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fathercharlesoffdensen · 5 years

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In Defense of Fat Thor

I not only enjoyed Thor’s portrayal in Endgame, but found it to be a productive and well-developed(/acted, DAMN, Chris Hemsworth) characterization that has been steadily building up across each consecutive movie. Caveat: I do not fault anyone for being skeptical that the directors, etc. had it in them, considering the clunky nature of some of their previous creations, to say nothing of some of their interviews, etc. I am also not 100% surprised to see people maligning Fat Thor, and/or saying they don’t understand his trajectory and/or that they felt some of the humor at his expense took away from the legitimacy of having a fat, depressed, anxious character able to accomplish the same feats as when he had more physical prowess, etc. I disagree with this as well, in part because Fat Thor feels very personal to me, though not exclusively, and at the very least would like to propose a reading of many of the scenes in Endgame that offers a considerably more well-intentioned and good faith portrayal of Thor, with my own caveat that at least the anti-Ragnarok people using Fat Thor to further their agenda that Thor’s characterization sucks because Chris Hemsworth and Taika Waititi spent each day on set shaking Tom Hiddleston down for his lunch money and laughing at their own fart jokes are still wrong, which balances out everything else, because balance is still important, even if Thanos’ fuckboy interpretation of it is ridiculous. Anywho, apologies in advance for how messy this ends up being, I feel like my thoughts are very roundabout right now, but getting it out of my system will really help.

Thor has been ~emotionally fat~ for a while now, folks. As far back as Thor (2011), we see him disassociating, aka spending at least a few moments staring off into space in the midst of dealing with sudden upheaval, often because his angry outbursts have failed to be satisfying or get him what he wants/needs. One of the things that made me so excited to see a physical fallout to this in the MCU is that it actually ties into a bunch of other canons, too, including a recent spell in the comics leading up to the War of the Realms, wherein Odin sort of admits to his own role in breaking Thor, as far back as being “too drunk” to be there for his birth, as well as his being dubbed the God of Thunder because baby Thor used to wail whenever there was a storm, and Odin used to make fun of him for it because you don’t get a #4 Best All-Father coffee cup from your kids for nothing. @thishereanakinguy and I are even reworking parts of our Thorki paper for publication to put forth even more evidence that the pressure on Thor to be the Golden Child was too much, and that he’s been unraveling for a long time.

Again, none of these reactions to turmoil are new for Thor, though it’s fascinating that the conversation between Frigga and Thor in Endgame is largely focused on her assuring her son that it’s okay for him to fail, and/or for him to delegate tasks (there’s a recent comic that’s gone viral where Mister Rogers visits with Thor, and it has a similar bent), or realize that he has to shift his perspective on Who He Is. In part, it’s lowkey hilarious that Frigga, aka “send Loki some soup and some library books he’ll enjoy after our big fight because I still love that little asshole, never mind that he’ll probably receive them after she has been killed omfg,” is so blatantly ignoring Odin’s decrees to basically withhold basic affection from their children so that they’ll toughen up on their own, because fuck that noise. At the same time, Frigga imparts words that Thor (and Loki) should have heard and taken to heart a long time ago, and it’s painful to realize that Thor has felt as though he hasn’t been allowed to express his feelings, but so God damned great that that’s what Frigga hones in on. Notably, Thor isn’t trying to botch his trip to 2013 Asgard, either; he has a panic attack when he and Rocket arrive, and Frigga sneaks up on him because Frigga knows her babies no matter how much they are made of pizza or in Loki’s case magical artifacts. (Sarah read something saying that in households where the Golden Child and Black Sheep co-exist, statistically it’s common for the Golden Child to turn to alcohol and food, whereas the Black Sheep is more likely to turn to drugs/more illicit substances wherein they opt not to feel their feelings as much, and I was really floored by that because that really fits a couple of different scenarios that I’m familiar with for one reason or another.)

SO ANYWAY, we see Thor disassociating in previous movies. In TDW, even Odin comments on Thor’s confused heart, which Thor assures him has nothing to do with Jane Foster, even though it would be very easy for him to pretend he’s not actively thinking about Loki a thousand times a day and spending so much time stalking Heimdall and the broken Bifrost remnants that dude is like holy fuck please talk to your kid or I am going to commit treason again so hard. Thor reaches out to Odin for guidance/arguably comfort once Frigga dies, and his inability to provide either sends Thor immediately to Loki, who at the very least can help him properly realize the revenge he seeks, while also saving Jane. In Ragnarok, we get that great moment where Loki is talking directly to Thor, and Thor simply stares straight ahead; Loki doesn’t seem all that surprised by it either - he and Thor have different triggers and whatnot, but he knows the emo fuck who ends up at his cell in a fucking black poncho and handcuffs isn’t a new creation by any means, and he is into it fwiw. Even stuff like Korg admitting at the end of Ragnarok he carried around Miek’s presumably dead body because he felt so bad that he was dead warrants a little nod of understanding from Thor. Likewise, we see Thor stress-eating a bowl of bread at the beginning of Endgame, before the focus on his weight became a thing. Thor doesn’t run outside to see Tony Stark come home; whenever possible, he’s barely there, even before his five-year hiatus.

The use of well-placed humor in a three-hour sob fest does not seem all that weird to me. Shakespeare does it in all of his tragedies; and to continue this egregious metaphor, a lot of his comedies contain tragic bits, aka loss of family identity, which is arguably something that underpins how good Ragnarok is, as well. Being able to laugh at stuff has always been very important for me personally, though I realize it’s not for everyone. Still, I think there’s an additional caveat with Endgame regarding who the ‘fat jokes’ are coming from, aka arguably all of the Avengers have their own significant traumas to work through even before The Snap, and are also just trying to survive, even if they seem to fare physically better than Thor at this particular point in time. So Tony Stark calls him “Lebowski”; but as soon as the musical cues and Hemsworth’s amazing acting switches over into Thor being triggered by thoughts of all that he’s lost only minutes later, we see Tony, who canonically has major issues with being touched, putting his hand on Thor’s shoulder and allowing himself to be grabbed and held because he knows that is what Thor needs from him. Bruce, too, has to set a boundary for his own personal safety about being grabbed, but still gives in to Thor’s need for physical touch. One of the tragic touchstones of Ragnarok is that Thor doesn’t touch Loki once, even though in the first two Thor films and Avengers 1, he is constantly pawing at him. Thor wants to make a point in Ragnarok that he has decided he must let Loki go if that’s what Loki truly wants, and so he withholds his own instinct for physical contact - which Loki gives back to him, however briefly, in Infinity War by knocking Thor out of the way of Thanos and the Tesseract, to say nothing of how all Thor can do when he arrives at Loki’s corpse is to mewl and cling and bury his head and wait for everything to explode, himself included.

In any case, the other 'fat jokes’ come from Rocket, well established as being caustic in the face of personal tragedy, and having been put in the position even back in Infinity War of sort of making sure Thor keeps going, and Rhodey, who is probably just trying to deal with all these new people hanging around, and the fact that all of the structure in his life pretty much has been upended in a really short amount of time. Regarding Frigga’s “eat a salad” remark, as his mom, she seems to understand how much his physicality comes into play for him, and how devastating it is for him to see how others react to him seeming both physically and emotionally diminished. This is why it’s so powerful for him to still be 'worthy’ of Mjolnir, I think, and why that moment book-ended Frigga’s admonishment. Likewise, we don’t get a suspiciously fast glow-up wherein Thor’s all muscley again. He has to hold his own against Thanos in his current form, and he fucking does. Sometimes, life happens, and you have to respond to it as you are because you don’t have the time or energy to get everything in order first, and so you do the best you can. IMO, Thor did a pretty fucking good job.

I also find it completely understandable that Thor went off with the Guardians at the end of the film. (P.S.: Peter Quill is still absolutely intimidated by Fat Thor.) For one thing, I don’t think he’s going to stop trying to find a way to bring Loki back, regardless of what Clint said about the Soul Stone’s magic not being able to be reversed. For another, Valkyrie deserves her own glow-up into becoming Queen of New Asgard, as much as Sam deserves to be the new Cap. I’m of the mindset that Steve likely wouldn’t have gone back in time to be with Peggy if Tony had lived, and that doing so was him honoring Tony’s legacy by taking the advice that he gives several times in the film to go and live life while you have it. Likewise, as sad as it is for Tony to have died, I’m not sure he would have been able to rest, post-Thanos. You also can’t tell me for a second he hasn’t left all sorts of little messages and trinkets and whatnot around for his loved ones to find, cough AI Tony in Peter’s next suit or something cough.

Overall, I thought Endgame was a good send-off. It was well-acted, well-scripted, beautifully scored (Thor’s Pink Panther-esque theme when he’s trying to explain the Aether is amazeballs, as well as the theme that plays when everybody gets to the battlefield), and really just surprisingly, suspiciously good. I am glad that if we have to see this leg of the MCU end that it did so in such a way as to leave character arcs open to further interpretation, and I’m legitimately excited for a lot of them. While I don’t think everybody is required to be fake-positive all of the time, I do think that in fandom spaces, if one’s sole focus is how disappointing something is all the time, it’s not a productive or soul-enhancing use of one’s energy, and it makes me sad to see it. Nuance is important; the MCU has more of it than it’s given credit for having, and I hope more people realize that as it continues into Phase 4, or at the very least, that they find something they enjoy and keep coming along for the ride.

#avengers endgame spoilers #endgame spoilers #fat thor #meta #she wants the d(iscourse)

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templeofgeek · 6 years

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Katie York is a photographer from Los Angeles, California. I first met Katie in early 2015 through the Doctor Who Community. She was a Twelfth Doctor Cosplayer at the time. I ,myself, was also a Doctor Who cosplayer and also from the surrounding Los Angeles area. I began to follow her on Instagram and very quickly formed a friendship with her. Our shared interest stretched far beyond just Doctor Who and Cosplay. We talked daily about our fandoms, our lives and our passions. One passion we shared and cared very deeply about was Cosplay Photography. For us cosplay photography was just as important as the cosplays themselves. Photography was our way of celebrating our fandom. Doing our best to bring out the hard work and effort that had gone into making these cosplays. Doing our best to do justice to the cosplays and the cosplayer. Most of what I have learned about cosplay photography I have learned from Katie. She has a very unique style and approach to shooting cosplays. To me, her photos seem softer and more sophisticated than a lot of the Cosplay Photography I have seen out there. She brings out the personalities of the people she photographs just as well as she does the loveliness of their cosplays. It is this unique style that makes her so sought after as a photographer. Her Wonder Woman Cosplay Project, which you will read about below, is touching and brilliant. I am very honored to be sharing her work and her story with you.

Photo by VXV Images

Your story, tell us about yourself. Hi all, I’m Katie! I’m a purple loving lady who moved with my mom and my dog from the east coast (New Hampshire) to the west coast (Southern California) to pursue a career in film post production. I love many things, most of them being my family, my fandoms (Disney, Wonder Woman, Sherlock and Star Trek to name a few.) and my pretend boyfriends (the most recent being Taika Waititi, Karl Urban and Chris Pine). When I’m not behind the lens of my Nikon I can be found running around my second home, Disneyland!

How long have you been interested in photography and storytelling? Photography has always flitted in and out of my life for quite sometime. I tinkered with disposable cameras all throughout my childhood years. I’d like to point out that most, if not all, of those photos were terrible wide shots of my disinterested dog and my startled Grandma. As I grew older I loved watching America’s Next Top Model for the sole reason of seeing how the photos from the shoots turned out. I was obsessed with the concept shoots and how interesting and fun and statuesque the models always looked. However, if I was to pinpoint when my love for the art solidified it was probably my senior year of high school into the first few months of college when I got to develop and process my own black and white film. At the time I had really NO idea what I was doing but I enjoyed doing it. Shortly after graduating college though, my camera fell by the wayside while I began building the foundation of my career in post production. Fast forward 5 years later, with my very first bonus check from my first real SERIOUS job in my hand, I bought my first DSLR camera and it’s been a passionate love ever since.

How long have you been interested in cosplay photography? I’ve been interested in cosplay photography for a little over 2 years? I never really thought it to be something I’d be interested in until I started regularly going to conventions around 3 years ago. Walking around the convention floor you can see all the love and dedication these people have for the craft and for the characters they wear. It’s infectious and since I’m nowhere near as handy as they are I felt compelled to contribute to this community somehow. So the photography just fell right into place. I like to consider cosplay photography as souped up portrait photography. The colors and textures and all the different faces make working with cosplayers so rewarding.

What got you started in cosplay/ cosplay photography? I was a Doctor Who cosplayer for a time and had some friends in our local community who were also into it. At the time I really didn’t even know cosplay shoots were a “thing”. We wanted to get photos outside of a convention setting so I reached out to a friend who knew a friend who had a camera. It’s been history ever since.

10th Doctor Cosplay

Donna Noble Cosplay

11th Doctor Cosplay

River Song Cosplay

Clara Oswald Cosplay

6th Doctor Cosplay

10th Doctor Cosplay

11th Doctor Cosplay

Is there any kind of equipment that you prefer to use when shooting cosplay? I’m not very fussy when it comes to equipment. As long as I have even, natural light and my workhorse lens (a.k.a my Sigma 50-100 mm f/1.8) I’m good to go! That said, what I keep in my kit is my Nikon D3300 body, Sigma 50-100 f/1.8, Nikkor 35mm f/1.8, Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5 and Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6. Oh, and a TON of fairy lights. You never know when you need to get sparkly on a shoot.

You had a photo go viral recently. What is the story there and How do you feel about that? I did and it was such an incredibly wild experience! But to provide context, I met Steven and Millie a.k.a the Cosplay Parents at Long Beach Comic Con this past September. Running around various circles in the Southern California Comic Convention scene I had learned of Steven and Millie. I had seen many photos of their beautiful cosplays around the internet but I never had the chance to actually formally introduce myself. Until a week before Long Beach Comic Con when my friend looped me in on a tweet from them showcasing their latest cosplay confection. Diana Prince and Steve Trevor. Needless to say, I flipped and the subsequent tweets expressed my enthusiasm. We confirmed I’d love the opportunity to photograph them and that was that.

Fast forward to day one of the con and I had just stepped out of a panel with William Shatner only to look out over the balcony to find Steven and Millie taking selfies in the lobby. Cut to your girl running down three flights of stairs (lugging her gear bag behind her) to catch them. I am nothing, if not enthusiastic about snagging my subjects. Thus our first mini shoot was born and my friendship with them took off. Because the day AFTER that photo was taken, I posted it to my twitter and over the course of 24 hours it went VIRAL. 18k likes, 5k retweets and a retweet and comment by the Wonder Woman Director herself, Patty Jenkins. To top it all off, a week later Steven and Millie and our photo were featured on Mashable and The Chive! Needless to say, that Labor Day weekend became incredibly memorable for both the Cosplay Parents and I.

https://twitter.com/KatieBePhoto/status/904394171284197376

https://twitter.com/PattyJenks/status/904785780173717504

It was so insane watching all of this go down. I wasn’t really expecting the volume of likes this photo would garner and Steven and Millie certainly weren’t expecting the reception they were given. It was such a positive experience not only to see my work so well received and the outpouring of love for what the CosplayParents do but also for the friendship I made with Steven and Millie since then. I know viral things don’t always have a positive outcome but I’m thankful this one was.

Do you have any photos that are your favorite or that you really proud of? This is such a hard question as each shoot is very special and like a mother, I can’t pick a favorite out of all my babies, but I would have to say one photo I’m very proud of is a shot I took during my very first WWxKtBe shoot. This shot of Julia in front of these tall buildings encapsulates what I wanted this Wonder Woman project to look like. Powerful and strong and ready to take on the world!

From beginning to now: How do you feel about how far you’ve come in your photography? Oh without a doubt I am leaps and bounds better than I was when I first started. I’ve learned so much in regards to how I use certain kinds of equipment, to looking at light, to posing my subjects, to how I edit things. Everyday I learn something new and that keeps this hobby fresh and exciting for me. I just love it.

We’ve talked briefly on this subject before. While hopping around conventions, we noticed a lack of female photographers. Many times you and I have been the only female photographers present at a comic book convention. How do you feel about the need for more female cosplay photographers? Like every aspect of the workforce there is without a doubt a gigantic need for more female cosplay photographers! I think we as women bring a different view to photography then men might have. As an art form and as a community we should want to see different perspectives from women. I’m very inspired by the male cosplay photographers I follow and would relish the inspiration from up and coming female cosplay photographers as well!

Tell us the story of your Wonder Woman project? I walked into a movie theater with my best friend Briana on June 7th eagerly anticipating my first viewing of Wonder Woman. I was certainly pumped for what I had seen in the trailers despite not fully knowing what to expect. Gal Gadot and Patty Jenkins didn’t disappoint. Fast forward nearly 2 and half hours later to Briana and I walking out of that theater changed women. I’ve always prided myself on being an independent woman who had all the things that make a woman walk tall. But after walking out of Wonder Woman for the first time I found myself walking taller and energized. Thank God there weren’t any tanks nearby because there was a VERY good chance I would’ve tried to pick it up ala the No Man’s Land scene.

But something wonderful triggered in my brain that night while Briana and I stood in the empty parking lot taking selfies in my Wonder Woman tiara. I needed to create and I needed it to be focused on this iconic female character and how important she is to strong and impassioned women (like me and the women I surround myself with). I decided that I wanted to start working on an open ended series of photoshoots with all kinds of Wonder Women cosplayers, revolving around the idea that no matter size, age or color we are ALL Wonder Women. This line of thinking is also the same through line to most of the photo work I’ve done since I seriously picked up a camera two years ago. I wanted to highlight all of Diana’s qualities in the women I worked with, effectively boosting their confidence along with the confidence of the women (and men!) who happened to find my photos. This project would also showcase all her different looks, be it from the film, the comics, the animated series or concept work. You name it, I wanted to photograph it. Thus the WWxKtBe (Wonder Woman times Katie Be) project was born.

Since then I’ve done a handful of shoots for this project, which can be viewed here, and I’m looking to do more. So, if anyone reading this is interested don’t hesitate to reach out!

What is a cosplay photo shoot like for you? What do you try to get out of your photo shoots? I try to make my shoots as easy, comfortable and informal as possible. Usually it’s me and my subject on location during the early morning. The first few shots are always the most nerve wracking for me but once those have gone off, it’s off to the races. There’s something really special about the time in the middle of the shoot where both my subject and I are really gelling. That’s the sweet spot for me. It’s when the best photographs happen because the real personality of the cosplayer comes out. Long story short, it’s plain and simple magic.

Every shoot I do I try to capture the person’s essence. Sure, you can capture the same poses you see from promo photos released from the tv show/movie/video game but to me it’s boring. I want to see the light and determination in a Wonder Woman’s eye as she’s about to step onto No Man’s Land and I want to see the mischief in the set of Deadpool’s shoulders as he’s sneaking up to photobomb someone. THAT is what cosplay photography is all about for me. The emotion. You can have all the fancy gear in the world but if the face is expressionless the photo lacks.

What are your feelings about convention photography? What is your approach to it? I think convention photography is a skill in and of itself. There’s so much going on and there’s so many people milling around. You really have to understand your gear and how to properly use it because sometimes you only get less than a minute to get your shot. I personally found it difficult to get the space I need to take a shot with the equipment I use daily and that’s kind of frustrating. However, on the positive end of things, there are SO many fresh faces you can meet and network with. This past LA Comic Con I got the opportunity to photograph with a few people who follow me on Instagram as well as people I’ve never met before. Normally I’m more of a one-on-one, location shoot kind of girl but I’m hoping to get more and more comfortable shooting within the confines of a convention.

Doctor Strange Cosplay

Mera Cosplay

Merida & Ariel Cosplays

Brave Cosplay

Star Trek Cosplay

Wonder Woman Cosplay

Do you do other kinds of photography? I do! I’ve photographed weddings and families, headshots and landscapes. I love photographing everything and everyone!

What do you hope for the future of cosplay photography? I hope that the community continues to be inclusive no matter the skill set of the photographer and that more and more women start stepping behind the lens!

What new things can we hope to see from you in the coming year? More Wonder Woman shoots for sure. I also want to start stepping into fandoms I don’t normally photograph. I might not be familiar with the characters but that’s what makes it fun and challenging!

What advice do you have for new photographers out there? Keep photographing. Never STOP photographing. Take your friends out for mini shoots and practice, practice, practice. Look at what other photographers are doing and figure out what you like about their style and spin it to fit what you want your photographs to look like. Don’t be afraid to ask questions of other photographers and ask cosplayers to shoot with you. Watch as many youtube tutorials as possible. I’ve learned so much about editing from youtube it’s not even funny. Finally, just have fun, this is what art is all about, having fun!

Ariel & Merida Cosplay

Cosplay Fans

Steve Trevor Cosplay

TARDIS Cosplay

Star Trek Cosplays

LA LA Land & Up Cross Over Copslay

Young Diana WW Cosplay

Rapunzel Cosplay

Merida Cosplay

Bettlejuice Cosplay

Wonder Woman Cosplay

Doctor Who Cosplays

Clara Oswald Cosplay

You can follow along with Katie’s adventures on her social media accounts:

https://wwxktbeproject.tumblr.com

https://www.instagram.com/katiebe_photography/

https://www.facebook.com/pg/katiebephotography/

Cosplayers photographed above:

https://www.instagram.com/imaginedrealitiescosplay/

https://www.instagram.com/christina.is.crafty/

https://www.instagram.com/badmoosecosplay/

https://www.instagram.com/lotcosplay/

https://www.instagram.com/satinedice/

https://www.instagram.com/iamgeeklectic/

https://www.instagram.com/indymcfly/

https://www.instagram.com/thecurlydoctor/

https://www.instagram.com/juliajcosplay/

https://www.instagram.com/sylviaslays/

https://www.instagram.com/emma_bruton/

https://www.instagram.com/koruption_kosplay/

https://www.instagram.com/maryschwacher/

https://www.instagram.com/collectresscosplay/

https://www.instagram.com/thecollectedmutineer/

https://www.instagram.com/the_rose_explodes/

https://www.instagram.com/letdownyourgoldenhair/

https://www.instagram.com/young.fortinbras/

https://www.instagram.com/imperial_maddie/

https://www.instagram.com/cos_im_nikki/

https://www.instagram.com/miss_laneous/

https://www.instagram.com/dancingdragoncosplay/

https://www.instagram.com/spidermaiden/

Q&A With Cosplay Photographer: Katie Be Photography Katie York is a photographer from Los Angeles, California. I first met Katie in early 2015 through the Doctor Who Community.

#Cosplay #Cosplay Photography #Katie Be Photos #Katie York #Photography

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