The Danish Girl

The Danish Girl

(Disclaimer : This review contains spoilers and should be read after watching the movie.)

Hi everybody, Mary here.

So, I just watched The Danish Girl, a movie made by Tom Hooper, featuring Eddie Redmayne as Lili Elbe, the very first transgender woman to get surgery.

This is, basically, a movie about her, discovering her transgender identity, while she had been married with her wife for six years. There is, obviously, all the stigma (since we're in the 1920s here) about transgender people, who were called "crazy", "psychotic", "homosexuals" (basically, they thought that they would do it because they wanted to have gay sex while "pretenting" to be "the opposite gender", I guess ?), and when you're not called like this by actual, professional doctors, you get called names in the streets, with slurs like "f*g" or stuff like those terms.

We also have a little grasp (and I'm very sorry if I get that aspect wrong ! I am not trans and therefore I don't have any experience on the matter, nor I claim to have, because this isn't my experience and my opinion should be weighed and judged accordingly !) on body dysphoria, Lili being basically repulsed by her own body, saying it's "not her body", and wanting to be "a real woman" and have children, when really, she was a real woman, no matter her sex, and the ignorance and blatant transphobia made it even worse.

This is, basically, showing all the negative aspects of having a transphobic society, and I believe that even today, things like this haven't changed very much. Trans rights are far behind gay rights and I read somewhere (sorry, I don't remember where), they are approximately 30 years behind.

Even with equal rights, I believe that equality won't be reached until mentalities are changed in order to have everyone portrayed, everywhere in society, as equal and normal as anyone else. I really appreciated, in this movie, the heartwarming process of Lili's wife, Greta, slowly accepting that her "husband" is no more, and that she loved a woman all along. Until the very end and her wife's transition, followed by her, sadly, demise, she stayed supportive, and kept drawing her even after her death, showing her love and respect for Lily and who she really was.

The fact that this woman is revered in the trans community shows the fights, not only for equal rights, but also, just to be seen as normal. It reminds me (well, it's different, but it's somehow related because queerphobia and ignorance) about how, even in France (a country in which gay marriage is legal), some people, my age, still believe that being gay is a mental disease, that it should be treated in a mental hospital, and that it's "unnatural" to be gay, which made me feel extremely sh*tty and terrified afterwards, for the rest of the day (This is actually true !!! It was a guy talking to me about gay marriage during our English class about how he was against gay marriage. I tried to convince him but the only argument he had on his side was "ew gays are gross they are unnatural and mentally deranged and disgusting". A lost cause, really !!!).

And most of the time, people are being hateful not because they are assh*les who want to be queerphobic. It's just ignorance, and people need to be educated on that from a very young age, since not only it would make LGBTQ+ kids safer,valuated and understood, finding themselves and loving themselves for who they really are, but also for cis-straight kids to understand them and see them as they truly are, with no judgment whatsoever.

Anyways, a great movie, very dramatic but it shows the process of discovering your true self, coming out, and the reaction afterwards. Sadly, besides the fact that being gay or transgender isn't officially a "mental disorder" anymore, the reactions, as of today, wouldn't be much different.

And that f*cking breaks my heart.

Okay, that's it for today ! I really hope you enjoyed this post and I'll see you very soon with a new one !

And as usual, our last word : KIDNEYS !!!

The Gay Fetish

The Gay Fetish

(Disclaimer : this is a reaction to Dan Howell bashing #stormpilot, for more information about that please read the post linked right here : http://theuncannymary.tumblr.com/post/138205254297/whats-the-stormpilot-thing-pls-i-need-to-know)

Hi everybody, Mary here.

It seems a little bit pointless, when you think about it, to call our celebrities on their bad behaviour ?

But I still do it, because justice needs to be served. There are things I can't let pass and this is one of those. Let me explain.

So, we have #randomstraightdude over there, he's called Dan, he is totally uneducated about the LGBTQ+ community.

(Note : I was blatantly ignorant myself until last year so there's hope for improvement. He definitely needs to educate himself or some sh*t, because he should realise the impact of his words and the wide audience listening to it.)

Anyways, he just reduced #stormpilot to sex, sex, sex, nothing but sex. He said that our hopes of it ever getting "canon" were "desperate". He called us "dirty sinners" and reduced what could be the most brilliant representation of queer POC to "porking each other".

Basically, he shat on all of us queer people, on people of colour, on queer people of colour, and everyone who ships #stormpilot because they want to see it happen.

