The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
4 — Wednesday, October 26, 2022
Design by Emma Sortor
It was 2013. I was going to see
“Frozen.”
At 10 years old, I had been
brewing in a lukewarm stew of
stories with true love and happy
endings for as long as I could
remember. I followed my family
into the movie theater feeling like
a total fairy tale movie expert.
The premise of “Frozen” is
simple: Two princesses grow
up as best friends but drift apart
after Elsa (Idina Menzel, “Rent”)
accidentally injures Anna (Kristen
Bell, “The Good Place”) with her
magical ice powers. Years later,
during a tense confrontation,
Elsa accidentally freezes Anna’s
heart, a curse that will prove fatal
if not broken by an act of true
love. It’s an uncomplicated story
about forgiveness and emotional
vulnerability.
Watching “Frozen” in the
theater for the first time, I settled
comfortably into my seat as soon
as the first musical number
began. I knew how this was going
to play out: Elsa would worry,
Anna would hope and the curse
would be broken by the end. I
was enjoying myself, but I wasn’t
thrilled.
The climax of the film reached
its peak and I watched calmly as
Anna raced through a blizzard
toward her love interest, Kristoff
(Jonathan
Groff,
“Glee”).
A
true love’s kiss was imminent,
and the curse would be broken.
Then, suddenly, just moments
from salvation, Anna spots Elsa
about to be struck by a sword. I
remember the surprise I felt when
she diverted her path to protect
her sister.
As Anna reached toward the
blade, the curse took effect. She
froze.
The sword shattered against
her hand. A final breath of air
drifted from her frozen lips.
Everything fell silent. I was
stunned.
My
decade
of
princess
education had not prepared me
for this. Anna was dead. All was
lost.
I
watched
with
terrific
fascination as Elsa rose and
stumbled to her sister, sobbing
against her lifeless form. The
snow hung in the air.
There was a vague shuffle from
the audience. My younger sister’s
small face was crumpled in
confusion — this wasn’t supposed
to happen. The princesses were
always happy in the end. I was as
lost as everyone else. But I loved
it.
This was the first time a movie
had made me feel something
complicated. I wasn’t just scared
or sad. I was stumped. I couldn’t
think of a way the story could
move forward.
“Frozen” does have a happy
ending. Anna’s block of the
sword is the act of true love that
saves her from the curse. She
thaws shortly after my newfound
favorite princess movie scene
concludes and everything wraps
up rather neatly. But I didn’t think
about the gentle resolution as I
walked out of the theater. What
stuck with me was how I felt at
the film’s darkest moment.
It was that feeling you get
when you drop something and it
shatters. A feeling of irreversible
loss. That feeling has a name:
tragedy.
After
“Frozen,”
I
devoted
myself to it.
I gravitated toward my family’s
older DVDs, “kid” movies with
moments of unabashed tragedy
like “The Hunchback of Notre
Dame” and “Bambi.” I lost myself
in books like “Little Women” and
melodramatic musicals like “Les
Misérables.” I was surprised and
thrilled that so many disastrous
stories existed.
I began to wonder why so many
people are drawn to tragedy.
Life is hard enough. Why would
anyone ever want to compound
that feeling? To me, kind-hearted
characters who get much worse
than they deserve are consistently
fascinating; they make stories feel
real. As much as we may love fairy
tales and happy endings, real life
tends to be messier. It’s thrilling
to consume art as rich and
textured and confusing as reality.
I am drawn to a wide variety of
tragedies these days.
Doomed romances leave me
thinking hard about regret and
melancholy. I often return to
the sentimental first romantic
encounter in “La La Land,”
reveling in how the colors and
music
parallel
the
movie’s
devastating final sequence.
Fantastical stories like “Lord of
the Rings” and “Star Wars” also
have a special place in my heart
because of their fundamental
themes
of
destruction
and
chaos. My favorite example of
this is “Revenge of the Sith,”
which
essentially
reads
like
a
Shakespearean
tragedy.
I
can spend hours talking about
how
director
George
Lucas
(“Star Wars: Episode IV: A New
Hope”) connects political and
interpersonal machinations in
such a way that our heroes are left
to become the worst versions of
themselves.
Slice-of-life movies that feel
extremely rooted in reality are
another one of my favorite vessels
for tragedy. In “The Florida
Project,” there is no villain. It is
societal failure that sends our
characters spiraling into poverty
and despair. “Licorice Pizza”
is another one of my villain-
less favorites, which focuses on
how earnest desires for love and
acceptance often erode morality.
Biopics and real-world stories
also have a huge capacity for
‘Frozen,’ fairy tales and
my fascination with
tragedy
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
LOLA D’ONOFRIO
Daily Arts Contributor
The 2022 Booker Prize: Reviews and predictions
by the Michigan Daily Book Review
The Booker Prize is one of the
most prestigious literary prizes in
fiction. Getting the nomination at all
is a feat in and of itself; getting onto
the shortlist and winning cements
an author’s place in literary history.
This year, 13 books were longlisted for
the prize, with only six making the
shortlist — those under consideration
for winning the overall prize.
Luckily for our readers, in keeping
with tradition, the Michigan Daily
Book Review has read and reviewed
all of the nominated books. Among
them are the youngest author ever
nominated, the oldest author ever
nominated, the shortest book ever
nominated and a debut novel. Here
are our thoughts on the finalists of
2022.
Our projected winner: “Glory” by
NoViolet Bulawayo
Our
longlisted
underdog:
“Nightcrawling” by Leila Mottley
THE SHORTLIST
“Glory” by NoViolet Bulawayo
NoViolet Bulawayo’s “Glory”
is nothing short of a masterpiece.
It follows the downfall of a
dictatorship
in
the
fictional
African country of Jidada, in
which the 40-year reign of Old
Horse comes to an end in a violent
coup d’etat (inspired by an actual
2017 coup in Zimbabwe). Though
every character in the novel is
an animal, the struggles and
conflicts in the novel feel as real
as the events they’re inspired
by. Bulawayo’s novel operates
within its own vast mythos and
cultural legacy, which is slowly
built upon by various references
to Jidada’s rich albeit complicated
past as a former colony. The novel
is a negotiation between this
colonialist past and a future as
an independent nation. Bulawayo
communicates these themes in a
multitude of ways, but her use of
language throughout the novel is
perhaps the most striking; words
and phrases are repeated with
a steady rhythm, until they gain
an emotional resonance in the
reader’s mind, reminiscent of
poetry. Bulawayo unflinchingly
examines the question of how we
can overcome traumatic legacies
and pick up the pieces to forge our
own paths.
“Small Things Like These” by
Claire Keegan
At 116 pages, “Small Things
Like These” by Claire Keegan is
the shortest book ever nominated
for the Booker Prize. Don’t let its
size fool you; the book is quiet and
contemplative but stands out with
its exposure of a tragic reality
that threatens to rock the Irish
town of New Ross. Set in 1985, the
book follows Bill Furlong, a coal
merchant who lives a good life with
his wife and five daughters.
“Small Things Like These” is
the story of a hardworking man
and a choice that could alter his life
forever. In a way, the book is simple.
Even Keegan’s prose is simple; the
book is filled with descriptions
of Furlong’s work and home
environment and the coldness of
Ireland around Christmastime. But
that’s not to say it doesn’t pack an
emotional punch.
“Small Things Like These” is
a worthy Booker finalist, but it
probably won’t win.
“The Trees” by Percival Everett
Grounded
in
mystery
and
intrigue,
steeped
in
bitter
dark humor, Percival Everett’s
“The
Trees”
combines
the
Guggenheim-
and
Creative
Capital
fellowship-awarded
author’s signature engaging and
pleasurable prose with a side of
scathing social commentary. “The
Trees,” rife with twists and turns,
takes place in the small town of
Money, Mississippi. Sixty-seven
years after the brutal murder of
Emmett Till, a series of killings,
eerily similar to Till’s, arise.
Gut-wrenching, acerbic and
willing to go to the unseemly
places we would rather ignore,
“The Trees” is both highly
deserving of its spot on the
shortlist and a top contender for
the Booker prize.
“The
Seven
Moons
of
Maali
Almeida”
by
Shehan
Karunatilaka
“The
Seven
Moons
of
Maali
Almeida”
by
Shehan
Karunatilaka delivers a biting
satire on the human condition,
rich with colorful visuals, cutting
sardonic humor and existential
contemplation. Set in 1990, as the
ruthless decades-long Sri Lankan
civil war rages, Karunatilaka
introduces the readers to a
protagonist whose lifestyle and
behavior casts him as an outsider,
an unrelatable deviant murdered
for trying to uncover the truth.
What unfolds is a familiar murder
mystery whodunit but with a
twist of magical realism that
skews the line between real and
fake. “The Seven Moons of Maali
Almeida” offers what a good book
should — a delicious page-turner
that will keep you thinking even
after the cover closes. “The Seven
Moons of Maali Almeida” most
assuredly deserves its spot on
the shortlist for the 2022 Booker
Prize.
“Treacle
Walker”
by
Alan
Garner
In “Treacle Walker,” an ordinary
boy named Joe makes a bizarre
transaction that enables him to see
and experience the most peculiar
things. It’s a surrealist novel,
whimsical and full of oddities.
Garner’s writing is incredibly spare,
and its mysterious silences cause
the reader to lean into the story,
rapturously hanging onto every
word and treasuring the dollops of
pure wisdom and truth that make
this novel compelling. There are
certain phrases that are repeated
throughout the novel, like “What
sees is seen,” “I heal all things; save
jealousy,” and “Can’t never did.” In
this little book, Garner powerfully
communicates his many insights
about the world. “Treacle Walker”
is a book you could read over and
over again and still see something
new every time.
“Oh William!” by Elizabeth
Strout
In
Elizabeth
Strout’s
third
installation following Lucy Barton,
the author’s ability to invigorate
the complexities of life into her
characters and narratives shines
through better than ever before.
Lucy, a writer softly in tune with
the world’s emotions around her,
is wrapped back into the world of
her complicated ex-husband. He
is perhaps the only aspect of the
world she cannot unravel, and
is an on-again, off-again friend
for reasons she cannot explain;
really, the two act as magnets of
mysticism to each other despite the
juxtaposition of their characters. As
the most recent indulgence of the
pair and central plot of the novel,
William ropes Lucy into a long
winded trip to co-investigate his
discovery of a life-altering family
secret.
It is not surprising that “Oh
William!” is a Booker shortlist
nominee: Strout offers a tender,
intimate look into the angst,
fears, insecurities and existential
mysteries life has to offer, along
with the lonely joys and beautiful
imperfections
that
make
it
worthwhile.
THE LONGLIST
“After Sappho” by Selby Wynn
Schwartz
“After Sappho,” author Selby
Wynn Schwartz’s debut novel,
is the kind of book you can open
to any page and find something
beautiful: “scry the marvelous
new thing that will grace and
harrow your life,” “the world
was made of threads humming
into place,” “just outside time or
subject, wistful in colour, its edges
tinged with foreboding.” Written
as a series of short vignettes of
just a few paragraphs at a time,
labeled by character and year, this
book is best read like a collection
of poetry: in small doses focused
on language and unconcerned
with
plot.
Schwartz
loosely
traces the lives of iconic Sapphic
women, from the very famous
Colette and Virginia Woolf to the
lesser-known Lina Poletti and
Sarah Bernhardt, as they loved
other women and made strides
in feminism and art. But the book
is not a biography; Schwartz
herself
describes
it
in
the
bibliographic endnote as “a hybrid
of imaginaries and intimate non-
fictions.” She takes on the voice
of a Greek chorus in a tragedy
as they follow Queer women
through time and offer interludes
of Sappho’s poetic fragments.
While “After Sappho” deserves
its place on the longlist for its
attention to historic detail and
poetic language, its sometimes-
confusing timeline and narrative
— clarity on which are often
sacrificed to the altar of making
the book sound pretty — mean
it sits comfortably off of the
shortlist.
“Trust” by Hernan Diaz
“Trust” has fantastic writing
but is a disappointing concept
novel. Composed of four chapters
written as excerpts of other books,
Diaz’s debut samples literature
written in an alternate 20th
century America. Each sample
stacks neatly on top of each other
in one conveniently-themed book
jacket. They are written from
a different perspective (with
a corresponding new writing
style and skill level) revolving
around
the
topic
of
money
and the life of one Wall Street
tycoon. But the stories carry few
points of continuity and, at its
base construction, the book is a
hamfisted consideration about
how truth, myth and memory are
formed — a tragically haphazard
copy-and-paste of gorgeous short
stories and gimmicky narratives.
The second story, stylized as a
half-complete manuscript, was
written with no narrative purpose
besides existing as a prolonged
example of the many discarded
biographies mentioned in a later
story. Instead of being excited
by the gimmick, I found it twee
and embarrassing. Much like the
“Bojack
Horseman”
character
Vincent Adultman (the nom de
plume of three kids masquerading
in a trench coat), the novel wears
the veneer of a cohesive story
without being a unified treatise.
MICHIGAN DAILY
BOOK REVIEW
‘Black Adam’ claims to be the dawn of a new day for DC — but can it deliver?
I
speak
on
behalf
of
all
superhero movie fans when I
say:
We’re
getting
impatient.
Recent storylines feel contrived,
productions appear fatuous and
characters lack their previous
charm. It seems we’re on the verge
of a breakup with the superhero
craze. Perhaps we want different
things — maybe it’s time we see
other people.
But we haven’t given up yet.
Enter “Black Adam,” the highly
anticipated DC Extended Universe
blockbuster that will debut Oct.
21. Starring Dwayne Johnson
(“DC League of Super-Pets”) in
the titular role, “Black Adam” is
the first movie to tell the story of
one of DC Comics’s most powerful
antiheroes. Tapping into darker
material has worked in DC’s favor
before — “The Batman” (2022)
was well-received by audiences
and praised by critics for its
psychological portrayal of Bruce
Wayne in the form of a neo-noir
thriller. Like “The Batman,” “Black
Adam” walks the blurred line
between good and evil without
being anchored to the origin story
of its eponym.
In a virtual college roundtable
with The Michigan Daily on
Oct. 6, Johnson, actors Pierce
Brosnan
(“Goldeneye”),
Aldis
Hodge (“Green Lantern: Beware
My
Power”),
Noah
Centineo
(“To
All
the
Boys”
trilogy),
Quintessa
Swindell
(“Master
Gardener”), Sarah Shahi (“Sex/
Life”), Mohammed Amer (“Mo
Amer: Mohammed in Texas”) and
producers Hiram Garcia (“DC
League of Super-Pets”) and Beau
Flynn (“Red Notice”) discussed
their new film.
Brosnan said with sincerity,
“Every day was a joy to go to work
with my fellow actors here, and we
really did become a family.” The
word “family” was thrown around
numerous times during the panel as
each member of the cast expressed
their gratitude for the opportunity
to be part of such a harmonious
team.
The
cast’s
playful
camaraderie was impossible to
miss — the actors were unable to
contain their effusive laughter as
Hodge explained the story of his
animated reaction to receiving the
news that he had gotten the role
of Hawkman. The stars of “Black
Adam” have undeniable chemistry
off-screen, a promising indicator
of the dynamics we may observe
on-screen. Flynn shared, “You kind
of have to cross your fingers when
casting roles … (but) the minute we
saw them together, we knew (it)
was a home run.”
Johnson’s remarkably successful
Hollywood career has spanned
years, a rare feat given that his
background is not in acting. But
“Black Adam” stands out among
his past projects as his first foray
into the superhero subgenre, in a
role he said was “truly an honor”
to play.
Johnson spoke on the driving
force behind this story: “We all
wanted to make a film that was
different and unique in this world
of the superhero genre that has
been so wildly successful for so
many years.” Johnson added that
the idea to finally bring Black Adam
and the Justice Society to life was
intended to usher in “a new era of
The DC Universe.” Rather than
creating a place for “Black Adam”
within the existing hierarchy, the
goal of this project was to “(design)
a movie that was disruptive” to the
patterns of its own genre. Garcia
echoed this idea as he spoke on
“(delivering something) special
for the fans” while creating a film
that felt “fresh and (allowed) us to
elevate the genre that we’re playing
in.” Whether “Black Adam” will
make good on its promises of
nonconformity remains to be seen.
Though we have another week
to wait for the movie to hit the
big screen, one thing is certain:
Those who made “Black Adam” are
proud of it. In a genre that relies
heavily on tradition, this film aims
to preserve the thrill of a classic
superhero story while reimagining
the DC vision. With that in mind, I
am ready to give “Black Adam” the
chance it deserves.
MAYA RUDER
Daily Arts Contributor
This image is from the official trailer for “Frozen” distributed by Walt Disney Animation
Studios.
Read more at MichiganDaily.com