Twins in Media: (Round 2) Hallie and Annie vs. Hikaru and Kaoru

Screenshot of Lindsay Lohan as both Hallie and Annie from ‘The Parent Trap’ (1998). Copyright goes to Walt Disney Pictures.

Hi! It’s Annie!

We’re in round two and finally starting to get into the twin representations that are actually pretty good! The first two are pitted together simply because they both fall deep into the mischievous twins trope; but both have been pretty consistently good up until this point. Really, it’s going to be difficult just because neither of these depictions of twins are really too bad at all. I’ve been known to absolutely roast any twin depiction that I don’t like on this blog, but I’m not sure so much of that will happen here (Editor’s Note: I lied). But that doesn’t mean that these depictions are great either. Obviously, the namesake of this blog is presented in this round and I solemnly swear that I will not let bias get in the way. Without further ado, let’s get into round two!

Audience Perspective:

Hallie and Annie: Plot wise, Hallie and Annie have it all. I mean, the movie is about them in the first place. We follow them from when they leave for camp at the beginning of the movie to finding out that they are sisters to them getting their parents back together. There’s no unevenness. We also get a good amount of them both together and separate within their own storylines. They do not have to exist as a single entity for the movie, so that makes each of them more well rounded characters over-all. Their character development is completed both individually and as a built up sisterly relationship. Hallie becomes very attached to her mother and wonders if she would love her if she knew that she wasn’t Annie. Annie must deal with Meredith and the upcoming unwanted marriage of her father. They also work through their differences at the beginning of the film and then come back towards the end of it to learn how to work as a team. This twin representation has also blown up in the media, which has been both a good thing and a bad thing. Many people do think of ‘The Parent Trap’ when you mention twins. Though some assume that twins look exactly the same because of this movie, they also understand that twins have different personalities. I really can’t say if this being a popular representation of twins is a good thing or a bad thing.

Hikaru and Kaoru: These two get a lot less when it comes to plot as they are both side characters. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t get anything whatsoever. Hikaru and Kaoru are mostly seen as a unit and mostly work as a unit throughout the series. Many of their plot lines are together. But there are some exceptions from this, especially when it comes to character development. The pivotal moment of each of their character developments happens in a completely different place in the plot for completely different reasons. Hikaru has to learn to let other people in, something that he learns when he develops a crush on Haruhi. Kaoru, thankfully, does not also have a crush on Haruhi. That would be really weird and kind of disturbing despite what the media would tell you about twins. Kaoru becomes more mature while looking after his brother and realizes that their situation will have to change if either of them want to get anywhere in life. Definitely a more practical approach to the situation. But this does not take away from the fact that they are almost always together in the plot and their individual storylines generally still somehow include each other. Also, can we get twins in media to stop saying things at the same time? Because it is absolutely not realistic. Thanks. Over-all, I hate to say it, but Hikaru and Kaoru have made a pretty bad name for twins in media. So much so that I expected to really dislike them on first watch of ‘Ouran Highschool Host Club’. Twincest is never and never will be ok to depict. I know that this anime acknowledges that it’s all an act, unlike some other media, but they still depict it. Twincest has led to much of the mass fetishization of twins, and I really want to punch in the face whichever writer came up with it. It’s based off the idea that twins have an unnaturally close bond. Give me a second while I go and throw up. This image has only been perpetuated by the fans who ship the brothers in masses. The media image of this portrayal of twins has been overall pretty harmful.

Winner: Definitely Hallie and Annie. They have much more individual storylines that don’t have to do with the other and their media image is much better for twins as a whole. Even though I am neutral about their media image. If I was to look at their separate images as though choosing which one I would be more okay with being compared to, I would NEVER want to be compared to Hikaru and Kaoru. I would probably be really grossed out. Annie and Hallie aren’t perfect, but at least I can see where you’re coming from there. I mean, we even compared ourselves to them for this blog. (As an aside, you don’t always have to compare twins to whatever pair of twins you’ve seen in media. It’s ok sometimes, just don’t do it all the time.) I also cannot express how important it is to show your twin characters apart sometimes. They don’t and shouldn’t always be together. My sister is my best friend so we are together often, but definitely not all of the time.

Twin Perspective:

Hallie and Annie: Hallie and Annie are definitely victims of the separated at birth trope and the mischievous twins trope. I know both my sister and I have talked about this a lot, but your twins don’t have to be separated at birth to have different personalities. Many writers treat twins this way, and I’m really not quite sure why. We’re pretty much regular siblings who are close in age. We aren’t clones. Most twins, obviously, are not separated at birth, so that automatically makes this portrayal of twins less realistic. Twins have also gotten the reputation in media for playing pranks. This is a reputation that has affected my sister and I several times in real life. We’ve never switched places, but we’ve had many people tell us that we should or that we’re missing out if we don’t. Even though my sister and I just wanted people to tell us apart so that they would start viewing us as individuals. We even had a couple occasions in middle school and high school where we were accused by acquaintances of switching places, even though we hadn’t. It’s a real pain trying to convince someone of the truth when they’re dead set on believing that you’ve tricked them. That comes even more into play here because the main mischievous thing that Hallie and Annie do in this movie is switch places. I also have to add here that they are both played by the same actress, which further promotes the idea that we’re basically clones. My sister and I don’t look exactly alike. I will grant you that we are fraternal rather than identical twins, but I have met plenty of identical twins that also do not look completely alike. Hallie and Annie do have separate relationships with other characters, which is great! I’m really peeved that the parents aren’t able to tell them apart, but I blame that on bad parenting. My parents have always been able to tell my sister and I apart. They can even recognize us by our voices. Over-all though, I really like this portrayal of female twins because they aren’t sexualized, they promote understanding of each twin as an individual, and they show twin siblings who are similar enough to be best friends without being exactly the same. Also, thank god that they barely ever speak at the same time or finish each other’s sentences.

Hikaru and Kaoru: They also fall under the mischievous twins trope, which I have covered above so I will not make you read any more on the subject. They fall under the synchronized twins trope too. This means that they are often saying the same things at the same time or finishing each other’s sentences. It’s almost as if they share some sort of weird hive mind. My sister and I will occasionally accidentally say something at the same time. It is generally a word or two and not a full sentence. Finishing each other’s sentences is even less likely to happen. We do not share a brain and we do not have a supernatural connection. None of that exists. With that out of the way, now I’m going to have to bring up the twincest thing again. It’s awful and one of my least favorite tropes for twins ever created. Every time I think that major media has finally stopped using this trope, something will pop back up like an absolutely awful game of Whack-A-Mole. (I’m looking at you Game of Thrones.) I’m absolutely done with seeing it. If you think it’s gross if someone implies that about regular siblings, then guess what? It’s absolutely disgusting for us too! Just stop! Also, Hikaru and Kaoru don’t have many different relationships except for with Haruhi. Hikaru has a crush on her while Kaoru doesn’t. Kaoru also seems to have a more mature mind that gets along better with Kyoya. But that doesn’t come up until the end and is only shown in some scenes. This portrayal of twins is definitely overly sexualized and only sometimes promotes understanding of the twins as individuals, but does still have twin characters who are similar but still different. I also really appreciated the episode where it referenced how wrong it is to have a crush on both twins, especially without bothering to get to know either of them. They portrayed the girls who did that to Hikaru and Kaoru as being mean. I cried while watching that episode because it was something I had gone through so much. People think that they can choose between us without there being a substantial difference instead of viewing us as individuals. I hate it so much.

