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spellsword177 · 7 months

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Scream Series: A 2023 Ranking

The Halloween season is again upon us, it seemed like as good a time as any to revisit and update a post of mine from nearly two years ago about my favorite horror film series now six films in. What has always appealed to me is the underlying mystery in each film. Who will don the Ghostface persona this time? Who will live to see another sunrise? Who will die at the killer’s hand? Add to this the fact the murderer is always human, never supernatural, and you have the ingredients for an intriguing story. It could happen to you.

6. Scream 4 (2011)

Woodsboro, California is once again haunted by a killer donning the Ghostface costume fifteen years after the original massacre. Can the Woodsboro survivors stop the killings in time, or will the culprit be successful in completing his or her morbid plan? I loved the commentary on celebrity and social media. The kills were also among the most gruesome in the entire series and very creative. That said, the so-called rules presented by wannabe Randys were the least believable, and (I’m not sure if this age catching up with me) the teenagers were very self-absorbed, and hard to like. Only Kirby and maybe Trevor and Robbie were in anyway likable. The motivation was horribly shallow and a pale imitation of the original. I loved the ending death an ironic nature of the news broadcasts. Ultimately, I do not hate this film. I like all of them in series, but this appeals to me the least and one film had to come in last.

5. Scream 5 aka Scream (2022)

Twenty-six years have passed from the first attacks in Woodsboro, and someone is attacking relatives of the original group. What sort of game does the Ghostface killer have in mind this time? What secret could have could have caused Sam Carpenter to leave Woodsboro all those years ago? Will the survivors of the previous attacks escape again? It can be fun to revisit the origins of franchise and this one does not disappoint. The rules are fit the Scream universe in general, and the new characters are all great. The motivation is an excellent commentary on toxic fandoms. I adore the return of “Red Right Hand” by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and the clever tribute to the late Wes Craven. Overall, this film is at a solid fifth place.

4. Scream 2 (1997)

Another string of murders involving Ghostface occur in and around Windsor College in Ohio one year after Woodsboro. A copycat killer is on the loose who will not rest until the survivors of the Woodsboro Massacre are dead and plans on taking out others along the way starting with a young couple at an early screening of Stab. The deaths were more gruesome, and, like many fans, I was upset by one that I will not mention so as not to spoil it for those who haven’t seen it. This film is a solid sequel, the rules masterful, and the mastermind behind it all one of the best in the series. I rank this fourth in my favorites not because of its quality, but due to my other preferences.

3. Scream 3 (2000)

Three years after the events at Windsor, someone is killing the cast of Stab 3 in and around Hollywood, California dressed as Ghostface and leaving pictures of Maureen Prescott with handwritten notes on the back. Someone doesn’t want secrets of the past to remain buried and is willing to kill in order to draw out the Woodsboro survivors. Many have considered this the worst in the series, and I can understand why. The characters don’t have as much depth (with the exception of Jennifer), the story less plausible, and the kills the least gruesome (partially from the aftermath of the Columbine Massacre). That said, I usually consider this now my third favorite in the series. The rules are solid, I love the callbacks to the first film, and the culprit is my favorite out of the lineup (though the execution could have been better). It feels like the concluding chapter of a trilogy, and I have more fun watching it than most of the others.

2. Scream VI (2023)

It’s lead up to Halloween, one year later, in New York City; what better way to stalk your victims than to hide in plane sight among the revelers? Only this time, some seems to be counting down leaving behind masks from the previous attacks. What will happen when once the clock strikes one? Why are the past attacks so significant? Can the survivors safely navigate The City That Never Sleeps without also being cut down themselves? While I understand the frustration many had with the absence of an important member of the cast, I can say the absence of that person did not pull the film down. The cast is excellent, the Rules of a Franchise amusing, and the various twists shocking. This one had all the fun nostalgia of the third film with none of its drawbacks and mixes it with the most appropriate of holidays. All of it was enough to land a second-place finish.

1. Scream (1996)

A year after the rape and murder of Maureen Prescott, the town of Woodsboro, California is plagued by a string of murders committed by a villain wearing a Halloween costume, wielding a knife, and taunting victims through various phone calls. Someone has watched too many horror films and is taking things way too seriously. Can Sidney Prescott and her friends survive? As with any horror franchise, it is always difficult to outdo the original. I adore this cast of characters, the Rules of Surviving a Horror Movies, and the shocking ending with believable motives. It has yet to be supplanted as my favorite in the series.

#Scream Francise #Scream Series #Scream #Scream 2 #Scream 3 #Scream 4 #Scream (2022)#Scream VI #Sidney Prescott #Sam Carpenter #Ghostface #Film Ranking #Film Review #Horror #Mystery

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tanglednlove · 3 years

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Rapunzel's Pink Dress

I want to ramble about Rapunzel's dresses and why I love her final dress so much.

Rapunzel's pink dress was based off her wedding dress. Practically the exact same except for the color changes and different design on the bodice. At one point, Tangled was to end with the wedding of Rapunzel and Eugene. Luckily, the ending was changed, Rapunzel got this beautiful dress and the cute Tangled Ever After short was made.

Now to compare to her regular dress or tower dress.

The fitting of this dress seems a bit incommodious. The top and sleeves appear a bit tight and the overall length short. Rapunzel definitely has no trouble stretching, running, racing, dancing or chasing in it so my observation seems wrong. But, there are little hints that still make it plausible.

During Mother Knows Best, Mother Gothel maliciously sings 'sloppy, underdressed'....gettin' kinda chubby'. Gothel's way of keeping her 'precious flower' safe and sound while endlessly gaslighting poor Rapunzel.

When Gothel sings 'sloppy' the mirror reflects a full length view of Rapunzel. Then she pushes it down towards Rapunzel's exposed feet for the word 'underdressed.' Rapunzel reacts by bending down to cover her feet. Bare feet are definitely not appropriate for the outside world, according to Gothel.

Gothel's choice of words and mirror positioning, seem to indicate that Rapunzel is only allowed one dress until she completely outgrows it.

Honestly, it would not surprise me if Gothel had a one dress per next major growth spurt rule. Especially since she has never even changed her own dress. And, the dress Rapunzel makes for Pascal appears to be from the scraps leftover from making her current dress.

Gothel then goes on to insult Rapunzel's weight by singing 'getin' kinda chubby'. Rapunzel appears healthy with an appropriate weight. What actually seems to be happening is the dress is gettin' kinda too tight. Girls can stop growing in height around age 14. I do not think she has had it since age 14 but age 16 may be more likely. Also, breast development can end by age 18 but could continue until the early twenties. This dress appears a bit tight in that area. (Most likely not intended, but this is like a callback to Grimms' Rapunzel. In one version Rapunzel mentions her dress is tighter, but that was due to being pregnant.)

There are no patches on Rapunzel's dress. Which a few rips or tears may be expected if she has worn it for a while. In Mother Knows Best, Gothel sings Rapunzel is 'clumsy'. But, this is after she pulls the rug out from under her and makes her trip and fall down. I do not think Rapunzel is clumsy at all, hence no rips. Also, she can paint a lot without ever getting a speck of paint on her. In fact, to 'pull the rug out from under someone' means to abruptly withdraw support. There was never any support from Gothel to withdrawal but the saying still fits. Gothel would definitely take everything away from Rapuuzel for disobeying and she does just that in the end when she chains and gags her.

The whole point of Mother Knows Best was to destroy the slightest ray of sunshine in Rapunzel's confidence toward leaving the tower. A cruel yet effective way to do this is to pick out insecurities. Being sloppy, underdressed and kinda chubby would give Gothel great anxiety. Rapunzel is not shown to be vain at all. But, Gothel is trying desperately to keep Rapunzel in the tower and using any manipulating tactics necessary.

Gothel may have asked Rapunzel what colors and fabric she wanted to make this dress. And, Rapunzel most likely did all the sewing so I like to think it does represent some of her own preferences. Maybe the dress does not extend to the floor so she can easily perform her chores, hang from the ceiling, and see her feet so she does not trip on her hair. Maybe she wanted sleeves because the tower gets a little cool in the mornings. She definitely likes shades of purple, even her pink dress has lavender in the color scheme.

