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humaudrey · 5 years

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TheThings is back on their bullshit

(WARNING: LONG RANT AHEAD!!!!)

Anyone know how to delete a YouTube video from someone else's channel (or just their entire channel all together) because...

This

Is SO

I don't even have the words!!!!

Once again, your girl watches one of their videos (several times unfortunately to really analyze this ish) so y'all don't have to and let me tell you, this one is 1,000,000x more infuriating than the one when they belittled Uma to lift Mal and make her better in comparison (link to my post on that here).

I've been recommended this video so many times since the trailers for D3 dropped and when I saw the title, I KNEW I was gonna hate it and low and behold, I DID!

So let's go over their "5 Signs on why Audrey is the real threat", shall we?

#1. Audrey's Outburst

So, their first piece of evidence as to why Audrey's the unfathomable dark force (their exact words) is because of the fact that Audrey yelled no as Ben proposed to Mal, "ruining their beautiful moment". They then explain that it would be "natural for Audrey to be jealous since she is Ben's ex-girlfriend", being perfect okay with the ugly "black, bitter, ex-girlfriend" trope that many have loved to stick onto her in their fanfics (I see y'all 👀), and then compares that moment to when Ben asked Mal to be his date for coronation in D1, stating that she didn't react so strongly before, so why now? EXCUSE ME?! Our girl left the Tourney Field crying that her BOYFRIEND had serenaded another girl with a love song, and not a single person ran after her. She had every reason to be upset then, too. Who's to even say why Audrey's saying no? It could be a terrible misdirect on the trailer's part. The theory that Audrey's possessed is swirling around everywhere, maybe it had already begun to take effect, which is why she's "acting so strangely". D3 hasn't even been released and they're already villainizing her. Figures.

They also use the typical argument that Audrey's into titles and she wants what Mal has, and that she didn't want Chad because he was merely a prince.

She doesn't want Chad because CHAD CHARMING IS A MANIPULATIVE TOOL! Ask Evie! Chad only thinks that being king would get Audrey's attention. You wanna talk about jealousy? Titles? If ant character is jealous of anyone's titles, it's Chad freaking Charming, not Audrey.

#2. The Crown

An obvious piece of evidence is the fact that "Audrey" steals the Queen's crown and Maleficent's scepter from the museum. Whatever, right? They assume that Audrey's faking her slumber when the sleeping spell hits, giving her an alibi. They then have the FREAKING AUDACITY to say that AUDREY, a non magical princess, who has been so anti-magic since D1 (with a grandmother who she loves dearly, that's triggered by the mention of said spells and curses), was the cause of the curse. Their evidence? Well, her family's VERY familiar with it, so it makes sense, right?

NO!!!!

Audrey has NO magic whatsoever!!! Did they forget that? The only reason her family is "so familiar" with the sleeping spell is because THEY ARE VICTIMS OF SAID SLEEPING SPELL!!!! And it's not like she could cast it, because, again, AUDREY HAS NO MAGIC!! If anyone is familiar with a sleeping spell, it's Mal. After all, she almost put Evie under just so she could grab her mother's specter from her.

How dare you take an Innocent family's trauma and turn it around to make them the bad guys?

#3. The Scepter

They continue to say that "Audrey" is to blame for the sleeping spell, rather than Celia, Hades, or Uma because "Audrey" has the specter. And immediately, they suggest that maybe Audrey's not working only. You wanna bet who they hinted Audrey was cooperating with?

If you guessed Uma, you'd be correct. All because Uma's seen laughing in her teaser. WHAT?! So, not only do you attempt to take Audrey's entire character and drag it through the mud, you take ANOTHER black girl's name that you've already tried to ruin and tarnish and say they're working together because they're BITTER?

If they're BITTER, it's ONLY BECAUSE YOUR WHITE, PLAIN, BARNEY COLORED DRAGON FAIRY PRIVILEGED PRINCESS PROSPECT FAVE had treated them HORRIBLY.

They end their third sign with the line "We knew Audrey was a mean girl, but we didn't think she'd stoop so low".

The meanest thing Audrey has ever done INTENTIONALLY, was 1.) Tell Evie that she and her family don't have a royal status in Auradon (to which, she is technically correct) and 2.) Tell Mal that she and Ben wouldn't last because she's "the bad girl infatuation".

Jane should be branded the mean girl because she turns on the one girl that helped her with her rise to popularity (which, granted, was for malicious INTENTIONS and caused EVEN MORE self esteem issues by degrading her).

MAL should be branded the mean girl, if anyone! She's:

Dumped rotten shrimp on her former best friend because she laughed at her

Forced a guy to throw a party since his mother was away, knowing that his abusive mother wouldn't be okay with it

Then locked a girl in a closet full of BEAR TRAPS at said party all because she wasn't invited to her birthday party when they were SIX YEARS OLD

Dumped lye on another former best friend's hair because she DIDN'T WANT TO BE COMPARED TO HER

Told another girl that all she had going for her was her personality, so she needed the wand to make herself pretty

ROOFIED HER SOON TO BE BOYFRIEND INTO DATING HER IN THE FIRST PLACE JUST TO GET A FRONT ROW SEAT AT HIS CORONATION SO SHE COULD STEAL THE WAND

AND TAKES SAID WAND FROM THE GIRL SHE EMOTIONALLY MANIPULATED EARLIER AND POINTS IT DIRECTLY AT AUDREY ALL BECAUSE SHE KNEW THAT MAL WASN'T GOOD FROM THE JUMP

Let's see a video ranking Mal's top five worst moments, huh? There's plenty of those to use for a freaking video.

#4. It's All About Mal (sounds like D3)

They start this point off with: "Audrey has beef with Mal".

AS SHE SHOULD!

They use the fact that Mal stole her boyfriend and her title and their families history with one another, so Audrey has this motivation to ACT OUT AGAINST HER ENTIRE COUNTRY? Not buying it! I won't buy it, especially since both parties seemed to have made amends at the end of D1 when Mal silently curtsies as a lame form of an apology that Audrey gracefully accepts anyway like the future Queen of Auroria would. Audrey's even seen bowing willingly at the end of Set It Off, and is even cheering and dancing with her friends as Mal and Ben share their moment under the fireworks, so clearly, Audrey's not broken up about it in the slightest.

They propose a theory that Audrey's absence in D2 is because she's planning her revenge in Sherwood Forest, and that she doesn't have car troubles because "Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather should be more than capable of handling it, so she's only calling Chad to help her plot her scheme.

Whatever they're smoking, I want it.

Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather can't help Audrey with her car troubles because of the MAGIC BAN!! They needed Chad to help with her car.

And I HIGHLY DOUBT that Disney would plan something so carefully since the entire series is branded with plot holes and inconsistencies anyway, so... 🐸☕

#5. Face Off Time

Their final point states that Mal has to face off against the enemy and they use the first teaser of dragon-Mal blowing fire at "Audrey" on top of the castle, and the card at the end that says "betrayal", that Audrey has betrayed all of Auradon. And since Mal only turns into a dragon against SERIOUS ENEMIES LIKE UMA IN D2, Audrey has to be a REAL THREAT.

Thank God they're probably not making a D4, because if they continue this trend of WOC wronged by Mal as the villain, I'd be scared for Evie...

So, in their words, Audrey and Uma, two of the few black girls in the entire franchise who have every God given right not to like/trust Mal, are Mal's MOST SERIOUS rivals, as if Hades doesn't at ALL pose a threat to Auradon. No, Audrey is So mUcH MOre THreATEninG thAN ThE GOD OF THE UNDERWORLD, SO SHE MUST BE STOPPED!!!

