#objectively: the film is good and my family agrees on it

[fluffypotatey]

that funny moment where i try to explain my reasons for why i made two of my friends watch Top Gun Maverick in a way where my brainrot does not show and my family is confused because “i didn’t know you love it so much”

[v0rd1g4n]

The Thundermans Return

All right, I've finally watched the movie and just like old times, I have to give my honest opinion.

But first things first. It's been 6 years since the finale was aired and I must say I was so excited when Kira shared on her Instagram account, that they were making a movie and she was executive producer.

Since there was practically nothing filmed back then, I thought it was going to be for teenagers or adults, just like the revival of iCarly or Zoey 102, but I was wrong.

After watching the trailer I realized it was for kids, just like the original show, which wasn't that big of a deal and I watched the movie two days after the day of its release on Paramount+ and here are my thoughts.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

The movie starts with the family saving Metroburg from a meteor shower, using every one of their powers, something Hank could've easily taken care of, but still, it was pretty cool though.

And I have to say, those suits were awesome. They remind me of those kind of tactical suits wore by a few characters from TV Shows like Arrow or Supergirl. It was good to see the whole cast together after one more time. Also, those who were kids back in the day, looked like different actors, after only 6 years.

But anyway. After that, the title rolls and the family gathers in the headquarters, ready to spend a family night, but all Phoebe wants is to keep saving the day and is implied that she and Max have been doing that for quite some time.

They find a crime in progres but instead of letting other supes to handle for that night, the twins force their family to go stop a villain from robbing a bank.

They all teleport to the crime scene but things don't go as they expected, and due to Pheobe's orders, they end up injuring one of the V-Team members, as the other two stop the villain and save the day.

I don't know know they lost control of the situation like that. 7 supes against 1 villain, that's just too much. This is something Max and Phoebe could've screwed up by themselves, but well.

Soon, President Kickbutt shows up to inform that due to the injuried hero, they are gonna be replaced by the V-Team as well as get kicked out of the Hero League, which brings them back to Hiddenville.

And this is when we learn that the Thunderman family have been working as the T-Force at Metroburg for solid 3 years, leaving their old lifestyle behind.

Now everyone try to fit in their old town again. Max goes to his lair and finds Dr. Colosso having a tiki party with his furry friends. They talk about what happened and then Phoebe shows up to speak to him and they both seem to agree on using their powers for good, to which Dr. Colosso just laughs at them.

Then we see that Nora has finally outgrown from wearing bows and she makes it very clear by lasering the one Barb was holding for her. Then she and Hank see that Chloe is getting ready to go to the park while carrying a skateboard. They're scared something might happen to her, but let her go anyway, which makes them feel useless parents.

See the pattern here?

In the meantime, Billy and Nora are now attending to Hiddenville High, which by the way, doesn't make Principal Bradford and his ponytail very happy.

It was refreshing to see Billy and Nora as teenagers. Just like Max and Phoebe at the beginning of season 1.

As for the twins, Phoebe meets with Cherry at Splatburger, hoping to find a job soon and Max on the other hand, meets there too with his friends from the band, for old times' sake.

It was really cool to see all these funny characters once again. I had a lot of memories from "Never Friending Story", "Parents Just Don't Thunderstand" or "Exit Stage Theft".

At the same time, we see the V-Team is visiting Metroburg Superjail and we find out that they're actually a group of supervillains posing as heroes; the children of King Crab, Strongdor, and Dark Mayhem.

Their plan is simple: create an army of supervillains with a secret object hidden by the Hero League. The old guys had a plan that only boomers would understand, but is discarted immediately.

Later, Max and Phoebe are still trying to get back in the Hero League as the Tree Force, but then realize that their family doesn't want to fight crime anymore, so they're alone with this.

And man, this is always funny. I always liked all those jokes involving Max and Phoebe wearing costumes or disguises to go unnoticed. Not to mention that dweeb thing at the end of the scene xD

So much memories!

Then, back Max's lair Dr. Colosso helps Max to find out who the V-Team members really are, as Phoebe does the same by herself. Now both of them are aware that the V-Team is a group of villains.

And this is when Pheebs finally suits up as Thundergirl to go stop the bad guys alone. I wonder why they used the old suit, instead of the one with the skirt.

Who am I fooling? She looks good with both.

Back in Hidennville High, Nora and Billy are trying their best to make new friends and they only succeed the moment they start showing off their powers in front of everyone.

Leading to a small arguing between them, that ends with a tragedy for Bradford.

Meanwhile in Metroburg, the V-Team is desperately looking for the object they need. Then we learn that Dark Mayhem Jr. has the same sadistic habit Nora has; to laser poeple willy-nilly, ever since he was a kid.

Then Phoebe shows up, trying to enter by force in their old headquarters and stop all of them, but Max surprises her from behind and drags her back to hide from the villains, while watching them closely.

However, at some point they screw it up and get caught by the V-Team.

Back in Hiddenville, Hank and Barb are still worried about Chloe hanging out at the park with some new friends, so they ask uncle Blobbin a helicopter to go take care of her from the sky.

I never was a fan of uncle Blobbin, but it was cool this character was included for a small scene.

And yeah, looks like Hank and Barb are going throught the same crisis they went, when Max and Phoebe decided to celebrate their birthday by throwing a party at Wong's Pizza Palace. Their victims back then were Billy and Nora, now is young Chloe.

Anyway, they have a little accident (thanks to Cherry) and the helicopter crashes on the park. The two of them are fine, but all this makes Chloe realize that they've been spying on her all along and gets mad at them.

At the same time, Max and Phoebe are being interrogated by the V-Team, tied up with their own capes. I wish they were shown losing a fight against the villains at least, because it is implied that's what happened off screen. Just saying.

To me, there's no way they could've lost a fight against those villains, not with their multiple powers. Frozen by freeze breath, knocked out agains a wall with telekinesis, electrically shocked with the twin power, etc. And these are only non-letal options, but anyway.

Their goal is to get the Acacía Fantasticus, a very rare plant that can give people superpowers, either good (blue) or evil (red).

They mention that people from the past known for demonstrating superpowers had eaten the seeds of this plant, which is interesting, since they're finally revealing the origin of superpowers in the Thundermans world.

However, the way is gonna be presented seems like a terrible idea, but I'll talk about it later.

Since the twins don't have any idea where the power plant is, they're taken to Mayhem café, Dark Mayhem's old lair with a special booth perfectly designed to torture every member of the Thundermans family.

They activate it, and this is when the Thundertwins die horribly ☹️

Nah, I'm joking 🤣

I'm gonna have to leave it here, since Tumblr has a new limit of 30 pictures per post, so here's the end of Part 1.

Stay tunned for Part 2.

[raaorqtpbpdy]

I just watched Blue Beetle and as much as I enjoyed it, I can’t say I’m not also a little disappointed.

Like it had all these fantastic elements! It had wonderful dynamic characters, and a very well established sympathetic secondary antagonist cast against a completely detestable primary antagonist, and a fun aesthetic, and cool technology, and great humor—I mean I watched it with my dad and brother and there wasn’t a single joke that didn’t make at least one of us laugh.

But it felt like all these stupendous pieces had been stuck together with duct tape and chewing gum instead of being stitched together properly and fully integrated with each other to create a cohesive story.

(spoilers under the cut)

I never advocate for movies to be longer because I’m not great at sitting still—but this is one movie that really could have used an extra ten minutes or so, just to slow down for proper scene transitions and to let people actually process the story aspects rather than just the characters.

I don’t want to knock its emphasis on family either, because it was not a bad thing by any means (I loved the family dynamic and it felt very organic and realistic), but it was sometimes redundant to the detriment of other necessary elements of the story.

Like the scarab, you know, the catalyst for the entire film?

It got treated as an object even after they learned it was sentient, and then largely ignored unless it needed to say or do something to progress the plot. They said it was sentient and then didn’t give it a personality. Even Jarvis had a personality in the Iron Man movies and he was just a computer program, not a sentient AI.

The only time I felt like the scarab was being treated as an actual character as it should have been instead of as an accessory was when Jaime’s mom pulled him aside and addressed it specifically when she gave them both her motherly pep talk, and then the callback to that pep talk during the subsequent fight scene, and I absolutely adored that moment, I just wish it wasn’t the only one.

They told us repeatedly that Jaime and Khaji Da were integrated and their respective minds were connected, but they didn’t really show that. They didn’t really address it at all outside of the way they fight together. Like these two characters are literally irreversibly fused together but somehow they never got an actual relationship dynamic.

Khaji Da immediately agrees when Jaime makes his no killing rule clear, despite obviously disagreeing before that point. It responds instantly when he asks for specific weapons. In fact, after the initial booting-up sequence, when it dragged Jaime around without consideration, it almost never disagrees with Jaime or exerts its own will at all, despite it being supposedly sentient.

It doesn’t even get a proper introduction. Jaime just starts calling it by name unprompted and that gets completely glossed over. They don’t even use it to further establish how their mental connection works.

The plot just skips over the inconveniences of a symbiotic relationship to jump into the action.

Also, any information we get about Kord or Khaji Da is rushed and simplified and then immediately gets tread on by the character development scenes. And I’m a sucker for good character development, which this movie has a lot of and which I loved, but you can’t throw necessary exposition and worldbuilding under the bus for it. A good movie and a good story needs both, and this one just wasn’t quite balanced right.

All in all, I definitely liked it, but I’m frustrated but the potential that was so agonizingly visible but that it didn’t quite live up to.

[thunderon]

are you absolutely 100% sure that this was 'unintentionally' hilarious as opposed to 'going as far out of their way as possible to make this as ridiculous and silly as possible' hilarious

genuine question because I've never heard of nor seen this movie prior to literally right now

i know my three minute video i posted probably indicates otherwise, but i actually do believe that the bunnyman massacre was a sincere attempt at a film and not done as a joke

dont get me wrong: it was objectively bad. it was a poorly written, low-budget film that likely spent half of the funds on fake blood, and the two main antagonists are a guy in a bunnysuit and a hick. BUT THAT BEING SAID: it had some genuinely interesting moments. you definitely didn’t ask for this but let me tell you about it

so one of the major plotlines is the two sisters (lauren and sarah) recently lost their parents and are hiking in the woods when they are captured by the bunnyman and his partner in crime, the hick. to save her and her sister’s life, the older sister (sarah) agrees to lure three different women to the bunnyman and the hick in exchange for their freedom. both sides surprisingly hold up the end of their bargain, and the two sisters are allowed to go free.

after being set free, lauren is disgusted with sarah and wants to return to the murder barn to save the three women that sarah helped capture. the two sisters ultimately fail and they end up recaptured, and the three other women are killed in various, ridiculous ways (and i mean RIDICULOUS)

lauren and sarah manage to escape (again) during the death of the third woman. stuff happens but here’s the final standoff scene: sarah has a gun with only two bullets in it. her and lauren are being hunted by the bunnyman. sarah takes a shot at the bunnyman, misses, and lauren is subsequently killed. the bunnyman then turns to attack sarah, who now has him properly held at gunpoint with a single bullet left in the chamber.

now here’s where the film surprised me, rather than shooting the bunnyman and becoming The Final Girl, sarah turns the gun on herself, and shoots herself. the bunnyman appears to be visibly upset (as much as you can be in a bunnysuit) by the choice.

while this is happening, the hick and a cop also have a standoff. it’s pretty ridiculous, because at one point the cop has the hick held at point blank, but then they decide to settle the situation “like men” and they have a western style gun duel like. 2 meters apart. and it’s the cop with a pistol vs. the hick with a fucking sniper rifle.

the hick kills the cop, but is also mortally wounded. the bunnyman returns to find him wounded, and the hick encourages the bunnyman to shoot him, which the bunnyman does

the bunnyman then has a touching ending scene in which he stares over the mountains at sunset, and watches a school bus pass. (the opening scene of the movie was the bunnyman slaughtering a school bus of children with a chainsaw, so this is thematically relevant) and the bunnyman then has a montage scene of his slaughters/good times with his dead partner, and his dead family (it was revealed earlier in the movie that the bunnyman’s wife and kids were tragically killed). everything about this was done so sincerely. so yeah what an ending

anyways if you made it to the end here enjoy some actual shots from the ending of the film

[lulu2992]

After listening to this song on repeat and/or having it regularly stuck in my head these past few weeks, I’ve finally seen Wish!

I had read many reviews that said the movie was bland because it lacked originality, and while I understand this point of view, in a way... I think it was intentional.

The film was released for Walt Disney Animation Studios’ 100th Anniversary and is full of more or less obvious references to other Disney movies, whether it’s a well-known character name that’s mentioned, someone directly quoting another film, or even just a background, object, gesture, or scene composition that, for some reason, feels familiar. The fact that all those “Easter eggs”, which could have been very annoying but, in my opinion, manage to remain fun (not really in a self-mocking way as Enchanted did, though), exist, combined with the images that appear during the end credits and the scene that follows (yes, there is a post-credits scene), make me say the goal was to make the “Disneyest Disney movie”.

Wish is not lazy, it’s a celebration.

It’s still its own film with its own story, but it’s first and foremost a tribute to Walt Disney Animation Studios, all the movies they’ve released over the years, and the now iconic (some might say overused) concepts of “wishing upon a star” and hoping your “dreams come true”. At one point, there’s also a flip book (with a time chart!), and I see this as a nod to traditional animation, as well as an homage to the original “magic makers”: animators in general.

So yes, it’s unoriginal and maybe not the most memorable Disney film. As you would expect, it opens on a storybook, takes place in a fictional kingdom, features a heroine who has an animal sidekick and a dead parent, and she has to fight against a charismatic villain who uses green magic. I would describe Wish as a quintessential Disney movie, and while it may not be groundbreaking, it’s still cute, pretty, and entertaining. The characters are good and, even when they don’t have a lot of screen time, have distinct personalities. I’m thinking in particular of Asha’s friends who, as I’ve just realized writing this, must be a reference to the Seven Dwarves (even their initials match)... There also are many songs, of course, as they are yet another trademark of Disney movies. Special mention to “This Is The Thanks I Get?!” because I thought it was quite catchy and the most original!

Speaking of King Magnifico, he really is a great character and “classic” Disney villain, and it feels like we hadn’t seen that in a while. That said, [spoilers]…

...I was a bit disappointed they introduced his tragic backstory (without fully explaining what exactly happened, by the way) and then didn’t really do anything with it at the end. Sure, it humanizes him, gives him depth, and explains why he’s unhealthily obsessed with being in control, and I agree that not all villains need or deserve a full redemption arc, but… I don’t know, since they mention the fact his family died and that the fear of loss is what motivates him (at least at the beginning), I expected that to play a bigger role in the story, and especially in its conclusion. I’m not saying he should have been redeemed because I don’t know if it would have worked in that story anyway, but taking into account his past, the fact they mention it several times, and what they (Disney) have been doing with many of their villains lately, I simply thought it was likely to happen. Maybe King Magnifico didn’t necessarily “deserve better” as a person because he does become “evil”, to the point that even Queen Amaya, his wife, eventually turns her back on him despite their seemingly sincere connection, but as a character, I’m inclined to say he did…

Oh well, at least he has the coolest villain song!

