“Still, even though David wrestles with mental illness that feels cloudy in description and specificity, there are moments when Legion touched a nerve of emotional truth with his experience — such as whenever David struggled with the idea of whether he is worthy of love and can change as a person despite his troubled nature. The series finale ends on an image of baby David cooing in his crib against yellow satin, his whole life laid out before him. We don’t get any answers to what that future will look like. Will the love of a solid family make him into a better man? When the time comes, will he accept help for his mental-health struggles? Will he use his power to aid instead of harm?
The image of young David in his crib is not what will stay with me from this final season. Legion’s most beguiling visuals are elsewhere in the psychedelic enchantment of David’s cult, the jittering visage of the Time Eaters, the ecstatic villainy of Lenny as she crawled on top of a table in a forest that hearkens to Alice in Wonderland. But the message Legion lands on in its closing moments — a hopeful one that suggests that we can remake ourselves and even the world into something better — is perhaps its boldest gambit. Ultimately, Legion is a series of bristling enchantment and wonder, even when it failed to live up to the fascinating threads of family and mental illness that it wove into its story of superhero power.” [Via]
Tag: x-men
GABBLER RECOMMENDS: What’s Behind Pop Culture’s Love for Silent, Violent Little Girls?
“Because as soon as the embargo for Logan broke, my feed was filled with film writers, including many female film writers, claiming that Laura was “kick-ass,” “a little badass,” or “#goals.” Gut reactions don’t lie, but I couldn’t help but think that here we are, a bunch of smart, opinionated adult women, identifying with a silent little girl.
And that’s fine. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves: Laura and her ilk aren’t characters. And their age and increasing silence has become a handy crutch for writers who might otherwise have a harder time bringing female leads to life. (Look to the lackluster characterization of Stranger Things’ Nancy and Joyce for evidence of this.) So while the device aims for gee-whiz novelty — A little girl who can fight? Now I’ve seen everything! — it ends up being a part of a fusty and familiar trend in genre writing.
…
But the age issue is not as telling as the silence is. One only need to look to Game of Thrones’ Arya Stark — another killer girl paired up with a gruff older man — to see how far a modicum of thoughtful writing can take you. Arya is rebellious and prickly, and as the seasons go on, defined by her personal code and desire to avenge her family. But the way she communicates — with her teachers, with her allies, with her enemies — is how we see her grow and gain a better understanding of the world and her own values. Part of this can be chalked up to the benefit of long-term TV storytelling. And part of it is that Arya exists on a continuum alongside many other interesting female characters and does not bear the weight of being The Girl.
…
What’s more, a story about a group of lab escapees is very different, thematically, than a story about a bunch of born mutants. The X-Men, with their myriad origin stories and socioeconomic backgrounds, represent the collective experience of discovering who you are — an oftentimes horrifying discovery at first — and then growing up and into your own strengths and weaknesses. Laura and her peers, on the other hand, are trauma survivors, defined by a thing that happened to them. That’s every bit a valid story, perhaps more resonant with these times, but years of experience at the movies tells us that it’s far more subject to writerly laziness. Hopefully the success of Logan gives whoever inherits the X-23 story license to think outside the damaged-woman box. But so often these writers invite such horrific circumstances on their characters — needles! Bright lights! Vats of mysterious liquid! Straitjackets! — that they have no fuel left when it comes to the person herself. Inventing forms of torture, it would seem, comes easier to them than inventing a complex human — or mutant.”
[Via]
GABBLER RECOMMENDS: Legion TV show
Feeling bummed about that Logan ending? Watch this to take your mind(s) off it. The season is getting really, really good.
“It’s a reasonable question, given that the show circles around the David Haller character, who has been wreaking havoc across the superhuman-redolent Marvel Comics universe for decades. But Legion is an odd duck. In an era where the global entertainment economy is fueled by a thick stream of barely distinguishable superhero movies and television, Hawley’s project feels blissfully unique.” [Via]
EPIC CATALOG: Couples who can’t touch
Act on those feelings and there can be disastrous consequences…
1.Rouge and whoever – X-Men
2.The Piemaker and Chuck – Pushing Daisies
3.David and Sid – Legion
4. Alisha and Curtis – Misfits
Who else should be added?
GABBLER RECOMMENDS: LOGAN Trailer #1
Much claws. Much redemption for other Wolverine movies. Much wow.