Alexandra Pelaez's Blog

The following is a script from a YouTube video by Poggy. Click here to view the video.

The Dark Knight tells you the Joker lost. Batman says it to his face. Gordon delivers a whole eulogy about it. The music swells and the credits roll. And for nearly two decades, that’s been the accepted reading. But there’s a clue buried in the screenplay that the film doesn’t want you to notice. Something so damning it proves the victory speech was a lie.

In the screenplay, the civilian ferry votes on whether to blow up the prisoners. And the result is 340 votes for death, 196 against. Sixty-three percent of innocent civilians voted for mass murder. But in the final film, Nolan looked at the 340 votes for genocide and said…that’s not damning enough. In the final cut of the film, we see 396 for–140 against. Seventy-four percent, three out of four passengers on the Spirit of Gotham marked a ballot that said, “Kill them all.” And after the ferries didn’t explode, Batman says this to the Joker’s face.

Batman: This city…just showed you…that’s it’s full of people…ready to believe in good.

He’s standing over a defeated clown delivering a victory speech, but…somewhere on that ferry there’s a box with 396 ballots in it. Each one is a vote for murder. Batman isn’t celebrating a moral victory. He’s burying the evidence.

Part 1: The Coward’s Morality

So, the vote happened. 396 for death. The question is…why didn’t the boat blow? The Joker’s thesis is very simple:

Joker: When the chips are down, these civilized people…they’ll eat each other.

And seventy-four percent, an overwhelming majority, proved him right. They voted to eat each other. So…what stopped them? Watch that scene again. The businessman who pushed for the vote takes the detonator. He walks to the middle of the ferry. He argued for this. He represents the will of 396 voters.

Businessman: No one wants to get their hands dirty. Fine. I’ll do it. Those men on that boat…they made their choices. They chose to murder and steal. Doesn’t make any sense for us to have to die, too.

He’s not wrong at all about the logic. This is democracy working exactly as designed. And…he can’t do it. He puts the detonator down, sits back in his seat and waits to die.

The film frames this as redemption, but he already cast the vote. He already argued for execution. The only thing he couldn’t do was be the executioner. Now, some of you might be thinking that this is a moral victory. Choosing not to act on murderous impulse is the definition of restraint. And I think that’s fair. It is the strongest counter-argument to this entire theory. The film explicitly frames his hesitation as moral triumph. But consider this: if 396 people voted to execute you and the only thing stopping them was that nobody wanted blood on their hands, would you feel morally vindicated? The intent was murder. But the only obstacle was nerve, not principle. The Joker didn’t ask if they could kill. He asked if they would. And 396 people answered ‘Yes.’ The only thing missing was someone willing to sign the paperwork. A jury that votes guilty but can’t find an executioner hasn’t acquitted the defendant. They’ve just created a logistical problem.

Meanwhile, on the prison ferry something different happens. The convicts don’t vote. They don’t hold a debate. One of the prisoners walks up to the warden and just says this.

Prisoner: You don’t want to die. But you don’t know how to take a life. Give it me. And I’ll do what you shoulda did ten minutes ago.

The warden hands it over and—the prisoner throws it out the window. The criminals showed more moral agency than the civilians. The prisoners made a decisive ethical choice. The civilians voted for genocide and then got squeamish about the follow through. Now we don’t know how the prisoners might have voted if they had an opportunity to. Maybe they would have been just as bad. And you’re right. We don’t know. The prisoners didn’t hold a vote. But here’s why I don’t think that argument saves Gotham. If your defense of the civilians is that they’re no worse than the convicted murderers–the innocent are just as morally compromised as the guilty isn’t a flex. The suit doesn’t make you better than the jumpsuit. If 396 people voted to execute you, would you feel relieved that they couldn’t find someone to pull the trigger?

The intent was there. The only thing missing was nerve.

The Joker’s thesis wasn’t disproven. It was just confirmed with an asterisk. Civilized people will eat each other. They just need someone else to hold the fork. And this wasn’t even the first time Gotham’s civilians proved Joker right.

Earlier in the film, the Joker makes an announcement.

Joker: If Coleman Reese isn’t dead in sixty minutes, then I blow up a hospital.

Reese isn’t a criminal. He hasn’t hurt anyone. His only crime is threatening to reveal information. And Gotham’s response? Regular citizens start trying to kill him. A mob floods the doors of the TV studio. One of them fires a gun at the building trying to hit Reese through the glass. A guy tries to ram his truck into the police convoy. A cop whose wife is in the hospital pulls his gun on Reese in the back of a squad car. These aren’t mob enforcers or career criminals. These are ordinary people. Office workers, commuters, someone’s neighbor. Forming a lynch mob in broad daylight. The Joker didn’t even have to offer them anything. He just had to give them a little push.

Part 2: The Dog who Plans

Okay, but the Joker still lost, right? The boats didn’t blow. He’s hanging upside down at the end and yes, you’re right, he does seem surprised when midnight strikes and nothing happens. Watch the Joker’s face at midnight. The smile disappears. It’s the only moment in the film where the Joker looks genuinely rattled. He glances at the clock, double-checking the time. His hypothesis failed. The bodies didn’t drop. And look at the civilians when the businessman puts a detonator back in the box. They hang their heads almost like they’re all ashamed. The Joker’s experiment didn’t produce corpses. It produced 396 confessions. For the Joker, the ferries were never the real bet. Remember, Nolan changed the vote count to make the civilians more murderous.

Now, whether intentionally or not, the effect of the higher vote count is that it makes the Joker’s thesis more damning. The text speaks for itself. The 396 votes prove his thesis. He just didn’t need the explosion. And that’s because the Joker has a back-up plan. He always had a back-up plan. The agent of chaos persona is the biggest lie in the movie.

Joker: Do I really look like a guy with a plan? I’m a dog chasing cars. I wouldn’t know what to do with one if I caught it! You know? I just…do things.

Joker: I’m an agent of chaos.

This speech is genius level counterintelligence. The Joker tells this to Harvey Dent, a man who just lost everything, and desperately wants to believe his tragedy was random. Because if Rachel’s death is planned, it’s personal. But if it’s chaos, it’s just bad luck. Maybe the Joker genuinely believes he’s an agent of chaos. Maybe he’s so far gone, he can’t see his own patterns. But his actions contradict his words completely. Judging by what he does—not what he says.

Look what the dog chasing cars actually accomplished. The bank heist alone proves the point. The Joker checks his watch. He circles Grumpy, the last surviving henchmen, into position during a standoff. He scooches right. Grumpy mirrors him. When Grumpy’s standing exactly where he needs to be, the Joker just…waits. The bus crashes into the wall. Grumpy is standing EXACTLY where it needs to hit him.

That’s not chaos. It’s choreography. The school bus arrives at the exact second necessary to kill the last henchmen. Vault drilling time, cash loading time, school district bus routes—all calculated. The school bus routes are public schedules. He did the math. The hospital explosion requires rigging an entire building while it’s being evacuated. The ferry gambit requires hundreds of diesel barrels, coordinated engine failures on both boats, and planted detonators while the city is on high alert. A dog chasing cars doesn’t memorize bus time tables or wire hospitals. The Joker is discipline wearing chaos as camouflage. And his most disciplined move, the one that won the war, happened in the interrogation room.

Part 3: The Ace in the Hole

The interrogation scene is where Batman thinks he’s winning. He’s beating the Joker’s face against glass. He’s getting the information he needs. Harvey is at one address, Rachel is at another.

Joker: He’s at 25050 Second Street and she’s, uh, on Avenue X, at Cicero.

And Batman doesn’t hesitate. He makes his choice immediately.

Gordon: Which one you going after?

Batman: Rachel!

He goes to Avenue X. He finds Harvey.

Harvey: No! No! No! No! Not me! Why are you coming for me!?

Most interpretations say the Joker lied to cause chaos. But I think the Joker lied to cause a specific outcome. But is it possible the Joker just wanted to cause general chaos and got lucky with the swap? Sure. But…if the swap was random, it’s fifty-fifty which location Batman picks. But the Joker didn’t leave it to chance. He profiled Batman. Earlier in the film, the Joker crashes Bruce Wayne’s fundraiser. He threw Rachel out of the penthouse window, and Batman abandoned a room full of hostages to dive after her. Now, maybe Batman would have done that for any civilian, but the Joker isn’t working from Batman’s internal monologue. He’s working from observed behavior. What he sees is Batman abandoning everyone else to save one specific woman. A woman the Joker already identified as Harvey’s squeeze.

Joker: You must be Harvey’s squeeze.

And of course during the interrogation, this is reiterated. He says this:

Joker: You know, for a while there…I thought you really were Dent. The way you threw yourself after her…

So, it’s evident. He swapped the addresses on purpose. By telling Batman that Rachel was at Avenue X, the Joker guaranteed that Batman, the most capable rescuer in the city, would save Dent and Rachel would die. This is surgical precision. The Joker needed Dent alive to complete the corruption. And dead Dent is a martyr. A living Dent burned and grieving becomes Two-Face. But here’s what’s interesting. Two-Face already existed. After the explosion, Dent wakes up in the hospital. Gordon visits him and Dent says something that most audiences might forget.

Two-Face: Remember that name…you all had for me? When I was at internal affairs?

Gordon: Two-Face. H-Harvey Two-Face.

The cops called him Two-Face long before the explosion, the Joker, and Rachel’s death. They saw the duality in him when he was investigating them. Now maybe that nickname was just about aggressive interrogation tactics. Internal affairs officers do get nicknames…but consider what Dent does earlier in the film before Rachel dies.

Thomas Shift, the mentally ill man from Arkham—Dent holds a gun to his head, flips a coin and threatens to execute him in an alley. This isn’t a hero having a bad day. It’s a pattern. The scarring didn’t create Two-Face, it just gave him a costume. Batman’s love was weaponized against him. His choice was stolen. He thought he was saving Rachel. But he was delivering his enemy’s ace in the hole. An ace that was already in the deck.

Joker: You didn’t think I’d…risk losing the battle for Gotham’s soul in a fist fight with you? You need…an ace in the hole.

The smile disappeared at midnight because Plan A didn’t produce bodies. But Plan B was already complete. Dent was already broken. The Joker didn’t need the ferries to explode, he just needed Batman to lie about what happened next.

Part 4: The Noble Lie

This is the true ending of The Dark Knight. Not the ending the film sells you. The ending the screenplay proves. Harvey Dent is dead. He murdered four people. He threatened to execute Gordon’s child. The White Knight of Gotham becomes a monster. And what’s Batman’s solution?

Batman: I can do all those things. Because I’m not a hero. I killed those people. That’s what I can be…because sometimes the truth isn’t good enough. Sometimes people deserve more.

Batman takes the fall. He becomes the villain. And Gordon sells the lie.

Gordon: Because he’s the hero Gotham deserves. But not the one it needs right now. So we’ll hunt him. Because he can take it.

The film sells this as a heroic sacrifice. Batman choosing to be hated so Gotham can believe in something pure. But look at what actually happened. The Joker’s thesis was that civilized society is a facade. Rules hold only when convenient and given enough pressure, the good guys become as corrupt as everyone else. And he was right. Batman built an illegal surveillance state to catch him. Every cell phone in Gotham became a microphone.

Fox: Beautiful. Unethical. Dangerous.

Fox calls it. It’s too much power for one person.

Fox: Too much power for one person.

He threatens to resign over it. And rightfully so.

Fox: But consider this my resignation. As long as this machine’s at Wayne Enterprises, I won’t be.

But…doesn’t Batman destroy the system at the end? He gives Fox the kill code. Problem solved, right?

Well…no.

The precedent is set. He proved he would burn civil liberties to catch one criminal. The system being destroyed doesn’t undo the surveillance that already happened. It just prevents further use. The Joker forced Batman to become a tyrant. Even if only temporarily. And here’s the thing: that’s the same logic as the ferry. 396 people voted for murder. But they didn’t follow through so it doesn’t count. Right?

Well…no.

The intent was there. The action was taken. Batman violated every single Gothamite’s civil liberties that night. The fact that he cleaned up after himself doesn’t change what he did. Evil justified as means to an end is still evil. Batman’s one rule was no killing. But his other principle, the one he never stated, was that he operated outside the law to uphold the law. Not to replace it. The surveillance system doesn’t break his no kill rule. It breaks something deeper. The premise that Batman is better than the system he’s fighting. Alfred burned Rachel’s letter. The one that said she was choosing Harvey. So that Bruce would never know the truth.

Bruce: (noticing the letter) What’s that?

Alfred: It can wait.

It never gets delivered. Gordon covered up the crimes of his own corrupt department, Wurst and Ramirez, the cops who delivered Dent and Rachel to the Joker. Dent warned him earlier in the film.

Harvey: Gordon. I don’t like that you’ve got your own special unit. And I don’t like that it’s full of cops I investigated at internal affairs.

Gordon dismissed the concern. Ramirez delivered Rachel directly to the Joker’s men. And when it all fell apart, the noble lie covered Gordon’s failures, too. Whether Gordon consciously chose to lie to protect himself is debatable. What’s not debatable is that the lie achieves both ends. Protecting Dent’s reputation and Gordon’s competence from scrutiny. The effects serve Gordon regardless of the intent. The lie doesn’t just protect Dent’s legacy. It also protects everyone who failed to stop him from becoming what he became. And there’s also a line earlier in the film that explains everything. Bruce asks Alfred how he finally caught the bandit in Burma. The one who threw away the jewels because he just wanted to watch the world burn.

Bruce: The forest in Burma. Did you catch him?

Alfred: Yes.

Bruce: How?

Alfred: We burned the forest down.

This is exactly what Batman did. He burned down Gotham’s civil liberties to catch the Joker. Gordon burns the truth to preserve Dent’s reputation. The victory at the end of The Dark Knight is the fire.

Part 5: The Joker was Right

The Joker is in a cell in Arkham. His ideology is running Gotham. The Dark Knight doesn’t end with the triumph of good over evil. It ends with the quieted mission that the Joker was right. The truth is too dangerous for civilized people to handle, so…Batman buries it. The Dent Act brought eight years of peace. So did Madoff’s checks. The peace was differed chaos with accruing interest. Eight years later, Bane reads Gordon’s confession letter and the lie collapses. Gotham tears itself apart overnight. The Dent Act was fraud. And the moment that fraud was exposed, so was the foundation. But that’s a conversation for another day.

The Joker proved that the civilized world is a joke. Batman is the one who has to tell it. But is adopting tactics truly losing? Didn’t he just adapt? Surely using surveillance as deception is the pragmatic thing to do, right? But the question isn’t whether the tactics worked. The question is whether they proved the Joker right. His ideology was that civilized people would abandon their rules under pressure. Batman did. Gordon did. And the civilians did. The only characters who didn’t abandon their principles were the convict who threw the detonator away and possibly Alfred who lied not to survive but to protect Bruce from despair. The morality of deception is debatable. The Joker’s prediction is not. He said the rules would break. And they broke. The Joker lost the battle. The ferries didn’t explode. He’s hanging upside down, but…he won the war. Because wars aren’t won with explosions. They’re won when your enemy adopts your tactics. And if this breakdown rewired your understanding of a movie you thought you knew, click like subscribe and drip a comment. Do you think the Joker’s thesis was proven right…or is intent without action still a loss? And if you want to see another movie lie to you about who the real villain is, click this video where I put Nick Van Owen on trial for every death in the Lost World Jurassic Park.

Poggy’s YouTube Channel

The following is a script from YouTuber Miss Christine. Click here to watch the video.

Let’s talk about Beatrice Horseman. The chainsmoking, soul-crushing mother of Bojack. A human migraine in horse form. If Bojack is the embodiment of nihilism in a talking horse body, then Beatrice is what happens when bitterness ferments for too long and turns into vinegar. Now, before we get ahead of ourselves, yes I know she had trauma, and yes I know trauma travels, but doesn’t mean we don’t get to hold her accountable for the car crash she caused in her son’s psyche.

Let’s start with the obvious. Beatrice was a bad mom. Full stop. It’s not complicated, nuanced or morally gray. She sucked. She was cruel, dismissive, emotionally abusive and deeply uninterested in anything resembling affection.

Beatrice: Okay. Enough of me being a great mom. I’m gonna go hide your father’s heart medication. Enjoy your dumb little TV show.

Bojack spent his entire childhood trying to win her approval, and failing. Not because he was a bad kid, but because she wasn’t capable of giving it. You could hand Beatrice a perfect child fresh out of a parenting catalogue and she’d still find a way to break them like a vase she never wanted. But to really understand how Beatrice got here, let’s rewind way back to the woman who broke her.

Beatrice’s childhood was a hellscape in pastels. Her mother Honey was a bright, bubbly socialite who lost her son in the war and just fell apart, like completely. A nervous breakdown that never unhappened. Honey refused to treat her grief. She became erratic, paranoid, and eventually got her lobotomy which pretty much vacuumed out the rest of her personality.

Joseph: (shaking Honey) Say something dammit! What has become of you?!

So Beatrice was left with a father who coped by checking out, and  a mother who became a shell. So, yeah. Beatrice never learned how to love. She was raised in a house where emotions were either buried or punished. Where vulnerability was a weakness–

Joseph: You can’t let your womanly emotions consume you. You don’t want to end up like your mother, now, do you?

–Where nurturing meant not making a scene in front of the help. And that’s tragic, no question. Beatrice was neglected, ignored, and emotionally abandoned. But tragedy isn’t an excuse. It’s context. Understanding where someone comes from doesn’t make them any less toxic. It just explains the ingredients in the poison they serve. Beatrice marries Butterscotch Horseman, a failed novelist with a drinking problem and a permanently bruised ego. She doesn’t love him. He doesn’t love her. They both hated themselves in compatible ways so it works. Then Bojack is born. And what does Beatrice decide? That this child, this poor, unsuspecting foal will justify all her sacrifices. He’ll be famous. He’ll be successful. He’ll make her life feel like it meant something. And that’s the start of an emotional hostage situation.

Beatrice: (groans in exasperation) You’d better be worth all this.

Beatrice: Well, you’re not.

Bojack: I’m…not what?

She doesn’t raise Bojack to be happy. She raises him to perform. Every smile, every laugh, every hug—transactional, conditional, and through achievements. She doesn’t want a son. She wants a trophy. But even when Bojack becomes a sitcom actor it’s not enough. Because nothing ever is. Not when your love comes with a receipt.

One of the most devastating things about Beatrice isn’t what says: it’s what she doesn’t. She never tells Bojack she loves him. She never shows pride. She never even acknowledges his pain. In a flashback episode “Time’s Arrow” we see her memory glitching out, skipping like a scratched DVD. But one thing that remains consistent is her disdain for her son. Even in her dementia, Bojack isn’t a comfort. He’s a regret. A mistake she keeps reliving. It’s not just that she doesn’t love him—it’s that she doesn’t believe in love. She treats it like a weakness, a trick, and when Bojack seeks it, she mocks him for it, like he’s stupid for even trying. It’s this moment that all this hits me like a truck. His mom just looks at him with this hollow expression and says, “You’d better grow up to be something great to make up for all the damage you’ve done.”

Hmm, he’s a kid. A literal child. And she’s already decided he’s a disappointment.

Let’s talk about generational warfare. Beatrice doesn’t just inherit trauma. She weaponizes it. Turns it into a parenting style. It’s this cultural myth that moms are supposed to be warm, nurturing and soft. But Beatrice is a reminder that not all mothers are built from love. Some are built from pain. And they pass down that pain like an heirloom.

What’s interesting about Beatrice is that she knows she’s messed up. There’s a moment in the series where she says to Bojack, “I tried to be a good mother.” And Bojack’s response?

“You didn’t try hard enough.”

That might be the most honest exchange they ever have. Because trying isn’t enough. Not when the damage is this deep. You don’t get points for intention when the result is emotional neglect. One of the show’s most haunting episodes is “The Old Sugarman Place,” where Bojack renovates his grandparents’ old house. In it, he sees the echoes of Beatrice’s past. Sees the broken girl she used to be. It’s the closest we’ll ever get to seeing her as a full person. And in that moment, you feel it. That weird flicker of sympathy that, “damn, maybe she never had a chance,” moment. But then you remember—she still chose to repeat the cycle. She could have broken it. She could have loved her son better. She had all the evidence of what neglect does to a person, and she chose to double down. That’s the saddest joke. Beatrice didn’t fail because she was incapable. She failed because she believed that love wasn’t real.

Honey: Beatrice, promise me you’ll never love anyone as much as I loved Crackerjack.

Beatrice: I promise. I won’t.

That people didn’t change. That all you could do was survive. Bojack inherited that belief..and it ruined him. In Season 4, Bojack takes care of his mother in her old age. And it’s brutal. He doesn’t do it out of love. He does it out of obligation and guilt, and something gross and complicated.

Bojack: And when her eyes spark with recognition, I’m gonna sit down next to her and get real close and say…FUCK—YOU—MOM!

There’s this moment in the series where Beatrice finally dies. And Bojack’s reaction? Nothing. Because what do you do when the person who hurt you the most is gone? What do you do with all that leftover rage? All that unresolved pain?

Bojack: My mother is dead…and everything is worse now.

Beatrice leaves Bojack with one final gift: a lifetime of emotional debris and no real closure. No apology or resolution. Just silence.

So, why are we talking about this cartoon horse and his ice queen mom? Because Bojack Horseman isn’t just a show about depression. It’s about legacy. It’s about how pain is passed down. About how people hurt each other, not out of malice, but out of habit. Beatrice is a warning of what trauma can do and also what happens when we don’t face it. When we let it fester and let it define us. She was broken, but she also broke others. And that matters. You don’t have to hate her, but you don’t have to excuse her. Don’t soften what she did just because she suffered too. The point of her character isn’t to redeem her. It’s to understand her and then choose to be better. Bojack spends the whole series trying to outrun his past. But eventually, he has to face the truth: his mom was a bad parent. And he’s not free from that legacy until he stops making it an excuse.

