hmm how do I put this. all media is inherently problematic in some way because the world is what it is and has the history that it has and every societal norm, belief and value pertaining to the past eras of the film industry—and even music and art and writing—will forever reflect in the products and as unfortunate as it is to have the history we do, we fundamentally cannot change that. there is no such thing as unproblematic media and there probably never will be and that’s okay and it doesn’t make you a bad person for enjoying media that might have some problematic or outdated elements, bc again, pretty much everything that we as a society created is going to have some problems.
sometimes media is problematic on purpose, like the entirety of TKAM, but with the intent on addressing the real life problems it reflects within the narrative. same goes for horror films or gore films. like, shockingly you don’t condone murder by watching or enjoying slashers. the point of the entire horror genre is to be scary and disgusting; the point of slasher villains is to be evil and wrong. but at the same time, sometimes you have to take a step back and wonder why a specific person or concept in a horror movie is being depicted as scary and disgusting and wrong and evil, like amputees or mentally ill people and queer people, and see how that reflects the real world—which is basically what the entire point of media literacy and critical thinking and purity culture is.
media literacy and critical thinking and purity culture don’t mean you have to avoid engaging with or enjoying problematic media at all costs. it doesn’t mean completely removing problematic elements from preexisting media and erasing the topics it might address— in fact, both of those things actively dull your critical thinking skills in general—and it especially doesn’t mean you’re suddenly justified in engaging with genuinely morally abhorrent content like lolicon or bestiality (both of which are examples of things typically portrayed in media as gross and wrong, and rightfully so). as much as anyone wants to pretend otherwise, fiction and reality go hand in hand as reflections of one another; reflections of society over time, of a person’s own experiences, etc, and to say that they don’t or that one doesn’t affect the other is quite literally the opposite of media literacy. lastly, to say media literacy or critical thinking aren’t important skills to have or that media should just stop depicting problematic things like violence or death is very very painfully wrong, as again, fiction and reality go hand in hand, and understanding a fictionalized version of reality serves us to better understand our actual reality.
thank you and goodnight
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aisling hating the open water. hating the feel of it, the smell of it, the feeling of the air around it. rivers, oceans, lakes, it doesn't matter. she loathes it all. aisling remembering the night she lost eoin all too clearly without needing to be near the water, and yet whenever her kids want to go to the docks or the hudson, she has to practice breathing in and out, and often has earphones in so she can't hear the tide, because every memory she has of the water is eclipsed by that night that eoin died. and in her pirate verse, people might find it curious that the good captain aisling jones never looks out at the sea. that her quarters are the only ones without a window. that her curtains in the office are always drawn. that when she's on deck, she always focuses keenly on the crew or the ship, never the ocean. (because eoin was killed while trying to row her to safety in a fishing boat away from the marines)
now, bearing this in mind, consider (in any verse but like, especially her pirate verse??): aisling seeing your muse fall into the water, or seeing them across a body of water and in immediate danger, and immediately diving into the water and swimming towards them like her life depends on it. because the sea never stole eoin from her, but she can't let it take your muse either.
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i woke up at 5:30 am just so i can have a few home office hours where it's not 35+ degrees outside RIP ME WHO IS SHE?? i just knew i won't be able to concentrate once it gets that hot again so I fully intend to nap at noon instead and just pretend to my boss that I worked my usual hours.
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