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Notes -
Can we talk about how good Puss in Boots: The last wish is? It is culture war topic because unlike big projects from Disney, Marvel, Amazon and generally speaking Hollywood that underperformed (or flopped if you are into schadenfreude) it came out of nowhere, the reviews are off the scale and the movie itself is unapologetically culture war free. Simple story, tight writing, tight movie - there is barely anything to cut. Relatable and sympathetic characters you care about. Surprising depth and darkness for the more mature audience. A villain that is for the ages. Brilliant voice acting.
The message is about friendship family and trust - shave the heads of every male in the movie and it could be part from the Fast and Furious franchise.
It was a pleasant surprise and a datapoint for the theory that much of the DEI in Hollywood is defensive - to deflect criticisms.
Jokes aside, I’m really not a big moviegoer. Would you say that lots of kids/family movies have been falling prey to CW? I’ve just assumed that they’re not particularly political outside of maybe casting. You can watch Moana or Despicable Me or whatever without much if any real-world drama.
I do think Marvel gets a bad rap, though. There really was a period where they were pumping out hit after hit! Sure, they couldn’t keep it going indefinitely, and part of that involves turning to CW. But their initial success was both real and unexpected.
The last kids movie I saw (with my nephews) was Strange World. It's the latest offering, featuring a sensitively depicted gay main character, a harmonious multiracial family, and a plot that deals with intergenerational trauma and the need to accept reduced living standards for the sake of the environment. Not kidding. It's also pretty damn boring. (I could go into further detail.)
My first GF was black - we would've had kids had it not been for two entoptic pregnancies - her best friend was this small little gay dude we knew from HS who eventually got mega fucking ripped (and still super gay) - and they both had trauma from a shitty upbringing.
I am VERY (VERY!) sympathetic to being against woke shit - so much so that I mostly keep my thoughts private while touching grass - but there's a large difference between what you wrote being offensive and what you wrote making you offensive (not to me, perse). I haven't seen it yet but I was planning on seeing that and Maggie (the AI doll one?) tomorrow or just maybe Babylon (I enjoy famous people doing famous people things on screen) so I'll see how it goes when I do. There's also the point of course that in a vacuum this film might be fine, but of course, outside of itself it's the whole point that things that aren't normal are being normalized at potentially a psychotic degree.
The worst part here is if I do find the film boring ... there's absolutely nothing worse a film could be then boring.
Is it? Walt Disney the person might have watched Tomorrowland lose $100M and vowed to try again immediately to find a new way to spark human optimism; Disney the modern company would probably turn up a risk-of-apocalypse dial themselves if it made profit projections look better. Maybe with Strange World set to lose $150M they might redirect again, though?
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