New Mutants
So, I literally just got out of seeing this movie (10 of us pooled our money and rented a theatre for a private showing) and it's flawed (hoo-boy) but I enjoyed it as a hybrid horror movie and a re-envisioning of what the New Mutants could be. It's *so* much better than the trailers make it out to be.
I'd like to address a few criticisms I've seen.
I'm sad they didn't cast an actor of Afro-Latinx ancestry to play Roberto DaCosta, but the actor *is* from Brazil and he is a Latino. He might be white in Brazil, but he would not be considered white in the US, he's much too tan colored for that. And, given how Sunspot currently looks in the comics ... I can see why they cast this actor.
(For the record, I don't like how the character has been lightened up over the years in the comics. Afro-Latinx people deserve more representation.)
Yes, Dani is called "Pocahontas" and that is immediately called out by the others as being way, way, way out of line, and then Dani's like, no, I got this, my dad taught me how to deal with people like this, and she proceeds verbally shred Illyana.
Personally, I wish they had found another way to establish Illyana as an angry and troubled button pusher and set up the conflict between Dani and Illyana and their reconciliation -- though I know they were trying to very quickly establish an intense conflict and some equally intense "we hurt each other badly, but we need to step past that and work together" and, this came off as a really cliched way to do it. (But I do want to stress that the use of that slur was not allowed to slide and the comeback was withering.)
I also understand if those things make this movie a non-starter for people, despite the things the movie does really right.
Things I think New Mutants does really right:
The movie passes the Bechdel test.
Raine, Illyana, and Dani are not shot in a hubba-hubba for the straight male gaze kind of way. Even when we know they are naked and in the shower, or swimming in a pool.
Roberto DaCosta is shot for the gaze of people who enjoy manflesh, and there is also a hilarious visual pun where he's naked and ... has wood.
When Illyana magiks out, it's awesome, and her armor isn't a chainmail bikini.
The Dani/Raine romance is very sweet, and there's not a single moment of homophobia from anybody about it. Their kissing scenes are also not shot in a hubba-hubba for the straight male gaze way.
The horror aspects of the movie very much reminded me of a classic 80's horror movie called The Sender, and, in some ways, it's what I wish the Legion TV show had been.
I'd like to address a few criticisms I've seen.
I'm sad they didn't cast an actor of Afro-Latinx ancestry to play Roberto DaCosta, but the actor *is* from Brazil and he is a Latino. He might be white in Brazil, but he would not be considered white in the US, he's much too tan colored for that. And, given how Sunspot currently looks in the comics ... I can see why they cast this actor.
(For the record, I don't like how the character has been lightened up over the years in the comics. Afro-Latinx people deserve more representation.)
Yes, Dani is called "Pocahontas" and that is immediately called out by the others as being way, way, way out of line, and then Dani's like, no, I got this, my dad taught me how to deal with people like this, and she proceeds verbally shred Illyana.
Personally, I wish they had found another way to establish Illyana as an angry and troubled button pusher and set up the conflict between Dani and Illyana and their reconciliation -- though I know they were trying to very quickly establish an intense conflict and some equally intense "we hurt each other badly, but we need to step past that and work together" and, this came off as a really cliched way to do it. (But I do want to stress that the use of that slur was not allowed to slide and the comeback was withering.)
I also understand if those things make this movie a non-starter for people, despite the things the movie does really right.
Things I think New Mutants does really right:
The movie passes the Bechdel test.
Raine, Illyana, and Dani are not shot in a hubba-hubba for the straight male gaze kind of way. Even when we know they are naked and in the shower, or swimming in a pool.
Roberto DaCosta is shot for the gaze of people who enjoy manflesh, and there is also a hilarious visual pun where he's naked and ... has wood.
When Illyana magiks out, it's awesome, and her armor isn't a chainmail bikini.
The Dani/Raine romance is very sweet, and there's not a single moment of homophobia from anybody about it. Their kissing scenes are also not shot in a hubba-hubba for the straight male gaze way.
The horror aspects of the movie very much reminded me of a classic 80's horror movie called The Sender, and, in some ways, it's what I wish the Legion TV show had been.