#that is Emma’s only friendship the show portrayed well

[killiansprincss]

I just don’t think I’ll ever understand people that say Emma and Regina is their favourite friendship. In what world is that a friendship when Regina literally barely tolerates Emma because she’s Henry’s mother and belittles her at any given moment, tried to kill her when Emma is simply existing - need I go on ????

[myimaginarywonderland]

Some of my unpopular scream opinions:

The best Ghostface writing wise was hands down Roman.

The best movies are the first two. One genuinely is written wonderfully and two has the most intriguing follow up. Two does not deserve the hate it gets because it shows a traumatized Sidney opening up again and getting hurt in the process while openly still being paranoid. It shows the effect of grief in all forms. It portrays a fascinating deranged character that feels no remorse and has somehow been killing without getting caught even before becoming ghost face as well as a lost mother.

I don't like Scream 4 and I strongly dislike Jill. This might be because of the way I hate the whole discourse and see wasted potential or because I just don't like Emma Roberts. It could also be because I think Jill just has a boring motive that isn't fun to explore because it feels so unrelatable.

I think 5 and 6 are bad movies and wouldn't be considered okay if it wasn't for the Scream name. Mostly 5 more so then 6.

I think Charlie was severely underused as a Ghost Face and underdeveloped as a character.

I absolutely despise the Sam/Billy related storyline because it doesn't make sense timewise or logically. We know at least 20 years have passed by Scream 4 because of Jill and Sidney's age, so Sam being what 18-20 in Scream 5 is ridiculous. Also Billy would have never risked the relationship to Sidney by screwing another girl at that time. His whole plan was build on that and I just hate the writing decision especially when the most obvious choice would have been to make someone related to Stu and open up the possibility of him coming back.

I also think Tara just adds nothing as a character really and feels flat. I feel like besides having her be Sam's obvious reasons for decisions there is nothing else her character gives the story other than standing in for purposes.

Chad is by far the most interesting character of the core 4 and it would have been so cool had they showed his connection to Ethan more or even developed him as a character but alas. Also stop with the plot armor. I would have loved more focus and then if he was genuinely killed off, that would have felt better than the whole he survives being ambushed and stabbed 50× twice card.

Going off that, I truly feel like the characters of Scream 5/6 feel more like plot devices than actual people. They just stand in for situation in the story rather than feeling like part of the whole story.

Scream 4 was a wasted opportunity of setting up a universe where Kirby and Robbie both survive and the newer movies focus on them. Kirby was the most connected to both killers and Robbie was clearly a Randy character that should have gotten another movie, maybe two. Besides Kirby/Jill, Robbie and Charlie was the most focus we had on a friendship and it felt like a waste to kill him off the way they did. Imagine them with Deputy Hicks as the focus in 5/6, with the Deputy being killed off the reason why they come back maybe, thinking someone is going after the survivors.

Roman should have lived more than any other Ghostface because he had the most potential. If we would have gotten Scream 3 end with Sidney believe he is dead but even the smallest hint that he wasn't that could have set up such a fascinating storyline were their relationship and characters could have been explored more. There was so much wasted potential there, I am so annoyed.

I feel like Scream 5 was less enjoyable because the killers were even more obvious than Scream 1. At least with Billy and Stu there was the suspense of only believing in on killer and seeing one of them as a red herring, hell even both of them, but 5 basically dropped and explained itself on the way. While I understand the parody of horror films is what made Scream so good, this entire movie felt so on the nose it was hard to enjoy the actual insane characters.

I don't think Tatum should have lived. Dewey and Sidney both losing her set up their future connection, it helped bring them closer and I wouldn't have it any other way. Dewey was a far more entertaining character that genuinely gave such a fun aspect to the storyline, I wouldn't have wanted to miss out on that.

On the same note, I wish they had killed Gale or at least stopped using her character. Didn't like her in Scream 1, didn't like her in Scream 2, didn't like her in Scream 3 and hate her and Deweys storyline in Scream 4. She just felt so stuck, no development and all that did happen was immediately thrown out in the next movie which I get (some people can't change) but she really just felt flat after the third movie and I wished they would have stopped using her or any of the older cast because those characters were treated with a lack of love.

Randy would have been great in Scream 3 as well as the final act of Scream 2. Imagine him and Mickey having a showdown. Imagine him when the Roman plot was revealed. So much wasted potential. Also he already had a much more interesting relationship to both Sidney and Dewey than Gale by only Scream 2.

I like that Scream 6 tried to do something new but I feel like the family thing was obvious. What I would have loved is if Wayne became bad and had been the killer later after genuinely losing Quinn and blaming the core 4 for it. Ethan would have been a much more interesting killer on his own or with an unexpected partner like Chad than he was in a family dynamic same as everyone else. Hell, even do the storyline but just with one less killer because 3 was too much for a showdown when we rarely had time to connect to the characters. I think Ethan is more interesting but I also would have loved if Wayne did it solo because he lost his son or if he and Quinn did it together but it just would have felt repetitive either way. Ethan with a core 4 member though that would have been so cool or even Quinn with a core 4 member/Annika would have been more interesting.

I truly think the best female Ghostface was Nancy because of how realistic it was. She had a goal that she somewhat accomplished or would have and she felt like a person rather than a prop. Even a bad mom sometimes steps up when their children are hurt and in that twisted family Sidney and her dad have been blamed for Sidney's mothers actions so much that her snapping just makes sense. Hiring someone to be the muscle? So smart and Mickey is obviously crazy enough to really not care. Her anger is limited as in comparison to what we see mostly as an untroubled rage or murder Lust. She kills to make right what she thinks has been done wrong and it just makes her almost relatable because she truly doesn't see how her actions are not justice or repairing of damage. To her she is doing what needs to be done and maybe even repairing her own broken heart in the process who knows.

[finitefall]

It’s obvious most of the cast hasn’t bothered with reading the book… but can they at least be aware of what kind of character they are portraying ? What is happening in scenes they are in ?

They really need to start separating their real life and the show because they project their real life relationships with each other onto their characters and their opinions often change depending on who they’re doing the interview with, meaning their takes are all over the place & it’s unprofessional. This has happened plenty of times to excuse it. They really need to understand that it’s okay to admit their character isn’t good, that it’s okay to criticise their friends’ character. Own it instead of trying to make them look nicer and softer.

Sorry, I'm overracting but I’m so annoyed. What happened to actors caring about the original source material and giving good insights ? What happened to intellectual takes ? Why are we stuck with actors who keep talking like they are a part of a romance show ? Enough with “love”, “friendship”, and “chemistry” bullshit already. What’s with this cast and saying things that make no sense ? Half of the time I’m watching their videos or reading their interviews and going ??????????? The cast of children’s actors are so well spoken and then there’s cast of adult actors’ saying some things.

I don't think you're overreacting, nonnie, don't worry. Matt Smith seems to be the only cast member who actually understands the character he's portraying in the show, who Daemon really is and what a morally grey character really means, who can do both sides of his character just as well, and who seems annoyed too (like the choking scene he didn't bother to defend and where he doesn't seem to be invested at all).

The others actually remind me of many Sansa stans and Alicent stans who love their characters because of how they relate to them, and say the whitewashed versions of their faves on screen is the most realistic because it suits them. Some cast members seem to be exactly like this given how they talk about their character on the show. You're right about the interviews with another cast member. Emma and Olivia are obviously friends, which is great, but it reminds me of the interviews with Sophie and Maisie where Sophie was all about Sansa being the best and Maisie would always agree with her.

All the cast members honestly seem to be good actors, but they're apparently totally on the same page as the writers about the writing of their characters and relationships. They don't like the source material, let's be honest, so it would have been a better idea to write about something else entirely rather than change everything so much because the book isn’t “reliable” and call it an adaptation.

[thechangeling]

I have to say as someone with quite a bit of trauma and let's face it probably cptsd, I really don't love the way CC portrays trauma or has other characters react to it. Like she has a habit of letting a characters issues be overshadowed by their love story or even completely wiped out in the case of Emma and Jace for example. They're traumatized by their past until they sort things our with their love interests and then everything's fine.

But what really bugs me is how she's treating Kit's issues, and as result how that frivolousness is bleeding into the fandom. Kit was raised by Johnny Rook with such fucking apathy and neglect that Kit developed a belief that he is only valued when he is useful to others. He's never been loved for the sake of just existing in any way he can remember, at least until Tessa and Jem. But they can't automatically undue years of damage.

And then there's the obvious stuff, him seeing his father ripped apart by demons which must incite some pretty complicated feelings in him regarding the distance of their relationship but he still obviously loves his father, then losing Livvy after developing a genuine friendship with her and then watching Ty completely lose himself trying to being her back. Ty's percieved rejection which I am more then willing to acknowledge was spurred on my Kit's trauma of believing himself inherently unlovable. And yet somehow after all of this, the only thing he's having nightmares about are Ty? Just that day in the beach and nothing else? And then to add insult to injury we have the other characters who KNOW what he's been through for the most part reducing that complicated trauma to "brooding."

Like??? It's not brooding it's fucking cptsd. And yeah sure you could argue it's quite realistic for people to just dismiss or ignore that stuff like with the way the tlh characters enable Matthew or ignore/demonize Alastair. But at a certain point if you never address these things it just looks like you're minimizing or downplaying these very real issues. Which then leads to the fandom also downplaying these issues by making jokes about Kit being an "angsty drama queen Herondale uwu!" And yeah I get the meneifcation of trauma and PTSD is very gen z, but I think it's kind of a harmful trend that ultimately doesn't lead to healing.

You gotta show actual sympathy for Kits trauma if you want to actually understand the character.

Even know as I write this I have a voice inside my head telling me I'm overreacting or making a big deal out of nothing. But that's the result of my trauma. I spent too much time with people who thought I was too much, too sensative and too opinionated. It's hard as fuck recovering from a life time of gaslighting and that's probably one of the reasons I relate to and sympathize with Kit so much.

So anyways I hope CC will surprise me and actually meaningfully address and discuss Kit's trauma in twp (as well as Ty's and Dru's and everyone else's) and not have the problems all end with kitty reconciling because love cures all or whatever.

[drakenxemma]

why do you like emma so much? the author depicted her as weak, whiny, only interested in love and always in need of protection, there are stronger girls in the story and emma is the kind of female character we don't need 👎 i hate people who praise her when the character's so dull

Hi, anon... Just a little reminder: in my pinned I expressly said that kindness is very important to me. Maybe it's just my impression and I hope I don't come off as self-defensive, but I don't think the overall tone of this ask falls within the definition of "kind", so please, next time you want to express your opinion I'd appreciate if you'd do it using more proper manners and less misunderstandable tones. Thank you in advance.

Now, I respect everyone's opinions, always, but seriously I don't know what you expect me to say here. The name of my blog is literally drakenxemma, I post about tokrev and Draken and Emma on a daily basis because I love them a not normal amount. What's the point in coming here to spit some hate on a character that did nothing wrong and that I love a lot?

To answer you:

"weak" - FALSE Emma goes through a lot throughout her life and, guess what, she's the strongest because she deals with her own burdens as well as her loved ones' burdens and never loses herself, showing great strength of mind. She's abandoned by her mother, she loses her brother Shinichiro, she sees Mikey gradually descending into pain and darkness and does her best to keep everything together. She won't let all these traumatic events turn her bad, she will stay true to herself until the very end. And this is a form of strength totally worthy of respect, whether you like it or not. Plus, if you think that being strong just means being able to kick and punch (which is a very toxic belief, if you ask me), don't forget that Emma is most likely strong from that point of view too, since, as a child, she took martial arts lessons just like Shin and Mikey.

"whiny" - FALSE When and where? I don't even know what you're talking about here. She literally takes care of the people she loves, she never abandons them and is very loyal to them without faltering. The only instance in which she complains about something is when Draken doesn't give her the attention she dreams of, and it's totally normal and understandable and absolutely consistent with her age and her feelings.

"only interested in love" - FALSE Emma does not only care about romance with Draken. She cares about her brother, she loves her family and friends as much as Mikey does. She protects and helps Hina, she supports Takemichi, she takes care of Mikey and stands up for Draken, etc. And yes, she's in love with Draken and wants to be his girlfriend, she dreams of a love story with him. What's wrong with it? What's the harm in a girl who's interested in love? Let me tell you, this is just another toxic belief: considering a female character "having feelings" as weak and whiny (just because girls are always depicted as more interested in romantic stuff unlike boys) literally means that you unconsciously accepted that much-hated distinction between what's masculine and what's feminine, you're the one falling into the gender roles trap. Can you see where is the problem? The problem is that having feelings and showing them is not a flaw by default, it becomes a flaw when the reader decides that a female character is only valid when she does manly things because said reader actually thinks there's a distinction between what girls and boys should do. This mindset is toxic as hell, it's internalized misogyny and you can't even see it. If you believe (as I hope) that Draken was wrong to think that feelings would make him weak, then you should only accept that Emma being interested in love is not a problem at all. We hate double standards in this house. Boys as much as girls should be allowed to have feelings, with no preconceptions. If a boy has feelings he is not weak, because feelings are for everyone. And if a girl has feelings she is not weak, for the exact same reasons, and also because considering love a "girly" thing is wrong on many levels since what you're saying is that girly=weak which is utterly offensive and ignorant on the reader's part. Does portraying a girl interested in love strengthen the idea that romance is just for girls? Probably, if you can't read with critical thinking. In my opinion it's just up to the reader. Am I saying that the author creates perfect female characters? No, not perfect, they're just good and valid considering the expectations, and also compatible with the setting, the early 2000s gangs, the delinquency environment etc.

"always in need of protection" - FALSE The fact that Draken and Mikey want to protect her doesn't mean she demands protection or anything. Draken and Mikey's will is one thing, Emma's needs are another. And don't forget that, as Mikey's sister, Emma being in danger and an easy target is just a matter of fact.

"there are stronger girls in the story" - FALSE Let's rephrase it: there are strong girls in the story. Each one in their own wonderful way. That "stronger" you used is so so sad, actually. It's as if you're putting girls into competition, which is a big NO. Not even the author does that, why would you? Wakui literally wrote the cutest friendship between Hinata and Emma, even after that equivocal beginning. And Yuzuha, Akane, Senju, all the girls have their own stories and qualities.

"the kind of female character we don't need" - FALSE Maybe you don't need this kind of female character. I very much need a character who makes a unifying force out love, I very much need a character who's strong enough to fight for love and loved ones, I very much need a character who's not afraid to show her feelings, I very much need a character who can cry, I very much need and very much appreciate a character who's strong enough to never let the events corrupt her heart.

"dull" - FALSE Please, re-read everything.

Anon, seriously, I respect the fact that you don't like the character, I am nobody to change your opinion. I truly respect and like different perspectives, it's just that, personally, I can't be in agreement with the reasons given. And I hope my answer was clear enough (I'm sorry, but english is not my first language 🙏🏻). Let me know if you understood my points, I'll try to re-explain if something isn't clear.

[jezabelofthenorth]

Is Anne Boleyn portrayed better than Catherine of Aragon in Tudor dramas or does she just take her clothes off?

Or I've watched almost every Anne Boleyn thing over the past six months and I'm certain at this point you guys are watching different movies than I am

edit: i;m sorry meant to include there is rape mention cw in this

Okay I might get a little mean here, but at this point I'm convinced no one thinks critically about this, like the constant amount of whinging I see about how Catherine is treated just soooo badly in Tudor dramas and always neglected is wild because it is just not true. I would say the only piece of media that treats Anne like a full person is Anne of The Thousand Days, and that's a 50 year old movie. I started thinking about this when I rewatched season 1 of The Tudors back in August because like, it's really abundantly clear who Michael Hirst likes better and it is not Anne. Anne barely feels like a full character in season 1, Henry is madly in love with her,. Her father is scheming to make that worth their while along with George, but where exactly is Anne in all that?

She gets a considerable amount of screentime but very little insight into what she actually feels about all this, is she in love with Henry too? Does she just want to be queen and is manipulating him? We never get an actual moment where it's made clear so you can pretty much apply whatever interpretation you want there, which is bad! Is Anne actually the female lead here, because she doesn't feel like it at all,  I feel like this gets forgotten because Natalie adds so much depth to Anne you feel like there's more going on, but there really isn't,  Hirst neglects Anne's own feelings about her situation considerably, to a point Natalie has stated she had to push him to give Anne more of a character in season 2. I would say Hirst is just bad at writing women, which like.....he is, but he doesn't have this issue with Catherine, Catherine is a very clear character from the start, which she should be! It's clear what her motives are and what she feels, if I'm honest Catherine in season 1 is probably a little too perfect, like she truly does not have a single negative quality, the worst part is when she calls Anne a whore but I don't think we as the audience is meant to take that as bad on her part which......eh?

The real significance difference is here is how they're portrayed sexually, I do think Catherine and Henry should have had more intimate scenes and Hirst clearly shied away from that because Maria is older, which makes him a coward, but Anne getting treated as a sex object doesn't mean she has better character development,  I mean think about that one!  I mainly got inspired to write this as I just rewatched The Other Boleyn Girl which I hadn't seen in years and in my memory  I thought Catherine hadn't had a good portrayal but like it's fine? She's in most of the movie, she's portrayed as a resilient woman, she gets her Blackfriars speech, is there really a problem here or are you guys actually mad that Natalie Portman is young and beautiful in this and Ana Torrent was in her forties? Because I'll have to draw attention that in this film Catherine again doesn't have a single bad quality while Anne gets raped by Henry before they're even married, so if I was going to get angry about something, I know what it is. It seems to me for years it is been standard to suggest because Anne is portrayed as a young, beautiful women and the utmost sexual desire of Henry's eye that it means she is treated well, but extreme sexulization is actually not interchangeable with respect for Anne as a woman and it is more than obvious than many film makers have absolutely none for her.It is not disrespectful to Catherine to portray her as an older woman, she was 42 when The Great Matter began, there is nothing wrong with being an older woman, the most dramatic parts of Catherine's life took place when she was in her forties, the most dramatic parts of Anne's life took place in her twenties and thirties, that is a simple fact of history.

To open a can of worms that seemed to set a certain part of the internet on fire, let's tackle The Spanish Princess now. Emma Frost and Matthew Graham were quite clear in their veneration for Catherine and their certainty that she has been a maligned figure in history. This seems at odds when you would cross reference most historiography on Catherine, as she seems to be one of the few figures of the Tudor period that has a universally positive reputation .

Through out the two season run both showrunners made their disdain for Anne quite obvious, which was rather odd given they had created a show about Catherine and there wasn't really any need to mention Anne at all. Which makes the choice to include from the start of season 2 particularly bizarre, given historically Anne was in France for the 1510's and would not have been present in the English Court and did not become a Lady in Waiting until in the 1520's. The show does not make it clear who she is and it is only known if you search the role Alice Nokes is playing, which makes her role to be one of heavy handed foreshadowing which simply takes up space to present friendships Catherine had with her actual Ladies of the time. It is not made fully clear who Anne is until the final episode, an episode where Anne is not permitted to speak even though she is in most of the episode and her biggest moment is where she meets Henry late at night in a garden, and removes her clothes to reveal her breasts to him.

Through out the season Anne's male relatives, her father Thomas Boleyn, and her grandfather Thomas Howard are featured prominently. While Anne and her sister Mary are pushed to the side lines and barely given a voice, for a show that claims to present history from the view of women of the era, that seems a choice in poor sport. It could be quite easy to remove Anne entirely from the show, or only make passing mentions of her, instead the choice was to have her exist on the sidelines, mostly voiceless and then to have her be on the forefront as a sexual object to Henry.

In a show that claimed to want to want to give us Catherine's full story, from the time as a 15 year old bride, to a matured, tested Queen, it instead seemed to take a route of focusing on Catherine's less appealing qualities and even gave her faults she never had (as in rejecting her daughter Mary for her gender when it is well known Catherine was an adoring mother). The show seems to think presenting Catherine as a truly unappealing heroine is canceled out by portraying her as a young, beautiful woman, and sexually desired by Henry, that feels extremely insulting to Catherine, who was a tough woman and her best quality certainly wasn't the fact that Henry and Catherine had an active sex life during the first decade of their marriage. You have to see where the decades of presenting Anne as sexually desired by Henry has infected Tudor media in how another Catherine is portrayed here as if a woman should be portrayed positively only through how much their husband desires them.   It simply doesn't matter who you prefer over Catherine and Anne, the misogyny of that choice seems quite clear. I simply can't think of a single piece of Tudor media that gives Catherine of Aragon such an offensive role to play.        

[drivingsideways]

Melo is My Nature Review

Well, as usual, I’m late to the party! I picked up 2019′s Melo is my Nature/ Be Melodramatic with some trepidation since I was (am!) still smarting a bit from the disappointment that’s Hospital Playlist S2, and I wasn’t quite ready for another. 

I’m so glad I gave it a chance! While it isn’t a “perfect” series- in the nature of the world *sigh*- its combination of quirky, clever, self-aware humour and heartfelt performances won me over from the first episode. 

More thoughts under the cut (along with some spoilers)

I’m very fond of ensemble dramas that love their characters, and “Melo is my Nature” does that very well. Perhaps a little too well, to the point that you feel the writers letting themselves be more than a little indulgent during the middle stretch of the episodes. But I can’t complain too much, because yes, I know the feeling!  “Side characters” that refuse to stay in the lane and take over the narrative are also my favourites, as a writer and a viewer. I loved, loved, loved Lee Joo-bin as the flighty-but-amazingly-smart Lee So-min; that felt like such a delightful  clap-back against the prevailing sentiment that often goes against young, successful women and the ridiculous levels of expectations of them, in how they need to perform gender and  femininity and smartness. I loved that (like Emma! There’s a lot of Jane in this series!) the writers managed to make her likeable even though they never disregard her flaws or its consequences.

 Another performance/ character that I totally adored was Baek Ji-won as Jeong Hye-jeong, the industry maven who may be (?) a nod to Kim Eun-sook, I suppose! I was afraid at some point that they’d just trash her character, by making her a little too ridiculous in an unkind way, but I found some of the loveliest scenes involved her- like the one where she tells Jin-joo to do the work, but not be too successful. In the end, there was a love and fondness for her, a genuine empathy, that really was core to what made this show so successful. 

Shout out also to two of the weirdest characters I’ve watched, but thoroughly loved- Heo Joon-seok as Director Dong-gi & Lee Ji-min as Nutritionist (?) Da-mi. I absolutely adored that the only wedding in this series is between these two, and they do it in a completely predictably-unusual way. 

Re: the “main” characters, I loved all of them without exception, though some more than the others :) One of the things I love about the show is how real and present the three female leads feel; they feel like whole, entire people rather than caricatures of them, even when the show reaches almost unusual levels of quirky. I love that a through-line of the narrative is how important women’s labour is- to themselves. The work they do, which is acknowledged as a part of their identity rather than just something they do to pay bills (though of course there’s acknowledgement of that aspect too!),  their hunger to do it well and for it to matter- all of that is portrayed in a way that’s charming  but still taken very seriously. And the way you know that its taken seriously is in the things they focus on- how Oh Jin-joo struggles to write alone, and how Han-joo’s learning to be someone’s mentor while struggling with her own insecurities, and how lost Eun-jung feels, when work which was supposed to give her purpose fails her in a time of crisis, and how unmoored she feels without it. 

Re: the romance- I’m someone predisposed to dislike heterosexual romance, especially at the present moment, so it’s always with a great deal of hesitation that I start watching shows that I know have a large romance component. It’s always a bit of a coin toss for me whether the show will end up making me hate the romance or just about tolerate it. I rarely expect to *like * it.  So “Melo is my Nature” was a pleasant surprise!  This is  one of the few series where I felt the writers put in the work to sell the “main romance” of the show. You get to know the Oh Jin-joo and Beom-soo in sharply etched sketches before they move into the romance part (with a lot of tongue-in-cheek meta humour about the formulaic nature of tv romances). I genuinely felt that thrill of  “oh this could go platonic or romantic and I would like either” slowly ease into “oh my god these two are MEANT TO BE”, because the Romance is clearly in the all the ways they are NOT meant to be, but also, very, very definitely are. DELICIOUS. Just my cup of Jane Austen in a different context/ time.

Through most of the show though, my heart was divided between two characters- Jeon Yeo-bin’s stellar Eun-jung and Han Ji-eun’s pitch perfect Han-joo. Jeon Yeo-bin brought edginess, dark humour and a deep, almost- inconsolable grief to Eun-jung. Some of the stand out scenes of the entire series are hers: the moment where she watches herself on video talking to an imaginary person, and the moment she breaks down in front of the psych after talking about her mother. Watching this show, it really felt like- oh, she’s a star. Consider me sold on her for life (though, no, I will not watch Vincenzo unless there’s a Hong Cha-young supercut out there, in which case, please put it in my eyeballs now)

Han Ji-eun, imho, actually pulled off the toughest performance, because I think Han-joo’s strength of character is so often concealed by her “silliness” (in a similar vein to So-min’s), and that often makes her someone you’d overlook or not take seriously.  But god, she broke my heart, from the scene in the first episode where she’s sitting alone at a table after a rough day and watching her horrible ex live his best life to the hilarious and excruciating  “Oppa” scene, to the one where her kid is quite unconsciously cruel to her in the way kids can be. I was disappointed in the way they dropped the “reveal” about whom she’s dating in the last episode- not that I wanted her to be in an romance with Jae-hoon, god, NO- but it felt quite clunky.  This is one of the two complaints I have with the show. 

The second one is that starting from the middle, episodes began to noticeably feel like scenes/ sketches spliced together. Each scene is, within itself, perfectly written and performed, but the seams between the stories began to show. I felt one of the main reasons was that Eun-jung’s trauma tonally felt like it belonged in another show, but instead it had to get stitched into the mostly happy/ frothy storylines of the other characters. Sure, we had Hae-joon and his girlfriend’s terrible relationship, but the show had an easier time integrating that by way of Han-joo.

That said, I love how clever this show is! I love that it loves its own cleverness and can’t resist the urge to show it off- from all the meta references, in-universe jokes, and oh, that entire episode devoted to farting, complete with a song about it,  which I think maybe my fave episode of the series. A great look at the place of performance in intimate relationships (and how the women bear the burden of it more than the men), but coming at it from a place of compassion and humour rather than anger. Love that choice, for the show and us! 

I think @rain-hat mentioned in a comment here or twitter that Melo feels like a part of a triangle of shows along with Run On and Search : WWW.  I’m inclined to swap out Run On for Rookie Historian, or huh, maybe change the triangle for a quadrangle? Rookie Historian dares to imagine a past where our protagonist is (mostly) unshackled by the patriarchy and in the “modern” ending to its main heterosexual romance, reminds us that people have always found ways to find joy and thrive outside the rigid bounds of society. Search: WWW goes about it in the opposite direction- placing us in a present/future where the patriarchy doesn’t  and hasn’t ever mattered. Melo, I think, doesn’t quite do that, but in common with both these shows, it refuses to focus on the trauma of living under such structural violence, and instead talks about how we all (irrespective of gender) can find a way to remain unbroken by it. And while both Search:WWW and Melo do well at queer-platonic relationships as an alternate to the heterosexual project, it’s Run On, I think, which goes furthest there- firstly because though ostensibly structured around a het romance, that romance turns out to be falling in love with yourself/ loving yourself;  secondly because it’s most explicitly queer in the choices that the characters make and the lives that they choose for themselves- Min-joo & May are each others darlings and will be for life, Yeong-hwa and Ki Seon-gyeom are allowed a tenderness in their friendship that feels like an explicit repudiation of toxic masculinity, and of course, you have May being asexual, but not aromantic, and Goh Ye-jun’s whole arc of accepting himself as a gay man, and finding acceptance of that identity from others. 

Anyway! tl;dr would recommend (and have recommended!) Melo is my Nature to anyone fond of women, clever story telling and also ridiculously happy songs.

[night-unfurls-its-splendour]

Every Mrs. Weston Ranked and Rated

“[Emma’s] mother had died too long ago for her to have more than an indistinct remembrance of her caresses, and her place had been supplied by an excellent woman as governess, who had fallen little short of a mother in affection.

“Sixteen years had Miss Taylor been in Mr. Woodhouse’s family, less as a governess than a friend, very fond of both daughters, but particularly of Emma. Between them it was more the intimacy of sisters. Even before Miss Taylor had ceased to hold the nominal office of governess, the mildness of her temper had hardly allowed her to impose any restraint; and the shadow of authority being now long passed away, they had been living together as friend and friend very mutually attached, and Emma doing just what she liked; highly esteeming Miss Taylor’s judgement, but directed chiefly by her own.” –Emma, Chapter 1

Number 5: 1996 (Miramax)

Portrayed by: Greta Scacchi

Age at time of filming: 32

Every one of the actresses who’ve played Mrs. Weston have done an excellent job, and, really she’s a hard character to mess up, so she’s usually also written very well; which makes this exercise frustratingly difficult.

Douglas McGrath’s 1996 interpretation, portrayed by Greta Scacchi, finds herself in the bottom spot, largely because (again, 1996 being a soft-take), while this version does a great job of showing what close friends Emma and Miss Taylor were, it really fails to convey her failings as a governess in any meaningful way… or any way whatsoever. In fact it sort of basks in Emma and Mrs. Weston’s friendship, with them playfully tag-teaming a game of “Let’s Tease Mr. Knightley”. Not only that, but given how childishly Emma is written in this version, you get to see how this Anne Taylor might have handled her as a child, and to be honest she’s a little too good of a guide. You can’t quite believe that “her mildness of temper” ever prevented her from “imposing restraint” in Emma. It kind of negates half of the point of her in regards to how she informed (or failed to) Emma’s character.

Rating: 3/5 Inadvisable Wedding Cakes

Number 4: 1972

Portrayed by: Ellen Dryden

Age at time of filming: 34

There’s not a whole lot that’s good about the BBC’s 1972 mini-series of Emma, but Ellen Dryden as Mrs. Weston is one of them. While her performance falls in line with the generally on-cue style acting of the adaptation as a whole, she’s such a likeable presence that I was very willing to forgive it. She was a pleasant surprise; a Helga Hufflepuff-like figure with a cheery smile (and some really fab dresses), she even gets a few digs in at Frank, much like Mrs. Weston of the book. (really disappointed they left out the silversmith quip though.)

The only problem (aside from the on-cue acting) is, much like 1996, Denis Constanduros’s screenplay fails to adequately convey her short-comings as an authority figure, which are so important to understanding Emma’s character arc. She finds herself sitting just above Greta Scacchi, perhaps because she stood out so much and exceeded my expectations.

Rating: 3/5 Inadvisable Wedding Cakes

Number 3: 1996/97 (ITV)

Portrayed by: Samantha Bond

Age at time of filming: 30

We’re entering into the big leagues now, with Samantha Bond, the youngest Mrs. Weston on record. Here is a Mrs. Weston who looks just perfect gabbing with Emma. While, like with 4 and 5, this adaptation runs a little soft on Mrs. Weston in text, Samantha Bond’s youth and performance both make her bond with Emma make a lot of sense, while also helping the viewer understand how having a best friend for an authority figure got Emma where she is.

That and Samantha Bond is just great, and we love her.

Rating: 4/5 Inadvisable Wedding Cakes

Number 2: 2020

Portrayed by: Gemma Whelan

Age at time of filming: 38

What can I say? Gemma Whelan was maybe a shade older than I’d expect for Mrs. Weston but she’s just so damn delightful. The Westons are some of the few characters that, in my opinion, the 2020 version gets absolutely bang on. Not only is Gemma Whelan a treasure in the role, but the screenplay does right by the character. The opening scene doesn’t just show you the bond between Emma and Miss Taylor, it’s a touching, lovingly shot scene that makes you feel it too.

Really the only drawback to this interpretation is that there’s so little time in the two hours allotted to let her stretch her legs.

Rating: 4 ½ /5 Inadvisable Wedding Cakes

Number 1: 2009

Portrayed by: Johdi May

Age at time of filming: 34

Once again surprising no one (I do hope this doesn’t become a running joke in this series, but I’m not optimistic), my number one interpretation of Mrs. Weston is 2009, portrayed by Johdi May. Once again, y’all know I love Johdi May, but no, that is not the only reason 2009 sits at the top of this list.

In fact, the biggest reason she’s my number one is to do with the writing. This is the only case in which the adaptation has the time and insight to show all of the aspects of Mrs. Weston’s character that make her an instrumental part of Emma’s story. I’ve already gushed about this in my review of this adaptation, but I just love how well-rounded this interpretation is. Not only do they not gloss over Mrs. Weston’s short-comings, they actual show you, in the first episode exactly what her dynamic with Emma was like when she was supposed to be an authority figure (and how she let Emma’s failings slide.)

Rating: 5/5 Inadvisable Wedding Cakes

~~~~

If you liked this, check out my rankings of Emma Woodhouse and Mr. Weston

[naivesilver]

you know what? Whilst we're on the topic of less likeable pinocchio characters, how about top 5 adaptations of Geppetto as well?

God we're really wading into controversial waters now aren't we

Thank you! I promise less salt in this than what I poured in the Fairy ask (as if it were hard to avoid reaching such a point, the only thing saltier than that answer was probably the Dead Sea)

Ask me my top 5 anything

So the thing with Geppetto is that I don't...necessarily hate him, per se. I still think he'll be responsible for a good chunk of Pinocchio's childhood trauma in the years to come, but his mistakes are at least understandable and human, not necessarily brought by malice. In the hands of the right actor (and the right director, obviously) he can become a great asset to the story, so this list is, for once, not very snarky and actually kind of emotional in some sections.

1)Pinocchio (2019)

Please...he's trying so hard...This Geppetto isn't any more ready to have a son than his book counterpart is, but his reaction to it is so sweet I can forgive the more romanticized parts of those scenes. Roberto Benigni truly nailed the "I'm trying to be stern but I can't physically say no to this boy" facial expressions.

He's doing his best, okay? He stayed around to check if Pinocchio had gone to school! He was so happy! I'm still crying about him going up to Cherry like "say good morning Pinocchio" and Pinocchio being the sweetest little bastard with his "good morning :D". This movie deserved way more Oscars than it was nominated for, I said what I said.

2) Le Avventure di Pinocchio (1972)

On the other side of the spectrum we have...this sassy fucker.

God, I love him. Nino Manfredi really shows us a side of this man that I'd like to see more often. He's pissed off, constantly and arguably rightfully so, and the fact that he loves his son to bits doesn't mean he wasn't done with parenting from minute one of having to feed and educate that child. Have you ever tried to put clothes on a kid that's opposing you at every move? Because I have, and it's exactly as hard as it's depicted here!

Also, there is only one way to correctly portray Master Cherry, and it's by showing the snarky, bothersome kind of friendship he has with Geppetto. The 2009 miniseries tried, but they botched it up after a while: this one, instead, gives the exact vibes I was looking for, which is "Laurel and Hardy meets Estragon and Vladimir meets old married couple in a 90s sitcom". 10/10 would watch on an insomnia night again.

(Also it took me a trip to the kitchen mid-making this post to remember that he canonically banged the Fairy pre-fairydom. Jesus Christ. A man ahead of his time.)

3) Once Upon A Time

How hilarious is it that both Blue and Archie landed themselves a spot in my "worst 5 of their kind" rankings, but this man gets so high a rating instead? The magic of OUAT, indeed.

Listen. I know. He helped ruin Emma's life. I am painfully aware of it. But get this...Who's doing it like him? This show is all about the doings and undoings of princesses and queens and wizards and ice cream sellers with Medea syndrome, and then in comes this man, a no name, really, who puts his foot down and says no. He changes the course of history for his son. All my criticisms on his character get blown away every time I remember the guts it must have taken, and besides, some of them don't even exist in this version, as it shows exactly what kind of hypocrisy is innate to the adults in Pinocchio's story.

Also, never forget that he tried to unclog a mine shaft by dropping dynamite in it while his best friend and a ten year old were STILL IN THERE. Truly the best decision a character ever made in seven seasons of this fuckery.

4) Pinocchio (2012)

Perpetually lost in a state of daydreaming, just like his son, but very, very kind and sweet. Took the time to explain to Pinocchio what a school was and what would be expected of him, and we even get an hint of his past and of his experience as a child as well as a father.

Also, the true reason why I put him in here - did you know that in the Italian version he and Pinocchio are dubbed by a father and son duo? I tear up a bit every time I get reminded of that. This poor inconsolable boy is calling for his papa both in real life and in the cinematic immersion.

5) Piccolino No Bouken

He's only in this list because I pity him immensely. One of the very few not to commit the sin of immediately sending his son to school, instead keeping the boy around for a while, taking care of him and showing him how the world worked, and for what? The Fairy, may she bump facefirst against a cactus, gaslit gatekept girlbossed her way into his and Pinocchio's life and ruined it from start to finish. Pure evil, I'll tell you that.

Also he's so lost and frail I can't rage against him properly without feeling guilty. Like we say here, it'd be like shooting at the Red Cross.

[claudiagray]

Very curious about why you hated Emma! I enjoyed the movie a lot, but I’ve never read the book so most of my knowledge of the story comes from Clueless and Emma Approved.

“Hate” is probably too strong a word, but yeah, I had issues with the 2020 version. The costumes were gorgeous, the actors are all brilliant, but there were too many elements that jarred me out of it, marring what ought to have been a truly awesome movie: 

1) When Mr. Woodhouse is seated directly in front of the wedding cake and says nothing about it, despite its evil health-wrecking presence right before his eyes. A little point? Maybe--but it’s also one of the keys to understanding Mr. Woodhouse, and understanding Mr. Woodhouse is key to understanding Emma herself. 

2) Although the actress playing Harriet is very capable, she was portrayed as almost hopelessly gauche and ordinary. Although Harriet is from a different social class than Emma, Emma thinks Harriet is extremely beautiful (more so than she is herself), and at least some people consider Harriet a totally appropriate companion. That was harder to believe here, and the Emma-Harriet friendship is already so unlikely that I missed those supporting elements. 

3) The whole “I point and a servant does even the most mundane task for me” is really more Victorian than Regency. Don’t get me wrong--wealthy people in the Regency had servants do stuff for them that we’d never dream of--but it wasn’t yet quite to the extreme portrayed. Young gentlewomen could and did do things like cut roses. Emma is the richest young lady in town, but it’s a country town, and while she’s a snob, we also know that she personally takes baskets to the poor, etc. So to me this felt contrived.

4) Related to the above: That, plus things like having Emma show her bottom to the fire, showing Knightley naked while getting ready, made me feel like this was a period piece made by people who are way too self-conscious about the period. I prefer being immersed in it. It’s not that I mind nudity or earthiness--while I also have mixed feelings about the Jonny Lee Miller “Mansfield Park,” those were two elements that film handled very well. I just felt like these scenes were shown to remind us people in costumes are people, a point I do not need reminding of. (That said, I get some people like to be more conscious/distant from period in a period piece! I’m just not one of them.) 

5) When Mr. Knightley--who never makes a show of himself, who only deigns to dance on rare occasions, who won’t even take a carriage to a friend’s house--decided to get up and START SINGING in public, I hit the wall. 

The big warning signs for me, before I even watched it: (1) A trailer that included none of Jane Austen’s wit and almost no dialogue at all; and (2) the number of reviews who described the film as a “confection.” This word is a brilliant red flag for Austen adaptations, IMO. 

Again, it’s not hatred. A lot of my reaction is disappointment, because actors as talented and brilliantly cast as Anya Taylor-Joy, Miranda Hart and Bill Nighy deserved one of the great adaptations of all time. This was not that. I’m happy others are able to enjoy it more, but it didn’t work for me. 

[laughingpinecone]

ToT letter 2021

I am laughingpineapple on AO3

Hello dear author! I hope you’ll have fun with our match. Feel free to draw from general or fandom-specific likes, past letters, and/or follow your heart.

Art likes: characters doing something, even something very simple, illustrating a moment rather than abstractly posing. I also enjoy seeing them wear different clothes, getting a feel of what their fashion sense is like beyond their canon outfit(s). Or dressing them up for some outlandish AU!

Likes: worldbuilding, slice of life (especially if the event the fic focuses on is made up but canon-specific), missing moments, 5+1 and similar formats, bonding and emotional support/intimacy, physical intimacy, lingering touches, loyalty, casefic, surrealism, magical realism, established relationships, future fic, hurt/comfort or just comfort from the ample canon hurt, throwing characters into non-canon environments, banter, functional relationships between dysfunctional individuals, unexplained mysteries, bittersweet moods, journal/epistolary fic, dreams and memories and identities, canon-adjacent tropey plots, outsider POV, UST, resolved UST, exploration of secondary bits of canon, leaning on the uniqueness of the canon setting/mood, found families, characters reuniting after a long and/or harrowing time, friends-to-lovers, road trips, maps, mutual pining, cuddling, wintry moods, the feeling of flannel and other fabrics, ridiculous concepts played straight, sensory details, sickfic, places being haunted, people being haunted, the mystery of the woods, small hopes in bleak worlds, electricity, places that don’t quite add up, mismatched memories, caves and deep places, distant city lights at night, emphasis on non-human traits of non-human characters (gen-wise, but also a hearty yes xeno for applicable ships), emphasis on inhuman traits of characters who were human once and have sort of shed it all behind

DNW: non-canonical rape, non-canonical children, focus on children, unrequested ships (background established canon couples are okay, mentions of parents are okay!), canon retellings

All requests are for both fic and art!

Death Crown: Death, trick

(I haven't played the DLC yet so, alas, no demons, or no spoilers for the demons, at least) I am absolutely charmed by the overall mood of this game and would like to see something more in that vein! Anything! Got more sacred (or unholy?) geometrical architecture for Death to interact with, maybe in greater detail than just wrecking it? What else feels like a contemporary take on a Bosch painting? Can Death get lost?

Ghost Trick: Jowd, Cabanela, trick, treat

Anything focused on Cabanela being an unstoppable force (confident, untiring, sparkling, stubborn, dexterous, loyal to the bitter end, legs) and/or Jowd being an immovable object (sarcastic, strong, depressed, self-deprecating but knowing he's hot stuff, also stubborn, clever but an emotional dumbass, round). Figuring out stuff? Something in the new timeline is linked to the old timeline? Coat? Dancing? Scarves? Halloween costumes?

I like Cabanela/Jowd and Cabanela/Alma/Jowd and Cabanela/Alma in scenarios where Jowd isn't around and Alma/Jowd in general (REALLY like all these, okay. like this is the one request where I'd love the most self-indulgent shippy takes as well), and dig Lynne/Memry. Yomiel/fianSissel and Emma/JM also cool!

Hylics: any, trick, treat

(I have only played the first game so far so please no overt spoilers for Hylics 2. Feel free to include stuff from it but... stealthily, I guess?) This is an "anything that feels somewhat like canon, please" sort of request! Love the mood, love the cast, love the little added details in their menu screen. Those can be prompts? Or the oddball stats? How do ToT's trick and treat freeforms apply to Hylics' overall... hylicsness, what would those guys think constitutes a "creepy" moment or a "fluffy" one?

Not into ships for this one, however I WILL say that Dedusmuln has all the proverbial curves in the right places. mostly their face.

Kentucky Route Zero: Weaver

Math, debt, the liminal state of almost being a ghost, seeing the world with a strange clarity... just anything Weaver, please! How'd she make her way to the town? What was it like for her to be working on Xanadu for a time? What about the community broadcast! Does she have an opinion on Carrington's oeuvre? You know... things... stuff. Weaver things. and stuff.

I love the whole cast and Weaver... wove... her story through most of them so feel free to bring in whomever. Not interested in ships here though.

Paradise Killer: Lady Love Dies, trick

A post-canon glimpse of life on '''''perfect''''' 25? That's not QUITE enough class consciousness to make the whole thing work, you guys. What does 'normal' life feel like to LD now? After following Henry's case and talking to Shinji so much, can she see that it's doomed to fail again, and then what? What IS Island 25 like, anyway? (what comes after Island 25, even?)

I liked the choice of canon romances - if it has to be just one I'd prefer it to be Crimson, but I'd also be interested in seeing what a V or triad with Doom Jazz would look like. They're all so chill about stuff

Pyre: Volfred, trick, treat

Pragmatic idealist, charismatic and bad at people, pacifist, activist, physiologically incapable of shutting up for a hot second, what's there not to love... I am very into either of the following: C. Volfred Sandalwood has a fantastic day; C. Volfred Sandalwood has a terrible no good day. Everything is great! Pre-exile antiestablishmentarian antics, maybe with Bertrude? Political gambits? The very physical dangers of the Downside which may or may not catch a scholar by surprise (who saves him?)? Tree problems? Meeting Oralech for the first time and Volfred thinks he himself is hot stuff but out of the two, Oralech is clearly the VIP? Feeling like he should live up to Lu Sclorian's legacy but he feels much closer to other Scribes (and what does Lu have to say about it, one way or another?)? The thrilling intimacy of Reading? The thrilling intimacy of lowercase reading also, maybe reading old manuscripts found in the Downside?

I very much ship him with Tariq and/or Oralech. The only canon ship I like is Hedwyn/Fikani. I also like Soliam/Gol, Bertrude/Pamitha and Celeste/Jodariel. Love all the Nightwings + Dalbert (+Deluge...?); love to dunk on Manley, Brighton and Lendel (I don't enjoy flat-out bashing, more like... I enjoy the way they are portrayed as horrible gremlins in canon and if they turn up in fic I'm not interested in more positive portrayals)

Signs of the Sojourner: Rhea, Elias, trick, treat

Once again pretty much an "anything in the style of canon" request. I love this setting, its themes and all the little lives that fill it. I am interested in a wide range of postcanon scenarios and love the whole cast - does Rhea come back to $town any number of years down the line and find $character? How'd their storyline end up in the medium-long term? What the hell is up with the Stranger (seriously, three runs and I never managed to speak with them, I have no idea)? What's life like for Elias back home, or in a new home if they can't keep the store, or if Rhea landed the Oscar ending or whatever (just, please, not dead Rhea. I love that ending but can't stand to consider what it'd do to Elias)? Or does he join the caravan just once? Who did Rhea grow to really like and can't wait to see every time? Any ghost stories or creepy encounters on the caravan's route? Does Thunder help?

I'm neutral on ships here - good with Rhea&Elias, good with background Rhea/Elias but I wouldn't like a romantic focus.

Totally Normal Wizard Apprentice: apprentice, wizard, master, trick, treat

(conflict of interest disclaimer, I illustrated this but didn't write nor nominate it) What awaits the apprentice outside the wizard's tower? It sounds like a pretty wild moon out there, I loved all the worldbuilding hints of the bigger setting. Does the wizard keep track of the apprentice, with her telescope or otherwise, and how does she take care of her ruined parlor? Was this all some sort of 5d chess on the master's part, and if so to what end? And what kind of otherworldly patience does this man possess, anyway, to handle the apprentice on a daily basis?

Twin Peaks: Margaret, Diane, Lucy, Tammy, trick, treat

(bass-boosted ethereal whooshing) For tricks, I would like to see any of these characters face the woods, the mystery of the woods, and/or a new symbol of your liking. Or: Margaret in the city, Diane and the moon, Lucy and the color blue, Tammy incognito.

For treats, a happy meeting. I love the whole cast and I'm always thrilled by gonzo "&" pairings, bring in whomever! Coffee and pie? The Bookhouse Boys? A kinder aspect of the woods?

Fandom-specific notes: love s3, love the books too. I like Lucy/Andy, Margaret/Sam fwiw, and rarepairs Tammy/Cynthia and Diane/Constance. Please no Fireman's-house-is-the-white-lodge, no Twin Perfect, no Judy-was-destroyed (nor is destroyable).

Arcade Spirits: Percy, Teo, treat

More than anything, I love the sense of group and camaraderie among the arcade's staff and regulars, and I'd love to see some more of it. I picked Percy and Teo 'cause they're my faves but anyone you may want to add, up to and including Sue, is very very welcome. Is there any aspect of gaming that feels like it could be adapted to this strange world of contemporary arcades? Cosplay shenanigans for everyone courtesy of Ashley? Any other activity that could show how Percy and/or Teo get along with the others, like they were all forming little groups during the beach chapter? It's such a feel-good canon, any feel-good situation would be great!

My Ari is with Percy but I'm not really interested in shipping here. All sorts of friendships though!

[ouatsnark]

Hi! So, because I barely use Tumblr, I just wanted to say that I only just now noticed your answer to my ask in my inbox (the one that said "I haven't seen OuaT in years (I think I stopped either at the Camelot or Dark Swan arc) and I don't have that many feelings towards Captain Swan, but I agree with you on Swan Queen. I really wish people would realize that just because a ship is gay doesn't automatically make it good, and Regina is Emma's stepgrandmother (not blood related, but still), which is a big reason why I never shipped them, along with just how Regina is.") and yes, I actually was expecting for this to be answered publicly (I didn't even know you could answer asks privately until now).

But anyway, I agree with what you said about the double standards.

OUAT fandom is a toxic one. You can receive hate messages, personal attacks & harassment for saying anything against Regina but especially against Swanqueen... so that’s why I kept one of them private. Just so you know! Be warned. LOL.

Also I agree with you! I was just having a conversation last week with someone about “gay ships aren’t automatically good just because they’re gay”. They were insisting I respect Swanqueen & support it because its shipped by lesbians. Well... no... sorry... but I don’t respect Swanqueen just as I don’t respect Rumbelle. I don’t even particularly agree with canon OutlawQueen or fanon HookedQueen due to the problems with Regina. I was trying to explain that it isn’t about the sexual orientation of the characters (whether fanon or canon) but about the toxic characters & how they are & how they treat others. This all of course fell on deaf ears as I was repeatedly told “telling lesbians that your straight ship is better than theirs isn’t a good look”. Well, first off I was commenting on the canon toxic friendship between Emma & Regina and secondly, shipping abuse IS a good look!?? I guess so as long as it’s two females!

And the content I’ve unfortunately come across on social media has shown me that the SwanQueen fandom has indeed learned toxicity from Regina because they portray her romantically with Emma in a very toxic way same as the show portrayed their so called friendship. Regina is always belittling Emma and Emma is always happily taking it. That is NOT a good look! I swear if you replace Regina with a man ... whether in canon or  their fanon... there would be so much uproar! And rightfully so.

And I just simply can’t respect something that is abuse whether it be verbal, mental or physical. It never even occurred to me until I came into the fandom in S5 that anyone would ship Regina with Emma. Because, yes, Regina is Emma’s evil step-grammy and because she tried to murder Emma as a newborn then again as an adult. If anyone saw something romantic between them in S1 & S2 then I pity them cause they have a very warped since of what love is. 

Thanks for the asks! It’s always nice to get a good one.

[sisoyyoalgunproblema]

My thoughts on the whole episode

Okay, so episode 2 is up. I’ve watched it a couple times and, obviously, I have a lot to say about it. 

I love the fact that we have Noreva in the first clip. They’ve always been my favourite friendship in the Skam universe, especially during the first season and I love seeing the two of them hanging out again here.

I remember how everyone was freaking out on monday because “Cris and Joana were gonna break up”. No way, guys, these two are endgame.

 I really like how Skam España makes sure we know that what the girls post on social media and how they’re feeling might have nothing to do with each other. Viri making “albóndigas” and posting it on Insta and the face she had right before and right after are day and night.

I love how they are showing us how much responsibility Viri has on her shoulders compared to the other girls, she’s making lunch at home when Eva ordered in, Cris’ mum was always in the kitchen and Nora’s mum made her sister a Spanish Omelette because it’s her favourite food.

I made a bunch of posts about how well written Miquel is and why I think it’s very important that they portray an abuser like this. You can read them here, here and here.

I was 100% sure that the boys posting all of that on Wednesday meant that they’d find Viri at her supermarket, at least Hugo would. I think I like it better this way. The boys had their fun around town and that was that. They were goofing on the metro and on the street just because they are friends and teenagers. I love out chaotic boy squad and the fact that Viri still owns fer secret.

 I love the fact that they include that Cris was crushing on Joe Jonas at 12 yo because the fact that you are dating a girl doesn’t mean you never liked boys or that you wont like boys ever again. But, to be honest, it would have been peak queer culture for her to be crushing super hard on Amira without realizing it. 

I never realized Viri wears a cross. I think this is so very important and makes me love her even more, she’s probably catholic. Spain is mostly Catholic too, I’m Catholic, and I’m gonna make a post about how much this means to me once I’ve posted this.

I love Viri’s mum. The fact that they gave them a bunch of clothes and she’s gonna give whatever they don’t want to the Church because some people might need in even more.

This is how Viri’s mum joins Eva’s, Cris’ and Nora’s “we love out daughters more than anything” group and I love it. The fact that she needs Viri’s money but won’t take it because Viri deserves something good.

Emma’s backstory makes so much sense and I can’t wait for her to be there for Nora when she needs her.

I don’t like the whole “my ex cheated on me so it’s her fault” pose that Miquel has, things are not one-sided.

“I want to be alone now, too” yeah, see if I believe it. Nora get out.

The only good thing to come out of the introduction of Miquel is the fact that he brought Nora to Noora’s library.

If you’ve gotten this far, thank you very much and have a really nice week💜

[oct0lightsquare]

So I was watching Jessie the other day

And I internally just realized something

Most of the time we see the Ross family have an issue, it’s either Luke, Zuri, or Ravi.

Heck, even Jessie or Bertram have a moment or two that involve themselves having a family comforting

But most of the times we see Emma have an emotional take down, it’s either used as a joke or not taken seriously.

For example, In Bunk’D there was an episode that involved Emma getting jealous over Xander and Lu.

However, instead of them all have a general conversation about this, Xander and Lu decide to go to the dance and dance with one another and Ravi only makes the situation worse by stating how well Xander and Lu go together.

I understand in that episode Emma acted very possessive for no reason, and that was wrong on her part since a relationship requires trust and honesty, but Xander, Lu and Ravi have no innocent part in this. In the episode, Xander claimed that he wasn’t going to the dance if Emma decided to completely ignore the situation. However, in the next few scenes we see him at the dance giving a speech about relationships to a group of junior campers. In the next scene we soon see Lu and Xander dancing together, chatting about what would happen if they were to follow into a relationship, and soon almost missing one another before they decide against it once more. Along with this, it’s shown that Emma is watching over the two as they dance to the music, trying to get her point of view across to Ravi. But Ravi, mostly being so caught up in the dance itself, says that it’s her fault - and let’s face it, it mostly is - that this situation happened. In retaliation, she dumps sauce over his head and walks away.

I understand Emma and her reasons. I understand that the situation with her becoming Jealous and Envious over the CPR dummy scene was her overreacting and taking things in the wrong sense of fashion. It was wrong of her to make assumptions and take Lu for a traitor and Xander for a cheater. But if you look back into Emma’s past - and trust me, it’s worth it - could you really blame her for this occurring?

With the episode transpiring, it’s clear that Emma could have most likely developed trust issues. This could have been developed over the time of her small relationships, with her constantly dating bad and disobedient boys, and soon seeing the true sides to them by the end of the episode. However, instead of her getting some sort of talk to her (minus the scenes where she is talked about it by Jessie) she’s either grounded or laughed at.

Lu and Xander doing the CPR training could have caused a lot of memories for Emma to produce. She could have thought that Xander was cheating on her.

“But Xander is loving and careful with Emma! Much more careful than the other guys that Emma has dated!” I hear you say. And I agree, Xander is much more tender and kindhearted than the previous boyfriends that Emma has encountered. However, no matter how sweet Xander could be, it can’t just erase every relationship Emma previously had. Emma experienced emotional effects from the old dates she had in the past. She trusted the relationships she had in the past, but each relationship she experienced had blew up in her face and she ended up single once again.

This hasn’t changed anything. Emma still has some of her teenage personality in Bunk’D, she still feels as though Xander may not feel the same and that was an issue in the beginning of the series. She felt as though her relationship with Xander was slipping, and with Lu and Xander being best friends Emma could easily assume they could develop a relationship over their bonds from previous friendships.

Now the cheating experience, that was too far. Emma made a wrong choice with the cheating and believing Xander would do something as far as lying and cheating on her with her best friend. That was mostly her lesson learned from the episode (well not “learned”, she still acted possessive when the girl eyed Xander).

But Emma having trust issues doesn’t seem too far off for me.

Another example would be in Jessie, where Emma and Ravi both have trouble with Luke and Zuri stealing their identity. In the previous episodes and the series itself it was clear that Emma would portray the fashionable but slightly unintelligent older sister, and Zuri would portray the sassy, prankster and troublesome sister. With Zuri unintentionally stealing Emma’s identity, it could cause some self-purpose problems for Emma. Emma’s main dream when she grew up was to become an inspiring fashion designer, we all understand that. But with Zuri gaining the attention and fame needed to achieve that dream, it is mostly likely Emma will have some problems with her identity. If Zuri is a fashion designer soon, what will she be? Her purpose was gone, taken from her so easily that she could hardly believed it whe it first happened. That was her dream, and Zuri stole it. But we all again - including myself - have brushed it off as Emma once again being dramatic and Zuri just being misunderstood.

Even I have brushed off Emma’s emotions. The only one that has truly understood Emma’s feelings were Jessie and even Bertram. Jessie helped Emma with her social studies project and even was able to help her parents come and see her for her first project. Heck that could even explain why she was so upset to see Jessie leave. She was afraid of Jessie forgetting her, and that’s why Jessie brought up the former social studies project.

Bertram helped Emma a lot of times; Helped her with the play as she let him play a part that he would have enjoyed to play as he was younger, he helped her with her audition by helping with her vocal strategies, and even allowing himself to watch the same reality cooking shows as they both share a trait of design and perfection.

Without those two, along with her parents, Emma’s emotions are mostly ignored during the series of Jessie and eventually Bunk’d. Emma could have a serious depression disorder or something else, however the rest of the Ross family is allowed to have their problems fixed while Emma isn’t allowed to have a problem as she is seen as “perfect.”

What I want? I just want to see the real side of Emma. The Emma behind the make up and smiles and “dumb blonde” foreplay. I want to see Emma vulnerable, and for once I want one of the Ross kids beside Ravi and even Maybelle help her with these issues.

Also, I would absolutely adore to see Maybelle and Emma date sometime. It one of my favorite ships is the show, since they seem to have a great relationship. It’s sad that we only got to see Maybelle for a short time before she got seemingly replaced by Lu.

And if we don’t see Emma and Maybelle reunite, then it’s fine. I just wanna see Maybelle again. I want to see Maybelle be the one to help Emma through her seemingly depression. She always has. I would even be satisfied to see them have a sisterly relationship, that would cheer me up.

If I missed some scenes or misinterpreted Emma’s or any other character’s emotions please let me know. I just want to point this out.

[evak-elu-nicotino]

I need to ramble about OG SKAM and remakes, and it's gonna be a long-ass post !

Before I begin, just to be clear : I haven’t watched all of SKAM NL, and I didn’t really like SKAM Austin. Well, I watched the first episode of SKAM Austin a while back, but I didn’t really wanna watch the rest of it, so...yeah.

So far, I watched the whole of SKAM Italia, and OG SKAM of course. I watched parts of season 1 & 2, and then from season 3 of SKAM France until current season 6; season 2 of SKAM España; the first episodes of SKAM NL; part of season 1, then complete season 3 Druck; and some of the season 1, the complete season 3 of WTFock, as well as WTFockdown, though.

Anyway, I was talking with my wonderful beta-reader, @unfinishedbusinessss​ a couple weeks ago,and thought, wow, I can’t even begin to rank Even & Isak’s versions in every remake, each couple has chemistry, and I can’t even pick a favorite among the remakes !

This got me thinking, I kinda wanted to do a humongous post about the whole SKAMverse though, not just the Evak versions.

Obviously, OG SKAM will always be first, and Even & Isak are just...OTP, forever. I fell in love with their story so much, but I feel like every remake managed to get me to fall in love with every Even & Isak’s version, and I wasn’t prepared fo that, tbh. Vilde is so irritating. Noora is the best character in the whole SKAMverse, and William is an ass. I loved Sana’s season so much it hurts, and Yousef is a sweetheart. Cried during the whole Jonas’ speech at the end, and during the Vilde-Chris scene as well, even though I don’t like Vilde ! That’s saying something. Isak is one of my favorite characters, but Even comes close. Eskild is my precious child.

Top 5 characters from OG SKAM :

1. Noora Amalie Sætre (wow, what an icon ! I mean, I kinda wish they would’ve dropped her whole storyline with William, because I definitely do not care for him, and I like Noora’s opinions in season 1 & the beginning of season 2. I love that she’s a feminist, so much more mature than the rest of the girls’ squad, and her introduction in the show, when she meets Eva, is jus perfect. I loved her from the first second ! Red lipstick looks incredibly good on her too, just saying.)

2. Isak Valtersen (I can’t tell you how much I like and relate to Isak, me, a 31-year old woman. (lol) He’s very much a teenage version of myself back in the days ! I like his inner battles, his friendship with Jonas is everything. His internalized homophobia is portrayed very realistically, I might add. I liked his character from quite early on, but his season just did it for me. Tarjei Sandvik Moe is a very good actor, we got so lucky with his casting in this role ! I love his character development from season 1 to season 4. He’s grown so much in such a short period of time !)

3. Even Bech Næsheim (okay, let me start with the obvious : Henrik Holm’s smile, eyes and laugh had me gone from the start. He’s gorgeous and I can definitely see why Isak fell for him ! His character is soooo well written, Henrik portrays Even so beautifully and with so many nuances, I loved every on-screen minute Even gets in season 3 and season 4. He’s got so much layers ! I also liked that we were all lost because of his atttitude when we watched season 3 of OG, because what the hell’s happening right now, Even ?! That’s really a proof of how amazing Henrik was in this role. And their chemistry was off the charts from their very first scene together, which doesn’t hurt either !)

4. Jonas Noah Vasquez (amazing best friend to Isak when he needs it !)

5. Sana Bakkoush (queen ! I love her so much, she’s definitely an iconic character ! I think all of the Sanas in the remakes don’t even come close to her, but Imane in SKAM France is amazing, Amira in SKAM España is fantastic, Yasmina in WTfock is sooooo good (can’t wait for her season !!), and Amira in Druck is freakin’ amazing as well. But like I said, Sana in OG SKAM is definitely the most fantastic one !)

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SKAM France

When I heard they were making remakes, I honestly thought, “okay, so they’re gonna make seven different copies in seven different countries ?” It didn’t make any sense at the time. 

So when SKAM France aired, I watched from afar, terrified that they would mess this up in the only way the French knows how (I’m French myself), and I didn’t really fell in love with the first two seasons. I didn’t even like Lucas, to be honest. He was a minor character in the background, and I didn’t expect to fall in love with Lucas and Eliott’s story as much as I did. I also didn’t expect their love scenes to be this tasteful and beautiful, so I was kinda blown away by that, and by their chemistry. The piano scene and the paint scene will forever be on my mind whenever I think about season 3 of SKAM France. I also fell in love with Imane, to be honest. She’s gorgeous, and her season with Sofiane was amazing. I didn’t expect to like “Le gang” as much as I did either. Mahdi and Magnus in OG SKAM are not really among my favorite characters, but boy did I liked Arthur and Basile. Both the actors are amazing, which tremendously helps ! I didn’t find Daphné as irritating as Vilde in OG SKAM though, don’t know why. She might actually be in my top 5, whereas Vilde is one of my least favorite characters in OG SKAM, with Emma of course. Oh, and I love the fact that Alexia is bisexual in this version ! That’s such a good addition !

I loved season 5. I was kinda dreading it at first, but when I learnt that it was gonna be based on Arthur, I was kinda relieved. I think Robin Migné is a terrific actor, and his performance during this whole season is just stellar !

So far, I quite like season 6. Maya will definitely enter my top 5 sometime very soon, honestly, and Lola’s not far behind her. Basile has redeemed himself so much since season 3 when I thought he was annoying as fuck !

Top 5 characters from SKAM France :

1. Lucas Lallemant (that guy. We’ve been blessed, you guys : Axel Auriant is a freakin’ incredible actor, which makes the character all the more realistic and likeable. I’ll be forever impressed by episode 7 of season 3, especially the beginning with the scene on the couch with Mika and Manon, where Lucas is crying because of Yann’s stupid reaction to Lucas coming out. What a shitty friend, honestly...)

2. Imane Bakhellal (she’s so fierce and I almost like her even better than I did Sana in OG SKAM. She’s beautiful and witty AF, I loved her season !)

3. Alexia Martineau (bi queen with colored hair, I love her so much !!)

4. Arthur Broussard (he grew on me sooo much in season 5, but I liked him from the start, tbh)

5. Manon Demissy (although I didn’t get around to watch her own season yet, but I hate Charles’ character with a passion, so I can’t bring myself to watch it yet...)

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SKAM Italia (SKAM Italy)

Oh boy, does this remake has a particular place in my heart. I’m in love with the Italian language, have been for YEARS literally, and I think the whole cast is just gorgeous ! Eva might be my favorite Eva version to date. Season 4 was just SO GOOD, OMG, and I don’t even like Italian Sana that much, but wow, this was amazing !

Top 5 characters from SKAM Italia :

1. Martino Rametta (what a surprise ! It’s not a secret : Martino means the world to me. I was drawn to him very fast, very deeply. Maybe it’s because Federico Cesari is one hell of a an actor, maybe that’s because of his boyish cute freckly smiley charm, whatever; but he’s my number one favorite character from the whole SKAMverse. I can’t explain, really. He’s got something about him that just...makes me squeal every time I see him on screen. His season was SO GOOD YOU GUYS. I loved that we got to see his relationship with his mom. I loved the way Fede portrays his emotions, his inner battles, his fears. The way he acts with his eyes. And boy, season 4 was fireworks. Fede was always good, but season 4 was AMAZING. That scene with Sana is all kinds of incredible. Martino has never looked this good. He never looked so open, raw, vulnerable. His storyline with Niccolò kinda broke my heart, to be honest, but we got so much Martino screen time, I’m not complaining. He’s a gem. I’ll never not like Martino, he’s my person. I just connect with him so much, I can’t even explain it clearly !)

2. Giovanni Garau (”con la u finale, perché è sardo” ! Giovanni, aka the best Jonas in the entire SKAMverse. I loved OG Jonas, as well as German Jonas, don’t get me wrong, but Giovanni is ALWAYS there for Martino, and their friendship definitely fall into the brOTP category ! I love how supportive he is all through season 2, fights for Martino’s right to be happy and in love in public in season 3, and just never leaves his side in season 4. We’ve been blessed with this character you guys ! The male characters in SKAM Italia are so strong and likeable, it’s not even funny !)

3. Filippo Sava (one of the most amazing versions of Eskild to ever exist. I don’t have enough words to describe how much I LOVE this character ! Pietro Turano did an amazing job, wow. If Milan in WtFOCK wasn’t so fantastic, I’d definitely put Filippo in first place in the Eskild versions ranking !)

4. Niccolò Fares (I think Rocco Fasano did a fantastic job portraying Niccolò ! He’s definitely an underrated actor. Loved Niccolò quite late in season 2 though, but from the moment their first kiss happened, I fell in love with their story. And season 4 was just SO GOOD. We definitely get a side of Niccolò we didn’t even get with Even in OG SKAM, and his clip in episode 10 is amazing. Kudos Rocco, you definitely deserve recognition for your portrayal of  Niccolò !)

5. Eva Brighi (one of the best Evas in the whole SKAMverse, IMO !)

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SKAM España (SKAM Spain)

I’m not gonna ramble too much on this remake, especially because it might be the one I connected the less with, and I’ve only seen season 2 so far. Might be an unpopular opinion, but Cris gets on my nerves sometimes, that’s why she’s not in my top 5 characters from this particular remake.

Top 5 characters from SKAM España :

1. Lucas Rubio Fernández (the spanish Eskild, I think he’s cute AF, and incredibly brave. I really loved all of his interactions with Cris in season 2, he’s bringing her some wisdom she didn’t even knew she needed !)

2. Joana Bianchi Acosta (queen. I quickly was drawn to her character, I think from the moment we see her in her first scene with Cris. Tamara Ronchese is fantastic !)

3. Amira Naybet (OMG, her reaction to Cris coming out is everything !! Can’t wait to see her season !)

4. Nora Grace (she reminds me so much of OG Noora sometimes, it’s uncanny ! She has such a graceful presence !)

5. Dani Soto Peña (Cris’ older brother. I quite liked that we got to see Cris’ family in this version, her mother and brother. Dani was soooo annoying at first, but he was sooo sweet to Cris from the moment he drove her to the hospital to see Joana, and that scene when they smoke together on the terrace is everything. Such an accurate sibling scene !)

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Druck (SKAM Germany)

Hooooooly wow, this remake is FREAKIN’ FANTASTIC. I finally watched season 3 during lockdown, so it’s very recent, but GOD it gave me so many feelings ! That version of Isak and Even is everything. 

Top 5 characters from Druck :

1. David Schreibner (KING. Holy wow, Lukas Alexander/von Horbatschewsky is GOLD. He got me crying more than once. David’s story actually changes a lot from OG SKAM, but thank youuu Druck for shining a light on transgender’s representation in TV shows. David is a sooo well written character, he struggles a lot, but he’s relatable in so many ways. Wow, he’s just such a layered and complex character, I was blown away, really. And again, THANK YOU Druck for showing a sex scene with a transgender character, and him having an open conversation with Matteo about his struggle and how he sees himself is soo so important. It is so important to feel represented in movies and TV shows, I’m truly so thankful for this version of SKAM. Thank you Lukas !)

2. Matteo Florenzi (Matteo is an actual teenager, his portrayal is on point, and I felt his pain from the start. Michelangelo Fortuzzi did an amazing job, wow. Matteo grew on me so much in just one episode, it’s actually scary ! By the end of the first episode I wanted him to be happy, dump Sara, and just kiss David already.)

3. Jonas Augustin (Matteo has such an amazing best friend, with such a good singing voice ! Episode 10 of season 3 had me shook ! Iconic episode !)

4. Amira Mahmood (just a word for you : QUEEN ! Amira’s iconic ! I can’t wait to watch her season !)

5. Sam M’Pele (LOVE Chris’ version in Druck ! She’s awesome and so stylish ! I’m in love with her hair !)

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WTfock (SKAM Belgium)

Yet again, I actually caught up on WTfock during lockdown, since Druck and WTfock were the only remakes I never watched at this point. And yet again, I was BLOWN AWAY. WTfock got me feeling so many things, and I only watched season 3 and WTfockdown. Wow. hOLY WOW. Might be one of my favorite remake, it’s SO GOOD.

Top 5 characters from WTfock :

1. Milan Hendrickx (the flemish Eskild, one of my fave characters in all of the SKAMverse ! FUCK, Lars Brinkman knocks it out of the park, he truly does ! Milan is by far my favorite Eskild character. He’s sooo supportive, he’s a true friend, he’s funny AF - OMG, that scene where he tries to flirt with Moyo got me howling with laughter !! And he’s loyal. I love that he’s almost a father figure to Robbe, who definitely needs it ! That scene in episode 6 when Robbe tells him about the homophobic assholes...His reaction...I think I cried for like a good five minutes when I watched this, I couldn’t catch my breath. Milan’s precious, and we must protect him at all costs. A favorite. I’m in love with him, his supportiveness, his loyalty to Robbe, his smile, his affection for both Zoë and Robbe. They matter so much to him. He’s a sweetheart !)

2. Robbe IJzermans (FUCK I didn’t expect to feel so much things when watching season 3. Robbe is the Isak version that goes through the hardest stuff. His own internalized homophobia is sooo painful to witness... Jens is supportive when he comes out, but then Moyo and Aaron act like the biggest jerks on the planet, they just have this RIDICULOUS reaction when Robbe tries to tell them thay he's into Sander...And the end of episode 5 is awful. I just can't. He's gone through so much that season,it's insane. And yet by the end of episode 10, my heart felt so full for him and Sander finally happy...Gosh. What a rollercoaster...Willem Herbots is insanely cute and wow how well did he conveys Robbe's emotions. I'm speechless !)

3. Sander Driesen (holy wow this character is sooo good ! I was wondering at the beginning of episode 3 when we'll get to see him, and the minute he appeared on screem, him and Robbe instantly had that insane chemistry. Which peaked in the first kiss, in the pool in episode 4. That scene, that sing, that intensity...Yeah, Robbe and Sander bewitched me !)

4. Zoë Loockx (such a good character as well !)

5. Yasmina Ait Omar (can't waiiiit for her season !)

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SKAM NL (Skam Netherlands)

This is gonna short and sweet, since I’ve only seen a couple episodes, but I already like quite a few characters so far !

Top 5 characters from SKAM NL :

1. Liv Reijners (what a badass character ! She’s beautiful and fierce, what a great Noora version ! I love her so much and I haven’t even watched her season yet !)

2. Isa Keijser (very relatable version of Eva, I must say. She’s cute AF and I love her friendship with Liv !)

3. Janna Mertens (one of the best Chris’ versions I’ve ever witnessed so far ! She has a unique look, and I think she’s an awesome female character !)

4. Lucas van der Heijden (a sneaky little shit I just love ! I’m sad we won’t get his season though...He’s very attractive, and I would have loved to see him meet his Even...)

5. Imaan Elami (once again, a version of Sana I quite like ! She’s beautiful, and kind of a queen, to be honest ! I really like her a lot. Yet again, so sad we won’t get her season, nor her friendship with Lucas...)

[ljones41]

"EMMA" (2020) Review

"EMMA" (2020) Review Between 2009 and 2020, Hollywood and the British film/television industries have created a handful of productions that either spoofed or were inspired by Jane Austen's novels. Actually, I can only recall one movie that was more or less a straightforward adaptation - 2016's "LOVE & FRIENDSHIP", an adaptation of Austen's novella, "Lady Susan". So imagine my surprise when I learned a new and straightforward adaptation of an Austen novel was due to hit the theaters.

I was even more thrilled that this new movie would be a straightforward adaptation of Austen's 1815 novel, "Emma" . . . which happened to be my favorite written by her. This new adaptation, helmed by Autumn de Wilde and written by Eleanor Catton, starred Anya Taylor-Joy in the title role. I am certain that many Austen fans are familiar with the 1815 novel's narrative. "EMMA" is the story of a spoiled and over privileged young Englishwoman named Emma Woodhouse, who resides at her wealthy father's country estate near the town of Highbury. Emma is not only spoiled and over privileged, but overestimates her own matchmaking abilities and is blind to the dangers of meddling in other people's lives. Ever since its release in February 2020, film critics and moviegoers have been praising "EMMA" to the skies. In fact, the movie is so high on the critical list that I would not be surprised if it ends up receiving major film award nominations next winter. A great deal of this praise has been focused on the performances of Anya Taylor-Joy, Johnny Flynn for his portrayal of George Knightley, Bill Nighy's portrayal of Mr. Woodhouse; and Autumn de Wilde's direction. Does the movie deserve such high praise? Perhaps. Perhaps not. I certainly cannot deny that "EMMA" is a beautiful looking film. I found Christopher Blauvelt's photography to be very sharp and colorful. In fact, the film's color palette almost seemed similar to the color schemes found in Alexandra Byrne's costume designs. Overall, the visual style for "EMMA" seemed to radiate strong and bright colors with a dash of pastels. Very stylized. But as much as I found all of this eye catching, I also found myself a little put off by this stylized artistry - especially for a movie in a period rural setting. Speaking of artistry, there has been a great deal of praise for Byrne's costumes. And I can see why. Granted, I am not fond of some of the pastel color schemes. I cannot deny I found her creations - especially those for the movie's women characters - were eye catching, as shown below:

I had a few complaints regarding the film's costumes and hairstyles. The men's trousers struck me as a little too baggy for the 1810s. I get it. Actors like Bill Nighy found historical trousers a bit tight. But I feel the trousers featured in "EMMA" struck me as a bit too comfortable looking from a visual viewpoint. And then there was the hairstyle used by Anya Taylor-Joy in the film. For some reason, I found her side curls a bit too long and rather frizzy looking. Instead of the mid-1810s, her hairstyle struck me as an example of hairstyles worn by women during the early-to-mid 1840s. Someone had claimed that "EMMA" was a very faithful adaptation of Austen's novel. Was it? Frankly, I thought it was no more or less faithful than any of the costumed versions. De Wilde and screenwriter Eleanor Catton followed the major beats of Austen's novel, except for one scene - namely the Crown Inn ball. I will discuss that later. The movie also did an excellent job in capturing the comic nature of Austen's novel. This was apparent in nearly every scene featuring Bill Nighy as Mr. Woodhouse. I also enjoyed those scenes featuring the introduction of Augusta Elton, Emma's reactions to Jane Fairfax and her attempts to play matchmaker for Harriet Smith and Mr. Elton. But the movie also featured some good dramatic moments, thanks to De Wilde's direction and the film's cast. I am speaking of the scenes that featured Mr. Knightley's scolding of Emma for her rudeness towards the impoverished Miss Bates at the Box Hill picnic; Mr. Knightley's marriage proposal and the revelation of Harriet's engagement to tenant farmer Robert Martin. "EMMA" has received a great deal of acclaim from film critics, moviegoers and Jane Austen fans. Many are claiming it as the best adaptation of the 1815 novel. Do I feel the same? No. No, I do not. In fact, out of the five film and television adaptations I have seen, I would probably rank it at number four. Perhaps I had very high expectations of this movie. It is an adaptation of my favorite Austen novel. And it is the first straightforward Austen adaptation since the 2009 television miniseries of same novel. Perhaps this movie is better than I had original assume. Then again, looking back on some of the film's aspects - perhaps not. A good deal of my problems with "EMMA" stemmed from the portrayal of the main character, Emma Woodhouse. How can I say this? Thanks to Catton's screenplay and De Wilde's direction, Emma came off as more brittle and chilly than any other version I have ever seen. Granted, Emma Woodhouse was a snob. This was apparently in her strong sense of class status, which manifested in her erroneous belief that Harriet Smith was the illegitimate daughter of an aristocrat or gentry landowner, instead of someone from a lower class. Emma's snobbery was also reflected in her contempt towards the impoverished Miss Bates, despite the latter being a "gentlewoman" and a member of the landed gentry. Emma's snobbery, a product of her upbringing, also manifested in her own ego and belief that she is always right. Yes, Emma possessed negative traits. But she also had her share of positive ones. She possessed a warm heart, compassion for the poor (at least those not from her class), intelligence, and an ability to face her faults. This cinematic portrayal of Emma Woodhouse as a brittle and slightly chilly bitch struck me as a little off putting and extreme. Another example of the exaggeration in this production was Mr. Knightley's reaction to his dance with Emma at the Crown Inn ball. Many have not only praised the sensuality of the pair's dance, but also Mr. Knightly's reaction upon returning home to his estate, Donwell Abbey. What happened? George Knightley seemed to be in some kind of emotional fit, while he stripped off some of his clothes and began writhing on the floor. What in the fuck was that about? That scene struck me as so ridiculous. Other actors who have portrayed Knightley have managed to portray the character's awareness of his love for Emma without behaving like a teenager in heat. Speaking of heat, who can forget Harriet Smith's orgasmic reaction to the idea of being Mrs. Elton? Many critics and Austen fans thrilled over the sight of a female character in a Jane Austen production having an orgasm. I will not castigate De Wilde for this directorial choice. I am merely wondering why she had included this scene in the first place. If Harriet was going to have an orgasm, why not have her bring up the subject to a possibly flabbergasted Emma? Why include without any real follow through? Having an orgasm must have been something of a novelty for a young woman like Harriet, who was inexperienced with sexual thoughts or feelings. And then there was Emma and Mr. Knightley's dance at the Crown Inn ball. The latter sequence is usually one of my favorites in any adaptation of "EMMA". The one exception proved to be the 1972 miniseries, which ended the sequence after Emma had suggested they dance. I almost enjoyed the sequence in this film . . . except it featured Emma obviously feeling attracted to Mr. Knightley during this dance. And I thought this was a big mistake. Why? Because Emma was never that consciously aware of her attraction to Mr. Knightley, until Harriet had confessed her crush on the landowner. And that happened near the end of the story. In other words, by showing Emma's obvious feelings for Knightley during the ball, Autumn De Wilde rushed their story . . . and was forced to retract in the scene that featured Harriet's confession. I feel this was another poor decision on the director's part. If I have to be honest, I think De Wilde, along with screenwriter Eleanor Catton, made a number of poor decisions regarding the film's narrative. I have already pointed out three of those decisions in the previous paragraphs. But there were more. De Wilde and Catton changed the dynamics between Mr. Woodhouse and his older daughter and son-in-law, Isabella and John Knightley. In the novel and previous adaptations, Mr. Knightley Jr. had always seemed more annoyed and at times, cankerous toward Mr. Woodhouse's hypochondria. In this version, Isabella's hypochondria seemed more irritating. And instead of reacting to his wife's complaints, John suppressed his reactions and ended up being portrayed as a henpecked husband. For some reason, De Wilde and Catton thought it was necessary to take the bite out of John Knightley, making him a weaker character. Why? I have not the foggiest idea, but I did miss the character's biting wit. In my review of the 1996 television version of "Emma", I had complained how screenwriter Andrew Davies and director Diarmuid Lawrence had minimized part of Harriet's character arc and focused just a bit too much on Frank Churchill and Jane Fairfax. In the 1996 movie version, the opposite happened. Writer-director Douglas McGrath had focused more on Harriet's arc than the Frank/Jane arc. Well De Wilde and Catton ended up repeating McGrath's mistake by focusing too much on Harriet, at the expense of Frank and Jane's arc. Worse, Frank and Jane's arc seemed focused on even less than the 1996 McGrath. The couple barely seemed to exist. And a result of this is that Frank's father, Colonel Weston, barely seemed to exist. Mrs. Weston fared better due to her being Emma's former governess. But I was really shocked at how little De Wilde and Catton focused on Mr. Elton and his overbearing bride, Augusta Elton. The movie did focus a good deal on Mr. Elton in those scenes featuring Emma's attempts to match him with Harriet. But following his marriage, his character - along with Mrs. Elton - seemed to slowly recede into the background following their tea at Hartfield with the Woodhouses. By allowing very little focus on these characters, De Wilde and Catton had left out so many good moments in their effort to streamline Austen's story for theatrical film. Even more so than the two versions from 1996. Because of this streamlining, a good deal of the cast had very little opportunity to develop their characters on screen. Oliver Chris and Chloe Pirrie gave solid comic performances in their portrayal of John and Isabella Knightley, despite my irritation at the changing dynamics of their relationship. Rupert Graves was pretty much wasted as the over-friendly Colonel Weston. Miranda Hart gave a funny performance as the impoverished spinster Miss Bates. Unfortunately, I was distracted by her less-than-impoverished wardrobe in several scenes. If you had asked for my opinion of Amber Anderson's portrayal of Jane Fairfax, I would not have been able to give it to you. I have no memory of her performance. She made no impact on the movie or its narrative. Tanya Reynolds struck me as a rather funny Mrs. Elton . . . at least in the scene featuring the Eltons' tea with the Woodhouses at Hartfield. Otherwise, I have no real memory of her other scenes in the movie. Callum Turner has always struck me as a memorable performer. And I have to admit that his portrayal of Frank Churchill certainly made an impression on me. But the impression was not always . . . negative. One, he did not have enough scenes in this movie and his character arc struck me as rather rushed. And two, I thought his Frank Churchill was a bit too smarmy for my tastes. Thankfully, "EMMA" did feature some memorable supporting performances. Gemma Whelan gave a lovely and warm performance as Emma's former governess and close friend, Mrs. Weston. Josh O'Connor gave an excellent performance as the social-climbing vicar, Mr. Elton. I must say that I found his comic timing impeccable and thought he gave one of the best performances in the movie. However, I thought there were times when his Mr. Elton came off as a sexual predator. I get it . . . Mr. Elton was basically a fortune hunter. But I thought O'Connor went too far in the scene that featured Emma's rejection of his marriage proposal. For a moment, I thought he was going to sexually assault her. That was a bit too much. Mia Goth's portrayal of the clueless Harriet Smith struck me as spot-on and very skillful. Granted, I did not care for the "Harriet has an orgasm" moment, but I cannot deny that Goth's acting was excellent in the scene. Bill Nighy gave a skillfully comic portrayal as the hypochondriac Mr. Woodhouse. Yes, there were moments when his usual tics (found in many of his performances) threatened to overwhelm his performance in this film. But I think he managed to more or less keep it together. One performance that seemed to be garnering a great deal of acclaim came from Johnny Flynn, who portrayed Mr. Knightley. In fact, many are regarding him as the best Mr. Knightley ever seen in the movies or on television. I believe Flynn is a pretty competent actor who did an excellent job of conveying his character's decency, maturity and burgeoning feelings for Emma. I was especially impressed by his performance in the Box Hill sequence in which Mr. Knightley chastised Emma for her rude comments at Miss Bates. But I do not regard him as the best on screen Mr. Knightley I have seen. If I must be honest, I do not regard his interpretation of the character as among the best. My problem with Flynn is that his Knightley struck me as a bit of a dull stick. And Knightley has always seemed like a man with a dry sense of humor, which is why I have always regarded him as one of my favorite Austen heroes. And Flynn's Knightley simply struck me as humorless. Perhaps "humorless" is the wrong word. There were scenes of him reacting to the comedic actions of other characters and uttering the occasional witty phrase or two. But there was something about Flynn's demeanor that made it seem he was trying too hard. I guess no amount of ass display, singing, laughing or writhing on the floor like a lovesick adolescent could make him more interesting to me. Then we have the film's leading lady, Anya Taylor-Joy. Unlike Flynn, the actress was given the opportunity to display her skills as a comic actress. And she more than lived up to the task. Honestly, I thought Taylor-Joy displayed excellent comic timing. Yet . . . I could never regard her as one of my favorite on-screen versions of Emma Woodhouse. She was a bitch. Let me re-phrase that. I thought Taylor-Joy overdid it in her portrayal of Emma's bitchiness and snobbery. To the point that her performance struck me as very brittle. Yes, Emma Woodhouse was a snob. But she could also be a warm and friendly young woman, capable of improving her character. I saw none of this in Taylor-Joy's performance. If Catton's screenplay demanded that Emma became aware of her flaws, the actress' conveyance of those moments did not strike as . . . natural. Otherwise, she made a satisfying Emma Woodhouse. I also have one more criticism to add - Taylor-Joy did not have great screen chemistry with her leading man, Johnny Flynn. Their on-screen chemistry struck me as pedestrian at best, if I must be honest. One would think that I disliked "EMMA". Honestly, I did not. The movie managed to stick with Austen's narrative. And although it did not change Austen's story, it did feature changes in some of the characteristics and character dynamics, thanks to director Autumn De Wilde and screenwriter Eleanor Catton. And some of these changes did not serve the movie well, thanks to De Wilde's occasional bouts of ham-fisted direction. However, I still managed to enjoy the movie and the performances from a cast led by newcomer Anya Taylor-Joy. And if it had not been for the current health crisis that has struck the world, I probably would have seen it again in theaters.