#FUCK good versus evil give me people being desperate and flawed

[shannonsketches]

I noticed that the element of the triforce that the individual characters are supposed to represent, is also their weakness. Zelda's wisdom is being stifled by doubt and lack of experience; she's eager to learn, but her zeal is not enough and relies on faith and Link to save the day. I'm not implying that wisdom and faith cannot go hand in hand, but she needs to be able to represent her element more. Maybe her wisdom is knowing when to wait and allow someone else to bear the task? But it takes away too much initiative from her. Ganon's element is power but he's the one who ends up losing almost every time. And Ganondorf on his own, isn't powerless! He's a king, he knows magic, he can wield almost any weapon, he's patient, conniving and intelligent and knows how to make best with what he has. He isn't weak! And yet, the whole split happened, because he was feeling powerless.

They locked themselves in a self-sabotaging cycle that's powered by doubt.

Yeah! So one of the reasons I really love the Triforce lore is that it’s a three-way mirror that reflects both what the user has and also what they need (very wizard of oz).

Ganondorf is a very powerful man, physically, and magically.

Politically, though, he’s next to helpless, which is an awful thing for a king to be. He’s a king of thieves in OoT, because the Gerudo are not a wealthy or thriving nation there. In-Game they don’t have a local living area like the other regions (or even a store — just one floating bombchu salesman in the middle of the desert) — they’ve got a post-war fortress full of guards, and a temple that is being used as a secret base Hylians can’t get to.

Consider also, Ganondorf is the most highly decorated of the Gerudo, and he’s not decked out in gold. He’s wearing mostly iron and topaz. Nabooru and Twinrova are the only ones who have gold fixtures/jewelry along with the higher ranked guards for their protective elements (which is why I think it could arguably be pale bronze or yellow brass, which is a common and highly durable gold alternative).

The Gerudo are implicitly just surviving in OoT, and Hyrule speaks of them like they’re monsters (except for the one guy in town who has a fetish). More than that, WW establishes that his real grief comes from the weather, which any mortal is powerless to control.

So Ganondorf is powerful as a person, but powerless as a king, which is literally the only thing he was born to be.

Be that as it may, though, he is a well-loved king, and a survivor, and a thief, so he also has to embody both wisdom and courage too!

Zelda is the most obvious mirror to Ganondorf. She is a very powerful woman politically and magically, but physically-- compared to Ganondorf -- she's terribly meek. That's the obvious read, that they're 1:1 Parallels, but her real weakness lies in her courage.

Zelda (in OoT) leans on her massive political power -- In the child timeline, she literally sees a foreign dignitary executed before he does anything wrong, based on a recurring dream she has.

Do you know how insane that is? Do you realize how powerful she is?

Ganondorf is not just some guy -- he's a foreign KING. He's a KING that a TEN YEAR OLD had EXECUTED based on VIBES.

And we think she embodies wisdom because her vibes were (as we, the audience know) correct. But it's actually because as an adult, she understands that none of it needed to happen that way. That the only reason Ganondorf was able to pull off his stunt and get the Triforce at all was because she tried to control the situation, sending Link to gather everything Ganondorf couldn't get himself and put it all precisely where Ganondorf needed it to be.

Despite being a child at the time, by the end of the story, by the time she's Sheik, Zelda is taking full responsibility for what happened, and is doing everything in her now extremely limited power to fix it. She's so sorry to need Link, and at the end of it all is desperate to give him another chance to be a kid, and to be innocent, and to be happy, because she realized so quickly that she never should've involved him, visions be damned. She knows none of it was his fault or his business, and she's mortified that she dragged him into it in her own attempt to control the weather.

These other two items shift in other games -- WW and Twilight Princess show us a Zelda with tremendous courage and very little power, physical or political. And then the Wild's era, despite removing the Triforce narrative, shows us a Zelda with immense power and terrible guilt and insecurity -- her power locked behind her fear, and she is only able to access both when she embraces courage.

Which brings us to Link.

Link, on the surface, is a third wheel in a chess game between ancients. But the reality is that he's the base of the prism. He's the foundation that reflects both of the others.

There are MANY different personalities for Link, and personally my favorite gag is that Link is simply too stupid to be scared, but that's just a gag -- because something I've come to really enjoy and respect about him is that he consistently displays fear. Link embodies courage because he is full of fear and chooses to fight anyway. Link leads a good life. He is comfortable, he has family, he has friends, he knows peace. What makes Link courageous is that he is willing to give up his access to all of that if it means that everyone else keeps theirs.

Link will lock himself in a room with the apocalypse if it means he's the only one who gets hurt, and it's not because he believes this is his sacred duty, or his life's purpose -- he'd much rather be at home chasing chickens around or riding his pony through some pretty scenic route -- it's because he is so full of love for other people that he's willing to give up anything to keep them safe.

Link's not very powerful, but he is also unburdened by any desire to be powerful. Link's not very wise, but he is unburdened by any desire to be wise. Link is content in who he is, Link is happy to keep things simple. But Link is so brave that he becomes a leader, which actually makes him the most dangerous of the three.

Courage, unburdened, is fucking terrifying. To both Wisdom and Power. Because, unlike Wisdom and Power, Courage is contagious.

Link can empower and inspire and reveal truths others might not have been able to find on their own. Link doesn't need charisma or brutality. Link can build armies just by being observed.

"But Sketches, you haven't really said anything about how Link reflects the other two." It's subtle! But he does. I see it like this:

• Ganondorf reflects Link's relentless determination, refusing to stand down in the face of impossible odds. In this way, they're connected by their power and courage. • Zelda reflects Ganondorf's burden of being born in a crown, forcing them to learn leadership, and how to use their recklessness strategically, as children. In this way, they're connected by their power and wisdom. • Link reflects Zelda's sense of love for the faceless innocent, and her dedication to protecting all who can't protect themselves. In this way, they're connected by their courage and wisdom.

Because the inherent configuration of the triforce requires those connections to be balanced -- Separately they are overwhelmed by their traits. Ganondorf is willing to sacrifice everything he is in order to reach his goals, Zelda is so pre-occupied with preventing prophecy she ends up instigating it, and Link is so ready to step in and help that he never considers the consequences.

Every single one of them, left to their own devices, would rather see themselves destroyed than fail those who may or may not be relying on their success. They're all very similar, highly reflective characters who all represent compelling foils for each other and yes, display how their unfettered strengths are also the thing that damage them most.

#i LOVE triforce plot #I will never stop loving triforce mythos #FUCK good versus evil give me people being desperate and flawed #lozhc #oot eidolon #this is a very sloppy disorganized essay but I'm done looking at it I'm setting it free laksjdla

[sammyhale]

Everyone is afforded some level of understanding except suddenly Sam and Dean? Nah. We’re all allowed to feel how we feel, obviously. This is how I feel. 

One of my favorite things about this show has always been its ability to be realistic about human beings trying their best, even when flawed, and not trying to make characters be "perfect." Sam and Dean, in particular, are, obviously, human. Some fans are mad at the Winchesters for manipulating Jack. People are allowed to feel how they feel. But I'm taken aback by those referring to them as villains and how quick certain judgments are being laid out without any acknowledgment for what they are going through emotionally. 

I've seen very little regard for the mix of emotions in that scene and how human and relatable it was. Not arguing good or bad here. Arguing from an empathic, psychological viewpoint which has always been an element to this show. It's never been black or white. Take Dean, who is angry, hurting, vengeful, and as a hunter recognizing that in his current, soulless, unpredictable and ultra powerful state, Jack is a threat all at once (side note: this thread brought to you by someone who loves Jack). Dean manipulates Sam into getting Jack in the box because he knows they're close. You can call that wrong, but for the sake of my point, we’ll go with flawed. He's human, he's emotional, he's completely messed up (see: sobbing alone in the woods) and all he can think about is his mother was turned to ash (by, yes, family, by someone he loved) and suddenly taken from him again on top of the weight of being a hunter and there's a dangerous nephilim killing people. 

Again, I love Jack. His relationship with Sam in particular means the world to me. And yes, he was being manipulated in this ep by Dumah. But like Jack himself said, he snapped. He wasn't even trying to kill Mary. He lost it. Yes, he thought he was doing good when he was being manipulated this ep, but he is absolutely a loose cannon at the moment. And without his soul, so casual about “whoops, killed your mom.” Also, what we see Jack going through as an audience can't apply to the knowledge other characters have (i.e., audience perspective and knowledge of everything going on versus the characters' perspective and lack of omniscience). 

Now, Sam. Sam who is trying to rationalize and compartmentalize his grief and pain (see: burying as much of it as he can, they know mom is in a good place, etc) not just of losing his mom, but what's happening with Jack. Sam has cared for this kid from pretty much the beginning. Always had his back, called him "our kid," wanted to be a good dad and even got parenting advice from Mary. Imagine your kid killing your parent and that you have to be the one to deal with that. 

Now, that scene. When Jack called what happened to Mary "the accident" my jaw dropped. Pure emotional response. And this is where it's relatable. If someone spoke about my dad’s death the way Jack did, so casual and cold, it would fucking kill me. Imagine, first, being Dean. Fresh loss. Full of anger and pain. And the person who killed your mom just likened it to "an accident" when she was literally ash. Nothing left. The same person who you looked at as family betraying your trust and love by killing one of the most important people in your life. And that person is now acting like it was nothing because Jack is a naive, soulless kid, fair enough. He’s not meaning to be cold, not “meaning” to do bad things because he’s convinced all of the killings (don’t forget - he’s been MURDERING people) are somehow good. 

But that doesn't take away from the emotional pain of our boys. Go to Sam. When Jack says that about Mary, Sam starts to tear up. Because Jack’s calling mom's death an accident, saying it so casually. This kid he thinks of as a son doing something unimaginable to them. And Sam is also recognizing that Jack really does not comprehend that he did something "evil" or bad. He's not being malicious; he genuinely doesn't understand how hurtful he is being and Sam gets that and hates that this is what they're doing. It was all over his face, especially after Jack was in the box and he had to leave the room. His first reaction was to drink. Not in celebration (I literally saw a tweet accusing them of that) but to numb. 

Dean is angry, but deep down cares about Jack. That doesn't just go away, but he’s shoving it aside and grief and rage have taken over. Sam and Dean are dealing with a really fucked up situation of this dangerous being killing their mother who they happen to think of as family but he could easily just "snap" at any time so they have to do something and guess what? They have a box, might as well use it because they are desperate. Because they are humans who don't get to properly grieve, ever, and it's always on them to fix it as hunters. 

