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The [Movie] Was Perfected In 1974

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  • TNTrooperTNTrooper Registered User regular
    Nah Mav fucked up and caused the spin to flatten out that is almost impossible to recover from. Like I wanted to be a pilot for awhile and enrolled in a course for a semester in my local community college and Goose's death is literally flying school material on what not to do if your plane spins.

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  • italianranmaitalianranma Registered User regular
    I just got back from watching Mirai and... Wait, is someone talkin' shit 'bout Top Gun?!

    Top Gun is a great movie by virtue of the subject material alone. And I don't mean the nationalistic military fetishizing of a pro-war film. Top Gun is to my knowledge the only film that even comes close to accurately portraying what being a fighter pilot is like. And I don't just mean shirtless beach volleyball and latent homosexual tension.
    Ninjeff wrote: »
    Plus, thats what i really like about it. The antagonist isnt some maniacal villain, its the inherent danger of being a fighter pilot. The flying itself is the conflict, not the action. If that makes sense.

    I really couldn't have said it better myself. Being a fighter pilot is cool, but it's also super stressful, dangerous, and a lot more thankless than you might think. Not to mention the very real competition that goes on daily at the squadron: even in a squadron of fighter pilots only one person can be ranked as #1, which I think anyone else who's served in the military can tell you is important for getting promotion or otherwise meeting your career goals.
    TexiKen wrote: »
    Ace Combat 4 is one of my Top 3 games ever, and that story told onscreen would be perfect (they even have basic storyboards ready with the chapters and narration already there). I mean I'd settle for a good quality animoo movie with good 3d modeling, that final mission of taking out Stonehenge could be a beauty in the right hands.

    In the classic storytelling sense I agree with you; it's generally a better movie if you can adhere to a traditional narrative. But that's not really how it works in real life. I've been to Afghanistan, Libya, Korea, and a few other places. There is no singular antagonist or other unifying force that juxtaposes my personal narrative. Just me following orders and the Rules of Engagement, and hoping that what I do has some sort of greater meaning in protecting my homeland. And in that I think Top Gun really succeeds. A lot of training followed by brief, tense combat against a vague threat that could be anywhere on the globe; yeah, that rings incredibly true to me.
    My issue with Top Gun is that the F-14 is supposed to blow you the fuck out of the sky from miles away. This actually happened with Libya a couple times in the mid-80s.

    But yes, dogfights are more exciting.

    I mean, that's the dream right? Kill them Beyond Visual Range (BVR) before they kill you. Unfortunately there are so many reasons that it just doesn't work out like that. ROE, faulty weapons & systems, jamming, clever enemy tactics, or other asinine buffoonery can all lead to you going face-to-face with a bandit in a turning fight. We train to all ranges for this reason. Also, the range between jets in the most recent US Air-to-Air kill was less than 1/2 a mile. So in a lot of ways it's still pretty realistic.

    飛べねぇ豚はただの豚だ。
  • ElvenshaeElvenshae Registered User regular
    My issue with Top Gun is the "Congrats on graduating! Go report to the carrier to fly a combat op! Like, immediately!"

    Like, there's a whole couple of squadrons of F-14 pilots right there. On the carrier.

    If they had the time to get Mav and Iceman and whoever else was there out to the middle of the Persian Gulf North Sea wherever the combat takes place, they had time for a destroyer to mosey over to the stricken vessel and take it under tow. (Probably.)

  • italianranmaitalianranma Registered User regular
    TNTrooper wrote: »
    Nah Mav fucked up and caused the spin to flatten out that is almost impossible to recover from. Like I wanted to be a pilot for awhile and enrolled in a course for a semester in my local community college and Goose's death is literally flying school material on what not to do if your plane spins.

    Well, the flying in Top Gun isn't wholly realistic. Mav is flying in what's called "weather" position which allows the wingman to stay visual with his or her flight lead if they're flying through the weather, which is to say through clouds. It's dangerous to be in that position in combat because of the dynamic maneuvering required. So when Iceman pulls off his jet wash somehow causes Mav to go into a flat spin. I think that's basically impossible at the speeds they were flying: to get into a spin you need to be very slow, which can happen in a dog fight, but that didn't appear to be the case. Anyway there is a spin-recovery procedure that Mav doesn't seem to execute because he's immobilized by the centrifugal G-forces of the spin, which is a very real thing though unlikely to be that severe. Regardless the military recognizes that sometimes spins are just unrecoverable. Regardless it wasn’t the spin that killed Goose but rather the fact the canopy didn’t properly separate, which may have been a limitation of that particular aircraft’s ejection sequence, a faulty sequence, or the good lord fucked him.

    All joking aside, I don’t know a single person in my career field who has made it through a full commitment and hasn’t lost a friend in a crash. And the fact that the movie focuses on it as the major emotional arc is again to its credit and incredibly realistic.

    飛べねぇ豚はただの豚だ。
  • italianranmaitalianranma Registered User regular
    Elvenshae wrote: »
    My issue with Top Gun is the "Congrats on graduating! Go report to the carrier to fly a combat op! Like, immediately!"

    Like, there's a whole couple of squadrons of F-14 pilots right there. On the carrier.

    If they had the time to get Mav and Iceman and whoever else was there out to the middle of the Persian Gulf North Sea wherever the combat takes place, they had time for a destroyer to mosey over to the stricken vessel and take it under tow. (Probably.)

    Again super realistic. There’s always one class that gets to the squadron just in time to make it through their mission qual and then go into combat on their next sortie. I was lucky in that I got to go to Red Flag prior to my first deployment, which was still only a few months past my MQ. Getting someone straight from Top Gun is usually considered to be a benefit as their combat skills are freshly honed.

    飛べねぇ豚はただの豚だ。
  • So It GoesSo It Goes We keep moving...Registered User regular
    Okay but tell me about when they flip upside down to take a Polaroid

  • italianranmaitalianranma Registered User regular
    edited December 2018
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJaTQWFwW70

    edit: here's another of a kid in pilot training just flying in formation.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHeQIg0VqdM
    To be honest, I don't even know where to find a Polaroid anymore.

    italianranma on
    飛べねぇ豚はただの豚だ。
  • cj iwakuracj iwakura The Rhythm Regent Bears The Name FreedomRegistered User regular
    Elvenshae wrote: »
    My issue with Top Gun is the "Congrats on graduating! Go report to the carrier to fly a combat op! Like, immediately!"

    Like, there's a whole couple of squadrons of F-14 pilots right there. On the carrier.

    If they had the time to get Mav and Iceman and whoever else was there out to the middle of the Persian Gulf North Sea wherever the combat takes place, they had time for a destroyer to mosey over to the stricken vessel and take it under tow. (Probably.)

    Again super realistic. There’s always one class that gets to the squadron just in time to make it through their mission qual and then go into combat on their next sortie. I was lucky in that I got to go to Red Flag prior to my first deployment, which was still only a few months past my MQ. Getting someone straight from Top Gun is usually considered to be a benefit as their combat skills are freshly honed.

    You ever heard of a show called Black Sheep Squadron? My dad was telling me it has lots of dogfights and the show seemed pretty good from what I've seen of it.

    wVEsyIc.png
  • JazzJazz Registered User regular
    To be honest, I don't even know where to find a Polaroid anymore.

    They're still around, I saw one in a shop the other day. They do digital cameras with built in printers now. A nice way of updating their old unique hook.

  • FANTOMASFANTOMAS Flan ArgentavisRegistered User regular
    Jazz wrote: »
    To be honest, I don't even know where to find a Polaroid anymore.

    They're still around, I saw one in a shop the other day. They do digital cameras with built in printers now. A nice way of updating their old unique hook.

    Bought a no-ink mini printer for phones from them as a gift maybe an year ago. They still have the polaroid feel of being portable and instant.

    Yes, with a quick verbal "boom." You take a man's peko, you deny him his dab, all that is left is to rise up and tear down the walls of Jericho with a ".....not!" -TexiKen
  • SorceSorce Not ThereRegistered User regular
    I saw a commercial with Taylor Swift hawking one of those, but it wasn't Polaroid-branded.

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  • FANTOMASFANTOMAS Flan ArgentavisRegistered User regular
    Sorce wrote: »
    I saw a commercial with Taylor Swift hawking one of those, but it wasn't Polaroid-branded.

    I think Brother makes them too, but when it comes to reactive paper I know Polaroid has worked for me.

    Yes, with a quick verbal "boom." You take a man's peko, you deny him his dab, all that is left is to rise up and tear down the walls of Jericho with a ".....not!" -TexiKen
  • Capt HowdyCapt Howdy Registered User regular
    Jarhead is the most realistic overall depiction of military life I have ever seen in a movie, and watching it with 14 folks from my shop when it came out is still the greatest theater experience I've ever had. I can only assume it's what a midnight showing of Rocky Horror is like.

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  • italianranmaitalianranma Registered User regular
    Capt Howdy wrote: »
    Jarhead is the most realistic overall depiction of military life I have ever seen in a movie, and watching it with 14 folks from my shop when it came out is still the greatest theater experience I've ever had. I can only assume it's what a midnight showing of Rocky Horror is like.

    The Marines who were in my training class at the time said “Jarhead makes all Marines out to be crazy psychotic assholes. And we are, but it does it in a bad way.” I never saw it myself because of that. I really like Generation Kill and The Hurt Locker, recognizing the latter stretches the truth quite a bit. I never went to Iraq, but my friends who did said it captured the feeling of being there.

    飛べねぇ豚はただの豚だ。
  • RedTideRedTide Registered User regular
    Capt Howdy wrote: »
    Jarhead is the most realistic overall depiction of military life I have ever seen in a movie, and watching it with 14 folks from my shop when it came out is still the greatest theater experience I've ever had. I can only assume it's what a midnight showing of Rocky Horror is like.

    The Marines who were in my training class at the time said “Jarhead makes all Marines out to be crazy psychotic assholes. And we are, but it does it in a bad way.” I never saw it myself because of that. I really like Generation Kill and The Hurt Locker, recognizing the latter stretches the truth quite a bit. I never went to Iraq, but my friends who did said it captured the feeling of being there.

    Jarhead is very much about what happens to people when you groom and train them for one purpose, put them under extreme stress and then ultimately deny them being able to perform their one duty. Also these people are largely kids in their early twenties that have essentially never existed in the real world.

    Generation Kill is kind of the same thing but a little less Hollywood and also missing the part about what comes after since the war very much goes on and in a sense some of these guys may eventually get what they "want".

    Never seen the Hurt Locker.

    RedTide#1907 on Battle.net
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  • PhillisherePhillishere Registered User regular
    RedTide wrote: »
    Capt Howdy wrote: »
    Jarhead is the most realistic overall depiction of military life I have ever seen in a movie, and watching it with 14 folks from my shop when it came out is still the greatest theater experience I've ever had. I can only assume it's what a midnight showing of Rocky Horror is like.

    The Marines who were in my training class at the time said “Jarhead makes all Marines out to be crazy psychotic assholes. And we are, but it does it in a bad way.” I never saw it myself because of that. I really like Generation Kill and The Hurt Locker, recognizing the latter stretches the truth quite a bit. I never went to Iraq, but my friends who did said it captured the feeling of being there.

    Jarhead is very much about what happens to people when you groom and train them for one purpose, put them under extreme stress and then ultimately deny them being able to perform their one duty. Also these people are largely kids in their early twenties that have essentially never existed in the real world.

    Generation Kill is kind of the same thing but a little less Hollywood and also missing the part about what comes after since the war very much goes on and in a sense some of these guys may eventually get what they "want".

    Never seen the Hurt Locker.

    The book is pretty nasty, as well. The writer can't decide if he wants to tell an introspective war story or be the Marine version of Tucker Max.

  • Kipling217Kipling217 Registered User regular
    So looking up Jarhead on Wikipedia... Seems like it turned into a Franchise with a Jarhead 2,3 and a 4 on the way. None of which are based on a true story.

    Direct to Video of course.

    Yet Dredd still has not gotten a single sequel.

    World sucks some times.

    The sky was full of stars, every star an exploding ship. One of ours.
  • jungleroomxjungleroomx It's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovels Registered User regular
    edited December 2018
    Full Metal Jacket is pretty on fucking point for showing how it is.

    Minus the physical harm coming from the drill instructor because it's illegal now, it's really really good at showing how things are. I especially enjoy how people who have been in the military recognize the 3 act structure, and people who haven't just think it's divided into 2 parts. As soon as the tank gets hit and the officer gets it, act 3 begins. Because being deployed and being "in the shit" are two completely different worlds. Once the shit goes down for real, that's "in the shit." The music stops, the tone shifts, and it goes dark.

    I also especially like how people think the audience stand-in is Joker, when it's really not. In Act 1, it's Pyle. Act 2 and 3 are Cowboy and the dude Joker brings with him outside the wire.

    jungleroomx on
  • MegaMan001MegaMan001 CRNA Rochester, MNRegistered User regular
    I also especially like how people think the audience stand-in is Joker, when it's really not. In Act 1, it's Pyle. Act 2 and 3 are Cowboy and the dude Joker brings with him outside the wire.

    Could you elaborate? I've never served and always assumed it was supposed to be Joker?

    I am in the business of saving lives.
  • AstaerethAstaereth In the belly of the beastRegistered User regular
    Kipling217 wrote: »
    So looking up Jarhead on Wikipedia... Seems like it turned into a Franchise with a Jarhead 2,3 and a 4 on the way. None of which are based on a true story.

    Direct to Video of course.

    Yet Dredd still has not gotten a single sequel.

    World sucks some times.

    Apparently the sequels are obnoxiously gungho, whereas the original is pretty strongly critical of the military experience.

    ACsTqqK.jpg
  • PreacherPreacher Registered User regular
    Astaereth wrote: »
    Kipling217 wrote: »
    So looking up Jarhead on Wikipedia... Seems like it turned into a Franchise with a Jarhead 2,3 and a 4 on the way. None of which are based on a true story.

    Direct to Video of course.

    Yet Dredd still has not gotten a single sequel.

    World sucks some times.

    Apparently the sequels are obnoxiously gungho, whereas the original is pretty strongly critical of the military experience.

    I swear this kind of thing happened before, where a movie gets a direct to video sequel that is almost the complete opposite of the original.

    I would like some money because these are artisanal nuggets of wisdom philistine.

    pleasepaypreacher.net
  • CouscousCouscous Registered User regular
    Preacher wrote: »
    Astaereth wrote: »
    Kipling217 wrote: »
    So looking up Jarhead on Wikipedia... Seems like it turned into a Franchise with a Jarhead 2,3 and a 4 on the way. None of which are based on a true story.

    Direct to Video of course.

    Yet Dredd still has not gotten a single sequel.

    World sucks some times.

    Apparently the sequels are obnoxiously gungho, whereas the original is pretty strongly critical of the military experience.

    I swear this kind of thing happened before, where a movie gets a direct to video sequel that is almost the complete opposite of the original.

    Starship Troopers?

  • Hahnsoo1Hahnsoo1 Make Ready. We Hunt.Registered User regular
    Couscous wrote: »
    Preacher wrote: »
    Astaereth wrote: »
    Kipling217 wrote: »
    So looking up Jarhead on Wikipedia... Seems like it turned into a Franchise with a Jarhead 2,3 and a 4 on the way. None of which are based on a true story.

    Direct to Video of course.

    Yet Dredd still has not gotten a single sequel.

    World sucks some times.

    Apparently the sequels are obnoxiously gungho, whereas the original is pretty strongly critical of the military experience.

    I swear this kind of thing happened before, where a movie gets a direct to video sequel that is almost the complete opposite of the original.

    Starship Troopers?
    Mulan?

    8i1dt37buh2m.png
  • DanHibikiDanHibiki Registered User regular
    edited December 2018
    Preacher wrote: »
    Astaereth wrote: »
    Kipling217 wrote: »
    So looking up Jarhead on Wikipedia... Seems like it turned into a Franchise with a Jarhead 2,3 and a 4 on the way. None of which are based on a true story.

    Direct to Video of course.

    Yet Dredd still has not gotten a single sequel.

    World sucks some times.

    Apparently the sequels are obnoxiously gungho, whereas the original is pretty strongly critical of the military experience.

    I swear this kind of thing happened before, where a movie gets a direct to video sequel that is almost the complete opposite of the original.

    Starship Troopers?
    edit: Damn it! beat me to it.

    DanHibiki on
  • CouscousCouscous Registered User regular
    Robocop after a while?

  • jungleroomxjungleroomx It's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovels Registered User regular
    edited December 2018
    MegaMan001 wrote: »
    I also especially like how people think the audience stand-in is Joker, when it's really not. In Act 1, it's Pyle. Act 2 and 3 are Cowboy and the dude Joker brings with him outside the wire.

    Could you elaborate? I've never served and always assumed it was supposed to be Joker?

    The vast majority of people are not fit for military service. Just from a physical standpoint, or an age standpoint. It's 18-35 years old, which excludes most of the population. Out of those, the overweight, horrible physical shape, or other medical conditions immediately disqualify you.

    99% of the people in the USA would not be fit for Harman's Beloved Marine Corps (and that's not looking down on people, mind!) and would get treated exactly like Pyle, but we laugh because we think we'd be Joker.

    Joker is the idealized person we all think we'll be if we go into the military. The others are more likely the people we'll actually be: Unable to physically adapt, unable to mentally adapt to suddenly being in charge during an emergency, or adapting too well to the whole thing.

    He's the quick-witted mentor type who helps Pyle though everyone else has turned on him, comes up with the quick witted "I'll get punished either way" line during the Christmas party and beats that meanie DS at his own game! He can mouth off to officers and not get shit on, and does the humane thing at the end and gets the congrats. He kind of sticks out like a sore thumb amongst the rest of the cast and considering who directed it I can only feel like it's on purpose.

    That's my take, anyway.

    jungleroomx on
  • VariableVariable Mouth Congress Stroke Me Lady FameRegistered User regular
    when I watch military movies I think "you'd have to shoot me before I'd be in that room"

    not to actually argue your point about audience stand in, I think that's really great insight

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  • TaramoorTaramoor Storyteller Registered User regular
    Preacher wrote: »
    Astaereth wrote: »
    Kipling217 wrote: »
    So looking up Jarhead on Wikipedia... Seems like it turned into a Franchise with a Jarhead 2,3 and a 4 on the way. None of which are based on a true story.

    Direct to Video of course.

    Yet Dredd still has not gotten a single sequel.

    World sucks some times.

    Apparently the sequels are obnoxiously gungho, whereas the original is pretty strongly critical of the military experience.

    I swear this kind of thing happened before, where a movie gets a direct to video sequel that is almost the complete opposite of the original.

    Rambo went pretty quickly from "We failed these people even as we broke them because we depended on them and now we hate them for it" to "Look how many brown people he can kill with a machete!".

  • shrykeshryke Member of the Beast Registered User regular
    Taramoor wrote: »
    Preacher wrote: »
    Astaereth wrote: »
    Kipling217 wrote: »
    So looking up Jarhead on Wikipedia... Seems like it turned into a Franchise with a Jarhead 2,3 and a 4 on the way. None of which are based on a true story.

    Direct to Video of course.

    Yet Dredd still has not gotten a single sequel.

    World sucks some times.

    Apparently the sequels are obnoxiously gungho, whereas the original is pretty strongly critical of the military experience.

    I swear this kind of thing happened before, where a movie gets a direct to video sequel that is almost the complete opposite of the original.

    Rambo went pretty quickly from "We failed these people even as we broke them because we depended on them and now we hate them for it" to "Look how many brown people he can kill with a machete!".

    I talked about this after I watched them but it's fascinating to see the tonal whiplash at work in that series. It starts in some ways from literally the very beginning of Rambo 2 and it's embrace of the whole "stabbed-in-the-back" Vietnam myth.

    Although it does make me wonder how much of what we read into First Blood is actually intended by Stallone at the time. Obviously we are supposed to see the injustice of what has been done to Rambo himself. But is that in the context we might take it of "the Vietnam war was terrible to the people who fought it and they need help when they return from it"? Or did Stallone view all the events of that film through that same stabbed-in-the-back lens (which also fits what happens in the film) and it's only in Rambo 2 that it becomes explicit to the audience?

  • shrykeshryke Member of the Beast Registered User regular
    I think it's also kinda fascinating that you could easily remake First Blood now, recast Rambo as a black guy and with fairly minimal changes basically rewrite the whole film as a Black Lives Matter exercise. The whole thing is very much about the cops being bigoted thugs. It even does a good job of showing the way the Blue Wall functions.

  • PhillisherePhillishere Registered User regular
    Astaereth wrote: »
    Kipling217 wrote: »
    So looking up Jarhead on Wikipedia... Seems like it turned into a Franchise with a Jarhead 2,3 and a 4 on the way. None of which are based on a true story.

    Direct to Video of course.

    Yet Dredd still has not gotten a single sequel.

    World sucks some times.

    Apparently the sequels are obnoxiously gungho, whereas the original is pretty strongly critical of the military experience.

    In a further bit of irony, one of the few passages I liked from the book was describing how the message of most Hollywood anti-war movies interacts with his fellow Marines. He describes them binging Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, and Apocalypse Now and getting pumped up. It's not even that they don't get the films - they do - but the effect of watching these movies is invigorating, the darkness appealing, and they make them all more eager for combat.

  • jungleroomxjungleroomx It's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovels Registered User regular
    Variable wrote: »
    when I watch military movies I think "you'd have to shoot me before I'd be in that room"

    not to actually argue your point about audience stand in, I think that's really great insight

    The movie has made me face some ugly things about myself.

    Like at the end, if it were me and I had the humane choice or the choice to let her rot because she just blew away a good friend of mine?

    Yeah I don't know if I could've done what Joker did, to be brutally honest.

  • AtomikaAtomika Live fast and get fucked or whatever Registered User regular
    Astaereth wrote: »
    Kipling217 wrote: »
    So looking up Jarhead on Wikipedia... Seems like it turned into a Franchise with a Jarhead 2,3 and a 4 on the way. None of which are based on a true story.

    Direct to Video of course.

    Yet Dredd still has not gotten a single sequel.

    World sucks some times.

    Apparently the sequels are obnoxiously gungho, whereas the original is pretty strongly critical of the military experience.

    In a further bit of irony, one of the few passages I liked from the book was describing how the message of most Hollywood anti-war movies interacts with his fellow Marines. He describes them binging Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, and Apocalypse Now and getting pumped up. It's not even that they don't get the films - they do - but the effect of watching these movies is invigorating, the darkness appealing, and they make them all more eager for combat.

    The most popular pre-game pump-up film I remember people watching back in my college sports days was The Program, which is about systemic exploitation and abuse of college athletes.

    Go fig.

  • shrykeshryke Member of the Beast Registered User regular
    Atomika wrote: »
    Astaereth wrote: »
    Kipling217 wrote: »
    So looking up Jarhead on Wikipedia... Seems like it turned into a Franchise with a Jarhead 2,3 and a 4 on the way. None of which are based on a true story.

    Direct to Video of course.

    Yet Dredd still has not gotten a single sequel.

    World sucks some times.

    Apparently the sequels are obnoxiously gungho, whereas the original is pretty strongly critical of the military experience.

    In a further bit of irony, one of the few passages I liked from the book was describing how the message of most Hollywood anti-war movies interacts with his fellow Marines. He describes them binging Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, and Apocalypse Now and getting pumped up. It's not even that they don't get the films - they do - but the effect of watching these movies is invigorating, the darkness appealing, and they make them all more eager for combat.

    The most popular pre-game pump-up film I remember people watching back in my college sports days was The Program, which is about systemic exploitation and abuse of college athletes.

    Go fig.

    I mean, Glengarry Glen Ross is the classic example. Alec Baldwin's brilliantly written and acted monologue is a torrent of abuse meant to demonstrate the extent to which our character's job dehumanizes them deliberately and yet people love that shit and salesman use it to pump themselves up all the time.

  • italianranmaitalianranma Registered User regular
    https://youtu.be/J_vSirIJEsY

    Look man, if Santa approves I'm not going to say anything to the contrary.

    飛べねぇ豚はただの豚だ。
  • italianranmaitalianranma Registered User regular
    As much as I love talking about military stuff (or Glengarry Glen Ross), I saw Mirai yesterday and thought I'd talk a little about it instead. If Miyazaki films are known for their strong themes of feminism, flight, and striking a balance between advancing technology and maintaining the environment, then I think Hosoda films will be known for depicting young characters and their process of growing up while aided by some form of escapism. Summer Wars might deviate from this, I don't fully remember, but Mirai certainly doesn't. Based on the trailer I was expecting something different, but I wasn't disappointed with what I got. My thoughts on the movie and how it might be interpreted are below behind the spoiler.
    I was expecting more from Mirai herself and maybe some need to go back in time and correct a wrong during a vulnerable time in her big brother's life rather than multiple vignettes with Kun learning valuable lessons from a variety of family members. The whole time I was watching it I was analysing these vignettes trying both to find their cause and also what they meant metaphorically for the whole story. One thing I thought that was very interesting was how Mirai dealt with a young child's feelings of abandonment and selfishness when a new child arrives compared to how this occurs in Boss Baby. I haven't seen Boss Baby, but this Wisecrack video covers its plot and posits that it transmits a dangerous message. Tim 'learns' that love (as defined by attention from and quality time spent with his parents) is infinite he essentially succumbs to a form of neurosis, creating an imaginary world where his needs are met instead of a dealing with reality and growing from the experience. Kun-chan (at least in my interpretation) also escapes to an imaginary world, but instead of demonizing his sister or parents or creating a unrealistic ideology he uses these moments to learn valuable life lessons and grow as a person. Moreover, and this didn't strike me until the end of the film, his episodes all feature a form of time travel (minus the first one with the dog) which was really puzzling me until the final sequence. Children act like they do often because they cannot delay their gratification or otherwise understand the consequences of their actions, and they cannot do so because they lack the context and experience (and possibly the mental facilities to do so). By interacting with his family in the past (context) and future (delayed gratification), Kun-chan is able to briefly learn like an older child would and thus grows from the experience.

    So overall I thought it was a charming film. One that I might watch again sometime in the future when I have children, but until then I think I'll pass on buying it or going for a rewatch.

    飛べねぇ豚はただの豚だ。
  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    edited December 2018
    Yeah I've been trying to put my thoughts together on Mirai as well. It felt a bit disjointed and over-long, and while there were a few genuinely incredible scenes, a lot of the animation in the film just felt... fine? The protagonist, Kun, was kind of a double-edged sword: he was much more realistically portrayed than most children in films, but that also meant he's less sympathetic a character. And its never quite clear if Kun is actually picking up on the lessons that the film is putting down.

    I give it a B-, definitely would recommend people watch it, but I don't think it's going to necessarily be worth plopping down for the Blu-Ray.

    DarkPrimus on
  • AstaerethAstaereth In the belly of the beastRegistered User regular
    I felt like you could interpret Mirai as Kun’s wiser, subconscious self doing the teaching—everything that happens could have emerged from his imagination or things picked up from the adult conversations we see in the movie. It’s possible the movie is meant to depict the way his child-like flights of fancy are themselves shading into maturity.

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  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    For some reason the ambiguity just didn't work for me as much as it normally does with these sorts of films.

    It really needed to get tightened up somewhere in the story department, by the time it got to the finale sequence that should have been wowing me, I was only somewhat impressed because I felt like the film had already run out of stuff to say and was just hammering home the points one more time.

  • italianranmaitalianranma Registered User regular
    edited December 2018
    I'd say the primary difference between the previous sequences and the last sequence is:
    while Kun-chan calms himself down or learns other niche applications of maturity throughout the film, it is as a result of the final sequence that he learns self-control. Which is a pretty big deal for a small child.

    italianranma on
    飛べねぇ豚はただの豚だ。
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