If you enjoyed this video, please like comment and subscribe. Tell me which part you relate to the most and I will see you next time. Bye.

Miss Christine’s YouTube Channel

Click here to view the video version of this post by YouTube reviewer Confused Matthew.

I have seen a lot of anti-drug movies in my time, but never one quit like this. In fact, this might just be me, but I don’t think this was a drug PSA at all. At least not simply that. In all the anti-drug movies I’ve seen, the order of cause and effect is always the same: drugs cause all the characters’ problems. In Requiem for a Dream, drugs are actually an effect themselves. So, what is their cause? I’ll get back to that in a bit. But for now, let me give a brief outline of the story.

Two very basic things are happening here. Our main character, Harry Goldfarb along with his friends enter into a drug trade. Harry’s prime motivation for this is to help his girlfriend open a fashion store while his friend just hopes to escape the streets and make his mother proud. On the other side of the plot, we have Harry’s mother Sarah, who spends most of her time watching television. She receives a call inviting her to participate in a game show and becomes obsessed with matching her appearance to that of an old photograph of her in a red dress. She’s now too heavy to fit into it, however, and eventually resorts to taking diet pills, unwittingingly screwing herself up in the process.

In the center of all the action are Harry and his girlfriend Marion, one of the most convincing couples I have seen in recent years. We don’t have to spend very much time with these two or hear a lot of dialogue to understand how much they mean to one another. These two are every bit as addicted to each other as the substances they consume.

Then we have the mom who wants nothing more than to be on television. As I said, she receives a call saying she’s been chosen to be on TV at some point, probably, eventually. And this alone makes her feel like she’s someone. This should have been a red flag to everyone around her that she needs a life of her own, but they all accept this and play along for her. Through ninety percent of the film, we don’t see this woman go more than ten feet outside of her apartment. And a visit from her son is treated as if it’s Christmas wrapped in more Christmas. But when no one’s visiting and she isn’t hanging out with her friends, Sarah is plunked in a chair watching the same show over and over again. Later on it is revealed that she doesn’t even want any of the prizes from the show. She just wants to be on TV.

Meanwhile, the kids do well in the drug trade for a little while, but soon realize that their aspirations are loftier than their abilities and soon everything goes to shit.

So, why don’t I think Requiem from a Dream is a drug PSA or at least not just that? Because this film isn’t just saying “don’t do drugs,” it’s actually exploring why people do drugs in the first place. The cause of these people’s drug use is that no one in this movie has anything going on in their lives. All these characters are big dreamers, but none of them have the wherewithal to make those dreams a reality, and that’s why they turn to drugs in the first place. So, the drug use in this film is actually an effect of which not having a life is the cause. I’ve never seen an anti-drug movie done in quite that way. It seems to me that Requiem for a Dream isn’t just saying “don’t do drugs,” but also following that up with—do something. Go to school, develop a skill, learn a new science, make stupid movie reviews on YouTube for god’s sake! Anything. But for the love of God, get your lazy ass off the couch and make something happen in your life so that you don’t have to turn to drugs in order to make yourself feel good.

It’s that lesson that these characters never come close to learning. And each new turn in the film causes them to spiral more and more out of control. To make this worse is the fact that every single character in this film is an enabler, and as much as they all love each other, they’re just not good for one another.

Harry knows how much his mom likes television, so he decides to buy her a bigger TV, not realizing that more TV is probably the last thing on Earth this woman needs. And as much as Harry and Marion love each other, they should not be together. Both of them are too up in the clouds to stabilize one another, and each needs a partner that is going to bring them down to Earth.

This is a film that has just as much to say about the conditions of youth and old age as it does about drugs. Both age groups seem to be the most at risk for lethargy and of having nothing to do in their lives. And as such, both may be most at risk of indulging in narcotic consumption. This is a take on the whole “don’t do drugs” story that I have never seen until now. When Requiem for a Dream was over, I felt horrible. But this is one of those rare times where that’s actually a good thing. If you come away from a film like this feeling anything but awful, the film has done something wrong. This was the first time I had ever seen Requiem for a Dream, but it certainly won’t be the last. If you can deal with the fact that everything in the film is inevitably going to end badly, I highly recommend it. But in either case, don’t do drugs, but most importantly of all…please—just do something.

The end.

Click here to watch the video version of this review by YouTube reviewer Confused Matthew.

Because they’re so story heavy, fairy tales are something that I naturally gravitate towards. And I’m always fascinated to see how different writers will take such different approaches to them. In the case of Moulin Rouge for example, Baz Luhrmann chose the strategy of fusing the real world with the fantasy world. And both of those dimensions interacted with one another harmoniously. In the case of Pan’s Labyrinth, Guillermo Del Toro chose the exact opposite strategy. In this film, the real world and the fantasy world are completely opposed to one another, and with the possible exception of the ending, they never interact whatsoever. In fact, it took me a while upon seeing this for the first time to realize that what Del Toro was doing with Pan’s Labyrinth was essentially showing me two completely different movies in the same breath. One movie deals with the fantasy story with a fantasy world, the other deals with a story that is as real as it gets.

It is a war story.

A story of totalitarianism, oppression, and infiltration. You could actually separate these two aspects of the film, play them independent of one another and have two perfectly functioning films on their own. But putting them together culminates into one of the most unique and most breath-taking films I have ever seen.

Also here again is another good example of a filmmaker taking elements from other works but making them his own rather than simply repeating a formula. Del Toro has acknowledged the similarities between Pan’s Labyrinth and other works such as The Chronicles of Narnia. Both are set around the same time and in the same circumstances of a family forced to relocate due to a war torn time and place. Both have similar themes of disobedience and choice, and both contain similar mythical creatures, the most obvious of which are fauns. Del Toro’s response to this is own words were that this is his version of that universe. Not only the Narnia universe, but the universe of children’s literature in general.

Pan’s Labyrinth’s influences are certainly obvious. But like Moulin Rouge, it does not simply parrot those influences back to you. Del Toro takes very familiar tools and creates something original out of them. This is not The Chronicles of Narnia. In fact, in many ways, for me, it surpasses Narnia in every measurable sense.

Just as with Moulin Rouge, this film begins at the end. With the death of Ophelia, the primary character in the film. After this, we are told the tale of a girl from another world who was fascinated with the human world. One day, she escaped to our realm and forgot who she was. She eventually grew old and died, but her father the king spoke of her return, possibly in another body. And he would wait for her until his dying day. After this we are properly introduced to Ophelia and her mother who are on their way to stay with Captain Vidal, the mother’s new husband. The mother notes that Ophelia has brought a great many books considering they’re headed for the country. And upon noticing that she is reading a fairy tale, she remarks that she’s getting too old for that sort of thing. Suddenly, the mother grows ill and insists that they stop the car. While she deals with her ailment, Ophelia notices a stone eye on the ground. Finding its match, she places the eye into a stone figure when out comes a large insect. When Ophelia returns, she reports her findings to her mother.

Ophelia: (smiling) I saw a fairy.

Carmen: (places a hand on her daughter’s shoulder, not even registering what she just said) Just look at your shoes! Let’s go (leads her to the car). When we get to the mill, come out and greet the captain. I want you to call him father. You have no idea how good he’s been to us. (the “fairy” follows them) It’s just a word, Ophelia…Just a word…

After this, they continue their way until arrive at Captain Vidal, who remarks impatiently that they have arrived fifteen minutes late. He regards Ophelia’s mother with kindness and patience, even insisting that she follow the doctor’s orders and be taken in by a wheelchair as she is with child. But Ophelia, he regards with passive disdain, becoming annoyed when she extends the wrong hand to shake. Ophelia is then left to her own devices and notices the insect she encountered. She chases it all the way to a labyrinth and we are then introduced to Mercedes. One of Captain Vidal’s housekeepers. She explains to Ophelia that the labyrinth has been here longer than even the property that was built on the site. She advises that Ophelia not go playing around in it or she may get lost. The two are then called to Captain Vidal whom Ophelia still refuses to call father.

Meanwhile, the captain sets back to work in his business. At this point there is a group of resistance fighters hiding in the mountains who still refuse to bow to the new regime. Even though for all intents and purposes, the war has already been lost for them. Captain Vidal begins a plan to drive them out of the mountains by hording all the food and medical supplies at his compound, forcing them to come to him. We are then introduced to Dr. Ferreiro who attends to Ophelia’s sick mother. He treats them both with kindness and is called away by Mercedes. Then we are made aware that these two are actually member of the resistance or at the very least aiding them. The principle character traits of Mercedes and Dr. Ferreiro are that of compassion. Making them the antithesis of Captain Vidal. A fact that will be made more and more clear as the film goes on.

As Ophelia and her mother prepare for bed, her mother tries to comfort her in this strange and new place. Ophelia cannot understand why her mother had to get married in the first place. The mother responds that she had simply been alone for too long. Ophelia counters by saying that she had always been with her and that she was never alone. But her mother assures her that she will understand when she’s older. Suddenly, the baby begins having problems once more, and Ophelia’s mother asks her to tell it a bedtime story, as that always seems to calm it down. Ophelia tells the unborn child a tale of a flower at the top of a mountain that gives eternal life, but that no man can reach. And it’s in this moment that we get a look into what kind of a girl Ophelia is. She is a character of few words unless she is telling a story. And upon being asked to tell a story, she can recite one immediately off the top of her head. Even seeing an insect come out of a stone statue is interpreted by her as seeing a fairy. Fantasy is Ophelia’s natural world. The real world is something that she doesn’t seem to have settled into yet.

Meanwhile, Dr. Ferreiro reports to Captain Vidal that Ophelia’s mother is well for the moment. But Vidal seems uninterested in this and instead asks about the health of the unborn child.

Vidal: My son. How is he?

Dr. Ferreiro: For the moment, there’s no reason to be alarmed.

Vidal: (satisfied) Very good.

Dr Ferreiro: Captain, your wife should not have traveled at such a late state in pregnancy.

Vidal: Is that your opinion?

Dr Ferreiro: My professional opinion, yes, sir.

Vidal: (staring down at the doctor) A son should be born wherever his father is. That is all (begins to walk away).

Dr Ferreiro: One more thing, Captain. What makes you so sure the baby is a male?

Vidal: (sneering laugh) Don’t fuck with me.

And now we understand why Ophelia’s mother was the only person that Captain Vidal regarded with kindness and patience. It had nothing to do with her. She is simply the one carrying what he assumes is his unborn son. One wonders what kind of treatment she will receive after it is born.

The captain is then informed of two suspicious individuals who were found in a vicinity where there was heard gunfire. Naturally, the captain is suspicious as they might be resistance fighters, but the two insist that they are simply farmers who were hunting rabbits. Each time they try to plead their case, the captain asserts his authority until things finally come to a head. A word of warning: the following scene is extremely graphic.

Farmer: I went into the woods, Captain. To hunt for rabbits. For my daughters. They’re sick.

Vidal: (opens up a bottle and sniffs the contents) Rabbits, huh?

Farmer’s son: Captain, if my father says so, he was hunting rabbits.

Vidal closes the bottle and approaches the son. Without a change in expression, he punches the son and stabs him repeatedly in the face. Over and over and over again. The father begins to weep, but there’s nothing on Vidal’s face but blank cruelty.

Farmer: You killed him! You killed him! Murderer! Son of a bitch!

Vidal calmly shoots him twice in the throat. He then shoots the dying son twice. He reaches into the sack the father and son were carrying to reveal…dead rabbits.

Vidal: (to one of his soldiers) Maybe next time you’ll learn to search these assholes properly before you come bothering me.

Soldier: Yes, Captain.

I don’t usually offer up warnings before a scene of violence because in this day and age, the use of violence is only for the purposes of entertainment, or at least largely. Almost never am I bothered by violence in movies, even in movies that are ten times as violent as this scene you’ve just witnessed. By the time this scene was over…I was shaking. Because here again is an example of Del Toro viewing elements such as violence as a tool rather than as a frivolity. In this cruel, gruesome act of senseless violence, it is made absolutely clear what kind of man Captain Vidal is. And from this moment on, we will never again question what this man is capable of.

As Ophelia sleeps, she is visited by the insect she encountered earlier. Asking if it’s a fairy, she shows it a picture from her book, and the creature studies it and then morphs into the image that it sees. It then beckons Ophelia to follow it down through the labyrinth. Once there, she meets a creature of many names, but introduces itself as a faun. He explains that she is the lost princess from the story in the opening. That her father opened portals all over the world for her to return, and that this is the last of them. But in order to make sure she has not become fully mortal, she must complete three tasks before the moon is full in order to return to their world.

Faun: (holds out a book to Ophelia) This is the Book of Crossroads. (Ophelia takes it) Open it when you are alone and it will show you your future, show you what must be done.

The Faun vanishes into the shadows. Ophelia opens the book to reveal…blank pages.

Ophelia: But there’s nothing here.

She looks up, but the Faun is gone.

The next morning, Ophelia receives two things; a beautiful new dress made by her mother, and the first of her three tasks. She must travel to an old tree where a toad has lodged and prevented the tree from flourishing. And she must retrieve a key from its belly by putting three magic stones in its mouth. Meanwhile, Captain Vidal spots smoke rising from the woods and takes his men in search of the rebels. They arrive to find them gone, but the captain discovers a vial left behind of antibiotics. And so, once again, the two worlds that this movie inhabits are separated. Del Toro shows us both worlds in contrast to one another. Ophelia thus far is the only character who has not participated in the real world’s story. The war, the resistance, Captain Vidal—it all has nothing to do with her. In fact, she and Captain Vidal interact very little in this movie, and Vidal certainly has no place or purpose in the fantasy realm. At least, not tangibly. Because of this, we are able to inspect both aspects of the film individually. And we come to discover that the only thing that both worlds have in common is that they are both very dangerous and very frightening. Both are uncharted realms for Ophelia, and in both, Ophelia has found a guide. In the fantasy world, that comes in the form of the Faun, and in the real world it has come in the form of Mercedes, who has given her compassion and advice when she arrived. But there is one distinct difference between Ophelia’s experience in the real world and in the fantasy world: in the real world, she is helpless, subject to the whims of circumstance and the wills of others. Her mother gets married to a tyrant, and she is forced to relocate against her will. She has no control and no recourse. And in the grand scheme of the real world’s story, she is not even a very important person. But in the fantasy world, she is prepared. She has challenges to overcome here too, but here she is given many tools to overcome them. Tools to go along with her journey that do give her some measure of control in this world. She is even somewhat important in this world in that she is a princess. These two contrasts give an indispensable insight into the nature of what is really going on here, which will play a significant part, at least for me, in what is revealed at the end of the film.

Ophelia manages to retrieve the key from the toad through a measure of resourcefulness, but upon leaving the tree, she sees that her choice has come at a price: her dress is now ruined. Captain Vidal then has guests come to his compound and orders that only one ration card be given to each family in the vicinity under his control, ensuring that no one is giving food to the rebels. Naturally, those rations are just barely enough to keep those families alive. When someone brings this to his attention, the captain assures him that now more than ever this is an excellent strategy in dealing with the rebels.

Vidal: They’re losing ground and one of them is wounded.

Dr. Ferreiro: Excuse me, Captain. How can you be so sure?

Vidal: We almost got them (hold up the vial of antibiotics). We found this. Antibiotics. (The doctor almost flinches in dread) God has already saved their souls. What happens to their bodies hardly matter to him.

This brings to light the terrible position that Mercedes and the doctor are in. Like Ophelia, the two have very little control in this world. Their friends are starving and injured. The captain is exploiting every weakness they have. And they must sit by and do nothing, or at the very least very, very little. Unlike their brothers in arms, these two live in luxury under the aegis of the captain, given food and warms beds while their comrades are cold and hungry. What they do, they do by choice. And with every character’s choice in this film will come a consequence.

As the dinner goes on, Carmen, Ophelia’s mother, tells the guests the story of how she and the captain came to be together. Her previous husband was a tailor who made the captain’s uniforms. And when he died in the war, she went to work at the shop and the two got to know each other from then on. But here for the first time, the captain openly grows impatient with Carmen’s fondness over the story as she tells it to his guests.

Vidal: Please forgive my wife. She hasn’t been exposed to the world. She thinks these silly stories are interesting to others.

Carmen bows her head in shame.

Female guest: We understand.

So the captain insists that unlike Ophelia, he has no patience or stomach for fairytales and love stories. But after this display of impatience, we are told the story involving the captain himself. Many scenes in the film thus far have seen him checking and repairing an old pocket watch. And now perhaps, we come to discover why. A man at the table had apparently known Vidal’s father, a soldier in another war. And he recounts a story that when his father died, he smashed his watch onto a rock so that his son would know the exact time of his death. And so that his son would know how a brave man dies. Several previous scenes have indicated that the captain already knows this story and lives by it to a certain extent. But when confronted on it in public, all he has to say is this.

Vidal: Nonsense. He didn’t own a watch.

Those who have no fantasies to escape to in this film have no recourse. They must sit by and watch events as they unfold, offering what little they can of the conclusions they desire. But Ophelia, who has her fantasy world, has something stable. Something that is hers. It is a perilous and violent world just like the real world, but it is hers to hold onto in the storm.

We come to find that Vidal has something very similar: a fairytale of his own that guides him on his way. And just like Ophelia—he keeps it hidden. It is the one thread that gives these two characters something in common. It is the one thing that gets them both through their worlds.

When Ophelia returns, she is scolded by her mother and sent to bed without supper. Soon, however, she is visited by the insect and taken back to the labyrinth. She reports to the Faun that her mission was successful and is given new tools for her next task; a piece of magic chalk, an hourglass, and a few fairies. She is told to consult the book on what to do next, but when Ophelia opens the book again, all that is revealed is blood. And soon the reality of the situation plays out just as the book foretold. After her mother’s complications, Mercedes comforts her. Ophelia reveals that she knows she is helping the men in the resistance, but has told no one. She wants nothing bad to happen to Mercedes. And Mercedes says the same of her in return. Finally, the two bond over a lullaby. Mercedes is a character that has gotten away from fairy stories and lullabies as she is grown older, but in Ophelia…she now revisits them. and discovers that rather than something to be cast aside when you grow up, they may actually be more useful for adults than they are for children. Especially when in being confronted by dark times.

Later that night, Mercedes and Dr. Ferreiro decide to venture to the resistance personally, and offer whatever help they can. And when they arrive, we come to find out that Mercedes’ brother is a prominent figure there. Our first look at the resistance tells the whole story. Every one is tired and war torn. And one poor soul ends up losing his leg…with no anesthetic but a small bottle of alcohol.

Meanwhile, Ophelia is visited by the Faun who for the first time comes to her, and scolds her for not carrying out the second task.

Faun: You didn’t carry out the task.

Ophelia: No. My mother is sick.

Faun: Bah! That’s no excuse for negligence! Look (holds up a mandrake root). This is a mandrake root, a plant that dreamt of being human. Put it under your mother’s bed in a bowl of fresh milk. Each morning, give it two drops of blood.

There are two points of interest here. The first is that the root she has been given is actually a lot like Ophelia herself. It is a magical creature who longs to be part of the human world. Whereas Ophelia is a human who longs to be part of the magical world. The second is that up until this point, Ophelia had only been given tools to help her in the other world. This is the first time something has been put in place to change anything in the real world. Being given the root, Ophelia now has some measure of control over what happens in her world as well.

Ophelia then sets out in her task with the items she has been given. The chalk, which can make a door to another realm wherever one is drawn, the hourglass to keep time as she must return before the last grain falls, and the fairies to guide her through. Ophelia was told directly by the Faun and by the book to expect a feast placed in a room with a creature, but not to eat or drink anything while she is there. She is even told that her very life depends on it. Ophelia arrives in the room and uses the key to unlock a particular safe revealing a dagger. But before she leaves, she is tempted by the food on the table. Even despite the fairies attempted intervention she gives into her greed and helps herself. This then awakens the Pale Man.

This is the first time Ophelia has been directly threatened by one of the monsters in the fairytale world, and it gives you pause to think about the contrast between the reality and the fantasy in this film. The Pale Man is one of the most unique-looking monsters I have ever seen, and though it is mute, it’s very form and presence is intimidating. Captain Vidal on the other hand has an almost generic appearance, yet it is Vidal who comes across far more threatening than any of the monsters in the fantasy world. And there’s a reason why: for as scary and intimidating as the monsters in this fantasy are…they don’t exist. And by that I mean that they do not exist in any reality. This is true of all fairytale villains, like the duke in Moulin Rogue. We know he is the villain because he has a snidely, whiplash mustache and a somewhat bourgeoisie attitude. But there is nothing particularly real about him, anymore than the villains in this fairytale. People like the duke exist only in the movies. And the monsters in this film exist only in fairytales.

But Vidal is different. We’ve seen the extent of his cruelness, his chauvinistic attitude toward women, and his inhumane tactics of war. Everything about Captain Vidal embodies the worst traits of humanity, but unlike the fairytale villains, men like Captain Vidal have in fact lived and breathed in our own world.

Captain Vidal is a monster, and these monsters do exist.

As for Ophelia, her actions have cost the lives of one of the fairies, and now threatens her own life as well.

The next day, Ophelia does as she was instructed with the mandrake root. And immediately upon placing it under her mother’s bed, Dr. Ferreiro reports that the mother’s health is improving, though he doesn’t know how or why. The captain informs him that if it comes down to saving one or the other to save the child, so that the male line may live and carry on his family name. When the two leave the room, Ophelia makes one desperate plea to the unborn child.

Ophelia: (laying her head on her mother’s belly) Brother…little brother…if you can hear me, things out here aren’t too good. But soon you’ll have to come out. You’ve made Mama very sick. I want to ask you one favor for when you come out, just one: don’t hurt her. You’ll meet her, she’s very pretty. Even though sometimes she’s sad for days at a time. You’ll see, when she smiles, you’ll love her. Listen, if you do what I say, I’ll make you a promise. I’ll take you to my kingdom and I’ll make you a prince. I promise you, a prince.

This scene shows just how deep Ophelia has gotten into the fantasy world. Her dependence on the fantasies have grown from an occasional diversion to a complete dependence at this point. And it is become the go to solution for every problem for her. The world of the Faun has gone from being an escape from the real world to an escape from a nightmare. And as things get worse and worse in Ophelia’s reality, the fantasy world has been emerging more and more. This again is a very important detail when it comes to the end of the film.

After this, the rebels create a diversion in the mountains to lure the captain and his men away so that they can steal the guarded supplies. This leads to a confrontation where once again the captain’s cruelty is demonstrated, and a rebel is in fact captured. Around this time in the film is where the consequences of everyone’s choices begin to emerge. And now more than ever, very difficult decisions need to be made. The poor soul who was captured is taken to the storeroom to be tortured for information by Captain Vidal. And we’ve seen what he does to farmers who hunt rabbits. Mercedes and Dr. Ferreiro now must decide if they will continue their cover or try to help the poor man. Mercedes has already expressed a regret for not being able to do more for her friends and allies, but interestingly enough, she chooses to remain silent. It is actually the doctor, the most reluctant of the two, who will eventually decide to intervene.

The prisoner is taken through exactly what will happen to him step by step, tool by tool. I honestly didn’t think that the captain could come across any more crueler or threatening after the bottle scene. But Del Toro escalates his viciousness in perfect measure. We’re seeing two different sides of the captain’s cruelty with the tools he uses being almost a physical example of them. In the scene with the farmers, his approach to violence was direct and blunt. And what was used for that violence was a very blunt instrument. When forced to use finesse, however, his approach is far more methodical, with more methodical tools being used.

The difference, however, is that in the case of strictly blunt force, the deed was quick.

This will not be.

A Ophelia sleeps that night, the Faun comes to visit her once again. And while Ophelia reports that the mission was a success, she also confesses that things went somewhat wrong.

Ophelia: (hands the box to the Faun)I had an accident.

Faun: (Takes the box) An accident? Hm. (he opens the box. The fairy flies out and whispers in his ear. He growls in rage and points at Ophelia) You broke the rules!

Ophelia: It was only two grapes! I thought no one would notice.

Faun: Fah! We’ve made a mistake.

Ophelia: A mistake?

Faun: You’ve failed. You can never return.

Ophelia: (almost crying) It was an accident.

Faun: You cannot return! The moon will be full in three days. Your spirit shall forever remain among the humans. You shall age like them. You shall die like them. (Ophelia sobs in horror) And all memory of you shall fade in time. And we’ll vanish along with it. You will never see us again. (He melts into the shadows leaving Ophelia alone)

Ophelia has therefore received the consequences of her own choice. And it is a devastating one. Her one and only refuge from the horrors of her life has now been completely cut off. The fairytale world has forsaken her. And what’s worse is the mandrake root seems to have stopped working as well. And when it’s discovered by Captain Vidal, everything falls apart for poor Ophelia. Her mother tells her that fairytales don’t exist. That the world is a cruel and unfair place, and the sooner she learns that, the better. At this point, Ophelia simply has nowhere to turn. The fairytale world has abandoned her and those in the real world try to take it away from her for good as well. And it’s at this point in the film where you start to see Del Toro’s strategy in telling this story. Although the fairtytale world and the real world are separated in the film, nothing good has happened in either of them. Everything that has taken place has either been an act of cruelty or a tool to try and take these characters away from that cruelty. Some of them choose to hide, some of them choose to accept their own demons, but everyone in this film is under constant duress from the horrors of their own worlds.

Meanwhile, Dr. Ferreiro was called by Captain Vidal to treat the prisoner. The poor man reveals that he did talk, not very much but he did reveal that there was an informant in the compound. The man then begs for the doctor to kill him and knowing what it will cost him, Dr. Ferreiro does so without hesitation. When confronted on this by Captain Vidal, the doctor explains why he did what he did, and his words will tie in heavily with the remaining issues of the film.

Vidal: I don’t understand. Why didn’t you obey me?

Dr. Ferreiro: To obey—just like that—for the sake of obeying, without questioning…that’s something only people like you can do, Captain.

This is perhaps a slightly strange comment, but the doctor’s death scene is one of the best death scenes that I have ever seen. And it shows the consistent technique Del Toro is using in this film. Everything is real. Even the fantasy world echoes the real violence and cruelty of the real world. And here the death of a hero is portrayed in a way that is not the slightest bit dramatic, not celebrated or glorified in any way. Dr. Ferreiro dies a simple death and when having been shot, he simply continues to walk even removing his glasses, as if to try and resort to something normal, something steady to help him get through the horror of what is really happening to him.

Dr. Ferreiro’s sacrifice above all else was the most heroic act of the entire film. But it will not be the last time a sacrifice will be made here.

It seems that Captain Vidal has chosen the wrong time to kill his doctor, however, because Ophelia’s mother then begins to give a very complicated birth. And interestingly enough, her problems start to emerge immediately after the mandrake root was burned. Everyone takes care of her as best they can and they manage to save the boy. Sadly, Carmen did not survive. Ophelia is now left with nothing. She has no mother, no home, and nowhere to turn. All of the events in the film are about to lead up to a final resolution, most particularly for two specific instances. We’ve seen that Captain Vidal has a story in his life that is the center of everything that he does. The story of the watch. A story of bravery and how a man dies. It is a tale and tradition that he wants for his new son, and it seems as if he will be achieving that goal. Ophelia on the other hand has her own fairytale, but has lost it. And it seems that it may be gone forever. Having nowhere else to run, she looks to Mercedes who attempts to flee after it has been discovered that she may be the informant. But the two are discovered and Mercedes is taken captive. She eventually overcomes Vidal and flees later to be rescued by the resistance, who now outnumber Vidal’s forces by about three to one and plan to take over the compound. And just when things look their grimmest, when all hope seems to have been taken away, the Faun returns to Ophelia.

Ophelia sits numbly in her room when suddenly, a fairy appears and lands on her hand. She stares at it in wonder.

Faun: I’ve decided to give you one last chance.

Crying, Ophelia runs into his arms and he holds her.

Faun: Will you do everything I say without question? (Ophelia nods) Will you do everything I say without question? (she nods again) This is your last chance. (she nods) Then listen to me.

This request from the Faun ties in directly with the reality aspect of the film. Obeying without question is the very thing Ferreiro refused to do during his final act of heroism. It therefore seems that what Ophelia is supposed to do may not necessarily be the right thing to do. To reenter the kingdom may mean becoming much more like Captain Vidal…but to stay on the right path could mean doing the right thing—and suffering the consequences for it as Ferreiro did. Ophelia is told to bring the baby to the labyrinth, and she is given the magic chalk so as to create a door to Vidal’s room. As the compound is attacked by the resistance, Ophelia manages to drug the captain and escape with the child. After a brief chase, we are finally led to the labyrinth and to the conclusion for all of these people’s stories. And everything we thought we knew up to this point is suddenly cast into a very different light.

Faun: The portal will only open if we offer the blood of an innocent. Just a drop of blood, a pinprick, that’s all. It’s the final task. Hurry. (Ophelia shakes her head and the Faun growls in rage) You promised to obey me! Give me the boy!

Ophelia: No! My brother stays with me.

Faun: You would give up your sacred rights for this boy you barely know?

Ophelia: Yes. I would.

Faun: You would give up your throne for him? He, who has caused you such misery, such humiliation?

Vidal enters the labyrinth. He sees Ophelia talking to…nothing. Either he can’t see the Faun or…

Ophelia: Yes. I would.

Faun: Hmm. As you wish, your Highness.

The captain takes his son back and delivers a fatal shot to Ophelia. With Ophelia slowly dying, Vidal emerges to find his compound overrun. Knowing what his fate will now be, Vidal asks that the boy be told the minute that he died, so as to preserve the one fairytale that guided him all his life. But Mercedes refuses, saying that the boy will never even know he existed. And with that—Vidal meets his fate. With no watch to guide him this time.

As for Ophelia, as the life slips from her body, she awakens in the other world.

King of the Underworld: Arise my daughter. Come.

Ophelia, dazed and dying, is suddenly bathed in golden light. She gets up, completely uninjured and dressed in royal attire. She is in a golden throne room, and sitting high on two thrones are her mother and father. Ophelia smiles.

Ophelia: Father.

King of the Underworld: You have spilled your own blood rather than that of an innocent. That was the final task, and the most important.

The Faun emerges from behind the king’s throne. Several fairies fly around Ophelia in celebration.

Faun: (smiling) And you chose well, your Highness.

Queen of the Underworld: Come here with me, and sit by your father’s side. He’s been waiting for you so long.

Ophelia smiles as the citizens of the Underworld applaud in joy at the return of their princess.

Captain Vidal did not get to keep his fairytale. But Ophelia earns hers. And so here again we are given a happy ending—and a sad ending at the same time. As she dies, Mercedes hums the lullaby that they had bonded over and though Ophelia leaves our world, she is given at least to some degree eternal happiness and life in the kingdom forever.

Or so it seems.

One of the reasons I started doing Matthew’s Favorite Movies is because while I’ve done a lot of negative reviews about aspects of certain films that I don’t like, I realized that I never really gave you guys anything to compare that to. And since a lot of movies that I love have many things in common with the movies that I don’t—people naturally started getting very confused. Why Moulin Rouge and not Titanic as they’re strikingly similar. Why Pan’s Labyrinth and not 2001: A Space Odyssey since they’re both largely interpretive.

Giving people an idea of my standards only in the negative completes a mere half of the picture. So hopefully this series will fill in the other half, and as far as I’m concerned, there are very few films better than Pan’s Labyrinth for an example of what I look for in a film. Guillermo Del Toro has made good movies as well as some very bad ones, but he has said on several occasions this his favorite one to date. As well he should, and he should be very proud of himself. He has taken the idea of a fairytale contrasted with reality and made it into a film that can hold its own against some of the greatest films ever made.

In this film, Del Toro makes the most of every tool he has, and he uses them all in exactly the right ways. Every element in the film is in place to enhance the story right down to the very look of the film. The architecture and color scheme of the real world used straight and diagonal lines and colors of a cool blue and black, and to contrast, the fantasy world was a world of rounded architecture and colors of red and gold. The architecture of the captain’s dining room mirrors the architecture of the room of the Pale Man. Now, all of these things give visual cues to engage the audience in where they are and what everything is and represents. This is not just to make the movie look pretty, or give it its own sense of style. It is an extra dimension that brings out the substance of the setting and the story.

Guest: We’ll help however we can, Captain. We know you’re not here by choice.

Vidal: (wipes his mouth) You’re wrong about that. I’m here because I want my son to be born in a new, clean Spain. Because these people hold the mistaken belief that we’re all equal. But there’s a big difference: The war is over and we won. And if we need to kill every one of these vermin to settle it, then we’ll kill them all—and that’s that. (raises his glass) We’re all here by choice.

Guests: (all raise their glasses in toast) By choice!

Choice is the central issue in this film. And the choices people make define who they are, and what they achieve in the end. Pan’s Labyrinth is a film that recognizes the reality of the world, its lack of fairness and its acts of cruelty. But it also embraces fantasies and dreams. Yes, there are bad things happening in this film. Most of the events in the film were horrific. But the one thing no character in this film ever resorted to was despair. A glimmer of hope shines very dim throughout all the horrors of the film. But even the dimmest light is leading these people through the dark. What this movie ultimately tells us is that fantasies and fairytales are some of the most important human tools we have. Not only to stimulate the imagination, but to get us through the hard times. And this story comes through on every aesthetic storytelling and artistic level. And even though this is a foreign film, I can say that without fear of misrepresenting the work.

Foreign films are things that I usually try to stay away from and a lot of people seem to think that this is disrespectful to the work. But I actually see it as being kind of the opposite. When you dub a film or subtitle a film, you are in fact changing what the writer wrote in the first place. The gist may be the same, but the flow of meter and sometimes even the context is completely different. For me, this would be like another director re-shooting a film for another audience and showing it as a representation of the original director’s work. And so my apprehension in approaching foreign films is actually more out of respect for the writer if anything else. For me, if I’m going to see a movie in another language, I would honestly like to learn the language before I do, a feat that sadly I have yet to master. Now, I know that may seem a little extreme and maybe it is better to just see the gist of someone’s work than miss it completely, but surprisingly, Del Toro himself seems to have shared my sentiments in one case. When he saw the subtitled version of one of his own films—he was appalled. He actually referred to the translation as being for the thinking impaired. It makes me wonder how other filmmakers feel about the subtitling of their own films or even if they think about it all.

So, what makes Pan’s Labyrinth different? Well, once again this is a case of Del Toro going the extra mile for his art. Del Toro decided not to have another thinking impaired repeat and painstakingly wrote the English subtitles for Pan’s Labyrinth personally. As he speaks both languages, he was able to give the best translation possible for his own work. And in my view, this pays off better than any foreign film I’ve seen. Because the translation was so natural that by the time I had seen this movie the first time—I didn’t even remember it being subtitled. I’m not sure how this film would come across in any other language other than English or Spanish, but I was able to grasp exactly what the writer had in mind this time in his own words.

Now, as many of you are already aware, interpretive films typically do nothing but piss me off. Because it’s all to easy in most cases for the writer to hand the reins of meaning over to the audience without doing any real work themselves. People who typically make these kinds of works actually find value in their being nothing to understand in the first place. As if other people making up meanings means that they, the artist, are somehow talented. TVTropes.org has a section entitled True Art is Incomprehensible, and someone listed it on my TV Tropes page as being my single biggest pet peeve. Very accurately I might add.

The first quote on that page reads as follows from an anonymous artist.

“I shudder to think if the majority of people look at my brushwork and say it is pretty. For then I know it is ordinary and I have failed. If they say that they do not understand it or even that it is ugly, I am happy, for I have succeeded.”

These are the kinds of dimwits that I think need to go sit in a corner with a dunce cap on so they can stop wasting our time and give real artists a chance to express their work. True art matters to the artist. True artists understand their own art. And if you don’t know what your art means, then how the fuck am I supposed to know?!

In the case of 2001, the whatever it was at the end of the film could have been anything. It could have been created for any reason because we are never told what the monoliths are, or what they want, or why they’re doing anything that they’re doing. You can use things in the movie to fashion your own meaning, but each meaning you make up stands in the exact same relation to someone else’s because it’s pure personal speculation. Like looking at a Rorschach test. This is no more or less a bunny than it is a pony because in reality, it’s neither. It’s just a big blob of ink. And actually writing 2001 required no more effort or talent than squirting a blob of ink onto a blank page.

But Pan’s Labyrinth pulls off something of a minor miracle for me. It delivers an ending that is ambiguous—and it does it in a way that actually works! Like 2001, there is no one set right or wrong answer to what the ending means. But that doesn’t mean that it’s all up in the cloud somewhere. While there may not be one definitive meaning to the ending, there are only one of two things that the ending can mean. Either the fairytale world really existed and everything played out exactly as Ophelia believed…or it was all in her mind. That’s it. Neither conclusions are absolute, but it is either one or the other. And there is evidence to support both. It’s difficult to explain how Ophelia would have escaped her room and gotten in the captain’s room if not for the magic chalk being real. Also, everything she was given in that world such as the chalk and mandrake root had to come from somewhere. The book she was given seemed to do a pretty good job of accurately predicting future events, and the mandrake work did seem to work exactly as the Faun said it would. But even with all these supporting arguments, I think a stronger case can be made for the conclusion that it was all in her mind. And since I’m being encouraged to give an interpretation of my own…here’s why.

For one thing, Ophelia was already prone to fairytales in the first place. And it seems a bit convenient that one would just happen to find her. Also, the tales in the magic world of the Faun, the Pale Man and so forth were very similar in theme and in meter to the story she made up about the flower on the hill, which says to me this is more to do with what’s going on in her subconscious than anything that was happening in reality. Also, every time something magical happened—she was alone. Except for when the mandrake root was burned. And when this happened, the mother didn’t even seem to notice it shrieking at all. True, it would have been difficult for Ophelia to get in and out of the rooms without the chalk, but since it all happened off camera, we don’t know. And it certainly wouldn’t have been impossible. After all, we actually saw her go through the magic door every time except that one. And sure, the mandrake root did seem to work immediately after she did what she was told, but then…maybe it was just a coincidence. I mean, bizarre coincidence do happen.

As you can see, there are plenty of pro and con arguments that can be made about all of this and these things can be safely debated in an atmosphere where someone’s interpretation can be interesting without necessarily being right or wrong. But this is ultimately what I take away from the film. I believe the fairytale ending was simply the last thing that passed through Ophelia’s mind before she died. Whether the fairytale world was real or just real for her, it was the thing that ultimately saved her spiritually if not physically. Which still makes for a very beautiful ending. All we as human beings can do is hope that when we go, we are comforted and as at peace as Ophelia was in her time. And granted, that position is interpretive, but this is one of those rare instances where I’m actually okay with that. Because the entire interpretive side of the film—actually works.

Now, often times in interpretation either has nothing to do with the actual film that’s being interpreted, or it simply doesn’t end up amounting to very much in the first place. Look at Donnie Darko. The reason Donnie Darko was good was because of its characters and its exploration of our fears and simplistic ways of looking at the big problems in life. The paradox making sense at then end doesn’t really have anything to do with those aspects of the film, so whether the ending made sense or not doesn’t affect how good the film was at all. What makes Pan’s Labyrinth special is that the film works either way. No matter which interpretation you arrive at, the story works equally well. And it doesn’t change what the core of the film was at all. I’ve never really seen that happen before which is what makes Pan’s Labyrinth such a special film for me. When Pan’s Labyrinth was over…I was crying. I wasn’t just crying because the girl was dead. I was crying because the film was so beautiful. Beautiful in its look, in its approach to the subject matter, and in its remarkable storytelling.

I’ve often given certain rhetorical titles to films. The worst movie I’ve ever seen in my life, the best movie I’ve ever seen in my life, even the stupidest movie I’ve ever seen in my life. But you can quote me on this: Pan’s Labyrinth—is the most beautiful movie that I have ever seen in my life.

***

“Humans need fantasies to be human. To be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape.”

–Death, (Terry Pratchett’s Discworld: Hogfather)

The following is a script from this video by Hill’s Alive with added commentary from me.

Although Katherine Pierce mainly served as a supporting antagonist, constantly lingering in the background of the narrative on the Vampire Diaries, she is undoubtedly one of the most loved characters within the series.

(Huh. I was not aware of that when I watched The Vampire Diaries. But now that I can watch the series with fresh eyes, I can understand why)

Katherine’s popularity seems to be pretty disproportionate to her actual role in the show. And it’s interesting to consider exactly why that may be.

Obviously, well-developed villainous characters always tend to have a significant fan base. And in many cases, it seems like it’s much easier to sell the audience at large on an evil character rather than a good one.

(I believe this is because bad guys tend to lack sanctimonious qualities traditional good guys have. If you hurt a bad guy, they’ll hurt you back and make no apologies. If you hurt a good guy, they’ll ask themselves questions like, “do I have the right to do this? Will this make me no better than them? What will other people think?” Good guys are also often susceptible to victim-blaming. But if you tried to victim-blame a bad guy, they’ll most likely rip your head off and then forget about you. But the most appealing quality bad guys have is always putting themselves first, while good guys put their wants and needs on hold for the sake of others because it’s “right.”)

But what made Katherine so appealing in particular? Undoubtedly, she isn’t a flawless character. And many of her interactions with Stefan, Damon, and many of the other characters that she used or seduced could be considered problematic.

(That’s an understatement, but I’ll expand on that later.)

And making one of the ultimate TVD villains a classic femme fatale wasn’t a wonderful choice either. However, Katherine is undeniably one of the most unique characters in the Vampire Diaries universe. And that might explain why she resonates so well with viewers in general.

The Vampire Diaries is a show that blends horror and romance, and it doesn’t always do so in the most graceful or seamless of ways. And it’s fascinating that Katherine’s black widow type persona was largely created around the conception of Elena’s character. I.e. she was made into a compassionless, overly sexy, and entirely self-serving character simply because they wanted her to completely contrast with their idea of Elena as a compassionate, virginally unattainable and pathologically self-sacrificing character.

(Elena is so virginal that she bounces from brother to brother AND sleeps with Damon immediately after breaking up with Stefan. At least Katherine said, “It’s okay to love them both. I did.” And she was so self-sacrificing that she didn’t give a shit how her death would affect her loved ones. She immediately gave up after hearing Katherine’s story.)

They wanted to make it as clear as possible that Elena is the infallible heroine while Katherine is the perpetually fallible villain. But upon further examination, it’s not at all surprising that Katherine was such a hit with viewers. To the point where she may have outshone her leading lady doppelganger in the eyes of most of the audience. Because Katherine essentially goes against TVD’s ideals of what a woman should be. Which means that there really isn’t another major character like her in the story.

Obviously, this isn’t just a problem with The Vampire Diaries, but TVD has a very strong preference for creating heroic female characters whose heroism seems to revolve around completely putting others before themselves at all times. And it also has a consistent habit of shaming female characters whose romantic interests don’t fall into the acceptable parameters for a guy who they should be willing to die for.

And make no mistake: a huge reason why Katherine is meant to be perceived as villainous is specifically because she directly goes against many of these ideals. However, what’s interesting is that this might be the exact reason why so many viewers enjoy her character so much. The trope of a good woman who proves her virtue by essentially becoming a meat shield for the people around her is an unfortunately common one in mainstream media. As is the idea that for most women, gaining the love of a man is the most important thing that will ever happen to them.

(The love of a man is a bit of a stretch. Women are conditioned to believe that being DESIRED by a man takes priority over being loved and respected. There’s a profound difference between being loved and being desired)

And they should be willing to sacrifice anything in order to keep it. And although the complexity of female characters has increased on the whole for the past decade or so, it was even less common to see fictional TV women who flew in the face of these ideals in the past than it is now. which in many ways makes Katherine Pierce a very unusual character that many girls and women would understandably be drawn towards. Because, despite the fact that Katherine is supposed to be the ultimate evil in the eyes of the narrative, there are characteristics that she embodies that conflict with the main female characters in the best ways. For instance, Elena, Bonnie, and Caroline seem to be more passive participants in the plot rather than active. Yes, they all have their roles to play but despite their own power or intelligence, they are typically just players in the game rather than the masterminds of what’s going on. In contrast, Katherine isn’t just the one controlling the entire chessboard: every piece on that board is under her influence or under her control even if they’re fighting against her. In contrast to her doppelganger Elena, who willingly sacrifices herself to Klaus to keep her friends and family safe, a decision which unfortunately doesn’t even work, Katherine does everything that she can to survive.

(Of course, it didn’t work because the threat of Klaus was what allowed the writers to market Elena as the paragon of female victimhood)

Not only does she fight for her own survival over those around her, but she herself becomes the engineer of her plots against Klaus, and manages to do a pretty bang-up job at eluding him despite the fact that in theory, she should be powerless against him. And in comparison to the main female characters who all seem to be willing to fall on the sword for men that the love, even when those men objectively suck, or don’t love them back, Katherine has many men wrapped around her finger, but wouldn’t sacrifice herself for love. And even more interestingly, it’s not as if she’s portrayed as a character who is incapable of love. What makes her so fantastic is that she simply prioritizes her own well-being over love.

(It is admirable to be willing to sacrifice yourself for love regardless of your gender, but it is very, VERY toxic to expect someone to sacrifice themselves for love. Women are often misogynistically denounced as “too emotional,” but Katherine actually has CONTROL over her emotions, and she’s condemned for it because her control taints the self-sacrificing role women are expected to play)

These characteristics all radically differentiate Katherine from most of the female characters on TVD, and it largely distinguished her from many other female characters in TV and film at the time. But that is very likely one of the major reasons why she was so appealing. Not only was she the polar opposite of what a good woman is supposed to be, but she whole-heartedly embraced it and didn’t apologize for her self-serving choices.

Katherine’s lack of morality is meant to indicate that she’s evil, but it’s actually one of the most interesting aspects of her character. It’s not as if she doesn’t understand the difference between right and wrong, but ethics simply have no influence on Katherine’s decisions when it comes to her goals. She is the consummate, unapologetic survivalist. She will do anything she has to in order to preserve herself even though she doesn’t necessarily think that she deserves it. Surprisingly, she seems to have more insight into the moral spectrum that she’s dealing with in the Vampire Diaries universe. Because while many of the protagonists arbitrarily kill and justify it to themselves, and even differentiate themselves as good people fighting against the bad guys, Katherine makes no claims of moral superiority and simply does what’s in her best interests.

(The so-called heroes CONSTANTLY kill innocents and justify it to themselves. Even Caroline slaughtered two innocent police officers in order to rescue Stefan and Damon, and she didn’t give a shit AT ALL. All she cared about was convincing her mother to keep her identity as a vampire a secret. Elena, unsurprisingly, turns out to be the biggest hypocrite of all when she commits mass genocide against vampires by orchestrating the death of Kol. To be fair though, when it appears that the “heroes” may succeed in killing Klaus, Stefan remarks to Caroline that none of them are any better than he is. But while hypocrisy may not be one of Katherine’s sins, cowardice sometimes is. I find it incredibly pathetic how she often begs for mercy or help while casually and even gleefully writing off others, even innocents)

But it’s not just understandable that so many viewers should be drawn to Katherine because of these traits. In many ways, she’s actually one of the more admirable characters that the audience should be inspired by. Because, her career as a killer non-withstanding, many of the beliefs and ideals that Katherine holds herself to are actually better than those of the supposedly good female characters that are represented in every corner of media.

Katherine’s popularity is likely related to some kind of wish-fulfillment. Because most people would love to be intelligent, in control, looking out for themselves, and completely unashamed of it. But these behaviors, especially when they’re exhibited by women are shamed and considered to be morally reprehensible. So, to see Katherine be so unapologetically herself even if she’s portrayed as the villain because of it is actually bizarrely inspiring.

(Elena’s determination to sacrifice herself to Klaus is a good representation of women being expected to put others over themselves ESPECIALLY when they’re in danger or need something.)

Katherine is criticized for her treatment of men in the narrative. But an obvious question is…why? Many of the men that she seems to become involved with, Damon and Stefan in particular, aren’t very good people.

(Let’s take a look at the other men.

Mason Lockwood pretends he came back to Mystic Falls to take care of his family after his brother died, but he was really there to get the moonstone and please Katherine. And even though Damon tried to kill him, there was something very off-putting about the way he gloated to Caroline that he was more than happy to tell her mother she’s a vampire. And after provoking her, he immediately grabbed Elena and said that necks snap easy. He seemed to want a fight with Caroline and when he provoked one, he didn’t fight Caroline; he grabbed a seventeen-year-old girl and used her as a hostage. That’s cowardice.

Trevor is portrayed as a victim of Katherine, but who brought her to Klaus in the first place? TREVOR. And then he falls in love with her and tries to save her. How does he go about it? By dragging his best friend Rose into mortal danger.

Trevor: I love her, Rose.

Rose: (horrified) He’ll kill you. (Trevor doesn’t react) He will not stop until he has all of our heads.

Trevor: (determined) Then we shall run until we die.

Rose will die too…and he doesn’t care. And Rose spends the next five-hundred years protecting Trevor, living in constant fear with no light at the end of the tunnel—because she dedicated herself to a man who thought getting his dick wet was more important than the well-being of a woman who loved him unconditionally.

Rose: Damn him. Always making promises I don’t want to keep.

Elijah makes huge claims to nobility and virtue…and he sadistically compels a non-violent vampire to kill himself. He even acknowledges his own hypocrisy by saying, “When it suits my needs, I kill, maim and torment.”)

Elena is meant to be applauded because she puts herself in harm’s way in order to keep them on the straight and narrow. But why should she? Clearly, the show is intending to imply that Elena is the better woman because she will burn to keep her boyfriends warm. But that is an objectively terrible message to be sending, and it’s actually a little relieving that Katherine’s popularity over Elena seems to indicate that it was a message that the audience didn’t want to receive.

And like every other character, there were instances where the show did Katherine dirty. Making her into the comic relief character who had a fatal attraction level obsession with Stefan after she became human was an absolutely bizarre misstep that really undermined what made her so fantastic as a villain, and as a complex female character overall. However, within a show that idealizes female sacrifice and treats the suffering of women as somehow heroic, Katherine was one of the very few representations of the exact opposite. And it’s fascinating that despite the point of view of the narrative itself, many of the show’s viewers seem to pick up on that.

But what do you think? Is Katherine a popular character because she’s actually willing to prioritize herself over others? Is it simply because she’s a powerful mastermind? Or is it something else? Leave your thoughts and opinions below and if you’re interested in more content like this, like and subscribe.

(My opinion is that Hill’s Alive is correct in that Katherine IS superior to the other women in The Vampire Diaries, but she’s still evil. In fact, she’s no better than Klaus. She claims to love Stefan…and then informs him that if he doesn’t break up with Elena, she’ll kill Elena’s loved ones in front of her—then kill Elena in front of Stefan. She’ll do to Elena what Klaus did to her.

Katherine: He killed them. My entire family. Just to get back at me for running.

And Katherine will kill Elena’s entire family and worse…because if she can’t have Stefan, no one can.

She doesn’t care how much that will hurt Stefan. So, she DOESN’T love him. She’s just possessive of him. But then again, no one really loves each other in the Vampire Diaries. It’s all about being desired and female self-sacrifice)

The following is a review by YouTuber Confused Matthew. Watch the video HERE.

Beauty and the Beast represents the best. Not just in animation or in Disney features. The film represents the best in film making period. It sets the bar that all others look to strive for. Or at least they should. Where other animated features come close to such a level of greatness that they could contend with any other great film ever made, this movie reaches that apex and even exceeds it. No live action film could have done a better job with its characters or its storytelling technique. This film has earned in every respect the right to be called a masterpiece.

We open with a beautifully drawn still frame storyboard mapping out the origin of the Beast and his servants. Establishing the important story elements the rose, the mirror, etc and they only gloss over these points because I assume that those who are watching are familiar with the story by now. Believe me, if you haven’t seen this film, you shouldn’t bother with this review. There isn’t anything that I can say about the film that would in any way capture the essence of actually watching it.

The interesting thing about opening the film this way is that we actually don’t see or learn very much about the Beast’s character or his servants or what his life was like before this event. All we get are character traits:  a spoiled prince being forced to try to love another. Now, what makes this work–rather what makes this brilliant is that all of these blanks will be filled in later by slowly being introduced to the Beast’s world. Opening the film in this kind of cryptic manner adds a constant air of mystery to these events. Establishing first the base character traits of this man allows him to unfold before our eyes. And as more and more of the picture comes into focus, this still frame opening constantly hovers in the back of our minds, making it come alive.

Eventually we transition into a traditional animation and a big, rousing opening number rivaling any of the best Broadway musicals that have even been. Allen Menken the writer and composer of many of Disney’s finest animated films had wanted to open Mermaid with a big opening number, but studio executive Jeffrey Katzenburg didn’t think the audience would have the patience to sit though it. Thankfully, on account of that film’s smashing success, the filmmakers were given a bit of leeway this time around. And this opening number absolutely proved Katzenburg wrong. Not only is the opening number outstanding, but it establishes every important character and issue in the film perfectly.

The important players in this film and what they want are developed meticulously before we even get to the story. And we learn everything there is to know about them simply by watching a typical day in their lives. Belle, in particular, is developed with so much care and attention that it’s easy to see that the writers love her as much as we do. Disney princesses often have a sort of bubble-headed reputation, and maybe that was true of some of Disney’s earlier films which were really just a product of their time. But it always saddens me when Belle is lumped into that category. Because Belle could not be further from that stereotype. Belle is the strongest, smartest, and most independent female Disney character that I’ve ever seen. All of the women in this town seem to have been indoctrinated into the traditional female role of find a man, have some kids, hit your husband on the head with a rolling pin. But Belle’s dreaming of something more. She doesn’t just want to be someone’s wife. And least of all Gaston’s. Belle doesn’t have any interest in the things that this society is telling her she should want. Dating, marriage, kids, and all the provincial things make up a dull existence. Maybe it’s not that she never wants to have those things, but she wants them when SHE is ready. And she wants them on her terms. Not the terms that this society has mapped out for her.

Now, before I go any further, let me just say that there is nothing wrong with being a housewife if that’s your choice. But the female characters in this film, particularly the three blonde bimbos just have their values all screwed up. Winning the strongest alpha male in the pack seems to be the only thing that they care about. And they can’t understand it, and even shun those who would want something different than that.

Gaston: What do you say you and me take a walk over to the tavern and take a look at my trophies?

Belle: Maybe some other time.

Blonde Bimbo 1: What’s wrong with her?

Blonde Bimbo 2: She’s crazy!

Blonde Bimbo 3: He’s gorgeous!

The masses are telling her that she should want Gaston. She refuses to let that pressure her into being something that she’s not. This kind of goes back to what I’ve always said about strong female characters being written as men rather than strong women. As if that’s the only way the writers seem to know how to do it. Belle completely escapes that tradition and manages to hold onto to her femininity while still being established as a strong, independent female character.

And so this is a day in the life of Belle taking a stroll through the town and witnessing the masses going about their hum drum lives, doing everything they’re supposed to do and doing nothing more. But one of the first things established in the opening is what Belle dreams about.

Belle: Now isn’t this amazing? It’s my favorite part because, you’ll see. Here’s where she meets Prince Charming, but she won’t discover that it’s him till chapter three.

The Prince Charming reference will come up later in the film, revealing an interesting twist on a character in a fairy tale. Also established in the opening is Gaston. Now, Gaston isn’t that hard to figure out. But perhaps what’s most interesting is the psychology of Gaston. Why does someone like Gaston who apparently is an expert hunter, townsperson, and ladies’ man, why does he hang around this little town. This quiet village? The answer to that question reveals Gaston’s true values. That of being the best and having the best. It might be difficult for Gaston to establish himself as the alpha male in a bigger more accomplished locale. But here, making the townsfolk adore him is easy. Gaston is a huge fish in a tiny little pond. And that seems to be just the way he wants it. So Gaston has set his mind for having Belle as his wife, while Belle wants nothing but the exact opposite of what Gaston and this town have to offer. Returning home, Belle finds that her father has finished one of his inventions that will apparently make them enough money to get them out of the town all together. He makes his way to where he thinks is a fair, but ends up getting himself lost. Now, you can tell from his introduction that Maurice isn’t the sharpest tack in the box, seeming to have a knack for precision inventions, but not for the workings of everyday life. He’s a nice guy with a good heart, but it’s kind of sad when your horse has more common sense than you do.

Taking the wrong turn, he eventually ends up in the front gates of the castle and seeks refuge there. Here is where we meet the housekeepers for the first time. And this scene reveals them to be kind and hospitable people who want to help in any way they can. All that is except for Cogsworth. Now Cogsworth is a very interesting character because at first he seems to come across and kind of a jerk. He didn’t even want to let Maurice in, and even when a plan is formulated to make them all human again, he only tentatively goes along with it. And even then, he still tries to suppress the efforts at every turn.

Cogsworth: No! No! No! You know what the Master will do if he finds us here! I demand that you stop—right—there! Oh, no, no! Not the Master’s chair! I’m not seeing this! I’m not seeing this!

At face value, your first instinct is to label Cogsworth as kind of a jerk, but I don’t really think that that’s what’s going on here. The Beast and Cogsworth actually seem to have something in common. The Beast decided to shut out the world and give up once the spell was put on all of them, but unlike his household companions, Cogsworth seems to think that this might not have been such a bad idea. I mean, they already have their lives turned upside down and transformed into something that none of them had expected. However bad and lonely things might be in here, it might just be better than what’s waiting for them out there. I don’t think Cogsworth is a jerk. In fact, I think he has the group’s best interest at heart same as the rest of them. He just has a different idea of what that is. While Lumière, Mrs Potts and the rest of the bunch go about trying to make things better, it seems to me that Cogsworth is really just trying not to make things worse. The housekeepers show Maurice compassion and kindness before being interrupted by the Master of their house. Our first encounter with the Beast shows him to be just that.

The Beast: (bares his teeth at Maurice as he gasps in terror) Who are you!? What are you doing here!?

Maurice: (backing away) I-I was lost in the woods, and, and—

Beast: (roaring) You’re not WELCOME HERE!

Maurice: I-I-I’m sorry—

Beast: What are you staring at!?

Maurice: (with almost horrified fascination) N-n-nothing—

Beast: So. You’re come to stare at the Beast, have you?!

Maurice: Please! I meant no harm! I just needed a place to stay!

Beast: I’ll give you a place to stay! (lifts Maurice and carries him away as the servants shield their eyes in horror)

Maurice: No! No, please! No!

Meanwhile back at the town, Gaston sets out in a very presumptuous proposal.

Gaston: I thank you all for coming to my wedding. But first I better go in there and…propose to the girl! (townspeople laugh and blonde bimbos weep)

Amazingly, not only does Belle not marry Gaston just because it’s Gaston asking, but apparently physically pinning a girl against a door isn’t a great ice-breaker either. And so, in front of the whole town, Gaston is dumped in the mud where he belongs.

Gaston: (grabs LeFou in rage) I’ll have Belle for my wife. Make no mistake about THAT!

This proposal was a very hard thing for Belle. She seems to know that she doesn’t want a marriage at this point in her life, but she never really had to make that decision until now. Gaston’s proposal, however stupid, turned this from a hypothetical into something very real. Now it seems to be all that she can think about. And the more she thinks about it, the less she wants it.

Belle: Is he gone? Can you imagine!? He asked me to marry him. Me! That wife of that boorish, brainless—Madame Gaston, can’t you just see it? Madame Gaston, his little wife! No, sir! Not me! I guarantee it! I want much more than this provincial life! (runs and dances through the field, singing her heart out) I want adventure in the great wild somewhere! I want it more than I can tell! (voice hushes as she laments a sudden feeling of deep loneliness) And for once it might be grand, to have someone understand…I want so much more than they’ve got planned…

The horse Felipe returns after a wolf attack and leads Belle to the castle. Here she finds that her father has been imprisoned by the Beast. And the housekeepers find that they may have a way to break their spell. Belle encounters the Beast for the first time and negotiates for her father’s release.

Belle: Take me instead.

Beast: You…! You would…take his place?

Maurice: Belle, no! You don’t know what you’re doing!

Belle: if I did…would you let him go?

Beast: Yes. But…you must promise to stay here forever.

Belle: You have my word.

Beast: Done!

With that decision made, the Beast casually throws Maurice into a cart and returns him to the village. But Belle isn’t too happy about this since this is the last time she will ever see her father, and she didn’t even get to say goodbye.

This is where we get our first glimpse of the Beast as a character who has a good heart underneath all the anger and foreboding. Being informed that he just basically said “to hell with your feelings, I’m getting this guy out of my life,” he reacts with a sort of, “…yeah, I guess I coulda handled that a little better. I wasn’t really thinking about it, I was just kinda mad…” This seed of a reaction will eventually blossom into a full-blown realization of what I believe is going on with the Beast. But for now, he’s not even close to reforming. A strange girl is in his home, and she may be the only chance for him to regain his humanity, but he’s just not used to being nice to anyone yet or doing anything other than ordering people around.

Beast: The castle is your home now, so you can go anywhere you like. Except the West Wing.

Belle: What’s in the West Wi—

Beast: It’s forbidden!

Beast: You will—join me for dinner! That’s not a request!

Meanwhile, back at the town, Gaston sulks over his humiliation and LeFou tries to cheer him up with…really the only thing that can cheer up a guy like Gaston—talking about how great he is. It may seem like this aside has nothing to do with the plot as it’s really just a time out while Gaston bathes in his ego. But this bit in the film actually has a great deal of meaning…just not with something you might think.

I’ll say this for now: the biggest monster in this film is not the Beast, nor is it Gaston.

For now, however, we have LeFou making the effort to set Gaston right again. Now, here’s another interesting question regarding the psychology of Gaston. We know what LeFou is getting out of this friendship. I mean, he’s the polar opposite of Gaston. Small, sycophantic, not very capable. But by hanging around this supposedly perfect man, he gets the leftovers of all of his praise. But why does Gaston hang around LeFou? What is he getting out of this? I mean, this is the self-proclaimed greatest guy in the universe. Surely, he can do better than LeFou. The answer once again plays right to Gaston’s true values. Remember, this is a guy who has to be the best, both in his own mind, and to anyone that encounters him. He struts around a tiny town where no one could possibly match him. But what if someone for some reason doesn’t think that he’s as great as he does? This is where LeFou comes in. LeFou is insurance. Just in case someone doesn’t think he’s great, just in case someone doesn’t realize how amazing he is, he hangs around LeFou. He will always look better by comparison.

After being reminded by everyone in the room of how great he is, Maurice bursts into the bar and tries to get them to rescue Belle. But they all chalk it up to him being a lunatic and toss him out on his ear. This gives Gaston an idea—a rarity by the way—on how to get Belle to marry him and he and LeFou set out to put that into action.

Back at the castle, the housekeepers show Belle love and kindness. And they also attempt to get the Beast to behave. They give him some very sound advice, but it’s all so much and so complicated that it really just gives him a headache. Another sign of what’s really going on inside his mind. Unfortunately, just as he was about to make an attempt to behave, things go very wrong. Belle is sticking to her guns and not coming down to dinner. And this sends the Beast into a full-on tantrum, as this might actually be the first time someone has said ‘no’ to him in his life. The housemates do everything they can to calm him down and he gives being nice a shot.

Beast: (sulkily) Will you come down to dinner?

Belle: No!

Cogsworth: Ah…suave genteel…

Beast: (through gritted teeth) It would give me great pleasure…if you would join me for dinner.

Cogsworth: Ahhhh…say please.

Beast: (insincerely) Please.

Belle: No, thank you!

Beast: You can’t stay in there forever!

Belle: Yes, I can!

Beast: Fine! Then go ahead and STAAAARRRVVVEE! (to his servants) If she doesn’t eat with me, then she doesn’t eat at all!

Later on, Belle decides to try and explore her new home. Now, even just the setting of this film is done so masterfully that it’s worth mentioning at this point. Disney’s more modern classics beginning with Mermaid are typically set in two arenas if you will. The Little Mermaid was under the sea and above the sea. Aladdin was the streets of Agrabah, and the Palace of Agrabah, Lion King was Pride Rock, and the area where Timon and Pumbaa live. Beauty and the Beast has the arenas of the town and the castle. However, about eighty percent of this movie takes place in the castle. Which means that most of this film is set indoors. This makes Beauty and the Beast possibly the most confined Disney film every made. And that is a testament to how amazing this film is. Because it doesn’t feel like it is. The castle is such a magical world unto itself that you never feel cooped up or confined at all. In fact, the more time we spend in the castle, the more it’s the town and wide open spaces that feel like a cage.

