Little Mermaids

Pushing through some unfinished posts that have been languishing the last couple of weeks... Here is #1.

Here there be spoilers. Do not follow the breadcrumbs if you're annoyed by that sort of thing.

I finally did get to see Ponyo with some good friends. The company was excellent, the movie was cute, and I'm glad I went. However, my reaction to the movie has been somewhat different than that of everyone else so far. While I loved the character of Ponyo herself, and the adorable old ladies, the more I thought about the movie, the more I realized how ... well, disappointed I was.

Overall the movie felt sort of ... recycled. Mind you, I love the Little Mermaid tale, and I expected it to be a re-telling, not something ground-breakingly new. As well, there were some bits of nice symbolism and such -- the water kingdom, the tunnel, etc. -- and I'm all for Cate Blanchette as a sea goddess. I also loved Totoro, so I don't even think it's just that I was caught off-guard by a movie meant for younger children. (As Sherri put it, the movie was definitely not challenging, and honestly, I usually don't mind that.)

First, I was less enamored of the character designs, which struck me as vintage Miyazaki in the bad way: the fish-girls are shapeless blobs with odd heads, and I'm pretty sure I rolled my eyes at the garishness of Ponyo's father.

Then there's the inclusion of some tired and unsubtle jabs of nature vs. humanity that were unnecessary. They seemed to have been plugged in out of some moral obligation, and were especially annoying because the proponent of the "wipe out the humans/return to pristine ancient ocean" camp had once been human himself. As well, the movie does an excellent job showing how pollution affects the ocean and so on -- the dialogue to that effect removed any hint of subtlety or finesse from those scenes. It reminded me of the first Miyazaki film I saw, Princess Mononoke. While it was admittedly a lovely, lovely film, I haven't the faintest desire to re-watch it, and a large part of that stems from the heavy-handed eco-thumping.

Yes, I understand that concern about the planet is a good theme. But Studio Ghibli has the talent to show the encroachment and damage and concern in a way that makes the preachy dialogue clunkier by far in comparison. Unfortunately they insist on telling us the moral of the story, as well, which ruins the effect.

The other thing I disliked was actually a little harder to pin down.

I do understand that this is supposed to be a sweet little love story; a fairy tale in which the fate of the world hinges on two five-year-olds and their innocent idea of love. Ponyo, who is a willful and spirited girl (not unlike Coraline, who survives her ordeals precisely because she is both clever and such an utter brat) makes a decision about who she's going to be, rebels against the father, and promptly tromps off to make it so -- leaving quite a wake in her path. She is the epitome of a tiny force of nature.

Her decision and her magic (presumably augmented by the potion her father was going to unleash on the poor humans) do affect the balance of nature, endangering the world, and at the same time enabling the wonders of ancient oceans to return. It is, quite literally, magic of world-shaping proportions.

Meanwhile, Sosuke, the object of Ponyo's fascination, is somewhat serious, kind, considerate and responsible (or as much as can be expected of a five-year-old boy). He saves her life in the beginning of the story, gives her the means to become human, and gives her the name Ponyo, which she gleefully adopts. (Honestly, it is better than Brunhilde or "Hey, fish girl".) He is understandably distraught when Ponyo's father retrieves the magical talking fish and traps her in a bubble under the sea.

The movie goes on as expected. Ponyo and Sosuke must make a journey, helping and trusting each other; as predicted by her father, Ponyo tires and begins to lose her magic, and Sosuke ends up pushing her along. And I think that was what finally tipped me from mild amusement to flat disappointment -- suddenly Ponyo's tale bcame just another story about a girl giving up everything (home, family, friends, and especially her own inherent magic) to join the world of the boy she loves. Why does the sacrifice have to be so complete -- and so completely one-sided?

The original version holds within it a bouquet of Christian warnings; illustrations of the inherent dangers of desire and sacrifice; soul vs. magic; humans mixing with Others (whether that meant mermaids or, I suppose, those of a different class or race). I had honestly hoped that this re-telling might bend those rules, if not outright break them. I was hoping for a little balance.

I don't consider myself one of those women who get their panties in a twist over fairy tales, but I do find myself quickly tiring of certain tropes. Maybe it's a symptom of my age, or perhaps there's a sense that some of them hit too close to home, these days.

Maybe I'm just tired of armless maidens and refrigerator girls and little mermaids.

These days I'd much rather read about women whose magic is so ingrained it can't be so easily forsaken; women clever enough and strong enough to remain true to themselves without losing that balance. I want Vasilisa or Chihiro, a Coraline or a Promethea.

If there must be a little mermaid, then let her be wise enough to understand the dangers she faces, and brave enough to turn herself to foam on the water, if need be. And once in a while, if she could turn the tables, to see what her object of desire might be willing to give up for her instead ... well, that would be a fine thing to see, as well.

Follow the breadcrumbs...

Trifecta of Doom

That would be: insomnia, weather-induced sinus headache, and nonstop allergy attack.

Emails and such will return when my head stops asplodin'. I hear thunder rolling in ... hopefully once the storms pass I'll be rid of the headache, at least.

In other news, going to see Ponyo tomorrow night with a couple of friends. (Yay!) Assuming my compressed-jelly brain has not leaked out my ears by then. (Boo!)

At the moment, that seems like a rather lofty assumption.

Follow the breadcrumbs...

Randomosity: Good things, past and future

GenCon provided a good excuse for a marathon gaming weekend, since several of us skipped the con this year. Beginning Thursday, we had two back-to-back sessions of Changeling (with pizza and delicious BLTs, respectively), a night off (for W. and I, anyway -- Edige had a third game to run), and then the Sunday 3rd continent game.

Saturday evening, W. and I stopped in at my aunt and uncle's to drop off some football tickets. We stayed and chatted for a bit, since they'd never met W. before; it was a pretty relaxed visit. My aunt restrained herself from asking too many questions (which she commented on proudly as we were leaving) and offered to take us to Red Lobster next week. So there's that to look forward to.

Afterward, we kept driving north and went to dinner in St. Joe. (There was lots of driving this weekend, as the weather was particularly good for it, for the first time in weeks.) Re: St. Joe, though -- there's a fine line, for me, between pleasant people-watching and claustrophobia, and the crowds up there this weekend were right on that border. Dinner was excellent, but even at 10 pm, the line at the ice cream shop was far too long.

Also, we decided during the course of the evening that our host at the Pumphouse Grill really needed to be an evil mage of some kind. He was perfectly polite, with perfectly manicured nails, and thick, shoulder-length stark white hair; a pure white Van Dyke, slightly hawkish nose, and dark-dark eyes. He needs to be a character, somewhere. In fact, I can't help but wonder if he didn't perhaps walk off the page of a book at some point.

I was supposed to make some zucchini bread this weekend with this amazingly huge zucchini Cher Mere gave me on Thursday, but it was so hot I have't gotten around to baking anything. Hopefully Tuesday will give me a chance if it cools off a little in the evening. I'm thinking I might be able to get three loaves out of this puppy. If it works out, I may have to drop off a loaf for them as a thank-you. Assuming they're edible, of course. ;)

Game-wise, I'm almost done with SMT: Devil Survivor. Unfortunately I hit a lull for a bit there; because I've been tearing through story points and haven't been taking on as much in the way of build-battles as I normally do in a MegaTen game, I ended up having to farm a fairly boring free battle over and over to get past the Belial fight because I didn't have enough ice in my arsenal. Once I went back and took a second stab at Belial with the revised strategy and updated fusions, it was a cake walk. I have now made it to the last "day" of the game, though, and I chose Gin's path -- but that's a subject for a whole post in itself. I've got my fingers crossed for a good ending, which is never a guarantee in these games. However ... I think I've played enough of them to figure out which ending leads to the "right" path for me.

I do love the SMT; it remains my all-time favorite game line. Once I'm done with this game, it might be worth taking a look at the whys and wherefores of that.

In other news, a group of us are going to see Miyazaki's Ponyo Thursday night. It's apparently an adaptation of the "Little Mermaid," with a Miyazaki twist, so I'm looking forward to that. A fellow gamers' daughters were watching Spirited Away while we played at Edige's last night, and it was hard not to sit down and watch the rest of the movie all the way through.

I'm tired today (far too much Devil Survivor last night after the game), and right now I'm hoping for a slow week. We only have a couple of things planned, so for the moment, I'm looking forward to enjoying the week's impending thunderstorms curled up on our comfy, comfy couch.

Follow the breadcrumbs...

Ramayan 3392 AD and Mythic Movies

I had heard about Liquid Comics a few months ago, and promised myself I'd keep an eye on them as they tackle their goal of bringing ancient epics such as the Ramayana to the comic/graphic novel audience. Of course, we have all of one comic store in town these days, and I very rarely get over there, so this eventually slipped my mind altogether. Until Technoccult was kind enough to link to a Wired article on the movie version of Ramayan 3392 AD, that is. Due in 2011, the movie is a collaboration with Mandalay Pictures; let me just say, the teaser pics rock. If that's what the comic looks like, I have got to find that book.

This sort of thing -- updated myths with modern relevance -- has been on my mind again recently, since Evn prompted his loyal strifemongers to ponder casting calls for myth-based movies. All of the entries posted were very cool ideas, with excellent "casting," and most of them prompted me to take notes on more must-track-down stories. (My own entry was based around the stories of Iyansa and Shango, the orishas of storm and war. It won, somehow, sending my brain into meltdown mode. Seriously ... I never win things like this.)

Hm. That's the second thing I've won in the last two weeks. Perhaps I should look into this "lottery" thing. You know, the one where they give you money..?

Honestly, I would love to see any of the proposed ideas made into movies. It blows me away that there is such a wealth of inspiration and wonder in the old stories that has largely gone untapped and forgotten by the modern world. I hope, with the success of Guillermo del Toro's brilliant treatments of mythic relevance in Pan's Labyrinth and Hellboy II, that the tide will be changing in the near future. Not only for the obvious wealth of imagery and effects, but because I want storytellers who are able to successfully tap into the wonder and inspiration and terror of the mythic other that modern life has largely forgotten. I would also like, if it's not too much trouble, an immensely successful writer/director/actor to drop the "Pagan" bomb on Oprah -- in a way that won't immediately cause the Wince of Associated Shame from every Pagan who witnesses it. And also ponies. Because everyone likes ponies.

Follow the breadcrumbs...