The Shape of Water

I saw the movie The Shape of Water recently. I really only have a couple of comments about it.

First, it seems to be a remake of The Creature from the Black Lagoon, only if the creature were the good guy.

Second, a quick way to get a grasp on the politics of a movie is to look at who the bad guys are. If the bad guys are essentially normal, patriotic Americans dressed up with evil motivations and disgusting habits, you're watching a left-wing movie. A somewhat less-frequently-helpful method is to see who the good guys are.

In Shape, both methods are useful. The bad guys are US government agents and soldiers during the early Cold War. The good guys are a mute woman, a black woman, a Soviet scientist / spy, a gay man, and the creature.

There's more that could be said, but I'll leave it at that.