Winner: I have to barely give this to Hikaru and Kaoru simply for having specific episodes that address twin problems that are generally not addressed in media. Hallie and Annie are pretty good, but I really want everyone to see those episodes before they decide how to start treating twins. It also hurts to watch Hallie and Annie’s parents struggle to tell them apart. At least Chessy and Marvin could tell them apart. They are the true MVP’s of that movie.

Result:

I could have given this to either of them as they both won a round. But I have to give this to the over-all winners, who are Hallie and Annie. Especially for being one of the only actually decent portrayals of female characters who are twins. They, in general, give a more realistic view of how twins are and how we interact with each other in general. Though Hikaru and Kaoru have taught some lessons that are pretty important, those moments were small compared to how the show generally portrayed them as side characters. Which was as a unit and barely anything else. Hallie and Annie are individuals and also best friends, which is the best way I can think of to simply describe my relationship with my sister. Hallie and Annie win the first battle of the second round!

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Marvel: Avengers vs X-Men Part 2

Screenshot of Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen in ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’. Copyright goes to Marvel Studios and Disney.

Hey! Hallie here!

I have recently come to the realization that there are way more connections I can make between the Avengers and X-Men characters. Because of that, I’m back with another post in this series! In this series I put characters from the X-Men and Avengers films up against each other based on their similarities. The winner is decided by which character is written better in their respective film series. Depending on which characters win, I will declare either the Avengers or the X-Men the winner by the end of the post. With that explanation out of the way, let’s look at today’s competitors.

Quicksilver vs Quicksilver: These two have been paired together for very obvious reasons. They’re the same character just portrayed in very different ways. They even have different names, Pietro Maximoff and Peter Maximoff. Despite the fact that these two are the same character, each studio went to great lengths to make their variation stand out.

Let’s look at Pietro first. Pietro doesn’t get much characterization. There’s one scene that didn’t make it into the final movie that demonstrates how mischievous Pietro is, as well as how he’s a bit of a ladies man, but the scene doesn’t really make much of a difference in the long run. Pietro is the older sibling but Wanda’s a bit bossier and more strategic. As such, he usually follows her lead in most things. He likes messing with people, as seen in his constant teasing of Clint Barton, and he’s much more carefree than Wanda. When Wanda silently urges those in Sokovia to evacuate before their fight with Ultron, Pietro realizes a simple warning doesn’t really cut it and ends up telling people to get off their asses. When fighting Thor he attempts to steal Mjolnir simply because he thinks it looks cool. Aside from that, Pietro shows a deep love for his sister and a respect for Clint Barton. These ties are the reason the audience cares about his death. His obvious closeness to Wanda makes his death heartbreaking, and the fact that he sacrifices himself for Clint is telling in how much their relationship progressed. But his own characterization isn’t really the reason you care that he’s gone.

Peter Maximoff is a completely different story. Firstly, the demonstration of how his powers work is far more interesting here and does more for his character. In both versions of Quicksilver, there’s a feeling that he is annoyed by how slowly everyone else is living their lives. However, the running scenes in X-Men demonstrate this much better. While Pietro can cross a room in a second and catch something while it’s flying in midair, Peter is fast enough that most things don’t look like they’re moving at all. He can change the trajectory of a bullet while it’s inches from someone’s face. He can run several people out of the same room individually without even a second having passed. While this might seem like praise of the movie itself more than the character, it actually does effect Peter’s character. The audience can understand why he speaks so fast and why he’s so easily frustrated by other people. Peter is a pretty good guy, overall. While he does show indifference to some characters, he does care about almost everyone and tends to have a more optimistic outlook when it comes to the people he meets. He also has a really interesting dynamic with his powers, which is that despite his quickness, he is always too late. This is especially true of his relationship with his father, Magneto. He’s slow to figure out Magneto is his father after he meets him, and by the time he realizes, Magneto is already gone. When he goes back to the institute to speak to Magneto, he misses him by a few seconds. It’s a really interesting dynamic and it adds a lot to his character.

Winner: Peter Maximoff. Not only is he a more likable character, he stands on his own without relying on a sibling dynamic. He does have a younger sister who is hinted at being a version of Scarlet Witch, and he does care for her, but she’s much younger and gets very few scenes. Peter is one of the most entertaining characters in the X-Men series. He also gives the audience a much better look at what it would be like to have powers like his.

Scarlet Witch vs Jean Grey: These two are pretty easy to pair up. Both have stints as evil characters, and at least one of those occasions for each of them is attributed to their insane amount of power. Both are incredibly intelligent but don’t know exactly the extent of what they can do. These two have character arcs that rely on the fact that they can be extremely caring and extremely dangerous, often at the same time.

Once again, let’s go for our Avengers candidate first. Wanda is paired off with her brother in Age of Ultron, but her character is given a much bigger spotlight than his. At first her main goal is to make Tony Stark regret inadvertently killing her parents, which involves creating a lot of bleak visions to torture everyone on the Avengers (except for Clint), and, at one point, causing the Hulk to go insane. However, once she uses similar mind manipulation powers to see the plans of destruction Ultron is putting into his new body, she instantly switches sides. Afterwards, she admits that the entire situation is terrifying to her, but she chooses to join the Avengers. Even after her brother dies she develops a good relationship with a few of the people on the team, especially Vision, and decides to stay with them as a permanent member. She gets quite a bit of characterization at this point. At first she accidentally causes a deadly explosion with her powers and has to grapple with her own fear of herself. Then she falls in love with Vision and rediscovers what it feels like to want to protect someone. And then Vision dies and she has to grapple with anger and grief. If ‘WandaVision’ is our frame of reference for how she’s coping with that, she’s not doing too good. Wanda, from the beginning, is empathetic and emotional. She connects with others very easily and has a desire to help everyone as best she can. But she doesn’t quite know how to deal with her emotions, especially because they’re so interconnected with her powers.

Moving on to Jean Grey, she doesn’t start out with the same villainous connotations. From the beginning she’s shown to be a really thoughtful and kind person. She’s also Charles Xavier’s favorite student. He favors her because her powers are connected to her mind, like his, which makes him feel partially responsible for her and eventually, causes him to think of her as his daughter. Unfortunately, Jean Grey’s entire character is reliant on a love triangle plot line in the first X-Men films. She’s not a useless character, but she doesn’t serve much of narrative purpose other than to make Logan soft and also to make him jealous of Cyclops. She also forfeits her personality entirely when the last of the X-Men movies gives her a villainous role with the only explanation being that her powers changed her entirely. When she returns in the later movies, now as a younger character, her kindness and intelligence is back. She also is allowed to be her own character without any major romance plots hindering her genuinely interesting personality. However, even then Jean’s character is focused more on her abilities than on her emotional and intellectual reactions to her abilities, unlike Wanda. In ‘Dark Phoenix’ we see her grapple with her powers a bit more, but the movie does so many other things wrong with her character that it doesn’t even matter.

Winner: Scarlet Witch. Despite the fact that Vision does become a major part of her story, her character isn’t reliant on that romance plot. She also gets a lot of time to grapple with her powers and her own emotions without sacrificing other aspects of her character to do so.

This post is a tie. While X-Men obviously win the Quicksilver competition, they didn’t do so well with a lot of their female representation, especially early on. The MCU doesn’t have a ton of good female representation either, but Wanda is one of their rare well-written female characters. Aside from her costuming, she doesn’t suffer from the male gaze issue, and she’s allowed to be feminine while still being one of the most badass characters in all of Marvel. Jean could have done the same if she hadn’t been there exclusively for Logan half the time.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

Comfort Movies: Jim Henson’s ‘Labyrinth’

Screenshot of Jennifer Connelly and David Bowie in ‘Labyrinth’ (1986). Copyright goes to the Jim Henson company and Lucas Films.

Hi! It’s Annie!

Given the current circumstances, I’m kind of surprised that I didn’t come up with this category earlier. But I was particularly reminded of this one because it has been rainy and snowy where I’m at, and I love to watch comfort fantasy movies when the weather is bad. Especially Jim Henson’s ‘Labyrinth’. This is, actually, my favorite movie of all time and it’s a shame that I haven’t talked about it earlier. If you’ve ever wanted to go on an adventure through a beautiful fantasy world filled with Jim Henson puppets and ruled by David Bowie in too-tight pants; then this is for you. I would just tell you all to go watch it because you are absolutely insane if you answered ‘no’ to the above statement; but I’m here to sell you on this movie. So this is why you are missing out if you haven’t seen this masterpiece.

Jareth:

The number one reason to watch this movie. When Sarah wishes away her baby brother to the realm of the goblins, she is immediately greeted by David Bowie standing in her windowsill with glitter clouding around him. What an entrance, huh? This movie would not be nearly as good without David Bowie playing Jareth the Goblin King. Firstly, he can transform into an owl. How cool is that? But on top of that, David Bowie just kills it in this role. Any other big name celebrity who could have taken this role would have thought the project was insane; I mean, it’s Jim Henson who was best known for creating the Muppets. But David Bowie has always embraced weird. That’s probably why he is the only actor who could have done this, taken it seriously, and went all the way for this role. This was something that could have been so easily phoned in and David Bowie didn’t do that. He delivers the sarcastic lines with impressive dry wit, sings his heart out, and looks like he’s having the time of his life while doing it all. Even if those pants were probably uncomfortable. He also had a say in the script writing because he was involved in the process so early on. I thank him every day for this because the original script involved a kiss between Jareth and Sarah, which David Bowie outright refused to go through with. That would have been really weird to put it lightly. But if I haven’t sold you on David Bowie alone, I’m not quite sure I understand you.

Sarah:

She is the main character of this film played by an absolutely gorgeous young Jennifer Connelly. Sarah is a bit dramatic, but she has a love of theatre so it’s honestly understandable. She is very resourceful and brave; she was definitely a role model for me growing up. She also passes the ‘sexy lamp test’ which most eighties movies do not. For those of you who are unfamiliar with that, the sexy lamp test basically says that if you can replace a female character with a sexy lamp and the plot doesn’t change, then your movie doesn’t pass. And obviously that also means your movie has very poor female representation as a whole. Sarah creates and drives the plot. It is her friendship with other characters, her drive, and her demeanor that saves the day. Jareth attempts to win her over several times and she always faces him without being tempted. In the end, he has no power of her. Pun intended. She’s kind of like Alice from Alice in Wonderland if she was braver and a better overall character. Jennifer Connelly has always been an excellent actress, and this movie is no exception. As an aside, you should look up behind the scenes pictures and videos of David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly. It’s so adorable and you won’t regret it.

The Puppets:

What’s a Jim Henson movie without the puppets? Jim Henson is well known for his puppets, and the puppetry never fails to disappoint. Whether it’s the orange and yellow Fireys that have removable heads, or the goblins which all look completely different, or Ludo who is a giant furry and adorable monster. They all look amazing. The puppetry skills also come through in other places too. At one point of the movie, Sarah falls into a pit of helping hands. The hands come together to form faces, all of which are completely different. Ludo is my personal favorite of the puppets in this film. He’s just the type of large adorable creature that you want to run up to and hug. Jim Henson is a genius and it’s hard to not love any single one of his or his company’s creations.

Jim Henson:

This was Jim Henson’s passion project. Unfortunately, it didn’t do well in the box office initially; but it was something that he loved and poured a lot of himself into. His heart is in every element of this movie to the point where it just feels like a movie made with love. I’m glad that it’s been getting more recognition as the years have gone on.

The Labyrinth:

The labyrinth itself is one of my favorite fantasy places in anything ever. As every good fantasy world should be, the labyrinth feels like a character in itself. It is both fun and vast. You get the feeling that the movie is not able to show you just how many places actually exist in this labyrinth. Jareth’s castle is probably my favorite of all of the places that exist in this world, especially with the M.C. Escher concept that comes in later in the movie. On top of this, the movie uses mostly practical effects for this fantasy world. Including a track that flipped one of David Bowie’s stunt doubles right side up after having been upside down. This is the type of fantasy world that you could get lost in forever and wish you could actually visit. ‘Labyrinth’ theme park anyone? I wish! However, there is a place in Los Angeles that holds a Labyrinth themed ball every year, but I’ve never been.

The Ballroom Scene:

That it. That’s all. It’s a gorgeous sequence and one of my favorites that I’ve seen in anything ever. Also, a gorgeous David Bowie song is playing in the background of it. What more could you ask for?

The Soundtrack:

The pieces are beautiful, especially ‘Sarah’ which is the theme song for the main character. It’s absolutely transportive and one of those soundtrack pieces that I find myself listening to just for fun. The soundtrack also features several original David Bowie songs created specifically for this film. All of them are great and some of my favorite songs to ever exist. My favorites are probably ‘As the World Falls Down’ and ‘Within You’, but they’re all winners. I listen to this entire soundtrack very often with my family. Fun fact; during ‘Magic Dance’ it is David Bowie who is making those baby noises on the soundtrack.

If you’ve watched this movie I hope some of the facts here were something that you hadn’t heard before. If you haven’t, I really hope you’ll give this movie a try! It is a gorgeous and fun film and deserves international recognition. Maybe this is a movie that can bring you as much comfort as it brings me. This movie is seriously the equivalent of having a bowl of mac n cheese to me. It’s one of those movies. Happy watching on rainy days!

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Marvel: ‘WandaVision’ Episode 3 Review

Promotional image for ‘WandaVision’ starring Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany. Copyright goes to Marvel Studios and Disney.

Hey! Hallie here!

I know this is a day late, but so much happened in the third episode of ‘WandaVision’ that I absolutely have to talk about it. As I said in my last post, for the future I was hoping that we’d get to see both Wanda and Vision outside of their television show personas, and I was hoping the plot would pick up fairly quickly considering the small number of episodes. Episode three did both of these and did them well. We still haven’t seen Vision and Wanda act completely themselves, but parts of them absolutely peaked through in this episode. This is particularly true for Wanda, who needs to act herself in order for the exploration of her mental health to be well handled. With those desires met, let’s look at what the episode did as a whole.

The Good:

Wanda. Wanda was a huge part of this episode’s mystery. Everything she did demonstrated just how much control she has over this reality. Wanda progressed her own pregnancy so that it ended after only a few days. When Vision noticed something was very wrong about her pregnancy and began to seriously question her, Wanda rewound the conversation to before he had made the discovery. This is extremely similar to what occurred when Wanda and Vision noticed the beekeeper in episode two. This time, however, there was no rewinding effect to accompany the reset of the scene. The conversation simply restarted as if nothing happened. Later on, once her twin boys were born, Wanda began a conversation with Geraldine. We already know that Geraldine is actually Monica Rambeau, another superhero from the comics who takes on the Captain Marvel title at some point. As of this episode, we now know Monica has been attempting to help Wanda leave the reality she’s in. However, Monica takes it a step too far when she mentions Pietro. Wanda is initially dazed by the mention of Pietro. She begins to reminisce and sings a song in her native tongue to her children. But when Monica mentions that Ultron killed Pietro, Wanda becomes both more herself and extremely angry. She instantly notices that Monica has a sword necklace around her neck. The same emblem that was on the beekeeper suit and the red toy plane, which seems to appear anytime someone attempts to snap Wanda out of it. Unfortunately, Wanda isn’t too happy to see the emblem and forces Monica out of her reality and into the outside world. She’s completely aware of what she did too, and she lies to Vision about what happened. Whether or not Wanda is fully responsible for everything that’s happening, she absolutely plays a hand in it. She’s determined to protect this reality, which will create problems later.

