C-Dramas: How ‘The Untamed’ Avoided Queerbaiting When ‘Supernatural’ Didn’t

Screenshot from ‘The Untamed’, starring Wang Yibo (left) and Xiao Zhan (right). Copyright goes to Tencent Penguin Pictures and New Style Media.

Hey! Hallie here!

Given that Destiel was trending on Twitter a few days ago, I doubt many people are in the dark about what happened on ‘Supernatural’ a week ago. For those who don’t know, however, I’ll explain. “Destiel” is the ship name for monster hunter, Dean Winchester, and literal angel, Castiel. Fans have been rooting for this couple since Castiel’s appearance in season four, which is crazy because the show is now on it’s fifteenth and final season. On the episode that aired last week, Castiel finally confessed his feelings to Dean. Then he promptly died in a scene that was more problematic than it was heartwarming. This is far from the first problem fans have had with the writers over this couple. The writers have been accused of queerbaiting for many, many years. As a very large fan of ‘The Untamed’, this entire situation made me think of it’s main couple. Both Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji do things for each other that go very obviously beyond friendship. In fact, the show is based off of a Boylove novel. Unfortunately, due to censorship, the show runners were prevented from officially making Wuxian and Wangji a couple. Yet, somehow, this show managed to completely avoid queerbaiting. Let’s look into how they avoided it.

What is queerbaiting?

Queerbaiting is a tactic used by show runners to get the LGBTQ+ community to watch a show for a potentially queer couple, without actually making the queer couple canon. Characters might spend a lot more time together than they do with other characters and even openly flirt, but writers who use queerbaiting will only do this to keep those routing for queer representation watching. In the end, they won’t actually take the steps to put an openly queer couple on their show. Two things should be understood about this. One is that it’s a purposeful move from the creators. You can usually tell if creators are intentionally doing this if it’s a frequent occurrence in the show. Even worse, some creators, like the ‘Supernatural’ ones, will acknowledge the couple during fan events but will refuse to commit to the couple in the show. The other thing that should be understood about queerbaiting is that it’s refusal to represent queer couples harms the LGBTQ+ community. It contributes to the normalization of favoring straight couples over gay couples, and it often makes it seem as though people who are gay can just make the decision to be straight instead. Which is absolutely ridiculous.

Did the writers intend for Wangji and Wuxian to look like a couple?

Yes. Absolutely. So why isn’t this considered queerbaiting? Because the writers wanted Wangji and Wuxian to actually BE a couple. The writers of ‘The Untamed’ had to operate under censorship laws. Under those restrictions, there was no way they could openly state to the audience that Wangji and Wuxian were a couple. So instead, the writers stayed as close to the book as possible and let it’s story do the talking. This included scenes where Wuxian calls Wangji his soulmate. This included an entire storyline where Wangji waits for Wuxian for sixteen years, becomes depressed, and refuses to leave his side once Wuxian returns. This included Wangji becoming angry at Wuxian for implying that Wangji might have feelings for a female character. Plus the many, many, many scenes of Wuxian passing out and ending up in Wangji’s lap. There’s even a scene where Wangji wraps his forehead ribbon around Wuxian’s wrist, which Wuxian later figures out signifies marriage in Wangji’s clan. The writers were sure to put in every sweet conversation and every accidental touch from the book. In the end, they worked so hard at putting all of this in that it was obvious they were a couple without a kiss being necessary. Compare this to ‘Supernatural’ which did not have censorship to worry about. Castiel tells Dean that he loves him and within the context of the scene there’s no denying what he means by that. But Castiel also notes that Dean is something he can’t have because Dean doesn’t feel the same. Sure enough, Dean doesn’t tell Castiel he loves him as well, and there’s no indication that he wants to. They made Castiel gay, but they turned it into something one sided so they didn’t have to explore that relationship. After years of talking about it. The writers had no desire to write a queer couple, and in the end, they didn’t.

What about ‘Bury Your Gays’?

To those who don’t know, ‘Bury Your Gays’ refers to when a show has very few LGBTQ+ representation, but chooses to kill off it’s queer characters and keep its plethora of straight characters. This trope is used very often to avoid pursuing queer storylines and queer relationships. It’s often a tool used with, and sometimes for, queerbaiting. One of the major events in ‘The Untamed’ is the death of Wei Wuxian. So why isn’t this aspect of the story problematic? Wei Wuxian’s story doesn’t end there. In fact, ‘The Untamed’ begins with Wuxian being brought back to life. ‘The Untamed’ has two different storylines. One is told through a long flashback sequence and it details how Wuxian met Wangji, how Wuxian began demonic cultivation, and how many people, including himself, died from it. The other storyline follows Wuxian coming back to life, reuniting with Wangji, and learning to control his abilities to defeat the real villains. Wuxian’s death is a major part of the story, but it doesn’t put an end to the exploration of his character. Meanwhile, in ‘Supernatural’, Castiel revealed he was gay minutes before he was permanently killed off. Castiel, before this point, wasn’t confirmed as gay and wasn’t written as a gay character, meaning he didn’t serve as representation. The moment he became representation he was killed. That’s not even the worst part. The worst part is that ONLY Castiel was gay, so when Castiel died, Dean didn’t have to grapple with his feelings for Castiel. Instead, Dean could mourn him as a friend. Poof! No more gay in the show! The way this was treated is absolutely disgusting.

The ‘Untamed’ writers aren’t perfect. The novel wasn’t perfect either. While the writers did change or exclude a few of the problematic pieces from the novel, they didn’t change everything. For example, all of the main female characters in ‘The Untamed’ die to further the male characters storylines. All of them. Still, they did a better job at representing these often poorly represented groups than most American TV shows have. It’s also important to keep in mind that China is more closed-minded when it comes to things like queer relationships. As someone who lives in America, which frequently boasts about it’s more laid-back and open-minded culture, I’m embarrassed that a show like ‘Supernatural’ wrote this queer representation. ‘The Untamed’ shows us just how much more we need to accomplish before we reach good LGBTQ+ representation. It’s important to hold writers accountable so that, in the future, we get less LGBTQ+ representation like Castiel, and more representation like Wangji and Wuxian.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

K-Pop and K-Dramas: Crash Landing On You

Screenshot from ‘Crash Landing On You’ (2019) starring (left) Son Ye-Jin and (right) Hyun Bin. Copyright goes to Studio Dragon, tvN, and Netflix.

Hi! It’s Annie!

I’ve mentioned this one way too much to not actually write about it. This is one of the best romance dramas I’ve ever seen, and that’s because it’s meant to be. A lot of romance dramas exist for the fun of it; this one exists to simply be good and complex entertainment. Almost every piece of this felt like it had more thought put into it than any other romance drama I’d seen before. From the characters to the controversial plot to the shooting locations, this was meant to be both fun to watch and thought provoking. But that doesn’t mean this show was absolutely devoid of issues. If you are unfamiliar with this show, it’s about a rich woman accidentally finding herself on the wrong side of the border between North Korea and South Korea and then falling in love with a North Korean soldier. Which is why this show is so controversial. But this show pulls it off so well, that it gained massive acclaim in South Korea as well as many other countries around the world. Now before I get way too into talking about how much I loved this show, let’s actually save some stuff for the rest of the article. As always, SPOILERS ahead.

The Good:

  • The main female character. Yoon Se-ri is definitely a league above many of the female characters I’ve seen in romance dramas simply because of her development. She starts the show selfish and flawed, but you see through flashbacks that this is the way she was raised and felt she had to be. Even being in a rich family, she had to fight for everything she was ever given. And even though you do understand her behavior later, that doesn’t mean that she’s suddenly likeable upon re-watch. She’s definitely funny, I really liked that this drama wasn’t afraid to give their female character a sense of humor. Sadly, that definitely isn’t always the case in romance dramas. But funny doesn’t mean she’s a good person; that is something she has to learn as the series goes on. The audience is allowed to see her at her worst so we can truly appreciate when she’s at her best. I find that romance dramas often subvert character development in favor of constantly showing the lead female character in an innocent or smitten state. This didn’t happen here and it was incredibly heartwarming to see her become such a generous person.
  • The main male character. Yes! Finally! One where I like them both! Ri Jeong Hyuk is a gentle giant. He does not agree with anything going on in North Korea (because who would and this is how they’re able to make the romance understandable), but none of the people in that army have much of a choice. They are all real people who did not choose to be born in the North rather than the South. Many of them are just doing what they’re told in order to get by and protect their families and villages. This is what this show tries to do more than anything else; humanize North Koreans. Ri Jeong Hyuk is immediately willing to help Se-Ri when he realizes that she’s on the wrong side of the border and then spends much of the series attempting to hide her and protect her. But none of this is presented as any sort of “macho man” and “weak maiden” type of plotline. She is in unfamiliar territory and he’s the one with military training. And even for that, they don’t do much of him saving the damsel in distress. He’s respectful, kind, slightly oblivious, and a generous soul who has not been dealt the best hand in life. He’s not here to be “macho” or “cool”. His main characteristic is that he’s kind, and that means so much to me.
  • The side characters. This show doesn’t just humanize it’s main male lead. You get to meet many of the soldiers he’s in charge of that he’s close to as well. Every single one of them is endearing, but none so much as Kim Ju Muk. If you don’t end the series in love with him, then you weren’t watching the same show I was. He’s an innocent and almost child-like soldier with a fascination with K-dramas he bootlegs. All he wants is to meet the stars of his favorite K-dramas (which he actually gets to do in a very cute scene) and finish K-dramas he hasn’t been able to (which he also gets to do eventually). All you want is for all of them to be happy. I became more invested in these side characters than I ever have for any other romance drama. I loved them almost just as much as I loved the two main characters.
  • The romance. It’s adorable. And the best part is, it’s based just as much on support as it is anything else. The series tells you from the get-go that the most important thing in their relationship is going to be looking out for each other. They begin the series not hating each other, but not getting along either. Se-ri is not accustomed to living in a place where it’s sometimes difficult to get shampoo. But as it goes on, they understand each other more than anyone else in their lives ever had. They experience so much trauma together in this show and they constantly have to pick each other up when the other is suffering either mentally or physically. By the end of this show, there is no one either of them could possibly be with but each other. This aspect of it does inspire some anxiety at times and it also means that, because of real life, the ending feels more like their own wish fulfilment. I did actually question several times if the ending was even real in the context of the story. But it does end hopefully which is what matters! Also, when Ri Jeon Hyuk steps across the border to kiss her for what they both view as the last time, I cried a lot.
  • The side-plot romance. This is the one that I haven’t been able to quite get over. This romance takes place between Gu Seung-jun and Seo Dan; two people who have been romantically involved with the respective main characters in the past, but who are forced to get over them as they find new love. This storyline is pretty typical for a romance drama, but this ended up being one of my favorite parts of the show. Seo Dan at first only tolerates Gu Seung-jun and throughout their time together falls for him very slowly. She constantly asks him about what love is supposed to be and he answers her honestly, even when he thinks she loves someone else. She knows partway through that he loves her, but the more she thinks about love the more she believes she is unwilling to have it, so she doesn’t believe that he does love her. For her it’s too good to be true, so she forces her own feelings down too. She doesn’t admit to herself that she loves him until after he dies to protect her. I cried so much and I may just cry while typing this. In an absolutely heartbreaking scene, she goes to the place where she first realized she might love him and bursts into uncontrollable sobs. I am not ashamed to admit that I was right there with her. This romance was done so well and his death felt like a punch to the gut. Obviously, I’m still not over it. I might not be able to re-watch the series because I feel like I’ll cry even more the second time around.
  • The BTS reference. Sorry, I had to. Se-ri runs into a BTS fan in a hospital and bonds with her over her love of BTS. The young girl is very excited about saying that her bias is Jungkook. I loved the reference and it was an adorable scene.

