#became relevant with the movie trailer

[ohsalome]

What are some amazing, most read Ukraine authors? The only one I know is Gogol and I would like more on my radar.

First important disclaimer is that without knowing ukrainian, your pool of choice is very limited. Unfortunately, our translators haven't done nearly enough to make ukrainian literature acessable for english speakers, so a lot of genuinely amazing stuff would require you to know the language.

The second important disclaimer is that I am going to recommend you a lot of poetry, and, with no disrespect to the translators, it doesn't hit nearly as hard in english as it is in ukrainian. I've recently heard the phrase "to read poetry in translation is like to take a shower wearing a raincoat", and it is so true. So, apologies for this barrier, but there is nothing one can do.

With that in mind, let's start from classics:

The first most important author is Taras Shevchenko. He mainly wrote poetry, but has some prose works as well, and during his life he was more known as a popular artist. The Bible of his works is Kobzar (a ukrainian word for travelling blind musicians), and the same word is also often used as a nickname for Shevchenko - akin to how Shakespeare can be called the Bard. Among the most important poems pay attention to A Dream (the poem for which he was imprisoned by the russians with an explicit ban on writing and painting), The Caucasus, My Testament, Kateryna, A cherry orchad by the house, О thoughts of mine

The second big name to know is Lesya Ukrainka. Lesya is also more known for her drama and poetry than her prose, but she also was a prolific translator and a feminist. Her most well-know play is The Forest Song (a cartoon adaptation is soon to be released after 7 years of production, but from the trailer it looks like it's not going to be close to the text). I find her Бояриня play to be much more interesting and relevant, however, it looks like it has not been translated yet. Among her poems, some of the most important are Contra Spem Spero and Cassandra (the latter has had some successful stage prouctions in Great Britain last year, mayhaps it will gain popularity)

Some links to her works: [x] [x]

Fun fact: there are speculations about Lesya Ukrainka's relationship with her close friend Olga Kobylyanska. The letters they exchanged are quite intimate and sometimes even erotic in nature, which lead some academics to believe that they were more than friends (most still fall in the "gal pals" camp tho). However, if that were true, that would mean that Lesya Ukrainka is the only bisexual woman to ever be printed on banknotes.

The third pillar of ukrainian classical literature is Ivan Franko. Once again, we are talking about partiotic poetry, but there are also many socialistic ideas in his works (although he became dissilusioned with it in his later years ), which I think many western readers will find appealing - (side comment - it looks like "collective west" is going through the same processses that we overcame a century ago, so ehm... good luck, y'all will need it). I haven't been able to find much of his works translated in English, so here is a good master page. Zakhar Berkut is considered to be one of his greatest works (a ukrainian-american co-production movie The Rising Hawk was released a couple of years ago, it was shit). If you manage to put your hands on it, I would greatly recommend The Painted Fox and Moses. Also, reading Eternal Revolutionary imprinted on me so much in childhood and determined who I grew up to be, I pretty much consider Franko to be my spiritual father.

A great event that happened this year is that Valeryan Pidmohylny's The City is finally getting an english translation. I have been gushing about this book on this blog before (you can also find the link to the publisher there), because for the archetypical ukrainian literature this book is a breath of fresh air. It's beautiful, it's modern, it's urbanistic, the protagonist is irredeemable asshole, it's amazing and I should re-read it as well.

Among the authors that are much more difficult to find, I greatly recommend Ivan Nechu-Levytsky. In my humble opinion, he like no other has managed to capture the "ukrainian spirit" and his plots are extremely captivating and dramatic as hell.

I will always, always add Ivan Bahryiany to my lists of ukrainian "must reads". He is an author of the first ever ukrainian adventure novel Tiger Trappers/The Hunters and the Hunted, which is the book that is loved even by those who don't like ukrainian literature. However, I personally find his Garden of Gethsemane to be a much more important (but take care, it is much more depressing as well). This author is extremely important, but I struggle finding PDFs of his work - perhaps, you'd have to search the libraries or ukr diaspora publishers for paperbacks. I have also been unsuccessfully hunting for an english translation of Why I am not going back to the Soviet Union? pamphlet for years - and I know for sure it exists because the USA first lady at that time has read it and it influenced her opinion on the USSR - but I've had no luck so far.

Another very important author of the same time period is Mykola Khyvylovy. One of his plays has actually been recently put to stage in English (shamefully, I haven't watched it yet, but I can vouch for the text it was based on - it's brutal).

I can't speak about ukrainian literature without mentioning crimean tatars, and although their works are much, much less known (in Ukraine as well, unfortunately), please do not overlook it. It is a gorgeous culture, and reading it, I grew to love and value Crimea so much even without ever visiting it. There are some english translations avaliable, including those of Noman Çelebicihan - an extermely important figure in Crimean Tatar history, the founder of the unfortunately short-lived Crimean Democratic Republic, the author of their national anthem, and overall very influential revolutionary.

Now let's jump to the popular modern authors. Many don't have english translation, but the problem is much less prominent in comparison to the ukrainian classics. With these authors, you shouldn't have trouble with finding paperbacks. Among the most influential authors I can recommend Serhiy Zhadan (Timothy Snyder has once said that he expects Zhadan to receive a Nobel Prize in literature and I agree), Oksana Zabuzhko (she either aught to release soon or has already released an english-exclusive book about the russian-ukrainian war), Yuri Izdryk (extremely modern and unconventional, but he's a good represention of the current state of art), Yuriy Andrukhovych (love his mastery of language, hate his characters). These authors are more light-hearted, but a grim necessity for today is Stanislav Aseyev's The Torture Camp on Paradise Street. It is a autobilgraphical book describing his experience being imprisoned by russians between 2017 and 2019. Western journalism often describes the war crimes russians commit on our land, but just listing the number of people lost doesn't show the face of the russian horror. Read this book to understand why we were screaming about the russian threat before the full-scale invasion, and why every time we regain the territory we brace with terror of what we'll discover there - because everywhere russian army goes, they build hunderds of such Isolyatsya camps that the book describes.

Also check out Serhiy Zhadan's band!

[pettyrevenge-base]

My brother ransacked my room. I cost him a job, prevented him from sleeping, and jacked up his phone bill.

New account for anonymity sake. Let's set the scene. It's 2010, I had just turned 18 and spent a long summer week away from home enjoying my new freedom to come and go from my parent's house as I pleased. During the week I crashed at friends' houses, went camping with other friends, video games, and all the cigarettes and tobacco products and snacks me and my friends could afford.

My meth addicted brother (27), I'll be referring to him as Mack, who thought he was going to make it big in the music scene because of of all the different drugs he was willing to do. He thought being on acid made him play as well as Jimi Hendrix because Hendrix did acid. This is relevant because in one of his many drug induced rampages, Mack was convinced his USB microphone was in my room. So Mack knocks on the door while I'm away, convinces my dad that he was recording in my room and left it in there. It was never in there. He was never there. My dad was so wrapped around Mack's manipulative finger that he never questioned anything he did. I kept careful inventory of my room because my parents and siblings would steal from me all the time and try to use my bedroom as a storage room for all sorts of things. Thinking back, his excuse was likely just to steal from me like the rest of my family did.

Mack goes into my room, tosses the place like out of movie scene during one of his notorious benders. He flips the mattress. Empties out every dresser drawer onto the floor. Nothing was left the way I had left it. After all was said and done I had to spend 3 days cleaning and reorganizing my room because of how badly this tweaker destroyed everything of mine. Things were broken, clothes everywhere, bins and boxes dumped on the floor. It was like a tornado had rampaged through a trailer park in Iowa. My dad had heard all of this going on and did nothing.

I showed my dad the mess. Dad just shrugs at me and says "He's in his 20s, what do you expect me to do?" "How about fucking stop his strung out ass from tossing the place? How about at least calling him to have him clean up his mess?" I replied. He practically ignored me and before walking off says "He was looking for his microphone and you need to just deal with it." Going to my mom was no different. Mom was so terrorized by him that she wanted no part of anything involving him because she felt unsafe. I can't blame her. He became aggressive when challenged on anything he did wrong.

Realizing nothing was going to be done by my parents and this was no matter to call the police over since Dad let him in the house, I did exactly what my dad said and dealt with it. I tried to be 'diplomatic' at first and asked him to come clean up my room. He laughs, makes fun of me, then says "I needed my microphone." I asked if he found it, I know he didn't because I knew where it was. Over in my dad's garage. He never answered. I scooped up the microphone to hide it even better. Stuffed into the rafters of an old shed on the outskirts of the property, inside of a large PVC pipe stacked up with other pipes. It's where he went to smoke his meth sometimes so I knew he wouldn't be looking for it there due to the paranoia of being caught by any of us. I gave Mack one final warning text to 'Clean it up or else'. He again made fun of me, "Crybaby bitch! How difficult is it to clean your own room? You're just a lazy piece of shit!" The last one really torqued me because he was a thief and did everything he could to get out of work.

Later that night I decided to do my best Tom Petty impression.

I leave my parents' house to sit around a campfire at a friend's house. I waited until I left because then Mack couldn't find me, neither could my dad. I knew my dad was going to simp for him and defend him yet again. I waited until Mack would've been nice and comfortable at home. I lit my first cigarette of the night and promised myself that nothing would stop my ensuing plan until I smoked the whole pack. I had recently learned how to SMS bomb. At the time, you could add the same contact into your SMS app multiple times for a group chat. I believe it was up to 30 on the phone I had. For every 1 SMS/MMS I sent him, he received 30 in total. I spent hours sending messages to Mack. If I had a cigarette in my mouth, I was text bombing him. I spent from 9pm until 4 am sending Mack thousands upon of thousands of text and picture messages. I have now dropped a Hiroshima sized text bomb on the fancy Blackberry he was so proud of buying a week or two before this.

For anyone wondering, it was simply a copy and pasted text that said "This stops when my room is clean" and a picture of the mess he had made. I alternated back and fourth. This took very little effort and left him inundated with notifications every 1-3 seconds. This effectively DDoSed his phone into oblivion. It was locked up tighter than New York subway car. He could not call, text, or even open anything on his phone other than my text messages.

Dad starts frantically calling me around 1am. I ignored it. Then my mom calls me and leaves a voicemail for me to call him. Worried it's an emergency, I call dad back. Dad picks up the phone, screaming at me "His phone is locked up and he can't use it! You need to stop this RIGHT FUCKING NOW!" I replied "He needs to go and clean up the mess he made of my room RIGHT FUCKING NOW or just deal with it like I have to." The argument continues for a while longer, the entire time he's defending Mack tooth and nail. Eventually I broke it to my dad that there was nothing I could do to stop the flow of messages and notifications. He hung up and never brought it up again.

After the smoke had cleared (pun intended) I found out Mack had his Blackberry locked up for 10 days. He wasn't able to respond to a job offer and wasn't smart enough to leave an alternate contact means. The job went to someone else by the time Mack was able to return their call. He was still going to be stuck at the job he loathed for a while longer. His phone plan had a monthly SMS/MMS and data limit that I absolutely destroyed. The month's bill was over $300, I wanna say closer to $400. His live in girlfriend was also pissed because they had to leave the phone on and plugged into a charger to let it process the messages from my mass messaging campaign the night before. The notifications made the phone unusable and they were stuck listening to the notification sounds for those 10 days. They tried stuffing it inside of a blanket but the phone would get too hot and they were worried it would start on fire. On the counter, plugged in to an outlet it sat. Keeping them awake and annoyed constantly.

Another 2 months roll past, I finally decided he could have his microphone back... Kind of. I took it out of hiding and stuffed it in his keyboard box that was also stored at my parent's house. He found it there not too long after and never even apologized for what he did, not that I ever expected him to. He even bragged about finally finding it. He never went into my room again without my permission out of fear of his phone being locked up again.

TLDR; Bro ransacked my room looking for his microphone that wasn't there. I sent him literally thousands of text messages that made his phone unusable. I cost him a job, 10ish days of sleep lost to constant notifications, hundreds of dollars on his phone bill, and a terrible home life with his GF because of all of that. I also hid his precious microphone for an additional 2 months before giving it back.

Source: reddit.com/r/pettyrevenge

[spam-monster]

FNAF movie theories; official trailer edition

(Edit: have been informed that CC/Golden Freddy’s name is actually Garrett, will use in future posts but am too lazy to change so Evan = Garrett)

Pt 1: Characters/Protagonists

- Mike is indeed Michael Afton with some sort of trauma/memory loss

- Trauma came from watching his little brother (calling him Evan even though that’s unofficial) die from the bite of (insert year here), and then possibly watching his dad kill the other kids? 

-- for simplicity’s sake, I’m guessing the other four kids were the ones present at Evan’s b-day party who didn’t stop him from getting killed (unclear yet if it was Mike’s fault as in the games)

- After that Mike ended up running away from his dad and getting taken in by another family; Abby is either:

-- His actual biological sister who he took with him when he escaped (Elizabeth Afton who never became Circus Baby in this version, unclear how much she remembers as she would have been very young at the time)

-- The equivalent to Charlotte and his adopted sister (assuming Henry Emily took him in and changed their names for protection, and that Charlotte didn’t die in this version)

-- An animatronic/hallucination that’s been following him this whole time (less likely; the murders are said to have happened years ago and someone would have noticed by then that he was hallucinating or that Abby didn’t grow older) 

- The little brother/crying child/Evan is possessing Golden Freddy, and also the kid we see in the car during Mike’s dream. This adds to the “Abby is their biological sister” theory, because it would make sense for her to trust Evan/Golden Freddy because they’re siblings.

Pt 2: Antagonists

 - Vanessa is being manipulated by William Afton; it’s unclear if she knows he’s the murderer and sympathizes with him for some reason, or if she’s a pawn being fed false information about the animatronic’s real goals.

- In either case, the animatronics do not want Abby to become one of them, they are trying to protect her from the security guards and show her what really happened to them.

- William assumed a new name and is hiring security guards for Freddy’s for an unknown purpose; most likely to keep the animatronics in and everyone else out.

- William probably wants Mike and Abby to die there as well, either because he blames them for Evan’s death (or Mike at least), he wants them to stay and keep Evan company, or he wants his family to be immortalized forever as unchanging robots. (Unclear if the remnant/immortality thing will be relevant)

Pt 3: Plot and extras

- Movie will take lore elements from the first four games, especially the minigames/8-bit cutscenes.

- Unsure at this point if Henry and Charlotte/The Puppet are in this movie at all but it would be neat if they were.

- In the end Mike will atone for his actions by freeing the children’s souls with Abby and Evan’s help, William will go there in person to try and stop him and end up spring-trapped. 

- Sequel hooks:

-- Springtrap is Not Quite Dead and wants revenge.

-- (Going off the “Abby is not Elizabeth/his biological sister” version) Mike finds evidence that his sister is trapped in another location; cue Circus Baby.

-- Mike finds out that their mother might have been put in an animatronic as well; cue Ballora and Sister Location.

-- Cut to present day/future date; someone finds Springtrap burried in rubble and Mike gets ready to fight him again.

Bonus: We won’t get (a bunch of) actual Youtuber cameos, but there will be pics/voice clips/shout-outs to them as easter eggs for fans.

[krunchycrispy]

I am by no means saying that I think we’re all wrong about Kung Fu Panda 4. Is there a slight overreaction in some cases like the animation, I personally think so. It’s definitely not the same as the third movie, but maybe we’ll still get some great sequences, animation styles and imagery. I am also a bit cautious about the lack of very much relevant and beloved characters ever since the first movie came out. But I can see why they had the idea for Po’s successor to be someone who wasn’t a kung fu master or had years of experience like the furious five.

I guess it’s repeating the message of the old film that even those who are unexpected can reach greatness. Po literally appeared and became the dragon warrior, and this new character, Zhen is kind of repeating that in a way? Like telling a message that while reaching greatness is told to be a small chance, it’s still a chance? It’s not how I would personally write a film about choosing the next dragon warrior (I mean, Po is nowhere near as old as Shifu).

All in all, I think that the concept for the movie could work if done right. But it feels like they’re going to push almost everyone else out of the way for Zhen’s story, given the lack of appearances of other very much beloved and relevant characters in the trailers and posters.

I can try to look past a character design that looks really out of place. But only if the plot is done right. It doesn’t have to be the best piece in cinema history, I personally like some of the shots in the trailer. But is it understandable that people get worried when a franchise known for its great shows and movies presents us with signs like this? Despite the recent releases Dreamworks has made that most of the internet has ageed to be outstanding, the studio has the reputation of it’s hit or miss movies, and we have many examples of franchises that slowly became milked to the point where nothing felt the same anymore.

Dreamworks has made great media in the Kung Fu Panda franchise. The trailer doesn’t offer much to answer our questions, but as long as characters like the Furious Five are confirmed to be involved, I think I will keep a little hope in the back of my mind until we see more reveals further into production and advertisement of the movie.

[elle-thinks]

The Woman King - Combatting the Masculinization of Black Women

I was a little scared to watch The Woman King. I saw from the trailers that the movie contained a bunch of badass, Black women, but I wasn't clear on the plot. The ambiguity of the film's story made me worried for what exactly the movie was trying to accomplish in its portrayal of these women. It wasn't until I'd read up on the women who created the film that I became more excited about seeing the movie. Fortunately, Gina Prince-Blythewood, Maria Bello, and Dana Stevens flooded the movie with opportunities to view womanhood in various perspectives, defining Black femininity through an ironically historical and contemporary lens.

Set in nineteenth-century Africa, the film depicts the typical local life found in history textbooks. In a general sense, most communities were patriarchal and expected piety from women. Additionally, a woman's primary role surrounded her family or tribe as a daughter, mother, or wife, etc. However, during this time period, the Dahomey Kingdom had an additional status for women as warriors, who were revered even more than their male soldier counterparts. It is this culture that the film focuses on and embellishes.

In today's context of modern feminism, the film was evidently intended to primarily show female empowerment. I believe the writers did a wonderful job in showcasing this through story. But the layers of the film can be savored in its representation of African, Black women. This was due to great directing.

Overall, I don't think this film was especially good in that it took artistic liberties, fine-tuned dialogue, or had amazing camera work. Additionally, it was a story we've seen in other forms before, and in my opinion, it failed to add a unique twist on the tale. Despite this, the film was impactful (though I'm a bit biased as a target audience member). There are several scenes that are hard to forget due to their level of intimacy and relevance to modern Black women. For example, one moment that lingers in my mind is when a mentor braids a mentee's hair. For me, that was a perfect example of Black femininity. It showcased their sisterly bond and drew upon generations of braiding in the Afrikan diaspora. It also displayed fortitude, as it was a warrior's hairstyle in this culture. This aspect made me recall warriors of the Southern United States who wore map-like braids and risked their lives to help others. There was much to unpack in that scene. Regardless of the film's execution, I think it accomplished it's goal in terms of representation and positive messaging.

The Woman King was an especially interesting film because it purposefully blurred the lines between masculinity and femininity in an appeal to progressive ideology. Additionally, it centered on brown-skinned and darker skinned women, who have consistently been considered less feminine/desirable than their lighter counterparts due to a Eurocentric standard of beauty. Seeing Viola Davis's bulging muscles and contortion of her face into a war cry is not something traditionally viewed as beautiful, and it may have even fed into some stereotypes surrounding the abrasiveness of Black women. Even so, the feminist motif of the film highlights the fact that women have many facets. As any dynamic character, Viola Davis performs in moments of vulnerability and delves into feminine energy in more usual ways later on. Her beauty is then displayed in her multidimensional character rather than relying solely on either her masculine or feminine behaviors.

All in all, the film was a pleasant watch. I appreciated it more for its purpose than its quality.

Additional comments:

Personally, I could have done without the rushed, lightskin subplot. I get, that it was used to show another key definition of femininity (I hope so anyways). Manz was giving body though.

[justlookatthosesausages]

Remember when you despaired over finding out about KFP 4 and begging DreamWorks not to mess it up? Well, now that the movie's less than a month away and we know for a fact how awful it'll be, that one post is more relevant than ever!

Honestly I don't even see why there's a 4th movie. Dreamworks doesn't even hide that they made it just for cash it's just painful.

In my opinion, the 3rd movie closed the saga perfectly. Dreamworks could have been proud to have a steady, wholesome animated trilogy. Few studios can make such great work. Po became the master of his art while still remaining himself and the story was concluded. Over.

Now there's a 4th movie coming out of nowhere that nobody asked for and one look at any trailer is enough to see how dull the plot will be, how empty the background characters will be...... sigh..... what a waste

[princecharmingtobe]

Just got back from the D&D movie!

Spoilers ahead, obviously

It was good! imo

I had fun, which was the main goal. There were a lot of moments that really felt like a D&D game. You had the obvious cool, overpowered NPC guide who leaves the party before the main event because “This is your quest.” 

I loved the varying levels of backstory and buy-in you had. You have Edgin, who dumps his whole backstory right at the beginning (in the form of a distraction to buy time for a plan as well as let the audience know what was going on) and has the most personal stakes in everything and is that guy who took everything the DM gave him about the campaign and ran with it. You have the barbarian who’s backstory slightly ties into his, that was like “Yeah, I got kicked out of my tribe and met him and helped him with his daughter cause he’s such a fuck-up and now we’re partners and bffs” You have the druid who’s like “Their enemy is also my enemy cause he’s destroying my home, so I shall help defeat him!” And then the sorcerer who’s only really there cause his friends asked him and they promised he’d get paid, aka the guy who paid no attention to what the DM told them and just wanted to be a spellcaster. 

I liked that the trailers really don’t tell you what the movie is actually about. The quest was actually very personal for most of them and wasn’t just “We stole a bad thing and now we’re trying to fix it.” it was very personal and only really became heroic right at the end. 

It was fun being able to point out creatures and spells by name. 

The fucking puzzle that the party immediately fucks up before the DMPC even finishes explaining what it is.

There was a moment where the party basically overwhelmed the BBEG by attacking one after another without giving her time to do anything and I was like “Action economy, baybeee!”

Now, it wasn’t perfect either, and I do have some minor complaints.

The main one is as much lore as they tried to pack into it, I still feel like they wasted some of it where it really counted: The main characters.

The tiefling druid was a big one. The only druid thing she ever did was wildshape. Which is cool, it’s the druid’s main gimmick for the most part... but they’re also spellcasters, and I don’t think she ever cast a single spell. She ONLY wildshaped. I get they probably didn’t want her to overshadow the sorcerer, but they could have used the divide between the types of magic, only have her do naturey stuff like talking to plants and animals, controlling plants, etc. Fuck, at least have her offer them some goodberries on the road. Could have even used that to help them bond more, since they seemed to be going for a budding romance between them. Have them bond over their different types of magic. Her being a tiefling also seemed like an afterthought, just thrown in at the last second because they’re so popular. She was basically a human with horns and a tail, which was only relevant in her backstory and one scene where not having them wouldn’t have really changed anything. Come on guys, show off her fire resistance, hellish rebuke, thaumaturgy, SOMETHING! 

I feel the sorcerer was also wasted. We got ONE instance of wild magic I think? And a lot of his role as a sorcerer was knowing how to use magic items, and whinging about what he can’t do. Like come on, if you’re gonna introduce wild magic, at least lean into it! Have him try to do magic at times and have it backfire in ways that maybe solve the problem unexpectedly while creating other problems (as wild magic is wont to do).I feel like they could have done that without taking away for the other characters’ strengths, and still maintained his character arc. And if you don’t want him flinging around too much magic, lean into spell slots! The idea that it takes a lot of energy to do magic and so he had to limit himself for that reason, on TOP of it often going wild and messing with his self esteem. 

Speaking of lack of magic, was Edgin a bard or not??? It seemed like they wanted him to be, but he never did any bard stuff beyond playing a lute and singing a few times. He seemed to me more like say, a mastermind rogue with the entertainer background, than an actual bard. 

According to an article I found on google it seems they wanted to limit the characters’ magical abilities because “Magic is so powerful it could solve everything and then you wouldn’t have a story.” So you’re bad writers in that regard is what I’m hearing. Probably would be the type of DMs who won’t let you use certain (official) classes or spells because they “break the game”. They don’t. You’re just not creative enough to work with them so you remove them altogether.

TLDR: The writers were too scared/lazy/uncreative to really lean into the magical abilities of the party, when I could think of many ways to use them without breaking the plot. Only real complaint, even though I used a lot of words to say it. Movie was otherwise very enjoyable and really felt like D&D.

[joeeatsdvds]

Elemental

hey look it’s me posting a non-christmas film review that’s kinda crazy! anyways i saw this film today because i’ve been meaning to and now’s the perfect time with it leaving cinemas in a matter of days.

there’ll be spoilers under the cut for Elemental in this review!

for anybody who doesn’t know of Pixar’s ‘Elemental’ is the 27th feature film to be produced by the studio and being directed by Peter Sohn (also known for directing ‘The Good Dinosaur’, another Pixar film and a Pixar short ‘Partly Cloudy’).

‘Elemental’ when it was first teased to audiences received some criticism for how it looked, i would know because i was one of those people. though unlike the other people who were complaining i was simply sick of watching the trailer after months of it being shoved down my throat at every trailer showing at the cinema, on instagram sponsored posts, youtube ads and even a few ads on some mobile games. after the film came out though this seized mostly so my opinion once again became neutral of the elements and their element city.

originally lined up to be released in the uk at the same time as the us release the film was delayed until july 7th. upon its release the film was a flop and not doing very well at all earning it the title of Pixar’s lowest grossing movie in the box office on opening weekend. however ‘Elemental’ made a come back in the coming weeks making a splash in the overseas market when it released outside of the us. there was a lot of negative press surrounding the film when it came out however stating it was “the death of pixar” and being called “woke” for the inclusion of the studio’s first non-binary character who barely actually features on screen. reviews were harsh to say the least. things seem to have softened now though and so time for my opinions on the matter at hand, the film.

i do have my complaints about my experience but those aren’t actually anything to do with the film more about having to sit next to some random child for the whole movie + opening short.

before i go into the actual film i want to quickly talk about that teaser, the first glimpse at the world of element city, and where we meet our main two characters Wade and Ember. well scrap everything you know about that because that doesn’t actually happen in the film. both Wade and Ember do in fact go on a train and some of the stuff that happens in the teaser do happen in the film but that meet cute between Wade and Ember that you see where Ember’s headphones are knocked to the ground and both her and Wade go to pick them up at the same time? doesn’t happen lol. i get that they didn’t include this in the film because it wouldn’t make sense within the context of the film and the teaser was just to give you the faintest glimpse at the world and characters. Ember is very hesitant to even follow Wade onto the train in the actual film and when she’s on the train trying to find where he went she’s very cautious of those around her and one could say she’s even scared (as stated in the film by Ember herself she doesn’t like going outside of fire town because element city isn’t built with fire people in mind and she has everything she needs in fire town). also another complaint is that i don’t remember them introducing themselves to each other properly in the film but that might just be my brain forgetting that little unimportant detail.

something i question about the theatrical poster that was used (in the uk at least) is the inclusion of random irrelevant characters. sure you have Ember, Wade, Clod and Gale up at the top but why are Marco and Polo there? Lutz too. and the rest of the characters featured are all seen in the previously mentioned teaser and really aren’t that relevant at all in the final final.

the animation in this film was wild! everything is so polished and the rendering is just beautiful. i loved the little details of each of the elemental people. my favourites were the water people for sure and i especially loved the water bubbles present throughout their bodies that come and go throughout the film. the setting for the film worked really well with it all feeling colourful and lively with the colours of elemental city and fire town contrasting each other but eventually at the end of the film after fire town is rebuilt and the other elements begin to mix in with the residents of fire town more you can see more colours as they begin to harmonise together. my favourite scene has to be the scene of all of the flowers blooming as Wade and Ember swim around the tree it was truly spectacular!

the film’s story at its core is about the experience of being a child born to immigrant parents and the challenge of trying to fill the shoes of your parents who worked so hard to give you a good life and sacrificed everything to do so. i won’t go too in depth on this because i’m not the one to talk about this because i haven’t experienced any of that, i can’t begin to imagine what those emotions must feel like but i can sympathise with them and understand as an outsider. the film also features xenophobia between the different elemental people with most of it being prejudice against fire people, “elements can’t mix” is something that’s repeated several times throughout the film but it’s not until Wade and Ember touch each other’s hands for the first time is it found that elements can indeed mix. these core parts of the film’s story come from Sohn’s own personal experiences being born to Korean immigrant parents, growing up in new york during the 70s and marrying outside of the korean culture he was brought up in.

i appreciate that Ember was able to come to the realisation that running her dad’s shop wasn’t what she wanted to do with her life and that it wasn’t her dream. and i also appreciate that her father was accepting of that and that the shop was never the dream it was Ember herself who was the dream, she was everything that they had worked for. i’m glad that in the end both Ember and her father got happy endings as Ember gets to follow her passion of glass making and her father gets to retire from working the shop everyday.

as for Ember and Wade’s relationship (a major part of the film) they’re cute together. they genuinely want to be around each other and despite their elemental differences and being total opposites they make it work because they make each other happy. they go against the long standing “elements don’t mix” that they were taught and they show everybody that they can. i didn’t really feel too strongly for the pair of them initially (though to be fair it did start with Wade writing every code violation the store came under and Ember desperately trying to get the notebook back from him before he could ruin the family business) but they grew on me. i didn’t enjoy the kiss scene but that’s just a personal thing that i don’t like seeing in movies there’s nothing inherently bad about it. it was funny seeing all the kids in the cinema’s reactions to it though.

there were some iffy jokes in there that i didn’t think we’re very funny and more felt simply weird. of course obligatory mention of the “just a bit of pruning” joke but also the “hanky panky” joke at the end when Ember and her dad are saying goodbye. that last one just confused me like are they allowed to say that in a kids a film?

my favourite character in this movie is no doubt this one water person from the first teaser who as far as i’m aware isn’t present in the final film (or at least i couldn’t spot them that is)

rest in peace to this one water person in particular.

before i wrap this review up i just want to say that prior to seeing the film in my graphic communications class me and my friend were redesigning film posters and originally my friend made a poster entirely consisting of Gale and only Gale. it was a very low quality collection of Gale images as the film was just out in america. very funny considering that they just kept on using the same model for her in all of the promotional art that features her including the theatrical poster featured at the start of this post. gotta love that big smile and vacant stare, it truly looks like there isn’t a thought behind those eyes.

jokes of Gale aside i think that ‘Elemental’ is a good little film that (except for the weird jokes) did a good job of portraying the message it wanted to portray. the way that the world building was set up makes it feel like Disney/Pixar is going to milk a few more films or shorts or series out of it but personally i think that this film is good enough on its own. i really don’t think it needs a sequel but disney will be disney and no doubt there’ll be something else on the horizon if they deem it a big enough success.

overall i’d rate this film a ★★★ and a half stars out of five!

[asknarashikari]

Emu: What the fuck?!

Hiiro: Pediatrician, it’s so early in the morning.

Kiriya: What’s got you so riled up, Ace?

Emu; Take a look at the video that pink menace sent here just now.

Kiriya: Should we be watching videos the pink menace sends us?

*watches how the DGP players’ memories are extracted*

Kiriya: Yeah, I agree with Ace, WHAT THE FUCK?!

Hiiro: *starts calling relevant parties*

Neon: Ano,

Emu: Neon-chan!

Emu: Can we do a quick check-up on you?

Neon: Okay?

Neon: I don’t think you should waste your time on me, apparently I don’t exist.

Emu: What?

Hiiro: And I treated a human with animal characteristics.

Hiiro: You still have human organs and genetics, you are a patient.

Emu: Hiiro-san!

Emu: But Hiiro-san’s right, you’re alive now and you are entitled to have your health taken care of.

Neon: Animal characteristics?

Emu: The Zyumans.

Emu: You know those people that seemed like they’re simply wearing animal heads and have tails?

Emu: They’re a race of Zyumans, human with animal characteristics.

Neon: Eh

Neon: What is this check up for?

Kiriya: Do the general check-ups Ace.

Kiriya: I think we need Taiga’s expertise here.

Hiiro: I already called a neurologist over.

Hiiro: My father should be with them later after they do their rounds.

Neon: Umm, can I ask what’s going on?

Emu: Umm soo… you know Decade, right?

Neon: Yes?

Emu: Well he sent us a video of how the DGP Riders lose their memories.

Neon: Wait, it’s not because the goddess actively erases them?

Emu; No…

Emu: Watch

*Separate videos of Keiwa, Michinaga, Ace, and Neon herself undergoing the memory extraction process.

Keiwa was even hooked to a blood bag as he bled profusely as he undergone  the procedure.

Neon: That’s…

Emu: That’s why we want to have some general check up done on you four, and if you know some people who became Riders, we need to check them as well.

Neon: I think you need to check on someone else first, he became a Rider and he’s really old.

Emu: What?

Neon: I believe his name was Ittetsu Tanba.

Emu: Kiriya-san.

Kiriya: On it, Ace.

Well... we see Ittetsu in trailer for the movie (Keillow-san!!!) so at least we know he's doing ok... but yeah the whole memory erasing shtick is sketchy af man. And the thought of Azuma Neon and Keiwa going through that every time they got retired is disturbing.

I suppose that it's a small mercy that Keiwa's memory loss this time around seems to be a result of the Grand End being triggered... though it doesn't look like it's gonna last for very long.

And because I truly have no faith in the DGP having any sort of decency anymore... I wouldn't put it past them to stop time the moment Keiwa loses his Driver, subject him to the treatment, then bring him back to the moment they found him sans Rider and DGP memories. Yeah, I know it's convoluted, but these guys used memory-erasing tech when they have the Goddess who could warp reality (including memories) anyway...

[epickiya722]

You know what, I think some of you never actually read a book or watched a movie before because...

BNHA isn't the only story where there are other side stories to fill in the gap. Yes, we get other character arcs since hello, we do have other characters. That's how storytelling works sometimes. There is multiple characters.

However! The whole plot of BNHA is about Midoriya 'Deku' Izuku. The other characters are accessories.

People complaining about villains not getting enough screentime or hating on Deku and other hero characters forgot that this story is called My HERO Academia. It's not about the villains. They get their stories and character details to make the story engaging. Villains are needed for there to even be a hero. They have backstories to show why they even became villains to give reason, to give some depth to them. Honestly, villain stans get fed just a little more than other fans. Promo art, merch, the trailers, actual backstories! A whole arc!!

Seriously, you lot need to zip your lips and stop with your nonsense. Chill out. Yes, we know the hero characters aren't perfect, whoopie fucking doo. That's one of the points made about this series. Everyone is flawed. Just because a villain has a sad backstory doesn't mean everyone is going to feel sorry for them. Let alone, in series, not everyone knows that villain's childhood trauma. Again, you do really think Miruko knows Shigaraki's childhood? No. So of course, she's going to attack him. Remember, he is still a bad guy.

Honestly, it's hard being a Miruko fan for the fact she gets hate for DOING HER JOB. Not all villain fans are like this, but some of you really need to humble your fucking selves.

Hell, that's more than... imagine being a fan of Ojiro, a kid who is in a HERO COURSE WITH A TAIL! I personally feel like he deserves a lot more love because of that reason alone.

And on that note, hero fans, same thing for you! I get wanting to see more Shoto or Iida or more Hawks or whatever other hero character, but you shut up, too if you're not understanding and complaining that Midoriya is still the protagonist. For goodness sakes he was gone for so long! All that time we did get some more of other characters! Disrespected or whatever else, at least there's a glimpse. Sucks, yeah I understand. But...

At this point, it's getting sad that some of you really don't know how storytelling works. We got a protagonist and then other characters to give the story some depth, some interesting bits. Those extra characters will probably get extra details to give even more depth or maybe some relevance. But at the end of the day, the protagonist is who the story is about. With and without flaws.

In this case, Midoriya 'Deku' Izuku, the damn 9th ninth holder of OFA with the green hair and freckles is that protagonist. He is going to do protagonist things. Powerups, extra powers, saving the day.

IT'S ALWAYS BEEN THAT WAY!! HELLO!!!

Just know I'm also quick to block and give you memes as a respond for any disrespect. I could care less how any of you are feeling because some of you need to chill out. If you got in your feelings, tough.

[eltube]

Please please explain the KND being controlled by aliens thing? I watched only a few episodes of KND as I didn't have access growing up but I remember loving what I saw :D I *did* read animorphs and it had a huge part of my childhood so would love to hear your thoughts!

YEA!!!!!! Thank u for asking I love the crossover of fandoms happening right now sm

Well ok a lot of the alien conspiracy stuff in KND is like, a bonus plot lol—you can totally watch the whole show and miss it (and it’s STILL GOOD) but it does make rewatches more interesting, because there are a lot of things that seem like foreshadowing even though I’m pretty sure that was not Mr. W’s intention at all.

Basically, towards the end of the series, space and alien related stuff became more and more relevant until it’s revealed that the Kids Next Door extends past Earth, and there’s a “Galactic” version of the organization. Moreover, aliens are already on Earth and have infiltrated society, and the KND, to an unknown extent. We learn from the GKND trailer (which you can still find on Youtube) that these aliens are basically intent on destroying Earth even though they SEEM to be on the KND’s side at first. And Nigel/Numbuh 1 gets caught up in all this and ends up working for them at the end of canon!

After the series ended, the fandom thought for a long time that there was going to be some kind of sequel/movie that would be about this, because there was a huge teaser/ARG thing going on—but this turned out to be an April Fool’s joke LMAO. There are still truthers about the GKND series but I don’t think it’s ever going to happen, I’m more interested in writing fanfiction and meta and stuff about it. For me right now that mostly takes the form of being a Lizzie enjoyer because she’s revealed to be an alien who took human form (not through morphing, but through a “human disguise” which is pretty similar to the idea!)

Mind control is also a big part of KND’s plot in general even outside GKND lore—Nigel especially has had run-ins with it multiple times and has a paranoid obsession with it, it’s kind of like a theme for his character. My theory is that the technology used for a lot of mind control stuff was developed with the GKND’s help. It’s super easy to see how Yeerks could be a part of this since there are canon alien operatives and the GKND is a cryptically nefarious organization with some shady intentions.

[hoghtastic]

Hey! Just a question here for fun: now that it seems like Alex isn't getting any big roles lately (maybe both in Denmark and abroad) and is losing a bit of his international fans, do you think he'd not be so sought out after a couple more years? Like losing his momentum by being typecast as "broody bad guy/sad guy/troubled guy" in 30 minute films. It was quite lucky that he had connections to an apparently well respected danish director through Fanny (her dad) otherwise perhaps he wouldn't have landed a second role again... and this one also seems small (or maybe we're talking too soon and there's a big plot twist to his character).

Another question for fun: he met his current gf at work on a project that was basically co-created/directed/or produced by him and his friend and it probably looked like she hit the jackpot by managing to date him (being both a famous actor and creator of the show she got employed for). Was she in any relevant roles before that project? Do you think if it DOES come a day soon when Alex loses momentum in Denmark or abroad, that she'd dump him if another "danish international poster child" showed interest in her?

If she's a clout chaser like people say she is, maybe she'd go after the next best thing? 🤷

Questions are purely SPECULATING FOR FUN, we don't actually know her true intentions with her life or her bf! ✌🏼👀

Hello anon! Thank you for your questions (and the little disclaimer at the end 😆)! 😃

About your first question, the way things are right now, I'd say you're right and Alex's future as an actor (at least in big projects) isn't looking too promising. Although, we don't know what the future holds. Maybe he'll have better offers in the future which will grant him a new career boost and more recognition? Or maybe he'll dedicate himself to other projects, such as photography or writing/producing series? I guess we'll have to wait and see. And yes, I agree that we can't really count on "Nattevagten" to be this much needed new breakthrough. His name isn't even on the poster, as you'd expect for a movie's main characters, and judging by the trailer, he seems to be playing Fanny's co-worker-turned-boyfriend, so I'm not expecting much more than some romantic and/or comedic relief from his character in an otherwise tense/mysterious movie. It would be nice if, as you mentioned, there would be a big plot twist to his character and he went from funny boyfriend to the villain 😆, but I'm not really counting on it.

Regarding your second question, her most relevant project was the 2021 movie "Venuseffekten" ("The Venus Effect"), where she plays the main character Liv. Now, I haven't followed her career that closely, but it seems that it was only after starring in "Call Me Dad" and becoming Alex's girlfriend that she became somewhat famous and had a career breakthrough, building a better, broader network and securing herself better and bigger projects. So, clout chaser or not, she did reap some benefits out of this situation. Benefits she seemingly didn't have before, when she was still with her ex-boyfriend whom she was really quick to dump after meeting Alex. For example, last Summer, when the series was filmed, she was apparently still with him, as shown by the pictures on her Instagram. But then, in November she was already traveling to Paris with Alex and hinting at their relationship. Too quick to move on from a serious relationship where she supposedly loved the person, into another (in my opinion). And let's not forget how her personality and style changed from one relationship to the other, to better match that of her partner's. So yes, judging from her past history, I'd say if someone hotter, better connected and more famous came along, she wouldn't be too sad to dump Alex and get with this "better catch" instead. But for Alex's happiness, I'm really hoping that this opinion of mine is wrong. 😅

[lindszeppelin]

Hi,

I've been following you for a long time and I've kept up with most of your answers regarding the PR relationship. This ask is focused on Kaia. There's something I've noticed about her that I feel like sharing: I feel like Kaia is a model above everything else, she's trying to break into the acting world but she can't shake off her model behaviour and stance.

I already thought this before but it became painfully apparent with the Bottoms poster https://twitter.com/filmupdates/status/1666025090956271617?s=46&t=zVUrqyxX3bxe315O8rj-Ag

Posters are nothing but marketing, all actors are posing, and they "serve face". But Kaia is the only one doing it like a model, emotionless and stony, completely perfect and aware of every single angle on her face. The other actors are posing but they have expressive faces, a glint in their eye, and body expression that shows their character's personality. Look at Ayo Edebri and Rachel Senott, they're posing but they're also in character. I highly doubt Gerber's character is a model in the movie.

All I see in that poster is a model. All I see when she acts is a model that memorized lines. I've seen her in Babylon and she was underwhelming. It is a small part but she delivered absolutely nothing, she's restricted and impassionate when she's supposed to be seduced and in awe of a great female artist. She looks like a model in a music video, instead of an actress. Extras were more talented and expressive than her.

And I got the exact same feeling from her in Bottoms trailer. Of course you can't rate an actor's performance from trailer parts alone, but she's side by side with talented actresses so her lackluster quality is apparent... at least to me it is.

I haven't seen all her projects, but from those I've seen and from videos, clips, and screenshots I've seen of AHS that girl just seems like a model that wants to pass for an actress without putting in the work. Just because she's playing a character doesn't mean she has character. She's inexpressive as hell. It's like a modeling shoot but she's talking with other people tbh.

So this brings me to the PR relationship. I will be honest I'm on the fence, I can see it being PR, and I can see it just being real. I do think they're very off during these last months tho. But my point is I'm pretty neutral. But I think you're sensible and make a lot of sense in your argument, plus you present facts, and not deuxmoi bullshit like the other fandom faction. BUT I can now definitely see how beneficial it is for Kaia to date Austin, a talented up-and-coming actor, because she has no substance to offer. People are always talking about her activities and public appearances and bookclubs, but I've never seen any mention of her going to acting classes.

If Kaia is serious about acting she needs to realize that her face, her name, and her relationship with Austin will only take her so far, she needs to put in the work. And she doesn't and it shows whenever she's on screen. She got her parts due to her mommy and daddy connections, it's horrible to see... she could at least try harder. So yeah I'm still not sure about it being PR, but I definitely think Kaya is mooching off Austin's relevance and talent. And at this point, I'm pretty sure that Kaia doesn't care about the craft of acting, and certainly not to the extent of Austin who lives and breathes his roles, so this Kaia acting stunt is pretty laughable to me.

Sorry for the long rant! I just started mulling over this after seeing that poster again and I wanted to get it off my chest. And you've created a safe space here.

I hope you have a good day :)

Woooow a second anon today that's coming in so hot!! Im loving these takes, you guys. I appreciate your thoughts, and you feeling comfortable in expressing them to me.

Your breakdown of the situation is spot on to me, and it mirrors what I think as well. Kaia knows how to model and she should stick to that. It's giving the impression of she wants to be taken seriously, and so what better thing to do than to try and get into acting? But the problem is that she does not offer anything of substance, she's trying to say her nepotism doesn't affect her when she gets these jobs, and she doesn't even try to be a good actress.

if she wants to be taken seriously then she needs to put in the work to do so. this bottoms movie is just another example of how lackluster her performances are. not only that, but she goes for the low hanging fruit - meaning, she goes for roles that aren't too complex and she brings nothing to the table. she likes to make it seem like she reads a lot of books and she understands certain topics on an intellectual level, but sis it is not there. and that's on her for not stepping up her game to study and practice her acting skills.

she's gonna continue to get roles based off of people she knows in the business to do favors for her, and austin because she mingled this entire award season with really big names in the game, and she got into a highly exclusive investors party that only Austin was invited to. she just sees the opportunities and takes them to get her name out there, but she does not put in the work.

i hope you also have a wonderful day!

[xtruss]

'Blue Beetle': Latino Culture Reigns Supreme in Long-Needed Superhero Departure

'Black Panther' proved there was an immense audience for movies based on diverse comic book characters. Will DC's latest also deliver at the box office?

