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smhalltheurlsaretaken · 4 years

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THE BOX IS NABOO

That’s it, I’m doing it, I’m writing that stupid meta I’ve had in the works for two and a half years, I’m sharing it with the world. I promised it for last Thursday, my poll was forever ago, but whatever! I’m writing that freaking thing.

(super duper long post, press j to skip)

Enter my rabbit hole.

First thing to establish: the Box makes no sense whatsoever in-universe.

((EDIT: Something I forgot to mention. IRL, the premise of a giant murder cube and the aesthetic - wall patterns, light designs, etc - of the episode come from the 1997 horror movie Cube, (see the episode’s wookieepedia page). However, while the two are very closely linked visually, the Box does not follow the movie structurally or narratively, as you can verify by simply reading the movie’s summary.))

Recap of the context for the "Box" episode (s4e17): Palpatine is planning his own kidnapping. It was never meant to succeed, and while the plan would obviously benefit him (making the Jedi look bad, pushing Anakin closer to the Dark Side, making Republic citizens more afraid -> more docile, etc...) his actual goal is never explained, and it’s weird that he’d go to such extreme lengths for results so minimal that we’re never told what they are.

So Palpatine asks Dooku to kidnap him at the Festival of Lights on Naboo. Dooku hires Moralo Eval to design a giant box-thingy to test bounty hunters to hire the best of them to kidnap Palpatine. Moralo then gets arrested to alert the Republic that something is afoot, and hires Cad Bane to break him out. Obi-Wan - undercover to learn Moralo’s plan - goes with them. They evade capture and go to Serenno, and Bane and Obi-Wan have to pass the box-thingy test. The level of brainkarked logic here... Truly on par with Megamind, Gru and Heinz Doofenshmirtz.

Setting aside the insane plot holes and utterly nonsensical behavior of the villains, the Box itself is moronic from a plot perspective. It’s insanely complex, obviously incredibly expensive and would have taken months (more like years but it’s a short war) to make when it’s not even needed for the dastardly plot! Just hire some guys who have already proven themselves against Jedi! Throw cash at Bane and Embo and a few others! Maybe attack them with your saber and see how they do!

And after all that, Dooku still ends up trying to kidnap Palpatine on his own. I can’t even...

So why does the Box exist? Well, apart from being a nerdy callback to Cube, giving us a good thrill and being generally awesome to look at, it has actual narrative purpose within the SW universe.

The box is Naboo.

What the Box lacks in plot relevance, it makes up for with its heavily symbolic meaning. It very closely follows Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon’s experiences on Naboo - but only certain parts, which I’ll explain later.

We start with clean, sterile environments, SW’s favored way of showing villainy.

Then we have the protagonists locked in a room as dioxis, a poison gas, pours in.

And then they escape... this way.

(Okay, here the shaft is down, not up. And it’s not a ventilation shaft per say, it’s the designed escape route. Same difference).

We then skip most of TPM (namely, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon discovering the droid army, finding Padmé, leaving Naboo, landing on Tatooine, going to Coruscant, etc, etc) to come back to Naboo and go directly to the lightsabers and catwalks.

(Note: in both scenes, Obi-Wan has to propel himself from a catwalk.)

In TPM and TCW, the catwalks are immediately followed by ray shields

And we finally end with the last scenes. Now, they don’t look the same but they are structurally identical.

Obi-Wan is faced with a challenge unsuited for his abilities (facing Darth Maul // shooting three moving targets when he’s far more skilled with a blade than a blaster) on a narrow space above a melting pit/pit of fire.

He first watches someone die failing to complete the task...

... and has to do it himself, faring much better than expected (holding his own against Maul // shooting all the targets easily).

He then almost falls to his death and gets saved unexpectedly.

And then there’s the final showdown.

In both scenes, Obi-Wan is angry. And in TCW Dooku eggs him on, banking on his anger. (More on that later.) In both cases though, he centers himself and is able to overcome both his opponent and his own unbalance. But in TCW, he doesn’t go for the kill, because he doesn’t need to.

The Box, as a literal character-explorator ex-machina, thus shows us Obi-Wan’s growth.

In TPM, Obi-Wan follows Qui-Gon’s lead. In TCW, he is the leader. He identifies the gas, makes the plans. He doesn’t fall from catwalks anymore - he runs atop moving ones. He doesn’t stay stuck behind ray-shields, he finds the solution. (Btw, how did Moralo know what blood type Derrown the Exterminator was? There was a 50% chance of him dying - thus killing all of the bounty hunters. Was that an acceptable outcome? TCW I need answers!) He doesn’t slay his foes, because he’s become powerful enough, skilled enough and wise enough to survive (and win) without needing to kill.

He’s grown - and, even more interestingly, he’s also stayed the same. In the previous episodes, we see some of the dark aspects of Obi-Wan. How he - like all Force-wielders, all people - could lose himself if he stopped maintaining absolute control.

But in the Box, surrounded by the worst criminals of the Galaxy, the most ruthless, worthless people, he’s still kind and tries his best to keep them alive.

The Box is a reminder and a reassurance for the audience that Obi-Wan Kenobi is still there under Rako’s face. He hasn’t lost his compassion, his restrain. He’s still a Jedi. And he’s an awesome, badass one.

And now, for what it tells us about Dooku!

It’s much shorter, don’t worry. Basically, Dooku considers that the best way to pick “the best of the best” of the deadliest people in the Galaxy is making them go through what killed his Padawan. There, I’ve broken your hearts, you’re welcome.

More seriously, Dooku is a manipulative ass. It’s pretty clear that he knows Rako is Obi-Wan, or at the very least suspects it.

He has an interesting reaction upon learning Rako’s identity, he keeps praising him despite his usual distaste for low-lifes, he smirks secretively after Eval says “I’ll show you who’s weak” (not included there because it’s a close-up of Dooku’s lips and no one wants to see that) and he tells Rako he’s very disappointed when he doesn’t finish off Eval.

[Later]

(Look at this smug asshole - I can’t. YOUR GRANDSON IS THE BEST, WE KNOW, STOP ACTIVELY RUINING HIS LIFE ALREADY.)

(Dooku... why...)

Now obviously Dooku couldn’t have made the Box specifically for Obi-Wan, because it would have to have been designed months before the Council ever decided to send Obi-Wan undercover, but he has no qualms trying to use it to push Obi-Wan to the Dark Side. Ffs Dooku, making your spiritual grandson relive one of the most traumatic events of his life on the off chance that he’ll join you (and desecrate his Master’s memory in doing so) is not okay!

Final tidbits of analysis: I mentioned that not all of TPM is mirrored in the Box. What’s omitted is the droids (even though Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon fight B1′s and droidekas between the dioxis and the ventilation shafts) and anything pertaining to Sidious (all the political stuff on Coruscant). You’ll also note that the fake lightsabers are orange.

=> The Box distances itself from anything that connects Dooku to Naboo. Red lightsabers are the trademark of the Sith, so they’re not used. The bounty hunters will be facing Jedi, so logically the fake sabers should be green or blue - and yet they’re orange, the color closest to red without being red. It fits with Dooku’s special brand of dishonesty - he always tells bits of the real story but twists them just enough to absolve himself of any fault and to justify his choices.

(”We can destroy the Sith” -> could maybe destroy Sidious with Obi-Wan, but fails to mention he’s a Sith Lord himself; “the Viceroy came to me for help, that’s why I’m attacking the Republic” -> political idealism is a small part of it, but fails to mention he’s Sidious’ underling and is playing the Viceroy like a fiddle; “Qui-Gon would have joined me” -> maybe, still fails to mention he’s working for the man who ordered Qui-Gon’s death; “I told you everything you needed to know” -> debatable, never said that Palps was Sidious; “Sifo-Dyas understood, that’s why he helped me” -> partly true, doesn’t admit to killing Sifo-Dyas right after getting his help)

So we have a twisted version of Naboo, droid-free (as droids are now irrevocably associated with Dooku, even if that wasn’t the case in TPM) and with sabers that aren’t quite red. Keep in mind that Dooku had already fallen by TPM. (We know this because he killed Sifo-Dyas and created the Clone Army - part of Sidious’ plan - when Valorum was still Chancellor, as per the episode The Lost One.) That means Dooku was (in)directly complicit in Qui-Gon’s death. And the Box doesn’t (=refuses to?) acknowledge that.

(Also omitted in the Box are the Gungans and Tatooine. It makes sense, because Dooku probably wouldn’t have the full details regarding those��parts of Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan’s missio as they weren’t as public, and would see them as irrelevant if he did. He utterly despises Anakin, and Gungans are the type of people he always dismisses out of hand).

Anyway, that’s my two cents about the Box. To quote Lucas...

“It’s like poetry. It rhymes.”

Thanks to @lethebantroubadour @impossiblybluebox @nonbinarywithaknife @ytoz and @kaitie85386 for voting for this one. Next up is a compilation of the Jedi being casually tactile with each other (because they’re a warm and affectionate culture, dammit).

Also thanks to @laciefuyu for giving me gifs I ended up not using ^^; you rock anyway!

#meta #my meta #the box #deception arc #rako hardeen #rako hardeen arc #naboo #obi-wan kenobi #count dooku #cad bane #moralo eval #darth sidious

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salmonid-ink · 3 years

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Let’s talk about Salmonid intelligence!

There seems to be a wide misconception that Salmonids aren’t intelligent, or at the very least, aren’t as smart as Octolings or Inklings. This idea couldn’t be farther from the truth! And because I’m the Resident Salmonid Fanatic™ it’s my job to talk about this.

In hopes to make people consider and think of Salmonids in a better light, and NOT as pets, I’m going to do my best to pull evidence from in-game, as well as interviews, that imply or outright confirm that Salmonids are sapient, much like our beloved Octolings and Inklings.

To start, I’d like to touch on their interactions with other creatures, namely their trade deal with the Octarians. It’s hard to argue for Salmonids not being intelligent when you consider the confirmed fact that they actively trade with other creatures to benefit the both of them.

They exchange their useful Power Eggs (and perhaps vegetables and fruits) to the Octarians for mechanical blueprints, weapons, and machine parts (and potentially tentacle cuts for food). We can wager this trade deal has been going on for a long time, as the Salmonids are fitted to the gills with machinery, and you can make the argument that the Octomaw was inspired by Maws!

While the Salmonids could easily take these blueprints and make the machines exactly as the Octarians planned them, these fish take it one step beyond and put their own twist on things! With their intellect, they’ve customized traditional weapons to suit them better, and the examples can be seen in just about every boss you encounter.

Ink Storm + Brella -> Drizzler

Sting Ray -> Stinger

Ink Jet + Tenta Missiles -> Flyfish

Splash Wall -> Steel Eel

Baller/Splashdown -> Steelhead

Shielded Octotrooper + Roller -> Scrapper

Octocopter -> Chinook

Flooder -> Griller

Octo Seeker -> Mothership

Additionally, they are INSANELY resourceful, able to use any scrap of metal or machinery to make their contraptions, and make them decently reliable. Not to mention the fact that Scrappers are able to repair their cars! On the fly! All while under fire! That takes dedication AND smarts!!

Not to mention the fact that Smallfry, who could very well be babies (and I will argue that they are, as there is no benefit to stunting the growth of ANY creature), are able to pilot Flyfish. They were raised just right in the best environment, and now they’re super smart!

Also, Salmonids are crazy creative, with how they’ve incorporated their cookware into their weaponry. They take their aesthetic to the next level, man.

Next, lest talk about their homes!

It’s vastly clear that they have their own society. At the very least, we can take a glimpse of it with their houses. The Lost Outpost (known as the Colony at Sea in Japan) is a great example of this!

While these houses look like they were cobbled together with recycled parts, which falls in line with Salmonid resourcefulness, they are clearly stable living spaces that were built by he Salmonids themselves with ocean living and fishing in mind.

Additionally, towards the back of the stage, we can see another house with a city on the horizon. While this is purely speculation, I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to believe that this city is Salmonid-owned. The areas you go to are claimed to be restricted ocean zones, and given that you’re so far out that you need a house-sized radio dish just to communicate, it’s hard to believe that the city would be owned by anyone else.

I think these city-based homes would be owned by Salmonids that work with machinery, such as repairmen and mechanics. This could also include artisans! Farmers would obviously live in more rural areas, where they can plant and grow their crops.

We can also glean a similar idea from the Spawning Grounds (called the Salmonid Dam in many other languages):

I will argue until the day I die that the dam found in the Spawning Grounds, as well as the adjacent city, belongs to the Salmonids, as evidence by its proximity to the stage, the green water pouring from the dam, and the very clear Salmonid mark on it.

Whether this city was built by them, or it’s one they took ahold of and built upon during one of their past migrations is yet to be determined, seeing my speculations are even true. Either way, it’s clear that the Salmonids are capable of building structures and homes with ease!

If we talk about their homes, even if this is much more on the speculative end, we’ve also GOT to talk about the factory we can see at Marooner’s Bay:

Again, given the proximity to Salmonid territory, as well as the various Salmonid-themed items around the stage, we can speculate that these factories are Salmonid owned, and perhaps where they work on many of their machines and devices.

Things such as Scrapper Cars, Steel Eels, Flyfish jets, Grillers, and Motherships could be constructed here, or this place could be used for processing water or chemicals! It’s a rather vague factory, so again, this is all theoretical. I haven’t a clue what they do here.

Next let’s talk about their art. The existence of art alone should be enough of an indicator that they have minds to think and feel with! Especially when their designs are as intricate as these:

The most of these can be seen around the Lost Outpost and Spawning Grounds, but every single stage has a few of these markings floating around. I don’t currently have many in-stage caps on hand, but if you take the time to look around, you’ll find a few on the ground and walls!

While a lot of these are very clearly graffiti markings, the intricate designs may have some meaning. While we haven’t a clue what exactly they mean, or what they represent, I think they’re extremely fascinating, and give us a peek into what culture Salmonids have.

They’re likely made with stencils, but all the same, they were designed carefully, and must hold SOME significance.

I have a theory that these designs are primarily to mark specific territories. Perhaps certain marks mean different schools and families! Or some of them could be warnings, such as to indicate Grizz activity (such as with the bear icon, which appears in a few stages).

I believe in part, these are a form of expression, ESPECIALLY if they indicate schools. There are so many unique fish-shaped designs, it’d be cool to see how these correlate to individual groups!

They could also be a visual indicator for Inklings and Cephalopods that, yes, this is Salmonid territory, so you’d best stay away! Because while it’d be easy for a Salmonid to tell what area belongs to who by smell alone, Inklings certainly don’t have that luxury!

At any rate, I’d love to see what personal art looks like for Salmonids. What kind of crafts do they make? What sort of things do they love to paint? We don’t really know, and we can only speculate...

One thing we know for certain is that Salmonids appreciate music. It even seems as though they’re inspired by it, given the descriptions that the Salmon Run songs have.

I feel like this is worth stating, even if their existence is fairly common knowledge: ω-3. A band. That plays complex instruments. And does all their own mixing.

Pretty freakin’ smart, I must say!

Additionally, each of the members have VASTLY different styles. The Cellist is stern and stubborn, and won’t accept anything but the best, be it in passion or in radical works. The timpanist is soulful, passionate, and is straight to the point. The DJ is reckless and disrespectful, yet puts forth his best effort.

All three of them are so unalike to one another in style and personality. They may not even get along that well, but at the end of the day, they value working together SO MUCH that they make amazing, unique, and great-sounding songs that stir and inspire their people.

It’d be amazing to see what other types of music that Salmonids like, because this can’t be the only kind. However the style of ω-3 certainly goes hand-in-hand with the chaotic, resourceful, and determined nature of the Salmonids.

We should also touch up on the fact that Salmonids are stated to have tradition. Aside from their 70-year migration, they’re also stated to pass cookware from generation to generation in Sunken Scroll #19.

"Salmonids are known to keep their weapons in tip-top shape. The frying pans they wield have often been passed down from generation to generation. You can see the unwavering pride of these fierce warriors in their (somewhat crazed) eyes."

I like to think that they also pass things like recipes and other tools down to their offspring and kin. Family and schools on the whole appear to be very important to them, which ties directly into their drive to work together as a unit, rather than separately as a makeshift team.

For some conventional evidence, look at this one bit from the Merry Fishmas piece, posted by official Splatoon sources:

I LOVE this image, and there are so many tiny details that you can make out in this. Such as these two:

THEY ARE PLAYING CARDS, and this ain’t no dogs playing poker bit, either! It looks like the other one is losing really bad... Or going into a food coma. One way or another, the other Salmonid is trying to check up on them, haha. Or maybe they’re trying to sneak a peek at the other’s cards? Who knows! That sly grin tells a story.

Also, there’s this Goldie, who is fishing:

These are all pretty human-like characteristics, which makes me think, all the more, that they’re on par with Inklings intelligence wise. I REALLY want to see more interactions like this someday, it fills my heart with delight and joy.

Phew.. Well, thank you so much for sticking with me through this whole thing. I hope this helps people get more perspective on Salmonids, and what little we know about their community and culture.

#Salmonid #Salmon Run #Splatoon #Splatoon 2 #Other Headcanons #mod stinky

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parvuls · 3 years

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@missellewoods wrote this post, and i wanted to respond to it, but i also didn’t want to add a thesis-length response to their post. the post was about the complexity of the parse iii scene, and i highly encourage looking at it before reading this, because it’s a direct response.

i wasn’t sure i was gonna do it, but i’m fascinated with jack’s pov, so.

(transcripts from parse i-iii, plus visual cues from lva@pvd i)

[jack turns around, obviously unhappy/startled] "kent." "hey, zimms. didja miss me?" [smirks]

so parse shows up at the haus for the second time, after jack’s seen him last in either freshman or sophomore year. jack is not happy to see him. this is probably the part the remains the most ambiguous to us as an audience, because it leads up to parse iii: shitty’s story about parse’s first appearance is supposed to make us think that jack is jealous, and that he’s holding a grudge because parse is living his dream while he’s at samwell. however, this story isn’t included to give us more information about jack’s psych -- it is, after all, what we expect from jack after his year 1 arc -- it’s there so the impact of parse iii is more significant. it’s the first time we’re given reason to doubt jack’s heterosexuality and are given an actual glimpse to jack’s past since ‘the hockey prince’.

so is shitty’s story true? obviously ngozi is playing with the narrative here: smh all claim parse is a modest, super nice bro, but then we hear how he talks to jack in parse iii. meaning, ngozi is telling us: believe no one. you can’t actually know what he’s like, or what jack and he are like.

so our scene begins with jack, 1) either upset because his former friend shows up and triggers his intense jealousy, or 2) is upset because his former flame shows up and triggers unresolved feelings. honestly, in my opinion, jack himself isn’t sure which one it is. which is a great set up for the unfolding of the next scene.

[jack and parse are talking about jack’s nhl plans]

"...you have no clue?" "i mean... it could be montreal, it could be l.a. okay? i don't know." "...what about las vegas?" "i... i don't know, okay?" "..." [parse probably moves closer/tries to kiss him] "pars---" "..." "..." [whispered] "--kenny... i can't do this." "...jack. come on."

their conversation starts out relatively neutrally. we’re given enough clues from this update and the future of omgcp to deduce that parse isn’t over what he and jack had. this is also the very reason they don’t work and why this conversation takes a sharp turn downwards from here: parse equates his feelings and whatever sexual/romantic connection they had to the chemistry they had on the ice. to him, jack leaving him and going to play for some obscure college is just as upsetting as their ‘thing’ ending. parse spends most of this scene trying to convince jack to come play with him in lv -- the only reason we even know it’s in some way romantic is because of his reaction to the Cup Kiss in year 3. otherwise, he makes it sound like he misses jack as a liney and best friend, maybe as a sexual partner.

but the catch is, jack was in a really bad place when they were playing together, and he doesn’t want that back. does parse know how bad things were? does parse know about jack’s anxiety? how well does parse know jack, really? this is all kept intentionally hidden from us. you could say that they were best friends, so it’s reasonable that parse knew all of this (thus painting his character in a much worse light), or you could say shitty is jack’s best friend and he still didn’t know major things about him. ngozi doesn’t want us to be able to tell how aware or not aware parse is.

so in the beginning of this scene, we’re on the edge of an inevitable cliff. parse wants jack back, as a friend/flame and as a teammate, and jack’s obviously torn. he doesn’t push parse away immediately, but he also doesn’t consent. my opinion is that jack is torn between his old dream (all his 18-year-old self wanted was to play in the nhl with parse, and win win win), and knowing this isn’t what he wants. but does not wanting that necessarily means he doesn’t want parse himself? jack’s obviously not sure, because he lets parse corner him/kiss him before he decides it isn’t right.

if anyone here has ever met an old flame, especially someone who was bad for you but you cared for for a long time, you’ll know how easy it is to fall into patterns. for a moment the idea of having that all again is so enticing. but then the illusion shatters, and...

"no, i-- ...uh." [and then much louder] "kenny--" "--zimms, just fucking stop thinking for once and listen to me. i'll tell the gms you're on board and they can free up cap space. then you can be done with this shitty team. you and me --" "get out."

here is the most important part of this scene in my opinion. kent doesn’t know jack anymore. anyone on the face of the planet could tell you that jack is a hardass, that he’s tough on his teammates, that his dream is the nhl. but jack loves his team. he didn’t necessarily always know how to be their friend, but he certainly doesn’t think of them as a ‘shitty team’ he’s stuck with.

and parse makes the mistake of shattering the illusion he’s built (with the clever use of the wording ‘shitty’, which probably reminds jack of the friends he has now). jack wakes up from the dream he had when he was 18 and comes back to reality: he’s samwell men’s hockey team’s captain, he cares for his team, and his new dream is to win the ncaa championship and go to the nhl. he doesn’t want this thing parse is offering him, because the person he’s offering it to isn’t him anymore.

and here is the first twist of this scene that op is referring to: jack starts to get angry.

"--jack." "you can't-- you can't come to my fucking school unannounced --" "--because you shut me out--" "--and corner me in my room--" "--i'm trying to help--" "--and expect me to do whatever you want--" "FUCK -- JACK!!! what do yo want me to say? that i miss you?” [twists his fingers in jack’s shirt, crowding into jack’s space. jack turns away, frowning angrily] “i miss you, okay? ...i miss you."

does parse really miss jack, or is it a ploy? honestly, i think the facial expressions we’re privy to in year 3 hint that he really means that. he misses jack. he doesn’t necessarily miss the current jack (it’s likely that he’s stuck on the fantasy of what they had when they were younger), but he means what he says. he wants jack back.

but jack is angry, because parse is complicating things for him. they were talking about playing together, and then parse insulted his choices, and now parse is talking about being together, and jack -- who took A YEAR PLUS to figure out his feelings for bitty -- probably has a hard time handling all of these things at once. for parse there’s nothing complicated here: the jack he knows wouldn’t want to play for a college team (therefore, =shitty team), and playing with jack=being with jack.

for jack none of these things work like that anymore. they’ve grown too far apart.

"...you always say that." "...huh. well, shit. okay. ...you know what, zimmermann? you think you're too fucked up to care about? that you're not good enough? everyone already knows what you are but it's people like me who still care."

and... okay. so things go south now, and quickly. if you’re a parse stan... honestly, i hope you’re a parse stan who’s aware parse needs a shit ton of therapy.

jack insults parse, whether intentionally or unintentionally, by being casual about parse’s declarations of feelings. to be fair, jack thinks parse was playing dirty. but parse doesn’t see it like that, so he’s offended, and apparently when he’s offended he gets angry and lashes out.

now. the unfortunate thing about knowing someone at their most vulnerable time is that you also know exactly how to kick them down to their lowest. we all hurt our loved ones the most, because we know them the best. but parse doesn’t just hurt jack here: he goes for the jugular. he kicks jack and then makes sure he stays down. and this is actually the most we see parse say in the whole comic, so... we can’t judge parse as a whole person, but. i’m sorry. he’s definitely not a good friend to jack.

(how bad of a friend? depends on how aware he was of jack’s anxiety and thoughts and feelings. if he was aware, this is a highly emotionally abusive thing to do. if he wasn’t aware, he was just being a shitty friend. either way, parse needs therapy, because he’s holding on to a lot of anger and is expressing it in a really awful way. but we can’t analyze him any further as a character because parse is not the focus of this story and we don’t know anything more about him.)

[faintly] "--shut up--" "--you're scared everyone else is going to find out you're worthless, right? oh, don't worry, just give it a few seasons, jack. trust me." [probably begins shaking] "...g-get out of my room." "fine. shut me out again." "and stay-... stay away from my team." "why? afraid i'll tell them something?" [voice growing stronger] "leave, parse." [door opening; jack and parse are surprised to find bitty outside the door. jack is visibly shaking, holding the attack at bay]

op asked how jack’s anger turns into a full blown panic attack. the answer is parse goes for his weak points faster than jack can prepare himself, just when jack was open for an attack. he calls jack ‘worthless’, which is jack’s second worst fear, and then (probably) tries for the sexuality angle. it’s unclear whether he’s threatening to out jack or to tell the team about his substance problems, but more likely the former, because the latter was all over the news.

parse is clearly upset here. is he just angry for being rejected? is he humiliated? is he heartbroken? we don’t know. the only hint we have is ‘shut me out again’, which implies he’s at least still upset about jack cutting him off after the draft. what we do know is that jack, with the last shreds of his will power, tries to defend his team. tries to cling on to the idea that he knows there are people who believe in him (this is very hard under the cloud of anxiety).

either way, jack’s panic isn’t even about parse or what parse used to be -- it’s just that parse knows where to press.

[parse clears throat, putting his indifferent mask back on] "hey. well. call me if you reconsider or whatever. but good luck with the falconers." [lands the final blow] "...i'm sure that'll make your dad proud." [jack's panic attack takes over. he retreats to his room, slams the door, and slides down to curl into himself on the floor for an undetermined amount of time]

and then parse, in front of jack’s teammate, lands the worst punch he has in his arsenal. jack’s worst fear. disappointing his dad.

jack spent all of year 2 talking to nhl teams and being watched by scouts and negotiating contracts, and consulting with his dad and his teammates to make a decision. he’s not sure about the falconers until much later, but he obviously leans towards them. which is a whole essay in and of itself: jack leans towards the falconers, a smaller, younger team with no cups, but with a lot of potential and good people and something to prove. this is a metaphor for jack’s growth as a character. he could go for a more established team to look good in front of the world, or pick a winning-streak team like the aces to feed into his anxiety. parse is taunting him with his own growth, making him doubt himself: you think you can change? you think you can really be someone new after playing in some college team? if you’re not who you were when you were 18 and first-pick at the draft (before you ruined everything for yourself and ended up here), you’re no one. and your dad will never be proud of you.

[end scene.]

#omgcp #omgcheckplease #jack zimmermann #pimms #...? i really don't wanna tag that but i guess that's accurate.#text #meta #i get easily triggered by pimms discussions but i do think this scene was brilliant story-wide #*wise #so i wrote out all my thoughts and i hope no one who disagrees will get overwhelmingly mad at me

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buzzdixonwriter · 3 years

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COMPARE & CONTRAST: Birth Of A Nation vs Gone With The Wind vs The General

TRIGGER WARNING: Talking about race in American culture and movies, so some readers may want to brace themselves (looking at you, wypipo).

. . .

Confining “classic films” to movies that: Demonstrate technical expertise, and Influenced other films and creators

-- we have three (and only three) movies about the American Civil War we can safely put in the classic bin.

Before we go further, let’s restate the obvious: A film’s impact in the medium of motion pictures is separate from its impact on the culture as a whole.

Case in point: Leni Riefenstahl’s The Triumph Of The Will is a perfect textbook example of how to stage massive crowd scenes for maximum visual impact, and how to promote individuals and ideas in purely cinematic terms.

It also contributed mightily to the Nazis’ rise to power, their subsequent wars of conquest, and the deaths directly and indirectly of tens of millions of human beings.

It’s important to know The Triumph Of The Will exists and why it’s important in film and cultural and political history, but you need never subject yourself to its vile hate mongering.

With that in mind, let us proceed.

. . .

Here are the three bona fide classic movies about the American Civil War:

The Birth Of A Nation (1915)

Gone With The Wind (1939)

The General (1926)

They are all problematic for the same reason: They embrace the “lost cause” myth of Southern white supremacists.

The Birth Of A Nation is by far the worst offender of the trio, helping to restart the Ku Klux Klan and promulgate jim crow for decades to come.

Director D.W. Griffith was a Southern boy, Kentucky born with a father who served as a colonel in the Confederate army (Kentucky, a border slave state, tried to stay neutral at the beginning of the Civil War, then leaned heavily towards secession, but by 1862 threw its lot in with the Union).

Griffith bought into the lost cause myth heavily, and The Birth Of A Nation explicitly states African-Americans are fit only for slavery, becoming a murderous / rapacious mob once freed, and the Ku Klux Klan were gallant heroes attempting to turn this tide.

Griffith tries to have it both ways, depicting Abraham Lincoln as a thoughtful and compassionate leader who would have treated the South better had he survived (ignoring the fact Andrew Johnson did everything in his power to prevent the Union from holding the South accountable, and that Lincoln’s assassin was a Southerner who killed him in revenge after the war ended).

There can be no denying Griffith’s enormous talents as a film maker (again, separating thematic content from the technical expertise). While the Hollywood publicity machine was quick to claim The Birth Of A Nation was the first feature length film (i.e., 65 minutes or more), the truth is the Australians, the Chinese, the English, the French, the Italians, the Japanese, and the Russians all made feature films long before Griffith, and Griffith wasn’t even the first American to make a feature but was preceded by at least a half a dozen other film makers.

What Griffith was, however, was a master synthesis of all the techniques that preceded him. Griffith made movies better than anyone else of his era, and his best films are still eminently watchable to this day.

That’s what makes The Birth Of A Nation so harmful and destructive: Like the Riefenstahl film, it seduced common audiences into complacency while stirring the worst people to action.

It’s a film whose final cost is not measured in dollars but in innocent blood and tears.

Griffith wasn’t stupid, and while he might have felt personally immune to the criticism of his racist attitudes, he was savvy enough to recognize publicly embracing them would not serve his career well. He followed The Birth Of A Nation with Intolerance, an epic that jumps around in its story lines like a Tarantino film, and in later movies displayed a far gentler albeit still patronizing attitude towards African-Americans.

But the damage was done, the lost cause myth cemented into not just the Southern psyche but white America in general.

Like The Triumph Of The Will, I would never recommend The Birth Of A Nation as a “must see” film to anyone. If you’re a film historian and you want to subject yourself to this cancer, that’s your choice, but if you’re a student of film there’s nothing Griffith did technically or artistically in this movie that he didn’t do better in his later efforts, and other film makers have since emulated his innovations and built upon them.

. . .

For many decades Gone With The Wind was celebrated as the pinnacle of American film making, but once the romantic blinders were removed we see it for what it is: An over long, over blown epic that promulgates what we now recognize as white supremacy, classism, and rape culture.

And while it uses every technical trick in the book, it doesn’t use them as well as Orson Welles did a year later with Citizen Kane.

Gone With The Wind is really two movies: A well made Civil War epic and its lackluster Reconstruction sequel.

They should have ended the movie with “As God is my witness, I’ll never go hungry again!” (Seriously. The only two memorable scenes in the second half other than “I don’t give a damn” both center around Scarlett O’Hara’s dresses.)

Again, let’s emphasize that a technically well made movie does not excuse bad intentions in thematic content.

Gone With The Wind is a rip-roaring bodice-ripping historical novel, admittedly well research and well written by Margaret Mitchell.

She isn’t necessarily writing from a conscious desire to spread the message of white supremacy, but as a Southern gal who grew up in the midst of the lost cause myth, she ends up breathing that message into every line of the book.

The movie version can’t escape that, nor does it try to. There’s a brief scene early on where both Mitchell and the later film makers prefigure the lost cause myth where Rhett Butler explains to the good ol’ boys at the Tara cotillion that they’re about to be brutally decimated by the Union in a war of attrition, but both author and film makers side with the good ol’ boys and support their God given right to throw away their lives and destroy their homes in an attempt to keep enslaving millions of innocent people.

That last part in bold never gets mentioned, does it? As others have observed, Gone With The Wind isn’t antagonistic towards African-Americans, rather it treats them as if they don’t exist other that walking / talking props among the scenery.

In that regard, Gone With The Wind is on par with The Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged (only with a far superior writing style). The protagonists of all three books are narcissistic sociopaths who will lie / cheat / steal / blow up buildings because the common folk -- the people who actually put in the grunt labor to make things work -- are nothing but slaves there for the elites’ entitlements, and God (or market forces, take your pick) help them if they ever raise their heads or voices -- much less their hands -- in protest.

Oh, but doesn’t it look gorgeous? As those beautiful rich Technicolor gowns and sets and matte paintings. All those balls and dances. All those smoldering looks. All those flames as Atlanta burns…

There’s the true hero of the story: William Tecumseh Sherman. The mofo cut the Confederacy in half, destroying lines of supply and communication, obliterating any rebels who dared to stand up to him, shortening the war by several months, and freeing tens of thousands of enslaved people in the process.

None of which would have been necessary if a few greedy bastards such as the O’Haras had lived Christian enough lives to say, “Y’know, maybe the way we’re treating these people is wrong…”

Gone With The Wind proved insanely popular, on a scale with The Birth Of A Nation a generation earlier, and once again it made it easier for mainstream middle American whites to turn a blind eye to injustices still being perpetuated on African-Americans of that day.

And it kept playing again and again, one of the very few non-Disney movies to enjoy a substantial re-release schedule, popping up about once every seven years in theaters until the arrival of first cable then VHS.

And it’s still popular, still a steady seller in DVD and BluRay.

That’s in no small part to the skill of both Mitchell and the film makers in hiding the most egregiously problematic elements of the story under a think patina of romanticism. It became a cultural touchstone that everyone knew and everyone could reference, from political cartoons to Carol Burnett skits.

But it’s still racist and white supremacist, saying African-Americans exist only to serve whites.

It’s still classist, saying not all whites are worthy of what the upper class hogs for itself.

It’s still about rape culture, saying all Scarlett needed was one good rape by Rhett Butler to set her straight.

Is it a product of its era?

Absolutely. The same way over the counter heroin at your friendly neighborhood drug store was a product of its era. The same way cocaine laced Coca-Cola was a product of its era.

Just because it wasn’t recognized as a bad idea then means we should still circulate it now.

Compared to The Birth Of A Nation, Gone With The Wind is a far less hate filled work, and one that inspires less immediate harm.

It has inspired harm over several generations by making it easy to overlook the real harm it represents in favor of a romantic antebellum fantasy.

If someone wants to see a film that represents the Hollywood studio system at the height of its creative power, I’d recommend Casablanca or The Wizard Of Oz.

I’d put Gone With The Wind way down on that list, and I’d caution it with caveats, but I would say it represents a good example of the old Hollywood system firing on all eight cylinders.

At least for the first half of the film.

. . .

In most ways, Buster Keaton’s The General is the least problematic of these three films.

In another, it’s as bad as Gone With The Wind.

The good thing about The General is that modern audiences can easily enjoy it.

Buster Keaton chasing after a stolen steam locomotive? What’s not to love?

It’s one of his best comedies and if it’s not the very best, I’d hate to live on the difference.

It certainly lacks the overt racism of The Birth Of A Nation.

In fact, it almost lacks any race at all.

And ironically, that’s what makes it a problem.

In researching this post, I re-watched The General, something I wasn’t willing to do for The Birth Of A Nation or Gone With The Wind.

I re-watched it looking for African-American faces anywhere in the film.

I think I found four.

Two porters lugging a trunk in an early scene at a train station, possibly two small children with their backs turned to the camera at the edge of a crowd about ten minutes later.

That’s it.

In a movie about one of the most crucial events in American history, an event entirely predicated on the issue of the enslavement of millions of African-Americans…that’s it.

Four faces.

Total screen time: Less than a minute.

If critics can justifiably lambast Gone With The Wind for sailing over the bloodied backs of millions of enslaved African-Americans to focus on the luxury liner S.S. Scarlett O’Hara, what can they say about a Civil War movie that almost succeeds in eradicating those enslaved humans from the story?

Paradoxically, this makes The General the safest of these movies to show an unsuspecting audience.

The Civil War is boiled down to the dark uniform army fighting the light uniform army; why they were fighting is never explored in detail.

But the lost cause myth was so prevalent at that point that Keaton and company didn’t need to discuss the causes of the war.

Audiences – even those completely ignorant of U.S. history -- automatically assume the light uniform army are the good guys simply because Buster is on their side.

Buster would never do anything bad, would he?

Of course not!

And so -- =poof!= -- millions of people erased from history.

Top that, Thanos.

To be honest, I don’t know how a modern audience should react to that, in particular an African-American audience.

Disappointment at being culturally short changed again?

Relief at being spared the most egregious stereotyping and white supremacy apologies?

Or just plain enjoy Buster chasing after a stolen locomotive?

The General’s cultural weightlessness helps it become a great film.

It’s a purely cinematic endeavor, with the intertitles used primarily to explain the spies’ and military leaders’ plans and motives, not tell us what Buster is thinking and doing.

For a guy called “the great stone face” Buster could be awfully expressive with his body language, and he needs title cards the least of all the performers in this movie

. . .

So where does that leave us, as a 21st century audience in a 21st century culture?

We can neither deny nor ignore the impact of these three films. Even The Birth Of A Nation, as vile and as hateful as it is, influenced the country and the countries attitudes for a century.

Gone With The Wind feels like something we’ve outgrown, something some audience members can look back on with fondness, but not anything we can fully embrace again.

The General can still make us laugh, and in this case the sin of omission seems far less than the others’ sins of commission.

Learn from the past.

Do better in the future.

#race relations #movies #art #cinema #morals #ethics #politics #Birth Of A Nation #Gone With The Wind #The General #DW Griffith #Buster Keaton

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filmista · 3 years

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Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

“Money? How can you talk about money when I'm talking about souls? We eat and sleep and that's about all. We don't even have any real conversations. We just talk.”

Hitchcock was already on his sixth project in the US when he made Shadow of a Doubt in 1943 (six films in three years!), but reportedly he nevertheless regarded the film as his first real "American movie”. Which was true, in the sense that it was his first story in which the country as a setting was an irreplaceable part of the plot as well.

Where his war thrillers were still set in different countries and films like Rebecca and Suspicion simply took place back in England, Shadow of a Doubt is an American story par excellence, about sudden danger in a safe, all-American suburb and about traditional American values that cease to mean anything in the face of danger.

The story takes place in Santa Rosa, California, it’s the kind of town that looks eerily like Main Street in Disneyland - houses with white fences around them, with nice, of course white nuclear families in them. The Newton family might be the whitest most representative family of all: father Joseph (Henry Travers) works in a bank, mother Emma (Patricia Collinge) stays at home, daughter Charlie (Teresa Wright) has hit puberty and regularly grumbles about the banality of her life, while the two younger children, Ann and Roger, are just kind of there.

That boringness comes to an end when Emma's brother, Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotton), comes to visit. He remains vague about his activities and the reason for his sudden visit. He often makes cynical remarks that they don't often hear at the Newton's and when a local newspaper wants to take a picture of him he must make a visible effort to keep from hitting the photographer in the face. Young Charlie initially finds it all very exciting that her uncle is coming to mess up the status quo in the house, but comes to suspect that uncle Charlie might be a murderer on the run.

The contrast between the innocence of small-town America (that’s probably laid on a bit too thick here with a few very naive ones opening scenes) and the corruption lurking in the form of Uncle Charlie, is the main theme of Shadow of a Doubt The Newtons live in a bright, innocent world, guided by blind faith in authority (“God bless the President of the United States ”, youngest daughter Ann prays at one point) and believe in the values of a simple life. Uncle Charlie on the other hand, makes uncomfortable comments about fraud at his brother in law’s bank (“We don’t joke about that here,” Joseph weakly protests), Goes on monologues about “greedy, fat women ”who live on their husbands' money and in general wants nothing to do with that normal, banal life.

The interesting thing lies in the mentality Hitchcock assumes against this contradiction between innocence and nihilism. The Newtons are, of course, the nominal heroes of the story in the end, Hitchcock neatly extends a happy ending to his film and pays lip service to the conventions (the bad guys must of course be punished in the end). But in the meantime, Uncle Charlie is by far the most interesting character in the whole movie, that’s initially welcomed by his niece as a welcome change from the normally boring life in Santa Rosa, and he is also the only one in the film that appears to be completely living and willing and to live in reality.

Everyone else shields themselves from reality: father Joseph fantasises about murder scenarios, mother Emma stares blindly at the past and seems to live more in her youth then in the here and now, and even youngest daughter Ann is constantly buried with her nose between the books. Everyone in Newton family actually seems to prefer to be somewhere else, somewhere in a less annoying version of reality, with the exception of daughter Charlie, who rebels, and youngest son Roger, who is hardly elaborated as a character. Uncle Charlie, on the other hand, is a smooth, charming guy who seems to know perfectly how the world works and doesn’t need fantasies to make his life bearable.

He might be a murderer but damn it, he’s not boring. Hitchcock could - certainly not in 1943 - let the final victory be for anyone but the Newtons, but it’s clear that he finds Uncle Charlie endlessly more fascinating and amusing. The fact that the Uncle Charlie's nihilism manifests itself during a key monologue as misogyny (with “useless women proud of their money but nothing else ”), gave rise once again to the usual allegations of misogyny against the director, but that doesn't really seem to fit with the nuanced, ambiguous way in which Teresa Wright plays Charlie.

After all, the two Charlies are played out during the whole movie as two contrasting, aspects of the same character. Uncle Charlie is the darkness, young Charlie is the light, but they form a part of the same whole. Hitchcock is constantly playing with a twin theme in Shadow of a Doubt emphasising the similarities between them.

Beyond the fact that they have the same name, they are also both introduced in the same way in the story (we see them lying in bed in similar poses) an allusion to a psychic connection between them (“you believe in telepathy? ”) and Hitchcock constantly insists on their similar character (“I know you don't like people much says Uncle Charlie, but I sense somewhere deep inside you have a secret - just like me ”).

The tension between them is almost sexual - the connection they feel at the beginning of the movie often looks like flirtation - and when Charlie finds out what her uncle really does for a living, she decides to keep quiet. With that decision to choose her uncle instead of law and order, she becomes an ambiguous character, whom we sense could maybe (just maybe) be able to transition to what you would call in Star Wars terms the dark side just like her uncle. Charlie is one of Hitchcock's most interesting female characters, and one that you would probably never find in the film of a true misogynist.

The film by today's standards, takes too much time to really get going and also suffers from an inconclusive romance between Charlie and the horribly boring cop Jack Graham (McDonald Carey) - It's vaguely interesting to imagine what kind of married life the two would have, probably one filled with long, boring evenings in separate twin beds. On the other hand is Hitchcock's distinctive visual style (note how Uncle Charlie is constantly associated with smoke) and excellent acting. Teresa Wright is one of Hitch's most captivating heroines, and Joseph Cotton plays against his sympathetic image with apparent gusto.

As is often the case, the villain in Shadow of a Doubt is much more interesting than the good guys - this is a thriller about a disturbance in the tedious life of awfully normal people which doesn’t dare to openly say it, but does dare to suggest, that such interference isn’t necessarily a bad thing. To commit murder is perhaps not a nice thing, but it does wake one up.

@purecinema @mad-prophet-of-the-airwaves @idasessions @missdubois @film-peaks @siobhanlovesfilm

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nettlestonenell · 4 years

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Armie Hammer wants a sequel to The Man From U.N.C.L.E.—shouldn’t you?

This post is a long time in coming, Gentle Readers and @jammeke, but now, though it might be here, before your very eyes, to think it will be well-laid out would be a mistake. It’s set to be just about as messy as Ilya’s misplaced loyalties and murky motivations.

How dare!

I probably first watched this film well over a year ago (courtesy @jammeke posting things about it). I used Sling OnDemand (I think on TNT). In the ensuing viewings I also watched it in that way, but as I was sitting down for a fourth(?) viewing, it kept coming to me that I was tired of watching it with commercials I couldn’t skip, and I had a sneaking suspicion that it had been edited for time and I was missing out on scenes. [pointless aside: I was also watching the film in chunks, and never as a whole]

Where is she now? What’s the time stamp? How far along did she get? Are you shagging the hotel hostess yet?

So, I, uh, set out to buy it on DVD—without any luck! In the sense that copies I could find cost more (w/ shipping) than buying it to stream. So, I bought it to stream on Amazon. Do I regret my choice, Gentle Readers? No, no I don’t. I do regret burden of knowledge in learning that TNT was already playing the entirety of the film. That was a hard pill to swallow.

Nope, I’ve looked. That’s absolutely everything. Nothing additional lurking around here...

So here it is, as it is, @jammeke, “My Notes on The Man from U.N.C.L.E.”

