You Know, For Kids
Further to this Rachel Zegler interview clip, recently doing the rounds, some thoughts from another “actress/activist”:
Indeed, the other sex often seems replaceable — if you're a young, single, childless, careerist. https://t.co/sx86se38yL
— Geoffrey Miller (@primalpoly) August 13, 2023
Ms Belcamino is “an American actress, musician, writer, and social media personality based in New York City. She is best known for her political commentary and viral dances on Twitter.”
She has a degree in mental health counselling.
Update, via the comments:
Regarding this:
Mags asks,
Readers are invited to ponder the conceit that a massively expensive film based on a classic tale for children should exist chiefly to “empower our movement,” i.e., to affirm the politics of mouthy, ungifted actresses. Rather than, say, to entertain children.
Still, I suppose it’s to be expected that obnoxious, narcissistic women should want to re-write a tale that, in its various original forms, is pretty much a warning against female narcissism and spite.
Update 2:
Min points us to this video by The Critical Drinker, titled, “How To Destroy Your Own Movie.”
It is, it has to be said, a strange way to promote an upcoming remake of a children’s classic – to wheel out an actress who boasts of having “hated” the original film, made by the same studio, and who disdains much of the story on which it’s based. And who does so seemingly on-message. Especially when the future of Disney, its very existence, is looking uncertain.
And as The Drinker and others have noted, the glib and joyless ‘strong female character’ trope now sounds much more hackneyed and cringeworthy than a tale in which unlikely friends are made and love is found, and in which a malevolent, magic-wielding queen is chased by dwarves and an entire forest of critters, before being crushed under a giant boulder, rightly, and then devoured by vultures.
The merits of the remake remain to be seen, of course – though given the star’s pronouncements, and Disney’s current trajectory, hopes of a triumph, a film that will be remembered fondly for the better part of a century, seem misplaced. The 1937 animated version may, however, reward rewatching. Seen as a child, the Evil Queen’s comeuppance – very much deserved – is quite something. Not least the vultures’ look of delight as they circle down towards her crushed remains. A pointed, lingering shot that slowly fades to black – now securely lodged in the memory.
Also, open thread.
How’s Disney stock doing?
Well, quite.
Replaceable with what?
Readers are invited to ponder the conceit that a massively expensive film based on a classic tale for children should exist chiefly to “empower our movement,” i.e., to affirm the politics of mouthy, ungifted actresses.
Rather than, say, to entertain children.
Still, I suppose it’s to be expected that obnoxious, narcissistic women should want to re-write a tale that, in its various original forms, is pretty much a warning against female narcissism and spite.
“I also hope Snow White sleeps around a lot”.
I believe there have been a number of films showing that to be the case. With all 7 dwarves, one Prince and one wicked Queen – allegedly.
At one time actors and musicians had, some claim, roughly the same social status as prostitutes.
There is something to be said for a policy that all entertainers must be outside the city limits by sundown.
Replaceable with what?
AI and robots under Full Luxury Communism™. Also lots and lots of batteries.
Remember those 60’s and 70’s feminist science fiction stories which imagined a genocide of icky men leading to a lesbian feminist utopia?
What is it with feminists thinking sleeping around redounds to their benefit? Encouraging men to treat women as disposable conveniences is to encourage the behaviour they, the feminists, claim to abhor.
And self-centered men; if memory serves, the original tale has Snow White awakened by babies at her breasts, a ‘gift’ from Prince Charming.
That is one of the original variants of the story, mentioned in Wikipedia.
I have read that in another original variant she is awakened by the Prince having sexual intercourse with her sleeping body. But this is not mentioned in the Wikipedia article, and I wonder if it is a merely an invention of pseudo-historians who either have an axe to grind or who seek attention and sales through titillation. I do know that this claim is popular among SCA, SF, and neo-pagan type people, all of whom are prone to embracing fashionable nonsense.
Snow White and other fairy tales existed for so many centuries because they embodied a truth: for most of history, a woman could indeed “marry a prince” and live happily ever after. Of course, few could find one, but it was a real thing. There were local “princes”–ie the local chief’s or Baron’s son, so it was not that impossible. Men on the other hand, had to conquer someone or inherit wealth. This is all not pc anymore of course. We went to see the musical Cinderella and they screwed up the story to make it Woke, and made the prince a hapless dork. Because they did not understand the story. Interestingly, in the original, Cinderella deserves the prince not just because she is pretty but because she is kind to others, has a good heart.
