knowledgeabletrash

[knowledgeabletrash]

Okay now I know for a fact y’all are not out here not ripping apart live action AtLA the way y’all were crucifying Percy Jackson when AtLA took the character arcs of their main cast out behind the barn and shot them Old Yeller style, complete gutted the shows of its main themes, and wasted 20 minutes showing a genocide completely uselessly when there is a VERY REAL GENOCIDE HAPPENING RIGHT NOW.

COME ON YALL BRING THAT SAME ENERGY LIVE ACTION ATLA MAKES PERCY JACKSON LOOK LIKE A MASTERPIECE.

#the last airbender #netflix #live action avatar #live action atla #avatar the last airbender

[knowledgeabletrash]

Thinking about the fact that Percy spelled out to Luke that the reason he didn’t bring him on the quest is because he KNEW Luke would be the one to “betray” him. He knows Luke will always choose Annabeth over him. He knows if it came down to it and Annabeth wanted to leave Sally in the Underworld, Luke would back her up and they’d leave, thus “betraying” Percy.

PERCY THINKS HE FIGURED IT OUT AND IS AVOIDING THE BETRAYAL BY JUST NOT BRINGING LUKE.

At this point, Percy still thinks he can change/avoid Fate, so while he’s still on edge about the betrayal, he thinks he’s set up the quest in a way where that can be avoided. Annabeth could Never™️ be his friend, and Grover has already shown that he is invested in saving Sally because he was the one who told Percy that she was even alive. So, Annabeth and Grover are who he chooses, even if he might have wanted to bring Luke along. Sure, Luke might have betrayed him, so Percy made sure Luke would never have to.

Prophecy avoided, right?

#i need to lie down #percy jackson #percy jackon and the olympians #percy jackson tv show #i have totally normal thoughts and feelings about this

[knowledgeabletrash]

Homies I’m gonna be so real I think a lot of people really miss the point of hotd and got in general. The whole green vs blacks argument feels very akin to the team peeta/team gale phenomenon in the Hunger Games fandom- the very existence of these “teams” in any serious context is a manifestation of the very thing their media is criticizing.

You’re not supposed to be EITHER side in the Dance of Dragons. Spin it any way you want, but as a whole, the entire story is a critique on dynastic monarchy and blood/racial purity in politics. Both Rhaenyra and Aegon II are vying for power to a fundamentally corrupt system that, really, neither of them are entitled to or equipped to have. Dynastic Monarchy Bad, yaknow?

Neither one of them deserve the throne, just like every monarch who inherited their power from their family before them. The Targs in general have a whole lot of Mandate of Heaven/Manifest Destiny/Blood Purity thing going on that Martin is clearly criticizing in the series as a whole.

The point of the Dance of Dragons is that it is the result of two people who both believed that they were, through some law or divinity, The Chosen who deserved power. House Targaryen already had it all, but tore itself apart over their own ideas of prophecy and destiny, Who Deserved It More. There’s a reason neither Rhaenyra or Aegon II end up on the throne, there’s a reason that almost all of the Targs died in the war: it’s a cautionary tale. Through the Dance, Martin is able to criticize both the Valyrian Supremacy ideals of the Targs and the patriarchal governments within Westeros. Monarchy and patriarchy hurt everyone.

I think most fans with media comprehension understand that both sides of the war committed unforgivable atrocities, and both sides experienced unimaginable loss and grief. The irony is, it is almost all self-inflicted. By playing The Game, Rhae, Aegon, and House Targaryen lost everything, and the rest of Westeros was just collateral.

Anyway I don’t wanna see anymore misogynistic bullshit. You can critique the characters without saying the most sexist shit imaginable (this goes for greens and blacks, I’ve seen some truly heinous shit in the trenches). This show is fun and really enjoyable to watch, and I would love to see a fan community that isn’t constantly at each others throats over made up characters in a made up war.

#house of the dragon #alicent hightower #hotd #rhaenyra targaryen #aegon ii targaryen #team green #team black #hotd analysis #game of thrones #a song of ice and fire #aemond targaryen #daemon targaryen #dance of dragons #hotd discussion

[knowledgeabletrash]

The Voices won today (started a Rhaenicent Mamma Mia! AU)

#house of the dragon #hotd #rhaenyra targeryan #alicent hightower #rhaenyra x alicent #rhaenicent #took the bastard rumors and RAN with it

[knowledgeabletrash]

Natalie & Travis sneaking off for secret make-out sessions - his nerves about being inexperienced & her insecurity & the soft first love normal ness of it all even as they feared for their lives… Travis digging up his father’s ring for Javi… Natalie making gloves for Javi & making him smile…. The love was there, it didn’t make a difference & it wasn’t enough but it was there & it mattered. Feeling sooo normal about Natalie & the Martinez brothers in this Chili’s tonight

#you. you get me #i have totally normal thoughts and feelings about this #and am coping very well #the TRAGEDY of it all

[knowledgeabletrash]

It’s time to climb on my soapbox because I’ve got Yellowjackets theories!!

