Episode #6 – S&M Unicorn Barbie

Today we’re talking movies — one good, one terrible. One we’ve seen, one we’re refusing to see.

Jenny and Cynara as toys

Discussed:

1. TOY STORY 3

With its spectacular 99% “fresh” Rotten Tomatoes rating, we join the lovefest for this rather nostalgic outing. We talk about why this franchise is so successful, commercially and critically, as well as Pixar’s virtuoso marketing. We also investigate whether Ken (as in “Barbie and…”) is one big gay joke (Cynara’s conclusion: he’s not), discussing a some of the history of Ken including the controversial 1993 offering “Earring Magic Ken,” also known as “The Gay Ken.”

We also talk a bit about the way we played with toys as kids and how Toy Story captures that accurately.

Tangentially discussed: Ed the Sock and the decline of MuchMusic.

Also, the fate of the film’s villain, Lotso — should he have been redeemed? Could he have been? Can you believe that we’re having an in-depth discussion about the metaphysical fate of a fictional Care Bear analogue?

2. THE LAST AIRBENDER

We’ve talked about this movie before and outlined the reasons we are Against It, but now it turns out that it’s not just the Racebending.com crew who hate the thing. In fact, it is the near-unanimity of the critical aggregate who hates it. Also, how has M. Night Shyamalan managed to fall so far? “From Unbreakable to this — what happened?”

Links:

Toy Story 3 Toy Creator

“The Last Airbender” [RogerEbert.com]

“M. Night vs. The Internet: The Airbender Mashup” [Racialicious]

“Animal Lovin’ Barbie” commercial [YouTube.com]