#wasnt that a big issue with mlp and su???

[katzirra]

I kinda have to laugh sometimes at shit I see people say about writing on kids shows being too predictable or obvious...??

Like... Remember. You are not the target audience, and these days any motion for representation isn't to please upper age brackets....it's to 'normalize' things that kids spend their life internalizing because it's never shown to be 'okay' mm. But even still, it's parents doing the damage....??

When I was a kid I knew something was different, I knew by 12 I was gay and I brought it up to my mom easily six or seven times until she finally got it a few years ago... Her reaction is what caused issues. Media I took in, didn't sway that. But kids questioning their emotions and seeing same sex love, it can at least answer that thought; no, nothing is wrong with you.

But the way adult fans act about kid's cartoons gets under my skin so much because what do you people WANT - Actually that's a thing too, adults are so on about healthy relationships, but still favor enemies to lovers tropes to an unsettling degree sometimes?? A lot of times with hostility never settling away either????? It falls in the boys will be boys thing for me a lot when I see it portrayed and it's...NO good for me...

But...i don't know what people expect..?? Kids don't want big declarations and focus on stuff..? An exchange of words or a kiss is about as much as I feel kids...want usually. Even still kids are really weird about kissing anyway?? Like... My nephew is the demographic I'm talking about actually. He gets really awkward when even his parents kiss, or seeing it in movies he gets really shy and it's precious.

When I explained being gay to my nieces and nephews when I introduced my girlfriend they understood fine. Kids don't need....this weird spoonfed thing I keep seeing people act like they need in a show to prove something. It's not a crusade for kids, it's a crusade for you anymore how it's being done...

People on this website are so weird about understanding media restrictions, IP laws, entertainment company shit etc... Shit is wild. The effort is cool because rep is important to making shit stop seeming.....taboo. To bring it to the table as topic, but not defining something BY it?? That's the kicker. People complain if you build around a subject, but people also bitch if you ysethe topic like a glaze.... There's no winning honestly lol!!

Like people are so weird about things?? While I can see where people my age say things they do at times, kids like wrapped up stories. Kids like... Happy endings..... I don't understand why that's a bad thing to see happen on a kid's show. I don't understand a lot of the over dramatic freaking out either though honestly.

Like?? Saying you don't want an ending your little sibling predicted because show context and scenes that show the writers are getting the basic idea across is so fucking weird to me...?

You can expect more from a show that performs above its target audience but....you're not the target audience... Sometimes I feel uncomfortable with some of the show and topics because it doesn't feel good with the knowledge of the target audience?

Like love shouldn't make you whole, you should love yourself and others will follow. Friendship is a good topic to pound into especially about becoming your own person andaccepting help etc - I could wax on about a lot of thoughts I have about the potential ending 'topics' and how it effects the whole narrative journey for characters and rep, and what I think it positive aims for from whatever way it's spun, but...I?? People are wild, man.

I think most kids media ends with like the guy getting the girl, because it's a simple happy ending. Kids wanna see the hero get what they deserve. To be happy. If that's getting the girl and being a hero? Hell yeah. It's something a kid can feel good about. Kids want answers. Kids want tied uo with a bow usually. I can't tell you the number of times I've seen my nephews play open ended games and are left really bothered by it. My one nephew has issues with open ended stories actually. He gets really bothered and frustrated because how his brain processes stuff. But a story ending as it nornally does in formula, he can connect the dots and go oh I get it.

I don't get why people shit on everything for kids not appealing to their adult expectations. I've stopped plenty of times to be like yikes that a bit dark for a kid's show, or to try and relate it to my cartoons growing up, I had Batman though so thats as dark as I can relate tbh...

Kids cartoons are a weird thing anymore but christ, stop getting mad that things are predictable or seem to be headed in a way that kids can pick up on the context clues. Kids wanna see happy things.... If it's cliche? Let it be.

[rouiettes]

raya and the ugliest fucking dragon i've ever seen holy fuck who the hell thought to give a dragon fuckiNG EYEBROWS WHY WHY—

aka the musings of a filo non-binary bisexual who feels victimized by the dragon designs of this fucking movie supposedly centred around THE LAST DRAGON???? MAYBE THEY SHOULD HAVE STAYED STONE GDI WHAT THE FUCK SERIOUSLY WHY DO THE DRAGONS LOOK LIKE THAT

let's get one thing straight.

none of the characters in this movie. rest assured. not a single straight person was in this movie. trust me.

raya and the last dragon had all the foundations of a good movie

IT COULD HAVE BEEN SO GREAT

BUT IT WASNT

AND HERE'S WHY

(in my humble opinion okay pls dont come for me)

a disney movie with sea culture at its heart and soul, i was so hyped to finally watch this movie

(not as hyped as i could have been tho bc let's be honest DISNEY DID SHIT WITH RAYA'S MARKETING)

(AND PERHAPS FOR GOOD REASON LOL I SWEAR I DONT HATE THIS MOVIE OKAY)

you had the amazing score, the amazing concepts for plot and characters, the solid solid worldbuilding???

if you just told me about how raya's setting and premise, i'd probably be "wow this movie sound like the whole package"

and then i'll actually watch the movie and have just as much trust issue as raya did :/

but i digress

A DISNEY MOVIE WITH SEA CULTURE AT ITS HEART AND SOUL

do you know how diverse sea culture is??? VERY

and one thing i was very happy to see was how raya handled it

it was by no means perfect but

the subtle shows of culture in the way the characters acted, and the environment of the movie was just CHEF'S KISS

not only that but the ideas the movie had in terms of its world and the people in it felt genuine, it felt alive

a dragon that isn't the typical fire-breathing lizard

characters who look like they could easily be my neighbours or children i've played with

instead of pandering to this movie felt like an actual homage to sea cultures

and for good reason bc seeing all those familiar names rolling in the credits had me feeling some type of way :")

also that fucking soundtrack gave me chills throughout my watch of the movie

okay now that we've got the things i actually like about the movie, let's talk about what i don't like

if there's one word i could use to describe disney's raya it would be: rushed

like i said in the beginning, all the groundwork for an astounding disney movie were already there

but all of it just goes to waste bc the plot and it's characters feel so Unfinished

the movie felt like a bullet-point presentation of the story

WHICH IS SO FUCKING DISAPPOINTING BC THE CHARACTERS SEEMED SO INTERESTING but all we got were shadows of what they could have been

cardboard cutouts of the archetypes they filled

i'm not asking for a bottomless well of depth, but i at least wanted more for the cast than just: angry misunderstood princess, angry misunderstood princess with an undercut, that one dancing kid from moana but with more spice, boss baby, and the mountain

and i get that they had to sacrifice some of their depth to keep the run time of the movie short but you have got to be better than this disney

i hate to compare but it felt like this movie tried to go beyond what moana gave us, and shot so far that it ended up back to where it started, and then stumbled back a few steps

AND IM NOT EVEN SAYING A DRAGON MOVIE WITH A BIG CAST IS IMPOSSIBLE

BC IT'S ALREADY BEEN DONE

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON DID IT THREE TIMES

and you'd think the plot for one of the few disney movies with a non-western setting would have more than just a macguffin considering how batshit sea folk tales can be

but you'd think wrong folks.

GENUINELY IT FELT LIKE THEY WERE ATTEMPTING SOMETHING BUT WERE SHORT OF BRINGING IT TO FRUITION

sure moana had a macguffin too with the heart of te fiti, but the heart itself wasn't the heart of the movie

it was the journey of moana and maui

it was that BEAUTIFUL TWIST WITH TE KA AND TE FITI

ALL DELIVERED WITH A NATURAL FINESSE THAT HAD YOU ON THE EDGE OF YOUR SEAT

YOU WERE ALONG FOR THE RIDE OF THE STORY INSTEAD OF QUESTIONING EVERYTHING THAT WAS GOING ON LIKE I WAS

maybe this was just me but like, i felt so bad for the friend who watched this movie with me bc all i could go on and on was how the plot felt like it was getting in the way of itself

why didn't the different kingdoms (??) kept the gem in rotation or smth, when did they decide that heart would keep it and then get mad at heart for keeping it????

why didn't awkwafina dragon just show herself to the kingdoms bc everyone seems to be in agreement that dragons good right? that they would be the key to getting rid of the druun right??? SO THEY'D ALL AT LEAST HEAR HER OUT OR SMTH RIGHT????????

and yes raya has trust issues but it seems to only spring up at the most convenient times plot-wise, we didn't really see her learn to trust other people again OTHER THAN THE TIMES WHERE SISU WOULD HAMFISTEDLY SHOVE IT DOWN OUR THROATS THAT SOME PEOPLE ARE GOOD SOMETIMES RAYA

we see it with boun, but then she just trusts noi, her monkeys, and tong THE GUY WHO STRUNG THEM UP AND WAS THREATENING TO TORTURE THEM????????

i'm gonna be honest and say that if it weren't for namaari i'd have absconded the moment sisu came on screen

as far as i'm considered the actual plot of the movie is just the entire sword fight scene between her and raya

and finally

we get to the part i will be erasing from my brain for my own mental well-being

WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT DRAGON DESIGN

WHY OH WHY TH  E FUCK DOES SISU SOUND AND LOOK LIKE THAT

my friend said they looked like the ponies from mlp in 3d AND NOW I CAN NEVER UNSEE IT

THEY HAVE EYEBROWS THEY HAVE HUMAN FACES

HUMAN FACES ON MAJESTIC DRAGON BODIES

THE INTERNET HAS COLLECTIVELY DECIDED THAT SISU IS BASICALLY FURRY ELSA

every time we got a sisu close up i lost 5 years to my life

disney i am suing for damages

if you want me to drop the charges i demand raya 2: electric boogaloo but it’s just raya and namaari enemies to friends to lovers ark

and also for them to never say dragon nerds ever again

AGAIN. HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON GAVE US BEAUTIFUL DRAGON DESIGNS. HELL IF YOU WANTED MORE EASTERN LOOKING DRAGONS FUCKING SPIRITED AWAY??? HAKU??????????

AND YKNOW WHAT. SISU WOULDN'T EVEN LOOK THAT HORRIFIC IF THE MOVIE WAS IN 2D

im not the first person to be side-eying disney's decision to keep pumping out these 3d movies but like.

no amount of added dimensions could ever make that dragon design okay

and there so many more points i could go off on to show how this movie was rushed

how the other dragons, and even sisu's siblings whom she had been missing for the entire movie DIDNT MAKE A SINGLE SOUND???? NOT EVEN A FUCKING GROWL DISNEY???? DID YOU EVEN TRY WITH THE DRAGONS AT ALL??? THE SUPPOSED CENTRE OF THIS MOVIE'S PLOT?????????

HOW THE CHIEFS OF THE OTHER KINGDOMS WERE BASICALLY PLOT DEVICES????

THAT ONE CHIEF'S SKELETON WAS MORE INTERESTING THAN ANY OF THEM COMBINED ALIVE

kudos to that one granny chief though

u can never have enough bad ass old ladies

AND GOD THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ANY OF THE CHARACTERS JUST FELT SO FORCED

ALONG WITH WHATEVER LESSON SISU WANTED TO IMPART ABOUT TRUST

LOVE THESE CHARACTERS THEY ARE FUNNY THEY ARE FRIENDS FOUND FAMILY

TRUST PEOPLE IF U WANT THEM TO TRUST U

TRUST PEOPLE OR ILL LITERALLY FUCKING KILL U

children aren't stupid disney. if you tell your story well enough, they'll pick up on the messages you want to give them. YOU DONT HAVE TO THRUST EVERYTHING IN OUR FACES

i was exhausted by the time i finished this movie

bc i really wanted to love it. i wanted to feel more for it than just: well, it's a movie :)

i dont hate this movie though like it's not even worth the energy for that

i think that ultimately, despite all my issues with it, this movie was a step in the right direction when it comes to having non-western stories being told by non-western people in big name productions

i'm glad raya and the last dragon exists

i just can't help but be dissapointed though bc this movie put so much effort into putting my people and culture at its forefront but at what cost???

good characters and story for a good setting and design????

does it have to be one or the other?????

DOES THE DRAGON HAVE TO HAVE EYEBROWS??????