Category: Uncategorized

Since I couldn’t do much else, in-between the coughing and naps I’ve finally watched (all but the last episode) the new Anne of Green Gables series, Anne with an E. Final verdict? Eeehhh… let’s put it this way, every episode uses a Jane Eyre quote as a title, and it feels like Anne combined with the recent Jane Eyre movie- or if young Anne had re-written it to include more melodrama and angst and tragedy and high stakes. Expands on the adult characters, Marilla and Matthew and Aunt Josephine, stresses the awfulness of Anne’s early life, and the casting and locations and cinematography are lovely. But it doesn’t trust the book plot to hold viewers’ interest, creating new plot drama that drowns out the book moments, and again, it really felt like it wanted to be Jane Eyre instead of Anne Shirley.

update on the whatever cold this has been: I finally woke up today with energy/feeling like I could focus on something without needing to immediately crawl back into bed in thirty minutes. On the other hand, unless I pitch up into whispering, I have no voice whatsoever.

Still have the chills and my voice is almost gone, even if I think the actual fever broke around 2am Sunday morning. Walking miserable instead of unable to focus on anything external of the misery. Something something sinus, mostly likely, or a cold picked up from one of the dreadful munchkins

jeduhay:

The criticism that bugs me the most towards Zack Snyder’s Superman is that he doesn’t smile or that he spends too much time being sad. Recently in another post I talked a bit about how I interpreted this version of Superman to be a metaphor for depression so I’ll expand a bit of my thoughts on it here – but not by focusing solely on depression but rather on what it means to be human.

To get to the point, I think it’s disgusting when people make the complaint that Superman shouldn’t be sad and that he spends too much time doubting himself since he’s capable of so much more, because in a way the reactions by these critics mirror the way humanity shuns Superman in the DCEU for not being able to do everything expected of him, the way humanity in the real world disapproves of and/or alienates those struggling with depression or any mental illness in general, and the way the media attacks Zack Snyder as a person for simply making films that are different from their own tastes. It’s natural and justified for Superman to be in emotional distress, and in my opinion it would be insultingly unrealistic for him not to be.

It’s like telling someone struggling with trauma and depression “why can’t you just be happy?” or “just get over it! smile!” despite them going through or having gone through hell, despite them living in a world that prefers ignorance towards issues that need to be addressed, and despite them constantly being attacked by those who make them feel as if they’re a failure or a burden to the people around them.

Humanity in the DCEU views Superman as a devil and a god, as an enemy and a savior, and he knows that every decision he makes, even merely existing, will anger a lot of people. Humanity in real life idealizes Superman as a perfect hero who always finds the optimal solution to every problem, who smiles all the time, who isn’t allowed to show vulnerability or weakness. Zack Snyder utilizes these expectations to reveal that not even Superman is perfect, and in doing so he sheds light on the beauty of vulnerability and why it’s okay to surrender yourself to your emotions when it all becomes too overwhelming. That’s how you humanize a character like Superman.

“You look at Superman, and you wonder, what can he possibly
have to worry about? What could possibly ever hurt him? But just because
his skin is invulnerable, that doesn’t mean his heart is. And that’s
how you hurt Superman. You break his heart.”

DC stories are mainly about finding the humanity within god-like beings. Wonder Woman, for example, beautifully portrays optimism and joy in a superhero film that explores the character’s humanity in its own grounded and special way, and many people are calling the film a breath of fresh air yet many are unable to do so without attacking the “dark and brooding” character of Man of Steel and Dawn of Justice’s Superman, because that character reminds them too much of the issues they’d prefer to stay silent on.