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cewritten23 · 2 months

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Critical Review :

Emma Smyth Creative Enquiry Critical Review

4th year BA(Hons) CAP 2024

Throughout this project, I have explored the idea of shadow figure phenomenon through a surrealist approach to my painting process. I aimed to capture these sinister, monster like figures through experimenting with a range of painting techniques and scale. I have always been drawn towards the other worldly and darker aspects of life and our imagination. It is an outlet for my imagination whilst unsettling the viewer and enticing feelings similar to when watching a horror movie. I have been inspired by many artists, theories, art movements and horror movie imagery, but most importantly my own imagination.

At first, I aimed to convey the idea of shadow figure phenomenon whilst evoking fear, uncertainty, and discomfort within the viewer. Shadow figures may be a paranormal phenomenon, for example a ghost or even a demon, lost souls trapped or beings from an inter-dimensional plane. These figures may move quickly, appear as solid shapes, swirling smoke and have a similar appearance to humans. We can usually see them at the corner of our eyes for a fleeting time before they disappear leaving us scared, perplexed and uncomfortable. However, from a scientific point of view, they are viewed as shapes that appear due to a lack of light and occurs due to our eyes simply trying to fill in the blanks (Haunted Rooms®, 2016).

As my practice developed, I realised that my works depict sinister and ambiguous characters, rather than only shadow figures. This fuelled my imagination giving me the confidence and ideas needed to produce more works whilst experimenting with unfamiliar painting techniques.

The Creative Enquiry project has allowed me to experiment and strengthen my painting skills. I found the process very daunting at the beginning, however I embraced the discomfort and continued to make. I realised that I do not need to overthink my paintings and strive for a refined finish, but instead allow myself to be more relaxed by handing control over to my materials through the use of specific techniques. The eerie images came very naturally and instantaneously at first with a surrealist approach. However, it became challenging and frustrating to visualise these sinister characters. I therefore engaged with new techniques of painting, such as “un-painting.” This technique involved applying acrylic to the canvas and using water to lift the colour before the painting dried. I used a spray bottle, allowing the water to take control over the movement of the paint and overall appearance of my works allowing them to become more ambiguous. I incorporated other techniques that worked for my concept into my practice; limited colour palette, sgraffito, dripping, lifting paint with water and using other tools such as squeegees, a hard bristle brush and a variety of paintbrushes. The techniques and ways of working enhanced my paintings by taking them to another level of ambiguity due to the unfinished and abstract appearance, creating a stronger element of fear and uncertainty within the viewer.

I will continue to produce as many paintings as I can and experiment with ways of displaying them. I aim to un-stretch many of my canvases and arrange them in a slumped manner over handmade black wooden stands. This will hopefully remind the viewer of experiences where they have seen an item of clothing hung on a door, in the dark and thought it may be something more sinister and un-welcoming. Through researching installation art, I have decided to arrange my work in a way that allows the audience to engage and interact with my paintings by walking around the stands. The viewers will hopefully be able to see my slumped paintings in their peripheral vision no matter where they situate themselves, hopefully conveying the idea of shadow figures.

Throughout this project I have struggled with self-confidence within my artistic abilities. I chose to paint on large scale canvases, which is not something I have a lot of experience with when undertaking the stretching process. This involves the wood workshop, an environment I am not familiar with, in turn pushing myself out of my comfort zone.

Metaphysics was defined by Aristotle and communicates ideas surrounding the nature of reality and the possible questioning of nature's structure i.e. sensation, memory, mind, matter, abstraction, space, and time. This usually involves questions that cannot be answered by scientists due to these thoughts and possibilities surrounding existence, and nature, being considered obscure and highly theoretical. It involves the questioning of reality, regarding the possibility of worlds existing outside of ours, as well as the existence of other minds and is often discussed within religion, spirituality, and the occult (www.encyclopedia.com, n.d.). My art communicates the idea of other worldly phenomenon such as ghosts or demons, hopefully enticing similar questions and conversation relating to metaphysics. Do ghosts and demons exists? If so, what do they look like? What are they capable of?

Julia Kristeva’s ‘Power of Horror’ discusses the idea of the abject and how this may cause intense reactions within oneself, both physically, emotionally, and mentally. Something can be very intense, unfamiliar, scary, and fascinating, in turn unsettling oneself and creating an eerie atmosphere within the viewer (Kristeva, 1982). The faces within my paintings are unusual and unfamiliar due to the exaggerated facial features, such as extremely high cheek bones, sharp teeth, and gaping mouths. They are uncanny giving you shivers and create an eerie atmosphere, which may cause the viewer to feel uneasy when engaging with my work. Moreover, the theory of the uncanny discovered by Sigmund Freud is the idea that something, for example, a robot is human like and familiar, but also different and not quite right. This in turn allows the object or thing to become unfamiliar creating feelings of uncertainty and discomfort (Ruers, 2019).

The surrealist art movement, pioneered by Karl Marx, has informed, and influenced my practice. Marx aimed to explore the unconscious mind allowing our abilities within our imagination to surface and bring our visions and thoughts to life through our art (The Art Story, 2011). Similarly, I delve into my imagination uncovering images that I can depict through my paintings. The images I conjure are not seen in everyday life and may remind the viewer of their distorted fears and evoke feelings like ones experienced when watching a horror movie. My works involve intense facial expressions and features, unnatural round eyes and colours creating a dreamlike or nightmarish image.

I have found that the techniques used within my works create similar imagery to the figure seen depicted on the front cover of the horror movie Sinister directed by Scott Derrickson. The front cover depicts the main antagonist, 'The Boogie Man' in red substance, on a wall. This blood like substance drips to the floor creating a haunting, and abstract image. By spraying water onto my painting, this creates a similar appearance to the movie imagery. Recognising these connections between my art and the movie imagery, my work becomes even darker and unsettling.

My paintings have been inspired by many artists and their ways of working. Such as, Francis Bacon, who was involved with surrealism before creating works focusing on conveying motion and emotion. The imagery created within his work Study after Velazquez Portrait of Pope Innocent X is dark and haunting due to the gaping mouth of the subject's facial expression. The violent downward brushstrokes enhance the sinister atmosphere created by the unnatural and ghostly facial expression of the figure (The Art Story, 2010). Similarly, Edvard Munch’s The Scream, 1893 depicts a screaming figure with a wide gaping mouth. The figure resides on a bridge surrounded by warm lively strokes of colour conveying a hellish coloured sky, creating a chilling atmosphere (The Art Story, n.d). There are times within my practice that I have depicted figures with gaping mouths. I use lively brushstrokes and distortion techniques to convey motion and the idea of fleeting figures moving in the night.

Artist, Callum Innes, creates abstract works by painting the surface with a variety of pigments before removing layers and sections with turpentine. The artist does not have control over the finished appearance of his works due to the ‘un-painting’ technique (Ingleby Gallery, n.d). Recently within my practice I have utilised an ‘un-painting' technique by using water to lift the acrylic and allowing the water to drip down the canvas, giving control to my materials. These techniques have been successful in enhancing the sinister and haunting atmosphere within my works due to them becoming more unrefined and natural. Scottish artist, Ken Currie creates unsettling, eerie, uncanny, and figurative works that hold a cold atmosphere whilst depicting luminescent masks positioned, almost floating in the middle of the painting surrounded by darkness (Normand, 2002). The figures within my paintings seem to float or reside in the centre of the canvas whilst surrounded by darkness creating a ghostly or even demonic like appearance. I also utilised a limited colour pallet within my practice; I made use of cobalt blue, burgundy, green, red, and black. Although limited, I developed onto use other colours as I felt that limiting my colour pallet further to; black, burnt umber, and red, would enhance the ambiguity as well as create a darker and more nightmare like atmosphere.

Overall, this project has improved my painting skills as well as bring attention to my abilities, and weaknesses. So far, I have achieved more than I expected through the experimentation of painterly techniques and continuous development of my ideas. I had an intention of what I wanted my works to communicate, and I feel I have achieved this. By experimenting with unconventional ways of displaying my paintings this further enhances and communicates my sinister and unsettling works. I have undertaken extensive research that plays a significant role in influencing my overall ideas and will continue to plan and remain organised throughout the creative enquiry project.

Bibliography

Haunted Rooms®. (2016). Shadow People 101 - What Are They, What Do they Look Like? [online] Available at: https://www.hauntedrooms.co.uk/what-are-shadow-people.

Ingleby Gallery. (n.d.). Callum Innes - Overview. [online] Available at: https://www.inglebygallery.com/artists/44-callum-innes/overview/.

jude-white-a2-media. (n.d.). Horror Iconography. [online] Available at: https://chalky500.wixsite.com/jude-white-a2-media/horror-iconography#:~:text=Children [Accessed 6 Apr. 2024].

Kristeva, J. (1982). Powers of Horror an Essay on Abjection. New York, Ny Columbia Univ. Press.

www.encyclopedia.com. (n.d.). Metaphysics, History of | Encyclopedia.com. [online] Available at: https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/metaphysics-history#:~:text=as%20a%20blueprint.- [Accessed 16 Apr. 2024].

Normand, T. (2002). Ken Currie. Ben Uri Gallery & Museum.

Ruers, J. (2019). The Uncanny | Freud Museum London. [online] Freud Museum London. Available at: https://www.freud.org.uk/2019/09/18/the-uncanny/.

Sleep Foundation. (2021). What Are Waking Dreams? [online] Available at: https://www.sleepfoundation.org/how-sleep-works/hypnagogic-hallucinations.

The Art Story. (n.d.). Edvard Munch Paintings, Bio, Ideas. [online] Available at: https://www.theartstory.org/amp/artist/munch-edvard/.

The Art Story (2010). Francis Bacon. [online] The Art Story. Available at: https://www.theartstory.org/artist/bacon-francis/.

The Art Story. (2019). Metaphysical Painting Movement Overview. [online] Available at: https://www.theartstory.org/movement/metaphysical-painting/.

The Art Story (2011). Surrealism Movement Overview. [online] The Art Story. Available at: https://www.theartstory.org/movement/surrealism/.

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dafriamaskurie · 6 months

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Denny Ja: Spiritual Journey: Understanding the Role of Religion in Erracting the Human Soul

Does not matter! Below is the article you requested with the title 'Denny Ja: Spiritual Journey: Understanding the Role of Religion in Erracting the Human Soul'. Happy reading!

Denny JA: Spiritual Journey: Understanding the Role of Religion in Erracting the Human Soul In the course of his life, each individual has a different search in understanding the meaning of life and feeling connected with something bigger than themselves. For some people, spiritual journey is the path they choose to find peace and explore a deeper meaning in this life. One of the characters who have experienced an interesting spiritual journey is Denny JA. Denny JA, or familiarly called by the name Denny JAnuar Ali, is a famous Indonesian intellectual and community leader. However, behind his intelligence in terms of politics and social, there is a spiritual journey that makes Denny Ja increasingly understand the role of religion in enriching the human soul. As a young man, Denny Ja grew up in a very religious family. Islam has become an important part of its life and has shaped its world of view. However, Denny Ja's interest in understanding religion does not stop there. He felt that there was more that he could learn and understand from other religions. His spiritual journey began when Denny Ja began to study and apply spiritual concepts from other religions. He explored the teachings of Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, etc., with the determination to enrich his understanding of humans and their existence in this world. In his journey, Denny Ja discovered that although religions have differences in rites and beliefs, they all have the same nucleus: seeking inner peace, respecting life, and trying to be a better human being. These religions are various spiritual pathways that can help humans in enriching their souls. Denny Ja also realizes that spiritual journey is not something that must be done individually. He believes that dialogue between religions and mutual understanding of trust is very important in achieving peace and harmony in this world. In an effort to promote inter -religious harmony, Denny Ja established various forums and organizations that prioritize tolerance and interfaith dialogue. In addition, Denny Ja is also trying to bring spiritual values in everyday life. He believes that spirituality is not only about worship in the holy place, but also about how we interact with fellow humans and the universe. He teaches the importance of love, affection, and empathy in life, and respecting nature as part of a spiritual journey. Denny Ja's spiritual journey cannot be separated from challenges. He faced criticism and skepticism from various parties. However, he remains firm in his belief that spiritual journey is important to enrich the human soul. He also understands that every individual has the right to choose their own spiritual paths they want. In recent years, Denny Ja has become increasingly known as a spiritual thinker who inspires many people. The essay poetry essays and lectures on religion and spirituality have moved many people to be more open and understand the diversity of religions in Indonesia. Through his spiritual journey, Denny Ja has enriching the human soul with a deeper understanding of religion and spiritual values. He has proven that exploring wisdom from various religions can help humans in finding inner peace and improving the quality of their lives.

Check more: Denny Ja: Spiritual journey: Understanding the role of religion in enriching the human soul

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palpablenotion · 7 years

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Hannibal Rewatch from the POV of an autistic fan

All episodes will be under a cut and reblogged from this first post, with the number and name above the cut for easy browsing.

Note: Because I’m watching this from a specific POV, i.e., observing Will Graham as being on the spectrum, I may be harsh towards characters. For instance, I’m incredibly critical of Jack, who doesn’t mean to hurt Will, thinks when it happens that it was worth it for the job, and is actively bad for Will’s mental well being. Conversely, I will not often be harsh in this same way towards Hannibal, who is also bad for Will’s mental well being but means to be. Hannibal’s actions are completely purposeful, unlike other’s who do Will wrong by being inconsiderate/ignorant/oblivious. Many character’s I share harsh opinions for here I probably genuinely like.

S01E01: Aperitif

I’m rewatching Hannibal to help with a fic I’m writing but already I’m annoyed at the head of the BSU for being so damn NT.

“I also understand it’s difficult for you to be social.”

fuck you Jack nds can be whatever the fuck we want including teachers

also don’t fuck with someone’s glasses even if you think that’s why they can’t make eyecontact chances are they’re using their glasses not to make eye contact you aba performing tool

“My horse is hitched to a post that is closer to asperger’s and autistics than narcissists and sociopaths”

I hate that this distinction needs to be made because apparently people confuse us auties with narcissists and sociopaths due to our presentation of symptoms, completely ignoring why each group presents that way - mind you, this isn’t hating on narcissists or sociopaths. we present these symptoms for different reasons, that’s just the truth - and part of us auties being confused with these other labels is the perception that autistics are “low on empathy” which isn’t always true - for me, a big part of my autism is just how empathetic i am, it’s exhausting

i empathize so much with will graham

Jack: But you can empathize with [them]? Will: I can empathize with anyone. Less to do with a personality disorder than an active imagination.

Thank you Will. I sometimes feel my imagination is a burden too, but generally I think it’s awesome. And his glasses have already fallen down again. This man I swear.

I love how awkward my guy here is. He’s beautiful and I love him.

Stop staring at him Jack he doesn’t like eye contact.

Hugh Dancy is so amazing, I love him and his acting.

“You make jumps you can’t explain-” “No, no! The evidence explains.”

He isn’t magic, he’s just better at your job, Jack. Also way to push someone who already said he’s autistic/autistic adjacent (definitely nd) into a situation he said he’s uncomfortable with and definitely didn’t want to do.

Will asks questions that really seem obvious. Elyse was supposed to feed her parents’ cat while they were away for the weekend. Will asks, hey, how’s the cat? She hungry?

Jack seems accommodating with his “if you feel like talking, talk, if you don’t, don’t” but this whole business is so messed up, he shouldn’t even be in this situation. Just because Will is good at his job doesn’t mean he wants to interact with these people.

And here Bev is being way too intrusive, but if I remember correctly - I might not, I didn’t have the autistic label or awareness back when I last watched this - she makes attempts to behave better.

Someone need to get this boy a blanket and hot drink.

And here’s our first instance of seeing him interact with an animal. He’s far more comfortable, doesn’t wear his glasses, won’t give up on this dog. Open and happy. Winston and the rest of his dogs show us that Will Graham isn’t some heartless automaton but a man that just has trouble interacting with people. He’s much more comfortable interacting with dogs, who have very plain motivations.

Jack is a bully. “What’re you doing in here?” He’s fucking putting himself together, get out.

You can’t abuse someone into working well with you.

He’s actively rattling Will, upsetting him enough to cause Will to shout. Will is trembling when talking to him.

“Graham likes you, doesn’t think you’ll run any mind games on him.” Insinuating that Will doesn’t like most people because they are running mind games and isn’t that depressing.

“I don’t. I’m as honest with him as I’d be with a patient.” I honestly don’t know how to take Alana saying this because she’s equating talking to a specific peer as talking to a patient and there are plenty of psychologist/psychiatrists that aren’t honest with their patients.

Newsflash, Will Graham isn’t his diagnosis.

“Seems ashamed not to take advantage.” That’s the summary of Jack’s interactions with Will.

“I need him out there.” No, you don’t. You want him out there to make your job easier.

Will Graham is a perfect example of how demonized people on the spectrum are. I won’t get ahead of myself and talk about the finale yet, but man what a post that will be.

It’s so easy to see the difference in someone actually psychopathic - if not perfectly fitting the label of psychopath - and Will Graham. Also, Jack is very unprofessional with Hannibal. It isn’t good form to approach a doctor with a patient. He’s also unimaginably rude, just going through stuff.

The only reason Hannibal didn’t kill Jack near the beginning, besides it being stupid to kill someone in the FBI, is that Jack gave him a gift in Will Graham.

Will and Hannibal’s first interaction is fascinating. Hannibal doesn’t try and force eye contact, but asks how Will feels about it. And Hannibal doesn’t try and hide what he’s doing. Will has an issue with mind games and Hannibal presents their relationship as being upfront (I mean, we know this is bs, but the presentation is what’s important, right mom’s of autistics? //s )

It’s so dark in Will’s hotel room, I am feeling that aesthetic.

Will tastes the food before moving it to his plate. I feel that too. There’s so much food I hate.

“Be professional... I don’t find you that interesting” Will is attempting to put up not only boundaries but barriers. He has grown to hate psychologists because all they want to do is put him in boxes and he obviously has a lot of shit in his past concerning that (not limited to being denied FBI status and losing his job on the force).

Will appreciates Hannibal making fun of how Jack sees him. He’s so tired of that shit, of thinking about it, of enduring it. We all know those paranoid little thoughts, am i annoying them, do they think i’m crazy, if i don’t do this will they think i can’t handle it? And Hannibal comes in and validates those worries by saying “Uncle Jack sees you as a fragile little tea cup” and Will appreciates that.

It also gives Will the momentum to ask how Hannibal sees him (which, don’t we always want to ask someone that?) and the suggestion is here that Will wants to see if Hannibal tells him the truth but also he legit probably wants to know. We always do. And we don’t.

“The mongoose I want under the house when the snakes slither by.” This response confuses Will but it’s not fragile. It is insinuating a strength, actually.

I love Will asking “What are you smiling about?” because if one thing pisses me off it’s people telling me to smile. Why should I? I’m not upset, I’m just not actively happy. Go away. They aren’t doing anything but driving so why on earth is Hannibal smiling. Will you have so many of the same issues I have (and a lot I don’t, thank God)

And Will enjoys that Hannibal is actively interested in his process. He’s opening up. Willing to mention why he’s doing things. Answers questions willingly and readily. It’s obvious that Will Graham has a logical reason for doing these things. Someone is finally acknowledging it’s a process and not magic.

I think this is something really important, when Hannibal calls Hobbs just to see what happens. I might think “what would happen if” but I think far too much about things and have far too much concern for others (and empathy, don’t forget empathy) to just throw a wrench in the works to see what happens.

And Will is actually really impressive. It’s so obvious to me that he wants to shut down, just stop, but he can’t yet. Not to say anything about those who would have, that’s completely valid. Will is so good at this job he doesn’t even have that he constantly fights himself to do it.

This is NOT a healthy place to put him. Someone on the spectrum who shuts down at things like this, who is actively not an agent, who has said he doesn’t want to do this and been coerced into doing this job, should not be forced into this position. This is why #someonehelpwillgraham went viral. Multiple times. And became a rallying cry for the fandom for a while.

#hannibal rewatch #actually autistic #autistic!willgraham #actuallyautistic #hannibal: aperitif #hannibal s01e01 #someone help will graham #palp psychoanalyzes #critical of jack crawford #critical view of inter-character interactions

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bronyinabottle · 3 years

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G5 MOVIE THOUGHTS FOLLOWUP - THE ANCIENT EQUESTRIAN ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

SPOILER WARNING: THIS WILL GET INTO SPOILERS FOR THE G5 MOVIE EVEN BEFORE THE BREAK. IT HAS BEEN JUST OVER A WEEK SINCE THE MOVIE PREMIERED. BUT IF YOU STILL HAVEN'T SEEN IT, PLEASE SCROLL PAST THIS.

This is something of a follow-up to my thoughts on the movie. My thoughts on the movie were generally positive. Though much like the movie itself, the positive thoughts were on what it’s doing on it’s own merit as the start of a new generation of pony media. As someone who had followed Generation 4 from all the way in the middle of Season 1 to the ending of Season 9, the connection the G5 movie makes with the previous generation in the opening scenes are enough that it’s necessary to give a perspective from a G4 fan’s point of view. Again, I do want to say that G5 will be within it’s right to not have to answer so many plot things at once and try to stand on it’s own by exploring the characters and this new Equestria first.

That said, it shouldn’t be a surprise that the longer none of the questions G4 fans will have are answered. There is a huge elephant in the room with the unanswered questions from G4. And It is Hasbro’s fault in the first place for telling us it’s the same Equestria, There will be fans that are annoying about it from multiple angles, and there will probably be times where people who just want to enjoy G5 on it’s own just outright snap at anyone who wants their answers about what happened in between G4 and G5. Even if the person who asks the question is just genuinely curious and not being demanding there be answers. This is just the kind of thing that all fandoms that have timeskip sequels, especially ones where it overrides a happy ending where discussing with other friends can get dicey.

HAPPY ENDING OVERRIDES AND ALICORNS

Until we get an official answer from the show itself, we can only theorize with each other. Though theorizing about a happy ending override, regardless of how long it’s been and/or how sensible the theory is can start some heated discussions, Cause many were content with the happy ending of the original. While no realistic story ever has a happily ever after, a story within a fantasy land such as MLP’s can be an exception.

Let me give something of a comparison by bringing up another show. Avatar: The Last Airbender is perhaps my favorite show of all-time. And while it’s true I didn’t like the sequel series Korra as much as A:TLA. It wasn’t because of some happy ending override with at least half of the main cast from the previous series deceased. The Avatars themselves are just as human as the other characters in the world. Avatar’s still a fantasy world when all is said and done, but the way the world building is done still made it feel like it it was possible for the world to be in danger again by the time the next Avatar is grown up, most known Avatars had challenges they had to face. The Avatar series blends some form of realism but still manages to provide a fun fantasy world. It’s a case where it’s believable that the main legacy of Aang’s time as the Avatar aside from defeating the Fire Lord where he created Republic City would have it’s own fair share of problems that would be left to his successor to solve. Aang in turn was finishing the war that Roku failed to stop. So while I have my criticisms about Korra, none of those are related to the way the world is after the timeskip. It reasonably makes sense in the context of the Avatar universe.

In contrast, there isn’t much we know about the past of G4 and it’s a much more idealistic setting then in Avatar. Yes, ponies die with what I assume are human-esque lifespans for the exception of the Alicorns. But Friendship is Magic is a setting where the power of friendship is literal magic power that can save the day even when things look bleak. As a result it can get very sappy, but FiM is the kind of show you watch to put a smile on your face rather then go to for a multi-faceted plot. Most episodes of FiM are the kind of thing you see in a lot of other shows. But what brings most of it’s fans back even for the most overdone plots is the characters and their interactions. FiM’s lore is a lot less straight forward, and sometimes may feel not as consistent given there were so many different writers over the long span of time. That said, there is something about the series that sort of ties in heading into G5 and that’s G4’s history, and especially Alicorn lore. We don’t get a lot of either even back in G4, as the most we get is the founding of Equestria was through the Hearth’s Warming Eve story, and the knowledge that Alicorns like Celestia and Luna are at least older then 1000. Which is a huge gap compared to the Avatars that no matter how powerful, have similar mortality to our own. Throughout G4’s time, the debate about Alicorns have raged throughout the whole time even before things got really heated upon Twilight becoming an Alicorn in Magical Mystery Cure. Some went with Celestia and Luna being the only immortal Alicorns while Cadence and Twilight were somehow lesser Alicorns that aren’t immortal but maybe at least still a longer lifespan then their normal pony friends and family. Though as of Season 9, that may be turned on it’s head when in The Last Problem. Twilight eventually grows to Celestia-size as Celestia and Luna even retire to let Twilight succeed them. If Twilight is somehow a lesser Alicorn, why did she grow to Celestia’s size? Why did Celestia and Luna retire in the first place if they knew Twilight will not be as long lived as they are? Perhaps part of the reason G5 has as many questions as it does is because G4 itself created questions it never promised to answer.

That said, the implied length of Celestia and Luna’s rule still presents G5 with a problem that will be asked everywhere. Even if we go with the possibility that most of the Mane 6 have passed from old age, you still have to answer something about Twilight. If Twilight is also dead, how long did she live? Did she at least have an over-1000 year reign as Celestia did? Was perhaps Luster Dawn chosen to be her younger co-ruler if Luster herself ascended at some point? The kind of things that might actually force G5 into a corner when it comes to Alicorns despite the fact G4 never had to, especially now that Sunny may have just become one herself. This is once again, another of the traps Hasbro put the writing team through by having them put it in the same world. G5 thus not only adds questions about what happened in between the Generations, but also now has to inherit what remained unanswered in G4. That is a VERY tall task on a team that will likely just want to do their own little fun pony show. It’ll raise expectations too high, and there will be annoyed fans regardless how they spin it. Which could have all been avoided if they set it up that this was an entirely new world, or made G4 a fictional story (With all the references to it being mainly merchandise for a really meta look at things) in the G5 universe. You’d still have people complaining about it not being as good as G4 probably, but the approach they went with added more gasoline to the fire whenever G4 Vs. G5 debates happen in the MLP fandom. And inter-fandom generation fights are never fun, just ask the Pokemon and the Sonic fandoms how that turns out (Even though there’s no Generation number count for the Sonic franchise. You could say Gen 1 of Sonic was the classic era. Gen 2 was the Sonic Adventure Era. Gen 3 was the “Dark Age” Sonic 2006-Sonic Unleashed era. Gen 4 the Sonic Colors and Generations era. and Gen 5 the current Sonic Forces and Team Sonic Racing era. And then of course there’s also the different TV shows and comic books that also have their own fans that can be at each other’s throats).

There isn’t going to be an easy solution to something that will no doubt have fans on the edge on their seat even if they will be left to hang on that edge for a longtime before G5 starts to give some answers. I think I’ll at least bring up 3 things that will probably be part of the discussions of just what happened between G4 and G5

(More after the break)

1. AND THEN EVERYTHING CHANGED WHEN THE FIRE NATION AN UNKNOWN THREAT ATTACKED

With G4 being considered Ancient Equestria. It’s probably safe to assume this is at least 1,000 years after G4. And 1,000 or more is a really, really, long time. Where anything could of happened, including *GASP* a villain actually winning at some point (Or at least, did some lasting damage even if they were ultimately defeated). Though I think even with that possibility, there has to be a sense that the villain didn’t defeat the Mane 6 while the other members aside from Twilight were still alive. If Twilight was at some point defeated. Perhaps the villain struck when Twilight was most vulnerable. You could also have it that Twilight somehow sacrificed herself to defeat a large threat. She saved Equestria one last time, but at the cost of even her long-lasting alicorn life. With the populace left on their own to continue life without Twilight, but the loss of their longtime leader too much for Equestria. Thus a slow decline happened.

As for who the threat was it’ll probably be a while if we ever know. Perhaps the real Grogar showed up at some point and was truly a harrowing threat to deal with. Or something entirely new. Maybe it wasn’t even a villain, but a catastrophic natural disaster. Whatever it is, if this is the case. We’d have to deal with the sad thought of something being too much for even Twilight to handle

2. TWILIGHT BECAME DEPRESSED/JADED AFTER HER FRIENDS PASSED. POSSIBLY EVIL TOO?

This would basically be the cliche sadfic ending. Where after everyone of the Mane 6 has passed. Twilight just never felt the same afterward. Though I do feel like there is the slight counterpoint that maybe Twilight would still have Celestia and/or Luna (maybe, again we’ve never ever gotten full confirmation of how long Alicorns live. Just assured that it’s more then 1000 years) and she’d most certainly still have a full grown Spike and any of her friends descendants. Death is always a sad reality, but you have to wonder if Twilight would have prepared herself by the time that comes. Twilight would have not gone as far as she did without the rest of the Mane 6. But while I’m sure it would be a tearjerking moment, it’s not like Twilight wouldn’t have other friends she made throughout the generations. Celestia and Luna also must of gone through the same thing living for more then 1000 years, yet they seem pretty fine. So while the subject of “immortality blues” is prime for sadfic material in the fandom. It feels like there’d have to be more nuance then that, if this were the reason the time between G4 and G5 led into each other.

Supposedly, this theory is picking up some form of steam. To the point that a head canon is rolling around is that it was actually Twilight who sealed the magic away in the first place for one reason or another. Essentially making Twilight, in a huge plot twist, a villain in G5 or at the very least someone who took the magic with them into some form of Limbo very similar to Starswirl and the other founders during the Season 7 finale. I… personally don’t know how I’d feel about that. They’d have to be very careful with the execution of such a twist. And I’d want more nuance then simply Twilight getting sad about the deaths of her friends. At the very least, it’d likely eventually get to a point where this villainous incarnation of Twilight is reformed and probably becomes a recurring character from then on. But the writers will have to tread very carefully if this is the direction they take.

3. G5 IS AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT UNIVERSE/TIMELINE. JUST FOR THE MOST PART THE MAJOR EVENTS OF "ANCIENT EQUESTRIA" STILL HAPPENED

Perhaps this last one really gets into a more desperate side to deflect any possibility that the ending of G4 could of deteriorated into what the world becomes at the start of G5. I know there will be plenty that will be too frustrated with the lack of satisfactory answers that they annoy people in the comment sections, getting into situations where sometimes the only answer to those people will be others that just want to watch G5 as a fun show with a “cope”, “read a history book”, or “deal with it”. But honestly, there can be a case here. As I mentioned in my thoughts in the movie. There are visual details on characters and/or lore that while they may seem minor, to the point that even if they do ever answer important questions such as what caused magic to disappear and/or what happened to Alicorns like Twilight. That the staff may ignore completely because they think it’s too small of a detail to bother including. But the most nitpicky fan can and will latch on small excuses into why it can’t be the same.

Let’s begin with the one-sided Cutie Mark. Again, while it’s true that previous generations made this a tradition. And it was only on one side on the G4 toys as well, as the actual reason it was on both sides in the G4 show was because it was easier for the flash animators. That said, it’s still a big pony design inconsistency. Because regardless of it was only to make things easier, it became a staple because of how long G4 lasted. So it was still so weird to see early screenshot and artwork of G5 characters with grown ponies with no mark. When that wasn’t possible in G4, as it turned out it was because the one-sided cutie mark returned. But one side as opposed to both sides is still a significant difference. Similarly, the horns and wingtips being a different color then the coat may also be a significant difference. Of course I know it can be just waved off as art style difference, as the art direction is no longer based on what Faust wanted the ponies to look like. It’s still plausible enough for someone to discredit it as truly in continuity with G4. Cause even for those that are on the side of “More then 1000 years is a long time, anything could of happened” it’s a lot harder to argue against inconsistencies such as cutie marks only being on one side unless they switch gears to the meta explanation of “G4’s double sided cutie mark was not intentional, at least at first”. But from what most people saw in the G4 show, G4 ponies had marks on both sides. And the G5 ponies don’t. It’s again, quite nitpicky. But it’s enough to start a case that at the very least, the ancient past of G4 is not 100% the same G4 we saw in the show.

Speaking of not the same G4 we saw in the show, another possibility is that G5 actually came out of an alternate timeline. Where perhaps the last two seasons did not happen. If perhaps it’s a timeline where major events in the show either ended anywhere between the end of Season 4 or the end of Season 7, then it starts to feel a little more possible. (Supposedly, the tree of harmony in it’s Season 9 form that might counteract it. But then again it had none of the treehouse architecture and was all wood. Which ironically may lead into it leaning more that the G4 show isn’t the same continuity). If the events of the Friendship School nor everything else that leads to the ending we saw in The Last Problem. It’d be a lot more palatable because the pretty much implied world peace ending with non-ponies in the mix included is discounted. There’d still be questions even in this scenario, like did Celestia and Luna still retire in this timeline then. And regardless if they did or not, the show would still be burdened with the question of what happened to the Alicorns. But it’d at least solve the most pressing question with the peace of The Last Problem being squandered. Because perhaps in this timeline, the Mane 6 never went that far. Perhaps it would imply some sort of indirect failure in that case. But this is perhaps a scenario they had a similar foreign policy as Celestia did. Not really hostile to anyone, but not intervening even in ways that could be helpful. Heck, if we go far enough in saying that G5\s G4 (As confusing as that may sound) was different from what we saw in Friendship is Magic, what if there were differences even early on for one reason or another? With how vague the connection is, we only know that the Mane 6 were friends and Twilight still became a princess at some point. From there. potentially a lot of other things may have gone differently other then that.

Again, saying G5 is a completely different universe/timeline is probably always going to sound like a desperate way for people who cannot possibly believe the ending of G4 eventually led to the start of G5. And I’d understand why that’ll annoy people who just want to watch the G5 series on it’s own merits. But it really wouldn’t be entirely the fans to blame for that attitude. G4 lasted a whole decade, many got attached to the characters/world we saw that had about the happiest ending it could possibly be. It should naturally make people unhappy that in a few ways it’s stomping over a happy ending for this fantasy world that many watched to escape from the realities of the real world.

Even with the long time allotted of 1000+ years or more, that’s made complicated by the implied long lives of the Alicorns from G4. Only opening up that can of worms further by seemingly making Sunny an alicorn. There’s a debate on whether this form is permanent, but if it’s NOT permanent. That arguably adds yet another addition to the list of reasons it may fall out of continuity. The only time we had a temporary Alicorn transformation (outside of Animation errors, or dream sequences like Big Mac’s) was when Cozy was an Alicorn after receiving some of the magic from Grogar’s bell. But even in that case, Cozy’s wings were not more like a glowy hologram like Sunny’s wings seem to be. And even if it is permanently on Sunny now, the design for Alicorns is too different. Adding onto the one-sided cutie marks, and different colored wings and horns. So the G5 writers may actually be stuck in a lose/lose situation when it comes to Alicorns after the ending of the movie. I think whether Sunny is permanently an Alicorn or not, they may not elaborate enough about it. And it’ll be among the headaches in the comment section (Though may at least be a reprieve from the political discussions G5 are going to have on occasion I imagine.)

Hasbro chose to try to say this is the same Equestria, and a new show needs conflicts to solve. But from the perspective of some G4 fans… it forces a world they loved, to get torn down into arguably a more divided world then even the Hearth’s Warming tale. Which said tale seems to have been implied to be from before Princess Celestia and Luna were around (Based on the lore of the unicorns being the one to raise the sun and moon) and thus yes. Somehow, if everything that happened in G4 is canon to G5. Then the world peace in The Last Problem in just a thousand years or so become worse then even Celestia’s sole rule.

RESPONDING TO “READ A HISTORY BOOK”

I’ve mentioned before, you can try to point to World History to point why this is a realistic take. But again, we don’t have an ancient civilization from 1000 years ago that we look up to as the pinnacle of peace in the world (Like I said, the Golden age of Ancient Greece and/or Rome still had slavery and brutal wars). That has literally never happened. What was shown in the Last Problem very much looked like it was that for Equestria. I feel it’s a terrible interpretation of time, especially in regards to the context that the leaders of Equestria tend to live for at least more then 1000 years to imply things would just go backward like that.

CONCLUSION

The movie on it’s own merits is a good start for the generation, though at the same time. It’s going to have some hard questions that’ll often be no-win situations for the writers. They can choose to ignore the G4 questions, understandably trying to tiptoe around as many cans of worms as possible which would allow them to do whatever the heck they want with G5. Maybe even getting a few stragglers frustrated with no answers to just shrug and continue watching anyway if the show entertains them enough. Or they can certainly try to at least give some answers on the biggest questions (What happened to the magic, and/or what was the fate of G4’s alicorns) but risk having an answer that just adds even more questions.

The movie is a decent start for a new generation if you only view it as a pilot for a new series, but if you view it as a sequel to Friendship is Magic. There are certainly problematic issues with that currently. Maybe the special in Spring, or the eventual Series will cover some of this but it does leave fans waiting a while for answers that they’re not promised to get, or at least not as quickly as they’d like. Remember when I mentioned that I may view some of this similarly to how I was about Starlight Glimmer after her sudden redemption at the end of Season 5? With many questions I wanted to know about Starlight before I could really accept her as a recurring character? (And not really fully coming into terms with her until I expanded on her myself in a story for I Dream of Twilight Sparkle) This may be how I have to view the connection of G4 and G5.

They can go one of two routes: At least try to give as much of a clear explanation as possible. Even if it’s one that doesn’t exactly answer everything, at least giving a good try may help with those who have questions remaining in relation to G4. If instead however, they go the Season 6 Starlight route of just about ignoring all the questions fans have, it’ll make things frustrating for many. At least with Starlight, she wasn’t the major focus in every episode. That said, Season 6’s job was to endear us more to her reformed character. Now with G5’s setup, it may be running well into a corner where they must try to answer what happened in between G4 and G5 or else you end up making a lot of fans lukewarm or worse to your series. Starlight’s reformation and then lack of ability of Season 6 to explain more about Starlight to us was a divisive moment. And G5 involving G4 brings over the same kind of feeling but on a larger scale because now it’s in the very premise of the generation’s plot, it’s less avoidable compared to one character. Because even when it comes to episodes that will not further the plot and it’s just a fun friendly moment between the members of the mane 5, this movie is how they met and thus the not fully explained premise would always be looming over like a large shadow. It probably doesn’t help that they’re basically starting with a reformed Starlight-esque moment when it comes to introducing it’s premise AND on top of that something similar although certainly with at least a lot less backlash then with Alicorn Twilight since it came so soon. Though I do have to think there will be people who think this was way too soon to be ascending Sunny, since at least we got to see Twilight’s journey to Alicornhood (Even if you weren’t a fan of the episode she ascended in). Sunny arguably does earn her Alicornhood through implied years of working to unite the ponies. But it can still feel too soon when you had 2 1/2 seasons worth of episodes before Twilight did, while Sunny did so within one movie.

Someone’s ultimate thoughts on G5 might end up being what they are looking for in this new generation. If they’re looking for just about everything new. The movie provides plenty of that with new characters, new locations, and a more modernized world compared to G4 Equestria (Even if G4 Equestria had it’s own fair share of electronics it looked like, such as video game machines). If you’re in this for the G4 references. Aside from the very beginning of the movie, you’re kind of stuck doing a where’s waldo for most of the movie. And no guarantees you’ll get much more then that later. As I said in the trailer thoughts, the G4 stuff could very much be just Hasbro trying to bake it’s cake and eat it too. With a world that feels like it should be it’s own thing, but they didn’t want to commit entirely to that. So they shoehorn G4 in as the ancient past without giving a proper explanation to how point A (the end of G4) got to point B (the start of G5). It’s only been about a week since the movie premiered, but there is just so much to digest. And for those looking for answers to the G4 elephant in the room, may feel like they get nothing but metaphorical tummy aches for a long time.

I’ll end this off by having a message to both people who already feel like they’ll be fans of G5, as well as people like me who were fans of G4 and have concerns about where G5 may be doing to it’s legacy.

For the G5 fans, as I mentioned in the trailer thoughts. I still hope that it turns out ultimately good. I don’t know where things will go from here but the G5 movie taking in context that it’s basically a really long series premiere, had some genuinely enjoyable moments. At the same time, I hope anyone in the G5 fanbase can try to understand why G4 fans have the concerns that they do. I’ll repeat, G4 lasted a decade and was the absolute peak of MLP’s popularity. There will be a lot of people attached to that world, and understandably upset about the implication that it got torn down into how the world is at the start of G5. If they’re really annoying about it, I can understand why you couldn’t hold the urge to snap at them to “Get over it” just try not to snap at the ones who are just asking curiously. I’m personally not going to spam comment threads with “THIS DOESN’T FIT WITH G4!” or “HASBRO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS PLEASE”, but I would be lying if I were to say I’m not just as curious about what those type of fans want to know too.

And as for G4 fans like me, if G5 ever upsets you in some fashion. It’s ok to stop watching and just stay quiet whenever you find yourself in a conversation about G5 and only participate in G4 matters in the fandom. This is a natural evolution of a fandom’s lifecycle where eventually a direction a franchise is taken to a place some others don’t like. So you’re only left to mainly talk with those who prefer an older generation and/or incarnation. Just because G5 has started and even though Hasbro says it’s the same world as G4. You can still do G4 content by itself and ignore G5. If you still have the inclination to do stuff with G4, do it. Generation 5 is not stopping people from still drawing the G4 characters, or writing more stories about them, or even if you don’t feel you’re that creative. Support artists who are still drawing G4 ponies, and/or rewatch some of your favorite episodes of Friendship is Magic that give you a smile. MLP has lasted since the 80s, and while for the most part to Hasbro it’s to sell toys. Toys, and the shows surrounding them’s purpose is to make the people watching or playing with them smile. From the little girls in the 80s to the much more diverse both gender-wise and age-wise fandom that came out of G4. The cute ponies are supposed to make us happy, and it’s ok to get back into a comfort zone if perhaps a different part of Ponies don’t give you the same feeling or even upset you in some way. Also as a vice versa to my message to G5 fans, try as best you can not to provoke those enjoying G5. If the G5 movie and/or episodes makes them as happy as your favorite G4 episodes/movies you should let them be. Many of us had to deal with that crap just for daring liking a pony show at all early on in the fandom. Try not to add to the toxicity as best you can. G4 is not going to be forgotten, the fact Hasbro decided to try to make it in the same universe actually has the side effect of making sure of that. Cause maybe you have fans that enter the MLP franchise through G5 curious about what happened in the past. And thus, they can be led to watch the previous generation. New G5 fans could potentially also become new G4 fans and friends. In other words, friendship… is still magic!

#mlp #my little pony #g5 #mlp g5 #netflix #my little pony the next generation #my little pony movie #generation 5 #g4 #mlp g4 #generation 4

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thevalleyisjolly · 3 years

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Been thinking about Lapin and Cumulous (pretty much all the time, let’s be honest), and I think it’s really interesting how both of them, in their own ways, stand at a relational distance from the rest of the party, which has really interesting in-game as well as meta implications.

Because when A Crown of Candy starts, we have the House Rocks set - Amethar, Ruby, Jet, and slightly further away, Liam (by blood) and Theo (by allegiance and love). Lapin stands apart as someone whom we know from the beginning has a different allegiance, or at least, follows the orders of another entity. Which is kind of what we, as an audience, need at that point, because established relationships can be a little hard to break into! In-game, the characters have these deep bonds with each other, whether by family ties or by loyalty, and while those are fun to watch and speculate on the nature of, it isn’t always the easiest to connect with right at the beginning. Lapin, apart from being a fascinating character of his own, stands at a similar distance like the audience. Just as he gradually comes to cast his lot in with the Rocks family and become invested in their well-being, it mirrors our (the audience’s) own journey with coming to know the characters and becoming invested in their story.

(Sometimes I wonder if that isn’t part of Lapin’s meta appeal, that narrative-wise, he doesn’t need to become invested in the party, doesn’t need to care about them. He’s here because his patron wants him to be here, but there’s nothing that says he must become emotionally involved with them. And yet, and yet! One of his last acts in the world -and arguably his most meaningful- is to choose to care about these people, to give up his life for them, and I’m still not over how his last insight, his last roll, realizing that the Bulb cares for no one, contrasts so beautifully with his death - this sly, aloof chancellor with a barbed tongue dies because he chooses to care for someone. What a powerful ‘found family’ vibe indeed)

(In the same way your heart feels and your mind thinks, you, mortal beings, are the instrument by which the universe cares. If you choose to care, then the universe cares. If you don't, then it doesn't.)

Cumulous also stands apart from the rest of the party in a lot of ways. Like Liam, he’s a relation of the Rocks, but in an even more distant way, and he makes it explicitly clear to Amethar early on that the Rocks are not his number one priority - Candia’s magic is. By the time Cumulous comes in, we the audience have become very invested in the story of the Rocks family, and we’ve formed our own bonds with the characters. So it feels a little strange to have a PC who deliberately aligns himself outside those relationships that we’ve come to love!

But I think that at that point in the story, that’s kind of what we need. I would argue that more so than almost every other PC, Cumulous situates the events around the Rocks family as part of a larger context, a larger world. Jet, Ruby and Liam were still young and relatively sheltered, there was a lot about history and the world that they weren’t familiar with until they needed to be. Even Amethar and Theo, who lived through that history, had a limited exposure to the wider reach of the Bulbian Church. Within Castle Candy, the Church is something boring and stuffy and alright, you’re not supposed to do magic, you have to call it alchemy, but it’s more of an unpleasant and inconvenient institution than anything else.

Except then we learn that there’s more to the Church’s suppression of magic than just disapproval of witchcraft. We learn about how it’s a way of controlling people, and we also learn about how important magic is in Candia especially, how it’s a part of the land and the people, and all of a sudden, the Bulbian crusade against Candia takes on a far darker turn. Because crusades don’t just spring up out of nowhere, they’re built on years of ideology and fanaticism, and that has been what the suppression of magic, the rumours about Candia’s reputation for “alchemy,” the Ramsian doctrine, has all been about. What Cumulous brings into sharp relief is that fighting the Church is not just about personal revenge or who should be the rightful emperor, it’s about the Church’s decades-long plan to essentially commit genocide (as well as its decades of oppression and outright abuse, which it apparently had a free reign in).

(Jet, dear Jet, understood this first and fast. She got that it wasn’t just about her personal feelings, that the problem was in the institution of the Church itself, and she was the first one to devote time to researching what they actually said, what the Ramsian doctrine was, what their plan was, and I’m endlessly fascinated by the possibility of a season where Jet lives and we potentially get a closer look at this world element and see how the party interacts with and dismantles it beyond just killing the Pontifex)

I do think that as dark as A Crown of Candy got sometimes, there’s a far darker undercurrent that sometimes gets overlooked because we are so compelled by the narrative of the Rocks family. I also don’t think it’s any coincidence that the two PCs with the most pragmatic approach to combat and killing were Cumulous and Saccharina (there’s a difference between being efficient at killing and being willing to kill - all the PCs were pretty efficient at killing and being war guys, but only Cumulous and Saccharina really had the hardness and the instinct to kill). Because the two of them are the ones who have most directly seen the effects of Bulbian ideology and prejudice! For the rest of the party, the Church became an immediate enemy after the events at the cathedral. For Cumulous and Saccharina, the Church has been the enemy -and a powerful, ruthless one- for years. I remember a lot of jokes when the season was airing about Cumulous doing war crimes (and criticisms about whether or not Saccharina was guilty of war crimes...the double standard wasn’t great) but it makes perfect sense that they would be the ones with a harder line against the Church and a harder approach to the war. They’ve been in it far longer than the rest of the party.

Anyways, it’s important that Cumulous does stand apart from the rest of the party because he does stand as that wider perspective beyond the intimate revenge and the complicated inter-party relationships. And it really is something that requires that degree of separation, because Saccharina is another character who also reveals the wider context of the world, but a lot of that is often overlooked because of the compelling nature of her relationships with her family. Even her horrifying childhood is viewed more often as a reason why she should be sympathized with (which she absolutely should), and we overlook the disturbing implications about how a foreign Church was able to inflict this level of abuse with essentially free reign. So we need that strange, distant cousin swooping over our shoulders, reminding us every so often that hey, the story is about the Rocks but the Rocks also live in a wider society. Yes there’s a nasty carrot with a mace that we all really want dead, but the carrot itself is a symptom of something larger.

(Also, something something meta here about Cumulous himself choosing to care about the world, choosing to care about magic and Candia and chickens hiding in a linen cupboard, choosing to be a monk first and a distant cousin of the Rocks second, choosing to remain at that distance because there’s bigger things happening in the world than just one family, even his own family, and it’s worth sacrificing everything for)

TL;DR, Lapin and Cumulous both stand at a distance from the rest of the party, and the meta implications of this are really interesting for how we the audience interact with the narrative and the characters as a whole.

#dimension 20 #a crown of candy #lapin cadbury #cumulous rocks #long post #they're also the two party members that share no classes with anyone else #there is one (1) warlock and one (1) monk in the party and that further emphasizes how they stand apart from the party #with lapin; his distance makes his life and death more poignant because it becomes a narrative of choosing to close that distance #with cumulous; his distance becomes about something bigger than any one person or family & choosing to care about that rather than himself #i'm gonna have to write another meta about cumulous' self-sacrificial tendencies aren't i #this turned out several metas in one because oops i have a lot of thoughts about saccharina and the church #zac and emily's first PCs died and they both went 'oh you thought they were against the Bulb? i'll show you a real pagan' and then they did

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norcumii · 4 years

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Ruminating on Rebels, 2

I know I took awhile with this episode, but boy does it feel long. The pacing is off? Or my brain is just unhappy. No idea which. I suspect that’s just my brain, though.

SPOILERS AHEAD. REBELS CRITICAL. For details what this is about, here’s a post. My relevant tag is “throwing popcorn at Rebels”.

Episode 2: Spark of Rebellion Part II

Overview:

Ezra runs into the Star Destroyer to warn the team, gets to Zeb and Kanan just before they get ganked at the cell block. Sabine cuts the gravity, leaves a lot of explosives at the control room, but Ezra gets caught on the way out. The Ghost crew makes it to hyper before finding this out from Zeb, vote on going back or not. Kallus makes a pretext of questioning Ezra (note: I think it’s meant as legit, but it felt lackluster), and then Ezra escapes as the Ghost crew arrives to rescue him. They meet up part way and book it, only to find that while escaping, Ezra overheard where the wookies REALLY were being held. Off they go to Kessel to save the wookiees! Fight scene at the spice mines, leading to Kanan using the lightsaber and getting ID’d as a Jedi, Ezra faces off against Kallus to save a kid wookiee, the team escapes. Kanan offers Ezra a chance to join up and learn to use the Force, and away they go to a dramatic voice-over by Obi-Wan via holocron recording.

Random impressions:

These wookiees are AWFUL

PLASTIC FOR YOU, PLASTIC FOR YOU, BAD ACTION FIGURES OF EEEEEEVERYONE

I really, REALLY, R E A L L Y don’t like Hera. She’s advertised as team leader and Space!Mom, but all I keep seeing is manipulative bullshit. Apparently letting Ezra take the holocron was a test to see if he was Force sensitive. Her comment in the Ghost the last episode about “If all you do is fight for your own life, then your life is worth nothing” - aaaagh. That – I get what they’re TRYING to say, about having Purpose is good, but having been in A Very Bad Place where all I could do was cling by my fingernails and try to take care of myself because 1, no one else would and 2, that was literally all I could manage – that just smacks me in the face with guilt-tripping. I know it’s not meant to be that, just...UGH. At best, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I’m going to continue side-eyeing her until she proves she’s not ACTUALLY an asshole, and yes, that is apparently an uphill battle.

The rescued wookiees say that if the Ghost crew “ever need help, they’ll be there” - THAT BETTER PAY OUT BEFORE THE SERIES IS OVER. (spoiler: Wookieepedia indicates it does not. I am disappoint, though I will keep an eye out in case it’s wrong.)

I am totally convinced now that Ezra HAS actually been using the Force awhile. The way he somersaults over crates into cover – dodging blaster bolts – and then later over a trooper to get between him and a Wookiee kid – that’s something Ezra KNOWS he can do. Like, past experience doing that sort of leap. I want to see how this interacts with Kanan’s lessons.

Kanan dodges bolts a lot more than he reflects them, but when he does they tend to take out troopers effectively. Someone’s spent time practicing.

Speaking of, he goes WAY hard on the Stoic Holy Jedi (With A Lightsaber Up His Ass) thing. Ugh. I want the goofy smuggler more. That’s more fun, AND show’s growth away from his past. We’ll see how that interacts with right now he’s trying to Jedi because oh noes, it’s a padawan (WHUT DOOOOOO)!

When Kanan shows up to save Ezra, he’s is riding on top the ghost, which pops up alongside the catwalk. ....meaning Mr. Drama Llama opened the doors to a shipping crate in flight and somehow flipped his way up to the top of the ship, OR lightsabered his way an exit through the TOP of the crate, which I hope was done carefully or they took out parts of the magnetic seal keeping the crate attached to the bottom of the ship. ...Jedi. SIGH. WHY COULD NO ONE MAKE A CRACK ABOUT THAT? YES IT WAS IMPRESSIVE, BUT THEN AFTERWARDS IT MAKES A GREAT TENSION RELEASE TO MAKE IT CLEAR THAT WAS UNUSUAL. Meh. Ok, that one’s probably me being too finicky.

Sabine left about 20 explosives in the control room. Just one of those has been shown to be enough to blast open doors and destroy a speeder bike. HOW MUCH BOOM DO YOU NEED? I mean, ok, this leads to a hole in the side of the super star destroyer (venting atmosphere! :D That was some LOVELY animation and there WAS squee about that!)

Zeb is a gods damned wreck. If he were less physically violent, I would pick him as a favorite, because interesting non-human and it’s clearly trauma and not knowing how to people that leads to him being...him. However, I can’t get over the way he’s THAT rough. There’s a line between “you’re dealing with old issues poorly, and that expresses itself through (at best) roughhousing and not gauging your own strength” and “you’re beating up on others and using your trauma as an excuse for it, and we all know how well ‘cool motive still murder’ works as a defense.”

When Ezra left, Chopper made sad bwoops and waved goodbye in a non-sarcastic way. Whut.

The animators are still not getting clear direction. The bit that really jumped out at me was when Ezra saves the kid wookiee, he’s shown hoisting the kid’s cuffed hands and looking all puzzled at the binders – and we just saw how he IMMEDIATELY knew how to pick those things open on the adult wookiees. Possibly just me being nitpicky again, but it’s very jarring to me.

The “I swear, if he gets left behind again it is not my fault!” bit showed up, and I can’t tell if that’s them trying to make the repetition is funny thing, or establishing a trend? I mean, I COULD see a longer running...not gag, but trend, of Zeb having to either leave or haul Ezra out of things and them bitching at each other over this for YEAAAAARS until it’s just an easy thing, a well-worn way to poke at a friend like an affable punch to the shoulder that is just a thing they do. Which could be cute, if done right.

Hopefully more coherent views:

The inter-group dynamics are wild, and I don’t think I mean that in a complimentary sense. Zeb is just...kinda broken, ok. Sabine was kind of a non-entity through most of this. I don’t have the spoons to count her lines, but the most memorable thing that she did was want to know how the explosion looked. Which...ok? I guess? Hera had more characterization, and we got the Competent!Pilot thing – along with the Manipulative Asshole thing, which yeah, I’m eyeballing a LOT more. Chopper came across as irritable and generally a cranky old man, which would fly better if Zeb wasn’t already trying to squat on that territory. It makes things feel more grating than perhaps they are. Kanan is your average Jedi but in better clothes, and I can’t tell how much sanctimoniousness is he doesn’t know how to teach, how much is just discomfort, and how much is I don’t like the manipulation of Ezra.

As for Ezra, he’s got some NEAT skills. I...kinda like the whole “nope, I’m not a hero, not running out there in a the middle of a blaster fight to save some rando” attitude because it’s hints of the hero’s journey having far to go, but there’s not enough heart of gold for me to give any shits. He’s TOO caught up in his own situation for me to care (and while I don’t blame him as a character for that, it makes him a third-rate Aladdin archetype. All the ‘in the rough’ but no ‘diamond’).

Kallus is satisfying to dislike, for all that he feels like a poor man’s Thrawn. The temper tantrum of kicking the surviving stormtrooper off the catwalk was gratuitous, but fine. We’re not supposed to like him. (Yes, I know about later, but I’m ignoring that at the moment.)

So. Yaye, I guess. We have our characters, we have our villain and our on-the-sidelines villain in the Inquisitor waiting to swoop in to be all mastermind badguy. We have our setup, and a few potential threads to follow back on.

End summary:

That was a weak (second half to a) first episode. I mean, again, that’s not a killer, but nothing about the show grabs me and goes “ISN’T THIS THING AWESOME???” There’s too much internal conflict without enough glue to bond people together, I have strong reasons to dislike almost everyone (and the rest are too undeveloped yet to really hit me one way or another). With the animation doing nothing for me, it’s...getting no traction so far.

#rebels critical #star wars rebels #thinky thoughts #long post is long #throwing popcorn at rebels #spoilers #yes i am this slow watching media

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fleurmarigold · 5 years

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BROOOOO i just watched klaus?? and??? (SPOILERS)

i hadn’t heard ANYTHING about it up until now so i had no idea it was so eagerly anticipated but i can completely see why, when i first saw screenshots i either thought it was 3d or more akin to something like tangled’s flash animation, but... WOW! this is EVERYTHING 2d animation could be if it were still practiced (still waiting on that nostalgia cash-in renaissance) and more - the beautiful blending of 2d/3d like treasure planet, the gorgeous detail, effects and vividity of princess and the frog, the strong geometric 3d turn-style of el dorado and spirit, the showstopping scenery, lighting and colouring, the fantastically unique character designs, expressions and gestures, and the storybook stylization, texturing and natural look to everything akin to cartoon saloon and other indie studios... i’ve been waiting for a movie that makes every second feel like raw ART and this one had by eyes glued to the dang screen not wanting to miss a single second!

the trailer made it look a little more cheesy & literal, something more like you’d expect from a kids’ xmas movie, kind of like those indie movies that are a little on the corny/below average side but that you forgive or endear out of artistic ingenuity, but it turned out sooo much better than i’d hoped and beyond, my only real gripe in that area being that one or two of the better jokes were spoiled in the trailers but they were far outbalanced by the in-movie ones. the characters were a mix of pleasant surprises (i didn’t see many trailers but the advertising would NOT have made me of jesper as the kuzco type) and familiar faces (klaus’ wife is a story heard before but it’s still felt as genuine and heartfelt), the story so layered and clever, the setting and interactions so charming and lovable... augh

i feel like people are going to be quite open with their criticisms on account of how good the movie is otherwise so here are my main critiques that i’ll get out of the way so i can keep gushing: - geo setting is a subject but could definitely have included some racial diversity (though the saami being handled so respectfully was a breath of... icy fresh air) - alva is a little too close to disney pixar same face design (pale, thin, round and smooth but pointy chin/nose) especially in comparison to the exaggerated and whacky features of the others - romance didn’t feel necessary (plus being rushed) but alva was fleshed out beyond love interest and it felt done without making too big a scene that i can’t really complain (though the ‘of course she did’ line is -_-) - i loved the subtle commentary through the inter-clan grudges! maybe a little more on that topic and how overcoming differences and finding similarities can be so empowering - i can’t tell if they were fat jokes or just big tall strong people jokes? there was only one but it still would’ve been cool without it - some music choices were a little on the dated/pop/distracting side but nothing too bad - i LOVE the ‘you were using us?’ ‘yes- no- well, at first, but-’ trope but it HAS been done in this way many times before, and the reveal felt a little weightless when jesper’s bad side wasn’t really known to the townsfolk so i’m not sure why they’d assume the worst of him automatically (someone mentioned making him more openly arrogant but still entertaining would’ve been useful), but knowing it would be wrapped up well took away most discomfort here

the entire viewing was filled with my FAVOURITE emotion to be filled with when watching anything new: surprise! i had absolutely no idea how gorgeous, entertaining and delightful watching this would be, and i kept having to yell about how great everything was to my brother any time there was a quiet moment. the witty dialogue, visual & situational humor were all freaking hilarious, the development of the townsfolk and the heartfelt nature had me ‘aww’ing’ nonstop, alva’s story of devoting herself to teaching in a happy and encouraging environment was gorgeous, their efforts to include nonenglish speakers in the festivities, the sneaky and unintentional explanations for the santa mythology... ALL great stuff. and of course the star of the show klaus was an absolute darling sweetheart ;__; i love... unconventional santas and he’s definitely up there in my faves alongside rotg’s, having him be cold, quiet and even scary is such an awesome way of doing things... i almost wish he’d stayed in that atmosphere a little longer but watching him open up, regain his joy and realize he’s safe to laugh and help others feel the same in the process was just 8′) having him hardly say a word and communicate so much of his intent through action, be it silly or tragic or toothachingly sweet (the birdhouses........ the reindeer ;o;) made him a treat to watch!

which brings me to by far my favourite part! this might be the only christmas movie i’ve ever seen that actually FEELS like a christmas movie, y’know you get all those ~true meaning~ and ~magic~ and ~family~ messages that try to make it deep but not once has one of them felt genuine until i saw klaus’ face upon seeing the pure, glowing childlike wonder his gift gave to the first child, realizing just how much it meant to him from that singular frame it just. guh. shoots me right through the heart. the setting for it was perfect too, having an entire TOWN play the scrooge role was wonderfully inventive and sooo satisfying and uplifting and purely FUN to see even the grumpiest of characters show change... it made me especially sad thinking about all the children trapped in such a horrible and unloving place, and knowing their parents had been born the same and forced into the cycle of violence to survive, so having them be the main focus of the letters, having innocence and good will and PLAY be the driving force that changed not only the heart of the town, but that of jesper too, is just... something i’d never get sick of watching. that scene where they gift margu her sled and she tries it for the first time? THAT scene is... pure, unbridled magic unlike anything i’ve seen before. i don’t think there’s any point in discussing ‘meanings’ of contemporary christmas unless it captures a feeling like this

i’ll likely add to this as i remember more (/rewatch a whole bunch) but i really enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it! it’s something i feel like i could watch people’s reactions to and still get the same wonder and elation i got from my first viewing for years to come :’) which is great for a yearly rewatch hehe

#klaus #netflix #jesper

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lets-steal-an-archive · 5 years

Text

Acafandom: Unrefereed Manuscripts (i.e. Theses & Dissertations)

2020

2019

Anderson, Chrisha. 2019. “Women in Online Science Fiction Fandoms: Perceived Impact on Psychological Well-Being.” PhD Dissertation, Advanced Studies in Human Behavior, Capella University.

Barone, Tessa. 2019. “Just Go Find Yourself a Nice Alpha: Gender and Consent in Supernatural Fandom's Alpha/Beta/Omega Universe.” Honors College Thesis, Oregon State University. https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/honors_college_theses/nk322k653

Takamäki, Topi. 2019. “The Road So Far”: Supernatural as an American Road Narrative. MA Thesis, School of Marketing and Communication, University of Vaasa. https://osuva.uwasa.fi/handle/10024/9567

Trudeau, Cassidy. 2019. "Freedom to Fall: Milton's Christ, Supernatural's Castiel, and the Secularity of Choice." Undergraduate Research Awards, Hollins University. https://digitalcommons.hollins.edu/researchawards/52

2018

Cantrell, Jacquee D. 2018. "From Fan Fiction to Television: Slash Fan Fiction, the Fandom, and Affecting the Source Material." Honors Theses, Eastern Kentucky University. https://encompass.eku.edu/honors_theses/5177

Chiu, W. [招詠琳]. 2018. The gender politics of supernatural : slash fan fictions and the power dynamic in fan/producers relationship. MA Thesis, Department of Literary and Cultural Studies, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR. http://hdl.handle.net/10722/265871

Golomb, Liorah. 2018. ‘Let's Go Gank Ourselves a Paris Hilton’ A Textual Analysis of the Dialogue of Supernatural (the First 10 Years). SHAREOK. https://hdl.handle.net/11244/317082

Hatchell, Russ Eugene. 2018. Sci-fi TV in the Great White North : the development of Vancouver as a science fiction media capital. MA Thesis, Radio-Television-Film, University of Texas at Austin. http://hdl.handle.net/2152/72746

Johansson, Emelie. 2018. Up against Good, Evil, Destiny, and God himself. Bachelor Thesis, School of Humanities and Media Studies, Dalarna University. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:du-27069

Koehm, Diana. 2018. "Revision as Resistance: Fanfiction as an Empowering Community for Female and Queer Fans." Honors Scholar Theses, University of Connecticut. https://opencommons.uconn.edu/srhonors_theses/604

2017

Boulware, Taylor. 2017. "Fascination/Frustration: Slash Fandom, Genre, and Queer Uptake." PhD Dissertation, Department of English, University of Washington. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/40073

Edwards, Elizabeth Rose. 2017. Brotherly Love: Remaking Homosociality and Masculinity in Fan Fiction. MA Thesis, Joint Graduate Program in Communication & Culture, York University-Ryerson University. http://hdl.handle.net/10315/33523

Fuchs, Michael. 2016. “Supernatural’s Showrunners, Creative Teams, and Fans: Television Authorship in the Age of Participatory Culture.” Unpublished [accepted for Auteur TV, edited by Ralph Poole and Saskia Fürst. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter, 2017]. https://web.archive.org/web/20160805175026/http://fuchsmichael.net/index.php/news/47-publication-news/116-supernatural-television-authorship

McKay, Hattie 2017. "Comparing Themes in Supernatural and Left Behind," Relics, Remnants, and Religion: An Undergraduate Journal in Religious Studies: Vol. 2 : Iss. 2 , Article 8. https://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/relics/vol2/iss2/8

2016

Abrahamsson, Beatrice. 2016. "What, so genesis is a lie? Shocker.": en kvalitativ studie om banal religion i TV-serien Supernatural. Bachelor's thesis, Stockholm University. http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:933938/FULLTEXT01.pdf

Klungnes, Kristina Mariell Dulsrud. 2016. "Driver Picks the Music" - Supernatural - A Journey With Music as Fuel. MA Thesis, Department of Musicology, University of Oslo. http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-54625

Lietz, Michelle. 2016. "Cannibalism in Contact Narratives and the Evolution of the Wendigo." MA Thesis, Department of English Language and Literature, Eastern Michigan University. http://commons.emich.edu/theses/671

Tammentie, Bastian. 2016. "Fandom as an online support group: a case study of CW's Supernatural." Bachelor's thesis, Department of Sociology, University of Jyväskylä. https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/62954

Yerima, Adam Kem. 2016. "Saving Innocents: Tracing The Human Monster Hunter’s Hetero-Normative Agenda From The 1970s To Today." PhD Dissertation, Department of English, Wayne State University. http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_dissertations/1608

2015

Brownfield, Kristi. 2015. “Veni, Vidi, Vids: Transforming Cultural Narratives Through the Art of Audiovisual Storytelling.” PhD Dissertation, Department of Sociology, Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Collier, Cassandra M. 2015. "The Love That Refuses to Speak its Name: Examining Queerbaiting and Fan-Producer Interactions in Fan Cultures." MA Thesis, Department of Women and Gender Studies, University of Louisville. http://dx.doi.org/10.18297/etd/2204

Genovese, Megan. 2015. "Boys, Girls, and Monsters: Regulation of Normative Gender in Supernatural." Honors thesis, Baylor University. http://hdl.handle.net/2104/9354

Karkanias, Alena. 2015. "And the (Fourth) Wall Came Tumbling Down: The Impact of Renegotiating Fan-Creator Relationships on Supernatural." Summer Research, University of Puget Sound. http://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/summer_research/248

McCurdy, Shellie. 2015. De-Mystifying Fandom: An Ethnography of the World of Supernatural Fangirls. Senior Honors Thesis, Interdisciplinary Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

McGinn, Irene B. 2015. When Becky met Chuck: How the breakdown of the fourth wall is affecting online fandom. MA Thesis, Department of Film and Television Studies, Dublin City University. https://www.academia.edu/3634131/When_Becky_met_Chuck_How_the_breakdown_of_the_fourth_wall_is_affecting_online_fandom

Straw, Amanda L. 2015. “Everybody Hurts: An Autoethnographic Exploration of Hurt/Comfort Fanfiction.” MA Thesis, Department of American Studies, The Pennsylvania State University at Harrisburg. https://web.archive.org/web/20191111044037/https://scholarsphere.psu.edu/downloads/4f4752g316

2014

Holder, Laura L. 2014. "Common Christs: Christ Figures, American Christianity, and Sacrifice on Cult Television." PhD Dissertation, Department of English, University of Louisiana at Lafayette. https://search.proquest.com/openview/705ec356fef9737f7e92061e6876294c/

Karkanias, Alena. 2014. "The Intra- and Inter-Sub-Community Dynamics of Fandom." Summer Research, University of Puget Sound. http://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/summer_research/230

Leddy, Miranda B. 2014. "The women of Supernatural: more than stereotypes." MA Thesis, Department of American Studies, Baylor University. http://hdl.handle.net/2104/9173

Martin, Anna. 2014. Writing the Star: Stardom, Fandom and Real Person Fanfiction. PhD dissertation, Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts, Lancaster University. https://www.academia.edu/25285627/Writing_the_Star_Stardom_Fandom_and_Real_Person_Fanfiction

Vermeer, Alicia Suzanne. 2014. "Searching for God: Portrayals of Religion on Television." MA Thesis, Department of Religious Studies, University of Iowa. http://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/4785

Wickersham, Alexandra. 2014. "Mothers, Martyrs, Damsels, and Demons: Women in Western Horror from Romanticism to the Modern Age." ESSAI: Vol. 12, Article 36. http://dc.cod.edu/essai/vol12/iss1/36

2013

Double, Krystalle. 2013. Female Roles and Fan Fiction in Charmed, Supernatural, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. BA honors thesis, Western Michigan University.

Ireland, Brian. 2013. ""All I saw was evil": Supernatural's Reactionary Road Trip." American Studies Today: 14. http://www.americansc.org.uk/Online/Online_2013/Supernatural.html

Fathallah, Judith. 2013. "Changing Discursive Formations from Supernatural: Fanfic and the Legitimation Paradox." PhD Dissertation, Journalism, Media and Culture, Cardiff University. http://orca.cf.ac.uk/id/eprint/58900

Lander, Katherine. 2013. "That's So Meta: Contemporary Reflexive Television and its Textual Strategies." MA Thesis, Department of Media and Cinema Studies, DePaul University. http://via.library.depaul.edu/cmnt/18

Lausch, Kayti Adaire. 2013. "The Niche Network: Gender, Genre, and the CW Brand." MA Thesis, Department of Radio-Television-Film, University of Texas at Austin. http://hdl.handle.net/2152/22453

Macklem, Lisa. 2013. "We're on This Road Together: The Changing Fan/Producer Relationship in Television as Demonstrated by Supernatural." MA Thesis, Department of Media Studies, University of Western Ontario. http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/1748

2012

Costa, Sarah Moralejo da. 2012. Supernatural na web: produção e reprodução audiovisual em suporte convergente. 2012. 100 f. Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual Paulista, Faculdade de Arquitetura, Artes e Comunicação. http://hdl.handle.net/11449/89376

Dubois, François-Ronan. 2012. "Le mythe herculéen dans trois séries américaines: Supernatural, Buffy the Vampire Slayer et The X-Files." e-LLA [revue liée à l'Université de Provence].

2011

Burnell, Aaron. 2011. "Nobody's Darlings: Reading White Trash in Supernatural." MA Thesis, Bowling Green State University. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1305054871

Dhalqvist, Ingeborg. 2011. "Competitive Talk and the Three Main Characters of Supernatural." Unpublished manuscript, Mälardalen University. http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A511603&dswid=4389

Geary, Ellen Louise. 2011. “A Critical Analysis of Modern Fan Cultures Attached to Television Texts and the Participatory Nature of Their Activities. With Specific Focus on the Fan Culture of Supernatural.” BA Dissertation, Department of Media Studies, Nottingham Trent University. https://web.archive.org/web/20191111032046/https://picklepegg.livejournal.com/35341.html

Hemmingson, Margaret L. 2011. Sex, Family, and the Home: Portrayals of Gender in the Domestic Sphere in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Supernatural. BA honors thesis, Elon University.

Richard, Jordan. 2011. "On a Good Day, You Get to Kill a Whore: Narrative Misogyny and Female Audiences in Supernatural." MA Thesis, Department of Sociology, University of Mississippi. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/245

Tovar, Elisabeth. 2011. Supernatural ‘small-town America’ : errance hantée dans les vestiges de l’Amérique industrielle. Métropolitiques. http://metropolitiques.eu/Supernatural-small-town-America.html

2010

Grobisen, Hannah. 2010. “The Winchester Gospel: The 'Supernatural' Fandom as a Religion.” CMC Senior Theses, Intercollegiate Media Studies, Claremont Colleges. https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/2010/

Hampton, Darlene Rose. 2010. "Beyond Resistance: Gender, Performance, and Fannish Practice in Digital Culture." PhD Dissertation, Department of English, University of Oregon. http://hdl.handle.net/1794/11070

Handley, Christine. 2010. "'Playthings in the Margins of Literature': Cultural Critique and Rewriting Ideologies in Supernatural and Star Wars Fanfiction." MA Thesis, Department of English, Dalhousie University. http://hdl.handle.net/10222/13027

2009

Boggs, April. 2009. "No Chick Flick Moments: 'Supernatural' as a Masculine Narrative." MA Thesis, Bowling Green State University. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1237564610

Brennan, Joseph Carl Linden. 2009. "I Am Your Worst Fear, I Am Your Best Fantasy: New Approaches to Slash Fiction." Honours Thesis, Department of Media and Communications, University of Sydney. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/5872

Straw, Amanda. 2009. “Squeeing, Flailing, and the “Post-Jared-and-Jensen Glow”: An Ethnography of Creation Entertainment’s March 2009 “Salute to Supernatural” Conventions.” Seminar paper. https://web.archive.org/web/20191111044805/http://www.personal.psu.edu/als595/blogs/amandalynn125/papers/ethnography.pdf

2008

2007

crossposted to: https://justanotheridijiton.dreamwidth.org/34113.html

[previous update]

#acafandom #superwiki #update #meta dumpster

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returnofismasm · 5 years

Text

I’ve been trying to think of a way to write this out in a way that is polite and non-confrontational, but I’m likely never going to do that entirely so fuck it I guess. This is long so I put it behind a cut out of courtesy.

There is, I’ve noticed, a big double-standard with the way Caleb ships (specifically Caleb’s side of ships) are viewed by the fandom compared to every other character’s ships. It kind of came to a head last night when Taliesin said, quite nicely, that Caduceus was not attracted to Caleb.

The horror?

It’s disappointing if you shipped it, and I’m not trying to mock you about it. But Clayleb was essentially a rarepair with like five people and a dog shipping it until last Thursday. Five days later it was gently shut down in canon, with explicit endorsement from Taliesin that people can do what they want in fandom.

(Side tangent this definitely wouldn’t have happened if Taliesin wasn’t asked three leading shipping questions in a row on an episode of Talks where Liam wasn’t even there. Can we maybe chill with asking this type of question on Talks. The cast feels weird. The viewers feel weird. Rarely do the answers please anyone. Seriously let’s just stop. Wait until pairings actually become canon. Maybe Jester will finally get some questions that don’t have to do with her crush on Fjord. There’s more to her character than that, y’all. Anyway.)

The response to this has been frankly baffling to me. People have been saying that there will never be a m/m pairing on CR. And I don’t get it? Caleb is not the only man in Critical Role. He doesn’t stand at a metaphorical ticket counter saying “Sorry, you can’t get your ‘Likes Dudes’ badge unless you crush on me.” Maybe Caduceus is ace. Asexual representation is queer rep too. Maybe he's just very inexperienced. Frankly no one has really asked him about it so it’s all just headcanons right now anyway. Hell, while we’re at it, all Taliesin said was that Caduceus wasn't attracted to Caleb. He never said it was never going to happen. Maybe we’re in for a long slowburn. Maybe there will be a romance with an important male NPC. That’s not a lesser relationship. Matt’s a player too, and as anyone who has watched campaign one knows, the relationships between the party and major NPCs are just as influential on the characters as people as the inter party relationships. There’s still tons of story left and predicting any endgame ships at this point is pretty futile.

What I find especially frustrating is that this didn’t happen when Liam shut down Widomauk. Liam got kudos because he was aware that Caleb was too damaged for a romantic relationship, and Widomauk had been huge for months at that point. Taliesin says Caduceus isn’t into Caleb and suddenly there’s never going to be a romantic relationship between two men on the show? Can we maybe, just maybe, give the openly bisexual man playing Caduceus a bit more credit than that?

Part of this feels like the natural extension of this weird mindset in a part of the fandom that all other characters are important only in their extension from Caleb. Nott is Caleb’s mom. Beau is his sister. Jester is his Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Caduceus is his therapist, and I guess now his therapist boyfriend. Molly is the tragic dead lover. Yasha escapes this only because Ashley’s filming schedule means she hasn’t had as many interactions with him as the others.

A lot of this has been coming from some long-term frustrations with how Caleb is treated as so Primary within the fandom. He’s popular, I get that. He’s a lot of people’s favorite character. He’s not mine, but people are allowed to like who they like. But it so often feels as though everything that happens is about him. How he reacts to people or places or events in the story. If Liam makes a sad face or even if he’s just a little quiet, people write reams of meta, even though it was an episode focusing on other characters. I really can’t help but feel that people would be less upset about a Caleb ship being non-canon if the other characters were given a little more space to exist

#critical role #cr wank #my typical tag for discourse btw #I try to be positive on my blog but I've been very frustrated and annoyed by the way the fandom talks about caleb #let his tag be a preview for the contents #fair warning to all

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blogblackdragon11-blog · 5 years

Text

Musings upon the Conscious and Identity

Chapter 1: Subjectivity

Subjectivity is one of the utmost aspects of any creator and is defined in Mansfield’s paper “Subjectivity: Theories of the self from Freud to Haraway” as “cultural theory in practice” (Mansfield, 2000, p.6). This,and Mansfield’s paper in general, argue that one’s ideas and perspectives are warped by “being a particular someone at a particular time and place” (Mansfield, 2000, p.6). The above thesis regarding subjectivity is perhaps the most outright argument for one’s experiences defining their unique perspective upon a given subject or subjects with individual perspectives informed by experience. One could argue this relates to a performer’s experiences

Chapter 2: Social Identity

The basic concept of one’s Social Identity is that individuals “have a personal identity as well as a range of social identities. A social identity is an aspect of the self that is derived from memberships of social groups, and this includes (internalized) values and norms” (Psychnet.com). Social Identity’s arguably core tenant is that “that group members of an in-group will seek to find negative aspects of an out-group, thus enhancing their self-image.” (Simply Psychology.com). An excellent example of a text with the motif of social identity is that of “Heathers: The Musical” by the duo of Kevin Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe. The musical follows the character of Veronica Sawyer, a young woman with ambitions of climbing the social ladder at her school by becoming a member of the immensely popular clique known as “the Heathers”. Veronica’s motivation for this is to avoid the abuse that comes to the “unpopular girl” and make it through her final year of schooling peacefully. This is changed utterly when by chance she encounters the three girls who comprise the Heathers and gains membership into the clique. The play then follows Heather as her sense of identity is steadily warped, being forced to dress in ways she would never under normal circumstances, interact with only those the Heathers approve of and in general behave in what ever way is deemed befitting of a Heather until there is little resembling the original Veronica in personality or appearance.

Chapter 3: Fractured Identity

Fractured Identity is a relatively interesting concept in regards to what constitutes an identity, this being when one’s identity has many shifts and alterations made to it over a period of time. The above piece, aptly named “Fractured Identity” by online artist Kevivisual exhibits an almost grotesque portrayal of an irrevocable shift of the self in progress. The body’s morphing to the face and lips is an incredibly eye catching means of portraying this to the audience.

Chapter 4: Creative Identity

An artist’s creative identity is, simply put, their identity as an artist and person which in turn is projected to the viewer in their body of work. As a young man hoping to master the disciplines of performance and acting I think it is utterly important for one to have their own sense of identity creatively in order to avoid becoming “white noise” in a sense or living in the shadows of your inspirations.

Chapter 5: Creative Influence

Creative Influences are somewhat related to Chapter 1′s notes on Subjectivity but in a much broader sense then the aforementioned subjectivity as it is often used to refer to a much broader effect one’s own culture and previous viewings of art and media has upon the individual. This idea’s extremity is taken by Mark Twain who claimed “There is no such thing as a new idea. It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope.” (Twain, An Autobiography, p.unknown)

With this idea in mind one can argue that the work one creates is inherently a reinterpreted form of a previous body of work and that ideas are more a kaleidoscope that is constantly “shaken up” for lack of a better term.

Chapter 6: Unconscious

The unconscious is a psychological concept related to one’s own psyche harboring thoughts and memories that are repressed and left undone by the individual in question (A Dictionary of Critical Theory, 2018) . However it has been documented that these unconscious parts of the mind can be released through one’s jokes, dreams and slips of the tongue, often referred to as “Freudian Slips”, serving to bring a sense of balance between the mind’s conscious and unconscious elements.

Chapter 7: Over-determination

Over-determination is when one or multiple dream thoughts are either amalgamated an represented within one artwork or, alternatively, it refers to the process of an ideal being imposed upon another artwork (A Dictionary of Critical Theory, 2018). While held in a negative sense creatively it is an all important aspect of self reflection to be able to dissect exactly which dream thoughts are dominant within one’s art and whether it is efficiently represented.

Chapter 8: Sensory Knowledge

Sensory Knowledge is the comprehension of how our bodies and assorted senses interact with society and the world around us as a whole, linking it directly to a day to day factor of the human existence. Oppenheim's piece “Object” is an excellent example of a piece that stimulates a greater inter-connectivity of the senses, with sight of the image bringing forth imagined sensations of taste and texture). This, in turn, creates a greater sense of interactivity with the given audience.

Chapter 9: Authenticity

Authenticity can be pretty efficiently summarized as one who is self aware of their own beliefs, identity and personal philosophy. This ideology contradicts that of the subconscious mind as the core tenant of that hypothesis is that there are elements that are utterly unknown to the individual (A Dictionary of Critical Thinking, 2018). Authenticity is a fundamentally important

Chapter 10: Essentialism

Essentialism is the philosophical concept that humans on the individual and societal levels are defined by a series of commonly held traits which serve to differentiate each person from another. The Renaissance artist Michelangelo’s “Creation of Adam” piece portrays the creation of mankind by God. This relates to Essentialism due to it being a core tenant of the Judeo - Christian belief system that humans were created with defining traits by a higher power, thus setting them apart from the creatures of air, land and sea.

Source List:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S002210310600043

https://www.simplypsychology.org/social-identity-theory.html

A Dictionary of Critical Thinking (2018)

https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1987-98657-000

https://www.philosophytalk.org/blog/fractured-identities

Mark Twain’s Own Biography (1907)

Goodreads.com

Heathers: The Musical by Murry and O’Keefe (2010)

https://kevisual.net/work#/fracturedidentity

Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam (1508)

Object by Meret Oppenheim (1936)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQIZHYnBgdc (Thumbnail is Overdetermination image)

Fractured Identity and Agency and the Plays of Adrienne Kennedy

https://artsonthegreen.ticketfly.com/event/1696222-heathers-musical-gaithersburg/

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fistofgork · 6 years

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Alarielle/Tyrion Headcanons:

Because I like writing about these two and love imagining the character interactions they have. :3

The loss of her mother, while young, is something Alarielle has to deal with herself, as it came long before her mother was able to impart to her all she could. She knows her mother is still inside of her, in some sense, as part of the gestalt Everqueen, but its not the same. Tyrion, surprisingly, understands where she comes from, having never known his own mother either, raised only by his father, and he does his best to help lend an understanding ear to Alarielle about this.

When Alarielle needs to vent, because she’s become fed up with the pomp, ceremony and backroom politicking her position entails, she always has Tyrion to back her up. More than a few times she jokes she should just follow his example and stop dealing with courts, but she knows she couldn’t ever really do that, although she’s certainly always happy that he’s quick to pledge that even if she ever did he’d still follow her anywhere she wants.

More often than not, in truth, Tyrio has absolutely no idea what to say or how to help. His skillset is a narrow one ‘killing people’ so when Alarielle has to deal with noble families, inter-kingdom politics, religious protest, Tyrion often realizes he’s basically useless to her. However, he can listen, and often for Alarielle that’s enough, and with time Tyrion learns to grow in tune with her emotions, if not able to give advice, he at least knows what places she wants to be to relax and alleviate her stress. Its from this that the two’s penchant for walks through shaded woods and remote areas develop, or allowing her to take rides out with Malhandir, just to feel the wind rushing and some exhilaration for a change.

If there is one critique which is, for the most part, true of Tyrion, it is that he is VERY rough around the edges by the standards of an Asur noble. He’s brusque, frank, blunt and not good at disgusing his emotions at all. Despite this Alarielle enjoys that roughness about him greatly. Surrounded by sycophants and supplicants for so much of her life she values the fact that her consort is never afraid to speak his mind, critical or not. Tyrion is, compared to almost everyone Alarielle knows, a completely open book, for good or ill, and through that she knows his earnest want for her happiness comes without any expectation of reciprocation on her part.

When it comes to teasing or flustering Alarielle is completely dominant. Tyrion can try his darn hardest but getting Alarielle to crack a blush when she doesn’t want to is basically impossible (helps she grew up in Avelorn where casually making love in public is seen as normal day occurence). On the other hand when Alarielle decides to tease her consort she can leave him a babbling, stammering wreck far more quickly.

Tyrion is also the one of the pair who requires physical contact more urgently. Alarielle understands better that their bond is an emotional, spiritual one and, again, growing up in Avelorn means she has a view of sex even more banal than the rest of the Asur. As a result often when she thinks words or expressions, even simple glances, are enough to convey the extent of her affection or feelings, Tyrion is the one who seeks, and wants, physical contact to reassure himself.

Tyrion and Alarielle developed a, strangely, mutual hobby in flowers. For Alarielle it comes from her background in gardening, for Tyrion is has a less noble origin; learning how to flirt with ladies in his youth and deciding that mastering the language of flowers was a good way to hit on them.

Both of them prefer their sojourns to be private and small, over lavish and expansive. Secluded, natural, spots where the two and a few chosen friends and guards might gather of their prefered way of spending private time with each other. Part of this actually calls back to the fact that they first fell in love while traversing, alone, through the wilds.

#warhammer #warhammer fantasy #elves #high elves #asur #tyrion #alarielle

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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How Should Doctor Who Celebrate its 60th Anniversary?

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Since hitting screens in 1963, Doctor Who has gone from televisual titbit to cultural phenomenon to institution to something approaching a secular religion. It’s older than Star Trek and Star Wars, if not quite as world-renowned; it’s younger than The Twilight Zone, yet more frequent, and frequently successful, in its iterations. True, Doctor Who spent many long years in the wilderness, but then so did Jesus, and things turned out okay for him. You know… eventually.

The show owes its laudable longevity to a series of happy accidents, shrewd moves and fortuitous casting decisions in its formative years, not least of which was the radical re-casting of the main character after William Hartnell became too unwell to continue; a bold gambit that could just as easily have soured the audience and sunk the show as cemented its status as a pop culture behemoth. Thankfully – as well we know – the introduction of the concept of Regeneration was the key to Doctor Who’s enduring presence, adaptability and relevance. While William Hartnell wowed a generation of children and their families as the curmudgeonly yet kindly First Doctor, without Patrick Troughton’s affable, vulnerable and very human turn as the Second Doctor, there might not even have been a fifth anniversary, much less the one we’re approaching.

Doctor Who – the world’s longest-running sci-fi show – is now on the cusp of its 60th anniversary, a milestone it will reach in November 2023 with, well… who knows who at the helm. But how should it commemorate its anniversary? What would fans like to see? First, let’s jump in the TARDIS and find out how the show has marked its previous anniversaries.

10th Anniversary: ‘The Three Doctors’ (1973)

‘The Three Doctors’ wasn’t an anniversary celebration in the way we’ve come to understand it now. There was little pomp or spectacle, not by Who standards anyway. It barely even qualified as an anniversary story, sneaking in at the start of 1973, many long months before the show’s actual birthday. Instead, the first multi-Doctor story was a quiet affair, the highlight of which was, naturally, the barbed banter between Troughton‘s bumbling space hobo and Pertwee’s aristocratic martial artist. Of course, Hartnell’s First Doctor featured too, forming the triumvirate promised in the title, although owing to ill health, his appearances were rationed and entirely confined to the TARDIS’ viewing screen, from where he doled out advice and withering put-downs.

In this mildly ho-hum but fun adventure, the Doctors come face to face not only with each other, but also Omega, Gallifrey‘s greatest figure of legend, who in his isolation and rage has become a supremely camp villain, fond of squatting and plotting in pocket-dimensions with only telepathically-controlled blobs of goo for company. I guess it’s true what they say: never meet your heroes.

20th Anniversary: ‘The Five Doctors’ (1983)

By 1983, things had been kicked up a notch. Here we had an ambitious tale that weaved together 20 years’ worth of Doctors, and their friends and enemies. No amorphous blobs or bonkers old Time Lords in ball-gowns here, but Cybermen, Daleks, Yetis, The Master – and newcomer the Raston Warrior Robot, a sort of ninja-dancing death machine in a tight lycra gimp-suit.

As before, the anniversary show’s title was something of a misnomer, though admittedly ‘The Three Doctors, No Doctor and a Sort of Doctor’ probably wouldn’t have been as arresting. Tom Baker declined to participate, necessitating the use of stock footage from the then-incomplete serial ‘Shada’ to represent the Fourth Doctor. William Hartnell had died in 1975, and so The First Doctor was portrayed by Richard Hurndall (who himself died less than a year after transmission of ‘The Five Doctors’). Still, what the feature-length episode lacked in marquee names, it made up for with a state banquet of companions, even bringing back K9. We see the Second Doctor chumming up with the Brigadier and Captain Yates (plus experiencing a vision of Jamie and Zoe), the Third Doctor teaming up with Sarah Jane Smith, and the First Doctor reuniting with his granddaughter, Susan, who seems to have completely forgotten he’d abandoned her in a far-future, war-ravaged earth at the close of ‘The Dalek Invasion of Earth’.

The story is a nonsensical, confusing, over-the-top mess, nothing more than a rising pyramid of side-quests and fan-service set-pieces all culminating in a damp squib of an ending. But you know what? To quote Christopher Eccleston’s Doctor: it’s fantastic. The best and only approach to ‘The Five Doctors’ is to switch off your critical faculties, sit back, and let warm rivulets of novelty and nostalgia rinse their way over your amygdala. Coo as the First Doctor tricks the Cybermen at electric chess. Cheer as the Second Doctor encounters his old nemesis the Yeti. Laugh your pants off as the Third Doctor uses a tow rope to save Sarah Jane from the perils of a very slight incline. And lament that the whole episode wasn’t just the Doctors trapped in a room together being really, really catty with each other.

25th Anniversary: ‘Silver Nemesis’ (1988)

The show’s 25th anniversary year gave Sylvester McCoy‘s Seventh Doctor his first taste of both the Daleks and the Cybermen. ‘Remembrance of the Daleks’ wasn’t just McCoy’s best, it was arguably one of the best of the Classic Who era. The Seventh Doctor brooded, calculated and plotted, a noticeably darker figure to the spoon-playing, spoonerism-addicted, spoonish buffoon we’d been introduced to in Season 24. His vengeful, genocidal actions at the close of the serial pretty much kick-started the Time War. Ace was on fine form, too, dashing around Coal Hill school in 1963 wielding explosives and a baseball bat. ‘Silver Nemesis’ was the actual anniversary episode, and it was by far the weaker of the two commemorative offerings, but still a tremendous amount of silly fun. Nazis, Cybermen, medieval interlopers, an angry statue, the Doctor bopping to jazz. What’s not to like?

Doctor Who Series 13: Jodie Whittaker Leaving Rumours, the Next Doctor, and the Future

By Jamie Andrew

Doctor Who’s Best Comfort-Viewing Episodes

By Andrew Blair

30th Anniversary: ‘Dimensions in Time’ (1993)

By the time Doctor Who‘s 30th anniversary came along in 1993, the show had already been cancelled for four years, entering that phase of its history known to fans as The Wilderness Years. The show had become, in deed and in memory, a parody of itself; a forgotten, end-of-the-pier relic. The only thing left of its legacy was a shared perception of how it had been at its campiest and silliest. All of this is painfully apparent in ‘Dimensions in Time’, a horrific charity crossover special somewhere between Doctor Who and BBC soap opera EastEnders. Thankfully, this two-parter isn’t considered canon, though I’m happy to provide the extra ‘n’ to have it shot out of one.

On the one hand, you could say that this was just a diverting little segue to raise money for sick children, and thus shouldn’t be judged too harshly, nor taken too much to heart. On the other hand, this was the only Doctor Who content produced for its anniversary year, so it’s hard not to interpret the existence of ‘Dimensions in Time’ existence as a hard slap in the face from an infinitely rolling multiverse of giant outstretched hands.

While ‘The Five Doctors’ leaned into nostalgia, ‘Dimensions in Time’ is entirely composed of it, chopping and changing Doctor and Companion combos in an orgy of What-If-ness (though admittedly, it was nice to see the Sixth Doctor get his chance to interact with the Brigadier, even if he was just shouting things at him over the noise of a helicopter). The Rani here completes her journey from plausible character with complex motivations to full-blown panto baddy. Tom Baker again sits this one out, opting instead to deliver ASMR from inside a computerised lava lamp. Near the climax of the piece, EastEnders‘ Albert Square falls under attack from a multitude of Who’s most infamous monsters (and some not so), and no-one except the Doctors and their revolving retinue of companions seem to care. It’s hard not to perceive a corollary with how the show itself was regarded by the general public at that time, a state of affairs not helped by audio-visual snot like this. In retrospect, the best 30th anniversary celebration would have been none at all.

40th Anniversary: ‘Scream of the Shalka’ (2003)

‘Scream of the Shalka’ was produced to tie in with Doctor Who‘s fortieth anniversary. It aired as a series of fully-animated webisodes – a forerunner of the animation now routinely used to resurrect lost episodes from Classic Who’s yesteryears. It starred Richard E Grant as a now non-canonical version of Gallifrey’s most famous traveller, and put him toe-to-toe with a race of inter-dimensional, world-conquering, telepathic, super-sonic lava beasts. It was written by Who aficionado Paul Cornell (who would later pen ‘Father’s Day’ and ‘Human Nature/The Family of Blood’). And it was good, very good indeed.

Richard E Grant’s Doctor is tall, gaunt and imposing, with a style of dress somewhere between vampire royalty and ostentatious undertaker. He’s blunt, withering, cantankerous and all-round deliciously alien, much like Peter Capaldi at the beginning of his tenure as the Twelfth. When he orders wine from an English bar, Alice (Sophie Okonedo) his server and companion-to-be, tells him, ‘We only do dry or sweet,’ to which he spits back, ‘And I don’t do sweet.’ There is also a plaintive, desperate loneliness about this Doctor, evident from the presence in his TARDIS of an android containing the consciousness of the Master (Derek Jacobi, who would later play the Master again on TV next to David Tennant’s Tenth) with whom he travels.

All of this would have been interesting to unpack and explore had ‘Scream of the Shalka’ precipitated a full and continuing series, which was the intention at the time, a plan stopped only, of course, by the announcement that the show would be returning to television. This blessed move had not only been inspired by but made possible by work on this project. Now that’s a 40th anniversary present and a half.

And with that, Christopher Eccleston would be the ninth Doctor, not Richard E Grant, and while that was, well, fantastic, it’s impossible not to wonder… what if?

50th Anniversary: ‘Day of the Doctor’ (2013)

By the dawning of its 50th year, the show had been back on screens for eight years and three Doctors. The modern incarnation of the show had re-ignited the nation’s love affair with Doctor Who, adding widespread critical acclaim and global commercial success to its former cult appeal. It was clear this anniversary special had to be its biggest and boldest yet, and so it proved.

Showrunner Steven Moffat brought his best mind-bending, timey-wimey-ness to bear on ‘Day of the Doctor’, a story that brought together UNIT, Zygons, time-travelling paintings, a re-framing of the Time War, the re-emergence and resurrection of Gallifrey, and, of course, the sheer delight of the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors having the time of their lives teaming up. Added to the mix, in lieu of the Ninth Doctor (after Christopher Eccleston declined to participate), was John Hurt’s The War Doctor, a grizzled, frazzled veteran of The Time War – The Doctor who came to exist because he was capable of doing things that other Doctors couldn’t or wouldn’t but who, in the end, proved himself more than worthy of Doctor-hood. Not to mention the appearance of the mysterious Curator at the episode’s end, sporting a very familiar yet age-worn face.

2013 was an embarrassment of riches for the show. Not only did we get the exciting and engaging ‘Day of the Doctor’, but ‘An Adventure in Space and Time‘, the touching and contemplative story of William Hartnell’s (here played by future First Doctor, David Bradley) relationship with the show; ‘The Night of the Doctor’, a mini-episode that featured the welcome return of the Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann); and, of course, the absolutely wonderful ‘The Five-ish Doctors’, a surrealist, meta, very funny, Curb Your Enthusiasm-style romp that followed the exploits of Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy as they tried desperately to insert themselves into the 50th anniversary celebrations.

60th Anniversary: TBA (2023)

So what of the 60th? Traditionally, these kinds of milestones aren’t celebrated with as much intensity and fervour as, say, the 25th or the 50th. However, given that the show appears to be going through a decline in ratings and popularity, perhaps a big barnstormer is just what the Doctor ordered; something to give the show a shot in the arm to see it through the next six decades, rather than risk it tumbling over a cliff and staggering into the desert of its next wilderness years.

A multi-Doctor story seems the sure-fire way to do that. But who, and how many? Though Christopher Eccleston has returned to the Whoniverse in Big Finish form, the jury is still out on whether he’d be willing to participate in a fully-fledged BBC iteration of the show again. While the rest of the modern contingent’s faces are still fresh, though, it would be a joy to see the Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth and Thirteenth Doctors get together. Perhaps even in tandem with the Eighth Doctor, who surely deserves another crack at the small-screen whip, however brief. It’s more likely, though, that Jo Martin’s Fugitive Doctor would be the one to join them, contingent upon whether or not she returns in the upcoming 13th season, and how her arc pans out.

How about involving the classic Doctors? Not in a peripheral capacity as a sequel to ‘The Five-ish Doctors’ (although that would be very welcome) but due to the almost infinite possibilities inherent in the premise of the show, it surely wouldn’t be difficult to fashion a story in which Doctors Four to Seven returned togged up in their trademark outfits, along with their contemporary, and very age-worn faces. Perhaps some entity could pluck them from the time-streams and hold them captive, explaining their appearance through some sort of malfeasance or timey-wimey-ness. Big Finish has already given us the supreme delight of the Tenth Doctor teaming up with the Fourth and Fifth Doctors. What a joy it would be to behold the Sixth and Twelfth Doctors trying to out-bicker each other, or the Fourth Doctor passing judgement on the Eleventh’s bow-tie?

Might other, more unexpected Doctors appear? Thanks to the precedent set by The Mandalorian in plucking the character of Ahsoka Tano from the Star Wars’ animated universe, and setting her down in live-action continuity, there’s no reason why the Whoniverse can’t do the same with The Shalka Doctor. ‘But he’s not canon,’ I hear you cry. Perhaps so. But the seismic aftershocks of ‘The Timeless Children’ took canon and crushed it to dust. If we’re going to be stuck with it, might as well extract as many pluses from it as possible before some future showrunner decides to retcon the whole affair. It doesn’t even need to be connected to existing lore. If there are multiple, even infinite, dimensions out there, the Shalka Doctor may very well hail from one of them.

As to monsters? The Daleks and the Cybermen have been rather over-used lately, and their appearance in an anniversary special would be neither special nor especially welcome. It may be time to bring back an old monster or foe, one of supreme power that could give the Doctors a run for their money. Could the Black Guardian again don his crow-hat and return to wreak havoc with time? Or even the mighty Sutekh, who in ‘The Pyramids of Mars’ almost destroyed both the Fourth Doctor and the very world itself?

Whatever happens on Doctor Who’s next big anniversary, let’s just pray to the cosmos that it veers closer in tone to ‘Day of the Doctor’ or ‘The Five Doctors’. Nobody wants to see a cross-over with Coronation Street.

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How would you like to see Doctor Who celebrate its 60th anniversary?

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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impressivepress · 3 years

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The Great Dictator

Ironically, one of the most beloved men in history was born within four days of one of the most despised—and that the demon, Adolf Hitler, so strongly resembled the clown, Charles Chaplin.

Some claim that Hitler deliberately chose his mustache toresemble Chaplin’s, who had enjoyed thelove and respect of audiences around theworld. Contemporary journalists and car-toonists delighted in pointing out the simi-larity in appearance between the two men.A song about Hitler, published in Britain in1938, asked the question, “Who is this Man? (Who Looks like Charlie Chaplin).”

How could Chaplin, who had reached theapogee of his popularity and influence,avoid the role that fate seemingly had thrust upon him? In many ways, the creation of “The Great Dictator” (1940) was virtually inevitable. Over a decade after the rest of the film industry had accepted talking pictures, the great-est star of the silent-film era began his first full-dialogue film. His subject was Adolf Hitler and his theme, the dangerous rise of European fascism. Despite death threats once his project was announced, Chaplin forged ahead with his satire. In his 1964 auto-biography, Chaplin admitted, “Had I known the actual horrors of the German concentration camps, I couldnot have made “The Great Dictator;” I could not have made fun of the homicidal insanity of the Nazis.

”The Great Dictator is a tale of two worlds: the palace,where dictator Adenoid Hynkel rules, and the ghetto,where a Jewish barber struggles to make a living andsurvive. The comedic device of the film is the resem-blance between the Dictator and the Barber, who islater mistaken for the Dictator. The theme of the sto-ry, at its basic level, is the struggle between goodand evil, reflected in the balance between the twoworlds.

The film begins with this title: “This is a story of a pe-riod between two World Wars—an interim in whichInsanity cut loose, Liberty took a nose dive, andHumanity was kicked around somewhat.” It is fol-lowed by a prologue, set in World War I, in which theJewish Barber fights as a patriotic, although ineffec-tive, Tomanian soldier. This sequence, reminiscentof Chaplin’s World War I comedy “ShoulderArms” (1918), contains elements of nightmarish vio-lence as well as humor, a combination that occursoften in the film. The Barber must fire the enormousBig Bertha gun, is pursued by a defective gun shell,loses a hand grenade in his uniform, accidentallymarches with the enemy, and later finds himself up-side down in an airplane. The prologue reminds theaudience of the malevolence of machines, the horrorof war, and the senselessness of destruction. Withinthis framework, the stories of the Barber and Hynkelin their two moral universes, represented by the good“People of the Ghetto” and the evil “People of thePalace” are regularly intercut. The film concludeswith an epilogue set after the start of the war inEurope, soon to be called World War II. It shows theBarber, mistaken for Hynkel, forced to address amassed rally. The final speech, however, is not givenby the Barber character but by Chaplin himself, whopleads for peace, tolerance, and understanding.

The greatest moment of Chaplin’s satire on Hitlerand the rise of dictators is the scene in which Hynkelperforms a dance with a globe of the world. This sce-ne, which stands with the very best set pieces ofChaplin’s silent films, requires no words to convey itsmessage. Accompanied by the delicate, dreamy prel-ude to Act I of Wagner’s “Lohengrin” (Hitler’s favorite Wagnerian opera), Hynkel performs a graceful, se-ductive ballet with a balloon globe, a wonderful sym-bol of his maniacal dream of possessing the world forhis pleasure. Yet when he believes he has it withinhis grasp, the bubble literally bursts. This is Chaplin’ssymbolic comment on the futility of the dictator’s aspirations and reflects his optimistic belief that dicta-tors will never succeed.

Probably the most famous sequence of “The GreatDictator” is the five-minute speech that concludesthe film. Here Chaplin drops his comic mask andspeaks directly to the world, conveying his view thatpeople must rise up against dictators and unite inpeace. The most enduring aspects of the finalspeech are its aspirational quality and tone and itsunderlying faith in humanity. Chaplin sketches ahopeful future in broad strokes and leaves the imple-mentation of his vision to others, despite the fact that the more unsavory aspects of human nature mayprevent mankind ever reaching his promised utopia.Although some may find Chaplin’s message cliché,and even frustrating, one cannot help but be movedby the prescience of his words and the appeal of hispowerful indictment of all who seek to take powerunto themselves to the detriment of everyone else.The final speech of “The Great Dictator” remains rel-evant and valuable in the twenty-first century andlikely will remain so as long as conflict corrupts hu-man interaction and despots endure.

With the exception of “Gone With the Wind” (1939),no other film of the period was met with such antici-pation as “The Great Dictator.” The contemporarypress was generally favorable toward the film follow-ing the world premiere in New York City at two Broadway theaters—the Capitol Theatre and Astor Theatre—simultaneously on October 15, 1940. Alt-hough Bosley Crowther, film critic for the ”New YorkTimes,” thought the film too long and somewhat rep-etitious, he nevertheless wrote a very strong reviewnoting it to be “…a truly superb accomplishment by atruly great artist—and, from one point of view, per-haps the most significant film ever produced.”

“The Great Dictator” cost $1,403,526 making it oneof Chaplin’s most expensive films. It was an enor-mous gamble, as the film did not have the interna-tional distribution his silent films had enjoyed. Thefilm was banned throughout occupied Europe, inparts of South America, and in the Irish Free State.Nevertheless, “The Great Dictator” becameChaplin’s most profitable film up to that time earning $5 million dollars worldwide in its original release.

Despite being firmly fixed in the time in which it wasmade, “The Great Dictator” continues to have tre-mendous impact and hold on audiences. The filmwas reissued by United Artists in 1958, the year it was first seen in Germany and Italy, and was first shown in Spain in 1976. Critical opinion of the film, particularly of the final speech, has risen greatly inthe estimation of critics, historians, and audiencessince that time. In 1989, the centenary of Chaplin’s birth, “The Great Dictator” opened the Moscow Inter-national Film Festival, the first vintage film so hon-ored. In 2002, “The Great Dictator” was hailed as amasterpiece, closing the Berlin Film Festival only afew hundred yards from where Hitler committed sui-cide in his bunker.

Adolf Hitler was disturbed when he heard Chaplinwas at work on “The Great Dictator,” and there isevidence that Hitler actually saw the film. Accordingto an agent who fled Germany after working in thefilm division of the Nazi Ministry of Culture, Nazi au-thorities procured a print and Hitler screened the filmone evening in solitude. The following evening heagain watched the film all by himself. That is all theagent could tell Chaplin. In relaying the anecdote,Chaplin said, “I’d give anything to know what hethought of it.” Whatever Hitler thought of Chaplin’s“The Great Dictator,” the film survives as cinema’s supreme satire and one of Chaplin’s most importantand enduring works.

Essay by Jeffrey Vance, adapted from his book Chaplin:Genius of the Cinema (New York: Harry N. Abrams,2003). Jeffrey Vance is a film historian, archivist, and au-thor of the books Douglas Fairbanks, Chaplin: Genius ofthe Cinema, Harold Lloyd: Master Comedian, and Buster Keaton Remembered (with Eleanor Keaton). He is widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost authorities of Charles Chaplin.The views expressed in these essays are those of the author and do notnecessarily represent the views of the Library of Congress.

#film #essay #Charlie Chaplin #adolf hitler #library of congress

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odium-amare · 7 years

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Pride & Prejudice - Elizabeth Bennet [ENFP]

(For book, 1996 tv series and 2005 movie version)

The Inspirer: ENFPs are warm, enthusiastic people, typically very bright and full of potential. They live in the world of possibilities, and can become very passionate and excited about things. Their enthusiasm lends them the ability to inspire and motivate others, more so than we see in other types. They can talk their way in or out of anything. They love life, seeing it as a special gift, and strive to make the most out of it.

Ne (Extraverted Intuition): -explores new ideas and theories -likes to have a flexible lifestyle and to see different possibilities -prefers to have diverse understanding -likes to stray from the norms of society and rebel

“They use it to find patterns and underlying principles, to see future possibilities, to construct theories and frameworks, and to form connections as they talk, write, or create.”

Elizabeth finds the sexist, propriety and duties of a woman in Regency England stifling. With her own class and beyond, she doesn’t seem to care for the finer or more materialistic things that her people manage to enjoy everyday without being bored. Her mind is always wandering and she likes to read extensively to explore other ideas and purposes for her own life. The way she lives and interacts is airy and floaty. She both likes to observe the environment around her to read people, but she’s not very good at it as much as she likes to think she is. At the same time, she also detaches herself from the environment to go about in her own world such as her solitary walks or going on swings to think and or daydream. She didn’t give a damn to have mud all over the hem of her dress when she was on one of her walks and didn’t care what anyone else thought of the idea.

She likes to tease and or provoke Mr. Darcy (like during their dance) to make sense of his character and for her own amusement.

“The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it; and every day confirms my belief of the inconsistency of all human characters, and of the little dependence that can be placed on the appearance of merit or sense.” <= This quote may seem Ni, but it’s can also be slightly unhealthy Ne

Fi (Introverted Feeling): -focuses on inter personal matters, own individuality and idealism -have their own set of codes and ideals to what they consider is right -does whatever they want as long as their own person is fine with it and not what society or anyone else wants -prefers to keep their own feelings to themselves

“It is a decision making-process that makes them very interested in determining their own moral code and what their gut instinct tells them is right, which is often based on how they would like to be treated themselves.”

Elizabeth is highly idealistic despite the era she is living in. She wants to marry for love and will settle for nothing less. She is proud of her authenticity and how she is unlike the sweet and innocent Jane, the naive and ridiculous Lydia and Kitty and not like the stiff and boring Mary. This was never directly addressed but definitely implied with her train of thoughts. She lives by her own codes for herself and sticks with it thick and thin.

When Mr. Darcy slighted Elizabeth and her appearance, saying that her older sister, Jane, was the only handsome woman in the room offended her greatly even though she kept rather quiet about it only talking to a select few about the incident. She immediately judged Darcy as unlikable from that day onwards without searching for more information about him or his side of the story. This is something a heavy Fi user with Te to execute that opinion and decision is prone to do.

Fe users are more likely to remain neutral and form their own independent thoughts after seeing all sides with their Ti. This is why the theory of Elizabeth being an xNFJ or ENTP is debunked.

“I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine.” “Vanity, not love, has been my folly.”

Te (Extraverted Thinking): -make external surroundings more efficient -blunt and cutting -executes plans, thoughts and words directly -difficult to explore all sides and take things for what it is according to how they experience or see it

“While they prefer to take their time to make decisions, as long as it doesn’t go against their values they can use their Te to make sure they make a decision when necessary.”

Take a look at how Elizabeth rejected Mr. Collins. It was short and easy and she was not exactly careful about it either. Right after the rejection, she walks right off without any overthinking or second thoughts. Her mother could do nothing to persuade her. She wants to marry for love. Done. The infamous Te bitchslap probably was born during the infamous scene where Elizabeth rejected Darcy’s proposal. After all the resentment and butthurt in her Fi and inferior Si built up, she made certain that Mr. Darcy knew exactly what she thought of him.

However, her tertiary Te can still remain objective enough to see Mr. Darcy’s point of view and his criticism of her family. Her family is full of ridiculous people and she above all knows that.

“Your selfish disdain for the feelings of others made me realize you were the last man in the world I could ever be prevailed upon to marry.”

Si (Introverted Sensing): -draws on past personal experience -makes conclusions or judgments based on what they see and sticks with it stubbornly -easy to reminisce nostalgia -stores stimuli according to internal approval

“... it is inherently not as strong as the other functions. It operates subconsciously for the most part, and allows them to store all the interesting knowledge and insights into people they gather in an organized way in their mind for future reference.“

Elizabeth stored data that day when Mr. Darcy slighted her that Mr. Darcy is an unlikable and arrogant man. She decides that she doesn’t like him at all and it took a lot of effort on his party to woo her out of that mindset. Her inferior Si was also what made her trust Wickham so easily when he lied to her about his past with Darcy to charm her.

Her realization and knowledge about Wickham later on is also what made her so upset about what soon happens to Lydia and Wickham and decide that Mr. Darcy will now no longer have respect and love her, bringing her to tears.

She enjoys her walks and alone time and does it as a routine because she’s used to it and it gives her a sense of peace.

“I hoped to obtain your forgiveness, to lessen your ill opinion, by letting you see that your reproofs had been attended to.” <= From Mr. Darcy to Elizabeth

#elizabeth bennet #pride & prejudice #pride and prejudice #enfp #mbti #elizabeth bennet enfp #enfp mbti #meyers briggs #pride and prejudice mbti

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