Recommendations: The Best of 2021

Perhaps it’s too late to be doing this near the end of January, but here’s a quick wrap-up of some of my posts, views and recommendations of 2021...

I wrote very little meta this year, with one being The Craft and the Craft Legacy, which I wasn’t particularly happy with. It’s too long and a bit repetitive, and I’m not even sure I got my point across – but hey, it was fun returning to one of my favourite witchy films and its misbegotten sequel.

If that one was too long, then The Problem With Witches was too short, and barely scratched the surface of my theory: that fictional depictions of witches – whether old or modern – share a deep consternation about the idea of a woman with hard power, and do everything they can to alleviate the perceived threat. Perhaps I’ll return to this subject at a later date with more examples to flesh out the argument.

I did have a lot of fun working through the first season of The Legend of the Seeker, and even though I couldn’t find the time to post on the season finale, it’s on its way. And then my first ever watch of season two will begin! I’m so excited about this, especially since I’ve been delaying it for over a decade!

Other than that, I managed only three in-depth reviews this year: for Raya and the Last Dragon, the first season of Shadow and Bone, and the three Irish-inspired films of Cartoon Saloon studios.

As for the best of this year’s watching and reading material...

International Men's Day: Top Ten Favourite Male Characters

It's International Men's Day, and I've decided to celebrate by showcasing some of my favourite male characters.

What they all have in common is a deep sense of kindness and compassion for others - which unfortunately, are traits that are not only in short supply these days, but often looked upon with contempt and ridicule. I'm reminded of a line spoken by Naomi Watt's character in The Painted Veil in which she scoffs: "As if a woman ever loved a man for his virtue," and looking around at the type of men that fandom usually stan for, it's not hard to see her point.

Or as Simone Weil wisely put it: “Imaginary evil is romantic and varied; real evil is gloomy, monotonous, barren, boring. Imaginary good is boring; real good is always new, marvelous, intoxicating.”

That assertion is up for debate, but an unfortunate side-effect of the assumption it raises is that heroic fictional characters, those who try to make the world a better place either through small acts of kindness or great feats of derring-do, are often dismissed as uninteresting, whereas those who commit themselves to violence, hatred and destruction are considered as sympathetic as they are fascinating.

Putting aside fandom's preferences, because YES I KNOW it's just fiction and shipping isn't morality, I still want to draw attention to the portrayals of good men in our media. Because simply put, I like seeing depictions of gentleness, compassion and empathy in any type of human, and it's Hercule Poirot who put it best in Evil Under the Sun: "To count - to really and truly to count - a [person] must have goodness or brains."

So these are some of my favourite male characters, not because they're morally compromised, or conflicted, or have sad backstories that justify their serial killing - but because they're fundamentally good people, and no less interesting because of it.