What really bothered me about this movie is the message it sends.... to girls.
This is an adaptation, I mean: a super dumbed down version of the 'Arthur and the round table'-story for kids....apparently aged four to nine years old. Meg Cabot is the writer, but in doing this, she basically leeches off the original, so, that's not very creative nor original.
Now, all critical reviews that go on and on about how the movie is worse because it changes the plot and characters (there are still some racists so, so UPSET that Lancelot is black... which is kind of funny) are not wrong, but they miss the BIG change in message that is brought about by these changes.
At the end, in a mansplained plot twist, we find out that Allie, not Will, is Arthur, and that she eehm ... SAVES the world and all that. You're probably thinking: but the girl is the hero, how is that man-splaining? Well that is so, because Allie saving the world and being the true hero is NOT the most important thing in the movie. Nope, the most important thing is that WILL can win the "Big Game"!!! Yup. Everything Allie, the girl does, is IN SERVICE to her boyfriend winning the game! That is kinda sexist. Wait, that is VERY sexist. So, you see:
yes, Arthur CAN be a girl, because that girl is SUBORDINATE, as per usual, to male interests: winning a football game. (This is the same as making black people udges, presidents or doctors in film and on TV: it's meaningless because in those movies they are minor characters). She can't ever be a hero in a football game, that world is as closed to her as driving is to Saudi women. Even MORE closed, actually, in 2017. Everyone, including Lance and Jennifer, are putting their happiness aside, so Will can win the game. He's a nice guy, but he's a NON-character ultimately. He's not Merlin, not Mordred, not any sort of knight, he's nothing and no one, so why is HE MORE important han Allie, he gets the Big Movie Finale Allies happiness and recognition, who is King Arthur after all, are ultimately deemed less important than "the game".
So, let's analyze how this absolute disaster came about. It started with the writers wanting to make Cabots story their own. They wanted Ellie, not Will to b e Arthur, so they changed her name to Allie because it starts with an "A". They forgot about the Lancelot/Guinivere thing, though. Then they added some more "plot twists" like changing the Mordred character, adding the Merlin character, etc. And ipso presto, here you have this absolute stinker. Oh well.
Cabot's story is by no means flawless, but it kind of made sense. She erased all female characters but Allie: Morgana Le Fey, Lady of the Lake, Niniane who took the powers of Merlin. Also missing: Morgause, Sir Gawains mother? Lady of Shallott, Elaine? Since her mother and Jennifer have very few lines, Allie is in practicality, the ONLY female character, the rest is ALL males. This is weird. In fact, its not only weird. It is SHAMEFULL.
This is an adaptation, I mean: a super dumbed down version of the 'Arthur and the round table'-story for kids....apparently aged four to nine years old. Meg Cabot is the writer, but in doing this, she basically leeches off the original, so, that's not very creative nor original.
Now, all critical reviews that go on and on about how the movie is worse because it changes the plot and characters (there are still some racists so, so UPSET that Lancelot is black... which is kind of funny) are not wrong, but they miss the BIG change in message that is brought about by these changes.
At the end, in a mansplained plot twist, we find out that Allie, not Will, is Arthur, and that she eehm ... SAVES the world and all that. You're probably thinking: but the girl is the hero, how is that man-splaining? Well that is so, because Allie saving the world and being the true hero is NOT the most important thing in the movie. Nope, the most important thing is that WILL can win the "Big Game"!!! Yup. Everything Allie, the girl does, is IN SERVICE to her boyfriend winning the game! That is kinda sexist. Wait, that is VERY sexist. So, you see:
yes, Arthur CAN be a girl, because that girl is SUBORDINATE, as per usual, to male interests: winning a football game. (This is the same as making black people udges, presidents or doctors in film and on TV: it's meaningless because in those movies they are minor characters). She can't ever be a hero in a football game, that world is as closed to her as driving is to Saudi women. Even MORE closed, actually, in 2017. Everyone, including Lance and Jennifer, are putting their happiness aside, so Will can win the game. He's a nice guy, but he's a NON-character ultimately. He's not Merlin, not Mordred, not any sort of knight, he's nothing and no one, so why is HE MORE important han Allie, he gets the Big Movie Finale Allies happiness and recognition, who is King Arthur after all, are ultimately deemed less important than "the game".
So, let's analyze how this absolute disaster came about. It started with the writers wanting to make Cabots story their own. They wanted Ellie, not Will to b e Arthur, so they changed her name to Allie because it starts with an "A". They forgot about the Lancelot/Guinivere thing, though. Then they added some more "plot twists" like changing the Mordred character, adding the Merlin character, etc. And ipso presto, here you have this absolute stinker. Oh well.
Cabot's story is by no means flawless, but it kind of made sense. She erased all female characters but Allie: Morgana Le Fey, Lady of the Lake, Niniane who took the powers of Merlin. Also missing: Morgause, Sir Gawains mother? Lady of Shallott, Elaine? Since her mother and Jennifer have very few lines, Allie is in practicality, the ONLY female character, the rest is ALL males. This is weird. In fact, its not only weird. It is SHAMEFULL.