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internetjulian · 1 year

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I rewatched Avatar (2009) and now I hate Jake Sully

This is mostly copy-pasted from my Letterboxd review, something I might keep doing here whenever I write longer things on that website. So here are some unpolished thoughts about Avatar, a movie that I like but have complicated feelings about.

Avatar is a very well made movie whose central analogy doesn't quite work as well as it wants to and whose lovingly derivative story perpetuates some uncomfortable tropes that bring the whole thing down for me.

The movie is definitely not the vapid thoughtless tech showcase some people make it out to be. Much of the film is genuinely inspired. But while its heart is in the right place, the parallels it draws between the conflict on Pandora and actual historical events are so overt and rigid that when it strays from this 1:1 allegory, some odd implications start to arise that are difficult to stomach (spoilers ahead).

The magic tree being an observable phenomenon is a choice that baffles me. Surely the fact that it is culturally important and sacred to the Na'vi is reason enough to leave it alone, right? But the movie goes out of its way to establish that it is important because of its scientific value, and that that's why it must be saved. In fairness, this information is delivered by a scientist, but the choice to give the sacred forest these magical properties at all feels like a genre trope that is at odds with the story. The Na'vi being attuned to nature is conveyed well enough without the magic, and this sci-fi development unintentionally contributes to the legitimization of actual destruction of sacred Indigenous lands: in real life, they're not magic, so why shouldn't they be destroyed? This obviously goes against the movie's very clear messaging, but the implications are there, and the movie would be better off without them.

Also, the premise itself is a very strange one to couple with the setting and messaging of the movie. Jake Sully's double life (one a harsh and unkind reality and the other a beautiful world with gorgeous 3D graphics) feels like it's participating in a conversation about virtual worlds and wish-fulfillment. Despite Pandora existing in-universe as a real place, there is a video game quality to it that feels intentional. Jake himself is a clear audience surrogate. We inhabit him and he inhabits a virtual character called an Avatar.

The unfortunate side effect of pairing this specific premise with this specific story is that it uses our current language of video game escapism to tell a white savior story, because that's really the only kind of story you can tell when you combine these two ideas. Jake is the Protagonist. He's the Player Character, and so when he joins the Na'vi, he must become The Most Important Na'vi. He's the one who inspires them to fight. He's the one who tames the beast no one could. He gets the girl and he stops the bad guys. It's a video game campaign.

To have an outsider be the one who solves all these problems for the Na'vi feels gross to me. But it's what this premise necessitates. The protagonist can't be Na'vi, because we aren't Na'vi. We need to learn about the world through his eyes, because he's our Avatar. But this complicates the theme of the movie. The struggle for Indigenous rights is not fought by a Protagonist like Jake Sully. There is no magic tree that picks a Chosen One, and if there were it certainly wouldn't choose the white man who just learned about this struggle yesterday.

The movie has a similarly uneasy relationship with disability. It's commendable that the main character of this blockbuster is disabled, but leveraging this first as his motivation to betray the Na'vi and then as a reward for his change of heart feels unnecessary. The former feels like a byproduct of the film's adherence to traditional western story structure, and the latter feels like a byproduct of the film's adherence to traditional video game structure. I like that the movie is engaging with the way disabled people are treated by both the people around them and the systems that neglect them, and there's an interesting transhumanist angle to the in-universe Avatar technology, but the movie doesn't linger on either of these. The philosophical and thematic questions that these ideas pose go unanswered and unexplored.

I still think this is a good movie. It has a lot of really great qualities that I haven't mentioned because I think they're pretty obvious. The cast rules. The action rips. The romance hits. The spectacle is awesome. I watched this movie in 3D in a virtual movie theater using my Quest 2, and while this wasn't a perfect recreation of the theater experience, it was certainly better than watching it on a flat TV screen with only two measly dimensions. There are some small details in the worldbuilding that are invisible in 2D, such as printed photographs and flat computer screens having visible depth in the 3D version.

The movie leans on well-established tropes and familiar story beats in ways that feel playful and timeless, lending the story a confidence that it wears with glee. Even though this results in ideas that undermine the movie's political messaging, at least the messaging is there, and it is well-intentioned. Avatar even improves upon some of the stories it remixes by treating the (fictional but analogous to real tribes) Na'vi and their culture with the bare minimum level of respect.

The fact that Avatar raises all these questions and invites these conversations is neat, in my opinion. This is a massively expensive movie with CGI spectacle up the wazoo and it's making me talk about imperialism and colonialism. I prefer a movie that does that to what we generally get in the blockbuster space these days, even if the conversations it invites are criticisms of how it stumbles. I hate Jake Sully, and that's cool.

#avatar #avatar 2009 #james cameron #jake sully #na'vi

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internetjulian · 1 year

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The Midnight Club - Season Two

I'm very disappointed that Netflix has decided not to pursue a second season of THE MIDNIGHT CLUB.

My biggest disappointment is that we left so many story threads open, holding them back for the hypothetical second season, which is always a gamble.

So I'm writing this blog as our official second season, so you can know what might have been, learn the fates of your favorite characters, and know the answers to those dangling story threads from the first season.

So for those of you who want to know what we were planning to do, here's a look at what would have been season 2!

AMESH Season 2 would open with Amesh, his glioblastoma advancing quickly. He would tell the first story of the season, but would be struggling to make it through. We'd focus on his love story with Natsuki for those first few episodes as it becomes clear that Amesh's death is imminent.

Meanwhile, Ilonka is trying to reconcile how she was fooled by Julia Jayne, all while falling further in love with Kevin, and she realizes he may be fading faster than he lets on.

Ilonka begins a serialized story in an effort to encourage him to "stay alive a little longer," like he did in season one. And the story she tells is... REMEMBER ME.

This was the thing I was most excited about for this season.

REMEMBER ME is one of my all-time favorite Pike books - it tells the story of a teenage girl who is pushed off a balcony, and awakens as a ghost. She has to navigate being a spirit while trying to solve her own murder. We would have stretched this story out over 5 episodes. We were going to use it as a vehicle for Ilonka to try to come to terms with the fact that she is going to die, and to begin to trying to wrap her head around being a ghost... but this is the coolest part... the lead character of Ilonka's story wouldn't be played by Ilonka. She'd be played by...

Anya.

Because this is how we live on, isn't it? In the minds of those we leave behind. And Ilonka would use REMEMBER ME as a way to imagine her dear friend Anya, waking up as a ghost, navigating the afterlife. And this sets up one of the best mechanisms of the show - even if a character dies, as long as they're remembered by members of the club, they live on in their stories.

As the story starts to pick up steam, though, the group will have to deal with the death of Amesh, which he greets with grace and bravery.

In his final moments, he sees someone in his room - the Janitor from the first season, as played by Robert Longstreet, who says comforting things to Amesh even though he can't respond.

In his final, final moments, the SHADOW descends upon Amesh, and he is engulfed into it, which reinforces the idea that the Shadow is DEATH...

With Amesh's death comes something that upends the entire thing: a NEW PATIENT. We didn't work out too much about who this would be, but it would be a new roommate for Ilonka. Someone taking Anya's old bed. Ilonka would find herself being initially cold to her - just as Anya was when Ilonka arrived. Even feeling like this new girl shouldn't necessarily be ushered into the Club. But of course they would develop a beautiful friendship over the course of the season. The new girl joins the club, where something else exciting is happening - Cheri is telling a story. We hadn't decided which one, but I think it might have been MONSTER.

Natsuki would be the next to die, which would be heartbreaking. And again, she would talk to the janitor just before it happened... and again, the Shadow would come in the final moments.

For Spence, though, things would take a different turn.

The advancements in HIV treatment in the late 90's would come into play, and we'd see his prognosis change. The HIV cocktail came out in Dec 1995, and we really wanted to explore that.

Spence would ride the swell of antiviral advancements, and by the end of the season, he'd no longer be classified as terminal. In the finale of season 2, Spence would leave Brightcliffe just like Sandra did in Season 1, heading off to manage his disease and live the rest of his life.

But onto the BIG MYSTERIES of the season one... here are some answers: What is up with Dr. Stanton's tattoo and bald head? Well, a few things. First, Dr. Stanton is actually the daughter of the original Paragon cult leader, Aceso. Her nickname was Athena, she wrote the Paragon journal that Ilonka found in S1. She turned on her mother and helped the kids escape, but because she was part of the cult in her teenage years, she had the tattoo.

It was her initials that Ilonka found carved into the tree in season 1 (her maiden name was Georgina Ballard, hence the G.B. that Ilonka finds carved in the tree).

She hated what her mother became, and the atrocities of the cult. She reclaimed the property after her mom was gone, and wanted to change it into a place that celebrated life. She was trying to undo her mother's legacy and leave something behind that was beautiful. She is wearing a wig at the end of S1 not because of a sinister reason, but because she is undergoing chemo. Dr. Stanton has cancer. Having helped so many people deal with disease, she now has to deal with it herself.

Her treatment would be successful, and she'd go into remission, but having to face that - while caring for the terminal kids at Brightcliffe - was going to be a very introspective arc for Stanton.

What about the Living Shadow? It's Death, right? Well... no.

At the end of the season, Kevin will die... followed shortly by Ilonka. And as she is dying, two things will happen. First, she'll find herself talking to the Janitor, played by Robert Longstreet... and she'll make a discovery.

HE is Death. And nothing to be afraid of. It turns out no one else ever saw this character. Stanton has a cleaning service, and the Nurse practitioners make up the rooms - the only people who ever saw this mysterious Janitor were the patients. He is Death, and offers them kind words before they die. Then what was the Shadow?

This is an idea we take directly from the book REMEMBER ME, and we'll see it play out in the final moments of Ilona's final tale. In Pike's book, Shari is pursued by a dark entity called The Shadow. When it finally catches her, though, it turns out it is not a bad thing at all.

The Shadow is THEMSELVES. It's the Unknown. As it engulfs someone, in the last moment of their life, it takes them through a place of understanding and catharsis, preparing them for the next step.

THIS is what happened to Anya in S1 when the Shadow finally reached her - that's why she fantasized a life beyond Brightcliffe, which ultimately let her find acceptance of her death. It looks different for everybody, depending on their mind-set - because it is simply an extension of themselves.

The Shadow is just the final catharsis, a return to our original form - it is a moment of true understanding, and once we experience it, we move on to the next place.

We see the Shadow in full effect when it finally comes for Kevin. KEVIN DIES with Ilonka at his side, and it leads to the biggest reveal of the season:

Who were the Mirror Man and the Cataract Woman?

They were Stanley Oscar Freelan and his wife, who built Brightcliffe (fun trivia, he is named after the real-life Freelan Oscar Stanley, who built my favorite hotel in America - the Stanley Hotel. The Stanley is also the inspiration for THE SHINING!).

But more than that... there's a reason that Ilonka only sees Stanley in the mirror, and sees the Cataract Woman whenever she looked at Kevin. This is something else we took from Pike's original book... these aren't ghosts, but glimpses of PAST LIVES.

Ilonka WAS Stanley Oscar Freelan, and Kevin WAS his wife. They've lived many lives this way, and are true SOUL MATES - they always find each other, and they always fall in love. In this life, they knew it would be a short one, so they agreed to find each other in the house they built. They've been "remembering" who they are, and glimpsing their former selves in reflections, and sometimes when they look at each other. This is also why Ilonka's very first words to Kevin in S1 were "Do I know you?" and why Kevin thought she was familiar as well. They are two souls who always find each other, again and again.

The story is this: Stanley was dying, and built this cliffside home hoping that the seaside air would help him. It did, and he far outlived his prognosis (this is also true of the real-life Freelan Stanley). However, his wife began to succumb to dementia.

She would wander the halls, looking for him ("Darling!") and would even forget to feed herself ("I'm starving...") and she eventually refused to leave the basement. Heartbroken for her, Stanley painted the walls to resemble the woodland view, and the ceiling to resemble the night sky, so that it would be a little more beautiful for her.

He also painted a labyrinth on the floor, which was a technique used to try to curb the effects of dementia. She'd walk the pattern of the maze and it was believed it could help her cognition. Eventually, she developed frightening cataracts, but Stanley loved her through it all.

They were soul mates.

So while they seemed scary in season 1, that was just how Ilonka and Kevin's mind were trying to remember their pasts. We even had their faces distorting in ways consistent with how memories degrade over time. When the Shadow comes for Ilonka, and gives her this understanding - this "remembering" - she realizes she has nothing to fear. She and Kevin will shed these personas and be reborn, and have the joy of finding each other another way. The Shadow comes for her, Death takes her gently, and Ilonka goes off with Kevin back into the cosmos, ready for their next incarnation. The series would end with Cheri telling this story to a whole new table of patients, including our new series leads. Most of our original cast now would exist as stories, a story told to the next "class" of storytellers at the table, all of whom we will have met by the end of the season. A story called "The Midnight Club."

