“this movie unzipped me, i was sobbing in the car, this movie made me come out” vs “haha it was boring and weird, i didn’t get it”
this is how ive watched it play out in theatres, too
when i went for a rewatch with my Trans Power Cabal, there was a straight couple and a pair of frat boys why were talking all through some of the most impactful moments of the film - in the middle of the planetarium scene, one of them laughed loudly and went "HAHA, WHAT?"
yeah, for some people, either there's nothing in their life experience that lets them connect to Owen & Maddy, or there's no way they can let themselves be vulnerable enough to let the experience in
i think some of this comes down to it ALSO being a proper arthouse film
even if it wasn't so deeply trans- it would be a movie for movie nerds
so i'm not surprised fucking frat boys couldn't find anything to engage with
yeah, yeah. i start crying every time during the planetarium scene. which, this time, people were loudly talking over. i had to concentrate not to let the anger take over.
Oh I have zero patience for that shit, especially if my emotions are already raw from the movie itself.
Haven't needed to do this in a long time thankfully, but people who talk during a movie get one chance, and it's me yelling "SHUT THE FUCK UP" followed by me finding an usher if they continue.
I'm in the UK and couldn't wait so watched the jankiest cinema rip (weirdly fitting; also I'll literally double up my tickets as penance) but every time someone stood up in the video I was instinctively trying to look around them
Honestly, I would like to have more content like that.
I can't think of something I have seen that was made in the US in this century that was weird and foreign to me other than The Passion of the Christ.
More movies for subcultures that aren't mine and I won't understand!
I'm a few exits past having "not trans enough" arguments with myself but the "oh you think it was a gender thing? I didn't pick up on that at all" conversation with my cis partner on the car ride home probably would have cinched it for me if nothing else did.
the BtVS font on the credits for The Pink Opaque, Owen's mom dying and the show getting canceled, "in order to be reborn (for a sixth season on a new network) you'll have to literally claw yourself out of the grave",
I went in knowing it was trans (but little else) and thought to myself before it started "I wonder what subtle notes of gender I'll pick up" and the entire film proceeded to beat me with a sock full of quarters in an alleyway with the gender for the entire runtime.
The color scheme is gender reveal pink and blue. Maddie comes back looking masc as fuck. Owen has a break down while staring at the word "boy" on a kids birthday boy crown. His dad wont let him watch a girl show.
The film is not subtle about its gender theme
the first song played in the movie, when Owen is revealed, is a cover of "anthems for a 17 year old girl"
the parachute that they play under is rendered, via light from above, into the colors of the trans pride flag. owen is framed by those colors in slow motion.
no, it is NOT subtle about gender
I'd go further: the parachute is genderfluid pride, with black at the center, and it's the last time Owen plays or has fun because the rest of the movie is Owen refusing to face the void where his heart ought to be
