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DisneyDaily’s Top 10 Animated Films: 4/10 The Lion King

“Remember who you are. You are my son, you’re the one true king.”

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Poor Ralph

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“Life doesn’t happen in chapters — at least, not regular ones. Nor do movies. Homer didn’t write in chapters. I can see what their purpose is in children’s books (“I’ll read to the end of the chapter, and then you must go to sleep”) but I’m blessed if I know what function they serve in books for adults.”

— Terry Pratchett on the lack of chapters in the Discworld books. (Interview by Gavin J. Grant at Booksource.com)

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On Lord of the Flies, and why not all stories are  gender-free...

So today, my Twitter timeline was all about the planned movie of LORD OF THE FLIES, written by two men, and remade with an all-female cast. I think it’s the worst movie idea since two white men decided to rewrite ROOTS, and here are a few of the reasons why.

Wiliam Golding’s LORD OF THE FLIES was originally written as a response to Ballantyne’s THE CORAL ISLAND; the quite revoltingly racist tale of “civilized” white boys stranded on a Polynesian island. It’s a piece of colonial propaganda: in it the boys are decent, honest, Christian lads: the natives are ignorant, savage cannibals. Golding’s book took that myth of white superiority and Empire and made of it a fable about toxic masculinity, colonialism and the fact that “civilization” is just a veneer.

Now the problem is not the fact of just retelling a story with an all-female cast. We’ve seen that before with GHOSTBUSTERS, and welcomed it as a step towards greater inclusivity. Some stories are gendered for no reason: stories about gender, however, are not. And in this case, the basic problem is the fact that a couple of men are aiming to retell a fable about a patriarchal society while actually cutting out the role of the patriarchy -  effectively ignoring the very society that made the story possible.

The boys (the white, British, privileged boys) in Golding’s novel have been raised with a fixed view of what it means to be a (civilized, white) man. Their descent into savagery forces them to question their view of themselves, their role in society, their colonial Empire and their assumed superiority over others. To remake that story with women (or indeed with POC) seems not only absurd, but looks like an attempt to modify and soften the role of white men in colonialism. And of course the fact that it’s actually written by men adds further insult to injury. White men have already had their say on virtually every subject imaginable for far too long: we need to hear women’s voices now - especially those of women of colour.

That doesn’t mean silencing men, or saying their voices shouldn’t be heard. But basically, the principle of an all-female LORD OF THE FLIES is a lot like the All Lives Matter movement. Yes, all lives matter. But some lives are more at risk than others. And saying that All People Are Capable of Brutality overlooks the fact that some groups are historically responsible for more brutality than others. It suggests that everyone is equal within our society. And ironically, it does so (again, again) from a position of historic privilege and entitlement: that of the straight white male.

A much more interesting take on the nature of society and violence is Naomi Alderman’s THE POWER, which suggests that if society were different and gender roles reversed, women might be as brutal as men. However, it’s fundamentally different (as well as being more relevant) because by a woman, about women. It doesn’t make claims it can’t justify; doesn’t try to whitewash the past, and doesn’t suggest that a repressive female-led society would be any better.

So let’s not pretend that this is about putting more women on the big screen. Sure, we’d all like to see more women in film, but not in any old context. After all, the porn industry is full of films starring women. What matters is listening to women’s voices talking about themselves: not listening to men telling us what women are like.

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https://www.savethekoala.com/about-koalas/physical-characteristics-koala/ These koala facts are really interesting and cute. I wanted to share them.

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"Poor quality books"

Maybe it's my tendency towards sentimental personification but I feel like "poor" books are often more like "much loved". I'm strictly speaking of the condition here. Coloured in? A kid wanted to make the book their own. A dedication? How lovely, someone gifted the book. A library indent? At one point, people could read it for free! Annotated? Someone was making sense of the writing - I especially like when you get a sense of their personality. Dog eared? Someone had no bookmark but simply had to read the book! Water damage? That is a shame but means it was read while someone relaxed in the bath! Heck, I even like crumbs in cook books! There's a few exceptions like torn pages or adults who choose to make marks on antique books or people who dog ear/annotate etc library books/borrowed books. But if the book was theirs, the "damage" is a sign they read it! Books aren't meant to be 50 years, or even 10 years, old and "like new".

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Alice In Wonderland (1951)

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now it’s no wonder that her name means beauty, her looks have got no parallel.

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Food in stories is so good! I don't care if it's modern English food, old fashioned, from a different culture to me or even from a different culture to all of us (fantasy/sci-fi)! The idea of the characters sitting down for a picnic/feast/midnight feast is just so yummy.

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Twin boys

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Muppet Fact #1332

Baby Sinclair is fairly good at playing poker.

Source:

Dinosaurs. Episode 321, "Charlene and Her Amazing Humans." May 9, 1993.

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THE LITTLE MERMAID 1989 — dir. Ron Clements & John Musker

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GUYS GUYS GUYS I CANNOT MAKE THIS UP- (Sorry Phantom of the Opera, you’ll have to wait your turn to be read.)

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🫧Frutiger Aero Design🫧

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2000’s walkman study part II.