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idrisofficial · 6 months

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can u tell me more abt brinne :3c ? i love her already

so sorry it’s taken me so long to get to this- i wrote a whole response to this and then tumblr ate it 😭

brinne is special to me for a million different reasons but one of the things i really like to focus on is how she represents what a person can become if they’re isolated from all sources of social validation.

sometimes i almost say that she never had a chance at being a good person, but the thing is that she did. yes she was born to despicable people with the greatest power in the entire country, yes she was raised in a bubble that forbade critical thinking, and yes she grew up hated by both her peers and her superiors because of her neurodivergence (among other things). but it’s absolutely crucial to her character that by the time she was old enough to even think for herself a little, she was breaking down the walls of her society and trying to develop an idealistic worldview. despite everything, she pushed through for years. and ultimately it’s hard to blame her for falling through with it due to unbearable trauma.

it’s also pretty much impossible to discuss brinne without discussing adrian— so much of brinne’s development as a teenager happened through her rebellion of pursuing him. their relationship started when they were ten or eleven and neither of them having any actual friends despite their respective high statuses became much more obvious. they latched onto each other easily, and a lot of their dynamic was brinne dragging adrian along on secrets and misadventures. people only started whispering a few years later when they were absolutely inseparable. it wasn’t just running around avoiding lessons and hiding in the chapel anymore— they were making out in closets by fourteen and everyone knew it. the brinndrian rant on sexuality is for another time, but essentially, this was a Huge Fucking Deal. and most of the blame fell on brinne as the heir of the country, though they were both already betrothed. it was also around this time that brinne’s political radicalism got a lot more serious, and she was severely punished for this as well.

it only spurred brinne on. her coping mechanisms were not healthy by any means, and adrian helplessly enabled her. she was drinking heavily at sixteen and going wayyy beyond making out with adrian. her moral compass had fully solidified at this point too, and she had zero problem speaking out against her parents or any other noble contributing to the oppression of the people. it’s a little ironic that this is the part where she starts embracing others’ hatred of her. she ain’t seen nothing yet </3

then artemis’s massacre happens. and everything is turned absolutely upside down. brinne is left to die with a gaping stab wound and a bloody carving into her face. she miraculously survives (more on this later), but is fundamentally changed by the hallucinatory near death experience she undergoes while in a coma. she grows paranoid, self-isolates, and cuts off everything with adrian, her only real connection to anything. a pretty terrible time to be crowned monarch of the country, but with the entire older generation of nobles wiped out in the massacre, she has no choice.

the question of brinne’s culpability for her actions here is interesting. she still believes everything she always has about politics and freedom, but becomes so paralyzed by the trauma of the massacre (and her upbringing, which she processes as she grows older) that that she feels physically incapable of acting on her beliefs. because of her, the country descends into an even darker age of oppression and turmoil. she understands the wrongness of her actions, but can’t bring herself to ameliorate anything for fear of uprising. of course, she’s hypervigilant concerning the possibility of a noble coup as well—even as her politics conform to what they all believe, they only seem to hate her more as time wears on.

brinne also turns to halcyonism (idris’s official religion) to try to reconcile everything going wrong in her life. it’s a strange, awkward situation because of adrian’s position as idris’s high priest, which brinne attempts to circumvent by essentially pretending nothing ever happened between them. and while adrian has always had less spine than a jellyfish, there’s something about it he just can’t take. they angst about this for awhile and end up having steamy church sex about it. no further comment on this. halcyonism is also a major pillar on the hill of oppressive doctrine idris stands on, and is part of how brinne attempts to immerse herself in nationalism and tradition to block out every thought of self-hatred for what she’s doing to her country.

iiii am depressed about her always. she’s fascinating and there’s so much more to her than is even mentioned here (im telling you that sexuality rant could go on for pages). but i think the basics of her character and backstory in canon are enough to provide an explanation for who she is. she’s a tragic victim of her own circumstance and upbringing, yet still extremely in control of her own actions and effect on other people. i don’t even know what shade of moral she is anymore. i just know that it’s 11:30pm and my brain is full of brinne alistair blorbo bleepus

#oc: brinne alistair #WHOOH this was a long one #i didn’t even reread this like i usually would. too tired #sorry that this isn’t as comprehensive as it could be- the first draft of this was much better but we can all say fuck you tumblr for that

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juniperhillpatient · 1 year

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'Wednesday' Review (no spoilers)

Well, I'm always complaining that I get too many show recommendations when everyone knows I usually just re-watch the same 5 shows or watch YouTube & I also complain a lot about binge culture & say I like to watch shows slowly but I literally watched it in one sitting so...I must've liked it! Honestly, the Tim Burton style was perfect, the dialogue was witty, & the plot was fun & addictive.

Jenna Ortega is amazing. Wednesday Addams is such an iconic & beloved character, & this show relied heavily on her demeanor & presence. So, a strong lead actress was the most important element of the show in my opinion. I honestly can't even imagine the role being pulled off more perfectly. This is only the second thing I've seen Jenna Ortega in, & she's blown me away both times. The other thing I've seen her in is Scream 5, & as a huge Scream fan, I would argue that she made that movie what it was with her performance too - & that was a very different character. Clearly, she's just a fantastic actress with a huge range & an amazing screen presence.

Also, most of the rest of the cast did a fantastic job too. Emma Myers and Hunter Doohan (I had to Google both those names, but Enid & Tyler) both had fantastic chemistry with Jenna Ortega & so did Joy Sunday (Bianca) (yes I had to Google that too) both as a rival & frienemy. I don't want to rub anyone the wrong way but just to be honest as I think back on the series, my biggest criticism is that Percy Hynes White (Xavier) just had no charm or chemistry with the lead. The actor can hardly be blamed entirely for that, though I do think either he's part of the problem or the way he was directed is. But really, the issue with Xavier was mainly a writing problem for me, because I just found his character way too bland & that's a pretty huge weakness in a show where so much of the plot relies on this sort of love triangle. Like, I need to either hate one of the guys or struggle with who to root for or something but Xavier just gave me nothing. He had no personality or interiority as a character outside of pining after Wednesday & sometimes being sus like....literally just nothing going on with him to make him feel like a real person & give me something to latch onto as a viewer.

I thought that the rest of the family had the perfect amount of screen presence for a show focused on Wednesday going off on her own where her family is still important to the plot & to her character. They did a really great job playing that balancing act. My biggest criticism of the family aspect of the show is that Morticia's wig made me want to die. Everything else - the backstory, the plot itself, was fantastic. And I loved Fester & Thing's roles both so much as well as the element of Wednesday being protective of Pugsly. The dynamic between Wednesday & Morticia is well done & explored, & I like that they gave them a little tension & how the story used it. Gomez Addams continues to be an iconic character in every incarnation.

The mystery itself was fun, although I think maaaybe it's possible they introduced a few too many elements? This is a cursory "I literally just watched it" review, so maybe not, but it felt like there was just a LOT going on & it could sometimes be a bit much to keep up with. That said, the show is clever. It's not just witty dialogue, it's a detailed & smart mystery plot, overall. I had at least part of it - not solved, but figured out (I knew something was off with a certain character because of clues) I should say - very early on. And I did solve at least part of the mystery well before any of the characters. I think this is a sign of strong writing because a good mystery should be giving you clues early on to figure things out, so this is meant as praise.

I think that it was a very fun & satisfying show. It's 100% worth checking out if you like acerbic humor. The directing style almost reminded me a bit of Wes Anderson. The general pace & dialogue & style reminded me of 'A Series of Unfortunate Events.' I thought it was a super fun show & I hope it gets a season 2, which it's definitely set up for. But, either way, it was a fantastic ride & I had a great time.

#wednesday #wednesday netflix

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obsidian-warthog · 1 year

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Are you doing that character bingo with mythology characters? If so, then could you give your opinion about Quetzalcoatl, or any Popol Vuh character of your choice?

First go at this ask got deleted, ugh. I'll do it for any character I know of essentially.

Quetzalcoatl

I probably don’t need to explain which dynamic I’m talking about. Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl’s history of horrible depictions actively feeds into each other with how important their relationship is. I'd argue you can read an arc of Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl making peace with each other in the Five Suns myth, so people viewing them as hateful enemies is annoying.

I feel like Quetzalcoatl is overexposed in popular culture, but only in a way that uses 1% of his character and misrepresents even that.

I am so tired of 'enlightened' anti-human sacrifice Quetzalcoatl clearly written by people who don’t understand any of the nuance of Quetzalcoatl vs Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl. Might as well take Zeus-Ammon being Alexander the Great’s father at face value while you’re at it.

Something that gets overlooked is that Quetzalcoatl himself is a bit of a trickster, like with how he brought music to humanity or acquired their bones. Feels like most Quetzalcoatl portrayals are either a bland ‘good god’ or cheap fanservice.

We need takes on Quetzalcoatl that let him be a bit petty and sneaky while still respecting him as a god. In the myths that aren't heavily politicized and blending him with a historical figure he's great. So it's a shame a politicized piece of mythologized history is basically his defining myth for people.

People latch onto Quetzalcoatl because of the 'no human sacrifice' nonsense, leading to what ultimately amounts to attempts to divide Quetzalcoatl from Aztec culture. Sort of makes me wish Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl never existed with the impact his myth has had.

My opinions will most likely change once I get around to reading the research books on Quetzalcoatl, but first I need to finish my Tezcatlipoca reading.

Lady Blood

As far as mothers of mythical heroes go, Lady Blood actually made out very well, even becoming the protagonist for a few chapters. After that however she sort of vanishes from the narrative. Still, when she is present she’s an interesting figure. But I didn’t think much about her until this ask.

The Popol Vuh presents the birth of the Hero Twins and their battle with the lords of death as one narrative, so it’s surprising to me that Lady Blood simply isn’t referenced at all once the Hero Twins go to Xibalba. The Hero Twins aren’t just going to where their father was killed, it’s also the home their mother was driven out of.

It feels like there are a ton of angles to the narrative that Lady Blood opens up that aren’t used at all. I also find it interesting in general how the Hero Twins are the grandsons of one of the lords of death but it never gets brought up.

If feminist retellings of mythology are a trend that will stick around, then can we at least get something focused on Lady Blood? She’s a woman who had to flee home because she was going to be killed for being pregnant, and she only finds shelter with people who begrudgingly let her in at first. Feels like something people would be all over. Plus obvious targets for demonization like Gathered Blood are already evil.

Either way, like many other figures in the Popol Vuh, it’s absurd that Camazotz of all people gets more attention in media than her.

#Aztec mythology #Mayan mythology #Popol Vuh #Quetzalcoatl #Lady Blood #mythology #asks

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vodid · 2 years

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Curious, do you like Transformers Animated?

i do now!

i never particularly hated or disliked it, i was just very passive about it. the style was iconic but funky, the characters were unique but massively different than what i was used to, the plot built nicely overall but was difficult to stay focused on when each episode only contributed a little or even nothing to the entire plot. i tried watching animated multiple times and was never able to finish it (thanks adhd) i tried liking it and drawing but i never felt connected to any of it

and then i read some fics 🥲

i think the problem was that the only reason why i even would've liked animated at the time was for jazz/prowl but in all honesty, the ship dynamic/characterizations differed a bit too much from their g1/g1 fanon counterparts for me to really get into it. so i stayed generally neutral on the ship. i like it ofc but i probably wouldn't go out of my way to draw it just for myself unless i really needed to scratch an itch

so i needed different characters or ships to get into since i wasn't gonna find it in jazz or prowl. but i got desperate one day for j/p and read a tfa jazz/prowl longfic that included two other ships i wasn't particularly excited for. i didn't hate them! i was just more focused on j/p than one of the ships and didn't even ship the other

well that changed for sure. by the end of the fic, i wasn't even thinking about jazz/prowl because it heavily got me into....... you guessed it, blitzbee! i don't remember my opinions on blitzwing before this (i think he was just some cool decepticon i decided to draw once) but i knew i didn't care much for bumblebee before. i was a bayverse/tfp fan so that bee never resonated with me

well now he does! and now i get to project my adhd, rsd and apd onto him. and thats what i needed. a character to latch onto, to project onto and to call my own little blorbo. and now tfa bee is one of my favorite bees!! if not top favorite

it was also a matter of being able to draw the show. i didn't feel like my style was as developed as i wanted it to be every time i tried watching it, so that only heavily added to the disconnection. i've gotten better at drawing and have been practicing, so i've definitely grown closer to tfa :)

aaa that was a rant but i have Many thoughts about tfa hsjdjsjs its fun!! and i'm definitely enjoying writing fic for it!

#there's also the whole thing with both sides being pretty bad that turned me off from it but thats a 5 page essay for another time

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dathen · 3 years

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idk what tma discourse ur responding to but for me i personally like allo martin. As an ace person i find the idea of an allo person learning abt asexual identities and discussing boundaries and still being w the person as quite comforting. For a long time I thought that in a way I couldn't be w an allo person bc it couldn't work out, which isn't true.

I like asexual martin as well but my point is, to let people headcannon the character's sexualities? tma is delightfully queer in a vague way and people can explore that queerness in a miriad of ways.

That's just my opinion though! Enjoy your day

If you think I’m looking down on people’s right to hc Martin as allo, you must have not been reading any of my posts. In fact, you really should examine your reaction of seeing someone *celebrating an ace headcanon* when it’s being attacked, and taking it as some sort of attack on your own. I didn’t think this was a distinction I had to make since I haven’t said anything against allosexual Martin or anyone’s right to see him that way, other than saying it’s not canon and not some sort of default we’re bound to.

I also like allo Martin headcanons. I find worth in a LOT of interpretations of Martin, and actively seek out all kinds: ace Martin is wonderful because I get to see a lot of myself reflected in a character I love and who shares a lot of other life experiences with me, plus it allows me to enjoy Jon/Martin without centering an allo perspective. Allo Martin with sex averse Jon is great because it runs against the old aphobic discourse that ace people can’t be in a relationship with allo people, and that it’s “abusing” the allo partner to be in a sex-free relationship. Sex-interested Martin in a polyship with sex-averse Jon and another sex-interested partner is great because polyships are wonderful and that kind of set-up is often wish fulfillment. Lonely, inexperienced Martin is valuable because it allows exploration of a very real type of adult life we never see in media outside of mockery, rather than treating a robust social and sex life as the default. ‘Everyone has a crush on Martin and he’s the most desired man on this block’ headcanons are great because that’s a rare portrayal for fat characters, and everyone SHOULD have a crush on Martin if they have any TASTE--.

