Pic Spam - Sky High (spoilers) [On discovering the new non-canon ship of Layla/Warren]
I watched Sky High, a very cute Disney movie and found it very delightful despite having philosophical objections to the ultimate 'message' being delivered to kids. The trailer is here.
Synopsis: When you're the son of the world's most legendary superheroes The Commander (Kurt Russell) and Jetstream (Kelly Preston), there is only one school for you - Sky High, an elite high school that is entrusted with the responsibility of molding today's power-gifted students into tomorrow's superheroes. The problem is that Will Stronghold (Michael Angarano) isn't starting with any superpowers, so he finds himself relegated to the role of "Sidekick." Surviving his freshman year becomes a difficult challenge, but when an evil villain threatens his family, friends and the very sanctity of Sky High, Will must use his newfound superpowers to save the day.
The central character is Will Stronghold (Michael Angarano), the 14-year old son of the world's two most famous and beloved superheroes. This is Will.
His father is the Commander, a superhero.
His mother is Jetstream
Their secret identities are mild-mannered real estate agents. When the movie begins, it's Will's first day at his parents' old school, Sky High - an institution for people with superpowers. It's like the Hogwarts for Superheroes. Poor Will is expected to be as powerful as his parents and save the world alongside them.
Joining Will is his best friend, Layla (Danielle Panabaker). She's quirky, hippy and can control plants. For reasons known only to her, she's secretly in love with Will.
On his first day at Sky High, Will sees Gwen Grayson (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), a senior with an affinity for technology.
For Will it's love at first sight ...
And he hears Spandau Ballet's 'True' whenever he sees Gwen :D
Principal Powers is played by Lynda Carter.
Will hasn't manifested any powers and he ends up in 'sidekick class' with the other 'losers' who either have no powers or have feeble powers. The euphemism for 'sidekick' is hero support and it dooms a person to be a second class citizen in the superhero world.
- In a few moments you will go through Power Placement and your own heroic journey will begin.
- "Power placement"?
- Sounds fascist.
- Power Placement: it's how they decide where you go.
- The hero track or the loser track.
- Th-th-there's a loser track?
- I believe the preferred term is "Hero Support. "
Others sorted into the sidekick class are Magenta the girl who turns into a guineapig, Ethan who has an ability to melt into a pile of goo and Zach who can 'glow'. Despite actually having a power, Layla expresses her displeasure of the sorting system and her mouthiness ends up with her being classified as a sidekick.
In the cafeteria, a sullen young man glares. He's told that the boy is Warren Peace, his mother's a super heor but his father is a supervillain. Baron Battle. He hates Will because Will's father busted Baron Battle. Quadruple life sentence. No parole until after his third life.
Layla tries to distract Will
But Warren keeps glaring.
Back at home, Layla comforts Will for the fact that he is a sidekick.
Layla: You have to tell them.
Will: My parents are the greatest superheroes on the planet. Everybody expects greatness from me.
Layla: Well, you are great.
Will: Thanks.
Layla: OK, so you're a sidekick. It's not the end of the world. When life gives you lemons...
Stares down at the apple in her hand.
Will: Make apple juice?
Layla: I can't make lemons. I don't know what it is.
Will: Yeah, but see, no. You have an awesome power. You could have made hero easy.
Layla: I'm not into labels.
Will: But why would you choose to be a sidekick?
Layla: Because I think the whole thing is stupid. Dividing people into groups like that. I mean... - ... what is this?
Will: High school?
Layla: Apple?
Will: Thanks.
One day Will trips in the cafeteria and bumps Warren.
Forcing him into a showdown with the angry Warren Peace.
Poor Will is understandably worried.
Will: Uh... sorry.
Warren: You will be.
Will: Let's not do this.
Warren: You think you can do whatever you want 'cause your name's Stronghold?
Will: I'm sorry my dad put your dad in jail, but...
Warren: Nobody talks about my father.
It gets worse when Warren unleashes his powers on him - flames.
Will's friends the sidekicks stand up for him and then suddenly his power of strength manifests itself and he fights back.
Landing him in detention with Warren ...
Later, Will tries to apologise to Layla about the fact that his new 'friends' were a jerk to her.
Will: Listen. About lunch...
Layla: What about it?
Will: At the table, Penny was being...
b>Layla: Please. Not a big deal.
Will: No, it is, and...I feel bad, so let me make it up to you. Maybe tonight we can go to the Paper Lantern?
Layla: But you hate Chinese food.
Will: But you don't.
What this tells me is that they usually don't go to Chinese because he doesn't like it even though she does and that he's only suggesstig it now to appease her.
Still, my incurable shippiness cannot be stopped, especially my habit of falling for non-canon, lonely ships.
I start to become a Layla/Warren shipper in a big way. Layla and Will are supposed to be meeting at the restaurant "The Paper Lantern". Will gets distracted by Gwen and so stands up the poor Layla who sits alone for hours ...
The waiter comes up.
Layla: Hey.
Warren: Hey.
Layla: We go to school together.
Warren: You're Stronghold's friend.
Layla: Yeah.
Warren: You want me to heat that up for you?
Layla: You're not supposed to use your powers outside of school.
Warren: I was just gonna stick it in the microwave.
Layla: Uh, I was supposed to be meeting Will here, but, um... You want to sit down?
Warren: I think I can spare a minute.
*squee*
*
Unfortunately all Layla can do is talk about Will.
Layla: Then there was this time in first grade. You know how you grow lima beans in school? Will could not figure out why mine grew so quickly. It was driving him crazy. So finally I took mercy on him and I told him about my powers, and we've been best friends ever since.
Warren: Hmm. And falling for him, was that before or after the lima beans?
Layla: What? I am not in love with Will Strong... (looks resigned) Is it that obvious?
Warren: Yeah.
Layla: Great.
Warren: So why don't you tell him?
Layla: Well, I was gonna ask him to homecoming, but there's two problems. He likes somebody else, and she's perfect.
Warren: Hmm. You know what I think? To let true love remain unspoken is the quickest route to a heavy heart.
Layla: Wow. That is really deep.
Warren: (shows that he is reading from a fortune cookie :) Yeah. And your lucky numbers are... ...four, five and .
Boss calls
Warren: I gotta go. See you around, hippie.
*
Layla: Hi, Warren.
Warren: Did I do or say anything last night to make you think this is OK?
Layla: Funny. You're never gonna believe what happened.I was about to ask Will to homecoming when, wouldn't you know it, I said I was going with you instead.
Warren: I don't remember that being the plan.
Magenta Hey. You did the history homework?
Warren: What are you doin'?
Magenta: Sitting.
Warren: No one sits here but me.
Magenta: Mm-hmm. What'd you get for four? I wasn't sure if Tigerman was, A) bitten by a radioactive tiger, or B) bitten by a regular tiger, then exposed to radiation.
Ethan: Hey. Are we eating at Warren's table now? I feel extremely dangerous.
Warren: Whoa. Whoa.
Zach: Is this guy bothering you, Magenta?
Warren: Try the other way around. Does anyone else need a date for homecoming?
Layla: Warren, you are crazy! Please, I promise. I'll make this as painless as possible.
Warren: So you're not doin' this just 'cause you like me or anything. - You're doin' it to get to Stronghold.
Layla: Yeah.
Warren: Then I'm in. But I'm not renting a tux.
*
Later...
Layla: (trying to make Will jealous) Hey there, cutie. I was just thinking about you. I cannot wait until homecoming. I'm so excited. I finally...
Layla (after Warren sets her hand on fire :) Ow!
Warren: Never call me cutie.
Layla: The guys at this school are jerks!
Warren: Thanks a lot.
Later...@ homecoming
Layla: I thought you weren't gonna rent a tux.
Warren: It's my dad's. He doesn't have much use for it in solitary.
Layla: Cheese cube?
I can't help it. He didn't have to get a tux but he did. Even though he kept feigning irritation with Layla, he still shows up in a nice tux at the homecoming. And Layla's all: "Wow" when she sees him and she feels bad for allowing the topic to move to his father so she changes it.
At the end of the movie, in true Disney style, Layla ends up with Will ...
But I remain very squarely on the Layla/Warren ship. Alone. :P
Other thoughts
During the movie, Layla tells Will: "You're breaking down barriers, proving we're not heroes and sidekicks. We're just people." Will tells his angry father: "The fact of the matter is... I'm proud to be a sidekick. Actually, I'm proud to be hero support."
The movie was so cute, satirical and very witty so a large part of me wishes that Disney could have broken the cliché ie. allowed Layla to end up with Warren and also allowed Will to remain a sidekick and proud of it. What bothers me is that at the end of it all, in order to have true acceptance, not only does Will develop one super power (strength), he develops two (the power to fly). There is only a notional/token support of the idea that your parents will still love you even if you're ordinary and society will still accept you if you are ordinary.
For instance, in Hero Support Class, Mr Boy said this:
Mr Boy: Without hero support, why, there wouldn't be any heroes. All right, there probably would be heroes, but they would be very lonely.
And it's clear that Sidekicks are second class citizens.
Zach: When do we pick our names and costumes? Because I call dibs on "Zach Attack. "
Mr Boy: Well, you don't get to pick. On graduation day, you'll be assigned to your hero, and then he or she will, uh, decide what you will be called and what you will wear. I think this is mostly done in an attempt to avoid clashing colours.
Furthermore, the Commander has never mentioned to Will that Mr Boy used to be his sidekick, not deeming it worthy of mention. I was kind of annoyed at the Commander's attitude when Will brings home his Sidekick classmates to do homework together:
Commander: Can I ask you something, though? Does that one kid really, you know, glow?
Will: Sometimes.
Commander: Boy, they have really lowered the bar some for superheroes at that school since I went there.
Will: Well, actually, he's a sidekick.
Commander: Oh. Well, that makes sense.
Will: Yeah. Actually, they're all sidekicks.
Commander: Good for you, son. Kid of your stature hangin' out with a bunch of sidekicks. As a freshman? I didn't have the guts. And I can only imagine what your grandfather would have said if I'd have brought some of them home.
Will: You know, there's nothing wrong with being a sidekick, Dad.
Commander: Oh, no. Of course not. I used to have one. Saved my life once too. Old... what's-his-name.
Will: So then you would be fine with... ...if I was a sidekick.
Commander: Well, yeah, sure, I guess. Hey, hand me that mayonnaise there.
Will: Well, that's good then, because... because I am.
Commander: Am what?
Will: A sidekick.
Commander: Who is?
Will: Me, Dad. Dad, I'm a sidekick, OK? I washed out of Power Placement.
Commander: Washed out! Boomer. Couldn't make the big time, so now he thinks he can pass judgment on some real heroes' kids, huh? Oh, it's a power trip, Will. That's all it is. Sonic Boom? Try "Gym Teacher Man. "
Will: No, Dad! What are you doing?
Commander: I'm calling the school. The tuition we pay them!
Will: Dad, don't. Dad! It's not Coach Boomer! It's me, OK? I don't have any powers.
Commander: But you never said... I mean, you made it seem like...
Will: Like I had super-strength like you? But I don't.
Commander: But you will, Will! You're just... You're just a late bloomer! That's what it is!
Will: Maybe. Maybe not. But I don't care. Because, really, the fact of the matter is I'm proud to be a sidekick. Actually, I'm proud to be hero support.
What I would have liked was if the sidekicks had saved the day through cooperation - Will included and it wasn't necessary for him to become some kind of über hero to do it. Yes, Magenta and the others do help save the day, but it's necessary for Will with his über Super Powers to save the day.
For instance, at one point Will's parents almost come to terms with his lack of super powers:
Commander: All I ever wanted for him was to save the world. To just feel that once.
Jetstream: That's a lot to put on a 14-year-old's shoulders.
Commander: Oh, come on, Josie! When I was his age, I could put a truck on my shoulders.
Jetstream: Oh! Honey, I know you're disappointed. So am I. You think I didn't want to see my son fly?
Commander: Or have super-strength?
Jetstream: Or fly? But we can't change who he is. Not without dropping him in a vat of toxic waste.
Commander looks contemplative.
Jetstream: Steve!
Commander: Aw... Oh, no, no.. Where would we even find a vat of...
Jetstream: Steve!
Commander: I-I just, I'm thinking.
Jetstream: Will is a great kid. This is not the end of the world. OK. So maybe we won't be the Stronghold Three, the greatest family of superheroes the world has ever known. But we will be the Stronghold Three, the greatest family the world has ever known.
Commander: You're right. You're right, and he can always go into real estate!
Unfortunately, Will then goes from being the Sky High equivalent of a 'squib' to acquiring super strength, becoming popular, getting transferred to the hero track and being the first freshman in history to win a gym class activity called Save the Citizen. Much as I liked Will, I found him boring and when he became a 'superhero', I found him even more inspid especially given that his elevation appears to contradict and undermine the whole original positive message of the story ie. being a hero isn't about having special powers and abilities, it's about doing the best you can with what you have been given.
I got really annoyed when Will got his powers and his mother wants to reprimand him because he nearly destroyed the cafeteria. His father on the other hand says: "My boy has super-strength! How can I be mad?" To me, there seems to be something really flawed in that kind of parent to child message :P
The final moral to the story is absolutely wrong. Basically what it is saying is that in order to be loved by your parents and accepted by society, it's not enough just to meet expectations - you must exceed them. Not cool. koala gives the paws down of disapproval ...
*
As to more positive things, Layla on the other hand, is something of the Hermione character in Sky High. She's smart, principled, calls it as she sees it and has no desire to join the herd simply because that's the thing to do. As Will's next door neighbour, she's been his best friend since they were little and her powers manifested early . Her mother is a superhero who can talk to animals so she's a vegetarian. She's also something of an activist with a social conscience given that her power over plants presumably makes her more at one with nature. She's an open feminist and she also values social equality because she refuses to participate in power placement because she doesn't think it's right to label people.
Coach: You. Flower child. Let's go.
Layla: Uh, I believe in only using my powers when the situation demands it.
Coach: Well, you're in luck. This is the situation, and I'm demanding it.
Layla: But to participate in this test would be to support a flawed system. The whole hero-sidekick dichotomy only serves to...
Coach: Let me get this straight. Are you refusing to show your powers?
Layla: It's more complicated.
Coach: Sidekick!
My second favourite character is Warren Peace. Yes he's played by Steven Strait who is hot, but there's more. He's enigmatic and sullen but he's not just the mindless bad boy who's rebelling without a cause. Almost every time we see Warren, he's reading. True, he might just be reading manga or comic books, but the boy likes to read! :D The son of a supervillain and a superhero, the boy has issues but he cannot be all bad because he works at The Paper Lantern, a Chinese restaurant, he speaks Cantonese (albeit badly) and when Will stands her up because he's hanging out with the evil Gwen, Warren takes the time to sit with her and chat with her. He's smart, perceptive and kind despite being a hothead - not surprising given that his power is fire.
Warren also appears to develop a genuine affection for Layla. After he becomes friends with her, he is drawn - inexorably and against his will - into her circle of sidekick friends. Despite his initial hostility, he fights at the side of the sidekicks and even takes the trouble to clean himself up for the homecoming dance - for Layla. By the end of the movie, Warren and Will are best friends. I suspect that Warren has a very honourable side and so despite his feelings for Layla, probably would never dream of saying anything to her while she was still enamoured of Will.
Maybe Layla is a bit too perfect but I really liked her character. When she needs to she can 'fight'. She's anti-violence and also doesn't like using her powers unlike it's absolutely necessary. To me, I found it a little baffling that someone like Layla would be so madly in love with someone as vapid, albeit nice, as Will. Will seems nice but awfully young. Like Hermione, Layla comes across as older and more mature than her peers. Warren seems a little older than the other freshmen as well. Despite his bad temper, he has a part-time job and he reads. He also has a better understanding of human nature than Will.
*
2016 update upon having rediscovered this movie.
Will Stronghold is a jerk
- Dismisses Layla as "just a friend" when people ask if Layla is his girlfriend
- Realises he's screwed up when he sits with the 'popular' kids so appeases Layla by saying they can go to the Paper Lantern. She says: "you hate Chinese" (meaning that they never go), and he says: "But you don't". So this means they always do what he wants i.e. non-Chinese and only do Chinese if he's trying to appease :P
- Then he stands her up by hanging out with Gwen when he's the one who invited Layla to the Paper Lantern …
- Even when she gives him a fortune cookie the next day, he still couldn't remember he'd stood her up until she reminded him.
- Then he blathers on about how he's going with Gwen to Homecoming when clearly she's about to declare her feelings for him. Then only later, he remembers she had something to say to him. He doesn't even notice she's sad.
- Then he gets angry with her for wanting to go to Homecoming with Warren, getting jealous when he sees her with Warren.
- He doesn't invite her to the party that Gwen hosts at his house.
Warren is the better friend. He and Layla fight side by side. When they're fighting Royal Pain, Layla tries to run forward and Warren puts his arm out to stop her/protect her... honestly it makes no sense to me at all that Layla ends up with Will...