#Thinking about his entire philosophy to film where sometimes a movie is good just bc it fun even if it's awful otherwise

[captainofthetidesbreath]

randomly, I'm just missing Roger Ebert very much

[the-cookie-of-doom]

Good morning! Whats your favorite show/movie? Who are your favorite characters? Why do you like them so much? Also!! Did you have a good sleep?

Okay so I was a film major for a while, and I have opinions. 

Penny Dreadful 

I love this show. Like, so much. I adore it. I can not get enough of that show. Just all of the imagery, and the fantastic writing and acting. The episode intro alone is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. Eva Green is a goddess and I love everything she’s been in. The take on classic horror stories is So Good, and it actually became the inspiration for my Gay Frankenstein story! (Started as a stitch AU, and then went completely OC after I had Ideas) but the show itself is so intimate? I think it’s largely that the period they’re in, everything was so repressed and restricted. So when the characters break out of those moments, it’s more meaningful. And the love-hate relationship between Ms. Ives and Malcolm in season one? Exquisite.  I could literally write essay’s about this show, but I’ll restrain myself and just say: it’s the best ensemble show I’ve ever seen. The characters come together, but they also each have their own distinct lives that sometimes intersect, but in s2 especially, are quite separate. They are constant with one another like ensemble shows usually portray. Also gothic horror and romance? My absolute favorite. 

Anything by Guillermo del Toro

This man Owns My Entire Soul. I’m not even joking, everything he writes and directs is perfection. Crimson Peak is probably my favorite (I have a stitch AU for this too ;) ) because again, Gothic horror and romance. I’m a slut for that shit. Also Tom Hiddleston and Jessica Chastain? Delightful casting. I think it’s obvious by now that I love tragic relationships, so their dynamic is *chef’s kiss* amazing. they’re so damaged. And this quote right here is one of the BEST things I’ve ever read: 

“But the horror... The horror was for love. The things we do for love like this are ugly, mad, full of sweat and regret. This love burns you and maims you and twists you inside out. It is a monstrous love and it makes monsters of us all.”

Engrave that on my headstone, please?? I’ve got a sort-of Dorian Gray AU (it’s delightful) that’s basically built on this entire premise. Mitch makes the mistake of falling in love with Stiles, and does many terrible things because of it. Mostly to himself, at least. 

I think my love of Crimson Peak is very closely tied with The Shape of Water. another beautiful movie, I could wax poetic about this forever. it was beautifully written, and such an artistic movie. I love the way it was filmed, and the set design, and all of the subtle imagery. Such as Elisa’s apartment being cast in cooler tones, it always felt very damp and had evidence of water damage, compared to Giles’, a mirror image of her own, in more warm tones. This is another one I could (and have) write essays about. There is so much packed into this movie, from the themes on toxic masculinity and entitlement, to the conversation on queerness and race and disability, and how all the various relationships are portrayed. Like. there is so much to pick apart in this movie. 

Aside from that, ofc Hell Boy deserves an honorable mention because i grew up on those movies. I’m pretty sure the Golden Army especially is responsible for who I am today, given all the lore on the fae in that universe. Wow, that explains so much about me... Also one of my first WoW characters was an elf named Nuala xD I still have her, too, and it’s been like 12 years lol

Near-Future Sci-Fi

Sci-fi is one of my favorite genres, I am a huge nerd for theoretical and astrophysics. But my favorite kind of sci-fi is the stuff that still takes place on Earth, rather than epic battles in space. Ex Machina and Annihilation are at the top of that list. Alex Garland is another writer/director that I love. He has the same kind of approach as del Toro, where he puts a lot of fine details into his work. And I love that it’s very cerebral; there are so many layers to Ex Machina. My English 101 prof actually refused to analyze it in class when I suggested it to him, because he didn’t think my class could. Basically handle? Dissecting that movie? Because a lot of it comes across as very surface level, but in some cases when you look deeper, it’s actually suggesting the opposite of what you might think at first glance. (And he was right, my fellow students were awful. I miss that class though, it was one of my favorites T_T Mr. Ryder was an awesome dude and super chill.) 

Morgan is another good example. As you can see, I fucking love androids lol. Which brings me to another of my all time favorite movies: Cloud Atlas. I could literally watch this movie endlessly, I love it so much. The acting, the writing, the filming, all of it is top notch. And one thing they did in the movie that didn’t come across in the book, was reusing the same actors through the different eras in the book. That was just so neat, because it really encapsulates how connected these souls are, as we follow the threads of their story throughout time. If you haven’t seen the movie, I can’t recommend it enough.  

Another one I always think of alongside Cloud Atlas, even though they aren’t related at all, is Predestination. It’s a great movie that explores the idea of fate and free will in a really clever way, utilizes time travel in a very organized way that I think was neat (think Umbrella Academy. They even use briefcases! As you can see, I love sci-fi bureaucracy, it’s fun. In fact The Bureau is another movie I enjoyed) and the main character is actually, explicitly trans, which was cool. You basically get to see the entire story of their life, and I don’t want to spoil anything, but it’s just. So good. Mindfuckery galore. 

Shoot, and I almost forgot! Arrival! That is one of the best movies, and another one I could watch nonstop. It focuses on mathematics and linguistics and I swear to god, I almost altered my entire college course because of this movie. Amy Addams is brilliant, Jeremy Renner is so soft and nerdy, and again, it has an amazing take on time travel. I am very particular about how time is handled in Sci-fi, and this portrayal was one of my favorite. (Most of my physics studies have been dedicated to the theory of time, so like. Strong Opinions.) 

Fantasy

Stardust! It wasn’t until Good Omens can out that I realized Neil Gaiman is responsible for most of the stories I loved as a kid lol, and I had no idea he wrote stardust! But that is such a beautiful movie (I have a Stardust AU lol) and it’s definitely one of my comfort movies. Captain Shakespeare is one of the best characters ever, bless Robert de Niro. I would die for him. Fun fact, i had no idea Ipswitch was a real place until like. 2019. I 100% thought it was made up for the movie 😂

Alongside Stardust, I’ve always loved The Golden Compass. It’s fantasy, but also with that old-timey steampunk science feel, which is so fun and surprisingly difficult to find! 

Mortal Engines also has the same kind of feel, and it was such an epic movie in every sense of the word. I’m a little sad that after all the work that went into it, it didn’t get a dedicated following or fan base, because I feel there’s so much potential in it. But at the same time, fandom tends to gather around media that has plenty of flaws for us to repair with gold, and there wasn’t much room for that in Mortal Engines. 

I’m going to put Jupiter Ascending here even though it technically fits with the sci-fi, because that section is long as fuck and also this movie has such a fantastic feel. Mila Kunis? beautiful. The CGI? beautiful. Eddy Redmayne? One of the best villain portrayals i’ve ever seen. The whole oedipal vibe he had was immaculate, as was their portrayal of reincarnation, and just. The world building. GOD. I get so weak for through world building. Also the fkn intergalactic bureaucracy when they’re basically at the space DMV? One of my all time favorite scenes in movie history. 

Horror

I have very little room in my life for horror. As I said, I have strong movie opinions, especially when it comes to horror movies. I don’t like how most of them rely on cheap jump scares and overused gore and gratuitous rape scenes, instead of, y'know, actual good writing. 

Which is EXACTLY why I adore It: Chapter 1 & 2. It has none of those things, but still manages to be so terrifying. They are my favorite horror movies, and I’m saying this as someone who has genuine childhood trauma bc of the novel. Like. I couldn’t shower/take baths alone until I was almost 10 T_T When I was 6-7 and saw kids play by storm drains, I would run over screaming about how Pennywise was going to get them. Like, I had issues man. I was terrified to see the first one, and wouldn’t go until I could go with my best friend after she had already seen it, so she could warn me when something scary was about to happen 😂

And, one of my favorite aspects of the movie, and the thing that gave me Mad Respect for Any Muschietti? The way he filmed Bev and her father. They have a character who is literally being molested, but they never once have to show it. And yet their interactions are still so viscerally upsetting to watch. Sexploitation puts me off of most horror, and the fact that Muschietti doesn’t use it here, even when it would be actually somewhat justified? *chef’s kiss*. I love him. 

I love horror as a concept, I’m just really picky about it because I expect the writing to be good. I don’t like short cuts. But in a lot of cases, even if I don’t enjoy the movie itself, I love to watch analysis videos on youtube! I love to see the philosophy and symbolism in different horror movies, even if i don’t like to watch the movies themselves. It’s a fun hobby. 

Misc. 

Then in general, some other stuff I love in no particular order:

The Internship (Bless Dylan, Stuart is such a bitch and I love him) 

American Assassin (ofc. The writing itself is eh, but Mitch is my man) 

Dylan’s episode of Weird City. (I actually have a lot of feelings about this one. Jordan Peele is another amazing writer/director, I really need to catch up on his works.) 

Dorian Gray (*chef’s kiss*)

Rogue One (Makes me cry every time) 

WARCRAFT (Obviously this is a fav. It made me so happy, words cannot express.) 

Coraline and most other stop motion animation. I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for that. 

Literally anything associated with Tim Burton. Fun fact, when I was 12 and in middle school, I planned to decorate my future house inspired by tim burton. Like, i had Plans. 

Most adaptations of Alice in Wonderland!

So! this got long as fuck! But you said you like that kind of thing lol 😂 I had kinda Eh sleep since I was up so late lmao, and I kept waking up (as usual, rip). And I’m so mad I go up for nothing! The dude I was supposed to show my listing to never showed, and is refusing to answer my calls >_> It’s been 2 hours now, and I still haven’t heard from him. But whatever, I already have a full price cash offer on the house so who cares. And that means I can play WoW all day, now! 

[flvcr]

ᴡᴇꜱᴛᴍᴇʀᴇ ᴛᴀꜱᴋ ₀₀₁ : ᴄʜᴀʀᴀᴄᴛᴇʀ ꜱᴜʀᴠᴇʏ

𝙬 / 𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙣𝙚 𝙛𝙡𝙪𝙤𝙧

ᴀɴꜱᴡᴇʀᴇᴅ ʙʏ ᴇᴛɪᴇɴɴᴇ

when you think of westmere, what’s the first thing that comes to your mind?  

❝ i guess it’s more of a feeling for me ? this sense of warmth. it’s just bits and pieces engrained in my mind of those in town. it’s starting to feel like home for me ? i mean, i’ve moved around a lot, and although i think back on those cities fondly, this is a new one for me. ❞

have you read rw wallace’s books?  if you have, which ones your favorite?

❝  i’ve read through them all, mainly as a result of joining a book club in town - some a couple times more than the others. if i had to choose, i think my favorite one is secret identities. although i’ve marked up corruption and creation a bunch, that one’s pretty solid. i read the first when i moved to new york, and then once i discovered it was inspired by westmere i knew i needed to come visit, and ever since it’s definitely lived up to the hype set in merelake. ❞

what spot is your favorite in town and why?  

❝ favorite ? hm, the gazebo, at night, is a bit surreal. there’s this bit of stillness for a moment that just seems to encompass the entire town, and the very next second the crickets are chirping, it’s almost like you can hear everything yet NOTHING all at the same time. ❞

if you were stranded at night, who’s the first person you’d call and why?

❝ @sebmeier​ . let’s just hope the poor sod isn’t standing beside me this time. oh, cause he’d put the pedal to the vettel. but if he’s with me, @mcttie​ - it’s a given. ❞

how often do you talk to your parents/family?

❝ we text here and there throughout the week, my parents and siblings alike. we have a family group chat, ha, um, but it’s nice. i call my mum on thursdays, we’ll facetime and have a proper meal together. if my siblings are visitng, or dad is around they’ll join too. ❞

how would your best friend describe you?  what about your worst enemy?

❝ probably in the same fashion - an ass that just won’t quit. i’m only kidding. perhaps more along the lines of me being a pain in the ass ? ❞

do you like celebrating birthdays?  what about holidays?

❝ birthdays ? hm, no, well not my own. i do enjoy gift giving though, and writing a card, so i guess i enjoy others birthdays. holidays, eh, it more so depends on the one. i enjoy halloween, that dream-like christmas bubble of time is a bit uncanny, and i’m a proper sucker for valentine’s day. all the others are a bit of a wash. no offense to the easter bunny and what not. ❞

do you believe in ghosts?  aliens?  are you a conspiracy theorist?

❝ ghosts ? definitely. growing up in montpellier, i could’ve sworn there was this girl that used to come and play with me, but a couple years back when i tried to explain her to my parents, they said they had no idea who i was describing. aliens? there’s absolutely no way we’re the highest form of life in this galaxy, if so, that’s awfully depressing. i guess you could say i’m a conspiracy theorist, i mean, i’m not sold on the ideology of lizard people quite yet, but i do often slip into the online void - some of those just ... click, y’know ? ❞

if you won the lottery, what’s the first thing you’d do?

❝ lately i’ve been thinking of designing some type of rec center filled with after school programs and an ice rink, of course. although, i don’t necessarily need to win the lottery to really set it in motion, i suppose. regardless, i think it’d be a bit exciting to develop a program that’d engage with the youth of westmere, it’s a bit shoddy now, but who knows ? maybe one day it’ll come together. ❞

is the glass half full or half empty?

❝ that all depends on what you’re putting into it, hm ? are you taking or giving ?  ❞

are you more at home in a room full of people or being alone?

❝ of course i enjoy spending time with others, but a room FULL of people sounds a bit nightmarish.  i read this thing about how you become the most like the five people you surround yourself with, but it makes me wonder, at what points are you ever truly yourself ? i figure you can only find out when you’re completely alone. ❞

are you someone who follows a routine every day or prefers the spontaneity of life?

❝ a mix of both ? during training and the hockey season, i think a routine is a bit easier to follow. however, knowing i’m out for the season, i’m looking forward to the spontaneity of life here in westmere. ❞

do you want kids someday?  if you already have kids, would you want more?

❝ i haven’t really thought that far ahead. someday, maybe ? i do enjoy spending time with @salingcr​ and his rugrats, so why not ? yes ? ❞

what’s your go to karaoke song?

❝ runnin’ with the devil - van halen.  ❞

what throwback movie are you crossing your fingers that drive on by will show someday?

❝ meet joe black, although i’m not sure if they ever would due to the length of the film. ❞

what’s your favorite ice cream flavor down at ice queen & king?

❝ mint chocolate chip is a classic, but lately i’ve had a hankering for their mocha almond fudge. can never go wrong there. ❞

ᴀɴꜱᴡᴇʀᴇᴅ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ᴇᴛɪᴇɴɴᴇ

if your character grew up in town explain what they think of town and why they still live here. 

— n/a.

if your character moved here at one point or another, explain what they were thinking when they moved.  was it their choice?  a parents?  how did they feel about moving? 

— after being gifted the first of rw wallace’s books while living in new york, etienne knew the town depicted in the story was a place that he desired to be a part of. so, once his lease was up, he opted to move to westmere, commuting to new york during hockey and training season. he’s enjoyed it ever since, definitely no regrets.

what is your character’s earliest memory?

— his earliest memory is from halloween when he was about four years of age. still living in montpellier, his parents took him and his siblings from business to business to do a bit of trick-or-treating, popping in and out of different store fronts asking for candy. that year his parents dressed him up as jason voorhes, finding it comical for his age.

is your character’s family big or small?  what is their relationship with their family like?

— etienne has two older siblings, each of them being two years apart. he and his siblings are very close, as well as his parents - they have a family group chat.  he definitely gets along with his mother the most, the two of them having a virtual dinner on a weekly basis.

is your character the type to have a lot of good friends or a few really close ones?

— etienne has both ?! a solid amount of good friends, and yet also a tight knit group that he feels that he can be a splash more expressive and vulnerable with when the time comes. he does make a point to insert himself in others’ lives, wanting to be there for truly anyone who may need / want him, but he sometimes finds it difficult for himself to open up to that connection.

what is your character’s life philosophy?  how do they see the world?

— with a deep appreciation and love for  matthew mcconaughey this video here basically is etienne’s philosophy / way he sees the world in a six minute nut shell. BUT taking things from it, etienne is very realistic and straight to the point - will tell you what’s wrong / what the problem even if it’s a little blunt and borders on the rude end of things. he just doesn’t think living in some delusional realm is the right move for any one by any means. he may come off having a superiority complex when one is asking for his advice, but it’s just cause at the end of the day he thinks he’s being honest / right and by all means helpful, even if the other person doesn’t want to acknowledge it. aside from that, he has a deep appreciation for all forms of life, the earth included - just treating peeps with kindness and the like !!

what are some goals that your character has?

— in regards to his hockey career, he’d like to be awarded the nhl foundation award. fingers crossed he’ll be cleared to return in the following season if all goes well with his recovery, bc he really wants to go into the playoffs and win the stanley cup. he is also hoping to attend the winter olympics in beijing in 2022. 

what does a typical day in the life of your character look like?  

— a typical day, as of late, for etienne consists of him waking up a touch on the early side to a freshly made pot of coffee, then followed by taking olive on a walk/run around town. after that he will shower, make a bit of breakfast, perhaps check on seb’s chickens ( just to be safe ) and then spend the day either reading or working in his makeshift studio. he enjoys the throwback days offered down at movie magic, so he’ll drop in to watch whatever film is being shown. otherwise, he’s likely with friends - doing whatever can be done in the day. 

what does your characters house/room look like?  is it messy & cluttered or is it neat & organized?

— for a visual, click here ! his house and room altogether are rather neat and organized. if things are  messy, even in the slightest, it’s an indication that something is wrong. he lives with sebastian, and with seb also being rather tidy, the two never have any issues, nor really any conflicting design ideas throughout the home.

what does your character’s typical wardrobe consist of?

— for an overall visual, click here ! etienne enjoys dressing up, give him a lil sweater vest and he’s beaming - he likes to look sharp, and a bit on the clean cut side. he can be a bit adventurous with his wardrobe, but definitely loves a splash of color. on the other side he his more casual looks are a jeans ( flare, skinny, cord ?! the options are endless ), a fun lil graphic tee to spice things up ( he prefers the more ridiculous ones ), and a jacket ?! he’s looking sharp, def won’t be wearing the same thing twice.

what’s a quote that describes your character?

— “ It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. ” ― Theodore Roosevelt

why did you choose your character’s song?  

— etienne has wide range of music taste, having bounced around growing up, he’s had various influences and exposures when it comes to what he enjoys listening to when he’s on his own. he really took a nose dive into rock music when he was practicing and developing his hockey skills - enjoy being on the ice and listening to / mentally playing back a power guitar riff doing a game. overall, rock music is the genre that he finds the most “ fun “ and he can be caught, embarrassingly so, doing his own little variations of air guitar. but he really fell in love with eddie van halen and truly believes he’s one of the best guitarists of all time, so van halen is one of his fav karaoke songs - not only to sing, but to simply act out.

[leguin]

why you don't consider tgf to be "good"? I'm not asking to argue w you, but bc hardly anyone criticizes the book on here, so it's quite refreshing

oh boy. this feels like a bit of a ‘bat swinging towards a hornets nest’ question, but let’s do it.

first, i should preface this by saying i thought the movie (which is in fact a pile of matches masquerading as a film) was far worse than the book. it contained every issue the book had while losing a lot of the good stuff. also, i enjoyed the book! and i think a lot of the critical responses about it being a sign of the infantilization of literature are largely nonsense. but do i think it was good? not particularly.

there are some issues that are relatively minor in the grand scheme of things (e.g. donna tartt desperately needs an editor with a spine - the book should’ve been either significantly shorter or about 50 pages longer).

there are some more significant issues, among them like…women in the book. just as a whole to be fair, i’ve read books that were far, far worse about women and honestly, unfortunately, i am willing to put up with donna tartt’s particular brand of discomfort with women. i am also willing to put up with donna tartt’s classism, which is part of the donna tartt brand even more than the misogyny (the classism is, i think, fairly critical at points - certainly i wouldn’t say donna tartt is encouraging barbour-esque life, but as this article points out, there’s a significant association of morality with class in the book that i don’t think is good, at all).

the really significant issue for me, though, and the thing that makes me very uneasy about the goldfinch on many levels, is the racism. and look, i’m white, i am not at all the foremost expert on racism in anything, the goldfinch included, but i have eyes in my head, and i read the damn book, so i have noticed some things. there’s a lot of casual racism in the book, discussed in part in this article. sometimes it’s combined with classism - see, the absurd stuff about the deckers’ cleaning lady. more frequently, it’s perpetrated by boris - see the stuff in vegas, which i think tartt is somewhat disapproving of (the class-morality thing plays a role there as well). presented much more uncritically is the “china boy” stuff in amsterdam - boris somehow can’t remember the name of sascha’s boyfriend, says he doesn’t speak any “proper language”, etc, etc, and this is happening at the same time that theo uses multiple racial stereotypes to describe both sascha’s boyfriend (who, a quick review of the final chapter indicates, is never actually named), and the indonesian guard at the painting exchange. i think it’s important to note that there is no condemnation of anything boris says or theo thinks in this section - does donna tartt view boris’ anti-asian racism as a part of his “charming bad boy” character? does she think it’s completely fine, or just fine enough to write it seemingly completely uncritically? there’s not really any evidence that suggests otherwise. (the problems this presents are compounded by the fact that, imo, boris is somewhat a voice of moral truth in the novel, but that’s a whole other post).

this is all bad enough as is, but then we get to donna tartt’s inspiration for the book. she’s probably discussed it in a number of places, but i heard it about a month ago in this interview (i couldn’t say where in the video, as i was listening to it at work and didn’t mark it). she says, paraphrasing here, that one of her inspirations for the book was hearing about the 2001 destruction of the Buddhas of Bamyan by the taliban. fair enough, it was a disturbing event - i can see why it’d make someone start to consider some serious questions about cultural legacies and the importance of art that impacts generation after generation. 

but the goldfinch is not a book about the Buddhas of Bamyan. it’s not a book about non-western art at all. in fact, the one statement i can remember being made about non-western art in the entire book is from, very unfortunately, boris. he recalls, on page 1448 of the ebook version, that among the priceless pieces of art recovered from sascha’s safehouse along with the goldfinch, was “Asian artworks too. They looked to me worth nothing but I guess they were a lot.”

well.

it’s evident to me that there is, baked into the very foundation of the goldfinch, a dismissal of non-western art, and more specifically, and explicitly, asian art. i really don’t think it’s possible for there to be a non-racist explanation for that! i don’t think it’s possible to look at donna tartt’s inspiration for the novel and compare it to the way she centers it, again and again, on art by white people, and think that this is 1) totally by accident (which, even if it was, it would still be racist) or 2) not part of a larger problem in white western culture that donna tartt’s works have participated in prolonging, which is the focus on what is considered fundamental, culture-creating Classic Art (and philosophy etc etc etc) and the men who painted it to the absolute detriment of anything else. there is the art that donna tartt considers worth telling stories about, and there is the art that is worth nothing.

anyway, to summarize, no, i don’t consider the goldfinch to be a “good” book. i think there are aspects that take it out of the running to be considered generally “good.” and, you know, i read it, i enjoyed it, there are things about it that i find very powerful, and i have expended far too much time and energy thinking and writing and talking about the goldfinch in the last three months. and it’s not a good book.

[merrysithmas]

"rose and finn's plotline was pointless"

actually it was the most important part of the whole movie bc they inspired those enslaved kids and thus ensured the resistance will live on but k

"they character assassinated finn"

no. they developed his character. in tfa he went from fn-2187 to a person scared of their identity/past so he lies ("im 'with' the resistance") and has allegiance just to one person ("im only here to get rey"). in tlj he went from that to a proud rebellion fighter who got to face and defeat his tormentor, all the while gaining possibly the best understanding of the eternal Star Wars that plague the galaxy. he saw dj (dont join) as the only truly 'free' person, yet came to understand him as a despicable opportunist no better than the war profiteers. both the ambivalent and the warprofiteers contribute to the constant dichotomy btw dark and light. finn is the only one with that knowledge. and standing up to phasma and hux and returning to the first order as FINN was the most bamf thing that happened in the film. and it sets him up to be a liberator in IX. finn reclaimed his status as a deserter as powerful not shameful. which. is. b o s s!!!

"luke wasnt himself!!!"

luke has been a sucky ass mary sue ever since his inception. he finally got some brain and development (yet was still the same know it all asshole) and ppl hated it

"what abt poe!!!"

poe got like the most screentime and was epic the whole fucking film? he had like so many scenes and matured into the person leia will give the command of resistance to? he went frkm believing he was best-suited for the role to understanding he could never possibly be, and thus finally became a real leader. the whole movie was abt the characters each slipping into their own personal 'dark sides' and gaining knowledge from their failures and so rising out of it to become well-rounded ppl. poe saw that sacrifice is sometimes letting people think you are an asshole (which can be applied to a bunch of other characters) and appearing like the villain (like holdo) rather than the hero

"it shoulr have been poe that saved them not general holdo"

yeah calling bullshit. an older 60+ canonically pansexual woman allowed to be a hero in a film is pretty damn cool. my starving for rep pansexual ass is not letting you all erase that.

"stormpilottt"

theyre my main ship of this trilogy and they talked literally the ENTIRE film, had a line where poe was jealous of rose, gave finn and rose the most platonic one-sided kiss on earth, and touched each other constantly. came to one another's aid several times. disney prob had a vice around their balls the whole time and they still gave so much even though disney will never let them be canon before IX for fear of losing the audience... just facts.

"reylo wah wah"

rey literally... rejected him? she was a badass the whole time and rejected luke too. she thought for herself, tried what she thought was right when luke archaically told her not to (even though...he did.... the same thing... to vader... and it worked but k), left to fight the first order even after luke did fuck all to train her bc she's brave af, and closed the door in kylos face after he went apeshit and decided to blow up the resistance. she met him in the middle and then refused to do more to "save" him and the narrative made it clear he needs to do that himself if he ever wants to meet her/anyone in the middle again. she stood up to snoke and caused his demise by influencing kylo to the light, however temporary: aka she learned to become a jedi without the help of anyone and the scene about her being "nothing and no one and not connected to the story" was a direct fuck you to all the ReySky ReySolo fuckboys who couldnt believe she was relevant on her own. she also realized the power/possibility of the darkside in the hands of a good person which is a concept never before explored in the boring af star wars philosophy? (which yoda legit burned lmao).

"kylo ren sucks"

he's legit the only interesting dark side character in star wars history. his scenes with rey are allegorical and are meant to represent the journey of all the other characters in the film (touching their own darkness and having to face themselves to become better). he is fun to analyze esp given his connection to luke, leia, and han. i love that they failed him and thst alone makes him a sympathetic character (in allegory people) bc viewers themselves even outright refuse to believe luke, leia, and han could have not been perfect people athough it is displayed on screen several times. this is like fictional gaslighting and its cool to see that phenomenon play out as a fan. and his fight scenes are epic af cinematography also the actor is amazing??? he is just a fun to watch "bad guy" with actual depth which makes his actions interesting??? tumblrs random on/off boners for bad guys gives me whiplash, if you enjoy watching his character like all the others in sw, you arent a bad evil person you might just have a rare commodity which is critical thinking skills. also?????? it is fucking cool to see a villain who is genuinely tempted toward goodness!!!!! that is a timely and current and important concept!!!!!!

"x scene/plot was pointless"

tbh if anyone's plot was pointless to the plot it was rey and kylos, bc it was just pure allegory. all the actual plot was through finn, poe, rose, and leia.

IN SUM:

tbh i didnt even thinm this movie was that good. i thought the pacing and editing was really bad also, directors. shouldnt. write. movies. they. arent. writers. the. dialogue. always. sucks. but still i refuse to sit here and let people act like the fucking PREQUELS (the worst movies ever made with NO DIVERSITY AND RAMPANT SEXISM and the worst writing ever done in the history of humankind) are better than tlj.