And other truths, such as the existence of both benevolent and malevolent relatives and strangers. Remember that 60’s song “Smiling Faces” [can lie]?
Folk tales express common aspirations and fears (and moral lessons) in mythic form.
“viral dances on Twitter.”
Hmm. Needs medication, I think.
I’ve been thinking about Taylor Swift, as one does.
She seems to embody an aspect of women’s lives that is reasonable (dealing with relationships and men) and pursuing an artistic career.
At the same time, part of her struggles is derived from the type of men she hooks up with (musicians and actors, not normally the most stable of men), and a firm resistance to what nature demands of her as a woman (specifically bearing children to replace her generation).
I recently came across an interview with her from years back that talked about her desire, even as a child, to be the center of attention, to be seen on stage, and that all she wants to do with her life is make records and receive the adulation of her fans.
Which sounds like a recipe for narcissism and loneliness and the seeds for further bad decisions as she grows older, her fertility declines, and her value rises only as a wealthy woman.
It’s not impossible to navigate this trap. Julia Roberts married a camera operator, had 3 children, and still acts. But Swift is 30, and one wonders how many more years she can write about youthful heartbreak and passion.
(As for why I’M thinking about this, well, that’s my problem. Her life offers a ripe field for speculation, maybe because she’s been so open about her relationships, and I’ve seen a lot of clips from her tour on YouTube. Plus, we’re seeing a number of women publicly regretting their decisions in their 20s and 30s. I mean, who writes about Madonna anymore?)
(Plus, this is avoidance. I’m grumpily revising an essay about the Yorkshire dialect, and this is the only site my blocker will let me visit.)
People who should know better.
The welfare state?
That “openness” will also act against her best interests, driving away more normal men who just want a family and do not want their personal lives to become grist for her songs. Some writers are notorious for writing intimate details about family members and past lovers. Harlan Ellison was particularly bad in this regard, describing his sister and just about every one of his many ex-wives in harsh and cruel terms as if a long string of failed marriages could not have reflected badly upon him. Even when the writing is very kind, such as James Lileks’ columns about his young daughter “Gnat”, it comes off as a intrusion into what should remain within the family.
‘How to tank a film before it even releases’
https://youtu.be/N7diarukx4M
Tanking snow white: If an artistic object like the snow white story is “out of date”, don’t use it. A good story has an internal coherence. Messing with it creates…a mess.
As a great example, in the first of the new Star Wars series, one of the storm troopers defects and turns out to be black. The storm troopers are clones of Bobba Fett (IIRC). Thus, he and all storm troopers are black. Thus all the jokes about storm troopers being unable to shoot refer to….black people. Wokies could not be more racist if they tried.
It’s a strange way to promote an upcoming remake of a children’s classic – to wheel out an actress who boasts of having “hated” the original film, made by the same studio, and who disdains much of the story on which it’s based.
Especially when the future of Disney, its very existence, is looking uncertain.
In Disney’s 1937 film Snow White is kind, brave, resourceful, forceful, and hard working. Why she shouldn’t aspire to finding a life partner she loves (and actually finding one via a cute rom-com type of meet up) but must push herself into Girl Boss “leadership” alone is so much Woke nonsense.
The clone troopers were clones during Clone Wars. They were phased out in favour of conflict at the fall of the Republic and the rise of the Empire.
I’m so glad these folks are not groomers, as they constantly assure us. Because who knows what those monsters might do with this idea.
“Queering the culture”.
And we all pretend such people are normal and not the general nut cases that they obviously, publicly are. And even promoted and celebrated for being. Yet one of the few remotely normal people in that profession, Jordan Peterson, is harassed and threatened both physically from the rabble and officially with possible imprisonment. And everyone goes on about their lives as if such a thing is no concern for the public well being or for society in general. It’s normal. Idiots.
Speaking for the kids, summon Theseus!
A mental health professional* has discovered gender-Minotaurs.
Other of her earth shattering discoveries:
She also claims there is a gender revolution where “kids know more than we do”. I am guessing she is using the royal “we” there.
*(so called)
With apologies to Orwell, there are some ideas so deranged that only a psychologist could invent them.
…there are some ideas so deranged that only a psychologist could invent them.
True, but as was seen elsewhere, the gender-prius is really a gender mullet.
Again, it’s a strange way to enthuse an audience for a remake of a classic film, a fairy tale – to have the lead actress publicly and repeatedly badmouth that classic film, and mock it as both antiquated and perverse – and to seemingly be on-message while doing so. I mean, twenty-something know-nothings will excitedly blurt out all kinds of bollocks. But the gist of the bollocks seems to be the official line, as presumably prompted by Disney PR staff, and as repeated by other co-stars.
And as others have noted, the glib and joyless ‘strong female character’ trope now sounds much more hackneyed and cringeworthy than a tale in which unlikely friends are made and love is found, and in which a malevolent, magic-wielding queen is chased by dwarves and an entire forest of critters, before being crushed under a giant boulder, rightly, and then devoured by vultures.
LOL. I’m going to have to watch it again.
It is, I think, worth rewatching. Seen as a child, the Evil Queen’s comeuppance is quite something. Not least the vultures’ look of delight as they circle down towards her crushed remains. A pointed, lingering shot that slowly fades to black – now securely lodged in the memory.
https://www.shopdisney.com/inspired-by-snow-white-snow-white-and-the-seven-dwarfs-disney-ily-4ever-doll-11-460023390074.html
At least no-one could accuse Disney of disrespectfully re-imagining the Snow White character before now.
[ Post updated again. ]
Hardcore.
They are the children.
Beyond a certain age not all children are narcissists. But all adult narcissists are children. By definition.
Pretty much.
[ Schedules tomorrow’s Ephemera, slumps back in chair. ]
Wow. I have never seen the original cartoon, or any remake. Thank you for that!
They really knew how to make movies back then – the worst is subtly implied, but not seen. And gives you goosebumps. Of course, back then, people – adults and children – knew how to use their imaginations.
It’s a good example of how not showing the implied horror can work well. Instead, we see a lingering shot of the vultures watching closely – their eyes widening in obvious anticipation – as the music and sound effects fade away, leaving us, the audience, in silence.
Yes, thanks indeed! I remember very little, as I saw it when I was very young.
Fairy tales should, I think, have a touch of the monstrous and horrifying.
Yes indeed. Horror and other things. All the movie makers who believe (or pretend to believe!) that we must see the blood and tissue spray in order to know that someone was shot, or see full frontal nudity in order to know that a girl loves someone.
I suppose it’s the challenge of conveying to small children the ideas of good and evil, of a world in which monsters do exist and will try to harm you, and to convey it in a way that’s vivid and memorable, but not quite traumatising.
I just watched the teaser trailer for the impending remake. It’s utterly bland and generic. We basically get a voiceover that sounds like some cheesy female-empowerment self-help record.
Despite having grown up in a palace, she’s also willing to clean and tidy the dwarves’ house in order to earn her keep. I suspect that display of fairness will now be deemed problematic.
Disney is now an xxx rated puveyor of smut. Please go out of business.
The problem with women running everything is that women basically hate and envy each other. They are not what one would expect from the fairer sex. They can be horrid and often are.
Most of the fairy tales we know are.
Well, were, before the ‘that isn’t nice’ crowd started snipping away at them.
One of the reasons I liked Gaiman’s Stardust was the lack of saccharine.
Many fairy tales were lessons for children, not just entertainment. The boys turning into donkeys in Pinnochio was a warning. There were warnings about monsters and danger, like the children wandering in the woods and finding the gingerbread house. There were (and are) real dangers and real evil people in the world. Making everything sugar coated and bland is not the real world. These people want to pretend Mao’s China didn’t kill millions, that BLM riots did not destroy neigborhoods, etc.
More accurately, some hate each other.
Jordan Peterson has pointed out that when men get in conflicts they tend to fight and then it’s over. But when women compete they generally engage in reputation destruction–rumor, innuendo, etc.–which can wreak long-term or permanent harm. And that does, I think, make women look more hateful than men.
Peterson also says that one of the top correlates with left-wing extremism is being female. If someone nags me, I will try to dig up the exact quotes.
With lessons that monsters can be defeated.
“I will try to dig up the exact quotes”
This is not from Peterson, but Rob Henderson, as quoted by Arnold Kling’s substack (since Rob’s essay is behind a paywall).
For example:
He [Rob Henderson] says that when men compete,
In Games People Play, [note: A popular self-help book from the 1970s] one of the games that a woman will allegedly play is “Let’s You and Him Fight.”
How do women compete for status? Henderson writes,
More on Mr Henderson here.
Meanwhile, back to Snow White, heh.
You bad man.
Though on the upside, I see you’ve mastered the comment box toolbar.
Aelfheld.
IMHO Gaiman’s original book of Stardust was infinitely better than the film largely due to the absence of messrs Gervais and particularly De Niro yukking it up.
Even so the film still beats any live-action Disney remake.
That Snow White trailer (to nobody’s surprise the “seven dwarfs” are confirmed as being absent from the film title for obvious reasons, thank you Peter Dinklage) is even worse than I expected.
Try this one, is same.
As far as the comment bar goes, it is not so much mastering the unmasterable, it is figuring out the workarounds to overcome what seemed logical to some millennial code monkey.
[ Writes down millennial code monkey. ]
John,
I read Stardust when it came out in print (and recommended it to many friends & acquaintances).
The movie wasn’t terrible but had a certain squeamishness regarding the bloodier aspects of the book.
It’s not even good gaslighting.
Returning to Snow White for a while at least I enjoyed the US TV series “Once Upon a Time” with its innovative premise of parallel fairy tale and real worlds with the fantasy characters having real-life counterparts. All set in a small American town naturally. The two main protagonist girl bosses, one inevitably called “Snow”, were out-acted and generally outwitted by the excellent Robert Carlyle as Rumplestiltskin and his real world counterpart Mr Gold.
Although it eventually ran out of ideas the first 2 seasons while characters were being introduced were excellent and well enough written to take advantage of the fact that although people remember the happy endings many traditional fairy stories have deep undercurrents of cruelty and unhappiness. Some of the early episodes were far from cuddly.
This is a recurring flaw in Hollywood, where a TV series will run forever or until it becomes so bad as to lose most viewers. I like the British practice of series which are planned to run for a specified number of episodes or seasons.
in a sense, women are outsourcing the cognitive burden of mate selection onto the men. The men organize some kind of contest, the women stand back and observe, and then choose the victor, or the men the other males decide is talented.
Oh, you mean like how many other species pick mates via displays of prowess or beauty? Funny, I’ve been told by all RightThinkingPeople that all sex differences are merely social constructs and have nothing to do with our nature.
I wish someone would address the abject illiteracy of changing the original English formulation, “Mirror, mirror, on the wall, Who in this land is fairest of all?” from being about physical beauty, to being impartial and honest.
How does this even make sense? The evil queen is bitterly jealous of Snow White for being a more honest, upright leader than she is?
Imagine the Disney writer’s room filled with a bunch of smug midwits like Rachel Zegler, chortling over how clever they were being.
The ignorance and illiteracy of today’s “educated” artists and journalists is jaw-dropping. But not completely new: Remember the sixties journalist Jimmy Breslin and his “jackal bins”?
It could be useful for people not to know what Jacobin means, the same way that Social Engineering is now apparently something someone does to steal your passwords.
obnoxious, narcissistic women should want to re-write a tale that, in its various original forms, is pretty much a warning against female narcissism and spite.
If you ignore what most Disney films are telling you to believe and instead look at what’s actually shown onscreen, you see a much more…based view of the cinematic universe.
Rather than, say, to entertain children.
I don’t think that’s the audience any more. I think that the target audience for most of these horrible movies now is Gen-X and older millennial women. And I get it; somebody has decided that they can cash in on the other 52% of that age demographic by pandering ruthlessly to their insecurities and nostalgia the same way they did with the DC, Marvel and Star Wars franchises.
Some writers are notorious for writing intimate details about family members and past lovers
You oughta know.
there are some ideas so deranged that only a psychologist could invent them
I’m old enough to remember the “Otherkin” fad in the 1990s.
women basically hate and envy each other
Don’t try to understand women, Bud. Women understand women, and they hate each other.
parallel fairy tale and real worlds with the fantasy characters having real-life counterparts.
I quite enjoyed the early seasons’ game of “guess which Disney character this real-world persona is” although to this day I don’t understand why Belle was from New Zealand.
The ignorance and illiteracy of today’s “educated” artists
I saw Hadestown this weekend, and as much as I enjoyed the music the fact that the songwriter clearly did not understand Greek mythology generally nor the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice specifically was painfully, often cringeworthily clear. The fact that Hades was costumed to look like gigachad did amuse mightily though.
Er, what?
The Alanis Morrisette hit single “You Oughta Know” is about…Dave Coulier. Uncle Joey from Full House. Who broke up with her because he wanted to settle down and start a family, and she was Alanis Morrisette.
Ah, so you were citing an example, not telling me that I oughta know.
Relationships in the entertainment industry do seem to be…problematic.
Guess who.
Respect isn’t the word that’s coming to mind.
I see our Little Miss has form.