#but apparently plays a significant role in the movie

[toiletpotato]

the impact of aishwarya rai's 2000s crossover era

[image description: a screenshot from the website letterboxd of aishwarya rai's filmography sorted by popularity of all time. the screenshot shows the first four movies. her four most popular movies of all time on letterboxd are pink panther 2, devdas, ponniyin selvan part 1, and bride and prejudice]

[marlinspirkhall]

I watched the unaired Selection pilots so you don't have to

But, if you want to, you can do so here, and here (password: “selection”), credit to Media Garage on YouTube

Edit: links no longer active

The Selection (2012)

Strong Hunger Games vibes throughout, the plain-text opening screen isn't helping

Stock-footage of rolling hills gets replayed way too much

ETHAN PECK?

Unlike in the books, America only finds out she's been entered into The Selection after she gets selected, so the plot point about the photoshoot & her radiant smile being the thing which gets her selected no longer applies, I guess

Everyone in the YouTube comments was saying that Aspen and Maxon were miscast & the actors' roles should have been swapped (... No comment. I believe in you, Mr Peck)

This castle is looks too small to fit 24 TV show contestants in it

Fiona, unprompted: “Can you keep a secret, America?”

America: “I have been known to”

Fiona: “I play the violin”

Okay? (This is actually a very sweet moment and, again, Fiona may be the best actress in this)

This episode covered a significant portion of the first book, out of order, which makes me wonder if the intention was to cover all 3 books in one series.

This almost feels like half of a film, making me wonder if someone adapted a film spec script into a tv show spec script

Apparently, Fiona has a secret child and Celeste knows about it, causing Fiona to drop out on day one and tearfully warn America to “trust no one, there's no such thing as friends here”- which is a fucking wild thing to say when she's probably the only contestant who's been nice to America so far & Celeste didn't even need to get to know her to know her secrets because she has spies anyway 😭

It's worth reminding you that they have been at the palace for one entire day total

You think Queen Amberly is being fleshed out in this version but... Hmm

Amberly appears to be the one pulling the strings from behind the scenes (she confronts Celeste about extorting Fiona, tells her "she would have gone home in due time" and to "leave America to me. Anything we do to try and separate them [her and Maxom] will only make him want her more")

Again: IT HAS BEEN A DAY

America sees her servant gathering all her dresses (none of which she has used yet, bar the yellow and green ones) including the iconic blue one from the book cover. America asks what's happening and the servant replies: “Prince Maxom's orders”

Cut to America's family. They open a box with a glittering pair of high heels inside. I guess this is supposed to mirror the part of the book where Maxom cuts off the stipend for 2's and 3's who are in the selection?

If you think this version feels unfaithful to the book, just wait until you see The CW's pilot

IT HAS BEEN ONE DAY

Runtime: one day 45 minutes

Final rating: 5/10, kinda long and stiff in places and the set design was all over the place. Felt like a Hallmark movie (the set design didn't help). Probably would watch another episode of this if it was a full series or a limited series of 3-6 episodes. A little script-doctoring and a better set would work wonders.

The Selection (2013)

I cannot stress enough: this version begins with a sex scene between Maxom and a servant

Okay, I got ahead of myself; it actually begins with another hunger-games-esque black screen with text on it, text which reads “Someday, in the future”, which is read aloud by a woman's voice.

We zoom in on a much roomier-looking castle on a hill, as a random whip sound effect plays (leading into the sex scene, in which no whips are present)

All the female servants in the palace are dressed in sexy maid costumes and I wish I was kidding

The world map explaining the history of Illea is CONFUSING AS HELL, but maybe they hadn't nailed down all the details yet. I'm genuinely not sure

ANTONY HEAD?

Aspen is introduced tied to a St Andrew's cross and being watched over by a guard. America asks the guard to free him, he chases her through the streets, she circles back and cuts Aspen down

America's selection is similar to the 2012 pilot, except Aspen is present. America asks her mom why she'd enter her into the selection when “You know I'm with Aspen”, so uh, I guess they're not keeping it a secret here.

There's also no mention of Aspen being of a lower caste than her, nor of America having a job other than the vague title of "laboring class" which hangs over them all, vaguely

This is a masterclass in editing and pacing. The dialogue is okay, but the added geopolitics make no sense. Any issues with this are smoothed over by the fact that the plot keeps moving forwards at a breakneck pace to keep you distracted.

The lack of breathing room would probably be too confusing for an audience who wasn't already familiar with The Selection

The set here is absolutely beautiful but unfortunately it gives me Merlin vibes, and casting Antony Head as the king does not help with this.

Maxon attempts to pull a Mr Darcy. He then tells America that if she runs away with Aspen, the guards will beat him to a pulp and they'll both spend the rest of their lives in prison. America suggests that she make the monarchy look good so the working class don't side with the rebels. Looks like we're going full Hunger Games.

Celeste's handmaiden seems way too devoted to her; they turn out to be lovers

Just when you think Maxon might start redeeming himself, we see the palace guards swarm Aspen and kicking him. Maxom stands nearby on his horse overseeing this so there's no question of whether he did it or not

Final rating: 6/10, I would absolutely watch another episode of this. It was an absolute mess, but I've seen teen wolf, so I'm not gonna pretend I'm above it.

This feels like the kind of pilot which would get greenlit just to attract hateviewers.

Summary:

Neither protagonist had red hair and neither adaptation was trying particularly hard to give it to her (2012: dark red box dye. 2013: blonde!)

These actors are doing their best and some of them even seem to be having fun (good for them)

In the 2013 pilot, the writers lampshade America running around “like an action hero”, but she promptly forgets how to do that by the midpoint of the episode, so w/e

It feels like the 2013 pilot was a reworking of the 2012 pilot, because there were too many similarities carried over from one script to another which weren't present in the original book, like Fiona having a secret relationship.

I forgot to mention that Aspen has a brother in the 2013 pilot. He seems to be adapted from the palace guard who has a relationship with one of the contestants in a later book.

I can't get over how fucking weird of a decision it is to make the kind and likeable love interest into a power-corrupt despot, but it does feel more true to an actual monarchy. I assume they were trying to give Maxon a bad-boy vibe, which doesn't make much sense because that's supposed to be Aspen's whole deal.

There was a whole subplot in both pilots where an advisor character is revealed to be working with the rebels at the end of the episode

Extremely funny to me that the 2012 pilot makes a point of mentioning that sex before marriage is illegal and the 2013 pilot opens with premarital sex with the prince regent

[dreamersparacosm]

austin butler - into you

warnings ; smut. what did u think this was gonna be????

prompt ; in which you and austin butler are co-stars in the new elvis biopic, and it leads to some sexual tension on and off set. 

a/n ; first writing in over 3 years but this movie was enough to make me return to the writing scene, so, here goes nothing. requests are open!

part two

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

One of the weirdest things about becoming an actress was working with people you saw on screens, at galas, red carpet events, etc. You would pass them on the carpet, take one glance at them, and not think much of it. For example, you currently were working on the film Elvis, a documentary about the King of Rock and Roll. Lucky you, your co-star was none other than Austin Butler. You had seen him at multiple red carpet events, and you always thought he seemed a bit pretentious. However, you two have been working together for two months so far, and apparently there could be more than what meets the eye. 

It was a big transition for you, moving to Australia to work on a film you were really passionate about. You were secluded from the rest of your family and the world, only keeping up through pictures and cryptic messages from your friends. Not only was it a big transition, but you were also recently single. You broke up with your boyfriend to move to Australia - well, not precisely. He broke up with you. Details not necessary. Regardless, you took the role as Priscilla Presley to advance your career and play an influential role that meant a lot to others. And, there you were. Filming a movie like this was not only for yourself, but to prove everyone who doubted you wrong. 

Another day of filming had wrapped up, and today, your scenes had required you to make out with Austin Butler more times than you could count. You were currently scouting the food tables by set, hoping to devour a donut secretly while no one was looking. Suddenly, you felt a body slide in next to you, reaching out to grab a sandwich nearby. You looked up, smiling when you noticed it was Austin. The two of you weren’t necessarily close, but you had bonded over breaking up with your significant others recently. Everyone, and you mean everyone, knew about him and Vanessa Hudgens. Tragic, really. You could relate. You also bonded because you had practiced making out about 10,000 times for a chemistry read. So, maybe you were close. “I have to say, this sandwich is worse than yesterday’s,” He broke the silence, chewing with a hint of disgust on his face. 

You laughed, replying “Oh I know, that’s why I’m scouting these donuts over here. Can’t go wrong,” you finally located them, picking one up and taking a bite of it. He watched as the powder exploded over your face; mouth and nose. 

“Geez, you’re quite the delicate eater,” He joked. “Must be why the boyfriend left, eh?”

“Shut up,” you scoffed, slapping his arm. “I’ll have you know, I can eat politely. Just not when it involves powder or sauces… or seasonings..”

He rolled his eyes again, chuckling softly to himself before walking over to speak to one of the cameramen. You couldn’t lie to yourself and say that you weren’t attracted to him. However, what actress wasn’t attracted to their coworker at least once? You had worked with Dylan O’Brien previously on a film, and your attraction had actually manifested into a drunken hookup. Again, far too common. But Austin was a little different, if you were being honest with yourself. He was kind, funny, and was always down to go over lines with you. And… also incredibly attractive. 

There were times where you would catch him looking at you from across the room, or make eye contact awkwardly while you both talked to other people. You’re sure he had his fair share of off-screen hookups, but no need to ruin a friendship, right? 

                                                             +

It was the next day, and you had yet again managed to kiss Austin over 20,000 times. This last kiss was quite the passionate one, leaving your mind reeling with thoughts that might had not been legal in some countries. The way he cupped your face, gazed deep into your eyes, it was cruel. To think, it was just two characters playing a role. 

“Cut!” Baz Luhrmann, your director, yelled out. “Another amazing, AMAZING, scene, Austin and [Y/N]! I cannot deny the chemistry between you two.” 

“Hey, it’s all her,” Austin pointed towards you. “I’m just a prop of her affection.” 

You pushed his shoulder, and you almost flinched at the electricity between your touch. You were constantly playing with him, pushing him around like an elementary school student with a crush. “He just gazes into my eyes ever-so-lovingly, and I am overcome with love,” you pretended to swoon, making the crew laugh. 

“Keep up this act and the two of you will have yourselves nominated for Oscar’s,” Baz encouraged before walking off to discuss with the cameramen. 

“Oh god, I haven’t even thought about getting nominated for anything,” you spoke under your breath, but Austin heard you. You had been nominated twice for an Oscar before, but never won anything. 

“Me either. I don’t even think I’m doing that good to even get nominated,” he agreed. There it was again. The boy that you thought was pretentious was actually humble, and he didn’t realize that his acting was actually monumental for the role. 

“Are you kidding?” You turned to face him, a look of disbelief plastered on your face. “You literally carry every scene we do together. You’re practically Elvis.” 

He blushed a little at your comment, smiling and looking down at his feet, “Damn, that means a lot coming from someone who was nominated for an Oscar two times.” 

“You knew that?” You scrunched up your brows, shocked that he even knew who you were before this film. When he introduced himself the first day of the table read, you didn’t think he had any clue of what movies you were in. 

“Don’t worry, I do my research on all the pretty girls I work with,” He smirked lightly before walking away. You were left with your mouth gaping open. That was the first time he had ever actually flirted with you to the point where you could be sure he was. He had opened the flood gates for even more flirting, possibly sexual innuendos. 

And, that is exactly what happened. 

For the next two weeks, stolen glances escalated into promiscuous touches, and little flirty comments into bold, outright statements. At this point, even the crew and the rest of the cast were beginning to catch on. The crew would gossip on the sidelines wondering when the two of you would finally hook up. Now, every time you two kissed on set, it had a hint of passion and longing behind it. It ached your core and burnt your insides. 

One night, you were in your hotel room, watching a rerun of an old television show. You had on a white silk nightgown that was gifted to you from your parents after you won your first award. It was almost a little too short, but it was good enough for you to sleep in your room. 

The cast and crew stayed in the same hotel, and oftentimes you would run into them when getting a midnight snack. You didn’t mind the constant company; it made filming less lonely, especially since you had replaced your ex-boyfriend with your new eating habits. 

You laid comfy in your bed when you were suddenly jostled from your thoughts by a knock on the door. You furrowed your brows, confused as to who could knock on your door at this late night hour. You shrugged your shoulders, getting up and unlocking the door without checking the peephole. 

You opened the door to reveal Austin Butler. 

He had on a white t-shirt with a silver chain on, and boxers. His hair was disheveled and he had a small smirk on his face that didn’t seem like it was leaving. Oh god, you thought to yourself. Who looks this good at this hour? “H-hi, what are you doing here?” You found yourself in a vulnerable position, unable to form coherent words at the sight of him looking like this at your doorstep. 

“Thought I’d stop by. I couldn’t sleep tonight,” he spoke in a tone much darker than normal. His Elvis accent had impacted his voice greatly, and it was even more attractive than you thought. 

“You don’t have anyone else to bother at this hour?” You joked, regaining your composure and propping yourself against the door. 

“I mean, I’d rather bother you if that’s alright,” His eyes had a tiny sparkle in them. You couldn’t even look away from the constant eye contact he held. 

“Am I signing myself up for a night of teasing and bullying?” You took a step forward, feeling more confident. You knew this was wrong on so many levels, but you couldn’t help yourself. He was just so damn handsome. 

“Depends, sweetheart,” you shuddered at the pet name that fell out of his mouth. “I’ll do whatever you want to do.” 

The submissive words that exited his mouth felt dirty. They could be innocent in other context, however, him in his boxers didn’t really leave much else. “Really? And here I thought you were here to make me do what you want to do.” 

“And what is it you think I want you to do?” Now, he took one step closer. One more step and he would be touching your face. You were going to lose your composure again if he got any closer to you. You could smell the faint cologne left over on him and it was driving you mad. 

You slyly smiled, looking up at him with submissive eyes, “I think you want me to fuck you.” 

What the hell am I doing? You thought to yourself. Multiple curse words flew through your brain. You promised yourself you wouldn’t do this again but the chemistry was too undeniable to reject him. His eye contact still hasn’t broken yours, and he took one more step towards you. You could see every freckle on his face, every fleck in his eye. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Before you even had a chance to think or move, he slammed the door behind him, pushing you up against the wall and smashing his lips onto yours. It was messy, tongues colliding after weeks of sexual tension. You couldn’t even breathe, your heart jumping out of your chest as he pulled your arms above your head, pinning them against the wall. 

You moaned out lightly as his hand roamed to your neck, firmly clasping his hand around it and moving your chin up to kiss down your neck. You had a moment of clarity that was clouded by the wetness that had pooled in your underwear. “Fuck, what are we doing?” You spoke, almost coming out like a whine. He kissed up your neck, back to your lips before pulling away. 

“I want you, [Y/N]. Bad. I don’t give a fuck if this ruins everything. I can’t stop thinking about you,” he says in a rushed tone, eager to kiss you again. That was enough confirmation for you and you grabbed his face and kissed him again. You jumped up, allowing  yourself to wrap your legs around his waist. He was bulkier than before; he had worked out a lot for his role. Your fingers roamed down his arms, feeling the biceps he worked so hard for. You could feel him moving towards your bed, lips still intertwined. 

You two dropped down on the bed, his body weight on top of you as he pulled your legs out from under him. His fingers traced your leg, feeling up the hem of your nightgown. At this point, you were soaking wet. It took all your night to just not come right then and there. His fingers dipped into the waistband of your underwear, his thumb brushing over your clit gently. You gasped at the sudden contact, pulling away from his lips to look into his eyes. Maintaining eye contact, he peeled down your panties, down your shins, and over your feet until you were bare in front of him. “God, this little thing is so fucking hot,” he referred to the silk nightgown. He kneeled down, kissing up your leg before getting to your thigh. You were restless, small moans exiting your mouth. 

“Oh!” You gasped as he lifted your legs over his shoulders, nose brushing against the inside of your thighs, your clit hot and throbbing in front of him. As he tasted you for the first time, it was everything he imagined and more. Sweet on his tongue. You let out an audible moan as his fingers entered your aching core while sucking your clitoris with his mouth. A fire struck your veins, your fingers desperately grabbing for his hair as he licked and sucked, your back curling as he brought you closer to the edge. 

He could tell you were close, his fingers pumping in and out of you. He could feel your walls beginning to tighten, numerous moans and curse words falling from your lips consistently. He removed his mouth from your clit, taking his fingers away as well. He looked up at you, your mouth parted open and cheeks red with desire and agony. Seeing you in this state was everything Austin wanted and more. “Why d-did you stop?” 

He slowly began to kiss down your thigh, saying, “Because you’re going to come when I tell you to.” 

“Please, Austin,” you pleaded, eyes begging for more. He moved towards you, his chest on yours. 

“Don’t worry, baby, I’ll give you what you really want.” 

You grabbed his face to kiss him again, tasting yourself on his lips. You hastily reached down to slide his shirt off, and then his boxers off, and you were met by his erect cock, springing free. He was way bigger than you expected, and you almost wondered how you were going to fit him inside of you. With no hesitation, you flipped the two of you over, your waist hovering over his as you leaned down to kiss him again. He was shocked by your dominance, moving his hands from your legs up to your waist to slowly remove the nightgown off your body. 

You began grinding against him, groans exiting his mouth as he massaged your breasts. Now, those were a different story. He couldn’t keep his hands off them. They were perfect and just as he imagined they would be ever since you walked on set. He moved between your bodies with his free hands, grabbing his cock and sliding it through your folds until it was aligned with your entrance. You could feel him teasing you as he moved the tip between your wet folds slowly. “Fuck, please. I need you inside of me,” You begged.

“How bad do you want it?” He whispered against your lips. His tip slipped into you with one smooth move, showing no sign of moving. You tried to slide down on him but he would not let you.

“Austin, please, baby. I want you so bad. I want you deep inside of me,” That was all he needed to hear, and he released his cock as you slid down on him. You both moaned at the same time, and your walls wrapped him warmly. You were paralyzed, adjusting to his size. His hands were gripping your hips as you started rolling towards him. You were in charge, and he liked it. The way your tits bounced up and down as you sped up, your eyes never breaking eye contact with his. 

"You are so fucking tight, sweetheart," He grabbed your hips, beginning to control the tempo as he thrusted up into you. Your hand moved towards your clit, slowly making figure eights around your soaked core. 

"Austin," You whined as he went so fast all you could hear was the sound of skin slapping, your tits mesmerizing him as he watched you crumble. 

"Say my name again,” He watched as your head leaned back, eyes shut tight. 

“Austin," You said, his name coming out in a whining moan. You could feel yourself nearing closer and closer to the edge, and he could once again feel your walls tightening around him.  He knew he wouldn’t last much longer in this position, so he flipped you over with his hard cock still inside of you, your back pressed into the mattress. He resumed his previous speech, slowly placing one of your legs on his shoulder. 

“Oh my god, yes,” you moaned out, your eyes still squeezed shut, “That feels so fucking good.” 

“Look at me when I’m fucking you,” His tone was dark and you almost didn’t even recognize him when you looked up at him. His jet-black hair was pooled over his eyes as he pounded into you, sweat heading his forehead. He was gripping your hips so hard you were sure you were going to be bruised the next day. He put your other leg over his shoulder and you were certain that was the position you were going to come in. 

You were an absolute mess, squirming and moaning as he could feel your walls clench around him. “Oh my god, I’m going to come,” you exclaimed. “P-please, can I come?” 

“Do you want to come for me?” 

“Yes, please,” You whimpered, breathing heavily as the burning pit in your abdomen grew. “I’m so fucking close.” 

“Come for me, [Y/N].” His voice was enough to send you over the edge. He watched as you worked through your orgasm, toes curling and back arching off the bed as you tried to maintain eye contact with him. He could feel his own release coming close to, biting his lip as he tried to suppress his moans. 

He pulled out just as he was about to explode, motioning for you to go over to him. You sat on your knees, cupping your tits together as he let out a string of curse words. “Fuck, [Y/N]. I’m going to come, baby,” he moaned out as his warm liquids painted your chest. He looked so submissive in this angle, his chest heaving as he met his release. 

The two of you fell backwards almost immediately, chests rising and falling as you took in what the two of you just did. Thoughts ran rampant in your brain as you realized you two could’ve possibly ruined the chemistry between your characters. You could hear him still breathing heavily beside you as he spoke his first words, “I’ve wanted to fuck you like that for a while.”

You looked over at him, eyes gazing over his naked body. “You did?”

“You were my celebrity crush, you know.”

You sat up a little, propping yourself up on his shoulders and leaning over to look him in the eyes. “Seriously? I kinda thought you had no idea who I was. Plus, you were dating Vanessa so I didn’t think you noticed anybody.” 

Possibly bad timing to mention the ex. 

He chucked at your thought process, “Well, yeah, but after that, I always counted you as my celebrity crush. I would notice you on the red carpets. You always had a boyfriend, and I guess so did I, but it's weird how this worked out.” 

You lightly smiled, looking up at him as you rested your head on his chest, “I guess so. But, this can’t be anything, you know that, right?” You hated to be the bearer of bad news, but it didn’t feel right. The two of you were co-workers and everyone knew how bad it was for co-workers to be involved. It could impact the entirety of filming. 

“Yeah. We’re just rebounding from our exes,” He agreed. “It’s for the best anyway.” 

You couldn’t help but deny the twinge of pain in his voice. 

“Exactly, some good old-fashioned sex. Which you’re pretty good at if I say so,” you joked as you began to get up to put your nightgown back on. “I do have to go to bed though, and I don’t think I can let you sleep here for obvious reasons, so…” 

You trailed off, slipping your nightgown over your body once more. “Right, of course,” he spoke as he stood up and snatched his shirt off the floor. “Just to be clear, you are going to let me fuck you like that again?” 

You smirked at him, moving towards him slowly. “Oh, absolutely, we are doing that again.” 

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

masterlist + request 

[syrena-del-mar]

Third-Child Syndrome: Birth Order Theory in La Pluie

Every week I come back to La Pluie and every episode I just leave it feeling more and more hurt on behalf of Tien. Honestly, I feel like I go into every episode with a bated breath, hoping that Tien will come out of it unscathed. The worst part is that nobody is purposefully inflicting the pain on him, it's simply a byproduct of his upbringing and surroundings.

There's something intriguing about his own placement in his family. He's neither the youngest nor the oldest, and even though he's technically a middle child alongside Tai, he doesn't have the unique attribute of hearing his soulmate when it rains. He's not resentful, but even he admits his own jealousy to Tai about having a soulmate out there. Not only is it a connection to a romantic partner, but arguably a connection with his own parents, who share the same condition.

In the family, his placement isn't distinctive, so he turns to being headstrong. He's loud. He's too much. He has to be if he wants to stand out in his family, yet he's told to learn to calm down even when he puts everyone's needs above his own. He's overlooked. Behind all his boisterousness, he's starting to crack under the pressure of being the middleman of the family and it's finally starting to become apparent.

Appearance of the Birth Order Theory in La Pluie

The birth order theory argues that within a family structure, each member has to adapt to the roles to ensure the longevity of the family by reducing competition and establishing cooperation; essentially, siblings taking on the role of Darwin's finches, evolution for survival of the family. The family dynamics that develop within childhood also develop into personality difference between siblings depending on birth order. Whether there is actual evidence, aside from anecdotal evidence, supporting this theory in its application on individuals in real life is mostly irrelevant in this case, because often you can find the application of this theory in character tropes.

Now immediately, just from the first episode of La Pluie, there is an established "pecking order" within the Saeng family while they're, presumably, having family night and watching a movie. The two oldest sons sitting right at the sides of both parents, sharing space with them at an equal level on the couch. The two youngest at the bottom, making themselves comfortable on the floor, with no where else to sit. Yet, as is commonly seen with the youngest child, Jan demands for the attention and love of his parents. Meanwhile, Tien remains in his section of the floor, no intention of being directly involved or connected with the rest of his family, aside from the hands of his oldest brother on his shoulders.

Not to mention the difference in the sibling order within the nuclear family can also be observed simply through the significance of each of the names the siblings have been given. [Thank you to @recentadultburnout for this great post providing us the meaning of all the names]. While all of his three brothers have astral names, we have Saengtien which means candlelight. Candlelight is typically symbolic of light/warmth in the darkness of life, the security that comes with the light it shines, and of sacrifice. The longer the wick burns, the more of the wax disappears. A flame on a candle can easily disappear into smoke if not well taken care of. If nothing else, it's a fitting name and depicts exactly what role he plays in his family.

Understanding the Third-Child Syndrome

The Third Child Syndrome is typically understood to be a way to describe the theory that the third-born child in a family of several siblings is typically going to be neglected in comparison to their older or younger siblings, due to the fact that parents are unable to fully provide the third-child with adequate attention and support. Typically, the third-born lacks in receiving a much of the parents attention, so they end up clamoring to get that missing attention by doing anything they can, whether that mean being the jokester of the family or developing negative behaviors [i.e., anger and screaming] to gain some of the missing attention.

The third child is, typically, born into a family that already has a structure that has been established, so they negotiate their sense of self to be able to establish harmonious relationships with their siblings and parents. They are found to have lower self-esteem due to a lack of uniqueness in their birth position. While the first child is doted on, the second child establishes their position by making one-to-one relationships in the family or forming teams of two, excluding the rest. Here, the third child instead gains attention by helping others first before himself. As a result, many times the third child may find themselves feeling distant, aloof, detached and emotionally neutral from the family and the troubles that they face. Consistently, the third child will choose to not 'take sides' when it comes with familial problems, so that they don't shake up the power relationships that have been created. Typically, they find comfort in the relationships they form outside of their family because it provides a sense of control that they lack in the family home.

Saengtien and His Constant Need to Self-Sacrifice

Now you can just doom scroll through the Saengtien tag and you'll find countless examinations of Tien and his constant need to put others before himself, particularly Tai. Well I'm going to add to that.

