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

Screenshot image from ‘Run BTS’ starring (from left) Kim Namjoon (RM) , Jung Hoseok (J-Hope), Kim Seokjin (Jin), Jeon Jungkook (Jungkook), Park Jimin (Jimin), Kim Taehyung (V), and Min Yoongi (SUGA). Copyright goes to BigHit Entertainment and VLive.

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

Christmas: Best Underrated Jokes from ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’

Screenshot from ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’ starring Jim Carrey. Copyright goes to the Seuss estate, Imagine Entertainment, and Universal Pictures.

Hi! It’s Annie!

I’ve already mentioned how this is my favorite Christmas movie and I’ve actually already done another post on this. But around this time of year it can be really difficult for me to shut up about this movie. There is absolutely no explaining how hard I laugh at this movie, but I have also noticed that this film is not recognized enough for it’s comedic genius. It seems as though many people miss some of the jokes or they go over their heads. Granted, some of the jokes in this movie are delivered so quickly that you might not catch them if you aren’t paying close attention. Some jokes are even funnier after hearing behind the scenes knowledge as well. So, as someone who has done a lot of needless and recent research about this topic, I want to talk about some of my favorite possibly missed jokes from this holiday classic in no particular order. Feel free to give into the want to re-watch this! I swear you will laugh at something new every time.

“Bleeding hearts of the world unite!”:

Not once have I watched this movie and saw anyone react to this one beyond me and my immediate family. This one is said after Cindy Lou first meets the Grinch inside the post office and she, unfortunately, gets sucked down one of the mail chutes. The Grinch is just about to leave her behind when Max guilts him into staying to help her. But not before he yells out this line in exasperation. It is unexpected and gets a chuckle out of me every time.

“He looks just like your boss.”:

This is another one that I’ve barely seen anyone react to. When The Grinch’s mothers are telling Cindy Lou about the Grinch showing up on their doorstep they also give her THAT talk. But in this universe it just means that Who babies are parachuted from the sky in little cradles with umbrellas and poor baby Grinch got blown off course. However, in this scene they did throw in a random Who father who happily opens his door to find his arrived baby only to look more closely at it and confusedly remark that it looks like his wife’s boss. That’s pretty messed up.

The Dressing Scene:

This scene is known mostly for the ending line “Ooh! Ah! Mmm. That’s it, I’m not going.” And while that quote is hilarious in itself, the dressing scene hides a joke that most people gloss over. Before the Grinch steals the yodeler’s ensemble, he tries on a tablecloth and justifies it to himself by saying that it is a kilt. In the scene where he pulls the tablecloth off the table, he pulls it clean off without anything else on the table falling on the floor or even falling over. In anger, the Grinch goes back and pushes everything off. This was not scripted. Jim Carrey was supposed to pull the tablecloth off and everything was supposed to fall on the floor. When he accidentally pulled the tablecloth off too cleanly, he quickly returned to finish the job and that was the take that made it into the movie.

“6:30. Dinner with me. I can’t cancel that again!”:

The entire monologue where the Grinch is justifying to himself why he should not go to a party (can relate), is always funny. But this specific line above was an ad-lib by Jim Carrey that made it into the final cut. And really, I can’t imagine this monologue of sorts without the Grinch lamenting on how he always cancels dinner with himself.

“Alright! Here’s your motivation.”:

This scene entirely consists of Jim Carrey making fun of Ron Howard, the director of this movie. It is complete with real things Ron Howard said while filming and a real impression of how he speaks. It is a completely improvised scene that Howard let into the movie because he thankfully has a great sense of humor. On another note, Howard sat in the makeup chair for hours during filming to get into the claustrophobic Grinch makeup in order to show solidarity with Carrey’s daily struggles. Carrey did not recognize him and believed he was a stunt double which instantly enraged him because he believed that said “double” looked nothing like him. So maybe the sense of humor about these situations isn’t exactly mutual.

“Jury duty, jury duty, jury duty, blackmail, pink slip, chain letter, eviction notice, jury duty.”:

Right before Cindy Lou meets the Grinch for the first time in the post office, The Grinch is up to absolutely no good. I think we can all agree that this is probably the most evil thing the Grinch does in the entire movie. Especially that eviction notice. It’s funny and it’s delivered so fast that it goes over most people’s heads the first time around.

“Are you two still living?”:

The Grinch finally accepts his award and is immediately met with the two women who raised him. Of course, none of us were expecting a warm reunion with the Grinch. But I don’t think anyone was expecting the absolute brilliance of this line. The best part is that it’s delivered in genuine disbelief.

“Now pucker up and kiss it Whoville!”:

Who here thought that a ‘kiss my ass’ joke would make it into a children’s film? Definitely not me. It still surprises me that it made it in every time I watch it, but I will give you that the exact meaning of this joke did go over my head as a kid. I mean, it’s not any worse than the boss joke from earlier.

“Am I just eating because I’m bored?”:

This one’s not exactly underrated, but it’s one of the most relatable lines I’ve ever heard in a movie. Ever.

