LOTR: The War of the Rohirrim

Earlier this year, the Person and I decided to pay for the AMC A-list. As a result, I've watched way more movies in theaters in the last 8 months than I have in the last six years (minus when we had Moviepass back in 2018... lol). 

I know everyone has been talking about Wicked 2 (which was great), but I really need to talk about...

A friend asked me what I thought of this movie, and my answer was: "I kind of wish I'd watched this in my living room so I could commentate the entire thing." Because it is SO TROPE-Y. So now I am subjecting you, dear reader, to my thoughts. You're welcome. 

To preface this discussion, I do not know my Tolkien lore. I watched the original Peter Jackson trilogy in theaters and have rewatched the movies a couple times since, but not the extended director's cut versions; read the original trilogy in middle school and have not re-read it since; never finished reading the Hobbit; got dragged to the second Hobbit movie (Desolation of Smaug) in theaters and did not understand what was happening. In essence, I entered this movie with the mindset of anticipating a standalone medieval fantasy featuring horse people. I don't know names. I don't know histories. 

The narrative framing of this movie is that of a folktale/ancient oral history being narrated by Eowyn (Princess Horse from the original trilogy). We have our red-headed heroine, Merida Héra, who is your typical plucky, headstrong princess who rides horses like a man and doesn't want to get married. 

Also, friend of giant birds

Of course, this becomes a problem when Freca, a rotund belligerent lord, rolls up to the Rohan court accusing the King plans to marry Héra off to Gondor. He suggests that his son Wulf should marry Héra instead. It becomes clear at this point that Héra and Wulf have history but Héra tells him not to do this. Too bad---he gets down on one knee and asks for her hand. 

OK, he kinda cute tho...?

Some verbal dick-swinging between Freca and the King ensues. King accuses the lord of wanting to usurp the throne by trying to set this marriage up. Freca accuses King of being weak. ROHAN. CANNOT. LET. THIS. STAND! And so they decide to have a brawl with fists outside in the snow. There's a brief moment before the fight where Héra and Wulf are talking in private and where you find out that they were childhood friends, and Wulf says, Would it be so bad to marry me? He even throws in the L-word, which Héra doesn't even acknowledge. They go out to watch the fight where Freca strikes the first blow, but then the King, who is built like a freight train, STRAIGHT UP KILLS THE DUDE WITH ONE PUNCH.  

Wulf loses his shit once he realizes his father is dead and draws his sword, accusing the King of murder. He quickly is overpowered and would be killed except Héra calls out for mercy, and so instead Wulf gets tossed out of the kingdom. For the next few years, he drops off the face of the earth, despite the fact that Héra has been trying to find him. Of course, we all know the tropes and know that Wulf is gonna come back seeking revenge. 

Fast forward, and after an action scene involving an elephant getting devoured by a swamp monster, Héra ends up getting kidnapped and wakes up to find herself in Wulf's fortress. I take back what I said about Wulf being kinda cute, now he looks mangy like he hasn't taken a shower since being banished, and not in a hot Viggo-Mortensen-as-dirty-Aragorn way.

ok nvm

Wulf is now the leader of a bunch of tribes he has united/conquered and their army is advancing towards Rohan. He offers to stop if Héra marries him, but he gets big mad when she doesn't immediately acquiesce, asking why it would be so terrible to marry him. We find out from a flashback that the scar over his left eye was from Héra when they were sword playing as kids. He ends up lashing out, cutting her left cheek. 

At this point, I -- who have read too many romance novels -- was anticipating a childhood friends/enemies to lovers plotline. Now I start to question if we are going down that route, but Wulf hasn't quite done anything completely irredeemable yet...? Also, I totally thought he was going to give her a symmetric slash over her left eye, which I am both relieved and disappointed that he went for the cheek instead. 

Héra ends up being rescued by her travel companions, which includes her hot cousin. I start to wonder if this is an alternate possibility, and then I realize how much Game of Thrones has messed up my sense of whether fictional incest is appropriate. 

If not love interest, why love-interest shaped?

When they head back to the King to warn him of Wulf's return, Hot Cousin suggests they evacuate as their armies are not ready for war. The King throws a hissy fit, calls Hot Cousin a coward, and tells him to fuck off back to his castle. He decides to listen to the other outspoken dude on his council who is advising for war, which goes terribly because it turns out the other dude is in cahoots with Wulf and has betrayed them. Héra, who was ordered by her father to not join them in the battlefield, realizes this and evacuates their people to their stronghold in the mountains. Her father is wounded by a flurry of arrows, so Héra packs the King up onto her horse and flees. Her older brother who looks like Chris Hemsworth unfortunately is killed.

RIP Chris Hemsworth

Her younger brother, the tender-hearted artiste with a lute, is riding atop a geriatric horse. There's a whole scene before they set off for war where Héra offers him her horse, saying she's faster, and the guy says no. For reasons. As they flee from their pursuers, the old horse starts to wheeze and run out of breath. Instead of hopping onto one of the royal guard's horses to continue his getaway, the brother decides to get off his horse, lets her run away, and then basically allows himself to get captured. Again, for reasons. 

Héra doesn't realize her brother has been captured until she makes it to Helm's Deep and realizes he isn't with them. Wulf shows up with his advisor dude and Liam Hemsworth in chains. King Rohan pleads for the life of his son, saying he will offer his own life in exchange. The advisor tells Wulf he's won and to make the deal. Wulf says NO DEAL and kills Liam Hemsworth, then declares they are going to build a tower to lay siege on Helm's Deep. The advisor warns Wulf that a siege through the winter will be disastrous for both sides, but Wulf says: Great, Imma do the exact opposite of any advice you give me. 

 

A story of how nobody listens to their advisors

In a demonstration of the kingdom's impeccable preparedness and foresight, they take stock of their inventory and discover that the fortress is low on supplies. (Why didn't they keep the stores replenished? Isn't that the whole point of having a fortress to retreat behind???) To make matters worse, the King is bedbound in a grief coma. All of a sudden, he vanishes! Rumors begin to rise in the army camps outside that the King turned into a wraith from his grief and now stalks the camps at nighttime, ripping apart Wulf's soldiers with his bare hands.

Turns out.... the King is not a wraith? But he actually is sneaking outside at nighttime and then ripping people apart with his bare hands? But there are also orcs in the neighborhood doing the same thing? I am unclear. But Héra stumbles upon a secret passage from the King's bedroom into the snowy plains, nearly gets eaten by orcs until her super jacked dad comes along and destroys them with his bare hands. 

But how did he not lose muscle mass while in his coma?

They sprint through the fields and past the army camps while in a middle of a blizzard to try to get to safety, as Wulf's men tries to capture them. The guards can't seem to open the front gate for them. Not to worry, for Super Jacked King is able to open the gate just enough to shove his daughter through to safety, then shuts the gate and basically beats the shit out of all of Wulf's men who try to break in. By morning, he has successfully defended the fortress and frozen to death while in the middle of a fist pump.  Tbh, I think the King could've just singlehandedly won the war if he just kept ripping apart soldiers every night. 

With the siege fast approaching, Héra comes up with a plan to get her people to safety by sending them through the secret passage while she distracts Wulf and his army. She sends her giant bird friend on a secret mission and dresses up in a bridal gown that was abandoned in the fortress--"If Wulf wants a bride so bad, here's the bride"--and rides out on her horse to meet him mid-siege. 

Wulf: WTF you think I'd still WANT you as my bride after all this?

Héra: Ugh, I'm still NOT into you, loser. 

Wulf: Who are you pledged to then?

