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#this scene in general is so intense is such a beautifully tragic way
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“I can take care of him. Okay, let me take are of him until he’s better.”
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canary3d-obsessed · 2 years
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Lost Tomb Reboot Lewks: Part 14
(Masterpost) (Other Canary Stuff)
Warning: Spoilers for both seasons of The Lost Tomb Reboot and also vaguely for Daomu Biji in general
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For Look 72, Wu Xie strips out of his jacket and shirt so he can use the shirt as a makeshift air filter. Underneath he’s wearing a tight black a-line undershirt and a black bulletproof vest. 
Welcome back, Wu Xie’s bare arms. We’ve missed you.
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So have Huo Daofu and Xiao Bai.
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Look 73 is a spare, unpretentious tee shirt and jeans combination that Wu Xie accessorizes with the looming spectre of death, the amorphous fog of the afterlife, and the shades of his departed loved ones. 
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He looks chilly in this outfit; he needs a hoodie. Preferably a hoodie with Xiao Ge in it. 
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(more after the cut!)
When he comes out of this interstitial space he’s added the lifesaving accessory of a nebulizer mask. My son had one of these as a baby, that had a duck face on it.  Wu Xie’s mask is a sensible orange color. I am sensing a missed opportunity here. 
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Look 74: When he feels a little better, Wu Xie switches into this absolute crusher of a look. 
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Featuring a beautifully fitted, butter-smooth brown leather jacket, and his trademark chaps trousers, he is ready to get back on the adventure trail in a big way, impending death be damned. 
This is a good outfit for having a tragic conversation with your beloved real uncle while your shady not-really-uncle won’t give you guys one fucking minute of privacy to say your goodbyes. 
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He accessorizes this outfit with the blatant theft of a motorbike with a sidecar, which he uses to hold his backpack, and of a cool motorcycle helmet. 
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He looks a bit like Qin Hao (Sha Hai’s Wu Xie) here, doesn’t he? He’s got that harder look in his eye, reminding us that he is still a relentless motherfucker when he needs to be.
If you’re hoping for any scenes in which Zhu Yilong is clearly actually riding this motorcycle, incidentally, don’t hold your breath. 
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I have seen Zhu Yilong on a moving motorbike in Granting You A Dreamlike Life, so I believe he could be filmed on a motorcycle where his face and the motorbike’s moving wheels are visible in the same shot, but TLTR does not give us this level of motorcycle fanservice, alas. 
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Anyway, Wu Xie completes this outfit with a greyish, brownish button-up shirt with a tabbed buttonhole detail at the collar, and a belt with an intriguing quick-release buckle.
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And backpacks; lots of backpacks. 
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Much later, we will see that this is a great a good look for bonding with fellow members of The Unnecessary Thigh-Strap Club. 
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Look 75  is everybody’s orange jumpsuit.  It is the same jumpsuit on everybody, but each person wears it a little differently.
The collar has three stripes below the closure, which creates some visual interest and plays up the different ways the characters wear it. 
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Liu Sang and Xiao Bai both wear it with the collar zipped up. Later, Liu Sang can use this structured collar to accentuate all the blood that’s going to be on his face. 
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Wu Xie wears the color open and popped, perfect to set off some intense gazing
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And Pangzi wears it to get comfy with his favorite cuddle buddy. 
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Look 76 is Xiao Bai’s awesome pumpkin-and-green ensemble that she wears at the campsite in Thunderville. 
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It’s utilitarian enough to fit right in with the rest of the team, but bright enough to give it a feminine touch. The jacket has a deconstructed hem, giving it a casual vibe and showing off her ass.
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Xiao Bai’s clothes usually have some kind of interesting tailoring detail, while always being very practical. It’s a nice, consistent way of showing her personality. She enjoys being cute and fashion-forward, but she is a woman of action first. 
Bonus Look 1
This Look belongs to Liu Sang, the third member of the Unnecessary Thigh-Strap club. I am not complaining about any of the unnecessary thigh straps. 
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Bonus Look 2
This look is just Xiao Bai running in a wetsuit. I’m not made of stone. 
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5 Favorite First Viewings of July 2021
Quick note: Hi everyone, I'm back, things have honestly been getting better for me, and I'm glad to be on this site full of cinephiles, people that are too horny, and cinephiles that are too horny. I'll be more active on here. But anyway, let's talk about some movies.
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) (dir. Russ Meyer)
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CW: Abortion mention
What a picture. What a gorgeous, sexy, horrifying slice of what Hollywood and star life can do to a bunch of bright-eyed young people looking for success. Also is a critique of how macho nature can ruin friendships and romantic relationships with total ease. I was obsessed with the scene transitions, like Pet pouring pancake mix onto a plate after the abortion scene, or Kelly singing after someone screams before their murder in the opening scene.
Great, campy flick with exceptional music too.
Deep Cover (1992) (dir. Bill Duke)
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Laurence Fishburne plays Russell Stevens, a Cincinnati police officer who hopes to do well by the community, to make a difference. He’s traumatized by the death of his substance-abusing father, and wants to make sure that he can help the people of his own town. He goes undercover on assignment as a drug dealer, where his boss orders him to take down the kingpin. Stevens realizes the police’s own failings while on assignment. The racist abuse he takes from Agent Carver, and the realization that the police department is protecting drug kingpins like Gallegos and Barbossa. Giving drugs to Black kids and Latinx kids so there will be less of them. The cops are no different than the drug kingpins looking to make filthy amounts of money.
Fishburne’s performance is excellent, as Stevens feels he has to maintain a stone face so he doesn’t get caught by Jason or Barbossa or any of his cronies, but also he maintains a stone face to try and hide his emotion, his trauma. But when he gets pissed, Fishburne acts it beautifully, as is when he has to deliver a funny quip to counter Jason’s douchebaggery. And the production design, holy fuck, the sets and the lighting.
A perfect neo-noir for the HW Bush years, arguably one of the most timeless commentaries on the era, as well as the police as a whole.
Fast Five (2011) (dir. Justin Lin)
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I was torn between including this or Furious 7, but I ultimately went with Fast Five because it felt like an important turning point in the series, it's a great heist film, and it reached the same chaotic highs and genuinely excellent filmmaking that I had been waiting for since 2 Fast and Tokyo Drift.
Fast Five opens where Fast & 4ious left off. Dom is hauled away to prison on a bus. Mia and Brian drive in their high-tech cars and knock the bus over, helping Dom escape. The title drops. Fast Five. It’s such an intense yet short action scene, and dropping the title immediately after it lets the viewer know that this movie is not fucking around. It’s arguably gonna be more intense and insane than the previous one.
And it is. The filmmakers made the decision to use a lot more practical stunt work for the film, and as a result, it leads to, so far, the best action in the entire series, since 2 Fast and Tokyo Drift. It’s not just how it’s shot or edited, it’s the geography of the locations, the rooftop chase echoes the rooftop chase of Jackie Chan’s masterwork Police Story, particularly the way each character bounces from top to top.
And of course, there’s the silliest moment in the movie, the one that matches the intensity and kineticism of a film like 2 Fast, which is driving the Reyes’ bank vault throughout the street, getting chased by corrupt cops.
I know we make fun of Vin Diesel for saying “family” all the time in these films, but there’s a reason we remember him saying all of these impassioned monologues. Because he’s unbelievably sincere, and has so much love in his heart for every single person in the room. Anytime he delivers a speech to any of them, it’s genuinely heartwarming.
This is the film that finally shows La Familia in their best environment, which is working together, in a movie genre that allows them to work together, which is a heist film. And a great one at that.
Last Days (2005) (dir. Gus Van Sant)
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CW: Mention of suicide
Several films have been made about legendary rock artist Kurt Cobain, and for good reason. He is one of the most tragic figures in rock and roll. A tortured genius who has written and performed classic song after classic song with his band Nirvana. He was called the voice of a generation, and helped change the face of mainstream alternative rock music as we know it. But with that fame, and all of those expectations came a worsening depression and further drug abuse, and his eventual death. But most of the films about Kurt Cobain ask one question which gets under my skin way too much:
“Who REEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLY killed Kurt Cobain?”
It was him. He did. And it’s okay, I’m sad too. Thinking that Kurt Cobain was murdered is completely ignoring the depression that he faced. And despite Last Days being more inspired by the death of Cobain rather than actually about it, it feels much more honest than the conspiracy documentaries on his death, wanting to leech off of his dead body.
This is the last installment of Gus Van Sant’s “Death Trilogy”, the previous two installments being Gerry (2001), and Elephant (2003). While I have not seen Gerry, I have seen Elephant though, and love that film for its minimalist, raw nature, and its boldness for not romanticizing the school shooter or the lives they had taken. Last Days falls into that trap once, as I don’t agree with the shot of Blake’s soul climbing up a ladder, that always struck me as cheesy in a film that is anything but.
Last Days is similar to Elephant in terms of the way it is filmed. Its usage of long takes, and still shots of characters doing various things, such as Blake playing his guitar behind a drum set. The way these moments are shot is similar to a Chantal Akerman film, particularly Jeanne Dielman. Where the acts of the mundane are the stars of the film. Blake wanders around an empty house, and the viewer can feel the pain, not just through Michael Pitt’s acting, but from the house itself. Its decay, its paint peeling from the walls, from the soft glow of the lamp that lights his face.
I say this is the most honest film about Kurt Cobain, because, despite the characters technically being fictional (the main character who looks, walks, and acts like Cobain is named Blake), this film focuses on the mental state of a person before they eventually take their own life. They’re still working, still making music, still trying to talk to friends and bandmates, but the depression lingers on. Not once does this film try to make you believe that someone else killed him, because you can see the signs of his own suicide taking place just through the film’s excellent cinematography by Harris Savides, showing his mental state only growing worse through the production design.
And it’s empathetic with him. There’s no judgement for leaving rehab, there’s no finger-wagging at him or the people he was with, there’s just a silent prayer at the end of the film, hoping that he is in a better place than he was.
Sometimes you don’t need to show every event that led you to where you are, all you can show is the moment, which also makes this better than most biopics as well, as it never feels messy or muddled, just showing one moment of Blake/Kurt’s life.
I really loved this film, and I’ll be writing about it in full soon.
The Village (2004) (dir. M. Night Shyamalan)
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The Cracked.com/Channel Awesome audience stuck in 2012 will tell you that this was the beginning of the end for Shyamalan. That this was when people stopped taking him seriously, that this was when he became more of a punchline because of his twist endings.
But why?
The Village was released in 2004, deep in the Bush administration, during the early stages of the Iraq War. The leaders of the time were talking about imaginary boogeymen, terrorists that would attack the civilians if they could. Because of 9/11, politicians could get away with these false ideas with the majority of Americans fully believing them. The boogeymen in The Village are “The People We Don’t Speak Of”, monsters attracted by the color red. Yet we find out that they are all costumes made by the Elders of the land, designed to prevent people from going outside the land. They rule by fear disguised as love. They’ve gone through their own traumas through the deaths of their family members, but they’ve decided to completely abandon the lives that they’ve had and have their children living lies.
9/11 impacted American life by teaching citizens to live primarily by fear, to not trust anyone but their own people. And yet, post-9/11, all that increased was not “coming together”, but hate crimes against South Asian people. The rage white Americans had felt led to conservative politicians pushing fear-mongering agendas, and said white Americans blindly accepted. The outside world was progressing, but too many people were fine with living with further conservative politics only regressing American life further and further back, all for the illusion of safety. Meanwhile, the only threats to them were not the brown citizens outside of America they were so afraid of, but the white elders, the white politicians.
The Village explores these fears so eloquently, all while having a terrifying atmosphere, an enchanting score, and brilliant sound design. I enjoyed this movie very much.
Other viewings I enjoyed:
Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996) (dir. Mike Judge) (re-watch)
Blow Out (1981) (dir. Brian de Palma) (re-watch)
Clueless (1995) (dir. Amy Heckerling) (re-watch)
Furious 7 (2015) (dir. James Wan)
The Long Goodbye (1973) (dir. Robert Altman)
Lupin III: The First (2019) (dir. Takashi Yamazaki)
Unbreakable (2000) (dir. M. Night Shyamalan) (re-watch)
Velvet Goldmine (1998) (dir. Todd Haynes)
The Visit (2015) (dir. M. Night Shyamalan)
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musashi · 3 years
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Give us the jessie bpd rant
JESSIE TEAMROCKET HAS BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER: A POST
[Paraphrased behaviours. I’m not a psychologist I just read the DSM-5 for fun. This is not a diagnostic tool, but if you identify with this post maybe look into some actual ones and learn some fun stuff about yourself.]
Identity problems, an unstable sense of self.
Jessie describes herself as adaptable, someone who can fit in anywhere, and this is indeed one of her strengths! She doesn’t let a lack of experience or qualifications discourage her because she believes that she can shift and change to suit her environment, and she’s right!
It’s also a major weakness of hers, though. Jessie in her element (when she’s her true self) is loud, confident, assertive, and bold. However, whenever she 'imprints’ on someone she throws her true personality aside entirely--buries it under the facade of someone who is malleable, softspoken, easy to be around, does whatever they can to make the person they love choose them. This trait of hers, and how it’s a fault, is a MAJOR plot point in XY063.
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there’s a scene early on in this episode where she’s partially paralyzed from a stun spore, and Dr. White, the man who saved her from drowning, feeds her a berry to fix it. She poses triumphantly with her arms in the air and shouts ‘THAT DID THE TRICK!’ then realizes she’s being too loud around an attractive man and immediately throws her hands over her mouth, trying to stop more words from coming. It’s an incredibly effective way of showing how contradictory Jessie is when she imprints on someone. The Jessie we know would never even think of second guessing how much room she takes up in the world. 
In this episode, Jessie has feelings for Dr. White, and she completely buries her personality to make herself a silent, sweet, softspoken housewife in the hopes that he’ll fall in love with her. Dr. White instead falls for his childhood friend, a loud, rude, brash girl who likes to fight, calls him a wimp and tells him to fuck off when he presses her buttons.
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The tragedy of this episode is that Jessie is forced to confront this about herself--this way she shifts and changes to keep people near may very likely have caused her to lose something here. She’s forced to reckon with the idea that if she had just been herself, he might have loved her back. Not in spite of her personality, but because of it. 
In Borderlines, this trait is often a survival mechanism, driven entirely BY:
A debilitating fear of potential abandonment, perceived or based in past trauma.
Jessie’s childhood trauma, though not often discussed, hinges entirely on her abandonment issues. She was given up to foster care around kindergarten age, which was long enough to learn to love her mother before never getting to see her again. Jessie’s implied to have been a deeply lonely child who never had a family to call her own, and who didn’t fit in with any other girls her age because she was too poor to afford even basic food and couldn’t keep up.
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When Jessie opens up about her love life, she doesn’t go into specifics, only mentioning that it’s been full of nothing but heartbreak thus far. She’s an unreliable narrator, always, but when she’s inviting pity on herself it’s almost always manipulation to gain something, and these moments don’t seem to have that element. When she talks about her love life in EP100, it’s very carefully accented with this image:
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In her adolescence, Jessie tried to center herself around her passions, pursuing them whenever she was handed the opportunity. Frequently, though, she’d find herself meeting people and growing attached to them, and would eventually reach a crossroads where she forced herself to choose between the people she cared about and the goals she chased relentlessly.
The biggest example of this is DP073, where she chooses to stay and train to be an idol, rather than to travel with the boy she’s in love with.
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She ends up not passing her audition, losing both him and her shot at her career. This starts Jessie’s descent into compulsively abandoning/parting ways with everyone in her life in an attempt to control how people exit her story. The only way to prevent yourself from being abandoned with 100% certainty is, of course, to leave them before they can leave you.
This kinda blends into the next point, which is:
Instability in personal relationships.
As previously mentioned, Jessie has a tendency to leave people behind & sever ties. It’s only speculation on my part, but it would make sense that she does this because she has been left behind in so many regards and by so many people she loved, it’s the only way she feels she can take control of this phenomenon.
People who watched a lot of OS back in the day, but don’t necessarily keep up with the series much now, will famously circulate Jessie’s speech to the Ghost of Maiden Rock in EP020. The maiden was a woman who died waiting for her lover who was out at sea, and since her death her spirit’s remained on the cliffside in the hopes that he would come home. Jessie shoots the ghost of the maiden with a fucking bazooka half her height and says this:
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This is lauded by 90s kids everywhere as a #GirlPower speech about how Jessie don’t need no man (which is true), but it’s actually, like... kinda tragic? She hates the ghost of the maiden because she sees herself in it, and she takes the opportunity to proclaim that what she sees of herself makes her sick to look at. This speech she gives is so aggressively out of nowhere and so long and rambling that you have no choice but to read it as deeply personal. She just short of confirms that you can’t leave Jessie because Jessie leaves FIRST.
