Star Wars: The ‘Star Wars’ LGBTQ+ Couple That Should Have Been Canon

Screenshot of John Boyega as Finn and Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron in ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’. Copyright goes to The Walt Disney Company.

Hey! Hallie here!

We haven’t made a post for Pride Month on this blog yet, so happy Pride Month! While I feel like we should be celebrating the LGBTQ+ community all year round, it’s still nice to have a month dedicated to all the amazing people in this community and the way they embrace themselves! In honor of this I’m going to talk about what is probably my favorite queer couple that was never explored, Poe Dameron and Finn. Or StormPilot, as many fans call them. These two didn’t just win fans over because of their on-screen chemistry. There’s some genuine sweetness behind their relationship in the movies. Oscar Isaac and John Boyega have even voiced their support for the couple. So let’s look into exactly why this couple should have been confirmed on the big screen.

Movie Interactions:

Their first interaction occurred in ‘The Force Awakens’, when Finn decided to defect from the First Order after refusing to participate in the slaughter of a village. Coincidentally, Poe was there too, sent to get some important information for General Leia Organa. Kylo Ren discovered him, however, and took him captive to attempt to torture Resistance secrets out of him. When Finn realized he needed a pilot to escape the First Order, he riskily decided to break Poe out of his cell. Poe was all too happy to help Finn the instant he asked for his help. Poe and Finn became fast friends in the span of only a few minutes during their escape attempt and Poe even gave Finn his name. These two had insane chemistry from the start, and a lot of that is thanks to the flawless way John Boyega and Oscar Isaac bounced off each other in this sequence. And their chemistry only grew throughout the movie. The next time the two are united in the film, Finn believed Poe was dead. He was distraught too, and he made a point to grab Poe’s jacket just before the TIE Fighter they had been in burst into flames. When Poe sees Finn, he embraces him tightly and insists that Finn keep the jacket. How is that not adorable? In ‘The Last Jedi’ Poe and Finn’s paths diverge, meaning they don’t get much screen time together. We do get to see Poe’s concerned reaction when Finn wakes up from the coma he was in at the end of the last movie. Similarly, after the ship the Resistance is in is attacked, Finn runs to Poe to make sure he isn’t injured. There’s also a deleted scene where Poe gives Finn his jacket back, which he personally repaired after it was damaged in the previous movie. Aside from these moments of obvious care, Poe only sticks around to give Finn permission to go on a mission with Rose early in the movie, and give some commands at the end of the movie. ‘Rise of Skywalker’ is perhaps even worse. Poe is exasperated with everyone in the movie, including Finn, and moments that could be touching, like Poe giving Finn the title of general, are skimmed over. There are some cute small interactions, but nothing else. But for a lot of the dismal parts of their relationship, subtext is key.

The Actors:

The subtext, which can mostly be described as things like longing looks or lingering touches, are all provided by the actor. Any scene can be seen as flirtatious based on how the actor chooses to play the scene. And Oscar Isaac has been incredibly open about the flirtatious way he played Poe in his scenes with John Boyega. Oscar Isaac stated that he intended various scenes in ‘The Force Awakens’ specifically to be seen as flirtatious, which explains why Poe reuniting with Finn in that first movie came off as such to so many fans. John Boyega hasn’t made any statements like that himself, but he has voiced his support of the couple. Oscar Isaac and John Boyega continue to interact on social media to tease the relationship despite the fact that the movies have ended. And with the trilogy now complete, Oscar Isaac has expressed how disappointed he is that Disney refused to make Poe and Finn’s relationship romantic. He apparently pushed for the relationship to become canon, but he noted that Disney didn’t seem ready for that. Which is a shame because the flirtation and chemistry came across so well, it seems out of character for them to remain apart by the end of the trilogy.

Disney’s Slip Ups:

Here we get into all the awful ways Disney decided to ignore this relationship. So if you don’t care to read about the blatant homophobia, I suggest you stop here. To carry on, ‘The Force Awakens’ set up the bones for two relationships between the main cast. The first was Poe and Finn, though that was more of an actor choice than the choice of Disney. The second was Rey and Finn. Though there is clearly a strong friendship between them, there are several scenes that suggest that Finn in particular might harbor feelings for Rey. When Rian Johnson took over in the next film, this relationship was completely wiped away. Finn and Rey interacted less than Finn interacted with Poe. Instead, Finn was given a partner-in-crime in the form of Rose Tico, who kissed him for no reason at the end of the film. This seemed like it might be a romantic set-up, but the way it played out certainly didn’t seem like it. Finn was more shocked by the kiss than pleased by it, and he didn’t seem all that happy as the scene ended. Meanwhile, Rey was given a more romantic storyline with Kylo Ren. With the failed relationships between Finn and any female character, plus Rey’s new interest in Ben, it seemed like the perfect time to actually get Finn and Poe together. But instead, the next film played off Finn’s relationship with Rey as unrequited love, allowing Rey to get together with Ben just before his death and Finn to remain straight. And the plot also threw in a possible female love interest for Poe just for fun. The lengths this movie went to apparently prove that Finn and Poe were only interested in women was ridiculous. Not only that, but Disney thought they could throw a kiss between two women in the background of one incredibly short scene to fix the issue. They even went around praising themselves by talking about how “historical” this kiss was. Meanwhile, they had shied away from the actual LGBTQ+ couple so many people, including those working on the movie, were advocating for.

There really isn’t an excuse for Disney here. Poe and Finn have obvious chemistry in all of their scenes, and they had it even at the beginning of the trilogy. And between the actors and the fans loudly advocating for this couple, there was clearly enough incentive for them to move forward with the relationship. Especially because Disney has a terrible track record of representing any minority group at all, let alone the LGBTQ+ community. But Disney resisted it all the way until the end. That said, neither Finn or Poe ended up in any clear relationship by the end of the series. So what’s to say we as the fans can’t just assume they got together anyways?

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

Theme Parks: Universal Return

Promotional image of the inside of ‘The Secret Life of Pets-Off the Leash’ at Universal Studios Hollywood. Copyright goes to Universal Studios Parks and their social media accounts.

Hi! It’s Annie!

Recently I returned to Universal Studios Hollywood after being fully vaccinated and waiting the designated two weeks afterwards to make sure I had no symptoms after the fact. If you are going to return to a theme park I highly recommend making sure you also have done all of those things I mentioned above. For your safety and everyone else’s safety. With the safety precaution out of the way, I had so much fun returning to Universal after over a year and I also have a lot of thoughts. There have been a couple of changes and additions that I was able to enjoy this time around. So, I just figured I would recount my experience with some reviews on the new stuff and some words of warning about some of the other stuff. Let’s go!

