I wanted to like this movie. In fact, I did like this movie while I was watching it, and for several hours afterward. Then I made the mistake of thinking about it...
Thank you for the warning. I like the book very much but I think I might be watching the film to enjoy any special effects and mock and sigh in silence.
Yes, yes and yes. You beat me to writing the critique I wanted to write, and you covered all the points that bothered me perfectly. And what's with the Witches losing their magickal power as they lose youth and beauty? Can you say patriarchal bullshit, kiddies? It does not work that way, as anyone who's ever met a true Crone knows.
Thank you, I was beginning to think it was just me and the Christian Spotlight. (Embarrassing, huh? I thought they liked their women compliant.)
The witches didn't bother me in the original. When there are good, strong women with agency also in the story, it stops being a problem, because the male bad guys gain their power by killing, too. I don't like the trope overall, but Gaiman has a history of doing tropes that normally piss me off and getting away with it (American Gods being the most notable example). In the movie, suddenly they were the only women with any power or agency, and they were using it entirely for "feminine" goals, and that was much more unpleasant. Especially combined with Una, who never takes initiative except to be maternal or sexual.
"Stardust" is fun enough the first time through, but it doesn't pass the Derek Malcolm Test: "A great movie is a movie I cannot bear the thought of never seeing again."
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The witches didn't bother me in the original. When there are good, strong women with agency also in the story, it stops being a problem, because the male bad guys gain their power by killing, too. I don't like the trope overall, but Gaiman has a history of doing tropes that normally piss me off and getting away with it (American Gods being the most notable example). In the movie, suddenly they were the only women with any power or agency, and they were using it entirely for "feminine" goals, and that was much more unpleasant. Especially combined with Una, who never takes initiative except to be maternal or sexual.
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...seemingly endless parade of... discussion of ritualistic cannibalism...
Feel the irony!
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Still, they were the only review I'd seen that noticed the women being badly treated. It weirded me out a bit.
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