Also, knowing my love for charismatic antagonists with a tragic backstory, maybe it’s best for me that they didn’t explore that further and just let him apparently irremediably lose himself. Had they decided to “save” him, even partially, or give the audience more reasons to feel sorry for him, I fear I could really have spiraled out of control :’)

[iantimony]

a day late because yesterday i was tooooo busy! some spoilers in here for dungeon meshi and saltburn!

listening: mostly background stuff. i still haven't played more nier: automata but the boyf got me listening to the soundtrack and it whips.

reading: more tgcf at night to soothe my frenzied brain to sleep. i finished dungeon meshi yesterday!! i did cry!!! it was so, so good, i loved it. i really liked that there was no set antagonist, per se, at least not until the very end with the fight against the winged lion, it was all just a bunch of characters with different but justifiable goals that had their aims all butting up against each other. very cool. i love kabru what a little shit

a collection of some good screenshots:

watching: many things this week. my partner is visiting for the week and we like to have videos on while we're cooking n eating so we watched...essentially the entirety of weird history food channel, started with the trader joes one and spiraled from there.

we also watched the currently-released episodes of dungeon meshi. very charming. i cannot wait to see how they animate certain scenes.

on sunday night we did a friend dinner, so me and my boyfriend, roommate and hers, and one other friend; after dinner we movie night-ed it and watched saltburn and blazing saddles:

saltburn was insane! apparently there is shock and alarm at the sex scenes, which i am not very online about it so i have no idea what people are actually saying but imo it was not that crazy. there is a solo, uh, let's call it Moment towards the end of the film that is pretty out there, but besides that the sex scenes are the least of anyone's worries in this movie. it took me WAY too long to realize that the main character was the antagonist, i'm normally pretty savvy to those kinds of twists so that took me off guard. my roommate had seen it once (or even twice?? i think?? i have no wish to watch that movie again, good for her though) and i didn't start clocking it until immediately before felix tricked oliver into going home. as they were in the car i was like "there's no fucking way that he lied about his family to felix. right. right??" oops. some good cool symbolism in there, i had a bit of an xkcd "of course everyone knows this myth" moment when my roommate was like "huh i wonder if there's a symbolic reason for the bull-man statue in the maze at the end, or felix's angel wing costume" and i was like surprise pikachu. the minotaur, the labyrinth, icarus, hello? wdym you don't know the story of the minotaur??? much to think about with this movie. i searched it on tumblr and feel like a lot of people missed the point in favor of blorbo romance but like, fair, it is the blorbo romance website. 8.5/10.

blazing saddles was our palette cleanser after that doozy of a film. my friend said at the end "anyone who thinks this movie is racist needs better media literacy" and i'm inclined to agree. yes the n word is in there - but the people saying it are so unambiguously depicted as insanely stupid and wrong, and the leading man is a charismatic handsome black man, and tbh the smartest person in the movie? arguably more homophobic (the end scenes) than racist but even then the way 'f*ggot' is deployed hit me like modern tumblr humor.

idk. even though it's a comedy it is Very clear to me that a message from this movie is "Racism Bad". i thought it was fun, didn't find the blonde lady's musical number very good or funny, got a few chuckles out of it overall. classic mel brooks. 7/10.

playing: wizord101.

making: started experimenting with english paper piecing! i forgot to take a picture yesterday so ill try to remember and add that later today. or maybe for next week's post. also started a pair of fingerless gloves for my mom

eating: my boy made us all a budae-jjigae type object on sunday and it was so so so yummy - photo from before simmering for like 30 minutes, with pork belly, spam, tofu, and a bunch of mushrooms, grunions, and kimchi:

before my roommate came back from a conference we did this cabbage and thin-sliced hotpot beef thing that was. so fucking good. we had it two separate nights in a row. just layering meat and napa cabbage and then cutting into ~2in strips, laying them in a pot, filling the center with mushrooms; make a broth of soy sauce/dashi/misc soup stock powder from leftover ramen, pour it over, simmer til cooked baby. delicious. this image is a little steamy bc i tried to take it right after opening the pot, lol

misc: wough. struggling to get back into the routine a little. i need to make more spreadsheets for my agonies (apartment hunting and determining what internships/programs to apply to for this summer). and i need to start using my planner again because i keep forgetting to do shit.

[kitkatt0430]

I hate the suicide portrayal in Titanic. People act like that movie is above criticism, but it actually has many flaws.

Titanic is definitely one of those movies that is super mired in nostalgia that I do agree that it gets a bit over-romanticized in people's memories over how good it really is. I'm honestly not sure how much I even like the movie, though it's one I'll rewatch from time to time for reasons that are as much about what the movie represents for me personally - the people I've watched it with in the past - as for the plot and place it still holds in pop culture.

The movie's handling of suicide is... honestly not that bad. There are plenty of flaws in the movie - admittedly my go-to criticisms are with how that door could have easily supported Rose and Jack and Rose dropping that necklace into the ocean instead of giving one last middle finger to her former fiance by using it for a charity auction to support a food pantry or something that specifically benefits the poor. But there is definitely a lot of things about the film worth nitpicking and I can understand why it's handling of the topic of suicide will rub a lot of people the wrong way.

So from a narrative point of view, suicide as a plot device is always going to be a very controversial choice. Real life suicides are mired in mental health issues and for those who have any kind of experience with it - either having attempted suicide or known those who have or people who have lost loved ones to suicide or even just experienced suicidal ideation without actually making any attempts - there is no such thing as a universal experience. And because of this, even the most well researched depiction of suicide in fiction is going to run smack into the wall that is competing access needs.

Titanic is certainly no different. But as a narrative device, Rose's suicide attempt where she meets Jack is meant as a parallel to her choice after surviving the Titanic's destruction to metaphorically let her old self die and be reborn as someone new. The person Rose is as the start of the movie is depressed and suicidal. Her mother is forcing her into a marriage she desperately does not want and is verbally abusive towards her. Her fiance also shows shades of verbal abuse and viewing Rose not as a person but as a shiny trinket he can show off, with no more consideration given to her agency as a person than he would give an inanimate object like the Heart of the Ocean diamond. Unable to see a way out, it does make sense that Rose would be suicidal.

Historically, there have been plenty of men and women who when forced into a situation like Rose's, see no way out except through death. And Rose's situation at that point is a pretty textbook representation of people who feel trapped by their friends and family in an abusive situation that's primed to only grow worse. Not everyone would handle her situation the way she attempts to, but it's not exactly unheard of either.

So Jack saves Rose literally from suicide. And it's not uncommon for people committing suicide to change their mind like Rose does, so her realizing because of Jack that actually no she doesn't want to drown doesn't detract from the movie's depiction of the suicide attempt. Often suicide is referred to as a cry for help and it really is - in the case of Rose's fictional suicide attempt, she's essentially begging for someone to validate her feelings and give her new options. Because even though she'd rather die than let things continue as they are, she doesn't actually want to be dead.

And that's where Jack essentially saves her again. He doesn't handle everything perfectly by any means, but he shows Rose that she does have more options than she knows. The reason she is able to shed her old life - to let Rose Bukater die and start living as Rose Dawson - is because Jack helps her find strength inside herself she didn't know was there.

From a narrative perspective, it's definitely not badly done and one of the more decently handled suicide in historical fiction plots I've seen.

Rose's suicide attempt isn't the only was suicide is addressed in the movie, though. And they're all pretty decently rooted in actual history. From Rose's attempt to escape an unwanted marriage through death, to the suicides committed during the Titanic's slow sinking, to the reference of the suicides that happened when Wall Street's crash heralded the start of the Great Depression, these are all things we can find examples of in actual historical accounts of the time.

I wouldn't call the Titanic movie the best fictional accounting of the Titanic I've ever seen. If I could find my old copy of the Dear America diary set on the Titanic, I'd cheerfully pick that over the movie hands down. And if I never see a copy of the book Amanda/Miranda again it'll be too soon. Truly there are worse depictions than that movie and Amanda/Miranda is definitely one of them.

(For the curious - Amanda/Miranda on Goodreads)

But having said all of that, I really don't expect to change your mind or how you feel about the movie's use of suicide. It's something that has rubbed me the wrong way in the past too and will no doubt do so again in the future. It's just one of those topics that's never going to be handled in a way that satisfies everyone or even the same person from one viewing to the next.

[autumnwoodsdreamer]

Sneak Peek Sunday 01/09/24

Got more writing down than I expected to, so here’s a bit of the next chapter of Unsinkable 💛

“What’s next on your agenda?” she asked Omega, twisting around on the couch to semi-face her. “In the grand scheme of things,” she qualified.

Omega shrugged, attention on scooping instant caf into two mugs (Sabine thought she and Din took their caf strong but Omega’s preference could leave a Devaronian with insomnia for a whole cycle). “Still wanna go see Hera,” she said. “I promised Jacen I’d tell him all about my exploration of the Caves of Dy’Biit the next time I swing by. Then I was thinking it’s about time I head back and see the family. I promised Lucie she could come with me on an adventure when she’s old enough and she’s decided sixteen is old enough.” She sighed, over-dramatically, rolling her eyes heavenward and laying a hand on her chest like an elderly woman in a holo-film falling victim to nostalgia and sentimentality. “Oh, were we ever that young?”

Sabine breathed a laugh.

She agreed: she thought sixteen was still very young, though she didn’t think it without feeling a twinge of hypocrisy.

