"we Just Got Rid Of The Mexicans And Now We Get The Argentinians Back" Hey, So I Know What You Are...

let god grant us a pope who doubts.

once again my favorite movie of the year has gone home without a best picture oscar and i am once AGAIN making it everyone's problem

instagram / inprnt

The Count of Monte Cristo (2024), dir. Matthieu Delaporte & Alexandre de La Patellière

learning that Sujo a Mexican movie touching on the subjects of the killings and violence in Mexico was in the list to be nominated in for an Oscar for best film, lost this opportunity because of Emilia Pérez, a movie made by a white French dude that apparently knows nothing about Mexico, and decided to make a musical out of a current problem that affects the life of millions... is white interesting.... 🤔

I’m not surprised a movie as terrible as Emilia Perez is being awarded by mostly white audiences and white film critics, it gives them exactly what they want on how they perceive Mexico. A French man had not business doing this movie. Particularly when it admitted not to feel the need to do research since he already knew “enough” hence why the movie is filled with so many harmful stereotypes. And heavy on how the casting director insinuated there wasn’t good Mexican actors to star in this movie outside of the half white/American ones it got for this film. The movie is absolutely trash from acting to script. Not wonder they released the movie in European countries first before going into Mexico - they knew the reception it was gonna get from Latin countries and didn’t want the bad reviews and opinions to affect their award buzz - and it worked. The award shows will never convince me it was a good movie with performances worthy of acclaim. The movie was at best another over-dramatic romanticization musical of cartel violence and we were supposed to think it was progressive because of the main character. Hopefully Fernanda Torres’ win allows I’m Still Here to get a bigger leap into that Best Foreign Film win at the Oscars. The rightful Latin representation.

Day five of sneakily logging in to see if there's any news.

Oh boy, today everything has been so active, that I'm baffled. I thought the FIA award thing was going to be the main source of news, but apparently we have:

Checo listed in the FIA entry list for the Grid in 2025. This is still a source of debate, as some claim is a fake image, since it's not posted in the FIA official website, but others claim it's official. This is the picture:

However, I did a google search instead of grading final papers, and here's the link for the picture. So it's in the FIA page, don't know where all the people claiming to be fake are coming from, if I found it just googling it...

Also, apparently this means nothing, as RBR can just take Checo's name back and put other driver at any time, but why? (and not sure if that's true, let me be clear).

A worker from RBR (not sure if a mechanic, to be honest) clarified that Checo has gifted them a bottle of tequila before, and this is not a bribery, and they are getting the bonus Helmut Marko kept crying about.

Zak Brown saying shit about Checo, I was expecting it sooner or later.

Max doing his community service before the FIA event. King.

And something unrelated to F1, but apparently Malcolm in the Middle will have new episodes!!! I'm so happy, it's one of my favorite TV Shows. So that gives me hope for the future.

So far... weird day.

Hasta aquí mi reporte, Joaquín. (Mexicans will get the joke, sorry, it was too good to let it pass)

A word on Benedetto’s father figures

Because I’ve been thinking about it all week. Have some parallels and contrasts, my friends:

Villefort:

Starts off Benedetto’s story extremely strongly by literally burying him alive within minutes of his birth. No one has ever failed their son harder.

Might have been onto something when he said crime spread around him and from him like a disease. Seriously, look at this family! It’s so dysfunctional in so many ways!!! If you’re a nature-over-nurture person, it’s not that far-fetched to suppose Benedetto got the Criminal Gene™ from him.

Literally changed his name to hide his compromising origins (as much as humanly possible in the spheres he frequents).

Burnt Edmond’s denunciation letter. Guess who else likes to burn things?

Is brought down by the literal unearthing of his biggest secret, which in turn concludes Benedetto’s arc.

Bertuccio:

Is, literally, the one who gave Benedetto life, and the emissary of Providence™ who shows up to bestow blessings upon him at semi-regular intervals.

Unfortunately, those gifts are always cursed. Surprise salvation from the grave in the garden? Only happens because Bertuccio tried to murder the kid’s father first, and results in what is functionally a kidnapping. Surprise adoption? Results in Benedetto being raised by a literal criminal, who is #shocked when his protege starts hanging out with ill-intentioned older boys and disciplines him with what we can reasonably assume from the unreliable narration is the good old belt. Surprise life-changing information about his origins that Bertuccio held onto all these years? Only revealed to cement Benedetto’s status as Monte-Cristo’s puppet.

Crumbled the second Benedetto questioned his ascendance, therefore drawing a clear link between authority and paternity and reinforcing the kid’s desire to defy both.

“Major Cavalcanti”:

Is just Some Guy™.

And yet, they have so much in common: both are impostors trapped in Monte-Cristo’s web, both are passionate about scamming rich people. There’s a quasi-instantaneous recognition between the two and, because they share the same goal, they develop a strangely wholesome understanding…? It’s forced coexistence as much as it is respect, but it’s not deprived of a weird sort of warmth, and Monte-Cristo himself comments on how much it looks like actual familial love. The contrast with Caderousse could not be harsher.

In virtue of his fake wealth and fake fatherhood, the Major becomes the Ultimate Authority™ ‘Andrea’ name-drops every time he wants to advance in society.

Caderousse:

Outwardly, he adopts all the attributes of a good father. He taught Benedetto most of his tricks! He feeds him! He talks of all the hardships they’ve been through together, like a family would!

But, of course, what he’s really doing is blackmailing Benedetto. Caderousse wants money, and it’s taken him a while to actually get his hands dirty, but he’s finally graduating to murder! And his silly young friend should help him if he doesn’t want his blood spilled on Place de Grève.

Anyway Benedetto stabs that guy real bad. I thought it was hilarious of him.

Danglars:

As Andrea’s future father-in-law, Danglars is his ticket towards the life of luxury without effort he has always wanted.

Of course, Danglars is using Andrea for the same reason Caderousse uses Benedetto: for money. Both of them lie about what they own, ergo about who they are, to get their hands on what they think the other has. This is especially interesting when put in perspective with the brutal honesty Danglars employs when talking to Eugénie, who he treats like a son and almost business partner rather than like a daughter (Transmasc Eugénie Truthers, rise up!).

… But of course, he still wants people to think of he and Andrea as family to strengthen his own nobility: if his son (in-law) is a prince, a title Danglars repeats ad nauseam, doesn’t that make him a king?

All things considered, despite losing their freedom (temporarily in Danglars’ case), money and status, both of them get a relatively happy ending compared to most of the cast.

Monte-Cristo:

BUCKLE UP THIS IS THE MOST INTERESTING.

Twice Benedetto raises the possibility of Monte-Cristo being his biological father, a perfectly logical conclusion in light of what he has done for him; in turn, Monte-Cristo recognises Benedetto as one of God’s punishers, a title he otherwise only attributes to himself.

Both of them went through a symbolic rebirth after being buried alive.

Both of them were wrongly accused of being evil incarnate, but eventually graduated to Full-On Criminals. Talk about self-fulfilling prophecies.

Escape Artists™

Both had to completely reinvent themselves, down to their names and origins, to achieve their ambitions.

Ruined engagement ceremony!!! This also draws parallels to Villefort and, interestingly, to Valentine and Franz.

THIS:

🇫🇷 « Ce calme, cette parfaite aisance firent comprendre à Andrea qu’il était pour le moment étreint par une main plus musculeuse que la sienne, et que l’étreinte n’en pouvait être facilement brisée. »

🇬🇧 « This calm, this perfect poise told Andrea that he was presently held by a hand far stronger than his, whose grip could not be escaped easily. »

Both Edmond and Benedetto know they are prisoners of people more powerful than they are, of the narrative, of a superior power that wields them like knives; both Monte-Cristo and Andrea accept their role as knives in the hope of eventually slicing through their ties. Whether or not they succeeded in the end is up to the reader’s interpretation.

this is so fucking stupid but would anyone be interested in a tcomc rp ?? idrc what verse but i'd probably snatch haydée <333

if you're interested, reply in tags or comments or smth and i'll pop into your dms to plot (i love plotting hehe)

only rule is don't be fucking weird lmao

This really took me out bc why is this real (I'm reo)

LAS VEGAS GP’24 - november 20, 2024 (📸 Zak Mauger)

reposted my COMC drabbles onto ao3 !! they're available to read now :3