#disney deconstruction

[mask131]

So many people have missed the Disney subtext of Hazbin Hotel (and the Hellaverse as a whole), it is crazy...

So if you didn't know yet, Hazbin Hotel (and in a lesser degree its sister show Helluva Boss), are both paying homage and deconstructing/parodying Disney classics big time.

Consider how Charlie is supposed to be the deconstruction of the typical Disney princess-type of character.

Consider the many references to the character of Dr. Facilier, from Husk to Asmodeus.

Consider the fact the demon deals are explicitely designed like Ursula's own magical deals from The Little Mermaid.

ALASTOR IS A FRIGGIN' TAKE ON BAMBI PEOPLE!

#and there are many more references to be made #hazbin hotel #helluva boss #disney #disney parody #disney deconstruction #charlie morningstar #alastor

[glitteringstardust]

deconstructed key lime pie - video by lifeandthemeparks

#disney #walt disney world #stim #sensory #food #festival of the arts #epcot #green #yellow #red #star's stims #originals #the deconstructed foods are such a crazy cool concept to me for some reason #i lowkey wanna try making them

[alethianightsong]

My brain whenever I start to feel bad for losing my faith but God is supposed to be all-seeing so he saw me having a faith crisis & did nothing:

"IT'S NOT MY FAULT if in God's plan. He made the devil so much stronger than a maaaaaaaan!"

#religious anxiety #religious trauma #christianity #chiristian #exchristian #baptist #catholic #the hunchback of notre dame #thond #disney hunchback of notre dame #judge claude frollo #judge frollo #hellfire #musical #anxiety #bible belt #southern gothic #evangelicalism #evangelicals #christian deconstruction #lucifer #satan

[gritsandbrits]

What infuriates you a lot with Descendants? With the world building to characters?

Whoooo boy! I have a lot to say about the world building and why it sucks. Sure going over every single detail can be boring as fuck but at the same time the world of Descendants felt very shallow and only there for pretty aesthetics. We only get a surface level of how magic works, the school culture is generic and we barely get a glimpse at the AK side of things. Just that their jerks and super rich and stupidly brought villains back to life specifically to punish them knowing full well kids exists and that they're making themselves complicit in child abuse but do nothing about it.

Come on- for a series built on moral grayness almost every adult hero was an asshole; and the AKs only there to be an obstacle or prop for a VK. You tell me Cinderella and Charming would not have raised such a bratty bitch like Chad (and why they named him that in the first place). Audrey's story was actually sad but again she was only there to be a prop in Mal's character development.

Oh wait Mal doesn't need any development. She's just perfect just the way she is! :]

The VKs aren't much better. The rest of the core four gets sidelined; Uma gets demonized for trying to do something for the Isle than sucking up to Auradon; Harry and Gil gets no real arc. The other VKs are more background characters than anything.

Prince Ben? Nothing but a prop. He is a trophy to be put on Mal's display case. He is a punching bag whenever the story sees fit. His own parents don't even respect him enough to consider his needs. Any moment he has that demonstrates him as an individual quickly gets wrapped up so the story can put him back in the box. Doesn't help the fandom hates him for all the crappy storytelling decisions.

#Lonnie was just a copycat of her mom; characters like Doug & jane were boring Come on now this how Disney sees their heroes these days? #Honestly the way Auradon is only confirms my beliefs that modern entertainment hates heroes&use deconstruction as a way to shit on them #gb asks #anti descendants #descendants salt #anti mal bertha #mal deserves nothing #prince ben deserves better #salt post #disney salt

[hollowwhisperings]

KH4 Spec: Disney Worlds & Emotional Vulnerability (for boys)

A key part of any Kingdom Hearts game is the use of Disney (& Pixar!) films as Microcosms to the greater Macrocosm of said game (& often the Series as a whole). The Disney Worlds act as easily recognisable Settings, toyboxes if you will, to convey concepts otherwise difficult to "fit" within the limitations of the JRPG genre.

(even then, KH does tend to rely on Monologue Heavy Cutscenes & Collectible Texts to direct players toward All Those Emotions & Reactions That Are Happening)

Societal Preconceptions of what stories can be told with a Young Male Protagonist actively sabotage the KH series in its efforts to show the emotional experiences of its young male characters: Sora needs the Framework of a Disney Princess in order to express and recognise concepts traditionally Denied to his gender. Players need Very Explicit Parallels and Dialogue, often repeated & rephrased across several Worlds, just to prevent their Dismissing Emotional Text (let alone Subtext) out of hand because "JRPGs/Action Heroes/Boys don't feel Scared/Sad/Insecure".

Emotional Depth is not "masculine", especially for Male Protagonists and Male Antagonists because "Feelings" are "feminine".

KH actively subverts this false perception of [How Brains Work] by very pointedly removing its "Token Girl" from the most Emotional & Introspective moments in the series.

Kairi's whole PURPOSE, in the greater scope of the KH series narrative, is to "Not Be There" when she "should" be: when Sora feels overwhelmed by the enormity of his quests or feels scared of Failure, it is never Kairi who magically pops by to do the Emotional Heavylifting in Sora's Stead. Sometimes Sora is able to articulate his feelings by recognising them in the Stories of the Disney characters (most of them Female) but as "Story" characters, the emotions and memories that are being Expressed are, by default, those of our Male Protagonists (Sora & Riku). The Disney Worlds act as framing devices for a Young person struggling to articulate whst they Feel & for a Male Protagonist to Recognise his own emotions even as his "own" World (the society he grew up in, the societies of We Players) has preconditioned Sora to "grow out" of Feeling emotions, let alone Expressing them.

Kairi the UnCharacter

Kairi's function within the greater narrative of KH ("the Coming of Age of a young boy named Sora") is to Be Female and to Not Be Where She Is "Supposed" To Be.

In most works with Male Protagonists, especially those of the Shōnen or action genres and ESPECIALLY in the videogame medium, a "Token Girl" functions as an Emotional Outlet for the Male Characters.

Has the (male) Protagonist just experienced something Frightening, suffered Loss or become Lost after the Peacefup Setting of the game's Tutorial?

The Token Girl will be there to Recognise and Express feelings of "something sad and scary" having happened to the Protagonist, of how "shaken and out of sorts" the Protagonist must be. The Token Girl will then act as an Outlet for these emotions, a Comfortable Vehicle to Focus on (to "redirect" the negative emotions to masculine "action") via becoming Someone To Protect or Someone To Impress. Or, if the Token Female is Dead By Tutorial, grief for "Her" is an Acceptable Emotion... to then be directed to the "more acceptable" method for dealing with Males Having Emotions via Monologues To The Setting ("talking at the scenery") or Promises To The Dead.

These emotions are, subsequently, Never Brought Up Again except as Character Motives or within the "acceptable" outlet of a Romantic Sideplot or an Epilogue Montage/Cutscenes. Sometimes games will use character commentaries in item descriptions or story logs to Remember The Plot Device but since these Expressions of Emotion are hidden within optional reading, players & the game's cast can Dodge any further acknowledgement of Having Feelings or anything resembling [Emotional Labour].

Kairi, the "Token Girl" of KH1, exists to "not exist": as the Designated Female in the lives of Sora and Riku, Kairi's absence is Glaring and, for some, Uncomfortable.

When Sora is at his lowest, when he feels scared and overwhelmed... Kairi is Not There to do his [Emotional Labour] for him. When Sora feels insecure or has a sudden understanding about himself or his relatio ships with others... Kairi is Not There to be Sora's ("Acceptably Female") Emotional Outlet. When Sora feels inspired or moved by his experiences... Kairi is Not There to say Sora's emotions for him, she is Not There for him to confide in, Not There to serve as a "purpose" for Sora "Having An Emotion".

Sora is a Very Emotional character: he is in a Coming of Age Journey, he is constantly put into the emotional stories of Disney films, and emotional introspection is a fundamental component of his setting's [combat mechanics]. Sora spends most of his games with Disney characters as his companions, his mentors, his confidants: when each KH game has its Emotional Climax, removed from the Disney settings & characters who had subconsciously prepared Sora (& players)... Kairi is Not There.

The emotions in Sora's Story are HIS emotions: his to experience, his to recognise in Others, his to express and articulate.

And, when removed from the comforting framework of Disney, who does Sora share his emotions be they positive or negative?

Riku, the OTHER Male Protagonist.

Kairi is Not There for Riku's emotional experiences either. Kairi, whose "purpose" in most works is to be Designated & Acceptably Female Emotional Outlet, is Not There. When Kairi is conveniently nearby either boy when they have an Emotional Revelation... Kairi is left in the background. The KH games COULD include Kairi, the Designated Female most "convenient" for its Male Protagonists to Emote At... yet, at every opportunity, Kairi is Not There. Kairi Not Being There is Deliberate, it is Pointed: it is the KH series saying "here is where you expect Emotions to come from & go to" and "we will not be doing that".

Kairi is Conveniently Female so that the KH series can Actively NOT USE THAT CONVENIENCE: Sora's Coming of Age Journey is emotional, as all such stories are, and it is SORA'S. Sora's to feel, Sora's to act upon, Sora's to recognise through Disney Parallels, Sora's to come to terms with, Sora's to express to whomever Sora most wants to express them to.

Now that the KH series has "retired" Kairi from her Role as "Convenient Female We Actively Never Use For Convenience", she might be allowed to have an opinion and perhaps even Have A Personality! I fear, however, that Players will need even more very pointed instances of Kairi Being There & Female and how Pointedly Unused she is when Sora needs to do something "feminine"!

Because KH is about deconstructing the "gender" of emotions: it is about exploring how feelings affect and influence our memories, our behaviour. How our identities, our relationships, require us to engage with our emotions. How refusing or ignoring what we feel leads to pain, isolation and sometimes tragedy. How each generation's relationships with emotional expression affects the generations that follow them, shaped by beliefs of predetermined suffering: how younger generations, if given the tools and context for such trauma-shaped beliefs, can show us all that these cycles of suffering are not inevitable or destined. That it takes all of us engaging with our emotions honestly, respecting each other's emotions as being as important to them as yours are to yourself... and, together, we can share our emotions (our Hearts) and find grounds for reconciliation (Connection). How we can only become stronger by embracing our ability to "feel" and by respecting how important and natural emotions are to us all. Emotions ("hearts") and the tools we use to understand them (stories, friendship, introspection) are not solely "allowed" to "children", to females or within the bounds of romance. Emotions are human and limiting who is "allowed" to express them or how they "should" be expressed? That harms us all. So open your hearts, connect with the hearts of others, and heal the hurts we have done unto ourselves & each other.

#kh meta #kairi the noncharacter #disney worlds in kingdom hearts #deconstructed tropes #kh as a coming of age journey #hearts in kingdom hearts #the mythology of human emotion #philosophy of kingdom hearts #deconstructing gender roles #can you believe i only meant to speculate how kh would do its crossovers in unreality #i guess i had a lot of feelings about how important the disney worlds are to the thesis of kh #and also how fascinating the kh series uses kairi by NOT using her

[james-stark-the-writer]

the difference between the fourth wall breaks of something like the Deadpool movies compared to something like Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn and She-Hulk: Attorney At Law is that every joke in Deadpool feels masturbatory like the writers think they're so hilarious for doing a fourth wall break like that's never been done before whereas both of the other two not only feel right at home with the characters' personalities but are much more natural and much more well done compared to the jokes in Deadpool or its sequel. (do not get me started on Deadpool 2, the movie sucks ass in basically every way except for the characters of Domino and Yukio. every single joke in it was outdated before it was even written. they were making fucking dubstep jokes in 2018. it was a 2012-ass script made way too late and riding on the coattails of the first with even less effort into being actually good.)

but the difference between those properties is that Deadpool wants to be congratulated for being some insanely crazy shocking movie that's pissing off the studio system or whatever but every single joke in it was approved by those people because it makes them money like it's so antithetical to the entire point they're trying to make and it makes for a very infuriating watching experience sometimes. the cognitive dissonance is hard to swallow with that one. but the way BOPATFEOOHQ and She-Hulk do their bits feels so much more authentic and less self-congratulatory and also just like they're clearly done with so much more passion and effort and care? when I watch either of the Deadpool movies, I feel like I'm watching a bunch of executives jerking themselves off. when I watch the other two, I feel like I'm watching a passion project that the executives clearly didn't give a shit about and thus the creative team were actually allowed genuine creative freedom with not a lot of oversight. that's a little less true with She-Hulk (especially in terms of that glorious finale although even that feels more authentic and artist-driven than most things in either Deadpool movie. Kevin Feige's boring, sanitized ass does not have the range to do that finale) being a MCU property although Phase 4 was so fucking experimental and it was a joy to behold even if not everything hit but it's still true and more authentic for the most part. with Deadpool it feels like the only person who really really cared about it was Ryan and like maybe a few of the other actors who actually did do commendable work with what they were given but with the other two projects, it feels way more collaborative because every single person showed up and cared deeply about what they were making.

(this is an addition to the tags bc I ran out [apparently i forgot there was a 30 tag limit] but. anyway the point is. Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn is a phenomenal movie in basically every single way and you should watch it.)

#James talks #sorry I just wanna scream about how much I love BOPATFEOOHQ again #the first CBM since 2014's The Amazing Spider-Man 2 that felt more like the voice of artists than the voice of a studio. #I love Shazam but even that felt like it was a little studio driven instead of being a David F. Sandberg movie. #like BOPATFEOOHQ feels artist driven the same way The Batman does and the TASM movies do. #not to derail this tag rant but the TASM movies are Marc Webb movies through and through. #yes they have Sony's grubby hands on them with the product placement and shit but they are inseparable from Marc's vision #they are what Marc cares about more than what the studio cares about. the thematic interests are all Marc Webb. #anyway point is: more art like BOPATFEOOHQ bc it actually cares and less shit like Deadpool that is just pointing and laughing. #Deadpool feels like it's laughing at the concept of superhero media and it's a horrible boring deconstruction of it bc it doesn't get it. #it feels bad to the psyche the same way those meme disney show record scratches do— #like 'my life is kinda crazy' but it's 'ironic' now so it's 'funny'. #'see it's funny bc they're self-aware!' okay but what are they doing by being self aware??? #I'm not saying every piece of art has to be some profound exploration of whatever but Deadpool feels bad to watch in a way the others don't #BOPATFEOOHQ is actually fucking commenting on something using its gags! #the fucking 'they call her... the crossbow killer gag' is actually thematically relevant!! women telling their own stories!! #a subversive joke actually playing into the themes of the project!! imagine that! care ajf effort put into saying something!! #anyway Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn is phenomenal. #genuinely one of the greatest CBMs out there. also just a phenomenal time. even tho Parasite is a better movie overall #— BOPATFEOOHQ was my favorite movie of 2020. #some of the best action around with a great script with amazing pacing and phenomenal acting and a great score and soundtrack!! #literally nothing more to ask for. #one of my usual criteria for evaluating how good a piece of art is how much I'd add to it to help it do what it was trying to do. #like not cutting anything from it unless absolutely absolutely necessary. just adding like maybe 10-15 minutes to the runtime and— #helping maybe a few weaker elements shine more. with BOPATFEOOHQ the only change I'd make is to have more of the characters. #let us see more of Cassandra and Black Canary. more of their inner lives and backstories. #Christina Hodson tells us their stories with great efficiency and it's done really well but visually I'd just like to do more with them. #give them each maybe a 2-3 minute scene with what their daily routine is like. #maybe explore Canary's history with her mother more. see how it ties into the GCPD more effectively. #maybe actually see Cassandra's parents and how she deals with them daily instead of hearing about it from her hiding outside

[leviathanvon]

It's just one ant

#atheist #deconstructing christianity #deconstructing religion #deconversion #leviathanvon #atheism #ex christian #fuck jesus #bugs life #disney

[talesgolden]

thinkin about that part in d2 where evie's like 'yes i will go with you to the place where i was trapped and abused because i want to help but you have to Promise Me Right Now i will not get stuck there again'

#descendants is such a crazy goddamn dis.ney property for real #rip old disney heroes that got badly mischaracterized but also defamation & deconstruction of a punitive system? on MY mousehouse program?? #it's more likely that you think #(wild)

[gorewound]

Me, two minutes into watching Brave for the first time: Oh damn, someone put effort and research into this! You can basically guess as to the decade this is set in based on the clothing styles.

The movie moments later, and also continuously for its entire runtime: how cool would it be if these aesthetic choices were in fact symbolic foreshadowing and reinforcement of the very themes of this whole movie? That would be so silly and fun.

Me: 😻

#movies #pixar #brave #Merida is awesome and her whole movie is is an agressive deconstruction of this style of narrative #the blue dress she hates is significantly more British Court than her other clothing or even the dress her mom is wearing at that time #it is also therefore significantly more Disney Princesses in style than the other dresses as well #her rejection if that dress and her inability to comfortably fit into it are all allegory for how this movie is trwating its own story #fuck this movie is so damn good #Bearmom is fantastic and i loved every frame of her onscreen

[delicatefury]

I am both excited for and terrified of the flood of Obi-Wan and Luke content we are going to get when Kenobi drops.

Like, on the one hand, Obi-Wan and Luke and the shadow of Anakin! So sad! So cute! Maybe more Obi-Wan raises Luke AUs!

On the other hand… I trust Disney’s Star Wars about as far as I can throw Jabba the Hutt.

Look, Disney has shown time and again that if given the opportunity, they will shit on any character belonging to George Lucas. In addition they do not understand the Jedi or the meta story telling decisions made in regards to the OT and the PT.

So, I do not expect Kenobi to be kind to Obi-Wan or the Jedi, and I especially have no expectation that they will understand and respect that Obi-Wan is the ideal Jedi, rooted in his faith in the Force and the teachings of his people.

#star wars #Disney Kenobi #kenobi show #struggle with his faith? #sure #doubt himself? #yeah #but the only character arc for Obi-Wan is coming to an even deeper level of faith and understanding #and given how Disney keeps shitting on Luke #(I’m looking at you Book of Boba Fett) #I really doubt their ability or willingness to respect that #as for the meta comment #OT was obviously a space opera serial #it was supposed to be bombastic and fun! #ST was a Greek tragedy #heroes with fatal flaws causing their bad ends #for Obi-Wan it was his faith in Anakin #for Anakin it was his possessive love #for Padme her willingness to turn a blind eye #but the best I got for the ST is post-modern deconstruction #which … is not a genre that should be connected with Star Wars

[faerieorbitars]

my son crump he has every disease

#drawing in ballpoint pen to force myself to work with my mistakes and then proceeds to white out the mistakes #peter pan #disney #disney peter pan #silarts #man i need a new tag for that. anyways #i have a lot of thoughts about him and how i’d handle a ‘deconstruction’ of his story and character like soooo much thoughts #none of you understand him like i do

[asocial-skye]

Reading over debates and flame wars on this site about the Jedi, Sith or literally anything about Star Wars made me realize how truly futile it is to have true debates on canon. You just can't.

All of the retcons, continuity errors, levels of canon and the differences between Legends and Disney canon just make everyone's arguments valid in their own selected universes. You can't really expect other people to simply drop their universes that they grew up with, bought merchandise and became attached (ironic) to in terms of characters. Having a discussion about worldbuilding or characterization is practically impossible.

It's like arguing on Luke's characterization, only one person in the discussion is using the Star Wars universe and the other is using the Percy Jackson universe as their basis. There's no connection; you're all right in your own universes. And it all just goes round and round and round forever.

#star wars #starwars #fandom #meta #prequel trilogy #original trilogy #sequel trilogy #PT #OT #ST #sw #seriously #you're all arguing in different universes #what is canon even #the only way you could actually argue was maybe if you set up specific texts or shows that the debate could have as evidence #give prep time and then have the debate #sw fandom #even the filters can't even be agreed on #disney and legends had a hard on for the “deconstruct the fairytale” lense #so all of the problems of the OT and PT can be viewed through that deconstruction lense and boy are they problematic from that #do you specifically have to use the fairytale lense for the first six movies and a denconstruction lense for everything else

[makingqueerhistory]

The Male Gazed: On Hunks, Heartthrobs, and What Pop Culture Taught Me about (Desiring) Men

Manuel Betancourt

Featuring deep dives into thirst traps, drag queens, Antonio Banderas, and telenovelas--all in the service of helping us reframe how we talk about (desiring) men--this insightful memoir-in-essays is as much a coming of age as a coming out book Manuel Betancourt has long lustfully coveted masculinity--in part because he so lacked it. As a child in Bogotá, Colombia, he grew up with the social pressure to appear strong, manly, and, ultimately, straight. And yet in the films and television he avidly watched, Betancourt saw glimmers of different possibilities. From the stars of telenovelas and the princes of Disney films to pop sensation Ricky Martin and teen heartthrobs in shows like Saved By the Bell, he continually found himself asking: Do I want him or do I want to be him? The Male Gazed grapples with the thrall of masculinity, examining its frailty and its attendant anxieties even as it focuses on its erotic potential. Masculinity, Betancourt suggests, isn't suddenly ripe for deconstruction--or even outright destruction--amid so much talk about its inherent toxicity. Looking back over decades' worth of pop culture's attempts to codify and reframe what men can be, wear, do, and desire, this book establishes that to gaze at men is still a subversive act.

(Affiliate link above)

#queer #lgbt #gay history #lgbt history #queer history #making queer history #gay books #gay nonfiction #lgbt nonfiction #lgbt books #queer books

[destinygoldenstar]

The fact that the fandom of Wish is mostly people falling in love with a STORYBOARD that was CUT from the actual movie is so fascinating to me. More so than the movie itself.

But like, can anyone blame these poeple?

The star is an actual character, with a romance with Asha? A villain couple?!

Of course people would eat that up. That sounds like such a unique fairytale. Which fits perfect for Disney honestly.

You'd have a cute love story. You'd have your strong female protagonist. You'd have your messages about wishes as both a deconstruction and a celebration your entire legacy. And you'd have a unique approach to a traditional Disney villain that keeps the story fresh compared to previous films. Especially if the wife was a twist villain who pretended to be on Asha and Starboy's side only to reveal she's completely on board with her husband's evil plans.

GOSH, I... that's so fascinating to me. That fandom isn't even in love with the movie itself. They're in love with the IDEA of what the movie COULD'VE been.

It's... sad that it's more prominent in fandoms than you think.

#wish #disney wish #fandom

[hollowwhisperings]

'Axel, part of 2 trios' wait whats the other trio axels a part of. him namine and riku? or him isa and subject x?

Axel's arguably in THREE trios, if we forget that Ventus only knew Lea & Isa for one(1) day.

when it comes to Trad KH Trios, Axel has the Seasalt Trio (Axel, Xion & Roxas) and another with Isa & a mysterious 'Subject X'.

while we don't know much of anything about 'Subject X' she's very helpful to the overall themes of KH: her inclusion with Isa & Lea allows them to become a more Blatant Parallel of Riku & Sora (something that DOES require more handholding to lead audiences to, sadly)...

...and how clinging to the same friendship dynamics of childhood can do more harm than good as you grow up.

where Xehanort & Eraqus showed us "what if Riku & Sora actually bought into some of the false dichotomies they've been presented with, what if they hadn't had the support of their friends & were entirely alone", Saïx & Axel served as a "okay, even IF Sora &/or Riku isolated themselves from outside support & shut down communication... you can still fix misunderstandings, mend rifts, reconnect again as tje different people you have now become".

i was kind of Relieved to see that KH3's ending montage showed all the different "trios" intermingling, forging new connections independently of each other. it's a sign of growth & trust, expanding your social circle & learning that having more friends doesn't lessen the friendships you already have. the KH fandom and, in a way, the Seasalt Trio & Kairi (in regard to the Destiny Trio) are/were VERY fixated on having these Friendship Trios, often making the natural jump of making them Romantic OT3s (before the whole "Axel, Terra & Aqua are canonically considered to be young Adults: Ventus, Roxas & Xion are considered children/tweens" revelation).

That the "Seasalt Trio" is now sometimes called the "Seasalt Seven" (Hayner, Olette, Pence, Roxas, Xion, Axel & Isa) is something I find quite heartwarming.

(and, never forget that Jiminy has Been The 4th member of Sora's adventure party The Whole Time! the sets of 3 are just a jumping point, not some strict ultimatum!)

#kh meta #kh spoilers-ish #shipping meta #axel meta #seasalt trio #seasalt seven #destiny trio #disney trinity #the three musketeers actually has four #remember jiminy #jiminy was there the whole time #wayfinder trio #the wayfinders arguably have the healthiest dynamic of the KH original characters #probs because the implied ship is het and the age difference is confirmed within their game #aqua and terra get teased as being ven's parents at least twice and the eng translation stole that from us #deconstructing fandom tropes

[superectojazzmage]

Watched the Nimona movie last night. Review I guess. It was pretty damn good. Definitely would’ve probably been regarded as Blue Sky’s magnum opus if they’d gotten to release it instead of being fucked over by Disney. Very cute, very funny, very powerful in the right moments. A thing that stuck out to me is that it’s really only an adaptation in the loosest sense of the word. It takes the core premise and beats of the comic but is functionally an entirely different kind of story that does its own thing. And given that ND Stevenson was heavily involved in production, I suspect that was intentional.

The comic was much darker and more downbeat in a lot of ways, plus it was significantly longer and thus could afford to be slower paced. But more than that, it was a lot more meaty in terms of themes and scope. The whole “LGBT allegory” element was there, but it wasn’t the sole focus, the comic was a story about a lot of different things; not just an LGBT experience, but also discussion of fantasy genre tropes and clichés, criticism of other fantasy deconstructions, character study, exploring what it means to be a hero or villain, critique of the glorification of crime and cruelty in underprivileged communities, corruption in governments, peer pressure, the senseless and self-perpetuating nature of violence, the worthlessness of revenge, etc.. And above all that, it was a story about trauma and people’s responses to it, with Ballister representing people who actually deal with their problems and move on while Nimona represented people who let their mistakes and suffering and grief consume their identity, or worse, use it as an excuse to indulge their worst qualities and take out their feelings on everyone around them.

The movie, by contrast, has a much more narrow focus. The LGBT allegory is front and center and basically the entire focal point of the movie, aside from a spattering of themes about the danger of zealotry and rigid fundamentalist thinking. This gives the movie a much tighter narrative and pacing that suits its inherently shorter runtime, but also leads to a ton of changes to the story either to convey a different kind of message or just work better in a different medium. Most obviously in how Nimona is vastly more sympathetic in the movie and essentially really is the silly gremlin the comic fakes you out into thinking she is, scrapping the comic’s twist that she was a genuinely bad person who was completely serious about wanting to be a villain, caring nothing for the lives she destroyed with her behavior and idolizing Ballister because she thought he was the same as her and would thus tell her what she wanted to hear (i.e., that she was justified in killing and destroying everything around her in the name of getting even). And in the changes to the Institution’s history and nature. And all sorts of other things.

All in all, I feel if you go in comparing and contrasting the movie and the comic, arguing which changes are for the better or worse, you’ll be setting yourself up for disappointment in either direction because they’re two different beasts and it’s like comparing apples and oranges. So keep that in mind if you’re a fan of the comic watching the movie or a fan of the movie wanting to look into the comic. I think ultimately I still like the comic better, but that’s purely my personal opinion and there’s plenty that I think the movie did better.

Some other observations:

Riz Ahmed my beloved, thank you Mr. Stevenson for this perfect casting. Literally perfect for Ballister.

Acting in general was very good. You can tell this was a passion project for a lot of people, not just Stevenson.

Only two changes that are objectively bad are Ambrosius losing his awesome Van Halen hairdo and changing Ballister’s last name — Blackheart is a way cooler name than Boldheart and it’s a pointless change, one that I’d argue even hurts the narrative since it makes it too obvious that Ballister isn’t actually a bad guy.

The animation is really great with fantastic expressions, stylish movement, and wonderful aesthetics that perfectly suit the story, but there’s times where it feels a little off. But there are parts where it looks less “movie” and more “cheap mid-2000s CGI-and-Flash cartoon show from France”.

The humor can be a hit and miss, in a “going through the motions of a Hollywood animated comedy for kids” way. The movie excels when it’s either imitating the comic’s Old Internet sense of humor or going hard on the drama, but there’s bits where it seemingly slams on the brakes to do Illumination-esque Twitter humor and those bits definitely throw off the vibe.

Having an actual straight up attempted suicide in the climax was shockingly ballsy. I genuinely can’t believe they went there, but I’m glad they did because the film wouldn’t have felt nearly as raw without it.

I don’t know how they managed to make the Director even more of an asshole than in the comics, but they did.

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