Oreos & Peanut Butter

Christmas: Disneyland’s Christmas Parade

Image of Disneyland’s Christmas Fantasy Parade from the Disney Parks official website.

Hi! It’s Annie!

Around this time of year I would usually be at Disneyland celebrating the holidays with my family. Unfortunately, that isn’t possible considering the rightful closure of Disneyland. In my opinion it shouldn’t be the only park closed, but I digress. One of my favorite parts of the holiday season at Disneyland has always been the Christmas parade. The Christmas Fantasy Parade has been pretty similar throughout each year, but every year they do change something about it that makes it either better or worse. So because I miss this parade so much, I’m going to list all of my favorite parts of the parade, some of which are no longer there, that have made this parade something of a tradition for me and my family.

The Opening Float:

This float consists of a couple of toys that have come to life sitting on a few books. The toys depicted on this float are a ballerina in a music box who dances beautifully throughout the parade and, more importantly, an adorable teddy bear. This bear only gets cuter as the years pass and is easily one of my favorite parts of the parade. He was Duffy the Disney Bear for a while, but Duffy has nothing on the cuteness of the current teddy bear. I would even say that the teddy bear is what I think of first when I think of the Christmas Fantasy Parade now. Somehow this float, that has absolutely no Disney characters on it, is quite possibly the most iconic image from the parade.

The Tin Soldier Trumpeters:

This is the one that probably actually is the most iconic image from the parade. You can hear them coming and it always brings this feeling of excitement. Their designs haven’t changed a whole lot, and it would be a shame to completely change them. The parade would not be complete without the tin soldiers.

The Dancing Snowmen:

The amount of effort that went into these adorable snowmen is amazing. They are only ever used for this parade and each snowman has its own unique design. And that does not just include what hat or scarf they wear. The snowmen each have different facial expressions and different faces. One even has freckles while another has a beauty mark. It is clear that the design team just went to town on these snowmen and they are all the better for it.

The Gingerbread:

While playing a version of the Nutcracker, half a dozen Gingerbread men march down with the chefs who made them, each just as adorable as the next. Some have different colored icings holding them together while some of them have peppermint buttons instead of gum drop ones. The highlight of this section for me though, was Goofy dressed as a chef creating the Gingerbread house. This isn’t so much the case anymore. Though the Gingerbread house is as beautiful as usual and it’s always fun seeing Goofy make a mess of the baking, a key element is missing. The issue is that the Gingerbread house has Goofy talking to himself or to Pluto, who is fishing off of the roof for icing, who only barks back in response. Up until 2013, the Gingerbread house was a father-son project between Goofy and Max. Max was the one sitting on the roof fishing for icing. Not only was it amazing to see Max there at all, but having it be a project for the both of them was heartwarming and Goofy having someone to actually respond to him was even better. I miss the conversation that used to happen on this float. The Gingerbread house float has only been a shadow of it’s former self and former meaning since they replaced Max with the more recognizable Pluto. I love Pluto, but I wish they would have kept him on the roof of the major character float.

Mickey and Minnie Ice Skating:

This is another example of a float that isn’t there anymore that I miss. A giant ice rink float would make it’s rounds, the only inhabitants being Mickey and Minnie who ice skated on the rink while waving to guests. Obviously they weren’t actually ice skating, it was an effect, but the idea was cute. In recent years this float was replaced with a float of Anna and Elsa from Frozen. Mickey and Minnie were crammed into the main character float with all the others. The Frozen float isn’t nearly as good as the old one was and it does feel a little weird that Mickey and Minnie aren’t as featured in the parade. But I do like Olaf’s remarks, so at least there’s that.

The Princesses:

This is always headed off by Lady Tremaine, Anastasia, and Drizella who are hilarious in whatever parade you place them in. As the Disney princess line has grown, so has the amount of people dancing around the float, and I love seeing all of them. Especially because you don’t often see the princes and I love that the float begins with Tiana and Naveen now. (Also, can we appreciate how much better the Beast in particular has looked in recent years. He went from kind of terrifying to adorably huggable.) I still wish that more of Disney’s diverse princesses were featured in the parade though. Also, they took away the warmer clothes for the princesses in recent years, so those princesses have to be freezing!

Gepetto’s Toyshop:

Again, we’re going to have to take a trip back through memory lane. While I understand and support the decision to make the Toyshop ‘Toy Story’ themed, I do miss seeing Gepetto, Pinocchio, and Jiminy Cricket making toys. Especially because now those slots are being filled by the green army men who aren’t nearly as adorable. But I will admit that this decision to change only makes sense; unlike Max where I still don’t understand why they changed it when they already had a place for Pluto. Yes, I am salty about this.

Santa and the Reindeer:

The Reindeer are once again adorable and really have my heart in this section of the parade. But you would be remiss not to mention Santa, as no Christmas parade would be complete without him. This has also recently become one of the most memorable parts of the parade in the last couple years because of the float malfunctioning and Santa almost falling out of the sleigh. He was rigged into it, so he was safe at least. That’s what I told myself when I laughed the first time I saw it. I feel bad for saying it, but the incident was really funny to watch.

Those are the things that I love and miss about Disneyland’s Christmas Fantasy Parade. I apologize because I’m not as familiar with Disney World’s parade. I have watched it before, but it just doesn’t hold the same magic for me. Probably because I’m more nostalgic for the Disneyland one since I grew up with it. I like Vanellope in her little Gingerbread kart, but all the other floats just fall flat for me. I’m sorry! But I guess Disneyland’s parade isn’t perfect either. Hopefully they will restore Max to his rightful place on top of the Gingerbread house in years to come. Happy holidays!

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Book Adaptations: Best Additions to ‘Good Omens’

Screenshot of Michael Sheen and David Tennant from ‘Good Omens’. Copyright goes to Narrativia, The Blank Corporation, Amazon Studios, and BBC Studios.

Hey! Hallie here!

Today I would usually write a Twins in Media post, but from here on out this week is going to get a little hectic with schedules. It is the week of Christmas, after all. Nevertheless, I do want to give you some geeky goodness today, and after some new merch was FINALLY announced for this series, I thought it only fitting that I talk about my favorite book adaptation of all time. Between the acting, the accuracy to the original content, and the very likable leads, there isn’t much to dislike about this show. However, there are some differences from the book. While there are some things that were added to the show some might not find favorable, I find that most of Neil Gaiman’s additions to it were fitting. He’s one of the original authors of the book so I tend to trust his judgement on most of these things. With that said, let’s go through my favorite additions to the show that were absent from the book.

Episode Three’s Cold Open:

The entire backstory of Aziraphale and Crowley is only vaguely mentioned in the book. However, my favorite part of the entire series is the detailed history of how Aziraphale and Crowley became friends shown at the beginning of episode three. In the episode we see them meet in the Garden of Eden, where Aziraphale gives Adam and Eve a flaming sword and worries he might have done the wrong thing. We see them meet again to watch Noah enter the arc and Jesus being crucified. After they become better acquainted with each other we see them starting to invite each other out for food and saving each other from some potentially dangerous situations. We also get to see their arrangement, which is an important part of their relationship. Aziraphale and Crowley agree to do each others work in every area they’re sent, preventing them both from unnecessarily having to go to the same place at the same time to negate each other’s work. Even better, they make the arrangement while watching Shakespeare direct a rehearsal at the Globe Theatre. After this we get to see them fall out over a misunderstanding involving holy water, resulting in some of their uncertainty regarding their relationship that we see throughout the series. It explains a lot about the characters, and it’s fun to see them throughout history. It’s strange to picture this story without this wonderful cold open, which is remarkable for a sequence that wasn’t in the original book.

