Tag Archives: Movie

We Own the Majority: Mayans M.C. Brings Drama, Representation, and Larger-Than-Life Grit

By Hannah Quinque

Pho­to by Ste­qvc at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MayansMC.png#/media/File:MayansMC.png.

FX’s Mayans M.C. is a dra­ma series show­cas­ing a world of guns and drugs around a bik­er gang in SoCal, right at the US-Mex­i­can bor­der. Can a set­ting rid­dled with stereo­types present a back­drop for desir­able rep­re­sen­ta­tion with its prin­ci­pal­ly Mex­i­can Amer­i­can (Chi­cano) char­ac­ters? Let’s look beyond the basic premise and find out how Mayans M.C., for all its machis­mo, tells tales full of life sel­dom fea­tured, off- as well as on-screen.

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Going against the Grain: Declaring My Love for Cars 2

By Veronika Heinrich

Every­body hates Cars 2 – and I just don’t under­stand why. First of all, let me make a con­fes­sion: I’m 25 years old and a Dis­ney nerd. I love watch­ing ani­mat­ed movies – as long as they’re well made. And Cars 2, even after more than ten years, is still my all-time feel-good movie.

It has every­thing you could wish for: Uplift­ing words, fun­ny jokes, and a world you can lose your­self in. There’s bare­ly any­thing that’s hate­ful or trig­ger­ing, and I love join­ing the char­ac­ters on their jour­ney. Yet, most crit­ics have char­ac­ter­ized Cars 2 as vio­lent and illog­i­cal, call­ing it the worst Pixar movie ever – and I just can’t wrap my head around it. How could I feel so dif­fer­ent­ly from every­one else?

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The ‘Woke’ Cinderella Recipe: A Dash of Queerness, a Pinch of Feminism, and a Sprinkling of Fairy Dust

By Veronika Heinrich

Once upon a time, there was a young woman named Cin­derel­la (Cami­la Cabel­lo). In the 2021 film, she loves to design dress­es and wants to make a busi­ness out of it. When the prince (‎Nicholas Gal­itzine) announces a ball, her step­moth­er Vivian (Idi­na Men­zel), want­i­ng to pro­tect her from the patri­ar­chal world out­side, destroys Cinderella’s dress to keep her from poten­tial­ly mar­ry­ing a man she’d just met. The prince, how­ev­er, is in love with his best friend (Jenet Le Lacheur) but can’t real­ly admit it – not even to him­self. Also, he’s not qual­i­fied to rule the king­dom. The patri­archy, how­ev­er, wants him to become king and will nev­er agree to his smart sis­ter (Tal­lu­lah Greive) becom­ing queen.

When Cinderella’s fairy god per­son (Bil­ly Porter) arrives, they not only turn one of her designs into real­i­ty, but they also throw a par­ty at Cinderella’s place. When the prince and his best friend arrive, the pres­ence of the fairy god per­son gives them the strength to admit their feel­ings for each oth­er. The prince’s sis­ter becomes heir to the throne, and Cin­derel­la finds a queen with whom to trav­el around the world and sell her designs. And they all live hap­pi­ly ever after.

Only that’s not what happens.

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Blue Valentine : Endings, Beginnings, and Nothing in Between

By Kai-Arne Zimny

Blue Valen­tine: A Love Sto­ry (2011). That’s what it says on the movie poster. But is this what the movie is real­ly about? A roman­tic, sus­tained, and pro­found life­long bond between two peo­ple? Well, maybe it isn’t.

The present: Dean (Ryan Gosling) is an over­all like­able, easy­go­ing slack­er. His job, paint­ing hous­es, allows him the ‘lux­u­ry’ of drink­ing beer in the morn­ing. He’s not a radi­ant source of bliss but being mar­ried to Cindy (Michelle Williams) and get­ting goofy with their lit­tle daugh­ter Frankie (Faith Wla­dy­ka) is what he calls “his dream.” How­ev­er, Cindy, a nurse, has high­er aspi­ra­tions. To her, Dean’s “dream” is noth­ing but an end­less­ly depress­ing nightmare.

The past: Charm­ing high school dropout Dean works as a fur­ni­ture mover and meets med stu­dent Cindy. To him, it’s love at first sight. To her, it’s so-so. He makes jokes, she laughs; he sings and plays the ukulele, she tap dances to the tunes. Her father hates him, but that’s not an issue because love con­quers all – right?

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