I remember just breaking down when Nimona tried to end her life- not only because *why*, but *how*. She tried to use Gloreths statue. She tried to end her life on the first sword ever drawn to her. I’ve lost friends before, and 9 times out of ten it’s not because of terrible people online, or that one annoying classmate, it’s because of that one friend you’ve had since kindergarten that turned on you. It was the look in their fathers eyes when they came out. That’s what kills us.

I heard somewhere once that “tradition is peer pressure from dead people” and dammit, I can’t help but agree. Using tradition as a basis for anything legal has never sat well with me, because it spits in the face of progress and often tramples the rights of others

One moment that really stood out to me that it feels like no one else was talking about is when the wall comes down and people see outside for the first time is centuries. The fact that there was NOTHING THERE is absolutely heartbreaking to me because it even further proves that all of the violence and hatred was never founded on anything, and that pretty much everyone in the kingdom spent their whole lives living in fear of something that was never real to begin with. It was pointless. All of it. And that feels real to me.

I don’t really get where you got the “this movie makes people uncomfortable” part from but I absolutely loved this movie. I never got uncomfortable, just emotional. And I really related to Nimona as a character.

The moment Ballister told Nimona that he sees her, I actually started sobbing. I got emotional a couple times before then, but that was the line that broke me. I'd kill to be told that by the people I used to trust.

as people who are queer and trans, this movie had many moments where my partner and I had to take a moment and go "f*ck. that's a reference right? you saw that right? oh my god" on multiple occasions. at the end, we both cried. The fact that There's so. f*cking. much. packed into this movie and the smallest details within the dialogue and even the body language themselves. It's. so nice being the targetted demographic *in the right way* for once but. I'm really not used to it so this took us an entire hour of conversation and stunned silence to even process everything the movie had to offer. What a fantastic film. Moments where Ballister says "Wouldn't it be easier to be.. a girl? Just. A girl." / "What are you? No but. What are you." compared to where he says things like "Right, little minded questions." / "You never told me you could breathe fire?" (obviously freaked out, and nimona is nervous, but he takes a moment of pause and calms down) "metal." (nimonas catchphrase. she visably relaxes and looks extremely grateful). The realization that Nimona is going to the sword happened for me about halfway through the city, but when they got there? That yell. How easily they expressed such a deep emotion... Something this movie did amazingly was the fact that even though you could see certain things coming, they still hit you just as hard when it finally happened. Figuring it out didn't ruin anything, and that's what makes its simplicity so powerful and unique. It doesn't matter if you figure something out, because you'll still gasp or giggle or lean forward in your seat when it happens. "I'm Nimona. Just. Nimona." The fact that the movie made both being gay so extremely normal in the movie and yet still managed to effortlessly make this movie so similar to the queer experience, or any experience in which you're seen as a monster for being different... its amazing. We don't have those beliefs as children until we're taught it by our elders (like with glorith). As someone who's gender experience is for fluid and unconventional, the shapeshifting was something I could relate to. Not really knowing why, not really caring; only knowing that staying as one thing... it itched. It feels *wrong* because that's not how it's supposed to be. It speaks a lot about police issues as well, but I'm not as well spoken in that area to do a paragraph about it lol..

I feel sorry for the Queen Bal didnt mean to kill at the start. I wish i got to see more of her. She feels like a mother figure in the small amount of screentime she had

"What if we are wrong, what if we were always wrong."- that the quote that had me saying YES. The are we the Baddies question from the British skit should be asked even when there aren't skulls on your uniforms.

as a queer person this movie made me feel seen, especially the way i heavily relate to nimona's explanation of what not shifting would feel like (the itchy feeling) which can be read as not showing your true self, in my experience it would be hiding the fact i'm non-binary

Personally I think Nimona is a great film. Certainly not everyone’s cup of tea, but by the end of the day, we have our own preferences when it comes to movies and television shows. Chloe Grace Moretz and Eugene Lee Yang both have amazing performances in this. We appreciate every one of you analyses. We will continue supporting you no matter what happens.

Honestly what made me the most thrown off was how blatant the movie was. It was not subtle about how the darkness around the protagonists was one inflicted by society, because theyre Others. How the golden gleaming light was a manufactured pretext to declare the society they had perfect and the world outside of it full of invading monsters that have to be guarded against. For an industry that largely likes to sweep queer folks into backgrounds and subtext, it was very strange to see a movie not at all scared of tackling generational bigotry and directly showing its main characters' queerness. Nimona (the character) found words for the feelings of being trans i couldnt, from the feeling of persecution and loneliness to the occasional desire to just let them consume you because then you wouldnt have to fight anymore. The description of her shapeshifting as something she *can* hold back on, but its still there, this itch to be who she really is and not what society wants her to be? Thats queerness baybee!

I’m gender fluid, and it’s a totally nightmare some days I’m a woman just like I was assigned at birth but other days I’m a man or non binary. My gender identity shifts but my body doesn’t. When Nimona talks about her shapeshifting I started crying, it feels so weird to have a character that represents me, I thought it would never happen.

Loved this movie as a trans guy and what a lovely review. Regarding the light, another upending of stereotypes was the colour pallet. Red was Nimona (quite literally) and emotionally impactful moments or locations for her are bathed in red light. Green, although used not quite as consistently, is often the colour of the Institute and the Director. Most obviously the weapons of horror were green. Green meaning bad and red good is atypical and it created quite a bit of tension.

I didn't feel uncomfortable at all. I felt catharsis for once about my past and hope for the future. Edit: Neat tricks of storytelling that you picked up on. I hope that the title trick serves you well.

My family is Christian and as soon as I asked if they had watched Nimona they instantly said “no I heard that movie’s gay” (not saying Christians are bad but that’s just their reasoning for this)… I asked cus I had watched it, and writing this fresh after watching and asking family, I’m still in tears from the movies ending. This video made me wanna watch it and I’m very glad I did! Im young and unsure about literary everything but before I start rambling, the movies great :) and so is this channel ;)

I love how the premise of “just because someone is different doesn’t mean they deserve to be ostracized or criticized” can fit into and relate to anyone group or person. Any movie that can touch the hearts of everyone with one simple but powerful message, deserves to be Academy Award nominee!!!

I cannot tell you enough as a queer teenager how happy the representation here made me. I mostly connected with Nimona, being gender non conforming but seen as a “girl”. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Nimona is a primal scream of a film, and I really, truly hope that it gets through to some people who need to hear it.

not gonna lie the line where nimona said something along the lines of " i dont know whats scarier, knowing everyone wants to drive a knife through i heart, or knowing that sometimes i just want to let them. " like genuinely hits hard especially after knowing what the movie is putting into metaphor... there were also so many other lines she said that hit hard but i think that one just hits like a absolute TRUCK.

This is an unbelievably intelligent and thoughtful look at the visual language of film, and I love that you picked up on it. I know a lot of people comment on how the Institute interior looked like an "unfinished video game level" but you can tell from the rest of the film that they wouldn't have missed that if they didn't decide it WORKED, because the Institute feels barren and empty and without any sort of personality, in stark contrast to the characters and their home that's cozy, colourful, messy yet feels safe and lived in.

Nimona never made me uncomfy, but thats because I related to Nimona so much. I was so sad during this movie because it wasn't a dystopia for me. It was relatable. Hiding who you are because people will fear you. I'm trans, and people get very uncomfortable when I say that. They want me to keep it hush hush, even if they love me. A lot like Bal, they wanna protect me from the evil out there by telling me to tone it down. But thats not how to protect people who are different. You protect them by standing up for them when they can't stand up for themselves. And educating those who are still in the dark (or in this case, bathed in light) A lot of bad people, aren't bad people. They truly believe they are doing good. Tell them about the harm they are doing, and let them be uncomfortable. Be kind, but let them question things. Help them understand. And yes this can be exhausting, and you don't have to do anything, or you don't have to always educate everyone. You can do it sometimes or not at all, but be kind, and let them be uncomfortable.

I wouldn't say that Nimona's plot is "simple." If it were simple, people would have empathy for "others" without having to be taught and reminded. The change from small-minded to experience-based questions that lead Ballister to bond with Nimona, the intentional simplification of Gloreth and Nimona's story by those in power, and Nimona confronting her deep loneliness and alienation are all plot arcs that, while not "subverting expectations," are still not represented enough and are one example of the many complex ways people exist as themselves and together.

"what if we're wrong? what if we were always wrong?" still genuinely almost makes me tear up everytime i hear it, knowing this movie was in part written by another trans person makes the line hit so much harder. nimona isn't as complicated and nuanced as the comic, but i don't necessarily think it needs to be. as you said its revamping a very old idea for a generation that desperately needs to hear it again.

Nimona immediately hit me as trans coded, so many of the heavy hitting things Nimona said made my heart ache, having been a trans kid and having thought a lot of a lot of those things myself. “I don’t know what’s scarier, that this whole kingdom wants to run a sword through my heart, or that sometimes- I just want to let them”

I love that detail, that the way it's lit and stuff makes you not only question the "good guys" in this movie but in a lot of other movies and shows. It's basically a galaxy brain idea.

I watched this movie thrice on day one and several more times afterwards, and the more I watch it, the more I adore it. Definitely planning to check out the graphic novel it's based off of

I feel like this movie also has themes of history that has been warped and changed. In the prologue, the backstory that we got was that Gloreth bravely stood up and slayed the monster. In the prologue she was an adult. In actuality Gloreth is a child, no more than probably 10-12 years old, who was made to betray her friend because she wasn't "acceptable". It is about how people misconstrue things that happened in the past in order to fit their own narrative.