I see you, TheThings, and if I didn't despise your channel before, I hate it that much more now after enduring 5 minutes of hell with you guys.

AND, TO TOP IT ALL OFF THEY CLEARLY SHOW THEIR BIAS OF MAL OVER AUDREY!!

Like, just say you're racist and GO! Audrey's clearly influenced by some magical being, whether it be Hades (WHO WE SEE DOING SOME KIND OF MAGICAL RITUAL WITH HER AND HIS EMBER IN A TRAILER, BUT I GUESS THEY CHOSE TO IGNORE IT FOR SOME REASON 🐸☕), Dr. Facilier, Celia, or maybe even Maleficent. Your reasons for making Audrey the villain are pathetic, and I wish I could block a YouTube Channel so I would NEVER see another video from your channel ever again.

I'm so sick of how "mean" brown girls are treated in media AND fandoms. Why does Audrey get all of his libel while Mal gets away with EVERYTHING? Why are the Cheryl Blossoms, the Quinn Fabrays, the Kitty Wildes, and every other mean girl that Emma Roberts has ever played are so praised and are instant fan favorites while the Josie McCoys, the Santana Lopezes, and the Brees are seen as the bullies when, at the end of the day, they're both different sides of the same damn coin?

And if you don't see a problem with this, then, newsflash, you are the problem!

So, I end my rant with this:

And a short tag list containing: @amityravenclawelf and @coco-rena because I know these two are looking forward to this!

Have a wonderful day everyone!

And I apologize for the typos but I was HEATED!!

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joesbbqandfootmassage · 5 years

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We need to talk about Jane and Carlos…

So if someone had to ask me what one of the most underrated things in the world was, I would definitely say dcoms. (Disney Channel Original Movies)

They’re cheesy and dumb and not a single one lacks their flaws.

But they are still just so fun to watch and you just get a whole new experience from watching dcoms than you do any other movie.

Now among all those dcoms is a sub genre of musicals, being made popular by the one and only High School Musical trilogy. But we also have the Cheetah Girls, Teen Beach Movie, ZOMBIES, and the Descendants.

Now while all of those movie series are amazing in their own right, I’m gonna zero in on Descendants.

Kenny Ortega’s big return to Disney Channel and oh my gosh was it hyped up.

You couldn’t go two minutes watching Suite Life on Deck reruns without having this shoved in your face.

And you’d be dang right if you thought I was excited to see it. The children of iconic Disney characters all in one shared universe? Sign me the heck up!

Of course we got rid of cable before it came out and it would be maybe two years later until i finally considered watching it with my sister.

Needless to say our reaction could be boiled down to, “Oh. Oh no.”

Love it or hate it, as a movie lover I can say that D1 is a fundamentally broken movie on every level.

Nothing is developed enough and it relies way too heavily on you loving Mal as a character. Spoiler alert, I don’t.

But regardless of that, D1 also introduced me to a guy named Carlos De Vil.

Now i will never be able to comprehend WHY on Earth, puppy-skinning, vampire bat, inhumane beast, Cruella De Vil would EVER do the do with anyone and then still keep the baby after not killing it during pregnancy.

But she did and there he was.

Canonically physically and mentally abused by his mother to such a degree that he wakes up at night screaming.

Something Disney had never really had the guts to do before.

And immediately he charmed the heck out of me because regardless of how awful he had it on the Isle, it didn’t take a genius to see that he was a genuinely a good person at heart.

He was so clearly different and that was shown through maybe a culmination of like five minutes of screen time and Cameron’s incredible acting abilities.

And he deserved so much more in those movies than what was given to him but I won’t complain.

Because we still need to talk about another sweetheart.

Jane gets even less development than Carlos which is to be expected since she isn’t a main character, but you can still figure out and understand her if you read between the lines.

In D1 you not only get the fact that she likes to hide in her own little bubble, but she’s also incredibly insecure. So much so that Mal is quickly able to see it and take advantage of it.

Spending her whole life having to repeat that it’s not the outside that matters, it’s the inside, even though she doesn’t completely believe.

And then someone comes forward and basically validates her in her belief that she isn’t pretty, but she could be if she stopped focusing on the inside.

That’s what leads to her downward spiral throughout the movie as she lets her newfound “beauty” (seriously bobbed hair is cute and Disney needs to calm down) go to her head and she turns on Mal and the rest of the VKs.

Now while I find Mal to be completely irrational, her reversing Jane’s spell makes sense.

It’s Jane’s actions that follow.

Her, so desperate to be beautiful (literally she is so gorgeous how?) deciding to steal her mother’s wand isn’t paced very well and doesn’t make a lot of sense in the plot. But they just wanted to avoid Mal being the cause of the barrier being brought down so her redemption would be easier.

A classic Kylo Ren of avoiding direct contact and having it all be indirect so they can easily be forgiven later.

Now by all means after her actions that day, I’m surprised Jane herself isn’t sent to jail.

But I guess in D3 they show that they have an AK bias so whatever.

Now the important thing about this is that Carlos is there for all of Jane’s worst moments.

The moments where she is not at her best emotionally and it’s manifesting in bad ways. He knows that Mal had planned to use her to get to the wand in the first place before dumping her when that wasn’t going anywhere.

He knows that’s she’s afraid of them by the way she reacts to them in her first scene in Goodness Class.

He knows all of that.

And he still drags her onto a dance floor, refusing to let her be alone.

You could argue that Jay was there too, but her immediately ditched to jump on the Audrey train so…

This small moment, Carlos’ selfless act of kindness, plants a seed that most people laughed at or rolled their eyes - but all the same it was there.

And that little seed began to grow until two years later (six months in the actual movies) we get a beautiful Janelos flower.

Now D2 Janelos is some quality stuff and never have I seen so many people hate a ship that hasn’t done anything wrong.

And I think it’s fitting that Carlos’ arc for D2 is all centered around Jane.

In the first movie, he conquered his fear of dogs.

Now in this movie, he conquers his fear of being rejected by her.

Now if you’re an over analyzer by nature and a Carlos stan by choice, you tend to pick up on subtleties that Disney doesn’t have the guts to cover. Most notably, Carlos being touch/affection starved

You can see it in the ways his mother doesn’t show him love outside of threats and total, emotional reliance. In the way the VKs don’t particularly reciprocate his touches unless absolutely necessary. Or unless you’re Jay and you need to pull and alpha male moment and start wrastling.

And you can definitely see it in the way he thrives off of contact with Dude, and later, Jane.

Now somehow you people don’t think it is absolutely incredible that Carlos De Vil, physically and emotionally abused since birth, grew up on the Isle where love and dating were not a common place thing, fell in love.

And with the girl that was afraid of him in the first movie.

And omg I could talk about Carlos “Heart Eyes” De Vil forever and ever. Amen.

But instead I’m gonna talk about the three most major Janelos scenes in the film.

First one is gonna be the truth gummy scene.

First of all, Carlos’ puppy dog eyes when he’s thinking about Jane restore my life to the full one million years I am supposed to live.

People you are not allowed to overlook what Carlos was going to do in this short and beautiful scene.

Because he’s never really lived a life where he can speak his mind and share his feelings, the whole movie he’s struggling to even figure out how he can open up to Jane.

Not change his personality to get her attention.

Not making a love potion that’ll force her to love him.

No, he decides that the only way to approach it is honesty - by that I mean he agrees to sacrifice lying for the rest of his mortal life. And Mal gives him plenty of reasons to back out, most of them being about her but still, and he simply replies, “I’ll take my chances.”

Ugh.

The world did not do anything good enough to earn Carlos De Vil.

But the thing is, the truth gummy is his only hope to help him spit out how he feels about Jane. Because whenever he’s in her presence all he can do is freeze up and stutter. Simply due to the fact that when he’s faced with the chance, Carlos has no clue how to describe what he feels and what he wants.

But he knows that his heart does.

It’s in there somewhere and dang he’s gonna get it out because he cares about her so much and just wants to TELL her how he feels when he looks at her.

Of course then Dude eats it and all those years Carlos’ heart eyes had given me instantly went away again.

And then the whole Janelos plot line takes a bit of a nap until the third act of the movie when Carlos decides that Mal alienating herself from the Core Four ain’t helping her mental health and their friendship.

That’s when he drops the absolute BARS of knowledge, “Then don’t.”

He tells her that she never should change herself just to make someone else happy, you’ll never know if they really love you that way.

And I just wanna take a moment to wonder where Carlos got all these strong good person energies, because being raised on an Isle where love and dating aren’t even concepts should show in all the VKs.

Yet in D2 and D3 we can see that Carlos and Evie both seem to approach love with an impressive maturity that I can’t even fathom how they figured it out.

His advice is a comfort to Mal as well as Jay’s protective big brother move, and then we get to see the way his own advice affects him.

His Lovecraftian horror paraphrases what he said in the earlier conversation, “If she doesn’t love you for who you are than she isn’t the one.”

But this applies differently than in the Ben/Mal situation.

Carlos doesn’t try to change who he is or how he acts (unless you count the sacrificing lying thing but that wasn’t really used to earn her love so) but he gets the general idea.

And so, Carlos offers himself to her.

Just him, and a date and his love because that’s all he has to give her.

And she can either say yes and accept him and he can finally begin to understand what he’s feeling.

Or, she can turn him away - not wanting anything to do with what he has for her.

Which leads to such a beautiful scene, ugh I could write songs about the Janelos confession scene it’s that good.

First you see Carlos running at the speed of sound just to catch her, and he was definitely running around the whole campus because he absolutely needed to do this before he chickened out like every other time in the movie.

And at first it doesn’t seem to click in Jane’s head, because she’s only ever been just Jane.

Not pretty like Audrey or athletic like Lonnie.

Boys didn’t flirt with her or ask her out on dates, certainly not the boys she liked.

So of course, like the other times he had tried, she just wasn’t getting it. Too preoccupied with party planning and not getting her hopes up to let it sink in. And that’s when Carlos does something that he didn’t even need a truth gummy to do.

He gives her a list of all that he can give her, looking into her eyes and waiting for her to take or leave it

And not only does she take it, but she fully adds all the things on the list that she’s always wanted to do with him, giving herself right back to him in the process.

Leaving Carlos absolutely shocked and overwhelmed and happy.

He just figured she’d either say yes or no.

Her giving herself to him wasn’t even a consideration in his mind.

And then she throws him for a loop once again, by throwing her arms around him and holding him tight.

And honestly, Carlos’ reaction says it all.

The first time somebody initiated legitimate affection towards him, and it’s from the girl he loves no less.

He’s at a loss for words and can’t even fathom what he’s feeling, but finally, Carlos is the one hugging back. Clinging onto her for dear life because it’s almost like he can’t believe this is real.

The next time we see them, they’re both looking super fine at cotillion; and let me tell you that seeing touch starved Carlos finally getting to hold hands and cuddle with his girlfriend makes me weak every time. You can see that for now, they’re figuring it out, they’ve both been super far away from the whole love thing so now they’ve just gotta go at a healthy pace for them.

Regardless of that, you can really see how much they not only love but need each other.

And then it was gonna be another two years until we’d get to figure what the writers were gonna do with Janelos, if anything at all.

During that time I had gotten well acquainted with the horrifying wall of Janelos hate you had to walk along before getting occasional content. So obviously, I chose to have nothing to do with the fandom and then Janelos fell off my radar again until I found the nerve to watch the third movie.

And oh my goodness remember just a few lines ago when I said that Jane and Carlos needed each other?

That was the key point of their story in D3.

While I think it’s poorly shown, Carlos’ character arc from a quiet abuse victim with a good heart to an honest to goodness hero (I’m talking the kinds they write songs about) is just amazingly beautiful and deserved so much more screen time than it actually got.

In D3, Carlos finally has something to lose.

Or, more accurately, something he needs to protect.

I really wish they had zeroed in on him worrying about Jane more, because while it was still there it wasn’t very focused on.

Not that I can be mad because their reuniting scene was something that made me immediately sit up in my chair and go, “Oh my fluffing gosh they have a thing.”

Like I’m sorry, what?

You’re telling me that whenever they cling to each other like that Carlos has that same look of just, pure happiness.

“She loves me and I love her, I’m never letting her go.”

Carlos De Vil went from someone who had never known or felt love in his life, to loving a girl so much it made me fall out of my chair.

D3 just wanted to remind us that the VKs have come very far, and now they’re happy and loved and we don’t need to worry about them.

All I can say is that Jane and Carlos are just an amazing couple if you step back and just look at what it means for them to be together.

A touch starved abuse victim and an insecure cheerleader fell in love and surrendered their hearts completely. And you don’t see that anywhere near Disney as a franchise, much less dcoms.

Bottom line, I know I went off for a hot minute but if we’re being honest I still have about a trillion things I could say about “Jarlos.”

But I’m pretty sure I’ve elaborated enough to get my point across.

I just wanna say that Carlos would literally never let his mother come anywhere near the light of his life and that was some total BS.

#descendants #janelos #jane x carlos #jane daughter of fairy godmother #carlos de vil

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madisonrooney · 5 years

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THOUGHTS ON D3

(some of these may be points about stuff we already knew going into it but like now that weve gotten to see it all together its easier to discuss)

- i like what they did with audrey’s plot. her and mal’s relationship did feel pretty unresolved after d1 so im glad they went this route. not to mention being able to bring her back after her being absent in the second. also i like the message that it gave off about being able to be good or bad regardless of where you come from

- i loved hades! he was so fun and i loved how things ended up with him. and DO WHAT YOU GOTTA DO WAS AWESOME probably my fav song. but i cant say im a huge fan of him being mal’s dad. like i loved the way their relationship played out but while the descendants fan in me is happy the disney stickler thinks its a bit too much creative license for them to make a kid the child of two disney characters from two different movies. it also kinda like...almost invalidates her character of “maleficent’s daughter” now shes the daughter of two villains and it?? feels different?? if that makes sense?? could the other VKs possibly have another villain as their other parent?? who knows. also i wish they hadn’t made it so obvious so early like people guessed this A YEAR AND A HALF AGO WHEN THE TEASER CAME OUT. maybe had it just been a few months it wouldnt have been as bad but yeesh. it made the shock factor...well, almost non-existant.

- continuing on their relationship, i thought tackling the idea of an absentee dad was a bold move for a movie like this and i applaud it. not to mention with an upbeat musical number? they really did that

- i loved celia too!! i was afraid she was gonna be more bad news than she was but she was super cute and sweet. loved her friendship with dizzy. and loved getting to see more of dizzy! and even though dr facilier wasnt in it much he was fun. i thought it was sweet that he and celia seemed to have a good relationship. im also glad we got to see lady tremaine! but wheres drizella lol

- also in regards to hades and celia, i liked that they brought in two more movies into the universe that hadnt yet been acknowledged (not counting wicked world or the books). i love both hercules and princess and the frog and while i wouldnt call them underrated theyre not quite as mainstream as some of the other movies in the descendants universe so im happy with that.

- on the other hand, i dont really like it when they get more kids from movies that they already have kids from. in this case, squeaky and squirmy. gil seemed out of place to me when i first watched d2, especially cuz like why would gastons son be a pirate, but since he had some funny lines with ben (in this movie too!) it was worth it. but squeaky and squirmy had no lines with harry? THEY ALMOST DIDNT HAVE ANY LINES AT ALL??? so why couldnt they have had them be kids from a movie they hadnt used yet? the more the merrier imo. idk.

- mal and uma repairing their relationship was like the highlight for me ugh it was so good. i think we all had a feeling that would happen (not just from speculation but from set pics and whatnot) but it felt satisfying regardless. uma saying “im right here mal you got this”? love that

- WE LOVE MORE DRAGON MAL. EVEN MORE THAN IN D2. WE LOVE THAT A LOT.

- WE ALSO LOVE MORE DUDE. OK SO MAYBE THATS JUST ME BUT SCREW IT I LOVE TALKING DOGS SO IM GLAD HE STILL TALKED. DOVE CAMERON AND A TALKING DOG IN THE SAME MOVIE IS BASICALLY PANDERING TO ME OK

- WE ALSO LOVE MALVIE CONTENT!!! love that evie was the only one who knew hades was her dad AND LOVE THAT THEY SAID I LOVE YOU TO EACH OTHER LIKE DAMN. AND DURING MY ONCE UPON A TIME WHEN MAL LIKE CARESSES HER FACE??? LIKE HER INTERACTION WITH HER WAS MORE INTENSE THAN WITH ANYONE ELSE EVEN BEN??? GOOD SHIT

- OK I KNEW ABOUT THE DID I MENTION REPRISE AS OF A FEW DAYS AGO BUT IM A SLUT FOR PARALLELS SO THAT STILL KILLED ME

- any parallels killed me. especially, ofc, ending with “cuz were rotten...to the core” (tho i was hoping the rotten remix thats on the soundtrack would be in the movie)

- loved getting more harry and gil content. gil is so blissfully stupid and precious and i love him and harry is so chaotic and i love him too

- and just...love the sea three bonding with the core four. also it felt well paced. wasnt rushed, had its moments to slowly get us there (mal+uma, jay+gil+harry) it felt like it went just the way it was supposed to.

- the whole series of events felt well paced and well ordered

- tbh i think its hilarious how chad’s douche baggery never dies down. i mean points for consistency i guess

- (did anyone catch the sign on the isle that mentioned monstro? good easter egg)

- (im really going out of order ik)

- one kiss was fun and cute, but i never felt like doug and evie were like...behind in their relationship? if anything i thought as of d2 their relationship was more stable than that of mal and ben

- night falls was a little silly and felt a little too similar to its goin down to me but it served a purpose and it was still fun

- and ofc it was so bittersweet to watch cam. the dedications were heart-wrenching but beautiful.

overall it really could not have been better! great new characters, great development on the characters we love, great soundtrack, and, most importantly, a story that perfectly wraps up the franchise. its hard to get a trilogy right. i love a lot of trilogies but a lot of them have some major flaws. with like say the kung fu panda movies, the 2nd and 3rd feel like theyre about very different things than the first. it doesnt feel like its telling one cohesive story. some have a second that feels unimportant to be between the 1st and 3rd. this just felt like perfectly coming full circle. everything from the beginning of the first movie to the end of the third felt necessary to tell the story. no useless filler, all essential to the plot, adding more as we go and resolving more, but having a hell of a lot of fun the entire time. i remember d2 being one of the most, if not the most, satisfying sequels ive ever seen. maybe part of that has to do with descendants being such a main fandom of mine when it came out, but sometimes, even new additions to my main fandoms can disappoint. these sequels really haven’t. part of that may just have to do with my love for the franchise regardless of the direction it goes in, but i know that it also has to do with just a great job in storytelling. continuing the story and wrapping it up just right. when the first one came out, we didn’t know it would be a trilogy. it works great as a standalone movie, but when you see the third one, you would think it was intended this way from the beginning, which honestly gives it even more power.

it breaks my heart to let this franchise go, but ofc in mal’s words “this is not the end.” with it just coming out, that means its just the beginning of discussions, gifs, memes, fanart, and all that fun stuff. so lets jump right in!

and, as always, every bit of love in my heart goes to cam tonight. we still miss you endlessly and we always will.

#descendants #descendants 3

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wezzaner · 5 years

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TV Couples-Tropes in Descendants

Ever heard of the TV tropes: Alpha Couple, Beta Couple and Omega Couples?

The alpha couple are basically the narratively undeniable couple. They are the centerpiece, the untouchables, they are the story. They are written in the stars. No matter how you try to spin the canon narrative, you have to venture into AU or future-verse territories to not have them together.

The beta couple are the secondary couple. They are, more often than not, friends or confidants to the alpha couple. They act as a foil to the alpha couple, meaning, they basically highlight the alpha couple’s traits by contrast. They also tend to get their brief time in the spotlight then will get shoved aside for the rest of the story.

The omega couples exist more in the movie musicals genre and are convenient couples. A pair the spares situation, if you will. They are getting together last minute for no other reason other than the fact that we have the finale number coming up. Nothing leads up to it, they’re just there.

In Descendants:

Alpha couple: Mal/Ben

Beta couple(s): Evie/Doug and surprisingly, we get a second in Carlos/Jane

Omega couples: Jay/Audrey (D1), Carlos/Jane (D1, before being promoted to beta in D2), Chad/Lonnie (D1), Chad/Audrey (D3)

Notice how I did not include Jay/Lonnie (D2), Jay/Gil (D3) or Uma/Harry at all? Well, I can’t, none of them canonically got together to be betas, and they had their own mini arcs so they can’t be omegas.

I’d assume that Jay and Lonnie dated briefly and separated for some reason: be it an amicable separation simply due to graduation and going their separate ways (Everybody knows that you don’t bring the girl with you after high school. - Chad Danforth, HSM) or anything else. Like Jay coming to terms with his bisexuality, perhaps, and wanting to take his time before doing anything serious.

Uma/Harry, I wholeheartedly believe, are canon. Just future canon.

Jay/Gil are a wildcard. Their bonding is adorable, whether as friends or more. Or current friends with the possibility of something more, I am just glad I am here for it. And I will forever be giddy inside whenever I remember Disney allowed them to partner-up and dance.

Why such a seemingly irrelevant post?

Because there’s a certain mindset you must be familiar with before you jump into the “they deserved more screen time”, the “why didn’t they officially get together?” and the “F you Disney for doing this to us” chants. It is just how it goes, especially in a movie when you have time constrictions, unlike a TV show where multiple ships can sail simultaneously or in different times. So, what you have to do is, learn to appreciate what’s happening in the background. The fleeting looks, the hand-holding, the reassuring glances and the deleted scenes (chemistry between actors automatically translates to chemistry between the characters). A lot of scenes don’t end up making it into the final product and a lot of takes and angles don’t end up making it as well.

This isn’t me being mad at Disney, it’s just me trying to fill in the gaps to make sense of the story. Like a lot of fanfiction writers do to plot holes, right? But then, for me, it turned into this genuine confusion and curiosity to find out why some characters, like Doug, are so hated while he’s pretty much unexpendable to the story. Or why some people are hell-bent on Mal and Evie being a thing even though we have a proposal, two true love’s kisses and a song about sisterly love and friendship to counter that.

Basically, you need to understand that Evie/Doug and Carlos/Jane are foils to Mal/Ben. The only reason Evie/Doug got the spotlight somewhat in D1 is primarily to develop Evie’s character and then, along with Carlos/Jane, served their purpose only in D2 and D3 which was contradict Mal/Ben’s relationship. And anything meaningful that is meant to happen, happens to Mal and Ben.

Let’s see how:

In D1:

1- While Mal spelled Ben, jump starting their relationship faster than most. Evie and Doug started rather organically, getting to know each other. I’d even argue that Evie and Doug were strictly friends throughout the first movie and part of the six months between D1 and D2.

2- Bal unknowingly started Audrey’s downward spiral, Devie’s relationship didn’t step on any toes.

3- Bal’s started because Mal had a motive (stealing the wand) behind spelling him, unlike what he assumed. Devie was selfless on both parties, he defended her (selfless act) and she became intrigued by the person wasting their breath on a VK.

4- Jock versus nerd. Glaringly obvious.

5- Tomboy with a sharp tongue versus a feminine princess, arguably with social-cue issues.

6- Mal’s turned good for Ben. That’s it, she liked him and wanted to explore the relationship further. Evie’s motive was her exploring herself and all she could be. She found herself with Doug’s help, I’ll give you that, but she grew all on her own. He can’t take credit for that. I can also use Carlos and Jay as foils for Mal, Carlos turned good because he saw the life he could have away from his mother’s abuse and Jay found the error in his father’s teachings.

7- Both Mal and Evie are magical, but only Mal gets to exploit said magic while Evie’s is all but erased from the movies.

In D2:

The difference was more on how they handled problems. Also, Ben being Mal’s motive to be good meant that at the first sign of trouble in paradise, she had an identity crisis and fled.

1- Evie was straight forward with Ben, helping him get to the isle to confront Mal and bring her back. Jay and Carlos lied to Doug, their lies and his insecurities created a problem that wasn’t even there.

2- Ben’s and Doug’s approach to solving their problems was the same: desperate confrontation. Their attitudes and reasons were drastically different. Ben felt guilty for pressuring Mal and belittling the effort she was putting in being his girlfriend. Doug was frantic, fear and insecurity fueling his accusation.

3- Mal initially refused to compromise, basically kicking Ben out. Evie recognized the motive behind Doug’s accusation and shot them down immediately. You know, like the queen she is.

4- Again, Bal saying their “I love you”s while Devie take things slow, enjoying their time. Of course, also Carlos spending six whole months getting to know Jane before he even asked her out.

In D3:

Now D3 was exclusively action-based with very little relationship developments happening. This movie, which is even more Mal-centered and benches Ben altogether, turned almost every character into foils for Mal.

1- Mal and Ben being together long enough (two months shy of a year) to warrant a proposal. Evie and Doug struggle to say their “I love you”s. And Carlos freaks out over Jane’s first birthday since they got together.

2- Uma, Evie and Ben wanting to free the VKs while Mal wants to close the barrier for good based on a threat made for show by her own father. Then she opens the barrier for good to have a relationship with her own father. Nothing selfish about the motives of Uma, Evie and Ben and nothing is selfless about Mal’s motive.

3- Mal being in a happy stage of her relationship while everybody else seems to be struggling. Evie and Doug with their L-word issues, Carlos with Jane’s birthday, Chad still trying to be with Audrey, Uma’s reluctance sending Harry into a chaotic-flirting frenzy, Jay’s supposed recent break-up with Lonnie.

I’m not entirely sure what I had in mind when I started writing this, I guess I was trying to make sense of what we got in the final cut of each movie. It feels like the same frustrations I had watching the High School Musical movies so long ago and being curious as hell about pretty much everyone but Troy and Gabriella. And I am certain I skipped major plot points that would have emphasized everything I’m trying to say, feel free to add to this.

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kseniainneverland · 5 years

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DESCENDANTS 3 - REVIEW

WARNING! SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT, DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE MOVIE!! from this point onwards, reading is on your responsibility. you have been warned.

Alright, Descendants 3, where to begin with this...

First off, thinking that this is Cameron Boyce’s last movie ever, it makes me feel very sentimental and sad and I hope that the movie would’ve done him justice more. But I’m afraid that while it was a cute and aesthetically pleasing movie, that is about it.

After watching it a couple of times now, I have one word for D3: clusterfuck. I’m not going to lie. D1 was great, D2 was good but D3 wasn’t really the ending this saga deserved. NOW KEEP IN MIND that I haven’t read the books and I personally think that the movie still should take time to explain things. Plus the books came after the first movie anyway so...

In a nutshell, the plot is inconsistent, the movie is rushed and lot of the character development (save from Mal’s and Audrey’s) is pretty much murdered and just ditched away.

Beginning with a song like (Good to Be Bad) like every Descendant movie, it gives the movie the energy that it lacks towards the end. The VK’s choose Smee’s sons, Celia and Dizzy to come to the Isle and return to Auradon, only to get them after giving them time to pack their things.

Next thing we see, Ben and Mal are getting ready to embark to the Isle with the VK’s. They stop in front of the Beast statue though and Ben sings (short acoustic verse “Did I Mention”) to Mal, then proposing to her. Audrey is not pleased but hey she’s back and damn she’s rocking that hair!

Now this is where things go a bit off the rails. I understand Audrey still holding resentment to Mal even though at the end of D1 she seemed to be amicable with her so - what’s the dealio Audrey? Of course we can assume that her resentment grew back during D2 - the movie she wasn’t in. Her grandmother is there and basically gives Audrey shit cause she lost Ben to Mal (like wth is it with this hatred from grandma, chill out lady...).

Mal, Ben and VK’s go to the Isle and while they’re leaving back Hades tries to break out and use his ember but Mal fights him (as a dragon) and gets him back inside. In Auradon, Audrey sits in her room and embraces her darkness (”Queen of Mean”, one of the best songs in my opinion, holy shit), stealing the Queen’s crown and Maleficent’s staff turning to Dark!Audrey and suddenly possessing magic and knowing how to use it without any training? Okaaay, shady much? I mean it could be the staff also controlling her so I’ll give the benefit of a doubt here.

Alright so Hades tried to get out, Mal makes the hard decision to shut down the barrier forever with Ben after reasoning with him and feeling guilt for possibly endangering Auradon. Cut to Evie’s little cottage-manor, Audrey pays Mal a visit, cursing her to turn into a hag. That kind of didn’t really serve a purpose in anywhere else than maybe Audrey’s mind if she thought that Ben wouldn’t love her? Idk man. Anyway, Mal can’t reverse the spell because “there’s nothing that can reverse the staff’s spell”. Oh but waaait....

The VK’s decide to get Hades’ ember, going to the Isle and suddenly Mal turns back again because dark magic doesn’t work in the Isle. So... Mal/VK’s just forgot that? I doubt it because they did live there for such a long time. Oh well, moving on. Celia is with them cause she runs errands to Hades. Meanwhile in Auradon, Jane’s having her birthday party and Audrey crashed it, cursing everyone asleep. Except Jane cause she jumps into the Magic Lake - again something that can reverse the staff’s spell that is supposedly non-reversable? Did anyone actually fact-check the script, I wonder... And well - she takes Chad with her. Oh the loyal, dumb puppy.

Alright back to the Isle, Celia gets the key and we meet Dr. Facilier shortly, he’s actually a nice man (oh and btw so was Dizzy’s grandmother aka. Cinderella’s stepmother before too...) which I have kind of hard time imagining BUT nonetheless I kinda like it? They get out and find Harry + Gil and couple other pirates stealing their bikes (same kind Mal took to the Isle in D2) and run after them. Celia and Mal go to Hades’ lair.

They find Hades napping, but then he wakes up, Celia trying to distract him so Mal can get the ember. But whoops, he grabs Mal’s hand. And then we learn something shocking! (not really) “Hi Dad.” Oh well look at that, Hades is Mal’s dad. Even though I recall that in the first movie it was said to be a human male? But then again, makes sense why Mal has such great magical powers. They argue and get a nice rock’n’roll duet together (”Do What You Gotta Do” and boy I’m fawning over Cheyenne Jackson’s voice!). Celia kinda does background “ooh”s which is... so weird really. Like why?

I’m not gonna lie, I kinda enjoyed the bickering chemistry between Hades and Mal as father and daughter. He clearly cares about her but tells her that her mother was not an easy person to be with and he never stayed in contact with Mal. Now this is about everything that we learn about their relationship. Mal has a certain resenment at him but Celia reveals that Hades being her father explains him asking about her. Mal tells her that Evie is the only one that knows.

Meanwhile in Auradon, Audrey visits Ben making him an offer to make her his queen again but he thinks she’s under a spell and Audrey realises he doesn’t care about her. She uses magic to turn Ben into a Beast and also turns Fairy Godmother running towards the Museum to get her wand into a statue (not shown how she made that happen really... but later on we see that she can apparently see ppl in the staff u know, like a CCTV kinda thing).

VK’s get back to the portal and when they cross over, Harry and Gil do too. They try to stop them and in the midst of it the ember drops to the water (spoiler: if it gets wet, it stops working). Uma catches it and then turns back into human. They strike a deal when Mal makes a promise to let any of the VK’s that want to get out of the Isle, get out.

So Uma, Harry and Gil are now going to Auradon with the VK’s to help them. Kinda reluctantly. Gil gets all pumped up for fresh food and all which is kinda cute x’D And Harry ofc is trying to steal money from a sleeping student but Jay stops him. Dude is awake though and tells the VK’s what happened. They go to look for Ben and go to his castle, eventually finding the walls clawed and end up in a fight between some armors that Audrey controls (”Night Falls”).

Eventually they beat Audrey together and almost celebrate. But not quite cause they are enemies. Evie is trying to play the middleman, suggesting an icebreaker game which doesn’t really take off. But props to her for trying. Also I should say that she suggested trying to be friends when they met Uma, Harry and Gil at the entrance to the Isle.

After the fight they split up - the boys go into the woods trying to find Ben while the girls go search Audrey’s room and Uma finds her diary where she mentions the fairie’s cottage. Then the girls go back to Evie’s where they found Smee’s twins and Dizzy sleeping as well as Doug. Evie tries too wake him up but can’t (duh, he’s under a spell). Uma’s all like “he’s under a spell. is she not a fast learner?” and Mal tells her that Evie’s emotionally involved. Which brings us to the ah so sweet - true love’s kiss (”One Kiss”). But Evie is unsure cause they haven’t used the L-word yet. When did Evie become so insecure though? She has been super confident throughout the series even though imho her storyline with Doug has NOT gotten the moment in spotlight it deserves. But wait, she kisses him after the song and he wakes up! Aww so it is true love. Bitches I wanted to see more of them before this bc they’ve been in the background (also can I mention that Doug has turned into like a young Nicholas Cage clone with his long hair and all and dam he’s cute!).

The boys find Ben, now in beast form and trying to kind attack them (and failing adorably) when Carlos calms him down and takes a splinter from his paw (i mean... he has paws now?). Kinda reminds me of Tinkerbell and the Neverbeast when Fawn took a splinter from the Neverbeast’s paw :’D Anyway, back to the story. Then Jane arrives with sort of a hose, getting Ben all wet with the water from the Enchanted Lake and he turns back too human - except he has a little beard/stubble and kind of fangs? Also Carlos and Jane meet again and are all cute together. Harry tries to make a move on Jane but Carlos literally blocks him, lol.

Back to Evie’s. Mal and Uma are talking when suddenly boards start covering the house. Audrey’s magic has gotten stronger cause Mal can’t reverse it alone but when Uma joins in with her shell, they manage to beat it, making Audrey angry.

They build up a plan and Gil, Doug and Jane go look for the Fairy Godmother while the other’s go to the Fairie’s cottage, finding Chad locked in a closet. They walk out and then comes the moment of truth. Evie tells Ben that Uma + the pirates joined them cause Mal promised that the kids from Isle can come to Auradon. She reveals that she lied to everyone, making her friends mad. Celia takes the Ember, throwing it into a pool of water. Uma and Harry leave. Evie faces Mal, who obviously feels awful and her friends are mad at her. Then poof, they’re turned into stone. Mal sings what is - I assume - the song to build up her confidence/self-searching (”My Once Upon a Time”) and confronts Uma asking for her help to beat Audrey. But Uma turns her down even after she tells her that she saw the good in Uma - that she really cares.

Next we have Celia calling for help cause Audrey has her on top of one of the towers. Mal turns into a dragon, trying to battle Audrey but can’t do it on her own. Uma and Harry happen to come back and Uma’s suddenly like “she can’t do it on her own, i’m here girl, i’m here” forgetting that Mal totally lied to them and kinda screwed them over and helping her igniting the ember again. With the help from the ember, she beats Audrey. Everyone is awakened, except Audrey who’s fading away after being hit back with the magic. Mal can’t wake her up even with the crystal and tells Ben, Beast, Belle and everyone else in the room that Hades could. While they doubt it, Mal tells them that he’d do it - for her, he is her father after all. Ben is a bit shocked but sends guards to get him from the Isle.

He’s brought to the Castle in shackles and he works his magic, waking Audrey up. She apologises to Mal and then Mal apologises to her as well as Ben and then Audrey’s grandma apologises to Mal. It’s an apologyfest, and all is fine again. Yay? Hades is escorted back to the Isle and has a nice little moment with Mal, giving her the ember. Celia, Uma, Harry and Gil also go back to the Isle. Mal and Ben attend their engagement party and she surprisingly declares that she can’t be the Queen of Auradon - she can’t turn her back to the Isle. So in conclusion of a long speech, they open the barrier (even though the Beast is against it but Ben shushes him :D) and Mal becomes the Queen of Auradon and the Isle. (”Break This Down”) The people from the Isle (with Uma’s leading) notice this too and meet some of Auradon’s people halfway and have this big closing number with lost of dance and singing.

And then people rejoice. Gil and Jay seem to have sparked a friendship. Harry brings comedy to the scene being like “so she’s deeeefinitely taken?” bout Mal, then trying to make a move on Evie and finally Uma who’s not having it. And then Harry ends up dancing with Audrey. Okay, seems legit. Then there’s Hades, being happy for Ben and Mal (and also giving Ben the “i’m watching you eyes”). They dance into the palace yard (or somewhere) and the scene cuts to the core four, staring at the passageway to the Isle, apparently to go meet their parents (cause they didn’t come to Auradon?) and the end credits roll.

ALRIGHT.

Plotwise yes, it’s a clusterfuck. The whole movie is very rushed, it’s like they tried to include too much things. Like said, at the end of D1, it seemed that Audrey and Mal were somewhat civil, then Audrey was spending some time in the fairies cottage/seven acres woods/something like that in D2 and we didn’t see her at all. Suddenly she’s all hateful and resentful again and her grandmother is being a total jerk to her. Whole turning into evil happened almost right after the movie opened so there was no proper lead to it really. Nothing to explain WHY Audrey went back to resenting Mal and Ben and Auradon.

Then Mal’s father. Alright, pretty much everyone knew by now that Hades was gonna be Mal’s father even though I recall that in the first movie or somewhere else it was said that it was a human male. What happened in their past could’ve and more so SHOULD’VE been dug into a little more cause Mal is resentful at him for not being around - but why wasn’t he around? Why didn’t he call her? After all, he had been asking about her from Celia so obviously he does care for her.

The other VK’s were even more pushed to the side than before. I do get that Mal is kind of the lead here, but they did kind of sideline their character development. The other VK’s were in such minor roles I could easily say that they might as well be taken out altogether. Evie tried to be a peacemaker, she gets a few lines in couple of songs and one song to herself. Her character has also been very confident and craving for love, kind of seducing Doug in the first movie and making him accidentally jealous in D2 and suddenly she’s insecure? Yeah, love can be scary sometimes but of all the characters I just don’t see it characteristic to Evie to suddenly become uncertain of herself in the terms of love. Jay’s more like acting as a guide to good to Gil and Harry for the time being and Carlos is just being his adorable self. Still can’t believe there was no Jarlos kiss! (also he got Jane a pendant saying “Jarlos” as her birthday gift, how adorbs!)

The main problem is that there isn’t really a proper climax in the movie. It starts off god and then falls flat on it’s ass. May I also point out that not ONCE in these movies have Mal and Ben had a duet together - yes they’ve shared songs but also with other people in them - and they are the “true love” couple after all which is a bit disappointing. I mean Ben has been kind of put into thee background in the movies too - and in this last one even more so, whenever the core four have been side to side. But even in the last movie - since they’re engaged after all - I was surprised that when they opened the barrier, Jay was next to Mal (as well as Evie), squishing her hand and her leaning into him. In the end Ben is the king and Mal’s fiancee so in my opinion, he should’ve been next to Mal, not behind her (as much as I do love Mal). And I mean I was also waiting that the other VK’s would’ve met their parents too. But no. Disappointment.

In a nutshell D3 is a movie about Audrey being a resentful brat and turning dark, introducing Mal’s dad pretty shallowly adding pretty much nothing into her story arc or character development. Except her forgiving her father pretty fast. Too much is trying to be fitted into 1hr45mins. Mal and Hades could’ve had their own movie working it out. Audrey could’ve had a thorough build up to what led her to the dark path.

Aesthetically it’s very pleasing and I enjoyed the music and I do love the cast. The end was kind of bittersweet and the whole movie was a bit unreal once you know that Cameron is no longer with us (rest in peace). So this is and end of and era. Despite this honest and well - unfiltered - review I thank the cast and crew of Descedants from the bottom of my heart that they have brought these movies to us.

Long live the VK’s!

#descendants 3 #dove cameron #descendants #disney #mal #hades #spoilers

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devillainsarchive · 5 years

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headcanon/meta;

Part 1 on Why Cruella is the worst the parent, now with more proof from canon material:

this gets long so its under the cut

Movie Proof

First Cruella states that Carlos can’t go to Auradon because she wont have anyone to do some of her hygiene routine such as her hair and scraping bunions. Second, Cruella uses Carlos’ fear of dogs that she instilled in him, against him because “there are dogs in auradon, carlos.”

Third, these visuals from the movie itself and promotional material:

Fourth, Carlos’ bag is a trash bag, implying he has little to know possessions, and why would that be when Cruella is one of the most extravagant villains hmmm. Fifth, “I will never forget mother’s day again” regardless of what I have written on the subject, the fact that Carlos’ reaction to seeing his mom is a specific event, should tell you something. Jay sees what his dad really is, Evie sees her mom and honestly to me it sounds like she kind of misses her mom, and Mal gets her show tune. But Carlos’ is very clearly a traumatic event.

Sixth, in Auradon at the parents day message, Cruella only cares about the fact that Carlos has a dog, clearly for her own uses. Seventh, at this same parents day meeting Carlos looks uneasy after standing up to his mother. Eigth, “Our parents will be really really angry” said before Ben promises their parents wont reach them here, and before Carlos turns good. He agrees to be good, to stay away from his mother.

First, “hear her voice in my head.” I have seen so many posts claiming that because this is Mal’s dream sequence that this line indicates that she still feels her mom’s pressure or whatever. However I don’t agree with that, because in my opinion this is something that he has spoken with Mal about. Each of the the others all have lines indicating things that they have to over come in order to stick it to their parents. This is also telling of suffering that we don’t see on screen.

Second, the second they are on the isle, we see a completely different Carlos from Auradon Carlos. His guards are up in a way that Jay’s and Evie’s aren’t. He mentions that they don’t want their parents to find out that they are there, he really means his mom. Not to mention there is a reason he does not want Dude on the Isle.

Third his little rivalry from Harry (and this actually stems from Uma’s Wicked Book), stems from the fact that Harry tried to steal Cruella’s car, and then locked him in a stockade for two days til Hook got Cruella to release him. If Cruella had her henchman do that to someone who isn’t her son, what would she do to her own son? Much worse. But yeah, that feud caused by Cruella, and Carlos knows it.

Book Proof

Aside from Uma’s Wicked Book mentioned above, lets start with the Spell Books since those act as companions to the movie. I will also later add to this post with the novelization of the movies to further show my proof. I also wont be going into much of the 3rd novel because their isn’t much about the parents in there.

Mal’s Spellbook

First off I’d like to remind everyone that the blanket that Jay and Carlos are fighting over is blue (not that I think its the one Evie gave Carlos but still), Carlos says “It was the one thing I wanted. Can’t I have a little security here?” Not only is this an awful pun, but it implies Carlos had none of that on the Isle thanks to his mom. .Later on page 81 he states, “I just want to go back to the Isle of the Lost, where no one expects much of me.”

On Page 108, he sees the hair spell, and thinks he should use it for his mom, so clearly still in that mindset of what his mother would want.

When asked about the saddest thing that ever happened to them on page 123, Carlos states, “A lot of of sad stuff happened to me, I don’t get upset about it, though, or cry about it. I guess I just try to forget. (And writing about it here isn’t going to help.)” So not only does Carlos have alot of sad stuff that happened to him on the Isle, he refuses to talk about it or get help, this could be just bullies, but considering what the others are writing about, their parents (save for Evie and her doll), its safe to say its not bullies with Carlos.

On page 141, and 143 Carlos claims he’s nothing like his mom after mentioning Ben states that they are not their parents. He also talks about how scared he is when Cruella sees Dude. Then on page 144, he states that they have to take over Auradon because he can’t say goodbye to Dude because he wont take the dog tot he Isle (which Disney Carlos is more than the fucking dog). Carlos also on page 148 is worried that Dude wont be safe once they get the wand, but I have a feeling he is projecting a bit here.

After Parents Day Carlos begins to think that they are as bad as their parents and they are as bad as the Auradon students and people say they are. Carlos also mentions that before Ben they had never met a “truly good person”.

On Page 166, the first thing on Carlos’ list of reasons to celebrate staying in Auradon, is being away from their parents.

Mal’s Spellbook II

The book starts out and one of the first things Carlos talks about is bananas, now its no surprise that food is bad on the isle, but Carlos’ fascination with it shows a bit more than it just being bad.

He feels bad and angry at himself for not confronting Chad even if that is the right thing to do. He can’t seem to speak, which I believe is fully related to Cruella. He had little to no ability to speak with her when she made him do something he did not want to. The same goes for anyone with significant power over him, like Chad.

So while its listed under funny things dude has said, I find it very telling that Carlos included it considering the other things on the list, I mean they are all about dog things, but this one just seems a bit odd to me. “Would you want me to walk you on a leash?”

School of Secrets - Carlos’ Treasure Hunt

I am not going to talk alot about this book mainly because I do not own it, and have not read the entire thing.

HOWEVER, Cruella has many items relating to dogs, and getting people to bend to her will without question. One of these items is in fact a dog collar, and she more or less implies that Carlos needs to use it. She also more or less implies that she would never need to use it on him.

The Isle of the Lost

First I am not going to go through every single page of the book, but I am going to talk about the bigger scenes in the book.

Carlos admits that sending his mom into hysterics isn’t hard, and he will hum Roger’s song for her to help her do it, At a cost to him of course. So on page 41 we have this conversation between Evie and Carlos. Evie is finally let out of her banishment, and admits she doesn’t remember much about her party, and that she doesn’t know Carlos is her neighbor. Carlos says he lives down the street in Hell Hall, and Evie is a bit confused and states, “But I thought no one lived but that crazy old lady and her---” Carlos cuts her off, and doesn’t want her to say the next word but Evie does anyways. Evie thought Carlos was a dog. Evie then goes on to say “BUt she’s always calling someone her pet, I thought you were a d---” She then goes onto ask “But how do you fit in the crate at night.”

When presented with an image of his mom in all her glory he shudders and ignores class. When Mal announces that their will be a party at Carlos; house, he states that she knows that his mom doesn’t like having people over. Carlos lives in isolation, because of his mother.

This quote from page 64, “Cruella was always telling him how boring hew as because all he liked to do was fiddle with electronics all day. His mother declared he was wasting his time, that he was usless at everying except chores... Still, he wished that one day Cruella would see him as more than just a live-in servant who happened to be related to her.” This is a pure example of a type of abuse.

Carlos’ room on the Isle consists of a corner of his mother’s coat closet, which is covered in bear traps. He has what the book calls a “mattress” though its hardly that, no pillow, and no blanket. Again key signs of neglect. Along with this he states no one has ever cared if he was warm or not, when referencing a blanket, and the fact that he is not allowed to touch Cruella’s furs (something tells me he has tried before). He also gets embarrassed when he says he never had a pillow before. The only place he can keep things is in his tree house so his mom does not get to them.

On page 130 Carlos insinuates his mother will skin him for the party, “If his mother had any idea that he’d let a bunch of people come over... and even worse let them near her fur closet.... let alone be tackled in a pile of full-length grade-a-pelt coats--- well lets just say it wouldn’t be a puppy she would be trying to skin.” Not to mention just before this, people apparently tell Carlos that Cruella has mellowed out with age, but his response is they don’t have to live with her, meaning she is just as bad if not worse.

Carlos like school, it is not a surprise he’s a nerd, but one thing he likes is structure. This is key because structure is not something he gets at home. On page 194 while Carlos got everyone to help him clean his house in order for him to go with them to retrieve Maleficent’s scepter Mal admits, “Her mother might ignore her, and resent her, and scold her; but at least she wasn’t Maleficent’s virtual slave” referencing Carlos. This isn’t the big quote from Mal about Carlos but this is a pretty big doozy if Mal admits that Carlos has it bad, if not the worst out of all of them, and all the kids on the Isle really.

Later on the same page, Cruella comes home. Carlos shakes because Cruella is home early, the house isn’t clean, and their are people inside. Mal even admits that no one is as scary as her mother so she doesn’t understand why Carlos is so jumpy. When Cruella calls out, “Carlos, Carlos, My baby!” Mal thinks that it isn’t too bad, because she is under the impression Cruella is talking about Carlos. Cruella then says her Baby needs a wash, which Evie is like “she knows your dirty from here.” Carlos then announces that Cruella is referring to her car, not him. The scene continues and Cruella asks about her one true love, Jay, Mal, and Evie all turn to Carlos, and Carlos is like hello what now? And Cruella elaborates she meant her furs. Carlos is embarrassed he forgot, something Mal can even tell. The scene goes on, and Cruella essentially makes them all clean her car by the end of it.

“...Carlos with his screeching harpy of a parent...” Now this quote is used all the time. I want to be clear that what we see from Carlos’ life it is more than just yelling. However even if it it was, that is still abuse.

Carlos’ trial in the book is about his mother. The creatures ask what his mother’s one true love is, and Carlos cannot bear to say it out loud. She never means him though, because it is her furs and not him. Admitting out loud, and then saying that the other three already knew that is not easy for him. Upon leaving the castle, where they have to cross the bridge again, Carlos admits he doesn’t know if he can do it again.

Upon his return home, Cruella finds her coat closet, Carlos forgets to clean it. She starts screaming at him, and he says it will never happens gain. But he also indicates that he not only sees the gargoyles laughing at him, she ends with saying Carlos is a disappointment.

Also at some point in the book Mal states that while her mom is bad, she is not as bad as Cruella.

Return to the Isle of the Lost

On page 48 Carlos on the prospect of getting a message from his mother, and potentially having to return to the isle twists in fear at that his mother is right behind him (Even though she isn’t). Even though he says he just feels like she is near. On page 49 he then says, “While Maleficent might be able to turn into a dragon, Cruella was a dragon.” Mal throws his thoughts and words about her off as paranoia. But friends I think at this point we all know Carlos’ fear is valid from years of abuse and neglect.

When the four return to the Isle, and they are looking for their parents, they come to Hell Hall. Carlos whispers for his mom where Evie just goes right and yells causing Carlos to freak out.

On page 271 Carlos admits that his house was a house of horrors thanks to Cruella.

In collecting his talisman Carlos is the only one who actually faces his parent. Cruella wants him to leave, and Carlos almost does because she told him to. In fact the book states “everything in his brain told him to run from his mother...” He has to physically fight his mother. In fact when he gets the ring of envy, his mother says he can do what he wants with it. And he very nearly does destroy her. On page 278 the book implies that destroying Cruella would rid of him of his nightmares, “destroy his mother, rid the world of another villain, and stop having nightmares once and for all.” Cruella goads him, but he doesn’t do it when he puts the ring on because he thinks that “he is better than oyu, mother. no matter what you’ve always told me.” We know that this is all a vision, and not actually his mother, but a vision is a vision. He sees his mom (only confirming the line in D2) in his head all the time.

Conclusion

Cruella was abusive to Carlos both verbally, and physically. She neglected him worse than any of the isle kids could imagine, and submitted him to torture, such as making him submit to being a dog.

So that’s all I got for book proof at the moment, stay tuned for a part 2.

#meta: found it in a book

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