#anyway. in my expert opinion

[dennisboobs]

7x10 // How Mac Got Fat

↳ Charlie & Dennis + getting high together

#iasip #it's always sunny in philadelphia #dennis reynolds #charlie kelly #charden #dennis looks....... positively lovestruck #ada's gifs #ada speaks #the continuity errors between shots in these scenes is so funny to me but i only noticed bc ive spent two hours on this gifset #anyway. in my expert opinion #this is far from the first time den's come to charlie like this #i can see this happening frequently in high school especially considering their drug of choice here is inhalants #x2 when know how charlie's relationship with them was in hs #the fact that dennis leaves his room to 'be alone' and then goes to paddy's to get high with charlie #to me indicates he doesn't *want* to be alone with his thoughts like this #when he's already overthinking and self conscious #i think contrasting this scene w mac & dee barging into his room earlier is interesting #because while mac & dee reacted with immediate disgust and asked what the fuck happened to his face #charlie's just like why is your face shiny. then repeatedly makes it clear he doesnt care about anything beyond the basics #ok cool. chemical peel caused it. no i don't want to hear why you decided to get one. #and honestly i think dennis was counting on that reaction. charlie doesn't give a shit. he's down to hang out and he doesn't ask questions. #they both want an immediate out from the pressure they both feel and most definitely do Not want to talk about it <3 #stuff it down with some.......... turpentine

[skitskatdacat63]

"The Boy With The Thorn in His Side"(x) - The Smiths × 2023 Strollonso moments + pundits' reactions

#baby's first web weave please be kind #frankly i could make a giant masterpost on my opinions on which Smiths songs fit which drivers/ships #i like their music a very healthy amount and I don't spend countless hours daydreaming to it...no.... #but this particular song has been haunting me bcs i think it fits them super well!! #with their relationship dynamics and then the way everyone doubts their relationship #though its been hilarious watching the f1tv commentators kind of resign themselves to 'ah well ig this is what AMR/Fernando is like now' #went from being confused and shocked at their on track comradery to just accepting it for what it is #now theyre like 'ah yes lance dutifully lets fernando pass' compared to the previous ouright disbelief and denial #yeah thats right...theyre in love...what are you gonna do about it... #i think one day itd be fun to make a vid comp of all the times the commentators were ?????? at strollonso's lovey doveyness it is fun TO ME #it was really funny to look through shitty articles for negative comments #but the funniest part is that istg all of the articles just quote this one singular man who is hellbent on being a hater #i am in your walls peter windsor. #i think its silly when they bring in 'f1 experts' for their opinions ona drivers motivations and mindset #they act like such armchair psychologists like bruh your degree is probably engineering or journalism calm down!! #hehehe anyways happy with this!! i wrote it out on paper like a whole ass essay draft to brainstorm what to put #and then i scrolled thru the draft while listening to the song and im just EEEEEEE IT FITSSSSSSS #f1 #formula 1 #formula one #we do a little bit of f1 #lance stroll #fernando alonso #fa14 #ls18 #1418 #1814 #strollonso #alonstroll #normal posts that catie normally makes in a normal fashion

[uncanny-tranny]

Being trans is knowing that Sigmund Freud would have been... interested in studying you

#trans #transgender #lgbt #lgbtq #ftm #mtf #nonbinary #trans meme #bro was NOT normal #honestly i think freud is just a good case study of how important falsifiability is to theory #from my observation (i could be wrong; im no freud expert) it seems like any pushback to his theory comes from *your* superego/ego... #...blocking you from truly understanding the truth in what his theory says... #...that's an unfalsifiable theory and in my opinion that immediately makes it something i toss out #and again i could be wrong but from the things i've learned and what i've seen of his devotees that's the vibe i get #ANYWAY. i think freud is interesting only so long as you don't take him seriously #but knowing him - he'd have a field day especially considering he came up with the Oedipus complex

[fuedalreesespieces]

one thing that always gets me whenever i read inuyasha modern au fics is that inuyasha is supposedly "the slacker" or the guy who doesn't try hard on anything academia related, and that always struck me as odd bc you're telling me inuyasha wouldn't be competing with, say, koga for rank 1? that he wouldn't study his ass off in the subjects he's actually interested in? that he wouldn't pour his everything into extracurriculars he cares about? he has his aloof moments in canon but ultimately he's a hard worker and i think that trait should be reflected in aus!