“I don’t know, it’s some kind of soup.”:

This comes after the Grinch saying that “One man’s toxic sludge is another man’s potpourri”. This confusion is hilarious and also very concerning.

These are only a few of the amazing jokes in this movie and I still can’t get over them. It really has it all between the comedy and the wholesomeness and I never come out of this movie in a bad mood. I guess you could say this one has become a comfort movie for me. Maybe I’ve just introduced you to jokes you didn’t notice or reminded you of jokes that you really love, but either way I hope I inspired you to re-watch this classic. Let’s spread the loathing! I mean…no that’s exactly what I mean. That one’s another relatable quote from this movie. Happy holidays!

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Marvel: New Disney+ Trailers

Screenshot of Tom Hiddleston in ‘Thor: Ragnarok’. Copyright goes to Marvel Studios and Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

Hey! Hallie here!

Yesterday Disney dropped a bunch of their upcoming releases for investors. This included a large amount of animated feature films and Disney+ shows, some more Star Wars content for Disney+, and, of course, a whole lot of Marvel news. A lot was released, all in varying stages of development, but the three live-action Disney+ shows that are farthest along caught my eye. Mainly because we received new trailers for all three upcoming series. I had some thoughts on each trailer, so I’m going through each of them to talk about what we saw and what might be in store for us when these shows finally drop. If you haven’t watched the trailers, I highly recommend going to watch them before this deep dive. Let’s go!

‘Loki’: This one was my favorite trailer. But I’m a little biased because Loki is my favorite Marvel character. This trailer started out with the exact scene we saw in ‘Endgame’. Present day Tony Stark and Scott Lang manage to steal the Tesseract while Loki is being arrested after the battle of New York. Except Tony gets completely bowled over by the Hulk and the Tesseract case flies out of his hand and directly towards Loki. Loki sees an opportunity to escape and takes it. This is where we get new content. Loki wakes up in a random desert with his hair already miraculously shorter and in the next shot, he’s in an elevator with Owen Wilson. I have to say, Owen Wilson didn’t seem as out of place to me as I thought he would when I heard he was cast. He definitely looks older with his short hair and bushy mustache, but he looks smart in his suit. And you kind of have to look somewhat refined if you’re standing next to Loki. Loki is clearly a prisoner judging by what appears to be a shock collar and a very unfashionable uniform, but Owen Wilson promises not to kill him.

In their banter we’re introduced to the TVA which, in the comics, stands for the Time Variance Authority. They monitor all of the different realities and timelines in the multiverse, and keep tabs on everything to make sure nothing is out of place. Which lines up with the time-hopping storyline we were promised. We get a brief scene of a hooded figure wreaking some havoc and then a few scenes of Loki going through a trial and questioning from the TVA. Loki is next seen in a suit, newly equipped with some throwing knives and obviously part of the TVA’s ranks. Then Loki’s in a plane looking very reminiscent of Tom Hiddleston in the Jaguar commercial he did a while back. We see him fighting in a few different realities and then he jumps out of the plane and right into what appears to be Asgard’s Bifrost. Hopefully in a reality where Asgard isn’t completely destroyed. The trailer ends with a very interesting image paralleling Loki’s 2016 comics look. This trailer was packed and it made me very excited for what’s to come. Loki looks as delightfully mischievous as always, which is all I really want out of this series. It’s impossible for me to say no to this one.

‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’: This trailer starts out pretty straightforward. Sam Wilson stares at a bunch of Steve’s stuff, including his shield, and comments on how daunting the legacy of the shield is. You can’t really blame him. We get a few random shots, some soldiers running and a large explosion, plus a shot of Sam and Bucky walking through a city. And then our first look at what appears to be a main villain in the series placing a mask over her face. Next Bucky and Sam can be seen on a boat with some gear, but strangely, no shield. Nor any Captain America colors. This series seems pretty adamant that Falcon and the Winter Soldier are going to stay the way they are. Neither appear to be the “new” Captain America despite Steve passing the shield on to Sam. Which is certainly an interesting choice. We get a lot more random shots in this trailer. Some fight scenes, what appears to be a grave, Zemo is back of course, and what looks like a football game honoring Captain America. Then we finally get back to Bucky on his motorcycle and Sam fighting this masked villain on the back of a truck with a helicopter hovering above.

There’s a lot of action in this trailer with only a few scenes of Sam and Bucky talking to each other. There isn’t much plot to be revealed here, but at least it looks like they’re getting along now. Although, I wouldn’t mind another squabble over how far back Bucky’s seat is. What strikes me as interesting are the suits that Bucky and Sam are wearing. Bucky is wearing a completely black, leather suit. It seems pretty plain to me, but we’ll see how it looks when the series airs. I do like the silver and red look for Falcon. It looks very sleek on him. We do get a prolonged look at Falcon flying from a helicopter after Bucky comments on their lack of a plan with a very annoyed look on his face. It’s strange to see Bucky be the sensible one, but that seems to be their dynamic here. And then we get a really awkward scene of Sam teasing Bucky about his “cyborg brain”. I can tell it’s supposed to be funny, but it just came off as odd. There was a lot in this trailer, but not a lot of it was meaningful. There were things I felt were just put in for filler and nothing clued me in to the story. I have no idea what this series is even about at this point. I guess I’ll have to wait and see.