Monica Rambeu. Monica has a lot of time in this episode. She’s extremely likable as Geraldine, but her role as Monica is interesting. We know she’s part of SWORD now, and the way that she’s forced out of Wanda’s reality does give us a bigger glimpse into SWORD. When she’s forced out she’s instantly surrounded by cars and people, likely from SWORD. Monica is listed for all the remaining episodes, so it will be interesting to see what she does now that she’s outside of Wanda’s reality. This is only the start of her character.

The Neighbors. In this episode the neighbors are also acting stranger than normal. At the beginning of the episode Vision catches Herb carving into his wall while he’s tending to his plants, as if he’s glitching. The doctor Vision gets to see to Wanda’s pregnancy is also set to leave for vacation, but he doesn’t seem able to leave. Later on Vision sees Agnes and Herb having a conversation. When Vision joins the conversation the audience discovers that both Herb and Agnes are aware that they’re trapped. Agnes implies that Geraldine is different from the other neighbors and Herb attempts to explain to Vision exactly what’s happening. Agnes stops Herb from saying anything, but she does convey some urgency to Vision when she realizes Wanda is speaking to Geraldine alone. As the audience we know that Agnes is actually the witch Agatha Harkness from the comics, who mentors Wanda in her abilities and is killed by Wanda at one point. What role Agatha plays in this scenario is yet to be discovered, but I’m excited to see what will happen with her character next.

Vision. Vision seems to be more under Wanda’s control than the other neighbors in this reality. While the other neighbors seem to know what’s happening, at least to an extent, Wanda erases Vision’s memory whenever he discovers something so that he will continue believing the dream life she created for them. However, while Wanda does erase one of Vision’s discoveries from his memory in this episode, she isn’t present when he starts to notice their neighbors acting strangely. When he finally has a conversation with Herb and Agnes he becomes extremely concerned by the situation. He even rushes into the house when Agnes conveys to him that Geraldine shouldn’t be alone with Wanda. When he finds that Geraldine disappeared he’s somewhat frightened, and Wanda’s lie about her whereabouts doesn’t seem to convince him. I sincerely hope that Vision continues to put pieces together as the series goes on. While Wanda’s control over him is interesting, his new awareness is too good not to explore.

Bad:

The 70’s-Themed Episode. This isn’t to say I didn’t like the 70’s theming. The introduction was hilarious and everything from the costuming to the new interior for the house was perfect. The issue is that the more comedic format felt more out of place this episode. The reason behind this is it’s lack of commitment to the format. While there were fun parts, the only thing the episode wanted to focus on was the mysterious elements. The 70’s comedy was left to a smaller amount of scenes, which made most of them feel odd after the darker themes of other scenes. This isn’t a huge gripe, but I do think the show could strike a better balance between the sitcom aspects and the mystery of the show.

Those were my thoughts on episode three! This episode delivered exactly what I wanted. I definitely look forward to Wanda going back to the character I know and love, but for now I’m content with the small moments we’ve been given. And I’m more intrigued than ever to know what’s going on. I’m genuinely frustrated that I can’t binge the entire series at once. For now I’ll have to be patient and come back to this again when episode four is released.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

Star Wars: Unpopular Star Wars Opinions

Promotional shot of Daisy Ridley as Rey for ‘The Force Awakens’. Copyright goes to Walt Disney Studios and Lucas Films.

Hi! It’s Annie!

I’ve thought about doing this post for a while but was definitely way too nervous to. The Star Wars fandom is not only a beast, but a toxic place a lot of the time. Discussing your opinions on Star Wars in a public place can often lead to some form of argument. Even though I like this franchise, I’ve just stopped mentioning it in public for these reasons. I’ll talk about it with my family and I still enjoy it, but I generally don’t tell people that I like Star Wars unless directly asked because I’m afraid of being asked about my opinions on it. But there are things I seriously want to talk about and also, I think it’s absolutely ridiculous that this fandom has made people afraid to talk about it. I implore you to have different opinions than I do. Different interpretations is part of what makes media so interesting. So I ask you, if you see something that angers you, don’t crucify me. I’m not writing to insult anyone. Anyways, here we go!

Rey Isn’t That Bad:

A controversial topic right off the bat, I know. But when it comes to Star Wars it’s difficult to have any opinion that isn’t controversial. Yes, Rey was quick to know how to do things, but this wasn’t without any explanation. Luke also had some things come easily to him at first. That’s a normal issue in any story that portrays a hero’s journey. I’ve seen a lot of people call Rey a Mary Sue because of that thought, and I’m not about that. First of all, Mary Sue is kind of sexist. People combatted that by saying that there is such thing as Gary Stu’s, the male version, but the issue with that argument is hardly anyone uses that term and that term was created off of the idea of the Mary Sue. I don’t want to go through the entire history of the term Mary Sue here; but I’ll just say that it was a Star Trek fanfiction thing that men used to legitimize their claims that women didn’t need to be featured in the series. The fanfiction was admittedly very bad, but it wasn’t like women-kind came together as a whole to write said fanfiction. The entire situation was ridiculous. If you want to say that things came to Rey too easily, be my guest. Just please stop using Mary Sue as a descriptor. That’s all I ask. All that aside, Rey isn’t the best character to ever come out of Star Wars; but that doesn’t mean she’s bad. She has some great moments and Daisy Ridley did a brilliant job in her acting for this role. She’s a badass, she isn’t over sexualized, and she’s given some real emotional moments.

Ryan Johnson Didn’t Ruin the Sequel Trilogy:

Yes, Ryan Johnson acted like a complete three year old throwing a temper tantrum when people didn’t like his movie. I’m not here to dispute that. But I was watching ‘Knives Out’, Ryan Johnson’s passion project, and marveling at the amazing writing while wondering what went wrong with the sequel trilogy. And then it hit me that this wasn’t completely his fault. The issue was that they wrote each story as it was coming out rather than creating a full story arc. Even worse, both J.J. Abrams and Ryan Johnson were so stubborn with their singular views of what the trilogy should look like that they pettily scrapped the other’s ideas to return to their original plan instead of respecting what the last director did. It was a children’s fight. Either of them could have come up with a decent trilogy on their own, but that wasn’t what happened. And just because Ryan Johnson did it first doesn’t mean J.J. Abrams is exempt from the blame. And Ryan Johnson had some good ideas! Showing Kylo Ren’s journey to becoming Supreme Leader was actually kind of badass, especially after that lightsaber battle after he killed Snoke. Snoke didn’t have to be there. As you’ll find out, I’m not a huge fan of the completely evil, all-powerful, villains in Star Wars. They aren’t as interesting to me, so I personally think killing off Snoke was a good idea and brought a necessary shock and splendor to the scene. It wasn’t a very well done bait and switch, but I didn’t feel like it was too bad either. I also really liked that Rey didn’t come from anywhere and how powerful the message of “anyone can be a Jedi” was. Possibly even more controversially, I like Poe Dameron’s arc in that movie. I thought it was a good move to show the characters as flawed. We don’t see enough flawed characters in movies like this. Seeing Poe become flawed after he was so perfect in the first movie made him my favorite character in this trilogy. Ryan Johnson also actually gave Finn time and more character while J.J. threw his character aside in the last movie. Over-all, I thought Ryan Johnson treated the characters better.

