Wonder Woman - S3E5 - "Disco Devil"

After a couple of delays because of some trouble with the DVDs, I resumed watching Wonder Woman earlier this year.  I watched "Disco Devil" (S3E5) recently and had a few small realizations about it.

The episode involves a scheme centered around a disco called the Styx.  It's well described in a conversation between Diana Prince and Steve Trevor:

Diana:  The Styx, its owner is a wealthy socialite named Angelique McKenna.  It's become a sort of watering hole for Washington bigwigs.

Steve:  Providing them access to government officials, from whom Nick Carbone rips off classified data [using his telepathic abilities].

Diana:  Perfect cover.  Who'd suspect a disco fronting for a black market information broker?

This process is shown early in the episode, where Nick steals information about a nuclear bomb from the mind of Anthony Borden, whom a colonel calls "the best nuclear engineer on the east coast."  When the prototype malfunctions, Borden can't remember the sequence to disarm it.  He explains, "The code, the numbers, everything that mattered, it- it's gone from my mind!  I can't remember anything."

Based on this context, I initially thought that the Styx was the river in Greek mythology that causes forgetfulness (which would correspond to the condition of those from whom Nick steals information), but some research revealed that forgetfulness is actually caused by the Lethe.  The Styx is the river by which the gods took their oaths.  Like the Lethe, though, it's a river that separates the underworld, and I think this holds significance in light of the events of the episode.  Similar to how the river Styx marks the underworld's border, the disco Styx represents an intersection between the (presumably law-abiding) government officials and the criminal underworld in which this classified information is stolen and sold.  The association between the Styx and the underworld is maintained, but now the underworld is a more metaphorical one.

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I think there's also some significance to Angelique's intense reaction to Nick's shortening her name.  In a scene fairly early in the episode, he tells her, "You worry too much, Angie," at which she bristles and replies, "Don't you ever call me that name again."  This may seem to be just a matter of strong personal preference, but the contrast with a later scene suggests that Angelique views the shortening of her name in the same way as a limitation of her authority.  Near the end of the episode, after Nick has made moves to acquire greater power in their scheme and used his telepathic abilities against one of the Styx's henchmen, he calls her "Angie" twice in the same scene.  This time, though, since she's already lost control of her operation to him and she's powerless in his clutches, she offers no resistance.

The Addams Family

I've been watching The Addams Family lately (the original series from the 1960s), and a while ago, I realized that there's a characteristic in the theme song that mirrors the nature of the family itself.  When I lookt up the notation on the internet, I found wildly differing versions, but I think the vocal melody is something like this:

although the rhythm is much looser.  It's not straight eighth notes, but it's not pairs of a dotted eighth note and a sixteenth note either.  In the last verse, most of the note values in the last phrase are extended to quarter notes.

Here are the lyrics:

They're creepy, and they're kooky

Mysterious and spooky

They're altogether ooky

The Addams Family

Their house is a museum

When people come to see 'em

They really are a scream

The Addams Family

So get a witch's shawl on

A broomstick you can crawl on

We're gonna take a call on

The Addams Family

Except for the last phrase in each verse, all of the phrases both start and end on an upbeat instead of the more usual downbeat.  This uncommon feature in the music matches the family's "kooky" disposition.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Last week, I watched The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe again.  Here are some observations I had about it (not all from this viewing).

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When the professor talks to Peter and Susan, one of his comments (referring to Lucy) has a sort of chiastic structure:

She's

your sister, isn't she?

You're

her family.

To some degree, this demonstrates the reciprocity that their familial relationship ought to have.

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Shortly before the Pevensie children meet Mr. Beaver, when they're merely reacting to the noises they hear him making in the woods, three of them are huddled together, even touching each other, but Edmund is standing apart:

Visually, this illustrates that Edmund's loyalty is pledged elsewhere.  He's already met the White Witch and allied himself with her.

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Later in the movie, Edmund's horse is named Philip.  This is an appropriate name for a horse because it comes from two Greek words that together mean "horse lover" (φίλος + ἵππος).

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[For what it's worth, here's a post I wrote about the book many years ago, mostly about its Biblical parallels.]

Star Wars: Rebels - S2E21 - "Twilight of the Apprentice - Part I"

Last week, I re-watched the Star Wars: Rebels episode "Twilight of the Apprentice - Part I" (S2E21), which gave me an opportunity to write about a detail I'd noticed a number of years ago but for some reason didn't write about at the time.

When Ezra first encounters Maul, he definitely doesn't trust him.  He draws his lightsaber on him and tells him to "Stay back!"  After Maul says, "You came for the same reason I did, years ago:  you seek knowledge" and explains that he knows how to get into the Sith temple, Ezra agrees to go with him but insists that Maul walk in front of him, apparently so that Ezra can keep an eye on him.

Ezra's feelings toward Maul begin to change after Maul says, "The Sith took everything from me, ripped me from my mother's arms, murdered my brother, used me as a weapon, and then cast me aside, abandoned me."  Ezra replies, "I know how you feel.  The Empire, it took away my home and my mother and my father."  As they approach the door to the temple, Maul claims that the knowledge inside is the key to destroying the Sith, and when he says that he'll share this knowledge with Ezra, Ezra starts walking up the steps in front of Maul:

Ezra keeps Maul at a distance when he first meets him, but after Maul entices him with the knowledge inside the Sith temple, Ezra goes before him.  This change visually indicates that there's a more or less definite point where Ezra starts to trust Maul.

Star Wars: Rebels - S2E19 - "The Forgotten Droid"

In re-watching Star Wars: Rebels again, I recently watched "The Forgotten Droid" (S2E19) and noticed some slight significance in the framing of a particular shot.

Instead of doing what Hera told him to and staying with The Ghost while the rest of the crew steals an Imperial shipment of fuel, Chopper goes to look at a leg that would replace his mismatched one.  Eventually, he steals it, and since The Ghost has already left without him, he escapes aboard an Imperial freighter.  Later, he contacts Hera, who's angry about his disobedience.  After she says, "Really?  So you didn't leave The Ghost to go after that leg?" he appears a bit ashamed (doing what is apparently the droid equivalent of scratching his head in an act of discomfort, unwilling to admit the truth).  In this shot, the leg is looming behind him, almost as if weighing on his shoulder in a picture of his guilt:

The Karate Kid Part III

Earlier this week, I watched The Karate Kid Part III for the first time in many years (and possibly only the second time ever), and I noticed a couple interesting features.

Much of the movie deals with an elaborate scheme concocted by Terry Silver, an old war buddy of John Kreese, the disgraced karate instructor from the first Karate Kid.  Silver and Kreese want to get revenge on Daniel Laruso for winning the All Valley Karate Championship, the event that led to Kreese's downward spiral.  First, Silver hires Mike Barnes, whom he finds advertised in a magazine as "karate's badboy," to antagonize Laruso and force him to enter the next All Valley competition.

Barnes's name suits his character.  His first and last names have only one syllable each, resulting in a sort of bluntness that matches his belligerent attitude.  In a word, his name is punchy.

Next, Silver offers to train Laruso, apparently just to inflict physical pain on him before the competition takes place.  When Laruso shows up at the old Cobra Kai dojo (which Silver claims he's trying to revive) in order to accept the offer, Silver suggests they start immediately and lends Laruso a gi with a cobra on the back.  Throughout the days of Silver's aggressive training, Laruso wears this cobra-adorned gi in the Cobra Kai dojo, visually highlighting a change in his character that he himself later realizes.  He tells Mr. Miyagi, "Everything you taught me, I did the opposite.  Everything.  I couldn't have been worse.  I did everything wrong."

The Day the Earth Stood Still

Earlier this week, I re-watched The Day the Earth Stood Still for the first time in many years, and I noticed some religious overtones.

When Klaatu arrives on Earth, he says, "We have come to visit you in peace and with goodwill," which echoes what the angels say in Luke 2:14 when they announce Jesus' birth to the shepherds:  "'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!'" [NKJV]

When Klaatu escapes from the military hospital, he disguises himself in clothing belonging to a Major L. M. Carpenter, and he takes on Carpenter's name as his own.  In the Bible, Jesus is referred to as "the carpenter" (Mark 6:3) and "the carpenter's son" (Matthew 13:55).

Klaatu also acknowledges a higher power.  After he is apparently revived from death by Gort, Helen asks him, "You mean, he has the power of life and death?" and he replies, "No, that power is reserved to the Almighty Spirit; this technique, in some cases, can restore life for a limited period."