#and the film they're making a sequel to is literally one of the only things we're known for so i am PSYCHED for the sequel

[gayforcarstairsgirls]

FINALLY living in my city has paid off, they're filming some of the sequel to a film I love on my sister's road and I saw the main actor sitting in the back of a car <3

[curiousorigins]

Man, I just really miss when they bothered lighting things on TV Shows and in Movies. Like the shadows were beautiful and everything had more depth.

Now they just brighten up everything use fills and like add shadows after.

It looks cruddy. Maybe because with all the post-darkening it's too much work to make them move when things move? Like they're doing their best, but nothing beats a scene that was lit properly in the first place.

I'm watching a no-name B-Horror Movie from 2005 (This was right before they started lighting everything cruddy and doing it in post.) And I'm 3 minutes in and it's just so much more beautiful than what's on TV and what's in Movies today. Like I can think of one movie that had particularly good lighting, and that's "Ready or Not". Probably because it was an Indie Movie and the people were filming in a historical place and were required to light it very carefully. (Similar to what happened with Woman on Fire which was also quite beautiful and an indie film.)

[tenpintsof-sundrop]

I really really hate to be that person - especially because I know a lot of people are under the impression that fanfic authors are greedy and we should be grateful for any comments we get, even if those comments are full of unauthorized concrit, even if they're kind of rude, even if they're weirdly self-shaming (sometimes insinuating that people should feel bad over reading the dark or smutty content in the fics or that we should feel bad for writing it in the first place even though you're also reading it??).

But like, lately, I have been getting so many comments along the lines of "this fic should be longer!!" "I wish this was a series!!" "please turn this into a series!" "I would read endless sequels of this!!!" - today someone literally commented on one of my fics saying that it was a war crime that the fic was 30k instead of being 'a whole series'. And I totally understand the mindset that if something is good, you want more of it. If you enjoy something, you want more of it. But these comments are definitely not as flattering as people think they are.

When reading those comments - it doesn't always come off as a compliment. Most of my fics range from 5k to 30k on average, and they are usually oneshots or oneshots that I have split into multiple parts in order to be more readable - most of my longer, ongoing series are abandoned because I didn't have the steam to maintain them. (Most people don't know at all how hard it is to write a good, coherent, well-plotted 100k fic and actually keep up with it.) After I post the fic I have written later this week, I will have written over 400k this year alone, with my entire AO3 having over one million words split between 79 different fics.

So often, having people look at my fics and having their only comment be to 'write more' - feels like an insult. Because I do write more. I have written more. I write consistently. (It just sucks that people have almost nothing to say about what I have already written.)

Having people look at my fics - usually very long fics - and go "hey, this would be better if it was longer!!" or "hey, that was good, but the only productive thing I have to say about it is: make it longer" - it always feels very discouraging.

It doesn't make me want to rush to write more of that fic. In fact, most of the time, I actively avoid working on sequels to fics where the only comments are 'more please' because I know the only thing people will say about the sequel is 'when are you gonna make more?' - and oftentimes, I don't intend to make more.

I have said this in another post, but the ending to my fics are always intentional. I don't write fics with the mindset of turning them into a 100 part series. I write fics with the mindset of making them like a film or a short TV series - telling a capsule of a story with a very intentional beginning, middle, and end. And if I write a sequel, it's because I feel there is more to be told - but I will also cap off that sequel with a very intentional ending.

(Also, don't get me started on the complex of - if fics don't have the classic 'happy ending' people feel like every single thread needs to be resolved until it gets to a more classic happy ending, when I love writing intentional melancholic and thoughtful endings.)

Also - in general, I feel like people don't understand how much work goes into a fic. It might take you about 2 hours to read a fic that's 30k (and a lot of people who are avid readers probably read faster than that, reading it in an hour or less) - but concepting that fic, writing that fic, and meticulously editing that fic so that it can be readable and pleasant for people takes upwards of 20 hours of work. I would say realistically, upwards of 30 hours. And those are just working hours - hours sitting at the computer actively working. That doesn't include the time spent in between workshopping the ideas in my head while I am doing other mundane tasks in life.

It's very, very easy to consume a 30k oneshot in one sitting and then hold out your plate and go "more please!!" without putting any thought into how much work went into the original fic.

All of this just to say - please think about these things next time you are commenting on a fic (or even closing a fic without commenting at all), or doing something stupid like generating a fic with AI - which steals from everyday hard working fanfic writers. Fanfiction is hard work - it's a labour of love, and it shouldn't be about blind consumerism where you finish one and then rapidly start looking for the next one. You should appreciate each one like a good, hand pulled taffy instead of gobbling them all down like cheap candy mass made by factory machines.

Yeah - I think that's it.

-your local over worked (but still passionate) fanfic writer

[avelera]

Some slightly more coherent thoughts about Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (ATSV) now that I've had a little time to process and long to return to the theater to see it again and again and again:

1 ) Go see it. Holy shit, go see it. Re-watch Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (ITSV) before you go if you have the chance but you don't have to, they recap it well enough and I promise anyway, the first thing you're gonna do when you get home after is turn ITSV on and then scream a bunch because it is all so tightly connected from the very beginning.

2 ) ITSV is a masterpiece. ATSV is more of a masterpiece in the same way that 11 is bigger than 10. They took everything in ITSV, which is a perfect 10/10 and made it 11/10 for this film. I shit you not. It cannot be otherwise expressed with words. Everything is just bigger, faster, bolder, more.

Ok, now getting into some of the more spoiler-y thoughts:

3 ) Loved me those themes of connection and loneliness. When you go back to ITSV, you see it's right there from the start. All of the version of Spider-Man are lonely. They are tired. They're isolated and unsupported and they are all suffering. Miles makes their lives better. They make Miles' life better. This becomes such a huge, huge theme in ATSV as Miles literally breaks the canon, he is the ultimate fix-it fanfic character, every Spider-Man he interacts with gets some element of their tragic backstory fixed. Peter B. reunites with MJ and has a child that brings joy back into his life. Gwen gets a friend again. Pavitr doesn't have to watch his girlfriend's father die. They are no longer doomed by the narrative.

4) Another post commented on how tired Peni looks when we finally see her, but she's not the only one. All of the Spider-People in the Spider-Verse look tired and it is, in fact I'd argue, Miguel's fault. He appealed to their sense of martyrdom to put together an organization that helps people and saves the world(s). BUT he made "maintaining the canon" an aspect of this (a wonderful meta commentary on Miles himself, btw, and all the comic book nerds who want to rehash the same story over and over instead of transforming it into something new and hopeful). Because they had all suffered so much, it followed logically for all the Spider-People that all of their parallel universe selves must also suffer.

This is the crab bucket mentality. Miguel dragged all the Spider-People into the crab bucket with him. He taught them learned helplessness. They're all tired and worn down because they have to keep reliving their own trauma by standing by and making sure these awful things that happened to them continue to happen, over and over. It's the mirror too for any marginalized community where the past generation believes the next one must suffer as they did. But it's exhausting for them to see the misery and do nothing. That's why they're all so tired. It makes sense to them that to be Spider-People, the next generation must suffer as they did but they are also, all of them, heroes and so it wears them down to watch this happen over and over. Miles brings back their energy and joy and their hope by refusing to be doomed by the narrative.

It's wonderful fanfic but it's also fantastic storytelling and it works on so many layers of the story, Doylist and Watsonian, all the way down.

5 ) THIS is a tightly knit story. Every. Single. Element. Ties back to the central story, the central themes. Every line either reveals plot, character, setting, or themes. It is so, so tight as a writer I was gaping. In necessary, if brief, moments of exposition they make sure to keep the screen busy and moving. There's no time for boredom. It is literally so fast that even as someone with ADHD I was sometimes overwhelmed as much as riveted. The few scenes that slowed down to simply fast movie pace felt achingly slow as a result and I bet you they were maybe 30 seconds long.

6 ) I AM. SO HYPED. FOR THE ENDING AND THE SEQUEL IT SETS UP? The perfect dark mirror story, not rushed but simply introduced so we can see that the final boss for Miles is himself. Unless they subvert that expectation, which they might! But it is so ominous to see Prowler Miles, it makes so much sense, it is perfect and deep and rich. Literally every time you think, "Maybe they'll rehash old material?" they don't they just keep introducing cool new characters and concepts and themes it's mindblowing.

7 ) They never leave you with one thread. Miles is going to face himself and fight to save his dad from the Spot and fight Miguel, presumably, in the next one. No single line only does one thing. No frame does one thing. And yet everything ties back to the core story of Miles and the Spider-People both on the Watsonian and Doylist level. I want to study every frame under a microscope. It's insane.

8 ) THE ART IT'S JUST. I'm not an artist so I'll leave it at this but THE ART.

9 ) I love Pavitr and Hobie. So much. I gasped when we saw Pavitr's world.

10 ) The Spot's animation was insane just insane and I think he's foreshadowed in the ITSV and it blew my mind on the re-watch.

I need to see it again. I could talk about any single element for hours. But I just can't stop thinking about the mastery embodied in this film. I know a sequel to a superhero movie that's animated will never win Best Picture but I do not exaggerate when I say that in itself might be an indictment of Best Picture. This film deserves Best Picture. It is the best movie I've seen in an unfathomably long time including ITSV.

[jedi-enthusiast]

Debunking the "The Jedi Are Evil" Theory Made by The Film Theorists PT 2

Point 2 - That Luke was Right in the Sequels

In the Sequels, Luke says this:

"Now that they're extinct, the Jedi are romanticized, deified...but if you strip away the myth and look at their deeds, the legacy of the Jedi is failure, hypocrisy, hubris."

And, after bringing this quote up, Matthew says this:

"While this kind of tea spill coming from Luke was considered pretty sacrilegious, both by other characters as well as the audience, I think that Luke has a point if you examine the movies with a little more scrutiny. His criticisms aren't exactly unfounded."

Now, first of all, what Luke is saying here cannot be trusted as "fact" or anything to go off of, mainly because of two reasons.

---

1. He's trying to convince Rey not to be a Jedi or, at the very least, to not make him train her (which is pretty much the same thing), and at this point in time he pretty clearly hates himself and blames himself for the state of the galaxy. He's been stewing in his rocky hideaway for who knows how long, with nothing but the ocean and his own self-loathing to keep him company.

He's saying this here so that Rey will give up and not make him train her, because he's scared of making the same mistakes he did with Kylo Ren and fucking up the galaxy even more (we see a similar thing with Obi-Wan in the Kenobi show, where he refuses to save Leia at first because he's scared of not being able to save her--like he wasn't able to "save" Anakin).

And the traits, the "legacy," he's assigning the Jedi...isn't actually the legacy of the Jedi. It's him assigning what he believes to be his own legacy to the Jedi as a whole, because it's easier for him to deal with his own failure that way.

and 2. Luke is framed as being wrong for saying this. None of the other characters agree with him, eventually he does end up training Rey, and eventually he lets go of his pain and fair and grief and "becomes a Jedi again" and faces his "legacy of failure"--Kylo Ren.

It's obvious that the movies are clearly making him out to be wrong when he says those things, you don't need to have a neon sign posted above his head that says "WRONG" in order to see it. So taking his words at face-value is just trying to take a bad-faith reading of the Jedi--rather than the "objective scrutiny" that Matthew is purportedly putting the Jedi up to in this theory.

---

I would also like to argue that Luke's only real knowledge of the Prequel Era Jedi and their actions/beliefs/traditions/etc. is...lacking, to say the least.

The Empire literally destroyed and desecrated every Jedi Temple that they could find, they wiped out all the information they could about the Jedi, and then spread anti-Jedi propaganda through the galaxy for years. Not to mention that, by this point, pretty much every Prequel Era Jedi is dead.

There's no one around to really tell Luke about the Jedi's actions or culture and what little information he might've been able to dig up probably wouldn't have amounted to much. So, when Luke says this, it can only really be taken as a commentary on the Post-Prequel Era Jedi, because he doesn't know enough about the Prequel Era Jedi to make any criticisms.

---

Matthew then says:

"There are certainly examples of the Jedi doing some pretty unsportsmanlike things to innocent victims throughout the old movies, like manipulating-" [plays a video cut of Obi-Wan in ANH, mind-tricking the stormtroopers into thinking that R2 and 3PO "aren't the droids they're looking for"]

This example is pretty easy to debunk, because Matthew leaves out the context.

Obi-Wan has to do this.

Because let's look at what would probably happen if he didn't:

1. He and Luke would be arrested and turned in to the Empire, probably Vader, and Vader would immediately recognize Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan would get murdered.

2. Vader would realize Luke was his son and probably try to indoctrinate him into an Imperial way of thinking, and Palpatine/Vader would probably have Luke "trained" (read: tortured) into becoming an Inquisitor.

and 3. The droids would probably either be memory wiped or destroyed, therefore destroying the plans for the Death Star that the Rebellion needed to destroy it--and the Death Star wouldn't be able to be destroyed, more planets and people would probably be killed.

Aside from the thing with the Death Star plans, Obi-Wan probably knows that that's what's gonna happen--and, if the Empire is looking for the droids, then it's pretty obvious that the droids are important to the Rebellion. So it wouldn't be a stretch to say that Obi-Wan probably understands that the Rebellion would be hurt by their loss.

Not to mention that stormtroopers aren't "innocent victims."

They actively sign up to work for the Empire and take part in the oppression of countless peoples and worlds. And It's not like Obi-Wan pulled aside a random stormtrooper just so he could mind-fuck him, they were approached by the troopers first and he reacted defensively. He didn't even make them do anything bad, he just told them "these aren't the droids you're looking for" and had them go on their way.

---

Matthew's quote, continued:

"-stealing spaceships and crashing them-" [cut to a video clip of Obi-Wan and Anakin in RotS, crashing the Separatist vessel they escaped on after rescuing the Chancellor]

Once again, this is pretty easy to debunk because, again, Matthew leaves out the context.

The Separatists literally kidnapped the Chancellor of the Republic and the Jedi had to rescue him. They had to steal the ship to escape or be captured, and likely executed, by the Separatists--therefore allowing the Separatists (who are literally enslaving and oppressing countless other systems and run by a fucking fascist dictator) to win the war and take over the rest of the galaxy.

Once again, the Jedi were acting defensively.

And I feel like, all things considered, the Jedi stealing that Separatist ship, to escape from a situation the Separatists caused, in order to keep the galaxy from falling into the hands of an oppressive dictatorship and attempt to stay alive...is a pretty damn reasonable decision, don't you think?

And, just for added context, the ship was literally falling apart when they crashed it. They didn't crash it on purpose, it was an emergency landing. If you're gonna say the Jedi are bad for "crashing" the ship, you may as well get mad at every pilot who ever initiated an emergency landing because it's literally the same thing--and if we're putting the Jedi up to "objective scrutiny" then there shouldn't be any double standards.

---

Matthew's quote, continued:

"-or just outright lying about their own powers-" [cut to a video clip of Mace and Yoda talking, where Mace says they should tell the Senate their ability to use the Force is diminished and Yoda saying they shouldn't because it will only multiply their adversaries]

Here the Jedi weren't lying, like...at all.

No one was asking them about their ability to use the Force, so they couldn't be lying. They were withholding information, information that the Senate--as non-Jedi--had no right to know about unless it would actively affect the Republic. Which, again, at this point in time it wouldn't.

But, fine, let's just pretend that the Jedi were lying...

...they were lying for good reason.

Yoda is right here. Even if we ignore the fact that Yoda is a stand-in for GL and what he says is quite literally the canon truth (since he's the creator), the Senate is already pretty at odds with the Jedi, which we see later in AotC when Palpatine and the Senate pretty much strong-arm the Jedi into accepting the role of Generals in the war, despite being told point blank by Mace Windu that they're peace keepers and not soldiers. Do you really think the Senate (read: Palpatine) wouldn't have used this information against the Jedi?

And, are you completely ignoring the fact that Mace is literally saying that they should tell the Senate and Yoda is disagreeing with him?

Obviously Yoda's take on what they should or shouldn't tell the Senate isn't something that the entire Order believes--it's just his opinion on what they should do.

You can't say that "the Jedi are liars" and then play a clip that literally debunks that by having two Jedi disagreeing with each other about whether or not to tell the truth.

[ro994art]

A very specific nitpick I have with 'Megamind vs. The Doom Syndicate'

I don't do text posts here very often. This feels odd, let's just get on with it.

I was originally going to write down a full-on review expressing my utter disappointment and disgust dislike towards the horrible and cheap "sequel" to my favorite Dreamworks movie, Megamind. A sequel which, by now, we all know was nothing but a glorified extended pilot for a Peacock series that I have not watched, but it honestly looks just as mediocre, so I have no current plans to.

Hoooowever, I have since seen many reviews of this "movie", most of which have been able to express my feelings and thoughts pretty well. So it felt like I didn't have much else to contribute to the discourse.

Except for one thing that I have not seen anyone talk about (or maybe they have talked about it and I just haven't seen it), and it was one of the things that bothered me most about the film. So this post's entire purpose is to publicly point it out.

No, I'm not talking about Keiko herself (although yes, she was my least favorite character and completely ruined the movie and this franchise for me thanks for asking). It's more the purpose of her character.

You see, and allow me to put my cranky old lady pants for just a moment, I believe most people have been able to guess that the entire reason this character was put into the movie was to be a target audience insert. So the 8 to 12 year-olds watching can go "Hey! This character is around my age and has the same interest as me! I'll keep watching for her!" (Do no ask me how well that's going because I personally do not find the excecution of it all that great, but I digress). And although, as a more mature viewer and long-time follower of the franchise, this does feel a bit annoying, having this kind of character when you're trying to appeal to a new audience is, technically speaking, not a bad thing in itself. And when executed well, this can totally work.

But here's the problem.

It makes no sense for a character like this to form part of Megamind's story.

You see, my friends, for those of you who have not seen this movie (which, for your own good, I sincerely hope is the majority of people who are reading this), "Megamind vs. The Doom Syndicate" is VERY explicitly supposed to take place two days after the events of the first movie.

Just two days.

This is explicitly said at least two or three times in the first act of the movie alone (I value my sanity too much to rewatch the film to double-check that fact, but I'm fairly confident in that).

If you all remember, the masterpiece known as the original Megamind movie came out in 2010. Therefore, the most logical thing to assume is that the events of the film itself also take place in 2010, if not before that, right? It's never explicitly stated, but since there is nothing that confirms or denies this, I think it's the default assumption we as an audience should make.

Now, I did not own my first cellphone until the year 2012 when I turned 13 (don't make fun of me for that fact), so, correct me if I'm wrong. But I don't think in 2010, we were seeing thing such as:

Smartphones like the one Keiko has throughout the film,

People using said smartphones to make livestreams in which people leave likes and comments in real time,

Kids who are content creators gaining half a million subscribers in TWO LITERAL DAYS (I cannot stress this enough) by getting information and newsflashes from goodness-knows-where,

App equivalents to TikTok and Instagram with as much popularity as we saw in this,

And overall, just social media getting the same treatment and functioning the same in 2010 as it does in 2024.

I mean yes, in 2010, things such as the ones I listed above were probably beginning to take popularity and to become a thing. But they surely weren't as well-established as they're being presented to us in Megamind "2".

This cheapquel "sequel" is suppossed to be only two days after the first one, and yet, everything that revolves around THIS KID'S existence suggests to us that we're in the 2020's era of internet, influencers, and social media. Heck, the earliest I could buy any of this believably happening is like, 2018. 2015 as a stretch.

We went from 2010 to (at least) 2015 in two stinkin' days.

No sense whatsoever.

Logically speaking, there's no way TikTok Childstar Keiko was even born in the year the first Megamind took place. Like, her birth year is 2011 at the earliest, and you can't convince me otherwise. Why do you even exist two days after Megamind was renowned as the hero of Metrocity? Please go back to the womb.

(That got personal, sorry. This kid gets too much on my nerves)

"Well, TECHNICALLY since it's never stated when the first Megamind took place, nothing's stopping them from making it so that it's been 2024 all along"

If that seriously does not sound like gaslighting your audience in order to force "hip" references that resonate with the kids watching almost a decade and a half after the original film came out to you, then I don't know what does. I don't even care if "you're not suppossed to think too hard about it" (which is a lame excuse for lazy writing btw), just watching both movies back-to-back, the tonal differences and any chronological references just clash way too much for me to buy this as a legitimate follow-up taking place in the same universe, same city, and even same week.

So yes, "Megamind vs The Doom Syndicate" sucks, and the inclusion of this character and this anachronistic plotline, for me, is a huge reason why. It's insulting to the audience and a clearly desperate attempt to appeal to a new generation of kids that frankly, if Megamind had gotten a genuinely good sequel, they would've liked it all the same, even if it didn't include a 12-year-old TikTok influencer with a half-baked personality and forced role in the story. Because seriously, don't even get me STARTED on how forced her joining the gang felt, holy crap. 😓 But that's a tangent for another day. Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe I'll just leave this meme here and move on.

This was, of course, only one of many flaws this movie had, but I feel like other people have ranted enough about how the writing, character portrayals, poor animation, bad humor, and lame attempts at world-building did the original Megamind dirty.

Here's hoping one day Dreamworks wakes up, thinks smart, and decides to give us the Megamind 2 we deserve, so we can all happily toss this... project, into the realm of non-canon media, where it belongs.

[xjustonemoremiraclex]

rwrb thoughts from someone who hasn't read the book (yet)

The good/general thoughts:

pleasantly surprised by the acting! which I know sounds mean, but listen, I saw these guys in other things and I wasn't suuuper into them, so it was a nice surprise lol

THE CHEMISTRY BETWEEN THE TWO again, pleasantly surprised by that lol they played off each other SO well

10/10 soundtrack, it definitely took inspiration from older rom-coms and I loved it <3

PS I really liked all the side characters! I wish we'd gotten to spend a little more time with some of them, but everyone was pretty great <3 also, all the women were awesome, and I am very gay and very in love <3

Ok, I really, REALLY liked how they showed the two of them texting each other, and the whole editing around it. It was pretty cute

I was living for all the latine songs at the new year's party, that was a nice touch

ok, when everyone was getting down at the party and alex and henry stayed up and stared at each other and time slowed down, I know it was supposed to be romantic, but I have to say it: it was also the funniest shit I've ever seen lol

henry at the party is giving both 'i have social anxiety and my only friend here is a social butterfly and keeps leaving to be with other people send help' and 'i thought you invited me here as a first date kind of thing but you're dancing and making out with other people and i'm feeling so betrayed rn :('

'christ you're as thick as it gets *kiss*' LMAO

Listen, I'm not usually into rom-coms (I say, like a liar), but I was pretty happy with the writing, in general. I laughed at all the funny parts, got emotional over all the dramatic ones and swooned at the romance bits. Great job, everyone

'I just can't afford for you to fall in love with me' LMAO babe, we're WAY past that. On both sides

ok, full disclosure: I don't really like sex scenes all that much (there's nothing wrong with them, I'm just very ace lol), so I usually just use my phone while they're happening, and while I did that a little bit here too, I was still paying attention, and honestly, they were pretty sweet. They did a good job. And, like, I have no idea why the film was R-rated lol you literally don't see anything

again, love the little montages that show the passing of time, while also showing they're keeping in touch and getting to know each other better and stuff. It makes the relationship between the two and the way it's developing feel a bit less rushed, which is nice

ZAHRA MY MOST BELOVED

YES PLEASE I WANT TO SEE THAT POWERPOINT PRESENTATION THANK YOU

KARAOKEEEE

alex giving an impassioned romantic speech to henry, about to confess his love: // henry:

'I didn't want to break his heart' - oh, honey, you already did :(

'to tell you that I love you, knowing that you wouldn't say it back' brb sobbing

NOT CAN'T HELP FALLING IN LOVE 😭😭😭

'because when they write the history of my life, I want it to include you and my love for you' help i'm dying 😭😭😭😭😭😭

MIGUEL DON'T THINK I DON'T KNOW IT WAS YOU please die in a fire <3

alex's speech was really good by the way 🥺

LOVESICK HOMOSEXUALS LMAO ZAHRA MY BELOVED

'baby' screaming crying throwing up jgdkfk

I FORGOT THE KING WAS STEPHEN FRY why is this so funny to me

SEQUEL WHEN

The... less good?/general questions:

Kinda wish there'd been a bit more enemies in my enemies-to-lovers film

'he just grabbed my hair in a way that made me understand the difference between rugby and footbal'' - please, I beg you, someone smarter than me - what the fuck does this mean 😭 ppl are LIVING for this quote and I'm like ??????

this is probably me being stupid and ignorant lol but why would alex's relationship cost his mum the election? like, from what I've seen, her government has been very pro-queer, that's not really a secret, so her son being queer and in a relationship with a man shouldn't lose her any voters..? the people who are against 'the queers' were not going to vote for her in the first place, soooo..? me is confused

honestly, this is probably an unpopular opinion, but... the king was not that bad? like, i'm not saying he's not kind of homphobic and kind of a dick lol but i get the impression that everything stems from the whole thing about sticking to tradition and public image and bla bla. Like, again, obviously, part of that involves homophobia, but I think that on a personal level, he... doesn't really care? Even at the end, he's like 'ok, are you absolutely sure about this, cause there's no going back. Yes? Really? Well, go off I guess *long-suffering sigh*'. Like, I got way more homophobic vibes from phillip than the king idk 🤷‍♀️ (I really hope I don't have to clarify that this only applies to the film, and not like, the real life crown lol)

Sooo, as I said, I haven't read the book yet, but I've seen some posts about it, and I think after watching the film I've realized that it's biggest flaw is that it's that - a film. It's a great film, don't get me wrong! And it's pretty obvious I really liked it. But damn, I'm a firm believer that book adaptations only work as series. They don't have to be super long or anything, but there is just no way to fit everything in a book in a two hour film. And yeah, when you're adapting something you have to make some changes, but Idk, it's kind of a shame that you lose so much (and even without reading the book, I can tell there's a lot of stuff missing). In any case, I can't talk too much about it until I read the book, but yeah 🤷‍♀️ It does seem like they did a good job, though - like, it genuinely can stand on its own really well, but I guess I'll have to find out for myself

Also, tagging @silassstingy bc I promised her my thoughts on the film and she might give me some interesting insights on some of the stuff I mentioned, cause she's a queen like that <3

[koreandragon]

Kdramas are in such a sorry state lately it's so sad. We're getting all these sequels for shows that mostly weren't supposed to have multiple seasons so they're a mess bc they have no story to tell. They're all dazzle razzle and no actual decent writing (taxi driver, nine tailed fox, romantic doctor etc) and then we have the 500 crime/thriller shows which are mostly deeply mediocre or downright awful. At least with romcoms if the chemistry is good and the character work is decent enough you can have a really fun show. With these dramas most of it hinges on a well written plot at which the majority fail spectacularly. News came out a few weeks ago that there are 80 dramas made that might never air bc they have no platform bc all the big ones cut the wen-thurs slot except jtbc so there are 80 dramas that will most likely rot after so much hard work and these could be great dramas, because their criteria is it will air if it has big names in it, so this is not a quality issue. Netflix really f*cked us, not only did it start the collapse of the us industry( writers are striking, actors are about to strike, shows are getting cancelled after 1/2 seasons and 8 episodes, shows getting purged for a buck, everyone is only looking for IP with big names and no one cares about good ideas or creativity) it also insidiously burrowed into the kdrama industry and changed the genres of dramas we get, the number of episodes we get, even the sequels bc it used to be no matter how huge a shows ratings were, the worst they could do was an extension, sequels weren't a thing that happened except very rarely in prodecurals like ten or vampire prosecutor. The entire thing is a sad state of affairs, another case of tech bros devastating an industry (I'm referring to the US tv/movie industry) they don't understand to line their pockets and moving on to the next one while the wreckage left in their wake will never be salvaged.

anon i absolutely agree. this is such a depressing topic for me especially because i just love cinema so much. my parents raised me to love movies then i eventually fell in love with tv shows and kdramas and it literally kills me to see the downfall of these amazing comforts in my life. i think the main reason why i haven't been here is because i just wasn't feeling like dragging through another kdrama with a medicore plot. y'all know what i was doing instead? watching old movies i've been meaning to watch for a long time or rewatching classics. you hear this every day and you could jump me for it but...they don't make them like they used to anymore. and idc how corny it sounds cause it's fucking true. exluding some very good recent movies where people making it still care about making an enjoyable piece of media (i don't give a fuck what anyone thinks of tom cruise or top gun, maverick was the only new movie in a long time that made me feel like i used to while watching movies and i literally cannot wait for the new mission impossible film). i'm a 100% with the writers strike, i really hope that they can get what they want and we will finally get back at least a fraction of something that was lost along the way. netflix was supposed to make things accessible, not turn the industry upside down and inside out then light it on fire and piss on the flames. every time i read a season 2 announcement of a kdrama i just go UGHHHHHHH. why are we adding seasons to a show that doesn't need it and why are we cancelling seasons for shows that needed to go longer to tell a story? what's the fucking rationale? oh oh OH mONEy???? netflix don't have enough MONEYYYY??? can't pay residuals to writers or renew a show that has moved people and has more story to tell but has money to make a squid game IN REAL LIFE (which is in itself like....the point flew over everyone's heads) and renewing shows NO ONE ASKED FOR?? oh what? what? more and more people are unsubscribing from your service? how could that be.....only if there was a solution to keep your subscribers by offering them quality content instead of mindless cash grabs....

i'll close this with probably one of my favorite posts on this site

[meraki-yao]

I'm feeling really down this week about the likelihood of a sequel. Any positive thoughts on the matter?

Two things: 1, Capitalist loves nothing more than profit 2, Good things take time.

I don't worry about the question "Will a sequel be produced", because from a money perspective (not that I like for movie production to be originated from monetary profit only, I loathe that but I digress) RWRB gave prime a hell of a raise: new subscriptions, increase in viewership, rising to the top three romcoms on the platform in mere days, award nominations... They know that RWRB is good for them too, which is why 6 months later they still frequently post the randomest RWRB things on their social media (but none of the things we actually want 😡🤬)

They also know we want a sequel since literally, everyone demanding a sequel under every single one of their social media accounts featuring the boys.

And the most basic thing in business, is the higher the demand, the higher the potential profit. If everyone wants this and Prime doesn't do it, they're losing a lot on all accounts. Plus, due to the strike, they missed out a lot on promo and the profit that brings; a sequel will give them a chance to get that back.

So from Prime's perspective, they are losing so, so much if they don't make a sequel.

As for why we haven't gotten anything yet? Please understand that 1, it's only been 6 months since the release, which although long for us, in the grand scheme of the industry isn't. 2, A sequel definitely wasn't in mind when the film was first produced, and we don't even have a sequel book (bonus chapter isn't a story that can directly be adapted into a movie the way the original story could) They should know how important this movie is, and that they need to be careful in making a sequel. And that takes time. So be patient. Also, I wouldn't worry about the announcement for a sequel taking over a year, because whether we like it or not, and whether they like it or not, active engagement dies down over time, even more so when it comes to streaming shows.

I do question why don't we have more content from our current movie since those are clearly easily available, but maybe that's because either they want the boys to be involved like with a behind the scene documentary or DVD commentary track or something but they're both pretty busy at the moment? Maybe they want to release that along with the sequel so it can be this massive splash? But again, going back to my first point: hoarding those and never releasing them is wasting resources.

So yeah!

❤️🤍💙

[tobiasdrake]

Alright, going into Spider-Man: No Way Home.

This movie's very existence is kind of fascinating to me. Because it wasn't supposed to exist. This was never the plan. Coming out of Far From Home, the plan was for Kraven the Hunter to be the next big Spidey bad guy. And that makes a lot of sense! You can see how Kraven coming in and doing a public manhunt for Spider-Man spins out of Far From Home's sequel hook.

But then Disney and Sony decided they didn't want to work together anymore and nearly broke up. Now, this is going to be speculative, because a lot has to do with contract arrangements behind closed doors which we are not privy to. So take what I'm about to say with a grain of salt. But we know that Sony was the one that wanted the divorce because they were unhappy with the profit splitting.

But here's what always struck me about this whole situation. When Marvel and Sony first got together to make their Spidey films, they had very different understandings of what this agreement would entail. We know that because of a public disagreement between Amy Pascal and Kevin Feige years back.

When Sony announced their Venom movie, Pascal was thrilled to tell us that these Spidey Villain movies would be MCU-adjacent. What that means is that they would exist in a one-sided relationship with MCU continuity. The idea seemed to be that they take place in a setting that is the MCU, but that proper MCU products are under no obligation to ever reference their events.

Kinda like how Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. worked, where whether or not it's canon to the MCU depends on if you're asking the show or if you're asking anything else but the show.

But when Kevin Feige heard about this, he was like, "What? No! The Sony movies aren't MCU anything. Sony is doing THEIR thing over there and it has nothing to do with us whatsoever. These aren't quasi-canon, they are NOT CANON AT ALL to the MCU."

I'm not saying that this argument was why Marvel and Sony were going to split up. But it did suggest that what Sony and Marvel each thought they had agreed to were two different things entirely.

So now, we arrive at No Way Home. Sony was a hair's breadth away from taking their ball and going home. It was only because of an impassioned plea from Tom Holland that they agreed to stick around and work together. They're literally staying married for the kid. And the result of the new deal? Seems to be a lot more in-line with what Sony originally wanted.

Sony's movies are now officially canon to the MCU sort of, just like Sony wanted. They aren't happening in MCU-616 but they are recognized as part of the MCU Multiverse, and they can slip in cheeky references in their movies like having Miguel mention Dr. Strange's NWH spell in Across the Spider-Verse.

And not only that, but every Sony Spidey movie is now canon to the MCU multiverse. No Way Home has been completely retooled, from a movie about Kraven hunting down Peter to a two-hour documentary on how cool Sony's contributions to the Spider-Man filmology were, and how wonderful Sony is for making them.

Regardless of who was actually at fault, which is a super messy question to get into, this movie is the cinematic equivalent of a bouquet of flowers with a card that reads, "Come back to me, baby; I'm sorry, I was wrong."

[grangerliam]

LIAM GRANGER HEADCANON'S (2/?)

HC: If you're friends with Liam, there's a chance you've seen, at least, one of these movies. If you're close friends with Liam, you've very likely saw majorly, or all, of these films plus some. These would be his top 9 movies, but they are not his only. There's a longer list, some of which involve sequels of the movies mentioned above. -- He also has a crush on Jane Levy because of Evil Dead and Don't Breathe. His first crush was on Jessica Biel as Erin in TCM. OOC Side note: I make my friends watch my favorite horror movies with me, so I know he do, too.

Evil Dead (2013) - A remake to the 1981 movie, and honestly, a damn good one. The main character is a heroin addict, and her friends, and brother take her out to a cabin to help her get clean. One of the friends end up reading from a book that unleashes an evil in the cabin. The main character tries to warn everyone because weird stuff happens and she knows somethings wrong. No one believes her because they just assume she's withdrawing. And it goes about as well as what anyone would expect from there. ---- A royal mention to Evil Dead Rise that came out last year. He also loved that one, and has watched it multiple times. He enjoys the originals simply for that fact alone, they're originals. But he prefers these two.

Don't Breathe (2016) - A movie where neither side is really in the right, and a lot could've been avoided have the main characters not tried to break into a house that wasn't theirs. Nonetheless, a solid movie about three thieves that go up against a blind man who isn't as impaired al they thought. Just cause he can't see, don't his other senses aren't A1. And it's a fight to the death after that.

The Forsaken (2001) - Most people when asked what their favorite vampire movie is, they'd say 'The Lost Boys' or maybe 'Interview with a Vampire'. Liam's is the Forsaken. A underrated movie in his opinion, that takes a interesting spin on the lore of vampires. A film student who is hired to take a car across the country runs into a hitch hitcher who turns his life upside when they both pick up a blonde who seems like she's on drugs outside a dinner. But she was actually bitten by a vampire, and then proceeds to bite the film student when he tries to calm her down. All three are then on a race against time to kill "The Forsaken" which is the head vampire that holds the virus in their blood.

Halloween (1978) - Do I really need to say anything? It's a classic, and it's beloved by just about everyone. Jamie Lee Curtis as Lorie Strode. Arguably #1 Final Girl. Baby sitter, stalker man in a mask who's just trying to stab people. It's a classic.

Nightmare On Elm Street (1984) - Once again, another classic. A very original idea for a killer. Can't go wrong with this sleep traveling demon thing with knives for fingers and a burnt face.

Scream (1996) - Classic, classic, classic. The movie that refreshed the horror genre at its time. A masked killer who calls you and taunts you before he chases you and kills you. A solid story line that follows all 6 movies, without missing a beat. Killer is always human, and always someone you know. Great characters. Sidney Fucking Prescott. He also appreciates the other 5 movies as well.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) - A remake of the 1974 film of it's same name. While Liam respects the OG, he finds that this one is a pretty solid remake, and enjoys it occasionally. Jessica Biel is everything in this movie as well, so you know. A group of friends are road tripping across Texas, picks up a hitch hiker, said hitch hiker unalives herself. The group of friends try to find the cops, but instead come into the family of cannibals that make their trip literal hell.

The Ruins (2008) - Four friends are on vacation in Mexico when they come across another man, who befriends them. This man is on the look for his brother as he went on a sight seeing adventure and never returned home. The five of them don't expect much, and the four friends agree to go with their new friend to a place called 'The Ruins'. When they get there, they are immediately trapped there by town people, who don't speak English. So it's a huge miscommunication trope, but they eventually find out that The Ruins are these poisonous cannibal like vines that once you touch them, you are infected. They try to figure out how to get the hell out of there, but everything's against them at that point.

Vacancy (2007) - If we were to ask Liam (or me), what was an underrated movie in our opinions, this one would be at the top of the list. First off, Luke Wilson is phenomenal in this, which you wouldn't think of him as a horror movie actor, but he's fantastic. A husband and wife are on their way home after a family visit. They take the back roads, but their car breaks down, and unable to get a mechanic in the middle of the night, they are forced to say at this hideaway motel until morning. Well, turns out said motel is a breeding ground for snuff films, and these two must work out their differences (they're going through a divorce and lost their child), in order to survive the night.

[kontextmaschine]

Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse

Enough other people have focused on the art. It's good! I'm more a plot guy. It's good!

I have a post that goes about how one of the big 90s things was having built up enough history in some genres or universes that the audience was familiar with to get real meta with it and this was very much in that tradition, with the plot tension being a literalization of "how far can Miles Morales (and "Spider-Gwen") vary from the Peter Parker formula and still be a Spider-Man?"

Given that you'd be forgiven for asking if Ben Reilly is in the movie. Not only is he, he's a recurring '90s comics punchline. And a blizzard of other variations that will reward anyone getting the reference with absolutely no loss to newbies.

The villain, "The Spot" is great, pitched as a Condiment King-level loser that internal-logically becomes an epic pandimensional threat, and his chaotic reality-tunneling powerset makes for great cartoon action on screen. His retroactive 1st movie origin is clever but as his motivation feels like hanging one too many meta- themes on the material.

Does make you realize that another Spider-villain that could only be done justice in this format is Carnage.

The new B-tier Spider-Men are fun (the tier list goes to E) but not quite as much as the first set, though they're teased as returning for the third, and Spider-Punk pulls more weight visually and as plot device.

One complaint is there's just much in the falling action after the film's clearly done with major stakes as it not just sets up a sequel but hands off with a "to be continued…" Each major character's emotional arc has to be paid off but not resolved and twisted to set the stage for the continuation, and then each character needs to be mechanically moved on, but then they need to meet up and reconnect the plots there, and receive further plot twists, and then set up cliffhangers…

[johnnys-breastmilk]

Wally anon: fdjdb the way you hate Eddie keeps killing me. 😂 But, I'd absolutely agree on the tonal inconsistency being the ultimate problem. That & the fact the writing seems to be, like...desperate to just flatly recreate the excessive nationalism in many 80s films & manifesting that with strawmen Russian villains just to make Hopper seem more "awesome" when that completely betrays the subversions the series started with. That also stands in opposition to how the mysteries were always meant to be motivated by more or less the same goal with slight genre differences. Cause you have Joyce & Hopper in literal Russia, El's plot being run from the government, & the Hawkins crew in an ANOES sequel. One might seem like it has the least stakes, but I would've rather completely followed the wannabe Freddy Krueger plot!

I imagine if he has his name sewn in, it's cause, somehow, his underwear used to go "missing" (it was him actually being too...excessive with them in private, & ripping them, so he'd throw them out to hide the evidence), so it became a matter of keeping track so he wouldn't have to keep getting new pairs (& he would've obviously stopped his...prevous activities cause he has an attachment to these now that his name is in them).

Oh yeah, that's one thing I'm worried about for sure. I don't think it'll be an immediate thing since I imagine it'll take awhile for her to get her body back + explain the situation to Simon. And IF that's the route they head in, I hope they don't just throw Wally out to the wolves like what tends to happen to the ~unchosen love interest~. It's why I tend to be opposed to love triangles cause you can always tell where they're gonna go. 🙅

lollllyeah, it's kind of funny cause I don't really actively think of myself as "tall" cause I'm just short enough to not be a giant but then I see an actual size difference between me & somebody else & I'm like, "Oh, yeah, that IS my height." 🫣 Also classified as a mountain for climbing purposes.

And he'd be right back in the same predicament in the bathroom when detention let out. Lesson not learned at all.

And you know if you tried to completely ignore him in class, he'd do whatever he could to get your attention. 👀 Oh, no, please continue with your thoughts on these "bathroom breaks." I'm very interested in what you have to say. 🤭 I know for sure multiple body parts would be tired as hell from all of the attention, though. 🥴

Oh, I know exactly what you mean. He'd be a menace after phys ed if you weren't physical with him yet. He already is anyway (which is why we love him), but him sitting back & watching you the entire gym period doing whatever it is you'd have to do day after day would have him thinking thoughts.

Yeah, I have a love/hate relationship with Eddie. I can see why people like him and he is favorable in some cases, but I don’t like him as a character and he’s just the poster boy for the show’s bad writing. I agree with everything you said, and I think it’s crazy that Joyce’s plot is russians when it just doesn’t line up with much else about her. El has the fact that she was on the run in season 1 and some of season 2, and with superpowers, her story feels inherently Sci-Fi related. I just wish we got more of the Hawkins crew tbh, they stayed at the heart of everything and made it season 4 the most interesting. The main thing I really like in season 4 is the fact that everyone’s split up, and not like in previous seasons where they were all running around the same town.

I wonder what caused them to rip🫣 it takes a bit of strength to rip elastic and cotton soooo… I wonder what he possibly did to get them to such an unwearable state?

Unfortunately the staging of the posters and cover image for the show on Paramount Plus featured Maddy, Simon, and Wally. I love me some Wally on the cover but it felt reminiscent of Twilight and not in the good way… love triangles were the only vibes I was getting from it. I’m just kind of hoping that they have a reversal of everything from season 1. She missed Simon in season 1 to the point where Wally felt stood up? Well, in season 2, she can’t get over her ghost friends and Wally. Hopefully they don’t do a love triangle.

Tall people>>> Sososososo good, doesn’t matter the height. I’m at a point where everyone’s a giant to me which is so funnnn (I love playing the keep out of reach game sm) Wally playing that and doing the “I’ll only give it back if you give me a kiss thing”

He only learned patience, nothing else. LMAO

The dude would bring back spitballing because that’s what his bully friends did. (He seems like the kind of guy to have friends who are bullies because he’s on the football team, but again, he wouldn’t stop them, just feel bad for the victim of it and move on) He might even become a menace and talk about whatever’s on his mind cause he knows you can’t tell him to stop or shut up or go away, you’d look crazy! At least if you forgot your AirPods or something (something that infinitely confused him) he could sing all those stupid songs from the early 80s and 70s that he knows by heart to get you through the lecture. Oh, he’d belt his heart out.

Let’s just say you’d be out of breath and your legs would hurt before you hit the school stairs (they’re such a workout and for what.) He has you kneeling and giving him a bj, your knees on the floor of the bathroom in the very last stall on the end. Somehow, all of that pain—sore throat, bruised knees, breathlessness—all carry through even if his cum splatter on your face disappears. Your face is still red as you picked yourself up off the ground and check yourself out in the mirror, the rules of being a ghost breaking. I’m definitely gonna have to write a fic about this…

You’re sweaty and worked up from playing whatever hell the coach decided to put a bunch of teenagers through. Yet, Wally’s sitting on the bench in your locker bank, looking crisp and ready to workout as ever. I feel like he’d tease you, knowing that you’re exhausted from 45-60 minutes of literal hell that is high school gym class. But seeing you in the same locker room—using the same locker as he did in the 80s (his suggestion, not yours)—reminds him of how he used to ogle guys from that very spot. Now, he’s doing it to you and he can’t take in enough of the sight. Jeez, these are really good fic ideas I may have to go on a writing binge tonight..

[mejomonster]

Daomubiji is the gayest "not written to be intentionally gay" I've ran into in the cwebnovel world. Like. In English? Yeah plenty of fuckers especially pre 2015 would make a story gay but never intend it to be read that way and yell at people who did (and some who didnt get mad but also didnt want to embrace that potentiality). Occasionally making something intensely gay. Nowadays most English stuff either is aware of how gay it wrote shit and therefore okay with itself as that, or is so unintentional it's just a baffling situation

Meanwhile in cwebnovels it's a pretty established genre to just put out gay content so usually if it's gay it's already fully aware it's writing in such a way (now cdramas are another story since it's the foggy land of some gay stuff being adapted to "bromance" meanwhile some purposely friendship stuff trying it's hardest to slide toward "bromance" to capitalize on that angle without actually being gay, then the ones in the middle happy to capitalize on the gay and playing hard and loose and not really confirming what their intent truly is -dmbj shows are Now Here-, and then original script "bromances" fully intending to be gay the way Xena was like Killer and Healer which I applaud for wanting to do gay in an impossible environment with no book to lean on as the reason it was made gay as it was - mriad also toed this, that tan jianci show recently did etc). So like usually if it's Not overtly gay as a novel I assume no intention was purposeful, at least not much. (Though to be fair maybe there are authors utilizing subtext and a bit scared to go overt gay cause of how that may affect them/sales/their future etc, which may be going on but I am not aware enough of everything in non-gay novel land to comment. Fair enough though that was certainly going on in Hayes code America in the film industry, with some people making gay threesome art films sliding past the radar on purpose, others making metaphor as literal wasn't alloved, others accidentally making subtext rather than on purpose, and I'd say to some degree novel wise that would have been going on as well. I didn't read many us novels from 70s-2000 but iwtv made gay implied and the sequel a decent time later made gay overt and I'd assume some bigger safety in writing gay characters was felt by authors later in the century).

Anyway, my point. Of the small amount ive read, dmbj is sure the gayest "not in the gay genre" cnovel I've found. There's The Kings Avatar, that's big, can anyone tell me if it's gay? There's Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms, which has a gay side couple but that's not quite the same. There's LiuLi (Love and Redemptions novel), but a main character who's multiple genders and a bi love interest is just... not common in general anywhere so that's more of a one off thing (I'd love for it to be more common though). Mostly the big stuff that comes out that people interpret as gay out of cnovel land... IS purposefully fully intended as gay.

Meanwhile dmbj show wise, is at the point where scenes adapted from its own novel get cut for being too gay (oh wu xie u bastard cat ur too into xiaoge for censors to bear). Dmbj show wise, for a while, for baffling reasons post The Lost Tomb (because if you squint HARD there's non gay reasons to put in all the gay scenes as a speed run implied instant Platonic fondness/connection that's just using romance action tropes to speed it up to communicate to audience since it only has like 10 episodes... again, if you squint I can see an oblivious straight person somehow thinking it was straight). But then by The Lost Tomb 2 you've got the saving him in a tux in his arms shit, Ultimate Note you've got scenes Being cut for being "too gay" wu xie, in Reboot you've got the whole cast well aware of ships and nanpai Sandshu also WELL aware by that point so if there's any "bromance" now towing the line of gay it's at least likely on purpose and self aware they're on the line.

But then there's. The fucking novels. Wu Xie my dude. Iron triangle my guys. How did all this accidentally happen? Is this the beautiful outcome of npss starting fanfic with no idea where it would end? You genderbend a love interest, make the guy embody ur idea of cool so u have to have ur viewpoint character wu xie notice how Cool said Cool Guy is, and the gender ambiguous premise leads to romantic interest slanting framing of such character, leads to that entire structure continuing long after u decided emo boy is a dude, wu xie is into men now and ur in way too deep now to backtrack so pangzis commenting, now ur cool emo got Emotionally Attached to one person in this whole world and it's ur viewpoint dude, now he's sacrificing for him, now they're at Minimum as gay as Kirk and Spock and quickly hurtling to Xena/Gabrielle levels. And I'm googling pingxie having heard of dmbj, having never seen an episode, ans finding its one of the biggest Ships TM. Thinking it's some fan ship with no Canon basis like idk captain america/iron man, then I watch The Lost Tomb and no these fuxkers as gay as Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan to my assumption. Then I look up the books and it's. Odd. They're definitely soulmates, they don't date others, they retire together, xiaoge sees wu xie as The Person for his ass TM, and it's uh. It is what it is. They're life partners for sure anyway. So it's a kirk/spock situation at minimum. But, if you watch the shows it's treading on "this Bromance is so close to/possibly Is Romance that we are being assumed as actual bl" line. Which I guess in show form is Xena/Gabrielle. Cause most censored bl dramas are xena/gabrielle level (lovers but you gotta be Just vague enough about it to be allowed to air). And thus is established, the gayest pair of "are they gay" I've run into in chinese media. (To be compared with the youtube series Are You Gay of Kirk/Spock, a question for the ages).

I'm just. They're so gay. They're whatever they are in canon, and why. Its fun to think of why (before the shows slid them pretty firmly into "is might as well be bl territory so assume it is" with the way the show teams handle it). Like. Is it all just a happy accident of npss, a fanfic turned original universe that of course includes anything and everything (comets from space, giant snakes, emo immortals, hair monsters) so why wouldn't it also include gay chosen soulmate fuckers in the center. Is dmbj an interesting example of what fiction can grow and turn into of its own accord, as it evolves over years and becomes its own entity of development? It's interesting. It's interesting what else may eventually develop and shift. (Take what I said with heaps of salt though, I still need to read a Lot more of the books, I'm a newbie with them and still happy to fall into many more of them)

[jedi-enthusiast]

Debunking the "The Jedi are Evil" Theory Made by The Film Theorists PT 9

Point 9 - The Final Part of That Godforsaken Video

Matthew quote:

"We all grew up watching these movies thinking the Jedi were the heroes, the movies outright frame them to be the heroes, but if you look at how the Jedi become Jedi in the first place--their legacy isn't one of freedom and doing the right thing. It's about putting toddlers into slavery, deceiving their parents, and then brainwashing those little kids so they become unquestioning members of their little cult."

I'm not going to go into detail all over again because I've already responded to all of this in the other parts, but let's do a quick recap:

1. The Jedi are free to leave at any time, nothing about the Jedi Order matches up with the actual definition of slavery.

2. Shmi is the one who wanted Anakin to go to the Order and the Order only inducts children into the Order with the permission of their parents, except in very select situations where they don't have parents and/or their lives are in danger.

3. The Jedi Order isn't a cult, it doesn't even come close to fitting the definition of a cult.

and 4. We're literally shown time and time again that Jedi leave, disagree with each other, have different opinions and ideas on their philosophies, they're encouraged to ask questions, etc--"unquestioning" my ass.

And, believe it or not, the Jedi's legacy is one of freedom and doing the right thing.

They stretch themselves thin and literally lay down their lives to fight for democracy, to protect the people of the galaxy from people like the Separatists and the Empire (who are literally meant to be allegories for Nazis btw), and to just plain help people. Throughout all of Star Wars, that is what we're shown the Jedi do. We're shown and told consistently that they're empathetic and care about others and, at their very core, just want to help people. That the best way to hurt the Jedi is to harm the innocent.

So forgive me if I'm not willing to buy into the bullshit take that "actually the empaths that care so much about the people of the galaxy that they're willing to fight and die, while receiving nothing in return and even being ridiculed for doing so, just to protect them are the evil bad guys."

---

Matthew finishes off his theory by saying that the people of the galaxy, and us as the audience, should be glad that the Jedi got genocided and are all but extinct by the end of the Sequels. And then he talks about how the Jedi are to blame for their own genocide and the fall of the Republic.

Which, again, sounds like fascist rhetoric.

He says that "the Jedi are the heroes if you turn off your brains," but to me it seems like you have to ignore 90% of SW media and refuse to contextualize the other 10% and read it in bad-faith in order to think that the Jedi are the bad guys.

Which is what he did to prove himself right, because his video wasn't about looking at the Jedi "objectively" at all.

---

Now, obvious disclaimer: don't go being jackasses and doxxing this guy or anything. That's not what any of this was about. This was just about me defending my comfort characters and going back to the thing that had me feeding into the anti-Jedi bullshit to take it apart and, in doing so, make myself feel better.

For everyone that made it all the way to this part, thanks for reading!

I hope this was as therapeutic for you as it was for me.

[tangledbea]

What do you think of Tangled's ending assuring us that there'll be a wedding, the short showing said wedding and then the series all the proposals? Come to think of it, the last disney animation films ending with a wedding were, if i am not mistaken, The little mermaid and Princess and the frog (and in this one it was plot necessary to the real ending), isn't it odd that Tangled insists so much on the idea of marriage? Thanks for your time!

The last Disney movie that ended in a wedding, as I recall, was Wreck-It Ralph. And I did a quick count, and five of Disney's 73 theatrical movies end in a wedding, and only one other movie (101 Dalmatians) has a wedding in it. Now, granted, several of them have endings where it's no question that the couple stays together (for example, any movie about animals with a romantic plot or subplot, since animals don't have weddings), but actual weddings? Not so much. And Aladdin has just as much movie, series, and direct-to-video sequel focus on them getting married. The end of that movie was (retconned) the official engagement, and they spend the whole series talking about when they're married, when Aladdin becomes Sultan. And then they get married in Aladdin and the King of Thieves.

Given that Disney has had far fewer "ends in a wedding" movies than people tend to think, I don't find it a problem that Tangled has focused on one in any respect. In fact, the wedding clothes were originally designed to be the end of the movie, and they decided to postpone that and assure viewers that they didn't get married right away. The fact that the series had so many proposals was because of the ending of Tangled:

"After years and years of asking and asking and asking... I finally said, 'yes'." "Eugene..." "Alright, I asked her."

Them getting married and having multiple proposals was part of their canon, and if they had not included proposals in the series, the New Dream fans would have rioted. (We would have. I had my riot gear all ready to go. You should have seen me in the three seconds between the end of the series and the epilogue.)

And while I feel that the series laid down a bad message about marriage trapping you, about it meaning your adventures and freedom are over, a better way to look at it is that Rapunzel and Eugene needed the time to really understand one another's needs before they were ready to be married. In the end, it was less about it literally trapping you and more about knowing the person you're going to marry inside and out. It's rare for Disney to show that relationship development.

There is nothing wrong with stories where people fall in love and get married. People get married every day. It's a part of life. It's no failing on Disney's part to write a love story that ends in marriage. And considering that Tangled was in production for eleven years and is based on a fairytale, it's no wonder they had a fairytale ending. In fact, I'm surprised that there isn't a Frozen short about Anna and Kristoff's wedding by now! (I'm sure they could find a way to make their wedding about Elsa and/or Olaf, since they're allergic to making things about Anna and/or Kristoff. After all, they made New Dream's wedding about Pascal and Max.)

So, no. I don't think it's odd that Tangled puts any focus on marriage.