I Watched The Greatest Showman And Have Been Singingrewrite The Stars For Four Days Straight.

I watched the Greatest Showman and have been singing “rewrite the stars” for four days straight.

(but seriously, why did I not know P.T. Barnum’s actual story until like...this year??? It’s fucked up).

I was rewatching Shadow and Bone season 1 and I got to that part where Inej and Jesper are briefly stage performers and like...that would’ve actually been a viable career plan for them?

Like, Inej obviously grew up in a caravan and performing and loves walking tightropes. Jesper can do his sharpshooting them. Kazzle Dazzle would do magic tricks (Jesper trains him not to scare small children with his permanent scowl). Wylan would compose music for the acts and help with special effects and wherever else you can use chemistry and bombs in a performance troupe. Idk what Matthias and Nina would do, though. Maybe Matthias would be some kind of strongman or behind-the-scenes. Nina...idk. Put her all into dancing.

My thoughts on the Eternals SPOILERS

Two years late, I finally got around to watching Marvels “Eternals.” And I obviously have to write a ridiculously long tumblr post on what I thought about it.

I think something that made me appreciate it a lot more on a rewatch was realizing that this was never supposed to be a standard Marvel movie. My first watch had me complaining that more than half the film was spent getting the gang back together, instead of on cool action scenes. But “Eternals” isn’t an action movie at all, though its actions scenes are great. It’s a film about family.

Second: let’s discuss the characters, who are at the heart of this story.

I don’t agree that every character was completely underdeveloped. They all have very distinct personalities, for starters: Ajak, the mom of the group; Ikaris, the little bitch--sorry, I mean PERFECT SOLDIER--Sersi, the goody-two-shoes; Phastos, the smart one; Druig, the hangry one; Makkari, our fave speedster/hoarder; Sprite, the sarcastic one; Gilgamesh, the lovable giant; Thena, the badass-who-still-struggles-with-mental-health, the quiet but strong type; and Kingo, the funny one who loves his family and is SUPER extra, as befits a Bollywood star. HOWEVER, they definitely needed more than a 3-hour movie to develop them.

For example: Why was Ajak the Prime Eternal? Her power is healing, not fighting. While I liked that deviation from traditional superhero roles, why did Arishem choose HER instead of, say, Ikaris to remember their past lifetimes and lead the team? I love Ajak a lot more than Ikaris and she seemed to actually be a great leader. I just want to figure out Arishem’s motivation.

And speaking of Ikaris, WHY was he so devoted? The others got the whole “duty, no interfering with humans” spiel from Ajak, but they still have critical thinking skills. Why was Ikaris so ready to turn against the people he considered family and kill a leader he seemed to genuinely respect and love as a mother figure? Why did he leave Sersi? Why was everyone so happy to fight him at the end? Like, Ikaris is annoying as shit (this post is not Ikaris-stan-friendly, I’m sorry), but the movie’s whole thing is family??? But...they all wanted to kill the one guy who turns out to be a villain at the end? Thena already seemed a little annoyed with him in Babylon at the beginning of the movie, but how about a few glimpses of the others getting annoyed with his know-it-all-ism?

Sersi. Sersi, Sersi, Sersi. I wanted to love you so bad. My main problem with Sersi, after careful consideration of why i found her character annoying, really isn’t that she’s softer than say, Thena, or cries more than Makkari; it’s that it feels like she doesn’t really have...more than three emotions? Happy, confused, and sad. For example, when Ikarkis reveals that he’s killed Ajak, she kind of just cries until he goes away. She looks at him kind of sadly when he’s defeated and flies into the sun. How about some anger through those tears? Let her cry and stuff for her ex-husband of 500 years. But show me that she can have “uglier” moments, too. I did love that they showed her moving on with Dane, though. We love a gal who knows her worth. I also would’ve loved to see her standoffish from Ikaris when he comes back. The guy abandoned her with seemingly no explanation 500 years ago. Keep him several arms’ lengths away, girl.

No notes on Druig. I love him so much. I’ve been converted into a Barry Keoghan stan and I have no regrets.

Makkari I felt like was also pretty cool. We know she’s a speedster, a hoarder, the only person Druig can tolerate for more than thirty seconds at a time, is generally the cheery one, but also has her dark side, like (rightfully) trying AND ALMOST SUCCEEDING to kill Ikaris after he almost kills Druig. My only criticism is that the deleted scene of her talking to Sprite was cut! Like, that was so good! More on that in the Sprite section, but we get a bit of Makkari’s motivations for wanting to stop the Emergence.

Phastos was also cool. I feel like we got what we needed to know about him--the dangers of technology and how it’s used, how he regained his faith in humanity, etc.--but not really his relationship with the other Eternals. That’s actually something that could’ve been improved on in general. They all really feel like a family, but there’s not much in the way of their individual relationships (Makkari and Sprite, Phastos and Druig, Ikaris and Gilgamesh...)

Sprite’s thing about being in love with Ikaris was stupid and cringey. Her conflict about not being able to grow up and experience what she wants is a lot more interesting, but for some reason, they decided not to explore that! It should’ve been her ultimate motivation and set up from the start of the movie. Her deleted scene with Makkari has her talking about how Babylon was their only real home on this planet, again setting up how Sprite’s never really fit in here.

Gilgamesh didn’t last long (*Sob*), but we get a pretty good feel for who he is. But why didn’t they mention his death again apart from Thena? Like...Makkari and Phastos never reunited with him! Why didn’t we also get their reactions to his death as well as Ajak’s?

I LOVE THENA. No notes.

I also love Kingo. I love how they kind of went in a grey area with him, with him being devoted to Arishem and not agreeing with stopping the Emergence, but refusing to hurt his family the way Ikaris did. I thought that was an unusual and much-appreciated angle to take.

Ikaris and Sersi, obviously, had no chemistry, and while I agree that in present-day, they’re probably SUPPOSED to feel like an awkward, divorced couple, even in their Babylon love story they feel like...two actors who are being forced to pretend to be in love for a paycheck. Like, I’m sure Gemma and Richard are great actors individually but together it doesn’t work. Was I supposed to feel sad that they broke up and wonder why the hell Ikaris left? Nah. I cringed. I skipped over their dry sex scene. I looked for Druig eating fruit during their wedding.

Druig and Makkari though? THEY HAVE MY FUCKING HEART AND SOUL AND MIND AND BODY. I love them, I love them, I love them. I will always love them till the day I die.

I also loved how Thena and Gilgamesh’s relationship can be interpreted as ride-or-die besties or old-married-couple or a mix of both, rather than a romance being forced down your throat. Refreshing angle to take, once again.

This movie was refreshing for phase 4 because, unlike CERTAIN FILMS (*cough* thorloveandthunder *cough*), there’s dialogue outside of cheap comedy. A visually stunning movie. I didn’t think it was as bad as a lot of people said, but I also think it would’ve been soooo much better as a miniseries, with more time to explore each eternal.

You know what we should normalize in YA fiction?

Love triangles that ACTUALLY CONTRIBUTE SOMETHING TO THE STORY.

Like, the hunger games gets ragged on a lot for its unnecessary love triangle, but the boys represent katniss choosing a life of war and anger or a life of peace and hope. Gale=war, Peeta=peace. The boys are their own characters, and the love triangle does get annoying at times, but it still adds to the themes of the trilogy.

I found my Keeper of the Lost Cities books, which is what got me thinking about this in the first place, and wouldn’t it have been cool if shannon messenger went that route with fitz and keefe? Like, Fitz represents Sophie’s old life, the pressures other people put on her (and that she puts on herself), etc., with Keefe representing a new life for her and freedom to discover who she is outside of being a prodigy/moonlark, etc. I just wasn’t getting that vibe reading the books. (And I’m a big supporter of forgetting that Dex ever had a crush on Sophie. Platonic Sodex for life).

Also, Sodex is a stupid ship name, I’m sorry.

Idk I usually put down a book as soon as it shows signs of love triangles, so I don’t know many others, but yeah. Screw meaningless love triangles that only exist to add “tension” to a story that can’t stand on its own, thank you. :)

One thing I’d change about TDP season 4

One thing about me is I can’t be trusted to make a solid opinion about something the first time I watch/read it. I have to watch it a second time to really make up my mind and think critically...so here’s my official solid thought on the one thing I’d change the most about The Dragon Prince season 4.

Two, technically. I’d rather make the time jump a matter of months instead of two years. It doesn’t feel like two years, y’know? It feels like people are just getting back to “normal” after a lot of crazy shit happening. I’d keep the makeovers and stuff, but...a little less of a time jump.

Anyways, my second is that I’d want more Amaya having HER OWN conflicts! I mean, I get they wanted to explore sunfire culture and give Janai development--which I still loved! I loved Janai when she was introduced and I love her now and I love her as queen. But--as a post I just reposted says--we needed more for Amaya to grapple with. You can’t tell me that staying in Xadia long-term, away from her nephews she loves so much and her home, AND being in the same land that killed her sister, was easy. And as that same posts mentions, the whole “two cakes” scene, where Janai is saying that she doesn’t feel like she can have both the life with Amaya she wants and the crown? Should’ve gone to Amaya. And I completely agree!

Furthermore, how are they adjusting to each other’s cultures? Has Amaya told Janai about Sarai? Have they gone to Khessa or Sarai’s graves? If they’re getting married, Janai’s definitely spent time with Callum and Ezran, right? Amaya can’t be both General of Katolis and the Queen Consort of the Sunfire Elves. How’s that going over with her troops? And the people? Who’ll replace her? Does Ezran ever write to her for advice? Does she visit him? Does she have friends with the elves? Do they respect her? Has Janai even been to Katolis? These little things about their relationship.

And a lot of these don’t have to be big things! Amaya struggling a bit with calming down the human troops that would’ve listened to her without question before season 4. Janai mentioning that Ezran or Callum wrote them a letter and that’s what she’s reading. Janai helping Amaya with the transition/choices she has to make. We all saw the sunfire influence on Amaya’s new armor, but it would’ve been nice for Janai to have a necklace or something with the design that the Katolis royal crowns and Amaya’s shield have. Small things like that.

So I know I change obsessions every day, but like

I was watching season 4 of The Dragon Prince--personally, my favourite season so far and I can’t wait for season 5--and I was really looking forward to Janai’s duel with her brother Karim.

And she makes a speech about how history doesn’t demand anything of her. She will make history.

And then she’s like “and it will be beautiful” while looking at Amaya and feurahtreuorehasgreoicn I DIED THEY’RE SO CUTE AND IN LOVE AND--

Anyways, I love how TDP season 4 shows how people may not be willing to let go of tradition and the past, but it’s the only way to move forward. Karim didn’t want his sister to have a human wife. He didn’t want to teach the humans and learn from them in turn. He just wanted for things to be as they were, while Janai--who watched her sister die (idk if Karim was there but we all saw Janai’s reaction to Kessa’s death), lead the sunfire elves to the storm spire to fight Viren, fell in love with a human, and realized she may not have initially wanted to be queen, but that she could be happy with the role and do well in it. Not only does her speech give me chills, it emphasizes TDP’s message of needing to embrace change to move forward.

Anyways. Go watch season 4.