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I’m pretty entranced by My Fair Lady, having seen it for the first time. But having suspected that it would be called misogynistic and disempowering to women based on nowadays’ standards, I did a quick search to see if there were any opinions on the subject. Well, there’s definitely more than a few. So, is the movie, and specifically the ending, misogynistic? More people than I thought believe so.

(Spoilers, btw)

Henry Higgins ends the movie with his iconic line as Eliza stands at the doorstep of his library:

“Where the devil are my slippers?”

No doubt, many angry modern audiences would jump and seize this line to put the nail in the coffin about how Eliza has returned to be in a toxic relationship with an abusive man. And I empathize, I really do; that’s certainly one way of looking at it.

But if nuances are still allowed, this scene can be read in many different ways. For the below reasons:

1. Henry Higgins is flawed, and the movie knows it. It actually makes a point to be about his flaws.

2. “Romantic” is an oversimplification of their relationship.

3. Eliza is an independent woman with a fully functional brain even before she meets Higgins, so what she wants should count.

4. It’s easy to run with the surface meaning of Henry Higgins’ last line, but to all who have watched the entire movie up to that point, do we really believe that he is asking about his SLIPPERS there?

(Here’s my full rant on this.)

#my fair lady #audrey hepburn #rex harrison #pygmalion #classic hollywood #classic movies #musicals #nuance #old hollywood #my fair lady spoilers #spoilers

How could I have gone this far in life without knowing about The Ghost and Mrs. Muir?🤔

(Written a brief review here.)

#the ghost and mrs. muir #rex harrison #gene tierney #edward mulhare #hope lange #old hollywood #old movies #classic movies #classic hollywood

Mrs. Coulter is so well-written and well-acted that I’m afraid for anyone who stands in front of her 😂

#his dark materials #his dark materials season 3 #the amber spyglass #marisa coulter #lyra belacqua #mrs coulter #ruth wilson #hdm s3 #the golden compass #the subtle knife

You know what Konstantin and Vasya both need? A sense of humor. Then they would see that they have the fortune to date the most hilarious twins ever (even if one of them is not hilarious on purpose).

#the winternight trilogy #the bear and the nightingale #the girl in the tower #the winter of the witch #medved #morozko #vasya petrovna #konstantin nikonovich #katherine arden #russian fairy tales #vasya x morozko

So… I kind of wrote a whole essay on Konstantin.

*Spoilers for the Winternight trilogy ahead Konstantin Nikonovich – one of the antagonists of the Winternight trilogy – is quite determined

#the winternight trilogy #katherine arden #the bear and the nightingale #the winter of the witch #the girl in the tower #konstantin nikonovich #vasya petrovna #russian fairy tales #medved

[…] He moved unerringly through the noise, the little knots of still-frightened horses, and where he passed, the horses shied and fires flared. Men turned clammy faces toward the darkness. He grinned at them, blew sparks into their clothes. […]

How can anyone not love Medved?😂

#winter of the witch #the winternight trilogy #katherine arden #vasya petrovna #morozko #russian fairytales #the bear and the nightingale

One thing I notice about Season 2 that contributes to the flat-out shallow relationship between the Darkling and Alina is that the show seems reluctant — almost afraid — to let the two characters learn from each other. Studying an enemy is essential in defeating him, is it not? How does Harry have the upper hand on Voldemort? Not by becoming a better dueler, but by taking the time to learn the latter’s history and weaknesses. At one point, Harry even sympathizes with Voldy’s childhood.

This effort to take advantage of their connection and communicate is seen a little from the Darkling’s part, but everything simply bounces off of Alina as she throws back at him supposedly bada** one-liners.

The Darkling is nowhere as crazy as Voldemort, so maybe instead of trying to seduce him and cut the bond, if Alina had been willing to listen, reflect, and strategize (no, scratch that, let Nikolai strategize), a lot of lives could have been saved. At the very least, they would have been able to delay the Darkling’s attack.

(For more reviews and recaps: booksinfact.com )

#grishaverse #leigh bardugo #shadow and bone netflix #shadow and bone #the darkling #darklina #aleksander morozova #alina starkov #s&b #s&b season 2 #s&b netflix #six of crows #siege and storm #ruin and rising

I have a few final thoughts on Shadow and Bone Season 2, not all of them are positive.

If Alina Starkov(a) is the love of your life, you might want to skip this post.

https://booksinfact.com/shadow-and-bone-season-2-final-review/

Overall, Shadow and Bone Season 2 is a lacklustre continuation of the previous season. That said, it has its merits. Below is my list of the

#grishaverse #leigh bardugo #shadow and bone netflix #shadow and bone #the darkling #darklina #aleksander morozova #alina starkov #nikolai lantsov #kanej #helnik #nina zenik #jessie mei li #zoe wanamaker #s&b season 2 #s&b #s&b s2

Oh, lighten up, “Waffles”. Let Nina have her fun.

(Fore my reviews and recaps of Shadow and Bone: https://booksinfact.com/tag/grishaverse/ )

#grishaverse #leigh bardugo #shadow and bone netflix #the darkling #shadow and bone #kaz brekker #kaz and nina #kaz is the opposite of waffles #nina zenik #helnik #kanej #s&b #s&b netflix

Why is there so little Sasha in the Winternight fandom? Does no one care about our brave warrior monk who is the best brother ever?☹️

#the winternight trilogy #katherine arden #winter of the witch #aleksandr peresvet #vasya petrovna #the bear and the nightingale #vasilisa petrovna #morozko #the winter king

booksinfact

As much as I love the Crows, incorporating them in Shadow and Bone doesn’t seem to be a good idea, after all. The confrontation between Kaz and the Darkling in ep. 6, as cool as it looks, demonstrates my point.

The Cut is said to be the Darkling’s ultimate weapon, something that is rarely used and never misses once deployed. Kaz is said to be a master of tricks and illusions, who rarely fails to outsmart his opponent. Each of them is the Bada** Boss of their own story. When you have two such characters in the same room without really investing in the writing of their interactions, one (or both) of them is bound to be lesser than what he originally is.

In this case, because Kaz can’t die yet, it’s the Darkling who is made incompetent to serve the point that Kaz is great. But not when Kaz meets Alina and freezes because of her flashlight, that’s when Kaz needs to be made useless so Alina can begin her roaming and run into Mal.

Also, there are many plot holes and inconsistencies in this show, which I go along with just fine. However, I will never be convinced that any of the Crows would ignore Kaz’ order and run in the same direction as Mal “I-never-said-I-was-smart” Oretsev.

Can the Crows have their own show, please?

(Very brief recaps of Shadow and Bone Season 1)

blacklister214

I can’t speak to the what the book characters would or wouldn’t do. The show and books are too different for me to consider them the same thing. As for the show Crows disobeying Kaz, I do believe it. Inej is shown to be deeply religious and thus yes I think she’d disobey him to save The Savior of her religion. An extremely devout Christian might break the “Thou shall not kill” commandment if it meant the difference between life and death for someone they deeply cared for. They also wouldn’t listen to that same person if Jesus was resurrected and need their personal help. Jesper was shown to have great personal loyalty to Inej, and therefore would follow her to keep her safe. Kaz, despite himself, is very invested Inej figuratively and literally (the crow club collateral).

I like their inclusion mainly because Alina’s story doesn’t have that much action. Most of the first book is her training. I’m not sorry we didn’t need to sit through scene after scene of that. I do agree, that Crows' story could easily fill their own series, however Alina’s story couldn’t.

First Alexzander doesn't "lose" to Kaz, he draws. Losing would be Kaz killing him. Second, the fact that Alexzander doesn't beat Kaz, and that Kaz doesn't beat Alina, isn't making them look incompetent. I’d argue they lose because neither were prepared to deal with the situation before them.

In a straight fight and an open area, the cut wins against one or many opponents. In a field, smoke bomb or no, Kaz is dead. Alexzander can detonate like a bomb and Kaz couldn’t have escaped an omni-directional blast radius. On a street however Alexzander needs to aim precisely or he is going to topple buildings. You can’t aim at what you can’t see. Kaz wins because the terrain is to his advantage.

Alina awake, in a trunk, and in full possession of sun summoning ability is not the scenario Kaz was prepared for. He doesn’t even believe she truly has her power until she blinds him. He is also hamstringed by the fact he needs her unharmed. Even if he’d locked the trunk and drilled a hole for her to breathe, he would have lost to Alina. She would have blown open the crate. He wouldn’t be able to get close enough to subdue her. Kaz could have beaten her if he’d been able to surprise her, drug her, and keep her unconscious for long enough to get the grisha cuffs on. It's a matter of circumstances.

booksinfact

Thanks for reading my rant. Appreciate your view on it.

About the Darkling and Kaz’s confrontation. If the Darkling knew the Cut wouldn’t work to his advantage, he should’ve used other methods, like when he uses shadows to kill the Conductor. Alina learns to bend light to make people invisible at one point, so the Darkling should have a lot of shadow tricks up his sleeve. Or maybe just throwing a dagger would have done the job, he’s highly trained in combat too (100+ years old sorcerer).

Instead, he talks slowly, conjures the Cut slowly, giving Kaz enough time to respond.

Also, If Kaz’ bomb is so great that it enables him to escape even the Darkling, I would have liked the show to elaborate on it beforehand.

Maybe another possible explanation is: the Darkling doesn’t care about Kaz a whole lot at this point and just wants to fling the Cut out to satisfy his anger.

About the Alina blinding Kaz scene, maybe Kaz isn’t fully ready for the situation. But the scene doens’t play out in a believable way. Kaz is the cautious sort who would always have back up plans. Kaz knows Alina is in the trunk, so why not arrange a trap to drug or knock her unconscious? Maybe one of them could stand behind her so it wouldn’t be too easy for her to take them all on at once? It doesn’t need to be a successful scheme, but they’re able to and should’ve done more than just lining up there and waiting for Alina to climb out.

Then, Kaz and Jesper get — not hurt — but startled by Alina’s light, then again they stand there for several seconds covering their eyes, long enough for Inej to bow to Alina.

About Inej and Jesper following Mal up to fight, I agree with your reasoning. I only meant it as a joke. But there is a little truth in it, in the sense that: the Crows have well-defined personalities, they are at the top in terms of characterization. Mal and many S&B characters — on the other hand — are not as well developed. So, if the Crows had to disobey Kaz, I’d rather they do it in their own show for reasons other than Alina or Mal.

About adapting S&B with Crows, I’m not sure. I’d rather the show invest in making S&B more interesting than throwing in the Crows but not giving them the attention they deserve. In fact, I would’ve loved to have training scenes for Alina, that way we could see more elements of this universe, know more about Baghra, Botkin, Genya, etc, which would have forced the writing to focus more on Alina’s personality and half-Shu background. She’s the heroine, after all.

As much as I love the Crows, incorporating them in Shadow and Bone doesn’t seem to be a good idea, after all. The confrontation between Kaz and the Darkling in ep. 6, as cool as it looks, demonstrates my point.

The Cut is said to be the Darkling’s ultimate weapon, something that is rarely used and never misses once deployed. Kaz is said to be a master of tricks and illusions, who rarely fails to outsmart his opponent. Each of them is the Bada** Boss of their own story. When you have two such characters in the same room without really investing in the writing of their interactions, one (or both) of them is bound to become lesser than what he originally is.

In this case, because Kaz can’t die yet, it’s the Darkling who is made incompetent to serve the point that Kaz is great. But not when Kaz meets Alina and freezes because of her flashlight, that’s when Kaz needs to be made useless so Alina can begin her roaming and run into Mal.

Also, there are many plot holes and inconsistencies in this show, which I go along with just fine. However, I will never be convinced that any of the Crows would ignore Kaz’ order and run in the same direction as Mal “I-never-said-I-was-smart” Oretsev.

Can the Crows have their own show, please?

(Very brief recaps of Shadow and Bone Season 1)

#leigh bardugo #grishaverse #shadow and bone netflix #darklina #shadow and bone #aleksander morozova #the darkling #alina starkov #six of crows #kaz brekker #kanej #kaz dirtyhands brekker #the crows need their own show

The Darkling’s real name kind of makes it sound like the Darkling was a girl whose mom just really wanted to give her a boy’s name, so we end up with Aleksander Morozova🤔

#grishaverse #leigh bardugo #shadow and bone netflix #the darkling #aleksander morozova #darklina #shadow and bone

I find the idea of a vampire climbing onto Konstantin’s bed both horrifying and hilarious. The one guy who is so sure no devil can touch him wakes up in the middle of the night and finds a VAMPIRE on top of him.

(The Bear and the Nightingale Full Recap)

#the winternight trilogy #katherine arden #the bear and the nightingale #konstantin nikonovich #vasya petrovna #russian fairytales

Here’s a little rant on Richard Harris in Camelot (1967).

The only films I had seen which Richard Harris starred in were the first two Harry Potter films and The Count of Monte Cristo. While I kept hearing that he was a legend, I never had the opportunity to check out his other works.

UNTIL NOW.

And let me tell you, this man (R.I.P) deserved every award there was/is for his portrayal of King Arthur.

Before I go on with this rant, it is worth pointing out that I base my review on T. H. White’s version of King Arthur, which serves as the source material for the characters in this film. The Once and Future King mostly portrays Arthur as a benevolent leader with ideas to enforce civility and peace, not the phase in Arthur’s life when he is a fierce warrior who goes around killing dragons and all that.

All right, moving on.

T. H. White had a unique way of describing the warrior king, and one of the things that stands out in the book is that Arthur has “a stupid face”. Yeah, thanks. But he also looks generous, warm, and the one thing that the book conveys without stating directly: he’s powerful yet too compassionate to use his power more.

All of that Richard Harris delivered. He even made the singing scenes tolerable.

He’s all adorable, constantly biting his lip (no, really, he does this a lot for some reason) and trying to behave in a civilized and chivalrous manner when he first meets Guinevere.

Hurt, yet forgiving and sympathetic as he watches his wife fall in love with his best friend. Regal and majestic when he assembles the Round Table. And wiser and kinder than Lancelot and Guinevere can ever understand.

Look at that face when he knights Lancelot. THE MAN KNOWS.

But Arthur’s most impressive moments are during the scene with his crappy son Mordred.

He’s a father full of guilt about his past, full of hope that his son can be educated, his power is as palpable as his compassion. To put it plainly to Mordred: I can kick you to the curb any time I want to. And the only reason you’re still talking is because I feel guilty.

And yes, Mordred...

"You will leave when you are dismissed."

Richard Harris’ every movement and expression brings to life this king who is the embodiment of chivalry, who shines with unspoken strength, and whose legend goes far beyond any one book.

This is very similar to how I imagine the conversation in the Astronomy Tower with Malfoy would go (look it up if you want to, but I take no responsibility if you stumble on a spoiler).

Look, people, this is the Dumbledore that Potterheads would have cried for is all I’m saying. And if you’ve ever doubted that Richard Harris could have handled the later HP films when Dumbledore is required to be a combination of wisdom, immense power, and dark secrets, there’s your proof.

End of rant.

(For more book reviews: booksinfact.com)

#albus dumbledore #richard harris #richard harris dumbledore #camelot the musical #camelot #king arthur #the once and future king #arthur pendragon #the sword in the stone

I can’t with Arthur and Gawain fangirling over Lancelot’s fighting techniques while he’s literally breaking the law and running away with the queen😂

#king arthur #arthur pendragon #t h white #candle in the wind #the once and future king #arthurian legend #the round table #lancelot #lancelot and guinevere #arthurian retelling #medievalism #lancelot du lac

So Lancelot has a cute little hero-crush on Arthur. I admit I wasn’t ready for that. Kind of expected them to be rivals from the start.

#the once and future king #t h white #king arthur #arthurian fantasy #arthurian knights #lancelot #arthur pendragon #the ill-made knight

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