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waitingtoexhale · 3 years

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Queer Media One Tragic at a Time Has Reprogrammed My Brain

I find myself continually lowering my standards for the type of media I consume. Queer character? Check. Limited tragedy? Check. At least once instance of happiness? Check. Alright, that’s good enough for me. I LOVE THIS *insert media type here* SHOW, MOVIE, SONG! But, along with the good comes the bad and the ugly. Along with the brief instances of happy, complex, characters come the violence, the stereotypes, the woe. At this point, simply having a queer character that doesn’t die is the best I can hope for and that truly stresses me out. On a regular basis.

In Queer Youth Cultures, Karen said it perfectly, “I think there's a lack of homosexual characters who are presented in a positive and uplifting, or not even positive and uplifting but just represented on the screen or in the media in general. I guess it's a desire to have a voice. I know this sounds like pure shit, but it's a desire to have a voice, to feel that l'm being spoken for or even just represented. But that there's a voice up there that's representing, or at least trying to represent my own experience. I want to have a say in what's going on and I'm not willing to just accept the images that are represented in front of me as being the only possibility. I take it maybe beyond its limitations of what's there. I try to expand, try to just open it up to possible choices that exist for me that might not exist for the creators for that particular film or TV show. But I will be heard” (2008, p.175-176).

Shameless acceptance of the toxic gay dynamic:

While sexuality is particular to each individual, the social constructions of heterosexuality and homosexuality are cultural categories humans use to make sense of their sexuality (Queer Analysis, 2010, p.198). Shameless, an American comedy-drama television series based on a British show of the same name, stars Cameron Monaghan as Ian, a closeted teenage boy who realizes he is gay and navigates the complexities of his queerness as a social identity and Noel Fisher as Mickey, a closeted homophobic thug who upon realizing he is gay engages in a sexual relationship with the one other queer person he knows who also happens to be the kid he violently bullied. Ian and Mickey start as a toxic portrayal of settling and acceptability in its truest form. Ian is in a predatory relationship with an adult and still possess a great deal of internalized homophobia when he is essentially propositioned by Mickey and their turbulent relationship begins. Mickey is struggling between his desires as a closeted gay teen and his need to match the criminal ideals expected of his father and family name. They are an explosive pair that seem to cause each other physical pain and mental anguish, yet the fans are wholly supportive. Even when healthy potential partners are introduced, the toxic couple of Ian and Mickey are reunited time and time again because media has established a trope where queer characters are only allowed complicated togetherness. Queer characters are punished for choosing their queerness and therefore not allowed true love and happiness. Despite having this knowledge and nothing in common personally with these characters, I love this couple and I love this pairing, so I am part of the problem. I am a product of this generation of idolizing toxic behaviors between characters because unfortunately those are the only “happy” queer characters I have seen continually produced. I have settled into a pattern of accepting negative stereotypes as simply good enough. I have traded the simple fact that the queer character doesn’t die for the harsh reality of their lives.

Another sad queer lacking Glee:

When queer characters are introduced, there are a set number of personality types and lived experiences they are allowed to have. Take Dave Kurofsky from Glee who serves as the closeted homophobic bully who after being outed in the “On My Way” episode attempts suicide and is comforted by the out-and-proud effeminate Kurt, a previous victim of Kurofsky’s wrath. We get to observe the pointed shift in Kurofsky’s personality from homophobic bully to repentant closeted queer, but the lack of character development unfortunately makes it difficult to feel sorry for him as a character. Instead, as an audience, we are forced to revel in “media representations of queer culture as essentialist, marking out the dichotomies between male and female, heterosexual versus homosexual (Queer Youth Cultures, 2008, p.175). Kurofsky is unable to learn what it means to be a queer man and grow from his internalized homophobia because he is coming his existence and framing his life experiences through that of Kurt; this is apparent when Kurofsky is unable to dance with Kurt at prom because of the perception of gayness. We accept Kurofsky’s story as powerful and real and heartbreaking because it is, but at what point do content creators have an obligation to tell the story a different way, in a positive uplifting light?

Degrassi: The Next Generation of bury your gays tropes:

Degrassi: The Next Generation, a Canadian teen drama television series, made history for tackling the tough social issues affecting teens, but frequently not talked about. They embraced diversity in their casting and range of topics covered while spearheading a progressive movement of introducing characters traditionally absent from popular media. Adam, a trans male character played by a cis female actress is a well-rounded first introduction to many into the lives of trans youth. The audience is familiarized with concepts such as passing and outing as well as the complexities involved in sexuality vs gender. Adam, besides being inaccurately portrayed by a cis woman, which is damaging to the idea that trans folks are the gender they have identified with rather than their gender assigned at birth, provides a much needed avenue of representation for queer youth in popular media. Continuing with our previously identified tropes, as a result of Adam being happy, relatively healthy, and well-liked he has to die. Queer characters are not afforded regular happiness in media they are given a taste then sacrificed as tools of writing via violence, sacrifice, or martyrdom. Adam is not gay bashed or driven to suicide as other queer characters are, but instead tragically killed as a texting while driving PSA. This death is particularly hard felt because Adam was truly shaping out to be a normal high school kid facing the complexities of life and surviving, but the creators, once again, took a queer character as the source for a lesson in some predetermined idea that queer happiness is short lived and tragic regardless of circumstance. There is a need for punishment of their queerness.

Queer punishment, a Supernatural concept:

What do shipping, fandoms, and heteronormative dominant culture have in common? Queerbaiting. Queerbaiting, “a term employed by media fans to criticize homoerotic suggestiveness in contemporary television when this suggestiveness is not actualized in the program narrative” (Brennan, 2016, p.1). A concept typically negatively connoted is a primary tool of heteronormative culture ensuring queer culture remains as a subculture rather than its own, established independent source of media. Audiences, particularly queer individuals, are forced to imagine scenarios and worlds where their identities are represented and dominant. “By creating a fantasy space, queer youth have an environment where they are free to explore many possibilities” (Queer Youth Culture, 2008, p.174). From these creative worlds come the likes of couples like Dean and Castiel (#Destiel) from Supernatural. The creators introduce intimacy and connectedness; the couple is ideal and non-stereotypical or superficial. Unfortunately, our trend of no happy endings for queer media continues because despite the fan observations and urging this couple is never acknowledged or confirmed as such. They instead give several seasons of romantic teasing culminating in a teary subversive confession immediately preceded by death and not just any death, a death where Castiel, an angel character is drug to hell. The sub context is overwhelming in deciding queerness is so offensive that any acknowledgement to the sort should result in punishment akin to biblical reckoning.

