#Ruby gillman

[roselinbooks]

I haven't had a movie actively piss me off for a while, but man did Ruby Gillman accomplish it. I put it on for background noise because I'd heard it was fairly mid, and...wow, it was so much worse than I thought, and I don't even think the creators realize why.

I am by no means the first person to pick this movie apart, particularly the message it delivers in its climax, but I'm going to do it anyway.

Ruby Gillman WAS incredibly mid. The character designs were fairly forgettable, the soundtrack was meh, the canon same-sex couple only appear on screen together for less than two seconds at the very end of the film. It manages to be every "trying to fit in, but also be who you are!" movie that's ever been in the bargain bin, bringing...basically nothing new to the table. The Thirteenth Year, a goddamn DCOM from '99, executes its premise with more finesse and care.

And then Ruby Gillman stops being mid, and starts being overtly racist.

Just. Follow with me here. Imagine. This movie came out in summer 2023. Encanto, a massively successful movie about generational trauma, came out in late 2021. Luca, a movie about sea people trying to integrate into human society (and the metaphors for immigration and prejudice that come with it) came out just before it. Turning Red, another animated film from a major studio, addressed tweenage girlhood and breaking away from tradition in 2022. I know that animated movies take a while to make--I KNOW that. And I know that they can't just scrap everything they've been working on because a movie with a similar theme or premise comes out. But my gods, imagine following up ANY of these movies and not managing to even come CLOSE to their messaging.

"But Avalon, maybe that's just not what Ruby Gillman wanted to do! Maybe it just wanted to be fun without making any deep social commentary!"

Oh I'm well aware, especially with how the offhand same-sex couple is given literal seconds of screen time, and characters throw around phrases like "patriarchal construct" with the same seriousness as "groovy" and "tight". I truly believe that there was zero intention to make any kind of statement other than "Be yourself!"

Which kind of makes the (unintended) racism WORSE.

The moment Grandmamah appeared, I was recoiling. She casually disparages her daughter's and granddaughter's choices to want to live among humans, immediately dismissing them as lesser than. In a better movie, this would have been a major character flaw that gets addressed and discussed. Nope.

Then she goes on about how apparently all other "sea monsters" are evil. ESPECIALLY mermaids. All of them. Every single one. Evil.

AND SHE'S PROVEN RIGHT.

Because that's...healthy and normal. Demonizing an entire group, and then showing that the character who does that is 100% correct and, in fact, all members of this group ARE evil.

Yeah, that's a good message for kids.

I went into this movie thinking that it might be about intergenerational trauma--why did Ruby's mother leave the ocean, how did her relationship with her mother contribute to that, how is she making the same mistakes with Ruby by deciding how she should live FOR her? Nope. There's a little bit of lip-service given to this idea but it is never fully fleshed out and is far from the primary conflict of the film, emotional otherwise.

Then I thought maybe Ruby and Chelsea were going to work together to end the conflict between kraken and mermaids, by showing Grandmamah that NOT all mermaids are evil and some just want to live in peace without being hunted down. It would have been cliche, but at least it wouldn't be overtly racist! But nope. Grandmamah is correct, mermaids are evil (in fact, we only ever see one, because Chelsea ends up being Nerissa, so there is ONE evil mermaid and therefore the rest are evil too. okay).

There is a BRIEF moment of protest from Ruby where she points out that her mom is reacting to her being friends with a mermaid just as badly as she expects her grandmother would, a comment meant to give Agatha pause, but it doesn't. She is convinced, correctly, that Ruby is making a huge mistake. And the film confirms that she is. And she then realizes she was being tricked and Chelsea was never her friend and she can fight her alongside her family, who have had hardly any screen time together to hash out their issues.

Just. Wow.

Ruby Gillman had a paint-by-numbers outline to begin with but somehow managed to fill in the spaces with shit.

[jrockzart]

Adult Dipper sketching some undiscovered Titans while helping Monarch with their research.

Commission for @discord12395.

[froggydoodles]

[skull-pun]

Animated movies have dominated 2023 so far and it looks like that ain't gonna change anytime soon.

[kawaiigirl14]

[cartoonbudartz]

After hearing about the recent layoffs going on Dreamworks, I felt compelled to draw this in solidarity. Let’s hope that soon, the entertainment industry will learn to respect their animators.

[crossonover]

Tried to imagine an animated movie crossover group similar to Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons or The Futuristic Four for fun.

Introducing...

🐟 The Fishy Friends 🐟

Luca, Ariel, and Ruby Gillman. 3 Fishy Friends going on undersea adventures together.

[sylveonemeraldz]

[daikenkki]

Ruby runs with Sonic and Tails by TheAnimationFan2007

[bluejay0715]

Finally finished my NH Ruby design holy moly

I lowkey kinda hate this but whatever

[cornfanchips]

Looking foward to watch Ruby!

Love the style, not a fan of the background characters tho.

[erissaacorn]

Cool-girl-ified Chelsea me thinks

Uhh going to see The Wild Robot on Saturday

[froggydoodles]

[cyndavilachase]

Fun designs and animation in this movie

[kittycatdraws29]

Last 15 of Ruby gillman sucked. Here's mine:

Nerissa and Chelsea are different persons. Ruby' mom basically is the reason Chelsea is an orphan. Chelsea swore to take revenge.

But in the end, with Ruby, Chelsea chose to break the cycle

Chelsea is not born evil. She's lonely. She said it herself. Revenge consumed her.

[peculiarnation4u]

still coping