And you GET to see this in action. Jessie struggles so hard with loyalty. In ALL her relationships! Literally all of them. Every time something shakes up her foundation with a person in her life, she hardlocks herself into run run RUN mode because there’s a slight chance they might leave her and she CANNOT have that.
It was shown in the most explicit detail in the side story about what she was like in training, where Jessie’s inability to stay beside various partners in Team Rocket is literally the trait that defined her to everyone in the organization.
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There’s even a beautifully symbolic shot in the beginning of that episode where she abandons her 12th partner, and kneels down while the world literally collapses behind her.
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In DP073, when Jessie sees her Dustox has fallen in love with another Dustox, she demands that Dustox leave despite the pokemon hesitating. She doesn’t let Dustox control that scenario--Jessie crushes her pokeball and demands she migrate with her mate.
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When Meowth dips on her and James to work food service because he finds it more rewarding, Jessie doesn’t try to fight it, instead focuses her energy on also leaving her teammates in her dust because at least she can get out of there and move on before James abandons her.
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When she realizes White loves another girl, she doesn’t bother to even say goodbye to him, she just leaves wordlessly with nothing in her wake but a bouquet of daisies, and when she remembers that oh right, her wobbuffet is also in love with White’s own--
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She tries to leave him, too.
You can’t fire Jessie. Jessie quits.
This is the in-depth, analytical part of me Diagnosing Her. Everything else she exhibits is far more General and really doesn’t need a trained eye:
Instability in one’s goals, aspirations, or career: Jessie has a steady job in Team Rocket, but is constantly picking up side-hustles and being distracted by passions like acting, performing, contests, and the like. She’s left Team Rocket entirely before to pursue Contests, only to return almost immediately. (DP117)
Difficulty controlling the range/intensity of one’s emotional responses: Long past the Slapstick Days of the original series, Jessie’s still incredibly prone to outbursts. It’s not just anger--she reacts equally strongly when she’s sad, happy, lovestruck, anything. I have used this exact phrasing before, but Jessie doesn’t feel her emotions, she becomes them.
Poor impulse control: Kind goes hand-in-hand with the above.
Engaging in dangerous/risky/self-harming activities with no concern to personal limitations: This applies to all of Team Rocket, but Jessie seems to take it a step further in thinking she’s invincible. She’ll throw herself headfirst into anything, rarely backs down from a fight, and often has trouble taking rest days even when she needs them because she lacks self-preservation.
Hair-trigger temper: lol yeah.
Unstable emotions/mood swings: lol YEAH, Jessie will be crying one minute, screaming the next, immediately fine. She can cycle the whole spectrum of human emotion before you can finish a sentence.
Idealization & Imprinting: Jessie frequently rushes into relationships based entirely on the idea of a person, not grounded in reality. She becomes attached to people incredibly easy at times, willing to throw her entire life thus far away to run away with someone she’s just met.
Living entirely in the moment, unable to comprehend the past/future: Jessie prefers to go with the flow and, as previously mentioned, adapt if things don’t turn out in her favour. If something doesn’t work out for her, she immediately will turn in the other direction and start toward whatever’s there.
This post is so long and I could probably make it longer but I’m gonna stop here. My credentials are I’m an Incredibly Powerful Jessie Kinnie who has BPD herself as well as an autistic who’s special interest is the pokemon anime and team rocket specifically fdhdfghg.
IN CONCLUSION,
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dangermousie · 4 years
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2019 END OF YEAR KDrama Post
Wow, I haven’t made one in years. This is going to involve only dramas that came out in 2019 because I watched a hell of a lot dramas made prior to that and trying to figure out which ones will give me a headache.
DRAMAS WATCHED (In order of liking from most to least as opposed to pure quality; I am including if I’ve seen at least two eps AND feel it was enough to make up my mind; yes I realize that’s inaccurate, but that’s my list)
Extraordinary You -  A philosophy and religion course AND a love story, and perfect at both.
My Country - a brutal, passionate, intense masterpiece of a sageuk. This is how they should be.
Crash Landing On You - the two eps that have aired brought my joy in watching kdramas back to me so vividly. This is everything. 
Encounter - the perfect noona romance of the year for me. It seems to have little plot (powerful older woman, idealistic younger man) but the characters made me love them with an unhealthy amount of attachment and the mood is just perfect. 
Haechi - smart traditional sageuk with a heart. This one will make you love it but also respect it in the morning :)
Queen: Love and War - Period, romance, mystery, helpless king and feisty heroine. It’s everything I love in one package. 
Chocolate - if, like me, you like slow old-school melo with genuine grown-ups, this one is for you. Ha Ji Won and Yoon Kye Sang are both incandescent in this. 
One Spring Night - a rare slice of life that worked for me so so much. I rooted for the main OTP like crazy (I did skip all the sister stuff though because boring to me.) It’s just a breath of fresh air.
The Tale of Nokdu - a rare funny youth sageuk that worked for me (except, ironically, for when they tried to be politics-heavy and serious about it.) Wonderful OTP, funny situations and just generally a delight. 
Memories of the Alhambra - I can hear people screaming that I put this so high, but this is a faves ranking, not objective one, and I loved the unusual premise (it ultimately fell apart but it tried), and Hyun Bin’s performance was out of this world and the aaaaagnst and I enjoyed waiting for it each week until almost the end. That ending though!!!!!
Psychopath Diary - this is black comedy at its best and hysterical and smart and somehow got me invested in the hapless protagonist. 
Hotel del Luna - clever and funny and smart. Hong Sisters largely back to form. I found the sageuk parts more engaging than modern ones, but what else is new.
Search WWW - some parts of it worked for me more than others, but it had solid writing and cool characters and some interesting OTP(s). 
Love is Beautiful Life is Wonderful - has the weekend drama slowness but it lovely and fun. 
When the Camellia Blooms - it was well made and the OTP was great and the acting top notch, I just don’t tend to go gaga for slice of life dramas, especially ones involving market ladies, much. 
Flower Crew Joseon Marriage Agency - competently done, pretty period piece about nothing. It was enjoyable and forgettable at once.
Catch the Ghost - I put it as high as I did because the OTP really did have lovely chemistry but the story was a complete mess, the police work made no sense and the heroine’s character was like nails on a chalkboard for me.
Joseon Survival - I got about four episodes in and liked it a lot but then Kang Ji Hwan turned out to be a convicted rapist, they replaced the lead and I didn’t go back. I kind of want to because I liked what I saw and I am madly curious as to whether they changed the main character or just said he had a different face now, no explanation. 
The Last Empress - pure inconsistent trash but so entertaining!
Vagabond - I made it eight episodes in before I realized that I would have as much fun staring at traffic. It’s a competently done actioner but without more, actioners never work for me, so this was a viewer/drama mismatch.
Arthdal  Chronicles - incoherent, visually odd and boring, this is arguably the worst drama this year but I am giving it higher place because the cast really tries (even if it tends to fail because it has nothing to work with) and because it attempted something different even if it failed spectacularly. SO BAD.
Melting Me Softly - yes, my brain was fully melted by this soulless, charmless waste of Ji Chang Wook and my limited free time.
VIP - Any drama that makes the main mystery and thrust of the story who the husband cheated on his wife with is BORING. Seriously, this is not exactly Hercule Poirot. They wasted their cast - I have NO idea why Lee Sang Yoon agreed to be in this as a one note character and Jang Nara is playing a second scorned wife in a row but without even the entertainment value of her previous outing.
Abyss - aptly named. The best thing I can say about it is it didn’t offend me but oh boy was it dull.
Absolute Boyfriend - I loved the manga but it’s time to accept this can never be adapted well. They wasted the cast and that ending was just an insult on top of a trash heap.
The Lies Within - you cast that cast and deliberately have no romance. You are dead to me. 
Woman of 9.9 Billion - competently made, but it’s everything I dislike - dour unpleasant bored people behaving as if they are in a particularly dreary art-house French movie but without any nuance or interest the latter came provide. 
Love with Flaws - shrill, dumb, neither acted nor written by anyone trying at all. 
Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung - objectively, it’s not the worst drama on the list, but it’s everything I hate in one package - willfully ahistorical but not cleverly so, male lead incapable of acting, the characters so one-dimensional they disappear, this purports to be a period drama but about as period as a space ship. God, I loathed this. 
FAVORITE DRAMA
Extraordinary You - smart (so mind-bendingly smart) and moving and totally unpredictable and with so many things to say about free will and religion and self and nature of memory and narrative, this had an insane impossible premise and yet somehow managed to do it full justice and stick the landing. 
WORST DRAMA
People with Flaws - this is different from least favorite because even if I loathed e.g., Rookie Historian or Woman of 9.9 Billion, I recognized some positive features; it’s just certain things really rubbed me the wrong way due to personal preferences. But this shrill hot mess of a drama is really everything that’s wrong with dramaworld.
FAVORITE MALE CHARACTER
Prince Yeoning, Haechi - fiercely smart, strong, tormented by the duality of his birth (royal father, servant mother) but not letting this distract him from his purpose, loyal to the bone, and with integrity nothing can shake but where you can feel that it’s not easy and that it costs him.
FAVORITE FEMALE CHARACTER
Eun Dan Oh, Extraordinary You - a go-getter who remakes the world (literally); smart, cheerful, strong, beautifully human. She feels so real and yet is larger than anything around her. 
NEEDS TO BE MURDERED
Yi Seung Gye, My Country - a sociopath destroying lives in his quest for power and control, even the destruction of his own family barely gives him anything but momentary pause. He is the reason for the tragedy of MC. 
FAVORITE SHIP
Eun Dan Oh x Haru, Extraordinary You - their love is literally universe and god-defying. They have loved each other as different people in three separate worlds (and counting), and have defied loss of memory and even loss of self as well as death, the end of worlds, and their god and the narrative and literally anything and everything, to be together.
Runner Up: Soo Hyun x Jin Hyuk, Encounter: tender and decent and his bringing her back to vivid life and the way they love and support and compliment each other.  
Probably gonna be on list if doesn’t go haywire: Crash Landing on You: she is a SK heiress, he’s a NK officer, they have mad chemistry and so much potential.
NOTP:
Tae Mi x Morgan, Search WWW - love the actors, love the chemistry, love the characters in terms of the way they are written, but they are absolutely wrong for each other and there is no future of any sort but misery ahead. None of their issues are resolved but are swept under the rug. It’s a cautionary tale, not a romance. I did a long rant before so not repeating. 
BEST SECONDARY OTP
Scarlett x Ji Hwan, Search WWW - they stole the shippiness in the drama for me. Cooky and adorable and noona romance done right.
FAVORITE SCENE
Haru’s final disappearance, Extraordinary You - the lights start to go out, the world literally dissolving, Eun Oh and Haru clinging to each other, with his telling her she was his beginning and the end. His name, the one she gave him, is the last thing he hears. In a drama full of amazing scenes the very gist of which was defying the very creator and universe and meaning of existence, this was the one that stayed with me the most.
BIGGEST CRUSH
Seo Hwi, My Country - I have a thing for deeply honorable, deeply tortured period badasses with long hair and a death wish (see Choi Young in Faith etc.)
BEST SCENE STEALER CHARACTER
Yi Bang Won, My Country - he started out as an antihero and ended up as arguably a tragic villain (or maybe still an anti-hero) but oh boy, was he magnetic and fascinating and sucking out all the oxygen whenever he was in the scene.
NEEDS A SEQUEL
Memories of the Alhambra - WTF ending was that?! All that misery and no real resolution?! Dammit!
TROPE THAT NEEDS TO DIE
Youth Sageuk - I hate most of them! They are anachronistic and dumb and honestly, what is the point of having fully modern people in period clothes? Just make a modern show and call it a day.
BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT
Melting Me Softly - Ji Chang Wook’s first project back from the military was an unfunny, unmoving, pointless mess with not an ounce of genuine enjoyment despite the excellent pedigree of everyone involved in front and behind the camera.
Arthdal Chronicles - the makers made excellent Queen Seon Duk, Tree with Deep Roots and Six Flying Dragons. The cast was uniformly A grade. The result was an open-ended, boring, incoherent mess that looks like a bad sort of a drug trip and made about as much sense. 
BIGGEST GOOD SURPRISE
Extraordinary You - I had zero interest in yet another high school drama with no actors I recognized. By the end, EY was an emotional brainy twister of a marvel that became my favorite drama of all time. I’ve been watching dramas for over 13 years so that’s saying something.
2019 DRAMAS I HAVEN’T SEEN THAT I MOST WANT TO WATCH
The Crowned Clown - I love sageuks and cast and it looks so smart and emotional
Angel’s Last Mission: Love - my next contemporary - I watched a little and loved what I saw
Fates and Furies - I saw a few eps and classic melo is so up my alley.
Clean with a Passion for Now - I like the cast and it’s a year of falling for hot weird bosses apparently.
Graceful Family - I love makjang and Im Soo Jung.
The Secret Life of My Secretary - downmarket Beauty Inside and I loved BI.
Love Affairs in the Afternoon - artsy adultery FTW
Item - I don’t like crime stuff but I am here for Joo Ji Hoon.
My Strange Hero - seems a little cooky but I am fond of Yoo Seung Ho.
MOST ANTICIPATED IN 2020
King: the Eternal Monarch - Lee Min Ho and Woo Do Hwan and parallel worlds and written by Kim Eun Suk. Yes Please.
I should probably make one for cdramas too though that one would be rather shorter.
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turtle-paced · 5 years
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Appreciation Post: Cersei Lannister
So I thought I’d do the Stark girls first, but I was really feeling the Lannister appreciation last week.
Ned knelt in the snow to kiss the queen’s ring, while Robert embraced Catelyn like a long-lost sister…
Cersei is in somewhat of an unusual position when it comes to her PoV. She’s been a major character in the series from the word go. And a piece of work. Then, all of a sudden, she’s arguably the dominant voice of AFFC. She’s still a piece of work, but damn if she’s not a three-dimensional, tragic piece of work.
Cersei’s first real appearance, quoted above, is a beautifully understated character establishment - she’s the queen, and she can set formalities to a certain degree, but instead she chooses to make Ned Stark kneel in the snow to acknowledge her status. Mean becomes alarming as we discover through Bran that she’s having an affair with her twin brother, and then quickly becomes outright villainous given her complicity in the attempted murder of Bran for witnessing said affair.
Her political antagonism to our then-PoV characters is clear, and her viciousness becomes steadily more apparent throughout AGoT, as we see her insist that Mycah and Lady die for Joffrey’s humiliation at Darry (and her inability to recognise that there is something very wrong with Joffrey’s behaviour). She’s a leading suspect in the murder of Jon Arryn. Ned comes to believe, not without reason, that Cersei is trying to kill her husband. 
And yet even in AGoT we know that she’s not doing this out of an unadulterated desire for power. 
Purple with rage, the king lashed out, a vicious backhand blow to the side of the head. She stumbled against the table and fell hard, yet Cersei Lannister did not cry out. Her slender fingers brushed her cheek, where the pale smooth skin was already reddening. On the morrow the bruise would cover half her face. "I shall wear this as a badge of honor," she announced.
- Eddard X, AGoT
That’s a serious hit, to say the least, and when Ned confronts Cersei about her affair with Jaime, the bruise is still on her face. (We find out in AFFC that Robert raped Cersei as well as hit her.) The domestic violence Cersei’s suffered in her marriage to Robert contextualises that confrontation, so that it’s not quite as simple as “Ned good, Cersei evil.” Ned is sympathetic in his desire to minimise war and to save Cersei’s children - but Ned is also doing his utmost to maintain the reign of a man we know hits his wife. Cersei’s actions with Mycah and Lady, her murder of Robert’s bastard children and mistresses, put her firmly in the villain camp - but at the same time, she is not without her reasons or justification for hating Robert, at least, and the men who support him.
As a character, Cersei becomes more complex once we get more intimate views of her in ACoK and ASoS. One of the most gut-wrenching is her reaction when Tywin informs Cersei that she’s to be married off again.
"So long as you remain unwed, you allow Stannis to spread his disgusting slander," Lord Tywin told his daughter. "You must have a new husband in your bed, to father children on you."
"Three children is quite sufficient. I am Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, not a brood mare! The Queen Regent!"
"You are my daughter, and will do as I command."
- Tyrion III, ASoS
Her title does not protect her against her father’s dictatorial stance towards her sex life. If her father wants to use Cersei as a brood mare for political gain...that’s what’s going to happen to Cersei. Even when she’s past thirty, even when she’s already been through one hellish marriage, even when she’s the queen.
Tyrion, her brother, who knows her well, can see frailties in her that Ned couldn’t.
"I do not require your help. It was our father's presence that I commanded."
"Yes," he said quietly, "but it's Jaime you want."
His sister fancied herself subtle, but he had grown up with her. He could read her face like one of his favorite books, and what he read now was rage, and fear, and despair. 
