So one of my favorite things about WALL-E is how, even though it takes place in a future where humans have screwed up the Earth big-time, and we’re living in this impersonal complacency dystopia and everything, all the human characters (or at least the ones we meet at the time of the narrative) are good people.
And like, in that vein, I love Captain McCrea’s arc–his sense of wonder at discovering the vast, complicated beauty of our Earth; his shift, when his romantic notions are shattered, not to despair but to heroism; the way he takes on the true meaning of what has been a cushy figurehead position, and becomes a real decision-maker and leader.
But another thing that always really catches my attention is the little scenes when WALL-E meets John and Mary. WALL-E doesn’t look or act like the Axiom robots, so they both react to him with some confusion–but at the same time, they automatically return his politeness. Just by the simple act of exchanging names, they accept WALL-E’s invitation to engage with him, and they begin to count him as a friend. John and Mary don’t do anything big to impact the main conflict or anything. But it means a lot that when their routines are interrupted by a strange robot, their first impulse isn’t to be annoyed or suspicious, but to be friendly and nice without a second thought.
And these positive qualities aren’t limited to the humans that have been directly touched by WALL-E’s eccentricity. When the deck tilts in the climactic scene, everyone reaches out and tries to help each other. Everyone cheers for the captain when he stands up to AUTO; everyone feels for WALL-E and EVE in their moment of tragedy. And everyone seems excited and hopeful about the prospect of returning to Earth and starting something new.
I just really love the optimism in this movie. I love how the story posits that being kind and caring and curious and brave really is the natural state of humanity, and it’s just that sometimes we need a little push to remind us of that.
Heck, this is just a general theme in Andrew Stanton’s movies: they rarely have a legitimate antagonist so much as people who meant well and made the wrong choices. Auto was only following orders that were made by someone 700 years ago who truly believed coming back to Earth would be dangerous (albeit it’s also implied he could have done more to try and fix it AND kinda messed things up to begin with.)
Finding Nemo does this even more – the dentist was trying to save Nemo’s life. Darla was just a stupid kid who didn’t know how to take care of a fish. The seagulls just wanted a meal.
Even in A Bug’s Life, which Stanton helped write, you have one of the PIXAR villains with the most understandable motivation behind their horrible deeds: trying to keep their colony alive.
TL;DR Stanton’s fairly positive view of humanity is a pretty strong constant in his films.
I definitely do! During the last final minutes of Wreck-It Ralph, specifically the scene where Calhoun, Felix and Vanellope are cornered against the exit to Sugar Rush by a group of ravenous Cy-Bugs, Felix sees Vanellope as his number one priority. Throughout the entirety of the scene, he’s seen wrapping his arm around Vanellope’s shoulders, holding her hand, and defensively stepping in front of her. As soon as she bumps the barrier to the exit and is forced out of Felix’s grip, he reaches for her before he pulls out his hammer, as if he’s going to fight Cy-Bugs with it.
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When Vanellope takes off after Ralph, Calhoun remains stationary with a shocked look on her face, where as Felix thrusts himself through the exit barrier and reaches out for her, calling her name, “VANELLOPE!”
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^^^ He’s also the first to begin clearing the rubble when Vanellope swerves off the road and crashes her kart.
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In one of the deleted scenes, on the other hand, Vanellope displays her living area in Diet Cola Mountain (then known as Mount Fudgesuvius) to Ralph and Felix. She mentions how she lies in a corner and bundles herself up in candy wrappers, to which Felix pulls her out of the dirt and replies, “This is no way for a child to sleep!”
Shortly after this scene, he pulls out his hammer and exclaims, “I can fix it!”, before building her a giant luxurious bunk bed (with bunks for all three of them, Vanellope’s being on the very top).
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One could argue Felix is naturally concerned for the safety and wellbeing of a child (as he should be), but he also seems quite paternal towards Vanellope in the few short scenes we’ve seen the two of them together.
“she LIED to us!” “SHE USED EVERYONE!??!”‘None of what the Crystal Gems fought for matters now!!” “The entire Rebellion was a joke!” “All those lives wasted!”“SHE LIED!!”
Yes. She did. She lied to everyone. I’m sorry she hurt us all, but once again, I’ma have to ‘splain you a thing …cuz god dammit, this fandom needs some emotional intelligence. ffs
First off, lets get this straight right now; Pink didn’t want a colony. Pink wanted her fellow Diamonds to love and treat her like they treat each other; with respect and care for one-another’s feelings. Pink acted like a brat because they shoved her in that role; The second Blue and Yellow treated Pink with prejudice for not being what they expected, and withheld listening to her feelings until she lived up to what they expected, they doomed her, and everyone else.
That hate! Yuck! But, Blue finally gives her a colony. At first, Pink thinks this is what she wants! Her fellow Diamonds are teaching her how to be like them! Great!
Then she sees organic life, and humans, and falls head over heals in love with all of it. She tries to tell Yellow and Blue, but..
They never listen. Yellow and Blue try over and over again to shove her into an identity that she feels doesn’t fit her, and when she tries to tell them, they won’t listen. So she makes excuses; the human cities are hard to dismantle, she doesn’t want to destroy organic life, and when those don’t work, she thinks up the Rebellion, and Rose Quartz! Surely they’ll understand now, right!? She’s not a Diamond. She doesn’t want to be a Diamond anymore! Her experiences on Earth have changed her mind!!!
But still, they don’t listen. Instead, they seal her fate;
Now she understands; “Pink Diamond” has to die. The concept of, the identity of “Pink Diamond” as they see it, the one they have pegged onto her form, the one they try to force her to be. She has to die for the Earth to survive. She felt making up a fake version of “Pink Diamond” as the tyrant, and a real version of herself, Rose Quartz, was the only thing everyone would accept, and the only thing that would free her, her Pearl and her rebellion followers from their roles.
I’m so tired of this fandom going “BUT SHE COULD HAVE DONE THIS, SHE COULD HAVE DONE THAT!”
In order to win her fellow Diamond’s approval, she’d have to kill all life on planet Earth, something she loved. She was expected to kill a part of herselfin order for them to accept her. That is unacceptable. As unacceptable as her lie.They sent her the message,“I’m not worth love on my own. I have to constantly prove that I am worthy, as though I were a lowly Quartz to them.” and she read it, loud and clear.
So she became one. She chose herself over her Diamonds when her Diamonds failed her.
“SHE STILL LIED!!”
About her status, yes! And a good thing too! Blue Diamond was on Earth while her colony was being made and her subjects were indoctrinated to expect (and maybe even want) their Diamond to be a tyrant. Not to mention, it’s been their society’s culture for all time for a Diamond to be god-like, untouchable, unrelatable. Culture is extremely hard to topple. If Pink came out in the open, gems like Eyeball might have turned on her, gone to Blue or Yellow and told them that she’s failing in her Diamond duties, that they were right, or go Bismuth and try to shatter her and her followers themselves. What then?
What do you think would have happened to her Pearl, the cinnamon roll? The one who very clearly was meant to check in with Yellow and tell her how Pink was doing? The one Pink Diamond clearly cared deeply about, even though it wasn’t the same kind of love? Hello?????? Y’all need some Slytherin cunning–and Jesus. You don’t think these things through!
Pink wanted her colony to be free, like humans. She wanted her gems to live care-free lives, like the one Amethyst is enjoying. And she thought Blue, Yellow would have sooner shattered her, and all of her subjects, than allow that to happen.
I really didn’t understand the whole “SHE LIED TO US!” thing. It’s only a lie if she wasn’t herself… and clearly, this entire Rebellion happened, because she wanted nothing more than to be herself, and no one would let her. This whole “Your identity is a rigid concept and if you change, you’re a liar!” mindset is toxic. Let me put it to you another way: Do you call it a lie when a trans person comes out to you with their new name and identity? No. I see no real difference in this situation; Respect who she tells you she is. The name/form never mattered, people!!
There’s a reason she asked Pearl never to speak of this again; Pink Diamond is her dead identity. Don’t force her to reveal that to everyone she fucking meets afterwards… jeeesus.
And finally, why did Rose Quartz want to become a human?? Welp, isn’t it obvious?
🎵 “I could even learn how to loove… like youuu..” 🎵
The thing about characters with Grey Morality is, they often know…and they try to make up for it. That istheir arc. Unfortunately, the people they’re doing it for, often do NOTdeserve the effort, because no one sees them for who they are until they’re dead, which means all that effort only gets acknowledged when its too late. And that is some bullshit.
This is who she started out as vs who she later became.
It’s a show about love and compassion.
Acknowledge Her Efforts. Forgive Rose Quartz. And Love Her Anyway.
This whole “Your identity is a rigid concept and if you change, you’re a liar!” mindset is toxic.
I imagine they’re not going to worldbuild this fantasy world too hard, but I would guess Pidge is a dwarf and Allura is possibly an elf while Lance is some kind of… animal person.
There’s more about the characters, however, that interest me, especially in context of s4e4 and what we know about these characters and how they tend to respond to roles.
Shiro is… for all intents and purposes playing himself. This is him, exactly as he is, with a thin coat of fantasy paint. He’s not flexing any muscle away from his comfort zone here, depicting himself exactly as he is, which makes sense with the whole black paladin thing- a lot of those virtues come back to an ironclad sense of self that comes with considerable difficulty really operating away from that. It’s likely he’s chosen a paladin or fighter as a character- I wouldn’t be surprised if his attempts at RPing a character are either nonexistent or a little stilted.
Allura’s very much herself- she’s playing to a different skill set and my previous thoughts about how much that outfit resembles the queen’s attire still stand. As a result, I genuinely have to wonder if we’re going to get juicy details on Allura’s mother and their relationship in this episode- if Allura modeled her character after her mother. But she’s still playing hypotheticals a little more, she’s still herself but trying out a new thing or flexing a side of herself that doesn’t normally see the surface.
Hunk seems to have more of a built character- that odd haircut suggests ecclesiastical inclinations and he’s likely either the party wizard or party cleric. (or both). Either way, he’s breaking more from his real self creating a fantasy persona.
Pidge and Lance are the ones most clearly engaging in transformative fantasy- actual role play if you will. Pidge’s is fairly predictable- even though she’s canonically a rogue personality, we’ve seen her on many occasions indulge in imaginings that frame her as stronger and more important. She would enjoy a fantasy that lets her feel self-sufficient and strong, especially with the idea that, as party tank, the team will rely on her.
Lance? Look at how effortlessly Lance is swinging this punk rogue animal-eared guy. The casual squat. The lazy grin. This guy is 100% in character here like he’s just gonna pluck a bit of hay off the ground and chew it for pure aesthetic effect and not even miss his train of thought. Sorry, lookin’ for Lance, Blue Paladin of Voltron? Ain’t heard the guy. Now, if you’re lookin’ for directions to the thieves’ guild, he might be your fella, see?
That bracelet is probably cursed, he has a twelve-paragraph backstory, and derails the DM’s campaign because he incidentally goes way back with a major NPC.
TL;DR you could probably just, all hologram technology inside, dress up Lance in this outfit and hand him a prop weapon and he would just start LARPing with zero hesitation.
tbh nothing is weirder to me than manly grimdark dudebro lord of the rings bc it’s just??? the epitome of light and love to me???? no narrative embodies hope and gentleness and healing like lotr does why must you insist on talking to me about badass aragorn vs. useless frodo. that’s not the point brad
I feel like this is also why so many of the post-LOTR Tolkien ripoffs are so terrible! It’s people pulling from Tolkien when they fundamentally don’t understand what makes Tolkien work. You get all these stories written by people who don’t think Frodo was worthy of his plotline and so they give it to their Aragorn expy instead, and it’s dull and boring and totally lacks the themes and the heart that make LOTR an important, enduring story.
when Aragorn shows up in Gondor no one cares who he is until he gets to the Houses of Healing, because the proof of true kingship is not being able to fight real good, it’s having “the hands of a healer”
so Aragorn calls his friends back from the darkness with little more than a gentle touch and a loving voice (and some plants, but it’s pretty clear that the plants alone aren’t enough) and that’s when the rumors spread through Gondor that the King has returned because the love of a king has this great power
like… that’s the big moment. washing his friends’ wounds and telling them they’re going to be okay. this is not macho! it’s not badass! I mean… in a way it’s actually really fucking badass that someone can get stabbed by a knife made of evil and Aragorn doesn’t even have to raise his voice when he says “not today,” but it’s not, like, standard fantasy badass.
Tolkien lived through a war. War is not entertaining and epic, it’s horrifying and terrible. That’s why all the climatic moments of LOTR aren’t battles, but decisions of love: Sam going back for Frodo, Bilbo giving Bard the Arkenstone, Aragorn healing Merry and Eowyn…
Where modern fantasy falls short is they think a war setting is the key to Tolkien’s success, so they describe warrior-man and the gorey, rapey, traumatizing things he does/sees (looking at u, SOIAF). But it’s not about fighting the war, it’s about living through it and loving despite it. Bilbo Baggins slept through his battles, Frodo and Sam (arguably, the main heroes) never fought or killed, a woman & hobbit defeated the witch-king out of love for their lord, not for power or fame. LOTR isn’t a story of war bc Tolkien had already seen that, it’s the story of hope.
one of my favorite highlights of the post-”a single pale rose” SU fandom, has been seeing everyone slowly let go of this cliché supervillain persona they’d built up for yellow diamond.
it’s not actually that uncommon to be angry and frustrated in the face of trauma. both yellow and blue take it out on others, and on themselves, in different ways. blue completely loses sight of her work – she focuses entirely on her own feelings. yellow explicitly calls this out, which i thought was a nice commentary on how sadness isn’t “better” than anger, or automatically more sympathetic. yellow channels her anger into a twisted sort of productivity, while blue completely neglects being a leader at all.
rebecca said they’re equals and opposites. i’d argue their flaws are, too.
yellow is rigid, blue is drooping. yellow is the rock blue needs to lean on, and she knows it. she essentially steers the ship, while blue has given up… but it’s not out of some selfish desire for power. yellow wants to “fix” things. she doesn’t verbally say she cares, but her focus is on actions, not words.
nothing makes it more clear than right after “what’s the use of feeling blue?”. blue’s focus is on her feelings, and yellow’s asking what she can do about it. blue is sad about earth specimen dying out? that gives yellow focus. it gives her something to do: abducting humans for the zoo. her goal – and the goal of the entire yellow sector – is to fix everything. taking action in accordance to what’s logical. this is a big part of peridot’s character, and i’d argue being transferred into that sector has affected jasper, too.
which brings us to “reunited”, aka my favorite of their interactions to date.
i love this moment. they’re such a team. none of that cliché secret hatred between female antagonist-types. there really isn’t a “bad guy” in the relationship between them. yellow criticizes blue for being too emotional, but her ultimate goal is to get her out of her depression by any means necessary. she’s basically trying to “fix” her way out of it.
in terms of interpersonal and coping skills, they’re both broken af. but yellow’s rudeness towards blue (calling her hysterical, rolling her eyes at her constant wallowing) isn’t selfish. she’s been trying her damnest to make blue feel better for literal ages, and she feelsa sense of duty to her leaderless gems.
in doing so, she hopes to make herself feel okay with things, too.
“how miserable. i knew pink couldn’t handle her own colony. but, i gave in. and now, i’m to blame for her fate.”
the subject of pink diamond is just as fraught for yellowas it is for blue. she may express it in a way that isn’t so stereotypically sympathetic, but she loved her. she always did. it’s no wonder she was offended during the trial- zircon accused her of being exactly what yellow thinks of herself: the gem responsible. not just for pink’s fate, but for keeping everything running. it’s her fault, as a leader, whenever things go wrong.
that’s the thing about yellow’s vision of leadership – it’s never been about what she wants. she’s just always had this role, and believes it’s her duty. she has to fix everything, even if she’s miserable. it’s comparable to mayor dewey in “dewey wins” – he works himself to the bone during the campaign, but when presented with a better alternative for the city, he gives in and steps down. dewey was fine with not being in charge. even if he liked some aspects of the job, the greater good mattered more.
what he wanted, was to keep things running smoothly. what he needed was to step down, leaving the city in good hands with someone who would change not only the leadership itself, but the very notion of its hierarchy.
someone who believes in working together in a communal, non-hierarchical way, rather than strict roles that stifle self-expression.
like bismuth said… someone is making the others believe in the future.
when garnet’s not there, the crystal gems may not have a traditional leader – but they still have their heart. maybe the other diamonds can believe in him, too.
Violet Parr, everyone. The true hero of this movie.
I want an Incredibles 2 where Violet suddenly wakes up and realizes, ‘Why did I think wearing pink sweaters and dating some popular kid was AN IMPROVEMENT?!’ Then she goes back to being the quirky, smart girl she was at the start, only now she’s more badass than before because she realizes there was NOTHING WRONG WITH WHO SHE WAS!!!
(Seriously, am I the only one who hates how they ended her story in pt. 1?)
You SEVERELY misunderstand Violet’s entire dang story arc, and her characterization at the beginning of the film.
Like, I think you need to rewatch the film. At the beginning of the film, she was scared, self conscious, etc. Those aren’t “quirks” those were her hiding her quirks because she was afraid.
Her story arc was about gaining confidence. The wearing of brighter colors was symbolic of that. If you look at concept art, she was meant to be huddled, scared, trying not to be seen, etc. Those dark clothes are meant to show her trying to “blend in” and be less noticed.
That’s also why in the beginning, she lets her hair fall in front of her face: She’s trying TO HIDE. Think about it, she wants to be “normal” instead of embracing her powers, she wants to fit in, etc.
Look at her body language during this scene. Notice how she doesn’t want to talk, she mumbles, she won’t even eat. Something is bothering her, but she doesn’t want to admit it. She constantly looks sad. Heck, I’m kind of mad at Helen in this scene for not acknowledging it. Violet’s body language is FREAKING OBVIOUS, any mother should be able to spot it, and ask what the frick is wrong, but Helen’s so preoccupied with trying to be a “normal” family that she completely ignores any signs that something is wrong.
And then we get to the problem: When Violet screams about how no one in the family is “normal”
“We ACT normal, Mom! I wanna BE normal!” and Dash even agrees, because of the pressure to act “normal” that is put on him.
She doesn’t want to “be herself” she wants to “fit in”
She has basically been told her whole life to hide who she is, hide her powers, etc to keep the family safe. She’s barely allowed to express herself, something Helen acknowledges later in the film indirectly by apologizing for putting pressure on Violet. She’s not just talking about the plane crash, she’s talking about what she’s basically done to Violet and Dash THEIR ENTIRE FREAKING LIVES. She basically did the same dang thing Elsa’s parents did in Frozen: “Conceal, don’t feel, don’t let it show” but she never gets called out on it, because she doesn’t die before realizing her mistake and fixing it.
That’s why after the talk with her Mom, it’s SO DANG IMPORTANT that she pulls her hair back: SHE’S DONE HIDING WHO SHE IS. She’s DONE trying to pretend to be normal. She realizes she is someone incredible, and is finally willing to embrace that.
Later, when she’s wearing bright clothes, it symbolizes she’s no longer afraid of being seen. She’s willing to stand out instead of blend into the background. Seriously, this is some basic cinematography symbolism, here, it’s one of the first things you learn in a film-as-literature class. Her outfit change didn’t mark a change in
Violet doesn’t become a different person. She learns to be confident with who she is.
She didn’t change who she was. She gained confidence. Confidence to talk to the boy without turning invisible. Confidence to ask him out. The moral of her story wasn’t “LOL those darn introverts need to be extroverts” the moral was “You can do whatever you set your mind to. If you can stop a literal supervillain, you can freaking ask the dang boy out.”
god remember how people theorized that the first time we’d see lapis cry would be because she’d be absolutely hurt and broken and unable to keep things bottled up inside anymore. but this is not that. we assumed we’d see her cry when she was at her weakest. but this is her at her strongest. facing all her fears head on, not running away, being the only one standing up against a diamond, completely undeterred. because like she said, she’s felt worse. thousands of years of imprisonment, trauma, and ptsd. but she’s finally not letting it control her.
I am so fucking proud of this gem, she is so fucking important to me, and I love her with my entire soul and being
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