Live Entertainment: ‘Hadestown’ Touring Cast and Broadway Cast Changes

Official poster for the Broadway musical ‘Hadestown’ created by Anais Mitchell.

Hey! Hallie here!

I’ve talked about’ Hadestown’ a few times on this blog for a few reasons. One is that it’s my favorite musical. Not only do I like the strong characterization this musical does for two women who are made to be completely helpless in their original tales, but I also love the fresh folk and jazz sounds this musical has instead of the usual fare. The other reason I love this musical is because it was a major crutch I leaned on while I was completing my degree in Theatre during college. I hyper-fixate on a lot of things I really enjoy, and my fixation on ‘Hadestown’ managed to be just the right thing to get myself through some of the more difficult parts of completing my degree. But, as all shows on Broadway did at the start of the pandemic, ‘Hadestown’ had to go on hiatus until circumstances were safer. And now that there’s at least a little bit more of a safe situation than there was last year, the show is opening back up in just a few days! On top of that, those of us who have been waiting for a touring cast now officially have one! So let’s look at some of the new announcements and what they mean for the show!

Broadway Comeback:

If you’re one of those lucky people who has the opportunity to watch the show in New York and are also very attached to the original cast, you’re in luck! Almost everyone is returning to their roles once ‘Hadestown’ returns! Reeve Carney will be back as Orpheus, Eva Noblezada will be Eurydice, Amber Gray will be Persephone, and Andre De Shields will be Hermes. Patrick Page is in the middle of a project at the moment so he has postponed his comeback until November, but he will be returning. In the meantime, Tom Hewitt will be playing Hades. Tom Hewitt has the perfect resume to prove how excited you should be for this. He’s played villains as infamous as Dracula and Scar, which is always a good match up for the harsh but lovable Hades, plus his run as Doctor Frank N Furter in ‘The Rocky Horror Show’ cements a fittingly large stage presence. It’ll be so fun to see him do this limited run. As for the Fates, we have one familiar face, Jewelle Blackman, but two (kind of) new additions to the cast as well. Jessie Shelton and Mariand Torres will be stepping in as the two other Fates. Jessie Shelton played one of the Fates in the original Off-Broadway run of ‘Hadestown’ and has stayed with the production in the ensemble, so this role isn’t actually new for her. Marriand Torres is completely new to ‘Hadestown’, however the fact that she just stepped off of ‘Wicked’ on Broadway as an Elphaba standby and replacement proves that she has pipes. She has also worked with director Rachel Chavkin before as ensemble in the original Off-Broadway production of ‘Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812’. As for the glorious chorus in ‘Hadestown’, there’s a lot of returning cast. Timothy Hughes, whose giant and commanding presence can be recognized anywhere, is returning, along with Khalia Wilcoxon, whose behind the scenes videos are currently some of the best parts of my day. Also returning is T. Oliver Reid, Afra Hines, Malcolm Armwood, and John Krause. Anthony Chatmon II, Trent Saunders, Kim Steele, Adam Hyundman, Tara Jackson, and Yael “Yaya” Reich are all welcome new additions. It’s a good mix of new and returning actors and it all looks amazing!

Touring Cast:

Here we get all new faces! Almost! Actually, the announcement that got me most excited when these cast lists dropped was our Persephone for the touring cast. She’s none other than Kimberly Marable, an ensemble member of the original ‘Hadestown’ Broadway cast and an incredible Persephone every time Amber Gray was out. I can’t express how happy this announcement makes me. Along with her we have Nicholas Barasch as Orpheus. Nicholas Barasch is treading a bit of new ground here. We usually see guys like Reeve Carney, who have a clear past with folk music, stepping into the role of Orpheus. Barasch’s resume does show a few past stints on Broadway that allude to the perfect high register for Orpheus, though. (He was also Austin in ‘The Backyardigans’ which is blowing my mind a bit.) Morgan Siobhan Green, who is our Eurydice, is most recognizable from her Broadway work in ‘Be More Chill’ and her voice is incredible. Levi Kreis will be Hermes. No offense to Kreis, but this is the one I’m having the most trouble picturing. He’s a talented singer, as shown by his Tony Award as well as his musical career offstage, but he isn’t exactly the type of comforting presence I usually picture as Hermes. I’m not one to prejudge, though. I’m sure he’ll be amazing! Kevyn Morrow will be Hades and he’s not a name to scoff at. He has an incredible list of Broadway shows, many of which demonstrate the deep register we all love from the Hades role. From ‘The Scarlet Pimpernel’, to ‘The Color Purple’, to ‘Bandstand’, to ‘Moulin Rouge’, he’s done so many incredible shows and I can’t wait to see him in this one! This cast also includes Belen Moyano, Bex Odorisio, and Shea Renne as The Fates. Along with them, Lindsey Hailes, Chibueze Ihuoma, Will Mann, Sydney Parra, Jamari Johnson Williams, Kimberly Immanuel, Alex Lugo, Eddie Noel Rodriguez, and Nathan Salstone will be joining the cast! I can’t wait to see this touring cast in action!

This is all of the new announcements we’ve received for ‘Hadestown’s comeback. I can’t wait to see the show return. The masses of red carnations going up on the Walter Kerr Theatre in New York for the reopening of this show is already getting me emotional. And if the touring cast doesn’t get disrupted, the tour will be in my area right around my birthday next year. I’ve been dying to see this show for a good two years now, probably more, and I don’t want this new surge of cases to dampen that. So if you won’t do it for anything else, do it for ‘Hadestown’ and get vaccinated! Meanwhile I’ll be over here crying over Kimberly Marable as Persephone.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

BTS: Happy JK Day!

Photoshoot image of Jeon Jungkook for BTS Muster ‘Sowoozoo’. Copyright goes to the Hybe Corporation and BTS.

Hi! It’s Annie!

Happy Jungkook Day! I know his birthday is technically tomorrow in the states, but in South Korea it is already tomorrow. Jungkook is officially twenty-four and the festivities have already begun! So many people have started sharing their tattoos on Twitter in support of Jungkook’s for his birthday and, on top of all of that, we already got his late birthday live! And damn if anyone thinks this man isn’t talented, they should really think again. Yesterday on Weverse he asked fans for birthday messages in the form of lyrics that he then turned into an actual song for his live. He also sang various other songs including “Dimple”, “Pied Piper”, “Mic Drop” and even songs we haven’t heard in a while like “Paradise”, “Heartbeat”, and “Sea”. “Sea” particularly hit home for me because it’s not a super well known song but it’s one that means a lot to me. And the fact that he sang “Paradise” after forgetting what it was, was hilarious. Especially because it’s become a joke that BTS might have something against the song. I’ve already talked at length about all the members of BTS and their solo work, but there’s so much else to talk about. I’ll never be able to shut up about any of them. So, this time I’m going to go with some of my favorite Jungkook performance moments! Here we go!

“Dionysus” (2019 MMA):

This is a performance that I know I’ve talked about before and is possibly one of my favorites of BTS’s in general. But what really makes this particular performance of “Dionysus” so memorable for me was the dance break. The giant dance break to a remixed version of “No” caught my breath from the moment it started. And honestly, one of my favorite parts of the dance break was the section that featured Jungkook and Hobi separate from the others. It was difficult to not be enraptured with how in sync they were with each other. And while the other members were a bit more separated for their parts of the dance, Jungkook and Hobi’s required moving across the table together. Often even helping each other on and off of it. And the way they turned and smiled at each other before jumping back behind the table was way too adorable. It’s an image that lives rent free in my brain.

“Airplane Pt. 2” (2018 MMA):

Let’s all be honest with ourselves; the MMA’s have essentially just become BTS concerts with some extra at this point. They steal the show. The intro to this particular song was what was so memorable about this overall performance. This started out with each of the members getting their own individual dance pieces. From Jimin dancing with a group while he was on top of a table, to a Sope dance, to a Tae group dance, to a Jin group dance, to Namjoon getting his suit measured, every detail was intricate. But watching them all you might then ask yourself, where’s Jungkook? That’s when the camera pans from the six members taking their seats to a curtain that opens on a long catwalk. And Jungkook in a pristine white suit struts down this catwalk like he owns it, thus beginning the song. This was the kind of badass and eye catching entrance that you would expect from the golden maknae. Damn, he looked good!