Look, I don’t know what this film is. I probably can’t fully articulate its appeal. Or maybe I can--certainly after transcribing four page I’ve tried. Number One thing to know about me and fiction/films is that a top draw for me is seeing something out of the ordinary, such as beautiful locations, a historical era, delicious costumes. There are times, frankly, this can trump weak story and undefined character for me. (The best films, of course, combine all three) Certainly, The Man... delivers in the delight of the eyes. Additionally, I must confess that growing up as a person older than @reblogginhood but younger than Miss Fisher, so much of what was on TV was essentially reruns of this film’s iconic Look(tm). So, when I see women dressed like Gaby I am just another three-to-seven-year-old overcome with the drop dead glamour of it all.

Darling, tell me how you really feel...

Some questions I have:

· IS Armie Hammer a hulk of a man? Everyone in this film seems to think so, yet he always tracks to me as trim (rather than hulking)

· Why translate via captions some Russian speaking, but not all?

· IS Napoleon’s backstory directly cribbed from USA’s White Collar?

· DOES Gaby have a German accent?

· Does Ilya get preternaturally attached to all the people he’s ordered to look after? Also, what is his bonding rate with kittens?

Sorry, wrong iteration.

· If Lady Villain knows the lens is wrong—if her technical understanding is that in-depth--does she really need Gaby’s dad to make the bomb?

· How old was Gaby during the war?

· What happens when Ilya gets a NEW puppy assigned to him? (please let this be addressed in film #2)

Hooray for:

· That bathroom fight! *all the Burn Notice feels!

· Gaby is her own lady, and chooses sides as necessary—not always unilateral in her support for either male character. Case in point: she sides with Ilya over the clothes, and Napoleon over the incident of the wallet.

· That delicious (speaking as Rusty, here) Ocean’s 11-stylized action. It’s pretty, so I’m not bored with it. Sometimes a sandwiched montage gets shown, so I’m REALLY not bored. I’ve got 18 tiny moving boxes of things to look at!

· Pinkie rings. There, you’ve told me everything I need to know about that character.

· Solo in a beret. English has not yet found a word for the feeling it evoked in this viewer. Somewhere between ‘precious’ and ‘oh, no’.

See, there? Now you’ve felt it too.

· Goggles! All the accessories! Dune Buggies! (I mean, that’s what I’m calling Napoleon’s chase-scene ride)

Things I adore:

· It seems (after some research) that more than a few folks view Gaby as a third wheel, and though she’s not exactly a Princess Leia commandeering her own rescue and exuding competence and a deserved take-charge-attitude at every corner, she IS a foci for both male characters (though romantically it would seem only for one), just as Ilya is a foci for both her and Napoleon [no one seems to worry about Napoleon, though they should--film #2, anyone?]

· Mechanic Gaby not needing a beauty makeover, or being dragged into one. She gets some nice clothes, but it’s never suggested that she’s not attractive or acceptable before putting them on, and I respect, nay, embrace it.

Oh, my heart. She’s still not as tall as them!

· Ilya, drab pigeon Ilya, knowing fashion

· Oh man, don’t even get me started on the power of the statement, “it doesn’t have to match”

· You knew it was coming on this sublist: the wrestle-fight. I mean, c’mon. Poor little Gaby, locked behind the Iron Curtain, living a life of always being watched. She’s in the swankest hotel (I mean, Napoleon chose it, so we can be sure it’s swank with an E). She’s trying to celebrate her freedom, her liberation. She’s playing verboten music, she’s drinking to excess. Girl wants—and deserves—a party. And Ilya is…not built for that (that he knows of). For some fun, just imagine if she had been given Napoleon to room with instead.

o I will say that this scene, and some of their other interactions have what I would call early (non-sibling) Luke and Leia energy. Ilya seems to have moments of being struck by Gaby in a way Luke is struck by Leia in the early part of the trilogy. When Leia takes charge, and Luke accepts it. When Leia does something incredible, and Luke is left open-mouthed. *no, I don’t see OT Star Wars in everything. Shut up.

· “He fixed the glitch.”

· Again, shout-out to the non-action action.

· “I left my jacket in there.”

· The whole race to rescue Gaby I am in love with beyond words. [I have noted it as “Crazy Jeep Drive with Warhead!”] Probably b/c it comes across as totally egalitarian. Both men want her rescued. They’re no longer in competition. It’s just as important to Napoleon as it is to Ilya to catch up to her. Also, it is bonkers, like some sort of X-games version of a commercial for the vehicles they’re driving. And screaming Willie Scott does not make an appearance.

Someone says “winkle” out.

· Look! Another note about the screen divisions and how I love it, shout-outs to the original Steve McQueen The Thomas Crown Affair (a contemporary of when this movie is meant to be set), and TV’s 24.

Things that get a great, big NOPE:

· Jerrod Harris: you’ve been in so much streamable content in the last decade I can’t hate you, but frankly, you’re terrible here—unless you’re supposed to be giving a mannered, not-campy-enough-to-be-enjoyable performance here. Your American English puts me in the mind of Alex Hawaii 5-0′Loughlin where it feels you’re concentrating so hard on your accent that you fail to convince anyone that you’re a harried, over-worked and exasperated spy handler. Your performance is at odds with every bit of dialogue you’re given to say.

· That awful, mishandled title that doesn’t even connect to the film until the final moments (a sequel set-up, for sure)

· Look, you don’t introduce Hugh Grant casually mid-way through your film in a throwaway appearance. I mean, he’s HUGH GRANT we all know something’s up now.

· This is not exactly a great big NOPE, b/c I love a flat cap, Tommy Shelby—but I feel like a less tall man with a far rounder face in a flat cap would track more as Russian to me that AH does. To me, he just looks like he’s about to go golfing.

Over par? Unacceptable!

· Is Victoria a British-accented Italian? A British woman who married—what? Gaby’s uncle isn’t Italian!? An Italian who went to school in Britain? My head hurts. Also, is her hair meant to be unconvincingly bleached?

Other commentary:

· Napoleon’s adult ne’er-do-well backstory is so far from being emotionally equivalent to Ilya’s childhood trauma [and his enslavement to the USSR] it seems bestial when he calls it out on multiple occasions. Badly done, Solo.

· Gaby is the film’s key (sorry, Buffy fans). Everyone is connected to her. Yes, she could have been given a bit more on the character front, but I don’t see her as as much of a flaw in the film as some others/reviewers seem to.

· Look, essentially (and not very nuanced-ly), Ilya is a stalker. I think the film goes a certain distance in establishing that his early behavior toward Gaby is not normal, but concurrently it does not truly call him out on it. He’s essentially viewed as an odd-duck, sure, but not a true threat to her (should she not reciprocate or tolerate his intensity toward her). I think I might be able to cite his behavior when Gaby comes on to him (that he doesn’t jump at a chance with her) that maybe he’s given a little more nuance than a straight-on stalker, and it helps that he and Napoleon never get into a pissing match over Gaby’s person, only over her new clothes. But overall the film has to walk a fine line (and the jury is still out on how successful it is, I’d say) between playing Ilya’s laser-like attention to Gaby for its humor, and calling it out for the unsettling, threatening behavior it is.

· Honestly, it wasn’t until I engaged the Closed Captioning that I understood Napoleon was calling Ilya the ‘Red Peril’. So, that was nearly three viewings in.

· I give the screen credits A+, on both ends. Not to mention the end credits are actually INTERESTING with lots to see and learn! (Certainly we learn more about HG in them than we do at any time during the film)

Things I would have liked:

· More of fish-out-of-the-Iron-Curtain Gaby moments

· A better dichotomy shown of East vs. West Berlin/Germany. There’s nothing easy either visually or otherwise to distinguish the two.

· HC being given a more specific American accent (from an actual locality). This, for an American viewer, works better than the flat, unlocated American accent many a British actor will bust out. *Mind you, HC does a generally good job, but he fails utterly on both “Immediate” which he pronounces at least twice as “immeedeejt” [rather than imm-E-deeot] and “Nazi” as “NAHT-zee” [rather than “NOT-zee”]. And let’s not get started on that late in the film use of ‘earnt’, a word that—well, it’s just not in the American English twentieth century lexicon.

· C’mon. You gotta tease the Hugh Grant more.

· Solo is a blank before the war. I’ve read thoughts on the film calling out Gaby as the blank character, but they’re wrong. Solo is the blank. He’s the ‘made’ man, his identity seemingly assembled during the war and after. For example, he doesn’t go into the war a thief, nor (it would seem) a particularly educated or urbane individual. Now THAT’s a juicy backstory I’d love to learn about, perhaps in film #2--or #3? What creates a Napoleon Solo? What would he be doing if he weren’t on the government’s leash/incarcerated? Is anyone left caring about him back wherever he calls home? I mean, who doesn’t love a gender-flipped 60s-era Holly Golightly backstory? [And yes, I would love there to be an ex-wife or even a current wife mixed up in his origins as well—Guy Ritchie, call me!]

Notes I have that I’m not sure if they still make sense to me:

· Only mom calls me Napoleon (do he say it ‘mum’?) Is he a secret Canadian?

· Solo’s torture, 1st view recall Napoleon’s childhood? *I think this means that after watching the first time I somehow erroneously believed that during the torture Napoleon’s childhood was a topic gone over. This was wrong. HOWEVER, this would have made far more story-sense than the backstory we’re given on an easily disposeable villain.

· “Even the average Russian agent. You’re special.” ?

· Uncle is Baddie (*so glad I made this note to myself)

· Ilya’s dad IS an embarrassment. I’m not sure what genius commentary I had in my mind, here. Perhaps that Ilya himself is embarrassed of him? Not just Ilya’s handler’s? [Also, aside: Napoleon totally slut-shames Ilya’s mom, which is the doublest of double standards from ‘I got myself the biggest and most ornate suite b/c I-wanted-plenty-of-space-for-my-random-seductions’ and I really wish Ilya had thrown that back in his face] *yes, of course I know that Ilya and Napoleon would not likely equate a wife/mother’s sexual exploits with that of Solo’s, but let’s be honest, this film tweaks the nose of (I won’t say reverses, it doesn’t go that far) plenty of tropes and gender expectations, and this certainly seems like a missed opportunity to call Solo on the carpet (which I hope film #2 does far more)

Things I wrote down so long ago I don’t recall what they mean:

· CC-save

In conclusion:

What does film #2 look like? What title does it get? Will the Peter/Neil White Collar dynamic continue to grow? *note that I have no confidence a second film will ever come to pass...

In the end, all I know is, “It didn't help when American Tom Cruise, who was slated to play U.S. spy Napoleon Solo, dropped out, prompting the casting of Cavill (who had previously read for the Russian role).“ I would not have watched that film.

#tmfu #tmfu 2015 #ilya kuryakin #napoleon solo #gaby teller #henry cavill #armie hammer #alicia vikander #the man from uncle 2015 #the man from u.n.c.l.e.#the man from uncle #i don't know what this film's tags are meant to be to keep it from popping up in the TV series searches Sorry

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edie-k · 3 years

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Conflict - R/Hr Fanfic

Today, I mentioned my dislike for one Ginny Weasley on the Romione Discord and I was met with polite side eyes. It made me remember this fanfic I wrote in 2004 (pre-HBP) in which I challenged myself to write a story where I liked Ginny but kept her fairly in character. Looking back at it 16 years later, I see all the cringe but I did accomplish my goal so I thought I would share.

Obviously, this is AU after OOTP.

Title: Conflict

Pairing: Romione

Rating: PG (I think I say hell once or twice, which is par for any conversation with me)

Disclaimer: Characters aren’t mine.

Ginny Weasley was a woman of divided allegiances. Her heart belonged to two separate factions: institutions that had been in place since almost the beginning of time. As Ginny Weasley was a loyal person, she had a difficult time choosing a position when these two sides went to war with one another.

You see, Ginny Weasley was a girl and a sister.

Of course, one may think these two went hand in hand. In order to be a sister, you must be a girl. True as that was, there were so many instances when it was difficult to be both a girl and a sister.

Ginny had six brothers and she loved them all dearly. Bill and Charlie regarded her as all significantly older brothers regard their younger sisters - she was innocent and young and could do no wrong. Apparently, Bill and Charlie did not remember much of the girls they knew at fifteen.

Percy… She was a bit reluctant to talk about Percy. She could never truly hate him, not even if she wanted to. When Bill and Charlie went to Hogwarts, Percy took on the role of the eldest child. He treated her as though she was his personal responsibility. Part of her wished he would return to the family just so she could drive him mad again.

Ginny’s relationship with the twins changed constantly. Some days they wanted Ginny as their protégé. Other days they wanted her out of the way. She was excellent in both carrying out their plans and schemes or as their unwilling test subject. Beyond that, she was a bit of a pest in their eyes. They had each other and did not see a need for anyone else’s company.

None of her five oldest brothers posed any problems when it became obvious she was a girl. They allowed guilt-free participation in girly activities, like gossiping and giggling with other females her age.

Ron was the one who always brought conflict and strife when it came to her roles as a girl and a sister. Ron was not her “favorite” brother or the one she “loved the most”. None of her brothers were. That was just not how the concept of family worked. Ron was her closest brother, and they had grown closer this summer.

The two of them spent the first month of holiday at the Burrow where the only real company was each other and it had been very enjoyable. Ron really seemed to have matured the past year, and it showed in their conversations. Ron actually listened to her, even when she could tell he thought she was being ridiculous or nosy. She found they could talk about almost anything. Ron even managed to muster up the maturity to listen to (some) details about her past and present relationships, although every time, he, not so subtly, hinted her perfect match had messy black hair and glasses.

Yes, some people may think that having one’s brother as a close friend is a bit pathetic, but something her mother said long ago stuck with her. Her brothers, especially Ron, were the only ones who knew what it was like to grow up a Weasley; who knew the holidays and memorable events the family shared. There were things her friends could never understand and the same went for Ron’s friends. They could not know what it was like to be poor or grow up in the magical world or as the babies of a large family. For that reason, Ginny was not ashamed of her friendship with her brother. He was a great person and even when Ginny was angry with him, she always found herself rooting for Ron. Therein lay the first half of the problem.

Not all areas of Ginny’s femaleness conflicted with her sisterly obligations. Ginny had plenty of friends who were girls. In fact, all of her roommates could be counted among her girl friends. They were not the pour-your-heart-out-to-and-tell-all-your-hopes-and-fears friends. No, they were more of the stay-up-late-giggling-about-boys-and-gossip friends. Yes, Ginny recognized that giggling and gossiping were not the most sophisticated of activities, but she enjoyed the frivolous time she spent with these girls.

There was a girl who was slowly becoming the heart-and-soul sort of friend. Hermione Granger listened in the same genuine way as Ron. She was trustworthy and faithful. They could discuss the serious matters in life, as well as the more entertaining aspects. Unfortunately, Hermione Granger was the other half of her problem.

Ron and Hermione were best friends. Of course, in saying that she rolled her eyes or raised a suggestive brow. Because while Ron and Hermione were just friends, neither of them actually felt that way, and more and more people caught onto that fact, Ginny especially, because she was the only one who had managed to coax confessions from them both.