Imagine being in those shoes. These guys have had their flawed moments over the seasons. They have made mistakes. And I love that because otherwise, they're not human. Our boys have never been perfect. But they've always been good. There is a difference between being a bad, evil person versus being good and fucking up sometimes. I have all the empathy in the world for them because of the weight of trauma, their childhood, losses, hunting, trying to save people, being heroes and sometimes failing on top of everything else --- all things considered, they're pretty fucking incredible men after all that they’ve gone through we can’t even begin to really comprehend. 

It's okay to be upset if they do something you think is wrong, but to throw them away entirely and call them villains or monsters or say they don't give a shit about family? Part of their family was just fucking killed and that same person is a ticking time bomb who was so easily convinced into straight up murdering other people. Honestly, the more hurtful things I’ve seen posted feels like some fans looking for an excuse to hate them. There is so much more going on here than just oh, they tricked poor Jack into a box. That's not what I saw. I felt for all three of them in that scene. I challenge anyone to jump into any of their shoes and try to do better with the knowledge they have individually and what they are and have suffered through. You're telling me you would be the pinnacle of humanity? 

This particular post isn't about whether or not they made the right choice. Fans can argue either way, and a lot of it depends on how you feel about Jack. It was desperate (and oh, for the people ignoring much of the dialogue and other scenes as well as the promo for next week - Sam was never going to let Jack stay in that box forever. Also, those saying, well why aren’t they talking to him through the box? We literally only got to see Jack in the box for a couple of minutes, y’all. We never got a chance to see what the boys would have done and if you really think they never would have gone to talk to him you don’t know these guys).  

This long-ass post is about the why, and that you can be upset but also, maybe, understanding? That this fucking sucks for all involved? Why is Jack the only one receiving empathy and understanding? Why aren’t they all? Sam and Dean didn’t “give up on family,” they are in an impossible, painful, fucked up situation. Mistake or otherwise. This show is capable of being so heartwrenching because it digs so much deeper than right or wrong but everything in between and how complicated all of that really is, especially when you're Sam and Dean Winchester and have that history and that constant weight and trauma and responsibility to carry. 

Be upset; it's supposed to be complex, not easy. They're supposed to be good and also make mistakes. But, again, to just throw them away without any regard for what they were thinking or feeling? That mentality is lost on me. This episode was honestly such a deep dive into raw human emotion and psychology for all involved, revolving around grief, desperation, and broken families. On top of that, still being in charge of saving people and trying to keep the world safe. Imagine that weight. That is always going to be complicated and never pretty or perfect. Sam and Dean Winchester are not villains or monsters. Full stop. 

#sam winchester #dean winchester #supernatural #spn spoilers #castiel #jack #long post #shpost #I'm so frustrated with some of what I've seen man #this isn't about people upset at the scene #but some of what's being said about the boys #without any consideration at all for what this is like for them #miss me with that bs

[adenthemage]

shoutout to @madness-to-my-method​ for enabling me!

Here’s a long post where I dumped all my thoughts about tfp Starscream into a Google doc, please do enjoy and sorry for the length in advance! 

Categories include (but not necessarily limited to, as I’m an unorganized mess,) Wants vs Needs, How the Pit Does His Head Work, Megatron, Heroic Traits, and additional headcanons.

Wants vs Needs: The core to both Starscream’s want and need is the desire to be respected by others. Starscream is, of course, a very ambitious person. He knows exactly what he wants, and what he wants most of all is control of his own life. His own ambition and mad brand of genius amplify this to world-domination-levels of control. The want of power and being feared by others is a by-product of the core desire to be respected.

What he needs is someone to trust. He needs someone to ground him back in reality and help him recover from the serious damage those billions of years of abuse has done to his psyche. This will probably never happen, because Starscream will never let anyone get that close. When he lives in a world where Megatron constantly hurts him and no one has ever stepped in to help, of course he would learn that he should never rely on anyone else. That he has to help himself first and foremost because no one else will.

The closest person to ever almost gain his trust was Knock Out, and Knock Out never even realized it. It’s shown blatantly more than once that Starscream doesn’t forget when people do him a great service or disservice. He tends to operate on a weird ‘eye for an eye’ sort of honor code. If you save his life, he will remember that. KO saved Starscream’s life at least once, and it’s easy to see especially in the episode Thirst that Starscream starts to sort of respect the guy (and the genuine flattery didn’t hurt either.) Meanwhile, in the same episode, we can see KO becoming perhaps a little disenchanted with always being left behind or thrown under the bus after all he’s done to look out for Starscream.

KO put himself out there to help Starscream, (barring the ending of ep Thirst, but unfortunately that’s just the behavior expected of him,) and Starscream realized that in some capacity. On the other hand, Starscream was willing to let KO get hurt to save his own hide at every turn, and KO didn’t miss that. So it’s no surprise in the end, when Starscream rescues KO and hands him a powerful weapon and turns his back to him, nor when KO takes that opportunity to throw Starscream under the bus to save his own hide.

This is why I believe it is nearly impossible for Starscream to form any positive relationships after the ending of tfp. He was already basically there during the series, he likely already had the mentality that ‘trusting anyone=death’, but KO was supposed to prove him wrong, in a way. It was essentially his last chance to change, but instead he was proved right as a result of his own actions. He is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Starscream desperately needs to be saved from himself. He will never get this. Starscream wants power and control. In his relentless pursuit of this, he has ruined his chances at getting any of the above.

