Not me scrolling through the Conclave tag only to see no one talk about the deliberate positioning and framing of the women in this movie.
Pulling up this movie I completely expected to only encounter Sister Agnes as the one woman we see in the trailer, the conclave a space that has been kept from the female members of the church. Now, color me surprised when I started the movie and most of the establishing shots we got were focused on all the women working in the Vatican.
And it is such a deliberate choice, it does the film a disservice not to talk about it.
Because while Cardinal Lawrence is having his fifteenth breakdown during sequestering and Bellini finds the ambitious asshole within himself, Ray does all the leg work, and Bel---- we see the women work.
We see the kitchens, we see them cook, we see them stand aside. Most of the time when the Cardinals are conspiring it is the women who interrupt because they are busy working, walking, running errands.
And there is power in that.
I think it is very deliberate how often (and with such lingering gaze) the camera shows us the lives of the other half - partially to connect to the wider themes of the movie, on how Bellini asks for women to get more power but never thanks them, and how Benitez stumps them all by thanking the women preparing their meals when asked to say the prayer (considering his own probably tumultuous relationship to gender within the church).
But it also stands in direct opposition to a long tradition in story telling: servants don't exist. How often the heroes of a regency romance are "alone" because the two hand maidens and three maids don't really count.
Conclave doesn't do that.
It doesn't let us look away.
Between all the petty drama, the politics, and the real life consequences of the conclave, we never stop looking at the people doing all the work.
Yes, we follow the ups and downs of Lawrence and Co, but in doing so the movie reminds us again and again of the women working the kitchen.
And that was just such a powerful artistic choice in a movie about a famously misogynistic church... I loved it. And I had to talk about it.
The Four Sacred Artistic Motives:
-what if this bad thing was good instead
-how about Make-Believe Land can have whatever I want
-would that be fucked up or what
-I think that shit's hot
i want to- *remembers suicide jokes only worsen my mental health* kill someone else
John Price who leans real close when you talk to him, dips his shoulders so he can hear what youβre saying. Makes you flustered everytime he ducks his head next to yours when you two sit together, his shoulder pressed flat against yours.
You think itβs because he likes you. A gesture to show you that he wants to be close to you and listen to what you have to say.
Whole time itβs cause heβs so old he canβt hear shit ππ
An underrated aspect about Fairy Tail I wished was explored more was how selfish the guild can be.
Natsu, in the very first chapter, makes mention to Bora that he doesn't care if he's good or evil, but the simple fact he made the guild look bad was what sent him over the edge.
Or how, during the Moulin Rogue Omake, Erza makes a similar statement where she did not care about Bisca's struggles or that she stole stuff from others. But was only pissed at her because she damaged Fairy Tail's name.
There are other examples like the guild disregarding the guild civil war law when Phantom attacked 3 members, or how they basically stripped all of Edolos of their magic because the king targeted Fairy Tail. Or even Erza straight up telling Lucy and Gray to their faces to abandon the demons cursed in Galuna all because they betrayed Makarov's trust. There's a lot more examples I can think of during early Fairy Tail.
Stuff like those made me appreciate the cast more (and reminds me a bit of the Straw Hats), and I really wished we saw that more often. It made Fairy Tail just a bit more unique on that front.
Hey everyone, I know it's going to be a busy day for a lot of people, but Google enrolled everyone over 18 into their AI program automatically.
If you have a google account, first go to gemini.google.com/extensions and turn everything off.
Then you need to go to myactivity.google.com/product/gemini and turn off all Gemini activity tracking. You do have to do them in that order to make sure it works.
Honestly, I'm not sure how long this will last, but this should keep Gemini off your projects for a bit.
I saw this over on bluesky and figured it would be good to spread on here. It only takes a few minutes to do.