As I stated above, even when we see the Saeng family all together (prior to the divorce), we see that Tien takes the role of being sidelined, enjoying the hecticness of his family while being detached. Then when we reach the news of the divorce, a heavy topic, one that is very literally splitting the family apart with the sons being divided by the two parents. Made worse that they were soulmates that didn't work out, a 'promised' happily-ever-after that ultimately met its demise for one reason or another. We bear witness to the fall out of the choice that their parents made and how it affects the family, with both parents barely holding back their own emotions, Tai storming off, Neua and Jan is various stages of emotional turmoil. Yet, when we pan over to Tien, we see a trace of a grimace but no other reaction to the new.

Now I'm not saying that Tien didn't take the divorce as hard as the rest of his family. Yet, as the third-born, it's pretty obvious to see that even behind the 'ruckus' and 'boisterous' exterior that he takes on, he's likely the main mediator of the family. Rather than crying or getting angry about the news of the divorce, he is rather emotionally neutral while facing this news in comparison to the rest of his brothers. He likely compartmentalizes and reserves his own emotions, knowing badly everyone else is taking the news. Instead of also breaking down, he chases after Tai because he knew how hard Tai would take the news, as the only other member of the family with the same impairment.

Not to mention the small detail of having a notepad ready to go in his pocket. He's always prepared for his older brother. He doesn't add to the tragedy that is his family falling apart, instead he reaches out to make sure that his brother okay. He reassure Tai that he's not alone in that room, that he is just right outside for him. Instead of rejoining the rest of his family, Tien chooses to stay right by his side. Instead of seeking comfort from his other brothers, he gathers himself in a hug, knees to chest. The only support he receives is from that closed door. His priority was never his own comfort or coming to terms of what the divorce means for his family, instead it was to ensure that Tai wasn't suffering alone in the silence of his room.

Years later, we see that Tien's relationship with Tai is still strong. Tien verbally expresses and reassures Tai that if he tries to disappear, he will be the one that go after Tai and find him. We also see that he's the one that likely is the most in contact with the rest of the siblings. He's the one that brings up the idea of reaching out to their other brothers to find out what their mother wants. He's likely the main bridge of this family and he's more than aware of it. Tien plays the role well, while he may run his mouth and be a bit reckless, he's also perceptive. He's aware of how sensitive Tai's mental state is, how isolated his brother has made himself, so he verbally assures him that he will always be there for him and even invites him out to accompany him to the bookstore. He likely knows that Tai enjoys book-shopping and the invitation comes after he lets him know that their mother wants to meet.

Question is: Who would be the first to notice that Tien is also fragile behind the prickly exterior that he puts on? Who would notice if Tien ran away? Who would be the one to find him?

Negatives of Being the Third Child: Saengtien's Own Troubles

The negatives of a third child often deal with the over-willingness to sacrifice their sense-of-self to secure the needs of others. The more the third child cedes their personal identity to secure the happiness of others, the more they are likely to ignore their own pains until it becomes too late. Often Third-born children don't receive the same amount of praise or recognition as their older siblings, and at times, their younger children. Parents may be less demanding when it comes to the third child, but when the third child doesn't live up to expectation, they are often subject to harsher criticism from the family.

Now, Saengtien is brash and a loudmouth at times, but honestly when you one of four siblings... who wouldn't be? When you're compromising your own self for the happiness of others, you have to let go of that energy in other ways, Tien's way just happens to manifest through his rambunctious antics. The divorce occurred while Tien was still in high school, I assume from the uniform that he was wearing, so it's not farfetched that he likely coped by skipping school and that affected his grades. His mother uses his prior actions of acting up against him. It's not surprising that he has developed a level of brazenness when his own mother doesn't speak all that well of him (even when he's the one that got Tai to show up!)

I truly believe that the depiction of Tai and Tien's sibling relationship is very accurate to how many real siblings are. You can tell they love each other deeply under all that teasing, that said, words can hurt. Tai seems to have a rather dismissive attitude towards Tien when his more loudmouth personality seeps through, telling him that he needs to learn to calm down. Tai, in all likelihood, does not mean to hurt Tien or his feelings, but small seemingly insignificant, passing comments, especially made by the people that you love, can build and really harm one's self-esteem. More so when the person, that those small comments that are directed at, doesn't have a strong sense of self.

So Tien starts believing the negativity, that maybe he would be a better person if he was calmer, that maybe the grades that he receives are symbolic of what he's worth, that his passion for what he studies isn't enough, that his value is intrinsically tied with the grades he doesn't get. He internalizes every negative thing that people have said about him and he himself underestimates his own talent and passion, as a result. The explosion with Lomfon when they were first partnered together was only the tip of the iceberg of how Tien really sees himself.

Even when he's nagged at and told these slightly snide comments by the people that he loves, he still defends them. He asks Tai to hear their mother out, to give her a chance to talk instead of automatically storming out after hearing the news of her remarriage. He waves away Tai's comments regarding how he should calm down and instead invites him out to go to the bookstore. Words hurt, even more when the ones throwing them at you are your own. Even though he unconsciously taking them to heart, he's still the one playing mediator, speaking up for others, but never for himself.

For the loudmouth that everyone says Tien is, he never seems to be able to advocate for himself.

[@heretherebedork did a great break down on Tien's self-deprecation, which you can read here. Honestly though, go through their Tien x Lomfon tag because all their metas about them are amazing, week after week.]

A Middle-Child's Relationship with Love and Being Cared For

According to some studies, the middle child in relationships can be hyper-independent and self-reliant due to the their upbringing of not having an exact place to fit in. As a result, even though they are able to compromise well, they're often not able to clearly communicate their own needs and often end up hiding their own emotions to smooth any situation over. Since they have a tendency to bottle their feelings up and avoid confrontation, they often don't seek for comfort from others.

As much as Tien is able to speak on behalf of people and give rather decent advice when prompted or unprompted (i.e., "You got yourself in this mess. Unfuck it."), there's not many people lining up to be Tien's advocate or sounding board. While he takes on the role of being the caretaker, the mediator, his own needs end up on the backburner. Tien doesn't have that person to lean on; seemingly, everyone takes his headstrongness at face value without examining if it's a façade that Tien puts onto keep his deeper emotions in check.

Even though the first time Tien heard these words, an offering to have someone to lean on, was merely part of a script, it was words that Tien needed to hear. That there is someone out there that would be willing to listen to him. That his mere existence isn't solely to hear the complaints of others and that there is someone that would one day provide him the same comfort that he provides his family. That there is someone that will be there for him when he most needs it.

Tien has held it together so much better than anyone has given him credit for, yet his own family tends to treat him as simply the loud or the careless one. They care about him, but they don't necessarily care for him or his needs. His emotional needs are never quite put as a priority and the way he melted under Lomfon's gaze with scripted words, really shows how much he needs someone he can depend on, even if he didn't fully realize it himself.

Prior to Episode 8, each time that Tien has received any semblance of comfort with Lomfon has been due to different pretenses. A film project, a reason to quiet him down from arguing with a professor, a place to sleep while he's drunk. The care that he was being shown was never solely because Lomfon actually cared for Tien, rather there was a transaction that was taking place.

Lomfon is finally seeing a different side to Tien, beyond the impudent exterior but rather as someone who is under constant pressure. He saw a snippet of just how far Tien would go to protect Tai in episode 7, but episode 8 really puts into perspective for him just how much Tien cares for Tai. Like Tien had told Tai before, if he disappears, he would be the one to go after him; he does exactly that. It likely hurt Tien that much more that he didn't even consider that Tai had gone to the spot their parents had proposed, because he knows Tai so well and knows that a potential betrayal from Patts would break him. Yet, he didn't make the connection instantaneously. So Tien falls back on blaming himself, on calling himself the asshole. He believes that he bares the responsibility of taking care of Tai after seeing all the pain he has gone through and that he is a failure.

And for the second time, Lomfon is seeing just how self-deprecating and how fragile Tien actually is behind the sharp words that he throws. He sees just how much Tien is able to love and care for his brother, to the point that he would endanger himself to find him without a second thought. He realizes this and tells him to calm down. While mirroring what Tai had told Tien in episode 2, this time it's more than a gentle dig at Tien's personality and about how he reacts, but rather he states it so that they could put their heads together and figure out how to find Tai.

Lomfon is finally seeing and looking at Tien, likely starting to understand who Tien actually is under the prickly exterior. Unlike in the film project where Lomfon's offer of being there for Tian was simply scripted, this time Lomfon is saying it out of his own free-will. He's attempting to ground Tien, holding him back and up. No longer does Tien simply have a wooden door to lean on, instead he has someone that he loves showing AND telling him, that he can depend on him. So he turns into Lomfon's embrace, because for once he can't pretend that everything is alright, he can't mediate his way out of his brother missing. Tien is finally being offered comfort rather than offering it and he takes it, because he needs it to believe that everything will turn out alright. For the first time, he isn't left to deal with the mess of his life alone.

That's why it's going to hurt so much more when Tien find out that Lomfon has his own soulmate(s). Tien, who has only had a taste of what it means of loving someone and being cared for, would do anything to guarantee the happiness of others before his own.

Life imitates Art: Foreshadowing for the Third Child

I think I've probably killed the point that Tien is self-sacrificing at this point, but it scares me to think of how Tien is going to take finding out that Lomfon is the 'soulmate' of Tai and Patts. Especially since he's already clocked that Lomfon is at least a bit interested in Tai.

Tien has finally had a small (smidgen) taste of what it means to be cared for. He's already starting to come to terms that he might be in love with Lomfon. Yet, he's still the biggest advocate that those that lose their hearing and hear the voices of another person means that they are destined to be together.

Like @wen-kexing-apologist stated, the relationship between Lomfon is going to be interesting, because it's so different from all the relationships that we've seen La Pluie depict. While it would be your standard romance, of learning to love each other and the progression from that, in any other drama, it's far different in La Pluie. I wonder if it's possible to move on when you have someone (in this case two people, worse when one of them is your brother) stuck in your lover's head every single time it rains. And it rains a lot in Thailand. We've already seen how that turned out for Patts and Nara.

While Lomfon might be willing to contradict and find that it's some scientific phenomenon, and ultimately chose who he actually, I just can't imagine that Tien would come to terms with that notion very easily. I don't think the difficulty that Tien would face would be like that of Nara's own fears when she was with Patts, but rather because it wouldn't be shocking to see Tien struggle with feeling guilt. Tien is someone who has conditioned to ignore his own needs in favor of the happiness of others. Now add in that Lomfon might have 'soulmates' and one of him being his brother, he's might actually believe that he's robbing two people important to him of their potential happiness.

And that brings me to the scene that Lomfon and Tien worked together on for the film project. Originally, the only importance I attributed on the words Lomfon's character (Gonmek) offered to Tien's character (Tongfah) was that it was an offering a place where he could seek comfort, which I thought Tien needed to hear at the time. Now, going back to that scene, I caught that these words were being offered after Tongfah had disappeared from Gonmek's life for years and had gone without communication due to family issues that had arisen.

Even though Tien might fight for the happiness of his brother, he doesn't seem all that big in fighting for his own, because he likely believes that he'll be able create his own elsewhere (i.e., his film friend group) without hurting the happiness of those he holds dear. I hope that I'm making parallels out of nothing, but there's something to be said that all the lines that deal with "disappearing" have either been said by or Tien. If we take the Nora Roberts book that Tai was reading into consideration, it's not too far of a stretch to think Rafe MacKade was an allusion to Tien [see my Nora Roberts x La Pluie meta here]; Rafe had left his hometown for years prior to returning. It wouldn't be outrageous to find Tien extracting himself from Lomfon's life, especially due to his strong belief in the notion of soulmates and his willingness to sacrifice himself if it means the happiness of others. Similar to the Tongfah and Rafe MacKade, Tien might find himself leaving for his own reasons.

If Tien does end up leaving, I can only hope he finds his way back after finding his own happiness.

Final Thoughts

I'm not ready for the amount of pain that Tien is going to be subjected to. Almost every character that loses their hearing in the rain has discussed how lonely and alienating it can be, but I find the character most alienated to be Tien. For all his intensity and volume, he is the one that is never being heard, he's the one unintentionally isolated just due to mere circumstance. Still, he's the one that holds the most hope. With a story that surrounds love and soulmates, it's ironic that the strongest believer in the idea of soulmates is the one without one.

When Tien said, "If someone can hear your voice when it rains, and you get exactly that one's voice, if the hearing loss guy lacks a soulmate, his world will be filled with emptiness," all I could think about whether that is how he currently feels about his own love. This man is surrounded by soulmates, he grew up with the idea that soulmates were innately perfect for each other, the ultimate love. Yet, here he is, collateral to a divorce that isn't perfectly understandable, but he still believes strongly that the loss of hearing is bound to lead to your soulmate or else that just signifies desolation. I wonder if that's how he finds himself to be? Empty? Hollow? Purposeless? I can't help but think that he needs to hold onto the belief of soulmates to accept his own future.

I don't think that Lomfon's interest in Tai and his ability to hear Tai and Patts will breed any type of ill-will between Tai and Tien, but I can definitely see Tien running away from Lomfon. Running away from his feelings. Running away from what they could be. Instead, he'll do anything and everything to guarantee Tai's happiness, even if that means burying his own.

Would it be too much to ask for Saengnuea to also lightly threaten Lomfon on Tien’s behalf?

[queer-geordie-nerd]

A nuanced and insightful interview with Mira from November 1996, in the middle of filming S4 of Babylon 5 - it touches on her war time experiences in Yugoslavia and the events that drove her from her home, and the similarities between her own life and that of Delenn. Once again, I am bowled over by the incredible integrity and courage she possessed:

STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND

It's the one subject that pains Mira Furlan to discuss. The one subject that invades her privacy. The one subject that so violates her very soul.

And yet, it's the one subject that can't be avoided.

Nearly five years to the day of this interview, Furlan left her homeland of Yugoslavia, which was about to be engulfed in a bloody and horrific civil war. Ethnic passions restrained by decades of Communist rule had been unleashed by its collapse. Fascistic Nationalists arose to take its place, many of them former Communists. In their lust for power, they tore apart a nation of disparate republics and peoples that had once been a dream of poets, intellectuals and writers.

As one of Yugoslavia's most prestigious actors, Furlan risked her life and fortune to perform in cities on both sides, in Croatia and in Serbia. She hoped that she could be a bridge of unity, a symbol of pacifism, a clarion warning what terrible price their country would pay for unleashing the war their leaders were about to start.

Except for her husband, Goran Gajic, no one supported her.

Her colleagues abandoned her. Nationalist demagogues threatened to have her killed. Anonymous death threats were left on her answering machine.

She could not go silently. Before she left Yugoslavia, Furlan picked up her pen and wrote a farewell letter to her country. The letter was published a few days later in Zagreb (the capital of Croatia) and Belgrade (the capital of Serbia), cities on opposite sides of the coming war. It began:

“I hereby wish to thank my co-citizens who have joined so unreservedly in this small, marginal and apparently not particularly significant campaign against me. Although marginal, it will change and mark my whole life. Which is, of course, totally irrelevant in the context of the death, destruction, devastation and bloodchilling crimes within which our life now goes on.

This is happening, however, to the one and only life I have. It seems that I've been chosen for some reason to be the filthy rag everyone uses to wipe the mud off their shoes. I am far too desperate to embark on a series of public polemics in the papers. I do, however, feel that I owe myself and my city at least a few words. Like at the end of some clumsy, painful love story, when you keep wanting, wrongly, to explain something more, even though you know at the bottom of your heart that words are wasted; there is no one left to hear them. It is over.”

In Yugoslavia, Furlan was a leading actress of film, television and stage. She appeared in over 25 films, and won two Golden Arenas for Best Actress, their equivalent of the Oscar. Among her acclaimed theatrical roles were Ophelia in Hamlet, Celimene in The Misanthrope, and the title role in Euripides' Helen.

Under socialist rule, the arts were state-funded. "Your star status didn't mean that you were making money. But there were other advantages. Money was not the main obsession. The absence of money gave you a certain degree of creative freedom. We had all the time in the world. Movies were shot forever. Theatre plays were rehearsed forever. I personally was bored with that; things were not quick enough for me. But you had the luxury of having time to explore, to enjoy the creative process. These were the few advantages of living in socialism."

The notion of "freedom" in the arts in a socialist country may come as a surprise to Americans raised on Cold War propaganda asserting the opposite. "With my generation, the Communists were dying off," Furlan said. "Their grip on the artists' community was not as strong as after the war (World War II), when you could be in prison for just saying the wrong sentence. So we didn't feel it. I grew up totally despising them - the so-called them - and not having anything to do with them. And they left me alone. So there was relative freedom. Theatre was free because no one cared, basically. It was so marginal to the cause of the regime that people were left to do what they wanted. Film was much more dangerous, thus much more controlled."

That started to change when the Nationalists came to power. "The Yugoslav Communists didn't have the force that these new Nationalists now have, because these new leaders feel that the world is starting from them. They're creating new realities, new history, new language, new values. There's always this passion in the beginning; as a citizen, you don't want to be touched by that passion, because it can cost you your life."

Life in the former Yugoslavia was a political lifestyle largely unknown to Americans. "It was a double life. People had their own private thoughts. Publicly, they behaved as was prescribed; the majority were members of the Communist Party. Opportunism ruled. I think all Eastern Europeans have that built in — no confidence in any government, in any politicians. But, a contradiction! When Communism collapsed, Nationalism was born out of the old Communism. Trained in opportunism, people easily converted from Communism to Nationalism. That's the irony of it. Nothing has changed. The same people, the same names. The same faces. They just converted, switched just like that. That's what's so ugly in that whole situation. You just watch it and cannot believe that people don't remember what they were saying just two months ago. They didn't learn anything. They actually jumped into the first trap, completely surrendering to those new Nationalist leaders that brought them only pain lsss and devastation."

“I have no other way of thinking. I cannot accept war as the only solution, I cannot force myself to hate, I cannot believe that weapons, killing, revenge, hatred, that such an accumulation of evil will ever solve anything. Each individual who personally accepts the war is in fact an accessory to the crime; must he not then take a part of the guilt for the war, a part of the responsibility?”

"Historically, there were all kinds of frustrations on all sides, among all the peoples of the former Yugoslavia. There was a general feeling that each of these peoples who lived together in the former Yugoslavia had been somehow abused by the others. And there was a lot of truth in that. Nationalism is always partly grounded in truth. The Nationalists' politics manipulated the existing anger and frustration of the people and put their emphasis on that, and that's how the war started. The new Nationalists, who were for the most part converted Communists, took all the media. Journalists, I think, and media in general, bear an incredible responsibility for what happened."

The Babylon 5 episode being filmed during this interview, "The Illusion of Truth," has some eerie parallels. An ISN news crew films a documentary on B5, only to use the footage in a propaganda film for President Clark's fascist regime. It's an allegory for how America was consumed by Senator Joe McCarthy's witch hunts in the 1950s. "Sometimes I'm so appalled by what Joe (Straczynski) knows. I happened to experience a witch hunt — as an object! — but it's nothing new. Old stuff."

Furlan drew the attention of the Nationalists after she travelled from her home in Zagreb, Croatia to Belgrade, Serbia to perform at the annual BITEF Festival. BITEF was an international theatre event attended by actors from across Europe. She believed that her participation was a statement that her profession should not be drawn into supporting any political or national ideas. She felt it was her responsibility to establish bridges and ties, "for the sake of something that would outlive this war and this hatred which is so foreign to me," she wrote at the time. But the political leaders in Croatia were furious with her — and targeted her as an example of what would happen to others who chose the same path. Fearful for their careers, if not for their lives, and perhaps even sympathetic of the Nationalist cause, none of her colleagues spoke up to defend her.

“I think, I know and I feel that it is my duty, the duty of our profession, to build bridges. To never give up on cooperation and community. Not that national community. The Professional community. The human community. And even when things are at their very worst, as they are now, we must insist to our last breath on building and sustaining a bond between people. This is how we pledge to the future. And one day it will come . . .

I was willing and I would still be willing to undertake all and any efforts, if the hatred hadn't suddenly overwhelmed me with its horrendous ferocity, hatred welling from the city I was born in. I am appalled by the force and magnitude of that hatred, by its perfect unanimity, by the fact that there was absolutely nobody who could see my gesture as my defense of the integrity of the profession, as my attempt to defend at least one excellent theatre performance.”

"People's behavior is mainly built on fear. People think, 'Let them destroy her but just leave us alone.' When the media went crazy in Yugoslavia, I was a good example. I was a perfect target. I was a totally unprotected woman. Woman, that's very important. The war propaganda was constantly in search of 'internal enemies' just to homogenize the people, and to put fear in their heads so they could manipulate them. It's interesting that the majority of the 'internal enemies' were women. It's a very misogynist culture. It's a very misogynist world. I happen to be partly Jewish, and that came into the picture nicely. And I was never very obedient in my life and career. I left projects that I didn't really believe in. I made some unexpected choices in my work and in my life. All of that got wrapped up - Liberal. Feminist. Whore. Jew. Everything. The media combined it into this juicy bundle and served it to the people, who devoured it."

Abandoned by her friends and colleagues, and living with the threat of assassination, Furlan and her husband left Yugoslavia on November 15, 1991 for New York. She left behind the open letter explaining her departure.

“I am sending this letter into a void, into darkness, without an inkling of who will read it and how, or in how many different ways it will be misused or abused. Chances are it will serve as food for the eternally hungry propaganda beast. Perhaps someone with a pure heart will read it after all.

I will be grateful to that someone.”

American life and culture were a difficult adjustment, both in her profession and her personal life. Furlan has found the acting profession, indeed the entire entertainment industry, radically different from what she knew. Unlike in Yugoslavia, she found that diverse acting talents in the United States were rarely appreciated, much less rewarded.

"It's a European tradition among actors. Serious actors build their career in the theatre," Furlan said. "It's a completely different thing in America. The theatre is so marginal. The theatre doesn't matter because it's not mass culture. It's not the money-making machine. So yeah, I've learned that. We had a crash course in capitalism in the toughest spot. Hollywood is probably the toughest spot on Earth that way, the most cruel. It's a struggle, it's a fight. It's all about publicity and agents and names. That's what I really hate about being an actor here. I hated many things about acting in Yugoslavia. I was frustrated, and felt hopeless as an actor in socialism. I hated many things there, but I really miss concentrating on my work, which should be enough ideally, and it's not. Here, it's just a tiny part of everything else. Everything else is much more important, and you have to do so much of it yourself because no one else cares. Doing stuff that takes away your energy and your concentration and your precious time. These telephone conversations with people who have no interest in you, who don't have interest in anything but quick and easy money."

Babylon 5 is Furlan's first major television role in the United States; in fact it was one of her first auditions. It was also her introduction to science fiction. "I'm completely new to this whole thing. I knew the basics of science fiction literature — Bradbury, Clarke, just general culture — but there wasn't anything remotely similar to this. I was shocked when I went to my first convention."

The similarities between Furlan's life and Delenn's travails are striking. But it seems that it's no more than an amazing coincidence. According to Furlan, Straczynski didn't even know about her personal history when she was hired to play Delenn. "He surprises me so many times. And sometimes I feel as if he's written something directly for me. But he didn't know anything about me. Nothing. When the series started, we talked and he found out."

Furlan was an only child, raised among adults in a family of university professors. What was it that led her into acting? "It was a game! I always wanted to study languages. I studied English and French when I finished high school. I did them together, languages and acting. I went to the Academy for Film, Theatre and TV, and the University. But it was the other part of me, the part that wants to play, that finally won over the serious part, the one who sits at home and reads and learns and does research. It started as a game, it started as 'Let's play.'

"When I started at the Academy, they always used me for comedy, for light, playful stuff. Then I did a play in which something clicked in me. It was an English play in a famous little avant garde theatre, with only me and another actor. It was a very heavy play about marriage, marriage in three stages, which ends with this woman committing suicide on stage. I was so much younger than the part I played, but it completely opened this world of reality in acting. It started a journey inward for me. Once you experience that, once you open up in that way - people talk about getting in touch with your emotions, that's what you do in acting. That's your main job. That's your profession.

"That's why I miss theatre. That's the beauty of doing theatre. You are in touch with the greatest writers of world literature. Their thoughts, their characters. That's unbeatable. That's a pleasure in itself, no matter in what way it forwards your so-called career. I miss film. I miss having time to try things to discover subtleties, layers, little things. The comforting thing on Babylon 5 is Joe's writing, which sometimes touches the depth of the classic literature."

If Straczynski were to ask her to write a B5 episode, what story would she tell?" I have an image for some reason of the set for The Wizard of Oz. I'm in the middle, kind of a Dorothy figure. On one side is G'Kar, and on the other side is Londo, and we walk towards some incredible adventure. Having them on each side of me would make me feel strong and protected, and I would dare to go anywhere!" She suggests that her cat could play Toto, and we agree that cats are very Minbari.

Babylon 5 is fiction. But much of that fiction is rooted in reality, the reality of our 20th Century. It's easy to turn off the TV each week at the end of the hour, put away the popcorn bowl and say, "Aw, that couldn't happen here." But it has. It does. And it will.

Delenn is a fictional character, but Mira Furlan is not. It's easy for a fictional character to risk her life for a cause. For a living human being with friends, family, and a successful career, that decision is much more difficult. Fiction often poses for its characters the question, "Will you sacrifice all for what you believe?" In the fictional world of Babylon 5, that question is, "Who are you?" Reality rarely presents any of us with that challenge. Few of us will ever know what our answer would be.

All Mira Furlan ever wanted was to experience the pure joy of acting, the inward exploration of her soul, and to share that exploration with her audience. But history forced her to explore down unseen paths, paths of darkness, the same paths that took countless lives in her homeland. History demanded, "Who are you?"

Mira answered, and suffered for it. She and Goran have started a new life in America, strangers in a strange land. Their experience reminds us that life may one day demand a test of our integrity. If it does, let us hope that we are equal to their courage.

[mygreatadventurehasbegun]

Attempted listening to another podcast episode about Phantom ‘43, and once again, I could not make it all the way through.

To be fair, I made it farther than I had other podcast’s take on this movie...but yeah...

First of all, I’ll give them props for the fact that they were trying to be nice, complimenting the art direction, the talented actors, etc.  But once again, this was a case of people just not fully paying attention to what is happening onscreen...and having some weird takes, if I’m honest.

I’ll start with the moment that finally made me stop listening.  They are talking about the scene where Christine plays the lullaby for Anatole...and they say: “Christine is playing the same lullaby that Claudin plays, so this is why he wrote the concerto around the lullaby, because he heard Christine play it.”  

And I literally stopped what I was doing and yelled “what?!” to these people I don’t know (thankfully I was alone, or this would have been awkward).

Guys.

Did you not hear Claudin say that the lullaby was from Provence, where he was born?

And Christine saying that she’s from Provence, and she’s known the song her entire life?

And Anatole saying that both Claudin and Christine were from the same district and “everyone there must have known that old folk song”?

This is kind of a huge plot point.  

But now to the main thing that bugged me about this particular podcast episode.  It was clear that one host was in charge of behind-the-scenes research, but he left out a pretty...significant...fact about the making of this movie.  The fact that Claudin was written to be Christine’s father, but censors thought it seemed incestuous and cut it out.  And them leaving that out wouldn’t bother me too much, if they hadn’t mentioned so many other things about this movie: how they originally wanted it to star Deanna Durbin, Nelson Eddy not wanting to dye his hair, designing the makeup to be sensitive for returning vets*...pretty much all the trivia you can get off of IMDb and the DVD special features...so how the hell did they miss this??  

Also, because one of their main complaints was about the script...how they could have used an extra 10 minutes to flesh out the characters more...and I’m standing there thinking...they had that...they shot it...and it was cut.

And one of them had a weird complaint about the music...he didn’t like the fact that the operatic sequences were so long (which almost made me turn the episode off), that they slowed down the movie, and were pointless because the operas they were performing in didn’t comment on the story...But then he also says that there should have been more music, to again, comment on the story.  I think he wanted it more like the ALW Phantom and didn’t understand that the operas aren’t supposed to tie into the story being told...we’re just watching these people do their jobs and what’s important is what’s happening around them.  And that opening sequence has so much character development, how could someone say that it’s not tied into the story...just because the story of the opera isn’t the same as the story of the movie?  It was such a weird contradictory statement, that was hard for me to follow (and I’m sure is tough to read, too...sorry, lol).

*And a tiny thing they mentioned about the makeup...apparently, they found a source that Claude Rains didn’t want to have a full face of makeup because he thought it would wreck his chances of getting good leading roles.  And that lessening the makeup out of sensitivity to combat vet was someone else’s idea, not Claude Rains’.  Now, obviously, I don’t know the full truth, because I wasn’t there (dammit), but this seems like bullshit.  Everything I’ve read points towards Rains being the one who was aware of combat vets and that was the reason why he didn’t want the makeup to go too over the top.  Which makes sense, considering what happened to him in WWI.  And Claude Rains being vain about not getting lead roles?  I mean...maybe there was a little vanity, but he was pretty much always a character/supporting actor for his entire career...and in his late forties, I can’t see him campaigning for the “romantic leading man” roles.

And they kept comparing the movie to a soap opera...mostly because there’s a love triangle.  

‘Kay.

There was only one thing about the entire episode that actually brought me a tiny bit of joy...and it was the fact that Claude Rains actually studied piano and violin in preparation for playing the role.

Which I’m not sure we can take as 100% fact, as there were other questionable facts in this podcast...and he obviously wasn’t playing live...but it’s a nice thought and I’m grasping for anything positive.

One of these days, I am going to make either a massive podcast or YouTube video series about this movie.  It will probably end up being 14 hours long, because I have so much to say....and I’ll be so busy correcting every single podcaster I’ve heard, that will probably take up at least an hour.

@hobbitmajora​

[katnissdoesnotfollowback]

In your opinion, please rate thg movie series with 1-5 scale.

(1 = I hate it, 3=neutral, 5 = I love it.)

1.The Hunger Games :

Things that you like :

Things that you don't like :

2.Cathing Fire :

Things that you like :

Things that you don't like :

3.Mockingjay

Movie 1 :

Movie 2 :

Things that you like :

Things that you don't like :

Thank you 😊

@curiousnonny

So let me preface my ratings here by saying that I really think these books are already so well edited in terms of necessary content that making a movie version of any of them is a mistake. Maybe I'm biased and greedy, but I honestly feel like 99% of the scenes in the books play a crucial role in either plot, character, or theme development and removing them waters down the story too much, in my opinion. I would much rather have seen a series version on screen than a movie. Not to mention, Collins made her name as a writer in television, and you can SEE IT in how she writes her novels. It's structured like a TV series so it should've been shot like a TV series. Anyways. So my rankings are gonna be... kinda low for the movies. Sorry not sorry.

But also... my thoughts on this are fresh. My youngest was supposed to read The Hunger Games with his 6th grade class. The teacher sent home a form requesting parents' permission to do so. I signed it gladly and sent it back, but apparently there were a lot of parents who sent it back with complaints instead of approval. Enough that the class read the first Percy Jackson book instead. I'm fine with that too, lol, especially since my kiddo really liked it and is now on book five of that series. I've been trying to reread along with him and will hopefully be catching up to him this week, lol.

After his teacher switched books for the class reading, he and I decided we'd read THG books together once he's done with PJO, but then, my oldest skipped a field trip he really didn't wanna go on and wound up staying at school and watching... The Hunger Games and part of Catching Fire. He came home with QUESTIONS, which immediately sparked a "Hey, not fair!" from the youngest and prompted a movie marathon. We made it through all four movies back in March, and I'm still not forgiven for not warning him about Finnick btw...

Okay enough story time. *cracks knuckles*

The Hunger Games

Ranking: 2/5

Things I don't like: Ugh where to start? The removal of Madge and therefore the significance of Katniss's mockingjay pin as a symbol of wealth and power bestowed by the Capitol only to be flipped on its head and turned into a symbol of rebellion. Also, the implications of removing Madge in terms of how they tried to make Katniss into STRONG BADASS WO-MAN while dulling some of her softer edges and dependencies on other people. See also: leaving out the gift of bread from D11 to Katniss.

The dialogue is shit. Sorry, those are my thoughts. You already had really good dialogue in the book why change that? Also, the gutting of the dialogue results in the gutting of both Katniss and Peeta as characters. The first movie turns them into The Watson character, i.e. the character whose purpose it is to ask questions so that the audience can learn about the setting/plot/other characters/whatever. The first movie made Katniss and Peeta look naive and dumb about the Games and the very world they inhabit, which makes no sense for their characters. I get it. It's a storytelling technique to quicken up the process of world building and make up for the fact that we don't get to be in Katniss's head where she tells us what we need to know about her world. BUT their characters suffer for it. Katniss and Peeta are sixteen. Anyone who has interacted with a teenager knows that at that age, we usually have #OPINIONS on things, so in the books, both already have developing opinions about the Games because they are by necessity and by exposure aware of how the Games and the government essentially work. They've lived in this world long enough. They've started to develop opinions and world views, and they act accordingly. The first movie loses this completely from the books.

Do not get me started on the dialogue in the cave scenes we will be here until the next century if we go there.

Buttercup. Christ how hard is it to cast a yellow/orange cat?!?!?! Not that difficult. And granted, this is a minor detail in terms of symbols but at the same time... it's a minor detail. The fact that they didn't even bother showed a lack of caring about the details. Also see: Rock Peeta.

The stakes of almost everything are lowered, from the bread scene (we don't realize until MJ2 that she's literally starving and knocking on death's door in that scene) to the berry scene (and here it's Peeta knocking on death's door and Katniss is desperate to save him, enough to put POISON BERRIES IN HER MOUTH and risk her own life too)... the movie lacks the desperation for both of those crucial parts.

Peeta's leg Peeta's leg Peeta's motherfreaking amputated leg!!!!!!

Things I liked: The sound and sound editing. It's such a small thing, and I have a story to go with this okay? When I saw it in theaters, I disliked a lot of things, but one of them was something I could not put my fingers on. It bugged me for weeks until the movie came out on DVD (yes, I'm old and also saw it at the veeeeeeery end of its theater run where I live... like it was a $5 special...). Anyways. Mr. Kdnfb is an electrical engineer by education and is suuuuuper picky about our sound system in our house. So when I watched it at home, the Thing clicked in my brain. The SOUND. It had been Waaaaaay Off in a way that was awful in that theater for some reason. And once I watched it at home, there was just something about the way they did the sound that made a lot of what I had hated become less of A Thing to me. The more I've watched it, the more I've realized the sound and sound editing was excellent, and I put this as things I liked because my story goes to show how such a tiny thing can really screw up a movie.

Catching Fire

Ranking: 3.5/5 (Omg I'm gonna get barbecued for this one.)

Things I didn't like: See my caveat at the top. Okay, so. One of my biggest problems is just how much got cut to adapt this one to screen. Sooooo many scenes. Finnick "hanging" himself in training, "someone else can get the stupid goat knocked up," all the hullabaloo about the wedding is talked about but that doesn't happen in the movies, the setup for the existence of D13, the plant book and Peeta caring for an injured Katniss, training like Careers, scaring Peeta with the medicine, Katniss really starting to come around to the idea of a rebellion even before the Quell announcement, "Poor Finnick. Is this the first time you haven't been pretty?" Just so much cut for the sake of time and results in the story feeling rushed and sloppy ugh.

While the cast and crew for this one did a much better job adapting the dialogue to the screen, there are still a few crucial bits of dialogue that make me itch with hives. The post jabberjay scene and the death of the morphling mainly. Good lord. You finally let movie!Peeta be as eloquent and convincing as book!Peeta in D11, why not give him the space to do it in the arena, too?

Things I do like: The casting. Hear me out. After the first movie, I was still not entirely sold on Jennifer, Josh, and Liam for the roles they were playing. Really, the only main characters who live through the first movie that I was happy and 100% on board with with were Donald Sutherland, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson, and Stanley Tucci. Catching Fire is where I accepted Josh's portrayal of Peeta a little bit more, mainly because of the process of film making and what they put forth with CF showed me that he could nail the part if only they'd give him the dialogue and choose the cuts that best showed what he could do. I have no idea what sort of dialogue they were given or how much free reign they were allowed to improvise, but I do know that they will shoot a scene multiple times with multiple different delivery styles and slightly different dialogue. Which means that the actors really don't get a say on which version of their performance makes the final cut. But when the dialogue was spot on in the final version, I felt like Josh pulled off Peeta very well. I also think the way they shot CF allowed Jennifer Lawrence to put forth a better overall performance as well, although I'm still not in love with her as Katniss.

But really it's the Quell Victors/Tributes that I loved about CF. I went in unsure and came out convinced. My caveat here is that I tend to think of the movies as their own thing. The movie versions of the characters are their own iteration and I try really hard not to let them bleed into how I see or think of the characters in the books. That doesn't always happen, but I do try.

Okay this one is kinda not the fault of the first movie, but the increased budget for CF is apparent in several of the things that I liked, namely the costumes, the staging, the special effects. Much better all around.

Mockingjay Part 1

Ranking: 3/5

Things I did not like: Gale. MJ1 finishes off the complete removal of any depth Gale had as a character, a process that started with him rage rushing Head Peacekeeper Thread in CF and culminates here with him condemning Peete's words as a TORTURED PRISONER OF WAR rather than him not only intuiting what's probably happening, but explaining it to Katniss, then trying to protect Katniss from it, like he does in the books. The reason why book!Gale is so much more compelling to me than movie!Gale is because Gale's anger and fire and indignation has REASONING behind it in the book. It is chillingly easy to see the lines his reasoning could possibly take. As in... I've worked in weapons development and I have worked with real people who think like book!Gale or Beetee. Whereas movie!Gale is basically just RAWR!!! fury.

The rescue scene. I could write an entire essay on what's wrong with this, but it all boils down to they tried to shorten it by overlapping the video of the rescue with Finnick talking. Which makes zero military sense btw why the freak would you broadcast helmet video of your team going in on a stealth mission and risk someone intercepting it or noting the presence of an encrypted signal and figuring out what was going on holy hell you would NOT. You'd be freaking SILENT and just waiting to find out!!!!!!! And yes yes, but we need to see it. Okay, but you've already shown scenes with Snow and Seneca talking, Seneca and Haymitch talking, Snow and Plutarch talking, Snow and his granddaughter!!!! cuts from D11 and so much more that Katniss would not have seen, so play this like that. You can still show the audience but clearly keep Katniss and everyone back in D13 in the dark. The way it's shot is nonsensical and also pretty much waters down the horror of what Finnick went through and the impact of his words.

And while we're on this topic, they somehow used that overlapping and ridiculous video feed to try and shorten the scene, but wound up making it interminably and unbelievably long with the layers upon layers upon LAYERS of rooms the rescue squad has to go through and also the Skype Call of Inanity. The whole debacle is so freaking long that I no longer feel tense by the time it's finally over. It's so obvious that the Capitol is letting them take back Peeta, Annie, and Johanna because of how long a stealth mission (which should be almost too fast to process) takes that it becomes stupid for D13 to not suspect something. There's no desperation or high stakes for me with this scene because it's too long and too messy, makes no sense tactically and basically just erases all the emotional depth and pacing of what's in the books ugh. Seriously. You could've spent that time on the torture of the prep team or some of the Boggs and Katniss or Katniss and Finnick content we miss out on. Delly. Gale's siblings. Literally anything that you cut out. Rant over.

"He's gonna kill Peeta".... um no actually it's that Snow won't kill Peeta but keep dangling him in front of you, Katniss...

Things I did like: The sets. District 13 is... perfect. Sterile and drab and utilitarian. Zero luxury or any real sense that humans live there. There are zero personal touches in any of the spaces. No connections to art or joy or life.

Effie. I really wish we'd still gotten the prep team in D13, because it's an avenue through which we see how brutal and lacking in compassion D13 really is, but if it's Effie there with her for the movies, then Elizabeth Banks did a stellar job with what she was given to do. I do wish they'd allowed Finnick to keep his line: "They'll either want to kiss you, kill you, or be you." And if not that, then don't freaking cut the "Why, do you find this distracting?" scene. But overall, Effie in D13 works for me in terms of the movie universe.

Mockingjay Part 2

Ranking: 2.5/5

Things I didn't like: Facepalm worthy wigs and dye jobs. Dude. You are the final chapter of a big budget blockbuster franchise. I understand that the dye jobs have taken their toll and wigs may be just more practical for the actors at this stage, but DO BETTER with the money you have.

Just how much of Johanna they cut out of this part and what that does to Katniss's development.

The ending. It's so lackluster in so many ways. One of the things that I loved about the theme of the ending is how it shows that with the right kind of care, a life can be lived and be worthwhile even after the worst kinds of trauma. We get this through the sheer beauty of Katniss's final words in both the final chapter and the epilogue. To me, the movie ending felt just... blah. And I get that maybe they were aiming for a sense of calm and peace, but instead it came off as blah, we're broken and just going through the motions. Which makes sense right after the war ends, but not as the ending continues into the "Real" scene or the epilogue.

Mahershala Ali is highly underutilized in this movie. Let the man play the freaking part. He's already good with what you let him do. Let him unleash the acting chops and make Boggs sing as a character. And part of this has to do with what they cut from the film, like him carrying Katniss to the hovercraft in D8 and her vomiting on him. Same with Julianne Moore. Coin was not nearly cold or controlling enough nor did she convincingly clash with Katniss enough leading up to Peeta showing up in the Capitol.

The omission of the heartbreaking silence Katniss puts herself into and how they turned the sadness of the final breaking of her friendship with Gale into "Goodbye Gale." Ugh. I laugh at it, but it's not a good change. Like we can't allow a Strong Wo-Man Character to be sad or hurt about this, why not????

Burn. Scars. Burn. Scars. Burn. Scars. BURN! SCAAAAARRRRRRRSSSSSS!!!!!

Things I did like: The music. Odd pick I know, but even though the ending is not well done for me, I almost always start bawling the second Katniss starts singing the meadow lullaby as the credits roll. And that's just one weird instance of me liking the music for this film.

How they brought the hijacking to life. I can't even explain why this works so well, but it does. My only wish is that they'd given more time for the Real/Not Real game to develop on film and included more of Peeta's dialogue that shows both the struggle and him regaining parts of himself -- the cafeteria scene, his words to Pollux and Tigris for example.

And there you have it, @curiousnonny. My super long answer to your question. ;)

[elle-thinks]

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Commentary - A Tale of Minority Resiliency

I had the privilege of watching this film with a majority Black audience of over 1000 people, and can I just say, we had A LOT of fun. The dialogue was on point, the costumes were awesome, the fight scenes were well directed, and emotions were high. I've always believed that a good movie holds your attention, makes you feel something, and makes you empathize with the characters, and Wakanda Forever checked all those boxes.

Upon discussing the film with others, I found that we all didn't particularly appreciate one of the film's primary conflicts being between two minority groups who shared similar histories and cultures. War severs the longstanding, cultural impact of the communities involved. While war may not have been discussed heavily (because everything is fairly lighthearted in Marvel movies), it was certainly felt by adult audiences that there would be significant loss on either side of the conflict. I was very ambivalent while watching the film and struggled to find a side or character to root for. In end, I found myself feeling a little stressed over it considering my lens is that of an Afro-Latina, but I was calmed by other plotlines and movie events.

To be fair though, there is an important difference between Indigenous peoples and Latin people who were colonized. It wasn't until after I reflected on this that I removed my little self-insert. This was also a major topic of inspection on social media when it came to some audience members' favorite characters. There was some confusion and debate on the characters' ethnic backgrounds and how they played a role into both American history and Marvel's cinematic universe. While Marvel definitely seemed to be playing with fire in terms of proper representation and literal themes of slavery, I don't think their portrayal of minority ethnicities was intended to be offensive or exploitative. Admittedly, Disney is definitely culture hopping at this point but, at least in this film, it did not seem to detract from the story or dehumanize the characters.

What I absolutely loved about the film was an investigation of vengeance and an opposing view of the hero archetype displayed in the late Chadwick Boseman's T'Challa. Letitia Wright (whose costume designer needs a raise) does an amazing job at expressing the grief and trauma her character experiences, making it all the more plausible for her to make the difficult decisions she does. While the thin line between justice and revenge has been thoroughly showcased in films prior, I enjoyed seeing it play into this scenario and involve story building elements and callbacks to the previous movie.

In conclusion, I think that the external struggle of war and the internal struggle of grief allow for the leveling of socio-cultural walls in the film. Loss is something everyone can relate to and incorporating the historic loss of minority cultures in the United States creates a sense of appreciation for all that remains. This is what makes the characters in this movie relatable and what fundamentally motivates their dynamicity. Being Black or Brown in the United States forces you to carry the burden and legacies of generations that came before you. It is a mutual admiration of this unique experience that the film partially explores and employs as a tool to bond people who have experienced trauma. This also extends to personal, emotional afflictions and plays into the "hurt people hurt people," idea. It takes a lot of strength to overcome this psychological and generational pain to continue to the thrive. Therefore, living a life of resiliency is the only solution.

Random additional comments:

The film had some romantically charged scenes that came out of nowhere, and it was later revealed in an interview that there was an intended romance subplot. Apparently test audiences were not fans of this so, most of the romantic moments were cut from the movie. The end result was two main characters being slightly more flirty than platonic in a general way. Though it did not hinder the plot, it felt abruptly inserted. If anything, it successfully resulted in the thirstification of Letitia Wright and Tenoch Huerta by basically everyone.

Letitia Wright's outfits gave what they needed to give.

Music was a bop. Ooo! And with Rihanna's new music too!

[archduchessofnowhere]

Sorry to bother you with this, since you, well, outright said you hate that discourse, but what are some of those dumb Marie Antoinette takes on Twitter? So that we can point and laugh.

Again, sorry for bothering you with this, and yes, yes, yes, million times yes to Maria Carolina being the best daughter of Maria Theresia! I am literally crying tears of joy, just the fact that I found a second person who thinks this...

Honestly the sad truth is that the only thing an average Twitter user, even a pop history fan, knows about the Habsburgs is the whole inbreeding thing. I know I've already said this to you specifically, but I am TIRED of this discourse, can you please learn one other fact about the family that ruled significant chunk of Europe for hundreds of years and shaped its destiny, for better or for worse?! Jesus.

It's not a bother at all! I believe it all started with this tweet that quickly went viral in history-related circles:

This is not an insane take and I kinda get where OP was coming from, but honestly it also feels... unnecessary? Marie Antoinette isn't a particularly hated person, historical revisionism around her has been since what, the Restoration? and only in the last twenty years most of the MA media that came out is highly sympathetic towards her. People like Marie Antoinette!

But this tweet sparked a series of responses and the more you scroll through those takes the worst they get lol. You have on one side the fervent anti-MA that keep repeating myths that have been busted like twenty years ago: "she dressed up to play peasant to mock the poor", "she kidnapped children"; I even read someone who actually thought the incest charge was real WHAT are you getting your info from Frerev pamphlets??? I'm not an Antoinette enthusiast but the spread of false information annoys me no matter the subject. And then you have the fervent pro-MA that think she was a feminist icon who did nothing wrong ever and will not tolerate any criticism towards her. That she and her husband called the enemies' army to invade France to keep themselves in power is no big deal, apparently. I think some of the worst takes from this crowd were from people that were just repeating the claims that N*ancy G*ldstone did in her MA book (one went along the lines of "Louis was autistic and that doom them" [this is one of G*ldstone's claims, impossible to know for certain since Louis XVI has been dead for over two hundred years and we can't posthumously diagnose him, also I want to believe that OP didn't do it on purpose but the implication that being autistic is something that "dooms" you is very gross. And even if Louis was autistic what has to do with his policies as a monarch?]) .

I didn't keep reading them because I got bored, to be honest. No one has anything new to say, is always the same discussions, no one brings any nuances. My biggest problem with MA takes is that they're all short sighted, even this one that mentions her being married at a young age and the xenophobia she suffered. Was this something unusual for other consorts? What was the role of the queen in France? Was MA different to her predecessors, and if she was, then how? What was happening in France during the 1780s? How did the monarchs react to the economical crisis and political unrest? What was the role of propaganda in all this? MA wasn't the only Habsburg archduchess married to a Bourbon monarch, so what was the difference between her and her sisters' queenship (well Maria Amalia wasn't a queen but you get what I mean)? Without the full picture she's just a stereotype to adjust to the narrative you like the most.

Maria Carolina truthers know she's the most interesting daughter and the one there should be hundreds of books and movies about, but the general audiences haven't seen the light yet.

What bothers me the most about the inbreeding jokes is that the Habsburgs were not an outliner: they followed the rule. That family tree everyone loves to post is just how your average royal family tree looked like. The Bourbons were marrying their nieces well into the 19th century (really they should be the "European incest dynasty everyone bullies"). The way the Habsburgs shaped the history of Central Europe and the Americas is fascinating! No other dynasty lasted that long and had such impact. I'm still only on the top of the iceberg on learning about them, and it genuinely surprise me how many people is just "nah they seem boring".

[hummingbird-of-light]

Against All Odds

Part 583

McCoy

McCoy tried to suppress a shiver as they got out of the car. The sun was shining, but a cold wind was blowing down from the mountain tops above them. He pulled his jacket closer around himself. He had only just put it on in the car as they pulled up.

The chalet was nowhere near as large as the palace, but McCoy knew it was still a considerable size. The palace played a significant role in the capital, hosting ministers offices and chambers as well as housing the royal family. The chalet was a getaway for just the king and his family.

“Is it just us?” Scotty asked him quietly.

McCoy shook his head. “Some of the staff came up yesterday to get things ready. And there’s always a few people about to look after things. But other than that, it’s the four of us.”

“Your highness?” One of the guards was standing behind the car.

“We’ll grab them,” McCoy said quickly.

Leah and Robbie had already grabbed their bags from the trunk of the car. Well, Robbie had grabbed both. McCoy and Scotty lifted theirs out.

“We’ll be in, in a moment your highnesses,” the guard said, closing the trunk.

“Thank you,” Leah called.

McCoy caught Scotty’s free hand and led him towards the front doors.

“Let’s get inside.”

“Cold already?” Scotty chuckled.

“No,” McCoy lied. “Just want to get our things put away.”

“Sure Len,” Scotty smiled at him.

McCoy led the way upstairs and down the hall. He opened a door on the right.

“My room,” he said. The curtains were drawn letting the sunshine in.

“And where’s mine, eh?” Scotty said as he pretended to peer down the hall.

McCoy rolled his eyes.

“Come see the view,” he said, and shrugged his jacket off, dropping it on the bed with his bag. Scotty came into the room and did the same with his bag and coat.

McCoy pulled him along to the big windows that looked down on the valley below.

“Oh.”

McCoy heard the awe in his fiancé’s voice and slipped an arm around his waist.

“You can see down into the town from the other side of the house,” he said. “But I like this side. When the trees are heavy with snow and only a bit of green peeps out.”

“It’s so bonnie,” Scotty said softly.

“We can go out later. We can even go down to the town if you want. There’s some nice little shops and cafes.”

Scotty nodded next to him.

“Want to see the rest of the house?”

McCoy spent the rest of the afternoon showing Scotty around the house. The fireplace in the library had been lit and they had finished their tour there. It was a small library compared to the palace, but it was cozy with plenty of comfortable places to sit and read.

A knock sounded before the door opened.

“Yes?” McCoy said, turning to look over the back of the couch he and Scotty had chosen to snuggle up on.

“Dinner is ready, your highness,” the young woman said.

“We’ll be right there, thank you.”

Scotty was already untangling himself from McCoy when the door closed again.

“It’s nice to just be us again,” McCoy said. “No guards posted at every door. Just having to be found.” He grinned. “Come on,” he said, standing and pulling Scotty up. “Let’s go see what Leah and Robbie have been up to.”

“Where have you two been?” McCoy asked with a knowing grin when Leah and Robbie finally walked in, red cheeked and bright eyed.

Leah rolled her eyes at her brother. “We aren’t late.”

“We’ve been waiting five minutes already,” McCoy laughed.

“Whatever.” Leah waved a hand at him. “I can leave and you can wait longer.” She turned back to the door.

“Sit down Lee,” McCoy said.

“Lenny Boy,” Leah said and stuck her tongue out at him.

Part 584

Scotty

They enjoyed dinner and talked about Leah and Robbie's walk. Apparently there were some nice trails to walk on.

Scotty couldn't wait to get outside himself and admire the scenery, but that would have to wait until tomorrow. Somehow Leonard and he had lost track of time at the library. But they had spent a few pleasant hours there, too, snuggled warmly together.

"Shall we go see a movie right now? I heard about a nice new comedy movie I'd like to see," Leah suggested, and the rest of the group agreed.

It had been far too long since they had just sat down together and watched a movie. They really deserved it.

After dinner, the four of them quickly put on something comfortable and then met in a small room that served as a home theater.

Leah had requested snacks and drinks and had taken care of blankets herself.

Now they sat together on a couch, snuggled close. Robbie and Scotty sat in the middle, squeezed between Leah and Leonard. But they didn't mind.

The movie started and Scotty heaved a happy sigh as he snuggled closer to his fiancé. Why couldn't it always be like this? Quiet and comfortable. He enjoyed it very much.

It took about half an hour for Scotty to notice that his eyes were getting heavier.

They hadn't done much that day, but the long drive had been exhausting and the warmth of the local fireplace was making Scotty more and more tired.

His head fell on Leonard's shoulder and only a little later he had disappeared into the realm of dreams.

When he woke up and looked around he noticed that apparently everyone had followed his example.

Leah was snuggled against Robbie, who held her close. Leonard was snoring softly, head resting on the back of the couch.

They had all fallen asleep. Outside Scotty could see the sun rising already. Had they really slept on the couch the whole night? Their backs would surely thank them later on; Scotty could already feel the pain.

“Mo ghràdh?” It was a soft whisper coming from his mouth since he didn’t want to wake Leah or Robbie.

A few moments later his love’s eyelids fluttered and he looked at Scotty with tired eyes.

“What…”

“It’s morning. We fell asleep.”

Scotty ran a hand through Leonard’s hair and smiled at him. It turned into a quiet chuckle when Leonard tried to move and groaned.

“Aye, I feel just the same,” Scotty said and Leonard sighed.

“This… was a bad idea. We should have gone to bed yesterday after dinner.”

Maybe. But now they couldn’t change it.

“A wee walk and we’ll feel better again.”

At least Scotty hoped that it would be so easy. They’d have to wait and see.

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Is It Really That Bad?

So it’s the mid 80s, and you’re tasked with one of the most exciting things imaginable: Turning a Marvel comic into a movie. Now, this is significant because this will be the first feature film based on a Marvel property; there were some TV films before in the 70s and 80s for Hulk, Captain America, and Dr. Strange, but this was going to be on the silver screen! Which famous character should be brought in for Marvel’s big debut? I mean, DC already killed it with West’s Batman and Reeves’ Superman, so Marvel should put their best foot forward! Should we have Spider-Man? The Mighty Thor? Perhaps the Fantastic Four, the first family of Marvel?

Nah, let’s do Howard the fucking Duck.

Adapting a character who was relatively obscure went over about as well as you might imagine with audiences back in 1986. After seven months of production and millions of dollars, the film bombed hard and left a lot of lives in shambles. The director of the movie Willard Huyck and the head of Universal Frank Price both ended up losing in this, as did George Lucas (contrary to what you might believe, he wasn’t the director), who ended up having to sell off Pixar to Steve Jobs to pay off Skywalker Ranch and divorce settlements, things he hoped this movie would have paid for. Frankly, Lucas was a scapegoat for Universal, who pushed his involvement despite his desire to not overshadow his friends working on the movie; Huyck had worked with Lucas on American Graffiti, Temple of Doom, and A New Hope, so he clearly liked the guy, but I guess the suits wanted some of that Star Wars money by slapping the name on. Price also really wanted to make the film similar in tone to Ghostbusters, which didn’t help matters at all.

Pretty much the only person who worked on it and doesn’t hate it is Lea Thompson, who played Howard’s girlfriend Beverly. She has been surprisingly positive about the film and owns her role in it, apparently even offering to to direct a new adaptation for Marvel Studios and lending her likeness to the comics so she could appear as herself beside her one-time fictional boytoy. You go, girl!

Ah, but perhaps the saddest victim of this film’s reception was Howard himself. Between this movie and Disney complaining he looked too similar to Donald, Steve Gerber’s wacky duck man was pushed out of the limelight for a long, long time. It wasn’t until 2009 when Bob Iger ordered the purchase of Marvel that Howard was able to start coming back, a return solidified by his awesome post-credit cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy, which got him a new series and cameos in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Endgame (where he appears for split second in the big portal scene, coming out with the Ravagers and toting a big fucking gun).

But now that we have dozens of other Marvel films under our belt, let’s take a look back at Howard’s sole cinematic solo outing. Was his big break judged too harshly by audiences of the 80s, or is the movie, much like Howard himself, quite fowl? Well, after giving it a rewatch, I’m here to tell you if Howard the Duck is really that bad.

THE GOOD

What this film lacks in… well, just about everything, it makes up for with sheer cheesy 80s charm.

Like, look at Howard himself. The suit is bad, the puppet is bad, the fact they tried using both leading to his appearance changing wildly between shots is even worse… But it’s not so bad that it’s unbearable. Like a crummy practical effect like this undeniably has charm, and it’s helped a lot by Howard’s cute, dorky voice. Would it have been better if Robin Williams had stayed on to voice Howard? Undoubtedly. Were we robbed because a young Jason Alexander was turned away after auditioning? Absolutely, and I cry every night that we lost out on this. But Howard just has a prime 80s everyman corniness to him that makes him a likable duck even if the effects don’t really convey him as well as they could.

Then of course there’s Lea Thompson, and you can see why she’s so unashamed of this film, because she is busting her ass for this film. She will make you believe that she finds a weird alien duck sexually appealing. Like I really don’t have much more to add here, she managed to pull that off, she deserved a better career. End of discussion.

Now, unfortunately, I must praise Jeffery Jones. Here he plays a scientist who gets possessed by the creatively-named Dark Overlord, and he really gets to ham it up in what feels like a prototype of Edgar the Bug. Despite the awful prosthetic work and the Saturday morning cartoon supervillain voice he uses, it ends up being moderately entertaining… and I hate saying that because Jones is an actual, literal sicko in real life. Let’s just say those scenes in Ferris Bueller where he is snooping about a teen boy’s house and leering in the windows hoping to see him is a bit more accurate to his life than you’d hope. It’s a shame, because he’s a solid actor, but it’s hard to praise him too much when he did what he did.

The Dark Overlord itself is also a pretty impressively-designed stop motion monstrosity, and its scenes in the finale are pretty awesome, only hampered by some really bad compositing. You can definitely tell where the budget went.

And then we have the song played at the end, a ridiculously cheesy slice of 80s pop cooked up by Thomas Dolby, the man behind the legendary one-hit wonder “She Blinded Me With Science.” Needless to say, Howard’s little song at the end is every bit as infectiously earwormy as that.

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THE BAD

I think what really kills the film is just how weak the third act is. The film was at its best when it was about Howard being put into awkward situations, like being forced to work a shitty job or starting a bar fight. But I guess that doesn’t get asses in seats, so they have a third act where Howard has to save the world from destruction by evil aliens by stopping a gigantic sky laser. Considering how that very plot has become a widely-mocked cliché in the wake of movies trying to copy this very thing from The Avengers, Howard was truly ahead of its time in terms of comic book adaptations.

Even in the good parts of the first two acts there’s some weakness. The conceit of the character is that he’s an alien duck forced into the mundane situations the real world provides, and while we do get some of that, a lot of stuff is abandoned a bit too quickly for my liking. Sure, we didn’t need a montage of Howard applying for a bunch of crummy jobs, and I suppose we didn’t need to see him manage the band excessively or anything, but too much of what makes this movie charming in its weird and awkward way is thrown out for some souped up climax where Howard flies a little plane contraption with Tim Robbins and then fights an alien monster. It feels like a bunch of half baked plots haphazardly slapped together more than a cohesive narrative the writers gave a shit about.

On top of that, the film feels remarkably cheap. The suit and puppet thing is bad, the compositing of the Dark Overlord is bad, it genuinely blows the mind that these effects were this mediocre when the movie was relatively expensive to make. I have to imagine most of the budget went towards getting the crew cocaine to deal with the miserable shooting schedule, because it definitely doesn’t seem like it went to costumes or making the visuals look good.

And speaking of things that don’t look very good… Duck tits.

IS IT REALLY THAT BAD?

Nah.

Look, I can’t pretend this movie is amazing or anything. It is incredibly flawed, with rushed production values and more corniness than the fields of Iowa. It has trouble finding its tone, and kind of loses its webbed footing in the third act. But I have watched a metric fuckton of superhero movies in my time, and this film has a sort of corny, earnest charm that genuinely awful ones lack. Like Thor: The Dark World is utterly mediocre and forgettable, and I couldn’t tell you a single thing that happened in it, but this movie? Even with the parts it drags I could still recount some of the wacky plot beats. And maybe it has worse production values than Batman v Superman, but it’s also a lot less miserable and has a cool stop-motion alien monster instead of a shitty gray CGI blob that murders Superman. It’s just not a film that feels quite as awful in terms of comic book movies when filmmakers have gone out of their way to make infinitely worse, infinitely less fun films in the decades since.

It also helps a movie very similar to this came out that did what it was trying to do better, and you’re not gonna believe what it is: Seth MacFarlane’s Ted. It is extremely similar, a fish-out-of-water story about a fantastical being stuck in the mundanity of the real world. Ted even gets a human girlfriend, and the movie has a really weird third act that’s a bit more action packed than the rest of the film! It manages to work a lot better there, though, and that’s despite starring Mark Wahlberg! So yeah, even if the actual Howard didn’t fully live up to its interesting premise, we have something that does just that, which makes this film dropping the ball a little less egregious.

The 4.7 up there is honestly not quite as harsh as you’d think given this film’s reputation, which probably reflects how opinions of this have turned a little bit and given this film a cult following. I might even be so nice as to round it up to a 5; it’s not really a bad movie so much as a weird one, and it is filled with cheesy 80s charm if you can get on board with it. It’s probably not going to change your life, but it’s fun, mostly harmless comic book movie fluff, and if nothing else it’s unique and out there in terms of comic book movies. We wouldn’t get anything quite this weird again until they started letting people like James Gunn and Taika Waititi make comic book movies, so it’s nice to go back and see where it all began. Howard the Duck is a very interesting piece of history, maybe more for the story around it than the film itself, but damn if I don’t get a few chuckles out of watching it and a goofy grin from that cheesy end credits song.

It’s definitely more worth a watch than Wonder Woman 1984, that’s for fucking sure.

[andromeda1023]

Rare Earth hypothesis: Why we might really be alone in the universe

The first spacecraft to explore the space beyond Earth orbit was Pioneer 4 in 1959. Twenty-five years later, in 1984, astronomers Carl Sagan and Jill Tarter founded the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), a program that has been scouring the cosmos for signs of alien life ever since.

But, to date, neither an international armada of robotic spacefarers nor alien-seeking scientists have found any evidence of extraterrestrial life. Indeed, while our exploration of the solar system has been nothing short of staggering in terms of the images and scientific data obtained, the worlds we’ve visited beyond Earth all appear to be completely sterile.

Even the most dedicated SETI researcher would have to admit that, at least so far, our efforts to find life elsewhere in the universe have been met with an uncomfortable stony silence. But why?

In 2000, two researchers, Peter Ward and Donald Brownlee, published a book that offered a possible explanation for our species’ apparent aloneness. It is called Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe (Copernicus Books, 2000). Ward, a paleontologist by training, and Brownlee, an astronomer, combined forces to produce what has come to be termed the Rare Earth hypothesis.

Simply stated, the Rare Earth hypothesis suggests that the very unique conditions of Earth that allowed complex life to arise and flourish are exceptionally uncommon — and they’re unlikely to widely occur throughout the universe.

Ward and Brownlee postulated that many fortuitous features of Earth, our Sun, and the solar system led to our highly favorable and surprisingly stable ecosystem. While some of these properties had been widely discussed in astronomy circles before, others had scarcely been mentioned.

The Rare Earth hypothesis focuses on numerous aspects of Earth and its environment that played a role in allowing complex life to develop. Some of the key factors Ward and Brownlee felt were critical to the formation of complex life included:

A planet that exists in a favorable part of the right kind of galaxy, where significant amounts of heavy elements are available and sterilizing radiation sources are located far away.

An orbit around a star that has a long lifetime (billions of years) but does not give off too much ultraviolet radiation.

An orbital distance that allows liquid water to exist at or near the planet’s surface.

An orbital distance that is far enough away to prevent the planet from becoming tidally locked to its host star.

An orbit that is stable around its host star over cosmic timescales.

A planetary tilt that allows for seasonal atmospheric changes to be mild, not severe.

A solar system that includes gas giants capable of preventing debris from polluting the inner solar system, reducing the odds of major cosmic impacts and subsequent mass extinctions.

A planetary mass large enough to both retain an atmosphere and allow for liquid oceans.

A moon large enough to help stabilize the tilt of the planet’s axis.

A molten planetary core that generates a significant global magnetic field, largely protecting the surface from solar radiation.

The presence of oxygen, and the right amount of oxygen, at the right time for complex life to utilize it.

The presence of plate tectonics, which build up land masses, create diverse ecosystems, cycle carbon into and out of the atmosphere, prevent a runaway greenhouse effect, and help stabilize the surface temperature worldwide.

In the two decades since this book was published, interest in these ideas has only grown. Last year, Astronomy caught up with both Ward and Brownlee to discuss the Rare Earth hypothesis. During those conversations, Ward recounted how the whole concept of the Rare Earth hypothesis spawned from a movie-based chat with Brownlee.

Continue reading: https://astronomy.com/news/2022/07/rare-earth-hypothesis-why-we-might-really-be-alone-in-the-universe?utm_source=acs&utm_medium=email&utm_email=thedbarbee%40yahoo.com&utm_campaign=News0_ASY_220805_000000&eid=thedbarbee%40yahoo.com&fbclid=IwAR2ygHRgKZm6pavl6mxi_vGI6iOYmpPU1jSSVJlFBLXqIjHqz9CYGNg-UTI

[denimbex1986]

'Oppenheimer’s star, Cillian Murphy has proven to be an exceptional actor in a variety of roles. He is unquestionably one of Hollywood’s busiest actors, making his mark on both the big and small screens. Whether he is playing the head of the Shelby family in Peaky Blinders or using his cunning mind to battle Batman in The Dark Knight Trilogy, he gives a strong performance in every role he plays.

But do you recall his Neil Jordan-written and directed film, Breakfast on Pluto, which was released in 2005? According to reports, the actor went after Jordan in the hopes of getting the part of Patrick/Patricia ‘Kitten’ Braden in this comedy-drama film. Murphy’s portrayal of a transgender looking for love is said to be one of his standout performances.

Along with having a strong cast, Breakfast on Pluto is an uneven comedy-drama about an Irish transvestite trying to make it in London in the 1970s. Even though the movie has its share of funny moments, by the end, you might be left wondering why this was a story that needed to be told.

Cillian Murphy’s Exceptional Work In Breakfast On Pluto

Even though Oppenheimer is by far his best performance, Cillian Murphy also excelled in Peaky Blinders, A Quiet Place Part II, Sunshine, and Breakfast on Pluto. But the renowned actor has immersed himself in a novel approach to understanding transgender experiences to prepare for his iconic role in Neil Jordan’s film, Breakfast on Pluto.

The movie, which was set in 1970s Ireland, followed Patrick ‘Kitten’ Braden as she made her way through a complicated and frequently prejudiced society. The 1998 novel by Patrick McCabe with the same title served as the basis for this movie.

Murphy’s captivating performance in Breakfast on Pluto garnered praise from critics and earned him wide acclaim. He once informed The Guardian:

“I knew Neil [Jordan] was making that film and that I was the right age. People respond to direct contact from other artists and other filmmakers. I think people don’t do it enough.”

Murphy was honored with the 2007 IFTA Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Kitten. Jordan and Patrick McCabe won the 2007 IFTA for Best Script, and Jordan also won the award for Best Director.

Some Off-Camera Revelations Of Breakfast on Pluto

Cillian Murphy has a reputation for using immersive acting techniques, and he has consistently gone beyond the call of duty to deliver sincere performances. The actor once acknowledged putting forth a significant amount of time and effort to truly comprehend his transgender role in Breakfast on Pluto. This commitment required him to work with his friends, who expertly dressed him in real transgender makeup, clothes, and accessories. He once shared:

“Well, I read the book first. I was a big fan of Patrick McCabe’s books so I loved the book. I remember some people found out how to take but I mean the theory of playing that sort of a role, was as always a huge challenge to an actor..”

The actor’s dedication apparently did not end there; Murphy reportedly went on a number of late-night clubbing adventures to get a firsthand look at the exciting world Kitten Braden lived in.

“..And for the whole transvestite part, I made a few contacts in London, where I live, and we went out a few nights, nice fellas may like dressed me up in other clubs and had a laugh, and I hung around those sweetest, most open people.”

The 47-year-old Irish actor last appeared in the Christopher Nolan movie, Oppenheimer, playing J. Robert Oppenheimer. This is Nolan and Murphy’s sixth time working together...'

[cinemaupdates]

Rachel Zegler: The Rising Star

Introduction

In the dazzling world of Hollywood, new talents emerge, captivating audiences with their mesmerizing performances. One such rising star is Rachel Zegler, whose incredible journey from a social media sensation to a Hollywood leading lady has been nothing short of extraordinary. In this article, we will delve into the life and career of Rachel Zegler, exploring her early beginnings, breakthrough role, and the promising future that lies ahead.

1. A Star is Born: Rachel's Early Life

Rachel Zegler was born in New Jersey to a loving family with Colombian heritage. From a young age, her passion for performing arts became apparent, as she participated in school plays and local theater productions. Her natural talent and dedication to honing her craft set her on a path towards success.

2. The Cinderella Story: From YouTube to Hollywood

In 2018, Rachel Zegler gained widespread attention when she posted a viral video of herself singing a cover of "Shallow" from the movie "A Star is Born." The video garnered millions of views and caught the attention of casting directors. Little did she know that this serendipitous moment would change her life forever.

3. A West Side Story: Breakthrough Role

Rachel's big break came when she was cast as the lead in Steven Spielberg's highly anticipated musical remake of "West Side Story." Her portrayal of Maria, originally played by Natalie Wood, earned critical acclaim and applause from audiences worldwide. Her powerful voice, emotive acting, and undeniable charm solidified her as a force to be reckoned with in Hollywood.

4. The Impact of Diversity and Inclusion

As an actress of Colombian descent, Rachel Zegler represents the growing importance of diversity and inclusion in the entertainment industry. She has become an inspiration for aspiring actors from underrepresented backgrounds, proving that talent knows no boundaries.

5. Navigating Fame and Staying Grounded

Despite her skyrocketing fame, Rachel remains down-to-earth and humble. In interviews and social media posts, she often emphasizes the significance of staying true to oneself and being grateful for the opportunities that come her way.

6. Beyond Acting: Rachel's Multi-Talented Persona

Apart from her acting prowess, Rachel is an accomplished singer and songwriter. She often shares snippets of her original compositions on her social media platforms, showcasing her versatility and artistry.

7. What's Next for Rachel Zegler?

With her debut in "West Side Story" receiving accolades and admiration, Rachel's career is undoubtedly on an upward trajectory. The entertainment industry eagerly awaits her future projects, and fans are excited to see her mesmerizing performances on the big screen once again.

8. Rachel's Advocacy for Mental Health

In addition to her artistic talents, Rachel Zegler is a vocal advocate for mental health awareness. She uses her platform to spread positivity and encourages open conversations about mental well-being, reminding her followers that they are not alone in their struggles.

9. Conclusion

Rachel Zegler's journey from an aspiring teenager posting YouTube covers to a Hollywood sensation is a testament to the power of talent, perseverance, and authenticity. Her rise to fame not only brings joy to audiences worldwide but also inspires a generation of dreamers to pursue their passions relentlessly. As she continues to shine brightly in the entertainment realm, we eagerly anticipate the captivating performances that Rachel will bring to the silver screen.

5 Unique FAQs

1. Is Rachel Zegler a professionally trained actress? Yes, Rachel honed her acting skills through local theater productions and acting workshops before her breakthrough role in "West Side Story."

2. What other movies has Rachel Zegler starred in? As of now, "West Side Story" remains Rachel's prominent film credit, but she is sure to be seen in more exciting projects in the future.

3. Does Rachel Zegler have any musical albums of her own? While she has not released a full album yet, Rachel occasionally shares her original songs on social media, leaving fans eagerly awaiting more.

4. How has Rachel Zegler impacted the Latino community in Hollywood? Rachel's success has been celebrated as a milestone for representation, inspiring Latino actors and actresses to pursue their dreams fearlessly.

5. Where can we follow Rachel Zegler on social media? You can follow Rachel Zegler on Twitter and Instagram to stay updated with her latest projects and personal insights.

[thecynicalcinephile]

So, About Oppenheimer,

While technically impressive, it ultimately boils down to a cramped, bloated, self-important biopic which never actually says or does anything significant whatsoever.

First of all, most importantly, this film has no reason to be three hours long. In fact there are about half a dozen points where it feels like it could have and should have ended except it just keeps going. Apparently Nolan was never taught either restraint or the age-old adage "less is more".

Worse still though, is that this entire bloated excess of time is edited like one big montage. There very well may not be a single scene in this movie that runs, uninterrupted, for longer than three minutes. The result is a senseless and endless assault on the mind that gives neither you nor the actors time to breathe. The characters can never play off each other, we're never really able to explore them, and we can never think about any given element of the plot for more than a second before the next jump cut slams something new down our throats.

This is done to create an illusion of suspense. The illusion that there is some big dramatic bombshell moment just around the corner, except it just never pays off. I can barely remember what the final scene was, because it was almost exactly like every other scene that came before it.

I caught myself thinking, halfway through the movie, that this should've been a miniseries instead, and that maybe ten hours instead of three would let us slow down and actually think for a second, but now I'm not so sure. Don't get me wrong, this movie still desperately needed time to breathe, I simply don't think more runtime would be the answer because I no longer trust Nolan to manage said runtime. Ten hours wouldn't give this movie time to breathe, it would simply add an extra seven hours of mess.

We all know Nolan loves using discontinuity editing, but this film takes it to such extremes that I can only assume he was high on cocain for most of the process, and not in a fun way. We're constantly jumping back and forth between three different storylines at three different points in time. While I admit I admire the ambition & vision involved, the execution is almost nauseating in practice.

In case you can't tell, Nolan's name will not be drawing near as much respect from me in the future.

The only good things I can really say about this film, other than the fact that it's technically well-made, are that it's at least something of a spectacle and the acting is sufficient. Nolan promised us a big explosion and we got a big explosion, and Cillian Murphy does a respectable job in the lead role. Robert Downey Jr is essentially playing the same role he always plays, but that's hardly his fault, and most of the other supporting characters are given so little to do that any problems with their performances do not have time to become apparent.

Ultimately, this film is condemned to be nothing more than another flashy, pretentious spectacle that will be rewatched primarily by white wannabe hipsters and edgelords who want to pretend they have good taste. They will like it because it puts up a very convincing illusion that something profound just happened, but because nothing profound actually happened they don't actually have to think about anything.

You should not see this film in theaters. If you insist upon subjecting yourself to it in spite of all I have said, I can't blame you, after all I have admitted there are a few redeeming qualities and it is something of a spectacle, but for your own sake, do it in the comfort of your own home.

[nevermindirah]

I've been spending so much time in fandom these past few years in large part to cope with having lost a lot of friends when I left an abusive relationship and people either ignored that that's what had happened despite clear evidence right in front of them, didn't believe me when I directly told them what happened, or actively supported my abuser despite being aware of lots of clear and painful evidence about which side of a harmful power dynamic they were on. Matthias Schoenaerts, some dude I don't know but who plays a character who means a lot to me, liking one instagram post by somebody he's apparently long-time friends with, who's been known for decades to be a serial abuser, when the post is repeating things people in my real life have said to me about my abuser — this is, shall we say, not good for me.

I don't need my fandom friends to stop making or interacting with content about him, but I do need y'all to respect that for my basic well-being I'm gonna have to do that, at very least for a good long while. I'd appreciate it so much if y'all would tag things you post about him so I don't have to see it.

It's so human to do something because you're focused on supporting your friend that you're not thinking about how that action could be harmful to other people. Maybe he'll look back on this and regret it, maybe even publicly apologize and distance himself from this serial abuser he's been friends with. A big part of why I let myself develop parasocial feelings about this person was how many of the women he's worked with talk about him as a thoughtful and non-creepy coworker. But then again, like a week ago when I was projecting my transmasc feels onto this man, I had to caveat the post with a list of many times he's played a rapist or other kind of abuser. Who the fuck knows. I don't know why actors take particular roles and I'm not interested in psychoanalyzing a stranger. It would be very costly for me to give this stranger the benefit of the doubt about something that would've cost him so little to fucking think about the significance of and then choose not to do.

It just sucks that I can't have fandom as an escape because we live in a rape culture. It sucks that this happened right before 2O2G filming starts and it'll probably steal from me what could've been such a fun time of screaming and movie speculation. This is why I, a white person, will never stop talking about racism in fandom until racism in fandom stops being a thing. We ought to be able to find joy in our hobbies, for fuck's sake, without getting randomly punched in the face by bullshit like this.