#cduvall

[fratboykate]

I didn't read any interview so it came as a surprise that HH is Clea's self insert, but now it makes sense: no matter how shitty Harper was, she was the boss' precious character so she got the girl in the end. Yikes, talk about disservice to the story

That’s why as creators we sometimes have to take a step back and figure out what is best for the narrative instead of what feels best for our egos. Clea has straight up said she is Harper and that’s why all her bullshit was magically forgiven or just swept under the rug. I was having a lengthy conversation about the movie with a good friend from college last night and they said something that cracked me the fuck up. They were like “we need to start a gofundme to cover the therapy for Clea’s exes because if she’s Harper then they need it.” What a truth bomb.

[fratboykate]

Okay, but all fucking jokes aside.......the precedent we’ve set in the last few years is fucking terrible.

1) The first woman to get to direct a movie with a 100+ million dollar budget blew it in so many ways despite being one of the best working female writer/director of the last fifty years. (Ava and “A Wrinkle In Time”)

2) The first woman to get to help a major “franchise” that was supposed to be a the first in a string of movies shat the bed so epically that the studio straight up just pulled on any and all sequels. (Elizabeth with “Charlie’s Angels”)

3) The woman in charge of the first major wlw Christmas studio movie did...well...THAT. (Clea with “Happiest Season”)

These where three major opportunities to show that female writer/directors can and should be playing at the same level as the men in the field and yet they were spectacular bombs all around. These three things are fodder for studios to not allow women to helm major productions. This is the shit they will use as excuses for why women can’t be in charge of tentpoles. It’s fucking frustrating because what are the odds that Ava drops the ball on the biggest project she gets? The other two were just absolutely the wrong choices for these opportunities. Elizabeth did a decent enough job directing but that script should’ve been burned and gotten a page one rewrite the moment it was finished. That script should’ve never gotten approved and to know it got through so many hands before production and they all thought that was good says so much about the bad taste prevalent in execs. Clea just...sucks lol. There’s so many capable women out there who could’ve taken the Charlie’s Angels franchise and done something with it. There’s a slew of better filmmakers that could’ve made the first sapphic Christmas movie and not produced a shitfest. Yet these two white women got to do instead and it’s just proof that white women are allowed to fail up then fuck up and make it harder for the rest of us women of color to get the same opportunities. This is aggravating on so many fucking levels. It is.

[fratboykate]

Listen, thanks to San Junipero (and to a lesser extent Terminator and Halt and Catch Fire) Mackenzie Davis is a ready made lesbian thirst trap. All Clea had to do was the bare fucking minimum of making her not horrible and people would have welcomed Harper with open legs. It's a testament to how bad her character was that 84% of us saw her and went "Hey, this one? This one goes in the bin."

Do we love Aubrey? Sure, but for better or worse (it's worse) the gays always ride for the one with previous gay credits and this time around we just... Couldn't. Why? Cuz miraculously, Clea wrote a character so bad people couldn't delude themselves into rallying for her.

Exactly! If there was someone coming in with a Lesbian Boner Guarantee was MacKenzie...AND YET. AND FUCKING YET!

I'm reiterating what I said earlier: y'all have to go and leave reviews/ratings for this explicitly saying what the issues were and lowering the average score it currently has in all the places where the 16 people who like it clearly went and gave their high scores. We've seen the polls. Those numbers don't reflect reality so we have to make them do it. It's the only fucking way we're going to force them to listen. This is getting a sequel. It broke all sorts of records at Hulu. I'd be SHOCKED if it doesn't. It's crystal clear that she didn't listen to us but the execs that might become fearful that people won't come back if she keeps this nonsense up might put some pressure on her. She shouldn't make an sequel that gives us shitty rep...again. That's literally the last thing we want.

[fratboykate]

This is the perfect example of why directors shouldn't have self insert characters. They become blind to all criticism

The way she legit dismissed any and all valid criticism of the story and of Harper with "y'all horny dumb lesbians just want to fuck Aubrey!"

Do you know how damaging it is that a queer director is out in the biggest trade publication all but saying that queer women are a group of idiots who can't have rational thoughts or criticisms? That we only care about who we want to fuck? She went out and with her whole entire fucking chest said that the VAST FUCKING MAJORITY OF THE AUDIENCE is just...wrong??? Bro...........I'm...do you know how infantilizing and reductive that is to us as a community??? To put our ability to rationally consume media like that? It's insulting as fuck. To all of us. We're not fucking children who think with our clits, Clea. What the actual fuck is wrong with her?

[fratboykate]

All I can find is the snippet on this tweet there's no link there original article but if I can find it I'll send it

Oh...I just found it and it's actually kind of making me feral.

‘Happiest Season’ Director Clea DuVall on the Film’s Historic Success, Sequel Hopes, and Aubrey Plaza: ‘She’s a Babe!’ (EXCLUSIVE)

“Happiest Season,” from Sony’s Tri-Star Pictures and eOne, was always poised to make history, as the first holiday romantic comedy about a s

She really did not listen. At all. Not one bit. She's just going to run off with her self insert and basically patronize the audience by condescendingly telling us that we don't know better and that the 84% of people who wanted Abby and Riley are just "horny for Aubrey".

[fratboykate]

"As it stands, though, I can acknowledge the fact that Harper is closeted and scared but also a complete asshole. Put this story on the AITA Reddit and social media would have a FIT about Harper’s behavior … more than they already have."

Omg it's almost like exactly everything we've been saying from the start is backed up by people reviewing the movie who AREN'T paid to blow sunshine up Clea's ass. I've said it once I'll say it again, the people who refuse to hold Harper accountable are the ones using her as a self insert to forgive themselves for their own shitty behavior in some way. They can't look past the closted thing and evaluate her character based on the reality of her actions. I guarentee these people excuse every one of their own actions in life, so of course Harper is forgivable immediately without any work. Of course all of her actions are chalked up to her just being a tiny sad gay in the closet rather than a manipulative bitch and terrible partner. Because if she's terrible, then they're terrible, and that can't be so. It's all the pressures of coming out's fault, and we obviously just can't understand that... as queer women. Got it.

The lack of emotional complexity it takes to actually defend Harper or feel bad for her for her actions is astonishing

So many parts of this I could quote back to you lmao.

Look, I’ll never forget what my friend said when we were talking about how Harper is Clea’s self insert ergo: “We need to start a gofundme for the therapy bills of Clea’s exes” and they aren’t wrong lol. 

[fratboykate]

"I’ve spent four years with Harper — I feel like I understand her, and I love her so much. And I think she’s worth it. I want what’s best for all the characters in the movie. And I think the message that you can mess up, and that you can do the work and get better is really important."

This is where she, and so many others, are missing the point. Harper does not do the work. She does not undergo any sort of transformation. She only came out when she had no other choice. Which is sad and I feel bad for her, but it doesn't excuse any of her previous behavior toward Abby. At no point did she do a damn thing to atone for the horrible way she treated Abby, none of which had a single thing to do with her being closted. I wish these mf would stop being obtuse about this

I mean...she literally explained why she's incapable of retrieving her head from her ass. She's spent "four years" with Harper. She refused to be unbiased about this because that's her self insert and if she admits Harper is a shit person then that means she is too. Fucking sad man. This is bigger than her and her ego but she's dismissing all of people's valid notes in the worst possible way.

[fratboykate]

https://collider(.)com/happiest-season-harper-coming-out-scene-clea-duvall/

Did you read this? Clea defending her choices smh. You screwed up, have some dignity and admit it.

Some people need to learn to stop talking lol. This has big "Sía with her mess of a movie" vibes. I get that movies are precious things to directors but if the community you made a movie about is OVERWHELMINGLY telling you you fucked up then just sit and listen???

Not that we need to reiterate this for the billionth time but...the issues with Harper are much bigger than this one scene. To try and reduce it to this moment and explain it away as if it suddenly makes everything better proves that she's just not listening to what any of us are saying at all. This is about more than the coming out storyline. Harper sucks beyond that plot and that one scene. The end.