Gabriel and Heaven:

Jon Hamm is absolutely brilliant in the role of the angel Gabriel. He balances obliviousness with self-righteousness in a way that makes you love and hate this character at the same time. He’s a douchebag, but you can’t help but enjoy watching him when he’s onscreen. Gabriel was mentioned in the book, but was never actually present. This is especially odd because all of the demons we see in the series were in the books. We received much more of Crowley’s relationship with his co-workers than we did of Aziraphale and his co-workers in the original book. The series made up for that. We get to see what Heaven looks like and the way the angels treat Aziraphale. We get a glimpse into how corrupt some of the angels in Heaven are. We also get to see what they’re capable of. But I’ll get to that in a little bit. Plus, the scene where Gabriel visits Aziraphale in his bookshop is one of the highlights of the entire series.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse:

There’s a few changes with these characters. One major change that most noticed immediately is that Pollution is a woman in this series. It doesn’t change much about the character, but I do appreciate that the actress they picked for the role provided more female representation, as well as Asian representation within the cast. Another major change is the absence of the motorcyclists who followed the Four Horsemen in the books. These characters attempted to take on names of evil things to mimic the names of the Four Horsemen, which mostly ended in them picking convoluted names that described minor inconveniences. They all end up dying horrific deaths before the final battle at the end of the book. While parts of these characters were hilarious, the joke sometimes felt like it ran on too long in the book. This was especially true because, like the show, the book cuts from storyline to storyline. Sometimes it felt you were right in the middle of the action with Adam and his friends or Aziraphale and Crowley, only to be thrown back into a storyline that was comical, but not nearly as interesting. Their absence left the show’s moments leading up to the final battle feeling more concise and tense. And the deaths of the Four Horsemen in the show are a bit more powerful. Each one of The Them that takes on each of the Horsemen gets their turn to take up the Flaming Sword and deal a final blow. Pepper standing against War is an especially powerful scene that doesn’t seem as powerful in the book.

Aziraphale and Crowley Escaping Death:

The entire last part of the series doesn’t happen in the book. Once Adam defeats the Devil, it’s over for the characters. They get to go on living their lives. But why wouldn’t Heaven and Hell try to get back at Crowley and Aziraphale for ruining their plans? Neil Gaiman put this ending in the show to surprise fans, and he didn’t disappoint. Aziraphale is warned through a prophecy in Agnes Nutter’s book that his extended life might come to a horrible end if he and Crowley don’t act quickly. In the next scene we see Aziraphale and Crowley meeting up in the park, only to be kidnapped by their respective co-workers and sentenced to death. This entire scene makes the angels in particular seem terrifying. They sentence Aziraphale to stand in a tornado of hellfire, which Gabriel gets shockingly aggressive at attempting to force Aziraphale into. Meanwhile the Demons are more nonchalant about sentencing Crowley to bathe in holy water. But Crowley ends up enjoying a nice bath in his holy water and Aziraphale is not only unharmed by the hellfire, but he spits some at Gabriel just for fun. Of course, it’s revealed that Aziraphale and Crowley switched places, explaining why neither was hurt from their supernatural death sentences. The trick works, though, and Aziraphale and Crowley get an extra happy ending with the confirmation that they don’t have to worry about Heaven or Hell anymore. It’s another one of my favorite storylines in the series that feels like it belonged there in the first place.

That’s my list! ‘Good Omens’ has been out for a while, but if you haven’t watched it, you should really go do that now. It’s streaming on Amazon Prime and it deserves all the hype it gets. If you also haven’t read the book, I highly recommend it. I’ve heard some book readers refer to it as a difficult book to get through, but I don’t find that true. If you like the series, you’ll get a lot of the story you know and love. You just have to be ready for a lot of side notes, which is a trademark of Terry Pratchett’s writing. In any case, I’m glad this series is finally getting recognition from some of the bigger merchandise companies. I hope that we see more as time goes on. And who knows, maybe Neil Gaiman will give us a season two eventually.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

Christmas: In Defense of ‘The Nutcracker and the Four Realms’

Promotional image of Mackenzie Foy in ‘The Nutcracker and the Four Realms’. Copyright of Walt Disney Pictures.

Hi! It’s Annie!

Yes, I do realize that this came out a couple years ago, but I actually just watched it yesterday and had some thoughts on it. I think you could say that the reaction to this movie was almost violently bad. Whether it was someone critiquing the movie for a misuse of actors, Keira Knightley’s voice for the Sugar Plum Fairy, or just the fact that it was a Nutcracker adaptation at all, people just couldn’t like this movie. And while most considered this movie forgettable, the dislike of it trended across social media platforms for a while after it came out. I have to admit, when I saw the first trailer for this I was excited. I’ve always loved seeing adaptations of the Nutcracker and Keira Knightley is one of my favorite actresses of all time. When I heard that people thought it was bad, I was disappointed and almost convinced that all the reviews were correct. I haven’t liked the majority of Disney live action films. Even if this one is, thankfully, original and not based off of one of their previous movies that really doesn’t need a remake. Recently when I looked up reviews, however, I saw many people comparing their dislike of this film to their dislike of Tim Burton’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’. I understand that I am one of few when I say that I actually really like that movie (Though ‘Alice: Through the Looking Glass’ was absolutely awful). So would this adaptation of the Nutcracker be as bad as everyone said it was? After watching the movie I can honestly say that I think a lot of the ire directed at this movie is misplaced. I’m going to go over all the major arguments made against this movie and try and see if I can dispute at least some of them. Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD. Ready? Great!

It wasn’t enough like the Nutcracker:

I can’t as much dispute this as come up with an argument against it. Because, no it wasn’t. I almost wish that the mother would have been Clara and the main character of this would have been Clara’s daughter. This is not really the story of the Nutcracker as much as it is a story inside of that world. And believe me, the world of the Nutcracker was gorgeous. One of my favorite things about this movie was the incredibly transporting design of everything inside the Four Realms. I think you might be disappointed if you go into this movie expecting a completely faithful adaptation of the Nutcracker story, but there’s actually a bit here if you go into it with more of an open mind. If you look at it as an extension of the story, I would say that it’s probably much more believable. And most adaptations of the Nutcracker add things on anyways considering the original ballet is an hour long story told through dance and has no dialogue. This movie also has Nutcracker music playing throughout as the score, so in that way it stays true to the original ballet as well.

What was going on with the Nutcracker character?:

This is an argument I didn’t fully understand. The Nutcracker is the first friend Clara makes when she enters the Four Realms, and he stays by her side for the majority of the rest of the film. He’s given some great character moments and he’s never forgotten about, they do constantly use him for important things within the plot. He is the secondary main character. I saw a lot of people say that he was forgettable and I didn’t find this at all to be true. He was one of my favorite characters in the movie and I never found myself having to wait to hear him say something or having to look around for him in a scene. And of course the story would focus on Clara more! The Nutcracker is not just the title character in this film, he’s also the title character of the original ballet whose main character is also- guess who- Clara. I also saw a lot of people dissatisfied with the build up to a romance between him and Clara, in which I have to say that there really wasn’t one there. At the end of the movie there was a strong friendship and maybe a hint at something more if you squint, but not much else. And I don’t think there was supposed to be. The relationship ended up the way the writing seemed to want it to end up. I will admit that sometimes it’s weird to remember that he’s actually the Nutcracker, but in the original ballet the Nutcracker turns into a handsome prince almost right away. Though this guy isn’t a prince, he serves the same role as Clara’s protector throughout her journey.

Where was Misty Copeland?:

This is another argument against the movie that I don’t entirely understand. Did you fall asleep? There’s an entire segment of ballet starring Misty Copeland in this movie that is actually extremely reminiscent of the original ballet. It is a gorgeous piece that is not too short that you would say that there’s barely any ballet in this film, but isn’t so long that it detracts from the plot. It was honestly one of my favorite parts of this movie. She also dances again throughout the entirety of the end credits in a mini-story that, like traditional ballet, has no dialogue. I personally felt that she was well-used.

