Happy Indigneous People's Day for those who celebrate...

[shadowkat]

Got today off - as a paid holiday, it used to be Columbus Day, and is now officially Indigenous Peoples Day.

I watched two Christian Bale flicks over the weekend that dealt with genocide and indigenous people. One was Hostiles (starring Bale, Rosamund Pike and Wes Studi) - a Western - took place in the 1800s, and was about an Army Captain who fought various indigenous tribes (killing men, women and children as part of his job during the "Indian Wars") is tasked with escorting, Chief Yellow Hawk and his family of Cheyenne to the Valley of the Bear in Montana. The movie shows people can change, and can find redemption. The other film was The Promise (starring Oscar Issacs and Bale in a love triangle with another woman whose name I can't remember), - it focused on the genocide by the Turks of the Armenians during the first part of WWI. Turkey has a lot to answer for in WWI. It's soil is saturated in blood from that war and prior. But then, aren't all our soils saturated in blood? Doesn't justify or excuse it - so much as make it worse and make me wonder sometimes if humanity is worth saving? I had to remind myself it was a movie, and many Armenians survived - to bring their culture elsewhere. It was harrowing in places. I cried.How could one not?

I'm seeing a general theme in my viewing? I also saw Penguin Lessons on Netflix - which is adapted from Michel's memoir of teaching at a school in Fascist Argentina during the 1970s. It also deals with fascism, and the horrorific effects of it on those around. And is a charming tale of a cynical teacher and his friendship with a penguin.

Yup. I need to find a film or series that isn't about Fascism? [Still hope to visit the Jewish Holocaust Museum near Battery Park on Thursday, and walk down the pier afterwards.

Speaking of Bale? He's got another movie coming out. Ironically, Oscar Issacs and Christian Bale are in two different films, but they are in the same over all genre, and versions of the same story trope.

Oscar Issacs is playing Victor Frankenstein in Frankenstein by Guilermo Del Torro which takes place in 1800s England, while Christian Bale is playing Frankenstein the Monster in Maggie Gyllenhal's film The Bride - about the Bride to Frankenstein, which takes place in 1930s Chicago.

Here's the trailers:

The Bride - this is only in Theaters. (Bale's worked with Maggie Gyllenhal before - but when both were actors. And enjoys working with female filmmakers. He hit it off with the filmmaker behind American Psycho.)

AND Frankenstein

I should add Oscar Isaccs to my male actor crushes, also Antonio Banderas.

****

Angel S1 rewatch. Apparently they liked the actor who played Ken in the Buffy episode Anne so much they rehired him - to play the demon fiancee of Doyle's wife Harry in Bachelor Party. I was watching - and thought, wait, isn't that Ken from Anne? I thought Buffy killed him? And why is Doyle's cute human wife marrying him? OR is this just my imagination?

It wasn't. I looked up the actor - we can do that now - got to love IMBD, it didn't exist in the 1990s and early 00s. Makes life so much easier. Anyhow, he played both parts. And they actually did that a lot on Buffy and Angel - reused actors. Which is ironic - considering Julie Benze wasn't allowed to be on Rosewell and Buffy at the same time. You weren't allowed to be on two WB shows that weren't closely related to each other at the same time. They were afraid they'd confuse the audience. Yet, rehiring the actors to play different roles wasn't an issue?

I only noticed the guy who played Ken was the same one in Bachelor Party - because I saw Anne about a month ago.

(It's a horribly written episode with plot holes a plenty. (Example? It doesn't make a lot of sense that Harry left Quinn and hooked up with another demon, when Quinn's half-demon status caused her to freak. It also doesn't make a lot of sense that four-five years later, they are still married. And it kind of drops in out of the blue? There's no real build-up. It's a testament to Glenn Quinn's charm that it works at all.) The writing in Angel S1 is very uneven and reminiscent of Buffy's early seasons. Sigh. Network television - always a mixed bag. Cordelia is fulfilling the Xander role here and not always in a good way. Seriously Cordy can you be any more annoying. I'm reminded of why I didn't watch Angel consistently back in the day and Dochawk had to send me copies of the episodes on VHS - for me to be able to write about them in 2002. The episodes aren't that...compelling? Relatable? Good? And the characters don't jump off the screen or grab me in the same way they do on Buffy.)

Glenn Quinn's story is rather tragic. And what happened to him on Angel is kind of the opposite of what happened with Marsters. Both were popular with fans. But Glenn Quinn was a heroine addict - and an alcoholic - and his addiction caused issues with both Roseanne and Angel. As a result, Whedon had to cut his turn on Angel shorter than planned. He was a fan favorite - but causing issues. It was the exact opposite of Marsters, who became so popular with the fans, cast, crew, and writers - and didn't cause any issues and was easy to work with - he got invited back again and again, and ended up getting a full time gig. Marsters was older than Quinn, had a kid, and hungrier. Marsters would leave work at 4 am, and drive no stop four or five hours to Mendocino California from LA, to see his kid each weekend. Then drive back to get to work on time. He didn't have time. Quinn left Angel in S1, then died two years later in Ireland of a heroine overdose. He was in and out of rehab in Ireland. One of the things he loved about the role of Quinn - was it freed him up to use his Irish accent.

Comments

[kazzy_cee]

One of my art history teachers is Armenian, and she often told us that she still felt displaced and sad about what happened during the War.

[shadowkat]

From what I read - the Armenians are still displaced, the Turkish government refuses to acknowledge them or that it did anything wrong or to make reparations. This is alarming human pattern? Israel is doing the same thing to the Palestinians, as is the Arab world and their neighbors, that was done to the Armenians, and the Jewish people, and the Native Americans people, and the Indigenous people of Australia (Aborigines), and so on...

Ugh.

[trepkos]

I was very sad about Quinn.

[shadowkat]

So was I, I liked the actor - I liked him on Roseanne and Angel.

[mefisto]

There are folks online who say they love AtS, but I'm not one of them.

[shadowkat]

My brother preferred it to Buffy - and was surprised I didn't. It does on its surface - appear to be the more adult of the two series, with more adult themes. But, the trope is unfortunately over done, and they didn't quite know how to subvert nor try? The dark noir male detective (see Batman) investigating monsters and trying not to become one himself - was unfortunately well-established and done to death by the 1970s. While entertaining - it's been done much better elsewhere. (See Dark Knight Returns by Christopher Nolan, Brimstone, Millenium, most of the Bogart films...Kojack the Night Stalker, Forever Knight - (actually it reminded me a lot of Forever Knight, except with better special effects and production)). They did it again with Moonlight.

When it jumped over to serial - it got marginally better? But it still was an overdone trope and a favorite one among writers. Supernatural was in some respects better, albeit not as innovative. I haven't watched The Originals which was more of a serial.

I think the fans who preferred and liked it - like the trope, which is detective investigates monsters, and has father issues, and can't find happiness. They also were into David Boreanze and the character. You can handwave a great deal if you love an actor/character and trope.

But I don't think it got quite the critical or scholarly praise that Buffy did - mainly because it wasn't subversive nor try to be? It kind of just followed the trope for the most part. The serialized bits - maybe? But it still followed an heavily established trope - and never really veered away from it or subverted it.

[mefisto]

I think that's basically right. For me, there was also the fact that I didn't care for Angel, Cordelia or Wesley. And I didn't think the writing was anything special. I've watched it -- well, I never finished S4 -- but I've never felt the need to re-watch.

[shadowkat]

I was about to edit my previous statement to say basically that?

I'd have liked it better - I think - if it had less annoying characters? The main female characters (not the recurring ones) for the most part grated on my nerves and were often written as kind of lost little girls, damsels, or whiny victims without a lot of agency - requiring rescuing by Angel or Doyle. I didn't remember how much Cordelia's voice grated on my nerves - until I started rewatching, along with how she was written. She's whiny.

And Wes - took a long time to grow on me. The humor didn't work for me? Angel's sense of humor on the whole didn't really work for me - while Buffy's did.

And I didn't find Angel as relatable. I honestly think part of the reason Angel didn't last as long, and struggled - was it didn't quite find its footing until S5, and it was a bit too late, because the WB was about to be bought out by CBS, and become the CW. And Angel just didn't fit CW's marketing nitch (teen dramas).

I could change my mind - I'm only six episodes into the rewatch. [Although obviously I did like the characters and writing well enough to rewatch. Much like Buffy and any television series, really, it is uneven.]

[mefisto]

Good luck. :)

[mtbc]

The penguin guy taught me Chemistry in the early nineties.

[shadowkat]

Wow. I thought he was an English teacher. Have you seen the film?

[mtbc]

I haven't seen it but I only just recently noticed that it exists. He taught me a couple of times per week for a couple of years, never mentioned his time there. The anecdotes were interesting but all chemistry-related. I think he retired from my school after I'd graduated college and moved to Ohio. He was a good teacher: he wanted us to actually know and understand things so taught beyond what was required by the official syllabus, so I got to learn about orbital hybridization and suchlike.

I don't know what the book or adaptation might have changed but I suppose it's plausible that he taught English when not in England!

[shadowkat]

In the film, there's a Finnish guy who taught chemistry. The film is actually worth watching. I'd be curious what you thought of it? I don't know if it's streaming in the UK or not.