Comedy can be a very powerful social tool. Through humor people can critique politics, point out hypocrisies in our cultures and people, or give us a means to observe the sociology of our beings. Satire is the most commonly known term for this form of comedy and many of the most famous “stand up” comedians tend to use this type of satirical humor. For example George Carlin, Bill Maher, Lewis Black, and Margaret Cho.
In the two videos, below, we can see the work of a couple brilliant comedians working with this satirical technique to confront important political and social issues in their comedic routines, and I will attempt to give a brief thought on what occurs within each of these satirical monologues.
Dave Chappelle is one of the most recognized African-American comedians in the US. He’s mostly known for the comedy sketch program “Chappelle’s Show”, which featured risqué humour as well as social commentary dressed in a mocking tone. He was also quite phenomenal while doing stand up. In this routine, he discusses how society views men who are victims of sexual violence.
Mr. Chappelle, definitively, hits the nail on the head in this routine. Men are expected to “man-up” after experiencing traumatic events, and are bizarrely anticipated to always be able to defend themselves. Men are constantly propelled to feeling shame if they don’t live up to these expectations. However, I don’t exactly agree with Mr. Chappelle that society is just super nice to female victims of sexual violence; there’s a lot of victim blaming there as well.
On an not-so-off note: regarding the topic of preventing sexual violence, check out these superb ads on the subject.
Maz Jobrani is a Iranian-born American comedian who is a part of the excellent comedy group “Axis of Evil”. In his unique satirical style, he critiques and explores subjects such as racism, Islamophobia, and on his own identity of being Iranian/American. Many of his routines excavate and evaluate Iranian, as well as American, politics. In the clip featured below, he talks about his of upbringing in the crux of “manhood”.
The monologue directly confronts the suppression of “weak” emotions that the male is “suppose” to suppress and ignore. Social norms operate often to curtail men in regard to entirely express emotions. Needless to say this suppression is not the greatest of ideas. It’s good that Mr. Jobrani satireizes such upbringing, but he does make an unfortunate implication in the very end. Pity, but still funny insight on the subject if one ignores the very last bit.
Hope these two clips gave you some good laughs, and raised some thoughts!
Unfortunately for me, I have two upcoming exams at my University, so for a short while I won’t be able to post very much, or anything, for the next couple of weeks. But I promise to add a new post come 14th January!
I apparently wrote 54 post in 2011. That’s rougly one post per week. I will try and post much more this year 🙂
Christmas is on the way, so I decided to do a post with a theme for the holiday. A common thing for the holiday’s is one will write about their favorite films centering on Christmas, but I tend to enjoy such subject mattered cartoon shorts slightly more. Thus this article will feature some of my favorite cartoon Christmas specials and an explanation of why I am fond of these particular shorts. Most of these are episodes from shows I enjoy watching, but not all.
“For Whom The Sleigh Bell Tolls” from “American Dad!” – This is a pretty much hit and miss show, sliding between brilliance and dullness from episode to episode. But I can’t deny that this episode has everything I would like to see more often in a Christmas centered episode: bizarre re-telling of Christmas traditions, adventure, light social commentary, and, of course, a lesson on the importance of family union. It starts off with the father of the shows main family, Stan Smith, giving his fourteen year old son Steve a gun behind his wife Francine’s back. While practicing shooting, Steve accidently kills a man he assumes to be a mall Santa. Stan convinces his son to not tell anyone about the incident, and after Francine discovers what has happened, the whole family together buries the dead man in the woods, hoping they can put the horrific accident behind them. However, they soon receive threatening letters, and after discovering the unmarked grave to be empty, the Smiths realize the man they thought Steve killed was the real Santa Claus and he’s out for revenge…
The story in its self is already surrealistically hilarious and the animation is actually pretty good, as well as the final showdown between Santa and the Smiths being a very entertaining, and visually ironic, action sequence. The twist of Santa being a crazed vendetta seeking individual is particularly delightful in a perverse sense and sends the narrative in odd and satisfying directions. There’s also a very good subplot of how Stan has to learn to accept his daughter Hayley’s new husband as being a part of the family, as well as Hayley’s new husband (his name is Jeff) divining a direction and means to respond to Stan’s mean spirited behavior. Francine is a delightful combination of a wise as well as a bit of an amoral person, and it’s darkly, painfully funny to see how Steve develops from a nerdy innocent young boy into a gun nut. Not only one of the best animated Christmas centered episodes, but also one of “American Dad’s” best episodes.
