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lurkingshan · 28 days

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Every time I see a Wedding Impossible GIFs on my dash I keep thinking that when it's over I'd love to read your take on what went wrong with this show. In a form of a very spiteful rant preferably.

(the show probably doesn't deserve too much of your time but I am just very VERY curious and had to share)

WELL! I was considering just letting this show go quietly into the night, but I will take this excuse to do a good rant instead.

*cracks knuckles*

You asked what went wrong with this show, but truly, nothing went right with it. From top to bottom, it's an utter waste of a good premise and a total destruction of the rare opportunity to get some positive queer rep into a het kdrama for a broader audience than will ever be reached by a ql. Let me list the most glaring problems:

They made Do Han a supporting character in his own narrative. Do Han, his sexuality, his desire and need to hide who he is to protect himself, and his desperate plan to avoid a life he doesn't want is the core of the story. Despite that, the story treats him like a minor supporting character with limited screen time and virtually no interiority or character development that made any sense.

The relationships were poorly written and the bonds were not believable. Ah Jeong was meant to be Do Han's ride or die bestie, but nothing in their scenes together or her behavior towards him suggested this was actually true. They seemed more like acquaintances who were friendly enough but had no real loyalty to each other, or even like she was a random actress he hired to play his wife. And Ji Han and Do Han had no brotherly bond or affection to speak of; their relationship consisted entirely of Ji Han throwing tantrums and demanding things for no reason other than he wants them, and Do Han trying to avoid being forced into them.

The leads were terrible people and the show did not realize that. Do Han's brother and best friend entered into a romance while she was engaged to Do Han. Ji Han thought it was a real relationship and did not seem to feel any guilt about pursuing his brother's lover. Ah Jeong was under a contract she agreed to as both his best friend and as a job to protect him and did not seem to care that she was breaking her commitment and threatening his safety. They gallivanted around flaunting their relationship in public with no regard for Do Han or his reputation whatsoever. And the show tried to convince me that Do Han was the selfish one in this scenario for the great sin of being gay and not just fucking off and getting out of the way of their relationship. Ji Han and Ah Jeong were never held accountable for what they did to him; instead we got to watch many scenes of Do Han being shamed and berated. Anyone who contributed to the writing and depiction of this can get fucked.

Every element of the story was poorly written and the resolutions were either unearned or so badly set up that they fell flat anyway. Do Han was being harassed and stalked and the story only barely cared about this. The family drama was boring and the grandpa character was a mess of contradictions who changed on a dime depending on the demands of the plot. There was no chemistry to speak of between the leads. The romance was utterly unbelievable and developed so poorly that it was impossible to care about whether these two assholes got together. The show used romcom tropes randomly to fill time even if they didn't fit. The final episode was stuffed with cameos by actors with personal connections to the cast and crew in the hopes it would distract us from what an unsatisfying conclusion it was, and the whole thing ended on a bizarre wedding gag that didn't work at all. The only good part was Do Han coming out on his own terms and leaving to go live his own life in New York, but the way they framed that was so gross I couldn't even enjoy it.

Most importantly, the messages of this show were deeply, unforgivably homophobic. This story went out of its way to tell us over and over again that Do Han is a selfish coward for being closeted, that his sexuality is a burden for his loved ones, that his family and friends are the real victims for having to deal with him, and that he was the one in the wrong for trying to protect himself. At no point was he allowed to get truly angry at the way his family and friends were treating him; he remained benevolent and shouldered the guilt and blame for everything, despite doing absolutely nothing except try to live an authentic life. At every turn the show depicted his siblings and grandfather and friend being hateful and/or careless with him, but then told us it was Do Han's fault for being who he is. They wanted us to blame the gay character and sympathize with a brother who resented him for not being the straight business leader he wanted him to be, and a friend who betrayed him without a second thought. The show argued passionately that the lies Do Han told to protect himself were the real problem, not the homophobia and hatred and rejection he faced every day of his life. It was an abysmal and offensive message and exactly the opposite of what a responsible piece of media would be trying to communicate.

I don't know if the people who made this show are actively malicious or just deeply incompetent, but they had no business telling a story involving a queer character if they were going to do it like this.

#if it's not already super clear #i do NOT recommend watching this #wedding impossible #kdrama #shan answers

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itsmoonpeaches · 2 months

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Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender: A show with its heart in the right place but questionable execution

[An objective spoiler review from a fan of the original Avatar: The Last Airbender animated series who watched the live-action adaptation pretending to not know a thing about the original show.]

Episode scores

Episode 1: 7/10

Episode 2: 7.5/10

Episode 3: 6/10

Episode 4: 1.5/10

Episode 5: 7/10

Episode 6: 8/10

Episode 7: 5/10

Episode 8: 2.5/10

Overview

Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender is a show with some heart. When there are highs, they are very high, but when there are lows they take away from the rest of the story. The visuals are overall stunning with an attention to detail. The set design in particular is done with love including incredible pieces, CGI design, and beautiful cultural references. The fighting is creative and fun to watch, though waterbending fights seem too slow. Surprisingly, the CGI animals work very well. A highlight is Momo who works in the same way Grogu from The Mandalorian works. However, the close-ups of calligraphy pieces should have warranted more research.

The costuming is detailed, but there are some instances when it would have been better to interpret certain characters more realistically rather than try to copy the original animated design.

The cast is not bad, especially considering the focus on younger, less experienced actors. Of the younger cast, Ian Ousley (Sokka), Dallas Liu (Zuko), and Maria Zhang (Suki) are the standouts. Gordon Cormier (Aang) also has good scenes but is not always consistent. The kid is cute and embodies Aang well. The most disappointing was Kiawentiio Tarbell (Katara) who I so desperately wanted to be good, but was either not given the direction needed, or was told to keep the same flat face.

The writing in the show could have been a lot stronger, and many actors suffered from poor writing choices including clunky lines. They acted their hearts out with these but suffered for them at the same time. The show overall felt like a first draft of something that could have been great but fell flat because of either outside sources or a lack of trust in the audience.

For my short and sweet tweets on each episode click here. For a long, detailed review on each episode and my final thoughts keep reading.

Episode 1: Aang - 7/10

This episode started out incredibly strong. Immediately, I was immersed in the world and intrigue. We had an earthbender running through the streets of the Fire Nation Capital City with an intercepted missive that Fire Lord Sozin would attack the Earth Kingdom. The action was very cool to watch and the earthbending stood out. When Sozin captured him and warned that this information was just a diversion and that he had his sights set higher, the tone was exciting and interesting.

Seeing the Air Nomads and what their life was like, then being introduced to the main character, Aang, was fun. I enjoyed seeing the interactions between Monk Gyatso and Aang. They felt like they had an incredible bond.

The violence starts soon after when Aang runs away during the Comet Festival and Sozin's plans are revealed when he uses its power to attack the temples and boy is it brutal to watch. This scene was tough, but in a way that made the audience really hope that the Fire Nation loses because what they did was so incredibly cruel that it can't be put into words.

Where this episode begins to fall off is when we hit the Water Tribe. The writing here becomes a bit clunky and stilted. Gran Gran in particular was a choice. By a choice, I mean that out of all the actors she was unfortunately the worst. Every line that came out of her mouth was grating and poorly delivered, which was sad because her scenes weren't written particularly badly.

