OKAY I think I realized what pisses me off the most about Newton’s ooc behavior in Pac Rim 2.
When I watched the first movie in 2013, I was 16. I was trying to decide what I wanted to do with my life. I knew science or computers, something STEM. I thought I would have to forfeit parts of my personality to chase for a spot in academia so I shied away from astrophysics. Frankly, I’m from the slums. I went to an inner city school. I’d been suspended (skipping class) and in fights (defending a kid that kept getting bullied) and hell, I’ve even been in the back of a cop car before (okay that one was for sneaking into an abandoned building). I wasn’t an ‘aggressive’ person, per se, but I stood up for what I believed in and that’s usually what got my ass in trouble. I was slated to be a shop rat like my father was.
I thought I’d have to give all that up to be “proper” in academia.
But I saw Pac Rim and I saw Newt and I loved him. He was colorful and loud and silly and brilliant. And I kinda adopted a mentality of “fuck it, I’ll be as ridiculous as I want. I’ll let my intellect and my accomplishments speak for me” and that’s pretty much what I did. I was the youngest person hired in the department to do physics research. I was in 500 level classes by my 2nd year, and 700 level classes by my 3rd. I was published by the beginning of my 3rd year. I could keep pace with my profs talking about physics. I went to our biweekly guest lectures and I was almost ALWAYS the only student that asked questions.
All that while being colorful and loud and myself. When I got published I had pink hair, piercings, and I wore a tie because fuck it I didn’t want to wear a dress.
And sometimes people would raise an eyebrow “she’s not dressed very professionally..” at which point profs would usually defend “she’s just as accomplished at 20 than we were by 30”
And I was an outspoken protester. I didn’t give a shit. I marched against the Muslim ban. I marched against gun violence. I marched for science in Washington DC. Fuck being an academic if it means I can’t be myself.
And seeing Newton in Pac Rim helped me learn that and it helped me get to where I am today. And to see what they did to him in Pac Rim 2 irks me so much