As someone who has seen all of Lost, I looooove cooking up theories in my head about what the Fuck is going on in those woods! Of course, this is completely separate from my meta understanding/enjoyment of the show, because one of the themes is about how “It” and the Yellowjackets are one and the same. With that disclaimer out of the way, I’ve got 2 theories: one based in reality, the other supernatural.

Heavy Metals: this theory is more based in reality, and basically posits that the more unexplainable events are actually caused by heavy metal poisoning. The area of Wilderness that the plane crashed in used to be a mining site for metals like iron, lead, and nickel that has long since forgotten. The crash itself could have been caused by electromagnetic field’s interfering with the plane’s navigation systems and leading them off course. The red water from the river is from iron deposits and the dead birds in winter could be from heavy metal poisoning and from the em fields throwing off their internal navigation. It would also explain the relatively low amount of game/diseased animals, as heavy metals present in the ground can move up the food chain through the soil into plants, then herbivores like deer, then predators like bears. Possibly experiencing electromagnetic sensitivity, exposure to heavy metals in the lake water, and on a withdrawal from her schizophrenia medication may have caused Lottie’s initial hallucinations, psychosis, and religious ecstasy. This also may explain the increase in violence from the girls, as we see the second hunt happen after eating the belt soup, putting more heavy medals into their already starving bodies. The symbols carved in the trees could be leftover from the former miners, marking out paths and mine entrances, as we see with the tunnels under Javi’s tree. I’ve also seen the theory that the symbol is a map of the mine tunnels, which fits really nicely into the fact that they are markers.

Deities: this theory is a bit less developed, but posits that the occurrences are supernatural in nature, with the Wilderness itself being a living being with its own wants and desires. The Roman gods Diana and Bacchus play a pretty big role in this theory, as I believe that it may be a combination of the two that has lead to the Hunts and psychosis of the Yellowjackets. Both gods are deeply intertwined with the wilderness in their mythology and worship. All the majorly plot relevant animals seen in S1 are sacred to the goddess Diana: the deer, the bear, and the wolf. The girl’s hallucinate Travis is a stag, which parallels the myth in which Diana/Artemis turns Actaeon into a stag who is then hunted by his own hounds. She herself is the goddess of the Hunt, a reoccurring event in the show, and is regularly depicted as having all-female huntresses as her attendants. Similarly, Bacchus is the god of wine, ecstasy, and madness. During Doomcoming, the girls become intoxicated off of berry wine and psychedelics before becoming incredibly violent, mirroring the practices of Bacchus/Dionysus’ mythical all-female followers, the maenads, who were said to participate in orgiastic rituals and frenzy, even gaining supernatural strength to rip apart men with their bare hands. Lottie’s first hallucination saw her in a set of tunnels, led by a stag (symbol of Diana) to what appeared to be an altar of candles, perhaps the goddess leading her towards her worship? The birds falling from the sky could be a blessing from Diana, an archer who could shoot them from the sky. She is also the goddess of girls and childbirth, with stillbirth being mythologically a sign of losing her favor/being cursed by her. Both gods have also had associations with blood sacrifice (Iphigenia and Orpheus). I think that before the events of the series, there were devotees of the gods who lived in this part of the wilderness, calling to them and binding them ti the land. Perhaps the gods of the Wilderness wish to keep people their for their worship, taking steps to crash the plane and thwart their escape attempts. The symbol could be a remnant from some other previous cultists of the gods, some possibly still being present in the area (aka Javi’s friend in the tunnels).

Anyway lmk what y’all think, these are not very coherent but I love to try and piece stuff together!

#yellowjackets spoilers #yellowjackets #yellowjackets season 2 #yellowjackets theories

[knowledgeabletrash]

one of the themes of yellowjackets that i haven’t been able to stop thinking about is cycles of violence, which i think we particularly see in two ways: inter-generational trauma, and this idea of violence as a tool of forgiveness.

starting with inter-generational trauma, i love what yj has done with this. there are so many different examples: van’s relationship with her mom, which liv hewson has said impacts the way they play the character (in particular her relationship with tai), and which i think is especially important given that van’s mom was an alcoholic and now we’ve seen this suggestion that van may or may not have some kind of addiction problem herself. tai’s trauma which manifests itself in sleepwalking, which she never fully dealt with, and now has directly passed onto her child - arguably largely because she refuses to face it. shauna’s relationship with callie, the way she’s treated her child as accomplice, distant yet also expecting callie to fill in the role jackie might have had if everything had happened differently; still processing the trauma of her wilderness birth which leaves her unable to be fully present for callie. lottie’s relationship with her parents, natalie’s experience with abuse, there’s so much i could go into with this.

but in particular, i think one of the most interesting ways this manifests is in the way lottie passes her beliefs and practices - shaped by this unspeakable trauma, shaped by her experience in a mental hospital in a foreign country, shaped by the ways she’s failed and how nobody has taken her seriously - onto the members of her “community”. dozens of people living their lives on a foundation lottie has built out of her pain.

and this is also the clearest place we’ve seen lottie express this belief in violence as a way to achieve forgiveness. when she tells lisa to stab natalie, to take her anger out on the cause, just as she offered herself up as a sacrifice to shauna 25 years ago. i certainly agree with others that lottie can be manipulative, but i think in this regard she’s genuine - she believes that she’s found a solution, but she blinds herself to the fact that she’s caught in her own cycle, that intentionally or not the people around her have been caught in this same cycle. misty couldn’t save crystal/kristen, so she lets javi die to save another friend. nat can’t save javi, so she saves lisa at the cost of herself - but misty can’t save natalie this time, and the cycle continues, because the cost of using violence to find forgiveness is that somebody will end up harmed, somebody won’t be able to stop it, and the burden of guilt is simply passed on.

to me this is such a fascinating idea that i’ve never really seen explored before, and on some level i know that it will only get so much worse as more shit goes down and more people can’t be saved. if this is the principle the yellowjackets are living by, they’re all accruing a lot of fucking guilt. and i most certainly see how constantly trying to outrun this guilt, caught in a trap of committing more violence and acquiring more guilt to escape what you’re already carrying, could bury a person.

[knowledgeabletrash]

I have so many feelings about the first Hunt and it’s aftermath from 2x08 & 09! Apologies for the word-vomit below this.

I never thought it would happen, but dare I say, Travis has become one of my favorite characters this season.

As an older sibling, I was right there with Travis these last two episodes. His guilt and grief in Storyteller hit very close to home for me and I just.

Right after the crash, everyone looked to Travis to take care of Javi, even when he was still trying to process the fact that he had just watched his father fall out of a fucking plane. He dug up his father’s rotting corpse in order to get a ring to help Javi grieve and remember their dad. He spent months walking 7 miles in every direction every day looking for Javi. And after all that, Javi still died. Not only did Travis lose his father, but now he’s lost his brother for the SECOND TIME. To make it worse, Javi was safe, he wasn’t picked! But then Travis decided to protect Natalie, and from the looks of it, he was ready to take her place; he threw himself in front of the door behind her and stood with a knife at his throat (for the second time oh my god these girls). I missed it before, but Travis looked to Javi and whispered his name after the Hunt went after Nat, he asked Javi to protect Natalie when he couldn’t. And doesn’t that make it so much worse? Up until then, Javi had been running away from the violence. Travis asked him to step up and take care of Natalie, someone they both grew to love. Javi became just like his big brother, and he died for it.

Side note: Travis is a better man than me because if that was my sister trust and believe I’d have done more than send them on a guilt trip, even if I was starving!! Not to soft quote Queen Ramonda here but HAS HE NOT GIVEN EVERYTHING?! His dad died while helping the girls put on their oxygen masks during the crash, Javi died so that the rest of them wouldn’t starve. His whole family died saving the Yellowjackets! Ben didn’t eat Jackie OR Javi and he’s still alive and kicking and burning down cabins, our girls SICK AND TWISTED (said with love). Even in the Donner Party, they made sure they ate in separate groups so that families would not have to eat each other or watch as their loved ones were eaten.

Anyway, I’ve seen a lot of people harping on Travis for telling Van that they should all be ashamed of what they did, and god it makes me so upset. Y’all can excuse hunting your friends and cannibalism but not a grieving teenage boy lashing out after the murder of his little brother??!! Like, the first thing Travis did when he saw his brother’s body was try to untie his hands because he’s not an animal he’s just a kid, and then cradled him like a baby, only to have his body taken from him moments later to be dismembered and butchered.

As the youngest of the survivors, Javi was someone who, by normal conventions, should have been protected by the rest of the group. Of course Travis needs them to be ashamed of what they did, he blames himself for Javi’s death just as much as he does then, if not more!! Travis was supposed to protect him and he failed him!!

I understand that Travis is not a fan favorite by a long shot and Van is one of the most popular characters in the show, which might be skewing the perception of this scene a bit, but I think the people who are dunking on Travis here are missing the point a little? Yes, Van gave him some brutal honesty and was well within her rights to do so. However!! Travis also gets to be pissed at the Yellowjackets. The fact is: they absolutely SHOULD be ashamed, but they’re not. They fully COULD HAVE saved Javi, but they didn’t. Javi was not the one who drew the card, but he died anyway. Why was Javi’s life worth less than Lottie’s, who might have died on her own? Because they liked her more? Because he was more expendable? No matter how much you justify it, Javi did not NEED to die. None of it was fair. That’s the point, that’s the tragedy of it all!

Lottie Matthews really dropped the thesis of the show: “Is there a difference?”

It doesn’t matter if there was some supernatural entity out there who “chose” Javi to die, it would have happened anyway. It’s much easier to stand by and watch a boy drown than to do the killing yourself. They were starving, he was there. Even if the Wilderness chose, the Yellowjackets chose, too.

Circling back a bit, I also want to talk about the difference between the two instances of cannibalism on this show: how they’re similar and different.

When Shauna and Travis discover their loved ones bodies (both frozen might I add), they assume very similar positions, kneeling by their heads and touching their faces. Both of their death’s were caused by the collective inaction of the rest of the group. The person who takes the first bite was the person who loved them most, thus giving permission to the others to eat and spurring on the feeding frenzy.

Jackie was an accident, Javi was on purpose. When Shauna found Jackie, she screamed and was in denial, trying to shake her awake. Travis was almost completely silent, only whispering “I’m sorry” and cradling Javi’s head in his lap. They held onto Jackie’s frozen corpse for months so Shauna could grieve her, but they took Javi away from Travis after what couldn’t have been more than a few minutes. They ate Jackie whole like vultures, but they butchered Javi like an animal. The process of eating Jackie took a long time, almost three months from her death to consumption. Hell, she was slow roasted. With Javi though, “it all happened so fast” he was dead, cleaned, and eaten all within a few hours.

Shauna ate Jackie’s ear first. Jackie was driven into the cold by Shauna’s words. Travis ate Javi’s heart first. Javi went after Natalie because Travis loved her and because he loved Travis.

I’ve seen people say that the progression to the Hunt was too sudden and a result of bad writing but I’m going to have to disagree! Just from the parallels between Jackie and Javi’s deaths alone you can tell these writers know their shit. The Hunt has been teased since Doomcoming back in S1, the bloodthirsty side to the Yellowjackets has long been set up (Not!Tai eating Jackie’s face, Misty pushing Crystal, Shauna beating up Lottie). All season, we have seen various characters talking about eating another person multiple times (Misty and Crystal with the bone broth, Gen and Melissa about Crystal’s body, Mari and Misty both threatening Coach Ben), so they’ve had cannibalism on the brain for a while before they decided to Hunt. I’d go so far as to say the first signs of the Hunt were back in 1x01 with the girls icing out Allie for the greater good so they could win nationals. Them shunning Jackie solidified that the Yellowjackets were more than comfortable singling out and dehumanising one of their own, so long as the rest of the group deemed it necessary.

Cannibalism also is probably one of those things that gets easier the more you do it? Like they definitely would have Hunted and eaten Travis during Doomcoming if they had already taken the first step into cannibalism before then. Once they ate Jackie, all bets were off. The Wilderness “refusing” to let Lottie die was just a convenient excuse, they were hurdling headfirst into hunting their friends for sport looooong before then.

All this to say the Season 2 finale destroyed me and these are only Some of my thoughts about it. I’m not even TOUCHING the Natalie stuff yet.

#yellowjackets #yellowjackets spoilers #travis martinez #van palmer #yellowjackets season 2 #shauna shipman #jackie taylor #javi martinez

[knowledgeabletrash]

Becoming the change I want to see in the world (writing rhaenicent angst fics) ((there aren’t enough))

#house of the dragon #rhaenicent #rhaenyra targaryen #alicent hightower #asoiaf

[knowledgeabletrash]

Everyone deserves love and happiness but sometimes people are also assholes

#haha what #thanks for coming to my ted talk

[knowledgeabletrash]

Fuck off Janet

I’m not going to your fucking baby shower

[knowledgeabletrash]

You know when you go to audition and then your voice just kinda leaves you on read?

#audition #why are you like this #can you not #i felt good about myself #then i didnt

[knowledgeabletrash]

Lets be real. If Cats can be revived WHERE THE FUCK IS THE BONNIE AND CLYDE THE MUSICAL’S REVIVAL?!?

[knowledgeabletrash]

Honestly me.

[knowledgeabletrash]

[knowledgeabletrash]

When you look back at things you Regret posting but lots of people have already seen it and know you’re the worst human ever:

[knowledgeabletrash]

Are we sure that we’re all alive and not just being punished right now?