The Bad:

  • The major death. Gu Seung-jun’s death was weird. This show is almost a war drama and a romance drama wrapped into one, so I can’t say I wasn’t expecting a death. My problem isn’t really with his death itself. It was just that the disconnected mafia-like kidnapping and hostage scenario was a little odd. Especially because we had established that he’s actually a pretty bad conman, so I don’t know why anybody was bothered enough with him to kill him. If he died because of war-related stuff that would have made more sense, even without him being a soldier. I’m not really sure why they went with this. Then again, if his death had meant more to the main plot, it would have made it that much more painful.
  • The old love interest story. As I said before, both of the main characters have people they were with before. The story does explore some of those romances as well as add in the typical jealousy from the main characters that you would expect. That part is never my favorite, but I’ll at least give them that the jealousy is more understandable considering they are both convinced they could never be together and that the other is better off with their old love interest because of that. Still, they go too far with these stories sometimes. There was an entire piece of the story where Se-ri was basically forced to stay with Gu Seung-jun, and all this seemed to do was slow down the actual plot. Seo Dan, who was actually engaged to Ri Jeon Hyuk, tried various different ways to separate the main couple. The only time I felt these worked was when she was with Gu Seung-jun and they were setting up their relationship. I would have liked to see a little more of the side characters falling in love and a little less of them trying to get their past love interests back.
  • Se-ri’s family. Seo Dan had a bit of a storyline with her mother, but her mother was enjoyable and this was used tastefully. Even the storyline with the villagers that lived near Ri Jeon Hyuk was given a pretty good amount of plot and wasn’t used to the point of annoyance. I was painfully bored whenever Se-ri’s family was on the screen. They needed way more relevant plot and way less screen time. There was nothing interesting about them, except for maybe Se-ri’s mother, and I wished those scenes were over as soon as they begun. I just wanted to get back to the actual plot.

This show is amazing, loveable, and heartwarming. It will make you sad, but it’ll immediately show you something sweet to combat your sadness. Whether or not it works is really up to the watcher. Considering the side-plot romance, it really only worked for me some of the time. But I still came out of this show absolutely unwilling to hate anything about it. That’s partly because the show was so good and partly because I thought their message was so important. I think we all know, now more than ever, that politicians are not necessarily a good representation of their people. Every innocent person who lives under a rule they did not agree to deserves to be humanized just like the rest of us, and I absolutely love how this show dealt with this in such a kind manner. Shows like this highlight how important humanity is and that good people can come from anywhere.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Video Games: Ranking the Top Ten ‘Persona 5’ Confidants

Screenshot from ‘Persona 5 Royal’. Copyright goes to P-Studio and Atlus.

Hey! Hallie here!

Persona 5 is widely, and correctly, considered one of the best video games released in the last few years. Most of the appeal comes from balancing gameplay that consists of spending time with friends and honing personal charms with turning into a supernatural thief and fighting monsters. But the main charm of this game comes from the characters. This is one of those games where the main character is largely silent. You can’t even figure out his real name unless you look up the anime. Instead, this game relies on a large amount of side characters to connect the audience to it’s story. You spend a lot of your time developing relationships with characters and leveling up your confidant rankings. You can’t really get through the game without it. Some character relationships naturally progress as you beat the game, and others are important to pursue in order to become more powerful as you play. With these characters, or confidants, playing such an important role in this game, I decided to rank my personal favorites. Let’s get into it! SPOILERS ahead!

  1. Judge. The Judge arcana is given to Sae Niijima, a prosecutor who interrogates the player throughout the entirety of the game. Sae Niijima is the older sister to Makoto, but she’s not the best role model for her sister. She obsesses over her work, snaps at Makoto for not being able to take care of herself (Makoto is still a teenager), and is openly against the Phantom Thieves. Which, you know, Makoto’s secretly a part of. Sae Niijima becomes so corrupted by success that she begins to rig prosecutions to uphold her reputation, resulting in her developing a Palace, which can only be developed by those with corrupt hearts. Despite all of this, Sae proves to be a decent person. When she catches the main character to interrogate him about the Phantom Thieves, she’s willing to listen to him and believe his version of events. She takes the interrogation so seriously that she begins to question those she works for and ultimately helps the Phantom Thieves receive justice. She also does care for and support her sister, despite some of her actions. Best of all, Sae is one of the confidants that levels up naturally as the game goes along, so there’s no need to worry about sectioning off time to spend with her.
  1. Heirophant. Sojiro Sakura is represented by the Heirophant arcana. He’s the guardian of the main character while the main character is under probation. Sojiro is initially cold to the protagonist because of his probation and makes it clear that the main character is only living with him as a favor to a friend. As the protagonist continues to live with Sojiro, however, he becomes a much softer individual. He becomes even closer to the protagonist once his adopted daughter, Futaba, joins the Phantom Thieves. At that point you get to learn about his past history with Futaba’s mother, Wakaba. He was smitten with Wakaba, but she only ever desired to be his friend. Still, they were close friends, and because of that he feels guilty over her premature death. Wakaba had told him that she might die because of the research she was doing, but he hadn’t taken her seriously. Because of this guilt, he left his job as a government official and opened a small coffee shop so he could raise Futaba and hide her from the people who killed her mother. Sojiro is a good guy and he cares about all of the Phantom Thieves safety. All he wants is to see you succeed.
  1. Faith. The Faith arcana is used for Sumire “Kasumi” Yoshizawa. To the ‘Persona 5 Royal’ fans, I know. This is blasphemy. How could Sumire be so low? Sumire is low on this list for two reasons. One is the questionable twin representation. Sumire, being both jealous of her twin sister’s success and guilty over her premature death, takes on her sister’s personality after her death. To be fair, Sumire doesn’t know that she took on this personality and the game does establish that Sumire’s true personality is different to her sister, Kasumi’s. But having one twin take on the personality of the other after their death is both disturbing, and does no favors to twins attempting to escape twin tropes. The other reason Sumire is down here is because she’s a liability in the climax of her own story. That isn’t to say that characters having weak moments is a bad thing. This entire game is about Personas coming to people when they’re at their lowest. The issue here is that she initially sides with Dr. Maruki, her antagonist, in order to keep her sister’s personality, gets manipulated into attacking the protagonist and Akechi, and ultimately doesn’t make the decision to embrace her own personality. The player gets to do that. Still, Sumire is an interesting character with a loveable personality. She’s also one of the most badass fighters in the entire game. If only her story was handled a bit better.
  1. Chariot. The Chariot arcana represents the first character you befriend in the game, Ryuji Sakamoto. Ryuji has his issues. He’s a bit of a ladies man without much, or really any, respect for women. He’s quick to anger and not so great at thinking things through. But he’s also extremely loyal. He’s provides a shoulder to lean on throughout the entire game. He’s also the easiest to befriend of all of the characters. In every playthrough I’ve done of this game, he’s always been the first confidant I max out. Ryuji also has an interesting past. He’s tied specifically to the gym teacher, Kamoshida, who is the first corrupt adult the Phantom Thieves have to take down. Kamoshida was known for bullying and abusing the members of the track team, the volleyball team, and really any team he was put in charge of. Ryuji was the star of the tack team before the events of the game, but a dispute with Kamoshida over his abusive behavior caused Kamoshida to break Ryuji’s leg. Instead of this leading to any change, Kamoshida proved his power over the parents and teachers of the school by completely disbanding the track team. Ryuji is depressed and friendless at the beginning of the game. He needs you as much as you need him.
  1. Lovers. Ann Takamaki is represented by the Lovers arcana. Ann is the second character you befriend, and she’s just as victimized by Kamoshida as Ryuji is. Her friend, Shiho, was on the volleyball team that Kamoshida was in charge of. While Ann attempted to play friendly with Kamoshida in order to keep Shiho on his good side, Kamoshida attempted to blackmail Ann into sleeping with him by threatening to take Shiho off the team. When Ann refused, he sexually assaulted Shiho, causing Shiho to attempt suicide. Yeah guys. This game isn’t for kids. Ann feels guilty for causing Shiho pain, but she’s not one to sit around and mope. She joins the Phantom Thieves almost immediately afterwards. She’s all too eager to make Kamoshida regret everything he’s ever done. In fact, she plays a larger role in his defeat than Ryuji. On top of all that, Ann is a very kind character. She believes the protagonist is innocent of the crimes he’s accused of before she even learns of his entire story. She’s quick to forgive characters who make mistakes and she doesn’t take insults to heart. She can be a bit of a ditz, but that never takes away from her charm.
  1. Magician. The Magician arcana is given to your cat, Morgana. Or rather, your monster thing that looks like a cat. Morgana is your guide throughout the entire he game. He sticks with you so much that there’s no need to build up his confidant ranks. That happens automatically as the story progresses. While Morgana appears as a normal black-and-white cat outside of Palaces, inside Palaces he becomes an anthropomorphic cat who’s head is far too large for his body. In either form Morgana can talk, and he definitely has a lot to say. Morgana doesn’t remember his past when you meet him in the game. What he does remember is an extensive knowledge about how Palaces work and a great admiration for humans. He likes them so much that he believes he is one, which really can’t be disputed since he doesn’t have any memory of what he was before he became a cat. Morgana can be blunt and a bit rude. He has no patience for those who don’t think things through as well as he does, which causes him to have a major rivalry with Ryuji. Regardless of that, there’s no doubt that you wouldn’t survive without Morgana’s help.
  1. Hermit. The Hermit arcana represents Futaba Sakura. It takes quite a while to finally meet Futaba in the game, but her entrance is definitely worthwhile. Futaba is the adopted daughter of Sojiro, but just because you meet Sojiro early on doesn’t mean you know Futaba exists. You don’t even hear her name until halfway through the game. That’s because Futaba has purposely shut herself away. After her mother’s mysterious death, several government officials visited Futaba with a suicide note from her mother that accused Futaba of being the reason for the suicide. This guilt caused Futaba to become depressed, shut herself in, and develop her own Palace. In her isolation, she created an online persona for the purpose of hacktivism and planted a bug inside Sojiro’s coffee shop to keep an eye on him. Through the bug she discovered the protagonist and his friends were the Phantom Thieves. As the game progresses Futaba discovers that she wasn’t actually responsible for her mothers death and joins the Phantom Thieves to discover the truth. She’s a genius, but she’s also an introvert that relies heavily on the protagonist to help her get used to life outside her room. Luckily, it never feels like a burden to spend more time with her.
  1. Emperor. The Emperor arcana is used to represent Yusuke Kitagawa. Yusuke is an art student who doesn’t initially trust the protagonist at first. While the Phantom Thieves have heard that Yusuke’s mentor, Madarame, has used pupils in the past for money and fame, Yusuke refuses to believe these claims. He believes Madarame to be a father-figure to himself. He also knows Madarame to be the artist of the painting that influenced Yusuke to be a painter. That is, until he discovers that Madarame has several copies of said painting in a hidden closet in his home. Yusuke quickly realizes that Madarame has been using his pupils to create art he can duplicate and sell. Yusuke’s mother was one of these artists Madarame manipulated, and the art piece Yusuke had been drawn to his entire life was actually a self-portrait that was painted by his mother. After this realization, Yusuke joins the Phantom Thieves as one of their much needed voices of reason. He can be a bit strange at times and is shown to be willing to do questionable things for art, but you know you can always trust his opinion in the end.
  1. Justice. The Justice arcana is given to represent Goro Akechi. Akechi is one of the main antagonists of the game, but that’s precisely what makes him such an interesting character. He is instantly drawn to the protagonist and his opinions, and he blatantly tells the protagonist a few times that be believes they were fated to meet. Akechi is also one of the major public voices that speaks out against the Phantom Thieves, but his reasonings are much more understandable than most. He simply believes that the Phantom Thieves should be working according to the law, rather than according to their own sense of justice. His apparent pure-heartedness is just a ruse, though. Akechi is actually working for the main villain, Shido. Akechi is Shido’s illegitimate child, however, Akechi’s mother raised him for most of his life. For that reason, Akechi does as his father plans with the ultimate goal of betraying him. Even with his final goal being against the main antagonist, his true view of justice is skewed. He openly tells the protagonist that he envies his simple life and his friends, and for that reason attempts to murder him. After all this, however, Akechi sacrifices his life to help the Phantom Thieves defeat his father. In ‘Persona 5 Royal’ Akechi reveals that he’s alive and officially joins the Phantom Thieves. His loyalties are questionable, but his redemption is certainly memorable.
  1. Priestess. Makoto Niijima is represented by the Priestess arcana. Makoto is the student council president. She’s initially manipulated by the school principal into spying on the protagonist and his friends in the hopes of confirming that they are the Phantom Thieves. After several students become wrapped up in some illegal activity in the city, Makoto drops her spying and does all she can to take down the mafia leader who is manipulating the students. She joins up with the Phantom Thieves, jumps into resolving the issue without having any knowledge of Palaces at all, and ends up summoning a Persona that’s a motorcycle. After the issue is resolved, Makoto becomes the strategist for the Phantom Thieves. Makoto is sensible and has learned to take care of herself, but it has caused her to separate herself from those her age. Her father, a police officer, died in the line of duty, and her sister since that time has harshly pushed her to take care of herself. Makoto tries her best to get to know the students she’s supposed to represent even without this knowledge, and she often takes it upon herself to help her friends through their hardships. She’s quick to offer comfort to those who need it, and even quicker to come up with a plan to cheer someone up. Makoto is kind but commanding and she steals every scene she’s in. Queen indeed.

That’s my list! There are so many characters and so many crazy plot lines in ‘Persona 5’, there’s no way I can talk about them all. This is both one of my favorite games and one of the longest games I’ve ever played. There’s so much content and there’s even more content in ‘Persona 5 Royal’. This game makes me excited to see what characters and plots the next Persona game will give us. But in the meantime, I’ll sit back and enjoy these characters I spent so many hours getting to know.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

Books: Unpopular ‘Harry Potter’ Opinions

Screenshot from ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’ (2005) featuring (left) Stanislav Yanevski and (right) Emma Watson. Copyright goes to Warner Bros. Pictures and Heydey Films.

Hi! It’s Annie!

Recently the Harry Potter fandom has gone through the ringer because of…well…she-who-must-not-be-named. Through the realizations of her prejudices, people have started talking more and more about what they found wrong with the book series. I want to say that I will always like Harry Potter as a series, mostly because of how influential Hermione Granger was to me, but even before all this happened I did have specific thoughts on the books and movies that not many other people seemed to share. Most of these things were aspects of the books or movies or even fandom that I didn’t particularly like. While this list has expanded over time to include a lot more aspects of the series, especially recently, I’ll only really be covering thoughts that I’ve already had for years. Some of these are more lighthearted than others. So, let’s get into it!

Hermione and Ron:

For an unpopular opinion, this actually seems to be pretty popular. Unlike many people, I don’t hate Ron. Ron was pretty awful in the movies at times, but Rupert Grint was always pretty charming and sweet as Ron. Ron was a needed presence in the golden trio because he was often the only one who could lighten up the mood in a harsh situation. But just because I actually do like Ron, does not by any stretch of the imagination mean that I liked him with Hermione. When I was growing up and first had these books read to me, the golden trio came off to me much like siblings. And no two seemed more like siblings to me than Ron and Hermione. They were constantly bickering and poking fun at each other, which reminded me a lot of what I saw with my friends who had brothers. So I really didn’t buy it when this suddenly turned into romantic interest. In fact, I thought it was a little…disturbing. Like I said before, Hermione and Ron were constantly fighting with each other which definitely works for a sibling dynamic but doesn’t seem entirely healthy when you’re trying to force it into a relationship dynamic. They would get to the point where they wouldn’t talk to each other and Harry would have to act as a go between. They acted like that as kids and they never got over it when they reached adulthood. Relationships need communication, and Hermione and Ron have a lot to sort out on that front. They are great as friends, but they would kill each other if they were in an actual relationship. Much like Jo and Laurie from ‘Little Women’ if I’m thinking about it. And no, Harry and Hermione aren’t good either. They are some of my favorite best friends in any fandom so let them be friends, damn it!

Hermione and Draco:

This is an unpopular fandom opinion. I don’t know whose bright idea it was to start shipping Hermione and Draco, but they need to stop. Everyone just needs to stop. Firstly, Draco didn’t need a redemption arc. Sure, a redemption arc in general might have been nice, but Draco was a racist. Him being scared to follow Voldemort and eventually not giving away Harry does not suddenly make him not a racist. Draco was also a bully. When I was in middle school and high school I dealt with bullying, and it was in those times when I most related to Hermione and used that to find a sense of worth again. When I saw that people were shipping Hermione and Draco, I was absolutely disgusted. Why would anyone ever want to date someone who bullied them to tears again and again? And though I didn’t have this experience, I know people who felt the same about dating someone who had ever called them a racial slur, like Draco did with Hermione. Hermione punching Draco in the face was not any form of sexual tension. She punched him in the face because he deserved it. If you’re going to ship Hermione with anyone, which she actually doesn’t need, my ship of choice is Hermione and Viktor. Viktor in the books was actually shown to be pretty smart, he listened to Hermione intently, and tried his best to communicate with her. Viktor Krum in his short time with her was more supportive and respective of her than Ron ever was and definitely more than Draco. They remained pen pals after he left too! How cute is that?

