Soul Like the Sun

100 FEMALE CHARACTERS IN 2021

Welcome to the Unknown, boys.

I watched the movie with her and I can now inform you that it’s really obvious that the movies was originally about a rich Danish guy who is sent from Denmark to the Danish/Dutch whaling post Smeerenburg in Svalbard/Norway, where he bonds with a Dutch guy, falls in love with a Norwegian woman, and learns about the existence of the Sami people, but then they changed the landscapes and maps to avoid too much nit picking regarding culture and history which I can respect.

Let me explain.

Why is Klaus Dutch? Klaus is implied to become Santa Claus after his death. The name Santa Claus is taken from the Dutch Sinterklaas who is often cited as one of the early inspirations for the modern Santa (yes Sinterklaas is based on Saint Nicholas and so on and so forth, but Sinterklaas is as we know him is very Dutch). Smeerenburg is a real town that was founded by Danish and Dutch whalers. It has to be on purpose that the creators chose a place with Dutch connections so far north. Also, you are unlikely to meet natives named Klaus in Norway. Most people named Klaus lives in or around Germany. We also get a very sweet hint at the end that neither Klaus nor Jesper are locals. Klaus excitedly shows Jesper the northern lights which rarely/never reach the Netherlands and Denmark.

Why is Jesper Johansen Danish? The damn name. The name Jesper is most commonly found in Denmark and Johansen can be found in both Norway and Denmark, but again, mostly Denmark, so the two names together suggest that he’s Danish. Also, the ferryman who takes Jesper to Smeerenburg is named Mogens which is also a very Danish name, suggesting he was originally supposed to take Jesper from Denmark to Norway (Mogens makes it pretty clear that he doesn’t come from Smeerenburg himself). But most damningly, Jesper doesn’t know what the Sami girl Margu is. The Sami people are almost completely unknown in Denmark because they don’t live that far south. That explains why the locals have to explain to him what she is and he needs Alva’s help to understand her.

And Alva is Norwegian because it’s a very Norwegian name (she could be Swedish, but I’m going to go with Norwegian because it takes place in “Norway”) All the other locals also have Norwegian, Danish and Dutch names.

But like I said, they messed with the landscape to disguise it at bit and avoid stupid people, so there are mountains in “Denmark” and big, lush forests in “Svalbard”, and the map seen at the beginning of the movie looks like some nightmarish mix of all the Nordic countries.

“same vibes”

Everyone:

Marvel have spent over a decade insisting that Peter Parker’s character has to be “Kept Young” to have any appeal, and have gone out of their way to enforce the idea of “Spider-man is about youth” in both comics and adapted media.

They had his marriage to Mary Jane undone via deal with Mephisto, because supposedly having him married made him unrelatable to the target audience but having him be a divorcee would age him too much, so this was somehow their best option despite… you know, the whole thing spitting in the face of everything Peter’s character is supposed to be about.

Pretty much the majority of Spider-man media since the Raimi movies ended has featured Peter as a High-schooler and a teenager. Every cartoon that’s been made since Spectacular has kept him in High-school, in Avengers EMH he was only about 18 at most, in the Amazing Spider-man movies he only graduated High School in the second movie and then that series got abruptly cut short, and the MCU has basically cemented him as “The teenaged Avengers fanboy” character, with an entire trilogy planned to focus on Peter in high school.

It’s really only in video games that we’ve gotten a version of Peter that isn’t a teenager in the last decade outside of the comics, with the comics themselves making a point to mentally regress Peter to the chagrin of many long-time fans.

Marvel have been insistent that “Young, teenaged Peter Parker” Should be the default and that it’s where the character is at his most iconic and appealing…

And then Spider-Verse gave us Peter B Parker, a version of Peter who’s in his late 30′s and going through a mid-life crisis, has stubble and a beer belly, is a mentor figure to a new teenaged superhero, and has a character arc that concludes with him deciding to reconcile with his ex-wife after deciding he wants to be a father even knowing the risks involved…

And everybody LOVES this version.