— Steve Appleford | August 11, 2023

As a young comic book writer and fan in 2006, Josh Trujillo was immediately captivated by a new take on an old second-tier superhero, the Blue Beetle. Less important than the character’s powers and ancient scarab technology was the name behind the mask: Jaime Reyes, a high school kid from a Latino home in El Paso, Texas, grappling with his new capabilities amid the usual teen angst.

Traditionally, most superheroes from DC and Marvel were dependably square-jawed and Caucasian, but this was something different. “The fact that his name was Jaime —that’s something you rarely saw in comics at the time, and even now, it’s relatively rare,” says Trujillo, a Los Angeles-based creator who now writes the character for DC Comics. “I kind of became obsessed with learning everything I could about him.”

Now, the character is the latest superhero to lead a live-action feature film, Blue Beetle, directed by Ángel Manuel Soto, with Xolo Maridueña (the hit Netflix series Cobra Kai) in the title role. The August 18 release from Warner Bros. Pictures will face a variety of constituencies, including fans outraged by last year’s cancellation of Batgirl, which had been anticipated as the first superhero film starring a Latina actor, Leslie Grace. Blue Beetle also lands after disappointing box office numbers in June for The Flash, which some blamed on allegations surrounding its star, Ezra Miller. Others suggest, not for the first time, that the superhero genre is simply running out of steam.

For many of those eagerly awaiting Blue Beetle, its arrival as a commodity could not be less relevant to its value as a cultural statement, regardless of fallout from The Flash. Superhero fans from Latino neighborhoods across the country are openly anticipating the film, which stars a mostly Latino cast, including George Lopez and Adriana Barraza, with Susan Sarandon as a ruthless villain named Victoria Kord.

Ángel Manuel Soto, George Lopez, Xolo Maridueña, and Harvey Guillén. Instagram.Com/George Lopez

“Everybody’s really excited about this in the community,” says Frederick Luis Aldama, author and professor of humanities at the University of Texas at Austin, where he teaches courses in comics studies and Latino pop culture. “The support is going to be because, for the first time, we have a Latino superhero who is the protagonist — he’s the one carrying the story. And we haven’t had that in the past.”

Aldama, who has adopted the nickname “Professor Latinx” (a takeoff on X-Men’s Professor X), noted his disappointment that the film relocates Jaime from the borderlands of El Paso for the fictional Palmera City. But he appreciates that in the comics, and in the movie trailer he saw a month ahead of the film’s release, Jaime “didn’t lose his Latino-ness” after being transformed into the Blue Beetle. “It was very much still a part of his identity and his struggle.”

Before Blue Beetle, the first major superhero film to feature a Latino lead character was 2018’s animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, winner of that year’s Oscar for animated feature, with a kid named Miles Morales in the Spidey mask. It was followed by this year’s sequel Across the Spider-Verse. Last year, Marvel’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness included a teenage Latina superhero named America Chavez. And in The Flash, the central role of Supergirl was played by Colombian American Sasha Calle.

Most likely, the castings aren’t so much about social justice as reading the room. In 2021, Latinos made up 24 percent of the U.S. moviegoing audience, according to a study by the Motion Picture Association. “Within the Latino community, there’s always been excitement for colorful characters and larger-than-life heroes,” says Trujillo, who also created an openly gay version of Captain America for Marvel. “You see that in luchador [wrestling], right? You see it in even telenovelas. There’s this larger-than-life element that people are really drawn to in our community.”

With the new DC Universe brand of superhero films, television, and video games still a full year away, DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn has declared that the movie’s incarnation of Blue Beetle is “the first DCU character” of the new regime. What exactly that portends for future films with Blue Beetle was left vague, but the film seems destined to rise and fall on its own, unconnected to any of the major DC heroes. It’s also arguable that Maridueña is much better known for Cobra Kai and better positioned to lead a film than The Flash’s Miller had been.

Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures/DC Comics

“He looks just like Jaime Reyes, and we all know he can act,” says Trujillo. “The special effects and the action, it feels very youthful. It feels very fresh. I think a lot of people who might be turned off by the heavier continuity of the superhero movies will be able to find something new and something they can really take ownership of in the Blue Beetle movie.”

The negativity emanating from Batgirl’s cancellation continues to resonate. The company line from the newly merged Warner Bros. Discovery was that the film was unreleasable, though the move was widely seen as a Machiavellian choice by CEO David Zaslav in order to take an easy $90 million write-off, turning the mogul instantly into DC’s least popular supervillain.

Zoe Saldana, a star of three popular movie franchises — Guardians of the Galaxy, Star Trek, and Avatar — called the cancellation a “truly atrocious act from a studio.” And filmmaker Kevin Smith, normally a dependable booster for the comics properties he adores, noted that it was “an incredibly bad look to cancel the Latina Batgirl movie. I don’t give a shit if the movie was absolute fucking dogshit — I guarantee you that it wasn’t,” pointing to the sterling bona fides of the film’s codirectors, Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, on the Disney+ series Ms. Marvel.

The Batgirl cancellation drew the attention of U.S. Representative Joaquin Castro of San Antonio, who was already critical of the Warner Bros. Discovery merger. Castro was one of four members of Congress in April to urge the Department of Justice to investigate the merger. “I don’t see how it’s been beneficial to many people,” Castro says.

That said, Castro is already looking forward to Blue Beetle and has met with the director and star, with plans to rent a theater in his working-class “bread and butter” district to share the film with members of his community. “I and many others were concerned at the time of the Batgirl announcement that the same thing would happen with Blue Beetle. I’m glad that it didn’t,” he says. “It’s important for the Latino community because Latinos have been excluded from Hollywood, by and large, in front of and behind the camera.”

Castro has also been active in promoting Eva Longoria’s streaming comedy-drama Flamin’ Hot and attended a screening at the White House. He says these films follow generations of Hollywood stereotypes of Latinos and other communities, if they’re shown onscreen at all. “So Blue Beetle, where you have a Latino who

is a superhero, is a striking departure from the usual Hollywood fare of Latino as gangbanger, as ‘illegal,’ as criminal. And that means a lot.”

The movie was already in production when Trujillo began writing his recent comic book miniseries Blue Beetle: Graduation Day, which is set for rerelease in book form in time for the movie’s debut. He says it is the first American mainstream superhero comic to be created by an all-Latino team, including Spanish artist Adrian Gutierrez. He was given bits and pieces of information from the movie to incorporate into his storyline but hasn’t seen the film. He hopes to attend the premiere and bask on the “blue carpet.”

“I’ll be there day one, regardless,” he says of the Blue Beetle movie. “I do think there’s a bit of a rising tide, and DC in particular has done a really good job of embracing the Latino community. I’m really grateful that DC’s been on board for it from the very beginning.”

[channeleven]

LTA: Todd McFarlane’s Spawn

I'll be blunt, I don't have the best relationship with comic book cartoons. I'm able to appreciate some of them these days like the Incredible Hulk cartoons, but I feel a lot of them fall into the same series of tropes and cliches that basically make them as run of the mill as an animated sitcom, I feel like I'm the only one who noticed this. Now, comic book adaptations, familiarities aside, are enjoyable if you're into that scene, though it's hard to deny most of them have some serious issues. They could be forgivable if they came out at a time long before a gold standard is set like the old Marvel cartoons, but for stuff like She-Hulk Attorney at Law and DC Superhero Girls...

At your own risk.

But when it comes to shows like those, either I avoid it knowing I'd have little good to say about it, or I give it a shot after seeing some clips and I'll see how I feel about it from there, and here we are now.

Background

Spawn is a comic book character created by Image Comics co-founder Todd McFarlane, and one of many Image properties that received a hell of a lot of interest. In the mid-90s, Spawn received a massive marketing push, from video games, to toys, to movies and a television series, and for better or worse they saw the light of day. Though I imagine it was through marketing people became familiar with Spawn, I know I was.

My first exposure to Spawn was through a trailer for the 1997 film that turned up on an old VHS tape I had. I was unfamiliar with the character and assumed this was some B movie tribute, Spawn was a mutant and Clown was an evil wacky political figure or something. If you want my opinion on the film, I can understand why some things about it were changed compared to the comics, like changing Terry Fitzgerald's race and removing Chapel, but whether it was Todd's influence or not, it feels like people actually cared during its production, as nearly everything else is done to properly replicate elements of the comics, Michael Jai White did a good job as Spawn and John Leguizamo absolutely nailed Clown. You can certainly do a lot worse when it comes to superhero films, especially New Line Cinema titles released during that period. After all, 97 was the year of Annihilation.

As for the series it's another interesting coincidence. I left a comment praising the animation in the music video for Korn's Freak on a Leash, and I said yeah, I want to see a cartoon animated like this. Someone recommended Todd MacFarlane's Spawn to me, and after a few years I got around to checking it out... just to find context for a scene I saw on YouTube. Although going through it, it seemed more familiar than I expected, like I watched this long ago in reruns, or my folks actually let me watch it, I know they let me watch The Sopranos with them.

Let's just get into the series proper.

Plot and Characters

This won't be a plot summary, but just to get you into the loop, Spawn centers on Al Simmons, a government assassin who is betrayed by his partner and killed. He bargains with Satan stand-in Malebolgia in order to return to earth and reunite with his wife Wanda, but as his death was arson-based he is rendered disfigured, and now sent to recruit souls to join Malebolgia's army, in this case, souls of those who have done wrong and would be destined for hell.

This is made clear early on, so even if you haven't read the comics you can at least jump right in without needing that much knowledge of the character. An adaptation works best when you don't need to be immediately familiar with the initial source material. With so many adaptations taking on radically different directions with little connection to the sources that originated them, it's a huge mess. However, that doesn't mean you'd be losing some context if you're new to the series, and it shows for a lot of the characters. I'm not aware of their allegiances, motivations or overall relevance to the plot, so admittedly I had to look them up so I have some idea to what to expect, especially when each are well written characters in their own right. Firstly, Angela. She had only made one appearance in the animated series proper. I had assumed she would be a bounty hunter sent to kill Spawn, and I was kinda right. At least somewhere in the comics she was initially sent by heaven to destroy Spawn, it fails but not on black and white terms. The role was kinda switched by the end of the series, where Jade was given the role. I heard this was due to legal issues between Todd and Neil Gaiman and if the latter had no role in the series that could've spelt trouble, although Angela would've appeared in the show's fourth season had the series kept going.

But when it comes to Spawn characters outside of those immediately connected to Spawn, I've gotta talk about Sam and Twitch. Now, on the surface they appear to either be corrupt cops or those who would become a thorn in Spawn's side, but basic research and getting through the series revealed that wasn't so. In truth, Sam and Twitch are poised as being good cops in a precinct riddled with corruption, that point being made especially clear in the show's last season, when beforehand they were just investigating incidents Spawn either had a hand in or happened to be at the right place at the right time for. People like to immediately depict cops as outright corrupt, whether it comments on police brutality or just pokes fun at them, so it's nice to see something not only serve as antithesis to that, but maintain its commentary on corruption in the police force. Even when said commentary is on the nose, it's at least relevant to the plot and key characters and carried out in a way that makes either character shine, from reflecting Sam's genuine care for justice beyond his more loutish nature, to Twitch's bravery, determination and analytical nature.

I certainly thought they were great, and so did everyone else. They not only got a cameo in the 1997 film, but they even got a spin-off comic series.

Clown, aka the Violator, marks the perfect balance between entertaining and sadistic, or just one who delights in fucking with people's minds. He was summoned to ensure Spawn kills those with souls to be damned to be recruited into Malebolgia's army. The film portrays him as more comedic but otherwise in line with his comic depiction, while the animated series is the latter in full force, either works for the material they are given. On the opposite extreme, Cogliostro, once the Black Knight who had managed to escape Malebolgia's grasp, seeks to help Spawn avoid a similar fate. Regretfully in the comics he becomes a villain, but hey as long as it wasn't so he could get into the pants of a deviantArt OC so be it. This seems to be a later occurrence in the comics so the animated series was spared from one of the most desperate attempts at drama since ever.

Of course there're people who're relevant to Spawn's former life as Al Simmons, and this series does not take those details for granted. He wants desperately to see his Wanda one last time and he takes the opportunities, only for her to be appropriately disturbed by what is now at his disposal. His best friend Terry married her and had a child, and though Spawn was appropriately angry that he got further than he did, he realized it wasn't out of malice and at least found closure on that. Spawn was even able to confront his physical killer, Chapel, and of course he wouldn't show any mercy, having him live with the guilt, but having the strength to not have his soul claimed by Malebolgia. Finally, Jason Wynn, basically the whole reason things fell into place. Spawn indirectly served as a key to unlocking Wynn's corrupt practices, including black market trading. Whenever he strikes, he sends others to do so and is determined to keep his conquests in check. However, after becoming severely burned from a mythical mask, apparently the unmade fourth season would've had him seek redemption... either apologizing to Spawn or trying to have his soul be made pure so he can go to heaven, though the latter seems to be the case as he feared his actions against Al Simmons would catch up to him.

The seasons can be summed up like this.

The first season exists to establish Spawn and his motivations, as well as him settling into Rat City, an alleyway serving as a sanctuary for the homeless, and one where a number of shady dealings take place no doubt thanks to Wynn and for the first season, Tony Twist, who is promptly dealt with after Spawn makes quick work of Overt-kill, whom Twist sends to deal with a stake in their affairs.

The second season sees Spawn confronting Chapel and Terry finding himself scrutinized by Wynn after learning of his black market dealings, while Spawn is seen as a protector of Rat City. This also sees the introduction of Washington Post reporter Lisa Wu, who is soon revealed to be Jade, which the third season would confirm. As for the third season, Spawn realizes he can no longer get back to his old life as Wanda outright rejects him out of pure fear, a series of events would help clear Terry and expose Wynn, Twitch would survive an attempted assassination by his and Sam's superior officer and confirm his connection to Wynn, Jade willingly gives up after discovering Spawn's humanity is stronger than prior hellspawns she was sent to kill, and by dying a warrior's death she can maintain a place in heaven, and the series ends with Spawn wanting his humanity back. To some, this seems like a bad end, but this can be seen a number of ways, like how he is willing to be dead, knowing he's now a burden to those he cares about and can never live the life that was yanked from him, while realizing those who have wronged him were dealt with

Acting

Keith David as Spawn is complicated, because it isn’t Keith David playing Spawn, just Keith David. All that changes role to role is the script and the direction. Play his Spawn with his Goliath (Gargoyles) and I’m sure you’d find some similarities. Of course that isn’t to say it’s a bad performance by any stretch, but I can’t say the voice is necessarily unique. About the only time it seemed sorta different was when he played Atlas in Teen Titans.

But to be fair, let's bring up another example of an actor who is well recognized for one role, even though it's a similar performance across the board. Mike Pollock is the current voice of Doctor Eggman. While he has owned the role, his voice ins't particularly unique, a keen ear can easily pick that up when watching other 4Kids shows. However, the voice became synonymous with Eggman, as it fit the character. Mike Pollock is Eggman as much as Keith David is Spawn, having voices that suit the characters well and serve to truly define them.

Then there's one of the more interesting actors for Tony Twist, interesting in that he's played by the same guy, James Keane, who played Mr. Green on Hey Arnold!, and I say it that way because Hey Arnold! came before Spawn's animated adaptation. Keane also played Sam in this show, so it turns out he has more range than I'd expect of him.

And there’s not a single piece of Tara Strong or Grey DeLisle to be heard, it’s a breath of fresh air. We do however get Kath Soucie, sure, I'm okay with that, I know little of her personal life and her voice isn't as obnoxiously stale and repetitive as Grey DeLisle's, and she isn't a raging bitch like Tara Strong. Bite me.

But that's not all. We got the voice of Mulan playing Jade, James Hong; guy from the Seinfeld episode The Chinese Restaurant doing a role, Jennifer Jason Leigh got to play a character one time too, and there's a rule that says if it exists, Eric Roberts has to lend his voice one time. Inherently, it's a mixture of actors either not entirely in the loop of traditional voice acting or already are, and it can work, I know it did here.

Layers

There is some hidden complexity within even the smallest of things. Take for instance Spawn's encounter with that bad cop in the fifth episode. He threatens Gareb, but his anger was due to the stress of seeing one of his right hand cops and others literally blown up by a deranged priest who turns out to be Clown. Of course you wouldn't root for the cop but you kinda understand what led him to go bad, even get some irony of Spawn making him a message board, and after getting killed by Clown he gets the message about Spawn's presence to Sam and Twitch. This actually helps to give more weight and motivation to later scenes, for instance, Twitch's encounter with Spawn. Spawn has already determined cops to be outright crooked, but Twitch manages to demonstrate a stronger moral compass, and bravery in the name of learning the truth, and Spawn returns the favor with a warning, which really is him being nice.

You can even see such strong motivations with the other characters. Wynn is a uniformly corrupt individual, but he fears for his life upon realizing what he had created in Spawn, and he becomes determined to destroy him to save his own ass. Clown can seem like a hardass, but it's kind of his job, he wants to make sure Spawn fulfills his obligations. Terry married Wanda, but he never meant to infringe on foreign territory, and Chapel seemed to express repressed guilt over killing Al, before it drove him insane. Then Sam and Twitch, throughout the entire series leading up to a hell of a finish, and of course Jade which not only put her through an arc but helped better establish Spawn's humanity.

A great show is more than the sum of its parts, and I feel Spawn went above and beyond in that regard. It's really something you have to see for yourself.

The Animation

I was directed to this series because I loved the animation in the Freak on a Leash video, and I was not disappointed here. The animation was produced in house at HBO, and they also worked on Hot City which came out around the same time. MadHouse are credited to producing the show's title sequence. MadHouse is a prevalent anime production company, but they've had a hand in some American productions. For instance, they produced the animation for the second season of Street Fighter: The Animated Series.

However, MadHouse merely served as a contractor for other companies. In the first season, animation was split between KoKo Enterprises, Sheen Production and Sung Production. Koko were involved in quite a bit, producing the animation for the first season of Static Shock, Superman The Animated Series and took on animation services for Men in Black: The Series after the first season. For the second season it looks like MadHouse took on a more direct role in animation production alongside DR Movie. DR Movie also happened to produce the animation for Men in Black: The Series, but also produced the third season for Avatar: The Last Airbender, episodes of The Batman including The Batman Vs. Dracula, one episode of Teen Titans, they helped produce the Death Tome segment in The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror XXXIII, DC Superhero Girls, Justice League/Unlimited, they did one episode of Street Fighter, Masters of the Universe: Revelation, oh, they even did Loonatics Unleashed and High Guardian Spice.

It's important I highlight the more anime type shows and lesser stuff to demonstrate how subtle their work is on a visual basis in Spawn, but soon.

Okay, back on track, the last season was handled through Mook Co., who produced the first season of Men in Black: The Series, Swat Katz: Radical Squadron and the Scooby-Doo direct-to-video films from Zombie Island to Cyber Chase. At first I thought they were the ones behind the entire series, but I was wrong.

With Todd McFarlane playing a major role in the series' development, either he'd have plenty of freedom to take advantage of, or he's just there to make people happy. Okay this isn't going anywhere, what I'm trying to say is that things are drawn and animated to act like a direct translation of the comics. It's a huge contrast to the overt anime aesthetics and overtones present in other comic book adaptations. Now, it seems like most comic book adaptations outsource their work to Japan or equivalent studios in Korea in order to better replicate the action, but somewhere along the line people cut the middleman and decided to bank on the growing popularity of anime in the states.

Or maybe I'm overthinking it.

Spawn's animation is great, but far from perfect. They tend to take shortcuts and reuse animations, but most shows do and they're not as blatant as say... The Real Ghostbusters in its twilight seasons. Of course it's of no hinderance to the constant action going on, it isn't too complex, but it isn't too simple either. The art design provides a gritty appearance that compliments Spawn quite nicely, if it was overtly anime-esque, it would lose its punch, its grit, and just be a faceless series.

Senseless Comparisons

In a way, I feel that Spawn set a good standard for comic book shows that seek to be dark, well Batman: TAS aside. There're a lot of shows I can compare Spawn with, so let's begin with another series adapted from an Image Comics series, Invincible.

The differences are night and day. Spawn employs a more grounded comic translated appearance, while Invincible embraces the anime schtick wholeheartedly. It feels like a Cartoon Network action show from the mid-late 2000s but with blood and cursing, and of course their brand of humor. It can be enjoyed on a surface level, but when someone comes along and does it better, it's hard to really deny that.

Take the introductions of Monster Girl there and Angela here. With the introduction of Angela, you get a quick hint to her hero appearance, and when she goes into the alley you expect her to show her powers, but she just uses melee and anything subtle. You’d expect her to go full hero, but they don’t play into it, all you’d expect is for those creeps to get their asses handed to them, just no way of knowing how.

With Monster Girl, it's like this. There's a character who looks like she doesn't belong there. She is provoked into showing her power, this has been done. Now, it can be done right, don't get me wrong. Take Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes' introduction to She-Hulk in the sure. Yes, she is shown at the start of the episode, but you know who we don't see right away? Jennifer Walters. Hence, it's possible to be surprised by its reveal for those who haven't read the comics, and yeah, the series features somewhat different takes on existing Marvel characters so there is a chance to be surprised. Not to mention, they didn't mention her name, like Invincible did with Monster Girl, thus eliminating any sense of surprise and dragging it out to make it look like a huge reveal. I'm just saying.

Next up, let's resurrect an old punching bag of mine for some extra blows, Teen Titans. Spawn did an episode that tackled racism, but handled it in the best possible way, show, don't tell. You would think they would make it where Terry or Spawn are maligned for being African American, but no, they have a psychopath who kills African Americans for dark intent, and the racist motivation behind it isn't stated outright. This episode has enough faith in its viewers to let them connect the dots, whereas Teen Titans spoonfeeds the message, pussyfoots around directly focusing on those who would face prejudice, because Tamaranians don't exist, and above all, rather than take the opportunity to incorporate lore from the comics, they make up a character that exists solely to push the message.

And yes, Static Shock tackled racism direct, but they handled it better by committing to the kind of racism people are the most aware of, and I'm happy that episode is getting more and more recognition for it, while Troq isn't as much. Consider this a segway into the next section.

Getting Away With It

Spawn was able to get away with a lot of stuff, though some would argue it was because it aired on a premium cable network and at a time when kids would likely be asleep, midnight to be exact. That's a good argument, but I feel that any show, anywhere could get away with stuff, well, beyond overt gruesomeness and gratuity, whether it's premium or basic cable, network television or syndication. To better explain my point, let's refer to Stripperella, Static Shock and Swat Katz.

Stripperella aired on a basic cable channel, and if you didn't get the idea from the title, it's a show about a superhero who happens to be a stripper, and yes, that profession is shown full stop. In spite of that, there's more to the show than it. Stripperella feels like it's trying to pay tribute to silver age comic stories, or just parody the genre, or maybe Stan Lee was clearing his desk drawers, I dunno. What I'm trying to say is that they got away with showing T&A on basic cable, lest the copy I saw was sourced from a DVD, but hey, they were wiling. For syndication, let's turn to Swat Katz. This show got a way with quite a bit, especially for stuff I bashed Teen Titans for skimping on, like characters going insane for whatever reason, even death, with some gruesome killings shown, shadow or not. Now yes, syndication lacks the standards network television does, hence producers were able to get away with a hell of a lot more, but what about that network example? Networks are ones that crack down on no-no stuff the most often.

Well... Static Shock.

Racism focused episode aside, Static Shock went dark a decent amount of times, and they never held back for anything. They made it clear Virgil's mom died under harsh circumstances, they highlight her death and the impact on the family, they put one character in critical condition as a wake-up call for Virgil to take his heroic obligations seriously, the first episode featured a gang war, hell, need I remind you of Jimmy, where a gun is blatantly shown, well, again, in a straight up depiction of a potential school shooting, oh, need I forget how the weapon is fired and someone gets hurt, on network television.

But wait, isn't The WB technically a cable network, same with Cartoon Network, beyond Kids WB shows airing on WB affiliates in syndication? I mean Teen Titans was also in the same boat as Static Shock, but you could argue Static Shock did a hell of a lot more than Teen Titans did in highlighting serious issues, and above all committing to genuinely dark stories. I'd argue that Static Shock serves as a kids equivalent to Spawn for going above and beyond, showing writers genuinely cared about making engaging content, and Spawn just helped inspire me to see just how it could be done, or how it has been.

Now, if you really want to see the differences in impact an episode could have, compare Teen Titans' Haunted to Spawn's Home, Bitter Home.

Relationship

As far as how I feel about the show, I have the same relationship with it that I do with Koala Man. Both of them are great shows and vouching for their quality is a hill I'd be happy to die on. The issue is that I don't like to participate in discussions of either, because I know where they'd lead. Spawn got cancelled too soon, Koala Man was created by the same guy behind Smiling Friends, do the math. I still like the shows, but I know it can go south if I encounter the wrong people.

Not only did I bring up Koala Man for that, but because both represent the best of two sides of a superhero show. Koala Man is a well written comedy with glimpses of character complexity and motivations made clear, all in series about a man coping with his past and a midlife crisis, I guess. Meanwhile, Spawn is a well written horror drama with clever dialog helping to provide some relief every once in a while. Bringing back Teen Titans just to get this out, Koala Man is set in an absurdist world so you can take the weird things happening as a given and they let the jokes flow without resorting to tropisms to get a laugh out, and Spawn has every right to commit to more gruesome acts, both because of its midnight slot on a premium network and already being based on a gruesome comic book series.I don't know how else to end this, so let's go on.

Do I Want to see More?

So, seeing what I've said, do I want Spawn to get another season? Well the answer to that, is no. I don't. You're probably confused, lest you've seen my philosophy before. The thing about continuing, what if the ending turns out to be a letdown? A journey is only as good as the destination, if the end sucks it will drag down the experience of the rest of the series because you know that’s how it will end and there is nothing you can do about it, Camp Lazlo and Star Vs. beckon. There's also the matter if one more season is gonna be enough, will people be fine with that, or will they just keep asking for more? Ask for an inch, but take a mile. And of course people can indirectly kill the good will in seeing things continue. I never want to see Infinity Train or Glitch Techs with how clingy people are to those.

Then there's the matter of unintentional cockiness, had with shows like Sonic SatAM and Teen Titans, where they immediately end with either a cliffhanger, or a downer, something to gaslight people into thinking they want more. My philosophy on television shows go like this, treat every season finale like it's your series finale, leave off on a note that you can pick up the pieces on or satisfying enough to accept, which is something Spawn did, by having Spawn reaffirm his want to be human. You may say he hardly evolved, I'd say you're confused. Spawn wanting his humanity suggests he knows he can't get his old life back, but also won't be the leader of Malebolja's army, he is willing to die, but we don't see it. It could've been worse.

Okay yes, there's the matter of Spawn impregnating Wanda with a child that would serve as a decider for the fate of the world, but it would take a long time before the baby would be able to make a conscious decision and act on it. There's another element to the fourth season, but I'm not gonna bring it up, knowing how people on Twitter would lose their minds and that's another series thoroughly ruined by total goons.

Final Thoughts

Spawn is an underrated gem, for sure, but given the climate of cartoon culture, maybe it's for the best not that many people know about it, let this be like a secluded spot a select few people know about, a well kept secret not tainted by idiots, like Mission Odyssey.

I would say HBO turning away from animation after Spawn and Hot City concluded ironically predicted the state of HBO Max, but then you realize stuff like The Life and Times of Tim and The Ricky Gervais Show existed.