At sixteen, she had been living on her own and taking care of herself for two years already (longer when she really thought about it, because her time in the academy, while coordinated and monitored by a parade of instructors and teachers, was not something she would describe as being cared for and raised—she was trained, yes, but not nurtured).

Omega’s life had had a different pattern. She wasn’t born into a family the way Sabine was, and although there were some who had had a soft spot for her, they didn’t quite take on parental roles. In a way, she was never even truly a child until she went on the run with her brothers, and then her childhood happened in scraps as she had to grow up fast in a life like that. Strangely, as chaotic and inconsistent as her childhood was, her adolescence was positively idyllic. Her family planted roots in one spot and she grew up the best way a creature could: wild and slow, surrounded by good people who loved her, shown how to live and how to love by example.

Between herself, Omega, Din, Ezra, and even Grogu, Sabine couldn’t help but marvel at the diversity amongst their upbringings, and yet, through them all, there were chords that played the same. They all knew what it was to be lost, they all knew what it was to be found; they knew what it was to be alone and they knew what it was to belong.

Musing on it was stirring a lot more emotion than she expected it to.

She had to be more tired than she thought.

She tied herself back to the moment, back to the little apartment with its ash-coloured wood and stone, the living room with its bookshelf and caf table and dark, multicoloured rug and the not-uncomfortable couches and armchairs.

Omega made the caf and brought it over, ribbon trail of steam rolling in her wake and disappearing faster than a fleeting whim.

Sabine accepted the mug held out to her, even though she all of a sudden didn’t want it so much. She took the breath to speak, to ask what adventure Omega was planning on going on with her niece, hoping that after some more conversation she might settle and be able to enjoy the caf like she wanted to, but she didn’t get even the start of a word out.

A shrill, insistent beeping split the moment.

Coming from two sources simultaneously, it had a siren effect that only doubled the sense of urgency.

In sync, she and Omega retrieved their comms: Omega from her jacket pocket, Sabine from the miscellaneous objects adorning the caf table.

It was just a short message from Din but it cut the calm right out of her heart.

Just three letters.

SOS

[legallybrunettedotcom]

hi :) !! if i can, i wanted to ask you something about movies: do you think a concept (ex. teenage coming of age/difficult relationship with family etc…) can be over-used in cinema? like what makes it “worth” to create another movie with the same themes that have been explored so much already, except the “new” vision of the writer/director (that has probably been shaped and influenced by movies of the past)? is it only the vanity of the artist to show their perspective (even if it ends up not being fresh at all)?

like what do you think makes a film worth making and what makes a film fresh and likeable to watch even if it deals with the same themes? (is it a new approach to style, to the way the film is narrated/edited etc..)?

Hiii! This is a great question, one I find myself thinking about often. Especially when I'm entering into a creative endeavour I wonder if I am saying anything new and if I am not, is it still valuable?

I think a trope can be over-used, but a theme is re-used. I don't think a theme can be over-used because, well, it's either something universal or something very specific. Themes and stories offered to us are inherently human and thus inherently understandable (not relatable. I make a distinction between relatability and understanding).

I don't think I can come to an objective detached conclusion why something like coming of age isn't over-used. I still sit down and re-visit those that shaped me and still like watching new releases of this genre. I thought by now I'd be sick of teenagers on-screen, but I'm not. Same with turbulent family dramas. I guess they aren't over-used because not every single one of them will impact you in the same way. If we're talking purely numbers, most movies aren't good. Let's say you watch 50 coming of age films, I guarantee maybe 10 of those, if even 10, would've made you cry/yearn/feel seen etc etc.

Yeah, I just can't come up with a good reasoning. We can all agree on what makes a movie good or great. A great story with engaging characters who go through some kind of developement, interesting themes, good dialogue, visuals, camera work, editing etc., but it's also something we can't really succintly put into words. Fascism is at the center of both Salo and Star Wars, can we really look at those two through the same lens, and at that the lens of greatness, which again is something debatable? Or Emma and Clueless, considering Clueless is a modern re-telling, adaptation of Emma? I just can't pinpoint what makes the same themes fresh and likable. Something like Boyhood was a sort of unique approach to a coming of age story, but looking back I see most people were quite bored and critical of it. Moonlight was a tsunami and we were very clearly offered something new and interesting.

Also, I mean, I don't want to speak for you, it's a US cultural hegemony kind of living and I myself have been offered stories of American teenagers and environment and those images are the ones that exist in my mind when I think of ideal adolescence. It's what I've been exposed to since I was a child and they have nestled inside my brain. What I'm trying to say with this is, I don't think the average public or an average movie lover has seen a wide pallette of, in this case, coming of age stories. Like how many American teen movies can you name, how many of those involve non-white, or like poor or disabled people, how many Korean, Russian, Iranian etc. coming of age movies have you seen? I'm not asking you this directly or pointing fingers at you or anyone, I clearly don't know you, it's just okay, let's consider what is in the mainstream and what is not and why a theme/concept might be considered over-used.

Is it vanity? Of course, to an extent. Also who knows where a creative spark is born, is it a need, a want, I don't know. The human capacity and desire for creation, for art is irrational and incomprehensible.

If I made a coming of age movie, it'd be in my environment, from my point of view, and because cinema of my country and culture is not in the mainstream, it would be something unique and fresh to you (not you specifically but you get what I mean). I could make a movie about the skating culture here and you'd be like "oh wait, idk anything about the skaters in this country, let me see this" and then, because you've maybe seen mid90s or Skate Kitchen, you'd be like "ah the kids are the same everywhere", and they are, but also not really, right?

I don't think I've answered your question, but I feel like this is just so subjective and the experience of a film, especially when it's something intimate or tragic, is shaped by your personal experiences. Sometimes we can recognize something being good, but it doesn't necessarily touch us, and vice versa.

[cranberrytart451]

Opinion:

The fnaf movie actually upset me in a way that bayverse transformers couldn't: I was never once convinced of character motivation.

I see a lot of people liking this movie, and that's valid. You can like something that is objectively bad, but you can't disregard criticism either.

If you want the next fnaf movie to be better, you need to separate your feelings from objective facts. Not in a "facts don't care about your feelings" way, but in a healthy way. By both recognizing bias and confirming emotions.

I also hate posts saying things like "if you didn't like the movie, fuck you. If you thought this scene was bad, you are stupid and wrong."

Shocker. It seems like it's the first time you've met a person with a different opinion.

Objectively, as someone who is not a filmmaker but knows a lot about how films are made, this movie took a lot of effort to even reach the screen. People poured their souls and passion into it, and that should be admired and respected.

But high effort doesn't always equal effective product.

Spoiler below:

First off, the camera work in this film was sloppy. This was not shot like a horror film. It was shot almost like a comedy.

There were too many close-up shots (reaction) and not enough wide. We never get the real scale of the animatronics in the film as the angles of the camera were parallel with them.

The lighting is too bright. Darkness should have been this movie's best friend as it would have made the puppets look more realistic and creepy. I work at Chuck E Cheese, and it becomes a liminal space the moment the lights are off. They should have used that.

The score is bland except for opening and closing credits.(I think the only thing the movie hits on the head is the opening credits with the arcade pixel art showing Springtrap leading the kids away.)

There are shots that are either too long or too short, messing with the pacing.

Do not get me started on the writing. This movie thought it was really clever, but no dialogue stood out except for "I always come back." (Which they should have left for the end credits scene)

Vanessa. Do I even have to start? She should have been the main character.

Do you understand the horror of living with a serial killer? A CHILD SERIAL KILLER!? Her entire life would be on edge. What if she didn't know her dad was killing and only found out through the course of the movie? This could have been a mystery horror movie.

They wasted what they had. That's the problem with this movie. It didn't focus on the right things and put too much emphasis on nothing subplots.

(Getting a little emotional because-)

(Are we gonna talk about how the aunt was killed in Mike's house and is never brought up?!)

Mike also AGREED TO GIVE HIS SISTER AWAY FOR DREAMS OF HIS DEAD FAMILY. Let me repeat. DREAMS. NOT EVEN HIS DEAD BROTHER'S GHOST.JUST FUCKING DREAMS.

... you might say he changes his mind. But the fact that he so readily does it in the first place pisses me off.

The aunt might be a karen, but she is right. Get Mike away from that kid. He doesn't prove to me in this movie that he is a good fit to raise her ONCE. He clearly loves her, but not as much as his dead brother or his own selfish guilt.

Characters can have flaws, but he doesn't redeem himself in my eyes by the end of the film.

Kid actors were kids actors. Nothing special. Not too annoying though.

The tone is inconsistent. Not even in an intentional way. It's just a roller coaster. One second, they build a fort the next Vanessa threatens to shoot Mike.

3/10

I wanted to like this movie. I had such a low bar for it. I can not believe it reached the depths of the ocean.

Fuck this movie hurt. I can't even say I liked it subjectively, cause it was so boring.

[murfeelee]

IWTV 2022 INSP - EP5: A Vile Hunger for Your Hammering Heart Pt2 

Claudia: “Daddy Lou...” Louis: *hugs* “Thank you.” *cries* Lestat: “The prodigal daughter.... Quick stop home to do laundry before you f**k off for good.” Claudia: “A quick stop to pick up Louis.” Louis: .... Lestat: ??? Lou. Claudia (mentally): [[Come with me, Louis!]] Louis: .... Lestat: “Louis?” Claudia (mentally): [[His love is a small box he keeps you in. Don't stay in it!]] Lestat: “LOUIS! A thousand nights of sulking, and at the first sight of her, you are just gonna up and leave me?!“ Claudia: “Please, come with me! Let's meet vampires WORTHY of your love!” Lestat: “AAH!” *attacks Claudia* Louis: “Get the f**k off her!” *attacks Lestat*

-- Interview with the Vampire (AMC 2022, S01E05)

MY THOUGHTS & CC CREDITS

MY THOUGHTS RANT ALERT (rabid AF & VERY lengthy venting about Lestat’s trash decision skills, and Loustat’s toxic sludge of a relationship jfc)

This episode, man.

If you know the IWTV book and the movie, you already know Lestat & Claudia end up literally at each other’s throats, and cross the point of no return as mortal enemies, basically.

But the film’s all wrapped up in Lestat being a sadistic cavalier sarcastic little pissant; and Claudia being a ruthless 10-year old immortal killing machine; and Louis being a masochistic indecisive shell stuck with Lestat through circumstance (not love, no homo!), and Claudia through responsibility (and pedophilic???? love).

The magic of the AMC version is that they’re working in 2022, not the 70s (book) or 90s (film), so they have the luxury to explore what it'd be like for an Alternate Universe Louis and Lestat to really BE together, and raise Claudia

--and how everything inevitably went dead wrong:

Lestat making Claudia was never the mistake. Lestat making LOUIS was.

Seeing the way AMC did everything was so dang good/awful. With Louis & Lestat, theirs was a too-brief whirlwind romance between monsters; a married couple blindly raising a kid together in the midst of carnage and trauma--because they’re vampires, sucking the life out of everyone and everything around them.

They won’t communicate, can’t relate to each other, and don’t really even know each other. Despite Lestat’s false 1st impression of Louis strutting around like a tough guy with that cane-sword, Louis was not a violent man, and Louis HATED being a vampire. That made being with a bloodthirsty hedonist like Lestat next to impossible, no matter how much they loved each other. Especially once Louis started eating animals instead of people, and his diet disgusted Lestat, just as Lestat’s diet disgusted Louis.

Unlike Louis, Claudia took to killing like a bat straight outta Hell (and nearly got them all busted by the COPS because of it). But Lestat & Claudia couldn’t STAND one another by the end. They really were father and daughter in all the worst ways possible.

Violent manipulative control freaks, they both loved Louis deeply, and both wanted him to choose one of them over the other, while doing everything they could to make sure that they couldn’t coexist peacefully in the same space.

IMO, this show’s all about Maker/Fledgling and parent/child bonds. Lestat & Louis love each other romantically, and Louis & Claudia love each other in the familial way. So there are deep emotional bonds. But Lestat made Louis & Claudia vampires, so even though they have a permanent magical bond as Maker and Fledgling, Lestat can't read their minds. But as “sibling” vampires, Claudia and her Daddy Lou CAN speak mentally to each other. So they can understand & know & relate to each other better and on a way deeper level than Lestat ever could with either one of them, even though he made them. 

And I agree with the fandom that yeah, Louis 100% liked it that way. When people have kids to “save” the marriage, the baby is a band-aid as much as it is a comfort object, a new emotional bond between parent and child to give them the love they felt they were missing from their spouse. In EP4 Louis told Lestat “’Happy?’ We were never happy!“ He was going to LEAVE Lestat in EP3, before stumbling across Claudia and going back to him. Louis just wanted someone he could TALK to--a new Paul, a new Miss Lily, a new Grace. (Ultimately: DANIEL MALLOY interviewing him--Louis needs SO MUCH therapy jfc.) Lestat made Louis selfishly, for himself (and did a pisspoor job learning about Louis beforehand or educating him in vampirism). And Louis selfishly wanted someone for himself, too--particularly once Lestat made it clear he wasn’t gonna be monogamous & started cheating. Claudia wasn’t made out of love, she was made out of selfishness, spite & panic.

All this made the AWFUL communication between Lestat, Louis & Claudia  doomed from the start, as Lestat was immediately left out of his own family--again (his worst nightmare)--all while not realizing/accepting that Louis & Claudia’s father/daughter bond wasn't a threat to the romantic bond he had with Louis.

All of Lestat’s efforts to get closer to Louis (than Claudia) became WAY too heavy-handed--as if stalking & terrorizing Louis in EP1 into being with him wasn’t bad enough. >_> And that’s on top of Lestat’s self-destructive contradictory behavior constantly cheating on Louis to try and rile his jealousy. Which was FUTILE, since all Lestat’s cheating did was push Louis deeper into depression and further away from him--straight to Claudia; the one bond Louis felt he had left!

And then Episode 5 happened, and Lestat REALLY effed up.

Like, we know Lestat’s whipped, Louis’ IT for him, but obviously there was a part of him that really did hate Louis--enough for him to beat him like that. But if it was that bad, why not just LEAVE???? Lestat had all the power & resources--let Claudia & Louis go, and find yourself someone you’re more compatible with, ffs! The swamp/dump is calling, sir! 🤡 

But because Loustat are endgame in the books, I cannot WAIT to see how AMC handles Lestat’s redemption arc, both as the (anti-)hero of the Vampire Chronicles, and how both Lestat AND Louis figure out how to grow the eff up and MATURE enough to be worthy of EACH OTHER by the end of the story.

IMO, Loustat are soulmates who met at the wrong time. Not exactly star-crossed lovers, but they definitely went in too deep way too soon. In the books, Lestat hadn’t gone through his growing pains when he met Louis--he’d only been a vampire for like a decade, and careened from one tragedy to the next, not knowing ANYTHING about vampirism to help teach Louis or Claudia anything either. While here on the show, it’s Louis who suffers loss after loss after loss, and is given ZERO time or opportunity to process any of his trauma before he’s made a vampire, married, and a parent in quick succession. (And the books go even further, with everything that happens to him in Merrick and the Prince Lestat trilogy.)

And here, Lestat’s a ~200 year old EXPERT in vampirism, who is DELIBERATELY withholding information and keeping secrets from them, because AMC’s Lestat ALREADY KNOWS about Armand and AKASHA and Marius, but like a MORON he doesn’t TALK TO LOUIS about it (because Marius told Lestat NOT to). So they (especially Claudia) KNOW Lestat’s LYING, and think he’s keeping them with him seemingly as their hateful & controlling JAILER/SLAVE MASTER, rather than their loving & paranoid protector. CLOWN BEHAVIOR, Lestat! 🤡

And that’s not even saying anything yet about the LOADED significance of Loustat’s interracial homosexual relationship, with Lestat’s “non-discriminating” pansexualism and stubborn “color-blindness” and racism doesn’t exist in Europe attitude like WTF DRUGS ARE YOU EVEN ON SIR as if the FRENCH didn’t colonize the West Indies and Africa and NEW ORLEANS as some of THE most racist Europeans ever GTFOH. And Louis’ Catholic Guilt and internalized-homophobia and struggles being black during Jim Crow and whatever Frenchophile-blinders he had on to excuse Lestat as a “safe” white man he could be with, when the man’s a whole vampire LITERALLY hunting you, good GOD have mercy on this baby lamb against the WOLF KILLER Lestat. And Claudia calling Lestat on his crap EVERY TIME, knowing he was keeping secrets and constantly interrogating him, following him and spying on him as he cheated on Louis, calling him “Massa,” I CANNOT. 👑

I love this show, AMC’s a genius. This one episode encapsulates SO many different issues and aspects of these characters, it’s wild. IMO, some of the fandom needs to calm down about EP5 and Lestat’s “character assassination.” YES, Lestat’s the villain on the show. He’s the villain in the movie, too, lest we forget! That's why Lestat spends the next like DOZEN books in the Vampire Chronicles trying to clear his name, getting the reader to see things from HIS perspective, after Louis ROASTED him for filth and made Lestat look so dang bad in THE interview that started it all.

