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artist-issues · 2 months

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A little late, but reading your take on Enchanted made me remember how much I love that movie. What are your thoughts on the rest of it? Like say, what do the Prince and Nancy represent? What about the villains? I’m curious how they fit into the allegory

Prince Edward is just like Giselle in the sense that he does what people accuse Disney Princes of doing, and it's funny--but it's rewarded by the narrative, because it's actually a good thing.

People think a Disney Prince is just some dumb hunk with no personality, because he's "just there to be the obligatory love interest so the girl can't save herself." But that's a twisted, hollow way to look at it.

Prince Edward is

Active -- he actually does something, not just in his spare time but when faced with a problem or a dilemma. Doesn't matter if it's troll-hunting or braving a strange world to rescue his bride or turning on a dime to fight his own step-mother when she turns out to be evil. He actually acts.

Keeps His Commitments -- When Prince Eric commits to Ariel he commits; jumps in the water to fight a sea-goddess single-handedly. When Prince Charming says he'll give his heart to Snow White but then she disappears, he won't rest till he's found her. When Prince Edward's fiancée disappears, he won't stop searching for her, either.

Genuinely Cares About the Princess -- People act like Princes in Disney movies are just obligatory--they don't actually care about the girl, there's no real tension or getting to know each other or whatever. That's such bull, obviously. In fairy tales, you cram a lot of nuance into a little scene. The Prince meets Snow White singing at a well and promises his heart to her; but it's after he hears her singing about her heart's fondest desires, after he observes that she's surrounded by doves that aren't afraid of her, after he notices she's just a scullery maid; and he still chooses her. Disney appeased everybody by adding in more rom-com moments with later Princes, like Aladdin and the Beast, but truthfully, Princes do what Princesses do; they know what virtues they're looking for in a good soulmate, so they don't need much to recognize it when it crosses their paths. Then they commit. Edward is willing to go on a date with Giselle. When she grows, he's confused, but he'll go with her. She doesn't sing with him anymore but that doesn't mean he ditches her. When she's cursed and be can't wake her he's 100% onboard with Robert doing it--because it doesn't have to be him, he just cares about her.

Has Just As Much Faith As the Princess -- One of the things Princes and Princesses use as the litmus test of whether or not they're soulmates in Disney movies is if they're both believers in the same Idea. Ariel and Eric are the perfect example. They both believe in something that everyone around them thinks is totally crazy. Eric believes in the fated, Right Girl. Ariel believes the Surface World can be worth loving. Those two things get united when they meet each other. Prince Edward longs to find the woman who's his other half, a companion who fits into his heart and makes his life more than just one quest after the other. (And he's so sweet about it.) He's very romantic. Giselle's been dreaming of her true companion, too. They have that in common, that faith that somebody right for them is out there. It just...so happens that that person isn't each other. But they're not wrong that someone is out there, which is why he is rewarded by winding up with Nancy.

Anyway. If Giselle is the Disney movie, so is Prince Edward.

And yeah, he's not quick on the uptake, he's super confident that everything he's doing is right, and he's definitely convinced that Nathaniel actually likes him. But that is okay. Because Edward is uncomplicated. He knows that what he's setting out to do is Right, so what bothers him is never "people here are mean" or "I'm not the hero in this world." Did you notice that? He's never bothered when he finds out he's not the hero. He's only bothered when the idea that Good won't win is threatened.

He's the first one to turn and look at Robert and go "unless...!" excitedly when he realizes his own kiss isn't working. No trace of bitterness. No suspicion. Just eager to solve the problem.

That's why he's great. His confidence came from being the champion of Goodness. Doing the right thing. He doesn't care if he's not the one who wins. He just cares that it's someone Good who's winning.

Then you have Nancy, who is the first of the "normal" people from our world to really give in to the idea of "True Love's Kiss" being a viable solution, right on the spot. Meaning there was space in her brain to believe in it.

I guess if I had to try to distill it, I'd say Nancy is just the reverse-Giselle. In the allegory (it's not all one-to-one) I would say...if Giselle (and to a lesser extent, Edward) is the Disney movie, and Robert is the skeptic, Nancy is us. She's not quite Giselle, not quite Robert...she's someone who wants to believe that the Disney Philosophy is true, but the problem is, nobody in our world believes it or acts like it.

She's looking for a fairy tale but she's stuck in our world. The moments where she's happy with Robert are moments when he's doing something an open-hearted, genuine, selfless and chivalrous Disney Prince would do. The kind of guy who knows who he is and knows what's Good and values Love, so he isn't ashamed or insecure to come right out and declare it.

Gentleness is power, under control. A man in love should have no fear of vulnerability, which again, takes faith—because love isn't about you. It's selfless. Why worry about how telling a girl you love her will make you look, will make you feel? So what if she rejects you; you thought she was worth loving, you gave her that enormous compliment--so what if she doesn't return it? You know who you are. You didn't need her validation--that was never the point of the love-declaration--it was for her. You kindly gave her the world's best compliment, good job, now on to other worthy things. It would've been great if she wanted the same outcome of that love as you did, but she didn't, and that's great too, because it was never that much about you. So you don't have to be hurt, angry, embarrassed, jealous, or any of the anti-love things we associate with bogus unrequited "love."

But in our world, men don't act like that anymore. Because it's all about you. Can't tell the girl how you feel because she might hurt you. How would you be hurt? By finding out she doesn't feel the way you would prefer her to feel about you, by mocking what you've deemed precious, etc. It's all about you, you, you, fear fear fear, etc.

Still, you can tell Nancy thinks she got as close as she could to the fairy-tale guy with Robert because in her first scene, when she finds Robert and Giselle together, she goes on that rant about how she thought he was "sensitive" and "protecting Morgan." Those are the traits she's attracted to; the idea that he wasn't protecting himself, he was protecting his daughter--the idea that he was careful with emotions for other people's sake, not his own--that he cared about emotions at all.

But that's not what it was, it was self-protection, over-planning. Still, the second he's willing to send her flowers or make any kind of heart-on-his sleeve, straightforward gesture of affection, she is SO ready to believe in him again.

She's the grown up who wants to find the Disney fairy tale in "real life" and she's doing the best she can with what she can find. Kinda like a lot of us who grew up on Disney and didn't want to accept the derisive cynical mocking of Disney as we got older, but what could we do?

But good news! It's real! The Good, the Beautiful, the True, exists, and it comes for her.

Then you've got Narissa, the villainess.

She's interesting because she's totally the opposite of everything the movie says is Good. Giselle and Edward wear their hearts on their sleeves—Narissa manipulates people's fondest desires for her own gain. Robert needs to learn to have faith—Narissa believes everybody is out to take what's hers.

Edward gives the gift of love freely, first to Giselle, then, unshaken when she doesn't give him the same, to Nancy—Narissa takes the adoration of people like Nathaniel and treats them like garbage in return.

I also think Pip is important, and it's important that Narissa is defeated by him.

She's brought down by the tiny chipmunk who's been treated with true kindness and friendship by the Princess. The chipmunk who can talk and understand what's going on and be useful, even in a world where people like Robert think there's no such thing. Pip is the unlikely "something wonderful will happen" in our world that Robert didn't believe in. He's the little, fairy tale element that nobody could plan for or calculate or control, coming in to save the day.

How very Disney of him. Ya'll get off of Wish. Disney's tribute to 100 years of fairy tale animation? It has nothing on Enchanted.

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revenantghost · 1 year

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can you explain why knives needed vash for his plan? is vash's power giving plants life?

So from what I gather, Vash is unique in his ability to both give and take from the higher dimension, which is the place where all plants get their energy from, and that's what humans use them for. (This is also where Conrad says their souls are instead of their bodies (possible bullshit, given the unreliable narrators we have), and also given Vash's conversation with Rem in episode 12 it's possibly connected to the afterlife???) Or, at the very least, Vash is different from most other plants, as they can only take. His power has been compared to something black hole-like, but I won't bore you with quantum physics since we don't know exactly what they mean by that yet, exactly.

In order to access and enter the higher dimension to rip souls free and shove them into the plants' bodies to birth independent plants, Knives needed to use Vash as a gate, as a tool, to open Vash up and let himself in so he could funnel that power out through Vash.

At least, that's just what I've gathered from watching Tristamp... way too many times and reading meta as I go. I'm probably a bit off in this explanation, so anyone feel free to add on anything I missed! I think we're going to get way more in-depth in the following season/s with the plot threads left hanging after episode twelve. Hopefully this makes sense! :'D

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williamrikers · 7 months

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The Undeniable Queerness of Enchanté the Series

(thank you @ranchthoughts for letting me ramble about this in your inbox before turning my thoughts into a post)

there are bls and then there are bls. right? there are dead fish kisses and there are characters who kiss each other like their lives depend on it.

and enchanté firmly belongs in the second category. 1,500-word essay under the cut.

there is such a consistent and tangible queer undercurrent to everything that's happening on this show and i'm not just talking about the fact that several scenes look like they could be the opening scene of a gay porno. or the surprise bondage. or force in drag. or proposing marriage in front of the eiffel tower. no, there's this aching, desperate desire underlying everything. theo has--in addition to his main love interest--four very hot gay suitors who all very obviously desire him carnally... this is some sort of gay manic pixie dream boy wish fulfilment fantasy and i am absolutely eating it up.

there is a vibe to the show that @ranchthoughts called "fanfic-like", and i would argue that that's because enchanté is actually fanfiction of the little prince. (i'm planning on making a separate post soon about how the book was referenced on and used as inspiration for the show.)

enchanté is fully aware of its own fictionality. it is on-the-nose fictional. but that's what makes it so much fun--it's not trying to be something it isn't.

take the reading memories segments in episode 4 [3/4] for example: these scenes were incredibly cringe, like, full-on bad-green-screen terrible-costumes-and-wigs hilarious-acting cringe, but fully aware of their own cringe-ness. (also, gawin was both in drag and naked in the same scene as two different characters, like. get on enchanté's level.) (incidentally, can anyone tell me what character aou/phupha was supposed to be? i got detective conan, monkey d. luffy and momotarō for the others, but i'm stumped on phupha's character.)

and that self-awareness makes it camp! there is such a level of camp to the whole show which feels extremely intentional (especially in the first two thirds), almost like a meta-commentary: "this is the genre. we know it's stupid but we love it here", and i adore that. they know the tropes, they know the bl landscape, and they're just having fun with all of it.

and the whole set-up in itself is a queer allegory, isn't it? theo and akk are "from different worlds", so to speak, hindered in their love not just by their complete inability to communicate but also by their forced separation as children. when they meet again, theo doesn't really belong anywhere, he's an outsider both in france and in thailand, he is unable to act the way thai society expects him to act (e.g. failing to show the proper respect to the seniors), unable to get his parents to understand him while being actively lied to by them (the whole ocean of miscommunication in that family deserves its own post), harboring feelings for his childhood friend his whole life but unable to voice them in a normal sort of way, instead falling back on concocting the most convoluted, immediately backfiring plan to try to make akk jealous and get him to confess his feelings first.

theo is fundamentally isolated because he grew up between two cultures, and neither one quite fits him: when he's in france, he is comforted by thai food and the only people he's close with (his grandmother and sun) are from thailand like himself; but when he's in thailand, he can't quite get used to the social conventions and makes social blunders, he is very slow at writing in thai.

it's such a poignant queer allegory in my opinion. they didn't end up making as much a point of it on the show as they could have, but it very much informed my whole reading of the show and the characters. there is a sort of inability to articulate his experience surrounding theo that makes him even more isolated and screams "baby gay in need of a community" to me. having akk share his experience at the end is something that i'm not a big fan of for other, unrelated reasons (might make a separate post about enchanté's ending and why it fell flat for me), but when looking at it through this lens, it is the only way for akk to really get theo, to really understand his struggle on a fundamental level.

which brings me back to that desire i mentioned earlier: theo desires akk, very much so, there are a whole handful of scenes where akk gets close to him and theo closes his eyes, expecting to finally be kissed by him, but more than that, he desires understanding. he often brushes off his own difficulties and has a tendency to be emotionally clueless (for example about his parents' divorce), but what i see most in his character is the desire to be understood, to be seen by akk, for akk to see him for who he is and to love him for who he is. (akk, of course, has been doing both of those things all along. he's constantly taking pictures of theo, he's watching him through his window--with theo's full knowledge--he is always looking at him, he's always loving him.)

it's not inherently queer to want to be loved as we truly are, i believe heterosexual people experience this, too, but in the context of queerness itself, being perceived as queer by other queer people is indeed a fundamental aspect to experiencing queer love (maybe not in gay for you bls, but i haven't heard of much gay for you happening in real life). not to be unscientific about this, but the vibes of the perception aspect of enchanté are just very queer to me, you know?

oh, and speaking of desire: enchanté in general is very physical. there is a level of intimacy between the actors and the camera that seems incredibly intentional: there are several shower scenes, scenes of theo and akk shirtless, TWO (2) nude gawin scenes (though one of those is sadly a fake-out and he is actually wearing shorts), many, many scenes that include bare feet, which is not something i see super often in bl, at least not to the point that i notice the frequency of it.

enchanté is very rooted in the physical reality of desirable bodies: theo is allowed to openly, physically flirt with saifa, even though that's not even his endgame love interest, phupha uses physical touch in his pursuit of theo, natee shows his obsession with theo by drawing his face/body about a hundred times, and akk and theo are wholly unable to keep their hands off each other. i've joked about the intricate rituals, but seriously, they are constructing so many intricate rituals. there are two separate scenes in which they make up excuses to kiss each other's elbows/arms/backs. they keep touching each other in a thousand ways, in every possible way they can that is still plausibly deniable as physical desire--until they kiss while watching that movie and then it's just a game of chicken of who will confess first. because their physical attraction to each other is undeniable. it's obvious. this was really refreshing to see in a genre that so often plays with the blushing maiden trope, and one character is so often made to pursue the other: on enchanté, akk and theo are equally horny for each other. it's not their lack of physical attraction that keeps them apart for so long.

(sadly, the show then shies away from actually getting very sexually physical: after their desperate, stunning, amazing balcony-kiss, they aren't allowed to be horny for each other in the last two episodes, when they're actually in a relationship. this is just one of the many aspects that i didn't like about the conclusion of the story, because you simply cannot tell me that these two as we got to know them in episodes 1 to 8 would really be as chaste with each other as they're shown in episodes 9 and 10.)

leaving that aside for the moment, let's talk about that kiss. as mentioned right at the beginning, when these two kiss each other on the balcony, it's desperation in its rawest form. these two--and especially theo--crave each other. theo kisses akk like he will die without him. theo kisses akk like he can finally breathe. theo kisses akk like he never wants to do anything else ever again.

i'm a bit obsessed with book's acting here, because of all the kissing scenes i've seen him in, i think this is THE most desperate one. force plays it a bit more subtle, but book's expression is full-on anguish. theo waited his whole life to be kissed by akk, and book portrays that so beautifully, with such depth. it's one of my favorite bl kisses for sure, it's played with so much heart, so much feeling, that it's hard to even think of kisses that compare, apart from the bad buddy episode 5 rooftop kiss.

anyway, all of this to say that enchanté to me is deeply, lovingly queer, and it's a shame that so many people are sleeping on it. (and that includes myself, i was wary about watching this show for a long time because i'd heard so many negative things about it.)

but i'm here to tell you: watch enchanté. it's wonderful, it's hilariously funny, it's endearing, it has book and force in it, and it is extremely queer.

#enchanté #enchanté the series #enchante the series #*mine #my enchanté meta

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legolaseyebrows · 7 months

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i keep wanting to make smart and eloquent posts about legolas and gimli but every time i think about them im just like hGOUUGHGGH i . like them i think they are. so cute

#i wanna write SMART META but im too enchanted by their wuv #legolas #gimli #gigolas

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self-spaghettification · 10 months

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"Ugh! I should just seal this whole place up, Angus!" he declared, sniffling, to the spell that wasn't there anymore. "The whole dungeon and everything in it.

Everything down here-it's all horrible. I should just lock it all away, forever.

That's the best thing to do-right?"

- Inheritance

“That’s why it’s called Inheritance.

He’s inheriting a position with a storied history of its own, and he’s inheriting a literal thing from his predecessor, that we the audience know to be…quite a burden, and he doesn’t know that yet. So if he has no concept of what he’s inheriting, how can we expect him to react to it with the same awareness and care that we as the audience would?”

[with most of viren’s old stuff,] he seems to reject a lot of it…. like “no no no no, i don’t need to carry any of this with me, i’m gonna seal all of it up forever, it’s done.”

“however, there is one thing he cannot leave alone, and that is the mirror. and i think it’s ..interesting that it has this power that compels him as…a mage. it’s something that he can’t seem to resist.”

—Interview with Devon and Kris

“Aaravos chose as his instruments people who had strong minds and strong hearts, but who had an insatiable thirst and fascination with magic. Aaravos could offer them access to the great mysteries of the universe.”

This cube is an ancient relic that has been passed down through the ages. It belonged to an elven wizard in Xadia, the Archmage Aaravos, a master of all six primal sources. It is hidden in a box of keys because it is known as the"Key of Aaravos" and legends say it unlocks something of great power in Xadia. Perhaps it will be you, Callum, who discovers the key's secrets.

“…and my favorite, the human mage…”

mages were his prey.

“in the name of love, you may perform acts so unforgivable, you will never forgive yourself.”

“destined to fall right into my hands.”

THINKING SO HARD ABT THIS

callum should get a little villain arc as a treat

i think

probably in the name of protecting rayla we’ll see

#the dragon prince #aaravos #apologies. i meant #avizandum’s enchanted looking glass #definitely doesn’t have an imprisoned elf watching you or anything #callum #inheritance #tdp reflections #tdp s4 #4x01 #4x04 #viren quote #callum viren foil teehee #self spaghettification #caallum #keys #tdp meta

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ranchthoughts · 7 months

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Enchanté is about arms

#enchanté #enchanté meta #enchanté images #ranch collections #enchante #once again using my body part analysis framework

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lizardthelizard · 9 months

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listen. LISTEN. I knoooowwwwwwwww that August has never been important enough for canon to ever bother expanding upon issues like this. I know, but...

In the pilot, we KNOW that Emma is lonely. We know this because she’s sat in her apartment, alone, celebrating her birthday by herself. It’s well established that Emma had no one she considered her family and has had extreme trouble connecting with people over the years (Neal, Lily and Ingrid as fleeting exceptions).

But August? Canon gives us NOTHING. We know almost NOTHING about his past in the Land Without Magic. We’re given the name of one (1) character (Isra) that he has a connection with (someone who is clearly not THAT important to him, as she’s never mentioned again ever) and that’s IT.

Emma stays in Storybrooke to begin with because of Henry, yes. But it’s not a particularly tough decision for her because, well...she has nothing to go back to anyway. And I can’t help but wonder how true that was for August as well? Like....??? did he bother to contact ANYONE when he thought he was dying???

August is a genuinely intelligent and charismatic character (albeit, a little obnoxious). I have no doubt that he has made friends + friendly acquaintances over the years. But close friends? People he can open up to about his past with and who won’t think he’s losing his mind? HIGHLY doubtful.

I know that the show didn’t really explore their friendship very much or expand on it in any meaningful way, but Emma and August’s relationship is sooooooooooo *chef’s kiss* to me. Yeah, they have genuine chemistry and a fun dynamic, yeah the ‘I can always tell when someone is lying to me’ character interacting with a character that is literally Pinocchio is funny af and surprisingly poetic. But also!!! These are two lonely, emotionally closed off characters that were essentially orphaned by their parents for 28 years that have both had shitty childhoods and have connected so genuinely with one another and I don’t know where I was even going with this but I love both of them so much and they both deserve this friendship and WHY WASN’T AUGUST AT EMMA’S WEDDING I’M STILL MAD ABOUT THIS OKAY

#sorry I actually don't know what this is #it's because it's August tomorrow. that/s all #I'm being weird about him #ANYWAY I JUST WANT THESE TWO TO TALK ABOUT THEIR SHARED PAST EXPERIENCES #(😏 which is something that I WILL be doing later in mim but shhhhhhh)#LICHERALLY losing my mind thinking about august's past #because emma had a shitty childhood (and adulthood) yes #but august has a whole ass past in the enchanted fucking forest!!!!!!! he;s LITEREALLY pinocchio and he has memories of that #and he can't talk to ANYONE about those memories or that past because3 they straight up wouldn't believe him!!!!!!!#and so either he HAS to let it go! OR ELSE he risks pushing that person away #OR EVEN WORSE he risks people thinking he needs to be put away somewhere or given serious therapy or whatever #*(he DOES need serious therapy. but that's not what I'm talking about here)#AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH #having a normal one this evening guys #august meta #(I mean. BARELY. but I still want it in that tag)#august booth #ouat

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distant-screaming · 9 months

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watching Enchanté and Akk is quickly becoming one of my fave guys ever. he's so so funny he never knows what he's talking about he's very clever he's a great friend he's a terrible friend he's in love with Theo he would give Theo a wedgie given the smallest opportunity. but most importantly. he is so silly <3

#characters named akk are so special to me #I also like him for meta reasons #(knight/secondary character + the idea he has of being Not As Important but also the way he understands theo -)#but most importantly the silly <333 #enchante #enchanté #enchante the series #akktheo #distant screaming screams into the void

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outofthiisworld · 3 months

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OPHELIA— In Space! .𖥔 ݁ ˖

💜.𖥔 ݁ ˖ While Ophelia has been in space before, she hasn’t ever been [IN] the vacuum of space before (unless you count that one time her entire body was destroyed alongside a planet and her ectoplasmic remnants were floating in space before getting re-collected by atlas [INHALES] but that’s another post for another time)— so she has no idea how’d she survive in space. <- it was one of the very few tests that were not conducted due to the very real & very possible risk of losing the ectoplasmic core if ever released into outer space.

Doc’s knee-jerk theory is that she’d die & resurrect over and over as the vacuum of space would suffocate her, so technically in a round-about way: yes, she could exist in space without support but it would be an excruciating & never-ending process.

IN REALITY!!! Her ectoplasm would flourish in outer space— essentially “taking the wheel” on transforming the host’s body to be better suited for their home space.

Flesh & skin would become luminescent, much more alive, twinkling if not blinding. She’d teeter in between corporeal and incorporeal as hair would become heavy wisps of ectoplasmic clouds. Her entire ribcage would CRACK open while the scarred vent down her chest split apart to reveal the nebulous core— as it fed off cosmic rays, stardust and surrounding plasma. In return, it’d freely expel the same energy back into the cosmos under a constant cycle of absorption and emission (or, life and death).

Despite what it may look like— this temporary transformation isn’t painful, but relieving. <- unlike when she’s not among the cosmos and grounded.

#💜… headcanons #⭐️… meta #//she’s giving ethereally enchanting deep space horror✨#//one day i’ll draw up her different forms but until then. have purple prose.

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artist-issues · 3 months

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I’ve enjoyed a lot of your thoughts on Disney movies and I was wondering what you thought of the movie Enchanted(assuming you have seen the movie xD)? I rewatched it recently and I really enjoyed it(I personally like that even though Giselle does evolve throughout the movie, her wish of finding true love stays the same) so I was curious to know your thoughts :)

LOVE

Enchanted.

Morgan is the kid that represents Disney’s audience. Robert is the well-meaning parent of that kid, who is missing the point of the Disney movies. Giselle is the Disney movie.

I love it. It’s so good. It ranks right up there with Mary Poppins, in my mind, as Disney getting itself right.

Disney has been accused of two things, prominently. On one side, you have people being like “oh Disney doesn’t have any courage to do new things, they’re just bowing to whatever the culture says, they’re remaking everything, etc.” That’s nowadays.

But in the early 2000s, when Enchanted was released, it was much more punk rock and edgy and popular to criticize Disney for not being “feminist” enough, for having characters who are stupid or silly—“what, they fall in love in just one day? What, they sing about their feelings? Look at all the dippy magic in their movies! Ha! Corny! Cheesy! Kiddie! Gag me!”

But then Disney whips out Enchanted.

Enchanted is Disney saying “Yeah our princesses have undying faith in love, and to them, magic is normal, and that’s a good thing, and our world needs more of it.”

furthermore

like this video so perfectly captures:

youtube

Giselle is this character who is (at first glance) the typical Disney Princess: that is, she’s all about faith. Having a dream of the special someone you’re destined to be with is one thing, but believing he’s out there in real life and you’ll find each other? You kind of have to believe in a higher power (fate, destiny, a horse, a wishing star, God) making that happen to get there. And then, what comes with faith, is this positive, joyful, innocent happiness that she carries everywhere.

When she meets somebody new? She trusts them to help her. When she calls to vermin? They answer her and befriend her. When she gets lost? She trusts her friends or her Prince will come find her. No need to be suspicious, to pretend to be something she’s not, or to despair; everything will work out, because life is full of wonderful things happening, and she knows that love exists and that love is often directed toward her—so why worry?

That’s so Disney. (The REAL Disney.) “Maybe something wonderful will happen.”

Enchanted celebrates that ideology by having her teach it to a guy who is from our world—and he’s basically the opposite of Giselle in every way.

He’s been hurt by someone he thought loved him (his ex wife.) He works with people who used to trust each other and spends all day helping them legally dismantle their once-loving relationships. He has his own girlfriend, but he is way too uptight and controlling to take the next step with her—because he’s afraid. Afraid, afraid, fear, fear, the opposite of faith.

Giselle has that belief in the good, the beautiful, the true, in the world. Robert has zero belief. He thinks that kind of faith is just going to get everyone hurt by the cold hard ‘real’ world. But she teaches him that the most real things in the world are the good, the beautiful, the true…

She really does love him truly, there really is magic, and those two facts really do have power. That he’s the one who hasn’t been seeing things 100% “how they are,” because he leaves love and faith out of the picture.

…and we have to talk about what he teaches her. Which is that there’s something worth getting angry about and protective of—before him, none of her beliefs were challenged. I really think by getting angry with him specifically because he refuses to take that leap of faith and believe in anything (which is exactly what his current girlfriend is angry with him about), she realizes that she can be angry with him, that she can disagree with him—and like him anyway. That it’s a choice, to love someone—which is what everyone thinks fairy tale princesses don’t have, and they couldn’t be more wrong.

Meeting a man and finding out enough about him on your first day to love him isn’t “boy meets girl, therefore they must end up together.” It’s her, knowing what is good, being insightful enough enough to see it in him even in a brief interaction, and then what ladies and gentlemen? Choosing to love him. So there’s Giselle, proving us all wrong about fairy tale princesses again.

I think it’s so good, because while he does help her to think more deeply and realize things about herself, he doesn’t change that joyful, faithful part of her. He just deepens it. It’s like a real life object lessons why “compare and contrast” is such an effective way to exercise your belief in something. Giselle believes in true love. Robert doesn’t. But she’s never met someone who doesn’t. By interacting with someone who’s trying his best, but is getting it wrong, she has a better appreciation for what she already knew was right.

I mean you could say “no she just realized that she has a right to be angry, women don’t have to be positive all the time” but that’s totally out of context. What’s she angry about? She’s angry that he keeps refusing to have faith, when she knows it would be good for him. It’s anger, for something worth being angry about.

And the songs are so good.

“That’s How You Know” is such a good song to refute critics of Disney Princesses and explain faith. Faith is believing what you know to be true and acting on it regardless of how you feel in the moment. In ‘That’s How You Know,’ Giselle is proving that princesses do actually need that truth component to have faith. It’s not blind faith.

It’s Ariel saying “I know humans are good because Truth 1: they make beautiful things, Truth 2: I saw one risk his life to save an animal, so I’m going to choose to love him.”

It’s Belle saying, “I know the Beast looks vicious, but Truth 1: he’s kind, he gave me a library and my freedom, Truth 2: he’s saved my life, and even though I’ve seen him break furniture and fight wolves, I’ve also seen him try to eat with a spoon and dance with me gently, so I’m choosing to love him.”

It’s Jasmine saying “I know this Prince Ali lied to me once already, but Truth 1: he saved my life and shared that he knows how I feel, and Truth 2: he keeps showing me the new things I want to experience without letting me get hurt in the process, so I’m going to trust him.”

It’s Snow White saying “I know I’m homeless in the woods and my only caretaker is trying to murder me, but Truth 1: I’m engaged to a Prince who promised to give his heart to me, so I’m not going to act despairing and fearful.”

Before the song starts, Robert is assuring Giselle that his girlfriend Nancy knows he loves her. But he doesn’t tell her all the time. He doesn’t do anything to show her. Because that would be vulnerable, and he’s a self-protective guy. Self-protection is the opposite of selflessness, and selfless action is love. So Giselle is telling him, “you have to do something, love is an action, and that action shows Nancy a truth she can base her faith, faith in your love for her, on.”

Not to…over-analyze a really catchy song.

But they’re all like that. This is the whole movie. The whole movie is Giselle being the Disney movie, walking and talking, proving the people who don’t get Disney movies wrong.

It is that deep!

And guess what? Robert, the guy who doesn’t get Disney movies? He falls in love with Giselle, the walking talking Disney movie. So there.

We haven’t even talked about the villains or Pip or Edward or Nancy, but they’re all amazing, they’re all perfect for this movie, but I’ll save it for another post.

I love Enchanted.

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hejustcancelledit · 4 months

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is it righteous to be mad at heretics because i am

I am in pain and anger overflows so I'm choosing to keep my mouth shut

#im gonna give them more games. i believe they can bounce back and maybe get a better meta read #also maybe enchanters get nerfed idk #it just feels like everything went wrong here from beggining to end

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superbeeny · 1 year

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A huge part of the metanarrative conflict in Enchanted is how both Giselle and Edward start off as vaguely-aged Disney cartoon fairy tale princess characters who operate on child-level fiction logic, and when they’re transported to 'the real world’, they suddenly unambiguously look like at least 30-something adults, but still act in ways that by real-world standards are so naïve and cartoonish they end up scaring people. They're able to fall in love with much more cynical, ‘realistic’ characters because living in post 9/11 pre-2010′s New York was so stressful that they mentally aged 2 decades in like 2 days.

#also this movie is more fun when you keep movies like roger rabbit and the mask (the one with jim carrey) in mind #basically the conflicts between the narrative logic of certain cartoons versus the logic of live action adult dramas #disney #enchanted #walt disney studios #movies #meta #cartoon meta #giselle #prince endward #robert philip #nancy tremaine

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williamrikers · 7 months

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Thoughts on the Final Episodes of Enchanté the Series (and why the show should have ended after episode 8)

as i've said, i love enchanté the series. i love it very much up until episode 8. in this post, i'll talk about the storylines they pursued in episodes 9 and 10, how they each fell flat for me, and what i would have liked to see instead. a big thank you to @ranchthoughts for listening to me ramble about all of this before writing this whole 3k-word post!

so. these are the main storylines we got in episode 9 and 10:

theo and akk figure out how to be in a relationship

theo wants to be a writer, akk wants to be a photographer

akk is told he is out of theo's league. this makes him hesitant to be open about his love for theo

theo learns of his parents' divorce, finds out akk knew about it, tries to get his parents back together, and fails

theo is sick and akk takes care of him

theo decides to go back to france with his mother, theo and akk break up

akk is convinced that theo would rather be in a relationship with sun than with akk, until sun himself deus ex machinas this fear away

akk follows theo to france, proposes, the end

unfortunately, it seems the writers bit off a little more than they could chew there, throwing ideas at the wall and hoping some of them would stick. remember, up until episode 8, this was a campy, fun, "i'm going to make this guy confess his love to me" comedy. episodes 9 and 10 are way heavier than anything that came before and it's tonally very dissonant.

let's break these points down, shall we?

theo and akk figure out how to be in a relationship

i'm not super mad about this one. this storyline is mostly very sweet fluff: they're cooking together, kissing each other, marvel at how different it is to touch each other now that they're boyfriends, go on cute dates together. pretty standard bl fare. however, for a show that has been incredibly horny for 8 episodes (i talked in my other post about the many, MANY intricate rituals these two came up with just to touch each other), i was really wondering why theo and akk suddenly did a 180 and became the chastest of lovers. why weren't they allowed to be even a little horny? even just implied?

what i like about this plotline is that both characters make an effort to be good partners for each other. what i don't like is that this doesn't really include learning to communicate with each other (i'll come back to this one).

theo wants to be a writer, akk wants to be a photographer

this one is also fine in isolation. sadly, it didn't go anywhere. they talk about their dreams, then those dreams sort of get forgotten while everything else is going on. at the end, we learn that akk got a photography scholarship in france but to me, that felt unearned and part of the deus ex machina which i will discuss below. we never hear of theo's ambitions again, just like we never learn whether he managed to save the literature major or not. i guess bagging the love of his life as his husband is enough and his dreams don't matter?

akk is told he is out of theo's league. this makes him hesitant to be open about his love for theo

"If you don’t want them to talk, I think you should keep a low profile inside the university." (episode 9, 2/4)

we get this storyline pretty much out of nowhere. it's not clear to me why akk even takes this so seriously, in the first 8 episodes, he never had a problem making a fool of himself when it concerned theo. on the contrary, he never seemed to care too much about what others thought of him.

but one comment from his classmate and suddenly, he's hesitant about being seen together with theo. this could have been a good storyline, if it had ever gone anywhere. sure, akk can be insecure about this new experience, why not. but then his sister pretty much also tells him he is out of theo's league, and there is never a follow-up, never a moment where we see him getting over that or just talking to theo about it. you know, his boyfriend? who he should maybe tell that he's not really comfortable being too lovey-dovey at uni? who he should maybe tell that he's feeling like he doesn't deserve theo? who could have reassured him and they could have figured out how to proceed together?

but no, as it is it's just, akk is insecure at university, theo wonders why he's so distant. this never gets addressed again.

theo learns of his parents' divorce, finds out akk knew about it, tries to get his parents back together, and fails

this is actually the only one that i will wholeheartedly defend. i actually love the way theo was at odds with his parents: they didn't seem to listen to him or even know him at all (especially apparent in the beginning of the show), and likewise, theo had no idea what was really going on with them. it was a very well-set-up storyline that was actually there right from the very beginning, unlike all of these others.

and what they were trying to go for here was amazing! they tried to say something about love as a choice, love as something you need to work at, love as something that might not last a whole lifetime. (i'll come back to that later.) all this was missing was basically one conversation between theo and akk to pull it together and really make something GREAT out of it: i really wanted theo to actually talk to akk about what this discovery and his subsequent failure meant for him. what it meant for his approach to their own relationship. that could have been one amazing conversation but they just didn't write it, sadly.

i absolutely love that theo was forced to confront the fact that his parents had split up, that there was nothing he could do, that he had to accept it. i do not love the fact that the narrative then never forced him to be straightforward about his feelings for akk, not even when they met again in paris. i would have liked that man to learn that sometimes he needs to put on his big boy pants and actually TALK about his feelings! and the divorce storyline was where he SHOULD HAVE learned that--the set-up was perfect. all the writers would have needed to do was follow through.

similarly, i do actually love the conflict between akk and theo that arises here. to quote them:

"Why is everyone lying to me? Everyone. You, Dad, and Mom. Why did everyone I love lie to me?" - "I didn’t want to lie to you. But I’m an outsider. Who am I to say anything, Theo?" (episode 9, 4/4)

the beautiful thing about this is that they're both sort of right. this is a strong and worthwhile conflict! but it is solved by akk apologizing, theo saying he won't accept the apology, and then... neither of them ever talking about it again. NOT HOW YOU WRITE A CONFLICT RESOLUTION!!!

i'm honestly a bit mad about this. because that was their one strong conflict in these two episodes, and they just utterly failed to do anything interesting with it.

the other thing they failed to do anything interesting with:

"Not all couples in real life end up happily like in the novels, son." (episode 10, 1/4)

is this the right time to mention that i actually would have liked to see theo and akk break up and not get back together at the end? no? okay, i'll come back to that. it'll make sense, trust me.

theo is sick and akk takes care of him

so, after the divorce plot is taken care of, theo immediately gets BL Disease and needs to be taken care of. we all hate sponge baths. nothing much to be said here. except that theo fails to introduce akk as his boyfriend to sun (which is then not dealt with), and akk says "You will always have me by your side, Theo" (episode 10, 2/4) right before we learn that theo has decided to go back to france and won't have akk by his side. weirdly conflicting storytelling choices here for sure.

theo decides to go back to france with his mother, theo and akk break up

"Thank you so much for making me feel like I can still put faith in love. Because of you, I know I made the right decision." - "What decision?" - "I have something important to tell you. I’m going back to France." (episode 10, 2/4)

so although in this scene, theo says it was his decision, let me show you another quote:

"You look brighter than when you just got back." - "Yeah. It’s nice to live here. I have friends who speak the same language. And I get to stay with my beloved family." (episode 9, 2/4)

theo, up until episode 10, has shown absolutely no desire to return to france. he says at multiple points in the story that he didn't/doesn't have friends there, that he always felt incredibly alone. his grandmother is dead. sun (apparently the one person he ever hung out with) moved back to thailand. theo goes back to france solely out of filial obligation, which is certainly realistic from a cultural perspective... but why was it necessary to put this into the show if it didn't have an actual impact? just to have akk propose in front of the eiffel tower at the end? they could have done that literally any other way. be on holiday in france together, then akk proposes. just an idea.

i'm going to be controversial here, but personally, if they wanted to go for this story of theo having to choose his own family over akk, then it should have mattered. then they should have stayed true to the ending of the little prince and have theo and akk actually not get back together at the end. then they should have had a scene of both of them looking up at the stars and thinking of the other, unable to touch. unable to be together. as it is, theo going back to france lacks any sort of weight in the story.

and no, i know why them breaking up couldn't be the conclusion of the story. this is a bl. the boys have to be together at the end. (this is also why he's coming to me fell flat for me at the end--med should have been reborn. he and thun shouldn't have been able to stay together. just my opinion.)

anyway, since they needed to do the bl ending, i would have wanted to see theo and akk actually fight for their love. both of them. this storyline needed to have consequences, damn it!

as it is, there's no meaning to the decision. what is the narrative value of theo going back to france? it seems like a step in the wrong direction from a character perspective, like we're watching him regress. what is the narrative telling us? that akk needs to learn more about where theo comes from? why does akk need to make the big sacrifice though, while theo doesn't even need to learn to talk about his feelings?

it's all very unbalanced. the narrative doesn't make theo really confront his feelings for akk, we don't see him struggling over his decision to leave akk except in his conversation with sun, there is no indication that he tried to fight for their love, and it's left to akk to change his entire life and leave behind everything he knows just to be with a guy who doesn't even introduce him as his boyfriend. sorry, but... how does any of that make sense in the context of the first 8 episodes? you know, the episodes where theo desperately, desperately loved akk, where he kissed him like he couldn't breathe without him? what exactly happened to that theo?

akk is convinced that theo would rather be in a relationship with sun than with akk, until sun himself deus ex machinas this fear away

in keeping with the mischaracterization, akk somehow becomes convinced that theo doesn't love him any more.

i mean, in the show's defense, it is in character for them to be completely unable to communicate. they weren't able to communicate their love for and commitment to each other at any point, and i would have loved if the conclusion of the show had been that without communication, even the deepest love is doomed to failure. (there i go again with my they should have stayed apart agenda.) i mean, theo does the whole shebang with the book instead of simply talking to akk, OF COURSE they're not equipped to talk about something as big and life-altering as moving across the globe and what that means for them. or about their feelings for each other. but i would have really liked to see some consequences for that.

but no, sun just appears out of nowhere to tell akk that theo really loves him, no, really, theo told him that, trust me, bro.

"I love Akk so much. I don’t want to leave him. But I need to." - "The one hearing this right now should be Akk." - "I’m scared to tell him. I don’t want to hold him back. I don’t want him to wait. I have no clue when I’ll come back. I don’t want to be selfish." (episode 10, 4/4)

even sun is telling theo he should talk to his boyfriend.

there is something to be said in favour of a bl where the leads ostensibly don't choose each other, where they are convinced the other can genuinely be happier without them, and they choose the other person's happiness over their own, the way akk and theo are convinced they're doing. of course they're both wrong, but learning that from a deus ex machina instead of by talking to your own boyfriend... uh... nope, not a fan of that.

"I’ve been okay since the day you told me the news. I’d do the same if I were you. Of course, you can’t let her live alone. Remember what I said about your parents? I told you to respect what they choose. If I can’t even do as I told you, then I’m a hypocrite. I really am okay to let you go." (episode 10, 3/4)

i love this line. i wish it were in a better episode.

akk follows theo to france, proposes, the end

i guess marriage solves all communication problems. after sun plays the deus ex machina to solve the problem of akk and theo being unable to talk to each other, akk gets the help of another deus ex machina in the form of a scholarship to study in france. sure, whatever works for you. once again, i would have liked to see these two actually fight for their love. they should have had to put in the work! fix your communication problems! overcome the adversities of a long distance relationship! i mean this had mostly been a silly little comedy show, sure, but if they're going in that direction then they should commit, damn it!

unfortunately, they lost the comedy and camp aspect towards the end of the show, which was a shame. i think if they'd been a little more campy about this whole mess, then the ending might have worked better.

in conclusion... the show should have ended after episode 8

i feel like i've sufficiently demonstrated that the storylines in episodes 9 and 10 mostly went nowhere, the writers had a LOT of ideas, they didn't set most of them up properly and didn't have the time to resolve all of them properly either. i think this should have been a funny and sweet 8-episode-series that should have ended on the balcony kiss, and it's very sad that they didn't stick their landing.

so, here's what i would do: keep the divorce storyline in, but put it before the love confession on the balcony, maybe around episode 7. have theo learn that love might not last and then choose to be with akk anyway.

everything else can go. going back to france is the biggest offender here, this should be either left out completely or the series should have been a 12-parter, with the final four parts only dealing with this problem. ever since bmf, i know it is possible to write bls that have the main couple confess in episode 8 and still give them compelling and in-character conflicts for another 4 episodes while showing them grow closer together by overcoming these problems. but ideally, i'd just want to cut the return to france entirely.

i actually love the idea of ending the show with both of them saying enchanté to each other. however, that happened at the wrong moment, it wasn't narratively significant at that point at all. the point where that should have gone was after the balcony kiss! that's when they saw each other in a new light for the first time, that's when they met for the first time as lovers, when they both made their feelings clear for the first time. that's where the enchantés should have gone.

anyway, the show should have ended on the balcony kiss, both of them smiling at each other and saying enchanté.

thank you for reading 😘

#enchanté #enchanté the series #enchante the series #*mine #my enchanté meta

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