Rose Isn’t a Bad Character:

The kiss at the end of the movie was not good, but Rose had some good moments! She could have been great if we had some more time with her but, just like Finn, J.J. also tossed her to the side instead of attempting to run with what he had. Also, the treatment of Kelly Marie Tran was absolutely atrocious. She is a great actress and a sweet person! I have never been so ashamed of this fandom and I pretty much removed myself from it because of this.

Han Solo is Not the Best Thing in Star Wars:

I’ve seen so many people swear up and down the wall that Han Solo is by far the best character in Star Wars, and I definitely don’t agree with this. Both Leia and Luke were characters that are just as good and don’t deserve to be snubbed. Leia is one of the most badass female characters to ever exist. Yes, Han Solo is a fun character. But that doesn’t make him the best. There doesn’t have to be a best character in Star Wars.

The Clone Wars is the Best Written Star Wars Content:

The Clone Wars is absolutely amazing if you haven’t seen it. It boasts Ahsoka Tano, my favorite Star Wars character, and the first fully fleshed out female Jedi ever focused on. It also has Rex and all of the clones which become one of the most interesting storylines in all of Star Wars. Anakin is actually a likeable character in this! I just love the Clone Wars and how complex the stories have been throughout the years. It really isn’t given enough credit for everything it did for this franchise.

Palpatine Has Never Been a Good Character:

Don’t get me wrong, I love all the Palpatine memes. I quote him all the time. But he was never an interesting villain to me. He always seemed like a plot device or a cop out to ensure Vader’s full redemption arc. But I never felt that he was completely needed. I liked just having Darth Vader there and I didn’t feel that Vader needed someone to make his redemption more believable. Palpatine only got worse as the movies went on with his hilarious electrocution moment in the fight against Mace Windu. Also, who could forget about Darth Plagueis the wise? But making Rey a Palpatine and including him in the sequels is just the icing on the cake for his character. No one wanted to see him there. I literally laughed out loud in the theater when Rey shot that ship with lightning. It was just too ridiculous. But Palpatine has always been too ridiculous. If you want a good mastermind villain, Palpatine has never been that. Grand Admiral Thrawn is quite possibly the smartest character in Star Wars canonically and is my favorite villain. He’s everything I wish Palpatine was.

There you have it! Those are just a few of my unpopular Star Wars opinions, but I have plenty more. I may continue this or I may not, but hopefully some of these arguments made sense to you. I still feel weird writing this, but I’m not sure I want to be afraid of the Star Wars fandom. That in itself sounds a bit ridiculous.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

K-pop and K-dramas: Everglow

Promotional image of Everglow for their song “Dun Dun”. From left to right: E:U (Park Jiwon), Kim Sihyeon, Mia (Han Eunji), Aisha (Heo Yoorim), Onda (Jo Serim), and Wang Yiren. Copyright goes to Yuehua Entertainment.

Hey! Hallie here!

I’ve been a huge fan of BTS for a while now, and while it’s been amazing, it’s also taken up all my time. I’ve only introduced myself to a handful of other groups because I’ve found BTS’s music so addicting. So this week I finally decided to explore more K-pop groups and diversify the K-pop I listen to. I was especially interested in looking at girl groups to see more of what women are doing in the industry. Before this, the only girl group I was absolutely familiar with was BLACKPINK, and they’re the most popular girl group out there. But now that I’ve made myself familiar with a much larger amount of K-pop groups and hit songs, I’ve made a realization. I REALLY like Everglow. Everglow is the perfect mix of beautiful melodies, talented members, and powerful messages. And they only started in 2019. Every major song I’ve heard from them has been empowering and badass. Most of their B-tracks are too good to pass up. They definitely have some problems, which I’ll talk about later, but I can’t say I’m not blown away that all but one of them is younger than me. I’m going to go through all of the members so I can gush about each of them.

E:U

E:U (Meaning ‘Especially for U’), or Park Jiwon, is the leader of Everglow. She’s the main rapper for the group and also serves as one of the front dancers. E:U is the only member as of now to contribute lyrics to a few songs, namely “Moon” and “LA DI DA”. E:U’s energy is infectious, and despite the fact that she’s the group’s oldest member, she seems to be one of the main troublemakers. But she’s also an extremely talented rapper. Every verse she has is a stand out and every MV appearance makes her seem intimidating. E:U doesn’t sing much, so the only moments fans get to hear her in songs are her rap verses and the inevitable “Everglow” heard in every song. This is where we run into a problem. As I said, this group is new and the company still needs to figure out a few things. For E:U, they need to give her more rap verses. While rap verses are evident in every song, there is both one other rapper in the group, and a vocalist who seems to get occasional rap lines for no reason. E:U is amazing at what she does and she should get more time to show it off!

Sihyeon

Park Sihyeon is one of the lead vocalists for Everglow, as well as one of their two main visuals. Sihyeon is well known for cracking jokes and often being the voice of reason amongst the group. Her voice is one of the most noticeable features of any Everglow song. It’s light and crisp, which often earns her some of the most singing portions in each song. However, she often doesn’t get enough to sing. Sihyeon balances a lot of singing lines with Mia, who I’ll talk about in a second. Mia, however, gets the majority of these lines despite Sihyeon’s amazing vocals. It baffles me because I often find Sihyeon’s voice fits each song just as much as Mia’s. Because she’s used so often she doesn’t face as many problems as some of the other members, but hopefully Sihyeon will be given an even share in the future.

Mia

Han Eunji, or Mia, is the main vocalist and one of the main dancers of Everglow. She is cited as being in charge of their girl-crush image, which is an image that promotes female empowerment. The other members of Everglow have said that she appeared rude to them initially, but that she is ultimately helpful and kind. Mia has a slightly richer voice than Sihyeon and can be heard the most in any given song out of any of the other members. Once again, this is where the group needs some fixing. Mia gets the most lines out of any member of Everglow by a fairly large margin. In “DUN DUN” she’s even given a dance break to herself when the other members are given no such treatment. A lot of fans have used this as a means to attack her, which is absolutely ridiculous. These problems aren’t her fault and she most definitely has the talent to keep up with the amount of work she’s been given. The company simply needs to give some of her lines to the other members, including the rap lines she confusingly has in some songs.

Onda

Jo Serim, or Onda, is one of the main dancers, a sub vocalist, and another visual of the group. Onda is easily spotted by her brightly-colored style and she has a bubbly personality to back it up. Unfortunately, she doesn’t bring much else to the group other than her style and the independent personality the other members boast of. Her voice is extremely good, but according to some, not as developed as some of the other members. Because of this, she doesn’t get much to sing in each song. She also doesn’t get pulled to the front of the dance line as often as the other main dancers. Which is a shame because Onda is definitely one of the best dancers of the group. Onda is a great singer who could definitely use more content to show off her talents, but even more than that, she needs to be brought forward to the main dancing position. Even amongst a group her dancing talents are eye-catching and it’s a shame the company doesn’t seem to have noticed it yet.