Nimona professing that sometimes she wants to let someone run a sword through her heart broke me. Straight up old school Pixar's Nemo or Up opening, broke me. On the subject of openings- the one part the felt clunky was the full on newscast expository dump following the story book expository dump. But the movie definitely hit it's stride once the titular character is introduced.

Although I didn't look through the movie shot by shot, I noticed a nice little detail: If you look at the eyes, there is a little specifically shaped reflection. Now for most of the characters that have a significant amount of screen time, the reflection changes either depending on what they're thinking or who they're talking to (again I haven't really looked too deep into this) all except one, that, of course, being Nimona. Take this as you will, I personally am a little stumped on this clearly intentional aspect.

So, here is the thing. This movie didn't make me uncomfortable. It is not because you are wrong about anything in your analysis though, it is because i went through this discomfort trying to be elicited long before this movie was a glimmer in a writer's eye. The reason i resonated with this movie, was because it tried to tell me something i experienced so deeply, harshly and repeatedly in life, and in doing so it made me feel understood. This movie seems like one big "I get you, i understand your pain" and it is not just for the things it is most publicly and famously known for. It is well everything. This movie takes the messages we are sent through cinema and the techniques used to send them and intentionally shows you the dissonance between the message sent and what you know to be true, while then letting you form a new read of the message. Some of the things i thought during this film where: The "Cowboy in the white hat" represented in Goldenloin, doesn't become the bad guy, nothing so simple as a flip of the script, the "cowboy in the white hat" becomes a good guy manipulated into serving a sinister system. He was an antagonist, not a villain.

I’m so glad you talked about the lighting! Something I noticed is how absolutely overwhelming and overbearing the light is in this movie whenever the institute has a main focus. It’s so genuinely hard to look at sometimes, but that just makes the scenes in the dark hit so much harder

While I know Nimona was likely LGBTQ+ related, I was really thinking about about how much it perfectly falls in line with the stigma around personality disorders. Disordered people are often called monsters, and aren’t accepted because of how they act, even when it’s just coming out of a place of hurt. Then, when the bottled up anger bursts, they seem to prove to everyone that they are a monster, hide who they really are, until someone sees them for who they really are.

I love this analysis :)) it encourages people to challenge conventional coding in films and critically think about what's really going on and why they feel the way they do when watching something. Wonderful video, as always!

The theme of light representing forced conformity and prejudice shows up in ND Stevenson’s She Ra reboot as well, so I thought it was neat when it showed up here too. I think it’s notable that in both works, the primary antagonist is light but also specifically a cold, blinding, white light. The antagonists’ settings in both are sterile and uniform. Idk about Nimona, but ND has said that televangelist mega churches were a big influence in designing Horde Prime. The protagonists are in the shadows yes, but they’re environments are very colorful and varied.

I love the fact that you used a Game Grumps quote. They are also unapologetically themselves online, compared to cookie-cutter content creators that are streamlined to perfection. They say gross things and are comfortable with themselves (probably because they have been on UKposts since basically the beginning). It fits your narrative, but also, I just love the Game Grumps and seeing them get more love always makes me happy.

I genuinely, genuinely think this movie is important. That it is a kids movie. And I am glad that it exists.

As I was listening to you talk, I finally payed attetion to the scene in the thumbnail, where Nimona has the whole "sometimes I just wanna let them" speech. I would like to point out that in this scene, she's in the light. We usually see Nimona more in the shadows, and the few times we see her covered in light it's that red light that we see a lot, usually when chaos is increasing and of course, Nimona is super into it. Red is often considered to be an "evil" color aswell. But in this scene in specific, for once we see Nimona fully in that bright, white light. I have two thoughts about what it could represent: 1- Nimona is right. As you said, the director and the knights are often put under the light, as if saying that they're the good ones, the heroes, the ones' in the *right*. But when Nimona calls out all the bullcrap on their society ("They're taught that they can be a hero if they run a sword through the heart of anything different, and I'm the monster?") she's the one who's under the light. She's the one who's *right*. Their whole system is flawed, everyone in that kingdom is brainwashed into believing monsters are bad without ever one, that the kinghts are there to protect them without knowing from what, that the wall is there to protect them from a danger they never crossed paths with. And only Nimona sees it, and when she points that out, Ballister starts to see it aswell. 2-Ballister is finally *seeing* Nimona. He also was not so accepting towards them when they first met, and was pretty closed minded. At first he probably thought Nimona was just some random kid that liked to create chaos and decided to tag along with him due to her own misuderstading of his situation. But as he gets closer to her through the movie, he starts to understand her, to *see* her. For once inside their hideout, Nimona isn't in the shadows or under that red light. She's under a bright light, as Ballister is finally able to fully see her for who she truly is. She's not a monster, they're just a broken kid who was hurt by the world.

Okay, I adored your use of they/them for Nimona, and also the Game Grumps clip to add to your point cause just, both of those things are dear to me.

I don't understand why half the comments seem to be intentionally misreading how the title relates to the text but oh well, that particular bit of dissonance didn't occur to me as well but that's because I've specifically been using the same inversion in my own work for awhile now. But I'm glad you pointed it out because I never would've noticed otherwise and my appreciation of the movie is better for it. Also thank you for not ignoring the extremely blatant allegory like most reviewers.

this is a fun video to watch because nimona didn't make me feel uncomfortable at all. and tbh as a queer poc i think the light = not good shadow = not evil thing is something that resonates with a lot of queer people because we've been told our whole lives that we're bad and wrong for being the way we are. it's really nice to see the visual storytelling support the characters bathed in light = not bad people thing because that's kind of how i've felt my whole life for a number of reasons but i don't see it represented that way in media

I love nimona with all my heart. As someone who identify as a queer person who may be trans in some way, and not feeling or really having any support from family or community, and really only have a therapist who can’t really do anything.Being able to see myself in a movie is one of the great things about movies. Nimona was the movie I needed. The seance when nimona says that they sometimes wants someone to drive a sword in there heart made me tear up. Always love seeing your videos. I hope all of you have a good day. Don’t forget to drink water and eat food.

the reason *I* felt uncomfy was because I watched it with my not-so-supportive family and I did NOT expect the movie to go down on that message so hard. I loved it, but dang was I scared my mom was gonna say something lol. Anyhow, This was a really interesting video! I love Nimona sm, it really shows how animation can be a work of art, and the message was beautiful and strong, and I love how it's narrative wasn't scared of its queer narrative.

As a trans person, this was a really powerful story about queer grief. you can feel it in those moments. I think I won't forget soon the scream Nimona makes when they're going to hurt themself. Because that is just a perfect distillation of the pain we go through every day (they also happened to look a lot like our persecutor in that form, which cut really deep in a way that's hard to describe).

honestly no clue how you came to the conclusion that nimona was uncomfortable to watch. for me it was quite literally the opposite. it has become my new favorite comfort movie

I loved it because it's done subtly and isn't trying to get over a message with a sledgehammer. You can see the allegories, but its also *universal*, a call to see others as individuals, not as embodiments of a particular type, whether that's race, gender, sexuality or anything else. It also shows how judgmental people often get that way not through malice or cruelty, but through ignorance and fear. The villain isn't just motivated by 'evil'. And I loved how Bal's sexuality isn't even an issue - he's mistrusted due to his social class, not that he's gay (which seems to be normalised in this world). The *relationship* is what is important to the plot, not that it's involving two guys. We need more progressive stories that inform rather than lecture or scold. .

If this movie isn't the best thing ever put on Netflix, it's definitely in the top ten 😊

“ I don’t know what’s scarier… The fact that everyone in this kingdom wants to run a sword through my heart… or that sometimes I just wanna let ‘em. “ - Nimona, 2023 The way Nimona said this hit too close to home. As someone who’s part of the LGBTQ+ community, it’s gotten scarier every day to just try to be myself. Everywhere I turn, I find a new person who would rather I, and people like me, didn’t exist. It’s funny, actually. How this country, the United States, have stood for “freedom” and “equality” when all they’ve ever done is ridicule every being that is different. Despite this sounding really dramatic- let me compliment you. Thanks for making this video. I appreciated the fact you also used They/Them pronouns for Nimona. It was very considerate if you take their shapeshifting into account. The points you made were really interesting to hear from another person and the analysis was very well done. Keep up the great work!

i personally didnt feel uncomfortable while watching nimona, so seeing how other people viewed it is interesting.

i wouldnt say the plot is just about solving discrimination against people who are perceived differently; that may be what directly shown on the screen, but i think this movie's point is about the system, in this case, the institute and the kingdom as a whole, being built in a way that automatically others people and teaches to discriminate against the othered people. in the same way, i dont think the director was evil. she certainly wasnt on the side of our protagonists, thats for sure, but in her monologues its made clear: she was acting purely out of fear, and was in fact trying to help the kingdom. her actions panned out negatively however, because like the rest of the kingdom, she was conditioned to fear "the others". she was conditioned to fear any way of living different different to the "normal" way of living. ballister wasnt naive either, he was simply conditioned like everyone else to put his trust in the traditional way of living and the existing world order. we can see this point, that society conditions people to live in a certain way, and put their trust not in the people showered in light, but rather the walls and hallways showered in light, best in the scene where nimona turns into a dragon and saves a little girl, but when they become a little girl themselves, inviting the girl they saved, the girl they saved picks up a wooden sword and says "go back to the shadows from whence you came" - highlighting the fact that we are groomed to hate and fear all that is seemingly different and love and trust all of the "enlightened" rigid frameworks that we know, from the day we are born to the day we die. in this way the corrupt society- i mean, the institute, can perpetuate itself - by convincing each generation that anything outside the walls is dangerous, and that this world order must be kept at all costs by the heroes, heroes that the institute trains and designates. they tell the children "you can be a hero too! you can slay (💅) the monsters too!" and by doing so, they create a generation that supports the institute, ready to do the same for the next generation to come. this way, the institute can convince people its actually needed in any kind of way. driving this point even further, every time we see progress made (besides the very end of the movie), its either progress in the price of further upholding the system, or that progress is immediately undermined by the system. when the queen supports ballister joining the ranks of the knights, she supports the joining of "commoners" to the ranks of the knights to KILL THE MONSTERS. even then, the progress is undermined by the director. when ballister tries to prove his innocence, believing AS HE WAS CONDITIONED TO that he can redeem himself in the corrupt system and fix it from within, he is immediately stopped by the institute following the orders of the director designating the proof "a weapon". in a sense, she wasnt lying; the proof was a weapon - a weapon against the institute, a weapon that challenged the blind trust people put in the director, and in the institute in general. additionally, in the final scenes of the movie, we can see nimona take their "big black monster form". the movie takes a direct stance here by putting the attention on the "big black monster"s heart, signaling that even the "big black monster" has a heart, i.e. they are a person too, with feelings and consciousness, and that the system has been hiding away the reality of it harming *people*. not monsters. not traitors. not villains and not peasants. people. im sure my inner anarchist is showing, but i hope i made my point clear - that there are no good guys and bad guys in this movie. only mistreated people trying to fight for good in a rotten system that perpetuates itself by creating fake threats that must be defended against.

What bothered me about the film was that it never really seemed to address Nimona's blood lust. Yes, she was bullied, but that doesn't mean wanting to kill people is okay. (The comic did a much better job showing that the Institute had experimented on her, and also showed that the Institute was doing a lot of bad things, while in the film, they didn't do anything other than the leader framing someone and then going after Nimona who was helping the person everyone thought murdered the queen.) In the film, she's having way to much fun hurting people who are just trying to protect their country.

YES OMG I WANTED SOMEONE TO TALK ABOUT THE LIGHTING SO BAD IM SO HAPPY THIS VIDEO EXISTS

I think one of the most uncomfortable things in this movie is the parallels to reality, and how those in power are portrayed. The Director killed her own mother, framed Ballister and Nimona all because she was _afraid._ I like to think that people in power don’t do things for no reason, don’t make hasty decisions and assumptions, and I’m still coming to terms with the fact that’s simply not true all the time…

So much of N.D. Stevenson's core writing devices are present in this movie - it presents a lot of the same themes and symbols they put into She-Ra, too. I could go for hours connecting those dots if I had an ounce of video editing skill lmao, but it's clear these topics and types of relationships are deeply personal, integral concepts to them

The key thing that made me uncomfortable (and a section that would probable cause demonetization if discussed in this video) is near explicit self-destruction of Nimona. I felt it almost deserved a resource screen at the end of the movie, similar to other shows on tv and streaming services with that content. I get that she didn't do it because she had someone that made her feel seen, but what about all the people who watch it at home because they read the movie is a representation of their identity, and then they realize that they have no one who makes them feel seen.

"easy to predict the outcome"? I beg to differ. It has hella plot twists

I’m curious about the writing traits you mentioned. When someone says a movie has:”bad writing,” the typical things they’re remarking on would include: - Predictability (you can tell the whole storyline ahead of time bc it’s so obvious what’s about to happen given normal writing tropes) - predictable or repetitive messages (the audience isn’t told anything new or given a new lesson to learn) - lack of originality (Feels like the tone, feeling, dialogue and trope usage is something you could find anywhere else in any other movie) Your description of the writing expresses that every single one of these so-called “flaws” takes place in Nimona’s writing, and yet this movie was profoundly inspiring to so many people. I haven’t seen the movie (eff my wallet I can’t pay for Netflix 😅) so I don’t have the ability to pick apart the positives of the writing, and I actually don’t have much know-how on good writing myself and fail to elaborate on why most movies are capable of being judged for their writing. When I like writing, I REALLY like it, but when most people don’t like writing, I’m either not aware of it or I’m too interested in my own cinematic obsession to care. Good example is, I was so absorbed in the scenery and slow tranquility of The Good Dinosaur, and the feeling of these characters adventuring and trying to get home had The Boxcar Children movie vibes, so I couldn’t understand what people were saying was so off with it. What I found by online research was that the emotional variety was low; things were either mildly peaceful and adventurous or meant to make you feel like the character was in danger or sad. The comedy was feeble and rare. Likewise, I currently am fixated on the series Life is Strange, mostly the first game and prequel, which is the source of my curiosity because I’m writing a script hoping to make my way towards fan-animation. This involves lots of study of the positive and negative flair of the writing, and the dialogue of Life is Strange is INCREDIBLY well known for being the nightmarish type of cringe that tends to happen when people who are older try to write people who are younger. And this game came takes place in the year. 2013. So yeah. I’ve had to pick apart the dialogue and characters (which has reached an obscene degree. I wanted to learn about Impulsive BPD and how Chloe Price shows a butt ton of similarities, not end up freaking out about malfunctions in neurotransmitter levels stemming from the BH4 Pathway, like omg I need to slow down), so my ability to understand why the writing of the characters is both good and bad, as well as some things about the writing “flaws” that I can personally see as different from the rest of people. Many of the “flaws” in the writing of Life is Strange 1 and Before the Storm actually are acceptable to be considered as pros instead of cons, because of how they’re the direct result of inexperienced writing while simultaneously being beneficial for the impact somehow. My biggest issues are entered around pacing and likeability of the writing. Series like Arcane rely on BRILLIANT fluctuation in pacing through the pacing of dialogue and emotion as well as inspiring the audience to feel like they’re rolling forward with the characters. The feeling that Time has been passing and continues to go forward while still being enjoyable and fluid is a HUGE positive in Arcane, just like the fact that it’s dialogue is so enjoyable, the characters say profound things, and there’s perfect balances between predictability/tropeiness and originality. Some of my inspirations for the dialogue style are from 2013 things as well as movies and shows that were well-loved at that point in time (major part of LiS’s character dialogues is the use of references and Easter eggs. The characters may be shallow but that doesn’t mean they can’t be complicated with their own movie interests and personalities), and dialogue writing like those from Arcane, Into The Spider-verse/ATSV, Nimona, The LEGO movie, Borderlands, things like that.p (I…. I won’t disclose which of these I haven’t seen due to financial issues ok? This is a problem) They combine a sense of realistic and charming pacing with a cartoony flair (both utilizing emotionally heavy and comedic vibes at different times), which each collaborate together and fluctuate depending on the timing and pacing of the plot and scenes. These inspirations have served as huge sources of confidence in my ability to learn what makes good writing “good writing,” and I want to know and be able to elaborate on why the writing of these shows was good AND be able to model my writing after the techniques. But knowing logically what makes talented art doesn’t typically allow everyone to be able to be a talented artist, so I’m fixated on learning to grow such a talent myself. I’m glad to see an analysis on Nimona’s writing that doesn’t seem spoiler-ish but also goes over the positives of the writing, completely despite its overall consistency of traits that would typically be remarkable as “flaws.” So thanks for the analysis!

Tbh Ballister is (imo atleast) what masculinity should be. It's not something external like the things you do or how you dress but it's rather how you treat others around you, throughout most of the movie he treats (almost) everyone with kindness and consideration. If you haven't heard of it yakuza has a main character who is the epitome of this view of masculinity, his name is Kazuma Kiryu and throughout the series he is depicted as Iron-willed, strong and stoic but under that is a person who values those around him more than himself. In every yakuza game it's not a question of "will he keep fighting" it's instead "will he have anything to fight for". To a certain extent balister embodies this, and the way he treats Nimona speak volumes of who he is as a person. As an asexual person I admire people who lend a helping hand to those who are rejected and dehumanized, (I think you know what aphobia is) bc they didn't have and they weren't obligated to do anything and yet they did it bc it was the right thing to do. As a whole we don't have good role-models to look up to (especially for young men) which just sucks, and also why there is a lot more defender/parent figure type characters in recent media hell ballister can be considered as a defender archhetype. And I think I've made my point so thanks for reading friend :).

I actually wasn't uncomfortable while watching Nimona, I came to the movie after watching the new Puss and Boots, and just wanted to look at art similar to Arcane. and in the mindset of reminiscing about arcane I never had the uneasiness you talk about, I was just completely taken aback by how well they portrayed all of the messages presented.

"The more we watch this movie, the more we start to feel uneasy. These characters that are bathed in light [...] aren't good people. And we start to feel uncomfortable because we've been conditioned as movie-goers to trust the light." Am i the only one who didn't feel this, on any level, at all??? Like, the way you explain it it seems to make sense, but i would never assume a charcter is morally good because they're in the light. Anyone else feel like this? Aside from this, Nimona really is a great movie, the message is so important, and it made me cry ^^'

The reason why Nimona made me uncomfortable was because it hit too close to home so I had to stop watching it and give myself a break halfway through it because I was panicking through the whole movie every time something bad or unfair happened to the characters. It gives me flashbacks

Uncomfortable?.....Nimona?......the only thing this movie made me do is watch it on REPEAT over and over.

The only negative emotion I felt towards Nimona is a bit of jealousy that she can just magically transition whenever in a heartbeat, while normal trans people like me have to take months and years and even then there are differences, but that was really only the smallest part of what I felt

Yo, this video was really well made! I re-read the book before watching the movie, and I was too focused on what it didn't include to see what the lighting symbolized. Thanks for a great video!

EXTREMELY well said! Nimona's message has never been more important, and you phrased it perfectly.

I loved the film, I never once felt uncomfortable

It's not a new thing to switch this color association. It is a classic theme to connect good with white and evil with black but it has been turned around often enough so i honestly wonder why anybody would feel uncomfortable with that? Recognizing that it is unusal, yes, but uncomfortable? No. Why? It is just a color after all. What color you choose shouldn't matter, what should have meaning is what you associate with it.

Very well said. Love this. Dark can be claustrophobic or it can be cozy Light can be ... exposing, that's not always a good thing.

I'm glad I remembered you in my "to watch" list. This is just top shelf content

I’m pretty sensitive to other people’s emotions and the way they act. The movie itself didn’t make me uncomfortable… Nimona herself did. Not because she’s some shifter, but just her personality in general. People with a hyper, impulsive type of personality tend to make my skin crawl, and make me feel as though I need to flee whatever situation I’m in.

Always makes me feel either happier want to cry, because I feel my feelings are validated to the story of the main characters. Especially because of where I live, I can’t be myself and there are people that will try to kill me because of what I am.

*reads the title*: It did?!?!?!

I NEVER get emotional watching movies like this but this movie... this movie made my cry...

I agree that the story is not some groudbreaking writing but i do think that the movie should be applauded for having that same story but being WAY more unapologetically queer than medias that came before it, while still being marketed as a kids movie. Nimona shows progress forward for more rep in all media for all ages.

I'm not a fan of gay stuff being in movies not because I'm homophobic but because whenever there is gay stuff it typically means that those characters personalities are entirely based on that. But this film goes against that and actually makes it a good part of the story.

This felt like a movie that was both made for queer people who've always seen themselves in queercoded villains and to make people who villanize queer and trans people uncomfortable. And it did both so brilliantly.

I didn't feel uncomfortable watching it. I was very glued to it's art style and I was obsessed how it looked at 21 years old lmao

Nimona didn’t make me uncomfy till the Trans allegory was pushed to the forefront and as a trans (especially non-binary) person, it was uncomfortable to see my own pain and experience so closely shown, I had to face it head on and fuck. That hurts

Did you use the Tarrey Town music from botw in the back ground??? I swear I could keep hearing it

INCREDIBLE video essay, one of my new favorites

You abolutely said everything perfectly. I watched Nimona earlier last month, just scrolling through Netflix hoping for something new to watch, and, well there it was. Watched the trailer, and I was HOOKED. It looked like a great movie, the art style was nice to look at too, and having the subject actually be talked about, and not just cast aside is huge. Personally, being Gay is a struggle. And yeah people say it all the time like, "Oh it's a huge struggle, blah blah blah." And honestly it's one of those parts of me that is just t h e r e. I don't make a big deal about it, but there are some moments where it can be a little tough. And the visual narrative of this story is just perfectly showing that sometimes you don't really talk about things like that, or you don't shine lights on things that aren't "normal". Great video, hope to see more like this!

Answer: it didn't

It didn't make me uncomfortable at all. I actually thought that the smooth animations are a breath of fresh air. Lately there are only low fps animations coming out because of the Spiderverse movie

''What if we are wrong?'' I think thats the most profound question one can do when it comes to the act of rebelling at times or when it comes to following rules. Asking yourself this question can open many can of worms, but maybe that's a good thing because it also brings change. If one isn't comfortable with the change, if one fears the change, it will just bring doom to their own system because change doesn't wait for now one, and will obviouly get people involve into that change. You can't control the change, what you can control is your reaction and your actions towards that change, whether you Embrace it or go against it.

Absolutely beautiful video dude!❤ I saw people noticing the 'budget cut'- "blurred background characters" but I didn't notice them myself. Knowing they do and WHY they are blurred tho... oh woah! It made me love this movie even more! Thank you for talking about it!🤩 Did you notice the amount of foreshadowings and parallels in this movie? There's tons in the first act, even in the book-style intro! Also the shape of the shines in the character's eyes? They change during the movie multiple times, I'm not sure by which logic, but some people theorize it has to do with how close they are to the institution in that moment, but really, I don't know if it was officially explained, It's surely something to investigate about!