Sokka is a stand-out as well as Zuko, though they gave Iroh a scene and lines with Aang that felt so out of place. It felt like a disservice to Paul Sun-Hyung Lee (Iroh) who is an incredible actor to give him these awkward sentences to act around. Katara acts like (maybe?) she cares. It's hard to tell when she has no emotion and keeps telling me things that she supposedly cares about and I'm not seeing it.

Episode 2: Warriors - 7.5/10

It is here where things begin to pick up. I had a good time with this episode because to me it was so much fun, and it wasn't necessarily because of the main story going around. It was because the chemistry between Sokka and Suki was so unexpectedly good that I could not peel my eyes off the screen.

No seriously, it was fun. In just one episode, they made me believe that this was the couple for the show. Suki is portrayed as a silent, yet awkward warrior whom the village admires. She's blindsided by Sokka who is definitely not as good a warrior as she is, but is interesting for her to watch.

What's so refreshing about this take is that it's Suki who makes the first move and Sokka awkwardly flirts back with clearly no experience in talking to girls he's interested in. Suki starts peacocking for him! That's hilarious and endearing. We never see that in most media. It's usually the guy who does it, so him being the bumbling fool while Suki also flirts with absolutely no understanding of how to do it was a joy to watch.

Katara exists I guess? Aang's story with Kyoshi honestly was good enough for me to give it a pass, but they also gave Kyoshi so many long lines with nearly nothing to say. They could've cut her lines into a more condensed, stronger thing but instead left them long-winded. However, watching Kyoshi make a tornado of bodies is an experience I'll never forget. Continue what you're doing, fight choreography department.

Episode 3: Omashu - 6/10

This episode is fine. I enjoyed the beginning with Jet being revealed as the guy on the cart who lets the main characters into Omashu. However, the writing really starts falling off here. It starts to feel like they're cramming storylines into one episode.

The set design in Omashu in particular is incredible. I cannot emphasize how beautiful the markets were from the food stalls to the costuming. South and Southeast Asian foods, dried herbs and chilis, gold!!! Just watching the background was fun.

Katara's acting, however? Not fun. She's given so many good emotional beats here and does nothing with them. They keep showing me her flashbacks and I think seeing less of it would've made it more impactful. This is the episode when I realized that she is the most useless character in the trio. Does she need to be there? Does she do anything for the story? No. Sokka feels like the glue of the group while Katara merely causes problems. It doesn't help that everyone acts in circles around her. I wouldn't feel anything if they wrote her out.

Episode 4: Into the Dark - 1.5/10

I don't want to talk about this episode, but if I must, know this: It was awful. It was some of the worst written TV I've ever seen. They took the feeling of cramming too much in the previous episode and multiplied it by 100.

There were too many plot threads and not enough time to let any of them breathe. It felt like watching a show that didn't know what it was doing with itself and in the end, I still don't know what this episode accomplished other than making me frustrated as a viewer.

Sokka and Katara being in the Cave of Two Lovers was an...interesting choice. It looks very strange and borderline incestual considering the out-of-place story right beforehand about two lovers meeting up in the same cave Sokka and Katara had to venture through. The fact that Oma and Shu are both women was something I didn't even notice because of how terribly presented it was. It did not need to be there and was a disservice to the representation they wanted to include.

Sokka and Katara are siblings, so that was something. In fact, using that storyline at all felt so weird. They used it as an excuse to build their relationship when all I felt was confused about it.

Aang and Bumi could have been interesting if they executed it better. Instead, they TOLD me they were best friends and that Bumi went through a lot during the war and that Aang knew Bumi well. I needed to SEE it. (Show don't tell is a very real thing, and this episode is rife with crimes against the rule.) Instead they showed us a brief flashback that wasn't nearly enough. They had one strong plot point with Bumi making Aang the same bison whistle he had from the first episode to call Appa, but it didn't work because the rest of it was executed so badly.

This episode felt unnecessarily preachy and in a bad way. They kept telling us the war was bad, that Iroh hurt people, that Aang hurt people by leaving, yet they showed us none of it. This would've been a really impactful message otherwise, but all it gave me was a load of nothing dipped in nothing sauce.

I loved the orchestral rendition of Leaves From the Vine, but the lines were so long and awkwardly written during Lu Ten's funeral that if it weren't for the music, I would've felt nothing. From the perspective of a viewer who doesn't know anything about Avatar: The Last Airbender, I would still feel confused because it didn't fit with the convoluted tone of the episode in the first place. Why was this here? Why was any of this here?

From a fan and story perspective, we could've had a strong episode just combining The King of Omashu and Jet. Using Jet to try and assassinate King Bumi was such a good intrigue plot, but again the writing was terrible. We didn't also need The Northern Air Temple plot lines here. Danny Pudi deserves better than that.

Episode 5: Spirited Away - 7/10

I don't know if this episode was elevated because the previous episode was vomit level, but I really, genuinely enjoyed this one. After stepping back for a while, I've deduced that yes I liked this episode. This was also the one that I actually felt something emotionally.

I can tell why this one would be controversial from a fan perspective, but looking at it as a story that works within this universe and this version of Avatar: The Last Airbender, this really works. It finally felt like an adventure with stakes and characters I could feel for.

From a fan perspective, I enjoyed what this did with the Spirit World here, combining lore from different books in Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. It felt fun and creative and worked for me.

From a new viewer perspective, it was the first episode that ended that I actually said, "Wait no, it can't end there!" The visuals of the spirits were so fun, the flashbacks emotional. Katara acted finally! Plus, her younger child actress was phenomenal. Gran Gran was...hm. Sokka stood out immensely. He melted down and I really felt for him. Aang's meeting with Gyatso was gut-wrenching. I teared up.

It was here I discovered the show really shines when they're not trying to copy the original show, and when they try to do their own thing with lore that exists as long as it fits with what they're trying to tell. It works, and it's enjoyable, and gives characters more depth. The kicker? This episode was so strong in comparison because they did a lot of showing us things, not telling us. But it's not without its flaws. There was some weird dialogue here and there. Really, I enjoyed Sokka's and Aang's scenes the most.

June of course, was such a perfect casting choice, and her scenes with Zuko and Iroh were fun. Though once again, they wrote Iroh's lines in a way I don't understand. Why make him this one-note wise man? Sometimes less is more.

Episode 6: Masks - 8/10

This is hands down the best episode of this show. I hardly have any complaints about it. Even Iroh's wisdom lines were doable. Zhao was such a fun ride. They made him this whiny officer with too much to prove and a cocky attitude, and I enjoyed every minute of it. He's like a grown man who is a child, but it works. Oh goodness it works. Give me more of him nitpicking the heck out of the way his speech is written. It was such a refreshing take on a villain.

The rest of the episode? BRILLIANT. Absolutely. Zuko as the Blue Spirit will never get old, but the live action presentation was so good I have no complaints about it at all. The fighting and choreography really worked, and boy was it a fun thing to watch come to life. I don't normally love when things are copied one-to-one from animated shows to live action because it doesn't always work, but this was one of those instances that I'm glad it did work. It was iconic of them to bring back the bamboo pole fight and what's crazy is that it ended up being some of the coolest fight choreography I've seen. They must've had a blast with it!

Zuko and Aang were so good in this. They have a lot of chemistry as actors, and I could believe they want to be friends but circumstances don't allow them. It makes their extended interaction trapped together and hiding from the Fire Nation in a shack that much more impactful. Adding in the fact that Aang stole Zuko's Avatar journal paid off from episode 1 because now they talked about it, bonded over calligraphy and brushes, and I wanted them to be friends with all my heart. Their inevitable separation hurt me.

