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raayllum · 2 years

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I feel like the owl house fandom takes things way too srsly esp with ships and preferences on characters. idk I love hunter and amity's backstory and I love luz but I'm more interested in hunter and amity's backstory that doesn't make me racist their storylines are more interesting

So this probably won't be what you expected or asked for but I'm grabbing the opportunity anyway to address some of the ways I think TOH falters from a Storytelling perspective and why I think those issues (as well as how young a lot of the fans are, although when I was 11-13 in fandom I was much more chill and "live and let live" so just shows what a decade can do in terms of fan community) unintentionally perpetuate some of what you mention.

Also don't think you're racist for preferring Amity and Hunter (Hunter, Gus, and Luz are my faves) but I do think TOH has some issues with how it handles its characters of colour, so I am going to touch on that. While I'm white. this is reflected on / verbatim from conversations I've had with Black and Asian friends / fans of the show and how racial stuff can tend to play out in fandom (circa 2013 onwards from personal experience of how people have treated fave characters, like Finn from Star Wars, in the past).

That said, I do still like the show. I love the strong found family, everything surrounding Eda and her allegories for mental health are super solid and important, I'm thrilled by the queer rep (I’m queer & watched Korrasami happen live), and I don't think a show has to be perfect or to check off my personal preference to be good. But I do think the show is... an interesting mixed bag for a few key reasons I haven't seen anyone talk about, so here they are.

Under a read more bc this gets long, like, real long, even though there’s only four things on this freaking list, LMAO. For whoever reads it, have fun!

1. The Owl House writes like first impressions don't matter.

This is one of the biggest things in the show that breaks elements of setup + payoff. After all, if your setup is misleading or unaddressed by payoff later, characters and plot lines may come across as stilted. This also ties into other areas (such as screentime) that I'll touch on later.

By far the character who has broken setup the most, though, is Amity. For example, Amity is introduced as someone who has bullied Willow for years, even when no one else is around (i.e. it's not a pure performance), and even though they used to be friends when they were young. Their friendship fall out / Amity distancing herself from Willow is explained by Amity being forced to by her parents, and understandably struggling with how to deal with and explain it as a child.

I haven't seen the last few episodes of S2 (aka I got up to "Hollow Mind") and I was disappointed in S2A when it seemed like this plot element would never be addressed again. So I was very pleased to learn that there is an episode in S2B that talks about their friendship. Except... it doesn't address the bullying. Because yes, Amity tried to protect Willow by distancing herself... but Amity also didn’t need to Bully Willow, like, at all. Not within the confines of the story and not within the landscape of the character; her parents didn’t tell her to be cruel to Willow. She chose to do that. Repeatedly. And that facet of their bond... has never been adequately addressed. It could be, in the future (but I personally doubt it).

It’s particularly strange, because Luz was 1) canonically bullied in the human realm and 2) perpetually struggled at making friends. It makes sense that she’d be extra against bullies and protective over the friends she does have, and wanting to see real change before bonding with a practical stranger (even if Amity did show a slightly nicer side at the end of “Covention,” it wasn’t an even ratio whatsoever, either of her niceness or Luz’s meanness). But we’ll circle back to this.

We see this issue of initially bad behaviour being overruled, sometimes retconned, or ignored to the point of being rewritten a few more times in the series.

The one that ties into Amity’s character are her siblings. In their debut episode, they have plans to share private pages of their little sister’s diary. This is mentioned in another episode as something they’re trying to make up for, but they weren’t there when shit hit the fan at the library, anyway. So we never see 1) why they were going to be so cruel to Amity in the first place (and I have siblings myself, so no, it’s not a sibling thing, or just a sibling thing), 2) what exactly made them change their mind, and 3) this type of behaviour never reappears or is addressed in the show, either. While Luz gets called a bully for it, the twins get off basically scot free. Yes, they’re obviously affected by their mother, too, but there’s never even a whiff or a hint about why they felt the need to humiliate Amity on a public scale besides thinking she was uptight.

We see this one more time with Darius, which was the most baffling and completely jarred me the first time I watched it. Darius was being cruel and dismissive to Hunter, but warms up when he realizes the kid does have a spine and will stand up for what he believes this. This is not the heart warming moment or message the show seems to think it is. All I heard and saw was an adult going “Oh, this kid is too indoctrinated and abused to be worthwhile until he proves otherwise, I’ll treat him like trash and ignore that I’m exacerbating his symptoms of abuse until then.” And no matter what comes latter, this is a downright weird set up, emotionally.

I’m not saying that none of these characters can be set up this way, but the introduction and how different they are in all other preceding episodes — or even when information is given to re-contextualize certain things — feels like whiplash. So the setup is a little weird, making pay off either non existent or unnecessary. This stumbling block makes the emotional continuity feel disjointed too, in some aspects. The way this affects emotional continuity can best be seen in Gus, Willow, and Luz’s friendship — but again, more that later.

As for set up and pay off, it can lead to missed opportunities, namely: why the hell was Amity Lilith’s protege in Convention? Again, not saying the show is bad or this is a bad writing choice, but it’s a weird one. I remember watching that episode, seeing Amity be introduced as Lilith’s pseudo apprentice, and being excited. It meant Lilith-Eda, Luz-Amity, and possibly the two menor-mentee relationships could all be developed simultaneously! It’d be interesting to see the parallels and differences.

At the very least, it would give a personal stake to Amity and Luz’s possible developing bond, with Lilith at the very least going to disapprove, and give Amity and Luz a chance to compete against each other and to see that progression.

Then it was never addressed again. And it wasn’t set up as a “one day thing” either. It seems that Lilith possibly tutored Amity for months, maybe even years, for Amity to be considered her “strongest protege” (exact line). So we miss out on that possible, episodic but still connected plot line (especially because after Convention, we never see Amity caring a whole lot about actual school, even though that as her whole thing in her intro and second episode). Then, even when Amity and Lilith are back on the same side (imagine how interesting exploring that fracturing could’ve been!) they... never interact, never mention, and never act like they know each other.

They’re two characters with the same theme and similar arcs split down the middle, have an interesting setup, and it goes.... Nowhere.

Because first impressions don’t matter in the show, which is particularly weird, as typically 1) what you set up in the very beginning of the show is what you want the audience to be invested in, and 2) the audience is going to / has to pay more attention in the beginning of a show because they’re actively trying to learn the rules of the world and character dynamics / personalities.

And it’s not the only time TOH does this, so let’s talk about

2. Screentime, Race, and Chosen Diaspora

Specifically that Gus and Willow barely get any, and how this ties into race. So I’ve touched on this before in an article I wrote on Vocal where I share meta-adjacent stuff that doesn’t fit my tumblr vibe, so if for some reason this is your thing, they may be other stuff you enjoy on there, whatever. I’m not gonna repeat myself too much here, but basically:

The majority of the Owl House cast is white, particularly when it comes to who matters in the plot. Eda, Lilith, and their family are all white. Hooty and King exist in what we’re going to call an aracial space, as they don’t have race and aren’t coded as any particular thing, either; just tried and true demons. Hunter is white; Belos is white. Gus and Willow are regulated to background characters and most of the time when Willow is being developed as a character (“Understanding Willow,” “Any Sport in a Storm”) it’s typically also used to further a white character’s growth of... learning to treat her better? Gus fares a bit better, but gets less screentime.

So not only is Luz the only primary character of colour, she’s largely cut off in forming meaningful relationships with other characters of colour, and having those bonds highlighted and given strong screen time (as thus far in S2, every time Gus and Willow have gotten significant screentime, it’s been largely removed from Luz, with her often doing something else with Amity). Remember when “Star Wars: Rogue One” came out, and there were discussions being had of “a lone woman only having meaningful relationships with men and no other women”?

[ Side note: as for the first point, I’m not going to say things I love, like TDP, don’t fall into the “woman surrounded by men” trope for its two main female leads, as Rayla is friends with the boys and was raised by her dads, and Claudia’s primary relationships are also with other men. However, I believe this is mitigated with plot lines like Ellis and Lujanne in S1, as well as Janai-Amaya-Khessa in S2 and particularly in S3, and I think this will only continue to grow moving forward into S4 and beyond ]

At the same time as Rogue One, there were conversations regarding the films status of “people of colour purely as the supporting cast but never as the primary lead”? TOH meets in as a weird hybrid in the middle, with a person of colour as the main lead, but largely surrounded by white people — and this is the case for most characters in the show.

Raine’s main relationship is with Eda. Darius is in the rebellion with them, but his only meaningful relationship on screen in any way is really with Hunter and the past golden guards. Gus and Willow are mostly side characters. We basically never see their families/parents (and know far more about the Blights / Edric and Emira in every way. Gus and Willow ultimately don’t get the time with Luz for me to call their relationship meaningful. This is especially strange, given that often times kids who are bullied (like all three of them are) cling harder to the friends they do have, and that while S1 was better about making Gus and Willow be extremely important to Luz as her First Friends Ever, S2 has dropped the ball even more so.

Luz is like an island, ironically on the Isles and cut off from her cultural community and from other characters of colour even when they do exist in her new community. So that’s talk about that in full.

Now, there is Luz, who is the primary protagonist (honestly, you could argue Eda is her co-protagonist) and she’s lovely and I love her. However, more than once, Luz’s plot line for an episode is a B plot or less plot relevant compared to other characters (particularly Eda). I touched on this in my Vocal article, but Luz is living in diaspora in the Boiling Isles. Yes, the demon realm suits her much better than Earth largely did, but I would still love to see elements of her culture in ways other than her / her family’s name and her occasionally speaking Spanish. What about holidays, what about missing her mother’s cooking and the cultural connotations it holds?

The show does engage with aspects of the Isekkai genre that are sometimes overlooked, namely Luz being torn between two worlds (and given that she’s mixed, it’s not like the allegory isn’t already there), but it only goes halfway. It only shows Luz wanting to be in the Boiling Isles with none of the possibilities about cultural shock, assimilation, and other aspects that can play into immigrating countries — or realms. I’m not saying the the show not engaging with Luz’s diaspora is a bad thing, but it does feel like a missed opportunity (as most of this is) particularly since they do try to engage with her on a cultural level with her speaking Spanish and writing her as purposefully Afro-Latina and from the Dominican Republic.

But honestly, basically everything I’ve talked about already — occasionally misleading set up w/ a lack of follow through, screentime (both considering and not considering its racial elements) — are all compounded into my biggest issue with the show, however, which are its

3. Disengaged stakes

So while I love Luz, I mostly love her for her personality and sweet hearted nature. I don’t actually love her that much for how she drives the plot forward — even though she does, and even though she’s the protagonist. And this is largely because Luz — and many of the characters — exist in a limbo of what I’m going to call Disengaged Stakes. Basically, they have stakes, but due to a lack of set up, or pay off in regards to emotional continuity (never mind a lack of consistency, i.e. sometimes Eda needs to hide, sometimes she can be flashy in public with zero consequences, sometimes getting caught by guards matters when the story decides it needs a conflict, and sometimes it doesn’t etc) it’s hard to actually be invested in those stakes. At least for me.

For most of S2, this meant I wasn’t really invested in Luz’s efforts to get a portal to see her mom (although this improved when we actually got a singular episode with Camila). It’s clear Luz isn’t going to live full time, if at all, in going back to the human realm. I also wasn’t worried for Camila, as she hasn’t been fearing for Luz this whole time, instead believing things are perfectly fine if not better than they were before.

Let me give you an example, and this was actually pointed out in a youtube review of the S2 finale that helped me put my finger on why it... felt weird as a finale (again, even though I haven’t fully watched it yet, but I have watched the bulk of it).

The four kids are stranded in the human realm, but what does that actually mean, for most of them? For Luz, this carries a lot of weight. She’s spent all season trying to find a way home to see her mother, but is now there under awful circumstances with no way back to the place she actually wants to be. It will also offer Camilla the perfect opportunity to see why the Boiling Isles and her family there is so important to Luz.

But what does this mean for the other three kids? Shockingly little. Like I’ve touched on before, we know nothing about Gus and Willow’s families. Yes, I’m sad they’re separated from them, but I’m sad because generally, kids being separated from their parents is sad. I’m not invested in their specific relationship (same issue I had with Rogue One and Jyn’s relationship with her father, as well). All Luz actually wants, in her core, is to stay in the Boiling Isles. Amity’s relationship with her father is on the mend and her siblings are there for her, but Luz is still clearly the most important person in the world to her, and they’re not separated. Hunter has absolutely nothing back for him in the Boiling Isles, largely, and he’s actually as safe as he can be from Belos’ machinations in the human realm.

So you have four kids tossed into the human realm, and it only really matters for one of them.

This is amplified in their relationships. Willow and Gus rarely have anything beyond interpersonal stakes; Amity had her mother, but now her father has turned over a new leaf, there are no interpersonal stakes any longer for her family (and she radically stood up to her mother very early on in S2 as well). She and Luz have had no problems in their relationship besides very brief miscommunication and Amity’s mother. Amity has hardly any stakes outside of Luz. The characters who are dealing with very high stakes, such as Raine, are largely shuttered away outside of the story — or Hunter.

Dear lord, Hunter. Which, now that we’ve gotten here, let’s talk about what I think could have aided in remedying a lot of these issues

4. Merging

Now I know TOH had to jump through a lot of executive hoops (including the existence and plot relevance of Hexside particularly in S1) so I don’t know what sort of orders came down, or mandates they have to follow but:

TOH has too many characters, and plenty of them could have been condensed as pairs into half as many characters.

I know this, because I went through a similar process of originally having a central group of thirteen characters, and cleaved that shit down to seven. So what are my proposed mergings?

The twins become one character. They more or less are now, fulfil the same purposes and character points as one another (flesh out Amity’s family, tease her and be a listening ear, show their mother’s control, operate as illusionists, etc). Whether it’s brother or sister doesn’t really matter.

Gus and Willow become one character. I would say keep more of Willow’s backstory (w/ Amity), dads, and plant magic alight, as the merged-twin character could substitute as the group illusionist whenever need be. It means that instead of only having splintered individual episodes with Luz or for their development, the small collection would be bolstered and improved marginally. It still wouldn’t fix where screentime or set up fails them, but it would be a significant start. I adore Gus, he’s one of my favourites in the whole show — but he’s less plot relevant than Willow, who is already largely not plot relevant (at least, not outside Hunter’s arc in S2) and we gotta be economical somewhere.

Economical storytelling is when a character, scene, or plot beat is doing at least three things at once, largely — and right now Gus is doing the least, as much as I love my boy, with Willow right next to him. Thus, there we go.

Now for the big, perhaps flat out unpopular one:

Hunter and Amity should’ve been one character. Like the twins, and even Amity and Lilith, they’re largely one theme split down the middle. The show draws intentional parallels between their world views, callousness, and need to be the best due to their abusive families, their strong relationships / connections to Luz, who works to friendship and who are changed by her kindness. There are also less thematic but still overt parallels, like their artificial wands, opposing palismans (bird vs cat), travelling into mindscapes where they uncover secrets. Hell, they both even have a reformed father figure who works with the Abominable coven with a shittier parent who believes in their own superiority at any cost.

Say Golden Guard Amity is enrolled in Hexside — she has to be trained somewhere — and throughout the season we hear her refer to her uncle, who raised her. He just wants the best for her, and for her to be a worthy member of the Emperor’s coven! It’s only at the end of S1 we learn that Amity’s uncle is Belos, and that her growing bond with Luz may be tested in the future. Then, in S2, she has to make a choice between her familial loyalty, ideological defection, and Luz and her friends (who will have more time to be friends, because there are less characters running around). You can even keep the condensed twin as a surrogate sibling mentor — perhaps one of Belos’ more successful grimwalkers, or flat out not a clone at all.

This merger gives Luz and Amity real stakes in their relationship, a higher sense of drama amid the sweet fluffiness, gives more characters more screentime... And amplifies everything that already exists in Amity’s arc. Yes, seeing a quieter form of child abuse from Odalia is worthwhile, particularly for abused children — but as of S2 she’s basically gone full bad guy and has already done so before in early S2, as her abomaton nearly kills Luz in “Escaping Expulsion” so... moot point? Sorta? Is what I’m saying.

It would also, for the love of god, give Amity a solidified reason to dye her hair after she finds out she’s a grimwalker. She wants to reassert her own identity, she wants to be different than her successors while also honouring their good nature, etc etc. Imagine “Hollow Mind” but with Amity in Hunter’s place, and all the weight that would hold for each of them, and for Hunter’s character, now condensed into Amity’s. Also stronger parallels of Belos’ clones becoming less like his brother (because Amity is a girl) over time and with parallels of the implied plot line, of Belos killing his brother because Caleb fell in love with a witch, and it’s happening again, this time just with Luz and Amity, directly.

Basically the only things that would have to change would be a little of S1′s pacing, some of S2′s Blight parent related episodes (so largely two until the finale, which again, Darius or the condensed twin could easily substitute)oOr, to come full circle, you could have Lilith also play a factor, the way she did in Amity’s arc in the beginning. This would provide a greater sense that characters actually had lives and connections and little ship passing in the night moments before Luz showed up, and they would all feel more like!! REAL PEOPLE!!

The only thing that would possibly, likely have to go is Willow’s history with Amity.But given that the show has never really addressed the bullying, perhaps that backstory element would be better left dropped, in general. Amity can be a jerky bully without specifically bullying Luz’s friend for like, 4-6 years beforehand, y’know.

Anyway I will never not believe in the validity of what I call TOH Merger and how it would strengthen basically almost every single aspect of the show, take it or leave it.

Conclusion / Nitpicks

Other notes before we wrap up.

I got bored with just how many episodes relied on the “Character A doesn’t want to fess up to something bc they’re insecure, scared, or trying to look Cool, but inevitably lie and make things ten times worse, and then learn it’s important to be honest” in S1 (hi King, Luz, Willow, and Gus eps respectively).

Amity’s laser character focus on Luz stifles her relationships with both Willow and Gus (as it is more or less non existent outside of a few lines or group scenes); all of Amity’s character growth is largely because of her relationship with Luz, but the same cannot be said for Luz, leaving their relationship lopsided. This is particularly true for me (and is a total personal Aro-spec induced nitpick) and is all the more glaringly obvious considering they barely had one episode where the two were on friendly / friend-ish terms before crush feelings on Amity’s side came in. This makes me feel less invested in their relationship as a whole, as while it’s exceedingly cute, it feels like it’s based on nothing but Crush™ Feelings and that will also be less compelling to me than a strong Foundational Friendship that develops into a crush. I don’t mind that development happening fast, but this was a little too fast in my book.

Final disclaimer: Still like the show, still think it’s good, these are just some of the reasons I don’t think it’s Great. The lack of a Merger will haunt me. Thank you goodnight

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kethsi · 1 year

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omg, I’m so glad that somebody else sees what Jagex did to Zamorak too — I feel like I’m driving myself crazy getting upset about how bad the retcons are because nobody else seems notice or care! :|

Thank you for showing me I’m not the only one so I can stop gaslighting myself into thinking I’m just being unreasonably bitter… (I totally still am.)

You're absolutely not alone in your realization there. If you feel like you've noticed the whiplash that is character 'progression' in RuneScape, chances are it's absolutely there, and also good on you for keeping your eyes peeled and either doing certain quests back to back or reading dialogue transcripts from time to time. The reason most people either don't notice or don't agree with you is because the mods sitting down in the RS discord lore channels are doing a phenomenal job shrugging and going "Eeeeeh you're wrong, we totally didn't do that" or "Agree to disagree" whenever someone brings up the slightest inconsistencies instead of owning it and committing to being better at consistent writing.

I firmly believe that Jagex as a company as well as any of their lore teams never had a character sheet for any NPC in the game whatsoever. Not having a character's logical end goal written down is acceptable - growth, change and development are great things. The problems start where you can clearly tell they don't have the key traits or values that characters believe in discussed or written down anywhere. Their way of 'developing' characters is giving them 180s from one extreme to the next, while always using 'this is the only way!' as justification, whether it's Kerapac or the young god of the week. They also seem to have a weird liking for showing that their current 'fav' is good by demonizing and vilifying other characters, which is bizarre because you can be a 2/10 writer and still be more than adequate at making your favs likeable without having to go the Jagex route and bash another character to make yours look good (The complete bastardization of EVERYONE to make Saradomin look good in comparison was about as subtle as a Barrelchest in a WG's house). Zamorak specifically is such a baffling case. Going from 'the world is worse with Zaros in it, and if no one will remove him, I will', to having a borderline panic attack on his knees clutching the stone of Jas like a stabilizing support wall while the other gods were grilling him about killing Zaros (which, come on, you KNOW Saradomin totally wanted to do and would've if he could!) before nuking Forinthry partially out of the panic and confusion of being cornered like that, to winning the lower classes of Infernus their freedom because damnit they deserve to fight for their right to live, to perfecting the philosophy of wanting to fight to improve your life to this... uh... defeatist attitude? out of nowhere? Sending Khazard to steal an ancient artifact that could turn the tide of a war currently at a stalemate because we're all doomed and there's no sense trying? What? and destroying it because if he's not achieved victory over the Elder threat himself, none of us deserve to fight? Since when? Has he become Zaros's Legatus Maximus by quitting the moment things didn't go his way in combat? Obviously not. So why turn the one character with burning ambition and a will to live glowing as brightly as a newborn star into this sadsack that has to ruin it for everyone else if he can't get his way? Because you want to build Saradomin up as righteous? Because Armadyl deserves more screentime? Because you want him out of the way for when you bastardize Seren next quest before quickly coming back to grill him again? Clearly someone at Jagex ran out of ideas on who to character-assassinate next. And clearly not enough people have told that person to think it through.

Zamorak's not even the only one it happened to, y'know? Remember Kerapac? You know, Kerapac, who in OoaK is the bright, reasonable, genius scientist gritting his teeth through chronic pain to give a fighting chance to others he believe were affected by the selfishness of gods or fate, while respecting others' agency enough not to force them either way (Remember the whole 'Hey Hannibus, if you wanna sacrifice yourself for a chance and a shot in the dark, go for it, but no pressure either way' thing? I do. I remember. I remember that Kerapac before he got ripped away from us and replaced with a lunatic). Then, 2 quests down the line, he controls the needle and time itself and is an extremist who won't listen to reason whatsoever? What was it he said? 'I'm giving you a chance to say goodbye to your loved ones, be happy and take it?' something along those lines? Dude, you control time itself, you have a shadow anima device to force a non-interaction clause from the elders if you play it correctly, and the best you can give us is "It's my way or the highway and if you want any say or rights, f you", when an amicable solution that would've been preferable is "I'll rewind time for a few weeks while you evacuate everyone through the world gate so I can kill the elders in peace and you can return whenever I'm done fighting them if the planet survives" - Kerapac still gets to be reasonable, WG still gets to refuse because no other world has the biome to accommodate all species and factions on the planet, also putting them so close to eachother will just escalate old conflicts immediately and whatnot... But no. Let's make the enslaved guy battling chronic pain the monster while implying he's a monster specifically because he thinks the eldritch horrors enslaving his species deserve consequences. Why not. Oh wait. I'll tell you why not. Maybe because if you don't have anything new, helpful, or carefully nuanced to say about a heavy subject, you shouldn't touch the heavy subject.

#runescape #spoilers #Finally someone actually sent me Runescape headcanons #and the headcanon that Jagex's retcons are stupid is a VERY good one #And I haven't even talked about the Seren 180 uuuuuuuuuugh Jagex please cease #the rest is under the read more for mentioning heavy topics. Also feel free to ask to tag #panic attack mention #slavery mention

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at-thestillpoint · 9 months

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get to know fic writers: 20, 26, 27

[get to know me!]

20. Have you noticed any patterns in your fics? Words/expressions that appear a lot, themes, common settings, etc?

The biggest pattern in my fics is the ship dynamic that I gravitate toward. What do Phoenix/Hangman, Rory/Logan, and Amy/Laurie all have in common? They epitomize Ambitious Woman/Asshole Who Loves Her. At the risk of revealing too much about myself, I like exploring what it looks like for a woman to get to have it all.

My characters sigh and murmur a lot. They're increasingly huffing out small laughs. I’m sure there are other common themes, settings, actions, and words that I repeat, and I notice them when I’m writing, but my mind’s like a sieve today! Can’t remember anything!

26. Which of your fics would you call your wildest ride?

From a pure writing perspective, it was probably the heist!AU. From top to bottom, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I sat on it for a good 36 hours, watched The Man From U.N.C.L.E., the first line popped into my head, and then I just wrote myself into the idea/plot.

From an overall experience perspective, the entire wild and unruly series has been a wild ride. I fully didn’t expect it to consume my brain for an entire year (and counting), or for people to be so engaged with what I still think of as my over-investment in world-building for two characters that have maybe a combined 15 minutes of screentime. Writing has always been a solitary hobby for me (like…I don’t think my closest friends know I spend so much time staring at Google docs’ blinking cursor), so it’s been really lovely to share this experience with others.

27. What is your most and least favorite part of writing?

Well, currently, my least favorite part of writing is having to choose what I want to write. (I have so many (3) ideas! and so little time!) But this is rare for me. Overall, the worst part is having this crystal clear image in my mind that I'm not able to adequately capture with words. That can usually send me into a tailspin for days or weeks, wherein I do absolutely everything except write. Or, in a similar vein, knowing where I want to end up, but the process of getting there is going to take 20,000+ words. I’m an impatient person, which is a lot of fun when I’m also a slow, perseverating writer who, generously, could take an entire year to write 20,000 words (see: triptych). Which, again, often means that I just don't write. Make it make sense!

My favorite part of writing is being done with writing. (This is the best worst hobby!) There’s something gratifying about reading something back and being like, “Damn, this is actually great.” I also really love that feeling of being in the groove, when things are clicking and the ideas are coming and the words aren't awful. But more often than not, that's not happening, ergo: being done with writing.

#dispatches from my google docs #craft askaroni and cheese

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rudasosna · 1 year

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Attack on Titan criminally underestimates its female characters...

...a.k.a. Attack on Bad Writing

Y'all know this hit anime, Attack on Titan? The one that's so good it has 2 episodes in iMDB's Top3 rated TV show episodes? Would it surprise you that this Japanese Shonen anime about vaguely German people is extremely sexist? Yeah, me neither. Female characters in AoT have always been criminally underused by the writers OR completely inconsistent OR extremely boring. You want proof? Okay, here's as many significant female characters as I can remember from AoT Season 1-3:

Mikasa

The female lead of AoT is one of the most boring, basic, one-dimensional characters in the show. She ONLY cares about Eren and this would be fine if she had literally any character development whatsoever. But she can't because then she would be more than a plot device that appears when someone has to do something badass while screaming Eren's name. Character so boring that I actually forgot her last name.

Annie Leonhart

Okay, guys, we need to make this one mysterious so that no one suspects she's the BBEG of Season 1, let's just... Not have her in 75% of the season. Annie goes from having 2 lines in a whole arc to having unclear motivations, no personality and no character development in the arc where she's supposed to be a focal point. Also, the show's attempt to make the Female Titan's identity mysterious is just embarrassing. She is *supposed* to be a shut-in, I get it, but it's done to an extreme, and she only gets very vague hints at her past, motivations etc. Season 4 partially solves this with flashbacks, but Season 1 is still completely criminal with it. Oh and then she gets written out for 2 whole seasons while still technically being a very significant character. Extremely good concept of a character, but she just doesn't get the screentime she needs to become interesting

Hitch

Hitch is on screen so rarely, it was hard to find a good gif for her. She's a bit of a cookie-cutter slacker, and falls into that stereotype heavily. Season 3 had a chance to do something interesting with her, but it intentionally refuses to by making 90% of her mini-arc happen off-screen. By the end of it, you don't even know if she is inspired or resentful by her crush's sacrifice. There was potential here, but it was never used (until Season 4 that I didn't watch and know very little about).

Hange Zoe

Brutally tortures prisoners. Invents rocket launchers. Horny for titans. Hange is actually a decent character in that she's completely out of pocket at all times. She is unpredictable, hilarious, and incredibly consistent in how insane she is. Her bits do get a bit tired over time, and she exists only to serve the plot, but she's actually not bad!

Ymir

This. Bitch. Has one arc of excellent development, great lore, consistent characterization and the cutest fucking relationship in the show, buuuuuut then Season 2 Arc 2 has her do completely out of character things, betray her love and promptly die a completely unnecessary death off-screen. Does this end up making Christa slightly better by giving her a solid motivation? Yes, but she already had a solid motivation. On that topic...

Christa/Historia

This is it. This is the one. The well-written female character who has a good arc, remains in character, doesn't only do things that serve the plot, has decent humor writing ("gotta marry her" is the best scene in the show, fight me) and is relevant for an adequate amount of time. She also doesn't fall into stereotypes - basically everything she does in Season 3 is a great combination of kindness, maturity and egoism, which are 3 traits that don't often coexist in AoT. She is the best female character, and arguably the best character, in AoT Seasons 1-3. I sure hope Season 4 doesn't do any weird things to her... Fuck.

Yeah, as you can see, AoT misses the mark nearly every time it tries to have a female character, which sucks because all of the above characters are, in principle, very good. Most of them need just... More meaningful screentime (Sasha is in the show more than most, but most of that is comedic relief and not development). Now of course, I'm sure Season 4 probably fixes everything and I'm committing a crime by not watching it - but that doesn't undo Season 1-3 and their writing mistakes. It's clear that there was capacity for good female characters in AoT, but all of the screentime gets eaten up by Eren's Mandatory MC Monologue that 90% of people will skip through.

Edit: technically, Pieck is in Season 3 in her Titan form, but you don't know it unless you watch Season 4 or read the Manga.

#aot fandom #aot #bad writing #rant #I want Annie Leonhart to step on me

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xomby · 2 years

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I am going to be predictable and ask you 003 for Yates, but also, just to spice things up - 003 for Jo as well <3

OK EHEHEHEE be prepared this might be super long.

yates-

how i feel about this character- yates is my everything. he’s so funny and so sad and so relatable i genuinely can’t put into words how much i care about him. i project onto him really hard he’s legitimately just ogh. oughg

romantic ships- really just benton tbh, i think they really have a great dynamic that’s a perfect mix of genuinely healthy and hilarious banter, earnest care for one another, and gut wrenching angst. one of my fav things about them is how much they say without actually saying anything. right from the get go (honestly forget which episode it’s in but one of yates’ first) he’s missing and unit doesn’t know where he is, and benton asks the brig and there’s such deep worry in his voice and eyes idk. i was sold from that point on. there’s many other moments i could talk about but yeah they’re so fucking good and a really interesting show of two characters who clearly care about each other but are not able to adequately express it in their work setting imo. also i have a theory that the tom yates is dating in PROSE happy endings is tommy from planet of the spiders just cause it seems like the truth to me and they’re ok but not like benton/yates.

fav nonromantic relationship- YATES AND JO. you know this. i’m so insane about them they have such a close loving friendship it’s so cute. they’re almost dating but he’s gay so they’re not dating it’s really real. they care about each other so much i’m obsessed with them. also such a small moment but when jo checks the time on yates’ wristwatch in the dæmons. it’s so cute they function as 1 entity sometimes

unpopular opinion- i don’t know if enough people care about yates for there to be popular/unpopular opinions about him tbh. that being said maybe that i absolutely see where he’s coming from with the operation golden age thing. like being not-fully-recovered from violently painful and traumatic brainwashing and being approached by a group claiming to be trying to save the environment, anyone would do what he did imo. also the fact that he was fully prepared to die, maybe even expecting it, maybe even wanting it, makes it really hard for me to understand how people see him as a heartless villain in that scenario. like nah bruh

something i wish had happened in canon- i guess maybe just more content. even when he played a major role in stories, he didn’t get much screentime, and his struggles were very infrequently focused on. i would have liked to see a bit more care put into the depth of his character (in an overt sense, cause it’s definitely there in subtext/implications/throwaway lines)

crossover ship- tbh i don’t do crossover ships, i just don’t get it

jo-

how i feel about this character- MY FUCKING GIRL. jo. jo. god. she’s genuinely my everything, and my second fav doctor who character closely after yates. it takes another kind of likability for an entire episode to basically come down to jo being such a loving and selfless person that her pure kindness destroys the sci-fi equivalent of the devil. she’s just so fucking good. also it’s hilarious how dumb she is but it still doesn’t dictate her character. yes she’s stupid, but that’s a trait that’s sometimes good, sometimes bad. she has other traits and skills that balance it out. she’s pretty much the world to me.

romantic ships- ok they never met but i’ve always loved the idea of jo and liz. i think their personalities really balance out perfectly, and they’d have a hilarious and adorable dynamic- jo being very forward and openly sweet and liz sort of being out of touch and closed off, trying not to let her feelings show. i also kind of like cliff and jo. i hated it initially cause her exit is so… 😕 like it is in character for her to marry a guy she just met but idk how i feel about her dropping everything and leaving all her friends for his scientific endeavors, it seems out of character. however, i think they’re funny together and i love the idea that everyone at unit hates cliff.

fav nonromantic relationships- YATES AND JO AGAIN!!!! but since i already talked about it it’s also worth mentioning jo and benton, who are just fucking adorable friends (especially in the three doctors, hugging and holding hands when they’re nervous, it’s so cute and silly). also jo and the doctor are the father daughter dynamic of a lifetime and the scene in time monster when they’re in jail and he tells her the story of how he started seeing the world in color has made me cry before.

unpopular opinion- again idk how many opinions i know. i think a popular hc is that she’s a lesbian which is so unreal to me she’s the most bisexual character of all time. BUT that’s a very little one that i don’t really have that strong feelings about. i guess people often think she’s sort of a typical damsel-type companion which is so far from true, she’s such a whole character with such a fleshed out personality with strengths, weaknesses, interests, and feelings. i will never understand the argument that jo is a weak character.

something i wish had happened in canon- honestly i thought she was a really well done character with great relationships with everyone she interacted with. i genuinely think the only thing that could really improve the viewing experience when it comes to jo is a couple more seasons tbh, although i completely get and respect manning not wanting to do the show anymore after delgado passed away

crossover ship- again. maybe i’m missing something but i don’t really get it

#IM SORRY THIS IS SO LONG I FUCKING LOVE THEM SM #god the brainrot #doctor who #ask #mike yates #jo grant

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opalsiren · 2 years

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i've definitely made some version of this post before but jonathan shiff and the five other men in the writers's room do NOT know how to write older women characters. at all. don sertori, neil gilbert, hell even harrison bennett have occupations and aspirations outside of their roles as parents and spouses, but the same can't be said for their female counterparts

bev sertori's role was so meagre that they had to put her on a bus after season one since her engaging in domestic duties has little function in the overarching plot. lisa gilbert is also little more than a wife and mother for the duration of her stint on the show, with five cursory minutes of screentime about her career as a junior lifesaver. rikki's mum doesn't even appear and her absence is half-heartedly explained. same goes for lewis's mum and zane's, too, while harrison's girlfriend candy is more an accessory than a person in her own right

the closest thing to adequate representation for an older woman character is dr. denman if you could even call denman old as an esteemed and successful scientist in her field. still there are one too many jokes about denman's appearance, not to mention her frankly inappropriate relationship with lewis, for her to count as a nuanced and multifaceted woman character. the closest we get to this is don's new wife sam in season three; she is rather career-oriented and her chosen occupation actually has relevance to the comet plot, but she is at best a character in a supporting role, rather than a harrison bennett or a don sertori

let us once again reflect on what we know about the older male characters in h2o: don sertori is a highly successful fisherman with several boats and has a major role in multiple episodes; harrison bennett is a divorcee, a financier, a former windsurfing record-breaker, a cosmetic surgeon with a thriving business, owner of yachts and rose arbours and, at least according to emma, too much nose hair; even neil gilbert with his ten seconds of screentime gets to be someone who works in financial development and plays squash before he is a husband and a father. compared to characters like bev sertori and candy nolastname, it's clear to see that the writers put far more effort into developing their older male characters than their female counterparts

#mandatory disclaimer that there is nothing wrong with being a wife and mother. stay at home moms are awesome #how and ever when your only representation of women older than their early twenties have lives that revolve around their families that has #to be called into question #that said pretty much any woman character who isn't emma rikki or cleo has an arc that revolves around a man. or multiple men. so this isn'#exclusive to older women 🤪 (see: miriam tiffany charlotte 💔 bella sophie)#another disclaimer that i know candy functioning more as an accessory to harrison was meant to illustrate how vapid and image-obsessed #zane's dad is like that was on purpose. but can we have characters who are women whose purpose isn't to serve some man's arc pls #also before someone comes for me there are more than just five men in the writers's room there are like. a few women. but have a scroll dow #the h2o episodes wiki page and keep an eye on the 'episode written by' section n tell me you don't want to walk into the ocean at the lack #of women writers on such a girl-power oriented show #i guess the one exception to this is rikki's dad terry? who is conversely more an 'accessory' to rikki. but we know he's into mechanics #either as part of his job or just as a hobby 🤷‍♀️#h2o just add water #h2o #.txt #queue

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yunsoh · 4 years

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my feelings about yuchi are complicated because, as just characters, they do have a really good chemistry with each other, and they’re good for each other. they understand one another and are capable of being good supports for each other. however.

in a narrative sense, for yuki’s story in particular, their romantic relationship is just.... a little too easy to pick apart. there’s something important about yuki understanding her as someone who needs him in return of him needing her, yes, and that’s something he feels ready to provide for another person (never mind the fact that he does provide this to his best friend and he’s just. wholly unaware of it.). but the big thing that their romantic relationship introduces, in the final chapters of the series, is that there’s this “need” for him to tell someone about his curse.

it’s more or less a close on his story pertaining to the curse -- by this point, he’s had to come to accept himself, and understand himself, outside of his family’s influence; by this point, he has become entirely integrated into a life that seems to be completely untouched by the curse. the student council has offered him a reprieve from his family issues, and has given him the space necessary to really grow away from it and create healthy relationships and a stronger sense of self.

but, this doesn’t mean that his curse isn’t still a part of him -- while it’s a metaphor for cyclical family abuse, it’s also something that has a physical manifestation. the physicality of the curse is something that has more or less been placed on the back burner in his mind, as he instead focuses on the mental trauma it dealt him and trying to move on in a way that allows him to really heal. and he does have this major moment of moving on: during the second new year’s, he accepts that, while he may not have deserved what happened to him in his childhood at the hands of akito and his mother, he’s no longer allowing himself to shift the blame to them when he understands he’s responsible for how he grows past it. this isn’t a moment of him saying he’s “cured” of his traumas, but rather a verbal admittance that he’s going to continue taking his matters into his own hands.

after this point, the majority of his screentime is spent with the student council, particularly building on his relationships with kakeru and machi. during this time, there’s a narrative shift away from him trying to deal with his problems, and instead being a means of support for his friends. there’s a narrative close on the gap between him and ayame during this time as well; for all intents and purposes, he has worked through his issues that the curse caused for him. again, not “cured,” but at a place of acceptance and healing.

which means that, by the time we get to the end of the story, and there’s this need for these narratives surrounding the curse to close, all that there’s left for yuki in the curse narrative is the question of whether or not he’s going to tell his friends about it. he did the most difficult parts of it already, but there still lies the matter of if he’s ready to tell them about it. his storyline involving his learning to be vulnerable, and opening up to people, does bear weight in this.

except, it doesn’t really take that direction at all. the “curse” to him, by the end of the story, is only a concern as far as its physical caveat goes -- his motivation to tell machi about it is purely for the fact that he can’t hug girls. it’s not to do with the devastating toll it’s taken on him and his family, or what exactly he’s been working through and processing the whole time he’s known her and kakeru. the only reason he thinks to bring it up is because it will eventually get in the way of his and machi’s relationship, which has only recently become romantic.

which, to be frank, is kind of bullshit after watching his whole arc unfold.

his arc in part involves him becoming someone who can be open and vulnerable to others in order to grow and heal. his need for growing past his trauma necessitates that he goes beyond the boundaries of his family and confides in someone who listens to and accepts him just as he is, with no expectations or baggage attached. we do watch him finally have an opening up scene with kakeru, not about the curse or his childhood (in full), but about something that’s still incredibly heavy to him, and it’s at this point that he realizes that he’s someone who can be accepted despite these parts of himself that he considers difficult and hard to deal with.

this is step one in his being vulnerable with kakeru. it’s not an easy thing, but it’s not the full weight of the curse, either.

now. for some reason, he feels no need to explain the curse to kakeru. it’s not even something that crosses his mind. for all its baggage, and for everything it stands for, it’s just not something he thinks to tell him. there are two standpoints to consider for this:

a) they’re still fairly early in their friendship by the end of the series (a little less than a year), and it shouldn’t be expected of yuki to discuss the extent of his trauma to him just yet, even if he is his best friend.

b) it doesn’t matter because kakeru’s a boy and isn’t affected by the curse in its physical manifestation.

point a makes sense. it’s a heavy thing to deal with and yuki is still in the process of really handling it on his own terms. choosing when to open up about it comes in its own time.

point b doesn’t make sense. if we recall from the beginning of the series, yuki considers the curse as something that’s fully socially ostracizing -- it’s something that he considered kept him away from all of his peers. and while he does come around to have a better self-esteem and have fulfilling friendships with the student council, i think it’s fully brash to assume that he considers it as something that “doesn’t matter” to his friendships.

and yet, point b is the direction the story decides to take. yuki only takes into consideration the curse’s physical side effect, and thus that’s his motivation to tell machi. machi, who he does not have as close or as vulnerable a relationship with as he does kakeru (yes, machi opens up a lot to him, but yuki does not open up to her in the same caliber that we see him open up to kakeru), who is only just starting to really, really know yuki, even as just a friend.

“but abby, they’re dating, so she has to know!” here’s a question: why are they dating?

yuki’s story is not a romance. it’s not. as nice as yuki and machi are together, there isn’t actually a need for them to be romantically paired; his story is about being able to open up to other people and accept other people into his life, a social skill that other people usually fulfill during childhood. his story is, in large part, about playing catch-up in the social realm. and while there is a romantic element tied into it via his issues with tohru, he ultimately finds peace in his platonic relationships. tohru and kakeru specifically are the people he needs as friends in order to achieve the next step of his journey: first he needs to learn how to rely on others emotionally, after which point he can become a friend that others can emotionally rely on, without him succumbing to placing others before his own needs.

machi becomes the first person he feels adequately prepared to reach out to with the intention of being an emotional support. what kakeru is to him, he is to machi.

so. why are they dating? narratively, for no real reason other than to pair yuki off. they could have had a completely fulfilling relationship as just friends. this isn’t even to mention that machi, by this point in the story, has no friends outside of yuki and her literal brother. they’re the only people who really know her. she doesn’t need a romantic relationship -- she needs friendships. she is literally in the same position that yuki was in the beginning of his journey, and she is not given the same care that he was in her own journey of acceptance and self-discovery. she’s prematurely placed in a romantic relationship because it “made sense” for the end of yuki’s story.

but, moving on. what comes with this is the price of his final confrontation with the curse, and it falling flat because he’s put in a position where he feels forced to tell machi. the fact that it’s something forced brings up two major issues with how it fits in which his characterization: one, that he’s telling her purely because of a technicality. he’s only telling her because of the curse’s physical restrictions. if this wasn’t the case, he would have told, or at the very least considered, telling kakeru about it first instead. two, this insinuates that this isn’t something he feels ready to discuss. for a storyline that is so much about having the choice to be vulnerable, and making that choice in order to move forward, it doesn’t sit well that he felt forced into it because of a romantic relationship that, in the scope of his and machi’s stories, was premature at best.

this isn’t to say that the chapter where he goes to tell her isn’t completely stunning in its own right -- it is, and it’s emotionally provoking. however, there’s a numbness to this end of yuki’s character arc because the decision of who he wants to tell, and why, doesn’t make sense considering what the curse is to him -- something that goes far beyond its physical limitations -- and considering which relationship he has spent the most time strengthening and becoming vulnerable within -- the one he has with kakeru. it doesn’t make sense insofar as him ending his story in a romantic relationship, either, and truthfully, his story would have had an even greater impact if he had ended it single. his story is so, so deeply entwined in the importance of friendships and platonic love, and i think his and machi’s relationship would have fared far, far better as a budding close friendship.

#fruits basket #yuki sohma #machi kuragi #this is ofc not to say that you can't like. enjoy yuchi lmao. i still like them together!#but truly the more i think about them the more i'm just like. this makea no sense.#anyways i'm just gonna sit here and imagine what yuki's coming out part two would have looked like w kakeru instead bye #yunsoh meta #fruits basket spoilers

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movie-magic · 3 years

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How Superman & Lois Is Avoiding Falcon & Winter Soldier's Fatal Mistake

Superman & Lois is avoiding the storytelling and pacing issues that hurt The Falcon and the Winter Soldier by focusing on the characters.

Despite Superman & Lois featuring the Man of Steel as a lead, the Arrowverse show is keeping its story grounded, thus avoiding the biggest mistake the MCU made with The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. The CW's series focuses on Clark Kent and Lois Lane as a married couple raising two sons. Despite Clark being Superman — arguably the most powerful being on the planet, and likely Earth's most important hero — Superman & Lois uses conflict within the Kent household as its primary narrative conflict. In the Arrowverse, Clark already knows how to be a hero — but he's still learning how to be a dad.

So far, Superman & Lois has successfully distinguished itself from the rest of the DC titles — particularly other Superman-focused series like Smallville — by focusing on a different period in the hero's life. Superman & Lois season 1 centers on Jordan Kent developing powers, and the family moving from Metropolis back to the Kent farm in Smallville, giving the troubled teen a chance at a new start in a quieter environment. This comes at great personal cost to twin-brother Jonathan, who loses both his star quarterback status and his girlfriend. Still, the predominant theme of the series is family bonds, and although there is tension between the Kents, every person is incredibly supportive of their loved ones.

Superman & Lois is leaning into the CW's strengths: relationships. Rather than having each episode feature a "villain of the week," the Arrowverse show wisely reserves its action for small scenes — saving on the effects budget while still satisfying Superman fans — and lets the conflict between characters be the main narrative thrust. The Marvel show The Falcon and the Winter Soldier did the opposite: instead of focusing the short 6-episode series on the relationship of its two leads, the Disney+ show overcomplicated its story with the Flag-Smashers plot. That fatal mistake prevented Falcon and Winter Soldier from living up to its potential.

Falcon and Winter Soldier had a strong premise: Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes coming together, coping with the unexpected loss of Steve Rogers and grappling with Captain America's future. The show's initial marketing presented the series as something like Marvel's version of a buddy-cop story. However, just like so many of the MCU movies, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier introduced a global crisis for its heroes to solve: the increasingly violent terrorist group, the Flag-Smashers, and the resurgence of the Super Soldier serum. The stakes became much higher than the reluctant partnership of Sam and Bucky — and as a result, their interpersonal drama took a backseat in the story.

There were many aspects of the Falcon and the Winter Soldier that worked really well, and largely, these are tied to strong characterization. Bucky's at his best when he's being introspective and flawed: the show hints that he is still drawn to violence, but is deeply ashamed of the Winter Soldier's violent actions. With Steve Rogers' Captain America gone, Bucky is more alone now than ever, being a relic of the past. All of the people he grew up with are dead or much older than he appears to be — and while he's grown accustomed to this new world, he acts perpetually uncomfortable. It's a theme the show sets up in the premiere but doesn't adequately address.

Falcon and Winter Soldier was poised to give Sam and Bucky a relatable, complicated, and resonant relationship — but this never came to fruition. Instead of genuine conflict between the two, the show relied on forced quips and odd-couple banter. Sam Wilson's past as a PTSD counselor made him the perfect figure to help Bucky cope with Steve Rogers going back to the past: something Bucky no doubt wished for himself, and — given his history with Steve in the MCU and how close they were — may have felt resentful of. At the same time, Bucky could have helped Sam on his journey to becoming the new Captain America. Bucky, as a white man, is ill-equipped to help Sam grapple with issues like systemic racism in America — but as a friend, he could have offered quiet support.

There are hints at the show that could have been in Falcon and Winter Soldier: in the ending, for example, when Bucky helps Sam fix up the boat and joins in on the family celebration, or the scenes of Sam and Bucky training with the shield together. The action in the series is often exciting and is executed well — but any antagonist would have worked for those scenes. Sam feeling such an affinity with Karli Morgenthau never made sense — he literally held her in his arms after she shot Sharon Carter, his friend. In general, the character motivations in the show were underdeveloped, all because not enough screentime was spent on exploring the relationships that mattered. This was the fatal mistake Marvel made with The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: not using the characters' relationships as the focus of the narrative.

How Superman & Lois Avoids Making The MCU's Biggest Mistake:

The CW was wise to make Superman & Lois largely about the Kent family adjusting to major changes: the death of Martha Kent, the children learning the truth about their father, the family moving from Metropolis to Smallville, and the realization that boys could have inherited their father's Kryptonian powers. While there is a larger conspiracy at the heart of Superman & Lois season 1, the Morgan Edge plot is secondary to the story of Jordan discovering his powers and Clark trying to balance being a hero with being a father. The show isn't about super-powered beings donning costumes to beat up bad guys. While other Arrowverse shows have dealt with similar themes, Superman & Lois is the first to do so without focusing on being a superhero. For example, Black Lightning dealt with similar family themes, but is still primarily about Jefferson Pierce fighting The 100, and his daughter begins crimefighting almost immediately after discovering her powers.

Superman does appear in Superman & Lois and is presumably still averting Nuclear disaster and catching criminals, but much of this happens either offscreen or in brief subplots. The best moments in the show are scenes with Clark trying to coach Jordan, like the moment when he quietly tells his son to let out the built-up eye energy on the football field. These moments work because they're so earnest. While the circumstance is fantastic, the parent-child dynamic and the coming-of-age allegory are incredibly relatable. Clark doesn't know what to do, but he's trying his best. Jordan, as a typical teenager, lacks the maturity to make smart choices. He struggles to understand and control his powers, and he reacts to situations impulsively. He has the concerns of a typical teenage boy: his interest in a potential romance with Sarah, his newfound popularity thanks to football, and his emerging sense of self as he navigates puberty. Instead of scenes with Clark and Jordan stopping bank robbers or flying, audiences get glimpses of their family life; it's a story where the character motivations always feel genuine.

The relationships in Superman & Lois are realistically complicated and nuanced. Jordan and Jonathan Kent break the CW's warring brothers trope by being supporting and caring about each other, even when they disagree. Clark and Lois clearly love each other while having their own separate lives, and the show wisely avoids using Lois as a damsel in distress figure for Superman to save. None of the characters are perfect, with Clark in particular struggling with parental choices and the twin boys making the kind of dumb decisions teenagers make. Unlike The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which overcomplicated its first season with unnecessary global stakes, Superman & Lois keeps the story grounded on its family dynamic, which is a refreshing new standard for superhero stories.

- Screen Rant

#falcon and the winter solider #falcon #winter solider #superman and lois #superman #lois lane #tv series #movie magic

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prettygraceful · 3 years

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magnus & the main characters interaction count: a study

an interaction counts as magnus talking specifically to 1 main and that main character responding, or vice versa. (you know like alec does with jace/ clary/ izzy in 95% of the episodes throughout the whole series and luke/ simon in half of s1 and s3.) an interaction is NOT where magnus addresses the group in general with no one responding to him directly, or him being in the same room with all of them, but they only talk to alec or to each other.

this count starts from 2b. s1/ 2a did NOT have anywhere close to an adequate amount, but at least there wasn’t so little that it was total joke like after that. the sad truth of this is so glaringly obvious when it’s listed.

plz take note this post is about magnus/ MAIN character interaction ONLY

and obviously this count is about the 6 mains other than alec

SEASON 2B

2x11: NONE

altho clary/ jace are in the room, they only talk to alec

2x12: NONE

2x13: NONE

2x14: 1 scene with luke

2x15: NONE

altho jace/ izzy are in the room, they don’t talk to him

2x16: NONE

he was not in the episode. he also was not in some episodes in s1. luke and maia have also not been in some.

clary, jace, alec, izzy, and simon have been in every episode. just saying.

2x17: 2 scenes with luke

2x18: 1 scene with luke

2x19: NONE

altho the shadowhunters/ luke are in the room, they don’t talk to him

side note: making literally everyone be against magnus/ glaring at him/ shading him behind his back after all he’s literally done for every single one of them was… a choice. they all didn’t seem to care that he was hurting.

2x20: 1 scene with izzy

final count:

6 episodes (over half the season) with NONE

2 episodes of only 1 scene interaction

only 1 episode where he interacts throughout, yet still only with 1 other main

only 3 scenes where he gets to talk to another main without alec there

no scene where he talks to another main and alec isn’t mentioned

SEASON 3A

3x01: NONE

3X02: NONE

altho shadowhunters/ luke are in the room, they only talk to alec

3X03: 1 scene with izzy

3x04: NONE

altho clary is in room, she only talks to alec

3x05: NONE

3x06: multiple scenes with clary

3x07: NONE

altho clary/ izzy/ simon are in the room, they only talk to alec

3x08: multiple scenes with izzy

no, owl!jace saying alec would chose jace over him doesn’t count

altho luke/ simon are in the room, they only talk to alec

3x09: 1 scene with izzy

3x10: 1 scene with jace

altho should a scene of him telling the parabatai he gave up his magic for them and them not saying anything count?

final count:

5 episodes (half the season) with NONE

3 episodes of only 1 scene interaction

only 2 episodes where he interacts throughout, yet only with 1 other main

only 1 episode where he gets to talk to another main without alec there

no episodes where he talks to another main and alec isn’t mentioned

SEASON 3B

3x11: 1 scene with izzy

altho jace is in the room, he only to talks alec

3x12: NONE

altho jace/ luke are in the room, they only talk to alec

3x13: 1 scene with izzy

and 1 single line to clary, i guess

3x14: NONE

3x15: NONE

aside from 1 single line to simon, i guess

no, clary/ jace/ izzy unkindly questioning him being there doesn’t count

side note: making magnus be surrounded by a room full of racist-coded shadowhunters in s3 was… a choice. what was the point of that? it showed that apparently only laws have changed but not societal sentiment- outside of the main foursome- since s1 in their mindset towards downworlders. and then they had malec get married amongst these racists a few weeks later?? to show him being treated so disrespectfully (again in s3, so nobody’s mindset progressed outside of the 4) and be made so uncomfortable and then never have them show him any love or treat him as an equal later on (as an individual and not just as half of malec) was… a choice. a bad choice.

3x16: NONE

3x17: NONE

3x18: NONE

altho clary/ jace are in the room, they only talk to alec (and then when he’s sad over something that their 3a choices caused, they leave. in the same episode the writers have maryse say “we’re all here for you”…what a joke.)

3x19: NONE

3x20: NONE

altho izzy/ clary/ jace are in the room, they only talk to alec

3x21: NONE

aside from 1 single line to simon, i guess

no, saying only biscuit doesn’t count

3x22: NONE

altho it’s his wedding day, they don’t let jace/ izzy welcome him into the family but instead irrelevant max.

and altho it’s literally the finale, the ONLY person he gets to talk to is his rival. (side note, but lorenzo and underhill should NOT have been at the wedding after their awful treatment towards him. such two-faced people.)

final count:

10 episodes (the length of a normal half season) with NONE

2 episodes of only 1 scene interaction

0 episodes where he interacts throughout

1 scene where he get to talk to another main without alec there

in his 1 scene in 3x13, he talks to another main and alec isn’t mentioned

i think the point i’m making is obvious: the 3 white showrunners and mostly white writers almost never ever let magnus even talk to any of the other main characters. (he also goes three seasons without a single story arc with another main that lasts more than 1 episode. (no, the writers using luke as a mouthpiece to justify alec’s mistake in 2b does not count.) you know, like how alec had big long arcs with both clary and jace in s1, 2a, and 3a and izzy here and there. even maia, the most neglected character on this show, still got to regularly interact with simon and luke- 2 mains. even luke with his limited screentime, still got to regularly at least talk to literally all of the mains in all his group scenes.

and what about the 3 downworlder mains and alec?

well, altho alec and maia only had 2 scenes together, that’s still twice what magnus/ maia got, seeing as they only had the 1 scene together in 2a.

alec and luke had at least 3 scenes together in s1 that i can remember vs magnus/ luke only having 2 lines in 1x06. both duos had about equal in 2b.

in 3a alec/luke had 5 scenes together. magnus/ luke had none where they actually spoke to each other. in group scenes magnus only talked to alec.

in 3b alec/ luke had 3 scenes. magnus/ luke had none. plus luke told alec that he couldn’t go to his wedding, instead of telling magnus.

in s1 magnus/ simon had maybe 1 line. alec/ simon were interacting constantly throughout, i don’t remember how many scenes it was.

in 2a magnus/ simon had 2 episodes together. in 2b they had 1 scene but i don’t really count it since it was only to have it be literally everyone vs magnus. alec/ simon had 1 scene in 2b and none in 2a.

in 3a alec/ simon had 3 scenes interacting together. magnus/ simon had none where they actually spoke to each other.

in 3b all the fans complaining really paid off! 2 scenes in 3x15. 1 scene each in 3x17, 3x19, 3x20, and 3x21 for a grand total of 6 scenes. plus no talking- yet still in a scene together- in 1 other scene in 3x15, 3x17, 3x18, and 2 others in 3x19, for a grand total of 5, not counting the edom finale scenes. magnus/ simon only said 2 lines to each other in 3b.

not to mention alec stood next to simon in a nice two-shot in 4 separate scenes. it really reminded me of what they do with clary/ alec in group scenes. the writers don’t always give them a lot of dialogue together, but they’re sure to get that dynamic in at least visually. alec always has at least crumbs vs magnus getting nothing. where is that energy from the writers, directors, or fans with magnus and literally any main? really, where is it?

i mean, there was no reason for alec/ simon not to have scenes, but i’m so truly disappointed that this is where the fan effort was spent instead of lobbying for magnus to get to interact with even one main character other than alec, seeing as alec always already get to constantly have many, many, many duo and group scenes and big arcs with the 3 other shadowhunters. and now he gets to be more bonded with all of the main downworlders too instead of magnus with his own people. the writers are so so so wack.

also obviously magnus interacts with alec on a regular basis. the point is that’s it. malec is the main reason why i watch the show, so it matters a great deal, but when every other main is getting vastly more interactions, it’s a problem. also in nearly all of the episodes when alec has scenes with other mains- and magnus is not there- magnus is not mentioned. not so when it’s vice versa.

why not count any supporting characters you may be saying? because that’s not what i hear everyone demanding for alec or the others, is it? because he didn’t interact with raphael, his supposed son, in s1, or at all after 3x01 to the actual finale. because aside from her bringing madzie over in 3x11, catatrina and and him didn’t speak in 3b. she wasn’t even introduced until 3a (so 2 seasons w/o any friends.) they only spoke in 4 scenes total in all of s3. she was his best man, yet that’s not important enough to show on screen. ragnor was literally only 1 episode. who’s left- his jealous, bitter pathetic rival or his father who has obvious gross, creepy incestuous, jealous feelings for him. or alec’s mother, who only had scenes with him for the same reason maia/ jordan had all those scenes- to give them something to do away from the group/ main plotlines. why couldn’t magnus and maia had scenes together also or instead? and being bffs with his bf’s mom but not getting to even TALK to his parabatai, the person alec’s closest to platonically, let alone be friends, is truly beyond words. and also harry and matt are only 5 years apart (kat/ dom have more of an age difference) so i’m tired of the writers/ fans keeping alec in the playpen with his younger co-stars while magnus is separated to only older ones.

and also i just really don’t care about supporting characters. i see them as just taking screentime away from the mains, specifically the downworlder mains, who are already running on limited time. look at 3x13 when they want to do a whole heidi arc, who gets cut- magnus. or in 3x17 when they want to introduce helen and aline, i resented them right off the bat for getting twice as much screentime than magnus, a main character, in that important episode for him. throughout the whole show, whenever supporting characters are getting screentime, it always means magnus, maia, and luke are not. that’s not good.

some final thoughts, nearly every single malec fan spent the entire 9 month hiatus from 3a to 3b relentlessly saying alec needs interactions. as if he didn’t get huge bonding arcs with clary and jace in s1 and 2a and 3a. as if he doesn’t talk to and go places and do things with clary, jace, and izzy nearly every single episode, every single season since the beginning. mighty handy to not count the 3 of them when you want to cry “alec has no friends” every single day, as if he hasn’t had an enemy to friendship arc with clary 3 times in 3 seasons. as if he hasn’t had a dying, can’t live without you arc with jace 3 times in 3 seasons. as if he doesn’t hug jace twice more than magnus per half season. as if he doesn’t have izzy there to lean on and talk to. funny how siblings don’t count as friends when it’s mighty convenient that’s they’re the only mains to have siblings. i would kill, KILL, for magnus to be even talk to jace and izzy let alone be real friends, yet fans are taking their friendships with alec for granted, while simultaneously saying they’re robbed of the parabatai dynamic. that’s rich.

if alec having scenes every other ep, and melodramatic arcs every other half season, wasn’t such a guarantee the fans have learned they could count on, nobody would say that his siblings and clary don’t count. but everyone knew they could say that because we know it wouldn’t be taken away. i mean, look at the stark siblings in game of thrones. they never interacted, and the entire fandom cried about that being the most important friendships to show, but it wasn’t shown. this fandom needs to put things in perspective and stop taking the lightwoods sibs and the shadowhunters squad dyamic for granted and realize that magnus and maia don’t get even a minuscule fraction of that. also want to add that simon got plenty of constant sturdy dynamics too, with clary, jace, luke, maia, and izzy. and fans got their alec/ simon content and yet still so ungrateful. i beg the malecs to compare what magnus gets before complaining.

#shadowhuntersedit #malecedit #magnusbaneedit #aleclightwoodedit #shedit #meta

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deanie1987 · 4 years

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My thoughts on 10x8 (LONG and SPOILERY)

Hey how about that episode huh? I have a lot of thoughts about it so this may be...uh pretty long. First off, I really liked the episode (at least the Gallavich parts that’s all I’ve seen so far. I am SO happy that I understand where they both are coming from and I don’t have to head canon anything. That in itself makes this episode much better than I thought it would be. Also, I have been vomiting my opinions all over The Internet so I apologize if I’m repeating myself.

First the good stuff: OPEN AFFECTION AND LOVE AND SMILES! The warmth that their happiness gives me could heat my entire house for a year. It is such a wonderful thing to see. From them arm in arm to holding hands in the diner to that incredible kiss at the courthouse (which has now jumped into my top 3 kisses) it truly is making the season for me. I miss the sex scenes and they don’t get enough screentime, but they feel like lovers to me, not roomates or pals. Finally. I also love that it seems like Mickey is 99% comfortable with it, but there is still that 1% of holding back.

IAN. Oh my god Ian!! *Fiona voice* He is trying so hard. He is doing his best to really communicate with Mickey and maintain a healthy relationship. But it’s hard for him and he’s not good at it and he gets really jumbled and nervous when he’s trying to get his thoughts out (god I relate to Ian so hard sadly.) He is initiating so much of the affection and the declarations and wanting Mickey to know that he loves him. We have been waiting for so long to see it and I’m so thankful.

The acting - Noel and Cam are a gift and they give this mediocre material such depth and emotion. No matter how ridiculous the plot, they know their characters and they take them seriously. I can’t imagine caring about this couple even a fraction as much if they weren’t played by them.

The character consistency (which is an extension of the acting) - Puppy Ian has made a triumphant return but that is tempered by his life experiences. He isn’t naive and idealistic anymore. His confidence and self-worth have taken huge blows over the years and it shows in how he approaches the proposal and then of course in his cold feet (and how desperate he is for advice now as compared to before his diagnosis). It seems perfectly in character for Ian to grab onto an impulsive notion with the best of intentions and then second guess himself and fuck it up the second it really matters. I think he is trying to control his impulses and I DO think that he had the best of intentions with the proposal and the marriage idea, but the self doubt crept in at the last moment like it always does. Having said that, they were fighting and rushed and I don’t blame him for wanting to take a step back to figure things out once circumstances changed. Unfortunately, his impulses once again ended up breaking Mickey’s heart and I appreciate just how good Noel is. The script never once referenced anything other than their current situation, but you could read on his face the toll of years of disappointment and humiliation and anger. My god.

Which leads me to the bad:

The last scene - I know that a lot of people hate the punch and think its out of character for Mickey, but I just don’t. Violence isn’t a first resort for either of them anymore, but it is definitely still in their arsenal. They threw punches in season 5 (Ian being the initiator), Mickey drugged Sammi in order to torture her, they shoved and pushed each other in season 7, Mickey tried to start a fight with one of the cartel guys then as well, he stabbed people in prison for pay, he and Ian both stabbed Chester with no qualms and Ian was prepared to do it again, he and Ian physically fought in 10x3 (they each shoved each other pretty hard), Ian threw punches in season 6 and physically threatened a lot of people as Gay Jesus. They grew up around casual violence. In the first few seasons they both sported cuts and black eyes all the time. They got hit by their parents, by their siblings, by strangers and by each other. It might not be as frequent as it was when they were young, but it is still a form of communication for them both, for better or for worse. Beyond that, Mickey is an abuse survivor who spent the last few years either in jail, on the run or in a Mexican drug cartel. To act as though violence isn’t part of his life anymore just makes no sense to me. He has grown tremendously and I do think that violence against Ian is something that probably horrifies him, but that punch was YEARS in the making. He tried to remove himself from Ian and the situation but when Ian asked him to communicate how he felt about things, you could just see in his face the disbelief and incredulity that after all his words and his grand gestures, that Ian would STILL somehow not know how he felt. So he walked back up the steps, maybe hoping that he could come up with words that would adequately convey the heartbreak, anger, betrayal, loneliness, humiliation and disappointment that he has felt for years where Ian was concerned. But instead he punched him. I don’t like it but I get it. And Ian seemed more annoyed than scared or genuinely angry, and I will be shocked if a big deal is made of it by anyone in the next episode. The falling down the stairs and leg breaking was an accident obviously and necessitated by Cam’s leg, but it wouldn’t shock me if the writers had something like that in the script beforehand. These are damaged guys who grew up and still live in shitty environment full of poverty, ignorance, crime and casual violence. The Gallaghers may be on the edge of upward mobility but they aren’t all there yet and that probably goes double for Mickey.

All things Terry and the Milkoviches - I appreciate that Mickey is no longer afraid of his father, but that whole scene sat terribly with me. This is one of the areas where Noel’s 5 year absence from the larger Shameless universe really stands out and it’s clear that trying to pick up where they left off really doesn’t work. The new Milkoviches are bland and dumb as well.

Ian’s jabs - I’m really ready for Ian to knock it off with the digs about Mickey to Lip. I’m glad that Mickey challenged him about murdering people (although again, seriously is really THAT much of a stretch to think that Mickey has been involved in something a little seedier, though you would think that Ian would know by now.) I hope it comes up again and Ian apologizes for thinking that way about him.

Episode as a whole - I didn’t watch the rest of the episode yet (maybe more thoughts on that if anything inspires me) but fast forwarding through the other scenes made the lack of character interaction that much more noticeable. It is ridiculous that Ian has had more scenes with Tami than with Carl. I hate it.

One last negative I guess. Every scene that we have gotten with Mickey and Ian together have been nearly perfect, but it isn’t enough and I really wish that they had started this storyline at the very beginning of the season and not rushed so much of it. I still kind of want a season 11 with them in it, because there is so much stuff that we don’t know. For example, I find it really interesting that in some ways, Mickey and Ian are somewhat back to their earlier selves. In season 4 and 5, Ian sort of devolved into drugs, prostitution and various scams (mostly due to his illness of course) while Mickey tried to be at least a little bit more on the up and up. They sort of met in the middle of the criminality spectrum. But now they seem to be more closely aligned with their seasons 1-3 situations. Obviously, Mickey is out and Ian has been diagnosed with bipolar, so their personalities have definitely changed since that time. But in the years that they were separated, Ian sort of pulled himself back into “normal” society for awhile with a legit job and vaguely middle class aspirations (at least until he went off the deep end and stopped taking his meds). In the meantime, Mickey was sent away to a real prison and worked for a Mexican drug cartel. No middle class aspirations there. For as much as they are in love and as much as I believe that they know each other better than anyone else, they have changed a LOT and experienced things apart that are hugely impactful to their development as adults. They are coming together again, but not as the teenage boys that they once were, but the products of their experiences mostly while they were apart and I really wish that that would be explored more. I know that fanfic can fill a lot of holes, but I have been so impressed with the way that Noel and Cam have played everything so far that I want to see them on my screen as these characters for as long as I can.Finally, next week looks interesting. I think that the majority will be played for laughs but judging from the stills, the emotion is going to knock us on our asses. I can’t wait.

#Shameless season 10 #10x8 #Review and thoughts #Gallavich

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alwaysahiccupandastrid · 5 years

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I...am in two minds about Toy Story 4.

On the one hand, I grew up with Toy Story. I grew up with Woody, Buzz, Jessie, Andy and the gang. I have that nostalgia from having my own Woody/Jessie/Buzz/Bullseye (my Woody was given to me by my late nan when I was little, which is why I have an even more emotional connection to the series).

There were bits of Toy Story 4 I liked - it kept up the overall tone of the other movies, it was humorous, it was enjoyable. The animation was beautiful too. I did love it when I watched it and I want to watch it again at least once more.

But the more I think about it, the more I start to feel conflicted because there’s stuff that ruined it for me. It feels like Pixar abandoned the messages from the other films - the messages about friendship, for example. Woody basically left the gang and did a total personality heel turn to (as someone so adequately described it) “tap some porcelain ass”. Perhaps that wording is a bit strong but the fact is that Woody basically had a midlife crisis and abandoned his lifelong friends to be with his girlfriend.

And I’m not hating on Bo Peep - while I wasn’t a fan of Bo in the original film when I was little, I grew to appreciate her more as I got older. And I liked Bo in this one too. But Pixar could have easily had Woody realize that his friends need him, he’s their leader, and it doesn’t matter if he’s playing second fiddle to a spork.

Toy Story 4 seemed to take elements from the other three films and do a shit on them, to be honest.

It’s not the first time we’ve seen Woody being passed over for a new toy - in the first film, he gets jealous because Andy suddenly seems to prefer Buzz. But Woody didn’t leave because of that - he realized that he wanted to be there for Andy, regardless of whether he was the number one toy. He just wanted to be there for Andy. Yet in TS4, it’s like “Woody feels abandoned so he fucks off lmao” - like where is the Woody who would fight to be there for his kid??

Bonnie isn’t Andy, granted, but Woody’s character throughout all the films has always been very strongly in the “the most important thing for a toy is being there for a kid”. In Toy Story 2, Buzz even reminds him “a toy once told me life was only worth living if you were being loved by a kid” - and that’s why Woody ultimately decides that he wants to return to Andy. Even when Andy no longer plays with them, Woody still remains there to watch Andy grow up. I know he doesn’t have that same attachment to Bonnie, but it’s just baffling that he did such a 180.

Speaking of character assassinations...first of all, Buzz was made to be so dumb. Yeah, the inner voice gag was funny but they made Buzz out to be some absolute moron who didn’t understand metaphors or whatever. Buzz isn’t a moron.

Another character assassination? Bonnie. Look, I get that she’s five and she has her favourite toys and a short attention span, bleh bleh bleh. But given the fuss she made about having Woody in TS3, plus how much she loved him in the shorts released between 3 and 4, the fact that she didn’t care at ALL for Woody in the slightest made me mad. It’s not just “she’s not playing with him” - it’s the fact he went missing and she literally didn’t give two shits. If ANY of my toys had gone missing on a trip somewhere, 5 year old me would have been distraught as fuck. I get her attachment to Forky, that’s not what makes me mad, it was a problem even before she made Forky. They turned her from a sweet little girl who loves toys into a careless girl who didn’t care about a toy that was clearly loved and valued by their last owner. Remember how she looked like she was going to cry when Andy hesitated about giving Woody to her? Yeah, I don’t blame Andy - he knew Bonnie was bad news.

All of the other characters were just...there. Usually you get to see lots of the aliens, Jessie, Rex, Bullseye, Hamm etc., but in TS4 they were just there to fill background space and provide the odd line. Mr Potato Head is understandable since Don Rickles sadly passed away before recording any lines and they were using archive recordings. But the others? Jessie had maybe five lines in the entire film, and while she kicked ass in her own way, Pixar made her secondary to Bo. I get that Bo was a big focus in the film but...seriously? While I loved Ducky and Bunny, I’d have rather had more Jessie screentime than two brand new characters created solely for gag purposes. Jessie is beloved and important in the franchise - for her to be delegated a back seat is not only senseless, but it’s also OOC for her.

Woody really did have it worst when it came to character assassination - gone is the lovable cowboy doll who’s always there for their kid and for the gang...now we have Woody being hopelessly in love and whipped to the point where he abandons his lifelong friends because “LoL Bo Peep pretty”.

So overall, I don’t know how I feel about Toy Story 4 - I’m disappointed the more I think about it. Like I said, there were many good parts about the film, including the overall tone and the animation has come a long way, but the story wasn’t nearly as strong as the other 3 movies were - it’s like Pixar wanted to take Toy Story out from the shelf again just for a) money and b) to answer the Bo Peep question. Honestly, I didn’t need a whole movie to explain what happened to Bo Peep - hearing in TS3 that she was gone was enough for me. It allowed me my own idea of what could have happened to her, you know? If they had really wanted to show what happened to Bo, why not create a short like “Small Fry” or “Toy Story of Terror” to explain? Simple fact - again, it’s money. This movie just wasn’t strong enough to hold up the way the others have - in context with the first three, it’s an OOC mess.

Again, there were bits I liked and it��s not a bad movie really - it’s just that there was so much that was bafflingly OOC and stupid. The Woody in the first three films would NEVER have left his friends like he did in TS4, he would never have allowed himself to be a lost/free toy like he did just because he wanted to stay with Bo (who he hasn’t seen in over a decade, mind you - it’s unbelievable that he’s gonna stay with someone he hasn’t seen in over a decade instead of friends he’s been through thick, thin and death situations with).

#toy story #toy story 4 #disney #pixar #i am so sorry #sheriff woody #toy story 4 spoilers #ts4 spoilers

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wonderfulworldofmichaelford · 5 years

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Psycho Analysis: Jafar

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

So, Aladdin is one of the most beloved Movies of the Disney Renaissance, and rightfully so. It has some of the most fun and wonderful songs, it has a cool protagonist who undergoes a great deal of character development, it has Iago voiced by Gilbert Gottfried, and most importantly it has Genie, one of Disney’s greatest creations and the big blue heart of the film.

The movie also has Jafar.

Jafar is… odd. For the first two acts of the movie, Jafar is little more than a devil in plain sight for the audience and a character who does nothing but remind us the film has a villain; frankly, for most of the film he’s just underwhelming. But then he gets the lamp, and oh boy all bets are off. With Jafar, it’s really important to ask yourself: Can an incredibly awesome finale make up for an underwhelming showing early on?

Actor: Jonathan Freeman has consistently portrayed Jafar in all of his appearances, which include the movie, the sequel, the video game Nasira’s Revenge, that one weird and anachronistic episode of Hercules, all his appearances on House of Mouse, and of course every time Jafar has shown up in Kingdom Hearts. Quite frankly, Freeman is incredible. Jafar has just the perfect sleazy, oily voice, and when it’s time for him to start cackling or shouting like a madman, Freeman sure delivers. Still, one can’t help but wonder how much more incredible Jafar would have been if Patrick Stewart hadn’t turned down playing him...

Motivation/Goals: Jafar is a bit of a simple villain. He wants the lamp so that he can have power and respect and… that’s it, really. Jafar in this film is bit weakly defined from a motivation standpoint, and this is something the live-action film I think did better with its take on Jafar; the Jafar there had a clear, complex motive as opposed to animated Jafar, who is rather simplistic and cartoonish.

However, the animated Jafar upon getting the lamp definitely is the better Jafar, as he just settles in to constantly escalating his power, going from a mere sultan to the most powerful sorcerer alive and then finally to being the most powerful being in the universe: a genie. From there, he becomes motivated by revenge, as Return of Jafar shows, which is a rather simple motive again and is a bit less impressive. Frankly, Jafar’s best showing when it came to goals was in the final act of the original animated movie, where he just constantly felt the need to be the coolest guy in the room.

Personality: Jafar’s personality for the first two acts is, frankly, nonexistent. He’s just your usual slimy vizier with little going for him in the way of interesting villainy; he’s no Ursula or Frollo, that’s for sure… at least, not until the third act. Once Jafar goes mad with power, he becomes an all-you-can-eat ham buffet, shouting all of his lines in the most wonderfully over-the-top and dramatic fashion, zapping spells left and right, and spouting terrible puns.. Frankly, this Power-mad lunatic makes up for the boring, scummy vizier we’ve had to sit with for most of the film, and shows that Jafar really is at his best when he’s extra. In fact, this is something animated Jafar will always have over his live-action counterpart, as that Jafar never really rose to the occasion and just stayed at adequate villainy levels throughout, never truly rising to the levels of the egomaniacal wizard on a power trip the original film gave us.

Final Fate: In the original film, Jafar is defeated by being outwitted rather than by brute force, something I find very compelling: Aladdin goads him into becoming a genie with his final wish, causing him to become bound to a lamp. It’s such an awesome, brilliant moment for Aladdin. Genie then does his part and flicks the imprisoned Jafar and Iago into the Cave of Wonders.

Of course, Jafar gets out for the poorly disguised pilot to Aladdin’s TV series, but by movie’s end a battered Iago kicks his lamp into molten lava, causing Jafar to painfully die once and for all, and maybe or maybe not encounter Hades on the way to the afterlife.

Best Scene: Obviously when he transforms into a big snake in the finale.

Best Quote: Aladdin asks Jafar what he’s doing when he takes the lamp instead of helping him off the collapsing cliff. Jafar pulls out a dagger and utters this immortal line in response: “Giving you your reward - your eternal reward!” Not many lines can claim they inspired a TF2 weapon.

Final Thoughts & Score: Jafar is a villain I feel generally has way too much praise heaped on him. He’s certainly not a bad villain, far from it, but I think people tend to ignore that for most of his screentime he is just incredibly boring and almost takes you out of the plot with how obviously sinister he is. Again, the live-action remake did this aspect so much better, as that Jafar seemed like someone who it would not be entirely unreasonable to trust. This Jafar, the original, is a snake from day one.

But then When Jafar finally gets a taste of power, we get to see him as he truly should be. Jafar just really gets great in the final act, and while some might say “too little, too late,” I’d almost certainly say that this Jafar more than makes up for his earlier showings, and thankfully even in the sequel and outside appearances like Kingdom Hearts Jafar manages to keep pace with how he is in the final act – most likely because in both of the mentioned cases he’s not really pretending to be a good guy. And I think that’s the core of why Jafar just doesn’t work for most of the movie – he is trying to be a twist villain for the characters in the film, but everything about him on a meta level indicates he’s a villain, making the audience feel like everyone around him is an idiot, hypnosis staff or no.

So even after all of that, I think I’d still give Jafar a 7/10. I definitely think all his shenanigans at the end make up for how lackluster he was earlier, and even earlier he had his moments such as when he betrays Aladdin and tries to give him his “eternal reward” or pretty much any scene in which he banters with Iago. I’d definitely say Jafar leans more towards an 8 than a 6 if that makes you feel any better.

Ultimately, as enjoyable as Jafar can be in his appearances, I think character-wise he’s overshadowed by a lot of the other Renaissance villains, such as Ursula, Hades, Gaston, and Frollo. In fact, I think Frollo did what Jafar tried to do a lot better – while Frollo is obviously evil to us, he’s also obviously evil to everyone in the movie except himself. Still, there’s nothing wrong with being a lower-mid-tier Renaissance villain, because it still makes you cooler than most animated villains. And if nothing else, Jafar is really cool.

UPDATE: After reviewing the remake Jafar, I am bumping This Jafar’s score up to an 8/10. Read that Psycho Analysis for the reasons why.

#Psycho Analysis #Jafar #Aladdin #Disney

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airlock · 5 years

Text

airlock grades the Camus archetype

next in this series, we delve into the world of fancy jackets, ebon horses, and loves that cannot be. that’s right -- it’s the day in the lives of the one who was fortunate enough to fuck off into the ocean with no memories, and all the other ones who just straight-up died!

(do note: under cut are spoilers for… everything, and also a significant amount of me criticizing or blamming characters that you might like. you’ve been warned! but if you’d press on, then I’m afraid I have no choice but to face you on the battlefield-)

a foreword

so, I’m not trying to end up rating every single semi-sympathetic miniboss out here; to this end, I will be working with a very specific definition of a Camus for this exercise. I do not claim it to be the definition of a Camus; it’s simply what I’ll be working with. it’s as such: a Camus is a secondary villain who is characterized as virtuous, but tragically doomed to stand against the player characters, either in keeping with the aforementioned virtue, because of an overpowering external circumstance, or both.

so, let us dig in!

camoo

(7/10)

there he is, folks! the man whose dick launches thousands of ships, hurtling into each other on a maelstrom of tragedy.

a multitude of appearances -- matched only by a certain trio of flying girls -- has given him incredible room to expand as a complex, dynamic character. where his original appearance alone might blip as gently tragic but not incredibly compelling, he’s incrementally gained a robust character, and ultimately got to be one of the ones who managed to elude the pits of data size issues in Akaneian characterization.

screaming camus

(1/10)

is it a stretch to tout him as a “virtuous” character? perhaps, but for the purposes of classification alone, intent weighs a little more than execution, and I think it’s clear that the writers had intended for Berkut to be sympathetic, but tragic, as far as secondary antagonists go.

unfortunately, though, they failed big time. Ian Sinclair’s stellar voice acting counts in Berkut’s favor, but little else does. his character is nigh-on pastiche and he seems to hog a lot of screentime without adding anything of significant interest to the story or to other characters. his motivations, while genuine enough, are irritatingly played by the narrative as being sympathetic when they absolutely are not; and worst of all, his fall from grace is severely cheapened by ending on a note of easy redemption that he does not at all deserve.

mongolian camus

(4/10)

in concept, this is a brillant player punch; as if Hardin wasn’t enough, you have to make enemies of even more of those who fought by your side on the previous game, and this guy -- alongside his underlings bar Roshea -- aren’t even fighting you because they’ve gone mad; they’re the same as they were before, and it’s only unfortunate that now, their master is no longer on your side.

however, further labor on the execution front would have been invaluable here. as far as Camuses (camusi? camii? camee?) go, the ole Wolfpack has a lot less time in the limelight than is par for the course, and the one-two maps they haunt don’t leave enough room to draw out the drama.

I’m not docking points for this, but New Mystery of the Emblem also does the Wolfpack a serious disservice in making them all recruitable. besides being a cowardly evasion from the tragedies of war that Fire Emblem is well-known to mercilessly portray, it’s not even a better outcome for them personally. like, have you seen Wolf’s epilogue? and it’s only further a shame after Shadow Dragon went and made Wolf and Sedgar so busted they may have had a better chance to leave an impression on the player -- which would then have made it all the more of a gut twister if they’d remained as full proper... goddamnit I’m not doing the plural Camus thing again.

wine camus

(10/10)

without hesitation, one of the most effective... camus characters, okay, there, I settled that... ever written. it’s sad enough when you have to snuff out someone nice because war is hell and the world is an awful place, but having the guy be the protagonist’s best friend is just ruthless.

and it’s not just text, either; it’s set up brillantly. Eldigan and Sigurd’s good bond is put well on display before it’s brutally shattered. he’s even given an unusual out in that you don’t have to kill him -- but if you don’t, Chagall will! hoohoohoo, Jugdral is the bestworst.

seriously, though, I think I’ve honest to god cried at least once about Eldigan, and making me cry is pretty difficult -- like, outside of an argument or other situation where crying totally sabotages me so of course my body will do that to me.

thunder camus

(5/10)

I appreciate an extremely powerful female character as much as anyone should, but other than that, I will have to admit that I don’t find her incredibly compelling.

although Genealogy of the Holy War may have been the game that gave us Hilda, it very much betrays the Kagaman’s hesitancy in letting women be villainous, and there are not many better examples of this than Ishtar here. as far as Camus characters (hahahaha! I am unstoppable!) go, she’s one of the most virtuous -- and also one with the flimsiest reasons for staying the course of villainy anyway.

like, sure, she has a boyfriend who turned into satan. we sure get told that. and then it stays as absolutely nothing other than text, when she tends to act like she’s being forced by the greatest of all powers to continue opposing you. Thracia 776 at least strengthens the script by depicting the extant relationship as an abusive one, which would shed a little more sense into things, but it’s too little too late; too late because it’s one whole game later, and too little because Ishtar and Julius are not focal characters of that game and don’t have enough room to expand in there. (plus, it’s not a great idea for Julius anyway -- he’s hellspawn, not a smooth operator.)

tiny hand camus

(5/10)

curiously, I’d actually bill Reinhardt here as a hybrid Camus-Michalis -- while his arc swallows elements of inevitable tragedy such as a star-crossed crush and a superior that he won’t defy, it never feels like he has to fight you in the way that a Camus normally does; rather, it feels like he chooses to anyway because of his shortcomings, in the way that a Michalis normally does.

and putting these things together... well, I’m grading the whole character here, but let’s be real, he’s far more effective of a Michalis than a Camus. intent regadless, sympathy isn’t usually the sentiment that he flints up, and I believe even Olwen is ultimately of that mindset; still, it gets to be a shame that he makes the choices he does when he’s otherwise not such an overtly repugnant type.

(I went this whole time not talking about Heroes, yes? that’s because I’m not going there. not the memes, not his thorougly botched characterization there, nothing.)

alamo camus

(2/10)

I believe that Galle and Murdock are intended as Camus characters (booyaka booyaka! shakalaka!) as well, but they’re so painfully inconsequential I’m not going to get sidetracked in their direction here.

Brunnya is not that much better off than they are, alas; she gets a little more screentime, but remains underdeveloped until her one chapter in the limelight. she does get to play an interesting role as a Camus who outlives her master and still decides to carry on his will, but we’ve seen better and more compelling all over this list.

double camus

(9/10)

oh, snap, there are two of them! ... well, so there were in Genealogy of the Holy War, but these here bros aren’t to be analyzed in isolation.

the moral complexities that they play at together are interesting, but I think that the coolest aspect of their character, by far, is that they play at being direct counterparts to Eliwood and Hector. the charming, reasonable one and the brutish, straightforward one who strengthen each other through their balance -- they’re shining mirrors of what could have been, or what comes to be when you take the same strengths as those of the heroes but place them irrevocably in the path of the villains. ... hmmm, I wonder if they’d have a non-adoptive sister if Lyn were, like, relevant at that point of the story.

their screentime is surprisingly short, but all indicates that they make tidal waves on the little time they have. I’m certain they’d have benefitted from more, but they’re still amongst the best of the Camus characters (I did it again!! I did it again!!).

not severa camus

(8/10)

although her tale is not as gut-wrenching as Eldigan’s or the Reed bros’, she’s one perfectly adequate Camus. virtuous, and impactfully so, but loyal to the end, and justifiedly so -- both in a relevant backstory and in a string of deceptions and misfortunes that play her stronger qualities against her.

I don’t find her to be a standout, but she’s a perfect execution of her own concept -- and considering the staggering amount of unfulfilled potential we’ve seen up to here, that deserves its due praise.

tincan camus

(4/10)

although he’s fairly interesting, the sins of his master befall him -- the reveal of his identity is severly dragged-out for also meaning very little until the additional reveal of his brand. and by then, it’s doomed to be only a blur out of the many unfulfilled twists in the Tower of Guidance.

even beneath the mask, he’s had a lot of chances for player punches that he missed out on. his confrontation with Greil emphatizes his role as Ashnard’s underling, instead of his role as Greil’s former student and Ike’s newly-made archrival, and I feel like that’s a severe mistake -- for one thing, it forces the cutscene to end with a lame halfway intervention from Caineghis, where it would’ve been perfectly viable for Ike to walk out of that one alive exclusively due to Zelgius’s own motivations.

even beyond that, his appearances in both Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn often play him as a plot device instead of a character; as a matter of fact, that ridiculous magic warp powder of his accomplishes no purpose other than enabling him to be a plot device wherever plot needs him (aside from how it silently explains how he lives a double life in two different countries, but that’s kind of a pointless detail).

and lastly, just how impossibly lame is it that he’s given a deadly final confrontation with Ike, that he’s just going to walk off of by the sequel anyway? it’s easy to see why it’s necessary for the plots of the two games it affects, but it’s laaaaaaaaame.

samurai camus

(1/10)

easily the least compelling of the list. he comes in to carry the half of a nonsense arc that doesn’t have enough room to fully build him, and it shows. and to make things worse, he’s one of the most notable sufferers of a syndrome that thorougly afflicts antagonists in Awakening and, to a lesser extent, beyond: a tendency to try to paint them as unambiguously evil before you fight them, but tragic and redeemable right after you fight them. which ultimately completely fails as the player punch that the writers ostensibly intended and robs the confrontation itself of much-needed gravitas.

if-conditional camus characters

(??/10)

hahahahaha!!! hahahahahahaahhahahahaaaa!! sockeye!!! I did the thing again and right in the middle of a nickname too!!

but yeah, I haven’t played Fates any more now than at the time of the Gharnef post.

anyways, what do you all think? have I earned your undying loyalty, or does chivalry demand that you slaughter me for my vile takes? if the upcoming Three Houses is to have a Camus... oh, who are we kidding, of course there’s going to be a Camus. in another life, things have been different, but this fate is inescapable. the only mercy we can extend for it now is to wonder what it’ll be like. once again, I welcome your comments in the replies and reblogs -- would you wrong your country by keeping them to yourself anyway?

#airlock grades the villain archetypes #fire emblem is tagged in this post

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