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The Good News Thread: I'm So Excited! And I Just Can't Hide It!


traceria

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2 hours ago, Delightfully Smoak said:

Black white and red goose-stepping? VERY Nazi. 

Also.....it's Holocaust Remembrance Day here in Israel so I'm a little more sensitive than usual to Nazi references. Mistreating kids in a classroom is not the same as murdering and gassing and shooting and raping and performing unspeakable experiments on millions, destroying families, generational trauma, Nope nope nope nope nope nope nope. 

While it's true that many writers, directors, and other creators use Nazi imagery as lazy shorthand for "These guys are EVUL, fear them!!11!!" that isn't what Pink Floyd is doing here. 

You probably know this already, but in addition to their crimes against the Jewish people—which absolutely deserve their place in infamy, and are aptly named one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century—the Nazis also did a lot of damage to other nations of the world. In Germany, they left a scar across their own national history, one so pervasive it, in the words of Eric Metaxas, destroyed the past as well. Denmark, France, Poland, and many other countries spent years under Nazi occupation, resisting the invaders though resistance could mean death. The US sent millions of young men to fight the growing threat, many of whom never came home, or returned with severe PTSD. And in the UK, where Pink Floyd is from, the nation's choice to resist the Nazis meant its citizens were subjected to years of privation and terror, in addition to many civilian deaths from bombings. The Nazis are a part of world history, and as such, Nazi imagery can mean many different things, depending on the images used and the surrounding context. 

In the Pink Floyd video, the band seems to be harkening back to the forced conformity the Nazis implemented, through programs such as Hitler Youth. I don't think they're saying that British education is the same as Hitler Youth—they'd be rightly laughed out of the country if they did—but are rather using imagery of one of the most chilling forced conformity programs of the 20th century to point out that, hey, our schools aren't helping our students learn and grow so much as they are draining them of individuality and life, forcing them to fall in lockstep with an ideology that, were they given the option, they might find distasteful or even abhorrent. They're turning kids into tools who will do whatever those in power need them to do, and this isn't right. 

It's true that Nazi imagery is often used as a lazy writer's code for "See Nazi Germany? This is the same as that," but not always. The Nazis did a ton of damage—and the worst of it was directed at the Jewish people—and a skilled writer can harken back to that damage, not to say "These guys are as bad as one of the most evil regimes of the 20th century," but to say something far more interesting. 

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4 minutes ago, TwiLyghtSansSparkles said:

While it's true that many writers, directors, and other creators use Nazi imagery as lazy shorthand for "These guys are EVUL, fear them!!11!!" that isn't what Pink Floyd is doing here. 

You probably know this already, but in addition to their crimes against the Jewish people—which absolutely deserve their place in infamy, and are aptly named one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century—the Nazis also did a lot of damage to other nations of the world. In Germany, they left a scar across their own national history, one so pervasive it, in the words of Eric Metaxas, destroyed the past as well. Denmark, France, Poland, and many other countries spent years under Nazi occupation, resisting the invaders though resistance could mean death. The US sent millions of young men to fight the growing threat, many of whom never came home, or returned with severe PTSD. And in the UK, where Pink Floyd is from, the nation's choice to resist the Nazis meant its citizens were subjected to years of privation and terror, in addition to many civilian deaths from bombings. The Nazis are a part of world history, and as such, Nazi imagery can mean many different things, depending on the images used and the surrounding context. 

In the Pink Floyd video, the band seems to be harkening back to the forced conformity the Nazis implemented, through programs such as Hitler Youth. I don't think they're saying that British education is the same as Hitler Youth—they'd be rightly laughed out of the country if they did—but are rather using imagery of one of the most chilling forced conformity programs of the 20th century to point out that, hey, our schools aren't helping our students learn and grow so much as they are draining them of individuality and life, forcing them to fall in lockstep with an ideology that, were they given the option, they might find distasteful or even abhorrent. They're turning kids into tools who will do whatever those in power need them to do, and this isn't right. 

It's true that Nazi imagery is often used as a lazy writer's code for "See Nazi Germany? This is the same as that," but not always. The Nazis did a ton of damage—and the worst of it was directed at the Jewish people—and a skilled writer can harken back to that damage, not to say "These guys are as bad as one of the most evil regimes of the 20th century," but to say something far more interesting. 

Thank you, that analysis makes me feel a lot better about it. 

.....something I never thought I'd say about Nazi imagery :mellow:

Because you're right, a lot of imagery in lazy shorthand and it cheapens everything.

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22 minutes ago, Tristan said:

I'm sick right now, and though I powered through Sunday and somehow made it through work yesterday, I will probably have to stay home today. On the bright side, my boyfriend is taking wonderful care of me. ^_^ That last part is my good news. Lol

That's sweet ^_^ feel better!

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1 hour ago, Queen Elsa Steelheart said:

Frozen 2's RELEASE DATE WAS RELEASED

 

29TH OF NOV 2019! :D

Not to rain on your parade, but that is something I would put in the 'I need hugs' thread... Frozen is the second most over-hyped thing of all time. Second only to Titanic, of course. The characters felt inconsistent to me, and the plot was frankly boring at best, cringe-worthy at worst. Now, that's my opinion, and it only takes a glance at your name and profile pic to see yours is completely different.

I just don't get it... The soundtrack was decent, but not worthy of the explosion of plays and covers it got. Not by a faint breeze or a stormwind. Tangled was just... better. In every respect. The only thing Frozen did right was having her be un-frozen by her sister, rather than one of the guys.

*sigh* I guess I'm just salty that people hype up mediocre stuff like Frozen and blow off gorgeous masterpieces like Your Name. After the first five minutes, you know Your Name is a cut above the rest, and they haven't even had any dialogue. It's just that good looking.

For actual good news, I found a new job, though I don't know for sure if they'll take me or not (I would say it's practically guaranteed, but real life likes to screw with expectations). Assuming I do well, I'll be making more, and I get to completely set my hours. And I get to work from home. And since I have done similar work before, I could get a promotion relatively quickly. I never have to leave my chair again bwahaha-- oh yeah... food... never mind :P

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2 hours ago, Djarskublar said:

Not to rain on your parade, but that is something I would put in the 'I need hugs' thread... Frozen is the second most over-hyped thing of all time. Second only to Titanic, of course. The characters felt inconsistent to me, and the plot was frankly boring at best, cringe-worthy at worst. Now, that's my opinion, and it only takes a glance at your name and profile pic to see yours is completely different.

I just don't get it... The soundtrack was decent, but not worthy of the explosion of plays and covers it got. Not by a faint breeze or a stormwind. Tangled was just... better. In every respect. The only thing Frozen did right was having her be un-frozen by her sister, rather than one of the guys.

*sigh* I guess I'm just salty that people hype up mediocre stuff like Frozen and blow off gorgeous masterpieces like Your Name. After the first five minutes, you know Your Name is a cut above the rest, and they haven't even had any dialogue. It's just that good looking.

For actual good news, I found a new job, though I don't know for sure if they'll take me or not (I would say it's practically guaranteed, but real life likes to screw with expectations). Assuming I do well, I'll be making more, and I get to completely set my hours. And I get to work from home. And since I have done similar work before, I could get a promotion relatively quickly. I never have to leave my chair again bwahaha-- oh yeah... food... never mind :P

*Turns the rain into snow* :P

I actually didn't like Tangled, I feel like it wasn't really relatable like Frozen was. When Frozen first came out, I was beginning to develop anxiety disorder and I had just been through a massive wave of bullying. Frozen helped me leave the bullying behind and not have to conceal, don't feel my anxiety, that i was terrified of, like Elsa and her powers. Let it Go has been my favourite song and is always a reminder of how far I've come since those days. Tangled I felt dragged on for too long, leaving me bored at points, because i already knew the story of Rapunzel. Frozen was something i had never even heard of before. On that point, I love the song "I've Got A Dream" XD

 

Thank you for liking my name. It was a random one combined of my two favourites things, but the name just stuck ;) If you wanna see more Frozen Steelheart, head to the Newcago Court rp thread in the bottom forum.

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On 4/25/2017 at 7:29 PM, Djarskublar said:

Not to rain on your parade, but that is something I would put in the 'I need hugs' thread... Frozen is the second most over-hyped thing of all time. Second only to Titanic, of course. The characters felt inconsistent to me, and the plot was frankly boring at best, cringe-worthy at worst. Now, that's my opinion, and it only takes a glance at your name and profile pic to see yours is completely different.

I just don't get it... The soundtrack was decent, but not worthy of the explosion of plays and covers it got. Not by a faint breeze or a stormwind. Tangled was just... better. In every respect. The only thing Frozen did right was having her be un-frozen by her sister, rather than one of the guys.

*sigh* I guess I'm just salty that people hype up mediocre stuff like Frozen and blow off gorgeous masterpieces like Your Name. After the first five minutes, you know Your Name is a cut above the rest, and they haven't even had any dialogue. It's just that good looking.

For actual good news, I found a new job, though I don't know for sure if they'll take me or not (I would say it's practically guaranteed, but real life likes to screw with expectations). Assuming I do well, I'll be making more, and I get to completely set my hours. And I get to work from home. And since I have done similar work before, I could get a promotion relatively quickly. I never have to leave my chair again bwahaha-- oh yeah... food... never mind :P

 

On 4/25/2017 at 9:50 PM, Queen Elsa Steelheart said:

*Turns the rain into snow* :P

I actually didn't like Tangled, I feel like it wasn't really relatable like Frozen was. When Frozen first came out, I was beginning to develop anxiety disorder and I had just been through a massive wave of bullying. Frozen helped me leave the bullying behind and not have to conceal, don't feel my anxiety, that i was terrified of, like Elsa and her powers. Let it Go has been my favourite song and is always a reminder of how far I've come since those days. Tangled I felt dragged on for too long, leaving me bored at points, because i already knew the story of Rapunzel. Frozen was something i had never even heard of before. On that point, I love the song "I've Got A Dream" XD

 

Thank you for liking my name. It was a random one combined of my two favourites things, but the name just stuck ;) If you wanna see more Frozen Steelheart, head to the Newcago Court rp thread in the bottom forum.

I know I'm a bit late to the party here, but my two cents….

On the Tangled vs. Frozen debate, I think which one you prefer depends, to some extent, on your life experiences, which will probably have a hand in determining whether Rapunzel or Elsa speaks to you more. 

Tangled is, at its core, about emotional abuse. Rapunzel is kept locked away from the world by a woman who, despite claims to the contrary, is only interested in what she can gain from her daughter. Gothel keeps her in fear, telling her sordid tales of the horrifying world outside. "Mother Knows Best" is practically a primer on an emotional abuser's methods, all set to a criminally catchy tune: 

Throughout that song, Gothel both plays up the supposed horrors of the outside world and demeans her daughter's ability to cope with it. She interrupts her, pats her on the head, calls her naive and insults her appearance—all while pretending to be the only person concerned about Rapunzel's well-being. "If you think I'm bad," the subtext says, "then you won't last two minutes out there." 

And then Rapunzel leaves her tower. She goes out into the real world. And, despite it initially resembling everything Gothel warned it would be, she learns that the people there are human after all. They have hopes and dreams, just like her. And if they're treated with kindness, they're willing to help. The scary thugs at the Snuggly Duckling both help Rapunzel and Eugene along and show up again when they're needed most. The girls in the city square braid Rapunzel's hair so it won't impede her progress. Eugene nearly sacrifices his life to help Rapunzel escape her abuser. The happy ending comes when Rapunzel is reunited with her real parents, good people who love her unconditionally and stopped at nothing to bring her home. 

Frozen, on the other hand, is about having a condition that separates you from those you love. I read one excellent Cracked article about how the film is actually an extended metaphor for depression: Elsa is born with a condition that is worsened by stress—stress that her parents unintentionally heap on her. Her fear that it will grow out of control causes it to grow out of control. All she can do is contain it—but even that doesn't work for long. "Conceal, don't feel" only works when you're feeling calm; when you're upset, the pressure to hide how upset you are only makes things worse. So, after she tips her hand, she decides to cut ties and live on her own, for everyone's safety. 

But there are still people who love her. Anna will stop at nothing to bring her sister back, despite the fact that Elsa never allowed her to get too close. She wants her sister back. She doesn't understand her condition; not only because she's viewing it from the outside, but because Elsa has intentionally kept that knowledge from her. And that, right there, is the bitter irony of depression: It is poorly understood by those who don't have it, leading those who do have it to hide it from those they love, meaning that when they can no longer hide it, they can wind up hurting those close to them, which causes them to withdraw even more, leading to deeper depression. It's a vicious cycle, and Frozen portrays it brilliantly. 

The happy ending here comes not when Elsa allows herself to be transformed by the love of a handsome prince, but when someone she accidentally hurt breaks the spell with unconditional love. When Anna—heart frozen, shivering from the kind of cold that comes from within, minutes from freezing to death—protects the person who hurt her, Elsa is finally able to accept that she is not only loved, but worthy of that love. And that love, that unconditional support, is what allows her to manage her condition. 

Personally, I liked both films. Maybe that's because I can relate to both Rapunzel and Elsa on a personal level; I'm an emotional abuse survivor with depression. Not only did I recognize Gothel's strategy in "Mother Knows Best," but I, like Rapunzel, found myself falling under her spell despite knowing Gothel was in the wrong. I cried for Elsa as she desperately tried to "conceal, don't feel, don't let it show," and I felt her frustration and helplessness as her parents told her she must not be trying hard enough. They're both good movies, in my opinion, but I think that the one you prefer depends on whether you identify more with Rapunzel or Elsa. 

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10 minutes ago, Quiver said:

@TwiLyghtSansSparkles

The above? Is storming perfect. Even if you further rmy inferiority complex by outshining me at every turn, I still love seeing you dig into stuff and analysing things, and I really wish you'd do it more often.

Thanks. ^_^ I'm….not sure what to say to that. :wub: 

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@TwiLyghtSansSparkles A+ :)

I will add that people who've been bullied and/or struggle with social anxiety and kind of shut down or limited themselves emotionally (or tried to) as a response will also often connect really strongly with Elsa. I suppose anyone who has had reason to suppress their emotions and/or hide their personality/interests/whatever are likely to connect with her.

Personally I enjoyed Tangled but loved Frozen. I'm not saying Frozen is better, just that I liked it more because it resonated with me. I think that Tangled was overall executed better but Frozen was a little more experimental and daring in what it tried to do. Some of which worked great, some of which didn't. I connected more closely with Elsa than with just about any other character in any media I can think of. The opening half an hour of Frozen blasted through every dang layer of emotional shielding I had like it was nothing. It actually had enough of an impact that it has changed the emotional response I have to other films & media 0_o.

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And now, for a Corn Rebuttal: Both Frozen & Tangled are "meh." They are both pretty by the numbers, they both take little to no risk and their biggest strength is that everything beforehand was slightly more "meh" due to various princess tropes. If plot in Disney movies continues to become more varied, I imagine future generations will find Frozen and Tangled to be "just fine."

Of course,  that's the point of Disney movies. They are mostly well-crafted popcorn movies deigned to entertain as many people as possible. 

Will Disney movies ever be more than that? They'll make some experimental stuff, and it won't make money so it will be far and in between (take Fantasia, which Walt hoped would have regular installments.  The financial gains on it made such a project unfeasible).

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@TwiLyghtSansSparkles that's a decent summary of the movies. I'm in the same (well, similar) boat as you, so I can see where you are coming from. I just don't have to agree with your conclusion. My take on it was that Tangled did practically everything right, but Frozen rubbed me the wrong way. As other people stated, they didn't really take risks in either movie, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Frozen just didn't feel consistent to me. The How it Should Have Ended for it is, well, accurate. To paraphrase it, 'love her and help her grow' 'so, you're saying we should lock her up and make her afraid of herself' 'what? No! You are terrible parents.'

Tangled was funnier, had better characters overall, and, while aspects of it were deliberately ridiculous, they worked for the show. It mixed together dark themes with a bright color palate and bright people to make the show warm anyway. The only issue I had with the show was all the criminals showing up to save Flynn. Everything else made sense in universe.

Frozen, on the other hand, had a generally bland coloring, characters that felt like they were trying too hard to not quite fit stereotypes, and a story that was not believable given the characters. The whole time Anna was traveling with what's his face, Karloff I guess (I have a cold, so remembering is hard), I felt like their dialogue and actions were contrived. It didn't click at all for me. Another major issue I have with Frozen is that Anna thawed out. She should have stayed as a block of ice, or if she was reconstituted, she should have been dead. That was kind of the central plot element for a good portion of the movie, and it was supposed to dangerous, yet even after the curse reached its conclusion she was able to be saved anyway. Also, the sword broke on her frozen body without so much as scratching her... I'm not gonna buy that one either. Especially considering that it was her arm he hit, if I remember correctly. Now, you could say it was magic ice, and impervious to the sword, but... other ice Elsa created got chopped up just fine, take the behemoth for an example. Tangled didn't kill Flynn, it just mortally wounded him, and then healed him after he went unconscious. Now, having Elsa be the person who revived Anna was a good choice, but they should have had her start turning to ice and Elsa save her before she was entirely gone.

Objectively, Tangled was better. I try to dissociate my emotions from judgements like this. If anything, my emotions should weigh towards Frozen because the first time I saw it was on a date, but I walked out of the theater just thinking 'well I guess that was decent.' Basically, I'm saying it was over-hyped in the extreme. There are far better movies out there, like Lion King or Your Name.

Edit: Also, what on Earth are they going to do for a sequel? I can't see any plot that would be any good short of some disease caused by Elsa's powers that she can't fix, which would be boring and predictable. Or her getting framed again, which would be plot suicide. This is clearly just money-grabbing, not something the show needs or can even use to further its universe.

Edited by Djarskublar
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@Djarskublar While I don't agree with some of what you said I do agree that a sequel is highly unnecessary. Rationally it would almost certainly take years for Elsa to recover and I highly doubt she'd ever fully recover. You don't have one sudden realisation and all the psychological issues go away, it's not how it works. I'd be up for a movie that actually took that theme and kept it as a major part of the movie but I'm not sure how likely Disney is to do that. The success of Frozen might give the writer a little more leeway to do that but I'm concerned at best. With that said, I'm happy to withhold further speculation on that until it comes out. The last time I felt that an animated movie I cared about was getting a sequel it really didn't need the sequel ended up being really really good and surpassing the original in my opinion. (How to Train Your Dragon 2)

Edited by Claincy
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