#nope analysis

[oyesteryells]

i feel physically ill.

its 4 am...

[maevesweirdart]

thinking about this juxtaposition between the human characters and the animal characters in Nope. the animals (jj, the chimp, the horses) are simple, as is natural. they instinctively know what makes them uncomfortable (sudden loud noises, eye contact, getting tricked into eating shit that isn’t food), and when their boundaries are violated, they are understandably angered. jj isn’t capable of understanding the profit-seeking machinations of the humans in its territory. it isn’t capable of signing a contract with jupe. when a crowd of humans appears inside an eye-shaped arena, it doesn’t know that jupe is expecting it to perform for them. it just goes “oh hey, it’s food!” and this isn’t a flaw on jj’s part—it’s a feature. oj and em know this. they’re trained animal handlers, who have spent their whole lives working with creatures that could kill them. they know better than to disrespect a horse or try to force it to meet human expectations. in order to get a horse to listen to you, you have to get on the horse’s level. so why did jupe expect a flying vore roomba from outer space to understand that it was morally wrong to eat people? because capitalism. we Live In A Society (bottom text) in which we’re trained to do unnatural things. we don’t run away from dangerous predators anymore—instead, we run towards them, cameras in hand, because if we survive, we might be able to sell the footage to some rich people in exchange for money. capitalism trains some—the working class—to disregard our own survival instincts and gamble with our lives, and it also trains others—the wealthy bourgeoisie—to expect others to do that for them. that’s not healthy, is it?

maybe it’s time we all returned to monke. (figuratively that is. i’m not an anarcho primitivist lol)

[catboyclarity]

Antlers Holst’s dedication to getting The Best Possible shot at the expense of his own life and potentially Angel’s and the Haywood’s (I don’t believe he wanted to endanger them on purpose but his lack of consideration toward their safety is very telling), seems to be driven by dedication to the Art of it. He didn’t want to do it for money or fame, he knew he would die, he seems to resent his place in the spotlight, and it’s likely the footage he shot won’t see the light of day either. He just wanted to get the best possible film of the best possible predator because that was his artistic fascination, as we can see from the scene where he is just watching videos of predators making kills.

And like, okay, on the surface that’s more sympathetic than say, the TMZ guy, or the Hollywood folks at the start of the film, or depending on how you slice it, even Jupe, who wanted to remain relevant. Because True Art is meaningful, right? It’s worth more than people.

Talented painters and directors can abuse their partners and subjects and actors, and well, the art is still good though, sometimes the abuse makes the art “better”. Artists can work themselves into an early grave and that’s valorized, the artist should say thank you for having the privilege to destroy their body in that fashion. The suffering made the art better.

(There’s been pushback on these ideas recently, but only recently, and they’re hard to unlearn. As an artist myself, the impulse to destroy my body and health in the name of my own work is one I still fight.)

Antlers just wanted to create the best form of his art, but that was not a good thing. He died horribly. Angel nearly died horribly. OJ might have died horribly. Emerald could have lost everything, and the Haywoods are left with a photo that is ENOUGH to get them through,but have most likely completely lost a much more impressive video, one that fully demonstrated OJ’s skill as an animal handler, too. In the quest for The Best Possible Thing he not only endangered others, he lost something that was perfectly good.

(I think the power dynamic alluded to here, too, with Antlers being a white male director, is very intentional as well. Who do we allow to hurt others in the name of Art? Who is allowed to be hurt? Did he learn the rules for that during film school, during his career?)

His Art ate him and hurt the people around him, just the same as Jupe’s spectacle did, as spectacle does throughout the whole film. When you put your Art before human lives, before others, and before yourself, it can be just as destructive and exploitative a force. No product is worth human blood. It’s pain all the way down.

[pieisnotreal]

Something something 6:13 is an inversion of 3:16 which is the chapter and verse of "for God so loved the world, that he gave his only son. That whosoever believes in him shall not die but have everlasting life". Which is a verse about God's Greatest Miracle Jesus Christ. But also given the assumption that heaven is "up" instead of a benevolent omniscient being in the sky they are dealing with an aggressive predator who's motivations are far more simple than people like Jupe would prefer.

[mingus-archives]

Even More Nope (2022) Thoughts

The specificity of the vortex. In the desert, in the plains, the vortex is a singular tragedy. Floods, storms, fires, they hit everything. They touch everyone. But a tornado is specific. A tornado can take down a single house, a single horse, a single person. One building can be brought to its foundations and its neighbor left with just a broken window. And in the same way, a tornado can spare a single man.

Jean Jacket’s mouth is not a tractor beam. It’s a vortex. It’s a tornado. It’s choice of victim is specific. When JJ eats the TMZ reporter OJ makes it out unscathed, despite the fact that the two were mere feet apart. And that’s what makes it horrible.

But what makes it worse, you can see a tornado coming from miles away.

Gordy was a time bomb, an amalgamation of instincts placed into a setting made only to exacerbate them. In retrospect, it seems so obvious. Of course a chimpanzee, a species prone to violence, known to have man-killing strength, would cause a tragedy. But when Gordy does, all you can do is watch. All you can do is see the devastation approach and hope you’re not in its way. This is Jupe, caught in the wake of a tornado, in a singular act of havoc.

Em and potentially OJ’s survival can be attributed to their bond, their knowledge and expertise handling animals. But along with that is the tragedy, especially given that OJ may not have actually made it, that their survival was a stroke of luck. After all, when a tornado builds, there is no path or mercy, no story to tell, no motive. There is just those who survived and those who didn’t.

[abigsigh]

NOPE SPOILERS BELOW!!

I watched Nope a while ago with friends and can’t get it out of my mind. The movie rich in themes and has much to offer, but one of my (and prob most ppls) favorite things to analyze would of course be Jean Jacket herself. (warning: this is really fucking long)

One of my fav types of characters/plot lines/objects etc are ones that distinctly can be viewed and analyzed in more than one way. A popular example would…. Lmao flowey the flower in undertale (but this ain’t about him rn). The characters in Nope state multiple times that Jean Jacket is a predator/animal and has the instincts of one. This is further held up by the Gordy parallel. But Jean Jacket can also be understood as the camera, as the all-seeing and consuming eye of Hollywood and audiences. By looking at Jean Jacket in these two ways, then adding the analyses together, we come to interesting conclusions about the camera as a predator.

Jean Jacket as the territorial and predatory animal

I’m sure everyone came away with this idea in mind after watching the movie. I mean legit it’s stated directly in the movie.

The Gordy incident is very similar to the JJ plot, however it’s a very simplified version. During the flashbacks we never see Gordy when he’s not on a rampage - he never look him in the eyes when he’s just a trained animal. This ties into the ‘don’t look into it’s eyes’ concept, but also it ties into respect and acknowledgement. It’s not that we don’t look into his eyes before the incident, it’s that we don’t see him at ALL even though he technically was supposed to be in the frame of the camera. (This will come back later.) Only after the incident the monkey, the actual monkey, is acknowledged. Here the animal is much more a force of nature than truly predatory or territorial - the set wasn’t really his territory, he didn’t eat any of the actors etc - something just set him off and he started attacking. It’s unexpected and unexplainable to the victims.

The coworker of Jupe’s tries to run, but his behaviour is interesting. First of all in trying to defend yourself from monkeys facing directly towards them and yelling probably won’t deescalate the situation. Again, the nature of the animal wasn’t thought of before shooting. But on a thematic it’s interesting that he talks to Gordy like he’s talking to another human. HIS NATURE ISN’T ACKNOWLEDGED. Trying to push nature, animals, anything that can’t (or even those that can) be tamed into the spotlight and twisting it into a spectacle will lead to your downfall.

The standing upright shoe accents Jupe’s experience. A bad miracle. He HAS felt the consequences of Hollywood in his being forgotten, his trauma being twisted, but he’s always had something worse to compare it to in the back of his mind. He hasn’t actually felt the animalistic, the gore-y consequences (he wasn't actually attacked remember?). He knows his behavior can bite him in the ass at some point, but he doesn’t truly think it a possibility. He was always waiting for the "other shoe to drop", but the bad miracle itself made him feel above it. Gordy coming up to him under the table and not attacking was a bad miracle, one that put into his head the idea that he would be ok. He himself was never noticed or acknowledged properly and here he is, being acknowledged by Gordy. Being spared by him. He (while probably not consciously) feels special.

Now into the territorial behaviour of not JJ, but the other humans. Here the key comparison is Jupe VS OJ. And a little bit of Em.

Jupe is the prime example. He’s new to the area, but claims it as his own. He’s not truly a cowboy, but makes money off of it. When his plastic horse statue was stolen, he sent his children (first of all wtf) as a threat to OJ (this threatening behaviour come back in JJ). Then we have OJ. He’s also (in a sense) territorial, but it’s never shown to be a negative thing to others; Em only worries about HIM not surviving by staying at the ranch. He never threatens anyone. He simply is keeping their family's legacy safe. He’s simply taking care of his horses. He is the actual cowboy, not Jupe.

Em is only is connected to the animal theme by her ‘never being looked in the eye’ by her father. Instead of it being connected to a negative trait however, it’s connected to her struggle for acknowledgment (something that’s tied into her taking her horse Jean Jacket). (All of these traits and comparisons come back later).

Now of course onto the behaviour of Jean Jacket. She absolutely is just a wild animal. Like that’s one of the hugest points of the movie. She hid in that cloud, not wanting to be seen, like every other predator. She was “trained” by Jupe to expect food there. When she ate the fake horse, she went there early. Now if she went for 1) revenge or 2) just because she was hungry is not knowable. If the former was true (she was mad about the fake horse) then the siblings are veryyy responsible for the Star Lasso event. That doesn’t truly fit into the themes of the work, so it’s most likely the latter. Jupe made himself be known as a source for food, and then he + others became... the SOURCE for food (lmao). Animals are unknowable. You can’t control their behavior even when you think you have them tamed. Another aspect of Jean Jacket’s behavior is the fact she views the area as her territory. AND she doesn’t view the siblings as food… but why? It’s cuz she views them as a threat to her territory. Someone had posted (if u can find their post pls send it so I can credit this idea properly) that JJ’s behavior at the end of the film was similar to performative behavior of predatory animals protecting their territory. Thus her bowel movement after the Star Lasso event was similar to how predators mark their territory- thru excrement/urine.

Overall the comparisons between Gordy and Jean Jacket showcase the impossibility of taming forces of nature and the consequences of believing yourself powerful and special enough to do so. You get eaten.

JEAN JACKET AS THE PREDATORY CAMERA

NOW!! The second part of the analysis is more symbolic. JEAN JACKET LITERALLY LOOKS LIKE AN EYE. The alien merch and costumes look like the cameras from the Gordy set. When you put the implications from the predatory behaviour together with the fact that JJ is Hollywood it get real interesting.

Jupe for years has tried to make himself more and more marketable (more...digestible haha) to the public. It’s borne from his trauma and due to the system he’s in. He tries to “fist bump”, to feed this terrible force that’s only taken from him - the camera, the audience. On the other hand he’s been taking and taking from siblings, just like how the system, how Hollywood has slowly been taking their livelihood away, showcasing just how much he's become like the industry . The audience as an animal reacts negatively to being seen. Life is performance, and eyes have been watching from the clouds for forever. Their father was literally tokenized!!

Spectacle is a force hard to reason with. Hollywood is hard to tame. The only way to defeat it is to let in consume it’s own bloated deeds (Jupe’s huge ass balloon). But instead of letting their experience be forgotten, for the repressed trauma from it to dictate the rest of their lives (Jupe) OR instead of trying to capture it for their own selfish needs (the director), they have just one picture… to prove that it happened.

OJ and Emerald have been through so much. They have been forgotten as has what’s been done to them. This photographic proof serves as an acknowledgment of their suffering and bravery.

This is the reason why Gordy and JJ reacting negatively throughout the movie to being filmed isn’t brought up here. It’s a theme that respecting nature is vital. But here JJ isn’t just a misunderstood animal. JJ as the camera has done harm to the siblings similar to how Hollywood has, and Jupe has. It must be acknowledged.

[movies-reviewer]

NOPE

I watched "NOPE" the other day and this is what I think about it...

NOPE is an Horror/Sci-fi movie about a flying vacuum cleaner that then becomes a levitating wedding dress.

I'm telling you, the guy who made this movie must be a big fan of Lovecraft/Hidetaka Miyazaki's work.

The main creature in this movie apparently is "an animal" cosplaying a flying roomba that can turn into a cloud, into bed sheets but also into Sahaquiel the 10th Angel of Evangelion.

For people that don't know, Sahaquiel looks like a neuron and let me tell you, you're gonna need an extra supply of those if you decide to go watch this movie.

There's a specific scene in the movie where a bunch of people get "up close and personal" with the creature, it reminded me of the "don't be scared, we got clean wombs" meme.

This movie is about 2hrs long, you could farm in Dark Souls for the same amount of time and then purposely jump off a cliff twice in a row without retrieving your souls first, therefore losing them all forever, and somehow that would still be a better use of your time.

Jokes aside, I think NOPE is an extremely weird movie but I appreciate the clear effort that went into it.

I'll give this film a nice make your bed/10

[fountainpenguin]

Etho and Scar's interactions in LimLife are golden to me... that painful inhale Etho does before whispering "I'm about to go out of roleplay" when Scar flipped his ender porter and Etho wanted to strangle him... The way that Etho attempts to improv by pulling the "Has your mom told you you're adopted?" card and Scar just says "Oh I know that's not true because we've got something in common: failed traps <3" and a longsuffering and exhausted Etho just sighs and leaves... Love that for them.

+ The dichotomy of Cleo ''You are definitely Etho's child'' @ Scar vs ''Please please don't be my kid'' Etho SDLKFJSDKFL

[292pantone]

I am once again thinking about the movie Nope and I just realized that a seemingly throwaway line actually has a lot more depth behind it than I anticipated. Tech support worker Angel makes a comment about the TV show "Ancient Aliens", which seems like a comic relief moment at first, but actually really highlights some of the film's underlying themes.

For those unfamiliar with the show, Ancient Aliens is a History channel show in America that basically promotes the "ancient aliens" hypothesis, i.e. that some past extraterrestrial race must have come to earth and is secretly behind technological marvels like the Egyptian pyramids. It focuses a lot on things built by non-Western cultures, from Native Americans to Africans to South Americans, with the heavily implied undertone that people of color couldn't possibly have been advanced enough to create things without the help of aliens. The show has been rightfully criticized for racism and its extremely pseudoscientific content with sparse and misleading evidence. Not only does Ancient Aliens perfectly encompass the concept of spectacle in pop culture, but it constantly erases and downplays the scientific and artistic advancements of whole cultures.

The concept of cultural erasure came up earlier in Nope with Em's speech about being descended from the first Black stuntman, who despite his contributions to film history was overlooked by Hollywood. The Haywood family are some of the only Black horse trainers in the industry, but struggle to keep their business afloat as predominantly white filmmakers dismiss and disrespect them. Em and OJ spend much of the film striving to get the perfect "Oprah shot" that will finally launch them from obscurity and earn them fame and fortune.

Angel's casual reference seems too on-the-nose to be a coincidence. Even as he joins the search for aliens, his whole frame of reference is a clickbaity show that promotes conspiracy theories undermining the achievements and contributions of people of color.

[catgirl-kaiju]

I saw a review of Nope (2022) that compared it to Jaws in its basic structure (high tension thriller where the main characters stalked by a dangerous animal that is difficult to see coming). I can kind of see that, but I think something more interesting about the film is how much it is the opposite of Jaws.

Jaws is a film about a wild animal that is portrayed as a vicious killing machine with implied malice. It turns what is a real life animal into something that is not human or animal, just a scary monster with little acknowledgement that it is a living thing. The framing of the shark attacks is of a shark invading waters that should be safe for humans to use for leisure, rather than as people suffering the consequences of intruding into the shark's natural habitat. The idea of closing the beach isn't about respecting the boundaries of a wild animal, but about keeping people safe from a vicious killer.

Nope (and this is where I start getting into some spoilers) is about a creature that is assumed to be something artificial by the main characters. Because of its resemblance to a classic flying saucer, Jean Jacket is assumed to be a vessel for intelligent and possibly malicious aliens. A classic movie monster. However, we discover part way through the film that Jean Jacket is actually a living thing, a predatory organism, and is framed as such. Jean Jacket isn't killing because it's evil; it's killing because it's hungry and territorial. Only by acknowledging that Jean Jacket is essentially a wild animal, with rules and boundaries, are the main characters able to survive it. Meanwhile, characters that assume that Jean Jacket isn't alive or seek to control or exploit it are put in harms way by their own actions. It's also implied that this is not actually Jean Jacket's native habitat, it is an outside force that has intruded on the Haywood ranch and it becomes a matter of people defending themselves against an invasive species.

I think all of the ways in which Nope contrasts Jaws makes it a stronger film with more nuanced messaging. Jaws may be good at creating tension and suspense, but it also doesn't care to think about its monster as a living thing (which is especially problematic since great white sharks are real and endangered animals that are not even known for attacking humans). By taking the time to show that Jean Jacket is a living thing with needs and boundaries, (even though it's a very fictional creature) Nope creates some very interesting conflict that feels more grounded despite the premise being so outlandish.

Anyway, thank you for reading and go watch Nope if you haven't already. There's a lot more that's great about it that I didn’t fit into this analysis.

[artmunstudios]

Lies of P Character Analysis: P and Carlo

Spoilers for the ending of the game lie ahead under the cut!

I have been seeing a lot of people refer to P as Carlo, specifically in the Rise of P ending, and I think it is very important to think about this fact, because it kind of goes hand in hand with the themes of the game overall. And on top of that, it's important for when making theories too!

P isn’t Carlo—he never was, and won’t ever be no matter what ending you get. Not even the Nameless Puppet is really Carlo. (His corpse maybe which is,,,,, so fucked)

I'm kinda driving this home, because I think it is really important to understand the difference between P and Carlo, because despite Geppetto claiming that P inherited his personality instead of the memories, they clearly are very different people, and that is solely because of their environments.

He’s much more like a reflection of Carlo, if he was raised in a more loving/nurturing environment. P is a Carlo that isn’t solely filled with nothing but spite and anger towards his father that literally abandoned and clearly even resented him. Compare this to the people around P at the home he knew, Hotel Krat.

Sofia— Never once really says a bad word to P. Not even in the bad ending. She is that gentle guide that, despite claiming to have awakened P for selfish reasons, acts entirely selfless and is willing for her freedom to be put on hold to help P in aiding in lessening the damage in Krat. She compliments him, gives encouraging words, and I would even dare to say she teaches P the value of life.

Antonia— Grandma. Of. The Year. Can we please give this classy lady of all sass and glory more than a peaceful death? Like???? I dunno, sneak her a bottle of that good wine, Tipple Lady seemed to really dig it. If she wasn't so sick I am more than certain that she would have been doting on P more than just verbally. I'm talking that kind of grandma, and you know exactly what I mean. This lady would somehow find a way for there to be ingredients for cookies because goddammit, she may be classy but I bet you any money she makes the best goddamn peanut butter cookies and YOU CANNOT TELL ME OTHERWISE. Every time P would come back all dirty, he would get the scolding of a lifetime because how many times does she have to tell him to leave that dirty coat and boots at the entry and let Polendina get them for a wash— And finally, if she were well enough you know damn well P would have been even more classy than he already was with those outfits. She would spend an entire day going through wardrobes and having P try each outfit on to see what looks good, because no grandson of hers is going out in drabs she will not have it— Ahem. Er. ANywayyy...that grandma. she would be that grandma. And still kind of is, she just couldn't do much being so ill. And, kind of on the flipside, I think Antonia in a way taught P the importance of death, and how it can be drawing near, but you can still be full of hope like she was.

Polendina and Pulcinella — These two taught P a very important lesson, and even taught it to him fairly early on! Puppets are not inherently evil; in fact, they can be just as alive as any human. They both love the ones they take care of, and provide that sense of kinship that P really needed. In a way, P is biracial (racial....or...????bispecies???? I????? I don't know what to call it?????) so seeing both sides of each half in him is such a great influence, and helps him realize that he may be different to both, he can belong in both worlds.

Eugenie— Sweetie. Babygirl. Bestie. She was thrown into the position of big sister so fast she didn't even realize it until like. The end of the game, I think. That conversation about her big brother seemed to make her realize that she was a big sister to P in a way, I think. Which is why the realization about her own older sibling made things much harder, I think.

Lorenzini— An eccentric, but genuinely kind hearted man. A human, that despite everything, still treats the puppets as family. Hell, he doesn't even convinced that they are the villains, and he is the one to actually initiate the whole path to when the group discovers that Geppetto is the one behind the frenzy. 1000/10, coolest uncle; he probably will buy P so many ridiculous things the moment things have calmed down in Krat. What's that? Oh, yes you need a place to stay--HAVE A HOUSE. DO YOU WANT THE BLOCK I CAN BUY YOU A BLOCK-- (Pulcinella has to withhold finances because Lorenzini will NOT stop buying P shit, and the poor lad doesn't really have a concept of money so of course he's gonna accept it all and just say yes!) .... (The realization of P not really having a concept of currency suddenly startles me. WHAT IS HE GONNA DO WHEN KRAT IS RESTORED??? POLENDINA WHY DID YOU RESET HE NEEDS FUCKIN HELP— )

Geppetto— Ah. Yes. Rat bastard (derogatory). Deadbeat dad. Control freak. YOU. I will. Give him this, and I do genuinely mean this; despite everything he has done, and how manipulative he is, he, ironically, gave P exactly what he needed from a father in some ways. Specifically, Geppetto always reminded P that he was precious and important to him, and that he genuinely did not like sending him out into dangerous situations. Even though, it was for different reasons, and the majority of us were suspicious from the start, we have to think about it from P's perspective. Think about all the things he said to him, until the end at least. P had legitimately no reason to suspect Geppetto. In many ways, as far as P could tell, he was perfect. Encouraging, gentle, he made sure P was always in tip-top shape, and he told him that he was proud to see him fight the King of Puppets (yes it's fucked up knowing it was Romeo, Carlo's possible only friend, but again, P doesn't know that until the very end). In a way, he taught P his own worth, to the point that he valued his own individuality, and refused to give up his sense of self. And in the very end, I think Geppetto realized that P was not Carlo, but he loved him like a father, despite everything.

Gemini (I FORGOT GEMINI AND HAD TO EDIT TO ADD HIM IN CAST ME INTO THE FUCKIN FIRE I AM A FAKE PINOCCHIO LORE FANATIC) - Gemini, in my opinion, in this iteration is less of a conscious and more of a??? He's kinda like Romeo's replacement, in a way; he's P's best friend. He kinda also teaches P humor as well, which is honestly a take on the talking Cricket that is so unique. He's like that awkward teacher that is young but still a little out of touch with the generation he's teaching that it's like the equivalent of hearing your 30 something professor tell a fucking dad pun. Speaking of teaching, he teaches P a lot! Especially history, and cultural stuff for Krat; and I think that's also really important for development! And it is really sweet how he still, despite Krat being in disarray, tries to kinda give the city that sense of wonder and joy for P that maybe other tourists would have.

Now, contrast that with Carlo's life:

His father drops him off randomly at a place he doesn't know (a fucking orphanage dude, you couldn't even be fucked to ship him to a proper private school at least Geppetto?) at we can assume age 10-12, without even bothering to tell him when or if he would come back, based on that first memory we see. How many more sleeps until daddy comes back? Geppetto couldn't even be bothered to see his graduation, and he claims that he would not care if he just dropped over dead. And, I'm gonna be real, just based on the line delivery, as well as some personal experiences (get into that a little later with some dissection) I fully believe he means it. I'm gonna be real, the people who say stuff like that, specifically older kids edging adulthood, most of the time they really mean that shit. And, to make matters worse, it's not even just Geppetto that brushes him off, even people that you could argue are supposed to be mentor figures, brush him off. But we don't know enough yet about the Stalker Woman, so I won't go too deep into that. Right to his death (which we have to assume was homicide) it seemed like the entire world, but Romeo, rejected him.

In a way, it makes sense that the Nameless Puppet is just a rage-filled, calculating, killing machine when it gets P's heart. It doesn't inherit the personality, just the memories. And that, with the kind of life Carlo lived, makes for a very dangerous being.

Let's also think about what Giangio said, too. He calls P a new kind of human. P doesn't just magically get human guts and whatnot. He's not human, he's a cyborg, I suppose, but even that doesn't seem entirely right. It's just kinda as Giangio calls him; a new kind of human. I guess, if we want to get cheeky, P is a Legion Human. Carlo was human, and that's just how it was. Carlo never comes back, but the memory of him does seem to live on in P. He's like??? He starts off as a reflection, and ends up becoming a legacy to Carlo, in a way.

But there is one huge indicator yet that shows that P and Carlo are separate people.

I'm gonna be honest, and say potentially a bold take, but I genuinely don't think Carlo would have cried if he were there when Geppetto dies, I really don't. Just speaking from personal experience (yet again), I have an absentee parent that, the older I get, I kind of realized was never really in my life. Similar to Geppetto in a way, too, in the concept of wanting more of a concept rather than actually being a parent. So, just speaking from that perspective, if my absentee father who never bothered to get to know me or even cared about who I was as a person died in such a way (lowkey from his own hubris) I can't say it's realistic to think that someone with that kind of relationship would cry for that parent. Feel sad? Absolutely, it's not like you are heartless and just lose all sense of apathy for that person. But it's hard to really mourn for a stranger at worst, and a associate at best.

However, P does cry. More than that, when you see him curl over Geppetto's body in the true end, that right there, is fucking despair. Again, just kind of speaking from experience, your body does some weird shit to cope when you are upset over a death. You kinda revert back to that state of being a kid, wanting to coddle your precious thing because when you were at that age, you believed that things could be fixed with stuff like a hug, or cradling, etc. It's not a conscious thought, but that is part of the reflex. P holds Geppetto, the man that he genuinely sees as his father, close; because it's the only thing he knows what to do in that moment. If we think about Carlo and Geppetto's relationship, can we really see Carlo holding his father close like that?

TLDR: P and Carlo are two entirely different people; and it is almost solely because of the environments they were in.

