#in the discourse around this movie

[cardinaldrama]

So I watched Possession (1981) last night and all these people analyzing the movie are calling it a "breakup movie" and saying it's "obsessed with division" like ? Did we even watch the same thing ? I get that they're both manic and that's kinda the point but Anna clearly states multiple times that she's not interested in Mark anymore. And in response he screams, cuts off her sentences, gets up in her space, does all he can to prevent her from going anywhere. Gee, I wonder why she wants to leave him. But the reason she can't is because there's a power imbalance, which is reflected in the filmmaking too; look at the contrast between the scenes of them in the apartment (claustrophobic, suffocating camerawork, the space is always a colossal mess) and the scene at the beginning where Mark is talking with those guys in that comically open, unfurnished room. He has so much more freedom than her. Someone in the movie confronts him about this, and he's all like "I don't want freedom". We also get a taste of the backstory when Heinrich's mom tells Mark that Anna came to Heinrich because of how Mark acts toward her. It's just so clear to me that Mark's controlling behavior is the instigator of Anna's madness, it's not some mutual clashing of personalities. The blueprint for ending the relationship is right there, the obstacle is that Mark literally won't let Anna leave him!! Is my reading of the film. And the film is so real for that, 10/10, but like what am I missing?

#I smell some of the same brain poison that characterized the johnny depp/amber heard “mutual abuse” talking point #in the discourse around this movie #possession 1981 #for those in the U.S. it's free to watch on Kanopy right now! I highly recommend it #I also wrote a review of it on my new letterboxd if anyone wants to stalk or follow me on there (ianandhismovies)

[goldfyshie927]

Absolutely baffled that people are comparing the Barbie movie not getting certain awards show noms as like an example of modern feminist issues. Sometimes movies are fun but not good enough for an award and that’s not an example of anything??? If Barbie is the pinnacle of feminism for you… I hate to break it to you but you’re stuck about 10 years behind the curve in understanding what feminism is really all about at this point. Please expand your a) understanding of feminism and b) movie watching views. There are plenty of amazing movies out there beyond Barbie, I promise. And plenty of resources to get you up to speed on feminism today.

#I swear I’ve seen so much discourse around the Barbie movie #and people being like THIS IS A SLIGHT AGAINST WOMEN!! #oh my fuuuuckkng god grow up!!! #it just wasn’t good enough for those noms!!!! #sometimes that happens with movies we like!!!! #it will be okay I promise!!!!! #Oscars discourse

[xxc0mp4ctd1scxx]

I wish that who uses only "she/her" or "he/him" referring to Mizu kinda get the drip that Mizu isn't neither a man nor a woman.

That whoever is using only one of these pronouns is actually seeing that Mizu is kinda beyond gender shit, and any other category.

So when using those are all in a genderqueer/genderfuck way. When calling them girlfriend or man or bf is in an ironic way.

I really wish I'm not seeing people thinking Mizu is a woman just bc they are AFAB or bc "this trope is ant-women" terf's shit. Cuz I guarantee that Mulan (1998) and Blue Eye Samurai (2023) aren't being feminist in a simple "We Can Do It, too" way, but rather "See, gender roles are stupid and fuck you if you think that genderqueer people don't exist and people are only MAN or WOMAN."

Man, I really hate when people look at a genderqueer story and think only in binary. Adult Mizu could have been a woman if they really were one, cuz the point of they being perseved as a boy was only to be more difficult to find them as a kid, when their mom couldn't protect them with her hands or power, cuz she had none.

I think that when they were in the wife role, they weren't really performing it as a woman, but more like a duty commonly attributed to wife (more like my father being the cook in the house and a really good caretaker who is really considering and cute, and also being the dad figure, when my mom is in the finances business of the house and isn't the best caretaker of all times...) and for they mom respect and consideration, cuz they loved her and wanted to show their love, retributing by marry that guy.

But they were rejected by their mom and their husband, when being their own singular self. When showing they weren't the wife, neither the woman people thought they should be.

Yes, they suit a masc appearance and mannerisms, but it seem dehonest to call them a man. They really don't perform a man image.

Just like non binary transmasc or butches... We aren't really men just bc we are mascs. And we aren't really, by the book, women, solely by the fact we are AFAB.

Why? Cuz it is just like that. Gender isn't the binary we were thought and I wish everyone a really good search and thinking on genderqueer thesis and documents, already documented discussions and a read on "Butch Blues", a watch on "Tomboy", etc.

#blue eye samurai #queer discourse #more like #queer rant #cuz im pissed fearing people are missreading the whole show #just bc Mizu is genderfucking around not giving a single shit about the binary #only doing what makes sense and (i also thinking) better suits and easy theirself in their skin #they wear a binder for fucks sake #it cant be thay they are binary #neither Mulan really was binary to be honest #look at how the movie ended #they weren't shouting “Im a binary woman human being” #they werent denying the improviment on self-realization that they had #also they were seemed to be kinda ok and enjoying it #not like “oh fuck I really hate being in this situation. being persived as a man” #fuck you if you dont agree #by the “but is better to be a men” logic trans women and transfem nonbinary people wouldn't fucking exist #soo fuuuuuck youuuuuu #im really not in to a discussion #this is my statement #not an invitation #if you disagree bc you think those points im criticizing are right #and you also want to talk??? #i just want to punch you in the face you fucking transphobe #this is no discussion #and stop invalidating queer people's history. lives and ownselfs #fuck you #mizu

[likeabxrdinflight]

I'm absolutely deranged over this sweeney revival and so sad it's closing because I think this might be the only iteration of the show where it's like. very obvious that this version of sweeney and mrs lovett are fucking. like that's pretty clear, right? in most renditions it's played like a largely unrequited thing, with mrs lovett attempting over the course of the show to get sweeney to love her despite the fact that he's utterly uninterested.

that was...that was not the case in this version. and the place where I think that becomes most apparent is actually in "a little priest," because I think this is where the transition takes place. prior to this the 2023 show is playing out broadly the same as usual, with mrs lovett focused primarily on getting sweeney to look at her for more than five seconds while sweeney is plotting his revenge. I'm not sure how annaleigh played it live, since I didn't get to see her take and haven't found any decent (publicly available) clips of her, but sutton made some interesting choices here where she's always got her hands hovering over sweeney but rarely does she actually touch him (this was most apparent to me during "my friends" and "wait"). it was like he was something she desperately wanted to hold but couldn't bring herself to yet. like he (or the tenuous bond between them) was made of glass and she was afraid to break him (and it).

that changes after "a little priest." because for the whole show up to that point, sweeney is, as in every production, completely uninterested in her. he seems to reject her advances, doesn't initiate much if any contact with her, and at most treats her as a business partner. but the second mrs lovett suggests her whole baking-people-into-pies scheme, that seems to change. suddenly he's holding her arms, pulling her into a dance, he grabs her face at one point- it was like this little flash of genuinely visible evil from her (which she normally tries to cover more than he does) suddenly attracts him in a way nothing she'd tried up 'til then had. and sutton as mrs lovett responds to this, and that seemed to be the motive behind her iteration of the character playing up the cannibalism humor and making all these jokes about who they could bake into pies. it's like she's suddenly gotten a dash of the affection from him she's been craving and now she's going to do everything possible to keep him laughing, to keep him focused on her and not the judge.

from that point on in this version of the show, I think they're sleeping together. do I think sweeney ever truly falls in love with her? no of course not, that's entirely against the point of his character. but I do think this version of sweeney has more affection for her than other iterations have. more than any other production I've personally seen, this one presented them as a couple, a real partnership, to the point that "by the sea" reads less as another attempt at seduction and more as a legitimate proposal made from one established sexual partner to the other. (the acting choices here also make it.......................almost impossible that they're not fucking I mean she...there's this whole thing with her feet and his suspenders and it's so funny but there's no way. there's no way they weren't sleeping together, just trust me.) and all throughout that song he reacts with the usual sort of annoyance that you'd expect for the character, but there were a few times I'm sure he smiled a little, I was close enough to see it- and whether that was aaron breaking character a bit or a legitimate acting choice I have no idea- but either way it made him seem a little bit fond of her, even when he was irritated.

some people might not like this, since it does sort of go against what was the original intention in the script, but I think it adds another layer of tragedy to the ending if they were genuinely together. because they were so close. they were so close to having some kind of life together, some kind of happiness that wouldn't ever replace the life sweeney had lost, that wouldn't ever replace lucy or johanna, but it could have been a life. maybe even a nice one (minus the whole murdering-and-baking-people-into-pies thing). but it can't ever be because it was only ever happening under false pretenses. because mrs lovett lied. she almost had everything she wanted, she almost had him, but she could only get it because of that one lie, and she loses it all because of that lie too. and that's ultimately her tragedy.

#I have so much brain rot over this production right now I'm so sorry #...fun fact though I was first introduced to this musical when I was thirteen with the movie version and pretty much ever since then #I have had a Thing for evil women so #thank helena bonham carter for that one #this show is also why I never took the discourse around 'problematic fiction' seriously lol #y'all clutching your pearls over steven universe ships wouldn't last five minutes in the musical fandom circles that I spent most of 2012 i #sweeney todd

[museofvoid-art]

shoutout to the mangle, gotta be one of my favorite genders

#was planning on posting this for when the movie came out lol #anyway finished it up quickly just now cause otherwise it would never happen #i don't care if the pink backlight makes any sense it looks cool i'm keeping it #i've never played fnaf btw #i just think some of the animatronics are neat #and listening to lore videos is a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine #i love mangle and the way it created discourse around its gender back in the day lol #mangle is an 'it' to me btw you can't change my mind #fnaf #five nights at freddy's #the mangle #mangle #mangle fnaf #wow first art of 2024 posted :0

[cosmignon]

more tmnt mm thoughts: really appreciate leo having a big stupid crush on april if only bc the movie spends a good amount of runtime on emphasizing she's beautiful/pretty/radiant, as it SHOULD because her design is SO good

but also it is just very funny and cute to see all his brothers ragging on him at once while april gets to know them all better

#era of sara #tmnt mm #the racist discourse around her design in this movie sucks bc everyones just stupid she looks great

[give-grian-rights]

i've gotten dropped into the DC franchise (primarily a handful of animated series) pretty hard, and i just fucking said to my self "god, i think nearly every portrayal of Barry Allen is great, he's literally such a great guy-" and then remembered that the character is currently being played in Cinema by a misogynist with kidnapping allegations

#sorry but for me personally this. is a case of an actor interfering with the enjoy-ability of the character. i would not feel safe around em #and flash put a baby in the microwave. whatever the context to that is. i dont care im not giving ezra miller a paycheck #warner bros can just Decide to not released several other fully-finished films but in the face of kidnapping and violence against women #allegations go 'no. no one else can play this character. of course we're still airing this movie' #what the fuck did all those scooby doo movies do. did they fuck your mom? #'well thats different its just some kids fran-' THEY DID IT TO BATGIRL. ALMOST COMPLETED MOVIE #AND CANCELLED. #what the fuck do i tag this. #seriously what the fuck #dc discourse #the flash #barry allen

[cream-and-punishment]

Do movies really need to be great and insightful and "deep" or is it enough to have Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc solving his silly little mysteries while he wears his cute little outfits????

#glass onion #netflix #netflix movie #daniel craig #I see a lot of discourse around this movie #benoit blanc #I am just here to be entertained idk

[marklikely]

like that l.a. times article is rightfully being dragged through the mud so maybe my complaining is redundant. but i think if you wrote "maybe barbie would get a nomination if she survived a mass murder plot" you should never be allowed to write again

#the disrespect to not only lily gladstone (who deserves the win) but also more important to the real atrocity that kotfm portrays #like. belittling the actual violence that happened in real life against these women and the men in their community. #jesus fucking christ i have no words for you. over a movie about barbie dolls. you should lose all credibility forever. #avpost #also ill say it i think its stupid that ryan gosling felt the need to apologize for his nomination #when a woman in the same movie literally did get an equivalent nom in best supporting actress.... #which is crazy bc idk that america ferrera did her best work in this movie but like good for her. does she not exist to barbie fans? #double also i cant believe theres this much nonsense over a movie that got EIGHT NOMINATIONS being 'snubbed' #and this is just the barbie discourse dont get me started on the discourse around other movies most of which is also stupid #god the consequences of a year where people start moving from big franchise schlock to Caring Abt Film. annoying discourse. #well anyway. theres more important things in the world im just so tired of oscar discourse and i had to rant a little bit.

[james-stark-the-writer]

finally watching Barbarian (2022) and this man has negative charisma tbh. incredibly funny to cast a man this good looking in a role like this.

#james talks #james watches stuff #barbarian #barbarian 2022 #watch the stupid ass twist be he's some fucking virgin 500 year old or something and why he uses 'young lady' #man has so many fucking red flags #like he's trying to be genuinely nice but it also reads as such huge blaring sirens #casting a skarsgard brother for this was an incredible choice btw #also tbh so far the filmmaking is fun but i don't know what it really wants to be like if it's trying to be traditional horror or— #despite my distaste for the term it has unfortunately stuck around in the discourse so forgive my usage but— #it wants to be more cerebral or like 'elevated horror' #anyway uh the opening had some really bad fake rain #back to the movie i go

[hartwinorlose]

yesterday i commited barbenheimer and if you plan to do this, i suggest going Oppenheimer first, then Barbie

astoundingly, my favorite part of both films was the same:

the soundtrack

the production/set design

In both films, these were quite impressive

oppenheimer: i have come to the conclusion that oppenheimer was a not-very-interesting man surrounded by interesting circumstances. i thought the acting was all phenomenal, the cinematography was great. sound mixing could have been better. it is 3 hours long and really felt like it near the end. i thought the subject matter was well-handled and nuanced, and i really like the way it portrayed scientists. the ending conversation with einstein was one of the best parts of the film. i don't think this is a movie for everyone because it is so long and focused on such a depressing topic

barbie: i enjoyed this, especially the musical sequences. some of the jokes fell pretty flat; others really hit. will ferrell and the board members were a weak link - not even sure why they were in this. i thought ryan gosling and margot robbie were both show-stealers. the sets and fashion of this were AMAZING. i thought the core message was pretty solid for young girls, though it's not saying anything that's much of a revelation to older audiences

#movie reel #barbenheimer #barbie #oppenheimer #i know there's discourse around oppenheimer #but i would not say it at all glorified the bomb

[butchyena]

i wish there was a more polite way to say “you are clearly being a contrarian for the sake of your own ego and only care this much because you feel personally slighted by other people’s enjoyment/opinions/engagement. clearly this topic is not for you so this is not a conversation we need to be having/i am uninterested in responding to devil’s advocacy”

#honestly just accept some thing are not for you #not every show every movie every game every liece of media every argument every topic every discourse #is going to be for or about you. it simply isnt #going around and trying to be the loudest voice because you’re upset all the other voices are in a crowd is fucking stupid and annoying

[windmill-ghost]

My opinions on “AI”/artificially generated art is that there should be a universal basic income.

#i think human artists should be able to survive on this bitch of an earth #i think if artists could make whatever they wanted without needing to worry about marketing it we’d have more singular weird shit #and that’s irreplaceable #i think if game art or movie scripts can be automatically generated i think we should consider #why we are making artists do such formulaic things in the first place #wg speaks #also i put quotes around ‘ai’ because i think anthropomorphising these processes poisons the discourse

[fabiansociety]

look man the mcu has some deep and abiding structural weaknesses, but the idea that it hasn't been using the tools of superheroism and science fiction to draw our attention to the overreach of military authority since literally Iron Man 1 is just ludicrous

the pendulum for mcu discourse swings between "the MCU has never said anything meaningful" and "this is the most important political statement to happen in genre fiction" and i swear to god i am going to start biting people for both positions

you would think that people would remember a single theme from one of the most culturally omnipresent texts, but apparently not.

like, if you think the MCU isn't strong enough in its critiques of power, go right ahead, but you should at least be aware that "critical of military power" is the default MCU storyline.

#mcu #marvel #there's been so much discourse around these damn movies #how do we keep circling back to the same flatly incorrect priors

[coulsonlives]

Unpopular opinion: there is no bloody fatphobia in The Whale and people need to chill the fuck out.

For starters, good luck finding a decent-sized pool of 600 lb actors of that gender, appearance, acting abilities, who fits the part on an intrinsic 'vibes' level, etc to choose from. How many 600 lb actors do you think are out there, and available? And more importantly, people gotta realize how hard it is to do anything when you have that much weight! And filmmaking is stressful. Add the rigors of filmmaking and being on set constantly, and you have a recipe for disaster. Literally a liability. The production might not even get approved because there's such a big chance of something going wrong.

The film didn't even make fun of fat people or stigmatize it. Charlie was fat because he was sad, not the other way around. But being fat also made him miserable in some ways. That's just what happens with a lot of morbidly obese people. It's not fun to be that fat. The movie takes the subject matter seriously and it doesn't glamorize it.

So like, people gotta stop. They're just losing their shit as soon as they hear the words 'fat suit' and ascribing a negative judgment to that, then trying to find things that are wrong, like, gasp, someone having a bad time because they're morbidly obese, even though the logic behind their anger doesn't check out and it wouldn't even be SAFE for the actor if they did find one. But sure, hire someone with genuine morbid obesity of that extent.

Maybe when they die of heart failure two weeks into shooting, people will eat their words.

And yes, morbid obesity is dangerous. You literally can't be 600 lbs and be functionally healthy! The pressure all that extra weight puts on your organs alone is dangerous, your skeleton doesn't change to accommodate anything, your body is constantly under stress. If anyone denies this, it's super, super obvious they're in denial of just how big of a problem morbid obesity is. That part isn't an opinion, it's physics, it's science, it's reality. There are autopsy videos of morbidly obese people who donated their bodies for science. They show all the effects and explain them for educations sake. Go watch a few. Or go read some studies.

#if they actually did hire a 600 lbs actor you bet half these people will be turning around to call the movie 'exploitative' so like cmon. #the whale #unpopular opinion #brendan fraser #obesity #health #discourse #weight #moral outrage #critical thinking #social justice #death ment cw

[marklikely]

i think a weird amount of barbie fans are convinced that ryan gosling snuck himself into the movie to steal from women when what actually happened is greta made a mistake and wrote ken to be the best part of her movie

#i said it when the movie first came out and i think the entire discourse around ken afterward has proved me right lol #like idk what to tell you but most of the barbies are not very well written and ken is! #its not that hes a good guy he sucks but his stuff is a great satire and a lot more fun and funny #while i like the female leads i feel like i had to bring my own love of Barbara to the movie rather than it making me love her. #avpost #movie diary #anyway yeah this entire line of discourse is so annoying i cant wait for us all to move on to a different movie.