#also helps that rowan could be of indian descent as well ??

[adellovesrowan]

Along with the thread of comments pertaining to Rowans School, where is the school located?

thats a rly good question . . . i honestly wouldnt know

we know that hogwarts is located in highlands of scotland, and theres another magic school in north europe called durmstrang, and another in france called beauxbatons. basically i think that would be enough magic schools in europe ?? so i would say the school should definitely be somewhere thats not europe.

maybe somewhere in asia ?? its a big continent and they only have two wizarding schools — mahoutokoro ( japan, east asia) and koldovstoretz ( russia, which means this one could be located in eastern europe or northern asia ). i say india could be a good place bc from there we can cover the southern parts of asia.

if anyone has any suggestions / ideas feel free to add on !!

[mothermaidenclone-blog]

A Wrinkle in Time or Can Giant Oprah Winfrey be my Fairy Godmother Please?

As soon as I heard about A Wrinkle in Time, I was very excited about it. The first ever live action movie with a budget of over $100 million to be directed by a black woman (Ava DuVernay), and it’s a science fantasy adventure starring a black teenage girl who’s a scientist - what more could you want? The costume and set design were both out of this world, pun very much intended, and I thought that most of the characters were three dimensional, well thought out and had meaningful interactions with each other. The plot, however, left something to be desired, as I felt it was a little all over the place and had a tendency to trail off in places. Admittedly, I have not read the novel, so this could be a problem with adaptation rather than writing.

*A Wrinkle In Time spoilers follow*

A Wrinkle in Time is predominantly the story of Meg Murry (Storm Reid), a young, teenage girl who is angry and disillusioned at the mysterious disappearance of her father, Dr. Alexander Murry (Chris Pine). The very first time we see Meg she is a child, enjoying and engaged in a science experiment with her father. She continues to be portrayed as a scientist throughout the film, explaining apparently magical phenomena, such as flying, using scientific terminology, as well as practically employing principles to save herself and her friends; for example, using strong winds to slingshot them to safety. S.T.E.M. fields are still overwhelmingly dominated by men that it’s so important for a children’s film, that many young girls will hopefully watch, to exemplify a black, teenage, female scientist as a role model.

Science aside, Meg sets a good example in a number of other ways. As an understandable consequence of feeling abandoned by her father - as well as being inexplicably bullied by other girls at her school because of his disappearance and a string of awful teachers talking about her behind her back, telling her that she’s not living up to her potential - Meg has very low self esteem at the start of the film. She aggressively rebuffs a compliment about her hair from her friend Calvin (Levi Miller) and she has trouble tessering - the means by which the characters travel instantaneously through the universe - because she does not entirely want to appear as herself again on the other side. Furthermore, Mrs. Whatsit (Reese Witherspoon) constantly and loudly professes her disappointment and lack of faith in Meg. At the end, this is presented as a sort of tough love and that Mrs. Whatsit really did believe in Meg all along, but a grown woman continually putting down an already troubled teenage girl gave parts of the film a weird tone that I did not enjoy.

However, Meg’s character develops, which is crucial for a young, female audience to see. This is partly shown through positive interactions between female characters; for example, Meg tells the Mrs., “The three of you are beautiful,” and one of them replies, “Thank you, and so are you.” This might seem banal, but to just blatantly show women positively supporting each other in a way that children will understand is vital. So often in Hollywood, women are portrayed as rivals, especially where looks and beauty are concerned, so to attempt to normalise women giving each other compliments and accepting them in return is so important. Continuing with this theme, A Wrinkle in Time firmly cements Meg’s rise in self esteem by showing her to accept a compliment about her hair later on in the film - she is beginning to like herself more without having changed how she looks at all.

This isn’t just limited to the physical, Meg comes to terms with her own faults, thanks to the originally seemingly ill-intentioned gift of honest self appraisal from Mrs. Whatsit, and realises that yes, they are a part of her, but they do not define her. Meg’s winning move against the evil entity of the film, the IT (David Oleyowo) is to boldly declare, “You should love me because I deserve to be loved.” She finally appreciates her own self-worth and has confidence in her many abilities. This is finally confirmed by Meg opening the portal that takes her and her brother, Charles Wallace (Deric McCabe), safely home - she is content with who she will be on the other side. It is so important to leave the audience with no doubt that Meg is comfortable, confident and happy with herself as a person - whilst not depicting her as being unattainably perfect, she is aware of and at peace with her flaws - because much of that audience will be young girls. I think this film has succeeded by portraying and praising this development and extolling a teenage girl who believes in herself.

Although Meg is the main character in A Wrinkle in Time, she is surrounded by many other wonderful female role models. Most predominant is her mother, Dr. Kate Murry (Gugu Mbatha Raw). Kate is presented as a scientist with equal standing to her husband, which is wonderful in and of itself, seeing as he is a white man and they usually dominate this field. In fact, Kate is seen as more respectable, as Alex is tutted off stage for his wild theories, but the same audience seems more willing to listen to her. When Alex goes off on a tirade after being rejected by the reputable scientific community, Kate offers him some sage advice, “In order to be great, it isn't enough to just be right, you have to actually be great, and we are. So why can’t you just help them along?” Not only is she a rational scientist, but an empathetic and practical person. Furthermore, Alex gives Kate all the credit for the science behind his journey; “Your calculations gave us the universe.” On top of all of this, she copes as a single mother for years and never gives up on her absentee husband, despite all the rumours about him. Kate is a very admirable woman, capable scientist and caring mother who provides a solid, realistic role model amidst all the fantasy.

More ostentatious exemplars take the form of the three Mrs.; the aforementioned Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Which (Oprah Winfrey) and Mrs. Who (Mindy Kaling). This trio comprises of one white woman, one black woman and one woman of Indian descent, so that’s a move in the right direction as far as representation is concerned. These women are self-proclaimed warriors in the name of light who display a variety of incredible powers such as physical transformation, bestowing magical gifts and being able to traverse the universe using only their own will power. Other than Mrs. Whatsit’s previously stated slights, the three are constantly encouraging, and do everything in their power to help the children on their quest. Even Mrs. Whatsit is positive to other women, declaring Kate as, “dazzling”. Speaking of which, the three women look completely magnificent; they have a variety of costume changes throughout the film, all of which serve to make them look regal, majestic and powerful. Another striking visual choice was to make Mrs. Which massive - I don’t mean fat or muscly, just like three times the size of a normal human. This simple manoeuvre immediately imbues her character with an innate sense of grandeur, prestige and strength. As far as their names are concerned, we never find out who they are married to; no husbands are ever mentioned, so can we infer that they are all married to each other? I hope so, because a triad of resplendent lesbian lovers who are warriors for the forces of good in the universe is just about the coolest role model I can think of for a children’s film.

One final named female character remains, Veronica (Rowan Blanchard). She is maybe the ringleader of the - to it’s credit, surprisingly ethnically diverse - group of girls who are bullying Meg for the baffling reason that her father is missing. Veronica doesn’t factor much into the film, except that she mirrors Meg’s journey of self-love and acceptance. She is a bully at the the beginning, but we gain a glimpse into her personal life and see that this could be because she is self-conscious perhaps to the point of an eating disorder - she has written all of the foods she won’t allow herself to eat on her mirror. However, at the end of the film she is starting to become more friendly towards Meg, and we can only hope towards herself too. Veronica is symptomatic of what I believe to be so important about the female characters in A Wrinkle in Time; she is on a journey of development and self acceptance.

Overall, there is a great variety of wonderful female characters in A Wrinkle in Time. They are diverse not only in looks, but also in personality, and between them display a remarkable list of laudable traits including curiosity, scientific aptitude, bravery, confidence, magical powers, determination and the ability to love - their friends, family and, perhaps most importantly, themselves. What is arguably most crucial about these characters, especially Meg, is that they were not presented as being unbelievably flawless from the start, but as real human women who develop, interact positively with each other and become stronger as the film progresses. It doesn’t matter to me that the story was sort of nonsense, I think A Wrinkle in Time has triumphed if it gets these messages of self-love and belief to a wide audience of children.  

And now for some asides:

Wow, Chris Pine can grow a beard really far up his cheeks, that was an important revelation.

Creepy, homogenous suburbia was one of the best portrayals of hell ever.

I think Charles Wallace as a baddie was one of my all-time favourite villains, his fashion was definitely on point at least.

[buzzdixonwriter]

Compare And Contrast: THE PARTY vs AFTER THE FOX

Adam-Troy Castro recently published an essay on Blake Edwards’ 1968 Hollywood comedy The Party.

The Party is one of Edwards’ rare misfires; not awful, but certainly not a hit, either.  A virtually plotless film (more on that below) made at the height of the Summer of Love, it features some of Edwards’ and Peter Sellers’ funniest gags, yet remains unsatisfying for most audiences (The Party has its fans, but they tend to be connoisseurs of cinematic comedy).

The biggest apparent problem with The Party today is the charge that Sellers plays in brownface; i.e., he’s cast as a hapless Bollywood actor making a mess of things in Hollywood.

This, to modern audiences, is a big no-no, a white actor racially impersonating a brown ethnicity.

…only it isn’t.

The bulk of India’s population belong genetically to the same “race” (i.e., Caucasian) as the vast majority of Europeans and Americans of European descent (for that matter, so are most Middle Easterners).  Sellers did not do a racial impression because the character of Hrundi V. Bakshi shares the same “race” as Sellers himself.

Which leads to our contrast-and-compare point, my personal favorite of all Sellers’ films:  After The Fox.

Let’s fill in a little background information before we plunge ahead.

First of all, Sellers himself.  He was a renown (read “genuinely insane”) comedy actor (as opposed to a comedian) with an uncanny penchant for submerging himself completely in oddball roles.

Inspector Clouseau is his most famous character, but his trio of roles in Dr. Strangelove -- Captain Mandrake, President Muffley, and Dr. Strangelove himself -- best demonstrates his astonishing range and versatility (one of the great tragedies in cinematic history is that an on-set injury prevented Sellers from playing the role of Major Kong [Slim Pickens in the final film], who rides the H-bomb down in the movie’s most iconic shot; it had been Stanley Kubrick’s intent to place the fate of the world squarely in Sellers’ hands in all three of Dr. Strangelove’s plotlines).

Sellers rode high in the 1960s and appeared in numerous comedies ranging from What’s New, Pussycat? (another film that’s grown more problematic with age) to The Bobo (never heard of The Bobo? Well, there’s a reason for that…).

The Party’s Hrundi V. Bakshi fits perfectly into that oeuvre.

As mentioned above, Bakshi is not a bad person, just a luckless one.  He tries hard and is eager to please, but no matter what, things go awry.

The shoestring thin plot of The Party is this:  After he ruins a big budget Hollywood epic, the studio intends to blackball Bakshi but by mistake his name is added to the invitation list of a big party the studio head is throwing.  

Hilarity -- or a reasonable facsimile thereof -- ensues.

The Party’s cinematic antecedents can be traced to Jacques Tati and, of all people, Jerry Lewis, though an argument can be made its roots go back to the semi-improvised early comedies of Mack Sennett’s studio.

Tati was an art crowd darling.  He made only a handful of films, but his M. Hulot quartet (M. Hulot’s Holiday, Mon Oncle, Play Time, and Traffic) are genuine cinematic masterworks and hilarious to boot.

Tati’s style was intensely physical but never violent in the manner of American slapstick.  He fell out of favor with French studios because he would spend lavishly on huge sets to pay off a single, subtle gag; his return-on-investment wasn’t good enough for producers’ bottom line.

Lewis, while better known as a performer, also proved to be a director of no small talent; let us give him the credit due for his work behind the camera.  While his personal misfire (the never completed The Day The Clown Cried) marred his directorial reputation, two of his films -- The Bellboy and The Errand Boy -- resemble Tati’s work although far more boisterous in execution.

Both Tati and Lewis (in those two films) jettisoned conventional narrative.  Mon Oncle is about a beloved uncle getting his nephew’s father to pay more attention to his family, The Errand Boy is sent undercover to find fiscal waste but ends up a comedy star who saves the studio; that’s as close as either gets to a plot.

Tati and Lewis’ films start with a basic set up then just let things grow from there.  When it works -- as it did with Sennett and Chaplain and Tati and Lewis -- it produces hilarious but expensive results.

When it doesn’t work -- and lordie, everybody tries real hard in The Party -- one ends up with an unfunny mess.

(I’m being unfair.  The Party isn’t unfunny, it’s just not consistently nor compellingly funny all the way through.)

Edwards was fond of improvisation in his films.  His greatest success with Sellers was the original Pink Panther in which Sellers replaced Peter Ustinov, the original Inspector Clouseau.

Clouseau was supposed to be a third tier character in The Pink Panther and Sellers appears way down on the billing after David Niven, Capucine, Robert Wagner, and Claudia Cardinale.  The script was written and the movie shot to focus on Niven and Wagner’s uncle / nephew jewel thieves -- but Sellers stole the whole damn movie right out from under them.

(Recasting Clouseau was Edwards’ stroke of brilliance.  Ustinov would have played Clouseau as a fool, and the visceral reaction to that was to despise him.  Sellers played Clouseau as an idiot, and audiences loved him.)

Edwards’ other improvisational comedies typically fared better than The Party because they at least featured a clear plot line for both performers and audiences to focus on.  The Party literally doesn’t know where it’s going, and that’s detrimental to the film as a whole.  (Compared to Casablanca, another heavily improvised film where the crucial difference was everyone knew the story had to end with Rick making a decision, there’s nothing like that to help The Party.)

The Party isn’t bad, just unsuccessful.  As mentioned, it’s a misfire, not a mistake.  Considering Blake Edwards also made Breakfast At Tiffany’s, The Pink Panther, The Great Race, and Victor / Victoria, we can cut him some slack.

Back to Sellers and his astonishing range and gallery of characters:  On the heels of his smash success as Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther, Sellers was offered the role of Aldo Vanucci in After The Fox.

Vanucci is the polar opposite of Inspector Clouseau, a criminal instead of a cop, cunning and competent instead of brainless and bumbling.  A master of disguise, Vanucci gave Sellers the opportunity to play numerous sub-impersonations such as a prudish priest, a carabinieri, and an intense Italian film among others.

After The Fox was co-written by Neal Simon and Cesare Zavattini, the latter a long time associate of the film’s director, Vittorio De Sica.  This is not to say any of them were better at their craft than Edwards, but clearly the structure they provided works to the final film’s benefit.

After The Fox offers a clear, linear plot:  Retired criminal Aldo Vanucci is lured out of retirement (i.e., escapes jail) to come home and provide for his mother and star struck sister.  Given the task of smuggling stolen gold into Italy, he comes up with a scheme to make a movie about smuggling stolen gold into Italy and thus enlists the authorities to help with his crime!

I’ll be frank, a big reason I love this movie is how accurately it depicts Italian culture and various character types.  Yeah, it’s over the top and deliberately played to excess, but every gag is firmly based on reality.

English Sellers captures the essence of so many diverse Italian personality types (and, briefly, an American tourist as well) so perfectly he deserves the title of honorary paisan. 

So how is Vanucci different from Bakshi in The Party?

Bakshi is not a bad person, he’s shown to have a heart of gold and high personal standards, he just can’t cope with the world around him (a trait he shares with Tati’s M. Hulot).  His Indianess is depicted very slightly -- his accent, his apartment décor, his sitar playing.  Unlike Vanucci being Italian in After The Fox, there is no reason for him to be specifically Indian.  

He could be any poor schlub, a soul brother to Lewis’ bellboy. 

Aldo Vanucci in After The Fox fills several key functions for that movie.  After The Fox’s plot hinges on volatile lower class Italian family dynamics -- it would not be the same story with different characters.

This is not the same as saying those versions would be bad, but as Yojimbo ripped off Dashiell Hammett’s novel Red Harvest and was remade as A Fistful Of Dollars which in turn was remade as Last Man Standing which returned the story to Hammett’s original milieu, so each version stands distinct and different from the others.

But Seller’s Bakshi adds nothing as a character to The Party.  Except for a handful of specific gags, his role could have just as easily been played by Tati’s M. Hulot, Lewis’ Stanley, Rowan Atkinson’s Mr. Bean, or Jaleel White’s Urkel and the final film wouldn’t be significantly different (for that matter, it wouldn’t need to be set in Hollywood, either, just any environment where self-appointed cultural elites can’t escape from a gauche lower status person).

Compare Bakshi to Vanucci and it’s clear Sellers’ isn’t punching down in After The Fox.  For all his criminality, Vanucci’s highly scrupulous and clearly capable.  He takes his lumps but he’s not the human punching bag Sellers played in The Party.

  © Buzz Dixon

[junker-town]

What we learned from Backlash 2017

Backlash had a few disappointing moments, but in many ways, this was also a gamechanger for SmackDown and WWE.

Backlash was SmackDown’s first post-WrestleMania 33 pay-per-view, and while it didn’t fully deliver in every match or angle, the ones it did hit managed to hit real, real hard. We have a new WWE World Champion, Shinsuke Nakamura’s debut is now behind us, the women’s division maybe hinted at its next steps, and we might have just witnessed the rebirth of the SmackDown tag team scene.

Let’s break down what we learned from this Sunday in May.

Shinsuke Nakamura def. Dolph Ziggler

Dolph Ziggler introduced Shinsuke Nakamura to WWE’s main roster with every major move he knows, but it wasn’t enough. Frustration built up until Ziggler spit in Nakamura’s face, but all that did was infuriate Shinsuke. Maybe Ziggler should have spent a little more time watching Nakamura footage instead of making jokes about how there wasn’t any!

What we learned: If you aren’t familiar with what Nakamura is about, you are now, at least to a degree. He’s kind of a weird dude, but in a charming way, and he is super into kicking and kneeing you as hard as possible whether it’s in the face or the chest or the kidneys. ZIggler knows this, or, at least, he will once he wakes up and wonders why he’s so sore and were his headache came from.

It’s a little disappointing Ziggler got in as much offense as he did, as it kept Nakamura from seeming as next-level as he is, but it’s early enough in this run that we can wait and see where it’s going before going in too hard on that point.

The Usos defended the SmackDown Tag Team Championships against Breezango

This match was incredible. It was hilarious, it had real wrestling in it, it made Tyler Breeze and Fandango look like legitimate competitors who could win the SmackDown Tag Team titles from the Usos if they figure out a way to keep them from bending the rules... it had everything. Just a perfect tag match and a great way to hit reset on a division that desperately needed it.

Plus, Tyler Breeze had not one, but two disguises, coming back during the match dressed undercover as an old woman for some reason.

WWE.com

Wrestling is the best.

What we learned: See above. The fear heading into this match was that Breezango would not be treated as seriously as they should be, but they let the pair — Breeze, especially — show off their comedy chops while also looking like a serious threat to the Usos’ reign. We should expect more from both teams in the future, as SmackDown had one of the best tag matches they’ve put together since the brand split made the show live.

Sami Zayn def. Baron Corbin

Sami Zayn... won? That was unexpected. Mostly because it’s always unexpected. That’s not anything against Zayn, by the way, but there’s a reason that his nickname includes the word “underdog” in it. And Baron Corbin has been nigh unstoppable whenever he’s not facing off against the likes of John Cena or AJ Styles, so, you know, 2 +2 wasn’t supposed to equal 5, and yet here we are.

What we learned: Well, Baron Corbin losing a pay-per-view match before Money in the Bank might be SmackDown’s way of trying to make us think that he won’t be the one who wins the titular match of that event. WE’RE ON TO YOU WWE WE KNOW THE TRICKS.

Also, like, Sami Zayn won a big match! And now presumably has some momentum heading into Money in the Bank! This definitely won’t end in any kind of heartbreak for us or Zayn!

The Welcoming Committee def. Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, and Naomi

This was a surprise for a number of reasons. Becky Lynched tapped out clean in the middle of the ring — surprise number one. The second surprise? None of the faces turned heel causing Becky and Co. to lose here. This was the Welcoming Committee of Natalya, Carmella, and Tamina securing a victory just like they said they would, and Becky ended up taking the L.

What we learned: Just because no one turned yet doesn’t mean we’re without a turn. Becky being the one to get submitted and lose for her team means that blame is likely to shift to her via Charlotte, so maybe we get Becky vs. Charlotte out of this, with one of the Welcoming Committee — Carmella or Natalya, most likely — facing off against SmackDown Women’s Champion Naomi because of this win. We’ll have to wait until Tuesday to see what the next step is.

WWE.com

Kevin Owens defends the United States Championship against AJ Styles due to countout

Countout losses are usually horrible, but one managed to fit in just right. Owens had targeted Styles’ leg throughout the match, and then the US Champ helped get Styles’ injured limb stuck in the announce table where he couldn’t escape in time to return to the ring and beat the ref’s count. Owens then attacked the trapped and hurting Styles while he was defenseless just because, ensuring that this feud is going to keep going.

What we learned: A countout victory for Owens paired with the subsequent attack means this feud isn’t over, which also gives us some insight into the potential look of the Money in the Bank ladder match at next month’s MITB event. If Owens and Styles are tied up in a US title match already, that most likely means neither will be trying to climb a ladder for the WWE World Champion contract found within the briefcase at the top. That opens the field up quite a bit for potential MITB entrants and winners.

Luke Harper def. Erick Rowan

Former Wyatt Family brothers collided over the fact that Luke Harper was able to leave said Family, and with no desire to return to it. Rowan, still trapped within the cult but now alone on SmackDown in that regard, was unable to exact the revenge he hoped to against the now-independent Harper.

While this was a clear cooldown match between championship bouts, it did continue the recent trend of Rowan looking like a capable wrestler, and his character work earlier in the evening frightening the Kickoff Show commentator panel was a highlight.

What we learned: Harper is still the man, and this feud should help secure him a spot in the Money in the Bank ladder match. Rowan, too, by virtue of lasting as long as he did against Harper and putting up as much of a fight as he has, could be an entrant, as a way of bringing preexisting feuds into the multi-man affair.

We’ll see if that last bit is the case, though, since this could also be an opportunity to further separate the Wyatts, letting Rowan begin to question his decision to stick by the absentee Bray, and becoming more of his own thing in the process like Harper has.

Jinder Mahal defeats Randy Orton to become the WWE World Champion

Man, it happened. Jinder Mahal defeated Randy Orton, and now Jinder is the WWE World Champion. Like him or not, this is a huge moment — WWE’s history of people of color winning their primary championship is a list short enough that you don’t need all your fingers to count it, despite the fact the belt dates back to 1963.

WWE.com

Jinder won under some BS circumstances, with the Singh Brothers helping him distract Orton long enough for Mahal to sneak up from behind and deliver his finisher and get that 1-2-3, but he’s the bad guy here: BS circumstances are a totally reasonable way to go about this. Especially since the story SmackDown has been telling for weeks now is that Jinder wasn’t a winner pretty recently, sure, but he found a new attitude and some new friends and the two of those made him a threat against anyone, even if he couldn’t do things by himself.

What we learned: SmackDown is really hammering home this land of opportunity thing, and Jinder Mahal as WWE World Champion shows they aren’t just saying it. WWE World Champions should remain something of an exclusive list, but for too long it’s been white dude after white dude after white dude, with wrestlers of color generally held a level beneath that title regardless of how popular they were or could be. (And even when someone as hugely popular as Rey Mysterio was allowed to win the championship, those reigns were brief.)

SmackDown has Kofi Kingston, a longtime WWE star who has won basically everything in the company except for the WWE World Championship. They have Big E, who in a just world would become WWE World Champion someday, but since he (like Kofi) is black, that just world didn’t seem to exist within the confines of WWE. They have Shinsuke Nakamura, they have Jason Jordan, they have Rusev.

In the past, it was just assumed that black wrestlers, foreign wrestlers with heavy non-United Kingdom accents, or anyone from anywhere in Asia would never win the top prize in the company. If WWE is having Jinder, a man of Indian descent who speaks Punjabi on camera, win that belt, though, then the game has potentially changed. And that’s as good a thing as it is overdue.