#this is why season 4 of Westworld was bad btw

[thekimspoblog]

I've been sort of circling this point for a while now. But given how many remakes of public domain stories Hollywood has been putting out recently, I think it's kind of weird we haven't gotten any Animal Farm trailers yet.

Revolutions are hard, and ugly, and even if you win it's an uphill battle not repeating the mistakes of the previous regime. These are themes which are incredibly relevant right now, and yet most of the movies that have come out in the past 5 years discuss the overthrow of tyrants in very black-and-white terms, if at all.

I think what's important to keep in mind is that the farm WASN'T doomed from the start. That while the story has a downer ending, the idea that revolution is a crapshoot is a thought-terminating cliché and misunderstands the point of the book. There were times where it seemed like everything could have worked out for the better... then Snowball was chased off by Napoleon, and the focus shifted from citizen welfare to competing in the human economy, and a caste system began to reemerge. These were tangible missteps which give the reader a deeper appreciation for how hard it is to establish a true democracy. We study dystopias to think critically about or imaginings of utopia, not to simply bum ourselves out.

[ciceroisthefamilycat]

I’ve now done my Frostbite reread (in addition to the VA reread and film rewatch)

After rereading the first book and watching the movie (which took her character to its worst extremes), I was having a hard time remembering why I loved Mia so much- I am now fully reminded. She better not basically disappear after the SK plot in the show like she did in the books. (Also, hi to my son Eddie who begins to develop an actual character this book... you prince, I want to protect you)

Aligned with that, I want as much as we can get of Tasha’s Moroi Magic Movement- ideally with a different ending for that character (oops I really didn’t like the Last Sacrifice conclusion). I also kind of want to see the Dimitri & Tasha shopping trip on screen- one, because I wonder if he had any input on the dress Tasha bought her for Christmas (at least he gave her the sizing?), and two, because it would be a great onscreen foil to the Spokane Shopping for Doom at the end of the book.

If they insist on keeping the “hey Adrian and Dimitri are cousins” twist from Ruby Circle, I want it moved up to Frostbite- otherwise let Dimitri’s paternity stay irrelevant. And don’t turn his abusive shit of a father into comic relief, because that was a huge issue for me. Actually, it would be another great parallel if Dimitri is struggling with his paternity at the same time Rose is finally ~connecting~ with Janine (and getting the nazar). There’s also a bit where Dimitri is in the Ivashkov wing of the resort (first Rose thinks he was visiting Tasha, then he reveals he was at a meeting with her mom in the Szelsky suite) but gosh that would be the perfect place to insert Dimitri dealing with some of his own demons.

I’m not sure if I realized on former reads- when Janine and Rose are alone after Christmas at the end of chapter 9, Janine is trying to give her answers about Abe while Rose is zoning out in her despair over Dimitri/Tasha. That’s something where on screen, I hope they let us hear what Janine is saying (even if there’s some echo effect distorting it a little).

Also, I need them to keep Mia taunting Rose for being punched by Janine in the spar (and the “talk about a face only a mother could love”) so that when they’re on the plane at the end and Mia comforts Rose, we feel it 100% when Mia says Rose is lucky to still have her mother... btw, I remembered crying over these books, but I was not prepared for the pain of Rose sobbing into her mom’s arms on that plane. I had completely forgotten that and it got me hard. VA fandom loves Abe so much (with all the RDJ fancasting, and his connections to Bloodlines) but Janine in this book is everything- so complex and rich.

Onto my pet projects:

a visual effect I really want: in chapter 18, the list of the royal families, with the Badicas and Drozdovs each having an X next to them- I want that paralleled somehow with Rose’s molnija marks for Isaiah and Elena: 2 for 2; ideally, there’s that final scene between Dimitri and Rose, the camera pulls back and we see her marks beneath her ponytail, flash over to the list and an ominous suggestion of an attack (the SK attack) to come

genderbent Adrian: so I fancast Adrian with Aurora Perrineau (who just got a role on Westworld so she’s probably not available anymore but this is my dream and I’m sticking with it); I forgot how much I actually liked Adrian in the original VA series (Bloodlines, especially the latter half, soured me on him hard). That being said- every other character hated him on sight because of his reputation as a Lothario (it’s actually really gross how most of the characters react, and I did not like it). So genderbending Adrian would actually be kind of tough because suddenly Mason, Christian, Dimitri, and Janine are all more rational about Rose (and Lissa) spending her time with a Moroi girl instead of a Moroi guy. And also, Mia has her whole “another guy” schtick about Rose with Adrian (not cool babe). But I am undeterred, because I’m stubborn, like a mule. Book one, everyone was like “ew, Rose, it’s gross you let Lissa feed from you and inherently sexual, but I guess with Lissa’s compulsion urging us to let it go and the fact that at least it wasn’t actual sex and you two are soul sisters or whatever, you’re still a scratch above blood wh*re” (hey, Moroi society, I hate you fuckers). But if Rose is getting cozy with this Moroi girl (who still has a promiscuous reputation) now... all bets are off... maybe she really is a sl*t for Moroi, and you still get overly protective Janine and Dimitri (and the added Ivashkov element matters to both given certain paternal figures). It also plays into the fact that this is the book where Rose is most jealous of Christian- where she most feels the separation between her and Lissa, and where she’s getting stuck in Lissa’s mind while Chrissa are about to get it on. Like, damnit, give me bi Rose and lesbian Sydney (I’m open to Adrian being bi or lesbian or any Sapphic orientation); also give me bi Dimka please but that’s not here...

still alive Andre: gosh, Andre showing up at the resort (with his bestie Adrian because I want that too), and Mia getting to tell him off, but also him being at least a semi-shoulder for Mia to lean on after the news about her mom comes out... Isaiah even said “there’s one Dragomir left? two?” or something along those lines... there’s potential there

aging up Rose and co: There are a lot of references to her age in this book. But the substantive stuff is like near the start of chapter 13 where Dimitri says “Every second this conversation goes on, you only prove how young you really are.” Look, if they keep her 17, that is creepy af. I’m sorry, it’s not ok with me. But, I didn’t mind Rose pointing out that there are 7 years between him and Tasha, same as the gap between them. I don’t mind if she’s 20 and he’s 26ish and Tasha’s 33. Every element of this works better if she and her friends are legal adults partying like the college students their age at this resort they lucked into. But that’s just my (very right) opinion.

Anyways: Frostbite is so much better than I remembered it being. I didn’t think it was bad before, but I didn’t remember how good it was. The attacks on the Badicas and then Drozdovs were excellent worldbuilding, and the end of the book is devastating(ly good). Seriously, if it weren’t followed by Shadow Kissed, I could not have forgotten about that. I started out thinking that if I were adapting, I would do a 5/5 episode split for each of VA and FB. I think I would try and do a 4/6 episode split instead- or rather, the fifth episode would maybe wrap-up the epilogue type stuff in VA and cover the Badica massacre in its second half- weaving those plots more carefully through some of Victor’s dialgoue when he’s locked up, talking about the threat of the Strigoi present. Then you can really start up the second half of the season with Janine’s (and Tasha’s) arrival, and get Christmas and the flight out/arrival at the resort covered by the end of episode 6.