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unhonestlymirror · 5 months

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I am horrified by how often I see people writing, "Well, we shouldn't take Holocaust into account when talking about Israel-Palestine war." Of course we SHOULD, and that's why:

"October 7 is getting rewritten and certain social media users are an active of the campaign to erase the atrocities.

I was barely awake on October 7th when news of the atrocities that were committed by Hamas began to trinkle in, horror by horror. With sleep still in my eyes, I had hoped it was a nightmare I could erase by burying my face in pillows and returning to slumber, but alas, reality was insistent. Hamas had butchered over 1,200 people, amongst them infants, pregnant women, the handicapped, and the elderly. Even dogs were not spared.

But Hamas didn’t just murder them in cold blood, they had tortured, raped, desecrated their bodies, and took hostages. Their depravity was limitless. And they were so proud of their crimes that they used GoPro cameras to record them, later releasing the sickening spectacles to the public as a form of psychological terror. Add to that the live streams, cell phone recordings, and CCTV camera footage, and you’ll probably have the most documented massacre in history—with a reported 60,000 video clips collected.

I’ve seen some of these videos, including those not circulating quite so widely in public. They will haunt me for the rest of my life—and that falls far short than the 47 minute “film” shown to select journalists and diplomats worldwide, a number of whom broke down and/or fell ill during the screening.

But as shocking as all of this deranged butchery was — which was entirely the intention — what stunned me in the aftermath is the world’s reaction.

Putting aside disputes of land and politics, it was jarring to hear such a blatant reframing of narrative. It started with calling Hamas the “resistance” and justifying the unjustifiable. A number of BLM chapters had put out “heroic” images of Hamas terrorists descending on parachutes. I half-expected them to release action figures of Hamas fighters too. Maybe they did?

And then came the "BUTs." Sure, some folks condemned Hamas, but it was always followed by a "BUT," justifying the unjustifiable. I've been asked, ad nauseam, "What would you do in their situation?" Well, my response remains steadfast: not commit random acts of murder, torture, and kidnapping. Call me old-fashioned. (For the record I’ve called many colorful words for my stance, but oddly that was never one of them).

It was a wake-up call for many, especially those of us in the global Jewish community. Overnight, the illusion of safety shattered, much like the dreams of anyone who's binge-watched a horror series alone at night. But now we were all collectively trapped in that nightmare, and couldn’t wake up no matter how hard with pitched.

The history of the Holocaust is taught in many schools around the world. “Never forget” and “never again” are sentiments that are echoed within that curriculum. Yet, while some might scoff at the persistent advocacy for Holocaust education, insisting that it’s hitting them over the head, a nationwide survey in 2020 reveals that the under-40 crowd seems to have missed the memo. Shockingly, one in ten respondents haven’t even heard of the word “Holocaust,” let alone being aware that as many as 6 million Jews perished in it.

Further, nearly a quarter of those questioned said they believed the Holocaust was a myth, had been exaggerated or that they weren’t sure. Meanwhile in Canada, one in five young people (under 34) either hasn't heard of the Holocaust or isn't sure what it is. And in Britain, one in twenty adults flat-out deny that it ever took place. Ah, the privilege of blissful ignorance.

Most who underestimate the number of Jews killed in Holocaust have neutral or warm feelings toward Jews.

But it's not just ignorance; there's an entire industry that has been propped up and dedicated to Holocaust denial, complete with books, “movies,” and groups. To make matters worse, alarmingly, fewer Holocaust survivors are around to share their firsthand accounts and counteract the flames of denialism.

Nearly half of the 1000 people surveyed had stated that they’ve seen Holocaust denial or distortion posts on social media or elsewhere online.

I’ve always thought that denials of genocide—such as the Holocaust —were something that happened over time, with history slipping away and being re-written.

However, I never expected to be observing this in real time.

While initially the so-called “resistance” was celebrated by a subset of society, this soon turned into full-fledged denials of Hamas’ actions on Oct 7. Despite overwhelming evidence in the form of videos captured and shared by Hamas themselves and shared on Telegram channels and elsewhere, I would read and hear people claiming that they had only targeted Israeli military. Absurd claims emerged using supposedly ‘leaked’ footage where an Israeli helicopter shoots at Nova music festival goers. That video was viewed over 30 million times on X alone. The video, which was actually originally shared by the IDF on Oct 9, was showing their attacks on specific Gazan targets—certainly NOT indiscriminate bombings of music festival attendees in Israel. (Here’s a great thread that details how this piece of disinformation spread and geolocation information that further confirms that the claim is fake).

I’ve heard countless denials of the rapes of women (and men), despite overwhelming evidence in the form of physical evidence, forensics, and a number of witness testimonies. Women’s rights groups, meanwhile, remained silent—thus offering a vacuum for denialists to fill. Proponents of “me too” also stayed silent. Worse, the University of Alberta Sexual Assault Centre’s director signed an open letter calling Hamas perpetrating “sexual violence” an “unverified accusation.” It took UN Women nearly two months to issue a lukewarm condemnation of the brutal attacks. “We are alarmed by the numerous accounts of gender-based atrocities and sexual violence during those attacks,” they wrote, following a letter writing campaign urging them to speak up. Better late than never though, right?

The roughly 40 dead babies claim was debunked as a lie. At least that’s what people on social media now declare as fact, citing a Haaretz investigation.

“Haaretz investigation EXPOSES all the ISRAELI LIES from October 7th just like I predicated (sic),” reads the post of one particularly large disinformation account.

These claims persisted despite Haaretz directly addressing that post and calling it “blatant lies” and insisting that it “absolutely no basis in Haaretz’s reporting.”

The denials continued regardless of the fact that a group of 200 forensic pathologists from all over the world had confirmed that babies were indeed murdered and that some babies were found decapitated, though it was unclear whether this was done before or after death. First responders also corroborated that they witnessed beheaded infants. Regardless of decapitation, these were babies, murdered.

The forensic pathologists also confirmed that humans were executed, bound and burned alive. Israeli police have over 1,000 statements related to the attack.

When some of the hostages were released, Hamas supporters claimed that the hostages enjoyed being held by them, that they hardly wanted to leave. That this was like a pleasant vacation for them, that’s all. Like sipping piña coladas by the beach. In fact, they would state that they were more concerned about their safety in Israeli hands. They even concocted stories of love affairs between a hostage who was shot in the leg and a Hamas captor. A sick and twisted take on reality where up is down, cats are dogs, and denial is truth. They dismissed the reality that many of these hostages watched their loved ones get murdered in front of them, and still had relatives being held in captivity. The hostages were also administered Clonazepam by Hamas, a mood-enhancing tranquilizing drug, before handing them over to the Red Cross, so that they would appear “happy.”

Meanwhile, the Yale Daily News published a correction of an opinion column stating that the “allegations had not been substantiated.”

The denials go on and on, and I can’t help but feel like I’m watching a version of Holocaust denial, except this time it’s happening in real time—not years after the fact. And this time, it has a Wi-Fi connection and a social media account.

