I didn’t know about the term hopepunk but it’s something we can clearly embrace and use. On the surface at least, it seems like something I could claim as my own philosophy and approach to life.
Everything above is true for the content of Ragnarök. It’s not hopepunk in any way.
But what is more, I sense no “hopepunkiness” in the making of Ragnarök, and the very people behind it.
Hopepunk, it seems, comes from caring. Caring deeply and seeing worthwhile things in spite of the bleakness that also exists. Translated into a film, I think, it should show true emotion, like you say, and what is more, that emotion would be the heart of the thing, and the heart of the thing would be the Point. There would be a purpose to making this film, it should want to say something that matters to someone.
When everything else fails, there is always the human connection. Making art and telling stories can be an act of defiance against the fuckupedness of existence, when it’s about reaching people. Engaging.
That’s… so not where Ragnarök comes from. Ragnarök comes from the exact opposite of this.
Nobody gave a shit in Ragnarök. I’m talking about the people who decided how it would be made and had a saying in how it finally came out. They cared about fame, about money, about advancing their own career by trampling over other people’s (not “even if it meant trampling over other people” but actually running over the guys who played the Warriors 3 and Sif, and Tom “Honorary Hemsworth” Hiddleston himself; first diminish Loki’s importance in the narrative and his overall charisma as a character, and then fucking vanish him from the MCU. That’s not paranoid hysterical fan conspiracy theory. That’s what’s HAPPENED.)
Taika Waititi has SAID he didn’t want emotion in his movie. Where it accidentally happened (as it would happen, when you have fucking Anthony Hopkins and Tom Hiddleston and yes even Chris Hemsworth, the guy can act, or he used to), he made sure it was lightened and destroyed. He explicitly and deliberately set out to mock and parody everything the fans loved. Because he believes we SHOULDN’T CARE about those characters and that universe and that story. What kind of fucking PATHETIC IDIOT enjoys that shit, who takes it seriously?? Those people don’t deserve his respect, let alone his honest efforts as an artist. And still he took the fucking money and made the film just the same. That guy is a fucking asshole.
As for Hemsworth, he seemed to care about ONE thing only in this movie: making His Thor was Better. Better than the previous incarnation, better than anyone else’s idea of Thor, and certainly, definitely, Better Than Loki. As if the problem with the franchise was all the trappings of the comic and the earlier MCU, as if that was what was plaguing the character and cramping his style, he divested him of Every single fucking thing that still tied His Thor to the comics or the previous films, from his friends to his fucking hammer, Asgard, and even his purported mission of being a Good Man rather than a Great King.
And apparently when Hemsworth tries his best as an actor he must still feel he falls short from Hiddleston, so Hemsworth’s answer to that is Stop Trying So Hard and say it’s A Thing. Tom can’t Beat Him if there is Hemsworth isn’t playing, right?
Unfortunately, it’s not enough to reduce Loki’s part in the story as much as possible and remove all the Shakespearean stuff out of the story, because Tom is not only an outstanding serious actor, he is also a tremendously gifted comedian (unlike other people who just think themselves funny). Dammit. Well, let’s give Hiddleston terrible material and shitty working conditions. Make sure the joke is on Loki. Try and steal the show now, Tom.
And I think nobody told Hiddleston outright that this is how it was going to be, but rather they played nice to his face, and then let him find out little by little, and that it took him by surprise as it did all of us. To the Betrayal critic who rhetorically asked “Who hurt you Tom”… I have a non-rhetorical answer.
(Go storm Broadway baby, win all the awards. You’ll make a killing. Nay, a MASSACRE. He is so fucking good in that play it will knock the socks off everyone who hasn’t been paying attention. Mark my words.)
AND of course they set out to separate Thor from Loki, Love Story of the Ages, so that the audience stopped seeing them as inevitably part of each other’s tale, and then proceed to get rid of Loki completely, to prevent him from casting a shadow over Hemsworth’s glory. Put and end to those painful reviews “Loki is the best of this film”, “the film only comes alive when Loki is in it”, “More Loki!”
Again, this is not paranoia, this is what happened. This is the film, this is the interviews, this is the fucking publicity tour, this is infinity war and endgame.
That fucking film came from a selfish place, and the result is heartless frivolity and toilet humor at best (good for you if that’s your thing), and downright painful for a good chunk of the old fans at worst (it’s certainly not my thing. I DID sign up for the Shakespearean tragedy, sorry if that makes me pathetic. Nah actually not sorry at all, fuck you Taika). And it was an intentional, dedicated spit in the eye of Loki fans everywhere. We all deserved to be taken down a few notches, get a reality check, etc.
There is no respect and no love for anything or anyone in that movie, on a text or meta level, and no sincerity or true emotion anywhere.
It’s everything hopepunk is not.
well, it had been a while since i vented about that film. I was obviously needing it.
I feel better now, thanks for the opportunity, @lucianalight
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