even then the leader of their island is an old man) and the one female mentor figure also turns out to be evil--but it at least has some great writing to help overlook that fact, and it came out in the mid-00's and so has some sort of excuse of being a product of its time. but rwby didn't even start until 2013 and it's still going and still making these kinds of decisions well into 2021.

where is this supposed girl power, exactly? am i really supposed to overlook the very patriarchal worldbuilding just because the title characters are girls?

That's an excellent summary of the situation, anon, and as with so much in RWBY, it comes down to the full context. Any one of these examples isn't necessarily going to mean much on its own. It's when you look at the pattern that you can start making a case for those conclusions: Why is the show marketed on "girl power" set in a world where men hold the vast majority of that power? And, more importantly, why is that setup not the point? We could easily have a story where that lopsided gender dynamic is the problem that the girls are looking to fix, but... that story doesn't exist. Like the problems discussed with Jaune, the supposed point here exists only on the surface. Dig just the tinniest bit — the above — and you hit on a lot of structural problems with this "girl power" world.

To add just a few details to what you've already said:

Salem indeed has power, but she's never allowed to fully use it. Each volume the frustration with this grows as Salem accumulates more abilities and then just sits on them. From literally hiding out for a thousand years to worries that she won't use the Staff in Volumes 9-10, Salem really isn't allowed to be the threat she's presented as on the surface. And yes, this is absolutely due in part to the "She's too OP and the writers don't know how to let her be that powerful while still having the heroes win" issue, but again, context. That problem doesn't exclude others occurring simultaneously.

Same double explanation with Summer. Yes, dead moms are an incredibly common trauma to dump on a protagonist, but it still left Yang and Ruby with Tai as their primary influence. And Qrow. The uncle becomes the extended family influence while Raven is the absent one/eventual antagonist. It's personal power as opposed to political power, but Tai, Qrow, Ozpin, formerly James... most of the mentors are men. Maria, a key exception, has been ignored in that regard. The story announced that she was Qrow's inspiration, setup her being Ruby's new mentor, and then... nothing. Nothing has come of that. She disappeared for a volume and then went off to Amity and was literally forgotten by the story when evacuating everyone was the finale's whole point.

Like that Endgame moment I mentioned, the Happy Huntresses feel a little too forced to me. Yes, it's the same basic idea as in ATLA, but ATLA, as you say, has a lot more going for it. The Happy Huntresses feel... on the nose? Idk exactly how to explain it. Like, "Here they are! Another team of all women! Isn't this how progressive storytelling works? Just ignore how this is a one-off team of minor characters compared to the world building issues discussed above." And if you're not paying attention, you miss just how insignificant they are, with a side of Robyn being, well, Robyn. The Kyoshi Warriors, at least, are based off of Kyoshi. A woman avatar who is a significant part of their history. That is, presumably, why they're an all women warrior group (but who notably still teach Sokka). The Happy Huntresses are all huntresses because...? There's no reason except that meta "We want to look progressive" explanation. Just like having all the women superheroes team up for a hot second so people get excited and ignore the representation problems across, what? 21 films? Don't get me wrong, I love that May is among the Happy Huntresses. I think including her in the explicitly all-women group was one of the better things RWBY has done in a long time, but the rest is still a mess.

RWBY is arguably about these smaller groups as opposed to systematic power (despite the writers trying to work that in with things like the White Fang and the election. Not to mention the implication that everything in Atlas is fine now that evil Ironwood has died and taken the symbol of wealth (the city) with him. We saw a human holding hands with a faunus after all. Racism and corruption solved, I guess.) So yes, our group is dominated by women... but Whitley is the one saving Nora, helping to defeat the Hound (plus Willow), thinking of the airships, and providing the blueprints they need to escape. Salem is our Big Bad, except Ironwood is the one the volume focuses on. Ruby is our leader, but Jaune is the one leading the group into the whale and getting praised for how heroic he is. Ren does more to shake things up, even if he's painted as the one in the wrong. Oscar gets to confront Salem and destroys the whale threat. Ozpin provides the information they need to evacuate. Meanwhile, when the girls do things in Volume 8 it's almost always followed by a long-stint of passiveness. Nora opens the door so she can be unconscious for most of the volume. Penny keeps Amity up so she can also be unconscious for a good chunk of time. Ruby sends her message and then sits in a mansion. Blake fights so she can tearfully beg Ruby to save her. Weiss, as said, takes a backseat to Whitley (and Klein). They forward the plot, absolutely, but comparatively it doesn't feel like enough.

It's that pattern then, no one specific example. More and more the personal power, not just the systematic power already built into Remnant, seems to be coming from the men. Not all the time, but enough that scenes like the tea drinking moment feel like a part of a much larger problem. Pietro taking control, Watts hacking, and Ambrosius literally remaking her when Penny is supposed to already be in control of herself and her fate. Winter being presented as the active mentor to Weiss, only to turn around and claim that Ironwood was actually responsible for everything. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and May straight up commenting on how awful things are out there while Yang, Jaune, Ren, and Oscar lead the charge against Salem — with the latter three doing the most to forward that mission (no fear, semblance, cane). As others have only half-joked, Yang's supposedly badass moment was bringing up a mother she's ignored for six volumes and briefly blowing up the immortal woman for a couple of seconds (with Ironwood's bombs). Even Marrow is arguably the most significant Ace Op after Clover. Vine isn't actually a character, Elm slightly less so, Harriet is there to go crazy and try to drop a bomb (notably before admitting to never-before-existed feelings for Clover), but Marrow? He's the one who breaks out. Who is meant to heroically stand up against Ironwood. Who comments on how awful it is that teenagers are fighting and, regardless of how messed up the moral messages are, is supposedly pushing for active change while all the women in his group, including Winter, insist on maintaining the status quo. Look at all these choices as a whole, it makes throwaway worldbuilding choices like "All the Maidens are women" feel pretty hollow. Why does it matter if Amber is a Maiden if she dies in a flashback so Ozpin can struggle to pass on the power? If Pyrrha dies before becoming one so Jaune can angst about it? If Raven is one and then disappears from the story entirely? If Winter has enough power to break Ironwood's aura, but supposedly had no power throughout every other choice she made getting here? If Penny is one, but is continually controlled by men and then asks another man to help her die? It's just really unconvincing, once you look past the surface excitement of a woman looking cool with magic powers.

When you do consider the whole of the story — both in terms of our world building and who is forwarding the plot in the latter volumes, getting the emotional focus, being proactive, etc. — there are a lot of problems that undermine the presumed message RT wants to write. They say, "girl power" by marketing RWBY with these four women, but too many of the storytelling decisions thoroughly undermine that, revealing what's likely a deeply ingrained, subconscious bias.

[themosleyreview]

The Mosley Review: Nightmare Alley

There are many films out there about confidence men and women and how they get away with it or get what's coming to them. They mostly focus on the thrill of the scheme and the action that ensues as they are chased out of town or across the country. Not many of them actually slow down and let you live with the con artist or invade their personal life as they destroy others. That's what I truly loved about this film and how the mystery is slowly and metaphorically revealed. The first half of the film is set in the perfect breeding ground of scams and I loved that we got to know each person in the carnival and how they operate. A peak behind the curtain if you will and what's behind that curtain is a cautionary tale filled with expert level foreshadowing. The characters all have a part to play in this film and I loved how each one effected the flow of the story. I would warn those that the first half may feel as if the story is going nowhere in particular but once the second half of the film begins, the wheel really starts to move into what the film really has to offer.

Bradley Cooper was excellent as the stoic and mysterious grifter Stanton Castle. I liked that he was always studying people and not so quick to jump into his trick. It made it more suspenseful to find out when or where he was about to begin. His reluctance to show all of his cards and weakness was refreshing since he fought hard to not fall into a version of his own con. Willem Dafoe was an outstanding introduction to the world of "The Angle" as Clement “Clem” Hoately. He was strong and morally dirty for the amount of screen time he had in the film. Toni Collete was excellent as Zeena Krumbein and I loved that right off the bat she was probably the smartest person in the camp. David Strathairn was great as her drunken husband Peter “Pete” Krumbein and he was the catalyst and warning to Stanton of how power can destroy lives. Rooney Mara was so sweet and innocent as Mary Elizabeth "Molly" Cahill. I loved the romance between her and Stanton and their chemistry kept you invested in the story. Cate Blanchett was perfection as the smooth, 1940's femme fatale Lilith Ritter. There are so many layers to her that were so much fun to unravel. I loved the game that is played between her and Stanton as the battle of who is the better con artist. She is so seductive and her mind games are very dangerous and I couldn't keep my eyes off of her. Richard Jenkins delivers another outstanding performance as Ezra Grindle. I loved that even the most powerful and wealthy men can be brought down emotionally and psychologically when the right strings are pulled. Between him and Stanton, you start to wonder who is the real villain of the story.

The score by Nathan Johnson was great and haunting in the more personal scenes. I loved that it illustrated the mysterious moments of the film and kept the dark neo noir tone consistent across the film. Visually the film is stunning and the use of shadows and certain color tones in the Lilith's office was brilliant. It helped to visually inform you of who could be the bad or good person in the room. How that line of light is balanced is masterful. The sound design is also really great in a particular scene involving a glass of alcohol. It is both inviting and a commentary on how destructive a simple sip of whiskey can be. Guillermo Del Toro is on my Mount Rushmore of great storytellers and this once again proves why. If you're looking for a film to sink your teeth into character wise, then look no further. Definitely check out this well crafted neo noir tale. Let me know what you thought of the film or my review in the comments below. Thanks for reading!