Your opinion on Nutella, Nancy Wheeler, Prince Kit, and Kylo Ren's crushed mask :D
Monica!! Always coming through with amazing and pertinent questions. <3
Nutella: I am mostly neutral on nutella, sometimes tipping over into ‘this is amazing I need more of it’. Personally, I think peanut butter is better. :D
Nancy Wheeler: My pony-tailed monster-hunting daughter!! I love Nancy! She’s relatable at the beginning- selfish, hormone-driven, drawn to the bad boy, and relishing in her new-found popularity so completely that she’ll ditch her best friend at a party. (That’s pretty low, but hormones!! + teenage rebellion + an intoxicating crush are not a great combination!)
But she’s amazing at the end. I love that she doesn’t stay where she is. She grows and changes and really steps it up, and the way she does it is so beautiful too because it sort of reminds you that growing up (becoming better) isn’t about becoming a completely new person. It’s about letting yourself be the best version of yourself. Immaturity is bad not because being young (or innocent or naive or clueless) is a bad thing, but because it inhibits your actual true potential for virtue. Over the course of the show, Nancy’s curiosity, determination, bravery, and heart are all brought into relief by the circumstances around her, but you get the sense they were there inside of her all along. She changes because she rises to the occasion and, in doing so, rises above her own selfishness. Also she and Jonathan are so freaking beautiful I cannot!! That show nailed teenage angst!
Prince Kit: AHHHHH I FEEL SO SPOILED WITH THESE TOPICS. Okay so, to everyone’s enormous surprise, I know, I love prince Kit. LOVE him. If I met him in real life I would strongly consider marrying him. (If he asked me/noticed me at the ball, of course. I wouldn’t hold him captive to my will). His whole first scene with Ella is so special because it tells you so much about him as a person. His first impulse is to make sure Ella’s okay, for goodness’ sake! His protective (see: kingly) streak is strong but he’s not a jerk about it. He’s open and interested in Ella so you know he’s not selfish and that he definitely keeps his ego in check- which, you know, he’s a prince so not that easy!- and when she doesn’t know who he is he isn’t annoyed, he’s just genuinely DELIGHTED. And then my favorite part about him, and one of my favorite moments in the whole movie, is when Ella responds to his question about how they treat her by saying “They treat me as well as they are able” and he a) sees her sadness and b) immediately APOLOGIZES. He doesn’t even know her!!! And here he is!! Apologizing!! And she’s like ‘why are you doing that it’s not your fault’ and he just LEANS FORWARD AND SAYS ‘NOR YOURS EITHER I’LL BET’ AND I JUST I CAN’T. It’s so instinctive, his sympathy for this relative stranger is so clear?? and so immediate?? and so beautiful?!!!! But also not delivered in a way that makes her uncomfortable by demanding information from her or any condemnation of those who have hurt her and also he’s completely right so you know what good instincts he has about people and THEN AND THEN right when it would be understandable for Ella to let down her guard to him and share a little bit of her burden with him (because he’s kind and attentive and he’s actually listening to her and noticing her pain), right when you think she’s going to try to ease her pain by sharing it with a sympathetic person, SHE DOESN’T DO THAT SHE TAKES THE WHOLE THING TO THE NEXT LEVEL because what she shows him isn’t her pain it’s her values!! It’s the thing closest to her heart in all the world, what she tries to live by every day, the thing that helps her bear the pain, her mother’s words: Have courage and be kind. And she’s so vulnerable and sincere and THEN HE FALLS IN LOVE WITH HER RIGHT THERE. And I just I love it so much!!!! Because it’s about Ella!!! But it’s also about Kit!!! It’s about the kind of person that he is!! It’s like @byjoveimbeinghumble said so beautifully once, Ella doesn’t create virtue or goodness in Kit, she draws both out in him by her own virtue. And that moment, the way he responds to her bravery and vulnerability says so much about him. Because it isn’t just that he doesn’t withdraw or misunderstand or mock her for it. It’s that his response is to love her instantly, immediately, completely. That’s the moment when it’s over for him because he’s seen her goodness and his response is just. it’s love!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT’S LOVE !!!!! THIS IS WHO HE IS !!!! He doesn’t hesitate or look twice!! He’s completely certain that here, in her, he has found everything he has ever looked for his whole life and that certainty informs the rest of his choices for the rest of the movie. And it’s such a beautiful certainty, completely free from fear or selfishness (this isn’t about him??) and full of bravery and kindness. There’s more (so much more) but I think I have to stop because a) I might cry and b) this is really long!! Tldr: I love him. He is good and wonderful without ever coming across as goody or holier-than-thou. He’s manly without being macho or a brute. He’s generous and kind, direct, gentle, and funny without ever being mean. Mostly he’s loving in the truest sense of the word. It’s so present in him that when he sees the woman he loves at the ball he has tears in his eyes simply because he knows and understands her goodness and how lucky he is just to be in her presence. *sobs*
Kylo Ren’s crushed mask: Completely switching topics here! :D I MEAN WHO KNOWS WHAT’S GOING ON but what I hope and think it means is that the breaking apart of kylo ren as become and by that I mean kylo ren as distinct from ben solo, kylo ren as persona, kylo ren as performance. If redemption is going to happen for him kylo needs to be broken. And to start with the trappings of his persona being smashed and especially the mask which covers the face beneath- well, let’s just say I’m excited and hopeful.