- Tyrion I, ACoK
Moreover, Tyrion’s quality scheming shows up the fact that while Cersei’s great at rewriting history, she’s also something of a blunt political instrument. Her solution to problems are murder, money, and sex, and that’s about it. This impression is heightened through Cersei’s interactions with Sansa. Those interactions in particular, in both ACoK and ASoS, show that Cersei’s response to the abuse she’s suffered is to inflict the same abuse on others.
"Joffrey will show you no such devotion, I fear. You could thank your sister for that, if she weren't dead. He's never been able to forget that day on the Trident when you saw her shame him, so he shames you in turn. You're stronger than you seem, though. I expect you'll survive a bit of humiliation. I did. You may never love the king, but you'll love his children."
- Sansa IV, ACoK
Her son’s abusing his fiancee, similar to how Cersei herself was abused by Robert? Sansa can toughen up. Cersei hacked it, so Sansa should as well. 
In general, Cersei’s relationship with Joffrey is a powerful antidote to the idea that a mother’s love for her children is automatically a sympathetic thing. Cersei’s flat refusal to acknowledge that Joffrey’s behaviour is anything but unmitigated cruelty instead highlights Cersei’s own lack of empathy. Cersei’s neglect of Tommen and refusal to educate him highlights how Cersei’s ambition damages others. And yet that love still brings out intensely human moments.
When he heard Cersei's scream, he knew that it was over.
I should leave. Now. Instead he waddled toward her.
His sister sat in a puddle of wine, cradling her son's body. Her gown was torn and stained, her face white as chalk. A thin black dog crept up beside her, sniffing at Joffrey's corpse. "The boy is gone, Cersei," Lord Tywin said. He put his gloved hand on his daughter's shoulder as one of his guardsmen shooed away the dog. "Unhand him now. Let him go." She did not hear. It took two Kingsguard to pry loose her fingers, so the body of King Joffrey Baratheon could slide limp and lifeless to the floor.
- Tyrion VIII, ASoS
It was more than Cersei could stand. I cannot let them see me cry, she thought, when she felt the tears welling in her eyes. She walked past Ser Meryn Trant and out into the back passage. Alone beneath a tallow candle, she allowed herself a shuddering sob, then another. A woman may weep, but not a queen.
- Cersei III, AFFC
In AFFC, Cersei is a standout PoV. She holds down some of the central plot-moving conflicts of the book, as she well and truly shows that she is not fit for governing. The twisted method behind her actions is explained, explored, and revealed to be utterly horrifying.
Cersei has no positive relationships in her entire life. None. Her relationship with Jaime itself is breaking up, and messily, as neither of them particularly like what they’ve learned about the other, and as Cersei is unable to reconcile herself to Jaime’s disability.
Cersei laughed. "The butterfly knight who lost his arm on the Blackwater? What good is half a man?"
- Cersei VI, AFFC
She wants to consume her father’s reputation and take it for her own.
He had been a great man. I shall be greater, though. A thousand years from now, when the maesters write about this time, you shall be remembered only as Queen Cersei's sire.
- Cersei II, AFFC
And she hates all women.
Though Cersei often slept alone, she had never liked it. Her oldest memories were of sharing a bed with Jaime, when they had still been so young that no one could tell the two of them apart. Later, after they were separated, she'd had a string of bedmaids and companions, most of them girls of an age with her, the daughters of her father's household knights and bannermen. None had pleased her, and few lasted very long. Little sneaks, the lot of them. Vapid, weepy creatures, always telling tales and trying to worm their way between me and Jaime.
- Cersei VII, AFFC
Part of this is due to the prophecy she received as a young girl, which warned her of two enemies. A younger and more beautiful queen who will take everything Cersei holds dear, and the valonqar who will kill her. The first line resulted in Cersei’s obsessive hatred of first Sansa and then Margaery; the second assisted in her already ableism-influenced hatred of Tyrion.
Cersei’s hatred of other women manifests itself quite noticeably in her feud with Margaery, something that ends up rebounding on Cersei to her great detriment.
"Aye." The chains rattled softly as Osney twisted in his shackles. "That one there. She's the queen I fucked, the one sent me to kill the old High Septon. He never had no guards. I just come in when he was sleeping and pushed a pillow down across his face."
Cersei whirled, and ran.
- Cersei X, AFFC
Cersei’s arrest itself ends in one of the most memorable scenes in ADWD, when she is stripped naked and forced to march through the city while the people of King’s Landing jeer and throw things at her. It’s punishment, to be sure, but the key aspect of it is that it is not punishment for ordering the murder of a High Septon, or her abuse of her cousin Lancel, or the children she ordered killed, or the singer she had tortured in order to frame Margaery. What Cersei is marched naked through the streets is the simple ‘crime’ of having sex.
Words are wind, she thought, words cannot hurt me. I am beautiful, the most beautiful woman in all Westeros, Jaime says so, Jaime would never lie to me. Even Robert, Robert never loved me, but he saw that I was beautiful, he wanted me.
She did not feel beautiful, though. She felt old, used, filthy, ugly. There were stretch marks on her belly from the children she had borne, and her breasts were not as firm as they had been when she was younger. Without a gown to hold them up, they sagged against her chest. I should not have done this. I was their queen, but now they've seen, they've seen, they've seen. I should never have let them see. Gowned and crowned, she was a queen. Naked, bloody, limping, she was only a woman, not so very different from their wives, more like their mothers than their pretty little maiden daughters. What have I done?
- Cersei II, AFFC
We finish ADWD with Cersei recovering, supervised and in prayer, washing herself as often as she can stand - and ominously quiet. Smart money is on Cersei to do something even bigger and more destructive. Even worse, I strongly suspect that Cersei’s life, so marked by domestic abuse, will end with her murder at the hands of her ex.
Cersei Lannister, as a villain, is in my opinion the most complex and compelling GRRM’s written. Which is not to say I think his handling of her is perfect and unproblematic, or that there was nothing he might have done better. Nevertheless, Cersei represents a possible reaction to the abuses of her society, in contrast with the heroic female PoVs who suffer similar tribulations, and a different level of ability and skill in dealing with other problems. Even when Cersei’s ways of handling problems are decidedly suboptimal, recreating the problems of her society, she’s not necessarily wrong about the actual problems to start with. Every step of Cersei’s story shows the damage patriarchy has wrought on her. She’s a superior character for her hypocritical, contradictory, destructive relationship with her society and the people around her. She is not reduced to “Cersei bad because sex and woman,” but allowed to love her children in destructive ways, hold deeply problematic attitudes, and hurt other people in a misplaced belief that this is an appropriate response to her own suffering.
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recentanimenews · 4 years
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Sympathy for the Devilman: The Legacy of Go Nagai's Magnum Opus
I've always had a thing for villains. Unlike my brothers, as a kid I'd always choose the "bad guy" action figures. If they went for the ninja turtle Leonardo, then I'd go for the uber-buff Super Shredder. I personally identified with villainy because of how it connected to the idea of "evil." I personally see evil as a generalized concept that expresses antagonism toward violent and dominant societal structures. Due to a coercive religious upbringing, I now see how my younger self unconsciously found ideologically-oppositional comfort in "evil" art. This eventually led me to one of my most cherished pieces of fiction: Devilman.
Devilman has left an indelible mark on manga and anime creators over the last few decades, inspiring major industry heavyweights such as Hideaki Anno, Kentaro Miura, and Kazuki Nakashima. The series was created by Go Nagai, a manga auteur also responsible for Mazinger Z, Cutie Honey, and Violence Jack (which is a Devilman sequel). Although Devilman retains much of the explicitness native to Go Nagai's usual fare, it uses these graphic elements uniquely to deliver a haunting, unforgettable, and compassionate message.
Let's explore the surprisingly relevant political and social significance of Devilman, along with a few of its animated offshoots. Read on but be forewarned, this article contains major spoilers!
  Devilman (original manga, 1972) 
via Seven Seas Entertainment
  The Devilman manga is a dark antiwar narrative in deep contrast to the standard monster-of-the-day, "evil fights evil" set-up of the anime (which ran at the same time as the manga). Ryo Asuka — who turns out to be Satan, the leader of all demons — helps convince the world that anyone dissatisfied with the status quo could turn into a demon and needs to be killed. Every nation starts a war with each other, and Japan creates the "Demon Busters" to murder anyone suspected of being a demon. This plot twist is the most explicitly political angle in Devilman and a clear critique against the genocide of marginalized peoples. One page features a taste of the global hate brewing around the world: a collective white desire to murder Black communities, the renewal of German anti-Semitism, and hatred for any protestor. There are also many moments that display the horrors of historical genocide when Akira and Ryo travel through time.
Devilman builds additional nuance around this theme with Ryo's character. In the manga's final scene, Ryo describes how demons were once oppressed by God, and that they in turn preyed upon humans in the same way that God preyed upon demons. Ryo recognizes that he continued the same cycle of genocidal hate and marginalization he once suffered. This is a striking moment that functions as a cautionary warning against abusing imbalanced power dynamics, and how even once marginalized groups are still capable of enacting horrors against those with less power. 
via Seven Seas Entertainment
  Ryo's character also made a groundbreaking stride in the representation of marginalized gender and sexual identities. His true form as Satan is easy to interpret as trans, possessing emotional, mental, and physical traits that defy the standard gender binary. The manga also makes it clear that Ryo considers Akira more than a friend, and is actually in love with him. Amazingly, Go Nagai does not use Ryo's trans-coded self or his queer love for Akira as fodder for insulting or disrespectful commentary from other characters. Ryo's gender-variant form is certainly mentioned, but it's never negatively framed or conflated with his murderous attitude toward humanity. Additionally, the manga never suggests Ryo is evil because of his romantic feelings for Akira (a simple, yet important distinction). It feels all the more impressive when you remember that this was made in 1972. Devilman's subversive portrayal of non-normative gender and sexual identity could still be considered groundbreaking even by today's standards.
Devilman OVAs
  The first OVA, The Birth, covers Ryo and Akira's discovery of demon existence, with a very brutal early sequence that shows the bloody survival-of-the-fittest origins of life on Earth (which beautifully expands upon and mirrors the same sequence from the manga). It concludes with a gore-soaked finale where we see Akira's fateful transformation into Devilman. The sequence is filled with face stabs, top-notch body horror, and decapitations galore as Devilman rips apart demon after demon in a nightclub setting.
  The second OVA, The Demon Bird, had the same crew that worked on the first OVA and contains a very similar feel. This OVA is more action-oriented than the first since it doesn't spend time on the build-up and exposition leading to Devilman's initial appearance. The animation and art design is probably even better than the first episode, which is most notable during the fight with Sirene. On a side note, the Manga Entertainment dubs for these first two OVAs are absolutely essential if you're seeking a fun evening with fellow anime nerds with a decent sense of humor. Their typically sleazy dubs — where Manga Entertainment excessively hyped up the seedier, more "adult" side of anime in order to market their products as wildly different from cartoons for kids — contain an assortment of unnecessary profanity and generally crude dialogue compared to the Japanese source material, to great comedic effect.
The third OVA, Amon: The Apocalypse of Devilman, is based on Amon: The Darkside of Devilman manga, an alternate-universe offshoot by Yu Kinutani. This OVA contains a reworked version of the end of Devilman and has a much darker edge compared to the first two OVAs. This entry in the series has an ugly, grim quality to it – such as the horrific depiction of Miki and her brother getting slaughtered by an angry mob — that initially felt off-putting to me. I started to enjoy it more on subsequent viewings however, when I remembered that, well, the entire Devilman mythos is pretty damned bleak in general. I think the desolate mood would have been more bearable had Akira felt like the compassionate, tragic hero of the manga.
Actually, overall I'd say that Akira's portrayal is one of my biggest complaints about these OVAs. He displays a cold lack of care for human life — like in the Demon Bird when he unconcernedly tears through an airplane while fighting Sirene and allows its passengers to presumably plummet to their deaths — that for me, offsets one of the biggest strengths of Devilman's core: that although Akira has the body of a demon, he never loses the tender heart of a human. With that in mind, let's explore Devilman Crybaby. 
  Devilman Crybaby
Devilman Crybaby is my favorite animated incarnation of Devilman, period. I might be in the minority with that opinion, but I think there's a lot to love. Masaaki Yuasa is already one of my favorite recent anime directors — Kaiba, Mind Game, and Lu Over the Wall are highlights  — so it's no surprise I'd be head over heels for his take on a classic Go Nagai story.
Yuasa impressively shifts the '70s setting of the original into modern-day Japan: The group of surly highschoolers from the manga are replaced with rappers and smartphones are everywhere. In the hands of a lesser writer, a modern setting would be no more than a cosmetic, surface-level change of scenery to an already-written narrative. In contrast, Yuasa avoids this trap by using the modern setting to make incisive social commentary relevant to our times: social media is the means for both horrendous and beautiful moments in the show. It leads to Miki's murder when she posts on Instagram to defend Akira, but also serves as the online catalyst that unites Devilmen across the globe (in contrast to the original manga, where a set of demon-possessed psychic monks unite the Devilmen). Yuasa explained this in a 2018 Japan Times article:
"Today's situation is a lot closer to 'Devilman' than it was when Nagai wrote it in the '70s," he says. "The popularity of social media means people are a lot more connected, for good and bad – like someone getting shot over a video game. We learn about unarmed black people being killed by police, people being tortured and the rise of nationalism in politics. In Japan, too, where a lot of problems are openly blamed on foreigners.
"But it can also help spread good that we wouldn't otherwise know about. We see people coming out as gay or trans on social media, and there's a greater opening up and acceptance of different opinions and lifestyles."
  Another beautiful aspect of the show is how Yuasa amplifies the queer elements present in the manga. Ryo and Akira's relationship feels even more loaded with romantic undertones, and Yuasa also introduces two queer characters unseen in the original manga. One of the characters is named Miki Kuroda, initially portrayed as a jealous antagonistic foil to the Miki we all know and love. Miki Kuroda changes as the episodes progress and she becomes a Devilman, and we eventually see her sacrifice herself in an attempt to save Miki Makimura, who she confesses her love to before dying. It's refreshing to see a queer woman represented in a story that previously had none, and incorporated in a way that feels organic and thoughtfully integrated within the larger narrative.
  In contrast to the Akira of the OVAs, I absolutely adore this incarnation. Yuasa did a stellar job showing not only Akira's horny goth-jock side but also his compassionate traits. As the name implies, there's a lot of crying in Devilman Crybaby, and Akira is responsible for at least half the tears throughout the brief 10-episode series. Akira evokes such intense compassion and cares for people around him, which is a noticeable deviation from his cold demeanor in the OVAs. The human heart at the core of Devilman is on full display here, taking the emotional elements from the original and turning the volume up to 11. Though the art style and setting might be drastically different from what you'd typically expect of a Devilman remake, Yuasa did a masterful job honoring the source material while injecting it with fresh life and even fresher modern resonance. 
What other aspects of Devilman  — or its many incarnations  — did you find important or interesting? Let me know in the comments below!
Do you love anime? Do you love writing? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!
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simpleboox-blog · 5 years
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Colours: Chapter 1; Brown - Red
Pairings: none yet
Warnings: gore (sorta intense and descriptive fight scene), kinda fluffy at the start.
Word Count: 1.4k
A/N: Okay so this is kinda my first time doing something like this but I really like the idea of using colours. It really sets the scene and the mood (for me anyways.) I would really appreciate if you like and reblog because I don’t get a lot of attention at my blog. But hey I don’t mind either. Btw if you do like and reblog this I instantly love you and will follow you.
Masterlist here!
Sam and Dean aren’t actually in this chapter, this is just introducing (Y/N) and her “tragic” accident that started it all.
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Rain wasn’t promised today. Or anytime that week really. But she brought an umbrella with her anyways. She was thankful for it that evening as she was walking home, when a small drop of water landed on her forehead. She grinned as more drops began to fall and she opened up her brown umbrella. The colour was the same as the autumn tree trunks and the wild hare in among the leaves that had fallen on the ground. Walking, she passed an antique store, two thrift stores, a grocery store and a large ice-cream store. Everywhere was closing up, and she waved to each of the owners that were there. Only a couple of cars past, and she met not even a few people on her walk.
Eventually she arrived home, an old but beautifully designed building that was now filled with apartments. She opened the door and a blast of heat hit her in the hallway. Shivering, she took down her umbrella and closed the door behind her, letting in a couple of autumn leaves. To her right, was three apartments. The first one, occupied by a businessman who was rarely home. She barely saw him, but when she did he was always wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase, muttering to himself about how late he was to go somewhere. The second one, occupied by a cheery couple that go by the names of Tim and Joe. Tim worked at the grocery store. He was quite generic and plain, he also helped her with her accounts sometimes. Joe was an artist. Always creating splashes of colours on canvases, and baking the most amazing apple pie you will ever taste. And the third, occupied by a young girl, still in college. She lived with two of her friends and they were throwing parties almost every weekend, which bothered the other residents of the apartments.
There were three floors, and she lived on the third. She walked up the stairs, her boots squelching with the rain. There were only two apartments on the second floor. One was unoccupied, and the other was owned by a kind old lady named Linda, who invited her in for tea every Sunday. On the top floor, her floor, was her apartment and a man named J’s apartment. J and her got along amazingly and they practically lived in each other’s apartments. J’s proper name was Jessie, but he hated it so he stuck by J. She moved in just over five months ago, while J had been here for two years.
Fumbling for her keys, she tried to open her apartment door, only to realize that it was already. Hesitant, she opened the door wider only to smell the most amazing cookies ever. She realised the breath she was holding when she say J, wearing an apron and a stupid grin, standing in her small kitchen. He placed a second tray of cookies on the counter and closed the oven. “Scared me there J.” She said, shrugging off her coat and hanging it on one of the hangers. She also kicked off her boots before closing and locking the door behind her. He chuckled, looking over at her. “Sorry. Guess I forgot to lock the door after me.” He said taking off the oven gloves and untying the apron from behind him. “Guess you did.” She said clicking her tongue.
“I don’t mean to pry.. but it’s been a while since you were over here. Everything alright?” She said walking over to take a look at the cookies. She heard J sigh and sit on the couch. “Not really.” He said. “Wanna talk about it?” She asked picking up two cookies and placing them on a plate. She put on the kettle as well for some tea. He shook his head. “Nah. I just kinda want to be with you for a bit. Just for tonight.” He said. She nodded and poured two cups of tea. Knowing exactly what J liked in his and what she liked in hers. She put the cookies and the tea down on the coffee table and sat down beside him, knees touching. “Alright, well, we’ll have a super cringey sleepover then. Cause’ I know they’re your favourite.” J looked at her with a mocking shocked face. “Are not!” He said. “Uh huh. With facemasks and cringey romance movies and blankets and cookie dough and-,” He started laughing and she stopped talking to laugh with him. “Okay maybe I do like them a small bit.” He whispered. “Knew it.” She whispered.
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It was a couple of hours later, and her and J were watching the notebook on the sofa, her head on his chest and them both under a thick blanket that she had found in a drawer under her bed. She hated to admit it, but she loved being this close to J. He was different tonight, in a good way, sort of. He wasn’t stiff and awkward and acting like he was three feet tall. He was calm and charming and even slightly flirty. His hand was questionably low on her back and he gave her occasional smirks and grins. She sighed and shuffled closer to him, feeling her eyelids getting heavier.
A knock on the door startled her and she sat up, moving J’s hand off her reluctantly. She must have been drifting off, because she couldn’t tell what was going on in the movie. “I’ll get it.” She yawned, standing up and shrugging the red blanket off her. J gave her a concerned look before standing up beside her as well. “Are you sure? Who would be knocking this late?” He said. Already she could feel a shift in the mood of the room. It got a little bit colder and J seemed to be standing taller, making her feel quite intimidated. Suddenly the door lock began to open and she gasped, taking a step back. J was the only other person with a key to this place. And he was standing beside her. He put out an arm to protect her from whoever was currently picking the lock.
The door swung open and- and J stood there. “Sorry, I heard voices so I let myself in….” his eyes grew wide as he saw the other J standing beside her. “What the hell..” she whispered. “Get away from him.” The real J said. But fake J just laughed and she swore for a minute she saw his eyes turn a greyish- silver colour. “What Jess? Scared? Scared of me? Or should I say scared of losing her?” Fake J cast an eye over her and she stood back trying to get as far away from him as possible.
Fake J grabbed her arm to stop her and she screamed, struggling to get out of his grasp. He pulled her close and grabbed her other arm. “And she’s so pretty too. A shame.” Real J huffed with anger and grabbed a bat, swinging it violently at fake J but missing and hitting her over the head instead. “Oh jesus sorry!” He shouted. She fell to the ground, a ringing noise in her ear. But she’s gone through worse. Grabbing a vase off the coffee table, she threw it at fake J but he caught it and smashed it into a thousand pieces. He then grabbed her by the collar of her sweater and smashed her against the wall, again, and again until the ringing got worse and she swore she could feel bones breaking and she was struggling against his grip but he pressed a hand to her throat and slammed her one last time into the wall, making her gasp and choke on blood she was coughing up.
Real J finally grabbed his shoulder and threw a punch to his face. She slumped down to the ground, blood pouring out of her head and mouth. The two J’s were struggling but the fake J was stronger, stronger than any person. She saw fake J grab a knife of the counter she tried to scream but another fit of coughing and blood came and she tried to get up to help but her knees gave way and she banged right into a bookshelf, causing her to slump down into a shriveled ball again. Real J was shouting and fake J was bringing the knife into his chest and it was like it was all in slow-motion and she wanted to scream but nothing could come out. She felt she was drowning. Drowning in blood. In pain. In the blanket. In the curtains. In the coat on the hanger. In the colour red. She was drowning in red.
Read Part 2 here!
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onestowatch · 5 years
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Chloe Lilac Is Sick of You Romanticizing Mental Illness [Q&A]
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Chloe Lilac is a force to be reckoned with. At only 17-years-old, she has toured alongside Rejji Snow, Charlotte Lawrence, and Sasha Sloan and proved to be so much more than just a brilliant singer and songwriter. An advocate for female empowerment, Lilac has established herself as a strong and powerful voice of the future and her debut EP, Manic Pixie Dream, is a testament to her eloquent ability to speak through music. Beautifully written and produced, the EP paints the songstress’ life story and the journey she has endured to get to where she is. Strong, courageous and downright honest, Manic Pixie Dream illustrates society through her youthful eyes and the generation she has found herself inherently apart of.
Get to know Lilac through the lens of addiction, mental illness, and female camaraderie in our Q&A below:
OTW: What was your journey to where you are now in the music scene?
Lilac: It was great! It was really stupid. I made a lot of stupid decisions. When I was eight, I was in a rock band with my friends and in one of those band programs. So I started writing songs around eight and learning how to play guitar and stuff. And when I was around twelve, I started producing all my own stuff. It was really fun, technology man... I feel like it was really accessible to me because of Garageband on my mom’s Macbook. Then when I was 13, I started street performing trying to get discovered, so I would go around Union Square, and I got to know those areas really well. And when I was 14, I hit high school and I was like, “Fuck this, I hate it,” so I started like sneaking out on week nights when my parents would go to sleep. And with my busking money, I got Bluetooth headphones, and I would produce in class.
I got kicked out of that school, and I had gone to that school my whole life, so it was really painful for me. And I lost all my friends so my only friend was music. I basically went through this really dark place in my life where I started using all the time, and I got really bad in terms of my mental health. My anxiety just got completely out of control because I was bullied really badly in that school and then I was isolated because I was homeschooled after that. I couldn’t function in a school environment so I was half trying to get myself together. And the way I worked with it was just through doing music so I was uploading stuff on Soundcloud every two weeks.
I was fortunate enough to get discovered by my current A&R when I was around 14, and he really helped me sober up and get my act together and put me in the studio with a lot of really talented producers and really forced me to take a hard look at myself and get my life together. I’ve come a really long way since, and I’m really grateful for the opportunity. I try to help out as many up-and-coming artists like myself, as I can. One of my passions is helping other people with music.
OTW: Do you still produce?
Lilac: I still co-produce a lot of my own stuff but I’m not super great at it. I get the bones down and send it to someone who really knows what they are doing. But I really like it and I take a lot of joy in being part of the production process. I don’t think there are a lot of female producers out there. I try to teach young women, I give them free classes on production.
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OTW: What influenced the songs that are on Manic Pixie Dream?
Lilac: My EP is mainly about being a young person in New York City and being a young woman growing up. I’m 17 so I’m still coming of age, but I started writing that EP when I was 14. It’s all just about being young and how hard and difficult it was for me growing up and how removed my generation is from vulnerability, and how scared everyone is to grow up. And how hard it is being a young woman and in general, how painful it was to realize how objectified I am and how inherently misogynistic our society is. I had a lot of rage for a really long time about it as I started to come into my own and I realized if I work through it with music, that will help. So if I can help a young woman who feels the same way out there with my EP, that’s what matters to me the most. If I can help anyone just get through the struggles of being human and coming of age.
OTW: What song do you think speaks the most to you?
Lilac: Definitely “Jesus.” I wrote that one when I was 14. It was maybe the first or third session I ever did professionally. It’s been in my back pocket for a minute now. But that song sounds like a love song, but it’s really about my process becoming sober and realizing how messed up I was. 14 was a huge age to me; it felt like a lifetime in one year so it was a letter to myself and being like, “Alright I have all these problems with addiction.” Whenever I perform it, I really feel it, and it seems like it's the song that speaks the most to other people too. That is really special to me. I love that it touches other people, it’s open to interpretation. That’s what is beautiful about music. It might not be about addiction to someone else, it might be about an ex or their mom.
OTW: How does it feel to look back at that period of your life?
Lilac: I don’t know how I’m alive. I don’t know how I fucking survived through that shit but you know, it’s fine. I’m good now. It feels like it was a lifetime ago, but I’m also just incredibly grateful that I got through that, and it’s made me such a strong person, and it’s made me really understanding of other people and their struggles and also of my journey getting sober. As a young person, it’s pretty rare to work on yourself at this age. It was like a huge wave was in front of me but the wave was how much shit I had to do to work on myself. It does feel like a lifetime ago, but it was only because I’ve really worked on myself and been through so much since then.
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OTW: What advice would you give to somebody who might in that place right now and struggling to come up for air?
Lilac: There is nothing wrong with asking for help. It doesn’t make you weak; in fact, vulnerability is power. You really have to look inward to fix yourself, other people aren’t going to fix you. You can’t look for the answers in other people, the answers are all within yourself. That’s what I did a lot… looked for answers in drugs and friends and boys, not like sex, I was way too young for that but I’d chase after these boys and they wouldn't give a fuck. It was all me running away from my problems.
It might really hurt, but the beautiful part about it is that at least you get to feel it and it’s human, and you will learn how to deal with it. Therapy is great, and it doesn’t mean you're a crazy person. If you’re open to it, if you’re struggling with drugs or addiction, I think it’s really important for people to try out Al-Anon or AA and see what it does for them. Everyone has an addiction, it just depends on what it is and trying out one meeting could be really beneficial.
There is nothing wrong with being human, and I feel like in this technological age, it is so frowned upon to feel. I love my generation so much; we’re a generation of activists and love and acceptance, but there is this other side of it that is really romanticizing mental illness and drugs. We have rappers dying all over the place, dropping like fucking flies all the time from drug addiction, and it’s so hard to watch. My favorite musicians are just dropping off the face of the Earth, and it’s setting this really dark example for my generation in music.
OTW: How does society’s obsession with romanticizing the wrong things impact your music?   
Lilac: It's so instilled that vulnerability and being human is a negative thing when it's the most beautiful thing we have. What are we if we don’t have connection and love in our life? What do we have? We’re just apes on a floating rock. It’s bullshit. People are so scared of their own emotions. People are so scared of connection and like genuine connection and vulnerability, and it is tragic for me to watch because that’s what I crave the most. People are so scared of emotions. My music might be too intense sometimes, but I think intense is good. And I like writing fun songs too but my favorite songs are ones that really connect with people. I really like my music to capture moments and feelings rather than a surface thing. 
“Summer,” I would say, is my most surface song but it’s still an experience. I feel like you're on the journey with me. It’s all about being young in New York and making friends for the first time. Last summer was this electric amazing summer for me, and I wanted to capture it in my music, whereas “Jesus” takes you to this really dark place in my life. That’s what I love to do with my music, take people on the journey with me, and if they can sympathize with that, that’s great. I love it and apparently people can too.
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OTW: What is your writing process like?
Lilac: I feel a lot. And the thing that inspires me the most is really intense emotion and intense stuff. So whether it’s happiness or sadness, it doesn’t matter; it’s intense. So if I feel really strongly about something, I’ll write about it. It doesn't come all the time and sometimes it does, which is great. Writer's block isn’t a stranger to me. If someone is reading this and is having writer’s block, it will end.
People get really freaked out that they are going to have writer's block forever but it ends. You have to keep writing. You have to power through, and you’ll come out with a great song one day. I get inspired by other artists too, like Childish Gambino; he’s my biggest inspiration. Lana Del Rey is one of my biggest writing influences. Honestly, Shel Silverstein. I fuck with him. It’s super cool that he’s a children’s poet but his stuff is really deep. David Bowie, obviously. The process is coming up with a really good chord progression. If the chord progression is good, the song comes immediately.
OTW: How would you describe the scene you are in now?
Lilac: Instagram is everything, it’s huge. We’re DIY kids so we love making art. I love making art. I’m a very artistic person. I draw a lot and I paint a lot. My friends are all artists of some degree. But I’m really a part of the DIY movement which is about genuine art and appreciating that and trying to keep that alive in this age of everything being plastic and fake and generated on Instagram. My friends and I will throw punk shows with our Garageband friends, and we will go out and do stupid shit. We are all incredibly motivated people, like a lot of my friends are young professionals and are thriving in their industries as 17-year-olds, which is so inspiring. All my best friends are really doing big shit out here, not just in the music industry. And it’s all young women! My friends are all super progressive people and from all different walks of life. That’s a great part of New York, it’s a huge melting pot of everyone everywhere.
OTW: What is one piece of advice you would give to every girl out there?
Lilac: Be nice to other girls. It’s really important. I hate it when I’m literally just on the street and a girl glares at me because I am another girl. That is the most painful thing for me. Stop feeling like you are in competition with other women. We are all here being oppressed, actively. Let’s band together. Female companionship is one of the most beautiful things in the world. A woman and another woman being homies is the best thing ever so don’t close yourself off to it because you feel threatened by something that is enforced by the patriarchy. Women should not have to feel like they are in competition with each other because there is no competition, we’re all beautiful and amazing. Be nice to other women and be nice to younger women and older women, don’t be ageist about it. Just be nice to people and that will get you so far. It just makes you feel so good.
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OTW: If you were a crayon in a crayon box, what color would you describe yourself?
Lilac: Probably lilac. I’ve identified with that color my whole life. It’s definitely not my favorite color. I’ve just always identified with it because it's a fun color but there’s also depth to it. It’s not warm and it’s not cool, it’s right in between. My favorite color is pink though cause I’m a basic bitch. I love a warm pink but not hot pink, a salmon.
OTW: Who are your Ones To Watch?
Lilac: Isaac Dunbar, Leyla Blue, Mia Gladstone, Ren, Maud. I’d say those are my top picks, I fucking love those heads, they’re all pretty close friends of mine. I love being friends with other artists because they know what’s up. Also, Christian Leave and Ryan Woods, they both make really good music. Those are my homies.
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thesunlounge · 5 years
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Reviews 227: Kankyō Ongaku
In 2017, Light in the Attic initiated an ambitious project, one seeking to survey and contextualize the modern musical history of Japan. The first release in their so-called Japan Archival Series was Even a Tree Can Shed Tears: Japanese Folk & Rock 1969 -1975, an extensive celebration of Japan’s “New Music” scene. One of the artists that emerged from this era was Haruomi Hosono, whose discography the label visited during 2018 as part of their Haruomi Hosono Archival Series (which I covered extensively here), taking a slight detour from the more general overview of modern Japanese music to celebrate one of the world’s most enigmatic and creative sonic minds. And now, at the start of 2019, Light in the Attic’s Japan Archival Series resumes with the stunning Kankyō Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental, & New Age Music 1980 - 1990. 
An introductory essay by project mastermind Spencer Doran (and a complimentary Vinyl Factory interview) paint an incredible picture of unique moment in history, when the lines between pop art, science, corporate capitalism, and new age healing all seemed to blur together. Heady modern philosophies inspired by Eno, Satie, and ancient musical traditions such as Hosono’s “oceanic feeling” and “sightseeing music,” Satoshi Ashikawa’s notions of passive environmental ambiance, and Hiroshi Yoshimura’s modes of silent tranquility all came to life within a period of great economic prosperity and technological advancement, which afforded the myriad artists and sound designers new methods and experimental avenues to display their vibratory art. This was a time when corporations, exhibition curators, theater producers, fashion designers, and advertisers all sought out musical explorers, both popular and obscure, to create wonderfully experimental compositions in conversation with the environments that surrounded them….a time when you could walk through a museum or department store and hear deeply mystical or adventurously cosmic music spilling out into the air. As well, the essay traces how Japanese environmental music, or kankyō ongaku, adapted and expanded over time, specifically its folding in of new age textures and natural field recordings as people sought an escape from the frantic energies of modern life. 
Visually, the collection is adorned with gorgeous photography of the Fumihiko Maki-designed Iwasaki Art Museum, a location and architect that both play a large role in this musical story. And beyond the introductory essay, there are well-researched descriptions and bios by Spencer and Yosuke Kitazawa that provide context and history for each and every track, with contemporaneous photos, fliers, and album covers accompanying the words. Musically, the set comprises a completely immersive and beautifully sequenced experience, one that features glowing electric piano dreamscapes, minimalist organ psychedelics, aquatic synth experimentations, spiritual stone meditations, tropical fusion glides, kosmische sound baths, underwater ambient adventures, and so much else besides. In this way, the compilation is also positioned within a larger context…a sort of global movement of space music, new age, and ambient that Light in the Attic has been exploring via their I Am the Center and (The Microcosm) collections, with Kankyō Ongaku seeking to do for Japan what those releases did for America and Europe, respectively. 
Kankyō Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental, & New Age Music 1980 - 1990 (Light in the Attic, 2019) Though his life was tragically short, Satoshi Ashikawa looms large in the world of kankyō ongaku, not only for his compositions and philosophies, but also due to working at the influential Art Vivant book and record shop, a sort of cultural hub and early importer of avant garde, ambient, and minimalist music within Japan. His “Still Space” sees crystallized FM pianos moving through starlight note clusters and atonal chord bursts, with a backing of vaporous string swells. The sounds evoke leaves blowing in the wind and slow motion ripples on the surface of a pond and Satoshi is just as interested in silence, with chasms of empty space sitting between the patient, methodical, and meditative melodies. Yoshio Ojima’s “Glass Chattering” is taken from Une Collection Des Chainons: Music for Spiral, his 2xCD masterwork created for Wacoal’s Spiral building…another important architectural space within the environmental music scene designed by Fumihiko Maki. Underwater computer sequences sound like seafloor vents letting out streams of liquid glass while space flutes swim overhead. The dazzling electronics briefly recede, leaving synthetic woodwinds to intertwine and flow freely. And once the vibrant sequential patterns return, melancholic orchestrations are discernible within their movements, only obscured by watery percolations. Pale synth streaks drift on echowaves then fade away during a false ending, with the silence soon replaced by a looping vortex of polychromatic music boxes and shimmering chimes with gentle pads walking underneath…their spacious notes decaying through reverb caverns.
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One of my favorite aspects of this compilation is how it goes out of its way to pay tribute to Hideki Matsutake, the un-official fourth member and sound programmer of Yellow Magic Orchestra and expert synthesizer technician who rarely gets his due. “Nemureru Yoru” was originally conceived as a novelty sleep aid and is presented here in its instrumental form. Wavering pads and whistling sequences generate playful vibes of childlike wonder before fading into a phaser-blasted drone expanse, wherein pillowy 808 kicks sit below synthetic approximations of traintrack clicks and dripping liquids. And as heatwave static mirages create psychedelic patterns that wrap around the body, dreamtime arps constructed from filtering feedback flutters lull the mind into relaxation. Then comes a track by Ayuo Takahashi, who spent his teens jamming with Ryuichi Sakamato and those lords of molten psychedelia Fushitsusha before embarking on an adventurous solo career marrying modern electronics and ancient and medieval musical traditions. “Nagareru” is intensely beautiful and starts with gentle piano arpeggios intertwining with waterfall solo cascades as shimmering bell strands and twinkling chime vibrations suffuse the background. String synths and kosmische organs swell with majestic orchestrations while Ayuo’s piano journeys into the clouds…all setting the stage for the introduction of Koharu Kisaragi, a radiant goddess whose cosmic angel voice soars through gaseous fx layers and star ocean expanses.
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Of all the artists appearing here, Joe Hisashi has one of the most storied careers. He’s a musical polyglot, equally comfortable exploring anime and video game OSTs, classical music, and vocal pop. But for Kankyō Ongaku, we focus on Joe’s more obscure and psychedelic side with Wonder City Orchestra’s “Islander.” Owing to his early interests in American minimalism, “Islander” is deeply indebted to Terry Riley, with bubbly organ patterns moved over by ring modulated steel drum sequences and aquamarine pad swells. Rainforest drum panoramas work into the mix with rolling finger motions and sunshine rhythm energies while kosmische organ smears swirl like a galactic gas cloud. And best of all, psychoactive organ pulsations fly through time-lag accumulators, creating rapid motion dreamspells and hypnotizing crystal cascades. Yoshiaki’s Ochi “Ear Dreamin’” is another piece closely associated with Wacoal and the Spiral Building, though it was originally written as part of a stage performance entitled Natural Sonic from 1983. Layered mbiras, balafons, bell-tone shimmers, and lullaby chimes work together as whistling melodies fly through the sky…everything coming together for a polyrhythmic dance of idiophonic magic. Mermaid choirs float up from deep sea depths as wooden planks vibrate, metal tines oscillate, and bulbous gourds rattle and dazzling solo flights occasionally break-free from the Afro-minimalist dream weavings.
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The liner notes cast Masashi Kitamura as somewhat of an outsider, one more involved with Japan’s prog, punk, and noise scenes than anything overlapping with kankyō ongaku. However, “Variation·III” from 1984, which was released with his band Phonogenix, fits nicely within this compilation’s larger sonic aesthetic, as triangle chimes ring out over waves of water and static. Bleary ambient tones drift in…as if funereal choirs and swells of synth and guitar ambiance have been submerged within a viscous gray fluid. Thunderous drum smacks sit loudly in the mix while mutating vibrato waves and currents of burning noise wash over the mind and at some point, bowed string instruments scream into the void. One of several Haruomi Hosono-produced tracks here is “Park” by Interior. Clicks and snaps background impressionistic smears of synth brass while drunken sequences dance through fragile melodies. Time flows in nonsensical ways and everything cycles according to a hazy dream logic as the track builds towards a climax of whip-crack drum fx and heavenly organs playing spring meadow hymns. The next track was produced by Sankai Juku dance troupe director and SCI Prophet-5 wizard Yoichiro Yoshikawa for a documentary series called The Miracle Planet (NHK, 1987). In “Nube,” galactic revolutions of aquatic synthesis surround massive bass waves and obscured male choirs that mutate through tremolo breaths. Thrilling filter ascents are immersed within sea-blue vortices and currents of black fog while elsewhere, feedback wisps and spiritual drone baths circle together.
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Yoshio Suzuki has a rather impressive jazz background, having worked with titans such as Art Blakey and Sonny Rollins during the 70s before exploring softer sounds in the 80s via the use of synthesizers. Taken from Morning Picture, which was produced as part of series of ambient home listening releases by JVC, “Meet Me in the Sleep Meadow” finds hallucinatory synth pianos swimming through a thick haze, with all sorts of magical modulations added via tape warble and wow’n’flutter. And as Yoshio’s gentle Oberheim fantasias move above wispy swells, I’m reminded of the spaciousness and meditative wonder found in Satoshi Ashikawa’s work. Ryuichi Sakamoto needs no introduction and his “Dolphins” (from a dance piece by Molissa Fenley called Esperanto) is utterly beguiling, with aqueous swells of heaven bringing in reverb-smothered piano chords that seem to decay from infinite clifftops. Backwards flowing noise hazes and sea-form delay sprays sit above cut-up voices, skittering cyborg loops, staccato conversations, and droning machine breaths, all while Yas-Kaz’s improvised marimbas dance on sunbeams. One of the most interesting pieces here comes from Toshi Tsuchitori, originally a jazz drummer who drifted towards archeological musicology and ancient instrumentation. His “Ishiura” is played on sanukaito stones and sees earthen energies flowing forth from vibrating volcanic rocks. A tambourine rattles softly as Toshi creates vocal tremolo waves and overlapping resonances from stone, with his soft taps and violent bursts sometimes evoking wind chimes, other times a gamelan ensemble.
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Shiho Yabuki is yet another figure who started in the world of jazz and then opened up her sound via synthesizers and research into traditional musics. In “Tomoshibi,” which is part of an album dedicated to the 1200th anniversary of the Enryaku-ji monastery, gemstone feedback fluids waver through the void…as if hallucinatory streaks of sonic mesmerism are flowing forth from a string instrument made of pure crystal. Soft plucks generate massive rainbow wavefronts while celestial zithers cascade on echo-currents and as it progresses, the track evolves into a hypnotic dance of purifying feedback melodics and Laraaji-style deep sea new age. Toshifumi Hinata produced “Chaconne” with his brother Daisuke, who was a member of Interiror. The song comes from Toshifumi’s first album Sarah’s Crime and presages his breakthrough as a TV and film composer.  We begin with sirens calling out from an island of dreams…their voices flowing through pearlescent clouds of self-oscillating delay magic and constantly threatening to spill over into resonant feedback chaos. Cosmic harpsichord sequences dance through asteroid fields and melodious bass pads flow out from the center of the cosmos with lush symphonic movements and shadowy dream transitions. Klaus Schulze-style key changes swim within a kosmische sound bath…the sequences and melodic fogs sweeping upwards through minor and major key ecstasies as pianos splash through tide pools of ether.
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The adventurously far-out career of Yasuaki Shimizu intersected often with the world of kankyō ongaku, many examples of which were collected on 1987’s Music for Commercials. “Seiko 3” comes from this release and sees Yasuaki scoring a Seiko watch commercial alongside sound designer Seigen Ono. But this seemingly shallow corporate concept betrays the deep mysticism of the music, as starlight sequences and ever-flowing chime strands descend across universal expanses. Pulsing brass pads blare out and gentle submarine pings float through the ether while breathtaking polysynth movements swell in strength…the soul floating towards a cloud paradise of unimaginable color before it all cuts away. The krautrock and kosmische inspired synth fantasias and pastoral prog dreamscapes of Inoyama Land caught the attention of Haruomi Hosono in the early 80s, whole then produced and released their stunning Danzindan-Pojidon LP. “Apple Star” comes from that album and explores sunshine minimalism as played on alien sequencers. Filtering and morphing synths dance in each ear with hypnotizing patterns of futurist psychedelia while  Solina string orchestrions fly through ecstasy phasers. Hosono’s water tank delay system gives the whole track a sort of mystic sic-fi aura, as ancient earth materials are used for space age purposes. Sparkling chime strands work into the mix…these thrilling descents up and down the scale that weave fairytale polyrhythms and seascape panoramas, all while the ever pulsating keyboard patterns induce paradise trance states and interstellar string melodies swell the heart.
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Like Satoshi Ashikawa, the influence of Hiroshi Yoshimura on kankyō ongaku is hard to overstate…an intrepid pioneer and cultural historian who wrote extensively about sound art and whose music found its way into “prefab model homes, train stations, public pavilions, cosmetic companies, and fashion shows,” in addition to traditional avenues of release. “Blink,” taken from Music for Nine Post Cards, is built around dreamy electric piano conversations that flow across the stereo field. Inspired by the view from Hiroshi’ss window, the music evokes cloud shadows moving over serene landscapes, hypnotic snowfall motions, grey waves crashing to shore, boats rocking gently in a paradise lagoon, the growth of grass, and the fluttering of butterfly wings. And ever so often, the hazy piano dream weavings are back by softly swelling strings and ambient orchestral gases. Cosmic prog and stoner psych legends Far East Family Band proved to be fertile breeding ground for new age music, with Kitaro, Fumio Miyashita, and Akira Ito all going on to have long careers of exploratory sonic healing. Fumio Miyashita’s “See the Light” appears here and begins within a world of soul-cleansing sonic mesmerism. Smeared out pads hover on the horizon and bass synths waltz though a forest clearing…the warm and enveloping notes moving through dew-soaked meadows while flowers open to the sunrise. As regal french horns stretch into a mystical haze, airs of Indian classical music start suffusing the harmonious drones…the track evolving into a sort of sunrise raga colored over by relaxing modulations.
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As just mentioned, The Far East Family band also launched the career of new age nature healer Akira Ito, who spent a long and productive career exploring the theme of yasuragi (translated in the liner notes as “peace of mind”). “Praying for Mother / Earth Part 1” sees a Floydian space prog ceremonial hovering above a mystical river. Rick Wright-style synth brass meditations and luminescent black hole drones recall “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” while bell-tone sequences fade in and out of the galactic ether. Frogs, birds, and insects grow increasingly ecstatic while helicopter oscillations swarm within a dark sonic mist and moving towards the end, celestial pads and angel voices join together for enchanting songs of sadness. Perhaps my favorite piece here comes form Takashi Toyoda, something of a child prodigy with an incredible range as evidenced by his participation in both the New Japan Philharmonic and the Taj Mahal Travellers. In “Snow,” trance inducing minimalist patterns swim through an astral sea of dreams as flutey synth bubbles dance around dreamworld melodies of overwhelming beauty. Majestic key changes sweep the spirit away to cloud castle utopias where pure white snow falls onto the slopes of an eternal mountain....the whole thing strongly evoking Emerald Web. And the ethereal vibes of harmony are pushed over the edge by Takashi’s lonely violin fantasias while golden gloss drops of feedback descend onto the mix like shooting stars. It’s one of the most magically transportive tracks I’ve ever heard…the kind of music that could heal the world...with pure starshine flows of light and love immersing the soul.
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Jazz fusion and synthesizer master Jun Fukamachi appears with “Breathing New Life,” which was originally produced to accompany a fashion show. Ritualistic drums move side to side as ceremonial metals swell. Space winds blow over bubble-synth sequences…these softly squelching dream patterns flowing beneath feedback streaks and joyous drum clatters. Marimba solos dance on tropical clouds and bring vibes of island balearica and solar fusion, while swelling choirs radiate shadow energies. And as golden glitter hazes rain over the mix, ethereal voices and epic atmospheres wrap the heart in hues of sky blue and sunset orange. The inclusion of “Loom” by Yellow Magic Orchestra is another tribute to Hideki Matsutake, as this is the only YMO song co-written by Hideki. Based around the Shepard-Risset glissando illusion, the track keeps the mind and body in a constant state of anxious anticipation as interlaced sine waves continually ascend. There is a powerful yearning for melodic alignment...some sort of heavenly convergence of harmony and sonic power and indeed such a moment eventually arrives as massive pipe-organ dronewaves fly forth and recall the score of 2001: A Space Odyssey. All the while, ping-pong balls made of electronic energy bounce through infinite hallways and as the towering organ chords recede, they leave behind a contemplative weaving of blurred synthesis, with springtide orchestrations reso-filtered into glowing phaserfluids.
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Takashi Kokubo’s Get at the Wave has featured prominently on this blog, and shows up here in the form of “A Dream Sails Out to Sea - Scene 3.” Seafloor choirs diffuse through flowing ocean layers alongside aqueous pinging tones and cascading pianos. The strange asymmetrical floating motions of exotic sea-creatures are evoked by drunken tremolos and warbling delays and eventually, the pianos work into a swooning post-classical love song as long flowing chime strand intertwine with wondrous harp runs. Masahiro Sugaya’s “Umi No Sunatsubu,” like most of his recorded work, comes from a theater production by the group Pappa Tarahumara (called Zoo of the Sea). Plinking upright pianos are close mic’d, with multiple layers drifting over each other. The sounds are old and detuned with no fx or overt production tricks…just strange ivory mesmerisms moving untethered through space and time. Kankyō Ongaku ends perfectly, with an expansive polysynth solo meditation from Haruomi Hosono called “Original BGM”. Here he is…stripped free of the concepts, the ironic humors, the sort of mercurial distance he typically maintains…baring his heart and soul through warm fantasias of synthetic brass. Sometimes he dances through single note dream spells, the decaying tails wavering through balmy modulations. Other times, hovering chord clusters transitions into descending runs that seem to fall over themselves, with occasional flights into soaring resonant feedback. It’s ethereal, exploratory, and deeply entrancing…a relaxing and impressionistic rendering of the cycles of nature.
(images from my personal copy)
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potterwhos · 6 years
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What is Rey’s Failure?
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In light of the recent discussions, some of them heated, within the fandom about the proposal scene in The Last Jedi, I wanted to ask this question: What is Rey’s failure?
I think the confusion or uncertainty around this key question is kind of the root of the discussion and why emotions can run high. Contrast with what I see as a widely-held assumption that this type of discussion is a reaction toward anti and general fandom Kylo-bashing. Though there is a bit of that as well, we are all of course human and biased.
I must add that this piece does not apply to those who were character-bashing Rey, such as in the post (probably made by an anti-Rey and/or anti-Reylo, who knows…) that sparked the latest round of this discussion. However, the differing interpretations of this scene, particularly in regards to Rey and/or Ben’s culpability, I kind of always knew would blow up in a way.
Before I answer this key question, I have to go back and ask: Does Rey even fail in The Last Jedi?
The answer many would expect is “Yes” for multiple reasons, two big ones within the film that point to this answer being true are:
1.      Because TLJ’s main theme is Failure – “The greatest teacher, failure is” – and all the central heroes, Finn, Poe, and Luke, experience an arc about learning from failure. Of course, Rey must have experienced failure too???
This meta by @starwarsnonsense explains this theme beautifully: The Last Jedi: A Beautiful and Exquisitely Emotional Film About the Lows and Highs of Failure
2.      The Skywalker legacy saber, which so easily went to the “worthy” Rey instead of Kylo in The Force Awakens, is broken in two after an intense tug-of-war between these same two characters in an obvious call back to that scene in TFA. Is Rey no longer worthy???
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This meta on the Star Wars site explains the Excalibur-like qualities of the legacy saber: STUDYING SKYWALKERS: EXCALIBUR AND THE LIGHTSABER
So, yes, I believe the film leads you to believe that Rey experiences failure. However, this becomes murky during the emotional climax of the movie, the Praetorian fight sequence and particularly the Proposal Scene.
Up until this point, it is clear who the lead central character of the film is – it’s Rey. Her active decisions have driven the narrative and her emotional and inner conflicts as she learns more about the Skywalker tragedy and confronts her own tragic childhood have been the focus. Kylo’s appearances through the Force Bond have served to help Rey on this journey of discovery and self-discovery; he plays his role as her Shadow and Animus to a tee.
However, once Kylo kills Snoke to save Rey, the title for TLJ’s lead central character becomes contested. In the third act of the film, Kylo’s active choices, both heroic and villainous, start to drive the narrative and it is his internal conflict that is brought to the forefront. The second character vying for the title during the third act is not Rey; it is Luke for reasons similar to the ones stated above.
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During the third act, after she escapes the Throne Room, Rey practically disappears relative to how central she was during the rest in the movie. With the exception of the Rock Lifting scene, Rey becomes a more reactionary character, similar to how she was in TFA. The abruptness of this character relapse was like whip-lash for many.
@reylo-trash-lives-here wonderfully explains here how this relapse sees Rey reverting back to hiding behind her persona.
I must point out, that I’m not saying this makes Rey’s character or characterization weak. Star Wars is more of an ensemble story than most, and Kylo and Luke kind of overtaking Rey in the third act was bound to happen, since the film leads up to it – something I’ll get back to.
So, the primary focus on Kylo Ren/Ben Solo during the third act means that it is his failure that takes central stage and gets narrative priority. Kylo’s failure being his unwillingness to reject his destructive ways and his failing to see how the preservation/creation that Rey represents is the more morally right way. I won’t say that it is the definitive right way, since as Rian Johnson has hinted at in recent interviews, destruction isn’t always 100% wrong since it can lead to rebirth, though not without creation.
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But still, Kylo is only offering destruction via an organization not averse to genocide that seeks galactic domination. Rey’s rejection of his offer is not only morally right it is narratively right.
Once again, the question remerges with more fervor: What exactly does Rey fail at?
And many people’s instinct is to go to the point where it all crumbled, where it all blew up in flames – the Proposal Scene. Since it is obvious what Kylo’s failure was in the scene, many of us, myself included, find ourselves putting a magnifying glass on Rey’s reactions and actions in this scene to try to see the cracks, to see the hints of failure.
We point out her impulsiveness, her inability to bargain with Kylo, how her reaching out for the saber could have potentially triggered Kylo due to the events of Luke’s betrayal, and how her emphasis on saving the Resistance might be perceived by Kylo as her only wanting him for his power akin to Snoke and arguably Luke.
But would Rey changing any of these aspects of herself and her behavior really have resulted in Kylo rejecting his destructiveness and joining Rey in the Light? Similarly, did Kylo’s gentleness, expressed longing, and acknowledgement of Rey’s choice, elements that were absent during his TFA proposal and major reasons why she violently rejected him then, result in Rey embracing his destructive dogma and accepting his offer?
No, I think nothing would have changed because they agree on wanting to be together but fundamentally disagree on what that union will mean. You can still point out the flaws of both Rey and Kylo in this scene since they do both break each other’s hearts. However, getting rid of those flaws, particularly in Rey’s case, would not have resulted in a different outcome.
Still, because Rey is not only morally right, but also narratively right it would have to be on Ben, not Rey, to yield in this instance to be one step closer to galactic peace and balance, but more importantly his own inner peace and balance.
@greyjedireylo concisely explains how Ben hiding behind his shadow is the ultimate flaw he must overcome here.
On the other hand, @reylohasmyheart explains beautifully why Kylo’s rejection of Rey’s offer was needed for both his redemption and romantic relationship with Rey going forward:
We must first ask, why do we think the separation of Rey and Kylo is a failure to begin with? And why do we think Rey is equally to blame for it?
This is where, understandably, there is confusion. Many of us assume this because, visually, the film seems to want to tell us this by having the legacy saber split in two. It seems, the Force has found some fault in Rey, has found her less worthy than she was on Starkiller Base. Kylo now seems to be equally worthy since the saber actually answers his pull unlike in TFA.
However, I would argue that this broken saber symbolizes that the Force’s endgame is for Rey and Kylo to work together, to be together. Not necessarily in that specific moment in Snoke’s throne room, but in general. In TFA, the saber identified Rey as Ben’s equal – “It is you”. In TLJ, the saber symbolizes their broken union (and their broken hearts). I don’t think its main symbolic purpose is to symbolize failure, on either Rey or Kylo’s parts. Rather, it just symbolizes the fact they are separated and something is inherently wrong with this separation.
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So there it is again, that pervasive question, then what is Rey’s failure?
Indeed all the other central heroes and villain failed: Finn, Poe, Luke, and Kylo. Some people pointed out, and both celebrated and criticized (fairly and unfairly), that TLJ seems to be about women teaching boys to become men. Does that mean Rey escaped failure because she occupies a female teacher role like Lea, Holdo, and Rose?
No, I believe Rey does fail. Though I would argue compared to Kylo’s hard failure, Rey experiences a soft failure (I’ll explain what I mean below). And this failure does not blatantly happen during one climactic scene, unlike Kylo, it subtlety takes place throughout the film.
Okay, now this is the part where you must try to forgive me. I recently read The Heroine’s Journey by Maureen Murdock and From Girl to Goddess by Valerie Frankel, both delving into the mythic structure of the Heroine’s Journey. However, I don’t have those books in my possession right now and will have to rely on memory while crudely paraphrasing some the concepts they discussed. If anyone reading this has access to these books, correct me if you find any inaccuracies.
So part of the Heroine’s Journey is Animus Development and part of that development involves the heroine identifying with the masculine. I believe this is during the second stage of animus development which is man as a man of action or a romantic man. In TLJ, Rey has two animus figures, Luke (the father figure) and Kylo (the shadow animus/animal husband).
During this stage, the Heroine is confronted by the powerful dogma of her animus. In Rey’s case, both Luke and Kylo are negative animus figures because Luke’s dogma emphasizes self-destruction and inaction, while Kylo’s dogma emphasizes self-destruction and outward destruction. However, despite these constricting dogmas, the heroine finds herself depending on her animus; she identifies too much with the masculine and shuns the feminine.
She believes that her animus knows what’s best, it is her animus that has the power to change things, and that it will be her animus that ultimately saves the day.
The heroine must overcome this over-dependence; she must acknowledge the power and strength of the feminine within her as well. She must recognize that she can be the hero of the story.
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In TLJ, Rey first goes to Ach-To to try and convince Luke to once again wear the hero’s mantle. When she fails at this, she instead focuses her efforts on Ben Solo who she has convinced herself will be the Resistance’s only hope due to her failure with Luke as well as her own (as of now unacknowledged) personal desires. After Kylo rejects joining her and the Resistance, Rey finally comes to the realization that she can use her own power to become the hero (and the symbolic mother) of the Resistance which is signified when she lifts the rocks and helps the Resistance escape the caves.
@clairen45 points out the use of symbolism during the Crait battle and it is a fascinating read: Crait and Symbolism: blood, wounds, salt, foxes, the mother and the nest.
This lovely discussion started by @reylohasmyheart talks about how Rey’s unacknowledged desires may have affected the Throne Room scene.
This positive change within the heroine positively affects her animus figures. Luke regains hope and springs back into action by sacrificing himself to save the Resistance. He restores hope in the galaxy and starts the healing process of his nephew. Kylo’s positive change is hinted at in their final force bond scene where he kneels to Rey and must confront the truth that power for the sake of destruction will not bring him peace or happiness. Because of the heroine’s effect on her animus figures, it becomes more understandable that Kylo and Luke, rather than Rey, are thrust into the forefront of the narrative during the third act.
So, this means that one aspect of Rey’s failure in The Last Jedi is that she did not believe herself to be a hero.
However, this brings up more questions.
1.      Does this mean Rey seeing the light in Ben and his potential for good was wrong?
2.      Does this mean Rey ever believing Ben could be redeemed and turn to the light was wrong?
3.      Does this mean Rey ever extending compassion, understanding, and belief to Ben was a weakness that she overcame by the end of The Last Jedi when she shut the door?
4.      Does this mean that Rey’s journey in The Last Jedi was about her learning more about Ben in order to, in the end, strictly identify herself as the hero and him as the irredeemable evil villain?
Many people, not us within the Reylo fandom of course, have suggested these as the lessons Rey learns from her failure in TLJ. These conclusions are troublesome because, first, they strongly go against the themes and values presented within the Star Wars franchise.
Second, due to the subtextual journey of sexual awakening/exploration Rey goes on within TLJ, these lessons present pretty problematic conclusions on female sexuality. That it is a weakness that detracts from logical and moral thought, that its desires should not be pursued freely, that in the end, young women should listen to old men like Luke and repress their sexual desires in order to succeed.
@corseque wrote a fun and eye-opening film analysis exploring the sexual imagery utilized within The Last Jedi: a long and specific The Last Jedi meta - (spoilers)
I think being confronted with these incredibly faulty interpretations, has made some of us (it has admittedly made me) look for reasons to explain why the separation was wrong (for the general story direction this is correct, but not within the context of this movie it isn’t) and to look for what Rey did wrong that partially caused this separation.
In the end, I must argue that (even if it pains me to say this because I really enjoy my heroes being wrong in key moments, heroes that make the audience truly question their morality, Rey is not that character, not yet or maybe never…) Rey is never wrong during The Last Jedi. Yes, she is flawed, but she is never wrong. This is why I categorize Rey’s failure as a soft failure.
Her over-dependence on her animus and inability to see herself as a hero are both aspects of her failure, but due to the positive changes her experiencing and overcoming this failure has on herself and her animus figures, there is no better or more right alternative presented by the narrative. Unlike with Kylo, the better alternative presented by the narrative is to go to the Light Side, choose redemption.
So now we can finally answer: What is Rey’s Failure?
Rey’s failure is not that she ever reached out to Ben, is not that she ever believed he could be redeemed, and is not that she ever believed there was still good left in him. Rey’s failure is also not that she didn’t try to see where Ben was coming from when he proposed his fundamentally destructive offer, is not that she lacked empathy for Ben in that one crucial moment in the throne room, and is not that she didn’t try to meet him in the middle during this emotionally volatile moment for the both of them.
Rey’s true failure is believing that she could make anyone other than herself choose to be a hero.
And the lesson she learns is twofold. First, it isn’t that Ben must redeem himself completely on his own. Rey can still offer him the choice of redemption; the very fact that she did not kill him in the throne room leaves her offer open. But it must be Ben who chooses to be the hero. Second, Rey can be her own hero and therefore a hero for others.
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stairset · 6 years
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Since the series finale is coming up I wanna talk about all my absolute favorite Rebels episodes, in the order they aired bc ranking them would be so hard and I'm lazy, and why I love them because I feel like I owe it to a show that's been a huge part of my life for the last few years and was one of the things that got me through the nightmare that is the teenage years.
Rise of the Old Masters: I think every good show has that one great episode early on that just tells you "this is gonna be a good show, we have a plan" and gets you hooked, and I believe this was that episode for Rebels. Spark of Rebellion was a solid start, Droids in Distress and Fighter Flight were slower episodes to help you get to know the characters a bit more, and then this episode is, for lack of a better term, when shit started getting real. Ezra and Kanan's relationship starts developing, the Grand Inquisitor is introduced in person and makes a great first impression, we get some of our first major Clone Wars connections, etc. It also uses Yoda's famous "do or do not" line to deliver a nice message. "I'm not gonna TRY to teach you anymore. If all I do is try, that means I don't truly believe I can succeed, so from now on, I WILL teach you".
Path of the Jedi: Once again, Kanan and Ezra both have a lot of development here, both as a team and as individuals. The crazy visions that Ezra experiences were some of the darkest and most intense things in the show at the time, and Frank Oz guest appearing as Yoda's voice and Ezra finally constructing his own lightsaber are both great crowd pleasing moments. It also happens to be the first appearance of the world between worlds, though neither Ezra or the audience realized it at the time, which just goes to show how far back the writers planned everything out.
Call To Action: Tarkin makes his debut and calls out our other villains on their relative incompetence throughout the season, even going so far as to, erm, make an example of two of them, and succeeds where they have failed, even capturing Kanan in the process. Despite the cliffhanger, it's a bittersweet ending as the crew does succeed in their mission to deliver a message of hope to Lothal and the surrounding systems. This is where the stakes start to raise, and it shows.
Fire Across the Galaxy: Ending the first season with a bang, the crew rescues Kanan on Tarkin's star destroyer above Mustafar, the stolen TIE from Fighter Flight actually ends up being relevant, the Grand Inquisitor is sent off in the perfect way, the crew joins with Pheonix Squadron, giving us our earliest look at the growing rebellion, and of course the moment everyone remembers, the reintroduction to Ahsoka Tano, and her former master not long after. It was the perfect way to end the first season while getting everyone hyped for the next.
The Siege of Lothal: Everyone was absolutely hyped for the season 2 premiere and it did not disappoint. While many worried that Vader would be toned down for the show, he proved to be as threatening as ever, outsmarting our heroes time and again, kicking Kanan and Ezra's asses, and putting his pilot skills to use by taking on the entirety of Pheonix Squadron himself. And of course there's the unforgettable scene where he and Ahsoka sense each other and James Earl Jones delivers the iconic, bone chilling line "the apprentice lives".
Stealth Strike: This episode was just fun, plain and simple. Kanan and Rex's bickering, Ezra's interactions with Sato, it was all hilarious and entertaining. It was sweet seeing Kanan and Rex finally start getting along, and it also happens to be one of the few times Commander Sato played a major role in an episode. Despite Sato's fairly minor role in the show I always liked him, so seeing him in the action with the lead characters was nice.
The Future of the Force: The Inquisitors are after force sensitive children to ensure that they don't grow up to become Jedi, and it's up to Ezra, Kanan, Zeb and Ahsoka to stop them. Kanan, Ezra and Zeb having to get out of the apartment building with the Inquisitors hot on their trail was intense and lead to an entertaining chase through town, and it all culminated in the elic fight between Ahsoka and the Inquisitors where we see her brandish her white lightsabers for the first time. The episode also serves as a bit of a continuation of the Clone Wars season 2 premiere, in which Sidious hires Cad Bane to help carry out a very similar plot.
Legacy: The episode starts off intense with the Empire attacking the Rebels at their current location after Ezra accidentally gave it away in the previous episode, while the rest is much slower, as Ezra follows a trail of force breadcrumbs to Ryder Azadi, from whom he finally learns the tragic fate of his parents. I think I speak for a lot of people when I expected him to reunite with them, so the revelation of their deaths was a bit of a shocker, and Ezra's reaction, his vison of being with them on a better Lothal, and Kanan's statement that they'll live on in him were all beautifully tearjerking.
Shroud of Darkness: Even though this episode basically exists for the purpose of setting up the season finale, it still stands on its own as a fan favorite, and rightfully so. Our Jedi Trio of Ezra, Kanan and Ahsoka see lots of cool, trippy visions in the Lothal temple, including the Grand Inquisitor and the revelation of his backstory, the return of Frank Oz as Yoda (this time face to face), and of course Ahsoka getting confirmation that Vader really is her old master, with Matt Lanter reprising his role. The episode also has a number of iconic shots, including the temple guard avatars surrounding the Inquisitors, Ahsoka seeing Yoda in an homage to The Last Crusade, and Vader entering the Lothal temple at the end to meet with his Inquisitors in person.
Thhe Mystery of Chopper Base: A rather straight forward adventure, featuring the crew having to rescue Rex from some creepy ass spider creatures. Like Stealth Strike, this episode is simply fun. It's got so many great interactions between our main crew. But there's also a lingering feeling of dread throughout because, because you know there gonna be separated soon and that something's gonna go wrong because, well, it's Star Wars. It leads into the season finale perfectly.
Twilight of the Apprentice: We all remember this one. We all remember our exact reactions to everything in it. Maul is introduced, Ezra starts being tempted by the dark side, the Inquisitors are all killed off, Kanan is blided, and of course Ahsoka and Vader have their climactic duel that was built up for the whole season and did not disappoint, and the last minute or so simply showing the aftermath of everything that happened as “It’s All Over” plays is so effective with absolutely no dialogue. Not only that, but, and I’ve said this before, this episode is also the point where all the big parts of the timeline directly come together. In this episode, Rebels, Clone Wars, the prequels, the originals and even the sequels are all directly connected in a way that they never were before, and it’s not until a later episode that they’re all connected on that same level again. This episode, and subsequently the whole show, is the fulcrum of the Star Wars saga.
The Holocrons of Fate: Maul makes his return and has his sights set on both the Sith holocron from Malachor and Kanan’s Jedi holocron so that he can combine their power to learn any knowledge he desires. This leads to our mind-blowing climax in which Maul learns through the light of the holocrons that Obi-wan is still alive and sets off to find him, while Ezra sees a vision of twin suns, also pointing to Obi-wan, albeit in a less direct way. While the whole episode is entertaining the ending is truly what sets its place as one of the best simply because of the epic factor.
The Last Battle: This episode is simply a half hour of pure unadultered Clone Wars nostalgia and I loved every goddamn second of it. Everything from the battle of Christophsis soundtrack to the return of the droid humor from tcw to General Kalani from the Onderon arc being there to the heroes having to team up with the droids thanks to Ezra being the voice of reason and making them realize they were all just pawns for Palpatine and he is their true enemy, and the yellow Clone Wars style title card at the end with the Clone Wars theme playing during the credits, it’s just a giant love letter to the entire Clone Wars fanbase, a thank you for helping the crew get where they are today. It shows how much they truly appreciate their fans, which shouldn’t be a rare thing with content creators but it is.
An Inside Man: I have a sorta complicated relationship with Agent Kallus, who I guess isn’t an agent anymore but that’s beside the point. I don’t like him that much as I feel his redemption arc could’ve been handled much better and he could’ve done more to earn it, which I’ve talked about before. Yet despite this, I love not only this episode but another Kallus centered episode later on that I’ll get to. This whole episode is intense and excited. Mister Sumar, a minor character from season 1, is reintroduced only to be brutally killed by Thrawn, seeting the stakes for the episode, and establishing Thrawn as an effective villain. While Thrawn’s episodes before this one were more about him simply studying the heroes from behind the scenes, this is the point where he starts taking direct action against the heroes, and does it damn well. He figures out all their tricks that all the Imperials before him overlooked, and Kanan and Ezra only barely get out.
Visions and Voices: Maul returns once again to finish his mind connection with Ezra, leading to the return to Dathomir where the ghosts of the Nightsisters serve as the Guest Appearance Of The Week and posess Kanan and Sabine in rather creepy ways, Ezra also discovers Obi-wan is alive while Maul finds out where he’s hiding, and of course Sabine gets her hands on the darksaber. Like Shroud of Darkness this episode exists just to set up a climactic fight in a later episode, but still stands on it’s own.
Trials of the Darksaber/Legacy of Mandalore: I put these together because they’re basically a two-parter and because I love them for largely the same reasons. These were the first Sabine episodes where she finally got some real, major development as a character. Previous Sabine centered episode seemed to all follow the pattern of “have some dialogue hinting at her backstory that we give away in the sneak peeks then no other answers” and it was frustrating because beyond that those episodes were solid episode, but the way they kept promoting them to be bigger than they were did effect my enjoyment of them at the time. These episode finally resolve that problem and give us payoff to all those hints, and boy was that payoff satisfying. We get the backstory of the darksaber, Sabine training, we’re finally introduced to her family, and the final battle between Sabine and Gar Saxon is simply epic.
Through Imperial Eyes: This is the other Kallus episode that I love despite my “meh” opinion of the character. The banter between Kallus and Ezra is very entertaining to watch, Kallus’s plan for framing Liste as the traitor to keep his cover is very clever, though obviously not clever enough to fool Thrawn, who once again proves to be a great villain and shows that he can hold his own in a physical fight, and of course Yularen appearing was cool.
Twin Suns: The long awaited final showdown between Obi-wan and Maul, who actually finally dies for good, like is really, seriously, legit, for real, in actuality, finally permanently dead, deceased, lifeless, killed, devoid of life, sleeping with the fishes, an ex-person. At first I was in the crowd of people who were like “what the fuck” at how quick he went out, but in analysis I wouldn’t have it any other way. It shows how much Obi-wan has wisened over the years whereas Maul never learned, never changed, and tried the same thing he did on Qui-Gon, and it proved to be his final downfall. The way Obi-wan holds Maul’s body in his arms the same way he did with both Qui-Gon and Satine so many years before, and shows sadness and pity that it couldn’t have turned out differently is absolutely beautiful and heartbreaking. The cartoons made Maul such an interesting character, and cemented him as one of my favorite villains, and I couldn’t ask for a better conclusion to this decades old rivalry.
Zero Hour: While not as mind blowing as the previous season’s finale, Zero Hour is still and intense and action packed way to conclude the season. We see the end of Pheonix Squadron and the beginnings of then true Rebel Alliance, Sato gets an epic and heroic send off, the fight in space with Ezra and the Mandos is epic, the Bendu gives us a glimpse of his true power, and Thrawn is as great a villain as ever. The whole thing is simply epic.
In The Name of the Rebellion: We finally saw the Rebel Alliance on Yavin 4 in all its glory, Saw makes a return and, as I said when the episodes first aired, I believe the Moral Ambiguity with his character, while still not perfect, was handled better here than in Ghosts of Geonosis, but i don’t feel like repeating myself so just look the post up if you haven’t read it already. Anyway Saw’s interactions with Ezra and Sabine were a lot of fun to watch, like if we’re still giving everyone space fmaily nicknames then Saw is like the slightly crazed but still kinda cool uncle in this episode. All the connections to Rogue One were a ton of fun to piece together, and it was great to finally see a giant kyber crystal that’s actually fully animated. Also Jennifer Hale was in it so that’s pretty neat.
Flight of the Defender: A very simple and straight forward episode. Ezra and Sabine steal the TIE defender prototype, they crash it and hide the hyperdrive, we meet the white lothwolf who helps them get back to their friends. I can’t even really explain why I like this one so much tbh, but I do.
Jedi Night/DUMJE: We all know why these episodes are here. I couldn’t ask for a more epic and heartbreaking send off for Kanan’s character, and I’m glad that they dedicated the entire following episode to showing how the rest of the cast deals with their grief in different way rather than glossing over it and immediately moving on to the Mortis stuff. It’s surprisingly rare for characters to get to properly grieve in this franchise despite death being so common. Obi-wan, Galen, Han, Luke, the entire population of Alderaan, the other characters have to get over these things pretty quickly so it’s nice to see a more realistic aftermath for once.
Wolves and a Door/A World Between Worlds: I’ve made my thoughts on these episodes very clear since they aired on Monday, which is that they are quite possibly the most mind blowing thing I’ve watched in a very long time. The connections to Mortis and callbacks to all the movies and to Clone Wars, the voices in the background, the beautifully animated moving pictures, the return of Ahsoka and the revelation of what happened to her, Sidious making his debute with Ian McDiarmid himself providing the voice, it’s all incredible to watch. Like I said about Twilight of the Apprentice, this episode is one of the few times where we get an idea of just how connected everything really is, that it’s all one big story. No wonder the two episodes are also so tightly connected to each other, they truly are where all the parts of the saga come together in ways they never could otherwise.
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trashartandmovies · 3 years
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Berlinale Film Festival 2021, Industry Event, Day 3
I was hoping to start Day Three off with another shot of highly-caffeinated filmmaking, so I honed in on another genre picture in the Berlinale Special section: Soi Cheang’s LIMBO. Like many other movies before it, LIMBO pairs a veteran cop (Gordon Lam, in good form) with an all-star rookie (Mason Lee) and puts them on the hunt of a serial killer. What makes LIMBO stand out from the rest is that it is shot in beautifully oily, textured black and white.
You can see from the one frame above that the movie is putting in some serious effort on the art design. Every time the cops leave the station, chances are they’re headed someplace that will put them knee deep in garbage. And thanks to the photography and attention to detail, you can practically smell the rotting refuse.
Unfortunately, the story doesn’t quite live up to the imagery. The script, written by Au Kin-Yee (whose previous work includes some co-writing credits on a few Johnnie To films), tries to put a socially conscious spin on the serial killer by making the victims marginalized, societal outcasts. But is this anything new? Aren’t the marginalized always the most vulnerable people? Isn’t an immigrant, junkie or prostitute always on a killer’s most wanted list? What makes it even less compelling is that there’s hardly an interesting motive to the madness. Unlike other grimy, big-city serial killer movies that feint toward social relevance (SEVEN), there’s no clever mastermind behind the killings. In fact, there’s any number of other cases that could have brought a pair of cops into these squalid environments and face-to-face with the city’s forgotten people. And maybe the plight of these people wouldn’t have felt so shoehorned into the story.
More interesting is the movie’s recurring theme of lost limbs. Yes, the title “Limbo” is a bit of wordplay, as many people in the movie are losing one appendage or another — sometimes by accident, sometimes through the use of a rusty, blunt tool. It’s a nice gory little motif that the movie makes hay out of, but again, it doesn’t go anywhere. As it turns out, this amputation fetish is the only interesting character detail that the movie bothers to give the killer. Otherwise, all we have is a standard, anonymous, non-speaking brute out of an 80s slasher movie. Perhaps most frustrating of all is that the film makes a step toward giving the killer a bit of sympathy early on, only to follow it up with some unnecessarily degrading action that stomps out that angle completely. What’s more interesting: watching police chasing after a faceless, voiceless, unsympathetic killer, or watching police being outwitted by a smart murderer who’s revealed to have some sort of messed up moral compass in place?
I wouldn’t go so far as to say LIMBO is a bad movie, just a frustrating one. There are some good intentions in here, and the movie looks fantastic, but if they’d put a bit more effort into creating a killer worthy of all the fuss, we’d be looking at a great addition to the genre. Oh, and the extremely hackneyed ending, which tries to pass itself off as tragic, doesn’t win it any points, either.
The second film of the day brings us back to the Competition section, and it was an extremely pleasant surprise. In fact, it was one of the best surprises of this year’s Berlinale (so far). With his second feature-length film, WHAT DO WE SEE WHEN WE LOOK AT THE SKY?, Georgian writer/director/editor Alexandre Koberidze establishes himself as an auteur with a strong and poetic vision for cinema.
Early on, I couldn’t help but flash on AMÉLIE. The two films have a few things in common: a narrator who gives the proceedings a fairy tale aspect, inanimate objects imbued with special powers, a will-they/won’t-they love story that starts on a chance encounter, a story that is as much focused on a neighborhood community as it is the two central characters… and yet WHAT DO WE SEE is a much different film. For starters, it’s far less manic. This is a very leisurely-paced film. One that lingers on people in cafés and sidewalk kiosks. One that likes to make digressions, like getting into the heads of some local dogs as they make plans on where to meet up during the football match. It also goes to some more supernatural places that other “whimsical” movies only hint at.
Some people will surely find the pace, the two-and-a-half hour running time, and the many diversions to be a problem. But I loved every minute of it. Both the pace and the running time achieve a certain purpose in immersing you in the local rhythms of Kutaisi, Georgia. At one point, we’re treated to an extended slo-mo sequence of kids playing football set to an anthemic pop song. It’s perhaps the most magical moment of the festival (so far).
There are many smaller moments like this throughout the film. They don’t move any plot along, necessarily, but each one feels like an important part of this universe we’re exploring — and that’s more to the point of the film. Alexandre Koberidze achieves something that few movies are capable of, which is making you see the world around you in a different way. More than telling a romantic story about two strangers, this is a film that makes the everyday feel magical, without any special effects or flashy camerawork. With patience, and a masterful yet deceptively simple use of sound and imagery, it turns the commonplace into profound delight. In this way, it’s shares a certain sensibility with Day One’s INTRODUCTION.
I’m not an expert on Hungarian cinema, but it’s safe to say that it can sometimes be described as unrelenting in its bleakness. Certainly, Day Two’s NATURAL LIGHT fits this description, as does FOREST - I SEE YOU EVERYWHERE. In some cases (again, see NATURAL LIGHT, or the films of Bela Tarr), this bleakness can be well-balanced by the poetics of imagery and pacing. In other cases, like this film, the darkness can simply wear you down.
A sequel of sorts to his 2003 film FOREST, this is a collection of short stories dealing with death and despair in Budapest. It’s well-acted and shot in an interesting way. The camera is always on the move, eager to cut to a close-up of someone’s hand, a gesture, a nuance. But it’s all very intense and agitated. There’s very little in the imagery and pacing to balance out the never ending bleakness, and it left me exhausted (and not in a good way).
What bothered me most about the movie, is that I kept wondering why the film didn’t take advantage of its short story structure. Why is each story hitting the same note? Why isn’t it using this opportunity to explore its themes with different tones — to build and release tension — to change things up even just a little bit? (Tomorrow, we’ll get into this again when WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY does exactly this with its short story structure.)
Actress Lilla Kizlinger won the Silver Bear for Best Supporting Actress, and it’s a deserved win. In the first story of the film, she gives what is essentially a harrowingly personal PowerPoint presentation to her father. It leads to an icy argument and a central point to the film: that life has a way of handing you situations where there are no easy answers or good outcomes, just different ways of coping. Without doubt, it’s a strong opening, but I can’t say the film builds or improves upon it during the 100 minutes that follow.
Day Three was put to rest with one of the strongest films in the Competition section, PETITE MAMAN, Céline Sciamma’s follow-up to PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE. Like MEMORY BOX, this is another film about a mother and her daughter, and the unusual manner in which they come closer together. Only this time, instead of a teenager looking at her mom’s old journals and photographs, we have an eight-year-old daughter getting a chance to talk and play with her mom when she was her age. That premise may sound touching and appealing, but the film is even more thoughtful and impactful than you’d expect.
PETITE MAMAN is also like SOCIAL HYGIENE in that it stems from an idea that emerged before lockdown, but is perfectly suited to the restrictions of a pandemic. It takes place in a remote location, there are approximately five actors in the film, two of them are children and the others mostly appear in scenes opposite those kids. But it hasn’t been limited by the restrictions. Sciamma has lovingly handcrafted the movie’s surroundings — the countryside cottages, a woodland hut, the scenery and costumes used when kids put on a show — and every detail feels perfectly right.
I won’t spoil much more about the movie. There is a time travel element to it, but it’s mostly a movie about a child coping with the loss of a family member, and getting a chance to visit the past, spend some more time with the loved one, as well as with her mom, who’s grown a bit elusive in the present day. In doing so, the child gets a better understanding of life and death, how and why people change over time, and the importance of the memories we carry with us. All this, despite being a movie that you could (and maybe should) watch with your own kids at some point. It is perhaps one of the most sophisticated family movies ever made.
None of this would work without Joséphine Sanz, who plays the time traveling kid Nelly, and Gabrielle Sanz who plays her mom as a child. This duo of sister actors are fascinating in their scenes together. They not only seem to have a genuine understanding of the meaning of the work their doing, they’re utterly believable in everything they do, which includes acting out improvised scenes from made-up detective stories. You could look at these play-acting scenes as just two kids having fun, but there are multiple layers going on there as these are the moments when Nelly is really getting closer to understanding who her mom is as an individual. It’s really some beautiful stuff. I wouldn’t be surprised if this becomes a classic family movie that future generations will grow up with and return to time and again. It’s a movie that has some things to teach us.
Ok for now. Tomorrow: a tragedy in Iran, a trifecta in Japan, and a psychedelic trip through Hawaii.
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I saw three movies in the last week. They were pretty different to each other, but I quite enjoyed all of them, so I'm resurrecting my film blog to write reviews of them. To 2018, and resolutions to write more!
Call Me By Your Name (2017) Dir: Luca Guadagnino
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I was very interested in this pre-release, even though I had never read the book. Luca Guadagnino caught my eye with 2015's A Bigger Splash, which is stylistically very familiar to CMBYN, and which I really enjoyed. Guadagnino shines in the aesthetic of his films, in the beautiful scenery and silences between sparse dialogue. Both create a languid, sumptuous mood - wealth and privilege on show, yet somehow not ostentatious to the viewer.
But where this mood creates distance and miscommunication between the characters of ABS, it brings the characters of CMBYN closer, creates warmth between them, bringing the viewer into Elio's extended family as easily as they welcome Oliver. The film is set over a summer in Northern Italy in 1983, and Guadagino skillfully captures the feeling of a slow, lazy summer pre-internet, where all there is for the teenaged main character, Elio (Timothée Chalamet), to do is lie around the pool swimming or reading, long family meals, piano practice or biking into town.  
Before I go any further, I have to discuss the opening credits, which go on for at least ten minutes and effortlessly set the tone for the casual opulence of the world of the film. Gentle, upbeat classical music plays over photos of classical sculptures - something that Elio's academic father and the grad student who he invites to work with him over the summer seem to be working in the field of - while the credits are written in a messy but elegant script, in a warm yellow shade. All of this somehow worked to already create the mood that pervades the rest of the film - casual wealth and intelligence, warmth and inclusion - before you even meet the Perlmans, and the beautiful villa they spend holidays in.
Some viewers might dislike watching films with wealthy people languishing in villas on holidays, but in the way that Guadagnino presents it, it's enchanting. I loved the feeling of seeing the easy, comfortable way the Perlmans (Elio's family) live on holiday, with their freshly made apricot juice and their family meals in a shaded grove. As I mentioned earlier, it creates a very welcoming vibe that helps you understand the mindset of the newcomer to this idyll, grad student Oliver (Armie Hammer).
The movie is really Chalamet's, and more on him below, but Hammer does quite well in a less showy role as Oliver - who has been invited to spend six weeks at an Italian villa working with an academic he seems to not have personally met before arriving. A great honour, clearly, but it's also awkward, and Hammer plays this slight dissonance well -  he's a non-European American (like the rest of the Perlmans) which is both exciting and awkward to the gathered family and friends of the Perlman. Hammer's Oliver is a lot of contrasts, both interested and scared/offended by Elio, both very confident towards him and very hesitant, both cool and dorky. Armie Hammer's being doing a few lower budget indie, and more off the wall projects since the Lone Ranger debacle didn't launch him into the leading man blockbuster stratosphere, and personally, I think he's much better in these than attempting to be another leading man type. (And for that matter, I am genuinely annoyed both he and Michael Stuhlbarg were passed over for Oscar noms, so they could give two to Three Billboards. It's not like Hammer would have got it, but I think he certainly deserved the nomination.)
As I said though, Chalamet is the standout - it's his story and he does a lot with it. His Elio is very reminiscent of the frustrating uncomfortableness of being a teenager - he's awkward, moody, bitter, cheeky, afraid, delicate and above all, real. What was beautiful about this film is how much everyone loves Elio - he's not always kind and good, but he is also a teenage boy - but his sexuality doesn't shut him off from other people. It's not an isolationist story, like a lot of queer film narratives are. While I can understand the urge to show that side of things, it's incredibly gratifying to see a film about a queer boy in the eighties, where if everyone doesn't know for certain they probably are aware of it in some respect, and they don't seem to care. They just love him, and Chalamet plays Elio's connections with everyone (not just Oliver) beautifully. He certainly deserves his Oscar nomination, even though he's not the favourite to win. He's also in the Oscar nominated Lady Bird, and my feeling is that (hot take alert) he's gonna be big.
Further from this, I love how tactile the characters in this film are. Elio is very cuddly and childlike sometimes with his parents, who are very affectionate to him - and no one tells him "a seventeen year old boy shouldn't do that" which is a blessing. He's very affectionate with the girls he's friends with. His later dynamic with Oliver - once they've admitted to feeling something  for each other - is very affectionate too, kind of awkward but in a sweet way. Not all their encounters are just these highly eroticised moments (which is not to say that none of them are). This makes their burgeoning relationship very real, like a seventeen year old boy fumbling his way toward a relationship that will always be meaningful, a first love more than just lust. Not that his dynamic with his sort-of girlfriend Marzia is unloving, just different, but no less sweet in its newness to the both of them.
On that note, I'm sure some people will say that there was a “lack of explicit sex scenes” in this movie. To that, I say PAH. It’s not like this movie is sanitised and sexless (hello, peach scene. yep.) It’s quite erotic in parts, quite good at conveying Elio's attraction to Oliver, and vice versa. But it feels like (unlike hetero love stories) that queer media is often all or nothing: either completely sexless, even affectionless even in a good relationship (Mitch and Cam on Modern Family didn’t even kiss on screen till like mid season two or three) or incredibly sexualised, and featuring intense sex scenes. This movie walks the rare line between the two - very affectionate (in private, natch) but allowing them the dignity of not being watched - as they always are, even by relatively benign eyes around them - in the moment of consummation. (For more on this - Jason Adams' delicate and moving review, Call Me With Kindness) It’s not even as though there are no on-screen sex acts in the film, either, so I'll say that I think it was a good, well-done balance.
If I had any slight problem with the narrative, it was that I found it hard to understand the progression of Elio and Oliver's relationship pre the mutual reveal of feelings - but that seemed to be a stylistic choice, and ABS was much the same, where the characters barely verbally communicated for a lot of the beginning arc of the film. It could be deliberately unclear- neither of them really know what the other thinks of them until they admit things together, while they're alone for once. Either way, it didn't much mar my enjoyment of their story which is emotional and complex but also very sweet.
The last thing I have to talk about is Michael Stuhlbarg, who is rapidly becoming one of my favourite actors (and who again, I am furious has not picked up any Oscar nominations for any of the great work he did in 2017). He was in two thirds of the films I saw recently, and he managed to be very moving in two small-ish roles. The scene where he tells Elio not to mock his friend and his male partner, that if he can be as knowledgeable as him and as good he'll be "a credit to him". Elio's father is a good man, and you can tell from this moment he doesn't care who Elio loves as long as he doesn't grow up boorish and ignorant. In fact, as much as the love story is engaging, my favourite scene of the file is when Elio and his father discuss Oliver after he has left. It was incredibly affecting to me - Elio's father doesn't come out and say he knew for certain about them, but refers to their "friendship" in the kindest, most respectful way, possibly even hinting about his own sexuality - not necessarily that he's closeted, but that he may have had an Oliver in his past he was too afraid to have anything happen with. Stuhlbarg is just so good, so affecting and plays really well off Chalamét, who allows Elio just the right amount of vulnerability and emotion.
Not to mention, Sufjan Stevens' two gorgeous original songs for the film, but I'll close this out by saying that there's a certain kind of idea about the kind of queer romance film that gets the Academy's attention - that it has to be sad, that the characters have to suffer and end up unhappy, and everyone can discuss how tragic it was. That sort of story is fine, because yes historically many LGBT people couldn't be open or take chances, and many did suffer. But that's not the only LGBT narrative to be told, even when set decades ago - and I'm thrilled to see films like 2016's Carol, 2017's Best Picture Winner Moonlight, and CMBYN tell a new kind of queer narrative where the characters are allowed to be happy even in an oppressive time, where the characters can break up and be miserable because of that (and not because of illness or bigoted violence), where the focus is just the love story. It gives me hope for the generation of younger LGBT viewers to see themselves outside of misery narratives.
4/5 stars
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talbottodecarava · 4 years
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Mac Gladych
Professor Frocheur
Photography I for Non-Majors
18 November 2019
Nan Goldin
           One of the most important aspects that makes Nan Goldin one of the leading photographers is that each and every photo is so unapologetically honest. She rejected all conventional limitations both in her personal life and her photography. She can be seen as the mother of snapshot photography, everything taken in the heat of the moment. In an interview with MoCA, she tells that even moving a beer bottle out of the way is a crime.
           Born in Washington D.C. in 1953, she grew up in a Jewish household that she later ran away from in her early teens, following her sister Barbara’s suicide. Nan was eleven and her sister was just eighteen. This sense of loss folowed her all throughout her life. After receiving a fine arts degree in Boston from Tufts University, Goldin moved to New York city in 1978. It was here where she jumped around from foster homes, punk club scenes, and communes, searching for her place in the world­–all the while both feeding and struggling with drug addictions and the destruction of the AIDS crisis.
Goldin grounded her place and name in the art world with the release of The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, a slide-show of over 700 images, which premiered in New York City at the infamous Mudd Club in 1979. Goldin constantly reminds audiences that she takes photographs of her loved ones, no one is a stranger. Her photographs her own life and her “tribe,” as they move through the world in and out of relationships and addictions and every-day-life. Her “tribe” is blatantly and beautifully queer, many times photographing queens in drag. She shows their on-stage personas yet does not fail to include more intimate and domestic moments. Goldin responded to reports of her photographing of “marginalized peoples” by assuring that they were never marginalized because they never cared what straight people thought of them. The Ballad of Sexual Dependency depicts herself, friends, and lovers and their eclectic life in the Lower East  
Side.
                                    Twisting at my birthday party, NYC. Nan Goldin, 1980
Many of the photographs depict intimate moments of relationships, whether it’s in a messy bedroom or in a dim-lit bar. The intimacies further include unintentionally romanticized drug use and signs of sexual abuse. Goldin once said that this work was a way to show the incompatibility of men and women. It is flooded with intimacy and intensity, love and loss, celebrating the subcultural lifestyle of the communities she belonged to. It’s an exploration of love and lust.
                                            “Joana avec Valérie et Reine dans le Miroir”, 1999
Just like she was surrounded with ambiguous sexualities and androgynies in her tribe, Goldin believed to find that within children. Her book Eden and After (2014) captures over 300 colorful illustrations of the emotion, energy, and natural extravagance and wildness of children. Continuing to photograph the ones she loves, all of the subjects are kids that she has known since their birth and many being the children of her close friends.
                                                   Lou Lighting Aurele’s Cigarette, Sag Harbour, 2000.
She finds the pure joy and energy kids maintain to be fascinating. Just like The Ballad, Goldin took no part in the actions, costumes, or poses of the subjects. The children were free and innocent.
The image captured above, Georgia Blown Away 2007,was taken in London catching a young girl dancing in the rain. She was dancing from her own will, taking orders from no one.
           Nan Goldin never fails to capture pure honesty of people in their world, no matter if it is glowing or in destruction. In every image you can feel her presence. She allows us to find a new way to look at the world even in the “tragic wastelands” of America. Whether drag queens, junkies, or children, Goldin photographs her inner circle and the next generation navigating the world together. She depicts the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. The Ballad of Sexual Dependencycaptures the destruction that both heterosexuality and homosexuality can cause, abuse and death respectively. Yet,Eden and Afteralso shows what relationships can lead to. This third party, a new generation and them in all their love, naturality, and physicality. There will always be a connection between whatever work Goldin does, it is her life, her party, her family. She uncovers the truths behind human relations, intimacies, and addictions. She captures all aspects of the human condition beautifully, closely, and unapologetically. Her photos will never lose their presence, or impact, in the art world.
Works Cited
Dazed. “Your Ultimate Guide to Nan Goldin.” Dazed, 11 Jan. 2017, www.dazeddigital.com/photography/article/34062/1/your-ultimate-guide-to-nan-goldin.
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idontneedasymbol · 7 years
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12x23: All Along the Watchtower
If my thoughts on 12x22 were confused, then this was even moreso? (Though 12x22 I like more upon reflection -- even if my criticisms still stand, there were things I really loved. This one had less of that.) So if you're looking for squee, this isn't the best place; but I didn't hate it either. I don't think it was their best effort, though. (Which seems to be a shared sentiment, judging by how my dash has been 80% 12x22; minus the occasional upset, it's like the finale hasn't actually even aired yet?)
Things I did like -- Andrew Dabb actually can write, at least individual scenes. Kelly Kline felt like more of a real person here than in the entire rest of the season (admittedly she was a Bucklemming character for all but one other ep, so. Poor woman.) I was still generally bored with the scenes with her and Cas, but they had some cute moments.
...I do wonder if Dabb might be a Steven Universe fan. Kelly's video to her unborn son is...well, that's a pretty standard cliche, but the circumstances are still awfully familiar. (If you have any interest in the idea of a mother who has to sacrifice herself to bring her child into the world -- but who decides to do so completely willingly, from the start, as an entirely free choice for so many complex reasons -- look, I'm not saying Steven Universe is one of the best scifi/genre shows I've ever seen...except for the part where it is, and it explores so many intense themes so beautifully that it kind of spoils you for a lot of TV and, uh. Anyway!)
(I am positive that Dabb (or someone) was a Buffy and Angel fan. Though why they would crib from Angel's unspeakable 4th season I cannot imagine. "Jack" has all the hallmarks of Jasmine v.2.0, and no one needed that. No one!)
Bobby's return -- Jim Beaver, you troll! He was on Twitter bemoaning not being in this season. @owehimeverything had the thought when we were first starting the episode, that maybe he was punking us -- and lo! there Bobby was! Loved that. While I was not particularly bereft that Bobby died when he did (he'd served his mentorship role, it was time to move on) I appreciate the continuity of his return every season. And this Bobby especially, with his angel-killing hobby, who doesn't know the boys at all or share their history, that's got a lot of potential.
The whole post-apocalypse AU could be a lot of fun -- how it was introduced was ridiculously deus ex nephilim, but now that it's here I'm excited for it. And not just because I am all about AUs (though there is that. And Dean's memory of "French Mistake" was my favorite line of the ep by far -- of course what stuck with Dean is Sam being Polish. And not related to him.) It also ties into what, as far as I can tell, was Andrew Dabb's theme for the season, which is that the Winchesters really are important and do do more good than bad -- that they are the heroes their universe needs. And they're actually aware enough of it to be proud of it. And what better way to prove that than to show a universe where they didn't exist!  
(So presumably Lucifer and Michael got different vessels, who both said yes and the showdown happened? Did Michael defeat Lucifer, and then Hell went to war? Or did they kill each other? What's the deal? With Mary stranded there it seems likely we'll find out. Poor Mary, though. Comes back to life for a year, just reaches an understanding with her boys, and now, Mad Max! And she probably hasn’t even seen Fury Road.)
If the Winchesters' importance was Dabb's intended theme, though, it would've been nice to see it played out the rest of the season. And in this episode, for that matter -- because ultimately Sam & Dean don't do a hell of a lot here. Their plan to take out Lucifer was okay, but it was more action than character-driven. They didn't sacrifice anything for it (not deliberately, anyway; the sacrifices were made by others, but most unintentionally) and it didn't hinge on their brotherly bond in any respect, unlike the set-ups of most other finales.
Speaking of sacrifices -- boy howdy that was a lot of character death, huh? Which I'm not sure how to feel about, because I'm not sure if any of them (save Kelly Kline's) are going to stick? All of them being characters who died have died before and come back. So it's harder to trust. (And that's not even to point out that their shiny new AU is a chance to bring back just about any character in the show if they feel like it, albeit as a mirrorverse version.)
Of all of them, Crowley's felt like the most possible permanent death. He got to go out a hero in the end, farewell and all. And it's not a death I'm disappointed by; I'm a big fan of Mark Shepard, but the character had largely worn out his welcome for me. Or, well, I still liked him with the Winchesters. But I was rarely more than anything but as painfully bored as Crowley himself with all the Hell bureaucracy stuff. Will be happy to have that gone...if it is gone? (Please???)
The main thing I'm upset about, if Crowley is really dead, is that it might mean Rowena actually is as well, since so much of her story involved her son. And Rowena I really do not want to see gone. I especially did not want to see her gone without so much as a heroic stand or a heel turn or a moment of snark or anything. If she's really dead -- killing two popular female characters two weeks in a row without even giving them a last line, what the everloving fuck, show? But Lucifer thought he killed her before and that didn't take. So until proven otherwise I am going to assume Rowena weaseled her way out of this one as well...
(If she is really gone, then that's also all three of my favorite Sam pairings torpedo'ed, come ON show. :/)
(Or else Rowena is dead...and in Hell and becoming a demon queen! I could go for that...)
And then, Castiel -- is not dead. I know that Misha's contract hasn't been confirmed, but I will be astonished if they just let him die...like a female character, with no last line. Besides it's practically a tradition for Cas to bite it in finales.
I admit, if he is really dead...I won't be as sad as maybe I should be? I do love Team Free Will. And I adore Misha Collins; I don't know him, obviously, but everything I've seen of him, he's a stand-up human being of a kind that we could use more of. And Cas pushes a lot of my rebel-angel-loving buttons, along with my AI-learning-to-be-human buttons (he is the grouchy Data of SPN). But this season especially they didn't seem to know what to do with his character, to the point that a good chunk of his scenes bored me.
(And they seemed to be trying to make up for it by pushing the Destiel angle, which the harder they push, the more it turns me off it. I love Cas and Dean as friends. But as a TFW fan, they were putting so much more weight on Cas & Dean than on Cas & Sam in these last few eps. And you don't have to read it that way, I know -- Sam dragging Dean back to save him, that's not because Sam doesn't care about Cas but because Sam can be the more rational one, when he has to be, to save his brother. But still...and a lot of it is the fandom; I can't help but be thinking in scenes like that, that the Destiel fans are going to take it as 'proof' of the ship, and that annoys me more than it ought to.)
But I think this is moot anyway, because I seriously doubt Cas is going to stay gone. Though hopefully we'll get some good grief from both the boys before he makes it back!
Before that, though, I am hoping the first few eps might be just Sam & Dean on their own, depending on only each other, vs the nephilim (however that shakes out) -- return to the show's roots, as they keep eternally promising and never delivering. While season 12 had its bright spots, overall it is my least favorite of the show, and I'm really hoping for season 13 to pick up. A lot of that depends on what actually was the problem with season 12 -- there were so many different things wrong, and enough changes in the staff (not to mention actor availability), that it's really hard to say. And it also depends on whether the producers actually feel there is anything that should be fixed?
A lot of us seem resigned to season 13 being the last, though as far as I know there's been no confirmation of that one way or another. And it would be tragic for them to come so close to 300 episodes and fall short. But maybe the show has run its course? I don't know if that's so -- I only know that I do want more; but I want more of what I love, and maybe that's not what they want to make anymore. And that’s TV. So it goes.
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