The conditions for this were ripe. Moral relativism is why just several weeks ago, Gen Z embraced Bin Laden's 'Letter to America.' It has been building up for years across college campuses, a breeding ground for ideologies that support violent means to achieve political gains.

The perceived power dynamics play a role here too. In the eyes of many, the Israelis are seen as a superpower whereas the Palestinians, and by extension Hamas, are seen as underdogs. In their view, the underdog is always right because it is the victim, and the “power” is the oppressor. So how can the oppressor be a victim?

Israelis, despite the majority of the population being Mizrahi Jews, as well as 20% Arabs (who were also victims on Oct 7), have been framed as “white colonizers,” vs the Palestinians who are seen as “POC” in the context of this conflict. Never mind that Jews, including Ashkenazi Jews, can be traced back to the land through DNA, archaeological evidence, and historical documents.

An overall distrust for media is another factor, which has resulted in individuals taking the word of random influencer accounts as gospel over traditional media outlets. According to Gallup polls, Americans’ trust in media is near a record low. Only 34% of US adults have a “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence as of 2022. This is a major hindrance to our sensemaking abilities.

And then, of course, there’s cognitive dissonance. When a group identifies so closely with the perpetrator and they commit heinous acts, confronting that fact happens to be uncomfortable. So, in an attempt to reduce that discomfort, they rationalize or deny the evidence. This means that they accept only evidence that supports their existing beliefs, while placing unreasonable demands on the other side.

But none of these factors would have gained as much traction if it weren’t for something that didn’t exist during the Holocaust: social media. This is the engine that helps drives this real-time historical revisionism and denialism. According to 2021 data from Pew Research, over 70% of Americans get their news via social platforms. A Reuters Institute report from 2023 found that 30% of respondents use social media as the main way to get their news.

We have a society that consumes sound-bites of information, both truth and lies (as well as lies based on grains of truth).

Social media algorithms—combined with human nature—tend to amplify outrageous untruths, which spread widely. Corrections, never make it as far as the original lie. They are just a faint hum.

Throughout the Israeli-Gaza war, we’ve seen AI generated images and bots used to paint a specific narrative—for evocative, emotional effect. But technologically sophisticatication isn’t a prerequisite for painting false narratives. Many “influencers” have taken to using existing images or videos and attaching misleading headlines to them—including sharing content that captures events in Syria while presenting it as taking place in Gaza. These networks of influencers have large reach, and can turn even the most blatant lie into a revisionist truth.

Researchers for Freedom House, a non-profit human right advocacy group, found that generally at least 47 governments have used commentators to manipulate online discussions in their favor, either via humans or bots. They’ve also recruited influencers to help spread false and misleading content, and have created fake websites that mimic actual media publications. Then there’s always Russia’s propaganda arm RT, and various other publications like Al Jazeera and Quds who have direct ties to Hamas and/or other Islamic regimes.

All of this has contributed to narrative confusion, and the erasure of unspeakable acts of brutality, and the denial of the facts of October 7, right before our very eyes.

If we cannot even share a common reality, how can have any hope of resolving anything?

“Never again” is happening now."

#jews #israel palestine war #hamas attack #russia finances hamas

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golfishwiththebigeyes · 3 months

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long disjointed farcille thoughts

I’m so farcille-pilled and I have thoughts, mainly one thought and that is that the events of dungeon meshi have made Marcille a much more fitting partner for Falin. As much as I adore them pre-canon, I think they would not have been good together as they were before. We see in the early story Marcille is, for lack of a better term, kind of a control freak. That’s just her nature, and it makes a lot of sense given her backstory, she’s had to grapple with something out of her control from a very young age-her loved ones dying- so of course she’d be very protective over what she does have control over. This would be fine on it’s own, but Falin, especially before the events of the story, is sooo non confrontational, she’s so gentle and tries not to rock the boat, which also makes a lot of sense given her backstory! But as we see even in bonus materials, Marcille has a pretty solid trap of what she likes and what she wants, and she doesn’t usually take well to that being challenged. Falin is the opposite in every facet. While this makes them great friends, I feel like it just wouldn’t lend itself well to a romantic relationship, especially when you also factor in the fact that romance is another thing Marcille is very set in her ways about. And then Falin gets eaten.

And boom, suddenly Marcille cannot be in her comfort zone anymore, she has to eat gross things, branch out in her magic and teaching to try her best to fill Falin’s place, and, most damning of all, ultimately give up a power that would let her enforce what she thinks is best with no issue. Marcille’s arc, or one of her big ones, is about coming to terms with things being out of her control and learning to just appreciate being alive, worrying more about making the most of what’s left instead of desperately chasing what could be.

And while the crux of this post was why the events of the story make Marcille a much better partner for Falin than she would have been otherwise, Falin’s character and development (which, by the way, Ryoko Kui you genius how could you so brilliantly give an entire arc to a character who is comparatively not very present in the story, augh Falin’s haunting of the narrative is so good and Falin herself is written so beautifully) by the end of the story are very good for the possible future Farcille. As more and more information has come out, like Falin’s post-canon talk with Toshiro, we see that Falin’s second resurrection has given her a new kind of confidence and security about herself and her place in the world. In everything from her eyes being open to the clothes that she chooses to her body language, in all the post-canon material we can see so clearly that she is so much happier and genuine with herself, mask off, and that in and of itself is so wonderful. And that, by extension, allows her to be a much more open partner and in a much better space to be in a long term relationship.

The events of the story, a story which stresses the validity of desire and potential, have allowed these two women who adore each other to fulfill their true potential both apart and together, and that’s wonderful to me.

#delicious in dungeon #farcille #dungeon meshi

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fallout-lou-begas · 1 year

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this is extremely niche fallout fandom discourse but as someone who really, really loves the story and characters of Dead Money, i swear to christ that if Vera Keyes wins the "fallout fridged women tournament" poll that's going on, i'm going to snap. anyone voting in this way would probably think that laura palmer was fridged in Twin Peaks just because she's dead. are some people really so poisoned by extremely watered down "media analysis" (so malformed that it can barely be called that), terminal cases of tropebrain, and an insistence on good representation that to merely suggest the value of negative space in a narrative would be to cast pearls before swine? sinclair built the whole casino because he couldn't let go of his love for vera, even though he knew all along that she was planning to betray him, and after she finally came clean about her partnership with dean it couldn't stop them from both dying lonely, regretful, stupid deaths inside of it. dean domino couldn't let go of his grudge against sinclair in which vera was a pawn and so he seethed over it, staring at her immortal hologram, for two hundred years -- she still got inside when he couldn't. vera's secret terminal illness meant that she was going to die anyway, no matter what. the fact that we don't get "vera's side of the story" is intentional because the fact that she became totally absorbed by the casino to haunt it forever as a holographic ghost, as much a part of it in death as she was a part of sinclair and dean's obsessions in life, reduced to reciting a looping script of the casino's promotion or her last desperate moments forever, is also intentional because it is horror and it is tragedy and it is supposed to feel really fucked up and emptying. if you wish that vera could have gotten a better ending then of course you do. even at the ending of the story, if Christine survives, she has been given Vera Keyes' voice and because of Christine's decision to remain in the sierra madre, it's as if Vera Keyes is still chained to this gigantic mausoleum that sinclair carved out for her, but now her famous voice is warning people away from this same fate instead of luring them toward it. this is all A-B-C 1-2-3 baby block stuff to me and yet some of you would still call this "fridging?????" ask for your parents' permission before going online

#i'm putting 'fridging' on the tall shelf next to 'male gaze' and 'final girl' and everybody can get it back when they've earned it #carla boone is absolutely not just 'fridged' either but that's another post #louposting #fallout new vegas #vera keyes #dead money

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luciftixs · 10 months

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the yi sangela post

I’m having autistic zoomies right now

I want to talk about Yi Sang and Angela because I like them both A Lot and I just think it’s fun to do comparisons. My partner made this lovely checklist with a few similarities I jotted down in a notesapp on my phone before I passed out and I will be cooking a meal thats geared solely to me but ur welcome to try and eat it if u want

Let’s get into it. There is no structure here but maybe we will find it as we go along!

