Propaganda
Ginger Rogers (Swing Time, Top Hat)—Look I’ll level with you, I’ve never seen her in a musical and I know that she’s an amazing dancer and she’ll be even hotter when I finally watch Top Hat but I’m not submitting her as a dancer I’m submitting her as an ACTRESS. Her comic timing is impeccable!!!!! She’s full to bursting with life and in every role she seems to be having FUN, you can practically feel the twinkle in her eye. With her natural warmth it’s like she’s letting you in on the joke, y’all get to have this fun together! Making me laugh is hot!!! [If you'd like to see Ginger dance, videos below the cut]
Dorothy Lamour (The Jungle Princess, Road to… movies)—Ok, to be honest, I get if no one wants to vote for her--she's kind of like my ~problematic fave~ because she started in the Road (Singapore, Bali, Hong Kong, etc) movies with Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, which are full of all sorts of exoticism tropes and usually have her playing very side-eye type roles..island princesses and things...yeah. also she banged J. Edgar Hoover. not very hot. but your honor i still think she's pretty despite all that she's pretty please look at her and tell me she's prettyyy
This is round 1 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.
[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]
Dorothy Lamour propaganda:
She started in jungle and South Seas movies and became famous in the Road series. She learned quickly to improvise when facing Bob and Bing. Road to Bali almost has her character marrying both of theirs, since she's island royalty and nobody had a problem with it - a nearly poly relationship, an epiphany for a viewer who didn't even know that that could happen! She was a popular pinup girl during World War 2, and was the first singer for the popular standard "It Could Happen to You". She sang often in her movies and has a lovely voice!
Ginger Rogers propaganda:
She needs no introduction! An undeniable powerhouse on the dancefloor, and no less talented an actress. I once watched a compilation of cinema's greatest dance scenes and one of her and Fred Astaire's dances was featured, and one of the talking heads said he pitied her for 'having to keep up with him' - or something to that effect. Bullshit, I cry. Ginger Rogers was his absolute equal, and underplaying her incredible skill is downright criminal. I want the 'Cheek to Cheek' sequence from Top Hat to be permanently burned into my memory.
"Backwards in high heels", as the saying goes (though the pedant in me must point out that she in fact spent her fair share of time leading or dancing side-by-side). One of the earliest twinkle-toed ladies of the silver screen, and in terms of acting/persona, her balance of wide-eyed cuteness and movie-star glamour has never quite been replicated.
we all know her beloved string of musicals with fred but ginger also has an extensive and varied non-fred filmography that she's great in! a few ginger moments that are important 2 me personally ginger singing “we’re in the money” in gold diggers of 1933, complete with a verse in pig latin bc this whole movie is kinda mocking the concept of anyone actually being in the money in 1933; ginger and una merkel singing a verse of “shuffle off to buffalo” in 42nd street, providing some statler & waldorf-esque commentary on newlyweds from the upper berth of a railway car (interesting that belly was apparently a risque word in 1933 - maybe its bc the lyric is innuendo-ing about out of wedlock pregnancies - and that panties was a term for men’s underthings!); a favorite fred & ginger number
Ginger Rogers could do everything! She could sing, dance and act. She was hilarious in comedies, moving in dramatic roles (she won an Oscar for Kitty Foyle in 1940) and absolutely gorgeous!
Listen, no shade to Fred Astaire at all, but she both kept up with him step for step and then later went on to WIN AN OSCAR FOR ACTING. (which he did not.) truly a double threat!!!
One of the best dancers in Hollywood! Her work with Fred Astaire is just incredible.
ONE LINE: "Everything Fred did, Ginger did backwards and in heels" AND THEYRE RIGHT! Rogers was a total dance badass, and a lot of movie buffs know the story, but the Never Gonna Dance number from Swing Time took almost 50 takes, and allegedly by the end of filming it her white shoes had been stained pink because her feet were bleeding. As a note, she looks crazy gorgeous in this number. Watching these two dance is insane. They match up to each other in a way my mom describes as "divine" and she's right. DANCE NUMBERS!
Let's Call The Whole Thing Off (Shall We Dance, 1937, dancing starts at 3:14, they're in ROLLERSKATES)
(Ginger Rogers is the hottest woman ever to live in this number. seeing this as a teenager altered my brain chemistry)
(also watch her feet and how she moves opposite Astaire in this one. We all know our boy Freddie had that precision demon but jesus christ Miss Rogers, let a girl live!)
Pick Yourself Up, Swing Time 1936 (Everyone's seen this one but by god you are going to see it AGAIN!)
Shall We Dance, 1937 (duet begins at 2:34)
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, Roberta 1935 (There's just something about Ginger Rogers in a slick black dress man)
The Continental, The Gay Divorcee 1934 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cjv6nmF7wdk God she's MAGIC in this one.
Gay Divorcee's Ending Montage 1934The infamous table and chairs spin happens at about 0:49. Pay CLOSE attention to her in this bc it looks like witchcraft and I feel lightheaded whenever I watch this movie bc shes THAT awesome.
She is a miracle to watch. Sorry for the sheer amount of clips. My entire family is like madly in love with Ginger Rogers.
411 notes
·
View notes
50 Years of Kung Fu Movies
There’s an overlooked anniversary that hasn’t been widely reported much yet: as of March 2023, it’s been 50 years of Kung Fu movies in the United States.
Bruce Lee was not the first big international Kung Fu movie star. Rather, the first English-dubbed breakout Chinese martial arts movie to become a hit in the greater US (apart from Hawaii) was “5 Fingers of Death” (also called “King Boxer”) in 1973 starring Lo Lieh, six months before Bruce Lee’s “Enter the Dragon” and posthumous fame, making Lo Lieh the first true international Kung Fu star. There were lines halfway around the block at Times Square to see “5 Fingers of Death,” thanks to a radio giveaway in the New York area, and to those who first saw the movie, they remember the very first scene when the 63 year old Kung Fu master started backflipping and kicking out of nowhere and everyone watching this started losing their minds. “Five Fingers of Death” was like “Star Wars” in that it was a movie people saw over and over, minds blown, never having seen a film like this before.
Because Kung Fu movies were shown in less expensive grindhouse cinemas in urban areas, like seedy, pre-gentrification Times Square in New York, the audience for these films was disproportionately black, and to this day, the black community has a strong connection to 70s Kung Fu movies. Every middle aged black dad today loves this stuff. It isn’t just due to them being shown in inner city theaters, however, or on UHF stations where they were replayed cheaply on Saturdays. Rather, the success of Kung Fu movies in the black community is based on the themes of the movies. Most Kung Fu movies are about poor dishwashing working class underdogs in an unjust system, usually either Japanese Imperial Occupied China, or during the Manchu Dynasty, where China was ruled by despotic foreign conquerors. The heroes bow in humiliation at first, but who secretly take the power back through intensive personal training, blood and sweat and a montage, that lets them stand up to oppressors. As RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan explained: “when we saw these movies about opposing the Manchu Dynasty, it made us think we weren’t the only people in world history that ever went through this.”
When it comes to introducing the genre, “Five Fingers of Death” is a great “first movie,” a pure, emblematic example of what these movies look like. In the very first scene, in Japanese occupied China, an old Kung Fu Master who is our hero’s teacher is pursued by Japanese karate killers, enforcers of the occupation. His student, Lo Lieh, has to learn the iron palm technique in a brutal, bloody, visceral series of training montages to harden his palms to iron, which involve him excruciatingly breaking every finger in them. The themes of vengeance, pursuing justice under occupation, training montages that are as important as the action, and the theme of failing brutally over and over until it “clicks” and you have a miraculous “Eureka!” moment that every teacher recognizes and lives for. It helped it started with the Kung Fu right away....imagine seeing flips and flying kicks for the first time when you’re used to western bar brawls.
It’s worth noting that, despite being a hugely important moment in pop culture, 5 Fingers of Death was not a hit in Hong Kong, and was not even in the top 10 highest grossing movies of the year. It reminds me of Voltron, which is absolutely unknown and completely obscure in Japan, when elsewhere, it is THE giant robot show. The fact 5 Fingers was a big hit in the US absolutely baffled the Shaw Brothers, who were convinced to part with the rights for their movies for cheap, leading to a flood of Kung Fu movies. Notably, Lo Lieh, though he was the first Kung Fu movie star and a reliable martial arts leading man, did not have much of a career after this in lead roles. His character skills were best served playing villains in Shaw Films, notably as the evil Kung Fu eunuch supervillain, Pai Mei, in “Executioners from Shaolin” and “Clan of the White Lotus.” Tarantino wanted Lo Lieh to reprise his role of Pai Mei in Kill Bill Part 2, only to discover that he died just before filming.
304 notes
·
View notes
any other high quality bls like itsay?🥲
Okay, to start, none of the below posts have been updated in a while so I would add these 2022-2023 offerings:
Eternal Yesterday *
The Eighth Sense
180 Degree Longitude Passes Through Us*
Moonlight Chicken
Sing My Crush*
Tokyo in April is
I Feel You Linger in the Air
ALSO, currently airing Unknown and Gray Shelter.
With regards to ITSAY I am not your huckleberry but here's what I got for ya...
And pulling from the "moody arthouse smackdoodle" list in this post about BL's dark side:
Your Name Engraved Herein (Taiwan 2020 Netflix) - this movie is fantastic but it is also seriously depressing, it’s a self acceptance journey, but if you wanna wallow in high quality acting and serious gay drama, this’ll do it.
Goodbye Mother AKA Thua Me Con D (Vietnam 2019 Netflix) - like YNEH this is a great movie but it deals openly with homophobia, bashing, family trauma and social acceptance.
For Love, We Can (Hong Kong 2014) - an indie movie about parental homophobia, light/dark pairing, and (of course) HIV.
The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese AKA Kyuso wa Chizu no Yume wo Miru (Japan 2020) - obsession, cheating, breakup, reunion, then break up again, explicit.
Pornographer movie series - AKA The Novelist, Mood Indigo, Pornographer Playback (Japan 2018-2020) emotional manipulation, cheating, obsession, seduction, May/December (age gap AKA younger/older), kink, touch of necrophilia, explicit.
Method (Korea 2017) - May/December, actor idol pairing, that should have been everything I wanted in life but it’s more about the actor cheating on his wife and their weird “artsy” relationship and frankly, I hated this. And I don’t say that lightly.
Itsuka no Kimi e (Japan 2007 YouTube) - okay this is basically about a college student who saves this boy from drowning and then gets embroiled in his, and his identical twin’s messed up lives. It goes very weird.
His the series AKA I Didn’t Think I Would Fall In Love (Japan 2019) - boy goes to visit his absent father ends up kinda homeless on the beach gets adopted by local family falls in love with the boy working and living with them. Lots of long drawn out glances.
Innocent (Taiwan 2021 GaGa) - mental health, childhood trauma, actually kinda sweet.
More on ISTAY et al here.
* are ones that I don't recommend if you have the same taste as me, but I DNF'd ITSAY so, you calearly don't have the same taste
27 notes
·
View notes
LOONA as GIRLFRIENDS (sfw)
★ - genre: gf headcanons, wlw, fluff
★ - warnings: none
🐇HEEJIN
- plays guitar for you and sings to you
- you help her with sudoku puzzles
- you’re always cleaning up after her lol
- you’re planning a trip to travel abroad
- you’re always eating out since she can’t cook or she makes you cook for her
- you plant little kisses to her mole near her left eye
- her satoori comes out when she talks to you sometimes
- tried to convince you to become vegan with her
- you kiss her nose a lot
- you are obsessed with her arms- and she flexes for you and laughs when your mouth goes wide open
- gives you the other airpod while listening to music
- you feed her online shopping addiction bc she buys so much stuff for you
- she introduces you to her puppies
- if you have dogs, she loves them sm and constantly asks you to send pics
- she asks you to pose so she can draw you and you have her drawings hung up in your room
- she gets embarrassed when you watch her stages in front of her and compliment her
⋆⋅☆⋅⋆
🐈HYUNJIN
- you met in school and thought she was so pretty and vice versa
- play-wrestles you
- makes you laugh so hard your cheeks hurt from smiling
- loves to play sports with you, even if you aren’t good at them
- plays piano for you
- always holding your hand everywhere you go
- coffee shop dates <3
- you can outdrink her very easily and she gets super affectionate while drunk
- wants to get a cat or dog with you
- wants you to baby her
- when you saw her bare face you kissed her cheek and told her she was gorgeous
- she doesn’t rely on you when she’s stressed and prefers to not put her issues on you but still comes to you for advice
- you watch youtube and listen to music on her bed while cuddling
- she buys you both coffee almost every morning
- she loves joking with you and you share inside jokes and a secret language
- one time while walking together you hurt your leg and she carried you on her back the rest of the way
- she’s always hyping you up
- you have mukbangs on vlive
⋆⋅☆⋅⋆
🕊️HASEUL
- babies you
- plays piano and guitar for you
- movie nights where you cuddle on the couch and fall asleep in eachother’s arms
- cooks for you
- such a mom
- sends you good morning and goodnight texts and always checks up on you
- always buys you lavish gifts aka spoils tf out of you
- asked you to call her your girlfriend first
- she’s quite affectionate
- remembers the smallest things - you could mention something months ago and she’d remember and buy it for you
- drives you around
- pottery and figure skating dates
⋆⋅☆⋅⋆
🦌VIVI
- she was so quiet when you met but once you got the know her she’s such a bright person
- an absolute sweetheart, the most gentle gf
- she makes you watch scary movies with her and you hide your face in her neck at the scary parts
- she can’t sleep unless she’s cuddling you
- takes you to hong kong to meet her family
- you’re always taking pictures of her and she gets embarrassed
- amazing listener, gives the best advice
- rock climbing and hiking dates !!
- she prefers to stay inside though and spend time with you
- cheers you up when you come to vent
- she’s extremely considerate of you and your feelings and often makes you meals or take cares of you when you’re sick
- cooks you noodles and vegetables
- gives great hugs
- she wants to go see the cherry blossoms with you
⋆⋅☆⋅⋆
🧸YEOJIN
- she probably approached you first initially to become friends
- she’s always trying to come up with cute nicknames for you
- loud asf especially when she feels like someone is hitting on you or threatening you; gets super defensive
- always hitting you playfully when she laughs
- teases you constantly but it’s always lighthearted
- loves to do your nails
- if you’re taller than her (she’s incredibly short), she often complains about her height and you tease her playfully about her shortness
- she also is always the small spoon
- makes you take her instagram photos
- wants to get matching tattoos
- you’re a pair of troublemakers
- if you’re younger than her she always brags about being older, and if you’re older, she always wants to be treated like a baby
- makes you watch animated shows with her
- naps together <3
- her hand is very small and fits cutely in yours when you hold hands
- kisses you goodbye
- you have to drive her everywhere bc she refuses to get a license
- speaks in her daegu accent to you, you tell her it’s hot
- you’re always reminding her of dates you planned bc she forgets easily
- she loves perfume and you always gift it to her. you carry a rolling perfume in your bag and roll it on her wrist so she can smell it and to calm her when she’s stressed.
- convinces you to get new piercings and you come with her to get hers
- you play pokémon together
- she’s more affectionate than you are
- writes about you in her diary
⋆⋅☆⋅⋆
🦉KIM LIP
- a romantic at heart
- cleans up your room without you asking
- laughs at everything you say, even the most stupid jokes
- had a habit of sweeping your hair back
- sushi dates + movie nights
- she loves watching romance movies with you
- “that’s like us”
- you watch dramas together and gossip about the main characters
- she loves longboarding with you
- if you ever fight, she’s the first to resolve it
- passenger princess
- tried to teach you how to play the violin while you tried to explain a sport to her - she didn’t get it
- she gets cold easily and you warm her hands and beat hug her to warm her up - or give her your jacket
- always makes sure you’ve eaten
- she’s bad with technology and needs your help constantly when her phone isn’t working
- shopping together <3
- she gets sleep paralysis and you comfort her when she gets scared
- she loves massaging your shoulders and your back after a long day
- you bought her a guitar and she freaked out
- the two of you love baking things together even if they don’t turn out well, she even made you a birthday cake as a surprise
⋆⋅☆⋅⋆
🐟JINSOUL
- she has a strong vibe and it took you a while to approach her but you instantly became close
- you sit on her lap while she plays video games or hug her from behind
- very clingy
- restaurant dates late at night where you get fast food or snacks
- she’s very honest with you and if she has any concerns she always voices them to you
- you built gundam models and lego sets together
- she talks a lot and you could listen to her ramble for hours
- always coming up with creative dates that involve her new hobbies
- she writes songs about you
- overdramatic af when you don’t give her attention
- you’re in her vlogs and she edits hearts around you
- she knits you stuffed animals and blankets
- recommends you webtoons to read
- makes you take the mbti quiz so she can analyze your personality
⋆⋅☆⋅⋆
🦇CHOERRY
- couple items !! (ex. matching hoodies, toothbrushes, pajamas, shoes, etc.)
- tteokbokki dates
- helps you manage your stress
- her sisters love you
- if you argue she’s always the one to settle things down and solve conflicts, she apologizes even if she hasn’t done something wrong
- plays video games with you and you always beat her and she pouts
- her mother brings you sweet potatoes from her farm
- compliments you constantly and says she’s jealous of your pretty appearance
- you call her sexy and she gets shy but she appreciates it sm lol
- makes you take the harry potter sorting house quiz and you have a movie marathon
- loves it when you wear sweet perfume
- she’s always playing with your hair and asks to braid it a lot
- you watch animes together
- definitely friends to lovers, your friendship is so strong
- loves it when you call her yerim/yerimmie
⋆⋅☆⋅⋆
🦢YVES
- she’s super charismatic and the two of you became fast friends
- i’m imagining a very sweet and shy confession from her
- aesthetic dates and photoshoots constantly
- you go thrifting together at vintage stores
- if you have pets, especially cats - she adores them and is always asking about them
- tries to teach you how to dance lol
- makes you playlists
- introduces you to her family and they love you
- she’s very poetic and expresses her love very fondly, often sending you long text messages explaining her feelings
- many inside jokes between you two
- loves it when you call her sooyoungie
- wants to go to the gym with you
- she gets embarrassed when you compliment her
- “stopp it y/n! shhh”
- she’s extremely passionate about your relationship and head over heels for you
- a total softy- you make her blush just by looking at her
- she cries easily talking about her feelings or when she’s stressed but feels very comfortable around you and the two of you comfort eachother when you’re down
- imitates you perfectly - it’s so annoying
- an excellent listener when you need to rant
- prefers to care for you rather than you care for her
- if you fight, she usually gets emotional but is very logical and listens to you well
- posts pictures of you both and captions it with something funny and cute
- gifts you clothes and lets you borrow hers
- cooks tteokbokki for you
- wears your hoodie so much she might as well own it
- takes pictures of you on dates with her film camera
- when she kisses your face she leaves a lipstick mark on your cheek
- you buy her vinyls and roses bc she loves roses
- she reads poetry to you in bed
⋆⋅☆⋅⋆
🐧CHUU
- she’s so supportive of everything you do, your biggest cheerleader
- cheek and nose kisses !!
- eternally grateful for you and always reminding you
- you have a lot of cheesy and heartfelt moments where she tells you how much she loves you and appreciates you
- you have a very innocent and adorable relationship that is mutually healthy and caring
- you have small arguments/debates that always end well and you laugh about them at the end of the day even though chuu always wins
- she lets you guest star on chuu can do it for an episode and introduces you to orbits
- she’s extremely affectionate and is always holding your hand and clings to your side
- buys you so many gifts she often forgets to buy stuff for herself
- sleepovers where you attempt to stay up until 2 am but chuu always passes out first
- she’s very hard on herself but you’re consistently reassuring her
- she has a large appetite and you let her eat your leftovers or often order big portions to share and she ends up eating most of it lol
- she teaches you taekwondo moves and threatens to bring them out if anyone dares try to hurt you
- karaoke dates !!
- does aeygo for you when she wants something
- you went on a rollercoaster one time and she was clinging onto you, holding your hands with her eyes shut screaming the whole time poor bby
⋆⋅☆⋅⋆
🦋GOWON
- she’s very introverted so it was tough to get to know her bc she’s so shy
- constantly tags you in funny shit and sends you posts saying “this reminded me of you”
- she’s very positive and helps you see the bright side of situations
- you have an animal crossing island together
- you go shopping together all the time and she always wants to do your makeup
- she annoys you and teases you constantly but makes up for it with cute affection
- amusement park dates <3
- she’s such a bad cook she tried to make something for you to eat one time and it burnt so you just got take-out
- you bought her oh my girl concert tickets and she was so grateful
- she makes you winter playlists
- you spoil her with clothes
⋆⋅☆⋅⋆
🐺OLIVIA HYE
- holds your hand when she’s upset
- acts like she dislikes everyone but you type of thing
- you and her give marceline and bubblegum vibes
- hugs you from behind - leans on your shoulder and pouts
- very handy and fixes anything you need fixed
- very competitive and will end you in a game
- hates receiving hugs and kisses but will hug and kiss you all the time
- sends you very eloquent messages about her love for you
- she leaves notes of encouragement on to ur bag and plans you surprise birthday parties
- teases you but it’s never hurtful
- you taught her how to wink
- she kills bugs in your house for you
- the two of you have sleepovers and wear facemasks
┕━━━━ ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ━━━━┙@yvesgo 2023
146 notes
·
View notes