The message of a story is something that always gets brought up in school. Gatsby’s “old money vs. new money” and Star Wars’ take on faith are part of what makes them such classics. But another titan that has made its mark with themes is Pixar. So many studios have tried to replicate the Pixar formula, but it’s less of a formula and more of an ideal. The best features of the company have something to do with life. They breathe an essence such as passion, family, and acceptance into their work that makes it greater than just an animated movie. Yes, it’s for kids. Yes, they are far from flawless. Yes, Pixar hasn’t been as effective in recent years. But they have changed lives, and shaped the outlooks of many. This is all being said of course, because Pixar’s newest foray "Soul" dropped this Christmas. The expectations were low, as Onward was something of a disappointment. But Soul was living! It may not become another Incredibles or Wall-E, but the film has one the best messages of any Pixar movie, even expanding on the center of smash hits like Coco and Inside Out. Today marks Christmas of a hard year for many people, and a time of family and acceptance in many cultures. To further emphasize some unity, I highly recommend that everyone who can watch Soul. It’s cheesy, but we’re all in this together. Life is still worth living: Happy Holidays all!
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Rey Skywalker is one of the worst Star Wars characters put to screen -- and, no, it isn’t because she’s a girl. The more franchises come and go in the modern era, the more patterns become clear. Recently, “strong female protagonists” are a popular flavor. This is not meant to be a sexist statement, but a number of the characters born of this mindset aren’t very compelling. The aforementioned Rey is a prime example. She has little obstacles to overcome, and her execution of overcoming said obstacles is sloppy because she has to succeed. But she is not alone. Another from The Mandalorian is Kara Dune. We get just enough background to understand her basic motivation, which are broken for reasons undisclosed from the audience. So aside from her lack of personality Kara is just another character who blasts things, and honestly has no purpose beyond carrying Mando’s guns for him and being a female protagonist. And, no, the reason for this lack of complexity isn’t because they are women, as plenty of other fictional characters prove (see Star Wars’ original heroine, Princess Leia, or Shallan from Brandon Sanderson’s The Stormlight Archive), but rather due to the perception of them as women, primarily by male writers. To further explain, when Rey was first revealed at the announcement of The Force Awakens, she was described as a “strong female lead.” Great! We can always use some more of those, but women are people, just like everybody else, and should be deserving of the same treatment as every other character. When a female character is written, their gender shouldn’t define them. The mindset shouldn’t be “awesome girl”, but rather “awesome and a girl”. If more characters were born in this light, the divide between genders would wane until eventually it disappeared. We would no longer get bland characters solely defined by their gender, whilst also receiving better characters of both sexes in equal part. |
AuthorMcRae Walker, an 20-year-old writer and lover of many dorky topics. Archives
September 2022
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