As Belle tries to get used to her new surroundings, the housekeepers do everything they can to make her feel at home. This leads to the iconic number Be our Guest. And I must say that the writers are handling things perfectly at this point. Most especially because they’re actually in a rather precarious story situation. It isn’t as though the housekeepers or the Beast are doing any of this just out of the goodness of their hearts. Make no mistake, they have a personal, vested interest in Belle getting together with the Beast. And when you have this element in your story, you need to handle things very carefully. Otherwise, it just comes off as the characters using the protagonist. One of my biggest issues with The Lion King was that the writers just didn’t do enough to establish that Timon and Pumbaa weren’t just using Simba through and through. I don’t think it was their direct intention to make Timon and Pumbaa usurping characters, it was just a complete lack of care that caused this albeit inadvertent problem in the film. But this potential problem is eliminated in Beauty and the Beast with scenes like this. The housekeepers trying to make Belle feel at home really has nothing to do with any plan to make them human again. In fact, it’s almost a way to say ‘thank you’ for what Belle brought back into their lives, human or not.

Lumière: Ten years we’ve been rusting, needing so much more than dusting! Needing exercise, a chance to use our skills! Most days we just lay around the castle getting fat and lazy! You walked in and upsy-daisy!

A lot of this song is just them telling her what her very presence means to them. and this is establishing a relationship that is all quite independent of their own personal goals. They honestly love Belle. After making her feel at home, Belle begins a tour of the castle guided by Cogsworth when she notices the staircase leading to the west wing. The housekeepers try to lure her away, but her curiosity eventually gets the better of her. Entering this forbidden area, she notices the torn picture with the set of eyes that she almost seems to recognize…when suddenly she notices the rose.

Belle: (smiles in fascination and reaches to touch the exposed rose…when a shadow looms over her. It’s the Beast. He covers the rose and turns to her menacingly)

Beast: Why did you come here?

Belle: (backing away) I…I’m sorry…

Beast: I warned you never to come here!

Belle: I didn’t mean any harm!

Beast: Do you realize what you could have done!? (breaks a piece of furniture in rage)

Belle: Beast! Stop!

Beast: (deranged roar) GET OUT! (breaks more furniture) GEEEETTT OUUUUUUUTTTTT!

Belle runs for her life. The Beast pants harshly…then it dawns on him that he just completely terrorized an innocent girl, his only hope for himself and his servants, and covers his eyes in shame.

Belle grabs her cloak and runs for the door.

Lumiere: W-where are you going?

Belle: Promise or no promise, I can’t stay here another minute! (opens the door and flees into the blizzard)

What just happened here tells us two things: first, Belle is not just some one-track character who will do whatever the story needs her to do just because she says she will. She made a promise, sure, but she is not a stupid woman. If the Beast is having off the cuff tantrums and is so unstable that for all she knows he might rip her apart in her sleep, she’s getting the hell out of there. The second is that for all of his tantrums…the Beast is trying. I’ll go into a lot more about this in part III, but it isn’t as though he’s just a hot-tempered jerk at this point. He is trying. He realized what he had done after the eruption, it was just too late for him to set things right. But now he makes an attempt to make up for it in the form of rescuing Belle.

Taking him back to the castle, Belle attends to the Beast’s wounds. With the housekeepers wary of his reaction, we get the full picture of what has really been going on with the Beast.

Belle: (warily) Just hold still…

Beast: (roars in pain as the warm wet cloth touches his wounds) That hurts!

Belle: If you’d hold still, it wouldn’t hurt as much!

Beast: (smugly) Well, if you hadn’t run away, this wouldn’t have happened!

Belle: if you hadn’t frightened me, I never would have run away!

Beast: (speechless for a moment at the truth of this, but quickly rallies himself back to self-righteousness) Well, you shouldn’t have been in the West Wing!

Belle: Well, you should learn to control your temper!

Every time Belle has interacted with the Beast in his world, she’s taken him by surprise. And as soon as that happens, as soon as the Beast is taken out of his comfort zone of people backing down to his temper, he starts catching himself in behavior that he may not have noticed otherwise. Because no one had ever been around to make him aware of it. The true nature of the Beast that of kindness and gentility, is brought out by the kindness and gentility of Belle. But also by her refusal to let his behavior slide, as his housemates have done all his life. It seems to me that the Beast just never really had the occasion to think about any of this before. For the last ten years, he has been surrounded by yes-men, and he knows exactly how they will react to his tantrums: by capitulation and backing away in fear. And while we don’t know anything about the Beast’s life before these events, or what his parentage was like, it doesn’t seem to me like he ever had anyone around to teach him any better than this. Here maybe for the first time someone is in his life who actually stands up to him, who shows him kindness but also a firmness and refusal to let his temper slide.

Based on the Beast’s reactions to his own behavior, once he has been made aware of it, it’s easy to see that deep down, he knows that it’s wrong. He just never had the opportunity to be made aware of that. Thinking about it this way, the enchantress’ curse may have been the only way that the Beast was ever going to find his true self. Without it, he may well have remained in obstinate jerk his whole life, never letting anyone get close to him. Only by being forced to do so is he now starting to see the error of his ways. As Belle spends more time in the castle, the Beast spends less and less time away from her.

Now, Belle and the Beast have one very solid thing in common; they have both been shutting out the world in their own ways. The Beast by holding up in his castle and Belle by spending more time in books than in the real world. But that is where their similarities stop and the differences begin. Belle had been shutting out the world in waiting for something better. The Beast had shutting out the world under the assumption that things were never going to get better. But as he spends more and more time with Belle, a renewed sense of optimism sparks in him. And like his housemates, he begins to feel that this girl has brought something into his life. But unlike his housemates, Belle brings something into the life of the Beast that he never really had before.

Love.

He is now starting to develop real feelings for her. But this is the wonderful thing; the Beast isn’t thinking about the curse anymore. I’m sure it’s in the back of his mind, but in the forefront, he genuinely cares for Belle, curse or no curse.

Beast: I’ve never felt this way about anyone. I want to do something for her!

No point could have been made any clearer. He wants to something for her.

When this was just an issue of breaking the curse so they could all be human again, the Beast had to resort to the taking of advice on how to synthetically feign niceness and love. And each time it had resulted in disaster. But that is no longer the case. The Beast isn’t trying to love Belle anymore. He’s just doing it. And unlike Gaston’s suggestion that he and Belle go to the tavern and look at his trophies, the Beast gives Belle a present that is tailored to her. Her interests and her desires. And this is just as much a new and wonderful experience for Belle as it is for the Beast. Her life has been spent with the townspeople ignoring her dreams and the things that she loves. The Beast not only pays attention to Belle’s wants and desires, but gives her the one thing in the world that can make them truly flourish; the Beast loves and accepts Belle for who she is, and Belle the same in return. As time passes, we see the Beast genuinely making an effort to reform his behavior. But even when he can’t, Belle responds by accepting him on his terms. This really is accepting the beauty within. And for both characters this may be the first time in their lives that anyone ever truly tried to get to know them or accept them for who they are. And it’s that genuine acceptance that brings the two closer together.

This is clearly what the enchantress had hoped for when placing the curse on the Beast, but an interesting thing is happening on Belle’s side of this story. As the two grow closer together, we get the Prince Charming reference.

Belle: New and a bit alarming. Who’d have ever thought that this could be? True that he’s no Prince Charming. But there’s something in him that I simply didn’t see!

Now, look at what’s happening here. What has Belle been dreaming about this whole time? In her own words it is been a far off places, daring sword fights, magic spells, and a prince in disguise. Well, with the exception of the sword fights, this is all exactly what she got. She’s in an enchanted castle in a far off place. She is living her fairy tale right now. But how has Belle reacted to all this? With fear. Belle has been given everything she always wanted. The only problem is that it wasn’t what she was excepting. It is very different to live a dream than it is to dream a dream. And as she lives out the fairy tale she always wanted, she seems to be leaning toward the opinion that maybe a bit of normality is something worth looking into after all. Maybe these are the terms she was waiting for in order to accept the real world. Maybe now she’s ready.

But just when the two are at their closest, Belle remarks that she wishes to see her father, and allowing her access to the magic mirror, she finds that her father has made the journey back to the castle, but has taken ill. It is here that the Beast has to decide which is more important: his humanity, or Belle’s happiness. Ultimately, he decides to let her go so that she can rescue her father. And he gives her the magic mirror to remind her of her time with him. Wasting no time, Belle rescues her father and takes him home, but discovers a stowaway in her bag.

Chip: Belle! Why’d you go away? Don’t you like us anymore?

Belle: Oh, Chip. Of course I do. It’s just…(opens the door to see the asylum keeper) May I help you?

Asylum Keeper: I’ve come to collect your father.

Belle: My father?

Asylum Keeper: Don’t worry mademoiselle. (gestures to a cramped prison cart) We’ll take good care of him.

Turns out Gaston had concocted a plan when Belle was away. He’ll have her father committed unless Belle agrees to marry him. His justification for calling Maurice a lunatic hinges on his crazy story of the Beast and the magic castle. But unfortunately for Gaston, or maybe not so, not only does Belle refuse his proposal by blackmail, but she bursts his bubble in front of everyone in the town by using the magic mirror to show them Maurice is not crazy. The Beast in fact is real.

Now, I had said earlier that neither the Beast nor Gaston are the biggest monsters in this film. And here is what I’m talking about. Gaston has just been exposed in front of the entire town and under normal circumstances, this would be the end of the town’s loyalty to him. Here the opposite happens.

Gaston: The Beast will make off with your children! (parents and children recoil in horror) He’ll come after them in the night!

Belle: No!

Gaston: We’re not safe until his head is mounted on my wall! I say we kill the Beast! (Townspeople roar in agreement)

The biggest monster in the film… is this whole, freaking TOWN!

Think of the words of the song LeFou used in order to make Gaston feel better about himself. That no one in the town is as admired as he is. He’s everyone favorite guy. Everyone is awed and inspired by him. And that remains true even when his own jig is up. In every other Disney film where no one knows that the villain is the villain yet, they all naturally turn on them when he or she is revealed to be so.

Sultan: (wakes up from Jafar’s spell) Oh..ohhh….what!? Jafar! You traitor!

Jafar: (laughing nervously, backing away) Your Majesty, all this can be explained—

Sultan: Guards! GUARDS! GUARDS!

Scar: I did it.

Simba: So they can hear you.

Scar: I—killed—Mufasa! (the lionesses attack)

That isn’t going to happen here. The townspeople know exactly what kind of man Gaston is—and they all love the hell out of him for it. Gaston had insisted that the Beast is a figment of Maurice’s insane imagination before Belle revealed the Beast in front of everyone. Everyone in this town is well aware that Gaston doesn’t know any more about the Beast than they do. But as soon as it’s Gaston telling them what the Beast is like and what they have to do, they all lap it up like a bunch of rednecks after hearing an anti-Obama smear campaign.

Townsman 1: We’re not safe until he’s dead.

Townsman 2: He’ll come stalking us at night!

Townswoman 1: He’ll sacrifice our children to his monstrous appetite!

The most interesting thing in all this is that up until now, Gaston wasn’t really that much of a threat to anyone. His only real crimes were in being a jerk and trying to strong arm a marriage. It’s only in the last few minutes of the film that he does anything truly contemptible. But there is a message seeded in Gaston that gives him an extra dimension that few Disney villains possess:

Far worse than the Gastons of this world are the dumb, ignorant masses who allow the Gastons of this world to flourish.

Taking his angry mob with him, the townspeople attack the castle. But the housekeepers respond by defending their home in their own unique ways. Belle and her father are locked in the basement, but Chip comes to the rescue with the help of Maurice’s invention. Finally, Gaston confronts the Beast, but at this point, having lost the only hope he ever had and the only woman he ever loved, he has truly given up. Not just on being human, but on life itself.

Gaston: What’s the matter, Beast? (laughs maniacally) Too kind and gentle to fight back?

The Beast just stares at him miserably, then looks away. Maybe this is for the best. Better a quick death now at this man’s hands then wasting away when the curse becomes permanent…

Gaston grabs a spike from the castle and lifts it over the Beast’s head. But then…

Belle: No! Gaston, no!

It’s Belle riding Phillipe with her father by her side. The Beast immediately grabs the spike and holds it back with no effort. Gaston’s eyes widen in terror.

Seeing that Belle has come back for him, the hope brings him back to his sense. And he eventually thwarts Gaston and moves to embrace Belle.

Beast: (takes her hand and stares at her in wonder) You came back…

Gaston stabs the Beast from behind and he roars in pain. Just as Gaston is about to stab him again, he falls back and can only scream in horror as he plummets to his death, while Belle pulls the Beast to safety.

Just as he lies dying on the ground, he insists that maybe this is all for the best, remarking that at least he got to see her one last time. He takes his final breath and collapses on the floor. In this moment, where the only man who ever loved her enough to truly try to know her dies, Belle finally realizes her true feelings for him. Beast or no Beast, she loves him. And as the last petal falls, the curse is removed. Naturally, she doesn’t recognize him at first but looking into the eyes she knows so well, she knows it’s him.

Belle and the Beast kiss and by the power of true love, darkness lifts from the castle and the curse is broken. The Beast, now the Prince, stares in wonder as his servants return to their human form.

The Prince: Lumiere! Cogsworth! Oh, Mrs. Potts! (hugs them all in joy) Look at us!

Chip: Mama! Mama! (he turns into an adorable little boy and his mother embraces him)

Mrs. Potts: Goodness!

Lumiere: It is a miracle!

And so the two are finally together. Both with an honest love for one another and both on their own terms. But it wasn’t just to break of spell that caused this. The spell was simply the condition that allowed their natural love to flourish. What ultimately brought them to their happily ever after was simply true love.

Epilogue

Oscar Host: For this first time in the history of these rights, a feature length film has been nominated as Best Picture even though no actor appears on the screen. We members of the Screen Actors Guild hope this doesn’t become a trend. Though it is a splendid example of state of the art animation, the film also contains the thematic structure, charm, and even subtext that are essential to great storytelling in any form. All that plus a wonderful musical score, combined to earn Oscar recognition for the eternal tale of Beauty and the Beast.

Beauty and the Beast would not go on to win the Oscar for Best Picture. In fact, to this day, it is the only traditionally animated film that has ever been nominated for it. Two other computer animated films Up and Toy Story 3 were the only two other animated films to be nominated for Best Picture thus far and as of today, no animated film has ever won. While I think that’s a shame for all three films, the thing that struck me about Beauty and the Beast’s nomination is why it was being nominated. It wasn’t just that the film looked amazing or sounded great. As summed up by the host, the film was being nominated for its dramatic structure, charm, and subtext. All three of these elements were seen to be so outstanding that they could contend with any other film of the time, animated or not. To quote Roger Ebert “Beauty and the Beast reaches back to an older and healthier Hollywood tradition. In which the best writers, musicians, and filmmakers are gathered for a  project on the assumption that a family audience deserves great entertainment, too.”

There are plenty of Disney films that I love. The Little Mermaid and Aladdin especially are top quality films. But what puts Beauty and the Beast one level higher for me is that it tells a different kind of story than Disney usually aims for. Most of the classic Disney films are about overcoming adversity, finding that one true love, and thwarting evil.

All of these things are definitely present in Beauty and the Beast, but it does it in a more introspective way. The film is about finding the beauty within, about recognizing the ugliness within and about being able to tell the difference between the two. Gaston for example as originally conceived, was going to look like your more typical Disney villain, but he was eventually changed to being of all things handsome. His exterior was that of someone desirable, but his personality was riddled with egotism and sexual prejudices, making him the physical and psychological opposite of the Beast. It is that kind of contrast that runs through the film, that of appearances not being what they seem. I had said in one part that Belle is usually lumped in with the more bubble-headed Disney princesses, and that has a lot to do with the way she looks and sounds. Every physical trait Belle possesses would make you think that there wasn’t really much going on underneath, but nothing could be further from the truth. Once again, it’s all about deceiving appearances. Beauty and the Beast is about finding the beauty within, and identifying the beast within. Had it not been for the very ending, it would almost qualify as a fable with no villain except the ones that we create for ourselves. The film follows a formula to be sure, but it’s not a typical heroes and villains story. That has its place, but with this film, everything is internalized and deeper conditions are explored, and that is what makes Beauty and the Beast my favorite Disney film of all time.

In the Disney animated films to come, we would always have that one over the top character that traded subtlety with in-your-face comedy. Eventually this led to two such characters and on and on and on until the film was eventually populated with them.

Beauty and the Beast was the last Disney film that used subtlety and charm to endear us to these characters. Charm is one of those subjective qualities that can’t really be quantified, but Lumiere, Cogsworth and Mrs. Potts are three of the most charming characters I’ve seen. In fact, the entire castle is populated with endearing persons who want nothing more than to put Belle at ease. It was Howard Ashman’s brilliant idea to make the objects in the castle into characters. And they’re some of the most charming characters I’ve ever seen in an animated film. They also have just as much to gain or lose as the Beast does. They had originally done a song called human again that dealt with that very issue. The song was eventually cut, but the filmmakers decided to bring it back for a special edition.

Lumiere: I’ll be cooking again, be good-looking again with a mademoiselle on each arm! When I’m human again, only human again, poised and polished and gleaming with charm, I’ll be courting again, chic and sporting again—

Mrs. Potts: –Which should cause several husbands alarm! (Lumiere laughs)

Chip: I’ll hop down off this shelf!

Lumiere and Mrs. Potts: and toute sweet by myself, I can’t wait to be human again!

Jeffrey Katzenburg was the one who made the decision to cut the song, as he felt that it was too redundant. Well, I didn’t find it that way at all. In fact, had the song made it into the final version, it would have been the only time the housekeepers would have been able to express their desires singularly rather than in relation to Belle and the Beast. I actually liked the song a lot and I think that it would have certainly added something to the film. My only real problem with the song itself is that it’s just Le Poissons from The Little Mermaid again.

But the housekeepers desire to become human again raises the question of why they were included in the curse at all. They seem to be innocent parties who were punished for something that they weren’t responsible for. But then…maybe they kinda were. I didn’t put this in the official review because it is entirely speculative, but think about this; the housekeepers while doing nothing directly wrong were indirectly responsible for fostering the Beast’s behavior in the first place. The Beast was the one who demonstrated the behavior, but through inaction and a failure to correct that behavior, the housekeepers were the ones who facilitated and allowed it. Maybe that’s why they were all included in the curse, but again, this is all completely speculative so…judge as you will.

Now, I would be ducking an issue if I didn’t bring up the problems many had with the reveal of the Beast in human form. Many were disappointed by the way he looked, and I even remember by middle school  English teacher putting it like this, “You got us to like this character A LOT…and then you give us THIS!?”

I was disappointed by the way he looked too, but I think there is a bigger issue here that most people seem to miss. They certainly could have done a better job with the character model and that is entirely on them. But the biggest problem the writers are presented with is in showing or not showing the Beast at all. Showing the Beast in human form almost betrays the opening still painting completely because there is a reason we don’t see the Beast in human form. It would take away from the mystique that that opening established. I certainly would have liked the character to look a bit than he did, but no matter how he looked when being shown, the mystery would have been shattered regardless. The problem is that there simply wasn’t any other way to do this. We were promised a curse being broken, which means that human transformations are going to occur for all. I mean, what are they going to do? Keep the Beast off camera somehow in the finale? Are we gonna see all the other characters in human form, but have the Beast’s face somehow obscured by various objects? The reason I don’t blame them for this is that I myself can’t think of any other way they could have done it. It was hard enough for them to get through the entire film without Belle having ever to say this guy’s name. Having him go unseen at the end would simply have been unfeasible. So while the character model could certainly have been better, what they did in the end was simply unavoidable.

Minor problems aside, this film brings out the best of all the story elements it presents. The characters, the dialogue, and especially the writing are all on point, and helped to elevate this film from simple fairy tale to a deeper, more meaningful parable. It is for all of these reasons that Beauty and Beast is one of my favorite movies. And why I believe it is the greatest Disney animated feature film ever made.

The following post is an updated script of a YouTube video I made.

***

After cheating on Atom Eve, it would have been highly satisfying for Rex Splode to get a taste of his own medicine.

But NOT in this way. I draw the line at grooming and pedophilia.

But it’s not pedophilia Kate insists. If you tally up the time she and her copies have lived, she and Immortal are roughly the same age.

Bullshit. You can tell that by her tone, but also by simple logic. For one thing, Dupli-Kate is not Multi-Paul. She barely makes any clones when she fights. If she was telling the truth, she would have been more mathematically accurate. She would have said she was anywhere between twenty to eighty years older than her physical age. Instead, she desperately tries to justify her attraction to an obscenely older man by saying she’s almost three thousand years old, which by the way, does not make her sound three thousand years old. It makes her sound like a fifteen-year-old who thinks she should be dating a thirty year old because she’s mature for her age.

But as Sloan Stowe would say, being mature for your age doesn’t change your age.

If you haven’t seen Sloan’s video on Pretty Little Liars, please do so immediately because this video was heavily inspired by it.

For those of you who don’t know, Pretty Little Liars is a teen drama that glorifies grooming, underage relationships, and severe power imbalances.

Horrifyingly, Amazon’s Invincible is now following in Pretty Little Liar’s footsteps so well, it may as well be directly inspired by it. The three relationships I will discuss will be Dupli-Kate and Immortal, Nolan and Debbie, and Nolan and Andressa.

First Dupli-Kate and Immortal.

Dupli-Kate’s age is never really specified, probably because the writers are reluctant to admit that she was probably no older than nineteen when she first had sex with Immortal. She’s fresh from the Teen Team, for God’s sake. I highly doubt she was older than twenty. We first hear about their so-called relationship when Rex goes into the shower and asks her to kiss his boo boos. Kate emerges and calls him out for being inappropriate…and then it’s revealed she’s fucking their leader. If only that hypocrisy was the worst thing about this situation. The Immortal emerges, and an appalled Rex calls him a geriatric hypocrite. Immortal coldly informs him that this is none of his business.

Yeah. The newly reinstated leader of the Guardians of the Globe is grooming his teenage subordinate, but that’s not anyone’s business.

Later in the episode, after Kate bullshits her age to Rex, she says that the real reason she quote unquote connected to Immortal is because he’s the only one who knows what it’s like to die as many times as Kate. He understands.

Again bullshit. Remember, Immortal was newly reinstated as the Guardian’s leader. He was probably their leader for no more than a month before he fucked Dupli-Kate in the shower. If this so-called relationship was about Immortal and Kate being kindred spirits, why wasn’t Immortal mindful of Kate’s age and his position of power over her? Why not take time to build up this healthy emotional connection Kate is so determined exists between them? Why jump to shower sex so soon?

Because this is not about healthy emotional connection. It’s about toxic validation. Listen to how self-righteous Immortal sounds when he tells Rex this is none of his business. He knows it’s creepy and obscene, and he knows Kate is lying about her age. He just doesn’t care. It’s like the justifications that pedophiles use for their depravity: the child was mature, or they’re an old soul.

But to quote Sloan Stowe again, being mature for your age doesn’t change your age.

The Immortal doesn’t care that Kate is too young. He only cares that she’s legal. She’s a vessel that he can dump his trauma and wet his dick in. He’s sleeping with her for the same reason Bojack Horseman tried to sleep with Penny in the episode Escape from LA. Bojack’s ego was bruised from her mother Charlotte rejecting his advances, and when her seventeen-year-old daughter offered herself to him, Bojack told her to go to bed…and then left his door open. He, a fifty plus year old man would have slept with a seventeen-year-old girl just to make himself feel good. Never mind Penny would have regretted the incident years later and been severely traumatized by it. Bojack is so selfish and broken, he only cares about what makes him feel good regardless of who it hurts.

And Immortal is exactly the same way. At Kate’s funeral, he tells Black Samson that he’s loved others who died, but Kate is different. And I don’t think the writers understand exactly what that means. In a flashback, it’s revealed that Immortal was Abraham Lincoln—which means he could have returned after his assassination. It was 1865 for God’s sake, he could have said he suspected someone was going to kill him and had a decoy just in case. One Youtuber pointed out that Immortal jumping ship as Abraham Lincoln means he’s partially responsible for Jim Crow laws. But he was also married and a father. His wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, had bad mental health issues. She was even institutionalized after the deaths of her husband and three of their sons. So, Immortal abandoned his country and his mentally ill wife because…well, she couldn’t give him the cheap, toxic validation that a firm, nineteen-year-old ass could. Sucks to be her. This reminds me of Watchman when the thirty-seven-year-old Dr. Manhattan dumped Janey Slater for sixteen-year-old Laurie because…Janey had the audacity to be thirty-three instead of twenty-six when they met.

Janey: You pig! I knew you were seeing her! I KNEW it! You’re sick! How old is she!? Fourteen? Fifteen!? PIG! You tell her! You tell her what it’s gonna be like when her face wrinkles up and her boobs start sagging while you’re still goddamn thirty! You tell her and see what she says to that!!!

Someone needs to say something along the lines of that to Dupli-Kate.

Notice that Immortal talks big about it being an honor to be a Guardian regardless of the sacrifice, but after he’s killed by a Mark variant during the Invincible War, he decides he wants to retire with his Lolita fantasy. Fucking fraud.

But Kate is no angel. She’s a victim of grooming, but I need to emphasize that she’s what TV Tropes would call an asshole victim. During the Mark Cecil debate, Kate claims that Mark should have just followed orders. Meanwhile she faked her death when she could have just quit. And she only came back for Immortal who she’s been fucking for only a few months at best. Rex, Eve, and Rudy are teammates she’s known for years, and she had no problem leaving them behind. I’m not saying what she had with Rex was healthy because it wasn’t, but I think she only came back because she missed the toxic validation she got from Immortal, not for Immortal himself.

Toxic validation that isn’t even based in truth. Kate claims she knows what’s it’s like to die over and over because her clones are all the real her. But that’s outright confirmed to be a lie during two exchanges she has with Multi-Paul.

Paul: Kate? They said you were dead.

Kate: You of all people should know how difficult we are to kill.

Paul: They sent you to your death.

Kate: Except I wasn’t dead, you idiot.

Being that Kate loves to exaggerate and weaponize her trauma, I think her clones are the real her in the way a person’s arms and legs are the real them. If you cut off a limb, you experience loss, but loss is not the same as death. Saying that Kate has died multiple times is like saying Rex has died once because he lost his hand. I repeat, loss is not the same as death.

Kate’s trauma has obviously given her a narcissistic superiority complex because she completely shuts down Shrinking Ray when Ray tells her that she’ll continue to die and Cecil will never care.

Kate: Don’t—lecture me, Ray.

She’s not lecturing you, you stupid asshole, she’s expressing concern over you.

Kate claims she went through just as much, no, MORE than Rex and Ray.

Ray calls BS being that there’s only one of her and Rex. They can’t hide back up copies. Which is 100 percent true, but it goes deeper. Dupli-Kate knows what it’s like to be destroyed—not die because, again, loss is not the same as death—in horrendous ways, but she’ll never know what it’s like to lose a body part permanently like Rex, and she’ll never know the horror of having her only body fight to rebuild itself after crippling injuries. But she’s so full of herself that she mocks Ray for quote unquote falling apart after she’s called on her BS.

Kate: I went through just as much as you and Rex did. More even!

Ray: No, you didn’t. Not even anywhere close! There’s only one of me. I can’t hide a back up copy of myself somewhere.

Kate: Yeah, so what? My powers work differently. At least I didn’t fall apart the minute I got hurt!

So, expressing concern for Dupli-Kate is lecturing her, and calling her on her bullshit results in mockery for almost dying for real. Note that Kate didn’t even refute anything Ray said. She just said her powers work differently, mocked her and lies further.

Kate: I had just as close a call as you and Rex!

Kate saying that she went through more than Rex and Rae would be like Debbie Grayson telling this little girl (image of little girl staring numbly at her father’s corpse under a car) that she went through more when Nolan betrayed them all.

Even her own brother isn’t immune to her lies. When she visits Multi-Paul in prison, she says she helped save the country from a nuclear strike. No. she got taken out of the fight soon after it started. But it should be noted that before she supposedly died, she begged Rex and Rae to help her.

Yeah. She begged Rex and Rae to risk the only lives they have when she KNOWS she has a back up life stored in a safe house. She then lets them both believe she’s dead, that they FAILED to save her, inflicting them both with survivor’s guilt, and when she comes back, it’s for her rapist. Not to check on the two people who almost died trying to save just one of her clones. They don’t get thanked. They get mocked, ridiculed and dismissed.

To complete how terrible Kate it, she’s a total enabler of her brother. Which makes perfect sense because she only relates to people who she feels can validate her narcissistic trauma complex.

In Season 3 episode one, everyone save for Immortal truly believes Kate is dead—including her psychotic brother Multi-Paul. Paul, who doesn’t give a shit who’s responsible for his sister’s death and just wants to kill someone to make himself feel better, goes after Rex and would have killed him if not for Invincible. When Kate and Immortal arrive at the scene, Kate tells her brother to go. Her brother who not only nearly murdered a teammate of hers for absolutely no reason, but who openly gloats over the fact. She wanted her brother to get away scot free.

Now this sounds rather familiar, where have I heard this before? Oh, yeah, THRAXA, when Mark just hugs his dad and cusses him out before flying away. Mark You’re Going to Prison Grayson just flew away without even trying to make his father answer for what he did.

Now, I doubt Multi Paul has a body count the size of Omni-Man’s, but he’s an assassin for the Order. Do not tell me he doesn’t have innocent blood on his hands. He takes pleasure in the fact that he’s killed for less than nothing.

Can you imagine what Immortal would say if he knew Mark just flew away, abandoning an entire planet to a potential Viltrumite invasion? He’d want Mark’s head. But when Kate wants her brother to get away scot free, nothing changes between them. I guess innocent life becomes a cold-blooded math equation to Immortal when it doesn’t validate his hatred of Omni-Man. Oh, and he can stick his dick in Paul’s sister.

Huh. You know, if Immortal was gay, I think he would have forgiven Nolan easily enough. Mark’s still nineteen after all.

When Kate visits her brother in prison, we learn that Kate is basically Paul without the sadism. They’re both selfish liars, and they both love to weaponize their trauma. Paul blames their father for giving them to the GDA…when their father went catatonic from being a single parent to self-replicating children. Paul knows this, but he lies because then he’d have to “gasp” take responsibility for himself! He also claims the Order is superior to the GDA because they pay better—and they’re honest about what they are.

Well, Paul’s half right. The Order is only after money and power and doesn’t hide this. But they’ll also never admit that they’re addicted to money and power because they’re sad, lonely, empty and angry inside. So, in that way, Paul fits right in. Because his true self is a sad, lonely, angry little boy.

But Paul was not honest about why he wanted to kill Rex. He went from raving about how Rex killed Kate, to how he let her die, and when it’s revealed Kate’s still alive, he simply gloats to Rex that he’s killed for less than nothing. As I said before, the real reason he tried to murder Rex was just to make himself feel better, and probably to avoid the fact that he knows he himself was partially responsible for Kate’s “death” for abandoning her at the GDA. There is no sweeter joy in someone like Multi Paul’s life than taking his suffering out on others, no matter who it is. That’s what the Order really gives him. He gets paid for what he really loves to do.

Seriously, if the Order offered to double Paul’s salary for other work, but was explicitly ordered not to kill anyone—do you think he’d take that deal?

I’ll admit there was and probably still is unforgivable corruption in the GDA. But it is bettering itself overtime with people like Cecil and Donald. Betterment, however, is a foreign concept to Multi Paul. He is completely satisfied with being a psychotic asshole, so long as he’s not a hypocrite. But he is a hypocrite. And let’s face it: if the best you can achieve for yourself is not being a hypocrite while delighting in what an asshole you are—yeah, I’ll take some hypocrisy every now and then.

But not too much hypocrisy. Everyone in the Guardians naively buys Kate’s bullshit about being older, or they just don’t care. But there are some people who should seriously know better. People like…my favorite character, Cecil Stedman.

Yes. That awkward moment when you realize that your favorite character has a lot more in common with one of your least favorite characters than you’d like. Cecil condoning Kate’s grooming is no different than Debbie reducing slaughtered GDA soldiers to bullet holes and bloodstains in her upholstery.

Don’t get me wrong, I know exactly what Cecil’s thought process would be over something like this: Kate’s over the age of consent, The Guardians are fragile enough as it is, and no one’s dying.

Yeah. No one’s dying. But there are some things you should never condone. It’s especially disgusting since, in my own personal head-canon, Cecil is a child of rape.

Cecil cares about saving innocent lives–to the point where he gave up his own skin and permitted facial scarring to remember those he couldn’t save—but even he isn’t immune to the jaded corruption that’s inevitable in bureaucracy. Which, by the way, is not an excuse. There is no excuse for condoning Dupli-Kate’s grooming, even if she is an asshole victim. I also have to mention Donald, too. Donald is my second favorite character. He is, to put in bluntly, an angel. He’s ACTUALLY died thirty-nine times, given up 98 percent of his physical form, and will continue to selflessly sacrifice until he is no more.

And he absolutely would have condoned Dupli-Kate’s grooming. Because even angels aren’t perfect.

Debbie and Nolan

It’s heavily implied twice to the point where it may as well have been outright said—that part of Nolan’s mission was to see how compatible Viltrumites are with humans. Just as it appears that Nolan is about to kill Mark, he says that another seventeen years is nothing. He can always start again. Make another kid.

In Season two, General Telia asks why Viltrumites were breeding with other races when they believe in racial purity. Nolan confesses to Allen in Season 3 that there are less than fifty pure-blooded Viltrumites left.

However, I believe that the writers are in deep denial as to what this truly means: Nolan is a sexual predator. He groomed Debbie and practically raped her. Because as much as I hate her, I know she never in a million years would have let him touch her if she knew what he was.

Judging by how much they bullshitted us with Immortal being a sexual predator, I know the writers are going to completely gloss this over. They’re going to focus on Nolan’s redemption and remorse, rather than his crime of rape. At the end of Season Two, Nolan tells Allen he wants to die, but then realizes he misses his wife.

Not he hurt his wife. Not he dismissed his wife. Not he betrayed his wife. He misses his wife. It’s all about him.

In the comics, Debbie went back to Nolan, but that had better not happen in the show or else they just may surpass Pretty Little Liars.

Well, if the writers won’t do the right thing, then it’s up to the fans. Marzi, a fanfic author from AO3 wrote an Invincible fanfic where Debbie confronts Nolan about grooming and raping her. In this fic, she actually gets pregnant before Nolan’s betrayal and gives birth to a daughter. But she’s forced to leave with Allen after Angstrom Levy’s attack. I’m going to read a portion of one of the chapters to show how to handle a subject like this the right way.

Irrespective by Marzi, the last half of chapter six. 

“I want answers Nolan, you aren’t giving me that. So, you’re just one more unknown I have to deal with.” Fuck, why was she being so goddamn accommodating? He had no problem throwing his problems at her. “Yes, I’d prefer you gone.”

The word ‘unknown’ almost seemed to make him shrink for a moment. You know me, he had insisted in their house before he left. You know me. What was it she was supposed to have known? What the hell had he thought she was capable of responding with that would have made him feel better about himself? “What do you want to know?”

“Now? Just like that?” She leaned back into her chair, trying to give herself a bit more distance.

“You’re asking.”

“I asked before,” she reminded him.

“There’s no going back to who I was with Viltrum. I know that now.”

Debbie didn’t. “Alright. Why do they care?”

“What?” The suddenness of her turn apparently caught him off guard.

“Viltrumites. You dragged Mark into this mess, made him an enemy of an empire. But why do they care about my daughter? She hasn’t done anything.”

She could see him hesitate. Preparing to correct. To edit. To lie. Her jaw nearly hurt from her teeth starting to grind together. “Not even one fucking word after you offer, I don’t know why I expected anything different-“

“There aren’t a lot of us left.”

It was her turn to stare in confusion.

“Barely fifty… well, less now, after Thraxa. Finding a species that was compatible with viltrumite DNA was my main reason for coming to Earth.”

She had wondered why he had bothered playing house. Why he had stuck with her. He was just idling and wanted a distraction. A pet. A fleeting bit of amusement before he burned her world down. But apparently not.

He didn’t seem to know what to make of her sudden silence. “Debbie?”

She had come back. After walking away from an arrogant dick she had come back. Like winning the worst sort of lottery twice in a row. How close had he been to grabbing someone else? Playing another round of eenie-meenie-miney-mo with her species until one stuck around? Getting someone to open up their legs for him had been his real purpose and wasn’t it the universe’s greatest fucking joke that the woman whose college friends had voted most likely to sleep her way to the top had tripped on to him.

She pressed the back of her shaking hand to her mouth and tried to concentrate on the present. She had wanted to scrub her skin off once or twice since he had revealed himself a liar. She had had a murderer wrapped around her, inside of her, but now it was somehow worse. He had always intended to use her. Exploit her body as a test run for the subjugation of her planet. Once he had confirmation they were compatible was there a quota he was supposed to meet? Apparently he still wanted to hit it, if the rapid arrival of his second son was anything to go by. What great importance was Earth if he could just keep making babies wherever he landed?

He pressed on, words oddly hesitant, almost shy. “It… needed to happen with someone. I’m glad it happened with you.”

“Needed?” She snapped, some floaty, nauseous, bubble of rage welling in her chest almost making her vibrate. She tried to breathe. To level out her voice. There was a toddler sleeping a few feet away from them. If only her leg wasn’t fucked up. Not that she could hurt Nolan. She could call out to Allen. He would rejoice in the chance to beat up a Viltrumite. “None of this needed to happen.”

“My orders at the time seemed… unavoidable.”

“And when you kept fucking me after I got pregnant, what was that?” All the different ways they had touched and held each other which would have never resulted in a child.

He didn’t even hesitate. “You’re my wife.”

“Don’t you fucking call me that, not after you tell me I was goddamn petri dish.” She needed to keep breathing or she was going to pass out.

“I didn’t have to marry you.”

She laughed. Or maybe she dry heaved.

“It wasn’t part of my mission,” he insisted. “I wanted to.” He hesitated, eyeing her a moment before seeming to work up the courage to continue. “You had her.” He almost sounded hopeful.

“What?” She gripped the edge of the table, trying to cling to something that might keep her grounded in her body.

“You chose to have her.”

Her daughter. Hers after everything else that had been destroyed. Hadn’t it, just for a moment, felt like a rebellion against the loss? Apparently, she was still losing. “I didn’t want you to take anything else from me! How convenient for you I keep giving you what you’re after anyway.”

“I didn’t plan for her.” It almost sounded like he was begging, but what was it that he didn’t think she was getting?

“You did for Mark, and you didn’t even want it. Just following orders.” No wonder he had been so goddamn distant after their son had been born. The years it had taken for him to even bother trying to show up for school or little league events. How long it took before he started asking them about their day rather than just spouting off what was going on in his.

“You wanted kids.”

“And if I hadn’t?” She hissed. “You’d have left me and found someone who made it easy? Or maybe all that effort wouldn’t be worth it, and you’d just rape me instead. Thank God I made it so fucking easy for you, huh? You got to act like there was nothing wrong.”

“No.” He looked surprised, almost angry at her words. “No, it wouldn’t have come to that. I had never… wanted something before, not the way it was with you. I wouldn’t have done anything to risk what we had.”

“Risk? You threw everything away in a fucking instant. You were just following orders. Whatever I thought we had was worth jack shit to you.”

“I miss you.”

She tried not to gag. “No. I’m just some security blanket. What was it about me, huh, Nolan? Twenty years I thought I had left an impression, but at the end of the day you don’t know anything about me. What I wanted. You thought-” she did laugh then, “-you thought I would sit back and let you destroy my planet. My son. Now, I’m just something you cling to to make yourself feel better. And when you left me behind, you just did it again. Stuck your dick in someone because you realized it felt nice and you had already been told to do it.” She was barely breathing, starting to get lightheaded. She was so sick of him rewriting her life. Taking something that had meant something to her and just twisting it into something unrecognizable. “You’ve never had a goddamn want or desire in your life. You just do what you’re fucking told. So go.”

He stared at her, doing the opposite of what she wanted by becoming so still. Rooted. “I might not have come to Earth with the best intentions, but I’ve changed. You-“

“So I’m supposed to be grateful you had an epiphany? That you’re better? That you feel bad now? I’m not allowed to be angry? It’s not like you’re even fucking sorry!” For all the vitriol in her words, she wasn’t quite yelling. Had to keep it down. Best not wake the kids. Or have Allen come barreling into the middle of something she did not want to have to explain.

“I am. For lying to you. For not stopping before I hurt Mark.”

“Anything else? Are you goddamn sorry for anything else?”

“I… I know I hurt a lot of people-“

“For using me, Nolan! My life, my body. You were barely even there for Mark as a father!” She laughed again, painful little barks that felt like glass breaking in her lungs. “Another fucking win. Your incubator also served as a babysitter.”

“That’s not what I think of you-“

“You don’t think of me. You’re a selfish monster. A fucking parasite. Go on Nolan, tell me what it is you want me for that isn’t sex or to look after your kids while you go off and pretend to be a hero.”

He opened his mouth but no words came out.

“You’ve never done anything for me. All you do is use me. So just fucking leave. Go take care of that kid of yours, I can’t imagine what excuse you have about how that needed to happen.”

“I-“

“I have all the goddamn answers I care for right now.” Debbie shoved herself away from the table, leg twinging, but it didn’t collapse beneath her, and the brace clicked into place. She grit her teeth, hoping to keep the scorching feeling in her lungs at bay. The tears that were so eager to wash her face. How much it hurt, as if her nerves were being torn from her body like roots from hard packed earth.

Being lied to, kept like a goddamn accessory, a pet, had hurt. To have been cast aside as lesser only to hear about him running off and doing it all again. Except he hadn’t done it again because he finally found someone he actually cared about. It had always been his job to fuck his way through the galaxy. How fucking stupid she had been, all those years ago, pretending like she was the one who had given him another chance. That she was making a choice. That he just needed a little time to figure Earth out, that maybe there was more to him. She’d just made it easy.

How was there no universe where she had walked away from him? This was what, her third, fourth, time trying to put him behind her? Could she ever get away from him?

***

Can I just say how much I love the line “tell me what it is you want me for that isn’t sex or to look after your kids while you go off and pretend to be a hero.”

It just sums Nolan up so well. He’s a much better person than before—and he’s still despicable as fuck.

Nolan and Andressa

Like Debbie, Andressa was groomed by Nolan. It’s not that hard to decipher what he told her and what he withheld being that he oh-so-charmingly labels his atrocities as “mistakes” to his own son. She knows he’s killed, but the circumstances and the body count—that she’s completely ignorant of. She doesn’t know he betrayed and murdered the Guardians, people who considered him a friend, she doesn’t know he used his own son as a meat grinder, and she sure as shit doesn’t know he came within a hair of killing his own son.

Thraxans seem to be very forgiving and don’t hold grudges the way humans do…but do you think they’re that forgiving? No. Because that wouldn’t even be forgiveness. That would be apathy. If Andressa was told the whole truth and chose to stay with Nolan anyway, it would mean she just didn’t give a shit. It would make her a villain. And she’s not. She’s a victim.

Also, how much do you wanna bet that Nolan forgot to mention that the Viltrumites would kill any child they had? That they would kill her? It looks like she does know when Nolan lures Mark to Thraxa, but I highly doubt Nolan told her before they got together and had Oliver. He, like the Debbie from Irrespective said, just stuck his dick in someone else because it felt nice. She’s wrong that he had Oliver due to his orders, or else why would he be afraid that the Viltrumites would kill him for being inferior, but that doesn’t make the circumstances of Oliver’s birth any less abhorrent. Nolan got a taste of love and affection on Earth and wanted to taste it again, even under false circumstances. He only cared about what made him feel good, no matter who it hurt.

Huh. Immortal gives Mark a lot of flak for being like his father, but he should take a good look at himself. A powerful millennia old white male grooming a vulnerable young Asian woman. Where have we heard that before?

While I won’t be reading anymore fic today, I would like to mention another story that Marzi wrote called Duplicity, where Andressa learns from Debbie and Mark exactly what Nolan did on Earth…and she leaves him. THAT was very cathartic to read.

Thanks for watching. Please leave your thoughts and opinions in the comments section and press that subscribe button. Also check out Sloan Stowe’s videos and Marzi in the description.

The following is a script from this video by Hill’s Alive, to which I’ve added my own commentary

***

Joanna Lannister is yet another character within the world of Ice and Fire who doesn’t really exist as an individual, developed personality on her own, but who rather serves as a foundational building block for the trajectory of House Lannister and all of the major Lannister characters throughout the mainline story. She is an interesting component of the narrative for a few reasons though.

In a sense, she seems to be a foil to similar characters who are deceased but have a massive impact on the family that they left behind, in the vein of other women dead before their time like Lyanna Stark or Elia Martell. But she is compelling and arguably more unique in the sense that the Lannisters that remained and were traumatized by her death are incredibly villainous characters who still idolize Joanna not necessarily as an individual, but rather a symbol of the family that the Lannisters believe they could have had, a representation of what kind of people each individual Lannister could have been had things just not gone wrong for them, and the moment of her death is pretty distinctly recognized as the point where each of the Lannisters as well as their family unit was destroyed in some sense or another. And on this basis alone, it comes as no surprise that both the characters within the fictional universe as well as the readers outside of the story tend to idealize Joanna Lannister symbolically rather than considering what she may have truly been like personally.

(Like me. But this video turned my ignorance on its head)

Clearly, George R.R. Martin has a particular appreciation for this character archetype. He loves introducing women who died unfairly before their time, whose loss clearly traumatized their remaining loved ones, and whose memory feels more like a fantasy woman rather than a real one. However, there are also always hints and undercurrents that seem to suggest that the actual people that these women were don’t match up to the idealized image that many people have of them.

(This is so true, and the first time someone has ever pointed this out about the A Song of Ice and Fire novels)

Lyanna Stark is typically remembered as the great love of Robert Baratheon’s life despite the fact that she literally fled to escape him. Elia Martell is remembered as the woman who wasn’t enough to live up to Lyanna Stark, and yet she was at least interesting and brilliant enough to have a greater impact on the worldly, intelligent Oberyn Martell than arguably anyone else he ever met. So clearly, there are indications that the way that these women are perceived in the contemporary time is extremely different and possibly diametrically opposed to the people that they really were.

And then, there is Joanna Lannister.

Joanna is a really interesting iteration of this character archetype, because we don’t even really get a contemporaneous, first-person account of who she was from an adult who knew her well.

(Yeah. Even Tywin’s own siblings don’t reveal much about Joanna’s personality, just how destructive the effect of her death had on their brother)

Obviously, Jaime and Cersei were old enough to remember their mother before she died, but they never got to know her as an adult in the way that they did with their father. And while Tyrion does seem to fantasize about his mother’s kindness and potential love for him, he literally has no real memories of her whatsoever. There are contemporary accounts of Joanna Lannister’s role at court, but rather than examining anything about her personally, her existence within history is seen through the lens of Aerys Targaryen’s borderline obsession with her. And clearly, his interest in her was entirely superficial.

Truly, the only person who knew her as an individual is someone who doesn’t really speak about her at all in the present day. The people who knew Tywin and Joanna believe that he loved her deeply and that her loss essentially robbed him of whatever kindness he had left, but this isn’t something that he really speaks about himself. In fact, he hardly refers to his deceased wife at all, and he doesn’t ever discuss his feelings for her or who she was as a person.

(Tywin could not be more emotionally closed off, but I don’t believe this is the only reason why he never discusses Joanna. I’ll explain my theory later)

Ergo, everything that almost everyone knows about Joanna both within the story and as readers of the story is based on little more than wild guesses. Although fan perception of any character obviously varies, the general point of view about Joanna Lannister seems to be largely guided by the fantasies that the Lannister children have about her, as well as the fact that these kinds of characters tend to fall within a particular stereotype.

Specifically, many readers tend to imagine her as a kind woman who brought out the only goodness that existed in Tywin Lannister, and whose love and care could have completely changed the trajectory of a family who are some of the greatest villains in A Song of Ice and Fire. Again, this isn’t a particularly surprising assumption, given that this is the implication of most of the very important dead women in the world of ice and fire.

There seems to be a pretty consistent juxtaposition between dickish men like Aerys Targaryen, Rhaegar Targaryen, and Robert Baratheon, versus the unfairly treated women in their lives, Rhaella Targaryen, Elia Martell, and Lyanna Stark. But I think upon further consideration, it seems more likely that Tywin Lannister and Joanna Lannister are meant to be a foil to this traditional dynamic rather than another example of it. Clearly this is nothing more than speculation, but it is very interesting that Joanna is portrayed as the only person who Tywin ever seemed to truly love. And a lot of people make certain assumptions about her character based on that, but I think that those assumptions may be diametrically opposed to the reality of who her character was designed to be.

The trope of a woman who is so good and so pure that she manages to change the cold heart of a complete shithead is everywhere in fiction,

(I love this statement because it helped me to realize that this trope is also used to victim-blame women. If their abusive partner doesn’t change, then it’s the woman’s fault because she literally wasn’t GOOD enough)

so the perspective that sees Joanna as the only good part of Tywin that died when she did makes sense, but it doesn’t feel very true to life either. What actually makes Joanna a potentially interesting character is imagining just what kind of person Tywin Lannister would actually be hopelessly in love with.

(Yeah. This is when the cold realization began to creep in)

Because as we can see with him and his children, he doesn’t really love them for the people that they are, and being nice to him or desiring his love has no positive impact on his perception of them.

He is the most concerned with Jaime because Jaime fulfills Tywin’s fantasy of a perfect heir in almost every way that matters to him, but he is clearly devastated when Jaime becomes disabled and that image is shattered, and his care for Jaime as an individual seems to be nonexistent.

Cersei comes in second in his mind, because she is once again a good physical representation of what Tywin likely sees as Lannister ideals, and because she offers him the chance to give the most important seat and power in the country to a Lannister. It’s through her that the Lannisters have achieved Tywin’s greatest goal, the Iron Throne. But, he sees her more as a tool and shows no regard for her actual happiness, and he seems to have had barely any interest in raising her or developing a personal relationship with her.

(There were hints in the novels that Tywin once doted on Cersei a bit and even trusted her with some of his plans, like his plan to marry her to Prince Rhaegar. But once Joanna, the one person and only woman who truly validated him died, he fully embraced his misogyny, secretly slept with whores and gave up on educating his only daughter. And fans still see him as a Machiavellian pragmatist)

And of course, Tyrion is the bane of Tywin’s existence, because despite the fact that he does have valuable qualities, he’s weak, unattractive, disabled, and offers Tywin nothing particularly good in terms of political power. He’s repulsed by the very thought of Tyrion being a representation of House Lannister, and to add insult to injury, in Tywin’s mind, Joanna died so that Tywin’s biggest nightmare could live.

So, to put it succinctly, Tywin is not a caring person, he loathes even his own children for the weaknesses that he sees within them, and he values his family the most for how they can reflect well on him or how they can offer him more power. So, the idea that he loved Joanna because she was sweet and kind and brought out his inner humanity seems extremely unlikely.

In reality, it seems far more plausible that Tywin was in love with Joanna because she was extremely similar to the kind of person that he is, and she fulfilled his fantasies of his perfect wife in the ways that he may have fulfilled her fantasies as an ideal husband.

(I’d become so jaded to the “pure-hearted woman redeems shithead” trope that I reflexively assumed Martin would use it as well. Now I realize I should have known better)

For all of their faults, Lannisters are, on the whole, extremely pretty people. And even among them, Joanna Lannister was attractive to the point of being legendary, as even the king himself seemed to be bizarrely fixated on her and extremely perturbed that he couldn’t have her for himself.

(Even Aegon the Unworthy kept several of his mistresses around for years, but according to A World of Ice and Fire, few of Aerys’ paramours lasted more than a fortnight and even less lasted more than half a year)

Of course, the historical account of Joanna and Aerys’ relationship implies that they may have had sexual contact, or he may have somehow assaulted her, but those allegations seem to be unlikely.

Maester Pycelle isn’t wrong that Tywin almost certainly would have refused to marry someone who wasn’t a virgin, and if Aerys insulting Joanna’s post-partum chest was enough to drive Tywin to attempt to resign as hand, then it seems very improbable that Aerys and Joanna had any intimacy whatsoever.

(Trivia: When Jaime and Cersei were six, Joanna brought them to the Red Keep. During the feast, a drunk Aerys asked her if nursing them “ruined your breasts, which were so high and proud. Tywin attempted to return his chain of office the next morning, and Aerys refused)

Truly, the biggest indication that anything may have happened between them was Tywin’s implication that Tyrion might not be his, but I think that was probably delusionally wishful thinking or a resistance to believe that something Tywin hated so much could have come from him and Joanna. And given that Tyrion’s similarities with Tywin seem to be stronger than Jaime’s or Cersei’s, the theories that Tyrion is actually a Targaryen are pretty hard to buy.

(Maybe so, but given that it’s very likely Joanna and Tywin were similar, it’s still not an unfounded theory)

But what is considerably easier to buy is the idea that perhaps Tywin loved Joanna so much because she embodied everything he believes a Lannister should be. Her beauty was renowned but she was loyal to her husband. She seemed to manage Casterly Rock masterfully, just as a good Lady should, and given that there are multiple reports that Tywin actually saw Joanna as something of a counselor and he trusted her knowledge and advice, it seems safe to assume that she was probably as intelligent or even more intelligent than Tywin himself.

(It’s definitely safe to assume Joanna was smarter than Tywin because she wasn’t just Tywin’s counselor—she was THE counselor. Remember this quote from the books: “Lord Tywin ruled the Seven Kingdoms, but Lady Joanna ruled Lord Tywin.”)

But aside from that, one of Tywin’s personal ideals as well as his beliefs about what Lannisters should be obviously involves an almost unfathomable level of elitism as well as a capacity for cruelty that is almost unrivaled. Frankly, Tywin loves brutalizing anyone who crosses him, and he was seemingly repulsed by what he saw as his father’s weakness when Tytos didn’t immediately go scorched earth any time someone looked at him sideways. Therefore, it’s hard to believe that Tywin could ever be deeply in love with someone who wasn’t as ruthless and arrogant as he was.

Obviously this is pure speculation, but it presents some interesting what ifs about Joanna Lannister as a character. Tywin clearly despises the weak, so the likelihood that Joanna was just so sweet and so kind that she managed to win Tywin over seems very low. In fact, it seems much more plausible, and more interesting, that Joanna was actually an exceptionally merciless and vengeful woman who knew how to hide her brutality beneath the veneer of ideal Westerosi womanhood, and that’s why Tywin truly loved her when he seems to love literally no one else. And if we are to presume that the real Joanna was just as villainous, vain, and self-absorbed as all of her other family members, then the role that she plays in the narrative at large becomes even more intriguing.

(Tywin wasn’t the Machiavellian—JOANNA was. Just like Tywin only smiled and laughed for Joanna, Joanna revealed her monstrous side only to Tywin. But unlike Tywin, she was as pragmatic as she was ruthless. Joanna took the time and effort to cultivate meaningful alliances such as with Queen Rhaella and the current ruling Princess of Dorne. She even wanted Cersei and Jaime to marry Elia and Oberyn because remember, Dorne managed to resist Targaryen sovereignty for hundreds of years even when they had dragons. Joanna saw the value in such an alliance and undoubtedly shared this with Tywin…but when Joanna died in childbirth, Tywin wasted no time in undoing all of Joanna’s hard work by offering Tyrion to Elia as a deliberate insult.

Let me emphasize that: Tywin, who many fans have lauded as a pragmatic political and military genius, went out of his way to destroy a powerful alliance because he just lost his wife and wanted to throw a tantrum)

Tywin obviously misses her and has no desire to marry again once she’s gone, which is somewhat unusual for a man of his status.

(But not unusual for a man of his narcissism. Only he can marry for love, and when he loses it, the world revolves around that loss. So, he’s not going to—dare I say it—remarry to secure his family’s future even further. No. He’s just going to wallow in his daddy trauma by giving jewelry to whores. It’s so funny because when Cersei sees Shae naked in Tywin’s bed wearing his chain of office, she thinks that her father never touched a woman after their mother died. Bitch, he slept with whores even when Joanna was alive since Rhaella dismissed Joanna from her service and she rarely visited King’s Landing afterward. Pycelle takes the hilarity even further by saying that Tywin was obviously questioning Shae)

And given the mythology surrounding their relationship, it’s not hard to imagine that no one could really live up to her in his eyes.

(I believe the other reason he never discusses Joanna is because he was the only one she revealed her monstrous side to. And that belongs to Tywin and Tywin alone. Not to mention being exceptionally ruthless would have sullied her reputation thanks to Westeros’ misogyny. If people knew a woman enjoyed cruelty as much as a man, Joanna would have been laughed at and dismissed as another crazy Rhaenyra Targaryen. And we all know how much Tywin enjoys being laughed at)

All of Joanna’s children miss her as well, but again, they don’t miss who she was as a person because they didn’t know her. Rather, she serves as an avatar for whatever fantasy life that Jaime, Cersei, and Tyrion imagine but can never have. Essentially, they feel like if they had grown up with her love, everything would be different and immeasurably better for them. And this feels like it could be a really interesting play on George R.R. Martin’s running theme of the memory of a dead woman not matching reality.

There are plenty of female characters whose legacy doesn’t seem to dovetail with their real selves, and it would be a fascinating irony if Joanna doesn’t live up to the fantasy because she is just as mercurial and vicious as the rest of her family.

Clearly, this speculation has almost no impact on reality, but it is interesting that so many people within the world of Westeros and readers who are experiencing the story from a birds-eye point of view just presume that Joanna must have been the most decent Lannister, and that all hope for their family was lost when she was. That idea certainly doesn’t jive with the kind of person that Tywin would genuinely connect to, and the possibility of Joanna Lannister as a villain rather than the pinnacle of motherhood and wifedom is a fun one.

Ultimately, the Lannister children fantasize that their mother would have made them into better people and that her love would have changed them fundamentally. They mourn her loss, but they are mourning something that never actually existed for them, only an idea that they cling to in order to make themselves feel better. So, the possibility if not probability that Joanna would have been every bit as abusive and cruel to her children as Tywin was casts House Lannister in an even more interesting light, and while so many people see Joanna as the Lannisters’ chance to turn away from villainy, it seems far more likely that she would have made her family even more villainous.

(More villainous and a thousand times more DANGEROUS. Can you imagine a Cersei trained by a Machiavellian Joanna? Jaime? She may have even trained Tyrion to talk less and listen more. Kevan was right when he said the best part of Tywin died with Joanna, but it wasn’t the humane part. It was the tempered part. Joanna helped Tywin reign in his manchild tendencies—to actually be pragmatic. Remember what I said before: the moment Joanna died, Tywin couldn’t wait to sever the Lannister alliance with Dorne by implying that marriages between their houses would be beneath him. Tywin hates being reminded that Tyrion is like him, but he would be even more infuriated to be informed that he and Aerys were not so different since Aerys refused Rhaegar’s hand to Cersei to show such an alliance was beneath him.)

But what do you think? Are we meant to see Joanna Lannister as a victim, or is she a hidden villain? Leave your comments and opinions below, and if you’re interested in more content like this, like and subscribe.

(When Joanna died, all hope for the Lannisters was lost—and all hope for the realm restored)

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The following article was heavily inspired by this video from Hill’s Alive.

George R.R. Martin has a fondness for the “dead idealized woman” trope. I.E. a woman who died offscreen (or offpage) and left behind loved ones who still mourn them even years later. But despite being well loved and well missed, there’s a clear contradiction to how other characters view them, and who they really were as people. These women are idealized in death, but Martin drops hints throughout the narrative that their true authentic selves may have been drastically different to how others perceived them.

Lyanna Stark. Remembered as wild and free-spirited, the only one who could win the heart of the womanizing Robert Baratheon. His true love, his destined bride. He cherished her to the point where he started a rebellion when she was kidnapped by the dastardly Prince Rhaegar. Obviously, Rhaegar raped and abused her until she died tragically. Robert had to marry Cersei Lannister for the sake of having a queen…but Lyanna was his true love always and forever.

…except Lyanna willingly went with Rhaegar, risking the lives of her family and the entire realm to be with another man—for her own gain, or did Rhaegar manipulate her? Didn’t she know her father, brothers and betrothed would come after her, thinking she had been kidnapped? She knew Rhaegar’s father, the Mad King, had a fetish for burning people alive. Was she really so selfish—so foolish that she would plunge the realm into war just to escape from Robert?

Elia Martell. Remembered by most as a pitiful, tragic victim of war. Poor thing, so sickly and frail, she nearly died giving birth to Rhaegar’s children. But…lets be real, she wasn’t very interesting or important. Plain, black-eyed and flat-chested, she could never compete with the wild, beautiful Lyanna Stark. She was so forgettable, her husband didn’t even hesitate to crown Lyanna his Queen of Love and Beauty in front of the entire realm, which he knew would send a very clear message to everyone including his own wife—not that he cared.  

…except Elia meant so much to her family that they would move heaven and Earth to avenge her. Her biggest impact was on her younger brother, Oberyn, a man as intelligent as he was ruthless. Could someone stupid and uninteresting have such a massive effect on someone who forged six links of a maester’s chain before leaving the Citadel out of boredom? Doubtful.

Joanna Lannister. Remembered as the best part of Tywin Lannister that died when she did. She made him laugh, made him smile…but his heart turned to stone when she died. He became more ruthless, more cruel, without the presence of his beloved wife to temper him. She brought out the only good that existed in him, and all hope for the Lannister family died when she did.

…except Tywin was already ruthless and cruel long before Joanna died. In fact, he decimated the Reynes and the Tarbecks years before they were even married. He was a sadistic elitist right from the start. His father’s weak-willed enabling nearly drove their house to ruin, so Tywin became the opposite extreme of his father by loathing all compassion and weakness. Only Lannisters matter. That is, Lannisters Tywin deems worthy. This is a man who hates his own children for their weaknesses and shortcomings. Would Tywin really be hopelessly in love with someone who didn’t match his own standards of Lannister ideals to a T? Would he love someone who let something frivolous like basic human decency get in the way of Lannister ambitions? Unlikely.

But there’s another woman that needs to be mentioned. Technically, she doesn’t belong in the same category as Lyanna, Elia, and Joanna because she’s not dead. But she’s been off page for all five books, and she’s definitely idealized. And that would be Tysha, the wife of Tyrion Lannister.

Note: I’ll mostly be referencing from the book version of these characters.

A poor peasant girl who fled from rapists and was rescued by none other than Jaime Lannister and his brother Tyrion, Tysha was the only one who looked past Tyrion’s deformities and loved him for who he was. She even married him, and the two lived in wedded bliss for a fortnight before Tyrion’s father found out. Appalled that Tyrion would disgrace the family by marrying a peasant (and no doubt spiteful that his own beloved wife died giving birth to Tyrion), he ordered Jaime to lie and say that Tysha was a whore. To drive the cruel “lesson” home, he ordered his own knights to gang-rape Tysha while Tyrion watched. As a coup de grace, Tyrion was then ordered by his father to rape Tysha himself, which he did. When Jaime admitted the truth in A Storm of Swords, Tyrion murdered his father and then fled, determined to have revenge on his family and to find Tysha, his wife, the only one of truly loved him.

…at least that’s how Tyrion sees her. But let’s examine a snippet of dialogue where Tyrion tells Bronn the story of Tysha.

“She was hungrier than I would have believed. We finished two whole chickens and part of a third, and drank a flagon of wine, talking. I was only thirteen and the wine went to my head, I fear. The next thing I knew, I was sharing her bed. If she was shy, I was shier. I’ll never know where I found the courage. When I broke her maidenhead, she wept, but afterward she kissed me and sang me her little song, and by morning I was in love.”

Hill’s Alive points out an obvious red flag in this dialogue: Tysha weeping, which severely hints that she wasn’t as willing as Tyrion thinks she was, but there’s a much bigger red flag that Hill’s Alive missed.

“I was only thirteen and the wine went to my head, I fear. The next thing I knew, I was sharing her bed.”

The wine went to his head.

Yeah. We’ve never heard that before. No rapist has ever blamed alcohol for their actions.

To say that consent is a slippery slope in A Song of Ice and Fire would be the understatement of the century. In fact, consent is just shy of nonexistent thanks to many factors including misogyny and power dynamics. Women are broodmares who need to keep their mouths shut, and the smallfolk are basically slaves to the nobility. I think the latter is even stated in A Dance with Dragons.

