Musings on Tin Man

[amedia]

So we finally got around to watching Tin Man, and for the most part I loved it. It was delightful watching for allusions to the original book and movie, and fun observing how they riffed on the story. I liked the re-envisioning of the characters, with an exception that I'm not sure about.

I'll get that out of the way first. If you haven't seen Tin Man, this is spoilery. "Toto" is a shapeshifter who is also DG's tutor in magic from when she was a child ("toto" was her mispronunciation of his title, "tutor"). He appears in dog form to rescue DG & company, then turns out to be secretly working for the Witch, then turns out to be on their side after all... for quite a long stretch you don't know whether to trust him or not, which is very cool. He's played by a black actor and is really the only major black character (the villainess has a sort of majordomo who's black but I think his only lines are, "Yes, Sorceress," "Right away, Sorceress," etc.) I like the idea of having a black actor play a interesting morally-ambiguous character rather than a token good guy, but when he was teaching DG magic in the flashback all I could think of was, "Wow, talk about a 'Magical Negro'!" The series is so postmodern - pop culture in a blender - that I thought perhaps they were riffing on the stereotype rather than just exploiting it, but they didn't really *play* with the idea enough. I guess I would have been more comfortable with the character if we had learned more about him as a person in himself rather than an adjunct to the heroes, or if there had been more significant roles played by nonwhite actors. The Lion was played by an actor with a Hispanic name, but you couldn't really tell under all that fur.

That was probably the biggest stumbling block - other than that I really, really liked the miniseries.

About the time Cain (the Tin Man) woke up in the truck being cared for by Glitch (who is more or less the Scarecrow), I abruptly remembered that in the books, the Scarecrow and Tin Woodsman become co-regents (or is it that the TW rules with the Scarecrow as his chief advisor, I forget) and are unbeLIEVably slashy together. I mean, seriously. I didn't notice it as a child, but someone pointed it out to me as an adult and I was like, DUDE. The next closest thing in children's literature is the Egyptian priest and the Learned Gentlemen in The Story of the Amulet. So anyway... Cain and Glitch are pretty slashy too, and pretty adorable, and I'm actually craving fic like I haven't in a long, long time, and I've joined one community so far, just to read (tin_and_straw), so that makes me happy. And Glitch does some very pretty martial-arts moves - the spin kicks were nice (yawn) but the close work and the just-in-time dodging won more points with me. (Glitch is played by the actor who was Boris the Adorably Evil computer guy in Goldeneye.)

It's also worked its way into our daily conversations. TODS came back from Greek class and said, "[Student name] did such a bad job on that aorist infinitive! I told him that maybe he'd be correct in the Outer Zone somewhere, but not on Earth!" (These are the Intermediate students, who can be teased a bit.) (Oh, yeah. The "Outer Zone" is what they call Oz in Tin Man.)

Anyway, it may not last, but it's fun being excited about something!

Comments

[natlyn.livejournal.com]

I too enjoyed Tin Man, more than I thought I would following the first episode. Although I read at least two of the Wizard of Oz books (decades ago), I cannot for the life of me remember them—other than I was not impressed. It usually doesn't bother me, but during Tin Man I started to wonder how much I was missing because I wasn't catching any allusions. Cain and Glitch were indeed pretty adorable, but their, er, tightness seemed to come out of nowhere. That's one of the instances that I wondered if there were more to their relationship in the book.

While the magical Negro situation that you mentioned bothered me, I was also disturbed by naming Dorothy's story for a male character. I know that the Wizard of Oz does the same, but the Wizard is the focus of Dorothy's journey, the person who can give Dorothy what she wants (until she learns the power is within herself and she effectively becomes her own Wizard). If Tin Man had been named after Glitch, I could have seen that as a reflection of Dorothy's search for her memories. If it had been named after Raw, I could have seen that as using him as a metaphor for Dorothy's need to overcome her fear before she could help Azkadellia. But I don't see what aspect of Dorothy's story the Tin Man represents and as his story is not significantly larger than Glitch's or Raw's and it doesn't supercede Dorothy's, I am left thinking someone liked the name more than anything else. Hell, I'd probably have named it after the Witch, but Wicked has already been taken.

::squints:: Alan Cumming was in a Bond movie? Man, I don't want to have to sit through a Bond movie just to see him. I'll just watch X-Men 2 again. 8D

[amedia.livejournal.com]

Alan Cumming was in a Bond movie?

He was good in X-Men 2, too! But he was impossibly cute in Goldeneye:



I was also disturbed by naming Dorothy's story for a male character.

That is a really awesome point. I was so puzzled by the title that the gender issue didn't really occur to me, but it *is* disturbing now that you mention it. It seems especially strange in a story where the protagonist and the antagonist are both women - three women, really - and the Queen was the most powerful being in the O.Z. - and with its emphasis on the power of sisterly love, the story itself was very femalecentric, which just makes the title even weirder.

But I don't see what aspect of Dorothy's story the Tin Man represents

Maybe her need to rediscover her love for Az? But I don't see how that would be more important than recovering her memories or finding her courage. You're right, it's a puzzle.

Cain and Glitch were indeed pretty adorable, but their, er, tightness seemed to come out of nowhere.

Tightness. Heh, heh. Excellent choice of words.

[natlyn.livejournal.com]

OMG! I'm almost dead of the cute! Thank you for gifting me with fodder for pleasant dreams this evening.

[castalianspring.livejournal.com]

I was also disturbed by naming Dorothy's story for a male character

It was originally going to be more Cain's story, but I think the DG storyline got away from them and it went in a different direction. There's talk of a possible series that may focus more on the tin men aspects, which could be really cool.

[natlyn.livejournal.com]

Ah. Thanks for the info.

[castalianspring.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you enjoyed this! I was feeling very alone among my friends, as they all seemed to dislike this mini or just feel very "meh" about it. But oh, oh, I loved it so.

Toto did give me pause a bit, but since everyone in the palace was magical I tried not to let it bother me too much. It was more having the black man as a dog that bugged, with the hispanic also as an animal.

Scarecrow/Tin Woodsman was so my childhood OTP - so incredibly slashy especially in the later books. Not to mention the illustrations! Exhibit 1 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v29/CastaliaFoster/ScarecrowTinWoodman.jpg), Exhibit 2 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v29/CastaliaFoster/ScarecrowTinWoodman2.jpg), and my personal favorite, Exhibit 3 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v29/CastaliaFoster/ScarecrowTinwoodman3.jpg). The mini versions made me just as happy - I mean, "Sweetheart"! Oh, love.

There's some good fic in tin_and_straw, and in glitch_wyatt, though both comms overlap quite a bit. I need to post some recs one of these days.

I loved Alan Cumming in Goldeneye. That was the first thing I ever saw him in, I think. "I'm invincible!!!". Hee.

[amedia.livejournal.com]

The illos!!!! Eeeeee!!!!! I think I'd seen the first one, but not sure about the others.

Has anyone ever made icons using these? Because, y'know, I'm already putting the mini-versions' faces on the bodies, if only in my own imagination... with your kind permission to use the scans, I'd love to play with doing it on my computer (unless it's already been done, or unless you would really rather I didn't, which I would totally respect).

"Sweetheart"! Oh, love.

Wasn't that adorable?!!!