‘WandaVision’: This series just looks weirder and weirder as each trailer comes out. We start out with the black and white look we saw in the first trailer. A woman comments on Wanda’s status as single which she seems confused about. She conjures wedding rings for herself and Vision and tells the woman that she’s married to a very human man. A laugh track plays (I’ll have to get used to that) and Vision suddenly walks in the front door. We see Wanda use her powers for various household chores, Vision as a human for some reason, and then color comes in. Now we have the 70’s look we saw and Wanda’s pregnant. We see the nursery and Wanda and Vision preparing for the babies. Probably twins, like in the comics. Also some looks at their neighbors who seem unrealistically happy. Finally we get our first look at Monica Rambeau, who greets Wanda like she knows her. Wanda is confused, asks her who she is, and then the trailer gets kind of chilling. Monica replies that she doesn’t know who she is in a very scared voice, but the screen glitches and Wanda and Monica are suddenly smiling again.

Both Wanda and Vision start seeing glitches in their town. A voice through a radio asks if Wanda can hear him and questions who’s doing “this”, whatever “this” is, to her. Their neighbor tearfully asks Wanda if she’s here to help them and then glitches so that she’s laughing as if she had never asked. What look like military vehicles come in and Wanda and Vision resolve to protect their “home”. We get a singular shot of Darcy Lewis amongst the chaos, who I am very excited to see again. In a moment that makes me somewhat hopeful for Vision’s possible survival, we see Wanda staring transfixed at the mind stone, but it shatters. The trailer ends with Wanda and Vision holding hands and another shot of a comical scene with the laugh track. I’m very weirded out by this trailer, but also intrigued at the same time. I will definitely watch it, but I’m not sure if I’ll find this just the right amount of weird, or a little too over the top.

That’s it! I’m excited to see all of these, but for completely different reasons. ‘Loki”s trailer was by far the best trailer to me. It gave us a lot of new content, a clear storyline without spoiling anything, and some good Loki moments. I’m excited to see him back in action. ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ mainly excites me because of Anthony Mackie. He’s a hilarious guy and I can’t wait to see him in a leading role. I’m also excited for the Bucky and Sam Wilson banter, but the last scene of the trailer made me skeptical, unfortunately. Hopefully the other banter scenes don’t fall as flat. ‘WandaVision’ is promising because I love both characters and because I know that Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany had such a good time making it. But I have a feeling I’ll have to keep a very open mind going into it. ‘WandaVision’ is coming first. It’ll hit Disney+ this January. Fingers crossed that it’s the start of a long line of good Marvel content.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

Books: Winter Recommendations

Screenshot of Florence Pugh, Saoirse Ronan and Emma Watson in Greta Gerwig’s ‘Little Women (2019). Copyright of Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures.

Hi! It’s Annie!

The weather’s getting even colder so you know what that means! Time for getting cozy under the covers and reading more books! I really wasn’t expecting that many people to be interested in my Fall reading list, so I really hope this one also lives up to expectations. I’m still going somewhat thematically, so these are all ones that I hope you can connect to the holiday season through. Christmas is a time for families and gatherings, which are both things we are sorely missing in these times, so maybe these will let you escape into times where meeting up was more common. Hopefully there will be a few on here that you haven’t gotten around to reading yet or, better yet, that you’ve never heard of!

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott:

Most of you have probably already read this one, either for pleasure of because your school forced you to read it. I know that the first time I read this one was because it was on my school reading list. But I will say that I have read it several times since because I loved reading it so much the first time. I find that a lot of books like this can be pretty boring, but there’s something about how this family was written. The sisterly relationship between Jo, Meg, Amy, and Beth is realistic and beautiful and their relationship with their mother is just as good. You really care for these characters and I don’t think there was one point of this novel that I found boring. It’s not because the plot is so dramatic, it is simply because the characters wrap you up in so much of their world. You also can’t get out of reading this book without comparing yourself to one of the sisters. When I was younger, like everyone, I was absolutely convinced I was a Jo. I mean, she was also a writer. But as I’ve grown up I’ve come to realize that I’m the Meg of all my friend groups. Funny how that works out, huh? Also, this one actually covers Christmas in it’s plot!

Fawkes by Nadine Brands:

If you’re looking for a real escape, I have to mention this one. This book focuses on the fictional son of the one and only Guy Fawkes and him eventually having to join the infamous Gunpowder Plot. When I first heard that this book would have a magical twist, I was pretty skeptical. But the magic elements weirdly fit in and almost feel real. There wasn’t anything that took me out of the plot of the novel. More importantly, the characters were amazing and if you’re looking for a great female character, this book has definitely got you covered. I was familiar with this author because of her book ‘Romanoff’, and I can’t say I’ve found anything of hers that I dislike yet. If you’re looking to escape into a massive holiday party, look no farther than the massive Masquerade Ball. Brands paints an elaborate world full of beauty and absolutely packed with action.

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern:

This is the second of Erin Morgenstern’s novels, and it packs just as much of that beautiful worldbuilding as ‘The Night Circus’. Admittedly, I like this one a bit less than her first novel. The plot isn’t as concise and the ending of this book felt a bit too ridiculous, but I still came out of it thinking that it was well worth the read. This book features a gay couple at it’s center, and you are able to see the entire act of falling for each other as well as them finding each other in an absolutely adorable ending. This book is also full of twists and takes place entirely in a hotel with a library so vast you will absolutely feel cozy in this world. This one is also good enough to include a Masquerade Ball. I really love reading about a good Masquerade Ball. Even if some of the plot can get ridiculous, it doesn’t detract from the general cuteness of the book. And there’s snow.

Fire by Kristin Cashore:

The good thing about this one is that it goes through all the seasons! I’ve talked a little about this one before, and that’s because it’s so good. The story centers around Fire, a human monster with persuasion powers and bright hair that makes her an easy target. Despite her not wanting to use her powers, she is pitted in the middle of a war where she must. Yes, it does focus a lot on romance and I apologize if that isn’t your thing. But really, it’s not really my thing either. This couple is not the average book or movie couple nor is their romance portrayed that way. The moments that prove that these two really love each other are never make-out sessions, they are always unwavering support when it really matters. It is one of the least toxic and most realistic portrayals of a couple I have ever seen all within a fantasy universe. You’ve got the snow, you’ve got the family (the main male character has a daughter which is an awesome thing to portray), and you’ve got the escapism. You also have the main female character consistently saving herself. This is one of those books that you immediately read after having read it the first time.

Emma by Jane Austen:

Not only is this book more light hearted if you need something light hearted right now, but this one also shaped all fiction after it. Emma centers around a woman who continues to nose into romantic relationships that she shouldn’t under the pretense of match-making. This was one of the first novels created to be absolutely unafraid to show a flawed main character and demonstrate that the character could still be loveable. Also, I quite possibly like Mr. Knightley more than I like Mr. Darcy. I know, I know, that sounds insane. They are very close, it’s up in the air for me. My favorite part of this is it examines relationships and friendships, so it does come out in the end being very wholesome. I do have to say that I appreciate a good classic around Christmas, so this is one that I’m considering returning to myself.

I hope this gave you some ideas or at least set you on the right track! I always like recommending books, so if you have a specific topic of book recommendations, please let me know! The colder seasons are the best time to cuddle up with books, the colder the better if you ask me. Maybe you’ll pick up one of these around the holiday season or maybe, like me, you’ll consider it and then just return to your favorites. Either way, happy winter reading!

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

K-pop and K-dramas: ‘Itaewon Class’ Review

Screenshot of Ryu Kyung-Soo, Lee Joo-Young, and Park Seo-Joon from ‘Itaewon Class’. Copyright goes to Showbox, JTBC, and Netflix.

Hey! Hallie here!

I just finished watching ‘Itaewon Class’ and I have so many thoughts. First off, before I say anything about what I think about this, I want to highly recommend that you go and watch this. It has its ups and downs, but it’s diverse cast of characters alone are worth watching this series. Also, this review is definitely going to have some SPOILERS so be aware of that. But if you’ve already watched this series, or if you just don’t care, these are my in-depth thoughts about this series. To be completely honest, I have some mixed feelings.

The Good:

The Characters. I mentioned this above, but the characters are really great in this. The main character, Saeroyi, is really easy to route for. Time and time again he proves to be a really good guy who nearly always looks for the best in people. You can’t help but like the guy, despite the fact that his main motivator for most of the series is revenge. Along with him the series focuses on a number of side characters. Oh Soo-A is the first of Saeroyi’s friends we meet. Saeroyi has a crush on her at first, and promises to spend his life with her once he achieves his goals. Oh Soo-A has her goals too which can sometimes make her seem self-centered, but she’s pretty clear that her priorities lie in her career almost the moment we meet her. In the end this pays off and she’s one of the major reasons the bad guys are taken down in the final episode. Jo Yi-Seo is a social media influencer who suffers from Antisocial Personality Disorder. She decides to help Saeroyi because she has a crush on him and slowly begins to grow as a person while she does. As the manager, she’s just as important to Saeroyi’s business as he is. She also has a few hilarious moments in some otherwise tense scenes that make you instantly gravitate towards her. Seung-Kwon is an ex-con just like Saeroyi, who turned his life around after meeting Saeroyi in prison. He isn’t focused on nearly enough during most of the series, but the last few episodes highlighted his past criminal relationship with his boss so he could kick ass and look awesome. Hyun-Yi is a transgender woman who constantly proves both her strength and her cooking skill despite the wrongful judgement thrown her way. There was a point where I though they had dropped her storyline completely, but then the series came through with the best part of the entire series, the cooking competition storyline. My sister wrote an entire piece about her character that I highly recommend you check out. There are other side-characters, but these five are the ones who’s storylines pay off the most in the series.

The Representation. This series does a lot to normalize the vast population of different people in South Korea. For one, Saeroyi is an ex-convict. Considering the terrible treatment that most ex-convict’s receive, it was a bold and excellent move to make the main character of this series part of this group. Not to mention that another one of the main characters, Seung-Kwon, is a friend he met while both were in prison. Hyun-Yi is excellent transgender representation as well. The series includes full episodes where she deals with prejudice against her, even from some of the main characters, simply because she’s transgender. But this isn’t the entirety of her character, either. She’s allowed to be herself go through her transition, and enjoy spending time with friends without the plot using the fact that she’s transgender to inform her entire personality. Yi-Seo has ASPD, and the series does a pretty good job of showing the actions she can’t help as opposed to the moments where her disorder doesn’t excuse her wrong actions. My main issue with this interpretation is that it gets somewhat lost around the last few episodes, but I’m glad it’s being normalized even if this interpretation isn’t completely accurate. Then we have the character of Kim Toni. Toni is one of, if not the first, main Black characters in a K-drama. He gets some good plotlines that highlight his struggles. On one occasion he isn’t let into a bar because he’s looks like a foreigner, and when he claims he is Korean, even some of his friends don’t believe him. He also reunites with his grandmother later in the series, who admits to falling out with his father because he married a Black woman. These are good things to bring up, but there’s a reason why I didn’t mention Toni above. I’ll get to that later.

The Romance. This is apparently a controversial opinion, but I’m going to put it here anyway. I liked the relationship between Saeroyi and Yi-Seo. I thought her crush on him was cute. Though she could definitely get pushy on occasion, and I definitely didn’t like the fact that she stole his first kiss after he passed out drunk, her crush was ultimately pretty harmless. They also didn’t actually get together until the four year time-skip. I appreciated that they waited until they were both more mature and sure of their feelings to start a relationship. Oh Soo-A was the other option for Saeroyi in this love triangle, but she chose her career over him time and time again. It was clear where her priorities were, and they weren’t with him. It only made sense that they wouldn’t work out in the end.

The Bad:

The Villains. Every single one of these villains was disappointing. There were some points where an attempt was made to make Jang Geun-Won sympathetic, but they squashed every attempt almost as soon as it was over. None of them were interesting or brilliant. Jang Dae-Hee was a typical mob-boss type who spent most of his screen time monologuing and looking menacingly at the camera. Jang Geun-Won was portrayed as stupid and undesirable. All he really did for the entire series was pick public fights with the main characters that were quickly and easily shut down, and flirt creepily with Oh Soo-A after she rebuffed him on multiple occasions. Jang Geun-Soo turned over to the dark side a little while in, and though he was portrayed as being more diplomatic than the rest of his family, he outed Hyun-Yi to the public. I never forgave him for that, and he never did enough to redeem himself, either. I could also mention that one of the guys Saeroyi met in prison shows up at the end and gets completely destroyed by Seung-Kwon, but he only really shows up to give the rest of the villains a few goons to do their dirty work. None of them are impressive.

The Treatment of Toni. Yes, it’s cool that you have a major Black character in your show. But that doesn’t mean you get a pass for shoving him into the background every chance you get. He’s introduced after all of the other characters are introduced when he’s interviewed for a job position at the restaurant. After that he gets small parts of episodes dedicated to showing his struggles as a Black Korean…and that’s it. He’s excluded from most scenes where all the other characters are gathered because he’s “taking care of his grandma”. After several episodes of his complete absence, we finally see him at the end of the series. All so he can reveal he learned English because the rest of the main characters told him he had to once they figured out that he wasn’t a foreigner. What? His entire character reminds me of Winston from ‘Ghostbusters’. He comes in halfway through and doesn’t get nearly enough screen time.

The Love Triangle. I’m not a huge fan of love triangles anyway, but this one was particularly bad. It wasn’t because any of the characters were bad, though. It was because Oh Soo-A and Yi-Seo turned the entire situation into a competition for Saeroyi’s affections. We don’t need two women fighting over a guy. We get that enough in dramas. The two main women in this show should not have a connection based solely on a guy they like. It’s a pretty sexist plot-line and it needs to die.

The Entire Food Company Storyline. Yep, I said it. This was weird and unnecessary. Jangga Co. being portrayed as some sort of mafia took me out of the story frequently. The amount of control Dae-Hee had over literally everyone, including police officers and school teachers, was ridiculous. Yes, his riches could probably sway some, but it was fear that caused most people to side with him. It was almost comical how much he could convince random people to do his dirty work. After Saeroyi’s father is shown in one scene showing off sauces (for some reason) while working for Jangga Co., I realized just how ridiculous the portrayal of this food company was. At one point my sister and I started yelling “But you sell sauce!” at Dae-Hee every time he started scheming something outlandish against Saeroyi. I found the story was at it’s best when it focused on Saeroyi and his team working on their restaurant, and very weak when it focused on the food company situation. This was especially apparent when the story did it’s four year time-skip to show Saeroyi and his friends working at their own food company. All of the charm that came with the restaurant disappeared entirely. The plot was either odd or boring depending on the scene. I wish they would have kept this to a restaurant success story.

