#absurdity. like the absurdity of our society.. in which the way we treat animals is one for sure. although i doubt hes one to focus on it. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

faelapis · 4 years

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so. while this was confirmed a year ago, new tweets by ian jq have reawakened the discourse about humans being the first intelligent life gems encountered. note intelligent life, not organic life. alien animals still died from previous invasions, but humans are the first intelligent creatures gems encountered.

apparently, the party line on twitter (where nuance goes to die) is that it’s too “convenient” that humans are the first other intelligent species gems met.

i take a few issues with that assessment:

a) “it was pink’s first colony, isn’t it convenient the diamond concerned with organic life owns the first planet populated by intelligent organics? wouldn’t they have died if any other diamond got them? isn’t that super lucky?”

no. we know rose/pink was very interested in organic life from before earth. she always thought aliens were cool, interesting, fun, and liked learning about them and keeping some as pets - such as the rainbow worms. we know she visited the others’ colonies, even if she doesn’t own them. she’s the only diamond who is simultaneously “selfish” enough to visit colonies up-close on a whim because it’s fun AND doesn’t see herself as too good to play with local organics.

so, then, why on earth (hah) wouldn’t she care if there had been intelligent life on any of the other planets? she didn’t fight for earth just because she “owned” it. she cared because she was able to form connections to humans... which she would have done regardless of which diamond’s colony it was. if anything, ownership is a hindrance to her usual romps, because blue & yellow expected her to stay put in her moon base. smile and wave. be a “leader”.

b) “how is it realistic that humans are the first intelligent life gems have met?”

the SU universe as a whole is not a universe filled with life. it has been framed as cold, animalistic, overall lifeless, purposeless, and one in which you gaze at an empty sky and beg for an authority figure to give your life meaning. this works much, much better if life, especially intelligent life, is incredibly sparse. they are small flickers in a cold void. it adds to the feeling that both humans and gems feel of loneliness and pointlessness, where you create these intricate structures of organized almost-religion to feel devoted to a purpose. this existentialism, which we will explore further below, is a huge part of SU’s themes.

c) another theme - and this one is important - is that gems and humans have been treated as this mirror parallel of life, people, and society (tm) for the entire runtime of the show. hence, steven as the bridge. a bridge, usually, connects two sides, not five. they are more similar than they are different - to the point where you can use gemkind to comment on how humans are like, and see some of the horrors and tragedy of what humanity looks like “from the outside”. not once has there ever been implied to be any other intelligent species to disrupt this elegant, thematic dichotomy. ever.

d) unlike fanon speculation, the show has always been very careful about never implying there were any previous rebellions. SU is not a star wars-esque universe populated with a million different intelligent species and cyclical rebellions + alliances between them. it is a big, cold, empty void, with tiny pockets of fragile life. which is part of why the connection between two alien species is so remarkable. it is the exception, not the rule.

e) many of us who looked at homeworld in a not-badfaith light already came to the conclusion that humans are probably the only intelligent life they’ve met. (based on what we know about the universe, its logic, the themes, the implications of other colonies, pink diamond’s personality, no other species ever bonded with enough to fight for, etc etc,)... and those of us who did, including myself, have (lovingly!!) compared the crystal gems to hippies or eco-terrorists. this 100% holds up to how homeworld gems generally, and the diamonds specifically, see them.

this is why blue thinks a “solution” to pink being sad about the invasion is to create the zoo. it’s a petty conflict, from her perspective, of environmentalism vs conservationism. like how, if a capitalist is kinda sad about a rainforest being bulldozed, you might as well just take some pretty toucans and panthers and stick them in a zoo. they’re preserved for humans to enjoy. problem “solved”. it worked with the kyanite colony & rainbow worms, why not here?

this is part of why lapis accuses the CGs of not caring about gemkind. they put this silly little dirtball above gemkind, starting a war that hurt (”real”) people?

this is also why pink, mocking the other diamonds, says “you wish to save these life-forms at the expense of our own? ha! don't be absurd!”. gemkind needs resources to create more gems. so, to the diamonds, of course that’s more important than Making The Bees and Monkeys Sad. they’re not even directly killing them, they’re just taking resources. it’s not “””their fault””” they need ‘em too, gems are more important. the same way, to us, humans are always the most important. many of us don’t give a damn about how we hurt animals.

f) it galls me that anything but the darkest possible interpretation, even when it makes perfect sense with what we know, is always seen as “convenient” by people who watched nostalgia critic once and think they’re now great media critics. i saw similar comments to jasper being brought back to life, even though it made perfect sense with what’s implied about the powers of the diamonds. most of that, too, was woven together by paying close attention to implication, not outright stated in a lore dump - but that doesn’t make it “convenient” in the bad way. it makes it the logical outcome of this world, if you paid attention.

like jasper coming back to life, it also told us something thematic about the diamonds’ absolute power over life & death. steven is kinda horrified, even if it’s a good thing, that things can ever be fixed. he still feels like he needs to be “punished”. he holds this toxic mindset that punishment is more important than healing, because of the pit of self-harm he’s fallen into... which is kind of how some people see the diamonds, and the world as a whole.

even if things can get better, it doesn’t matter. at least not as much as punishing and distancing ourselves from the “bad people”. even though, actually, things CAN get better, and that’s more dependent on systemic change than it is on punishing “bad” individuals... that doesn’t fascinate them. it’s a fucked-up idea of “consequences” that is sadly prevalent in fandoms: they’d rather the world be doomed if they get to kill the bad people for it, than the world being slowly healed in this bittersweet way that includes everyone.

and i’m tired of that. on the whole, fiction is a reflection of this very dour, justice-oriented view of the world where we can only gain satisfaction from punishing the bad guys responsible. SU’s response to that is, that actually, just this once... no! the world gets better, and the “how” doesn’t revolve around individual punishment. it’s trying to heal everyone.

g) it seems to me that for a substantial amount of people, “convenience” has less to do with the themes and logic of the world than it does with wanting canon to live up to their fanon image of homeworld and the diamonds. even if that means a ton of offscreen intelligent life dying Just for the sake of a 1-v-1 earth-vs-gems conflict, with no agency in the story. i don’t understand how that would make it better. all other life we’ve seen have been animals. pink was around for other colonies - even if she didn’t personally “own” them - yet didn’t care deeply enough to fight for them. because she couldn’t bond with worms the same way as humans. (yknow, unfortunately, for the worms :’<)

also, you don’t NEED other species of intelligent life to have been made extinct to still have a somewhat cynical interpretation of the diamonds’ intentions here. even if it makes the world less grimdark in praxis. it’s not enough to be aware of humans in the abstract, blue and yellow still won’t listen. you need to actually interact with humans in order to learn about / care for organics that don’t serve a purpose in your system. this was just the first chance gemkind had to do so. it makes sense that some would be curious, while others more jaded and dismissive, after encountering a universe mostly made of the lifeless & animals.

to give the other diamonds some credit, they’ve probably encountered plenty organic life, and thus have built up a bias that everyone but gemkind are aimless, animalistic life forms, and its up to them to give themselves purpose. why should humans be any different? oh wow, they live in groups? big whoop. so do ants. they build nests? so do birds. they babble? so do parrots and rainbow worms. they still serve no purpose. they still die if you breathe on them.

it’s only when blue meets greg - thousands of years later - that we see even the tiniest of cracks, in which blue is made aware of some level of emotional intelligence, but is still firmly entrenched in the view that he’s just a Slightly more advanced organic than others. like... puppies comforting you. she was surprised he could even do that much. this was a slow process for rose as well!

but anyway, at the point of the war, to many gems, they are concerned first and foremost with gemkind. life matters because of your singular, gem-oriented “purpose”... but some gems, like pink, who never saw herself as a justified goddess, take the opposite approach. they don’t see themselves as “above” other life out of either lack of awareness of the capabilities of intelligent life forms or a self-appointed Higher Purpose. they’re curious, and then, willing to fight for life they can bond with, once they learn to love.

which brings me to...

h) how a big theme of the show as a whole is selflessness vs selfishness.

here, the crystal gems as a whole have actually been on the side of selfishness, from homeworld’s perspective. the end of gathering resources would mean they would no longer create more gems. which, to HW, is selfish. which... of course it is, if you think you’re the only intelligent life out there.

the way homeworld gems express themselves is through an elaborate system of self-perpetuation and creation, in which the emergence of more gems is a higher purpose for the collective. the individual doesn’t matter. to them, the random creatures they find on other planets do not matter. they’re just organics.

humans matter to pink because she’s, like i said, curious about alien life, and less convinced about her own purpose... but also more personal, relationship-driven, and cares about what happens the specific individuals she subjectively bonds with, rather than prioritizing the overall “needs” of her species, like a good queen bee is “supposed” to do.

homeworld thinks that no individual feelings - even a diamond’s - is more important than perpetuating of the system that gives their species meaning. most gems are happy to be shattered for that cause, because they’ve never formed those “selfish” relationships that makes life worth living without purpose. so actually, yes, this works with pink’s motivation, and blue and yellow not being as easily swayed works with theirs.

(all of this is extremely relevant to the arc steven has in “future”, btw. he needs a reason to be needed, purpose. and pearl’s arc, white diamond’s arc, jasper’s arc, etc etc - living for purpose vs living for relationships and selfish exploration of the self is a massive theme of the whole show!! at leaast if you pay attention to anything more subtle than merely “here’s a lore dump!”, which the show has always avoided. it’s more sublime than that. you, too, are supposed to only have a small, subjective understanding of the world, like steven does, which teaches you to value subjective perspectives. your purpose is not higher than the agency of others, and you shouldn’t control the world.)

i) it makes dramatic sense, actually, to center the conflict around the first time gems have met another species that stand a chance of understanding them! hence steven is a bridge. that’s a good basis for mirroring two species, a conflict that raises interesting questions about how we, too, see non-human life, the premium we place on emotional connection vs “purpose”, and how even when we learn to value humans that are different from us, we might still fuck around and bulldoze a rainforest, if it’s convenient and we can justify it internally.

and again, it’s more logical. as we know it, the story went “long ago, gems took resources all over the universe, until pink found a species intelligent enough some of them learned to bond with on a deeper level than Cool Pet Worm”, NOT “long ago, gems zapped a bunch of intelligent species - which we will not mention ever, or give any agency in the story - and pink just ignored that, until she randomly decided humans were more important than all those, for no reason, even though she’d met countless intelligent species before”.

the former makes more sense in ~every reading of canon, be it thematic, logical, personal, character-driven, etc~... except the one most favored by SU’s most badfaith of critics, which is that the only “logical” way for the story to go is one in which we can safely label the diamonds as inhumanly, unchangably bad, rather than having base assumptions, motivations and logics that aren’t so different from many non-dictator humans.

i think for some, they protest not because that makes more sense on a thematic, logical or character level, but simply because they want to. they’re USED to being fed that narrative satisfaction has to do with seeing the bad guys face comeuppance, in place of inclusive, welfare-oriented healing. faced with storytelling that rejects their view of justice while also openly being subjective, sublime, and loving of all of its characters, not just the “nice” ones, they see it as a “failure” to be what they’re used to.

if the world CAN systemically heal in a way that includes people you personally don’t forgive, that must be a “flaw”. if those “bad guys” haven’t actually killed hundreds of intelligent species offscreen who have no chance to heal, that doesn’t fuel your justification for the most cynical interpretation of justice possible, so that, too, “must” be a “flaw”. if it’s framed as possible for them to work towards undoing their harm, that deprives you of the satisfaction of edgy punishment for unhealable hurt, so that, too, is of course a “flaw”. any world where healing is possible for everyone, and the perpetrators can contribute, must be a “flaw”, to a mind only concerned with the validity of vengeance.

even when the story is perfectly candid that you’re personally allowed to be hurt and traumatized (like steven - and most characters, really), you’re still allowed to feel... you just can’t expect society as a whole to abandon its “inclusive healing” model and function on your logic; that your pain is solved by vengeance. it isn’t.

in short, cry about it.

#steven universe #homeworld #the diamonds #rose quartz #pink diamond #rose diamond #jasper #su theory #su future #su analysis #and by 'a few issues' i mean 'let me write you a novel about why this was always canon'#i know it must be a big blow if you've decided you're morally superior for hating SU based on fanon assumptions #but that's kinda on you fam. stop listening to bad youtubers. and do indeed cry about it - it's healthy

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spectrumed · 3 years

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2. voice

As a child I could not pronounce the letter R. I once complained to my mother for being so careless as to give me a name that had two R’s in it. Fredrik. Or as I pronounced it back then, “Fledlik.” Cute, right? I was a cute child, all blonde and with big blue eyes. At one point, I got surrounded by a group of older girls who forced me to pronounce my name, even though I really couldn’t. They laughed and laughed, teasing me for my inability to pronounce even my own name correctly. If I ever had a reason to develop a fetish for femdom, I think this would have been it.

Like it or not, in speech, there is no room for individual quirks. No, we’ve all got to learn how to speak properly. Historically, that has led to some pretty heinous attitudes towards regional accents, any tongue that was the standard was seen by default as being less or developed and intelligent. Regional accents were seen as practically unhygienic, the worry being that if people just got to speak as they wished, they might end up potentially thinking dangerous thoughts. While I understand the importance of being understood, it’s clear that the stigma that exists around speech difficulties stems from a place of prejudice. If a person has a lisp, do you really struggle to understand them? And while stammering can be quite debilitating, it should be blatantly obvious that shaming people who stammer, suggesting that they are bereft of intelligence, is not the way to help them. Humans are social animals, and language may be the one thing that distinguishes us as a species, it is natural that proper elocution should be treasured. But some people do struggle with their speech, and that should not cost them any respect or kindness.

As a child, I didn’t speak nearly enough. As an adult I am speaking too much. That’s the problem with you, Fredrik, you’ve never understood that there is a middle ground between two extremes. There is a way you can speak that is neither too quiet, nor too loud. It is how normal people speak. Why can’t you be normal, Fredrik? Are you going to spend this whole blog post talking about how difficult it is for you to simply learn to be like everyone else? Self-pitying yourself, much? Back in my day people pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, if they had something they struggled with, they learned to sort it all out, and they didn’t start complaining about society being all mean to them. You’re just spending too much time inside your own head, go take a swim, take up a hobby that requires you to step outdoors, it will serve you well. Don’t be a freak, Fredrik. Be normal, for once.

On a side note, “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps” is meant to be understood as an impossible feat. You can’t possibly pull yourself up by your bootstraps, it’s ludicrous to even suggest that such a thing may be feasible. While, yes, there are many things you can do to help yourself, ultimately, you can’t profoundly escape from a sorry situation you’ve found yourself in without some outside help. There is no shame in requiring help. To guilt someone into thinking that if they can’t do it alone, they are weak, is frankly sociopathic. Humans need each other, we take care of each other, we are there for each other. Self-sufficiency is great, but let’s not take it to levels of absurdity by suggesting that needing help from others is anything but normal. No-one succeeds in life without others there to prop them up. Instead of telling someone to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, you might as well tell them to go and swallow the sun, which is clearly another impossible task.

Most people will never in their lives experience what it is like to go through a neuropsychological evaluation. Turns out that it is not always such a pleasant experience. Though, considering the popularity of pseudo-scientific nonsense like the Myers-Briggs test, I am sure some folks would lie and pretend to love it. Certainly, there is a charm to being there and talking about yourself for several hours near-uninterrupted, but the exhaustion that you will feel at the end of it cannot be understated. Naturally, it does vary between who does it, and why they’re doing it. But if the stated goal is to find out whether you’ve had a neurodevelopmental disorder since you were but a young babe, then of course, there are going to be some pretty long conversations happening about those early days. Lots of stuff you may not have considered or thought about in a very long time will suddenly become very relevant to your current situation. And at the end of it all, you get some papers detailing your fashionable new diagnosis. Your entire life, all written down. Can make you feel rather wistful. And there’s really quite a surprising amount of typos included in the text, and barely any jokes.

Still, as part of my official diagnosis, there is a reference to my speech at being at times “stilted.” Though, the diagnosis does take very good care to mention that I appear intelligent and thoughtful, exhibiting a wide vocabulary and a good sense of the right words to use at the right moment. It’s flattering, for the most part. Yet, it does irk me that I could be perceived as being stilted. I know that at this point, I am being petty, because who cares if I sometimes come across as maybe a little robotic. I’ve got Asperger’s. Of course I am a robot. The closest role model we folks with Asperger’s ever had for the longest time was Star Trek: The Next Generation’s android named Data. God forbid anyone like me ever turned out to be the protagonist of a series, we’re all doomed to play the part of the robot, the alien, or the socially awkward geek. I should just be delighted that I am high-functioning. I know how much worse some have it. I should be grateful and pleased that I come across as mostly normal, mostly neurotypical. But… I really just don’t want anyone to think my speech is stilted. I don’t want to be Data. I want to be Riker.

It is never enough, you’ll never be good enough. If you fake it, they’ll see through it. If you struggle and if you work honestly to appear more normal, they won’t recognise it. As soon as they get an inkling you may be an imposter, looking like them, but having a neurologically deviant brain, they’ll single you out. For you, normalcy is an illusion. To attempt to be normal is to remake yourself only to receive nothing. Sure, you can be disingenuous, pretend you're not yourself, but it’ll never fool them. In the end, you’ll only lose yourself. Maybe I should just own the fact that my speech sometimes comes across as being stilted. Maybe I should own it. Be proud of who I am. But… sometimes I just don’t want to be me.

I want to be ignored. Sometimes, not always. But that goes for everyone. But most of all, I’d like to be able to go unseen whenever I’m not trying to impress anyone. When I’m just off to buy some milk. When I’m sitting on the bus. When I’m walking through the park. I know it is partly paranoia, but I can’t help but feel like I stick out. It’s always been like that with my friends growing up. The metaphor I used with my therapist is that I felt like a thumb. That they, my friends, were the fingers and I was the thumb. Sure, we’re similar. In many ways we’re the same. You could even say that I was crucial to making the social dynamics work. Who doesn’t like the thumb? What would you do without your thumb? But still, I was different. Some people would do anything to be different like that, to feel special. Some folks feel all invisible and forgotten in the crowd, and I’d lie if I told them that I didn’t envy them sometimes. The ability to go all invisible? That seems swell! There’s this question people like to ask as a sort of personality test. If you could choose a superpower, would you rather be able to fly, or would you rather be able to go invisible? The answer is obvious, as far as I’m concerned. Of course I’d love to be able to go invisible. To be able to exist without anyone seeing me. Without anyone judging me. Without ever having to worry if someone is going to treat me as different. For a moment to feel what it is like not to be some big, dumb, stupid, thumb.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not too anguished. Nowadays, I feel like I am in a relatively good place. But I would be lying if I told you that I still don’t get frustrated at the plethora of difficulties I face just trying to blend in. Even with family members, people who are supposed to know you the best, even then I have to go out of my way to behave a certain way, to exist a certain way, because fundamentally, they just don’t seem to get you. Not in that way. They have an image of you that you need to try and match. It doesn’t matter how many times I tell them that sometimes you need to be more direct in your communication to truly reach me, I don’t pick up on the many smaller little social cues they may throw my way, it’s still just me being silly and looking for excuses for why I didn’t understand them the first time around. And I am deathly afraid of hurting anyone’s feelings. A very prevalent misconception about autistic individuals is that we don’t care if we’re being rude. That if we are rude, our rudeness can simply be overlooked because, y’know, we’re autistic. While this sort of thing is commonly represented in media that is supposed to depict autistic characters, in real life, things don't quite work like this. Believe it or not, readers, being autistic is not a free pass to act like a dick. Autistic individuals still very much have to modulate our behaviour if we wish to fit in and be accepted. No-one will ever excuse you for being autistic. To be autistic is living with extra hurdles in your way, thinking that it’s anything but a social handicap is romanticising a diagnosis you clearly know very little about.

When I was a kid, I didn’t speak much. As far as I was concerned, I merely spoke whenever I needed to speak. It took until adulthood for me to learn that my parents and teachers were actually concerned about that. I was made to see a specialist, under the guise of learning elocution, but I’ve later come to realise that those meetings were about more than just learning to pronounce the letter R. Like, what does testing my memory have to do with diction? Yes, her job was partly to help my speech develop more in line with the other kids, but she was also there to evaluate whether or not I was intellectually disabled. I have come to learn that I had teachers at the time that were adamant about me going to a different school, more equipped to handle kids like me, but my mother vehemently defended my right to stay in the school I was in. After all, I did have friends, and to anyone who really knew me, they knew that I was a bright child. Sure, I wasn’t as communicative as the other children, but I clearly had no issues processing information, and it’s not like I was disruptive in some other way. But that was also part of the problem. The teachers that thought that I may need specialist schooling were concerned about the fact that I was too placid and too agreeable. They wanted me to express frustration at my lacking pronunciation, to see me get mad at others for not fully understanding me. That amazes me, if anything. The fact that I was a happy kid they took as some indication that I wasn’t quite right.

My mother delights in a memory of me as a kid once slamming my fist on the table and declaring that “now, I am speaking!” May I remind you that I was a cute kid. Sure, it is the sort of behaviour that parents of the old times would have spanked their kids for. Kids in the past were supposed to be quiet. To be seen, but not heard. I wonder if there’d be any kind of hubbub about my early development if I lived back then. I’d probably be seen as the ideal child, all pretty and docile and never too loud. Still, it was a moment my mother cherished, because for once, I really proved that I did have the capacity to speak. Though, I still couldn’t pronounce my R’s. But it was time for Fledlik to speak.

#neurodiversity #neurodivergent #autism spectrum disorder #autism #aspergers #mental health

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mysecondsecretaccount · 4 years

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Media Theory Analysis - Steven Universe

Steven Universe is an animated children’s TV show from Cartoon Network. The show had 5 seasons from 2013 to 2019, and was followed up by a 2019 movie and 2019 epilogue series entitled “Steven Universe Future” that ran until 2020. The series was created by Rebecca Sugar, notable for being the network’s first bisexual non-binary women to run a show. Steven Universe follows the titular Steven, who lives with his human father and Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl, who are gems, humanoid aliens with a variety of fantastical powers, including the ability for two gems to fuse into one gem, essentially two people becoming one for an amount of time. Steven is half-gem, and his Mom, the gem Rose Quartz, gave up her physical form to become Steven, essentially dying in the process. Much of the show centers around Steven coming into his own: dealing with his identity as half-gem, figuring his relationship to his dead mother, and fighting with the responsibilities and assumptions placed on him by Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl, who simultaneously view him as just a little kid, and the next Rose Quartz. As the show progresses, we learn that the Gems have a caste system based on function, which is run by the tyrannical Diamond Authority.

Power distance

As mentioned above, the show has a caste system based on function, which reflects our current system in many ways. In the episode “Too Far”, the character Peridot shed some light on how the caste system works (shown at 3:12 in the video below)

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As Peridot says “Pearl is a pearl, Garnet is a fusion, [and Amethyst is] the only Crystal Gem, that's actually a Gem!” There’s very clearly a power structure implied here, with Pearls and Fusions being seen as second-class citizens. With this in mind, let’s start to look at the parallels to our real life caste system.

First, let’s talk about Pearls. Pearls are essentially a slave race of personal servants, owned by nobility and forced to do work similar to secretary work, all while expected to look nice and fancy. Throughout the show we see Pearl, the character (characters have the same name as their type of gem), being passed off as “just a pearl”, or “a feisty pearl”, and it’s a huge deal that she’s “a pearl that belongs to no one”.

“A Pearl who belonged to no one”

As you may be able to tell, the way Pearls are treated is allegorical for how women are treated in society. Though views of women as second-class citizens aren’t exactly common in today’s world, backwards views like this still exist in many parts of the world. There are still places where women are essentially bound to their husbands, in the same way that Pearls are bound to their masters. And though it isn’t common now, the time when women mainly did secretary work was not that long ago in the grand scheme of things.

Next, there’s fusions. In the show, fusions between the same types of gem are normal and common, though they are only used for military purposes and unfuse immediately after battle.

Three rubies fusing

But fusions between different gem types are relatively unheard of, and are heavily shunned by gem society. The first time two different gems fused, onlookers were horrified, and both particular gems were ordered to be shattered (killed).

Now it’s important to note that fusions, being the physical embodiment to two character’s feelings towards each other, are often used to represent romantic relationships. And since all Gems are female (or at least, female-coded, I’ll get into that later), all relationships are necessarily queer. And by viewing fusions through a queer framework, the hatred and contempt felt towards fusions becomes an obvious allegory for homophobia. And though it may seem like most people are accepting of the queer community, especially seeing how gay marriage is legal in the united states, that’s simply not the case, especially seeing as a major political party in the U.S. is explicitly against gay marriage.

“Garnet? Does that call herself a Garnet? Haha! What would you have her do? Enter with the Demantoids? The Hessonites, the Pyropes?”

This degradation is embodied in the show. When two gems become one, the gem that they become is one that would be higher rank than the two composing gems. However, the rulers of gem society do not recognize the status of fusions, and find the very idea laughable, as shown above. This only further shows how much of a second class citizen fusions are in this society.

Let’s return to that Peridot quote from earlier: Amethyst is higher status than both Pearl and Garnet. The thing is, Amethysts are lowly soldiers, so the fact that she could be the leader of the group, despite being the youngest, and despite the fact that Garnet should be a high-ranking military commander is frankly astonishing, and really speaks to the backwards nature of their society, which can, in turn make us reflect on the many absurd contradictions of our society.

Uncertainty avoidance

Newness and uncertainty are heavy themes in Steven Universe, even being built into the show’s very premise. You see, Steven is a half human, haf gem hybrid, and that’s something that’s completely new in this universe.

“There's never been anything or anyone like Steven.”

This is at the heart of one of the show’s central conflicts: how Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl view Steven. Steven is something new, and that’s confusing and scary to the gems, because they frankly have no idea what to do with him. But, over time, they learn that they have to accept Steven as a member of their team. And this message of accepting the new and uncomfortable comes through with one of the show’s main mechanics: fusion.

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“Something entirely new”

As shown in the video above, when the first fusion between two gems occurs, it’s portrayed as “Something entirely new”, and the show makes sure to emphasize. how special and unique that is.

“I still can't believe it. Only on Earth, don't you think? Only on Earth where anything can happen. A fusion of two completely different Gems! Can all Gems do that? How have I never heard of this?! I've only ever heard that it's unheard of.”

Furthermore, in the episode “Alone Together”, Steven fuses with his best friend Connie, creating Stevonnie, the first human/gem hybrid fusion. At first, Pearl is perplexed and uncomfortable, calling it “inappropriate”, but Garnet, who’s portrayed as the wisest of the group, don’t ask questions or make assumptions, instead only telling them to “Go have fun!”

Finally, it's important to note that trying new things is at the crux of the plot, at least in season one. You see, the show starts with Steven and the Crystal Gems going around and capturing corrupted gems, who are animalistic in nature. For most interactions with these creatures, the Crystal Gems just fight them. But Steven is irked by this, and proposes nonviolent solutions. Ultimately, it’s only through these new solutions that progress is made. Just as in real life, progress can only be made by accepting new and uncertain solutions.

First of all, the entire Gem race is female (or female presenting rather, I’ll get to that in a minute), except for Steven, who’s half-gem and identifies as male (he/him). This is notable, because many mainstream franchises have casts that are almost entirely male, usually save for one token female (see: the smurfette principle). Steven universe is unique for having an entire race designed specifically to subvert this.

But what’s interesting that none of the Gems are actually female, they’re all nonbinary. According to the show’s creator (who herself is a nonbinary women), all the gems are sexless and agendered, an alien species that don’t have a gender binary. However, they all present female and use she/her pronouns (with a couple exceptions I’ll get to in a moment). This is unique as nearly every character in every piece of media falls within the gender binary, and though the gems may lean to one side of it, they still fall strictly outside the gender binary.

Masculinity vs femininity

Steven Universe is notable for defying gender expectations in several unique and groundbreaking ways.

First of all, the entire Gem race is female (or female presenting rather, I’ll get to that in a minute), except for Steven, who’s half-gem and identifies as male (he/him). This is notable, because many mainstream franchises have casts that are almost entirely male, usually save for one token female (see: the Smurfette principle). Steven Universe is unique for having an entire race designed specifically to subvert this.

Some characters go even further in being non-binary, not leaning to either side and using they/them pronouns. Specifically, we have Stevonnie, who is the fusion of Steven (male) and Connie (female). Stevonnie is romanticized by the show as a true human experience, which also serves as a validation and confirmation of nonbinary identities.

Stevonnie being awesome.

All of the other fusions that include steven use they/them pronouns, including: Smoky Quartz (they/them), Rainbow Quartz 2.0 (They/Them & He/Him), Sunstone (They/Them & She/Her) and Obsidian (They/Them & She/Her).

It’s also worth noting that in Steven Universe Future, we get to briefly meet a nonbinary character named Shep, proving once and for all, that you don’t have to be a half-alien gem fusion to be nonbinary.

They

Another gender standard that Steven Universe rebukes is that of traditional female beauty. Though most Gems are female-presenting, they all present their femininity in different ways.

Taken from a Contrapoints video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bbINLWtMKI)

As you can clearly see, even though all of these characters use she/her pronouns, they all present their femininity in radically different ways, not being afraid to stray into nontraditional femininity.

Then there’s the subversive masculinity of Steven Universe.

youtube

The video above basically says everything I wanted to say on this topic in a manner infinitely better than I could ever do, and I don’t want to just limply restate its arguments, so just go watch the video for yourself. All I have to add is that Steven is not at all afraid to wear traditionally feminine clothing, or act in a traditionally feminine manner, as shown below:

Individualism vs. collectivism

Throughout the show, the Crystal Gems are constantly fighting as a team. They’re always working together, and there’s an assumed promotion of the value of teamwork throughout the show. All major problems are only ever solved through cooperation.

What’s more interesting is how fusion plays into this topic. Fusion is an allegory for relationships, of all different shapes, sizes and kinds. So naturally, some fusions represent teamwork, specifically Alexandrite and Obsidian, the fusion of Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl and the fusion of Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl and Steven respectively. These fusions only exist as long as the contributing members are willing to cooperate, and have trouble staying together when the members aren’t working well together.

Alexandrite coming apart after her components start bickering

We also see the smaller, two-gem type fusions being used to represent teamwork and collective power. The philosophy behind fusions is that they are greater than the sum of their parts, and as such are extremely useful for completing tasks. Throughout the show we see characters fusing to do things like lift up a drill, destroy a tall structure, babysit, or even just to fight. Recurring is known for lamenting the fact that she’s always beaten by fusion, even resorting to fusing with an uneasy ally to win a battle, twice (it works neither time). The message is clear: teamwork creates synergy.

Pearl and Amethyst fuse to lift a drill

But what makes this truly interesting is how Steven Universe also champions individuality. The show features plenty of characters who have arcs of self discovery, eventually coming into their own as a unique person, most notably Steven Universe himself. Though you may think that these themes of individuality and collectivism may contradict each other, Steven Universe finds a way to escape that binary and champion both.

In episode “The Question”, the idea of differentiation is explored. Differentiation is the idea that members of a couple need solid individual identities to work together as a couple. And this idea can be applied to many other fusions throughout the show. For example, in the episode “Mindful Education”, Stevonnie starts hallucinating when one of their components, Connie, is having trouble at school. In said episode, Garnet explains that for fusions to stay fused, there has to be balance, and all participants have to be stable.

“For a fusion to work, there needs to be balance. An imbalance can cause your fusion to...fall apart. That is to say, if one of you is falling apart, your fusion will as well. To find balance, you must understand your feelings.”

Ultimately, Steven Universe conveys a complex but important message: “Teamwork and cooperation are vital in making societal progress, but individual identity is crucial and cannot be ignored”

Indulgence vs restraint

While Some critics of the show have posited that in the first season, Steven has everything he wants. And while that may be true from a physical statement (he eats what he wants, he gets to play video games all the time, he lives extremely close to both an arcade and an amusement park), his emotional needs, his need to be accepted by his family, his need to feel like he’s a valued member of the team, his need to be not be seen in the shadow of his mother, taken entire seasons to be meet, and some of those needs are frankly never met.

In the end, Steven Universe proves to be a subversive masterpiece, defying traditional expectations of gender and power structure, while providing new ways forward through uncertainty and the combination of individuality and collectivism. To matter what framework you view the show through, it will always have something to learn from.

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ucflibrary · 4 years

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Each December, the UCF Libraries’ Featured Bookshelf celebrates the favorite books of employees of the UCF Libraries. And you know a major thing about librarians and library staff? They love talking about their favorite books. The books listed below are some of the favorite books we read in 2020.

Click on the link below to see the full list, descriptions, and catalog links for our favorite 2020 titles. These 20 books plus favorites from previous years are also on display in the 4th floor Reading Room of the John C. Hitt Library.

And if you find someone has checked the one you’re interested in out before you had a chance, did you know you can place an interlibrary loan and have another copy sent here for you? Click here for instructions on placing an interlibrary loan.

A Furious Sky: the five-hundred-year history of America's hurricanes by Eric Jay Dolin From the moment European colonists laid violent claim to this land, hurricanes have had a profound and visceral impact on American history-yet, no one has attempted to write the definitive account of America's entanglement with these meteorological behemoths. Eric Jay Dolin presents the five-hundred-year story of American hurricanes, from the nameless storms that threatened Columbus' New World voyages, to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico and the escalation of hurricane season as a result of global warming. Populating his narrative with unlikely heroes such as Benito Vines, the nineteenth-century Jesuit priest whose revelatory methods for predicting hurricanes saved countless lives, and journalist Dan Rather, whose coverage of a 1961 hurricane would change broadcasting history, Dolin uncovers the often surprising ways we respond to natural crises. Suggested by Megan Haught, Student Learning & Engagement/Research & Information Services

Children of the Land by Marcelo Hernandez Castillo With beauty, grace, and honesty, Castillo recounts his and his family’s encounters with a system that treats them as criminals for seeking safe, ordinary lives. He writes of the Sunday afternoon when he opened the door to an ICE officer who had one hand on his holster, of the hours he spent making a fake social security card so that he could work to support his family, of his father’s deportation and the decade that he spent waiting to return to his wife and children only to be denied reentry Suggested by Sara Duff, Acquisitions & Collections

Dark Matter: a novel by Blake Crouch A mind-bending, relentlessly paced science-fiction thriller, in which an ordinary man is kidnapped, knocked unconscious--and awakens in a world inexplicably different from the reality he thought he knew. "Are you happy with your life?" Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious. He awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits. Before him, a man Jason's never met smiles down at him and says, "Welcome back, my friend." In this world he's woken up to, Jason's life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born. And Jason is not an ordinary college physics professor but a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable. Something impossible. Suggested by Katy Miller, Student Learning & Engagement

Do Nothing: how to break away from overworking, overdoing, and underliving by Celeste Headlee We work feverishly to make ourselves happy. So why are we so miserable? Despite our constant search for new ways to "hack" our bodies and minds for peak performance, human beings are working more instead of less, living harder not smarter, and becoming more lonely and anxious. This manifesto helps us break free of our unhealthy devotion to efficiency and shows us how to reclaim our time and humanity with a little more leisure Suggested by Katy Miller, Student Learning & Engagement

Eleanor Roosevelt by Blanche Wiesen Cook A study of the complex and political figure of Eleanor Roosevelt begins with her harrowing childhood, describes the difficulties of her marriage, and explains how she persuaded Franklin to make the reforms that would make him famous. Suggested by Richard Harrison, Research & Information Services

From Here to Eternity: traveling the world to find the good death by Caitlin Doughty Fascinated by our pervasive fear of dead bodies, mortician Caitlin Doughty set out to discover how other cultures care for the dead. In rural Indonesia, she watches a man clean and dress his grandfather's mummified body, which has resided in the family home for two years. In La Paz, she meets Bolivian natitas (cigarette-smoking, wish-granting human skulls), and in Tokyo she encounters the Japanese kotsuage ceremony, in which relatives use chopsticks to pluck their loved-ones' bones from cremation ashes. She introduces deathcare innovators researching body composting and green burial, and examines how varied traditions, from Mexico's Dias de los Muertos to Zoroastrian sky burial help us see our own death customs in a new light. She argues that our expensive, impersonal system fosters a corrosive fear of death that hinders our ability to cope and mourn. By comparing customs, she demonstrates that mourners everywhere respond best when they help care for the deceased and have space to participate in the process. Suggested by Katy Miller, Student Learning & Engagement

Indelicacy by Amina Cain A cleaning woman at a museum of art nurtures aspirations to do more than simply dust the paintings around her. She dreams of having the liberty to explore them in writing, and so must find a way to win herself the time and security to use her mind. She escapes her lot by marrying a rich man, but having gained a husband, a house, high society, and a maid, she finds that her new life of privilege is no less constrained. Not only has she taken up different forms of time-consuming labor - social and erotic - but she is now, however passively, forcing other women to clean up after her. Perhaps another and more drastic solution is necessary Suggested by Sara Duff, Acquisitions & Collections

Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu Every day Willis Wu leaves his tiny room in a Chinatown SRO and enters the Golden Palace restaurant, where Black and White, a procedural cop show, is in perpetual production. He's a bit player here too, but he dreams of being Kung Fu Guy-- and he sees his life as a script. After stumbling into the spotlight, Willis finds himself launched into a wider world than he has ever known, discovering not only the secret history of Chinatown, but the buried legacy of his own family, and what that means for him in today's America. Suggested by Sara Duff, Acquisitions & Collections

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon Scottish Highlands, 1945. Claire Randall, a former British combat nurse, is just back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon when she walks through a standing stone in one of the ancient circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach—an “outlander”—in a Scotland torn by war and raiding clans in the year of Our Lord . . . 1743. Claire is catapulted into the intrigues of a world that threatens her life, and may shatter her heart. Marooned amid danger, passion, and violence, Claire learns her only chance of safety lies in Jamie Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior. What begins in compulsion becomes urgent need, and Claire finds herself torn between two very different men, in two irreconcilable lives. Suggested by Katie Kirwan, Acquisitions & Collections

Paradise Lost: a life of F. Scott Fitzgerald by David S. Brown In this comprehensive biography, Brown reexamines Fitzgerald’s childhood, first loves, and difficult marriage to Zelda Sayre. He looks at Fitzgerald’s friendship with Hemingway, the golden years that culminated with Gatsby, and his increasing alcohol abuse and declining fortunes which coincided with Zelda’s institutionalization and the nation’s economic collapse. Suggested by Andrew Hackler, Circulation

Recursion by Blake Crouch Reality is broken. At first, it looks like a disease. An epidemic that spreads through no known means, driving its victims mad with memories of a life they never lived. But the force that’s sweeping the world is no pathogen. It’s just the first shock wave, unleashed by a stunning discovery—and what’s in jeopardy is not our minds but the very fabric of time itself. Suggested by Mary Rubin, Special Collections & University Archives

Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh Brosh’s second book includes humorous stories from her childhood; the adventures of her very bad animals; merciless dissection of her own character flaws; incisive essays on grief, loneliness, and powerlessness; as well as reflections on the absurdity of modern life. Suggested by Sara Duff, Acquisitions & Collections

Spillover: animal infections and the next human pandemic by David Quammen This work examines the emergence and causes of new diseases all over the world, describing a process called "spillover" where illness originates in wild animals before being passed to humans and discusses the potential for the next huge pandemic. The emergence of strange new diseases is a frightening problem that seems to be getting worse. In this age of speedy travel, it threatens a worldwide pandemic. We hear news reports of Ebola, SARS, AIDS, and something called Hendra killing horses and people in Australia; but those reports miss the big truth that such phenomena are part of a single pattern. The bugs that transmit these diseases share one thing: they originate in wild animals and pass to humans by a process called spillover. As globalization spreads and as we destroy the ancient ecosystems, penetrating ever deeper into the furthest reaches of the planet, we encounter strange and dangerous infections that originate in animals but can be transmitted to humans. The author tracks this subject around the world. He recounts adventures in the field, netting bats in China, trapping monkeys in Bangladesh, stalking gorillas in the Congo, with the world's leading disease scientists. He takes the reader along on this quest to learn how, where from, and why these diseases emerge, and he asks the terrifying question: What might the next big one be? Suggested by Megan Haught, Student Learning & Engagement/Research & Information Services

Squeeze Me by Carl Hiaasen It's the height of the Palm Beach charity ball season: for every disease or cause, there's a reason for the local luminaries to eat (minimally), drink (maximally), and be seen. But when a prominent high-society dowager suddenly vanishes during a swank gala, and is later found dead in a concrete grave, panic and chaos erupt. Kiki Pew was notable not just for her wealth and her jewels--she was an ardent fan of the Winter White House resident just down the road, and a founding member of the POTUSSIES, a group of women dedicated to supporting their President. Never one to miss an opportunity to play to his base, the President immediately declares that Kiki was the victim of rampaging immigrant hordes. This, it turns out, is far from the truth. Suggested by Richard Harrison, Research & Information Services

The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee A year after a whirlwind grand tour with her brother Monty, Felicity Montague has returned to England with two goals in mind: avoid the marriage proposal of a lovestruck suitor from Edinburgh and enroll in medical school. But the administrators see men as the sole guardians of science. When a doctor she idolizes marries a friend of hers in Germany, Felicity believes he could change her future. A mysterious young woman will pay Felicity's way, if Felicity will let her travel along-- as her maid. Soon they're on a perilous quest that leads them across the promenades of Zurich to secrets lurking beneath the Atlantic. Suggested by Megan Haught, Student Learning & Engagement/Research & Information Services

The Power of Now: a guide to spiritual enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle Much more than simple principles and platitudes, this book takes readers on an inspiring spiritual journey to find their true and deepest self and reach the ultimate in personal growth and spirituality: the discovery of truth and light. In the first chapter, Tolle introduces readers to enlightenment and its natural enemy, the mind. He awakens readers to their role as a creator of pain and shows them how to have a pain-free identity by living fully in the present. The journey is thrilling, and along the way, the author shows how to connect to the indestructible essence of our Being. Suggested by Sandy Avila, Research & Information Services

The Scarlet Sisters: sex, suffrage, and scandal in the gilded age by Myra MacPherson A fresh look at the life and times of Victoria Woodhull and Tennie Claflin, two sisters whose radical views on sex, love, politics, and business threatened the white male power structure of the nineteenth century and shocked the world. Here award-winning author Myra MacPherson deconstructs and lays bare the manners and mores of Victorian America, remarkably illuminating the struggle for equality that women are still fighting today. Suggested by Dawn Tripp, Research & Information Services

The Shifting Realities of Philip K. Dick: selected literary and philosophical writings by Philip K. Dick Philip K. Dick has established himself as a major figure in American literature. The landscape of his imagination features a wealth of concepts and fictional worlds: Nazi-rule in a postwar nightmare; androids and the unification of man and machine; and an existence that no longer follows the logic of reality. This first-time collection assembles his nonfiction writings essays, journals, speeches, and interviews. In these writings he explores issues ranging from the merging of physics and metaphysics to the potential influences of "virtual" reality and its consequences to a plot-scenario for a potential episode of "Mission: Impossible," to the challenge that fundamental "human" values face in the age of technology and spiritual decline.". Suggested by Sandy Avila, Research & Information Services

The Wild Heart of Florida: Florida writers on Florida's wildlands selected and edited by Jeff Ripple and Susan Cerulean Coming from a variety of backgrounds--fiction, journalism, poetry, and environmental writing--the writers turn their talent to one thing they have in common--a love for Florida’s natural beauty and a commitment to preserve it. Their essays--some old favorites, most appearing here for the first time--are both a celebration and a pointed reminder of what we stand to lose. Suggested by Rebecca Hawk, Circulation

There Will Come a Darkness by Katy Rose Pool The Age of Darkness approaches. Who will stop it... or unleash it? For generations, the Seven Prophets guided humanity. Using their visions of the future, they ended wars and united nations-- until they disappeared a hundred years ago. All they left behind was one final prophecy, foretelling an Age of Darkness and the birth of a new Prophet who could be the world's salvation-- or the cause of its destruction. Will it be a prince exiled from his kingdom? A ruthless killer known as the Pale Hand? A once-faithful leader torn between his duty and his heart? A reckless gambler with the power to find anything or anyone? Or a dying girl on the verge of giving up? Suggested by Pam Jaggernauth, Curriculum Materials Center

#featured bookshelf #ucf library #ucf #suggested reading #staff favorites #booklr

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workersolidarity · 4 years

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You had this post about the villification of socialism and the Soviet Union vs how fascism is becoming more acceptable and you mention something about Stalin not being guilty of murdering millions. I'm studying gcse history, and in our Cold War unit it talked about the purges, gulags etc. I understand there is going to be some western bias but I thought that the purges and deaths caused by Stalin were pretty much undeniable truths? I'm not trying to be malicious, just actually curious.

Actually, there's no evidence Stalin ever committed anything remotely close to a war crime.

First off, most people can't wrap their heads around one very simple but important fact. Stalin was not even close to a dictator and never had powers anywhere near what even the US President has. Barack Obama launched a secret CIA Drone strike without Congressional Authorization in a country we not only weren't at war with, but that wasn't even recognized as having open hostilities with the US.

Everything Stalin did had to go through the Politburo and the Communist Party Leadership. The Western lies about the Governing structure of the Soviet Union not only ignores the countless Beaurocratic hurtles there were before the Secretary General of the Soviet Union could engage any major Policy changes, but it negates and ignores the tens of millions of Soviet Citizens who fought to the death to install the Communist Party to power, and paid the price of seven years of Western Interference leading and arming Nationalists and Fascists to fight a Civil War within the Soviet Union.

The Red Army was nothing but a motley crew of peasants with dated rifles and pitchforks fighting for what they believed in, fighting for the right for their families to live halfway decent lives without Aristocratic landowners taxing away the fruits of their labor.

The Peasants and Proletariat won the Civil War because the Communist Party had won the hearts and minds of the Soviet Citizenry. A Citizenry that gave their lives for Socialism. It was those Soviet Citizens who were responsible for installing Lenin followed by Stalin to power and they trusted him to lead the Communist Party.

That doesn't, however, mean he could snap his fingers and have anything done. And in nearly every single case of some kind of mass trials or murders of dissidents, these cases were approved by the entire Communist Party leadership. The NKVD was given their powers to investigate and make mass arrests, not for no reason at all, but because the Western Colonial Powers, at the height of the Western Capitalist international order, were CONSTANTLY interfering with the affairs of the Soviet Union.

They never stopped supporting with money and arms Ukranian and Russian Nationalist Groups that were responsible for terrorist acts throughout the first decades of the CCCP's founding.

In one famous case, Nikolai Bukharin was speaking to the Communist Party leadership, where he suggesting that the Party forgive the Anarchist groups responsible for terrorist acts across the country. He was hoping that by making peace with the Left-Wing and Anarchist Organizations fighting the Communists they would have an easier time fighting the far more dangerous, Western backed Right-Wing Nationalists that were far more prevelant and dangerous to the young Socialist Republic.

In the middle of Bukharin's speech, an Anarchist group bombed the Meeting of the Party leadership. This wasn't some peaceful situation with evil dictator Stalin murdering his own people for the fun of it! That would make no sense whatsoever!

Instead this was a consistent problem in the early years with Terrorism unlike anything Al Qaeda or ISIS could have ever hoped to accomplish. These were highly organized Terrorist groups made up of Western Backed Paramilitary Organizations, mostly made up of Right-Wing Nationalists and the Capitalists who lost their Industries, Land, and other Property when the Communists Nationalized industry. These were ruthless Kulaks that, although they were offered compensation for the loss of their land, preferred to burn millions of acres of crops and kill millions of Farm Animals rather than see Stalin's Agricultural Co-Ops succeed.

In fact the Kulaks were responsible for the vast majority of the loss in crops during the early 1930's when Western History books tell us Stalin for some reason out-of-the-blue just randomly decided to starve Ukranians and Russian Peasants responsible for putting him in Power in the first place.

The entire Western Narrative of Stalin as brutal dictator is completely absurd. Millions of people across Soviet Union mourned Stalin's death and still celebrate his memory in the streets of Moscow every year. Does that sound like a horrible evil dictator to you?

From beginning to end, the stories were told about Stalin are completely and are in fact varifiably false. Like when they claim Stalin felt threatened by Bukharin and so he was "tortured" and "forced to plead guilty" to the crimes he was put to death for. Uh... yeah no.

Actually Bukharin had a perfectly normal trial, which like today's largest high profile trials in the US were made public. It was maticulously investigated, and Bukharin pled guilty to some but (importantly) NOT ALL of the Charges he was on trial for. If Bukharin was "tortured" and "forced" to plead guilty, why would he plead guilty to charges he knew he was going to put to death for, yet still ademently deny the other charges???

Again, that would make no sense whatsoever.

In fact, in the decades following Stalin's death, many of the lies that are STILL taught as fact about Stalin in Western Schools, were traced to Trotsky in letters released by his children after his own death. In many cases Trotsky's either admits privately to making up stories for the Western Media to help his own position, or he directly contradicts privately the things he was stating publicly that were reported as fact in the Western Media and are STILL treated as such in Western History books.

Another example: the famous quote supposedly from Stalin about one death is a tragedy but a million deaths are a statistic. Actually comes from a FICTIONAL book written by a Russian dissident which was then (once again) quoted as fact by Western Media outlets until it became a fact in the Western History books.

This kind of thing goes on and on and on throughout Stalin's time in leadership. The Western History books of try to depict (conveniently without listing sources) Stalin as a common dictator who was stealing from the Soviet Citizenry, just hustling the Public.

Which is awfully funny for a guy who spent his entire time as Leader of the Soviet Union sharing a Dacha with Chekov, another famous Soviet era Leader. Kind of a curious way to live if you just want power and wealth, don't you think?

Professor Grover Furr, who's spent more time than any other researcher in History studying Stalin and the early years of the Soviet Union, has not found, in any of the Soviet Archives or anywhere else, any example of even a SINGLE CASE where Stalin gave an order to have someone killed. In fact he's hasn't found ANY evidence of even a single case of gross Human Rights Violations, War Crimes or ANYTHING we could classify as a crime. Not one.

And he had written about the results of his research in countless books documenting his work. The Purges: a demand of the Communist Party at large, the Holomodor famine: completely discredited by the late 1930's yet is written about as fact to this day despite the fact that the only newspaper that claimed to have direct source evidence of this "horrible famine" that supposedly killed millions was a newspaper owned by notorious American Fascist William Randolph Hearst who paid shady writers to get dirt on Soviet Society, and also paid Mussolini the equivalent today of $40 million US Dollars to write Fascist Opinion articles in his Newspapers. And the only writer who actually claimed to have seen this famine in person? Went to prison a couple years later for defrauding banks and the US Government and during his trial admitted to making up the stories while he was under oath. It's been completely and utterly discredited. Yet it's in every History book as if it were fact.

I could literally go on and on all day about this. I've done my own research. And as soon as you start getting your information outside of Western sources of History, it's absolutely ASTOUNDING how quickly the veil falls away and the Emperor is standing there with no clothes. It's all bullshit. Top to bottom. When the Communist Party did away with an entire class of Elections that were important for some kind of accountability within the Communist Party, it was Stalin who fought tooth-and-nail with the Party leadership to reinstate public accountability elections and eventually had to come to a compromise with the Party that didn't quite return power to the Soviets but did reinstate certain levels of Public Elections and also gave suffrage to women and opened up Party Elections to women as well.

Stalin was a true believer in Socialist Principles. He fought his whole life to give power to the Working Class. Was he perfect? Of course not. Did he make mistakes? Obviously.

Two things you must keep in mind.

One: this was the world's first attempt at true actually existing Socialism. It's nothing short of amazing how much the Soviet Union, especially at it's peak under Stalin, managed to accomplish in such an incredibly short period of time without a single example in History to follow. In a few short years the Soviet Union went from a backwards, third-world country of extreme poverty made up mostly by peasant Farmers, of whom only a couple percent owned ANY kind of tractors or modern farm equipment at the time. To becoming a behemoth of an Industrial Superpower. Accomplishing what took the US and Britain over 100 years to accomplish in only two decades. Stalin literally installed Farm Equipment depots with all kinds of modern machinery at the time, including tractors, where Farmers could walk right up, take what equipment they needed free of charge, and return it when they were finished.

Rent in the Soviet Union averaged between 2-4% of income. Rent averages between 25-50% of income right now in the US.

Between the early 1930's and 1989, inflation within the Soviet Union was exactly 0%. Prices never changed from the time Stalin stabilized the Economy until perestroika began in 1989.

Literacy was 100% by the time Stalin died. Education was mandatory and college free along with Healthcare.

It's unquestionable that life improved DRAMATICALLY for the vast vast majority of Soviet Citizens. 99% of the 100 million people within the Union saw MASSIVE improvements in public services, Economic stability and growth, income growth, lifespans, huge drops in mortality rates, and in every single measurable way, life improved rapidly on a scale unseen in world history.

Maybe, just maybe, for once we should begin judging the Stalin Era based on the facts and not Capitalist Fiction.

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spacegaywritings · 4 years

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Warming Paws and Melting Walls (3/8) “Making Adjustments”

General

Summary: Emile lets Remy take Virgil to work. Negotiations ensue.

Tags: Emile, Remy, cat virgil, mentions of kidnapping but no actual kidnapping, nervousness, cat treats, boxes, cute shit, snuggles, crushing on your boss, arguing with cats, remy is being salty all the time, swearing, bitch bitch remy, phone calls, mentions of work, ew social, Remy hates people but he is valid, loneliness, pining, subtle lovey lovey.

Virgil and Emile are referred to by they/them pronouns.

i do not think there is any to be applied. If you need me to add anything, please contact me here or on my tumblr (spacegayparty, spacegaywritings)

ao3: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 // all.

tumblr: 1 / 2 / 3 (you are here) / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8.

My KoFi - Support me ♥ or Commission me

Story under the cut // Word count: 4,4k

“No.. I can’t. You don’t get it, I cannot come for the life of me!”

Remy gripped the phone in his hand tighter. His knuckles turned white. Not once in his life had he even dreamed of a scenario of this sort. No nightmare could ever reach into the depth of his personal fears like this. He was enraged, somewhat nervous. One of his hands was on the couch scratch the smooth, cool surface.

Reality was much crueller than imagination could ever be. Real life wrote stories that nobody could come up with - history was the perfect piece of evidence. People fighting alligators and smuggling foxes or colour-coding genitals. Human society was so fucked up, people did not even realise it. The most unbelievable shit happened all the time.

Right now, it was happening to him. Despite this, he tried, he really tried to get this right.

“Remy, you can’t just tell me you are not coming and then not give me a reason. Is anything wrong? Do you need help?”

Emile’s voice dropped from a somewhat sharp and scolding sound into the usually concerned sound. That pal was just made to care about others, weren’t they?

Even now they were more supposed to get upset and threaten him, when they were just worried about him. Remy wanted to roll his eyes at the display of pure wholesomeness but he did not have it in him to tease them about this.

“Okay, listen here. I know that is a shit thing to do. You guys are not prepared to be without me but I got some kinda emergency here, honey. I can’t handle work right now, not with them around. Or not around - Sorry, boss.”

The man carefully brushed over the kitten in his lap, the shivering little thing meowing pitifully. They were wailing out the feelings Remy gritted into his teeth.

“Alright, alright- wait. Wait a minute right there. What do you mean? Is anyone holding you against your will? Remy, I am concerned about you.”

Remy blinked for a moment at how much the whole conversation as much as Emile’s reactions to his words were a fucked over roller coaster that went back and forth and off-track periodically but irregularly so. It was unpredictable and honestly so draining. But understandably, the pal had some worries for their employees, especially Remy since he got into big piles of sick days due to his chronic migraines and physical issues. Still, it was a little absurd to expect him to be kidnapped. He was way to sassy to stay put.

“Uh, I mean, I would like to go to work but staying at home always sounds nicer than, like, being productive. Sounds like a big nappy time to me, if you are asking me, honey.”

Right after saying that, Remy realised that he was still sort of talking to his boss and probably should choose his words with at least a BIT more care, as of this moment. Emile was nice but they were not some dumb idiot who would let Remy do whatever with them.

“Uh, okay. Let me explain, honey. I picked up this cat and I don’t know, like, whose it is and I put up those papers and put ads on PhotoAlbum in several groups (it was a lot of work, sweetie. Would not recommend. Totally busted my weekend! So rude.). I also posted to some page that deals with missing animals of this area and all that kinda shit. I still got, like, a sweet nothing and the cat is really sad and they won’t let me go out. I am - I don’t want to leave the cat alone. You know, Virgil might all up and fuck over my flat and I have nobody to babysit them - catsit them? Whatever.”

Silence engulfed their phone call for a moment.

Remy was met with nothing but more little mewls which he quickly stilled by brushing further over their soft fur. Were cats supposed to have more dense fur than this? It felt a little thin, especially for winter coming up. Was that a black cat thing? The vet had not mentioned anything about that. Just to give the cat a stable and proper diet at, like, a scheduled time because stability. Which made sense and all but... Ugh, maybe he had to go there again or ask the internet or just get a book.

Emile cleared his throat after a while.

The doctor really did know how to get some attention. For some unknown reason, it felt like one of the hottest things to Remy how the man could just draw the attention back to him with the most subtle gestures on this fucking planet. They were still considered to be nice and soft and all that kinda fun stuff when they were actually not just sweet and adorable. Emile could be serious and it was almost frightening to know them in control.

"Remy, if neither you nor your cat - "

"Virgil. Their name is Virgil."

"Alright. If you are healthy and so is Virgil, I don't think I can excuse you at work. As much as I would like to, you are our one and only receptionist."

Remy's heart fell and he let out an audible sigh. It felt like pushing bricks through his windpipe when he could have breathed regular oxygen.

Whether his employer was hot or not, he couldn't just treat them like a friend or talk to them like some guy he wanted to hook up with. Okay, he kinda did but he tried to not listen to those thoughts. For once in a lifetime, Remy actually felt somewhat bad talking to Emile. He wanted to tell them off and never like his boss again. His chest was a fierce burning and he wanted them to regret being inconsiderate of the little kitten.

Didn’t they know Virgil was an abandoned stray? They were confused and all alone in the middle of winter in a big, heartless city!

"I appreciate your honesty, still. But Remy, listen. If your cat is new and you are scared of leaving him -"

"They. Virgil gets they /hem pronouns because they are a special person and deserved not to be misgendered."

"Alright. If you don't want them to be home alone, how about we make work a little more home for hi- them."

Remy pressed his lips into a thin line. For a moment, he hummed in deliberation.

"What do you mean?"

Virgil meowed on his chest and patted the phone in interested. Remy was sure they wanted to play. Emile received a little thud on their end.

"We keep your door closed and a little darker and hang up signs for people to try and be quiet so they can sleep. Cats sleep almost all day. Much more than we need."

The receptionist nodded but realised that Emile could probably not see that.

"Sounds okay."

Emile let out a hum.

"You would really do that? I'll get ready and come over with them."

His boss let out a laugh. Remy's queer heart was blooming in delight. Maybe they were not bad. They just had obligations too and these needed to be fulfilled. Other than Remy, Emile was running a business and needed his employees. Remy only had a void on his lap and softness in his heart.

Of course! Why didn't Remy think about that. Any kind of doctor needed to take an oath, swearing to protect all life. Emile had to prioritise their clients.

The cat meowed and Emile giggled again.

"Hello Virgil! See you later, I hope"

Remy's heart was beating so fast, he nearly swooned loud enough for Emile to hear him. His eyes closed and the sugar-sweet smile on his face refused to leave. Instead, it revelled on his lips for another few moments.

"I'll pack up and see you in a few."

Emile smiled, unbeknownst to Remy.

“Can’t wait to see you at work, Remy.”

Upon arrival, Virgil ducked away and cuddled up to Remy's chest. They were snuggled up under his jacket which they shared with Remy. Such a humble gesture. Whenever the cat heard a sound, they cuddled closer and flinched away from any source of sound other than Remy.

His footsteps? All okay.

Someone coughing? Fucking illegal.

Remy was more than happy to know he brought about as much food and little things for Virgil to ease up and calm down. It should ease them up. But he couldn't change the smell and make it more comfortable for the cat to relax faster instead of hiding away a lot.

It was still a wonder to him that Virgil was so trustworthy with him but then again, they all assumed they had been socialised before. But he didn't find a single person claiming to own the little void. Not yet, at least.

The man walked over to his little "office" only to be stopped from stepping inside.

A sign, as promised. But that one wasn't for the others to be quiet. It was for him to move into the bigger office.

“Reception moved to the main office.”

.. The main office was much bigger and Remy didn't know how Emile made it a usable working space for him and at the same time an adequate living space for Virgil but he would give it a try. If not, he would need to get some student to catsit his baby for a few hours every day. It wasn't like he desperately needed these bucks, anyway. It was okay. And he was willing and happy to spend it on his Virgil when they needed it more. He himself was glad, already. He had books and nice things but Virgil had nobody and had yet to be picked up by their original home.

A happy void was a good void and he wanted his void to be their best at all times. At least for the time being.

Virgil meowed and pawed at Remy. There was hesitation in their movement and after that, they stayed quiet as if to wait for their friend to reply to their request. The man just gently hushed the kitten by stroking over their black fur and humming a bit, quietly so.

The surroundings were so white, so new and it smelled of stingy disinfectant sprays and other things. One of the walls was pastel pink. It was not just cold but also warm but not warm like Remy was warm. Or Virgil, for that matter. He was just glad to wear his sunglasses loyally.

Virgil curled further into the black jacket.

“It’s okay, Queen, you will be fine”, he promised.

He made it to the office. The only time he had been in this place was when he had applied for this position not too long ago. A few years, maybe. This was Emile’s personal office. He was standing in his office and his things were in here. Emile usually did not have too many things around but the pictures and the pastel walls were giving off a warm vibe. Again, it was not the Remy-kind of warmth but it was warm nonetheless and it made him feel funny things he could not quite place.

Sometimes he forgot there was more than his own working space. That, and the fact that Emile had his own practice close to his home. He had probably been here early and had used the time to move furniture and accommodate Remy.

Literally, what kind of employer would ever do this?

This office was innocent and playful like going to the kindergarten or being on a swing. It was simple and natural. Natural despite pastels being a little less naturally occurring, especially in a city like the one they were living in. Still, it was a soft colour and had some sort of soothing effect on him.

Remy carefully nudged the door close behind him and brought Virgil over to the table where he was supposed to sit and work. The desk was larger and the wood looked like oak, perhaps. He was not the type of guy to know much about things. He just liked books and partying. He was a simple soul.

But his boss? He seemed to mind. Emile must haven taken time to invest in a certain vibe this office would convey. Maybe it was a psychology thing It calmed him down for sure.

Now, while the walls and pictures screamed Emile, they also hummed Remy’s tone. His desk was filled with little pictures and decorations he had brought to make himself more at home.

That was about the only delight he could relish in, working as an assistant or secretary or however people wanted to call his profession. Whatever, he was just there to welcome clients and give them some treatment plans he had printed according to Emile’s orders. Sometimes he would make appointments with people and negotiate about finances and payment plans. He checked prescriptions and other things, too. He mostly took care of all the social interactions beside the actual treatment Emile gave.

Yeah, Emile had it all figured out and believe it or not, Remy was actually great at keeping some order together and be somewhat effective with people. He kept track of every person and their schedules. He just knew which days to propose and which days, dates and times were impossible due to things such as soccer practice for the kids or school or religious rituals and family traditions.

Say whatever you want, Remy was good enough at his job to keep it yet still flip off enough people.

However, now he needed to settle down and enjoy the new space.

Or, well, absolutely hate how much it smelled of Emile and how it felt warm like them and their sweaters. Having the hots for his boss or uh, higher-up, was definitely the best thing to ever happen to him. Maybe not the best but it was entertaining to say the least. Virgil, on the other hand, was quite..quiet.

The smol kitten was put onto the desk with care. Remy was handling a precious piece of creature right there after all. He watched them for a moment, the cat just crouching down and looking at him with wide, heterochromatic eyes.

Right into his heart and soul.

“I love you too, royal stray. Now let me work before I get fired, Queen of salt”, Remy offered and let his bag down.

He made some space, turned on the computer and gently nudged the cat. Virgil refused to budge and stayed put in front of the keyboard.

“Kitten, I gotta work. Wanna sit on my lap? You can cuddle with me while I work.”

Remy looked at them but there was no answer. Were cats the clever ones? Or was this dogs?

Well, whatever, it’s not like Virgil would just suddenly all up and speak actual words. This was not a magical place after all, it was just a boring office.

Or a warm office, actually. Not that it really mattered. (It did, to him.)

“Caaat, come on, I need to work.”

Remy put his arms around Virgil to at least type his log-in data into the computer and get his whole shit set up and finally started. After some time, he could start receiving calls and schedule things again. It was bad enough he was so late. He probably had a ton of emails to check about how some people needed to reschedule something or needed an extra appointment, maybe even an emergency one.

People, right?

Nothing was ever right with people, it was inconsistent. Apparently, cats were not really as consistent either.

Maybe living things just sucked and Remy did not know how to deal with that.

The black blob of fur was still unmoving and even with the arms awkwardly surrounding them, they would not take any more action than purring.

Purring. Fucking purring.

“Virgil, come on. Quit your bullshit and move, you are not supposed to be comfortable in my working space.”

“Meow”

“Yeah, meow you too, little bitch.”

Remy rolled his eyes, looking for his brain so he could interrogate why the fuck he was actually arguing with a cat. Like talking to his brain was actually more sensible than discussing things with a cat and somewhat expecting a rational answer.

“Okay, Queen, how about that: We can find you a box. You like boxes and I should have a box here - for paper. I swear, I will go totally feral if they threw this away. Anyway, I will just take away the paper and you can get all comfortable in the box, just like at my place.”

Virgil looked at him, purring and vibrating in interest. The sparkling eyes fixed on the man and Remy nodded. The void seemed to be pleased by this suggestion. Remy was allowed to breathe around the feral beast for a little longer. Great.

The secretariat let himself drop into his swivel chair and he quickly rolled over to the printer and took the stash of printing paper out for the sake of making space for his kitty friend. Damn yes, he was glad Emile had not thrown this away. He would have trusted them to do such things.

“Oh Virgil~”, he purred out in a voice akin to songs more than simple words, “come here, kitty kitty.”

The kitten looked over, tail swishing around for a moment. They looked as if they were ready to get up and maybe even cooperate for a second. What a day of fucking miracles.

Remy experimentally patted the box and Virgil slowly moved over, purring still and with passion It sounded like the whole room was driven by the engine that was nothing but Virgil’s curious sounds. They were unique and even if Remy was sighing in exasperation at how much time the cat took to INSPECT AN EMPTY BOX OF CARDBOARD, he was smiling.

Eventually, Virgil was done sniffing and patting the box with paws and nose. They actually stepped into the small space and settled into the space like cat pudding.

Wasn’t there some stupid shit of cats being liquid? He did not remember it quite well but he was sure there was something like that.

“There you go, little void. I got a treat for you, you are doing so well.”

He quickly pulled a little snack out of his bag and handed it to his kitten who took it immediately.

Virgil’s nose was twitching for a moment and their little teeth crunched on the small treat as if this was the most festive and fancy meal they would ever receive. Those teeth looked like straight out of some vampire novel.

But was that shit really so tasty for cats?

..He kinda wanted to try that but he was human and he would probably hate that shit. He also kinda felt odd about the idea of eating Virgil’s food. He had his own food, seriously. He had such dummy thicc ideas sometimes.

“You are the best little void”, Remy cooed and softly bonked their heads together.

Virgil’s insistent purring gradually seeped into the human. Closing his eyes, Remy just stayed in place and brushed his hand through the little kitten’s charcoal fur for a little while longer. It was warm. Warm like hugs were warm and drinking hot chocolate or similar drinks that made him feel fuzzy and sleepy.

Maybe he met the kitty cat in winter, so he would be warmer and not the cat themself.

“You two sure look comfortable!~”

Remy ripped himself away from the dark kitten, his head whipping around so quickly, he could hear it giving off the sound of something breaking. Oops, neck. Sorry, not sorry. His reaction was so quick and violent, someone might have thought he was a teenager whose parents walked in on him pleasing himself. As expected (yet somewhat at the same time, not really), the boss themself was standing there and looking at Remy and Virgil cuddling. Emile chuckled but apologised at the scare they had driven into the others.

The coffee-lover could do no more but raise an eloquent eyebrow instead of stuttering up some weak apology. He was not about that kind of speech anyway. Too much work. Instead, he was the type of person to, well, arch an eyebrow at his boss.

Virgil’s colourful eyes were focused on the intruder. They stared into Emile’s soul.

“Virgil is doing okay”, he replied as he pulled up his work email account and scheduling programme to put the things together.

Oh dear coffee bean, he still needed to check voice mail for all the info he had missed. Emile pressed their lips into a thin line for a moment before letting them pop back out.

“You know, you can tell me these things first things in the morning instead of not coming and sending me ominous texts. I am more than inclined to helping you when I know that you are in need of certain accommodations.”

Remy nodded but kept his eyes on the screen. For a brief moment, the man glanced over at his boss and clicked his tongue. He acknowledged them for just long enough to be somewhat polite.

“Thanks.”

He shrugged and Virgil meowed…in agreement?

“Aw your kitten is so cute! Where did you get them again?”

The doctor came into the office and slowly approached the kitten. Their back arched a bit, making them smaller. Virgil shrunk away from them and their ears changed position.

Remy gingerly grabbed the little box of void and pulled them closer in. The kitten’s eyes widened and their body tensed, seemingly jumping into a position to pounce onto the intruder or flee within the blink of an eye. If need be, they were prepared.

The man gently eased the kitten with small movements. He brushed the fur down until the void was in a more regular position but their small muscle strands were still obviously tensed up under his displays of affection.

“They are shy. I found them around the trash in a side alley on my way home”, he explained curtly as he gently consoled the kitten who settled into the box once more.

Safe box, good box.

Best little void.

Remy was so proud of them for relaxing and trusting him. The flee stance was away and the cat did not look like they were a small kindergarten kid some big adult suddenly started yelling at for apparently no understandable reason. The kitten was doing well.

“It’s okay, little Queen, bad Em will bow to your wishes, little darling.”

Emile straightened their posture and smiled at the two before them, waving.

Could they do anything better than wave? They felt like an outsider watching an intimacy they would never be a part of. Like a child watching the perfect family from the other side of the window.

It was so warm and so far away. The own world was so cool.

Yet it was another kind of warm. Not smiles and soft words warm, it was more than reassurance and paid trust. There was a whole relationship in this warmth. It had established within just a few days. The time span was so strikingly short, the individual was genuinely shocked to have missed so much of Remy’s life in just a moment.

Emile pressed their lips together again and sighed.

“I just wanted to let you know that you can have the office if that helps. I will stack cat food and toys for the kitten, if you want to. I hope that helps you accommodate. But I need you to help me plan the refurbishment of your old office, then. Got any time during lunch break?”

Remy shrugged.

“I mean, if I do not have to catch up on anything else, sure. I cannot go out with Virgil. This is too much for them.”

He glanced at them and gently pulled the kitten-box closer to his stomach.

“You okay there?”

Virgil meowed and was rewarded yet another pat on the head. The cat pushed against the gentle hand, eyes squeezed shut. Remy looked at them instead of his boss.

“Okay, good. Now let me work, you demanding little bitch. I got your business to handle and finances to take care of.”

The cat slowly blinked at him and he chuckled. Emile cleared his throat.

“Good then. I’ll leave you to it.”

“Yeah whatever”, he cooed before he redirected his attention to the screen before him where he started scanning the first emails with plan changes. His right put down the notes of it with little abbreviations. Mrs. Shuster was probably running late again. He really needed to have a talk about this with Emile.

Talking about this, the pal was still standing there, abandoned eyes on the unattending Remy. He was patting Virgil with one hand and started clicking and reading at incredibly fast speed with his other hand.

Emile did not notice they were staring, standing still as they were captivated by the simple scene before them. When Remy’s cool eyes, shaded by sunglasses, suddenly looked at them, they realised they had yet to leave.

“Anyway, I gotta get this stuff done. Need anything else?”

His boss shook their head with a smile softer than butter in the sun.

“I will leave you two to it. See you later, Remy, Virgil.”

They nodded their head at each name and looked at the two. The void was basically invisible under the desk and in Remy’s lap.

Just safe and protected as the needed it.

Emile left, swallowing the odd tightness in their throat.

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matriarca-inodora · 4 years

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30 Days, Day 13: What modern cultural issues are closest to this deity’s heart?

YES I`M STILL DOING THOSE. I apologize for the delay, but my mind has not always been 100% these days.

I won`t lie, I was really looking forward to this one. Hopefully I have managed to write this in a way that won`t sound like I`m just talking about stuff that matters to *me* without any relation to Apollo. Obviously those are issues I care about, which is why I`ll be talking about them, instead of a myriad of other things that are related to Apollo. As usual, the classic disclaimer: Apollo is in so many things my mortal brain can`t even fathom trying to cover more than my fair share.

I`ll try to explain how each of the issues relate to him, in my perspective. So buckle up and let`s dive in! I`m exceptionally verbose today, sorry about that

I personally believe it`s incoherent to follow this path (or any path for that matter) and ignore the injustice in the world. It`s a path of reason, of trying to grasp the world and oneself, trying to find beauty in reality, not negating it, trying to create harmony and beauty where we see it`s lacking. Summing up, trying to make the world a better place through reason, through art, through caring for one another and being a decent person. So, where is Apollo in all of this?

I remind you once again, I would never dare to say I know what is important to a god. All I can offer are my own thoughts, based on how I understand him. That being said, there are many cultural and social issues I believe Apollo cares about. I can`t possibly list them all…unfortunately there are too many unresolved issues in the world! but I will cover the ones that seem most relevant to me at the moment.

The first one is one we are all living now: access to healthcare.

We live in a time where science and reason (which I personally see as one of Apollo`s domains) have given us the chance to expand our possibilities as a species. We constantly strive for new ways to help others, be it by curing illnesses or providing quality of life. It`s a difficult endeavour, to say the least, but an essential one. What to say of the disparities regarding access to all of this? It`s completely nonsensical, it`s against the very core of what it means to care for others. I know the logistics are a lot more complicated than my idealism would like them to be, but still…there`s more than just logistics hindering universal access to healthcare. There is malice, ill intent, and it`s absurd to turn a blind eye on that.

At the end of the day, we are all humans. We are all mortal, we can all get sick and suffer, lose everything we thought was so certain and stable. So why should only some of us get the chance to be soothed, aided? Why are so many left behind, without their right to dignity and care? That`s the worst offence of all, it`s denying our own humanity, either by putting ourselves above it, or others below it.

I won`t give my opinion as to how Apollo is related to the pandemic … because I don`t have one, it`s way too large a scale for me to fathom understanding. But I do think we need to learn from this situation, see our own mistakes, and work on correcting them, because the flaws that are now more visible than ever are just to grave to remain as they are. That goes for most countries, I think, in one way or another.

The second one: working against ignorance and obscurantism

The second matter I feel has a strong connection to Apollo is to strive towards understanding, reason, science popularisation and the fight against obscurantism. Now, I know it might sound odd to some that I, someone who is a polytheist, would say “use your brain, look for evidence”. Most Western cultures oppose spirituality and scientific reasoning, but trust me when I say I only believe what I do because I have had experiences that no other type of evidence could account for. Which is also why I know it`s subjective and never claim that I *know* any of this to be true. I believe in it, that`s all.

Now, that aside, I see Apollo in the fight against obscurantism. I`m not sure how it`s like in other countries, but in my home country, things are getting out of hand. Once again, maybe the greatest villain is dehumanisation. It`s not so much those who are ignorant thanks to the lack of balance and opportunity. No, it`s those who willingly spread lies, who willingly allow for thousands to get hurt. Claiming vaccines don`t work. Claiming they know the true way to fight cancer. Claiming pollution and toxic waste won`t harm anyone. Claiming scientists are evil and work against morality. Those are all things I`ve heard, I`m not making this shit up, and I`m sure at least those of you living in Brazil have heard such things before. I see Apollo in those trying to show how things work. Not just saying “science is better”, but actually showing how they know what they know. Teaching people to think for themselves, to arrive at their own conclusions. That`s what I mean when I say Apollo stands for reason.

The third one: in defence of Humanities

The third matter I associate with Apollo is the importance of humanities and social sciences. Now, this might be a somewhat localised issue, but it`s also urgent. In my home country, humanities get a lot of trash. People say humanity majors don`t contribute to society, that their research is useless, a waste of federal resources, a bunch of people trying to corrupt youth , so on and so forth. Why do I think this matters? Well, to say Philosophy, History, Arts and so on are “useless” is to undermine the core of what makes us who we are. It`s, once again, obscurantism and reductionistic. It`s an ancient problem, tied to a view of productivity as something that is based on material needs, and which in a way, depends on our ignorance on what we believe truly matters. What about your mind, what about yourself as a person? What about ourselves as a society? Should we go on with our lives unexamined? This is the design for catastrophe, it`s allowing for malicious people to take over. As someone who majored in Literature, it makes my blood boil to se people treat these areas like they are just decorative.

In a weird way, in the current situation, I`ve seen people talk about this for the first time in ages. So many people feel emptiness in their lives, they feel lost and don`t know how to examine their own choices. And where do they turn to? Music, films, literature, animation, podcasts, discussions… this is all humanities, folks. There`s more to it, too, of course, but I don`t want to make this post even longer than it already is. Besides the quest for knowledge, these areas are essential for trying to understand human life and for striving for better quality of life for us all. It goes without saying that all other areas are important too. I`m only talking about humanities because it seems like they get the short end of the stick most of the time.

There are other issues I think Apollo is definitely a part of. But I`m not in a position to talk about them without sounding silly or superficial. So please, if you want to contribute with your own view on this, be my guest!

Wish you all a nice day, wherever you are. Stay safe!

#30 days of deity devotion #apollo #apollon #apollodeity #apollo*#hellenic polytheism #paganism #universal healthcare #humanities #fighting against obscurantism

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enbyleighlines · 5 years

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This is going to be a jumbled mess, but I’ve been thinking about the symbolism in sarazanmai all day and I need to vent

Okay so there is so much to unpack in this show

The first thing that really confused me from the very beginning was... why the butt stuff? Like, butts are an extremely prevalent theme in the show. But why?

I mean, obviously there’s a lot of metaphors about anal sex going on. The show is rife with phallic imagery, with the opening scene where that phallic looking building rises up between three interlocking circles, obscuring our view of the middle one, so that it looks like a dick with balls

There’s the cucumbers, an undeniably phallic vegetable

And of course, the shirikodama. It’s a mythical organ that resides inside a human’s anus, and stores human desire. I certainly can’t be the first person to realize, uh... sounds like a prostrate, yo. Y’know, the male g-spot?

Which makes the shirikodama extraction scenes so... disturbing, when you think about it

They defeat villains... by diving into their anus, and tearing out their shirikodama

And if this is a metaphor for anal sex... well, why is it so violent?? It reminds me of yurikuma arashi, where the metaphor for cunnilingus is... bears literally eating people alive

(Or, alternatively, licking honey off of a flower)

It portrays the sex as a violent act. Which could tread into problematic territory since these are both sexual acts that are associated with gay sex

But then again, that’s the whole point in yurikuma arashi, which deconstructs the predator lesbian myth. In media, a woman’s sexual desire for another women is often depicted as predatory, dangerous, or filthy. That’s why Ginko and Lulu are depicted as villains in the start of the anime, but then the script flips, and we realize that they aren’t villainous at all

No, the real villain was the silent storm (aka homophobia) the whole time!

(I could go into a whole other spiel about Ikuhara’s obsession with the distinction between lust and love. Because homosexual desire is always treated as a topic of lust, not a topic of love. And, society says, if you REALLY love someone, you won’t corrupt them with your dirty sexual desires.)

Buuuut without getting too off track, let’s return to sarazanmai

Because I was confused why a metaphor for anal sex was portrayed LIKE THAT in this anime. It’s not just that it’s violent, because that’s not really the focus

It’s primarily portrayed as... comedic

Yes, the absurdity of the scene is certainly what caught my attention first, but beyond sheer shock value, you have to admit that this image is extremely funny

It’s FUNNY to see a villain get defeated, on their hands and knees, like this

And that always unnerved me. Why portray anal sex as something so... funny? And then episode 10 hit, and I think I get it

Because Mabu, as a kappa zombie, doesn’t fight kappa Reo. He doesn’t even face Reo. From the very beginning, he is facing away from Reo, and offering up his shirikodama. From a plot standpoint, this is because Mabu WANTS Reo to see his desires

But it also shifts the tone of the process

This scene is not played for humor. This is sad. This is Mabu admitting defeat, knowing that his true feelings will never come across to Reo unless he completely sacrifices everything. Because he knows, once Reo retrieves his shirikodama, he will die

No, worse than that. He will be erased

That’s another thing that was initially played for laughs. The first one that comes to mind is Otone’s boyfriend. We never get to learn or care about this character, and we later learn that he’s basically a womanizer with no intention of settling for only one girlfriend. When Otone forgets about him, it’s not a sad thing. I mean, she’s better off without him anyway, right?

But when Mabu is forgotten... we realize how horrifying this process really is. They’re erased, and exiled from the circle (aka society)

And it’s about now that I started to realize just why this metaphor bothers me so much. It’s about WHY we think of the image of the zombie kappa on his knees is so amusing

It’s because we’re taught that anal sex is funny

Think of however many insults we have. “Get bent”, “kiss ass”, “get fucked”... and then there’s “sucker”, which implies someone who gives blowjobs

None of these are inherently gay. They could be read as sexist, because the problem about them is that they’re all about the submissive partner. To be bent over, to receive anal sex, to perform fellatio... it means performing “the woman’s role” in the bedroom

Or think about prison rape jokes. “Don’t drop the soap”, or “he’ll make you his bitch”. The shame comes from being the submissive partner, from being feminized

And that’s... homophobia, folks

The image of a monster on his hands and knees, receiving metaphorical anal sex, is funny because of... homophobia...

Which is a brilliant way to turn the audience’s thoughts back on themselves. The first time, it’s funny, but by the time we get to Mabu... suddenly it’s tragic. And it’s supposed to be that way. Because now the audience realizes that it really wasn’t funny. I mean, we were supposed to find it funny at first, only for Ikuhara to yank back the cape and go “ta-da!! you thought that was funny because of HOMOPHOBIA”

And I might be wrong, but, when we think about all the kappa zombies... weren’t they all subs, too? All of them, with their various kinks... all of their desires were heterosexual in nature, but in their fantasy scenes, they were all playing the part of a submissive partner. The man who wanted the woman to step on his balls, the guy who liked to be treated like a cat...

The only obvious exception is Otone’s boyfriend, tho I also don’t remember what his specific fantasy was about

And then their fetishes are revealed, and then... poof. They disappear. They are wiped clean from existence

Which is basically every queer person’s fear about coming out, about their desires being found out... their desires will be seen as funny, as a joke, and then they will get booted out of all social circles

BUT I’M NOT DONE

This metaphor goes further

Because when we talk about submission, we can’t not talk about the other side of submission, the nonsexual part. What does nonsexual submission look like?

Well, we tend to call that “letting yourself be vulnerable”, which is what you need to do in order to build friendships. It’s the very thing that keeps the three main boys from making connections. They don’t want to be vulnerable. They don’t want to share their secrets to each other

We’re right back at the theme of connection

Because, contrary to what Ikuhara’s shows might claim, there doesn’t have to be such a huge divide between love and lust, connection and desire. It’s just, that’s what society wants us to believe

Like Mabu can only stay with Reo if he refuses to admit that he loves him, romantically. He’s allowed a platonic relationship with Reo, or no relationship with Reo. And when he admits it, when he prostrates himself (wonderful idiom, by the way, since it’s so apt to this situation), when Mabu makes himself vulnerable and submissive... he disappears. Mabu is forgotten, because he chose desire over love

Or at least, the type of love that society deems love. Because homosexual desire is incompatible with love

Except, of course, we know that’s bullshit. Ikuhara knows that’s bullshit. And that’s why he parodies these lessons in his shows, and portrays them with such absurd metaphors. Because these lessons we’re taught ARE absurd, they’re pure fiction

Sometimes it just takes us to look at these issues through abstract symbolism for us to realize that

#sarazanmai #long post #symbolism #gif #anime #episode 10

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anticipatingevaporation · 5 years

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Joker

I just came out of Joker, one of my most anticipated films of the year, and let me tell you. I have a lot of thoughts. Unfortunately they are frightfully mixed, so this is going to be part review, part me trying to work out exactly how I feel about this film…

So as a preface, I am both a DC fan and completely done with this superhero wave of films we’re somehow still stuck in. I haven’t gone to see the last 5 or so Marvel movies because I find they aren’t really doing anything innovative or new. They simply don’t appeal to me anymore. The only time I find myself interested in an upcoming superhero/comic book film is when I see it doing something new with the genre. Take the recent Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse, for example. The story structure, animation and choice to introduce Miles Morales was so intriguing to me, so I went to watch that film and loved it.

All of that being said, I was very excited to see Joker. I find the DC characters generally more interesting and complex and the dark tone this movie appeared to have really intrigued me.

Now I’m not a mega fan who has read every Batman comic, however I have read The Killing Joke, arguably the most famous one, and there is one quote in it that I kept coming back to. The Joker tells Batman “All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy. That’s how far the world is from where I am. Just one bad day.”

This film delves into that idea in a thought-provoking fashion. Here, we are introduced to Arthur Fleck, a man whose life is plagued with tragedy. This film asks the question of what it would take for a man like that to snap. It explores the society this man finds himself in and whether or not they are complicit in who he becomes.

Joker does many things well. Firstly, this film would be nothing without Joaquin Phoenix’s performance. He is magnetic in this role. At every single moment, there is that flicker in his eye that depicts a man on the edge of madness. It is equally unnerving and fascinating. When his transformation is complete I found myself genuinely perturbed and afraid. This Joker is frighteningly real. Phoenix is in almost every frame of the film, and I honestly think it would have fallen apart in the hands of a less talented actor. At one point he is just so phenomenal that I said out loud, “He’s winning the Oscar.” There is no doubt this will go down as one of Phoenix’s best performances among many. He’s just that good.

The lore surrounding Batman has been well documented since the 1930’s and depicted in multiple forms again and again and again. It has been done so many times that it’s easy to become tired and difficult to alter without angering a huge number of fans. Joker has an interesting take on this well known story; controversially giving the titular character, someone who has famously never had a true backstory, an origin. A big part of the Joker’s character was the fact that it was never made clear what pushed him to become who he is. While some storylines suggested it, it has never been outright stated.

In director Todd Phillip’s adaptation, it is a cruel society that creates the Joker, thereby making everyone around him complicit in his downfall. It asks some very interesting questions about mental health and how those suffering are treated in society, particularly the lack of compassion people tend to have towards the mentally ill.

It also discusses class divides and the blatant disregard the 1% seem to have for the 99%, effectively creating a different interpretation of the famous Wayne family that I found very interesting and not an unbelievable stretch to take.

The score is also fantastic: a haunting string melody that is perfectly used to underscore the poignant moments of the film. The soundtrack is just as great; music is well placed to keep you in the world and highlight that 80’s timeframe.

I also loved the Joker’s look in this film. His suit and makeup are brilliant, the hairstyling and the way he walks. Right down to the laugh and why he laughs, a unique and brilliant choice this film makes. Everything about this character screamed the Joker. However it never felt like an imitation of a version of this character we had already seen. It was remarkably unique while also staying very true to the character. When Phoenix walks down the hallway, flowers in hand, you know it’s the Joker, but it’s also Phoenix’s Joker. He makes the character very much his own while encapsulating what it means to be the Joker. (More than can be said for some... other recent adaptations.)

However I don’t think I loved this film as a whole. That being said I think this is certainly a film that makes you think about it for a while and this opinion may very well change in a day, or a week or upon repeat viewing. But based on this first watch, I think my issues with this film lie with the plot itself.

I think while I loved the individual elements of the story, and the character, performances, style and tone, I didn’t feel they all connected smoothly and cohesively all the time. At times it felt like a series of brilliant moments that lacked connective tissue melding them together. That being said, I’m really glad to see a film that doesn’t feel pressure to give you all the answers all the time. Some plot points are deliberately left unclear, which leaves room for debate and falls firmly in line with the Joker’s famous lack of backstory.

The plot itself had numerous twists and misdirects that left me genuinely shocked and on the edge of my seat throughout. I like that it left me guessing. I couldn’t predict what was coming next.

My biggest issue with this film is that it is very direct and clear with its themes. In that it lacks subtlety at times. One of my biggest pet peeves in movies is dialogue that sounds clunky and unrealistic. There was more than one instance of heavy handed and on the nose dialogue to be found here. Particularly during a climactic scene that took me out of the film for a bit.

When I say the film is direct and clear with its themes, I mean that there are clear bad and good lines being drawn. So while the cruel and unforgiving society is the impetus for Arthur Fleck’s transformation into Joker, it often felt like everything was going wrong for him, in order to justify his evil turn. Bad thing after bad thing kept happening to him to the point of absurdity. I understand that the point is to show Gotham as a nightmare place to be, but when Arthur gets beaten up for the 3rd or so time, it started to feel ridiculous and excessive.

Every single person in Arthur’s life treats him poorly. There is no compassion to be found anywhere for this man. Which makes his turn understandable but the world to be somewhat unrealistic and extremely grim. I personally find the morally grey far more fascinating than the straight up black. So I felt at moments that if this dark world was given more complexity, more twisted corruption as opposed to point blank awfulness, it would feel more realistic and that much more upsetting.

I think Phillips was just scratching the surface with what he could do with this world and I would like to see it delved into deeper, to expose what other horrors Gotham contains.

