#there's a real issue in movies at least of sort of adapting previous movie plot points instead of the book itself

[kaiserin-erzsebet]

Tbh the love is there in some capacity in majority of Dracula adaptations-31 one and Seward loves his daughter Mina and Mina loves her friend Lucy and etc. 58 one and Holmwood loves his sister Lucy and Mina loves her sister-in-law, etc. in fact I don’t remember Dracula adaptations where nobody cared about anybody at all, they all had human characters caring about some other characters and loving them.

I do not think that was what I was saying. It would be a bit absurd to say that none of the adaptations have any love between the characters. Unless there's a particularly grimdark version that I'm forgetting or haven't seen.

I was saying specifically that a lot of adaptations tend to underplay or significantly reduce the affection between Lucy and Mina (any version that has Dracula/Mina romance has to undercut her relationship with Lucy, because otherwise why doesn't it upset her that he preyed on the person she loved?) And/or make the suitors significantly less affectionate with each other, in some cases even jealous of each other. Those dynamics work is pretty key to the narrative holding together coherently. "In some capacity" doesn't really encompass the putting yourself in danger, going to the ends of the earth, banding together through anything kind of love that drives the narrative in the book.

As a side note, having forgotten most of the plot of 53 Dracula since it's been a while since I saw it, being reminded that Arthur and Lucy are siblings in that one threw me for a loop.

[dangermousie]

2019 END OF YEAR KDrama Post

Wow, I haven’t made one in years. This is going to involve only dramas that came out in 2019 because I watched a hell of a lot dramas made prior to that and trying to figure out which ones will give me a headache.

DRAMAS WATCHED (In order of liking from most to least as opposed to pure quality; I am including if I’ve seen at least two eps AND feel it was enough to make up my mind; yes I realize that’s inaccurate, but that’s my list)

Extraordinary You -  A philosophy and religion course AND a love story, and perfect at both.

My Country - a brutal, passionate, intense masterpiece of a sageuk. This is how they should be.

Crash Landing On You - the two eps that have aired brought my joy in watching kdramas back to me so vividly. This is everything. 

Encounter - the perfect noona romance of the year for me. It seems to have little plot (powerful older woman, idealistic younger man) but the characters made me love them with an unhealthy amount of attachment and the mood is just perfect. 

Haechi - smart traditional sageuk with a heart. This one will make you love it but also respect it in the morning :)

Queen: Love and War - Period, romance, mystery, helpless king and feisty heroine. It’s everything I love in one package. 

Chocolate - if, like me, you like slow old-school melo with genuine grown-ups, this one is for you. Ha Ji Won and Yoon Kye Sang are both incandescent in this. 

One Spring Night - a rare slice of life that worked for me so so much. I rooted for the main OTP like crazy (I did skip all the sister stuff though because boring to me.) It’s just a breath of fresh air.

The Tale of Nokdu - a rare funny youth sageuk that worked for me (except, ironically, for when they tried to be politics-heavy and serious about it.) Wonderful OTP, funny situations and just generally a delight. 

Memories of the Alhambra - I can hear people screaming that I put this so high, but this is a faves ranking, not objective one, and I loved the unusual premise (it ultimately fell apart but it tried), and Hyun Bin’s performance was out of this world and the aaaaagnst and I enjoyed waiting for it each week until almost the end. That ending though!!!!!

Psychopath Diary - this is black comedy at its best and hysterical and smart and somehow got me invested in the hapless protagonist. 

Hotel del Luna - clever and funny and smart. Hong Sisters largely back to form. I found the sageuk parts more engaging than modern ones, but what else is new.

Search WWW - some parts of it worked for me more than others, but it had solid writing and cool characters and some interesting OTP(s). 

Love is Beautiful Life is Wonderful - has the weekend drama slowness but it lovely and fun. 

When the Camellia Blooms - it was well made and the OTP was great and the acting top notch, I just don’t tend to go gaga for slice of life dramas, especially ones involving market ladies, much. 

Flower Crew Joseon Marriage Agency - competently done, pretty period piece about nothing. It was enjoyable and forgettable at once.

Catch the Ghost - I put it as high as I did because the OTP really did have lovely chemistry but the story was a complete mess, the police work made no sense and the heroine’s character was like nails on a chalkboard for me.

Joseon Survival - I got about four episodes in and liked it a lot but then Kang Ji Hwan turned out to be a convicted rapist, they replaced the lead and I didn’t go back. I kind of want to because I liked what I saw and I am madly curious as to whether they changed the main character or just said he had a different face now, no explanation. 

The Last Empress - pure inconsistent trash but so entertaining!

Vagabond - I made it eight episodes in before I realized that I would have as much fun staring at traffic. It’s a competently done actioner but without more, actioners never work for me, so this was a viewer/drama mismatch.

Arthdal  Chronicles - incoherent, visually odd and boring, this is arguably the worst drama this year but I am giving it higher place because the cast really tries (even if it tends to fail because it has nothing to work with) and because it attempted something different even if it failed spectacularly. SO BAD.

Melting Me Softly - yes, my brain was fully melted by this soulless, charmless waste of Ji Chang Wook and my limited free time.

VIP - Any drama that makes the main mystery and thrust of the story who the husband cheated on his wife with is BORING. Seriously, this is not exactly Hercule Poirot. They wasted their cast - I have NO idea why Lee Sang Yoon agreed to be in this as a one note character and Jang Nara is playing a second scorned wife in a row but without even the entertainment value of her previous outing.

Abyss - aptly named. The best thing I can say about it is it didn’t offend me but oh boy was it dull.

Absolute Boyfriend - I loved the manga but it’s time to accept this can never be adapted well. They wasted the cast and that ending was just an insult on top of a trash heap.

The Lies Within - you cast that cast and deliberately have no romance. You are dead to me. 

Woman of 9.9 Billion - competently made, but it’s everything I dislike - dour unpleasant bored people behaving as if they are in a particularly dreary art-house French movie but without any nuance or interest the latter came provide. 

Love with Flaws - shrill, dumb, neither acted nor written by anyone trying at all. 

Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung - objectively, it’s not the worst drama on the list, but it’s everything I hate in one package - willfully ahistorical but not cleverly so, male lead incapable of acting, the characters so one-dimensional they disappear, this purports to be a period drama but about as period as a space ship. God, I loathed this. 

FAVORITE DRAMA

Extraordinary You - smart (so mind-bendingly smart) and moving and totally unpredictable and with so many things to say about free will and religion and self and nature of memory and narrative, this had an insane impossible premise and yet somehow managed to do it full justice and stick the landing. 

WORST DRAMA

People with Flaws - this is different from least favorite because even if I loathed e.g., Rookie Historian or Woman of 9.9 Billion, I recognized some positive features; it’s just certain things really rubbed me the wrong way due to personal preferences. But this shrill hot mess of a drama is really everything that’s wrong with dramaworld.

FAVORITE MALE CHARACTER

Prince Yeoning, Haechi - fiercely smart, strong, tormented by the duality of his birth (royal father, servant mother) but not letting this distract him from his purpose, loyal to the bone, and with integrity nothing can shake but where you can feel that it’s not easy and that it costs him.

FAVORITE FEMALE CHARACTER

Eun Dan Oh, Extraordinary You - a go-getter who remakes the world (literally); smart, cheerful, strong, beautifully human. She feels so real and yet is larger than anything around her. 

NEEDS TO BE MURDERED

Yi Seung Gye, My Country - a sociopath destroying lives in his quest for power and control, even the destruction of his own family barely gives him anything but momentary pause. He is the reason for the tragedy of MC. 

FAVORITE SHIP

Eun Dan Oh x Haru, Extraordinary You - their love is literally universe and god-defying. They have loved each other as different people in three separate worlds (and counting), and have defied loss of memory and even loss of self as well as death, the end of worlds, and their god and the narrative and literally anything and everything, to be together.

Runner Up: Soo Hyun x Jin Hyuk, Encounter: tender and decent and his bringing her back to vivid life and the way they love and support and compliment each other.  

Probably gonna be on list if doesn’t go haywire: Crash Landing on You: she is a SK heiress, he’s a NK officer, they have mad chemistry and so much potential.

NOTP:

Tae Mi x Morgan, Search WWW - love the actors, love the chemistry, love the characters in terms of the way they are written, but they are absolutely wrong for each other and there is no future of any sort but misery ahead. None of their issues are resolved but are swept under the rug. It’s a cautionary tale, not a romance. I did a long rant before so not repeating. 

BEST SECONDARY OTP

Scarlett x Ji Hwan, Search WWW - they stole the shippiness in the drama for me. Cooky and adorable and noona romance done right.

FAVORITE SCENE

Haru’s final disappearance, Extraordinary You - the lights start to go out, the world literally dissolving, Eun Oh and Haru clinging to each other, with his telling her she was his beginning and the end. His name, the one she gave him, is the last thing he hears. In a drama full of amazing scenes the very gist of which was defying the very creator and universe and meaning of existence, this was the one that stayed with me the most.

BIGGEST CRUSH

Seo Hwi, My Country - I have a thing for deeply honorable, deeply tortured period badasses with long hair and a death wish (see Choi Young in Faith etc.)

BEST SCENE STEALER CHARACTER

Yi Bang Won, My Country - he started out as an antihero and ended up as arguably a tragic villain (or maybe still an anti-hero) but oh boy, was he magnetic and fascinating and sucking out all the oxygen whenever he was in the scene.

NEEDS A SEQUEL

Memories of the Alhambra - WTF ending was that?! All that misery and no real resolution?! Dammit!

TROPE THAT NEEDS TO DIE

Youth Sageuk - I hate most of them! They are anachronistic and dumb and honestly, what is the point of having fully modern people in period clothes? Just make a modern show and call it a day.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT

Melting Me Softly - Ji Chang Wook’s first project back from the military was an unfunny, unmoving, pointless mess with not an ounce of genuine enjoyment despite the excellent pedigree of everyone involved in front and behind the camera.

Arthdal Chronicles - the makers made excellent Queen Seon Duk, Tree with Deep Roots and Six Flying Dragons. The cast was uniformly A grade. The result was an open-ended, boring, incoherent mess that looks like a bad sort of a drug trip and made about as much sense. 

BIGGEST GOOD SURPRISE

Extraordinary You - I had zero interest in yet another high school drama with no actors I recognized. By the end, EY was an emotional brainy twister of a marvel that became my favorite drama of all time. I’ve been watching dramas for over 13 years so that’s saying something.

2019 DRAMAS I HAVEN’T SEEN THAT I MOST WANT TO WATCH

The Crowned Clown - I love sageuks and cast and it looks so smart and emotional

Angel’s Last Mission: Love - my next contemporary - I watched a little and loved what I saw

Fates and Furies - I saw a few eps and classic melo is so up my alley.

Clean with a Passion for Now - I like the cast and it’s a year of falling for hot weird bosses apparently.

Graceful Family - I love makjang and Im Soo Jung.

The Secret Life of My Secretary - downmarket Beauty Inside and I loved BI.

Love Affairs in the Afternoon - artsy adultery FTW

Item - I don’t like crime stuff but I am here for Joo Ji Hoon.

My Strange Hero - seems a little cooky but I am fond of Yoo Seung Ho.

MOST ANTICIPATED IN 2020

King: the Eternal Monarch - Lee Min Ho and Woo Do Hwan and parallel worlds and written by Kim Eun Suk. Yes Please.

I should probably make one for cdramas too though that one would be rather shorter.

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Michael in the Mainstream: Shazam!

The DCEU is really the embodiment of the spirit of the origins of the modern superhero movie craze. Much like the man who helped kick it off in 2008 – one Robert Downey Jr. - The DCEU had a dark, checkered past, with a lot of horrible issues that made audiences balk at their films. Man of Steel was just another so-so Superman film, Batman v Superman was a bloated, bizarre crossover film made before anything about the world was really established, and Suicide Squad was just a complete and utter hot mess. Then came Wonder Woman, a breath of fresh air in the current superhero landscape and the DCEU at large… and then came Justice League, a tonally confused mess that managed to be entertaining in spite of itself. After that was the infinitely entertaining cheesy fantasy action of Aquaman, putting the franchise back in everyone’s good graces just in time for a silly little movie about a little boy who transforms into a grown man to come on the scene… Shazam!

Shazam! is, without a doubt in my mind, the Iron Man to the RDJ of the DCEU. While there were great ones before, with Wonder Woman and Aquaman being absolutely fantastic and enjoyable, this was the first film to pull of what those two movies did without the big problems that bogged down those two movies. There’s no inane plot twist villain followed by a goofy fight, and quite mercifully there is no acting as atrocious as Amber Heard’s performance. The movie has problems, yes, but it does almost everything solidly enough that I can overlook the issues.

I think what really makes the film special is just how earnest and unashamed of itself that it is. It’s goofy, it’s bright, it doesn’t sugarcoat what a teenage boy granted the power to turn into a grown man would do… it’s just so playful, silly, and charming. And if there’s one thing I never imagined I’d say, it’s that a teenager turning into Zachary Levi to sneak into a strip club would be “charming.” This movie really loves throwing curveballs.

And nowhere is that more apparent than in the concept itself. Shazam, or Captain Marvel, or perhaps even Captain Sparklefingers is not the first hero you’d expect DC to make a movie out of, especially since on paper he seems pretty similar to Superman, power-wise at least. They’ve already established Superman as a big force in this world, so why would they go with the weird concept of a kid getting powers from an old wizard to turn into a knockoff Superman? But if there’s anything comic book movies have proven lately, it’s that weird, off-the-wall concepts like this can work, and they just dive into all this whole hog. There’s no sugarcoating things or explaining the magic away as alien tech like early MCU movies did; no, this is magic, there’s a wizard, there are demons, this is all happening. Magical elements have obviously been in the DCEU before – Enchantress, the Greek Gods, and to some extent Atlantis have all been shown – but this is our first time seeing a wizard who wouldn’t look out of place in an 80s fantasy film and actual, evil demons that personify the Seven Deadly Sins. It’s just so great that we’ve come so far with superhero movies where we can have a magically-empowered child punch demons in the face.

And speaking of the child, Billy Batson is such a wonderful character. He starts the movie as a bitter loner with abandonment issues and a dislike of authority due to his mother going missing for much of his life, with a good heart underneath it all; as the movie goes on, of course he learns his lesson and comes to accept his new family as his real one and all that delightfully feel-good mushy stuff. And much like fellow superpowered youngster Miles Morales from last year’s biggest non-MCU superhero film, Billy feels real, his struggles feel real, and his growth as a character feels real. He honestly feels like a more accurate take on Superman than any previous Superman movie (except Hercules and The Iron Giant, anyway). Obviously credit must be given to Zachary Levi as Shazam, who does a really good job of being both badass and extremely childish when the scene calls for it, but I think props must be given to Asher Angel as well, not only because he is just as capable of carrying the movie as Levi is due to his fantastic dramatic moments and solid humor, but because he has an absolutely fantastic name.

Of course, a superhero movie is usually only as good as its villain, and thankfully this film has an extremely solid villain in the form of Dr. Sivana, a classic villain of Shazam who has been given quite a makeover for this film. Played by the inimitable Mark Strong of modern classics such as Kingsman, Sivana is an utter bastard as well as a tragic figure; we open the movie seeing him abused by his family, only to be called by Shazam the wizard and then cruelly rejected because his heart just wasn’t pure enough for the wizard’s high standards. What follows is a terrible accident that surely opened up the door for decades of belittlement and abuse at the hands of his father and brother, to the point where you honestly understand where he’s coming from to a certain degree… though probably not to the degree where you find it okay he wants to murder a child.

The Sins on the other hand… well, let me put it this way: they gave me flashbacks of the elemental demons that worked for Blackheart in Ghost Rider, and if that doesn’t make sense to you, I cannot stress enough you do not ever want to be compared to those guys. The Sins lack personality, character, and even creative designs; I could hardly tell which Sin was supposed to be which in quite a few cases. It’s honestly kind of sad they had more personality as statues then they did after hitching a ride in Sivana’s body, but to their credit they at least function more like a plot device and minions than as actual characters, serving as essentially either boss battles for Shazam to knock around or as a power boost for Sivana himself. It is a shame they aren’t more interesting, but it’s also not a big loss, as the movie focuses far more on the comedy and drama around Billy than the actual superheroics, which is weirdly a good thing.

Billy’s extended foster family are all great in their own right, though I will say that at the moment they do seem a bit one-note, aside from Freddy anyway. Mary, Eugene, and Pedro are all interesting and enjoyable in their own right, but the movie kind of shunts them and their characters aside to focus more on Billy, Freddy, and to a lesser extent Darla. To the movie’s eternal credit though, it puts a lot of focus on them in the third act, and they get to do something pretty surprising and awesome in the climax that I won’t spoil.

However, I must spoil the mid-credits scene, because that is the moment when I knew that this movie is not just the Iron Man of the DCEU, but the Guardians of the Galaxy as well. You see, a character who those steeped in the lore of Captain Marvel/Shazam will easily recognize appears, one Mr. Mind. Now, with a name like that, if you are unaware of the character as I was when I first had his existence spoiled, you might think this might just be some mad scientist, or some evil doctor, or something akin to Mr. Sinister where it’s a superpowered evil man… but Mr. Mind is something far better.

He is a caterpillar. An evil alien caterpillar from Venus. And he talks with a little voice box in a creepy radio voice.

Mr. Mind’s appearance is a sign to me that the DCEU is going down the right path. This is the sort of ballsy move sticking Howard the Duck at the end of Guardians was, in a franchise that has a lot more to lose considering its checkered track record. The fact that they are willing to, this early into their run, give us an evil universe-conquering worm shows me that now the DCEU is fully willing to embrace the inherent silliness and fun of the comics they are adapting. I’m fully expecting Tawky Tawny to show up in the next film at this rate (and with all the tiger symbolism in this one, he just might).

Fun, charming, funny, emotional, and dramatic… I figured it would be good, but the fact that this film is this good is just a shock. I’m so happy that DCEU isn’t backtracking on its desire to truly embrace what fans love about comics and take risks with what they show us, and the fact it’s doing it a lot quicker than Marvel did gives me a lot of hope we’ll be seeing even weirder stuff in the future (fingers crossed for Mr. Mxyzptlk!). I think DCEU fans and Marvel fans alike can come together and appreciate this one, because it’s just an absolute joy to watch regardless of which comic book company you slavishly worship over the other. More than anything else, though, it must be said:

This is DEFINITELY the best Captain Marvel movie of 2019.

[kainosite]

Les Misérables 2018, Episode 3

Les Mis fandom: Andrew Davies is a scoundrel.  What is he?

Me: ... Scoundwel.

The Good:

• I can’t believe the BBC actually filmed the “Now the people of this town can see you for what you really are” scene of a thousand Valvert fanfics.  They know what the people want.

• The Thénardiers are still fantastic.  Somehow the BBC has achieved the impossible feat of portraying them as loathsome abusers whom you hate with every fiber of your being, while simultaneously making them the fun comic relief you’re sort of rooting for in their capacity as the wacky crime duo.  On Christmas Eve I wanted the Seargeant of Waterloo to burn to the ground with everyone inside it, except for Cosette who was out getting water, Éponine and Azelma who were playing on the swings and Gavroche who was out back playing with Chou Chou or something.  I still grinned when Madame Thénardier cheerily reminded her husband to bring the pistol the next morning.  Striking this balance is a truly impressive achievement that I’ve only seen equalled by the Dallas production of the musical.

Their family dynamics are also coming across very well, sometimes through very subtle touches.  The differential treatment of Éponine and Azelma vs. Cosette and the way the Thénardier girls have been trained by all the adults around them to see Cosette’s abuse as a hilarious game, Gavroche being conscripted to fill Cosette’s role as household drudge once Valjean takes her, Mme. T slipping a bill out of Thénardier’s stash once he goes after Valjean – it’s all really good.

Their reactions to Valjean were good too.  Mme. Thénardier was thoroughly unimpressed with this roughly dressed man she’d decided was a hobo and only reacted with hostility when he was kind to her little whipping girl, but Thénardier as the criminal mastermind of the outfit decided the moment he noticed Valjean paying inordinate attention to Cosette that he must be a pedophile and they’d stumbled upon a lucrative financial opportunity.  I know some people don’t like this change, but honestly it makes a ton of sense.  Valjean’s interest in Cosette is strange, and considering the usual clientele of the inn cheer whenever Mme. T hits the kid with the strap, the Thénardiers aren’t used to seeing other people regard her plight with compassion.  Unlike in the Brick, this Cosette is a very pretty child, something discernible even beneath the dirt.  And it’s Thénardier, so of course he thinks the worst.  Valjean doesn’t volunteer that he’s representing Fantine (perhaps in this universe where he knows Javert is so fixated on him, he’s worried that would make him too easy to trace?), so really, what else is Thénardier meant to think?

• There are some priceless interactions between the protagonists and Thénardier: when he’s trying to haggle and Valjean keeps ignoring him and just repeating “How much?”; Javert’s baffled “Nothing!” when he asks Javert what Javert is planning to do for him.

• Javert and Gavroche’s preliminary encounter over the coffee cup was a nice, subtle touch.

• A+ hair analogy between Fantine last week and Valjean this week.  A+ removal of the godawful ponytail.  That prison barber in Toulon deserves the Légion d'Honneur.

• I’m enjoying Javert’s meteoric rise at the Prefecture and I love Rivette.  “But Kainosite, you love every long-suffering lieutenant.”  Yes, what’s your point?  Javert deserves a long-suffering lieutenant and so do I.  Although it’s hilarious how much Oyelowovert is Fanfic Javert, in his relationship with his subordinates as much as in everything else.

I also enjoyed Javert’s phrenology skull, which I hope he sometimes monologues at Hamlet-style.  A black Javert might hesitate a little before going all-in on phrenology, but I do appreciate his commitment to cutting-edge criminology research.

• LMAO at Javert’s fanart commission.

• Valjean and little Cosette are adorable together, and I really appreciate how much time Davies devoted to just depicting them interacting and letting the relationship breathe.  The strength of their bond is going to be very important later on, especially to Valjean, so it’s worthwhile to establish it now.  And they were suuuuper cute.  This adaptation tends to cut out Hugo’s humor sections, so it was nice to get a bit of relief from the grimness with endearing family time.

• I rather like Cosette calling people “nosy bitches”.  I mean, who socialized this kid?  The Thénardiers, that’s who.  It makes her seem more like a real child and less like a perfect little doll designed to reward first Valjean and then Marius for fulfilling their roles as protagonists.

It’s also an early hint at Valjean and Cosette’s unhealthy isolation and codependency.  The principal tenant is actually fulfilling her duty of care here in a society without any proper system for child safeguarding.  Cosette never seems to leave the apartment, certainly not to attend school or to learn a trade.  There’s no family resemblance between herself and her guardian.  (Incidentally, I’m impressed by how much Mailow Defoy really does look like the child of Lily Collins and Johnny Flynn.  All the matching between the kids and their “parents” has been superb.)  They give inconsistent stories about their relationship.  And Cosette is, as previously mentioned, an exceptionally pretty child.  The principal tenant should be worried - she doesn’t want Hector Hulot taking up residence in her building, and this pair are deeply suspicious.  But they can’t perceive her attention as legitimate concern, just as an unwarranted and unwanted intrusion into their little idyl.

• Similarly, Valjean’s early worries that he’s isolating Cosette too much by denying her all contact with the outside world or other children her own age are a nice piece of foreshadowing, as is her blithe answer that the only friends she needs are Valjean and Catherine.  Of course she’s content: she has food and warmth and security and the undivided attention of a loving adult.  To a child whose previous experience of the world has been so traumatic, their isolation must seem like paradise.  But this isn’t healthy and it isn’t sustainable, and the show is flagging that up early.  In many adaptations Valjean’s Cosette Issues seem to come out of nowhere, so it’s great that they’re laying the groundwork here.

• The whole “For a dark hunt, a silent pack” sequence is very well done.  There’s a nice piece of foreshadowing with the lamplighter hoisting up a candle as Valjean and Cosette are coming into Paris.  (Most of the Parisian lamps are nice flickery ones, although you do occasionally see those peculiar white ones we saw in Montreuil.)

I also appreciate Davies cutting Valjean’s canonical “Be quiet or Mme. Thénardier will catch you and take you back” line to Cosette from the Brick, which was an awful thing to say to a traumatized child.

• Things continue to look right.  The courtroom setup was really quite good.

The Meh:

• After watching the episode twice I think I finally understand what was going on with Javert at the trial.

His plan to entrap Valjean is no less incredibly stupid and risky than it was last week, but at least Javert has finally realized this.  He looks increasingly worried as each convict gives his testimony and identifies Champmathieu because they’re getting closer and closer to the end of the trial and Valjean still hasn’t acted.  Unlike Étienne in the 1952 movie, Oyelowovert has already testified and perjured himself, so he has no failsafe – if Valjean refuses to take the bait then Champmathieu is condemned in his place, the real Valjean is protected from legal pursuit forever, Javert’s perjury has real, long-term, perverse consequences, and Javert needs to find a new career.  The shock we see on his face when Valjean finally confesses is relief and the shock of seeing a scenario he must have played out a hundred times in his dreams becoming a reality before his eyes, or possibly a consequence of him coming in his pants, not shock at the revelation that Madeleine is Valjean.

But there are few members of the audience who are keener observers of Javert’s face than I am.  Most of those people are probably in the Valvert Discord chat, and none of them could figure out this scene on their first viewing either.  We should not have to analyze Javert’s microexpressions to determine the answer to a question as fundamental as “Did Javert sincerely believe Champmathieu was Valjean?”

• On the whole the trial was bad but I did appreciate Brevet just yanking out his suspender to show the court.  Although @prudencepaccard​ is gonna be mad it wasn’t checkered.

• The amount of time it takes Valjean to escape from Toulon is really of no great importance to anything.  Maybe this Javert gave them specific instructions to search him with care so his files kept getting confiscated and it took him longer to file through his chains.  We know the Orion incident never happened in this universe, so maybe it took two years for Valjean to spot a good escape opportunity.  Who knows?  Who cares?  It has zero impact on the plot.

People concerned about the extra time Cosette was left languishing with the Thénardiers should direct their complaints to Brick Valjean, who faffed around in Montreuil for a month while her mother lay on her deathbed constantly asking for her, and only decided to go pick her up once he was under arrest and it would obviously be impossible.  Davies’ sins pale in comparison to Hugo’s in this regard.  At least Westjean tried to send someone to retrieve her.

• ‘Rosalie’?  Okay, fine, but I’m not sure why this adaptation feels compelled to give everyone first and last names.  Thénardier could just call her ‘Darling’.

• I know they also abandon Catherine in the Brick, but in the Brick Valjean doesn’t pause in their flight to pack the candlesticks, the objects that are precious to him, and Cosette doesn’t specifically ask about bringing her.  Put the pillow under the blankets to fake out Javert like a normal person and let your child keep the one toy she’s ever had, what the fuck is wrong with you, Valjean?

On the other hand, the doll is made of dead people and it may be possessed, so perhaps this was just responsible parenting.  I’m calling it a draw.

• It’s not that I have any great objections to giving Simplice more screen time or letting the Mother Superior of the Petit-Picpus convent decide to shelter a convict, but there was no particular reason not to use Fauchelevent for the Fauchelevent plotline.  It’s a small instance of a good deed being paid forward that underlines the main theme of the book, as does Simplice’s act of self-sacrifice in lying to Javert to protect Valjean.  All of that has been lost and nothing has been gained in its place.  (Also is Cosette just... “Cosette Valjean” in this adaptation?  “Cosette Thibault”?)

The Bad:

• If Javert perjures himself to trap Valjean that is an incredibly big deal and we should see it.  I accept that this Javert might do it: Oyelowovert cares about his career and about ruining the lives of criminals, not about the rules.  If he can trap Valjean, superb.  If Champmathieu ends up in the galleys because of it, well, he’s a filthy apple thief and he deserves it.  Javert is subverting the course of justice in the service of a greater social justice.  But this monumental deviation from his Brick characterization, this enormously consequential lie, should not occur off-camera, for fuck’s sake!

Also it’s not clear what reason a Javert who is happy to lie under oath would ever have to throw himself into the Seine.

• Why the hell was Valjean so hostile to the other convicts?  He assumes they’ve been paid off, but... by whom, and to what purpose?  By Javert, to entrap him?  We the viewers at least know that can’t be true – Javert only found out about Champmathieu from the Prefecture, after Champmathieu had already been identified as Valjean.  By the public prosecutor at Arras, who is desperate to close the case of a minor highway robbery that happened almost a decade ago on the other side of the country completely outside his jurisdiction?  By the many enemies of Champmathieu the random hobo, who really want to see him go down for a felony?  It makes absolutely no sense.

Possibilities that make more sense: a) the convicts are sincerely mistaken about the appearance of a guy they’ve not seen in eight years, b) they just wanted to get out of Toulon for a month and they’re willing to say anything to do it because Toulon is a hellhole, as the first episode made exceedingly clear, c) they know perfectly well Champmathieu is not Valjean and they’re lying to protect the liberty of their old comrade by condemning a stranger in his place.  The whole dynamic of this scene – Madeleine, the respected mayor and factory owner, who’s been clean and well-fed and safe for years, yelling at these filthy men in their convict uniforms, Chenildieu with some kind of open wound across his forehead, quite possibly a lash mark – is deeply unpleasant.  It makes Valjean look like a complete asshole and sets a sour tone for the whole episode.

• The entire trial is just off.  Valjean’s off-putting and inexplicable hostility to his fellow convicts, Javert’s mystifying facial expressions, the audience who keep laughing at unfunny lines – the scene just doesn’t work, it doesn’t come together.  It was at something of a disadvantage because I came into it having just watched the 1952 trial scene for the previous episode’s review post, which is the best ever adaptation of the Champmathieu trial, and any other version was likely to pale by comparison.  But this one was particularly poor.

• I said last week we’d have to see what the series made of Valjean’s externalization of his emotions.  Well, what it has made is an awful lot of shouting at everyone, starting with the poor convicts and continuing from there, and also an excess of violence.  Valjean charges into the soldiers in Montreuil-sur-Mer and bowls them over, he threatens to knock Thénardier down and then to blow his head off, he gets Thénardier into a headlock and grapples with him.  Even when Westjean is coming into the convent he has to practically break down the doors.  Everything is violent action with him.  It’s OOC to the point where it’s becoming a problem rather than merely a different interpretation of the character.

All this aggression isn’t even effective at making him seem dangerous!  The thing he does in 1978 where he gently removes Javert’s hand from his collar is vastly more intimidating because it showcases his superhuman strength.  He should have just plucked the gun out of Thénardier’s hand like he was taking it away from a child instead of all this undignified scuffling.

• Tumblr, a humble reviewer has failed in accuracy, and I have come to bring this matter to your attention, as is my duty.

I argued last week that Westjean is not a misogynist: he yells at everyone in his vicinity regardless of gender.  Well, you were right and I was wrong.  That menacing lunge he takes towards Victurnien while screaming at her, calling Mme. Thénardier “woman” and shouting at her to bring his supper, the way he bursts in on the nuns at the end – it all adds up to something pretty unpleasant.

• I have never in my life seen an adaptation that makes Fantine’s death so much about Jean Valjean’s manpain.

If you look a 1978, an adaptation that gives if possible negative fucks about Fantine, it still manages to make the confrontation over her deathbed a conversation between three people, in which she has agency and reacts to what people are saying and is present in some capacity other than that of an object to make Valjean sad.  Someone compared Collinstine to a substitute Coin of Shame, and I think that’s really apt: Valjean is distressed and guilty because he’s failed to rescue Cosette, so he goes to Fantine’s bedside to sear the image of her despairing face onto his retinas in the same way he seared the imprint of Petit Gervais’s forty sous onto his palm.  He’s punishing himself by deliberately upsetting her.  For both Valjean and the camera, this scene is all about Valjean’s feelings and not about Fantine’s.

The person in this room with the biggest problems is not Jean Valjean, for pity’s sake.  I like to see the man cry as much as the next fangirl, but this was vile.

• Valjean’s visit to Fantine on her deathbed is a stupid, irresponsible thing to do and a direct cause of her unhappy death in the Brick and in every adaptation where she survives long enough for Javert to turn up. Valjean knows he has no good news to give her, he knows that the criminal justice system will be after him sooner or later, he knows that having Fantine and Javert together in the same room is a phenomenally bad idea, and he has urgent business in Montfermeil, or if he’s resolved to stay in Montreuil-sur-Mer to await arrest then he urgently needs to designate some representative to go and pick up Cosette in his place.  Instead he loiters by a sick woman’s bedside until Javert shows up and predictably traumatizes her to death.  As a result, Fantine dies in misery and Cosette suffers under the Thénardiers for another year.

But in the Brick it was at least not an insane thing to do.  When he left Arras he was not being pursued, and he reached Montreuil well ahead of the news about the trial.  The magistrates in Arras were in two minds about how to handle the situation.  Given Madeleine’s status, the widespread affection and admiration for him in the region, and the fact that he turned himself in, it’s not inconceivable that had it not been for his little Bonapartist slip in the courtroom, they wouldn’t have issued a warrant for his arrest at all and would simply have sent him a summons to appear at the Var Assizes to stand trial, or directed him to surrender himself at the prison in Montreuil rather than sending Javert after him.  I’m not sure it’s likely, given that he’s a known flight risk and parole violator illegally occupying a public office and they seem keen to get their hands on his fortune, but it’s not inconceivable.

In this adaptation Valjean breaks away from the police in the street and leads them straight to Fantine’s deathbed.  There is no fucking excuse for this.  NONE.  Brick Valjean was a fool to come at all and a bigger fool to stage a massive confrontation with Javert while he was still in the infirmary, but his mistakes were those of a man under immense stress who never bothered to think about Javert long enough to construct a working psychological profile of him.  Westjean’s mistakes were the mistakes of a selfish asshole too caught up in his own feelings of guilt and shame to have any regard for the people he allegedly cares about and wants to help.  Valjean is an extreme deontologist and his actions are always self-absorbed to a certain degree, because they’re fundamentally more about whether he can feel he’s done the right thing than about the actual effects of his actions on other people.  (He and Brickvert have that in common.)  But it should never get to the point where he’s actively harming people to this extent.

• Brickvert doesn’t seem to care for firearms much, and Oyelowovert looks like a jackass waving his two giant pistols around, but he’s a different character and if he’s decided they make him look cool then fine, I guess.  But in that case he should not be intimidated by Valjean’s strength in the infirmary.  You have guns, idiot!  If he threatens you just shoot him in the leg!

Guns completely change the dynamics of this scene, as the Dallas staging of the musical conveys very well.  The BBC handed Javert some pistols and then forgot he had them.

• In 1862 people would probably have found the implication that Catherine has Fantine’s hair to be sweet and charming, because the Victorians loved toting bits of their dead relatives around and hair mementos were so common that no one would have considered it weird.  In 2019 it is CREEPY AND GROSS.  I know there’s no ethical consumption under capitalism but we did not need to know that Cosette’s doll was made from the body parts of desperately impoverished and now dead women, really.

• Oh, so we’re flipping over beds when we fail to catch our favorite fugitive convict now, are we?  Great, now everyone is yelling.  FFS, Javert, I thought you were supposed to be the emotionally continent one.

• Where was Marius this week???  If Davies was happy to cut that leg of the stool out of whole episodes then why the fuck not just let Georges die when he’s supposed to and let Marius have a coherent character arc?  It makes no sense whatsoever.

I’ve got to be honest, I was not a fan of this episode.  But it did get Valjean and Cosette’s relationship right, and that is the most important relationship in the story.

[vincent-marie]

A Look Back on TREASURE PLANET

So recently I rewatched TREASURE PLANET for the first time in about fifteen years and… I'm not gonna lie, it's still my personal favorite of the 2D Disney animated features from the early to mid-2000s.

Let's be real. Of the 2D features Disney released around that time period, TREASURE PLANET is one of the more solid films. ATLANTIS: THE LOST EMPIRE had some interesting ideas and some really nice design work and animation, but it really needed to be at least two hours long if it wanted to flesh out the characters and the world-building without requiring supplementary material (like a special edition of Disney Adventure magazine). Hardly anybody remembers BROTHER BEAR was even a thing, and the less said about HOME ON THE RANGE, the better. (Seriously, that movie wasn't even worth the Steve Buscemi cameo.)

The only other film of that era that has really held up was LILO AND STITCH, and I'll admit it's probably a better film than TREASURE PLANET. It took more risks in terms of character, setting and originality, and emotionally it leaves more of an impact. (That scene when Nani sings to Lilo makes me cry like a baby every time.) My only problem with it is it always felt like two entirely different movies collided with each other and it never felt like they really meshed well. Otherwise, I agree with most fans that it’s a good film.

Also, of course, there was the excellent THE EMPEROR’S NEW GROOVE, which was just such a huge departure from Disney’s normal schtick and trying something more Tex Avery-esque, only for it to be a perfect storm instead of a total crash and burn. That is much to be proud of.

Going back to TREASURE PLANET, I can understand that most folks walk away saying it’s an "okay" film. I, however, am not one of those people. I've had a real soft spot for this movie ever since I saw it, but now I appreciate this film for additional reasons.

Namely, the animation and effects work. Holy crap, is this movie gorgeous! It's like watching Don Bluth's ANASTASIA, except I don't have to feel guilty about historical inaccuracies. (Now it’s just scientific inaccuracies, but STAR WARS gets away with that all the time.)

Directors John Musker and Ron Clements had apparently wanted to do a sci-fi retelling of "Treasure Island" since before they started working on THE LITTLE MERMAID. With that in mind I do feel like this movie would have fared better with critics back in the early 90s during the Disney Renaissance. However at that time they would not have had such elaborate and detailed CG effects within arm's reach. There's something I really enjoy about the use of 3D backdrops so that they may do sweeping camera movements, and that's not even getting into the lighting effects to establish atmosphere.

What's more, there are a lot of subtleties to the character animation that I never appreciated until now. You could just pick one character and focus on him or her during the whole movie and find a lot of fun little quirks in their dialogue or walk cycles.

Admittedly, much of this film’s appeal probably depends on how much of an animation fan you are. In my case I was watching John Silver’s animation and I suspected that Glen Keane was probably in charge of animating him (as there are moments when Silver looks so much like Ratigan). Those suspicions were confirmed during the end credits and I was delightfully geeking out about it.

It’s also easy to see where this film might not have had a lot of mass appeal. Most of the focus on the story is on Jim Hawkins and his daddy issues, which by the early 2000s was already a cliche of a character arc. And it’s not helped by the fact that Jim himself is... well, kind of on the bland side as a protagonist. There’s not a lot about him that makes him any more or less interesting than any other teenage male lead. But for what it is I think the movie did fine at establishing and building the relationship between Jim and Silver, which does have its warm and comforting moments. For both of them.

And at least the film is straightforward with its plot and characters and it’s not a structural mess like HERCULES, a previous venture by Musker and Clements.

Something I’ve noticed over the years is that TREASURE PLANET has a little bit of a cult following. I distinctly remember this one time when I was taking a storyboard class in college; we were assigned to do a “Master Study” assignment by recreating the key story frames in our favorite scene in a favorite animated movie. One of my classmates picked the scene when Jim is brought home to the inn by the police and embarrasses his mother. I recall being so impressed, and even a little envious, that she got the character design style down to a T. (If you’re wondering what movie/scene I picked for my Master Study, I picked the Big Ben scene from THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE.)

Then, of course, some friends and I suspect that TREASURE PLANET might have fared better if it had been released a bit later, more towards the height of the Steampunk craze. It’s not quite what I would call “Steampunk”, as it takes place in a sort of alternate universe version of the 18th century and not the Gothic era, and most of their transport is solar-powered and not steam-based. Nevertheless it’s easy to see how fans of Steampunk could find it appealing, with its mostly earth-tone color pallet to evoke the painted illustrations of the classic novel it was based on. Also that combination of a pre-20th century aesthetic with out-of-this-world science fiction elements is pretty much, in my opinion, what makes Steampunk so much fun to play around with. Also, a robot made out of copper. End of story.

In terms of why this film didn’t do so well when it was released, I suspect what stunted its success was the marketing. I could be wrong, as I was actually living in Honduras at the time of the film’s release, but we got some TV stations from Denver, Colorado. I remember a lot of the TV spots spent most of their time highlighting the goofy comic relief moments with Morph, and there was a real emphasis on the presence of B.E.N., even though he's in less than one-third of the movie. In other words, the film's success might have been partially sabotaged by a marketing team that seemed to think if you don’t take your film seriously at all that will somehow draw in the crowd.

Although speaking of the comic relief characters, I actually don’t mind them that much. I always thought Morph had a lot of cute, funny moments that weren’t too obnoxious. As for B.E.N., I kind of have mixed feelings for him. On one hand, the directing team made better use of Martin Short’s improvisational skills than PEBBLE AND THE PENGUIN or WE’RE BACK! ever did. But on the other hand, does B.E.N. have to be so loud and shouty? However, while B.E.N. is a real screw-up, he’s not so much to the point where I want to see him get smashed with a sledgehammer. He’s generally likable, not at all loathsome, and just annoying enough, but not TOO annoying.

However while we’re still on the subject of B.E.N., I’d just like to add that the CG animation on him is really nice. Making him 3D gives him a sort of sense of solidity compared to his hand-drawn humanoid compadres, and to top it off his animation isn’t at all stiff or feels like the CG is holding him back. There is some really expressive squashing and stretching going on with his dialogue. It’s so subtle in places that you’d probably miss it if you’re not looking for it. A lot of CG animation studios at the time like Pixar and Dreamworks had not quite mastered squashing and stretching themselves, so kudos to Disney for pulling it off so well.

Now if I may indulge a little on why I remember this film fondly, my favorite characters were always Dr. Doppler and Captain Amelia. They are both fun and engaging on their own, but together they are weirdly adorable. Granted, I've always thought them getting together at the end was a bit rushed, but I still totally buy it.

(What I don't buy is that they'd be so eager to have kids after Doppler showed such annoyance and revulsion towards that toddler alien girl at the beginning. I get that the creators wanted some visual shorthand to indicate that they're an official couple, but they could have just been wearing wedding rings or throw in a little more of them dancing together.)

Part of the reason I love these characters on their own is the casting. I was already familiar with Emma Thompson from Ang Lee's adaptation of SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, and her character of Eleanor Dashwood was very quiet and reserved. You can imagine my disbelief and delight hearing her play an assertive, witty badass as Amelia. (As if I didn't already think Amelia’s design was cool.)

As for David Hyde Pierce, I had only occasionally watched FRASIER growing up, but when I saw this movie I was familiar with him through some other memorable voice acting roles, particularly that excellent Season 8 episode of THE SIMPSONS, “Brother From Another Series.” In other words, I already knew him to be funny, snarky and charismatic.

While I'm on about the casting, I feel like there's a totally wasted opportunity to have these two characters in a room together, say, before the black hole scene, exchanging witty banter to show how compatible they are in a casual setting. It’s a shame that Emma and David didn’t record their dialogue together, because with her being an accomplished writer and with his skills at improvisation, there could have been some good verbal combat by way of “Much Ado About Nothing-Meets-Frasier.”

But looking back, I remember I immediately loved Captain Amelia just on principal. As a kid I never really gravitated that much to any of the Disney princesses. I can’t really describe why, but it was mostly how they were marketed as just looking pretty and (arguably) kind of passive in their own stories. Not to mention how when Disney Princess became a brand, they really amped up the girly cutesy-ness to their preexisting images. Not to say there’s anything inherently wrong with cute or feminine things, but it really made me feel like a weirdo who somehow wasn’t fit to be called a girl.

Captain Amelia, on the other hand, had her own style of femininity by wearing a classy, more masculine captain’s uniform along with thigh-high high-heeled boots (that she has no problem running in). She had a no-nonsense attitude, she was focused and cool-headed in a stressful situation, she was downright snarky and took crap from no one. In other words, she was the type of woman I wanted to be when I grew up, and to this day she is my favorite Disney Lady, bar none.

And while I’m at it, I’m just going to add that I’ve always found Dr. Doppler more attractive than your standard Disney prince. Besides his character design looking like a canine version of Roger from 101 DALMATIONS, he just always seemed like he’d be fun to get a coffee with.

Well, that’s about all I really want to talk about regarding TREASURE PLANET. It’s a shame it’s not remembered by more people as it does have some really good elements to it, but in some regards I can kind of see why it wasn’t a huge critical success. If you haven’t seen it already I recommend checking it out as it’s a pretty solid standalone film that doesn’t need supplementary material and covers all the bases with the plot and some fun character moments here and there. If you’re an animation fan I cannot stress enough how you really need to watch it, or even rewatch it, because, again, the animation and effects work is just a real feast for the eyes.

[maneaterwithtail]

I will give attack of the Clones this, they tried really they did. They recast the much criticize young child. They reduced the presence of the Annoying character. They figured out how to retcon in a mysterious character that was a fan favorite. They included a masterful character actor.

However, there were some problems they ran into just from taking too long. the idea of clones being the stand-in for manufacturer and slavery abuse made perfect sense until dolly was an actual real thing. and by that point clones have been tied into reproductive technology so being anti clone was much closer to being anti in vitro fertilization which was more of the women's rights issue as opposed to tampering in God's domain

Just felt finessed okay in some ways. especially as it meant that they're treating cloning less as this Grande crossover past the threshold but instead unlocking something that they always could do but was forbidden and now they're doing it even though they know it's wrong. gives that sense of creeping corruption that you realize is sort of happening with everyone

Again they needed better direction for actors but in terms of what the dialogue was trying to convey I like the fact that Obi-Wan kind of disliked Palpatine. the only problem was it felt like they couldn't really get into this or that issue. the setting and narrative felt incomplete and just an excuse plot to get people moving around from one adventure to the other. To be fair this is something of a plot point the fact that nobody's taking time in order to really analyze why and where everything's going is how Palpatine leads them through his maze

I just like the fact there's so much Casual Lying to the point where you actually have to re watch and re consider. Lucas is taking real advantage of the fact that the audience knows more than the characters so that that way they can follow a really convoluted plot but have It ultimately makes sense with the occasional scene of us peeking behind the curtain see what the villains are up to

even this is a very deliberate attempt to reduce the boring parts of the phantom menace with the Senate

This is why while better executed the sequel Trilogy always felt more frustrating to me. it very deliberately decided to try to go back to the original trilogy rather than at the very least bring things from it. More than a few have pointed to the expanse

you could have a new threat an old threat or even the same threat just told differently and better

Hell actually have our ST heroes be entirely from the unknown region dealing with the encroaching Colonial ization of the new Republic. And in this case it's a matter of finding synthesis between restoring what's lost and allowing those that have grown up in the shade of the dark ages of the empire with their own autonomy. Something that even the Jedi struggled with

Keep Ben solo. do not redeem him but make it so that Ray is the person who brings Luke over to their side and makes him realize hey we've gone wrong and let ourselves be blinded by dogmatic got to do this one way ism

yes I'm agreeing to vilify Our Heroes as opposed to make them pathetic. Particularly as its of the everyone's sure they are hero of Their Own Story. it's more of an actual Civil War situation. something that Turned out to be the thing that was inside the prequel trilogy that got hijacked by it's all a conspiracy by Palpatine. End in the synthesis with the new and the old allowing for a proper passing of the torch new settings that don't necessarily conform to what we think of as Star Wars so you get your metacommentary but include more than just meta commentary. And with ultimately Luke deciding that he's going to allow everyone to be Jedi or at least Force users sharing their wisdom and only watching for actual Darkness as opposed to adhere to his definition of the light creating a more Universal approach everyone can be United on Common Ground more than under a common Dome of the government avoiding the corruption into the Empire that exists with or without Palpatine

you still keep Smoke and ben to show how just because someone is giving the downtrodden or the objectors power doesn't necessarily mean that they're not doing so with the same authoritarian bent or out of broken cruelty

so why don't I trust taika waititi? because they had their shot in order to deconstruct reconstruct Star Wars and they kind of got mean-spirited and annoying about it. And he, in the specific, sort of took all the gravitas that was building out of Thor in order to make it zany. finally whether it was his fault or not shot on the interesting new status quo afterwards with the two Infinity movies

it seems constant catastrophe in order to Grant profundity to you because we put emotional investment in the status quo especially with long-term property is the only trick that they've got. And they don't care to follow through the implications of that catastrophe so much is bring in meta commentary primarily to win Twitter arguments or to preach their weird progress gospel. Instead of, just say, giving us a female Jedi agent

number one reason I hated Admiral holdo? I knew what they were doing in terms of character comparison with hot shot Cowboy pilot who is male Poe Dameron vs Admiral holdo just seriously look at her

you could practically hear Look Out Boys a lady is in charge in Star Wars -ignoring Mon Montha there was literally the previous movie and the earlier run of this one with General Organo oh you know Princess Leia. Only when she came on screen they very deliberately made sure to reframe her as Field Marshal first with no mention I think of her being a princess on screen and only only slight visual allusions to such

we already have plenty of bad ass females and Star Wars. we didn't need this whole weird gender War to play out just have us have bad ass females in Star Wars

rey having issues because she knows her parents were a bunch of drunken junk herders and she desperately wants them back to give her some validation is a perfectly fine story. don't tease the audience with a special revelation and to be fair parents of nobody was literally the only twist that Star Wars had for the " who the person's parents are" thing.

We did the parents are hero, parents are divine, child is the Antichrist, parents are villains thing already.

they could have easily given us a Star Wars filled with gay characters female characters. And characters who were anti-global ism Without having to destroy what came before. maybe challenge what came before by making the faction of our old heroes or our heroes be part of the problem as part of the solution. But that would actually be taking elements of the complexity that the prequels -however much It fumbled- managed to somehow open the door for in Star Wars and then let it expand to the characters that- let's face it- were much more simpler but very likable.

We can even explain Ray and her goodness with machines as well as her amazing force abilities as being the result of yahoo and the ur being wherr separates of the separatist movement having run to.

unknown regions and done their thing instead of the wreckage there just being Imperial stuff it's Imperial and separatists stuff. Sure we got the desert planet and we got the planet that was turned into a cyborg

but now we are going to have the planet That is the result of a bunch of Gene Engineers getting the f*** with it for decades on end and produce this or that the point where ya much like many prequel detractors or people who hate midichlorians talk about " why don't they just inject the fetuses"

well guess what Rey is the results of those kind of experiments by random we need crap here is a kid give us drugs to try stuff. but it's not as easy as inject midichlorians get super Jedi. They have to like you and more than likely you're going to go crazy or develop -I don't know -mitochondrial cancer something.

this still makes the climax helping Ray reach Luke and comprehend the universe and Luke having to accept change even in light of his own personal failure with his Orthodoxy by ultimately changing things and learning from the failures of the Jedi to adapt

this instantly explains Snoke. he's not Darth Plagueis but he is someone working on the same tech line but at the same time he's got the raw power but f****** look at him! he's made himself a giant who's half deformed and can't live outside of the specifically prepared environment.

this is the twist with Ben. he's inherited a very high-quality of midi-chlorians in addition to the fact that he has refined training from Jedi who have been trying to figure things out. He is after smokes dark way. It would also probably reflects our current social religious prospects where we now know a lot of our beliefs are made up. Or to be generous not given directly from on high but go through development politicization and what have you. but that doesn't necessarily make the practice of them worthless. Or every heretic or challenger Richard dawkins

you even tie in the idea of Ray coming from something dark because the manipulation directly admitted chlorians was always something associated with self with Sith Alchemy and deliberately in this case with Gene engineering and many people look on the Clone Wars as a dark time for the galaxy

Projecting their prior failures on to a lesser group who they're going to "lift up" so that that way they don't have to deal with them.

All this and you don't turn our previous heroes into failures. you turn them into guys who got the chance to be on the upper seat and fell to some of the Temptations of power but the new Heroes either defeat or redeem them. And we also get to see some of the good that they could do. Luke having to distribute the Jedi teachings in a new form to a new sort of people. Leia ultimately having to weaponize the locals and other people so that that way they can make sure that they don't fall under the sway of their own Palpatine. And Han ...actually keep him sacrificing himself to try to save his son.

Just you know make it so that he hasn't returned back to smuggling he's actually been turning back to running the underways in order to track ben down

we hit a lot of the same beats of the previous generation struggling with failure the corruption of the prince of the new generation but also the rise of a new generation Independent of them while drawing from them and becoming their own people.

all of this while progressing from the original well not necessarily trying to reach Reddit all and certainly not spending a lot of time deconstructing it or Star Wars and their fandom

[mredlich21]

Bit of a controversial one, sorry if you like it, but I just don’t! And if you also don’t like it and have a hard time articulating why, maybe this review will help you.

Okay, I’ve talked about all the important Devdases, all the good ones that are closely related to the novel and deal with the ideas of hidden tragedies and casual disasters and all those cool things.  Time to deal with the one that is just really really really pretty!

This might end up being my shortest Devdas post of them all, partly because there is less to discuss and partly because I already said so much in my previous posts about the novel and the other interpretations and how this one relates to them.  But on the other hand, it may end up being the post that is most read, since the Bhansali Devdas is the one people are most familiar with.  At least, English reading people who might find my blog.

Here’s the problem with Bhansali’s Devdas in a nutshell: it’s too pretty!  And here’s the best part of Bhansali’s Devdas: it’s so pretty!  So, there’s a conflict there.

Or not.  It can be pretty and still a bad film, because a film should be more than prettiness.  Really, the problem with Bhansali’s film, and this is true for most of his movies, is that if you removed the prettiness, there would be nothing else there.  Get rid of the costumes, the songs, the make-up and jewelry.  Get rid of the elegant dialogue and gorgeous stars.  And, what’s left?  Is there anything at the core of the movie, any soul to the story or the characters that can support this whole pretty pretty infrastructure?  Generally, no.

I love Khamoshi, and I love Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam.  I think they had really interesting things to say, and the characters made me believe in real pain, not just poetic romantic pain.  When (SPOILERS) Manisha’s little brother dies in Khamoshi, or when (SPOILERS) Salman loses Aishwarya at the end of Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, (SPOILERS OVER) that felt like it was more about these characters and how they felt, than about Bhansali standing back and saying “Now, if I make this happen next, I can paint this pretty picture about it.”

(Also, this song is better than anything in Devdas.  Especially the opening and closing. An old woman trying to cheer up her grandchildren and hide her own feelings while the piano she loves is sold to raise money for the household, that makes me feel something)

I can understand Bhansali’s temptation to make movies that are just about the pictures, because his pictures are really really pretty.  But I wish he would stop trying to hang them on top of characters and story, because the story and characters always ends up getting short shrift.  If he just went full MF Hussain and did movies that were abstract loosely connected concepts just in service of the images, I wouldn’t mind as much.

(pretty!  And ultimately meaningless!  Besides providing us with a moment of beauty.  Also, a more realistic vision of the life of a prostitute than anything in Devdas)

Devdas is where Bhansali first switched over for me to feeling like he started with the images and dialogue he wanted, and filled in the plot later.  And, unfortunately, when he filled in the plot, he decided to use the same names for his characters as in the novel Devdas, and lift a few images from Bimal Roy and Barua’s earlier versions.

Or maybe he started with Devdas, with the loose outline of a boy and girl who had a push-pull relationship since they were neighbors as children, almost got engaged as adults but it fell apart, and then he went on to be an alcoholic who hung out with a Tawaif who fell in love for him, while she went on to marry a rich widower.  And then the boy died lying in front of the gate of his childhood friend.  He kept that outline, but then built and built and built on it, until it was basically hidden.  Feel free to ask in the comments, “was this bit in the novel?  Or this?  Or this?”  But really, you can safely assume NONE OF IT was in the novel.  Or any previous version.  90% of the plot is a complete invention of Bhansali.

That wouldn’t be such a problem, I mean Kashyap also invented all kinds of things and made a bunch of crazy changes, but Bhansali’s changes show that he missed the point of the story entirely.  The point of the story is too look past the surface, that the disgusting alcoholic may be hiding a kind nature that makes him too weak to fight for his own rights, whether it is his inheritance or his true love.  That the boring matron, beloved by her children and her charities, might be hiding a passionate nature that once would have done anything for love.  That the glamorous Tawaif may be hiding a practical sense of money and tender nursing skills.  And, most of all, that the most boring everyday story can hide a certain beauty.  The beauty isn’t supposed to be right there on the surface wopping us in the face all the time!

(Wop! Wop!  Wop!  THEY ARE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL AND DRAMATIC AND PERFECT LOVERS OF ALL TIME!!!  BOW DOWN IN ENVY OF THEM!!!)

Devdas is supposed to be a drama-less tale.  A poetry-less tale.  No one besides Dev and Paro even knows their hearts were broken.  That is their tragedy, that they are awkward and unable to convey their emotions.  That they don’t want to make any issues or cause concerns for their family, so they never tell anyone how they feel and keep it all inside.

(Bhansali’s Paro.  Not exactly keeping her feelings to herself.)

Now, if you only saw the Bhansali version, did you get any of that?  Here’s some other things that were important in the novel and the previous versions: Paro is so beloved by her new family and children, that her son is even willing to break with his new wife over a perceived slight to her; Chandramukhi is good at her job, but is a somewhat average Tawaif, a little over the hill and small time without much in savings, forced to economize when she gives up her career because of her love for Dev; Dev by halfway through is such an unpleasant addict, begging his brother for money, dangerously thin, and full of nervous energy that his old friends find him kind of gross and only Chandra can put up with him.  Did you get any of that either?

Back in my first post, I broke down the 5 important points, as I saw them, from Devdas the novel that were carried through into the most important Hindi Devdas adaptations, Barua in 1936, Bimal Roy in 1955, and Dev D in 2009.  Here they are again:

Childhood as a time of innocence and happiness and promise, although already over-shadowed by personality flaws that will ultimately destroy them.

A failed romance that never even really starts in adulthood, truly over before it began, before they can fully grasp what they have lost.

Chandramukhi as a figure who starts as a one dimensional fantasy, and slowly becomes more solid and practical and “real” than anyone else, the only character to talk about rent and groceries and money.

Dev as a figure who becomes not just tragic, but kind of gross.  He is described in the novel, and somewhat played in the ’36 and ’55 and Dev D films, as being ill, unpleasant to look at, with sunken eyes and cheeks and an odd demeanor.  In the novel, after death, his body is half-burned, then pecked by vultures and then fought over by dogs.  It’s not exactly a lovely “dying with his hand outstretched!” image.

Paro as a character who becomes kind of sapped of life.  She is good and generous and charitable, but she also retires to become the sort of dowager of her home, on her wedding night she tells her husband not to worry about their age difference because “Women age quickly”, which is exactly what happens to her.

(Chandra, having given up her career now that love for Dev makes it feel empty, is living on 20 rupees a month and struggling to get by with the bare minimum, while Paro has grown old before her time, is the respected dowager of the house, beloved by her grown children and only interested in her charitable works.  Two women who would never make you think of romance or tragedy are hiding their secret in their hearts, never to be spoken or even hinted at, while society overlooks them.  That’s what this song makes you think of, right?)

So, basically every point there is missed by Bhansali.  I think it’s that point 1 where he lost his way.  The novel, and the Roy adaptation have this bright shining beautiful view of childhood, and their passionate connection, and long days spent together.  It is the loss of that, the loss of their beauty and passion and faith and love, that is like 70% of the novel, and the films.  The romance happens so fast, it is over before the realize what they have lost, and then the rest of their life is spent slowly discovering how their lives were forever changed.

But Bhansali just really liked the idea of the beauty and passion and love and kind of got stuck in that mode and couldn’t let it go.  It would be like if someone made an adaptation of A Christmas Carol and just made it about Scrooge going around being cheap and miserly for two hours, and then ended.

But, okay, I’m going to try to set aside what this adaptation could/should have been, and deal with it on its own, as though it were an original story.

And you know, I still don’t really like it!  Ram-Leela is more or less an original story, and I don’t like that.  Same for Bajirao.  I just don’t like Bhansali!  Well, latter-day Bhansali.

Here’s my problem with Devdas, setting aside the missing the point of the source.  I never get a sense of these people as characters who, like, go to the bathroom.  Or get hungry.  Or sometimes just don’t feel like talking.  They are all perfect all the time, like it is their life’s goal to be beautiful and charming and clever.  Isn’t that just kind of shallow?  To have no purpose in life besides beauty and “loooooooooooooooove”?

I know this sounds like a silly complaint, since isn’t that what all romance characters are like?  But, no!  They aren’t!  Especially not in Indian romances.  Romance isn’t just about “looooooooove”, it’s about what that love means for society, how it can break up society or make it stronger, how it can shake people up and give them greater goals, how it can make you a better deeper person in ways unrelated to your love story.

Like, Sultan!  That film laid it out very clearly.  He cared what Anushka thought about him, which made him look at himself and care about how he was seen in the world, which made him into a better person.  It started with caring about her, making a connection outside of his regular circle, but it lead him on a journey to making a better world.

Devdas, not so much!  Dev himself just drinks and drinks and drinks and never really gets any better (or worse) than he was in the beginning.  Paro is beautiful and faithful, and that’s kind of it, start to finish.  Chandra is lovely and elegant and “fun”, and that’s all she is, start to finish.

(She’s wearing slightly plainer clothes, and doing it with a different purpose, but she is still dancing and singing for men just like before.  She isn’t struggling for money and only dancing when she has to, in order to survive.  And saving Dev through careful nursing, and paying for his expenses and financial support)

Okay, I have to do another novel/other versions comparison.  Not because it “should” have been like the novel, but just to give you another example on how this could have worked for the characters, how their broken hearts could have made them better people.  In this, Chandra saves Dev’s life by “distracting” him, the doctor tells her never to let him be bored.  So she is even more constantly fun and amusing than she was in the beginning.  In the other versions, she comes back to the city after living in a village just to find him, and then nurses him back to health through, you know, nursing!  Messy, unpleasant, unpretty nursing.  In the end, Dev goes from seeing her as just a distracting, a fake woman, to seeing her as noble and generous and enduring, and with a depth at the heart of her that no other man has been allowed to see.

Paro goes from a flighty flirty passionate woman who is always getting into fights, to one with great compassion and generosity.  Once she loses Dev, she doesn’t want anything for herself, which makes her incredibly generous both to strangers (through charities and so on) and to her family, being wise and compassionate and giving to her new daughter and sons and daughter-in-law.  Her broken heart turns her into a better person.

(She dresses plainly and gives all her jewelry to her daughter and daughter-in-law.  She tells her daughter to think of her as “just another servant” in the house.  She gives so many clothes to charity, her daughter-in-law is forced to take control of the household accounts.  Yeah, that’s what I think when I see this picture)

And then there’s Dev.  He slowly loses all the fight in him.  In Bhansali’s version, he walks out of his house after a huge knock down drag out fight with his family over money.  In all the other versions, there is no fight.  That’s the point.  He signs away his inheritance without a second thought, because he doesn’t want to cause a bother, to demand anything from anyone.  It is the same reason he never calls for help from Chandramukhi or Paro at the end of his life.

(A man who lets his inheritance go through just not caring enough to ask for it, slowly fading from the lives of all who knew him.  Or, not)

But in Bhansali’s version, “love” makes no real change in any of these people.  They suffer for it, sure, in the most cinematic and dramatic fashion possible.  But this suffering never teaches them anything, and they never seem to really fight against it, instead they glory in it.  It’s selfish, really.  Enjoying their misery with no thought as to how it affects others or why they should try to be better.

And boring!  Who wants to spend time with people who are all “Dev Dev Dev” “Paro Paro Paro” “Dev Dev Dev” all the time?  Get some other interests, for goodness sake!

There is one thing that Bhansali really nails, the song sequences.  Because song sequences are all about evoking one solitary emotion to the nth degree.  His songs convey what he is too unimaginative to evoke in the rest of the film.  Well, some of them.  He also falls into the trap of conveying the same thing over and over and over again until I have had surfiet of it.

(Right there for the first 2/3rds of this song.  And then by the end Paro is holding the lamp out of the paliquin and Shahrukh is helping to carry it, and I am thinking “Oh just GET OVER YOURSELVES!!!”)

Oh!  That’s what I am thinking of!  Twelfth Night!  Now, in case you don’t remember the original play, Viola is in disguise working for Orsino, who thinks he is in love with Olivia.  But the point is, he isn’t!  He is always swanning around, asking for the musicians to play on “if music be the food of love, play on; give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, the appetite may sicken, and so die.”

Orsino thinks love means being miserable, playing music, reciting poetry.  But Viola knows it is something different, it is about actually doing something, making an effort.  This is her suggestion for how to court Olivia: “Make me a willow cabin at your gate, and call upon my soul within the house; write loyal cantons of contemned love, and sing them loud even in the dead of night; halloo your name to the reverberate hills, and make the babbling gossip of the air cry out ‘Olivia’ O, you should not rest between the elements of air and earth.”

By the end of Twelfth Night, the lovers have been sorted into fools and fakes, and real loves with successful stories versus fake loves that ended in a laugh at how silly it all was.  Orsino ends up with Viola, not Olivia.  Olivia ends up with Sebastian, not Viola who she thought she loved, mistaking Viola’s love for Orsino for love for her.  It is that second half which is missing in Bhansali’s Devdas.  These are all fools!  Terrible shallow fake fools who would rather play music and wait for their love to die away, than make an effort to be happy.  But Bhansali’s film never seems to recognize or acknowledge their shallowness, or invite us to laugh at them.

I have some other problems with this film, like the fetishization of Indian history in an almost “Look!  It’s Colonial Calcutta Disneyland!” way.

(Bhansali’s idea of prostitutes/courtesans in colonial Calcutta, versus PC Barua’s version as someone who actually, you know, hung out with high class prostitutes in colonial Calcutta)

Or the way it was packaged and sold to the west as “the” Indian film, as though this pretty people having pretty problems in olden times is all there is to the entire history of Indian film.  And this is in a year when Company came out!

(The “other” break out hero of India in 2002.  Less dreamy romance, more gangster struggling for survival and afraid to let any weakness show, even love. And also the “other” break out director of 2002, less about big dreamy expensive scenes than brilliantly filmed dirt cheap and dead simple)

Or the way it minimizes the female characters even more than the male, making Chandramukhi into yet another prostitute who just does it for, I don’t know, fun?-instead of economic necessity.  And Paro into yet another rich socialite who only cares about her broken heart and never considers using all her wealthy to do any good in the world.  And that’s not even talking about how all the older woman in the film are shown to be short-sighted, petty, and status-focused.

(Meanwhile, that same year, Jaya Bachchan in Koi Mere Dil Se Pooche is encouraging her daughter-in-law to remarry even if it means she has to kill her own son.)

But, as I said, very pretty!  A very pretty film.  I could watch the songs over and over again.  And have.  I only hope I still can, now that I know the movie that surrounds them.

(Thank goodness, Madhuri is still wonderful)

  Shahrukh Day Once More! My Least Favorite Shahrukh Film Bit of a controversial one, sorry if you like it, but I just don't! And if you also don't like it and have a hard time articulating why, maybe this review will help you.

[chrismaverickdotcom]

Choices need to be made... (a NO-SPOILERS Star Wars: The Last Jedi review)

(Note: I actually saw Star Wars: The Last Jedi Thursday night with Max, Steph and Jenn. I had grading to do today so that slowed down the review process. This was a weird movie to review, but as always I will try to keep it spoiler free, at least until the comment. But I mean, honestly, if you’re reading this, you’re going to see the movie anyway… and probably already have.)

One of my favorite books and favorite movies is Michael Chabon‘s Wonder Boys. Yeah, I bet you didn’t expect to see a Star Wars: The Last Jedi review start off like that, did you? I’m full of surprises. Trust me, I’ll get to the main event in a bit. Anyway, there are a lot of things I like about both the book and the film (I’m talking Wonder Boys here still) but there’s one point I want to bring up from both. At one point the characters share a piece of advice that I heard often from my creative writing mentor the late Hilary Masters: “writing is about making choices.” After sharing this, one character tells another (about the fictional novel that he is writing inside the book) that perhaps a problem is that he “didn’t make any choices at all.” Everything that he possibly could put in the book is in the book… including the family lineages of all the horses ridden by the all the characters.

One of the biggest complaints people have when they see a film adaptation of a book is “but the book was better, because the movie left out ____” Wonder Boys, the movie, leaves out one of my favorite subplots entirely. In fact, several characters (the main character’s wife and her siblings) are left out of the film which would drive that subplot. Eliminating the characters that weren’t needed to streamline the story for the screen was just a choice the filmmakers made. The movie was better for it.

Choices needed to be made.

In Star Wars: The Last Jedi, I’m afraid that Rian Johnson the director didn’t make any choices at all.

One of the biggest complaints people make about franchise tentpole films lately is that nothing really happens. They follow a formula and there’s not really a plot so much as a paint by numbers. That is not the problem here. There’s is certainly plot. SOOOO much plot… there’s plot just dripping out of this. There’s a LOT of movie here.

I’m glad I didn’t just review this last night when I watched it. I might have given it a really low score. I needed to let thing sink in and process. There is just so much going on. And at first I wasn’t sure if I liked that. Frankly, I’m still not. But I have had enough time to realize there are some things that I definite did like. There are also some things that I definitely didn’t.

Back when I reviewed Blade Runner 2049, I said that the film would have been better served if it had simply made up it’s mind that it was going to be a TV series rather than a movie. That’s probably what should have happened here as well. This is a 2.5 hour movie. There was enough going on that it probably could have been stretched out to eight and would have been better for it. And if it had to be a theatrical release… then some things needed to be edited out. And now that I’ve slept on it, I think I know what could have been removed in order to make it work better.

Finn!

Yeah… that’s right. Finn.

I can go into spoilers later in the comments and be more specific, but to do it without spoilers, I can say that… I just don’t care about Finn’s plot line at all in this movie. It is the least interesting thing that goes on, and honestly, it is almost entirely superfluous. I don’t want to say it doesn’t matter to the greater narrative. It does. But only because the film wants it to. With a few simple changes, the film could have been written in such a way that it just ignored him entirely.

That’s not to say that I don’t like him. He was one of my favorite parts of the previous film. Here, it just felt like he was here because he’s one of the stars of the franchise. And he needed to have something to do in order to justify paying the actor. There’s a good half an hour of content with him that honestly just belongs in a different movie entirely. If this had been a TV show, there’d just be Finn episodes. But since it’s a movie, he’s just cobbled together into the story and it comes together as somewhat distracting from the important things that are going on. There’s similarly other trimming that could have happened. But this is the big one. Had I written this movie I probably would have just left him out entirely. I recognize the issue with this as he is the sole black member of the cast and apparently Star Wars can only have one at a time (seriously, where the fuck is Lando?). But it really did feel like the film just needed to try way too hard to make sure he has *something* to do. It’s not that the plot line was awful. It just doesn’t belong in this movie… Choices have to be made.

On the other hand, there are things that I definitely did like. I’d say that Finn was the D plot line. The A plot line belongs to Rey. The B plot line belongs to Kylo Ren and the C plot line belongs to Poe Dameron. I liked all of these. But there was an integration problem.

One of my own personal chief complaints with The Force Awakens was that Rey was in fact, a Mary Sue. It’s what most of my review of that movie was about. That’s fixed here. The character now has nuance beyond “she’s the fanboy interpretation of what Luke would be from before, except now it’s a girl and she’s amazing!” There were places in this film where it felt like she struggled. There were places where it felt like she could lose. There were places where it felt like she grew. I enjoyed the way Daisy Ridley played her interactions with other characters, and there was enough going on that intrigued me that I honestly want to see more of her. In fact, there are a couple problems with this movie where they cut short some interesting things that she was doing to make room to explore the C and D plot lines… a problem that could have been alleviated by cutting the D plot. Again… choices.

Similarly, there was much growth for the Kylo Ren character. I still don’t personally like Adam Driver‘s interpretation of him, but that is just something that can’t be gotten away from given the last film. Choices were made back then that I didn’t necessarily agree with, and now we have to roll with them. Given what they were, I felt like there was definitely progression and depth in the character. Most of the things that I didn’t like with him are due to me not liking Driver’s performance. I can’t get lost in the character. I am simply too aware that it is Driver and not Kylo/Ben. That said, the choices that are written into this film make sense and in the places where his plot line touches Rey’s A plot, it really shines.

The C plot line with Poe is maybe the most interesting thing to analyze. In the previous film, I really didn’t give a shit about Poe. Not at all. He just didn’t seem to matter and I felt like “why didn’t this guy just die?!?!” And from what I’ve learned since, in early drafts he was supposed to. But they liked Oscar Isaacs and decided to keep him around, which ultimately left him not mattering at all in Episode VII. That’s sort of fixed here. He’s probably the most important part of this film. And while I did enjoy seeing his movie, it really is a different movie than the other three major plots. In fact, I may have been most invested in him as a character in this particular film, for similar reasons to the things that *I* liked about Rogue One and everyone else hated. What makes it weird is that this is the plot line that is used to tie the other three threads together. I think this is mostly because there was no way to tie in the D plot line to the A and the B, so it had to happen here. It was the one thing that could touch the other plots.

With all of the plot going on, one thing sort of suffered. The Star Warsiness of the movie. I actually kind of liked that… kind of. I like Johnson as a filmmaker a lot. I like the way in which he metatextually comments on the genre within the film. This happened a lot in Looper. What makes it weird here is that it felt very un-Star Wars. This whole movie felt tonally wrong. It felt more like his own vision of a Star Wars inspired space drama than it did like an installment of the original series. Sort of a Star Wars reimagined… only it’s not. It IS the main series. And that makes it feel weird. I typically like each installment of a film franchise to stand on its own as best as it can. Star Wars I give a little leeway to because they really are produced as chapters of of a longer work… but those chapters are generally very cohesive. They fit in place very well. This one very much doesn’t. And since I don’t see JJ Abrams following the same tonal shift in the next one… that’s going to be weird.

And it was weird in this one as well. Because about two hours into the movie, Rian Johnson suddenly remembered that he was making a Star Wars movie and collapsed the A, B and D plot lines all back into plot C. And to make it Star Warsy, he just kind of dumped a stock Star Wars set piece in. And this is the kind of thing that I expect a lot of people will love. It was very Star Warsy. And it sucked. I hated it. I love the Star Wars. But the film had sort of moved beyond that… and it was jarring to be brought back. There’s a definite point where it felt like the producers said “well, this is all fine and good, I guess… but where’s all the Star Wars? Give us some of the Star Wars here please” and so… they just did….  for no real reason.

That’s not to say that the movie is bad. This is not one of the prequels. But it’s a much more complex movie than Star Wars really has to be. Maybe more complex than it should be. The metacommentary sort of attempts to be a deeper film than I think anyone is necessarily looking for in a star wars movie. It struggles with not only the classic Star Wars themes of hope and destiny and good and evil, but also tries to delve deeper into their nature. Why hope? Does destiny exist? It also touches on issues of class, war, politics and race. And as I said earlier, it even questions the nature of the Star Wars franchise… directly. Several times. In fact, one of my most favorite parts of the movie is something that I actually jokingly suggested before that I thought would be cool. But that I never in a million years thought would happen… because they don’t let people like me write Star Wars movies. And yet, they actually did it. That said, that’s a lot of themes to deal with. And there are a lot of plots. And a lot of characters. Too many. I know most people who are fans of the film won’t think that. But I ask you… once you’ve seen it, can you tell me what Billie Lourde’s character’s name is? I’m not sure they ever said. I mean, I know because I looked it up. But I bet some significant portion of the people who saw the movie are saying “Who the fuck is Billie Lourde?” And yeah… exactly. Choices should have been made.

But it won’t matter. It’s a Star Wars. People will see it. And while it’s not as bad as a BvS or anything, but I do worry that it was pushing the envelope a little too much towards being too self-referential and self-indlugent. It wanted to do too much. It didn’t quite enter the realm of badness, but it flirted with it. And if it didn’t have a Star Wars logo on it, I wonder if people would give it the chances they will.

★★½☆☆ (2.5 out of 5 stars… and everyone will complain because clearly I should have said it was the best movie ever, but it’s not… it’s conflicting)

Spoilers are ok in comments, just make sure you clearly mark them as such. Feel free to ask me for my opinion on any of the details. I might even start some myself.

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Choices need to be made… (a NO-SPOILERS Star Wars: The Last Jedi review) was originally published on ChrisMaverick dotcom

[occupyvenus]

Deus Ex Machina to the rescue!!!

!!!This post will contain some spoilers from the leaked episode 6 AT THE VERY END. I will put those under a cut and warn you before I get to them You can safely read until that point as long as you are caught up on 7x05!!!

As a book-reader ooc-disease and not giving a shit about the setting and rules established in asoiaf upsets me. But I can kinda live with that, it’s an adaptation and has to be changed for mass-appeal. I’m not happy about it all, don’t get me wrong, but I can simply take the show as a simplified fanfiction-version of the book series. 

But what really pisses me off as a mere show-watcher(!) is that Douchebag&Dipshit have been creating fake tension by ex machina-ing the shit out of the series since season 6. It’s bad writing in any show or movie, but it’s especially appaling here, because that’s exactly what the show is NOT SUPPOSED TO BE. This is connected to them not working with the source material anymore, but it mostly shows how bad story-writers they themselves are. 

For those of you who don’t know what “deus ex machina” means, here are some lines from wikipedia: 

The term has evolved to mean a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem is suddenly and abruptly resolved by the inspired and unexpected intervention of some new event, character, ability or object. Its function can be to resolve an otherwise irresolvable plot situation, to surprise the audience, to bring the tale to a happy ending, or act as a comedic device. 

It is generally deemed undesirable in writing and often implies a lack of creativity on the part of the author. The reasons for this are that it does not pay due regard to the story's internal logic (although it is sometimes deliberately used to do this) and is often so unlikely that it challenges suspension of disbelief, allowing the author to conclude the story with an unlikely, though perhaps more palatable, ending. 

To put it in simpler terms: It’s when some random bullshit happens to get our protagonists out of a tricky situation. It’s strongly connected to the term “plot-armour”.

It’s a plot device tv-watchers and moviegoers are so used to that we are expecting it every time our protagonists are in danger. “He’s the main character. He can’t die.” *Some bullshit happens* “See? Of course he didn’t die.”

We all expected some deus ex machina to swoop in and save Ned from the executioner's block, Robb and Cat at the Red Wedding and Jon when he was stabbed by his brothers. But it didn’t come. That’s what made these events so shocking and surprising. Because they went against our expectations, acquired after consummating hours of mainstream-media, completely. That’s what made GoT famous and shocking and fresh. Everyone was in danger, everyone could die, because grrm and GoT DON’T DO DEUS EX MACHINAS. If you can’t find a solution that has been carefully set up, there probably is none and our characters are fucked. Not only are Dickhead&Dumbass ruining the characters and the world-building, they are ruining the core narrative concept of what made this show so successful. Turning it into a 0815, predictable, action, fantasy TV-show. 

Having one every now and then is fine, but if it happens too often ... you stop giving a shit about what happens on screen. Because why should you be scared for a character if he gets out of every situation somehow anyway? It’s bad writing if you resolve most conflicts with it. Mostly because it happens because the author wanted it to happen, not because it makes the most sense within the story. You might not be aware of it, but your brain is. 

All of this wouldn’t bother me if this was about anything else, but again: THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT GOT IS NOT MEANT TO BE. THE SERIES IS FAMOUS FOR NOT BEING LIKE THAT. 

I’ve been scratching my head to think of a real, obvious deus ex machina moment prior to season 5 or 6. If you can name one please let me know. The thing coming closest to it might have been the wildfire-trick in the battle of blackwater, but it doesn’t really fit the bill because Aerys and the pigshit were properly established before it was used. Stannis attacking the Wildling camp might come pretty close, but we knew that Stannis received the letter from the Night’s Watch and we knew that Melisandre cares about the all the stuff happening beyond the wall. 

There are a few events that have some characteristics, but I can’t come up with a single instance really worthy of that title from previous seasons, but a handful from season 6 and season 7. That’s not good

Here are a couple of Deus ex machinas from season 6 & 7 I can come up with from scratch (7x06 under the cut): 

Brienne saving Sansa and Theon from the Bolton men.

Brienne missing Sansa’s candle in the broken tower is like the opposite of a deus ex machina. Some random bullshit happens in the perfect moment for our heros to miss something important. 

Benjen - the ex machina - Stark saving Meera and Bran. 

The Knights of the Vale ride in to ex machina the shit out of the battle of the bastards. 

Lady Crane can stitch up a bunch of really deep stab-wounds once Arya reaches her. You know Arya should be dead, right? 

Sam healing Jorah by following the instructions in a fucking book. 

Both Bronn and Jaime getting away from the Field of Fire unscared because they jumped in a fucking river. 

I’m sure there are more, but those are the ones that come to mind right away.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!! SPOILERS FOR 7x06 AHEAD !!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You wanna know why everyone but Thoros got out of that stupid wight hunt alive? Why the only human characters dying by the hands of the Dead were nameless side-characters no one gives a shit about? Because this fucking episode was littered with ex machinas of variable sizes and proportions and the GoT-characters have apparently achieved plot armour by now. Thoros himself isn’t even an important side-character. He’s not on the same level as Tormund or the Hound. Fuck, all beloved characters made it out of this shit alive. What the fuck. What am I even watching anymore. 

Thoros gets bitten by giant undead ice bear??? He dead. But wait, what’s this? Beric to the rescue !!!! He did die later, so this might not count, but I’ll keep it in because it perfectly portrays how all the fight scenes this episode went down.

Tormund almost gets killed by Wights. I was pretty sure that’s it for a second, they’re going to drag him underwater, I was already writing his eulogy in my head but ... what’s that? Hound to the rescue!!!!

The D flying in to save them all on her dragons. Just when all seemed lost, after the army of the dead was hold off for the perfect amount of time. Dragons to the rescue!!!!

Jorah almost falls down from the dragon? Somebody (forgot who... the hound again?) to the rescue !!!!

Benjen literally only shows up to ex machina Jon out of that situation. Them meeting had no other purpose, didn’t further the plot in anyway, didn’t achieve anything at all, but to create some cheap cheap tension, resolved within a heartbeat by another fucking ex-machina. They wrote him into that scene for the only purpose of being a fucking deus ex machina. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was *this* close to crying when he showed up, what have they done to this show? What Jon got separated from the group, he has to get by on his own beyond the wall? Don’t worry, EX MACHINA UNCLE BENJEN TO THE RESCUE!!!! Jon could have just get on that fucking dragon with anyone else, wouldn’t have made any difference. 

While we’re at it: Them finding a single, lonely white walker talking a handful of wights for a walk in the park was ex-machina-ish as well. How will the catch a wight? Oh look, a manageable amount has split from the massive army for whatever reason. And when Jon kills the WW all but one drop dead. When they only need one. How convenient. How very fucking convenient. 

If this was still the Game of Thrones we grew to love in the first seasons, most of these characters would be dead. Tormund would be dead, the Hound would be dead, Gendry would be dead. Hell, I was hoping that the Hound would die and Beric would give him the last kiss to bring him back to life or some other shit like that. Giving their “why are you still alive you asshole?” conversation from episode 1 some depth. But no, all main-ish characters have plot-armour now, tell me why I should give a shit about any of this anymore? 

It’s pretty obvious what their thought process was... Well, someone has to die. First the Wights can pick off all nameless dudes, you know so the audience knows this is serious business .... but someone with a name ...Not Jon, obviously. Not Jorah either, we just brought him back and he still has that Samwell Tarly, the-D-burned-the-father-and-brother-of-the-man-who-saved-his-life issue to sort out, he also has *whatever role* to play in the future.... Tormund? No, people love Tormund. He’s funny. But make it look like he’s going to die because of the “tension”. Gendry? We just brought him back and *some bullshit still has to happen with him*... Leaves us with The Hound, Beric and Thoros. mmmhhhh 

They picked Thoros, because they knew that the audience cares about him the least. That’s why HE had to go. It’s shitty writing and it’s only one of the reasons ( the fucking stupid plot itself, the fucking stupid starkbowl and the fucking stupid targcest ... though I still have hope that the later two are bait-and-twist’s) why this episode sucked balls. It was a nonsensical, badly written piece of shit hour of television. I can’t even tell you how disappointed I am in the show right now.

Seriously this episode followed the most simple action-movie-climax pattern there is: Main character and a bunch of main-ish characters go on a dangerous mission. All extras die. Least interesting main-ish side character dies for a tear inducing scene. Rest of the characters all get super close to dying at one point, but get safed in the last second. puuuhhhh that was close. They get into a hopeless situation they could never get out of by themselves or in any other conceivable way. A really powerful semi-ally, whose trustworthiness or availability was unclear until now, flies in (literally this time) to save them in the last minute, just when all seems lost. Earning their trust and coming on board with their cause in the process. Hero wants to sacrifice himself, but gets out alive because of some bullshit. Shows up at the very end, when everyone else thought he was dead and were about to leave. They ultimately accomplish their goal. End with a “romantic” - ugh - scene. 

Cut. 

Bullshit. 

[attract-mode-collective]

Review: Fabricated City

I’ve been living in New York City for over two decades now, and each passing year (more like each passing month, or week, or hour, or minute) I ask myself why in hell do I bother sticking around? But then comes summer time, aka the best time, cuz it’s Asian movie time. Otherwise known as the New York Asian Film Festival!

Seriously, if there’s one thing that the Big Apple can continue to lay claim towards, and proudly, it’s how there’s absolutely no better place on earth to be if you’re a cinephile, with the NYAFF as the undisputed number 1 reason for 16 years now. Though why am I mentioning all this, on a video game blog? Well, that’s because…

This year features a film that’s video game related! Obviously. It’s been a while, ever since the 2012 edition brought us the live-action adaptation of Ace Attorney, and before that, there were the live-action adaptations of both The Onechanbara and Yakuza in 2008. Though this year’s Fabricated City has much more in common with something I saw all way back in 2003, Resurrection of the Little Match Girl.

Because Fabricated City is not based on a game but an original story (if you can call it that) and also hails from South Korea. It’s by director Park Kwang-hyun, his first film since 2005’s Welcome to Dongmakgol, which long-time goers of the NYAFF still fondly remember (like myself). Going in, expectations were high, especially after reading one reviewer describe it as: “an updated version of Park Chan-wook's Oldboy set in the world of online video games.”

Well, ummm…

Fabricated City stars Kwon Yu (portrayed by Ji Chang-wook), who is the captain of a squad of online gamers (hence his nickname, Captain). They all play a first person shooter that strongly resembles Call of Duty, so much so that the film opens up with the team in the middle of a fracas that basically mirrors that Super Bowl ad for Modern Warfare 3 from years back. The rest of the team is quite capable, with each member specializing in a skill of some kind, be it sharpshooting or demolitions. Except for Mr. Hairy, who is considerably less than equipped and in fact is perpetually frightened of all the gunfire.

So two minutes in and I’m already confused. I’m assuming anyone else would be too, unless he or she was completely unaware of the visual cues that what we’re watching is a realistic depiction of a scene in a video game (or is completely unaware of the film’s plot beforehand). Cuz why would someone be acting all scared like this? It’s not like whomever is playing a scary video game. True, often you have to forget about what you know about a movie beforehand while watching, to go with flow, but in this instance... it’s just confusing.

After a scoring a victory, despite the fact that the Captain was killed in the line of fire, due to saving Mr. Hairy’s hairy ass, we cut to reality… Inside an internet cafe is where the real Kwon Yu spends all his time, playing video games and not looking for a job. Which drives his single mother up the wall. We also find out that the Captain is a mystery to his teammates and he subsequently has never met them in IRL.

A phone rings next to his booth and Kwon Yu answers; it’s the owner, who left it behind, and she asks him to return it back to her. At first he doesn’t want to bother, but the hefty reward is too much to pass on. So he drops it off at the woman’s apartment, with zero fuss or muss. But when she ends up raped and murdered, guess who’s the suspect? The Captain becomes public enemy number oneand is sentenced to life in jail without parole (thanks in part to the seemingly gutless public defender’s halfhearted defense).

Not surprisingly, the Captain immediately becomes the target of the big dog of the yard and his posse, who savagely beats our hero into submission, or so that’s his plan. But Kwon Yu fights back, despite being outnumbered, largely due to the fact that he knows how to handle himself (as a former taekwondo star before being kicked off the team for aggressive tendencies). Though the primary source of his resolve is mom, who tells her son that she’s trying her best to get him outta there. But when she unexpected commits suicide, all hope seems lost. Until Kwon Yu is befriended by the single person that no one messes with in jail; a cannibal serial killer who takes a liking to the young man that has guts enough to stand up the big bully.

Alas, their friendship only lasts long enough for Kwon Yu to make his escape. As a fugitive, the Captain discovers that he truly is enemy number one, though there’s one lone voice out there, trying to prove to the world that the evidence simply doesn’t add up: it’s Mr. Hairy! Captain eventually meets up with his teammate, who turns out to be a super cute girl. Gee, what a surprise. As well as a super shy girl; Hairy can only communicate with Captain on the phone… even if they’re in the same room.

It’s worth mentioning how, at this point, I was more than a little disappointed in Fabricated City; there was hardly any video game to this video game movie, which itself was pretty bland and predictable. I honestly would have shut it off, if not for the acting chops the star, Ji Chang-wook, who does his best to add in as much heart and soul into such a one dimensional character that the film will allow. Though things started to pick up (or so I thought) when the rest of the team shows up. Again, as expected, their real world selves betray their video avatars: one’s a sorta young dude, another is kind of middle aged, and the third is practically a grandpa. No one seems like the typical gamer-type, which is neat I guess.

There’s actually seven squad members, but the other two are porn stars who are simply too busy to show up. Anyhow, the remaining five go on a mission to clear the Captain’s name, and along the way they discover the existence of an organization that covers up heinous behavior of the rich and powerful, by framing innocent individuals (like, you know, Kwon Yu). Naturally the inept public defender is the evil architect of it all, whose super fancy desk is basically the 21st century version of the one Dillinger uses to communicate with the MCP in Tron. And is there an attempt to haxxor said desk? You bet there is!

Easily my biggest issue with the film is its overuse of movie magic. Two minutes into the proceedings, one gets the feeling that the director is perhaps unfamiliar with video games, which is already an issue. Yet the logic flaw that I described above, at the very least, helped to establish character, and the dichotomy between the Mr Hairy we see at the very beginning and the real person that is revealed is at least somewhat entertaining. Whereas when the good guys create drones to spy on the bad guys, which are conveniently able to listen to conversations through walls, cuz they can all do that you see… it would appear that Park Kwang-hyun also has a less than firm grasp of technology. The example given is just one of several transparent attempts at covering up plot holes, which gets super dumb, super fast.

Towards the end, the Captain exhibits all sorts of extraordinary abilities. Being able handle himself in a fight makes sense, it’s established that he knows how to punch and kick. But his death defying driving skills? While it would have been super cliched to connect it to time spent with driving video games, at least that would have been some other connection to video games that I was craving for. So, as a video game movie, Fabricated City is a disappointment and certainly not the new Resurrection of the Little Match Girl I’ve been craving. While hardly perfect, it at least had plenty of attempts at connecting video games with the real world, as goofy as they were. Like how God was a French guy who runs an arcade in heaven. Fabricated City is just not nearly as interesting.

Though simply taken for what it aims to be, an action crime drama, it fails in that too. Largely due to the aforementioned overuse of technology to get the Captain and his team out of hot water, time and time and again. It’s perhaps unfair or flat out foolish to state the following, since there’s only one previous film to his credit, but Fabricated City feels like a movie by a director trying to do something totally different. And the result is either a refreshing take on a genre or a total mess, cuz the director doesn’t realize that he’s actually doing what has been done before, yet not as well. Still, Ji Chang-wook’s performance is fairly engaging, so if you want to tell people that you saw one of his earlier work when he inevitably becomes the talk of Hollywood, you’ll have that chance on July 15, at 3:00PM.

In the end, Fabricated City is legit the rare dud in an otherwise phenomenal line-up for this year’s NYAFF. May I suggest instead a Filipino take on American teen romance flicks, with a heavy dose of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? To learn more about that one, simply head on over to my personal blog, which used to be mostly about video games but is now mostly about Asian movies as a whole. Though I’m not done talking about video game movies. In fact, I’ve got another review in the wings, either next week or the next…

Don’t forget: Attract Mode is now on Medium! There you can subscribe to keep up to date, as well as enjoy some “best of” content you might have missed the first time around, plus be spared of the technical issues that’s starting to overtake Tumblr.

[mirrorfalls]

Wonder Woman - assorted thoughts

(This disjointed excuse for a review made possible by contributions from Baroness @lauralot89 and viewers like you. Thank you.)

Well, I suppose I should start this with a disclaimer that I’ve never seen any of the other DCEU movies (it took me a good long while just to warm up to Harley’s Squad costume), so those who view this one in the context of the DCEU’s arcs and themes as a whole may find additional reasons to be elated or disappointed. That said...

It was good. Not great, but with the numbers of things that it - that any Wonder Woman origin, really - had to juggle, that was perhaps never in the running...

Alright, the way I see it, the chief stumbling-block in Wonder Woman’s mythos (at least, where connecting her to the wider DC Universe is concerned) is... well, the mythology. To accept the Amazons, the audience must also accept that actual Gods exist, and that those same Gods have been influencing human society and behavior since the dawn of time. This is kind of a problem in the modern superhero genre, which is largely built on individualism, emphasizes both good and evil as conscious human choices, and distrusts any authority that isn’t 100% deferential to the hero 100% of the time (I believe @ragnell has some choice posts on the modern trend of pitting Wonder Woman against her own pantheon, and how toxic it is as a storytelling choice). When Diana and Steve are making eyes at one another, for instance - do they love each other for what they are, or are they merely dancing to Aphrodite’s will?

(Thor weaseled out of this by portraying the Asgardians as a distant alien kingdom whose pre-Avengers interactions with Earth amounted to “dropped a Plot Coupon here a couple millenniums ago, also inspired some old stories” - but from what I understand, mortals have never been as important to Norse myths as they have been to Greek ones. Thor and Loki are first and foremost princes and brothers in their own Godly realm, not stewards of mortal functions like love, communication, or dying.)

Wonder Woman tries to head this problem off by emphasizing Ares (and maybe Zeus...?) is the only Olympian still alive by 1917, but even then, there’s a delicate balancing act. Make Ares too big of a villain, and the audience will come away with the impression that all (or at least most) human evil can be blamed on some upstart God; too little, and you’re left wondering whether our heroine made any difference at all in the grand scheme of things. I can’t say Jenkins and the writers didn’t try for balance, but it came off more as bet-hedging - there’s a big song-and-dance about how beating up one guy won’t accomplish anything, and yet that one guy was the reason Steve had to make his big sacrifice at all...

In vaguely related topics - hinging the central conflict on “stop the bad guys from fucking up the peace process” rather than “turn the War in favor of the good guys” is a neat idea on paper, but in practice it sort of feeds into that “did we make any actual difference” issue. To mitigate this, I think the movie should’ve portrayed more of the War from the cheap seats, show off just how much the average citizen's life sucks and how much they have to gain from peace. There are little allusions to things like racism and PTSD, but give me a soldier who tries to charge into No Man’s Land because he just can’t take being cooped up in the trenches anymore; give me a mother who has to divide a single, half-rotted apple among five children; give me the specter of polio and typhus and Spanish Flu hanging over it all, preying on a populace too tired and poor and uprooted to even bathe regularly.

(I suppose I should also say something about the Diana’s birth, which I believe was the biggest pre-release kerfuffle among fandom, but the bet-hedging is even worse in this department, like the writers are leaving a backdoor open to any combination of retcons. @bluefall-returns, you have any particular thoughts on this?)

As for the villains... Field Marshal Whatshisface and Dr. Poison are largely disposable, though I liked the Doctor’s quarter-mask, and that scene where they laugh and twirl mustaches over all the generals trapped in the gas-filled room give me some good Evil Family Bonding feels. Which is more emotion than Ares ever roused... I didn’t hate him as much as everyone else who saw this movie seems to, but I was begging and praying that for once, the authority figure who’s (apparently) on the heroes’ side wouldn’t turn out to be the traitor, and I was bitterly disappointed. I like the Perezian touches on his armor, but I really wish they kept his face to two glowing coals over a field of black; having his face be actually visible in the helmet just makes him look like a Ren Faire escapee.

Okay, that’s enough whining about the cons. The pros - Diana’s childhood is absolutely adorable; Themyscira as a whole is a gorgeous, functional society that left me wanting to see more; Gadot’s accent isn’t nearly as distracting as I thought it’d be; Steve’s little band is pleasantly diverting without being distracting; Etta is also adorable (though after seeing what @themyskira had to say about the fish-out-of-water bits, I went to get my first refill during the London sequence so I probably missed quite a bit of her); and praise Gaea, there’s no obnoxious #notallmen moral like in the 2009 DTV.

Most of all, though, I loved the use of the Lasso. Unlike previous adaptations, which mostly turned it into a fancy grappling hook during fight scenes (if they didn’t ignore it entirely), here it was almost like a Green Lantern Ring, constantly moving, constantly changing shape, always dangerous. Come to that, I also loved how the Amazons were more than a match for the German soldiers despite being five centuries behind in weaponry, and the scene where Diana charges into No Man’s Land is the first time in a long, long time any superhero movie actually managed to get my blood pumping.

(That said, I agree with @renaroo that there was too much slow-mo; bullet-timing bracelets be damned, it got real old real fast.)

Now, my usher said there wasn’t a post-credits scene, so I only stuck around for about thirty seconds into those, but the Cast List was a pleasant surprise. Euboea! Mnemosyne! Artemis! Sure, none of them had any on-screen names or relevance, but it goes to show someone who worked on this movie cared, and I salute them for all this sequel fuel respect for the source material.

Oh, and the soundtrack was great. More memorable than any Marvel movie I’ve seen, but we’ll see if that holds up a couple weeks down the line...

[waywardravenmedia]

Star Wars Myths and Musings. Episode III: The House of Atreus and Dune

Episode III. The House of Atreus, Dune, and Star Wars.

Catch up on Episode I and Episode II

Some may not be familiar with the mythology involving the ancient Greek story of the House of Atreus, but it has held sway over many mythic developments from antiquity to modern novels, especially Dune by Frank Herbert. At its core, it involves familial/ordained duty in conflict with personal morality/self-determinism, and the abstract of justice, but most of all redemption.    

Let’s start with a scant overview of the Greek myth of which there are a few versions and literary offshoots.

The House of Atreus.

Zeus had a son named Tantalus. Being a bit audacious and arrogant, he wished to test the gods omniscience. Being of the twisted sort, he killed his son Pelops and cooked him up and served Pelops pies (not really pies but you get the picture and it might remind you of the Rat King in Game of Thrones). All the gods could tell except Artemis because she was preoccupied with the kidnapping of her daughter Penelope, so she took a bite. This earned Tantalus a fate where he was sent to the underworld where he would be forever hungry and thirsty but water and food was just out of reach. Thus, the word tantalize. He started an imbalance/curse but would not be able to restore balance/lift the curse, which is the essence of the mythic cycle.  

Pelops was restored to life. He had two sons named Atreus and Thyestes. They competed against each other and wanted the throne of Argos. Some trickery involving a sheep happens along with Thyestes being a rather poor brother by having an affair with Atreus’ wife Aerope, and he ascends the throne. But, Atreus takes it away and like most brothers, a bit of revenge was taken though in extremis. Following in his ancestor’s unwise footsteps, Atreus killed Thyestes sons, cooked them up, and fed them to his bro, who in an odd sort of shaming was sent into exile for consuming his kids. Now, every good ancient myth/drama needs more taboos, as if cannibalism isn’t enough, so a bit of incest goes down with Thyestes and his daughter Aegisthus. Guess who dies as a result? Atreus. It is a cycle of selfishness and revenge. The sins of the past climb down the generations and reflect the previous transgressions.

But that’s not the end. Atreus had two sons (yes, the parallels are obvious) named Agamemnon and Menelaus. Yup, The Odyssey guys. To cut to the chase, Agamemnon pisses off Artemis just like dear old grandpa. And because Agamemnon really wants to go to war with Troy, he must supplicate the goddess to gain the desired wind so his fleet can set sail. What is called for? Yes, you got it. Another sacrifice of a child. More taboos equal more fun.

Agamemnon sacrifices his daughter Iphigenia so he can go to war and keep his promise to his brother to get Helen (of Troy) back. This, as you can understand, quite irks his wife Clytemnestra. The cycle of selfishness and revenge is renewed. She has Agamemnon killed when he gets back and this calls for their son Orestes to kill his mom, as per tradition, which he does with some help from his sister Electra (not the assassin who has a thing for Daredevil).

With no one to avenge Clytemnestra, the divine Furies/Erinyes go after Orestes. Jump to the end, Orestes is made to marry Hermione (not the Granger), daughter of Helen and Menelaus. This is after Apollo, the good old shiny god, sets up the first trial/courtroom in Athens so to end this cycle of retribution. Some say this myth illustrates the advent of the jury system and the growth of civilization from a clan modeled reality where blood is answered with blood, and that in turn must be answered with blood in perpetuity. Resolutions and justice could now take a foothold from the chaotic past. That is what I was taught but what I always took away was that the original sin of the patriarch infected the family line and redemption for the family could only come with stopping the cycle of violence and embracing a non-violent course of settling contentions.

Where does this fit in with Star Wars and Dune?

First, both are family sagas. Second, the sins of the family or father must be redeemed by the sons. The imbalance that was caused by an initial “divine/spiritual” action had to be brought back in balance with the natural/physical world.

It is evident that Dune influenced science fiction after its publication. The direct line of influence by the House of Atreus on Dune is overt in the name of protagonist. Paul Atredies. Atreus is translated from ancient Greek as “No Fear” or no tremble to be accurate. The descendant of Atreus are called Atreidai in the plural or Atreides in the singular.  Overcoming fear is a big deal in Dune. It is spoken of in the Litany Against Fear by the Bene Gesserit and it is fear that keeps the Bene Gesserit from being “all places at once” with a powerful prescience ability that Paul obtains. Fear as a subject matter addressed in science fiction would be forever different after that, and in Star Wars, it is fear that consumes Anakin Skywalker and transforms him into the Sith Lord Darth Vader. It is fear that Luke Skywalker must overcome to redeem his father Anakin Skywalker.

Sure, subjects, topics, themes, can and do flow from many sources but Dune has a direct line from the House of Atreus, and Star Wars borrows a trajectory from foundational science fiction/speculative fiction to manifest a space opera coalesced from mythology. Just the similarities in location and character show the connections. Luke Skywalker is royalty even if he doesn’t know it. His mom was Padme Amidala, once a Queen of Naboo. Paul is the son of Duke Leto Atredies. Both must live in deserts. Powerful emperors plot their destruction or corruption. Both seek the greatest source of power in their universes. Luke the Force and Paul the control of prescience and the Spice Melange, which allows for controlled interstellar space travel and thus is the source of economic control of which all are bound.

Sins of the past or redemption of the father, or family, are the real pepper in the seasoning of the story and what drive Luke in Star Wars (in ROTJ at least) and Paul as he tries to reclaim the rightful place of power back from the Harkonnen, who he happens to be related to by his grandfather, which he doesn’t know until later just like Luke finding out about Darth Vader being his father. The old “We’re related” twist. In the end, Luke and Paul redeem their families. But, Paul really extends the House of Atreus cycle by becoming trapped by able to see the future but not able to change it (very common to Greek myths) and then having his son redeem him, even though it traps him into a destiny that isn’t so cool. Unless you want to be a giant worm that dies if it falls into water. 

"...perhaps the Skywalker family has a longer and more deeply rooted history with the Force than we know. "

The imbalance issue. Restoring balance to the Force is reiterated throughout the prequels and the tv show The Clone Wars. What created the imbalance in the first place? Tricky question. We don’t really know. Maybe that will be addressed in the upcoming movie The Last Jedi. But perhaps the Skywalker family has a longer and more deeply rooted history with the Force than we know. Maybe an ancient Skywalker was one of the people who helped trigger the imbalance and therefore the line of Skywalker was mantled with the responsibility to bring restoration? Sins of the father deal. In any case, Anakin Skywalker did bring the Force back into balance, or so we thought. This would end the cycle of storm and stress, tit for tat, dark and light, but as with any system requiring homeostasis, new introductions of actors or elements can shift to imbalance. Looks like it didn’t last long. Perhaps another family was involved in triggering of the Force imbalance in the past and needs to join with the Skywalkers to really restore it. 

In Dune, it is not Paul who does the real work to save the universe. It is Leto II his son who become a god-emperor/conquering worm. He, and Paul before him, foresees that human stagnation will lead to demise. Leto II recognizes that stagnation in human growth is the imbalance. To create a balance of potential, he becomes the architect of the Great Scattering where humans will need to leave the Known for the unKnown and ruins the old empire. This kicks adaption into gear.

One could parallel this with Anakin Skywalker being prophecized as the “balance bringer” and he does what he thinks is right for his new empire, even if it made him into a tyrant in an exoskeleton with lovely blinking lights and quaint quilted sleeves of black. Then, Luke just like Leto II comes about to save his father from himself and what he created. If you placed Luke Skywalker into a Leto II role, then the next logical step for his story arc would be he would take on his father’s task but direct it in such a way as to destroy it and create a new path or destiny. Leto II saw the error in the old rigid religious way of thinking regarding human civilization, status, and power so he altered it to be so oppressive that humans would eventually try to dismantle it. Casting it away. It worked. Though Luke tried to recreate the Jedi, it failed. He went to exile (Leto did a self-imposed exile before merging with the sand-trout) and seems to have had a revelation about the religious order he followed. In that “… the Jedi must end” from the trailer.  

There are plenty of other elements that link Dune series of novels to Star Wars such as a special set of warriors with super powers, religious sects with rigid doctrine, messiahs, clairvoyant abilities, mystics in the desert, prophecy, twins, dashing rogues who fall in love with a princess (Idaho and Solo rhyme), a penchant for combat with blades/light sabers, forbidden love, desert worlds, and of course odd colored eyes.  Lastly, I found it interesting that borrowing from the “Bible” was extant in both works. I mean, the reference to the New Testament is right there with first names, Luke and Paul, but that a whole other influence I don’t want to get into.

Like I have always said to my friends, I always thought Star Wars was Dune blended with tales of King Arthur, strewn with Greek and Celtic mythology, featuring psychic, super-powered samurais in space but it all goes back to the House of Atreus and this could give an idea of where it goes forward.  

So ends the musing of Episode III.

Vox clamantis in deserto.                                    

[ysreen]

Shadowhunters season 2

I’m writing this here but this will probably never be seen but still, I need to get this off my chest!!

WHAT THE HELL IS FREEFORM DOING?

I am a huuuuuuuuge fan of Cassandra Clare’s stories, mainly TMI/TID - I don’t even want to read TDA, Emma’s not a character interesting enough for me. 

I watched the season 1 of the TV show because it is Shadowhunters, a universe I love. I did, in spite of my enormous disappointment with a big part of the cast. I watched it, with the hope that they wouldn’t destroy the essence of the series.... Season one didn’t destroy it, but it scratched it pretty bad, with a lot of nonsense and a Doll-like Clarissa and a Football-team-captain Jace, a so not French-looking Camille Belcourt (Shall I remind someone that she is supposed to be a beautiful blond haired blue eyed woman? They got the beautiful part, but she looks more like a latino than a Frenchie from the court of King Louis XIV, just saying). Lydia (never mentioned in the books) and Alec’s wedding was only fan service and useless ploot-wise. The revelation about Alec’s sexual orientation should have happened like in the books, because it’s at a very very important moment. The return of Jocelyn to life was messed up as well. But these were the worst parts for the season 1.

Now moving on to season 2: Freeform is butchering the show. I know it is not supposed to copy the books. But as the main fanbase is the one who’s familiar with the original story, they could have done much better than this unnameable BS! Jocelyn dying in episode 4? Sorry what? Jocelyn is present in the very last pages of the last book!!!!!! Jace and Clarissa meeting Ithuriel BEFORE another veeeeery primordial character’s apparition?? Oh no, gosh no!!!!! It’s total nonsense! Izzy getting high on Yin Fen? What? Okay that’s cute to put a reference to Jem and TID here, but that’s plain stupid and doesn't bring anything to the story. Too many characters being Out of Character since episode one. I’m watching until the end, and I will watch the next season if they do another. But only out of curiosity, and with the slimmer-by-the-day hope that they will salvage the show and get it back on track eventually.

There was a lot of negative criticism after the movie was released, but every Book’s fan has to admit that it was a lot lot lot more faithful to the original story. All the characters were looking their age - with a lot of issues in their appearance, sure, but still. At the very least Lily didn’t look like she was ready to walk the red carpet on a regular basis, unlike Katherine with her perfect make up and curls. Jaime was able to bring the real sass of Jace, including some pick-up lines, and there was some chemistry between him and Lily. Jonathan Rhys Meyer may have looked too young and as far as possible from the original look of Valentine, but he had the attitude. Alan is doing a good job too, and that’s probably the best character of the whole TV show alongside Izzy. Dorothea was an old possessed witch, and not some sort of sister-like figure to Clarissa... Hodge was a graying bookworm, not some badass young fighter... There are so many disturbing things in the TV show I can’t even list them all.... Inquisitor Herondale coming in season 1??? whaaaat? She’s so very important a character that it was insane to bring her in so early! 

Another thing, and I am going to get beaten I’m sure: they put to many emphasis on Alec and Magnus’ relationship. It’s pure fanservice here too, and that’s a filler for the plot holes they created. It was supposed to be a cat and mouse relationship. Not a full-on “I crash your wedding and you kiss me in front of the whole Clave and then you come to my home and we make out some more then argue then make up and repeat”. They are leaving out too many important parts (Alec’s jealousy over his previous lovers and Magnus’ temper are just barely hinted when it is supposed to be the axis of the relationship between them).

I have seen a lot of adaptations from books. A lot. But... this...thing... is by far, the worst of the worst ever done. It just looks like they took the six books, and picked random pages while blindfolded and then tried to put them together... 

You may hear a lot of hate in here, and as well you should. The only thing keeping me watching is the universe it comes from. 

As a final note, I am currently wondering if they are going to add J.C Morgenstern (better known as....)  in the TV show... Because the events right now sure don’t give a clue... And IF they do, AND miscast the actor, their is going to be a riot... because even as an antagonist, he is one of the most loved characters of the whole franchise..... 

That will be all. (for now)

[i-just-like-commenting]

“Still Star-Crossed”: a book vs adaptation review comparing the book to the first 3 episodes (book spoilers below the jump)

Before I get into the book itself, let’s talk about the cover for a moment, mostly centering on “Who is this chick? Because she sure isn’t Rosaline.”

I don’t just mean that as someone who saw the show first, where Rosaline is played by a dark-skinned black woman, but based on the description of her in the book:

She has Capulet coloring too: green eyes, olive skin, a rosy mouth prone to pouting. Her tumble of impossibly thick brown curls was pinned back in a twist [.]

So based on that we go with a blue-eyed, pale-skinned model with hair that could barely be considered “wavy”? Someone more like Cosima Coppola but with her hair curled would’ve been a better match. But I guess the marketers (because covers are almost always chosen by marketing, not the author) thought it would sell better if she looked like what they imagined the reader of this book would look like. The design overall is just intensely generic too; there are stonework flowers and skull under the title, but nothing to give you a sense of the sweltering Mediterranean setting that the book actually does a pretty good job evoking. If I looked at the cover I would think it was set in winter.

The book overall is okay. It has problems, which I will be detailing, many of which the show has gone out of its way to fix, but it nonetheless has a solid story, a well-defined central cast, and some neat plot twists that kept me entertained, even if at points some decisions with the romance had me pulling out my hair. I also liked a lot of her little nods to Shakespeare’s other work, especially to Much Ado About Nothing; like all good fan fic writers, Michelle Taub clearly adores her source material. With that said, let’s get down to differences between the book and the show:

Taub attempted to write the dialog in archaic English evocative of Shakespeare. I have mixed feelings about this. While it does allow her to do some cool things with the thee/you distinction, the narration is decidedly not archaic, and jumping between the two is a bit jarring. The show dispensed with most of this and I think that was a wise decision.

The book has a lot more of Juliet’s nurse than has shown up in the series thus far, and she’s very true to the play. I really like the presence of the nurse and I wish the show had kept her more - and hope that maybe this will change in episodes 4-8?

Many plot threads from the show are, it turns out, original, including everything about the cathedral and Juliet’s “ghost.” I think they exist to give the Capulets more depth, which is not a bad idea because the supporting cast in this book is weak. It does make me wonder how those threads are going to fit in with the main plot when the show gets around to it, or whether it will feel like filler when all is said and done.

The book feels enormously lower in stakes than the show. The series has shown Verona on the edge of civil war with its riots, while the book simply has ongoing assassinations and harassment. Nor does the book mention the looming threat of rival cities.

This means that Escalus’ inner struggle is reduced largely to daddy issues and honor rather than a real concern that Verona is going to be conquered by its enemies.

His conflict is also less interesting than in the show because he and Rosaline don’t actually have a previous relationship. Rosaline had a crush on him when she was 7 and he was 9, and has been holding a torch since. He was sent away for reasons unrelated to her, and only slowly realizes his attraction to his childhood friend throughout the book.

Which means that his blackmailing Rosaline into marrying Benvolio is not, as in the show, a recourse taken after a moment of weakness when he almost chooses to marry her. No, it is premeditated. Yeah. Escalus invites her to the party, gets her drunk so that she passes out, then blackmails her all as part of a plan. Book!Escalus is a piece of shit, yet Rosaline forgives him later and the main reason she doesn’t choose him because she’s fallen for Benvolio in the meantime.

Not that Benvolio is that great, either. In the show, Rosaline dislikes Benvolio mostly because of his family (her father was killed by a Montague) and to a lesser degree his reputation as a flake. It’s the kind of setup where getting to know someone easily makes you realize your first impression was wrong. In the book, when they first meet, he physically assaults her, grabbing her arm so hard it hurts, accuses her of being responsible for Romeo’s death because she wouldn’t fall in love with him, and then slut shames Juliet, her best friend. But then we jump to his perspective and he’s attracted to her and conflicted so I guess that makes it okay? I have no problem with a ship where two characters start out being awful to each other but fall in love later, but I do have a problem with the book acting like their antagonism to each other is  belligerent sexual tension; no, sorry, Rosaline has legitimate reasons to hate Benvolio at the outset.

Oh, and obviously from that you can tell that in the book (1) Rosaline and Benvolio were not in on Romeo and Juliet’s plans as they were the in the show, and (2) Romeo’s affection for Rosaline is played up as a big deal. Rosaline initially blames herself for not returning his feelings which is baloney but fortunately she does get over that, as does Benvolio. There’s also no secret plan by Lord Montague to encourage Romeo and Juliet’s marriage; he was against it, and as per the play his wife after hearing about Romeo’s death.

Isabella is barely a presence in this book. She’s happily married to a neighboring Prince and only enters the plot long enough for Escalus to use her in his blackmail plot and for her to point out to Escalus that he’s attracted to Rosaline - though she does get a great final moment at the end of the book that I’ll talk about under the jump.

Lady Capulet in the show is a composite of Lady Capulet herself and the Duchess of Vitruvio who has custody of Livia and Rosaline in the book. They aren’t servants either, instead living in a cottage on the Duchess’ estate.

Events in the show start almost immediately after the end of Romeo and Juliet. In the book, it was three weeks ago, enough to have a real monument erected and not just a model. Yet somehow Paris is still alive even with a festering gut wound? Because Renaissance medicine could do that??? Yeah, I like the compressed timeline better.

Now, on to things from the book that are way past the show, and therefore potential spoilers

Wow I feel bad for all the Paris/Livia shippers on tumblr right now because you are going to be so heartbroken by the time the story is done. Paris is not the shining prince he seems to be, and that’s sort of a point. Rosaline is a woman who thinks that to have the life she wants she can’t be with a man, only to discover in Benvolio that this isn’t true; Livia thinks that her fulfillment requires nothing but a man, only to learn that sometimes men are jerks who want to take over your city.

Could the first time Benvolio kisses Rosaline be any more cliched in how it was written? “His mouth slanted over hers, desperate and possessive,” oh heavens I am having flashbacks to so many fan fics. Also, his first two kisses are “stolen,” as in he kisses her without any particular consent from her and am I the only women who finds that un-hot? It’s probably hypocritical of me, I love it when a woman plants one on a guy unexpectedly (see: the end of Captain America: First Avenger) but not the other way around. Or maybe it’s just that whole dominant tendency thing I am starting to think I definitely have....anyway....

But you know, for the most part Michelle Taub writes fan fic the way I do: she makes really good OCs (Rosaline, Livia), expands on minor figures, focuses a lot on complicated plotting, and throws in fan-friendly nods and references. These can range from Rosaline dressing up as a boy, because she’s a Shakespearean heroine so of course, to the entire ending, where Isabella saves their butts by calling in the Arragonese army, and you know how Claudio and Benedick just came back from a successful battle at the beginning of Much Ado About Nothing? This book ends with that battle which just remembering gives me a huge grin on my face, I love it so much.

It will be interesting to see how the remaining episodes of Still Star-Crossed finish up; with their added plot lines I don’t think they will make it all the way through the book in 8 episodes, though perhaps I’ll be surprised. If it is open-ended, I hope we can get ABC to grant us at least a resolution movie like shows seem to be getting nowadays.

[mredlich21]

Okay, I’ve talked about all the important Devdases, all the good ones that are closely related to the novel and deal with the ideas of hidden tragedies and casual disasters and all those cool things.  Time to deal with the one that is just really really really pretty!

This might end up being my shortest Devdas post of them all, partly because there is less to discuss and partly because I already said so much in my previous posts about the novel and the other interpretations and how this one relates to them.  But on the other hand, it may end up being the post that is most read, since the Bhansali Devdas is the one people are most familiar with.  At least, English reading people who might find my blog.

Here’s the problem with Bhansali’s Devdas in a nutshell: it’s too pretty!  And here’s the best part of Bhansali’s Devdas: it’s so pretty!  So, there’s a conflict there.

Or not.  It can be pretty and still a bad film, because a film should be more than prettiness.  Really, the problem with Bhansali’s film, and this is true for most of his movies, is that if you removed the prettiness, there would be nothing else there.  Get rid of the costumes, the songs, the make-up and jewelry.  Get rid of the elegant dialogue and gorgeous stars.  And, what’s left?  Is there anything at the core of the movie, any soul to the story or the characters that can support this whole pretty pretty infrastructure?  Generally, no.

I love Khamoshi, and I love Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam.  I think they had really interesting things to say, and the characters made me believe in real pain, not just poetic romantic pain.  When (SPOILERS) Manisha’s little brother dies in Khamoshi, or when (SPOILERS) Salman loses Aishwarya at the end of Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, (SPOILERS OVER) that felt like it was more about these characters and how they felt, than about Bhansali standing back and saying “Now, if I make this happen next, I can paint this pretty picture about it.”

(Also, this song is better than anything in Devdas.  Especially the opening and closing. An old woman trying to cheer up her grandchildren and hide her own feelings while the piano she loves is sold to raise money for the household, that makes me feel something)

I can understand Bhansali’s temptation to make movies that are just about the pictures, because his pictures are really really pretty.  But I wish he would stop trying to hang them on top of characters and story, because the story and characters always ends up getting short shrift.  If he just went full MF Hussain and did movies that were abstract loosely connected concepts just in service of the images, I wouldn’t mind as much.

(pretty!  And ultimately meaningless!  Besides providing us with a moment of beauty.  Also, a more realistic vision of the life of a prostitute than anything in Devdas)

Devdas is where Bhansali first switched over for me to feeling like he started with the images and dialogue he wanted, and filled in the plot later.  And, unfortunately, when he filled in the plot, he decided to use the same names for his characters as in the novel Devdas, and lift a few images from Bimal Roy and Barua’s earlier versions.

Or maybe he started with Devdas, with the loose outline of a boy and girl who had a push-pull relationship since they were neighbors as children, almost got engaged as adults but it fell apart, and then he went on to be an alcoholic who hung out with a Tawaif who fell in love for him, while she went on to marry a rich widower.  And then the boy died lying in front of the gate of his childhood friend.  He kept that outline, but then built and built and built on it, until it was basically hidden.  Feel free to ask in the comments, “was this bit in the novel?  Or this?  Or this?”  But really, you can safely assume NONE OF IT was in the novel.  Or any previous version.  90% of the plot is a complete invention of Bhansali.

That wouldn’t be such a problem, I mean Kashyap also invented all kinds of things and made a bunch of crazy changes, but Bhansali’s changes show that he missed the point of the story entirely.  The point of the story is too look past the surface, that the disgusting alcoholic may be hiding a kind nature that makes him too weak to fight for his own rights, whether it is his inheritance or his true love.  That the boring matron, beloved by her children and her charities, might be hiding a passionate nature that once would have done anything for love.  That the glamorous Tawaif may be hiding a practical sense of money and tender nursing skills.  And, most of all, that the most boring everyday story can hide a certain beauty.  The beauty isn’t supposed to be right there on the surface wopping us in the face all the time!

(Wop! Wop!  Wop!  THEY ARE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL AND DRAMATIC AND PERFECT LOVERS OF ALL TIME!!!  BOW DOWN IN ENVY OF THEM!!!)

Devdas is supposed to be a drama-less tale.  A poetry-less tale.  No one besides Dev and Paro even knows their hearts were broken.  That is their tragedy, that they are awkward and unable to convey their emotions.  That they don’t want to make any issues or cause concerns for their family, so they never tell anyone how they feel and keep it all inside.

(Bhansali’s Paro.  Not exactly keeping her feelings to herself.)

Now, if you only saw the Bhansali version, did you get any of that?  Here’s some other things that were important in the novel and the previous versions: Paro is so beloved by her new family and children, that her son is even willing to break with his new wife over a perceived slight to her; Chandramukhi is good at her job, but is a somewhat average Tawaif, a little over the hill and small time without much in savings, forced to economize when she gives up her career because of her love for Dev; Dev by halfway through is such an unpleasant addict, begging his brother for money, dangerously thin, and full of nervous energy that his old friends find him kind of gross and only Chandra can put up with him.  Did you get any of that either?

Back in my first post, I broke down the 5 important points, as I saw them, from Devdas the novel that were carried through into the most important Hindi Devdas adaptations, Barua in 1936, Bimal Roy in 1955, and Dev D in 2009.  Here they are again:

Childhood as a time of innocence and happiness and promise, although already over-shadowed by personality flaws that will ultimately destroy them.

A failed romance that never even really starts in adulthood, truly over before it began, before they can fully grasp what they have lost.

Chandramukhi as a figure who starts as a one dimensional fantasy, and slowly becomes more solid and practical and “real” than anyone else, the only character to talk about rent and groceries and money.

Dev as a figure who becomes not just tragic, but kind of gross.  He is described in the novel, and somewhat played in the ’36 and ’55 and Dev D films, as being ill, unpleasant to look at, with sunken eyes and cheeks and an odd demeanor.  In the novel, after death, his body is half-burned, then pecked by vultures and then fought over by dogs.  It’s not exactly a lovely “dying with his hand outstretched!” image.

Paro as a character who becomes kind of sapped of life.  She is good and generous and charitable, but she also retires to become the sort of dowager of her home, on her wedding night she tells her husband not to worry about their age difference because “Women age quickly”, which is exactly what happens to her.

(Chandra, having given up her career now that love for Dev makes it feel empty, is living on 20 rupees a month and struggling to get by with the bare minimum, while Paro has grown old before her time, is the respected dowager of the house, beloved by her grown children and only interested in her charitable works.  Two women who would never make you think of romance or tragedy are hiding their secret in their hearts, never to be spoken or even hinted at, while society overlooks them.  That’s what this song makes you think of, right?)

So, basically every point there is missed by Bhansali.  I think it’s that point 1 where he lost his way.  The novel, and the Roy adaptation have this bright shining beautiful view of childhood, and their passionate connection, and long days spent together.  It is the loss of that, the loss of their beauty and passion and faith and love, that is like 70% of the novel, and the films.  The romance happens so fast, it is over before the realize what they have lost, and then the rest of their life is spent slowly discovering how their lives were forever changed.

But Bhansali just really liked the idea of the beauty and passion and love and kind of got stuck in that mode and couldn’t let it go.  It would be like if someone made an adaptation of A Christmas Carol and just made it about Scrooge going around being cheap and miserly for two hours, and then ended.

But, okay, I’m going to try to set aside what this adaptation could/should have been, and deal with it on its own, as though it were an original story.

And you know, I still don’t really like it!  Ram-Leela is more or less an original story, and I don’t like that.  Same for Bajirao.  I just don’t like Bhansali!  Well, latter-day Bhansali.

Here’s my problem with Devdas, setting aside the missing the point of the source.  I never get a sense of these people as characters who, like, go to the bathroom.  Or get hungry.  Or sometimes just don’t feel like talking.  They are all perfect all the time, like it is their life’s goal to be beautiful and charming and clever.  Isn’t that just kind of shallow?  To have no purpose in life besides beauty and “loooooooooooooooove”?

I know this sounds like a silly complaint, since isn’t that what all romance characters are like?  But, no!  They aren’t!  Especially not in Indian romances.  Romance isn’t just about “looooooooove”, it’s about what that love means for society, how it can break up society or make it stronger, how it can shake people up and give them greater goals, how it can make you a better deeper person in ways unrelated to your love story.

Like, Sultan!  That film laid it out very clearly.  He cared what Anushka thought about him, which made him look at himself and care about how he was seen in the world, which made him into a better person.  It started with caring about her, making a connection outside of his regular circle, but it lead him on a journey to making a better world.

Devdas, not so much!  Dev himself just drinks and drinks and drinks and never really gets any better (or worse) than he was in the beginning.  Paro is beautiful and faithful, and that’s kind of it, start to finish.  Chandra is lovely and elegant and “fun”, and that’s all she is, start to finish.

(She’s wearing slightly plainer clothes, and doing it with a different purpose, but she is still dancing and singing for men just like before.  She isn’t struggling for money and only dancing when she has to, in order to survive.  And saving Dev through careful nursing, and paying for his expenses and financial support)

Okay, I have to do another novel/other versions comparison.  Not because it “should” have been like the novel, but just to give you another example on how this could have worked for the characters, how their broken hearts could have made them better people.  In this, Chandra saves Dev’s life by “distracting” him, the doctor tells her never to let him be bored.  So she is even more constantly fun and amusing than she was in the beginning.  In the other versions, she comes back to the city after living in a village just to find him, and then nurses him back to health through, you know, nursing!  Messy, unpleasant, unpretty nursing.  In the end, Dev goes from seeing her as just a distracting, a fake woman, to seeing her as noble and generous and enduring, and with a depth at the heart of her that no other man has been allowed to see.

Paro goes from a flighty flirty passionate woman who is always getting into fights, to one with great compassion and generosity.  Once she loses Dev, she doesn’t want anything for herself, which makes her incredibly generous both to strangers (through charities and so on) and to her family, being wise and compassionate and giving to her new daughter and sons and daughter-in-law.  Her broken heart turns her into a better person.

(She dresses plainly and gives all her jewelry to her daughter and daughter-in-law.  She tells her daughter to think of her as “just another servant” in the house.  She gives so many clothes to charity, her daughter-in-law is forced to take control of the household accounts.  Yeah, that’s what I think when I see this picture)

And then there’s Dev.  He slowly loses all the fight in him.  In Bhansali’s version, he walks out of his house after a huge knock down drag out fight with his family over money.  In all the other versions, there is no fight.  That’s the point.  He signs away his inheritance without a second thought, because he doesn’t want to cause a bother, to demand anything from anyone.  It is the same reason he never calls for help from Chandramukhi or Paro at the end of his life.

(A man who lets his inheritance go through just not caring enough to ask for it, slowly fading from the lives of all who knew him.  Or, not)

But in Bhansali’s version, “love” makes no real change in any of these people.  They suffer for it, sure, in the most cinematic and dramatic fashion possible.  But this suffering never teaches them anything, and they never seem to really fight against it, instead they glory in it.  It’s selfish, really.  Enjoying their misery with no thought as to how it affects others or why they should try to be better.

And boring!  Who wants to spend time with people who are all “Dev Dev Dev” “Paro Paro Paro” “Dev Dev Dev” all the time?  Get some other interests, for goodness sake!

There is one thing that Bhansali really nails, the song sequences.  Because song sequences are all about evoking one solitary emotion to the nth degree.  His songs convey what he is too unimaginative to evoke in the rest of the film.  Well, some of them.  He also falls into the trap of conveying the same thing over and over and over again until I have had surfiet of it.

(Right there for the first 2/3rds of this song.  And then by the end Paro is holding the lamp out of the paliquin and Shahrukh is helping to carry it, and I am thinking “Oh just GET OVER YOURSELVES!!!”)

Oh!  That’s what I am thinking of!  Twelfth Night!  Now, in case you don’t remember the original play, Viola is in disguise working for Orsino, who thinks he is in love with Olivia.  But the point is, he isn’t!  He is always swanning around, asking for the musicians to play on “if music be the food of love, play on; give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, the appetite may sicken, and so die.”

Orsino thinks love means being miserable, playing music, reciting poetry.  But Viola knows it is something different, it is about actually doing something, making an effort.  This is her suggestion for how to court Olivia: “Make me a willow cabin at your gate, and call upon my soul within the house; write loyal cantons of contemned love, and sing them loud even in the dead of night; halloo your name to the reverberate hills, and make the babbling gossip of the air cry out ‘Olivia’ O, you should not rest between the elements of air and earth.”

By the end of Twelfth Night, the lovers have been sorted into fools and fakes, and real loves with successful stories versus fake loves that ended in a laugh at how silly it all was.  Orsino ends up with Viola, not Olivia.  Olivia ends up with Sebastian, not Viola who she thought she loved, mistaking Viola’s love for Orsino for love for her.  It is that second half which is missing in Bhansali’s Devdas.  These are all fools!  Terrible shallow fake fools who would rather play music and wait for their love to die away, than make an effort to be happy.  But Bhansali’s film never seems to recognize or acknowledge their shallowness, or invite us to laugh at them.

I have some other problems with this film, like the fetishization of Indian history in an almost “Look!  It’s Colonial Calcutta Disneyland!” way.

(Bhansali’s idea of prostitutes/courtesans in colonial Calcutta, versus PC Barua’s version as someone who actually, you know, hung out with high class prostitutes in colonial Calcutta)

Or the way it was packaged and sold to the west as “the” Indian film, as though this pretty people having pretty problems in olden times is all there is to the entire history of Indian film.  And this is in a year when Company came out!

(The “other” break out hero of India in 2002.  Less dreamy romance, more gangster struggling for survival and afraid to let any weakness show, even love. And also the “other” break out director of 2002, less about big dreamy expensive scenes than brilliantly filmed dirt cheap and dead simple)

Or the way it minimizes the female characters even more than the male, making Chandramukhi into yet another prostitute who just does it for, I don’t know, fun?-instead of economic necessity.  And Paro into yet another rich socialite who only cares about her broken heart and never considers using all her wealthy to do any good in the world.  And that’s not even talking about how all the older woman in the film are shown to be short-sighted, petty, and status-focused.

(Meanwhile, that same year, Jaya Bachchan in Koi Mere Dil Se Pooche is encouraging her daughter-in-law to remarry even if it means she has to kill her own son.)

But, as I said, very pretty!  A very pretty film.  I could watch the songs over and over again.  And have.  I only hope I still can, now that I know the movie that surrounds them.

(Thank goodness, Madhuri is still wonderful)

  #MadhuriDay Part 3: #Devdas, With Madhuri as the Perfect Chandramukhi Okay, I've talked about all the important Devdases, all the good ones that are closely related to the novel…