Spoilers! Animal Farm Ch. 5

What I've read: Ch 5

Mollie runs away to another farm. Napoleon and Snowball's disagreements over whether to build a windmill come to a head. Napoleon stages a coup and supplants Snowball as the leader. Snowball just barely escapes the privately trained death hounds Napoleon unleashes on him. A new, crueler order is coming--no more meetings or debates, pigs make decisions and others follow orders, food rationing and harder labor.

So, once again, a new pig takes over, successively making things worse for the common animal while giving more privileges to his own group. It's interesting to see art imitating life this plainly and effectively. I don't know if this kind of simple metaphor (e.g. pigs in power, the sheep say and do whatever the pigs want) would work nowadays, but if one found a particularly neat metaphor that mapped as brilliantly and cheekily as the one in Animal Farm, one might do very well for oneself, indeed.

Anyhow. Now, the full on lies and revisionist history begins, as Snowball is downgraded from war hero to a traitor, thief, and liar. Hard times ahead. Discuss below!

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Spoilers! Animal Farm Ch. 4

Chapter 4

News of the Animal Farm spreads throughout the animal world in England and among the human farmers, who go from scoffing to nervousness after other animals refuse to work and/or turn on their masters. Farmer Jones (dunno why I call him that, as in the book it's just Mr. Jones--but consistency, comrades!) rounds up some men to take back the farm. They are attacked and run off. Boxer despairs at having struck and killed a young man, but the young man is only stunned, recovers, and runs away. The animals commemorate the victory with a battle title and hand out a few medals.

The anecdotes about Mollie always make me chuckle. She excuses herself from work and hides when the fighting gets serious. And then there is the cat, who was an ardent supporter of the committee of wild animal reeducation (or something) and tries to convince birds and rats all animals are comrades and they could sit on her paw. Needless to say that committee was a failure.

This is the first chapter where I didn't quite enjoy the telling nature of the prose. The POV seemed distant from the animals. Like a historian who knows how it all turns out:

"The men gave a shout of triumph. They saw, as they imagined, their enemies in flight, and they rushed after them in disorder. This was just what Snowball had intended."

As you know, Reader. Other than rare exceptions, I don't like when classics address Dear Reader. I'm looking at you Jane Eyre Besides, it seemed pretty clear it was a trap once the men were surrounded and overwhelmed in the yard. I like action scenes as fluid and commentary-light as possible.

Snowball orchestrated and led the defense, so that officially makes him a type of tactician. How long before he turns his skills on his fellow farm-dwellers?

"The only good human being is a dead one."
Far too cold about taking a life. Then again, the humans were no less so towards animals. And around it goes.

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Spoilers! Animal Farm Ch. 3

What I've read: Ch 3

The animals work the farm, from the tireless Boxer to the wee ducks and chickens. Except for the pigs, of course. They are "brain workers", you see, and they need all the milk and apples to nourish those big brains, lest Farmer Jones comes back! Comrades, surely you don't want that to happen.

Hilarious.

I'm curious why the pigs took and secluded the newborn puppies, but my guess is for security; brainwash them into ardent guard dogs. Of course, there's the obvious parallels to youth enlistment in this cause or that ideology. It also appears that Napoleon and Snowball argue a lot, so maybe the pigs aren't as unified a ruling class as I thought. Is one of them going to kill the other? I expect the seven commandments to all be broken in such fashion by the end of the story.

The thrust of the plot is dependent on just how stupid the majority of the animals are, most not able to reason at all. How's that for social commentary?

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Spoilers! Animal Farm Ch. 2

What I've read: Ch 2

So, Old Major dies. Life for the animals becomes so intolerable under Farmer Jones that the revolution happens at the spur of the moment, and all the humans are run off the farm. The successor pigs, Napoleon, Squealer, and Snowball--who can read and write--make quick work of organizing a new order codified in the Seven Commandments.

I'm highly amused and entertained thus far. There's just a touch of handwavy absurdity--like a pig balancing on a ladder, painting a sign. The animals are just slightly anthropomorphized, as regards distinct personalities. This makes all those names easier to remember. Mollie is the pampered and foolish show horse, Snowball is intelligent and scheming--the kind of successor who would twist his predecessor's teachings all out of proportion. Boxer and Clover are cart-horses, loyal and obedient to a fault. But mostly the animals retain their animal natures.

The simple prose compliments this well. The farmhouse is treated as a museum. The barns and such aren't much remarked upon--where you eat and sleep every day isn't very remarkable to you. And the surrounding landscapes are described as something of a promise land--so much clover! A pool and spinney! Whatever a spinney is!

The chapter ends with some foreshadowing, as the fresh milk from the cows go missing while all the animals were out harvesting the hay. Heh. So it's begun.

I'm just letting all the historical parallels and social commentary simmer as I read. Feel free to discuss it all in the comments. There will not be a test, and your answers will not be graded.

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Spoilers! Animal Farm Ch. 1

Never read it. Vaguely recall watching an adaptation but have forgotten nearly all of it. I know in general what happens and a few quotes. It's just 10 chapters, so let's find out what happens in detail!

 

Update: see all the spoilers below!

• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3
• Chapter 4
• Chapter 5
• Chapter 6
• Chapter 7
• Chapter 8
• Chapter 9
• Chapter 10

What I've read: Ch 1



Old Major is the lead pig and the chapter focuses on him. He gives a speech about overthrowing the tyranny of man in the future and ends with a song about that glorious day.

The chapter is riddled with named animals but it didn't confuse me. Rather, it helped establish the crowded and bustling atmosphere of the barn. All the descriptions were precise and deftly handled, I thought. For instance, that of the farmer Mr. Jones. He goes to bed drunk and starts shooting outside at any disturbance in the night. From the POV of the animals, he's a pathetic specimen, a man truly deserving of their scorn.

For that proverbial charismatic leader, Old Major sure had me convinced they ought to revolt. It will be interesting to watch how it goes from "all animals are equal" to "some are more equal than others."

The one thing that made me quirk an eyebrow was when Major used the word "atom". Where and how did he learn about that, living on a farm? Also, his speech was not nearly as dense and skim-worthy as that tangent about war in Orwell's 1984, but it did strike me as a feature of its time, something you might not get away with today in the very first chapter.

Have you read Animal Farm? Do you like it or hate it? What is your favorite part? Follow along. Spoilery discussion welcome.

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Daredevil Series: Final Thoughts

Yes, I finished it. Made it to the end, with good things to say about it, even. Here's a list of those things:

• Kingpin.

That's it. I know. I'm as shocked as you are. One blog post ago I couldn't abide him, and now here I am declaring him to be the best character on the show. Granted, the show set a low bar with its flat lead, but Vincent D'Onofrio pulled it off. I believed him as Wilson Fisk by the final episodes. He had levels, (layers if you insist) and a much more complete arc than the protagonist who went from kicking ass and taking names to kicking ass and taking names in an ugly costume. Fisk has a personality--a weird one that you kinda have to squint at and tilt your head and then just say "Screw it!", but at least it exists and the actor is trying to do something with it. I am more invested in his evolution than the hero's. Which would be fine by me if the show was called Kingpin.

There were an appreciable amount of times where the writing and execution really shined--episode 2, Karen's standoff, Claire, Leland, Madam Gao, the dragnet takedown set to the tune of Nessun Dorma, to name a few--but then it all came out as a wash by the end, because for every moment I liked, there were just as many, if not more, I did not like.

The show was not bad or very good, not intolerable or very enjoyable. It was hokey and grimdark, unconventional and safe. A paradox.

A good example of this is the flashbacks. They were all formulaic and predictable, but I also thought they were better cast, better acted, easier to follow, and just plain more entertaining. Who couldn't guess a traumatic childhood--complete with an abusive father wanting his son to man up--would be partially to blame for creating the monster that is Kingpin? Taken by itself, as a slice of a life, it was compelling enough for what it wanted to present: a boy so traumatized by violence he turns to murder to make it stop. Chilling stuff. Taken as the villain's backstory, it is uninspired. I had precisely the same reaction to Matt's flashbacks with his dad.

And let's go ahead take our protagonist, another paradox. When he's Daredevil, obscured by a mask and barely visible in all black, he is way more riveting than when he's one half of Nelson and Murdock, attorneys at law. And yet, I also think part of the reason Cox's Murdock is so flat is that half of his expression--his eyes--are obscured. Yes, the shades are iconic, but in his best scenes with Claire, or when Matt is confronted by Foggy, he's not wearing his glasses. Nor was he wearing them in their second back and forth at the gym, and both times I thought the actor was at his most evocative and empathetic. He's just not one of those actors that can show a wide range of emotions with just his voice, which is fairly inflectionless, or with the twitch of a facial muscle, though he tried a lot of jaw shifting.

I rooted for the vigilante and felt very little empathy for the guy in a suit and tie who seemed less and less invested in his day job. I got it. I really did. It's hard to punch badguys at night and punch in at work on time every day. But there was no struggle presented beyond the physical toll. There was no struggle to balance his two lives, no struggle to keep his identity secret, no struggle to reconcile his affinity for the law with his lawbreaking escapades.  The struggle is the meat, the bridge between the two personas. Yes, he sought counsel with his priest. Besides the fact that each meeting belabored the point unto spoiling the outcome, when the central conflict is whether or not to murder a man, you know the bridge is burning and the show's compass is firmly calibrated to Daredevil's way. Consequently, the endeavors of his public "friendly" persona stagnated throughout, until the very last episodes when suddenly attorneys at law meant something again.

It's a paradox. I am sympathetic to the fact that the show had to get to the point due to the nature of such a short season, but Marvel's Agent Carter also leaned towards pat storytelling and still managed to flesh out its lead. Much of what got snipped here is what makes shows like this likeable/relatable. Take Foggy, the levity of the show. Not much is required of his role and he delivers his quips and punch lines fairly well. It's clear he and Matt have a strong friendship but when it came time to show the basis for it, they crammed their history into a couple flashbacks. Here they are hitting it off as new roomies in college. Here they are at a big law firm. We don't know what happened in between those two points but apparently Matt can't take the soullessness of the firm and Foggy is happy to follow Matt out the door. It's the in between, the case after case after case of soul-crushing work, the inescapable injustice on the street and in the courtroom that gives weight to the history and evolution of these characters. These things get snipped in favor of two Russian brothers using bone-shivs to escape the gulags and pursue their American dream, or one Russian brother getting his head bashed off because he embarrassed Fisk in front of his lady. What we're left with is cliff notes and paradoxes.

My last impression isn't very different from my first. The show has all the trappings of the other comic book superhero shows, and character arcs from any other show in general, but it tries to distinguish itself in violence and villainy and loses some of its appeal in the process.

Season 2 will be a hard sell for me.

Daredevil Series: 102 - 104

Daps, finally. Mostly for that hallway fight, but we'll get to that.

Four episodes in and a third of the way through the season, my enjoyment of this show has been inconsistent. Most of the players are fair in their roles, some are bland, and Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin, I cannot abide. The plot is thickening, but as it seems all roads lead to Kingpin, I'm not getting a sense of mystery or suspense. (It's Kingpin! He's behind it all!) My general feeling, which I suspect won't change much over the course of the show, is that there is a lot to appreciate about Daredevil, but the execution at times feels uneven, clunky, or just plain run-of-the-mill.

Episode 4 was more engaging than 1 or 3, because the show is starting to take shape, but the high point was episode 2. Rosario Dawson makes her debut in episode 2. Coincidence? Unlikely.

But seriously, I really feel like episode 2 should have been the pilot, as it best exemplified what this Daredevil is made of (way better than that speech to the priest. Show don't Tell anyone?)--the parallels with his Dad in flashbacks (predictable and a smidge heavy-handed on the foretelling, but kudos to the actor playing Murdock Sr.; one role where playing it straight set the right tone for the story and made me believe him,) and the crime Daredevil stops and how he does so--that hallway fight!

I previously said that Daredevil's heightened senses didn't appear to give a real edge in the first episode. Well, that's because in this show his real edge is in taking a beating and getting up again and again. That fight in eposode 2 was exhausting, and after the opener where we find Daredevil left for dead in a dumpster, viscerally intense and dangerous. But Daredevil just would not stay down. That's when I started rooting for the guy. Points for badguys also getting up. I've seen too many conveniently get knocked out by one punch. Bonus points for the camera work. Well-shot. Well-choreographed. Perfect location.

We do get to see more of Daredevil's abilities, which include enhanced smell and parkour. But the show has thus far stayed away from using any fancy 'tells' (CG, slo-mo, etc) to indicate when or how he's using those abilities, so his stuntwork around the city looked a little too much like he could see what he was doing.

Matt, not to be confused with his crime-fighting alter ego, is still too flat, and I don't know whether it's the actor or the writing. I get they are going for downplayed, but when he interacts with others on a personal or professional level, it just feels one-note. There's hardly any lawyer stuff going on, save for episode 3. Matt's colleagues, Foggy and Whatshername? Not interested*.

*Whatshername gets a pass, though, because she at least appears to have an arc. She's teamed up with Whatshisname reporter guy (I like him,) to follow the money in her former employer's shady dealings which almost got her killed in the premiere.

But on the whole, I found myself more engaged by the characters who were not major. Like Claire (Dawson, Daredevil's personal healthcare provider,) Murdock Sr, and Bob Gunton. Gunton can do no wrong.

And what about those bad guys? What we have so far are henchmen of the week. Presumably, Daredevil will work his way up the ladder, Streets of Rage style, while Whatstheirnames will work a different angle into the business side. There was Evil Josh Whedon (h/t Fields for the nickname.) Nasty bugger who's weapon of choice is a bowling ball. Then came the Russian Brothers, who specialize in rib-bone shivs. Mr. Slick, Kingpin's pointman, who has some interesting moments (I lol'ed at the quarter on the arcade machine, "I got next") but is otherwise played to type. Is he more dangerous than he appears or just a suit?

In any case, if the aforementioned examples of nastiness didn't clue us in on just how violent it will get as we move up the ladder, in episode 3, we finally meet Wilson Fisk hisownself and before we know anything else about the man we must know he is Complicated. That's why there is a piano playing and an art gallery and his confession to his crush, Vanessa, that he feels lonely. Ookay? But do go on.

We get lots more of him and Vanessa in episode 4 via their lovely dinner date. He was all shy and not confident at all in his game, so she pretty much encouraged him into it. Over dinner, we learn he's no monster--he had a childhood. On a farm, even.

Where he probably stoned the animals to death!

Look, I spent more time debating this character than any other but I'm good now. I'm not trying to understand what makes the psycho tick anymore. The writers may well be trying for unexpected or subversive characterization, but that one scene? That one scene, tho, with the Russian and the car door? Yo. Case closed. Not interested.

What made it worse was the clunky setup that took us from Fisk to Kingpin strained my suspension of disbelief. <spoilers> How did that guy get past Mr. Slick and into the restaurant which was apparently full of bodyguards posing as diners? Why the heck would he even barge in on another man's dinner? Is that bowing respectfully, per his original intent, or acting like a disrespectful fool? And why did Kingpin have to leave instead of having any one of the dozen guards throw the guy out? He was that embarrassed? If you say so, show. If you say so. </spoilers> Like I said, clunky as heck for so early in this Fisk/Kingpin/Vanessa arc. Makes me curious, though, how the writers will handle the romance. Trainwreck or masterstroke? Different clever or different like a sore thumb?

So, I guess I'm watching the whole thing, but this is where I end my reviews. I know my viewing tastes and I very much doubt this show will be as impressive, surprising, or engaging as I'd like. If it is, you'll likely hear about that. Positive reviews are much more fun.

Sound off below.