Aisha

Heo Yoorim, or Aisha, is the other main rapper and a sub-vocalist for Everglow. She is easily spotted by her tallness compared to the other members of the group. Aisha’s known for her calmness and patience amongst the adorable chaos the Everglow members can be. She can be recognized in each song by her lower register. Aisha is used pretty frequently for both rap and vocals. Because of the unique sound of her voice, she’s brought forward for many pre-chorus lines. Aisha’s treatment is about as problematic as Sihyeon’s. She could use some more time to show off her talents, similar to many of the other members, but the balance of vocals and rap she’s given eliminates some of the issues other members have had. Still, she’s my bias and I’d love to hear more from her!

Yiren

Wang Yiren is another of the main dancers of Everglow and another sub-vocalist. She’s the other main visual of Everglow, and, like Sihyeon, is considered one of the two faces of the group. Yiren is Everglow’s maknae and their only Chinese member. Just like most people imagine a maknae would be, she’s very energetic and sweet. She’s also a trained dancer which is the reason why she’s often brought forward in the dance line. The issue is she’s trained in Chinese traditional dance, and while she’s shown she’s very talented, she is definitely pushed forward too much. Especially as opposed to members like Onda, who should be given more time to shine amongst the dance line. She’s another member who’s vocals are often pushed to the background because she isn’t considered to be as polished as some of the other vocalists, but her voice is beautiful and deserves more time!

Those are the members of Everglow. As I said above, all of them are extremely talented. I see a lot of people “complimenting” this group by saying that they’re good for rookies but not anywhere near the talent of BLACKPINK. Everglow is good for any K-pop group, but they still have a long way to go. There’s a lot the company needs to work out and there’s definitely more each girl, aside from Mia, could be doing. As for Mia, I appreciate her many talents and I don’t blame her for getting the majority of the attention. I simply hope that the group achieves a more even balance in the near future. However, this entire scenario isn’t a reason to disregard the group entirely. Not only are they still new, but K-pop has had this issue for a while. Jin from BTS is a famous example of a member of a group not getting as much attention as the others. And Jennie of BLACKPINK is another famous example of a member of a group getting too much attention as opposed to the others. Everglow simply joins them, and hopefully, like these groups, everything will even out.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

Kpop and Kdramas: Jungkook Appreciation

Photo of Jeon Jungkook of BTS in a photoshoot for the ‘Be’ album. Copyright goes to BigHit Entertainment.

Hi! It’s Annie!

I noticed that I missed Jungkook’s birthday when we first started this blog. I am so so sorry, but honestly I didn’t think I was going to be doing these birthday posts until it became a thing for me later. Obviously, I love Jungkook so much more than I can say. He’s a consistent contender for my bias wrecker and a constant comfort to me. There’s also a lot of things I want to cover about Jungkook, so this isn’t going to be as concise or organized as many of my other posts are. I’ll talk about some of his music singularly, but there’s no denying that Jungkook gets a lot of hate that I hope people will stop, so I’m going to address that too. Without further ado, let’s get into some of this!

‘Still With You’:

Jungkook did not release this song too long ago. I am listening to it as I type because it’s one of the most beautiful pieces I’ve ever listened to. I have used those hour loops for this song before because I really just can’t get enough of it. Fun (or not so fun) fact about this song, it wasn’t released super officially because Jungkook wasn’t confident in it. I do not care what your opinions on BTS or K-pop are; everyone needs this song in their life. I’m not just saying that, this makes me want to cry at the same time it’s great for calming down my anxiety. There’s my advertisement, now go listen to it.

‘My Time’ and ‘Begin’:

I put these in the same category because it’s important that we give Jungkook credit for how much he’s given for this band. Jungkook was extremely young when he started training with BTS, a topic that is covered by ‘My Time’. This band is where he grew up and what his roots are. He often says, as all of them do, that he can’t imagine his life without BTS. Considering he was so young, that’s so much more real for him. BTS has been much of his life. Because of that he also credits the other members of BTS for raising him. This was the idea that brought about ‘Begin’. According to the other members of BTS, when he was explaining to them the idea of ‘Begin’ he cried. That song is about how the other members of the band raised him and helped him find himself. Not only are both of these songs beautiful; they are also raw and so incredibly personal that I can only be grateful he shared all of this with us.

His Perspectives on Growing Up:

As someone who is also in my early twenties and struggling with finding myself, I often find comfort in Jungkook talking about going through the exact same things. I have often wondered whether I am always being truly genuine or whether or not I truly know myself. We all know that this is the time in your life for finding yourself, but sometimes it’s difficult to see that. Jungkook has talked about worrying that he’s not being genuine when talking with other people and worrying that he hasn’t bridged all of the gaps between himself and the understanding of himself. Something that he says a lot is that he is constantly searching for himself. When I realized that he put words to what I was feeling, I just couldn’t let go of those words. It’s amazing to see him become more and more of a warm and open person and realize that I’m growing right along with him. When he first joined the band he was shy and very reserved and now he laughs freely. It’s inspiring.

Jungkook Hate:

The maknae line gets a lot of hate, probably because they are all so popular. All three of them are constantly battling it out in polls for international popularity. Jungkook receives hate for how many lines he gets in comparison to other members or for just being him. I should just say here that the entire maknae line gets hate for having more lines than Jin as they make up the rest of the vocal line. There are a couple of other things that people more recently jumped on him for. For instance, going to a bar at the very beginning of quarantine which was actually much safer when he did it. The area he went to had no cases yet and it was right after quarantine hit. Not that it was right, but he apologized profusely and never did it again which is more than I can say for a variety of other celebrities. He also got into a minor fender bender which caused several people to proclaim that he was drunk when it happened even though that wasn’t true. Not only that, but the very minor crash wasn’t even entirely his fault. What I’m saying here is that, if you are looking for a reason to hate any celebrity, just be honest with yourself and stop. There is no reasonable excuse here. That’s an issue with you; leave them alone.

His tattoos:

This is what I’ve seen fans complain about most recently. I know that tattoos are more accepted in places like California than they are in South Korea, but I still have no idea what the big fuss is about. It’s not like he’s getting anything crude tattooed on him. In fact, I love seeing this way of him expressing himself! Especially when he began this so reluctantly to do so. I personally like his tattoos, but even if you don’t that doesn’t mean you should be telling him what to do. I saw so many people asking “what did he do to himself?” and it just made me a little sick. It’s his body, he can do what he wants with it. It’s not affecting his health. Once again, all he’s trying to do is express himself. I love it.

His hair:

It feels impossible to talk about Jungkook and not mention his hair right now. Firstly, I think we can all agree that Jungkook rocks long hair. But on top of that, he’s also bleached it blonde. Yes, this will go down in history as one of his best looks.

There you have it! My ramblings on Jungkook! Obviously, I love him so much. He’s so inspiring to me. I was going through a pretty rough time when Yoongi wasn’t there because of personal reasons, and I have to say Jungkook was one of my main distractions then. I’ll always have a soft spot for him and hopefully people can learn to accept him for the amazing person I know he is and will become. Tattoos and all.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Twins In Media: Twin Battles Moving on to Round 2!

Screenshot of Hikaru and Kaoru from ‘Ouran Highschool Host Club’. Copyright goes to Funimation and Nippon Television.

Hey! Hallie here!

