IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND MONEY:

unflinching meditations

on the dread allegorical Zone Wars

in the twilit and allegorical film art

of Angelina Jolie

by Gary W. Wright

        How eerily fitting that Angelina Jolie made her first appearance on film in a small role as the cute and ominously surnamed girl Tosh Warner opposite her father Jon Voight as Alex Kovac in the allegorical and Voigt co-written Hal Ashby docufeature film LOOKIN’ TO GET OUT (1982), released on October 8, 1982, linking her forever to, and making her the literal embodiment of, the twilit and disastrous year of 1982.  For Jolie went on to play a prominent role in the dread allegorical Zone Wars that were set off by the shocking and horrific helicopter crash that killed actor/director/writer Victor “Vic” Morrow and illegally hired and employed child extras Renee Chen and Myca Le around 2:20 am in the early morning hours of July 23, 1982 on the George Folsey jr. produced John Landis set of the twilit, allegorical, Kathleen Kennedy associate produced, Frank Marshall produced and Landis and Steven Spielberg executive produced Landis, Spielberg, Joe Dante and George Miller docufeature film TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE (1983).  A prominent role whose success was helped by growing up in a film art family or extended family like Gia (GC) Coppola, Sofia Carmina (SCC) Coppola, Sean Penn, and Jason Reitman, allowing her to draw on a wealth of experience as an actor before truly creating her own shrewd and knowing film art.  Jolie also acted as co-executive producer of the allegorical Heather Rae Priest indie documentary film TRUDELL (2005), a film released on January 20, 2005 that explored the life, times, struggles, and indomitable spirit of part-Santee Dakota American Indian Movement (AIM) leader and poet John Trudell before she donned the writer/director/co-producer hats and leapt courageously and furiously into the Zone Wars with an implicit roast of James Cameron in the twilit, allegorical, and slightly computer generated image (CGI) enhanced indie docufeature film IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY (2011), released on December 22, 2011.

“Are you my enemy?

Am I your enemy?”

        Curiously, this moving and unflinching look at the callously violent and rapacious war in the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina during the breakup of Yugoslavia in the early to mid-Nineties began almost ironically and incongruously with a shot of a city, perhaps Sarajevo, nestled peacefully in a valley at what appeared to be sunrise in 1992.  Then the camera point of view (POV) suddenly began pulling back from the left eye of a woman in a painting, slowly revealing that the painting was a self portrait that was being finished by a beautiful and vaguely Kathryn Bigelow resembling and implicitly linked young brunette woman who turned out to be named Ajla Ekmecic-whose fondness for painting reminded us that Bigelow started off as a painter, and who was played by Zana Marjanovic.  Soon the painting was put aside as the young Muslim woman and her sister Lejla-played by Vanessa Glodjo-joked around in their apartment as Ekmecic got ready to go out on a date.  Significantly, this scene evoked the sight and sound of Sarah Connor and her girlfriend Ginger-played by Linda Hamilton and the fittingly surnamed Bess Motta, respectively-joking around as they both got ready for dates in the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed and implicitly George Lucas and David Lynch roasting Cameron indie docufeature Zonebuster THE TERMINATOR (1984). 

Thus, it was no surprise that after leaving the apartment, Ekmecic wound up at a Sarajevo club with a live and boisterous band where she met and then danced with the Cameron resembling and implicitly linked Serbian police Captain Danijel Vukojevich-played by Goran Kostic-in a scene that evoked the sight and sound of Jack Dawson and Rose Bukater-played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, respectively-dancing below decks to the music of an Irish fiddler in the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced Cameron docufeature Zonebuster TITANIC (1997) to affirm the implicit link of Capt. Vukojevich to Cameron.  Indeed, the surname of Vukojevich affirmed his implicit link to Cameron, for it evoked Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Detective Hal Vukovich-played by Lance Henriksen-one of the doomed LAPD personnel gunned down in their divisional headquarters by the time travelling, remorselessly slaughtering and implicitly Lucas linked future CSM-101 T-800 cyborg Terminator-played by Arnold Schwarzenegger-in THE TERMINATOR.  An all too timely reminder of that unexpected attack, for an equally unexpected CGI enhanced bomb blast soon took out the club as Ajla and Danijel danced happily in each other’s arms, a sudden bomb blast that evoked the CGI enhanced bomb blast that kicked off the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced and implicitly Lynch addressing Bigelow indie docufeature film THE HURT LOCKER (2006) to affirm the film’s implicit interest in Bigelow and that signalled that the civil war that tore apart Bosnia-Herzegovina had unfortunately begun and would even make art a battleground.  An uncivil art linked war whose battles in the ruins of Sarajevo evoked the battles against pitiless blockbuster machines in the ruins of the future Earth seen in dreaming memories of the future in THE TERMINATOR and the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed and implicitly Lucas toasting and Lynch roasting Cameron indie docufeature Zonebuster TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY (1991), reaffirming the film’s implicit interest in Cameron. 

An uncivil war that nice guy Danijel had no taste for, as it made the Muslim Ajla and Serbian Christian Danijel enemies and forced the reluctant and conflicted soldier to lead his soldiers in the killing of Muslim men and the rounding up, imprisoning and raping of Muslim women to prove that he was a true Serbian Christian patriot and satisfy his critical, demanding, unyielding and implicitly Stanley Kubrick linked father General Nebojsa Vukojevich-played by Rade Serbedzija-an implicit link to Kubrick affirmed by the fact that Danijel’s strained relations with his father evoked the equally strained relations of the angry, frustrated and doomed French Colonel Dax-played by Kirk Douglas-with his commanding officers, the implicitly Walt Disney linked Gen. George Broulard and the implicitly Richard Fleischer linked Gen. Paul Mireau-played by Adolphe Menjou and George Macready, respectively-in the eerily and presciently twilit and allegorical Kubrick docufeature film PATHS OF GLORY (1957).  An implicit link that reminded us that Cameron was inspired as a teen to become a film artist after experiencing the allegorical, CGI enhanced and Ozian themed Kubrick indie docufeature artbuster 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968), a film alluded to in IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY, along with the twilit, allegorical and implicitly New Hollywood roasting Kubrick indie docufeature artbuster FULL METAL JACKET (1987).  Indeed, the fact that Serbedzija played the mysterious and possibly Kubrick linked costume store owner Milich in the final twilit and allegorical Kubrick indie docufeature artbuster EYES WIDE SHUT (1999) openly affirmed the film’s implicit interest in Kubrick on one level. 

And so, four months after the outbreak of the bitter and brutal conflict, Serbian soldiers in red and white buses that evoked those in Toronto rounded up Ekmecic and other Muslim women in her apartment building and neighbourhood and, after shooting most of their husbands, sons, brothers, fathers and male cousins, took the women to their HQ where they were forced to work as cooks and cleaners and submit to humiliating and degrading rapes.  All except Ekmecic, for luckily for her Capt. Vukojevich was amongst the soldiers, and he saved her from assault by banning the other men from beating and raping her.  In time, he even gave her a room of her own where she could live and paint in peace away from soldiers implicitly linked to the equally vengeful and vicious film artists of the dread allegorical Zone Wars.  Indeed, the fact that one of Capt. Vukojevich’s fellow soldiers was surnamed Darko-played by Nikola Djuricko-affirmed the implicit link of Vukojevich’s soldiers to Zone War film artists, for the surname evoked the twilit, allegorical, slightly CGI enhanced, Ozian themed and implicitly Lucas addressing Richard Kelly indie docufeature film DONNIE DARKO (2001), even if Darko resembled and was perhaps implicitly linked to Jean Reno. 

