But that trash ass “Meant To Be” song by Bebe Rexha & Florida Georgia Line, which straight up uses a trap beat, counts as country tho, okay 🙄🙄🙄🙄
“Embrace enough elements of today’s country” oh you mean the songs about trucks, beers, (white)girls, and driving down backcountry roads with a splash of white nationalism and nativism?
This shit go tho 😭 they hatin 🙄
Smh, they need to let him have that. That shit slap.
You know the main problem with the “live action” Lion King? Why it looks so lifeless?
The hyper realistic style is actually limiting the animators, rather than freeing them. The style makes it much harder to have memorable character designs and good expressions. Real lions don’t need to do things like emote in a way that humans can understand – but characters in a film do. The original movie was more cartoony not due to animation limitations of the time, but because that style genuinely serves the story better.
To show you what I mean, compare these two shots of Simba, from right after Scar says “run away and never return.”
Here is a clear reaction, with a strong beat for us to connect with before the character makes a decision. Even without any dialogue, even without any context, you can understand the emotion there just by the expression and the mannerisms. Is it realistic? No! He’s bright yellow and has eyebrows. But do we empathize with him? Yes!
Meanwhile, here is… a lion. Turning and running. No expression, no beats, no character moments, nothing. He actually can’t express himself because the animators are locked into the realistic style. If they tried to animate a strong expression as warranted for the scene, it would look terrible. Is it realistic? Hell yeah! Look at those textures! Look at that fur! But do we empathize with him? …nah. Not really.
To conclude: when you’re retelling Hamlet with a bunch of animated lions, cartoonish-ness is your friend, not your enemy.
no hate for u specifically op, b/c ur far from the first person I’ve seen making this argument, but I’m getting sick of ppl failing to grasp that realism isn’t the failure here
one of the most beautiful movies I’ve ever seen– and easily one of the most realistic in terms of CGI animals– is Guardians of Ga’hoole
now I’m not gonna get into how the movie was adapted or how certain changes may or may not have affected the story/characters, I’m only talking aesthetic and style here
and y’know what this highly realistic style does?
it delivers scenes like this
realism doesn’t just make this scene look real– it punches you in the goddamn gut with the color, framing, and intense zoom-in
and what about the characters? do they show any real emotion?
look at these expressions– these microexpressions! I bet you can easily name every expression here w/o even knowing the context of the scenes! and the realism is absolutely critical here– from the slight pulse of contracting pupils, to a twitch of the cheek. realism shines best in the subtle details
the people animating Ga’hoole clearly had a clear, vibrant vision which they were passionate to deliver. they knew how to bend light and color to grip the audience, they knew how to map gorgeous landscapes and feathered bodies alike, and most importantly they knew where to emphasize owl body language vs. where to emphasize anthropomorphic body language
realism isn’t failing these stories– Disney is
Disney doesn’t fucking care about these stories. if they did, then we’d be getting more Ga’hoole-esque realism– it’s not like they don’t have the budget for it compared to other studios. they rly don’t have any excuse beyond apathy, b/c ppl are gonna shill out to see any movie Disney’s name is attached to, no matter how shit
I have a great respect for both cartoony and realistic styles, and I’m tired of ppl blaming the tool instead of the person wielding it
Here’s an interesting point of characterization I’ve seen in TAZ: Taako’s passivity, and how it defines him and his arc.
Now, Taako isn’t lazy. He’s described as “never satisfied” by the judges in cycle 65, he goes out of his way to learn new things - he taught himself magic when he’d forgotten he knew it, he invented surfing, he learned an entire language from scratch on the animal plane. However, he can come off as lazy because of one catchphrase: “Taako’s good out here.”
I would say that isn’t laziness. That’s passivity. Taako does not want to initiate anything. He doesn’t want to start a fight, he doesn’t want to get into trouble, he wants to keep himself safe. That’s perfectly in character for him. It’s set in contrast to “Magnus rushes in.” It makes sense - he stays where he is, he doesn’t move.
Which is what makes his moments of action that much more powerful. Think about Arms Outstretched - instead of remaining passive, Taako takes action, flinging his soul out of his body towards Magnus. Even running across the sapphire mirror to Kravitz is a moment of action that’s special - he cares about these people, so he actively goes to them.
But his most powerful moments are those that the combine action and passivity, and I want to talk about two of them, both in the finale.
The first is when he’s explaining his idea that will save everyone and everything, and he says -
Taako: Listen, all that thing wants on Earth, the thing it wants more than anything else, we have been basically trolling it for a hundred years. The only thing it wants, is to pick us up and absorb us into itself. And I don’t know about you all, but Taako’s good out here. (via @tazscripts)
There it is - his trademark catchphrase of passivity, but here, it isn’t about a lack of action, it’s about staying steadfast and standing strong. What has been a signifier of Taako’s caution and wish to keep himself safe have expanded to a stance of protection - a radical idea, a deconstruction of a world of tar or a world of ash into there’s a third option. They don’t have to choose between running or hiding. Taako’s option - the option, ironically, of rushing into the Hunger - is staying and standing and fighting. Instead of staying back and not engaging, Taako’s unmoving posture here is standing firm and saying no, you move.
Which brings me to the second moment, from the last episode.
Griffin: Holy shit. Alright, here’s the scene. Merle and Magnus, you see Taako step up and say bye, and stick out the KrEbStAr in front of him, and from his glaive, a column of green wind launches outward and connects with John. And you see John screaming and you—it almost looks like he is being peeled out of that portal as this wind is just kind of tearing him apart. But you also see Taako and it looks like the power and fury of this attack is knocking him off of his feet.
[Arms Outstretched music plays]
Travis: I put my hand on Taako’s shoulder to help brace him.
Clint: I throw myself down to wrap my arms around his legs to hold him to the ground.
Justin: I reach into my fuckin’ bag and grab my Immovable Rod. I’m not going fuckin’ anywhere. (via @tazscripts)
Significant in this scene, first of all, is the fact that Arms Outstretched plays over it. As I said previously, Arms Outstretched is a scene of Taako’s action, a scene where he puts himself in danger, throws himself into the fray, so to speak, to rescue Magnus.
This moment is a pinnacle of the combination of that action with Taako’s now-established standing firm. He’s at the front, casting a spell that is destroying the avatar of something they’ve all been fighting for over a century, and he starts to be blown away, but his friends grab on and hold him fast. He holds himself fast.
Taako isn’t running away. He isn’t staying at the back. He’s right there in front, but his power isn’t in rushing in, but standing firm. Taako is Lup’s anchor, and there’s a good reason for that. He knows who he is, and he, in this moment, is fully himself. In this moment, he is the most Taako he could be. He is multidimensional, a fully realized creation, and he isn’t going fuckin’ anywhere.
idk im a lesbian but jane and roxy give me the distinct vibe of “holy shit there is going to be SUCH a messy divorce if these two ever held hands”. like they fight over dinner and bring out the absolute worst in each other and then…just get a fucking divorce like normal people and suddenly! can interact with each other again! like normal people!
roxy: oh hon what did u do 2day
jane: Oh, I just finished the paperwork for rebranding Crockercorp! Luckily I’ll be able to reestablish the storefronts and factories pretty easily because I bought out some carapacian neighborhoods, haha. And there’s a shareholder meeting at six, so will you be alright if I miss dinner? I’ll probably be back by ten thirty but–
roxy, already halfway out the window, sobbing as she throws her wedding ring and making a phone call to her soulmate/wife/galpal, calliope: /r/legaladvice how do i divorce girl elon musk please help me