So, I'll tell what's going to happen if #stormpilot becomes canon (which I actually hope to be) :

1) New Star Wars fans, the younger generation, will grow up with Rey, Poe and Finn. They will realise the representation of their own skin, of black & Latino people, of a badass woman who gives no f*cks. I grew up with Han, Leia and Luke ; a "scoundrel" who turned selfless for love, a badass woman who gave no f*cks, and another guy who overcame his own fears to become brave while still being kind and generous. And the next generation will be growing up with a rebel black StormTrooper, a Latino pilot and a badass woman will improve the mentalities and give them hope of accepting themselves in a, sadly still racist and misognystic, world.

2) This would actually be bold from Disney to feature an interracial gay couple in a big blockbuster... but when you think about it, recent movies about LGBTQ+ people are Carol, About Ray and The Danish Girl (the two latter I still have to watch). Having people buying LGBTQ+ stories show the demand on the market, which is the only thing big Hollywodian productions care about. The money, the sales, the come-back via merchandise and derived products.

These last six months have shown people going to movies featuring LGBTQ+ people, showing there are tons of opportunities for queer people (especially those of colour) to be represented. And they could actually pull out more money and be successful, while educating people and opening their minds to how normal being queer actually is. They didn't want to sell Rey in the beginning because they thought selling "girls toys" wouldn't matter ? It did. Everyone got so mad that they had to produce. Which means, when we ask for it, we get it. We just have to be more vocal about it and ask for representation and accurate portrayal of queer people in the media.

3) It would show that queer people aren't inherently sexual (because kids are watching lolol). Even if they were, what's the matter ? Queer people don't owe you anything. But reducing queer people to sex, not exploring the depths of their struggles to find themselves, to accept themselves, to find the right person, to love and be loved, their romance, their little "days in the life", their cute moments, their shared affection, their weddings, their families, their jobs, their personalities, their hobbies, their hopes, their wishes, their dreams, their expectations, their fears, their problems, their anxieties, all of what makes a human, well... human, it's like scrapping these people up just for a comic punchline, a hot gay sex scene, a quirk, a personality trait, something of lesser importance.

What I'm trying to say here is, we never sexualise or fetishise queer couples. And while I admit that I tend to fetishise my own queer ships, I have the clarity to know why.

You know why we fetishise queer people ? Why we ship people in gay couples even if they don't drop a single hint of being queer ?

BECAUSE THERE ISN'T ENOUGH REPRESENTATION IN THE MEDIA FFS !!! AND WHENEVER THERE IS, IT'S EXTREMELY BAD !!! AND INHERENTLY SEXUAL !!! WHY DO I NEED TO TELL THIS IN CAP LOCKS ??? WHY DOESN'T ANYONE UNDERSTAND ???

And there it is. The reason for which "the gay fetish" still exists. Because in a world where mentalities would have changed so much that everyone, regardless of sexuality, romance or gender, would be considered equal and normal by their straight-cis peers, we wouldn't have to make such a fuss about it and create opportunities wherever we see a little hint of gay.

We wouldn't have to make up things, to create things that aren't canon because the creators don't want to, because they believe "it won't sell", or because they are queerphobic af.

We wouldn't have to justify something like #stormpilot because everyone would think it's normal.

You, my dear Dan, wouldn't have to say such nasty things in front of thousands, if not millions, to see.

I wouldn't have to tell you what's wrong with your bullsh*t.

We wouldn't be talking about this right now.

Anyways, I'll end it there and I'll see you all soon with another post.

And as usual, our last word : KIDNEYS !!!

The X-Files Revival #2

The X-Files Revival #2

Hi everybody, Mary here !

So, yeah ! We got spoiled with a second episode of the long-awaited revival of The X-Files, and I'm still very happy to see my favourite characters coming back on screen !

So, without any further ado, let's get started, shall we ?

The Founder's Mutation

First of all, now we have more information about the plan from the goverment.

(Which doesn't surprise me AT ALL, I mean, the women being pregnant for hybrids and resulting in failures hidden by the Secret Services ? Sounds like something I've heard before, haven't you ?)

We have very young women, like Sveta, being abducted and then they have babies and then the babies are taken away. The only difference now is, they have superpowers, like ultrasounds or telekinesis... and they are ready to use them.

Which then causes the forced suicide of a scientist and Mulder screaming in pain for this.

In the end, the guy who did this evades with his sister and runs away with her.

But this isn't the most important thing here.

The most important thing here is, how Mulder and Scully would have educated William, their son, what they think about his alien identity. For Scully, she thinks about a scared William, asking her what's happening when his alien identity re-surfaces. For Mulder, it's William, being abducted, just like his sister.

Their biggest fears are now packed together ; Scully, with her maternal instinct, hopes that her son is "more than just an experiment", and Mulder, who has to love with the abduction, and then death, of his own sister, fears the same thing happening to his son.

We finally start seeing the actual effects of them giving their own child, their love child, the only thing they love more than each other (by the way, f*ck you Chris Carter for breaking them up, I now officially DEMAND a make-up scene followed by a sex scene before the end of this mini-series), and them wishing they could have had a normal life with their child.

Without all the goverment, the aliens... in the end, they just wanted a normal life.

Like us all.

Anyways, I'm going to leave it there, and I'll see you very soon with something new (probably the next episode next week, I'm so busy right now help !!!).

And as usual, our last word : KIDNEYS !!!

The X-Files Revival #1

The X-Files Revival #1

Hi everybody, Mary here.

So, YEEPEE !!! The X-Files are back ! Isn't everyone happy to see this magnificent TV show coming back after 14 years with no new episodes ?

Because I am.

Anyways, without any further ado, let's get started with the review of the first episode out of six !!! Let's go back... to The X-Files !!!

My Struggle

First of all, I'm SUPER-DUPER glad to see the original opening and ending credits coming. It shows that the show is still the same.

Secondly, I'm super happy to see our favourite characters coming back. But if there's something g that I hate very deeply, is that they seem to be changing the entire plot to make sure that there'll be something new to watch.

Like, I was pretty sure that the truth from the end of season nine (2002) was THE truth ? Like, aliens colonising the Earth, helps by villain men, and hat was it. I thought the revival would be about the actual invasion and William's story, although they'll talk about it as well.

Tod and Sveta were good additions, and added more mystery, and the connection to William (I'm pretty sure we'll see him soon). And the conspiracy of men is also a great idea.

But at the same time, there won't be any aliens ??? If I understood correctly, these villain men have the technology to breed hybrids and use alien stuff (which concludes the paragraph : Scully being abducted and remembering men in Season 5), and then rule the world. But are they doing it for the aliens who came by in 1947 in Roswell, afraid we would "ruin ourselves" with the nuclear weapon ?

I mean, if I were the aliens, I'd let humans destroy each other. But since they need the women to have their babies and can't have their babies without them, they have to protect their surrogates, right ?

And then rule the world with their Black Oil while letting the villain men get away with the antidote ?

So the original season nine truth is the same as the revival ? Nothing has changed ?

Everything that was supposed to be new and original has already been told to us in the nine previous seasons ?

Who does Chris Carter thinks he is ?

I'm very very very extremely confused. Please someone help me because I watched the episode with ten trillion assholes around me making the most noise possible at my business school.

Anyways, I'm leaving this for now. I'll see you tomorrow with the next review of the second episode (wow, they're REALLY spoiling us for this 14-year-old wait !!!!!).

And as usual, our last word : KIDNEYS !!!

Our Common Nature #9 : Gender Roles

Our Common Nature #9 : Gender Roles

Hi everybody, Mary here.

So, here's the very last post in my Our Common Nature series, with a little talk (very brief though) about gender roles.

First of all, I'd like to talk about how harmful gender roles are, for all genders. Not only they enforce certain stereotypes on children from the youngest age, but it also ensures that the same children don't go beyond the little boxes made by their education, upbringing and society in order to make everything and everyone look and sound exactly the same.

Girls have to like pink, princesses, house chores, and princesses.
Boys have to like blue, trucks, outside activities, and superheroes.

There's not enough representation in the media for badass girl superheroes.
Boys obviously can't play with female characters, even from action movies.
Those action movies display males more than females.

Stereotypes go with personality stereotypes.
Girls have to be pretty, gentle, nurturing and submissive.
Boys have to be handsome, destroying everything, not nurturing and dominant.
Girls can't curse, boys can't cry.

Stereotypes are harming all genders. When I'm talking about feminism, I'm not only talking about all the missed opportunities and sexism towards women. I'm also talking about hyper-masculinity, fathers getting less opportunities to gain custody of their children when filing a divorce, them being left out many times of parenthood with less parental leave.

When I'm talking about feminism, I'm not a misandrist. I don't hate men. I actually hate women who think their gender is better than men, because it's not true. All genders should be raised equally and considered as equals.

The only reason for which it's called feminism and not egalitarianism, is that feminine traits are the ones that people (from ALL GENDERS) are bashed for. Masculine is the dominant and feminine, the submissive.

It's time to understand that everything is equal no matter what.

So, this concludes my Our Common Nature series ! As usual, please tell me if there are any mistakes or inaccuracies and I'll see you soon with something different !

And as usual, our last word : KIDNEYS !!!

Our Common Nature #8 : Rhinocéros

Our Common Nature #8 : Rhinocéros

Hi everybody, Mary here.

So, here's the eight post in my Our Common Nature series, with the analysis of a play by Eugène Ionesco in 1959, Rhinocéros.

Basically, this is "the theatre of the absurd" ; represented by other authors like Samuel Beckett, it shows the absurdity of our own existences and the meaning of our lives.

In this play, a rhinoceros appears and frightens the inhabitants. The only problem is, slowly across the play, other people will turn into rhinoceroses and follow the group.

It has been analysed as a parody of dictatorships : in the beginning, everyone is afraid of this, because rhinoceroses aren't supposed to exist in this village, and people want to protect their pets against what they look at as the invador.

After a while, people get sadly used to this feature and become more and more acceptant towards the rhinoceroses. In the end, they realise that all these animals have one trait, which is wilderness. Since people, no matter their background or education, is unsatisfied if their general existence, they all turn into rhinoceroses.

No matter the reason, people choose to follow the group that becomes bigger and bigger everyday no matter what ; the Logician, full of knowledge and education, follows because it seems "natural" ; Jean does it because of conformism, Daisy because she finds them "handsome", the Director because "he can't abandon the ship with his employees", his wife follows because she can't leave him like that, and so on and so on.

In the end, Bérenger, the guy that was a socially deviant person and who was mocked by the rest of the village for thinking about "how werid it is to see humans turn into beasts like that" and for seeing things as they are, ends up being the only remaining human on stage, refusing to surrender to the beasts, and when you think about it, it's what we would have known in their shoes, right ?

But think about it this way : the characters don't have as much information as us audience. Just like people who lived under a dictatorship didn't know how harmful their dictators were. People.p, when they see a dictatorship, first see it as a horrible thing, and then get used to it, until the little minority of people following the dictatorship becomes the majority, crushing the resistants under the weight of the majority.

It's the same for trends, really ; and people don't seem to see it... until it's too late.

 

Alright, this is it for now ! As usual, please tell me if there are any mistakes or inaccuracies and I'll see you very soon with the next (and last !) episode of this series.

And as usual, our last word : KIDNEYS !!!

Our Common Nature #7 : Asch's experiment

Our Common Nature #7 : Asch's Experiment

Hi everybody, Mary here.

So, here's the seventh post in my Our Common Nature series, with another experiment that prove how much humans are just a bunch of white sheeps ready to follow whatever trend is presented in front of them in order to be accepted by society.

Asch's experiment was an experiment led by Solomon Asch in 1951, in order to see how people conformed themselves to the majority. People were placed in a group and asked to compare a straight line to three others, and among those three, to find the one matching the very first one.

This was supposed to be a vision test already tested on others who didn't have any problem to answer correctly.

What was measured was the naive candidate who was answering one before last ; at the beginning, everyone would answer correctly and the naive candidate would do so as well. But then, all the candidates would answer incorrectly. What was even more absurd is that sometimes, the difference between the line they answered (the wrong one) would be extremely visible (more than five centimeters), and still, for one-third of the people, they decided to follow the majority and give a wrong answer. They would even support their wrong answer when asked to do so.

At the end of the experiment, when asked why they failed so badly, they just "blamed their bad eyesight", rather than the conformism they were the victim of.

When given someone to give the right answer with them, they'd also give the right answer. When this person would leave, they would also go back to the majority with their previous supporter.

Basically, in time of doubt and when confronted to others who don't have the same opinion as you... the best answer, for one third of the people, was to conform to their wrong opinion, I  order not to be judged or rejected by their peers.

Trends usually work like this : give an authority or power a rule, and everyone will follow it. Instead of questioning why people are doing things, it's easier to follow the masses and never be seen.

Even anti-conformism is a form of conformism : people and companies also use this technique to sell to people with the appeal of "being different", "being unique", and "go against society". Even anti-conformists have their own rules, in the end : they are against everything that is conformist, and support everything that society disapproves.

What I think of all this ? Just build your own life. Do not follow like a sheep, but try to question trends ; do not try to go against the norms at every cost, but try to understand trends. There are things you like and others you don't ; some of them are trends and others aren't. Just be yourself, even if that sentence is the cheesiest sentence ever, alright ?

Alright, that's it for now, I really hope that you liked this post, please tell me if there are any mistake or inaccuracies as usual and I'll see me you very soon without next post in this series.

And as usual, our last word : KIDNEYS !!!