Far Out!

Rant!

During a discussion with a fellow Overkills fan, I went on a bit of a rant about MINIONS and Illumination Entertainment, so I decided to rework it slightly and share it here in case anyone else wants to rant along with me. :P

The context: a wish that Scarlet and Herb had been in better hands and lamentation about business/marketing issues that limited the characters.

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I'll give Illumination credit for giving birth to a really compelling, dynamic couple. Unfortunately, they then introduced the problematic elements and on top of that were constrained by the limits of having to keep the narrative focus on the Minions. Such a weird situation and combination of factors.

I'd bet good money that the creative team fell in love with these characters and got a bit carried away with them, at least in the development stage (hence all that concept art hinting at so much other content/backstory/character development). But the Overkills were destined to lose no matter what because of the Minions cash cow (and to be fair, Gru and Lucy became casualties as well in DM2). And so we're stuck with half-baked characters who at the same time have an immense amount of potential.

I know the Overkills aren't the only characters in this situation, but somehow they seem more unique in that respect simply because they only had 20 or so minutes in a blockbuster film as opposed to, say, periodic occurrences on a TV show. And because Scarlet is female there's the added issue of her character being yet another example of (animated) films lacking in proper representation.

There are so many creative injustices piled one on top of another here, not the least of which is Illumination's vast ignorance of the issue. It's like, they were happy to exploit Scarlet for various reasons (as a plot device for Minions, as a way to use a celebrity like Bullock in the marketing campaign, as a sexual fantasy figure, etc.) but are completely ignorant about how harmful the impact is on female fans. It's like they're eating a five course meal in front of us starving fans and they give us ONE BITE and that's all, no matter how emaciated we become from starvation right before their eyes.

And this happens all over the place with female characters in general.

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My rant then shifted to the topic of how sometimes hypersexualization and female empowerment are sometimes bundled into characters like Scarlet:

We female fans are able to separate out the healthy sexuality part from the toxic male gaze/hypersexualized stuff. These type of male creators just can *not* fathom the idea of using a gender neutral gaze, let alone a female one.

Scarlet has that combo of being empowering and problematic at the same time and it's so frustrating. I hope I live long enough to see the day where more female creators have the power to create female characters minus the male gaze *and also* who become really popular.

We just need more variety, really.

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Then I continued with some commentary about Scarlet Overkill's concept art (particularly these shots: http://ericguillon.blogspot.com/2016/02/scarlets-castle_22.html). The context: how some of the concept art could have improved her character a bit:

Yeah, the throne would have been a great touch! And those fake guards—wow! I think the butler is dressed up as a guard there?! Again, the absence of those details is a casualty of needing to pare down the narrative and keep her as a plot device. If this had been a Despicable Scarlet-type film then she *definitely* would have had a bunch of scenes with the throne. And more development re: her plan to overthrow England. Those (concept art) elements hint at some really deep and fascinating psychological issues!

On the other hand, Gru's backstory was really weak, too, so part of the problem is a more systemic issue that stems from the franchise focusing on gags more than character development. I think they made the assumption kids prefer gags more. I'd say, yes, kids *like* gags but they are *plenty* open to stories with good characterization. That approach hasn't hurt Pixar, ffs.

But that's the choice Illumination made. What I don't think they truly, truly understand is that the franchise became successful *precisely* because of the basic characterization they *did* include in DM. It wasn't as much as other films, maybe, but it hit such a sweet spot that folks responded strongly.

I guess, though, that to a business like a film studio, the story is an end to a means, i.e., merchandise profit. So from their perspective, if the bare minimum in terms of characterization is enough to net them all that profit generated by MINIONS, then they'll feel like mission accomplished. They'll see this turnout as proof that their method works and doesn't need fixing.

It SUCKS!

The Overkills wouldn't have existed without the Minions cash cow and yet in order to have really shined as characters they needed a whole other film.

I find it interesting that there seems to be "potential" Overkills fans among the older viewers who were willing to give them a chance but stopped after they realized how half-baked the characters are. I'm not sure what the difference is between fans like us, who see the potential and are willing to work with it, vs folks who aren't willing to look past the narrative flaws. We're hungrier in some way, maybe?

But I definitely, while reading various reviews, get a sense of other people who were like, "Aw, the Overkills had potential and I'm bummed I couldn't enjoy them more." That seems to be the consensus so far.

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Feeling ranty yourself about the awful plight of Scarlet and Herb? Hit me up!