But oh no, you thought that was all? They made Zuko's backstory better. They showed us more of the scene where Zuko speaks against his father, and it's actually worse than the original show. Worse, as in better story-wise but worse for Zuko. Ozai asks for Zuko's opinion in the war room, Zuko gives it, Ozai disapproves. Then, when the plan is made to sacrifice the 41st Division, Zuko speaks out and says it's a terrible plan.

I could unpack that scene forever. This makes Ozai seem more manipulative, and I love it. He tests Zuko, disapproves, yet punishes him for saying his opinion later when Ozai had asked him before.

They show us the Agni Kai. I enjoyed the choreography. It helps that Daniel Dae Kim (Ozai) is a sight to behold. His cloak was a good choice, and I'll leave it at that. He is also a perfect Ozai. He has the aura of a man who doesn't play around, and he is menacing. It's also his line delivery and voice.

But the thing that I could also obsess about forever? The fact that Ozai punished Zuko not just by banishing him, but by making his crew the same 41st Division he saved. Zuko and Iroh never told them either, not until Iroh decided he should by the end.

So when Zuko comes back injured from freeing the Avatar, it is a great earned scene when his crew bows to him and calls him their prince.

Episode 7: The North - 5/10

After the previous episode, this was such a let down. Not much stood out here, but the Northern Water Tribe was a great set design. I loved looking it at. Unexpectedly, Kuruk was in this, but it worked so well. So unbelievably well.

From a fan perspective, I've always loved Kuruk and when his backstory was revealed in the Kyoshi novels I felt validated. He has a tragic and interesting back story, and they delivered here. Meegwun Fairbrother (Kuruk) has such a commanding presence. I cannot state this enough. He is the Avatar. He is Kuruk. I genuinely want more of him and I want to know more about him. I wouldn't mind if there was a whole live action show about Kuruk with him as the star.

The rest of this episode though? I mean. It was fine I guess? It wasn't episode 4 level of terrible, and definitely had more that elevated it, but the writing started downgrading immensely from here. Also, Yue, girl, what was that wig? And it's so obviously a wig that it was distracting. Why?

Katara felt like she should've had a presence here but she barely did. She had a fight with Master Pakku that felt unearned. It was also the first fight I've seen in this show that I didn't enjoy watching. The choreography wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either. It was also slow-paced for some reason. It was like I watched two people decide they need to make a move with each move. Everything Katara did felt unearned this episode.

Episode 8: Legends - 2.5/10

Why. What was this finale and why was this the finale? Ignoring the fact the Yue is apparently a spirit trekking lady which could've been cool if they executed it better, this was a whole mess. I'm going to ignore this plot because apparently she was the three-tailed fox in episode 5, and I like episode 5 and don't want to bring that one down so I'll pretend this doesn't exist.

I wouldn't mind if this was the route they went with Yue, but it was so rushed. Her being a waterbender was new, but I also didn't mind it. It was just...shallow. Seeing Yue's romance with Sokka after Suki left a sour taste in my mouth because it was badly done. The actors had no chemistry, and Sokka seemed like a playboy.

The writing was so terrible. Everything was mashed together last minute, Kuruk was there for a cool second, and then my expectations fell past the floor of an outhouse.

Momo, the cute CGI animal, died for some reason saving a person from a falling ice block. Then Yue had to go revive him for some reason. My first reaction was "NO!! MOMO!" Then it was confusion, and then I started laughing because none of it felt right and none of it felt earned, and I was laughing so hard I started crying.

I forgot Aang never started waterbending.

Oh yeah, Katara called herself a master I guess? I don't know how that happened because she's been crap the whole season and never got Pakku to teach her, so I guess she's self-taught now and proved herself by fighting Pakku and convincing him to let the women fight even though they showed no indication of wanting to...so yay feminism? Katara has only been looking at a scroll and failing badly the whole season and learned from no master so I don't know where she got this "master" idea from.

What saved this episode from being episode 4 was that the fight choreography was the coolest I've seen. As a fan, I was scared about how they were going to interpret the black-and-white lunar eclipse scenes but they delivered well! The blasts, the bursts of fire and color, holy heck it worked so incredibly well. I was impressed. Genuinely. I loved watching all those scenes. The Fire Nation blasting through the walls was so cool.

Oh yeah I guess Aang not learning waterbending explains why him being a giant Ocean Spirit fish didn't allow him to waterbend the waves to beat the Fire Nation, but instead he crashed into them.

Katara, Sokka, and Aang were finally together most of the time. I still hardly know anything about them though. Are they friends?

The ending scene with Zuko and Iroh was heartfelt, but could've been stronger. Azula took over Omashu I guess? Sozin's Comet is coming "soon" I guess? None of it felt earned.

Final thoughts

Honestly, if this show ended on episode 6 maybe I'd want a season 2, but after that I don't feel any interest in seeing this iteration of the show. Half of it doesn't work and the writing is questionable. If I were a new fan, I don't think I'd like it just from the weird writing alone. I'd stop after episode 4.

I genuinely wish the cast and crew well, and I love many of them from previous works, but they do not need to be in more of this. They deserve better projects.

It was telling that once I finished the series and saw who wrote what, the original creators were the ones who had a hand in writing episodes 1 and 6, which are episodes on the stronger side. Especially 6, which is the best one. If anyone tells me that I am crazy to be skeptical over an adaptation of any kind without the original creator(s) involved, I'll point to this fact.

My advice? Watch Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko's original Nickelodeon series, Avatar: The Last Airbender which you can also stream on Netflix.

#atla #natla #natla spoilers #avatar the last airbender #natla critical #netflix avatar #lok #legend of korra #netflix

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lostyesterday · 5 months

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I think Michael and Book are my favorite canon Star Trek romantic relationship. I mean, a lot of the canon Trek romances are poorly written so it’s not as if there’s much competition, but I really think their relationship is so, so compelling and interesting. For one thing, the actors have great chemistry, and both characters are fascinating on their own. And I love the progression of their relationship from initial antagonism and lack of trust mixed with an undeniable spark of connection to a gradual realization of deep, caring friendship. I love that they are shown to be friends before they become lovers – that it is so clear that these are two people who deeply understand each other and genuinely enjoy each other’s company. Too many Trek romances try to convince me that two characters who don’t even seem to enjoy spending time together are a well-matched couple, but Michael and Book in late season 3 feel like partners who are best friends too.

And then in season 4 when everything is broken for Book irrevocably, their relationship becomes no less compelling. To see your partner go through such a horrible, traumatic experience and be able to both deeply relate to it and yet unable to imagine the pain of it at all – to try desperately to help when you know in your heart that there is nothing you can do that will heal this wound no matter how much you desperately want to – these are such compelling character moments for Michael, a character whose desire to save others has defined her life.

And then Book and Michael find themselves on opposite sides of a moral dilemma with such far reaching consequences that they have no choice but to oppose each other. And they comprehend each other so completely that neither doubts the positive intentions of the other – that each can deeply understand the other’s point of view, and yet neither can change the other’s mind. The conflict is deep and fundamental, and yet it has little to do with their personal relationship and how much they love each other. Because they still love each other so much despite everything. And they still love each other in the aftermath too.

