greenie_breizh (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
greenie_breizh) wrote2008-12-15 03:35 pm
greenie_breizh) wrote2008-12-15 03:35 pm
Twilight-angry and Madagascar-happy
Okay. So for some reason instead of jotting down the beginning of some notes for my Buffy paper I've been read these excellent (because funny) summaries of Twilight, with actual quotes! (As seen on TV.)
Well. Twilight has just turned into more than an idiotic, backwards book series. I'm officially terrified. This is an excerpt from the book. For real. (For those of you who are lucky enough to not know, the books are narrated in the first person by the female protagonist, Bella.)
[Jacob's] lips crushed mine, stopping my protest. He kissed me angrily, roughly, his other hand gripping tight around the back of my neck, making escape impossible. I shoved against his chest with all my strength, but he didn't even seem to notice. His mouth was soft, despite the anger, his lips molding to mine in a warm, unfamiliar way.
I grabbed at his face, trying to push it away, failing again. He seemed to notice this time, though, and it aggravated him. His lips forced mine open, and I could feel his hot breath in my mouth.
Acting on instinct, I let my hands drop to my side, and shut down. I opened my eyes and didn't fight, didn't feel . . . just waited for him to stop.
[Finally she punched him and injuries herself because he's a werewolf and thus his skin is like rock or something. And then apparently they argue over whether or not she was kissing him back. Then they move into the kitchen where they meet Charlie, Bella's father.]
"Hey, Charlie," Jacob answered casually, pausing. I stalked on to the kitchen.
"What's wrong with her?" Charlie [Bella's dad] wondered.
"She thinks she broke her hand," I heard Jacob tell him. I went to the freezer and pulled out a tray of ice cubes.
"How did she do that?" As my father, I thought Charlie ought to sound a bit less amused and a bit more concerned.
Jacob laughed. "She hit me."
Charlie laughed, too, and I scowled while I beat the tray against the edge of the sink. The ice scattered inside the basin, and I grabbed a handful with my good hand and wrapped the cubes in the dishcloth on the counter.
"Why did she hit you?"
"Because I kissed her," Jacob said, unashamed.
"Good for you, kid," Charlie congratulated him.
--
WHAT. THE. FUCK. WTFWTFWTFWTF. I can't take this.
Later, Charlie does tell Bella, "No matter what side I'm on, if someone kisses you without your permission, you should be able to make your feelings clear without hurting yourself. You didn't keep your thumb inside your fist, did you?"
Would someone tell me why, then, he LAUGHED and CONGRATULATED the guy who ASSAULTED HIS DAUGHTER???!!!!
OMGWTFBBQ. I'm seriously horrified. HORRIFIED. This is a book girls and mothers LOVE.
Bella: "But I don't count that as a kiss, Jacob. I think of it more as an assault." I'm glad at least SOMEONE realizes.
I guess it's okay because Bella does end up with Edward, not Jacob. All Edward does is get into her house to watch her asleep uninvited. Not creepy or stalkerish AT ALL. Oh, he's also controlling and possessive. But he doesn't try to rape her, so I guess it's all good. That and he doesn't want to have sex before marriage (while Bella, the foolish female, wants to). Obviously a sign he's the Right One and that this is a healthy relationship.
Jesus Fucking Christ.
On a nicer note, I went to see Madagscar 2 tonight"> and Alex/Alakay the lion saves the day by dancing and without hurting anyone. Now that's the kind of stuff I can enjoy.
The movie also did not have Alex find the perfect lionness to spend the rest of his life with (not that the movie lacks heterosexual romance, rest easy), he basically just hangs out with his buddy Marty (who doesn't have any interest in any female, either). The fact that Alex likes to dance - and does it very well - is not feminized, and while his style is not ballet all the way, it's definitely not just a kind of manly hip-hop dancing, and much closer to feminized dancing forms (including ballet). Of course, the dancing is used to get him mocked and accused of not being a "real lion", in a pretty transparent metaphor for not being a real man. I was really afraid that Alex would then go on to prove his worth to his father by winning some kind of important fight, but turns out that the father and the son reunite by dancing together. Seriously, how awesome?
(Marty's response to Alex saying he wants to prove to his dad that he's a real lion, is, "As opposed to what, a *chocolate* lion?" Because he's awesome like that.)
There's also the fact that the most badass character in the movie is a little old lady with a lovely purse and enough charisma to lead a pack of New Yorkers lost in the wild. Heee.
I found interesting that the only marriage takes place is between a (male) penguin and a (female) doll, especially when the two other protagonists, Gloria the hippotamus and Melman the giraffe, are framed as not being particularly interested in marriage. They're also an interracial - literally - couple...
Also King Julian cross-dresses and when he asks the crowd who was attracted to him, all the lemurians go wild. In all fairness, this could be because the lemurians are idiots who would jump down a cliff if their King asked them to, but hey, I'll take those idiots over the ones in Twilight ANY DAY.
And. The union of chimp workers demands maternity leave. Like, that's their deal breaker if the penguin bosses want them to resume work. So maternity leave is their top issue... even though the chimps are all male.
That said, the bad guy is an evil male lion who cares about his hair and likes having a purse, so, um, Alex's not the only one coded gay in there.
There were also a bunch of things that could be read as a Western/Third World where the west is more advanced, more open-minded, all that sort of stuff, but it was pretty subdued, considering how heavy-handed that message is in so many movies.
Overall, it wasn't quite as good as the 1st one (and the 1st one did really have anything about sexuality in it, did it?), but it was good. Definitely good. :) :)
--
This reminds me, I can't remember if I said, but man, how much do I wish the people who made Wall-E had not felt the need to give Wall-E and Eve gendered voices. It would have been so awesome, had both their voices been neutral. They wouldn't be coded male, female, gay, straight. They would just be robots in love and we would have no words to talk about that story. I love the thought.
Well. Twilight has just turned into more than an idiotic, backwards book series. I'm officially terrified. This is an excerpt from the book. For real. (For those of you who are lucky enough to not know, the books are narrated in the first person by the female protagonist, Bella.)
[Jacob's] lips crushed mine, stopping my protest. He kissed me angrily, roughly, his other hand gripping tight around the back of my neck, making escape impossible. I shoved against his chest with all my strength, but he didn't even seem to notice. His mouth was soft, despite the anger, his lips molding to mine in a warm, unfamiliar way.
I grabbed at his face, trying to push it away, failing again. He seemed to notice this time, though, and it aggravated him. His lips forced mine open, and I could feel his hot breath in my mouth.
Acting on instinct, I let my hands drop to my side, and shut down. I opened my eyes and didn't fight, didn't feel . . . just waited for him to stop.
[Finally she punched him and injuries herself because he's a werewolf and thus his skin is like rock or something. And then apparently they argue over whether or not she was kissing him back. Then they move into the kitchen where they meet Charlie, Bella's father.]
"Hey, Charlie," Jacob answered casually, pausing. I stalked on to the kitchen.
"What's wrong with her?" Charlie [Bella's dad] wondered.
"She thinks she broke her hand," I heard Jacob tell him. I went to the freezer and pulled out a tray of ice cubes.
"How did she do that?" As my father, I thought Charlie ought to sound a bit less amused and a bit more concerned.
Jacob laughed. "She hit me."
Charlie laughed, too, and I scowled while I beat the tray against the edge of the sink. The ice scattered inside the basin, and I grabbed a handful with my good hand and wrapped the cubes in the dishcloth on the counter.
"Why did she hit you?"
"Because I kissed her," Jacob said, unashamed.
"Good for you, kid," Charlie congratulated him.
--
WHAT. THE. FUCK. WTFWTFWTFWTF. I can't take this.
Later, Charlie does tell Bella, "No matter what side I'm on, if someone kisses you without your permission, you should be able to make your feelings clear without hurting yourself. You didn't keep your thumb inside your fist, did you?"
Would someone tell me why, then, he LAUGHED and CONGRATULATED the guy who ASSAULTED HIS DAUGHTER???!!!!
OMGWTFBBQ. I'm seriously horrified. HORRIFIED. This is a book girls and mothers LOVE.
Bella: "But I don't count that as a kiss, Jacob. I think of it more as an assault." I'm glad at least SOMEONE realizes.
I guess it's okay because Bella does end up with Edward, not Jacob. All Edward does is get into her house to watch her asleep uninvited. Not creepy or stalkerish AT ALL. Oh, he's also controlling and possessive. But he doesn't try to rape her, so I guess it's all good. That and he doesn't want to have sex before marriage (while Bella, the foolish female, wants to). Obviously a sign he's the Right One and that this is a healthy relationship.
Jesus Fucking Christ.
On a nicer note, I went to see Madagscar 2 tonight"> and Alex/Alakay the lion saves the day by dancing and without hurting anyone. Now that's the kind of stuff I can enjoy.
The movie also did not have Alex find the perfect lionness to spend the rest of his life with (not that the movie lacks heterosexual romance, rest easy), he basically just hangs out with his buddy Marty (who doesn't have any interest in any female, either). The fact that Alex likes to dance - and does it very well - is not feminized, and while his style is not ballet all the way, it's definitely not just a kind of manly hip-hop dancing, and much closer to feminized dancing forms (including ballet). Of course, the dancing is used to get him mocked and accused of not being a "real lion", in a pretty transparent metaphor for not being a real man. I was really afraid that Alex would then go on to prove his worth to his father by winning some kind of important fight, but turns out that the father and the son reunite by dancing together. Seriously, how awesome?
(Marty's response to Alex saying he wants to prove to his dad that he's a real lion, is, "As opposed to what, a *chocolate* lion?" Because he's awesome like that.)
There's also the fact that the most badass character in the movie is a little old lady with a lovely purse and enough charisma to lead a pack of New Yorkers lost in the wild. Heee.
I found interesting that the only marriage takes place is between a (male) penguin and a (female) doll, especially when the two other protagonists, Gloria the hippotamus and Melman the giraffe, are framed as not being particularly interested in marriage. They're also an interracial - literally - couple...
Also King Julian cross-dresses and when he asks the crowd who was attracted to him, all the lemurians go wild. In all fairness, this could be because the lemurians are idiots who would jump down a cliff if their King asked them to, but hey, I'll take those idiots over the ones in Twilight ANY DAY.
And. The union of chimp workers demands maternity leave. Like, that's their deal breaker if the penguin bosses want them to resume work. So maternity leave is their top issue... even though the chimps are all male.
That said, the bad guy is an evil male lion who cares about his hair and likes having a purse, so, um, Alex's not the only one coded gay in there.
There were also a bunch of things that could be read as a Western/Third World where the west is more advanced, more open-minded, all that sort of stuff, but it was pretty subdued, considering how heavy-handed that message is in so many movies.
Overall, it wasn't quite as good as the 1st one (and the 1st one did really have anything about sexuality in it, did it?), but it was good. Definitely good. :) :)
--
This reminds me, I can't remember if I said, but man, how much do I wish the people who made Wall-E had not felt the need to give Wall-E and Eve gendered voices. It would have been so awesome, had both their voices been neutral. They wouldn't be coded male, female, gay, straight. They would just be robots in love and we would have no words to talk about that story. I love the thought.
no subject
Here is a different take on Twilight though: http://helen-keeble.livejournal.com/74065.html#cutid1 . Sometimes I think we forget what it's like to be a teenager, now that we're SO OLD.
no subject
That post brings up a lot of very good points - thanks for linking me to it! It's definitely the adults who are loving this stuff and recommending that scare me most; generally speaking, I don't care much for Twilight. It's visibly bad the way a lot of popular books are. But the dad not reacting to her daughter being assaulted? Yeah, that fucking creeped me out. >.>
no subject
I think Twilight is a case of people only looking at the surface and not at the very scary subtext. The subtext may be blatant to us, but that's cause we're used to looking for things like that. And as Robert Pattinson said in an interview:
"I was convinced... that Stephenie was convinced... that she was Bella... and it was like a book that wasn't supposed to be published. And you're reading like, her sort of sexual fantasy. [...] I was like, This woman is mad. She's completely mad, and she's in love with her own fictional creation. And sometimes you'd like feel uncomfortable reading this thing. [...] It's kind of... like a sick pleasure."
I completely love RPatz and Kristen Stewart, cause they all realize how nuts Stephenie Meyer and her books are. Every interview I've seen with them just keeps confirming this.
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no subject
But yeah, they missed a golden opportunity there. Especially since both robots are not heavily gendered either way - Eve is slick and pretty, but also the one that relies on force; Wall-E is frail but more rough around the edges. I think both robots could easily be read either as male or female, so it really comes down to the voices.
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Now that makes me wonder if their voices had been gender-neutral, if people would still have read it as heterosexual solely because of the names. I guess so, they'd be holding on to whatever they could find, but it'd be interesting.
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They would have. I wich there was no way to associate a gender and you could read it as just love, genderless, 'cause there not human and it's an occasion to show a love story without the notion of heterosexuality/homosexuality and the possible variations. Oh, well.
no subject
Um. Get a fucking restraining order, mkay? *brain breaks*
But I'm interested to hear about Madagascar in this way, I haven't seen it yet but it seems like a smarter movie ticket than the freaking vampire movie.
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Madagascar is 100 times better than Twilight to spend a movie ticket on, but in all fairness, it's a totally different project and potentially a totally different audience.
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Twilight j'ai été sympa, j'en ai lu une page presque entière. Quand dès la première phrase, j'arrive à voir à quel point c'est mal écrit alors que c'est en anglais, j'insiste même pas.
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Ouais, j'ai même pas le courage d'essayer perso. J'ai mieux à faire de mon temps. ;)
no subject
Ça n'empêche pas que j'ai l'intention de
télécharger illégalementvoir le film rien que pour Cedric Diggory (si si c'est son vrai nom)…no subject