The House System is Weird:

In a fantasy world where part of the point is to get to know people different from yourself, I think the house system is pretty odd and really speaks to what we now know about she-who-must-not-be-named. Why would they stick you in a house with people who think exactly like you and give you little time to communicate with the other houses? They even establish rivalry between the houses! I personally believe it was the fandom that made these houses healthy. The fandom was not stuck in the individual houses, we all met each other after we self sorted and bonded over a liking of these movies and books. We created that respect between houses and the willingness to listen to others who think differently than we do. I sorted into Ravenclaw while my sister is in Gryffindor, and we used that as a reason to celebrate the differences between the two of us. The houses are good only because we made them good, but in the books the houses are pretty divisive.

Fred Never Should Have Died:

If you’ve read any of the Twins in Media posts, you probably know that both me and my sister are really tired of the ‘One Must Die’ trope. Why did Fred or George have to die? Because it had to be one of them since it is somehow “unrealistic” for them both to survive the war even though all the other siblings come out unscathed. There are several deaths in the books that make sense to me, there are several that don’t because not all death has to make sense. But Fred’s death falls under neither of these because he’s instead a pure example of a trope that shouldn’t still exist. I don’t want to hear any of the jokes about how my sister or I have to die because that’s what happens in movies anymore. Fred and George both should have made it through to the end and somebody else should have died in the Weasley family if that’s what she was aiming for. But she handled twins so badly in every way she possibly could that really the only saving grace for these two are James and Oliver Phelps. James and Oliver Phelps are national treasures.

Snape is Awful:

Speaking of the actor being the only saving grace, let’s talk about Snape. Snape has always been bad, not just recently. I love Alan Rickman, he’s one of my favorite actors ever, but if you want to see him in a morally good role I’d look at ‘Galaxy Quest’ instead of these films. Snape is a bully who looked at Hermione when she needed the school healer and said that he didn’t see a problem. He only helped the good side of the war because of his own selfishness. He called Lily a racial slur. Lily really deserved better than both James and Severus, not just James. Snape never has been and never will be a morally good character. He consistently bullied children and took advantage of his position as a teacher.

Dumbledore is Awful:

Dumbledore enabled Snape, kept slaves at Hogwarts, and raised Harry like a pig for slaughter. If you want to look at a professor who genuinely cared about the children in Hogwarts, look at Minerva McGonagall who constantly vouched for the safety of the students. She, Remus Lupin, and Hagrid were the presences that made me feel safe when I read the books. Definitely not Albus Dumbledore and especially not in the later books. This isn’t even mentioning that the last minute revelation that he’s gay is absolutely awful and that him dying doesn’t make it any better because that’s the ‘Bury Your Gays’ trope. That’s if you even want to accept what she said about him being gay considering she put as little effort into that as possible.

Ginny Shouldn’t Have Defended Harry and Ron:

This one is a bit more specific. There’s a scene in the books where Hermione is admonishing Harry for using a spell he shouldn’t have and brings up how it will affect him in Quidditch. Ginny is quick to snap at Hermione, telling her to shut up and that she doesn’t know anything about Quidditch. This is posed in the book as Ginny proving that she has thoughts of her own and partly to show that she’s a good match for Harry I guess. Hermione isn’t perfect, but this is awful. Hermione has every right to say this when she’s spent the past six years doing homework for Harry and Ron when she has plenty of other things to do. She really shouldn’t be doing anyone’s homework. She even created schedules for them that factored in Quidditch several times and got Harry several Quidditch gifts for his birthday. Hermione didn’t deserve that.

Hermione Isn’t Perfect:

I do feel like an element of Hermione from the books is missing from the movies, but I don’t feel she’s too perfect in the movies. The movies still stick pretty close to the books and many of her flaws are still there; like her tendency to be bossy, her lack of understanding of anything that’s not completely based on logic, and her constant nagging of Harry when Harry already has so much to put up with. I love Hermione, but it’s her flaws that make her realistic. Sure she got some lines from Ron in the movies that Ron should have kept, but her getting those few lines didn’t make Hermione flawless in the movies.

Cho Chang Deserves Some of the Hate:

Cho Chang does not deserve any of the hate for trying to get over Cedric. Everyone grieves in different ways and even she struggled with that. Also, unlike in the movies, Cho was not responsible for giving away Dumbledore’s Army in the books. She does deserve all of the hate, however, for being a giant stereotype. Her name is racist and she was put in the smart house. This was always visible and it’s only just now being talked about.

Hagrid, McGonagall, and Sirius Were the Best Parental Figures to Harry:

Hagrid may not have been the smartest, but he was one of the ones who cared about Harry the most. It was always McGonagall who was pushing Harry to succeed so that he could have the career he wanted after school. Sirius protected Harry on several occasions and gave him advice when Harry needed it the most. Were any of them perfect? No. But no parent is. And Sirius didn’t see Harry as James, that line was only in the movie. Molly certainly accused him of it, but Sirius was pretty particular about Harry making sure he didn’t do anything too dangerous in the fifth book. Molly took care of Harry, but she wasn’t there when he needed advice and she often treated him much better than her own children. Arthur was definitely a better parental figure to Harry in the Weasley house because he actually listened to what Harry wanted. Molly gave Sirius way too much flack when she didn’t even really try to get to know Harry. And Dumbledore was just bad. There’s not a whole lot more to say there.

Bill and Fleur are the Best Canon Couple:

Bill and Fleur were constantly there for each other and supportive of each other. Their relationship was healthy. Remus and Tonks did not have a healthy relationship considering that Remus really wasn’t ready to jump into a relationship just then. If you want to look at a healthy relationship moment in this series, look at the way Fleur gets angry at Molly for thinking she’ll just leave Bill after he gets bitten by a werewolf. Considering Remus as a werewolf was actually a figurative representation of the AIDS epidemic that overtook the gay community, he should have been gay and he should have been with Sirius. There, I said it. Sirius actually understood him and Remus had developed a close relationship with him a long before Tonks came along. I like Tonks, but she deserved a partner who was actually ready to be in a relationship with her, because Remus wasn’t comfortable with her yet. How many times did Remus have to say that it wasn’t something he was comfortable with? But the AIDS point also opens up another conversation about how the race-allegory (muggle-born vs pureblood) in the story should have actually included people of color.

These are only a few of my unpopular opinions, that have actually become more popular over the past few months. I am no longer giving this franchise any more of my money, but I am going to enjoy what I do still have from it. Mostly Hermione stuff. Emma Watson has always been a huge inspiration to me, and I’m basically going to fall back on that for most of my love for the Harry Potter series that I still have. But, really, it’s ok to still like the series and not stand behind the author. I talk about liking Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland all the time, and those are just a few well loved classics that have pretty bad authors. Just make sure you aren’t giving the author any more of your money as much as possible. Do you agree with any of these unpopular opinions? Did any of these surprise you? If you’re out celebrating tonight, please be safe!

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Disney: The Problem With ‘The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad’

Screenshot from ‘The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad’. Copyright goes to Walt Disney Productions.

Hey! Hallie here!

During the last few months I’ve found a bit more time to look into some of the random Disney movies I hadn’t gotten the chance to see before Disney+ was a thing. One of the ones that I was most interested in was ‘The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad’. The movie’s not much longer than an hour and it includes two different Disney franchises that I’ve been interested in for a long time. I’ve been interested in ‘The Wind in the Willows’ since Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride in Disneyland left an impression on me as a kid. Particularly the part where you end up in hell. Similarly, The Headless Horseman has been a staple of the Halloween season in the Disney parks for a few years now. Naturally, I wanted to know why Disney clings to both of these stories so much when it comes to park representation, even though both stories are old and not very popular. This movie was so much more disturbing than I could have imagined, and for completely different reasons than I thought it would be. Let’s get into this mess.

‘The Wind in the Willows’:

  • Mr. Toad. This is probably the main issue with this part of the film. Mr. Toad is not a likable character at all. When he’s introduced he gives off the impression that he really takes advantage of his friends. The only friend he seems to actually get along with is his horse, Cyril. His other friends, including the adorable Mole, are left to clean up everything Mr. Toad ruins with his reckless driving. Almost immediately after all of this is established, Mr. Toad goes crazy and his friends are forced to lock him in his room until he comes back to himself. Instead, Mr. Toad escapes and is later found driving a stolen car. It’s revealed that Mr. Toad did attempt to buy the car, he just attempted to buy the car from weasels who had already stolen it, but he ends up going to jail anyway. So you could argue the main issue with Mr. Toad is stupidity rather than any real wrongdoing on his part. Aside from all of the property damage he’s caused, of course. That is, until Cyril helps him break out of jail, he leads police officers on train chase, almost drowns in a strangely dark scene, and shows up at his friends’ house without any remorse at all. By the end of the movie Mr. Toad is absolved of all his crimes, manages to keep his friends, and hasn’t learned anything throughout the course of the entire movie. He starts out as oblivious and self-centered, and he ends the movie just the same. You really can’t route for the guy.
  • Consequences. It can’t be said that Mr. Toad faces no consequences for his actions. In fact, the narrator tells the audience he spends quite a bit of time in jail. The issue is that the segment where he’s in jail is presented as a sad moment. Because, in this scenario, Mr. Toad isn’t actually guilty of what he’s been accused of. He didn’t steal the car he was caught driving, he just wasn’t smart enough to realize it was stolen when he attempted to buy it off of the weasels. However, after he does do something morally questionable, he faces no consequences. His friends are constantly annoyed with him, but they continue to support him throughout the entire movie. He’s never confronted about the amount of money he has to spend on property damage. He isn’t even confronted about his escape from jail! I’m not the only one who was a bit disturbed by this aspect of the movie. This seems to be the entire reason why the Disney ride ends in hell, despite the fact that Mr. Toad has a happy ending in his story. Hell is used as a consequence for riders lack of regard for others after they have recklessly driven through the streets of London. It just goes a bit too far for a kids ride.

‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’:

  • Ichabod Crane. Seeing a pattern here? Yeah, neither of our protagonists in this movie are very likeable. Ichabod is introduced as quite the ladies man. He walks into Sleepy Hollow with his nose stuck in a book, but unlike Belle, the people of the village find their new school teacher really interesting. That, plus the fact that he’s voiced by Bing Crosby, gets him a lot of attention from the villagers. And here is where we run into our first red flag with him. He refuses to discipline his students, or even really teach his class, because this gains him favor with their mothers, which in turn gets them to cook him lots of food. This guy is addicted to food, and he openly flirts and shows favoritism with the women of the village in order to get it. All that stops, though, when he meets a girl he’s actually interested in. Initially he’s just interested in her beauty, but when the audience is invited into his daydreams about her, the audience learns that he mainly likes her because her family’s rich. What? This causes him to get into a feud with Brom Bones, who’s basically Gaston. Brom Bones has been jealous of Ichabod for the entire movie, but he’s even more jealous when Ichabod catches the attention of this girl. So Brom comes up with the story of the Headless Horseman after he discovers Ichabod is superstitious. There’s no way of knowing whether or not the Headless Horseman was actually real, but Ichabod disappears after that day and Brom marries the girl Ichabod was interested in. Which isn’t really a happy ending, but Ichabod marrying her would have been just as bad.
  • The way the women are portrayed. This was one of the most disturbing parts of the entire movie. It isn’t just that all of the women are used in this movie to fall all over Ichabod. One scene in particular shows just how badly this movie treats it’s female characters. When Ichabod is invited to a party held by the father of the woman he’s interested in, he gets into a dance fight with Brom. This isn’t the fun kind of dance fight, either. Brom keeps trying to get the love interest’s attention as she’s dancing with Ichabod, but to no avail. So he looks beside him and finds one of the women from the village. She’s cute, short, has short black hair, and is a small bit larger than the love interest. Upon sighting her, Brom shields his face from her in disgust. And the audience is supposed to side with him! He ends up taking this woman to the dance floor so he can attempt to switch his partner with Ichabod’s, meanwhile she’s shown to be annoying to dance with because she short and bouncy. This compared to the graceful, blonde, skinny woman that serves as the love interest. The whole scene, particularly the woman from the village, is played for laughs. It’s an absolutely infuriating reflection of beauty standards at the time. This scene was my least favorite in the entire movie.

This movie was one of the oddest I’ve seen from Disney. It isn’t the only one of it’s kind, either. You can find plenty of old Disney movies that didn’t age well on Disney+. Immediately after I finished this movie, my mother decided to turn on an old Mickey Mouse short. We thought it’d be a cute way to get our minds off of the movie. Instead we were met with racist Native American stereotyping. I’m not saying these movies should be wiped from Disney+. What I AM saying is that you should be careful of what you choose when you’re seeking out some of Disney’s old, lesser known content. You’d be surprised how much of it is weird or cringey. Some movies are more entertaining than others. And some you wish you could wipe from your memory entirely. This was one of those movies for me.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

Video Games: Overwatch Character Stories

Promotional image from ‘Overwatch’. Copyright goes to Blizzard Entertainment and Iron Galaxy.

Hi! It’s Annie!

I know, I’m not usually the one who posts about video games, but it’s really hard for me to not like this one. I should preface this by saying, I haven’t actually played Overwatch before. I’ve been watching more and more of the professional Overwatch league over the past couple years, especially the ‘Philadelphia Fusion’ despite the fact that I live in California. (Poko is amazing, if you haven’t watched him play I would recommend looking it up even if you don’t like E-Sports.) I’m still a newbie to E-Sports, but I’m trying to learn! But even more than that I’ve been fascinated with the animated shorts Blizzard posts on and off on Youtube. Overwatch isn’t really a plot-based game, but Blizzard Entertainment still does all they can to give their playable characters as much story as possible. In fact, if you watch all of the Overwatch shorts together, it is actually around the length of a full animated film. All this is on top of the short descriptions of backstory Blizzard already gave us. So today I decided to count down my top ten characters in Overwatch just based off of the story we’ve been given of them so far. I would also talk about the best to play, but I’m definitely not experienced enough for that, so this’ll just be story based! Also note that the shorts released so far have focused more on the good guys than the villains of Overwatch and not every hero has been featured prominently in a short. Ready? Game on!

10. Reaper

Reaper appears in several shorts as a shadowy figure, mysterious and lethal. You don’t know much about Reaper, but that’s because you aren’t supposed to. All we really know about him is that he used to be the leader of Overwatch and now he wants to kill everyone he ever worked with. Nice, right? Reaper features prominently in the short ‘Recall’, where he attacks the base Winston is stationed at and causes Winston to call all of the former members of Overwatch back. He also leads many of the other villains in the short ‘Infiltration’ where we get a good idea of just how great he can be at leading a team. Whether it’s for a good cause or a…. not so good cause. Reaper is an intimidating presence wherever they use him and part of that is because of his mystery. Unfortunately, that also has the side effect of the audience not actually knowing a whole lot about him, which is why he made the list but is so low on it. But it can’t be argued that he isn’t a scary villain.

9. Widowmaker

If Reaper is basically the leader of the terrorists, Widowmaker is is his right hand woman. Widowmaker was once a good woman married to an influential agent of Overwatch. Then she was kidnapped, had her will broken, was basically brainwashed, and sent back looking as normal as ever. No one had any suspicions of her until she killed her husband. Widowmaker has since turned into a remorseless assassin and a formidable foe for Overwatch. Widowmaker features in the short ‘Infiltration’ where she is mainly just shown carrying out the mission with everyone else. Her character development doesn’t appear until the short ‘Alive’. This short involves Tracer attempting to stop Widowmaker as she carries out a highly influential assassination (Zenyatta’s brother) while Widowmaker ruminates on assassins being called emotionless. Widowmaker concludes this short by thinking that her only true emotions come from her kills. She strikes me as the most heartless character in Overwatch, and really she’s supposed to be. Her ruthlessness is why so many people, even the ones who have barely looked into Overwatch, know the name Widowmaker.

8. Tracer

It can be argued that Tracer is the face of Overwatch. Her spiked hair and orange gear have become an iconic look for the game as well as her British accent and just generally cheery attitude. She was by far the youngest to be introduced into the Overwatch program when she first joined. After a while her ability to time jump cost her her regular life as she kept jumping between basically being a ghost and being anchored to everyone else. Still, she kept a positive outlook on life. This is probably why ‘Alive’ was such an interesting short to feature Tracer. Tracer begins the short in her regular cheery and almost over-confident mindset. When Tracer is prevented from jumping back to stop the assassination, we see her general outlook on life fall to bits. I’m all about happy endings, I hate movies with unhappy endings for the most part. But I have to admit that there is something so interesting and important in seeing a hero fail. Watching Tracer flail to find some way to prevent something that’s already happened that she would generally be able to prevent is heartbreaking. The animation on her face is heartbreaking. This is really what we needed to see to make Tracer feel more dynamic. Tracer is also in ‘Zero Hour’ quite a bit, but this is just her doing her regular hero stuff. Though her regular hero stuff is always fun to watch anyways!

7. McCree

Mccree only appears in one Overwatch short, this one being ‘Reunion’. This is one of the shorts that feels a bit more detached from the other ones, but this is still one of my favorites. McCree has always been a bit of a lone wolf, so the detached feeling really does fit his character. In this short we see McCree do what he does best, be a badass and take down people who stand in the way of his view of justice. McCree was an outlaw for a time before joining Overwatch, but after the end of Overwatch his faction turned to less than savory practices. Though McCree left and has been alone since then, he hasn’t lost any of his sense of humor. McCree keeps his emotions close to the vest, but he comes through when it counts. He is also voiced by the amazing Mathew Mercer and is just one of the most fun characters to watch do anything. I’m disappointed it isn’t high noon while I’m writing this.

6. Sombra

Sombra was orphaned and left feeling like the world could not care less about her or her people. After she was forced to delete all traces of her former life, she re-emerged as Sombra, an expert hacker and manipulator. This is definitely on display for everyone to see in ‘Infiltration’. While this short also features both Reaper and Widowmaker, somehow the standout here is Sombra. Instead of killing the target, Sombra decides to “become friends” with the target, gaining her team a powerful political official in their fight against Overwatch and everything good. While Reaper remains a mystery and Widowmaker was brainwashed, Sombra’s vialliany comes from a very real and understandable place. She’s the type of villain that you can’t help but like because of her charisma and kind of agree with because she’s got a point. Her being so understandable and likeable somehow makes her almost scarier than the others in a way.

5. Soldier 76

I think we’ve all already accepted that Solider 76 is basically everyone’s Dad. Soldier 76 is another character that’s a bit of a mystery, but we do have a bit more information on him than Reaper. Soldier 76 is a vigilante and a former member of Overwatch who has, since the falling of Overwatch, sought to shed light on the mysterious happenings behind the shut down of Overwatch. We see him featured most in the short ‘Hero’ where he doesn’t even appear until half way through. What do we see him doing here? Vigilante work and saving a little girl. Exactly what we would expect the Dad vigilante to do. Soldier 76 has never shown his face, but the warmth that this character exudes is present even without having animated facial expressions. Soldier 76 isn’t known for being particularly cheery, but people rely on his nobility and warmth to find hope again. Thanks Dad!

4. Genji

Genji’s short was probably the first thing I watched that made me fully aware of Overwatch. ‘Dragons’ is Genji confronting his brother Hanzu, who believes he killed Genji a long time ago. Genji grew up in a rich crime family and lead a playboy/ninja lifestyle while maintaining a certain distaste for his family’s business. When his brother wanted him to take more of a part in the crime business and he refused, Hanzu lost it and almost killed Genji. Brotherly love, am I right? Genji was reconstructed into a ninja cyborg by Overwatch who greatly needed his help and he has since been taking down his family’s crime business while trying to find his humanity again. Just how far Genji has come since his playboy days are very present in the short with him and his brother. He is given the chance to take revenge on his near death and instead tells his brother that life has more uses for him and leaves him alive. These kinds of revenge stories are my favorite and this is also one of the more cinematic of the shorts. Watching this one is really like watching a small movie and that alone makes Genji that much more interesting.

3. Mei

Poor Mei. Mei was a scientist for Overwatch who travelled to Antarctica during a severe storm with several other scientists. In a last effort to survive each scientist entered cryo-sleep, and only Mei ever woke up. ‘Rise and Shine’ first starts out as if it will be really cute. Mei is an adorable and happy individual who wears slippers and you can’t help but love her. Then it suddenly turns as Mei discovers over the course of the short that all the other scientists are dead. Mei did not deserve this and your heart breaks for her as she suddenly begins to sob. While many characters have tragedy in their bios, you actually see Mei’s tragedy in her short. Mei shows herself to be resilient and determined as she sees to her own rescue and is shown to be an incredibly helpful presence in ‘Zero Hour’. You just wish she could have gone through a little less.

2. Winston

Winston probably has one of the most fleshed out backstories. Winston began as a regular baby gorilla who showed incredible brain power. He was raised by a scientist named Harold Winston in a lunar colony in space. Winston became smarter than most humans with his advanced understanding of science. Unfortunately, the other gorillas in the facility killed all of the scientists and Winston took the name of his now dead caretaker and went down to Earth to join Overwatch. Why are all these backstories so sad??? Winston is the main character who is responsible for getting Overwatch back together, partly because he misses everybody so much. Really, he’s just a big softie. Much of Winston’s story is shown in ‘Recall’ via flashbacks when Winston isn’t being attacked by a vengeful Reaper in the present. But, let’s be honest, Winston is way too happy to be calling Overwatch back considering the threat. Still, Winston is one of the characters in Overwatch with the biggest heart and he’s always down for a good fight, like in ‘Zero Hour’. You can’t help but love this giant gorilla.

1. D.Va

I should prelude this by saying that I am, in fact, very biased. D.Va is my favorite Overwatch character, which you may have inferred by me talking about Poko earlier in this post. I actually dressed up as D.Va for Halloween this year, though nobody really saw it because I was just at home. ‘Shooting Star’ is another short that is a bit detached from everything else, but I like this one for the full story. Some shorts feel like parts of a story while others feel like their own side story. This is one of the stories with the most complete arc. This one and ‘Dragons’ are probably my favorite Overwatch shorts. They felt like they could easily be full movies. D.va is a former E-Gamer who was drafted into the military because of her reflexes while playing, making her perfect to pilot a mech. She’s also one of the youngest members of Overwatch. This short follows her and her friend Daehyun as D.Va learns that she doesn’t have to put all the pressure on herself and that it’s ok to ask for help sometimes. Not only is this short action packed, but it’s message is one that everyone needs to hear at some point in their lives. Also, I love literally anything that shows a female character doing something that’s seen as traditionally male; like D.Va fixing her own mech.

I think we can all agree that at this point, Overwatch needs a full length movie. We would all watch that. But until then I’ll keep watching the Overwatch league and re-watching the hour and a half of shorts that we’ve been given. I really don’t want to admit to how many times I’ve watched ‘Shooting Star’ at this point. I also really want to see more of all of these characters as well as characters we haven’t seen a whole lot from yet. Mercy seems to be a character in particular who is crying out for her own short. There’s just so much material here! I know it’s been a couple years since they last put out shorts, but I still hold out some hope! GG!

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Twins in Media: Liv and Maddie

Screenshot of Dove Cameron in ‘Liv and Maddie’. Copyright goes to Beck & Hart Productions, It’s a Laugh Productions, Oops Doughnuts Productions, and Disney Channel.

Hey! Hallie here!

‘Liv and Maddie’ was a show that came along a little while after I stopped watching Disney Channel. It wasn’t exactly influential to me when it aired, but my younger cousin watched it regularly, so it stayed on my radar. It’s probably one of the most recently popular depictions of twins in media. This show proved that audiences are still very interested in the idea of twins and popularized twins for a whole new generation. I know my cousin asked my sister and I plenty of questions about twins based on what she had seen in the show. So did this show impact twins positively or negatively? Let’s jump into it!

The Good:

  • Different Lives. I think this might be one of the best examples of this so far. Liv and Maddie grew up in the same household, but they didn’t feel obligated to do the same things. Liv decided to pursue a career in acting while Maddie didn’t really see the point. In fact, Liv decided to move away for several years when she became a series regular on a TV show. Meanwhile, Maddie decided to stay home and pursue sports. They have some of the same friends, and definitely some of the same interests, but they lead very different lives. Maddie, for example, has a much better relationship with their brother because she had been a bigger part of his life while he was growing up. But Liv, having been away from her hometown for several years, befriends Maddie’s friends first because she knows Maddie so well. This is how twins work. We might pursue different things, but in the end we know each other better than we know other people. We rely on each other for comfort in most situations, and often times that leads us to making the same friends or doing the same things. Even when that happens, though, we don’t share lives. Liv and Maddie illustrates this well.
  • Friends by choice. This comes up a few times towards the beginning of the show and I really like how it’s used. Often times the result of people viewing twins as one unit is the assumption that all twins must get along at all times. This seems to be where people come from when they approach my sister and I and say “I wish I had a twin”. It’s the idea that a twin provides another version of you, so you can have an instant friend who agrees with you all the time. But, of course, that’s ridiculous. We might agree on some things and we might have similar interests, but we’re also two different people with different thoughts and opinions. This is why I love the statement “Sisters by chance, friends by choice”. It’s definitely cheesy, but it highlights the individuality of both Liv and Maddie. They don’t have to be friends, but they choose to because they happen to have so much in common. Not all siblings are friends, but some happen to share interests that make them close. The same goes for twins.

The Bad:

  • Opposite Personalities. This, unfortunately, is the main trope holding this show back. Liv and Maddie absolutely use the opposites trope to the fullest of its extent. That’s even how they advertised the show. On every poster you’d see Liv wearing some sort of pink dress with her hair perfectly curled while Maddie would stand on the other side wearing her blue basketball uniform and glasses. Maddie is more awkward and her personality seems to revolve around the fact that she’s smart and sporty. Liv is more confident, which often comes across in the effort she puts into her appearance, and can be too self-centered to notice anything around her. Liv is an actor, which is used to make Liv glamorous and girly. Meanwhile Maddie is a basketball player, which seems to try to make her look boyish. If the show would have spent less time trying to make them seem so different, it could have created a very realistic portrayal of twins. Instead, it branded itself based off of their opposite personalities. It further communicated to audiences that twins can’t be different unless they’re VERY different, which is absolutely untrue. Twins should be recognized for their differences even if they aren’t so blatant.
  • Same actress. Dove Cameron plays both roles, and honestly, this is one of the worst twin performances I’ve seen from one actor. Even though the show takes great lengths to convince the audience of their differences, Dove Cameron can feel the same in each role. While Maddie does come off as more serious, probably because of the higher pitch Cameron uses when she’s playing Liv, both characters can often slip into just being Dove Cameron. I find this happens most in dramatic scenes. The scenes where Liv is forced to be more sad or serious, I absolutely feel like I could just as easily be watching Maddie. This is especially evident to me because, in my experience as a twin, my sister and I never react the same way to any situation, no matter how serious. We have very different reactions to something stressful or sad. I see none of that in Liv and Maddie. I just see one actress doing the same thing twice. It doesn’t help that both characters have the exact same appearance because it IS just one actress playing two characters. Twins don’t look exactly the same. That goes for identical twins, too. Even if you can’t see the differences, the twins can.

So are Liv and Maddie a good representation of twins in media? Not really. I would have given them more of the benefit of the doubt if the entire premise of the show wasn’t based on the opposites trope. But it definitely isn’t the worst representation of twins I’ve seen. It gets some important things right. So much so that I’m not all that sad that this show was the main twin representation my younger cousin saw when she was growing up. It introduces the twin characters as very different people, but it still allows them to like some of the same things. That’s a very basic trait I think is important for people to see in twin characters. Hopefully we can move past some of the less accurate things in later shows.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

Twins in Media: Phoebe and Ursula Buffay

Screenshot of Phoebe and Ursula Buffay played by Lisa Kudrow from the television series ‘Friends’. Copyright goes to Warner Bros. Television and NBC.

Hi! It’s Annie!

Welcome back to twins in media week! Hopefully this will help distract from everything happening today, because for this I chose the classic and wholesome television show ‘Friends’! This beloved show has become one of the favorites for television watchers all over the world and you would be hard-pressed to find anyone who hasn’t at least heard of ‘Friends’. I grew up watching odd episodes of friends, I only watched it all the way through for the first time a couple years ago, and Phoebe has been my favorite character since I first started watching it (though I do love Chandler’s sarcasm). I don’t know what that says about me. I guess the odd episodes I watched as a kid did not include Ursula though, because I wasn’t really aware of her existence until I sat down and watched the series all the way through. As soon as the idea was introduced I had a bad feeling it would be handled poorly. But was I right? Let’s find out!

The Good:

  • Different lives. Phoebe and Ursula live different lives to the point that they don’t see or talk to each other. They have completely separated themselves from each other and have different, friends, jobs, and live in different parts of the city. Often times Ursula will even pretend like Phoebe isn’t her sister. So, that isn’t great, but at least it means that their separate lives are a focus! They also have different relationships with the people in their lives that they do have in common. Ursula has no interest in meeting her birth mother unlike Phoebe and, at one point, dates Phoebe’s best friend, Joey.
  • Different personalities. These two are definitely different. Phoebe is a bright and cheery person who doesn’t always think the most logically. Ursula is completely detached and jaded while also seeming like the more sane of the two (not by much), even if she is kind of mean. There is a reason they don’t get along.

The Evil:

  • Evil twin. Here’s another good example of this trope! The evil twin trope is basically the opposite personalities trope turned up to eleven. One twin is essentially the good guy, the sweet one, the one that the rest of the characters like and are familiar with. Then suddenly someone comes in who looks exactly like that character and acts in a rude way, making the other characters question what got into the first character. Then it is dramatically revealed that the entire time it wasn’t the first character, but the evil twin of them instead. This trope has been used so many times in media and I’m really sick of seeing it. Yes, there is a possibility that you might get along with my sister and not me or get along with me and not my sister. But that doesn’t mean that one of us is rude or evil. And we definitely don’t want to get asked in real life which one of us is the evil twin half as much as we do. People think it’s somehow a charming question and I really fail to see how. Anyways, please stop this stereotype that makes people think we are opposites of each other or that one of us must be worse than the other. My sister and I can still be different from each other without one of us having to be nice and the other having to be mean.
  • Sibling hatred. This comes up a lot in media with all kinds of siblings, but it feels really concentrated with twins. Like somehow in order to show the audience that these are two different characters we must establish that they don’t like each other. This is really sad to see! It’s already disappointing to see so many siblings in media portrayed as unsupportive or that they just didn’t get along growing up. I know television shows believe that it’s more dramatic for siblings to help each other when they haven’t gotten along, but in this case I would prefer to see something more heartwarming over something dramatic. But this is taken to an entirely new level when you are using this as some sort of character development for your characters without giving them actual character development. I would like to see more twins who are best friends but don’t act or live exactly the same, please.
  • Same actress. This one is really obvious. I just want people to start casting actual twins, or at least just two different actors as twins, in films and television. There are nuances with twins that you don’t get when one person is playing them both. My sister and I don’t look exactly the same and no twins actually do. We don’t have the same mannerisms either, we don’t even walk the same way. Though I do doubt Ursula, or really anyone, runs quite like Phoebe does. Just stop with the one person playing two roles. And if you didn’t think this is still happening, think again. I’m looking at you Mark Ruffalo. Playing twins should not be something that is still praised as taking on a difficult acting challenge. I don’t care if you’re playing two roles at this point. Because you’re the same person, there is no way to play those roles correctly. Cast two different actors and give us the representation we actually want to see instead of championing this as an impressive feat of acting. It’s not. It’s just messed up. And yes, this does affect my sister and I because portraying twins this way makes audiences feel like twins might as well be the same entity. My sister and I actually had someone who didn’t really know us tell us that we might as well be the same person. I’m really done with this. Can you tell?
  • Weird. This is what Ursula is used for. Either comedic relief or for the writers to point out that having a twin is weird. It’s not weird. We’re regular siblings, not comedic relief.

So are Phoebe and Ursula good examples of twins in media?

No, not really. They’re actually pretty bad. But I will give them that Ursula isn’t in most of the show, so this aspect isn’t really focused on. Though I will say again that them not being focused on isn’t necessarily a good thing. I want shows and movies to focus on twins, I just want them to actually take into account real twins when they try to portray twins. People think that twins are treated regularly so they don’t have to do research when portraying them. You should be doing research when attempting to portray any person who lives a life differently from you. I love Phoebe so much, but at this rate they just should have cut out the sister if they were going to portray her like this. But at least I can still enjoy ‘Friends’ without Ursula being present for too much of it! Now if you haven’t and you still can, GO VOTE!

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Video Games: Top 10 Animal Crossing Special Characters

Screenshot of Isabelle from ‘Animal Crossing: New Horizons’. Copyright goes to Nintendo.

Hey! Hallie here!

When I’m stressed out, games like ‘Animal Crossing’ always bring me a little bit of peace and a little bit of happiness. A lot of players, such as myself, get a lot of satisfaction out of which villagers occupy our islands and which ones we interact with the most. But I also think it’s important to give some credit to the characters that stick with you regardless of which villagers are present. I see a lot of lists dedicated to the best villagers, but I love so many of the other characters, I thought it was time to give them a spotlight. For this list, I’m not going to limit myself to just one game. There are too many characters in Animal Crossing that deserve love regardless of when we met them! With that out of the way, let’s get into my top ten characters!

  1. Tom Nook. Tom Nook is basically the devil, but let’s be honest, ‘Animal Crossing’ wouldn’t be the same without him. He provides every player, no matter which version of ‘Animal Crossing’ you’re playing, with a place to stay and an accompanying ridiculously expensive debt to pay off. It isn’t impossible to pay off, though. After days and days of playing, you might actually gain enough Bells to pay off what Tom Nook sold you. So that’s over with, right? No. Because you’re house is always pitifully small when Tom Nook offers it to you. So, of course, you want to upgrade. Which costs even more money than you originally had to pay. Tom Nook is on a mission to own your soul, and with the amount of Bells you owe him, he’s succeeding. He’s also kind of a jerk about it the entire time. What’s really interesting about Nook, however, is that he’s a racoon of mystery. Everyone has a strange speculation or some interesting info about his checkered past. We might never know who he really is.
  1. Celeste. Celeste is the younger sister of fellow owl, Blathers. She’s one of the most adorable characters in the game, and that isn’t an opinion. Her overlarge pink bow and checkered belly are too cute not to notice. Celeste worked in the Museum with Blathers for many of the ‘Animal Crossing’ games. She was always in charge of the Observatory because of her love of constellations. As she was in charge of the Observatory, she would allow the player to search for constellations, or create and name their own. In ‘New Horizons’ she wanders around at night to wait for Meteor Showers. One of the best things about Celeste, though, can only be seen while she’s working at the Museum. She’s wide awake at night, but come across her at any other time and she’ll be asleep on the job. Me too, Celeste. Me too.
  1. Kicks. Kicks is a skunk who sells shoes and socks. In some variations of ‘Animal Crossing’ he only shines your shoes, which results in the players shoes changing color to match their outfit. Regardless of how successful Kicks is with his business at the present moment, he’s an admirably humble guy. He hasn’t quite reached the success of any of the other shop owners in ‘Animal Crossing’. He works on the street in some versions of the game. Despite that, Kicks is a pretty chipper skunk and he’s always willing to start a friendly conversation. Kicks is the kind of skunk you want to root for. Here’s to hoping that he gets to keep his own store in later ‘Animal Crossing’ games.
  1. Brewster. Brewster is a pigeon who owns a coffee shop called The Roost. While he’s been in many ‘Animal Crossing’ games, he has yet to be introduced in ‘New Horizons’. Players who have only played ‘New Horizons’ are really missing out on this character. He’s pretty closed off, but the more that you visit The Roost, the more he’ll open up to you. His best friend is Blathers, who helped him get back on his feet after Brewster’s coffee shop in the city closed down. The entire reason The Roost exists is because Blathers suggested Brewster should continue his business inside the Museum. If Brewster is comfortable with the player, he’ll also reveal to them his love of gyroids and will offer to store the players gyroids for them. Brewster is ultimately a very interesting and helpful character. You just have to drink your coffee scalding hot in order to gain his trust.
  1. Mabel Able. Mabel is the bright, cheery, and eager co-owner of Able Sisters. She’s the first to greet the player whenever they walk into Able Sisters. She’s easily recognizable by her blue spikes, green apron, and the speed at which she’ll run after you while you’re shopping in her store. Able doesn’t say much about her past, but she’ll talk to you about literally anything else. She’s friendly and she works very hard to make sure customers are satisfied with her services. She’s also very understanding of her sister, Sable. Sable is shy and introverted, so if you’re attempting to talk to her while she’s working, Mabel will firmly but kindly steer you away from her sister. Mabel is worth mentioning simply for her general warmth.
  1. Sable Able. Often times I find people mention Mabel more than Sable because Mabel tends to be more personable. But if you visit Sable everyday, she’ll gladly become friends with you. Sable, just like Brewster, takes a few visits to warm to the player. But when she does, you’ll realize exactly why she’s such an amazing character. Sable raised Mabel on her own after both their parents tragically died in a car crash. Which is kind of dark for a game like ‘Animal Crossing’. Sable was an excellent sister, and even more interesting, a close friend to Tom Nook. The two grew up together. She also harbors resentment towards her sister Labelle, who she feels left her to raise Mabel alone after their parents died. Sable is possibly the most interesting, and strangely dramatic, character in ‘Animal Crossing’.
  1. Rover. Rover, in many games, was the first character the player met when they started the game. This cat provided a very friendly face for the new players to get to know as they created their character. He always served the role of looking after the player. He’d express concern and excitement for characters moving to a new place, and in some games, would help the player set up their game before they even started playing. Often times his presence was necessary because, let’s be honest, it’s just a bit creepy when you’re left alone in a bus with Kapp’n. Rover is the first friend I made in an ‘Animal Crossing’ game, and for that he’s become one of my favorite characters.
  1. K.K. Slider. K.K. Slider is effortlessly cool. He’s the dog you can’t afford to miss. Whether he’s playing at The Roost, or he’s randomly wandering around, his music is one of the highlights of any ‘Animal Crossing’. Not that it’s a masterpiece. It’s performed in Animalese, which is cute but not necessarily pleasing to listen to. Still, seeing him perform a concert is a rare occurrence. You have to catch him at just the right time. But when you do catch him, he’ll gift you whatever song you let him perform. You can even make requests once you’ve heard some of his songs. He’s a laid back guy, but he’s passionate about performing for whoever he can. It feels like a serious accomplishment when you finally get to see him play.
  1. Isabelle. I’ve heard some players find Isabelle annoying, but I can’t really see it. She’s immediately sweet to the player once they meet her, and she’s eager to help the player with whatever they desire to do. She’s also an insanely adorable, yellow Shih Tzu. She makes it her job to get to know every villager because she views them all as family. She doesn’t like confrontation, but she will step in if someone is being unnecessarily mean. She can also be clumsy and forgetful, but her nineteen engineering degrees argue that she’s very intelligent. Isabelle does her best to provide whatever the player needs for their village or island. In some situations she’ll even take the entire workload on herself. Honestly, Isabelle deserves a long break and a large hug.
  1. Blathers. Blathers is the director of the Museum. He can often be found sleeping in the Museum entrance. He’s an owl, can you blame him? If you come around at night, however, he’s energetic and happy to help. He’s eager to talk to the player, whether it be facts about whatever they have decided to donate to the Museum, or even himself. Because of that, he has one of the most detailed backstories out of any character in the ‘Animal Crossing’ series. Blathers grew up in the city and earned various degrees. His goal was to get a Doctorate, but before he could, a professor approached him with a vacant Museum director job in the country. Blathers enjoys the job, but he also possesses a serious fear of bugs, which is unfortunate considering how large the bug section in the Museum is. If a mantis egg case broke and thousands of mantises flew at your face, you’d be terrified too. Blathers has proved to be a caring friend and a hardworking director. You can’t help but love to support him.

There’s my list! There are so many loveable characters to get to know in the ‘Animal Crossing’ series. So many still lack stories, as well. Hopefully, as the game continues to grow and develop, we’ll get to know more about the animal characters we’ve all grown to love so much. In any case, now is a great time to revisit your village or island. ‘Animal Crossing’ is a relaxing escape into a world full of bright, cute, characters. Take some of the work off of Isabelle! We all know she needs some help!

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

Book Adaptations: Peter Pan

Screenshot from Disney’s ‘Peter Pan’ (1953) starring Bobby Driscoll and Kathryn Beaumont. Copyright goes to Walt Disney Productions and RKO Radio Pictures.

Hi! It’s Annie!

Happy November everyone! Now that we’re back to our regular posts, I wanted to cover a piece of media that is one of the most nostalgic for me. When I was younger I considered myself a Lost Girl (and kind of still do). Neverland was an escape for me more than any other fictional place; even more than Hogwarts which also meant a lot to me at the time. My parents knew when I was having a bad day because I was in front of the television watching Disney’s ‘Peter Pan’. I mean, what’s not to love (other than the racism that I made a point of skipping most of the time I watched the movie)? I wanted to go to the mermaid lagoon, I wanted to go marching through the forests with the Lost Boys, I wanted to battle pirates, and most of all I wanted to go flying with Peter Pan and Tinkerbell. There are so many adaptations of Peter Pan that I can’t possibly talk about them all, so instead I’m going to rank my favorites. I’m also going to remind you to NEVER watch ‘Pan’ because it’s absolutely awful. Ready? Off to Neverland!

7. Return To Neverland:

This straight to DVD sequel is not necessarily the best of movies. The plot is pretty shallow and the main character, Wendy’s daughter Jane, can be pretty annoying. The story follows her as she is kidnapped by Hook who mistakes her for Wendy and she works for Hook through some of the movie in an attempt to get home, as she does not believe in Neverland. I mean, she almost kills Tinkerbell! Then again, Tinkerbell almost kills her Mom in the first movie so I guess you could consider it payback. The real reason to watch this movie for me, is the character of Peter Pan himself. Peter Pan is extremely charming in this film and an absolute joy to watch. Obviously, this movie came out decades after the original film, so Bobby Driscoll was no longer around to voice him. But Blayne Weaver who voices Pan in this installment is both great at capturing the same energy and a very charming rendition of the character. He has voiced Peter Pan for Disney in just about everything since. Though Peter Pan is charming and loveable in the first movie, there’s still something about the character that Walt Disney himself found a bit lacking. Walt Disney thought Peter Pan was too self-centered and mean in the original film, and if you look you can kind of see it. This rendition of Pan tones down his self-centeredness and gives the audience the version of the character that Walt originally wanted. Though I love both versions of the character, I can respect what they did with Peter Pan here. And the entire movie is made worth it just by the reunion scene between Peter and Wendy at the end of the film.

6. Tinkerbell:

This isn’t exactly a direct rendition of Peter Pan. Years ago, Disney released a series of books based in a place inhabited by fairies in Neverland called Pixie Hollow. I grew up with these books and absolutely loved Pixie Hollow. I still have a few of the books sitting on my bookshelf. A few years after most of these books had come out, Disney decided to create movies based off of Tinkerbell and her friends in these books; but with massive changes. Instead of using Tinkerbell’s main friends from the book, they bumped up a bunch of barely mentioned side characters so that they could do their own characterization. I refused to watch the first Tinkerbell movie for years because of this, but I’ve definitely warmed to the movie and characters since then. The movies in the Tinkerbell series are definitely made for children and definitely cheesy, but they are really cute watches. You’re not going to cry or anything while watching these, they aren’t that emotional (unless you’re watching ‘Tinkerbell and the Neverbeast’ because that ending came out of nowhere…don’t judge me), but there’s enjoyment to be had here. I’ve been compared to Silvermist several times at this point, and I’m definitely not mad. The movies may be cheesy, but the magic of Neverland is in them.

5. Finding Neverland:

This movie became so popular that they made it into a Broadway musical that I actually watched a couple years back. It was cute, as is this movie. This movie is a overly fictionalized view at the life of the author of Peter Pan, J.M. Barrie. It’s a well written and heartwarming story and I can see why it got so popular. But it’s difficult for me to watch this movie and not remember the dark parts of J.M. Barrie’s life. Barrie, much like Lewis Caroll, was also accused of being a pedophile after he became close to a widow in order to get close to her children. Though the kids were questioned as to whether he behaved strangely towards them and all of them denied it. That doesn’t take away from the fact that he changed the will of the widow after her death to place himself as one of the main care-takers of all of the children. Because that did really happen. Also, for the love of God don’t look up any of the children unless you want to be depressed. So, as long as you don’t look up anything farther about how fictionalized this really is; this is a pretty wholesome watch.

4. Peter Pan Goes Wrong:

This is another of ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’ series, and is the most hilarious of all of them in my opinion. If you can get your hands on it, it is definitely worth the watch. I was crying so hard from laughter the first time I watched this that I kept having to pause it or rewind because I either couldn’t hear or see the screen. If you want to see an actor playing Michael who forgets his lines so much that he is loudly paged them through a large set of headphones, a man as the dog Nana getting stuck in various parts of the set, several Peter Pan’s getting injured due to faulty flight mechanisms, and Captain Hook rowing in a public pool, this is for you. Though this isn’t a direct adaptation of Peter Pan either, it is an adaptation of the story and it is the best play adaptation of this you will ever see. If you want to laugh so hard you cry, definitely go for this one. I do apologize because this one can be difficult to find.

3. Peter Pan (2003):

This is the absolute classic starring Jeremy Sumpter that resulted in almost everyone having a crush on Peter Pan. This movie captures the true magic of the original novel while also spending a lot more time on the relationship between Peter and Wendy than most adaptations do. Jason Isaacs will always be a real force to be reckoned with as Hook and Peter Pan is quite possibly the most charming he ever is in this movie. This was the Peter Pan movie that made Neverland the most real to me. Seeing how magically and realistically it was shown in this movie made the audience feel like it could be a real place. If you want to feel like you are truly being transported to Neverland; watch this movie. It is one of the best escapes in a film you will ever find.

2. Peter Pan (1953):

Ah, the original Disney classic. This is the one I grew up with. This is the one that I watched when I had a bad day. This is the one I’m most nostalgic for. Though Peter Pan is, admittedly, pretty self-centered in this version, he is that mostly because he’s a child. He’s still in the “look what I can do!” phase. But he always comes through when it counts, like relenting and taking Wendy, John, and Michael back home at the end of the movie. He is the spirit of youth and childhood, and that definitely doesn’t make him flawless. The Disney 2D art style that makes the entire film look like it’s a painting and the effortless charm of Peter Pan when he’s fighting pirates is really what makes this movie. This is the movie that truly showed audiences everything that Neverland and Peter Pan could be, and it is absolutely loveable for it. I watched this movie so many times that I can probably quote the entire thing. It’s that bad.

1. Hook:

Starring the absolute great who is possibly my favorite actor of all time, Robin Williams, this film explores what it really means to be young at heart. Robin Williams plays Peter Pan who grew up after deciding to marry Wendy’s granddaughter and have children of his own. He has since forgotten about Neverland, now believing it to be a dream, and works a boring job where he has lost his youth completely and now can’t pay as much attention to his children. When he realizes he must now save his children from Hook who still has a vendetta against him, he returns to Neverland and discovers he must relearn what it’s like to be young in order to save his children. This is another one of my favorite movies of all time. Robin Williams is a charming and wholesome Peter Pan and this film has risen into infamy just because Prince Zuko, Dante Basco, plays Rufio so well. Not only is this movie cute and absolutely magical, but it’s message about always remembering what it’s like to be young makes me cry every time. If you haven’t watched this movie, absolutely go watch it right now! There is no excuse, it’s Robin Williams for crying out loud!

Peter Pan has always meant so much to me and I know I’ll always be a Lost Girl at heart. Literally any chance I get to immerse myself in the world of Neverland, I will take. Another movie featuring Peter Pan is coming out soon, ‘Come Away’ which features the stories of both Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland. I’m really excited to see that one and to finally see Hollywood letting children of color portray these roles. This really should have happened a long time ago. Hopefully you saw an adaptation of Peter Pan on this list that you haven’t watched that interests you. Happy watching! RUFIO!

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie