Goldie @goldiesalmonn - Tumblr Blog

Immune

#rain world #rw lizard #rain world lizard #goldie animates

Chatting with someone about recent Pixar films compared to "golden age"(?) Pixar films... I don't really have coherent examples of this, but I feel like some of their weakest films (and weak speculative fiction generally) get too caught up in... the metaphor? The allegory? The underlying theme?

Like, I think "Finding Nemo" is a great film. And people will say, "It's not JUST a film about cartoon fish! It's also about parent-child relationships and suffocating overprotectiveness and learning to let your child be independent!" Which is true. I think that's a very true statement. That IS the emotional core of the movie.

But I also think "Finding Nemo" is great and works as a film because it also respects and explores the setting in a straightforward way. It's also a movie about how genuinely scary it would be to be a small fish in a big, wonderous, terrifying ocean. It's asking, "What would it be like to be a fish going through this experience?"

The original world of "Toy Story" is compelling and delightfully disturbing, because it's asking, "What would it be like to be a toy?" And "A Bug's Life" is similarly asking, "What might it be like to be a bug?" And "Monsters Inc." is asking, "Why might monsters scare children at night?" All of these movies have strong emotional cores and allegories and all that jazz, but they're also engaging with these speculative prompts in a forthright way.

I'm reminded of a joke post that I saw about "The Hobbit" in which Bilbo says, "Ohhh, I get it! The dragon is a metaphor for greed!" And Thorin replies, "Bilbo, it's a real dragon and it's in my house." Like, there IS a lot about Smaug that's neat thematically, for sure, but also... for the fantasy setting to work, you do have to keep in mind the dangerous, logistical realities of a big, fire-breathing, man-eating lizard, which Tolkien obviously very much does.

Like, I saw "Elemental" and I kind of thought... the movie was maybe too caught up in being a metaphor for interracial relationships, possibly at the expense of the speculative worldbuilding. I don't think the movie engaged enough with the fact that marginalized fire-person Ember lives in a city full of water features that could apparently injure or even kill her. I think that the movie pulled a lot of its punches in regards to structural racism.

I thought that "Onward" was particularly disinterested in its own setting and the logic of it. Most of the fantasy elements were gags. It's a "normal" generic modern setting with speculative elements pasted on top, rather than a new world with the speculative elements integrated in unique ways that changed the way that people did things, you know? A society disregarding clearly very powerful magic (and all magical history) in favour of mildly more convenient lightbulbs doesn't actually make sense in-universe. It's, idk, the story forcibly simplifying itself just to call modern society lazy and incurious, which isn't an interesting statement.

I don't remember "Luca" and "Soul" very well, so I won't really comment on them here. I liked "Turning Red" well enough and I think its specific Chinese-Canadian setting worked fine for it. And I think "Inside Out" generally works as well, because it's specifically about how messy it inwardly feels to be even a "normal" preteen / teenage girl; a lot is smoothed over by it all being inside Riley's head. "Lightyear" was... I don't know how to get started on that mess, so I will not start.

Anyway, my point is: I think that with speculative fiction, it IS good and important to keep your themes and messages and emotional cores in mind! I just think you do have to also engage with the reality of the world you have going on, so that the story actually feels logical and well-grounded and unique. Sometimes, a dragon has also got to be a literal dragon, you know?

valencians

fantasy: the kingdom has been ruled by one family for 10,000 years

science fiction: a new species evolved in 30 years

toothwalker

#kirby

pangur-and-grim

I've read a few recently published books, and there's this recurring pattern where if anyone does anything bad and interesting, they have to later talk about it in a way that makes it clear that it was a misunderstanding/ justified/ not their fault, so they're still a good person. and if they have a disagreement with another character, they have to therapy talk it out, regardless of their background. it doesn't matter if this is a street urchin with three teeth who just stabbed and kidnapped someone, you will get eloquent sterile therapy speak that will smooth out any possible emotional tension. and everyone asks for permission before they kiss, and waits for a clear enthusiastic yes. again, doesn't matter the character's background or situation, they will ask "can I please kiss you," because if they didn't, that could get all yucky and uncertain, couldn't it? and if a character is from a rich family, they will hate being in a rich family, and hate wealth signifiers, and actually be all for class equality. and everyone is casually queer, without thought being put into how that would mesh with the society that is being described. like yes, this is violent class-based system obsessed with inheritance, but no, it's not actually a problem that the child they've coldly groomed to take on the family mantle is unwilling to beget an heir because of gay. the parents might be terrible, cruel and fascistic, but they're not homophobic! I don't know, it just seems like EVERYTHING that could actually be messy gets sanded and sanded until it's smooth as a shark, but the Fun Violence is allowed to stay, because bloodshed doesn't actually bother anyone or have any consequence apart from your rogue character shrugging and going oops, was that me? the rogue is still a good person though. if you think they're not, just wait for the two solid pages of introspection. and yes they started the book by slitting two throats, but that was fine. they will ask permission before hugging you.

planefood

animated icon commission for Boltie on Toyhouse!

#animation

metanarrates

the slow casual creep of misogyny back into every point of our lives both digital and physical is making me feel fucking insane

Herons

i love my bug!!

shitty-check-please-aus

I might be alone in this but. If I am picking up a book about queer love in a time of high societal repression where there would be consequences for that kind of relationship, I am expecting some level of repression and pining and longing. forbidden love shit, all that.

And yet. I keep picking up these books where they're like "yes this is a highly researched version of England in the early 1800s, except gay love is highly encouraged in all parts of society" and then it's just fucking whiplash when the rest of the societal norms remain unchanged. this character feels isolated from the people around her, for vague and nebulous reasons because they're all totally allies or members of the community. this society still has strict gender roles even though it's fine to be gay here. what are we fucking doing

byjove

Every time I make a post critical about the American medical system and the medical professionals that work within it, I get a bunch of “The system is the problem! Not the medical workers!” and it sucks to read. No. No no no. The medical racism, misogyny, ableism and general asshole-ry many providers exhibit is on them. And it gets people killed. There are genuinely a lot of people in the medical field who suck ass independent of how our profit-based medical system squeezes people dry and kills them. These are jobs that give people a lot of power over others and there are people who flock to them for a chance to exert that power. What is more, the medical workers love to take out their frustration with for profit medicine on the patient. Combative dementia grandma didn’t decide to make this nursing home severely understaffed, the company that owns it made that decision.