#and THATS my rotw essay

[eosofspades]

actually i'm just gonna rant now rim of the world FUCKS and you can't change my mind

like, look. this is a bad movie in a lot of ways, i agree completely. there are a lot of aspects that should have been different or could have been better. but it's a FUN movie! it's not TRYING to be world-changing and dominate the industry with its spectacularity!! it is a silly fun wild alien invasion movie about teenagers and found family!!!! but all of the parts that get criticized are so not the actual problems this movie has??

like. to start with, i understand why some people might be uncomfortable with the sex jokes and humor but it's not BAD?? the jokes are not being made by adults toward the teens, they are being made BY teens. which is LITERALLY how teens are. i have been 13. you have been 13. i'd go so far as to say this is one of the ONLY movies i have EVER seen that does not infantilize or make a mockery of being in your early teens and it was so REFRESHING to see! this is one of the most accurate representations of a group of wildly different teenagers put together i have ever seen outside of real life.

ZhenZhen isn't reduced to a hapless love interest, she's a brilliant and capable character the whole time and Alex does NOTHING but respect her for the entirety of the movie. Dariush has an entire movie-long growth arc about opening up to people, learning what REAL friends are (yes, he's a stereotypical rich kid, NO that doesn't make him inaccurate; i think he's actually INCREDIBLY accurate for a rich kid in the way he carries himself and treats other people and expects others to treat him), and being selfless. Gabriel similarly gets to open up to his new friends and he's never ever mocked by the narrative or made the butt of jokes for his disability (a mental disability i haven't ever actually seen represented before in movies, especially not about teens and kids). Alex has anxiety and PTSD gets to overcome it, and it doesn't instantly fix itself once he faces his fear - he's still awkward and nervous, because healing is a PROCESS, and anxiety isn't inherently something that needs to be 'cured.'

do i wish Dariush and Gabriel's (INCREDIBLY) queer-coded thing going on had been explicitly shown/confirmed? YES. but that doesn't mean it was bad or homophobic. there is a DIFFERENCE between depicting something (especially queer relationships) in a negative way vs. simply depicting it in a subtextual way.

likewise, not all M/F relationships MEAN that the girl is reduced to a love interest by default! YES, even when (maybe especially when) the boy needs reassurance/support from her and/or she is shown to actively desire a relationship with him. these two are MUTUALLY pining! these two have a clear and strong MUTUAL respect for one another! M/F RELATIONSHIPS WITH A 'WEAKER' MALE CHARACTER DO NOT MAKE THE FEMALE CHARACTER HAPLESS OR BADLY WRITTEN.

on the topic of writing!! YES i do think a lot of the writing could be improved upon and there were definitely points that felt unbelievable (even for an alien movie) like the timing of the alien's appearances, or the fact that a solider asked a teenage boy to save the world, or a lot of things! but at the end of the day it is FICTION, and the characters have NUANCE to them, and having flaws does not make a movie BAD. it's a silly wacky found family story about teenagers saving the world from aliens. it doesn't have to be flawless and puritan.

#and THATS my rotw essay #fucking love this movie its so bad its so so good #DONT EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THE FOUND FAMILY OF THIS MOVIE. #FOUR TEENS WITH NOTHING IN COMMON BUT DADDY ISSUES IS A GOOD CREW TOGETHER #mine #rim of the world #rotw #rory rambles about movies #long post