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Janthonyf1
Reviews
Vikings: Valhalla (2022)
Dissappointing
After the 1st episode I checked out. From a story, character, and dialogue aspect, much was left to be desired. In addition, while I understand that a particular actress is half native Scandinavian, it is not accurate for her to portray an historic person who was a man and a full-blooded Scandinavian. Imagine the uproar trying to do that for a film set in Japan about Samurai. Would you switch the gender and make a full-blooded Asian Japanese person into someone who is obviously of dual heritage? It is also borderline cultural appropriation sending an ugly message that the accurate demographics, are somehow not human enough to be portrayed accurately. Plus, this pseudo-science where now suddenly you claim there were hardly any red- and blonde-haired Scandinavians is not a good excuse there was an over an abundant effort to make light hair and eyes look rare.
From a direction and producer aspect this is all wrong too. If one wants to make something Viking-esque with a game of thrones feel and have open demographics that is fine, don't call it accurate and based on history then and don't call it Vikings. That is offensive, close-minded, and disrespectful to call it Vikings. Just make something new and take inspiration for Vikings and make up whatever characters and demographic categories you want. That could easily be well done and a whole bunch of fun. I can support that, but you can't go in 2 different directions at the same time.
Maya and the Three (2021)
Representation Issues
Look there are things about this production that are great for all, exciting and are terrific and while I am a fan of the filmmaker and so many names in this cast, this is an Aztec story. It is an Indigenous story set in a time before the Spanish Conquistador invasion. Sadly, I feel a huge opportunity has been missed here. Granted I do not doubt the sincerity of the filmmaker and the cast, yet it's a bit messed up in this time of giving people representation that the cast truly lacks Indigenous representation. Sure, I don't doubt that many latinX cast members have some Native heritage, but the characters are not mere descendants, they are full-blooded. What is wrong with letting people who are half and up to full-blooded Native people voice these characters? If it was a modern day story about people living in Mexico, you could truly celebrate the multi ethnic heritage, albeit the cast is dominated by white European and Afro-Latin representation, yet this is about ancient Aztecs. There are loads of LatinX folks with strong Indigenous heritage and actors of Native heritage in the US that should have gotten these roles and opportunities to be involved behind the camera as well. Think about it, if this were a live action tv show, would the same actors have been cast? No, of course not. It's sad that in this time period of more cultural awareness that this is missed.