(Hell, the latter two are interchangeable for Jon and Martin for me--I love “everyone has a crush on Jon” with him as an asexual, heavily nd-coded character, but ‘Jon is lonely and isolated and his relationship with Martin is a rare exception’ is closer to canon themes and has so much value on its own.)

That’s the thing that’s exhausting about this kind of headcanon policing; people latch onto their favorite and find worth in it, but then insist all other kinds have no worth and can only have bigoted, hateful motivations. Ace Martin must be because you’re trying to desexualize fat people, or think that ace people can only be in relationships with other ace people! Polyship Jonmartin must be because you think Jon’s not good enough by himself! Allo Martin with sex-averse Jon must mean you’re homophobic and against gay sex (this take didn’t come from ace Martin fans, but from aphobic fans attacking the writers of the show as “cowards for desexualizing a gay relationship by making Jon ace”)!

There are pitfalls to writing all of the above, which should be addressed on their own with nuance and research rather than projecting ultimate bad faith and banning the entire category as Wrong. People take their own reasons for not enjoying a dynamic (fandom used to call them “squicks”) and project that onto the author as a bad motivation, and then rampage against it like it’s Problematic and needs to be stamped out.

Being told that Martin IS ALLOSEXUAL and ABSOLUTELY FUCKS and is TOO HOT AND COOL to possibly be sexually inexperienced? That having an ace headcanon for him is demeaning and dehumanizing, fatphobic and homophobic, and we need to “examine our biases” if we inflict it on him? That’s just plain old acephobia on top of obnoxious headcanon policing. Allo Martin is by far the most prevalent headcanon in the fandom--ace Martin is a tiny niche that only recently has gotten any attention, and most ace Martin works are by authors who normally write allo Martin. Anyone who’s even glimpsed into the nsfw side of the fandom should immediately know how popular sexually active allo Martin is there. Fics that explore Jon’s asexuality almost 100% do so with Martin as the allo partner, who is so much more experienced and knowledgeable that he often teaches Jon what asexuality is.*

(*Which is becoming a bit of a squick of my own, because the prevalence of that + Jon learning from Georgie can feel very infantilizing towards Jon, and a lot of it is written as it being impossible for him to have found out on his own because he’s too incapable. But I’m not going to look down on the entire category beyond just encouraging caution and nuance because I know a lot of those stories come from the angle of “I wish I had someone who told me so I’m going to write about that.”)

This is a long post but it applies to a lot more than just the ace/inexperienced Martin interpretation. People need to be willing to just say “this isn’t for me, I don’t like this angle” and just learn to close out of the fic and just go find another one that appeals to them more.

#tma #the magnus archives #discourse #acephobia cw #aphobia cw #koa-bean

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petitommo · 3 years

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re: (not so) small rant about Theo, Liam and season six of Teen Wolf

(original post by @livingbythewords, you can find it linked here. i originally wanted to reply to the post, but replies are turned off. i’d reblog it, but it’s pretty long, so i wanted people to get to choose whether or not they wanted to read it...)

i saw this post in the liam tag when i woke up yesterday, and i kept sporadically thinking about it and discussing it with people (and in my own head), and i definitely have some thoughts about it, not gonna lie... still, as i said, absolutely feel free to ignore this if this ain’t your cup of tea at all, but if you wanna hear my thoughts about 1. livingforthewords’ post and 2. theo, liam and season six of teen wolf, feel free to look under the line break :)

(i’ll be posting some of the lines from the original post for context to what i’m saying, but if you do wanna read my answer, i recommend reading the original post as well! let me also preface this by saying this is in no way meant as hate towards the creator, sceo as a ship, or scott mccall as a character. i found some parts of this post had traces of what i’d consider to be a harmful way of thinking about fandom and shipping, and i wanted to adress it.)

the post mentions early one that liam brings theo back to use him, and that as soon as he finds out theo no longer has josh and tracy’s abilites, he wants to send him back. that the only reason he doesn’t is because theo remembers stiles. with this, you say that you see thiam shippers claim that liam does it from the goodness of his heart.

personally, i’ve never seen claims that that was the reason liam did it. i have, however, seen (and personally think this myself) that theo coming back from the hell he’s been put in by the hands of liam, might make theo quick to develop a bond or feeling of gratitude towards liam. there’s no doubt in my mind that theo understands why liam did it — but even then, it still got him out of there. in canon, no other pack member but liam even entertained the idea of getting theo back — i think theo is very aware of this, as well — which in itself automatically makes liam the safest pack member for theo to latch onto, from the get go.

Liam distrusts and despises Theo – and it never changes throughout the course of the show.

again, with the basis of liam and theo’s developing aquaintance in season six (heavily conveyed through non verbal communication - both in the form of touches/glances/body language and the things written between the lines; the things not specifically worded, but definitely said through their dialogue), there’s a lot that can be up for interpretation.

when i watched the show, i saw two characters who, yes, clearly had a shared hatred towards each other, learn how to work together and develop a tentative trust (that only grew throughout the season). i saw two characters that shouldn’t work together, work together insanely well, to the point where no verbal communication was strictly necessary.

my point is, thiam as a ship is heavily influenced by interpretation of what you see in their dynamic, and i find it troublesome that you look at other people’s interpretation and publicly say;

However, shipping someone and having fun with it is not the same as twisting into knots to try to prove that canon supports something, when it doesn’t.

especially when you follow this up by saying;

Yes, there is a person who acknowledges that Theo has changed. Who trusts and supports him even when they have no reason to. Who is always there for him and tries to treat him fairly even after being incredibly hurt and betrayed.

But that person isn’t Liam.

because you and i watched the same show, and we clearly have majorly different interpretations of season six; of theo’s relationship with people post-hell; of liam dunbar as a character.

however, i am not gonna claim that you’re wrong, and i’m right. your interpretation is entirely different from mine — and yes, based on what i saw, i do personally think you’re wrong, but here’s the thing; i understand that interpretation of this is just that; interpretation. theo isn’t canonically linked with anyone, therefore i cannot say that thiam is right and sceo is wrong — even as that’s my personal view of it.

back to the theo and liam and thiam shippers adressed in this post;

i want to preface my response to this with the fact that i myself have been/are in healthy BDSM dynamics. i have also jokingly said that theo ‘probably enjoyed it’. i have online friends who have joked about theo enjoying it. and here’s the thing; none of the people i know seriously think theo, in that exact setting, enjoyed it.

a great thing about fandom and shipping is the exploration and discovery of one’s own sexuality. we often talk about it openly; we discuss it with people, we’re ‘horny on main’, we learn from fellow shippers, we read fanfiction. we joke around with stuff.

there’s no doubt in my mind that people do not think theo raeken got pulled back from hell, chained up and forced to follow liam and hayden around, and actually enjoyed it at that moment. however, can i personally see theo as a character that would enjoy being chained up in other situations? yes. a lot of us do. and so we joke about it.

joking about certain aspects of a BDSM relationship when you’re looking at/reblogging things from canon does not undermine how important a proper and healthy BDSM dynamic is.

the post also touches on theo being a traumatized kid with unhealthy coping mechanisms. this is, without a doubt, the core of theo as a character. however, by putting it in the context of why it’s wrong to joke about him being a sub/rope bunny, feels so misplaced to me. a lot of kinks develop from the trauma we have (talking from experience). a lot of kinks develop at — seemingly — random (talking from experience). being traumatized doesn’t automatically mean we develop kinks, sure, but it also doesn’t mean we do not develop kinks.

without a doubt - chaining him up and dragging him behind them was not a kind thing to do; i don’t think anyone disagrees with that. but at the end of the day, these are characters. theo is a character we’ve barely gotten to know, especially post-hell theo, so he develops in our mind, we have headcanons, we think of personality traits that weren’t shown in canon. some of those pertain to his sexuality, and that’s okay.

this also pertains to your gripe with people looking at canonical depictions of thiam and seeing it as love. again, even in the thiam shipping part of fandom, we have majorly different interpretations of certain scenes, and that’s okay. i’ve touched upon the importance of acknowledging that thiam as a canonically hinted at couple is all up for personal interpretation of their canonical depiction; this also means that people will see things very differently.

the original post was mainly aimed at theo and liam as a ship, so i won’t get into the comments about liam as a character that much, but i will say this;

even you yourself mention that liam absolutely has reason to resent theo. but, you go on to claim that liam doesn’t have as much reason for resentment as other characters.

liam might not have been personally wronged by theo in season five as much as other characters, i will agree with that. but, he did watch theo’s actions and influence in the things done to mason, to hayden, to scott. all people he loved. this, in itself, is reason enough to build resentment towards a person.

it’s also important to remember that theo lessened liam in his mind to the beta with anger issues, stripped away every complex part of liam and simplified him into this one trait that liam himself has struggled with and tried to distance himself away from.

liam struggling with being depicted as a monster — pre supernatural; because of IED, supernatural; as a werewolf — has been canonically shown so many times. it’s gotten us the line of «you’re not a monster. you’re a werewolf, like me.». we’ve been showed, time and time again, that liam has a complexity within him that is constantly undermined — by brett, by stiles, and yes; by season 5 theo.

sadly, i also see liam simplified and put into the box of beta with anger issues by the fandom. this also, from what i’ve read on your blog and from statements about liam in this post, includes you.

how does that change in season six? let’s get back to the claim at the start of this post; of thism shippers claiming liam is the only one who trusts and supports theo, and look at it this way; theo — previous homicidal maniac out to ruin the pack (put simply; we’re both theo apologists, we know there’s more to him than that) — is one of the first people to look at liam’s anger and not let it be his only character trait.

the post mentions glances in the truck scene; this is what the truck scene (in my mind) is really about. theo acknowledges — even if not explicitly stated — that the anuk-ite’s ability to raise fear in people, raises anger in liam. he sees that liam’s anger is a direct consequence of the anuk-ite; he sees that the fear instilled in liam translates into anger; because of IED. this lets liam be a character that has IED, instead of just liam - the angry character.

this, again, is my interpretation of this scene. you might not have seen it that way. once again proving that this is a ship based on interpretation.

claiming that interpreting scenes is twisting canon until it fits your idea of it, is such a harmful way of looking at shipping. i have never interpreted anything romantic between scott and theo in canon, and could, in turn, claim that you twist canon until it fits what you want. but i’m not going to, because your interpretation of things doesn’t have to fit mine.

you can’t write a rant about thiam as a ship, state that you don’t want to tell anyone who to ship and that certain ships are wrong, and then undermine every interpretation anyone has had about liam and theo as a ship.

we’ve all seen the same season of teen wolf, we’ve all seen the exact same scenes (there are no version of the show you watched); but we’re all very different people. we interpret things very differently.

AND THAT IS OKAY.

do not undermine people’s ship. if you hate thiam, just stay away from it. don’t expose yourself to it. ignore it for all it’s worth.

it’s that easy.

#feel free to ignore this ppl :)#just had to get it off my chest #thiam meta #of some sorts?

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dear-wormwoods · 5 years

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Richie's parents being headcanoned in fics as abusive is annoying when Eddie is right there and his abuse is barely ever focused on/makes me think people only really care about sensationalized abuse: Maggie Tozier's book personality to me (and to combine with/her very put-together/aspirational middle class look in the movie) is more interesting/challenging w/ her and Wentworth as slightly clueless yet well-meaning 80s-middle-class archetypes than the neglectful alcoholic portrayal in the fandom

Honestly, yeah. I think it is largely about preferring sensationalized abuse, like you said, relying on overdone tropes and stereotypes, and having free reign of it since it literally isn’t canon. This, as opposed to addressing Eddie’s abuse and having to actually sit down and take it seriously because it’s complex and heavily embedded in canon and his character. It’s easier to write a crappy angst fic where Richie’s alcoholic mom doesn’t feed him and his dad hates his guts for no discernible reason than it is to REALLY tackle what Sonia does to Eddie in a meaningful way.

But also I think there’s an element of woobification that drives it. Richie isn’t an angsty person. He just isn’t. But people want him to be a sad boy, so they have to add in reasons for him to be Angsty and Wounded, so they can project onto Eddie and tend to Richie’s angst and wounds vicariously through him. The result is that Richie’s parents are demonized and his bullying exaggerated (or, following the movie script’s lead, lazily lifted from other characters), at the expense of addressing the rest of the Losers’ various traumas, including Eddie’s, because Poor Richie has it the Worst.

This was partly Finn Wolfhard’s fault two years ago, because he was randomly like “lol idk Richie’s mom is an alcoholic I guess, yeah they neglect him”, and was clearly talking out of his ass, but fandom latched onto that as the Word of God. Same thing is happening now with Andy’s portrayal of Richie as a bland, sad man in need of a manic pixie dream boy to give him life and then die to fuel his man pain. And then people turn to the book and use things like Maggie being rightfully upset that they constantly have to replace Richie’s expensive glasses or Went giving Richie chores because he already burned through his allowance as “evidence of neglect” when they’re literally just normal parent things! Frankly, it’s exhausting!

The tea is that Richard Tozier has a sweet life. His house/property is the biggest in the neighborhood, his dad has a very well paying job, his mom is a stay at home mom whose life revolves around him, he’s canonically pretty spoiled but Went still expects him to do chores for extra allowance which is normal, he’s never left wanting for food or clothes, he’s also never left wanting for conversation or attention, and the Losers all collectively agree that Richie’s parents are normal/reliable. Richie and Went are clones of each other and have a comedic rapport that shows, in the span of like one page, that Went goes out of his way to encourage Richie’s antics and understands how smart he is and speaks to him accordingly. Richie refers to his parents as well loved books, because he can read them so well - because they’re safe, stable, predictable, and he can rely on the fact that they’ll always give him what he wants. Why do people wanna take that away from him?

