Guess what? It’s Vanellope’s turn
So, one of the chief complaints that gets tossed around about RBTI is how Vanellope “went Turbo” by abandoning Sugar Rush for Slaughter Race. And while I get some of the criticism, I have to push back on some points.
Folks say that gamers will notice Vanellope’s absence & get the game unplugged for good. First, she’s been missing for at least a decade and no one noticed. Second, her outfit & kart don’t match ANY of her pictures on the game console and no one cared. Third, KING CANDY’S gone and his death didn’t lead to the game being unplugged. That’s the power of the Random Racer Roster - no one notices if an old character disappears or if a new character is added. They think it’s just chance.
Turbo forced himself into Roadblasters & Sugar Rush, completely hijacking the latter’s programming to make himself the guy in charge. Vanellope was INVITED to stay in Slaughter Race.
While the movie clearly meant to make it a stupid joke about “Oh, those Disney princesses, always wanting Something More,” we can’t forget that Vanellope was abused, ostracized, and mistreated during her Glitch decade. If Wreck-it Ralph was a standalone movie, it’d be ok if she took charge in the end but became a benevolent ruler so no one would experience the pain she had to suffer because the movie was 90 minutes long & folks needed to get home for work the next day. But with a sequel, it’s not out of the question for Vanellope to need some time & space away from Sugar Rush to figure things out. MAYBE she’ll come back someday, MAYBE she’ll stay in Slaughter Race forever, but she deserves a break.
So, no, I don’t have a problem with Vanellope wanting to expand her horizons and try some new things.
IN THEORY.
In RBTI, however, the execution was incredibly flawed. The press leading up to this movie said the story was meant to be akin to friends going their separate ways for school, one friend being ready to move on while the other stayed behind. But the film made it feel like Vanellope was trading up, not moving forward. The whole thing went out of its way to make Ralph the worst possible choice for Vanellope, replacing him in her life with Shank.
And I’m not hating on Shank. She was clearly made to capitalize on Gal Gadot while Gal Gadot was a marketable star, and the character doesn’t do anything to try to one-up Ralph in the Surrogate Parent department. It’s all the narrative’s doing.
Oh, Vanellope said “Cool” to Ralph living in the garbage once and Ralph kind of trauma-dumped about how living in the garbage sucks ass? Well, Shank & her friends live in a super-cool dystopian dumpster fire & they think it’s AWESOME!
What’s that? Ralph & Vanellope spent a long time baking her first kart, which didn’t look anything like the perfect sample kart but Vanellope loved anyway because it was HERS & her love for her imperfect kart gave Ralph a sense of pride for doing something right for the first time in his life as well as recognition that perfection is overrated? Then the two bonded more as Ralph helped Vanellope learn how to drive & unlocked her dormant driving skills? Well, Shank just GAVE Vanellope her own race car during an Alan Menken musical number & they flew through the sky, so same thing really.
And again, Ralph’s character was COMPLETELY ASSASSINATED to make him look worse compared to Shank! They went back to his stupid beta version from the deleted scenes that was super whiny, kind of gross, and impressively stupid so Shank would look smarter, sleeker, and more put-together. They made him throw a temper tantrum outside of eBay when he didn’t understand the rules of bidding & blubber like a baby when he got caught trying to steal Shank’s car so Shank would be the more emotionally stable one. HE PURPOSEFULLY CRASHED SLAUGHTER RACE & ALMOST KILLED VANELLOPE so no one would want to see her stick with his clingy, insecure ass.
And this “Vanellope traded up” vibe continues in other media. Like the “Sugar Rush Racers” books I mentioned before. Vanellope spends MAYBE five off-page minutes with Ralph before he takes a nap & the other Sugar Rush Racers ask Vanellope if they can join her in Slaughter Race for a bit. Then during the story, Vanellope’s always referencing either the Disney Princesses (which she apparently does a LOT according to the other Racers’ reactions) or her new life with the Slaughter Race characters. There’s ONE mention of that time Ralph was WILLING TO DIE TO SAVE HER LIFE, but that’s it. No mention of making her kart together, no talk of their heart-to-heart in Diet Cola Mountain, no acknowledgement of the training montage or the time he trashed her kart because he thought he was saving her life, then his going back later to apologize & really help her get her life back by winning the race. Nothing. Almost like their adventures together meant nothing. And there’s no mention of OTHER adventures they might’ve shared between movies, despite the Sugar Rush Racers casually mentioning the time King Candy banished two of the recolor racers (which opens a WHOLE can of worms about why he didn’t just do that with Vanellope, or kill her outside Sugar Rush before trying to delete her code & reprogram himself into the game, but whatever). And at the end of the second book, when the Racers are told they can go back to the arcade, Vanellope says she wants to spend “a hot minute” with Ralph before going back to Shank & her crew in Slaughter Race. Implying they’re her REAL family.
WHAT
THE
ACTUAL
FUCKITY
FUCK?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
I truly believe if the authors of the books COULD have left even the mention of Ralph out, they would’ve. He has been thoroughly Scrappy Doo’d by Disney, and it fucking HURTS!!!! HE’S THE REASON VANELLOPE EXISTS!!!!!!! AND THEY ARE TRYING TO KILL HIM!!!!!!!
And still, I need to know why? Why does Disney hate him? Why does Disney want US to hate him? WHY are they trying to bury him?!!!?! WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED DURING PRODUCTION OF THIS STUPID CURSED SEQUEL?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
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Shank is voiced by Gal Gadot so I can say she’s Jewish.
Vanellope’s Jewish. She was 12 in Ralph Breaks the Internet
So a year after Ralph Breaks the Internet Shank most definitely gave Vanellope a super awesome amazing Bat Mitzvah.
I now want to see what a Slaughter Race Bat Mitzvah looks like
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