This film has gone through quite a bit of controversy for the violence and potential message it could spread. While I completely understand the possible criticism that this film simply gives those who are already unstable and wanting to incite violence a justification for their actions and an example to emulate, I have to say that:

It is not the onus of a filmmaker or artist to deliver a “positive message” through their art. It is to make their audience think, to influence their emotions and perhaps make them reconsider how they see the world. It is simply ridiculous to hold an artist responsible for how audiences respond to their art.

Joker, while a compelling character to watch, is never framed as a hero. He is a legitimately frightening individual whose life is never painted as something to strive towards. This is a troubled individual’s story and it is horrifying to watch.

In the end, despite the small problems I had with the film (I don’t think I loved it), it definitely made me think. I love this angle being taken towards DC characters. It is high time Warner Bros. understand that this is the treatment these characters need. Poorly emulating something else disappoints everyone. This film is doing so well because it is depicting this character in the way he should be shown.

These dark, gritty and realistic takes on comic book characters are far more intriguing to me. They make the viewer think about the society they live in, the injustices that are occurring and what we can do to put an end to them. This is where comic book stories shine, when they make us consider our own world in a new light.

While I didn’t completely love Joker, or instantly think it my favourite film, I haven’t stopped thinking about it since the credits rolled. And I think that is the type of film we need in the comic book space. One that makes us think, discuss and debate.

I’m starting to think that Joker didn’t give me what I wanted, but perhaps it’s what I needed…

#long review sorry not sorry #I still feel like there's so much to say abt this film #testament to the quality i guess #hmmm interesting #enjoy!#Joker #My Review #Joaquin Phoenix #DC

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recentanimenews · 5 years

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Isekai, Ranked

If Anime is escapism, there is no better way to escape than plunging Into Another World, where our niche skills and routine possessions may shake the fabric of reality! From MMO-inspired, to hard fantasy, there are many types of shows on this list but no movies nor series we haven’t seen recently. Bring all disagreements to the comments below!

1. Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World Re:Zero takes Isekai’s love for fish-out-of-water stories on step further: through brutal, expectation breaking blind sides, it makes the viewer a fish out of water too! Dripping with fantastic animation, Re:Zero true strength is the balance of its highly detailed world without over explaining its magic system, time loop mechanic and political systems. It also earns bonus points for limiting the application of its protagonist’s powerful magic and technological advantages.

2. Sword Art Online (1st season) In the narrowest of second places, SAO pairs top shelf animation with an approachable cast and easy to appreciate central conflict. Its lovingly constructed MMO setting aside, Kirito’s mistakes and occasional darkness elevate him above his potentially generic good-at-everything character type and Asuka plays the strongest heroine/love interest on the list.

3. Now and Then, Here and There Imagine if Digimon told a bleak about story sex trafficking child soldiers trapped on a waterless world with a maniac king? NTHT’s intense swerve from adorable into darkness is on par with Re:Zero and, much like Natsuki Subaru, HTHT’s Shu must rely on ‘durability’ and ‘heart’ to make it through. While some of it’s later tragic moments are predictable, this f’ed-up little anime scores major points for telling a complete story and having that story grow Shu from simpleton into a conflicted young adult.

4. Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet While Red’s post-earth scifi origin may stretch the common definition of Isekai, being trapped in a primitive culture that treats him (and his AI-driven mech Chamber) like a hero of old does not. Beautifully, Gargantia flips the script and makes Red’s overwhelming power, and killing in general, at odds with the local people.

5. Yōjo Senki / The Saga of Tanya the Evil Give us World War I with magic, a gender swapped villain as our protagonist, and God as our antagonist, and you’ve given us something pretty damn original. Like Gargantia, this reborn in another world captures thinking differently about the world can be as powerful and terrifying as unworldly strength. Without question, Yojo Senki’s cast is the most uniquely imagined on this list.

6. No Game No Life Like Tanya, the Blank twins piss off god and are sent to another world as punishment. However, their punishment is much more stylish and… harem. Underneath NGNL’s acid-soaked panties, over the top protagonists and the psychedelic color pallet, lives a show featuring thoughtful puzzles and imaginative spins on classic gamble to win story telling. Sadly, its story ends unfinished…

7. KonoSuba One part jab at Isekai and one part love letter to the starting town of every fantasy MMO, KonoSuba is all parts ruthlessly funny! While this reborn in another world (with a goddess!) show is not be as smartly written as NGNL, and it becomes repetitive after a time, the constant frenetic action more than makes up for it.

8. Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash Quiet, thoughtful, and full of sadness, this hard fantasy Isekai doesn’t care if its heroes are reborn in another world or trapped in a dungeon crawl afterlife. Building family bonds and connecting with people who would not normally be friends is all that matters… and it’s lovingly animated to boot!

9. ReCreators As a reverse Isekai, ReCreators distinguishes itself by bringing the other world to us. The experience is fantastically animated and packed with clever dialog that somehow breaths sincerity into a profoundly silly plot. The cast is quite diverse, both in design and personality, which keeps the action fresh, yet somehow cohesive throughout. It’s only major flaw is, the final act, which is way to drawn out.

10. The Devil is a Part Timer No I’m not kidding! This reverse Isekai’s premise that the Devil is trapped in our world and must work at McDonnald’s to get by is charming. While DiaPT’s humor isn’t particularly specific to the devil, the jokes are punchy, and the overall plot develops at a respectable pace. As an added treat, the opening gothic fantasy fight scenes are surprisingly well animated.

11. Log Horizon (1st season) Most exposition heavy, trapped in an MMO themed Isekai featuring ‘top ranked’ players crumble after a few episodes. More often than not, these shows try too hard to sell the coolness of their game worlds, user interfaces, and central characters. Miraculously, Log Horizon gets better mid season with a simple question: if former NPCs have personalities, can grow and learn, and even die, are they more human than the former players that dismiss them as background texture? Still, it takes Log Horizon six episodes to get going and good lord is it gray looking…

12. Overlord (3 Seasons) This transported into an MMO Isekai mirrors its main character: it is competent but not sure what it should be doing at any given moment. Sometimes the protagonists are villains and sometimes they are heroes. More often than not, characters are given lavish screen time to develop, only to be slaughtered whimsically. The resulting narrative is full of call backs and revealed foreshadowing… yet hasn’t gone very far in 3 seasons and hasn’t asked any interesting questions along the way.

13. El Hazard – The Magnificent World (OAV/TV) Predestined paradox, trans-dimensional time jumping high school students (and their drunk gym teacher) are trapped in an Arabian Nights’like land besieged by sentient bugs, a secret tribe of assassins from another dimension, and a death star like eye of god orbiting nearby. If you watched anime in the 1990s it will all be familiar but it still manages to feel original yet cohesive production. The character abilities are wonderful, the tragedy is nice, and plenty is left up to your own imagination to fill in the blanks. A bland, fault free, protagonist and a boy-crazy harem vibe are the only reasons it isn’t higher on the list.

14. Gate: Jieitai Kano Chi nite, Kaku Tatakaeri This invading the other world Isekai flips the script to deliver political intrigue, clash of culture, and commentary on Japanese society. It loses points for being a overly harem, relying on super dumb/super evil antagonists, and a dull protagonist but it’s fun enough to watch.

15. Drifters Stylishly violent, strikingly ugly, historical character filled and utterly bonkers, this reborn in another world Isekai’s uniqueness will hold your attention. Even if you do not want it to.

16. Rise of the Shield Hero (2 Seasons) On paper, this transported to an MMO world Isekai’s “treat the hero like crap,” “watch him accept the role of a slave-buying villain” and ultimately “rise to become the true hero” concept is great. Revealing that the world he’s saving may be less redeemable than the world the invaders are trying to save is also great. Too bad its padded and many of the arbitrary delays and narrative dead ends feel like cop outs.

17. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime While it lacks the initial hardcore’ness of Shield Hero, this reborn in another world Isekai is pleasantly animated and full of heart. The idea that naming monsters grants them power is a pretty neat mechanic too. It just sort bounces from idea to idea without a sense of purpose of resolution. One minute it’s a story of unlikely friendship, then magic destiny, then town builder, then harem, and onto magic school and isn’t about anything in particular until a hastily thrown together plot ties it up at the end. It scores points for making its hero a slime… although the reborn aspect never feels played with or justified.

18. Angel Beats! If the gun fetish, kids fighting a loli-angel instead of attending school in the afterlife plot weren’t so dumb and drawn out, this rebirth story’s touching moments would push it much higher. There’s a really good tale of life cut short, reunion after death, and again after rebirth here and it gets major bonus points for finishing the story it had to tell. Totally squandered.

19. Death March / Kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyousoukyoku Like Shield Hero, this reborn in an MMO Isekai is actually quite good looking. However, its Gary-Stue protagonist, harem and absurd narrative padding make it far less interesting. OMG how many episodes are about making lunch?! That’s too bad because the concept of code-like “copy and paste” magic system is pretty neat.

20. Wiseman’s Grandson / Kenja no Mago Despite opening with a modern day man being killed, this reborn into a fantasy world Isekai is more Magic School than Isekai. The only thread that connects the protagonist’s lives is that he can look at magic with an eye for process instead of outcome. The result is harmless easy watching but harem elements, a slow pace and lack of getting anywhere narratively hold it back.

21. How Not to Summon a Demon Lord This summoned into an MMO Isekai starts off as charming, but ecchi-heavy, before abruptly turning dark at the end of the season. We’re talking ‘make a child watch as her best friend is slowly tortured to death’ and creepo ‘finger-bang a loli cat girl in order to give birth to the demon inside her’ level dark. While those elements elevate HNtSaDL above niche appeal of its harm and MMO content, they aren’t so interesting to earn my recommendation.

22. Problem Children are coming from Another World, Aren’t They? The non-ecchi poor man’s No Game no Life features a talking cat that only some characters can understand and dreadful music. TFW smooth jazz? There’s some cuteness to be had, and the solutions to gambling games can be clever, but the overall vibe is low energy. It loses drama points because its protagonist is as smart as a god and physically stronger.

23. Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks? This poor man’s Konosuba is occasionally funny, satire of RPG conventions and family relationships. Mama’s skill that interrupts whatever her son is doing, no matter what it is or where he is in the game world, is particularly charming. Unfortunately, there’s no avoiding the creepo factor of sexualizing that family relationship.

24. Restaurant from Another World My mom is secretly from another world and my restaurant’s front door connects back to that world each day is certainly unique, but it’s structured more like a food-porn show than Isekai. While the linkages of each patron become clear over time, few characters are not aware of those connections themselves. The result never feels like it gets anywhere.

25. In Another World With My Smartphone Stories without risk are still watchable when they immerse us an interesting world, or delve into niche details like food or how magic works, or sleeze us with harems and sex appeal. Smartphone fails all of these things. Worse, it does nothing with it’s one idea: protagonist Touya is reborn in a fantasy world with smartphone. Except, GOD GIVES HIM GOD TIER MAGIC FROM THE GET-GO! Ironically, Re:Zero and No Game No Life both use of a cell phones in more interesting ways, and Tanya’s God isn’t even comparable. Unoriginal, unfunny, not dramatic, not sexy, not worth watching.

26. Maou-sama, Retry! This transported to an MMO Isekai’s trash production values, and bizarre characters are hard to take seriously. The results are sometimes so terrible they are funny, such as incompetent background music transitions and detailed horses hiding at the edges of the frame. Sadly, a bland harem and complete lack of narrative objective kill the mood.

27. Isekai Izakaya Imagine a low energy, public access style show, with a tourism theme, that featuring a modern Japanese restaurant that serves fantasy world patrons…

28. Isekai Cheat Magician A loveless summoned to a fantasy world Isekai who’s protagonists are the most powerful and purely good characters could deserve a niche rating. Not this one. The narrative sort of ‘skips the boring stuff’ and, in doing so, skips character development. Hilariously, what the narrative does show is poorly animated, always underwhelming magic battle scenes or people standing around talking.

29. Endride Without dialog, this stumbled into a magic world Isekai’s vibrant color and crisp art would be watchable. The fact that the world is somehow inside of Earth’s core and the sparse use of mythology are unique, but its dumb-as-bricks whiny teen protagonists have the maturity of a small children. There are many unintentionally funny moments like scientists using gigantic laptops or the king’s magic weapon looking like a safety pin. Ultimately, the cast is so unlikeable that the show itself is unwatchable.

By: oigakkosan

#Anime #News #RABUJOI – An Anime Blog

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pamphletstoinspire · 5 years

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Catholic Social Doctrine - Part 1 - The Dignity of The Human Person

Here is Part 1 of a seven part series outlining the Four Pillars of Catholic Social Teaching. Forget The Da Vinci Code or the Hidden Secrets of the Vatican or the other conspiratorial rubbish people run around looking for in the Church’s attic. Here is the real Best Kept Secret in the Church:

The Dignity of the Human Person

Catholic social doctrine mystifies many people. Is it political or theological, spiritual or practical, left or right, modern or ancient?

Rather like the moment Jesus asked his apostles, “Who do people say that I am?” and got a wide diversity of opinions and guesses back, so today the Church’s social teaching is regarded with tremendous confusion.

It’s good, then, to take a look at how the Church herself understands her social doctrine and to see how she traces the roots of this doctrine back to the teaching of the Twelve Apostles.

The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church does this and is the indispensable basis for understanding everything that follows from it. In the words of Pope St. John Paul II: “The theological dimension is needed both for interpreting and for solving present-day problems in human society” (Centesimus Annus, 55).

The first thing to notice is that the Church’s teaching on social doctrine is indeed rooted, as all of her teachings are, in the apostolic Tradition — particularly as it is expressed in Scripture. This, in itself, is often a revelation to many moderns, both Catholic and non-Catholic, who often seem to be under the impression that Catholic social doctrine is an attempt by the Church to be hip, not an attempt to be faithful to the teaching of Christ.

In reality, however, Catholic social doctrine springs not from some social, economic or political theory of recent vintage. Rather, it arises from the often uncomfortable fact that God has given us not one, but two, great commandments. The first is, of course: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37). If the faith simply consisted of this commandment, we would be able to go to some sort of private worship ceremony in our prayer closet and pay no attention to anybody but God. It would be the perfect “Me and Jesus” sect of one.

But Jesus forever complexified matters when he immediately added: “And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:39-40). Yet he complexified it further still, when he ratcheted up the command to love others as we love ourselves — which gave us enough slack to treat others as badly as we treat ourselves — to the command that we love one another as he has loved us (John 15:12).

It is from the demand of perfect love, not merely for a perfect God, but for highly imperfect neighbors, that all of Catholic social teaching springs. The whole doctrine is plainly impossible and absurd without the grace of God, of course — like expecting a horse-whipped and crucified man to walk out of a tomb in a miraculously glorified body. But since the confidence of the Church is that this is precisely what has occurred, let’s take a look at Catholic social teaching anyway.

Catholic social teaching sits on a throne with four legs:

1. The Dignity of the Human Person 2. The Common Good 3. Subsidiarity 4. Solidarity

Over the next four columns, we will look at each of these, starting presently with the dignity of the human person.

Catholic social teaching begins at the beginning, with the fact that God is the origin of all that exists and the measure of what should be. Every social reformer, even an atheist, who cries in outrage, “That’s not the way it is supposed to be!” — when a child starves, or an oppressed worker commits suicide, or a war breaks out, or a poor mother is bled white by tyrannical taxes or a lunatic dictator starves his people — has in the back of his mind, however dimly, a notion of what the Church calls “the dignity of the human person.”

That dignity is rooted in the fact that each and every human person is not a mere animal and still less a mere thing. This is why slavery is evil: It reduces persons to things called property. It is why prostitution is evil: It reduces persons to things used to gratify a particular sensation. It is why murder is evil: It reduces persons to things called corpses.

Each human person is a creature made in the image and likeness of God: an animal with a rational soul, capable of communion with God, able to love, to think creatively, to see, think and feel beyond mere appetite. We are not a means to an end. We are, according to the Church, the only creatures in the universe that exist for our own sake (The Church in the Modern World, 24): made out of the sheer love of God and intended for free union in the love of God.

In short, Catholic teaching on our dignity begins with the fact that creation — especially the creatures called homo sapiens — is entirely gratuitous. Out of sheer love God created both the universe and us and calls us to share in his divine life. He forgives our sins, generously pouring himself out to us while calling, teaching and enabling us to do as he does and to become participants in his divine life.

All authentic religious experience takes us toward this reality, which is why the Golden Rule — “Do unto others as you would have them do to you” — is universally recognized. Cats see no reason to be fair to mice, but humans grasp that everybody is owed fair dealing, justice, etc. — even when they won’t admit it. Some will try to deny this, but the fact is that when people selfishly try to deny it to others, they always claim it for themselves and complain that they are being treated unfairly. This elemental demand for justice and human rights is the giveaway that we intuit something different about the nature of human beings: the fact that we are creatures made in the image and likeness of God.

This primordial recognition of the moral law is called “natural revelation” and is at the root of subsequent supernatural revelation, which begins to take place through the call of Israel as God’s chosen people.

Israel’s expression of this primordial insight about the dignity of the human person comes (as is typical for this ancient people) in imagery that is profoundly liturgical. So we see, for instance, in the creation narrative of Genesis 1, a description of creation that is redolent of the liturgical imagery of Israel. Creation is pictured as the construction of a gigantic temple, just as the Temple in Jerusalem was festooned with decorations to recall Eden.

And just as ancient temples had an image representing their peoples’ god or gods, so the Temple of Creation built by God in Genesis has an image of God as well: man and woman — any man and woman, every man and woman. Everything else in all of creation exists for their sake. Even the very law of God himself is made for man, not man for the Law (Mark 2:27).

Man and woman are placed in the Garden as priest-kings and queens, tasked with tending the garden of creation. (Genesis uses Hebrew words to describe the work of Adam in the garden identical to those used to describe the work of the Levitical priests in the Temple.) Adam and Eve’s primordial task is union, fruitfulness, rule, work and worship — all reflections of the love, creativity, lordship, power and beauty of the God whose image they reflect.

To be sure, sin enters into the picture with the Fall. But sin is, nonetheless, not the most basic fact about us. Sin is always parasitic on the most basic truth: that we remain creatures in the (damaged, but not destroyed) image and likeness of God.

That puts Catholic anthropology at odds with American culture, which comes out of a Calvinist and Puritan ethos — and which, therefore, sees original sin and the Fall, not the image of God, as the most fundamental truths about us. The simplest way to describe the difference is to say that our culture sees virtue as the mask and sin as the horrific face of the person, while Catholic anthropology sees sin as the anonymizing mask and virtue as the true face of the person, made in the image of God and, in Christ, exalted to participate in divine nature.

Because our dignity comes from our created nature — from the kind of creatures we are — and not from what we do, we retain our human dignity despite our sins. And since God is love, his intention for us remains in love, despite whatever sins we commit. And God’s will is always bent on our salvation: a salvation that involves the whole person (body, soul and spirit) and his relationships with every person and with all of the created world.

This brings us to the next leg on the throne of Catholic social teaching: the common good. Of which, more next time.

BY MARK SHEA

From: https://www.pamphletstoinspire.com/

#catholic social doctrine

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dietaku · 5 years

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Amazing Quest 1: Chapter 4

The fourth chapter. You know how it is. Thanks for reading!

Chapter 4: 2 Million Leagues Under the Sea!- We get another sepia tone flashback, this time of an only slightly-younger Hiro and Emilia. Emilia: Well… your form is good. But you swing your sword like a little girl. Hiro: I don’t like hurting people, sis. Besides, everyone knows YOU’RE the messiah the Pudding tribe has awaited! I’m only here because mom had that bottle of aged tequila lying around. Emilia: That has nothing to do with anything! You need to have more confidence! … Wait, I got just the ticket! Emilia runs behind Hiro and plays with his hair. Hiro: Um. What’re you doing? Emilia: I’m giving you a Pudding Warrior Knot in your hair. It’s an ancient custom of our tribe that when a Pudding Warrior comes of age, he gets one! Hiro: Oh. That’s pretty neat. Emilia finishes, presenting the now French braided hero, Hiro, we know now. Hiro: Somehow I feel more fabulous than before. Can’t quite place my finger on it. Emilia: It’s perfect! You’ll be beating up Dark Puddings before you know it! The scene fades, then returns, Hiro, Ozma, Kimyawa and Loyroll laid out on a beach. Hiro: Ungh. I wonder why I never dream in color. Hiro gets up and the others join him. You’ll soon discover this area is only one screen wide, so you’re left to exhaust every possibility until you investigate the water. Not just any water, though, the ONE specific square, just to the left of center. Many players wasted HOURS trying to find this event flag, and many people wrongly believed it was an anti-piracy measure. Nope. Just shoddy programming. The mermaid from before surfaces. Mermaid: So, thief, ready to pay up? Ozma: Hey! We don’t even HAVE a thief in this party! Hiro: Just a reasonable facsimile. Loyroll: You flatter me, as always. Mermaid: You yoinked the goods from that place without paying its rightful owner! Kimyawa: Isn’t that technically liberating it? Mermaid: QUIT CHANGING THE TOPIC! Kimyawa: What’s your name, Stranger-chan? Mermaid: I’m Mancala! Call me Manny and I’ll punch ya in the mug, got it?! I’m the number one marine merchant mermaid you’ll ever see in the sea! Ozma: Meh, mehmehmeh? Mancala: Ignoring that. The point is you took stolen property. So I’m gonna maroon you here until you pay up! Hiro: (Great. Now what do we do?!) You then get a prompt which can result in some different dialogue options. 1) Barter 2) Lie 3) Beg -Barter- Hiro: Okay. It was just a few things. Can’t be THAT expensive. What’s the tab? Mancala: Well… since you asked so nicely! Mancala brandishes an abacus and begins calculating. Mancala: The items total net value, plus the emotional damage to this delicate mermaid, plus interest, plus tax not withheld, plus tax withheld, social security, deducting the “asked so nicely” fee… it all tallies up to a measly 36 trillion gold! Ozma: Can I crush her head like an overripe melon? Hiro: T-trillion?! Are you MAD?! Mancala: If you’re nice, I’ll even include the “cute boy” deduction! That would knock it all the way down to 34! Loyroll: And certainly a deduction for yours truly, if I may be so bold? Mancala: I’m not into girls. … Much. Loyroll: Pardon? Hiro: There’s no way we have that much. That price is absurd. I refuse. Mancala: SAY WHAT NOW?! -Lie- Hiro: What if I told you I know of a great treasure?! It’d more than make up the difference! Mancala: Okay, I’m listening now. Kimyawa: Hiro-ni-chan! You DO?! You’ve been holding out on us?! Ozma: Hiro, how could you?! Loyroll: Most unfabulous of you, my friend. Hiro: … Mancala: … Hiro: Err. Friendship is a sacred treasure, above all material wealth in the Pudding society! Ozma: (So it was just a lie…) Mancala: *Sigh* -Beg- Hiro: Please don’t make me beg. I am not a proud man. Ozma, Kimyawa & Mancala: (This is about to get really hot…) Hiro: (Suddenly, my pride is flaring up within me and I don’t know why…) Loyroll: Well? We’re waiting. Hiro: On second thought, I think I’ll just take a moment to absorb the scenery instead. Mancala: (Darn…) Regardless of your choice, it comes back to here afterward. Mancala: This isn’t getting us anywhere! Hiro: Is there no way to come to an agreement on this? Mancala: Well… you could be my servants for a while! Y’know, help with this, that and the other for a bit and we could call it square! Hiro: I somehow get the impression you’re more ambitious than that. Mancala: Aww, you flirt~! Hiro: (Not the intended reaction. Why does it feel like my life is in danger now?) Ozma & Kimyawa: *Stare* Hiro: At any rate, we don’t have the kind of money on-hand to pay. So I guess we’ve no choice. Mancala: Well, you’re in luck! I just so happened to overhear some of the Dark Puddings talking about the Water Talisman. Hiro: You did? Where is it now?! Mancala: In the Octopus Garden. It’s some ancient ruins not far from my hometown, Mermania. Regrettably, those have been locked up tight since far back as anyone can remember. But I just so happen to know some juicy gossip that may lead us to a key. The Legendary Ice Key! Hiro: Sounds like a lead! Ozma: Or a diversion from the main plot. Poh-tay-toe, pah-tah-tow. Mancala: Either way, I need some henchmen and you need the talisman, right?! I knew it soon as I saw that birthmark! Hiro takes a moment to examine himself. Hiro: Okay, seriously, where is this birthmark you people keep going on about and why do I not see it? Mancala: But that whole “air-breather” problem… there’s only one fix for that! Hiro: Oh no, not another racket… Mancala: Calm down, calm down. It’s a Mermaid’s Kiss! Hiro: Oh. Is that some kind of stone? Or maybe a plant? Or— Mancala leaps from the water, her tail morphs into legs, allowing her to glomp Hiro. Accompanying in a loud, cartoonish “SMOOCH” sound effect, which always gets a giggle out of me. Hiro: W-whoa. That was… brusque. Ozma: *Furious* Kimyawa: *Envious* Loyroll: *Yawns* Are we ready to go now? Then we can enter the water and dive to the underwater map. Though, thanks to aquatic canyons, we can’t just go anywhere we want… yet. Our first stop is down south a ways at Mermania, a recurring city throughout the franchise. There, we can get the “Bikni” armors for our female party members, which give a serviceable boost in defense to each. Hiro and Loyroll can get the “Trnks” which are a step up, but not as huge of one. How does an armor that covers less protect more? It is one of the long, lost legendary mysteries of JRPGs. Anyways, if we talk around at the merchant’s guild here, we’ll learn that Mancala has lost her trader’s license 17 different times due to “questionable practices”. The others roll their eyes when they learn this news but refrain from commenting. After talking to enough merfolk, Mancala fans out from the party. Mancala: Okay! We got everything we need? The legendary ice key is held in the underwater volcano! Hiro: I’d question the physical possibilities but somehow I feel like I’d just be encouraging you at this point. Mancala: Oh, don’t be so glum, chum! It’s pretty much a straight line there! … With a few curves and bumps. And a giant, angry dragon at the bottom. Hiro: Ah. There’s the hitch. I was waiting for that. Loyroll: Slaying a dragon? It’s a tad cliché but I think we can handle that! Mancala: Then what’re we waiting for?! Let’s do it! Ozma: What? You mean stroll up to the dragon and punch it in the face? Mancala: … Yes? Ozma: Metal. Kimyawa: Sugoi, Ozma-chan! At this point we can move back to the ocean floor and the cave in the top-right area is open now. Had we gone he previously, Hiro would’ve met the Giant Sentient Block, a really existential gag that plagues AQ players for years to come. In fact, in the early-internet era, whether this pseudo-character even existed was up for debate, as most of his appearances in this game are very easily missed. The cave itself is pretty straight-forward, except about midway, where the current puzzles spell out great confusion for those who tried to brute force the puzzles, which would flush them down a comically oversized pit where you’d battle the Toilet Snake monster, which is obsessed with poison attacks. Otherwise, the local monsters like the Munchkinfish, Seaweeder, and Poof Fish are actually quite weak compared to other monsters around this level. Here you can find a Coral Abacus for Mancala, replacing the nonsense “TmSn” Abacus she comes with normally (the Japanese name is “Termite Snack” and I guess they were okay with letting everyone assume it meant “Thompson” or something!). Afterward, you just press on down the stairs… up until you enter the gameshow chamber. Yeah, that’s not a joke. The party fans out and stands behind a podium as a huge, anime octopus-man plops down in a suit and tie. Octopus: Welcome, ladies and gentlefish to Amazing Quest: The Game Show: The Video Game: Home Edition v. 1992! I’m your host, Otto! And you lucky heroes are in for a treat today! You get to try my quiz game challenge! Win and you’ll receive fabulous prizes! Fail and you get… well, nothing! Are we ready to play?! We then get a prompt of “Squid yeah!” or “Fin no!”, but obviously the game won’t let you progress until you at least TRY, so, yeah… Otto: Question 1 will be an easy one to get your feet wet! What tribe is Hiro from? We get a prompt between “Pudding”, “Protagonist” and “Team Laser Explosion”. The answer is quite obvious. Otto: Correct! Question 2: What is Ozma’s family name? This one is a little trickier, being given the possible answers “Trouble”, “Tohrubble” and “Toruble”. Just be aware of what her name REALLY is, and you’ll be fine. Otto: Great job! Really kraken ‘em up! Question 3: What mystical artifacts, when united, unleash a great and terrible power? The answers this time are: “The DisKord Stones”, “Hell’s Bells”, and “The Talismans”. Interestingly enough, the other options are shout-outs to DOS-era adventure titles, which AQ4 later also shouts out to. Otto: Whooo! Now we’re gilly getting into it! Question 4: What elemental affinity is the first boss of this game? The prompt is just Fire, Water and Pie, so the answer is obviously water as it was the monster in Fog Tower. If you say Pie, Otto’s arms drop to his sides, as he turns to face the player directly and will stare at you for 10 tedious, unnerving seconds before prompting you to try again. Otto: ALRIGHT! Last one and this one separates the squids from the suckers! Question 5: Which of these is NOT an element of magic?! The answer prompt this time is four options wide, including: “Music”, “Emotion”, “Boobs” and “Food”. You’d only know the answer to this if you read the instruction booklet – which specifically references the elements of magic in the AQ universe. This is kind of a jerk move by the game devs, as losing the manual in the early SNES era was a foregone conclusion by all but the most dedicated collectors. The answer is technically food, but the AQ manga series actually contradicts this during the “Great Pudding Cook-Off” arc. Otto: N-no way! What an amazing contestant we had on the show! Everyone, put your fins together for our new winners! A bunch of fish suddenly leap-on screen and shake about excitedly as the SNES strains to emulate the sound of uproaring applause. Then they retreat to whence they came. Otto: How do you feel? Hiro: A little drunk? Otto: YOU HEARD IT HERE, FOLKS! Now, enjoy your fabulous prizes! For answering all five correct, we get 3 “Fishy Hats” which are helmet upgrades that anyone in the party can put on. We’re then booted from the quiz room and resume our trek through for a few more rooms up until we reach the boss chamber. There, there’s a huge hole in the center of the room, glowing red. Hiro: I have to assume this is where the dragon awaits us. Mancala: Better go up and check just to be sure, Hiro! We’ll wait back here, where it’s safe! Hiro: *Sigh* Very well. One moment. Hiro walks to the lip and looks down. Hiro: Deep. But I don’t see anything. Hiro kicks a small stone from the lip down below, then puts a hand to his ear to listen for it. Hiro: … Deep. Very deep. But I still don’t— The screen begins violently shaking. Hiro: Well, I’ve been wrong before. -Boss Fight!- Trench Serpent LP: 7500 MP: 1000 This gigantic beast is a real threat at last! I hope you took the time to level up on your way here! Your best bet is use Kimyawa’s Fox Flip, if you’re leveled high enough to have it by now, which can briefly confuse the monster to some considerable effect. However, it mandates being quite a bit over-leveled to use here, so she may be money ahead to spam the Mirror of Kii. The serpent’s most dangerous move is “COWABUNGA!” which sends a killer tidal wave over the party – never mind that we’re already underwater during this fight. Your Pudding Swirls should be sufficient, provided you’re not careless. If you monitor your HP burn, you should come out on top. -Boss Fight!- Hiro: Whew… that was surprising. Mancala: Look! The Ice Key! A banana in a block of ice floats down to Hiro’s hands. Hiro: I lack the words. As usual. Mancala: We have it! Now we can go to the Octopus’ Garden! Hiro: Tell me it’s not a quiz game. Mancala: Probably not! Loyroll: Life is far more fun when you never know what comes next, right? Hiro: I guess so. At this point we –can- go on to the next area, if we wanted to. However, a hilarious and easily-missed Easter egg awaits those who return back to Zaius and Heston. The people gather at a neutral ground once you walk into one of the cities. Hiro: Okay. Everyone. Watch very carefully. I’m gonna bring peaceful resolution to this once and for all. Hiro brandishes his sword, then cuts the Ice Key clean in half. Mancala: HIRO! WHAT THE HELL?! Hiro: Just watch. This is going some place. Hiro takes the banana free of the ice, then peels it from center-out on both ends. Crowd: WHAT?! N-no way! No one has ever… how did he DO THAT?! Hiro: See? Now you understand: there’s more than just two ways to do something! And each is equally valid. And now we all learned an important lesson, right? Crowd: HE HAS ANGERED THE VOLCANO GODS! Hiro: Beg pardon? The camera pans out as a nearby mountain erupts into a volcano, the magma pours out and wipes out both villages in a flash. It then cuts back to the party. Mancala: Oh. Right. This place is ruled by the twin brother gods of volcanoes: Rilk and Klir. They also had very particular food habits. And banana peeling was one of their sacred doctrines. Hiro: … How was I supposed to know that? So with two more destroyed cities under our belts, we find the Melted Blade, a new sword for Hiro as we return to the sea for the Octopus Garden. The garden is a 3D maze, using a really curious fixed-perspective isometric view and water spouts that move Hiro up and down as you run through. People have wasted HOURS of their lives here due to the numerous deadends and confusing layout. This is also only the first screen. The second area has moving platforms which Hiro must traverse in order to cross a river. For some reason, this ordeal seems quite nostalgic, doesn’t it? The third area introduces the garden’s true gimmick – the octopus jars and the red and blue octopi. When you get here, the party fans out. Mancala: Ah. I’ve heard of this room. We have to approach it from a certain angle! Hiro: I don’t suppose you know what it is? Mancala: Grandma said this: red octopi are friendly and will pull you near them for a closer look! Blue octopi are shy and if approached, will politely move you away from their homes! But don’t fear – neither will harm you! Hiro: What on Earth does THAT mean?! Mancala: I dunno. Why? Hiro: … Kimyawa: Nii-chan, I think I understand! The octopi-tachi are different colors here. Red will pull us near from far away and blue will push us from near to far. And the room is full of holes in the floor. So, to progress, we need octopi-tachi to move us from one spot to another. Hiro: So the riddle lies in the color and the distance. I see. This is the most head-scratching moments in the game, not due to the base mechanics, but to how fiendishly clever the rooms that lie ahead really are. As explained, red octopi reach out three or four spaces ahead to grab us, but will ignore us if we’re one or two spaces out from them, and blue octopi ignore us at distances of three or greater, and will move us away from them three to four spaces if we approach. Using this knowledge we must move about the map step by step to progress. The first room is very simple and just a test of how each works. The second room adds more walls and holes in the floor to test your critical thinking. The third room adds floors that collapse once stepped on (which reset if you leave and come back) and the final room adds conveyer belts for a touch of twitch-reflex testing! Even with random encounters turned off for these moments, this still routinely gets ranked in the top 5 most hair-pullingly frustrating dungeons in the series. Once you get to the end, we see another pit not unlike the underwater volcano end area. Mancala: Oh? Is this the center area of the Octopus Garden? Ozma: Ugh. Not a recolor boss fight. How uncreative can you get? The area rumbles as a large, purple Trench Serpent rises from below. Kimyawa: Ozma-chan, Snake-san didn’t like that comment. Hiro: Get ready, everyone! Before the battle can begin, something flashes across the screen, and the serpent roars, sinking back into the abyss. Hiro: Wait, what? Who was that?! ?: Light Puddings! Prepare yourselves! Ozma: Uh. Strictly speaking only one among us is a Pudding! A tall, slender man with an oversized tower shield on each arm stands before the party. Man: I am Praetorian Mih! Hiro: Of course you are. Loyroll: I understand your frustration, my friend, but you must admit, he’s got style! Mih: You’ve done enough damage, Light Pudding! It’s time your little escapade— Hiro: Excuse me. Mih: What? Hiro: How are you breathing right now? Did you kiss a mermaid too? Mih: Huh? Hiro: We’re underwater, so I just wanted to know if we did the same thing is all or if there was a better way. Mih: Kiss a mermaid? What are you on about? Everyone knows mermaids aren’t real. Mancala: *Ahem* Mih: Bah! I tire of this. Enough banter! Have at you! -Boss Battle!- Praetorian Mih LP: 8800 MP: 750 Praetorian Mih is every bit the human wall his massive design and dual-wielding shields might indicate, coupled with by far the most LP of anything we’ve yet encountered. The best thing to do is to use Ozma’s Table Flip in hopes it reduces this giant’s defenses and use Pudding Swirl with Hiro and Kimyawa in order to give him the offensive edge needed to compete. Loyroll should use the Mirror of Kii, exploiting Mih’s middling magic defenses. Mih’s most annoying ability will be “Safe & Sound”, a special technique accompanied by an unusually cool trumpet solo which will render him virtually invincible for two rounds before he opens up with a party-wide physical blow. However, if you can weather this, he has a 3 turn cooldown on the ability, so he cannot spam it. You’ll have to play the endurance game just as much as he does, but if you keep it up, you’ll send him packing. -Boss Battle!- Mih: Hahaha! Not bad. Not bad at all. But it will take way more than that to defeat the Human Wall, Praetorian Mih! Hiro: How many more times are you going to introduce yourself?! Loyroll: It seems our unstoppable tempo has met with an unmoving mountain! Kimyawa: Nii-chan, I think you’re mixing your metaphors. Ozma: Don’t give up. I have an idea! But I’ll need your help, Mancala! Mancala: Huh? Uh. Okay! Lay it on me! What’s the plan?! Ozma palms Mancala’s head in her hand. Mancala: Eh? Wait, what— Ozma then hurls Mancala head-first into Mih, who slides back as she impacts, coming to the rim of the pit behind him. Mancala falls flat, stars circling her head. Mancala: BARF! Mih: Hahahaa! You must be truly desperate to resort to such flailing, desperate measures! Ozma: Oh, am I? Mih: Huh? What did you…? Oh no! Mih panics, desperately attempting to run as the cliff below him gives out and he plummets into the pit below. After a few seconds of a whistling, falling sound, we hear a violent crash below. Kimyawa: Yatta! Hiro: That was, uh, a creative way of dealing with that. Ozma: I’m pretty pleased with myself. Mancala: My poor head… I’m gonna feel that for weeks! Ozma: Oh, walk it off. Mancala: How do you walk off a headache?! Hiro: C’mon, guys. The water talisman must be… huh? Do you guys hear something? The area rumbles distantly. Suddenly, an explosion rockets up from the pit, sending the party skyward. Hiro: He exploded?! Loyroll: Not just him! The serpent too! Hiro: BECAUSE THAT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE, RIGHT?! Something shiny flies among the party. Kimyawa: Sugoi! The water talisman! Guy-nii-chan! Ozma: I got it! Ozma grabs Mancala’s tail and swings her around, causing Mancala to grab it. Mancala: STOP THAT, YOU CRAZY BITCH! Ozma: But it just feels SO RIGHT! How can it be wrong?! Ozma learns the Dual Tech – Fish Slap! She’ll grab Mancala’s tail and swing her about like a flail, dealing great damage to a single target. This move deals water-type damage. And we get the Water Talisman! Ozma: The important thing is that we got the Water Talisman now, right? Hiro: No! The important thing is that we’re ABOUT TO FALL AND DIE!!! Ozma: Such a gloomy gus… The party is then viewed falling, crash-landing in a seaside village on the opposite side of one of the underwater canyons that previously prevented our passage from Mermania. They pick themselves up and survey the town. Mancala: Oh! I know where this is! This is Trackland, the town known for its enormous race track and horrible, crippling gambling debt! Hiro: That seems… informative. Never heard of a place that bagged on their own town when they were naming it. Ozma: Might as well have a look around. I don’t see anything else we can do for now. Here we can buy some upgrades, like Kimyawa’s CatCap helmet, Ozma’s Blaz Knuckles and Hiro’s Shing Sword, provided you didn’t find the Melted Blade earlier. By talking to the locals, we learn the Dark Puddings have already ransacked their town, and now their sole joy remains in the race track – famous for being so long it’s also the main highway to the next town! We then go to talk to the operations manager to find a means down said road. Hiro: Hello. We were wondering if it would be alright to head down the race track to the next town. Ops Guy: No, no, no. You don’t “head down” the race track. You RACE down it! That’s why they call it a RACE track! Mancala: Yeah? Then why do they call something you drive on a parkway and something you park on a driveway?! Ops Guy: Look, I don’t make the rules – I just enforce them. If you try any funny business, I’ll run your butts down and drag you back here for the biggest lecture of your lives! So race properly or don’t race at all! The party leaves the room, then spreads out again. Hiro: Well, so much for the direct route. Ozma: Anyone have any ideas? Loyroll: Why not do what he said? After all, a race sounds like fun! No one can keep up with our tempo! Mancala: We can’t just run the track. We’d pass out from exhaustion before we hit the midway. We need something we can ride. We need a pack mule! Hiro: A town renowned for its race track? Well, there has to be a ranch nearby with animals for such an occasion. Let’s ask around. Heading over to the ranch on the east side of town we can talk to the rancher – a strangely feminine man in a long, white trench coat. Hiro: We need— Rancher: A monster for the race, right? Hiro: Wow, you’re— Rancher: I am pretty awesome. Moreover, you’re wasting your time. The Dark Puddings raided my ranch last month and I’m still putting the pieces back together. Hiro: Isn’t there anything— Rancher: Yeah, if you get a few million going spare, I could lend you one of my thoroughbreds I’ve been raising. Hiro: We don’t have— Rancher: Neither does anyone else, bro. If you want the bargain bin, you’re in luck. This way. Hiro: Are you going to let me— Rancher: No. The rancher leads us over to one particular pen where a sad, squat lizard-like creature with a camel’s hump, two wings and two tails, weighed down by mace-like appendages crawls out. It coughs out dust on Hiro’s boots. Hiro: Is it dying? Rancher: I can only hope. This here is the bottom of the bottom of the barrel. This is the last of the Griffohumps. Hiro: Okay, you’re gonna need to explain that one to me. Rancher: It’s half griffon, half camel-dog. Its eyes also don’t align properly and it’s wantonly flatulent. I’ll let you take it for 100 gold. Take it or leave it. Hiro: Well, that’s a very reasonable price. For an unreasonable animal. I was thinking more of something like a horse… Rancher: Then you’re out of luck, chum. What little I have left other than this guy is for rebuilding and repopulating my ranch. Hiro: Looks like I don’t have much of a choice. We then get a Yes/No prompt, which is entirely pointless as saying no means we just walk around town until we go back and say Yes. In the GBA remake, however, if Kimyawa is level 37 (really, only a few levels higher than the average for this segment) and knows her Fox Inferno technique, this entire segment takes on an entirely DIFFERENT connotation as Kimyawa can replace the Griffohump as our pet in this minigame. But that’s creepy. So I’ll stick with the SNES version, thank you very much. The Griffohump is then dropped into a special Virtual Pet-style menu, which we can access whenever we want by speaking with the rancher. We’re then prompted to name the little guy – his default name is “Stinky”. We can feed it either mundane items, or special items the rancher will offer to sell us, which influence its stats. We can train it in minigames, or by fighting it like it was a monster encounter – which is the most effective means to raise it. Unequip the party and let it beat on the party and its stats will skyrocket, especially if it KOs the party. We can also have Hiro pet it and talk to it, which makes Hiro spout off nonsense jokes that were poorly translated from their original Japanese counterparts. You may persist in doing this as long as you’d like or until you hit the ludicrous 999 stat caps. Really, if you get it to around 150 in everything, Energy, Speed, Acceleration and Defense, you don’t need anything more than that. Return to the ops guy. Ops Guy: You again?! Didn’t you hear me?! Hiro: We’d like to enter the race properly now! Ops Guy: Really now? Well, that’s an entirely different story. Ready to begin? We then get a Yes/No prompt. Select Yes to continue. Ops Guy: Alright! To the starting line! This cues up the race minigame, with Hiro sitting astride the Griffohump, who is barely larger than his owner. The race itself involves running to the right-hand side of the screen as other racers try to jump on/over us. We’re ranked as we go and we must be in one of the top three places in order to win the minigame. Failure to do so drops us off where we started the race and Hiro mumbling something about “Not being on his A-Game today”. Clearing in higher ranks nets us better money and item rewards, but nothing worth freaking out over just yet – but they do get better as the plot progresses. But if we manage to win in 1st, 2nd or 3rd, we reach the chapter’s end! Narrator: And thus, Hiro and his party, riding gallantly atop Stinky, gracefully coast across the valley. What awaits them ahead? Only time will tell… We then get the Griffohump Feather, a key item we can use to access the virtual pet minigame from anywhere, anytime! Don’t forget to feed him from time to time!

#Adventure #fantasy #fiction #science fantasy #writing #infrequently asked questions #Amazing Quest

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vladnovikovrhetoric · 3 years

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*Burke Dramatistic Rhetoric*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qO5ykJuTUSs

In this essay, I will be exploring the Critical Questions: How are symbols at use in this artifact in the way Burke describes the symbol-using animal? How is this particular use unproductive/unethical for society? This question will be explored through the analysis of Soviet cold war animated propaganda.

The animated film The Millionaire was made in 1963 and tells the story of a bulldog who inherited all of his wealthy American owner’s money, which in turn corrupted him and those around him, and grew his power until he was able to be elected to congress. The film misuses the story of the bulldog as a symbol of the power of wealth to corrupt humans from their natural condition and its power to establish unreasonable and unjust hierarchies. It also uses Jazz as the music of the negative, and therefore as a symbol of the negative influence of western culture and music to soviets. This use of symbols is unethical, because in order to convince its audience to the dangers of capitalism, and western influence, it takes advantage of the audience’s lack of firsthand experience with American culture to portray it as unreasonable, unjust, arbitrary, and harmful.

From the beginning of the communist party’s history in Russia, film played a vital role in communicating state ideology to the often illiterate masses and promoting cultural isolationism (Welkos). Joan Borsten, president of Films by Jove which recently released a collection of soviet propaganda cartoons is quoted describing that “Lenin said film was the best media for propaganda. Within the film genre, animation was by far the easiest way to say what was bad and what was good.” (Welkos). The main producer of these films was the state-run Soyuzmultfilm, a company whose construction was ordered by Joseph Stalin “after becoming enamored with a Walt Disney film festival held in Moscow” (Welkos). In 1956, Nikita Khrushchev gave a speech known as the “secret speech” which started a process of de-Stalinization and opening up of the Soviet Union to western culture known as the “Krushchev Thaw” (MacMillen 24). Although this lead to an influx of western and American culture and music, it also therefore increased the amount of Soviet social criticism, such as in the animated films of the state-run Soyuzmultfilm (MacMillen 24). MacMillen notes that “Soviet animators' critique of American culture actually served to reinforce the U.S.S.R.’s isolationist stance” (24). Exemplifying this mixed but ultimately negative reception of western culture during this Krushchev Thaw is The Millionaire – the story of a bulldog’s rise to power and wealth as a millionaire and senator after inheriting all of his owner’s money, and along the way corrupting those around him, and becoming corrupted himself. This absurd but effective propaganda film that serves as a cautionary tale to Citizens of the USSR of the power of greed and capitalism to corrupt themselves and their society.

Kenneth Burke posits his definition that “Man is the symbol-using (symbol-making, symbol-misusing) animal, inventor of the negative, separated from his natural condition by instruments of his own making, goaded by the spirit of hierarchy, and rotten with perfection.” (70). Burke argues that as our actual daily experience gives us only a “paper-thin” reality, the vast and overwhelming majority of our lived reality is constructed by symbol systems (58). We begin to see how important symbols and representation of the west, and the culture of the west in media would have been to soviets, when considering that all but the elites would have any personal interaction with the west. Burke also reflects on how man is separated from his natural condition by these symbols and instruments, and how he forms a ‘second nature’ which is then perceived as “natural” with the original nature being perceived as “unnatural” (67). We will see clear symbolism in the film in question, where both humans and the bulldog are separated from their natures by the power of money. Burke also describes the spirit of hierarchy, which defines man as being drawn to arranging symbols and himself into hierarchies, including hierarchies of class and occupation (70)

The bulldog, our millionaire heir, serves as a straightforward example of wealth as an instrument created by man that removes us from our natural condition, as described by Burke. The bulldog is initially introduced as a pet of a wealthy American spinster, walking on all fours, wearing only a dog collar, and being treated as an animal by the spinster’s relatives. Once it is revealed that the spinster left all her money to the bulldog, we begin to see a change. At first the dog is disinterested in the fortune, merely focused on sitting in his own chair, and then barking at and tearing the pants off of the spinster’s angry relatives, chasing them out of the spinster’s (now his) house. But after a brief aside as to how ridiculous it is for dogs and cats to have money, as they have no use for it, the transformation of the bulldog into a millionaire begins! His snubby nose is turned up higher still, he lives in the heart of the city, on 5th avenue, he is served cocktails, “grand chefs” prepare extravagant meals thrice daily, and he is personally groomed every week! In short, the bulldog’s life has completely changed, and he has been removed from his natural state as a pet. This is exemplified by physical transformation, where he receive a moustache, top hat, hand tailored doggy suit, lit cigar, cane, shoes, brand new Cadillac, and most crucially – his newly adopted bipedal gait and opposable thumbs. This last shift, to walking on two legs and grasping objects, signifies his complete transition into an unnatural state by the power of money, where this dog becomes like a human.

We see further examples of the man and animal shifting between their natural conditions, and how this is all due to the power of capital, in the scene in the nightclub. Our millionaire bulldog is being entertained in a lively nightclub with loud jazz music and many people dancing and dressed to impress. We see the bulldog with his shoes off at a table drinking and smoking, and then slowly as the alcohol and music starts to affect him, he devolves into a dog, and starts dancing on all fours to the music. Eager to impress the millionaire, the elites in the club join in, dropping to the ground and dancing like animals or insects to the music. This, along with the silhouettes of dancers dressed like birds in the nightclub all create an environment of confusion. The humans are acting like animals, and the animal like a human, all due to the power of greed, and lust for power. These scenes clearly communicate the power of greed and wealth to subvert natural order, and express the dangers of a society driven by this capitalistic self-interest.

Burke’s concept of man being goaded by hierarchy is displayed through the bulldog’s rise from pet to millionaire, to banker, and then finally senator, only by the power of his money, and ultimately portrays the capitalist system as unjust, unreasonable, and arbitrary. (69). As the will is read, when we initially find out about the bulldog’s inheritance, we see a focus on the portrait of the spinster, with a knowing smile spreading across her face. This shows that the she finds this entire situation comical, that it is a joke to her, and could be thought of as a commentary on the unjust and often arbitrary nature of hoarding wealth and passing it down. That is, what have any of her heirs done to deserve such wealth? What has she done for it? Her heirs are as entitled to it as her bulldog is, so she may as well leave it to the bulldog! From there we see his rise in popularity from nightclubs to cocktail parties, with the bulldogs focus shifting to entertaining the other wealthy and important guests, including female suitors, and a presumed general from the military. The bulldog rises to the company of bankers, who ‘teach him to growl when someone mentions peace’. This scene is presented as a normal progression of the bulldogs rise in power, with no explicit action on his part. From there he becomes a public figure, describing the “canine point of view on outer space” to eager journalists, who seem to be reporting on what any rational person would consider useless information. We see finally his election to congress, where he triumphantly leads a military parade to the steps of the senate, and the film end with our senator millionaire bulldog triumphantly standing on a pile on money. Crude but effective symbolism here, with the final line of the narration explaining that capital can accomplish anything, even electing a bulldog to the US senate. Through each of these steps, the film portrays how money/capital and how the worship of it could allow absolutely ridiculous things to happen. This critique of capitalism is absolutely absurd but is engaging and effective.

The critiques of capitalism this film makes reasonable, but the way they are done is unethical. The imagery of animals becoming people, and people becoming animals, dehumanizes Americans to soviet audiences. Furthermore, it paints Americans as unreasonable, and so focused on greed and personal advancement that they would allow a dog to become a senator. The initial critique on the unjust nature of inheritances was reasonable to start, but the absurd nature of the remaining film pushes the satire into unproductive territory.

We have addressed some of the visual and verbal symbolism, we can also look at musical symbolism, as Burke explicitly states his definition also “applies to the symbol systems of dance, music, painting, and the like.” (59). The use of Jazz in this film is very important, first because at this time “Soviet audiences still perceived the music as quintessentially American”, and second because although Stalin himself like it, it was viewed as “as a product of Western imperialism” (MacMillen 24). Due to the ambivalent attitudes towards Jazz by 1962, it’s use needed to be overtly negative to avoid censorship by the state (MacMillen 26). In The Millionaire we see the use of Jazz instrumentals as “a vehicle of “negative” voices” such as the initial car crash, the nightclub, and the bulldog’s condescending laugh (MacMillen 31, 33). This use of jazz in association with such scenes constructs it as a dangerous and transformative type of music by the animators. The animators would have known their audiences’ association of jazz with America. This association would have been especially poignant at this time, since the US had just sent “jazz ambassadors” to the USSR in the early 60s (MacMillen 24). The director/animator’s use of jazz music in this way is an attach on western capitalism, and specifically America. The attack itself is unproductive because it equates a musical genre with an economic and political system.

Overall the style of The Millionaire is absurd and effective. It’s use of rhyming (in the original Russian), a simple plot, simple characters, and striking and meaningful music make it entertaining and persuasive. Although it is effective, it’s dehumanizing depiction of Americans as irrational and greedy is unethical when you consider how little personal experience soviets would have had with Americans at this time.

Works Cited:

Burke, Kenneth. On Symbols and Society. Edited by Joseph R. Gusfield, The University of Chicago Press, 1989.

MacMillen, Ian, and Masha Kowell. “Cartoon Jazz: Soviet Animations And The Khrushchev ‘Thaw.’” Film & History, vol. 45, no. 2, 2015, pp. 24–38.

Mihalkov, Sergei. The Millionaire. YouTube, Soyuzmultfilm, 1963, www.youtube.com/watch?v=qO5ykJuTUSs.

Welkos, Robert W. “Soviet Propaganda Cartoons Lampoon Greedy Capitalists.” Chicagotribune.com, 24 Aug. 2018, www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2007-02-19-0702190114-story.html.

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