rekt by ralf

Holy fuck, just watched Wreck It Ralph, and it was OK. Sure, it used every cheap trick to tug at my heartstrings and induce feels against my will, but there was something that seemed really bizarre to me in the end. So, for those who haven't seen it, Ralph is a bad guy in a video game who goes through a mid life crisis and eventually comes to accept his role as a bad guy despite his desire for happiness. He basically gives up his chance at happiness with Vanellope, which would be a super weird relationship, in order to remain as the necessary evil in his system. It's kinda strange given the American obsession with individualism. It stuck out to me as a very strange element, especially since Ralph doesn't really end up making any significant personal change, and all things in the story revert to their original place, though he adopts a personal army of rejected characters to help him in 'bonus levels'. While he does succeed in making his old dump into a somewhat decent place, he also endears himself to his neighbors, which is sort of a significant change. However, the thing that he has not changed is his status in life, which would suggest that the message of the film is against that of class mobility, and would advocate for classes to remain in place, but find joy in their place. It does not advocate for class mobility, but it does not advocate for equality either.

In the end, Ralph remains as the villain, and keeps getting thrown off the roof of the apartment building. This is significant, as it shows Ralph submitting to society instead of finding happiness through change of self or society. This return to evil by Ralph suggests that the only route to happiness is through subservience to society's demands. While it could be seen that his subservience is a sort of dedication to the community, the clear division in Ralph's game suggests otherwise. It would almost seem to tell children that their hopes and dreams are futile in the face of society's needs. It's funny to see that something like this would be produced in this day and age, as there is a clear desire for class separation by the upper classes. It's a bit ridiculous to buy into some sort of conspiracy theory though, and it would make more sense that the writers can only see hope through acceptance of society's demands rather than to follow their own dreams. It's not necessarily a condemnation of the writers as dreamless hacks,  because they did a good job and I enjoyed the movie. Also, I could never even write a watchable commercial. I would instead suggest that the hopelessness for social mobility has seeped in from reality, and that these writers are merely expressing their own frustrations with their inability to close the income gap and become wealthy. Again, not due to their presumably poor posture and halitosis, but to the immense pressure and unrealistic demands of modern day society.

The rigidity of Wreck It Ralph's social systems are tested by Vanellope's(Vanillope?(Vani-lla-beaan??))role and story. It would initially suggest that there is some social mobility, when she uses the rules of the game to get into the race and claim a position as a racer. These are directly contradicted as the plot goes on though. Her nature is revealed as the Rooooyal Princess of Candyland-Mountain or whatever. So, again, instead of being a disruption of the social systems in place, it's a return to monarchy. This is pretty much what the film is all about. Instead of utilizing these changes in scenery to justify some sort of positive social change, they use it to push for class rigidity. By no means is this retarded blog a worthwhile read, or even intelligent use of bits, but if someone were to care enough, I bet they could take the details in this post and make a pretty damning argument that Wreck It Ralph is propaganda against equality and class mobility.

Other than that interesting chunk of storyline facts, I found the movie to be incredibly entertaining. I have nothing but love for Sarah Silverman, probably a little too much. Her voice acting was absolutely charming and had me questioning her age. John C Reilly was terrific as well, and did a pretty good job at expressing the full gamut of emotions, and at times, I could have sworn he sounded like Seth Rogen. Again, I probably have an unhealthy love for Sarah Silverman, so I was paying less attention to him in their scenes together. Jane Lynch and Jack McBrayer were absolutely fucking fantastic in their roles, and I would watch anything they're in except for goddamn Glee. I will not ever watch that musical abomination, but maybe if someone cut out all of Jane Lynch's funny moments and put it into a youtube supercut, I'd probably watch that. At any rate, the movie was a hodgepodge of sentimentality and retro video game motifs, so it appealed to my clearly idiotic sensibilities. I'd watch this again, but if I did, I'd probably do so on shrooms with some Pink Floyd in the background. As far as propaganda is concerned though, I prefer Riefenstahl. (ehehehehe, let's see what the feminists have to say about that one)