No Spoilers (Kinda): Young Adult – Film Review

“Everyone gets old. Not everyone grows up.” That pretty much sums up the whole film.

Frantic attempts to make fast relationships work, pathological/compulsive lying and self-deceiving, whenever someone’s nice to her (even in a pitiful way) she thinks they desire her, living in a fantasy where everything goes her way, and deluding herself with false happiness. This is Mavis Gary (portrayed by Charlize Theron) a woman completely ungrateful to the fact that, once upon a time, she was an author of a successful young adult book series, lives in a great place, and she’s fucking hot.

When you watch Young Adult, all you’ll think of is how crazy Mavis is. It’s such an anthropological experience and a little painful to watch, especially if you can relate the character to someone you know like I did. But I personally think she’s not crazy. She isn’t ok, granted, but not crazy. She has the same mentality of a charming confused teenager. I never knew those 3 traits can mesh together, and that someone could be so upfront about them like Mavis, but watching the movie reminded me that it is possible with some people: she is utterly selfish, thinks she’s superior and heartbreakingly desperate.

Charlize Theron did an amazing job in showing how the character misread the entire world around her. The good and the bad. She mixes credibility and (mental?) instability with a strong performance. Let’s not forget the dark comedy, it’s daring and different which makes it stand out from the other commercial comedies out there. Some could find it a bit too dark though.

This film could’ve been terrible, but it’s so carefully narrated that it is one of the most satisfying films I’ve ever seen. On the other hand, I don’t think it’s very “current.” I think the only people who can enjoy this movie are people who can relate, or have a general interest in what is seemingly crazy.

I tried my best not to mention the events that take place in the film, so you should all check it out!

#ThingsHarryPotterTaughtMe

#ThingsHarryPotterTaughtMe To appreciate my nose.

#ThingsHarryPotterTaughtMe Government is ineffective and cruel, love and freedom is the best choice.

#ThingsHarryPotterTaughtMe We’ve all got light/dark inside us. The part we choose to act on is who we really are.

#ThingsHarryPotterTaughtMe To lose love is not enough to lose hope.

#ThingsHarryPotterTaughtMe It’s cool to be a fanboy, instead of drinking and partying. Also, we would have never have suspected the Nargles!

#ThingsHarryPotterTaughtMe Nothing’s more powerful than a mother’s love.

#ThingsHarryPotterTaughtMe Not all family is good, but the good ones are the best.

Sci-Fi/Fantasy and the Escapism of Film/TV

People have always craved escapism through films, TV, books, video games, etc. But that craving started to accelerate the past decade because it brought harsh reality home (war, terror, loss, insecurity, and bad economy). Forms of escapism shift depending on what’s happening in the world around us.

Hollywood started to become a fantasy factory. I mean, with all the shit that’s going down right now, who wouldn’t want to escape real life and live inside the walls of Hogwarts for a few hours?

Sometimes people take the word “escapism” to a whole different level though, as if they’re trying to escape their problems instead of facing them and fixing them. Well, that is true. But I look at it from a different angle. I’ll cover two examples: Death and the Empowerment of Women.

Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, “The Body”

I found a really interesting article about how Sci-Fi and Fantasy stories help you deal with death. The article features examples of TV shows, films and novels relating to loss. One example, of course, is Buffy. As a huge fan, I had to share this with you guys.

To me, Buffy is the best piece of work ever made for TV. The script and dialogue are fast, catchy, humorous, touching, heart-felt, realistic, shady, dirty, unpredictable and relatable.

One episode titled “The Body” forces us to face the loss of Buffy’s mother as if we lost someone. According to the article, some people watched this episode to actually cope with the loss of their own loved ones. The episode has absolutely no music, and a lot of continuous shots that make it more “realistic.” The character Anya doesn’t know how to feel because she’s been a demon most her life. She says something really touching, and a lot of us who don’t know how to react to such losses can probably relate:

I don’t understand how this all happens. How we go through this. I mean, I knew her, and then she’s- There’s just a body, and I don’t understand why she just can’t get back in it and not be dead anymore. It’s stupid. It’s mortal and stupid. And-and Xander’s crying and not talking, and-and I was having fruit punch, and I thought, well, Joyce will never have any more fruit punch ever, and she’ll never have eggs, or yawn or brush her hair, not ever, and no one will explain to me why.

See what I mean?

The Women of Harry Potter

Of course, I AM going to talk about Harry Potter. We all know that the main theme in HP is death. But I’m not going to cover that here. I don’t want this post to be about death now do I?

One of the things J.K. Rowling emphasized on is the importance of women. She is a female writer, after all. The books have well-rounded female characters who can fight, duel, and do magic just as powerfully as a man can do. Harry has always been searching for his father, but when it goes down, his mother will always be a place for refuge. Hermione is one of the most powerful witches of all time. She probably knows every spell on the book. Professor McGonagall is an exceptional educator at Hogwarts, Head of Gryffindor House, Deputy Headmistress, and she worked for the Ministry of Magic for several years. Mrs. Weasley is a mother of 7. She’d mother the whole world is she can! But she’s not just a mother, Rowling made sure we see that she’s a great role-model as well, and a powerful fighter (“Not my daughter, you bitch!”). See the pattern here? Women power! Definitely something to be encouraged.

In summery, I’ll say that I love Sci-Fi and Fantasy because we get the opportunity to imagine and explore an entire alternative world, sometimes with a different culture, that can really improve our ways of living and be used to liberate ourselves. Who knows? Maybe one day reality will catch up with our imagination.

Sky Ferreira Covers Lana Del Rey’s “Blue Jeans”

I think Sky Ferreira is genius. Her EP is amazing.

Watch out for her album Wild at Heart this year. YEAH!

Current Playlist (22/1/2012)

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