Why would you portray the Sugar Plum Fairy like that?:

This is something I don’t have an answer for. I honestly couldn’t decide whether I liked her character or not. Her voice in this movie was not nearly annoying as everyone made it out to be. It wasn’t great, but I didn’t think it was at all unbearable. I didn’t have a huge problem with her character being evil. I will say that it hurt me a little because the Sugar Plum Fairy is one of my favorite characters from the original story, if not my favorite. I was really excited when I heard Keira Knightley would be playing her, but that excitement went down a bit once I realized she was the main villain. In the end, I was open to this being a different adaptation, so I didn’t have a problem with it in theory. Not only that, but Keira Knightley is absolutely having fun in this role and it’s infectious. They just didn’t give this character enough reason to be evil. This could have been fine, but it felt almost like the movie needed to be longer. The film is just over an hour and a half, which is pretty short for a live action movie these days. They could have used maybe another ten minutes or so to develop this plot point a bit more.

The A-list actors were misused or phoning it in:

I didn’t really find this to be the case. To me it looked like Morgan Freeman, Mathew Macfayden, Keira Knightley, and Helen Mirren were all having the time of their lives. The movie was lighthearted, so the actors also seemed to keep it lighthearted. But not in the way where they didn’t take this seriously. They all just seemed to have fun with it. Especially Keira Knightley. I said it once, but I will say it again, it looked like she was having SO much fun. They used each of these actors’ characters well and there wasn’t one that they barely used. I thought that this was handled well. Also, seeing Mackenzie Foy hug Helen Mirren at the end of the movie was nothing short of adorable.

The story felt shallow:

If you’re looking for a deep and dark portrayal of the Nutcracker, you aren’t going to find it here. In fact, I’m not quite sure where you would find that. The Nutcracker has always been pretty lighthearted. I mean, the original ballet has the Mouse King die pretty early on and the rest of it is mostly Clara exploring the world of the Nutcracker. The original story is almost like Alice in Wonderland but if the people Alice met were pleasant and not completely insane. They didn’t really change that aspect of it for this film. It’s a lighthearted Christmas movie and probably the most cohesive version of the Nutcracker I’ve ever seen when it comes to plot.

I still had my issues with this movie, but I could see myself watching this during the Christmas season years from now. It is not the best thing I’ve ever seen by any means, but it’s a cute and enjoyable romp for Christmas. It certainly never deserved all of the hate that it got. But I also will admit that I’m biased. I have a Nutcracker ornament that it’s tradition for me to hang on the tree with my family every year since before I can remember and a strong connection to the story because of it. There are not many good film adaptations of the Nutcracker, and I was really glad to see one that I could get behind. So, if you’re anything like me and was interested in watching ‘The Nutcracker and the Four Realms’ and then didn’t because of bad reviews; just ignore them and watch it anyways. You might enjoy it, like I did.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Disney: The Best Changes to the Haunted Mansion for Haunted Mansion Holiday

Professional photograph of Haunted Mansion Holiday used for the Disneyland Resort website. Copyright goes to the Walt Disney Company.

Hey! Hallie here!

Around this time of year, I always plan to go on Haunted Mansion Holiday at least once. It’s the best time of the year to ride the Haunted Mansion, especially for a ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ fan. The premise of Haunted Mansion Holiday is Jack Skellington taking over the mansion and decorating it for his own Christmas celebration, which effects the mansion from October until the end of December. You can see his decorations, and sometimes messily scattered equipment, around the mansion. The characters from ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ also make appearances throughout the ride. It’s a giant overlay for the attraction. There isn’t much they don’t decorate or replace inside the Haunted Mansion for the holidays. Because I love these decorations, I’m going to talk about some of my favorite additions to the ride. While Haunted Mansion Holiday isn’t an overlay exclusive to Disneyland in California, it’s the version I’m most familiar with. As such, I’m going to stick to the decorations that appear in California. With that out of the way, let’s get into it!

Gingerbread House:

This is exclusive to Disneyland in California, so of course I had to mention it first. Every year the Disneyland Haunted Mansion Holiday gets a new monster gingerbread house. All of them are made out of actual gingerbread and are always insanely large and insanely detailed. They also move. One year there was a massive gingerbread coffin opening to reveal a skeleton gingerbread man. Another year there was a replica of the Haunted Mansion that seemed normal, until glowing red eyes lit at the top and the mansion cracked down the middle to become a wide, jagged, mouth. Then there was a giant replica of Jack Skellington’s house from ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ with a ghost train moving around it. It’s always the highlight of the ride to see what the imaginers and chefs have come up with. The effects only get bigger every year.

Stretching Room:

This room is completely different during the holidays. The usual narration is replaced with a poem from Tim Burton’s ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’ book. All the paintings are replaced with various ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’ paintings that reflect each line of the poem. Some show the monstrous toys Jack created while others show Jack on a sleigh or amidst presents. At the end of the rhyme, where guests would usually see the hanging man, we see Jack peeking down on us from above. The effects for this particular part of the sequence were improved a few years ago. Before the improvement, there was a giant Jack Skellington face that’s eye sockets and mouth lit from within while Jack wished the guests happy holidays. Now we have a screen that shows a fully animated Jack Skellington leaning over to deliver the line. Between the creepy music and the skeleton projections on the walls, it sets the mood for the entire ride.

Madame Leota’s Parlor:

Madame Leota has an entirely new setup for Haunted Mansion Holiday. Instead of the floating instruments surrounding her table, the room is filled with tarot cards that feature the characters from ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’. Madame Leota is chanting a creepier version of “The Twelve Days of Christmas”, and each verse can be matched with one of the tarot cards floating above. The crystal ball her head’s within is decorated more like an ornament and surrounded by other colorful ornaments. Her table features a zombie nutcracker, a large amount of candles, and a certain mischievous presence I’ll talk about later. It’s a really gorgeous room. The music is a bit more mysterious once you enter and the art on each tarot card is delightfully adorable. Behind Madame Leota’s table you can often see another decoration lit up behind her. It’s changed through the years, but a star made out of cards has been the most recent décor. There’s always something new to notice, especially since the cards turn too fast for you to take in all of them in one go.

Graveyard:

This is the star of the show every year. (Other than the gingerbread house, of course). At the end of the ride you’ll see the graveyard is covered in snow. A full sized, animatronic Jack Skellington in full Sandy Claws gear welcomes you at the entrance. Zero is right beside him, looking adorable. Also, a few feet away, you can spot Sally leaning against a gravestone and dreamily staring at Jack. If you look behind the gravestone you’ll see one of her legs kicking up and down. The basket full of food she gives Jack in the movie can also be seen next to her. Going farther in, you’ll see most of the ghosts in Christmas hats and the singing busts have been replaced with singing pumpkins. Behind the singing pumpkins there’s a giant mass of snow with pumpkins decorating it that comes into a familiar spiral at the top. There’s also various giant pumpkin-headed angels blowing trumpets. After you exit the graveyard, you run right into Oogie Boogie, another awesome animatronic, who spins a wheel to see what gift you get. Fingers crossed you get the mystery option, Lock, Shock, and Barrel blasting you with air as you leave.

Vampire Teddy:

You’ll see a familiar mischief maker follow you throughout the entire ride. At first he’ll use a fishing line to offer guests the suspicious box Lock, Shock, and Barrel initially planned to release on Santa. Later in the ride you’ll see him sitting on top of a coffin to keep its struggling inhabitant inside, perching behind Madame Leota with a bell, and gnawing on some sparking Christmas lights. He’s both adorable and unsettling every time you spot him.

The Music:

This is slight praise and slight disappointment. Of course, on the inside of the ride you’ll hear a lot of Danny Elfman’s original music from ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ done in several fun ways. Outside of the building, however, you’ll hear what sounds like a creepy music box. This is actually the music for Phantom Manor in Disneyland Paris. It’s a gorgeous piece, but I also miss some of the music they used to play in the que for Haunted Mansion Holiday. For a few years you could hear the Citizens of Halloweentown attempting some Christmas carols with varying amounts of success and accuracy. It was fun to hear, and as much as I love the Phantom Manor soundtrack, I miss it.

That’s it! There are plenty more decorations to enjoy while you’re on the ride that I didn’t mention. Tokyo Disneyland also has a Haunted Mansion Holiday with different decorations for guests to enjoy. If you’re curious about either of these, there are always high quality ride-throughs you can find on YouTube. Hopefully the parks will be open for the holidays next year so more people can experience how amazing this version of the ride is. Every year there seems to be some complaint about the ride appearing around Halloween. Many feel that it’s too Christmasy, or it isn’t scary enough to put up for the Halloween season. But ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ is probably the most popular “scary” thing Disney has created, and who can blame them for wanting the detail in this overlay to be seen for a longer time during the year?

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

Superheroes: The Most Frustrating Female Representation

Screenshot of Scarlet Johansson as Black Widow from the ‘Black Widow’ trailer. Copyright goes to Disney Studios and Marvel Entertainment.

Hi! It’s Annie!

I know this also isn’t a Christmas post, but I promise I’ll get back to those soon! My sister and I have recently been talking about female representation specifically because of a really good episode of ‘Inside Pixar’ on Disney + where a woman received an award for coming up with algorithm that tells her how many male lines of dialogue are spoken versus female. This really got me thinking about all the bad, or at least frustrating, female representation in media. I’ve talked a bit about the good when it come to things like ‘Little Women’ (2019), ‘Birds of Prey’, or ‘Wonder Woman’. Especially looking at those two superhero movies, which are absolutely amazing because I think we can all agree that action movies are where female representation has suffered the most historically. I could talk all day about the love interest factor in action or superhero movies and how female characters are often relegated to being useless in the plot for anything but romance. But more than that, I want to talk about female characters who are considered good and have some of the worst parts of their characters overlooked. I specifically chose two examples. I apologize if you like either of these characters, but I feel that this has to be said. So, let’s get into it!

Black Widow:

You probably guessed from the picture that I used that I would start here. I know a lot of you might be angry, but please just hear me out. I’m not doing this to destroy your favorite characters, I’m doing this to bring to light problems that continue to exist that we should work on. In recent years we’ve been given a lot of “strong women” in movies. And some of them are actually strong women. But some of these movies use the simple fact that their female characters kick ass as proof that their characters are strong and complex. That cannot be where the bar is. Yes, it’s nice to finally see women kicking ass in action films but we also need to see these women be complex and, most of all, be treated respectfully. I’m just going to come out and say now that Joss Whedon is one of the most sexist writers in Hollywood. Here’s what went wrong with Natasha Romanoff. At least in ‘Avengers’ and definitely upon her introduction in ‘Iron Man 2’ she’s written more to be desirable than anything. Yes, she kicks ass but none of her ass-kicking scenes seem to be complete without a shot of her chest. I think my sister said it best here, if the character’s signature move is to choke men out with her thighs, then personality is probably not what the writers were looking the most at. Not that that style of martial arts is bad, it’s that men use it in media to look desirable more than to be effective. It’s incredibly obvious that Natasha was written by men here. She gets better in ‘Captain America: Winter Soldier’, where the narrative actually tries to explain the complexities of her character. The issue is then she was put back into the hands of Whedon in ‘Age of Ultron’. We get his signature face in the chest joke with her and Bruce Banner, something that most people didn’t seem to notice until ‘Justice League’, and then he forced her character into a relationship. Did everyone just forget when he compared women not being able to have children to being a monster? Because that was basically that scene with her and Bruce at Clint’s house. And most recently, Natasha was fridged. For those of you who don’t know what that term means, it’s a call back to old superhero comics. Specifically one where a hero came back to find that the villain had killed his girlfriend and stuffed her body in the refrigerator. This term has come to mean, for the most part, any woman who is killed in the plot to further the storyline of a man rather than to emphasize her own storyline. Natasha is the only female original member of the Avengers, it is her death that pushed the other male Avengers to the peak of their revenge. Her death did absolutely nothing to serve her own plot. I call Natasha frustrating because she could have been good. There were hints of her being complex, like in Winter Soldier. Every time they were going somewhere with her character they used yet another female trope. And more importantly, every time I see women speaking up against her character or any wrongdoings done to her character, men pop up and tell us that we should just be happy that she kicked ass. Isn’t that enough? No. And it never will be. We’re looking for 50/50 representation, not the bare minimum. People only seemed to discover that Joss Whedon was sexist when male fans decided that we could put that onto the list of why ‘Justice League’ was so bad. After all, he did use that chest joke again and he purposely cut down the costumes of Wonder Woman and the warriors of Themyscira to make them look “sexy”. No joke, his words. But we’ve been telling you that he’s sexist for years and it kind of sucks that women are just now being listened to. I sincerely hope that the ‘Black Widow’ movie will do more for this character.

Padme Amidala:

Some of you might be looking at this one and thinking “No shit!” while others might be thinking “Oh no!”. Really, her character and likability has always been debated. We all know that she’s one of the strongest examples of women being relegated to love interests in action films. Once her storyline as the devoted love interest was over, they killed her off. After the love story was over they literally considered her so useless to the plot that they killed her off even though it contradicted the original trilogy. Way to go, Mr. Lucas. But Padme has some other scary bits of her storyline as well. Firstly, can we talk about how they thought it necessary for her to get injured in one of her main fight scenes expressly for the purpose of her showing more skin? Of course she had to get scratched in that specific area so that her shirt became more like a crop top. Once again, way to go Mr. Lucas. But that’s not the worst part. For years I’ve seen people, particularly men, talk about the black leather outfit she wore when she tried to break up with Anakin. This scene is a perfect example of Hollywood men telling other men that when a woman says “no”, she doesn’t really mean it. It’s funny that men actually think that’s true when other men tell them that. Never women. Speaking as a woman, if I tell you “no” you better take three steps back. Never once have I said something I don’t mean in a situation even close to that. Everyone should know this by now and it’s scary that the media has prevented this from being common sense. The other issue with this scene is that the conversations about this scene mostly revolve around Padme not really meaning what she says to Anakin because she “absolutely couldn’t when she’s wearing that outfit”. These people don’t seem to realize that this thought process is just the same as saying that a woman deserved some form of assault because of what she was wearing. This is not and never will be ok to say. Padme also could have been good with some female intervention. Because, yes, women should be 50/50 behind the scenes in Hollywood too. Padme is given what could arguably be the best line in the prequels; “So this is how liberty dies, with thunderous applause”. That line hits home now more than ever and her position as a senator that could take care of herself was interesting. But they forgot to write a complex character and instead, just like Natasha Romanoff, stuffed her so full of tropes that you can tell she was written by a man who didn’t give a shit.

Not only do we need more female writers in Hollywood, we need male writers to actually consult women before doing things like this. For ages writers have written male characters to be relatable and female characters to be desirable, especially in action movies. All of this has to stop. We do not accept women kicking ass and doing virtually nothing else for women in media as successful representation. If you think that we’ve reached equality in media, please take a look at how recent these two characters are. And believe me, I have more recent examples. Men in Hollywood do not get to tell women what kind of female representation we should be grateful for. We have a long way to go, but things are getting better little by little. Thank god for female directors finally being hired! But don’t get settled, we have more work to do.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Ghostbusters: Why Winston is Important

Ernie Hudson as Winston Zeddemore in ‘Ghostbusters’. Copyright goes to Columbia Pictures and Black Rhino.

Hey! Hallie here!

It’s Ernie Hudson’s birthday! In honor of this acting legend, I thought it was the perfect time to dive into my love of ‘Ghostbusters’. Specifically the character of Winston Zeddemore. The truth of this character is that he is underused and underappreciated. He’s important despite the studio rather than because of it. The studio definitely pushed the character to the background because Ernie Hudson wasn’t a big-name actor at the time. Though some have denied it, the longstanding belief that the character was reduced when they couldn’t secure Eddie Murphy for the part has largely circulated. Ernie Hudson did initially read for a character that came in at the beginning of the film, only to be handed the horribly reduced script right before shooting. We also know that many lines initially written for Winston were eventually switched to Peter’s character to make him more entertaining. But Winston is absolutely essential to the film and all of the ‘Ghostbusters’ content that has been released since. Let’s get into all the reasons Winston Zeddemore deserves some love.

He’s the Straight Man:

In pretty much every comedic movie you need someone who isn’t absolutely insane. That way the audience can relate to a character and get some relief when the other characters are being too over-the-top. That is Winston. Every other character in the movie has some sort of background in the paranormal. Ray and Egon are often speaking in jargon that audiences can’t understand. While Peter isn’t quite on the level where he understands them either, Peter is being played by Bill Murray. Bill Murray plays very good sarcastic, comedic characters, but all of them, including Peter, are completely crazy. Winston is the first time in the movie where the audience is introduced to someone we can understand and relate to. Winston is sarcastic, confused, and constantly exasperated. He doesn’t know what he’s doing, but he still needs the money. He’s scared about 90% of the time, but he’s open about using his religion to cope. Winston strikes a nice balance between being the voice of the audience and an overall comforting presence. As a kid, Winston was my absolute favorite character. I was terrified by anything that was even mildly scary and ‘Ghostbusters’ was one of those things I was scared of. The way I got over my fear was through Winston. I finally found someone on screen who was just as scared as I was, but was also brave enough to face it and crack jokes while doing it. If Winston wasn’t there, I might still not like the movie.

He’s the Hero:

This trait comes out more in the comics and the cartoons, but it’s still worth talking about. Winston, of the entire group, is always the most likely to run into a dangerous situation to save someone. This often happened while the other Ghostbusters were either calculating what was best to do in the situation, or, in Peter’s case, figuring out how to save himself. The cartoons and the comics make the differences between the characters very clear. Egon focuses on statistics, Ray obsesses over the ghosts, and Peter is always looking out for himself. Winston is the only person who directly connects with the people they’re attempting to help. He worries about their needs and their safety. That isn’t to say that the other Ghostbusters don’t do anything. Every character has their own heroic moment. But Winston is credited in the comics and cartoons for bringing humanity into the group. He leaps in to save others first so that the other Ghostbusters learn how to do it too.

He’s Ernie Hudson:

Ernie is a fantastic actor and by far the most active cast member in the ‘Ghostbusters’ fandom. He’s at nearly every convention and he’s always excited to meet fans. He talks frequently about Ghostbusters and the positive experiences he’s had because of it. But, most importantly, he raises awareness about the negative experiences he had too. He talks about the way that his role was cut and how he didn’t sleep the night he found out. He talks about the betrayal he felt when they did it to him again in the second film. He talks about how it taught him the harsh truths about the industry. He’s debated whether or not the decisions were made because he is Black, as many fans theorize racism is behind his smaller role and the lack of Winston in promotional materials for the first movie. His opinions on that in particular are better to hear from his mouth than mine. But overall, he preaches kindness and resilience. He blames the industry for what happened to him and works towards making Hollywood a kinder place. It’s a powerful way to use the ‘Ghostbusters’ spotlight.

Winston Zeddemore isn’t the general answer when you ask someone who their favorite Ghostbuster is. You don’t really have to wonder why, either. Winston didn’t get nearly enough characterization compared to the other Ghostbusters. But he still deserves appreciation, whether you’re a casual watcher or a long-time fan. Ernie Hudson deserves appreciation, too. Even if this character isn’t your thing, there’s a lot to learn from him and Ernie Hudson’s experience playing him. I hope he has a happy birthday and I hope he knows just how much he’s influenced this entire fandom.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

K-pop and K-dramas: ‘Run BTS’ Quarantine Watch List

Hi! It’s Annie!

It is very very obvious at this point that I am both very obsessed with BTS and that I am currently bored out of my mind. This only leads to one logical conclusion because I have so much time on my hands. Binge-watching all of the episodes of Run BTS that are out so far. For those of you who don’t know, Run BTS is a show that follows the members of BTS as they play games, go to unique places, and compete against each other to avoid punishments (like climbing a mountain at sunrise for instance). At this point in time there are about a hundred and twenty episodes for you to binge, so if you do decide to take this route it WILL take over your life. But just like any variety show, some episodes are better than others (even though it’s always fun to see the boys do just about anything). If you aren’t looking to spend all the time it takes to watch every single episode of Run BTS, this list might be for you. These are the episodes that are the best, in my opinion.

Episode 3- “Amusement Park”:

In this episode they all go to Six Flags Magic Mountain in California to compete for different things while on rides. At least this was the idea. There’s not so much competing as there is just watching the boys have fun, but that is just as worth it. You will feel sorry for Hobi because of his fear of heights, but he ends up having fun in the end. It’s short and sweet, like most of their earlier episodes. My favorite episodes of Run BTS are generally the ones where they’re going out and doing things, so this one definitely fits the criteria.

Episode 4- “30 second mission”:

This one takes place at a pool where they have to compete in several short missions; including playing Jenga on the water which looks incredibly difficult. Their penalty is drinking garlic juice, and the only person who doesn’t react to it at all is Yoongi. Seriously, it’s badass. But what really makes this one is how much fun they’re having and the joy they get in pushing each other into the pool.

Episode 5- “100 second athletic mission”:

The boys compete against the crew in doing a relay sports challenge. What makes this episode is how frustrated they get with each other when a challenge is not met and how happy they look when they win. The lap they all do around the field when they win is guaranteed to make you smile.

Episode 7 and 9- “Silmido Part 1 and 3 “:

They play paint ball against each other; Namjoon, Tae, Jin and Jungkook against Yoongi, Hobi, and Jimin. Though it’s kind of difficult to follow what’s going on in this episode, they have so much fun it’s insane. And Namjoon uncharacteristically tries to cheat. Part two wasn’t my favorite, but I really like the bungee jumping in part three. You really connect to some of them over their fear of heights and watching them jump even though they’re afraid makes you feel weirdly proud of them.

Episode 11- “Back to School”:

They are all given roles for a school skit, and Yoongi must play a female exchange student. Everyone else must try to win the affection of said foreign exchange student. This episode is nothing short of hilarious. Really, that explanation is all you need.

Episode 12- “Cops”:

Namjoon, Tae, Yoongi, and Jungkook play the officers who interrogate Jin, Hobi, and Jimin for crimes that don’t make any sense. Most of the crimes are something about them looking too good, so this episode is a lot of them all jokingly flirting with each other. This one is also freaking hilarious.

Episode 13-15 “The Spy Who Returned”:

Yoongi is the MC and then it’s the maknae line versus the hyung line. They compete in several games at an indoor water park where they all look they are having the time of their lives. But one of the teams has a spy in it attempting to help the other team win, and if they do not guess who the spy is then the team he is on will lose no matter what. I was not able to accurately guess the spy on this episode, so make sure to second guess yourself. They’re all pretty good at this.

Episode 16- “Snowpark Winter Olympics”:

They go to a snow park to compete against each other in a series of freezing and adorable challenges. They all look adorable bundled up and the way they all cheer for each other is amazingly cute. Did I mention this episode is cute?

Episode 20- “The taste of Korea”:

Teams try to create the better tasting dish that will impress the chef of the group, Jin. I don’t think I have to tell you that the team with Yoongi on it wins as he is the next best chef in the group. However, this episode was the birth of “Squirrel trapped in garden” which is now a running joke among the boys and the fandom.

Episode 23- “Pet friends”:

The members of BTS are each matched with a dog and compete against each other in dog show competitions. Obviously the draw of this one is just to watch the boys play with the dogs. They all end up bonding with their dogs by the end of it.

Episode 24- “BTS vs Zombies”:

A classic as most of them don’t like horror. They are told they will be taken to a zoo and then are let off the bus amongst dozens of zombie actors. None of them are able to get much done and in an ill-advised match up, Jin and Yoongi are paired up. They end up pretending to be zombies to try and get the actors to leave them alone. Just…watch this one.

Episode 26- “Secret Agent”:

They compete in escape room style secret agent games. The best part of this episode is them watching each other go through it on the monitor and laughing at each other. This episode includes one of the most famous instances of Jimin falling out of his chair.

Episode 28- “Welcome to Your first MT part 2”:

This episode is worth it because of the karaoke bit. Specifically the group consisting of Namjoon, Jin, and Jungkook. Namjoon and Jin scream hilariously and then Jungkook soothes your eardrums with his voice afterwards. It’s the perfect hilarious combination.

Episodes 29 and 31- “Stylist and Variety Show part 2”:

Though episode 29 is technically separated, it leads into the following two. They style each other in outrageous clothing and then play variety show games that Yoongi hosts. Episode 30 they play regular games, but episode 31 is when they have an adorable nap time and then have to answer questions after they’ve just woken up.

Episode 32- “Take Care of Santa”:

No one ever expected Hobi to be scary until they all had to run away from him. It’s a heartwarming Christmas special complete with a malicious Hoseok. What else could you want? (Also, Jimin in overalls.)

Episodes 39 and 41- “BTS Golden Bell part 1 and 2”:

This is hosted by Jin and he makes it absolutely hilarious. If you want to see Jin at his best, just watch these ones. He’s insanely funny and watching the other guys participate in these games is amazing as well.

Episode 40- “Lunar New Year Special”:

This split up the last two episodes because it was on the day of the lunar new year. The best part of this is watching them play a new year themed version of red light, green light. It’s both hilarious and adorable.

Episode 42- “Sports Challenge”:

They compete against each other individually in a really elaborate sports obstacle course. This also involves heights so a lot of them take a long time, resulting in those beneath them laughing and jeering at them. There are many instances of those below rolling on the floor laughing.

Episode 46- “BTS Workshop”:

The boys make pottery and Hobi and Namjoon recreate the scene from ‘Ghost’. Tae accidentally drops all of his pottery and they all end up hilariously deformed.

Episode 47-48- “Protect BTS Village”

I have to say, I think the spy episodes might be my favorite. These are my two favorite episodes of Run BTS. They are each given roles in the village and must find the spies (yes, plural) from a competing village. You will be kept guessing as to which of them are the spies and you will not expect most if not all of them. I was so convinced of some of their innocence that I stood up and yelled in disbelief when the spies were revealed. Again, question yourself and what you think you know throughout the entire episode.

Episode 51 -“50th episode special part 2”:

The boys once again go to an amusement park and this time are given tasks they must do while on rides. They are not able to focus most of the time, though. This one is just worth watching them have fun again.

Episode 53-56- “BTS Picnic”:

Though these are all tasks, this is a bit like watching BTS in their regular life. They do regular things, they play hilarious outdoor sports games that most of them are bad at, and they write poems to each other that they read around the campfire at the end of the night. It’s really heartwarming.

Episode 61-62- “BTS Sauna”:

They compete in games at a sauna that involve them helping members from other teams out of pity, as well as soaking each other with water after they’re all definitely over-heated. You’ll feel bad for them at first, but it turns into something fun for them and fun to watch.

Episode 69-71- “BTS in Toronto”:

They do compete in a couple activities, but mostly this is watching them live their regular lives while they visit Canada. It’s a breath of fresh air, and watching them blindly choose sleeping arrangements is hilarious.

Episode 76- “Run BTS Drama part 4”:

It is interesting to watch them making it, but there are definitely pieces of these episodes that can lull. This one shows a bit of them working as well as the hilarious finished product.

Episode 83-85- “Summer Outing”:

They play hilarious games on a lake including chasing each other around a giant floating obstacle course. Namjoon saves other people constantly. Eventually they all decide to challenge Jungkook, who wins because he’s the golden maknae and of course he did.

Episode 87 and 88 “Hangul Day part 2 and 3”:

These are the episodes of this with the action. They must find letters and unknowingly tag their targets. Jimin is hilariously betrayed.

Episode 97-98- “Pajama Party”:

They compete in games while wearing adorable pajamas. What more is there to say?

Episode 99- “Florists”:

They are all taught to make different kinds of flower arrangements. Jin makes one that is so hilarious I couldn’t breathe while watching the episode.

Episode 100-101 -“100th episode special”:

Rap line versus vocal line compete in recreations of former activities. Including foot volleyball, which the rap line are so hilariously bad at that they all end up crying from laughing so hard (you will too). It all ends with a paintball match that is both hilarious and truly shows you how badass and intimidating the maknae line is when they work together.

Episode 102-103- “King of Avatar cook”:

This episode is both hilarious and frustrating to watch. Yoongi and Jin must give their teams cooking instructions from the other room. Hobi MC’s and he’s an absolutely charismatic MC! It makes me want to see him as MC more often.

Episodes 105 and 106- “Photo Exhibition part 2 and 3”:

These are the episodes where they’re actually taking pictures of each other. They make clothes for each other and photograph each other in the clothes. It is beautiful and Jungkook is a brave soul.

Episode 109- “Dubbing”:

The boys dub over Disney cartoons and they are all actually really good at it! Hobi is surprisingly the perfect Scar from ‘The Lion King’. Jimin is just good at everything.

Special- “Dubbing Directors Cut”:

They dub over their drama final product where they all play each other. Jimin dubs Namjoon, Namjoon dubs Jimin, Yoongi dubs Hobi, Hobi dubs Jin, Jin dubs Tae, Tae dubs Jungkook, and Jungkook dubs Yoongi. Jimin’s voice is never the same.

Episode 112-113- “Dalbang School”:

Jin is a hilarious MC as usual and Yoongi and Tae teamed up is always adorable. The way they all interact in teams in this one in general is cute. Namjoon switches to English and pretends that he doesn’t understand Korean in one hilarious moment.

Episode 114-115- “League of Number One”:

BTS play games with professional e-gamers. The way they all bond is nothing short of cute.

Episode 116-117- “Teambuilding special”:

The activities are great, but the appeal of this is watching them do the random games set up in between. It feels like hanging out with them.

Episode 120- “Reply BTS Village”:

I’m so happy BTS village is back! More outsiders and more mystery! And Jungkook’s face when he looks at his role is hilarious.

There you go! I know it’s a lot, but I couldn’t bring myself to cut out any more episodes! Really, all of them are worth watching. I hope this gives you some idea of which direction you should go when watching these. Happy binging!

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Christmas: Top 3 Unique Retellings of ‘A Christmas Carol’

Screenshot of Bill Murray and David Johansen in ‘Scrooged’. Copyright goes to Mirage Productions and Paramount Pictures.

Hey! Hallie here!

With Christmas just around the corner, pretty much every Christmas movie known to man is being played on television. Even if you prefer watching movies and shows on streaming services, there are plenty of Christmas movies each service is pushing this month. A lot of those movies will be adaptations of ‘A Christmas Carol’. It’s a popular tale and one that people seem to like considering how many new adaptations we get every year. We get a lot of retellings of the original story, including some very faithful adaptations of the book. But we also get some interesting content that strays pretty far from what we usually see. The movies that put a spin on the classic tale and still manage to both get the point across, and make it just as entertaining, tend to catch my eye more than the regular retellings. So I’m going to talk about my top three unique takes on this Christmas story, in no particular order, and why their changes took them to the next level. Let’s get started!

‘A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong’:

This is a TV special, but it’s a really fun one to watch. If you aren’t familiar with any of the ‘Goes Wrong’ productions, I would highly recommend checking out ‘The Goes Wrong Show’ currently on Amazon Prime. The basic premise is that a theatre company called the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society, whose members often pretend to be very professional, is actually full of a bunch of actors and crew members who have very little experience at their jobs. This means, of course, that whatever production they choose to put on inevitably ends in hilarious disaster. The name of the real theatre company who puts on each production is the Mischief Theatre Company. In essence: They’re actors who play actors that don’t know what they’re doing. In this version of ‘A Christmas Carol’, the cast and crew of the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society hijack a live production of ‘A Christmas Carol’ airing on BBC, starring Sir Derek Jacobi, and replace the cast and crew with their own. Chaos follows, as you’d expect. Two of the actors fight over the role of Scrooge, leading both of them to dress as the character and attempt to sabotage each other to prevent them from getting in their way. The actor who plays Bob Cratchit is so bad at memorizing his lines that all of his lines are written on various pieces of the set, including props, which he has to quickly find while his character is still speaking. For one sequence the group attempts to use a green screen, but technical difficulties cause a computer menu to come up instead of the digital background. There are some things in this adaptation that fall flat. I didn’t find it the best of Mischief Theatre Company’s work. But it was still hilarious and worth watching if you want something different to watch.

‘The Muppet Christmas Carol’:

Technically this is the original story, just with Muppets. I mean, plenty of kids adaptations have come out to retell this story with familiar characters playing each role. But The Muppets add a few things that make this just a bit more unique than some other adaptations. For one, Michael Caine is playing the entire thing like a very serious production of ‘A Christmas Carol’. Which only works in the movie’s favor. Not only does it make the Muppet characters seem more real, it heightens the hilarity. It also takes some creative liberties with each character to better reflect the Muppet character portraying them. Gonzo plays Charles Dickens, who narrates the entire story. But he’s pretty much Gonzo, and Rizzo’s along for the ride refusing to play anyone but himself. As usual, these two end up in some pretty funny shenanigans on the side lines. Miss Piggy plays Emily Cratchit, who spends her time either eating in the corner where her family can’t see her, or threatening bodily harm towards Scrooge. Fozzie Bear is Fozziwig, because that joke was just to good to pass up. The Muppets who are unique to this movie are the ghosts of past, present, and future. All of these puppets are stunning. I find myself especially floored by the Ghost of Christmas Present, who is taller than Michael Caine and incredibly huggable. This movie is also a musical. When stories that don’t usually have music add in musical numbers, I tend to be skeptical. But as usual, The Muppets add in every number without it seeming awkward. Even Michael Caine, who is acting seriously throughout the entire movie, seems to be enjoying himself during every song. It’s no surprise that The Muppets can pull this off in a way no one else can.

‘Scrooged’:

This movie is the loosest adaptation of ‘A Christmas Carol’ on this list. It stars Bill Murray as Frank Cross, a television company president who pressures his company to broadcast a live production of ‘A Christmas Carol’ on Christmas Eve, effectively cutting his staff off from their families during the holiday. After he fires an executive for disagreeing with him days before Christmas, sends all of his friends and family cheap company towels as Christmas presents, and continually brushes off his hard-working personal assistant, he unsurprisingly draws the ire of the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future. The movie is absolutely full of Bill Murray’s sarcastic sense of humor. I don’t think there’s one scene where Murray isn’t dramatically delivering some sort of witty comeback. But it’s a heartfelt adaptation. Frank’s personal assistant, Grace, is a really charming character who’s family seems more genuinely close than most adaptations of Bob Cratchit’s family. The very different versions of the ghosts also draw the eye. The Ghost of Christmas Past is a smoking taxi driver who mocks Cross for claiming the past won’t make him emotional. The Ghost of Christmas Present is a fairy who spends all of her screen-time violently assaulting Frank Cross. The Ghost of Christmas Future is a hulking figure with warped souls underneath his robes and a television screen for a face that constantly switches between Cross alive and Cross dead. My only complaint with this movie comes when Frank Cross goes on air to give his “I’ve changed” speech towards the end of the ‘A Christmas Carol’ production. The speech is a little less heart-warming and a little more insane. But it’s still fun to watch Bill Murray go a little crazy.

There are plenty of ‘A Christmas Carol’ movies and specials to watch out there, but these are some of the more creative ones I’ve enjoyed. Of course, there are some I’ve missed. And I don’t think I will ever be able to see all of the versions of this classic that have been created. But I know that these ones will be there when I need something decidedly different to watch for the Holidays. I hope you find one on this list that can makes your Christmas movie watching more interesting, as well!

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

Twins in Media: Dipper and Mabel vs. Poppet and Widget

Screenshot from ‘Gravity Falls’. Copyright of Disney Channel and Disney Television Animation.

Hi! It’s Annie!

Another week of the twin showdown and now we have one that is truly going to hurt me, but this time it’s actually because both of these depictions are so good! The last time I posted I completely tore into pairs of twins that were so terrible that declaring a winner was almost more of a formality. Both of these depictions deserve to win, so this’ll be a nice change! These are two depictions of fraternal twins with opposite genders, which as I’ve said before, is pretty different from identical twins in media. Most of the issues of depicting twins in media occur with twins of the same gender, but that doesn’t mean that fraternal twin depictions are perfect. The fact that these are still so good are an accomplishment. So let’s see if ‘Gravity Falls’ or ‘The Night Circus’ is actually the best!

Tropes:

Dipper and Mabel: The issues with Dipper and Mabel lie mostly with the fandom actually. They do not suffer from having exactly the same or exact opposite personalities, they were not separated at birth, and they don’t have a weirdly physically close relationship that most siblings don’t. However, part of the reason the fandom for Gravity Falls grew so large was because of people beginning to ship the siblings together. It’s incest guys! Incest! Why the hell… Anyways, though I will eternally be frustrated with the fandom for creating this absolutely horrifying ship, this is not a flaw in the depictions of twins by the show itself. The show never even hints at anything like that, because why would it? I can’t blame the show for the awful ideas that some, not all, of the fans had.

Poppet and Widget: Though Poppet and Widget do not suffer from having opposite or too similar personalities, it gets a bit more complicated when you add superpowers into the mix. When making twin characters have superpowers, writers will never be able to resist giving them complementary super powers despite the fact that the two characters have very different personalities. Poppet can look into the future while Widget can look into the past. It’s all a little too cliché. But I will definitely give them props for at least not letting this bleed into their personalities.

Winner: Dipper and Mabel have to win this one. While I am incredibly disgusted by what some members of the fandom did, that should not reflect on the writer. Especially considering that the writer of Gravity Falls is a twin himself, so I very highly doubt he approves of this either. Ignoring that, Gravity Falls doesn’t really fall into twin trope traps.

Differences and Similarities:

Dipper and Mabel: Dipper and Mabel are not by any means exact opposites. They have very similar interests in their love for adventure. But they are by no means similar either. Dipper is more reserved while Mabel is quite possibly the most eccentric character to ever appear on television. They are different from each other, but they don’t fall into extremes. They work well off of each other, but they don’t have to be complementary in order to do so. It is clear that these two are regular siblings who grew up in the same household but still have different personalities.

Poppet and Widget: Their personalities are great! Poppet is a bit more compassionate while Widget often defaults to sarcastic, but they still have similar interest in the circus and do a lot together. They also are just different. If this was just based off of their personalities, they would be perfect. Unfortunately, the superpowers thrown into this mix throws off the balance. You have to admit that being able to see into the future versus the past is a textbook example of giving twins exact opposite traits. I know that authors think that this is cool, but I would love to see more pairs of superpower twins that have unrelated powers. Like Wanda and Pietro for example.

Winner: Dipper and Mabel. So far it almost seems as though they can do no wrong. They bounce well off of each other while acting like any regular siblings would. This would have been a tie if not for the superpower thing.

Relationship:

Dipper and Mabel: They have an extremely realistic relationship. They fight sometimes and they don’t always understand exactly what the other is doing, but they are always there for each other. More than anything, the writer of this show wanted to depict the brother and sister as friends. With so many shows out there constantly pitting sibling characters against each other for drama, he wanted to show siblings who are legitimately there for each other. I would say he succeeded in this. Dipper and Mabel go through the regular ups and downs of a sibling relationship without anything being glossed over because “they’re twins and they’re supposed to be close.” He never turned them completely against each other either. They strike a really nice balance.

Poppet and Widget: In a similar vein, they act like actual siblings. They both are introverted together at parties and they also have disagreements. Widget most definitely lets Poppet know when he thinks she’s crazy, and Poppet in turn confronts Widget for being rude. As much of their storyline is focused on them being tour guides for the circus for Bailey, we don’t see them alone a lot. But when we do, they’re perfectly fine and great examples of regular siblings. I don’t really see anything wrong here.

Winner: Tie. None of them really take any sort of stumble here. Though Dipper and Mabel’s relationship is a bit more explored, I don’t want to take points off because Poppet and Widget do serve the story in the way they need to.

Plot:

Dipper and Mabel: They have an entire series focused on them. You see them each at their best and worst both together and separately. The show was written as a fantasized account of a real pair of twins and their adventures, so obviously they have a leg up there. They fight evil together and also have separate experiences. Mabel has several crushes and a candy addiction to deal with while Dipper has to sort through his feelings for Wendy. They get all of the plot, so obviously they’re pretty good here.

Poppet and Widget: ‘The Night Circus’ is basically split in half, with one storyline about the main romantic couple and the other about Poppet and Widget assisting Bailey with taking over the circus. The romantic couple is the main plot line, so they do get the majority of the book. But Poppet and Widget do still maintain their status as main characters because of how much they are in the second plot line, and they do also show up in the first plot line as well. Most of their storyline is, admittedly, together. However, there are a few times where they do break off. Poppet talks to Bailey one on one several times because of their sub-plot romance and Widget confronts Celia in one amazing scene without the help of his sister. They do have enough both together and separate.

Winner: Another tie. Neither of them suffer from always being forced to do the same things because of storyline.

Final result:

Dipper and Mabel take it. Even when I began writing this I had a feeling they would win simply because you have twins actually writing twins. Of course you’re going to get a better representation of what being a twin is actually like if a twin writes it. Dipper and Mabel are a great example of close twins because they are exactly like any close siblings would be. They aren’t given any sort of telepathy in order to understand each other and their relationship isn’t creepy. If you ask me these two are definitely under consideration for winning this entire thing. I just wish we could get twins of the same gender to be written similarly.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Disney: Why I Don’t Like Indiana Jones

Screenshot of Harrison Ford from ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’. Copyright goes to Lucasfilm Ltd. and The Walt Disney Company.

Hey! Hallie here!

I want to make clear that I’m not going to be talking about my dislike for the entire ‘Indiana Jones’ series. Because I don’t dislike it. The movies are (mostly) fun and enjoyable. I do, however, have a problem with the title character of this series. Indiana Jones is an incredibly dislikable character. Throughout every single movie in the franchise. He’s a jerk, especially to women, and he doesn’t really seem to care about much aside from his image and what he thinks belongs in a museum. But I do understand that my hate for such a beloved character has to be better explained. So with that in mind, here’s a list of reasons why I don’t like Indiana Jones.

He’s an Awful Archeologist:

As someone who uses the “this belongs in a museum” line as a way to sound honorable, he’s pretty despicable. All he does is steal artifacts from historical sights. Oh, and while he steals these artifacts, often from people who have some sort of cultural tie to the object, he destroys said historic sights. That giant boulder was there for a reason: To keep intruders out. I don’t see why Indiana Jones didn’t deserve to be crushed by that boulder considering he is an intruder. Maybe that boulder wouldn’t have been there if he cared to learn more about the location he was breaking into instead of attempting to steal a precious golden idol (without gloves) by replacing it with a random sack. He talks pretty consistently about how locals in the areas he visits tend to have a bad opinion of him and you don’t really have to wonder why.

He Treats Women Horribly:

Let’s start out with his first love interest, Marion Ravenwood. He dated her when she was only fifteen, which is disgusting. The relationship obviously didn’t go well because she socks him in the face when she meets him again. She also tells him that she didn’t know what she was doing while she was in the relationship because she was so young. Which Indy refutes even though he was absolutely an adult and should have been the responsible one in the relationship. Or, better yet, shouldn’t have been in the relationship at all. Next is Willie Scott, who he mocks for being frequently frightened and irritated by the circumstances even though he dragged her along on the adventure against her will. In most romance scenes they’re fighting, and even then Indy never takes ‘no’ for an answer and finds some excuse to kiss her. And maybe she gives in, but that’s an issue with the movie, itself. It perpetuates the idea that when a woman says ‘no’, she doesn’t mean it. There is no excuse for the amount of times Indy ignores everything she says in favor of what he wants. A similar scene occurs with Elsa in the third movie, but I’ll give this movie a slight pass because Elsa is manipulating Indy the whole time. It’s still a harmful thing to put in a movie, though.

He Doesn’t Care About His Friends or Family:

The amount of times Sallah helps Indiana Jones without getting thanked makes me absolutely certain that Sallah needs a new friend. Indiana Jones also meets Short Round, an eleven year old, and decides to take him on trips as his chauffer. An ELEVEN year old. I would also like to point out that all of the trips he goes on are too dangerous for a kid. He doesn’t even spare much thought to Short Round when he’s in trouble. He has the idea that Short Round can take care of himself. While that’s somewhat true, it’s also incredibly negligent. Finally, he spends an entire movie ignoring his own father in favor of a girl he just met. Who ends up being a Nazi. Indy doesn’t spare a thought for anyone he’s with unless they can somehow help him achieve one of his own goals.

Bonus! Han Solo is Better:

I wanted to put this here because a lot of people claim that Indiana Jones and Han Solo are basically just the same character. That is very, very, wrong. Han Solo actually cares about people other than himself. He very obviously cares for Chewbacca and values his safety over any possible reward, even when he relies on rewards. When he meets Luke he’s instantly annoyed by him, but after only a few hours being stuck with him, he starts genuinely wanting to help him out. Every time he attempts to leave the Rebel Alliance for the betterment of himself, he ends up turning back and risking his life for them. The worst of Han’s conduct happens with Leia. Once again, this has everything to do with the writing in this movie, which, unfortunately, was a pretty popular way of writing a suave leading man at the time. Leia holds her own against Han when she wants to, but she also has a positive response to him kissing her after she pushes him off of her several times. However, there is a scene that stands out quite a bit to me when it comes to their relationship. On Endor, Han walks out to see Leia visibly distraught. He asks her what’s wrong and she doesn’t tell him (Partly because Luke just told her about her messed up family tree and she’s still processing). He immediately gets jealous that she was speaking to Luke a moment ago but will not speak to him, and storms off. But he stops after only a few steps. He turns around, instantly apologizes, and tries to comfort her. I know this sounds like the bare minimum, and it is, but we don’t see a lot of guys do this in media, even today. Indiana Jones certainly wouldn’t have done it. He apologizes to Marion once about his mistreatment of her and she calls him out for not meaning it. Han is better. Period.

So maybe don’t put Indiana Jones up on a pedestal. We have a new movie coming out soon with Harrison Ford involved, but I can’t say I’m very excited for this one. Part of the problem is that ‘Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ was a really bad movie. But part of it is also that I’m getting really tired of this character. I’d be cool with continuing the franchise. But maybe change the main character to someone who’s a lot more sensible and respectful. I know Harrison Ford has famously praised Indiana Jones as his favorite role to play, but that doesn’t mean he has to be my favorite character to watch. Sure, Harrison Ford looks like he’s having fun in every ‘Indiana Jones’ movie, and I appreciate seeing that. But the character of Indiana Jones isn’t something I can get behind.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie