Bring It On (2000) Background Cheerleaders (Part 2)

My rant on ITSV and ATSV

So I've just finished watching the ITSV and ATSV because I'm a late watcher, and when the movies came out I wasn't myself. I'm glad I took the time to watch them, although I had to buy ATSV online because it's no longer in the cinema. This means I got to watch my favourite scenes without issue. With that being said, I have a lot of things to get off my chest regarding both films, mostly with the characters. 

Warning: Long post and slight bashing of characters and terrible screenshots.

I don't want to be one of those people who hate Gwen just to hate on her, and I don't hate or dislike her character, but right from the jump her vibe was just off. She felt like one of those characters that disliked the main character for no reason despite barely interacting with her/him (them). I know that isn't the case but I didn't like the way she was blankly talking to him. I'm using the word 'blankly' because I can't think of another word other than 'coldly'.

During the chase scene where Miles and Peter steal the computer, she comes out of nowhere and helps save the day. I was glad but at the same time what the hell. Anyways, Miles compliments her haircut and she snaps with "You don't get to like my haircut.", referring to when he accidentally got his hand stuck to her hair and she had to get half her hair shaved off, I understand getting angry about that. It was an accident, and Miles could've apologised (I don't remember him saying sorry), but she's acting like he did it on purpose.

To top it all off she knew he was like her, which meant she knew what he was going through as he was transitioning. Getting taller, hearing multiple voices, hands sticky, and all that stuff. So that means she's aware that it was an accident, and there's also the fact that she pretended to be a student at his school and hovered around him. She bumped into him on purpose knowing he was a fellow spider.

When you think about it, why didn't she try to get to know him and investigate with him about what's going on? She just left him to discover his spider side chaotically. She should know how scary and confusing that is, but not once does she attempt helping him out. 

I'm gonna sweep it under the rug because they are teenagers, and even if they were adults they shouldn't be expected to be more sympathetic to each other. But you'd think she'd be a little bit more understanding. (Don't get me started on her going into his artwork and opening his collectable in ATSV)

Now, Uncle Aaron. I love his dynamic with Miles, the true cool uncle. His love for his generation of hip hop and us seeing Miles' taste of music. The graffiti art bonding, loved it. There were small hints that he was the Prowler. The 1610 Peter getting killed near where Miles and Aaron did the graffiti, Miles calling him while he's being chased by the Prowler, and the Prowler appearing in Aaron's home. I'm thinking "Where's Aaron in all this?" dun dun dun, he's the Prowler. I loved every bit of it. This also makes Miles different from other spider men, being the fact that his loved one ended up being an antagonist, and one scarier than Kingpin. There's no "With great power comes great responsibility." instead it's "In a bad person you can find good in them." Also, the inner torment that he was about to harm his own nephew is chef's kiss. Uncle Ben who?

Moving on to ATSV. It opens up with Gwen and her meeting Miguel and Jess. She looked at Jess and said "Will you adopt me?" Like??? Where yo mum at? I know she passed away, but still. You've only had one look at this woman and that's one of the things that comes out of your mouth? You don't know this woman! Jess sounds like one of those women that only talk with attitude no matter what so I had a hard time rocking with her, like what is her problem??? And she's fighting while pregnant... smdh.

Spot. Funny villain, I liked his banter with Miles, but he's a pu**y punk bi**h. He's blaming Miles for what he became, when he's the one that decided to become a mad scientist and work with other mad scientists under Kingpin. I'm pretty sure there's more to it than a bagel. Lesson is: once you become a mad scientist something happens to you. Norman Osborn became Green Goblin, 65 Peter (Gwen's home) became a monster and died, Shang Tsung got Rick Rolled by himself, you get the idea. Spot made himself like that not Miles.

So Gwen didn't talk to Miles for a really long time because of the whole Spider society thing. When you think about it, none of the other spiders he met did, and I get that they couldn't with the exclusion of Peni. But not one visit? Not one letter? Something??? Now Miles has a little short conversation with Hobie and admits that he only wants to get into the Spider society to talk to his friends and help out with defeating Spot. He just wants to hang with his friends, but Peni and Gwen decided not to do that.

Moving on, I'd like to talk about Miles' walk through within the spider society. They acknowledge Gwen and only Gwen, they don't bother saying hi or even looking at Miles. It was like Miles wasn't even there. Never thought I'd say it, but these Spider men are arse holes. I also got annoyed at the way Jess was talking to him, I get that he's not supposed to be there but she needed to chill.

This anger went when Miles bumped into Margo, and she looked like she was about to lose her cool but she lightened up once she saw who it was, a complete stranger. I'm not a MargoMiles shipper, but I don't mind it (granted so long as they are the same age).

So the scene that goes 0 to 100 quick: I watched a bunch of memes and edits that painted Miguel as racist and I didn't understand why, and thought it was like a Millie Bobby Brown situation. Re-watching the scene where Miles meets Miguel I can see why.

All the other spidermen showed up to gang up on Miles.

"You can't ask me not to save my father."

"I'm not asking."

And hit him with this.

While Miles is freaking out at the sudden imprisonment we can hear Miguel say "We just need to hold him a few days." They were treating Miles like a criminal and/or a confused wild animal. And then Miguel had the nerve to say "All he had to do was listen." when Miles escaped them. I don't think Miguel is racist, but the memes I will support.

Hobie was looking out for Miles as soon as he met him, and I love that so much. He knew Miles wasn't like the ones in the spider society, and made sure to tell Miles to be better. Gwen didn't do that. She did, but she didn't if you know what I mean. She followed along with the crap Miguel was spitting.

And then there was the chase scene. Bro had a bunch of spider men chase Miles and not one of them could catch him. That is the biggest L I've ever seen. One 15 year old boy, and he didn't use his other 2 powers until after Miguel slammed him onto his back. Miles was not playing. Also, Miguel was endangering the lives of people who were driving. And yes, Miguel's at fault and not Miles.

They gave Miles crap just because he didn't want his dad to die, unlike Miguel who actively replaced the life of his other self. Gwen was really going to let her dad die, and Peter B tried to justify it by saying their uncle's death made them who they are. Pavitr was just supposed to get over his love interest's dad dying? They knowingly let that happen.

Miguel calling Miles an anomaly is mega projecting. Miles becoming Spiderman wasn't on purpose it just happened, and that's always how the story goes. No one is simply meant to be Spiderman, they just become him/her. It's also funny coming from a man who crawled on all fours chasing down a teenager.

42 Miles. Prowler Miles. Gonzales. Kilo Immorales. I love him already, can't wait to see the next film where we'll see him in full action. I love how we as a fandom collectively agreed that these two would have a sibling dynamic even though we've only seen 42 Miles for like a minute. I love the Boondocks comparisons as well. I need 42 Miles to hate everyone. I need Miles to be full of rage in the 3rd film Adult Gon style. Prepare for double and make it double.

In conclusion, I should've watched these films when they first came out, they are so great. The art, the incorporation of hip hop and correctness of Afro related backgrounds and the storyline. I honestly felt like Miles was a great representation of the new generation. I saw myself in him, and not just being black but the graffiti and finding out that a family member of yours isn't really a good person. I don't do graffiti or art but I do find them beautiful whenever I see them. Also, the Air Forces. Step aside Peter Parker, we have a Spider man with more drip.

Sad Fish Man

He's throwing rocks into the water. He's so disappointed with the gourmet exam.

Ninja Assassin

Look at him

Edenian supremacism probably comes with the Sindel retcon. They were originally allies of Earthrealm and as much victims of Shao Kahn as anyone else - Kitana and Jade were actually freedom fighters for Edenia. Why they're now apparently all soulless pieces of shit (and why the narrative turns against Kitana beginning with Aftermath, seriously listen to how Spawn just dunks on her), I think, has to do with a change in society as a whole.

As more and more previously unheard people speak up and tell their stories, more and more narratives are getting flipped, and rightly so - those we've been told to admire all our lives are turning out to be bigots at best and greedy, power-hungry butchers or heartless religious zealots at worst. Conversely, the people society whose voices society wishes it could silence - BIPOC, LGBTIA+, workers, those with disabilities (ND included), really anyone who's suffered at the hands of the powerful and privileged - are finally starting to be vindicated, to have their complaints validated, and their stories heard.

In other words, our heroes are turning out to be way worse people than our villains ever were, and fiction is starting to reflect this; The Boys would be a textbook example, nobody with superpowers in that franchise is anywhere near heroic, and honestly I'm a little disturbed that anyone would want to play Homelander in MK. The Edenians were presented as the most virtuous in the original universe, so they were the obvious choice to be the rotten bastards in MK11 (not a choice I exactly agree with, or even the Sindel retcon at all, but if I got to make every choice cheese curds would grow on trees, so)

Having made that observation, I still consider having villains more sympathetic than your heroes to be an immense failure on the part of the author. Let's be real, "princess" is part of Kitana's identity, and that implies she's up to her eyeballs in some sort of privilege. The thing is, free will exists, and privilege does not (or should not) hard-lock you into being an asshole. Even Kitana could have chosen integrity and real compassion, to do what's best for the people even when it came at expense to herself, but nope, she chose to play footsie with Kotal's buddies and attack people for not meeting her sky-high standards.

This is not the Kitana Outworld deserves, and this is not the Kitana the MK community deserves.

I'm falling asleep at my laptop rn, so good night and thank you for pointing out that Sonya is trash.

Goodnight.

Not gonna lie, I always saw Sindel as an evil character even with the whole mind control thing. If their own queen was willing to kill her own husband, an Edenian, to have a stronger one (Outworld-ian) then they shouldn't be flabbering about supremacy.

I've been meaning to vent out about Sonya but didn't know when.

"I'm a little disturbed that anyone would want to play Homelander in MK" I thought this was a joke when I first heard it, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone actually meant it.

When it comes to villainising the heroes I think it's more of a Severus Snape situation, where we the viewers find out there's more to the villains and the heroes. I think NRS figured we were tired of goody two shoes and wanted to see those goody two shoes be more humanised, if humanised means less decent. And then proceeded to butcher some beloved characters, I guess. Harry's been told his parents were good people only to find out they did terrible things. When shown that Mileena just wanted a family we can hold some kind of sympathy for her, even though it doesn't excuse the fact that she's a blood thirsty killer.

One thing to be noted is that there's a lack of consistency when it comes to the games, and not just designs, so when you're talking about "those we've been told to admire all our lives are turning out to be bigots at best and greedy, power-hungry butchers or heartless religious zealots at worst." I think it's the writers changing their minds to fit the mindset of current audiences, acknowledging that it's not just kids playing the games nowadays and it's their way of making things more realistic.

As a Johnny Cage stan, I can very much tell you that there's a lot of things wrong with him, but he's an angel in comparison to the other heroes. (even if he was sexist and mouthy in the past, he is the most relatable) He is a good example when making a flawed character in my opinion, or maybe I'm being too soft on the guy.

I don't think Scorpion was held accountable for screwing everyone over, either. Or killing Bi Han. Poor Bi Han.

Terry Silver + Daniel theory (essay)

(The only reason I actually watched Cobra Kai was for Terry Silver and the other chaos)

I believe Terry Silver is the real reason Daniel wanted Cobra Kai's extinction. Daniel was bullied by Johnny, but being bullied was nothing compared to what Terry did to him.

Daniel was being stalked, harassed and assaulted. To learn that Terry was the mastermind behind all of it must've been very frightening for him. From the very beginning, Terry's character is rooted in deception. Terry introduces himself as Kreese's old friend, but also portrays himself as someone Daniel can trust. He 'saves' Daniel from Mike Barnes. Meanwhile, he's breaking and entering into Mr Miyagi's home (while Daniel and Miyagi are there, that's bold), and shows up at the club while Daniel was hanging out with Jessica.

When Daniel tells Terry that he no longer wants any lessons once he realises what it's doing to him, Terry becomes chillingly cold. Daniel saw glimpses of this Terry during their training together, but now the mask has completely gone off. I cannot imagine how terrified Daniel must've felt.

Let's add Mike Barnes to the equation. Imagine some random boy shows up at your home and the store you're trying to build, vadalising property with his lackies, and beating you and your friend up, threatening you. You find out that your mentor and this boy were working with each other this entire time. To make things worse, you've been told that someone died. And then that person shows up and jump scares you.

It's pretty terrifying when you think about it.

Yes, Daniel was bullied by Johnny Lawrence, and it was bad. Being bullied isn't something people can easily move on from, especially with the different kinds of bullying people have experienced (physical, verbal ect.) On the other hand, being stalked is the sort of thing that makes you look over your shoulder for the rest of your life. Being deceived gives you trust issues. Daniel's problem wasn't Johnny Lawrence, it was Cobra Kai. Daniel found out that the reason Johnny was the way he was was because of Kreese. Not to mention, Kreese strangled Johnny in a fit of rage and smacked another student.

Going back to the 3rd film, Cobra Kai's teachings turned Daniel into someone he wasn't. Before Daniel was trained by Mr Miyagi he was a relatively decent person. Yes, he had a bad temper, but only because he was being provoked into behaving like that. We saw in the first film that Daniel's idea of revenge was sprinkling some water onto Johnny, which was nothing compared to what Johnny and his friends did to Daniel. When Daniel punched that guy at the club he immediately felt terrible, and tried to do the right thing. He went out of his way to call the police station so that he could apologise to the guy. He didn't enjoy what he did, he doesn't enjoy harming other people. Daniel's a hothead, but he's not a monster.

Fast forward to years later, and we see why Cobra Kai is bad. We saw it with Miguel. Yes, it teaches you confidence and what not, but it also teaches you to embrace your bad traits. With Johnny as the teacher it's not so bad, but when Kreese comes into the picture it's 10x worse. Hawk vandalised Miyagi-do. Tory started the school fight. They came to the LaRusso house to fight everyone there. (I haven't gotten over the fact that they threw a kid through a window).

Cobra Kai teaches you to become a bad person.

Terry Silver makes his return. The expression on Daniel's face isn't the same one he had when he re-meets Johnny. Terry gives Daniel a sincere apology, but Daniel rejects it. First of all, Terry shows up with Kreese, with the same hairstyle he had years ago. The fact that he showed up at all while there's a karate tournament that Daniel is involved in couldn't mean anything good.

The way Terry reacts to the rejection is concerning. It was as if he was entitled to it. If not entitled, then he expected his apology to be accepted. Like Mike's apology. Chozen's apology. Johnny's apology?

I firmly believe Daniel's rejection was the motive behind Terry's actions. Daniel tried to end Cobra Kai, only for Terry to come along and try to turn it into his legacy. Terry shows up to charity events that Daniel is involved in, and tries to break his marriage bit by bit.

Terry is obsessed with Daniel.

Both as a mentor and potentially something else. We know that Terry is a very capable mentor, as we've seen with his relationship with Kenny. It's kind of hinted that Terry himself was bullied, and we see glimpses of this in the war flashbacks. He's called 'Twig', and he didn't like that name. Mean nicknames are a version of name calling if you ask me.

Terry probably saw himself in Daniel, and felt like he could've shared a connection with Daniel were it not for the whole revenge thing. "There was always a little Cobra Kai in you." Whether he was correct doesn't matter, but the fact that he said it does.

Cobra Kai's philosophy is rooted in its origins. Master Kim used it to defend himself from Japanese soldiers during ww2. Knowing what the Japanese did during those times, I can see why he developed the whole "Strike first. Strike hard. No mercy."

Unlike Miyagi-do, which preaches inner peace and being a better version of yourself to defend yourself and others, Cobra Kai is the opposite. They turn your weakness (or gets rid of) into a weapon for destruction. To harm others before they can think of harming you. To intimidate other people so that they can never be comfortable. Cobra Kai is rooted in suffering. It's rooted in being angry at the world. The bullied becoming the bully.

Weakness is not allowed.

We saw this with Kenny. He went to Cobra Kai, and Kreese was anything but welcoming. Kenny had to prove himself before he could be trained. Even Robby was a little doubtful. Kenny is a mirror to Daniel. Terry's 'second chance'. Kenny wanted to learn self defense, but that turned into getting his lick back. Making Anthony's life a living hell. That could've become Daniel if it weren't for Miyagi and the fact that Daniel didn't enjoy hurting people.

I think that's what made Terry's mentorship with Kenny special. Kenny gave into the darkness, but Daniel rejected it. Daniel is the puppet who broke free.

I believe that's why Terry wanted (expected) his apology to be accepted. It not only showed that he became 'better', but it meant he still had some control over Daniel. After so many years (decades), Terry still refers to Daniel as 'Danny boy'. It implies that he still thinks he can easily access Daniel, or still shares an 'intimate' relationship even though they haven't seen each other for decades.

Terry was a competent teacher. If you remove the Cobra Kai cruelty and brainwashing, I think he would've been great. Yes, he came to the All Valley to become a sensei once again, but we all know he returned for the love of the game (Daniel). As stated before, Terry got upset from the fact that Daniel was forgiving everyone but him. Whenever he saw Daniel with anyone he would stare in rage. He was always pleased to show up unannounced to surprise Daniel.

We all know he hasn't changed, but going out of your way to wreak havoc just because someone rejected your apology is crazy work.

I love how Terry didn't look the least bit offended when Kenny flipped the bird at him.

A part of me likes to believe he sort of saw Kenny as a surrogate son, or at least could've been. I always saw Terry as Kenny's Miyagi, and I can picture Kenny (when Dallas was still small) following Terry around. Terry (though manipulative) is more soft and sympathetic than Kreese was. Terry was probably the 'nicer' one.

Yes, Robby trained Kenny most of the time with the addition of Tory, but I'm pretty sure he was more of a brotherly figure. Terry had the mentor title because not only was he much older, but he could teach things Robby didn't know.

Like, Daniel was someone to torment, whereas Kenny's mentorship was genuine. There was a bond forming between them. Edit: Kenny and Daniel both have big brown eyes. Makes me wonder, if Daniel wasn't an enemy, would Terry have treated Daniel like he treated Kenny? Even with the coke in his system?

When Kenny flips the bird it's like seeing your child be rebellious, and while you could get mad, it's also adorable. No matter what, you'll remember them for the little kid they once were. Regardless of whether or not their anger is valid, that's your little boy/girl.

He didn't look disappointed or angered, it was more like a 'well, damn'.

Just saying

Get a guy that can do both.

(He plays Kung Lao in Mortal Kombat Conquest. I couldn't find any nice gifs)

Find yourself a dazzling boyfriend who can do supportive sparkling boyfriend things while you be a girly girl and can also throw hands when the time calls for it.