- Me: honestly im just so evil. so full of darkness. i feed off the souls of the living i strike fear into-
- Friend: you sleep with a teddy bear
- Me: hes my sECOND IN COMMAND IN MY ARMY OF DARKNESS
Jupiter Ascending + Text Posts
Jupiter Ascending - more than sequins in space!
Okay, this is where I talk about Jupiter Ascending. Those of you not interested, or who have decided that this over-the-top homage to space operas and Regency romance tropes is not for you, feel free to scroll on by! I may not agree with your opinions, but I respect them; IT IS OKAY TO NOT LIKE THE THING.
Warning: spoilers are under the “Read More”. General wittering is before that.
- This movie is a big-budget glittery dream. Every penny of that multi-million dollar budget is on screen, and HOW. Space craft that are designed to look like lionfish! Art Nouveau levitating sedan chairs! Enormous cathedral-like spaces filled with hundreds of flickering candles! Everyone in space has some sort of shimmery, textural details to their costumes! GLITTERY SPACE ROYALTY SWATHED IN SILK AND SEQUINS! The design aesthetic for this movie is glorious, and I am here for every Swavorski-crystal covered bit of it. Yes, I intend to start accenting my lipstick with single rhinestones, NO ONE CAN STOP ME.
- This movie is not rooted in the Hero’s Journey monomyth. This is not a quest epic where the main character learns lessons about themselves, about friendship, loyalty, hardship, and comes out the other side with their status as The Special One confirmed. Which, as I mentioned briefly in a previous Tumblr post, is what I think caused parts of the general viewing audience to side-eye the plot and characterization. Familiarity, even on an unconscious level, with the monomyth means that viewers can make narrative jumps and assume motivations for character actions that aren’t explicitly spelled out or explained. If you’re (TOTALLY UNDERSTANDABLY) distracted by the sparkle and explosions, not having the familiar framework of the monomyth to fall back on means Jupiter Ascending can feel a lot like choose-your-own-adventure fanfic. And there is NOTHING wrong with interacting with the film on that level, because it’s bombast with a female lead, and everything is either glittery or exploding! But the film does hold up to a more in-depth reading, honest!
Regency romance tropes! No, really.
penpenhooray