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I need to vent. So I saw the trailer for that new Masters of the Universe movie, and I want to like it. It's got a neat swords and planets aesthetic that I think we need more of. It looks colorful and fun, and I generally like extravagant sci-fi fantasy action. But the whole trailer is framed around this wistful nostalgic voice over, and the art design sticks very close to the look of the 1980s series of toy commercials. It... I don't know... kinda gives me thie ick. Like it's a kids movie made exclusively for 50 year olds. Far be it from me to judge adults who want to recapture their childhood. I feel like my mid to late 20s have been an exercise in trying to catch up on what I missed out on in the prior decade, and that's continuing into my early 30s. However, I like liking things, and I go out of my way to like things (thats why I have 7 live-action Resident Evil movies on Blu-ray and went to see Return to Silent Hill), and having a movie pander to people 20 years older than me just turns me off the idea of liking it. I want to like Masters of the Universe, but I don't think I can.
Ok, so I can't like a movie I want to like boo hoo. Not everything is made for me. Yeah its true, not everything is made for me. In times like these I like to remind myself of the things that are made for me. like the Wachowski sisters' Jupiter Ascending that was made for me. Remembering the movie, it struck me that it has basically the same premise as Masters of the Universe: it features a character living a mundane life who learns that they are actually royalty from a distant sci-fi fantasy culture embarking on a space fantasy adventure. Sure Jupiter Ascending leans more on the sci-fi end of things, and it also has more on its mind than fun action setpieces, but it's more or less the same kind of wish fulfillment fantasy. This is when I get struck by an all new annoyance: Jupiter Ascending was deeply unpopular. It was supposed to kick off a franchise you know. The Wachowskis intended on telling new stories in that universe, but the franchise was DOA. There are a lot of reasons why of course. It's not the Wachowskis's best work, it does kinda get a bit bogged down in its self-serious world building, some of the acting choices are odd or weak, and it's more than slightly bizarre in places, However, these aren't enough to sink a movie on their own. Plenty of movies of similar quality make money and even get sequels *cough* Transformers *cough* Fast and Furious *cough*. However, I can't help but notice one thing that separates Jupiter Ascending from other similar movies: it's femininity. It stars Mila Kunis as the titular "Jupiter". It's co-written and directed by a pair of transwomen (one of whom, Lana, was out at the time of release), and as Donna Dickens writing for Hitfix explains: it doesn't "fall into the Strong Female Character trap that strips anything feminine from a character and replaces it with Arnold Schwarzenegger with boobs." she notes that "Women don't always want superhuman robots to look up to. We want to be the same klutzy nobody who is cosseted and petted and told we're special – despite all evidence to the contrary." Obviously, there is a place for "Arnold Schwarzenegger with boobs", but the fantasy Jupiter Ascending delivers on is distinctly feminine (and is one that appeals to me). The movie often gets justifiably compaired to YA novels at the time, a genre predominently targeted at young women. So, in the wake of seeing positive responses to this new Masters of the Universe trailer, I can't help but feel the sting that somthing I like is getting held back partially because those with money tend to favor masculine coded fantasies. Being honest, this really isn't as simple as a gender war narrative. Jupiter Ascending is more of a guilty pleasure than a hidden gem, but I've got a lot of built up resentment towards myself and culture at large for being dismissive of feminine coded entertaintment. I am, surprisingly, actually a little annoyed with myself for missing out on the Twilight phase I would have gone through in middleschool and high school had I been less self-loathingly misogynistic, but thats a topic for another time when I'm maybe feeling a bit braver about being so vulnerable. At the end of the day, all this could ammount to is me spending this weekend snowed in watching Wachowski sisters movies and feeling wistful for a youth I was taught to deny myself.
Well this is all a bit overdramatic and a downer isn't it? Maybe next time I'll feel inspired to write a blogpost about somthing positive for a change. I only seem to post to complain about somthing or other going on in the entertainment industry or throw a self-pity party over being trans. That'll be my next challenge, talk about something good that I like and why its good and how that's a good thing.