Old people!

I have nothing against old people let me just state this! They’re old and cute and mostly harmless!
On my train an old couple got on and sat at the table in front of me talking about the weather, smelling like mothballs and dog. The ticket attendant is doing his round and the old man gets the tickets out and explains that they’re tickets are for the wrong day, because the weather on Tuesday was bad they didn’t go and they’re going today instead. ( I’m a good listener) The ticket attendant looks at the tickets and is deciding what to do.
So the ticket attendant decides to let them off an replace the tickets. Which is my first problem! And then as they are being given their new tickets they decide to change their destination and they want to go to another station after they’ve been to the one they’re going to already! So the ticket attendant gives them brand new tickets at the price of 20p. He explains that he would have to charge them full price but that he can over ride it assuming because he feels sorry for them – being old and all – he then says that if he could charge them nothing he would but it would mean a ton of paper work! Yes because all old people are senile and should be given special treatment! He’s just admitted that that chose not to travel on the day of their tickets – but we will give them as good as free tickets shall we!
Because I’m a bit slow sometimes I have also tried to get on the train with a ticket for the wrong day – not on purpose – I had to buy new tickets and I was completely unaware of the out-dates ticket! This couple knew that they’re tickets were out of date – if I had tried to do what they have succeeded in doing, I would of had to pay for new tickets but because they’re old they’re giving lenience!
20p! I paid 33 pounds for my journey! And they’re going a lot further along then I am!
As I am writing this I’m thinking that this is a bit similar to me getting a free coffee? But I didn’t not ask for a free coffee! And it was the shops fault for not having a working machine card reader thingy bob! (Am I being a bit hypocritical?) 30 pounds is bit different in comparison to 2.10! Maybe I’m just holding a grudge because I had to buy new tickets that time and it cost me nearly 100 more pounds on top of the originally priced tickets that were 60 pounds! However I’m sure that this wasn’t a pure act of kindness by the ticket attendant and it was a judgement based on stereotypes, would the ticket attendant giving the same treatment to the boy sitting in the next row in his tracksuit and baseball cap? I think not! It’s not like this old couple were particular friendly to the ticket attendant if anything they were a tad defensive!
They’re now talking about they can afford to have fish and chips do supper now that they didn’t have to pay for new tickets! *round of applause for the old couple con artists!* it’s all an act! Don’t be fooled people! They all know what they’re doing!
Reminds me a bit of the ITV Show “Off Their Rockers”. Check it out. It’s a laugh!

Patriachal Pirates!

 

I do love the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, yes even the sequels. Main attraction was of course Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom however the action comedy does have a certain cheesy “cant help but watch it again and again” sort of motion to it! Anyway, I love them, even the 4th movie in the collection, which does not star the damsel in distress Elizabeth Swan and dashing Will Turner.

So automatically I see the film is on Tv and put it on while I’m surfing the internet, giggling away to myself at the cheesy bits that we all so dearly love to hate but yet can’t! Bearing in mind i have seen this film at least 5 times before if not more, I was suprised and shocked by one bit in the film in particular. (Spoiler Alert) So the basic storyline of the film is that Jack Sparrow gets fooled into joining Blackbeard’s crew by a former lover, Angelica, who is also the daughter of Blackbeard. So they want to go the Fountain of Youth and drink from it  (something to do with Blackbeard eternal soul) in which they believe Captain Jack Sparrow knows some of the details to do with the ritual so that the water works and gives black beard more years. One item in the ritual is a tear from a mermaid, who are not anything like the ones in the “Little Mermaid” (which i happen to love), there evil basically and like to seduce sailors who sing and then eat them from what i understand. So to back track, earlier on in the film Angelica saves this Missionary who then unintentionally helps capture this mermaid, he saves her several times throughout the movie. Shes stuck in a glass coffin while they travel across the island to the fountain and she cant breathe so breaks open the lid so she can breathe, then again when the coffin breaks he carries her because she cant walk because she’s never had legs before. ok so basically there is sexual tension and they both like each other and as Blackbeard puts it they “fancy” each other. The Missionary gets all protective over the mermaid and gets angry with Blackbeard when he calls the mermaid it and Phillip shouts that she has a name and then proceeds to give her a name.

This is the bit that annoyed me the way that he gives her a name, like she hasn’t got a name, and if she hasn’t, like she cant be asked before you assume she hasn’t got a name? The way that the man assigns her a name annoyed me! My feminist side was angered! I then realised that this was just another thing that showed the patriarchal ideals in movie making, whether this be the historical understanding of the time or the movie making industry. I also didnt understand how she could be this “monster” and still then be delegated a name by a man to which she should have been more powerful against,if the other mermaids are anything to go by. Another example would be the way that she is represented as hard by not giving up the tear even though they “kill” Phillip, and then on his miraculous return from the dead she cries which in my opinion such a stereotypical way of the media showing how weak and emotional women are, if these mermaids are evil then why try to feminize them? Why not use a mermaid scale or tooth? A tear has a feminine connotation. They use the mermaid as way of creating a romance story which means they use the way that the mermaid has been created in a more humanistic and feminine way to do this.

I’m not completely unaware of the fact that they use men as an object of attraction, the main reason I watch it is because Johnny Depp is in it! The way that this mermaid is depicted could have been portrayed completely different and could have been just as successful in my opinion that is what really annoyed me! I’m still a massive fan and I know its not the only movie to have such stereotypical representations of women or patriarchal ideas, but it did annoy me!

I still have a soft spot for rum, pirate hats, open seas and unopened treasures! Film number 5 comes out in 2016, I will still be going to see it 😀