Hermione already confessed the prior summer at Grimmauld Place that she possessed feelings beyond friendship for Ron. Consequently, Ginny made it her goal to obtain the same confession from Ron that summer. It was not half the challenge Ginny originally anticipated. Two weeks into holiday, she spoke a few carefully chosen words about Hermione’s impending arrival and Ron caved. Irritatingly enough, neither one of them made a move to step past the line between romance and friendship.

With the stalling of their relationship, the bickering remained. Harry remained distant and removed from the whole situation, designating her as the go-between of choice. This brought out Ginny’s two personalities, Ginny the Sister and Ginny the Girl. It actually got to the point where Ginny could visualize miniature versions of herself perched on each shoulder. Sister Ginny wore a Weasley jumper with jeans and her hair was such a bright red that it could not exist in nature. Girl Ginny wore way too much pink and an extraordinary amount of makeup. And the two of them never agreed on anything. They bickered almost as much as Ron and Hermione. What made it even more difficult was they both always had valid points.

So when Hermione exploded into the fifth year girls’ dorm, where Ginny sat on her bed, organizing pictures in her album, she was not surprised to see Sister Ginny appear on her left shoulder and Girl Ginny on the right to see what the problem was.

“Oh Ginny, sometimes he is just so awful!” Hermione cried, flopping on Ginny’s bed.

“What did he do?” demanded Girl Ginny.

“What did you do?” hissed Sister Ginny.

“What happened?” Ginny sighed. It was a beautiful October afternoon and the last thing she wanted to do was discuss her brother with Hermione and her two personalities.

“Well, Ron and Harry came down with their brooms and I said, ‘Ron, I thought you were going to work on your Potions essay with me this afternoon.’”

“She nagged him about that yesterday!” Sister Ginny huffed.

“Encouraged!” insisted Girl Ginny.

“Oh please. Are you telling me that Hermione doesn’t nag?” asked Sister Ginny.

“Didn’t you mention that to him yesterday?” asked Ginny.

“Well, yes.”

“Ha!” said Sister Ginny.

“Only because I - well, because I care about him. I want him to do well,” said Hermione.

“See, she means well!” said Girl Ginny.

“It’s because he’s much smarter than he gives himself credit for and if he just worked a little harder…”

“Well, I guess I have to agree with her there,” conceded Sister Ginny. “He is smart.”

“For a man,” agreed Girl Ginny.

“And then, he says, ‘Don’t nag!’ I told him that I, of course, AM NOT nagging and -”

“Hermione, might I ask why you’re so upset over an argument that seems so typical for the two of you?” Ginny prodded.

“Oh, good point! Now we’re getting somewhere!” said Sister Ginny.

“It’s not very nice to corner someone,” Girl Ginny huffed, crossing her arms.

“I told you; I just want Ron to do well!” insisted Hermione, but her pink stained cheeks told a different story.

“Ooo, she’s got a secret!” squealed Girl Ginny.

“Must you squeal?” asked Sister Ginny.

“Hermione,” Ginny prodded, her voice tinted with disbelief.

“Well,” she said, sitting up and primly straightening her skirt. “He just made a comment yesterday and I thought that - I obviously took it out of context.”

“What did he say?” asked Ginny.

“It’s not - it’s not a big deal. In fact, I obviously made a big deal out of something that was not.”

All three Ginnys patiently stared at her.

“Well, yesterday, he told me that he thought that I looked nice,” she said quietly.

“Good going Ron!” Sister Ginny said.

“What, she doesn’t look nice everyday?” asked Girl Ginny.

“And….” Hermione stopped and blushed.

“Hermione,” Ginny prompted.

“Well, yesterday when we were playing chess, he said it was sort of nice to spend time together by ourselves and - he kind of put his hand over mine. Of course, before I could respond, Dean and Seamus came in needing Ron to settle some sort of Quidditch argument. So I made some excuse and left.”

“She fled the scene?” asked Girl Ginny.

“See, she was in the wrong!” declared Sister Ginny triumphantly.

“Maybe his hand was clammy,” Girl Ginny said.

“Hermione, it sounds like he was complimenting you and trying to show some more than friendly affection. I don’t think my brother would do that unless he was attracted to you.”

“Ginny, I don’t know,” Hermione said as she rose from the bed. She began to pace back and forth. “All I wanted was to - to spend some time with him alone again this afternoon and so that’s why I pressed the issue, I guess.”

“Oh Hermione,” said Sister Ginny. “Homework is not the way to seduce my brother.”

“Food works well for seduction,” piped up Girl Ginny. “Or cleavage.”

“Okay, I can handle some things but let’s all please remember that this is our brother and I would prefer we never have the word seduction be uttered in the same sentence as his name,” Ginny told her two alter egos.

“Hermione, I bet if you just told Ron you wanted to spend time with him, he would happily oblige,” Ginny suggested gently.

“Hmph,” scoffed Hermione. “Why would he want to spend time with me?”

“If you want to bang your head against that wall, we’ll hang on tight,” suggested Sister Ginny.

“Because he just told you he does!” Ginny exclaimed.

“He’s just… making conversation,” Hermione said. Ginny glared at her. “Oh Ginny, I wish I knew for sure!” Hermione sank back into bed and sighed.

“I wish I could just tell her that Ron told me and this whole damn thing could be over with,” Ginny thought.

“Well of course you can’t,” said Girl Ginny. “And neither can I. But you can!” She pointed directly at Sister Ginny.

“What!” said Sister Ginny.

“What!” said Ginny.

“What?” asked Hermione.

“Just - just hang on a second. I have to think for just one second,” Ginny replied. “Now, what the hell are you talking about?”

“Listen. We can’t tell Ron Hermione likes him because Hermione is our friend and you cannot betray a friend. We all agree on that, right?” said Girl Ginny.

“Right,” confirmed Sister Ginny, looking a touch confused. Ginny herself was a bit confused as to where this was going.

“Now, you’re his sister. That means you can’t allow anyone to put him down or humiliate him or anything like that, right?”

“Correct,” answered Sister Ginny.

“But as his sister, it’s your job to embarrass and annoy him!”

“So,” Sister Ginny started out slowly. “I can tell Hermione that Ron likes her and it’s not really breaking a promise to Ron -”

“It’s being a little sister!” finished Girl Ginny.

“Wait a minute!” cried Ginny.

“This is perfect! I can’t even feel guilty because this is helping Ron. He can’t even be mad!” Sister Ginny exclaimed.

“Shouldn’t we stay out of this whole thing?” Ginny asked weakly. She needed to regain control before she was completely overruled.

“NO!” shouted Sister Ginny and Girl Ginny.

“Well, at least you two are getting along,” Ginny sighed.

“This has gone on long enough. It’s time for some serious interloping,” confirmed Sister Ginny.

“Just tell her. She’s your best friend and you should not keep secrets from your best friend,” pushed Girl Ginny.

“Don’t you want to do what’s best for your brother?” Sister Ginny asked.

“Ginny? What should I do?” asked Hermione.

“Tell her!” Girl Ginny urged.

“Say it!” pressured Sister Ginny.

“FINE!” yelled Ginny. Hermione jumped two feet in the air at sound of Ginny’s outburst. Ginny took little notice as she launched into her speech. “Hermione, Ron likes you. He told me himself over the summer holiday. He wants to tell you but he was just too scared to say it so I helped him develop a plan. He was going to try and slowly change your relationship. That should explain the decline in the rows and the increase in compliments and touching. Ron was going to see how you responded, and if he thought you liked him too, he was going to tell you on Halloween.”

“Halloween?” said Girl Ginny, wrinkling her nose. “Not very romantic, is it?”

“At least he was going to make a move,” said Sister Ginny.

Hermione was looking at her with wide eyes and a slight smile. “Really? He thought up a plan? It’s more than I managed.”

“Well, I did help him come up with it,” Ginny reminded her. “Anyway, with Halloween right around the corner, your bolting away from him last night probably made him doubt all the other responses he had been getting.”

“Which explains the fight earlier,” finished Hermione. “Oh Ginny, thank you! I’m sure it was hard for you to give up something Ron told you in confidence.”

“Well, it’s for a good cause,” Ginny said. “You are going to fix this, right?”

“Oh yes! I’ll - I’ll - I’ll meet him down at the Quidditch pitch right now,” she declared, standing up from the bed with a look of determination on her face. Suddenly, she deflated slightly. “Oh, but Harry will be there.”

Ginny chuckled. “I’m sure Harry will leave you alone.”

Hermione looked at her. “Does he know as well?”

Ginny was not sure if Ron had told Harry or not but Harry’s increased eye rolling and smirks in Ron and Hermione’s direction seemed to indicate he figured it out. “I’m not sure,” Ginny shrugged. “I’m sure he’ll leave you alone. He’s not as nosy as Ron.”

Hermione smiled as she glanced in the mirror, smoothing her skirt repeatedly. “Do I look okay?” she asked as she ran her fingers through her hair. “I mean, obviously my hair is a fright but it hasn’t picked up anything between here and the common room, has it? No stray quills, right?”

Ginny laughed. “No, your hair is fine.” While her friend’s hair was bushy, it wasn’t quite the disaster Hermione imagined it to be.

“Well, I suppose it’s okay,” she said, still smoothing it down. “It’s not as if Ron likes me for my looks.”

“Oh Merlin. She either has horrible self-confidence or she is completely blinded by love,” said Girl Ginny.

“Even I am not that delusional about my brother,” said Sister Ginny.

Ginny snorted. “Hermione, you do realize Ron is a teenage boy? I mean, yeah, he likes loads of noble things about you, but he definitely likes looking at you. Believe me; I’ve heard all about it. His eyes even glaze over when he stares at you, and you know he’s picturing you naked.”

“GINNY!” exclaimed an outraged Hermione, face burning red.

“Isn’t that a little too much information for you?” Girl Ginny asked Sister Ginny.

“I have five other brothers. I figured out a long while ago what they think about the majority of the time.”

Ginny ignored the two and turned back to Hermione. “Go on Hermione! You’re a beautiful girl; just go out there and tell Ron how you feel. While you’re at it, make him forget I was the one who let his secret slip.”

Hermione giggled. “I’ll try,” she said as she hurried out the door. Ginny sank back onto her bed.

“I hope I did the right thing,” she muttered aloud. “I feel a bit guilty for giving Ron away like that.”

“It had to be done,” Girl Ginny reassured her. “The arguments, the constant need for your advice…”

“It wasn’t good for your sanity,” finished Sister Ginny.

“My sanity? I’m in my room, talking to two aspects of my personality that have taken on distinctive voices and physical forms. Ron and Hermione were not the ones causing me to question my sanity. So if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll go down to the common room and fill Harry in when he comes back up,” Ginny finished, standing up and walking towards the door.

“Harry?” Girl Ginny asked excitedly. “Is that open for discussion again?”

“You cannot date your brother’s best friend!” insisted Sister Ginny.

“And why the hell not?” asked Girl Ginny.

“Oh Merlin.”

#au romione #pre hbp #romione

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cxrinav · 3 years

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( cis female & she/her & 24) — Is that Madelyn Cline ? No , that’s Corina Villarreal . They have been living in Kildare for twenty-four years and consider themselves to be a Kook . While they can be considered Deceptive , you know they’re in a good mood when they’re blasting Toxic by Ashnikko . Stay safe . There’s a storm coming . ( ooc info : vee , 21 , she/her , gmt+2 )

b a s i c s :

. FULL NAME: Corina Dominique Villarreal

. DOB: 29.12.1997

. ZODIAC SIGN: capricorn

. SEXUAL ORIENTATION: heterosexual , heteroromantic

. ALIGNMENT: chaotic evil

. VISUALS & PLAYLIST (tbd.)

b a c k g r o u n d :

TW: FAMILY DEATH ; FRAUD

also this is very long because i tend to ramble a lot , so if you don’t feel like reading the whole thing i’ve included a little summary after the background section

born on the side of the island where you need two jobs to barely make it through the month , corina had a humble start . mommy had a small sandwich shop that could barely cover the bills , while dad worked as a fisherman . love for water was inheritable , as only at the tender age of six corina could confidently ride a boat . mommy , as c romantically would always say , was a mermaid -- always in the water and in love with the sealife . they didn’t have much , but it was enough for them to be happy .

it’s 2007 , and mommy grows sicker by the second . she no longer enjoys the water so much and has a hard time appearing in the shop . dad is worried , because the fisherman money can barely cover mom’s medical bills and is pulling on threads to make the month . in the meantime , corina watches 50 first dates for the hundredth time in the living room , wondering if she hurts her head as bad , maybe the knight in shining armour will appear and shield her from the pain she so masterfully hides when around the men in the charming little trailer they called home .

months roll by and the nights get warmer . she remembers the day like it was yesterday , when mommy finally rested forever . it was a quiet day in the house . in fact , it was weeks . no one spoke , no one dared to look the other in the eye . the boar near the dock was forgotten and her brothers barely even spoke to her . “ is it because i look so much like her ? “ she asked one day to which her dad preferred not to answer , enjoying the company of the whiskey bottle better than the constant reminder of her wife’s presence rambling next to him .

the phone rang one day , aunt violet from paris . offering a helping hand , the woman begs daddy to let corina go to her for a few months , she needed a female presence in her life now that she lost the only one she had . he couldn’t afford the plane tickets , but luckily aunt violet was loaded , making corina wonder on the plane why exactly she never called and helped all those years .

she had only heard stories of aunt violet’s wealth , all until she stepped foot in the lavish apartment in paris . it turns out , aunt violet was a very successful talent hunter , able to make a star out of anyone that had potential . and potential she saw , in corina’s smile , eyes and hair .

it only took a month for corina to start appearing in fashion magazines . at the age of 11 , she had already made a name for herself . as her legal guardian , daddy was charged with the title of the girl’s agent . the job , at first , he hated . but once the checks started piling in , he started cashing them out . her brothers were sent out to college , and as for corina and her father , at the age of 12 she was introduced to their new , bigger and better house on the other part of the island -- where you don’t need two jobs to survive but have two boats to ride .

getting used to the new situation was uncomfortable and painful . she could no longer attend the same school with her friends , instead ‘ kook high ‘ is where she was enrolled as it was where her father believed she belonged to . the humble fisherman turned to a successful agent , all thanks to corina’s success . seeing the stardom the little girl was catapulted in , other new and aspiring models wanted to be represented by the grand and glorious benjamin villarreal . his pogue roots he hid well , making sure corina acted up to par too . they were no longer pogues , with his wife he made sure to bury their poverty too .

worked into a burnout , only thing the now sixteen year old corina wanted was to just hang out with her friends on the other side of the island . her sweet-sixteen birthday was coming up and all she wanted was to celebrate it with the people closest to her . her father , however , had other plans in mind .

instead of her sweet-sixteen birthday , corina attended her father’s wedding . a day to remember . her breaking point . not only had he forcibly cut her ties with her friends , erased their whole life but he had now replaced the only woman in her life she had ever looked up to . this was war .

he wanted a kook princess and a kook princess he got . drying out her account was easy -- buying cars , boats and clothes was somewhat of a pleasure , despite her being used to sneakers better than the high heels she purchased daily . getting under her father’s skin , however , was harder . no matter how much she spent , his account would triple and she’d still catch the next flight to wherever they needed her . she did .. until she stopped .

at the age of twenty , she announces her retirement from the modelling scene , saying she’s had enough and would love to pay more attention to her academics now . daddy did not take it well , despite representing numerous successful faces , the biggest checks would be provided by corina . she returned home that day , only to be welcomed by her father . unbothered , happy , celebrating with his wife and her baby bump . the previously cheerful and bubbly corina would now look at the world with suspicion in her chocolate eyes . everyone was out to get her , in her head , to use her and her family was no different . her brothers would only call if they wanted to meet someone from corina’s popular circle . her father would only smile if he wanted to send her off to hollywood to do a commercial for a brand she despised . so , when she stared at the two with scepticism , she had the full right to do so .

you see , the once humble fisherman now did not represent even a drop of his usual golden-hearted self . a greedy , miserable man living a polished , sparkling light . so when he clinked his glass of champagne with corina and announced she will no longer have access to her trust-fund until the age of 25 and atop of that will continue working , the smile off her face vanishes . she had a fill a mold , so she can have access to the money she worked for all those years . this was war and she was no longer winning .