The Toziers having an open and supportive family dynamic and funny back-and-forths over meals will always be more interesting than forced abuse plots. Richie doesn’t need a sad life to be a complex character.

#asks #stephen king's it #it hcs #it novel #richie tozier #maggie tozier #wentworth tozier #ch2 crit #tozier tea

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letmetellyouaboutmyfeels · 5 years

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I just spent hours going through the search results for ‘meta’ on your blog, and there’s so much interesting stuff there, and it’s way too late at night now, but it was so worth it. Anyway, I love your leverage meta and was wondering if you could talk about the leverage crew interacting/working with others? (ie two live crew job, the last dam job), especially when they’re allies and/or people they’re actively working against in different scenarios (like chaos)

First of all, thank you so much nonny, that means so much to see that you appreciate my meta! I put a lot of thought into it and it gives me such joy to see that others appreciate my rambling and overthinking about fictional characters. Truly, you have made my evening. ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

Second of all, this is such an interesting meta question and I’m excited to answer it!

Oh man, if anybody was in any doubt that the Leverage team are hugely protective of each other, their interactions with their allies would blow that misconception out of the water. Note that I’m not including Sterling in this because that would be a whole post by itself and I personally don’t see Sterling as an ally. He’s been their ally at times but they’ve never really trusted him--he’s more like a comfortable antagonist. But anyway.

When the team has to deal with an ally, or team up with anyone really, they close ranks. Mr. Quinn is a bit of an exception since Eliot has no personal beef with him (more on that later) but Tara, Chaos, Archie? Slamming the fucking door in their faces. Maggie is the only real exception (gonna tackle her last). No matter how many squabbles might be going on, no matter if the rest of the team wants to strangle Nate with a piano wire (in a loving way), once someone else is introduced, they prove what a family they have become by uniting as one and going, and whom the fuckst might you be?

Let’s start with the longest ally relationship they have: Tara

Tara was, I think, a great addition to the team. I think she really challenged them and in ways that they needed. Eliot, Hardison, and Parker all quickly latched onto Sophie as a mom figure (in different ways--Eliot behaves like an oldest sibling with her, he’s old enough not to need her anymore but he knows he can turn to her if he needs her and she’s his ally when they’re making decisions, but Parker heavily relies on Sophie for guidance). Having Sophie ripped away from them forces them to stand on their own two feet more. It forces them to deal with Nate themselves instead of using Sophie as a shield. And Nate, well, we all see how he falls apart without Sophie and tries to blame her when it’s really himself.

The team closes ranks around Tara immediately. Nate doesn’t kick her to the curb for two reasons only: they need a grifter, and Sophie trusts Tara. Tara’s beautifully unapologetic behavior (insisting on getting a profit from their jobs, not babying Nate) doesn’t help in keeping the team at arm’s length, but Tara knows her worth and knows they’ll come around, and sure enough, they do.

Oddly enough, Tara’s really great for the team because they prove to themselves that they really are a family by her being there. Season one’s theme, as stated by the producers/writers, is all about family, and in season two we see the team really internalize that and realize that it’s true, they are a family. Through the adversity of losing Sophie and having to adjust, they recognize what they have truly become.

(I would argue that this is also the season where the OT3 realizes how deep their feelings for one another are as a result, but that’s another post for another time.)

By the end of the season of course we see them accept Tara as a friend and ally even if they’re loathe to admit it because all the members of the team are loathe to admit when they’re wrong about something. But their interactions with Tara show the team how they’ve become set in their ways, in their dynamic, and makes them question why, and makes them realize what a family they are.

Which is why it’s such a beautiful ending with Nate going to jail and the feeling of betrayal when they realize he’s not coming with them--they’ve spent all season going oh shit, we’re a family, we’re really in this together, okay, and then to have Nate make his plan without them and to abandon them even if you can understand that he did it to protect them...

So yes, the team’s interactions with Tara basically show them what a family they have become and set the entire thing up for Nate’s sacrifice at the end of the season, bless you Tara, you queen, I’m single, please call me.

The other ally that the team has that they’re automatically sort of forced to accept (the way that because of Sophie they were forced to accept Tara) is of course Archie.

That motherfucker.

Look Archie is a charming bastard but he’s still a rat bastard and I will punch him in the face if I ever meet him and y’know what he’ll probably understand. The fact that in The Last Dam Job we see him say to his bewildered daughter “that’s my daughter” about Parker, proving that he STILL, after EVERYTHING, hasn’t introduced Parker to his family? Ahaha. We are in a fight, sir, we are in a MASSIVE fight.

Archie only appears in one other episode but like Nate’s dad shows us so much of who Parker is and why she’s the way she is. We’ve got Parker’s family backstory, her asshole father whom she killed, but there’s still a big gap between that and how she became a thief, and Archie fills that gap. And the way the team reacts to him is fantastic because the only one who closes ranks around him is Nate.

Nate, who also has a rough relationship with his father, Nate who treats Parker like his own daughter, Nate who mentors Parker into becoming a mastermind. Nate who was also a father. Nate hates Archie, because Archie should’ve helped teach Parker to become a person, and instead he taught her to become a weapon.

Hardison, Eliot, and Sophie? They are extremely protective of course and they are not fans of Archie, but they are a bit busy getting Parker to safety, they respect how important Archie is to Parker, and they are proud of Parker. They know who and what she is. They know that Archie will see the proof in the pudding.

But Nate, Nate is so goddamn offended, and I think this is the moment he realizes that Parker really is like family to him, and really takes responsibility for her growth. I think this is the episode where Nate goes, oh, she’s going to be my successor. Parker is going to be the new mastermind.

It’s so great to watch as Nate’s the one knocked off-balance by an ally, rather than the OT3, showing his hand more than the others.

Then there’s the other main player during The Last Dam Job: Chaos

Oh Chaos. We all love to hate you. Chaos is absolutely everything that fuckboy nerds often are, the thing that makes women hide their love of geeky things, he is the gatekeeping asshole that thinks nerds are still the most oppressed class and probably goes on rants about fake geek girls.

The seething hatred that Parker, Hardison, and Eliot have for Chaos is hilarious but understandable, but what’s interesting is how nobody in the team seems surprised by what an asshole Chaos is. Sophie and Nate just kind of roll their eyes at him. Eliot’s angry at Chaos for Parker and Hardison’s sake. Hardison feels that his professional pride is offended, that anyone would ever consider Chaos and Hardison to be in the same category, and he’s angry at how Parker is treated by him. And Parker is pissed off by Chaos’s objectifying comments.

But none of them seem surprised.

You know the moments when the team is taken aback in disgust by someone, we see it all the time when a team member realizes just how awful a mark truly is. Even Nate has his moments where you can see him actively wondering if maybe he should just scrap the whole plan and throw the mark out the window. But with Chaos, it’s par for the course.

Because sadly, very sadly, as I said--Chaos represents what we expect nerds to be.

Okay so brief history recap, the whole ‘nerds get bullied’ was a thing that absolutely happened for a period of time back when reading comics and science fiction was considered lowbrow. Comics were for younger children, not high schoolers, fantasy writers were considered hack writers (you can read Ursula K. LeGuin’s excellent essays on the matter), and in fact a lot of parents thought reading comics and science fiction and the like was bad for you. Then when computers first came onto the scene, they were very new and difficult to navigate. Something parents are finding nowadays is how damn easy it is for their young kids to navigate and use electronic devices, and so kids will often, to the horror of their parents, get onto social media sites and see things they shouldn’t because the parents didn’t realize how easily their child could access and learn to use these things. Because back in the ‘80s, it was a lot harder to navigate the internet and computers. So if you were hugely into them, you were an outlier.

But those days of comic books, science fiction, and computers being things that only fringe communities got into are LONG gone. Women have always been a part of those communities although, surprise, nobody wants to mention it, and they’re even more so nowadays. Even when Leverage was being filmed, superheroes were cool! Several Batman movies had been wildly successful, the Sam Raimi Spiderman films had been box office hits, Lord of the Rings had won A MOTHERFUCKING OSCAR. In fact, it SWEPT THE OSCARS.

Geeks and nerds were no longer someone to laugh at and bully, especially straight white male nerds. And yet, these sad excuses for human beings continue to whine and bully and show their true racist, misogynistic, self-centered mindsets by insisting that they are bullied and ignored and can’t get dates because of their “nerdy” interests.

Newsflash: it’s not because of your interests, it’s because you’re assholes.

Chaos represents that. He is the WORST kind of nerd, and unfortunately, probably the kind of nerd that gets into the criminal world because he has a superiority complex and a chip on his shoulder. So if you watch the crew, they’re all pissed off by him, but none of them are surprised by him.

In fact, that’s why they recruit him for their team in The Last Dam Job!

Chaos tried to murder Sophie, he tried to murder Sophie’s old friend, he makes derogatory and objectifying remarks about Parker, and it’s all EXACTLY par for the course for hackers. Hardison is the hacking exception. He’s a gentleman, he’s black, he’s emotionally mature and aware, he’s thoughtful, and his “age of the geek, baby” catchphrase isn’t bitter and plotting “oh how I shall make you all rue the day you bullied me” it’s ecstatic and fun. He knows that the people who don’t appreciate his skills will come around in time. He’s not going to be an asshole about it.

The team recruits Chaos for the job not just because he’s the last person that their enemies will expect but because if they went out to find another hacker, they’d run into people who were just like Chaos in personality and behavior. Chaos is, at least (and ironically given his moniker), a known evil, he’s someone they understand and therefore can to a certain degree control. The team goes damn easy on him during this job. They could’ve taken the opportunity to make his life MISERABLE while he was distracted working for them. But they didn’t. They just roll their eyes and make quips about wanting to kill him.

Note that the other people in the Two Live Crew Job, the hitter and the thief, are treated very much as novelties. Eliot and Parker seem amused by them like they’re shiny new toys, but we also get the impression that they’re glad to see the back of them because the shine of these new toys would wear off rather quickly. Meeting someone who’s exactly like you is fun for a short bit but it can’t last--you’re too alike for any kind of relationship (platonic, romantic, or otherwise) to work long-term.

Chaos is hated by the team and they absolutely close ranks around him. Eliot and Hardison don’t even take their eyes off him and Eliot tells Mr. Quinn to do the same. The whole team works to keep Chaos away from Parker so that she doesn’t even have to deal with his presence. But given the insane revenge that the team has planned against others who’ve tried to kill them, and especially given that the last time someone made Parker upset Eliot and Hardison literally offered to kill the man, it’s unusual that they let Chaos off so easily. And it’s not out of a sense of “you’re our ally” honor. They screw over Sterling when he’s supposed to be their ally as well (although Sterling is also screwing over them, so...) so it can’t be that.

I honestly think it’s that they feel that Chaos is one symptom of a disease. He’s one type of cancer in a long, long line of cancers. Knock him down, and another incel asshole is gonna take his place.

So why bother? Why bother, when instead they can just keep Chaos on a tight leash. Better the devil you know, and thanks to his inability to shut up and his ego, they know Chaos very, very well.

Then we have Mr. Quinn, who is very interesting in that he’s one of those instances where you have to read into Eliot’s silences to get a lot about him. Now, unlike Moreau, I’m not saying that Quinn and Eliot were ever a thing. They could’ve been, sure, but I don’t personally get that vibe from them. What we get from Quinn is a window into how the rest of the criminal world sees Eliot.

Now, we learn in The Girls’ Night Out Job what the criminal world thinks of Parker. “You’re the Parker?” People know of Parker and how crazy she is, even if they don’t necessarily know her gender. We get a lot of what the criminal world thinks of Sophie, from Sterling to British nobility to everything and everyone in between. Hardison doesn’t have as much of a repuatation yet but as I’ve stated elsewhere Hardison is twenty-two at the start of the series, he’s still establishing himself, even in the relatively young game of hacking. But other than Damien Moreau, we don’t really get a huge look into what people think of Eliot (and Moreau isn’t even a proper look at Eliot the professional, he’s a look at Eliot the person, but I’m not recapping my entire goddamn Moreau/Eliot meta it’s under my tag y’all can go find it).

So Quinn is our one foray into how Eliot is seen by the criminal world, and the overwhelming emotion is: respect.

Unlike Chaos, or even Parker and her counterpart from the Two Live Crew Job, Quinn and Eliot respect each other and don’t take anything personally. They sort of accept that they’re on opposite sides out of a sense of honor--staying loyal to the person writing their checks--but it’s nothing personally antagonistic. And we see this with the other hitmen that Eliot tangles with 90% of the time. There’s no personal beef, it’s just doing their job, (and we get hilarious exchanges like Eliot being frustrated with amateurs, “how are you gonna improve,” etc), and that’s extremely fascinating considering how very personally Hardison, Sophie, Parker, and even Nate take it when they’re up against someone of their own field.

It all, for me anyway, harkens back to the talk between Sophie and Eliot in the boxing ring about Eliot’s rage and violence, and how he explains that he doesn’t let it own him and he has it under control. Being a hacker is who Hardison is, being a thief is who Parker is, being a grifter is who Sophie is (and that’s part of what spurs her season two journey to find herself), and Nate, well, we all see for five seasons how Nate struggles with his sense of identity. But Quinn and other hitter allies show us that being a hitter is what Eliot does, it’s not who he is. Eliot is a chef, he’s a boyfriend, he’s a lover, he’s a protector. He separates his identity from the job and it’s incredibly healthy of him and he’s possibly the only one of the team who can do that and I think that’s absolutely fascinating and another way in which the Leverage writing team uses Eliot to deconstruct the trope of the violent small-town white army boy hitman and blow it up to smithereens.

Because normally, Eliot would be the person most married to his job, the person least in touch with his emotions, the person constantly tempted by violence and to lose himself in his role. But instead he can walk away from it. In fact he wants to walk away from it, he wants to distance himself from the violent person he became and the things he did, he wants to become someone new (and did, when he fled Moreau and Toby taught him how to cook).

Mr. Quinn is our key to going, oh huh, hitters and bodyguards, ‘retrieval experts’, they don’t identify themselves with their jobs the way the other roles do, and that sets up a really interesting dynamic and I love it.

Finally, we have arguably the most interesting ally, which is Maggie.

A quick note on Maggie: While she is an ally, Hardison, Parker, and Eliot seem to view Maggie as separate from most of their other allies because she’s Nate’s ex-wife. Tension with Maggie comes more from Sophie and Nate. Eliot does flirt with her and score the date with her but the moment he realizes who she is he seems to go on the date purely for spying purposes for Nate--her being Nate’s former anything immediately puts her in this special category for the OT3 where they’re more excited to watch Nate responding to her than they are anything else. The OT3 don’t see her as any kind of threat--they rightly recognize that any interpersonal issues attached to her are Nate’s to deal with, and the OT3 have always been good about detaching themselves from Nate’s problems, calling Nate out on them, and not taking on Nate’s problems like they’re their own.

And I love how they write Maggie. She’s an ally who’s a civilian and the team treats her differently as a result. The OT3 want her for juicy information on Nate. She’s never once treated like a harpy, like a bitch, as a one-dimensional prop for Nate’s backstory. Sophie likes and respects Maggie. Maggie is a foil to the team because she reminds all of them of Nate’s fallibility, and she really shows them how they’re seen in the eyes of the public. She likes them, she’ll even join them occasionally, but she doesn’t 100% endorse them, and the team knows it, so they use her judiciously. In The Last Damn Job they use her precisely because she’s not a criminal, and you know that the team would welcome her into their lives if she wanted it, but also maintain a distance out of respect. They all adore Maggie, they find her fascinating, and it’s such a delight with the way ex-wives or ex-girlfriends are usually written.

They say that to really know a person, you have to know their friends and their enemies. And that holds true in this show. To see the status of the team, you have to look at how they treat their allies and their enemies, and so through seeing their allies, you see the team better. And I love that. A+ writing.

So those, nonny, are my random rambling thoughts on the team’s allies! Sorry it took me a few days to get to this, I hope you enjoyed it!

#mads answers things #leverage #leverage meta

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emorality · 5 years

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do you think there are misconceptions about emori’s character? if so, what are they? if not, what is one of your headcanons that you think people should know?

ah, thank you for asking!! i’ll admit, i don’t really delve into the fandom beyond the rpc, and i didn’t watch the show at all until somewhere in the middle of season 5 airing, so my knowledge of the way the fandom perceives emori is pretty low.. especially since she’s usually not always included into things a lot of the time. but i will talk about some things that i don’t think people necessarily think of when it comes to her? again, it might not necessarily be misconceptions, but here we go!

one misconception: emori and echo.

the dynamic between emori and echo is a huge one for me. and obviously, we don’t see much of their time in space and i have a ton of headcanons about emori’s perception of all of them, but echo is a big one. i imagine a lot of people assume that the two would have found comfort in each other right off the bat in space. and it makes sense, considering they’re the only two grounders, going to a place they’ve never been before, accompanied by people who were all born / lived in this place. and not only that, but their backgrounds are similar in a lot of ways, too. because they were both outcasted / banished from their people ( at very different times in their lives, so their emotions and reactions to this are certainly different ) and they don’t have a lot of people on their sides.

for emori, she’s just coming out of nearly being experimented on in becca’s lab because skaikru thought she was expendable. obviously emori herself had just betrayed them but it goes back to what she had initially thought —— the second she heard that they would need to experiment on people, emori was quick to assume it would obviously be her, putting up a defense with this idea that skaikru members wouldn’t even dare look past her. so she made up a story and she did her best to defend herself before the situation came back to her inevitably. she saw abby’s true colors there ( again, her own mind is very twisted and had already made them the enemy BEFORE they ever decided to test on her, because she assumed they would, so she hated them for something that they hadn’t even done yet. ) i won’t get into everything that happened that day, but the point is that she didn’t trust skaikru after all of this. she was only there to begin with to make herself useful in hopes that she and john would secure a spot in the bunker. she generalized her thoughts based on one the few actions she sees. this, plus everything she heard from john and how skewed her opinion is of skaikru already because of how quickly she and john resonated with one another when her mind had connected this idea that skaikru was just like the people who left her out to die, makes it very difficult for her to ever trust them.

but raven was the key to showing her that they weren’t all like that. raven was the key to showing her that people with disabilities could still be intelligent, valuable, LOVED, after a life time of being told she would never be the same because of her own. she won’t trust the members of skaikru immediately, but it’s still easier for her to get comfortable with them than it is for her to get comfortable with someone like echo —— because of raven and because of how she sees raven as a better version of herself ( but one that’s not unobtainable, something that could inspire her to be better too ) AND because of clarke, who sacrificed her own life three times within the span of a few days, each time so that emori could live.

back to echo —- emori doesn’t feel comfortable with other grounders, despite the assumption that they would get along because that’s who they are. grounder culture rules insisted that frikdreinas were to be banished and not to be trusted or welcomed. and i can’t completely talk for echo since i don’t write her and i couldn’t even fathom getting into her head, but all of this is basically what i perceive from the headspace of emori and her experiences, and some of my talks with @cagefound about how the two would have found it difficult to relate to one another at first. again, i don’t mean to speak for echo at all, because i really can’t, so i’m not saying any of her side is absolutely true, but —— ! regardless of if echo didn’t hold any prejudice against emori because of who she is, emori has trained herself to believe that everyone she comes across is an enemy, that everyone she comes across already has an idea of her and already knows how they’re supposed to react to someone like her. she doesn’t feel safe with echo because her first assumption with her is that she’s not going to be so welcoming to a frikdreina. she likely avoided her for a very long time.

this is also why emori’s outcome of being in the bunker would have been a complete 180 of what she became in space. in the bunker, she would have been just as isolated as she always had been, but the difference is that she wouldn’t be able to escape the people who saw her as an enemy, because they were forced to live together. in space, she had people who accepted her. after a few years, she didn’t have to wonder anymore. she could be free to take off her glove and live her life naturally without a target on her back. but finding comfortability with echo would have been extremely hard for her, because all her life she had been running from people. they obviously came together in the end —— enough that they’re not only clearly good friends, but the kind who find is so easy to rely on each other for both physical and emotional comfort ( as seen when emori puts her arm around echo, something she would NEVER be comfortable doing with anyone she wasn’t that close with so naturally. )

for me, this dynamic has always been a big one and it’s true for all the members of spacekru, really —— emori had to learn how to open up to each and every one of them one by one, but emori and echo’s building relationship came with a lot of baggage that wasn’t even all that personal, given that they were strangers to one another —— but because of who they were, they had their own ideas that would’ve made it difficult for them to connect easily for a long while.

headcanon: emori’s relationship with john.

i have a lot of headcanons and definitely a lot i’d like people to know but i don’t even know where to start with that, so i’m going to talk about something i haven’t had much of a chance to yet and that’s her relationship with john. i think her headspace is really quite skewed when it comes to him, and that stems from never having anyone she connected with on this level. she clung to him the moment she felt safe with him, which was very early on. but just because she connected with him instantly doesn’t mean it would be easy for her to connect with anyone else that quickly —- but she did with john because she resonated with him.

when they met, he painted himself as the outcast and gave her every reason to believe that his people were as ruthless and terrible as her own had been when they casted her out. from the moment she met john, she had this perception of skaikru that was actually quite skewed because it was coming from someone who was bitter and angry ( and, to some degree, justified in his thoughts of course. ) she met john and she saw someone who felt like HOME to her, who felt like someone she could actually spend her time with and not feel so exposed. he accepted her so easily and she needed that from someone. because of that, she fell in love with him very quickly, despite not quite understanding what love is / if it was possible for her. he made it easy, though, because if they could resonate with one another on some level, then she needed to cling to that. and they isolated themselves together from the rest of the world so many times, that from the outside, this seems really unhealthy ( and to some degree, it is ) but to them, it felt like freedom and security in a way, because they finally had someone who accepted themselves for who they were and didn’t want to throw them out like everyone else in their lives. but that didn’t mean it came without problems.

loving john meant developing a lot of skewed perceptions about the world. through seasons 3-4, we see them going so strong with one another, and so happy and free with each other. we don’t see a lot of problems. we see arguments, but not enough to immediately connect the dots once we hear emori say she can’t stand the sight of him post time jump. but it’s because she gains more real life experiences once she gets to space —— she learns so much from the others there, she’s able to open up to more people. for the first time in her life, she has more people surrounding her than just one other soul that she has latched onto so tightly. she’s able to see what it’s like to be part of something rather than just the focus of one person. and because of that, it brought up a lot of problems between emori and john that they had ignored / might not have realized if they continued to stay so isolated with each other and kept the rest of the world out.

after so long of only loving each other and only having the other to love them, they were finally seeing what it was like to let others in too. and that meant sharing the other with other people. that meant that someone else could see what they saw in the other. it meant that they were spending less time with each other. for so long, the other was their safety net. but now, emori could find comfort in other people too, and that drove a wedge between them. obviously john was wrong to want to hold emori back from getting so close with raven + finding herself in a way that she couldn’t have done on the ground, but it also makes sense given that emori has so heavily relied on ONLY him for such a long time and now without it, and seeing her do the same with other people, must have been really devastating and made him feel vulnerable. because while emori getting closer to the others never meant that she was leaving john, of course he was going to feel scared of that since for as long as he’s known her, she has clung to him and only him.

there’s a lot of co-dependency between the two that both made it easier to survive and that was a bit unhealthy, without realizing it until they started living with others. emori had been independent her entire life, and she has always had herself to rely on and knew that everything had to be up to her, but john provided a chance for her to open up to someone else. once she became close to him, she focused so much energy on loving him —— to the point where it was hard to go back to being on her own again.

it was easy for emori to fall for john because she could relate to him, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy for her to fall for just anyone. i think it’s actually very difficult for her to develop those feelings for just anyone, but because they related to each other on a level she always felt like she lacked with anyone else, it was easy to fall into that groove. developing a relationship with anyone else would likely be heavily slow burn and hesitant on emori’s end, but it’s possible —— it just happened so easily with john because he was, in part, a reflection of her that gave her security and provided a safety net to fall.

anyway, thank you so so so much for sending me these questions!! i’m sorry if this is all over the place, i’m a disaster who can never stay on track, but thank you!! @grounderpilot

#grounderpilot #emori stans unite to take on the world #THANK YOU!! AGAIN!!#🚀❲ hc ❳ * don’t feed me to the vultures / i am a vulture who feeds on pain.#🚀❲ jm ❳ * i know you in the way a wolf knows to howl at the moon.#🚀❲ spacekru ❳ * we: the reckless / we: the fragile creatures borne of dirt & stars.#echotbt #study.#re: echo.#dyn: emori & echo.#hc.#re: john.#dyn: emori & john.

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formerly-sarkata · 7 years

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Sara Watches Stuff

Their Finest (2017) - I’m not really one for movies about love or set during wars, but I’m very much one for movies with Gemma Arterton in them. Sadly I can report that, unlike in Byzantium, she does not spend any of this movie in beautiful lingerie, but she is still wonderful and the movie is overall a pretty easily enjoyable experience with a little kick in the guts. Arterton plays a woman employed to bring a female voice to propaganda efforts in the second world war, and ends up playing a much bigger role in the broader film industry.

Their Finest comes to cinemas in April, and I got to go to an early screening with an extraordinarily stoic crowd - not a gasp nor a laugh to be heard. In spite of this, and my mixed experiences with Lone Scherfig’s other works (for the record: winced through One Day, to this day cannot decided how I ended up feeling about An Education), this might have worked out how to needle into me. It feels like one of those inspired-by-a-true-story films, even though it isn’t,but not in a way that runs dry. Instead, you have a movie about writing - hardly the most dynamic profession, but one that hits pretty close to home (as does the war narrative, to this girl who grew up on her grandmother’s stories of the London bombings). The love story is much less my speed, by I appreciated that Arterton’s Caterin was very rarely a passive character. At one point, another character questions her self respect; that was the aspect of her characterisation that I felt was the most consistent and fleshed out. In the same way that her role was to reach the women who had been ignored by the public, I felt like in turn as a female audience member I was being catered to in terms of a streamlined, conventionally acceptable form of feminism. I loved the balance given there, and the refusal to allow for imbalances in power in relationships. What didn’t I like? There are always niggling issues. There’s a plot point towards the end that is foreshadowed early but still seems not entirely necessary to the flow of the story, and while it makes a big emotional impact, I’m not sure it was there to do anything other than emotionally manipulate. In that last act it did also tend towards the cliche, and I can’t lie and say that I didn’t cringe through some of the more romantic segments. I’m a creature of habit and they didn’t come organically enough to put me at ease. These sound like little things, but they do really upset what is generally a very well balanced movie with good pacing.

Usually if I put a whole third paragraph in a review on here, it’s because there’s something to do with LGBT issues or a major feminist critique or social justice that I need to discuss. So let’s talk about LGBT coding! You might have noticed that I am hyper aware when it comes to picking out subtext and representation in its subtlest shades, which is not always the most beneficial thing. It says something about this film that I was so worried that their representation of a lesbian was going to turn out to be subtextual, especially since she is easily one of the most likeable characters with all the best dialogue. Look, like with Beauty and The Beast, it’s just nice to see characters being outwardly not-straight rather than tools for queer-baiting or just heavily coded one way or another. You don’t notice it when you’re not looking for it, but when you are it makes all the difference in the world. If this movie had used a label I might have been even more enthusiastic, but in treading that balance between explicative and gimmicky, I get the difficulty.

Rating: 7/10 - I wasn’t expecting to like this movie as much as I did, and it’s not even a 7-out-of-10-because-of-the-lesbian-character-not-dying thing. This is just a good solid movie, and while I wouldn’t recommend it to those who hate dramas or romance or historical fiction, if you can find something to latch onto in here, I think Scherfig does a great job of making that ride enjoyable and crushing where it needs to be.

#their finest #sara watches stuff #watched in 2017 #movie review #movie reviews #movies #movie #preview

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