Héra: DEATH. 

Héra challenges Wulf to one-on-one combat by sword. His advisor warns him that she must be plotting something and to not take the bait. Per usual, he draws his sword and proceeds to do the exact opposite. They fight, she ends up besting him. He has no honor, so he stabs his advisor when the poor dude tries to give him good advice for the last time and orders for the siege to continue. All seems lost until there is the sound of an approaching army, and we see a silhouette of King Rohan astride a horse over the horizon. 

v impressed with how she managed to fight in that flow dress

DING DONG, it's actually Hot Cousin wearing the king's armor and leading an army to save them! Wulf's soldiers abandon the fight, thinking the Wraith King is back to rip their innards. Héra finally kills Wulf by choking him to death with a shield's edge. But not before he says something to her along the lines of: "From the moment I saw you, I knew you would be my doom. " hahahahahahaha

We end with some LOTR cameos/callbacks that are not very exciting, Hot Cousin becomes King, and Héra remains Forever Free. THE END. 

So overall, what did I think? Honestly, I can't decide if the story was too trope-y or not trope-y enough. The plot was rather predictable, but honestly I probably would've also enjoyed a version where they went dialed the ham up to 11, because the best parts were when things went over-the-top camp. 

I can't believe I just spent my Sunday afternoon writing this nonsense lol, but perhaps someday, Future Me will read this and be amused by how much free time I used to have. 

Visions of Gideon

"I have loved you for the last time
Is it a video? Is it a video?"

-- Visions of Gideon by Sufjan Stevens

2018 is off to an auspicious start. Thanks to my Person's gift to me this past Christmas, I am now in possession of a Moviepass. Which means that for the rest of this year, I can watch one free movie per day in theaters. Which means my obsessive readership of film blogs can now blossom into full-blown cinephilia, without being stymied by my miserly penny-pinching tendencies. Already, I've watched The Last Jedi and The Shape of Water for the second time, in addition to The Greatest Showman, Phantom Thread, and most recently, Call Me By Your Name.

I have plenty of thoughts on the above movies and would looooove to discuss any of them. But for today, let's talk about the movie I watched last night, Call Me By Your Name. I've known about CMBYN for months. It's been raved about since Sundance. I had other movies on my radar though, like The Shape of Water, which I thought was more up my alley. What ended up becoming the swift kick in the rear to go watch CMBYN was Astrid's raving recommendation. Specifically her comment that she thought I might appreciate the melancholic longing and the ambiguity of mounting attraction.

Okay, sold. One ticket please.

I don't intend to go into detail about this movie, but I will say this: I CANNOT STOP THINKING ABOUT THIS MOVIE.

I have been playing "Visions of Gideon" throughout the day, and the melody immediately transports me back to that aching feeling of heartbreak when you watch Timothee Chalamet's face move through a carousel of emotions without break for four minutes during the ending credits.

It's this song that truly seemed to break something that had been muzzled and discarded deep within me. Rewarming a sliver of a memory that had grown cold over the years.

Do you still remember how intense it feels when you are sixteen? The way every thought of it consumes you like madness. The way you feel literally sick, diseased, as if the raging storm of emotions within you cannot be contained by this earthen body that you haven't yet grown comfortable with, contorted in this liminal space between childhood and adulthood.

I never want to feel that way again. I probably never will. But that pain helped me find my voice.

"In your place, if there is pain, nurse it, and if there is a flame, don’t snuff it out, don’t be brutal with it."

Winter and Water

Two days ago, I was walking with Graydyl and S in San Francisco, on the way back to Graydyl's apartment after watching The Shape of Water in Japantown.

"Do you still blog?" Graydyl had asked. My brain short-circuited for a moment. When was the last time someone had mentioned its existence to me? In fact, I'd nearly forgotten about the blog myself.

So I don't really blog much these days, as one might surmise. In predictable narrative symmetry, I've returned to journaling in a notebook, not unlike the scores of diaries I filled up as a pre-teen. I write notes about the books I've read, the films I've watched, and other pieces of interest I've observed.

Winter is a breeding ground of nostalgia. When I return home to this valley, my past is inescapable. I've been devouring Guillermo del Toro interviews since watching The Shape of Water, and there was one quote that latched onto me. "The clarity of emotion when you're 16 is the most you you will ever be. But we look at you and see a fucking kid."

The night is falling. I sit at the desk in my childhood bedroom, by the north-facing window with the clearest view of our street. As the salt lights flicker on outside, I stumble across a shoddy video of Nuno Bettencourt at a Rihanna concert on Youtube. The keyboard and the electric guitar entwine their melodies in ascension, and here I am again, on the cusp of seventeen, dreaming of roses and rock stars and unsent love letters, reduced to the purest essence of my being: melancholy.

#

Unable to perceive the shape of you

I find you all around me

Your presence fills my eyes with your love

It humbles my heart

For you are everywhere

The Shape of Water was one of those movies that I kept turning over in my mind long after I left the theater, unfolding and refolding the creases to marvel at its construction.

It could have totally gone wrong in so many different ways. But the film walks so gracefully and effortlessly on that tight-rope, that you don't notice just how far the drop could go.

The linchpin of it all: the Asset. I can't tell you how many articles I've read on how they designed the sea monster. Undeniably a creature, with blue-black banding not unlike rainforest tree frogs and the spiny fins of a perch. And yet... not only an Amazonian god, but a plausible love interest for our mute heroine. The interviews will delineate the enormous amount of thought put into the large reflective eyes, the full lips of male supermodel, Greek nose of the "Michelangelo's David of amphibian men," but what struck me as I watching the movie in theaters was the physicality of the creature in movement as it revealed itself to Elisa for the first time.

Some people criticize The Shape of Water--as they often do for del Toro's oeuvre--for its simplistic story. I have never quite taken to that perspective. Fairy tales are by nature the distilled essence of centuries of storytelling, but you may be surprised just how difficult it can be to walk that tight-rope of sweet romanticism and grim realism with a final product that is too cloying or saccharine. (Aside: I haven't seen The Greatest Showman yet, and I may very well watch it solely to witness Zac Efron and Zendaya sing a duet on a trapeze, but I suspect the film falls short in delivering the right tone.) There is darkness in The Shape of Water, but ultimately it is a story where the light triumphs. And in an era where the world feels unsalvageable, in a time when my life is immersed in daily reminders of human mortality, could you blame me for being drawn to the light?

La La Land

My god, even with the few bones I had to pick about the last third, I loved this movie.

I watched La La Land yesterday with my parents, my brother, and his girlfriend. We discussed the movie afterwards as we waited for the waitress to take our orders. Our reactions ranged quite vastly, from my father's plain dislike (he prefers action without feeeeeeelings), my brother's ambivalence (he's not a musical kind of guy and still isn't convinced), to my mother's tempered approval ("Why couldn't it be a happy ending, though?"). Then there's me.

Out of everyone in my family, this movie was truly tailor-made for me. I really need my friend Y to hurry up and watch this movie, because I have this burning need to talk about the ending. SPOILERS AHEAD.

...

THAT EPILOGUE YO.

I need to discuss it with Y, because it is SO REMINISCENT of the ending of Paradise Kiss, which I am positive I have heaped praises upon on this blog at some point. Of the top of my head, I can't remember who else I know who has read Paradise Kiss.

Paradise Kiss ends with George and Yukari parting ways bittersweetly, as George is heading off to fashion school in Paris, while Yukari is staying in Japan to pursue her modeling career. Fast-forward some years, and Yukari has had a fairly successful career as a model turned actress. She's engaged to Hiro, now a doctor---who I always felt was the better match for her. Yukari then mentions that for their honeymoon, they have tickets to a Broadway show whose costume designer is George. The last sentence is: "Apparently it's a comedy, but I'll probably cry."

Likewise, in La La Land, Mia and Sebastian part ways amicably because their dreams take them in different directions. Mia lands an acting gig that takes her away to Paris, while Sebastian stays in Los Angeles to pursue his dream of opening a jazz club. Five years later, she's had a successful acting career plus a husband and little daughter. By chance, during their date night, she and her husband stumble into a poppin' jazz club that turns out to be Sebastian's. Unlike Paradise Kiss, in La La Land we actually see the moment when the two lovers set eyes on each other again. Sebastian and Mia see each other just before Sebastian plays on the piano, which segues into a sweeping 7-minute fantastical segment of what their lives could have been like if their dreams hadn't pulled their love apart. The movie ends with the two of them sharing a bittersweet, knowing look before going off on their separate ways. (Side note: this part was very reminiscent of Roman Holiday to me as well.)

I've read people's reactions to both the Paradise Kiss and La La Land endings on various websites, and it's similar in that there are some very divisive reactions. There is quite a vocal group on the Internet that absolutely HATES that Yukari did not end up with George. Similarly, I read a comment yesterday about La La Land about how the ending completely pissed them off and ruined the entire movie for them, as they felt that the ending betrayed the entire film preceding it. I've also seen some interesting interpretations, with some people coming to the conclusion that La La Land showed how even after achieving their dreams, Mia and Sebastian could never truly be happy for having lost each other.

My takeaway from La La Land is undoubtedly colored by my own interpretation of Paradise Kiss's ending, but as a very excellent article on Birth Movies Death suggested, I think what you garner from the ending is likely hugely dependent on your emotional baggage.

Some people will meet that person in their lifetime---the person who comes into your life and throws you out of orbit. The person who is not to meant to be a soulmate or someone who stays in your life forever, but the person who inspires you at a critical point and changes your life for good. I don't think this will happen to everyone. But for those of you who have experienced this, I think the last ten minutes of La La Land will floor you, as it did for me.


P.S. I finished writing Finale (aka the last chapter) of EP two days ago. There's still a pesky middle chapter I abandoned that I'll need to return to, but the first draft is practically done? Still overwhelmed by how many edits I'll have to make in the revision process, but yay for me?

Musings on Crimson Peak

SPOILERS AHEAD, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

First off, I hate horror movies. The creepy trailer ads for Crimson Peak that have been playing on Spotify and YouTube for the past few weeks had been scaring the crap out of me. But when I heard that this was a gothic romance and "a story with ghosts", I ended up at war with myself about whether or not I wanted to subject myself to the possibility of shitting in my pants in a movie theater in order to see all of my favorite Gothic romance tropes.

In the end, the significant other convinced me to go--though I suspect his motives may have partly been influenced by the prospect of his PDA-adverse girlfriend clinging onto his arm in fright.

My initial reaction after the credits ended was a bit lukewarm, but I haven't been able to stop thinking about it--and my impression of the film has changed as I let the story stew in my brain.

The short of it: I liked Crimson Peak. It was not as scary as I feared, save Edith's mother at the beginning. (Was that really necessary, Mrs. Cushing? Do you really have to scare the crap out of your daughter in order to warn her about Crimson Peak?) Visually, the movie was a feast---the costumes were gorgeous, the house was breathtaking. I loved the casting and can't even imagine how different the movie would have been if Benedict Cumberbatch and Emma Stone had actually stayed on the project to be Thomas Sharpe and Edith. I never understood the Hiddleston craze before, but in this movie DAYUMM he did a great job. Mia Wasikowska didn't leave a strong impression on me, but she definitely fit the role of Edith better than I can imagine Emma Stone in it. And Jessica Chastain as Lucille Sharpe was BATSHIT INSANE AND I LOVED IT.

The reason why my initial reaction to this movie was tepid, however, may have to do with the fact that I was somewhat underwhelmed by the story. I'm not sure if my experience would be different from someone not so familiar with the conventions of dark fairy tales and Gothic romance, but the plot felt predictable. Even before I watched the film, when I knew that Tom Hiddleston and Jessica Chastain were playing a creepy pair of brother/sister, I was like "Oh, maybe they're incestuous siblings... nah, that's too easy." And when that turned out to be the big reveal, I felt almost deflated. The dead wives aspect was also an idea I dismissed, thinking: "No, that's too obvious. That's straight out of the fairytale Bluebeard." But in a way, I guess the film is also paying homage to its roots. Kind of like how you go into a Cinderella retelling expecting it to hit certain beats, if I'd gone in expecting Crimson Peak to hit the beats of Bluebeard, I wouldn't be bothered that the storyline followed standard fare.

Still, this film basically contains all the ingredients that my sixteen-year-old self would have devoured. The twisted love triangle, the ghosts, the creepy imagery, the sad ending. (Also, some people might have thought it was sappy/tacky but I LOVED the last scene with Edith saying goodbye to Thomas's ghost. I'm such a sucker for bittersweet fare.) I really can't recommend it everyone, but for certain people with a particular taste for the beautiful and creepy, Crimson Peak will hit the right notes.

An Ode to Captain America

 

Last Saturday, I finally watched Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Considering how much the good reviews had hyped it up for me, the film turned out to be everything I'd hoped it would be. Cap's interactions with Black Widow and Falcon were great--I love seeing that sort of camaraderie in movie friendships. The spy thriller plot kept me on edge all the way until the end, and there's that one scene where the Winter Soldier vaguely begins to remember his past, and oh man--Sebastian Stan was brilliant in acting that part. Also, Hayley Atwell! That scene was so bittersweet.

More than anything, this movie affirmed why Captain America is my favorite Avenger. I know I've mentioned before that people usually give me the side-eye when I say he's my favorite, since he's always been accused of being "boring" or "useless." I think more people are drawn to the flashy types like Iron Man, who I can't deny has his charms. But to me, Captain America is symbolic of the type of person I want to strive to be. In an interview with the writers of CA:TWS, they described his character as such:

McFeely: The temptation is to give him a dark night of the soul, have him tortured over whether he's doing things right.
Marcus: 'Should I become Dark Captain America?'
McFeely: But the world doesn’t change him, he changes the world. His A-plot was 'Do I belong here, is there a place in the world for me?' He doesn't doubt himself, he doubts where he's woken up. To marry that character story with a political story that demands it--that's where the conspiracy thriller comes in, making him not sure who to trust.

To me, this is key: The world doesn't change him. He changes the world. Even before he became a superhero, his actions have always stemmed from a place of sincerity in that he just wants to do the right thing. No ulterior motives or secondary agenda. And I don't know about you, but I admire that quality about him. To me, his character is the purest example of selfless heroism and inspires me to be better.

And another thing: in my teenage years, my family would joke about how my brother was the eternal optimist and I the eternal pessimist, to which I would counter that I was a realist. Now in my early twenties, despite my occasional unexplained bouts of gloom I would generally call myself a converted optimist who has learned to accept things as they come. Consequently, I've developed an allergy for people who are perpetually pessimistic. Just as happiness can be infectious, so can grumpiness--and I don't particularly enjoy being around people who put me in a worse mood.

Captain America's backstory carries a vein of tragedy, in that he wakes up in the 21st century to find that the world he knew has completely changed. Many of his friends have died since 1945. He has missed more than half a century's worth of time. But does he brood about this and throw tantrums about the unfairness of his fate? No, he makes a list of modern things to check out (e.g. Thai food, Marvin Gaye) and even cracks a joke about how it's nice that there's no polio. I would say he's more than entitled to some angst, but all the scenes we see in the films show him being almost absurdly optimistic about his situation.

YY and I had a conversation about this after watching the movie, and we touched on the fact that young women our age tend to go for types like Tony Stark/Iron Man--because these charming guys are wicked fun. But the truth is that I've never been compelled to romp around in hedonistic abandon. Given that I was Greek-affiliated in college, it's almost shocking how tame I have been. If I had wanted to rectify this, I could have done it easily, since I basically lived with a fraternity last year. But the young adult "crazy phase" seems to have bypassed me completely. So yeah, maybe I'm just as boring as Captain America and have the personality of someone from the 1940s. That's not to say that I snub my nose at people who do enjoy these things. Hello, I was a part of a sorority--if anything, the dramatist in me thoroughly enjoys poking her nose around the excitement, even if I personally don't want to participate. But ultimately, I appreciate someone who not only motivates me to be a better person but keeps me from relapsing to my pessimistic tendencies. And that, my friends, is why I love Captain America.

Musings on Anastasia

https://novoed.com/creativity-music

Well, I just signed up for one of those free online courses at Stanford. It's called Creativity: Music to My Ears, and I really have no clue what it's gonna be like, but the fact that people like Mike Shinoda, Lily Allen, and Tegan & Sara are involved has piqued my interest. Haven't decided if I'm going to audit the course or not, but chances are I'll make an effort to actually be an active student. Plus, I'm really curious how the team projects will work, since people from all over the world are taking this class. Obviously I happen to have a lot of free time which is not the case for most people, but if someone is also bored and looking for something to do, come join me! The class starts tomorrow and lasts for six weeks.

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So I made an indulgent purchase last night. I found the DVD for Anastasia at Target for five dollars. It was the cheapest looking DVD cover I'd ever seen; the print quality was terrible and Dimitri looked like he'd gotten a bad nose job. But five dollars for my favorite childhood movie on DVD? I'll take it. Plus, my roommate had never seen the movie before, so obviously I needed to enlighten her on how incomplete her childhood was.

This is NOT the DVD cover I got. I have no clue why they couldn't just stick to the perfectly good VHS cover. A decade later, and I'm still digging Anya's WTF face, which perfectly encapsulates the batshittery she puts up with.

A brief history on my relationship to Anastasia.
This is the movie equivalent to Ella Enchanted in terms of how it's irrevocably nestled into the fibers of my childhood and thus my entire being, and how if anyone tries to diss it, the little girl in me WILL CUT YOU.

It's more tempered now that I'm old and financially independent and whatnot, but when I was a kid, if I became obsessed with something, I WENT ALL OUT. During my Sailor Moon phase in kindergarten, I had a Sailor Moon towel, Sailor Moon bookbag, Sailor Moon sneakers, a Sailor Moon t-shirt, two Sailor Moon dolls (Moon and Venus), and probably more stuff I can't even remember anymore. When Anastasia came out in 1997, I watched this movie in theaters, then later received the VHS as a present from my parents and watched it a billion times after that. For Christmas, I received an Anastasia doll--the one wearing the pale yellow dream sequence dress. For Valentine's Day, I gave out store-bought Anastasia-themed valentine cards. For my birthday, my mother let me pick out an Anastasia music box---and to this day, I still regret my brainlessness in picking out one of the most boring music boxes in the store instead of the highly-sought replica of the very important music box from the movie. What was I thinking? I have no idea.

At some point, the obsession died down and gave way to something else, though I can't remember what. Might have been The Parent Trap featuring Lindsay Lohan, because I also rewatched the crap out of that one as well. Anyways, for a long while I didn't watch it again until I think 2012, when E came over and I realized another poor soul had never seen the movie in her life.

Thoughts from 2014
So I did watch this movie relatively recently (in the last two years), but last night I tried to watch a little more critically and judge whether or not nostalgia was a key factor to my adoration.

Thanks to my American public high school education, I was more knowledgeable this time around about the history behind the Russian Revolution, especially the Romanov family and Rasputin. So that first scene of the revolution was just a wee bit uncomfortable to watch. But overall, the historical inaccuracies aren't very detracting once the story kicks off--you've just gotta think of it as a fairy tale that takes place in a quasi-historical setting.

My overall conclusion from last night's viewing--I won't call it the greatest animated movie ever, but goshdarnit, I am not embarrassed that I still like this movie. And here's how I break it down:

Sophelia's Recipe for Movie Instalove

A: What? Hey - why are you circling me? What were you, a vulture in another life?

1) Fiery heroine tells it like it is. I've always been drawn to the spunky heroines, and Anastasia is no exception. She and Dimitri get off on the wrong foot from the very beginning, which leads to some of the funniest banter in the movie.

Dimitri: Look I think we got off on the wrong foot.
Anastasia: Well, I think we did, too. But, I appreciate your apology.
Dimitri: Who said anything about an apology? I was just saying that...
Anastasia: Please don't talk anymore, it's only going to upset me.

Anastasia: [after waking up, flailing her arm and smacking Dimitri in the nose] Oh, sorry. I thought you were someone el - oh, it's you. Well, that's okay, then.

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Quite possibly my favorite sequence in the whole movie.

 2) Pretty dresses and fancy parties. This was obviously more important to me when I was a wee lass, but there's a reason why my second-favorite scene in Ella Enchanted is still the part when she goes to the last masquerade ball. (It's not the first-favorite because nothing can surpass the scene when she finally breaks the curse. NOTHING, I TELL YOU.)

All of Anastasia's dresses in this movie are gorgeous and, most importantly, SO SHINY. I can't even pick a favorite because she looks great in everything. My favorite scene, though, is probably when the dream sequence in the old palace when the dancing ghosts come out of the wall and the ballroom comes back to life.

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3) Put that soundtrack on replay. I have an unabashed fondness for musicals, whether animated or theatrical; however, my love depends a lot on how many songs end up on my playlist to be played over and over again. The Phantom of the Opera, Spring Awakening, and Beauty & the Beast rank very highly with me because I can listen to their soundtracks over and over again without skipping; as a counter example, there are really only two or three songs from Wicked that I like.

With animated movies, I weigh story more heavily over soundtrack, but good songs make a big difference. This might sound blasphemous (and may also be influenced by the nostalgia factor), but I actually prefer the Anastasia soundtrack over the most recent success story, Frozen. Months since I watched Frozen in theaters, I don't listen to any of the tracks much anymore. I actually didn't love "Let it Go" like everyone and their mothers; my favorite was "For the First Time in Forever." I was rather ambivalent about the other tracks. With Anastasia, I have quite a few favorites but once or twice a year, I will go through a phase and listen to "At the Beginning" over and over and over again.

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Anastasia = more than just about getting the dude at the end

4) Heroine's Journey. This is a little less straightforward than the other points, but I'll attempt to explain--once again, by referring to Ella Enchanted.

Ella Enchanted and Anastasia are both rooted in the traditional fairy tale formula, but they're more than your typical cardboard story where the end-all is marriage. Sure, I'll admit the respective love interests are both probably up there on my list of swoonworthy fictional characters (not that I actually made such a list or anything... cough), but when you look at the character motivations, that's where you get the meat of what I'm talking about. Ella and Anastasia aren't looking for love; the ultimate goal is not marriage.

Ella wants to break her curse, and her whole arc is built on this motivation. Her romance is woven into this arc because ultimately, she is only able to break the curse to protect Char--even though it means giving up a future with him. Anastasia wants to know who she really is and find the one thing she's never had--family. Dimitri plays a different role in Anastasia's arc, in that he ultimately forces her final choice. By the end of the movie, Anastasia knows who she is. The goal of finding family, however, takes on a different turn. The last decision she's faced with: stay with her grandmother (her last living relative) and live as royalty, or start a new family by eloping with Dimitri (who, as a former servant-boy and renowned conman, is below her royal station) and presumably give up the world of fancy dresses and balls. So yes, you can argue that ultimately it's another whoopdeedoo-marriage-ever-after ending, but I'd counter with the argument that choosing to be with Dimitri was the last step in Anastasia's journey to attain her goal.

*You could actually do this heroine motivation analysis on all the other Disney heroines, and the results might surprise you. I got the idea from this one article I read which argued that Frozen isn't actually the great feminist movie it's hailed to be. I didn't agree with everything the author said, but I thought her motivation analysis of Anna and Elsa was on point. Most Disney princesses actually have pretty clear goals in their story arcs (usually they even sing about it: Belle wants "more than this provincial life"; Ariel wants to be "part of [the human] world"; Rapunzel wants to "see the glowing lanterns gleam", etc.). Could you state Anna and Elsa's goals as clearly? In my opinion, not really. Which might explain why I didn't love the movie as much as everyone else. In fact, this recipe thing I've just written pretty much spells out why I didn't fall in love with Frozen:

1) Heroine: Anna falls under the somewhat-ditzy category of heroine that I've never felt much of a kinship towards (see: Ariel of The Little Mermaid). Elsa's just kind of a wet blanket. Who sends a snow monster after your own sister??
2) Pretty dresses and stuff: Okay, I'm one of the people who actually did like Elsa's "Let It Go" transformation, so I'll give Frozen points for that.
3) Music: As explained previously, wasn't quite up to par for my tastes.
4) Heroine's Journey: Ditto.

TV Recap: City Hunter Ep. 2

Well hello again, everyone. I decided to give Episode 2 a chance, and though there were some minor annoyances here and there, this episode actually piqued my interest a little more since the WTF-ery from Episode 1, so chances are I'm gonna keep watching this series.

Before I start recapping, I realized I'd forgotten to mention that I used to read the City Hunter manga a few years ago. I honestly don't remember anything about it except that the City Hunter character was a huge pervert, but I'm preeeeetty sure there was nothing about avenging his father's death. I remember it was a pretty entertaining manga though. Anyways, on to business...

This episode starts off approximately the same place where we left off, with the exception of a new scene at this building that looks kind of like the White House, except with more obnoxious patriotism because there are eagle statues atop every peak of the building. With all the stacks of hundred dollar bills everywhere, I'm guessing this is supposed to be the Grand Drug Lord aka Crazy McCrazypants' palace of finery, but I'm a little confused. Did they always have this palace? If so, why did they stay in that little jungle villa this whole time? Or did they suddenly build this after he lost his leg, since he can't go tromping around the jungle anymore?

Anyways, handsome jungle-hair Lee Min Ho receives a letter of acceptance from MIT. I have so many questions. How did this happen? Did he even receive proper schooling in the jungle? What did he put down for extracurriculars? "I've been physically training to be an assassin since I was born, which involved fighting in mud and shooting targets placed around my foster mother." I consulted YY, who's seen this series already and suggested that maybe Crazy McCrazypants donated an entire building to MIT, thanks to all that drug money. Sounds about right to me.

His pink pants are a lot brighter than in this pic. Trust me.

Anyways, we now fast-forward to seven years later. I'm not sure if that MIT acceptance was to undergrad or graduate school, but regardless---somehow Lee Min Ho has graduated with a PhD from MIT in that short amount of time and he shows up in Korea wearing bright pink pants, and now we are introduced to presumably the heroine and love interest, Kim Nana. Turns out this girl has been doing all sorts of odd jobs (including passing out flyers while wearing a funny yellow dress) in order to pay the bills to support her father, who's been in persistent vegetative state (PVS) for ten years. She begs the doctor to save her father---and this is where I feel conflicted. On one hand, I sympathize with her grief about father, but as a future med student who's been reading about end-of-life care, I feel like ten years in PVS is not about quality of life for the patient and more about keeping him alive due to her guilt over his death.Given that this is a K-drama, I'm wondering if this is like Chekhov's gun. If you introduce a comatose patient in the first act, does that mean he will miraculously wake up in the following act?

One of Nana's odd jobs is being a Designated Driver--which is kinda funny, because I've had to do this job all the time for friends out of charity and the goodness of my heart. Minor observation: she has this atrocious flowery fringe thing that I don't even know how to describe, but it's detachable from her dress and it made me snort. Anyways, she picks up Lee Min Ho and his drunk paramour from the club, but not before flipping this undercover prosecutor who forcefully tries to interrogate Drunk Chick and is mistaken for being a perverted creepo. Nana drives them to their hotel--well, only part of the way, because Drunk Chick starts getting frisky and Nana is grossed out.

Lee Min Ho doesn't seem to be enjoying this much either.

She kicks them out of the car and says she's only driving this far but he still owes her money. He acts like a walking anal orifice, and this is the first sign of something that ended up bugging me this whole episode, but I'll get to that later. They get in an argument, and she leaves in a huff but later realizes she left her cell phone in the car. Meanwhile in the hotel room, Lee Min Ho starts plying Drunk Chick with wine in order to figure out what Evil Councilman #1, this chick's sugar daddy, is up to. Nana, desperate for her phone, tries a bunch of methods but ends up kicking his car and setting off the alarm. She's not there when he finally comes downstairs all annoyed, but he sees her phone and realizes what she was up to.

At the hospital, Nana begs this doctor to give her father some major stent operation, and he tells her that they don't normally do such risky procedures on PVS patients. But then Lee Min Ho shows up with all his moolah and says, Just do it--I already paid for it. My inner conflict continues to cringe. Ethically, this is not appropriate at all... but... but... sigh.

Next thing we know, Nana is accepted to this Secret Service training program. She runs into Lee Min Ho there, who is newly hired to work in some other national security branch. All his coworkers brown-nose him real bad---I had no idea being an MIT graduate was such a big deal in Korea, seeing that they're practically licking dirt off his shoes at this point lol. Anyways, the pacing of this episode gets all weird around this point. Basically a bunch of things happen all at once:

1. Nana tries to force Lee Min Ho to let her pay him back for her dad's medical bills, best exemplified by when she takes him down twice with this judo move. I am confused--wasn't he supposed to be a beast at fighting, after all the craptastic training Crazy McCrazypants put him through? Is he pretending to be weak, or did all his muscles atrophy while he was studying at MIT? Anyways, he relents and lets her make up the money by hiring her as his driver.
2. Nana and another agent are assigned to be bodyguards for the President's daughter, who is quite a brat but I actually find her kind of amusing. She takes an immediate liking to Lee Min Ho, who shuts her down real fast.
3. Cute Prosecutor is apparently after the same evil councilman that Lee Min Ho is after, and he's trying to arrest him for corruption charges. Lee Min Ho figures out they're after the same person, but Cute Prosecutor hasn't figured out the opposite.
4. Lee Min Ho continues to investigate Evil Councilman #1 and manages to sneak into his home and steal his diary, which has a record of all the illegal crap he's been doing. 

In a notable scene, the President's daughter goes straight to clubbing after school, which to me seems totally ridiculous because who the hell goes clubbing in the late afternoon/early evening---as evidenced by the ridiculously empty dance floor. Upstairs, Nana runs into Lee Min Ho right after he's ended things with Drunk Chick, who's broken up with Evil Councilman #1 and has no use to him anymore. In spectacular K-drama fashion, to make Drunk Chick go away he kisses Nana in this 360 degree panning shot where we are treated to every single angle of their awkward kiss.

Instead of explaining properly, maybe she'll just go away if I kiss you.

Nana is pissed that he took her first kiss so crudely and ends up judo-flipping him right in the middle of the club. She also starts freaking out because the President's daughter manages to sneak out of the club and away from her pesky bodyguards, but fortunately for her, Cute Prosecutor happens to be there and directs her to where he saw the girl run off to. Methinks a love triangle is in the cards. Too bad--I like this prosecutor, such an upstanding gentleman and with such nice manners too!

The next day at work, Lee Min Ho accidentally injures Nana's foot during judo practice so he ends up having to drive her home and helping carry her around and stuff. He's also wearing this horrendous pink shirt--even my dishcloth looks more attractive than that flimsy low-cut t-shirt. They eat ramen together in her apartment, and that's how we learn that Nana's mother died in the accident that put her father into a coma. Most of her belongings are in danger of being repossessed if she can't pay the bills. Anyways, this other storyline begins, featuring these two young kids in Nana's apartment building who are starving and essentially orphans. One of them is allergic to flour but ends up eating bread and is sent to the hospital. When Nana and Lee Min Ho go to the welfare office to ask for help, the numbers don't add up and it's obvious that Evil Councilman #1 has been doing some shady business with playing the numbers in his child welfare project.

Or something like that. END EPISODE.

All in all, this was a relatively entertaining episode, except I was REALLY annoyed by what they did to Lee Min Ho's character in this seven-years-later spiel. You see, he seemed like such a sweetheart back in the jungle. He cared about his foster mother, he rescued a gambler from angry gangsters, he cried for Crazy McCrazypants when the dude lost his leg. Then it was like he went and got a personality transplant in the US when he went to MIT, because seven years later he is a certified Grade A asshole. I've never watched Boys Over Flowers before, but it's probably not too different from Hana Yori Dango and he completely reminded me of Domyouji--who, surprise surprise, is the basis of the character that Lee Min Ho played in Boys Over Flowers.

Maybe he was corrupted by the money that he never got to use while living in the jungle?  I don't know, I just feel like it was completely unnecessary to bestow all the stereotypical K-drama Male Lead qualities upon him--such as Rich Arrogant Playboy Who Regularly Insults Poor Sweet Virgin. Also, I didn't mention this in my last recap, but Lee Min Ho saw a photo of Nana from the gambler when he was in the jungle. It's clear that he still remembers seeing her in the photo. So why does he treat her like such crap and constantly insults her about how he's not interested in her type and that she should go buy a mirror? What the eff man, you totally kept her picture by your bedside seven years ago!!

My prediction: things between Nana and the Cute Prosecutor are gonna heat up, eventually stirring some jealousy from Lee Min Ho. 

SL: lee min ho's behavior now reminds me too much of the typical boys over flowers lead jerkwad character
YY: hmm...oh yeah...I vaguely remember that now... I think it improves?
SL: i dunno. to me, i'm kinda like... does getting a PhD at MIT really make you such a buttfaced miscreant?
YY: actually...probably yes

To be continued...

TV Recap: City Hunter Ep. 1

I have not watched a Korean drama in years--since high school, perhaps? The main reason is, here's how Sophelia works: 1) I have very good self-control prior to starting to something, but... 2) If I succumb and start something... and find myself addicted, I absolutely won't stop until I finish. This is why I try not to buy junk food, because that shit will be devoured in less than two days. Hence, this is also why I rarely watch TV, because chances are if I get hooked, I will sit in front of the computer, neglecting food and sleep, in order to binge-watch for hours on end.

For some reason though, I came home this afternoon with a hankering for some mindless entertainment, and the idea of watching a K-drama popped into my mind. I don't really keep up with what's hot in that department, but I did recall that a lot of people I knew were hooked on City Hunter when it came out a few years ago, so I figured I'd give the first episode a shot.

Below is more or less my recap/thoughts on the first episode:

The episode more or less starts off with a bombing in Burma, aimed at killing the South Korean president but instead kills a bunch of high ranking officials. Meanwhile, there's a woman giving birth and her husband is nowhere to be found. A hundred bucks says that this newborn baby is gonna be Lee Min Ho, aka the hero that will BE A MAN. Isn't that how these stories usually start?

It turns out that the absent husband is actually one of the South Korean Secret Service-esque guys at the bombing, who survives and makes it back to his wife's side along with his best friend, who is also in the Secret Service. He literally holds his newborn son for like a minute before telling his wife, "Aiitte peace out---gotta go do some top secret business. We'll name the kid when I get back."

Meanwhile, these five official-looking people sit around a circular conference table and talk about planning an Operation Cleansweep to go into North Korea and kill... important people? I'm not entirely sure. Oh, it turns out the bomb was planted by North Koreans. So Absent Husband and Best Friend recruit some top secret soldier friends from a restaurant and other civilian locations, and they're getting all ready to head into North Korea when the general promises them he'll bring them all back home safely. Can you actually promise these things to soldiers? I am tres confused.

So these badasses do a spectacular job of getting into the North Korean building and slicing a bunch of throats, though Absent Husband is unfortunately stabbed during the commotion and Best Friend tries to drag him back to the submarine that's supposed to take them all home. But then, it turns out the five council members agreed to abort the mission in order to save face for the President (and save their own asses from getting fired), because otherwise the Americans will dissolve some sort of protection agreement they have with the South Koreans if they find out that the South Koreans retaliated against the North Koreans. So the only guy in the council with any semblance of a soul reluctantly orders the gunmen on the sub to shoot and kill all the men who were on the mission. In an act of true love, Absent Husband covers Best Friend and saves his life by hiding him underwater while he takes the bullets in the back.

So Best Friend goes crazy from grief and returns to South Korea, where he warns the quasi-nice council member that he's gonna take his life as revenge for all the lives he ordered killed to cover up the mission. At this point, I'm calling Best Friend by a different name, because Crazy McCrazypants goes PSYCHO. He goes off to find his bestie's wife, who is tenderly pampering her newborn son, and she literally turns her back for a second only to find her baby gone and a note that says something like, "Your husband is dead. I have taken your son. It is for your own good. Live a new life." He decides to raise this boy as his own son, for the sole purpose of exacting revenge on those council members.

Fast-forward years later, Crazy McCrazypants is some sort of drug lord in the jungle and is ridiculously severe with the training of his adoptive son. At this point, I'm at about thirty minutes into the episode and all the what-the-fuckery is rattling in my head:

- Why the fuck did the guy kidnap his best friend's son? If you even cared at ALL about your friend and his wife, how on earth would this be a good idea?? It never crosses your mind that MAYBEEEE giving the kid a chance at a normal life might be a good idea, or at least letting the mother have some say in all this??

- Why the fuck does his big revenge plan revolve around raising a baby into a man?? First of all, you have no idea if the baby will physically grow up into a capable fighter--what if he ends up being a sickly weakling--and second of all your plan is gonna take 20 years or so to accomplish. Why don't you just do your fancy revenge plan yourself??

At this point, I was about to give up on this show when full-grown Lee Min Ho finally shows up on an elephant. Years back, I had friends who were obsessed with Lee Min Ho, and at the time I never really understand what all the gushing was about. But it was like as soon as his physical beauty entered my computer screen, my interest level in this drama shot up like forty points. Good save, Lee Min Ho. I was just about to close the browser window.

After an amusing chase sequence in town where he saves the life of a Korean gambler from angry gangsters, I lose interest in Crazy McCrazypants' efforts to prove he's king of the jungle and lay down the law by forcing his son to shoot at targets around his foster mother. I'm more interested in wondering how Lee Min Ho maintains such flawless skin while living in the jungle? WHAT IS YOUR SECRET LEE MIN HO I MUST KNOW. Later, the gangsters he humiliated earlier show up at their little jungle hideout and shoot up a bunch of people, including Lee Min Ho's foster mother. More carnage happens, and basically Lee Min Ho also goes nuts, and blah blah blah at the end of all of it Crazy McCrazypants loses his right leg to a landmine that Lee Min Ho stepped on and he tells him the truth behind his birth and kidnapping and the ridiculous revenge plot. Lee Min Ho vows to get revenge, and not once does he question the fact that his adoptive father's revenge plan is COMPLETELY BONKERS.

Fast-forward seven years later, and Lee Min Ho's got himself a nice pair of hot pink pants. Ughhh I liked his dark v-necks and messy jungle hair better---not a fan of this perfectly coiffed metro look. He walks around what is presumably South Korea and ends up near this lovely young lady whom I am guessing will be the main love interest, and for some reason they stand like two yards within each other and never make eye contact. END EPISODE.

Will there be an Episode 2 recap? I don't know, because my remaining interest in this show is dangling on a string held up mainly by Lee Min Ho's good looks. Though if he continues to wear questionable outfits, I may have to ditch this altogether because I have a tendency to get irrationally riled up about horrendous fashion choices (see: Youngjae of B.A.P's floppy hat in the "Coffee Shop" MV or Domyouji's season-finale hot pink shirt or the furry mess from the double date in Hana Yori Dango). I mentioned this to YY, who told me:

YY: oh you would love the fuzzy, baby pink sweater he wears in the heirs.
SL: ewwwwwwwwww lemme go google that

      okay, finished the first episode. not sure if i want to invest in this drama yet lol

      omg what is this ungodliness that has befallen my eyes

YY: look how soft it is!

        and how well it complements his complexion

        LMAO
SL: yes it certainly brings out the rosiness of his doll-like cheeks. WHAT THE EFF.
YY: http://www.dramafever.com/news/now-you-can-own-lee-min-hos-actual-heirs-sweaters-/

        look at all the wonderful things he gets to wear in this show
SL: WHAT HAVE YOU DONE MY EYES ARE ON FIRE

To (possibly) be continued... 

Progress Report No. 5 (and Other Goodies)

Okay, three things:

1) Music
Dunno why it took me so long to rediscover them again, but holy kleenex batman---Arctic Monkeys has been on replay this whole weekend, particularly their AM album. Ultimate favorite is still "Do I Wanna Know?" The lyrics are ingenious, in my opinion, and captures so much of the whole lust-charged unrequited yearning deal. Already shared some of my favorite lines in the last post, but this one's a zinger:

Maybe I'm too busy being yours to fall for somebody new.

The music video for "Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?" made me laugh a bit--I like that song as well as "Knee Socks." Also perused through some of their older songs, and there are some shattering lines in "505":

What did you expect,
I probably still adore you with your hands around my neck,
Or I did last time I checked

But I crumble completely when you cry,
It seems like once again you've had to greet me with goodbye

Basically, I am completely envious/in awe/CHRIST-WHY-IS-HE-SO-TALENTED about Alex Turner's lyricism, and it doesn't hurt that, considering Sophelia's established proclivity for deep voices and good hair, this wordsmith is also in possession of a baritone voice and an eye-catching hairstyle that I've already discussed at length before. I have a suspicion I'd find him a lot less cool in real life (based on watching a couple of his interviews), but at least in the virtual world of my computer screen, Alex Turner is awesome.

2) Reading (and Watching Movies)
Just finished reading Life After Life by Kate Atkinson last week. It's my first time reading any of her works, and I do admire her writing style a lot. The story itself, however, left me with mixed, though predominantly positive, feelings. On one hand, I thought the plot device of rewinding time again and again until "you get it right" was quite interesting, especially when you see the side characters in Ursula's life play different roles in the parallel storylines. On the other hand, there were some storylines that confused the beejeezus out of me or left me feeling like I just wanted to jump ahead until Ursula died so that things would rewind again. Not perfect in my eyes, but good nevertheless.

Which is kinda how I felt about Frozen, to be quite honest. I was planning to write a separate post about the three movies I've seen the past three weeks (Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Frozen, The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug), but never got around to it and don't really feel like it at this point. Some things about Frozen though (SPOILERS AHEAD):

1.  WHYYYYY, OH WHYYYY did Disney only give Jonathan Groff one song in the entire movie? And not even a full song at that. Don't get me wrong, I love the reindeer song--I believe I said something quite similar not too long ago (along the lines of: "I like animals. They don't come up to you one day and tell you they don't love you anymore.") But that reindeer song was less than a minute long. What a tease.
2. Along those lines, that movie should have had more songs in the second half. The songs in the first half were great, but then what happened? This is where they should have gotten Jonathan Groff to sing another song--Kristoff had that great emotional moment near the end, or I would have been perfectly happy with another sappy romantic duet in the vein of Tangled's "I See the Light."
3. At the beginning, Kristoff witnessed the trolls erase Anna's memory of Elsa's frost magic. Why did he never mention any of this to her? Sure, maybe he was a little kid then and it was so long ago, but considering that was the moment he was adopted by the trolls, I think he'd remember how he ended up there in the first place.
4. Hans, I don't like you because I don't understand you. Yeah, you were totally skeezy in that "Love is an Open Door" song, but I didn't quite brand you as a villain because your actions didn't add up. If you were really just going to kill the princesses anyways so you could take the throne, why did you bother going off to look for Anna when you could have just sat in the castle and taken over from there? AND WHY DO YOU GET A DUET WHEN KRISTOFF DOESN'T?
5. Am I the only one who thought Hans would end up marrying one of the princesses? Since he was totally marketed as a prince rather than a villain in Disney's promo material. 

All in all, I liked the songs and thought Disney crafted an intriguing sisterly spin on one of my favorite fairy tales of all time. But I gotta deduct points, because those plot holes and the egregious lack of Jonathan Groff drove me mental.


3)   Writing
Was completely antisocial and sedentary this weekend--to the point that I started getting a headache, which rarely ever happens--but managed to churn out around 4.5k words. Not completely happy with most of it, but whatever. I just need to keep plowing ahead and I'll let my perfectionist side run free later. Funny thing I've realized--I was totally like Charlotte back in high school, feeling sorry about myself for so many things, but when I try to write in her voice nowadays I'm like, GIRL STOP THE PITY PARTY AND LET'S MOVE IT. Which is why it's kind of fun writing in Laurel-who-has-been-reincarnated-as-Ruqayya-long-story-I'll-explain-later, who tells it like it is and doesn't put up with her shit.

Epics and Quests: An ATLA Reflection

Good news: I turned in my penultimate secondary application last Monday.
Bad news: I've been procrastinating majorly in writing this last one.

My productivity has hit a slump. I suspect it's because I'm facing the monstrous "final boss"--this beast has four essays with unlimited word count. I wonder if this is how Link feels before he heads off to Ganon's castle.

I found managed to find a convenient distraction instead--I decided to watch all three seasons of Avatar: The Last Airbender for free with my Amazon Prime account. I had heard about the cartoon series for a while. Dante Basco even visited my school this past spring. ATLA just never grasped my attention, I suppose, until I found myself desperately trying to weasel my way out of writing essays.

I'm too lazy to write a synopsis, so here's one I found on IMDb:

When the hostile Fire Nation threatens to enslave the Water, Earth, and Air Nations, a reluctant and irresponsible boy must face his destiny as the Avatar, the Chosen One who can restore the world order. This new animated series centers on twelve-year-old Aang, who must forgo his selfish wandering to learn to master his latent powers over the four elements. Only then can he conquer the Firebenders, the evil nation that threatens the world. 

If I had discovered ATLA as a child, I suspect it would have been high on my list of favorite TV shows. If I finish a book or series and myself lamenting that I can't run over and visit their world again--or if I find myself dying to know WAIT SO WHAT HAPPENS TO THESE AWESOME PEOPLE AFTER THE WAR?--then I know I've found a gem.


I wrote a post about three years ago talking about how I rarely read fantasy these days. I've been thinking about this question more, especially after watching ATLA. I don't think I ever really turned my back on fantasy. I've always had a soft spot for epics, a hero's quest, war stories with multiple sides. Hell, I've been a huge fan of the Legend of Zelda series since forever, even despite the fact that I usually only watched my dad and brother play. Whenever my friends reminisce about the Harry Potter fanfics they used to read in their youth, I am loathe to tell them that the only fanfics I really read were ones dedicated to the Legend of Zelda and Inu-Yasha (yet another quest story, in a different vein).

I think there were a number of reasons why I started to veer away from these childhood obsessions and began devouring contemporary literature instead. At that point in my life, I was about to enter high school. High school in itself is another fascinating thing to me. I became less interested in these imaginary worlds and more invested in human stories--which oftentimes were tales of self-discovery and finding love. These intersected with what I was going through in my own life. This was around the time that I found Sarah Dessen and Francesca Lia Block, plus many "grown-up" novels by authors such as Alice Hoffman, Tracy Chevalier, and Janet Fitch.

And as much as I am sheepish to admit, the truth of the matter is that I still read a lot of manga to this day. I can't even count how many series I have read over the last ten years, and granted, some of them were pretty terrible. But in reading so many stories, I think I innately gained a sense of how stories are crafted and became keenly attuned to the common cliches in these narratives. Earlier, I asked myself which series have been my favorites--the ones that I have actually gone back to reread more than once, whose characters' names I can still remember without having to cheat. Off the top of my head, I came up with a list:

1. Nana by Ai Yazawa
2. Inu-Yasha by Rumiko Takahashi
3. Basara by Tamara Yumi
4. X/1999 by CLAMP
5. Skip Beat by Nakamura Yoshiki

Three out of five of these are what I would consider "epics." Inu-Yasha, Basara, and X/1999 all involve a battle of sorts between "good" and "evil", though the degrees by which the lines between good and evil are drawn vary enormously. Point being, even if my reading tastes changed over time, what I'm drawn to has remained consistent.

Anyways, enough of my musing. Back to what I thought about ATLA:

Characterization
In my opinion, this was the best part about the series, hands-down. Each character in the team had his/her own strengths, but just as importantly, his/her weaknesses as well. There is so much I can say about each character, because my understanding of each person became increasingly sharper with each episode. This is like the whole "show, don't tell" advice that people always say about writing. I could easily say, Katara is very motherly and sometimes overbearing, or, Zuko is very emotionally complex. But the best thing about watching this as a TV series is that in this medium, the creators are forced to show rather than tell. We see Katara nagging the other team members about the "moral" actions they should be doing. We see Zuko making bad decisions everywhere he goes, but we can see that his actions are a by-product of the good and evil warring within him.

Plot
Maybe I've become desensitized by violence (a horrifying thought), but I felt very strange about watching this story without the horrific violence of war. When a rebellion happens, the rebels are simply taken prisoner. Nobody is tortured or killed in order to "teach a lesson." The main character Aang says at one point that he's never killed anyone. My immediate reaction was, Huh. Well, maybe you didn't kill anyone directly, but you made tanks flip over, you knocked people off from cliffs, you smacked people around with Earth-bending that could have easily damaged their internal organs...

But given that this show is for children, I think the plot was at an appropriate level that wasn't too outrageously intricate. The storyline was a little predictable to me, but there's no great harm in that. The world-building with the four elements was well-done, in my opinion.

Fan Talk
This section is for people who've actually watched the series. I haven't yet found someone I can chat about ATLA fan-to-fan, so I'll just toss around a bunch of thoughts and potential spoilers here.

• Favorite Character. I liked Zuko's character a lot. Always been a fan of the archetypal redemption story arc. But there's one thing about him that constantly bugged me that I'll get into a second. Thus, Sokka takes the cake--he's hilarious and I found myself mirroring him in many ways (especially how he organizes itineraries excessively.) Appa was also a favorite of mine--doesn't everyone want their own flying bison??
• Funniest Moment. I was practically crying from laughter at the infamous "Baby, you're my forever girl" scene when Aang was going delirious from lack of sleep.
• If I could only bend one element, I would pick... Water. To me, it seemed like the most versatile. It could also heal, which I thought was very useful.
• Ships. I realized as I watching the series that there are rabid shipping fandoms out there on the Internet: Kataang, Zutara, Maiko, etc. I was expecting that I would hop onto one of these ships after I finished the series. (I was a HUGE shipper of Miroku/Sango from Inu-Yasha and Arashi/Sorata from X/1999.) But strangely enough, I didn't really get into any of these possible pairings. I was lukewarm about Sokka and Suki (to be honest, I like the story arc about Yue better). Toph and Sokka was a wishful fantasy I couldn't really picture ever happening. I could see Kataang happening in the future, but I was also somewhat unnerved by how motherly Katara's relationship to Aang was, given that Aang grew up without his parents. Zuko, with all his ships, needs a bullet point of his own...
• Zuko/Katara. I feel like Zuko's mother when I say this, but at the series' end, I came to the conclusion that none of these girls are good enough for him. Katara wasn't my favorite, but I liked her--she's loyal and fiercely protective. She had some cute moments with Zuko, especially when people mistook them for being a couple. They also look good together in a way that Aang and Katara do not. However, the series was pretty much set on Kataang, and I became pretty convinced as well that this pair was end-game. In my opinion, Zuko needed someone who could counterbalance his angst. Now, onto the one thing I disliked so much about Zuko...
• Zuko/Mai. I'm not sure why, but I HATED THIS PAIRING. I think the main culprit is that I really really really did not like Mai. One of my biggest pet peeves is when people complain about being bored. Oh, I'm so sorry--should I dance like a monkey to entertain you? Zuko once described her during a fight as being one big BLAH, and I was like YEAH I TOTALLY AGREE--SO WHY ARE YOU DATING HER? Mai talked with the drawl of a jaded teenager and just seemed like someone I would not particularly want to hang around. Also, after I went online and realized how people had been interpreting the whole "fruit tart" business, I seriously wanted to barf. I honestly don't see how this pair would survive in the long run, because his angst and her gloom would just drag each other down.

 In conclusion, I wasn't a fan of the romance in ATLA. Which doesn't matter, because I found myself liking the characters individually for how they contributed to the storyline. Think what you will of "children's cartoons", but I think this series is definitely a good one. I've heard mixed things about the follow-up series, Legend of Korra, so we'll see if I decide to check that one out.