hemogoblin Posted September 19, 2023 Share Posted September 19, 2023 SPOILERS for Elemental /// /// /// First off, I want to acknowledge that Disney's Elemental movie is first and foremost a movie of immigration and culture/race. I do not want to dismiss or minimize the discrimination and prejudice that interracial and cross-cultural relationships face. They deserve recognition and appreciation. And I do appreciate the messaging Elemental had about immigrant families and their unique experiences. I also realize I am nitpicking because at the end of the day, the movie is about telling a good story. But I think Elemental really did itself a disservice here, did its message a disservice, and ofc threw aros and other non-amatonoramtive conforming people under the bus in doing so. I am talking about Ember's mom and her love reading. WHY was it necessary to have a whole entire scene about how Ember has never been interested in love/dating/romance? We didn't need a whole rant on how Ember "was loveless" to understand that she's devoted her life to her family and never thought much about dating or even just herself in general. The movie was doing a perfectly good job of getting that across without this scene. We only ever see her with her family, she's standoffish to outsiders, her art is only ever treated as engineering necessity, she's obviously dedicated her life to making her father proud... Like, we got it! In doing so, in setting Ember up as super aro and non-partnering coded and then having her fall in love with a 'water guy', it honestly treats their relationship like a fetish. It doesn't just imply Ember "never met the right elemental". It implies Ember's not interested in guys of her own race/type. She's got a racist preference and that's why she's never dated or been interested in looking around. It was just really annoying to hit that scene and immediately recognize "oh flame, this movie's gonna be all about romance, isn't it?" even over top of the desperate, silly hope for an aro-friendly character that even as I felt, I knew was unrealistic. Just my take. I think the overall message of the film would have been much stronger if they'd just gotten rid of that scene completely. I don't even expect for Ember to be aro. Just leave out the scenes dehumanizing aros and loveless/heartless folk and only ever painting us as the sad "before" picture. 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isa1116 Posted September 19, 2023 Share Posted September 19, 2023 I've kinda wanted to see the movie but leaving that there's a scene like that makes me kinda sad... 🥲 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hemogoblin Posted September 20, 2023 Author Share Posted September 20, 2023 6 hours ago, Isa1116 said: I've kinda wanted to see the movie but leaving that there's a scene like that makes me kinda sad... 🥲 Generally, I did enjoy the movie, but that scene definitely stung. The scene wasn't long and it wasn't harped on - it took up a few minutes of the overall movie - but yeah, it is still there. And any romance-repulsed aros should know that it's 100% a "true love" story and thus super amatonormative. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isa1116 Posted September 20, 2023 Share Posted September 20, 2023 1 hour ago, hemogoblin said: Generally, I did enjoy the movie, but that scene definitely stung. The scene wasn't long and it wasn't harped on - it took up a few minutes of the overall movie - but yeah, it is still there. And any romance-repulsed aros should know that it's 100% a "true love" story and thus super amatonormative. Normally I don't really mind romance but like the last week I've been really bored of it lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holmbo Posted September 20, 2023 Share Posted September 20, 2023 I didn't feel much interest to watch this movie since I learned the main plot was a mediocre romance where the characters like each other because "the plot said so". But now I kinda wish I had seen it just so I could comment on your post. I might watch it at some point because it does seem to have some good part and I'm sure the animations are cool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nonmerci Posted September 20, 2023 Share Posted September 20, 2023 Yeah that's a trope that I hate. Everytime a character, usually female as it is also part if the "I am not like other girls" trope, says they are not interesting in dating or things like that, it is just a code for "another character will make them change their mind". And so that's what people hear everytime an aro says that. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holmbo Posted September 20, 2023 Share Posted September 20, 2023 (edited) 7 hours ago, nonmerci said: Yeah that's a trope that I hate. Everytime a character, usually female as it is also part if the "I am not like other girls" trope, says they are not interesting in dating or things like that, it is just a code for "another character will make them change their mind". And so that's what people hear everytime an aro says that. Agreed. Although it can also be men but in that case it's more in the "robot learns to become human" vibe where someone very logical gets in touch with their emotions by falling in love. Edited September 20, 2023 by Holmbo 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hemogoblin Posted September 21, 2023 Author Share Posted September 21, 2023 13 hours ago, Holmbo said: Agreed. Although it can also be men but in that case it's more in the "robot learns to become human" vibe where someone very logical gets in touch with their emotions by falling in love. Honestly, this is exactly what they did to Ember. She's very logical and task-focused with a literally fiery temper, which is definitely her defining flaw. Her partner (Wade) is super emotional, cries at the drop of a hat, appreciates beauty in the most ridiculous things... And their relationship opens up another world for Ember, where she's suddenly allowed to be soft and vulnerable and care about art beyond using it as a tool, which softens her anger issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LifezVictory Posted September 21, 2023 Share Posted September 21, 2023 I thought about watching this movie, but now I don’t think I will. Also, I hate how they changed Lake’s pronouns to she/her in the movie, or so I’ve heard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hemogoblin Posted September 22, 2023 Author Share Posted September 22, 2023 9 hours ago, LifezVictory said: I thought about watching this movie, but now I don’t think I will. Also, I hate how they changed Lake’s pronouns to she/her in the movie, or so I’ve heard. Maybe that was a country-specific thing (some languages don't have established neutral pronouns, unfortunately)? I would have to go back and double check, but I don't recall Lake ever actually being referred to with any pronouns, but I do recall they were specifically introduced as "my sibling". Lake's wiki page also uses they/them pronouns. Their part in the movie is EXTREMELY minor, though. Like, I don't think they even had one speaking line. Just an animated wave hello. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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