#star trek discovery #book x michael #disco seasons 3 and 4 are actually really good fight me #also i like several of the other romance plotlines in discovery too #but michael and book are just top tier #lane posts

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carigm · 1 year

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Today Millie had a fan panel in which she answered that her ideal ending would be Mike and El getting married and Will being happy and confessing to Mike (lol) and ofc the Stranger Things fandom kicked up the old Byler vs Mlvn war once again, regardless of the fact she doesn’t write the show. But I want to break down some points here about things I’ve been noticing today, but also for a while and that I think need to be discussed. Keep reading if you want.

I’ve seen a lot of hostility towards Byler and Bylers on Twitter lately, saying we’re delusional and don’t know what we’re talking about. This always seems to be the go to argument even tho it’s all in the narrative. Today it got really bad after Millie’s comments and even people that were merely disagreeing with her opinions got called everything from delusional to misogynistic.

IF the Duffers suddenly decided to ignore everything they’ve carefully crafted and put into their narrative that doesn’t make anyone delusional, it just makes them terrible writers. Who would be doing a great disservice to all three characters involved in the love triangle.

There’s been an insurgence (on Twitter) of so called “Will stans” who seem to be completely fine with the idea of mlvn being endgame because “Will can just get another boyfriend” Not only is this insulting to what the writers have already established for Will’s character but it’s also a defense and endorsement of the worst kind of lazy/bad writing that could graze our screens.

The Duffers CHOSE to tie Will’s character arc to Mike’s and El’s.

How do you expect them to undo that and create a well fleshed out character that’s deserving of Will, in 8 episodes that we know are not just gonna be dedicated to Will’s supposed love interest, because there’s a shit ton of stuff to resolve?

If this was the route the Duffers were going for, they could’ve clearly given Will a love interest last season (like with Robin) or two seasons ago (like with Dustin) And yet somehow, people think it would be totally okay for Will to get the most meaningless romance of all time as the writers ignore the same story they’ve created.

Another point I’ve been seeing a lot from these people is “Mike won’t come out. Let it go. He’s just a very unlikable character” What does that say about the quality of the writing and content you’re willing to consume then? You’re okay with characters being poorly written? And please someone explain to me how Mike’s actions, especially in S4, make any sense unless he likes Will.

The more people try to simplify this story the more plot holes and inconsistencies it creates.

The funny thing is that a lot of these “Will stans” used to be Bylers themselves but are so deathly afraid it won’t be endgame that they’ve started to use the same rhetoric mlvns use every day to justify what would be atrocious writing.

And this next thing might be controversial but I think it needs to be said.

So many people on Twitter have hit those who disagree with Millie’s opinion today with “y’all are misinterpreting Millie’s words” and let me tell you, no one has. She’s been saying the same stuff for forever and quite frankly she’s never had a coherent thought about Will. Which is fine, at the end of the day that’s not the character she plays. However, I haven’t forgotten how last year (at another panel) she was asked about Byler and said it was just a reflection of Finn and Noah’s friendship and that was what people were seeing…

Whatever the fuck that means, I guess.

Again, I’m not taking her answer today too seriously cause truth be told she’s been saying some version of this since she was around twelve, and has even at times said she was joking about it. If a wedding were actually happening she wouldn’t be able to say it cause I’d literally be a spoiler, even if she doesn’t have the scripts yet or doesn’t know I’m sure there’s things that would be off limits for any actor to say at this point.

But this defense squad that formed today begging for us to not misconstrue her words because “she really cares about Will’s character” is laughable.

Her answers regarding the topic of the love triangle have been anything but nuanced. If she doesn’t want to get into it or address it, that’s fine. It’s her choice.

But of course, mlvn stans are gonna take her answers seriously, as well as those who are now “Will stans” who basically ship mlvn too.

And to me there’s a fundamental flaw regarding the ship wars in this fandom, which these people don’t seem to grasp. At this point, it isn’t so much about “which ship is better” but “which outcome isn’t violently homophobic”

That’s it.

I don’t care how much you ship mlvn, this is the undisputed truth here.

But when your lead actors act like it’s not a big deal, it’s no surprise the fandom doesn’t give a shit.

I can only hope the Duffers were smart enough to see reason and were able to write the only outcome that won’t set television back around 10 years or so.

And hopefully one day, when S5 is out, we can get a more in depth and honest conversation with the actors about all of this.

As for me, I’m gonna lay low and not give much of a fuck until we start getting those Reddit leaks, which were very much accurate for last season. I’ll take a peak at those, and depending on what they look like, I’ll stay around or dip completely.

If you read all of this, thank you.

#byler #byler theory #byler is real

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mothytheghost · 5 months

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Rgb's Harsh reality and past

Today I would love to explain the details and how his world around him was messing him up. This will have Spoilers so please avoid if you haven't read or finish this comic! Remember Im not a great person at explaining things because of a difficulty I have. But I'll try my best ;v;

Rgb Didn't seem to have an easy job working in the Arts industry. He had harsh treatments for slacking off and treated poorly not only by his boss but others around his working environment. Sharing that someone called him an idiot is a red flag for a working environment. The environment he is in isn't healthy for him and could easily tire himself out and hurt his mental health. The fact he was seen sleeping on his desk could show that he rarely gets any sleep because he is becoming a workaholic. Driving himself to keep signing paperwork until his tasks are done. Trying to keep himself caught up .

See how boss is capitalized like BOSS?. Do you see how Want is written?. This shows how aggressive this person is towards him. Trying to get him to wake up by hitting him with a newspaper to keep him awake. This is a sign of work abuse. And how everyone, including his boss is pushing him to work harder and faster. Rgb is being hitted and forced to overwork without any sleep.

Now let's go over how his audience treat him? The answer is, do they care?. Do they wonder if he's alright?. Not Really...His audience are always excited to see him. They didn't care about how well he is. They just love his talents. And no one in the crowd acted realistic about him. They saw him as a idol, a star, anything special to them.

Now the Doctor was a guy I really wanna smack lmao. But anyways. The way he doesn't take him seriously. How the audience reacted with him like it's a comedy. No one takes him seriously. They think he's still in character.

How everyone laughed at him. How much anger and frustration he's in. They all think it's an act. His mental state is bad and he isn't in the right headspace. How angry he gets when he wants to smash a mirror. It's a sign of aggression and low self-esteem. His hands has grown shaky because of how weak and distressed he is. Yet the doctor tells him therapy is a old scam when he needed help.

He instead offers him to wear gloves and tells him to Not look at mirrors.

Rgb has been overworked. Has his troubles Ignored, and been laughed by his own audience. This shows how much his mental state has gone through. As a person. As a human being. He's been treated as is he's just a cartoon that could do anything to keep people satisfied and happy. Rgb was a character that was misunderstood by everyone around him. running away from his own troubles was because he was scared. finding a hero because of his second chances with Hate. Many hero's we're lost by mistake because of him. Would I say it was all of his fault?. Yes but no. He showed he wasn't a bad person because he found His Hero. He loved her and Comforted her when she's crying. Yeah he was a rat with her at first. But the more they bonded the more Hero saw him as a best friend. He lost many hero's because he keeps repeating a mistake he kept failing to fix.

Any critics about this small talk is welcome.

Anyways to get out of the blue I'll tell a dumb joke!

Why do we tell actors to break a leg?

Because every film has a cast

#tpoh #the property of hate #tpoh rgb

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willowmosby · 8 months

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Listen I told my self that I wasn't going to get invested enough in Person of Interest to talk about here but here I am anyway. It was chugging along being a good background show with Some really fun, if a little trope-y, cop characters and watching Harold Finch and John Reese act kinda gay and stop crime. I'm a big Amy Acker fan ( that's actually why I even started the show) so I wasn't upset about the shift in focus towards Root and Shaw a little bit as I entered season 3.

