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nothinggold13 · 10 months

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Dunno iffen you've commented on this yet but: what, if any, are your thoughts surrounding Netflix's Narnia?

I have dropped a few thoughts here and there since it was announced, but I'm not sure I ever gathered the entirety of my thoughts into one place.

The short of it is that I am both scared and hopeful.

I am extremely defensive of Narnia, and have been since the moment it caught hold of my heart; there are a million things that could go wrong, and I'm never unaware of them. The sanctity of Lewis' world and vision is extremely important to me, and I'd be both heartbroken and furious if Netflix produced the series in a way that directly dishonoured it. And, if that happens, I will be first in line to complain.

But I also hate how dismissive and unhopeful everyone is being at the mere concept. Since Greta Gerwig was officially announced as a writer/director, there's been even more complaints of "how about Netflix just keeps their hands off???" and I honestly find it exhausting to read that much negativity. Personally, I've never seen anything Greta's directed. I know some people love how she did Little Women, and other people hate it; I know that I'm feeling cautious about the new Barbie movie, but I also admire the care she put into making it real with practical effects rather than CGI everything. I think there's potential in that kind of vision, especially as long as Douglas Gresham retains an important role in production, and if there's other varied creative minds behind the project as well. Right now, there's still more we don't know than there are things we do. I think a lot of us could afford to take a step back and save complaining for when Netflix has actually done something inarguably wrong with the series, and instead spend our time trying to make sure Netflix hears what the books are valued FOR, so they know what we want.

It's easy to be scared. But you know what else? I LOVE visual media. As a Narnia editor, I love the idea of having canon images to use to edit books and characters we've never seen on screen before. I love the hope that maybe we could get a more accurate production timeline this time around. I love the mere thought that maybe this time they could give us a golden-haired Lucy. And I am OBSESSED with the idea that we might finally get ALL SEVEN BOOKS ADAPTED.

I have been dreaming about seeing The Last Battle on screen for years. I have been dreaming about the design, and the colours, and the music, and the moment that all the faces we have known and loved since the series began appear before us again, all sparkling with joy and eternity, because we have reached chapter one, and for us its the end, but for them it's the beginning. I love reading those final chapters. But I am aching to see them brought to life. Can't you just IMAGINE IT? Dreaming of the soundtrack alone gives me butterflies. It could be. so. good.

And if Netflix fails to deliver, I still won't be giving up on that hope. I'll just be crossing my fingers and praying that the next company that purchases the rights to adapt the series finally sees it through. (Or that, by some bizarre opportunity, I will be able to adapt it myself. Honestly, Netflix, just hire me already.)

Again: I am scared. There is so much they could do wrong, and if they do anything directly disrespectful to the books and their role in Lewis' legacy, I will be picking up my torches and pitchforks with everybody else. I've got plenty of anger. I will direct it that way if they deserve it.

But right now, we can still have hope. And I am clinging to it until it is no longer deserved.

#narflix #netflix narnia #netflix #narnia

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bloodpen-to-paper · 9 months

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Review Blurbs: Barbie (2023)

~General Thoughts~

-I thought this movie would be like... PG. And then it got really emotional when Barbie was looking through Gloria's memories of the days when her and her daughter were at their happiest before Sasha grew up. And then Barbie got called a fascist. So

-Margot Robbie is an insanely talented actor. I'm gonna be honest, I'm not sure how well the movie would've done for me if I wasn't invested in the main character but Margot completely ate the role and made the story of Stereotypical Barbie very endearing to watch

-The pacing was surprisingly good for me, I'm usually really picky about pacing but they were able to balance out transitioning from the silly stuff to serious and back again pretty well, Greta Gerwig you have my applause

-Its an interesting detail that the Real World is still intentionally somewhat unrealistic and caricature-ish similar to the Barbie world is; not sure if that's just Greta's style or if there was a reason for it, made the movie a little jarring imo but I'd love to know why she did it and what effect she was going for

-The fact that Barbie wasn't interested in Ken and rejected him and it was treated as a good thing is just *chef's kiss*

-The Kens fight scene being a colorful musical number with eccentric choreography was so fun to watch I want more

-I don't care what you've been through, nothing could've prepared anyone for that gynecology line. Its such a genius way to remind you that Barbie now has to deal with the biological changes of becoming human. 10/10

-Allan beating up the construction worker Kens was the best moment 10/10

-Speaking of Allan, I loved how Allan was a metaphor for someone who doesn't fit into the gender binary. He was the only non Barbie/Ken, had his own unique name and was always uncomfortable/disappointed with the world around him no matter who was in charge, which was a great way to subtly insert this kind of character. He happily sided with the Barbies to help take down the Kens, embracing all the pink and cheering alongside them when they won, while also looking very sad during the part where the Kens were realizing they failed. Just all of it screamed gender-non conforming to me. I've seen some interpretations saying Allan is a representation of a gay man (being more of a "Ken" presentation wise but finding more of a space among women and being deeply uncomfortable with patriarchy perpetuated by straight men) and some saying he's nonbinary (wanting to leave Barbieland behind and never being satisfied no matter who was in charge); either way, what they did with Allan was very cool and I'm glad some queerness, even if subtle and less prominent, was included in the movie)

-Similarly, Weird Barbie isn't getting nearly enough love. She was one of the most fun characters for me (Kate McKinnon magic, duh) and she like Allan could definitely represent someone out of the cishetero-normative/gender binary (I've seen people saying she's very queer-coded and it honestly makes sense, she tends to dress and act in more un-feminine ways which I think says butch lesbian but its up to interpretation) I am also very gay for her give her more attention cause she deserves it, seriously

-John Cena mermaid

-Simu Liu Ken constantly antagonizing Ryan Gosling Ken over Barbie's attention and being the better Ken within Barbieland is a metaphor for how patriarchy will put women against each other for the attention of men and make women fight each other too much to realize who the real enemy is

-Margot Robbie being acknowledged as "not the best to make this point about ugliness" was fantastic lmao, love the meta-narration

-The way Ken's story arc and the commentary around patriarchy with the incel-pipeline was very strong, and I respect Greta for critiquing it the way she did (I made a full post here )

-Ken and Ken should've kissed. Any of them. All of them.

-Barbie deciding to be human in the end despite her whole journey being about wanting to be a perfect Barbie doll again and her being terrified of flat feet and cellulite but then telling that old woman how beautiful she was and watching humans be normal and mimicking their expressions because even though its scary she wants to feel the way humans do because she sees the beauty in it and its a love letter to women and to people and the complexity of our messy species omfg I'm gonna cry other people said it better than me so go look at their stuff

-Barbie helping out Ken despite everything he'd done because she didn't want things to go back to how they were when Barbies ruled the world, she wanted something different, better, and she helped the person she had every right to want to hurt because we're supposed to be better than those who hurt us

~Criticisms~

-As an add-on to the caricature blurb, I felt a bit weird watching cause Greta's style recreated facets of misogyny as a caricature, so things like patriarchal brainwashing, sexual assault and other very harmful misogynist rhetoric were told in a slapstick way. I was uncomfortable throughout a lot of it, and I'm still deciding if I consider it a genuine criticism to have such matters told in this way or if its just personal preference; would like to know other thoughts if you're willing to share. Regardless, just be aware of it if that stuff's triggering to you so you're prepared for it

-Loved the emphasis on uplifting femininity in Barbie, and I understand the metaphor behind the change, but I can't help feel they pulled a Breakfast Club with Sasha going from her all black attire to suddenly very feminine and with makeup. Being gender non-conforming isn't just for queer people, lots of women are like this and it feels like media makes it seem like this kind of woman is impossible. Not all women wear makeup, not all women are feminine, and I would love for a more masculine/GNC woman character to be able to actually be that. I'll forgive it a bit since Barbies' styles kinda revolve around makeup, and Weird Barbie was consistently butch, just wish characters that are brought up with the prospect of gender-nonconformity could actually stay that way

~Final Thoughts~

Surprisingly good! Don't get me wrong, movies with this style can be good for sure but with the recent surge of mediocre movies I didn't have too much faith. However, I was very happy with how enjoyable and passionate it was. Highly recommend if you like caricature-type works, and/or want to get into some basic feminist ideology in a more fun way that's still very meaningful and heartfelt. Barbie is not just a feminist critique, but a love letter to women, girl hood, and the complexities of humans and how beautiful that can be <3

#phew this one took a while #kept deciding if I wanted to include big blurbs in this post or make them their own post #anyway go watch Barbie its fun #review blurbs #barbie #barbie movie #barbie 2023 #greta gerwig

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queenmercurys · 4 years

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I think you've said before that you enjoy receiving Jo/Laurie asks, so out of curiosity, do you have any ship headcanons for them?

Yes, I love getting Jo and Laurie asks, thank you! <3

I’m not one to really think about headcanons in particular, because a lot of my thoughts and perceptions vary based on different stories/scenarios I imagine. But here’s some that I have thought about over the months:

*all of these are for Greta Gerwig’s version of Jo and Laurie*

So, I love the fact that Jo and Laurie share clothes in the film, and I just like to think about the first time they did that. I see it as Jo casually stealing/borrowing Laurie’s waistcoat and him taking it in stride and returning the favor. By the way, I think that the yellow waistcoat is Laurie’s, and that the darker one is Jo’s, originally.

For some reason I could really see a scene where Jo and Laurie go to like a swimming hole of some kind, or just swim in the lake near their homes.

I definitely think Laurie’s opened up to Jo about his parents and the loneliness he’s felt in his life, and it’s part of what made Jo be so insistent on including Laurie in everything they did, including their little theatre club.

Despite what Laurie said about making Jo invite him to the club, I think it was originally Jo’s idea, and she had to make sure Laurie believed that he would not be a burden on the other girls.

When Laurie sneaks the alcohol to Jo at Meg and John’s wedding, it’s definitely not the first time he’s done such a thing. It’s a thing they do at basically every relatively fancy event they attend.

(I got this idea from a post/comment I saw somewhere, if you locate it, let me know) When Jo went to get her hair cut, she instinctively/deliberately asked for a haircut that resembled Laurie’s. In the scene where she reveals her cut hair, the camera pans to Laurie, whose hair looks basically identical to hers, more in that scene than in any other.

Jo’s favorite, black hat was given to her by Laurie.

Even though the post box in the forest was consistently used by everyone in the group, Jo and Laurie often used it to pass notes between one another.

Jo and Laurie deliberately wore matching outfits to John and Meg’s wedding. The fact that they’re practically holding hands in the scene kind of proves this for me.

Jo often shows her writing to Laurie, and even though he doesn’t consider himself a writer by any means, he gives her notes on his favorite things, and always points it out when a character reminds him of himself - or of Jo.

The two like to spend alone time together reading in the attic, or Laurie reads or perhaps writes his music while Jo works on her writing.

Laurie hates his full name (Theodore), but has grown more fond of it ever since Jo’s started calling him Teddy.

The hill on which Laurie’s failed proposal occurs is the one the two often used as a starting point during their races to see which would be able to run to the bottom fastest.

Laurie started stacking up the Laurence family library more once Jo took a liking to it.

These are just some of the thoughts I’ve had about the two recently. I didn’t go into anything angsty, or anything AU-ish, partly because I think that would make me sad. Also because I really don’t consider tumblr a comfortable enough platform for me to talk about what kind of endgame I actually wanted for Jo and Laurie, since I’ve gotten a lot of hate for shipping them in the first place. You’d think that in the year of our lord 2020 that would not be a problem, but alas.

Anyway, I hope these were what you were hoping for, and I’d be happy to write up more if you want :) thank you so much for the ask again, these two make me so happy!

#ask #anonymous #jo x laurie #thank you!!#Anonymous

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mermaeids · 4 years

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i'm back at it with another question! so at long last i've finally managed to watch little women and i'm kind of confused by the jo/laurie/amy triangle, so i was wondering what your feelings on that were? (if you've already answered this somewhere i apologize) xx

hello!!! YAY i’m so glad you watched it!! and confused how? i don’t know if you’ve read the book but my thoughts are: greta gerwig improved the whole jo/friedrich amy/laurie problem TENFOLD. while writing volume two louisa may alcott didn’t want jo to end up with anyone but then fans and potentially her publisher too said that they wanted her to at least get married and so she put jo with friedrich to spite jo/laurie fans and it was very weird and everyone has hated it for centuries. i’m personally fond of laurie/amy even in the book but greta improved everything by 150%!! this movie is more than a perfect adaptation, it IS canon (at least for volume 2) in my head at this point!

i was listening to a podcast with greta on it recently and she said that she wanted the film to be more of a reflection of the collective memory of little women rather than a literal book to film adaptation (even though every line either comes directly from the book or from her research on it). she also makes jo more obviously a version of louisa may alcott herself (because she is; this is louisa’s life story with a few changes). also friedrich is much better in the movie because greta made him young and hot. in the book he’s an ugly old man who is overall worse personality wise and none of it makes any sense.

don’t get me wrong i love little women and have re-read it countless times throughout my life but greta’s version just hits different and she made it everything i would ever want it to be without changing it beyond recognition. also in the podcast she said that one of the benefits to the two timelines in the film is that we see laurie and amy together first, and jo and friedrich together first, so it makes more sense when they end up like with those people in the end. in the book, it mostly comes out of nowhere. still, i never have thought of it as a love triangle (jo/laurie/amy) because jo has rejected laurie by the time amy and him are a thing, and even though jo regrets it it’s not a true love triangle in my mind because jo is never in love with him.

the older i get the more at peace i am that jo and laurie aren’t endgame -- when i was younger it made me SO UPSET. i swear my dream life as a kid was to have a boy next door who would play with my sisters and me and slowly fall in love with me so jo not loving him back just didn’t make any sense to me. but the older i get the more i understand it and the more i realize that book!jo is so obviously not interested in men and it’s dumb that louisa may alcott, who never married herself, felt the need to marry her off.

also fun fact, for a project in sixth grade we had to dress up as a writer/historical figure and answer questions as them in front of the class and i did louisa may alcott. i read both little women again and a biography of louisa’s life and it was kind of the first time as a child that i realized that little women is not just some story that i grew up reading; it’s revolutionary because it’s written by a woman and tells the beautiful stories of women in a way that was rarely done then and honestly is rarely done well now.

this turned into an essay i apologize. thanks for asking and i hope this gave you some interesting information?

#ask #drakahrys #jules.txt #little women

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