Alas, despite his luv for her, Danijel also raped Ajla on at least one angry occasion, a brutal rape that evoked the equally brutal and rapacious murder of Iris-played by Brigitte Bako-in the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed, Cameron co-written/co-produced, and implicitly Lucas, Lynch and Francis Coppola roasting Bigelow indie docufeature artbuster STRANGE DAYS (1995).  Even worse, mistakenly convinced that she had something to do with a bombing in a church that killed most of his men but left him alive, Capt. Vukojevich angrily and despondently shot Ekmecic dead, in the end.  Thus, given that the implicitly Cameron linked Danijel protected and tenderly luved the implicitly Bigelow linked Ajla but also raped and ultimately murdered her, Jolie implied that, despite Cameron’s fondness for Bigelow that implicitly led him to marry her at one stage in his journey and act as executive producer of her breakout film, the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed, and implicitly Lucas toasting and Lynch roasting indie docufeature artbuster POINT BREAK (1991), he had demeaned and ultimately killed her as a female film artist with the nightmarish and twisted STRANGE DAYS.  Jolie also implied that, perhaps due to an obsession with beating 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, Cameron had actually not just failed to protect or save the small indie film art of Bigelow in particular or small and medium sized indie film art in general-including that of Reitman, given that one of the enemy combatants (played by A.I. Smithee) that Capt. Vukojevich hunted down and killed in a vicious street battle near the end of the film resembled and was implicitly linked to him-but had personally killed the vital humanity of small and medium sized indie film art in general and possibly that of Bigelow in particular with the increasing size, budgets and CGI of his films, particularly AVATAR, as studios decreased the number of more human and intimate small and medium sized films they created and increased the size, budgets, CGI and inhumanity of their films to compete with Cameron and to make equally beastly blockbuster profits. 

Thus, it was fitting that Ajla was a little known indie painter, linking her to small indie film art like that of Bigelow, albeit one also linked to the film art of Cameron, as the sight and sound of her painting portraits, including portraits of Danijel and Nebojsa, evoked the sight and sound of Dawson drawing a portrait of a young and naked Rose in TITANIC.  An implicit link of small and low budget indie art to small and low budget indie film art reaffirmed when the film ended with the camera slowly zooming in on the last and most creative, colourful and fittingly blue eyed self portrait that Ajla painted of herself, a final self portrait and affirmation of her vital humanity that evoked the one she was seen putting the finishing touches on at the beginning of the film, a final deathless portrait that existed in an eternal world of art midway between life and death like the eternal soul, bringing the film full indie art circle before the screen slowly faded to black.

And so this fine first feature film made clear that Jolie had indeed learned much from her life in film art and had emerged, like SCC and Reitman, as a shrewd, knowing, creative and confident film artist with the ability to successfully don the writer/director hats.  IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY also revealed that her style of film art was neither as feminine as SCC, nor as unusually masculine as Bigelow, but as balanced between the male and female spirit, mind, heart, body and gaze as the film was balanced between the stories of Ajla and Danijel, as befitting a woman who was openly and unabashedly bisexual.  And so Jolie continued her competition with Cameron when she donned the director/co-producer hats, teamed up again with John Hutman-production designer of IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY-leapt once more into resolute Zone War battle with her curiously named Jolie Pas Production company and Legendary and Universal Pictures, embraced the same epic and CGI enhanced size favoured by Cameron, and exchanged all female civilian prisoners of war for all male military prisoners of war in the again unflinching, embattled and moving daylit, allegorical, and CGI enhanced, and Ozian themed indie docufeature artbuster UNBROKEN (2014), a film released on November 17, 2014 which was inspired by the twilit and allegorical Laura Hillenbrand book Unbroken (2010).

“We beat them

by making it to the end of the war alive.

…That is our revenge.”

        Significantly, and ironically, however, after the Universal and Legendary Pictures intros and three opening titles, film gave no hint of its embattled nature in its opening moments, with the sun silently rising on a beautiful blue sky morning with light and scattered clouds, evoking the equally and ironically peaceful, dawning, and silent shot of presumably Sarajevo that opened IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY, and also evoking the peaceful, idyllic, and sunlit cloudscape that began the twilit, allegorical, fantastic realist, madcap, Ozian themed, and implicitly Landis roasting Terry Gilliam indie animaction artbuster BRAZIL (1985) in the first hint that Gilliam was being implicitly addressed in the film.  A beautiful and silent dawning that was quickly swept away by the sound and sight of a dozen or so B-24 Liberator bombers of the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) flying across the beautiful blue sky on a determined daylight bombing raid on a Japanese target in the Pacific War in April of 1943.  A bombing raid that soon focussed on one of the enlisted men in that first bomber, the young, short, slim, handsome, dark brown haired and eyed, clean cut and shaven, muscular, fit, courageous, and real life 1936 Berlin Olympics track star and implicitly Scarecrow linked USAAF Bombardier Louis “Louie” Zamperini aka “the Torrance Tornado”-played by CJ Valleroy as an indie Italian outsider wild child in Torrance, CA, and as Jack O’Connell as an adult, respectively.  Indeed, to support this implication, one of Zamperini’s crew members on this first raid, perhaps the engineer, was named Lambert-played by Marcus Vanco-a surname that often popped up in the allegorical, brilliant, madcap, and satirical indie docufeature telefilm series MONTY PYTHON’S FLYING CIRCUS (1967-1790), a series on which Gilliam worked primarily as cut-out animator.

        The implication that Gilliam was being addressed in UNBROKEN was affirmed soon after that successful opening bombing raid when he survived first the crash of the shot up and crippled B-24 at its airfield, and then an oceanic crash in May of ’43 of a second bomber, the Green Hornet, during a search and rescue mission.  For the sight and sound of Zamperini and the blonde pilot of his bomber, the young, slim, handsome, blonde, and clean cut and shaven, and implicitly Cowardly Lion linked Lieutenant Russell “Phil” Phillips-played by Domhnall Gleeson- floating resignedly and despondently in two yellow rubber dinghys hoping to be rescued evoked a famous sketch involving Royal Navy sailors floating as aimlessly in a life boat waiting for rescue that appeared in MONTY PYTHON’S FLYING CIRCUS.  The fact that by the time Phillips and Zamperini, the last two survivors of the crash, were found floating in the Pacific in their two yellow dinghys by a Japanese warship the two resembled the short and loyal squire Patsy and the tall and crowned King Arthur-played by Gilliam and Graham Chapman, respectively-in the eerily twilit, allegorical, madcap and implicitly New Hollywood roasting Gilliam and Terry Jones indie animaction film MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL (1974), implicitly reaffirmed the link of Zamperini to Gilliam and also implicitly affirmed the link of Phillips to Chapman in UNBROKEN. 

        Significantly, after they were rescued, Phillips and Zamperini were imprisoned in the Japanese Omori Detention Camp and the Naoetsu Prison Camp, where Louie was singled out for brutal treatment from the commanding officer of both camps, the young, slim, handsome, violent, first Corporal, and then Sergeant, and implicitly Wicked Witch o the West linked Mutsuhiro “the Bird” Watanabe-played by Miyavi.  Indeed, Zamperini aroused the wrath of the Wicked Bird so much at the Omori Detention Camp when he refused to aid Japanese propaganda efforts, the Commandant ordered all of the POWs in the camp to punch Louie in the face, a cruel punishment that evoked a bizarre “punch the poor” scene in the visit with the young, tall, handsome, brunette, kindly, avuncular, and implicitly David Lynch and Scarecrow linked Robin Hood-played by John Cleese-in the eerily twilit, allegorical, madcap, and Ozian themed Gilliam indie animaction film TIME BANDITS (1981).  Curiously, an implicit interest in Gilliam was again affirmed at the Omori Detention Camp, for soon after the mass punchup the tragicomic sight and sound of another young POW called Blackie-played by Ross Anderson-playing a kind and helpful fairy godmother complete with magic wand who came to the aid of poor discouraged Cinderalla aka “Cinders”, played by an equally young and discouraged American POW named Fitzgerald-played by Garrett Hedlund-in a play put on to desperately amuse and raise the spirits of the POWs reminded us of the equally helpful female fairy-usually played by Eric Idle-who came to the aid of those in need with a ping of “her” magic wand in MONTY PYTHON’S FLYING CIRCUS and in the allegorical Ian MacNaughton indie docufeature film AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT (1971). 