[oyesteryells]

we were discussing Nope in my english class and my professor brought up the idea that Jean Jacket could have survived. it blew my mind because i was so certain it died, but i realized this interpretation could make sense. one of the reasons the ending is so ambiguous is because the audience never sees what happens to Em or Jean Jacket after that final scene. when i watched the movie with friends, some of them were so certain OJ died, while i thought he definitely survived. Maybe OJ was really there, or maybe Em was just imagining him. Maybe she got rich and famous. Maybe they saved the ranch. Maybe someone took the Oprah Shot for themselves. Maybe the cruel cycle of exploitation continued. And maybe Jean Jacket survived.

[captainn-hook]

Character analysis on Prince Sidon (BOTW vs TOTK)

One thing I love about totk is how the game addresses Sidon’s trauma.

In botw you see how desperate he is for his father’s approval, it’s like Mipha set an impossible standard for dying not only for her domain and her people but for the whole kingdom of Hyrule. In their father’s eyes, she’s the perfect child, not only in personality but also in the way she’s honoured her family. Sidon sees how his father thinks of her, and although the king doesn’t do it consciously, he always put her on an impossibly high pedestal, and Sidon grew up believing that he HAD to meet that expectation, and that he would never, no matter how hard he tried.

When Link tames Vah Ruta and they both go to see the king, he tells his son:

“As your father, I am proud of you for fighting the Divine Beast alongside Link. You have grown much recently. I know you will be a worthy heir when your time comes.”

Then Sidon bows his head, as if he’s overcome with emotions because his dad tells him he’s proud of what he’s accomplished. King Dorephan isn’t a bad guy, don’t get me wrong, but in his grief of losing his daughter (in this case, he thought she went missing and had been in the DB for 100 years, he didn’t know she died) made him sort of lose sight of Sidon’s achievements in those 100 years because he was so racked with worry and guilt. So although the king isn’t a bad father, he fails to reassure his son that he doesn’t need to do anything to make him proud (even though Sidon had definitely done stuff to make his dad proud over the years).

(Btw im pretty sure tripple digits in age is considered teens or early adulthood for Zora, so he’s still pretty young, I imagine around Link’s age if he were Hylian)

But that’s about all we get in botw.

So now we move on to totk. And oh boy do we get a load of Sidon angst. Some people might disagree with me but having read between the lines of what Lady Yona talked about (and just WHAT she actually said) in the first half of the water temple quest (before we find it, when we’re up in Mipha court), it really is angsty.

She’s aware of the fact that his sister’s death affected him a lot and still does despite knowing that her spirit moved on, and it (at this point) has started to affect their relationship.

Yona and Sidon have a disagreement before/after the battle with the Sludge Like, where they argue about him going with Link to this pillar of light that has suddenly appeared. It starts with Sidon saying: “Lady Yona! It is far too dangerous for you to be here” in reference to the sludge, but she has none of that.

She tells him that she wants him to go to the pillar with Link, and that: “For a long time, I have been concerned that you are holding yourself back and not acting as freely as I would have expected.” This has some credit because it’s mentioned somewhere how they were both childhood friends, and the Zora live long lives so it’s safe to assume their childhood is prolonged, which means that they’ve known each other for a very long time. Yona knows how he acts and behaves, his mannerisms and his fears, and that’s why she wants to push him to face them.

She tells him that if he goes with Link they’ll be able to overcome this problem, but he hesitates. She notices, asking him what is troubling him, and he hesitates again to speak what is on his mind. This is when the Sludge Like comes in, and after the battle, the conversation continues.

Sidon hurries back to Yona and says: “Thank goodness. Lady Yona, if something had happened to you... I...” and there’s where it becomes clear just how terrified he is of losing her. He doesn’t finish the sentence, though, he changes the subject and tells her that she should go back to the domain in case more monsters show up. She tells him that he should focus on what Link said and that he can leave the court to them (Yona and the others that came with her). Sidon replies with: “W-well... Of course it would be best for me to accompany him. However, I cannot leave you alone in this dangerous place!” He’s ignoring what’s best and instead focusing on the safety of his betrothed, because of course he would! A monster just showed up and it took both Link and Sidon to take it down, imagine if neither of them were with her, what would happen? What would he do if she got hurt? And then the following dialogue happens (you dont need to read the whole thing, you can just skip to the bold parts):

Yona: “Did you not entrust this task to us already? We will not be on our own for long. We shall be just fine.”

Sidon: “But…”

Yona: “Sidon, my darling... I truly appreciate that you worry so for my safety. It speaks to the kindness in your heart.

But you are the prince of the Zora. One day, you will lead the people of your beloved domain.

I can see right through you, whether you want me to or not. You are yielding to the fear of losing someone you love again.

You must overcome your past and face whatever the future holds with courage.”

Sidon: “But... I...”

Yona: “Enough is enough! You are not acting like yourself! You must leave this place to me!

