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animebw · 3 years

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Binge-Watching: Mononoke, Episodes 1-2

And so we begin! In which the artistry is utterly bonkers in every conceivable way, leading to a difficult, but very unique viewing experience.

Mask and Scroll

There’s a subset of anime that employ an artistic style I like to call “folklore aesthetics.” These shows and movies take place in ancient Japan, in the times when spirits and youkai and gods and demons and all manner of mystical beings still walked the developing countryside. And to capture the feeling of those distant, mythical eras, these anime seek to emulate the feeling of, well, listening to someone tell you a folk tale and taking your imagination back to long, long ago. Stuff like Mushishi and The Tale of Princess Kaguya have distinct, painterly animation styles that are reminiscent of old-timey Japanese painting styles, musical scores consisting of nothing but classic Japanese instruments, characters who are archetypical in the traditional timeless sense as opposed to stock anime stereotypes. They’re not just stories about Japan’s folkloric past, they very consciously emulate the feeling of being told a story about Japan’s folkloric past. Watching them, you feel like you’ve been transported back hundreds and hundreds of years, falling asleep in your village hut as your mother spins you a bedtime story about the strange, terrifying, wonderful creatures that lurk outside the safety of home. It’s a hard style to pull off, as it requires so much commitment to crafting that specific illusion. But when it’s done well, it results in some of the most magical experiences this medium has to offer.

Mononoke is firmly within that tradition of folklore aesthetics. In fact, it may very well contain the highest density of “Think about ancient Japan” techniques out of any similar show or movie I’ve seen. The art style is reminiscent of those massive wall paintings that adorn sliding screens in palaces and fancy houses. But the action doesn’t flow directly from one shot to the next like most shows; every shot feels like its own individual painting, with hardly any movement within or between shots. It ends up feeling like you’re not so much watching people move around a lived-in world as you are watching an actual series of still images passing by one at a time. It’s like the entire story is being told in paintings, and you’re walking through a grand palace looking at these paintings one at a time to understand what’s happening. The character designs are all classic kabuki archetypes, some scene changes are punctuated by a pair of sliding doors literally closing over the screen and opening in a new location like what might happen on an actual kabuki stage, some moments literally turn into a flipbook with “pages” turning over the screen as a situation progresses from one still moment to the next, and the narration at the start of episode 2 suggests an even stronger authorial voice directly intruding into the narrative. Combined with the richly detailed background art, and you feel like you’re literally trapped in a two-dimensional wall scroll, walking a talkative artist paint an impressionistic story around you.

Carved Abyss

It’s an incredibly unique visual language, and it takes a while to get used to. Mononoke doesn’t move or flow like any other anime I’ve seen before. The use of images without much movement means there’s not always easy continuity between shots. Instead of, say, a character walking out of one shot and walking into the next, a character will be established as being in one location, maybe there’ll be an in-between shot of some important visual symbol or object, and then the character will be in a completely different location the next time we see them, standing just as still as they stood in the previous shot. This means it can be kinda hard to follow the action some times, especially when things take a turn for impossible geometry and surreal symbolism when the action heats up in episode 2. There’s a particularly weird sequence of shots where a guy gets swallowed by a demon, but we see him standing in one place in the room, then there’s a match cut to him standing in a difference place, and then another match cut back to him standing in the same place before being dragged up into the ceiling. It’s not entirely clear what’s going on here, as there’s not enough proper establishment of space to read the movement of events. There’s also a weird scroll overlay effect on the screen that’s obviously supposed to mimic the visual texture of old, weathering paper, but I realized at some point that the texture was actually shifting over time. Bubbles and wrinkles were appearing and fading all the time, even as the actual shots were all but completely still. There’s so many different sources of visual information that it’s easy to get lost in the clutter and completely lose track of what’s happening.

The being said, all this eerie stillness does mean that whenever the show does spring into motion, the contrast hits like a goddamn cement mixer. Most of the incidental movement comes from eerie circular motifs like umbrellas spinning in the rain or flowers spinning in the faces of the faceless background characters. But every once in a while, things do explode into more fluid, traditional animated flow of movement, and I do in fact mean explode. The camera swoops and dives throughout the cramped space like it’s a real 3D room, and every motion is chaotic and whirling and fast. Moments of horror like fleshy tentacles writhing back into their hiding spaces are so much more horrifying when everything’s been so still up until that point and suddenly these things are wriggling like caffienated worms. Hell, even in the stillness, this show does a damn good job getting under your skin. There are so many creepy fucking shots and angles, things appearing so suddenly you don’t know if they came in by natural means or just showed up on a phantasmic whim. And true to the nature of the art style, it’s able to wring some petrifying symbolism out of repeated objects and motifs. The simple act of tearing a sheet of fabric in this show feels like tearing an unborn child apart limb from limb, crusty brown blood spattering the floor in its wake. There’s something fascinatingly primal about the way this show makes your skin crawl; it’s a reminder that all this lovely artistry and tradition is steeped in an understanding of the world far darker and less controllable than we’ve used to today.

Folk Fears

Okay. That’s a lot of discussion about artistry and aesthetics and culture and all the stuff that makes Mononoke so instantly striking. The actual story, thankfully, is far more simple and recognizable: a guy wanders old-timey Japan searching for dangerous spirits to exorcise, and he gets tangled up with all matter of interesting characters and victims of circumstance. Basically, it’s Mushishi if it were more of an abstract nightmare than a soulful dream. And the first story it chooses to tell is just... really freaky and uncomfortable. A pregnant woman shows up at an inn carrying a child born of an illegitimate affair, pursued by a hitman her lover hired to kill her to spare him the shame, and she’s desperate to give birth to this child. It just so happens that this inn used to be a whorehouse, and whenever a prostitute got pregnant, the proprietor would force her to abort the baby to keep working. The souls of those unborn babies survived, though, and now they’re racing through the walls trying to be born through the pregnant woman’s womb. It’s all very disturbing and visceral, and the imagery used to represent the abortions with the stubby dolls and the carpets rolling out from them to connect them to the wombs they’re trying to be birthed from is just... cripes. It’s effective, that’s for sure. I’m not sure if there’s much of a point to it beyond being a disturbing take on touchy subject matter, but if it’s just meant to be this ambiguous, creepy fable where you draw whatever meaning out of it you want to, it certainly leaves an impression. Will that be enough to keep my interest through the whole show? Only one way to find out. See you next time!

#anime #the anime binge-watcher #tabw #mononoke

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saokpe-loves-to-talk · 4 years

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Ducktales (2017): Masters in Character Writing

Rarely does a story revolve around a single character, and this means that characters usually need to eventually interact with each other. This aspect of character writing is probably the trickiest because the moment you introduce two characters that have yet to heavily interact, your audience automatically has an idea on how the interaction will eventually play out. Additionally, if two popular characters have yet to interact, a sudden demand for that particular dynamic formulates. Unfortunately it is rather hard to predict what dynamics will be popular and which the most number of people will want to see, nor can you gauge how your audience will react to canon dynamics when fan alternatives have been allowed to form beforehand. These elements are easy to juggle with smaller casts or even in more grounded settings, two advantages Ducktales has to do without. In this case the writers have to make sure their characters are designed and written in ways that they can bounce their personality with most every other character in the show. How do you do that? Make your characters as three-dimensional as humanly possible.

I think a great example of this is Della Duck. Since her introduction in the mid-season finale of season 2, Della has been allowed to interact with a vast majority of the main cast, a risky play in a show so focused on variety. If not written correctly, her various interactions would seem repetitive, as if the other characters were just taking turns talking to a looping recording. This doesn’t happen, however; the writers constructed Della in a manner in which her personality has various aspects that allow for different and interesting dynamics with all the other characters. Her and Dewey play off each other’s brave and bold adrenaline-seeking. Della’s more liberal approach to parenting contrasts perfectly with Beakley’s more coservative strategies. Her paranoid guilt clashing harshly with Louie’s reckless schemes, and so on and so forth. Instead of having various other characters interact with one aspect of her personality, the writers had the foresight to create various different angles from which different characters can bounce off. That said, no matter how interesting a character’s different dynamics are, they can’t stay the same throughout a whole show, they need to develop or your character may suffer the consequences.

The new Ducktales reboot is amazing, from the humor, to the stories it tells, the show has really gone above and beyond what anyone would’ve expected from it. I love this show, the fandom around it and the messages it preaches to death, but there’s one thing that this show succeeds in doing that leaves me giddy with joy every time I think about, and that’s its characters. In this, my first of many essays on various media’s superb writing, I want to speak on the Ducktales reboot’s characters and what makes them so great. Now, before I begin, I want to preface that this analysis is purely subjective (like literally any other analysis of media) so if you disagree with anything said please feel free to add your opinion to this post, I want to start a discussion not an ultimatum.

Anyone who has watched this show knows of its expansive cast. An entourage of main characters large enough to make even Game of Thrones blush, all with arcs and personalities so well developed that it would make Game of Thrones cry. Logic would state that these types of ensemble casts are hard to write, I mean, one well written character is a headache in of itself, let alone the dozen or so Ducktales juggles. There are many aspects of character writing that need to be adhered to, guidelines that turn this aspect of any story into the most complicated and sensitive. A character is usually what the viewer latches themselves to, it’s an element of the story that can’t be manipulated by the author directly but instead by the obstacles and surroundings the author places them through, a part so subjective and circumstantial that it is usual to see a distinction in a fandom’s interpretation of them and the original text’s. Needless to say, one needs to place a LOT of work into the development of your work’s characters. So what’s so special about Ducktales and how the writers handle this aspect of their show?

Personality Overlap

A character needs to have a personality, a rule so basic that it’s dismissal is in of itself an artistic decision (though that doesn’t stop some works from ignoring it entirely). To say the Ducktales reboot has succeeded in the implementation of personalities into many of these iconic characters would be an understatement, from the revamping of the triplets to the expansion of classic Disney characters like Donald Duck and Scrooge McDuck, the writers have far demonstrated their ability to create interesting personalities or elaborating on already existing personalities. That far from makes a character, however, especially when you have as many as this show does. With ensemble casts, the writer needs to assure that every character is unique from one another, we can’t have characters step on each other's toes as it may lead to a sense of monotony in the future. That’s where this show stands out. Many characters DO share many personality traits. The number of eccentric geniuses alone proves comical, yet at no point do these overlapping traits prove detrimental to the enjoyment of any particular character. Why?

Let’s take two of the main four child characters, Webby and Dewey, as examples. Both these characters can be described as brave, headstrong adventurers who are always looking for their next adrenaline pumping adventure. Both are incredibly energetic and somewhat naive, and both seem to share increasingly comparable acrobatic abilities. These similarities are so prominent, in fact, that the show itself has used their compatibility as the base for many episode’s A or B plots. Yet, both of these characters are very easy to tell apart and that’s without listing their obvious differences. While many other shows and movies avoid making two main characters too similar in fear of having the story feel redundant, Ducktales embrace the fact that you need to be in a very particular headspace to do the things these characters do. While, yes, Dewey and Webby are both energetic and excitable, the former portrays this aspect of himself with performative and showman-like mannerisms, the latter expressing herself in hyper-active giddy and high-pitched declarations of happiness. This acceptance of similarities leads to, ironically, a more unique and nuanced experience as the writers allow themselves to create characters that break the mold of their given archetypes. Additionally, this acceptance of character similarities also allow for increasingly interesting character dynamics.

Character Dynamics

I think a great example of this is Della Duck. Since her introduction in the mid-season finale of season 2, Della has been allowed to interact with a vast majority of the main cast, a risky play in a show so focused on variety. If not written correctly, her various interactions would seem repetitive, as if the other characters were just taking turns talking to a looping recording. This doesn’t happen, however; the writers constructed Della in a manner in which her personality has various aspects that allow for different and interesting dynamics with all the other characters. Her and Dewey play off each other’s brave and bold adrenaline-seeking. Della’s more liberal approach to parenting contrasts perfectly with Beakley’s more conservative strategies. Her paranoid guilt clashing harshly with Louie’s reckless schemes, and so on and so forth. Instead of having various other characters interact with one aspect of her personality, the writers had the foresight to create various different angles from which different characters can bounce off. That said, no matter how interesting a character’s different dynamics are, they can’t stay the same throughout a whole show, they need to develop or your character may suffer the consequences.

Character Development

I’m sure this last segment isn’t anything particularly untouched when it comes to character discussions but I feel it needs to be commemorated equally. People grow and so should your work’s imitation of people. It’s been drilled into our heads that a character should have flaws (which is a bit of a vague sentiment that leads to a bunch of people calling particular characters Mary Sues despite them not actually being one but that’s for another essay), and those flaws need to eventually iron themselves out. They don’t need to be fixed, but they need to be addressed, they need to change and shape your character. This change is the heart of your story. An audience is experiencing your story through the characters and as such their development and change is better felt than the external forces that might haunt them. Or at least that’s how I see it. Most importantly, the duck show does this well.

Louie Duck throughout the majority of season 1 proved himself the odd-duck out in his expansive family of crazy adventurers, him being rather cowardly and extremely averse to any type of physical exertion. Despite this he maintained useful as a shrewd con artist and silver tongued schemer. This left Louie in a situation where he always seemed to resemble more the various villains Scrooge faced and berated instead of his own heroic family-tree. An interesting tid-bit to take into the second season which coincidentally premiered with an episode revolving around Louie’s disdain of thrill-seeking adventures and his insecurity about his seeming uselessness in those previously mentioned adventures. His arc for the season is established. This story-line eventually culminates when Della grounds him for one particularly catastrophic scheme he attempted to pull called the Timephoon. At this point we have a character, who appoints himself as the “evil-triplet”, with an apparently detrimental flaw he previously valued, a flaw which he shares with various of the cunning villains the show has previously labelled as “schemers.” These elements of his arc come together when a party of villains come looking for a way to finally destroy the McDuck family. His character has developed throughout the season, his insecurities and faults continuously pointed out, his one apparent quality mislabeled as dangerous and unwanted, he reached his lowest point. The archetypal villain backstory. Yet he doesn’t actually become a villain, instead he tricks the villains and saves his family from being hunted by these maniacs using the same trickery and cunning that was previously called dangerous. You might think that my retelling is biased to make it seem like Louie was going to turn evil, I mean, I left out like the majority of Louie inc. stories and the development experienced there. But that’s the kicker, the writers led this character through a road that seemed to lead to villany just to remind us of all the other lessons Louie had learned prior to Timephoon, how he felt after being betrayed by Goldie, how unmaintainable his harpy scheme was earlier in the season and a bunch of other, minor, realizations. It’s hard to write character development without it seeming predictable, flaws are easy to fix in retrospect, the journey there is what really matters.

I hope you enjoyed reading through this not so little dissection of one of my favorite shows. If you have feedback on how I should format these essays in the future please comment so, improvement is always my first goal. More importantly, however, if you agree or disagree with anything written, or you feel like you have something to add, please don’t hesitate to do so. This is all about creating discussion.

#ducktales #Ducktales2017 #dt17 #dt2017 #Dewey Duck #webby vanderquack #della duck #Louie Duck

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cannot-decide-on-a-fandom · 5 years

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Please rant about your favorite characters from at least three fandoms. Tell me how wonderful your children are.

Okay, this is probably gonna be nonsensical, I'm just gonna ramble here. (Thanks for giving me the opportunity)

Alright, here we go

Haikyuu

Considering how much I've been talking about Haikyuu, there's no way I'm not taking this opportunity too. I've always said this series has some of the best character writing I've seen.

Suga

Normally I'd say if anyone disrespects my boy I'll fight them, but I've never seen anyone dislike Suga, because it's physically impossible. He's such an amazingly well rounded character. I mean, the fact that I think he's the most mischaracterised person in the anime compared to the manga and he is STILL amazing makes me so happy.

Yes, he's team mum, but one thing you can't rip out of my hands is that he's the mum who constantly plays stupid jokes on his adopted kids and messes with everyone. I'm pretty sure that's canon. He's the person who will see a couple of them hanging about outside the bathroom with water guns, waiting for somebody to come out to spray them, and he'd leave just to return with a bag of flour to throw over their heads too and make everything worse.

But let me tell you, despite that, this boy is practically still a child, barely 18, still a high schooler, and he is so damn supportive and kind and selfless. Not a single person on the team would be like they are without him.

He’s not a prodigy or anything of the sort, and as frustrated as he is by it, the last thing he'd ever want is to negatively impact the team even if it benefits him. But he still has so much pride and he teases everyone a lot, it’s so funny.

He is a big, eyeroll worthy dork half the time, but there’s not a single person who is better suited to be a team player, even if he’s off the court. I love him so much.

Yamaguchi

I’ve already went off on a rant about him, so I’ll keep this short.

This beautiful, gorgeous boy, the sweetest, purest thing in the entire universe, spent his childhood being bullied by others purely for things he couldn’t even really control, and he not even for a second shows resentment towards anyone he meets unless they earn it. He never makes any unfounded judgements about how people are even though him doing so and being nervous could easily be justified, but he is the most friendly person to everyone he meets. Until they need encouragement, which is when he’ll go off the rails for them.

He works so hard and so much and so desperately wants to play too, but the last thing he’d ever do is hurt anyone else’s chances. The line, and I’m gonna probably misquote, I’m sorry, “What besides pride do we need?” is still my favourite line of the series, and describes the entire situation so well. Even though he yelled it at Tsukki, it applies to him too. He’s scared, and worried, and feels guilty every time he messes up, but his desire to prove himself and be useful is so strong, it helps him grow and I am so equally proud of and inspired by him.

Also, freckles are adorable as hell, how can anyone hurt him because of that? Or any reason? I'll fight them.

Nishinoya

This is still the same fandom, right? Okay, let me be quick.

Noya is one of the most unpredictably written characters I know. He has all the traits of excitable comic relief, but he is so, so much more than that. He’s loud and hyper and kind of a dumbass who oggles at girls sometimes, but he’s also the best friend any person could wish for and he’s serious and encouraging, not for plot development but simply because that’s who he is. He is confident and self assured, but he’s also self critical, driven to improve, calming to everyone around him, supportive, selfless, and impulsive. He’s someone with who you can believe every word they say, because as nice as they are, they don’t lie. They’re open and blunt, and so willing to criticize everyone including themself without going too far because he doesn’t think any of that matters as long as people try and not give up. Yes, occasionally he may be a little bit on the frustrating side to the people around him, but he is the type of person you need in your life.

Someone who is instantly willing to yell at you, but also a shoulder to cry on, or a distraction, or simply somebody to have fun with. I love him dearly.

My Hero Academia

Let me do my 2 best boys

Kaminari

Kaminari is one of the most annoyingly misrepresented characters in this fandom. He’s always shown as the idiotic pervert, or at least one of those in any situation, but his actual character is so much more interesting, so why?

Yes, he’s an idiot sometimes. But it’s not because he has no intelligence or anything of the sort. Remember, he got into a prestigious high school with a really hard to pass written exam as well as practical one. As far as I can tell, he tries to act cool in typical ways, but he probably doesn’t think intelligence is any reason to look down on someone anyway, so it doesn’t matter to him. He’s shown he’s more then just the class clown, and as for the perverted side, he wants to see girls in cheerleading uniforms and swimsuits, sure, like a lot of people probably would, but while he may do stupid things sometimes in that regard too, the vast, vast majority of the time he is nothing but respectful and friendly. He’s friends with everyone in the class, including Bakugo and including the girls who he is supposedly always pervy towards. He is fun, non judgemental, and smarter than we give him credit for, and the fact that he has flaws make him more down to earth and understandable. He’s a flawed person, but dammit, he’s not a bad one.

Kirishima

Let’s just say, season 4 will be his season, but even before, he was amazing. I actually really thought I would hate him at first. See, I generally don’t like Bakugo's archetype, and even less so the best friend characters of people like him. I expect that it’s birds of a feather and all, but that only the main friend will get development and the other will mostly remain a jerk. So, when I kept seeing him shipped with Bakugo, I was concerned before getting to meet him properly. But my god, did he subvert all of my expectations.

One thing I hate so much is how people act like he finds Bakugo’s anger and rudeness endearing, or like he ignores it, but that is completely the opposite of him. He finds it frustrating, and it angers him and irritates him. The difference between him and others who are scared of him is that he doesn’t purely judge him based on that. He calls him out on his crap, but he also pays attention to him and treats him how he wants to be treated.

Outside of Bakugo, he is a complete angel. He is helpful and despite shining so bright is always immediately ready to get hurt for anyone, even if he doesn’t care about them. He’s great and vulnerable and so well written, I can’t wait to see season 4.

Marvel (specifically the MCU)

Let’s throw some live action in here.

Peter Parker/Spiderman

Okay, Spiderman as a character, specifically Peter Parker, will always be special to me. The original trilogy was the first time I watched Superhero movies and I fell in love with them.

But, and I say this knowing how amazing all previous castings were, Tom Holland’s iteration is easily my favourite. Not just because of his performance, but also with how he was written.

For the first time, we got a solo movie franchise not revolving around his uncle's death, and I am so glad. We got to see his character grow, effected purely by things other than that. It’s probably the closest to the comic books iteration we got (I haven’t read all of them, but enough) in terms of the character himself. He’s a kid. Cheeky and witty and smarter than just being able to build a suit (seriously, I so often hear people say “the MCU Spidey is terrible. He’s not as smart. He doesn’t build his own suit” like...have you even seen the films? He is smarter in so many different ways than just sawing together heavy duty Spandex.) But he’s hurt and broken in a lot of ways. He’s not in any way 2 dimensional and I really want to see more of him.

Wow that was long. Sorry.

#wow this was a lot #thanks for the ask :)#haikyuu #my hero academia #marvel

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windofderange · 6 years

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Let’s talk about gender in Stranger Things 2!

So there’s a bunch of stuff happening in my life and I keep meaning to post something about that, but it’s serious and scary and stuff, so instead, I’m going to ramble a while about why I really love some of the subtle gender role reversals in season 2 of Stranger Things! Like a normal, well-adjusted person!

Also, no major spoilers ahead, but I will talk about things that happened in Season 2, so if you want to come to it totally fresh, please skip this.

So I’m still a little sad that there’s no queer representation in this show. Yes, I know it takes place in the 80s and queer people hadn’t been invented yet, but still. (I was SOOO hoping that the big reveal at the dance would be that Dustin was building himself up to ask Will to dance, but I guess that probably would have been genuinely too much for an 80s middle school to handle.) However, despite that, I was actually really impressed by some of the smaller ways the story undercut traditional gender stereotypes this season, and some of the improvements to how the girl and women characters were written.

That’s not to say that I thought they were poorly written last season - I just thought they were a lot more one-dimensional. Emotional mother. Brainy, goody-two-shoes girl exploring her sexuality. Even Eleven, who was by far the female character with whom we spent the most time, was sort of scattered - the writers clearly couldn’t decide how unaware of the world she should be, and in turn, what things about gender she should care about (ie, she didn’t know what ‘pretty’ meant, but she still wanted to be it), a problem I don’t think they’ve entirely corrected (more on that in a sec). The male characters were similarly archetypal - the drunk, broken-down town sheriff, the maniacal scientist, the lovesick teen, etc.

This season, I feel like the characters all got a lot more flushed out, but more than that, the way they did so also made some really interesting choices about gender and gender roles. Also, I’m occasionally going to refer to the characters as sets because that how some of the storylines run - the adults (Joyce, Hopper, and Bob), the teens (Nancy, Jonathan, Steve, and Billy), and the kids (Eleven, Will, Mike, Dustin, Lucas, and Max).

1. Joyce and Bob: Okay, so I know I’m apparently the only person in the universe who doesn’t ship Joyce and Hopper, but I loved Joyce and Bob. Bob is a ‘beta male’ - he’s fat, short, into electronics, likes Kenny Loggins, makes corny jokes, and is too much of a scaredy-cat to watch scary movies. However, it’s made immediately clear that Joyce isn’t just dating him because she needs a man or in order to fill some hole in her life - the first scene we see of them is the two of them adorably flirting, and then hard-core making out. Bob is also consistently shown to be the less driven of the pair (a theme that will actually come up a lot in this post). Joyce is a fighter. It’s an important aspect of Joyce’s character, one that was established last season, but in the context of her frantically fighting to get her son back. In the grand tradition of the Aliens franchise and Poltergeist, Stranger Things holds that mothers are the toughest fighters, and this season makes it clear that that’s always been true of Joyce Byers - it wasn’t just the panic of losing Will that drove her; she’s always been like this. Bob knew her in high school, and makes it clear that he’s always admired her for it. However, the story doesn’t present Bob as emasculated (a term I hate!) - he’s jazzed as all hell to finally be dating Joyce Byers!

In setting up their relationship in these terms, the story gives us something we don’t often see - Bob is a boy-gal Friday. In fact, he’s Joyce’s boy-gal Friday. He’s competent, with a complementary skill set; he’s valuable, and Joyce clearly values him, and he makes a lot of connections and discoveries on his own, but he’s not capable of turning those connections into actions that drive the plot forward until he turns them over to Joyce. And he’s perfectly happy in his role - even when he shows up in her house covered in Will’s bizarre tunnel drawing and is told he can’t ask questions, he’s clearly having the time of his life, solving a cool puzzle with a woman he loves. Like every gal Friday, he can’t conceive of a world in which he could be the protagonist - he’s a superhero, but he’s not the Hero. That’s Joyce

2. Hopper and Eleven: Off the bat, I have to admit that I think the writers are still doing the worst with Eleven when it comes to writing gender, just because they have the most room to play with and they’re not making use of it. There’s no reason for Ele to have a concept of gender performance - she’s a lab rat. We know that the mad scientist raised her to think of him as her “Papa” (whether he was biologically or not), but we’re given no evidence that she had any concept of being his “daughter” or a “girl.” Again, I know it’s an unpopular opinion, but it’s part of the reason I actually really liked the episode with her and Eight (also because I’m a sucker for a coming of age story) because I think pairing her gender development with the punk scene is a potentially brilliant way to play with some of these ideas in a culturally-contemporary way (since gender non-conformity was a big part of punk), and it’s something I really hope the writers come back to next season.

That being said, I did really enjoy the relationship between Ele and Hopper, and in particular, the fact that Hopper is clearly raising a kid, not a girl. We never see Hopper force any gender norms on Ele (even though he had a daughter of his own and could potentially have those kinds of expectations for her), we see them sharing in not traditionally feminine things (building traps, eating garbage, watching scary movies - all things dads usually do with their sons in movies and TV), and even though it’s clear that Hopper knows about Mike’s and Ele’s feelings for each other, we never get any weird matchmaking or overbearing overprotectiveness from him - his overprotectiveness of Ele is always about keeping her safe from Hawkins, not keeping her away from boys. He even embraces her “bitchin’” new look, but clearly also helps her get ready for the dance.

3. Mad Max and the AV Club: So I love Max. I love Max so much. And I still love the AV Club. I do get the point of articles like this one that part of the nostalgia of Stranger Things is a nostalgia for nerds who are actually bullied and oppressed, but I think that’s over-simplifying things. To start with, Lucas is black, and this season they finally managed to engage with that a little, in the same way they managed to engage with Dustin’s disability a little last season. Also, I think the way that the AV club’s masculinity is presented is important. This is not the adorkable misogyny of the Big Bang Theory. They are not traditionally masculine and they are absolutely fighters, and those two things are never presented as being in conflict in any way. Indeed, the constant references to D&D, including their own nickname for their group as “the party,” sort of reaffirms this - for people who know the game, they know you need a balanced party. You don’t want all muscles, or all magic, or all rogues. In many ways, Will becomes the ultimate symbol of this in Season 2 - he is absolutely a soft boy (Hopper even asks if he’s gay in Season 1, to which Joyce rightly replies, “why would that matter?!”), and yet, he is both the major villain AND the one fighting hardest against that villain in this season. His strength to fight the mind flayer stems from his nontraditional masculinity - from his art, and ultimately, from his empathy, being kept in control of his body by the stories of love and affection from his mother, brother, and best friend.

Max is similarly nontraditional - we’re introduced to her by the traditional nerd trope of “girls don’t play video games!,” “girls don’t skateboard!;” however, if we’re really supposed to read the AV club as models for nerd culture, then the important element surely comes in their immediate reversal in meeting Max and seeing that she does indeed play video games and skateboard. Not only do they not gatekeep or question her love of these things, they are immediately more impressed by her because of them. They want to be friends with her because she’s a girl who skateboards and plays video games, and it’s clear that this is the root of Dustin’s and Lucas’ attraction to her, as well. Even Mike’s resistance to bringing her into the party is never presented as her being a girl or a “fake gamer girl” - the show does a good job of showing that he doesn’t like having her around because she can’t know about Ele, and that having her there without knowing means that things are moving on and the others might move on, as well. As soon as Lucas spills the beans and Max is fully on board, Mike’s resistance disappears.

4. Nancy and Jonathan: So I think the teens’ stories are where Stranger Things does the best with undercutting gender roles because these stories are so ingrained and so formulaic normally. These are also the ones that I noticed the most while watching it. Also, full disclosure - I don’t really ship Nancy with anyone, and was sort of disappointed that last season had a teen girl, two love interests, love triangle story line. However, I do think the lovestory between Nancy and Jonathan has some of the best gender reversals. To start with, Nancy is absolutely the Protagonist of their story. Nancy causes everything to happen in their story. It’s her acts that inadvertently bring them together (by getting drunk), but she decides that they’re going to do something to get justice for Barb, she takes them to find the journalist, she comes up with the plan to blackmail Hawkins. Even in the scenes of them getting together, we see her sitting up in bed, trying to decide what to do. She goes to the door, and Jonathan is there. All of the focus is on her as the decision maker.

This role reversal comes to a head in the final showdown with the mind flayer. I loved the call back to the last season when Hopper asked Jonathan if he could shoot a gun, and Nancy took it instead - they had already established that she was the better shot, and again, this scene wasn’t presented as her emasculating Jonathan in any way (and Hopper doesn’t hesitate for a second in handing over the riffle) - it’s clearly just that their lives are at stake, and of the pair, she’s the better shot. But the best is the scene in the cabin - this could have so easily been the teary-eyed girlfriend hanging off her stoic boyfriend (which, to be fair, was a lot of how Jonathan was written last season). Instead, we got Joyce, raging and holding down her son, who was clearly in pain, as Jonathan screamed hysterically and cried, trying to stop her, being held back and finally comforted by Nancy.

Let me be clear - this scene only makes sense this way, given what we know about these characters. Joyce is driven and direct - she’s going to make a plan and stick to it, come Hell or high water. Jonathan has already been shown to be way too invested in Will and his well-being, and it seems completely believable by now that he would even fight his mother if he thought Will’s life was in the balance. Nancy is an outsider - she’s not family, and her concern is mostly for Jonathan. However, even as exciting as this scene was, I couldn’t help but step out of it a bit as I was watching it and realize how weird it was to see a young man portrayed as hysterical, rallying against a woman with a plan, and then being comforted by another woman, who was relatively calm and unaffected. It works so much better this way, but there are so many show where this scene would have had Nancy freaking out for no other reason than because women are hysterical.

5. Steve: Oh, Steve. heart eyes I am so in love with Steve after this season. Obviously Stranger Things is a show that loves its parallels, and Steve’s stories move increasingly into roles played by women in the original as the season goes on. The initial story with him and Dustin have parallels to Stand By Me and Gremlins, but by the big showdown with the mind flayer, Steve opens embraces his role as “the babysitter,” a role that actually has some decent echoes in 80s movies - Adventures in Babysitting would be the obvious, but Steve’s role in the group also directly parallels Mary Plimpton’s character in the Goonies, as the third wheel to the big brother and girlfriend (except in this case, those two had buggered off to go do The Omen instead), who also delivers the incredibly quotable line, “I feel like I’m babysitting, only I’m not getting paid.”

However, again, we’re not given any hint that Steve has any problems with his new role. After the rest of the adults and teens leave, he directly parallels Mr. Mom, the movie the Byers were watching earlier, wearing an apron and slinging a kitchen towel over his shoulder after doing the washing up. But whereas the entire premise of that movie is how embarrassed Michael Keaton’s character feels to be a stay-at-home dad and how bad he is at household tasks, Steve seems genuinely proud of himself for tidying up the Byers house, and proud to serve as guiding voice to the remaining kids left in his care. Even his use of a traditionally-masculine sports metaphor to explain why they have to stay put reaffirms how much he’s internalized his role - he clearly means for it to be rally speech, as he’s presumably delivered to his teammates, and he shows his own confusion when it concludes with, “and that’s why we’re on the bench.”

The episode briefly looks as though it’s going to offer Steve a redeemingly masculine role of protector with the arrival of Billy, Max’s big brother. We get some macho posturing and a fist fight, and although Steve does get to come to Lucas’ rescue, he’s still soundly trounced by Billy. Again, this is completely in keeping with the characters - we’ve already seen that Billy isn’t just up for a fight, but abusive and dangerously violent. However, it’s Max, the only girl in the room, who puts down Billy, again in a series of gender undercuts - first, she beats him subversively by drugging him (poison being a woman’s weapon and all that), but then, in another reversal, she takes the opportunity as he’s weakened and blacking out to threaten him with Steve’s baseball bat, extracting protection for her and the AV club using the same oath as we’ve seen used previously by Billy’s abusive father. The rest of the episode is clearly The Goonies, with Steve-as-Mary-Plimpton and the kids running around underground, and Steve reiterating that he’s there because he’ll be held responsible if anything happens to them.

Even in the final denouement at the dance, Steve gets the same final appearance as Joyce and Hopper, the other two caregivers, dropping off his ‘kid’ and driving away. (Interestingly, of the teens and adults, only Nancy gets a denouement at the dance - Jonathan is also there, but just gets to smile and wave from the sidelines, the same ending as basically every supporting girlfriend from every teen movie, again highlighting that it’s Nancy who is the Protagonist.)

So why do I care about all of this? Well, one of my biggest frustrations with a lot of TV and films is that I feel like writers still suck at writing women - in particular, women as protagonists. It seems like way too many writers can’t understand how women can make choices that drive the story forward, and that means way too many stories fall back on traditional tropes where women are the backups and support. It’s cool to see so many of those tropes not only avoided, but directly reversed, and so effectively. Bob, Jonathan, Steve, and the AV club are cool, interesting, likable characters. They’re not diminished by not being the protagonists, or not being traditionally masculine. Like I said, I would love to see the writers do more with Ele because there is so much opportunity there for a truly agender character, which is something else sorely missing from modern TV, but I also hope they continue to present women who are ambitious and driven, and men who are emotional and empathetic because it’s super cool to finally get those kinds of stories.

#stranger things #stranger things 2 #jessica over-analyzes things!#spoilers stranger things 2

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coreycorner · 7 years

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Goldeneye - CCCC1/2

I can’t remember a time when James Bond wasn’t part of my life or at least somewhere in it, I remember knowing about James Bond before I even seen one of his movies as a child. In a society growing more and more tiresome two dimensional movie characters films dominated with strong handsome white males make no mistake James Bond IS the the ultimate male fantasy character and for the most part at least for as long as I am alive is probably character one most men (and women, well not all women but some) want to be like. He is the archetype where all cool male characters have directed from in my opinion over the past 50+ years.

James Bond for the most part is as two dimensional as them come in terms of characters branded in pop culture. Yes there has been many actors who have come in to add depth, realism, comedy, you name it to the character but in the end they are always the same character always asking for the same drink the same way, always dressed the same, always a white British male, always having the same kind of sexual relationships with the same kind of women, always driving nearly the same cars always doing the same old things with the same old lines but it is like watching a Friday The 13th movie or listening to AC/DC; you know what you are getting and when done right it you are reminded as to why this character and the movie series in of itself remains tattooed in pop culture and why again James Bond IS the ultimate male fantasy character.

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I can’t remember my first James Bond or if Goldeneye was my first James Bond but Goldeneye is the first James Bond movie I remember watching and it was the first James Bond for I think much of my generation but to tell you the truth even after this movie I wasn’t entirely a fan of James Bond.

I can’t tell you why I was only 10 or 11 at the time I assume it was because I felt I had better things to do with my time as a kid and felt doing other things outside of watching from what I felt was old dated ‘spy’ films. It wasn’t until 2 years later when I watched of all movies Never Say Never Again that I watched another James Bond film and there I started to get interested. The icing not he cake however was Goldeneye 64 which remains at least for my money one of the great video games to come out in the 90s, a game I still play now and then and still have to play with my cousins every time I visit family during Christmas time.

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Not to long after I found myself watching more and more James Bond movies and more and more and after The Man With The Golden Gun I became a fan and to this day a sort of closet James Bond nerd.

I remember when I still lived in Fort McMurray right before the death of VHS me and my dad went to this auction place which was selling all of the James Bond movies at the time on VHS (Dr. No to The World Is Not Enough) and I had to have it but I had to get to work so I told my dad to bid for me and as long as it was not over 100 bucks I would buy it and I think I got it all for around 75 dollars. I remember coming home to find the whole collection waiting for me in my basement and I had 2 days off.......doesn’t take a smart person to figure out what I did for those two days? I decided to marathon through the ENTIRE James Bond collection. Suffice to say for the next year I had Bond on the brain and not too long later I think Die Another Day came out.

To tell you the truth unlike some fans I am not very critical of Bond movies mainly because I don’t take them seriously AT ALL. I think one would have to be a terrible film maker to screw up a Bond movie and for the most part outside of a few movies there are not very many bad Bond movies in my opinion it really depends on what you want out of your Bond film. Die Another Day was the first one I seen in the theatre and ever since I have never missed going to see a Bond movie in the theatre.

However, to tell you the truth I am probably one of the few Bond fans who is not a fan of Sean Connery. I just don’t see the appeal that he has over the other James Bonds, outside of George Lazenby I truly think Connery is the next worst Bond. I will leave it at that but in the end Goldeneye I believe is my first Bond and over the years I have been divided with it, not in whether I like it or not but rather whether I think it is the best Bond movie ever or just one of the best.

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In the prelude to the movie we find James Bond 007 working with fellow spy and friend 006 doing some typical espionage when it happens to go bonkers. 006 gets killed but James Bond manages to escape finishing the mission in a fashion built to remind as well as show James Bond is back and the man playing him this time (Pierce Brosnan at his most sexiest) is well equip to playing him.

Some time later we find James Bond is still James Bond but times have sort of changed as they sort of did since the last movie (Licence To Kill), Russians are no longer the go to enemy/threat they once were and the Cold War is over but that does not mean that ones in Russia whom were still apart of the Cold War have all disappeared.

James Bond is sent to investigate the the possibility of a technological threat called Goldeneye which is a satellite which emits a sort of laser or pulse on a particular large scale area which would render all electronic devices useless. Even for 1995 this sort of thing would be catastrophic and leave whatever area it hit completely defenceless to an attack.

James Bond soon meets this woman named Xena whom not long after hijacks this helicopter which is the only piece of machinery known at that time to be able to defend against this electronic pulse (it does not shut down if in the range of the Goldeneye pulse). Xena and her unknown partner hijack the helicopter and go to Siberia in order to steal the technology needed in order use this Goldeneye weapon. It is here we meet Natalya whom is working for the Russian government. Xena and her unknown partner swoop in and murder everyone in their path and she barely survives and is the only witness to the crime. not too long after she meets up with James Bond and both of them work together in order to stop Xena and her partner from using Goldeneye to basically hold the major powers of the world hostage.

As you can tell I am trying to keep this review spoiler free though I know chances are most of you have seen this movie but for those who haven’t I really want to keep it a secret. Its not really that much of a surprise since most if not all James Bond movies are not really heavy on plot but I think the fact that this one is a sort of surprise goes a long way in showing how good Goldeneye is.

Over the years I have been again divided as to what I feel is the best James Bond movie. In the beginning Never Say never Again a say favourite till i found out it was just a remake of Thunderball and I watched the rest to find it was more of a parody than movie (which isn’t really part of the series to begin with). For awhile it was Man With The Golden Gun for no real reason I just enjoyed it more but Goldeneye was always high on the list.

Over the years I feel like the more I think about it I do don’t know if I can ever state which James Bond movie is the best because it will often reflect what I want out of the series at the time but suffice to say I will say that Goldeneye is about as perfect of a James Bond movie as there ever was or ever will be in the series.

it has everything just about every James Bond fan would want in a Bond movie and is orchestrates a perfect storm of tying them all together; every over done clique and every tradition that this series has spawned is mixed and seemingly reinvigorated for a new generation (at the time) and seemingly felt fresh (again at the time). It just does everything well and it is spot on in just about every detail. It is the one James Bond movie where one would be hard pressed to find a weakness as every James Bond movie has at least one.

One of those is often the plot as James Bond movies are often just action movies with sex (think the Fast & the Furious series) but with a little espionage. This one however I feel outside of most of James Bond movies actually has a very good plot (for a James Bond film) and the character though fairly traditional int he context of the series are original and new. In this one we have two strong female leads whom never if ever are damsels in distress however if there is one thing James Bond critics can’t attack the series on is the lack of strong female leads; over sexualize yes, over objectified oh hell yeah but not weak.

I would say Goldeneye is probably the most feminist James Bond movie there is. Natalya while not an ass kicker does not allow herself to be pushed around by anyone and can hold her own. Yes she is taken prisoner a few times but more often than not she can handle herself and besides M she is the smartest person in the movie. She is not sexually objectified in this movie either, yes she wears a bikini in one scene and does sleep with James Bond then they are in Cuba (or some Caribbean place) and it is 90s Pierce Brosnan.

Xena is quite possibly the biggest bad ass in the movie, she is the female James Bond, you could probably make her James Bond an this movie would have still succeeded in my eyes. She has sex with who she wants, dominates who she wants.

Then we have M whom played by Judi Dench provides a breath of fresh air as a woman in charge of a male dominate world and putting guys including James Bond in their place.

Bottom line is regardless of what movie is your favourite, Goldeneye is probably in your top ten, it is in my top five and one regardless of what mood I am in I still enjoy as much as I did as a kid. I give it CCCC1/2 on the Corey Scale.

#Pierce Brosnan #goldeneye #james bond #Famke Janssen #sean bean #martin campbell

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movie-reviewer-perhaps · 5 years

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BIRD BOX (spoilers)

Skip to the end for the not long winded recap!!!OK so i know that this movie is really popular recently but honestly to put it in simple terms... it TOTALLY SUCKS! Look, i’m not a working director or a film student or a movie critic i’m just a movie enthusiast so, disclaimer out of the way i know that i at least have to give credit where credit is due. Sandra Bullock and the two kids along with her love interest (sorry i don’t really know all of their names and its late) are good actors. they're trying their best with what they've been given and it turns out to be a pretty decent performance from them. Now for the flaming trash can that is the rest of this movie. let’s start with the script...this writing is so SO bad! every line of dialogue for the first 30 minutes is basically exposition with absolutely no attempt any sort of character building throughout the movie. everyone is basically just one dimensional character tropes and aren’t given any sort of character traits besides their archetypes. because of this none of their actions seem to have any real weight or motivation behind them and it results in a fancy plot device instead of a character(not that there’s much plot either). Now on to the “monsters”. i put this in quotations because we are never given a clear idea of what they are, what they look like, what they want, how they work, where they came from, NOTHING! i don’t know how they expect us to root against antagonists when we are never given any sort of backstory or motivations to what they do, or even what they are. ive heard a lot of conspiracies and different explanations from the cast in interviews and no one really seems to agree about them?? most people go with they “they represent your greatest fears” route but this can be invalidated by the movie many times. for example by the reactions of some people like they old lady and Olympia. Also, by the fact that it seems to be physical and has to travel because they pop up in waves at specific times (see Tom fighting the unaffected dudes in the forest scene) and are not really a constant presence as fears would be. My last big problem with it is the ending. First off, the ending is not nearly dark enough for the tone of the rest of the film. And secondly, it really doesn’t solve anything??? they still have the problem of food, and since we don’t know anything about the monsters(other than they’re plot convenient) we don’t know how to beat them or how long they’re gonna be there because we don’t know their motivations. It actually leaves us in pretty much the same situation we were in at the beginning: a house full of people who need to survive with no clue about the monsters or each other and a limited supply of resources. I could nit pick more about the editing and cinematography-both are awful by the way- but that would be a little too mean skskksks

FINAL THOUGHTS: doesn’t deserve they hype... 2/10. i’m open to changing it if someone can find a valid explanation for the monsters but as it is...it is absolutely NOT worth your time. feel free to discuss or message me about if if anyone ever finds this lmao -a movie nerd 👌

#movies #review #movie review #writing #scriptwriting #how not to do it #acting #netflix #bird box #trash #2 #bird box review #bad #ending #the ending ruined it #movie nerd

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swipestream · 6 years

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My Little Pony: Beyond Good and Evil

This is a guest post written by Alex Stump:

My two little brothers have been watching My Little Pony for a long time now. I watched a couple episodes (and also the unholy spin-off series Equestria Girls) and I’ll be 100% honest…My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is a really good show. But don’t get the wrong idea, I’m not coming out as a Brony. I, as an 18-year-old man have better things to do then obsessing over a show made for seven year olds. Which really fascinates me, what is it about this kid’s series that attracts so many young adults? It’s a question that has been going around since the show premiered and the most widely accepted questions/theories I’ve seen are:

A) People like MLP for the same reason people like Star Trek or Firefly.

B) These people had terrible childhoods and they watch MLP to experience the childhood they never had.

C) These people had awesome childhoods and watch MLP because it gives them a sense of nostalgia.

And D) People watch MLP because they’re mentally handicapped.

These answers have some truth to them but I find them to be mostly flawed…So how about I give you my own answer to the question. Sure, everyone has his or her own reason for watching, but I think there’s a unifying reason why. You see I believe the reason why MLP is so popular and why it stands out in the entertainment industry is because the show has a “thing”.

What is this “thing” you ask? Well, this “thing” is very important to fiction. It goes all the way back to ancient times. It was prevalent in the 20th century but sadly is being abused and forgotten in the 21st century. Let me give you some examples:

(Example 1) The Adventures of Robin Hood is a 1938 film staring Errol Flynn and tells the tale of Robin Hood and his merry men. This movie has great action scenes,

good acting, amazing sets, and is quite possibly the happiest go lucky movie I’ve ever seen. Seriously, this film is so happy I dare you to watch it without smiling. Robin and his merry men are tons of fun to watch. They’re funny, smart and most of all virtuous. The women are great too, they’re modest, beautiful and don’t complain about the traditional family structure. Just about every character in the film has an enjoyable personality. We see medieval society portrayed in a mostly positive light, which is nice to see. Even religion gets a good light and in the end everyone lives happily ever after.

The movie’s really good; it’s a beloved classic for a reason. (Seriously, this movie’s good. If you haven’t watched it already, WATCH IT!!!)

Now let’s talk about the 2010 Robin Hood movie directed by Ridley Scott. This film isn’t what you’ll call happy. Robin Hood is not a righteous nobleman but a lying criminal who desserts the holy crusade and fights the evil stereotypical French. The women are awful, the church and medieval society are both portrayed in a negative light and the rest of the movie is just dark, gritty and forgettable. Guess what? The movie wasn’t well received, with critics like Roger Ebert calling the movie “innocence and joy draining away from movies.” Now there’s a new Robin Hood movie coming out this year and apparently it’s yet another dark and gritty take on the Robin Hood story. Just what the masses wanted, am I right? (Example 2) Superman! Who doesn’t know the man of steel? He is the most well known superhero in the DCU. His origin story’s an all-time classic; he is a common role model for kids and adults, his sidekicks and super villains are good. Most importantly, he saves kittens stuck on trees. Even if you don’t like Superman, nobody can deny the cultural significance he has all over the world. He is more then just a superhero, he is the superhero…In the new Superman movies however, and he is anything but a superhero. In the DC cinematic multiverse, Superman’s a nihilist, he fails to save people, kills his enemies, and lets his emotions get the better of him. He treats his life as a superhero not as a duty, but a curse. When Superman (spoiler alert!) dies in Batman v Superman nobody gives an anti-life equation, because that guy on screen is not the man who has everything. What happened to the Superman?

(Final Example): Star Wars is one of the greatest space operas ever made. A movie with amazing characters, a classic story and groundbreaking special effects. They’re movies that pay homage to Akira Kurosawa and the serials from the 30s and 40s. A story that borrows from East Asian philosophy and the archetypes of Joseph Campbell. A story with a great amount of historical symbolism, ranging from WW2, the French Revolution and the Roman Empire. Yet with all of the complexity and metaphor, the original Star Wars trilogy (and to some extent the prequels) is nothing more than simple kids movies…the new films by Disney I wouldn’t call simple. The new movies lazily rehash the plots from the original films but without the symbolism and archetypes. The new heroes are either too perfect or too flawed, there’s pretty obvious political messages floating around and all the original characters we know and love have forgotten everything they learned from Jedi and they all die. Don’t complain though, because filmmaker JJ Abrams will call you sexist for not liking the movies. (It makes you wonder what goes on behind the scenes.)

So, what exactly is this “thing” that My Little Pony, Star Wars, Robin Hood, and Superman have in common that their modern day remakes and sequels lack?

Heroism. No, really. Heroism or just simply, the heroic character is the most common archetype in storytelling and the most important. People naturally draw themselves towards heroes because they represent some kind of greater good, whether it be, faith, bravery, hope, charity and yes…friendship. When done correctly, the heroic character becomes a timeless icon. I mean look at my examples again. Superman is good not because of his superpowers but because of his character. Superman’s an immigrant, a stranger who uses his alien powers to help others. He stands for truth, justice, and the American way. No matter how bad the situation is, he never kills people. (For more on this subject, watch the animated movie Superman vs. the Elite or read the comic book it’s based on.)

Robin Hood (from The Adventures of Robin Hood) is a great character not just for his romantic, charismatic personality but also for what he’s fighting for. He fights an illegitimate authority and wants to return King Richard back to the throne of England. He believes him to be the rightful king, and he will sacrifice everything in order to get him back. Robin Hood knows he’ll bring a good, just government to England.

And Star Wars is a classic tale of good defeating evil, growing up into adulthood, redemption, and a tale of low-lifes becoming great heroes. Let’s look at Han Solo for a minute. Sure people talk about how cool Han Solo is like how he shot-first but in my opinion that’s not what makes him an amazing character. In the beginning of A New Hope, he’s a jerk to Luke. He doesn’t believe in the Force. He’s not a man of honor and only cares about money. However he slowly starts to care about Luke and Leia and discovers faith in the Force and after going through so much trouble and getting everything he wanted. He comes backs to save Luke, allowing him to destroy the Death Star. Despite not being a man of the book he is still a hero inside. Which if you really think about the real hero in the original trilogy it is Han, not Luke.

People look up to these heroes because they inspire us. Not to put on capes, overwears and conduct vigilantism, no, but to never give up hope, to always take up virtue and to know that good always triumphs…which really lacks in modern day entertainment. A lot of modern storytellers don’t understand heroism and don’t know why it’s so important to many classics. The new Superman movies suck because they don’t have any of Superman’s trademark heroism. Like I said, he kills the bad guys, he fails to save people and loses control of his emotions. That’s not a hero. The new Star Wars movies suck because all of the new characters are these god-like Neanderthals who have no reliability that made the original characters great. No all of them are sad old people who don’t learn anything. In fact, many remakes and sequels of classic stories are sad in tone when their originals were not-why is this? Well we all know why, it’s all because of the postmodern viewpoint that heroism is a fantasy and in real life everything that makes a hero doesn’t exist. Such a worldview is really bad and it shows in many original stories today. I mean look around you, fiction’s so dark it’s become commonplace for a piece of entertainment to take place in a post-apocalyptic world or dystopia where all authority is bad, all hope is lost, God doesn’t exist and the only thing that’s metaphysical is politics. There aren’t any heroes, only cynical, morally ambiguous, deeply flawed characters with little to no sympathy. When the day is saved and the bad guy is defeated it usually ends on a very bitter note like nothing was every achieved. Does that sound entertaining to you?

Plus, when you get right down to it, a lot of these stories are shockingly bad. Many fields of entertainment aren’t being made by talented people but by executives who only care about money. Their writing is lazy, quality over substance, completely mindless with characters that are either one dimensional to two-dimensional, which writers try to hide it by making them inherently flawed. Now an inherently flawed characters is perfectly normal as long is there’s some sort of payoff or balance, However tons of writers today fail on both, causing audiences to feel alienated from the protagonist because the story literally gave them reasons not care about his or her struggles. Mix that all up with a problematic imagination and an unsubtle political agenda and you get a match made in limbo. Again, a lot of these problems come from this false interpretation of heroes not being real. Of course heroes are real. Anyone can be a hero. We enjoy fictional heroes because they remind us that good exist; If there is no hero, then there’s no value, if there’s no value then people don’t care and if people don’t care then the story is forgotten and then lost in time. I know every story can be different In form but the most popular formula is about heroes saving the day which is being desecrated in the modern era…

However-and I can’t believe I’m about to say this (or write this) My Little Pony is the exception. In the show, heroism isn’t ignored or perverse but accepted. The characters do heroic acts and they’re celebrated for it. Almost every character is nice, trustworthy and never cynical or morally ambiguous. The world they inhabit isn’t nasty, but a beautiful place, one that’ll make you wish you lived there. The show promotes many positive messages with a huge focus on friendship being the best ever, and no matter how dark the show gets (and believe me the show can get surprisingly dark at times) none of the heroes give up hope and they all lives happily ever after.

Plus, the show is well made. It’s not created by greedy executives but by talented people who’ve been working on cartoons for decades. The dialogue is funny, most of the episodes are smart, the characters are well-developed, the music and animation is surprisingly great and the show’s smart enough to not go P.C. Compare this to other television shows like The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Big Bang Theory, The Handmaids Tale and every show on the CW, MLP is one of the few TV shows that’s actually good. Wouldn’t you agree?

I think the reason why so many young adults watch MLP is because many of them are so tired and fed up with how much fiction has merged with postmodernism and choose to watch this simple kids show, Not only for being smart and entertaining, but also celebrating something many of them haven’t seen in a long time…and that’s a story of good people doing good things…But hey, that’s just a theory! A game-wait a minute? What’d you guys think? Was my theory on the brony phenomenon absolutely right, absolutely wrong or was it missing a couple of points?

My Little Pony: Beyond Good and Evil published first on https://medium.com/@ReloadedPCGames

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