If you’ve been keeping up with our Twins in Media posts, you know that we’ve been putting twins from famous media head to head in order to determine which fictional twins represent real twins the best. And, as of now, the first round is over! However, we did leave out a few sets of twins we had originally intended to include in the battles. So let’s go over which twins are moving on and which ones aren’t competing at all. For this post I won’t be including explanations for why the winners were chosen, so be sure to go back to our other posts to see what the battle was like! Along with that, round 2 is going to look a bit different than round 1, so if you want to know what these guys need to do to win for the next round, I’ll explain it in a moment.

Winners (Bolded):

Hikaru and Kaoru vs. Fred and George

Sharon and Susie (‘Parent Trap’ 1961) vs. Hallie and Annie (‘Parent Trap’ 1998)

Janice and Jessica vs. Sumire and Kasumi

Wanda and Pietro Maximoff vs. Luke and Leia

Dipper and Mabel vs. Poppet and Widget

Jacob and Evie Frye vs. Robert and Rosalind Lutece

The Tweedles vs. Thing 1 and Thing 2

Liv and Maddie vs Zack and Cody

Twitches vs. Annalise and Erika

Who Won’t be Competing:

Firstly, you’ll notice one of our groups above has no winners. That’s because both Janice and Jessica (‘The Suite Life of Zack and Cody’) and Sumire and Kasumi (‘Persona 5 Royal’) are absolutely awful representation. Sumire and Kasumi were declared winners by a slight margin, but with the caveat that they would lose against anyone we put them up against. To keep the competition more interesting, we decided to eliminate them altogether. Also, we previously considered Phoebe Buffay and her sister Ursula from ‘Friends’ to compete, as well as Yubaba and Zeniba from ‘Spirited Away’, Flora and Fauna from ‘The Addams Family’, and The Grady Twins from ‘The Shining’. We made posts about all of these sets of twins individually if you want to see our reviews of these characters. The main issue with these four is that they are very minor characters compared to all of the characters listed above. They are also all bad representations of twins. Phoebe and Ursula, as well as Yubaba and Zeniba, all fall under the Evil Twin trope which will never be good representation. Flora and Fauna are simply an offensive attempt at making conjoined twins seem both unsettling and overly similar. And The Grady Twins, along with getting nearly no screen time, started the Creepy Twins trope. In order to avoid another battle like Janice and Jessica vs. Sumire and Kasumi, we have disqualified these groups.

New Battle Rules:

For round 2 we’re simplifying things. Instead of the four previous categories, we’re going for two. These categories will be Audience Perspective and Twin Perspective. In the Audience Perspective category twin characters will be judged based off of character development, storylines, and anything essential to any character in media. The Twin Perspective category will judge twin characters based off of tropes, realistic characteristics, and anything that counts toward or against twin representation. This way we get to judge characters based on everything we notice as fans and as twins without having to stick to four specific categories.

We’ll be back next week with the next round of battles, so make sure to check back to see if your favorite twin representation makes it through to the end. We’re quickly approaching a declaration of a winner. Even I don’t know who’s going to win at this point. I do know that there are several twin characters I’ve loved for a long time on the list of twins moving on to our next round, so this will definitely be interesting.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

K-pop and K-dramas: Bands to Check Out That Aren’t BTS

Photo of Blackpink from a photoshoot featuring (from left) Lisa, Jisoo, Jennie, and Rose`. Copyright goes to YG Entertainment.

Hi! It’s Annie!

I know we talk a lot about BTS on this blog. We’re proud ARMY. There’s really nothing for it. But, obviously, there are so many more talented artists in the K-pop industry. BTS may be the most popular, but they are not all that there is. They are also not all that I listen to. I am still learning so I’m definitely not the be-all end-all of K-pop knowledge. I really do apologize if your favorite band isn’t on this list and I promise I’ll try to get to as many as I can eventually! But I do notice that a lot of people are nervous getting into K-pop because it’s such a large world in music now. I know I was definitely one of those people. So hopefully, if you are one of those people and you haven’t broadened your horizons too much yet, this will give you at least a few recommendations that you might enjoy. Both new and old (but none of it is really all that old).

Blackpink:

I think this is an obvious one. Blackpink is probably the band just behind BTS in terms of popularity and it isn’t difficult to see why. Firstly, when it comes to overseas fans they have some of the most English content because three of the four of them can very fluently speak English. While I don’t think this should be the criteria for liking a band, I can’t deny that it seems to help. But mostly, their music is amazing. They have now surpassed many American artists with their quality of music. You don’t hear many rappers like Jennie or Lisa or many singers like Rose` or Jisoo anywhere else. They also now have a documentary on Netflix that I keep meaning to get around to watching. If you’re looking for a starter song, I would probably recommend ‘Ddu-ddu-ddu-ddu’. This was the song that solidified their popularity and introduced me to them and I love it.

Shinee:

Most of the popular stuff from this band came out a while back, but that doesn’t make it any less good. I was obsessed with this group before I even really knew what K-pop was. Shinee immediately drew attention when they began to make the most-watched page on Youtube, specifically with their success from their song ‘Sherlock’. That was also the song that introduced me to them. The vocals in this band are amazing and it’s difficult to find any artist that even mildly sounds like any of them. My recommendation for this band is actually ‘Lucifer’. Though I really love ‘Sherlock’ and I would recommend you check out that one as well, ‘Lucifer’ is what stole my heart.

BIGBANG:

It is really difficult to get into the K-pop world and not hear the name of this group. They are not only a classic, but also music that is still listened to on repeat. If you look at interviews for many of the more up and coming K-pop acts, many of them will list G-Dragon as an influence. There is no better word to describe their songs than ‘fun’. They are fun as hell. These are the type of songs that will get stuck in your head all day and will refuse to go away. My recommendation song here is probably the obvious; ‘Fantastic Baby’. It’s one of those songs that makes me smile very time I listen to it.

ATEEZ:

I was introduced to them when they covered ‘Blood, Sweat, and Tears’ among many other songs at an event where BTS was present. The boys’ reactions to hearing a cover of their own song was beyond adorable. But putting that aside, what I liked most about that performance was the beginning and the chorus. None of the videos that I watched really explained what the music they were using was, and the piece was a medley, so I ended up scouring the internet to try and find what song they covered for those parts of it. Only to find out that it’s their own song. I am now absolutely obsessed with ‘Wonderland’ and yes, this is your song recommendation from them. They are a younger band, and they are already killing it.

Apink:

Yay! Another girl group! Apink is quite possibly the most aesthetically pleasing group I have seen in my entire life. The pastels that fill their music videos and fashion are always a delight. Their most recent stuff is definitely my favorite, but what really drew me to them was how good and unique the vocals from this group is. I really do like sweeter voices, but I do find that finding richer voices in K-pop can be a little bit of a struggle. Hayeong has a deeper, richer, voice that I just love listening to. And that’s just one of them; they all sound fantastic. My recommendation for this group is ‘Dumdurum’. And I highly recommend watching the music video when you listen to it for the first time, it’s just so eye-catching.

TWICE:

Another popular girl group that there is no escaping from in the K-pop world. They are mostly known for their songs being upbeat and pretty adorable on top of that. This is one of those groups to listen to if you need cheering up, because may of their songs are known for being lighthearted and cute. The members of this band also equally feel cute and approachable. If you want a song guaranteed to put a smile on your face, I would try looking at them. My recommendation here would, again, be the obvious ‘Fancy’ but I have also been listening to ‘Yes or Yes’ so much lately that it’s hard to not put that one here too.

EVERGLOW:

This is another girl group that more recently gained a sudden mass of recognition overseas. Even if you don’t think you have heard them, you have most definitely heard them if you own a TikTok account. Their popularity spurned most recently from their song ‘Dun Dun’ making it’s rounds on the app. They are really really new, so it’s absolutely insane that they’ve gotten so much popularity this fast. So far it seems as though their aesthetic is a bit darker than other girl groups; think black and leather. But who knows what will happen since we haven’t seen too much of them yet! All but one of them is younger than me, which is insane to think about. But anyways, my recommendation here is ‘La Di Da’. I like the other ones, but this song is the one that gets stuck in my head almost every day.

There you go! Hopefully some of these recommendations will pan out in showing you some music you might be interested in. There are so many other groups out there to explore as well that I didn’t get to, many of which I wanted to include here. A few months ago I know I would have included Mamamoo, but there’s a lot of controversy there over black face that I haven’t gotten into as much yet. But I also didn’t want to overwhelm anyone who’s newer to all of this. I’m still pretty much a newbie too, so if you are, I know how you feel. But as you are testing the uncertain waters, make sure that you aren’t just listening to one band. I know that’s tempting. I have over a hundred songs from BTS on my phone now. But there’s an entire world to explore here! Just remember to take your time.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Marvel: Avengers vs X-Men

Screenshot of Hugh Jackman from ‘X-Men'(2000). Copyright goes to 20th Century Studios and Walt Disney Studios.

Hey! Hallie here!

The Marvel fandom has often debated which Marvel team is better considering the success of both the X-Men and Avengers movie universes. There are other major teams in Marvel, like the Fantastic Four, but none have made anywhere near as big of an impression as these two did. And with the biggest MCU plotline now closed, a lot of people are looking back on both series to compare them. I’m not going to compare the entire series because that is a lot to unpack. Especially when it comes to the many, many, movies in the MCU. However, I will compare some of the characters and their development. This is going to be a series because there are too many characters I want to tackle and because my schedule prevents me from making this post as long as I want it to be. For this post I’m going to take the most popular characters from each team and put them against each other based off of their characteristics. The character with the best writing wins. Let’s go!

Wolverine vs. Iron Man: I paired these two together because they technically both hold the main character status. They both started out their franchises with their story, both with personalities that made it difficult to initially work well with a team, and both end the series with their death. Essentially their respective cinematic universes gave each of them the fullest character arc.

First let’s look at Tony Stark. Tony Stark begins the series as a conceited, rich, playboy without much compassion. Throughout the first movie he drops only one of these things. He develops compassion through the guilt he feels over hurting others, and through his growing feelings for Pepper. But even then he is still known for hitting on other women, Natasha Romanoff being a prime example, and for being extremely self-absorbed. He thinks he knows best, which is proved when he creates Ultron. Even after Ultron is destroyed Tony seems to believe he knows the best way to atone for his mistakes rather than realizing that he should listen to others. By the time he dies he’s still rich and privileged. He’s still conceited. The major difference is that his experiences with Peter Parker and his own kid, as well as the brief time he spent living quiet life with Pepper, has made him realize there are other people in his life who are both probably better than he is and worth protecting.

Logan is a different kind of unapproachable at the beginning of X-Men. He doesn’t really like or trust anyone and because of that he’s really only looking out for himself. And can you blame him after he spent years being tortured and experimented on? However, Logan has the benefit of this changing for him right at the beginning of the first movie. He meets Rogue, a young girl who’s very alone and very afraid, and ends up worrying about her well-being. His near-immediate interest in her situation is almost parent-like, and he ends up joining the X-Men as a means of protecting her. As the series goes on he becomes involved in the well being of all of the students, to the point that he acknowledges that they have become his purpose in life. He treats the entire X-Men like family, learns to look after many more people than just himself, and ends up using his abilities to look after Charles Xavier well into the future. He dies having embraced another orphaned girl like a daughter and having devoted the majority of his life to family.

Winner: The clear winner between these two is Logan. Logan is not self-centered and feels like he grew much more than Tony. In fact, Tony could have done with some more character growth, and he had more movies.

Captain America vs. Professor X: This might be a weird mash-up, but hear me out. I put these two together because, despite not holding the main character status, they both hold the leader status. They also serve as the moral compass of their team and hit some surprisingly similar character beats.

Once again I’m going to start out with the MCU character, Steve Rogers. Steve is a pretty good guy when we first meet him. He’s pretty scrawny and weak but he has the immense desire to protect people who have been badly treated, much like he has. This determination ends up putting him in the position of Captain America, where he gets to discover how difficult the line of work he’s been hoping to join truly is. He becomes partly dependent on his relationships with Bucky and Peggy in order to keep himself level headed and his motivations clear. And then he loses both of them. Afterwards his character arc becomes about his reluctance to trust those from a time period he knows nothing about. On top of that, he has to grapple with his entire belief system being torn down when he realizes Hydra is behind the government operations he’s believed are his best path to helping people. He quickly shifts his mistrust into a general mistrust of anything that is not his own, often correct, sense of right and wrong. When Bucky comes along his trust in others extends to himself, Bucky, and Sam Wilson. By the end of the series he cares for the other people in his team, but he decides to return to Peggy. The only people he trusts to continue his legacy are Bucky and Sam, whom he has seen prove time and time again to have a strong sense of right and wrong.

Charles Xavier is another character who starts out with a pretty strong moral compass. He also has an extreme desire to help mutants overcome their oppressors, which is something that remains true for the entire series. This desire is one of the major things that brings him very close to Erik Lehnsherr, because it’s something the both of them have in common. He eventually begins to view Erik as an essential piece to achieving his goals. Except he realizes too late that Erik’s moral compass is much more twisted than his own. By the end of it he loses his ability to walk. He loses faith in his belief that he can make any sort of difference once he becomes disabled. He abandons the school he barely started and sacrifices his mutant abilities in order to regain the ability to walk. He also becomes a raging alcoholic. However, his faith is slowly restored when tragedy causes him to become essential in the protection of mutants. His compassion for both mutants and humans makes him realize that while he cares for Erik, he can’t depend on him. However, his love of helping mutants inspires him to teach well into his later years, acting as a father figure for the majority of mutants who come through his school. In his final years his health issues cause him to be dangerous to everyone but Logan, who watches over him like a son until Xavier’s tragically killed.

Winner: This one is actually a tie for me. Both characters hit similar beats in their stories. They have honorable goals they tie to specific loved ones, only to end up losing their loved ones in one way or another. They each have a major moment where they lose their faith and have to rearrange their beliefs. Steve ends up finding that Bucky is one of the only people he can trust while Xavier realizes Erik is one of the only people he believes doesn’t deserve his trust. It’s certainly an interesting parallel, and the part of me that likes happy endings appreciates Xavier’s ability to open himself up more after his trust is broken. But Steve is often right when he decides to air on the side of caution, and it’s no wonder he decides to go off on his own by the end of it all.

For this post I’m calling it for the X-Men. I didn’t realize how much there was to unpack with Charles and Steve, but both are really excellent characters that explore what happens when a good man has his belief system challenged. However, Logan and Tony’s storylines can be summed up with much simpler ideas. Both are unapproachable and self-obsessed when the audience meets them. Tony, however, never realizes that he isn’t the most important person in the room 100% of the time, despite the fact that he does learn to care for people. The point of X-Men is found family. Logan learns that he can’t view himself as the only important person in a familial environment early on in the series, and he becomes a better character for it. The family dynamic of the X-Men simply proves to be a better character motivator than the colleague-to-colleague relationships the Avengers have.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie