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synergysilhouette · 3 months

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My frustration with Asha's writing

A lot of people liked "Wish," and a lot of people didn't, and a particular concern for the latter was the main protagonist. Since I'm in the camp of "I'm frustrated with 'Wish,'" I'll discuss a little bit about why Asha feels like such a letdown.

She's an archetype, but not an individualized character. She screams "Disney heroine," but she doesn't have anything about her that makes her character stand out (positively) among other Disey female leads. She has no flaws that hinder her, and her positive traits are vague at best. "I care too much," is the most generic thing I've ever heard a main character say. In fact, it becomes almost meaningless when a character (who genuinely means it) says it about themselves; caring too much is a statement that works best when talking about someone else. In fact...

2. She has significant plot armor. She gets far in the process of being considered to be Magnifico's apprentice, but it's never said WHY. Considering her friend (or friends? I'm not sure) works in the castle, Dahlia putting in a good word for Asha would make sense to why Magnifico would consider her, and even him asking around town for their opinion of her would make more sense. But it feels like she gets so far in the process simply because she's the main character, despite Magnifico knowing next to nothing about her. And Magnifico has several magical powers at his disposal, but he's still defeated by her (mainly because he only uses his staff against her).

3. She has a lot of influence, but again, it's not really said how or why. During the reprise of "This Wish," the people of Rosas side with her against Magnifico--but this is likely because she's the only one who dared to stand up against him. We only see Asha interact with the people of Rosas during the opening song with her as a tour guide (how did she get THAT job?), and it feels very professional, very timed. It doesn't feel intimate or personal, like Asha has built up a good rapport with the other citizens.

4. Her family is poorly defined. Sabino's wish is to create a song that inspires the next generation, but as Magnifico himself mentions, that's a vague wish--plus imo, it's cheating; rather than working hard and creating a legacy for yourself, you want to wish to give something for people to remember you by. And Sabino is obviously older than Magnifico, but his life--and how he lived it without the kingdom of wishes--is never explored. Perhaps if it was explained that he experienced great hardship and his spirit was broken, it'd explain why he was so fixated on getting a wish. And Sakina's wish is never explained. She's probably the worst-characterized parent in a 21st century Disney movie, since she's pretty much just there. And Asha's father inspired her, but he isn't shown much. I'd have enjoyed it if the plot revolved around her trying to revive her father and it proves Magnifico's point that some wishes can't/shouldn't be granted.

5. She learns NOTHING. Her whole song is about "I've lived a lie" when that's not entirely true; she takes a very black and white view on the situation without ever trying to evolve her viewpoint via Magnifico's perspective, and the people of Rosas never stop to think "we shouldn't be codependent"; they just think "we shouldn't have let Magnifico lie to us." It's a giant avoidance of guilt on everyone's behalf, and since Magnifico is a villain, no one really cares that he has some semblance of a point. When you look at protagonists like Pocahontas, Judy Hopps, and Anna, you see how they learned a new way of looking at things, that they've suffered hardships (either through their own making or otherwise) and that they've grown from it.

6. She's "relateable." Disney's adorkable thing hasn't been too much of an issue for me up to this point; it was unique when Anna did it, and it never feels super cringey with Mirabel and Moana (though if Mirabel is cringey, it fits into the narrative). But now it's tired. I'd enjoy more mature leads like Raya, Tiana, and Elsa, rather than Disney trying to make a protagonist that tries--and fails--to be quirky. And I never really saw Rapunzel as adorkable as her later leading ladies. But Asha tries too hard; honestly that should've been one of her flaws in the film. Her desperation to meet everyone's approval would've been something neat (albeit familiar if we compare her to Mirabel) to explore in the film.

#disney #disney animation #wish #asha #disney princess

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pussinbootsandbountyhunter · 5 months

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Isabela’s Villain Song

youtube

This song is so sinister and I love it!

#Disney #disney encanto #encanto #isabela madrigal #encanto isabela #isabela #encanto alma #encanto mirabel #encanto julieta #encanto agustin #agustin madrigal #julieta madrigal #mirabel madrigal #alma madrigal #what else can I do #villain song #Isabela’s villain song #Youtube

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ficdumper · 2 months

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We don't talk about Lucifer

Description: There was a time where you and your brother were inseparable, but everything changed when you fell. Not only was it silently agreed to never talk about him again, but many started wondering whether you will meet the same fate

Type: one-shot, songfic

Tags: angst, open angsty ending

Reader info: GN, Lucifer's sibling, a seraphim

Warnings: slight gore, murder

Song: Mirabel's villain song by Lydia the bard (can be found on YouTube)

We don't talk about Lucifer, no, no

We don't talk about Lucifer

But

Heaven is perfect, any angel would say that. It was true, with it's fluffy clouds and bright skies

Heaven is a paradise, a sacred safe place. And it was true for you, until they cast out Lucifer.

At first your reaction was denial. You just couldn't accept the reality of the situation - your brother, the biggest dreamer you've ever known, was casted out for being different. So what if he made a mistake, aren't angels supposed to be forgiving?

Whenever you actually left your home, everyone either looked at you with pity or looked away, pretending they didn't see you.

You made him walk away

He left himself or so you say

But I've heard another take

Next came the fury. Your eyes lost the once bright spark, your heart grieving, full of anger. You couldn't understand, how was his act so bad they sent him to the fiery pits of Hell for the rest of eternity? It wasn't fair! Not to him, not to the now free willed humans, not to you. They dared to separate you from your brother and expected you to just accept it? Accept as they say vile things about him, about what a disgrace he was?

Accept as they whispered: will they be the same?

You hide in your storm and close off from the rain

But don't see the damage in your wake

Still failing to accept your reality even after decades, if not centuries, after what happened, you continued trying to talk to the highest angels you could find, hoping to ease their decision. But, to no avail.

At first, they tried to let you down politely, telling you that the past can't be changed, that it was God's will, that it was your brother's fault. The more you tried to say something, the more they disapproved, ignoring you like they did Lucifer and his dreams, whispering behind your back. Tired from your constant attempts, they stopped answering. You were warned to stop trying unless you want to make a mistake.

You didn't want to fall like him, did you?

From Lucifer you turn on me

You whisper as if I don't see

The fear, the dread of what I'll be

Slowly being broken down by others' ignorance, you started to lose whatever remained of your hope. No-one grieved your brother, no-one missed his bright eyes full of dreams. Instead, they avoided talking about him as if he was the plague, infecting anyone who stood beside him. They hated talking about him, but seemed to love calling you a curse like him, a disaster waiting to happen.

No-one was going to forgive him, those so called epitomes of mercy and forgiveness, so what's the point?

But we don't talk about Lucifer, no, no

Slowly but surely, you accepted that he was never coming back. You had a lot of time to think about everything that happened. And what did you realise? You realised that heaven is full of liars, that God wasn't merciful, that the angels didn't care about anyone even slightly different from them, including you.

For years you stayed silent, afraid of falling like him. But you started getting tired of them either walking all over you or acting as if you didn't exist. Anyone would get exhausted by this constant abuse, even if they would rather die than admit it. Still, you were an angel. You were supposed to represent kindness, peace, forgiveness.

But how could you ever forgive them for their neglect?

We don't talk about Lucifer

...

Time to bring this family down

Yeah I'm the villain in your fairy tale now

If someone told you even a century ago that one day you will be a murderer, you would've laughed in their face, saying that it wasn't a holy thing to do. But pain changes people.

And here you were now, years later, standing over a fellow seraphim's body. Your hands and outfit were covered in golden blood, guess the angels weren't as untouchable as you were told. Their once bright halo was seemed to burn your hands, but it was worth it.

The sand's run out

And there's just you to blame

How's it feel to stain your family name

The pain meant you won, no-one else will underestimate you again. They won't dare, those scared chockens. You won't let them dismiss you again.

They could have easily avoided this situation if it wasn't for their ignorance. Sure, you brought shame to heaven. Yes, you will now forever be a monster in their eyes. But you will finally be free from them. Even if it meant losing your grace. Even if it meant falling.

I'll reclaim all that I've lost

See you understand what your apathy cost

It's your end of days and I'll still hear you say

We don't talk about Lucifer, no, no

"Y/N Morningstar. For your blasphemous murder of a fellow angel, you are sentenced to become a fallen angel, bound to rot in hell for the rest of eternity"

You couldn't remember the last time an angel was cast out. Standing in the middle of the meeting room, looked at with disgust like usual, you couldn't help but feel a sick satisfaction. You can finally be free. Free from the haunting whispers, free from the hateful glares.

The chains binding your hands burned you, slowly draining your powers. The emptiness that replaced your once beautiful wings felt haunting, blood dripping from your back. Ever the optimist, you still found a sense of beauty in the emptiness. Losing something so connected to your past was a price to pay for a new beginning. One could even call it poetic.

Sera ordered to open the portal to hell. You looked around you one more time, trying to memorize this moment. The faces of your once colleagues, the looks mixed with pity and disgust, the silent questions about what happened to you.

In your last moment in heaven, just before being pushed into the portal, you couldn't help but say:

"Should have talked about Lucifer"

A/N: Hi! This is my first ever songfic ever so I'd be happy to hear your feedback. I have a habit of daydreaming about fandoms and songs at the same time and thought it might be interesting to combine them. I already have another idea what to write about one of the other Lydia the bard's songs, so I'll probably post something about it in the next few days. Hope you enjoyed the angst ;)

#hazbin hotel x reader #lucifer x reader #lucifer morningstar x reader #angst #songfic #oneshot

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lara635kookie · 4 months

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I didn't even watch "WISH" yet because in my country it will only be available at january, but people are saying it's a bad cliche so I probably won't watch at the cinema.

The thing is, even though I am a hopeless romantic, not everything has to have romance. There are princess who are perfectly fine without a prince, like Mirabel, Elsa, Merida, Moana and Raya(I do kinda like the idea of Raya with a girl, just not Namaari). But we were so robbed of seeing Asha and the star boy(he is literally a staR so I don't doubt Disney would call him StaN or something like that, so his name is Stan from now on, I am gonna call him like that, is easier than star boy). Asha and Stan had the potential to be the next Tianaveen and Rapunzel&Eugene (I don't know their ship name). The concept arts are the cutest thing I have ever seen. Also "At All Costs" (bop) would have been a love song between the two!!! Them singing it man. The pain I will feel when I don't see them passionately sing it, very "I see the light" coded, in the actual movie. Somehow, now is not feminist for a strong female character to have a male partner by her side. Like...This doesn't make sense! You can be a strong female character and have a man at the same time! Have y'all forgotten Mulan and Shang? Anna and Kristoff? Ariel and Eric? Jasmine and Aladdin? (There are more examples and I could go on all day, but you got what I meant already) I hate Disney for throwing good ideas at the trash and playing safe just for money(like Hobie Brown/Spider-Punk said "it's a metaphor for capitalism"). And as the guy looked blonde with blue/green eyes in the arts I have seen, and Asha is a black latina, they lost the opportunity of having a biracial couple ACTUALLY DONE RIGHT (Pocahontas and John Smith don't count, he is a collonizer with the most common name in the world, she deserves so much better). Like, if the thing is show how inclusive you are by having a black latina female protagonist for little girls to see and feel represented in a good way, you could have increased that feeling by making someone fall in love for her. Little girls would feel like they are beautiful and desired/desireable in a positive way and that they worthy of being loved and love and be with whoever they want to be with, even someone who has a different skin color.

