#googlerocket

Because Jeff Goldblum

1ST RULE: tag 9 mutuals you would like to know better

I tag @im-looking-through-paul, @veganmort, @winefeatheredfinch, @jimmypageshurdygurdy, @rockmacbeth, @fabfourforsale, @cryptidclub, @redlipstickandblacktea, @juliamccartney and @googlerocket (yes I tagged 10 people, fight me)

2ND RULE: BOLD the statements that are true.

APPEARANCE:

I am 5'7" or taller I wear glasses I have at least one tattoo I have at least one piercing I have blonde hair I have brown eyes I have short hair My abs are at least somewhat defined I have or have had braces

PERSONALITY:

I love meeting new people People tell me that I’m funny Helping others with their problems is a big priority for me I enjoy physical challenges I enjoy mental challenges I’m playfully rude with people I know well I started saying something ironically and now I can’t stop saying it There is something I would change about my personality

ABILITY:

I can sing well I can play an instrument I can do over 30 pushups without stopping I’m a fast runner I can draw well I have a good memory I’m good at doing math in my head I can hold my breath underwater for over a minute I have beaten at least 2 people in arm wrestling I know how to cook at least 3 meals from scratch I know how to throw a proper punch

HOBBIES:

I enjoy playing sports I’m on a sports team at my school or somewhere else I’m in an orchestra or choir at my school or somewhere else I have learned a new song in the past week I work out at least once a week I’ve gone for runs at least once a week in the warmer months I have drawn something in the past month I enjoy writing Fandoms are my #1 passion I do or have done martial arts

EXPERIENCES:

I have had my first kiss I have had alcohol I have scored the winning goal in a sports game I have watched an entire season of a TV show in one sitting I have been at an overnight event I have been in a taxi I have been in the hospital or ER in the past year I have beaten a video game in one day I have visited another country I have been to one of my favorite band’s concerts

RELATIONSHIPS:

I’m in a relationship I have a crush on a celebrity I have a crush on someone I know I have been in at least 3 relationships I have never been in a relationship I have asked someone out or admitted my feelings to them I get crushes easily I have had a crush on someone for over a year I have been in a relationship for at least a year I have had feelings for a friend

MY LIFE:

I have at least one person I consider a “best friend” I live close to my school My parents are still together I have at least one sibling I live in the United States There is snow right now where I live I have hung out with a friend in the past month I have a smartphone I have at least 15 CDs I share my room with someone

RANDOM SHIT:

It’s ok. I’m alright for now. Marawi is in Davao, the island down south. I’m currently in Manila which is up north. I’m just really scared because, literally, the Philippines is... probably smaller than 1/8th of Texas (I can’t think of any other place to compare it to atm). But we’re basically such a small country and I’m afraid of the attacks spreading.

Do I look like I watch it? Bcos I’ve attempted to a few times

If anything I was hoping that by the end of it Anna wouldn’t have a love interest. Her being paired with that doctor at the end and somehow claim to be in love with him made me roll my eyes super hard because I just did not buy it. Those two had a relationship that felt very one-sided and almost equally as unhealthy as her relationship with Torsten eventually became, albeit from the opposite side of the spectrum. I wanted her to move on with her life and be shown working to make an honest living

I don’t remember much about the original Swedish one, but I think Anna did go off on her own in that one. So it was US pressure from the censors that this version of Anna had to be paired with Mr. Patriarchy in the end. That’s the Hays Office for you--they thought it was far too dangerous for a woman like that to be left alone without male supervision, without someone who could really control her. Which is creepy as fuck, frankly.

And it’s extra creepy exactly because Anna is one of those rare female characters who is unusual in how much character she has, how many different and complex characteristics she has (cynical yet romantic, tough yet that’s shown to spring from PTSD and years of bullying, vulnerable yet exhibiting a swaggering sexuality the moment she gets a chance and capable of putting a bullet into someone if needs be). Just as the story would have been blah had she just been a stupid, weak woman who fell under Torsten’s spell just like that (the fact that she was tough as fuck and didn’t take any shit from playboys like him, and *still* became a slave to his evil sexual thrall was what made it interesting and made Torsten more interesting and powerful), it’s also more disturbing exactly because of how much character, how much individuality, how much atypical-woman-ness, how much strength we see quashed by Segert.

It’s her being Anna motherfucking Holm that carries the movie and makes her engaging and interesting and sympathetic--and then we see all of that taken away from her, get shown how this is Inappropriate For A Lady, and how she must be tamed and controlled by A Man Who Knows Better and who represents what’s Appropriate. Which, to be honest, makes even Torsten a better alternative--you just know that had they gone off together, it would’ve been Anna wearing the trousers in that relationship. She probably would’ve partied hard with him and watched him burn out (probably dying from his excesses) and then she would’ve gone off on her own, to new adventures. That’s one of my headcanons for it, at least.

All in all, the end feels so pasted on it’s uncomfortable, because you could swear that it actually acknowledges the humanity of a woman like Anna: un-fucking-heard of at that time in American society--reviews from conservative aunties at the time referred to it as a horror movie, because it was so unacceptable to portray a woman like that. It didn’t matter to them what made Anna what she was, she was someone who shouldn’t even *exist*. And these reviews were surrounded by cosmetics ads that seriously--we think of them as corny now, but they were real bullying at the time--guilt-tripped women by saying you’d never get married if you didn’t use this hand cream. It was a huge career risk for Joan to take on that role in an era where women (especially movie stars) were supposed to look perfect and the stadards of ladylikeness were inhumanly extreme. And then, bang, that resolution comes and tells everybody that it’s ok, she’s no longer monstrous! Yeah, and all those inner scars and her PTSD probably vanished as well! Right?

The script was in development hell for several years and it had about a dozen different screenwriters working on it (even Isherwood!) over the years, and it was offered to Greta Garbo first, before Joanie lobbied to get it for herself. So that contributes to just how honed the dialogue and the characters are. But of course, it still doesn’t change the ludicrousness of the last five minutes--I do suspect it was one of the last edits made to the script. But all in all, it does stand as a breathtaking exercise on how femininity was and is controlled and policed in so many different ways, and the treatment is astonishingly sympathetic (I’d say feminist in and of itself in the very fact that it even acknowledges how these things work and explores them), until the very end. That’s why the film hurts so much--it gets women, atypical women (even down to a touch of queerness/kinkiness), but then *bam,* the cage comes down. Not at all untypical of a film of that era, especially if it had Joanie or Bette Davis in, of course--you watch them raging for an hour and then at the end, ”normalcy must be restored.” But it’s still great to read it between the lines and against the grain, and just ignore the last five minutes, of course.