dotontop

Donate For My Family

the way sokka looks like his mom but tries so hard to be his dad and the way katara looks like her dad and tries so hard to be her mom is. ouch

it’s like. sokka says he doesn’t know what his mother looks like but throws himself in front of katara time and time again. he comes up with plans and tries to lead armies but inspires and loves and guides five kids without parents instead. he’s creative and funny and goofy and so so so full of love. and katara says that she’s been doing all the work around camp since mom died but all she wants is to learn how to fight. she’s angry at her dad for abandoning her but stands in front of a group of hopeless earthbenders and attempts to rally them with a speech. she tries and tries to be soft but ends up blowing up a factory to save the enemy. sokka wants to be his father but carries his mother’s heart. katara feels like she has to be her mother but has her father’s fight.

It's amazing how Fellowship of the Ring, a movie released in 2001, has scenes that are in extreme darkness (like the giant squid fight at the gates of Moria) and I can still easily tell what is going on. It's amazing how Fellowship of the Ring, which once again is from the year 2001, has quiet dialogue scenes and loud action scenes and yet I do not constantly have to mess with the volume to hear what is being said and avoid having my ears blown out, respectively. Why is this remarkable again

i’m thinking about that scene near the beginning of into the spider-verse where mary jane is delivering her eulogy for spider-man to an assembled crowd and some people are wearing his mask / costume, including miles, and the camera pans over their faces with miles in centre frame while MJ says, “we all have powers of one kind or another. but in our own way, we are all spider-man,” and then the camera focuses in on miles and she says, “and we’re all counting on you.” and it’s just *chef’s kiss* bc the storytelling! the cinematography! the symbolism! single-handedly revived the medium of animation

“anyone can wear the mask” “it’s a leap of faith” “the costume always fits eventually” like shut upp 😫 the whole theme of like, choosing to be a hero not bc you’re “the chosen one” per se but bc you have greatness thrust upon you and with great power comes great responsibility........ scream

miles gazing up at peter parker spider-man’s costume in his lair thinking he won’t measure up vs. him making his own version of the costume to fit his own needs and motivations vs. at the beginning when he’s wearing a cheap halloween costume version of it to symbolise not just his desire to simply mimic what spider-man (from both dimensions) did instead of forging his own path, but also the pressure & insecurities of having big shoes to fill vs. uncle aaron saying “you’re the best of us”... poetic cinema!

also this idea that you are inherently not alone not just bc there are parallel universe spider-people but also bc the very nature of being spider-man itself calls for substitutability and democratic participation and ordinary heroism. there is no exaltation of a single individual, no idolisation or hero worship, no i am the chosen one™️, no monopoly on the mantle of “friendly neighbourhood spider-man.” it’s like, you’re not special, and that’s precisely the point & the beauty of it