So what’s the verdict? It was okay. You don’t know how much it hurts me to say that. I loved parts and hated others. There was nothing I was indifferent about. Most times when I say something is only okay, I’m very indifferent about it. But this show is uncommonly frustrating because I love it. But I also deeply dislike it depending on the scene. I wish that I could take out certain parts of this series and ignore the rest. But, as it is, it’s okay. Hopefully the work that it does when it comes to representation leads to many more series that explore diversity. There’s so much more that could be done with a diverse cast.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

K-pop and K-dramas: Ma Hyeon-yi

Screenshot of Lee Joo-Young as Ma Hyeon-yi in ‘Itaewon Class’. Copyright goes to Showbox, JTBC, and Netflix.

Hi! It’s Annie!

I am interrupting our regularly scheduled programming because I have to rave about ‘Itaewon Class’ which I just finished. While there will be a post coming soon reviewing the entire drama, as my sister and I did have some problems with it, I needed an entire post to talk about this specific character. After watching ‘Itaewon Class’ there was absolutely no doubt in my mind that Hyeon-yi was my favorite character and that I had never before seen transgender representation that was this good. Though there are some issues with that latter part, I knew that I wanted to talk about her specifically and what she could mean for media in general. She’s amazing. I want to clarify that I am a cisgender woman, so there will still be things I don’t entirely understand. So, here we go! And, like always, there will be SPOILERS ahead!

The Casting:

What stuck out to me right off the bat, was that Hyeon-yi is played by a cisgender woman. This isn’t great, as I am definitely of the camp that you should hire a transgender actress to play a transgender woman. But I will give them the credit that at least they hired someone who identified with the same gender as the character, unlike in Hollywood. When depicting transgender women, American media generally will cast cisgender men to depict a transgender woman. This just continues to promote the flawed and completely incorrect mentality that transgender women are somehow still men. While media all around the world really needs to start casting transgender actors and actresses to tell their own stories; this still shows that this Korean show has a significant leg up on American shows. Not only that, but when Lee Joo-Young was asked about how she played the character, she unblinkingly responded that she thought more about the personality of the character than anything else and just played that.

The Plot:

We first find out that Hyeon-yi is transgender when three of the other characters spot her at a club, having the time of her life and dressed in clothes that are comfortable to her. The other three characters are confused and one of them even asks her why she is here rather than at a transgender bar. Feeling hurt, Hyeon-yi leaves them behind and is incredibly nervous around them the next day at work. One of the characters attempts to get her fired, using her lack of cooking skills as a cover for just wanting her to leave because of her own discomfort. The main character, Saeroyi, eventually tells the other employees that he will not fire Hyeon-yi and that if they are uncomfortable they should be the ones to leave. In a later episode Hyeon-yi leaves for a week which is later revealed to be for her BFS surgery (an optional surgery meant to make the body more feminine). Then we get to episode 12, my favorite in the series, where one of Hyeon-yi’s old friends outs her to the public in the hopes that she will withdraw from or lose a cooking competition. I sobbed through this entire episode. Hyeon-yi’s friends comfort her telling her that she doesn’t have to do it and also telling her that she is the strongest person that they know. In a chilling moment she declares “I am a transgender and I am going to win” live on television. In other words, this drama does not shy away from tackling discrimination against transgender women and men. Nor do they shy away from talking about surgeries, which I feel a lot of dramas tend to do. Though they could have focused on her more often, she ended up with more plot development than anyone but the three main characters in the show.

The Other Characters:

Saeroyi is very clear that he’s never cared about Hyeon-yi being transgender and is supportive of her from the beginning. But it’s the transformation of a couple other characters that really stand out to me. Jo Yi-seo, one of the main characters, is the character that tells her she should be at a transgender bar and then tries to get her fired. She is also the first character other than Saeroyi to refer to Hyeon-yi as a woman, becomes her best friend, and is the character that tells Hyeon-yi that she is the strongest person she knows in episode 12. Choi Seung-gwon is at first very un-understanding and later develops feeling for Hyeon-yi. It was really nice to see them give Hyeon-yi at least the beginnings of a relationship as many forms of media like to horribly portray trans men and women as if they are absolutely undesirable. They didn’t even do that once here. But more importantly, these characters learning to accept Hyeon-yi is not for the benefit of those characters. In the end, they are for the benefit of Hyeon-yi feeling accepted in the plot. There is no savior complex here as, at the end of the day, Hyeon-yi is the character that is shown to be most capable of defending herself. All it shows the audience is that she doesn’t have to do it alone if she doesn’t want to.

Personality:

Hyeon-yi is written to be an actual character, not just representation. She’s a badass who will absolutely call out or make fun of anyone. She has a heart of gold and she is often the first to jump up and comfort someone who is struggling. She is the kind of person who can walk out on a stage and own it after having sobbed uncontrollably just moments before. Hyeon-yi is also flawed and sometimes doesn’t know when to stop and ask for help. She is a multi-dimensional character and just as complex as everyone else. You don’t see that every day and we desperately need more of it in media.

Hyeon-yi is a breath of fresh air in a media ball game that is attempting to change while still wrongly “playing it safe”, mostly for monetary reasons. I guarantee you that it is worth watching ‘Itaewon Class’ just for her as a character. If you haven’t watched it yet, seriously go and do that. The plot might be a little ridiculous at times, but you will fall in love with the characters. And you WILL fall in love with Hyeon-yi. She is one of the best written characters I have seen in a long time and I hope that we will get more representation like her in all forms of media in the future.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Twins in Media: Wanda and Pietro Maximoff vs Luke and Leia

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

Hey! Hallie here!

Welcome back to the Twins in Media showdown! This week we’re pitting the main twin characters from the Marvel and Star Wars franchises against each other. As usual, this isn’t a competition based on their general writing or characterization. Instead, I’m going to be judging these two pairs based off of which one is a better representation of twins. I’m also going to stick pretty strictly to the movies in order to compare these two. I’ve been a huge fan of the MCU and the Star Wars movies for a very long time, so this one might hurt a bit. I like both of these twin adaptations for completely different reasons, but neither of them are perfect. This is going to be a close one, so let’s see which major franchise did it better.

Tropes:

Wanda and Pietro: We have a few big ones here. The most glaring one is the ‘One Twin Must Die’ trope. It’s really common for any series with twins to decide to kill one off. For some reason, most writers feel as though it matters more to create tragedy for one character to help their character growth, rather than developing both characters. After all, both characters are similar enough that losing one isn’t much of an issue, right? While someone could argue that Pietro needed to die because of Disney and Fox’s precarious dual ownership of both characters (Before Disney consumed Fox, that is), that doesn’t excuse the writers from deciding on a harmful trope to get rid of Pietro. So many siblings get to live through an entire series together, and I can’t say my sister haven’t been affected by most media telling us that one of us is expendable or one of us is going to die a premature death. There’s also some ‘Twin Testing’ in this movie, which is definitely an odd trope. Twin testing is based on a previous belief that the connection between twins justified horrific testing on them. The belief that twins have a supernatural connection that should be feared or exploited hasn’t completely gone away, either. It’s a difficult subject, and one that could have been completely avoided if they had just said they were born with their powers and moved on. Avoiding the mutant storyline was a problem, but it could have led to many other options better than this trope.

Luke and Leia: There’s a few tropes here and they’re pretty well known. The most glaring one is ‘Separated at Birth’. This is seen so often in so many shows and movies, but Luke and Leia might be the most popular version of this trope. Many writers feel that the best way to create major differences between their twin characters is to make sure they were raised in two separate environments. The issue with this approach is that twins are different regardless of whether or not they grew up together. It’s a very drastic way of attempting to create differences, and it’s used so often that we have more movies about twins that were separated than about twins that grew up together. These two also fall under the ‘Twin Telepathy’ trope. Luke and Leia can feel each other though the Force. This trope is a bit complicated in Star Wars because the Force is used for many things, and even those who aren’t related can theoretically feel each other through it. The issue with Luke and Leia is that their Force connection was given a bigger focus once they were confirmed to be twins. This trope is majorly harmful because it gives voice to the idea that twins share a brain, which is a ridiculous way to try to make twins seem like they’re the same person. However, because Leia’s first big moment of sensing Luke was done before they were confirmed to be twins, it’s more of a loose trope than a pointedly harmful one.

Winner: Luke and Leia take this one. While I listed some major tropes for the both of them, Luke and Leia’s tropes are far less harmful than Wanda and Pietro’s. In fact, Luke and Leia don’t really run into many tropes until the very end of the series, which to me makes it seem like they weren’t meant to be twins in the first place. But I’ll get to that in a bit.

Differences and Similarities:

Wanda and Pietro: Honestly, I find that writers don’t have as much of an issue writing separate personalities for twins of two different genders than they do for twins of the same gender. Most media that shows fraternal twins uses opposite-sex twins, which allows each character to be more easily identifiable. It’s definitely disappointing that same-sex twins tend to get worse treatment in media, but that doesn’t really have any bearing on Wanda and Pietro. Ultimately, they’re very different people. Which is a good thing. Wanda considers every action she makes carefully and is slower to embrace a new situation. Pietro is often reckless and easily adapts to every situation. While this makes them seem like opposites, they don’t really act like opposites when they’re together. They have many of the same goals despite their differences and they share some similar opinions, but it’s pretty obvious they’re different people. They strike a nice balance I can’t really complain about.

Luke and Leia: Once again, these two are fraternal twins that the writers felt didn’t need to be made drastically different or similar. Leia is definitely the smarter and more diplomatic of the two, but she’s also the most hotheaded between them. Meanwhile, Luke is a bit more rash, but he’s more caring and approachable. They’re different, but not opposites. They hold many of the same goals and opinions, but not for all the same reasons. They don’t even get many one-on-one scenes to highlight these similarities or differences. They’re just there.

Winner: Tie. Both movies do a pretty good job at making sure their twin characters are two very different people. None of them really attempt to make them too similar or different. I think this is mostly because both are fraternal twins, but all I can really criticize there is that same-sex twins aren’t written like this enough. That really doesn’t have to do with the characterization of these twins, though.

Relationship:

Wanda and Pietro: Wanda and Pietro have a bit of a ‘Twincest’ problem. It isn’t explicit, but some media feels as though they need something extra on-screen to make sure audiences understand that the twin bond is closer than a regular sibling bond. ‘Avengers’ uses constant breach of personal space and a lot of face touching to get this point across. Twins don’t actually have a relationship any closer than any siblings who have a close relationship. Twins are normal siblings, so don’t expect that twins would do something you find awkward to do with your sibling. Otherwise, Wanda and Pietro are pretty good. They are very clearly siblings who get annoyed with each other just as much as they enjoy each other’s company. They stick together a lot, but so do many close twins. They have a pretty wholesome relationship that would be nice if there weren’t some awkward undertones.

Luke and Leia: Luke and Leia also have a ‘Twincest’ problem. I’d argue this one is worse, though, because they actually kiss. Eww. No. They also have an issue where they don’t act like siblings. At all. In my opinion, I don’t believe these two were originally meant to be twins. While this is a good thing when it comes to avoiding twin tropes, it’s really bad when it comes to showing a realistic sibling relationship. They don’t interact a whole lot one-on-one, and though they do care for each other, there’s nothing about their relationship that implies that the realization that they’re siblings has made them any closer. They’re good friends. That’s about it.

Winner: Wanda and Pietro. There are definitely issues there, but at least they act like twins. Though, I think that Luke and Leia’s familial ties being a last minute addition helped them out a lot. It could very well be the reason they kissed, but I think it’s also the reason why ‘Separated at Birth’ is the worst of their tropes.

Plot:

Wanda and Pietro: In ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ these two share the same plot. They both turn to Ultron to help them get revenge, they both play evil for a awhile, and then they both change their ways. The major differences happen towards the end of the film, and mostly with Clint Barton. In one battle, Wanda attempts to use her abilities on Clint Barton. He avoids it, but the entire situation makes him realize just how young Wanda and Pietro really are. In the end, this winds up forming a deep connection between him and Wanda. When Wanda becomes terrified by Ultron’s final attack, he manages to bring up her confidence. Meanwhile, his relationship with Pietro ends up causing Pietro to sacrifice his life to save Clint. And, of course, after that Wanda’s story branches from Pietro’s entirely. She survives and spends several movies exploring her powers and her relationship with Vision. She becomes even closer with Clint after the loss of her brother. When they’re both alive, Wanda and Pietro share their storyline. The only major moments you get of them alone occur during fight sequences. It doesn’t help make them individually important to the plot.

Luke and Leia: These two have two very different plot lines throughout the series. Leia is a general who spends most of her time using her diplomatic skills to go from planet to planet, gaining resources and meeting new people. Luke is a Jedi who spends most of his time learning how to use his abilities to fight off the Sith. Their storylines only come together when the entire Rebel Alliance is together for a mission. The separate storylines are excellent and help highlight both of their different personalities, but it doesn’t make their sibling relationship a very large plot point. There are a few fun scenes with the two of them, but the relationship the series builds up the most is the friendship between Han, Leia, and Luke. It doesn’t do much in the way of strengthening Luke and Leia’s relationship specifically.

Winner: Luke and Leia take it. I can complain about the lack of focus on their relationship all I want, but that really isn’t my main focus in this section. My main focus is making sure that the twins represented here are important to the plot as individuals. While Wanda and Pietro are important to the plot together, they aren’t separated at all until Pietro dies. Luke and Leia aren’t together too often, but they have different storylines that make them equally important. Twins are too often given the same position within the plot. Luke and Leia aren’t like that. They’re able to grow as individuals.

Final Result:

This was close. Even writing this I wasn’t initially sure of the outcome. But Luke and Leia win it. Luke and Leia are almost too good to be true when it comes to twin representation. They’re in a major franchise where a huge twin trope is used, but they avoid almost every other twin trope entirely. They’re written as completely separate characters, which is very rarely done with twins in anything. They’re so well done that I believe it’s partly an accident. My main complaint with them is that they have an on-screen kiss, but otherwise there’s no unnatural closeness. The kiss wasn’t even an actual kiss, it was done completely to make Han jealous. It doesn’t make it any less gross, but Wanda and Pietro have moments that make me uncomfortable, too. All in all, Luke and Leia have my respect. Plus, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher had an off-screen sibling relationship that was so strong, it showed through even when the writing didn’t. Their reuniting scene in ‘The Last Jedi’ still makes me cry.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie