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Westward the Women (1951)
Badly aged attitudes but a fun fantasy
Hard for me to rate. It's sexist and misogynistic, racist, whatever you want. That's to be expected for the era and genre, unfortunately.
Thought it was a cool story, when I could turn off my disgust over women being metaphorical cattle driven by a rugged cowboy to the men they are supposed to marry but have never met. Brought mail order brides to mind. It reminded me of Oregon Trail. Somebody was always breaking a leg or wagon wheel.
The depiction of non-white characters is expectedly underwhelming and offensive. Stereotypical depiction of Native people as only violent yet noble shouting warriors. You could cut that scene out of the film and nothing would be different, so I'm not sure why they felt it was necessary for the story, except for a moment of drama and stereotypes. The male lead wanted to leave one greiving woman to die because she didn't speak English (just Italian). I know his characterization is a hardass, but man, bad look. The Asian character has stereotypical broken English and frequebt slapstick funny moments, like slipping in the mud.
A lot of uncomfortable sexism. Even when the men are being noble and respecting the women, it's not for the women as individual people, but because their gender is female and they are (or could be) a wife or a mother. Or that they overcame their gender to do something only men can do. I think the thrust of the film was supposed to be a gender progressive narrative about how the white women who colonized the American West were also "strong," but it aged badly. It's not showing women as equals, but someone who could be made a man as long as they go through terrible trials and get rid of the things that make them women. When the women do something "strong" the camera cuts to the men smiling approvingly, as if it's only because of the men they could do anything. And once they're delivered to their future husbands, they go back to being meek.
It romanticizes white settlement of the American west, but that's an entire other essay. All westerns have that baseline.
Here's what I did like. There is a large cast of women who interact with each other frequently. There are many scenes of women doing things together and smiling about it. The large cast of women front and center is unusual for the era, so it was fun to see. Larger numbers of female characters give a much better environment to have well written female characters, so that just one or two women on screen don't have to represent all women ever. They are still all stereotypes in this film, but it was refreshing.
There is one woman depicted as very masculine, who I loved immediately. I am queer, and she gave me big dyke vibes. In the end she ends up in a light pretty dress and married to a man she's never met just like all the other women, but I enjoyed that departure from gender norms while it lasted.
Overall, if you can soldier through the vintage bigotry, it was a fun film. I'm gonna pretend in my head the masc woman and the Italian woman got together while sharing a wagon.
Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated (2010)
Depth and absurdity reels an old fan back in
Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated (SDMI) is everything I wanted out of the Scooby- Doo franchise. I grew up watching every animated and live-action incarnation of the Scooby gang's adventures. They were very enjoyable, but especially as I became older, I gravitated towards the more action and plot oriented Scooby-Doo releases (Reluctant Werewolf, Witch's Ghost, Cyber Chase, and Alien Invaders were staples). Legend of the Phantosaur caught me by surprise on Cartoon Network one day, reeling me back in from the relative apathy I'd developed regarding my old favorite. It felt like a fresher, slightly more serious take on the typical plot. I soon after discovered SDMI and was blown away by the shift in tone. It takes itself more seriously, with a larger overarching plot that leads to an ending with massive implications for the gang's universe. SDMI is chiefly an alternate version of the gang's overall story, so each plot element borrowed from past incarnations is taken with a grain of salt and a dose of parody. I'm tempted to label it as "darker", but aside from an often visibly "darker" color palette and the fact that each mystery contributes to plot continuity, SDMI seems no darker than the original 60s cartoon (of which I distinctly remember Scooby almost getting gruesomely sawed in half, among other incidents). What this version of Scooby-Doo has is a lot of depth: the overarching mystery thickens with each episode and the characters gain a depth and breadth of characterization I've never before seen. In a somewhat refreshing interpretation of Fred and Velma, Fred is heavily Autistic-coded (assigned similar characteristics as those on the Autism spectrum) and Velma queer-coded (assigned similar characteristics as those in the LGBTQ community). While it would have been nice to have it stated outright, it's typical of the entertainment industry to leave it up to "viewer interpretation". Issues explored throughout include toxic masculinity and defining the concept of family. The seriousness that comes with these topics is easily balanced out with moments of humorous absurdity, because while the show addresses a lot of heavy issues, it can't stray from its core of laughs and fun times. I enjoyed it very much, and enthusiastically recommend it to fans of Disney's Gravity Falls, which shares mystery solving youth and supernatural goings-on centered around a particular town. SDMI immediately claimed the number one spot in my heart for Scooby-Doo related media. Once I get around to it I'm totally purchasing the box set. I'm giving it 9 out of 10 stars because I noticed a few reoccurring animation mistakes in an otherwise pretty solidly animated show, and because despite how much I love SDMI, perfect scores are nigh impossible.