#hon 394

[grandmasterschampion-blog]

In thinking about film ratings and censorship after class today, I just wonder if these measures are effective anymore in regards to preventing children from seeing “unsuitable” material. With services such as Netflix, kids can get to pretty much whatever they want (parental settings might help to curb that, but only if they are set up and the kids don’t figure out how to get past it), and will most likely spread that knowledge with their friends. Not to keep pointing fingers at Deadpool, but last year at a summer camp I work at we had an issue with kids describing the sex scenes/acts from the film to each other. But this wasn’t in the older 10-12 year old group, it was with the youngest kids (5-7 year olds). I wasn’t there when it happened and haven’t seen the film myself, but from my supervisor’s comments, it sounds like the kid who was caught was very specific, and almost certainly saw the film. The hard thing with this type of situation is that the kids don’t realize that they can’t say or do those things in the camp setting, and they genuinely don’t see anything wrong with it. After we had a parent complain that their children were hearing about Deadpool, we had to monitor the kid who started it, and make announcements that they couldn’t talk about anything that wasn’t “school appropriate” (which of course just brought up more questions and curiousity about what wasn’t school appropriate, which got more kids talking about it than there was to begin with).  

Also as a sidenote to the question that came up of who owns Deadpool, 20th Century Fox was the distributing studio and has the rights to the franchise. However, I’ve personally seen Deadpool merchandise in the Disney Store at Arizona Mills, which I visit probably too often, so Disney/Marvel isn’t completely separated from it. And now that Disney is supposedly buying Fox, Deadpool would likely go along with that deal...which raises the question, would Disney finally break and release an R rated movie, or risk angering/alienating the fans by bringing the explicit content down to PG-13 levels?

[grandmasterschampion-blog]

Final Project - illustrations examining the formulaic compositions for Romantic Drama film posters, and how that contributes to our culture’s commercialized concept of love (as depicted in the media). 

[grandmasterschampion-blog]

THOR RAGNAROK "Valkyrie" (Tessa Thompson) Behind The Scenes

THOR RAGNAROK "Valkyrie" (Tessa Thompson) Behind The Scenes © 2018 - Marvel Comedy, Kids, Family and Animated Film, Blockbuster, Action Cinema, Blockbuster, ...

So as a huge Marvel fan, I’ve been watching/listening to cast interviews and stuff from Marvel movies leading up to Infinity War. But anyway, I came across this video of Tessa Thompson talking about her Thor character, Valkyrie, and how women are represented in super hero or action films. I think she made some really great points, and Valkyrie is a great example of how a female character can be a strong fighter, have personal issues (in this case, her alcoholism), and still be feminine without a skimpy/vulnerable costume. On top of that, she’s one of the few female superhero film characters I can think of who never develops a romantic relationship with anyone, and is queer without it becoming a big deal. In talking about that, the director, Taika Waititi, said, “ We tried to make sure it wasn’t super specific or that we were trying to say ‘She’s a lesbian! She’s bi! We really gotta get everyone on board with this!’  It’s more like, ‘Look if you want to read anything into that you can make sense of it in parts of the film.’ I know that she had that and she was using that in her process and stuff. And I’m totally supportive of that. Why not?” I like that her sexuality didn’t become a focus of the plot, since that probably would be the last thing to come up when they’re all fighting against doomsday anyway. 

[grandmasterschampion-blog]

Love is . . . (Romantic movie scenes compilation into one scene)

READ BELOW FOR DESCRIPTION... Some of my favourite romantic scenes merged into one scene....sorry the quality of some of the clips and some have subtitles bu...

So I came across this while lost in the wormhole of YouTube again, but I thought it was fascinating how fluid all these clips are in terms of the type of language being used and the tone (though the video editing could have smoother transitions, I think the point still comes across well). Even though it’s composed with clips from about 25 different films, you can tell that most of them fall into that sort of grand gesture/makeup speech scene that we talked about as part of the formula for the Romantic Comedy (which might bleed over into other romance genres as well). 

[grandmasterschampion-blog]

So even though this scene in Iron Man 3 was technically about a Christmas gift, it reminded me of our brief discussion of giant teddy bears and other cliche Valentine’s Day presents. I especially appreciate Downey’s comments in the bottom two panels, since it is such a valid point, yet rarely happens. While I personally don’t have anything really against over the top gestures or Valentine’s Day in general, I think it is important to consider what leads people to such actions (is it genuinely how they see best fit to express their emotions, societal pressures to “go big or go home”, fear of not doing enough, etc.). Like so many of the issues we’ve been looking at in class, I think the key is communication. In this case, communicating to figure out where the line is between genuine romantic gesture and expensive attempt to provide what society sees as romantic (in other words, understanding the partner’s wants as something separate from socially perpetuated norms/expectations).

[grandmasterschampion-blog]

Our discussion in class today, specifically about how the narrator is constructing Louise’s identity (at least, as we see it) and their relationship as something that resembles clichés of romance, reminded me of this quote that I saw a while ago. While Manson’s intention with this sentence was likely in a different context, I think it could still apply to relationships. I definitely think there is a conflict in most any relationship with trying to maintain a sense of self and an honest view of the other person(s), despite the societal expectations or pressures of that relationship. In our narrator’s case, I think that they ultimately failed at finding and/or holding onto a sense of reality or truth in their relationship with Louise, and possibly in a more internalized identity. It seemed that throughout the novel they would go back and forth between recognizing that they want the dramatic, idealized sense of romance, and denying that they are interested in the clichés (or that those clichés could be anything but problematic). After thinking about it and seeing this quote again, I wonder if the issues in the narrator’s perception of Louise and their relationship were more to do with that internal conflict, rather than it being an external/societal thing. If we did want to think of it as the narrator creating all of these issues for themselves by structuring and playing out their relationships in a dramatic and romanticized fashion, could we see them as being somewhat obsessive or infatuated with the idea of “true love” or “grand love”, rather than the realities of a relationship?

[sonnetsareforlovers]

Two edges are created: an obedient, conformist, plagiarizing edge (the language is to be copied in its canoncial state, as it has been established by schooling, good usage, literature, culture), and another edge, mobile, blank (ready to assume any contours), which is never anything but the site of its effect: the place where the death of language is glimpsed. These two edges, the compromise they bring about, are necessary. Neither culture nor its destruction is erotic; it is the seam between them, the fault, the flaw, which becomes so.

Roland Barthes, The Pleasure of the Text

[sonnetsareforlovers]

Challenge Post #2

Two questions to ponder and respond to however you see fit (respond to one or the other or both; or don’t respond to either but use this post as a springboard for another line of thought):

If you had some insight into the future and knew that you had a choice to meet some great love (whatever that means to you) only to ultimately lose them or to not meet them at all (never know the love, but also never know the loss), which would you choose?

If you had the choice to erase your memories of a past relationship that ended badly--a bad breakup or some other upsetting loss--would you have memories of that relationship erased (this could be a romantic relationship or a relationship with a family member or beloved pet or close friend)?