Well, that's it... that was what we had in mind. It's a shame we won't get to make it, but it would be a bigger shame if you guys simply had to live with the unanswered questions and the cliffhanger ending. I loved making this show, and I am so proud of the cast and crew. Particularly our cast, who attacked this story with incredible spirit and bravery each and every day.

But for now, we'll put the fire out, and leave the library dark and quiet. To those before, and to those after. To us now, and to those beyond.

Seen or unseen, here but not here.

I'll always be grateful that I got to be part of this Club.

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internetjulian · 1 year

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MY JAW IS ON THE FLOOR

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internetjulian · 1 year

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Andor’s prop design, and what it means to “feel like Star Wars” (scroll for pictures!)

I got this comment and wanted to paste my response here because I think it’s a fun thing to think about!

Also!! Keep scrolling for a bunch of screenshots of my favorite props and designs from Andor, along with some surface-level analysis of each picture :)

Here’s the comment:

And here’s my response:

Thanks for bringing these things up because I think there's a lot to think about here!

It's interesting to me to consider where we draw the line when it comes to these things. Star Wars has always had technically impossible anachronisms -- time measured in Earth years, idioms that shouldn't yet exist, etc. I'm not necessarily arguing with you, because in the end this varies person-to-person. I just find it fascinating to think about what is immersion-breaking for some people and what isn't. Why might it be reasonable that they would invent the wheel before us, but not the light bulb, or a container for noodles? To me, the show strikes a good balance between the familiar and the fantastical.

The noodles, for example, take something familiar and modify it slightly to align with the Star Wars sci-fi look. Similarly to blue milk, which is just milk but blue, these are blue noodles, which are just noodles but blue! Even the cup that holds them is different: a unique pentagonal shape with metal screws keeping it together, as opposed to the four-sided box with a handle that we're used to. The show does the same with many of its props, from headphones to neckties. All similar, but different. Occasionally flirting with aspects of our own world without (in my opinion) crossing the line makes the show feel more authentic to me.

I think another thing to consider is that this show, moreso than any other live action Star Wars media before it, places a sizeable emphasis on mundane props and everyday objects: how they feel, how they sound, how they look up close. There's a great video essay by Thomas Flight that I recommend called "Why Andor Feels So Real" that gets into this a bit. I think that a byproduct of this show's fixation on the mundane is that we, the audience, scrutinize these props more heavily, leading to a break in immersion for some people that might not have occurred were these props in the background instead of the foreground. For me, it's a worthy tradeoff; I prefer the grounded worldbuilding and appreciate the detail in the props.

Finally, I encourage finishing the season if you haven't! There's a minor alien character in the first episode that I found charming, and there are some great alien designs later in the season. I agree that aliens aren't a priority in this series and that there's less of them than usual, but they're definitely in the show, and not just in the background! I suspect that the people behind the show are more interested in the intricacies of human performance than they are in the spectacle of animatronics and puppets, but there are still some very creative and convincing creature effects in Andor. Still, it's a very human-centric story, which I don't mind since I love this cast, and we've had human-centric Star Wars stories in the past. This also takes place during a time that the Galaxy is under a human-supremacist dictatorship. I predict that there will be more non-human characters in the second season as we see the rebellion form into something more structured and unified, but this is just speculation.

To me, the show absolutely feels like Star Wars, for reasons I mention in the video, but I don't disagree that the show has left some people feeling differently. Personally, I'd rather have an uncompromising vision than something that attempts to satisfy everyone, and the great thing about Star Wars is that there's room for many different types of stories, and I think this show especially opens the door for that aspect of this universe to really flourish.

And just for fun, here are some pictures of some of my favorite props and creature effects from the show (spoilers ahead):

To me, these little guys are instantly iconic, and I love the way they're introduced. Potty humor? In my serious prestige TV show? It's more likely than you think!

I could post a million fascinating details about Ferrix but the glove wall immediately comes to mind as really impressive worldbuilding. Work gloves are something we've seen in real life, but the way they're all out in the open here demonstrates how tightly-knit this community is. Everybody trusts each other, and everybody knows the routine.

Vetch is a wonderful gentle giant and I hope we see more of him in Season 2. I like the way the show depicts subtle bigotry towards non-humans in the Star Wars universe: Vetch is here because he's a big alien dude, and you can read Nurchi as seeing him as not much more than that. Cassian, on the other hand, seems to understand Vetch's nature better. It makes for a fun dynamic, and a subversion of what we're used to from this type of scene.

Blue noodles! They're blue!! Also, I love the headphones, which fit the retro-futurism of Star Wars very well.

Space coffee mug! It's an interesting shape in that it curves outward near the bottom. The handle is also very high. Nothing too out of the ordinary, but just enough about it is different to make it feel slightly alien.

The way Maarva looks at Cassian's old Kenari weapon to me evokes Obi-Wan looking at Anakin's old lightsaber in A New Hope. The hilt even looks vaguely lightsaber-ish. There are a lot of complicated emotions here.

I really like the look of the communicators the corpos use. Feels very much in line with the production design of A New Hope.

Space razor and space mirror. Love it

These clothes-hangers look very interesting. The way this whole setup fits into Luthen's ship adds to its custom feel -- this thing is decked out. It's a 007 spy car, but in space.

Stims like this have been a thing in Star Wars for a while -- Jedi Fallen Order comes to mind -- but in Andor they're tangible and intimidating. These aren't video game items, they're medical tools. This moment in ep4 where Cinta uses it on Cassian foreshadows the ending of episode 6, when it's used on Nemik to give him his final boost of adrenaline so that he's able save everyone: "Climb!"

The usual Star Wars prop fanservice is recontextualized in Andor as rich people shit. Rich people love to collect shit from cultures they think they care about, and this serves as both a perfect cover for Luthen and a playful jab at easter egg fans.

Space iPad. Love all the little details here, and how it's futuristic yet still feels slightly clunky and analog. The gold and white color scheme has a certain elegance to it, emphasizing that this is a luxury item meant to appeal to the upper class. The ISB use a similar prop with different coloring.

Weird food! You can also see the cereal container in the background.

Space cereal :)

It comes out of this interesting, plastic-looking container. I wonder if the cereal comes packaged in it, or if Eedy stores the cereal in it. I'm assuming the latter; she seems like she would be very organized.

An interesting watch. The glowing hexagon above what is presumably the time is reminiscent of the shape of the prison Cassian will be put in. This six-sided design is a recurring visual motif throughout the show (and the franchise as a whole) wherever the Empire is present.

This guy reminds me of Maz Kanata. It's a really impressive visual effect. Not sure how much of this character is practical and how much is enhanced with CG.

Space necktie and space ID badge. They both use similar clips.

This is a great practical puppet. And what an interesting cup!

Space steno machine. Very analog-feeling. Probably the closest we get in the show to seeing a real-life object in the Star Wars universe, although there still seem to be some subtle differences. The grill above the keys is interesting, I wonder what it's for.

Everything about the prison workstations is meant to feel alienating and overwhelming. Diego Luna's acting sells this really well in their introduction episode, but the props themselves help by looking very harsh and unfriendly. There's also a sterility to this space that reminds me of a hospital operating room. The instruments hanging from the ceiling further invite this comparison.

"Squigs" seem to be little worms that partially dissolve in drinks as part of a Chandrilan custom. Lieda later remarks that they're disgusting, to which Tay retorts that they're supposed to be. Very neat characterization and worldbuilding in just a couple lines. Great stuff!

Happy to see this dude return from Rogue One. Love his design.

The headphones used to torture Bix are terrifying. These could have looked like a torture device, but instead there’s a utilitarian matter-of-factness to them that’s oddly more intimidating. The red light is a simple but nice touch. In Star Wars, red = evil!

A fun blink-and-you'll-miss-it alien design in the lower levels of Coruscant. There are some more aliens in this short sequence, but this is my personal favorite. That the aliens on Coruscant mostly reside here instead of the prettier upper levels show that non-humans are an underclass in this universe. The Empire wants nothing to do with them.

This elevator sequence is entrancing for many reasons but since this post is about prop design, I'll just highlight the little bluetooth earpiece that Lonni finds in it. It's simple but it's neat. It also has a blue light on the inside that you can see as he's putting it in. Sci-fi!

Finally, I love these guys and the way they look. It's nice to see robotic prosthetics be featured in a way that doesn't symbolize loss of humanity (the franchise has an... interesting relationship with that). I also love the gross-looking net that they use to capture Cassian and Melshi. It looks oddly organic, a bit like a big spiderweb.

That's it! There might be more, but this was already getting pretty long. Hope the formatting of this post was ok, I'm new to this website and still getting used to having the ability to post something longer than 280 characters. TL;DR: Andor good

Here's a link to my video about Andor if you're interested: