(Please again note that this post contains spoilers for Raya and the Last Dragon (2021))
Today I watched Disney's new animated film Raya and The Last Dragon (RaTLD). For Narniawebbers, it will become very clear on the first viewing that one of the villains is a mist - a purple and black mist that turns people to stone. This made me think of the green mist in Walden's VDT (and the white witch, but that is another topic for another day).
For those who have seen the new film, do you think the character of the mist in RaTLD is executed better than the green mist? Or maybe worse?
I thought it had a greater edginess to it than the green mist. I also thought the visuals looked better. Do you agree with that?
Had the green mist been made more like the mist in RaTLD, do you think it would have been better for the VDT film?
The big question is: Can a faceless mist in a movie be an effective villain?
Would love to hear your thoughts.
I too was changed when I met the Lion.
Topic starter
Posted : March 5, 2021 10:25 pm
I haven’t seen this movie, but from what you described it reminded me of “the Nothing” from the Never Ending Story which I thought worked quite well (as a villainous element)!
I think the main thing is you have to give the villain or the frightening element some clout. I think it would have worked different in VTD had the mist been invading Narnia, but since it was so removed, it felt like “Eh, who cares...”
People do, however, like to explore which is why VDT works so well! People won’t care too much about villains that are so far removed (even the slave traders are closer in proximity to then mainland so we care) but the further out you go, it’s more of the danger and the thought of never returning home that is the fundamental “spooky” element.
"Hello there!" - Obi Wan
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Posted : March 6, 2021 11:03 am
It is worth mentioning that the green mist was meant to be some sort of signal for when the characters were being tempted. A sound or visual cue - and it was turned into an entity as bad as the Dark Island in the book.
So how they presented it was little more than an overdone stage effect with smoke.
I hope the other film does better.
There, shining in the sunrise, larger than they had seen him before, shaking his mane (for it had apparently grown again) stood Aslan himself.
"...when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor's stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backwards."
Posted : March 6, 2021 12:06 pm
The Scribbler liked
@coracle Very true... I think that's why it felt disconnected from emotion, it wasn't a real "thing" like the "Nothing" is in Never Ending Story, so it just feels flat. I remember from the podcast, Gym and GP were saying that it might have been meant to connect to the Lady of the Green Kirtle, and if that were the case, it would have had a lot more clout (though I'm glad they DIDN'T do that!). I think most films have "so much at stake" that it would be a nice break to have a good ol' adventure film.
"Hello there!" - Obi Wan
aafouch.blogspot.com
Copywriter, Academic Writing, Fiction, Children's Literature
Posted : March 6, 2021 1:41 pm
Anyway, in terms of Mist-like villains, usually I find that "elemental" villains in movies of this nature are usually just a lazy screenwriters gimmick to have an external antagonist without having to develop any backstory or motivations for your villain. For example, Parallax in the Green Lantern movie, or Galactus in the Fantastic Four movie are both depicted as big clouds of unspecified energy (compare both of those to the fairly deep level of characterisation that Thanos gets in the Avengers films). I can see why its an easy option for a writer, as it gives you the chance to focus your story on how the hero deals with the threat, rather than getting bogged down in what the threat actually is. To some extent it often doesn't matter.
Raya and the Last Dragon (RATLD) was slightly different though - the Mist wasn't really the primary antagonist for the story (the kingdom of Fang seemed to be the main villains) it wasn't really the primary plot device (that would be the crystal pieces) and it didn't even seem to be the primary motivation for the characters either - the primary objective was to reunite all the Kingdoms after centuries of political unrest. The mist only really seemed to be there to serve as a physical manifestation of that unrest, and provide an on-screen representation of that conflict for the final battle (it hardly showed up at all during the rest of the movie - most of the action scenes were battles with the villains from Fang).
I can see why you draw the VODT comparison though - "collect 5 crystals to defeat the purple mist" is not a million miles away from "collect 7 swords to defeat the green mist". In both cases they are pretty flimsy maguffins for the story, however I think the main difference is that in RATLD it was just a small background thing that drove the story along, and allowed the story to focus on the human-level conflict, whereas in VOTD it was the only significant plot strand, with no compelling villains to back it up, shoe-horned into a story that wasn't really about defeating villains in the first place.
Posted : June 6, 2021 10:04 am