How the Pit does his head work: Starscream, as I mentioned briefly before, is kind of a genius. It’s not really the conventional type, though. He is observed for most of the series coming up with outlandish ideas on the fly (heh,) and they’re usually pretty hit or miss, but when they work they really work. It definitely helps that Starscream is quite honestly willing to sacrifice anything and everything short of his own life if he thinks there’s a chance it’ll work out in his favor. He takes risks-- granted a lot of the time it’s out of necessity, in his mind. ‘If I pass up on this chance, it might cause my death later on.’ He has a combination of a mind that comes up with plans most sane bots would rule out as impossible, and a constitution strong enough to act on those plans.

He functions on the (rather correct) assumption that everyone wants him dead, and so every alliance is never anything more than another means to manipulate and probably kill. He is a startlingly good actor when he is either in control of the situation or under threat of death by anyone besides Megatron.

Speaking of! There are two situations in which Starscream will act strikingly differently. When he is in control of the situation, versus when he’s under threat of even just physical harm. When he’s in control, he is grandiose and dramatic, sadistic and gleeful and terrifying. When he gets what he wants, he revels in it. He loves when he has someone else cornered, when he can feel the fear in them, it’s a sense of power that he isn’t allowed to have ‘back home,’ so it’s intoxicating (also, he’s just kinda a piece of shit.) As he is already prone to puffing himself up, his pride may become his downfall in these times (he gloats every once in a while. Depends on his mood. Sometimes he’ll just murder the victim right off the bat.)

When he feels significantly threatened, or otherwise thrown off guard, he may shut down, so to speak. He will give up on fight or flight and turn to trying to trick his way out. This is what the show seems to consider his cowardly side. He will do anything to protect his own life, including begging. His silver tongue is very much his strong suit, so there are several instances of him talking his way out of death. Thing is, he’s kinda smart about watching his own back. He survived the war, after all, and in a situation where he was essentially taken captive he followed all the recommended rules to surviving that situation. Even when he’s panicking, he’s able to plan an escape route.

Megatron: Megatron deserves to fucking die and I’m going to tell you why. Buckle in.

The concluding paragraph to the Want vs Need section was pretty bleak, and it’s Megatron’s fragging fault. What he put Starscream through is some severe abuse. There’s no way to deny that. He put Starscream in a position of power and then proceeded to take away any sense of power, security, control, safety, you name it. He created an environment where Starscream was constantly afraid and paranoid, punished him for every little error, literally beat him to near-death on an occasion that the show spells out for us. He gave Starscream the idea of what he wanted to badly and then tore it away from him.  If I made a Fears section, (which, I might,) Megatron would be near the top of the list.

And it’s infuriating because Starscream thinks that the way to get out of this cycle of pain and fear is to become just like Megatron. And what’s worse, he adapts to the situation, unaware. He learns that failure of any kind means pain, he learns that security will be found in controlling and harming others, he learns that he is worthless and desperately tries to force everyone around him to believe he is worth something, and he learns that believing in Megatron and the Decepticon cause was naive.

He was right about Megatron, by the way. Unstable as his grasp on reality may be at this point, he correctly saw the major flaws in his leader and correctly sought to dethrone him. Look what happened because Megs stayed in power! Megs became a corrupt leader and created a hierarchy where he was at the top and everyone did whatever he said because they were all too scared of him. If he made errors, it wasn’t because he was making decisions without taking into account the opinions of the qualified around him, it was because someone under him messed up somehow and he would punish them accordingly. Also, he uh, fucking lost the war. So yanno, eat shit, Megahoe.

Starscream kept Decepticon presence so well-hidden for the three years they were on Earth, that the Bots didn’t even realize they were there. Can I stress how impressive that is. He managed to operate on Earth enough to at least mine so much fuel as to run a massive warship and feed an army, and the Autobots assumed they were still out in another galaxy. Had Cliffjumper not stumbled upon one of the digsites before Megatron’s arrival, who knows what they could have done with such a potent element of surprise. He would have killed Optimus Prime in one instance if Megatron hadn’t intervened to beat him up. He would have been a far more effective leader than Megatron.

I would also like to note that the Decepticons do not fear him as wholly as they do Bucket Head, with notable distinctions to be made in how KO does not flinch away from Starscream despite being punished for disobeying him once or twice, whereas Starscream will flinch away if Megatron so much as walks towards him. The poor guy flinches at almost all physical contact, even if it isn’t hostile.

Whenever we’re shown Megatron attacking Starscream, Starscream does not fight back. He even refuses to put his hands around Megs’ wrist when he’s being lifted by the neck, which would generally be instinctual. That’s an intense terror to have been instilled in him, but I guess billions of years of severe mental and physical abuse will do that to you.

Heroic Traits: Starscream is a terrible guy, of course. We’ve established that much. But he’s got some traits that are often ascribed to protagonists, which I find interesting, so I’m making note of it. The big one is his perseverance. American stories love heroes that never give up, despite the odds, that try every angle and come out victorious despite hardships. Starscream embodies this trait, but I think the interesting angle here is that he’s persevering in pursuit of some evil-ish goals. Any heroic trait can be perverted into something to scorn, after all. If this trait is pointed at something that isn’t worth pursuing with such fervor, then perhaps that is what makes the difference between a hero and a villain.

The other one is his willingness to act on the problems he sees. The heroes are the ones who take up the calls to action, and far be it for him to be the type to sit back and let things happen. If he can, he will have a say in what happens. He thinks in terms of the bigger picture and goals towards solutions, and these are usually traits framed as worthy of being admired. He is often ridiculed and punished for these traits in the show.

Also, given his dismay at the destruction of the first chance to save Cybertron being done away with, I think it’s safe to assume, somewhere in his mind, he wants the best for their planet. Whether that’s to rule it is a different story--

Headcanons: He has a crooked, fake-looking smile even when he’s being genuine. Fight me. Also, dark lines under the eyes. Ups the spook-factor and the tired-old-man-factor all at once!

The reason Starscream returned to the Cons for season 3 was because he was starving. The red energon was the last of what he had, so he was forced to find a way to use it to earn his way into one of the factions. The Cons were familiar, he knew how they ticked, and trying to join the Bots twice before nearly cost him his life. It was the lesser of two evils.

He talks to himself constantly. He’s a verbal processor. (Although, this one might just be canon.) He also may not be able to differentiate between what he keeps in his head and what he says out loud, occasionally.

He’s a terrifying enemy in a fight, so long as he isn’t taken of guard. Look at him, he’s basically a bunch of knives with wings! Curse you, tfp, for not letting him win more fights, you cowards!

Dark Energon reacts more powerfully to Starscream than Megatron, though it seems to have more downsides for him, as well. It’s effect when he first stabbed himself with a shard was to cause him to burst into purple flames, while Megs just kinda spazzed out for a bit. However, Starscream could not control a Terrorcon with it, and Megatron could. (Not gonna make a call on the visions from the future thing because Starscream wasn’t affected by the Dark Energon for very long.) Megs used the Dark Star Sabre as merely a big slightly-toxic sword. When Starscream used it, it would backfire and cause him pain occasionally, but he was also able to use it to send out a paralyzing shock to everyone within like a 30ft vicinity or something idk I didn’t count but it was pretty impressive okay.

Insert mumbo-jumbo about Vosian Seekers and Skywarp and Thundercracker and Genericons here. He’s shorter than his brothers fighT ME.

Knowing myself, I’m probably gonna add to this garbage sooner or later.

#Starscream #transformers prime #tfp #character analysis #or something akin to that #idk it's dumB I just have alotta opinions plz forgive #I also just really want Megatron to die??? So rude of him to deny me that. #long post #I also have like extensive headcanons concerning the trine and Vos and all but I felt they would take too long to explain #and they're probably stupid loL #anyways this has been marie and marie has been obsessed gnite #Marie says words occasionally

[quousque]

Why Wonder Woman’s Fight Choreography Worked

so in my post critiquing the shit out of Wonder Woman, I mentioned that I liked the fight choreography, so here’s a more detailed post as to why (post is in queue at time of writing, will link it later).

I thought that I would spend the movie quietly stuffing down my exasperation with all the extra twirls and flips in the fighting. Usually, that’s the case when I watch action films, especially superhero/fantasy films. I don’t think that movies should have 100% “realistic” combat choreography, but movies with especially unrealistic fights, with spins, flips, dramatic pauses, etc. really break the immersion and throw me out of the story. Part of this is because I have some experience with a few different combat arts. Those sports aren’t necessarily “realistic” either, but they’re definitely closer to “real” hand-to-hand combat than what you see in most Hollywood movies, and so seeing egregiously unrealistic fights on-screen sets off the constant thought of “wait, that’s not what that looks like” that you then have to squash down so you can enjoy the movie. It’s like watching an actor with a really badly faked American accent (looking at you, Bimblesnip Copperflap). That’s not what that’s supposed to sound like, and it’s distracting (I’m sure that people from Not America have this problem a lot more often, with American films that butcher the shit out of other languages). 

Aaaaanyway, I expected that that would be the case with Wonder Woman, and it sort of was, but not really. I didn’t spend all that much time going “ignore the fact that someone should have shot her in the legs/stabbed her in the back during her flip”. Instead I was engrossed in how fucking awesome it looked.

I think that the reason has to do with how Wonder Woman mixes two different movie atmospheres: the high fantasy comic-book movie world of Themiscyra, Diana, Ares, and the Amazons, and a gritty war movie world of World War I, Steve, and the horrors of war. For the Amazons, it makes sense for them to be doing all these sweet kickflips and shit. Isolated for thousands of years, war and combat has become an art form to them. Their movements are practiced and sure, they never misjudge a move or make a mistake, they never look unsure or desperate, they hardly even break a sweat or breath hard, and of course they’re going to embellish their fighting style. It’s still effective as hell, but did Antiope really need to jump fifteen feet in their air off a shield to shoot 3 dudes she could just as easily have shot from the ground? No, not really. But it looks really fucking cool. The Amazons exist in a world where everything is sort of elevated to this perfected, stylized art form- combat, armor and clothes (you can’t argue that Hippolyta’s metal corset is comfortable, or that the Amazon’s armor is effective and realistic), the way they speak, the way their hair is always fucking perfect, the cliche (not in a bad way) legendary past and Important Artifacts, all of it is contrived as hell, but it’s acceptable in a movie about Amazons because, well, it’s sort of part of the package of the world.

The gritty war movie half of Wonder Woman is the half where the movie tries to emphasize the fact that heroes aren’t always good people, innocents die in war and you can’t save everyone, combat is bloody and dirty and gross and horrific, and there is no honor in battle, no dramatic pauses while you say something witty to the enemy, no spinning around to high-kick another dude in the face because if you do the guy you’re kicking grabs your leg and punches you while the someone else bashes you in the back of the head with a gun.

Throughout Wonder Woman, you can very clearly see the divide between the Gritty War Movie and the High Fantasy Movie. Steve, who’s in the Gritty War Movie, is the one who doesn’t waste his time saving people he knows he doesn’t have the resources to save, he’s the one who doesn’t manage to find the magical option C that lets him save the day and survive, he does what is needed, even if it’s immoral. 

Diana exists in the High Fantasy Movie. She saves everyone because she wants to, not because it makes logical sense for her to be able to. She wins the big fight at the end through Righteous Fury, not a clever plan (not a bad thing, just a hallmark of the High Fantasy Movie). She bends the world through force of will alone. Her final fight is versus the most High Fantasy villain ever- a villainously-monologuing ancient evil god wielding fire and dressed in spiky armor. 

These two halves don’t traditionally mix well. Lots of times, in movies that are trying to be the Gritty War Movie, there’s a fight that is just so perfectly choreographed that it looks silly. It doesn’t look like the characters are trying to kill each other, it looks like they’re playing out a script. Fights in Gritty War Movies (if done right) are scrabbling, punching, fighting dirty, desperation, clawing, and panic. Think about how fucking weird and stupid it would look if Steve fought like Diana did. Not with her skill level- with her style. If he went around throwing high kicks and jump kicks at Germans, or mowing down 20 people like they’re nothing, or pausing dramatically with his hair flowing in the breeze and giving a dramatically determined look and somehow not getting shot, it would look ridiculous. Because he’s in the Gritty War Movie half of the movie. Those moves all are fine on Diana, because she’s in the High Fantasy half of the movie. (NB, the only other movie I can think of whose ridiculously silly combat and lack of effective armor didn’t bother me at all was 300- for exactly this reason. 300 knew precisely what kind of ridiculous, over-the-top fantasy it was, and it didn’t try to be anything different).

What’s interesting about Wonder Woman is that it manages to combine the High Fantasy Movie and the Gritty War Movie remarkably well. Not perfectly- I think that Diana’s final fight and character arc were too stuck in the High Fantasy Realm and missed out on the impact they could have gained from the Gritty War Movie Realm. But really well! Most movies that try fail utterly. For instance, Hunchback of Notre Dame tried to be a silly disney movie, while also being the darkest fucking cartoon you’ve ever seen, and the result was the darkest fucking disney movie you’ve ever seen, with the unfortunate distractions of a silly song and a lame, cop-out ending to the romantic arc. It made a potentially phenomenal movie just ok. The Hobbit trilogy tried to be about 15 different kinds of movie all at once, and just ended up being a mess. 

Wonder Woman was, in a way, all about the clash of the High Fantasy realm and the Gritty War realm. It’s Diana vs. Steve, Themiscyra vs. World War 1, Ares vs. chemical weapons. Idealism can save the day vs. do what you can and mourn later. Like I said, I think the movie kept Diana too much in the High Fantasy realm. Her arc was about her losing her naive idealism about humanity, and choosing to save them- idealistically- anyway. To do that effectively, the movie needed to thrust her much more into the Gritty War Realm. But I digress- that’s a thing for a different post, I guess. Wonder Woman’s fight choreography works so well precisely because the clash of fighting styles is mirroring the clash of realms in the plot and characters. Steve keeps telling Diana that they can’t save everyone, and Diana waltzes in and flips reality the bird and says “watch me”. Her (objectively silly, but also objectively cool as fuck) fighting style is a symbolic mirror of this: reality says “don’t do stupid shit in a fight or you’ll get shot in the back of the head” and Diana’s kickflips waltz in, middle fingers up, and say “I don’t care also fuck your teeth”. It works really well. It emphasizes her idealism and the strength and force of her convictions.

Now, I do think that the movie would have been better if, like I said in my other post, she had lost her High Fantasy fighting style when finally killing Ares, and just beat him to death with her fists. This is because her character arc is supposed to be her losing her naive ideals about humanity, but choosing to save them despite their flaws and darkness. Ending the fight in the Gritty War Realm instead of the High Fantasy Realm would have paralleled that realization- Diana is no longer fighting in her idealized, art-form style, showcasing the true gruesome reality of death, and the gruesome reality that she killed someone, but she is a hero despite that, and her decision to uphold her mission to protect humanity, despite their violence and flaws, is made with her having fully, viscerally experienced those flaws and that violence herself- in herself.

As it was, it felt to me a bit like Diana was still ignoring the realities of war and death, and the High Fantasy Realm was just running roughshod over the Gritty War Realm (plugging its ears and going “lalala I can’t hear you). Diana’s character arc neatly and beautifully brings the idealism of High Fantasy into concord with the ugly reality of Gritty War, but the effect is undermined by the final fight’s insistence on a neat, High Fantasy conclusion, and would have been better supported if Diana had fully immersed herself in the Gritty War Realm and come out the other side with her High Fantasy ideals. 

sorry for the length and the plot analysis digression. If only I were majoring in something that would require me to analyze the shit out of the plot of Wonder Woman...

#wonder woman #wonder woman review #fight choreography

[mermaidsirennikita]

May 2017 Book Roundup

This month was so-so; some releases were good, some weren’t.  But Renee Ahdieh dropped a new book and that’s always a good thing!  I do feel like I read a few books that I normally wouldn’t have (The Love Interest, because I never read male protagonist books) for better or for worse.  Right now I’m working on Angie Thomas’s “The Hate U Give”, so that’ll get reviewed at the end of the month!

China Rich Girlfriend by Kevin Kwan.  4/5.  This sequel to “Crazy Rich Asians” is set two years after the events of the first book, kicking off with the preparations for Rachel’s wedding to Nick.  Of course, her future mother-in-law isn’t to be kept out of the process despite Nick cutting her out of his life, and swoops in at the last minute with the identity of Rachel’s long-lost father.  Meanwhile, Nick’s cousin Astrid is struggling with her marriage still (and her friendship with ex-fiance Charlie), actress-turned-billionaire’s-wife Kitty Pong is trying to fit in to Hong Kong society, and... lots of other drama.  “China Rich Girlfriend” is similarly fun and super gossipy, in the same way that “Crazy Rich Asians” was.  I enjoyed the antics of Kitty, and loved seeing Rachel get to know her family, especially her brother.  Plus, it was refreshingly clear once again that Nick Young, while deserving a firstname lastname introduction, is not a Christian Grey type--he’s a sweet, realistically goofy guy who happens to be hot and rich.  I wish he and Rachel were a *bit* more interesting, but they’re very likable.  What took this book back a bit is that while I appreciate Kwan not wanting to duplicate his first book is the lack of Singapore high society adventures.  I miss Nick’s crazy family, especially his mother Eleanor, whose appearances in this novel were woefully short.  Eleanor is the BOMB DOT COM.  The mainland stuff just wasn’t as fun.  With that being said, I was super invested in Astrid’s storyline, which aside from whatever Eleanor is doing is my favorite part of these books.  So frustrating.  So romantic.  While I didn’t love this quite as much as “Crazy Rich Asians”, I’m still left waiting excitedly for the next book.

The Hundredth Queen by Emily R. King. 3/5.  This fantasy novel takes place in a world in which the rajahs are each allowed a maximum of one hundredth ranis (queens), which they pick from these convent-like places in which young girls are reared to be both wives and warriors.  Kalinda, or Kali, is chosen as Rajah Tarek’s hundredth and final queen, which means that she’s obligated to fight his courtesans, many of which hope to kill her in a chance to take her place as the last queen.  Complicating an already difficult situation are the motives of Kali’s future husband and her desire for a captain in his service.  Among other things, of course.  This book had an interesting premise, but a lot of things became a lot more predictable than they should have been.  I liked moments of women supporting each other, but they were dragged down by stereotypes--like the older queen envying the younger one and being basically all-around kind of evil.  The villains in general were fairly flat, and Kali’s relationship with Deven, the captain in question, just kind of happened out of nowhere.  It’s unfortunate because I don’t mind a forbidden romance cliche if it’s done well, in fact I tend to love it--but Deven and Kali seemed really fucking stupid the entire time. With that being said, it was an entertaining read when I didn’t think about things, and the concept was interesting.  That being said, I feel like the fact that the author used Hindi words versus making up shit for her fantasy world was distracted as fuck--this book isn’t set in India, but it still refers to saris and ranis and much more.  Why?

Into the Water by Paula Hawkins.  2/5.  Single mom Nel shows up dead in the nearby river, living behind her teenage daughter and a sister she hadn’t spoken to for years.  Nel had been obsessed with the pool in which her body was found--a pool with a history of suicides, including that of Katie, her daughter’s best friend. At first, Nel’s death is brushed off as a suicide--but as time passes, it becomes clear that she knew much more than it initially seemed.  Ugh, I wanted to like this so badly because I did enjoy “The Girl on the Train”.  But... what?  I didn’t so much mind that the mystery here was much more obvious than that of TGOTT--or that the themes were just... less about human flaws and reliability, and more about very obvious domestic drama.  There was a bit of a twist at the end, but not much.  All of this I would have cared about more had there been fewer POVs.  Who is the lead?  Nel’s sister, Jules, who has a dark past we keep flashing back to?  Her daughter, the troubled Lena?  But there are a lot of other characters we keep flashing to, and I didn’t care about half of them, and... There was very little suspense.  Not entertaining.

The Love Interest by Cale Dietrich.  3/5.  Caden--a name given to him only recently--has been raised to be a Love Interest.  His task?  To seduce his Chosen and--for the rest of their lives, ideally--manipulate her and sell her secrets to his “owners”.  The problem: a Chosen always has two people competing for his or her affections, a Good and a Bad.  Caden is a Good--the boy next door--and Dylan is a Bad--the quintessential damaged bad boy.  The two are sent to pair with Juliet, a super smart girl whose potential means she’s up for manipulation.  Whoever she doesn’t choose will be killed; and the issue is that Caden is beginning to fall for Dylan, rather than Juliet.  Look, gay prettyboy spies is on paper a great idea.  And there are some charming things about this book.  The conceit of the good boy being pitted against the bad is interesting, and I liked the struggle the boys had.  But it was all a bit young and underdeveloped for me.  Someone will love this book, I just didn’t.

Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy.  4/5.  Teenage Ramona has been living with her father and her sister in a FEMA trailer since Hurricane Katrina.  Now her sister is pregnant, and she feels obligated to stay after high school to help with the baby--even (or especially) after their flaky mom returns.  To add to all the complications, she’s in an on/off sort of thing with a girl who’s closeted, while Ramona, who has always identified as a lesbian, is not.  THEN, her childhood friend Freddie returns to town.  Freddie is a boy; Ramona has never liked boys.  But she might like Freddie.  This book got some shitty ratings by people on Goodreads without it being read; I won’t lie, years ago I once gave a book a one star rating on there because the author was (and still is) a shitty person.  But now I wouldn’t--I just wouldn’t read the book.  I feel like it’s super dicey to review something you haven’t read/seen, and the reason why people have been low-rating this book is because they think that Freddie is turning Ramona “straight”.  No.  The entire relationship is about how complex sexuality is; not all people identify as straight their whole lives until they meet someone of the same sex that they like.  Some people really do identify as gay for a long time and then meet someone of the opposite sex; it happened to a close friend of mine.  My close friend identifies not as straight now, but bi.  There aren’t really labels put on Ramona’s sexuality as she figures it out because she is really JUST figuring it out.  She might not ever like any guy besides Freddie.  She certainly doesn’t stop liking girls.  I feel like Murphy handled the issue really well, and at any rate Freddie and Ramona’s relationship isn’t the point of the story.  The point is the poverty Ramona lives within, and her struggle between her loyalties to her family and her desire to be somewhere else and do something more.  It’s a really lovely story, and I recommend it.

Flame in the Mist by Renee Ahdieh.   5/5.  This Mulan retelling (a retelling in a loose sense but a retelling nonetheless) is set in Heian Japan, and centers on Hattori Mariko, a girl on her way to marry the emperor’s son.  During her journey, she’s ambushed by the fearsome Black Clan, with her guards and servants murdered.  Disguising herself as a boy, she finds the Black Clan and decides to infiltrate their ranks to figure out why she was targeted--and perhaps put off her marriage for a bit longer.  As Mariko is drawn into the world of the Black Clan--and becomes entangled with the mysterious Okami--her twin brother, Kenshin, pursues her relentlessly.  I really love Renee Ahdieh, and I especially appreciate the fact that she writes historical fantasy that isn’t given a European setting.  At first, I sort of doubted the Japanese angle for a retelling of a Chinese story, but it worked here.  Mariko is a strong, unyielding, an flawed heroine who certainly spends a lot of time lying to herself, which I appreciated.  One of the things I loved about this book was how much Mariko learned about her own privilege as a noblewoman, and the reality of the world versus what she’d been brought up in.  (Also, she gets a great callout from another woman in a scene, and it’s just fantastic.)  There is definitely a romance present, but it’s a slowburn in the best way.  Okami is super hot, and Mariko is definitely physically drawn to him before emotions get in the way, which I love.  There are fantastical elements as well, but they’re well-done and honestly, a lot of the story read as a historical adventure to me.  I loved it.

Hold Back the Stars by Katie Khan.  1/5.  (Wow, what a drop.)  Carys and Max are trapped in space with ninety minutes of oxygen left, after which they’ll die.  As they desperately try to find a way out of their situation, they relive their love story and all that went wrong (and right) with it.  I feel like this is one of those “quirky” books where the protagonists are in an outlandish situation but you fall in love with their very real romance.  And I’m not totally against this when it’s done right, but Carys and Max were insufferable, their world didn’t make sense, and I zoned out very quickly.

The Girl in 6E by A.R. Torre.  4/5.  Deanna Madden makes her living as a cam girl, having cyber-sex with men and women for money; she also hasn’t left her apartment in three years, due to her intense need to kill.  Lately, she’s been more tempted to interact with other human beings than ever, in part due to her attraction to UPS guy Jeremy--but she knows exactly how much of a threat she is to society.  But when a client begins showing particularly deviant behaviors, Deanna is drawn out--for better or for worse.  I’m really bad at describing this book, because a good 70% of it is a creeping sense of dread, Deanna working with her clients (and shrink) and the looming threat of the antagonist.  The actual antagonist is nothing amazing.  The strength of the story is Deanna and her struggle between wanting to kill and wanting to protect people--along with the cam subculture.  The author did their research, and you can really tell.  The book is incredibly fast-paced and vivid.  It’s an awesome thriller.  The only reason why it doesn’t get a 4/5 is that I felt that Jeremy wasn’t super compelling, but I didn’t dislike him.

Scribe of Siena by Melanie Winawer.  2/5.  Neurosurgeon Beatrice heads to Siena after the death of her brother, a historian intent on uncovering the secrets of a fourteenth century plague.  There, she discovers the journals of Gabriele, a fresco painter, and upon being sent back in time falls in love with him.  There were subplots, of course, but the main core of the story was Beatrice and Gabriele’s love story, and it was super weak.  He just wasn’t my type of guy--and honestly, he was so ridiculously idealized that he became bland.  For that matter, it didn’t feel like the author did much research about the period; I didn’t feel like Gabriele was a painter of the time, and I took issue with how easily Beatrice fit into fourteenth century society.  Not a winner.

Rich People Problems by Kevin Kwan.  4/5.  The final entry in the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy has the Young clan swarming back to Singapore after matriarch Su Yi has a heart attack.  Nick is left hoping that he’ll reconcile with his grandmother before she dies. At the same time, Astrid is having issues with her divorce and her relationship with Charlie; Kitty Bing, now married to an even richer billionaire, is still struggling to become accepted by upper class society while battling her stepdaughter, Colette; and the villainous Eddie is still social climbing while trying to get as much as he can from his grandmother on her deathbed.  This series is so enjoyable, and while Rich People Problems still wasn’t quite as good as Crazy Rich Asians, I feel like it returned to the roots of the series: Young family drama in Singapore.  I loved learning more about Su Yi, and I admire Kevin Kwan’s ability to let go of the more settled core couple a bit--Nick and Rachel--in favor of tying up the still high key drama happening in the lives of Astrid and Kitty.  This is a very satisfying conclusion, and it was at turns hilarious and heartwarming.  

#books #recommendations