The problem I have actually run into is fucking season 3 episode 9: The Crossing. It just made me angry at a show's choices in a way I haven't felt in a while - please note I haven't watched past that episode as of writing this but I will eventually do so.

An the assumption that she really is dead( that looked pretty fucking fatal) I will miss Joss Carter a lot but that's not necessarily what made me angry. It seemed to me that the writers knew that the actor wanted out of the show from the start of the season as the whole season 3 arc was a seemingly slow moving suicide. It wasn't poorly written but it was obvious that this was a different type of Joss Carter than season 1 & 2.

No my problem wasn't necessarily her death. It's the "romantic" declarations of the episode. Now before you look back at the start of this and post and think I'm just mad because it wasn't my very unlikely to ever be a cannon ship that got confirmed, well you're only partially right.

Yes I'm a Rinch shipper( if follow my blog at all you've probably put together that I often root if the queer ships) but I genuinely would have been fine resigning myself to fanfiction while they get hopelessly paired up with some unsuspecting women. I understand that's how crime drama TV operates. And you know I actually like John and Zoe as a ship, if they were developed a bit more I think they could've been a lot of fun.

My problem is not that the whole you "saved me from commiting suicide" speech John gives Carter is equally, if not more, applicable to his relationship with Finch. Well, okay my problem is not only that. My problem is where was any of the romantic build up between Carter and John, like literally anything? They work great as narrative foils when Carter was still on the "the law is the only law" train. And they work great as friends as Carter steps more into the "some minor crime for the greater good is okay" camp. But not once did I think " oh these two are about to fall in love". Not even when Shaw asked about it earlier in season 3 did I think the show was going to actually pair them up like this. Now I hear you when you say that there are examples of characters with less chemistry have become couples. It's just, I'm not sure what the narrative gain is here. They had to know they were killing off Carter that same episode and this "revelation" doesn't add anything to the character. If anything it doesn't make sense with the revenge for Cal Becher (Beacher? Beecher?- You know who I'm talking about) angle that the writers have been using all season. And if it's about furthering John's character that's just dumb. I wouldn't consider it fridgeing as I'm pretty sure this is an actor who wants an out of contract situation(feel free to correct me if I'm wrong), but that doesn't excuse it as a narrative choice. John unequivocally cares about Carter and would be upset about her death regardless or romantic inclinations, as would Lionel and Finch. They already have an in on the revenge story line (which is where I assume they are going with this). Why bother with the romance especially when John already has the lost love story in his background. Like what Jessica isn't enough of a dead romance they needed to shoe in Joss as well.

Anyway I also wish this was like a mid season finale not episode like 9. Like bro why are you putting away one of your biggest villains so far and this is only a third of the way in the season.

And I wish that Lionel wasn't just suddenly back in the plot, like I know you have a bigger cast now and I m glad he's here but build the guy up a little bit better please.

I also think the Root in a cage thing is a little weird like I know all of these people are chugging the " the ends justify the means" juice but it still seems like there are other options Finch would choose. ( that being said Root and Finch's conversation about the machine somehow come off like " I had sex with your daughter, and I don't care if you know” which was hilarious to me)

Anyway sorry for the rant thanks for listening and I do hope the show gets back into a groove.

#Tldr: R.I.P Joss Carter; I would you stayed the cop propaganda you were meant to be #instead of dying mid a shoe in romance plot.#person of interest #POI #person of interest season 3 #person of interest spoilers #Harold Finch #john reese #Joss Carter #lionel fusco #Root #sameen shaw #zoe morgan #rinch #anti joss x john

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andreal831 · 4 months

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The pacing for season 4 and especially season 5 seemed extremely rushed to me. I’ve always thought the show could’ve used a season in between season 3 and season 4 to pace it better.

What are your thoughts about this? What do you think would’ve and/or should’ve occured had this of happened?

I couldn't agree more.

In fact, all of the fics I've written in the TVD universe have been fixing that period, (subtle plug for my fics) so I can tell you exactly what I would have done. This will have spoilers for my fics so feel free to go over to AO3 or Wattpad and read there first!

They could have done something so amazing. As someone who watched the shows from a young age, it almost felt like we grew up with the TVD gang, and then were watching Hope grow up which would have made Legacies so special to watch her come into her own. But we didn't get that. Instead, Hope grew up in the blink of an eye off screen. For a show about family, it seemed to constantly put the family aspects on the back burner.

They did all of these major time jumps simply because Julie Plec wanted to move on to Legacies. She liked the idea of what I just described but didn't have the patience to actually do it effectively. From what I've heard, The Originals was supposed to be like 6 or 7 seasons. Instead, we essentially got 4.

If they wanted to shorten the seasons, I would have scrapped season 5 completely. It was honestly a mess and didn't add much to the overall story. If you want to read how I would do that, I've written a story called The Last Sacrifice which shows season 4 as the series finale. SPOILERS for my story. Essentially, instead of splitting the Hollow in four, Elijah takes it all and sacrifices himself. To me, this gives Elijah a kind of redemption arc while allowing his family a chance at happiness.

Now my current work in progress, The Great War, starts in the beginning of season 3. I love season 3, but I think this is where things start to get messy. We see these constant character arcs and then destructions throughout this season. Deep traumas are brought to light and then quickly moved on from. The characters are all going through massive trauma but as an audience, we don't have a second to truly feel the impact because the next thing is already happening.

Then the show does a 5 year time jump and we don't even get flashbacks of Hayley trying to save the family or raising Hope on her own? It wasn't just the Mikaelsons missing out on Hope's life, but the audience as well. We finally get them reunited for about a week and then they are all forced to go their separate ways. And they cave in so easily. The Mikaelsons I know, especially after being separated for so long, wouldn't have gone down without a fight. Hayley sending Hope off to boarding school makes no sense. She fought so hard to keep her child with her only to send her off? Also, why couldn't Rebekah and Marcel have stayed in New Orleans than since Hope would never be there? Or Klaus for that matter? Elijah erasing his memories made no sense. Freya not working endlessly to destroy the Hollow and reunite her family for 5 years made no sense.

Then finally we get the mess of Season 5 and they all just give up. There's nearly no fight in them. Why can't they all just split up again? Why can't they send the Hollow to another realm? If you want to see how I would have written season 5, check out Don't It Just Break Your Heart. Essentially, how did Klaus not just force Elijah's memories back when everything started falling apart?

The last few seasons were rushed and poorly written because the writers were done, the actors were done, and Julie Plec didn't care.

But if you're interested, The Great War is planning to follow a lot of the cannon events but slowing things down a lot. I do have an added character to try and control the Mikaelsons slightly, but I'm trying to keep it true to how I see the events actually taking place if the characters are staying true to their character arcs.

As for the season between season 3 and 4, this is a little bit of spoilers for TGW, but yes, there definitely needs to be a season there. The time jump is ridiculous and we miss so much good character development.

Thanks for the ask! Sorry some of this is vague but I don't want to spoil TGW too much!

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theflagscene · 4 months

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payurain for the ship ask game!

PayuRain

Mmm, okay, firstly I wanna say that BossNoeul have chemistry out the wazoo, like so much chemistry, they are fabulous together. I love Noeul’s ‘don’t give a fuck’ attitude toward skinshipping, he will lick and bite and ride Boss into oblivion and giggle the entire way there, I love that for him lol.

Payu and Rain had the capacity to be really great characters and a really great couple, if they weren’t stuck in the dumpster fire that is the Mame universe. The level of sexual manipulation and non consensual touching really put a damper on the beginning of their relationship for me, I know when LitA was airing there was a lot of stuff going around about how Rain was a brat that didn’t know it and Payu was a brat tamer - all BDSM terms - which might have been what Mame was going for. Personally I don’t think it was, she has a tendency to write extremely toxic characters and seems to always wrap a r*pe fantasy around them no matter what, it has nothing to do with BDSM. She has maybe four or five couples that I can think of off the top of my head that don’t have some sort of sexual misconduct between them or has a tragic r*pe backstory.

I never saw PayuRain as the ‘brat tamer and brat’ because the moment Rain gave in to Payu and became an active participant in the relationship, no longer being the mouse to Payu’s cat, their entire dynamic changed. The dom/sub angle, which I had to squint and turn my head sideways to see it was so minimal - to me that is - was poorly executed to say the very least. Again, if that’s what Mame was going for and I don’t think it was.

I’m going to be honest (like I haven’t been already? lol!), I think they were badly written characters in an even worse written show. Rife with toxic problematic tropes and pointless kidnapping storylines - seriously why always with the kidnapping!? - it was your typical Mame fair. Boss and Noeul deserve another chance at being leading men, they deserve better writing, better world building, just better!

I wanted to like LitA, I did. I was excited when I saw the trailers, I was excited when I saw the lead actors chemistry. But it fell flat and it had nothing to do with the actors and everything to do with the writing, I’ve been waiting for Mame’s writing to get better for I’d say, the past six-ish years now. And I know I’m going to sound like the complete English lit major I was, but it has stayed as pedestrian as ever. PayuRain were a soft pass for me, while PrapaiSky were the hardest pass for me. All four actors deserve better, and I hope in 2024 they get it.

⛵️Send Me A Ship & I’ll Share My Thoughts⛵️

Note: These are just my own personal thoughts on the characters, anyone who enjoys them or Mame in general, I don’t judge. I won’t yuck your yums but I will yuck my own yucks, which is perfectly fine 😉

#ask game #reply #payurain #tw rape mention #lita

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astriexxe · 1 month

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Here is my very long post about what I think of Les Misérables (2012) after watching it again recently

Tldr: the music which should be great somehow just isn't, the camera angles are fucking weird, Russel Crowe isn't as bad as I expected, Hugh Jackman was worse than I remembered

When I watched Les Misérables (2012) the first time it was the first experience I'd had of Les mis other than the odd YouTube video of one day more (or occasionally do you hear the people sing). I didn't know what it was about I didn't know many of the songs.

I found it fairly boring, the music was ok, the middle section with the revolution was the highlight. My favourite character was Javert followed by Enjolras (but that's biased because I'm a moulin rouge and n2n fan and it was Aaron tveit).

When I watched it back I entirely expected to hate Russell Crowe as Javert but have more respect for the music and the rest of the film as I have since watched the staged concerts and been to see it live and it's fucking great I love it.

I was wrong the music still sucked and I still found it kind of boring despite absolutely loving the stage production.

The orchestra is too quiet I think which means the music loses a lot of it's grandeur and the bad singing is more obvious.

Russel Crowe has a weird tone when singing (this we already knew) and when compared to other Javert's he sucks but when compared to Hugh Jackman it's a relief whenever it's his part because holy fuck Hugh Jackman was bad. Russel Crowe honestly wasn't that bad, I quite like his Javert from an acting perspective and the singing was alright, I know when I first watched the film stars was my favourite song (just imagine how amazed I was when I heard Philip Quast's version). I wish Javert's suicide was better in the film.

Hugh Jackman was far worse than I remembered him being perhaps I have more to compare him to now, bring him home was awful that's not how that should be sung and he had me bored for like the entire bit at the start where it's basically just him (end of prologue/ VJ's soliloquy).

One day more was a bit messy but not as bad as I was expecting.

The scenery was pretty epic like they had some great cinematic shots (ship at the start, the Seine, the cliff during VJ's soliloquy) like a big musical like Les Mis deserves some cool shots like that.

The camera angles were fucking weird. I find how shows use different camera angles quite interesting but I can't figure Les Mis out, it doesn't enhance the story or characters or anything it's just distracting and adds to how boring it is. I thought the camera angles during VJ's soliloquy looked like he was vlogging. Some dramatic shots could have helped that scene a lot I think. The camera angles got a little more exciting but the weird close ups were a theme and I personally think they were poorly used and distracting.

The Thenardiers were pretty good the first time I watched it but like having seen the show since it just doesn't work they're nowhere near as funny.

When my friend watched Les Mis and said she didn't like how all the dialogue was sung and I was like ok maybe she just doesn't like sung through musicals fair enough. No the film is just weird. They like added bits of sung dialogue but they seem to have forgotten to give these bits any tune.

VJ got a new song which was a bit of a shock because honestly I don't remember it from the first time round, I think the concept of the song is pretty cool but poorly written (it was sort of boring and didn't feel like it fit with the musical).

Les Amis were once again a highlight, the pace picks up, the singing gets better, all in all it's a good chunk of the film.

Fantine was better than I remembered and Anne Hathaway went for acting over singing in I Dreamed a Dream which worked but only because it was a film.

Eddie Redmayne was good as was Sam Barks I enjoyed their bits.

Aaron Tveit was also good you can tell which of the actors are theatre actors because they can act and sing at the same time (/hj). And of course respect to George Blagden.

The child actors (I don't know their names) were also great!

Yeah I think that's it if anyone read this to the end congrats on making it

#les miserables #i really wanted to go into watching the film again with more context and try to enjoy it #but it was worse than i remembered

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revisitedgrunt · 1 year

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Wednesday

I binged Wednesday a few days ago and I'm still having thoughts about it. Thought I'd write them down in an attempt to move on.

Spoilers follow.

For the most part, I really enjoyed it. Loved almost all the characters, loved the setting, loved the mystery and loved the acting. Jenna Ortega was fantastic, as she always is and everyone else did a great job with what they had to work with.

Honestly, my only issue with it was the love triangle. I'm one of those people that felt that Wednesday shouldn't have had a love interest, let alone two. The writers could have done the correct, smart thing and not included one, but they felt the need to include two. I can only guess it's because the characters are teenagers, but with Wednesday it just felt unneeded, cliché and poorly written.

Throughout the entire season I didn't once get the impression that Wednesday was into either boy, so I was confused when she kept agreeing to do things with Tyler, like the dance and the date. Wednesday gave off absolutely zero romantic vibes, so why not just shut it down and tell him she wasn't interested. After seeing an interview with Jenna, I think I now have an idea of what happened.

Jenna didn't want a love triangle, she was against it. Jenna said that Wednesday's primary interest was the monster and the mystery and her interest in the boys wasn't genuine but just amusement and that boys are the last thing on Wednesday's mind.

Seems to me that Jenna had a much better idea of her character than the writers did. So going to the dance and on the date were just an amusing distraction, not because Wednesday was actually into it. This at least makes sense with Wednesday's absolute non-romantic interest in the boys. I'd love to see the script. Did Jenna play it how it was written, or was Wednesday meant to actually care and Jenna decided not to play it like that?

So, the love interests. Xavier was obviously the secondary one. I found it funny that they'd met as kids and Wednesday didn't remember him. He had to tell that very specific story to get her to remember. Given that for most of the season, Wednesday thought he was the Hyde, there really wasn't any romance here. Xavier as a person seems kinda terrible. Broke up with Bianca, basically accusing her of using her powers on him when there was no evidence she did. Also asked Bianca, who still seemed into him, at the dance they went to together, to take his memories of Wednesday away. Imagine you're Bianca and how bad that would make you feel.

Looks like he's being set up as the future love interest. Jenna also has an issue with this. In another interview (she also mentions being against the love triage here) she said she'd like them to become good friends as safe, platonic friendships between men and women aren't shown often enough.

I love Jenna for having the courage to speak out like this. I feel like a lot of actors wouldn't criticise the writers, but Jenna obviously knows her worth.

Now, Tyler. For the most part, I found him to be inoffensive. Apart from the “mixed signals” scene, which was a red flag as Wednesday had given him no signals, he wasn't too bad. There also wasn't really much there, he was just a generic “nice” guy. It was funny after finding out he's the Hyde, Wednesday wasn't upset. Her only response was a one liner about the first boy she kissed being a monster. This goes back to the fact that Wednesday gave off no romantic vibes and Jenna played it as Wednesday not genuinely being into him.

I would hope he's off the board as far as love interests go. We learnt in episode 8 that he did remember what he did as the Hyde, and he enjoyed it. Given that he almost killed Eugene, one of two people Wednesday forms an actual emotional bond with, I don't see her forgiving him.

Now it's time to talk about Enid, who's the only other person Wednesday seems to actually care about at Nevermore. Their relationship also doesn't come across as romantic. However, I feel that if the writers continue to force romance onto Wednesday, this one would at least make sense.

Unlike with Tyler and Xavier, Wednesday does seem to care about Enid's thoughts and feelings. All we need to do is look at the scenes where Enid moves out and the climatic hug to confirm this. Wednesday is genuinely upset when Enid moves out, we can contrast this with scenes of Tyler and Xavier being mad and her, and her not giving a damn.

The hug is also the emotional highlight of the show and the culmination of their relationship. Wednesday has backed away from hugs in the past, but here she hugs Enid back. It's not just a pity hug either, or because Wednesday thinks Enid deserves it. She hugs Enid tightly, emotionally, while closing her eyes. This is probably the most emotional we see Wednesday all season and, unlike the Tyler kiss, this doesn’t end badly.

I also found it interesting that Enid is the one who saves Wednesday from Tyler. In a lot of stories it's the love interest who saves the main character, but here it's Enid. It's even more interesting when a bit later we see Xavier try to save Wednesday from Joseph, which fails spectacularly and results in Wednesday getting hurt.

It would be very easy to turn this from a friendship to a romance. A lot easier than establishing something with Xavier, or someone new. I also don't think they'll do this. Gough and Millar have written for shows with wlw rep, The Shannara Chronicles and Into the Badlands, but I get the impression they are pushing the Wenclair friendship and want to keep them straight. This is also stupid because the whole point of the show is about being an outcast. They even equate this with being queer with Enid's subplot about conversion camp and her parents accepting her for who she is. Many queer people still fell like outcasts and this show could do so much good in having their main character, who has so much name recognition, be actually queer.

That was a lot. If you liked the romances I'm happy for you. I do hope there's a season two as the good greatly outweighed the bad.

I see Wenclair is already a popular tag :)

#wednasday #wednesday netflix #wenclair

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anncanta · 6 months

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...And the Bifrost grew under his feet

Well, I finished watching the second season of Loki. I didn't like it in itself, just as the first one and the whole series. But this is a great example of storytelling.

Two points are important here.

First: the script for the Loki series is very poorly written. This is the case in both seasons. The main characters are slow and move along obvious trajectories, the secondary characters are not memorable at all, and they are saved only by the fact that these inarticulate people and creatures are played by truly talented actors. The conflicts are artificial and the dialogue is terrible.

If you look at the film as a whole, we can conclude that it was written by an author who is not very experienced and does not have very good storytelling skills. But I do not draw this conclusion because of the above. I think so because the author is constantly present in history. He literally sticks out from all the scenes, jumps forward, explains details, tells ideas, and almost reads the series like a play from the podium. Such a sad sight. But here we move on to the next point.

The story never allows itself to be controlled. The story itself governs the author and the work. Therefore, despite all the mentioned shortcomings, the second season of Loki and the film as a whole have a brilliant ending.

Spoilers alert!

Western culture has two fundamental myths. The first is a myth about a deity who creates the world from himself, and the second is about a deity who sacrifices himself for the sake of humanity and the world. It is quite possible that in some sense these are two sides or two ‘chapters’ of the same myth. These myths are meaningful, lying at the beginning of the rest of the body of European stories about the world and human beings. These are something like archetypal blueprints from which everything else is built. Therefore, any story that has a cosmogonic, philosophical, or archetypal component will certainly turn out to be a variant of one of them or will contain elements of them.

Examples can be given for a long time, but if we talk about Marvel, then the closest is the series WandaVision, in one of the episodes of which the story of saving Westview, the city, frozen inside Wanda's consciousness, begins with the fact that Vision (also invented by Wanda) breaks out of the magic dome and begins to fall into pieces. There is both a sacrifice and a creation of reality out of oneself, because when Wanda's quasi-reality, centered on the fake Vision, disappears, the true reality comes back to life, in fact, being born again.

What about Loki? Here it all begins as an alternative version of the story of one of the heroes of Asgard, who seems to get a chance to ‘reform’ and stop being an envious younger brother, a source of chaos and endless problems. If we ignore all the long-winded visual and verbal explanations of the authors, we can say that this is the story of Loki trying to become human.

This is a very tempting idea. For an inhabitant of a world in which those who are able to ‘look after’ other worlds, whom people consider to be deities, live, paradoxically, it is incredibly tempting. Why? Because human beings are a mystery, because their capabilities, desires, discoveries, thoughts, creations, victories, ideas are incredibly annoying and at the same time beautiful, unique, and unlike anything else.

But there is one problem. The one on which Thor stumbled, on which Odin's long life ended, and with which Loki encountered in the series.

A deity cannot be a human. We see how Thor, trying to be ‘just’ a man and a good guy, first becomes an alcoholic, then a restless clown, yearning for himself, and a completely lost creature, until he is reborn in some kind of universal ‘zero’ room and emerges as a truly human being. Because he lived, fought, suffered, rejoiced, and loved as one. We see how Odin displays completely human traits and passions until it comes to the point where the world literally collapses because of him. We see how Sylvie, going into one of the time branches, turns (not only because the authors write poorly) into a hysterical woman and does not notice how the reality around her is disappearing.

Loki is different from all these characters. He has a lot of differences, but the main thing is that he desperately, stubbornly, in all worlds and options, holds on to himself. For being himself. For insisting on his own. Write his own story. In the character of Sylvie, this is taken to the extreme, but Sylvie played too much. She believed that she could become human. She fell in love with free will and decided that it could become a refuge for her anarchy. As a result, she became a boring woman with nothing to say about her. Perhaps this is the logic of the development of monomaniacs.

But the story of Loki shows that no matter how the authors try, no matter what they do, no matter where they push the characters, if the task conditions are Scandinavian Loki, then the story will be written the way it wants. And it will have a completely different plot.

As I said, Loki, from his very first appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe until the second season of the series, holds on to himself. But until the very last moment, neither he nor we understand what this means. And only in the episode where he opens the reactor doors and enters the hall with the temporal loom does it blossom.