Sweet Sidon... Do not get lost in the past. You must keep moving ever onward. Just follow your heart, as you always do!”

Sidon: “Like my old self... Like I always do...”

Yona: “It is all right. I swear it. I am not going anywhere.”

Sidon: “I see... And there it is, clear as day... I was giving in to my fear of once more losing someone I love... I… I…

You are right, Yona! I will not give in to this fear! Nor forsake my trust in you! I leave this place to you, my love.”

[skip]

Yona: “All this time he was clinging to regret over being unable to save his precious sister, Mipha... My poor, tormented Sidon.

And to think he was unknowingly paralyzed from taking action because he feared losing me as well...

Yet he has overcome this trial and placed his faith in me. At last, the Sidon I know and love has come back to me.”

During this conversation, Sidon hesitated more than once and you can see it starting to irritate Yona because she knows the potential he doesn’t see in himself, because it’s not just fear of losing a loved one, but it’s his own insecurity from not being able to save Mipha.

He doesn’t care that he was young and wouldn’t have been able to anyway, he just cares that he couldn’t. In his eyes, he failed to save his sister. And I’m not going to go too deep into this point but it’s clear that she was playing both older sister and mother, because we can assume their mother died a while back (she’s never mentioned and it’s just the two of them and their father even as far back as age of calamity if you want to include that).

What I’m saying is that with technically both the loss of his mother and his sister, it’s safe to assume that he feels some sort of responsibility for not being able to help, even if he was too young to do so, his disregard for the age he was at the time shows how much weight was left on his shoulders after Mipha died.

He never expected to be the heir to the throne, the sole survivor of his family (along with his dad), sure he’s a prince and princes have responsibility, but Mipha was always going to be in the spotlight (not that I’d imagine him jealous of this, it’s simply just a fact, and I think he might have actually even been comfortable with that), she was always going to be the Zora Champion and then Queen one day, so to have all of that suddenly dumped on him after the calamity as a literal kid would’ve undoubtedly had its effect on him.

Yona understands this, she tells Link, knowing he’s probably caught on, how he was “clinging to regret over being unable to save his precious sister, Mipha...”.

She has to reassure her love that she’s okay. “It is all right. I swear it. I am not going anywhere.”, she comforts him because she knows he needs it, he needs her to say it to him because that’s the only way he will believe she is in fact okay.

But his character develops. Sidon realises that in fearing for Yona, he has made her feel as if she isn’t trusted. He recognises the position he’s put them both in, him worrying relentlessly and stressing out about his loved ones because of his trauma, and her having to watch him fall down this never ending rabbit hole and being unable to do much about it because all he tries to do is shelter and protect her, even when it’s unnecessary.

But she does what she can anyway, and it pays off, because he comes back to reality and understands that although there will always be the risk of losing her, he knows that she is more than capable of taking care of herself. He knows of her strength, it was just hard for him to see the situation from her point of view. But she pushes him to do so, and he betters himself for her.

I think he’ll always have some small hint of this trauma response hidden away, but after this discussion, he’s got a firm hold on it, and is willing to control his fears for the love of his life so that they can start to build a life together without the sense of utter doom and despair over his past looming over them both.

I’m glad the writers did this, and didnt just make them seem like this perfect couple with no issues, it shows a real and healthy relationship, and it shows that Sidon isn’t this perfect person and that he indeed has faults of his own.

That’s my take on it, anyway.

[another-clive-blog]

HOW HAVE I NEVER NOTICED THIS

LAYTON USES TU FOR FUTURE LUKE BUT SWITCHES TO VOUS THE SECOND CLIVE'S IDENTITY IS REVEALED.

Tu and vous both mean you but Tu implies closeness : in the entirety of Unwound Future, Layton only ever uses Tu with Flora, the Lukes and Claire

[keefechambers]

Choose your fighter.

[artist-fan146]

Quick ramble about The Tigger Movie (2000)!!

It’s the little things in animation that make all the difference! Take this scene from The Tigger Movie for example! Not only do I love it for reasons ™️ but I also love the facial animation on these characters! And it’s more noticeable and has much more variety by looking at it through each frame that makes it stand out!

Here in this clip we can see Rabbit slowly back up as Tigger approaches him but quickly warms up and it’s subtle but his ears get more straight and less bent before Tigger leaped into the hug. The noticeable change into a smile on Rabbit’s face is also there once we see him warm up! And once Tigger gives him that hug, the animation is much more quicker and fluid for that bit!

I could talk about this movie all day if I got the time but this is how I’ll start out!