He-Man Trailer: Um. Are nerds okay?

Yesterday, after my gym sessions I headed to the shops - so - picture me dripping in sweat, and as red as a tomato, wearing a nerdy Star War's t-shirt. Not an overly pretty sight, but still, shopping must be done!

I'm starting to understand why some people who are hard of hearing wear 'I'm Deaf' badges, because the amount of interactions I've been having where I literally do not hear a person and it's just to embarrassing to tell them is getting ridiculous.

This was one such interaction, with a guy behind the check-out counter. I heard him tell me I had an awesome t-shirt, which I replied 'Thanks, I love Star Wars.'

And then I think he replied something snarky about the Mandalorian, but Mandalorian was the ONLY word I heard in the sentence. The looks he was giving me were a real ick vibe, like I was the ick. Then he made a comment about 'Gah, Disney.'

But again, I didn't hear anything but the word 'Disney'. By then, I had my items and left the line.

Yet, I was left with this just complete bafflement of wonder - like - what if I'd actually KNOWN what he'd been saying. What would our interaction been like then?

Then I had a good laugh in the car about, wondering if I just run around being utterly oblivious to all the conversations around me.

Now, I'm not happy with what Disney has done with Star Wars. So, this guy and I probably have a lot in common. The Mandalorian is my favorite of the 'new era', and I will 100% be going to see The Mandalorian and Grogu when it hits theaters. I'm a Mando fangirl, okay. Look, I made cookies!

But I swear, the internet has become this toxic place in which every piece of media is apparently awful.

My parents, one of my host students, and I just recently went to see Avatar: Fire and Ash and we really enjoyed it. My mother came out buzzing saying it the was best movie she's seen in years. Of course, it was the same story again, as the last two movies, but...so what? Let me give you an example of a good series. The Redwall Series, by Brian Jacques.

They're aimed for pre-teens and teens, but you can enjoy them as adults for being cute stories too. And here the thing - these stories follow the same story beats and patterns in every single book. They're simplistic heroic journey's by design, sometimes the settings change, the characters, you know - little things alter - but the scaffolding of true storytelling does not alter.

That's the thing about Avatar - it's a story about a family, trying to save their mystical planet. It will follow certain story beats. I said to Ella, my host student, as we left the theater, that I had entirely prepared myself for Jake to die at the end of the movie because that was what I wholly expected from that story. I was completely surprised that he didn't die, because as a writer, that's where I felt it was leading to so...it was really interesting. And I'm really curious to see where James Cameron is trying to take his characters.

So, anyway, all of this rambling actually comes from the fact that I watched the new trailer for the He-Man movie. Now, I will admit - I knew of He-man when I was younger, but I was more a...ah...fairies, and princesses, and Rainbow Brite, and My Little Pony's and Care Bears and Thunder Cats and Pizza Cats and...yeah, okay... But obviously, I know of He-Man. I know it's important to the social zeitgeist of the male population of the world - or at least, it would seem so, according to the internet.

When I watched this trailer. I laughed, because it looked fine. It looked like something I'd go and watch. It looked fun and silly and ridiculous and like the cartoon I remember.

Also, they're mixing something into it that I thought was rather ingenious - they've made it a semi-isekai of sorts.

Brilliant.

Brilliant idea!

Whoever thought of that, genius.

So, the problem I see with He-Man is how to introduce any of it - by making it a portal-fantasy, with Adam feeling like a fish-out-of-water in a horrible, boring, ugly job with hilarious enforced pro-nouns, immediately makes him relatable. We all want to be Adam, we've all dreamed of being the that prince or princess from a random land far away, to have a sword that we claim, to be swept away on a quest and an adventure.

This is why the isekai (or portal-fantasy) does so well. And I'm so surprised that I haven't seen ANYONE talk about how brilliant of a choice this is for this movie. All I have seen is people complain about this trailer, complain about Adam not being buff enough. Which, I worry so much about the men of the world if they think THAT is not buff enough. Seriously, dudes, go to a gym and see normal people, okay. Yes, I get it, Adam is supposed not be a normal person, but we live in a real world. Let's not encourage steroid use. Okay.

I think, basically, there is a lot of noise on the internet. I don’t think we hear most of it. Only the loudest voices seem to get through, and they’re almost always the most negative.

I believe that we should be allowed to enjoy our media again, without a feeling of shame or cultural humiliation. It's okay to wish for the past, for the way things where - I am one of those people who lives in nerdy t-shirts and buys geeky themed things because I loved the warmth and heart a past that is gone now. Will we ever get stories like that again? I don't know, but I discouraging new and wonderous things is a sure way to us never getting those stories.

So yeah, you'll find me at the theater when He-Man comes out. This trailer won me over.

Does that mean it will be a good movie? I donno. I haven't seen it yet.

That's it.

That's my Ted Talk.