Historical fiction to reality
1) I saw The Kitchen and agree with a review I saw. It's a good story but its transition from a graphic novel was not well done. I've read relatively little in comics format but I think it can be fairly said that its storytelling relies a lot on key moments. This is probably why action oriented stories like superhero tales can translate fairly well to the screen, although I would argue that the MCU is a good example of how you still need to do more to flesh out those characters.
And that's the problem with this story - there is no fleshing out. It simply moves along from plot point to plot point and we barely get to know anyone. When a story goes into the movies you need to develop character unless the bulk of it is just whiz bang action. This story would have done much better as a miniseries.
Thinking back to the last graphic novel adaptation I saw, Atomic Blonde, it also had some problems with the plot getting a bit hard to follow in places, particularly because it was a spy story. But it had one protagonist and it had action and by and large I thought it was a successful story (which I liked very much, having seen it 3 times now).
The Kitchen, however, is a more realistic tale in a realistic setting with three protagonists and various important secondary characters. But we never know even basic things about them. For example, how often did the three women interact before? What did they think of one another then? How did the setup of the protection racket work before they took it over? Why did Melissa McCarty's husband reach out to Brooklyn earlier, for what?
There were even some scenes where I wondered if an earlier part of the scene had been edited out, it seemed to start mid-scene. There are some things being hidden in the story so some decisions may have been made to keep more of a reveal for the ending. But I don't think that characterization should have been jettisoned as a result. We do get a sense of who each woman is, but it makes her more of an archetype than a person.
For example, I have no idea why Melissa McCarty's father seems to do an about face in the last 10 minutes of the film. Earlier one character has been killed for no reason we see on screen. There is a resolution at the film's end but I don't know how much we can count on that given everything that came before. And, to me the most important, McCarty is supposed to feel bad for protecting someone she shouldn't have, yet we've seen so little from that character that it's impossible to take sides on that choice.
So although I think the three actresses inhabited their roles well, the writing and editing throughout makes it feel more like a re-enactment of some events than a movie about them. It's too bad because it's got a fine cast and good bones in the story.
2) I also saw Blinded by the Light. It was, in many ways, predictable, which makes me wonder which parts of it were actually biographical. While it's a fannish story it's also not about fandom. But it was nicely done, it had a sweet ending, and I thought the casting was really good. For example, I am finding that I quite like Hayley Atwell, she seems to be following in the footsteps of Emma Thompson whose work I similarly like a great deal.
The fact that it was set in the 80s was interesting if one had lived through it. On the one hand, it was a bit novel for me to see the perspective of this period in the UK as I knew some things about it, but mostly from the entry point of its music scene then. Having been in the U.S. though, I find it rather funny that being a Springsteen fan is treated as if one was a fan of Elvis during the '67 heyday of the Beatles.
I say this because from my experience, Springsteen fandom was not only alive and well but he was at his commercial peak during the 1980s. Obviously his stature could have been quite different in the UK, which was having a booming musical scene of its own in quite a different vein. Without MTV most of those acts would probably never have broken through in the U.S., not because it didn't have a ready market, but because of the way the music industry had radio locked up with payola and 70s pop/rock acts. And there are still many performers who were enormous in the UK but never had an equivalent U.S. fanbase during the same period.
So for me as a music fan in the 1980s, there was a similar breaking free on the other side of the Atlantic, with the musical scene from the UK finally liberating us out of the stranglehold of established American performers. At least for teens and kids, besides Michael Jackson and Madonna there were also a slew of acts from, largely the UK, but also Europe and Australia that made up the playlists of their lives. This marked a clear break from their parents' music.
Returning to the film, I wonder what having the same story set in the present day would be like. I can't imagine it seeming as hopeful even while it's obvious that some things will always be with us.
3) I've been seeing more and more Chinese content pop up in the Merlin fandom stream from AO3. This seems really heartening, not only that it's being gathered together but that interest in the fandom persists in many places.
4) A good discussion of the use of "no follow" links to avoid elevating search rankings for a site. Though, as the article concludes, the best way is to avoid writing about the site in the first place.
5) The GDPR Is A Wide Open Vulnerability For Identity Fraud And Scams
View poll: Kudos Footer-85
Comments at Dreamwidth
.
And that's the problem with this story - there is no fleshing out. It simply moves along from plot point to plot point and we barely get to know anyone. When a story goes into the movies you need to develop character unless the bulk of it is just whiz bang action. This story would have done much better as a miniseries.
Thinking back to the last graphic novel adaptation I saw, Atomic Blonde, it also had some problems with the plot getting a bit hard to follow in places, particularly because it was a spy story. But it had one protagonist and it had action and by and large I thought it was a successful story (which I liked very much, having seen it 3 times now).
The Kitchen, however, is a more realistic tale in a realistic setting with three protagonists and various important secondary characters. But we never know even basic things about them. For example, how often did the three women interact before? What did they think of one another then? How did the setup of the protection racket work before they took it over? Why did Melissa McCarty's husband reach out to Brooklyn earlier, for what?
There were even some scenes where I wondered if an earlier part of the scene had been edited out, it seemed to start mid-scene. There are some things being hidden in the story so some decisions may have been made to keep more of a reveal for the ending. But I don't think that characterization should have been jettisoned as a result. We do get a sense of who each woman is, but it makes her more of an archetype than a person.
For example, I have no idea why Melissa McCarty's father seems to do an about face in the last 10 minutes of the film. Earlier one character has been killed for no reason we see on screen. There is a resolution at the film's end but I don't know how much we can count on that given everything that came before. And, to me the most important, McCarty is supposed to feel bad for protecting someone she shouldn't have, yet we've seen so little from that character that it's impossible to take sides on that choice.
So although I think the three actresses inhabited their roles well, the writing and editing throughout makes it feel more like a re-enactment of some events than a movie about them. It's too bad because it's got a fine cast and good bones in the story.
2) I also saw Blinded by the Light. It was, in many ways, predictable, which makes me wonder which parts of it were actually biographical. While it's a fannish story it's also not about fandom. But it was nicely done, it had a sweet ending, and I thought the casting was really good. For example, I am finding that I quite like Hayley Atwell, she seems to be following in the footsteps of Emma Thompson whose work I similarly like a great deal.
The fact that it was set in the 80s was interesting if one had lived through it. On the one hand, it was a bit novel for me to see the perspective of this period in the UK as I knew some things about it, but mostly from the entry point of its music scene then. Having been in the U.S. though, I find it rather funny that being a Springsteen fan is treated as if one was a fan of Elvis during the '67 heyday of the Beatles.
I say this because from my experience, Springsteen fandom was not only alive and well but he was at his commercial peak during the 1980s. Obviously his stature could have been quite different in the UK, which was having a booming musical scene of its own in quite a different vein. Without MTV most of those acts would probably never have broken through in the U.S., not because it didn't have a ready market, but because of the way the music industry had radio locked up with payola and 70s pop/rock acts. And there are still many performers who were enormous in the UK but never had an equivalent U.S. fanbase during the same period.
So for me as a music fan in the 1980s, there was a similar breaking free on the other side of the Atlantic, with the musical scene from the UK finally liberating us out of the stranglehold of established American performers. At least for teens and kids, besides Michael Jackson and Madonna there were also a slew of acts from, largely the UK, but also Europe and Australia that made up the playlists of their lives. This marked a clear break from their parents' music.
Returning to the film, I wonder what having the same story set in the present day would be like. I can't imagine it seeming as hopeful even while it's obvious that some things will always be with us.
3) I've been seeing more and more Chinese content pop up in the Merlin fandom stream from AO3. This seems really heartening, not only that it's being gathered together but that interest in the fandom persists in many places.
4) A good discussion of the use of "no follow" links to avoid elevating search rankings for a site. Though, as the article concludes, the best way is to avoid writing about the site in the first place.
5) The GDPR Is A Wide Open Vulnerability For Identity Fraud And Scams
View poll: Kudos Footer-85
Comments at Dreamwidth
.