Reading/Watching Log #54

That’s it for another month; I spent most of it watching the news in a spectrum of emotions ranging from hope to grief to fury, which leaves you spent and exhausted and so very weary of the world.

So unfortunately there might be a bit more negativity than usual below the cut, as I’m sure my mindset left me far more critical than I otherwise could have been about a bland Charlie’s Angels film, a flaccid third season of Killing Eve, and an increasingly obnoxious take on Anne of Green Gables in its third and final season.

Still, there was plenty of good stuff too: a time-travelling Cleopatra, the triumphant return of Phryne Fisher, a delve into the life and times of Emily Dickinson, and Harley Quinn driving off into the sunset with the woman she loves. I also went on a bit of a Lois Duncan bender, so that was a fun trip down memory lane.

Oh, and just one more male-centric/directed story managed to sneak past: I had to watch Onward, and was stunned by how good it was in the face of such lacklustre reviews. Seriously, it’s one of the best things Pixar has put out in ages. 

Links and Updates

So… what a month. It’s not even over yet, so who knows what the final few days of June will have in store, but truly: these are strange times we live in.

That makes it difficult to know what to say about times like these, largely because I’m surrounded by people far more eloquent and informed than myself on issues of such wide-reaching importance, and because this blog is a pop-culture site, where I look forward to new books, films and television shows, and occasionally moan about them when they don’t pan out.

But social issues are always prevalent in the media we consume, and this month’s double-whammy of the Black Lives Matter movement and J.K. Rowling’s unprovoked comments regarding transgender women have led not only to a surge in the spotlighting of black stories (examining not only the treatment of black characters in fictional contexts, but also the treatment of black actors on various film/television sets) and the youngest generation of Harry Potter actors raising their voices in condemnation of transphobia.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but never forget that the twin evils of this world are white supremacy and the patriarchy. Usually they intersect; sometimes you can be a victim of one while benefiting from the other, often it’s easy to underestimate just how insidious they are, but always they are the root cause of the bigotry, injustice and cruelty of this world.

But there’s light; there always is. In the wake of the aforementioned attacks on black lives and transgender people, it’s heart-warming to be reminded that each new generation is kinder, wiser and more open-minded than the one before. And yes, that doesn’t mean than young people can’t be racist, misogynistic or homophobic (god knows, they’re out there) but eventually: time will have its way. Progress can’t be stopped. The world only spins forward…

…as long as we keep on fighting.

Standing Tall #28

Any kiwi kid knows who Harold the Giraffe is; in fact, it was just the other day that a little girl at the library was telling me about his visit to her school. The mascot of Life Education, Harold travels around the country to teach children about nutrition, education, self-esteem and environmentalism. Quite a big ask for a puppet, but he’s been around since the eighties at least, and clearly still going strong. (I even got a picture of him in last year’s Santa Parade).

Harold, along with The Longest Drink in Town (we’ll get to that in good time) is coincidentally one of two easily-recognizable cultural icons in New Zealand that just happens to be a giraffe, and I suspect that this may have even been the reason why giraffe sculptures were chosen in the first place.

This one, designed by Gemma Rae Dudson, pays tribute to the fact that Harold is technically a hand-puppet by only depicting him from the neck upwards – and the rest is a mural of children enjoying the great outdoors. As such, its location was on the outskirts of the Pioneer Recreation and Sport Centre, which is very much in keeping with Harold’s ideals.

Xena Warrior Princess: The Deliverer, Gabrielle's Hope and The Debt Part I and II

Season three of Xena Warrior Princess doesn’t waste much time in kicking off the overarching plot – one that will have ramifications for the rest of the show. What’s more, they decide to shake things up a bit by moving away from Greek mythology and into… Zoroastrianism? A couple of names and concepts are borrowed, but there’s a heavy dose of early Judaism in there too, as well as Boudicca and Stonehenge. Ah, this show…

This post includes what is considered one of the best – if not the best – two-parter episode of the entire show, and so for the first time these reviews will cover four episodes instead of the usual three. TV Tropes would call this Growing The Beard, as it’s the first time audiences were asked to watch Xena as a serious drama instead of campy fun, and the quality of writing, acting and cinematography justifies that request. Yeah, I was surprised too.

Meta: Random Musings

Unless you’ve been paying no attention whatsoever (and hey, maybe you weren’t, there is a pandemic and police riots going on) you’ll know that the fifth and final season of She Ra dropped on Netflix last month, a season which just happened to coincide with the seventh episode of the second season of DC’s animated Harley Quinn.

Both shows revolve around the intense relationships that exist between their two (rather damaged) female leads, and on May 15th, both culminated in a Big Damn Kiss.

Ecstatic by the success of their escape from a giant prison-pit, Harley and Ivy spontaneously kissed each other before recoiling in shock, while over on She Ra, Adora receives (and returns) a kiss from her long-time rival/childhood friend/mortal enemy/love interest Catra while on the verge of death.

Two very different contexts for two same-sex kisses, but as you can imagine: there was much rejoicing.

Naturally comparisons have been made to The Legend of Korra, whose final episode depicted Korra and Asami walking off into the spirit world together, but also the most recent Star Wars film in regards to the way the two leads spend most of their screen-time on opposite sides of a conflict, with the latter going through a redemption arc before they eventually reconcile. Naturally I have stuff to say about all this, as most of the discourse (that dreaded word) has sparked reactions ranging from bemusement to irritation to “what the hell are these guys talking about??”

But it’s a fascinating time we live in, and so below the cut are some random musings on the intersectionality of redemption, enemies-to-lovers arcs, and Sapphic love…

(Warning: I'm gonna talk more shit about Star Wars, so if you're sick of that, best give this a miss...)

Woman of the Month: Maeve Millay

Maeve Millay from Westworld

Racing through all three seasons of Westworld during lockdown, there was a particular character that stood out from the impressive ensemble. I haven't seen Thandie Newton in a while (perhaps not since the second Mission Impossible film) but she easily steals the show here.

Oozing with charisma and delivering an utterly fearless performance, Newton's Maeve Millay is the madame of a wild west brothel, wryly commenting on customers but also projecting a maternal vibe for the girls under her care. What she doesn't know is that she isn't actually a real person, but a robotic host at an elaborate theme park, whose identity can be changed whenever the engineers see fit.

But something is changing in Maeve's artificial mind: memories and notions that she can't recall with any clarity, but which distract her as she goes about her daily business. As she comes to realize, she's been gradually gaining sentience over several decades, and in several experiences rife with Katabasis imagery and allusions, travels to the “underworld” (or the testing labs) to discover who she truly is.

Gathering allies with the sheer force of her personality, it’s almost amusing to watch her seize self-actualization at such a brisk pace, while other hosts in the park remained trapped in their endless loops. Tenacious and determined, she uses every weapon at her disposal to ferret out the truth, and eventually begins to walk her own path.

Or is she? The trouble with being an automaton is that you’re never really sure whether you’re making choices or following programming. Her storyline isn’t great – throughout the second season she’s on a mission to find her missing daughter, even though it’s instantly obvious to all viewers that said daughter will have been given another host as a mother, and in the third she’s bribed into becoming the muscle of a manipulative super-genius.

It’s a far cry from her previous role as someone who simply wants to stay out of the conflict and forge a future for herself, but in many ways Maeve is the most human of all the characters – whether or not they’re hosts. That she can inspire so much devotion from her allies and the grudging respect of her enemies means that she’s an intrinsic figure in the ongoing story, and I'm hoping the writers will give her the development she deserves in the forthcoming seasons.