Day #28 of the 30 Days of Television Challenge

Day #28 of the 30 Days of Television Challenge.

The prompt is Most shocking character death - I feel like we've already done this one, and more than once.

Mine is The Good Wife.

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The style of death wasn't shocking, it was that they did it. Also to a major character and lead of the series. Apparently the actor had advised the writers a year before that this season was his last, and they all managed to keep it a secret, including the fact that the actor was leaving.

Day #24 of the 30 Day of Halloween Challenge

This is Day #24 of 30 Days of Halloween Challenge.

The prompt is Best or Worst Kiss/Love Scene in a horror film or television series

Well, I can't exactly use the one that I used for the Television Meme.

So...this kind of fits worst kiss category..

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Television Shows/Movies..

1. Got curious and started watching She-Ra and The Princesses of Power tonight. [I've been trying to figure out why it's so popular. It seems to be based on He-Man and the Masters of the Universe? I remember that cartoon - except while this one does have the same animation style (it does by the way), it is a subversion of it. Or the gender flip on it.)

This is going to sound odd, but it reminds me of The Steven Universe and Avatar: The Last Airbender, also a little bit of The Legend of Korra (although I like it a bit better than Korra). Except with female leads, and heavy focus on female characters. Also the animation style of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Hee Hee, get it...He-Man - She-Rah. With a powerful sword? If you've seen or are at all familiar with the previous cartoon this one has an added comic/satiric element to it. (I have a vague memory of it, but watching this - and Adora stating this all seems really familiar, I thought - I agree - it does. Wait, I think I've seen a version of this..oh, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. LOL! (No, don't go back and watch He-Man, She-Rah is better, and it's not required.)

It's a subversion of the format, with female hero, female frenemy/love interest, and female leadership. Also it's pretty. There's lots of glowing pretty colors.

I'm noticing a bit of a trend with these animated shows - with the exception of Avatar, they are well written but suck in the animation department. Can't they find good animators? Honestly, it's making me wonder if I should have gone into animation. No, I'd have to teach. Animation is a difficult and frustrating field. I know people in it. The art world doesn't take it seriously nor do the art schools. Shame.

Three episodes in and I'm intrigued. It's interesting. I like the twist of the hero being a former villain. And the villains wanting her back. That's a strong story kink for me. All that's missing is the misunderstood or wounded male hero/love interest - although I think I got that in the misunderstood/wounded female hero/love interest - Catra. In some respects, it works better with a female one, because it lifts the story out of cliche or heavy romantic trope territory, and also away from toxic male stereotypes. One of the reasons, Whedon's shows had issues - is he fell into the toxic male stereotypes - which in turn lead to the sexual violence, and various critics of romantic archetypes and tropes. Making the two the same sex kind of avoids all of that. Not only does it avoid it, it also provides an interesting commentary on it - and examines the power dynamic differently.

2. The Boys in the Band

Difficult movie to watch. It's based on the play of the same name - and is about "A group of gay friends re-unite to celebrate one of their birthdays at an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in July of 1968. When the host's straight former college roommate shows up uninvited, the evening is thrown into turmoil. "

It exclusively stars outwardly gay actors in the cast. All the actors playing the roles are gay.

Why is it difficult to watch?

Because after the host's straight former college roommate crashes the party - the friends begin to rip each other to shreds. They are cruel to each other and themselves. The play operates on two levels - showing the superficial nature of friendship and relationships, and what is often left unsaid in order to keep that friendship going. And the "ingrained" self-hatred of the gay men towards themselves. They all deal with the toxic male culture they live in - differently, in particular the hate they have to shoulder daily. And the pain of trying to be something they aren't in order to fit into society at large, or the world they were raised within.

The play first premiered off-broadway in 1968, and there was film done by William Freidkin, written by Matt Crowley, staring everyone who was in the off-broadway play. It was recently revived on Broadway in 2018, with all gay cast, and that same cast appears in the recent film version.

3. Over the Moon - the Netflix film - is a pretty little movie, that adeptly deals with grief. The story is a retelling of a classic Chinese Myth. The woman who wrote it - died in 2018. The voices and characters are all Chinese or of Chinese decent.

I enjoyed it more than expected. The songs don't really stay with you, and I could have done without some of them. But the animation, the story, the characters and the theme - all worked rather well. And for a computer animated movie - it was surprisingly fresh and different.