"It's a forest in a box in a sitting room - keep up!"
The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe. I'm not sure if I find it charming that the Christmas specials are unabashed re-works of classic stories (A Chirstmas Carol last year, Narnia this year) or if it's just lazy.
So....the whole episode I thought "Cyril" was going to be revealed as C.S. Lewis at the end, because I am stupid and didn't think about the time period properly. And I thought the whole Ardwell thing could be explained by a penname. Yeah. Christmas is a time for empty brain.
I thought it was okay - the pacing was a bit slow, I thought, particularly in the middle. I really liked Madge (?) but there is that re-occurring theme that women are only allowed to be useful and/or strong in relation to their motherhood. Look, I get that motherhood is a powerful force, perhaps one of the most powerful forces, but this theme is getting tiring (and, to be honest, is negating the equally powerful force of fatherhood - the father in this story, just like Rory in the entire past season, is a passive participant in the child-rearing.) I did not appreciate the pandering with the men=weak, childbearingwoman=strong. And the other lady putting down her gun because she "respects her as a woman"? Ugh. Moffat, you are trying to hard.
Except when you write the episode's main love story as "man stalks woman until she agrees to marry him." Then you're not trying hard enough.
To be honest, though, I don't know if these complaints are reasonable or if I'm seeing sexism ghosts everywhere. Would the abovementioned had bothered me so much if Moffat hadn't written it? I don't know.
Which brings me to Tintin, which I saw today and actually really enjoyed. I’ve never been a fan of motion-capture animation, but this really sold me - it was beautiful. Particularly the chase scene through the Moroccan streets which was effectively one “shot” - stunning. I adored Snowy, and Tintin himself was fab - it was nice to see an unconventional action hero still able to knock out guys twice his size with a single punch (hee!). Although minor quibble - Tintin is from Belgium, right? Why was he paying for the model ship with pounds? Surely they would have used francs during that time period? Or maybe I am completely off base. In any case, I thought it was pretty good and had some pretty funny moments, mostly revolving around Snowy.
But what a penis-fest. Jeez. The sole female character had about three lines and was a plot device (and yet still they were able to make a few jokes about her appearance. Classy.) And that’s fine. I don’t feel the need for female characters to be included just for the sake of it if it doesn’t fit the story. I suspect that it is probably true to the original comic books and probably the animated series (which I remember watching, but not with any specifics.) It would, however, be hard to imagine a similar movie with an all-female cast allowed to be made without even the hint of a love interest (which I rather appreciated about Tintin). Still, Moffat's involvement brought it to my attention.
I am concerned that I am perhaps being unfair to Moffat's work by seeing it through sexism-coloured glasses. Again, would I have noticed the lack of female input if I hadn't known Moffat was involved?
Something for me to ponder, perhaps.
So....the whole episode I thought "Cyril" was going to be revealed as C.S. Lewis at the end, because I am stupid and didn't think about the time period properly. And I thought the whole Ardwell thing could be explained by a penname. Yeah. Christmas is a time for empty brain.
I thought it was okay - the pacing was a bit slow, I thought, particularly in the middle. I really liked Madge (?) but there is that re-occurring theme that women are only allowed to be useful and/or strong in relation to their motherhood. Look, I get that motherhood is a powerful force, perhaps one of the most powerful forces, but this theme is getting tiring (and, to be honest, is negating the equally powerful force of fatherhood - the father in this story, just like Rory in the entire past season, is a passive participant in the child-rearing.) I did not appreciate the pandering with the men=weak, childbearingwoman=strong. And the other lady putting down her gun because she "respects her as a woman"? Ugh. Moffat, you are trying to hard.
Except when you write the episode's main love story as "man stalks woman until she agrees to marry him." Then you're not trying hard enough.
To be honest, though, I don't know if these complaints are reasonable or if I'm seeing sexism ghosts everywhere. Would the abovementioned had bothered me so much if Moffat hadn't written it? I don't know.
Which brings me to Tintin, which I saw today and actually really enjoyed. I’ve never been a fan of motion-capture animation, but this really sold me - it was beautiful. Particularly the chase scene through the Moroccan streets which was effectively one “shot” - stunning. I adored Snowy, and Tintin himself was fab - it was nice to see an unconventional action hero still able to knock out guys twice his size with a single punch (hee!). Although minor quibble - Tintin is from Belgium, right? Why was he paying for the model ship with pounds? Surely they would have used francs during that time period? Or maybe I am completely off base. In any case, I thought it was pretty good and had some pretty funny moments, mostly revolving around Snowy.
But what a penis-fest. Jeez. The sole female character had about three lines and was a plot device (and yet still they were able to make a few jokes about her appearance. Classy.) And that’s fine. I don’t feel the need for female characters to be included just for the sake of it if it doesn’t fit the story. I suspect that it is probably true to the original comic books and probably the animated series (which I remember watching, but not with any specifics.) It would, however, be hard to imagine a similar movie with an all-female cast allowed to be made without even the hint of a love interest (which I rather appreciated about Tintin). Still, Moffat's involvement brought it to my attention.
I am concerned that I am perhaps being unfair to Moffat's work by seeing it through sexism-coloured glasses. Again, would I have noticed the lack of female input if I hadn't known Moffat was involved?
Something for me to ponder, perhaps.