[ SECRET POST #4245 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4245 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.



__________________________________________________



02.
[Jupiter Ascending]


__________________________________________________


03.
[Super Junior]


__________________________________________________



04.
[Spyro Reignited Trilogy]


__________________________________________________



05.
[Penn Jillette (and The Amazing Randi)]


__________________________________________________



06.
[D.E.B.S.]











Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 33 secrets from Secret Submission Post #607.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 1 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Jupiter Ascending is literally, beat for beat, the same plot as The Matrix, except draped in jewel-toned space opera aesthetic instead of black leather cyperpunk aesthetic and a girl MC instead of a boy. It is exactly the same blend of shallow philosophy, a fun scifi gimmick, and in-your-face anticapitalist exploitation metaphors. It's a huge heap of unapologetic fun and I love it to pieces.

People hate it because we are drenched in a sexist culture that makes people automatically dismiss anything that looks too girly or earnestly emotional, because they refuse to take it on its own genre terms they way they do when calling the matrix genius.

(Not saying the matrix is bad, it's a great movie too, and it was a game-changer for scifi and effects at the time. But it's not as deep as people think it is.)

OP

[(Anonymous)]

Interesting. I like the Matrix a lot, but didn't think of it when I was watching JA. As the review I linked above noted, JA is a highly derivative movie, but because it steals from multiple sources, it doesn't feel like a copy of any one thing.

Re: OP

[(Anonymous)]

I don't think of JA as being a copy of the Matrix, but I do think it's a matter of the Wachowskis...like, as creators, having some particular achetypal threads that resonate with them really strongly, and choosing to rework them in a female genre-fantasy space after they both came out and settled into their new identities as trans women.

There's the Ordinary Person who learns that there's a Whole Other Secret World and that they are Special And Important in that world, but also In Danger because of it, and ALSO that they have a different Name/Identity there that they have to embrace but also take control of, having the first-contact and then doubting it (Neo thinking his first encounter with the agents was a dream, Jupiter feeling the same about the aliens who come after the wrong girl because of the name she gave at the egg clinic,) being introduced to the world by Morpheus&Trinity and Caine& whatever Sean Been's name was respectively, learning to master the rules of the Secret World, etc. I don't remember all the details, and obviously some parts of that are a very common story rhythm, but I once saw a really detailed comparison that laid out the scene sequences of both movies.

They have very different tones, so I get why people don't normally associate them, but I think it's really interesting to see how similar their bones are. And to me the salient point isn't that it's a copy, but that it's doing a very similar thing, but getting judged on a really different standard.

Like, Agent Smith chews the hell out of the scenery just as well as Balem does, but the Matrix still gets to be Cool Boy Stuff while JA gets dinged for being super cheesy, and Redmayne in particular. But it's fun! It's the same fun in both versions!

Re: OP

[(Anonymous)]

oh, okay -- that actually makes sense!

"the Matrix still gets to be Cool Boy Stuff while JA gets dinged for being super cheesy,"

Yeah, that's definitely at play as well. Male power fantasy films are "epic," female power fantasy are "cinematic fanfic."

Re: OP

[(Anonymous)]

Exactly! Your last sentence is basically everything I was trying to say in three paragraphs.

Anyway high fives all around for unironic JA love.

[(Anonymous)]

The Matrix was not particularly good and JA was downright terrible.

Dark City, now that was a good movie.

[(Anonymous)]

I agree with some but not all of your opinions… but hey, that's the fun part about being independent-thinking humans, eh?