Ratatouille would have been a better and potentially much more interesting story if Remy had partnered with Collette instead of Linguini. Two underdogs with talent and passion forced to maintain a dangerous ruse. Fiercely independent Collette giving up temporary control of her body to a creature who, despite the insanity of a rat wanting to cook professionally, she can relate to on a personal level and who she does want to teach. The inner conflict of wondering if Remy’s growing talents are eclipsing her own, if the praise their food is earning belongs more to him than to her. Her guilt over feeling resentment and jealousy towards this little guy who wouldn’t have a hope of realizing his talents if not for her trust and protection. Both of them unraveling the mystery of that sweet but bumbling kitchen boy with the obvious crush on Collette being Gusteau’s secret son, and working together to thwart the new evil owner’s plans to stop Linguini from claiming his birthright. The message of the movie not being this weird, almost smug “some people are born with talent, some people aren’t, and that’s how being a ~great artist~ works”, but something more like, “if you have a dream, you deserve to pursue it, and be supported and encouraged in your pursuit of it, even if other people tell you that, because of some intrinsic aspect of yourself or the circumstances you were born in (like being a human woman in the restaurant industry, or being a literal rat), you have no place pursuing this dream. Also, raw talent can only get you so far, and skill and passion existing in the right balance is key.” I’ve been thinking about this for seventeen years. I’m breaking my silence
the svsss extras are actually so insane, one moment you're reading about the heartbreaking past between shen jiu and qi yue and about trauma and cycles of abuse, about luo binghe mourning shen yuan and staying with his body every day for years, about shang qinghua being offered the chance to go home and not taking it because he was miserable and lonely, and then the next tianlang-jun is trying to set zhuzhi-lang up with shen yuan and encouraging him to bride-steal?? and then shang qinghua is ordering mobei-jun to make him noodles while fantasizing about writing a danmei peak lord orgy?? cottagecore bingqiu?? everyone thinking shen qingqiu got pregnant with luo binghe's child??? og pidw fans apparently being qijiu and binggejiu shippers?? hello what??