#I would have more coherent thoughts if I’d rewatched more recently!
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☕️ + crazy ex girlfriend’s 4th season
I think overall I like season 4 as a concluding season for the show, certainly compared to a lot of other concluding seasons of shows I love it does a better job at what it sets out to do and that makes me I think more inclined to be generous with it (I’m used to really really hating the conclusions of things I love tbh because they can go so wrong, so when something is decent I think I’m easier on it than I would be if the same thing was in an earlier installment). I overall like what the season does with concluding Rebecca’s arc, there are places where I think it could be stronger (particularly the aspect of the season that’s supposed to be about Rebecca confronting her own privilege/white feminism doesn’t succeed as much as it thinks it does imo, but that also is part of the largest overall issue I have with the season which I’ll get into later) but other parts I think it succeeds with beautifully (I love the arc with Rebecca and her little brother, the final scenes with her mom this season, the realizations she comes to in the finale etc.), and I think Paula’s arc comes to a basically flawless conclusion.
My biggest gripe with the season is in the treatment of WoC in the season. Particularly Valencia and Heather’s (who would be my second and third favorite chars on the show after Rebecca respectively) character arcs are so neglected compared to Rebecca Paula’s even Darryl’s even NATHANIEL’s and it makes me sad
:(. I’ve talked about this before but I really don’t care for the writers decision to treat Valencia’s sexuality in such a throwaway way rather than being willing to explore her feelings about it the way they did with Darryl. Her and Beth’s storyline being all about Valencia wanting to get married… it just does not work for me at all. I’ve seen justifications that the reason the writers approach Valencia differently is that she’s a different character who wouldn’t be into coming out with a song the way a character like Darryl would but like, these are written characters the writers are making those decisions… and there are so many ways you can explore a character’s sexuality that are unique to the character, that just seems like such a lame excuse to me. I have more unfavorable things to say about this take but I don’t want to get off topic, basically I feel like Valencia was majorly cheated out of her own arc in s4 and it is my biggest sticking point with the season, ngl partly because Valencia’s a character I actually identified with quite a bit so there’s bias at play there too even if I stand by my reactions. I don’t have a rant for Heather the way I do for Valencia but if I’d rewatched more recently I definitely would, some of the issues with Heather’s storyline do stem from the end of s3 (I sort of wish the surrogacy storyline had never happened). Even though I did like Paula’s storyline re: the women in the prison Rebecca was at those storylines had a lot of problems. And I think seeing how much room the writers were willing to give Nathaniel’s arc and place in the narrative vs Valencia and Heather was also really disheartening to me, and I don’t particularly like Nathaniel so that does effect my relationship with those choices but I think even if I had much more of an affinity for his character than I do, it would still be revealing of the writers priorities to me and not in a good way.
I don’t mind the meta-ness of the season but that’s probably because I’m more inclined to like that type of humor than a lot of people, I get why others had complaints about it. Idk what else I have to say about the season really? The songs aren’t as good as earlier seasons but the ones that slap (particularly Love’s A Game and Hello Nice To Meet You) were bangers imo. oh and I LOVE the Halloween episode, it actually has many beats designed specifically for my enjoyment and unlike many other episodes I did like Valencia and Heather’s roles in it a lot.
thanks for the ask!
(send me a ☕️ + a topic and I’ll give you my honest opinion of it!)
#s speaks#crazy ex girlfriend#asks#catty-words#ceg#I would have more coherent thoughts if I’d rewatched more recently!#mutuals#my meta
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A few thoughts, that turned into a personal essay and then some rambles.
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It’s been a few days since the NCIS: LA series finale aired, and I think I’m finally ready to compose a few more coherent thoughts than “baby!” and “I’ll miss them”.
At the time I began watching the show (just after the sixth season ended), I had recently graduated with my bachelors degree and was whiling away the summer with a part time job, and wondering what I would do with my life (and brand new degree). I first discovered the show after seeing a few posts online about Densi. I figured I’d give it a try, having no idea what I was about to get myself into.
The first season dragged a little for me until one Detective Marty Deeks entered the picture. With his addition, I looked forward to every episode and quickly burned through all the available seasons. I literally woke up some mornings, anticipating the moment I could get home from work to watch more.
LA was also the series that inspired me to get more involved with fanfiction, first seeking out every fic related to the Descent/Ascension arc, then searching out my favorite authors on Tumblr, and eventually trying my own hand at writing about my favorite characters.
I never expected to find a wonderful group of fellow fans, new and old, to discuss, rant, and rave (in a good way) about Deeks, Densi, Kensi, and so forth in the process. This community’s encouragement and support gave me the confidence to keep writing, even when it seemed laborious and futile. They lured me out of my silent lurking to participate in discussions, fan events, and fic exchanges.
Eight years ago, I would never have anticipated that I would have so many online friends or that I would write several hundred thousand words of fanfiction dedicated to my favorite characters. Or have the confidence to profess my undying affection for Marty Deeks at every chance.
This show, these characters, these friends, saw me through hard days at work, the boring days, sad moments, and kept me going for the entirety of my graduate studies.
We celebrated, raged, complained, cried, and sometimes shared group anxiety together over this show.
This is what this show has meant to me. I know that we will continue to celebrate and enjoy rewatches together and connect in other ways, but I still feel a great loss with this show’s ending.
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for the toku asks: 4, 9, 19!
4. thoughts on what you’re currently watching/watched most recently?
oh boy *cracks knuckles*
saw shin ultraman in theaters last week. great movie, really spectacular. had a few gripes like i wish it had more kaiju fights and it was weird about its female lead sometimes but all in all i’d give it five out of five stars and i can’t wait to preorder the bluray. despite anno’s gritty scary almost lovecraftian approach, it does so good at encapsulating the ultraman ideals of hope and faith and humanity and believing in a hero from the stars but also people working together to save the day without needing to 100% rely on that hero. shinji kaminaga aka mr shin ultraman is my sexy autistic wife
been watching decade recently with a friend. man is decade really uh.... something. it’s honestly hard to watch because it makes no sense ever and that makes it kind of boring, sort of like blade or kabuto in their worst moments (sidenote: cannot believe the guy writing the utterly incoherent early decade episodes is the same guy that came in and fixed up blade and made it more coherent. from one extreme to the other) and i have to truly marvel at the extreme randomness of some of these au choices. (blade but corporate hierarchy? faiz but school cliques? kiva but fangires are legally protected and wataru is a small child? ?????) however... there is a strong emotional core to the series that doesn’t let you go, the themes of tsukasa’s character as being a wanderer with no memories and no home are really powerful and i love the sense of his eternal placeless journey. also kaitou daiki is there mwah mwah love you sexy
uhhh i’m running out of steam to talk about stuff. riderman arc of v3 GOOD. amazon GOOD. ooo rewatch FUCKING GOOD. tomorrow me and my friends will hopefully resume our long-hiatused wizard and toqger groupwatches which i’m very excited for. ya 👍
already did 9
19. if you could go back and change one show, what would you change?
KIRIKO SHOULD HAVE BEEN DRIVE!!!!!! KIRIKO SHOULD HAVE BEEN DRIVE!!!!
also umm faiz i’d give it the one more episode it so badly needed and LET YUKA HAVE THE CHARACTER CONFLICT SHE WAS GEARING UP TO HAVE (there is soooo much to be improved on with faiz but that’s a start). zero one i’d give it back all the episodes that had to be cut because of covid, delete the racist two-parter, and kill amatsu instead of giving him that half-assed redemption. ryuki i’d let yui be more involved in the plot and action (not as a rider or combatant but there are other ways)
but mostly KIRIKO SHOULD HAVE BEEN DRIVE
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Jona’s Top 10 Dramas of 2019
A couple words about how I do these lists. Firstly, I only count as “2019 dramas” shows that finished airing in 2019, therefore dramas that started airing in 2018 but finished in the early months of 2019 have been included in my process, but dramas that are currently airing and will finish in 2020 have not been included. Secondly, this list is more based on my subjective experience with each of these dramas than my objective assessment on things like acting, writing and production values, though naturally I take the latter into account when forming my opinions.
Also: Yay! This year I managed to write a full review on every drama that wound up in my top ten, so feel free to click the link on each title and check those out if you want to read my detailed thoughts.
10. Hotel Del Luna
I have a somewhat Stockholm Syndrome-y relationship with Hong Sisters dramas. Though a lot of them are not excellent, or stumble a bit in the execution, I can’t seem to stop watching them. And yes, I’ve seen them all. Something about their particular blend of fantasy, romance and camp just works for me. I do think Hotel Del Luna plays to their strengths. Somewhat like if they got to take a second run at Master’s Sun but with their dream budget, and it’s just fun. This drama is gorgeous to look at. However, it is Lee Ji Eun, aka IU, who carries the entire drama on her lovely shoulders with her mesmerizing presence as Jang Man Wol.
Bottom Line: It shouldn’t be this way, but it’s so rare to get a mainstream drama where the female lead is allowed to be truly dark and flawed, or for a drama to fully focus on its heroine’s journey through the whole run.
9. Encounter
I was somewhat disappointed by the ending of this drama, and I think that might have made me unduly harsh when I looked back at it earlier in the year. However, I got the chance to rewatch episodes with a friend and was reminded of the soft, romantic escapism of this drama. Ultimately that’s the reason this ended up in the list. I like that it plays the rich woman/poor man, noona-romance tropes entirely straight and I liked the quixotic fairy tale it was unapologetically trying to sell me. Park Bo Gum and Song Hye Gyo are a noona-romance dream team up that I’m glad I got to see at least once in my lifetime.
Bottom Line: If you don’t like your dramas slow-paced and highly sentimental then this might not be the show for you, but I can appreciate a drama that knows exactly what kind of show it is and tries to do one thing well.
8. The Light in Your Eyes
If there’s any common theme to these favorites lists in previous years, it’s that they usually include dramas that took me by surprise and did something I haven’t seen before. The Light In Your Eyes fits that description so well, not just because of oddly dark tone or the quirky premise it presents in the first episodes, but because it’s a drama dedicated to showcasing the talents of the veteran actress, Kim Hye Ja, with whom the lead character shares a name. Of the dramas on the list this one made me cry the hardest.
Bottom Line: The Light In Your Eyes is a drama that has a greater emotional coherence than it does logical sense. In fact, if you think about the plot too hard it falls apart entirely. But it feels true, and that’s why it hit me so hard.
7. Search WWW
In my review I called Search a “female power fantasy” and I still think that’s a good description. It’s also sexy romantic fantasy, twice a noona romance, and a corporate drama focused on the very contemporary issues of powerful search engine companies and how they affect the information we see and the way we view the world. I think any of those is an interesting enough angle to make a drama about, maybe several dramas. If this show has one major flaw, it might be trying to wear too many hats at once. But I salute the creators for trying to make us something different than the typical pretty boy chaebol story, and giving us not one but three female characters filling those typically male roles.
Bottom Line: I do believe this drama deserves more love and respect than it got from a fandom that at least in theory cares about women’s stories. But I also understand why a lot of people didn’t connect with the lead character or the business stuff. But for me there was something about the lead couple that rang true and resonated with me.
6. WATCHER
Every time I watch a thriller, I’m hoping for something like WATCHER. Something with deep, complex, gray characters and a story full of twists and turns that keeps me engaged and guessing from episode one until the finale. Add on top of that a powerful cast who can really do justice to these substantial characters, you’ve got a winning recipe. OCN produces a lot of dramas in this genre, and they seem to be more prone to produce sequels than most other networks. Unfortunately, that also means a lot of the dramas they make feel paint-by-numbers and empty on the inside. WATCHER is one of those shows that reminds me why I keep coming back to this network and this kind of story time and again.
Bottom Line: This is one of those dramas that has you second guessing yourself even when they come right out and give you the answer, keeping you in a perpetual state of distrust along with the characters. But it’s built on the strong backbone of complicated and dynamic character relationships, which is why it is one of this year’s best.
5. Be Melodramatic
The higher I get up this list the harder time I have boiling down my thoughts on these dramas to one pithy paragraph. Often even I don’t know what kind of dramas are going to steal my heart. I have a particular weakness for dramas that can make me both laugh and cry, and then laugh through the tears. Dramas like Go Back Couple and Matrimonial Chaos that have deep heartache folded into the shenanigans. I love a funny drama. I like to laugh, but that doesn’t count for much unless I really care about the characters and their lives at the end of the day. That’s what makes me go from liking a drama to loving it, and that’s ultimately what I’m going to remember about a drama when it’s over. Be Melodramatic is special for the way it deals with heavy subjects in a gentle and lighthearted way, and somehow without losing the emotional impact.
Bottom Line: Be Melodramatic is a drama with tongue firmly planted in cheek, lots of laughs, lots of clever dialogue as well as a meta look at the drama industry from the inside, but the reason it works so well is the vein of heart, love and loss that runs all through the story.
4. One Spring Night
It’s so gratifying when a drama delivers exactly the experience you hoped it would. One Spring Night was a drama that ended up on my radar on the strength of the previews and posters, which promised me understated, romantic slice-of-life. I’d really enjoyed Han Ji Min in The Light in Your Eyes and have been fond of Jung Hae In since While You Were Sleeping. The pairing immediately seemed to have potential, but because the drama was picked up by Netflix, in the US I had to wait until it finished airing before I could give it a shot. A lot of the time when that happens, I see enough of the drama through gifs and screencaps that my interest fades. In this case I was only more intrigued. I’ve still never watched Something In The Rain but watching this drama has made me consider that might have been an oversight on my part. And yet I worry that if I watched it now I wouldn’t be able to help unfavorably comparing it to One Spring Night. This drama is truly something special.
Bottom Line: Because of the restrained, faithful realism of this drama and the two leads who seamlessly embody their characters, this drama has the almost voyeuristic quality of peeking into something intimate and private. It’s a palpable and thoroughly involving love story.
3. Nokdu Flower
I can hardly recommend this underrated gem of a show enough. I know nearly every historical gets compared either favorably or otherwise to Six Flying Dragons, which is kind of the recent high-water mark of sageuks, and I’m going to do that again here because Nokdu Flower is really the first historical drama I’ve watched since SFD that is at the same level of quality. One thing that sticks out about my experience watching both dramas is getting actual shivers watching these charismatic leaders rally their followers around them, and understanding at least in some small part why someone would leave behind everything they knew, pick up arms, and risk their lives for an ideal. Nokdu Flower captures the fearful power of revolutionary ideas in the hands of common people, but doesn’t descend into mere jingoism or sand off the rough edges or try to white wash the dark parts of human nature while it’s at it.
Bottom Line: At its most basic level Nokdu Flower is a story of revolution, and one of flawed characters either finding their humanity or having it burned out of them in the crucible of war. As that description would suggest it’s not an easy watch, but it’s a good and worthwhile one and definitely one any sageuk fan should check out.
2. My Country: The New Age
Compared to the far more traditional and grounded Nokdu Flower, My Country is almost fantastical in tone and at times eschews logic and realism for set pieces, sword fights and close range shotgun blasts of pathos. That’s probably why I love it. The larger-than-life sensationalism of this drama is what pushes it higher on this list than the carefully crafted Nokdu Flower, because this drama appealed to me on a more primal way. It’s so unrestrained and epic in everything from the set design, the soundtrack, the cinematography to the characters themselves and the performances of the actors playing them. Lurid, melodramatic, passionate, intense, suspenseful, romantic, raw, angsty, dark...I’ve basically run out of new adjectives to use while describing this drama elsewhere on this site. Basically, My Country is my id on a plate. Bon appetit.
Bottom Line: While there are definitely misguided and flawed elements to the writing and execution in this drama, somehow all of that is swept away in the sheer pleasure of watching it. If it had been specifically designed to appeal to every narrative kink I have, they couldn’t have made a more perfect drama for my tastes.
1. Children of Nobody
I finished my favorite drama of 2019 back in January, and then got to wait around 11 and a half months to see if anything else I watched last year would knock Children of Nobody from the top spot. It’s a mixed blessing to peak that early in the year. On the one hand, there was nowhere to go but down from here. On the other, I’ve had a lot of time to digest this very heavy show, which is something I definitely needed. I mentioned in my original review of this drama that each of the characters is an iceberg, so much more going on beneath the surface than what we can see. And what I’ve realized over the course of the past year is that the whole drama is like that, in a way. It’s an iceberg of a story, and I was able to pour a lot of myself into it, to try to understand it, and that’s part of the reason it was such an emotional watch for me. I don’t know when or if I’m going to be able to rewatch Children of Nobody, but I hope I can do it some day because I feel certain I would appreciate it even more upon a second viewing. The fact that this is a murder mystery and a thriller is almost incidental to the emotional core of the story, which is deeper and more lingering than that. The secrets, once revealed, do not diminish the story but only turn it slightly so that you can see it from a different angle.
Bottom Line: This drama is certainly not going to be for everyone. I don’t know if I would say it was underrated so much as it’s niche. The difficult subject matter is naturally going to narrow its appeal. But I do think that dramas that require the most from me, mentally and emotionally, are often the ones that stick with me the longest and make me bend and grow as a person.
I sure hope you’ve enjoyed my top 10 list this year and I wish you joy, success and profound wellbeing in 2020. Thank you again--and thank you always--for following me. I’ve got great things planned for us this year.
Jona
#kdramas 2019#end of year reviews#top 10#children of nobody#my country#my country: the new age#nokdu flower#one spring night#be melodramatic#melo is my nature#WATCHER#search: www#the light in your eyes#encounter#boyfriend#hotel del luna
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Not That Deep: A Psycho Pass Critique
This post is not spoiler-free, and is the result of multiple rewatches over the span of five years. If you remember any of my old Psycho Pass meta, please toss it straight into the garbage. I swear I’m better at conveying my thoughts now. (Joke’s on you if you think I’ve learned to condense my posts, though.)
Disclaimer: all opinions expressed within this post are mine and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts and opinions of my followers or friends. I welcome discussion/debate.
Psycho Pass (abbreviated to PP for simplicity’s sake from this point forward) is an anime in that very specific genre that belongs to societies that are portrayed as Utopian but aren’t. For the record, the setting can’t really be described as ‘dystopian’ or ‘futuristic hellscape’ either. The series calls itself “cyberpunk.”
In the year 2112, Japan has closed itself off from the world and implemented the Sibyl System: a judgment oracle. Citizens of the country are monitored by the system and have a “psycho-pass” assigned to them. This “psycho-pass” measures their stress levels, brain activity, and potential to commit a crime. When a person’s crime coefficient (CC) exceeds 100, they are considered a latent criminal and put into isolation to receive mandatory therapy. If they do not recover, they remain in isolation. The story follows the main character, Tsunemori Akane, as she joins the series’ version of a police force.
Trigger warnings for this series include gore, violence (sexual, emotional, physical), and an obscene amount of philosophy.
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Again, below the readmore/cut will be spoilers.
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Worldbuilding/Craft
I feel like it’s important to get into the meat of the discussion as quickly as possible with this series, especially considering the title of this post: Not That Deep.
I’m not going to bother ‘rating’ the different facets/aspects of the show because I don’t think it’s necessary, and this isn’t really a review so much as a discussion/critique. Either you liked the series or you didn’t. If you’re reading this you either have an open mind or you want to get angry, and both reasons are at least a little valid.
PP is a series that REALLY wants to be deep, but falls flat in almost every conceivable way. I’m saying this as someone who enjoyed it enough to write fanfiction about it the last time I watched it, and who not only recommended it to multiple friends, but screenshared the entire series with one recently so that she could see it.
I think the general concept of Sibyl and Akane’s futuristic society is presented in a digestible way. I appreciate the attempts to integrate cool future tech into the show, but I’m especially impressed by the way they go about it. It’s all stuff that your average person living right now would adopt and use regularly if given a chance (auto driven cars, drones, AI secretaries, holo clothes/outfits). Without those specific scenes, I feel like the worldbuilding would almost collapse in on itself; these little details made it easy to imagine living in the world, and gave a little personality to the characters as they made use of them—like little glimpses into their personal taste.
It also helped to take the focus and pressure off of the less-nice aspects of the Sibyl System. No wonder people are generally pretty happy/content in this world: they can wear sweatpants and just holo something else over it! (Sign me up!)
Unfortunately the worldbuilding beyond that isn’t great, but I also don’t think it’s fair to say that it’s bad. It’s just...kind of mediocre...while still managing, at least for the first season, to feel coherent.
We have hues and crime-coefficients. They are not the same thing, but they might as well be because one isn’t bad without the other being bad: EVER. Ginoza’s CC rises as his hue darkens throughout S1. Togane’s hue is black and he has the highest CC on record. Makishima’s hue is clear and his CC is 0 (when he wills it to be). What’s the point of having both, then? Is it just for a fun color-coding system? It’s never explained in any way that makes sense. The one character likely to have a high CC and a clear hue is Makishima (a sociopath), but he has both a clear hue and a low CC. (Kamui is another anomaly, but he can’t be measured at all, so he doesn’t really fit into this specific discussion.) Basically, having hues and CCs both exist just feels a little bit too much like “it sounded cool so we included it” instead of: “These both serve serious purposes in the world.” They want really bad to fling philosophy at the viewers, but seem to neglect this really large aspect of the world where it would be perfect to latch on.
Technology is advanced to the point of having cybernetic arms that function effortlessly and people can almost achieve full cybernization if they have the money/will to. Kamui was 184 people stitched together lol... And yet Akane has just one living grandparent (who apparently can’t even move on her own). I’m not really put off by this, but you’d think the technology/health debate would be a much bigger part of the story beyond the news broadcast that was shown.
I think the biggest niggling little worldbuilding issue is the fact that the implementation of Sibyl happened ~20 years ago. I like the detail for what it gives us for some characters (Masaoka and Ginoza specifically), but I find it mostly implausible. Maybe it was fully implemented 20 years ago, but the framework was another 20 years in the making. It just doesn’t work otherwise. The second it was implemented families would have been shattered and that shattering would have put even more people into isolation due to their CC rising. I mean, if someone took my 5-year-old away from me, I’d be in isolation REAL QUICK, ‘cause that’s the kind of trauma you don’t just Get Over or Move Past.
Speaking of five-year-olds, in the boarding school episodes, they mention a law that protected minors, which feels out of place because Kagari was not protected by that law...which means it couldn’t have been around very long in the first place. If the scanners can flag a 5-year-old child and take him away from his parents, high school students aren’t exempt either. The mention of the law would have been a nice touch if it had only recently been appealed/removed, but it was only around for a few years ~20 years ago, so it feels awkwardly placed/silly.
Again, not everything worldbuilding/craft-related is bad. Like I said earlier, the world in general feels pretty cohesive and the characters belong there. The issues mostly sit with the fact that they tried to include a lot of ‘neat’ or ‘dramatic’ (or even ‘dark’) things...without stopping to consider if they actually fit within the narrative they were trying to construct.
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Plot/Storylines
This is where the series shines. Or at least, this is probably the strongest point in PP’s favor.
The biggest criticism I have: it doesn’t actually do anything new and exciting.
That said, I don’t think every bit of media out there needs to flip the script to be enjoyed, and I liked PP just fine for what it was.
Season One was definitely stronger in this department than later material. What made S1 feel strong was having enough time to actually move the plot along while also developing the characters. S2 was comparatively rushed and had a lot of really unnecessary plotlines and gore. The movie was...eh, but I think it was an improvement over S2. (I haven’t seen Sinners of the System yet, so I can’t comment on those installments.)
I can find fault with a lot of S1 stuff, but for the most part I think it did a pretty good job and any faults I’d bother to point out would just be me nitpicking. The storylines melded into one another, everything was connected, et cetera. Unfortunately this comes at the cost of character relationships/development, but I’ll talk about that later. Besides, I’d rather have a cohesive series than not, so this isn’t exactly a criticism so much as an observation. The production team(s) did an excellent job of making the most of the screentime they had to work with.
S2 feels flawed almost from the start. Rather than build off of what we already learned in S1 and further develop the characters, it chose to rush headlong into a half-assed plot featuring an unbelievable antagonist. Yikes. I think it brought up an interesting question in “WC?” but instead of striking a believable balance they really just made an antagonist who was 184 people’s bodies stitched together. I can’t get over how stupid that was. Honestly, it was straight-up foolish of the writers to go through with that concept. Makishima might have been a pretentious pile of shit, but at least he felt like a human being. Kamui as a concept was just too overblown to work.
Also working against S2 was Togane. That whole plotline was completely unnecessary and throwing Akane’s grandmother under a bus on top of that was just the icing on the idiot cake. S2 was the Break the Cutie trope tenfold, but there was no danger and therefore no sense of urgency or fear. It was just gross for the sake of being gross, which was disappointing. I’m not saying that Togane isn’t the type of person to beat a crippled old lady to death, because he is, but I also never thought he was an idiot, and the progression of his attempts to blacken her hue jumped straight to the moon instead of progressing at a pace that felt more natural/reasonable. If the guy hasn’t been eliminated by an inspector after blackening many of their hues, he’s not the kind of dope to take silly risks. He could have tried any number of things to ruin Akane that didn’t involve her poor old granny (who had no real screentime and whom the audience had no connection with anyway).
S2 also gave us Ginoza doubting Akane’s sanity early on (acting like she might have written WC on her own wall), which not only feels incredibly out of character for S2 Ginoza, but never amounts to anything/goes anywhere anyway.
Hungry Chicken was an interesting touch, but SO MANY PEOPLE DIED that its impact was diminished. Division 3 had such a non-appearance in the series anyway that them being there at all just felt stupid without more lead-up.
For what it’s worth, I don’t think S2 is irredeemable, but I feel like it missed the mark consistently from start to finish. A shame, because the concept of a ‘plural’ psycho-pass might have been nifty if, say, Kamui was made up of 5 or 6 people’s bodies. Then the holos would feel meaningful. Then each ‘part’ of him would feel like a different person with different feelings and motives and skills.
Anyway, I think S2 muddied the waters too much with Kamui and the body doubles and Shisui all that nonsense, too. At a certain point if your plot gets too complex, especially with overblown concepts thrown into the mix, it just feels silly. That’s basically what happened to S2.
Again, S1 wasn’t perfect. Makishima was exhaustingly boring. Cool, so you can quote a bunch of crap you’ve read. Great. So can I. Who are you as a person, though? That Guy in my Philosophy 101 class who argued with the professor? Yeah, I could picture that!
People love waxing poetic about how amazing an antagonist Makishima was, but the dude was a hollow shell quoting things other people said 100+ years ago. It felt like he didn’t even have his own thoughts, and as far as I saw, there weren’t even any fake philosophers mixed in with the rest to make us feel a little extra immersed in the world (and/or give us another philosophical spin on the situation).
Hey, maybe that was the point, but I’ve never seen that criticism leveled fully at the character/plot in general, so here we are.
It was just too heavy-handed. By the end of the series I wanted him dead just so I could stop listening to his mini-lectures.
Still, it may as well have been amazing compared to 184-People-Stitched-Together being the main antagonist.
I think the movie jumped in face-first and was perhaps a little too...all over the place? But I didn’t have to endure 184 people as a single person, or ears in boxes, so... I consider it a win.
The bitter reality when it comes to Psycho Pass and the plot is that...the plot is its greatest strength, but it’s Not That Deep...even though you can tell that it’s consistently trying to be. Oof.
I think if they’d shot for something less complex, especially in S2, they’d have at least met their goals of depth/consistency. Instead what we ended up with was having a fairly decent plot devolve into one of the worst second seasons I’ve seen.
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Characters & Character Development
For such a small cast, I think PP did a pretty piss-poor job with most of their characters, but the series as a general rule is so plot-heavy that it’s not really surprising.
I can’t help but expect a lot from a series that only has a few ‘main’ characters. In this case, Akane is the Big Main Character, and is flanked by Kogami and Ginoza. In S1, there was a decent balance (with Masaoka and Kagari thrown in). In S2, it was mostly just Akane and The Bad Guys, which would be fine if the plot was incredible, or The Bad Guys were super duper interesting, but as discussed previously, the plot was akin to liquid cat barf and the characters weren’t treated much better. It was a little insulting to be handed characters who could be really fun in the right hands (literally everyone) only to see them used as plot vehicles/hallucinations/memory thoughts. Kogami randomly appearing for long boring scenes wasn’t fun or cool; it was uninspired. It’d be way cooler if it was for five seconds and felt like a...memory, almost...a passing thought. For more screentime, it could even happen more often. But no, it’s gotta be like two minutes long.
How about the scene where Saiga talks to Koichi who just keeps turning into Kamui and he talks for like five straight minutes? UGH. Is this supposed to feel deep and meaningful? It doesn’t.
Shion sleeps with Yayoi so she can monologue plot things while Yayoi is getting dressed. Can I add that Yayoi doesn’t matter at all at any point, and Shion conveniently can do anything that needs to be done because Reasons?
Togane isn’t around long enough to feel like a worthwhile villain. Nobody cares about Shisui because we honestly don’t even know who she is! Oh, were we supposed to feel bad for Division 3? We’re supposed to feel gross about Akane’s grandmother but the writers took one line in S1 and used that to try and break the character (while also knowing full well it wouldn’t have any effect on her). Let’s not forget Mika, who is remembered as being incredibly annoying...while everyone forgets/doesn’t notice that she’s the student from the boarding school who didn’t die (and we never see her outside of work doing her own thing, which adds to her just being a pain).
Ginoza seems a little like he’s supposed to fill a spot his father left, but he doesn’t, and he’s pushed to the background to...not really do anything of import. Hinakawa is a worthless character who exists just for one plot-specific purpose. Saiga exists so that more dialogue can happen and not seem too out of place.
I’m not saying the character writing overall is trash, but it definitely ain’t good, and I think S2 is where it really struggled. S1 gave us a really interesting character in Kogami. Akane was learning and struggling to fit in at work and do things well, which was somewhat relatable. Ginoza was struggling with his mental health throughout the entire first season and had a lot of character development. But then S2 happens and the development kind of...stopped? Akane didn’t seem to really learn much because she was too busy always being right? Kogami noped out of Japan so I didn’t expect anything with him specifically, but why couldn’t Yayoi have moved into the limelight? Shion? One of the new guys? ANYONE?
Don’t get me wrong. I still have characters I like, and I can see potential in the others. I just wish I was seeing more than potential is all, especially with characters like Yayoi that have been around from Day1 and still haven’t really done anything noteworthy.
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General Criticisms/Other Thoughts
There’s a lot of shock-value violence (SVV). I guess you could say I ‘get’ the purpose of it, but there’s literally no reason that helmeted person couldn’t have beat a man to death with a hammer instead of a woman, especially considering that we have to see Spooky Boogie’s corpse looking grotesque and plenty of other crimes against women.
I feel like S2 was especially guilty of SVV, but it existed in S1, too, pretty much to the point that it started to anger me. It might not have bothered me as much if some of the violent acts were cases that stood alone, but they were all linked to the main plot and that somehow seemed to make it worse.
I also wasn’t a fan of Akane constantly being naked/near naked, of Yuki being in her underwear/negligée, of every crime against a woman ending up with a woman’s clothes being removed, and (the list goes on). One of these things? I might be able to overlook. All of them? Come on. Don’t pretend these creators weren’t doing this for their own purpose.
(I know the scene with Aoyanagi gave us the men getting undressed too [This is your natural self!], but then they showed her with all these action scenes, legs spread wide open, coordinated lacy undies/bra... C’MON. All the butt-shots of Professor Saiga and Kogami don’t make up for this or cancel it out. I KNOW WHAT YOU GUYS ARE DOING AND I DO NOT LIKE IT.)
The music was mediocre but acceptable/fitting.
The animation is nice.
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Overall
This isn’t a series I’d recommend to just anyone. It has a lot of issues, and they range from being petty annoyances to straight up offensive. If you can ignore the misogynistic undertones and general lack of consistent attention to the characters, there’s a decently interesting plot waiting for you.
Unfortunately the series just feels...lacking, in the end. There is a S3 coming out (apparently featuring other characters), so the creators aren’t done playing in this world. Maybe S3 will fix some of the consistency issues?
I’ve seen a lot of people make comments about Psycho Pass being a ‘genius’ work, ignored by the general public despite its godliness. I agree that it doesn’t get the attention you’d expect a series of this caliber (nice animation, decent soundtrack, likable main female character who isn’t some moeblob) to have, but I think I hit upon all the reasons it’s not everyone’s cuppa in the first place...and while it is open for fanfiction and so on, the lack of attention to the characters by the series itself makes it less likely to appeal to the sort of people who write fanfiction. So there you have it: a pretty decent, mostly coherent series that’s terribly violent and misogynistic. Definitely not everyone’s cup of tea, but worth a watch if you can get past those pesky negatives.
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fic writer q&a
I’ve seen a few of these floating around over the past few days, so I thought I’d fill one out too. Any of my friends who write, if you’d like to participate, consider yourself tagged!
1. AO3 handle: discordantwords
2. Ships I write: Right now I'm sort of fixated on Sherlock/John, but I got my start writing Mulder/Scully.
3. Ships I read: Mostly Sherlock/John. I'll dabble in reading other pairings if the story seems compelling.
4. When I started writing: I've been writing for as long as I can remember. As a child I used to write wherever and whenever I could--notebooks, little scraps of paper, in the margins of other books. In my angsty teen years, I often thought that that I could be left on a desert island with a supply of pens and a stack of blank notebooks and I'd be perfectly content for the rest of my life.
5. First fic I wrote: An assortment of (probably terrible) X-Files stories I was too shy to post back when the show was airing. I was young and very intimidated by the intelligent and wildly talented fanbase. I eventually wrote and posted The Barn in 2006, long after XF was off the air.
6. Favorite fic I wrote: The answer to this question will be different every time depending on the mood you catch me in. Sometimes I think it's We Could Have Made Music. Sometimes I think it's The Pillar upon Which England Rests. Other times I think it must be (Never) Turn Your Back to the Sea.
7. Hardest fic I wrote: Out There. I was writing and posting a chapter a week. Each chapter averaged 10k words or more and was meant to feel like self-contained episode. It has stand alone monster-of-the-week cases, mythology cases, and a (relatively) coherent plot arc. It's by far the longest and most ambitious fic I've ever written, and, looking back, I have no idea how I ever sustained that pace.
8. Most research-intensive fic I wrote: Also Out There. I dove into a rewatch of X-Files episodes, read old transcripts, tried to find any plot points and characterizations that I could tie in with Sherlock. My goal was to write a story that didn't just rehash the events of either show, but instead blended the worlds into something that would be (hopefully) recognizable and yet still entirely new. I threw out most of the existing XF mythology and wrote my own. And then there was all of the X-Filesy pseudoscience, which had to at least seem vaguely plausible. For the Mayfly "episode," I wound up learning so much more about fly life cycles than I ever wanted to know.
9. Fic that is most dear to me: The Pillar upon Which England Rests. I love Mrs Hudson, I love her relationship to Sherlock, and when I initially eased into this fandom hers was the first story I felt compelled to tell.
10. Favorite trope to write: I will never tire of friends-to-lovers.
11. Something I wouldn’t write: You probably won’t see a PWP from me. I’ll never say never, but I'm not particularly adept at writing smut, even in the context of a larger story. I fear any PWP of mine would end up being fairly cringey. I stick to what I do best.
12. Favorite scene I ever wrote: There's a scene in Inscrutable to the Last, where John is making a last ditch effort to patch things up with Mary. He shows up with takeaway, expecting to talk, only to find that she has Janine over. And they all wind up drinking too much, generally just being terrible to one another underneath a thin veneer of politeness. Over the course of the night John has the slow dawning realization that his marriage is over, that any effort he's trying to make is too little too late. And I've always really liked the tension in that scene, and how the whole thing is messy and painful and doesn't really resolve in a comfortable way.
13. Where I get my inspiration: All over the place! Sometimes little interactions or moments I glimpse out in the world will find their way into my writing.
14. Hardest scene I ever wrote: I cried while writing Sherlock's breakdown in the bathroom at the end of (Never) Turn Your Back to the Sea. It's the only time I've ever cried while working on my own stuff.
15. Favorite characterization I wrote: I am most comfortable writing Sherlock. His thought patterns, as I write him, are fairly similar to my own.
16. Sequel I would write, if I had the chance: I would love to do a sequel to Out There, but the prospect is incredibly daunting.
17. Story I want to write, but I don’t think people would enjoy reading: A longish Sherlock and Molly friendship fic. I don't ship them, but I love the way their relationship has evolved over the years and would enjoy exploring it a bit.
18. A line from a WIP: Molly was three minutes and forty-two seconds late.
19. A recent comment on a story that made me smile: Every single comment puts a huge smile on my face.
20. A discontinued work I would love to finish: I have a post-TAB fic that I started writing ages ago before S4 aired. It was off to a good start, and then I lost track of where I was going with it, and then S4 happened and I really lost track of where I was going with it. I’d like to return to it one of these days.
21. Fic writers I admire: Too many to count! Pretty much everyone out there still keeping these worlds alive through your words.
22. A story I recommend: Because I happen to be rereading it today, I'll throw out a recommendation for Parhelion. An achingly beautiful, wrenchingly sad Sherlock/John vampire fic that spans centuries. I love this fic, and I don't think it's ever gotten the attention it deserves.
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Wonky preliminary thoughts
I watched the episode once this morning then I’ve been various degrees of busy and sickly so the episode is sort of nebulous in my mind but I want to throw down the thoughts I remember thinking this morning... on a second watch I could change my mind. Honestly I don’t even know yet what this post is going to be like. I’m gonna make it up as I go. Let’s find out together.
- It’s a finale baby
Okay I haven’t touched my dash but I know my chickens and I know there’s gonna be wank, because people forget that every year when the finale comes out no one likes it. That’s it, that’s the finale, expectations are high because finales are supposed to be epic so people end up disappointed, some things were predicted 8 weeks prior and people complain that they were too obvious, some things were unexpected and people complain they came out of the blue, some people say Cas wasn’t in it enough some people write down explanations why his part was actually meaningful, you know the drill. This has been a typical finale: Dean makes The Sacrificial Decision (having Death kill him, become the soul bomb...) and things don’t just work the way he expected them to (sometimes positively like with Amara, sometimes negatively like with Michael).
I personally expected Dean to let Michael (although until recently I supposed it could be the original version of him) in since 13x15 (the showrunner’s own meta manifesto relatively to the ‘reverse season 5/reverse Swan Song’ nature of the final part of the season) and that it would be about shouldering himself the task of getting Lucifer killed since 13x20 (where he goes after Loki himself and is not enthusiastic about Sam’s revenge intents against Lucifer), and heck the ‘I let you in but you provide the power but I’m behind the wheel’ kind of speech was something I pictured in a thousand scenarios, so I didn’t get any shocks from that part of the episode’s plot, but I still enjoyed how we got there. And then, Lucifer is dead! *celebration noise coming from the fandom*
- Um okay let’s say you did your best
Okay, the impression I got from my first watch: the script worked, but the episode got wonky in its execution. Not even the special effects (insert a wonky gold star for the trying) but I remember being unimpressed by the sound/music? Is it just me? Like, sometimes the sound choices were too over the top? There were also overdramatic zooms but that’s Supernatural, and Supernatural without overdramatic zooms is like Supernatural without the Winchesters.
I liked the recap montage a lot (what do you think came first, Rowena’s line about the music or the idea of having that line inside the season to use it for the finale recap?). I got a bit sad because there was a lot of Wayward Sisters in it, and it would have been better if the finale came in a moment of celebration for it happening rather than anger and bitterness for the CW’s choices. Something I felt missing from the last portion of the season was Jody, but I was obviously okay with it because she was missing in preparation of her role in the spin-off. If we can’t change the network’s decision, I hope next season is packed with those characters.
Anyway, back to the episode - it was weird at times, you all know what times, let’s just run with it and make jokes.
- But in season 5 they said--
No, the act itself of Michael killing Lucifer wasn’t what was going to kill half the planet’s population. It was that act inside the large picture of that spell-like orchestration that was the apocalypse (seals, horsemen, omens, stuff like that). I would argue the large-scale damage that was expected wasn’t an accidental consequence, but kind of the whole point of the apocalypse. I hate myself for bringing it up, but you know Thanos killing half the people to ~save the universe~ or whatever dangerously ambiguous nazi crap that dumbasses have actually fallen for because Marvel is just that bad and dangerously ambiguously conservative? I think that the archangels kind of were similar to that mindset, making a huge sacrifice of humans to bring ~paradise~ because they were tired or whatever. You know, I know some people don’t think Supernatural is particularly progressive, but in the current media climate not framing the mass-murderous, abusive characters with nazi-coded intents as the actual heroes is apparently too progressive for some, so kudos to Supernatural for not making Lucifer or Michael the hero of the story but to stick to common sense and decency. (I know, this part is not about Supernatural but just me being salty at Marvel, but let me, please.)
- So while we’re talking about this...
I can say that what Supernatural did with Lucifer in season 13, in my opinion, has been really good. I’ve never been afraid they were going to ‘redeem’ him, so I wasn’t worried or bothered by the story throwing the tools of redemption at him. Because not only he didn’t pick them up, he couldn’t see them even if they hit him in the face. He didn’t understand what redemption even means. He kept seeing himself as the misunderstood victim, so instead of bettering himself he just felt sorry for himself, and completely missed the point of a ‘second chance’ or whatever he claimed he was after. So, eventually, it was all a lie. I think Lucifer’s “I’ve changed” attitude was partly a schemed lie (because he’s not that clueless), partly something he was convinced of himself, because he has his head up his ass enough to actually believe he was a poor victim. I think this narrative hits the nail on the head - white male fragility works like that, the men wrapped in toxic masculinity and male entitlement think they’re the victims of a big bad oppression from women and queer people and non-white people. But they’re just pathetic, and when the bubble bursts, all they can do is scream in rage and their ‘nice guy’ persona disappears. Lucifer’s 180° change of attitude towards Jack reminded me of the nice guys who start throwing all sorts of disgusting invectives against women after being rejected. So yeah, I think that Lucifer’s arc this season was sort of relevant, if you want to interpret it like this.
Either way, Supernatural, unlike some other pieces of media, doesn’t actually try to make you sympathize with abusive, violent, misogynistic men (unless they actually show to be self-aware and to seek change, and again you aren’t meant to sympathize with their bad side! Toxic masculinity is supposed to be bad, and slaughtering billions of innocents not justified for any reason, and especially does not make you the hero and the ones fighting to save the people the actual villains! *gasp*). There was even a clear dig at Trump, and I am pretty sure that’s Dabb’s answer to accusations of not being clear enough on the subject...
So yeah, I think this season’s big bad was an allegory for white male entitlement and the ‘nice guy’ victim complex, and Dean stabbed him (I’d say with the help of a Black man, sure it’s actually Michael another villain but momentary symbolism, I guess? Or maybe that just isn’t supposed to be relevant.) I felt someone cheer that was still bitter that Sam killed Alastair. You just know someone out there was still bitter about it. I mean it was teamwork, of course, but Dean provided the power and the stab. Oh, Dean letting Michael in to acquire the power to kill Lucifer (who killed Cas and Sam) as a parallel for Sam’s demon blood usage to acquire the power to kill Lilith (who killed Dean) *insert lengthy reflection here*
- Speaking of parallels--
Someone was irked at the apparent belief across fandom that Dean leaving Sam to the vampires in the cave was ~the codepencency being broken~? (I am not a fan of analyzing the show in these terms that have become so simplified, in case you’re wondering.) And of course now we see that that wasn’t so simple, because Dean makes the same face when Sam disappears with Lucifer and Jack, and Cas tries to stop him, but Dean decides to do the sacrificial decision (did he really expect Michael to keep the deal, really really?). But! (I wasn’t saying that things are still stuck in the 10x23 mud puddle, don’t misunderstand me!) This time it’s not just about Sam, it’s about Lucifer being set on really breaking dad’s toys on a large scale this time. Dean Winchester gives up his humanity to save humanity, because that’s his middle name, and not just to save his brother at the cost of harming the universe. Of course Michael is still on the loose and with a stronger vessel now, but hey, one threat at a time... But I also think there’s something significant with the fact that the last sequence of the episode shows Michael on earth, looking in his element and satisfied about it - to stop Lucifer, Sam, with Lucifer inside, went to hell; to stop Lucifer, Dean, with Michael inside... is on earth. Of course, next season he’ll probably be involved with heaven and whatnot, but I think there’s something significant there, but I’d wait to make much meta about Michael-in-Dean when we actually are shown more about it.
- So, overall?
Overall it was a good finale! Satisfying to have Jack discover Lucifer’s true nature and the nice guy lie shatter, emotional the Jack stuff, powerful that we didn’t see Dean actually getting possessed and Cas seeing it but only Cas being fraught about it, just there, kind of like the narrative was telling us, what do you even expect Cas’ face while losing Dean to Michael to look like? Now, this post is long enough and I’ll need a rewatch and some health points more to analyze the details, but I am sure that I’m going to enjoy analyzing them.
- And what now?
Oh, I expect a lot of fanworks of Charlie and Rowena during the hiatus. It���s probably already started...
Alright, more coherent and hopefully meaningful thoughts coming shortly (...maybe) to your screens ^-^
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The Inspiration Behind To Keep from Drowning
In celebration of 4/20, I might as well tell the story behind my Destiel story, aka the Supernatural Rehab AU.
I’ve been writing fanfiction for 10 years, I’ve recently realized, and while there is an occasional 1-2 year hiatus because my life is crazy busy, Destiel has probably been my oldest die hard ship that I had never written a piece of fanfic for.
A few months ago, while I was searching for a new job, I decided to rewatch Supernatural again. When it fell out of my rotation a few years ago, I had left off somewhere in the middle of season 13. I knew how it ended though because tumblr blew up with the confession scene, and then a couple episodes later with the finale. I didn’t have all the bits and pieces in-between though and to help fill the gaps, I thought I’d start from the beginning.
Upon my rewatch though, I realized a few things. One, I questioned why I had never written a Destiel fic despite loving the ship. Two, I am more Dean coded than I ever imagined, but I’ve always looked at him as a bisexual character (though it’s never shown). Three, I love the fandom so much, I needed to put something with my mark on it.
Before I started my rewatch as well, I started smoking weed, and discovering things that I didn’t realize happened when your state of mind is altered. One of them being is I see things incredibly detailed. Now again, I’ve been writing fanfiction for 10 years. During those years, I’ve kept detailed notes about plotlines, characters, references from their canon stories, diagrams of places and buildings since I do lean more towards AUs, but being able to picture them to the extend that I do when I’m high is nothing. When I smoke weed, I see everything vividly. I see the characters interacting, I see the rooms, even the teeny tiny decorations that most of the time don’t get mentioned. It’s like I’m living in the universe in which I pen.
While I don’t write while I’m inebriated, mainly for the reason of, I keep trying to make notations that sober me can understand (I can also barely form a coherent sentence), I do plan my chapters with detailed bullet points of scenes and details in a document. I save the writing for when I’m sober just to save me some time, but I find making lists soothing and what better way to make use of those lists than to turn them into a fanfic.
When I finished my rewatch, I started reading fanfics of all genres; AUs, canon-divergence, fix-its, etc, and it’s like these stories were coming to life. The more I read, also, the more I realized that they were sometimes fantastic, but there was always something that I would had added to give the story just a touch more. I don’t know if every writer is like that, but I am, and it’s not that I didn’t enjoy the fanfics that I read, they just needed something more.
I wanted to do something that you don’t see very often, but at the same time still contained popular tropes and plotlines that I thoroughly enjoy. As I’ve mentioned in author’s notes, I have someone close to me who went through rehab; they were actually admitted the day after my 19th birthday. While I won’t name the importance of that person in my life, I will say that I learned a lot about something I had no prior experience in being the age that I was. I had never seen a point in drugs and alcohol because they just always seemed like something you could get hooked to. Now that I’m coming up on 24, I smoke cigarettes, weed, and drink once every four odd months.
The rehab in which Dean stays at was heavily inspired by the one that the person I know stayed at. It will be brought up in a later chapter, but I’ve attended Alcoholic Anonymous meetings as a guest. I’ve seen someone struggle firsthand with addiction; I’ve seen them relapse, I’ve seen them recover. And while not everything in To Keep from Drowning isn't completely factual to the perspective of someone who has lived it, it does heavily reference the actual program of working the steps, going to counseling, and trying to figure out who you are without addiction.
I guess you can say a lot in my life inspired this story, and writing to me has always been a form of therapy; hence why this blog is called a fictional reality. I couldn’t control the life I was living when I was bipolar, full of anxiety, and on the edge of my teeth as a teenager, so I always found a world in which I controlled what happened to be my solace and saving grace.
So yeah, there’s some irony behind the AU, but I blame weed, and queerbaiting in what will probably be my favorite tv show for a long time.
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Jews in Modern Media: A Discussion - Repost
Aight so this is a really old post I made in like? 2015? on a blog that is now private, and I recently was asked to repost it so a few notes:
A. Don’t take everything here in face value. It’s a bit more complicated than this. It’s still pretty accurate as an overview, but do your own research, if it’s a topic that interests you.
B. A lot of issues that should be explored in this post aren’t, and that includes: Jewish poc, in general the fact that Jewish people don’t fit in to the poc/white people dynamic, and the whole Jewish actors not playing outright Jewish characters and the other way around. Also, Jewish coding isn’t outright mentioned. In general, as I said, it’s a very general overview.
C. There isn’t any mention of Fantastic Beasts or Wonder Woman and I beg of you, please keep it this way.
D. I also edited it, so if you’ve seen this post before, there’s no new content, but hopefully it’s a little more coherent and accessible to gentiles.
Alright?
This all started when a friend complained to me about the representation of Jews in American media. He linked me to an Idea Channel video and said:
…every minority is getting their time in the spotlight, but Jews are still off to the side. It’s like the world is saying “The world is diverse! But Jews are still all white and assimilated” or only defined by the Holocaust (i.e. Magneto) and/or by Israel. But that’s totally untrue! If Ms. Marvel is awesome for being the first Muslim character to headline a comic (which she is), why not so with an openly Jewish Jew?
He complained to me that a lot of what’s discussed in the video hasn’t been applied to Jews yet, saying: “I want Menorah Man! (Actually I don’t, cause that would suck.) But you know what I mean!” and that all you could see were Jews who were “Very Borscht Belty or Super Charedi.”
I did know what he meant. The very idea of Menorah Man sucks because it stills pigeonholes Jews. We’re defined only by the most Christian holiday (more on that below). But that would still be infinitely better than the situation we have currently: Jews who aren’t actually allowed to be Jewish.
Let’s start with the actual portrayal of Jews in media. At the time I couldn’t remember a single non Ashkenazi Jew. I’m sure that I heard of a case but I couldn’t actually remember what it was. He was right about the two extremes, except that there’s one clear preference for one side (which would be non-Jewish Jews). Charedi are almost never main characters (I remember one movie with Jessie Eisenberg, but that’s it). The truth is, in American media, Jews aren’t supposed to be religious.
I’d actually talked about this all in a really old thread on a shared facebook group, where this same friend had asked:
How do you guys feel about the portrayal of Jewish Characters (especially religious Jews) in media? I also find it interesting that being openly Christian or Muslim in media is becoming more favorable, and those types of characters are becoming more complex, while Jews are still stuck in stereotypes, for the most part. Thoughts?
My answer:
“Oh man, you’re talking to the right girl here. I’m going to focus on television because that’s my expertise but most of these are transferable to all kinds of plot driven media. Ok. So.
Here’s the thing: television as a whole doesn’t know what to DO with Jews. There’s a trope called You Have to Have Jews -the basics of which are that everything has to have Jews because there are so many Jews in Hollywood. However, most prominent Jews in Hollywood are only allowed to be Jews in so far as the comedy aspect of it - you know what I mean. The Big Bang Theory is an excellent popular example of it. Crooked nose, Brooklyn accent, overbearing, fat mothers who are all, somehow, Ashkenazi. The reason for this is actually partly our own fault - as a method of survival, Jews have taken self depreciating humor to a whole new level, which has simply caught on. You know the rule of the n word - only black people are allowed to call themselves that? In Hollywood, that separation simply never happened. That rule was never set in place, because the Jews had been making fun of themselves for so long, and then when the white people came along they thought “we can too”. And once a race becomes a joke in Hollywood, it stays a joke. And the thing is unlike with LGBTQA and Black/Asian/Latinx communities, there is simply no awareness of the problem. Antisemitism stops plenty of people from listening to the few who try to change things.
I have seen very few convincing Jews on television. Mostly, Judaism is treated in the “You’ve Got To Have Jews” throwaway line sense. For example, Willow Rosenberg. Her name sounds Jewish, she mentions she’s Jewish once or twice in the second season, and she puts a rock on a grave. In seven seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (more, if you count the comics, and I do) that is every reference to her Jew-ness, and I just did a rewatch.
Anyway, what I meant with not knowing what to DO with Jews is more complicated than that. Basically, despite the abundance of Jews in Hollywood, the antisemitism pushes any of them who are actually practicing to never admit it. This means that Jews never do anything, well, Jewish. (I can think of very few instances where Jewish customs are shown and they all link to either funerals or Hannukah, which are, apparently, the only holidays Jews celebrate, ever.) This means that Jews in television generally a. celebrate Christmas, b. adhere to some stereotype or another, and/or c. have no Jewish identity besides parentage. Most of the time they’ll have typically Jewish names (but not always!). I know for a fact that there ARE practicing Jews in Hollywood - and yet, no Jewish character is ever seen in Synagogue or wearing a Kippah. Appearances of main characters as Jews that fit in to this are: The aforementioned Willow Rosenberg from Buffy, Howard Wollowtz from the Big Bang Theory, Zoe Hart (who is said to be half Jewish and yet manages to fit in to EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THOSE CRITERIA) from Hart of Dixie, Felicity Smoak from Arrow, Annie Edison from Community, Rachel Berry from Glee.
Jewish characters who appear in one episode and whose jobs are to Be Jewish are excluded from this, as are Ultra Urthodox. But I’ve only seen the first once and the second twice. As for why there are only Ashkenazi Jews, it’s because there are only Ashkenazi Jews. It’s actually very much circular.”
(Note from present me: here I could’ve easily discussed Jewish-coding, but since this is already long enough, another time.)
The wide variety of Jews that exist in Real Life aren’t portrayed on TV. And while those variety of other minorities are coming out slowly, Jews are lagging behind. Jews are allowed to be Jewish either as long as they eat pork or as long as they have no contact with other, non Jewish people.
The friend responded, saying that was the problem in the first place: there’s no middle ground. No Sephardi Jews, no Modern Orthodox. He blamed it on the “Jewish Media Conspiracy”, but I said it’s a little more complicated than that.
I then gave a little historical background. I assumed that my friend knew that Hollywood was built by Ashkenazi Jews, but I asked him if he knows why.
See, back then there were tons and tons of Ashkenazi Jews coming in from all over Europe. A lot of them were coming to Israel in waves called the Aliyot but most of the Jews leaving Europe were heading towards the INCREDIBLY RACIST US of A. So, once again finding themselves in a country where they had no place that wanted them, Jews headed towards the as of yet incredibly undeveloped Hollywood and LA and built it. They took an unfilled niche and made it their own, mostly because they couldn’t do much of anything else.
My friend compared it to money lending, which was a very, very good comparison. For those of you who don’t know what the whole money lending issue is: in old Europe Jews were pigeon-holed into money lending because Christians weren’t allowed to do it. Jews pretty much weren’t allowed to do anything else vis a vis earning a living, and eventually money-lender and Jew became synonymous. That is the source of the common stereotype of Jews being greedy: because of something they couldn’t help in the first place.
The fact that they created Hollywood, of course, is the source of both You’ve gotta have Jews and the idea that Jews Control the Media (well, at least in its American form - the idea already existed in many ways). Now, most of these Jews weren’t religious, often because they viewed religion as the thing that was killing them by the millions in Europe. This was before the Holocaust, just to be clear - what we’re talking about is a reaction to the Eastern European Pogroms and the rise of a new type of racial Antisemitism in the west, which at the time seemed to be about religion. Of course the new Antisemitism is more complicated, and so are the reasons they distanced themselves from religion, but still.
So the Jews who were building the foundations of Hollywood did the two things they did best: Made good movies, and made fun of Jews. There’s a long tradition of Jews making fun of themselves, as a coping mechanism.
But! Suddenly all of these vaguely Christian white men realized that OMG, Hollywood is becoming a thing. And when they took control, Jews were still being made fun of, but now, instead of being in on the joke, they were made the butt of the joke. Stereotypes, which had at first been introduced by Jews as a sort of “in joke”, were made to be and portrayed as the rule.
So Hollywood continued of course, and you probably know much of the next part of the story: the civil rights movement and second wave feminism in the sixties and early seventies changing the amount of women and black people seen on TV and to a certain extent on the big screen. Again, in the late eighties/early nineties, with the beginning of third wave feminism, more (mostly white, probably all cis-het) women on TV and movies alike, slowly many more black people and slowly, other minorities such as asians and hispanics.
But during this entire time, JEWS WERE STILL BEING THE BUTT OF JOKES.
There has never been a time in which there weren’t Jews in popular media and THIS, THIS, is the root of the problem. Antisemitic jokes are so ingrained into popular culture that they’re literally older than sliced bread.
Jews weren’t ever slowly introduced to popular culture, and so there doesn’t seem to be anything to fix.
But of course, he said, there is something to fix.
And there is.
“Me: As for specifically that video, except for the problem that he mentioned pretty much every minority but Judaism, it’s not his fault.
Friend: Because of all of what you just mentioned.
Me: Yep. I should also say that anytime any voice speaks out against antisemitism they are often shot down with the same “Jews control the media” arguments, which is why so few people speak out, which is why the same arguments can be recycled.”
#judaism#jewish#media#american media#mine#long post#if you're wondering i got permission from my friend to quote him in the original post so we're good#writing#jew tag
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Semi-Coherent Thoughts on The Lying Detective
I will start by saying that the most recent episode of Sherlock is one of my favourites - definitely in my Top 5, possibly even in my Top 3. I’ll also point out that I realised it had become one of my favourites about an hour into it, before everything that happened in the end happened. I liked The Six Thatchers, I think I mentioned, but this one was a huge step up and I was gripped from the start.
Like last week, this is less of a review and more of a list of thoughts on the episode that are not particularly well-structured or coherent. It’s also stupidly long, but I have dot point summaries, so don’t worry!
Grief
I read a quote from an interview last week where one of the writers mentioned that they wanted to do grief properly in this episode, and I definitely think they succeeded. We didn’t really see John grieving after Sherlock’s death - more of it was focussed on the anger and hurt that came with Sherlock’s return. I was so glad that his emotional response to Mary’s death was not glossed over. The way he behaved and the way he spoke was entirely believable - which, yes, includes him beating Sherlock up, though it most certainly doesn’t justify it. That scene was heart-shattering as well because of Sherlock’s own grief, and his guilt. He blamed himself for Mary’s death, and so did John. He let John hurt him because he thought he deserved it.
I loved that John was also talking to the Mary inside his head (hereafter referred to as Mental Mary). From a storytelling standpoint, I thought it was an exceptionally clever idea. John doesn’t like talking about his feelings, we know this. As he said in The Empty Hearse, that sort of conversation is something he finds difficult. That he could talk to Mental Mary was a brilliant way of getting around it, letting us see the kind of things that he was keeping bottled up, and also letting us see the moment at the end when he was able to start letting her go. He’s still grieving, he’s still got a lot way to go, but at the end, he was able to forgive Sherlock, to recognise that Sherlock was not to blame for Mary’s death, and in doing so, he’s finally opened the door, ready to slowly, slowly start moving on.
I have an especial love for Mental Mary in her final scene, telling John to stay and talk to Sherlock - and in doing so, letting us know that he truthfully wanted to stay, but was struggling with it, because there was so much pent up emotion there and he knew that it would all come out if he stayed. And it did. He told Sherlock about the “affair” and fell apart, and then there was the hug, which was everything I wanted in the episode. It’s the one scene that has been screenshotted and gifed more than anything else at this point, and for good reason. They both needed that.
I’m in constant awe of Martin Freeman’s acting, and this episode was no exception. Combine this with his reaction to Mary’s death in the last episode, and I definitely think he deserves an award.
tl;dr:
I loved the portrayal of John’s grief
I adored Mental Mary as it allowed us to get inside John’s head and see the things he’d never say out loud
The hug. That is all.
Martin Freeman deserves all the awards
Drug Use
I have quite a lot of thoughts regarding Sherlock’s drug use, and a lot of them aren’t quite fully-formed, so I apologise in advance if this particular section is incoherent.
I spent most of this week rewatching some of the Sherlock commentaries from the first couple of seasons, as a way of tiding myself over before today’s episode. During the A Study in Pink commentary, Moffat and Gatiss actually discuss Sherlock’s drug use, very briefly. In the ACD canon, Sherlock Holmes doesn’t use when on cases, or when emotionally distraught, but when he is bored. It’s a stimulant to stop his brain from rotting - he needs cases, and if he doesn’t have a case, he needs something else. Moffat and Gatiss mentioned that they disliked adaptations where Holmes goes and uses while on a case, because it was completely inconsistent with the canon.
With this in mind, I was a little unsure about how they were going to approach this episode. I knew this episode would involve drug use, and given the commentary, that didn’t make sense. Having seen the episode now, I think it does make sense, because there was an explanation on top of the emotional distress caused by Mary’s death and the guilt. Sherlock using was part of a plan, a plan to save John Watson by making John Watson save him, and that makes his use a little more believable.
I’m not dismissing the emotional aspect of it - Sherlock was very, very distraught, and it seems likely to me that, while his original decision to use might have been motivated, in part, by Mary’s message, the fact that he spiralled so deeply out of control definitely wasn’t part of the plan. But, that’s the thing about drugs, isn’t it. You can’t plan. And Sherlock certainly has a road to recovery ahead of him that is not going to be easy by any means.
Moving past motives to the actual portrayal of a high Sherlock Holmes - I loved it. I loved that even high, Sherlock is still making deductions, but can’t quite catch up to his own head, knowing that something is important but not knowing why. I loved the entire sequence with Sherlock losing time, going from the middle of the road to Baker Street, walking on walls and taking “high as a kite” to an almost literal definition. I’m impressed by the portrayal of it.
tl;dr
I liked that there was an explanation for the drug use beyond just the emotional distress (i.e. it was, in the beginning, all part of a plan), because otherwise it would seem inconsistent with the ACD canon
The emotional distress still played a part and my heart goes out to Sherlock
The actual portrayal of Sherlock on drugs was very clever and very well done
Relationships
First, let’s discuss the unexpected relationship that was Mycroft and Lady Smallwood. I recognise that a lot of people are dissatisfied, because Mycroft is most commonly shipped with Lestrade. I’m not personally a Mystrade shipper (I confess to shipping Molly and Lestrade, actually), but I have had Mycroft headcanoned as aromantic for the previous few series. Well, that’s a lie. I was torn between headcanoning him as aromantic or believing that he has had experiences that have given him reason to believe that “caring is not an advantage” - though typically my aromantic headcanon wins out. Still, I found Mycroft’s confusion in the scene incredibly endearing. I’m accepting of the pairing.
The other relationship, or at least, idea of a relationship, that stands out to me in this episode is Sherlock and Irene. This is a pairing that I’m not quite so accepting on. I mean no offence to anyone who does ship them together, but - Irene is canonically gay, and I cannot accept the idea that Sherlock is straight, not with quotes such as “Girlfriend? No, not really my area” and “The fairer sex is your department, Watson”. I know it’s likely that this is all queerbaiting, but I’d rather hold onto the idea that the things Sherlock says are actually reflective of his character.
I’m entirely accepting of the idea that Irene would infrequently text Sherlock. I’m not surprised by this at all. I’m also not surprised that John would think that means something more than it does. But, I’m going to hold onto the idea that these texts are flirting that Irene does not expect or want to lead to any sort of actual romantic entanglement.
I will say that I loved John’s speech on the matter, though, which sounded to me like he was telling Sherlock that he deserved to be loved and to be with someone and that he shouldn’t wait until it’s too late.
Just while we’re on the subject of relationships, I’m very pleased to know that John’s “affair” was no more than texting. The John Watson we know would not let it go any further than that. The idea that John Watson would even accept the number of another woman is still a bit out of character, but I suppose we all do silly things - especially if your best friend and your wife live insane lives and you want some sort of normality. I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised that the pretty girl on the bus wasn’t normal, either.
tl;dr
Mycroft not knowing how to respond to Lady Smallwood is adorable
Sherlock and Irene definitely text (or, at least, Irene texts, Sherlock receives) but neither of them are romantically or sexually attracted to each other, because they don’t swing that way
I can forgive John for texting another woman more than I’d have been able to had he done more with her
Eurus
Here was something I did not expect. I know we all expected the lady on the bus to be more than who she said she was, and I know many people worked out that she and the “Lady in Red” (who we now know to be Fake Faith) were the same person just from the trailers and promo pics, but I did not expect this turn of events. I’m actually very excited about the matter - I assume Eurus will be the villain of the final episode, and it’s about time we had a female villain, especially one as fascinating as her.
It’s already clear that Eurus is incredibly clever. She’s a master of disguise, for one thing, but it’s more than that. Sherlock was able to predict, two weeks in advance, which therapist John would go to and which appointment he would take. Eurus was able to make the same deduction even earlier, and take the therapist’s place. She was able to fool Sherlock (and yes, she had the advantage of him being as high as a kite, but all the same), and maybe even Mycroft, if he doesn’t know what she’s been up to.
People are making predictions, based on the line “people always stop after three”, that Eurus isn’t the only secret sibling, and maybe she’s not Sherrinford. I’m undecided as to what I think of this theory. It’s an interesting idea, and it makes sense, as far as the fact that we know Mycroft is supposedly keeping tabs on Sherrinford and said earlier “Sherrinford is secure”. However, it’s also making the explanation a lot more convoluted - Occam’s Razor says Eurus is Sherrinford. Or, alternatively, that Sherrinford isn’t a person at all - a friend of mine just suggested the possibility that Sherrinford might actually be a facility where Eurus was meant to be residing, hence it needing to be ‘secure’. Either explanation, I’m very, very excited to see what she’s like in this next episode. And by excited I mean terrified.
tl;dr
Eurus might be the cleverest Holmes sibling we’ve met yet
It remains unclear whether Eurus is Sherrinford or if there are two missing siblings or if Sherrinford is not a person’s name but a place name - but either way, it’s exciting
Other Thoughts
Mrs Hudson is easily my favourite part of the episode. I think we’re all in agreement of that.
I loved that Sherlock made sure to take twisted, turning paths when he was walking with Fake Faith/Eurus with the sole purpose of writing a message to his brother, who he knew would be tracking him. He does love to be dramatic.
The hug. Let’s just talk about the hug again. Thank you for that.
Who was taking care of Rosie? Given we know that at one point John was in therapy, Sherlock was in the boot of Mrs Hudson’s car, and Molly was en route in an ambulance, I’m going to say it was Lestrade
I really liked the way suicide was spoken about in the episode
Culverton Smith was a terrifying villain, though not in the same way as Magnussen, for which I’m very relieved, because I still cannot watch the scene in HLV where Magnussen flicks John’s face and I don’t know if I could have dealt with another Magnussen
I loved this episode, full stop.
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Rewatches and Reconsiderations
I can already tell that my viewing list for August is going to be a bit smaller than the ones for the past few months. The business of moving in and getting myself situated has made it difficult for me to sit down and watch anything, especially since a lot of it has been rentals on iTunes that I’ve been afraid to play without a confirmed block of free time on the horizon. Many of these have been rewatches to boot, so even the listed stuff isn’t exactly new. As is, that’s given me more time to think about the projects, not just this month’s but previous ones I haven’t given much thought to, as well as doing a “Fifites” progress report. Something I’ve decided to copy from blogs I’m a fan of, it’s basically my ballot fifty films into the year. I’m currently trapped at 48, trying not to have Good Time and Ingrid Goes West and other quote-unquote “releases” when I’ve missed so much from the summer I know I shouldn’t’ve. Anyways, in lieu of a lot of fully-formed reviews, here’s a handful of films I’ve pretty much turned the worm on.
If there’s been a more profound switch in my recent opinion of something, it has to be the complete collapse of favor towards Landline. I walked out of that film positively buzzing, with my sister equally into what we had just seen. Maybe the first sign that we weren’t into it was that we spent most of the drive home talking not about the film but about people whose lives were in similar situations, people we knew who feared their fathers were cheating on their mothers. Melina talked about how great it would be when Jenny Slate wins an Oscar (not for this film, just in the future), and I couldn’t help but think about how I repeatedly felt her performance here to be so much emptier than what she gave us in Obvious Child. Then again, a lot of things here feel emptier than Obvious Child, unconvincing in almost every conceivable way. I don’t know what made Gillian Robespierre want to set this in 1995 New York, and barely anything specifies itself to this period the way that 20th Century Women is so clearly set in 1979 California. The break-up scenes are so very much going to be break-up scenes from the moment they start, and a character’s anxious agreement to buy heroin is all we need to know that she will very clearly not buy heroin when the time comes. It’s just empty, with almost nothing to surprise us, and I take my A- as being premised on chords it struck and the interest in Robespierre’s messy characters, mistakenly assuming that messiness conveyed meaning. My sister and I were impressed that the film ended on such an oddly happy note, confident as we were that even one extra scene couldn’t have been so precariously perched with characters acting so warmly to each other. But does the film know that? Does it think Slate’s reconciliation with her bafflingly soon-to-be-husband will last? I feel bad that my 180 on Landline happened outside of the theater, but I have no interest in seeing it again either way, and am perfectly content to let my fraught ideas just exist without giving it a second chance, at least for now.
Colossal, which I enjoyed so much so many months ago, has faced a similar swing down too. This one feels more likely to get a rewatch, but no film that so casually has the destruction of South Korea as a plot conceit/pastiche homage without really doing anything with it except destroying South Korea should have any kind of B grade. The script’s inability to deepen Hathaway’s character once it gets fixated on probing Sudeikis’ scuzzy bastard is also something I should’ve given more thought too, as is the seemingly unprompted attack on the never-to-be-seen-again Tim Blake Nelson character over something that isn’t actually hinted at until that point. Is Sudeikis underplaying, or is the script simply allowing him to just act in the same kind of way and make it seems deeper given new contexts? Are we supposed to care about Dan Stevens at all, especially after the scripted moment of comparing his want of control over her to Sudeikis’s? Everyone seems underdeveloped and in service to a thesis on misogyny and male abusiveness that coheres less with the alcoholism-as-kaiju thesis the more you look at it, nevermind how poorly both ideas stand on their own. Kudos to Nacho Vigalondo for such an inspired premise, but I wish I found more there to really commend, or more there period.
For our one-year anniversary, one of the films my boyfriend and I watched was Logan. I remember walking out of that film high on everything it did with the Wolverine character, where it took his arc and what happened with Professor X and Laura. Another spin dampened most of the film for me, leaving me appreciative of all the risks it took but basically stopping at just appreciating them. It’s impressive to have such a dour tone without succumbing to the kind of boring, depressing “seriousness” that Batman v Superman has, not to mention how Logan’s trying to be a Western more than it is a straight-up X-Men film. It takes guts to envision a superhero film like that, nevermind one that’s the send-off for two of your franchise’s most beloved characters. The inclusion of X-23 feels equally risky and yet, existing within the same cultural space as Arya Stark and Eleven, seems like a fairly logical extension of where the film would go. This time around I ended up finding Dafnee Keen’s impressively steely and ferocious performance to be the crown jewel of the film, freed as she is from the cliches and inevitable goodbyes bagging down Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart while refusing to maker character conventionally likeable or cuddly or remotely childlike. Stewart especially feels bogged by this, though I admired his own abrasiveness and restraint in a part that could beg for easy sympathy and overbaked “madness”, and if Logan as scripted is amazingly reluctant to even be in the film, I still think Jackman does strong work throughout, convincing us of a palpably worn-out hero without selling him short. His desire to buy a boat with Charles isn’t a pipe dream but a goal he’s actively working towards, and his bonds with Charles, Caliban, and Laura all feel believable, not to mention how well he puts over Logan’s depression. If it’s not the full-on coup that I remembered, it’s still a commendable piece of acting, one of three pretty good performances the film offers. Frankly, I found little to admire beyond its central performances (though I did like bits of Marco Beltrami’s score), but this is still a commendably ambitious take on a superhero’s curtain call, and one I’m sure we’re not going to see anything like very soon.
On the plus side of things is another stroll through Personal Shopper, which I found so much more captivating the second time around on practically all fronts, especially in relationship to its star turn. I’d like to think most of my irritation with it was rooted in being too focused on the film’s plot, but that doesn’t explain how dismissive I was of Kristen Stewart’s performance, especially in the midst of so much internet hype around her performance from sources I trust. Was it bad mood? That feels unlikely, since I immediately popped into a screening of The Devils and loved it. Not that The Devils is in any way similar to Personal Shopper, but maybe I cottoned to such a nasty, deliciously horrific project because of how much it loved showing off its enormous vulgarity. Then again, how could one watch the film and not see all the great work Stewart was doing, as I did, and so rudely called for literally anyone else to have taken her place? Personal Shopper is asking a lot of questions about responding to grief in the face of unthinkable personal tragedy, and nothing it’s doing would work without Stewart’s work. I can’t believe I criticized her performance for being so unemotive when Maureen is barely put together at practically every moment in the film. If her personal fashion and hairstyle gives her the air of the coolest Beat poet you’ve never met - and lord how did I say nothing of the amazing costumes - Stewart plays Maureen as a frayed, barely corked bottle of anxiety and irritation from the first time we see her, who only seems assured wearing her boss’s outfits. Stewart convincingly plays an open book who’s the opposite of a people person, who doesn’t seem to like most personal interactions without making her boyfriend seem like an idiot for trusting her or cruel for doubting the existence of spirits. Even when trying on the most risque of Kyra’s outfits in the film’s most ostentatiously soundtracked and voyeuristically filmed sequence Stewart never seems to notice she’s being filmed, so vanity-free is her performance without quite being self-effacing or drawing attention to her own acting. It’s a miracle of a performance in a film that encompasses more tones and variations on the weird and the haunting than I initially realized, or perhaps respected. It may also have some of the year’s best costume work, by Jurgen Doering, who finds such gorgeous outfits for Maureen to gift for her nearly invisible boss while giving her her own remarkable, equally eye-catching ensemble of outfits to wear. It’s such a stupendous jump up in my personal opinions of it, and though it’s not the best film of the year - though it surely contains one of its best performances - it may be my favorite purely on the grounds of how much more I’ve grasped from another tour, and a deeply felt lesson in rewatching projects you just couldn’t “get”.
From there, the projects I’ve revisited - I Don’t Feel At Home In This World Anymore and The Lost City of Z - were ones I greatly enjoyed and found myself in basically the same place with a second trip through, albeit with a finer reading of their assets, and their goals. Both boast so much value, are utterly compelling experiences on any number of levels. I urge anyone interested in these projects to find them and watch them as soon as possible, but given that all the films I’ve talked about here are more in line with changed opinions than ones that stayed the same, I’ll leave those two be. Hope everyone’s doing well back at school, and a lovely evening to all you beautiful people. See you next time, hopefully with a real review!
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