I am also mad because we could have seen Disney's first evil villain COUPLE with King Magnifico and his wife, the queen(still don't know her name, sorry). Can't you guys imagine the HITS, THE FIRST PLACE OF BILLBOARD HOT 100 WORTHY songs, they would proportionate us? Even if only one song, it would be enough for me. But someone thought having a female villain would be anti-feminist and they discarded an original and authentic idea, which is what Disney built its empire on the first place. Come on Disney minorities don't want to be portrayed as those unrealistic superior beings, they want to be portrayed as real human beings with emotions, struggles, qualities and flaws. Having an iconic female villain like you guys always had(like Maleficent, Cruella De Vil, Ursula, Mother Gothel, Lady Tremaine, etc) and set her up with an iconic male villain(like Gaston, Doctor Facilier, Shan Yu, Jafar, Hans, etc) it would have been top notch, god tier. King Magnifico and the queen could have been like the Gomez and Morticia of evil. You could address so many topics by it. Like the kingdom being ruled by evil would have been a great social critic of some politicians out there, for example. And we could have had an iconic final boss battle between Asha and Stan VS Magnifico and the queen.

Anyway, what I mean by this is that if someone has fanarts or just ANY CONTENT, of Asha and Stan, tag me, reblog this or comment, I don't care, just warn me, because they are my new obsession. I will also write a fanfic about this movie with these ideas, but only after I have watched the movie so until them, please feed my hyperfixation in Stasha (Star boy/Stan×Asha), I'm begging y'all

#disney wish #wish 2023 #princess asha #wish asha #king magnifico #asha x star #asha x star boy #asha x stan #asha x star guy

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raven-at-the-writing-desk · 5 months

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Hey Raven, are you going to watch the upcoming new Disney movie "Wish"?

I've seen mixed reviews, but i'm lowkey excited since we get to see a new Disney villain, especially since Disney got really lame villains after all the old classic movies!

Have you seen the trailer for the movie? What are your thoughts so far?

I saw Wish with a friend recently! I'll give my thoughts on the trailers here (in case you don't want spoilers for the film itself) and put my full thoughts beneath the cut (if you're okay with spoilers).

Looks-wise, I think Disney was definitely trying to go for something more stylistic and painting-esque for this?? And while I commend the effort, it definitely doesn't look as interesting as Puss in Boots 2: The Last Wish. The humor also definitely isn't for me, it feels very "quirky" and "so relatable" (Asha reminds me of Mirabel in that sense), and other times too juvenile (like the goat butt joke). I do like the idea of the villain passing as a good guy in-universe and actually being vain and selfish, especially since the marketing is making it clear who the bad guy is rather than making it a "twist" villain scenario. Not sure if I like Magnifico himself though??? All the ads with him in it feel like Disney is trying too hard to make people thirst for him. From just the trailers, Magnifico does seem interesting and like more of a return to the traditional "villain" rather than the protagonist having to deal with an existential dread or concept.

***Spoilers for Wish beneath the cut!***

Right off the bat, my first impression is the narrative is SO ham-fisted. Within the first 5 minutes alone we're establishing so much information and in such a clunky, unnatural way. Like... Asha says hi to her friends but then they robotically have a dialogue where they overtly call each other "friends" just so it's clear to the audience (when in reality no one talks like that). It's telling instead of showing, and this happens sooo many times early in the film.

Could not for the life of me remember the friends or their names. There were just too many of them when 1 or 2 would have been just fine to move the plot along and to help Asha. (Yes, I know they're a reference to the 7 Dwarves but it's STILL not necessary to have so many just for a reference.)

Bruh, the makeup in this movie is on point. Every time there was a close up of a character, I was staring at their eye makeup (especially Asha and the queen's).

Asha as a protagonist was... fine? She feels very close to Mirabel and at times Rapunzel in her character. I didn't dislike her by any means, but she didn't reinvent what it means to be a Disney protag. Her motivations also come off as… really “out of nowhere”. We’re told she “cares too much”, but she initially only wants to save the wishes of her mom and grandpa; she randomly decides she has to free ALL wishes midmovie and that was jarring. There could have been a smoother transition. Instead, it was abrupt and Asha didn’t change in any meaningful way. Even her “I want” song was vague (what exactly is “to have something more for us than this”?) and didn’t connect well with her character.

I do really like her design though! Her freckles, earrings, and how her hair moves are my favorite details.

Valentino was not as annoying as I thought he would be. Still didn't care for his sass and brand of humor, but at least he helped out a few times.

I called it, the film is trying so hard to make Magnifico "hot" 🤡 I don't get it but okay, Mouse. I see your effort.

Loved his fit!! Very cool cloak and diamond/star motifs everywhere! His lab and study was also fun to look at.

I quite liked the moments when the queen talked to her husband and tried to smooth things over with him. “I can fix him energy”— Their relationship seemed very genuine at the start of the movie.

NOT THE WISH NEPOTISM...

If they were going for “sympathetic” with Magnifico, it didn’t work. He gave this backstory about how he was traumatized before + left as the only survivor of a great tragedy and so now he wants to use his magic to prevent that from happening to anyone else. Thing is, we only ever know about this via his word and staring at a half-burnt tapestry. We never see the event on screen, nor what was left of the tapestry. I was expecting a twist where it’s revealed that he lied all this time about his backstory and rewrote history so he could more easily manipulate the people of the kingdom he founded and live out the fantasy of being worshipped as a “good guy”. That was such a missed opportunity!!

Something else I was thinking of (this was during “This is the Thanks I get” was??? Maybe Magnifico started off genuinely good but became worn down over time as people’s wishes grew more selfish and they became ungrateful for what they had?? Then he could have become bitter and disillusioned by the behavior of his people.

Another idea is maybe Magnifico was “villainous” only in Asha’s eyes, since they don’t agree on how to best handle granting wishes. This would be more of a clash of ideologies rather than the traditional Obvious Evil vs Obvious Good that Disney is so known for, but hey, it could be a neat evolution of their storytelling from classic fairy tale roots.

This is to say that there were so many more interesting directions they could have gone with Magnifico’s motives, character, and portrayal 😭 but the second half of the movie never commits to any of these, they just blame his complete insanity and turn to the dark side on Forbidden Magic which is such a cop-out.

The trailers gave away the twist that Magnifico was the villain. It wasn’t revealed until like the second song into the movie. Would’ve worked better as an on-the-spot reveal rather than part of the marketing, in my opinion.

When they showed the wishes, the TWST fan in my was shouting, "OMG IT'S WISH UPON A STAR, THE LIMITED TIME STORY EVENT FROM THE HIT DISNEY MOBILE GACHA GAME TWISTED WONDERLAND!!!"

As Wish is Disney's anniversary film for 100 years, there were tooons of easter eggs scattered throughout. (I had fun looking for them!) Some were visual (I saw Aurora's dress, Snow White’s well, Peter's Pan's costume, Ursula's green smokey hands, Asha's robes resembling those of the Fairy Godmother, etc.) or extended imagery/scenes (Asha recreates Mulan's dinner and “Reflection" scenes), others were more overt lines of dialogue (Magnifico says the "Mirror, Mirror" lines along with others, a deer named “Bambi”, Valentino mentions an animal metropolis in reference to Zootopia, etc.).

In theory, the wish magic sounds cool but has so much that isn't explained??? And yeah, it's magic so it technically doesn't have to be. However, there are things not explained even when it is important to the plot. For example, Magnifico crushes some wishes and seems to absorb their power for himself (including the wish of Asha's MOM, so you'd think this would be important)? The consequence of this is that the wish's owners... become sad??? Okay, what are the long-term effects??? Why isn’t this fully explored?? But then later in the film we see the same people whose wishes were crushed... regenerate their wish??? So what, he has to keep reaping them??? And why are the wishes only taken at 18 years old? What if a wish changes? Ironically, the townspeople of Rosas have a scene where they question the technicalities of this wish magic. Magnifico essentially tells them to shut up, and it kinda felt like Disney was telling us to not question their lore www

It was weird that they never fully explored the ramifications of going without your wish. You’d think they’d show us people without ambition or hope (which would incentivize Asha to return their wishes), but everyone seems blissfully happy without their wishes?? The only exception is Asha’s friend that betrays her (cannot for the life of me remember his name), and that’s namely because his asshole friends keep ragging on him for it.

I thought the movie was going to go in a “you can make your own wish come true!!” direction but NOPE, turns out it’s just magic. Felt like Disney unintentionally wrote a whole movie about "wishes not coming true unless some big powerful entity allows it to come true” (Asha literally becomes the fairy godmother of Rosas at the end, making her ultimately no different than Magnifico)… ie a metaphor for how Disney owns so many properties it practically owns our childhoods www

"The power of friendship saves the day" ending 🤣 It was very Paper Mario ending-esque...

A song saving the day though?? It’s giving the Illumination Lorax film…

I was right about the humor. Too "quirky" and/or juvenile for me.

Animation was alright? Nothing awful about it, it just didn't feel as detailed or as experimental as other films with a similar style.

Songs were mid, which checks out with the recent Disney music excluding We Don't Talk About Bruno--

Some of the lyrics however were awful. “I let you live here for free and I don’t even charge you rent” is redundant. “So I throw caution to every warning sign” means you’ll show more caution than usual, not that you’ll forego caution. The correct expression is “throw caution to the wind”. Etc, etc, etc.

There was a cute after credits scene where they reveal that Asha's 100 year old grandpa (same age as Disney omg) wrote the "When You Wish Upon a Star" theme, which was sweet since his wish was "wanting to make a mark".

THE BEST PART OF THE MOVIE WAS STAR!! It was very cute (partly because it couldn't talk and just jingled and giggled, I was dreading another annoying mascot animal voice) and reminds me of my own pet… The way Star infused everything with glitter and formed unique shapes with the red twine was so fun 😭 I'M A STAR STAN, IT WAS ADORABLE AND KINDA BRATTY AND I'M LIVING FOR IT

Decent ideas, "meh" execution. Enchanted and Shrek did it better in terms of self-aware, fairy tale defying stories. It felt as though the movie was trying to deliver a profound message but got lost in the sauce of making as making Disney references possible and didn't fully commit to actually saying something meaningful. As a result, the film feels somewhat… hollow.

That one friend betraying Asha was the biggest surprise in the film but I still saw it coming 😂 I do get where he’s coming from though (being worried that his wish won’t ever come true) but it also felt like his conflict wasn’t resolved??? It might have gone better if the movie actually fully tried to push the “you can make your own wish come true” message (to reinvigorate the traitor to make his dreams a reality on his own) but they don’t 💦

Wish didn’t end up being “the wishing star’s origin story” because not once did anyone question where Star came from or why it was different from other stars (or what the significance of Magnifico blotting out the other stars was).

I think the people that would enjoy this movie are the people that are already highly invested in Disney and the nostalgia of it.

... Anyway, stan Star 🤩 (and the talking mushrooms 🍄)

#wish #disney wish #spoilers #question #notes from the writing raven #puss in boots 2 #the last wish #puss in boots 2: the last wish #Mirabel Madrigal #Encanto #Asha #twst #twst wonderland #disney twisted wonderland #Rapunzel #Enchanted #Shrek #Queen Amaya #King Magnifico

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darkside-skyguy · 5 months

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Okay so I saw Wish last night and I have some thoughts. Spoilers below!

The movie wasn’t bad. It wasn’t particularly good either though. It had all the elements that should have made a great Disney movie but it fell flat. And I think it all stems from the way the movie is so non-specific.

First, the world building. King Magnifico built a kingdom where everyone would be safe in exchange for giving him their wishes because…….. something bad happened to his family when he was young? And it prompted him to learn all the magic in the world and become the most powerful sorcerer so that he could…..NOT grant everyone’s wishes? We weren’t given enough background on the kingdom and the way it functions to have any kind of emotional impact in the end. Why does everyone agree to give up their wish? It seems like a raw deal. And also why does everyone only get ONE wish their whole life?? And if the wish is the best part of the person and they give it up, shouldn’t everyone over 18 be like Simon? Boring and sleepy and wish less? But this does not appear to be the case. It’s all too vague and muddled to make much sense.

(On a contrary note, I actually thought Chris Pine as Magnifico was the best part of the movie. You could tell he was having a lot of fun with it, even though the character was so shallow! I’m happy about a return to traditional Disney villains, even if this one wasn’t the best example of it.)

Okay, then there’s the music. It was bad. It was like a pop rip off of Lin Manuel Miranda but with terrible lyrics. (“When it comes to the universe we’re all shareholders”?? SHAREHOLDERS?) None of the music seemed to take inspiration from its vague Mediterranean setting and even the big I Want song was bland. In This Wish Asha sings “I wish for more for us than this.” Okay? So uninspiring! In all other Disney movies you know exactly what the mc wants and why they want it. Ariel wants to be humans because she feels trapped and misunderstood under the sea. Belle wants an adventure because she feels she does not fit in in her small village and she longs for her life to resemble the fantastical stories she reads. Mirabel wants magic so she can fix the cracks in her family. I could go on. Asha wants everyone to get their wishes granted because her grandpa is 100 and hasn’t gotten his wish granted. Very noble. But his wish kinda stinks—he wants to inspire people but we’re never told why or in what way. We never find out what Asha wishes for before she learns about Magnifico. She’s just a cookie cutter heroine with a mix of likeable qualities—loves her friends and family, adorkable, passionate—that all add up to a lot of nothing. She could be any one of us watching, I guess, but the thing that truly makes characters complex and relatable is specificity. And Asha is as vague as they come.

Then there are the other characters. None of them are developed enough. Her friends are the seven dwarves basically, but none of them grow past their one-word personalities (bashful, grumpy, sneezy, etc.) except maybe Simon, but even that isn’t really explored. There are too many of them and none of them are distinct. The goat is whatever. The star is adorable (though I’ve seen the concept art for the star boy storyline and I’m so upset we didn’t get that movie! But that’s a whole other post). The queen could have been interesting, but we never got any backstory on her. How and when did she fall in love with magnifico? What were her plans for their kingdom and do her hopes and wishes mirror what the kingdom has become? Asha’s mom and grandpa were just kind of there. And…. That’s it’s really. No one and nothing stands out.

The end was non specific as well. The people are inspired by the whole “we’re all stars” thing but they weren’t even there for the song the woodland creatures sing to Asha so how come all of a sudden they are so into this idea and it saves them when it never came up for them before? It should have been an emotional gut punch moment but it just felt rote and predictable. I didn’t feel any sense of triumph for any of the characters. There was no real magic behind it. Asha is given a magic wand and the king becomes a magic mirror and that’s it, the end. Overall it was very disappointing and I found myself bored in a lot of places.

I’ve read a lot of critic reviews and the one thing that I disagree with is the references to other movies. They didn’t bother me like they seem to be bothering others. Some of them were silly and over the top but like whatever. Even though they didn’t bother me they added absolutely nothing to the movie or my experience watching it 🤷🏻‍♀️

#non Star Wars #Disney #disney wish #wish #wish movie #chris pine #asha wish #king magnifico #spoilers #disney analysis

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cogentranting · 4 months

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I went to see Wish a little while back, and it was... fine. I had a good time watching it, but probably wouldn't watch it again on my own. It's visually beautiful, it's funny, Magnifico is a good villain, the story mostly works. But it feels a little flat and hollow. And I wanted to parse out what I think the problem is. In short, I think the problem is Asha. And I think that problem is twofold.