I love bashing on Lestat, because that’s the whole POINT of IWTV--it’s Louis still mad as all hell at his ex 100 years later, venting to Daniel about his TRAUMA and hurt. You’re SUPPOSED to be mad at Lestat, and be on Louis’ side as he goes off on him in the interview, feeling just as hurt and betrayed as he did, because you too LIKE--love--Lestat, and were just as seduced and blindsided as Louis was.

Other than IWTV and Merrick, the Vampire Chronicles are NOT Louis’ story, they’re Lestat’s, a narcissistic egomaniacal lovable a-hole, and the books do the heavy lifting of letting you slowly get to know him, as he admits to his flaws and mistakes and finally REDEEMS himself--in both the reader’s eyes--AND LOUIS’.

IMO, AMC is really hammering it home how THE BOOKS are Lestat’s long AF apology letter to Louis, for letting him down.

Chile, lemme calm myself down and get back to playing the Sims.

____________________________________________

CC CREDITS (WIPs)

- Louis sweater by EA

- Claudia overalls by Momo, jacket ACC by M1ssduo, shirt by EA

- Lestat shirt & pants in gamma by me (they’re all kinds of effed up, trust me)

- Poses X X (there were an effton more; I IDER some of them, sorry)

- A bunch of poses by @danjaley​ as usual LOL X X X

- Vampire attack poses by Sea (Direct DL)

- One falling pose was definitely by ahiruchanet, but I can’t find a post or link yet

[tragicbeauty1991]

Hi! It's always great to see someone else who enjoyed Wish!

About Asha's views, though, something I feel that doesn't get talked about enough is that she actually does acknowledge what Magnifico tells her when he says that most of the wishes will never be granted.

The wishes you're not going to grant, you could just give them back. Then, I don't know, the people can try to pursue them themselves? You know, if they're dangerous, then they can be stopped, but if they're not...

Maybe still a bit too optimistic, sure, but it probably also doesn't help that all she saw was her saba playing music and Magnifico's immediate response is to assume this old man will somehow inspire a rebellion against him and then dismiss Asha by saying what every young person hates to hear, even those fighting for a better future: "You're young, you don't know anything, really."

She, like the rest of Rosas, also held Magnifico in high regard, so I think it's pretty understandable why she never considered the possibility of a dangerous wish before and also why she'd think any dangerous wish can be stopped without really going into it further, never mind that taking a wish means the person will be dazed for a few seconds (as we see during the ceremony scene), sleep deprived for who knows how long (as we see with Simon), and forget their wish entirely. Like Dahlia said, she cares too much.

That said, I'd definitely love to see what a dangerous wish would actually mean in the context of this world and see what Magnifico intended to do compromise with Asha's efforts now that she's a fairy godmother. Because yeah, neither are mutually exclusive and there are good and bad sides to both. It's why I'd love to see a series someday!

Oh, I agree. Magnifico is absolutely WAY more paranoid than he needs to be about wishes that are most likely innocent. But see, I think that’s why they actually WOULD have worked really well together because they could sort of…balance each other out. Asha is selfless and optimistic, though perhaps a bit naive and impulsive. (I mean, she did basically decide to stage a revolution based on Magnifico’s reaction to ONE wish that meant a lot to her personally.) Magnifico is older and more experienced and cautious/wary of the potential for bad things to happen…most likely due to whatever exactly it was that happened to his previous home and family. Admittedly, he’s also very impulsive. And that’s where Amaya comes in and why I honestly have so much respect for her as a character. She doesn’t immediately jump to the conclusion that Asha is a threat with bad intentions but she also doesn’t defend Magnifico’s actions when she has had the time to really sit back and examine where things are going. She takes time to reflect on both sides and tries to find a suitable middle ground. She only goes against her husband when she realizes the good in him is gone and there doesn’t seem to be any way to save him from the dark magic. Amaya is probably the most level-headed and objective of anyone in the entire film, and she might well be my favorite character of the movie because of that.

[thefisherqueen]

Granada's Sherlock Holmes: Thor Bridge

I haven't watched this Granada episode yet. The canon story started off so well and then got quite dissapointing, the plot heavily relying on racism and sexism. I remember a repeated use of 'exotic woman'. I'm curious to see how Granada will handle it.

The location where they filmed the opening scene is beautiful. Look at those gardens and gates.

*Mother stands before window, waves at own children and governess* *All just stare back* Wow, rude. So they kept the part where the morther comes from Brasil, then. Please don't just keep the original plot? On another note: this lady is wearing a bright red dress with, for victorian standards, a very deep cleavage. This seems like a not entirely innocent artistic choice: red and sexy because of the racist stereotype of her being 'passionate'.

Ok, so the lady goes to her husband, shows them the flower she's plucked. He shuts the curtain. That's just mean. My sympathy is actually more and more with this lady. She can have a little murder

Lady to random guy: "Never allow yourself to love too deeply. It will destroy you." Guy: ?????

Actual scene at the bridge: the lady is again wearing a red dress with a lot of lace, a very deep neckline and even a velvet collar. I would call it quite sexy even by today's standards. Compare that with the governess, clad all in white with a high neckline, the very picture of supposed innocence and virginity. Urgh I hate this coding

Holmes sitting in a weird way is always a blessing. He looks so happy and content! (such a good look for Jeremy Brett) Ah, Watson deduces correctly that he has a case, that's why!

I had forgotten the passage where Holmes complains about his eggs being too hard boiled because the cook was reading a romance story at the same time. It makes for a very funny scene. Jeremy Brett puts a lot of emphasis on the magazine (The family herald) being 'excellent', even more strongly implying that he read and loved the story. I just want to know - how explicit was it? Are we dealing with fluff here, or smut?

*Holmes making a thorough mess of the papers once again* I love how Edward Hardwicke doesn't even object anymore, only sighs

Holmes: "I'm falling into your beloved habit of telling stories backwards" sir why are you so snarky. Go eat your breakfast

Wait, the governess wouldn't smile at the lady, but actually does smile at the husband? Urgh I would hate it if they made her actually in love. It's even worse because in this episode it's clear he's so much older than her

The following scene is hilarious. The client is almost at the door, Holmes has made a mess of informing Watson, and then chaotically tries to make up for it in top speed. Such ADHD behaviour. This scene actually does a great job of showing how Watson helps Holmes with his thinking: he brings structure and clarity with his questions

Granada has something of a problem of making each woman either scream or sob or (in this case) faint

Good that they kept the passage where a servant of his tells Holmes how harsh the husband is and how badly he treated his wife. I'm still hoping this gets resolved better than in the canon story, or the racism at least adressed, but I'm low on hope in the moment, considering they kept everything so far the same

I love the kids on the street, all excited to climb on what is probably the first car they've ever seen. In just a bit of time they'll go on to hate those

The scene where the client tries to tempt Holmes with the promiss of money or fame is very well done. Jeremy Brett is acting Not Impressed and Unamused to be told what to do (TM) and it's awesome. Especially that little desmissive hand gesture when he points the client to a chair

Jeremy Brett is so pretty when he looks grave and concerned

Holmes: "What are your exact relations with miss Dunbar?" *uncomfortable silence* Client: "Well I suppose you are within your rights..." Holmes: "We would agree to suppose so" Haha, loving everything about this exchange. I'm not even sure if I can describe what Jeremy went for here, but gods, he nailed it. Somehow it's giving 'I'm laughing at you' and 'I'm irritated at you' and 'careful, I'm dangerous' all at the same time *goes on to watch the same scene 10 times*

*Client angrily storms out after Holmes accuses him of lying and doesn't come back* *Watson proposes they still engage on behalf of the governess* Ah, Granada does stir away from canon here, if I remember it well. Loved the scenes and the way the team reworked it

*client angrily sends them away from miss Dunbar* "I'll have you crushed for this, Holmes" Oooh they are really making the client more into the villain of this story. That is a good sign. I don't get why he gets a say into who visits her, however. Just because he was her employer?? That's fucked up. Oh wait, maybe it's because he pays for her defense?

I always love Granada's crime scene investigations, the one at Thor bridge is no exception

"Some of you rich man must be told that the world cannot be bribed into condoning your offences" There it is, the great line!

I'm getting gender envy from seeing the governess striding about the garden in her long skirt. I love those skirts. But I almost never wear them because you can't cycle in those, and being Dutch, being able to cycle is way more important than gender feelings

I love how once more it is Watson that helps Holmes figure it all out at the end

Watson after the demonstration: "My revolver, Holmes." Aww he looks and sounds so sad! Poor Watson

Watson, ever the romantic, wishes the client and miss Dunbar would marry. Holmes seems sceptical and I love him for that (I had to look up what magnanimous means)

I wish Granada would have just gone ahead and made mr Gibson - the known exploiter, harrasser and abuser - the murderer. But I understand that it would have been too great a change from the canon story, messing up the great reveal. It's such a shame though that they still went through with all the 'exotic, passionate, insane woman from Brazil in the sexy dress' stuff. That could so easily have been cut without losing major plot points. It already have been a more balanced representation if they would have made miss Dunbar a woman of colour too. I also would have liked it better if the client would have faced some actual consequences for his violent and hateful behaviour (though he certainly was thoroughly called out by Holmes). The episode is so well done otherwise

[virginiawerewoolfwazhere]

Twilight Is So Straight, It’s Gay: An Exploration of Camp and the Unintended Queerness of Twilight

Camp aesthetic is a visual movement that communicates appeal through what would be considered tacky iconography, prescribing value (whether good or bad) through the irony of ugliness or gaudiness.  It is theatrical, over-the-top, and dramatic. Campiness has long been tied inextricably to queer culture. Queer films little known to heteronormative society such as Debs, and, But I’m a Cheerleader, or even ubiquitous cult classics to the tune of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and, Hedwig and the Angry Inch are undeniably campy. Within these works, the performance of heterosexuality is unsettling and seems unnatural due to the theatricality of the relationships (one only has to see But I’m a Cheerleader’s Natasha Lyonne drowning in the mouth of her character’s football playing boyfriend during a make-out session to see what I mean here). This type of camp is intentional and pointed. However, the performance of heteronormativity can easily fall into the realm of camp without intending to.

Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight Saga is never intentionally Queer; in fact, there’s not even a whiff of overt gayness to be found in the behemoth four book teen melodrama. Edward Cullen and the rest of his vampire family, as well as the rest of the town of Forks seem to be one hundred percent heterosexual. But since its release in 2008, and especially since the 2020 Twilight “renaissance”, Twilight has accumulated a steadfast and growing queer following, leading to packed midnight showings of the films, memes, fan art, and more. Twilight’s over-performance of heterosexuality whilst simultaneously destabilizing aesthetic gender constructs places the series firmly, if unintentionally, within the campy queer classics canon.

            Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble states,

“heterosexuality offers normative sexual positions that are intrinsically impossible to embody… both a compulsory system and an intrinsic comedy, a constant parody of itself…” (155).

Heterosexuality that does not have reproduction as a teleological goal is by nature not heterosexual, if society were to agree with the purpose of sexual desire as defined by anti-gay movements. In Twilight, the vampires are considered to be extremely sexually attractive, but in their current form, they cannot reproduce sexually. The relationships between vampires Alice and Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett, and, Carlisle and Esme, are now queer, because they are

“contesting the categories of sex or, at least, not in compliance with the normative presuppositions and purposes of that set of categories” (156).  

However, that’s not to say that sexual anatomy and reproduction defines gender or sexuality. For Butler, the performance of gender in queer relationships has to do with the destabilization of perceived gender constructs as they come into “erotic interplay” (157). A femme lesbian being sexually attracted to only cis-gendered women, but also being aroused by a butch lesbian’s performance of masculinity, is an example of that erotic interplay.  This becomes even more expansive in contemporary queer discourse, as we start to understand the performance of gender beyond the binary of men and women. Edward and Bella embody this destabilization through each of their gender crossing attributes. When Bella first witnesses Edward’s vampiric skin when it interacts with sunlight, she narrates,

“his skin, white despite the faint flush from yesterday’s hunting trip, literally sparkled, like thousands of tiny diamonds were embedded in the surface…his shirt open over his incandescent chest, his scintillating arms bare.” (Meyer 260).

Bella later goes on to say, “I would have liked to lie back, as he did, and let the sun warm my face. But I stayed curled up, my chin resting on my knees unwilling to take my eyes off of him” (260).

Edward becomes the object of sexual desire for Bella, subverting the narrative convention of the female being the focus of male desire.  

Masculine presenting people wearing glitter and being desired sexually is an intersection of the erotic interplay of gender performances. Edward is meant to be at his most beautiful when he’s in the sun. Meyer’s reasoning for his beauty is that it makes him, according to Edward himself, a perfect predator. He says,

“Everything about me invites you in – my voice, my face, even my smell” (263).

Meyer’s vampires use the erotic interplay of masculinity embodying elements of feminine presentation as an example of the ideal form of sexual desire, and therefore are able to seduce their prey before killing them. It is reminiscent, in some ways, of the seduction of Janet and Brad by Dr. Frank N. Furter, whose own drag aesthetic is considered to be erotic to all of the characters in The Rocky Horror Picture Show at one point or another.  

Edward and Bella are also transgressive due to the differences in their species. Edward states many times throughout their will-they or won’t-they courtship that their being together is a bad idea. In fact, he likens it to a predator falling in love with its prey; in the same scene where Bella sees his sparkly skin for the first time. He says,

“And so the lion fell in love with the lamb” (273),

noting the innate perverseness of their love. Vampire stories have been linked to queerness for nearly two centuries. Dracula leads the way with the homoerotic subtext between The Count and Jonathan Harker in Bram Stokers 1897 novel, something that is essentially canonized in the BBC adaptation from 2020. In the series, Sister Agatha Van Helsing asks Harker if he had “sexual intercourse with Count Dracula” and he remembers back to a dream he had at the castle where his sexual fantasies of Mina shift into a sexual fantasy of Dracula. The series ends with Van Helsing and Dracula together in their own sexual fantasy, which shows the way transgressive sexuality is eroticized in the vampire plot. Van Helsing hates Dracula for his cruelty, but is still attracted to him. Edward lacks Dracula’s cruelty, but his monstrous status has in actuality turned him into an ideal beauty. Bella is attracted to him in part because of his inhumanity, describing his face as angelic or godlike (Meyer 262). Her attraction to Edward is transgressive in a similar way Agatha Van Helsing’s obsession with Dracula is transgressive.

            In a pivotal scene in both the book and the later 2008 adaptation starring Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, the vampire family plays a game of baseball together. The Cullen family can only play baseball during a thunderstorm, due to their super vampire strength (apparently they can hit a baseball hard enough to be mistaken for a crack of thunder, but yet the ball remains completely intact). Baseball seems to be a fairly all American, wholesome, straightforward activity. However, the way the Cullen family plays is decidedly theatrical. Everything they do is over the top and extra, from their vehicles;

“They circled around Rosalie’s red convertible, unmistakable lust in their eyes” (Meyer 222),

to Edward’s piano playing, to baseball. Everything is designed to make them stand out, and apart from the rest of the town. They are the monstrous other, even if they never actually drink human blood. Their everyday activities are performance.

            The Cullen family is theatrical in all things, but especially in romantic partnerships. The first night Bella and Edward ever spend together, she tells him that she loves him. He responds with,

“‘You are my life now’” (314),

which is an intense confession to make after one kiss and a sleepover. Throughout the rest of the novels, Edward and Bella remain obsessed with each other to the point of suicide. In the second installment, New Moon Edward believes Bella has died, and tries to kill himself. He says to Bella,

“I wasn’t going to live without you,” (Meyer 263).

In the last installment, Breaking Dawn, when Bella almost dies (again), he forms a suicide pact with Jacob where he wishes for Jacob to kill him if Bella doesn’t survive. He tells Jacob,

“the moment Bella’s heart stops beating, I’ll be begging you to kill me” (Meyer 70).

The theatricality of their relationship, along with the transgressive nature of the vampire plot, turns displays of heterosexuality into unintentional camp. This, paired with the erotic interplay of gender performances, shows us that Twilight is so straight, it’s gay.

[ice-mage]

My Review of Teen Wolf: The Movie

So, I watched the Teen Wolf movie when it came out, but it’s been a busy few days, so I haven’t had the chance to really share my thoughts until now. By now, I’m sure anyone who cares has either already seen the movie or has decided not to see the movie, so be warned that this will contain spoilers.

I won’t belabor my thoughts too much (knocks on wood). In looking at this movie, I think there are two questions:

Is Teen Wolf: The Movie good? No.

Is Teen Wolf: The Movie enjoyable? Yes, I thought so.

Teen Wolf: The Movie is an objectively bad movie. It’s full of plot holes, inconsistencies with existing lore, and bad cgi. From the very first scene, it’s not explained why Liam is in Japan or why he has the nogitsune box. Then, he later shows up in Beacon Hills, just in time to save Derek at the high school for some reason. And this is after the nogitsune has been released and he apparently told no one. When they resurrect Allison, they show up to the Nemeton with dirt and a sword and then tree just does the magic itself. No ritual or anything, they literally just stand there and then all of a sudden magic happens. Deaton apparently could use mistletoe or something to cast the nogitsune out of Chris that he never tried with Stiles. Mr. Harris is somehow alive, but we get no explanation. Lydia somehow got enough control over her powers to no longer have premonitions of death, except that her first scene shows that she doesn’t have control. I could probably go on and on, but I’ll leave it with the biggest two. First, the nogitsune is also a werewolf. Even though it was established in the show that a wolf and a fox cannot coexist in the same body. And second, while I could be okay with Derek having a self-sacrificing death, his death didn’t make sense narratively because it wasn’t necessary. Ostensibly he dies because he has to hold onto the nogitsune so Parrish can burn it to death with hellfire, which also consumes Derek. But we see Parrish holding the nogitsune on his own when Derek pushes Scott off the Nemeton. And even though the movie reminds us earlier that Jackson has paralytic venom, he and everyone else just stands there. From start to finish, there was a lot that just didn’t make sense.

I’ve always thought that Teen Wolf at times sacrificed character development to plot. Nowhere is that more apparent than in this movie. Most of the dialogue is expository. The movie has both Liam and Mason, best friends during the show, but they don’t interact at all. The movie introduced Hikari, but she only has a handful of lines of dialogue. They had a casting announcement for Deputy Kitsune, but he was only really in one scene where he was killed off. And even still I think he had more dialogue than Hikari. We don’t see Eli interact with Peter, not even when Derek dies, even though family means a lot to Peter. And we don’t learn what most of the characters have been up to the past 15 years.

But I expected the movie to be bad, full of plot holes and all the rest going in. I never liked Teen Wolf because I thought it was good. I liked Teen Wolf because I loved the characters. And probably because I had low expectations, I was able to enjoy seeing these characters on my screen again. I loved seeing the relationship between Derek and Eli, his son. And the scenes between Scott and Allison also worked because they were character-driven. Posey has said that the movie is the best worked he’s ever done. I haven’t seen him in anything else, but I thought it was his best performance as Scott.

Jeff said in an interview that he had too many characters. And as much as I love so many of these characters, I agree. From the tier list I did before the movie came out, you know I like Jackson. But he didn’t have a purpose in this movie. And neither did many of the characters. Part of the problem was that so much of the movie was filmed without a complete script having been written. On the Return to Beacon Hills podcast, Vince Mattis, who plays Eli, said that when they started filming, they only had half a script. And in an interview with Collider, Crystal said that they didn’t have a script until the last two weeks of filming. So a lot was filmed while Jeff only had an idea, but not a story. Maybe that could have worked with a smaller cast, but not with this many characters.

The movie needed to have a more definitive focus on fewer characters. I get that Jeff wanted to bring Allison back, so Scott and Allison are one set. When he determined that he would use the nogitsune plot line to do so, he should have elevated the roles of Hikari and Deputy Kitsune. And lastly, he needed to introduce the new teen wolf, so Eli would round out the main characters of the movie. With that core five, you then figure out how your remaining characters serve their plot and character arcs. I liked the relationship between Eli and Derek, but it would have been nice to also see Eli have more interaction with the rest of his family, namely Peter and Malia. And in the movie, Eli mentions that Scott hadn’t seen him in 12 years, indicating that Scott hasn’t been in Beacon Hills in that long. And the pack seemed to not really still be in touch with each other. If the movie had focused on this more, it could have added an emotional arc for Scott that many other characters could have contributed to, even with limited dialogue, while also not detracting from the plot.

From all of the promo and social media posts, you can see that much of the cast loves Teen Wolf as much as the fans do. And it was great to see them on screen again because of that. Unfortunately, Jeff isn’t as great a writer as I think he thinks he is, and the movie suffered. So, was the movie good? No. But did i enjoy it anyway? Yes. And at least it appears to have put the fire back into the fandom a bit.

[belteppismo]

Controversial personal opinion (actually a rant) about RDARB because I'm still so annoyed about that novel

"Red, White and Royal Blue" is without any doubt one of the most annoying books I've ever read and I really can't understand how it managed to become so popular when it's so blatantly... Bad

I think the horrific Italian translation made me dislike it even more, but there were so many problems with it already

First of all, the side characters. Absolutely useless. I'm not even joking when I say that I had to stop for 5 entire minutes to try to remember who the heck was Leo. To me, it makes perfect sense that they decided to get rid of a lot of them in the film, they shouldn't have been there in the first place

Secondly, the dialogues. They couldn't have felt more surreal. You're telling me that the Prince of Wales, who's been getting PR training and etiquette lessons ever since he pronounced his first word, actually expresses himself like a dockworker? It all felt forced, like the author was trying way too hard to make every single line witty. But it didn't make me laugh, I just found it cringe

Thirdly, the emails. Once again, I had to stop because the second-hand embarrassment was becoming unbearable. God, I wanted to wash my eyes with bleach. Especially because the terrible prose (we'll go back to this later too) of the characters was associated to the writings of some actual intellectuals and poets. It was also a very unrealistic plot device to cause more drama. Basically a disaster under every possible point of view

And what can I say about said drama? Every single conflict was solved within 20 pages. While some superflous parts of the plot strecthed out for an eternity, issues found their solution in an instant. How can an international scandal involving the White House and the Royal Family last for the space of a chapter? *insert Italian boh*

Now, just a couple of thoughts about the main characters. The enemies to lovers trope was objectively badly executed. Their rivalry just felt very childish and based on nothing, so it consequently lacked tension (but no problem, the enemies part came to an end in less than 100 pages). And one thing that annoyed me was that they were supposed to be in their 20s (setting aside the maturity that they were supposed to have because of their respective roles) but they acted like teenagers. After they kind of got together, their in-person communication pretty much stopped existing because they spent every single second together having sex. What sort of development is that?

A word or two about the political sub-plot too. Apart from being uninteresting and very one-dimentional (I agree with the author's political views, but you cannot make such an absolute distinction between good and bad, we don't live in fairytales), it was also totally predictable. Like, Rafael Luna's "big secret" was pretty much spoiled 200 pages before the reveal, so I was just waiting for it and it wasn't surprising at all (just like the results of the elections, for instance)

Lastly, the style. As I've already said, part of my disdain probably derives from the translation. But still. This thing has really been checked by an editor? Most of the descriptions sounded like my brother's composition about his PE teacher written on his first year of primary school. And then, out of nowhere, the author changed register and started to wax poetry about the most mundane details. Just tell me why. I've read better fanfiction

I'd have so much more to say but I think this is enough. If you liked the book, good for you! Your opinion is totally valid and the majority of the world shares it so you're probably also right. I wish all that enthusiasm could change my mind since I bought the novel with high expectations and spent time reading it only to be disappointed and enervated by it