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oyceterFirst: I laughed and laughed and even cried while watching this, had a great time, love it to pieces, thought it was extremely well executed, and loved the voice acting.
Second: I am also a giant fan of having an old protagonist, especially in action scenes, as well as having an Asian-American lead (with actual Asian-American voice!) and making no big deal about it at all. Overall, I love the movie
That said...
I know I've seen quite a lot of feminist critique of this movie, along with Pixar's other work (rightly deserved). Has there been similar post-colonialist critique of it? Because while I love 40s exploration and Indiana Jones as much as the next person, can we have critique of it some time, as opposed to people pointing out that yes, it's a throwback, but oh, isn't it fun? We all know it's fun. But at some point, if you want to keep that sense of "Pow! Bang!" and the dashed paths going across a sepia world map and the fedoras and 40s pin-curled hair and the propeller airplanes, you gotta start making something new, not just doing the same old evocation of the atmosphere while doing nothing further.
And about the squee... I totally get needing the squee. But wouldn't the squee be even better and more awesome, if, say, you had reimaginings of the 40s exploration movies with a queer woman of color in propeller airplanes and fedoras and khaki going across the unexplored areas of Europe? Steampunked (I know the era's different, but you know what I mean) wheelchairs? Wouldn't it be so much cooler to keep the fun trappings and to add another level with a social justice twist?
ETA: spoilers in comments
Second: I am also a giant fan of having an old protagonist, especially in action scenes, as well as having an Asian-American lead (with actual Asian-American voice!) and making no big deal about it at all. Overall, I love the movie
That said...
I know I've seen quite a lot of feminist critique of this movie, along with Pixar's other work (rightly deserved). Has there been similar post-colonialist critique of it? Because while I love 40s exploration and Indiana Jones as much as the next person, can we have critique of it some time, as opposed to people pointing out that yes, it's a throwback, but oh, isn't it fun? We all know it's fun. But at some point, if you want to keep that sense of "Pow! Bang!" and the dashed paths going across a sepia world map and the fedoras and 40s pin-curled hair and the propeller airplanes, you gotta start making something new, not just doing the same old evocation of the atmosphere while doing nothing further.
And about the squee... I totally get needing the squee. But wouldn't the squee be even better and more awesome, if, say, you had reimaginings of the 40s exploration movies with a queer woman of color in propeller airplanes and fedoras and khaki going across the unexplored areas of Europe? Steampunked (I know the era's different, but you know what I mean) wheelchairs? Wouldn't it be so much cooler to keep the fun trappings and to add another level with a social justice twist?
ETA: spoilers in comments
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Mon, Jun. 15th, 2009 05:53 pm (UTC)Some day, I am going to write an essay about how the dogs are a problematic stand-in for native porters.
(no subject)
Mon, Jun. 15th, 2009 08:22 pm (UTC)Ooooo, that sounds like a cool essay!