a drop shines leisurely

I see a decent amount of criticism of Giselle’s dress at the ball in ENCHANTED. How, viewers say, could Giselle go from this:

To this:

and think it an improvement?

This is not the ideal choice for a gown for Amy Adams, but I also think that’s the point.

The point is that Giselle spends the first part of the movie singlemindedly trying to leave the city and get back home to her fairy tale. Her growth is when she realized that’s not enough for her any more, and she wants to commit. To put down roots. To date, to adopt the customs of this new world.

This gown isn’t intended to be a “glow up” or a “rags to riches” or “she was beautiful all along”.

Similarly, Robert is introduced to us as a sterile lawyer:

Who ALSO has a dramatic costume change at the ball:

They are DOING THE SAME THING.

Robert is trying to show Giselle he understands that her needs and dreams are not only valid but correct - here he is dancing! In a period suit!

Giselle is trying to show Robert that she can adjust and compromise without losing herself! His world matters too! Here she is in a modern gown!

And neither of them are supposed to stay in those costumes - they’re both costumes. How does the movie end?

In outfits that are casual, maybe, but colorful and indicative of themselves. They’ve met in the middle, but become more themselves. She’s more dignified and he’s more lively.

jk: I’m not baby (ง •̀_•́)ง also jk: I AM the cutest baby and I want power

bonus — run editors always calling jungkook baby:

He's a bad guy, yeah. He's a little shit - spoiled and arrogant and far too willing to extort others for his own benefit.

But he loves his mother. He's a genius child who engages in high end criminal activity and he loves his mother. A lot. Its, like, his only redeeming feature, at one point.

Plus - the character development. We have a spoiled, self-centred little asshole of a child who will step on the faces of almost anyone in order to get what he wants..... and he learns the value of friendship. He develops protective feelings for people he cares about. Heck, the fact that he learns to care about others at all is a Big Deal.

The Artemis Fowl he is by the end of the series is a completely different one to the kid he is at the start. Heck -- older!Artemis comes face to face with child!Artemis in one of the later stories, and we see the differences in them laid out starkly.

We didn't start off the series with a kid with a heart of gold who only grew to new highs of moral goodness. We started with a kid with almost pure ice in his heart, and he learned how to be a better person. He made friends, he found his moral centre, and he cultivated it. Against his will, 90% of the time (mostly he was Disgusted by these feelings, if I remember correctly), but reluctant character growth is still character growth. And that's why he was such a good character. Because he started out as such an asshole and he slowly became someone worth knowing.