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"Luisa Now and Then" and "ParaNorman"
Aug. 24th, 2020 12:35 pmLuisa Now and Then, by Carole Maurel, adapted by Mariko Tamaki - graphic novel
(eta: Luisa, not Louisa)
This is so good!?!?! The art is stunningly beautiful: empathetic portraits of people, soft-colored images of Paris.
The story is one about coming out as an adult, and finding self-acceptance. It spoke to me personally.
When you do this difficult emotional work of coming out as an adult, you have to "go back" to your teenage and childhood self and address the feelings and pain that you did not process at the time. This process is made literal in "Luisa Now and Then," as adult-Luisa spends time with her 15 year old self. Luisa finds her teenage self annoying; she's not as kind to herself as she could be, and that's uncomfortable to witness. But, she is unhappy and processing a lot of negative emotions. She witnessed and experienced homophobia from her mother and her peers as a teen, and has since only dated men.
Recommended.
ParaNormal - claymation kids' movie.
I watched this because I read somewhere that is has a gay character; one of the side-kicks is revealed to be gay at the end of the movie. An argument could also be made that the main character, Norman, is sub-textually gay, he is called "sensitive" by his parents, for example.
The story was cute, but I did not like the visuals. This is firmly in the horror movie/zombie genre, and so reveled in body horror, which is not my thing. Even the living characters had grayish skin, and a certain grotesque quality to their bodies; I found it off-putting.
The one Black character was a highly stereotypical "sassy" woman.
People who are fans of "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and similar films will probably like this better than I did.
(eta: Luisa, not Louisa)
This is so good!?!?! The art is stunningly beautiful: empathetic portraits of people, soft-colored images of Paris.
The story is one about coming out as an adult, and finding self-acceptance. It spoke to me personally.
When you do this difficult emotional work of coming out as an adult, you have to "go back" to your teenage and childhood self and address the feelings and pain that you did not process at the time. This process is made literal in "Luisa Now and Then," as adult-Luisa spends time with her 15 year old self. Luisa finds her teenage self annoying; she's not as kind to herself as she could be, and that's uncomfortable to witness. But, she is unhappy and processing a lot of negative emotions. She witnessed and experienced homophobia from her mother and her peers as a teen, and has since only dated men.
Recommended.
ParaNormal - claymation kids' movie.
I watched this because I read somewhere that is has a gay character; one of the side-kicks is revealed to be gay at the end of the movie. An argument could also be made that the main character, Norman, is sub-textually gay, he is called "sensitive" by his parents, for example.
The story was cute, but I did not like the visuals. This is firmly in the horror movie/zombie genre, and so reveled in body horror, which is not my thing. Even the living characters had grayish skin, and a certain grotesque quality to their bodies; I found it off-putting.
The one Black character was a highly stereotypical "sassy" woman.
People who are fans of "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and similar films will probably like this better than I did.
