i've never seen a movie

hi, asshole. i wish i’d remembered to turn off my anon messages.

1) i live in the uk, genius.

2) in many contexts (including legal), 17 is still a child (or at least not an adult; i didn’t even say child, i said underage) in the uk. 17 is still a child developmentally — biologically, psychologically, and in life stature. i’m 17! ask any reasonable adult and they’ll say i’m a child. if we’re going by legal definitions of “adult”, anyway, 13 would be an adult. some countries define 13-year-olds as adult.

3) i’m clarifying what he said, no mocking quotes, because i have the capacity to read and have used it. while you’re busy having your head up your ass and thinking you’re so superior to me “white-knighting”, it can objectively be proven that the media has distorted what taron has said. my attachment to this issue largely comes from me being a fan and i don’t deny that, but surprisingly, i am a person with the ability to think and feel even when i don’t post it online. i haven’t publicly written about the other times, but i have been CONSISTENTLY infuriated by the lack of integrity the media displays for the sake of attracting clicks, attention, and money. (ask my friends. i rant about this often. it’s not just taron egerton-related shit.) they say he “praised” kevin spacey. when you read his actual words, IT IS OBJECTIVELY FALSE. it’s not because i want to coddle a grown man, for the love of god. but when what he said was truly NOTHING like how media and as a result, ill-informed readers say it is, and there’s now an entire narrative surrounding him that is completely and provably overblown, there’s a problem beyond me being upset a fan.

i went to see it today and I LOVED IT!

i hope to see it again, and maybe after a second viewing i’ll be able to organise my thoughts. but i just have to talk about it rn. i loved it. i really loved it. i had a great time.

taron was pitch-perfect as robin. seriously. seriously. i mean, i always talk about how handsome he is because he really really is so handsome (SO HANDSOME). and he’s charming, we know that already. but the trailers tried to give the footage an air of sombreness, which may have made taron’s boyishly sportive robin seem somewhat incongruous. but no, in the actual film itself, his boyish charm and energy is perfect. he really sells it. ugh, my heart.

please don’t think this is a grimdark movie. the sets are beautiful. there’s lots of colour in this. there are some scenes, like the war scenes, that are appropriately desaturated and rather dark, but it’s not a big problem at all.

taron and eve hewson’s chemistry is INCREDIBLE. INCREDIBLE. just incredible. i was swooning. honestly, this is the best chemistry taron’s had with a co-star maybe in his whole hollywood career (which hasn’t been a very long one yet!).

jamie foxx was amazing!!!! he was so into his character. i didn’t feel like i was watching jamie foxx act. i felt like he was his character. i felt his convictions, passion, grief, and anger.

trigger warning for some scenes of people of colour (including Black people) being brutalised, though. they’re not very long, and they are very much entirely shown to be horrible things that the good guys do not support. the main villain, the sheriff, is shown to be “subtly” racist and little john (jamie foxx’s character) is allowed to be highly, rightfully angry, and john gets to exact revenge on the sheriff that i felt was quite satisfying. i like that john was in no way punished for being furious at the sheriff and seeking retribution. it’s not my place to tell other poc, especially Black people, that they should just ignore the scenes of poc being shackled and brutalised; i’m mentioning this so you can be warned, so if the thought makes you so comfortable you’d rather not see it, you’re informed and can decide to avoid the film. but again, these are appropriately treated as scenes that are horrific, and the good guys punish the evil people responsible for it, and there are many (i was even surprised by how many) poc including Black people among nottingham’s residents and they + little john (who is not from nottingham) have strong agency and are very active and essential members of the ensuing revolution.

the freaking ENDING, holy shit. i loved it. i loved it so much. i don’t want to be too spoiler-y so i’ll just say that at first i thought jamie dornan’s will scarlet and eve’s marian had little chemistry and all we really see of their relationship is marian so obviously not actually having fallen out of love with robin and marian and will having this completely non-sexual tension, a negative friction. and jamie dornan, though i respect him as an actor, seemed stilted. but near the end, will scarlet’s stiffness is given nuance, and holy shit his story arc is amazing. i loved it.

taron was!!!! amazing!!!!!! his energy was amazing, but the energy of the film and cast in general is amazing. the beginning has some pacing issues, but once the whole thing is kicked off, it’s amazing. especially when the people all come together, and the nottingham rebels’ synergy is just... amazing.

it felt a little like an extended (really solid and fun and great) tv show pilot, which isn’t to say it felt like an incomplete film. it feels like a complete film, but... the ending really lets you feel like there’s so much more story to this version of robin hood that should be told. i want to see it! i want to see more!

long rant probably ahead but....... i’m just so. tired. i’m tired. i’m tired!

i lost respect for the media when i read an insider’s account of how it works behind the scenes a few months ago. the big publications have shoddy sourcing practices (if any are done at all); they prioritise getting clicks, getting attention, from which they earn revenue. one of the most effective ways of attracting buzz is through anger or outrage, which explains a ton.

i’m not saying that social justice is a bunch of reactionary bullshit. i’m not saying that anger invalidates a response. as a bisexual asian girl myself, i get angry too. in fact, i get angry often. believe me; i’m not at all the type who uses the term “sjw” or “feminist” derogatorily. but the way the internet receives and processes news is truly flawed. an unduly great portion of the time, we aren’t provided the whole story and sometimes most people don’t even bother to think about it or verify.

the media has been so ugly. they’ve been circulating headlines that claim taron “defended” k*vin sp*cey. in their headlines, they trumpet taron saying honestly that he PERSONALLY hasn’t had bad experiences with sp*cey, leaving out something crucial taron said about sp*cey in the same interview: that what sp*cey’s done is “unacceptable” (his exact word!).

even though the truth that he did not defend k*vin sp*cey is right there and so easily accessible (SAME! INTERVIEW! AS THE MEDIA’S CHOICE QUOTES!), there are still headlines being churned out about how taron “defends k*vin sp*cey”!

as for the #MeToo media shitstorm, taron????? didn’t say anything bad holy shit????? his phrasing could’ve been better, as it’s a very delicate subject. but, holy shit, i’ve been sexually assaulted multiple times as a kid and i’ve been suffering from trauma for years. if he’d said something shitty, i would be saying so right now. but the really awful-sounding bits were stuff tacked on by the press. his words were just that the movement has made him RE-EVALUATE HIS OWN BEHAVIOUR (because he’s always been in a position of privilege, and society has normalised misogyny and other actions that may make people uncomfortable; even i, a girl of more than one marginalised identity, used to be completely unaware of how wrong some normalised shitty things are! so were the rest of the population at some point.) and he’s being more careful now, avoiding being alone with certain PEOPLE, not just women. how does that mean that hes saying he cant control the urge to overstep boundaries when hes alone with other women(/people)? when you realise you could make people uncomfortable without necessarily meaning to, and you’re trying even harder to learn things about power dynamics that you benefit from, it’s understandable that you would avoid situations where you could make people feel that way. i honestly just think he’s just keeping a respectful distance, especially because #MeToo has shed light on how even little, normalised things can make people feel uncomfortable.

i’m just... sick of it. i’m sick of it. the media has shown that integrity is not a priority when they peddled false “facts” and articles about how he “isn’t going to be in kingsman anymore” and “came out” (both confirmed untrue) the past few weeks, and now this. it’s especially shitty because journalists are lionised, on many occasions by themselves, as noble seekers and purveyors of truth and justice. but they can’t even be bothered to do a fundamental part of their literal job description, which is to find out the facts. as for the internet, i’m so sick of it........ sick of how, similar to the situation with the kingsman and instagram bullshit taron had to deal with the past few weeks, many people online are choosing to go with misdirected outrage and/or ignoring facts + the nuances and/or blowing things out of proportion, taking them out of context.