“DDAENG” (BTS 5th Muster Magic Shop):

I think everyone was dying for the rap line to perform “DDAENG” since the song’s release (and then after with that amazing performance where Namjoon wore those sunglasses), but OT7 was something else. Everyone’s verse in that piece is insane, but Namjoon stuttering was always the part that got me the most. Watching Namjoon hand that off to his biggest fan, Jungkook, was just as amazing as the original performance. Not only did Namjoon look so proud, but Jungkook was able to use that rap training he had gotten from when he used to rap some lines closer to debut. There was no doubt that he killed it. And his cute little smile afterwards showed that he absolutely knew what he had just done. Namjoon and Jungkook are a duo that I always love to see because of how much Jungkook has always looked up to Namjoon and how proud Namjoon is of Jungkook. Their dynamic is adorable!

“Pied Piper” (BTS 5th Muster Magic Shop):

This is one of the most iconic Jungkook performances. Between his long hair and his partly open shirt, I haven’t met anyone who hasn’t fallen at least a little in love after this performance. Jungkook was dancing throughout the entire song without any hint that he was feeling even the slightest bit self conscious. A confident Jungkook is always the death of all of us. I don’t think any of us will ever get over his outfit during that song or how much he knew he rocked it. Because you could tell he knew. There are so many reasons why this muster is one of my favorite concerts they’ve ever done, and “Pied Piper” Jungkook is a reason in itself.

Any Performance of “Euphoria”:

There are very few idols who would agree to sing so high up in the air. In fact, I’m pretty sure there’s not another member of BTS who would agree to that. We all know that Jungkook is a daredevil, so I doubt he even blinked at the idea. You could see how much he loved the adrenaline rush, and it added another element to the song as well. And, of course, it allowed us all to see Jungkook in his element. Challenging himself in every aspect of performance. I only hope he didn’t get too cold.

“My Time” Performances :

I generally don’t like animal print, but he pulled that off Day 2 of the concert. And his all black ensemble was nothing to sneeze at either. In a way, this felt like Jungkook’s reminder to everyone that he’s all grown up now. (So stop infantilizing him.) From his use of his own choreography, to the outfit, to the lyrics of the song itself, this was not just something to look at. There was so much meaning behind this too. It really marked a turning point in Jungkook’s more mature performance style, and I loved every second of it.

Jungkook is a talented performer and he only gets better as the years go on. Yoongi himself said that he’s the most talented singer that he’s ever worked with. And his ability to write songs and dance has also improved along with his vocals which were already heavenly as they were. He really is our golden maknae, there’s no doubt in my mind that he can do anything he sets his mind to. And he gives me a lot of hope too. He’s very candid about the struggles of growing up at his age, and as someone who’s around his age I’ve found myself relying on his words often. I’m so excited to celebrate him, both today and tomorrow! And this also marks the beginning of the BTS birthday season! Namjoon’s birthday is coming soon and then Jimin’s is right afterwards. And then we get Jin and Tae’s birthdays in December. The only two members of BTS who don’t have their birthdays at the end of the year are Yoongi and Hobi. So as we enter into the holiday season, let’s all be aware that this is also the season of many BTS birthdays. It just makes things even more happy!

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Marvel: ‘What If…?’ Recap and Review

Screenshot of Peggy Carter as Captain Carter in episode one of Marvel’s ‘What If…?” on Disney+. Copyright goes to Marvel Studios and the Walt Disney Company.

Hey! Hallie here!

I’m a bit slow to getting out these reviews, but with ‘What If…?’ I find myself having less to say. All of the episodes have been excellent without much to criticize. The animation is eye-catching and the returning cast does an excellent job, as do the actors stepping into the roles they couldn’t get the original cast back for. Also, the point of this series is to explore an interesting idea without having to worry about plot inconsistencies or in-universe rules. Some plots are more serious than others, but none take themselves too seriously. Which is why this series is so fun to watch. It isn’t breaking new ground or anything, but it does give Marvel fans some interesting concepts or characters to think about and enjoy. Now that three out of nine episodes have aired though, there’s plenty to discuss between the three. So let’s get into this first review! SPOILERS AHEAD!

‘What If… Captain Carter Were the First Avenger?:

This episode of ‘What If…’ has stuck the most to a movie plot than any of the other episodes. The episode starts out with the exact moment in ‘The First Avenger’ movie where Steve is about to be turned into Captain America. In this version of events, however, the Hydra spies attack before the change is made to Steve, not after. Steve gets shot in the surprise attack (he lives,) and Peggy finds herself to be the only person capable of undergoing the process last minute. So she does and becomes Captain Carter. The plot follows some of the main points of ‘The First Avenger’ from this point on with a handful of changes. Peggy is still not allowed to get right into fighting, although this time it’s because she’s a woman and misogyny obviously still exists whether or not she has super powers. The next major change is her more prominent involvement in discussions surrounding the Tesseract and what kinds of power it is capable of, especially in enemy hands. It’s the reason why she first steps onto the scene as Captain Carter. Then the story asks what would happen if Howard Stark created the first Iron Man suit. Evidently, he’d give it to Steve. Steve becomes the Hydra Stomper and comes along with Peggy on a bunch of her missions, much like Bucky does for Steve. There’s even a train scene, paralleling the one from the first ‘Captain America’ film, where Peggy thinks Steve has died. Steve gets confirmed as alive though! So…no reunion for Peggy and Steve like the one Bucky and Steve got, I guess? The whole story comes to a close when Red Skull actually manages to open a portal with the Tesseract. This unleashes a giant octopus-like monster on all our good guys, and just like Steve has to sacrifice himself at the end of his movie, Peggy says a final goodbye to Steve and battles the monster through the portal. On the other side, she finds Nick Fury and Hawkeye. So instead of Loki coming through a Tesseract portal at the beginning of ‘Avengers’, Peggy does. This episode was fun and pretty much everyone but Chris Evans returned for it. I feel like if anything though, it validates a lot of people’s opinions on the romantic nature of Steve and Bucky’s relationship by having Peggy and Steve’s relationship parallel it quite a few times.

‘What If…T’Challa Became a Star-Lord?’:

This ‘What If…?’ episode takes A TON of liberties. This episode starts with the premise that the Ravagers kidnapped the wrong kid. While they were sent after Peter Quill, Yondu decided to outsource the job to some less experienced people, resulting in T’Challa being taken instead. T’Challa has the same loving family he has in the MCU and he misses them at first, but Yondu grows attached to T’Challa and convinces him that his family and all his people were wiped out. Then starts a sequence similar to the first sequence in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’. Except T’Challa is instantly established as a more capable Star Lord, because the assailants he meets up with do know his name and are fans of him. Are we really surprised? Not only that, but he’s able to recruit them to the Ravagers. If he can recruit these guys to the Ravagers, who else can he recruit? Apparently anyone, including Thanos. One of my favorite parts of this episode was the running joke where Thanos attempted to explain his reasoning for planning to wipe out half of the population on most planets, making others ask “Isn’t that just genocide?” I’ve never bought into the whole “Thanos was right” argument so that definitely amused me. In this universe, T’Challa is also really close with Nebula, who is a much different character. She’s still a badass but she’s also flirty, has long blonde hair, and calls T’challa “Cha Cha”. After all of this is established, an entire new plot occurs in which T’Challa and Nebula plan a giant heist targeting the Collector. A lot happens. T’Challa finds a Wakandan ship in the Collector’s collection where he discovers that his family are alive and well, he faces off against Yondu, he gets captured and ends up asking Howard the Duck for directions, the Collector (Who is very buff for some reason,) puts on Hela’s headdress, Thanos saves Nebula, and they all turn the Collector’s collection against him. At the end of it all, T’Challa forgives Yondu and he takes all of the Ravagers along with him to reunite with his family in Wakanda. This episode was a bit weirder, but I loved hearing Chadwick Boseman’s voice. I’ll watch this episode over and over just for his performance.

‘What If…The World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes?’

A lot of people called this episode depressing, but I spent so much of this episode trying to figure out what the hell was happening, that I wasn’t actually sad. This episode takes place in the short amount of time that surrounded the Hulk movie Marvel is just now acknowledging, ‘Iron Man 2’, and the first ‘Thor’ film. So just before Steve Rogers was discovered in the ice. Nick Fury and Natasha go to recruit Tony Stark to the Avengers Initiative and, during their visit, he winds up poisoned. He dies instantly. Natasha is suspected to be the culprit and is arrested, but she sneaks out and tracks down Betty Ross. Meanwhile, Nick Fury is alerted to the presence of a certain God of Thunder who is attempting to get his hands on a mysterious hammer. Clint Barton is present and is told not to fire at Thor, but his grip on his prepared arrow mysteriously slips and Thor dies from an arrow to the heart. Now Clint is arrested and, while being held captive, he mysteriously dies too. And if that wasn’t bad enough, Nick Fury comes face to face with Loki and the entire Asgardian army who are looking to avenge Thor. Going back to Natasha, she finds out that Betty Ross is hiding Bruce Banner (Made to look like Mark Ruffalo and also voiced by Mark Ruffalo so no Edward Norton here,) and the two are attacked. Before turning into the Hulk, Bruce assures Natasha that he can’t die so easily. But then the Hulk explodes. Gross. Natasha decides to do some late night research to figure this thing out on her own but she gets attacked too. Before she dies, she manages to tell Nick that Hope is the key. If you’re thinking Hope van Dyne, you’d be correct. Nick goes to Hope’s grave, she died in this universe, and finds Hank Pym as Yellowjacket, the villain from the first ‘Ant-Man’. He blames the premature death of Hope on SHIELD, whom she worked for. I enjoyed seeing Hank play the part of the villain considering how awful of a guy he is in the comics. Nick manages to beat Hank with the help of Loki. Which might make Loki seem like a somewhat decent guy if he didn’t seize the opportunity to use Asgard’s army to successfully take over the world. Hey, at least Steve Rogers is still on the table and Carol Danvers does come in to help at the end. The stand out in this episode is absolutely Clark Gregg’s Agent Coulson, who’s humor and calm attitude ground the crazy plot.

I feel like these episodes get more and more insane as the series goes on. And I’m prepared for more insanity coming later as well. We haven’t even seen the Avengers zombies yet. Overall I think these small stories are fun. They’re easy to follow, and while they don’t always make sense, they make enough sense within each condensed story. A lot of people thought that Peggy showing up at the beginning of the ‘Avengers’ timeline at the end of her episode meant that the episodes were going to connect. I do think that some of the stories will connect at some point. We did see the likes of Captain Carter and T’Challa’s Star Lord teaming up in some of the trailers. But I don’t think all of the stories will connect. The point is to explore various, disconnected ideas that we only need to muse over for a short period of time. And I think the series succeeds at making that entertaining. Just don’t expect a grand impact on the rest of the MCU.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

Disney: Who are the Real Pirates?

Screenshot of Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom in ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl’. Copyright goes to Disney and Disney Live Action.

Hi! It’s Annie!

Lately I’ve noticed a lot of discourse about the fact that the Avengers were more coworkers than friends. Which is a point I definitely agree with. Though there were a few friendships within the group, they were not really close for the most part. But this discourse made me think back to one of my absolute favorite film series and the perceptions of the characters in it. ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ boasts a cast of characters you can’t help but get invested in. The relationships between the characters are one of the things that carries the series. But, over time, I’ve seen way too many articles about the “close” friendship between Jack (sorry… Captain Jack Sparrow) and Will Turner. Personally, I would not call the relationship between those two characters a friendship necessarily. And most of that I’m not sure has to do with our dear Captain. So, in this post I’m going to go through some of the main characters in the movies and why some of them act more like pirates than others. And it may not be the characters you think. These movies have been out for a while but, MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Captain Jack Sparrow:

It would be entirely inappropriate to begin this with any other character. Captain Jack Sparrow is the picture of what a pirate should be throughout the films. In fact, most pirates and pirate films take inspiration from Captain Jack Sparrow, because the first film in this series single-handedly saved pirate films as a whole. But I would argue that Captain Jack Sparrow has some of the most moral moments of anyone in the films. At least within the first four films, he is always the smartest person in the room. And generally, he doesn’t have to manipulate the room at all to be able to tell what other people are going to do. In the first movie Captain Jack doesn’t really do many things that are morally questionable. When he is knocked out by Will it is not because Jack was not planning to save Elizabeth. It was entirely because Jack had not communicated a plan to Will to save Elizabeth. In fact, throughout the series most of the morally questionable things are done to Jack rather than by him. Jack is the one who voted for Elizabeth as Pirate King, which ultimately secures her in the role. He also saves Angelica’s life by lying at the end of the fourth film. Most of the moral high ground in the franchise is oddly taken by Jack. So while he is a scoundrel who no doubt pillages and plunders, the name of villain that usually goes along with pirate is often not taken by Jack.

Will Turner:

In the first Pirates movie, Will is extremely kindhearted and naive at the beginning. And the key word is at the beginning. He double crosses Jack for the rest of the movie. Starting with him having absolutely no qualms with leaving Jack behind after Elizabeth is safe despite the fact that Will is the one who knocked Jack out. He somewhat redeems himself after rescuing Jack at the end of this film, but his actions in the next couple films are entirely different. Jack does manipulate Will in the second film to go to Davy Jones, but Will’s manipulation and betrayal of Jack afterwards is more than double that. Including Will handing Jack over to enemies several times without seeming to care. Jack and Will feel like they are just as much friends as Jack and Barbossa. Both Barbossa and Will have backstabbed Jack several times. Though, to Barbossa’s credit, at least he helped resurrect Jack. Will’s relationship with Jack only stretches so far as how Jack can help him with his problems with Elizabeth and his father.

Elizabeth Swann:

From the innocent daughter of the governor to the freaking Pirate King; Elizabeth had one heck of a journey. And at first Elizabeth is just as earnest as you would think of her, despite the fact that she stole the Aztec gold from Will when he was young. Though she did it with good intentions; if she had left it with him he would have been found out to be a pirate. Or at least the son of one. In the second film Elizabeth’s main goal is to find Will. And here’s where things start getting more complicated. Though she starts out just as earnest as ever (she even helps Norrington), her want to get married is called into question when the audience (and Norrington) becomes unsure that she wants to marry Will specifically. For some of the movie, until Will comes back, her attention turns to Jack for some odd reason. And this doesn’t last long, but her willingness to take things into her own hands is also shown when she tricks Jack into going down with the ship at the end of the film. In the third film she spends most of her time with Barbossa and does feel guilty about Jack. Though her feelings of guilt do diminish over time, she is still more than willing to help Jack out of every situation. And often times both her and Jack are double-crossed by Will in the final film that she’s in. So while she owns the title of Pirate King, she is not the most morally low of everyone.

James Norrington:

Norrington is a character that confuses me a lot. I can never figure out if I like him or dislike him and my opinion seems to change every single time I watch the first three films. What’s clear about him is what could be a good person seems to be peeking through his giant ego, but just can’t get past it. Norrington lets Jack go at the end of the first film; but in the second film he doesn’t take responsibility for his actions. He blames everyone for persuading him to make that choice, which led to him being disgraced. In the second film he lets the others use him as bait, but also sells all of them out in the end. And in the third movie he finally realizes that his ego and ambition have only caused him guilt and sacrifices his life for Elizabeth. But his ego had already caused so many problems. Norrington is not a likable or a dislikable character. And his morals are always eclipsed by his ego. So the moral ambiguity is present for him as well, though his moral ambiguity is less of the general pirate manipulation and more of the giant ego that often comes with his status.

Hector Barbossa:

It is absolutely no secret that Barbossa is the definition of pirate. He was the mutineer that originally betrayed Jack and the villain for the entirety of the first film. Barbossa turns around a bit when he’s brought back at the end of the second film. He even officiates the marriage of Will and Elizabeth in one of the most hilarious scenes in the franchise. The thing with Barbossa is we never really get to see him betray anyone. Even though we know he’s done it in the past. Barbossa is honest and unapologetic about everything he does since his first off screen betrayal. Does that make him moral? Absolutely not. But at least he’s honest about it. And Barbossa actually becomes more and more morally good as the series goes on. So why is it that, as I look at these main characters, Jack and Barbossa seem like they are most often in the moral right?

Jack and Barbossa being in the moral right sounds insane at first. But often, they are. Captain Jack Sparrow is a flawed hero, but he’s still pretty heroic. We know from his past that he was originally marked a pirate because he freed slaves he was transporting. But that aside, pirates are often known for their betrayals and manipulations. And I don’t believe anyone does this as much as Will. If I were to pick a main character who takes the moral low the most of the good guys, I would definitely choose Will. He’s unexpected in committing many of his betrayals, but that’s what makes them sting even more. In the end Jack saves Will far more than Will ever saves Jack. And Will sells out several of who some fans consider to be his closest friends several times. If you’re counting betrayals, Will has got them stacked. But Elizabeth and Norrington also have their own fair few. So who are the real pirates?

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Star Wars: Star Wars or Star Trek?

Screenshot of Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca and Harrison Ford as Han Solo from ‘Star Wars: Episode IV-A New Hope’. Copyright goes to Walt Disney Studios and Lucasfilm.

Hey! Hallie here!

I’ve only really talked about my love of Star Wars on this blog when it comes to the Sci-Fi content I geek out about. While my love of the Star Wars franchise runs deep, it definitely isn’t my only interest in the Sci-Fi genre. Star Trek is another franchise that’s always caught my interest. These two franchises are often compared and have been seen by many as opposing teams for Sci-Fi lovers to align themselves with. It feels like most geeks have to face being asked “Do you like Star Wars or Star Trek?” at least once. This question has caused quite a few arguments I won’t get into here. I’m especially avoiding the entire debate over whether Star Wars is even Sci-Fi because, really, who cares? My aim here is to compare the two series to look at their strengths and weaknesses.

Characters and Morality:

The concept of morality in Star Wars is simple. Especially if we’re talking about the original trilogy. There’s good and evil. That’s about it. All of the characters fall into these categories. The good characters are either Jedi or part of the Rebel Alliance. Among the most moral are characters like Luke Skywalker or Obi Wan Kenobi. They aren’t very tempted by the dark side (When they are there’s never an actual threat of them falling to it), they fight for the greater good of everyone, and they’re indisputably good. Those outside of the Jedi, however, can seem a bit shakier when it comes to moral alignments. Of course I’m thinking of Han Solo, who joins the good guys only for a good chunk of money. That said, Han can call himself a scoundrel all he wants, but it’s pretty clear he’s actually a really good guy. He starts worrying about Luke’s well being after only a few hours of knowing him and every time he makes an attempt to leave the Rebel Alliance in order to pay his debt back to Jabba, he quickly decides the Rebels need him more. So actually not that morally complicated. The bad guys are similarly simple. They’re all Sith or Empire aligning. Palpatine has no other personality traits aside from being “evil”. Anakin gets a bit more by starting out as a good guy with a bit of a rebellious streak before his rebelliousness turns him to the dark side. Still, though, there’s never really an internal conflict with Anakin once he becomes a villain. It’s almost like he turns into a robot until Luke can get through to him at the very end of his story. But is this moral complexity important to Star Wars? Not really. The point of Star Wars is the journey of the hero. It’s less about the hero’s internal conflict and more about the hero growing and maturing in the face of evil. In Star Wars a regular kid becomes a powerful Jedi and a princess who is underestimated by most becomes a war general. The point is to root for likable, relatable characters as they grow to face the great evil lurking over them.

On the other hand, morality in Star Trek can get a lot more complex. For one, the sense of clear good and clear evil doesn’t exist in Star Trek. There have been plenty of times where a Star Fleet ship has had to make a morally ambiguous decision because the difference between right and wrong was blurred. The Borg have participated a lot in these storylines. They’re considered the closest to evil any alien race encountered by Star Fleet has come. Their only goals are to either assimilate more people into the Borg, or to destroy those in their path. If they’re so evil, fighting them off, as the Jedi do to the Sith, seems like the right thing. Especially since all of them are basically one being operating in a hive mind. Except all of the Borg actually are individuals, and as series like ‘Star Trek: Voyager’ prove, they can choose to make morally good decisions. Aiming to fight or destroy them, despite how evil they often are, can still be morally wrong. Subjects like this pop up all the time in Star Trek. In fact, some of the most fun dives into morality happen when the plot focuses on the Prime Directive. The Prime Directive prohibits Star Fleet ships from interfering with the development of other civilizations. Meaning that, if a certain alien species hasn’t developed enough to at least understand the technology found on starships, Star Fleet isn’t allowed to interact with them for fear that it will alter their development. However, what happens when an underdeveloped civilization is in need of help? Can characters as good as Captain Picard really stand by while others are suffering? Sometimes, yes. In fact, Picard in particular is one of the strictest characters about keeping to the Prime Directive. All these moral questions are exactly the ones Star Trek aims to focus on. Characters don’t grow to face the evil they’re against. In fact, growing is much more subtle in Star Trek because all of the main characters are already capable and experienced Star Fleet officers. Their development occurs when their already solid beliefs are challenged by a complicated problem.

Action and Adventure:

Star Wars has fight choreography. What else could you want? Lightsaber battles have gotten better and better as the series has gone on. And even if you take out the lightsaber battles you’re left with a ton of action sequences, often involving some back and forth blaster fire. Each Star Wars movie has endeavored to introduce at least one new planet with life forms and scenery that set it apart from other introduced planets. This gives the characters a large amount of places to explore. And, given the fact that it’s a war we’re talking about here, we get to see tons of battle sequences. Star Wars gives us TIE fighters and X-wings going head to head in space battles. Huge Imperial Dreadnoughts have shown up at inopportune times to face off against Resistance Bomber ships. On a planet’s surface, AT-AT Walkers have towered over small speeders. There’s always tons of action in a Star Wars movie. The lightsaber battles might be the highlight, but there’s really never a dull moment.

Star Trek isn’t about the action as much. A few series have attempted more action sequences, but that isn’t really what this show does. Each starship has a security team that will sometimes have to use their expertise to protect the starship they serve, and all of the main characters have Phasers that they can set to either Stun or Kill in order to protect themselves. But most Star Fleet officers tend to prefer using their words to resolve conflicts. Most of the tension in Star Trek either comes from a mystery left unsolved or from a diplomatic back and forth between a starship captain and a potentially dangerous party. However, adventure is a huge part of Star Trek. The point of every starship is to explore as much of the galaxy as they can and to take notes while they’re doing it. In some instances, mostly when Q is involved, a crew discovers an entirely new galaxy let alone a new planet. What Star Trek lacks in action sequences it makes up for in intrigue and exploration. Even if the green screen on a new planet they discover is noticeably bad.

So which is better? Objectively, neither one. They both specialize in very different things. Do you like a quicker pace, action sequences, and more relatable characters? Star Wars will probably capture your interest more in that case. Do you like deep plots, philosophical debates, and complicated characters? Steer towards Star Trek. My personal opinion changes depending on the day. Sometimes Star Trek is too slow for me and I don’t feel the characters develop substantially enough for me to completely understand them. But sometimes Star Wars is too simple and the fight scenes are too constant to keep my interest. In other words, don’t let anyone tell you you’re wrong for liking what you like. Don’t go around judging other people for their opinions, either. Let’s just all admit there are good things that can be found in all of these franchises!

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

BTS: Baby ARMY Help

Not my picture! The Purple Ocean has been photographed multiple times by many talented ARMYs. My only hope is that I get there someday.

Hi! It’s Annie!

I wanted to make a post for anyone who is newer in the fandom, because I can see why becoming an ARMY right now might be stressful. It seems like every day there’s something new happening in the fandom. And not all of those things are positive. So, I wanted to create a friendly guide on how to navigate some of the negative things and, for ARMYs who aren’t so new, I did include some advice for how we can make things more welcoming. Many of these things are stuff we all already do, but a reminder can’t hurt. So, if you’re new and considering getting into BTS, don’t be afraid!

Twitter Wars:

Of everything, this was probably what made me the most apprehensive about joining this fandom. Generally ARMY are not the ones who start Twitter wars. But there are several other fandoms who start Twitter wars after attacking the members of BTS. I wouldn’t be surprised if most people who aren’t even ARMY have seen these before. A while ago a massive group of people attacked Jimin for his style. Obviously, Jimin is amazing and all of their complaints against him were completely unfounded. Lately, the attacking has come from several people accusing BTS of having unfairly gotten the success that they’ve worked so hard for. My sister covered this in her last post. My advice about these Twitter wars is that I would personally stay out of them. The ARMYs who get involved with them for the most part upload nice or random posts about the boys to bury all the negative comments. And this is great! But if you’re an easily stressed ARMY or a new ARMY, I would highly recommend staying off Twitter. I personally have been using social media a lot less and I hear a lot more ARMY are doing this as well. There’s no reason to get into the discourse about American media treating BTS awfully if you can’t mentally handle it right now. The best way to protect them if this stresses you out is to ignore it or bury it so that BTS doesn’t see it. This also brings me to my next point..

Buying Merch:

Be careful about the BTS merch that you buy. This is also something that became more prevalent recently. This is a point that especially goes for anything American media based surrounding BTS. If you see a magazine with BTS on it while you’re out shopping, the temptation to buy it is there. I know, I’ve felt it. But it wouldn’t hurt to do a quick google search about the magazine and the interview itself first. Many of these magazines are actually pretty insulting towards BTS and are using them to get the money from their fans. I had to learn this lesson the hard way, when I was a baby ARMY I did accidentally purchase a magazine with BTS on it without doing proper research on it first. And the magazine was pretty insulting. Don’t make the same mistake I did! It doesn’t take that long to pull out your phone and do a quick search before deciding whether or not this magazine was respectful enough to earn your money. Thankfully, more and more K-Pop internet shops are refusing to sell pieces that aren’t respectful. Unfortunately, this doesn’t go for companies like your local Target.

Concert Tickets:

I have not been to a BTS concert personally. And I am hoping to get to go to the next concert. I’ve been a fan of BTS for almost a year and a half now, but I know that there are fans who have liked them for much longer than that. And many of those fans were devastated to learn that their concert tickets were made invalid. It was hard enough to get those tickets before this fandom tripled in size. This doesn’t mean that you as a baby ARMY love BTS less or don’t deserve to go to concerts as much as those people do. And if any ARMY who has been in this fandom longer tells you differently, just ignore them. You are not made more or less of a fan by how long you’ve liked BTS or what era you came in on. So be understanding when ARMYs are a little concerned or angry over the concert tickets, but don’t feel like that discounts you wanting to be a part of that purple ocean. Don’t let yourself be bullied into not going to a BTS concert if that’s what you really want.

Shipping Traps:

I absolutely had to mention this because it’s important. There are a lot of ships in this fandom. It’s honestly not surprising. But I would advise you to be able to differentiate between the romantic and friendship shipping. Please remember that they are involved in a culture that may be very different from yours and sometimes things that they do which may look romantic to you isn’t really. And even if it was, it’s not your place to say who should date or who likes who. BTS are not your sims. Shipping them romantically is entirely inappropriate. Shipping them as friends is absolutely ok and adorable. But unless they deliberately say they are in a relationship, don’t assume things. And just because a bunch of ARMYs do it, doesn’t make it right for you to do it. I’m not saying that it’s not ok if members of BTS started dating. I’m saying it’s not ok for you to nose into their personal lives and make things possibly uncomfortable for them.

BTS Family:

I know a lot ARMYs who are new want to know everything about the boys. And I mean, EVERYTHING. But please leave their families alone. Their families are not fair game just because the members are in the limelight. Looking up the personal information of people close to them is downright intrusive. Let them have their privacy. And this includes any picture that might be uploaded onto the internet of a member of BTS with their family member. J-Hope’s sister has suffered from this intrusion on her privacy many times in particular. Leave them alone.

BTS Biases:

We have so many posts on this exact topic that you can check out. Everything from choosing a bias to your bias changing. But there are other things that I wanted to mention that came to my attention more recently. If you ever decide to change your bias, you might see a lot of ARMYs on social media talking about bias loyalty. While many of them don’t directly say that you shouldn’t change your bias, the implication feels there because they talk about how they shouldn’t be wrecked by other members because they want to be loyal to their bias. Please, never take these too seriously. It is entirely ok to change your bias and changing your bias says nothing about you or your sense of loyalty. Keep in mind that you don’t know them personally and as you grow and change as a person with BTS, it’s entirely plausible that your bias will also change. As long as you love all the members, don’t worry about it! And please remember to have fun with it!

Comparisons:

This kind of goes for everyone who’s an ARMY, but I do see people who are newer to the fandom doing it more. Please do not go on the social media accounts of Asian men and talk about how much they look like a certain BTS member. There have even been cases where men have been accused of stealing their personalities. This also goes for some idols in South Korea that fans are only beginning to become familiar with. We should not start comparing all Asian men to BTS just because they’re mainstream. It may sound flattering to compare someone to BTS, but doing this really isn’t. Especially if you start accusing people you don’t know of acting too much like a BTS member. You don’t know that person, so how could you possibly know if they’re basing their personality after a member of BTS? And most of the time, I assure you, that isn’t the case.

Streaming:

You might be seeing several fandoms on the internet discouraging ARMY from streaming multiple times or buying multiple albums. Don’t listen to this. They might say that it makes things unfair, but it really doesn’t. Fans enjoying music and buying merch is not wrong. And telling fans how much they can stream and buy is simply ridiculous. It’s what fans do. Stream as many times as you want!

I know some of this might seem obvious, but I figured I’d put it out there. Especially since I’ve started seeing a lot of ARMYs express fear that the recent stresses in the fandom might discourage new people from joining. ARMY was hit with a lot at once, and I totally understand if you are a brand new or even an experienced ARMY who doesn’t quite know how to get out of that stress. My advice would be to take some time off of social media, watch some ‘Run BTS’, and make sure to have fun and relax within this fandom too. Our boys want us to be happy, so stressing out about all of these situations is certainly not what they want. Yoongi even told us to relax after they lost the Grammy! But if you are new, don’t get scared off. This fandom is large and there’s always fun, comforting, and welcoming places within it you can go. Like the Magic Shop for example. People attack ARMY sometimes, but that doesn’t mean that you won’t be safe and heard here. Welcome!

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

BTS: Billboard and Racism

Promotional image of Min Yoongi (Suga), Park Jimin, Kim Namjoon (RM), Kim Taehyung (V), Jeon Jungkook, Kim Seokjin (Jin), and Jung Hoseok (J-Hope). Copyright goes to BTS and the Hybe Corporation.

Hey! Hallie here!

I hate that I so often come on this blog to talk about my favorite group of all time, BTS, to address the horrible things yet another American company has done to them. It happens far too often and I think it exhausts every ARMY who closely follows BTS. But the blatant xenophobia coming from companies that simultaneously use BTS for attention is worth talking about. BTS has worked too hard for these companies to get away with this behavior. Today’s American company is Billboard, who decided to come out with a magazine heavily featuring BTS. As usual, the magazine featured an exclusive photo shoot and a large article claiming to explore BTS’s success. Besides being a scatterbrained article that’s “exclusive interviews” were underutilized in favor of a lot of conjecture, the article seemed adamant to paint a negative image of BTS and ARMY. So let’s address all of their worst offenses as well as some of BTS’s best responses.

ARMYs Manipulating the Charts:

This is the major point of the article that sparked outrage. This article spent paragraph after paragraph accusing ARMY of finding “loopholes” in Billboard’s charting system and “mass buying” physical copies in order to cheat BTS into the top ranking. While trying to prove these things, the article quoted the Twitter accounts of random people either hating on BTS, or seeming to prove that ARMYs were “organizing” to buy albums in mass. Like Twitter accounts from anonymous people are suddenly inarguable proof that something heinous is going on. On top of that, this article seemed to gloss over that large fan groups of American artists, such as Beliebers and Swifties, have employed similar tactics to support their favorite artists after their releases. In other words, mass buying a song is normal behavior for a fan group. It isn’t some negative, psychotic action. Nor is it proof of a fan base “cheating” the system. A group gets to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 by streaming and sales. ARMYs did nothing more than stream the song and buy copies of it. Under this criteria, there is nothing being done wrong here. This article also didn’t seem to grasp the massive amount of people that consider themselves ARMY. The article called into question how many people would even know about “Butter” because it was played on the radio less than its competitors. Obviously this person doesn’t know that K-Pop groups are widely popular without being played on American radio stations at all. BTS received their recent success because of hard work, which has in turn given them an incredibly large fan base. Of course their songs will see large numbers. They have a giant amount of fans.

Along with these unfounded conjectures the article tried to shame ARMYs for buying multiple copies of one album, as well as BTS for releasing multiple versions of one song. This is also ridiculous. Many artists release multiple versions of songs or albums, and many fans like to collect them. BTS albums are even more collectible because they come with items such as photo cards that you get randomly when you purchase an album. This sales tactic is, once again, not the company cheating Billboard or trying to manipulate American charts. It’s a common marketing tactic in South Korea. And it’s not completely unique to South Korea either. Additionally, “Butter” did admittedly come out with multiple remixes. But “Butter” hit number one on the Hot 100 chart long before the remixes were released, and none of the remixes usurped the original song’s position at the top of the chart. All of these random conjectures had no backbone. They seemed to only serve the purpose of casting BTS in a bad light. And if all of this isn’t bad enough, the author of this ridiculous piece of writing decided to confront Namjoon about it to his face. The complete disrespect that was shown here is beyond words. Namjoon’s response was wise and well put together. He said that, if Billboard wants to change their criteria to discount physical sales, that’s up to them. But as of now, he sees no reason why BTS and their fans are being accused of manipulating the charts outside of the fact that BTS is from Korea and that BTS is a boy band. In other words, Billboard’s entire argument was rooted in xenophobia and the misogynistic hatred society directs towards boy groups and their predominantly female fanbases. Namjoon proved himself far more respectable than whoever wrote this article.

Disbanding:

This article also seemed to find it fun to constantly mention the inevitable downfall of BTS. The amount of times it mentioned the traumatic time in 2018 where BTS admitted they had considered disbanding while half of the members sobbed onstage? Insensitive at best. But they also decided to directly ask BTS about it at the end of the interview. Jin took this one, saying that they hadn’t ever wanted to disband and that their company takes care of them in a more satisfying way now, so there’s no reason for them to consider disbanding anymore. But he did say that BTS decided to move forward with a ‘screw the company, screw everyone else, we’re here for the members and the fans’ mentality. Another expert shutdown for a horrible question. This article also spent many paragraphs talking about how their inevitable enlistment might be the end for BTS, Hybe, and even South Korea’s entertainment industry as a whole. The fact that whatever idiot wrote this article doesn’t seem to know the amount of people signed under Hybe, or the popularity of K-Pop as a whole, makes this whole thing ridiculous. BTS isn’t the only thing Hybe has. Nor is BTS the only popular K-Pop group in South Korea. However, the worst part of this whole line of thinking is the idea that BTS’s enlistment means their popularity will instantaneously die. As if ARMYs haven’t proven themselves loyal or other K-Pop groups haven’t continued thriving after their members began to enlist. This article grasped at anything it could to make it seem like BTS’s success will die out soon. They even used a Yoongi quote, where he spoke about how BTS would inevitably hit a peak in popularity and begin to come back down again, to prove that BTS won’t last long. The author evidently doesn’t know that lessening popularity doesn’t equal a complete fade into obscurity. If that was the case we wouldn’t be listening to artists like Michael Jackson years and years after they passed away. The more I think about this reasoning, the worse it gets.

From starting out this article by trying to paint BTS as unsavory with a few sentences about the boys talking about their hangovers, to trying to get BTS to admit to either wrongdoing or the doomed future of their careers, this article was one of the worst examples of “journalism” I have ever seen in my life. It was biased, insensitive, and full of unproven lies. It made ARMYs just as uncomfortable reading it as it seemed to make BTS during their interview. I’m glad Namjoon so eloquently shut them down. He even rejected the idea that BTS would want to fit into the American media’s expectations of them. And I hope that Billboard knows now that they messed with the wrong fandom. It isn’t a smart move to market something towards ARMYs and insult them and the group they love the whole way through. I hope the backlash they’re receiving now results in an apology and serves as a lesson to other American companies. We don’t tolerate xenophobia here. And we won’t tolerate your harassment.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

Marvel: Black Widow Review

Screenshot of Scarlett Johansson and Florence Pugh in ‘Black Widow’. Copyright goes to Walt Disney Studios and Marvel Studios

Hi! It’s Annie!

I talked about this a little in my last post, but I actually got around to watching ‘Black Widow’! I know, it took me long enough. But in my defense it took Marvel far too long to make and release this movie in the first place, so I feel like the postponed review is earned. Natasha Romanoff started out as the first female Avenger and while most of her male counterparts got their own movies, Natasha got virtually nothing to herself. Until now. After Marvel was sure that they could get money off of this idea after the previous successes of DC. Really makes you respect this movie, huh? Anyways, this film follows Natasha as she’s confronted with her past regarding the Red Room and is forced to team up with her former family to stop someone she thought was dead. I’m sure this is unneeded at this point, but MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!!! Though I’m sure if you wanted to watch this movie you probably already watched it and if you haven’t you’re probably like me and didn’t really care.

The Good:

Yelena Belova- I am not kidding when I tell you that she is the highlight of this movie. Definitely one of those characters that I’m excited to see moving forwards and I hope that she’s given a lot of screen time in the future. I already love Florence Pugh as an actress, if you’ve read my post regarding the 2019 adaptation of ‘Little Women’ you already know this. Florence Pugh is one of my favorite actresses out there right now. (Though you would never be able to get me to watch ‘Misommar’ or any other horror film for that matter.) She has excellent dramatic acting skills as well as uncanny comedic timing. And I feel like her performance in this movie is just as up to par as you would expect from her. The writers really did work to give Yelena a lot of time; actually more time than you might think. Yelena felt as if she was almost as much of a main character as Natasha. Which, if that’s a good thing or not is up for debate. But it gave her a solid jumping off point into being our next ‘Black Widow’ in the MCU. Here’s to hoping that she won’t be overshadowed as much as her sister was. And with so many new characters being introduced into the MCU, I am a little worried about that being a possibility.

Natasha- I actually really liked Natasha in this movie. Despite the fact that Natasha has been in several Marvel films, the only film before this point to actually give her a personality was ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’. Before that Natasha was written to be mysterious and desirable and not much else. And I think we can all agree that ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ did her nothing but disservices by reducing her to a stereotypical love interest. Finally, we see the Natasha that we always glimpsed but didn’t get fully except for in ‘Winter Soldier’. One of my favorite scenes in the entire movie was when Natasha was talking to Dreykov in his office at the end of the movie. Not only was the scene sarcastic and so much fun to watch but it also incorporated Natasha’s “thank you for your cooperation” line from ‘Avengers’ into it. It gave new life to that line and it showed how adept Natasha is at getting information without it having to be over-sexualized. In a way, this movie felt like a reclaiming of this character. Where ‘Endgame’ didn’t get me to fully care about Natasha’s death, this movie made me care about it. And it also made me even more angry that they fridged her before doing any real services to her character. I am still so angry over the way Marvel has treated this character and the sheer potential for her in this movie only made me more angry.

Cate Shortland- I have to give so much credit to her as a director. She saved that scene with the period joke in it single-handedly. (If you’re curious about that story I covered it in detail in my last post.) I highly doubt Yelena would have started off as strong as she did or Natasha would have been able to break through the mounds of stereotyping if a talented female director wasn’t on this project. She deserves so much praise for this film, even if the writing was flubbed at parts.

Hawkeye- He does not appear in this movie, but he’s mentioned. It is clear through the way Natasha talks about him that he’s her best friend. His presence is still felt in this movie (Including a funny scene where it was revealed that he and Natasha played tic-tac-toe to pass time in a bunker). And with how much this character means to Natasha, I’m glad they found a way to bring him up in a substantial way without making things too much about him.

The Bad:

Alexei and Melina- For what I was expecting, neither of them got nearly enough time in this film. They were Natasha’s past parents. But they were just kind of… there, and I wondered how much they were needed in the story at all. I would have been perfectly happy if the movie remained a buddy cop style film with just Natasha and Yelena. Melina got absolutely no time at all. I wondered why her character was there. There was a plot twist in this movie where you’re supposed to think that she betrayed everyone else and then it reveals that she was actually a good guy the entire time. But it didn’t work because she wasn’t given enough time for the audience to get to know her. So whether or not she defected didn’t seem to matter because we didn’t really know her or trust her as an audience. Alexei, besides the period joke, was actually fun to watch. I love David Harbour and he brought a nice lightness to the film. But his lines were all comedy and no character. He also did almost nothing for the over-all plot and anything that bordered on a character moment was abruptly interrupted with something comedic. Which brings me to my next point…

Comedic Interruptions- Marvel has been accused of doing this more and more. And it’s because they are doing it more. Comedy goes over well with audiences so it seems like when the writers don’t know what to do with a scene, they defect to it. There’s the start of a wonderful scene in this film with Yelena and Alexei. Yelena is heartbroken to hear that her family treats her happy childhood as if it was fake and leaves upset, which prompts Alexei to go after her. Alexei starts out the scene with a pretty funny comedic bit that goes on a little too long and then he starts singing Yelena her favorite song from when she was little. And Yelena laughs and starts singing it along with him through tears, surprised that he even remembered it. And then the entire scene is interrupted by a sudden attack and a comedic moment with Alexei where he gets knocked out. They didn’t get to talk anything out or acknowledge anything. And by the end of the movie, they still haven’t. It was an emotional scene that could have been so integral to the story. Alexei could have gotten a needed character moment and Yelena’s storyline about wondering if her past was fake would have been resolved. And they cast all that aside for a joke. It frustrated me so much.

The Villains- We’ve heard about Dreykov for too long in connection with Natasha for him to be this disappointing. He didn’t really come off as intelligent, though many characters in the film insisted to the audience that he was several times. And for him having gotten the unwavering loyalty of so many people, he really wasn’t all that charming. Dreykov didn’t make any sense, and Dreykov’s daughter being Taskmaster only added insult to injury. Taskmaster is a very different character in the comics that many people were very excited to see. Changing this character so throughly didn’t make any sense. At that point just make a new villain; don’t use the name of Taskmaster. Marvel should have learned this from the Mandarin fiasco from ‘Iron Man 3’. In fact, they are currently attempting to correct that exact mistake with ‘Shang-Chi’. Why they would risk that again is beyond me.

This is definitely not the best Marvel movie you’ll ever watch. But it definitely wasn’t bad! I enjoyed many parts of this movie, but I still stand by the fact that this should have come out a long time ago. And the placement of this movie after ‘Endgame’ only made this entire situation more frustrating to me. Natasha should have been able to tell her own story before they decided to kill off the only original female Avenger. And it shouldn’t have taken DC proving that you can find success with a female-led superhero film for this movie to be made at all. This movie is good and I recommend it, but if you don’t come out of this movie angry at what Marvel had done to Natasha before this movie came out, I would be very surprised.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Marvel: ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Trailer

Screenshot of ‘Spider-Man’s Tom Holland, Jacob Batalon, and Zendaya. Copyright goes to Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios.

Hey! Hallie here!

I can’t say I’m surprised we have this trailer now! After it was leaked it was only a matter of time before they released the full thing officially. And with the major Sony event at CinemaCon occurring yesterday, it made sense we’d see this after it was screened there. I talked a little bit about this trailer in my last post, but I didn’t want to go too in depth. It was difficult to see what was going on because of how poor the footage was and I didn’t want to spoil anything for anyone due to the leak. But now it’s out and just about everyone has seen it! So let’s talk about this trailer and what it means for the MCU in the future!

‘No Way Home’ Trailer:

This trailer starts out with Peter and MJ spending time together on the roof of a building. From this scene we’re immediately hit with the repercussions of Peter’s secret identity being revealed at the end of the last movie. Not only is MJ reading a newspaper where they refer to Peter Parker by name, but the piece about him is already making crazy theories about what extra superpowers he may have. Weird. But at least we’re establishing MJ and Peter’s relationship right from the start. I love these two together and the trailer makes it seem like their relationship will definitely be important to the plot. In this beginning we also see some shots from the end of the last film, but all of these come together to get across a few major points. Peter’s being blamed for the death of Mysterio and he’s being harassed daily for hiding his identity. He expresses regret to MJ that he didn’t tell her his secret identity earlier, but aside from that he’s rightfully upset about his secret identity being revealed. Partly because it seems that those close to him, such as Ned and Aunt May, are also being taken into questioning because of the incident. So, as any super powered teen would do, he decides to go to a super powered adult to help him fix the problem. Enter Stephen Strange, who’s wearing a large jacket and a sweatshirt with the Cloak of Levitation. I love this combination so much. Also, the Sanctum Sanctorum is covered in snow for some reason. Stephen’s first order of business is to insist Peter stop calling him “sir”, which leads to an adorable interaction between the two where Peter calls him Stephen and Stephen decides it’s weird but acceptable. It’s probably the most wholesome Stephen Strange has ever been. Peter then asks Stephen to make it so that Mysterio never revealed his secret identity.

At this point Wong comes in to tell Stephen not to cast the spell. And, Stephen being Stephen, does it anyway. I’ve seen a few people complaining that this bit of the trailer seems out of character for Strange. But honestly, this is exactly the character we’ve seen established in the MCU so far. Stephen NEVER did what he was told while he was being trained by the ancient one. How else would he have gotten a hold of the Time Stone? Stephen stole books that were forbidden to him and his disregard for the rules was exactly the reason he didn’t get along with Mordo. Wong telling him not to do something and Strange going ahead with it anyway is basically their entire friendship. But anyway. Stephen casts the spell and Peter starts worrying about the fact that people like MJ, Aunt May, and Ned won’t remember he’s Spider-Man. Peter’s attempts to change the spell result in the whole thing going very wrong. When the dust settles, Strange and Peter have accidentally cracked open the Multiverse. At this point we get to see a whole bunch of Spider-Man/ Doctor Strange team-ups that look visually stunning. From the imagery of Spider-Man falling through a constantly shifting New York, to Doctor Strange shifting reality to move Spider-Man from a moving train, to Stephen forcing Peter’s astral form from his body. All of it’s intense. Meanwhile we hear Stephen criticizing Peter for living two different lives. We get to see the Iron Spider again, if you’re into that, as well as Happy Hogan looking very much like he’s in trouble. Also some lightning that is definitely a nod to Electro. And then the major hype moment in the trailer. We hear evil laughter as a green glowing bomb rolls into screen. Green Goblin, obviously. And with a final warning for Peter, a metallic tentacle buries itself in the concrete and pulls back to reveal Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock. Yes please. It looks like we’re getting the Sinister Six in this movie and I can’t wait for it.

The Drawbacks:

This trailer looks amazing. But it doesn’t address any of my current worries when it comes to the next phase of the MCU. The Multiverse is a giant concept. In my opinion, it’s too big a concept. It feels like there’s no longer a solid reality in which the MCU is taking place. That will inevitably lead to a messy storyline. Especially because we’re tackling this idea of alternate realities and alternate characters from these realities while we’re also looking towards projects like ‘Secret Invasion’. ‘Secret Invasion’ and the continuity of Captain Marvel and Monica Rambeau’s storylines will explore an already ginormous galaxy and the Skrulls, who can mimic any appearance at will. We’re coming to a point where we start asking questions like, is that really the character I know and love? Or is it a Variant? Or is it a Skrull pretending to be that character? Who knows at this point? That’s frightening to me. And with the sheer amount of characters we’re already seeing come into play, including ten new characters coming from ‘The Eternals’, it all seems like too much. I don’t want to criticize all of it before this next phase gets going, but I’m very concerned. I also feel like everyone needs to check some of their fan theories for ‘No Way Home’. I understand everyone wanted to see Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield in this trailer. I also understand that it is by no means unlikely that they’re in this movie. But the people who are praising this movie specifically for two actors who aren’t even confirmed for it yet are acting a bit prematurely. Also, I saw a lot of really unfounded rumors that one of the shots in this trailer implies Venom’s involvement in the movie. As for this rumor, I sincerely doubt it. In other words, just make sure you’re not getting too excited about some rumors, everyone.

I usually finish posts like this by talking about how excited I am for the movie. And I am. I’m very excited for ‘No Way Home’. But all of the people begging for this trailer, and then talking about it nonstop on Twitter, buried ‘Shang-Chi’ and it’s over 90% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. ‘Shang-Chi’ is coming out NEXT WEEK. ‘No Way Home’ is exciting, but that excitement is small compared to what ‘Shang-Chi’ means to the entire Asian community. So, at least for now, please shift your focus onto ‘Shang-Chi’. There’s so much to be excited for there as well.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

Superheroes: Women Behind Action Films and ‘Gotham City Sirens’

Image of ‘Gotham Girls’ cartoon with Catwoman, Harley Quinn, and Poison Ivy. Copyright goes to DC and Warner Bros.

Hi! It’s Annie!

I’ve been wanting to make a post about this subject since last week, but other projects kept pushing it off and I was looking for more material to write about for this post. Jump to yesterday when I got around to watching ‘Gunpowder Milkshake’ and ‘Black Widow’. Both female led action films that feature a cast of primarily women. Really, I love seeing any film like this come to the surface. We need more of them. But there was such a profound difference between the two of them. And while I’m not going to review them, the review for ‘Black Widow’ will come later; I want to talk about what the differentiating factor between these two movies was. A female director. And sometimes female writers as well. And this subject also comes up a lot when talking about the upcoming ‘Gotham City Sirens’. Something that I have been excited about for a good while that could crumple my excitement with a single decision. This is why we need female creatives behind the scenes.

‘Gotham City Sirens’:

‘The Suicide Squad’ was definitely a success among fans. There’s no disputing that. And while the gore exceeded my level of horrifying intake, I could see why people liked it. The movie did justice for many of its characters. And with the success of this movie, many people are calling for James Gunn to be the director of the upcoming ‘Gotham City Sirens’ project which is also expected to have an R rating. I think this is an extraordinarily bad idea. And it’s not because I dislike an R rating; I did actually really love ‘Birds of Prey’. And it’s also not because I don’t want to see that level of gore again (which let’s be honest I don’t, but gore doesn’t make a movie bad). It’s because we need white men to stop directing every single action film out there regardless of whether or not the movie is about women or POC. Women and POC need to be allowed to tell their own stories. And slamming millionaire James Gunn in a female led movie just because he did well with ‘The Suicide Squad’ will do this film no favors. None. You want to know why? Below I’ll give you some really good examples for why female led films NEED female directors right now.

‘Gunpowder Milkshake’:

This movie came out on Netflix a while ago, and its trailer immediately captured the attention of viewers. And it was truly gorgeous. The neon 80’s colors accompanied with the library that doubled as a safe-house for weapons were great ideas. The cast featured the likes of Karen Gillan, Lena Headey, Angella Bassett, and Michelle Yeoh. And this is a movie about female assassins, so they’re all kicking ass in the film. What’s not to like? Apparently everything. The choreographed fight scenes were uninspired, the dialogue was cringey, and many of the plot points didn’t come together at the end. But worse than all of that was the cast of women who were given nothing to work with, even though they’ve all proved themselves time and again in Hollywood. Instead they were given scenes that echoed some of the most stupid assumptions about women that I’ve ever seen in my life. Because the biggest catch to this movie is that it was directed, written, and produced by men. This was not a woman’s story, it was what men think a woman’s story would be. No female creatives behind the scenes to be seen. Which resulted in one absolutely atrocious scene that featured Karen Gillan’s character talking with the main villain (a man) who insisted he was a feminist to her. He spent a good long while talking about how he was a feminist the minute his daughter was born and that he liked all of that “unicorn” stuff. But a son was something different and more familiar. I’m not sure if this was supposed to be sexist or not. Considering the lack of understanding the movie had for women in general, I couldn’t be too sure. But even if it wasn’t, the entire scene was completely missing the point. The societal issue women face is not that men have absolutely no idea what feminism is. How many times do women around the world have to educate men daily for us to drill this in? The issue is that men willingly come up with excuses so that their level of comfort won’t change. It doesn’t matter what he perceives feminism to be because feminism isn’t really for him. Not to mention that the fact that the main villain had to bring up feminism at all even though it had nothing to do with the scene, other than the fact that the person sitting across from him was a woman, was ignorant in itself. And the entire conversation is a good depiction of how all the male creatives on this film had absolutely no idea what they were doing. Because they created a feminist movie without any female creatives. They essentially did exactly what the main villain did. They talked a lot about feminism without actually including women in their views of it. And because these directors were men, male critics swore up and down the wall that the entire film was somehow Karen Gillan’s fault. Even though in any action film starring a celebrated male actor, the director probably would have received the blame.

‘Black Widow’:

Unfortunately, ‘Black Widow’ was written by men with some help from women. There is the plus that women did aid in at least going over this script. And one of the major editors of the script was none other than the female director, Cate Shortland. In the film, most women will notice a period joke. When Alexei reunites with Natasha and Yelena he comments at their hostility toward him by essentially asking Yelena if she’s on her period. Shortland, Scarlett Johansson, and Florence Pugh were all originally angry with Eric Pearson (the main writer) for having written this joke. Pearson eventually stated that the joke was to show that Alexei was a lame old-timer with skewed views, but this still didn’t sit well with Shortland. Together with Scarlett and Florence, she completely changed the dialogue proceeding the joke so that it would be more accurate to how these women would respond. Which was the line “I don’t get my period dipshit, I don’t have a uterus.” Shortland crafted this response with Pugh because of the surgeries that Widows have to endure during the program. And it also added humor back into the scene, essentially allowing the women in the scene to refuse to be seen as victims of the joke. Would this have been changed in such an important way if a female director hadn’t been directing it? I highly doubt it. In fact, I know for a fact it wouldn’t have. A female creative who was in charge had to look at that script and apply her own knowledge for it to work.

In short, the plight to get James Gunn on the next ‘Gotham City Sirens’ film is extremely misled at best. Cathy Yan did an amazing job with ‘Birds of Prey’ and she is a woman and a POC. We need more of that. And if you don’t like Cathy Yan, then look at other female directors. Not male ones. James Gunn may be a good director, but he’s not the right fit for a female led action film. Especially because we already have so few of those as it is. ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’ and ‘Black Panther’ were directed by POC. ‘Birds of Prey’ was directed by a woman. We can’t stop this streak of letting marginalized people tell their own stories just because you liked that one movie. I’m sorry, we just can’t.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie