Review of The Shape of Water (2017) by Red S — 01 Dec 2017

There are moments of real visual beauty in this film. However, there is no depth to this story, which entirely revolves around familiar archetypes of the oppressors and the oppressed in the modern liberal narrative.

A disabled women, a homosexual man, an African American woman, and an immigrant scientist fight to preserve a symbol of the power and mystery of nature against the cartoonish aggression of white, male representatives of the American and Russian military establishments. The main villain alternatively spouts fundamentalist Christian rhetoric and platitudes about his bubblegum 1950's household, that we are never allowed to doubt is anything but a mask over his psychological problems and sadist tendencies, devoid of any more nuanced motivation, including any hint of love for said family. There is black and there is white and there is nothing much else to prompt discussion or reflection here.

If this already describes the world view of your particular bubble, then you will feast your confirmation bias. If you are interested in a more nuanced view of the problems we face and how we can build an inclusive society when people on all sides are neither entirely good or evil, look elsewhere.