        Thus, the sight and sound of Zamperini battling to survive all of his beatings, triumphs, and disasters in general and in particular triumphing over the Wicked Bird and the rest of his brutal Japanese captors, returning home alive to his luvin’ family in the United States, and slowly releasing his lingering hatred of his captors with the help of sweet Jesus, in the end, implied the hope of Jolie that Gilliam would also survive all of his battles to create his brilliant and madcap pindie animaction film art, and his critical beatings, triumphs, and disasters as well and triumph over and release his detractors in the end as well,  particularly after the failure of the daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed, and implicitly Cameron roasting indie animaction film THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN (1988)-as long as those detractors did not come at him out of nowhere armed with a grape or a banana, that is.  Indeed, the fact that UNBROKEN was co-written by Richard LaGravenese, the screenwriter of the daylit, allegorical, brilliant, madcap, and implicitly Cameron and Spielberg roasting Gilliam indie animaction film THE FISHER KING (1991) reaffirmed the implicit Gilliam addressing intent of the film.  In addition, given that the film’s intercutting of Zamperini’s embattled travails in World War II with nostalgic memories of his pre-war and 1936 Olympics youth also evoked the similar embattled and wandering present intercut with bitter memories of the past structure of the twilit, allegorical, and implicitly Gilliam roasting Penn indie docufeature film INTO THE WILD (2006), the implication was that Jolie was not just coming to the defense of Gilliam but replying to INTO THE WILD and perhaps even roasting Penn in the implicit form of the Zamperini abusing Bird in UNBROKEN. 

Indeed, the fact that the young, short, slim, handsome, brunette, intelligent, educated, idealistic, restless, and implicitly Gilliam linked Christopher “Chris” McCandless-played as an adult by the O’Connell resembling Emile Hirsch-the anti-establishment young wanderer of INTO THE WILD, adopted the Louie Zamperini evoking alias of Alexander Supertramp after cutting ties with family and society and heading out on his own epic travels around the continental United States affirmed the implicit interest in responding to INTO THE WILD in UNBROKEN.  The fact that Supertramp did his best to live off the land during his travels like Phillips and Zamperini did their best to live off the Pacific Ocean in their floating dinghy after the crash reaffirmed that Jolie implicitly responded to INTO THE WILD on one level in UNBROKEN.  The sight and sound of Louie and Phil slowly wasting away of starvation and thirst despite their best efforts to catch and eat fish and drink rainwater as they floated in their life raft waiting for rescue after the crash in the Pacific Ocean and then Louie and his fellow POWs also wasting away in the Omori and Naoetsu camps due to lack of food and drink and to brutal working conditions and beatings also affirmed implicit interest of Jolie in roasting Penn in UNBROKEN, for these privations reminded us that McCandless also wasted away and died of starvation and lack of fluids as a result of mistakenly eating a plant that slowly paralyzed him while camping in the wilds of Alaska at the end of INTO THE WILD.

        And so UNBROKEN was another fine, confident, knowing, moving, memorable, and unflinching film that was again set far away from the United States and that also again displayed the balanced sexual gaze seen in IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY despite the fact that no woman played a central role in the mostly all male film.  And so its reassuring if not stunning success implicitly encouraged Jolie and Jolie Pas Productions to team up again with Hutman, and Patricia Rommel and Gabriel Yared-editor of, and composer for, IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY, respectively-and Universal Pictures and now also with hubby and co-producer Brad Pitt to turn away from the epic and CGI enhanced scale of UNBROKEN to embrace a smaller, more intimate and CGI free but still unflinching melodrama on a hotel on picturesque Mgarr-ix-Xini Bay on Gozo Island in far away Malta when she donned the writer/director/co-producer hats and again embraced her distinct sexually balanced gaze to create the ironically and bitterly daylit, allegorical, and Ozian themed indie docufeature film BY THE SEA (2015), released on November 5, 2015.

“I’m barren.”

        Curiously, after the Universal intro, the steamy film opened with a shot looking down a scenic road on a hill in a beautiful, peaceful and daylit landscape, evoking the beautiful and peaceful calm before the storm mornings that began IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY and UNBROKEN to reaffirm that we were indeed back in a Jolie film.  Then, as the sad and wistful sound of the allegorical and Serge Gainsbourg written Jane Birkin tune “Jane B.” (1969) played and as the opening titles flickered on the screen, the second of which stated “…a JOLIE PAS production”, a custom, sleek, and silver 1967 Citreon DS Chapon convertible driven by a once passionate but now luvless and listless American couple who turned out to be the young, slim, beautiful, bewitching, but depressed, despondent, VOGUE luvin’, often black clad and big black sun hat wearin’, Isabelle Adjani evokin’, and implicitly Walt Disney or Marvel Comics and Wicked Witch of the West linked Vanessa “Nessa” Bertrand and her young, slim, handsome, moustached, deep drinkin’, often contrastingly white clad, and implicitly James Gunn and Nikko linked struggling writer husband Roland Bertrand-played by Jolie and her then husband Brad Pitt, respectively-drove up the hill and then along winding and equally scenic roads before turning to the sinister left to get to that hotel on picturesque Mgarr-ix-Xini Bay on Gozo Island in Malta, a hotel “managed” by the old, slim, bald, sad, silent, immobile, Harry D. Stanton evoking and implicitly Tin Man linked Patrice-played by actor/writer/director Richard Bohringer-and bartended by the old, medium height, chubby, white haired, moustached, and bearded, sad eyed, lonely, and implicitly Lynch and Cowardly Lion linked Michel-played by actor/writer/director Niels Arestrup.  

Here at this remote, quiet, peaceful, and romantic hotel, we slowly discovered that the cool and unhappy relationship of Roland and Vanessa was due to Vanessa’s inability to successfully conceive two children with Roland, implying on one level that Jolie was not happy that IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY and UNBROKEN were successful, but not smash hits.  We also soon discovered that Vanessa was jealous of the ability of the young, short, slim, beautiful, blonde, happy, and implicitly Sarah Polley and Dorothy linked French newlywed Lea-played by Melanie Laurent-to make luv to and conceive with her young, short, slim, handsome, and implicitly Scarecrow linked husband Francois-played by Melvil Poupaud-when they showed up in the hotel room next door, luv sessions that Vanessa and Roland furtively watched through a hole in the wall that separated their two rooms and that evoked their own once passionate luvmaking, luv sessions that were in complete contrast to the cold and brutal rapes that Muslim women had to endure and watch IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY. 

Indeed, the film’s allusions to the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, and Ozian themed Bigelow indie docufeature artbuster THE WEIGHT OF WATER (2000) affirmed the film’s implicit interest in Polley on one level, reminding us that Polley played the troubled young wife and successful murderess Maren Hontredt in that film.  A fitting implicit interest in Polley, as she also played the sweet and feisty girl feminist Sally Salt in THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN.  Thus, Jolie implied that the jealousy Vanessa felt over Lea’s ability to conceive and even her tragicomic and failed attempt to have Francois impregnate her, a desperate attempt stopped by a furious Roland, symbolized Jolie’s own envy over the success of Polley and her indie film art.  In addition, given that Roland did stop her tragicomic attempt to have Francois impregnate her and managed to complete a new novel during his stay on Gozo Island, Jolie also implied that she thought that Gunn had made a mistake collaborating with the Walt Disney Company and Marvel Comics/Studios on the daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed, and primarily Luc Besson addressing indie super satirical animaction film GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (2014) and implicitly hoped that Gunn would leave behind Dis and Marv and create indie film art, an implication affirmed by allusions to GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, THE WEIGHT OF WATER, THE WIZARD OF OZ, and the twilit, allegorical, Ozian themed, and implicitly Lynch addressing Besson indie docufeature film SUBWAY (1985), making it fitting that Bohringer had a bit part in the latter film as the sad eyed, lonely, solitary, and implicitly Tin Man linked florist.

        Significantly, BY THE SEA was another fine, moving, and unflinching film from Jolie that was as sexually balanced between the stories of Roland and Vanessa as IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY was balanced between the stories of Ajla and Danijel.  Alas, BY THE SEA also failed to be as successful as IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY and UNBROKEN.  However, despite this failure, BY THE SEA and the rest of the film art of Jolie implicitly impressed Atlas Entertainment, DC, Rat Pac Entertainment, Warner Brothers, and Zack Snyder for they implicitly addressed her on one level in the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, and Ozian themed Zack Snyder super satirical animaction film BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE (2016), a film released on March 12, 2016.

“I don’t think

you’ve ever known

a woman like me.”

Indeed, DC, Warners, and Snyder implicitly hoped that Jolie, Snyder, and Jason Reitman and their film art would triumph over Gilliam and Quentin Tarantino and their mischief and mayhem luvin’ film art like the perennially young, medium height, slim, beautiful, muscular, strong, pure, innocent, virtuous, courageous, indomitable, fashion luvin’, multilingual, time travelling, armoured headband, breastplate, and bracelets wearin’, shield, sword, and golden lasso wielding, and implicitly Jolie and Glinda linked Amazon Princess Diana Prince aka “Wonder Woman”-in her first appearance in a film, inspired by the character created by dapper and DISC and woman luvin’ Doctor William M. Marston for DC, ironically first met wearing a skin tight, revealing, and ominously blood red cocktail dress, and played by Gal Gadot-who strode mysteriously and resolutely out of the mists of legend and out of the embattled past, helped the middle aged, tall, handsome, muscular, haunted, nightmare plagued, troubled, and implicitly Snyder and Scarecrow linked Gotham City playboy and Wayne Enterprises CEO Bruce Wayne aka “Batman”-inspired by the character created and implicitly linked to H.P. Lovecraft by Bilious Bill Finger and Bobbin’ Bob Kane for DC, and played by Brandon Spink as a boy in a traumatic prologue flashback and by Ben Affleck as an adult, respectively-his old, tall, slim, grey haired, bespectacled, intelligent, disciplined, knowing, loyal, resigned, sarcastic, and implicitly David Cronenberg linked butler Alfred Pennyworth-inspired by a character created by Finger and Kane for DC, and played by Jeremy Irons-and the tall, handsome, muscular, kind but steely, powerful, sincere, and equally pure, innocent, virtuous, but implicitly Reitman and Cowardly Lion linked Kryptonian orphan and mild mannered DAILY PLANET reporter Kal-El/Clark Joseph Kent aka “Superman”-inspired by the character created and originally implicitly linked to tall, handsome, muscular, and mild mannered DOC SAVAGE super saga writer Lester Dent by Joltin’ Joe Shuster and Genial Gerry Siegel for DC, and played by Henry Cavill-and his young, short, beautiful, red haired, curvaceous, courageous, dedicated, determined, irrepressible, intrepid, and implicitly Diablo Cody and Dorothy linked fellow DAILY PLANET “journalist” Lois Lane-inspired by a character created by Shuster and Siegel for DC, and played by Amy Adams-triumph over the young, short, slim, long light brown haired, brilliant, madcap, indie, and implicitly Gilliam and Wicked Witch of the West linked genius and LexCorp CEO Alexander “Lex” Luthor-inspired by the character created for DC by Shuster and Siegel, and played by Jesse Eisenberg-and his huge and implicitly Nikko linked blockbuster CGI animated beast, the mayhem luvin’ Doomsday, created from the big, muscular, dead, and mischievously transformed body of the implicitly Tarantino linked General Zod-played by Michael Shannon-a battle which killed Supe to imply the fear of DC, Warners, and Snyder that Reitman would kill himself trying and failing to defeat blockbuster CGI enhanced beasts with his smaller indie docufeature film art, at the not so healing, harmonizing, and eucatastrophic end of a film that affirmed its implicit allegorical intent with allusions to AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT, MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL, MONTY PYTHON’S FLYING CIRCUS, THE WIZARD OF OZ, TIME BANDITS, and the daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, and Ozian themed Snyder super satirical animaction film MAN OF STEEL (2013).

        Curiously, midway through the film Wayne found a mysterious and old black and white photograph hidden amidst data de-encrypted from the main frames of LexCorp showing doughty Diana posing with a group of soldiers in Belgium in 1918 and sent it to her in an email attachment, openly linking her to and implicitly making her the embodiment of the arts of photography and of war and their descendant, the more mobile and animated art of film, reminding us that BY THE SEA and UNBROKEN both ended with a still film frame, that Jolie was the living embodiment of the twilit and disastrous year of ’82 via her role in LOOKIN’ TO GET OUT, and also preparing audiences for the first cinematic and wartorn adventure of Wonder Woman.  Just as curiously, Wayne’s email also contained files revealing her and three other super people, preparing audiences for the next film in the Snyder Super Trilogy.  Equally curiously, not long after the release of BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE, Penn also implicitly replied to UNBROKEN by implicitly linking Jolie, a dedicated Special Envoy to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from 2012-22, to the equally dedicated but traumatized Medecins du Monde Doctor Wren Petersen-played by Charlize Theron-to implicitly remind Jolie how difficult it was to save a world that usually resisted saving in the twilit, allegorical and CGI free indie docufeature film THE LAST FACE (2016), released on May 20, 2016. 

Significantly, the following year, DC and Warner Brothers kicked off 2017 by again implicitly linking Jolie to the Amazon Princess Diana aka Diana Prince in the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced Leigh Bardugo super satirical animaction novel Wonder Woman: warbringer (2017), a novel released on January 1, 2017.

“Coup Attempt.  Civil War Erupts.

Bombings Increase.  Talks Break Down.

Twenty Believed Dead.  Hundreds Believed Dead.

Thousands Dead…

[And] a fistfight had broken out

in the middle of the UN General Assembly.”

        Indeed, the fact that the novel began on the legendary and secretive Amazon isle of Themyscira, an isle that evoked Gozo Island in BY THE SEA, and that one of the Amazons forced to leave the island after trying to smuggle an human luver onto Themyscira was named Nessa in an open evocation of Vanessa in BY THE SEA affirmed the implicit Jolie addressing intent of the novel.  The fact that soon after arriving on beautiful Themyscira an explosion shattered the peace and harmony of the legendary isle also affirmed the implicit Jolie addressing intent of Wonder Woman: warbringer, reminding us that IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY began with an explosion in a Sarajevo nightclub.  Thus, the fact that the explosion led to Princess Diana rescuing the implicitly Diablo Cody linked Alia Keralis and then successfully cleansed her of her war and violence bringing Dark Side, in the end, implied the hope of Bardugo that Jolie would bring harmony back to Cody, audiences, film art, film artists and the Temple Theatre with her film art.  An implicit allegorical intent reaffirmed later that year when DC, Warners, co-producer Snyder and now Patty Jenkins left behind the sadolescence of Princess Diana in the present and travelled back in time to implicitly roast and toast Jolie again when they returned to the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) in the daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, and Ozian themed super satirical animaction film WONDER WOMAN (2017), a film released on May 15, 2017 that was complete with Wonder Woman’s own distinct, bold, confident, insistent, urgent, siren evoking, and invincible theme composed by Hans Zimmer for doughty Di’s first appearance in BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE, and that was inspired by the DC WONDER WOMAN super satirical narrative artwork series and by the allegorical and super satirical telefilm series WONDER WOMAN (1975-79) featuring the tall, slim, beautiful, brunette, statuesque, muscular, and strong Lynda Carter as Diana Prince aka “Wonder Woman”, which was the first tv series to centre on a female superheroine.

“You keep doubting yourself, Diana…

You are stronger than you believe.

You have greater powers than you know.”

        Curiously, after a short prelude pondering the original of the old black and white war photograph taken in Belgium in 1918 first seen in BATMAN VS SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE in then present Paris, the film travelled back into the past and, like Wonder Woman: warbringer, began on the peaceful, picturesque, and hidden from humankind island of Themyscira, the legendary, beautiful, lush, florid, fecund, and waterfall filled island that again evoked the equally peaceful and picturesque Gozo Island of BY THE SEA, immediately affirming the film’s implicit interest in Jolie.  A beautiful, peaceful, and sundrenched island whose perennially young, beautiful, muscular, strong, powerful, legendary, ancient Greek culture luvin’, and implicitly lesbian Amazon warrioresses like the medium heighted, slim, beautiful, blonde, fit, muscular, mighty, and implicitly Polley and Wicked Witch of the East linked General Antiope-played by Robin Wright-and her equally medium heighted, slim, beautiful, brunette, fit, muscular, strong, supportive, and implicitly Gilliam linked sister Menalippe-mischievously evoking the many times the male Pythons impersonated women, and played by Lisa L. Kongsli-still pragmatically trained regularly for war, watched over approvingly by the tall, slim, beautiful, light brown haired, muscular, strong, commanding, fearless, and implicitly Bigelow and Glinda linked Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons-played by Connie Nielsen-and more exuberantly and longingly by her daughter, the young, short, cute, dark brown haired and eyed, feisty, and mischievous Munchkin girl Diana-played by Lilly Aspell as an eight year old-implying that DC, Warners, and Jenkins believed that Jolie was inspired to create film art by experiencing the films of Bigs and Polley, an implication that was probably true.  A beautiful island paradise whose peace was suddenly and unexpectedly disturbed by the arrival of the young, slim, tall, handsome, brunette, muscular, patriotic, pragmatically sneaky, and implicitly Pitt and Great Oz linked American WWI pilot and spy Captain Steven “Steve” Trevor-played by Chris Pine-in a stolen and battered German bi-plane and crashing in a bay off Themyscira, a surprising sight and sound that evoked the sight and sound of the USAAF B-24 Liberator bomber crashing in the Pacific to begin the nightmare for Zamperini in UNBROKEN to reaffirm the implicit interest in Jolie in WONDER WOMAN. 

Significantly, Capt. Trevor’s revelations about the Great War raging outside Themyscira led the perennially young, slim, medium heighted, beautiful, dark brown eyed and long dark brown haired, strong, pure, innocent, virtuous, courageous, smart, fashion luvin’, multilingual, time travelling, indomitable, and implicitly Jolie and Dorothy linked Amazon Princess Diana aka Diana Prince aka “Wonder Woman”-as multilingual as film art to reaffirm her implicit link to film art, and played again by Gadot as an adult and by Emily Carey as a twelve year old, respectively-to take the legendary Godkiller Sword created by Zeus-a sword that reminded us that Jolie implicitly tried to kill Zone War leading film god Cameron in her first cinematic salvo-the Shield of Invincible Innocence, the Brass Bracelets of Perky Power, the Truth Compelling Golden Lasso of Hestia, the Golden Eagle Emblazoned Red Armoured Breastplate of Athena, the Sturdy Gold and Red Sandals of Gertrude, and, last but not least, the Indispensable Golden Headband That Kept The Long Lustrous Locks Out Of The Eyes (Particularly When Battling Evildoers) ironically first worn by her aunt, General Antiope-the irony increased by the fact that Wright was an ex-wife of Penn-and leave the luv and watchful support of her protective mother Hippolyta and the rest of the warrior Amazons on Themyscira and sail off with Trevor to dark, dreary, grey, and lifeless London and then to more green and lush but also dark and more cruel, callous, and war mad Belgium to end World War One in November of 1918-a Great War that evoked the wars in IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY and UNBROKEN-with the help of the young, short, slim, handsome, black eyed, haired, moustached and goateed, not quite as multilingual, red fez wearin’, and implicitly Cowardly Lion linked actor Sameer aka “Sammy”-played by Said Taghmaoui-the young, tall, handsome, ponytailed, broad, strong, sturdy, resolute, intimidating, brown cowboy hatted, and implicitly Scarecrow linked Indigenous smuggler Chief-played by Eugene Brave Rock-and the young, short, slim, red haired and moustached, big eared, goofy, deep drinkin’, tam o’ shanter wearin’, and implicitly Alex Cox and Tin Man linked Scottish sniper Charlie-played by Ewen Bremner-by finding and defeating her older brother, the silver armoured and horned helmeted Ares, the Greek God of War aka the old, tall, slim, moustached, black hatted, suited, and tied, black cane wieldin’, limpin’, gesticulatin’, grandiose, excelsioratin’, and implicitly Smilin’ Stan “the Man” Lee and Wicked Witch of the West linked Smilin’ Sir Patrick Morgan-played by David Thewlis-his exuberantly Evil, old, tall, heavy set, grey haired, clean cut and shaven, and implicitly Jolly Jack “King” Kirby and Nikko linked partner-in-Evil General Erich Lundendorff-played by Danny Huston-and their short, slim, facially disfigured, exuberantly fiendish, and implicitly Friendly Flo Steinberg linked mad scientist colleague Doktor Isabel Maru aka “Doktor Poison”-played by Elena Anaya-implying the dual hope of DC, Warners, and Jenkins that WONDER WOMAN would singlehandedly defeat the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and that Jolie would put aside her doubts and despair and strike back with a great film. 

Indeed, after being shocked and infuriated by the sight and sound of Capt. Trevor bravely sacrificing himself by flying a load of blockbuster hydrogen gas bombs into the air and blowing it up so that it could not be dropped on London, the sight and sound of Diana using her Godkiller sword to kill Ludendorff and then discovering that she was the true personified Godkiller and using her deadly power to terminate Ares and end the Great War in the healing, harmonizing, and eucatastrophic end, implicitly affirmed the dual hope of DC, Warners, and Jenkins that Jolie would put aside her implicit doubts in and despair over her film art prowess and return to the Temple Theatre with another fine film that would win over audiences and that WONDER WOMAN would singlehandedly defeat the MCU, a dual implicit hope affirmed by the film’s allusions to BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE, the Matrix Trilogy, THE WIZARD OF OZ, TIME BANDITS, the WONDER WOMAN narrative artwork and tv series, the daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, and Ozian themed Canny Kenneth Branagh indie super satirical animaction film THOR (2011), the daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, and Ozian themed Amblin’ Alan Taylor indie super satirical animaction film THOR: THE DARK WORLD (2013), and the equally daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, and Ozian themed Jouncin’ Joe Johnston indie super satirical animaction film CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER (2017).  Significantly, however, and despite the enormous role she played in ending WWI, the sight and sound of Prince accepting that she could not save every person or nation on “…that land of magic and wonder” known as planet Earth and that they would have to save themselves, in the very end, also implied that acknowledging and embracing truth was another important theme in WONDER WOMAN, and prepared audiences for two more truth acknowledging and embracing and implicitly Jolie addressing works from Jenkins to come.  Last but not least, the death of Capt. Trevor, which ended any chance of Prince having a bisexual affair with him to reaffirm her implicit link to Jolie, also implied that DC, Warners, and Jenkins either believed that the cinematic career of Pitt was over, that Pitt could not help Jolie succeed as a film artist, or that the marriage of Jolie and Pitt would soon end like most Hollywood “marriages.”

        Luckily for audiences, WONDER WOMAN was a fine feature film that finally affirmed that female superheroine films could be just as good as successful as those chronicling the embattled adventures of male superheroes.  As for Jolie, she donned the co-executive producer hat again to help along the adventures of the young, short, pretty, courageous, mischievous, cross dressin’, and tale tellin’ Afghani girl Parvana aka “Artesh”-played by Saara Chaudhry-in the daylit and allegorical Nora Twomey all CGI animated feature film THE BREADWINNER (2017), a film released on September 8, 2017 that was inspired by the daylit and allegorical Deborah Ellis indie docufiction novel The Breadwinner (2001).  Ironically, however, later that same year, Disney, Marvel and haiku luvin’ Wacky Taika Waititi implicitly linked Jolie to their own legendary immortal warrioress when they implicitly hoped that Jolie would end her implicit feud with Cameron and work with him to advance the cause of CGI enhanced indie docufeature film art like the short, slim, beautiful, black haired and eyed, muscular, strong, bitter, despondent, disaffected, deep drinkin’, short sword favouring and implicitly Jolie linked Valkyrie aka “Scrapper 142”-inspired by a character created by Jokin’ John Buscema and Rascally Roy Thomas for Marvel Comics, and played by Tessa Thompson-after initial misgivings and scrapping, joined forces with the tall, handsome, blonde haired, moustached, and bearded, muscular, always mighty, lightstorm commanding, and implicitly Cameron and Great Oz linked Thor, Norse God of Thunder-inspired by a character implicitly linked to J.R.R. Tolkien that was created by Kirby, Lee and Laughin’ Larry Lieber for Marvel Comics, and played by Chris Hemsworth-the short, heavy set, handsome, thick dark haired, shy, introverted, brilliant, thoughtful, solitary, and implicitly Lucas and Scarecrow linked Doctor Bruce Banner aka “the Incredible Hulk”-inspired by a character implicitly linked to Pablo Picasso that was created by Kirby and Lee for Marvel Comics, and played by Mark Ruffalo-and the tall, slim, handsome, black haired and eyed, dishonest, duplicitous, mischievous, fortune, glory, and power lustin’, vainglorious, and implicitly Spielberg and Tin Man linked Loki, Norse God of Mischief-inspired by a character implicitly linked to Harvey Kurtzman that was created by Kirby, Lee and Lieber for Marvel Comics, and played by Tom Hiddleston-to triumph over the tall, slim, beautiful, black haired and eyed, commanding, controlling, fearless, deadly, and implicitly Bigelow and Wicked Witch of the West Hela, Norse Goddess of Death-inspired by a character created by Kirby and Lee for Marvel Comics, and played by Cate Blanchett-the scourge of golden, heavenly, immortal, and implicitly Hollywood linked Asgard at the end of the daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, and Ozian themed indie super satirical animaction film THOR: RAGNORAK (2017), a film released on October 10, 2017 that affirmed its implicit allegorical intent with allusions to IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY, THE WIZARD OF OZ, and UNBROKEN.

        Indeed, a flashback late in the film that saw Val mourn the loss of a fellow Valkyrie whose blonde hair implicitly linked her to Hollywood in her first disastrous battle with Hela affirmed the implicit link of Val to Jolie.  For the flashback reminded us that Jolie’s first cinematic salvo IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY was soon crushed in the theatres by Bigelow’s all conquering and twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed, and implicitly Landis roasting and Polley toasting indie docufeature artbuster ZERO DARK THIRTY (2012), released on December 10, 2012.  Curiously, later that same year, Access and Atlas Entertainment, DC, Dune Entertainment, Warners, Snyder, and Joss Whedon increased the irony when they teamed up again with Adams, Affleck, Cavill, Gadot, Irons, Kongsli, and Nielsen to return to the DCEU in the daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, and Ozian themed super satirical animaction film JUSTICE LEAGUE (2017), a film released on October 26, 2017.

“This is the team.”

        Indeed, they had the medium height, slim, beautiful, muscular, strong, pure, innocent, virtuous, courageous, indomitable, fashion luvin’, multilingual, time travelling, armoured headband, breastplate, and bracelets wearin’, shield, sword, and golden lasso wieldin’, and implicitly Jolie and Dorothy linked Amazon Princess Diana aka Diana Prince aka “Wonder Woman”-played again by Gadot-and her tall, slim, beautiful, light brown haired, muscular, strong, commanding, fearless, and implicitly Bigelow and Glinda linked mother Queen Hippolyta-played again by Nielsen-travel back to the then future present to hunt down the middle aged, tall, handsome, muscular, haunted, troubled, and implicitly Snyder and Scarecrow linked Wayne Enterprises CEO Bruce Wayne aka “Batman”-played again by Affleck-and team up with him to hunt down three other “metahumans” who were briefly glimpsed by Prince in those email files in that prescient scene in BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE in the super satirical forms of the young, short, slim, goofy, and implicitly Jay Baruchel and Great Oz linked “…very attractive Jewish boy” Barry Allen aka “the Flash”-played by Ezra Miller-the young, tall, handsome, long brown haired, moustached, and bearded, muscular, strong, tattooed, and implicitly Sir Peter Jackson and Cowardly Lion linked Arthur Curry aka “Aquaman”-a tragicomic implication indeed, given that Sir Jackson was a short, chubby, and giddy geek of a Kiwi Hobbit, and played by Jason Momoa-and the young, tall, handsome, muscular, strong, and implicitly A.I. Smithee and Tin Man linked Victor “Vic” Stone aka “Cyborg”-Ray Fisher- and, after raising from the dead the tall, handsome, muscular, kind but steely, powerful, sincere, and equally pure, innocent, virtuous, and implicitly Reitman and Toto linked Kal-El aka Clark Kent aka “Superman”-played again by Cavill-uniting as the Justice League to prevent the exuberantly, Evil, huge, nasty, double horned helmeted, axe wielding, ahuman, inhuman, all CGI, and implicitly Kelly and Wicked Witch of the West linked extraterrestrial exile Steppenwolf-played by Ciaran Hinds-from destroying the world with the help of an unholy trinity of Mother Boxes and hordes of  pesky and all CGI Parademon insect men in the healing, harmonizing, and eucatastrophic end of a film that somehow managed not to be the super satirical film of the year despite everything going for it but that affirmed its implicit allegorical intent with allusion to BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE, MAN OF STEEL, THE WIZARD OF OZ, and WONDER WOMAN.

        The following year, Clare Niederpruem implied her hope that Jolie and her indie film art would triumph over that of SCC like the young, medium height, slim, beautiful, long brunette haired, exuberant, vivacious, and implicitly Jolie linked struggling writer Josephine “Jo” March-played by Sarah Davenport and as a girl by Aimee L. Johnson, respectively-kept on keepin’ on after the death of her equally young and slim but shorter, less beautiful, short brunette haired, and implicitly SCC linked sister Elizabeth “Beth” March-played by Allie Jennings and as a girl by Reese Oliveira, respectively-and finally succeeded in writing a published novel to the delight of her older but still young, medium height, slim, beautiful, long dark brunette haired and eyed, shy, and implicitly Bigelow linked sister Margaret “Meg” March-played by Melanie Stone-and her younger, medium height, beautiful, blonde, statuesque, and implicitly Polley linked sister Amy March-played by Taylor Murphy and as a girl by Elise Jones, respectively-at the end of the daylit, allegorical, and slightly CGI enhanced indie docufeature film LITTLE WOMEN (2018), a film released on September 28, 2018 that was inspired by the allegorical Louisa M. Alcott indie docufiction novel Little Women (1868-69) that affirmed its implicit allegorical intent with allusions to UNBROKEN and the twilit, allegorical, slightly CGI enhanced, Ozian themed SCC indie docufeature film THE VIRGIN SUICIDES (1999). 

Then, curiously, director/co-executive producer Jenkins and actor/co-executive producer Pine collaborated again with Jensen and Nielsen and also with Sam Sheridan-husband of Jenkins and now main writer/showrunner-to kick off  the new year by implicitly respond to THOR: RAGNORAK by linking Jolie to another courageous, determined, unflinching, and indomitable young woman who slowly learned the truth about herself like Prince in the daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed, and Angelina cadenced indie telefilm series I AM THE NIGHT (2019), a real life horror series fittingly set in Sixties Los Angeles, the land of blood and money, that began on January 27, 2019 and that was inspired by the allegorical Fauna Hodel book One Day She’ll Darken (2008), an author who was also a co-producer of the series.

“You found out the truth,

Fauna.”

For the series saw the young, short, slim, beautiful, green eyed, and implicitly Jolie and Dorothy linked teen Fauna Hodel aka Patricia Ann “Pat” Greenwade-played by India Eisley-leave behind her middle-aged, hefty, pretty, angry, cynical, frustrated, but luvin’, Angela Bassett evoking, and implicitly Auntie Em linked adoptive mother and singer Jimmie Lee Faison-played by Golden Brooks-and bus in the mid-Sixties from her poor and Kansas evoking neighbourhood in Sparks, Nevada to the big, colourful, warm, sunny, wealthy, decadent, palm tree filled and, oddly, neo-Forties Emerald City of Los Angeles.  Here Hodel teamed up with the young, tall, slim, handsome, disgraced, drug addicted, nightmare plagued, struggling, and implicitly Gilliam Scarecrow linked ex-Korean War vet and Los Angeles reporter Jay Singleton-played by Pine-and his older, slim, cranky, deep drinkin’, and implicitly Tin Man linked Los Angeles Times editor Peter Sullivan-played by Leland Orser-to track down Hodel’s real mother, the middle aged, short, slim, brunette, and incest scarred Tamar Hodel-played by Jamie A. Allman, and by the all too fittingly surnamed Kassidy Slaughter as a teen, and by Kourtney Devinny as a girl, respectively-so as to uncover the incestuous truth about Hodel’s real father and Tamar’s father, the exuberantly Evil, old, medium heighted, black haired, eyed and moustached, wealthy, powerful, black suit, tie, and surreal art luvin’, illegal abortion performing, and implicitly Lee, Great Oz, and Wicked Witch of the West linked possible Black Dahlia murderer Doctor George Hodel-played by Jefferson Mays and as a brilliant and talented but non-artistic, emotionless, machine-like, and ahuman pianist boy by Nicholas Brown, respectively-holed up inside the infamous and Wicked Black Castle evoking John Sowden House built in 1926 in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles by architect Lloyd Wright, son of Frank L. Wright, much to the dismay of Hodel’s creepy, dutiful, jealous, aspiring surrealist and murderer, and implicitly Sydney Pollack and Nikko linked thug Ivanovich V. “Ivan” Sepp-played by Dylan Smith-and Hodel’s ex-wife, the middle aged, tall, beautiful, blonde, art, cigarette, and fashion luvin’, and implicitly Bigelow and Glinda linked Corinna Huntington-played by Nielsen-in a six part series that failed to find an audience most likely because it presented itself as the truth despite not being the truth but that affirmed its implicit allegorical intent with allusions to EYES WIDE SHUT, IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY, POINT BREAK, STRANGE DAYS-also a spectacular failure-THE FISHER KING, THE WIZARD OF OZ, the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed, and implicitly Gary W. Wright addressing Bigelow indie docufeature artbuster DETROIT (2017), the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed, fantastic realist, and darkly satirical animaction artbuster 12 MONKEYS (1995), and the allegorical and implicitly television roasting Alfred Hitchcock feature film REAR WINDOW (1954). 

Then, not surprisingly, Disney, Marvel and Amiable Anthony and Jovial Joseph Russo soon reaffirmed their implicit hope that Jolie would end her implicit feud with Cameron by having the short, slim, beautiful, black haired and eyed, muscular, strong, tough, bitter, despondent, vengeful, short sword favouring, and implicitly Jolie linked Valkyrie aka “Scrapper 142”-played again by Thompson-team up again with the tall, handsome, blonde haired, moustached, and bearded, muscular, always mighty, lightstorm commanding, and implicitly Cameron and Great Oz linked Thor, Norse God of Thunder-played again by Hemsworth-to help the rest of the dissemblin’ superheroes and superheroines save the MCU and kick off the Bob Iger era (IE) of Disney by defeating the tall, bald, purple, intimidating, vainglorious, universal balance obsessed, and implicitly ex-Disney CEO Michael Eisner linked mad Titan, Thanos-inspired by a character created by Jaunty Jim Starlin for Marvel Comics, and played by Josh Brolin-before the mighty Thor appointed scrappy Val the new monarch and ruler of New Asgard on Earth at the end of the daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, and Ozian themed indie super satirical animaction film AVENGERS: ENDGAME (2019), released on April 22, 2019. 

Curiously, the following year it was also back to the superdupalooza when DC, Warners, and actor/co-writer/director/co-producer Jenkins teamed up again with Aspell, Gadot-now also a co-producer-Nielsen, Pine, Snyder, Wright, Zimmer, and production designer Aline Bonetto, costume designer Lindy Hemming, director of photography (DOP) Matthew Jensen, and producers Stephen Jones and Charles Roven-all from WONDER WOMAN-to exchange the serious Moulton psych-cap and grimness of WONDER WOMAN for the mischievous Gilliam madcap and a gleefully exuberant satire and to raise the spirits of audiences brought down by the seriousness of JUSTICE LEAGUE and the unexpected global pandemic when they returned to the DCEU to implicitly roast and toast Jolie again in another truth obsessed film often called the daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, and Ozian themed super satirical animaction film WONDER WOMAN 1984 (2020), released on Christmas Day, December 25, 2020.

“I am not a con man!

I am a television personality.

And a respected businessman with a plan.

With…with…with a great plan!”

        Curiously, the film began on the legendary, bright, sunny, hot, beautiful, lush, florid, fecund, peaceful, and waterfall gushing island of Themyscira with the older but still short, slim, feisty, mischievous, and implicitly Jolie and Wicked Witch of the East linked girl Princess Diana-played again by Aspell-being taught a memorable lesson in honesty and truth by the medium heighted, slim, beautiful, blonde, fit, muscular, mighty, and implicitly Polley linked General Antiope-played again by Wright-at the Amazon Olympic Games, much to the pleased approval of the tall, slim, beautiful, light brown haired, muscular, strong, commanding, fearless, and implicitly Bigelow and Glinda linked Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons-played again by Nielsen-to establish honesty, truth, and the truth of honesty no matter how dark and disturbing it was as the main themes of the fearless and unflinching feature film as they were in I AM THE NIGHT.  Then it was off to equally bright, sunny, and hot Washington in 1984 two years into the dread allegorical Zone Wars with the perennially young, medium heighted, slim, beautiful, dark eyed and long dark haired, strong, pure, innocent, virtuous, courageous, smart, fashion luvin’, multilingual, time travelling, indomitable, high flyin’, Indispensable Golden Headband, Brass Bracelets of Perky Power, Godkiller Sword and Shield of Invincible Innocence free but Truth Compelling Golden Lasso of Hestia wieldin’, and cool new Gold and Red Armoured Eagle Breastplate and Platform Boots of Doughty Di wearin’, and implicitly Jolie and Dorothy linked cultural anthropologist/archaeologist and Amazon Princess Diana aka Diana Prince aka “Wonder Woman”-played again by Gadot-taking on and taking out a tragicomic group of jewelry store robbers led by the old, lean, grizzled, and implicitly Clint Eastwood and Scarecrow linked Eddie Carburetor aka “Flat Top”-played by James C. Burke-in a shopping mall. 

Soon after, Prince dropped by the Smithsonian, met, and quickly developed a flirtatious friendship with the young, short, slim, beautiful, blonde, despondent, mousy, lonely, socially awkward, tragicomic, unpopular, wistful, and implicitly Stormy Daniels linked geology/gemology/lithology expert and “part-time crypto-zoologist” Doctor Barbara Minerva-played by Kristen Wiig.  Unfortunately, Prince also inadvertently used the legendary Dreamstone that was in the unknowing possession of Dr. Minerva, a deceptively helpful stone that granted a person one wish that was created by Dechalafrea Ero, the God of Lies and Duke of Deception, who evoked Apate, the goddess of deceit in I AM THE NIGHT, to wish for the return of the still young, tall, handsome, clean cut and shaven, less sneaky, and implicitly Pitt and Great Oz linked Capt. Steven “Steve” Trevor-played again by Pine-and develop an openly romantic relationship with him to reaffirm the implicit link of Prince to the bisexual Jolie.  For her part, Dr. Minerva used the stone to wistfully wish to be Prince, slowly but surely transforming her into the sexy, slinky, sleek, strong, maneating, and implicitly Nikko linked “Cheetah”. 

While this tragicomic transformation that implicitly affirmed the link of Dr. Minerva to the equally sexy, slinky, maneating, and tragicomic “porn star” Daniels was going on, the power of the Dreamstone came to the attention of the young, medium height, handsome, blonde, suited, desperately charming and upbeat, madcap, finger pointin’ and thumbs uppin’, and equally wishful but implicitly Donald Trump and Wicked Witch of the West linked con man Maxwell Lorenzano aka Maxwell “Max” Lord-played by Pedro Pascal, by Jonny Barry as a teen, and by Lambro Demetriou as a boy, respectively-who used the legendary stone to wish to become the embodiment of the Dreamstone, granting the kooky con man the power to grant everyone one a wish, a wish that unfortunately took something vital away from the wisher.  A tragicomic scenario that led to much worldwide wishful chaos and to the Wicked Lord and Cheetah teaming up, forcing Trevor and Wonder Woman to team up and triumph over the kooky duo, with the help of an improvised invisible plane and the Golden and Winged Suit of Armour of Asteria, which evoked a similar Silver and Winged Suit of Armour worn in the heroic dreams of the young, bland, clean shaven, baby faced, black haired, eyebrowed, and eyed, grey suit wearin’, bored and restless but unambitious, film and Old Hollywood film starlet luvin’, constantly daydreaming, fittingly machine breakdown plagued, always tragicomic, and implicitly Landis and Tin Man linked Ministry of Record/Ministry of Information bureaucrat Samuel “Sam” Lowry-played by Jonathan Pryce-in the twilit, allegorical, fantastic realist, madcap, and satirical Gilliam indie animaction artbuster BRAZIL (1985).

Thus, DC, Warners, and Jenkins implied that they were exorcising the corrosive, divisive, nutty, and tragicomic spirit of Daniels and Trump from the American consciousness after a hoped for defeat in the November 2020 election in another fine and more funny feature film that the world desperately needed to help dispel its global pandemic doldrums.  Indeed, the sight and sound of Lord taking the U.S. presidency from the President Ronald Reagan evoking and implicitly linked POTUS-played by Stuart Milligan-towards the end of the film affirmed the implicit link of the Wicked Lord to Trump.  Curiously, in the sight and sound of Minerva being freed from her power mad Cheetah Dark Side by her battle with Golden Warrior Diana, and Lord renouncing the wishful power granted to him by the legendary Dreamstone in order to bring health and harmony back to Earth and to save his young Munchkin son Alistair-played by Lucian Perez-in the end, DC, Warners, and Jenkins also implicitly allowed the sexually obsessed Daniels and the deranged and demented con man and Dark Side puppet Trump to free and redeem themselves in ways that they never did in reality.  In addition, Jenkins implicitly roasted Walt Disney in the form of the short, slim, moustached, and power lusting but implicitly Cowardly Lion linked Egyptian Emir Said Bin Abydos-played by Amr Waked.  Indeed, the film’s allusions to the twilit, allegorical, Ozian themed and Lucas executive produced Spielberg indie docufeature films RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981), INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM (1984) and INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE (1989), and the resemblance of Alistair to Ke Huy Quan, who played Short Round in INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM, affirmed the implicit interest in Disney, reminding us that the Mouse House now oversaw the Indiana Jones films after Lucas sold Lucasfilm Ltd. and his special f/x firm, Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), to Disney in 2012.   Last but not least, the eternally and effortlessly beautiful and beamin’ Carter, the tv Wonder Woman of the Seventies and Eighties, returned for a mid-closing titles teaser scene as the helpful and modest “Golden Warrior” Asteria in implicit preparation for another feature length Wonder Woman adventure that, alas, never happened in a film that affirmed its implicit allegorical intent with allusions to BRAZIL, INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE, INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM, the Matrix Trilogy, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, THE WIZARD OF OZ, WONDER WOMAN, the WONDER WOMAN narrative artwork and tv series, and the allegorical W.W. Jacobs indie docufiction short story “The Monkey’s Paw” (1902). 

Curiously, while that feature film length Wonder Woman adventure never arrived in the Temple Theatre, DC, Warners, and Snyder returned the implicitly Jolie and Dorothy linked Prince aka “Wonder Woman”-played again by Gadot-to HBO Max on television in an expanded four hour and two minute Synder Special Director’s Cut Edition of JUSTICE LEAGUE on March 18, 2021 that reaffirmed that you could indeed have too much of a Good thing.  DC, Warners, and Andy Muschietti also briefly returned the perennially young, slim, medium heighted, beautiful, dark brown eyed and long dark brown haired, strong, pure, innocent, virtuous, courageous, smart, multilingual, time travelling, indomitable, armoured headband, breastplate, and bracelets wearin’, shield, sword, and golden lasso wieldin’, and implicitly Jolie and Dorothy linked Amazon Princess Diana aka Diana Prince aka “Wonder Woman”-played again by Gadot-to the big screen when they had her team up with the young, short, slim, goofy, and implicitly Baruchel and Great Oz linked Barry Allen aka “the Flash”-played again by Miller-and the middle aged, tall, handsome, muscular, haunted, troubled, and implicitly Snyder and Scarecrow linked Gotham City playboy and Wayne Enterprises CEO Bruce Wayne aka “Batman”-played again by Affleck-to battle and defeat a trio of hospital robbers(!?!)-played by Michael Byrch, Rob Hunt, and Jonny Stockwell, respectively-led by one cheekily resembling Baruchel named Al Falcone jr.-played by Luke B. Field-in a prologue adventure that helped kick off the daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, and Ozian themed super satirical animaction film THE FLASH [2023], released on June 14, 2023. 

Curiously and contrarily, two years later Disney and Marc “Spider” Webb implicitly hoped that SCC and her film art would triumph over that of Jolie like the young, short, slim, pretty, sweet, innocent, luvly, and implicitly Zoe Saldana and Dorothy linked Snow White-played by Rachel Ziegler, as a girl by Emilia Faucher, and as a baby by Olivia Verrell, respectively-triumphed over the young, medium heighted, slim, beautiful, jealous, nasty, and implicitly Jolie and Wicked Witch of the West linked Evil Queen and Wicked Stepmother-played by Gadot-with the help of the young, medium heighted, handsome, brunette, charming, and implicitly Pine and Scarecrow linked thief Jonathan-played by Andrew Burnape-and the seven familiar, Munchkin evoking, and now all CGI dwarfs including the old, bald, bespectacled, white moustached and bearded, kindly, and implicitly Gunn linked Doc-played by Jeremy Swift-the old, white bearded, gruff, and implicitly Ben Affleck linked Grumpy-played by Martin Klebba-the young, shy, mostly silent, and implicitly Disney CEO Bob Iger linked Dopey-played by Andrew B. Feldman-and the young, brown moustached and bearded, cheerful, smiling, and implicitly Kevin Smith linked Happy-played by George Salazar-at the healing, harmonizing, and eucatastrophic end of the daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, and Ozian themed indie animaction film SNOW WHITE (2025), a film released on March 12, 2025 that affirmed its implicit allegorical intent with allusions to GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS, and THE WIZARD OF OZ. 

Thus, SNOW WHITE implicitly roasted Jolie while THE FLASH and WONDER WOMAN 1984 implicitly toasted her, reaffirming they did that the hauntingly and bewitchingly beautiful actor and embodiment of the twilit and disastrous year of ’82 had caught the attention of audiences and film artists with her film art, and had successfully made the transition to indie film artist.  A courageous indie docufeature film artist who did not follow in the footsteps of Bigelow, SCC, and Polley but blazed her own iconoclastic indie film art path like the godkillin’ Diana, embracing a style that was balanced between the male and female spirit, mind, heart, body and gaze as befitting a woman who was as openly and unabashedly bisexual as implicitly bi Di.  A film artist who also embraced controversial subject matter that often reflected and complemented her concern for the suffering of the dictator plagued, poverty stricken, and war-torn citizens of the United Nations, a concern shared by Diana Prince.  A real life superheroine who was as beautiful and indomitable as Wonder Woman and who inspired would hopefully be by the film artists who implicitly responded to her to create and challenge film artists and audiences with another righteously furious, powerful, unflinching, moving, memorable, indomitable, and allegorical Zone War cinematic salvo set in beautiful but dangerous far off lands but always implicitly blasted straight at the twilit and troubled heart of Hollywood, hidden away in those fire and sun scorched hills…in the land of blood and money.

Bibliography

Bardugo, Leigh.  Wonder Woman: warbringer.  New York: Ember, 2019.

Enninful, Edward.  “This Woman’s Work”.  VOGUE UK (March 2021) pp. 186-199.

Gosling, Sharon.  Wonder Woman: the art of and making of the film.  London: Titan Books, 2017.