“Depth Takes A Holiday” from “Daria” – This choice may come off as way cheat to some, but Christmas is a pretty major driving factor in the only fantasy based episode from the show. The Plot centers around the unlikely event of Daria suddenly encountering Cupid, the spirit of Valentine’s Day, and a Leprechaun, the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day on her way home. They tell Daria that Christmas, Halloween and Guy Fawkes Day have all left the Island of Holidays, the resident home for all Holidays. However, since the recent runaways were the three most popular holidays, the natural order of both the High School like Island as well as the normal world have gone berserk and it’s up to Daria and her friend Jane to convince Christmas and the other popular holidays to return to their home – otherwise the world can kiss Christmas, Halloween and Guy Fawkes Day good bye.
The best thing about this episode is that it not only is a good episode to watch on Christmas, but it also serves as a good Halloween, Valentine’s Day or St. Patrick ’s Day’s episode (not to mention Guy Fawkes Day). I also like how Daria, the heroine of the episode, keeps her trademark deadpan sarcastic attitude throughout the episode no matter how weird things become (or where ever she finds herself). The whole tone of the episode is pretty cynical as well, as the major threat portrayed with a world lacking Christmas and Halloween is only the decrease of shoppers for candy and presents ( Which Daria and Jane point out is not necessarily a horrible effect for the condition in which our world finds itself). Having a whole episode about Holidays and making it entirely skeptic about the often optimistic philosophies people have about Holidays is pretty brave and a rare move and the critique of consumerism is laid out by Daria and Jane early on in the episode. Absurd and sardonically comical, this is episode is a good watch for any holiday season.
“She of Little Faith” from “The Simpsons” – This episode from the Simpsons is mostly known for the canon decision of making Lisa, the eight-year old girl in the family, a Buddhist. Lisa grows concerned that the church has grown too materialistic for her, which leads her to find a new faith in Buddhism. While this decision makes Lisa very happy, her family as well as the rest of the members of the church are greatly displeased with her new way of life, and therefore attempt to make Lisa convert back to Christianity by using Christmas as bait. As one could guess, Lisa doesn’t respond to this plan coolly…
While Christmas originally is a Christian holiday, it has become more and more of a holiday many non-Christian people could celebrate as well (I myself celebrate it despite being very much an atheist!). This episode gently and beguilingly highlight the manner in which different beliefs can come together in the spirit of fellowship and kindness which the holiday entails and which the episode “She of Little Faith” brilliantly does by focusing on Buddhism. The Episode is an open song to tolerance as a main theme which we can all free to embrace. The episode’s end is touching in how Lisa resolves her conflict with her family, showing how everyone can have a nice holiday after they decide the most important thing is love and compassion, not who you pray to (or if you pray at all).
“A Huey Freeman Christmas” from “The Boondocks” – Here’s another somewhat cynical Christmas special, but it does also feature some of the sweetest moments in the series. Huey, a ten year old who is much wiser than his young years, gets the chance to direct as well as write his School’s Christmas Play. Huey dismisses the opportunity first since he “doesn’t give a damn about Christmas”. However, after his grandfather ignores his attempt to explain the actual history of the Christmas holiday, Huey becomes determined to make the school play so people will see his vision of the holiday. He soon becomes rather obsessed with the project, causing him to lose sleep, alienates those around him, becomes a bit of “fatcat” and in the end faces an absurd charge of racism from the school staff regarding his wish to cast Jesus as black (But he is from the Middle East, Huey points out to no avail). Meanwhile, his younger troublemaking brother Riley terrorizes Mall Santa’s, as well as their neighbor Jazmine who is a devout Santa worshipper (confusing the story of Jesus with Santa’s to hilarious effect in the episode).
The episode has very sad moments, but surprisingly has quite happy and side-splittingly funny moments as well. The beginning features Jazmine having a dream of preaching the word of Santa in a gospel church, which is cute in its portrayal of childlike innocence and confusion and makes a mocking comment on fairy tales told to children. Huey’s idealism butts heads with the adult world he lives in rather roughly, but he strongly stands his ground, as his character often does in the show. It is always inspiring to watch. Robert, Huey’s and Riley’s grandfather, is shown in a rare tender moment in the episode when he tenderly carries the sleeping Huey to bed, which is a mere second long scene in the show, but still summons a “aw” from the audience. Over all, it is also honest in its portrayal of how life doesn’t always work out as we would like it to. (However, most of the characters get a happy ending, especially one of Huey’s nicer teacher’s who attempts to embrace, though a bit naively, tolerance and multiculturalism).
“A Very Special Family Guy Freakin´ Christmas” from “Family Guy” – The plot of this episode centers on the Griffith family getting ready for the Holiday, with the mother Lois doing most of the work. Peter, her husband, is not helping out much and causes disaster after disaster. Lois tries to be reasonable and level headed, but, finally, after only wanting to clean up one of the disasters thrown at her, and realizing she has no paper towels to help her grapple with the mess, Lois experiences the ultimate meltdown in one of the best freak-outs ever animated.