plus if we're thinking about the setting here, inuyasha's canon behavior is greatly influenced by his upbringing (and later lack thereof). putting him in an environment (modern au, lack of youkai discrimination) where his talents are cultivated instead of looked down upon would give us a very different character. it's always interesting to me whenever i see canon-typical inuyasha behavior in an au where his mom is alive because it suggests that his mistrust and gruff behavior are just part of his personality and not largely a result of childhood events. i feel like modern aus are an opportunity to see how he might have grown if not for the death of his mother + father & the consistent threat looming over him as a child. what would his personality be like then? how would his first meeting with kagome go considering that? his dynamics with his older brother? his goals? it's something that could be explored in a fic taking place in the feudal realm but it's kind of difficult to just subtract the discrimination aspect that comes with that setting...just things to think abt ig!

#also saw a reblog so IM CLEARING MY NAME LMAO #koga would not even be in the top five #he was just the first person who came up when i thought of inuyasha competing w someone lol #also needs to be said that i haven't read that many modern au fics #probably because i'm not the biggest fan of em #but this is just smth i noticed from the ones i read #i also see a lot of miroku and inuyasha being besties in these fics #which isn't bad or anything but i feel like he'd be friends with sango before miroku since they seem to mesh better #also to clarify i am NOT hating on fics that do any of the things i mentioned #headcanons are headcanons and ppl should have fun! #this is just my opinion lol take it with a grain of salt #i've only ever written like three inuyasha fics and haven't even finished the manga so i'm no expert on his character #anyway enough of my rambling #inuyasha #inuyasha a feudal fairy tale #inuyasha meta #inumeta #sango inuyasha #koga inuyasha #kagome higurashi #miroku inuyasha

[cuteniarose]

Personally I find it really funny that based on what the twins said in the Book 2 finale re: having to tell their mom about what happened to Unalaq, it's literally canon that Unalaq's wife a) exists, b) is alive, and c) is just chilling in the Northern Water Tribe

She took one look at all the spirit fuckery her husband was getting up to and went "Well that's none of my business" and honestly I respect that

#oh and when I say spirit fuckery I mean it in both the literal and metaphorical sense. blame kat's latest raava and vaatu fic #yeah I'm just gonna start posting random LoK opinions on here now. this blog's been dead long enough #not really an incorrect quotes girly anymore sorry #not even a girl anymore. but you know #most of my red lotus and oc posting will remain on my personal blog though bc no one wants to see that #anyway. yes. Unalaq's wife. when I say the avatar franchise has a mom problem this is exactly what I mean #80% of characters don't have a mom. the moms that are alive either have little to no screen time or mentions #or they're basically Schroedinger's mom in the sense that they exist but not really #the exceptions being like. pema and suyin. and maybe senna though she also has very little screentime #my point is. the twins are younger than korra. I know avatarverse has a precedent for putting kids on the throne. looking at you zuko #but really we should have gotten unalaq's wife as chief of the nwt #introduced her in book 3 during the lead up to p'li's prison break #but that's just my objectively correct opinion #northern water tribe chief raspberry when #(according to avatar wiki her name is malina so I've been calling her raspberry in my head ever since I found out #malina means raspberry in russian that's why. probably in a bunch of other slavic languages too idk I'm not an expert #and she shares a name with katara and sokka's weird white stepmom from the comics which no sane person considers canon. so that's fun) #the legend of korra #unalaq

[danrifics]

do you know anything about how using an editor works? Like do they send in the raw footage and the editor does whatever based on their style of editing or do they send the footage with a bunch of pointers of things to cut/include and the editor goes from there?

it depends completely from person to person! so you either just get sent raw footage and do what you want with it but then after you’ll send it back and forth for re edits based on feedback until you get something everyone is happy with or you’ll get sent footage with a brief that tells you what is wanted from the edit and you do as your told (i like to do what i’m told as one edit and do what client wants as another and then send them both cos sometimes they’ll realise your edit is better than what they wanted lmao) also in this scenario you go back and forth with different versions too.

i imagine in a dnp context they probably have a list of must have and pls avoids that they send and then tbh judging by some of the edits in spooky week they probably let the editor have control of editing style

#also talking of dnp editors the one called Kris is the best imo #some of the spooky week editors were a bit meh 😂 #i’m glad kris does most of their other edits i just assume the work load of spooky week was a lot for 1 person #anyway thank you for listening to my expert opinion 😂

[pumpking64]

#I love making these animal polls just because I love seeing peoples opinions on stuff #it’s just so satisfying to see how opinions differ and that’s okay and good #also it makes it possible to spread awareness of different species depending on where people live and what they know #I’m not a deer expert by no means. I’ve had very close encounters in the wild especially with roe and red deer #and I’ve been heavily spooked several times. but that’s about it #no scientific knowledge apart from the basics. no particular interest in them apart from them just being nice and import ecologically here #because they are the only animals that can be counted as megafauna left where I’m from #tag chaos #anyways. this will not be all my blog does I promise. but for now it’s bringing me joy so on we go down this path until the joy lessens #poll #polls #deer #fallow deer #roe deer #red deer #reindeer #caribou #elk #moose #water deer #antelope #(ish) #wapiti #muntjac #white tailed deer #<- the only one I hadn’t heard about before

[airenyah]

ok so today i had my first thai class after a really long christmas break and somehow andreas gabalier (an austrian folk singer) and his music came up. and i don't remember what exactly my teacher said but he made a comment along the lines of "andreas gabalier is considered a standard good looking dude here in austria, right?" (my teacher is from thailand, so he wasn't sure about austrian people's preferences)

and his question was met with complete silence, because the thing is... our class consists of 3 middle aged guys plus one more guy in his early 30s. and then there's me. the only girl

and since no one answered the question about andreas gabalier's looks, our teacher then addressed me directly and following conversation ensued:

teacher: "[airenyah]?" me: (feeling slightly shy and embarrassed) ".....i don't know what andreas gabalier looks like 🙈" everyone: (breaks out in laughter) middle-aged classmate: (highly amused) "i suspect he's not your type..." (me: "oh 🙈") "you're not missing out on anything :D"

i really like my teacher but god, let me live. don't put me on the spot like that 😩😩😩

#i hate when people ask me my opinion on somebody's looks #esp if that somebody in question is an older dude (as in significantly older than me. doesn't have to be ''old'' in reality) #idk!!! the person looks normal to me!!! person-shaped!!! idk‚ what do you want from me!!! i'm too asexual for this conversation!!! #we're not super close in this class (it's online which doesn't help with that either) so no one actually knows shit about my sexuality #and idk if my teacher put me on the spot for heteronormative reasons bc i'm the only girl in class #or bc he trusts my opinion (technically i could be considered an expert in austrian culture‚ i have a BA for that now lol) #but somehow my classmate's comment felt really reassuring to me somehow #i have no idea what made him think that that singer wouldn't be my type (maybe the age difference??) but like #so true man. so true. you don't even know #what even IS my type #airenyah plappert #stories from my thai class #also yeah everyone was laughing but it wasn't mean-spirited like. they weren't laughing AT me #i think my comment was just funny to them bc they probably weren't expecting it and so maybe they were surprised #or maybe bc i'm also the youngest in the group so maybe in their heads they were going ''aw she's too young to know andreas gabalier'' #(i mean i WAS very much aware of him‚ i just never cared about him and his music and so i didn't care to know about his appearance) #the guys were laughing very amusedly while i was just sitting there like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ lmao (i too was amused when they laughed tho) #anyway i have since looked up andreas gabalier's face and he is literally just some dude to me #i do hate his hairstyle tho. it looks greasy with gel ewww #but yeah apart from that my opinion on his looks is that he looks like an ordinary human being idk #nothing good and nothing bad about it #(except yeah. the hair gel maybe. maybe that IS bad actually)

[queenerdloser]

me: oh i'll buy my brother in law some fancy coffee because he is a coffee snob! i did that last year and it was a hit so might as well do it again. i am not really a coffee person, so i'd better check on what to buy him. now, dear google, what are the best coffee beans i can buy online?

me, two weeks later, well into the rabbit hole with at least twenty tabs open: hm, i'm not sure about this washed ethiopian single-origin with notes of cherry, roses, and pomegranate. maybe the other anaerobic processed ethiopian beans would be better even though they can come out a lot funkier due to the experimental processing. oh, but this particular roaster has been degrading in quality over the past few months, so maybe it'd be better to go somewhere else.

me, a week later: wow i've bought myself a pour over drip brewer and some fancy coffee and i now have Strong Opinions about the best independent coffee roasters in the U.S. oh and i finally bought the two bags of coffee i originally planned to get that started all of this nonsense in the first place.

#liveblogging life #the amount of times i've accidentally become an amateur expert on a subject purely bc of research i did #for buying a gift or some other menial thing is uh. definitely not zero lmao #me: obviously i have to deeply research this thing i want to buy for someone to make sure it is Very Good #i also do this with stuff i buy for me btw. #me: i should get a new printer! #me several days later: i know am aware of all the opinions about current printer trends #i shit you not i had about 15 tabs of different coffee roasters open for at least two weeks lmao #also reddit is an invaluable resource to me when trying to figure out things to buy even if theyre also annoying #i bought the pour over stuff bc eventually i was like huh maybe the reason i havent liked coffee in the past #is bc ive only ever really had shitty coffee. when i have it at my sister's place it's usually really good #and they use pour over and aeropress for their brews. plus it was like 30 bucks for a kit might as well give it a shot! #anyway all of this to say it's amazing that i didn't realize i had adhd until my twenties

[timeisacephalopod]

My coworkers were on about apparently B.C doing a fentanyl safe supply program that's allegedly accessible for people aged 12-17 with no parental consent and lost their shit about it because ThAtS bAd. Here's the thing. When I hear a claim like that it's best to look it up, because of it seems on its face really bad or frivolous or wrong and a bunch of people signed off on it something is missing information wise. For example, Stella Lieback being reduced to a punchline by everyone over that McDonald's hot coffee shit because everyone thought the jury was idiots for ruling in her favor, but if you look into it it takes .2 seconds to find out that her wounds were so bad it looked like she'd been in a shark attack.

So I looked it up and found one article I didn't trust because it's from the National Post, probably the only right wing news source in Canada that's even remotely reliable but I don't read that paper because of its political leanings, and given that no one else except The Epoch Times and The Rebel have reported on it I find this but of information WILDLY suspect. If the only ones howling are rightwing fuckos the information is not correct. It's probably based on some truth because the snippet of news brief I watched said IN SOME CASES (which does not read to me like "the government is giving 12 year olds fentanyl if they ask nicely LOLZ it reads like a dr has to sign off on an individual cases based on applicable circumstances) minors could access the safe supply program but given that they interviewed the guy who wrote the post article who's source was, allegedly, two concerned physicians I'm not going to take three people seriously when 2 of them are anonymous.

So pro tip of you hear something ridiculous and absurd policy wise look it the fuck up and see who is talking about it, because that'll tell you exactly how accurate that information is. And if the only people flopping on about it are fucking dip shits then maybe don't swallow that pill without a BUCKET of salt, maybe.

#winters ramblings #also the casual transphobia that SOMEHOW came up i was like wow you guys suck fuck yall #youre talking about consulting experts and WHICH one of you assholes is the expert on trans ANYTHING? #oh the closest thing is ME because of my gender studies degree? well then we should ALL shut up because NONE OF US #ARE EDUCATED ENOUGH TO HAVE AN OPINION BASED ON YOOOUUUURRRR OUW ASSESSMENT #anyway i am unimpressed amd gladd i have tomorrow off

[cloudblaze]

Onestar's Confession was, hmmm, not as egregious as I'd feared but also not a book I have any desire to reread. Unsurprisingly it suffers from many of the same issues as Leopardstar's Honor, being poorly paced and offering very little new insight on the title character. But there's something in particular that bothers me about this book, and I'm trying to figure out exactly what that is. I think it's about how Onestar is framed, but it's a bit complicated.

Onestar is a flawed cat who I believe is served best as a side/background character, not a protagonist. I think up until now the series hasn't had to try too hard to justify his actions because we know what crises are influencing him and we get to witness his slow and tragic downfall in the main arcs. While the way he changed in TNP after becoming leader feels harsh, the books back then made it clear why he had to change. It's shown over and over that WindClan is respected by no one. They had a history in the old territories of being attacked in their own camp — it happened at least six times within Tallstar's life — and even driven from their home entirely. Other Clans view them as weak, and after the move to the lake, even their ThunderClan allies are disrespecting their border and their independence and talking openly about how WindClan is too wimpy to do anything about it and they would simply disintegrate without ThunderClan taking care of them. It's no surprise when WindClan tears itself apart over a succession crisis, half supporting Tallstar's wishes and half supporting Mudclaw who promised to make them strong and respected by their neighbors. In response, Onestar can't be like Tallstar if he wants to keep the peace within his own Clan. He needs to step up and be an independent leader who can defend his Clan's home and honor. All of this is apparent in TNP, and although it makes Firestar sad and confused, we can see why, in Onestar's mind, this had to happen.

AVoS gave us a new perspective on Onestar by showing how selfish and fearful he can be. We'd already seen in Po3, OotS, and Bramblestar's Storm (and again later in Crowfeather's Trial) that he can be completely unreasonable and stubborn when under duress, so I think these traits are a fair extension of that. (Also people change over time, so I can accept that even if he didn't start out this way, his experiences as a leader going through constant disasters could have warped his views a bit.) It's been years and I still don't know how I feel about the secret son twist, but if nothing else it gave us another Onestar dynamic to explore.

Whether you love or hate how he was written, he was given strong characterization through these stories. I see him as almost like a fallen hero type, someone who was thrown into a position of power and put under immense pressure to become the leader his Clan needed, and who pushed things too far and fell from grace as a result. We see this most effectively not through his own eyes, but instead through those who have to live with the consequences of his actions. Firestar was his friend who helped him again and again, so it hurts when Firestar loses that friendship entirely through no fault of his own. We can assume it was a hard choice for Onestar because we know how much he looked up to Firestar, relied on him, even gave him territory as a thank-you gift, before receiving his own nine lives. Onestar's intense desire to prove that WindClan walks alone now ended up dragging all four Clans into an intense battle — and destroying ThunderClan's herb stock in the process, leaving them vulnerable to greencough later. And in AVoS, cats were killed because of his desire to hide his secret and flee from his own fear. He selfishly withheld vital medicine from ShadowClan and left the other Clans to face the threat of Darktail alone. He's so caught up in his us-versus-them mindset that he spirals farther and farther out of control. It's a tragedy, and a lesson about his character that is so much more impactful without his constant "woe is me" inner dialogue.

To be clear, I don't think it's unrealistic for Onestar to bend over backwards trying to excuse everything he does and prove to himself that he's really a good guy deep down. In the beginning he was doing what he believed he had to, even when it was a hard and painful choice, and seems to have kept this belief even when his goals became less about what's good for everyone else and more about what works for him. So of course he would see his disastrous actions as the best option or even the only option. The issue for me comes when the emphasis of the narrative is put on the lies he tells himself, his regrets about not being honest with his family, and his fears about the past coming back to bite him, instead of focusing on what he actually does and how his choices shape who he is. We can say that his choice to abandon Smoke and Darkkit made him fearful of the consequences, but no, it was Stoneteller's (absurd and unnecessary) prophecy that gave him anxiety. Whereas Onestar used to be a driving force behind drama, in his own SE he feels much more passive because control over his decisions is so frequently taken out of his grasp and given instead to random chance and circumstances out of his control. And for me personally, this whole new perspective has made him a much less sympathetic character, which is ironic considering how much sympathy he feels for himself throughout the book. Because now he feels less like a guy whose life was pulled out of his control and who then had to consciously adapt into something arguably worse, and more like a whiny friend who makes life harder for himself and won't listen to advice no matter how hard you try to help.

There is one place where I do think this approach actually helped his story, however, so I should mention that. A criticism I have of Shattered Sky is that it left Onestar out of the narrative behind his closed borders far too much, which made his confession feel like it came out of nowhere. He went from spiteful and impossible to negotiate with straight to totally respectful and noble within the span of two minutes, which made for a very jarring conclusion to the book. His SE, at the very least, fills in that gap by showing how increasingly desperate he felt and how much harder it got to keep hiding his secret, finally causing him to break down and confess. This scene makes more sense here than it did before. I can appreciate that, but it does feel like too little too late. (To be fair, I don't know how Shattered Sky could have resolved the issue itself without the advantage of a WindClan POV, but regardless, the pacing was still so choppy in that book.)

In conclusion... I don't know what to say about Onestar's Confession except that there wasn't really anything they could have written into this book to justify its whole existence. Onestar already had so much going for him that I personally don't think giving him his own book from his own perspective could ever succeed. They could have written it better than they did, paced it better, sure, but they couldn't have added anything about him to these already established plotlines so many years after the fact without accidentally (or purposefully) changing who he is. His whole life and motivations are either laid out plainly or inferred in all of his appearances in the main series. All we lacked were his own secret inner thoughts and feelings: his intense fear and self-pity. And there just isn't enough substance there to make into an entire book without repeating huge sections of books we've already read — which is exactly what they decided to do.

#i guess this is a whole essay just to say: i think this book was doomed before it was even written #i really don't know what they could have done with it to make it interesting or insightful #yes they could have focused more on his budding friendship with firestar and not skipped over the eclipse battle and things like that #but i think even if they'd made the book more about onestar and firestar than about onestar and darktail #we still would've run into the exact same issues anyway #but! that's just my opinion and everyone is completely free to disagree with me #I'm not a writing expert by any means. I'm just a guy who likes stories #update: put most of this post under a read more bc i just realized how long it is sjhfdsj what a pain to scroll through

[ardri-na-bpiteog]

I'm going to start using a taser on people for their bad, simplistic takes on the Troubles and the IRA

#it's one of those things in which like 80% of people clearly don't know what they're talking about #but insist on having strong opinions anyway #this goes for both sides tbh #and the number of times I've seen well-meaning people #reduce it to a 'religious conflict' between Catholics and Protestants #is wild #and today I just saw someone claim 'the Irish invented modern terrorism' because other terrorist groups copy the IRA' #the IRA car bombs and 'mass shootings' #when the IRA... didn't do mass shootings? #that literally wasn't even their method #and I don't think I've ever seen an English person with an actual good grasp of the Troubles #even the majority of people on the Republic don't have a good grasp of the Troubles #which is something a LOT of people in NI have expressed as a frustration #and I hardly pretend to be an expert #and I obviously didn't experience it firsthand #but I try to be aware of my knowledge limitations

[iinryer]

I don't even watch lone star like I watch OG, no hate just because preference, but I must admit their season finale was better than go's. Yeah it was packed of seasons worth of material in just two episodes but it hit the right spot, emotionally? its wasn't underwhelming like OG's :/ which I hate it bc I wish OG did more

to be fair, lone star got a two hour finale, while og had the standard one ep!! plus, og was dealing with uncertainty about renewal and the abc acquisition—and we probably won’t fully know what kind of impact that had on production, even before it was decided. it’s also not uncommon for og to love tying up season finales very neatly, so despite some of the bizarro choices and pacing of the beats at the end, it didn’t really feel too off brand to me?

im never one to expect Absolute Perfection To My Tastes out of media (and as a known lone star enjoyer it is probably obvious that i am just here to have fun lol) but I am personally not thinking too hard about the overall quality, im just rotating in my mind the things that are fun to me yknow! imo the exciting part about being into these silly little firefighter shows is making stuff up w my friends afterwards :)

(also I must say that the og finale emergency fucked so hard. despite some choices that i was lukewarm about afterwards, I had a LOT of fun with the action sequences. the lone star finale was DERANGED but also the show is kind of Just Like That, so it was a blast)

#i love mess #sorry im like this i may yell and be dramatic but tbh im just vibing #anyways im not an expert nor should my opinion matter to anyone #im just here to have fun! #iinryer talk #mailbox

[rillette]

i got tagged by @theduckboy​ to do this (squints at hand) fanfic trope thing 

im tagging @theduckboy​, @theduckboy​, @theduckboy​ and whoever else wants to do it ^_^ <3 as well as @theduckboy​

#tag game #i dont think ive had the same experiance on ao3 as whoever made this list. i have seen like maybe two fairytale or royalty aus ever #where are all the killing and violence aus. the zombie apocolypse aus. why is everything shipping related #there is a special place in my heart for time travel aus theyre like the 5th most abundant tag in my bookmarks <3 #also character studies and character centric fics my beloved #no time loop is not the same as time travel next question #i had a thought but i forgor it. anyways yeah those are my expert opinions finely honed after nearly a decade of fic reading #stuff like miscommunication or drunk confessions makes me SOOO 2nd hand embarrassed i physically cannot read them or i will Die

[navree]

I see a lot of people complaining that Grrm has written Rhaenyra story with very misgonystic undertones, is this true ? I didn't read the book and rhaenyra in the show seems boring but she is fine i guess??

In the book Rhaenyra has a lot of very unpleasant traits, she's pouty and she's stubborn and petulant and she holds grudges and she's got that thing royals have where they think everything they do is great because they're royal. And she does some really bad things, far worse than stuff portrayed in the show (in the book Vaemond dies because Rhaenyra orders that Daemon sneak onto Driftmark and kill him and drag his body back so that she can feed it to Syrax), but so have a lot of Targaryens. The Targaryen family is filled with some genuinely good people, some genuinely bad people, and a lot of people who are a grey mix of both, it's why people find them so interesting. The misogyny in Rhaenyra's story isn't necessarily about how she was written as a person (I think the only developed adult woman from the Dance era who doesn't have sucky qualities is Laena), but the story she has. The story of a woman who was the eldest child of the king and explicitly made his heir, but had the throne stolen out from under her, tried to fight back and regain it, ended up dying horribly, and is remembered throughout history as being in the wrong for exercising her birthright. That's what people have a problem with, the fact that Westeros's one attempt at a ruling queen before the main series was given such a dismal story. The issue isn't how Rheanyra is written as a character. The issue is whether or not you approve of the fact that ASOIAF is a misogynistic world by design.

Take Tolkien or CS Lewis, for example. Great writers, great works, seminal and classic, etc. But it's not that hard to point to misogynistic elements in their works and in Middle-Earth and Narnia, due to the fact that these men were products of their time and had views on women and how involved they should be in stories, which is why in Narnia Santa gives a whole speech on how Susan and Lucy can't fight in the battle because They're Girls and why Lord of The Rings's important female characters can be counted on one hand. That's when author bias is bleeding almost unconsciously into the work, which isn't what George is doing. George is acutely aware of the misogyny his female characters are facing, and the misogyny of Westeros and other countries in that world, because he's doing it on purpose. Issues of discrimination are everywhere in ASOIAF, from the ableism Tyrion has to deal with the class discrimination we see through Arya's eyes to the slavery in Essos (even though it's significantly less race-based than it is in GOT, as George was basing it off the system of slavery from Ancient Rome/the Antiquity) to the misogyny suffered by all our female characters, seen especially poignantly in Cersei's chapters. These issues are vital to our understanding of the characters and why they do what they do, how the react the way they react and what drives them in the narrative. George is very clearly doing this on purpose, creating a world that's intensely patriarchal and misogynistic, and having a portion of that world's history include an attempt for a female ruler to reign in her own right only for it to be shot down is part of that. It's very purposeful and done under the express consciousness of the author.

But the problem people have is that this is a fantasy world. George based some of the story on history, specifically the Wars of the Roses in medieval England, but not all of it. And while some of the society is based on medieval England, this is a world with dragons and magic and zombies and shapeshifters. So why, exactly, does it need to be an intensely misogynistic society where women are constantly abused and suffering and child rape is the norm? What purpose, some people argue, does it actually serve the overall narrative, the story of people vying for the throne but eventually having to band together to defeat an existential threat to the entirety of humanity? Does the intensely misogynistic society of Westeros actually further any character arcs of major figures, particularly the Key Five of the story (Jon, Tyrion, Bran, Arya, and Daenerys) or is it largely just character justification and flavor text? Is there an actual point, narratively, to Rhaenyra being denied what was promised to her by rights, just because she's a woman? There are people who say no, and that it's largely there just because George wanted to be able to write some trauma porn about women and that it's emblematic of his own misogyny. And listen, I do not know George Raymond Richard Martin, I do not know whether or not he's sexist or what he includes because it's part of his worldbuilding or just because he finds it hot, or where that line blurs. And whether you agree with that take on misogyny in ASOIAF isn't really something I can answer for you, it's largely a personal preference thing that falls on a scale of your own making. I know some people who aren't bothered by it, I know people who are bothered by it enough that it's a turnoff of reading the series as a whole.

It's also that, again, Fire&Blood isn't a novel. It's a history book. This is largely flavor text to help us understand the wold of ASOIAF, it's not vital to our understanding of the main story and these characters aren't treated as characters, they're treated as historical figures that some might find interesting, and some might not. That's why there's a lot less detail and stuff for us to look into wrt to characterization than there is in the main series, which is an actual narrative. So you're not going to get as in depth a look into what drives these people in the source material, that's for the show now. So there are probably some people who look at how barebones Rhaenyra is, how most of what we see of her is largely bad qualities, and then compare to the incredibly well fleshed out male characters in ASOIAF like Tyrion, and view Rhaenyra as being misogynistically written. But we also know frighteningly little about a lot of male characters in Fire&Blood; Aegon the Conqueror is notoriously written to have very little actually known about what he was like as a person, because this is a history book and people's characters and thoughts and feelings aren't often recorded in historical chronicles (trust me, it can be so frustrating).

By and large, the issue just seems to be the fact that GRRM has misogyny playing such a big role in the story at all, and that's what "misogynistic undertones" means as it pertains to Rhaenyra's story, and whether or not you view that as valid is ultimately up to you. But I do hope this at least somewhat answered your question!

#personal #answered #anonymous #fun fact anon the phrasing of 'is this true' sent me into a laughing fit #not because of anything you said but because there's a very famous childhood story of me and my sister #that involves that exact phrase and for some reason it just popped into my head #anyway i wrote all of this while listening to 'i don't like mondays' on a tuesday #i'm not an expert on this series or on misogyny in fiction by any means by the by #i'm just A Woman and i have a lot of opinions on things and i have a tendency to speak in full paragraphs #(that's not a joke that's an actual thing a teacher said to my parents about me once and it is true) #so have my lil two cents #hope it was at least informative

[bladeofthestars]

when i was younger, sometimes i'd go to relay something i'd learned to my dad and he'd start up his news reporter bit.

"we go now live to dr. <our last name>. doctor, what can you tell us about <whatever topic>?"

and sometimes i'd just laugh, sometimes i would elaborate with delight, and sometimes i'd be annoyed. i think 95% or more of the time he really did want me to "teach" him. even later in life, early adulthood for me, we'd still call each other just to tell each other something cool we'd learned recently. he usually didn't do the dr. lastname bit any more because it feels somewhat condescending to do that to a person working through undergrad, but he would prompt me for more details and always had great questions.

the bit has always stuck with me fondly. now, years since he's passed, it's even been making me think of going back to school. i think he would have liked that. i think dr. lastname was an attempt at subliminal messaging and maybe even a challenge. i think he wanted me to get used to the idea of my opinion being valued and my expertise being sought. i think from the time i was five he could see that graduation crystal clear in his mind's eye.

i've been yearning to go back to school again (though i think going for grad school won't scratch the itch that living on campus for undergrad left behind) and thinking on the bit. i almost want to go back just to honor him, just to introduce myself as dr. lastname and hear his voice in mine every time. haha, i almost want to go back just to avoid mr/ms questions by responding with dr.

#personal #i miss him. he'd have been an excellent grandpa. #as i've gotten older i've wondered frequently if i'm actually autistic because it would explain so many things. #so not only is this my dad encouraging his at the time *girl* to be her best in the way that many girls are discouraged from #this also hits me as him encouraging my nerdy little ass to infodump with no judging and no annoyance ToT #for every time my aunt called me smart ass/wise ass my dad asked for my expert opinion ten times #it's still so hard to believe he's gone sometimes. i keep having the dream with this ongoing continuity that he faked his death #and is actually still alive and i've just been forgetting to visit/call him like i should #and the dreams are so convincing. i suddenly remember every time that he's still around and i arrange a visit. sometimes i make it to him #in that dream and sometimes i don't. but it's not a reality that my brain wants to easily shake off when i wake. i usually wake up like #'oh yeahhhhh i SHOULD call him- oh.' #anyway. fuck that dream but also goddamnit bless it #at least i get to see him sometimes #grief #loss #parent death