As a autistic teen, yeah I felt this movie

Just saw the movie, i personally didn't feel uncomfortable, like I did but it was only with this annoying light but when it came to shadows it felt calm quiet and really nice, the bonding moments with Nimona and Ballistar were great and it saddens me how some people still believe in the whole disney woke thing

This movie really ought to get more buzz. It was honestly pretty phenomenal.

"Uncomfortable?" 🦈I don't follow.

The interesting thing is that this isn't the first time ND Stevenson has played with the light/dark dichotomy in this way. The final season of Stevenson's previous show, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, inverts the light versus dark color scheme in similar fashion. *SPOILERS FOR SHE-RA BELOW* Horde Prime, the big bad of the series, is a quasi-religious figure constantly bathed in white light and lives in a massive ship designed to resemble a cathedral. And his conflicted captive/ underling, Catra, who has spent the entire show as one of its major antagonists but who is also presented from the start as a deuteragonist, has always been someone who finds comfort in darkness. There's a wonderful video by Five by Five Takes that goes into this in detail (look for the video on the episode "Corridors"), but the nutshell version is that these episodes of She-Ra present the light of Horde Prime as a scouring light that reveals everything personal and uses it to shame the individual for their differences, while the darkness and shadows are the safe, quiet spaces where Catra is allowed to be vulnerable without facing judgment or hatred. It's very much thematically of a kind with the way "Nimona" depicts Ballister (and Nimona herself, in the third act of the film) as associated with the dark and the Director with the light. And both stories feature our darkness characters finding resolution when they realize that they have support systems that don't require their subordination into the oppressive system that surrounds them - allowing them to bring the safety and vulnerability they associate with the dark out of the shadows.

Nimona doesn’t make me feel uncomfortable. It makes me feel seen.

Beautiful review. I've been percolating on this movie since it came out, did a quick short about it on day one, waiting for the right words to express its affect on me in long form. But your video expressed it so well. Thank you.

People often talk about how the dark conceils the truth, makes you unable to see. But often they don't realize the light can be just as blinding. How trying to add even more, brighter and uncompromising light can make things colder and harder to see, the shadows harsher. But add just a little bit of shade, and those lines that were blured by the glare will become clearer, the shadows less intimidating, and you'll see things as they are. Nimona has a lot of darkly lit scenes, but it is never dreary or dull. The darkness is colorful, energetic, cozy even. The bad guys are dressed in 'good' colors, while our heroes are cloaked in the ones that have been associated with evil since color graced moving pictures. And I friggin' love it!

It did not make me uncomfortable at all.

spoilers! Go watch the movie now!!!! It's my favourite movie where the light is cast ONTO the bad characters, like the director and Gloryth (in that one painting), it's Nimona's heart that is the source of light (both when she almost oofs herself and also in that one painting), so the bad guys are literally trying to put out someone's light and happiness while being glorified (haha, glorythfied) and illuminated by the society

I loved the little clip from Dan and Arin. Perfect nutshell of the issue.

As an autistic person who has continually struggled with depression and relating to people much less having people understand me over many years, this movie really hit me in a place I was not expecting. I've not had a piece of media just...paint my world so simply before, and do it in such a way for me to painfully relate. The "I See You" moment was plain to see coming, like you put it, it's not hard to guess the plot of the movie. It's far more difficult to guess how artfully and perfectly they execute things in their own way, and it made that scene speak to me in such a powerful way from many points. Nimona having finally one person who truly, even after plenty of misunderstandings and doubt and tests of faith, sees her, and accepts her. I wish many of the people I've had throughout my life could see this movie and walk away understanding my feelings. If this movie can challenge even one person in my history to be better and change, then I'd be happy.

Did it though?

All I got was Prince of Egypt vibes with the animation, not all the unnecessary "nuggets" about subtext laden meanings (a lot of UKposts commentary channels are now filled with this need to wring out meaning from everything) It was an artistic style, one that worked and in some places subverted common tropes. The end, can we just enjoy that and move on

i love that a kids movie like this came out because growing up with movies like this is very important and as u stated not every movie has to have some big reveal, also its still enjoyable even as a kids movie as the jokes are pretty good and overall an entertaining movie! also glad that theres being a push for less realistic kids movies like disney has been pushing out with all their 3d/remakes :/ i also think the 2d style was used so they could really sell the movement and animation of the characters as they are the spotlight. great video!!

I wonder if part of the visual discomfort with the Institution is that save for the dungeon, it looks completely sterile. I don't know about anybody else, but I find a complete lack of plants and organic shapes unnerving in an environment.