A. Personality and Motivation

I heard a lot of complaints about Disney always doing 'adorkable' princesses now (I will note, of the post-renaissance princesses, there's a pretty even split of adorkable and not- Rapunzel, Anna, Mirabel, and Asha on the one hand; Tiana, Elsa, Moana, Raya on the other). But I don't think that's the problem in itself. The problem is, that adorkableness is Asha's only clearly defined characteristic. Rapunzel, Anna, and Mirabel all have traits beyond that. And that's clearest in terms of what the characters want. Rapunzel wants to see the floating lights and that transitions into wanting the freedom and love that Gothel has denied her. Anna wants to connect with her sister (or really anyone-- Hans, Kristoff, Olaf...) and to protect Arendelle. Mirabel wants to feel useful to and accepted by her family. Asha wants to help everyone else want things. It's entirely focused on what other characters around her want. She wants other people to have a shot at getting their wishes. In theory that means she's selfless and cares about others. And that's all well and good but it creates this void around Asha herself that makes it hard to connect with her emotionally. What does she want for herself? If the King weren't hoarding people's wishes, what would Asha wish for? What would she dream about? What does her happy ending after the King is defeated look like? It's very hard to tell. A character can be selfless and focused on helping others and still have things they want for themselves. Look no further than Asha's "I want" song This Wish. It's so vague.

B. The Relationships

The other half of the problem with Asha is that she doesn't have a central relationship. Rapunzel has a broken relationship with her 'mother' and finds love and trust and partnership through her relationship with Flynn. Tiana is driven by her relationship with her late father, and finds healing in her relationship with Naveen. Moana is in conflict with her father and finds her confidence and independence through working out her friendship/partnership with Maui. Raya can only regain the relationship with her father by working through her trust issues with Namaari and learning from Sisu. Mirabel working through her relationships with her sisters, and interacting with Bruno allows her to confront her relationship with Abuela.

Asha has a lot of relationships, but none of them is really allowed to take a central place in the story. She's got 7 friends but there's not really room or a need for growth in any of those (except Simon, but that's kept more peripheral and really exists more to demonstrate that Rosas really does have a problem that needs to be fixed). She's got a dead father who forms some kind of inspiration for Asha, but it doesn't drive her the way Tiana's father does. She has a mother who matters to the story very little. There could have been key relationships between her and Magnifico and/or Amaya (and I think you can see hints of that) but that's not developed either. Asha's grandfather is important to her in some way, but again that relationship is not allowed to come to center-- he's the closest we have but even if we allow that he's occupying a role similar to that of Raya or Moana's fathers, that's still only half the equation. Asha still wouldn't have someone to interact with and grow alongside in the way that Moana had Maui, and Raya had Namaari and Sisu. The story is missing a deuteragonist.

And I think that contributes to the first point, to Asha feeling flat. She doesn't have anyone to define herself in relation to. She has a bunch of generally positive relationships and so is only defined by a general kindness and altruism.

There's been some concept art bouncing around of a human version of Star, so it seems that an early version of the story HAD its deuteragonist, partner for Asha to run around with and interact with a learn from (and in some sense to receive what she needs on a personal level-- in the way that Rapunzel receives the love she needs from Flynn, or Moana gains confidence in her leadership by having Maui choose to follow her-- which would help Asha recover a personal motivation). But when Star changed from having a human form to being a little blobby thing, he moved from deuteragonist to cute creature sidekick. And the story lost a key component and didn't replace it.

There are other smaller problems too-- some of the songs feel off (and none of them are great), the friends are sometimes annoying, Amaya's characterization doesn't quite work right, some of the easter eggs don't work etc.-- and I do think the thematic core of the movie has issues (but that's another post in itself, and I don't think the issue is what other people have claimed it is). But I think it would all come together reasonably well if Asha herself had come to life a little bit better. And that is a shame because I think her character design is good and I think Ariana DeBose does a good job playing her.

#disney #wish #disney wish

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