Ask yourself this: If you were a starved peasant girl who was just rescued from rapists, fed, and housed by the son of your lord, and then he drunkenly made a move on you…do you really feel you could say no? Would you think you could refuse him anything? The show version of Shae put it perfectly.

Shae: A girl who is almost raped doesn’t invite another man into her bed two hours later.

No, she wouldn’t. But she wouldn’t refuse him if propositioned, ‘cause, y’know, he could take her by force, throw her back on the streets, or into a cell to starve to death.

Or worse.

Tyrion told Robb Stark that he has a tender spot in his heart for cripples, bastards, and broken things, but he chooses to ignore his privilege thanks to his self-pity and entitlement. He sees himself as an underdog hero due to the horrific abuse he’s endured at the hands of his own family and the prejudice of society, but calling Tyrion Lannister a reliable narrator in his own story would be like calling Scarlett O’Hara a reliable narrator in Gone with the Wind. Despite everything he’s endured, he has all the money in the world, every physical comfort imaginable, and all he has to do is name drop his father in order to open a door.

His relationships—and I use that term loosely—with women are the best examples of Tyrion being more aware of his privilege than he lets on. Hill’s Alive puts it best.

“It seems like Tyrion has a subconscious understanding of his power over most women he encounters, because he continually seeks out love from girls and women that he has an enormous amount of power over, and he is extremely bitter when he doesn’t get it.”

First let’s examine his “relationship” with Shae. It’s transactional. Plain and simple. He pays her, he owns her, and she becomes whatever he wants because that’s a whore’s job. Yet Tyrion willfully deludes himself into believing that they are in an actual relationship and that she really does love him and he her. When she “betrays” him at his trial, he takes it as an actual betrayal. One could argue that Shae was needlessly cruel in blathering to everyone that she called Tyrion “My giant of Lannister,” but remember that Shae was ordered to betray him by Cersei and Tywin. Do you really think Cersei wouldn’t pump Shae for all the juicy details? That she wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to publicly humiliate Tyrion?

When Tyrion confronts Shae in his father’s bed, Shae protests that she was threatened by Tywin and Cersei. Tyrion of all people knows the cruelty his family is capable of…so what? He expected Shae to die a horrible death to protect him?

Yeah. He really did.

The show whitewashes Shae’s death to no end to preserve the image of Tyrion being an underdog hero. In the show, Shae draws a knife when Tyrion enters the room. In the books, he strangles her because she lies to him in the hopes of survival.

“Mi’lord will be back soon. You should go, or…did you come to take me away?”

“Did you ever like it? Did you ever like my touch?”

“More than anything,” she said, “my giant of Lannister.”

That was the worst thing you could have said, sweetling.

Tyrion slid a hand under his father’s chain, and twisted.

Shae is an eighteen-year-old prostitute who fled from an incestuously abusive father. And then she’s brutally murdered because she valued her own survival over fulfilling an entitled man’s fantasies.

Men fear women will embarrass them. Women fear men will kill them.

What Sansa endures at Tyrion’s hands is even more disgusting because she’s a thirteen-year-old child. It also reveals a staggering hypocrisy on Tyrion’s part that no one really talks about. One of Tyrion’s favorite pastimes is internally whining about how women never look past his deformed appearance…yet he himself only wants beautiful women. He expresses disgust at the prospect of marrying Lollys Stokeworth because of her plain appearance, and continuously shuns the obviously growing affections of Penny the dwarf because…well someone like Tyrion deserves better than an ugly dwarf. He deserves the love of someone young, tender, and beautiful because of all the shit he’s endured. After all, it’s not like beautiful women are people. They’re just consolation prizes to soothe the wounded egos of nice guys like Tyrion.

Tyrion assaults Sansa. There’s no other way to put it. She undresses on their wedding night, and he gazes at a thirteen-year-old child with genuine lust. He even says, “You’re a child…but I want you.”

Sick fuck.

Not that he sees himself that way. He begins touching Sansa’s naked body, but when her terror and revulsion only grows, he stops because he’s such a nice guy. In fact, he’s a great guy. He promises Sansa he will only consummate their relationship when she wants him.

“And if I never want you to, my lord?”

His mouth jerked as if she had slapped him. “Never?”

Yeah. He expects this child, this abuse victim of his own family to soothe his trauma and cater to his ego. Even before Sansa undresses, he gets angry and offended that she parrots what she’s been taught to say to her husband on their wedding night.

“I would please me to please my lord husband.”

That seemed to anger him. “You hide behind courtesy as if it were a castle wall.”

Joffrey and Cersei have been abusing Sansa for more than a year and have basically killed her entire family, but why can’t she see that Tyrion is different? Why can’t she just trust him a little and say what she really feels?

Tyrion’s entitlement and misogyny was present before Tywin traumatized him with Tysha, and it’s only grown over time. In A Dance with Dragons, he even goes so far as to assault a slave. When he thinks of Shae, he teeter-totters between pity and believing he gave her what she deserved. And the only reward he expects from his services to Daenerys Targaryen is the right to rape and kill Cersei.

The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring may never be published, but one wonders what would happen if Tyrion ever found Tysha again? Though more entitled than ever, Tyrion isn’t completely blind. He would expect, and even understand hatred and fear from Tysha, as well as a sense of betrayal. But he would also expect her to validate his belief that their marriage was real, that her affections were real, that she fully consented to everything, including their first night together.

And in the end, he would expect her to take him back.

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To watch the video version of this script, please click here

Debbie Grayson

Debbie is the third generation of American born Korean immigrants. Born Deborah Kang, she had a fairly normal early childhood, earned good grades, and had supportive parents. But things started to go downhill during her middle school and high school years. She was tall, smart, and gorgeous, but this made her very unpopular with her female peers because a lot of their boyfriends wanted to get with her. Not date her, sleep with her. When she hit puberty, her parents warned her that males, especially white males tended to see pretty Asian girls as conquests rather than partners. It’s especially personal for her father since one of his sisters was sexually assaulted by her own boyfriend who was a white male. Her father even gave her a pepper spray and told her to never be afraid to fight for her life or dignity. Debbie was also subjected to racism by her teachers. Whenever she would get a grade lower than a B, her teachers would express deep disappointment, saying they thought she was smarter. Because, ya know, she’s Asian and they’re supposed to be smart.

When she was sixteen, she was almost raped by a white male, a fellow student, who had been stalking her for weeks and she was forced to pepper spray him. Her parents pressed for criminal charges, but the boy was a model student, a teacher’s favorite…and she pepper-sprayed him. He was expelled, but no criminal charges were filed.

Even during her college years when she finally made some female friends, they would make jokes about how she could always sleep her way to the top if she ever expressed fear that her grades were slipping. She learned to laugh off these “jokes.”

In her early twenties, Debbie’s parents died in a villain attack, and this is why she fell so deeply into superhero privilege. After marrying Nolan, she knows her family has a much greater chance of surviving, and her flippancy regarding victims of attacks is really a coping mechanism for her unhealed trauma.

She went into a drunken depression after her parents’ deaths and spent the next two years functioning but not living…and then she’s rescued by Omni-Man. They go on a date, but Nolan’s arrogant attitude turns her off. Nolan is an alien, and while color couldn’t matter less to Viltrumites, Debbie knows that on Earth, Nolan would have the privileges and status of a white male even without his superpowers. Remembering the trauma of the racism and misogyny she endured, especially the attempted rape, she ends things with him. But she continues to watch his exploits on the news and sees him rescue children and thinks that maybe she’s letting her trauma get the better of her. She hasn’t really lived since her parents died. She shouldn’t condemn Nolan for the actions of others, and he is an alien. Maybe he’s just so new here. So she makes a leap and asks Nolan to try again. He accepts, and the rest is history.

This would make the pet comment hit harder. Because the leap she took twenty years ago ended in being cast aside as just another conquest for a powerful white male.

I would keep her relationship with Cecil the same as the show because it would make for an excellent character arc. She starts off as an abusive Karen to Cecil, and as someone who shuts out the world when it threatens her privileged bubble, but she grows past it, developing compassion and empathy for Cecil, and seeing that he does what he does on behalf of those not as fortunate as her.

Ironically, I did want them to be friends in the show. In fact, I kind of see them as a father-daughter version of Elizabeth and Darcy from Pride and Prejudice. Debbie is prejudiced against the GDA, and Cecil, while Debbie’s abuse victim in the show, is still a very flawed individual, pride being one of his sins. There’s also a horrifying reason why Cecil would put up with Debbie’s attitude toward him in my fanfic bio of his childhood. He may be the most powerful bureaucrat in the world right now and a white male, but the horrors his mother endured at the hands of her own family, his biological father, and his stepfather gave him a deep loathing for misogyny as well as a soft spot for abused, traumatized women, especially mothers.

Cecil Stedman

Cecil’s mother, Margot Renard, was born in France in the late 1930s. Her family had…a traditionalist attitude toward women. As a preteen she was opinionated, loud, and free-spirited which worried her parents since it would make her unappealing as a bride. They were above middle class and wanted Margot to marry into money, so to “cure” her they sent her for electro-shock treatments at the age of eleven. She kept her sanity by imagining herself as her favorite character Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. Going on an adventure with true companions until she found her way home. The treatments didn’t cure her, but Margot learned the dangers of exposing her true nature to the wrong people.  

When she was around nineteen, her parents arranged for her to meet the son of a wealthy business partner, and to Margot’s surprise and everyone’s pleasure, they both hit it off. What Margot didn’t know was that her new boyfriend and his family were Nazi sympathizers who went undercover after WWII. Margot was specifically targeted by them as breeding stock since she was tall, blonde haired and blue eyed. Her family knew, but had a dirty little secret to hide as well: despite their Aryan looks, they had Jewish blood.

When Margot discovered her boyfriend’s affiliations, she told him she was ending things. His response was to drug her evening wine and rape her. When she awoke, it wasn’t difficult to decipher what had happened, thanks to the bruises and the bleeding. She was gaslit by her boyfriend and her own family, but a few weeks later, she was vomiting and missed her period. Both her boyfriend’s family and her family demanded they marry, and to stop spreading lies and delusions about her fiancée, or they would fix her brain for her. In other words, a lobotomy.  

So, Margot ran. As in, she literally ran. Her ex-boyfriend caught on to her escape and chased her in a car, shooting at her and screaming that he was more than happy to perform the operation himself. Margot thankfully escaped, though a bullet grazed her leg and for a horrifying moment she thought she miscarried. She made it to the airport with her passport, some money, the clothes on her back, and escaped to America.

A fluent English speaker, she was able to find work as a waitress. But the girl formerly full of fire had dimmed to dull embers. A baby that wasn’t her choice was on the way, and she couldn’t afford an abortion. As a beauty, she attracted a lot of attention from customers, her French accent making her particularly appealing. But it was a man named Dale Stedman who could see something was wrong. She wasn’t yet two months along, but from the way she reacted to certain smells in the diner, he deduced she was pregnant. Dale was a member of a commune and even though he didn’t know the full story he asked her if she wanted the baby. If she didn’t, he and his friends would pay for an abortion. It took her a few days, but with a choice presented to her, Margot realized she did want the baby. She felt like a stranger in her own skin, and wanted someone to love and care for. She felt like the child growing inside her was a kindred spirit. Dale seemed disappointed at first, but soon offered his support and they began dating. They married and in December of 1958, Margot gave birth to her son, Cecil.

Unfortunately, there was a dark side to Margot’s supposed salvation. Her marriage to Dale was fairly happy for a few years, but as the fifties became the sixties, his commune embraced the new hippie movement. He pushed drugs onto Margot, pressured her to burn her bras to defy gender conventions, and gaslit her until she accepted the notion of “free love.”

So Cecil was raised in chaos and debauchery. Margot eventually confided her story into her new husband, but asked him not to tell anyone else. Dale gave his word…then proceeded to get drunk and tell the whole commune. Cecil was often subjected to abortion jokes by both adults and older children. His stepfather was particularly fond of them when Margot wasn’t around and only told Cecil he loved him when he was drunk or high.

Margot was the only one who loved Cecil, but her own unhealed trauma and ongoing drug addiction caused her to become neglectful. Dale never hit Cecil, but he often liked to lean in close to watch him flinch, only to laugh, ruffle his hair and assure him that he’d never hit because “Your Mom would never forgive me.”

As someone who desperately needed order in his life as much as he needed love, Cecil buried himself in schoolwork. He was very intelligent and excelled, and he knew not to take things at face value. Dale, like many members of the commune, was a huge conspiracy theorist and hated the government believing that both heroes and villains alike were merely government pawns who staged “attacks” to fool the populace. When Cecil was twelve, a hero personally saved Cecil, his parents and a few of their friends from an alien invasion while they were out in the city, even asking if they were all right afterward. But once they got home, Dale started ranting about how it was all staged and so many people lost their lives to the evil conniving government and their superhero pawns. His friends joined in, but when Cecil asked why they didn’t confront the hero about their suspicions, he was gaslit and shouted down.

Angry and sick over the hypocrisy, Cecil began studying governmental relief efforts of monster attacks. Superheroes almost always saved the day, but the relief efforts were vital once the dust began to clear. He also began developing a private obsession with superheroes and what it would be like to be one. He wondered if having superpowers would give his life meaning, and more importantly, ease the terrible self-loathing that plagued him since birth. A self-loathing that only increased when, at his insistence, his mother showed him the only picture she had of his birth father. He looked nothing like his mother’s rapist. In fact, he could be a clone of his mother from how alike they looked. His mother assured him ‘he may have raped me, but you were my choice,’ But that did little to ease Cecil’s fears that his mother loved him only because he looked like her. For two years he fell into heroin, became a cutter, and contemplated suicide. During cutting sessions, he would fantasize that he would gain superpowers from the damage and give his and his mother’s suffering some meaning. After all, superheroes often gained their powers by going through great pain and loss.

Things changed at seventeen when military recruiters came to his high school. Deep down he always felt the military would provide the order he needed, rather than the decadence that had been forced on him. Not to mention it would spite his step-father something awful. Deciding on the Air Force, he sobered up and stopped cutting, planning to escape the cult at eighteen. He confided in his mother, who, even in her own haze of drugs and pain, understood that they needed to leave and began to sober up as well.

But a trace of Margot Renard’s old fire returned just before their escape.

When Cecil was thirteen, he began to display great aptitude in artistry as well as academics. He loved pottery and sculpting, which actually pleased his stepfather at first. Dale had been a painter most of his life and had dreams of being a renowned artist. But after years of lackluster reception to his work, he embraced the self-pitying “tragic, misunderstood genius” trope, often comparing himself to Vincent Van Gogh. His attempts to “mentor” Cecil soon devolved into passive aggressive put downs, especially when it became obvious that Cecil was far more gifted than he could ever hope to be. So one night he got drunk, and ‘accidentally’ knocked over the table where Cecil kept all his work. He tearfully apologized the next morning and made it up to his stepson by taking him to an art museum where he proceeded to talk only about his tragic, misunderstood self, and barely let Cecil get a word in.

Think Butterscotch Horseman’s monologue in “Free Churro.” In fact, Think of Dale Stedman as a combination of Dale Gribble from King of the Hill and Butterscotch Horseman from Bojack Horseman.

Both Cecil and Margot were very aware of Dale’s habit of getting drunk when he wanted an excuse to get away with something. But while Cecil had long since buried the pain and anger of this particular betrayal, Margot nursed a private grudge that she never forgot, especially since Cecil never dabbled in pottery again. So, the night of their escape, while Dale was drinking in a bar and chatting up anything in a skirt, Margot got a two by four and bashed his truck to smithereens.

Maybe next time he’ll think before he cheats.  

As expected, the military did provide the order Cecil needed. During boot camp, his talent enabled him to go to the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs and get his commission. He excelled in Intelligence, and at twenty-six, he was recruited by the GDA and chose to be a field agent. Finally, a chance to do some real good—and even work with superheroes. He would never be one, but he could help people, he could save lives, and he would never hesitate to throw himself into the most dangerous situations. Unfortunately, that burning self-hatred never left him, and no matter how hard he tried he could never prove to himself that he wasn’t just more pain and suffering brought into the world.

Margot, tragically, died of cancer when Cecil was around thirty, though he had been able to declare her a dependent and lived with her the rest of her life. She never got to see her son become Director of the GDA, but because of him, her wish to find her way home came true.

And yes, Cecil took the Order of the Freeing Fist personally, and would love the South Park episode “Die, Hippie, Die!”

Amber Bennett

Amber, much like Margot Stedman, was bright and opinionated. She loved to eat and play, and was not afraid to make mistakes, even when her parents would punish her for it. And boy, howdy did they punish her. Due to their own trauma, Amber’s parents had a lot of internalized racism and misogyny. Instead of seeing the best in Amber, they saw the worst. Their child was selfish and obnoxious. She needed to think more of others and not see herself as the center of the world. She needed to stop questioning her teachers and just follow the rules. When she was ten, they forced her to see a psychiatrist who misdiagnosed her and forced her to take antidepressants. The medication caused Amber to have both sedated and psychotic episodes. Worst of all, they increased her appetite. When her parents saw her gaining weight, they would subject her to lectures…lectures that would go well into the night and often lasted until sunrise, even on school nights. Amber often had to choose between starvation and sleep.

Amber’s dream had always been to be a performer. In particular, stand up comedy. But in her teenage years, she adapted to a much different darker role. She learned to live by what pleased her parents. Acting strong only pleased them when it was on behalf of others, so she adopted the role of social justice warrior. Getting sent to the principle because she said Columbus never discovered America? Bad. Getting sent to the principle because she stood up for a bullied kid? Good. When she got into volunteer work at fourteen, her parents started dropping hints that she may not need her medicine anymore, so she threw herself into that. When she took a trip to the Phillipines to build schools at sixteen, her parents were so proud they felt she could finally wean herself off. A year later, she was free. Somewhat.  

At seventeen she was harassed by a bully named Todd and handled him more boldly than she would have a year ago. She was no longer drugged, and standing up for herself when bullied, especially by a boy, tended to result in shorter nightly lectures. But years of abuse began to warp her empathy into narcissism. She developed a cruel, entitled streak and felt the world “owed” her for her abuse. She did a damn good job playing social justice warrior after all.

Mark Grayson’s timely arrival enabled her to rescue him from Todd and earn her points with her parents, but privately she thought the worst of him. He, too, was playing a role and wanted something in return. But when Todd beat him up again and he never sought her out, she started watching him. Particularly, she saw him leave with the beautiful Eve Wilkins. When she next tried to talk to him, he had to go right away, and something dark and entitled rose up within her. It only grew darker when she saw him leave with Eve again.

It was fun blackmailing Todd, and her parents never outright forbade dating. They definitely didn’t protest when she revealed she rescued Mark from a bully. To her, dating Mark was kind of like getting off the pills. Not quite freedom, but something that wasn’t restricted. But then he started to bail on her, be late, and always came up with terrible excuses. At first, she put up with it because he never hesitated to grovel or buy her gifts. Best of all, since her parents approved, it also meant going to places that weren’t the damn soup kitchen. After a few months though, her parents expressed their disapproval of her not volunteering more when Mark had to cancel. Maybe she needed to go back on the pills again. No. She was going to the soup kitchen. And guess what? Mark agreed to go with her. In fact, he was very, very eager to.

Then he didn’t show up. Would she be punished for that? Thoughts of revenge began to circulate before Eve informed her Mark had been hit by a bus. Thankfully, her parents didn’t lecture her…for the entire night.

But over the last three weeks, Amber had been piecing something together. Every time Mark was late or never showed, that new hero Invincible was always on the move…and they had the exact same hair and jaw. If she was correct, she knew exactly how to pay him back.

The opportunity arose sooner than expected when, after swallowing Mark’s promises of starting over, the reanimen attacked. As expected, Mark conveniently disappeared…then Invincible showed up. Once the reanimen were defeated, Invincible flew off…and Mark reappeared. And Amber gave one of her best performances ever. She considered celebrating with a one night stand…but he had a girlfriend.

A part of her expected Mark to try and get her back by being honest, and she didn’t hesitate to give it to him again. The so-called freedom wasn’t worth it, and she was almost forced on the pills again because of him. They were done.

Then Amber watches Omni Man’s fight with Mark and something…stirs in her. A flicker of her old empathy. That long since buried self. It makes her feel dead inside. Or maybe she’s finally aware of how she’s felt for over a decade. She goes to Mark after he’s released from the hospital and tells him I’m not what you thought either. I’m good at playing roles. He asks her what she means, but she just sighs, opens her mouth to apologize, but it turns to ash and she leaves without a word.

Mark doesn’t see her again at school. Her parents file a missing person report, but she’s nowhere to be found. He demands Cecil track her down, which he does. Amber is in a homeless shelter across the state. Mark demands to know why she left and what did she mean about playing roles, and she’s forced to confess her story, lest the GDA drag her back to her parents. Mark is, of course, horrified, and pissed that she was just using him. But then he thinks of what his father said during their fight: he was wrong to raise him as a human. He should have raised him as a Viltrumite. What would Mark have become had Nolan indoctrinated him at an early age? Worse than Amber, he realizes. Because unlike Amber, Nolan wouldn’t have needed drugs or physical torture outside of training to turn him into a space Nazi. Mark forgives Amber and asks if there’s anything he can do. Amber replies that what she needs is to forget her old life completely. That includes him. Of course, Mark does not want to accept that, but Amber tells him that by standing up to his father, he did save her. Now all he needs to do is leave her alone. Reluctantly, Mark nods and leaves, shedding tears of grief.

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Debbie Grayson is a Karen and Cecil Stedman is her Abuse Victim

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