Quick side about the color of the tower dress. The dress and Rapunzel's golden hair represent the Corona flag- purple and yellow. But, the true color of the skirt is fandango which is a magenta-pink. Magenta falls in the purple shades as purplish-red. So, the overall color is in the purple category. While it does appear true plain purple in some light, it actually is the fandango color. The inner skirt part does appear to be true purple though.

Now I will gush about the pink dress! I do adore her tower dress, it is very beautiful. But, the pink dress completely wins me over. Best. Dress. Ever!

The one stark difference from the tower dress and her final pink dress is the corset placement. The bodice on her tower dress has the corset in the front. While the pink dress has the corset in the back. To me, this has always been an awesome metaphor. There are no sleeves on the pink dress either but the placement of the corset seems more meaningful.

As for the sleeves, I think it may just be a matter of aesthetic. Rapunzel's mother, the Queen, does wear sleeves. They look beautiful and seem to complete her look. Both of her beginning and ending dresses have sleeves. Her final dress also appears to be the same one in Tangled Ever After. Rapunzel is the princess and a sleeveless dress is a bit more youthful looking compared to her mother's. Also, the Queen has opaque sleeves while Rapunzel's were sheer. This could extend to the differences in their crowns. The Queen's crown is bigger and more grand. Rapunzel's crown has more jewels and is dainty. Although those three teardrop, or sundrop, diamonds are respectfully big and beautiful.

Back to corsets. Let me say, dresses with corsets are beautiful. They add a neat structure and design to a dress. Though Tangled is never given an exact time period, some of the concept art had 1800s written on them. So thereabouts, corset dresses were in vogue. And yes, the corset can be positioned front or back. Specifically for Rapunzel though, I find meaning on where it is placed.

Also, if she was only allowed one dress per major growth spurt, then a corset makes sense because of the adjustability.

When Rapunzel turns around at the end of Tangled and the audience can see the back of her dress, I had a moment. Rapunzel being 'tied up' and 'trapped' is now 'behind' her. She no longer has to live in fear and she can finally experience life outside the tower.

Just look at the wide and spaced ribbon on this corset. Looks comfortable and not pulled tight. In contrast, the strings on her tower dress were pulled tight to a bow at the top with big loops. Typically a tie with big loops means the strings were tied as comfortably tight as possible while there is extra string for some give. Which I still think is to accommodate her growing into a full adult body.

The back of her tower dress had a line of buttons. She was tied and buttoned into that dress. Just like the way Gothel had her locked and prisoned in the tower. No buttons on her pink dress. Just a comfortable corset and a beautiful pattern on the front. Also, appropriate structure all around.

That is it, that is why I love her pink dress so much! It represents her freedom💖 A full length shot of this dress is never shown in the movie. I like to think it either stopped at her ankles or just brushed the tops of her feet. Her wedding dress seemed to just barely brush the floor. Either way, she probably liked her feet showing or least nothing in their way.

End of rambling, yay...oh wait, then the Series happened.

When I first saw Rapunzel in her Series dress, I was disappointed. Being tied up is no longer 'in front' of her, she is free! Why put the bindings in the front again? Well, Tangled Before Ever After and the whole first season made it clear she still did not feel completely free. She was not ready to marry Eugene or become a full time princess. She needed adventure and she got it.

This dress also has sleeves which look like they were meant to be opaque. Several of the dresses she wears in the show have sleeves. I do think Rapunzel wearing sleeves as acting queen in the third season was appropriate. As mentioned, sleeves may be a queen aesthetic. Her coronation dress also had sleeves. I think her green island dress, with no sleeves and sitting just off shoulder was the best dress from the show. Especially since many concept art pieces for Tangled show her in a green dress.

Oh, the concept art of all the different green dresses. So beautiful yet neglected.

So, her standard Series dress gets a pass with one exception. In the very last scene of the entire show she still is wearing it! Maybe it was animation budget and they simply could not add in a new dress design but what a crime that was! She needed to be in her pink dress or either a similar design.

Anyway, I still love her pink dress the best because of what I think it represents. 💖💚

Bonus: This is her picture hanging in the Princess Fairytale Hall at Walt Disney World.

I would love to see her face character wearing this! It would even look lovely with the flower braid. This dress deserves so much more love, admiration and promotion. Honestly, her tower dress has been lumped in the princess rags or commoner look category before. So, why not put her in this beautiful, lovely pink princess dress? And look! She has her bare foot sticking out!💖

#rapunzel #disney tangled #tangled rapunzel #mother gothel #tangled ever after #princess rapunzel

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hawkinsschoolcounselor · 4 years

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Analysis of El if you'd like.

Always so humble with the requests. Of course I’d like, otherwise I wouldn’t ask. Ask away, people! Oh, and FYI to everyone, when I see a like less than a minute after I post one of these long posts, it makes me wonder if you people are really reading them. Don’t assume you’re going to like them. Read them, and then decide. El can be a touchy subject considering she has such a rabid fan base. She is an extremely complex character, and it is unlikely that the Duffers have a detailed understanding of child psychology. The character therefor likely wasn’t designed with such theories in mind, but in psychology there is decent amount of common sense that writers may have drawn on. In real life, El would be quite the interesting case study. She was born and raised in a controlled lab setting. Everything in her life was strictly controlled until she was 12/13 or so. For another year after that she was still very limited in her freedoms and opportunities as she was hidden away in Hopper’s cabin. For several months after that she was only allowed out to see her friends, but never in a public setting it would seem. All of this has strictly limited her socioemotional growth.

El’s cognitive development seems to be the least impacted, not accounting for physical development which I wouldn’t even attempt to determine. Her cultural knowledge is almost nonexistent when we first meet her, which is to be expected given her upbringing. Nevertheless, she possesses problem solving skills, has shown impressive concentration and information processing speed (staying focused on her tasks and reacting to new stimuli, such as an attack), an ability to form basic arguments (as shown in her fights with various characters), and receptive language skills. She does seem to have deficits in productive language, which is likely a result of her extremely limited social exposure. The traits she is shown to do well with are likely the result of careful conditioning by Dr. Brenner and his colleagues. She was designed as a weapon, and would therefor need to work quickly, efficiently, and decisively based on orders given. She also, somewhat surprisingly given her catchphrase, has shown the ability to lie (when she intentionally led Mike, Dustin, and Lucas on a wild goose chase). This shows her ability to use planning and judgement to decide and execute a course of action (whether that was a good or bad idea is up for debate).

Her emotional and social development are seriously stunted. When we meet El she possesses little affect (the verbal and non-verbal cues that convey feeling when communicating). She speaks in a flat voice, stares blankly, and has limited usage of body language. She does get an edge to her voice when angry, but her speaking volume rarely changes unless in a high-stress situation. This shows a delay in emotional development. Emotional development goes through a series of stages. To some extent, emotions are instinctual and necessary to survival, but the expression of said emotions is usually learned and conditioned. We don’t know much about El’s early childhood, but it is unlikely that emotional expression was encouraged. El does possess basic emotions like happiness, anger, sadness, and fear. Her limited ability to express emotions early in the show is likely a result of Dr. Brenner wanting to limit her emotional responses. He wouldn’t want a weapon that was afraid or remorseful. He did seem to value having a bond with her, as she seemed to desire his approval and called him “Papa.” He is shown treating her very poorly in general, and even worse when she was a disappointment to him. Her lack of affect could also be modeled on him, as he generally speaks very evenly regardless of his mood.

El’s emotional development does gain some traction in seasons 2 and 3 as she is exposed to others. This is a good segue to her social development. Before escaping the lab, she seems to have little to no social experience. She seems to have had some early socialization with Kali at the lab, but she had no memory of this. Her first real social experiences occurred when she met Benny (who treated her kindly) and then Mike, Lucas, and Dustin. This is when she starts to show her trademark character quirk of repeating others. This is also when she starts to really build conversational skills, as before she was mostly expected to take in language rather than express it.

Much of our social learning, especially early on, is a result of observation and imitation. We see something, whether in person or through fictional material, we imitate it, and then we are reinforced, ignored, or punished. From what we can observe from El, after she escapes the lab through to when she moves, her learning came from a combination of the week she spent with the Party (during Season 1), her time hiding with Hopper (end of Season 1 to midway through Season 2), her time with Kali, and then the events of Season 3. Now, we have to keep in mind that all of this learning occurs in the span of about two years. Of that time, over half of it is the result of watching TV and speaking to Hopper. She lacks a lot of the cultural context for a lot of the social and emotional information she takes in.

Her social relationships are difficult to examine, mostly because there is a lot we just don’t get to see. She bonded with Mike very quickly, as he was kind to her and tried to keep her safe from the “bad men.” In reality, he didn’t treat her terribly different from Dr. Brenner in the sense that he was still using her. Mike tried to explain relationships and social norms to her, but, given her lack of preexisting knowledge and his own limited understanding, she didn’t quite get it all. She doesn’t seem to know the difference between familial, platonic, and romantic love. Instead, she sort of imprints on him like a baby animal may to its carer. Dustin and Lucas are less eager to have her around, but they warm up to her when it’s clear that she does genuinely want to help.

Her time away from them, and her apparently great consumption of TV soap operas, has resulted in her sort of trying to live out a fantasy. She becomes obsessed with Mike, watching him and stalking him since she is disallowed from actually leaving the cabin. She becomes extremely possessive (like a soap opera character), developing a dislike of Max simply due to her trying to be Mike’s friend. This is quite unhealthy, and the hostility is again shown when Max attempts to befriend her. It is apparent that her time away resulted in a her creating an “ideal” version of her and Mike based on TV representations of relationships. She still is shown to have missed Dustin and Lucas, but none of the intensity is present in those relationships.

Her relationship with Mike is very superficial. As far as viewers can tell, they spend most of their time making out. El is still shown to have possessive qualities, as it is stated that she and Mike are often at Hopper’s cabin together. We see them bailing early after Dustin comes home from camp, despite them making the trip to the hill to construct Cerebro. El does not seem to appreciate any of Mike’s personal interests or personality traits. In a callback to season 1, where El had no interest as Mike showed off his toys, El tells Mike to stop singing and does not laugh at his attempts at a joke (granted, she was angry with him at the time). The implication is that the realities of her relationship with Mike did not meet her expectations. This is actually a fairly normal part of social development, and it leads her to another stage: exploration.

Up until this point, El had not attempted to explore the possibilities of who she was. She had merely taken on the identities that others had crafted for her, starting with Brenner, then Mike, then Hopper, then Max. Max is the first one to actually encourage her to explore and experiment. What Max doesn’t seem to realize, however, is that El is also now emulating her. She’s making some strides to be her own person, but she’s still heavily influenced by Max, included repeating what Max says. Nevertheless, she is genuinely confused by the entire concept of her liking something for herself, and has no idea even how to determine what she likes. This isn’t surprising, as Hopper is shown being in way over his head, and the Party are simply young teens who don’t know better.

Unfortunately for El, a traumatic loss has set her back by the end of Season 3. She lost her first real father figure, and we see her sort of revert back to dressing as she did before Max’s influence. She also falls back into her infatuation with Mike, despite seeming to have moved on. The confusion on Mike’s face suggests that this is a surprise to him, so there is a lot unknown as to how she arrived back at that decision. It is also unknown why she kept it to herself before she moved. It is plausible to hypothesize that she is going back to her first real secure base. She needs to feel safe and secure after so much traumatic change (losing Hopper, her powers vanishing, and having to move away). She could be clinging to Mike as a way to keep some semblance of control. At the very least, Mike doesn’t seem to reciprocate, which could lead to some problems for her down the road.

In the end, El is a complicated character. Millie Bobby Brown has done a commendable job portraying a traumatized character with a limited understanding of emotion and social norms. It is upsetting to see some fans acting as if her relationship with Mike is healthy for her, at least as it has so far been portrayed. There is some hope for El, developmentally speaking, as Joyce has been shown to be a very loving mother. Time away from Mike could be beneficial, but, as we saw early in Season 2, she reacts very possessively if anyone moves in on her “territory,” for lack of a better word. This relationship indeed seems very limiting for her. With any luck, she will be able to explore the world and herself to a greater extent in Season 4. It is my hope, as someone who works with children, that she is able to learn more about herself as more than just someone else’s friend, daughter, girlfriend, sister, or weapon.

#stranger things #eleven #jane hopper #el

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chiisana-sukima · 7 years

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Gendered Depictions of Post-Trauma Mental Illness in SPN (part 1)

@lunellumcas asked:

Hey so I was sneak-reading through your entire blog like the huge fan of you that I am and I saw you talking about how you see Dean as embodying traits/coping mechanisms etc. of a typical male with ptsd and Sam as embodying those of a typical female with ptsd and suddenly so much stuff clicked for me?! So thanks. And anyway, I'm still thinking about it like an hour later, so if you want to talk about that, and your thoughts, and how you see it, I would love to listen.

Awwww, thank you so much for the ask and for the incredibly sweet comment! (´∀｀)♡ [Not enough room in very long post for cuddly otters gif, but consider yourself hugged by a cuddly otter.] There’s actually so much material for this topic, I’ll have to do it in pieces, so I hope that’s okay.

Sam and Dean are both written, as early as S1, as having negative mental health outcomes from their difficult childhood. For the most part, their mental health issues get worse in realistic ways as the seasons progress and they accumulate trauma. For example, they both have severe problems with self-worth, their verbal conflict management skills are terrible, they’re occasionally physically violent with each other under stress, and they both have physiologic hyperarousal (too much sensitivity of the flight/fight response).

(Top left: 1x11 Sam and Dean asleep. Normal, baseline sleeping pattern- lying in bed, under the covers, Sam in a tee shirt, Dean bare-chested. Compare top right: 1x20 Sam and Dean asleep with their father in the room. Lying in bed, over the covers, fully dressed, including boots. And bottom left: 4x1 Dean asleep after returning from Hell. Sitting up on a pull-out sofa, surrounded by books and next to an empty glass, fully dressed, including boots, plus bottom right 12x02 Sam in bed after being tortured by the BMoL. Awake in bed, fully dressed, with a visual callback to his S4 imprisonment in the panic room)

In real life mental illness, like in other health problems, there is often a gendered component. Media depictions of mental illness also have a gendered component, which sometimes matches current scientific understanding of health, and sometimes doesn’t. In SPN, the gendered components of post-trauma mental illness are often, though not always, split between Sam and Dean, with Sam getting more of the female-typical parts, and Dean getting more of the male-typical.

PTEs: Combat vs Sexual Assault

Irl, the traumatic event (PTE- the P is for “potentially”) most commonly reported by men with PTSD is combat; the most commonly reported by women is rape/sexual assault. This is reflected in media- probably with an even stronger association than in rl- in which most men with PTSD in movies/TV/etc got it from some kind of soldier-like (police, FBI, actual soldier, etc) occupational hazard, and virtually all women with trauma-related mental illness got it from rape. You don’t see many heroes in media who have the Tragic Backstory that they were in a bus accident or had an emergency medical procedure without sedation.

In SPN, both Sam and Dean refer to their lives at times as essentially the lives of soldiers, and both have been sexually assaulted. But Dean is fairly consistently depicted with more combat-related tropes, and Sam gets the lion’s share of sexual assault.

Combat: Dean has the purgatory storyline which is pretty much Vietnam-style PTSD from combat tropes from start to finish. He’s the one who is Daddy’s Little Soldier. He’s the TFW designated go-to torturer, which is only even marginally an acceptable job role if it’s in a quasi-military situation. He’s the leader of a resistance troop in the Endverse storyline (Edlund says the soundtrack during the opening shot in 2014, when the soldiers are shooting the Croats, is “a Vietnam convention”. Shooting your own men and drugged up, hippie Cas are both Vietnam tropes too). In the episode about War, Sam spends the bulk of the episode tied up, while Dean organizes a military-type assault.

There may be counterexamples that don’t come to my mind, because confirmation bias is a thing. But the one I can think of is 12x22, where it’s Sam who leads a military-style assault. And even that is about Dean finally, after “only” 12 years, being mentally healthy enough to pass on his job role as a soldier to be shared with Sam.

Rape/Sexual Assault: Dean has two significant relationships that involved/probably involved an element of sexual assault- Alastair and Amara. But the probable non-consensual sexual element of Alastair and Dean’s relationship is mentioned in subtext once, and Amara never goes beyond a kiss (not that that isn’t plenty bad, especially considering the emotional coercion, which is significant). Sam, by contrast, is non-consensually kissed on screen by Lucifer and had a non-consensual sexual relationship with Lucifer which is referenced many times. He was raped onscreen by Toni, and his sexual relationship with Ruby starts with an onscreen sexual assault. Arguably Sam’s most central storyline is one in which he saves the world precisely through abrogation of his consent, including his sexual consent (there are multiple allusions to rape as part of the expected deal, prior to Swan Song).

In one of the top complaints of bitter!sam girls everywhere, Sam also ends up working with all three of his rapists. (Ruby is arguably not quite technically a rapist, as Sam appeared to reevaluate and be on board with the proceedings before they got to the presumed penetration, making for a sticky legal situation as to the latter part of the interaction, but “sexual assault perpetrator” is such an awkwardly long phrase and this isn’t a court of law). The reasons SPN has done a Sam-forced-by-circumstance-to-work-with-his-rapist storyline THREE TIMES, I can’t quite fathom, but the most plausible reason imo is some kind of, I assume subconscious, “once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is the authors’ kink“ situation. Theories (or other commentary on any of the above, although I’ll possibly live to regret it) are welcome in reblog.

Ugh, edited to add: I forgot Becky. Sigh. On-screen sexually motivated kidnapping by Becky too.

(Up next: Gender and Externalizing vs Internalizing Symptom Patterns)

#my meta #i swear i didnt start with rape because im the rape queen #i did it because causation logically comes before effect #gender in spn #cw rape #cw ptsd #brief allusions to child abuse #domestic violence #and torture #long post for ts

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jtam · 7 years

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Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

Finally got around to seeing this one. Three movies in a week? What's the world coming to?

I gotta say, the longer these movies go on, the further and further removed from reality they get. Yeah, granted, they're fantasy movies, but they still pretend to be taking place on Earth, right? Our Earth? Ish? I mean, the first three movies featured ships that were either real, actual tall ships, or CG ships that were at least plausible. The Queen Anne's Revenge in Stranger Ties departed from this, but this movie? Every ship a castle at sea, fanciful, grandiose, and profoundly impractical.

Ugh, I don't want to give the wrong impression here. I did kinda like this movie, it's one I would probably watch again (though I wouldn't pay ten bucks per ticket for the privilege), and it's at least better-written than the last one. However, it decidedly does not hold up to the original trilogy, so mostly I'm going to complain about that.

First? Nobody cares anymore about character integrity and it's obvious. Barbossa, Gibbs, and the undead villain du jour spend the movie competing to see who can eat the most scenery. There's no craft on display, everyone's just being as LARGE A HAM as possible. And Johnny Depp ... I don't know how you phone in a character like Jack Sparrow but somehow he managed it. As for the newcomers -- the no-names they got to play Third Turner and Hot "Scientist" did pretty good, but Tom Hardy was wasted in his role as Generic British Bad Guy #794.

It was nice to see Monty, Scrum, and Abbott and Costello again. I don't actually care about any of those characters but I like the callbacks. Pity Cotton's Parrot couldn't make it -- and where were Pintel and Ragetti?

Anyway, the point is, maybe it's the director's fault, but none of the people the audience is there to see were actually there.

So let's talk about plot, which revolves around the Trident of ... I don't remember if it was Poseidon or Neptune, so we'll call it the Trident of Nepseidon. Third Turner wants to find it to free Will from the Flying Dutchman. I have a problem with this but I'll get to that later. Hot Scientist wants to find it because "her father believed in her" or something. Daddy issues. Ok sure. Barbossa and Lieutenant Bad Guy both want to find it so they can "control the sea" or whatever -- though in Barbossa's case, he's doing just fine until undead villain du jour shows up, so I guess mostly he wants it to ... whatever. He's there because Geoffrey Rush needed a paycheck I guess.

The plot isn't stellar, is what I'm saying.

Another thing that annoys me is the movie's lack of respect for its own continuity. Okay. We find out that Jack Sparrow is called Jack Sparrow because he reminded undead villian du jour of a "bird" in the crow's nest, and so Jack took that as his name. How Jack learned about this when the villain and he never interacted is left unanswered. We see also that Jack gets the compass, his hat, his beads, his bandanna, and his other "effects" as "tribute" from his pirate crew. But wait! Didn't he get the compass from Tia Dalma? And all of this was when Jack became a pirate -- but At World's End establishes that Jack became a pirate when he refused a cargo of slaves (or something).

And how bout the Flying Dutchman? "The Dutchman must have a captain." The early movie shows Will Turner slowly becoming barnacle-encrusted -- but didn't that happen to Davy Jones because he "didn't do the job?" Why is Will "cursed," if he's been faithfully discharging the Dutchman's duty these past years?

(And what was up wit that necklace? Seems to have been invented for this movie so that Will would have something to give his kid. Couldn't give him the key? Or ... I dunno, maybe the dagger his father gave him?)

The "hang the witch" plot line involving Hot Scientist feels a bit stretched. Like, cliche Middle Ages nonsense. I mean. First of all, the accusations of "witchcraft" in Enlightenment-era England? Seems ... implausible, especially since there's another astronomer in town meaning people aren't going to be totally and completely ignorant of scholarly types who look at the stars. I don't know, I shouldn't speak too much about this because I don't know precisely how bad things were for women during that time period, but it felt like a bit much. Certainly the pirate crew, all of whom have sailed with not only women but an actual, literal witch before, shouldn't have been treating her the way they did.

In particular, the bit where she's teaching them about navigation. This isn't fucking sorcery to these guys -- yes, chronometers were new in the mid-18th century, but having seasoned sailors treating basic navigation like it's some kind of magic? Bullshit. Sailors have been reckoning by the stars for centuries. (Also? Marine chronometers in the 18th century were significantly larger than pocket watches.)

The entire "witch" arc was forced, is what I'm saying, and it wasn't even forced for a good reason! There was no payoff! She finds the island and all is forgotten!

Now let's talk about the segue in the middle of the movie, where Jack manages to make it to dry land and escape Salazar and his crew. This island features characters we've never met before, have never even heard of, forcing Jack to get married to a conventionally-unattractive and unhealthy woman for ... why, exactly? Because he owed the guy something? And then Barbossa shows up and saves them and releases the Black Pearl and they escape. Point. Less.

Oh, and the Black Pearl being the "fastest ship on the seas." Okay, sure -- except this enormous British man-o-war managed to catch up to her, and Salazar's ship managed to catch up to it, so now the Pearl is only the third-fastest ship apparently. (And if Barbossa had Blackbeard's sword the entire time, why did he never once use the rope trick to defend his ship or his men?)

How did Hot Scientist know that the "map" could only be read during a blood moon? Not really a plot hole, I guess, maybe it was in Galileo's book, or a deleted scene. Just an unanswered question. Sure is lucky that everything in the Caribbean is less than a day's sail from everything else, though.

Anyway. It was nice to see Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley again, even if it's a bit hard to match up the timeline correctly (again, this movie doesn't care even a bit about continuity). And yay, setting up Davy Jones to be the villain at some point in a future Pirates film, because God knows Johnny Depp doesn't care what's going on as long as he gets paid. Never mind that Davy Jones is fucking dead and his curse should have been broken as well ...

"Didn't we know someone named Smith?" Yes, you fucking sausage, you probably knew a million women named Smith, it's the most common surname in the fucking English language. And ... Barbossa has had a weird arc, from total and complete villain in the first film to slightly-more-palatable villain in the next ones to ineffectual-villain-turned-doting-father here? Storytelling, motherfucker, do you speak it?

I dunno. I guess we aren't supposed to think too hard about these popcorn thrillers. It's just frustrating how lazy and inconsistent they are. But they keep making money so what are you gonna do?

Maybe they'll spring for Gore Verbinski for the next one.

#pirates #pirates of the caribbean #dead men tell no tales #johnny depp #geoffrey rush #orlando bloom #keira knightley #critique #review

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