In typically flippant fashion, my laziness induced hiatus from wrting this blog will now be broken by some thoughts I need to express about a certain character that most people who were born in the 1990s know very well, against this blog's mission statement. This character is none other than Harley Quinn. Originally a simple box-ticking female henchman (henchperson?) for the Joker in the classic and irreplacable Batman: The Animated Series, Harley brought a charming, Animaniacs-esque influence to the dynamic between the most antithetical hero and villain in pop culture. Her popularity grew and grew until she was placed in DC Universe comic continuity proper in the Batman event No Man's Land.
My superficial interest in the character began changing through her appearences in the Batman: Arkham Asylum/City video game series. I watched with increasing apprehension as a comedic character with viciously tragic undertones began being placed in more and more sexualised outfits. From a hideous combination of a nurse's and french maid's uniform and a slightly more forgivable but still unpleasant corset and leggings in each respective game, the connection I felt to Harley began to grow as I felt she was being being done wrong by. This was my first experience of what the comic community often refer to as certain changes 'ruining their childhoods' as spurious a feeling as that was and continues to be.
My dissatisfaction skyrocketed when I saw Harley's 're-inroduction' to the ill-advised reboot of the DC universe, dubbed 'The New 52'. Not only had the corset returned, it wasn't done up all the way, allowing the viewer an unsettlingly centralised view of Harley's cleavage. The diamond patterned body suit that I had come to love about the character and was still a feature of the Arkham titles vanished, with areas of bare skin acting as replacement, covered only by hot pants and thigh high boots. Similar instances of awful, impractical and down right silly sexualisation of female characters is a huge problem I hadn't taken much notice of in comics up to that point, but this was beyond the pale. This outrage drew me back to Harley Quinns' self-titled mini-series as a way to drown out the horrendous abuses my newly adored character was enduring. This was how my experiences of Quinngait began.
I was interested in classic Harley. She was funny, out-of-control, wacky, deeply scarred by insanity but still maintained a light-hearted nature. I nervously bought Harley Quinn: Night and Day to try and get to know more about her. In this series, Harley is seperated from the manipulative and abusive Joker. Distancing herself from Joker, the embodiement of chaos that had freed Harley from her regular life of order and certainty as a psychiatrist, one thing remained for Harley to pursue: love itself. Dubbing herself 'The Cupid of Crime' and starting up her own gang, she tore Gotham apart in attempts to try and make the private eyes that were chasing her fall in love. She blew up malls, beat Killer Crock to near death with a bowling ball, impersonated Batgirl to set the entire Bat family after her and killed her own henchman without thought or remorse once they got in her way. And yet, the terror and destruction she wrought never felt 'evil' because she was making jokes and laughing gleefully all the way through. Her devotion the blooming romance of her pursuers overshadowed the chaos and destruction she caused. Harley Quinn loved love as much as chaos no matter the form it took. Her pursuing love over chaos made me think Harley could be her own, independent character, regardless of her previous connection to the Joker. She was bringing love, the ultimate unifier, to the chaos of the world that Joker was always looking to spread.
I was ready to do much more with Harley, researching her every appearence and adding them to my eBay watchlist in a state of pure euphoria. Then, once more, DC interfered. Launching a new Harley Quinn ongoing series, they announced they would be letting aspiring artists the chance to draw a page of 'Harley Quinn #0'. The victor of the contest would then have 'broken in' to mainstream comics and would get much more work. The page breakdown was thus:
PANEL 1
Harley is on top of a building, holding a large DETACHED
cellphone tower in her hands as lightning is striking just about
everywhere except her tower. She is looking at us like she cannot
believe what she is doing. Beside herself. Not happy.
PANEL 2
Harley is sitting in an alligator pond, on a little
island with a suit of raw chicken on, rolling her eyes like once again,
she cannot believe where she has found herself. We see the alligators
ignoring her.
PANEL 3
Harley is sitting in an open whale mouth, tickling the
inside of the whale’s mouth with a feather. She is ecstatic and happy,
like this is the most fun ever.
PANEL 4
Harley sitting naked in a bathtub with toasters, blow
dryers, blenders, appliances all dangling above the bathtub and she has a
cord that will release them all. We are watching the moment before the
inevitable death. Her expression is one of “oh well, guess that’s it for
me” and she has resigned herself to the moment that is going to happen
Panel 4 raised hackles, something DC have become used to doing with their increasingly moronic decisions (see the Superman/Wonder Woman romance and the insistence that the Bat family survive on misery, not oxygen). The panel was pilloried against as it 'eroticized suicide' or was 'forcing aspiring artists to depict violence against women'. I was infuriated. At these responses, I mean. Deconstructing the arguments, I came across these propsitions: taking a bath was now an erotic taboo; a naked woman, regardless of neutralising circumstances such as a light tone, eroticizes any scenario where she finds herself; depicting violence against women was endorsing it. I'd rolled my eyes at New 52 Harley, but I never thought I'd have to defend her from this level of unthinking and facile criticism. I thought, "Harley shouldn't need my help! She's independant! She's trying to bring people together, good and evil alike, trying to make the world better, even if she's destroying it in the process!". I felt even closer to her after that.
After the bath incident, I could look past my girl Harley's unfortunate fashion and looked forward to seeing her new adventures in the New 52 continuity. I then decided to pick up Detective comics 23.2, a tie in to 'Villain's Month' that focused on Harley herself. It was pleasent enough reading. It even finally showed her choosing the outfit she wore, removing the problem I had with her new look. I also liked her handing out new portable game consoles to kids after she'd stolen them. That was Harley, always giving, even if what she was giving wasn't hers. Then she detonated bombs in the consoles, murdering hundereds of children all over Gotham in one fell swoop. The comic was released on the 9/11 anniversary. I felt sick, I wanted to cry, I wanted to burn the comic and pretend nothing had ever happened. It was too late. I couldn't look at Harley any more.
I tried to move on. I got involved in a few arguments on the internet in which I was battling against people who shame single mothers, to try and vent some of my misery, and felt like I was doing good to make up for what I had seen Harley do. I was on the mend, when I saw a Facebook post by Max Landis, writer of the involving, unsettling and intermitantly shocking teens-who-happen-to-have-superpowers thriller Chronicle (also too well known a film to warrant a review on here. In brief, it's amazing so watch it). Landis wrote about the atrocity of Harley's Villains Month issue and lamented the bath incident. Then, he said he didn't understand why Harley was trying to be made into a feminist character as her origin and presence in the animated series were sum-up-able as (the post was also in bold) 'A SLUTTY, MURDEROUS MORON'.
The word 'slut' should not exist. It's only reason to exist is to shame women for having sex, even as they are pressured to be hypersexual by the media and male expectations. A woman's morals and her sexuality are entirely unrelated.
Landis centered his judgement on the fact that Harley slept with her teacher's to get through college. Not even considering pointing out that Harley has gotten the drop on Batman through intelligent planning (ie. not a moron) I deployed a lot of stock responses, screaming at the laptop screen about 'slut shaming' and him being oppressive. I framed my argument terribly and was beaten down due to the fact this action would be wrong if a man did it so there was no double standard. I was left stewing in my rage filled failure to protect a character I had almost no feeling left for.
After days of this same fermenting in unrequited anger, I realised why I was so bothered by Harley being called a 'slut'. She represents the tragedy that word invokes. She models herself in every way she thinks the Joker wants, but he takes advantage of her and physically abuses her. She is his victim when she thinks he's her saviour. She projects her love onto the Joker and assumes they're equal, but she's still just his henchman. She is a sympathetic and complex presentation of an all too real mindset. But she's funny, adorable and only wants to bring love into the world.
Landis' post also said that she was too dependant on the Joker to ever be a character unto herself. This brought me full circle back to my analysis of Harley Quinn: Night and Day. She has the elasticity of being committed to love that will allow her to venture on her own, but is in the Joker's orbit as she is in love with chaos. She isn't independant from the Joker in the same way Batgirl is not fully independant from Batman, through her inspiration by Joker and her pursuit of some similar goals.
I had overcome attacks against Harley once more, just as I did for the bath incident. I was finding my love for her once more. My recent purchase of the 'Mad Love' comic gave us a fresh start, away from all the external misogynistic abuse, ill-prepared criticism and mass child murder. I'm looking forward to the getting to know Harley again. I feel safe with her, even if she's dangerous.
(PS: For more information on how fitting yet completley uninspired this piece's title is, watch the heart wrenchingly earnest anti-romcom Chasing Amy for details on how love's overcoming of logic and personality can cause more harm than good)
Saturday, 21 September 2013
Thursday, 20 September 2012
Adventures into Anime 2 - Black Butler
The defining and most beneficial distinction between Death Note and Black Butler is the sheer amount of feeling put into the latter, even if it does seem at times to be to the expense of the thought behind the former. For me, at least, this difference is what makes Black Butler more memorable, as it paves it's way into your heart, not just your head.
The Phantomhive family are known not just for their wealth and their links to nobility, but also their nurturance of youthful joy in their standing as the most profitable toy industry in Elizabethan England. When the Earl and his wife die in an all consuming fire and their son, Ciel, is kidnapped and tortured by the perpetrators, the Phantomhive estate fell into tragic obscurity. After two years of public absence, Ceil returns to resume the duties of his birthright, accompanied by the charming and seemingly infallible butler Sebastian. Seeking a way to return his family name to proud reverence once again, Ceil takes on London's criminal underworld in an effort to subject them to the same pain and humiliation he suffered at their hands, with Sebastian following him in every endeavour. While waging war to end the darkness plaguing London's streets, Ciel begins decaying from the darkness he himself now harbours, while Sebastian remains, forever, his devoted and deadly servant.
The strengths of the context leap right out at you from the very beginning. This is mostly due to the fantastic effort behind the English dub, neglegted by most other animes I've come across. Each characters accent is representative of their social standing, playing well themeatically with the trap the 1800 social system actually becomes in that Ciel is caught in stasis as an employer and a nobleman as well as a tortured soul to the extent he has little hope of freedom to live his own life. Clashes of culture appearing throughout, such as immigration tensions with caniving Italian businessmen and the growing mafia presence, civility and hedonism between the fiercley dutiful Sebastian and the boarderless and deliriously entertaining Grell contribute such passion in delivering tension you can't help but be sucked in.
Expanding on how well the English dub was constructed, it's also endearing how much the love for English Literature the creators and writers share and how seamlessly they weave in their characterisations that range between the demeaur and uppity Ceil and the farcically loveable house staff, in particular the short sighted and obnoxiously clumsy May Rin. The interactions between the characters is not only enjoyable, but is informed by components of Elizabethan plays, such as Dr Faustus, more than likely the insperation for this story of status and boundaries, ever more present in the supernatural elements such as the demons, angels and grim reapers. Also, easy parrallels can be made into the work of one of my favourite fantasy novelists Neil Gaiman in the precise yet somehow almost satirical construction of a business like and official economy of good and evil and the behaviour of their emissaries. The time and affectionate treatment spent on each of these elements sets Black Butler apart from Death Note, which at times could get monotonus adding to how stale it felt by the end.
While Black Butler flourishes in tone where Death Note fell short, it unfortunatley suffers from doing not enough of what Death Note did too much : exposition. The reveals characters make, principally the revelation of Sebastians true nature, is so poorly timed it's as if the audience knew them already. Not giving weight to such developments is almost a big no-no in the fantasy genre, as it places the convenience of the story over the layers of wonder and interest in the world it's trying to create. While Black Butler's characters are entertaining in their own characteurish way, there are times when we are so quickly demanded to care about them through rushed development, the balance they try to strike to keep the tone even (not too dark, not too silly) is off putting, particularly seen in the fate of my initial favourite characateur Madame Red, who, after having her back story thrown in my face like a wet rag, I was completley indifferent to. Even this failing,though, is not so affecting to reach Death Note levels of inconvenience, as the story elements remain strong enough to bare the brunt of overly modest reveals that don't tend to alienate or draw you out of proceedings.
All things considered, while it may not be as traditionally 'good' as Death Note, being neither as careful or thought provoking, the warmth of emotion behind Black Butler sets it above Death Note in terms of overall entertainment value. Truely, it's a joyful thing to behold.
The Phantomhive family are known not just for their wealth and their links to nobility, but also their nurturance of youthful joy in their standing as the most profitable toy industry in Elizabethan England. When the Earl and his wife die in an all consuming fire and their son, Ciel, is kidnapped and tortured by the perpetrators, the Phantomhive estate fell into tragic obscurity. After two years of public absence, Ceil returns to resume the duties of his birthright, accompanied by the charming and seemingly infallible butler Sebastian. Seeking a way to return his family name to proud reverence once again, Ceil takes on London's criminal underworld in an effort to subject them to the same pain and humiliation he suffered at their hands, with Sebastian following him in every endeavour. While waging war to end the darkness plaguing London's streets, Ciel begins decaying from the darkness he himself now harbours, while Sebastian remains, forever, his devoted and deadly servant.
The strengths of the context leap right out at you from the very beginning. This is mostly due to the fantastic effort behind the English dub, neglegted by most other animes I've come across. Each characters accent is representative of their social standing, playing well themeatically with the trap the 1800 social system actually becomes in that Ciel is caught in stasis as an employer and a nobleman as well as a tortured soul to the extent he has little hope of freedom to live his own life. Clashes of culture appearing throughout, such as immigration tensions with caniving Italian businessmen and the growing mafia presence, civility and hedonism between the fiercley dutiful Sebastian and the boarderless and deliriously entertaining Grell contribute such passion in delivering tension you can't help but be sucked in.
Expanding on how well the English dub was constructed, it's also endearing how much the love for English Literature the creators and writers share and how seamlessly they weave in their characterisations that range between the demeaur and uppity Ceil and the farcically loveable house staff, in particular the short sighted and obnoxiously clumsy May Rin. The interactions between the characters is not only enjoyable, but is informed by components of Elizabethan plays, such as Dr Faustus, more than likely the insperation for this story of status and boundaries, ever more present in the supernatural elements such as the demons, angels and grim reapers. Also, easy parrallels can be made into the work of one of my favourite fantasy novelists Neil Gaiman in the precise yet somehow almost satirical construction of a business like and official economy of good and evil and the behaviour of their emissaries. The time and affectionate treatment spent on each of these elements sets Black Butler apart from Death Note, which at times could get monotonus adding to how stale it felt by the end.
While Black Butler flourishes in tone where Death Note fell short, it unfortunatley suffers from doing not enough of what Death Note did too much : exposition. The reveals characters make, principally the revelation of Sebastians true nature, is so poorly timed it's as if the audience knew them already. Not giving weight to such developments is almost a big no-no in the fantasy genre, as it places the convenience of the story over the layers of wonder and interest in the world it's trying to create. While Black Butler's characters are entertaining in their own characteurish way, there are times when we are so quickly demanded to care about them through rushed development, the balance they try to strike to keep the tone even (not too dark, not too silly) is off putting, particularly seen in the fate of my initial favourite characateur Madame Red, who, after having her back story thrown in my face like a wet rag, I was completley indifferent to. Even this failing,though, is not so affecting to reach Death Note levels of inconvenience, as the story elements remain strong enough to bare the brunt of overly modest reveals that don't tend to alienate or draw you out of proceedings.
All things considered, while it may not be as traditionally 'good' as Death Note, being neither as careful or thought provoking, the warmth of emotion behind Black Butler sets it above Death Note in terms of overall entertainment value. Truely, it's a joyful thing to behold.
Saturday, 7 July 2012
Death Note - Adventures into Anime 1
Look what the cat dragged in and pissed all over, I'm back! Going to attempt to be more disciplined with my whole watching things and then writing about them thing that I do hopefully, so let's get right to it. Broadening my horizons (and hopefully yours as well) I've begun Adventures into Anime. This is where I was so interested in a new medium I made an exciting title about it. Got a list of Japanese-y or at least Eastern anime TV series and films to fuel this here blog. Open to any more suggestions if they can be given, but I'm doing fairly well known series from the anime community TV series wise and mainly Studio Ghibli films and shouting about what I like about them. So saddle up for part 1 of an indeterminate amount of numbered posts. Reviewing HO!
First I need to incriminate myself by saying I watched this series on Youtube, so I can be sent to jail for some piracy bullshit. Yet more incrimination in the fact, for this series at least, I stuck with the English dub, a cardinal anime sin if the 'otaku' devils are to be believed. If this little blog whets your brain appetites enough to check them out (and why wouldn't it?) this would probably be the best, cheapest place to watch them, as the DVDs come in awkward 'volumes' costing about a tenner each and are mostly not region 1. Also, DO NOT READ THE COMMENTS!. There are unsavoury types who type the endings on each and every video and spoiled this particular prog for me when I was less than halfway through. Conduct all sorted? Cool. Let's talk about Death Note.
Light Yagami, an honour role high school student, stumbles upon a note-book lying on the grass outside. On the inside cover, there is a long list of instructions, principal among them 'Whoevers name is written in this note shall die'. At first sceptical, he soon finds that the book does what it says as he writes the name of an escaped convict he sees on the news died of a heart attack 40 seconds after his name was written in the note book. He is then approached by the owner of the Death Note, the Shinygami Ryuk, a god of Death. Ryuk left the book for Light, sheerly to see what he'd do with it. Light quickly comes to the only logical conclusion; he'll use the book to kill every criminal in the world and become the God of a new world free from evil. Once the police realise what's going on, they bring in the bizarre, genuis detective known only as 'L' to help catch the perpetrator of these crimes. Light must then assume the identity of Kira, a vengeful God with the power to kill anyone, anywhere with only their name and their face in his mind, outmaneuver L and maintain his regular life whilst reaching ever closer to his goal of Godhood.
Probably the most enjoyable thing about the series is the subtext. In the information age, where anyone can collect facts enough to claim they know the truth of the world and use this knowledge along with their anonymity as a weapon against anyone who might disagree, there would be no stopping someone with the kind of power the Death Note can give to do exactly as Light does. In fact, Light uses forthcoming information on the internet to kill any criminals, even if they've already been arrested, along with anyone who tries to stop him from doing so whilst not revelaing himself in any other way than the hand of a pissed off God. Killing from a distance as he does is also endemic of the desensitisation to crime and violence present in todays culture, making the Death Note a very easy fantastical instrument to envision and for the audience to buy overall. Exemplarily, many of the Youtube audience were rallying behind Light and the morality that, as soon as someone commits any crime, they have forfeited their life. Admitedly, it's quite hard not to stick to someone with this kind of staunch belief in their own morality but when one of the comments was 'I'd use the Death Note to kill people in all kinds of really fucked up ways', you get some perspective.
The strength of the subtext is equal to the strengths of Light as a character. While not explored vastly, the rapidity in which he jumps to wanting to become an all powerful deity is as intimidating as the brave choice of subject matter. In much the same way as Sherlock does with it's titular character, the strength of the character is grasped upon so much you're engaged by their thought processess as much as them as a person which provides a more inventive guide through the series. From his perspective, all the people in his life are dialled back to simply obstacles or pawns to be manipulated in his battle against L. As both L and Light share this perspective, a carefully plotted and very intelligent story ensues. At times, though, this gets very frustrating, as we're only really engaged by the twists and turns of how others are being used by L and Light, meaning we don't really care about them if they end up hurt or dead. This is a majorish downgrade as the writers are consumed by this perspective as well. Any character death, irrespective of their presence in the series, is instantly glossed over to get right back to the battle of wits between Light and L, when more emotion would have proven an interesting test for Light maintaining his appearence of control against his ever growing insanity.
Furthering this, the writing throughout, literally start to finish, is so content with itself in the questions it raises and the webs it weaves that it comes off very smug and patronizing. Refering back to Sherlock which brakes up it's little clues with always fresh, pertinant and mostly hilarious character interaction (especially between Sherlock and John), Death Note deviates from this so much it's hard to get as engrossed as your being told to be. One such example of this is, while trying to shake off an FBI investigator following him, Light organises an extremly convoluded plan to manipulate a criminal into hijacking a bus, touching a page in the Death Note and making him go insane. While interesting and gratifying to watch when in the aforementioned Light-mindset, afterwards the show takes great pleasure in minutley explaining what they just did. It's exactly the same as having an over the hill cynical magician pull a rabbit out of his hat and tell you it was in there the whole time. While you may not have understood what you'd seen totally, you'd build on the evidence you had to come to a reasonable conclusion without needing to be told. Knowing the rules of the Death Note (there's lots of them and they're very hard to follow at times) we could have figured out what was done on our own. While the exposition is helpful when the show invariably backs up with convoludedness from the inventive rules of the world it's created, it leaves you feeling hollow and disengaged.
A fix is attempted in the admittedly catch-y music to draw you back in, but, again, there's so much focus on getting to the next convuluded scenario that the gap between you and the show becomes desperate, resulting in incredibly, sometimes laughably, melodramatic sequences. The final episode does this particularly badly, with rampant, grizzly blood effects going from dramatic to outright ridiculousness once the expositon has been so carefully layed out in front of you. These moments are pretty enjoyable, I have to say, but for the wrong reasons, which cheapens the amazing precision of what came before it.
Even so, the very fact that this has parellels to Sherlock gives this series it's worth and can be easily prided on it's unashamed intelligence, ambition and lack of deference to ambiguity as we've become accustomed to from Inception and Prometheus styles. If you're a fan of crime drama, this is a very fresh and worthwhile watch. Even when it leaves you behind, you'll always make the effort to catch back up.
There's 37 episodes, each 20 minutes long. If you've got a free weekend, marathon viewing is most effective and hard to resist.
First I need to incriminate myself by saying I watched this series on Youtube, so I can be sent to jail for some piracy bullshit. Yet more incrimination in the fact, for this series at least, I stuck with the English dub, a cardinal anime sin if the 'otaku' devils are to be believed. If this little blog whets your brain appetites enough to check them out (and why wouldn't it?) this would probably be the best, cheapest place to watch them, as the DVDs come in awkward 'volumes' costing about a tenner each and are mostly not region 1. Also, DO NOT READ THE COMMENTS!. There are unsavoury types who type the endings on each and every video and spoiled this particular prog for me when I was less than halfway through. Conduct all sorted? Cool. Let's talk about Death Note.
Light Yagami, an honour role high school student, stumbles upon a note-book lying on the grass outside. On the inside cover, there is a long list of instructions, principal among them 'Whoevers name is written in this note shall die'. At first sceptical, he soon finds that the book does what it says as he writes the name of an escaped convict he sees on the news died of a heart attack 40 seconds after his name was written in the note book. He is then approached by the owner of the Death Note, the Shinygami Ryuk, a god of Death. Ryuk left the book for Light, sheerly to see what he'd do with it. Light quickly comes to the only logical conclusion; he'll use the book to kill every criminal in the world and become the God of a new world free from evil. Once the police realise what's going on, they bring in the bizarre, genuis detective known only as 'L' to help catch the perpetrator of these crimes. Light must then assume the identity of Kira, a vengeful God with the power to kill anyone, anywhere with only their name and their face in his mind, outmaneuver L and maintain his regular life whilst reaching ever closer to his goal of Godhood.
Probably the most enjoyable thing about the series is the subtext. In the information age, where anyone can collect facts enough to claim they know the truth of the world and use this knowledge along with their anonymity as a weapon against anyone who might disagree, there would be no stopping someone with the kind of power the Death Note can give to do exactly as Light does. In fact, Light uses forthcoming information on the internet to kill any criminals, even if they've already been arrested, along with anyone who tries to stop him from doing so whilst not revelaing himself in any other way than the hand of a pissed off God. Killing from a distance as he does is also endemic of the desensitisation to crime and violence present in todays culture, making the Death Note a very easy fantastical instrument to envision and for the audience to buy overall. Exemplarily, many of the Youtube audience were rallying behind Light and the morality that, as soon as someone commits any crime, they have forfeited their life. Admitedly, it's quite hard not to stick to someone with this kind of staunch belief in their own morality but when one of the comments was 'I'd use the Death Note to kill people in all kinds of really fucked up ways', you get some perspective.
The strength of the subtext is equal to the strengths of Light as a character. While not explored vastly, the rapidity in which he jumps to wanting to become an all powerful deity is as intimidating as the brave choice of subject matter. In much the same way as Sherlock does with it's titular character, the strength of the character is grasped upon so much you're engaged by their thought processess as much as them as a person which provides a more inventive guide through the series. From his perspective, all the people in his life are dialled back to simply obstacles or pawns to be manipulated in his battle against L. As both L and Light share this perspective, a carefully plotted and very intelligent story ensues. At times, though, this gets very frustrating, as we're only really engaged by the twists and turns of how others are being used by L and Light, meaning we don't really care about them if they end up hurt or dead. This is a majorish downgrade as the writers are consumed by this perspective as well. Any character death, irrespective of their presence in the series, is instantly glossed over to get right back to the battle of wits between Light and L, when more emotion would have proven an interesting test for Light maintaining his appearence of control against his ever growing insanity.
Furthering this, the writing throughout, literally start to finish, is so content with itself in the questions it raises and the webs it weaves that it comes off very smug and patronizing. Refering back to Sherlock which brakes up it's little clues with always fresh, pertinant and mostly hilarious character interaction (especially between Sherlock and John), Death Note deviates from this so much it's hard to get as engrossed as your being told to be. One such example of this is, while trying to shake off an FBI investigator following him, Light organises an extremly convoluded plan to manipulate a criminal into hijacking a bus, touching a page in the Death Note and making him go insane. While interesting and gratifying to watch when in the aforementioned Light-mindset, afterwards the show takes great pleasure in minutley explaining what they just did. It's exactly the same as having an over the hill cynical magician pull a rabbit out of his hat and tell you it was in there the whole time. While you may not have understood what you'd seen totally, you'd build on the evidence you had to come to a reasonable conclusion without needing to be told. Knowing the rules of the Death Note (there's lots of them and they're very hard to follow at times) we could have figured out what was done on our own. While the exposition is helpful when the show invariably backs up with convoludedness from the inventive rules of the world it's created, it leaves you feeling hollow and disengaged.
A fix is attempted in the admittedly catch-y music to draw you back in, but, again, there's so much focus on getting to the next convuluded scenario that the gap between you and the show becomes desperate, resulting in incredibly, sometimes laughably, melodramatic sequences. The final episode does this particularly badly, with rampant, grizzly blood effects going from dramatic to outright ridiculousness once the expositon has been so carefully layed out in front of you. These moments are pretty enjoyable, I have to say, but for the wrong reasons, which cheapens the amazing precision of what came before it.
Even so, the very fact that this has parellels to Sherlock gives this series it's worth and can be easily prided on it's unashamed intelligence, ambition and lack of deference to ambiguity as we've become accustomed to from Inception and Prometheus styles. If you're a fan of crime drama, this is a very fresh and worthwhile watch. Even when it leaves you behind, you'll always make the effort to catch back up.
There's 37 episodes, each 20 minutes long. If you've got a free weekend, marathon viewing is most effective and hard to resist.
Sunday, 12 September 2010
Avatar
And no we're not talking about the intergalactic smurfs and red-neck piloted robots acting out the plot of Pocahontis. This is Avatar: The Last Airbender, a series of such quality it seems impossible that it is a Nickolodeon cartoon intended for children.
For hundreds of years there has been a balance between all five continents of the world; the Northern and Southern Water tribes, the Eastern Earth Kingdom, The Western Fire Nation and the central abode of The Air Nomads. Taught by the observation of nature, residents of each culture have learned to manipulate the elements to their will. Each element is exclusive to the country of origin of the user or 'Bender'. As all the elements work in harmony, so do the continents. That is until the Fire Nation launch a massacre against the rest of the world and desemate the Air Nomads, beginning a horrendous war. Only the Avatar, the only one capable of mastering all of the four elements, can stop the advancement of destruction but in the planets hour of need, he is nowhere to be found. A hundred years later, Sokka and Katara, a brother and sister from the Southern Water tribe discover the Avatar, Aang, frozen in a block of ice off their villages shore. To their surprise, he is just a 12 year old boy who is more concerned with fun than his century old destiny. But when an exhiled Fire Nation prince comes to capture the Avatar to rid the Fire Nation of their only obstacle in conquering the rest of the world, Aang must reluctantly step into his fate as the worlds saviour and travel to each continent to master all four elements with the company of Katara, Sokka and his 200 ton flying byson, Apa before the passing of a meteorite that will embalm the Fire Benders with infinite power that not even he can stop.
After we've all stopped giggling that they're all calling each other 'benders' as terms of endeerment, the characters become incredibly 3 dimensional for a childs cartoon series. which tend to retain the schematic assumption everything that happens is there to make you laugh/learn. This show scraps these trivialities and tells a unique, Eastern orientated epic,referencing the concepts of yin and yang and rich culturalism. And all the more surprisingly for a kids cartoon; it works to a conclusion and ends. WELL.
With all the formatting amazement aside, Avatar: The Last Airbender does everything a good show should. It has characters that can be sympathised with, a captivating and unpredictable story, a beautiful soundtrack and (to a slightly lesser extent) ninjitsu action mixed with shooting fire,water,earth and air out of characters hands in battle. This doesn't mean it's just been rammed onto Nickolodeon as no other networks would pick it up, as it balances out the abundance of subject matter with surprisingly high quality humor as none of the characters do what they're supposed to for quite a while. Aang takes breaks from saving a world in peril to ride giant coyfish on an outset island inhabitated by Geisha like warriors, Sokka (the secondary hero) is a sexist, food obsesed idiot, being constantly flumoxed by Katara who advocates strength in women and saying it's okay to be a bit of a hippy (take notes, children, this is an important trait for you!) to become the comic relief character and, of course, each of them engage in many (usually ill advised) pre-pubescent love affairs along the way. At the other end of the spectrum, the drama is also very highly crafted with perilous emotional struggles between and for the characters creates fluent empathy and adds to the enjoyment so much more when you are given the respect to deal with genuine emotion instead of any seriousness being smothered by a sublimonal flash of 'KIDS, DON'T DO DRUGS!' or a fart joke.
Forget HBO, it's time you reconnected with Nickolodeon. Spongebob will forgive your absence. Sit back and enjoy a cartoon like when you were a child when the weight of the world hadn't crushed all the wonder out of your spirit like a steroid induced grizzly bear squeezing the pulp out of a pomegranate
For hundreds of years there has been a balance between all five continents of the world; the Northern and Southern Water tribes, the Eastern Earth Kingdom, The Western Fire Nation and the central abode of The Air Nomads. Taught by the observation of nature, residents of each culture have learned to manipulate the elements to their will. Each element is exclusive to the country of origin of the user or 'Bender'. As all the elements work in harmony, so do the continents. That is until the Fire Nation launch a massacre against the rest of the world and desemate the Air Nomads, beginning a horrendous war. Only the Avatar, the only one capable of mastering all of the four elements, can stop the advancement of destruction but in the planets hour of need, he is nowhere to be found. A hundred years later, Sokka and Katara, a brother and sister from the Southern Water tribe discover the Avatar, Aang, frozen in a block of ice off their villages shore. To their surprise, he is just a 12 year old boy who is more concerned with fun than his century old destiny. But when an exhiled Fire Nation prince comes to capture the Avatar to rid the Fire Nation of their only obstacle in conquering the rest of the world, Aang must reluctantly step into his fate as the worlds saviour and travel to each continent to master all four elements with the company of Katara, Sokka and his 200 ton flying byson, Apa before the passing of a meteorite that will embalm the Fire Benders with infinite power that not even he can stop.
After we've all stopped giggling that they're all calling each other 'benders' as terms of endeerment, the characters become incredibly 3 dimensional for a childs cartoon series. which tend to retain the schematic assumption everything that happens is there to make you laugh/learn. This show scraps these trivialities and tells a unique, Eastern orientated epic,referencing the concepts of yin and yang and rich culturalism. And all the more surprisingly for a kids cartoon; it works to a conclusion and ends. WELL.
With all the formatting amazement aside, Avatar: The Last Airbender does everything a good show should. It has characters that can be sympathised with, a captivating and unpredictable story, a beautiful soundtrack and (to a slightly lesser extent) ninjitsu action mixed with shooting fire,water,earth and air out of characters hands in battle. This doesn't mean it's just been rammed onto Nickolodeon as no other networks would pick it up, as it balances out the abundance of subject matter with surprisingly high quality humor as none of the characters do what they're supposed to for quite a while. Aang takes breaks from saving a world in peril to ride giant coyfish on an outset island inhabitated by Geisha like warriors, Sokka (the secondary hero) is a sexist, food obsesed idiot, being constantly flumoxed by Katara who advocates strength in women and saying it's okay to be a bit of a hippy (take notes, children, this is an important trait for you!) to become the comic relief character and, of course, each of them engage in many (usually ill advised) pre-pubescent love affairs along the way. At the other end of the spectrum, the drama is also very highly crafted with perilous emotional struggles between and for the characters creates fluent empathy and adds to the enjoyment so much more when you are given the respect to deal with genuine emotion instead of any seriousness being smothered by a sublimonal flash of 'KIDS, DON'T DO DRUGS!' or a fart joke.
Forget HBO, it's time you reconnected with Nickolodeon. Spongebob will forgive your absence. Sit back and enjoy a cartoon like when you were a child when the weight of the world hadn't crushed all the wonder out of your spirit like a steroid induced grizzly bear squeezing the pulp out of a pomegranate
Monday, 6 September 2010
In Treatment Series 1
A TV show about psychotheapy. Two people. In a room. Talking. The simple and unanthralling basis of the show may put off some, but this same simplicity is where the true beauty of this show comes in.
Paul Weston's (the incomparable Gabriel Byrne) nerves are breaking. His patients are growing more and more demanding and breaking the key indifference that makes him such a high quality therapist. Throughout the week, he is confronted by the lusting Laura; the hard core fighter pilot Alex; Sophie, a 16 year old olympic hopeful who may or may not have attempted suicide and Jake and Amy, a couple on the brink of divorce who see no reason that being in the marriage counsellors office should put an end to their fighting and looking for advice on whether to abort the baby it took their entire 4 year relationship to conceive. Alienated from his family and suspicious of his wife's frequent disapperances, Paul gets into contact with Gina, his own ex-therapist, to talk things through.
Each episode is one session on a corresponding day of the week, allowing access to Paul's struggle with the heavy wear of routine. Not to say this is repetitve. In fact, the opposite, with each new angle or perspective a patient takes revealing more about themselves and attempting to manipulate Paul into some reaction, positive or negative to get some solid advice instead of the constant implications and faseesious questioning that is offered them.
Paul's office becomes a chamber of pent up emotion, bleeding through the screen and creating fluent empathy with all characters, with even the simplest movement or sound (a blink, a change in seating, a dog barking outside) shifting the entire balance between patient and therapist to explosive degrees, countered masterfully with pauses and heavy silences creating a kind of delicate, lyrical power struggle between the two.
The heavenly writing literally brings tears to the eye, with the relay of events becoming yet richer coming from the character's perspective, incorporating their thought processes and emotions.
You'd need the worlds largest Venn diagram to explain how all of Paul's patients, possesions and relationships present his personality, but, early on, this is what is needed to gain anything from the therapist until all his underlying inadequacies and rage boil over his calm exterior and shape events to come. The result is a flawed God figure, who we see at near omnipotent power and soul crushing weakness throughout the series.
All these factors contribute to the tension and addictivness of the show, a poetic thriller.
Paul Weston's (the incomparable Gabriel Byrne) nerves are breaking. His patients are growing more and more demanding and breaking the key indifference that makes him such a high quality therapist. Throughout the week, he is confronted by the lusting Laura; the hard core fighter pilot Alex; Sophie, a 16 year old olympic hopeful who may or may not have attempted suicide and Jake and Amy, a couple on the brink of divorce who see no reason that being in the marriage counsellors office should put an end to their fighting and looking for advice on whether to abort the baby it took their entire 4 year relationship to conceive. Alienated from his family and suspicious of his wife's frequent disapperances, Paul gets into contact with Gina, his own ex-therapist, to talk things through.
Each episode is one session on a corresponding day of the week, allowing access to Paul's struggle with the heavy wear of routine. Not to say this is repetitve. In fact, the opposite, with each new angle or perspective a patient takes revealing more about themselves and attempting to manipulate Paul into some reaction, positive or negative to get some solid advice instead of the constant implications and faseesious questioning that is offered them.
Paul's office becomes a chamber of pent up emotion, bleeding through the screen and creating fluent empathy with all characters, with even the simplest movement or sound (a blink, a change in seating, a dog barking outside) shifting the entire balance between patient and therapist to explosive degrees, countered masterfully with pauses and heavy silences creating a kind of delicate, lyrical power struggle between the two.
The heavenly writing literally brings tears to the eye, with the relay of events becoming yet richer coming from the character's perspective, incorporating their thought processes and emotions.
You'd need the worlds largest Venn diagram to explain how all of Paul's patients, possesions and relationships present his personality, but, early on, this is what is needed to gain anything from the therapist until all his underlying inadequacies and rage boil over his calm exterior and shape events to come. The result is a flawed God figure, who we see at near omnipotent power and soul crushing weakness throughout the series.
All these factors contribute to the tension and addictivness of the show, a poetic thriller.
Clerks
Having gotten into Kevin Smith through watching Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and working backwards through Mallrats and Dogma, this didn't register with my preconcptions of this movie since I associated KS with crude but hilarious comedy. Made on a single credit card budget, Clerks captures more depth than many other highly payed and special effect concerned directors manage to create. I'm looking at you M. Night Shyamalan.
Dante and Randall run a Quick Stop Groceries in New Jersey. There they run into conflicts with customer on such subjects as whether complacency is an excuse for selling cigarrettes to 6 year old girls, whether the storm troopers on the Death Star knew what they were getting into and the uselessness of being a job advisor at a high school whilst Dante trys to remain 'normal' and acheive what is expected of him, much to Randall's annoyance, who instead chooses to spout profanitys at a family video store and close the Quick Stop for a hockey game on the roof .
The philosiphical and psychological issues raised were shockingly well put forward. This definatley isn't average in any way, casting critical eye over such things as allotments in life, the points of view of happiness between the apparently autonomous and their counter parts and the true meanings behind romance.
Not to say this is an overly artsy flic. All the issues are best to reflect on afterwards whilst enjoying the deliciously irreverant glue that holds each scene together on the solid concrete of Jersey humor. One line I think that sums up the entire movie: 'You self-analysing is about as natural as an oral bowel movement'
A teen comedy with a big brain and glasses
Dante and Randall run a Quick Stop Groceries in New Jersey. There they run into conflicts with customer on such subjects as whether complacency is an excuse for selling cigarrettes to 6 year old girls, whether the storm troopers on the Death Star knew what they were getting into and the uselessness of being a job advisor at a high school whilst Dante trys to remain 'normal' and acheive what is expected of him, much to Randall's annoyance, who instead chooses to spout profanitys at a family video store and close the Quick Stop for a hockey game on the roof .
The philosiphical and psychological issues raised were shockingly well put forward. This definatley isn't average in any way, casting critical eye over such things as allotments in life, the points of view of happiness between the apparently autonomous and their counter parts and the true meanings behind romance.
Not to say this is an overly artsy flic. All the issues are best to reflect on afterwards whilst enjoying the deliciously irreverant glue that holds each scene together on the solid concrete of Jersey humor. One line I think that sums up the entire movie: 'You self-analysing is about as natural as an oral bowel movement'
A teen comedy with a big brain and glasses
Taken
I'd have liked to see this film earlier in my life so I might have enjoyed it more. In aid of universal understanding, Taken is what I imagine 'McBain' from the Simpsons would be like.
Liam Neeson plays Brian, a retired special ops agent who just wants to get along with his ex-wife and her irritating new husband enough to catch up on the years he missed with his daughter. But when the fruit of his loins runs off to Paris and is kidnapped by slave traders, Brian has to cast off his zimoframe and pump up the 12-gauge to get her back, leaving the loving embrace of the US of A to the dank and evil streets of France to kick some serious Euro ass!
I stumbled onto this searching for other work from the cast of Lost, in this case Maggie Grace, who plays the (so I guessed) over emotional 4 year old trapped in a 17 year olds' body daughter of Neeson, whos' drunken stumbling through every scene she's in somehow causes him to be endlessly devoted to her. Although the action is at least decent, it just seems to be there for the sake of it, as we never really feel a proper emotional connection between father and daughter, making the murder and torture of near every cliche, unthreatening 'bad guy' (aka everyone who isn't American) seem incredibly unneccesary.
The 'unique set of skills' Brian uses to find his daughter are very unique indeed, in the respect he always knows what he is doing and comes up against no obstacles whatsoever in his search, garnering no sympathy for his plight. This is not helped either by Neeson dancing a knife edge between gritty realism and stone faced and empty styles of acting.
After the apparent 'hell' this adventure contains it is wrapped up far too nicely making the kidnap, slavery and gruesome deaths of many innocent girls seem like one of Jack the Ripper's bedtime storys, glazing over any subject depth to give a 'happy ever after'
If the Bourne Identity made your head hurt, this is just the ticket. A thriller that ticks all the boxes but nothing particularly captivating
Liam Neeson plays Brian, a retired special ops agent who just wants to get along with his ex-wife and her irritating new husband enough to catch up on the years he missed with his daughter. But when the fruit of his loins runs off to Paris and is kidnapped by slave traders, Brian has to cast off his zimoframe and pump up the 12-gauge to get her back, leaving the loving embrace of the US of A to the dank and evil streets of France to kick some serious Euro ass!
I stumbled onto this searching for other work from the cast of Lost, in this case Maggie Grace, who plays the (so I guessed) over emotional 4 year old trapped in a 17 year olds' body daughter of Neeson, whos' drunken stumbling through every scene she's in somehow causes him to be endlessly devoted to her. Although the action is at least decent, it just seems to be there for the sake of it, as we never really feel a proper emotional connection between father and daughter, making the murder and torture of near every cliche, unthreatening 'bad guy' (aka everyone who isn't American) seem incredibly unneccesary.
The 'unique set of skills' Brian uses to find his daughter are very unique indeed, in the respect he always knows what he is doing and comes up against no obstacles whatsoever in his search, garnering no sympathy for his plight. This is not helped either by Neeson dancing a knife edge between gritty realism and stone faced and empty styles of acting.
After the apparent 'hell' this adventure contains it is wrapped up far too nicely making the kidnap, slavery and gruesome deaths of many innocent girls seem like one of Jack the Ripper's bedtime storys, glazing over any subject depth to give a 'happy ever after'
If the Bourne Identity made your head hurt, this is just the ticket. A thriller that ticks all the boxes but nothing particularly captivating
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