He remembers himself. Who is he? Odin's youngest son? Ice giant? A trickster magician? The hero who always loses and gets in everyone's way as a problem? Error in the system? Silver glistening with reflected light? Jealous brother?

‘I am Loki Laufeyson,’ he says to himself, and horns grow on him.

It is a recognition and visualization that has very few equals. Either in Marvel or in other films about superheroes and mythological stories. He remembers himself, admits that he will never be human, and does what he was born to do.

He lets time go free, connects the threads, and weaves Yggdrasil from them.

He is there, inside, at the center of the world, which is actually everywhere. He is a quantum reality that is eternally creative and eternally at rest. He becomes the embodiment of time and a metaphor for two ideas. Creations from oneself. And self-sacrifice.

Time is impermanent, time is changeable, time is subjective and incomprehensible. And this is the perfect definition of Loki.

I'm almost sure that the authors did not put this into the story and did not expect it. But they could not resist the image of the hero weaving the threads of the worlds. And it turned out great.

This is one of the best stories about accepting yourself and realizing your talent that I have ever seen.

You can consider this an explanation of the ending.

But this is just a cry of delight.

#loki #loki season 2 #loki series #loki laufeyson #loki finale #marvel

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metanarrates · 9 months

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talk more about little mermaid 2023

bad movie! but since when is that news to anyone

here is a short list of things I liked:

-shockingly, the actors playing prince eric and ariel had pretty decent chemistry! i thought their scenes together were somewhat cute. they were certainly the only actors in it who seemed like they were trying to give their all, except for maybe a few minor largely unnamed side characters. nothing special, but in a soulless CGI cash grab poorly disguised as a "live-action" work, having a handful of vaguely pleasant scenes was better than nothing.

-also shockingly, I did somewhat like most of the scenes the movie added from the original. rather than being a straight-up adaptation, they added a number of scenes to either flesh out eric's character, flesh out the romance, or to further explore ariel's experience on land. they weren't all great scenes, and were basically the equivalent of polishing up plastic, but some of them worked fine at a mechanical level, and at least it shows that a little bit of effort was made? although a number of creative choices were clearly to Ward Off Discourse. we will discuss this.

-uh. i thought the costumes were okay. there was an attempt

ok that's it for good shit the movie did. here's the stuff i did not enjoy:

-BAD cgi. like APPALLINGLY bad. I'm by no means a visual effects expert but the way the actors were integrated into underwater environments was horrible. they didn't look like they belonged there, their movements were too floaty even for underwater, and the way their hair was animated to float looked distracting and unnatural. additionally, the "camera" was set up frequently in action scenes to not capture a lot of the action, seemingly because the movements were difficult to capture well in CGI. a lot of the time in the CGI environments, the lighting would be distractingly weird and make the whole environment look even more fake than usual. the color palettes didn't feel like they always had a lot of thought into them, which also led to weird lighting and visual problems, and it never felt like the CGI animals had much weight. speaking of which...

-WHY DID THEY MAKE THE FUNNY ANIMALS WHO SING AND DANCE LOOK LIKE REGULAR CRABS AND FISH AND WHATNOT

-NO SERIOUSLY IF YOU'RE TRYING TO PAINT-BY-NUMBERS RECAPTURE THE WHIMSY IN THE ORIGINAL? GOING FOR "REALISM" IN ANIMALS THAT DON'T PARTICULARLY EMOTE IS A HORRIBLE CHOICE

-halle bailey seems to be a perfectly fine actress, based on what i've seen of her. it didn't seem like the director wanted her to facially emote hardly at all ever. she mainly goes for the wide-eyed vaguely pleasant disney princess expression the whole film, and it makes her performance feel horribly strained. im not expecting a disney film to have stellar acting - its a movie targeted to kids and millenials with nostalgia - but it kind of sucked to watch because there were a few moments where she DID emote more and it felt like she was doing pretty well in those moments! it felt to me like, rather than a lack of ability, she was simply hamstrung by those directing her :(

-awkwafina rap written by lin-manuel miranda.

-on that note, none of the new songs were very good. they also changed under the sea to not be an ensemble piece? look, im not the biggest fan of the original film, but having the fun colorful song where lots of fish and whatever sing all together change into a sebastian solo act with ariel support is... a weird choice. it does kind of feel like the whimsy has, in general, been sucked out of this film at times.

-outside of a few side characters, nobody seemed like they wanted to be there besides the leads. the deliveries were awkward and strained. king triton ESPECAILLY seemed like he did not want to be there. sir was there a gun held to your head here

-perhaps the biggest sin of all, but ursula did NOT serve cunt. half the fun of watching the original movie is how over-the-top she is as a performer, and here the actress is just Not giving it. her vocalization sounds really oddly strained at times? ma'am is there also a gun held to your head

there's a certain structural ethos applied to this movie. I alluded to it earlier with the comment about warding off discourse, but probably a better way to word it would be "trying to retroactively defend the original film, and try to make parts of it more 'up-to-date' when thet's not possible." a sort of repolishing and image-update of the Little Mermaid brand, if you will.

obviously, remakes have frequently done this in the past. I would argue that is often the point of a remake: a way to make the IP still viable in the modern day as a source of income to the company. but it felt very transparent here. the little mermaid has often been criticized for being an insta-romance where ariel's only dream is to marry a random guy? here's several more scenes with eric and ariel to establish their chemistry. people have discussed some of ursula's lines in "poor unfortunate souls" as being objectifying? we're cutting them. and hey, let's just show everyone that the little mermaid is now a diverse story that values women. let's cast a black lead actress and have several side characters be woc, including a new character who is eric's mother.

to be clear, I don't think these changes are bad, in and of themself. it's nice that these actresses of color were cast! the changes made to the plot were kind of fun! but all of these changes are only in service of trying to squeeze even more money out of an existing cash cow. it's very obviously an image and marketing thing, rather than people feeling passionate about retelling an existing story. and really, there's only so far you can go with a story originally only showing white people and written in 1989. all you can do is polish. there are no broader, structural changes you can make to it, because all that would do is turn it into a different story. and of course disney is never GONNA tell a different story, made by and about black women, because there's not a cash cow in that. in the hands of a megacorporation, diversity is only going to be a token gesture to accumulate more profit.

it's a disney remake. at the end of the day, there's not too much point in thinking too hard about it. I watched it for a laugh with my good friend, basically. but I'm still interested in it as a gateway into the decision-making process of the disney board of directors and stakeholders. i've seen some of the other disney remakes, since my mom and younger siblings do like watching them and this one in particular strikes me for how little care was put into it. I'm wondering how well it did at the box office, because this really does feel like we're reaching the final possible end for these remakes. they're not making very many cultural waves. it seems like nobody likes them. but clearly, the disney board is hoping for them to be a perfectly marketable recapturing of whatever the existing IP had. who knows how many remakes the studio has left in them?

whatever. the late-stage capitalist megacorporation media landscape continues to be a depressing slog. I'd recommend going and finding something actually good to watch lmao

#narrates #ok since the people were asking here's my full thoughts on this frankensteinian nightmare of an IP recapture #it almost feels like this isn't worth criticism? like this is just a low effort ad pooped out by a megacorp that has obviously given up #certainly not worth any discourse. lol #but there's some revealing stuff in it about the disney decision making process and I did want to discuss that #in the future though I'm probably not gonna like... ever watch a disney movie unless I'm dragged to it by my younger siblings lol

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