I wanna start w a disclaimer that this is FOR FUN its not actually that serious and ALSO its obviously not a 1-to-1 comparison because these two are also so starkly different in not only their circumstances but also their overall personality when it comes to having deal with said Issues. I feel like tumblr users are more chill these days but after some shit ive seen on projmoon twitter I am covering my bases this is just a Post by a Stranger Online LOL

Let’s take a look at our first point on this silly little chart. That point is:

Bird

Angela’s black dress heavily resembles the feathers of a bird; specifically that of a corvid like a raven or even crow.

Even her head librarian outfit has some bird motifs to it. I’m going to get into corvid symbolism in a second but first

Yi Sang also leans heavily into the bird motifs. His base EGO is named Crow’s Eye View after a poem by the RL Yi Sang, and the narrative draws some inspo from the short story The Wings by the same author.

Wings show up often in some of his EGOS and CGs

Now, it’s not simply generic birds either of them are inspired by; Angela’s black feathers, Yi Sang’s EGO title, they are specifically invoking corvids. Corvidae include many different species of birds, such as magpies and jays, but the most commonly thought of corvids would be the ones with black feathers; ravens and crows. Corvids are incredibly intelligent birds, and they are rich in symbolism and meaning.

Specifically, crows have a heavy association with death and the afterlife. Both Angela and Yi Sang are impacted by heavy losses; Angela is made from a woman who took her own life and is forced to oversee countless loops of people suffering and dying; Yi Sang witnessed his friends being driven apart in a violent manner. His two childhood friends die before him, he wishes he could kill himself and die, and is trapped in a purgatory state with his current coworkers where bloodshed is as common as breathing. Death has marked both of them.

But! That is not the only thing corvids symbolize! In more modern times the birds are said to also symbolize transformation. In a way, that ties into death, as what is death if not the final transformation in life? But neither of their final growths end in their deaths; rather, both learn to find a way to free themselves from the shackles of their past, and to push forward.

THEN WE HAVE

Book as weapon

This one is just silly.

*beats you to death with a book beats you to death with a book beats you to death with a book*

Next point

Narrative haunted by a female figure

This one is in that “not a one-to-one comparison” territory, but it’s still just fun to poke at imo. In Angela’s case, she can never truly escape Carmen’s influence over her. For Yi Sang, Dongbaek is a ghost from his past. Both these women are integral to the overall narrative at hand.

Not only do these women haunt the narrative, but they also mirror the person they haunt. Angela’s desire for life is so strong because, in the end, Carmen wished to live. Dongbaek admired Yi Sang and his dream of flying. She yearned to bloom in a way not dissimilar to a bird spreading it’s wings for the first time. Angela’s Lobcorp design invokes Carmen- her hair color is Carmen’s inverted. She wears the hair time Carmen wore. Dongbaek’s hair has become white from the trauma- the inverse of Yi Sang’s black hair. Yi Sang takes up a Dongbaek identity in a mirror world to further drive home the similarities. These women play a major role in the overall identity of these two characters.

And this is just my brain going “hehe neat” but Carmen’s whole like. Brain stem mimicking a tree and its roots. Dongbaek becoming flowers. Visually very similar vibes.

Onto the next point

Loomed over and controlled by a male figure

This one probably seems second most self explanatory. Ayin meet Gubo Gubo meet Ayin ect.

The deal is simple: you do what we want you to do, and we have employed dubious methods to ensure that you do what we want you to do! Both Ayin and Gubo are self serving when it comes to the end goals. The levels of agency at play here are different; Angela truly had no choice, but Yi Sang’s mental state is not Great and that is being capitalized on him to help perpetuate his isolation and dependency.

Another thing: Ayin and Gubo are just really fucking mean to Angela and Yi Sang. Ayin actively dehumanizes her and neglects her; Gubo verbally and mentally abuses Yi Sang. Fun stuff.

Now, the penultimate point:

Yearning for freedom

This naturally comes with the territory of being a bird. Angela longs to not be confined to a place (Lobcorp or the Library). She wants to experience the world and be free. Yi Sang is similar; that desire to spread his wings and fly. For both to accomplish this, they have a talk with the ‘self’. It’s only by confronting their pasts, and themselves, that they can finally get that push to live life on their own terms.

MY FINAL TALKING POINT

SEXY

Like wow hot a what? And yes I chose fourth match flame because it ties into the whole post like they’re sharing an EGO that’s basically having your hopes burnt to a cinder and also an intense longing for a better life whoa thats crazy

Concluding thoughts

I just like them both a lot. My little caged birds getting out of the cage and mending their broken wings in order to take flight. Very kino. I love them.

If u actually read this thanks ur pog

#project moon #library of ruina #limbus company #not spoiler free #yi sang #angela #long post #perhaps they should... no i shant say it

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juniperhillpatient · 1 year

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thinking about how yellowjackets portrays sex & sexual situations gender & the… not unique but certainly rare way this show focuses on men versus women & I know we’re all tired of phrases like “male gaze” & “female gaze” but I think the show almost like… purposefully repurposes the male gaze from the perspective of its female characters.

jackie’s introduction pretty much is a sexual situation but it’s not a fun hot scene. it’s uncomfortable & awkward because it’s very clear jackie isn’t being pleasured. jeff just kind of looks like a tool. then later we get the sex scene between jeff & shauna & it’s different because both characters are into it but also it’s all about shauna, & the focus is mainly on her making jeff tell her that he loves her. it sort of reminds me of the scene in buffy the vampire slayer when buffy is feeling down because she just saw her most annoying ex living his best life so she demands spike tell her he loves her. it’s not a healthy situation. it’s… concerning & toxic. and even a bit manipulative & predatory to use someone that way.

and the other thing we know due to the focused shots of shauna looking at jackie is that this is not about jeff at all. he’s just the guy who happened to be between these two girls. when I first watched the show I disliked him but more & more I’m realizing… this is all about shauna & jackie. this entire relationship between shauna & jeff that turns into a marriage never has much to do with jeff himself at all. jeff is the epitome of literally just Some Guy.

anyway. I’m getting off track. I wanted to discuss jackie’s introduction versus her death. jackie being left to die because she had sex, on the surface seems like misogynistic writing. typical “female character is punished for sex” (not to harp on buffy again but..) trope. especially because the other girls are angry when they see the blood stain from her lost virginity.

but… the other girls aren’t angry at jackie because of sex. it’s because she’s “taken what didn’t belong to her.” & it’s interesting how none of the other girls care about or are invested in natalie & travis’ romance until this point. because it’s not about that. they objectify travis to the point of seeing him as literal food.

the framing of the jackie/travis sex scene is fascinating, the way it’s shot back & forth with the girls in the forest going feral. and the way in the end, travis is disoriented & confused & immediately following this the other girls begin sexual assaulting him & hunting him like an animal. like everything about travis & his arc, it’s such a subversion of the way female characters are so often treated in media.

and that brings me to travis & natalie & how they subvert gender roles. travis starts off seeming a bit sexist but the more we learn the more it’s clear he’s just an inexperienced teenager. he’s a virgin scared for his first time & he’s falling for the experienced bad girl who’s kinda scary. we literally always see that set up but with the shy inexperienced girl falling for the bad boy. even the way travis haunts the narrative & serves as part of natalie’s pain arc is reminiscent of the dead girlfriend trope. he is to natalie as jess from supernatural is to sam winchester. he’s fridged but the boy version. & that’s why he’s a babygirl to me <3

and like… we could talk all day about the pine cone in travis’ mouth & the sexual assault blood orgy scenes but let’s move on to the most functional couple of the entire show with some of the only sex scenes that actually seem like a fun sexy time where it’s just two people in love having sex

taissa & van! their conflict develops throughout the season as van is almost eaten by wolves because taissa is busy being possessed by the wood spirit & taissa’s frustration with van’s belief in something supernatural grows but… beyond that? they’re actually just super into each other. they are constantly talking about how gorgeous the other is, being all over each other, skinny dipping & doing more typically fun & romantic activities than all the other characters. & it’s 2 women

from shauna having sex with adam who ends up dead to whatever the fuck misty has going on with ben (not to mention adult! misty’s introductory scene where she manipulates a man into coming home with her by faking insecurities - or perhaps playing them up & using them, it’s unclear) it’s just totally fascinating to me the way this show subverts expectations with gender & sex

#I never know if I’m making literally any sense but I feel like this show is doing something.. different that’s all #it’s interesting #yellowjackets meta #yellowjackets

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the-entity-down-the-street · 3 months

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"Splice" is a better Frankenstein adaptation than "Poor Things" because:

SPOILERS FOR BOTH FILMS

A) the mad scientists face consequences for their unethical genetic fuckery instead of dying peacefully. Elsa is left traumatized, with her loved ones dead as a result of this experiment. Sure, she's getting a lot of money, but that's not going to undo the mental scars that will no doubt haunt her to the grave.

B) The female monster is actually fucking monstrous. Dren does have some typically attractive traits like symmetrical features, smooth skin, etc, but still. If you're going to make an abomination against science, MAKE THE ABOMINATION. Don't give me some pretty girl in a frilly dress and call that a monster, okay? Cowards.

C) They don't frame the dubious consent/noncon as liberating. Elsa is disgusted with Clive for sleeping with Dren, and when Dren assaults Elsa in her male form, it's a traumatic experience. Bella's assaults (because that's what they are. She has the mind of a literal toddler. I don't care if she is enthusastic about it if she doesn't have the cognitive capacity to understand what's happening.) are framed as sexual liberation and it makes me want to hurl a chair at somebody. Calling sex "furious jumping" because she's not mature enough to fully understand sex. The fact that her fiancé wants to marry her when she's a fucking toddler. Gross. Disgusting. I hate it.

D) Splice is a true gender swap of the Frankenstein narrative, because both the scientist and the creature are female. Clive helps, but let's be real, Elsa is pulling the strings and convincing him to go along with it. Splice doesn't claim to be a feminist retelling like Poor Things does, but it's more narratively driven by women who are allowed moral complexity and agency. There's no bullshit girlboss moment either (the goat brain swap).

E) This one is just a personal gripe, but the whole "bringing back a dead woman with the brain of an infant she was forced to carry" thing? And somehow, this is a feminist retelling? Hate. Get it away from me. Not saying Dren was created ethically (Clive didn't even have fully informed consent because he didn't know it was Elsa's DNA), but goddamn, at least the mother of the child had agency in the child's creation. There is absolutely nothing feminist about using an unwilling woman's body as a vessel for the baby she didn't want. What in the pro-life bullshit is this? Ew. Ew. Ew.

Rant over. Thanks for coming to my Tedtalk.

#rant post #poor things #poor things spoilers #splice 2009 #splice 2009 spoilers #dren splice #bella baxter #tw sex assault #tw rap3 #unethical science #frankenstein #feminist retelling my ass #hate #hate hate hate #splice is better y'all #film critique #criticism #discourse #mad science

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oh-katsuki · 6 months

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i hold the INCREDIBLY strong opinion that hellfire is the best disney villain theme song. the orchestra, the composition, the animation sequence.... the LYRICS?? all of it is so fucking haunting. the hunchback of notre dame was kind of outside of the scope of things disney makes and it was sort of a gamble on whether or not audiences would react well to it. it paid off with story and animation nerds, but actually fell relatively "flat" for a disney film with general audiences.

hunchback didn't have any of the magic that is characteristic of disney movies. there were no spells or witches or magic solutions to problems, save for the gargoyles. it's a film about natural born evil and human reactions to those problems. it's very heavy handed talking about cultural problems that disney films rarely ever touch on so directly, as well as a critique of catholic hypocrisy present in the church. which is arguably... not disney.

hellfire, as a villain song, is so poignant and so outside of the scope of what disney usually creates. it's definitely one of the darkest disney songs, dealing with the concept of sexual desire in conflict with oppressive and hypocritical religious morals. in the movie, frollo is a judge instead of the archdeacon of the church (like he is in the book), though i think it's pretty clear to the audience that frollo is meant to be a religious authoritative figure regardless of his actual title.

the song builds this horrifying sense of dread and entitlement, particularly surrounding frollo's desire to own esmeralda, as well as the deadly blame he places on her for his own sexual desire. it's a song that shifts the fault for his own feelings onto a woman who is already part of an oppressed demographic and one whose narrative renders her powerless in the face of frollo's desired punishment. he's a "pure" character, but his claims to purity are grounded purely in his superiority over others, specifically the cultural group that esmeralda descends from.

it's a desperate rationalization of his feelings and a miserable display of his relinquishment of responsibility in the situation. a prayer sent from a hypocritical man to his hypocritical god. and in his desperation to absolve himself of his sins, he falls deeper into his own.

the chorus in the background chants the confiteor, which is a gregorian confession of sins, but paired with frollo's message, it's not quite a confession of frollo's sins. rather, the implication is that frollo is confessing what he views to be esmeralda's sins, which in turn are having an affect on his own. he absolves himself of guilt by confessing them, but in turn does nothing to actually seek the root of the problem, which is his own objectification of esmeralda and the dehumanization of the cultural group that she's a part of.

the gregorian chant also condemns frollo, showing the audience that despite his backwards confession, he will continue to sin. he confesses to them, but the chorus and the "eyes of notre dame" will damn him anyway because he fails to take responsibility for his own actions.

truthfully, the whole song is a chilling display of the hypocrisy of the church, as well as one of the hypocrisy of man in regards to their views of women. and it's complimented by the music and the swelling orchestra, which highlight claude frollo's anguish and violent internal struggle.

the animation is dark as well, particularly with the way the chorus or "saints" judge frollo as he tries to justify his own feelings, pleading for his eternal soul from his predestined position of "condemned", all the while condemning esmeralda. then, we have the sequence of her dancing in the flames, in which it's revealed that frollo not only hates esmeralda, but desires her sexually and hates her because of it, and that the root of this problem can be found in frollo's sexual desire and not his religious disagreement. the entire tone of the song shifts when frollo says "or else let her be mine and mine alone" and it becomes a chilling representation of claude frollo's misguided blame for his sexual desire. it becomes a song of subjugation rather than religious conflict because the moral is no longer "what she does is impure and a sin" and transforms into "what she does is a sin only if she does it for anyone but me".

in this, frollo reveals his desire to consume esmeralda and take her, as an object, for his own. finally, the animation of her in the flame moving from dance to burning on a pyre is a direct representation of what frollo intends to do with her should she not choose to be with him. it's a violent threat rooted in sexuality and misogyny. frollo does not love esmeralda, but lusts after her, and is willing to kill her in order to avoid the shame in rejection and taking responsibility for his own sins.

anyway yeah, i feel very strongly about this song and i feel very strongly about the overall message it delivers. as far as villain songs go, it is one of the most desperate and miserable displays of true villainy and the absence of magic only serves to make it more haunting. people like this exist. they have for centuries. even with no magic to corrupt or make them greedy, frollo continues to become greedy and drunk with power. and yeah. it's good. i feel strongly.

#i had to speak about it im sorry #it's really just.#idk i love it #and i probably missed a lot here #because the song is PACKED with religious symbolism #and cultural commentary #that can be read in bOTH directions #but MAAAAN it's GOOD #it's the BEST #i feel very strongly about this #sorry if this doesnt make sense #i typed it out in 10 seconds because i became so consumed listening to the song. it's important to me

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catiuapavel · 2 months

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I completed every main mission and sidequests in Cornia (excluding the forbidden level 40 area)

This game is so fun and refreshing to play. When I played Ogre Battle March of the Black Queen a few years back, I dreamt of a game in the same vein that could grant you more control over how battles play out and Unicorn Overlord is a far more layered iteration of the timid concept I imagined. Going through all these menus and setting all these conditions, testing them out, doing it all over again to optimize them... This is so thrilling. I love micromanagement.

The more gameplay devices are introduced (like watchtowers, catapults, balistaes, rams, units to rescue in the middle of nowhere), the more fun it gets. Thanks to these elements coming into play one at a time, the stages never feel dull or the same.

I'll say Cornia on expert mode was hardly that difficult. It provided fun challenges so I don't mind. I'm just surprised that the highest level of difficulty feels like a normal mode. That being said I'm not a good judge of strategy games difficulty because I'm pretty much like that:

The presentation of the game is sooo beautiful. The hud, style and environments all fit so perfectly together. So few games seem to understand the value of these things nowadays and it's refreshing playing such a well-crafted one. I just wish there were more parity in character design: men with sillier outfits and animations and (a handful more) women with... let's say more pragmatic ones.

The soundtrack has been alright so far but I'll say: BOY am I glad to get out of Cornia. I think the area could have used 1 or 2 more songs for diversity (even if they kept a similar style or leitmotiv). Drakenhold is delivering in terms of music already!

Unfortunately the only tar so far is that the story is just so very... mid. At best, It's simple and serviceable even though you feel like you've seen it a hundred times before. At worst it's... mind control to handwave morality and responsibility away. However, I don't want to judge it too hastily and I hope to be surprised eventually.

Mostly, I'm genuinely, desperately, hopeful that recruiting everyone merrily will have dire consequences at one point or another. As much as I enjoy collecting every little guy on the continent, defeating a boss set on murdering you and/or terrorizing the countryside and having Alain choose between executing them or recruiting(/releasing) them after hearing their tragically lukewarm backstory (and everything ends well and fine) is becoming jarring. I want to feel regret, I want to feel pain. I want my decisions to come back to haunt me. I want to be crushed under the weight of my actions.

(DON'T tell me whether that's the case or not)

But so far the characters are just bad until they're good and once they join your ranks, they are unconditionally loyal. It lacks conflict and makes everyone far less interesting as a result.

(side note: this one isn't recruitable (thankfully) but Gaston in "Province of Famine" was one of the worst parts so far. You've got a tyrant pillaging his subjects' reserves, depriving them of food while bragging he's enjoying several lavish meals in a row with the most episodic cartoon villain presentation, but when you defeat him suddenly he wasn't actually that bad and was just keeping a reserve in case of famine. Surely... There was a way to write this with a bit more nuance and with less contradictions. The worst part? I called that one as soon as the stage began so it wasn't even shockingly bad, just disappointingly so.)

Still, the characters themselves feel engaging enough. The writing is decent when it comes to interpersonal relationships. I've set one foot in Drakenhold and I was delighted to see Travis and Aubin come into the picture once again. It makes me hopeful the greater cast will develop outside of rapport conversations. And if the narrative truly doesn't deliver later on... I will have these lively and diverse characters to fall back on at least.

#lou plays unicorn overlord

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sprout-fics · 1 year

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"He hurt you, didn't he?"

What a loaded fucking question.

There’s so much I wanna dissect with this line.

I read this, and in my mind Gaz is asking her if König SA’d her. Which, may have been your intention, it may not have been. But either way— that’s what I interpret when I read that.

She’s on a team of only men. Already there’s an interesting power dynamic that comes with that; a really sacred trust that has to be built over time. None of these men would ever hurt her, but that’s something they probably have had to show in order for her to fully trust them. I’m not saying she can’t hold her own— but a woman in a room with a group of 4 giant men can feel like blood in shark-infested waters.

To then cut to a mission where she’s yanked away from the people that would both kill and die for her— kidnapped by a man that looks and acts like monster. She says she’s fine, that she wasn’t hurt, but looks haunted. A frightened shell of her former self.

All of them can see that’s she’s not okay— but how could any of them even try to approach that problem? If they’re all making the same assumption Gaz is, could any of them ever picture her feeling safe enough to tell them? Tell even one of them? They were powerless to help her then, and they’re even more powerless to help her now.

I can’t imagine the guilt Gaz feels. Or the guilt the others feel.

TW: Sexual Assault

You are absolutely correct in your interpretation. I left it purposefully vague because frankly I decided not to address such a possibility within the context of this fic, as I feel it detracts from the story I'm trying to convey. (I would like to reaffirm sexual assault is a topic that should not be taken lightly within storytelling, and deserves care and attention in writing)

However you are completely right. To Gaz, Maus/Rookie is different after the incident. Jumpy, nervous, distracted, closed off. I like to think all the boys are insightful to some degree, but with Gaz it's different. He's practically clairvoyant. To me Gaz has the most training and inherent talent for intelligence work, which means he is scary good at reading people. So when Rookie starts acting the way she has been, he starts connecting the dots.

She was left alone in a room for hours with an enemy combatant, who interrogated her, reportedly touched her. Yet Rookie refuses to talk about it. This is naturally very suspicious, especially whenever someone inquires about what happened. Gaz can see Rookie is scared, frightened after what happened to her even as she tries to hide it.

In Gaz's perspective he's already come up with a narrative. Rookie is hiding the fact that she was assaulted. He understands why she does. There's stereotypes about women being victims of assault, and they take on a new type of sinister context within the military, and specifically within hostage situations. It makes sense why she wouldn't talk about it.

It doesn't negate the fact, however, that if that's what happened that Gaz failed her. This is never discussed in depth, but Gaz was awake when Rookie was taken. To him the fact that he was awake and yet couldn't help her before something terrible happened to her is something he'll never forgive himself for. In this scene when he asks if it's true, if Konig hurt her, and when Rookie flinches away from him, Gaz can't help but think that as much as he blames himself, so does she.

Also, the others feel the same. Gaz is special because he was there. The others though, they read the report. Ghost and Soap coordinated the rescue. Price saw her reaction the first time she saw Konig again in 'The First Time'. They all saw Rookie afterwards. They know something happened to her that she won't admit to. But they can't come out and say it, force her to admit it to them because it's wrong.

The team cares for Rookie deeply, but with this they are powerless, because Rookie won't let them see, won't tell them what happened. The only thing they can do for her is stand beside her, shield her, protect her when she's too lost to do it herself. They can only continue on and offer her a sense of normalcy so she can find herself again.

This concept is touched on more in the coming chapters. Price in particular gets a moment where we see the true depths of his rage at this whole situation, at the idea that the team failed their newest, youngest member.

#I have many many thoughts on this #assault tw #tw sa mention #fic: little mouse #kyle gaz garrick

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pinselwurm · 10 months

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at my gf’s request, i’m putting my Deadloch Killer Manifesto out there into the world just so i’ll stop giving her impromptu tedtalks about it in our kitchen. and so i can say “told u so.” written after episode 6 of 8 has aired. i came to my conclusion after watching episode 5, then turning around and rewatching all 5 episodes again to confirm. episode 6 then further confirmed by hitting me in the face with the story’s theme with no subtlety.

deadloch is a good show, with good writing, and good writing leaves breadcrumbs. not necessarily clue breadcrumbs, but theme and style breadcrumbs. pulling any ol’ person out at the end as the murderer is shitty, you’ve got to make it a satisfying realization.

so to start with, other than murder, what is our story actually about?

obviously major spoilers and the potential to ruin your viewing experience by taking away your own “aha” moment when IF i am correct:

what is deadloch about? certainly social strife, all the (misogyny, classism, racism, homophobia, colonialism) -isms that make people hate and resent each other, but the reason these characters are so interesting put together in the small town is because they are each two people at once, the person they were and the person they are or are in the process of becoming. they are haunted by the shadows of their former selves in deadloch, a town too small to properly hide in.

if you remember the very, very first seconds of the pilot we see a sign on a road at dawn: Deadloch. Population 2406. Home of the Winter Feastival. Reinvent Yourself.

REINVENT YOURSELF. The key to the entire story right at the start.

the dynasty women of deadloch who reinvented themselves are all the big players in town, the successful residents. margaret reinvented herself as a business woman and artisan after her husband’s death freed her from just being a wealthy wife going along with his plans. skye reinvented herself by escaping deadloch, being out as a lesbian, and gaining culinary skills that made her valuable to blossoming business in deadloch. vic started her bakery after her husband’s death, no longer just a publican’s wife, she’s got her own business. mayor rahme, clearly an overachiever, decided being a doctor wasn’t enough so she’s run for office and spearheaded local development herself. cath retrained from a lawyer to vet. dulcie nuked her career to get over her cheating past. dulcie is now in the process of reinventing herself again as the woman who needs to be a leader and can’t deny she’s not satisfied anymore. abby redirected her life to suit her terrible boyfriend and is now seeing that she’s worth more. eddie is becoming another person, letting herself let go of her own anger at herself. fuck, even ray pies reinvented himself from try-hard to sincere.

most of the deadloch men, however, are not reinventing themselves even a little bit. no improvement, just endless bitterness at the women who are surpassing them. no class betrayal or individualism from the boy’s club.

so who among our leading suspect ladies did not explicitly reinvent herself onscreen or is not in the process of doing so?

sharelle and vanessa

sharelle is immediately discounted because, quite simply, she can’t be fucked to do much of anything that she doesn’t have to do to survive, much less dramatic murder. she’s a stressed, low-wage mom with little support system and she’s not amused by the theatrics of everyone else.

that leaves vanessa, who the story made you discount immediately as an air-headed idiot.

vanessa, dismissed by the police as a mess too dumb to pull off the murders.

vanessa, who’s been completely unsupervised and free to do as she pleases since trent died.

vanessa, who’s been present for almost every body discovery with her hysterical screaming.

vanessa, who’s been with all recent victims the nights before their deaths.

vanessa, who lied about the tuna mornay.

vanessa, who’s inserted herself in the narrative again and again.

vanessa, who LOVES a big dramatic moment and being the center of attention.

vanessa, a good christian woman.

vanessa, who i bet anything, as a good deadloch dynasty girl, knows the tides and boats and clearly has the physical strength to move bodies.

vanessa, trapped as her high school beauty queen self forever to the other residents of deadloch.

vanessa, not truly accepted by the boy’s club, not given recognition by her female peers.

vanessa, repressed and full of rage.

no job, no real identity, no accomplishments.

god, she must have been just dying to self-actualize. reinvent herself. take control, prove she’s smart and sneaky and powerful. serial killers want everyone to know how smart they are, don’t they?

if you’d spent decades with the boy’s club, playing along, listening to what they said to you, you’d cut out their tongues too. she has plenty motive.

she’s lived for decades as the good feminine girl gravitating to “strong” masculine men. but she’s got a goddess complex and takes out men who break the contract, ruin the fucked-up gender role dance with their boorishness. punishes men who fail to give her what she wants from them (they never will).

i said earlier that i loved this show because only lesbians could write something that appealed to fellow lesbians so much. “dumb” small town beauty queen snaps and murders all the men that have been disgusting to her, casting final judgement on them, reinvents herself as a goddess of death? fuck, i’d write that story myself.

what did eddie say in the first episode? “you obviously need a refresher in homicide, mate, it’s always the family.”

deadloch’s misogynistic pressure cooker created a monster, and that monster is nessie.

(now, there could be a ladies gang doing murders but i think it’s going to play out like this: margaret is doing something stupid and racist for the sake of her money and land but she definitely not a team player so she’s out of any potential murder club. for skye and vic: i think eddie was right in the beginning, there’s a drug ring in deadloch....run by vic and skye. but they’re not murdering. nobody else is doing crime. yet.)

#deadloch

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dontbotherwiththepronunciation · 1 year

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Random thing with no meaning or thematic simply a train of thoughts that escalated, but as someone who was bullied for the majority of their school life and was actually called "horseface" in childhood and early adolescence, I love Jeyne’s “it was me that made up that name.”

She could have easily avoided all possible responsibility because Theon claims it was Sansa who used to call her that, but she intervenes not to deny him but just to add her own culpability. She doesn’t apologise because to whom could she possibly apologise, but she recognises it and there is guilt.

I think that’s touching. It makes me wonder if she is actually aware of how Arya must have felt. Especially now that this pseudo-karmic punishment is relying on her looking similar enough to Arya or the Stark look to be passed off as her.

She says her face wasn’t horsey but we have no real physical descriptions of her beyond long brown hair and expressive brown eyes so who knows maybe there was some projection on that. Or she was maybe clinging to the one thing where she, as a woman/young girl living in a society where women are viewed as objects to be possessed, had more value than a Stark of Winterfell. It doesn't justify it anyway. It doesn't erase the way Arya was made to feel because of it and I'm not trying to pin her as a victim in that situation, because she was not one and she herself even admits to it. She was not a passive non-grata figure to Arya, she was her bully.

But that small phrase is so meaningful to me. I also like how she doesn't absolve Sansa from it, but it feels somehow correct that she takes time to rectify Theon's memories of something that probably haunts her now.

Tumblr sucks at letting you block people to never see them again and every now and then I’m exposed to users who aren’t even active anymore but whom I remember from past years and one more or less popular take that they had was that Jeyne was an extremely passive (/derogatory) character which was why they didn’t like her.

And I never really understood that a lot so this turned into vaguing people from 2014, whatever I'm tired.

Like, yeah, she is a tertiary character with little personality or narrative agency and her emotional role in the story is to act as a proxy for other people’s feelings, but she still manages to come off more assertive than she is perceived by fanon. I think Jeyne W goes through the same treatment in how she is often (at best) written as a timid shy girl and not as someone who physically fought her mom and openly condemns and cries for justice for the murder of the crown's sworn enemy Robb Stark.

And then compared to Theon it’s especially funny when I see someone saying she doesn’t do anything and just waits to be saved and lets things happen to her because the same thing could be said about Theon and I think Theon is the one who commits the more atrocities because of "letting things happen to him" (a not very valid concept in my opinion).

Seriously, what do you think she could have tried? The only reason Theon isn't getting as abused as usual is because she is Ramsay's new chew toy. She is trapped in a room with shuttered windows for almost two months and the only people she gets to engage with are Theon, Ramsay and (I assume) the servingwomen who helped Theon prior to their escape.

That she did most every night, though. Lord Ramsay wanted his wife clean. "She has no handmaids, poor thing," he had said to Theon. "That leaves you, Reek. Should I put you in a dress?" He laughed. "Perhaps if you beg it of me. Just now, it will suffice for you to be her bath maid. I won't have her smelling like you." So whenever Ramsay had an itch to bed his wife, it fell to Theon to borrow some servingwomen from Lady Walda or Lady Dustin and fetch hot water from the kitchens. Though Arya never spoke to any of them, they could not fail to see her bruises. It is her own fault. She has not pleased him. "Just be Arya," he told the girl once, as he helped her into the water. "Lord Ramsay does not want to hurt you. He only hurts us when we … when we forget. He never cut me without cause." (The Turncloak, ADWD)

The servingwomen know of her abuse and go about their doing. She doesn't talk to them and they don't talk to her.

Ramsay abuses and rapes her.

Theon tries to gaslight her and is the one actually advising her to be passive.

"Just be Arya," he told the girl once, as he helped her into the water. "Lord Ramsay does not want to hurt you. He only hurts us when we … when we forget. He never cut me without cause." "Theon …" she whispered, weeping. "Reek." He grabbed her arm and shook her. "In here I'm Reek. You have to remember, Arya." But the girl was no true Stark, only a steward's whelp. Jeyne, her name is Jeyne. She should not look to me for rescue. Theon Greyjoy might have tried to help her, once. But Theon had been ironborn, and a braver man than Reek. Reek, Reek, it rhymes with weak. (The Turncloak, ADWD)

Something I find curious about that one exchange is that nothing indicates they are alone. The women are not mentioned at all, but we know they have been helping Theon bathe her too, so I am assuming they must have been there. And if that was the case then she is either very dumb or very daring. Calling her abusive husband's slave by a name that is evocative of his past as...well not free nor mighty but at least a bit more powerful than he is now.

I don't know, to me this is a very dire situation where even asking for someone to intervene, to help, becomes an immense act of bravery.

And she keeps asking Theon for help. And he keeps refusing her. And one day he helps her.

I grew up in a family where engaging with literature in a self-indulgent way or shipping non-canon things was seen as reductive and masturbatory, which wouldn't be a problem in itself but I also grew up catholic so you can imagine the guilt I feel by simply stating that, at my core, I am a Theyne shipper. And every time I express some concern about them as a ship I feel like I’m shooting against myself, so sorry if I end up offending anyone because of this, I’m on your team I swear, but I always hated the reading of “you could be my man” as a romantic cute thing. Mostly because the entire line and the situation they are in as she says it makes it feel very dubious to me, but I think I can understand why some see it as romantic.

"Help me." She clutched at him. "Please. I used to watch you in the yard, playing with your swords. You were so handsome." She squeezed his arm. "If we ran away, I could be your wife, or your … your whore … whatever you wanted. You could be my man." (The Prince of Winterfell, ADWD)

I think the beauty of that extremely macabre situation isn’t that she is offering herself as a romantic/sexual partner for him if he helps her but more that she is offering them to become a unit. I find it very unlikeable to think a 14 year old girl is seriously and consciously deciding to offer sexual favours Theon (in his Reek era out of all his eras).

It’s a mutual thing. She is not saying she’ll become his price or possession but that he would be hers too. He would have to take care of her and she would take care of him. When I take a romantic reading of it I find it a little distasteful, I always have and I’m not judging anyone for still liking a romantic reading of it! But when I start thinking of it as a platonic “it could be us against the world” situation I can’t help but just want them to stick together.

And then fucking Abel decided to play the fucking Dornishman's Wife and you could see the fucking smile in Ramsay’s fucking ugly head as he reminisces on what was a horribly good time for him.

"The Dornishman's Wife," whilst one of his washerwomen beat time on her drum. The singer changed the words, though. Instead of tasting a Dornishman's wife, he sang of tasting a northman's daughter. (The Turncloak, ADWD)

Fuck you Abel! Fuck you and your silly songs! Who the fuck plays The Rat Cook and Brave Danny Flint during a wedding?! Poor bride had it already bad enough before you decided to add some folk horror OST!

Anyway, I guess the concept of a platonic bond between them has been sabotaged a little by making them become tools for each other's rape, but I like being hopeful and thinking that it still is something they can overcome.

#speaking #I really need Tumblr to work on their blocking feature #I pity this girl so much on a meta level #I just want her to have a happyish ending #jeyne poole #asoiaf

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la-pheacienne · 1 year

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I love LOVE your rhaelya thoughts. rhaelya hunts the narrative and the characters, more in daenerys, arya and jon. but jon, oh, jon :(. bby boy thinks that his mother did not love him, but lyanna's last words and thoughs were for him "promise me ned, promise me" probably to protect him forever but couldn't, and that is why ned feels like he failed. and rhaegar, while he is most and foremost paralleled to dany, jon has number of things from him. the truth of the parentage is gonna be a conflict from him, but i truly believe that he will love having a mother that loved him and that his parents loved each other. jon has been dreaming of it for years.

Thank you nonnie!! 💖

Well yes Jon breaks my heart in that situation. And when he finds out who his parents, he will probably believe he is a child born out of rape because that's what all Northerners believe apart from Ned who is dead. It will take a while I think before he finds out who his father really was.

And yes, Rhaegar has been paralleled to Dany mainly that's one of the reasons people hate him so much but there are a lot of parallels with Jon too. That's an interesting question because I've always seen and loved Jon particularly because of how pure of a Stark he was. The brooding, ill-tempered, solemn and grim personality is very characteristic of the North, and of Ned. Jon is a great swordsman like Ned, he is honourable like Ned and he has the Northern looks, dark hair and grey eyes. In all sorts and purposes he's a true Stark. BUT, I can't help but feel that the comparison between Rob's and Jon's looks was kind of weird:

"Jon was of an age with Robb, but they did not look alike. Jon was slender where Robb was muscular, dark where Robb was fair, graceful and quick where his half brother was strong and fast."

So slender, dark, graceful and quick. Now the graceful part is weird. Northerners are not really that graceful, let's say that's not their trademark. Of course you can say Lyanna was probably graceful, but was she really? She was basically a tomboy like Arya, she was very pretty but I don't know if "graceful" would be the first word one would use to describe her. In Westeros, which House is particularly defined by gracefulness? Well, you guessed it. Especially Rhaegar was said to be very graceful and slender ("long fingers" etc etc the whole Targ software). So yeah we have that. Also personality wise, well, Jon has a trait that was very characteristic of Rhaegar specifically, the guy knows how to create a strong impression on people. Jon befriends Tyrion on the spot, he is very influential in the Knight's watch, he became Lord Commander at such a young age, women love him etc. Rhaegar was loved by smallfolk, Cersei was completely enamoured with him, Barristan remembers him fondly still, Jorah calls him the last dragon, he haunts Jaimie's dreams, he left a big impact on people. But then again, Lyanna did too, so I guess he got it from both his parents. Also the way Rhaegar was born in grief parallels Jon's very tragic birth and the shadow that was cast on him for his whole life for being a bastard. That's also very specific.

So the "promise me Ned" line confuses me a lot. For a long time I believed that Lyanna just asked Ned to burry her in Winterfell because the first time the phrase is mentioned in the book the context is clear.

"I was with her when she died," Ned reminded the king. "She wanted to come home, to rest beside Brandon and Father." He could hear her still at times. Promise me, she had cried, in a room that smelled of blood and roses. Promise me, Ned. The fever had taken her strength and her voice had been faint as a whisper, but when he gave her his word, the fear had gone out of his sister's eyes. Ned remembered the way she had smiled then, how tightly her fingers had clutched his as she gave up her hold on life, the rose petals spilling from her palm, dead and black".

The main problems with this is 1) why was Lyanna afraid for a simple wish as to be buried at her home and 2) why does that line keep haunting Ned throughout AGOT? He recalls that line so many times at seemingly irrelevant situations and it's weird because Lyanna apparently got her death wish. Why would GRRM insist so much on that particular line if it was something that was already settled forever? Sansa reminds him of that, he sees that in his nightmares, then Robert himself reminds him of that line when he says the exact same words before he dies. And what did Robert want Ned to promise? Well, that he will have a specific funeral feast for him, and that he will try to protect Daenerys' life. Lol.

We don't know what this line means, but it probably refers to Jon. We'll never know for sure because we ain't getting the books 😂

#asoiaf #got #I'm on my Rhaelya bullshit again #rhaegar x lyanna #Rhaelya #rhaegar targaryen #lyanna stark #jon snow #ned stark #aspa rambles

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likealittleheartbeat · 1 year

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i’ve seen a lot about yue’s impact on sokka, but way less about how yue’s death might’ve impacted katara or the NWT (actually I haven’t seen anything, but it’s admittedly not a search term i’ve dived into). i specifically want to point out this gender dynamic. yue’s tribe preserved the role of battling—and therefore sacrifice—to the men leaving the women to either mend their men’s wounds or grieve their lost would-be saviors. katara could see this more clearly than the rest, not only because her tribe was made up of women who refused that paradigm and fought for themselves and their people. when those women were killed for their resistance, katara felt the loss, frustration, and abandonment caused by men setting out for the epic journeys, their iliads and odysseys, while she was forced to wait, collect the stories, and pray for salvation.

yue’s sacrifice, both emphasizes and counters these narratives. she surrenders her desires for the greater good of her people and the world, as she had been prepared to do in her specific arranged marriage, as the women throughout the NWT had been doing within the patriarchal culture that had emerged in an attempt to organize resistance against an invading empire. yue’s submitting to a forced choice, in one light, was simply the ultimate expression of domestic submissiveness in a long line of submission by the women of the NWT.

from another angle, though, yue finds a path out of her enforced gender role. she finds a way to become the active dynamic hero she’s been forbidden from becoming. she becomes the moon—ranging, changing, and the source of her people’s power. how might witnessing this act have shifted the mind’s of the men like her father, the chief, in the tribe and impacted the politics, especially right after Katara’s open rebellion to their patriarchal traditions around waterbending?

i want to put one more thing out there. this is a mythic show and we should be eager and ready to put faith in the mythic narratives presented and recognize the way mythic understandings shape cultures’ world views and individuals experiences of the world (including our own). there are readings of the show, though, about the development of the myths. yue dies. she accepts death. you could even say she chooses death. in the face of imperial violence and in the face of her own culture’s patriarchal power, she sees an out that lets her escape the forced choices, and she takes it. by finding a third way out for herself, she invents an end to the conflict for others in her tribe. and even as we get this resolution, which is made more palatable by the mythological element, the questions it presents haunt the rest of the series: is death the only way violence and oppression can end? is self-sacrifice the method of heroism?

it’s easy to see the way these play out with aang, but i think deeper dives into katara’s development around this topic, especially in response to the gendered aspect of yue’s action, can provide a lot of rich thematic goodies, too. it’s in the very next episode the katara voices the pain she feels seeing aang in the avatar state and refuses to watch his presumptuous pursuit of it with the earth kingdom general. this assertiveness is new for her in the series and takes on new meaning when considering what she’s just recently witnessed with yue and begun to understand about her own position in a narrative where she’s dependent on a savior. by the end of that season, despite a lot of growth, she still finds herself acting as the grieving woman in the face of the final tragedy of martyrdom, too, leading to her messy and fulfilling third season explorations of a life beyond remaining simply a witness to the story.

#yue #meta #atla meta #aanglove #katara #nwt

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