This episode is a pretty goofy and over the top but is a spot on depiction of all the stress and disasters Christmases, and the holidays, can sometimes contain. Poor Lois truly puts everything into these two special days (which she thinks is a time of good cheer and union), trying to make things joyous even when they take a turn for the very worst. the episode is hilarious, while addressing how unfairly all the responsibility was given to Lois to handle. This makes the ending, where things turn out for the worst for Lois but good for the rest of the family, quite bittersweet. While I do think “Family Guy” as a show can be pretty bad at times (The Series started strong n the first three seasons, but has taken a bit of a dive since), this episode is still very good and pretty unusual with it’s not quite jolly ending.
The Stress Got to Lois
“How the Grinch stole Christmas!” (1966) – This is one of the most famous short animated films ever to be made. Based on a book by Dr. Seuss, the short is directed by Chuck Jones (and animated in the classic Chuck Jones style!) and Ben Washam, as well as the entire script being read by Boris Karloff. Karloff’s voice is capturing, as well as the rhymes and lines used in the story being memorable. There’s also the main characters theme song, “You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch” which is an classic and iconic “the Villain Sucks” song.
The Story centers on the tale of the Grinch, a green creature who lives up in the mountains alone. He dislikes everything about Christmas, and therefore comes up with the plan to steal Christmas from the “Who’s down in “Whoville”. This short is referenced a lot in other Christmas specials, so if you haven’t seen this special yet, you should for the “education” (for instance, it is referenced in episodes of the Simpsons, PJ’s, South Park, and on and on).
“Woodland Critter Christmas” from “South Park” – Absurdity and winter wonder has never been mixed as magnificently as in this South Park episode! Stan, one of the four young protagonists in the series, comes across a group of cliché-like cute talking animals and gets dragged into helping them with various tasks after the female porcupine becomes pregnant despite being a virgin. The animals tell Stan that their savior is on the way. However, he must kill a mountain lion that is known to eat their savior. Stan does so, only to realize that the pregnant porcupine is not pregnant with a seed from god, but from Satan, thus making it possible for the anti-Christ to be born…
“South Park” has made a lot of great Christmas episodes, this being perhaps the funniest one. Stan’s reaction to everything happening around him is great, the twist at the near end of the episode is pretty surprising and it is packed with rich jokes. It’s also a fun deconstruction of cuteness, making the sweet cuddly Disneyesque animals malevolence and demonic wouldbe destroyers of the world. And one shouldn’t miss out on how the day is saved at the end of the episode. Just a pure enjoyable Christmas special.
So there are my favorite animated shorts with the upcoming holiday’s theme. Hope you all have a nice Christmas/Holiday Season which is upon us!
And lastly here are a couple honorable mentions of Christmas/Holiday Specials which you should see when the chance arises:
“Marge Be Not Proud” (The Simpsons) – A beautiful, beautiful depiction of Mother-Son relationships during the holiday.
“Red Sleigh Down” (South Park) – Camp, camp and more excellent camp all the way through!
I recently, and finally, saw one of DreamWorks’ newest blockbusters, “Kung Fu Panda 2”, which according to Imdb is, since September this year, the biggest box office success for a film with a female director, that director being Jennifer Yuh. Ms. Yuh is one of the few women who have directed major animated blockbusters films, which I have mentioned in my older post “Rise of the Damsel”. I didn’t like the first “Kung Fu Panda” film, as a mentioned as well in my previous post. However I didn’t really explain why. I will do so here before reviewing the sequel: I strongly disliked that the panda Po was cast as the quintessential and main hero in the narrative arc of the story. His attitude in the story seemed to be that everything should just be handed to him, without working for it (as the other characters have done exclusively). He dreams of becoming a master of Kung Fu, but when he is given the chance to learn martial arts he doesn’t show up to classes or at least try to do anything (Spoiler!: until his teacher withholds food from him). I also disliked how Tigress, a fierce warrior who had devoted her whole life to Kung Fu, was pushed aside and replaced by the distracted Po merely because the storyline posits him as “destined to be the great heroic warrior”. It felt like the writers of the screenplay were stating that even if women (or anybody else for that matter) can be great fighters, men (as the chosen of society) are just automatically better (even if all common sense would say otherwise) because, hey, they are males after all. Luckily, the sequel gives a much better treatment of Tigress’ character and even Po’s character development handled in a much better fashion this time around. The villain is deliciously enjoyable and the animation is ten times better, as well as the themes brought up being a lot more interesting.
The film starts with giving us a brief back-story to the villain Lord Shen, a peacock and son to two powerful monarchs who ruled over Gongmen City. After the invention of Fireworks, Lord Shen sees the potential in the explosives for powerful weapons and uses this in his attempt to take over the whole of China and subjugate it to his will. However, Lord Shen learns from a prophecy that he will be defeated by a warrior of “black-and-white”, which leads to him nearly exterminating all Pandas. His parents, horrified by this act, banish him from the kingdom. Lord Shen leaves, swearing revenge. The film then focuses on Po, who is now a celebrity hero in his hometown and good friends with his fellow Kung Fu masters. However, his relationship with his father becomes troublesome when he finds out he’s adopted – which is no surprise to anyone else, considering he’s father is a goose and he’s a panda (a reoccurring joke which is peppered throughout the film). Po is struck with identity crises, but gets little time to resolve it as Po and his warrior friends must travel to Gongmen City to stop Lord Shen, who threatens Kung Fu with his new weapon.
The film addresses adoption and parent-child relationships well. Po’s father is loving and supportive and proud of his son, while Po on the other hand is confused about his emotions, constantly seeking out answers to his past. This makes Po act quite cold and diffident towards his affectionate father. Usually, in children’s films, the parents are portrayed as unreasonable and/or unable to understand their children, however in this film it is the child, Po, who is in the wrong here, not being able to appreciate the love he has gotten and still receives. Naturally, Po wants to know where he comes from and what his roots are and he is constantly bedeviled with worries that he might not have been loved by his “natural” parents prompting them to abandon him in his infancy. Po’s identity crisis is pretty well portrayed; the viewer can sympathize with his situation, but he’s unable to express his problems to others, which causes major problems during his and his friend’s mission to stop Lord Shen. My only complaint of the portrayal of this conflict is that the way Po resolves his problem is a little simple, and he never seems to realize how his attitude towards his adoptive father did, well… kind of sucked. But kudos to James Hong who voiced Mr. Ping the goose father, he did an excellent job capturing a loving and kind parent’s voice. Especially the scene where Mr. Ping tells Po how he ended up raising him as a son, which no doubt was one of the most heart-warming scenes in the film.
One of the overriding and major themes played with in “Kung Fu Panda 2” is usage of advanced weapons. The film is highly critical of the usage of these weapons of “mass destruction”. The message of the film seems to be against using gunpowder, which holds the position of a trope of the indiscriminate killing device, as a form of fighting, which is good admittedly in regard to our age of drones and cluster-bombs. However, the main critique seems to come from the idea that usage of weaponry eliminates martial arts. And here’s where I’m a little conflicted; I don’t believe in fire arms or other advanced weaponry which distance ourselves from our killings and destroy without consequence, and think it’s nice to see a film with a anti-weapon message with this in mind. But is it truly better to say martial arts are much better? The “karate” technique (which is staple action used in the movie) is still positioned as a battle technique and a way to, frankly, beat the crap out of each other? I am not sure saying that technological weapons are bad , but combat in the sense of “hand to hand” resolves the question of violence which is meant to be raised here. Then again, perhaps the film just wants to highlight the fact that weapons of mass scale and indeterminate distance cause a lot more meaningless damage and therefore are used in more “dirty”, unfair and brutal ways in battles, while martial arts are more about clean fights where one has to experience the person on who the violent act is done to. I don’t necessarily agree, since I often hope people could come to agreements by discussions and compromise, but I guess there are situations where that is not perhaps possible. (Interestingly, this is almost always the case in children’s films. Huh…)
Lord Shen, the evil power-hungry pale white peacock villain, is an excellent bad guy. Gary Oldman provides the voice for the mad bird and I have to say he has a real talent in voice acting. Lord Shen is sinister, arrogant and commits crimes pretty vicious for a children’s film. He’s unsettling and a master of manipulation, but also pretty funny at times. Mr. Oldman’s way of delivering his character is perfect and was a perfect casting. Also the design for Lord Shen was brilliant: a pale white peacock with grim red eyes that uses his feathers like sharp knives. According to Ms. Yuh, the character of Shen was extraordinarily difficult to animate and became like animating six characters all at once. Great work was beyond a doubt, and with good effect, put into Lord Shen’s design, for he was by far also the most beautifully animated character and it was a wondrous thrill to see the character in his fight sequences.
Fun fact: there do indeed exist white peacocks, whose colors apparently make them look quite elegant. White, however, is the color of death in Chinese culture; this is why having white feathers marked Lord Shen as the antagonist.
Gary Oldman wasn’t the only one doing impressive voice acting. Michelle Yeoh, who was brilliant as a strong warrior in “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2000) and as one of the determined scientist in “Sunshine” (2007), did a great job on voicing Shen’s former nanny, Soothsayer, combining wise with comically caring. Angelina Jolie was, once again and much better utilized in this sequel, also an outstanding voice for Master Tigress, getting her character to seem both compassionate as well as in charge and sturdy. Kudos to both of these fine actors!
I will quickly give a thought to the films prevailing message regarding the quest and attainment of “Inner Peace”. I am usually quit skeptical of such philosophies, yet I found myself actually liking how inner peace was interpreted in this movie. Basically, what the writers seem to be elaborating in this concept was that a person should attempt to let go of anger and hostility and struggle and see things from a more positive angle in life. Without this one will end, on the perplexing road of existence, by being engulfed in a shallow and dysfunctional bitterness which wreaks havoc on oneself and others. This is what happens to Lord Shen, which ultimately results in a predetermined spiral to self-destruction. Po on the other hand is able to see that things from outside of resentment and, as a consequence, achieves inner peace making him able to function better as a person (meaning warrior in this case) and becoming more “human” in the journey.
Of course, it is sometimes good to be angry. But, who can argue, it is best not to let bitterness and anger control one’s person and life.
“Kung Fu Panda 2” was a pleasing movie experience. Worth a watch definitely.
John Kitzhaber, the democratic governor of Oregon, stated on Tuesday that after allowing two men to be executed a decade ago he has come to regret his decision so much that he will now no longer permit anymore executions to take place while he’s in office. Gov. Kitzhaber announced that the execution of convicted killer Gary Haugen will not go on as scheduled, stating that he’d do the same for any other condemned inmates facing execution during his tenure in office.
Gov. Kitzhaber explained his decision in a honest, touching remark: “I simply cannot participate once again in something that I believe to be morally wrong. It is time for this state to consider a different approach”.
Gov. Kitzhaber has been criticized for being a “coward” for not going through with further executions, but personally I think it is rather brave of Gov. Kitzhaber to stand up for what he believes in and what he thinks is the right thing to do.
Richard Dieter, director of the Death Penalty information center, has said that most politicians are often hesitant to discuss abolishing the death penalty for fear it will anger voters. Kitzhaber’s decision might give confidence to leaders in other states to speak up more.
Let’s all hope.
For a more detailed article on this news, go here.
Today is Halloween, one of the most awesome and cool holidays in the entire year. Unfortunately, I had classes today, so I had to celebrate one day earlier. I had a small party/movie night with my friend Miss Magic Girl. I dressed up this year and went as Scarecrow, the batman villain. My costume was a bit of a mixture of the “Batman Begins” version as well as the re-designed version from “Batman: the animated series”.
I wore my own home-made burlap mask! Here’s some lovely photos:
Since I love all versions of the batman villain Scarecrow, here’s a hilarious clip of the “Batman: the animated series” version, voiced by Henry Polic II. In this scene, the villain has just been re-captured and sent to the insane asylum Arkham Asylum, where he shows off his craziest side, while also having his “Pet The Dog”-moment:
And for Halloween, here’s a video that has the lyrics (but no pictures, sorry for that! Found this on Youtube so…) to Black Sabbath’s song “NIB”, the best song about the devil there is!:
Today’s post is a collection of links to essays and videos of the best parts of three series: “Sex And The Fat Girl” from Bitch Media, “Tropes Vs. Women” from Feminist Frequency, and “Isn’t He Lovely” from Bitch Media (again). I will also have links to some of the funniest articles from Cracked.Com!
“Sex And The Fat Girl” is a series by Tasha Fierce, a feminist who writes the stalled blog “Red Vinyl Shoes”. In this column, she talks about fat female sexuality, attempting to break certain prejudices surrounding the subject as well. Here’s the first part of the series explaining in better detail what her writings all about.
Anita Sarkeesian as a feminist pop culture media critic who produces videos on her website “Feminist Frequency”. In her series “Tropes Vs. Women”, she analyzed and attacked the most offensive tropes used to portray female characters in movies and television shows (as well as in literature and mythology).
Second part was on “Women in Refrigerators”, a trope which mostly shows up in comics. On a personal note, I can mention that I have recently started reading and fallen somewhat in love with comic books, but after watching Sarkeesian’s video on this tropes first since know I am aware of this trope and can read certain comics more critically due to this.
Sarkeesian also tackled the “Evil Demon Seductress”. This trope annoys me the most – I hate it when women’s sexuality, something completely normal, beautiful and a part of everyday life, is portrayed as something dangerous and deadly!
Sarkeesian also made a video on the “Smurfette priciple”, but web critic Nostalgic Chick did one before and just a little better.
CristenCouger is a staff writer at HowStuffWorks.com. In her column “Isn’t he lovely”, she explores how men and male sexuality is viewed and portrayed in society, and what effects it has on male individuals.
She also talks about “the myth of the superior penis”. In this column, she states something that should be obvious: there is no such damn thing as a superior penis.
Crakced.com is a humor site that rages from very good articles too just okay to just bad. I often enjoy there articles about movies, music and comics, like this article on “the 6 most WTF special edition comics ever released”.
Whether we like it or not, we see bad films once in a while. There’s nothing we can do about that. But on the up side, sometimes the horribly made films get one thing right, in most cases a good character that got stuck in the wrong plot. Usually, in my opinion, these unfortunate characters are villains. So I will list a few villains which I enjoyed tremendously despite the otherwise unpleasant context in the films.
The Kingpin from “Daredevil” (2003) – A adaption of Marvel’s comic books, “Daredevil” is one of those films that have a interesting premise but due to unfortunate casting and some weak storytelling fails to deliver. The plot centers on Matt Murdock, a blind lawyer who also is a ruthless vigilante at night. Since Murdock was blinded by toxic waste as a child, his remaining senses were enchanted and greatly enhanced, with his hearing becoming particularly powerful, helping him in his fight against crime. While on his crusade against crime, Murdock goes on to meet the attractive and equally skilled martial artist Elektra Nachios, whose wealthy tycoon father is trying to bring down The Kingpin, a powerful crime lord. As Murdock and Elektra become romantically involved, The Kingpin hires an overly proud and sadistic assassin to get rid of Elektra’s father.
The movie’s biggest flaw is Ben Affleck, playing the main hero, who’s plain and bland expressions make it hard to buy the character of Daredevil. This flaw in the film is truly a pity since having a disabled superhero is a very out of the ordinary idea, as well as having the hero actually try and fight for justice in his more “normal” life as well (Murdock being a lawyer who only takes clients who really need help). Jennifer Gardner as Elektra is painstakingly dull as well in her characterization of the supposedly strong and independent warrior woman. I did enjoy this film the first time I saw it (at the age of twelve), but now I think the only thing that works in the film are the two villains, Bullseye, played by Colin Farrell, who is enjoyable hammy. And The Kingpin, played by Michael Clarke Duncan.
The Kingpin is a huge man with a smug attitude. Like Daredevil, The Kingpin is ruthless, but in his case in his criminal schemes. In the fight scenes, Duncan is more than able to come off as intimidating and the casual violence of The Kingpin’s motivations are, in his words, strictly professional, makes him more than heady stuff . If he can gain power and profit by killing, he’ll do so, which in his mind proves he’s no worse than other power-hungry people. There are many similar kinds of villains with similar motivations, but Duncan’s performance is so spot-on that you won’t forget it. Even if the rest of the film you will.
Loki from “Thor” (2011) – This film is another adaption of a popular Marvel Comic book superhero, but with a less appealing premise than “Daredevil”. The protagonist in this film is the arrogant and hotheaded god of thunder Thor, who after jeopardizing diplomatic relations between the Gods and their former archenemies the Frost Giants, gets sent to earth by his father Odin as punishment. There he meets Jane, a scientist studying storms. While on earth he learns to become more humble, yet at the same moment at Home in Asgard (A different section of the Galaxy?? I guess?) his brother Loki learns that he isn’t one of the gods, but actually an adopted Frost Giant Odin raised in hopes of gaining diplomatic leverage with the Giants. This news breaks Loki’s heart, and after his father falls into a deep sleep he becomes the new king of Asgard. Pleased, with these turn of events, Loki starts plotting…
“Thor” as a movie is a complete mess. The lead character is totally unlikeable, even if he supposedly “grows up” later in the films process. Even if he learns to control his temper, which is good because his anger problem was nearly psychotic, he still seems arrogant at the end of the film. Jane, portrayed by Natalie Portman, is one of the most offensive portrayals of women I’ve seen in years: even if she’s supposed to be a determined mature scientist she behaves like a bratty teenager throughout the film. Which include numerous scenes of her whining, placing blame on others when she fears she’s done something bad and giggles stupidly around Thor, plus helping him do “chores” that no normal human being would consider a good idea. Her female assistant is similar in many too many ways, which made me wonder if the writers of this film hated female intellectuals*. The dialogue in this film made little sense. The only thing that worked in this film was the antagonist, and luckily it worked extremely well.
Loki is a somewhat unusual villain in that he is quite sympathetic. It is impossible to not feel sorry for him, despite the utterly awful things he is thinking of carrying out (which may be one of the most evil thoughts in Cinema, and which this film gives you no sense of in its mess of writing), and some parts of Loki’s speeches and, at times, mere line-deliveries, tug at the heart strings. From the very start of the movie, Loki is shown to have always been the quiet one in his family, outshined by Thor. While Thor is surrounded by friends, Loki stands quietly in the shades, rarely being addressed. When he realizes his father has been lying to him his whole life and thought of him mostly as a politically chit instead of raising him out of love, he becomes desperate to prove himself to Odin at any cost. He loves his “father” despite all the lies; as well as believes what he is doing is ultimately the best for Asgard, which makes him an anti-villain as well as a sympathetic one. At the near end, when Loki explains his actions to Thor, you can see Loki’s eyes tear up, and his speech of a life lacking love and acceptance, and being put continually in the shadows, was expressed so skillfully and powerfully that it nearly tugged a tear out of me. Tom Hiddleston puts a lot of energy in his performance as Loki, making one of the more relatable villains in Superhero movies in a while. Too bad the rest of the movie is pure crap.
Ursula, the sea Witch, from “The Little Mermaid” (1989) – The film that is often seen as the breakthrough for Disney’s renaissance and well-loved, but personally this film rubs me the wrong way completely. Ariel, the main protagonist of the film, is a sixteen year old mermaid who has a deep fascination for humans and longs to become one herself. Her Father, King Triton, a merman and head leader of the merpeople, strongly dislikes Ariel’s interest in the world of humans. As Ariel becomes infatuated with a human prince, King Triton’s patient reaches its limits and he and Ariel have a rather intense quarrel. Ariel finds out there is a way for her to become human: she must strike a deal with Ursula, the sea witch, to gain what she wants. Which she does; she exchanges her voice for a pair of legs and has three days to get the prince to give her the kiss of true love so she can stay human permanently.
Ariel as a heroine is annoying and a pretty bad female character. She puts her friends in danger, she sacrifices everything for a guy she barely knows, incessantly harps on a world she has no real information of (and others try to tell her how violent that world really is, but to no avail), and continually puts herself into dangerous situations for no reason. I also dislike how the film more or less teaches girls to center their life on men and that they have to choose between their father’s world and their husband’s world, no in-between world being possible, as well as the main character not really ever learning from her mistakes. For better critiques on this film, go here for a feminist critique or here for a video debate on the film.
However, the half-human half-octopus witch Ursula is perhaps one of the coolest cartoon villains ever drawn. Ursula is unapologetically ambitious, snarky and unashamedly thirsting for power, using Ariel to get to her father’s throne. Ursula may be merciless and cruel towards the merfolk who make deals with her, yet at the same time she surprisingly and truly cares about her two eel henchmen, Flutsum and Jetsum. This characteristic makes Ursula seem more human and three-dimensional: she is evil, but not to the point where she can’t feel empathy and love. Also, having a villain actually display affection towards someone is very unusual in Disney films. Ursula is probably best known for her villain song, “Poor Unfortunate Souls”, one of the best songs written for children’s cartoons ever, as well as showing off the films villain in all her manipulating glory. “The Little mermaid” is a problematic film, but the villain is awesome and pure joy to watch.
“Poor Unfortunate Souls”, with the fabulous villain Ursula!
Hades from “Hercules” (1997) – This film is very loosely based on Greek Mythology, but in all its perplexing glory is really a rambling telling of Disney’s own version of Hercules. Born a god-birthing to Zeus and Hera, Hercules has become a mortal, though one with super-strength, through the failed mechanism of a kidnapping which leaves him stranded on the earth far below Olympus. He is raised by loving mortal parents, but after discovering he’s is in actuality the son of Zeus the hero, as is their station, goes on a quest to earn back his place at the side of the other gods as well as his immortality.
The film is a bad mixture of lame modern day references, plot holes and underdeveloped characters. Hercules is a dull hero, who also comes off as stringently uncaring for the confines of friends and family and we find him quite casually abandoning loving parents for another more “famous and powerful” dad, and constantly bathing in his own idea of his “greatness”.
The songs are annoying in this film, but luckily forgettable. I did really like Hercules’ cynical love interest Megara, and her song about not wanting to fall in love, but other than that the only thing I really enjoyed was the villain Hades.
Few comical villains are done just right, Hades being one of them. James Woods is perfect as the voice talent, imitating the stereotypical car sales men. Like Ursula, Hades likes to make “deals” with the films protagonists that are highly unfair, while all the while making sarcastic remarks regarding the protagonist certain and inevitable doom. However Hades, as a character, is persistently motivated by his evil to abuse his henchmen, which makes him more “pure evil” than Ursula. Hades, even with this slight drawback, delivers many rich, memorable lines, and is pretty powerful, almost winning in the film (which may have improved the film).
Dr. Jonathan Crane, AKA Scarecrow from “Batman Begins” (2005) – As I have mentioned in my Inception review, I am not a fan of Nolan’s Batman movies, mostly due to Christian Bale’s performance of Bruce Wayne/Batman, who is annoying as Bruce Wayne and not at all intimidating or sympathetic as the vigilante. Katie Holmes as Bruce’s childhood friend and “love interest” Rachel does such a horrible acting job that it was near comical. Batman makes big speeches about how it’s wrong to kill, but three times in the film commits acts that would most certainly take lives (driving in a fury to the Batcave, flipping over police cars on the way in the middle of the film; blowing up a building in the near beginning of the film; tying a man up on a huge light, which all science would say would have fried the man alive) making that rule (not to take life in his vigilant role) seem like a joke. Which it shouldn’t since it’s a darn good rule.
And as a mild spoiler, I can say that the main villain is a dull, tedious bad guy. Liam Neeson, who plays that villain, nearly put me to sleep, making me question whether or not he was even doing an effort in his role. Frankly, the reveal of the big bad was what killed the movie for me.
The savior for this film is one of the “minor” villains Dr. Jonathan Crane, a psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum who helps powerful mobs by “diagnosing” their caught hit men as insane, thus sending them to the Asylum instead of prison. This way the mob can (somehow) keep their strong position. However, Jonathan has a more selfish reason for his help: he has developed fear-inducing toxins, and likes to use his patients as human guinea pigs for his experiments, where he takes on his alter ego “Scarecrow”. Crane is a strong believer in the minds power and ultimate influence over the body, and uses his toxins to paralyze people with fear; he is also able to drive people permanently insane with his toxins. Even if not a very strong person or physically threatening, Cranes wits and weapons are far more terrifying than any brutish personality would ever be.
Cillian Murphy, who plays Scarecrow, perfectly embodies the creepiness and sliminess of this villain. Throughout the film he speaks in a calm, gentle tone, dressing in sharp suits even when going out to do evil biddings, portraying this villain as a poster boy for the term “sophisticated evil”, as well as making him a bit of a seductive monster. Dr. Crane does what he does, it seems, mostly because he can; which perhaps is the most unsettling thing about the character. He is evil merely because he can be. His character is evasively clever and decidedly smart enough to manipulate, as well as have the devilishly creative genius to form the toxins which drive others mad, yet lacks empathy, which as his motto states: “Sucks to be you, Gotham!”. Murphy apparently read a lot of Batman comics featuring Scarecrow while discussing with Nolan how the villain should be formed and function, and it shows: His interpretation of Scarecrows personality is similar to the ones in the comics, but less theatrical. I have absolutely no complaints about this villain, except for the fact that he is not the main villain. I would probably been able to over look all the other flaws in this film if The Scarecrow would have been just that: The Major Villain, and the Focus of Fear (and the actor which does it right out of the whole thing).
Scarecrow makes a powerful crime boss one of his victims. I’m Scare-roused**!
It’s hard to summarize what all of these villains do just right (inside of the evil villain gig), since they are all very divergent characters: some you feel sorry for despite the evil things they do, some you fear with great viewer satisfaction due to the fact that they steep in a seductive evil just for the sake of it. However, inside of the films in which these villain antogonists are featured, they hold a presence and become a singular point sense in the nonsensical context of the movies in which they, sadly are made to appear. They are the succulent and subtle treat you get along side of a direful mass of a tasteless dish!
*Just want to say that Sigourney Weaver played a much better example of a female scientist in James Cameron’s “Avatar” (2009). The movie is very mediocre, but Weavers character is more of how Blockbuster films should portray of a female scientist.
Weaver in "Avatar"
** “Futurama” reference, the main character says this about some women he encounters in the episode “Fry am the Egg Man”
Whether we like it or not, are aware of it or not, we tend to become influenced by medias and cultural phenomenon’s. Sometimes in pretty bad ways. Luckily, as human beings, we are able to analyze and re-think what we’re told and what we see and hear around us! So here’s some articles tackling medias and certain aspects of popular culture.
As a final note, here’s the music video to Evanescence’s song, “Everybody’s Fool”. Not the best song from the group, but the video does take some pretty spot on shots at advertisement as well as addresses how medias effect people negatively when it comes to body image.
Ruby Soup with Pearl Juice 