fifty frenchmen can't be wrong (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
some_stars) wrote2012-01-25 10:45 pm
some_stars) wrote2012-01-25 10:45 pm
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I fiiiinally watched How to Train Your Dragon--I've been meaning to since it came out, and there's been vid after awesome vid and now there's another for Festivids and I gave in. My feelings are wildly mixed; there's pretty much not a single second that didn't make me go "YAY YAY YAY FOREVER" or "oh fuck you, fuck this, fuck everything." I mean, objectively not THAT much of the latter, or at least it wasn't as bad, compared to the last new animated kids' movie I tried to watch (Tangled, and it was completely fucking irredeemable). But my objectivity is long gone. Basically it was like this:
1. KITTYDRAGONS omg omg omg omg KITTYDRAGONS
2. Holy crap, heroes and supporting characters with physical disabilities! A happy ending where people still (or newly) have those disabilities and have not been magically cured, yet are still going to live happily ever after! Prostheses and adaptive technology depicted as 100% non-monstrous and non-tragic, in fact as good things! Guys, this was pretty amazing. (Note: while I have the crazy, I am currently free of significant physical disabilities and therefore talking outside my group here, so please feel free to chime in about HTTYD's portrayal of this stuff if you disagree or otherwise have thoughts.)
But also like this--and I'm going to talk waaaaaaaaaay more about the disappointments, because that is just how I roll:
1. Oh I see as usual the gender politics of this movie are dead set on reminding me that the patriarchy exists and wishes I didn't. ...there were some very nice small touches (that I shouldn't have to be grateful for), it was certainly better than, say, Pixar generally manages (see above; talk about a low bar), but: the unending UNENDING cultural obsession with father-son issues as the only story worth telling, the fact that they specifically depicted this as a world where women were equal warriors (appreciated!) yet of COURSE it's still about a boy and his dad (not appreciated), the deep uncomfortable weirdness of the "thanks for the breast hat" exchange--I laughed! But also grimaced because that's all we get of his mom, and I can't put my finger on exactly why but it just made me unhappy. And Astrid getting her required moment of "stand back and display your faith in the hero so he can be appropriately manly." Girls never fantasize about having someone standing on the sidelines whispering an encouraging go... at them as they fly on their pet dragon to save the day. We dream of the day we get to whisper it for a boy, though. That's totally our secret wish-fulfillment power fantasy. ...also she just didn't get much to be. I know nothing about her family or her life or why she feels the things she feels and does what she does.
1a. Related disappointment: the way that the whole idea of how Hiccup is different/outsider/coded queer (maybe; I have feelings about how useful that last can be when applied to this kind of generic "paternal disappointment/eventual triumph" wish fulfillment arc about straight male characters) and his arc is learning and proving that he can be just who he is and still be both 1.) just fine, not somehow faulty or inadequate, and 2.) a valued member of the community, without having to kill things or fight--okay, sentence moving on now, deep breath--is severely undercut by his big climactic moment being...winning a battle. OF COURSE. Astrid didn't even get to co-win it with him, not really.
It reminds me of the whole "strong female character" trap where it always comes down to physical strength because no other kind is imaginable--basically what Hiccup proved was that he is, in fact, a great warrior like he was pressured to be and punished for not being, he just uses different tactics than the others. His arc cannot be considered satisfactory until he personally, directly wins the big fight. Whereas the moment of greatest satisfaction for me was when he threw his helmet aside and told the dragon, "I'm not one of them." Or when he was about to run away with Toothless. I don't actually require a story where he rejects everything and everyone he's ever known and abandons society and never reconciles with his father--I didn't want those moments to be the end--but they were where the movie's heart was, for me. Well, that and the moment when he throws the cheat sheet away and flies through the rocks and they're in this perfect symbiosis of perfect understanding and shared experience and exhilarating freedom to succeed; that was the other heart. Three hearts!
1b. WHY IS THAT COURTSHIP SCENE SO FUCKING FUCKING CREEPY. "Get me down!" "You have to listen." Or something to that effect. And then he kidnaps her on the dragon until she's so terrified she screams "I'm sorry!" Moments later, of course, she's delighted and romanced, and when they land she kisses him. Of course it's all played very light, but--this is the only way male screenwriters can imagine a hetero relationship progressing, by the boy constantly increasing his strength and control each time they interact. The only way, I see it in EVERYTHING. Hiccup must be proving himself at every turn, both to Astrid and to the audience (and, I suspect, to the screenwriter projecting his own insecurities onto him). In fact for the whole story, Astrid's only function is for Hiccup to prove himself at. To be gotten, and then to support and act as proof of his triumph. The surface is certainly an improvement, but at the core it's the same. (Also--four boys in dragon training class, four distinct body types. Two girls, one body type. Not a big thing, just...sigh.)
SO, basically:
1. Kittydragons!!!!
2. Disability win!
3. Most everything else made me UNHAPPY. Though less violently unhappy than other movies in its peer group, so I guess that is progress.
1. KITTYDRAGONS omg omg omg omg KITTYDRAGONS
2. Holy crap, heroes and supporting characters with physical disabilities! A happy ending where people still (or newly) have those disabilities and have not been magically cured, yet are still going to live happily ever after! Prostheses and adaptive technology depicted as 100% non-monstrous and non-tragic, in fact as good things! Guys, this was pretty amazing. (Note: while I have the crazy, I am currently free of significant physical disabilities and therefore talking outside my group here, so please feel free to chime in about HTTYD's portrayal of this stuff if you disagree or otherwise have thoughts.)
But also like this--and I'm going to talk waaaaaaaaaay more about the disappointments, because that is just how I roll:
1. Oh I see as usual the gender politics of this movie are dead set on reminding me that the patriarchy exists and wishes I didn't. ...there were some very nice small touches (that I shouldn't have to be grateful for), it was certainly better than, say, Pixar generally manages (see above; talk about a low bar), but: the unending UNENDING cultural obsession with father-son issues as the only story worth telling, the fact that they specifically depicted this as a world where women were equal warriors (appreciated!) yet of COURSE it's still about a boy and his dad (not appreciated), the deep uncomfortable weirdness of the "thanks for the breast hat" exchange--I laughed! But also grimaced because that's all we get of his mom, and I can't put my finger on exactly why but it just made me unhappy. And Astrid getting her required moment of "stand back and display your faith in the hero so he can be appropriately manly." Girls never fantasize about having someone standing on the sidelines whispering an encouraging go... at them as they fly on their pet dragon to save the day. We dream of the day we get to whisper it for a boy, though. That's totally our secret wish-fulfillment power fantasy. ...also she just didn't get much to be. I know nothing about her family or her life or why she feels the things she feels and does what she does.
1a. Related disappointment: the way that the whole idea of how Hiccup is different/outsider/coded queer (maybe; I have feelings about how useful that last can be when applied to this kind of generic "paternal disappointment/eventual triumph" wish fulfillment arc about straight male characters) and his arc is learning and proving that he can be just who he is and still be both 1.) just fine, not somehow faulty or inadequate, and 2.) a valued member of the community, without having to kill things or fight--okay, sentence moving on now, deep breath--is severely undercut by his big climactic moment being...winning a battle. OF COURSE. Astrid didn't even get to co-win it with him, not really.
It reminds me of the whole "strong female character" trap where it always comes down to physical strength because no other kind is imaginable--basically what Hiccup proved was that he is, in fact, a great warrior like he was pressured to be and punished for not being, he just uses different tactics than the others. His arc cannot be considered satisfactory until he personally, directly wins the big fight. Whereas the moment of greatest satisfaction for me was when he threw his helmet aside and told the dragon, "I'm not one of them." Or when he was about to run away with Toothless. I don't actually require a story where he rejects everything and everyone he's ever known and abandons society and never reconciles with his father--I didn't want those moments to be the end--but they were where the movie's heart was, for me. Well, that and the moment when he throws the cheat sheet away and flies through the rocks and they're in this perfect symbiosis of perfect understanding and shared experience and exhilarating freedom to succeed; that was the other heart. Three hearts!
1b. WHY IS THAT COURTSHIP SCENE SO FUCKING FUCKING CREEPY. "Get me down!" "You have to listen." Or something to that effect. And then he kidnaps her on the dragon until she's so terrified she screams "I'm sorry!" Moments later, of course, she's delighted and romanced, and when they land she kisses him. Of course it's all played very light, but--this is the only way male screenwriters can imagine a hetero relationship progressing, by the boy constantly increasing his strength and control each time they interact. The only way, I see it in EVERYTHING. Hiccup must be proving himself at every turn, both to Astrid and to the audience (and, I suspect, to the screenwriter projecting his own insecurities onto him). In fact for the whole story, Astrid's only function is for Hiccup to prove himself at. To be gotten, and then to support and act as proof of his triumph. The surface is certainly an improvement, but at the core it's the same. (Also--four boys in dragon training class, four distinct body types. Two girls, one body type. Not a big thing, just...sigh.)
SO, basically:
1. Kittydragons!!!!
2. Disability win!
3. Most everything else made me UNHAPPY. Though less violently unhappy than other movies in its peer group, so I guess that is progress.
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--although this does remind me how I was thinking while watching, man, has anyone written the AU where the dragons are sentient beings, and it's Hiccup/Toothless fic? Because that bond was so--the way they found each other, something, there was a lot of romance there. To me. If they'd both been sentient. *g*
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Anyway I'm glad you liked the post/my anger. *g*
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