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slamsams-blog · 4 years

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Tomorrow Never Dies - #24WeeksofBond

Welcome to the 90′s! Pierce Brosnan is fulfilling his duty as James Bond in this action-packed adventure about a media mogul trying to manipulate the world for complete control over Chinese news media. A story with a villain that hits a little too close to home these days with our current political landscape.

As a kid who went through his teenage years in the 90′s - Pierce Brosnan was the absolute man. Until Daniel Craig came along, Brosnan had taken a clear lead in the “Best James Bond Ever” race. I certainly thought that. “Tomorrow Never Dies” was the first Bond movie I saw in the theatres. I went to see it because my friends and I, (and every other video game kid back then) were obsessed with the N64′s first person shooter - “Goldeneye”. One of the best video games in the history of video games.

That game is how I got to know James Bond. So of course when the new Bond movie came out, we were all first in line for a ticket. Ultimately the “Tomorrow Never Dies” video game would come to be an utter disappointment in comparison to its predecessor.

Unfortunately, like the video game, this film kind of gets the same distinction. A bond film that is an utter disappointment compared to its predecessor, 1995′s “Goldeneye”. While that may have been true back then - watching it on its own now, I have to say that this is an extremely under rated Bond film. Just take away your “Goldeneye” colored glasses for a second and judge this movie as a stand alone installment. It is high octane, colorful, and witty with some wonderful over acting...it was the 90′s. That’s how we took our Bond in the 90′s - we wanted our one-liners extra cheesy, our gadgets over the top, and our female characters salacious.

That’s why Brosnan was a perfect fit for this era. He was cool, handsome, & mysterious like Connery, but charming, care-free, and arrogant like Moore. He was the perfect balance. These days, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who thinks Brosnan was the best Bond, because of how we take our action movies now. But back then....Brosnan was the damn bee’s knees.

The plot is that the Chinese and British are being tricked by Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce), and his network of evil henchmen, into thinking that they have attacked one another’s military. Carver is trying to create a world war so that he and his media empire can cover it, creating a monopoly on mass media, and gaining the power of being able to control the news and therefor, control the world. MI6 is given a tight deadline to dig up whatever they can find about a massacre that had taken place on a British Naval fleet in the South China Sea. So Bond has to act quick.

One of the interesting things about this movie (besides Bond’s new biting fetish he has seemed to develop...#Brosnanscharaterchoices) is his past relationship with Elliot Carver’s wife Paris (Teri Hatcher). We hadn’t seen Bond in love since his wedding in “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”, so this story line seemed a little out of nowhere. We knew nothing of Paris in any previous movie so trying to believe and invest in this relationship is somewhat of a tough task, but Pierce and Hatcher do the best they can. Would have worked better had they brought a bond girl from a past movie back, but oh well.

The real relationship is developed between Bond and Wai Lin - a Chinese secret agent who has been sent out on the same mission as Bond. Michelle Yeoh is great in this role because she is not the obvious sex appeal pick. She is a driven, kung-fu fighting, cold-hearted killer of a secret agent who becomes sexy because of how bad ass she is. Later in the movie we are treated to a Jackie Chan style fight scene between Wai Lin and a bunch of evil dudes who just cannot measure up. Looking back, she was a wonderful pick for the role, and very much looked over as far as iconic Bond girls in the series.

Jonathan Pryce is intoxicatingly evil, sadistic, and insane in his role as Elliot Carver. His portrayal of this character is over the top, and perfect. And what makes it better is his group of lackeys. You have Stamper, the big German muscle, and Henry Gupta, a techo-terrorist who uses a GPS encoder to manipulate satellites to send the British naval ship off course without them knowing. This encoder is what Bond and Wai Lin are both, unknowingly to each other, trying to get.

I’ve always liked Pryce’s performance as Carver. He makes him look desperate for world wide adoration which makes him susceptible to Bonds foiling. Bond is sent to attend Carver’s big media launch party which sees Carver schmoosing big groups of people with stories about himself. Bond eventually gets sniffed out and taken away to be “taken care of”. But Bond says “nah” and eventually ruins Carvers big night by shutting off his news feed in the middle of his big speech. Humiliated, Carver is now in full on “Bond must die” mode. The switch is made so clear because of Pryce’s performance and there’s a moment toward the end where they show Carver in the moment where he realizes he’s screwed that’s just beautiful and sad.

When you look at the entire Bond collection of movies as a whole, the Brosnan movies tend to have a reputation for being too goofy, outlandish, and out right unrealistic. While that may be true for Brosnan’s two follow-ups, I still think “Tomorrow Never Dies” is one of the better films in the Brosnan series. Keep in mind, the Brosnan series didn’t have the books behind them. The film makers behind the Bond series had exhausted all of Ian Fleming’s novels and now they were forced to just make up Bond stories which probably wasn’t the easiest of tasks.

So while the Brosnan collection may have lacked as far as story and simplicity they made up for in action. Lots of great action scenes in this movie with Bond and Lin, hand-cuffed, co-driving a motorcycle being chased by a helicopter is one of the most iconic vehicle chase scenes in Bond history. And who can ever forget Bond in the back seat of his remote controlled car, using the track pad to drive it to his escape from the bad guys?? This is just solid, 90′s action movie gold.

While “Tomorrow Never Dies” may never be considered one of the best Bond movies, it sure created unforgettable moments which, sometimes, is all you need in a movie franchise as deep as the Bond franchise. With Brosnan at his peak with the character, and the great supporting cast around him - including the great Jodi Dench as M - “Tomorrow Never Dies” deserves another look, and maybe a higher place on some “experts” Bond lists.

That’s all for this week! What did you think? I’ll leave your reviews below...

Reviews from Friends:

My Mom:

On All Bond films we are amazed by the ingenious gadgets that Bond is introduced to right along with the audience. Amazingly many of the features on his indestructible BMW are now reality, and in some cases, common place. (Voice activation, GPS tracking, remote start, self driving). Another striking aspects of this film is the comparison of Elliot (Jonathan Pryce) and our current maniacal leader. It seems more at home in an action film than in our precious world. I have known and loved Teri Hatcher in Desperate Housewives and what a surprise to see her here. The only other comment I have is that the film is full of outlandish situations as you stated. That’s what Bond is known for but when 007 and Wai-Lin cuffed up together, rode cheek to cheek at high speed, vanquishing all obstacles in their way but could not figure out how to unhook themselves, that was a hoot. Hey and now I know where Tom cruise and Carmen Dias came up with their high speed scooter chase in the tongue-and-cheek version “Day and Knight”. A favorite of mine. I enjoyed the film.

24 Weeks of Bond will return next Monday with -

Licence To Kill

#24WeeksofBond

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zella-starr · 4 years

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Cassandra is its hero: a girl that can see bad news or predict the end of the world- but no one ever listens so its stuck in a perpetual state of existing and emotional terror: zella finally figured out what 12 monkeys is about and it wrote this absurt literal wtf short story that only makes sense to those who look deeply there are some spoilers in #s but if anyone does read it and it doesnt get it kicked the f out then just tell it what you think of the ending - if you understand it at all lol

it prays, to pic related that tumblr has more femine creatures than ones who do not understand metaphors or cannot see between white and black every shade of grey

it presents: The Cassandra Effect don’t read it tho its insanity personified

DO NOT READ THIS YALL!

The Casandra effect short story by something called zella or ezla or something idk it aplogizes for spelling errors but it freaked out and though it lost its masterpiece via saudi princes banning it from twitter

"my name is Casaandea" my name is Casandra - she repeated after the cubes. something about tit felt--different- a sinister evil the cube felt different today But she had learned to not listen to such thoughts- the kind of thing that would tear a weaker specimen to pieces but cas- (arrogance my darling)

Zella01/11/2020 "a horse, of course, my darling" ` as far as Cassie could tell, the cube thought this was amusing- cute even- she smiled- kind of. and but her little black boots on for a flickering moment she wondered what day it was then scoffed- "days" the cube has replaced any need for such distinctions

Zella01/11/2020 the first thing the cube had said to the population of Wintersville upon its gran unveiling via the tribesman, was "every day is exact;u the same,!" like the great Adema themselves said! " stupid vicky, who is no long with us began to correct the cube . "That's Nine Inch Nails haha" but the look the tribesman- the one who was always beside the cube, well i sure wouldn't want to see that peak in the window at night such as on Thursdays when the servants of tribesman would do so- there were strict rules regarding sexual activity it goes without saying that after the great collapse everyone was sterilized- no children period. they were rounded up and shipped off to.. Cassiei always forgets just where but since the tribesman had brought in his spiritual leader Augustness. sexual pleasure had become limited for men- and more so for women. a man without a wife was most scrutinized and often was sent to another sector. One man was caught, welll Cassie was supposed to keep heer mind off of such things as she had been scolded since mistaking the tribesman wife for well not a woman Cassie stopped for a moment and looked around she felt the fear. this means they could to,. but why was the memory so frightful? it was a simple truth he had told her there are men, and there are women Cassies little black boots were almost at the entrance of the factory when her favorite sound on earth came screeching through the air and crashed into her eardrums like the silly old tale of the 2 became 1 buildings nonsense It was Kathy- Cassie's coworker and Nemesis- her voice was always happy-sounding- often at awkward times- but none would beat this "Cracker John Joe got hit my a truck!" "excuse me?" "yep, his head came plum off his neck too!" "what he's.. dead?" "ok well it did not come plum off his head it wad i think about half of it the tire just smashed his head and it crumbled but lots of the crumblings were far away so it was almost his." Cassie had to make sure her stress did not rise- or as the Tribesman called it her Gorita acting amuck " this would require intervention from the cubes she decided to take a peek anyway, despite kathy (what kind of fucking name is that anyway-ok Cassie stop it) and she wa.. well it was actually not such a great idea it was not that they were close,. they did not go to prom together. they did not kiss each other on the cheek after a run-in on the one single street in wintersville. but she did work with him, he was a bubbly guy, thats what the tribesman said of him- and obviously the tribesman had him killed sometimes though she wondered which was in control, him or the cubes- this thought was followed my a very sharp pain and headache that would last for day at a time (this was how the subjects of the satanic mind-control experiment that was wintersville, were trained- imagine a dog being shocked every time it bites someone) It was not the worst one she had felt, no, that was easy to pin point: one day at work- an outsider was brought in. A girl- of 16 or 17 years old. Tribesman had another man with him that day- no one spoke his name- but he decided it would be best for Casandra and the new girl (Cassie called her flower as her name was never known) Flower had an outrageous hick accent- one that cassie would normally have been disgusted by, but flower was different. she had a light shining from her eyes. a softness to her lips and to her touch. one that cassie did not forget later that evening when she was alone., this was before she learned she was never alone when the cubes were anywhere near by. she tried not to remember - because if she remembered she felt It had been several years since Cassies husband dissipated. quite literally in front of her eyes. he was gone. the depression was so great, she hadn't played with herself in - there she goes again- as if there is any such thing as years or months or days or seconds. no past. no future but still, it was worth a little bit of that pain- fuck even at the time the piercing razorblade feeling, starting with her clit up to her eye balls was worth it. She touched herself- quite a bit. she rubbing her clit and moaning- at the previous images of Flower , her soft lips and perky tits- but then Cassie still didn't know that the slicing, the burning pain she could still feel - started the second the man with no name- after his henchmen had kidnapped and beaten Flower - a pain Cassie mistook for pleasure (are they not the same) set flowers body on fire and what little life there was inside of her soon was no more what would cassie have done HAD she known? should we find out? we control this. we control this experiment. would she revolt? haha against whom? what if we ended the experiment early - the knife she just tabbed int the "tribesman" was, in fact, her mother? we are not sure yet. but surely a woman who wears the same black boots every day after being given a new name she is sure she has always had- to go to work where she does n not know what she does. something something. could her infatuation with Flower show us new and exciting ways to break her down? because this will en no other way every controlled subject still must die its one of our favorite tricks- to instill into the psych of the truly helpless- that surely ifshe had suffered THIS much, then there would be no more one day>? I mean that IS how it works is it not? we suffer- then karma picks us up. what do you think fellahs? fuck it. why not. she must be broken- lets break her slower than most- lets take that hope- and stretch it lets create a future for her - one she will only think of, we can build her up give her what she wants for a day- we can bring flower back and kill her again or maybe something new? something not romantic. often the cold hearted clutches onto something- or someone that oppresses others. lets make enemies for her, shadows she can jump when she sees. others. the town is all white? lets increase paranoia of an oncoming slew of blacks or Mexicans. of course we will choose the kindest ones we know, those ho speak Spanish will frighten her the most- we dont let her learn things here. not anything useful yes even greater than the destruction of flower- will be the terror of the others. lets bring in tansgender people. lets legalize gay marriage. lets let others have children but only once she is to old to have them herself but thats not enough- now we needa hero and we all know how this story ends -The end

for real if you made it this far thank you for reading a single word ive ever written its all i want in this world- well not quite but close <3

the worst thing you can do to someone is make them the enemy theyve always hated via some tyrant taking over their minds and souls and spitting out a perverse vile version of them- no point to go to its funeral it died long ago..

#horror #scifi #mind control #mind corruption #mind conditioning #trump #maga2020 #psychos #3 letter demon monsters

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takerfoxx · 5 years

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As it so happens, my unplanned little rant about the Lego Movie sequel kinda ends up being a great jumping-off point, as here is another little rant that I’ve actually been working on and off ever since that discussion about grimdark deconstructions and how to and not to do them, mainly to just get it off my chest all in one go.

See, I (obviously) like darker stories, but like everyone else I got my storytelling pet peeves. And the biggest one is something I’ve talked about here and there, something that I call Redshirt Philosophy. Basically, this refers to the narrative treating the protagonists as the only ones whose lives matter, and any nameless passerby and/or walk-on is free game. By this, I don’t mean that it’s bad to only kill bystanders and side-characters while sparing the mains, I’m saying that it’s bad to treat those deaths like they don’t matter and that they happen with no consequences.

But there’s a sub-category of that that pisses me off even more: the concept of the Unintentional Karma Houdini. Basically, a Karma Houdini is someone who does something really bad and gets away with it. They go upon their merry way suffering no repercussions.

Now, in of itself, this isn’t a bad plot device, and it can be done well if it’s intentional to make a point. However, when a character who is supposed to be the hero does something bad and it’s not treated as something bad, or if it’s just brushed off with no consequences, or if the bad guys switches sides but is never held accountable in any way for their heinous acts…then yeah, that really gets to me.

So without further ado, here’s my list of good guys who did bad things badly and it still pisses me off!

Warning: the following contains spoilers for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Harry Potter, Warcraft 3, Elfen Lied, Future Diary, Game of Thrones, and Angel. Yes, I will be saying some bad things about most of those. So...take that for what it’s worth.

1. Protagonists who did bad things and were either treated as being in the right or at least insufficiently called out, but I am still a fan of the series and even still like the character. It’s just that these incidents kind of stick in my craw.

A. Buffy’s “Everyone but Me Sucks” speech, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

I’m starting off with the least offensive incident, as well as the most understandable, even if I still think it was bad writing. Okay, some quick background: in season 7, the Big Bad known as the First Evil starts sending its henchmen to wipe out the entire Slayer line by killing off all the girls who had the potential to become the next Vampire Slayer when the current one died (which, due to a weird loophole, actually wasn’t Buffy, but she still had her powers and shit). Anyway, all the surviving potentials get together and go to Buffy for help, who takes them into her house to shelter them and train them to defend themselves, even though they didn’t have any supernatural power.

Now, the thing about the First Evil was that it couldn’t become corporeal and interact directly with our world, which is why it had to work through agents. However, it could take on the form of anyone that had died to speak to people, just not actually touch them. Which meant that it could still appear in Buffy’s house to fuck with the gang, which it did.

The worst incident is when they noticed that a girl named Chloe was late in coming to breakfast, so they went to her room to wake her up. But upon entering, they find Chloe’s body hanging from the ceiling, with another Chloe standing next to her. It turned out that the First Evil had been speaking to her all night, slowly twisting her around and finally convinced her to kill herself.

Naturally, everyone is shocked and horrified. Buffy buries the body by herself in the back and then calls everyone together for a meeting. From there, she has this to say about their recently departed friend.

“Anyone want to say a few words about Chloe? Let me. Chloe was an idiot. Chloe was stupid. She was weak. And anyone in a rush to be the next dead body I bury, it's easy. Just...think of Chloe, and do what she did.”

She then proceeds to ream everyone for hiding behind her and letting her do all the work, giving them the “Get your shit together or die” speech. Of course everyone is offended and angry, but over the course of the next few episodes they start doing just that: pulling themselves together and becoming more proactive in the fight. All well and good; after all, sometimes leaders have to be harsh and tell people exactly what they need to hear to save their lives. It ain’t always going to be pretty, and you do sometimes need to be mean, especially when it’s a matter of life or death. I’m sure commanders out in the field have often had to make similar speeches to their surviving men, especially after one of them cracked and took the easy way out.

There’s…just a couple problems with the execution here.

See, this is the last we ever hear about Chloe. She freaks out, kills herself, and gets verbally bashed by the person she went to for help. And that’s that. She straight up loses, and that’s that. And call me a softie, but I have a real problem with introducing a terrified girl, have her get mentally tortured by the literal embodiment of Evil itself to the point where she takes her own life, and having the final word on her in the whole show be…that. And from the main character no less! It goes back to the whole disposable victim thing, which is funny, considering that the whole reason the show even existed was because Joss Whedon would always feel sorry for the cheerleader who would get killed off at the start of schlocky monster movies and wanted to see them fight back and kick the monster’s ass. Understandable, but it’s weird that that same trope would get used over and over again in his own show, all to make the monster of the week look scary. And again! There’s nothing wrong with that in itself, but it’s kind of noticeable when you have a kid’s head explode in one episode and have Buffy just make a joke about it, have a girl get her heart torn out in another and have her supposed best friend mention their bond all of once right after and then forget all about her, and then there’s the whole thing with Jesse in the first episode and…well, you get the idea. Joss, man, what are you doing?

But this wasn’t just a monster tearing out some teenager’s throat out. This was a suicide, followed by a verbal condemnation of the victim. Which, in a real life setting, wouldn’t be as much of a problem, but the fact of the matter is that no matter how much reality you want to inject into your fantasy show about vampires, ghosts, and robotic internet demons (look it up), your show does not exist in a vacuum. It wasn’t just the characters hearing that speech, it was thousands of people all over the world. And if you’re going to tackle a subject such as suicide, then you have to be really, really careful about how you handle it. Did it never occur to the writers that there might be people in their audience struggling with suicidal thoughts themselves, who were constantly told that their problems were all their fault, that they were being a burden, or maybe some of them had actually attempted it, failed, and were all called weak, useless, stupid, what have you?

Interestingly enough, I recently stumbled across an old Buffy message board, which had a thread debating this very topic. And it was pretty fascinating reading the various viewpoints, with many agreeing with me that the writers kinda dropped the ball here, especially since there were many points in the series where Buffy also gave up, succumbed to fear and despair, and even attempted to end her life. Plus, she wasn’t nearly so vicious when the First Evil nearly convinced Angel to kill himself in an earlier season. Others were of the opinion that while harsh, it was something that needed to be said, and that Chloe’s actions were cowardly and selfish considering what it would do to her friends. Plus, given the immense amount of pressure Buffy was under with all the trauma she had already suffered, snapping like that was perfectly understandable. And I can’t lie, I do see where both sides were coming from.

I guess my main problem with this episode wasn’t that the speech itself happened, but that it ended up being the final word on Chloe, which was pretty messed up.

So what would I have done differently? Well, if we must keep the speech, then fine. Have Buffy slag her off to motivate everyone to get their shit together. However, don’t let that be the final thing that’s said about the terrified girl who was manipulated and intimidated into committing suicide.

Earlier in the episode, it’s mentioned that Chloe had been a big fan of Winnie the Pooh, something that the First Evil used to taunt her friends. So, after the speech, after the fight and whatever it was that everyone did to get their heads into the game, just stick in another scene, one that’s just a few seconds long, where, when nobody’s watching, Buffy goes into the backyard and just leaves a Winnie the Pooh doll on Chloe’s grave, indicating that she did feel bad for her but had to say what she did. That’s it, that little bit of empathy is all I ask.

B. Hermione Granger’s scarring of Marietta Edgecombe in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Ho boy, this is a complicated one.

All right. So, Order of the Phoenix is my favorite of the Harry Potter books, mainly owing to Dolores Umbridge being a brilliantly written character in just how incredibly scummy she is, and the whole plot of her versus the school was just gold. And…kind of topical, now that I think about it.

But anyway, though it’s my favorite of the books, it also has my least favorite scene. Quick background: Umbridge has taken over the school and pretty much nixed Defense Against the Dark Arts, which is now needed more than ever. To counter this, Harry and co. take it upon themselves to start teaching it to the students. They form a group called Dumbledore’s Army and make their hideout in a magical room hidden from Umbridge and her minions to practice. However, someone sells them out, the room is raided, everyone is caught, and Harry is rushed to Umbridge’s office to be interrogated.

There, it’s revealed that the traitor was one Marietta Edgecombe, best friend of Harry’s girlfriend Cho Chang. This is discovered because Hermione had hexed the contract she had everyone sign to cause pus-filled blisters write out the word SNEAK across her face, something that apparently none of the brilliant and experienced wizards they got teaching at Hogwarts can remove. In fact, her final scene in the series shows her wearing a veil over her face to hide it.

Of course the heroes get out of their predicament in the end, but it pretty much destroys Harry and Cho’s relationship, as Harry is understandably a little peeved about that whole betraying him and his friends to a sadistic fascist thing and felt that Hermione’s hex had been brilliant, while Cho sticks up for her, saying that she’s actually a good person who had been the only one of her friends to stick with her after the murder of her previous boyfriend Cedric Diggory, and she had just made a (big) mistake, given that she hadn’t even wanted to join the DA in the first place and didn’t trust Harry to begin with, given that her mother worked for the Ministry of Magic, which wasn’t exactly keen on Harry at that point. Plus, she was kinda put out that Hemione had hexed them all without telling them, so basically they fight and break up.

Anyway, this in itself wouldn’t be much of an issue. A bit character that we barely know sells the good guys out, gets humiliated in return, and the good guys prevail in the end. What makes this something of a sticking point for me is due to one of the first of the many controversial social media canon details that JK Rowling would become infamous for dropping: that the blisters would indeed leave permanent scarring, and that she feels that this is wholly justified, given that she, and I quote, “Loathes a traitor.”

Okay.

There is…a lot to unpack here, and it has become even more divisive in the fandom than the Chloe thing I mentioned above. One camp holds that while betraying the DA was a rotten thing to do, the hex still crosses the line, given that scarring a sixteen year old for life for one mistake is really messed up, that she hadn’t even wanted to join the DA in the first place but had been pressured into it, that given that she had a parent in the Ministry of Magic she was probably subject to a lot of anti-Harry propaganda and genuinely thought he was a bad person, and that she had probably been singled out by Umbridge and interrogated, likely with her mother’s job being threatened. The flipside argues that she had to know that she still sold everyone out to a sadistic fascist, that Hermione was a minor herself and isn’t subject to the same rules that an adult would be, that Umbridge’s perchance for torture was well established at that point, that she had to know that her friend Cho would be punished with everyone else, and that teenager or no, there is no excuse for supporting someone like Umbridge. I mean, Hitler Youth and all that.

To tell the truth, like the Chloe thing above, I can see where both sides are coming from. On the one hand, I can see how someone like Marietta could be led to believe that Harry was trouble and feel that she was endangering her family by associating with him. Plus, we have no idea what the circumstances surrounding her betrayal were, though given Rowling’s words on the topic I guess Umbridge didn’t have to probe hard. On the other, she did sell out everyone to get pretty much tortured, so that deserved some kind of retribution, so good points all around.

But that’s not really where I personally have a problem. My problem is that Rowling’s addendum on the whole affair goes against the rules of the world she created, and even the themes of the book itself. Also, if Rowling wanted us to agree with her, then she fucked up the execution.

First, let’s take the bit where it the blisters left permanent scars. This is a world where they can make bones grow back, inflate bodies like a balloon without doing permanent harm, and where even mutilations are temporary (if painful) inconveniences. The only thing that can cause permanent damage is Dark Magic, hence Harry’s scar.

So…how exactly does Hermione’s hex permanently scar Marietta then?

Jumping off that, this isn’t the only instance of permanent scarring in that book. One of the many horrible things Umbridge did to students was force them to write lines with a magic pen that literally carved out those lines into their skin, resulting in Harry picking up a new scar that read I MUST NOT TELL LIES. The fact that this scar can’t be removed with magic is one of the many clues that Umbridge is more than just a pompous asshole and had dealings with something darker.

Look, I’m not saying that the two situations are a one-to-one parallel, but it just feels kind of uncomfortable for the book to treat magically scarring kids as something horrible and unforgiveable (which it is!), only to laud one of the heroes for doing it right after, regardless of circumstances. It…just doesn’t sit right.

Plus, you know, there is the point that when you get down to it, the hex is kind of a problem in of itself. Like Cho pointed out, putting it on everyone without telling them is a little messed up, and it makes it completely useless as a deterrent. Why not use a tongue-tying spell or something? Then again, logic was never really the series’ appeal.

And finally, how the hell are we supposed to feel righteous indignation about a character that gets zero lines, just sort of hovers in the background, and has a character we already know to be sympathetic defend her? With Umbridge we had ample on-page reason to hate her, but we never get to see her finally get her just rewards in the end. The Malfoys are all sorts of horrible throughout the books, but other than some humiliation they apparently come through it unscathed. So really, this whole thing just feels weird.

How to fix? Simple. JUST DON’T PUT IN THE PART ABOUT PERMANENT SCARRING!!! All the rest about the hex can be written off as Hermione just not thinking things through. And without the scars, it sort of works. Marietta still gets paid back for her betrayal but isn’t disfigured for life, and the whole things becomes a lot less uncomfortable.

Hell, why not take advantage of the situation? Give Marietta some character growth, bring her back to redeem herself like they did with Percy, and he was way worse. Hell, Snape was downright monstrous, and he was made out to be this tragic redemption story.

Sigh. I know the movies get a lot of flak for the stuff they’ve changed, but switching things so that Cho was magically compelled to give up the secret and sidestepping the issue entirely was a good idea.

2. Heroic (or at least, portrayed as sympathetic) characters who cross the line so thoroughly that I now loath them and am infuriated whenever I think about them, but I am still a big fan of the rest of the series they appear in.

A. Tyrande Whisperwind’s slaughter of the Watchers to free Illidan Stormrage, from Warcraft 3: The Reign of Chaos.

Yeah…fuck this character.

All right, this happens pretty deep into the plot, so here’s the cliffnotes: demons are invading the world, and the remnants of civilization need to put aside their differences to stop them. In particular, the priestess Tyrande and her husband Malfurion, the Arch-Druid, set out to awaken their people’s sleeping druids for reinforcements. But while delving into the cave where said druids are napping, they come across a strange locked door. It turns out that the door leads to the prison of Illidan Stormrage, Malfurion’s traitor brother, who was imprisoned for turning on the Night Elves due to his lust for magical power. Tyrande has the brilliant idea that they should free Illidan to help fight the demons, BECAUSE THAT TOTALLY SOUNDS LIKE A SWELL IDEA! Malfurion says no, Tyrande tell him that she’s gonna do it anyway, and fucks off to do just that.

Beyond the door, she’s confronted by the Watchers, a group of Night Elves and their forest allies who had been entrusted with defending Illidan’s prison, who respectfully inform her that they will not waver in their duty and she does not have the authority to say otherwise.

So…she slaughters them.

All of them.

She wanted to free a dangerous traitor, the guards said no, and she kills them for it.

Yeah. That is a thing that happens.

But hey! Illidan is free now, and he agrees to fight the demons for her. And wouldn’t you know it, on day one he manages to destroy a powerful demonic artifact that was corrupting the forest and kill Tichondrius, one of the demons’ primary leaders, so that worked out!

…a pity that his lust for power took over and he absorbed all of the artifact’s power, turning him into a monstrous demonic beast and leading to Tyrande and Malfurion to become so horrified that they imprison him once again.

…nah, just kidding. They banish him, basically freeing him to do as he pleases. And as it turns out, what he pleases ends up being summon up a bunch of monsters from the depths and use them to strike at Night Elf villages, massacring its inhabitants.

Good job, Tyrande. You really know how to pick ‘em.

But you know what’s worse? You know what takes this whole ordeal from a massive fuck-up to completely killing any possible redemption for the character for me? As it turned out, Maiev Shadowsong, the leader of the Watchers, was out on patrol at the time and narrowing missed being murdered off with the others. And when she got back and found her friends dead and her prisoner freed, she gathered up what remained of the Watchers and immediately set off after Illidan.

Well, she finds him, but he and his new allies prove to be too much, so she calls for help. And Malfurion and Tyrande answer, with Tyrande even admitting that the whole thing was her fault and thus it was her responsibility to fix! Okay, okay, it’s a step in the right direction. Doesn’t really make up for what she did, but at least she’s…

Oh wait. Maiev calls her out on pretty much everything, and Tyrande’s response is, and I QUOTE, “I did what I thought was right. You are in no position to judge me.”

…

Oh, FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK YOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bitch, YOU MURDERED HER FRIENDS! YOU FREED ILLIDAN, WHO HAS SINCE MASSACRED YOUR OWN PEOPLE! SHE HAS EVERY RIGHT TO JUDGE YOU!

Hell, waaaaaaaaay back earlier in the series, the human prince Arthas kills all the inhabitants of a city call Stratholme, all whom had recently become infected with the Undead plague, and it’s treated as his moral even horizon, the point where there’s no turning back from his descent into evil. Except…while terrible, he at least had a very good reason for doing what he did. Those people were literally moments away from turning into zombies, and there was no way to save them. Whereas Tyrande causes the deaths of even more innocent lives, whether directly or indirectly, but it’s treated as, at worse, as a whoopsie-daisy on her part. Meanwhile, Maiev is made out to be this revenge-obsessed extremist.

So…yeah. Fuck Tyrande. And hey, I still kind of like him, but fuck Malfurion too for letting it slide.

B. Just about everything about Lucy from Elfen Lied.

All right, cards on the table: of all my favorite anime/manga, Elfen Lied is easily the most flawed. The violence is beyond gratuitous, the nudity is sometimes downright silly in how nonsensical it is, the plot is completely inconsequential, and the sudden mood changes aren't exactly gracefully done.

Still, I’ve always had a soft spot for schlock that embraces its own schlockiness, and it has enough of my personal favorite tropes to make me love it. Hell, it was my freaking avatar for the longest time!

That being said, I do have one major issue with it, and that is the central character: Lucy.

Yes, the chick whose eye used to be my avatar.

I hate Lucy.

Why? Because she’s a psychotic serial killer who’s graphically murdered hundreds of innocent people out of pure sadistic nihilism. One of her first acts upon coming into her powers is to kill a random family just so she could hide out in their house, and that’s when she was a child. There’s a scene that establishes that she’s mastered the art of giving passersby brain aneurysms just so she can murder more effectively without drawing attention to herself. She tears Kouta’s family apart, including his little sister, because she was jealous. She has a breakdown and massacres an entire festival full of people. One of her first acts upon regaining her memories and wandering off is to use that brain aneurysm thing to kill a passing girl…just for walking by!

And that’s just the stuff we see her doing on-screen!

Now granted, the series doesn’t make it out that she’s still somehow a good person, though they do portray her as sympathetic for…reasons, and even treats her like the hero in some parts. However, there is a scene in the anime where, upon learning all this, still forgives her and even kisses her! And yes, that includes learning that she’s the one who murdered his little sister! At least in the manga he tells her off and tries to make her promise not to kill anyone else! And she also gets a terrible death in the process, so there’s that.

But I guess most of my issues come from how others fans still try to stick up for her. I had a friend who once said that she was justified for everything because kid-Kouta lied about the gender of his cousin. Uh, yeah, nooooo. She’s a monster, end of.

Oh, what’s that? She has a tragic backstory of abuse and neglect? Well, whoop-dee-fuckin’-doo. Guess who else has the same? Just about every Batman villain, and most of them are portrayed as dangerous monsters! Except…for the ones who are cute girls. Huh, imagine that.

Wait, she had an alternate personality intrinsic to the Diclonius driving her to kill? Well, I’d just might buy that, except for one problem: Nana exists. Nana, another Diclonius who is shown having the same alternate personality issue but also fighting it off and goes through the whole series without ever killing anyone else, despite enduring even more horrible torture and abuse than Lucy! And that’s why Nana is a ball of love and delight and fully deserved her happy ending and fuck Lucy.

Although…just to be clear, I’m not talking about Nyu: the childish other alternate personality that Lucy reverts to as a result of her amnesia. Nyu’s great. Nyu’s adorable and innocent, and since the series treats her like her own character, I will too.

But yeah, Lucy’s an irredeemable monster and screw anyone who says otherwise. Man, that on top of how much of a mess this series was, why did I like it so much?

=looks down at my Nana-themed mousepad=

Oh yeah.

Thank God for Nana.

And finally…

3. Protagonists who did so many terrible things and were never held accountable for their actions that I stopped liking them entirely, actively rooted for their failure, and eventually stopped liking the series as a whole.

For this entry, there really is only one example: every single one of the main characters of Future Diary.

Oh, Future Diary…

See, I used to be a big fan of this manga. Back when I first started IM, it was my favorite, and I eagerly awaited every month for the new installment. I mean, it was pretty much Battle Royale meets Code Geass, of course I would be a fan!

However, as the series went on and my favorite characters were all killed off, leaving the four mains, I started to realize something:

I did not like these people.

They were all pretty terrible people, in fact. All of them had either done something really, really awful or were complicit in the others’ actions, and they never really got held accountable for what they did, with their actions just treated as, “Oh, BIG SHOCKING PLOT TWIST!!!!” So by the time the series reached its end and they all got a happy ending, I felt no happiness for them. In fact, I was kinda pissed.

Later, when the anime first started airing, I watched the first couple episodes, and seeing their actions actually animated before me made it worse. I hated them, and I hated the fact that nothing they did ever had any real consequences for them.

Now, looking back on it years later, I can really see what a mess this series was. Nearly every aspect about the plot, setting, and character growth is pretty illogical and inconsistent to the point of being outright stupid. But that’s just the icing on the cake for me, and not my main reason for hating this series. My beef comes down to these people, and the things they did.

Yuki Amano

A lot of these people bash this guy for being weak and passive, a bit like Shinji Ikari. Personally, as someone who actually liked Shinji, that part didn’t bother me.

Him deliberately betraying an entire orphanage and gunning down all the orphans sure as hell did though.

As did him almost immediately forgiving his father and wanting to live with said asshole EVEN AFTER HIS DAD MURDERED HIS MOM! And this is just swept aside because yay, his dad is back!

Yuno Gasai

Ho boy, where do I start with the Queen of Yanderes? Well, let’s get this out of the way: I actually don’t have an issue with her creepy stalking. It’s her schtick, and if executed well it can actually work.

It…wasn’t executed well. It just was a long list of making her do crazy shit for big shocks, and outside of her Yuki obsession, she had pretty much no other characteristics.

Also, in the second episode, she deliberately sets off a bunch of bombs that massacres scores of innocent teenagers over a misunderstanding.

And after that happens, it is never brought up again.

So yeah.

Minene Uryu

Let’s start with the fact that she is a literal terrorist who has killed scores of innocent families.

And that she blew up part of Yuki’s school to get his attention, also probably killing several children.

And no, she isn’t held accountable for this. At all. Why? Because she’s cool, I guess.

Masumi Nishijima

Doesn’t kill anyone like the others…but hey, what about him completely ignoring the fact that he falls head-over-heels in love with Minene and even proposes to her, despite knowing that she’s massacred hundreds of innocent people and it’s actually his job to bring her in? Talk about being completely useless as a police officer.

And the worst of it? All the above get one kind of happy ending or another.

Yeah, no. Fuck each and every one of them.

Even though this is by far the worst offender, I’m not going to spend as much time on it, as it’s easier to rant about something that does a lot of things right only to fail spectacularly in one regard. Future Diary instead does so many things wrong that it’s kind of beyond saving and not really worth getting heated up about. Which is a shame, because the concept could have worked in the hands of a better writer, but instead, we got a dumb, illogical mess full of characters that are impossible to root for.

But okay, I’ve ranted on and on about these instances that piss me off, but are there any examples of series doing this right? As if in, actually holding characters accountable and making them suffer consequences for their actions when they usually wouldn’t?

Well, obviously, but there are a few instances that really stand out in my mind, because they’re instances that would normally get glossed over without mention, but the writers actually had the wherewithal to ensure that this wouldn’t happen. And they really make me happy.

A. Sandor Clegane stands trial for the murder of the Micah the butcher’s boy, in Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones.

It’s kind of funny that Ice and Fire would be on this list, seeing how it’s full of innocent people getting slaughtered, tortured, and raped, even by the “good guys’” hands at times. You’d honestly think that I wouldn’t even touch it as a result.

And yet, it is the rare example of someone going all in on the ultra-darkness but actually doing it right. Because no matter who it is doing the bad thing, who they do it to, and how well laid their plans are, they always seem to suffer consequences for their actions.

In this particular example, there is a scene where Sandor Clegane casually murders a little boy named Micah in the first book because evil Prince Joffrey did a thing. And of course, none of the bad guys suffer any repercussions. At the time, I chalked it up to another example of just how unfair this medieval fantasy world is meant to be.

Flash forward another book or two. The king is dead, chaos reigns, and the Stark family has been scattered to the winds. Little Arya Stark, who had been a friend of Micah, falls in with a group of good guy outlaws. And to her surprise, they have taken the now renegade Sandor Clegane hostage.

Naturally, since the Hound had been one of Joffrey’s top henchmen, this is a big catch for them, but since they insist on doing things honorably and giving him a fair trial, they run into the problem of being unable to pin any specific crime on him, since most of the stuff they come up with was actually carried out by other people or they can’t prove that Sandor was involved. But then Arya brings up Micah, which Sandor actually did, and of course the outlaws seize upon.

Now, when I read this, I actually put the book down for a moment to pump my fist. Because holy crap, they’re actually acknowledging that whole thing! It wasn’t just another example of an innocent person getting offed for shock value without the perpetrator being held accountable! It was getting brought up, and not only that, it was being used as a plot point! It was beautiful!

Of course, Sandor does actually win the resulting trial by combat and is set free, but that wasn’t the point. The point was that Song of Ice and Fire, as grimdark as it is, is fully committed to holding all of its characters responsible for their actions, and sometimes small cruelties will come back in huge ways, and I think that’s awesome.

Another example from the same series is Theon Greyjoy. Now, here is a guy whose insecurities lead him to betray the family he was raised by, steal their home, execute their associates, and even murder a couple of little boys and cover their bodies with tar just to make his men think that he had successfully killed the Stark boys rather than admit that they got away. Now normally, this would put him right at the top of my shit list, and it did for a while. But surprise surprise, the story actually manages to make him look sympathetic again, by…

1. Showing full well how his insecurities have caused him to make these mistakes

2. Have him get called out by pretty much everyone over how horrible his actions are

3. Show full well that he understands this, and feels rotten about it deep down inside

4. Have him essentially put through hell as a result, to the point where he’s physically mutilated and mentally scarred by Ramsay Bolton’s…administrations

5. Have him go through even more hell to try to redeem himself and put his life on the line to protect someone innocent

6. Make him acknowledge that he doesn’t deserve forgiveness, but he’s going to try to do whatever he can to atone for his sins once he gets his identity back

Through all that, when he finally is forgiven by Jon Snow and welcomed back into the Stark family, it does feel earned, and not through excusing what he did, but by acknowledging it and dealing with it directly.

B. Spike shows genuine remorse for his past, in Buffy/Angel

Kind of weird to include Buffy/Angel in this section after already calling it out before, but I’m pretty sure these two episodes had different writers.

Anyway, Spike is undoubtedly one of the most, if not the most popular characters in the Buffyverse, and it should come as no surprise that he’s my personal favorite. Quick background for anyone who hasn’t seen the series: he is a British punk-rock vampire renowned for loving violence and besting two Slayers in one-on-one combat. He started off as a main villain, but became so popular that the writers nixed his planned death and spent several seasons slowly bringing him over to the good guys’ side, first out of necessity, but giving him a redemption arc (which was controversial for…reasons) that ultimately ended with him fighting to get his soul back and become an actual hero. So, hoorays all around.

However, there still is the lingering problem of him having spent over a hundred years torturing and killing his way across the world. The last season of Buffy tried to address that by revealing that one of the heroes’ new allies was the son of one of Spike’s victim and wasn’t too keen on working with the monster that killed his mothers, but their execution of said idea was…deeply flawed, to say the least.

Things got better when Spike made the jump over to Buffy’s sister series Angel. In it, a rogue Slayer named Dana, who has been rendered mentally unstable after an evil man murdered her family and tortured her as a child, is deluded into believing that Spike was the man that ruined her life. As such, she kidnaps him, tortures him, and even cuts off his hands (don’t worry, he’s a vampire, they can deal). Then the cavalry arrives to save the day. Dana is captured and handed off to people that can actually help her, Spike is rescued, and goes to the hospital to have his hands sewn back on. Like I said: vampire. They can do that.

Anyway, Angel then uncharacteristically goes to visit Spike, and as a bit of a surprise Spike doesn’t seem to hold any anger toward Dana at all, and instead says something to the tune of, “What? I’m supposed to be angry because hers wasn’t one of the hundreds of families I killed? I spent so much time being a monster, I never stopped to look back at the victims.”

This is great, as it 1, acknowledges the wrong he’s done, 2, shows that no matter what he does to redeem himself, it’s always going to hang over him, and 3, puts no blame on Dana whatsoever. And with that, I felt like I was free to like and root for Spike without having an asterisk hovering over everything.

And honestly, that’s all I ask for. Acknowledgement. Accountability. Acceptance of consequences. Because otherwise, it just leaves a rotten taste in my mouth, and the more I see it happen in fiction, the more it bugs me.

So, that’s my rant about storytelling for today. My next posts will probably be something more positive.

#buffy the vampire slayer #buffy summers #chloe #harry potter #hermione granger #marietta edgecombe #Warcraft 3 #tyrande whisperwind #elfen lied #lucy #future diary #angel #spike #game of thrones #sandor clegane #arya #rant

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hoshigomi · 6 years

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THUNDERBOLT FANTASY/AMAZING STAR☆KILLER ROUGE - Hoshigumi, 2018

Disclaimer: I can’t call this a review. I don’t really speak Japanese, and what I understand is sort of limited, so I don’t think it’s fair for me to put my thoughts and opinions out as a REVIEW. I absolutely did not grasp the entirety of this show and will not pretend I did. I’m just someone who really loves Takarazuka, knows some Japanese, loves Hoshigumi more than air, is enthralled with Thunderbolt Fantasy as a show in and of itself, and was privileged enough to see this production four times. Here is a (very long) collection of thoughts!

THUNDERBOLT FANTASY~

This entire experience was a blast from start to finish. When Thunderbolt Fantasy was announced as Hoshigumi’s tour show, I think a lot of us were rightfully CAUTIOUSLY CURIOUS about the entire situation, especially after we looked up the source material and found a PUPPET SHOW. I remember watching the first episode with a friend, having only the tentative top/nibante/top musumeyaku casting and thinking “wow that’s uh ambitious and confusing but I kind of love it.” Well, reader, I can personally confirm that in the end, I more than kind of loved it. I’m currently nine episodes into the TV series and what I can say is the Takarazuka production MOSTLY follows it so far, up until about episode seven, where they start making some sacrifices in order to fit a 13 episode TV show into an hour and some change stage production. Names are a bit confusing, and even the Takarazuka main website put up a glossary of terms, so you know you’re getting into Something before you even start.

The BASIC, BASIC, BARE BONES PLOT is as follows (I am using the JAPANESE CHARACTER names for consistency):

THE PLOT:

Tan Hi (Kisaki Airi) and her brother, Tan Ko (Toudou Jun) are part of a clan that is tasked with protecting a sacred sword. Obviously, A Group Of Bad Guys™ led by Betsu Ten Gai (Tenju Mitsuki) followed by Ryo Mi (Arisa Hitomi), Cho Mei (Amahana Ema), and Zan Kyo (Ooki Makoto) ALSO want the sacred sword. Tan Hi and Tan Ko are ambushed and attacked by Zan Kyo, and Tan Ko (Airi’s character’s brother) is killed. Tan Hi escapes with the hilt of the sacred sword (hereafter: TENGYOKEN), but is in pretty bad shape.

Meanwhile in the woods, Shou Fu Kan (Nanami Hiroki), a wandering swordsman, is trying to escape the rain and does so by taking an umbrella from over a Buddha Statue. Enter Lin Setsu A (Kurenai Yuzuru), a VERY CANONICALLY MYSTERIOUS AND VAGUE guy who immediately starts giving Shou Fu Kan grief for taking the Buddha’s umbrella, to which Shou Fu Kan replies, “If the stone Buddha gets wet, it will be fine, but if I get wet, I will catch a cold.” Touche, cute swordsman. Enter Tan Hi, still being pursued by Zan Kyo. Tan Hi is in very bad shape, and Shou Fu Kan fights Zan Kyo, Zan Kyo severs his own head. After, in the land of evil, Betsu Ten Gai receives Zan Kyo’s severed head (really) and accesses his memory, the last of which is Shou Fu Kan giving his name immediately before Zan Kyo is beheaded. Betsu Ten Gai now is targeting Shou Fu Kan who obviously has something to do with the Tengyoken. Betsu Ten Gai sends his lackeys after Shou Fu Kan and co.

I won’t go any more into the plot (and unfortunately Wikipedia can’t really help you), but if you’re interested I really recommend you watch the TV show, because it is INTERESTING. From there, Ken San Un (Rei Makoto) enters and joins the party because he is a classic cocky charming young boy protagonist who wants to make a name for himself, along with Lin Setsu A’s old “friends”, Shu Un Sho (an archer, played by Kizaki Reo), Kei Gai (a NECROMANCER played by Yumeki Anru), and Setsu Mu Sho, (a LITERAL SERIAL KILLER who wants Lin Setsu A DEAD, played by Mao Yuuki.) Every one of these characters has a complicated and not overtly stated motive, and NONE of them agree on any tactics which is further complicated by the fact that half of them aren’t even human and Demon Motives Are Different. The one thing they have in common is that they all want the Tengyoken out of Betsu Ten Gai’s hands.

THE PLAY ITSELF: This was an anime stage play. If you like anime stage plays, you will LOVE Thunderbolt Fantasy. If you have ever loved a video game, an anime, a fantasy story, or THOUGHT you might love a video game, anime, or fantasy story, this play is going to be FUN for you. I felt like I was INSIDE a game in the Final Fantasy series. The technical aspects of the show BLEW ME AWAY. The coolest lighting effects I have seen in my life are in this play. The set is effective at getting across where we are, and projections are used to pretty cool effect this time around, in my opinion. There are LITERALLY only three and a half sung songs in this entire musical, one being the title song sung by the main players, one being another T.M. Revolution song sung by Kurenai Yuzuru to introduce the rest of the characters, one beautiful sweet little half song sung by Kisaki Airi, and one being just something they gave Rei Makoto at the start of the show because she’s technically Hoshigumi’s nibante but you wouldn’t know it just from watching this show. Which brings us to the cast!

THE CAST: PERFECT and weird. Kurenai Yuzuru as Lin Setsu A was honestly genius. I saw this production with a friend who knows only a little about Takarazuka, knows Beni tangentially, has seen one episode of Thunderbolt Fantasy and she said “that role was made for Beni.” He is sly and manipulative and FUNNY and his motives are ENTIRELY unknown. Beni sings what she sings fantastically, and it’s VERY good to see her slinking around the stage with a sly fox smile all the time. Nanami Hiroki as Shou Fu Kan. I wouldn’t normally list her second, but in this case, she was the nibante role. I have NO idea why this didn’t go to Rei Makoto, except maybe because Kai can play a disgruntled but good natured adult man better than she can play a like spunky sixteen year old boy. Shou Fu Kan is the protagonist of Thunderbolt and they did NOT change that even ONE BIT for this play. The story directly relied on her action and without spoiling anything, the coolest stage magic and ridiculously anime moment I have ever seen in my life involved her center stage in the final battle, Making It Happen. She has pretty much The Last Moment in the show. She has one-liners and dry humor and handles stage combat INCREDIBLY. Shou Fu Kan is just a morally good guy who doesn’t want trouble and does want to Do The Right Thing. This role was AMAZING for her (I am biased.), and I can’t wait to see how the tour audiences take it.

Kisaki Airi as Tan Hi. This is my favorite role I have ever seen Airi in. She was the best at stage combat in the entire troupe, and she acted her pants off. Her character goes through a lot of unecessary bullshit and suffering and she remains wholly likeable through it all. Her motivations are clear and her relationships with the other characters are believable and specific. She also has some really lovely comic bits.

Rei Makoto as Ken San Un. Coto was playing a spunky kid and honestly Coto was born to play spunky kids (but what wasn’t Coto born to play?) Ken San Un has an ego that IS backed up by skill, and he really just wants to Make A Name For Himself, Impress A Girl, and do the right thing. Her voice is as usual, killer, and her character is INSANELY charming, especially when interacting with Tan Hi. There’s a lot of complexity in this role too, and Coto handles it fantastically. They padded this role out a lot, which worked well and didn’t seem forced whatsoever, but even so, it was a solidly supporting role. Hopefully Coto got some well deserved rest in the process.

The rest of the roles were similarly well-cast. Hoshigumi’s focus on ensemble casts like they did here and with Another World REALLY do them all some favors. Tenju Mitsuki made short but crucial appearances as the MAIN VILLAN and got to show off the unhinged wildness that made her Mercutio so fantastic. Amahana Ema and Arisa Hitomi were good henchmen, Arisa Hitomi has a cool little fight and a costume with neat slits that make her movement interesting. The characters could have dealt with more development, but they’re also fairly one-dimensional in the show. Mao Yuuki as a serial killer was hard to buy, but she did what she could with a role that in the TV show is like stoic and, well, literally a puppet. Yumeki Anru kind of absolutely SLAYED being a hot demon with a whip, her interactions with fellow demonic entity Beni were true to the show, and she sings fantastically. Kizaki Reo is actually insanely handsome as the really gruff archer with (surprise) also dubious morals. Her voice also SHOCKED me in all the right ways. Other characters were played by everyone else, and the smaller cast meant that a lot of the kids got little moments in prolonged exposition scenes as storytellers or townspeople or evil henchmen. This troupe is in good hands with the younger ones, I think. Shoutout to EVERY ONE OF THE MAIN CAST (and Ruri Hanaka and Sumika Amane, playing TINY roles) for balancing weird puppet-inspired physicality and quirks from the show with like, actual human acting and movement.

AMAZING STAR ☆ KILLER ROUGE~

More of us have seen Killer Rouge, so this doesn’t need as much from me. This production, as a tour, has gone through some changes. Notably, the postman number sung by Seo Yuriya/Honoka Kozakura/Seira Hitomi was cut (and literally none of those three were in this because of Bow Hall/injury (get well, Honoka ♥️ ). Solos sung by Toa Reiya/Hanagata Hikaru/Seo Yuriya were mostly distributed to Amahana Ema/Tenju Mitsuki/Kizaki Reo/Amato Kanon etc. The Nippon Seinenkan stage doesn’t make ANY sense for this revue, which originally made pretty nice use of stairs/the ginkyou/the SPACE they had in Mura and Tokyo. Mask of Rouge got ANOTHER wig option and Nanami Hiroki seems to just be rotating through them entirely at her own chaotic will, which creates a really high stakes Russian Roulette Situation in terms of how Hot Mask Of Rouge Will Be. The Rose of Versailes/Disgaea/Wonder Rouge section of the revue was SOLIDLY the most charming thing I have ever seen in my life. Mao Yuuki has joined the Wonder Five audience participation bit in place of Seo Yuriya and Tenju Mitsuki is up there in place of Hanagata Hikaru. This troupe can ad lib like NO ONE’S BUSINESS or more accurately, Beni and Airi can ad lib like no one’s business, Coto occasionally has some bursts of inspiration, and Kai can’t begin to keep a straight face when put on the spot. There are a lot of new numbers, and all of them are in my opinion, really Good. There’s also a LENGTHY Beniko/Aiko/Reiko ad lib section always beginning with some discussion about studying Chinese and always giving away the fact that Coto and Airi are working harder at that than Beni seems to be. That said, Beni does have a REALLY BEAUTIFUL AND SIMPLE AND CLASSIC solo kuroenbi situation that is in Chinese and to my (English speaking ears) it sounds really good. We’ll see I guess. Coto/Airi/Ema have a HEAVY METAL ROCK NUMBER that’s kind of hot and totally in all their powerhouse ranges. The pegasus/everyone in multicolored outfits is really satisfying to me and would be to any other Hoshigumi fan despite the fact that I don’t love Toa Reiya’s taidan solo going to someone else (which I admit is just maybe because I loved Toa Reiya.) There’s a cute little number (Timing) with Airi, Minato Rihi, and Yuunagi Ryou. Yuunagi Ryou is CUTE. The number is cute. The kickline was a little different and also involved some girls who weren’t in it originally because it’s not just the whole 104th class anymore and they needed to make up for THAT in a fierce way. Shoutout to all the girls who jumped in and killed it. ♥️ Ruri Hanaka specifically caught my eye and also had a nice solo in the whole costume party number. Jounetsu no Arashi was replaced for whatever reason but the number thats in it’s place now is equally as hot and like involves some counting in Spanish and a lot of rowdy otokoyaku energy which is my single greatest weakness.

For me, as a Hoshigumi fan until the day I die probably, Killer Rouge was incredible. So many people got little chances to shine, and the fun the actresses were having with it was PALPABLE. I loved the vast majority of the costumes and set pieces and little themed moments, and I loved the new numbers, and I did not miss the numbers that were cut (save for Jounetsu no Arashi because Coto licking her lips was pretty good.) I got to see the people I love most doing a revue that was so joyful and energetic and group-focused. I could not have asked for more.

I’d give Thunderbolt Fantasy/Killer Rouge a 100/10, which will surprise no one who has ever met me.

Thanks Hoshigumi, and good luck in Taiwan!

#takarazuka #thunderbolt fantasy #hoshigumi #man i LOVE TO TALK

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graemereviewsdisneymovies · 7 years

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Pinocchio (1940)

I apologize for the length of this review, It turns out I had a lot to say about Pinocchio.

2 years after Snow White’s successful release, Disney released their second animated feature film. This time, instead of the Brothers Grimm or Hans Christian Andersen, they adapted a fairy tale by Carlo Collodi, The Adventures of Pinocchio. The adaptation is way looser this time, dropping subplots, and making the heroes and villains more heroic or evil. It’s barely longer than Snow White - 88 minutes long - but it does manage to tell a more detailed story by having longer story sequences. It’s the only Disney Animated Canon movie with a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Interestingly, Bambi was meant to be the second animated feature but technical difficulties with animating the animals forced it to be pushed back.

As a kid, my first exposure to Pinocchio was Shel Silverstein's poem, which is a plot summary of the movie. Of course, there’s also the Shrek Pinocchio. Oddly enough, every single post-Disney Pinocchio seems to put a huge amount of emphasis on his nose growing, when that takes up almost no time in the original story.

This time the character who’s given a character arc is the main character. Pinocchio must learn to be good, so he can be a real boy. He takes most of the movie to do that, because Honest John keeps sidetracking him and he’s too naive to know better than to follow his bad role models. Jiminy Cricket being a bit useless as a conscience doesn’t help. He’s never there when he needs to be and when he is he’s not very good at convincing Pinocchio of anything.

The story has an odd structure, where each act of the story is given it’s own villain and arc, starting with a walking combination of several racial stereotypes named after a pastry, then a man who seems to be made of pure unfiltered nightmare fuel, then a giant whale. Stromboli, whose name has been changed from Mangiafuoco for the movie, probably didn’t seem racist to audiences in 1940, but well… he does now. Despite barely having any screen time, and the fact that his character design not having aged particularly well in that it’s a bit racist, he’s one of Disney’s most infamous villains, probably because he does a great job at going from friendly to threatening in seconds. Notably, he’s hit with the worst of the “making the villains more evil” thing.

Act 2 has the Coachman, who like Stromboli, is voiced by Charles Judels. He’s got a similar amount of screen time, and is a similar character. He shares Stromboli's ability to go from happy to terrifying in seconds as well.

Act 3’s villain is completely different from the first two. Monstro is a giant whale, and isn’t doing anything for his own profit. The only time he intentionally attacks the heroes is because Pinocchio has just light a bonfire in his stomach as part of their escape attempt. Like Stromboli, his name was changed. Collodi’s sea monster was called The Terrible Dogfish.

There’s also Honest John and Gideon. Honest John could count as the big bad of the movie, since he’s behind Pinocchio getting stuck with both human antagonists, and also he gets the closest thing to a Disney villain song in the movie.

The movie has a few weird quirks to it. Honest John, Gideon and Jiminy Cricket are the only anthropomorphic characters in a movie with a cast that otherwise consists entirely of humans, non-anthropomorphic animals, and a talking puppet. The Coachman’s henchmen are either living shadows, humans in black bodysuits and cloaks, monsters, or multiple copies of Clayface from Batman, and they’re never explained.

The constant use of musical numbers continues from Snow White, though it’s less prominent here, and the use of every song to advance plot or character development seen in later Disney musicals (and modern musicals in general) is starting to take shape. Also, for an early Disney movie, this one is dark, and has a surprising amount of getting crap past the radar. Jiminy Cricket accidentally putting his hand on the clock woman’s butt by mistake or staring at the dancing girls in the I Have No Strings musical number wouldn’t be out of place in a Dreamworks Animation movie, and characters, including Pinocchio and Lampwick, drink what I can only assume is beer. And everyone in the movie smokes at some point, including Geppetto smoking in bed.

The tone of the movie whips wildly back and forth, though that works more to the movie’s advantage than anything else. Stromboli and The Coachman both possess the ability to turn frightening in a second, but it’s not limited to them. Lampwick (what kind of name is that, anyway?) turning into a donkey in particular, starts off comedic - what do I look like, a jackass? - and then abruptly becomes very terrifying as soon as Lampwick realizes what’s happening.

I don’t think Pinocchio deserves it’s 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating, but it is - villainous racial stereotype pizza pastry man aside - a good movie. It’s paced well, and has some incredibly well done mood whiplashes, animation, and a great soundtrack. Not my favorite animated film, but a solid little film I wouldn’t object to rewatching with friends.

Also, Jiminy Cricket looks about as much like a cricket as Arthur looks like an aardvark, in that he doesn’t.

#pinocchio #Disney Animated Canon

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justanothercinemaniac · 7 years

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Epic Movie (Re)Watch #146 - The Boxtrolls

Spoilers below.

Have I seen it before: Yes

Did I like it then: Yes.

Do I remember it: Yes.

Did I see it in theaters: Yes.

Was it a movie I saw since August 22nd, 2009: Yes. #319.

Format: Blu-ray

1) Unlike previous Laika films, The Boxtrolls isn’t really a horror movie in any way. It’s more just quirky fantasy. Not that this means it is any less well done of a film though. Just make sure you know what you’re seeing.

2) I just have to say, from the first few minutes of the film, Ben Kingsley as Archibald Snatcher steals every freaking scene he’s in.

(GIF originally posted by @callerofthecrows)

Kingsley’s voice work is totally unrecognizable as Snatcher, and that is part of what makes him fun. You feel some sympathy towards Snatcher, as he just wants to move up a social ladder which he has been at the bottom of since birth (because it’s an injustice and unfair system). But darn if he just isn’t an amazing villain. Each and every one of his lines DRIPS with delightful evilness and greed. He is just amazingly fun and so freaking good in this movie, Snatcher is easily not only one of my favorite animated villains of all time but one of my favorite villains of all time period. Sometimes a movie is as good as its antagonist, and if that’s the case for The Boxtrolls it makes sense that this movie is so freaking good.

3) I grew up in Wisconsin. I totally understand the obsession this town and its elite members have for cheese. Cheese is awesome, man.

4) The titular boxtrolls.

The animation in this film is amazing and you can see that just by examining the boxtrolls. For characters who have little to no dialogue, each individual boxtroll is somehow given its own unique character and personality through design and movement alone. You understand that Fish is a little more caring and patient than the stubborn Shoe, for example. And even with the boxtrolls with smaller parts you get a sense of individualism among them. It would have been easy for each boxtroll to be a carbon copy of the other. For them to be the same if not in design than at least behavior. So kudos to the filmmakers for taking the time and effort to give each their own personality.

5) Fish and Eggs have a really interesting relationship. It’s almost father/son, in fact it’s REALLY close to father/son, but even Winnie comments later how Fish isn’t really a father. That may be because he’s a boxtroll, but I don’t know. He doesn’t feel like a total father. It’s like Eggs is raised by the community and Fish is the one who puts special interest to him. So ALMOST a father but not exactly. Either way, it’s a nice relationship to have in the film.

6) The entire class structure in this film (white hats at the top, red hats at the bottom) is really interesting to me. I mean it sucks, because people get to be abuse power while other people are at the bottom just because of privilege (or lackthereof), but it just works REALLY well. Not in reality, obviously, but as a storytelling device. It’s sleek, simple, easy to understand, and create a basic conflict for the rest of the film.

7) Winifred!

She’s so freaking weird, I love it. Laika has a real knack for portraying kids honestly, weirdness and all. And Winnie is no exception. She’s unique, a total nut job in the best sense, well developed, and has a great conflict with her dad which illustrates one of the biggest struggles about being a kid: no one ever listens to you. Elle Fanning is great in the role, giving Winnie all the heart/bravado/weirdness she needs in one well balanced package.

8) This is way too accurate to today’s political world.

White Hat 1 [on how one gets a white what]: “With valor!”

White Hat 2: “Chivalry!’

White Hat 3: “Or being rich! That’s how I got it.”

9) Eggs in the human world is the opposite of how we are introduced to the boxtroll world. We are introduced to the boxtroll world as this wondrous place filled with imagination and wonder. Eggs is overwhelmed, freaked out, and no one could pay him any mind. It gets to a line he has later in the film: humans are the monsters, not the boxtrolls.

10) The Trapshaw Baby song is a great piece of exposition to not only kind of what happened to Eggs, but also why the surface people hate boxtrolls.

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It was also written by Eric Idle, of Monty Python fame. I would also like to point out that it is easy to see the twist that comes with Madame Frou Frou if you’re looking for it. I wasn’t the first time I saw this film, so I was honestly surprised.

11) Eggs big conflict in this film is one of identity. He is too human to be a boxtroll (as he doesn’t have the natural inclination to hide like the others) but he’s too boxtroll to be accepted in the human world (biting Winnie, wearing his box, hiding from humans). You would think he belongs to both but instead he belongs to neither.

12) Wow. I can’t tell if this is awful or brilliant.

Winnie [about a street]: “Creeds Way? Milk turns into it.”

[She points to a street sign that names the street “Milk” just before the one man band does a rimshot.]

13) Snatcher is really starving for power (and cheese, which in this film are one and the same). It’s a bit of self loathing: he thinks if he raises his social status, he will raise who he is as a person. I always love a villain with a weakness (it feels more realistic when they’re defeated in the end), and I think Snatcher’s starvation for power/cheese is a great one.

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14) The following factory fight once Eggs is discovered trying to save Fish is a great action set piece. It is well paced, humorous, and also helps move the story along. This is when we learn that Eggs (and also when Eggs learns that he’s) the infamous Trapshaw Baby, and it’s when we learn that the captured boxtrolls are being forced to build something. It’s just a wildly fun scene altogether.

15) I love that THIS is how they explain why Eggs speaks English while the other boxtrolls don’t.

Eggs: “I have a speech impediment!”

16) Poor Eggs.

Eggs [translating for Fish]: “He says I was given to him.”

His entire world comes crumbling down. The conflict of identity (not being fully boxtroll or fully human) becomes apparent to him, starts to weigh on him. Everything he thought he knew was a lie and everything is now upside down. Growing up sucks, basically.

17) Eggs at the white hat party is so painfully awkward I love it!

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18) This line gets me wondering...

Eggs [after Winnie tells him to kiss the hands of the ladies]: “Which one’s the ladies?”

Do boxtrolls have gender? Are pronouns ever used to describe boxtrolls? I can’t remember. All I can remember is them being referred to by their full names like Fish and Shoe. But does anyone remember if they have gender? I’m totally down if they don’t! Like if that’s just not a part of their culture, I am so okay with that. I’m just trying to figure out if that’s the case or not.

19) Platonic male/female friends waltzing (especially if the female is leading) is one of my favorite things in the world.

20) This line kinda gets me.

Think about what’s happened at this point: all of Eggs’ family, everyone he ever knew, have been kidnapped by humans who think they’re evil for kidnapping him. He tries to tell them the truth and he is outright ignored. It doesn’t matter. Not as much as their cheese, their privilege, their power, their beliefs. They shut out everything that doesn’t make sense to them and make up lies to fill in the blanks. And here’s Eggs who is hoping they can help but learning the truth that a lot of people really just suck. I don’t know why this line is so powerful to me, but it is. It all is.

21) When Snatcher invades the boxtroll cave to round up the last of the boxtrolls it feels like such an invasion. Here was this place of warmth and safety being ruined by a greedy man and his death machine. It is incredibly effective but damn if it just doesn’t feel wrong.

22) Eggs’ dad!

I had the chance to watch this film with my mom for the recap. She had never seen it before and was so sad when Eggs’ dad was seemingly killed off. So when “Jelly” showed up she got so excited, it made me like the film even more.

23) I cannot even imagine what animating this giant robot was like for stop motion animators.

24) I didn’t mention it before, but I love how Richard Ayoade’s Mr. Pickles and Nick Frost’s Mr. Trout keep having to convince themselves they’re good guys. That they think they’re on the side of justice and keep losing that faith as the film goes on. This is the culmination of that for me.

Winnie: “Are you pest exterminators or evil henchmen?”

Mr. Pickles: “I KNEW it! I KNEW that’s how people saw us!”

25) This. Freaking. Line.

Lord Portly-Rind [after Snatcher talks when he’s disguised as a woman]: “Why is he talking like Madae Frou - oh my god! I regret so much.”

26) This scene. The idea behind this is so freaking important for EVERYONE to hear. I knew it’s something I still have to remind myself of on a daily basis, and I love that this film says it.

Eggs [when Snatcher has his white hat]: “Don’t do it. Don’t change who you are. Cheese, hats, boxes! They don’t...make you. You make you.”

27) I love the boxtrolls and the humans in a cohesive society at the end. Granted I love any film with a message of unity.

28) I! Love! THE META!

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Outside of Pixar, Laika is probably turns out quality animation with more consistency than most studios. The Boxtrolls is no exception. With a unique sense of humor and excellent characters, we are taken on a fun fantasy filled ride which will fully immerse you from start to finish. It is truly just a wonderful film.

#The Boxtrolls #Box Trolls #Laika #Ben Kingsley #Elle Fanning #Epic Movie (Re)Watch #Both is Good #Movie #Film #GIF

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jameshateseverything-blog · 7 years

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Your Childhood (Actually) Sucks

I’m always worried when I say this; but Final Fantasy 7 is the most overrated game of all time. That, however, isn’t the point. How good it is is less important than how good people remember it being. Because the way people remember things is more important than the way things actually are.

I spend a great deal of time thinking about being thirteen. Probably more than I should, to the point it borders on an addiction. My best friend and his newfound girlfriend decided Mariah Carey’s “We Belong Together” would be “their song.” I had placed second at the district chess tournament being held at my school. And I had been playing Final Fantasy 10 for the first time. It was not the first game in the series I had played, that goes to 7. What it was, however, was the first game in the series I have ever experienced.

When I initially set out to write this essay I wanted to merely make an argument as to why Final Fantasy 7 isn’t good (or at least not as good as everyone seems to tell me it is). I had planned out several points as to why other entries in the series trumped it. Namely in the storytelling and gameplay departments. I decided to give 7 another playthrough, however. After spending some time with the game, which I concede holds up better than most Playstation 1 titles, I have come to realize something; maybe Final Fantasy 7 is not just the most overrated game of all time. Maybe, just maybe, the entire series is one of the most overrated gaming franchises ever. For those of you (which I assume is most) that have never played 7, 10, or any Final Fantasy, I am going to do my best to cover the story of those two specific games. I chose 7 and 10 because (a) the original argument was based on 7 and (b) though I wouldn’t say 10 is the best, I would say it is my personal favorite.

Our story opens up with edgy ex-corporate mercenary Cloud Strife working alongside terrorist movement AVALANCHE to take down a Mako reactor. Mako being the life force of the planet and what is used to run all machinery. It is essentially crude oil that has the latent ability to grant certain people magical powers, like shooting fireballs or summoning ancient gods. But Shinra faces the problem that Mako energy is beginning to run low and their only hope is to find an ancient promised land. A promised land that is rumored to have Mako flowing endlessly beneath it. The dilemma, only an extinct race of people, the Cetra, know how to find this fossil fuel Mecca.

As the game progresses you assemble a team of unlikely heroes including emo boy Cloud. A revenge-fuelled Barrett who has a gun for a hand and a deep-seated hatred for Shinra’s use of technology. The last remaining Cetra, Aeirith. There’s also a pseudo-vampire, a talking lion wolf, and a marshmallow plush controlled by a cat. Shinra has their eyes set on Aerith, they manage to capture her, and so begins the quest for renewable energy. Cloud and crew go to rescue her and this is when the true villain is introduced. Pretty boy and fan favorite Sephiroth is a one-winged semi-clone of a deity that fell from the sky as a meteor thousands of years prior. Sephiroth is one blatant metaphor for a Christian guilt complex. Sephiroth (who is also the god Jenova) wants to summon another meteor to destroy the planet so he can absorb all the Mako and become one with it. When Cloud and friends try to stop him, he manages to mind control Cloud. Then Convinces Cloud that he’s a clone of Sephiroth with the memories of some guy named Zack planted in him. Cloud has a mental breakdown, becomes catatonic, falls into the planet’s lifestream with his childhood friend, and sorts out his existential crisis like some bad acid trip. After he spends 10 minutes getting his shit together, the gang flies into the crater where Jenova initially crash landed Lord Xenu style. They do battle with Sephiroth, who is also Jenova, who is also the ancient entity known as Meteor. They kill him with the help of a deceased Aerith, and the world returns to its beautiful dystopian self. Minus the evil conglomerate monopoly of Mako Shinra once had. Convoluted enough for you? I didn’t even touch on the movie, four spin-off games (two on cell phone), or the racing of giant chickens to learn to summon King Arthur’s henchmen.

Let us compare 7’s convoluted mess of a story to 10’s. Final Fantasy 10 follows Tidus, a young man with an Oedipus complex. One night, during a game of underwater space soccer [read: Blitzball], Tidus is interrupted by a colossal parasitic winged slug destroying the city of Zannarkand. Tidus and a friend of his father try to fight the creature but are ultimately defeated and Tidus wakes up in a completely different world. In this new world, a few things overlap. Space Soccer is larger than the super bowl, the city Zannarkand still exists though it is in ruins, and the giant slug unironically named Sin. Sin is the driving force for the game’s narrative. The creature is an evil that reincarnates itself and is allegedly a manifestation of what happens when man uses technology rather than prayer. So I guess Sin is just another Christian guilt complex villain.

Throughout the story Tidus befriends an unlikely group of heroes including a subpar Blitzball player who has a deep-seated hatred (bordering on racist) for the machine using Al-Bhed. There is a summoner on a pilgrimage to sacrifice herself to stop Sin for another couple dozen years. A biped lion wolf, and a few other JRPG tropes.

As the story progress you find out that Tidus’ father helped on the previous summoner’s pilgrimage and became Sin. Tidus finds out he isn’t real, and that if they defeat Sin he will fade into a literal dream. Tidus spends 10 minutes sorting out this existential crisis. There is some whistling. The party goes inside of Sin. Father, son, and not-so-holy ghost all die. The world falls back into its primitive state now liberated and free to use their technology as they please.

The games are pretty damn similar when reduced to the lowest common denominator. I have time and time again praised 10 while putting down 7. And if you have played both of them you would be quick to see how they are inherently different. But this is how I remember those games. And how I imagine many others remember them to some degree, minus a few scenes left out for brevity.

I was 13 and sitting in the back of my step-father’s Lincoln Navigator. There was a PS2 set up to the small screen and I was playing Final Fantasy 10; nearing the end. My step-dad just bought a “new car” scented car freshener. To this day I associate that smell with my favorite game of all time. This phenomenon, my addiction, to me is one of the most fascinating tricks the mind plays on us. Nostalgia, coming from the greek words nostos and algos translating to “homecoming pain.” There was a time it was used by the Swiss military where they thought the only treatment for the condition was to send the mercenaries home. Now we see there is something universal about “the better days.”

After discussing the concept of nostalgia with a handful of people I have noticed people tend to fall into two different camps. Some, myself included, look at nostalgia with joyous sorrow. As though there are memories, emotions, and sensations that can never be duplicated. Think back to a favorite Christmas or birthday present, remember how you felt? Even though I believe that feeling itself can be replicated, the way you remember that feeling is encapsulated in that moment and forever gone. In this first camp, there is a fear that if we don’t cling to those memories we may lose a piece of our identity with them. The second camp tends to view nostalgia pejoratively. Longing being some type of weakness. Even if there were “good ol’ days” you can’t ever get them back so why waste time trying? Now whether either of these mentalities is objectively more correct than the other, impossible to say. I’m more just fascinated that everybody feels homecoming pain. I did notice, however, that people more invested into games (video or sport) tend to sit in the former camp with myself. I think that is where Final Fantasy, especially 7, begins to fall apart. Am I using Nostalgia to say that Final Fantasy 7 is bad, even subjectively? No, not really. Instead I’m calling into question why it is important. Not important for gaming, but important to the gamers who believe it is the high bar for the series, or even games in general.

A few hundred words ago I drew attention to the similarities between 10 and 7. And I would like to narrow that down to just the two protagonists; Cloud and Tidus. At face value these characters are different. Tidus is a young, naive, hot-headed sports star trying to live up to a father he resents. Cloud is a battle-hardened soldier whose idol turned out to be a monster. We are supposed to identify as these two. Our perspective is limited to theirs. Both are detached from a larger picture that they inevitably find themselves the center of. So even if Cloud and Tidus are different from one another, their general arcs manage to remain the same. This is why people (myself included) find these games to be important in their lives. Both of their lives are lies. One is a fleeting dream of the gods and the other a blonde husk with a brunette’s memories. Neither character has any reason to exist.

Usually, if you listen, when people talk about their favorite music, movies, games it often is something from their childhood. You favorite Final Fantasy is most likely the first one you played. If it isn’t, your favorite was probably played around the ages of 13-16. Even if you have never played these games I want you to take a moment to just stop. Take a nice long hit of that homecoming pain. Go back, try to remember being 9, or 13, or 16. Try to remember who you were as a person. Sorry if you were awkward, but that awkwardness is kind of the point. These transitional points in our lives, they are moments when we are developing responsibilities and learning who we are. Whether it is your first day home without the babysitter, or a first day of high school, those periods are when we can exist outside of our parents and act as yourself. I remember once breaking down in front of my parents proclaiming I did not know who I was. I didn’t belong. I had no reason to exist. I was the same as Cloud or Tidus.

I suppose when I hate on Cloud as a character, or when others shun Tidus, what we are really doing is collectively hating how annoying and whiny younger versions of ourselves were. But it wasn’t always that way. Sure, we didn’t have to come to terms with being a clone. But maybe, like Tidus, we discover some aspect of our life is a lie. Santa isn’t real. We can’t all be astronauts. These tiresome characters are just us as tiresome teenagers. And it is hard not to look back and cling to that notion, a moment where we didn’t have to feel so alone. At that age it is nice to be understood.

So do I hate Final Fantasy 7? No, of course not, I’m mostly enjoying my third playthrough. But the story doesn’t speak to me like it did when I was a kid. I’m not sure it is supposed to either. This idea that no Final Fantasy will ever capture the same magic as the old ones is toxic. It is only going to hurt the growth of the series in the future. Nothing revolutionary can come of trying to capture the old while moving on to the new. 7, 10, 13, these games aren’t terrible by any means. But they are the Donald Trump of gaming. Maybe we can’t make Final Fantasy great again. Maybe it never was that great.

#Final fantasy x #final fantasy vii #writing #personal #ffvii #ffx #final fantasy #nostalgia

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narrativeninja · 7 years

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The Necessary Feminization of Heroes

The rise of superheroes is a phenomenon worth studying in its own right. The birth of heroes like Superman and Batman came at a time of great unrest in history. World war II was looming, and the threat of atomic annihilation was on everyone’s mind.

It’s no coincidence that the more recent popularity of superhero films began at a time of great economic unrest. We revived the old heroes, longing for a previous stability that had been lost.

The initial hype for the films was exciting, but most of that excitement seems to have fizzled off. Some blame the mediocrity of the films, but perhaps it’s because of a limited concept of what a hero can be.

They all seem to be cardboard cutouts of the same concept: a punchy do-gooder. Sometimes writers try to throw in some angst or romance to make it more interesting, but it doesn’t help much. There’s little character development, because we already know what the “hero” is supposed to be.

Their job is to be the lone ranger that punches the bad guys to save the victims. That’s all. Their work consists of punching and shooting. Nothing else.

The individuals they save play no role and have little identity besides being a helpless victim to be saved.

The plot becomes predictable because we know that no matter what, the hero is going to find a way to punch/shoot the bad guy. The villain will do nothing except get punched, the victim will do nothing but be saved.

That’s not always a bad thing. Sometime formulaic stories are enjoyable, like in detective dramas. I’m also not on an anti violence tirade. I’m just saying that interesting characters should have more, and a “hero” should have a wider definition.

One of the contributing factors of this homogeneity is the fact that most of our heroes bear masculine traits*, regardless of the individual character’s gender (more on that later). It’s possible, however, to have a hero that bears feminine traits, and it completely changes they way they relate to their world.

*When I mention the masculine and feminine, I don’t want to refer to stereotypes or some kind of idea that all men are/should be X or all women are/should be Y, nor am I talking about about gender identity. I’m speaking in the archetypal, conceptual sense, referring to a set of traits that have been traditionally labeled masculine or feminine. This is not indicative of individual, unique humans. This is purely conceptual.

The Masculine

The masculine hero is something nearly as old human civilization itself. One of the first heroic tales, The Epic of Gilgamesh, dates back to 6000 B.C. and describes a hero with the typical masculine traits that we still see today.

The typical masculine hero is:

- Individualistic (I can do it on my own, I don’t need others.)

- Brash, foolhardy, lots of dumb risks

- Brave in the face of danger

- Relies entirely on brute strength and audacity to make his way in the world

The usual endgame of the typical hero is a good deal of destruction (as long as we smashed the bad guy too, we’re good). They smash their way out of trouble and solve all their problem by punching, shooting, or blowing something up, usually through very stupid decisions.

There is an ongoing theme in a lot of superhero stories that being a hero is incredibly isolating and solidly detrimental to the individual’s relationships, though it’s not always clear why that is necessary. The hero tends to view him/herself as qualitatively separate from “victims” and does not delve much into their lives. They are merely there to be rescued.

Heroes (while in hero mode) seem to have little concept of how to interact with other people, and often switch into a hyper aggressive mode that can even turn heroes against each other.

Why is it that heroes are inescapably linked to aggression, to the point where studios are handing us films in which the heroes are fighting each other for seemingly no good reason?

Additionally, there’s no place for this kind of hero during peacetime. What do they have to offer when things are going well?

The long term outcome of this kind of heroism is not very effective. How is one man dressing up as a bat and beating on criminals going to change anything?

What if we had a hero that did not rely on rash, foolish decisions and brute strength? What if we had a hero who did not just rescue victims but empowered them to save themselves?

Suggestion: What if we had a feminine superhero?

The Feminine Hero.

The feminine hero is a nurturer. They conquer and defeat through cunning, planning and cultivation rather than brute strength.

Traits of a feminine hero: - Does not isolate themselves. Their relationships with others are a key part of their work - Saves through nurturing and empowering - Relies on tact, intelligence and cunning rather than brute strength and rash decisions - Unafraid to use violence or do hard things when necessary - Continues to develop their community outside of crisis situations

My model for this concept is Carol from The Walking Dead. She’s managed to save the group and defeat the bad guys several times over, but never in the traditionally masculine way. She embodies the archetypal traits of a nurturing mother, while still managing to be a total badass.*

Case Study: The Walking Dead Season 6, episode 2: “JSS”

In beginning of this episode, the community is at peace. Carol can contribute and build up a community outside of a major crisis, but when a crisis comes, she knows what to do.

Murderous people invade the community while Carol is in the midst of baking a casserole and watching a baby. Instead of taking on a simple motherly role and protecting the baby from the invaders, she hands the more than capable teenage brother a semi automatic and leaves to go be a hero. The following is where the real distinction lies.

A masculine hero (like Rick, the show’s male lead) would have whipped out a big gun and stormed the bad guys, killing them all and rescuing the poor victims cowering in their homes. Carol does not do this.

She refrains from drawing attention to herself, kills without remorse when she needs to,

and disguises herself so she can move freely without gunning her way through the village.

She has a plan, a goal, and is carrying it out with tact and precision: Give everyone their own guns.

Her goal is not to obtain the macguffin or blow up the key location, but to empower others. She reaches the armory, fills a tote with guns and hands them out to all the no-longer-cowering “victims”.

The invasion is ended very quickly by empowering those under threat to save themselves. It’s a primarily “motherly” action, to nurture and strengthen others to the point where they don’t need you anymore.

There is minimal damage to the community because there was no big firefight or show of brute force. Victims are no longer faceless and helpless, creating an entirely new dynamic between the “hero” and the “victims”.

This is my proposal for a feminine hero.

*My favorite part about Carol is that she isn’t a 22 year old stripper ninja. Her main purpose isn’t to appeal to men. She saves everyone’s life as best she can, and doesn’t have to be a sex object to do it.

How does this affect gender?

It’s important to note that the masculine hero is not limited to men. Women fill this role easily, but not always with the best results. The problem with most female heroes is that they are not allowed to be anything more than the typical brash, violent and sexy cliche (I like to call it the “bossy stripper ninja”). They are not given distinct personalities, or complex motivations. They are merely “punchy”.

Who needs a deep, rich inner life when she has guns?

There are some notable exceptions. Buffy, for one, was allowed to be human, complex, AND punchy.

Most that have come after her have not been given the same generosity. The problem is, after the writer decides that a woman is “punchy”, they give up. They give her nothing else. We are hard pressed to describe this character apart from her appearance and her weapons.

Conversely, there are a number of examples of men that are masculine in character but feminine in role. That is, the individual possesses masculine traits in their personality, but they interact with the world through feminine traits (cultivation, patience, planning, etc).

The problem is, most of these examples seem to be villains. We can make a man function in a feminine way, but somehow it usually makes him a bad guy. I’m having trouble coming up with a single example of a male hero that functions through feminine traits.

Villains seem to be the only ones with tact and precision, who cultivate a world into their own vision and develop others rather than just knocking them down. They have henchmen, converts, and their own little community. Unlike heroes, they don’t stop working when there’s nothing to smash.

Examples:

Loki has a good amount of feminine heroic traits, as do most villains whose goal involves something other than blowing up the world. He is cunning, patient, and has emotional depth.

The fact that he experiences emotion doesn’t diminish his strength or power in any way.

2. Another good example is Wilson Fisk (of Marvel’s Daredevil). He’s a large man who can easily be nothing but evil and punchy, and instead possesses a rich and complex inner life and a fantastic sense of aesthetic.

Although he has his physical rages and is incredibly physically strong, he succeeds through intelligence, subterfuge and subtlety and cares deeply for those around him (beyond the typical best friend and love interest).

He’s a very masculine character, but feminine in his villainy.

3. Frank Underwood is crafty, patient and ruthless. He is a terrifying villain, because of his ability to manipulate others, stay one step ahead of everyone, and think his way out of trouble.

Writers seems to be doing a very pretty good job in developing interesting (and feminine) villains, but haven’t given us much variety in heroes. How many of us have questioned ourselves for being far more interested in the villains? It’s because they are genuinely more interesting!

Wouldn’t it be more interesting or effective if superheroes actually got to know those they were protecting? What if Bruce Wayne befriended those who were at risk of becoming villains? What if he educated each citizen of Gotham concerning every supervillain’s weakness?

This doesn’t even take into account other important issues surrounding heroic stories, like moral ambiguity, the objectification of women, and the lack of depth in heroic characters regardless of Masculine or Feminine traits. I’m just saying we could use some variety in character traits. As Carol shows, it doesn’t make for a less interesting story. The conflict is still there. It just gets a whole lot more nuanced. We’ll always need smashy punchy stories, but can we please develop a little variety?

#fandom #feminism #marvel #dc comics #superheroes #the walking dead #carol peletier #when you make a man feminine he automatically turns into a villain #its science #my meta

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theconservativebrief · 6 years

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Marvel’s legendary devil is back.

That’s right, Vincent D’Onofrio is once again playing Wilson Fisk a.k.a. the elegant kingpin of Hell’s Kitchen and the single best thing about that first installment of Netflix’s Daredevil, about Marvel’s blind, vigilante superhero.

Fine, fine: Daredevil, a.k.a. Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), is back too, recovering after the events of last year’s The Defenders and headlining the third season of Daredevil after what seems like a long break. (The second season premiered on Netflix way back in 2016.) Critics were allowed to screen the show’s first six episodes and what I’ve seen is pretty good — thanks in large part to D’onofrio.

This doesn’t mean that things can’t go south in the latter half of the season, but at the outset of season three, the show is sticking to what worked in its first season: a friendship we can believe in, a villain that steals the entire show, and a more street-level view of evil rather than some kind of world-ending weapon.

This season finds Murdock bouncing back following The Defenders’ climactic cave-in, which seemingly doomed him and his on-again, off-again, sociopath soulmate Elektra. Also on the mend is on Wilson Fisk who, after season one, has found that he’s got so much more to offer this world than serving his consecutive and lengthy prison sentences for all the crimes he committed. In particular, Fisk wants revenge against everything and everyone who landed him in that prison in the first place.

Violence, death, manipulation — nothing is strictly business, it’s all personal for both Fisk and Murdock this season.

That in mind, here are five initial takeaways from Daredevil season 3:

The first season of Daredevil introduced us to the elegant monster that is D’onofrio’s Wilson Fisk, a bellowing storm of violence and cruelty crackling underneath a surface of quiet sophistication, wealth, and refinement. Daredevil’s second season suffered without Fisk’s gravity, tilting out of control at times as it introduced world-ending mythology and nefarious ninjas. So it’s a relief to have him back for this new season, even if he is behind bars and doing his best to figure out how to get out — and, more importantly, how to get back at the people who put him there.

D’Onofrio commands every scene he’s in, even when we’re watching someone else watch him (part of this season’s plot involves Fisk being under FBI surveillance). D’Onofrio calibrates every detail of his performance, down to the most seemingly forgettable stuff, and somehow makes those things unforgettable.

One of my favorite things this season is watching D’Onofrio eat things: The utensils shrink in his gigantic paws, yet he holds each one gracefully and lightly, like a conductor at the symphony. You get the sense that it’s hard for Fisk to move in this gentle manner because he’s holding back a force that’s used to crushing skulls. And in this controlled gentleness, there’s sophistication — making the prison gruel seem like sous-vide steak.

There’s a storytelling gimmick early in the season in which Fisk appears as Murdock’s evil conscience, goading Murdock to kill him. It’s not particularly convincing and the character comes off shouty and slapdash. I get that this is Murdock’s skewed view of Fisk as opposed to how we are really supposed to see him, but his filtered presence in these scenes makes it seem like the producers read the season one reviews and tried to figure out how to squeeze in more D’Onofrio — which is understandable, but not particularly beneficial to those scenes.

But when D’Onofrio is allowed to be Fisk, to really embody the cruelty and spirit of the villain, he taps into a strain of excited fear, like the tingle you feel after lightning flashes but thunder hasn’t yet struck. And lucky for us, and for this season, he invites us all to live in it.

Mavel’s Netflix universe has gotten super crowded. Since Daredevil kicked the whole thing off in 2015, there’s been multiple seasons of Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and Iron Fist, and one season of The Punisher and the superhero team-up series The Defenders. And each of those solo shows comes with their own roster of supporting characters and villains.

However, from what I’ve seen of the season (and this could change), Daredevil seems uninterested in doing any giant crossovers, nor is it particularly concerned with fusing itself to those other shows. Daredevil is not like Iron Fist or Luke Cage, which both greatly benefit from guest stars from the other series. It’s fun to watch Cage and Danny Rand and their strikingly different personalities bounce off one another or see different characters’ interactions with Claire Temple — but Daredevil’s characters have plenty of chemistry already with each other.

Daredevil has a good core of protagonists in Matt, Foggy (Elden Henson), and Karen (Deborah Ann Woll), and their friendship is one of the more believable and human things in Marvel’s litany of shows. Adding in more characters, like what happened with Elektra, The Punisher, the Hand, and The Stick in season two, can work, but it can also, if done incorrectly, make the show feel rushed and congested.

The result this season is a tighter story about the trio’s friendship, or rather the toll Matt’s superheroism has taken on it. Being friends with Matt is emotionally tiring and physically draining — he isn’t ever honest with Foggy and Karen, nor is he particularly available when they need him to be. At one point they don’t even know if he’s alive, and the show plays around with that idea, that maybe just because you do good things or keep your loved ones safe doesn’t mean that they always see it, or that you see all the times you’ve let them down.

The ongoing refrain of the first season of Daredevil was that Fisk’s corruptive influence has woven its way into the economy, into the government, and into the police force. Murdock and his allies dispatched countless crooked cops and Fisk henchmen in that installment.

This time, the show wants to show how that corruption happens, and how Fisk’s superpower isn’t strength or being really rich, but rather how he’s able to take advantage of those cracks that let his influence seep in. What he’s found this season is FBI Agent Ray Nadeem (Jay Ali), an agent looking to move up in the bureau who can’t because of extenuating circumstances — the most debilitating being crippling debt that the agency sees as a corruption risk. Fisk obviously takes an interest in Nadeem, which he parlays into a greater advantage.

Some of the ways that Fisk gathers his intel and amasses his power requires a certain suspension of disbelief: Fisk benefits from writing that always makes him the smartest person in the room, often at the expense of everyone else, including extremely gullible FBI agents acting completely idiotic and forgetting that this is a man who makes El Chapo seem like the Barefoot Contessa.

Nevertheless, this season puts more emphasis on the regular people living in these super-powered times and caught in the crossfire between good and evil — and in the process makes some rather bleak points about how helpless regular folk would be in the face of it all.

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Bullseye — a major villain from the Daredevil comic books — becomes a major figure this season. Before you accuse me of spoilers, Marvel has been touting the marksman villain in its promos for Daredevil. But because I don’t want to give too much away, I’m just going to say that the origin story works because it’s told in a way that’s of interest to Fisk. It’s not so much about the character’s origin, but rather how Fisk figures out how to weasel his way into his head.

Oh, and it is very entertaining to watch Bullseye being really, really good at throwing things!

A season of Daredevil isn’t complete with one extended and beautifully choreographed fight sequence that happens in a hallway:

The one that appears in season three, episode four has a different feeling than the one above, from the first season, but it’s an equally good reminder that Daredevil still has some of the most innovative and thrilling fight choreography on television.

Daredevil’s full third season will be available on Netflix on October 19, 2019.

Original Source -> Daredevil season 3 is a return to what made the show so good in season 1

via The Conservative Brief

#IFTTT #The Conservative Brief

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