A Wrinkle in Time: So excited I’m gonna puke

ohohohoh!!!

I never in my life planned to write a movie review, much less a review of a trailer, but I’ve promised to stay away from reactions to the Wrinkle in Time trailer for the sake of my own sanity (more on that later), so I figured I’d write something about it, myself.

I’ve been waiting for this for 30 years! For 15 years I’ve been saying, “We have the technology to do this right. Come on, already!” (There was a pretty sad made-for-TV movie some time ago, but I choose to ignore it).

I have so much to say! I’m so excited, I just want to smash my hands on the keyboard, but I’ll try to make some sense.

So… what’s going on here? Is one of those tall, long-legged creatures Aunt Beast? Why is there a dust storm in the forest? Where are Meg and Calvin falling to/from? And what is going on with that exploding mountain? I wonder if the twins just got cut out of the story? Is IT’s avatar wearing a tracksuit?

I’m not sure what’s going on with Oprah as Mrs. Which, but I think Mindy Kaling looks wonderful as Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Whatsit looks pretty awesome, too, although not exactly like a “tramp.”

Typing this out, it strikes me, I wonder if it’s a sign of the time in which the story was published (1962) that they are referred to as “Mrs.” and not “Miss,” or “Ms.”

My favorite scene in the book is when our rag-tag group of highly intelligent misfits first descend into town on Camazotz. The kids playing ball (and jump roping), the mothers calling the children in for dinner, the boy dropping his ball and scurrying inside. When that scene showed up in the trailer, that’s when I felt as if this was going to really capture the spirit of the book.

(When I first moved to Maryland and found myself in Columbia, a “balanced, planned community,” I thought, “My god, it’s Camazotz!)

Back to my sanity.

I know that a certain type of contrarian is over-represented on the Internet – or so I tell myself – yet and still, comments about the color of the cast members in this movie are just squeezing the life out of me.

I cannot fathom how any one person could be upset that — in a story that celebrates the ostracized — the main character does not come (entirely) from the dominant culture in American society.

I just want this one movie. That’s it. Remake Roots with a white cast if you want. I won’t care. Just, please, give me Wrinkle in Time without any grief.

That’s all I have to say about that.

More importantly, I think that in honor of this movie, I’m going to get my prison-like Wrinkle in Time tattoos updated!