#crit post

[thagomizersshow]

Ranting about how JP is not a good critique of capitalism made me want to talk about a sci-fi monster movie that is an excellent AND highly relevant exploration of anticapitalistic themes: Alien (1979).

First I want to say that if you haven’t seen Alien, please do so before I spoil it for you. It’s not just one of my all time favourites, but also one of the greatest pieces of science fiction ever created. For real, please go watch it.

The biological aspects of Alien are often the most talked about themes in the movie, which is fair, because they’re simultaneously very interesting and in-your-face. Most viewers remember the movie for the gory sexual imagery, not for an authentic depiction of class struggle. I actually wrote a video essay a while back that I never made about how our innate disgust and resulting fear of parasites/parasitoids is the primary driver behind the xenomorph’s ongoing popularity. I’m not immune to this aspect of Alien’s eternal intrigue, that’s for sure.

However, there’s one narrative element that makes Alien ripe for class analysis, especially today, and that is the film’s portrayal of artificial intelligence.

AI in Alien is consistently shown to be hostile to the crew, but not because of a glitch, like HAL in 2001: Space Odyssey, or because they decide to rise up against their oppressors, like in Terminator. No, what makes Ash, the android, and MOTHER, the ship’s AI, so threatening is that they are doing exactly what they were programmed to do — whatever it takes to ensure corporate interests. In this case, they are programmed to ensure the survival of an extraterrestrial monster at the cost of the crew.

The audience isn’t privy to all the things that Ash does to meet this goal, but at the very least he breaks quarantine protocols, does a shitty job of watching the facehugger, lets Kane join the rest of the crew for a meal (when they still don’t know what it did to him!), plays dumb once the xenomorph is on the loose, and attempts to murder Ripley when she discovers his mandate. If it weren’t for Ripley being a determined badass, Ash might’ve gone unnoticed until the whole crew was dead and the Weyland-Yutani Corporation had their mitts on the alien so they can cause another catastrophe.

This horror, that you will encounter AI whose programming doesn’t care if you live or die, is what makes Alien’s take on the subject so relevant. Dipshits like Elon Musk or some shitty tech journalist might try and convince us that ChatGBT scary because it can fake being human, as if Skynet is right around the corner.

No, the real horror of AI is that the people in power (our bosses, our politicians, etc.) are going to use it to exploit us, just like how they use everything else.

In the end, it takes being skeptical of things that seem trustworthy for Ripley to defeat Ash. The audience finds out from the Nostromo’s captain, Dallas, that Ash was a last minute addition to the crew, as chief science officer. This is a role that inherently engenders trustworthiness in the face of the unknown, especially for a crew that is basically a bunch of working joes. It’s not unbelievable to conceive this was purposeful by Weyland-Yutani to make Ash above suspicion. That, combined with literally naming the ship’s AI MOTHER, of all things, shows that the company is deliberately weaponizing aesthetics to foster a positive relationship between the crew and their AI agents.

Alien serves as a reminder to be vigilant as we enter the AI boom, because these programs will be used to exploit us, and corporations WILL try to cloak this purpose behind relatability, convenience, and trust. The AI we encounter is more likely to be Ash or MOTHER than it is to be Data or Skynet.

#alien #movies #crit post

[butchdykekondraki]

also i think some of you have REAL bad cases of fandom brain sometimes

#sorry we're kind of on a roll with the fandom crit posts today

[vox-phantom]

compilation of zac critting during the last standard exam bc he's insane

#i included both attacks in the last clip bc its so funny how he manages to get to a 24 so pathetically just to crit right after #meanwhile emily is begging to dice christ just to hit #fantasy high #fantasy high junior year #fhjy #fantasy high spoilers #fantasy high junior year spoilers #fhjy spoilers #dimension 20 #d20 #d20 fantasy high #gorgug thistlespring #zac oyama #ok thats it i think #my posts #my edits

[khalliys]

Wearing her wife's warpaint.

I was looking to redraw something and since I never really liked my first attempt, I chose to redo this screenshot art. I just needed Beau to look even hotter.

#I never posted the first version to tumblr #maybe I'll reblog a comparison some other time #but I want it to stand alone for now #critical role #crit role #critical role fanart #beauregard lionett #cr beau #beau #cr #cr2 #cr campaign 2 #the mighty nein #art #khalliys

[comradekatara]

yesterday I was explaining the intricacies of lok to my friend who has only seen atla, and he (like the rest of us) just couldn’t get over the fact that they made toph a cop. he was trying to figure out what about toph’s personality (you know, considering that it’s entirely antithetical to becoming someone who acts as an agent of the state to enforce systemic violence) would lead the writers to this conclusion. and it occurred to me that I do think many people, even those who vehemently denounce toph’s copness, do sort of assume that toph loves violence for the sake of violence. she is introduced as saying “I love fighting, and im really really good at it,” and she is shown committing various acts of violence against others (including her friends) with a grin on her face. but I still wouldn’t characterize toph as someone who employs violence for violence’s sake.

toph is, externally, defined by her limits. she is small, she is blind, she is young, she is a girl; she was raised to be soft and delicate and helpless. toph’s first true expression of freedom is when she learns to use her disability as a boon and uses her earthbending not as a weapon, but as an extension of herself. to toph, earthbending is a form of self-expression. it is an artform. I think people tend to forget that when toph says that she loves fighting, she’s not just saying that she loves the thrill of beating arrogant, gigantic, muscled men thrice her size (although of course there is also that), but she’s also saying that she loves practicing a martial art for artistry’s sake.

unlike the boulder, who only listens to his big muscles, toph waits, listens, innovates, creates, hones her craft. and while her earthbending is indeed a martial art, it is also a site of innovation, a visual art, and most importantly, a disability aid. the earth is an extension of herself; it is her artistic medium. yes, of course toph does love being able to exert power over others as a ragefilled tiny twelve year old blind girl who has been denied agency her entire life, but power is not her primary motivation when honing her earthbending. she cares about craft, about innovation, about being one with the earth. unlike all the other earth rumblers and dai li agents and earth kingdom soldiers, toph is a deliberate, thoughtful, considerate earthbender. fighting is an art, and toph is an artist.

#people really love reducing toph which is kind of ironic considering that toph’s entire struggle is not to not be reduced and limited #alas. #toph #analysis #she’s a genius <3333333 #lok crit #(technically) #hang on im gonna make another post abt asami later as well

[yoursonlucifer]

the thing about emily axford as a player is that she rolls fine but whoo boy does she know how to play. theres a couple posts on here about murphs bad luck rolling vs emily "being able to roll a nat 20 on command," but that's just not true. emily rolls pretty middling, but she's very good at strategy, more often than not meaning that she is able to add buffs to rolls or have them work out even if she doesn't roll Great; we gotta give credit where credit is due, which is to emily's strategy and not to her rolls

#ive listened to too much naddpod to pretend that emily rolls good #ive listened to c1 three times #fhsy an untold number of times #the episode she kisses ayda is nonstop 11s and 12s #emily rolled the least crits out of anyone in fantasy high #its not her rolls-it's her brain! she's incredible! #naddpod #dimension 20 #emily axford #brian murphy #fantasy high #bahumia #tag for when i write posts #im also on round 3 of eldermourne

[localapparently]

/ domestic yoohankim set post canon, read right to left, do not reupload

post canon sillies

happy birthday hsy ..!!

#im so sorry im late (again) (its a running theme) #my back.. my back #i wish i colored some tones in but i didnt want to post this any later!!! #forgive me #orv #omniscient readers viewpoint #omniscient reader #omniscient reader fanart #orv fanart #kdj #kim dokja #orv spoilers #<- honestly idk #han sooyoung #hsy #yoo joonghyuk #yjh #yoohankim #yoohan #hankim #doksoo #crit's art: orv

[poisonpercy]

Changes are expected when a story is translated from books to the screen, and than there’s whatever the hell the pjo show is doing

#i think it’s so funny that rick didn’t like that the movies changed so much #and then did the exact same thing when he had a say on the show #anyways from what i gathered this was the consensus of ep 6 #via those on my dash #pjo adaptation #pjo show crit #skys post

[starving-and-arting]

The Big Three ™

#dm appreciation post #Gm appreciation post #my art #art #fan art #critical role #critical role fan art #critical role art #crit role #critrole #illustration #dnd #critical role fanart #dungeons and dragons #aabria iyengar #matthew mercer #brennan lee mulligan

[thagomizersshow]

I said a few days ago that I’d share my criticisms of Jurassic Park, so here goes. At its core, JP is a movie that has one message in the text and another in the subtext, and this all comes down to why of the park’s failure.

The film’s dialogue famously ascribes the failure of the park to hubris; don’t mess around in god’s play place (aka genetics) because you don’t know what will happen. Ian Malcolm’s "life finds a way” criticisms of the park are portrayed by the characters as correct. Malcolm even says that “he hates being right all the time.” It’s also worth mentioning that Michael Crichton and Steven Spielberg have both been interviewed on the message of Jurassic Park, and they both said it is about the misuse of science, in agreement with Malcolm.

That is the text. This all-too-common sci-fi story about humanity meddling in the domain of the gods. Which, BY THE WAY, did not originate with Frankenstein as I said in one of my earliest videos. I’ll argue now that lumping Frankenstein in with JP and other “man’s hubris” stories is an oversimplification and possibly even a straight up misreading, but that’s a WHOLE ‘nother post.

Now, when we look at the events of the story, rather than the dialogue, a different message is revealed. Looking at the actions that actually lead to the failure of the park, it’s clear scientists failing to account for something has nothing to do with it.

Yes, the dinosaurs turn out to be breeding, but this has zero effect on the events of the film. Maybe if they had included the raptors changing sex, like they do in the novel, this argument would have a leg to stand on, but as the film exists the discovery of breeding dinosaurs makes no difference to the plot. You honestly could cut this scene out and the film wouldn’t miss a beat.

The real reason for the park’s fall is much more mundane: Hammond didn’t pay one of his workers enough.

Dennis Nedry is honestly one of the most disgusting portrayals of a “disgruntled employee” ever put to screen. He’s written to be the least sympathetic character possible; he’s messy, annoying, gluttonous, physically inept, and to top it all off, of course he’s fat, a trait most often given to characters who are either comic relief or villains. So, when he complains about not being paid well enough, the audience is already primed to think of him as unworthy of sympathy.

This in spite of his clearly incredible feat of automating the entire park single handed. Nedry’s decision after being fucked over by a multi-billion dollar company — like anyone with a backbone — is to try and fuck them right back. In this case, it was by stealing their shit, which may not have been the best choice (workplace organizing, man, c’mon), but I honestly can’t fault him for it. He deserved better than to be the audience’s hate sink, and we can put full blame on the writers and director for creating such a vile representation of a worker.

All this to say that the theme park’s failure, and all the deaths it caused, fall on John Hammond’s shoulders. Not because he “didn’t stop to think if he should.” Not because “life finds a way.” But because he treated a worker like shit who knew more about the thing they made than he did.

Now, finally, I want to address the fact that I’m not the first person to make a Marxist analysis of JP. In fact, Idea Channel made a video on this topic forever ago, and there are literal academic papers on this topic well worth reading. The point I want to make is not just that JP says something about capitalism, but that the subtextual message about capitalism is at odds with the textual message about the hubris of scientific advancement, AND this degrades the film’s quality massively in my eyes.

If Nedry was portrayed as sympathetic, if Hammond’s abuse wasn’t glossed over, if someone called Malcolm out on how he isn’t right all the time, then MAYBE this movie could be an actual good commentary on capitalism. But as it stands, it feels like it ignores the questions its own story brings up, and even worse, is really mean spirited towards fat people and workers who’ve been wronged.

As much as I love SO much about Jurassic Park, including acting, cinematography, effects, editing (honestly SUCH good editing), the script itself falls apart so badly at the seams I struggle to enjoy it the way I used to. This, combined with the fact the series has turned into a nostalgia driven sludge machine, and I just can’t bring myself to engage with this franchise in a positive way anymore. 

#jurassic park #movies #crit post

[aroaceleovaldez]

okay last one for the night but. honestly i really hate how the franchise has been using loyalty to Rick as a shield for so long. If Rick was involved in a project or not doesn't matter, especially not anymore.

ReadRiordan and the publishing for the franchise has been using this tactic for ages - they obscure if any writing related to the series wasn't written by Rick unless it's special circumstances. It's near impossible to find out who the ghostwriters are (Stephanie True Peters and Mary-Jane Knight). TSATS was promoted as the first time we got a non-Riordan (Rick or Haley) author working on one of the companion novels despite having seven already existing ghostwritten books in the series. The only reason Mark Oshiro was emphasized so heavily for TSATS was because they also work as a sensitivity reader for topics such as queer identity, and Rick had received backlash in the past for being a Straight Cis Old White Guy repeatedly falling into bad habits (that he hasn't broken out of) with certain characterizations that he kept doubling-down on or retconning into oblivion. The show emphasizes that Rick was involved, but the LA Times article brings into question exactly how much he was involved, and it doesn't even really matter either way. The ReadRiordan site actively avoids putting any writing credits on their articles (or art credits...) or anywhere on their site.

Practically the entire fandom unanimously agrees the musical - which had zero involvement from Rick - is the best adaptation of the series so far, including the TV show. Some of the best writing to come out of the series recently was the stuff ghostwritten by Stephanie True Peters (Camp Half-Blood Confidential, Camp Jupiter Classified, Nine from the Nine Worlds, etc). And yet when promotional stuff is posted about CHB:C, there's clearly coded language used to hide the fact that Rick himself didn't write it. Yes, that's how ghostwriters work, but at this point we should really stop pretending "Rick Riordan" isn't just a pen name for a group of authors like "Erin Hunter" and that Rick is actually writing everything in the series. I can easily look up and see which Animorphs books were ghostwritten, and who those authors were. I can find every "Erin Hunter" easily listed on official sites. And yet most people don't even know the Riordanverse franchise has ghostwriters at all.

And the franchise is still trying to use the "Tio/Uncle Rick" stuff. Author loyalty and marketing parasocial relationships isn't going to save the franchise when the author himself can't hold up his own original themes or even keep basic series bible details straight, and especially not if the editors are barely if at all doing their job. And please at least get a goddamn series bible by this point.

#pjo #riordanverse #rick riordan #readriordan #pjo tv crit #rr crit #< this isnt just rr crit im coming for the whole brand #readriordan site also cant center their webpage footer properly. thats just kind of sad #@readriordan staff make sure your </center> code has the closing angle bracket in the right spot. check for spaces. #mary-jane knight #stephanie true peters #< more self organization tags cause i like talking about the ghostwriters. unsung heroes #long post //

[undead-knick-knack]

He better watch out he better watch hE BETTER WATCH OUT--

#critical role #cr3 #cr c3 #critrole #critrole memes #bells hells #bell's hells #ashton greymoore #cr spoilers #text post meme #mad #angry #seething #beat up #kiss #cr memes #cr shitpost #courtesy of me #cr campaign three #crit role #critrole meme

[staticrevelations]

every time someone is like "i'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop with orym" im like. do u not understand. he is just a little guy. he is continuing the long storied halfling tradition of being just a little guy like sam, frodo, pippin, merry, and bilbo before him. an overwrought convoluted backstory with a massive twist does not a good character make and if every member of a party did that it'd be so tired by the end. sometimes what you really need is just a little guy. to be there. to feel it all. to understand when no one else does. to carry the weight of the big big world on their small small shoulders. and orym? he is just a little guy.

#also he's doing incredible subtle character work and there's so much to him that people just miss because they just Look instead of Watching #he is so much more than just a little guy #but that would ruin the premise of this half joke post #orym of the air ashari #orym #cr3 #bells hells #campaign 3 #critical role #crit role #mine

[mmyashas]

after seeing the tropes trend on twitter ive realized how much people mischaracterize the hispanics on the qsmp on here (and other places too) ........Like quick describe qmissa w anything other than "wet cat" or qmariana without being tied down to qslime

#qsmp #qsmp crit #<- ig #Idk. Insane . crazy #video d roier m tienen hartos #ya he hecho otro post asi pero era mas d ships asi q xd

[gethimbackpdf]

i still think that percy should have remembered sally instead of annabeth in son of neptune. don't get me wrong, I like percabeth too and i understand that they had a deep relationship or whatever.

but come on, sally literally put up with gabe for percy, you know the kind of courage that would have required? especially after what she went through previously? she was always the one constant in his life and she should have been acknowledged (grover too should have had a larger role in hoo but that's a whole seperate rant)

look I'm not saying that annabeth isn't important, she is a very big part of percy's life... but sally should have been remembered

#and don't even get me started on that judo flip in moa I could rant about that too #pjo #hoo #son of neptune #sally jackson #percy jackson #annabeth chase #percabeth #grover underwood #scheduled post #rr crit #come on rick you could have done better in EVERYTHING #it's not like the annabeth thing was important to the plot either but sally should have been acknowledged #at least jason remembering thalia makes sense #him remembering annabeth was just a way to remember chb which he could have remembered bc of sally too

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

ngl the "im white so i dont talk abt any characters' race ever bc im afraid of accidentally saying something racist" approach to fandom is like. very weak. imo.

like first of all: i get that "i dont incorporate race into my media analysis because i'm afraid of messing up" comes from a different place than "i don't incorporate race into my media analysis because I Don't See Race 😊 there is only The Human Race." but it has the same functional effect, right? that effect being that your analysis of [INSERT MEDIA HERE] ignores the very real way that race impacts people.

second of all: it feels kinda lazy! like ur saying "i dont know enough abt race to feel comfortable commenting on how race affects this show and i dont care enough to learn." the only way to become more comfortable discussing race is to actually practice discussing race. but when i see people saying this it feels like they're saying "i'm white, which means i don't know how to talk about race, and i don't have to know how to talk about race, and i don't ever have to know how to talk about race, so i'm choosing to never learn how to talk about race."

third of all: just because you don't openly talk about race doesn't mean you're any less likely to accidentally say or do something racist. implicit biases run deep, y'all. it's probably already there in your interpretation of the show. but the "i don't want to accidentally say something racist" implies that you are positive that your interpretation of the show isn't racist. and i'm not saying you're wrong. but i'm saying that if a person of color tells you that something you said about [INSERT MEDIA HERE] was racist, you better be prepared to actually listen and not just brush them off because "i can't be racist! i purposefully never talk about race just to make sure i'm not racist!"

which brings me to my final point: if you do accidentally say something racist... literally just apologize. if someone says you've been doing something racist, apologize and stop doing that thing. it's literally not that hard. i've done it. i've seen other people do it. "i'm scared of being called racist!" is such a weak excuse im tired of it. getting called racist is not the end of the fucking world. calm the fuck down and grow a spine. jesus.

#mine #ofmd fandom crit #txt #og #it feels like ppl who say this are the kind of ppl who think being accused of racism is worse than actually being racist yknow? #idk i was scared of being called racist when i was like. 13. #now i’m like “if i get called racist it’s probably bc i’m doing something racist” #with the exception being ofc when an anon tells me i’m racist for shipping blackhands (a thing i dont even do) #anyway i am SURE someone has made a post or even a wholeass Article abt this before that’s better than what i wrote