S U M M A R Y : she was born on the pogue side of the isle , until the age of twelve , when her modeling career sky-rockets and they move out to the kook side . her mother dies when corina is 10 years old and her father turns from a humble fisherman to a successful talent-agent .

p e r s o n a l i t y :

corina grew up a very funny , bubbly and lovable little girl . she would always hang around water , make her own puka shell necklaces and would always braid the hair of the neighbouring little kids . after her mother’s death , she became even more loving . making sure to provide love to everyone that needed it , since she barely felt it herself . always giving and always smiling .

after her career catapulted and her father forced her outside of her comfort zone , the girl became cautious and suspicious . she’d ever talk with people closest to her , would never break a smile to a stranger like she once would . and when her father finally buried everything of their previous lives , an otherwise foreign for her viciousness appears . would stumble upon everyone and everything to get her way and make sure she had secured herself . would rarely offer a helping hand if she doesn’t gain something herself and would never trust someone unconditionally . a lone-wolf , surrounded by hundreds of people . many think she’s their friend , while her heart only longs for the people she forcibly lost . has a few true friends on the kook side of the island , but is suspicious of these people too since she believes everyone is out to use and abuse her . no one is a friend , in her mind , she lives along foes .

would be her true self when alone . still makes puka shell necklaces on the family’s yacht where no one would see her . breaks a joke or two and would ever laugh wholeheartedly when drunk . attends every event and has tried every intoxicating substance that would help her forget how lonely she really feels .

#outerbanksfmintro #this is so long omg #but give this a like and i'll come to you !!

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desktopdust · 4 years

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Scrapped Shooting Star Sonia Ideas

After over five years of work, the Shooting Star Sonia series is officially over. Initially I had ideas for it to run a bit longer, but after experiencing some burnout while writing Red Joker I felt it would be best to wrap things up in Event Horizon. Of course, once I get an idea I have a compulsive need to talk about it, so detailed here are my original plans for anyone who might be curious.

Event Horizon itself didn’t change all that much. Information would still be provided about the MBN cores, though perhaps not quite everything; Sirius would have had the xarium rather than Blitzar, so there’d be no Rogue Xa yet and Solo would take the metal back at the end. Naturally, the ending is where the biggest change occurred: originally, someone from Planet XM would express interest in continuing to have Sonia and friends test the Meteor Breaker Numbers, and give them one year to prepare before the experiments begin in earnest. How ominous! Everyone would realize they need to get stronger, and to facilitate that, Sonia would use the EM Compatibility Tuner to interface with the Rosetta Compiler, becoming the new Administrator of the Black Hole Server.

Next thing I wanted to do was actually a super short side story, the obligatory Boktai crossover. More specifically Boktai DS/Lunar Knights, since that’s the one that did a crossover with SF1. Though I never did get into Boktai proper, I always found it neat that Battle Network and Star Force had these ongoing crossovers, and I wanted to keep it going. It was a very basic idea: Sabata ends up in the SF universe and gets possessed by an FM-ian (I believe I was thinking Vulpecula?), so Django follows and teams up with Sonia to stop him. No one would be showing off their new powers here, it’d be too soon for that, but there’d probably be hints.

The main event would’ve been Shooting Star Sonia 4: Rosetta Orbit. (A Rosetta orbit occurs when an object is moving fast enough to not be sucked into a black hole, but not fast enough to entirely escape its pull.) A year has passed, and so Planet XM begins dispatching a series of Meteor Breaker Numbers for Sonia to fight. I thought the major bosses all being on par with previous final bosses would be a cool way to raise the stakes, and I went with two themes when designing them: the seasons of the year, and other Mega Man series. For instance, the first MBN to appear would have been Vernal Ronin, a skeletal samurai robot meant to evoke Mega Man Legends (it’d look Reaverbot-esque, it’d been observing the heroes from the moon for some time now) and spring (“vernal” means spring, samurai are associated with cherry blossoms which only bloom in spring). I also wanted each MBN to be accompanied by an XM-ian who had some sort of reference to the Roll of the respective Mega Man series, though I had done less work on that. (Vernal Ronin would have been overseen by Cophin, an excitable engineer.) The other MBNs were Estival Rampart (summer, ZX), Autumnal Specter (autumn, Zero), and Brumal Transgressor (winter, X), with a recurring boss in the form of an XM-ian named Aeim who fought by operating a separate entity named Solstice_Harbinger.XM (EXE). Ultimately, the gang heads to Planet XM to find the newest MBN, the Equinox, which has been enhanced with all the data gathered over the course of the story and resembles the Yellow Devil from Classic.

On to transformations, Solo would obviously unveil Rogue Xa at this point, and I liked the idea of Geo working with the Sages of AM and WAZA to merge the Star Forces into a single, absurdly powerful form inspired visually by the unused concept art for an Angel Tribe On. With Geo and Sonia no longer needing the Ace and Joker Programs, I thought it would make sense to pass them on--have Bud take the Joker Program and Luna take the Ace Program. Sad to say I never got to the point of designing these forms, but I think it would’ve been fun. Also, I was contemplating the idea of Zack operating Magnes similar to a Net Navi, probably also developing a way for him to enter a controlled version of his Spade Magnes form; I wanted him to be involved and this seemed like an easy way to do it. There was also the possibility of Jack wanting to help and becoming a new iteration of Acid Ace, but I didn’t come to a decision on that. Other than that...I think Shepar was also going to have a way to temporarily take on the form of Chalice Libra? Everyone else was kind of on their own.

Now then, Sonia...as I said, she’d be drawing power from the Black Hole Server, which is powered by Adha. The last time she used this energy to transform was when she held the OOPArts, and I wanted to tie back into that. So, similarly to then, Sonia would draw on the Black Hole Server using the EM Compatibility Tuner, and then use the power of her Brother Bands to get it under control. These forms, called Orbits, would change her appearance and abilities to be similar to the Wave Form of the specific Brother she’s calling on at the time, probably with some design elements from Sirius thrown in. I wanted one for each element and was planning Luna Orbit, Bud Orbit, and Claude Orbit...but was at a loss for an Elec form. Since Gemini didn’t stick around I didn’t think giving her a Pat Orbit would be a good idea, and Couronne doesn’t have a Hunter and thus can’t make a formal Brother Band. I could’ve ignored that restriction, or found a way to justify her Band with Zack giving her a Magnes-based form, but nothing was ever decided on. However, just like with the OOPArts, this power would have sometimes run wild, causing Sonia to enter a berserk state and forcing one of her allies to hit her with her elemental weakness to shock her out of the form. For this reason, she would exclusively stick to forms that have elements...until the final boss. The Equinox would adapt throughout the fight and develop ways to counter all four elements, so with no choice, Sonia would use Geo Orbit to get a form combining Mega Man’s powers with her own, defeating the Equinox and saving the day. Then, she goes berserk. Her friends would find a way to calm her down eventually, of course, but this would sort of make Sonia the true final boss and I thought that was kinda neat.

So, with the pinnacle of the MBN Program destroyed, the XM-ians would be kind of freaking out--here’s where we’d get the full story of the origin of the program, and how it was originally meant to protect Planet XM in case a certain angry god ever showed up. Sonia being Sonia, she’d say that if anything happens, she’ll protect them. The XM-ians are moved by her kindness, and decide that maybe they should stop building war machines after all. After that, there were two more small things I wanted to do, either as two short stories (4.5 and 4.55, I think?) or as two Epilogues for RO. Firstly, that thing Planet XM is so afraid of would show up, and what do you know, it’s Duo.EXE! When I was planning for Red Joker I remembered how, leading up to SF3’s release, there were a bunch of theories that Meteor G had some connection to Duo, and I wanted to do something with that. The ultimate story then (and this holds true to an extent for the final product as well) is that Duo’s violence in the name of “justice” only spread pain and fear, which led to the XM-ians developing the MBN cores to fight against him, which only led to more pain and fear through their own actions as well as through the cores ending up in others’ hands. It’s an ongoing cycle of violence that is only broken when Sonia steps in to convince people to try a peaceful solution. Capping it off with Sonia the idealist versus Duo the extremist, probably resulting in Sonia helping Duo to grow beyond his programming and be more productive than destructive, seemed like a fitting, fun way to go. After that, I just wanted to have one last fight between Sonia and Solo--Geo Orbit Harp Note vs Rogue Xa in deep space to finally settle their rivalry! I didn’t decide a result, but it definitely would’ve involved Solo properly opening up and telling Sonia he respects her and all that.

(Also a very specific joke I wanted to use in RO and couldn’t find a good place to integrate into this post: when the head of the MBN Program is explaining it to Sonia, she’d say they still have MBN-001 through 008 on display, but only have records for MBN-010 and up. Sonia asks about MBN-009, and her guide scowls and says “We don’t talk about number 9.” You know, referencing the other Mega Man.)

(And, there is one other idea I had, a spin-off to shift to after resolving the history of the MBN cores, but it’s detached enough that I think I can turn it into a standalone story in the future so I want to hold onto it for now. Probably best I take a break from writing Star Force for the time being, but I really like the character designs I thought up for this one, so one day, I hope to put them to use.)

Once again, I want to thank you all for your interest in Shooting Star Sonia--I hope I was able to entertain you! It was a bit rocky at times, but in the end, I’m glad I embarked on this journey, and I’m eager to get to work on a new one. Until next time.

#Shooting Star Sonia

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kaasknot · 4 years

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the way you write and structure your sw meta analyses is endlessly fascinating to me, and it is on par with the way you write your fics as well. the language that you use in your outputs are very smart, acclimated well to who the characters are (esp w/ the use of military jargon). how do you do it? how do you write so smart? what do you read or do to improve?

i just reread my GAR meta like three times to try and see what you see, anon, but that was a non-starter. i assume this is related to the reason it feels better when someone else scratches your back than when you do it yourself—if you're the cause of an action, it diminishes your enjoyment of its products. so i'll just shrug and say, "glad you like it!"

as for how i "write so smart," that's extremely subjective and i don't have an answer. all i can tell you is how i write, and i can't even do that, because i've been trying to tell that to my friends going on... four? years?

step 1: all those weird tests you took in school to see what kind of learner you are? make sure you get some variant of "literary" and/or "visual" learner. i'm sure those tests were 100% accurate and reliable, offering Genuine True Insight into how the minds of 8-year-olds work, but they were fun. and they reassured me that i was Genuinely, Truly wired for words, for given values of confirmation bias. that kind of positive reinforcement helps build confidence in your nascent skills/interests.

step 2: read a fuckload of books as a kid. all books, all reading levels. i didn't always understand what i was reading (on a conceptual level rather than cognitive one), but i read them anyway. i don't recall my parents monitoring my book intake, but my when i look back my childhood collection had a wide variety of genres by a wide variety of male, female, white, black, and native american writers, and writers from other assorted other nationalities. i can't recall any queer authors/characters, but that was still somewhat taboo, and nobody's parents are perfect.

step 3: come from a military family. literally everyone in my immediate family, and a very large portion of my extended family, was in the military. i'm the solitary rainbow sheep that didn't join. i grew up watching a lot of "a few good men" and "G. I. jane." in my attempts to keep up with the family legacy i applied to west point (but didn't get in, thank fuck) and had two semesters of ROTC in college. neither the ROTC nor the college lasted, but it was one more imprint of general military-ness on my psyche. since then it's been a slow creep through various military fandoms, picking up slang and jargon as i go and making it sound like i know more than i actually do.

step 4: write. a lot. i've got about a decade of solid, directed writing under my belt, and maybe another decade before that of unstructured play disguised as writing. at this point, my mental compiler between "abstract concept" and "discrete descriptive unit" is so streamlined i deadass don't know how it happens. i imagine a scene, and words present themselves to describe it.

step 5: have friends that challenge you. mine are dumbasses who will probably read this and go "oh no, i don't have those exact experiences, i'm a failure," but the joke's on them, because i don't have their experiences and i'll never be able to write like them. it's kind of tragic, actually: we look at each other's writing and collectively wail in despair--"that's so dense with detail, how did you do that?? i could never write like that!" (back to, it feels better when someone else scratches your itches than when you scratch them yourself). we've agreed that we're not gonna be a crab bucket, though, so instead of tearing our writing down we're more like "come on, WRITE those words, make them your BITCH," and then swap funny military stories on reddit or posts on what condom culture in WWII was like. it's a good group.

and that, dear anon, is how i "write so smart."

#askbox #anon #writing

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that-shamrock-vibe · 4 years

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Disney+ What To Watch: My Top 10 Favourite Modern-Day Disney Classics

#2. The Princess and the Frog

With the Post-Renaissance era having mixed results from audiences, Disney decided to go back to its beloved an fruitful Disney Princess formula with the last 2D animated studio to date from the House of Mouse.

This not only reminded fans what they loved about Disney when it was on the top of its game, but also began what is now known as the Disney Revival era seeing a resurgence in Disney classics and it all began with the Disnefied spin on yet another classic fairy tale.

The Princess and the Frog does not get enough credit, period. Not only could this movie be mistaken for part of the 90s Renaissance, but the characters are fantastic, the comedy is on point, the music is original and fitting for the setting and...it may just be because there was a 71⁄2 year lull of sub-par movies from the mainstream Mouse House between Lilo & Stitch and this...but there is just this feeling of coming home or seeing an old friend again that I always get whenever I see this movie.

Now a lot of people who criticise this movie say that the main problem is the fact the plot seems very crowded, but really it is straight forward to follow and. if you treat it like a chessboard, the game is set up in the opening scene and song.

So basically you have, arguably, the best female Disney character in animation who has been brought up on strong moral values, she also has a life-long dream from a young age of becoming a well-known chef and owning her own restaurant to honour her father.

Simultaneously, you have a foreign spoiled prince who has been made broke by his parents who comes into the company of the movie’s villain who allows him to escape his troubles but by doing so curses him as a frog and employs his butler to take on the appearance of the prince, trick the local sugar baron’’s into marrying him and thereby takeover New Orleans and harvest its citizens for their souls to appease his friends on the other side.

Plots collide when our heroine meets the frog prince and is tricked into kissing him because he believes she is a princess and so promises to grant her the money for her restaurant if she frees him from his froggy prison, but instead she is turned into a frog and they must find a way to reverse the curse and thwart the evil villain.

I have genuinely just given a general synopsis of the movie in three very short paragraphs so if anyone still thinks this movie is confusing then either I’m missing something or you’re overthinking.

The lessons in this movie are so well learned and played out, the relationships are genuinely built up so that when our main protagonists do eventually fall in love it feels earned rather than just a business arrangement as it was originally going to be.

The choice to make this a 1912 Louisiana set movie, complete with a strong African-American protagonist and an equally strong ethnic Eurasian deuteragonist, as well as a Haitian villain, is genuinely revolutionary for not just Disney but family entertainment.

It doesn’t really shy away from prejudice, albeit while it is not a main focus of the movie, Tiana is put down numerous times not just for being a woman trying to succeed in life but also referred to as a woman with “her background” which means he skin colour, or her upbringing in a poor neighbourhood.

Tiana is the every girl for me, not only has she worked for everything that she has earned, even throughout the movie, but she has a smart head on her shoulders. She knows how to whip Naveen and her friends into shape, but also she is not afraid to stand up to the Shadow Man or any of her oppressors.

She also doesn’t believe herself a princess, she is not the type of doe-eyed dreamer that would usually fill the princess role. She has a drive, she’s determined, and it’s all real-world issues. Her motivations aren’t because of a man but providing for her future and maybe supporting her mother.

Even when cursed as a frog, she is still determined to achieve her goal, she just needs to be able to turn back into a human first which is where she learns life isn’t all about the endgame. That’s when she allows herself to open up to seeing the good in Naveen and allows herself to fall for him but in a natural organic way.

Anika Noni Rose does an absolutely amazing job as Tiana, she was born to be this character, I can genuinely see her as the live-action version of the character. Anyone saying Tiana was originally supposed to be Caucasian really needs a reality check, look at her design.

It also doesn’t hurt that Tiana’s main princess dress is green which happens to be my favourite colour.

Naveen is a lot like Flynn Ryder in terms of being that loveable rogue type of character but what elevates Naveen is he does at least learn and show personal growth throughout the movie, first with actually doing some hard work and cooking and then with developing actual emotions for Tiana and being conflicted into whether or not the most important thing is regaining his humanity and money or being with Tiana.

Dr. Facilier is one of the great Disney Villains, I may not be Haitian but I actually dressed as him for Halloween last year complete with UV skull face paint, now yes I’m practically a milk bottle and so a white skull face on me does not exactly show properly but I still felt very good about myself.

I loved the addition of voodoo to a family friendly atmosphere, it didn’t need to go into the blood rituals as heavily as say American Horror Story: Coven did but it still showed that a large part of voodoo is blood rituals with requiring Naveen’s blood in order to maintain the illusion of Lawrence being Naveen.

The personality they gave Facilier as well wasn’t exactly as sinister as Maleficent but instead more like Jafar or Scar, he allows himself to have his own brand of humour such as when he’s giving his tarot readings but also his sinister side manifests in how he utilises his magic and his friends on the other side and particularly his shadow.

Charlotte Le Bouff is probably the funniest supporting character I’ve seen since Mole from Atlantis or even the Genie in Aladdin. I absolutely love seeing this girl every time she is on screen, she steals the show in every scene she’s in. But also, you do feel for her. She wants that dream fairy tale life and you want her to get it because she is just that loveable.

If I had to say who I liked the least it would probably be Louis and Ray, nothing personally against them they are both decent comedic side characters, but they just seemed to be tagalongs and didn’t really contribute a purpose. Louis is an alligator who dreams of being a jazz musician which comes true when Tiana opens her restaurant and he is part of the house band, Ray is a Cajun firefly who is in love with a star and he gets to join her by becoming a star when he is, rather brutally, murdered by Facilier after a rather emotionally manipulating funeral scene.

Mama Odie and Eudora (Tiana’s mum) are great examples of Disney utilising named talent for minor roles, as both Jenifer Lewis and Oprah Winfrey respectfully do very reasonable jobs with what they’re given. I mean it’s Jenifer Lewis as a Voodoo Queen it’s just magic.

Just like Naveen, I was so happy with the infusion of Jazz music in this movie. I want to go New Orleans so badly, and I partially want to go there because it is the hub of jazz music. I loved the “Down in New Orleans” book-ended renditions at the start and the end of the movie, originally performed by Dr. John and in the reprise performed by Anika herself belting it out.

“Almost There” I love as a “I Want” song and as an empowerment mantra, it’s a song about focusing on your goals, working hard for them and it is catchy as hell.

“Friends on the Other Side” is the best villain song since “Be Prepared” and “Hellfire”. Not only does it give an amazing display of Facilier’s voodoo powers but Keith David delivers a fantastic performance all round.

“Dig a Little Deeper” is another great life motivation song, and if it is Jenifer Lewis singing it then she stays in character and does a great job.

The other songs are good, they’re nice but I do feel they’re a tad forgettable.

The Princess and the Frog is one of the more underrated Disney animated movies, it was unfairly weak at the box office, yet delivers a brilliant well-rounded story with fantastic characters, stunning visuals, great life lessons and an overall heartwarming feeling.

It’s also made me want to try beignets as I have never had them before.

So what do you guys think? Post your comments and check out more Disney+ What to Watch Top 10s as well as more Top 10 Lists and other posts.

#disney #disney+#disney plus #the princess and the frog #princess and the frog #disney+ what to watch top 10s #disney+ what to watch #my top 10 favourite modern day disney animated movies #my top 10 favourite modern day disney classics

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the-archlich · 4 years

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Clone Wars: The Dathomir Arc

This is one of the biggest arcs we've had in a long time. Not only is it a solid 3 episode story, it's one that actually changes a lot. It really shakes up the status quo of this show and pours on a huge amount of character development for Ventress, something we haven't gotten before. It introduces an interesting new villain (with a bad name) in Savage Opress, and a very interesting character in Mother Talzin.

Things begin with Palpatine skyping Dooku. He's sensed that Ventress is growing very powerful and is suspicious that Dooku is training his own apprentice and will try to replace him. Rule of Two and all that. Dooku insists he's not going to do that, but why would any of us believe that? Palpatine orders him to kill Ventress, which Dooku reluctantly agrees to do.

This does address a question that bothered me when Ventress was first introduced. As far as we knew, the Rule of Two was still a thing; so what exactly was her deal? Given that we've really only seen some limited use of the Force from her, it seems like she was only partially trained - deliberately. Not trained enough to really qualify as a full Sith apprentice, but enough to be useful against Jedi. Sort of a preview of the Inquisitors we'd see under the Empire. And while I don't think the Sith actually care about technicalities, they do care about their own apprentices getting strong enough to kill them before they're ready.

Dooku doesn't do the job himself. When he learns that she's on one of his flagships, he has the rest of the fleet fire on it, hoping to kill her that way along with Obi and Ani. Of course this doesn't work out. He presumes she's killed, but she escapes. She's picked up by some scavengers and takes their ship to her homeworld of Dathomir.

If you've read a lot of Star Wars lore, that name means something to you. As usual I don't know what's canon and what isn't anymore but it's got significant history. It's an isolated world covered in fog, said to be filled with witches.

And witches there are! Ventress arrives and is greeted by others of her kind, including their leader Mother Talzin. To heal her, they perform some kind of magick ritual, during which we see flashbacks to Ventress's past. She was given away as a baby to protect the clan. Her owner was killed by some pirates and she was taken in by a Jedi, who trained her for several years. After her was killed in battle, she lost her shit and went dark. This eventually led her to Dooku, who took her on as an acolyte (their term for those below the level of a true apprentice).

All told, it's a pretty tragic backstory. Up until now we really didn't know anything about Ventress and this really puts her in a new perspective.

Now healed, Ventress is ready to kill Dooku. Mother Talzin uses more dark magic to turn her invisible, along with some other assassins. They catch Dooku sleeping (in his exquisite pajamas) and attack him, but even 3 v 1 and poisoned Dooku is actually really fucking good at this and fights them off.

Talzin doesn't mind that they failed, though. She sees an opportunity in it. So she calls up Dooku and offers him a replacement for Ventress. He takes her up on the offer and comes to visit. Obviously she's going to use his new apprentice as a means to assassinate him.

They talk a little bit about their history. Talzin's group is called the Nightsisters, and evidently they used to have some alliance with the Sith in the past. Of course, she's not willing to pledge allegiance to Dooku, so relations are still a bit strained. But Dooku did her a solid sometime in the past. Talzin brings up Darth Maul, who Dooku only knows by reputation. She offers him someone from Maul's bloodline; given what Maul was capable of, Dooku is in.

There was a time when I would have criticized Dooku for not asking more questions about this. It's suspicious. Right after you betray your apprentice and someone tries to kill you, you get a call from someone you haven't seen in years offering you exactly what you need. That should set off some red flags. But I've seen enough people like Dooku now that while it's stupid of him not to question this more, it's deeply in character. People in those sorts of positions - people born into power, who have had the world handed to them - never question it when they're handed even more. They've always gotten everything they ever wanted, often without even asking. This is normal for them.

We aren't told much about the Nightsisters and their history; Obi-Wan has heard of them (and Mother Talzin) and calls them an ancient order of witches. Dooku indicates they had some past alliance. That's all we're told explicitly. Again I don't know what' s still canon, but as a general statement:

There are Force-wielding traditions outside of the Jedi and Sith. The Force is in all things, and while most need some training, there are individuals so naturally talented that they'll reach out to the Force even without it. Sometimes these individuals are just hermits, or maybe they take an apprentice or two. This sort of thing grows into a local Force-wielding tradition of its own, with its own structure and rules. Traditionally the Jedi leave small groups alone, only involving themselves if they become a problem. The Sith sometimes recruited from among these groups (it's a good place to find potential apprentices) and also tended to ignore them unless they grew too powerful.

A more recent example I can confirm in canon is the Knights of Ren. Ren was the name of an individual who was strong in the Force but didn't have any formal training and followed the path of the dark. He recruited other Force-sensitive people with a similar mindset, forming his little group. While they had some passing similarities to the Sith (both being users of the Dark Side), Ren's traditions and structure were his own. Ben Solo (later Kylo) killed Ren and took control of his group and his name.

The Nightsisters of Dathomir are a similar group. Mother Talzin is obviously a powerful user of the Dark Side, but she exists outside of the Jedi or Sith traditions. If she was more ambitious or more involved in affairs outside of Dathomir maybe she'd warrant being a target for Sidious or Dooku, but if she stays in her lane there's no need for conflict. And she can provide a ready supply of potential apprentices should the need arise, as Ventress and Savage show.

Ventress goes to the part of Dathomir where the men live (because I guess their society is exceptionally gender segregated?) and after putting a bunch of them through violent and deadly trials, chooses the toughest one. Talzin and the Nightsisters use a ritual to make him stronger and more powerful, and more under their control. His name is Savage Opress, because sometimes Star Wars is just dumb.

Talzin presents Dooku with his new slab of beefcake and he's pretty pleased, especially after Savage successfully kills some Jedi. Dooku accepts his present and tells Savage that he does indeed plan to turn against Sidious eventually - because of course he does. That's literally how the whole Sith thing works. We know Sheev doesn't want to play by those rules, but no one should be surprised.

After seeing a video of Savage killing some Jedi, Obi and Ani go to Dathomir to investigate him. This leads them to Talzin and the Nightsisters. Dooku has sent Savage to kidnap the king of Toyderia, and Talzin sends Obi/Ani there as well. Savage fucks up by killing the king instead, so Dooku is pissed and zaps him (his usual method of correction.)

Ventress arrives and attacks Dooku along with Savage. This gives us a pretty good fight scene, although the fights in this show are generally sub-par. (I'll talk about the concept of weight some other time). We've got 3 fighters, 5 blades, and totally different styles. Dooku has his classic, almost courtly style, often with one hand at his side or behind his back. Ventress has a more acrobatic style with two sabers, while Savage is just flailing away with the Darth Maul special (without the technique). What makes this fun is seeing these visually distinct styles of fighting all mashed together. If you removed everything identifying about these characters, you could still tell who was who base don how they're fighting. And that makes for a good fight scene.

The whole fight really breaks down when Savage gets tired of being treated like shit and starts attacking Ventress as well as Dooku. Dooku runs and Ventress pursues, while Savage is left behind and has to deal with Obi and Ani. There is a lot happening.

Savage escapes, but now he's on Dooku's bad side. Obi and Ani get out too. Dooku proves to be too strong for Ventress and she barely gets away. So now there's just a bunch of red-blade assholes running around who all hate each other. And that makes for a fun galaxy. Speaking of...

Savage returns to Dathomir, badly wounded. Talzin tells him that he still has a living brother - Darth Goddamn Maul. She sends Savage off to find him, setting up the storyline that is the reason I started watching this show in the first place years ago.

This is a very good arc. Stories that put a focus on the villains for a bit usually are, because we get to see sides of a story we aren’t usually exposed to. Ventress is a character we knew very little about, and this greatly expands her as a character. Getting a new wildcard in the form of Savage is fun, as is the promise of Darth Maul’s return. And this was good to get Dooku some of his villain credibility back. He’s been rebuilding that lately. If your bad guys never win, they never seem dangerous. So giving him a W helps the show as a whole.

This episode also expands the universe in a a way we haven’t seen any of the TV shows or movies do before. It shows us other traditions of the Force outside of the Jedi and Sith; while those factions are dominant there are others in this world. It’s the sort of thing that really makes you want to know more; and when we get more, we love it. Hell, when I heard Darth Maul was being resurrected for this show, I went back and watched the episodes that were relevant to it, starting with this arc. It was good enough to make me watch a show that I’d previously dismissed.

In terms of character development, plot advancement, and worldbuilding, this is the best arc in Season 3 by a mile. From what I’ve watched this time around, I’d put it just below the Mandalorian arc from season 2. It tells a very good story that expands the world and its characters in compelling ways that make us want to know more; and those promises are more than fulfilled later down the line.

It’s the good shit.

#clone fights #clone wars

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featuristicfilm · 5 years

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Movies of Fall/Winter 2019 (and 2020) that I’m really excited to see

With awards season kicking in, the movie release slate is about to bring us some incredible pieces of cinema. There are many films this year that sound fun, interesting, profound and promising so here is a shortened list of the ones that get me giddy with most anticipation. TOP 5 let’s go! (and a few honourable mentions)

5. Lucy in the Sky (Noah Hawley, December 6th, 2019, UK)

Randomly stumbling upon its trailer on Youtube, I was surprised as to why I haven’t heard anything about this film at all because it actually looks super intriguing. Even though the notion of a space movie can feel fairly worn-out, and there is only so much originality you can bring to that kind of concept, Lucy in the Sky looks like it’s going to be a completely shifted take on space dynamics and exploration. In fact, it seems it’s going to be a story fully centred around one character’s individual, self-reflective, very personal journey, with space acting only as a narrative device that creates the background, rather than it being at the forefront of the film’s events. Natalie Portman seems completely in her shoes in this trope of a study of a character who’s deeply damaged and emotionally transformed by whatever trials she undergoes. The trailer is put together so perfectly as well. It tells just enough information for us to understand what is the movie’s premise while also creating a dramatic and suspenseful energy. Also, to me the imagery feels very grounded and serious but also kind of weird, daring and eccentric in some shots, so if the creators managed to balance a kind of art-house approach with some epic, grandiose visual elements it is going to be one hell of a film. To be fair, I was kind of excited just ‘cause it’s Natalie Portman but the more I think about the story the more interesting and promising it sounds. Unfortunately, it comes out October 4th which means its going to have a biiiiit of a competitor in the box-office in the form of Joker.

4. Jojo Rabbit (Taika Waititi, January 3rd, 2020, UK)

This one exhibits several traits that make the film very enticing. First of all, of course, the subject matter. I think it’s fair to say that a little boy interacting with Adolf Hitler in the shape of an imaginary friend is as crazy and amusing an idea as it gets. And, of course, many of us have our understanding and reaction towards the people and events of the WW2 era but to have that portrayed in a comedy genre is definitely going to cast a whole new light on the subject, at least as seen on the big screen. This will most likely be a story exploring harsh realism through imagination and fantasy but also through the earnest and innocent eyes of a child and it will likely be a surprising take and not what anyone expects it to be. Due to many reasons, it is, obviously, going to be a widespread conversation piece and for that alone I have to see it. The other thing that perfectly complements the idea of this project, is the man himself, Taika Waititi. I don’t think a better combination between the material and the creator can emerge because it is hard to imagine someone else taking on such a bold proposition. He’s just the type of writer and director that is so unique in style and taste that you just believe anything he makes is going to turn out special in one way or another, and having creative will and freedom and integrity might be exactly what made this whole thing possible in the first place. Plus Waititi himself is playing Hitler which, I’d imagine, just raises the scale of humour and energy and dynamics of the whole piece.

3. Jumanji: The Next Level (Jake Kasden, December 13th, 2019, UK)

I know, a not so popular of a choice. Compared to the way every other film is awaited based on their technical and creative merits, with this one I am so genuinely eager to experience the fun. After all the amusement Jumanji: Into the Jungle brought to the franchise, I don’t see why anybody wouldn’t be excited about this next instalment. I absolutely loved that film, it was so so so funny and entertaining! The story was really great because not only did it bring that fantasy and adventure aspect once again but also the way the avatar/game player narrative approach was incorporated was so unique. So, after seeing the trailers for this sequel, it sparked even more excitement to see how else can they possibly spin that concept. With that in mind, bringing in Danny DeVito and Danny Glover, well regarded comedic figures and over all talents, to the mix is genius. Them trapped in the bodies of Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart is, honestly, a hilarious thought and having old guys interact with the other teenage friends and deal with challenges in the desert, jungle, mountain tops will be no less than a thrilling journey. I think this is going to be just the right film to kind of step back from all the serious and deep dramas that will be in full motion for Oscar season at the time, and switch to some good-old light-hearted cinema. With holidays coming up during its release (December 13th) - nothing better than to go see a fun family movie. And if the playfulness and humour combined with the fond spirit of the story lands at least the same way as it did with the previous film, it’s going to win over people’s hearts and probably the box-office. Can’t wait to just fully enjoy the action and immerse myself in the wonder of this adventure all over again!

2. Joker (Todd Philips, October 4th, 2019, UK)

I have to admit, while initially I was very interested in this new iteration of Joker purely on a general movie-goer level, it was maintained and gradually piqued as time went on largely due to everyone talking about it so much. The sheer amount of hype and anticipation this announcement has managed to create is baffling. Every film coverage outlet, magazine, blog was discussing it. And maybe it’s just that I follow a lot of superhero genre loving people and maybe the idea of this film, in fact, doesn’t concern the general viewer as much, still it has kept many eagerly waiting. The thing that gives it an edge, though, is the fact that this is not simply going to be your general superhero action blockbuster but rather an intense psychological drama reflecting on certain societal issues applied to a familiar mythology. The character everyone knows as a rival to Batman here seems to be a troubled man, beaten down literally, as well as emotionally due to social injustice and his own mental complications. Therefore, this film will probably not rely on epic showdowns and comic tropes as much but actually will give the concept of an ‘origin story’ a different meaning. It’s exciting that DC took it upon themselves to make a bold and creatively charged version of their beloved character, and with Joaquin Phoenix as the lead and Todd Philips as director I think they can be confident about their vision. Whether it is going to be received well or not, that’s the question. While it did already receive heaps of acclaim, including the Golden Lion in the Venice Film Festival, the early audience reviews are quite widely mixed. Nonetheless, it is very intriguing. I have to say, it’s shaping out to be one of those films, and performances, in particular, that have the ability to stay in the minds of the viewers long after. Not long to wait now and we’ll finally see if it lives up to what it set out for. ‘Cause let me tell you, the standard’s high, for sure.

Knives Out (Rian Johnson, November 29th, 2019, UK)

For the longest, this film and Joker were up to par for the number one place on my list of the most awaited movies of the rest of year. Every trailer amped up the excitement so much more and, ultimately, when I felt that I could’t stop thinking about Knives Out, counting days ‘till it’s release, I knew which one has won me over. No surprise, though. I absolutely love whodunnits!!! There’s just a certain thrill to a mystery or a detective style film that cannot be found anywhere else. There’s always so much room for exploration of characters and narratives and the story can take so many directions. If a screenplay for a murder mystery is done right, and all the twists and turns are unexpected and smartly placed, it’s just the best. I also love the interactive aspect of it. Even though I know I can’t change the way it all plays out, I have the ability to have my own reasoning and conclusions that I can apply in my head as the events role out. So with this film I was instantly hooked. Chris Evans’ attachment to the project definitely helped me discover it, though. I’m a huge fan of his and I was curious already to see what kind of role he is about to take on next after the culmination of his journey as Captain America in the MCU. Since I find him to be a very intelligent actor, I think I can trust his judgement on what kind of material is interesting to explore and what kind of people are worth collaborating with. That in mind, this cast looks absolutely incredible! Some really experienced ‘veterans’ in Toni College, Jamie Lee Curtis, Christopher Plummer, a big big star Daniel Craig, as well as some less known but promising names such as Ana de Armas and Katherine Langford, for example. And that’s just to name a few… Wow. With the nature and genre of the story, given it’s a suspenseful mystery but with a comedic flare, a good ensemble of performers is crucial, as is their dynamic. Hopefully, writer/director Rian Johnson has managed to create a rich, powerful and unique film that will entertain and won’t disappoint. I do believe that will be the case, as that much talent on screen and behind the camera is usually a recipe for success.

If not for the short list… I have so many other films that have caught my attention and that will absolutely have me in the cinema seat on opening night. These include Bombshell whose team is worth an applause for that amazingly well put teaser trailer; Just Mercy, for a true story that will no doubt have an impact on me and for what seem to be astounding performances by the lead cast; and Marriage Story because it will make me cry… Stories about family, love and relationships always hit close home, this one might break my heart but there’s pain and joy in life all the time, I look forward to seeing the often difficult reality reflected on screen.

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theexistentiallyqueer · 5 years

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Okay so I’ve been thinking about that really bad Hot Take that’s been circulating about fanfiction. And it’s been kind of simmering in me. The root of the problem with it isn’t so much that it diminishes the quality of fanfiction so much as the way it characterizes two completely different genres of media.

Preface: at no point is this ever, ever, ever a diatribe or condemnation against fanart or the work fanartists put into their work. This is about the value that is ascribed to visual art vs the value ascribed to literary art. I am trying to talk specifically about the denigration of literary art in fandom spaces and the way it’s been recently, in a very popular tumblr post, martyred at the expense of queer and disabled writers and writers of color.

Fanart (as a collective genre, according to that post) - Good, artistically-driven, pure, wholesome. Fanartists draw for the sake of becoming better artists, and every work a fanartist draws or creates is made with the goal of becoming a better artist. Fanartists never draw anything that is base, silly, shippy, or smutty; if there is pornographic art, it isn’t pornographic but Erotica. There is no such thing as low- or middling-quality art, because all artists are striving to sharpen their skills and become better artists, and there are no fanartists who draw just for fun or shits and giggles. Fanartists achieve fame purely on the merit of their own artistic ability. There’s no room to criticize fanartists who attempt to cis-wash trans (or trans pesenting) characters, or fanartists who blatantly, frequently, and with frankly no impunity (as their art is reblogged, and reblogged, and reblogged) whitewash characters of color.

Fanfiction (as a collective genre, according to that post) - Smutty, ship-fodder, audience-pleasing trash. Fanfic writers write for the sake of expressing their inner boners or enacting their internal fantasies. No fanfic writers seek a sense of growth in their writing or work to improve their writing in any way. The only reason any works of fanfiction are popular is because they cater to the readership’s base instincts, and the True Authors, the Really Daring authors who write Real Literary Content, are cast the wayside.

It’s such a two-dimensional view of the situation--and it doesn’t even take into account edited content, such as gifsets, which makes up a huge portion of fandom content and has been a type of content, along with fanart, that fanfic writers have long voiced their (our) upset about getting more active & polarized attention than written works. It presents this dichotic view of fanart good/fanfiction bad. Which is also incredibly ugly and disturbing when you consider the fact that fanfiction is the earliest form of curated fan content, and fanfiction itself is inherently transformative in a way that fanart and edits are not, because fanwork in general, and and fanfiction in particular, is inherently in and of itself the public (fans) themselves overriding the corporate-owned landscape with their subversive interpretations.

Like, I have seen not-good fanart. I have seen bland, unimpressive, generic fanart. There is fanart from artists who don’t have their own unique sense of style. Fanart from artists who are just starting out and haven’t developed their skills yet. Fanart from artists who draw as a hobby, and damn they may be good, but they don’t give a fuck about contributing to The Body of Artistry because they have bills to pay and career interests outside of art, and damn, they’d really rather draw these two characters making out, or blushing at each other, or straight-up fucking, than they would create something of Great Artistic Importance. That art gets so many notes. It is liked and reblogged and shared.

And that’s all valid, because art ISN’T A COMPETITIVE SPORT. I embrace fanartists who draw just because they want to, because they don’t care about quality or artistic ideals or whatever, and just want to draw someone being happy, or sad, or angry, or getting dicked down, or whatever!!! It doesn’t matter. Draw because you want to draw. Because your art is an expression of yourself that speaks of your experiences and transgresses the definitions of the world you’ve been told to adhere to. You make art for yourself, to say fuck the system!!!! We’re just the lucky souls who get to appreciate it afterwards.

The complaints that come from fanfic writers--and yes!!! I am one, so proceed with the accusations of butthurt--are that fanart and edits get more social media attention (in the forms of likes, reblogs, retweets, shares, etc.) than fanfic does.

And it’s a valid complaint! It isn’t rooted in some alien reality that fanfiction is inherently more base and less artistic than fanart. I’ve seen some pretty aesthetically displeasing fanart get a high reblog count. And I’ve seen some incredible works of literary attention get no recs, no likes, no comments. I’ve seen works of middling writers who have a lot of fucking talent and show it in their work, and yeah maybe they write porn, but their prose SINGS, and no one comments, no one shares it, no one makes their love of it public the same way they do the fanart, the same way they do the edits and the gifsets.

It’s rooted in two things:

1. Literature (which fanfiction is a subgenre of) takes time to appreciate. You can look at a piece of art and reblog it without thinking about it. It could be a work on par with the Mona Lisa, and you could still look at it without any aesthetic or artistic sense and say, “Hey, that looks pretty.” But you can’t read without thinking; reading is an active mental pursuit you have to engage with. (If you try to pull out Twilight on this point to fight me, I’ll fight you back. I’ve actively read Twilight. Even reading awful literature takes effort; arguably it takes more effort than reading something good).

2. Literature is hard to market with words, because when you’re trying to encourage other people to read it, you have to use even more words. You have to use words to convince someone to read even more words! Some fanartists draw comics or fanart inspired by fanfiction--I love those artists and they do more for us than they could possibly know--but for the most part, you can’t use visuals to show someone why they should invest their time in reading a thing. And unlike fanart--when it’s a tribute, when it’s a showcase of the character’s or characters’ canonical attributes--fanfiction can’t be green-stamped by creators, because fanfiction is inherently built in narrative, and canon-compliant or not, that opens the legal owners of the property up to legal disputes.

So much easier, then, to focus on fanart, which distribution and publishing companies love because they see free advertising in sharing it, to complain that fanfiction is a dispirited genre of unartistic creators who just want to read the queer version of a bodice-ripper.

And then we get to the question of: why is the bodice ripper so bad? Are you willing to critique Jack Kerouac and Charles Bukowski with the same derision you have for queer writers? Are you going to hold the wish-fulfillment fantasies and introspective examinations of sexuality in relation to gender, race, class, and physical ability written by writers expressing their own experiences as inherently debauched and debased because pornographic fanfiction is popular, but not hold George R R Martin to the same standard? Are you going to criticize the prejudices and disparities and biases in publishing that prevent marginalized writers from being able to break into the industry?

Are you ready to combat the enduring popularity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is overwhelmingly a series of heroism tales about shitty and mediocre white men?

Are you going to take aim at HBO for taking a fantasy series that, while still written by a sexist author who has a disturbing fixation on female sexuality has uplifted its female characters as heroes in their own right, and then drove it into the dirt to end on a note with the male “hero” murdering his female lover, an abuse survivor, after engaging her in an intimate kiss?

Did you take issue with the streaming blockbuster Stranger Things only confirming a character as canonically gay--after planning to have her be a straight romantic option for a major character--because the actress is the one who repeatedly badgered the showrunners about how she didn’t feel her character fit that role?

Are you invested in the fact that video games continue to be majority white, majority male, majority able-bodied, and majority inaccessible to disabled gamers?

You want to complain about fanfiction having too much porn and somehow that deligitimizes fanfiction as a genre as a whole?

Fuck off. There are hundreds, thousands even more likely, of other authors of equal skill to you or greater, who are struggling to have their works recognized in fandoms that don’t want to put the effort in to reading them, the effort into sharing and appreciating them. It’s harder to make someone care about a fanfic. You can reblog a fanart, and your followers will see the art itself right away. If you reblog fanfic, they have to make the conscious choice to engage with it. And none of that is your fault, because you can’t control how other people engage with fan content, but you can advocate, vocally, for the fair and equal respect for fanfiction and fan-written content. You can remind people, again and again, how fanfic writers do so much for so little.

But you want to come into my house and compare fanart to fanficton and claim one is inherently better? You’re the Banksy to my Catherynne L Valente, to my N.K. Jemisin, to my Seanan McGuire.

Start understanding the system is built against us all and start understanding why your battle is uphill. What’s oppressing your creative success is a white, straight, cis monopoly on what the good story, what the correct story is, limiting your options, tying you to a narrative you don’t belong to. Queerness and marginalization exist beyond what’s depicted in mainstream media, and fans expressing that through their own written content?

That’s us taking back the corporate-owned narrative for ourselves. It’s self-liberation through the written word. And yeah, some of it is porn.

It’s porn when it’s a drawing too.

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