Lingua Franca, the road to universal language and communication:

Even as queer media continually evolves becoming evermore accurate and inclusive the conditioning I have been subjected to, as a consumer of queer media, completely reprogram my brain. While watching something as relevant and present as Lingua Franca I am unable to completely enjoy the film as I am waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop. Lingua Franca is a progressive film about a trans Filipina woman seeking a path to legal immigration in Trump’s America. The film is written, directed, and stars Isabel Sandoval an actual trans woman of color and therefore the portrayal is very real. As a film about a trans woman, the pace is melodic and light while the subject matter is focused on the life of Olivia rather than her transition or identity as a trans woman. While watching the film, I found it beyond refreshing that there were no invasive surgery questions or blatant misgendering by supposed loved ones. That being said, as a first watch through, it was anxiety inducing; the lack of discussion regarding Olivia’s trans identity led me to worry for her safety in a cis-heteropatriarchal world. When Olivia is engaging in her relationship with Alex I see the natural connections, simplicity, sensuality, and beauty, but I also worry about the potential for the violence I have come to expect when viewing true queer happiness. The scene where Olivia is outed by Alex’s friend shifted the entire tone of the film for me as I watched Alex spiral and truly cringed at the thought of watching another film showing an act of physical violence against a trans woman of color. While that thankfully did not happen, the fact that I remained restless throughout the entirety of the film waiting for it alludes to this reprogramming of sorts that has occurred. Creators show queer characters as poor unfortunate souls brought down by their queer identities therefore, I have come to expect and root for in some regards, a victim. There are limited instances when I can truly enjoy a queer film without a sinking feeling in my stomach waiting for the catch, waiting to exhale and simply experience queer joy.

#queer representation #intersectionality #queer youth culture #tragic queer #shameless #glee #degrassi #supernatural #lingua franca

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aion-rsa · 4 years

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Stargirl: How Cindy Burman Became the Most Intriguing DC TV Villain

https://ift.tt/2ZMmxp2

This article contains Stargirl spoilers.

Stargirl is the sort of superhero show that has no right to be as good as it is. A story about a teenager discovering a glowing, sentient staff and fighting supervillains with names like “The Gambler” in a costume that’s little more than a midriff-baring Captain America rip-off should, in all honesty, be a joke. Therefore, the fact that it’s actually one the best DC television series currently on the air may come as a surprise to many, but this little show has proven over the course of its first season that there’s basically nothing it can’t do.

A perfect mix of heartfelt optimism and deep cut fan service, Stargirl soars because it trusts both its characters and its audience. This is a show that encourages its viewers to embrace complexity and to hold often competing concepts together in the same moment for maximum narrative impact. Stargirl itself exists in a similar duality, a show with a classic comic book feel and bright tone, but whose youthful verve and risky storytelling points the way to the exciting and different things this genre is still capable of doing.

And there’s no better example of this than Cindy Burman, who is simultaneously a monster and a horribly lost teenage girl.

When we first meet Blue Valley High HBIC Cindy she appears to be little more than your average mean girl. A less interesting Cheryl Blossom-type, her only goal seems to be to make herself the center of attention at all times, whether that means sabotaging another student’s election as class president, winning the school talent contest with subversive-for-Nebraska dance moves or simply being rude to new students. Entertaining, yes – but probably not that important to the overall story that Stargirl was telling.

This is an assumption that turns out to be the furthest thing from the truth.

Because Cindy is a character – much like Stargirl itself – that’s much more complex and nuanced then she appears at first glance. The DC TV universe’s first teen supervillain, Cindy is vicious, dark, and deadly by turns. Yet, even as Stargirl acknowledges her evil nature, it also takes pains to make sure she remains at least somewhat relatable, allowing Cindy to occupy an intriguing liminal space within the narrative. She’s a teenager who knows too much to enjoy her status as a high school queen bee, but who is still seen as too young to have a proper seat at the Injustice Society’s table. She’s both the Dragon King’s daughter and someone who was likely one of his very first victims. And she’s both determined not to need anyone, and miserably lonely at the same time.

In the “Shiv” two-parter that essentially serves as Cindy’s origin story, we see a girl who is condescending and cruel, but who also desperately wants to find someone who can understand what she’s going through. She repeatedly tells her father how frustrated she is by being “all alone up there” in the world of Blue Valley, forced to date a boy that she doesn’t even like that much in order to monitor him for the Injustice Society and unable to tell the truth about herself to any of her supposed friends. The Dragon King – like so many fathers of teens before him, supervillain or no – refuses to see her for who she is, offhandedly recommending she fix her problems by going shopping or throwing another party.

Stargirl Season Finale Ending Explained and Unanswered Questions

By Rosie Knight

Both the show and actress Meg DeLacy do a great job making Cindy sympathetic without undermining or trying to justify just how truly terrible she is. She’s a girl who hides deep insecurities behind a performative bitchy persona, but who also has no problem casually murdering her father’s brainwashed lackeys (for what is apparently not even close to the first time). It certainly makes sense that Cindy might be drawn to Courtney Whitmore, a new girl with a forthright attitude and little respect for the established way things work in Blue Valley. Who better, after all, to truly see you than someone who doesn’t know you at all?

It would be easy for Stargirl to insist that Cindy and Courtney are destined to be enemies because Starman and Dragon King were, their vendettas predetermined long before these girls even knew who the other was. But like so many other tropes this series has tackled this season, the show isn’t content with anything so basic. Instead, when it pulls out the traditional “we’re not so different, you and I” speech that often passes between a hero and a villain, the conversation lands differently – because Stargirl has taken the time to show us long before this moment that it’s a cliché that’s actually mostly true in this case.

In a different world, it’s pretty easy to imagine how these girls could have ended up in each other’s places, through accidents of birth or circumstance. In this one, it’s still not completely outside the realm of possibility to envision them as a sort of uneasy frenemies at some point in the (distant) future.. The Cindy who visits Courtney’s bedroom to taunt her and threaten her friends is also there because she’s literally never had anyone she could talk to about this whole superhero and/or supervillain lifestyle before, and that’s a true gamechanger for her.

Stargirl has already hinted there’s still more to Cindy than we viewers know. According to Beth, she used to be nice before her mother died, and it wasn’t until afterward that she became the “scariest kid in fourth grade”. Given that the show has repeatedly hinted that she somehow caused her mother’s death, that seems as though it’s probably when her father started experimenting on her, and we’ve yet to truly see the extent of how that’s affected her.

Yet, despite the Dragon King’s repeated abusive and cruel behavior, Cindy remains convinced her father loves her. She even still covets his good opinion – or, at least, she does right up until the moment she stabs him through the chest. Much like everything else involving this character, CIndy’s murder of her father is a complicated decision, an act that appears to be as driven by pain as much as it is by fury.

Stargirl: What is Eclipso?

By Rosie Knight

(No matter how messed up she is, hearing that her father – and all his supervillain friends – considered her a failed experiment has to hurt.)

And though Cindy doubtless mourns her father in her own way (if he’s even actually dead for real), she’s also eager to establish herself in his place as the new de facto head of the next generation of the Injustice Society. Though Cindy is knocked out by Courtney during the battle in the season finale, we see her retrieve a jewel from what is presumably her father’s vast archive of unlabeled evil materials.

Before the screen goes dark, she addresses it as “Eclipso,” indicating that she’s well on her way to building her own version of the Injustice Society (surely Cameron Mahkent or Isaiah Bowin might have some legacy anger issues to work out next season?). But what that will ultimately look like is anyone’s guess – particularly since this show has already proven that it’s both willing and eager to take the road less traveled, narratively speaking.

Will Stargirl and Shiv somehow become besties who do one another’s nails and have sleepovers? Probably not. But that doesn’t mean that there’s no room for something else between them, either. Particularly since they’ve both moved out from under the shadows of the men they once called their fathers and are forging their own paths.

After all, Stargirl is a show that’s strengthened by the familiar ground of comic book clichés, rather than weakened by them – and all because it doesn’t count on vague tropes to do its heavy narrative lifting. Instead, it leans into these familiar aspects, sharpening their edges and allowing the familiar bones of old stories to light our path to new ones.

The post Stargirl: How Cindy Burman Became the Most Intriguing DC TV Villain appeared first on Den of Geek.

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nonbinarysasquatch · 6 years

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Josh’s Ex-Girlfriend is Crazy.

“So, what I am hearing is, it’s not really about Josh per se. Josh is more a symbol of effortless normalcy from which you’ve always felt excluded.”

Rebecca can’t you seeeeeee, Josh Chan is a metaaaphooorr.

Since the beginning the title of this show has never really been the focus of the actual content of the show. Mostly, it’s been a feminist deconstruction of romantic comedy tropes. The relationship with the word crazy has largely been through the lens of Rebecca’s discomfort with others saying it but a willingness to describe herself as crazy with self-loathing.

Something I’ve been disturbed by since becoming involved with the CXGF fandom on Tumblr is that… in the #Crazy Ex Girlfriend tag, you’ll see literal men linking to videos of their (allegedly) crazy ex-girlfriends, or people variously ranting about their crazy ex-girlfriends.

And those people? They are why this show exists. Perhaps, more than anything else this show is about the exploitation, degradation and dismissal of women, particularly women with mental illnesses. Of course, that’s not all this show is about, because it’s a complex, layered show that you can’t just take a cursory glance at and decide that you understand it.

And for the record: I think there’s totally room for critiques of this show. Have I ever seen any good ones from that didn’t come from people who weren’t fans? Nope. It’s always the same old thing where you can tell they aren’t willing to intellectually engage with the show.

All of the good critiques of the seen of the show and it’s plot have all come from fans and people willing to intellectually engage with the show.

Even while watching and enjoying seasons 1 and 2 the first time I had some issues and concerns. But I trusted that all the feminists who loved the show knew what they were talking about. And season 3 almost unilaterally eliminated all of my concerns.

Let’s go back and look at the season 1 title theme: Rebecca is called “the Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” by her own opening theme. She rejects it as a being a sexist term then explains that there’s a lot more nuance than that. And you know? She wasn’t wrong. There always has been a lot more nuance than that.

She did move across the country for Josh… but she wasn’t really aware that was the case. And to just dismiss her as a stalker is to dehumanize her and disregard her mental health.

Throughout the show we have explored why she is the way she is. I’m someone who generally believes the world needs more empathy and to do a lot less demonizing of people. So to that end, I choose to understand Rebecca and I have a lot of sympathy for her.

And still, she does terrible things. She manipulates people and her actions have consequences. There is a question of how much we should see Rebecca as a person who really exists or if we should see her as a symbol for what childhood abuse and the patriarchy can do to a woman.

If we view the show as feminist satire it looks a lot different than if we choose to simply take everything at face value (though how you can ignore the innate feminism behind literally everything on this show is beyond me.)

This certainly isn’t a show for people who are only interested in a black and white view of the world. And it’s not a show for anyone who doesn’t want to ever see people with mental illnesses being portrayed in a negative light, even if to never show people with mental illnesses in a negative light is a complete and utter lie (which I can say as someone with mental illnesses who has definitely done shit I’m not proud of that was influenced by mental health problems.)

For me, as someone with mental illnesses, I’ve never felt like anything spoke to me the way this show does. I’ve never felt represented in this way before. I’ll have a lot more to say about that as this season goes on…

This show is from Rebecca’s POV and even when she’s doing terrible things, we are given her perspective. It’s a narrative that is traditionally been used to make men into sympathetic heroes, even when those stories all have men who are actual garbage with no consideration for the feelings of the women in the stories.

So, in this episode, we tackle the most egregious of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend tropes: the sort of films where the woman is spurned into murderous revenge.

Of course, Rebecca isn’t really a murderer. She doesn’t want to hurt anyone. She just wants to feel like her feelings matter. Her actions in this episode are terrible but the emotions behind them aren’t wrong. Josh hasn’t even approached making amends with what he did. He doesn’t seem to even think he did anything wrong. Last episode he was more interested in literally telling everyone that Rebecca was crazy and that was BEFORE he realised that Rebecca was spreading lies about him.

The opening scene of this episode is perfectly constructed and so realistic it hurts. I’ve been in that room. Not as Rebecca but as all of her friends. Rachel Bloom’s acting here is exquisite as perfectly uses her anger and fear as a mask for her pain. Her pain after she takes Darryl’s down is just so real and just… so accurate.

The grief that all of her friends feel is also very real, particularly Paula and Valencia who in many ways are the characters that Rebecca has hurt the most. Even Nathaniel looks aggrieved, despite having taken it less hard from her and having the least at stake. A solid sign that he isn’t the cold-hearted person he initially seemed.

Of course, then, he brags TO HER FRIENDS about having sex with her and says he knows her better. Which, no, Nathaniel, shut your mouth, man. To say this isn’t appropriate is putting it mildly. In some ways, this is the most mad I’ve been at Nathaniel thus far. He’s developing feelings for Rebecca but “she’s zany but in a cute way.” Nope, Nathaniel. Much like Josh Chan, I’m going to judge you for not being respectful of Rebecca’s mental health, though it is fair to say that he doesn’t know her as well as Josh (should.)

Rebecca’s friends all love her, even after the cruel things she has said. The world at large would just say she’s crazy. And no one could fault any of her friends for choosing to cut ties and take their own health and safety into account. But this isn’t real life. And Rebecca is a symbol, to a certain degree.

To readdress the point I was making above about the problem of people (particularly) men complaining about crazy ex-girlfriends, I think this show is making one point that I don’t necessarily see acknowledged all that often: that even when someone is acting in these sorts of ways, that it still isn’t OK to call them crazy. Which, it should be noted, is not the same thing as talking about abuse and mistreatment. But all this bullshit of dudes posting videos of their ex-girlfriends acting out and mocking them for crazy is gross bullshit.

If this show does have a failing, it’s that weaving the threads of being a deconstruction of romantic comedies, a deconstruction of the crazy ex-girlfriend trope and being a serious show about mental health means that engaging with it is complicated. And it’s a musical comedy to boot.

I’ve said before that I don’t think this show is for everyone. But it is for more people than currently watch it. And goddamn, I wish some of the people who dismiss their girlfriends, or any women as being crazy would watch it and absorb the message.

So, Rebecca goes to stay in a hostel. Fun fact: there are no hostels in West Covina. As far as I can tell, most hostels in Los Angeles County are in Los Angeles. But hey, there’s also nothing on East Cameron in reality too…

At the hostel she meets Danish tourist, Jarl, who might be my favourite one off character the show has ever done. Jarl happens to know a thing or two about movies like Swimfan, Basic Instinct and Fatal Attraction. The only one of those I’ve ever seen is Swimfan (which I don’t recall enjoying.)

Rebecca decides she needs to reenact those films in order to force Josh to feel what she feels, telling Jarl that she’s 7 feet tall angry.

Meanwhile, her friends are looking for her. It’s easy to miss that Valencia has never understood the full scope of the scheming against her that Rebecca and Paula were doing back in season one.

Easy to miss that Valencia doesn’t realise the full depth of the scheming against her that was going on, and that was largely driven by Paula. We also acknowledge for the first time that Paula and Valencia are friends, a far cry from season one when Paula just saw Valencia as an obstacle for Josh and Rebecca’s love story.

Darryl and White Josh are being forced to address the issue of whether WhiJo wants to have a baby together, forcing Hector to bounce out before the awkward gets too bad.

We also get a follow up here on a tiny thread seeded last season of Heather perhaps having an interest in Hector. I always love how the show does a good job of putting characters together who haven’t interacted much and doing something interesting with them.

Rebecca goes to Josh’s house, trying to spook him and get under his skin. It clearly works… for whatever that is worth.

After going back to the hostel, Jarl points out that if Rebecca continues on this path, she’ll end up murdered at the end of the movie. Rebecca, of course, doesn’t buy it. Because to her this isn’t about revenge. She simply wants Josh to feel her pain. Though she’s phrasing it unhealthily, really, what she wants is empathy. Something that Josh has… pretty much never given her.

Jarl points out that if Rebecca was unhappy before she met Josh that perhaps this isn’t all his fault. And he says the line that I quoted at the top about effortless normalcy.

Back at Rebecca and Heather’s house, it turns out that Nathaniel is sleeping there along with George and the girl he’s dating, Penny. And, for the record, it’s not true that a person needs to be missing X number of hours before you can report it. I did research for a fanfic!

You can immediately report a person as missing. This doesn’t mean that law enforcement will take it seriously of course, but legally there’s nothing stopping you. And they should (and that’s a big should, obviously) take into account like whether there’s reason to worry about that person’s safety or the safety of other people and act accordingly.

Now, whether Nathaniel would be taken seriously is another issue but in theory at a minimum, Heather or Paula (as her best friend and her roommate) should’ve been able to file a report.

Josh goes back to his job at Aloha Tech and is promptly suspended because Rebecca stuffed his work locker full of remotes. And as has been pointed out, yes, this means that Alex opened the locker, found all the remotes then stuffed them back inside so he could make the dramatic reveal to Josh. What a nerd. He must be bored.

Rebecca has left Josh a note, leading to him going to the carnival where Rebecca is with his mother. When Josh can’t find Lourdes, he confronts Rebecca, unwittingly allowing Rebecca to back herself up to a dangerous pit while he tells her she’s crazy.

Did Rebecca want Josh to push her into the pit? Maybe not consciously but I think perhaps part of her felt she deserved it. Maybe she thought Jarl was right. Maybe she just wanted to see if Josh really hated her. Whatever the case, Josh doesn’t allow her to fall, saving her at the last moment.

Josh leaves, warning Rebecca that if she comes near him or his family again he’ll call the cops. Rebecca tries to smooth him over, admitting that she just wanted to get his attention and she wants to talk to him. But it’s too late for that.

Paula’s dream is painful. We, as the audience, want that moment to happen but it’s not honest. Instead, Paula calls Naomi, deciding that maybe Rebecca needs her actual mother.

Rebecca, meanwhile, stumbles into a bar that Greg frequented in season 1, even talking about him with the bartender. And then, as if fate, Rebecca gets butt-dialed by Greg. But Greg doesn’t know and he can’t hear her. And even if they did talk… what would he say? Nothing he could say could fix what she’s feeling.

And then there’s Greg’s dad, Marco. Rebecca rightly observes that Marco has never had a favourable view of her. But Marco instead tries to compliment her, perhaps recognising that she’s vulnerable. And Marco is the sort of guy who inappropriately hits on his female doctors, so I don’t really see this above him.

And so Rebecca goes home with Marco, sleeping with him. Does Marco fully understand the lowness of the place Rebecca is in? Probably not. But I also think he doesn’t care. He knows she’s pretty and vulnerable. That’s why he flirts with her in the first place.

I’ve seen some fans critique this from the perspective of Marco being such a good dad that he would never do that but… I think that erases a lot of Marco’s previously displayed shitty traits in favour of focusing on his good ones. He’s a good dad to a certain degree but… also kind of a gross asshole. Those things aren’t mutually exclusive.

And honestly, I’ve simply known too many dudes who seemed like stand up moral dudes who it turned out had done appalling things and used women. It’s honestly never shocking to portray a man like this. And let’s be real, if last year didn’t show everyone that men culturally have issues with consent then I’m not sure what will.

Rebecca has hit rock bottom as her movie comes to an end, realizing that life doesn’t make narrative sense. When her mom calls her, demanding that she come home she doesn’t even fight it. What else can she do?

The Songs:

Scary Scary Sexy Lady: One of the few “not my favourites” this season. A version of this was apparently considered to be the season 3 main title sequence but given what happens in the next few episodes, they realised that it wouldn’t make sense for the full season.

The End of the Movie: One of the best songs the show has ever done, sung by Josh Groban. This song is why there still isn’t a full season 3 soundtrack. Hopefully they’ll get that worked out at some point. This is damn good song.

Episode Rating: 10.0 out of 10.0.

And this still isn’t even my favourite episode this season.

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whnvr · 4 years

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Brain Drain

Ah yes, here we go. The very first Brain Drain. According to Julia Cameron I have to fill up roughly three pages or 1500 words in order to meet my daily requirement. I suppose I will simply just start typing, in fact, I refuse to even look at the screen - instead opting to gaze intently down at my keyboard. I have to say this feels a little unnatural. How many words is that? Ah, 74. Oh dear.

It should be said I'm still unsure as to the format I want this to take. The Artist's Way suggestion is as a stream of consciousness, which is what I'm doing now, but I am also considering doing a sort of blend between that method with academic writing. Ie: doing blocks of the Brain Drain at different times of day alongside my usual work and then taking the time to cite, reference, format, and edit my ideas. It's slightly counter to the original purpose of the Morning Pages but I may actually get more benefit from it this way as it will allow me to understand and explore my ideas in greater detail. Plus, what are these things for if not to be innovated upon?

The Morning Pages, or 'Brain Drain', are typically supposed to be done in a solid block before any other of the days' work. Instead, I may ensure the three pages/1500 words are done and published before I go to bed. However, I don't mind doing a stream of consciousness today just to get the ball rolling.

I guess the point of the Brain Drain is to get all of my cluttered thoughts out of my head and get in touch with the 'me' that is decidedly more creative, and absolutely less critical. I suppose taking the pulse or 'measure' of my day would be a good place to start? Today I feel a little listless. I still feel as though I have a lot that I need to do to get this journal up and running, and that this is halting me from moving on to anything else.

I'm essentially starting this journal because I've been doing so many things in the last couple of weeks that it has become impossible to keep track of it all, generating this sort of anxiety of a future wherein I'll have to look back on everything I've done for some university project but the steps of how I got there will be lost. Now that I have a format in which to record my work I feel the pressure to go back and document everything that I've been doing.

Should I do that, or should I just press forward and allow my work to naturally sort itself out as I'm doing it? I'm leaning toward the latter.

It's decided then, I will continue onward as though my imaginary journal audience has been listening in the entire time.

Next steps then. I suppose I should focus my energies on learning Unreal Engine from the ground up. I want to become proficient in that program in order to move my art-style and experiences into a realtime format that can then be explored and made via the burgeoning medium of virtual reality. I need some 'case study' examples of the work that I want to produce and learning Unreal as an artistic tool is my current obstacle to doing this. In which case, I will need to locate a good, artist's-oriented course on the subject.

I suppose I have three general concepts I'm pursuing at the moment. The first is this journalling documentation system that will eventually become an app, the second is an AI-driven 'personal butler' life management system that I've drafted up as a companion app for 'journlr', and the third is the creation of a new workflow for myself for VR worldbuilding. The first two were born out of me needing those exact services for my work but being unable to find any out there (so why not just make them myself! hah). I plan on going into detail on them another time. The third is my immediate focus and something I will go into more detail here.

Workflow is important. I am a very 'systems & procedure' oriented artist. The work itself, final output, tweaking, and set-dressing are far less important to me than how I set up my work environment in the first place. For music, I have created an environment, pipeline, toolset, and framework to work within that are my asset libraries, procedural sound generation/processing tools, procedural AI writing & editing tools, and arrangement techniques. These create an initial working bed for me to then operate within as a songwriter, producer, artist, and sound engineer.

However, I don't yet have such workflows for visual art. The good news is that I do have one in mind.

Video games, though decidedly an art form, are only recently starting to seem less strange within the academic 'art world'. For me, they are exceedingly important. I am not particularly a 'gamer' and I prefer to spend my time playing in creativity, however, being a child of the early 2000s video games can't help but form an intrinsic part of my life and artistic DNA. For my younger self, this was truest of 'Sandbox Games'.

Animesh Jha, MA Video Game Development & Visual Effects at Simon Fraser university defines a Sandbox Game as: "an unrestricted or exploration-based environment in which the player gets to create his version of fun", of which the popular block-building game 'Minecraft' is probably the most titular example. He also goes on to refer to it by the term "Emergent Gameplay" which is the notion of content discovered by the users that weren't explicitly planned or determined by the system's creators. (1)

The idea and potential of Emergent Gameplay as an art medium excites me. It is my inner child-creative's dream that all my creative practices eventually resemble 'emergent gameplay'. What could be more fun? The work for me then as an artist is in setting up these creative systems. In essence, I'm looking to build a virtual playground or 'sandbox' for myself that I can then create works within.

In order to talk about my plans for this methodology, I must first talk about one of the pieces of software that most inspired it, as well as one of the artists who have used it to its fullest potential. The little-publicized, niche, but much-loved, literal-definition-of-a sandbox game 'Garry's Mod' and one of it's most prominent creatives: Michael 'Vioxtar' Efraim.

Garry's Mod (or GMod for short) is a game produced by developer Garry Newman as a third-party modification for Valve's Source game engine in 2004 published by Valve themselves. The game functions on the premise of the ability to essentially spawn game assets (characters, props, settings, buildings, and miscellaneous) from Valve's revolutionary, narrative-driven game Half-Life (a game I will be talking more about at some point as it represents a singular, life-changing source of inspiration for me in terms of art direction & word building) and being able to manipulate those objects in a physics-driven, 3D environment. (2)

What the players were to then do with it was up to them. Michael Efraim is one such player, working with hundreds to thousands of Half-Life 2 game assets in order to build complex and expressive 3D imagery in an art practice he calls 'scenebuilding' with a pointed focus on the meta worldbuilding of stories that take place within his own art program. (3)

"Over time I began gravitating towards building my own universe within the realm of Garry’s Mod: a reimagination of the Garry’s Mod Sandbox gamemode. I started asking myself questions: 'What would it be like if there was a world out there populated by players with working Physguns, Gravguns, and Toolguns, and the ability to spawn whatever they pleased?'" - Michael Efraim on worldbuilding. (3)

Another concept I have gravitated towards recently is kitbashing, the act of taking pre-existing modelbuilding kits and combining them into something new, a classic example of which was the use of kitbashing to do essentially all of the prop, architecture, and vehicle designs within the original Star Wars trilogy. (4)

In lieu of this, for my own virtual playground, I'm eventually looking to put together an asset library of props, characters, buildings, furnishings, flora, fauna, and procedural texturing systems for Unreal Engine alongside a virtual reality toolset that will allow me to play around with these components and create my artwork from within the virtual space, creating not just art but a brand new art framework that encourages art as an emergent gameplay environment.

For the time being however, I will be focusing on learning the base toolset, developing a traditional non-vr workflow, and building out a tentative asset library with the aim of recreating the piece 'Out of Map Bounds' by Michael Efraim as my first test, benchmark, and case-study for this approach.

^ Out of Bounds, by Michael Efraim Eventually, it is my hope that I will be able to use these frameworks as a basis for incorporating my own 'whnvr' abstract, constructivist art style into these worlds along with my music, and then to be able to create everything from directly within virtual reality.

#24.6.2020

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oliverphisher · 4 years

Text

James Foley

Brobot (S. Tinker Inc) By James Foley

James Foley is a children’s author and illustrator. He makes picture books, junior fiction and graphic novels. He is in high demand for talks and workshops in schools and libraries across Australia. He comes from a long line of queuing enthusiasts. He lives in Perth with his wife, son and labrador.

James Foley makes picture books, middle grade novels and comics for kids. He’s the author/illustrator of the S.Tinker Inc graphic novel series for middle primary: Brobot (2016), Dungzilla (2017) and Gastronauts (2018) star Sally Tinker, the world’s foremost inventor under the age of twelve, and Joe Tinker, her stinky baby brother. James also illustrated Toffle Towers (2019), written by Tim Harris, and Total Quack Up (2018), an anthology of funny short stories with proceeds going to charity. James’ earlier books My Dead Bunny (2015) In The Lion (2012), The Last Viking (2011) and The Last Viking Returns (2014) have all scored several honours, including children’s choice awards, shortlistings in the Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year awards, and selection to the International Youth Library’s White Raven list.

What are one to three books that have greatly influenced your life?

The Artists’ Way, by Julia Cameron

The Artist's Way: 25th Anniversary Edition By Julia Cameron

Roland Harvey’s Drawing Book, by Roland Harvey

Roland Harvey's Drawing Book (Young Designer Series) By Roland Harvey

The Eleventh Hour, by Graeme Base

The Eleventh Hour: A Curious Mystery By Graeme Base

What purchase of $100 or less has most positively impacted your life in the last six months (or in recent memory)?

It’s not related to writing or illustrating in any way ... my wife and I recently bought some reusable produce bags to replace the soft little plastic bags you use at the shops to put fruit or veggies in. They’re made from recycled plastic bottles too so they’re extra good for the environment. We also bought some bulk produce bags so we can go to our local whole food shop and buy bulk of rice, oats and other things we’d usually have to buy in little plastic bags at the supermarket. It’s reduced our plastic consumption A LOT and that’s making us feel a bit better about our impact on the environment.

How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success?

I first submitted illustration samples to publishers when I was around 20 years old. I didn’t get any invitations to illustrate books back then; my work wasn’t up to a professional standard yet, and I wasn’t ready mentally or emotionally either. But I did have one publisher who liked one of the images I’d pulled together, and they said they’d keep it on file. Nothing ever came of it, but that one little bit of encouragement was enough for me to keep going.

I was working on a picture book idea around that time too; I had character designs and a theme … but the story wasn’t working. 7 years later, I got my first publishing contract. The story had the same theme as the one I’d been working on way back when, and my old character design was definitely applicable. In fact a whole bunch of different little sketches that I’d just been doing for fun ended up finding their way into that first book. It was as if I had been working towards that first published book without knowing it.

Are there any quotes you think of often or live your life by?

There’s one that’s (supposedly) from Confucius that I’ve had written on a post-it on my computer for a long time: “Man on hill with mouth open wait long time for roast duck to drop in.”

What is one of the best investment in a writing resource you’ve ever made?

It was an illustrating resource, and it was my first graphics tablet: a Wacom intuos 3. I bought it back in 2006 and it served me well for a decade of making illustrations; I illustrated my first four books with it. It still works, too!

What is an unusual habit or an absurd thing that you love?

I’ve collected the ticket stub from every movie I’ve seen since 1994. The first in the pile is Independence Day, which I saw with some high school classmates after class one day.

In the last five years, what new belief, behaviour, or habit has most improved your life?

I had a near-death experience in 2016; I was in a major car accident. It could have gone really badly but somehow I emerged unscathed. That gave me a clear sense of my own mortality for the first time, and has changed the way I look at my life and work immensely. I recommend a non-injurious near-death experience to everyone! I also got married and had a son in the last three years, so that’s changed my outlook again.

What advice would you give to a smart, driven aspiring author? What advice should they ignore?

You don’t need to submit things straight away. You don’t need to get published straight away, and you shouldn’t expect to. It’s important that you get knocked back a few times. It’s extremely likely you’ll get knocked back a lot of times. The knockbacks and the constructive criticism will help you develop your craft and get your work up to a publishable standard. Take on the feedback that you truly feels rings true (because sometimes you will get positive constructive criticism from people who really get what you’re trying to do and see the potential in it); ignore the feedback that doesn’t really click or seems petty or mean (because sometimes you will get discouraging feedback from people who just don’t get what you’re trying to do). For this to work though, you need to be willing to take on feedback in the first place, and that’s absolutely vital. I see lots of people who are overconfident in their ability, and react very badly when given feedback that contradicts that belief. You need to be confident in your ability to put in the work of course, but also humble, as you have a lot to learn, and you will never stop learning.

What are bad recommendations you hear in your profession often?

Sometimes people say, submit your manuscript to one publisher at a time. That’s terrible advice! You will be waiting months and months to hear back from a publisher, if you ever hear back from them at all. The better thing to do is send to multiple publishers at once, and mention in your cover letter that this is what you've done. That way all the publishers know what the deal is, and they can contact you to check if the manuscript is still available before they start putting time and effort into reading it and considering it at their meetings in-house.

In the last five years, what have you become better at saying no to (distractions, invitations, etc.)?

Having a toddler means my wife and I have very little free time, so we’ve both had to become better at saying no to things; I think I still need to learn the lesson on a regular basis! It’s always a balancing act between work and home life; and within work, there’s a balance between spending time on the next book/s, spending time doing paid talks and workshops; getting admin done; and doing the other unpaid things that pop up (volunteer opportunities, media and promotional events, etc).

What marketing tactics should authors avoid?

On social media, don’t just talk about yourself all the time, and don’t just talk about your book all the time. You can share things that interest you, share reviews of what you’re reading, even just share a photo of your dog - social media is about being social, not just hammering people with advertisements and saying ME ME ME.

What new realizations and/or approaches have helped you achieve your goals?

I’ve gotten better at time management and networking, and I’m learning to draw quicker too; these are things that I guess anyone develops with practice. It’s meant I’ve been able to work on more projects at once, though I definitely bit off more than I could chew this year, so I’ve also realised that there’s a limit to how many goals one can realistically work towards at any one time. This year I’m illustrating three middle grade novels (the first is called Toffle Towers: Fully Booked, written by Tim Harris); I’ve also illustrated the follow-up picture book to My Dead Bunny, which will be out in 2020; I’m also working on a bunch of freelance jobs, and starting another graphic novel and developing some picture book ideas. So it’s all go at the moment.

I’m also finding that the sleep deprivation of having a toddler is really affecting everything in my life - my immune system, my energy levels, and of course my mental health and my work - EVERYTHING. So I’m becoming more health conscious, and realising I have to set aside time for naps, exercise, and just plain old downtime. If you don’t make time for rest and exercise then you’ll have to make time for ill health later.

When you feel overwhelmed or have lost your focus temporarily, what do you do?

Procrastinate. But I’m getting better at recognising when I’m in this state and I step away from the desk and do something else. That might be some deep breathing or some yoga stretches, or some mindless chores around the house.

Sometimes I’m overwhelmed because there’s too many things to do, so I’ll make a list. I’ll look at all the tasks and the time I have, and I’ll prioritise what needs to happen and when. Once I have a plan then I feel more in control and can calm down a bit - then I can get on with each task in turn.

Any other tips?

I’ve got a whole bunch of tips on my website at https://ift.tt/3dZDfr1

________

Enjoyed this Q&A? Want to discuss in more depth? Join Community Writers. You'll get access to 100+ exclusive writing tips. Q&As with successful authors, an exclusive ebook on building an audience and much more. Sign-up for free as a community writer here

source https://www.thecommunitywriter.com/blog/james-foley

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aion-rsa · 3 years

Text

What Stargirl Gets So Right About Its Villains

https://ift.tt/3ngH0zx

The following article contains Stargirl spoilers.

Stargirl Season 2 Episode 5

There’s a lot going on in Stargirl’s second season, from the Whitmore-Dugan clan’s attempt to adjust to life as a superhero family, the newly reconstituted Justice Society of America’s struggle to deal with the fallout from last season’s finale battle with Icicle, and, of course, the constant drag of summer school.

Real-life responsibilities are encroaching on our young heroes’ crime-fighting time. Courtney is trying to balance her superhero duties with her everyday life as a student and a sister, Beth’s worried about keeping her parents’ marriage together, Rick is having a somewhat bizarre crisis of conscience over the fate of a being he was determined to murder just a few short months ago. Let’s just say that none of this is precisely where we expected this story to go.

But throughout its first season, Stargirl delighted in subverting our expectations about the sort of stories that superhero shows were supposed to tell, and its second is no different, exploring much more complicated ideas than are often seen in this genre. (See also: Yolanda’s lingering guilt over killing Brainwave, Beth’s desperation to hang on to some kind of stability in her life, and Mike’s acute loneliness within his own family.) But where the show truly excels is in its treatment of its various bad guys.

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This isn’t a new development, by any stretch – Season 1 was exceptionally deft at exploring the legacies our young characters had been left by their parents and the long-tail traumas that often came with them. But even though the majority of parents in Blue Valley sort of turned out to be supervillains of varying stripes, none of them were one-note caricatures, and all of them at least felt like they didn’t exist that far away from the prospect of redemption. (Even Brainwave. Sometimes.)

And that’s still the case in season 2. Possibly even more so now than ever before. Yes, it’s true that new baddie Eclipso appears truly monstrous, a point that’s driven home by this week’s violent possession of the high school art teacher and its horrifying ability to manifest its targets’ most impactful and destructive fears. This is a villain that’s both deadly and frightening, and rightfully so.

But the majority of the villainous figures of Blue Valley run the gamut from hyper-obsessed parents to lonely teens, making Stargirl’s entire concept of evil much more layered and nuanced than many other superhero shows. Though the series includes many characters that are rightly categorized as villains, even some of its worst are presented in such a way that implies they aren’t completely irredeemable despite their nefarious deeds. (Or, at least, that the reasons for many of their horrible acts are understandable ones.)

Last week, we saw convicted felons Tigress and Sportsmaster break out of jail – not to commit more crimes, but to cheer on their daughter Artemis during a tryout for a college football scout. Former Injustice Society member The Shade is skulking around Blue Valley in the service of goals we still don’t entirely understand, but it often seems as though he’s trying to help Courtney and her friends as much as hinder or harm them. (He even left a literal calling card so that they could contact him if needed!) Even Solomon Grundy, the creature Rick blames for the death of his parents – and whom he himself came pretty close to killing last season – has now become something of a sad pet, hiding in a nearby forest while his former mortal enemy smuggles him cheeseburgers from a local diner.

And then, of course, there’s Cindy Burman. Already one of Stargirl’s best characters as well as one of the DC TV universe’s most intriguing bad guys, her rise to supervillain status is one that’s as much about circumstances as it is about choice. Stargirl never lets us forget that she herself is a victim of her father’s abuse, from the horrific experimentation that turned her into “Shiv” in the first place to the brainwashed string of stepmothers that ended with her being forced to physically consume one of them. And that’s not even mentioning the fact that, while we’re not entirely sure how her mother died, we’re pretty sure Cindy was involved somehow. (Cameron’s reference in “Summer School: Chapter Five” to Cindy’s callous behavior in the wake of her mother’s death certainly hints that we haven’t fully seen everything about how she became, per Beth, the “scariest kid in fourth grade.”)

Stargirl: How Cindy Burman Became the Most Intriguing DC TV Villain

By Lacy Baugher

How Stargirl Uses the Justice Society’s Strangest Member to Tell a Very Human Story

By Lacy Baugher

Yes, Cindy is currently trying to recruit members for her own teen ISA, but her reasons for chasing supervillain status are deeply understandable. This is a girl who is desperately lonely and who has lived most of her life with almost no control over the most basic of personal choices, ranging from the autonomy of her own body to the identity of her high school boyfriend. Of course, she’s going to leap at the first opportunity to claim some degree of power for herself, even if it comes from a dark jewel that seems as likely to corrupt her mind as it is to help her achieve her goals. It’s really hard not to feel some degree of sympathy for her is what I’m saying.

And the same goes for both Isaiah Bowin and Artemis Crock, both kids who are similarly outcasts and angry, and are also both grappling with the loss of their parents and the dreams that went along with them. (Though at least Artemis has some hope of seeing her folks again.) The new Injustice Society is as full of misfits as its JSA counterpart, the sort of kids whose lives could have easily seen them trade places with Stargirl’s designated “heroes,” if only their personal circumstances had been the slightest bit different. (Okay, maybe not Beth. And the jury’s still out on Cameron.)

It’s why the series’ slow build to an inevitable face-off between the two groups is such a tantalizing prospect. And it’s why Stargirl’s second season feels as though it could go in so many different directions.

The post What Stargirl Gets So Right About Its Villains appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3hcAq9j

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oliverphisher · 4 years

Text

James Foley

What are one to three books that have greatly influenced your life?

The Artists’ Way, by Julia Cameron

Roland Harvey’s Drawing Book, by Roland Harvey

The Eleventh Hour, by Graeme Base

What purchase of $100 or less has most positively impacted your life in the last six months (or in recent memory)?

How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success?

Are there any quotes you think of often or live your life by?

There’s one that’s (supposedly) from Confucius that I’ve had written on a post-it on my computer for a long time: “Man on hill with mouth open wait long time for roast duck to drop in.”

What is one of the best investment in a writing resource you’ve ever made?

What is an unusual habit or an absurd thing that you love?

I’ve collected the ticket stub from every movie I’ve seen since 1994. The first in the pile is Independence Day, which I saw with some high school classmates after class one day.

In the last five years, what new belief, behaviour, or habit has most improved your life?

What advice would you give to a smart, driven aspiring author? What advice should they ignore?

What are bad recommendations you hear in your profession often?

In the last five years, what have you become better at saying no to (distractions, invitations, etc.)?

What marketing tactics should authors avoid?

What new realizations and/or approaches have helped you achieve your goals?

When you feel overwhelmed or have lost your focus temporarily, what do you do?

Any other tips?

I’ve got a whole bunch of tips on my website at www.jamesfoley.com.au/faq

________

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