The Secret Life of Pets-Off the Leash:

This new ride just opened after it was scheduled to open last year and I can definitely say that it was well worth the wait. The entire facade to the building is disguised like a city apartment complex, complete with a preschool that’s actually one of the exits to the ride. I highly recommend hitting this one first when you get there for a variety of reasons. Firstly, Universal is currently hosting several grad nights for both 2020 and 2021 high school grads, and they only have a couple hours of regular park time to spend towards the end of the day before grad night starts for them. Also, most people who are new to going to the park will be excited for Harry Potter and will start their day out there. My family hit this ride first and we waited for five minutes. Towards the end of the day it was more like an hour long. But this ride is so incredibly cute. The line feels like it’s half the experience. Inside the line you walk through several different apartment rooms within an apartment complex. Each room has its own details that hint at a different sort of person living there. For example, there’s what looks like a very small toddler’s room, a little girl’s room in all pink, a living room with a giant television, and a kitchen. Throughout the line as well as the ride you’ll find several animatronics. In the kitchen there’s a dog using a mixer to scratch himself. Every room is so detailed, and then the ride itself is the same way. Universal has been receiving requests for a long time now hoping that Universal would open a more family-friendly ride that used mostly practical effects. I talked more about this in another post, but Universal is known to over-utilize screens in their rides and to focus more on thrill rides. This is definitely an answer to that. The practical effects in this ride are great! There’s a part where an animatronic dog is shaking after being given a bath and water splashes on the guests. I only have two complaints about this ride. The first is that it moves really slow. While I’m all for having more time in the ride, it moves at such a pace that it would be much much faster to get out and walk. (You aren’t allowed to do that, I just though I’d make that clear just in case. Because ahhhh.) Though I do like seeing every detail so I’m not hugely upset with this. The other is that sometimes the ride suffers from having too many noises going on at once. There was one section of the ride where a construction vehicle was making a lot of noise directly next to a character who was talking to the audience. For all the time we were there, I couldn’t tell what that character was saying because it was much too loud. But over-all I loved this ride! Especially for pride month considering the families that come in to adopt guests in the ride are all different, including an LGBTQ+ family.

Covid Precautions:

Of course, I couldn’t make a post about going back without mentioning this. Everyone is required to keep their masks on at all times except for while actively eating or drinking in designated dining areas. They are also seating each ride every other row with only one party per row. My sister and I were actually sat alone at the very front of Jurassic World and that was an amazing experience. It almost felt like we had the entire ride to ourselves because no one else was there. And for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, we really did get the entire ride to ourselves considering it’s just one bench. There’s also social distancing places for you to stand throughout the line. Unfortunately, my family were some of the only people heeding these markers. So be prepared to deal with a lot of people who are determined to break all the rules. Though the workers are pretty good at making sure everyone keeps their masks on. Also, if you are sensitive to heat, like me, keep in mind that air conditioned lines are not going to be a fall back for you here. They are limiting the amount of time people spend inside, so most of the lines are outside and you get about five minutes to walk through the inside.

Stunt Cars:

I’m not quite sure what made them decide to do this, put they decided to pull out all the stunt cars for the re-opening. During quarantine they got rid of Whoville inside the Studio Tour, probably because it was not made of heavy materials and much of it was breaking and the paint was also fading. That entire area is now made up of rarer stunt cars. Also, because of the upcoming release of ‘F9’ a bunch of cars from the ‘Fast and Furious’ are displayed in the main plaza area. They’re cool to see!

Food:

I just want to give a general warning; for the most part Universal has shortened the amount of places to eat. This also means less options for those who might be vegan or vegetarian. This is just fair warning, just because a restaurant says it has vegan options on the app doesn’t mean it does. Sometimes it just means that they are prepared to make substitutions to certain meals. Which generally means holding the ceaser dressing on a ceaser salad rather than actually having a substantial vegan meal. There are places to eat that have regular vegan options, but be prepared to hunt for a while.

Over-all I really loved my time back at Universal! Their precautions are very well thought out and most of them are as enforced as possible. It’s really not their fault that people are not heeding the overhead announcements that comes on every five minutes in the line. But for the most part, things are going pretty smoothly. My best advice if you’re going is to plan it out. Make sure you know where you’re planning to eat and where you’re looking to go. But most of the places remain pleasantly accessible without as much hassle as you probably think there will be. And all the new additions are amazing and adorable! I just ask that you please follow the rules.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Theme Parks: Avengers Campus

Professional photo inside Avengers Campus located in Disney’s California Adventure Park. Copyright goes to the Walt Disney Company.

Hey! Hallie here!

Yesterday Avengers Campus officially opened in Disney’s California Adventure Park located in Anaheim, California. It’s pretty large, though you shouldn’t expect anything on the scale of Galaxy’s Edge. They also have a few new areas and new characters that are definitely welcome additions to the park. I have not been to Avengers Campus yet, but the footage released by the lucky few who have been in the park for the last few days has me excited. I don’t think it’s perfect by any means. Disney still hasn’t quite figured out the whole immersive thing yet. But there are some things in this part of the park that seem to be going in the right direction. Let’s talk about some of the good and the bad in Avengers Campus.

The Characters:

There are a ton of characters walking around Avengers Campus. Some characters are available to meet, which they will do socially distanced from guests. Other characters have shows around the area, but it remains unclear whether or not they will also be available for pictures. The characters who guests can meet are Black Widow, Captain Marvel, Black Panther, Iron Man, Thor, Loki, Star Lord, Gamora, Ant Man, The Wasp, Sam Wilson as Captain America, and Steve Rogers as Captain America. Peter Parker has his own entire meet and greet area, plus a stunt show. So you don’t have to worry about getting too little of Spider-Man here. The characters that remain unclear are Doctor Strange, who has a show I will talk about later, and Okoye, who also has her own show. Of this line up, my favorite interactions have come from Ant Man and The Wasp. Both characters have a bit more humor to them because of the nature of the ‘Ant Man’ films. I really appreciate seeing characters have a bit of fun while in the parks and these two definitely seem like they’re able to let loose a bit more. That said, I love all of these characters and it feels like any of them would be incredibly fun to meet.

I do have a few issues, though. The first is that I strongly feel that Steve Rogers should no longer be a character within the Disney Parks. Let me explain. I have no problem with Steve Rogers. In fact, I love him. However, Sam Wilson is Captain America now. When they introduced him in the opening ceremony, they even had Anthony Mackie make a speech about how important it is to have a Captain America that will represent more people. He ended the speech with stating that Avengers Campus wasn’t complete without Captain America. Meanwhile, Steve Rogers was standing in the background for all of this. If Disney wants to commit to a new and more inclusive Captain America, which they should, I don’t think they should have the old Captain America walking around as well. On top of this, fans have already agreed that Disney’s Captain America looks more like John Walker than Steve Rogers. Frankly, he creeps me out now. My second issue is the absence of ‘WandaVision’. I love ‘WandaVision’, as many do, and I would love to see both Wanda and Vision walking around the parks. However, I know that Disney is trying to balance a ton of characters already and the films coming out won’t make that task any easier. Still, there are far more men than women on the roster of characters for Avengers Campus. Making Wanda and Monica Rambeau characters guests can greet would be an excellent way to fix this problem and bring in two of the MCU’s strongest women. Especially because Black Widow isn’t the best female representation.

Shows:

There are currently four shows that occur somewhat randomly around Avengers Campus. The first is the Spider-Man stunt show. This show is short and occurs just before Spider-Man comes out to greet guests. In this show Spider-Man can be seen doing a few flips on the top of his designated building, where the sole ride in Avengers Campus resides. He explains that he’s trying out new equipment on his suit and briefly leaves. Then we get to see the animatronic Disney has been working on for the past few years. The animatronic is a stunt animatronic that is flung from a crane and flips through the air. When he lands, Spider-Man comes back out to climb down the building, and then emerges to meet guests. It’s really a showcase for the animatronic, but can you blame them? It’s amazing! The second stunt show belongs to Black Widow and Black Panther. This show occurs on the other main building inside of Avengers Campus. In it, Black Widow and Black Panther are tasked with getting some Vibranium out of the hands of Taskmaster. We haven’t actually seen Taskmaster in the MCU yet because ‘Black Widow’ has yet to be released. He also isn’t available to meet as of now. In any case, the show is short and more focused on fight choreography, but it’s still fun to see.

The next main show is in it’s own themed area meant to look like an ancient sanctum. From the door located at the very back of these ruins, Doctor Strange will emerge to start his show. Doctor Strange is evidently in another fight with Dormammu and he needs the audience’s help to locate exactly the thing he needs to bring him down. The show is fun and makes some interesting use of projections inside of the door. In the show Doctor Strange will always ask an audience member to name an Avenger who can help him, but he will only take Thor as an answer. It would have been nicer if they altered the show based on the Avenger guests named. Thor is hilarious in this show, though. He’s very clearly sticking to his ‘Ragnarok’ sense of humor now. As for Stephen Strange, I can’t say I’m impressed with anything Disney has done with his characterization in the parks. He always acts too serious and too mystical for it to resemble his character from the film. But that might just be me. Lastly, Okoye gets a show on the grounds of Avengers Campus. This show is basically just Okoye training the audience to be warriors using Dora Milaje training practices, but who wouldn’t want to see that? She also takes a moment of silence every show for the ancestors who have passed on, and I can’t help but feel like it’s a nod to Chadwick Boseman. Though some have also connected it to the losses many have experienced during the pandemic.

Main Attractions:

There are three major locations within Avengers Campus as of right now. One is Web Shooters, the Spider-Man themed ride. This ride isn’t all that impressive. It mirrors Midway Mania in that you spend the entire ride in front of a screen shooting at robotic spiders. Instead of using any sort of shooting mechanism, the ride monitors your arm. You have to extend your arm, like Spider-Man, to shoot at the spiders. Outside of the ride you can purchase a web shooter that the ride will recognize. When wearing it, the ride will upgrade your regular webs to electric webs. I have no idea if this effects your ride experience at all, but it’s something. The line for the ride is nice! Tom Holland did film a pre-show for the ride that shows how the robotic spiders got out of control. Peter Parker is always fun to watch, especially because of his general awkwardness. I also liked the comic references throughout the line. Characters like Squirrel Girl and Moon Girl are featured on a wall of scientists, and both Iron Heart and Miles Morales have their own lockers within the facility (Miles Morales’ signature can also be found on the mural Spider-Man stands in front of to meet guests). Overall I feel like this ride is underwhelming because it was made to be changed over time. It was mentioned that Disney used this ride mechanism specifically so they could switch the theming of it, and I think that was a mistake. Another major location is Pym Test Kitchens, a reference to Hank Pym from ‘Ant Man’. Everything in this restaurant is abnormally sized, from the giant ketchup and mustard, to the large chicken patty on a regular bun that looks much too small, to the pretzels you can actually watch becoming larger. There’s even a meal that comes in a giant spoon. It’s so well done. The final location is ‘Mission Breakout’. I won’t spend time on this because it’s been around for a while, but there is a strange fluid decorating the streets outside of the ride now! So that’s cool!

I like this addition to the parks quite a bit. There still isn’t a completely immersive feel to it, but the guest interactions they have throughout Avengers Campus make it feel a bit more successful than anything in Galaxy’s Edge. One of the major things Disney promised with Galaxy’s Edge was the residents of Batuu, as well as some major characters, casually walking around the area and interacting with guests. That isn’t what we ended up seeing in Galaxy’s Edge, but we are seeing it here. And there are so many characters to interact with. This area does thrive on the characters, though, which means the social distancing precautions will take a bit away from the experience until we can get past this pandemic. For now, we can all just enjoy the Shawarma.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

K-Pop and K-Dramas: Imitation Episode 5

Screenshot of Lee Junyoung in ‘Imitation’. Copyright goes to Kakao Entertainment and KBS.

Hi! It’s Annie!

This week was a pretty long one for my sister and I, which I might get into more in a later post. All I’ll say right now is that we went with a couple friends to a Korean barbecue place in LA that BTS recommended and our waiter had cooked for Taehyung before. It was absolutely insane. But it’s Friday again which means another episode of ‘Imitation’ came out and, of course, I always want to review these as soon as possible when they come out. Especially because of how much I want to show my love for ATEEZ after ‘Kingdom’. They did so well! However, in contrast to last week’s episode being one of my favorites, I think that this week’s episode might have been one of my least favorites. I think that’s it for my intro so here’s your regular SPOILER reminder!!!!

The Good:

The Acting- As always, everyone is amazing in their roles.

Hyuk- Going into this show, I was not expecting Jongho to get this much as Hyuk. Every episode I am more and more pleasantly surprised at how much he gets and how lovable Hyuk is as a character. In this specific episode it was revealed that Ryok is a little intimidated of him because Hyuk can read him like a book. I laughed out loud when Hyuk immediately deduced that Ryok had a crush on someone by the end of the episode. He’s such a sweet character with an amazing amount of insight. Definitely the type of character you can’t help but absolutely love. Every time Hyuk is on screen you feel like something is going right. He’s my new comfort character from the show, which I severely needed in this episode because a lot of this episode was a bit cringy. But I’ll get back to that later.

Ryok- I’ll give Ryok that he was really adorable this episode. We finally got to see a softer side of him, which I was really grateful for! In my last review I did say that the show needed to take the time to reflect with the main characters and let Ryok and Maha react to things. That’s exactly what they did with Ryok in this episode. Though Ryok did reveal himself to be a bit clingy, at least we saw that he didn’t know how to handle his emotions and we saw him react accordingly. I also really liked that it was revealed that he has a soft spot for Hyuk which also makes him slightly intimidated because he’s let Hyuk get to know him so well. We’re five episodes in, so almost halfway through the show, but I’m glad that they did decide to let us in on his soft side at some point.

Shax- We always get to see this entire team bonding in some way or another in each episode. I feel like I’m really starting to see and understand their bond!

Tea Party- I’m glad that the show isn’t just giving Maha all the spotlight. I loved that both Hyunji and Riah got offers to market themselves in their own ways and we got to see them doing things by themselves rather than just Maha.

Sub-Plot Romance- At Hyunji’s photoshoot, Yoojin shows up out of the blue and we get to see some genuine interaction between just these two characters. It wasn’t much, but it was something of an actual set up! If they are going to move forward with this romance they have to do it soon though. As I said before, the show is almost halfway done at this point.

Moving Plot- Finally! It feels like the show took a break from moving forward and we’re finally getting to see the show focus on plot. Of course, this means that the romance part of it has surged forwards considering this is a romance based show. I wish some of their other plot points would be treated with more urgency so that they also feel like they’re moving the show. But the romance moving forward did make the entire show feel like it was moving forward.

The Bad:

Maha- This character really frustrates me because I can’t tell what the writers intend her to be. I was happy that we got to see a lot more of Ryok’s emotions in this episode, but we still got almost none of Maha’s. The only reason the romance plot felt like it had urgency was because we at least saw something urgent about it on one side of the relationship. Maha doesn’t even feel like she cares about Ryok at this point, and it’s partly because the show still refuses to stop off with just her and spend time with her emotions. This is probably done so that the audience can project themselves onto her, but it makes her such a lacking character. I still can’t really pinpoint any of her personality traits. I want to get to know her, not for her to be a blank slate.

Sparkling- Again, they have to go here. We still got almost nothing of them. The members of Sparkling are complete non-characters right now excepting Yoojin. In the epilogue to this episode it was revealed that Hyunoh was originally a member of Shax before their debut. It was also revealed that Hyunoh has a girlfriend so his anger towards Yoojin is probably coming from jealousy of his position in the group rather than genuine concerns. But we don’t see nearly enough of his character for me to care about this yet. And then Minsoo and Seyoung got five seconds in this entire episode. At least they got a line each.

Yoojin- This one also pains me a lot. It was completely because of how underutilized he was this episode. We just started to see him get more time and characterization in the last episode, and then they completely dropped the ball. Hopefully this means we’ll pick back up with him next episode. But I want to see his issues beyond Maha. I want to see more of his rivalry with Hyunoh. We just starting seeing that before they decided to turn all of his problems into unrequited love again. His entire personality does not have to revolve around Maha and, really, it shouldn’t. If they keep portraying Yoojin in this way then it’s not going to be realistic if they try to pair him off with Hyunji. Because half his personality so far is pining after Maha. We need some other conflict for this character really fast. Also, I know that a lot of people freak out after stage kisses in media, but it’s so weird to see. Stage kissing is not romantic at all, it’s a semi-awkward blocking direction. So seeing Yoojin freak out over the stage kiss and even seeing Ryok obsess over it too was really odd to me. Speaking of which…

Ryok- Ok, I did mostly like him this episode! But there were a couple times where he border line crossed into stalker territory. Like showing up at Maha’s house uninvited at the end of the episode was weird. In his defense I guess they never figured out a time to meet.

Riah- She was barely in this episode and she’s one of my favorite characters in the show. I just want to see more Riah! She was also relegated to the protective friend and I hope they don’t start making her get super suspicious of Shax because of it. I’ve seen that done way too many times and I want Riah to continue being as unique as she has been.

Hyunji- I get it, she likes Yoojin. But she’s also running the risk of revolving around her unrequited love just like Yoojin is currently doing. It was unnecessary to show her sad conflicted face when Maha and Yoojin fist bumped at dinner. They just fist bumped!

Ji Hak- The manager of Tea Party was weirdly revealed to have a hand in the death of one of the original members of Tea Party. This was probably in the web-toon but there is no need for this. Firstly, this is turning the tragedy in the first episode into a plot device which is not my favorite thing ever. Also, we don’t need yet another character to focus on when the show is already struggling with the characters it already has. This is poorly placed and unneeded.

The Romance- The romance is moving the slightest bit too fast. I know I complain about slow plot a lot, but there should be a nice medium between slow and fast. We probably needed more of a development from when Ryok realizes he has feelings for Maha to the point he was in this episode. The progression all happened in this one episode. And it moving too fast makes me wonder if they’re going to do a misunderstanding leading to a break up or separation plot line, which I’m kind of done seeing in dramas. If they do it in a unique way it could still be good, but I’m really skeptical.

I know there is, once again, a lot in the bad category. I still enjoy watching this show, but it is still a bit of a mess. I always find things that I like in it, but it’s hard to not notice the mess. Once again, I’m going to say that the main thing that’s keeping me watching this is ATEEZ. Either Yunho or Jongho is emphasized every episode and it keeps me interested. But I’m not sure how much I would recommend this show. Especially to people who aren’t ATEEZ fans. It’s always nice seeing their incredible acting abilities every week though! I love the concept of this show, but they need to take more time to develop their characters and less time over-establishing conflicts that the audience already sees.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

ATEEZ: ‘Kingdom:Legendary War’ Storyline

Promotional image of Jeong Yunho, Choi San, Kang Yeosang, Kim Hongjoong, Jung Wooyoung, Choi Jongho, and Park Seonghwa. Copyright goes to ATEEZ and KQ Entertainment.

Hey! Hallie here!

‘Kingdom: Legendary War’ is now over and with that ATEEZ has finished up the storyline spanning all of their performances. Unlike most other contestants of this show, ATEEZ used every single performance for their group to tell one full story. Over everything else ATEEZ came to ‘Kingdom’ to demonstrate who they are, and nothing is more true to ATEEZ than an epic story. A lot of this is still theory, but it does demonstrate how everything connects. So let’s look at what ATEEZ gave us!

Performance 1: (“Symphony No.9”) “From the Wonderland”

This performance was more of an introduction to ATEEZ for the show. However, it already sets up the rich storyline with the first shot. In it we see an unknown person dressed in black handing Hongjoong an hourglass. The hourglass is ATEEZ’s symbol and it’s also an object that has the ability to travel between parallel universes. The man handing over the hourglass is wearing an interesting outfit. Fans will notice that the black fedora and suit is reminiscent of the outfits ATEEZ wore in the music videos for “HALA HALA” and “Say My Name”, the latter of which explores the idea of parallel universes. This means this man is likely a member of Halateez, the fan name for the parallel versions of ATEEZ introduced in “Say My Name”. We don’t see much of Halateez after this, but we do see ATEEZ on their pirate ship fighting off a sea monster and being general badasses. With hints from their final performance we know that Halateez gave ATEEZ supplies to help them fight off the sea monster. After Seonghwa kills the sea monster with a gun given to him by Halateez, it appears that Halateez needs them to help take down the government from their parallel universe. Which leads to the next performance.

Performance 2: (“The Awakening of Summer”) “Rhythm Ta”

This performance starts with the world building we needed for Halateez’s parallel universe, showing that multiple instruments have been taped over with red tape reading “PROHIBITED”. We hear over the radio that human emotion has been declared a disease. In other words, this universe’s government has decided that free expression leads to crime. Then ATEEZ breaks in, staging a heist for an unknown object. But the ATEEZ we see here isn’t the real ATEEZ; It’s Halateez. This performance appears to be a flashback, showing why Halateez needs the help of the real ATEEZ in the first place. In it we see through newspapers that the government has been searching for Halateez because they have been deliberately acting against their anti-art laws. We get to see them in action too as they inspire revolution, convincing others to join them in their rebellion against the government and its new stance against art. While they generally encourage anarchy, they also use music and speeches to get the masked dancers not only to aid the revolution, but also to help with the heist. At the end of this performance we see Halateez Hongjoong steal the hourglass we saw from the first performance. This confirms that Halateez Hongjoong was the masked figure in the first performance who handed over the hourglass to the real Hongjoong and recruited the real ATEEZ. All that’s left now is the final battle.

Performance 3: (“Ode to Joy”) “Answer”

This performance finishes off the storyline. To be honest, it’s probably the most confusing performance for those who haven’t been following the story so far, which may be why so many viewers were confused by the storytelling here. It starts with Yeosang in the translucent box seen in the music video for “Say My Name”. He appears in the box with Halateez Seonghwa, who activates the hourglass during a full moon, which is when they apparently need to use it, to take the real ATEEZ to Halateez’s parallel universe. Once they arrive, masked and chained figures who serve as the government’s forces attack Yunho. In the next shot we see both versions of ATEEZ together. The real ATEEZ are dressed in white and are portrayed by, of course, the real ATEEZ. Halateez are portrayed by backup dancers dressed in black outfits and masked, but they mimic the movements of the real ATEEZ to make it clear that they are parallel versions of them. They clink glasses while they prepare to fight. Once Hongjoong’s verse starts we see the backup dancers behind him act out Halateez’s involvement in the other performances, giving ATEEZ weapons in performance one and recruiting the masked dancers in performance two. After this the fight ensues and we see some amazing fight choreography between the government forces and ATEEZ. Meanwhile, Jongho rejects the crown handed to him. This seems to be more symbolism for the competition than it is part of the story. It shows that ATEEZ didn’t need to win to be proud of what they accomplished here. As the fight finishes, we see that Halateez lies with the government forces among the fallen. The real ATEEZ is the only group that stands triumphant in the end.

With all this talk of parallel universes, it’s no wonder so many people were confused by the story. But it’s such a creative story that you can’t help but admire ATEEZ for using it for the entirety of ‘Kingdom’. Maybe its climax was the type of thing that mainly fans would understand, but that’s who ATEEZ dedicated their performances to, anyway. They wanted to make a story that was just as important to them as it was for Atiny. And even though they didn’t nab the first place position, they succeeded. Third place is also really amazing! They did so well!

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

Disney: Why ‘Big Hero 6’ Should be in the Parks

Promotional image for Disney Animation Studios’ ‘Big Hero 6’. Copyright goes to The Walt Disney Company.

Hi! It’s Annie!

‘Big Hero 6’ is one of my favorite movies of all time and quite possibly my favorite superhero movie to exist. I know that sounds absolutely insane. After all, Marvel and DC are giant companies who specialize in coming out with superhero movies. But for me, nothing beats ‘Big Hero 6’. The movie is packed with character bonding, heartfelt moments, and amazing world building as well as action. No superhero team will ever feel as close as the characters in this movie do. Not to mention how relatable the characters are, unlike in most other superhero movies. And though I could go on and on about how much I love this movie; I’m here to talk about why it should be in the Disney Parks. Because there is absolutely no movie that Disney has created that would look and feel as amazing as stepping into San Fransokyo.

Recent Expansions:

There are various Disney Parks that are getting massive expansions coming up pretty soon here. Between a couple parks we’ll see brand new ‘Frozen’, ‘Tangled’, and Neverland areas (in Disneyland Paris and Tokyo respectively), which will result in a lot of new immersive experiences. Obviously, the most recent one is Avengers Campus in Disneyland which is opening this week. But, even though I’m a massive ‘Peter Pan’ fan, I can’t help but wonder what it would be like if one of these new themed areas was ‘Big Hero 6’ themed instead. We have plenty of ‘Frozen’ in the parks already. And really, Marvel movies take place in real life. Doesn’t really make much of an immersive experience there.

California and Tokyo:

The fact that we have parks in both California and Tokyo makes it feel almost wrong that we don’t have San Fransokyo in both parks. The blending of both styles of infrastructure would call back to each park while making an eye-catching immersive experience. Not to mention the fact that the second park at Disneyland is in fact called, California Adventure. This was because this park used to feature things like California’s train system, the redwoods, the Golden Gate Bridge, old Hollywood, and much more that called back specifically to California. In fact, Pixar Pier was originally just supposed to be a tribute to the piers on the California coast. Since then, Disney has decided to put their own spin on these things. There is no old Hollywood in sight with the removal of ‘Tower of Terror’, the trains and call backs to the redwoods have been mostly removed, ‘Soarin’ is now an experience that takes place around the world and no longer features orange groves, and literally everything else has been re-themed. It’s not really a California adventure anymore. Adding ‘Big Hero 6’ to that park would add back things like the Golden Gate Bridge while also offering a unique immersive opportunity. Could you imagine walking down a San Fransokyo street with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background and Aunt Cass’s cafe open and selling food? We need this!

Characters:

We all know Disney likes its characters, but we also know that they have a serious problem with diversity. I don’t even want to get started with Disneyland Paris which has been casting white women as Tiana. But I think it’s common knowledge that most of the face characters at Disneyland are white characters portrayed by white people. One of the best parts of ‘Big Hero 6’ is the diversity of the cast. Seriously, the only white member of ‘Big Hero 6’ is Fred. Having Hiro, GoGo, Honey Lemon, Fred, Wasabi, and Baymax walking around would be amazing, not just for character experiences but also for character diversity in the parks.

Previous ‘Big Hero 6’:

At a few separate parks there were ‘Big Hero 6’ stops when the movie came out. Most of them featured Hiro’s garage with a meet and greet with Hiro and Baymax. The garage was highly detailed and the experience was completely immersive. Possibly one of the most universally immersive experiences at several of the parks. It made me just want to see more of what there is in the movie! Being able to walk the halls of the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology, possibly as an immersive queue would be even more detailed than the garage. I would absolutely love to see recreations of the science experiments done by each character! Or even a walk through recreation of Fred’s mansion complete with his superhero room. How about the dark island with Fred’s theme song playing faintly in the background? There’s so much they could do with the type of immersive details they’ve already presented for ‘Big Hero 6’.

Scenery:

Along with the major city scape ‘Big Hero 6’ also boasts some amazing other features. Such as the giant blimps that float above many of the buildings or the overlarge statue of Hans. Disney has done forced perspective extremely well before in the parks and this would be a great opportunity to use it again. As I mentioned before, it would also be nice to explore places like the streets, the cafe, the university, the island, Fred’s mansion, Bot fights, and Hiro’s garage.

I’m glad that Disney is starting to jump onto the immersive train, but I do think there are other movies that would be much more interesting to see done in that way. Especially because Disney has other animation avenues to explore that aren’t just princess movies, as much as I love those. But mainly I would just love to finally see ‘Big Hero 6’ represented in the parks. It’s as though Disney had no idea if they should classify this film as Disney Animation or Marvel and so just decided to sweep it under the rug. This is one of the best films Disney has created for story, diversity, and its realistic portrayal of depression. We need to see more of it in a way that isn’t just an under-advertised Disney Channel show. ‘Frozen’, ‘Tangled’, and ‘Peter Pan’ are great. But they’re also white led movies. We need to see more diversity in the parks.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Comfort Movies: ‘Despicable Me’ and the Minion Takeover

Screenshot of Agnes from ‘Despicable Me’. Copyright goes to Universal Pictures.

Hey! Hallie here!

Every time I watch this movie I’m reminded of how much I love it. Which is surprising because I wasn’t interested in it at all when the first trailers were released. All the trailers of Gru doing petty things, like making a child a balloon animal and then popping it, were nothing more than mildly amusing. There wasn’t anything special about what the trailers showed and the animation wasn’t enough to sell it, either. Especially during a time where a lot of animated movies were coming out at once, including some pretty unimpressive duds, this movie didn’t seem like it was going to set itself apart. I’m so happy I caved and decided to watch this in theaters. This movie remains one of the best animated movies I’ve ever seen. It has a heart I never expected, some incredibly written characters, and of course, the Minions. So I’m going to take this post to gush about what made ‘Despicable Me’ so good and the way we’re still seeing it effect pop culture.

‘Despicable Me’:

Characters: Gru was the only character I was entirely aware of when this movie was released. The trailers kept most of the other characters pretty close to the chest, minus the Minions whose adorableness drew many to the movies. And with about no expectations going in, Gru blew me away. The beginning sequence of his nefarious deeds, which I initially thought was kind of cheesy, turned out to be a great introduction to the character. Because he isn’t supposed to be good at being evil. He’s actually very bad at it. He has some cool gadgets and his disillusionment with life in general is pretty hilarious, but as far as evil schemes go he can’t accomplish much aside from petty crimes. He can’t even get a loan from the bank that supports evil schemes. And that’s what makes Gru such an endearing character. He isn’t a great guy in the beginning, but he is a relatable one. And then the girls come in. Margo, Edith, and Agnes might be my favorite characters in this movie. Margo has basically taken over the motherly position in the group because of their lack of parents, causing her to be skeptical of Gru when they are first adopted as well as overly protective of her sisters. Edith is even tougher to get through to. Despite her easy-going personality, she’s also extremely attentive of the rudeness of others and sees no reason to put up with it. Agnes, on the other hand, gets along with everyone. As long as she has a unicorn in her hand she’s happy, and she wants everyone else to be the same. At first Gru doesn’t like the girls and the feeling is mutual (Aside from Agnes, of course). He only needs them to get back at Vector, his perfectly geeky nemesis, but as he begins to bond with them he starts to change. This movie is entirely dependent on the relationship between Gru and the girls and how it gives both a sense of belonging. Gru was never supported by his mother and is abandoned by his community for being too old or not skilled enough. Meanwhile, the girls have been horribly mistreated while in the adoption system. It’s so heartwarming to see all of them gain a new appreciation for life through each other.

The Voice Acting: This movie has a star-studded cast. There can be a few problems with set ups like this. One is the lack of actual voice actors, which is a problem with the movie industry in general. Voice actors are often underpaid, and that’s partly because the things they can do are now limited because Hollywood no longer values their talents for feature films. Instead, they cast celebrities who will more securely bring in an audience. But this isn’t an issue that only this film suffers from, so we’ll move on. The other issue is that some celebrities feel they can phone it in for these types of movies because they are directed at children. That doesn’t happen here. At all. In fact, all of the celebrities in this movie give so much to their roles that you wouldn’t even recognize them if you didn’t know they were in the movie. Steve Carell puts on a charming accent for Gru that fits the character and isn’t super reminiscent of his regular speaking voice. Jason Segal uses a more nasally sound to bring to life the geekiness and pretentiousness of Vector. Russell Brand is completely unrecognizable as Dr. Nefario, so much so that most people didn’t realize that an elderly man didn’t voice this character when the movie was released. Kristen Wiig voices Miss Hattie, and she sounds so different in this role that they brought her back to voice another prominent character, Lucy, because most audiences wouldn’t be able to tell it was the same actress. And perhaps most unrecognizable of all is Julie Andrews. She voices Gru’s mom, the evil woman who amusingly finds joy in making fun of Gru. It’s such an opposite from roles she usually plays, and the rough accent she uses disguises her completely. Who knew Julie Andrews had such a good nefarious laugh? On top of all that there were actual children voicing the younger girls and they sometimes were given the option to ad-lib, making the girls seem like realistic children. I can’t stress enough how good the acting is in this movie.

Minion Takeover:

The Minions get their own section because they were so well done that they transcended the movie itself. Yes, they were adorable, but the Minions also ran the risk of being annoying. Many cute side-kicks can accidentally fall into the annoying category, and with so many Minions who all share a sense of humor that is slapstick comedy, it first seemed like the Minions would stumble into this too. But they didn’t. They weren’t overused to the point that audiences felt they overstayed their welcome. And when the movie did focus on them, they were never obnoxious. They were helpful and even caring towards the main characters. And their brand of comedy was easy to enjoy without stooping to humor that was too childish. It’s easy to see why so many people latched onto them. Their impact was so large that Illumination started an entirely new movie series starring the Minions and made them their mascot. Meanwhile, Universal Studios parks embraced their popularity. ‘Minion Mayhem’ is one of the most advertised attractions in every park and in Tokyo they even have a parade of Minions that lines the park at certain intervals. And of course, how could I write about this without mentioning my bias in ATEEZ, Hongjoong. Hongjoong is such a large fan of the Minions that the other members of the band refer to him as a Minion. Fans have given him so much Minion merchandise at fan meets that you can’t go looking for fan meet photos without finding at least one of Hongjoong with a Minion. Early in their career he even dressed up as a Minion for the group’s trip to Universal Studios in Hollywood. The Minion’s impact its worldwide, and with the amount of people that love them, including celebrities with large fanbases, it’s clear their popularity isn’t slowing down.

‘Despicable Me’ has become an animated classic. It’s quotable, heartfelt, and fun. It’s one of the few movies I could watch every day without getting tired of it. I’m glad it’s received the recognition it deserves. Maybe the second and third movies didn’t quite live up to the excellence of this movie, but in truth it would have been miraculous if they had. This movie feels like lightning in a bottle. It doesn’t happen twice, but the world is grateful it happened at least once.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

K-Pop and K-Dramas: The Cultural Reset of ‘Daechwita’

Promotional still of Min Yoongi (Agust D) on the set of the ‘Daechwita’ music video. Copyright goes to HYBE entertainment.

Hi! It’s Annie!

I have always been a sucker for anything BTS does, but their solo projects are always amazing. From their solo work we’ve gotten Jungkook’s ‘Still With You’ which is one of the most calming songs I’ve ever listened to, Jimin’s ‘Promise’ which is one of my favorite songs to exist, and plenty more. We’ve especially gotten a lot from the rap line as they have each released complete mixtapes. But I don’t think any project caught people as off guard as ‘Daechwita’ from Yoongi’s most recent mixtape as Agust D, ‘D-2’. Not only did it feel like we had very little warning for the release of this one, but it came with the release of a music video. And this was unlike anything I had ever seen before. So let’s talk about why this was a complete cultural reset.

The Storyline:

K-Pop music videos generally focus more on a feeling than a specific storyline for the most part. There have definitely been music videos with storylines; BTS specifically has had some towards their ‘Run’ era. But I’m not sure I’ve seen any music video as cinematically epic as this one. Yoongi uses Korean culture to blend two different eras of both the culture itself and his role as Agust D. In this music video his persona from the first mixtape is an insane emperor who is shown beheading several people. In walks the new Agust D, who seems to be starting a revolt with the help of some of the citizens of the village just outside the palace. With this new Agust D we see a direct contrast, as he is often surrounded by more modern things, such as him arriving in a car. The new Agust D is captured and led to be executed by the end of the music video when it is revealed that the executioner is on the side of the new Agust D. The new Agust D does kill the old by the end of the music video, but Yoongi did say in a behind the scenes video that we don’t know for sure whether or not the king is truly dead. It seems like we may get more of this storyline should Yoongi decide to release another mixtape under the Agust D name. This entire storyline seemed to be a creation from Yoongi himself who put sincere thought into what he wanted the music video to portray story-wise. This just shows how amazing Yoongi is at storytelling as well as his talent for beats and songwriting.

The Rap:

There is a scene in the ‘Daechwita’ music video of Yoongi tied up surrounded by torches, seemingly right before his execution. This piece of the music video features his fastest rap in the song and this is what went viral. I distinctly remember hearing this piece for the first time and being absolutely blown away. We all have always known that Yoongi is a talented rapper, but this went beyond even that. Nobody could deny how amazing his rap here was. I’m not sure we’ve ever seen a Korean rap artist as universally acclaimed for a singular rap piece before the release of ‘Deachwita’. I’ll seriously never be able to get that verse out of my head.

Behind the Scenes:

The behind the scenes for this music video also went viral and I have no questions as to why. For the music video Yoongi learned sword choreography and the videos of him learning were another example of all his hard work. As well as the fact that he looked really good while doing it. I don’t think anyone will ever get over his floppy black hair from the music video or the behind the scenes footage. We also saw a lot of the bond between the boys. Though a few eagle eyed viewers caught the presence of Jin and Jungkook in the music video early on, it was only widely realized when the behind the scenes footage was released. Jin was wearing a beard and he and Jungkook got into a fake brawl. During the day that Jin and Jungkook came on set to shoot that part of the music video, Hobi also showed up with a coffee and churro truck. The truck was completely pink and all of the coffee cups featured supportive sayings, in true J-Hope fashion. I think all of us absolutely love Sope’s relationship and it was no surprise that he showed up. Seeing the close bond between all the members of BTS makes me so soft.

This post is mainly because of the controversy on Twitter today. If you haven’t heard, some person posted a picture of Yoongi beside a picture of G-Dragon and asked fans to choose the better songwriter. This caused a massive fight between fans of both rappers. Somehow even Namjoon and his writing credits were brought into the odd feud. I think it’s pretty ridiculous to compare the two. They are both different and have contributed to the rap scene in different ways. I’m not sure how comparing writing credits prove that one person is better than the other and I’m also not sure why people against Yoongi decided to also attack Namjoon. I am once again going to ask that we all respect each other and each other’s opinions. There is no reason to constantly pit artists and groups against each other. Suga/Agust D, RM, and G-Dragon are all talented rappers who have written a lot of great songs, let’s leave it at that. It is obvious that Min Yoongi has talent. There is no reason to demean his talent because G-Dragon has been in the industry longer. So, I’m here to appreciate things that Agust D has done on a day where people seem to be determined to not appreciate them. Because there is seriously no reason for any of this to be happening. I am very grateful for Yoongi’s continuous work for BTS and for himself and I will never get over how good he is!

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Disney: ‘Cruella’ Review

Screenshot of Emma Stone as Cruella de Vil in the ‘Cruella’ trailer. Copyright goes to The Walt Disney Company.

Hey! Hallie here!

I watched ‘Cruella’ tonight and like a lot of people who have been watching it recently, I have some thoughts. First off, I want to say that a lot of people are pre-judging this film for one particular part of the plot that occurs early in the movie. In case you want to go into this movie completely blind, I’ll put my SPOILER warning right here because I’m also going to talk about that part of the plot now. Now that that’s out of the way, yes, Cruella’s mother is kind of killed by Dalmatians. And yes, this is completely unnecessary. But it also isn’t as bad as you think it is. It doesn’t cause Dalmatian-related trauma that is supposed to explain Cruella’s dislike of Dalmatians and the Dalmatians aren’t even blamed for the death. If this part of the plot sounds so ridiculous to you that you have decided not to watch the movie, I’d suggest you reconsider. This movie actually isn’t all too bad. All things considered, it’s pretty good. It’s definitely not a perfect film. I do have some problems with it. But I enjoyed the experience overall. Let’s get into what exactly the movie did well and where it started to stumble.

The Kindnesses:

Cruella: Emma Stone was brilliant as Cruella and Cruella herself was simply a fun character. The background introduced for her was easy to get behind. Of course she was a bold child who longed to be a fashion designer. Her mother’s death may have been a bit unnecessary, but her introduction to Jasper and Horace, and thusly a life of crime, explained how Cruella so easily slides into the criminal world on her days off in the original movie. I also loved the reveal that Cruella can’t actually drive. This reveal was probably my favorite tie-in to ‘101 Dalmatians’. But my favorite thing about this character was the switch between Estella and Cruella. From her childhood we can see her mother scolding her for letting “Cruella” out. So much so that she had Estella refer to Cruella as a different person from herself. And throughout most of her life Estella suppresses that part of her, even while committing crimes, and remains an understated and kind person. But as she is pulled into the fashion world she begins to see the value in expressing herself more. Not to mention she discovers that Baroness called the Dalmatians to kill Estella’s mother, making Baroness her murderer. As she’s swept up in creating her own designs to bring Baroness down and claim her revenge, she embraces Cruella as her true personality. And then she discovers that Baroness is actually her mother and the woman who raised her, though well intentioned, forced Cruella to suppress that side of herself because it was too much like Baroness. After this we see Cruella fully embrace herself, admitting that she still loves the mother who raised her despite the poor decisions she made. In the end, Cruella even buries Estella as if she was a completely different person. The commentary in this about embracing yourself as you are was incredibly well done.

Horace and Jasper: Horace serves a mostly comedic purpose, but it isn’t unwelcome. He’s the least observant of the group, but he’s quite a bit more criminal than Jasper. He’s always looking for an angle to benefit the group, even when there isn’t one to be seen. But his poor observational skills are still quite endearing and his love of dogs is adorable. Jasper in particular is given a likable, fully-fleshed out personality. Where Horace can be a bit one-track-minded, Jasper is extremely observant and caring. He’s the one who arranges for Cruella to get her first job in the fashion industry and he always knows exactly what to do when she’s upset. He’s also the first to notice that she’s changing when she starts to embrace her true personality. I really enjoyed these two. Neither felt like unnecessary characters and it was easy to believe how close they were to Cruella.

Anita: Anita isn’t in much of the movie, but she’s extremely likable in what we do see. She’s skeptical of Cruella, but she does help her out and her writing is seen to be a powerful force in the fashion world. She also isn’t a pushover. She doesn’t bend to Baroness simply because of an insulting comment and she’s never intimidated by Cruella. She’s just a badass.

The Cruelties:

Cruella: Here she is again. While I did like most of her character, I would like to point out that this character is extremely inconsistent. When Cruella first spirals down the path into vengeance, she’s confronted by Jasper multiple times for treating him and Horace poorly. At one point the two refuse to work with her any further, prompting her to apologize to them for going overboard and accept them as family. But then she goes back to doing what she did before, this time without complaint from either party. And she continues to act vain and treat them poorly in ‘101 Dalmatians’. So why write in remorse for the way she’s acting if it doesn’t make sense for the way she acts in the future? Similarly, anytime the movie leans towards a darker route for Cruella, one that would align with her decision to skin and wear puppies, the movie pulls back. At one point newspapers report that she might have used real Dalmatians for a dress, but she reveals this isn’t the case. She even likes dogs. Throughout the entire movie she bonds with her childhood dog and the dog Jasper and Horace own, and she later comes into possession of the Dalmatians Baroness owned without finding fault in them. Because yes, her mother died by Dalmatian and that’s dumb, but when Cruella learns that Baroness is behind the death, she doesn’t blame the Dalmatians. She even sends Roger and Anita Pongo and Perdita as puppies at the end of the movie. Why would she do that if she was just going to skin them later? This Cruella isn’t consistent with the Cruella in the original movie, and she isn’t consistent throughout this movie, either. The writers never decided how cruel they actually wanted to make her.

Roger: Roger is weird here. He’s portrayed as mopey and incompetent for the entire movie, and his dislike of Cruella is all chalked up to her being inadvertently responsible for Baroness firing him. So instead of Roger rightfully disliking Cruella because she’s an awful person, now Roger is just petty. Roger deserves better.

Artie: Disney always fumbles with LGBTQ+ characters. And here’s yet another one who does nothing and doesn’t even actually admit he’s gay. He looks great, but that doesn’t disguise the fact that Disney just keeps messing up their attempts at representation.

(The) Baroness: I found it ironic that this movie, while attempting to give an evil character an understandable backstory, gave her a villain that is evil just for the sake of being evil. Going into this movie fans were skeptical that Cruella could be humanized because of her decision to skin and wear puppies. This movie managed to simultaneously stumble over this issue and give us a villain who also is willing to unnecessarily resort to murder to get what she wants. Baroness feels like a walking representation of why this movie wasn’t actually necessary. Because what’s the point of making a movie like this if you aren’t going to address the idea that all villains have a reason for what they do?

Ok, so I put more in the Cruelties section than the Kindnesses one. But I did really like this movie! Overall I felt like it was a really good time. The plot was good, the characters were enjoyable, and even the issues I had with it were swept under the spectacle of it all. Add in some amazing performances and I’d absolutely watch this again. Just maybe don’t watch ‘101 Dalmatians’ with this. It’s easier to ignore the inconsistencies that way.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

K-Pop and K-Dramas: Imitation Episode 4

Screenshot of Jung Jiso as Maha from episode four of ‘Imitation’. Copyright goes to Kakao Entertainment and KBS Drama Productions.

Hi! It’s Annie!

I honestly can’t decide whether or not I liked this episode; but I feel like that’s been around my thoughts on the series so far. There were definitely moments that I liked and some that I really didn’t, but I feel like this show keeps evening out. That and sometimes it moves so slow that my feelings on it are completely neutral. Either way, this episode was the one that I have been more or less waiting for. This was the song debut episode of both the main group, Tea Party, that the audience is following and, for me more importantly, the debut of Sparkling’s song. We finally got to see every group perform in one episode! So, was it everything I was hoping and waiting for or did this episode fall a little flat? As always, SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

The Good:

Yunho as Yujin- I’ve been trying to hold off my opinions on Yunho’s acting as a whole until we got to see more of Yujin. It felt like he was very briefly in the first couple episodes and we only started to get more of the character in the last episode. This most recent episode gave Yujin a lot of time and I really have to say that I loved it. Yujin’s parts of the episode were my favorite and it isn’t just because I love ATEEZ and I’m a Yunho bias. The character of Yujin is one of the most immediately endearing. I have a feeling that this is why they cast Yunho in this role. Yunho has an unmistakably warm and comforting presence and that lends itself beautifully to Yujin. Yujin is a character that you’re supposed to love immediately and feel bad for because you know that his crush on Maha won’t be reciprocated. His innocence and devotion to her makes this fact all the more devastating. In this episode he became rightfully angry when Shax randomly turned up to a show that wouldn’t benefit Shax at all and would instead take away time from rookie groups who actually needed the air time. It was cathartic to see him stand up for the rookie groups, even if he was a little misguided for blaming Shax themselves. We also saw him be the most supportive when it came to supporting Tea Party’s debut. (Though it was a little rude for him to only include Maha’s name on the card. Come on, Yujin.) Yunho makes this character beyond believable. He feels like a real person. I have to commend Yunho for doing so well with his first acting gig.

The Acting- As always, I also have to commend all the other actors on this show. There is not one person who I feel like does a bad job with their role.

Hyunji and Riah- They keep coming up in this section when I review episodes and I have a feeling that they’re going stay there. They are some of my favorite parts of the show and such great supporting friend characters. I feel like with many supporting friend characters in dramas they can fall under some really specific and generic personality types as well as feeling like brick walls for the main character to vent to. Neither Hyunji or Riah feel this way at all. They are both developed differently and have their own personalities. Riah is one of the most fun characters I’ve seen in a drama like this and I will never get over her voice. Hyunji actually got some development this time as she is shown to be the member of Tea Party with the most anxiety, which is a very real reaction to how demanding what they’re doing is. We also got to see more of her crush on Yujin which I think is really cute so far and I hope it doesn’t go too badly. Also, me too Hyunji, me too.

Shax- I actually really liked Shax in this episode. Firstly, I thought their performance was really well done. But I also like that we constantly see the way Shax works as a group. I really like seeing the difference between them on stage, them at press conferences, and them behind the scenes. And the show somehow manages to balance focusing on all these things. It makes them look more professional and experienced, which is absolutely what the show is going for here. They also stand up for each other and look comfortable around each other. The group dynamic here is strong.

Real Problems- It was really interesting the way this show tackled the issue of major groups infringing on the time of rookie groups because of what their companies make them do. I have seen this so many times in the industry and it’s always frustrating to watch. Especially for the fans of the newer groups who just want to see their favorite group succeed. Many times the bigger groups don’t need the publicity from the show and take away from the groups who might actually need this show to introduce them to potential new fans. It was nice to see them tackle this issue so relevantly and without overdramatizing it.

The Bad:

Sparkling- It physically hurts me to have to put them here, but I can’t justify the way they were utilized in this episode. Firstly, their song was a bit disappointing. I ended up watching it a couple times because I wanted to like it, but I absolutely couldn’t aside from a couple of vocal parts from Minsoo (San). Part of that is because most of the other members of Sparkling received lines that sounded more like talking than singing. And it’s not just me, this song was so disliked that the main video of it on Youtube is full of comments debating why it’s so bad and wishing Hongjoong from ATEEZ had stepped in to help create the song. Many fans are theorizing that the song was meant to be bad because in the webtoon Sparkling’s first break out song ends up as a flop. However, I have a nasty feeling that the song wasn’t meant to be bad. Especially with how much the show was marketing it before this episode even came out. Personally, I was expecting a lot from the song and anyone who read my past reviews could tell you that I was excited to see Sparkling perform it. That was mostly because of how much the show was marketing this specific song and performance to ATEEZ fans. I’m not sure they would have done that if they meant the song to be bad. At least the dancing looked cool. I am also continuously disappointed with how little the show spends time on Sparkling. San and Seonghwa have barely anything to do as Minsoo and Seyoung and the rivalry between Yujin and Hyunoh never gets enough time. I hope this changes soon. And maybe Sparkling will come out with a much better song over the course of the show! I won’t hold my breath though.

Tea Party- Their performance wasn’t bad, but I really felt it when their manager accused them of having no chemistry in the rehearsal for their performance. Their actual performance, which was supposed to be better, didn’t convince me either. Hyunji and Riah always seem to play off of each other really well, and they’re supposed to because they’ve known each other the longest. But I still don’t feel like Maha fits the group dynamic completely quite yet. We haven’t spent enough time on her bond with her teammates, the show just expects us to infer that it’s there because of the passing of time. But it doesn’t work like that. We actually need some bonding scenes between the members.

The Main Characters- The show is still lacking in character development. Especially with the main characters. It always feels like something’s missing. This episode we actually got to see the plot point where they’re acting opposite of each other and Ryok goes off script to get a genuine reaction out of Maha. Thankfully it was, again, nothing like what happened in the webtoon. But we didn’t get nearly enough of their genuine reactions to that. We saw that Ryok felt bad based off what he was thinking, but he never showed it. There are so many points in this show where it feels like things are happening to the main characters and we don’t stop to actually check in with those characters. It’s part of what makes the show feel so slow, because this makes everything that happens lack urgency. I thought the ending to the episode was cute and picked up a little bit; especially because it forced both characters out of their comfort zones finally! Hopefully the start of their romance in this way will make the show pick up a little, but we’ll have to see.

The Imitation- Maha does not look like La Lima even a little bit. She just doesn’t. The show operates off of the narrative that she does, and I understand that it’s one of the major plot points of the show. But they look so dissimilar that sometimes it feels almost like parody when the show attempts to suggest that they look the same. Both women are gorgeous, but they do not look the slightest bit alike.

So far I’m a little disappointed with this series, but it’s not even close to over yet! And even though it is disappointing, I am finding some cute parts of it that I actually like. I think the most frustrating part of this show is that you can see the potential in it, it just can’t quite get to being good. The show is either entertaining or completely boring and there’s no in between. My biggest issue with this show has to be the pacing, so hopefully if that gets better then the entire show will get much better. But I at least enjoy getting to see members of ATEEZ act every week.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie