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wenellyb · 3 years

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hey! every now and then i've seen random posts about sebastian's comment/s on colin kap kneeling among other things, but i've never seen any source material or hard facts. do you have any posts about this or deconstruction of your own? i'd be very interested, ty!

Hey yourself😉!

So I've found the screenshot of the post (at the bottom) and just so you know he also posted an apolology but that one I couldn't find a screenshot of.

There are plenty of posts talking about this but I think most of them are old so it would take some time for me to find them.

If you want my opinion. The whole thing was f*cked up and I remember being extremely surprised and unfollowing him after that post.

And he did apologize, which is good and I do think he understands that that post was not great, but it wasn't my main issue.

When the whole story with Kaepernick happened it was a real eye opener and exposed a lot of racists even among celebrities. I'm looking at you Christopher Meloni. But not only him.

So Colin Kaepernick was to kneeling to protest against police violence and racism.

And a lot of people reacted like a lot of White people react when the topic of racism arise: deny everything and get defensive "How dare he protest blablabala" "He's so rich and he's saying White people are priviledged..." "How dare he say there is racism in this country". You know the usual.

But the thing is to me, the way he protested was the most respectful, and most peaceful way to protest and also so impactful. And some people had still a problem with it...I don't understand how ANYBODY could have a problem with it ... unless they were racist in one way or the other. That was the bar for me... I could not have respect ANYBODY who had a problem with him kneeling, because their message was clear “just sh*t up and play football”.

To me, anybody who had a problem with Colin Kaepernick taking a knee... was automatically problematic and the worst.

For other forms of protests there can always be arguments against it, lousy arguments, but arguements nevertheless: "They're blocking the streets" "There was violence during the protest",... etc... But what is your argument with having a man kneel during the National Anthem, to call out something as serious as police brutality.

To me it was clear that they just wanted Black Americans to shut up, and stay in their lane. "Sports have nothing to do with politics blablabla"

And unfortunately history proved Colin Kaepernick right, and I don't think anybody could voice bad opinions about him today, but at the time, a lot of people were criticizing him, calling him names, insulting him, and even some celebrities were talking about how disrespectful he was.

They cared more about the way he was voicing his protest, than the fact that racism was a real issue.

And because of the protests last year, I think a lot of people tend to forget about that time, but Kaepernick faced A LOT of backlash, A LOT and for what....??? Absolutely no justification. With the way some people reacted you would have thought he burned the American flag on a daily basis, or used it as toilet paper.

So having that in mind, it was really disheartening to see an actor you respect take part in that...

And just to be clear, this is my personal opinion, but I don't think Sebastian had any bad intention with that post (not like other celebrities who were outright criticizing Kaepernick, for some reason I only remember Chris Meloni lol). But the timing, and the content, even as a joke, even as a promotion tool for his movie was extremely bad. You also have to understand the context, and how there were a lot of people rooting against Kap.

Worst case scenerio Seb’s post was racist and best case scenario it was tone deaf.

I can only assume Sebastian watches the news in the US, so he must have known what the caption "take a knee" meant and still decided to post it... So maybe he wasn't ill-intentioned, but to him the topic was light enough that he could post it on his social media...

My main problem isn't even with Seb's post, it was a weird way to promote his movie, or a joke I don’t know. Artists do problematic stuff all the time, and it's up to the fans who support them to decide if they keep doing supporting him or not.

My main problem was and still is the reaction of the fandom, where White Seb stans think they know and understand racism better than anyone else. And honestly this is not me saying that Seb is racist, this is me saying that we should be allowed to voiced our opinions without being silenced or accused of trying to villainize him or cancel him blablabla .

But the Seb stans don't understand that and prefer to turn a blind eye.

I make difference between stans and fans. The Seb fans are the ones who are willing to listen, understand why some people might be offended and admit that their fav f*cked up. The stans are the annoying ones who yould rather keep their head in the sand.

And nobody is even asking to stop supporting Seb... If I cancel an actor, I will stop consuming his content, supporting him, paying to see his movies etc... But I'm not forcing anybody else to do it... But I would like to be free to voice my dislikes especially if that actor was being problematic... without the stans complaining about how "I don't know their fave"

I haven't cancelled Seb btw, I just don't feel like finding him excuses and glossing over the words and if I think that something he did was racist, I will say that it was racist, not "problematic" or "tactless" or "clumsy"...

I think that a lot of people are confused about what racism is, and think it is only White Supremacists who want to harm all non White people.

But it's not only that and in my opinion, there are many layers to racism. If you have "nothing against Blacl people" but there is a part of you that believes you or White people are better than Black people, well you are racist... If not hiw would you describe it? I have already told this story, but I have a friend who swore she wasn't racist and we even had a big debate about racism, and a few weeks later, her boyfriend told me that during a family dinner, she had talked about a common Black friend of theirs saying "She is pretty for a Black girl"... But if you ask my friend, she will say she isn't racist.

If you try to silence people calling out racism, you are contributing to it instead of fighting it.

Another example, I received a lot of "problematic" comments at work from coworkers on my hair, my origins etc, but when I talked about it to my friends and said those comments were racists.. they said that I was "overeacting" that those comments were harmless or just my colleagues being "ignorant". But one time, I was done with it and I wrote to HR about it losting all the comments I had received and the HR director called me and told me that those comments were racist full stop, he didn't try to minimize it or act like I was exagerrating.

And that's how I see the reactions of Seb stans whenever something from him re-sufaces, like my friends who just act like it is nothing.

Just so you know you are not helping when you do that.

They act as if we're suppoosed to accept that because "it's not that big of a deal". Who told you that? How do you determine what is a big deal or not? Especially when you have never dealt with racism?

Fandom behaves as if people who were hurt or offended by that post were overracting. "It was a joke" "It was a long time ago" "He would never do somthing racist"

How hard is it to say " I can see that my fave did something problematic, or that what he did was racist, and I would still like to support him but I understand that people were hirt"??? How hard is it to continue to stan your fave WITHOUT trying to silence people who call out the behavior.

And also the way they refuse to use the words is annoying... it's always "I'm sorry if anybody was offended", never "What I did/wrote was racist and I know better now". If no one wants to admit it when they do racist stuff... nobody will never get anywhere... Like my friend who is convinced that she isn't racist but goes around thinking that White Women are more beautiful than Black Women, and even says it when surrounded by her family.

And people act like the people who were hurt have no reason to be hurt because he apologized, but I hope those people realize that it doesn’t work that way. An apology is great of course, but it doesn’t take out the hurt, or the feeling that if he was comfortable enough sharing this on social media, what is he comfortable doing in the safety of his close circle?, or remove the idea that maybe an actor you adored, and respected doesn’t view Black people struggles as a serious matter.

I personally don't hate Seb, far from it. And the reason why I have so many posts about him, calling him out or not, is that he is one of the very few White actors I'm interested in. I don't know him personally, but I enjoy his interviews with Anthony and enjoy his movies. But I'm not about to act like he is perfect like some of his stan do and also I have absolutely no issue with people who have "cancelled" him because of his past behavior, because I understand them and it's their choice, it's what works best for them... I don't want to force them to root for someone who maybe wouldn't root for us.

Last point, that I won't elaborate because I have already written way to much. There's a difference between people actively trying to be racist, and people who are racist and maybe don't realize it, or people who have prejudice but are working on it...

I hate it when White people act like the worst thing in the world is being accused of racism when the actual worst thing in the world is being racist. Because it shifts the conversation from... "Oh how can I improve myself and stop this racist thing I'm doing, or how can I work on this prejudice I have?" to "How dare you call me racist!!! I would never" all the while they continue doing the racist thing they do.

TL:DR: His Instagram post was f*cked up, and he apologized. And it's up to each person to decide if they still want to support him or not, but it would be great if thise who still support him stopped pretending that those whose don't are overreacting or had no reason of being offended.

#sebastian stan #asks #anti christopher meloni #I wrote too much ... I'll finish later lol #long post #I need to stop making long posts #at some point #I just have to stop wrtining #Also a lot of people think that I hate Seb because I call him out a lot.... But he's actually one of the few White actors I consider....#All of the other ones mean literally nothing to me #.... They don't even exist outside of the movies they play in

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bokunoheroanalysisforthefuture · 3 years

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Yeah, forget side content, just gonna steam on ahead with the Sports Festival and onwards. I might not actually stop and start trying to do overarching plot stuff until ~chapter 100 (more specifically, post ch 97, the last chapter of the Kamino Arc) because then there will be enough material to actually like. Do stuff. Might also have something smaller after the Sports Festival since that’s ~chapter 50. Shrugs.

Anyways, onwards. Don’t you miss the days when the main trio of the series was Izuku, Tenya, and Ochako? Man, don’t I. :(

[No. 22 - That’s the Idea, Ochako!]

Character sheet! I am honestly laughing super hard at everything because just. ‘Very Ochako.’ Thank you, Horikoshi. A few things about the sheet:

1) god I love that her fingerpads are called soft. Like. Actual cat paw pad fingers going on here. just imagine if you like pressed one of them like you do with cat paw pads and like, she had cat claws that would extend. cute but also menacing.

2) strong legs. leg day squad. her, izuku, and iida all doing leg day workouts together tho... katsuki wishes he had the leg strength of those three y'all

3) That quirk description… that’s not quite how centrifugal forces work, but I mean. Superhero comic physics. At least he made an attempt at explaining her quirk.

Anyways, onto the actual chapter.

We open up in a staff meeting in a conference room at UA, with Tsukauchi presenting the results of the police investigations. He states that the one called Shigaraki has a quirk that allows him to disintegrate anything he touches. They (the police) have been through the list of men in their twenties and thirties in the quirk registry with no luck - and nothing turned up on the ‘warp gate’ user Kurogiri either. With neither registered, both using aliases, and no quirk records, they’re pretty much confirmed to be members of the underworld.

God sorry, I’m just distracted with the sheer size difference between Toshinori and Nedzu here.

What the fuck. Why did you put the largest person in the room next to the smallest?

Whatever. Snipe surmises that they know next to nothing, but they need to learn fast, or the leader of the villains, Shigaraki, will heal up and be back again. Toshinori is thoughtful as he mulls over the use of ‘leader’, which Nedzu catches quickly and inquires into. Probably still heavily banking on Toshinori’s instincts here since he was technically right about his bad feeling about the USJ just two days before.

I mean, how it has to sting Nedzu that all his state of the art systems meant to keep out intruders and alert UA to situations on campus failed at the critical moment, while Toshinori’s instincts on something being wrong had been absolutely on point and, if Nedzu had let him go, might have solved the situation that much sooner.

(I mean, there’s arguments for what could have happened if All Might did arrive early, so. Shrugs.)

And so we get into the segment I like to fondly consider a prime example of the fact that yes, Toshinori does in fact have a 6/6 intelligence score for a reason.

He brings up how nothing about the situation feels normal. It was an especially daring attack - and not just in the meticulous planning! Shigaraki had started going on about some ridiculous ideology… and though he didn’t say anything about his own quirk, he couldn’t keep himself from bragging about the nomu’s quirk. And when things didn’t go his way? He threw a tantrum. Toshinori then admits with grit teeth and clenched fist that the business about quirks was meant to provoke him, and that it did hurt.

Nedzu says that even so, it’s foolish for villains to reveal quirks in a battle against heroes and so waste the element of surprise.

Toshinori surmises his previous observations about Shigaraki - spouting a plausible yet deluded ideology, bragging about the toy he brought along, simple-mindedly assuming all would go his way. If they thought about how the attack was carried out, it seems clear that Shigaraki couldn’t hide his childish nature, the sense that he does what he wants, and then flat-out calls him a man-child.

Vlad King sums up Toshinori’s words as Shigaraki being a kid with too much power. Midnight adds on how Shigaraki might never have received general quirk counseling in elementary school; Vlad wonders whether that even matters.

Tsukauchi steps back into the conversation to give the rest of the arrest results - a total of 72 villains were apprehended at the USJ. He states that all of them were just back-alley thugs, but the question is why so many of them would agree to follow this ‘man-child.’ He points out that modern society is saturated with heroes, so small-time villains like them, who always get kicked around, might have been drawn in by that sort of pure, unaffected evil.

Toshinori having a flashback here, though his expression… I wonder if he’s having doubts already. And honestly, that flashback bit has me wonder just how common ‘uncontrollable’ quirks really are… and what COUNTS as ‘uncontrollable’ in their society.

To avoid a longer derail, Tsukauchi finishes up by saying that thanks to the heroes, the police can focus on their investigation. They’ll expand their search and devote efforts to apprehending the perpetrators.

Nedzu finishes out the scene by musing over the use of ‘man-child,’ stating that in one way, Shigaraki is a lot like their students. He has potential to grow, if only he had a proper mentor to follow. It’s difficult to think about these things.

And so we shift scenes back over to 1a. I doubt this sports festival talk is happening at the same time as the staff meeting, if only because Aizawa should have been at said staff meeting. Or maybe he wasn’t supposed to be there at all and the homerooms were meant to handle themselves that morning? Wait, hold on-

That clock reads 8:25. This is happening during the homeroom period, which means that the other classes are having independant homeroom. Which also means it’s no surprise that Aizawa isn’t at that meeting, because he’s busy hobbling to his class to announce the sports festival. He probably had to be caught up on the meeting stuff later.

Anyways. The class is surprised over the announcement of the sports festival, someone calling it ‘totally ordinary’ while another (I think Mineta) questions whether Aizawa’s sure about this, since they just had that villain attack. Aizawa states that it’s necessary to demonstrate that UA’s crisis management protocols are sound - or that’s the thinking, anyways. There will be five times the police presence of previous years. Oh, and also the sports festival is the greatest opportunity the class will get. It’s not something that can be cancelled over a few villains.

Mineta (again?) asks if he’s sure about that, muttering about how it’s ‘just a stupid sports festival.’ Izuku seems completely horrified at the idea that Mineta might have never seen UA’s sports festival, which Mineta hastens to correct - he has, that’s not what he meant.

I’m sorry just. That face. I can’t with this kid. Jdsjlgkd.

Also, we finally get to the page that had me double-take when I got to it because, well.

So yeah, apparently the BNHA timeline didn’t have certain current events happened that would force the cancellation of the Olympics. (I mean, obviously Hori had no way of knowing the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo would be cancelled, but it’s still like a huge sign of how long this series has been running that this is here.)

Moving on, basically the above surmises for readers that the sports festival is as big an event to them as the Olympics are to us. So basically, super hype. Momo notes that all the nation’s top heroes will be watching and scouting. Kaminari adds on how the heroes will be looking to hire the hero students as sidekicks after they graduate. Jirou makes a cutting retort how a lot of those sidekicks never manage to go solo, stuck as sidekicks forever, before telling Kaminari that’ll be him.

Shot through the heart.

(Also a total aside I just realized: current manga events likely mean there will be no sports festival for 2a. I mean, I would say the events happening there are large enough in scope that UA just doesn’t have the inclination or interest in broadcasting vital information the villains could use. And like, no scouting, no internships, no purpose for it.

And I mean, even if they did, would any of the kids even be able to focus on doing their best? God knows how stressed and nervous they all must be with how society is basically collapsing outside the school.)

Aizawa tells the class that they’ll gain valuable experience and popularity if they’re picked up by a big-name hero. However, their time is limited. They need to show the pros what they’re made of to make futures for themselves. This happens once a year, so they have three shots. If they want to be heroes, this is an event they can’t miss.

The whole class seems to be taking this seriously, but Izuku…

Well, he doesn’t seem as enthused as expected.

Anyways, I’ll cut it there and leave the rest for next time, since there’s a time break in here anyways. It’s not quite halfway, but eh.

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chaoticfriendship · 3 years

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This is not hate but how can you support someone like pewdiepie after all hes done? I feel like it's wrong to put him with Jack because sometimes i feel like jacks his friend only because he feels he needs to because of the shoutout. Don't stan him with Jack or associate him with him please. Pewdiepie is a bad influence and a white supremacist

Ok. Let’s talk. I was going to ignore this but you’re really persistent. This is the fifth ask you have sent me telling me the same thing but in different ways. Sad thing is that I just started this blog, I can’t believe this keeps happening to me in every fandom I go to. Some of you need to understand something about Felix.

Yes, I’m aware he did a lot of questionable things. And no, he’s not a white supremacist. He’s not racist. And he’s not homophobic or whatever Twitter/the media is saying about him these days. I might not know him personally but I’ve been watching Felix since the very beginning and even with this little info about his life I can tell the difference between some things people choose to ignore about him. He’s a very honest person and he always tells everyone the information they need to know about him, whether it is about his personal life or his pewdiepie persona. His real actual friends (Jack, Ken, Mark -also good people, and whether you like it or not, Jack is one of them) held him accountable for the things he did and also made sure to assure everyone that the ‘Pewdiepie’ personality is totally different than his real-self. They confirmed he’s not any of his mistakes. Meaning the ‘Pewdiepie’ personality got too far and the facade/entertainment mask fell off of him when he made those mistakes. This was not only a lesson for him but it showed him places that needed real improvement in his life, something we all need sometimes. We all fall short in understanding the potential harm we can do to others and we easily face the temptation to define ourselves by ignoring those crucial parts. What Felix needed to learn was self-awareness. And he’s now constantly working on it so he can objectively evaluate himself when it comes to those things. Some people face this alone and privately but, him, as an internet sensation had to do it on camera.

Pay attention to what his actual friends say about him. Jack himself said it:

‘It is strange, all the stuff that gets said about him, it’s kind of weird to see that being said about a friend of yours. To hear his actual thoughts on it…people like to take things every which way and twist things all over the place. I don’t know how he does it, with that many people on you and that much scrutiny on you constantly. I think I would have lost my mind by now.’

I’m also aware he’s a white rich guy and that he’s a step up on the scale from me and other people but I’m sure that if I dig long enough, I’m going to find something about certain actors/actresses/musicians (that most likely you and other people love) as well. Meaning they’re human at the end of the day and they might make mistakes too. Felix is the same case here.

It was dumb to say certain things and do certain things? YES. I held him accountable when he did those things. He didn’t need to say or do the things he did. It was irresponsible, harmful and immature from his part. However, he’s willing to make a change and work on it so this is something I can appreciate.

He did the fivver video. This is his statement:

‘I make videos for my audience. I think of the content that I create as entertainment, and not a place for any serious political commentary. I know my audience understand that and that is why they come to my channel. Though this was not my intention, I understand that these jokes were ultimately offensive. I think it’s important to say something and I want to make one thing clear: I am in no way supporting any kind of hateful attitudes.’

his response.

He said the ‘n’ word. He sincerely apologized. This is his statement:

‘I hate how I personally fed into that part of gaming. It was something that was said in the heat of the moment. I said the worst word I could possibly think of and it slipped out. I’m not going to make excuses to why I did it because there are not excuses for it. I’m dissappointed in myself because it seems like I learned nothing from controversies. And it’s not like I think I can do or say whatever I want and get away with it. I’m just an idiot but that doesn’t make what I said or how I said it okay. It was not okay. I’m really sorry If I offended, hurt or disappointed anyone with all of this. Being in the position I am, I should know better. I know I can’t keep messing up like this and I owe it to my audience and to myself to do better than this. I really want to improve and better myself, not just for me but for anyone that looks up to me or anyone that is influenced by me and that’s how I wanna move forward. Away from this.’

source: my response.

He:

Held himself accountable.

Made no excuses for his behaviour.

Recognized he did something wrong and stupid.

Sincerely apologized for it without making a fake act or fake crying for sympathy.

Never asked for sympathy or support because he's willing to make a real change in behavior.

Realized some people are influenced by him and worked to be better for them and himself.

Chose to be himself and stand his ground on an important matter to make his audience understand he was taking this as serious as it is.

Understood he gave ammunition that feeds some people the wrong idea and didn’t try to rationalize it because he knows he should take accountability for it.

Saw that he had no need for jokes or words like that in his vocabulary in the first place and worked on self-control.

Rightfully feels ashamed for his actions.

Here you can see Felix takes this seriously. He’s not messing around with what happened. He takes it with the responsibility it should be taken.

And this is enough for me. I’m sorry if you think Felix needs to do a blood sacrifice to prove himself but that’s just not how it works.

We all have said or done things we are not proud of. He did many of them and trust me, he was held accountable for them. How? Here’s a list of the consequences:

He was part of the original content network YouTube Red, and was affiliated with Disney’s MakerStudios brand where he had his own network. Disney cut all ties with him.

They cancelled his YouTube Red show, where a lot of people put big effort (not only the participants but the crew members). You can see that this was important for him. It was not just some random ass show.

Was held accountable for his actions and it was made known every mistake he did. Every single one.

Received the proper criticism from the media, his fans and his own friends.

He also received harsh backlash and hate from the situation.

Lost support from followers, celebrities, friends and companies.

He’s constantly attacked by people and media outlets on a daily basis. Some people even fabricate false stories about him.

He faced the proper consequences for those actions. Let him move on already.

You also listed a bunch of stuff in one of your asks, things he’s NEVER done. Those are things the media has made you and everyone else believe he did but he didn’t. This is why you should never believe any random media headline, you need to actually do your own research to see if that’s true or not. Here are the things you said he did (none of these are true):

No, he hasn’t hired people to say the ‘n’ word. This is not true at all.

No, he doesn’t promote Adolf Hitler speeches and anti-semitic cartoons. Disney did once tho.

No, he’s not homophobic. At all. He was actually evicted from his own flat because his previous landlord is an actual homophobic person and called him and his crew the ‘f’ word. He decided to move far away from the guy.

No, he didn’t perform the Nazi heil. Never.

No, he didn’t pay the ‘Jesus’ guy to hold a sign that says ‘Hitler did nothing wrong’ this is a lie. Someone else did it and the media said it was him to cause more controversy. He paid him to say ‘Subscribe to Jacksepticeye’.

No, he’s not racist. For this, his content would’ve to be filled with racial jokes and actual intentional attacks daily. His content is not like that, trust me, the most he does is play with some tambourine all the time. He’s said the ‘n’ word (something he admitted was terrible, apologized for it and took responsibility for his words), yes but someone that feels as bad and ashamed as he does, does not equal to what an actual racist is and how they act.

No, he didn’t dress up in a Klansman robe. He never did that. This is also false information about him.

No, he doesn’t bully his friends or enables bullying. I don’t know where the media got that one but I can assure you they’ve got no friends if they think his interactions with his own friends are ‘bullying’.

No, he doesn’t joke about crises happening around the world. AT ALL. He constantly raises money for them (and gives his own money as well) to different causes such as the Wildfires Emergency Appeal, Team Trees (to plant 20 million trees), St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (for kids with diseases such as cancer), Crisis Text Line, National Alliance on Mental Illness (a group that helps those suffering from mental illness), CRY (a GoFundMe campaign to help Indian children living in poverty), World Wildlife Fund (dedicated to the reduction of mankind’s environmental impact), RED (did a whole 7 hour livestream with friends to help people fighting HIV/AIDS in Africa), Charity: Water (a non-profit that provides drinking water to developing nations), Save the Children (for underprivileged kids to give them better education, healthcare, better economic opportunities), he recently raised $106,000 for the BLM movement donating the contributions to the family of George Floyd and other victims of police violence, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Hope for Holt, Malaria No More, Oceana, SpecialEffect, War Child, etc. Does this sound like someone who makes fun of real problems happening around the globe? No. And no, he hasn’t made fun of those causes either.

No, he doesn’t make fun of mental illnesses. He talks about it with the proper respect and delicacy it deserves. He constantly adresses mental health, shares resources for viewers who may be struggling and talks about the importance of being aware and getting legitimate help. Where are you taking these facts from?

No, he doesn’t support China’s police brutality. He was BANNED from China for critizing the president and the country’s treatment of Hong Kong’s anti-government protests. How hard is it to watch the real video instead of trusting some Susan from Twitter?

No, he has NEVER disrespected Japanese culture. Felix loves Japan and respects their culture. He always treats the people and the place with utter respect.

He’s not a white supremacist or a secret Nazi. Are you insane? He’s said it himself ‘f*** anyone who is racist and anyone who is a white nationalist. That’s not what I’m about. And that’s not what my channel has been about either.’ Maybe if you think about it, the media painted him that way and people decided to go with it because they don’t actually watch his videos. The number of accusations and stories are insane and ridiculous. Have you ever watched one of his videos? Ever? Because if you would’ve, you would know none of these things are true.

No, he doesn’t encourage kids/teens to see and follow Nazi ethics. He recommended a channel that does anime reviews (he didn’t know the channel had pro white-supremacy videos). You’re accusing him of that for not checking the thousand-something videos said channel has because he liked one anime review? This is reaching to a whole new degree. You could’ve randomly watched the same anime review vid, does that make you a Nazi as well? And NO, he didn’t wear an Iron Cross, he was wearing a Georgian Bolnisi cross. The shirt is by the Georgian designer Demna Gvasalia. Use Google please.

I don’t think you’re a real Jacksepticeye fan if you think he’s sticking up for him only because of a shout-out that happened years ago. Extend your perspective in this. He knows him in real-life. He’s his best friend. He can tell he’s not a bad person. This is not a hard thing to figure out.

Also, you forgot to put the anon option in one of your asks, so I know who you are. Weren’t you joking about WW3, using the ‘r’ word to fight with your followers and making fun of the BLM movement a few months ago on your twitter account? It might not look like it’s possible but we’ve also made and are capable of making some of the same mistakes too. The difference is that some of you hide behind the ‘it’s just humor to cope with life’ gen z card. Joking about a serious important movement is harmful as well, hope you can learn that.

I can’t tell you how to emotionally react to his content, however I can advise that if it bothers you that much you should remove yourself from the environment that revolves around him (if you even watch his videos which I highly doubt) if you’re not willing to give him a chance. You also need to remember that forgiveness is private and personal, just because you don't see his content and can't see that change doesn't mean it's not happening. There’s power in understanding.

#pewdiepie #felix kjellberg #jacksepticeye #sean mcloughlin #youtube #youtubers

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painted-piggy-ships-archive · 3 years

Text

He Mixes It With Love (And Makes The World Taste Good)

Daniel Robitaille/Candyman x Eden Trowbridge

Word Count: 1547

Tag List: @ghostlyvenus-selfships @the-schizotypal-cryptid @heavenshipped @fangedwife

Summary: I WRITE MY BEST (debatable, at least LONGEST) STUFF BETWEEN MIDNIGHT AND TWO AM, AND I DON’T KNOW WHY. Anyway. Eden meets Candyman, and is unknowingly his lover reincarnated. He knows, though. He’ll stop at nothing to have them see him, for him. To have them remember. (White) Clover = “Think of me” & Daisies = Loyal Love (among other things).

Warnings: Mentions of racism, homophobia, and transphobia due to the times, mentions of murder and gore, mentions of smoking, mentions of drinking, drunk guys being creepy, mentions of police, mention of a hospital, also again dog mention for anyone with canophobia.

Like my writing? Consider Reblogging 🔁 and/or leaving a nice Comment 💬 when you can! Thank you!

Eden Trowbridge was a semi-retired journalist. He’d always had a fascination with myths and the macabre, but found the dark stories he was often assigned to be taking a toll on his mental health. So, for the moment, he backed out. Where he lived didn’t help, either. He was one of the very few white people living in the area, and the Cabrini Green housing project was merely two blocks away. It had nothing to do with race, really… the place was just dangerous in general.

Eden faced his own personal problems as well; as a gay, transgender man, he certainly had his share of critics with an arsenal of threats. But that was life. He tried to find joy in the little things, and always made sure he was considerate and polite to others, no matter their race, identity, etc. When they cut us open, we all bleed the same colour.

Now, as he tried to work on an independent novel, his phone rang. He sighed and retracted from his messy desk when he couldn’t ignore it, going to answer the phone.

“Trowbridge.” He answered formally. He was expecting it to be a call from his boss, he was correct.

“Hey, Eden. I think I’ve got something for you. None of the other guys want to do it.”

Eden’s gaze dropped to the floor, mentally sighing.

“What is it?”

“You know anything about Candyman?”

“What, you mean like a guy that sells candy??”

“No, the urban legend.”

“Doesn’t ring a bell.”

“Well, it’s said he haunts Cabrini Green. You live around there. Go check it out, maybe you can get a new perspective on the situation.”

“Todd…”

“I’ll pay you well.”

Eden scoffed. “How well? I’m not risking my life for a ghost story.” Besides the fact they’ll be quite suspicious of somebody like me over there.

“Double your current salary.”

“I don’t know…”

“Name your price, then.”

Eden reflected. Asking for enough to get out of this shithole flat would cancel the deal outright… but maybe enough to fix his car…

“I want fifteen hundred.”

“I’ll see what I can do…”

“So, what do you want?”

“Do some research, talk to the locals. Revive this story with the idea your eye might catch something police have missed.”

We all know pigs are too apprehensive to tread in this territory anyway.

“Alright. I’ll see what I can do.” Eden echoed. “Have a good afternoon.”

“Bye.”

Eden hung up the phone and stubbed out the cigarette they had been smoking. Their pitbull, Bela, lifted his head from his paws, tilting it to the side with a slight whine. Eden sighed and crouched to pet him affectionately.

“Looks like I’m back to work.”

~~~

Eden had spent most of their time at the library, putting off actually visiting Cabrini Green for as long as possible… just walking past the building gave them chills. But now, they’d gotten everything they could. He hyped himself up, planning on visiting the apartments the next day. However, it seemed he’d be saved by a phone call.

“Trowbridge.”

“Eden Trowbridge?” A different voice than he expected came from the other end.

“Yes, this is Eden. And you are…?”

“Jake McDiamond, we went to college together? Had a lot of classes…”

“Oh. Oh, yeah, hey Jake, what’s. What’s shaking?” Eden answered awkwardly. They hadn’t spoken to much of their peers after college, and certainly not now.

“Me and some of your other classmates, acquaintance-friends, whatever… we’re having a get-together party tonight and I was wondering if you wanted to come, since I still have your number.”

Eden shrugged to themself.

“When is it?” They asked, glancing at the clock. Not at all a good excuse to put work off, but an excuse opportunity nonetheless.

“Nine to twelve, at 4509 Hillview Street. Kennedy Doogal’s house.”

“Sure. I’ll be there.”

“Oh? I mean, great! It’ll be good to see you again.”

“Yeah. Certainly will be interesting catching up with everyone… see you then.”

“See you.”

Eden quickly went to find a suitable outfit for the evening, coming back to find their dog giving them side-eye.

“Oh, Bela, don’t look at me like that. If it keeps me sane for another night, I’m going. Now don’t chew up the couch while I’m gone.” They set out new food and water, kissed the top of Bela’s head, and left their flat.

~~~

The night was all fun and stress-free, up until about eleven-thirty, when people’s drinking was beginning to get out of hand.

“So, you’re doing a piece on Candyman?” A guy Eden didn’t really know asked. They gulped down the last of their drink.

“Mm-hm. You know something?” They felt in their pocket for a notepad though they knew they didn’t bring one. They were supposed to be unwinding, not taking notes for a paper they were only partially motivated to work on.

“I heard if you say his name five times in a mirror… he’ll find you, and he’ll kill you. But you don’t believe that shit, do you?”

Eden shrugged. “I’m skeptical until something’s proven. You know, real people have died due to similar wounds attributed to this Candyman figure…” He hiccupped, excusing himself. “But I think it’s either coincidence, or somebody copying the legend just to spread fear. And I certainly think that is some shit.”

“Then let’s do it.” The guy stood, accompanied by two of his friends, and pulled Eden to his feet.

“Huh?”

“That is, if you aren’t chicken. Let’s summon Candyman.”

Eden frowned, stepping back uncomfortably. “You couldn’t pay me to go through with it. Not after what I’ve read.”

“Chicken,” one of the other boys snickered. The main guy’s lackeys grabbed Eden’s arms and firmly led them to a bathroom.

“I don’t remember giving you a choice.”

Crammed between sweaty, drunken men, who seemed to still be riding the high of their college years, kept Eden pinned in front of a sink. The only light was a small nightlight beside the mirror.

“Candyman.” The main asshole began.

“W-wait. What are your names?” Eden had enough sobriety to know if they could get the guys’ names, and remember their faces, they could report the current situation as harassment. Not that they believed the police would care, but it’d be nice if they did manage to get these guys in trouble.

“Thomas.”

“Lennie.”

“Franklin.”

“Now don’t let him get away!” Thomas ordered, standing directly behind Eden, his large hands on their shoulders as he leaned over their head, staring deeply into the glossy surface of the mirror.

“Candyman. Candyman. Candyman.” He moved to whisper the last one in Eden’s ear, though he maintained eye contact with the mirror; “Candyman.”

A pause. Nothing happened. The men laughed at their smaller peer.

“Chicken!” Lennie repeated, now clucking like a hen with Franklin. The door opened and the light suddenly came on. A towering figure appeared in the doorway, and it took a moment for the drunken bullies to turn and notice him. They screamed when a bloody hook plunged into their guts, one at a time, and tore through their flesh, halting at their adam’s apples. Eden dropped to the floor, covering his ears and fearing for his life.

“Eden.~” A honey-coated voice hummed.

“Leave me alone! Please… please don’t kill me…” Eden sobbed, attempting to crawl over the corpses on the floor and past the man’s pant leg. Candyman’s pant leg. “I didn’t say it…”

Eden’s head began to spin as he grew weak, instinctively clinging to Candyman’s leg for support, now. His non-hook hand ran calmly over Eden’s locks.

“Hush. I will come back for you.”

~~~

The next thing Eden knew, he woke up in a hospital, his boss sitting beside his bed.

“Eddie! Thank god…”

“What happened…??” Eden asked warily.

“You were found passed out in the bathroom at a party… next to three corpses. Gutted. Blood everywhere.”

Tears pricked Eden’s eyes.

“Oh my gods…”

“Do you remember anything??”

Eden shook his head. “Barely… I know it was Jake McDiamond and Kennedy Doogal’s party. They wanted to reconnect with some of their college classmates, so naturally I said ‘why not,’ and went. We all got smashed… and then it’s all a blur.”

“I see.”

“Wait, I remember three names… Thomas, Lennie… a-and Franklin, yes. Franklin.”

“The three found dead. Well, I’m sure you’ll get the cops asking you more than me… I’m just glad you’re alright. Take it easy, okay?” Todd stood.

“Okay…”

“I’ll try and move the deadline for that piece on Candyman.” With that, Eden’s boss left them to a moment of uneasy silence, only broken by tapping on their window. Cautiously, they climbed out of the bed and approached the window… upon opening it, they found flowers on the sill; white clover and daisies.

Wait. I’m on at least the tenth floor. How…? Mildly frightened and mildly fascinated, Eden took the flowers and closed the window, returning to their bed. They subtly sniffed at the plants, closing their eyes, feeling… nostalgic, and warm, but unable to place where the feeling was coming from. They were jolted out of this peace, however, by violent imagery flashing before their very eyes. They began to weep uncontrollably as a nurse came to assist and calm them down.

They belonged to Candyman, now.

#clownie writes #self shipping #self shipping community #self insert #🐝Daniel is Orange🐝#q'd

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canmom · 3 years

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Animation Night 38: Mamoru Oshii

Hey there friends! It’s time for Animation Night again. Still not gotten round to filling in last week’s Lupin post, but it’ll come. Anyway...

Well, the last many months, we’ve been working our way down the list of big name anime auteurs - and it’s time for this guy!

Mamoru Oshii is surely best known for his famous film adaptation of Masamune Shirow’s Ghost in the Shell, but that’s actually something I’m gonna be saving for next week when we’ll be doing a dive (off the rooftops) into that franchise. Instead, this week I want to share some of Oshii’s various other films, bc they can be quite a mood!

So, from the top! It probably explains a lot to note that Oshii grew up watching a lot of artsy European films by people like “Federico Fellini, Ingmar Bergman, Michelangelo Antonioni and Jean-Pierre Melville” (thanks WP). He went into anime storyboarding pretty much straight out of uni in the 70s, working on fairly minor baseball anime; the break came in 1981 where he joined Studio Pierrot to work on the scifi romcom series Urusei Yatsura, especially the second film where he started to indulge in time loop plots and pouring the philosophy juice.

While scifi movies would turn out to be the niche that best suited Oshii, his first step away from TV anime was to try a new format for anime: Dallos (1983-4) was the very first OVA, which is startling considering how quickly the format took off by the end of the 80s. You can read someone’s very detailed plot summary here; according to that guy, it was left frustratingly unfinished after four episodes, and the story wasn’t a great deal to write home about, hence largely forgotten beyond the ‘first OVA’ footnote.

Oshii, meanwhile, had a much more exciting plan - he was planning a Lupin III film. From the sounds of things, what he had in mind was a sort of cyborg-filled, GitS-like take on Lupin, but the premise was too weird for Tōhō and Yomiuri; having heavily advertised Oshii as the director (I guess he was already a ~marketable name~ back then?) they decided to just cancel the film! Tragic honestly, I’d love to see an Oshii take on Lupin, that would be fucking wild.

Oshii took the ideas with him, and instead went ahead to direct one of his first really personal films: Angel’s Egg, at Studio Deen (not one familiar to me, but they seem to be a v long running studio who’ve worked on quite a bit of high profile stuff including Ranma, the first Fate anime, and the Higurashi/Umineko adaptations).

This is where we hit the art, or if you prefer, vibes, that Oshii is known for! Angel’s Egg is almost wordless, full of surreal, frequently biblical imagery and gorgeous Yoshitaka Amano character design. The plot is kind of abstract, but broadly, a soldier boy is wandering a strange empty land where armies fight shadow fishes; one day he encounters a girl with a giant egg, who asks him not to break it... and the egg remains totally fine and definitely does not get broken at some later point in the film no way 🙃

Oshii had grown up Christian, but while making this film, he became disillusioned with his religion, and well it’s not a stretch to see that getting metaphorised in the film! But while this is the usual angle taken by critics, Oshii has himself refused to give a specific interpretation of the film. In any case, here we see the onset of certain images that would recur throughout Oshii’s films: fossils and extinct animals, military imagery of soldiers locked into aimless tasks...

Following Angel’s Egg, whose producer Toshio Suzuki was among the founders of Ghibli, Oshii briefly collaborated with Miyazaki and Takahata towards a film that would be called Anchor, only to fall out over some kind of vague creative differences. Instead, it was time for the ‘militarised police force’ era of Oshii’s career!

Joining a small creative collective called Headgear at the invitation of his friend, screenwriter Kazunori Itō, Oshii would spend the next few years on two parallel strands: the extremely down-to-earth mecha series Patlabor, imagining the cops of a near-future setting where mechas are ubiquitous and not always reliable; and the mostly live-action Kerberos series, which grimly imagines a future where Japan went full fash again, creating a specialist police force in blatantly SS-inspired gear who end up going rogue.

I’ve seen the first Patlabor film some time ago, and a lot of it is like, squad room shenanigans, though it has some very impressive action scenes at the end on a collapsing artificial island. We can certainly trace some of its influences to events at the time - like with Akira, there is for example the Tokyo housing bubble taking place in the 80s, which is in the film transformed into literal hopeless attempts to construct artificial islands. Machinery runs amok in civilian neighbourhoods, etc. etc. It saw the beginning of Oshii’s long collaboration with composer Kenji Kawai, though not yet at the heights of his GitS soundtrack!

But it’s the second Patlabor film is the one which seems to be best known: Patlabor 2 (1994) saw Oshii work with the renowned Production I.G., and things more geopolitical, imagining a conflict between different branches of the JSDF stemming ultimately from a failed ‘peacekeeping’ mission in Cambodia which turns a military commander against the political authorities. (In real life, Japan sent police forces along with a number of other countries under the UN to Cambodia in the aftermath of the Cambodia-Vietnam war as ‘peacekeepers’ in the early 90s, so that would have been pretty fresh in the news.)

This leads to some remarkable scenes of martial law being imposed and tanks rolling through Tokyo while the civilian population sits by. Looking for more background to this, I came across this interview with an American magazine; Oshii describes his intent as reflecting Japan’s role in the cold war:

OSHII: I think it may be difficult for Americans to understand. The story is really based on political programs that exist in Japan, so it has quite a few deep meanings within it. In Patlabor 2, I wanted to describe the Cold War for Japan. It was a war, but a silent war. When the Cold War existed between the U.S. and Russia, the "stance" of Japan was not to be directly involved. Even though Japan was involved, it kept insisting for fifty years that it wasn't. I wanted to describe that fake peace.

To contextualise a bit - in the years after their defeat by America in WWII, Japan signed a number of defence treaties making them an ally of the United States and letting the US maintain military bases their, pretty much perpetually, though not without significant protest against further alignment with the US in the cold war. For their own part, article 9 of the post-war constitution, Japan renounced the ‘right to belligerency’ and prohibited maintaining an army. In practice, though, they have a developed pretty big one, and were a close ally of the US in e.g. providing logistical support for Vietnam and deploying troops through the UN in ‘peacekeeping’ operations. Yet officially, Article 9 still applies, and is (to my understanding) considered quite important; wanting to revoke it is a pretty hardline nationalist position.

I also came across a much more in-depth interview where Oshii talks to Hayao Miyazaki. It’s a remarkable interview, as much for getting a sense of Miyazaki’s worldview as Oshii’s (also: Miyazaki is quite mean! though Oshii hardly seems to mind). As far as the film, Miyazaki seems to think the film is decent entertainment, but seems unimpressed with the film’s stance:

Miyazaki: About the conversation between Arakawa and Goto about the false peace and war of justice, that enumeration of words, I thought that "here we go again, the Oshii tune as usual." I thought that that's what you've been saying all the time, but since they are fast-talking, we can not stop and think (while watching the movie). So, you have removed the organic agriculture, you have removed the debate at the Diet, in short, the most tiresome things in our daily life, the worldly nitty-gritty, you removed all those things, and created a computer game in the Oshii world. I saw the movie as such. Before I saw it, I had thought that Oshii-san's book of thoughts might have come out, but (after I saw it), I thought that Oshii-san was in the mental state of moving to Izu to settle down to watch Tokyo. -laughs-

Oshii: That's fairly close. -laughs-

Miyazaki: In that sense, it was interesting until I saw your hands. But the minute you set up the movie with more worldly settings so that it will have a more interesting conspiracy, such as, "it was the Clinton government's trap to inflict economic damage on Japan, or to gain a political compromise (from Japan)," it further loses reality. America is also in a fix. If they do (fight), I feel that it will be a more stupid, violent, simple, kids' brawl. Such as not buying Japanese cars anymore. But this is complicated, too. What about American cars with Japanese engines? -laughs-

I admit, my interest in this film was mostly spurred by fans talking about the impact of some of its scenes, so I’m looking forward to seeing what our take on this angle might be...

Meanwhile, as far as Kerberos, I admit I don’t know a great deal about this one. The series comprises a trilogy of films, two live action and finally one animated in Jin-Roh, which is the best-known of the series. The second you see the armour on the cover you know it’s about fascism lol. Beginning as a manga and spreading to Japanese and Korean film, anime, and a bunch of other media including even fucking... monographs (???), it’s set in a grim alternate 1950s, in which different branches of the state’s violent apparatus conflict with each other as well as the insurrectionary ‘Sect’. The background is surely the real political turmoil of that time, epitomised by events like the assassination of communist political figure Inejirō Asanuma by an ultranationalist with a sword.

For our purposes, the one that gets the most attention is the third film, Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (1999), and the first to be made as anime - though it was actually remade as a Korean live-action film a couple of years ago. The film concerns a member of the Kerberos division (the guys in the SS-looking armour) who is put on trial after he hesitates to kill a girl carrying an IED, only to come into contact with someone who is allegedly her older sister after her release. The story is framed through Little Red Riding Hood; if you ask random youtube video essays I found, it does so in order to complicate an overly simple victim/villain binary but idk that might just be that guy’s take (for my part, it seems pretty obvious that the guys in nazi armour are the bad guys and it’s probably good to blow them up).

I won’t be screening this tonight bc, ngl, no matter how gorgeously it’s shot and animated, the heavy fash imagery makes me uneasy and I want to see what it’s doing with it!

Oh yeah, and in between making Patlabor 2 and Jin-Roh, Oshii did a little number called Ghost in the Shell. More on that next week! But GitS is notable for many things: meticulous direction, stunning imagery (Production IG absolutely killing it on the animation front), and overall effectively distilling Shirow’s chaotic manga down to Oshii’s preferred philosophical themes. It’s no surprise that it’s the film that got him international recognition.

In the 2000s, Oshii went back to live action, directing a fascinating-sounding movie called Avalon about a VR game in 2001, followed by the psychedelic Assault Girls in 2009 (which I’ve heard good things about from @velocityvsreality who is far more familiar with the tokusatsu world!) He also played around with CG imagery, as in Mezame no Hakabune/Open Your Mind (2005), which was a sequence of psychedlic visuals set to Kenji Kawai’s fantastic music that played in iMax theatres. Like much of Oshii’s films, it’s concerned with evolution, there are military themes, it puts striking imagery above all else... it’s a cool watch.

In terms of anime, though! He made a sequel to GitS, titled Innocence, which was sadly not all that successful. In 2009, though, he started on another original story: The Sky Crawlers, depicting a world in which strangely emotionless clone children fly WWII-like aeroplanes as a sublimated form of war. As with many of Oshii’s films, it’s slow and contemplative, meticulous with tech... it has, sadly, been years since I watched this film so I can’t immediately summarise what it does with the theme, but I still remember it as creating a striking mood that stayed with me after the film.

The last decade has seen Oshii return once more to live action, working in scifi films and suspense thrillers, but I am running out of time to research these! But he is actually coming back to anime sometime presumably very soon, with the series Vladlove (a name that is palindromic when transliterated into Japanese) being announced as a kind of... yuri vampire comedy??? Definitely not something I expected given Oshii’s filmmaking habits so far, but I’m sure it’s gonna be one to watch!

We have 15 minutes left for this Animation Night to commence at 7pm UK time, though I’ll probably leave it a little late so I can scribble out a title card. The place will be twitch.tv/canmom as usual! Hope to see you there, Oshii is a master of imagery and atmosphere and will surely give us lots to discuss!

Playlist is gonna be:

Mezame no Hakabune (while people are coming in and I draw a title card ><)

Angel’s Egg

Patlabor 2

The Sky Crawlers

(and next week, more Oshii with GitS night!! want to make that one really special)

#animation night #mamoru oshii #really feel like this one could be more substantial engagement with oshii's themes but maybe that's better saved for afterwards

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musette22 · 4 years

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Hi guys,

I have been away for a few days visiting family, but I am now back and I just want to say a couple of things that I feel I need to say. What I said in a previous post about my anxiety and mental health still stands, but I also recognise that whatever I'm feeling doesn't even come close to measuring up to the sadness and fear and anger that many of you who have encountered racism first hand are experiencing right now. So while I'm still not going to answer individual asks about this – for the reasons I gave previously and because I don't want to take the focus away too much from where it ought to be – I do want to make my position clear here. This blog is for a large part about Sebastian and will continue to be about him for the foreseeable future, so what has happened should be addressed here, and my POC followers deserve to know that I support you without reservation and that this is still a safe space for you and always will be.

I want to make it very clear that Sebastian does not in any way factor into my thoughts and feelings about the Black Lives Matter movement. I condemn any and all forms of racism and I stand with the BLM movement fully and unconditionally. This has to end, and we have to do our best to make the changes the world needs, together. We should all speak up and stand up for what is right, and supporting marginalised and oppressed communities should always take precedence over any attachment or allegiance we might feel towards privileged (and in this case white, male) celebrities – that goes without saying. Also, I am not by any means an expert on any of these issues, and I am not American nor POC, so I won't pretend to have all the insights and answers. I can only tell you some of my thoughts on Sebastian’s actions in this regard, and hope that that means something to some of you.

· Yes, I believe Sebastian could and should've handled this situation differently and better, regardless of what reasons he may have had for handling it the way he did. His actions have left me disappointed and confused too, and as much as I love him (I really do!) this is not his finest hour. He’s a grown man who’s responsible for his own behaviour, the good and the bad, and I’m not going to defend his behaviour in this case, because I believe it to be lacking. It’s not okay to blindly defend your faves’ actions just because you love them. It’s good to be critical and hold the people you love accountable when they do stuff that doesn’t pass muster.

· Yes, people have every right to be upset, disappointed or even angry, and, in the case of his fans, to unstan if they are feeling any of those things. I am in no position to tell other people how to feel about this, so I’m not going to. The BLM movement and the overarching issues of racism and inequality in the US and elsewhere are much, much bigger than any one individual, and infinitely more important than any part of celebrity culture. Moreover, I am a firm believer in putting our mental health first. If you can’t support Sebastian after what’s happened because you feel hurt or anxious or otherwise negatively impacted, then it’s perfectly acceptable and even preferable to step away. We cannot make the changes the world needs if we don’t take care of our own mental health first.

· No, I do not believe hate or harassment (whether against Sebastian or against other people who have joined in this discourse in whatever way) is the answer. I think some of you will know that that’s one of the beliefs by which I live and approach any situation, not just this one. I am an advocate of communication, of learning and growing, wherever possible. Of course, sometimes communication just isn’t enough, but I believe it often can be when it comes to people making singular mistakes, like in Sebastian’s case. Voicing disappointment in fandom/standom too often equals cancellation, which I frankly find short-sighted and kind of lazy. We should be allowed to be disappointed in someone without it meaning we no longer love them, and normalise that notion. Celebrities are still humans, and as such they will make mistakes, through which they will hopefully learn and grow, just like the rest of us. At this point in time, I believe Sebastian to be a good person who did a stupid thing, so I personally am not going write him off right now because of what happened over the past week, but I do sincerely hope he’ll do better in the future.

· I do think the preoccupation with whether or not a celeb posts something on their social media is missing the point. This is not about celebrities. It’s about black people being killed by police in a system that seemingly places no value on the lives of its black citizens; it’s about structural inequality and racism being rampant in the US and many other places in the world, and about how we can change that. This is what the focus should be on, not on who's posting what on social media when. Again, feeling disappointed, mad, and upset with Sebastian is okay and fair, and you every right to voice that if that’s how you feel, but I also think we have to remember to focus our time, energy, and activism where it matters, and that there are other ways to help the cause besides posting about it on social media, which unfortunately seems to be performative to a large extent anyway. But I do believe that for someone with a significant social media following like Sebastian does, it’s important to show solidarity with those who might be impacted by everything that’s happening, and make it clear you are on their side.

Long story short: regardless of what reasons Seb may have had for not publicly showing his support for the BLM movement sooner, I still think he made the wrong decision in this case and he should absolutely step up his game in the future. It’s not okay that it took him so long to speak up about what’s been going on and I fully understand people’s aggravation over it. But while some mistakes are certainly worse than others, generally speaking making mistakes doesn’t necessarily make us bad people. Unless, of course, we don’t learn from them, but Sebastian also isn’t some serial offender. He’s shown himself to be a decent person time and time again, and that’s why I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt and allow him the opportunity to learn from this particular mistake and show that he can do better. I know some of you will disagree with me and that’s fine. This is not the absolute truth, just my opinion, and I realise I am also still learning.

#I'm sorry I'm not answering asks about this guys #I know lots of you are confused and need someone to talk to about this #but there have been a lot of asks about this #and I don't think I can do these questions justice in just a reply to an ask #so that's why I've decided to do a proper post #I hope you guys can understand that #hope everyone is hanging in there #and sending you all so much love and strength in these difficult times #❤️❤️❤️

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dippedanddripped · 3 years

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For more than a year, Los Angeles-based streetwear designer Tremaine Emory had been working with Converse on a red, green and black sneaker inspired by Jamaican political activist and Black nationalist Marcus Garvey’s Pan-African flag and artist David Hammons’ 1990 work “African-American Flag,” an original of which was acquired by the Broad museum in Los Angeles last year.

Emory’s brand, Denim Tears, tells the story of Black people in the United States starting in 1619, when the first documented enslaved Africans arrived in Virginia; according to the designer, the brand’s logo, a cotton plant, is a direct reference to slavery. That’s why the proposed packaging for his Converse sneaker collaboration depicts a coffin covered with Hammons’ flag and a cotton wreath, as a tribute to Black Americans who have died under unjust conditions. The image is based on an art installation, “A Proper Burial, Thanks America,” that Emory debuted in London last year.

However, in late May, as protests spread across the country after George Floyd’s death in police custody, Emory announced on Instagram that he and Denim Tears couldn’t go forward with the partnership until Converse’s parent company, Nike, went beyond its plan to donate $40 million over four years to support the Black community. (Michael Jordan, through his Nike subsidiary Jordan Brand, is donating an additional $100 million over 10 years.)

Emory called the move by Beaverton, Ore.,-based Nike, which reported $37.4 billion in revenue last fiscal year, a very expensive Band-Aid. He said he wanted to use his voice to push Nike to look inward at its own record on diversity and inclusion.

“It’s accountability,” Emory said in a phone interview. “It’s about Fortune 500 companies and how they are run under the guise of white supremacy and patriarchy and how I take accountability, that I need to see the steps — and brands that I work with dispensing that — or guys won’t work with me.”

In recent months, nearly all major industries, including entertainment, journalism and sports, have been forced to confront how closely their statements opposing systemic racism align with their treatment of Black and brown employees. The fashion industry, which has frequently been criticized for cultural appropriation, instances of blackface and a lack of diversity, is no different.

According to a count by trade publication Women’s Wear Daily, Black people make up only 4% — 19 out of 477 members — of the invitation-only Council of Fashion Designers of America, whose new chairman is Tom Ford. In an email to The Times, a CFDA spokesman said, “The CFDA does not record nor require members to state their race upon application, but it is estimated that members of color make up approximately 25% of the total membership.”

June 8, 2020

In anecdotal comments, Black streetwear designers from L.A. to New York told The Times that their subset of the fashion industry is no different.

“You can’t ignore the fact that there aren’t many Black brand owners in the streetwear space,” said Scott Sasso, who founded 10.Deep in 1995 while he was a student at Vassar. “And [at] some of the biggest companies, I don’t know if they’ve even had Black employees.”

Streetwear brands such as Denim Tears and 10.Deep offer casual clothing, primarily for men, that blend the styles of various subcultures, including hip-hop (as popularized in the 1990s by brands such as FUBU, Walker Wear and Phat Farm) as well as surf and skate motifs. It’s an identity that can be found in the clothing from brands such as Supreme and Stüssy. Instead of offering widely available, mass-produced products, streetwear brands tend to offer limited-edition drops for consumers who hear about companies through social media or by word of mouth.

Although Black style — from hip-hop to sneaker culture — has played a major role in shaping the fashion industry while bringing new designers and brands to prominence, Black fashion professionals and streetwear brand owners said in interviews with The Times that the clothing industry has failed to elevate and promote Black creatives in a way that reflects that influence.

Several designers also questioned the sincerity of corporations promising to invest in Black communities. They reflected on their own experiences trying to explain Black art to predominantly white company leaders.

Chicago-based designer Joe Freshgoods started selling T-shirts in high school and has been selling his designs out of Fat Tiger Workshop, the streetwear retail hub he co-owns, since 2013.

“I feel like a lot of these brands are in these boardrooms having these talks about how to fix this or how to just clean up their mistakes real fast, and it’s just like, ‘Hey, let’s just fill in the blanks real quick and see if this will make them happy,’” Freshgoods said.

He said he tried to include the logo of the Black Panther Party on a design for an Oakland-themed collaboration with an apparel brand last year. The company’s legal department rejected his proposal. At the time he went along with it, but now he’d push back, he said.

“A lot of Black collaborators are the reason why a lot of brands are super successful right now, so that’s a lot of power to have,” Freshgoods said.

Emory, who has partnered with New Balance and Levi’s, called on Nike to stop supporting Republicans while President Trump is the party’s leader. He also wants the company to release more information on its record of hiring Black employees and assist in “the defunding and total reform of all the police departments across America.”

Since his initial Instagram post in June, Emory has spoken to Converse Chief Executive G. Scott Uzzell or Uzzell’s team about a half dozen times over the phone or in video-conference meetings. In those discussions, Emory said the company acknowledged it hasn’t done everything it could in terms of creating a diverse corporate structure and laid out its hiring plan, especially in its executive suite. The designer said he discussed current initiatives at Nike to invest in Black communities and to address systemic racism and police brutality. “They want to get involved in all that, and we will see,” he said.

The release date for his red, black and green Converse sneaker has been moved up from February to October, ahead of the November election. Emory said the marketing for the shoe will focus on promoting voting. The shoe will be available in North America, Europe and online for $95 to $100.

“We respect and encourage the efforts of any collaborator or athlete we work with to raise their voice against racial injustice,” a Converse spokesperson said in a statement to The Times. “We have spoken with Tremaine and look forward to working through these issues together.”

At its core, streetwear is about authenticity and the personal connection between consumers and the designers and labels they love.

The push by larger brands and corporations — specifically in the fashion industry — to meet the current moment with statements, donations and new initiatives is in direct contrast to what many Black streetwear designers have been doing since the inception of their brands. Those designers have been hiring diverse staff, speaking up about political issues and infusing their works with references to Black culture.

“Now I feel like everybody’s rushing to make some type of relevant shirt or make some relevant message on their Instagram,” said Zac Clark, a Black designer who started his brand, FTP, while in high school in Los Angeles. “To me, a lot of this stuff right now seems very unnatural and just forced from a lot of these brands, so they won’t get ‘canceled.’”

Olivia Anthony, the designer behind the Livstreetwear brand, said the turning point for her New York-based company was her 2017 My Love Letter to Our Culture collection, which paid tribute to Black trends of the ’90s — think long nails, grills and slicked-down baby hairs — that were largely considered unfashionable until they were adopted by other races.

“It was so beautiful, but it was looked down upon,” said Anthony, adding that she wanted her brand to reflect how those Black trends, now featured in magazines including Vogue, have been “shown in a different light.”

Kacey Lynch said he created his South L.A.-based streetwear company, Bricks & Wood, after years of working at streetwear brands where he felt Black representation was missing.

“They wanted a lot from us, but they didn’t want to do the work, what it took to understand us,” Lynch said of his past employers. “Whether that’s Black culture, South-Central, minorities … wherever the cool came from, they all wanted it but they didn’t really know how to identify with it.”

In May 2019, fashion website Hypebeast and Strategy&, a consulting firm in the PwC network, released its Streetwear Impact Report, based on interviews with more than 40,000 Hypebeast readers and 700 global industry insiders. The survey found that 70% of respondents said they care about social issues, 59% said brand activism is important and 47% said they would stop shopping from a brand because of inappropriate behavior.

“It’s fine as a starting point for corporations to say, ‘This is what we stand for and this is what we believe,’” said Elena Romero, a fashion journalist and author of 2012’s “Free Stylin’: How Hip Hop Changed the Fashion Industry.”“But that’s not going to be enough.”

Romero, an assistant professor at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology, said companies likely will face questions over where they invest their profits, the diversity of their staff and how they’ve helped build the communities from which their dollars are coming. She said many companies will realize they’ve fallen short because the answers to those questions weren’t a priority until their profits were at risk.

“Now the consumer is saying, ‘You can’t fool us anymore,’” she said. “If you’re not authentic and truly supporting the very same things that these young people believe, your business will suffer.”

The result has been an industrywide push to make those investments now but also to make amends for past inaction. After Black Adidas employees criticized the company’s response to racism, Adidas announced June 9 that it would add more diverse staff, start a scholarship program for Black employees and invest an additional $20 million over four years in programs that serve the Black community. A day later, Adidas upped its $20 million pledge to $120 million. (In addition to those changes at Adidas, the company’s global head of human resources, Karen Parkin, resigned at the end of June after facing criticism for her handling of racial discrimination.)

Adidas also apologized for its past silence. “For most of you, this message is too little, too late,” a tweet from the Adidas account read. “We’ve celebrated athletes and artists in the Black community and used their image to define ourselves culturally as a brand but missed the message in reflecting such little representation within our walls.”

In the broader fashion community, various organizations and members of the industry have offered different strategies for creating a more inclusive environment. Aurora James, a New York-based creative director, started the Fifteen Percent Pledge, which calls on companies to provide at least 15% of their shelf space or contracts to Black-owned businesses.

After the CFDA announced its plan to promote diversity, a group called the Kelly Initiative called for the CFDA to adopt its proposal to conduct and publish a census of diversity in the industry, audit its recruitment practices and release an annual list of top Black talent, the Kelly List. The initiative is named after the late Patrick Kelly, a Black fashion designer who rose to prominence in the 1980s with work that played with Black cultural symbols and racial stereotypes.

April Walker, whose New York brand Walker Wear was worn by ’90s hip-hop stars including Method Man, Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G., stressed that Black designers need to look outside the fashion industry for success by collaborating, mentoring and sharing resources with their counterparts.

“We just need to not look for the fashion industry, as it’s been very oppressive for the last 30 years, to be the end-all, be-all for our opportunities,” she said, “but to create our own.”

Among streetwear companies, the effort to fight systemic racism in the country and the fashion industry has been on an individual basis, with brand owners of all races deciding how much they’re willing to give back and how comfortable they are using their platforms to discuss and condemn racism.

For some, that means speaking up in solidarity with the Black community. Bobby Kim, cofounder of the Hundreds, a Vernon-based clothing brand, teamed with Pharrell Williams’ brand Billionaire Boys Club to raise money for Black Lives Matter and the Black Mental Health Alliance with a shirt that was available for 48 hours. After the Fairfax shopping district where his shop is located was vandalized in late May, Kim, who’s Korean American, defended the right to protest.

In an interview, Kim said, “If you have been given a lot of money, and especially if that money has come by way of participating, contributing, or even stealing or borrowing from Black culture, then you — more than anybody else right now — need to tithe, need to pay up, in a sense, in order to reflect how influential Black culture has been in your career and your profitability as a company.”

Sasso’s 10.Deep stopped selling its regular collection for most of June and instead offered a new line of 10.Deep products to draw attention to activism against racial injustice and police brutality. The profits went to national bail funds for protesters.

“Streetwear, in its truest form, is about shooting yourself in the foot as often as possible but also just doing what you think is right,” Sasso said.

He said he was drawn to streetwear because it was a multiethnic community of different countercultures, a blend of the skate, surf, hip-hop and graffiti scenes, with a dash of punk rock, united by an exclusive knowledge of where to find and buy certain brands.

However, he has noticed a shift among streetwear consumers. For some shoppers, it’s not about the community. It’s just about the clothes.

He said he lost “several thousand” social media followers after he posted about Black Lives Matter and has received comments asking him to just stick to fashion.

“My thought is: If you want just some regular clothes, go buy Banana Republic, go buy Levi’s,” he said. “Those are companies that aren’t gonna take political stances. They’re providing basic stuff. This space is about a culture. If you want to participate in it, this is what it’s about.”

#@latimes on instagram #black streetwear brands #bobby kim #blm #nike #denim tears #cfda #elena romero #how hip hop changed the fashion industry #streetwear blog #olivia anthony #aurora james #fifteen percent pledge

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natsunoomoi · 4 years

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I’m at a loss for words. I don’t really know how to say what I’m thinking succinctly. I feel like for Facebook I need to say something more succinctly and not ramble, but the only thing I can come up with is rambling and like indistinct sounds of frustration.

I’m tired. I just came back from a business trip to Ehime because I was covering for a different teacher who was going to do lessons at the company high school, but it ended up being cancelled because of fears of corona still, so we ended up doing a team teach instead as since I already had tickets to go it was easier for me to continue as scheduled.

On the way there and back, I was further horrified by what I was seeing reported by friends at home about what’s happening in the States. The protests started out about the same as previous ones and rioting because why the fuck do things matter if people act like you don’t matter and that makes sense. I’m still a bit uncomfortable with when the casualty was a hospital or nursing home and not like a normal business because that’s like other people’s actual critical care and like if the power goes out like during someone’s surgery or like the hospital is disabled and can’t power up again and treat you if you get hurt from the militarized police, it’s not great, but yeah I still get it.

The thing is though, we’re still in a pandemic. Like even a few weeks ago some entitled asshats were protesting so they could get a fucking haircut and they went to government buildings with guns. And these entitled mother fucking assholes got to go home safe. No one showed up with riot shields, rubber bullets, tear gas, or pepper sprayed them in the face even though they were gathering and protesting peacefully. These protests that have erupted people can just be sitting around or even in a fucking medical tent and police are starting the violence and shooting them. What the fucking hell? Not only that, but like hey protesters becoming rioters is one thing, but some other asshats are coming in from outside for whatever reason and breaking shit on purpose that are unrelated to the movement so like what? The protesters would get blamed for it? Some of them appear to be racist asshole white people doing this. In one place apparently some jackass with a gun just ran down a street and decided to shoot up some people??? Wth, why? What the hell is even happening??

I just....I don’t know, I’m tired and just really depressed by all of this. I fully support the protesters in whatever they do, but there’s some bad actors out there pulling shit to put the blame on them and the police themselves are inciting violence themselves and acting with impunity. I’m doing the best I can to try to stay engaged, but also my brain is just overwhelmed. I live in another country and there’s a limit to what I can do for the people back home. I’m tired. I cried all the way home and broke down because it was just too much to look at. I want to stay engaged, but also it’s kind of starting to really affect me emotionally and I need to stay present in my surroundings too because I have obligations to take care of.

Also like...when humans act like this, I kind of think back at FF XIV and why the series broke me. Emet-Selch’s whole thing against the shard people is because they act in such small ways and backstab each other and basically do things to each other very much the same as this kind of bad behavior we see in real life. For him, he found that because the Shard people did that stuff that they were unworthy to be stewards of their respective stars. If the Shard people acted like the way my country is right now, in this moment, I would say fuck it sacrifice them to Zodiark. I would want to save the people protesting but like the people being total dicks and even the President using force in front of the frickin’ White House should be sacrificed to Zodiark.

Also speaking of Final Fantasy, Square Enix is like the coolest company in all of this because rather than just putting a social media post, they pledged to donate $250,000 and match any employee donations. I have so much respect for them, but even more so after that. But like, they wrote Emet-Selch’s storyline. And even in 7R Sephiroth has a couple of lines that are kind of similar as to why a species that is so callous to others of its own species deserves to live. When I see all this madness, I struggle to find an answer to that. And like with 7R they had an amazing black character who has a gun arm and is the leader of an eco-terrorist group that blows up mako power plants. It just seems logical that they would be supportive. I don’t necessarily think their characters of color are necessarily perfect either, but man, for being a Japanese company they try. I have to respect that and their games give me a kind of respite from what is going to be crippling depression if I don’t detach from all the of the insane reports coming out right now for a little while.

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agent-aurelie · 4 years

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Today I went grocery shopping.

I was proud of my community - well, most of it, anyway. Most people were wearing face masks, some wearing gloves. They followed the taped arrows down the aisles to keep traffic moving one way. I stopped to help an elderly lady get bagels from the bottom shelf, and was heartened to see that other people were helping the elderly, too. By and large, most of my community was doing the right thing, and I was proud to be part of it.

However.

My next stop was Target to pick up a drive-up order of cleaning supplies and some household stuff. (Which, A+ Target, what an amazing and streamlined service!) The scenes could not have been more opposite as I waited in the lot - families of five or six walking together. No masks, no gloves, carts left in the middle of the lot, and a general disregard for anyone else. I haven’t actually been IN a store that wasn’t a grocery store in probably 3-4 weeks so I have no idea what the inside of the store looked like, but bless those poor essential Target employees trying to maintain distance, limit the number of Guests inside, etc. I know they’re doing their best, but they need US TO HELP THEM.

I live the Vacation Kingdom. The house next to me is an Air BNB and has been empty for a month, and the one across from our pool deck is, too. I was fuming to see a family checking into their Air BNB across the way, and shamelessly eavesdropped from my lounge chair about how grateful the parents were to just have their kids in a pool in the sunshine. They were from NEW YORK, an epicenter of this pandemic.

I am not a police officer. I don’t enforce anything. I fumed to myself quietly, pulled the curtains on my deck and just sat there, stunned at the irresponsible reasoning to insist on taking your kids on a vacation, even when the parks are closed and it’s a ghost town in Orlando. My own vacation was cancelled. I ate $100 in concert tickets to see Mandy Moore. My service celebration at work has been cancelled. My best friends were meant to visit for a long weekend to celebrate a birthday, and of course that’s been canned too. I respect these decisions implicitly, but I’d be lying if it didn’t sting.

I am furloughed. Heaven knows when I’ll be back to creating happiness for other people, and footage of empty theme parks has REDUCED ME TO SHAKING SOBS - Walt Disney World is never meant to be empty. Florida State Unemployment is among the worst in the country and it could be 4-6 weeks before I see any financial assistance, and I could kiss the feet of my husband’s employers (from six feet away, of course) for keeping him working from home.

My mother is immunocompromised and hasn’t left home in a month. It’s killing me to not go check in on her - I drove by the house a few days ago to wave from the parking lot and drop off some masks and gloves in her mailbox in case she does have to go out. I know she’s okay. My father is undergoing chemo in Los Angeles, and I cry every time I think of the healthcare heroes keeping him alive. He’s been in the ER three times in the last month and I wake up dreading to check my phone in case something has happened to him overnight. I sleep with it under my pillow.

My own doctors - surprise, I’m undergoing fertility treatments! - have flat out told me I am NOT to travel and no matter what happens in Los Angeles, I can’t go be with my dad. If he died tomorrow - and who knows, I’ve resigned myself to believing it very well may happen during this pandemic - he will be buried alone and I’ll have never gotten the chance to see him.

To end my tale of woe, let me say this: If you are not taking this seriously, I want nothing to do with you. If you refuse to wear masks or protective gear that is appropriate to your role in a community, I want nothing to do with you. If you are hoarding, taking away critical supplies from a healthcare institution or healthcare hero, I want nothing to do with you. If you don’t follow the rules of social distancing an aren’t staying home except for essential activities, I want nothing to do with you. You don’t have to come out of this with a new fitness regime, a spotless, Marie-Kondo’ed house, or a host of new talents and hobbies. You just have to come out of it - if each of us does this and looks out for ourselves and one another, it will make such a difference. This pandemic has already ravaged so many and my family is so, so vulnerable right now.

I am trying to see the light in all of this, I am trying to do the next right thing and I am trying to believe in hope, but right now, it’s the hardest it’s ever been.

Please be safe. Please be responsible.

#Agent Aurelie #COVID-19 #I May Not Post Much But I Do Read

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lightsandlostbells · 6 years

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Skam Italia season 2, episode 1 reaction

Hello, how’s everybody doing? We survived the first week of a S3 remake. I wrote a little (a lot) about it.

Just to be clear: I completely understand if people just want to hang on and enjoy the ride because it’s S3 again, we love it, it’s an important story for many people! But so far there are aspects of Skam Italia S2 that I am positive about, and there are areas where I have criticisms. Don’t read if you don’t want to hear some comments that are not 100% enthusiasm. For real, I’m not trying to be a buzz kill, like I’m fine with posting these to crickets, lmao, because it’s a fun exercise for me to analyze the remakes even if I’m essentially talking to myself.

Thank you so much to everyone translating this show! Imagine if no one was translating this season. The fandom would lose its goddamn mind. You are literally saving the planet from destruction, thank you for your service.

At the risk of sounding pretentious, I’m going to put additional disclaimers here, because people have strong feelings about Skam S3, and people also have strong feelings about Skam Italia, and there is already drama when those feelings bump up against each other:

The reason why I started doing reactions to the remakes was to compare the versions of Skam and analyze what worked and what didn’t in the adaptation process. This was a clever change to fit this culture, this was awkward and didn’t work, etc. While I do want to judge S2 of Skam Italia on its own merits, I’m not going to leave the original series out of it and look at this season as something that exists in a Skamless void, because that’s not my aim with these recaps. So if you are really not interested in comparisons to the original show (positive, negative, or neutral) then perhaps don’t read further.

I’m also taking into account this is a different culture than the original show and noting how that might affect this story, and that it’s a big deal to have an LGBT Italian lead in a series and Italian fans are very excited. So I’m keeping that in mind! But I also think that, should Skam Italia bungle something, it’s okay to call it out, it doesn’t get a free pass. We criticized parts of the original series while praising it where it succeeded. Sana’s season, for example, is extremely progressive as a concept (a Muslim girl lead is extremely rare) but had numerous aspects where it stumbled, and as a fandom there was no shortage of criticism. This goes for both the social justice and educational aspects of Skam as well as writing, directing, acting, and other basic storytelling stuff.

Okay? Okay.

Episode 1

Clip 1 - GET OUT OF THE FUCKING TUB, LOSERS

Right away, I loved the voicemails. They sound like real accounts of homophobia, and I don’t know if these are actors recreating them or real people sharing their own experiences, but it was a powerful intro to the season.

I also like zooming in over the city while these voicemails played, over all these dark apartment buildings, because it felt like those voices could be coming from anywhere. They were anonymous. Your neighbor could be gay, the woman who lives downstairs could be a lesbian, and you might never know because they’re in the closet. You might never know how much they’d suffered due to homophobia. But they’re also everywhere. Despite their treatment in society, LGBT people aren’t “the other” but can be anyone you know. That’s why it zooms into the party, to link these anonymous voices to a face that we we do know.

I saw some people suggesting that maybe these have to do with Martino’s involvement in the radio station, and that this will be some part of a project that he does, and while I think it’d be awesome if the radio station came into play with his personal development, I’m ehhhhh about these turning out to be part of Martino’s project all along because it doesn’t seem like it goes with the real time format, and IDK, it seems too literal. But I’d be OK with it these were more of a thematic device and Martino has a literal confession along these lines later on.

Rainbow logo 🌈🌈🌈

...who’s that blue-haired girl?

I feel like Edoardo being immediately on screen was to reassure any OG Skam viewers and Incantava fans who hadn’t yet gotten the message that EDOARDO IS DEFINITELY NOT GOING ANYWHERE THIS SEASON DO NOT PANIC.

Silvia is watching some girls dance and for a hot second I hoped they were finally hinting at the lesbian Vilde story we deserve, but it seems like she is watching them because of their slim figures, because she reconsiders the piece of cake she was going to eat. Silvia, no.

Silvia is very upset about the hotties at the party and Sana says there only would have been four people there and reassures her that she’s beautiful, awwww. But Silvia is upset about some Argentinean girl, who I assume is an apex hottie that she fears will outshine her, perhaps?

Silvia waves at Edoardo, who ignores her. You know, Edoardo’s apology to Silvia would feel more genuine if he acted like a baseline decent human being toward her instead of refraining from basic politeness because OH NO he has to shake her off his back (except when he can exploit her interest for his own gain).

It’s Italian Eskild! He says that Edoardo’s hair is indeed shit, suggesting Eleonora has told him all about it (something for the Incantava shippers) and I mean, I support him giving Silvia a boost, and I support any dragging of Edoardo, except Edoardo’s hair is like the one thing about him that is not shit.

He takes Silvia to dance and comments about checking her boobs to see if she is a virgin, so this is filling in for S2’s “It’s Britney bitch” moment. I guess they’re going to incorporate some Skam S2 material into this season in order to accommodate for the switch in storylines.

Hey, you know what I could have strongly done without? Filippo grabbing Silvia’s tit out of nowhere. There’s sometimes a tendency for gay men to grope women and get away with it because it’s obviously not sexual, so what’s the problem? Except the problem is that men, no matter what their sexuality, feel like they have unfettered access to women’s bodies. I’m not saying HE’S CANCELED or anything, but it irritated me that they threw in such a small moment that wasn’t needed, especially because this is our introduction to this character. Thanks, I want casual groping to be my initial impression of this guy. (Just to be clear, this dialogue happens in the original, but there is no unauthorized tit-grabbing from Eskild.)

And the fact that this moment went so unremarked upon is a sign of how normalized this behavior is, frankly. But they played it off as a funny moment so it’s okay!! Lol Filippo, you’re supposed to be gay!!!

Incantava shippers get a morsel before Eleonora leaves for London as she and Edoardo share a ~glance.

So Filo is Eleonora’s brother, which is a good way to incorporate his character considering it’s unlikely for Martino or Eleonora to live with a random roommate instead of their families, and they hadn’t set up the Filo character in S2 so his appearance in Martino’s life is going to need to be established quickly. So that makes both the Eleonora-Filo and Martino-Filo relationships more plausible in this culture.

Although lmao, imagine some of Eskild’s S2 scenes now that he and the Noora character are related. I’m sure Eleonora will need to bleach her eyeballs if she walks in on her brother getting his dick sucked to Circle of Life.

Eva catches up to Martino in the kitchen, and the flirtatious vibes are there right away, you know this isn’t going anywhere good. She tries to kiss him, so this is basically that scene from S2 where Eva tries to make out with Isak at a party, except way more awkward because this Eva actually manages to get a few kisses on Martino. Yikes.

Of course he’s not into it, and she’s just like yeah, go to your friends. Go find Gio. She knows where his real interests like.

Martino answering some random landline is pretty endearing, especially when he has cans of beer he needs to balance to do so.

Him being like “I am not the owner.” Lmao, he’s a sweetie. I suppose this was maybe a neighbor or someone wondering about the noise level and activity at the party, and that was why the police show up later? But I like to imagine that they were filming in this building, the phone rang randomly, and they were like, eh, throw it in.

So now we’re moving into the OG S3 content, with Martino entering the bathroom and sitting in the tub with his friends drinking and getting high.

Elia is the second person to mention the Argentinean girl, so I guess she must be a stone cold babe. Are we ever going to see her? Or will her hotness exist only in legends?

They do the whole song and dance where Martino pretends like these girls aren’t hot enough for him, while the other dudes are not having it. Well, to be fair, he really isn’t into them. I’m not sure what to make of his reactions, because Isak was very performative, and Martino just seems indifferent.

The boys claim to have gotten Fede a present, I wonder what it was? Probably just booze or something?

Lmao I was wondering why this girl would use this random out-of-the-way bathroom, but apparently two dudes are fucking in the other one (what are the odds it’s Filo).

What assholes, get out of the fucking tub for two minutes and let the girl pee in peace! I guess they’re just lazy and stoned, but JFC.

Instead of saying the girl looks like Eleven from Stranger Things, Martino tells her she looks like a frog… I kind of see it? But she’s also a babe, soooo.

Not gonna lie, I really did not like how they adapted this scene. “We’ll leave you alone to pee but you have to hook up with one of us” is not … cute … like it takes it out of negging teenage asshole territory and gets creepy. Maybe because of the hellscape that has been RL politics for the past few weeks, but I’m not in the mood for any of this boys-will-be-boys shit.

We know that one new dude must be Magnus because he is instantly rejected.

Martino gives the boys the thumbs up once Italian Emma starts making out with him and they’re leaving.

Martino didn’t actually do anything to win over this girl, really? With Isak it was a performance: Emma came in and he made a determined effort to flirt with her, he negged her, he complimented her, he got out of the tub and was more active in his pursuit. All of that was because he was trying to seem straight in front of his friends. Martino, on the other hand, was far more passive. He made the frog comment but that seems less like negging when all four of them are sitting there being dicks to this girl, rather than him alone, and she just happened to choose him out of the four. Isak was putting some effort into it and pretending to be interested until the boys left and things got steamier, but Martino just plain is not trying. He ain’t feeling it.

This is one of the disadvantages of writing recaps episode by episode as they air and not when you can look at the full season, though. Because on the one hand, making Martino more of a passive participant in his fake heterosexuality is fine, but on the other hand, if that’s not their intent - if they’re more or less going to follow Isak’s character arc for him - then I think they missed a big point of this scene in not making Martino pursue this girl more actively. But we don’t know exactly if this is a thoughtful, deliberate choice or an oversight. (For example, in S1 of Skam Italia, several of Eva’s key moments of “who are you?” were eliminated, Gio’s skate park speech was rewritten with a different focus, etc. which made me wonder about her character arc. It could have worked if they had intentionally made these changes to arrive at a different conclusion, but in the end Eva’s final speech to Gio is the same, the arc is supposed to be the same even though crucial points have been left out, and it didn’t feel as strong. So it’s hard to say whether Martino’s character is supposed to be written with subtle differences that change his characterization, or if they don’t realize how small edits can affect the perception of this character.)

I am a little alarmed that the girl goes for the blowjob like immediately after choosing Martino? Isak was hardcore flirting with Emma so it made more sense she was trying to do that with him. With this girl, she’s just trying to pee and some random guy’s like “Hook up with one of us and we’ll leave you be” and she’s like, “Sounds like a plan!” Damn girl, didn’t you need to really use the toilet? But you’re going to stop to blow him? Okay.

Eva is stumped by seeing that Martino was in the bathroom with a girl, probably moreso because he just rejected her upstairs. Well, this girl isn’t his best friend’s ex, sooooo it makes a smidge more sense, Martino’s sexuality aside.

Incantava moment: Edoardo brings up the deal with the apology to Silvia, so that made it into this remake. Part of the deal was to erase the wall of conquests - smart of Eleonora - and I guess Edo did that, hopefully, but he also reminds her that she agreed to a date.

What a power move of Eleonora to go to England to avoid this date.

At least Edo was not pursuing her prior to this, apparently. It would be a shame if they suddenly had him pressure her into a date in Eleonora’s season.

Okay, I realize that Martino didn’t appear to have the best options to hide his weed, but he’s really just gonna put it in a box on the railing where it could easily get knocked over the balcony or blown away or something? Lmao.

The scene of the boys running away from the cops was cute and had that “reckless youth enjoying the night” vibe.

So Martino clearly still has Giovanni feelings, and Giovanni is going to be crashing at his place tonight. Look at that hand on Martino’s shoulder, probably burning through his shirt. I like perhaps acknowledging the idea that all this casual affection between guys in this culture can take on a hidden toll for a closeted gay kid.

Martino mentions that his mom is freaking out, so they’re openly acknowledging Martino’s mom situation in front of the other guys (when Isak was less open about it) and Giovanni gives him a hug that fucks Martino up. It seemed like Martino didn’t want Giovanni to come over, probably both because of his crush and because of his mom situation.

Clip 2 - Sad boy slumber party

Martino wakes up and stares at Giovanni, who’s still sleeping. Martino is not on the bed, but on the floor, ostensibly because Giovanni threw him off the bed but really because he doesn’t want to be so close to Giovanni. He pointedly turns down Giovanni’s invitation to get back in the bed. This is a really delicate situation; this is such a casual thing for Giovanni that he doesn’t even think about it, but for Martino it’s this extremely loaded scenario that comes with dangers, so better not risk it.

Eva calls and wants to talk to Martino, but he can’t since he’s with Giovanni. Giovanni says that he’s been trying to get back together with Eva, and making a fool out of himself, so Martino is certainly not enjoying about this reminder that Giovanni likes girls, Giovanni loved (loves?) Eva, it will never be Giovanni and Martino in the way he wants. Also, awkward of course because Eva tried to kiss Martino, which says a lot about how she thinks of Giovanni - probably not keen to get back with him if she can make a move on his best friend, even when drunk.

Okay, I have a deeply unpopular opinion and that is: while Skam Italia’s cinematography is often visually impressive, at times it does not work with the material it’s supposed to be conveying. It’s not style over substance, but style against substance. There are several examples, but to go into one now: why the fuck is the lighting so dark in certain moments. Whyyyyyy.

And before you tell me, I do know why the director is perhaps doing this. It’s supposed to reflect Martino’s state of mind, it’s supposed to make things seem bleak, it’s supposed to contrast with the sunnier scenes such as later in the episode with Niccolò, etc. etc. The problem is that I do not think it is effective for the format of this show. Here’s the thing: we are supposed to be in Martino’s POV for a reason. His reactions should not be hidden from us, this audience, and to me the lighting is a barrier from getting closer to him and getting fully into his mindset. Like, the camera should be eating this shit up! Give me all the microexpressions! Federico Cesari is doing a nice job of acting so far and it bugs me that the lighting is obscuring some of his facial expressions. Now it makes sense for ambiguity on the part of say, Niccolò, who will be keeping secrets for most of the season (based on Even’s role) but this is Martino’s season, and we as the audience should be deep into his head every step of the way. This is supposed to be an immersive experience. There is zero reason to obscure Martino’s reactions from the audience. Martino may have a barrier between him and his friends, his family, his schoolmates, society at large - but not us, the viewers. (And not just the lighting, but for example, that his face is shot in profile for part of this scene, which again doesn’t give us a full range of Martino’s reactions, or the amount of distance between the camera and Martino at times. Even if you can assume what Martino is thinking and feeling enough that you don’t need really clear reaction shots, it’s like there’s a gap and we’re not supposed to get too close.)

Like obviously this cinematography is working for people, and if it is for you, great! If this were a different show, I could be fine with it. But not with a series that is supposed to put me fully into this character’s head, not keep me at a distance.

Covitti is the girl from the bathroom? She’s followed Martino on IG. I feel like, if they’re doing a repeat of Emma’s involvement, then it doesn’t work as well as to why she’d suddenly be interested in Martino. With Isak, there was something karmic about it, because he blatantly pursued when he met her, and it’s like he reaped what he sowed, you know? Don’t get me wrong, he absolutely did not deserve the much later repercussions with Emma outing him, but the immediate aftermath of him flirting with Emma showed that his actions had consequences. He couldn’t just make out with this girl for the benefit of an audience and then drop her. With Martino, he was so much more passive with Covitti, that it feels less earned. I mean he’s very cute, but him being doggedly pursued by her doesn’t have as much to do with his characterization, unless the point is that he refuses to put his foot down and reject her. (A valid characterization choice! But hopefully an intentional one.)

We get to see Martino’s mom and on the one hand, it’s pretty cool that she’s around in this version, but on the other hand, goddamn am I apprehensive about how they will depict her.

Martino really does not want to eat lunch with her. Apparently they have chicken and potatoes four times a week. Credit to Giovanni, he acts normal and is polite to Martino’s mom and is eager to eat with her.

Eva apologizes for trying to kiss Martino. So Giovanni is trying to get back with Eva and Eva made a move on Martino. Awkward! Eva is also probably dying to bring up the topic of that girl in the bathroom with Martino, let’s be real.

Giovanni chides Martino for being an asshole and says if he didn’t treat his mom like shit, maybe he would help her! Hey, no offense, Giovanni, but fuck off. I agree that Martino was not nice to his mom, I agree that he should treat her better. But Giovanni is a visitor. He is a guest in this household. He doesn’t know shit about what it’s like to live there or what’s the best course of action. No, actually it’s not as easy being kind to someone and it’ll fix their mental illness.

If I sound weirdly pissed about this, it’s because I am speaking as someone who has been a caretaker to a mentally ill parent. One of the most frustrating things was when people who were completely outside of my situation told me how to deal with it. It’s fucking easy to think you have the answers when you don’t live in this situation, when you have the freedom to go back to your own home when shit gets really rough. When you likely haven’t seen a loved one at their worst.

To clarify, this isn’t necessarily a flaw of the show, just an area where I think a character is flawed. But I would hate for Giovanni’s POV to be validated. Of course Martino should not treat his mother poorly, but he needs to do that on his own, not because some outsider who has no idea what is going on in this house thinks so.

Anyway. Shut the fuck up, Gio.

Eva also doesn’t want Martino to tell Gio, so you know Gio is going to find out at some point. Here’s the thing: if this drama is more along the lines of ~ooo Eva kissed Martino and he didn’t tell Gio and Gio feels BETRAYED when he finds out~ then it sounds tedious and exactly the kind of drama I don’t want. It’s not necessary, it’s honestly a very low-stakes situation. However, if it’s more of a lead-in to S1’s drama being revealed, and Gio learns about what happened with Martino ratting out Eva, that would be interesting. I’d be very interested in seeing where it goes. I think the writers have to know that this would be the most compelling aspect, so here’s hoping.

Not gonna lie, one thing I liked about S3 was the lack of heterosexual relationship drama (other than what directly serviced Isak and Even’s relationship), and I don’t want this season to stray too far into Eva/Gio stuff. Though I realize that by switching S2 and S3, they probably feel like they have to account for their relationship.

In S2 of the original, we saw the remnants of Eva/Jonas more on Eva’s side, through Noora’s eyes. Eva told herself she was over Jonas and they were just friends, but we could see that wasn’t totally true. With this season, though, we’ll probably see Eva/Giovanni more through Giovanni’s eyes, because even if Martino is Eva’s friend, he’s Giovanni’s best friend.

Clip 3 - The Phantom Clitoris

Lmao, Luca being like “Guess what happened to me” and Gio being like “Did you put an egg in the microwave again?” (I mean, you can cook eggs in a microwave even if it’s not the best way!)

Luca hooked up with a girl! If we believe him. She didn’t have a clitoris! Except he didn’t know what it was called. I don’t know whether to think that if it he didn’t know what it was called, he probably didn’t know how to look for one, or that he’s straight up lying. But this is interesting because Jonas was the one who went down on girls in the original and had this dialogue, and then Magnus was the virgin seeking wisdom from Isak, and here apparently Luca is already banging girls? Or he’s pretending to.

Martino sees Niccolò for the first time! Niccolò is adorable. He’s got the Even denim jacket and a nice smile. Sana and Silvia are shown going up to him while he’s talking to another dude.

Luca is like, I watched a 20-minute porn tutorial of how to eat a girl out. No offense bro, but I doubt you were in a very studious mindset during that. Or maybe he was! Maybe he made flashcards.

Martino gets a text from his dad about having dinner “with us” and I’m guessing that his dad has a new girlfriend or something, because it’s kinda weird to text your kid “have dinner with us?” about both his parents when his dad left his mom.

Silvia and Sana come up, Elia brings up the girl with no clitoris to them (why was that the first thing out of your mouth, dude), and Silvia mentions that she and Sana are now in charge of the radio. So this is our kosegruppa! I wonder if the radio itself will have more plot relevance for the season.

The guys are conveniently too busy to help on Thursday! But Sana thinks they’ll be helping soon enough.

For a moment I thought Luca was frightened by Silvia and saw that as a point toward Luca/Silvia happening, since it would be in line with Magnus’ sado-Vilde dreams, but then I was like, oh right, he probably means Sana, lol. (Silvia is way less intimidating than Vilde. Silvia is cheerful, Vilde was sugar layered over a core of menace when she pitched kosegruppa to the guys.)

Martino checks out Niccolò again, because who wouldn’t, and Niccolò is talking to the other guy … maybe Niccolò is flirting with that guy?

The boys suggest smoking a joint but Martino didn’t get the weed back yet, so the boys are bummed, but Gio keeps his disappointment restrained to a few jovial throttles of Martino’s neck. Martino dies inside and tries not to develop a choking kink.

Niccolò did not look at Martino in this clip, there’s no evidence he saw him in this scene, and he was in fact preoccupied with conversation with another dude. So ... has Niccolo seen Martino yet? In an “I saw you the first day of school” way? Because with that knowledge in mind, in the original we could look back at Even’s first appearance in the cafeteria and see that he had obviously grabbed a seat with a good view of Isak and was sitting there alone, possibly sketching him. I guess you could say that Niccolò was standing there to get Martino’s attention, maybe even trying to make him jealous by talking to another guy, but that seems .... really convoluted. If they do include the “I saw you the first day of school” line, they should have had Niccolò look at Martino for even a brief moment. It didn’t even need to be eye contact! Like you could show Niccolò looking toward Martino when he’s out of focus, as a background event, a little Easter egg for the eagle-eyed viewer.

This is one of those original clip comparisons, so hold on to your butts. In the original clip, the way the scene is shot and acted combines multiple details to demonstrate Isak’s alienation from the other boys. Tarjei’s acting shows that he is disconnected from this conversation - he’s picking at his sandwich, checking his phone, he’s not really engaged with the cat tongue/clitoris talk. He has a few mild smiles but his facial expressions and body language show he’s checked out. He doesn't participate in that conversation at all, actually, other than a look or two. There’s no dialogue from him. And the camera contributes to this impression that he’s withdrawn: it’s often just on Isak with the conversation coming from off screen, rather than showing him in the shots with the guys. It shows him alone instead of showing him connected to the group. When it does show him with the group, he’s not reacting to them much. So when he hears a boy's laugh, it seems plausible that it would get attention as the boys’ conversation is not holding his interest.

With this clip, Martino might make a comment like "Oh no, don't tell us your dirty story" but he is otherwise very engaged in this conversation. He leans into it, he's listening, his face makes him seem eager. He's frequently shown in the shot with the other guys, part of the group rather than isolated. Gio repeatedly looks back at him and shares looks with him so there’s something reciprocal happening. Martino speaks to Luca and he high fives him. He's just a definite participant in this conversation, so there isn't much of a feel of alienation here. I mean, we know he's gay, and maybe we can assume that his participation in this conversation is forced or half-hearted, but that's not coming through in how it's portrayed. And I like Federico, I think he's one of the better actors on the show, but I also think he's playing it too comfortably, though I blame Bessegatto more for that since his direction is what guides the performance. It seems like Martino's a nice guy with some friends, who doesn't seem too detached this conversation and who seems totally fine with looking at a cute guy over there. Not much of an internal struggle. Not much of an external struggle either, really.

It felt like there were missed opportunities. For example, when Martino says he doesn’t want Luca’s TMI, and Gio is like, “Yes we do, don’t listen to him,” we don’t even get a reaction shot from Martino to see how that affects him? We could have seen him annoyed, or exasperated, or uninterested in this conversation. We could have seen him drifting and doing something with his body language to indicate he’s not comfortable, and then THAT is when he sees Niccolò, because his mind is already wandering. Not when he’s engaged in this conversation. Or keep in Luca asking Martino about going girls and wanting to know how Martino finds the clitoris, and Martino having to struggle to answer that when the boys are all looking at him.

I mean, again, it makes me wonder what they’re going to do with Martino’s characterization because they’re playing up his struggles with his attraction to Gio, but he does not seem to be struggling as much with the public performance of liking girls. Or even perhaps the internal conflict of liking boys. And that would be fine except it seems like it should be. Martino was the one who introduced the idea of liking Eva back in S1, before Eva had even suggested it herself. He was definitely on the defense then, so what’s going on now?

Also, Isak glanced at Even and Even looked back, which made Isak look away. Julie pointedly did not show Even again in that clip because Isak was clamping down on his attraction and forcing himself not to look. Martino allows himself a second glance. It frames the scene way more comfortably.

Clip 4 - Fede almost had it all

12:12 ...it begins...

Martino sees Fede and Sana, so he approaches them. He calls them “rays of sunshine,” which is cute! Though he’s totally doing it to butter them up so he gets his stash back.

LMAO I love the part where Federica is like, I found a drill, who brings a drill to a party? (Someone you pray to God remains sober.)

He asks if he can come over and Federica chokes on her drink. She’s really cute in this scene. Honestly, she didn’t make a ton of impression on me in S1 compared to other girl Chrises from the remakes, but I enjoyed her here a lot, she’s sweet.

They can “study” together in the living room because Fede’s parents are gone. Oh babe, I think you’ll be disappointed at the amount of actual learnin’ that would take place were such a study session to take place.

Sana sits there texting Martino that she has his weed while he’s right there next to her. I guess Fede was just really excited by the prospect of having Martino in her house, but did she really not notice that Sana was texting and Martino just so happened to receive a text at the same time?

Sana saying that it’s “a friend of her brother’s” who has Martino’s “necklace.” Is that an actual nod toward Niccolò or just a coincidence? If she means Niccolò, then why is she bringing him up?

Like I know people like this theory, but I don’t think it makes sense that Sana was trying to hook up Isak and Even all along (or Martino and Niccolò if the circumstances are the same), because how does that explain her reactions to being asked about Islam’s view of homosexuality, or to Isak being outed? Of course they could be going for a diferent approach in this remake.

Federica is really adorable freaking out over how she ALMOST had Martino within her grasp. Poor girl, I’m sorry to tell you that your day is never coming. (Lmao, I guess one day a remake could swap out Emma for Isak hooking up with the Chris character? I mean Chris >>>>> Emma, but then I’d feel so bad for her.)

Clip 5 - Here we gooooooooo

So the carrot cake (made by Silvia) suuuuucks. Martino’s disgusted face is pretty good.

The girl squad is trying to Skype with Eleonora. Meanwhile Martino sits there by himself, not having a great time. As a contrast to the girl squad who are laughing and having fun, Martino is on his own because his dumbass friends ditched him.

Sana wants Martino to let them use his Internet connection to continue the Skype call, he’s like lmao, she’s ditching you guys on purpose. Gonna go out on a limb and say that he’s projecting.

Tbh I do think it’s odd that they wrote out Eleonora so much if they didn’t need to. Like I know people think they switched S2 and S3 for dramatic, important reasons, but I get the feeling it was just a matter of actor availability. I could be wrong!

That random curly-haired dude at the meeting is the true star of this clip. He was INTO everything that was happening.

SIlvia says it took forever to make her cake. And it still sucks, apparently. Good thing that the girls never seemed to get her pineapple cake from S1? Was Silvia behind the Jell-O disaster, too?

She doesn’t want another piece, which might be another hint at her ED, but the cake is garbage soooo maybe she just has taste buds and a self-preservation instinct, IDK.

It’s actually intriguing that Silvia seems to be baking cakes for people and yet she monitors her own eating so closely.

Lmao at there being dead noise when Martino sees Niccolò enter the room. Everything fades except this smiley hottie. (For a second I was like “is he flat-lining?”)

Niccolò walked in with some other people, including Covetti. He sits on the table beside Martino. Martino keeps glancing at him but Niccolò will NOT glance at Martino. Again, if they’re going to go with “I saw you the first day of school,” I don’t think they set it up that well. It’s fine if they don’t, but there are really no fun “extras” you get from these scenes with that reveal. In both of his scenes Niccolò has been hanging out with other people, he’s not glancing at Martino. There’s no foreshadowing. You can be like oh, Niccolò positioned himself outside the school for Martino to see, he DELIBERATELY didn’t look at Martino for reasons! But that’s not very enjoyable on a rewatch.

The way Martino begrudgingly greets that Uglydoll or whatever is the best part of the episode.

Covitti notices Martino looking over at Niccolo, by the way.

Okay, WHO IS THAT BLUE-HAIRED GIRL. Like it seems as if she would make a good Sonja, she reminds me a little of Theresa.

Covitti whispers something to Martino but we don’t know what.

“Bad story about Chicco Rodi” Who was that? I vaguely remember the name from S1? Oh wait, was he the guy who got the award for worst attendance? I hope that “tutorial” is foreshadowing for Martino and Niccolò breaking into the school at some point.

Silvia comes across as positively chill compared to Vilde. It must be Osvaldo’s influence.

Why is Covitti even there, since she’s not interested in what Silvia’s saying? To stalk Martino? How did she know he would be there? Emma knew Isak was going to be there because of signups, were there signups for this? (This is nitpicky and I’m sure that’s what they meant, it’s just that they’re skipping over some parts where her motivations become clear.)

Martino: Sorry I have to take this totally real and not at all imaginary call!!!!!

Wow, no finesse, just like our man Isak.

Martino’s fake phone call is pretty funny, like he lets it go on way longer than necessary.

He plops down in a chair in the radio room and then he starts talking to himself and pretending to be on the radio. I really do like the idea of Martino finding his voice through the radio, literally and metaphorically. And actually, when he starts speaking by himself, he sounds pretty good to me! Confident, composed, his voice sounds good, the words come easy. So maybe this is a move from him being passive to speaking up for himself.

That shot of Martino, fractured in the glass, when Niccolò turns on the light is fabulous. Showing how Niccolò’s introduction is going to break apart Martino’s sense of self. And Niccolò‘s image is clear and whole so Martino perhaps sees him as this cool, confident dude who’s got his shit together. So he thinks. (Plus Niccolò literally turns on the light on and all.)

Niccolò says it’s a shame Martino stopped talking, basically, and they laugh about Silvia’s dry-ass cake.

Niccolò has a shitty ancient phone? Would that play into his avoidance of social media because of his manic episode? Since you can’t post to IG/FB/any apps from one of those. Or is he just a hipster who hates technology? Or something else?

Lol, I didn’t have to wait long before the “breaking into the school” prophecy was fulfilled. They end up climbing into a part of the school that’s closed.

Beautiful view on the roof, obviously. I guess for O Helga Natt, Martino is going to run and find Niccolò here, maybe? And then he’ll be in the radio room instead? Will they stare at each other from behind the glass?

Niccolò asks if Martino knows Silvia, and he says no, she’s a friend of a friend. Niccolò asks which one, so he’s probably wondering if Martino is good pals with Sana.

Niccolò notes that Martino doesn’t seem happy to be there, and neither does Niccolò. Taking him at his word, he’s doing this as part of school-work interchange. So I guess he didn’t show up just to meet Martino? Again, I have no problem with that changing that (I loved it with Evak but I’m fine with them not repeating it), I just want them to do a good job of foreshadowing if they do go with that.

We get the conversation about Niccolò being from a different school, but there’s no line (as in the original) where Isak notes with some incredulity that he transferred during his last year, so there isn’t as much of a hint that something happened to Niccolò, provided they are still keeping in his backstory. (I think he’s still in his final year?)

The camera gets very close up in the boys’ faces as they talk about more personal topics, THANK GOD. Like I do think the coldness and distance in other clips is intentional, I just don’t think it works with this show, but at least we can get warmer, closer scenes when necessary.

Covitti (whose first name is Emma, by the way) shows up and literally comes between them. They do the whole thing where Martino “introduces” Niccolò to Emma, except they’re not trying to pretend they’re already partners to avoid her.

“Fares” means horseman or knight in Arabic, so I guess Niccolò is going to be Martino’s knight in shining armor? Or fight for him? That would explain his flipbook in the trailer with stick figure Niccotino on a horse.

Covitti isn’t very awkward as a person. She and Niccolò have a polite, maybe even flirty conversation when filtered through certain jealous ears; it’s Martino who suddenly feels like a third wheel. Covitti is still making eyes at Martino, though. Niccolò says he and Martino will stay back and smoke, which pleases Martino, but she invites herself to smoke with them. It’s awkward but way less so that with Isak, Even, and Emma, in my opinion, maybe because Covitti seems like she’s enjoying herself even if the boys aren’t.

The poppy indie song at the end of the clip feels out of place. Like if they wanted to emphasize the awkwardness, they should have just ended in a stranger song or complete silence to drive home how Martino did not want her there. If they wanted to use this song to emphasize Martino’s crush, show closeups of Martino glancing at Niccolò with the sunlight bouncing off his face without including Covitti in there.

Oh god. Don’t kill me for this. Okay. So we have Niccolò’s introduction in this clip, obviously, and I like him in the sense that he's a friendly guy with an utterly beautiful smile. But I felt like they made him just like ... a really nice, smiley guy, in a way that was one-note. And I’m NOT criticizing the actor’s abilities, because I’ve seen his acting clips from other projects and I think he could do justice to the character. This is more about directorial decisions.

Part of the reason I love Even is because he’s fucking strange. Sure, he’s Isak’s dream boy with his denim jacket and styled hair, and he’s got a smile like the sun, and he just feels cool, but he’s also a bouncy, twitchy weirdo coursing with energy. In his first clip he makes a HELL of an impression and it’s by pulling a bizarre stunt in the bathroom with paper towels and then by making a blowjob joke as one of his first lines to Isak. Now I don’t think every Even of the remakes need to do that, not at all, but Even felt like a really specific character to me, someone who was weird and strongly himself and presented in a way that made us fall for him piece by piece. And one fear I have about the remakes is that they’ll remove some of his weirdness to make him more of a general artsy hipster type who gets along with the Isak. (Or maybe him an artsy hipster asshole, but that’s another story.)

I feel bad because I do actually want to love Niccolò I think the actor is tremendously adorable and enthusiastic about is role, and I think he can make Niccolò into someone specific and memorable. But the way this scene was directed and performed, it felt like Bessegatto told Rocco to be charming by smiling a lot. And I mean, he DOES have a great smile, but Niccolò has the same amused, benign friendliness the whooooole clip, and my gut feeling was that they were trying too hard to make us like him and eliminating anything that might make the character off-putting, which is unfortunately some of what makes the character compelling, especially this early on as he should be something of a mystery both for Martino and the audience.

Where this approach would have worked more for me is if Niccolò was this unstoppable force of sunshine against Martino’s constant grumpy iciness, and he couldn’t help but melt in the face of it. But the thing is, Martino isn’t a constant grump who’s freezing people out. He’s actually pretty friendly to people. So it was like radiant sunshine against slightly less radiant sunshine, and there wasn’t a lot like I felt I could mull over, IDK.

And yes yes I know this is only the first clip. Niccolò has tons of time to make himself into a distinctive, memorable character. I’m aware of that. But I don’t want to lie about my reaction.

General Comments/Social Media:

Continuing with Martino’s crush on Giovanni makes sense considering only a few months have passed. Though it should be said that I never thought Isak getting over Jonas from S1 to S3 without any elaboration was like .. a flaw of the show? It depends on how deep you think Isak’s feelings were. Personally I never saw him as in love with Jonas, I saw it as an intense crush, compounded by Isak’s bad home life so that Jonas, his best friend who was always there for him, was someone who really made his life better at the time, and whose attention he craved.

There was almost a year between the end of S1 and the start of S3, and during that time, Isak had seen Jonas go from Eva to other girls, so I’m sure it sunk in that Jonas wasn’t suddenly going to go for him just because Eva was out of the picture. And Isak had moved out of his parents’ home so there was less of an immediately chaotic situation where he was more dependent on Jonas for support. I mean he’s clearly not in a great place at the start of S3, but he was able to get some independence and distance from his parents. I think his life was more stable on a day-to-day basis. So it’s not hard to see how Isak’s crush would have faded with those factors in mind. Martino, on the other hand, has had less time to get over Giovanni, Giovanni perhaps has not moved on to other girls since he’s still trying to get with Eva, and Martino is still probably depending on him for more emotional support since he has to deal with a more directly stressful environment at home.

In the texts, Giovanni refers to Sana as “Sana Escobar” in reference to her taking the weed. Pablo Escobar is obviously extremely well-known on his own, but I do think it’s a nod to all the Narcos/Escobar mentions in Isak’s season. Or at least they took inspiration there.

Elia is apparently one hell of a dumbass according to an essay he wrote that showed up on IG.

I wonder if they’re going to swap out the Grindr clip with Eskild for the first meeting with Filippo. I really do wonder how that relationship will come across, because I know people are excited about seeing them meet (and I am too) but the thing is, a big part of what made Isak and Eskild’s relationship in S3 meaningful was that they had months of trust to be established between them. Eskild saw Isak repressing his sexuality for months, and when Isak finally came out to him, there was pride in seeing this kid’s long journey to acceptance. We also got plenty of little scenes between them so the dynamic wasn’t just a big dramatic thing, we saw the casual side of their relationship. So I’m not sure how they can replicate that with a relationship that cannot help but have less buildup.

Niccolò is a pianist and there’s a video of him playing on YouTube! I’m really glad they incorporated the actor’s talents into the character and gave him his own artistic skill to make him a little different from Even. I assume that Martino will find the piano video and watch that endlessly. And it’ll be fun if Martino is all convinced Niccolò is a serious classical music snob but then Niccolò is like, “YES, this is my JAM” over a cheesy pop song.

One big problem I have is that it feels like a lot of potential for conflict or tension (both internal and external) is being minimized across various relationships, in multiple situations. It just feels safer for Martino despite him still going through some major problems that Isak was not at this point, and so it really shouldn’t. And that makes it harder to get involved in his POV or to immerse ourselves in his struggles. For example:

The boy squad isn't angry or annoyed with Martino for losing the weed, they're just kind of like lol, get it back.

Sana and Martino don't clash with as much tension, and does Sana even explain why she’s holding onto Martino’s weed instead of giving it back? Sana B. was disgusted that Isak left the weed in Eva’s house where Eva could get in trouble if it was found; Sana A. is just doing it to be sassy, so far? Knowing that she found Isak’s actions distasteful upped the animosity of the Sana-Isak relationship, whereas Sana-Martino doesn’t have that element. I mean it’s certainly a reasonable inference that Sana is mad at him for potentially getting Fede in trouble, but it’s not a clear motivation. Martino doesn’t know why she’s randomly holding on to his weed. Does he think she’s doing it because she’s Muslim and disapproves? Because she wants it for herself? Just to torment him?

Italian Emma comes across way more of a chill, tolerable girl than Nowegian Emma and less of a persistent nuisance causing him stress just by existing.

Martino is less alienated and uncomfortable and more like a chill dude who likes to look at guys. The boys talking about going down on girls doesn’t make him uninterested and detached from the situation, he just mildly protests about TMI but continues to engage. He can look at Niccolò without having to make himself look away. He puts up less of a show to perform heterosexuality than Isak.

Martino doesn’t want to get involved in the radio show, except when he’s left alone he starts talking into a mic and pretending he’s on the radio, suggesting that it is of interest to him even if he’s not into Silvia’s leadership or whatever (as opposed to Isak who just didn’t want to deal with kosegruppa).

Even the Martino and Niccolò meeting had them bantering right away, practically as soon as they spoke, rather than encountering any moments of uncertainty or confusion, no time where they had to find their groove. And people are going to be like “They got along right away when Isak and Even didn’t!” when the reason Isak and Even were a little awkward at first was not because they clashed but because they were attracted to each other. Isak was shy about talking to a cute boy and taken aback by Even’s approach; Even was overwhelmed about talking to the boy he’d liked for weeks. It’s also a mark of how genuine Isak’s interest was: with Emma he was all slick and insincere, with Even he was real and tongue-tied. I mean, think about episode 2 and what a great moment it is when Isak runs into Even on the tram and they fumble for words at first. It’s so good! It’s human and real. It’s vulnerable, especially from Isak’s POV since we know how hard he has been pining over the last week, but also from Even’s POV especially when you know he’s liked Isak for a long time. The thing with Martino and Niccolò is that they settle into conversation so instantly, without any bumps, that I don’t think I would buy a moment like that happening. It’s not like I expect them to immediately become best friends but it would feel strange after this scene. And personally, it’s not like this relationship needs to develop the same as Isak/Even, but it’s good to leave some room for build-up from a narrative perspective. That’s why it’s so satisfying when Isak goes from barely being able to speak to Even to getting so comfortable with him that he can joke around and laugh with him. Like, let Martino say the wrong thing, or not know what to say, or make a mistake, so he can earn that more comfortable place with Niccolò, or so we can savor the moments that show him as vulnerable. (I mean, did people not enjoy Isak and Even being shy around each other? Because the awkwardness, the long silent pauses, the fumbling for what to say ... I ate that shit up. I loved it.)

Now on their own, it’s not wrong for any of these plot threads or scenes to go more smoothly. But do you see how cumulatively, they don’t contribute that much to creating a stressful internal and external climate for Martino? He’s just so much milder about everything, and the people around him are milder to him, and from a dramatic perspective it’s not as engaging.

I mean fandom does this thing where it’s like “These characters get along better! Things are Softer! Cinnamon rolls!! It’s an improvement!!!” but that’s not ... actually great from a narrative standpoint. We’re at the beginning of Martino’s story and it makes more sense to emphasize what a shit place he’s in so we can build him up over the season.

The conflict that IS there, and felt like it had more of a presence on screen when it was addressed, is Martino still having feelings for Giovanni and Martino’s issues with his parents. I’m not sure how much farther they’ll take Martino’s crush on Gio, since now Niccolò is in the picture, but they’ll likely have Martino keeping secrets from Giovanni that are Eva-related. And we have Martino living with his mother and dealing with her problems, but I felt like that should have been more emphasized in this premiere episode and not just one clip, since it’s really fucking huge. It’s not a problem he can kind of repress like Isak because Isak can just ignore his mom’s texts. Martino has to go home and deal with it every day. (Like I would have put the radio/weed stuff for episode 1 and kick off with Martino’s parental problems and meeting Filippo, since that should set sooo much of the stage for this season, emotionally.)

I’ve also seen the idea that this season will focus more on Martino dealing with external homophobia than internalized homophobia, and that’s certainly a good idea, but then they really should have hit the ground running with that theme. Show the boy squad making casually homophobic comments, show him fearing what his mom will say. Show some random assholes making gay jokes about Filippo at the party and Martino overhears.

I think they’re doing the meeting with Filippo in episode 2, so hopefully we get more meat to Martino’s conflicts.

I sound like I’m being negative, probably, but I’m aware this is only episode 1, and there’s plenty more to come. There are things that I do like, such as Filippo being Eleonora’s brother and the introduction of the radio. I think those could be really cool for the season. And I’m still intrigued by everything else, because this is S3 and of course I’m wondering how they’ll adapt it!

Please feel free to correct me if I missed or misinterpreted anything!

If you got this far, thank you for reading! Especially if you disagreed with me, lol.

#skamit reactions #skam italia reactions

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timeagainreviews · 6 years

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The Eve of the Thirteenth

Recently I watched "An Unearthly Child," in preparation to write the first official article of Time and Time Again (TATA? Ok, I love that). But then it hit me that it’s a rather auspicious time to talk about the First Doctor’s first episode. With this being the eve of the first female Doctor’s first episode, it seems so appropriate. So I’m going to wait until after "The Woman Who Fell to Earth," drops. See what I did there?

I know this blog is meant to be about revisiting episodes, but the timing is just too good. Besides, it is my blog. However, this being said, I suppose I should share my hopes and expectations for series eleven.

Jodie Whittaker as "The Doctor"

Not since maybe Eccleston has anyone had as difficult a regeneration to overcome. While every actor new to the role feels a pressure to keep the show going, I’d say some feel it harder than others. Davison had to follow up an endearing seven-year run from Tom Baker. McGann had the pressure of trying to reestablish the show, as did Eccleston. Many people even said nobody could replace David Tennant. But the one I am reminded of the most is Patrick Troughton. Troughton was really one of those "make it or break it," Doctors. The concept of regeneration was far from established lore, it was rather a gamble.

Jodie Whittaker has a very similar weight on her shoulders. It’s another one of those "make it or break it" moments. The beauty is, I think she knows it. Everyone involved knows it. However, as much as I’ve emphasised on the pressures involved, I’m confident they chose the right woman for the job. She looks like a children’s show presenter in her costume, which is wonderfully coupled with her mad energy. For me, it’s never been about "We need a woman in the TARDIS," we need the right person in the role, and she’s perfect.

Doctor Who is the ideal show to change the gender or race of its lead. On a science fiction level, it makes total sense that the Doctor is able to change these things with ease. It’s almost laughable that it’s taken this long. It’s almost poetic. The Doctor- a man who has experienced thousands of years worth of exploration and change, still has something new to experience- womanhood. It is, as they say, about time.

The Companions

Honestly, I’m not that fussed over these companions. That’s not to say I’m disinterested or even upset with their casting. I feel confident they’ll all shine in their own ways, and live up to the show’s standard of companions. I think it’s cool that the Doctor’s friends this time around, are rather diverse. As a fan of older companions such as Wilf, or Evelyn Smythe, I am rather looking forward to Bradley Walsh as "Graham." Tamsin and Ryan both seem like they’re going to have some cute banter between the two of them. It seems pretty solid.

Many may say "That’s a pretty crowded TARDIS," but I like the bigger TARDIS crews at times, as they can be a nice way to add a new dynamic. The thing that would have actually excited me would have been a companion from the future, or past. Or even an alien companion. Not since Captain Jack, have we had anyone riding in the TARDIS who wasn’t from the present-day UK. We got teased with it in "Asylum of the Daleks," with Oswin, and again in "The Snowmen," but then we ended up with modern day Clara Oswald. I had even hoped for Bill to be from the 80’s or 90’s. Where are the highlander companions? The Keepers of Traken? I guess Nardol sort of counts, but come on.

Chris Chibnall

Mr Chibnall is probably my biggest worry for the series. As a writer, I’ve never been all that big a fan of his episodes. "The Power of Three," was one I found particularly dreadful. When the Doctor saved the day by pointing his sonic at a screen, I felt cheated. The little cubes amounted to nothing, really. It’s not that he’s a bad writer, he’s just a bit dull. He managed to make “Dinosaurs on a Spaceship,” less exciting than the name implies. That’s probably impressive on some planets.

Overall, I think he’ll do fine, I’m just worried he’ll be a bit boring. I hadn’t worried much until he said that no old baddies would return in series eleven. Which, is fine I guess, but why not? While the Daleks and Cybermen can be really overdone (especially the Cybermen as of late), there is a wealth of villains to draw from the Doctor’s rogues' gallery. One group I’d like to see her face off against are the Axons. Whittaker’s "Godspell" evoking threads call for retro baddies!

So long as Chibnall doesn’t get too dark like he did with Torchwood (which literally felt like a little boy excited over getting to say the F-word), I’d say he’ll do fine. Parts of Torchwood were a bit "lizard brain," to its credit. Doctor Who should always have a touch of the surreal. The first episode had it. An indestructible police box, bigger on the inside, that travels anywhere in time and space? It seems normal now, but even to this day, there’s nothing quite like it. Keep the energy up, and keep it weird, you’ll do fine, Chris. It’s not like you’ll get the series cancelled again.

The New Writing Staff and Production Crew

I’ll be honest, I don’t know much anything about the writers. I’ve looked them up and read about some of their stuff, but that’s about as far as I’ve taken it. I will say however, it’s nice to see so much new blood. Men, women, people of colour, many perspectives. Doctor Who thrives on being shaken up. I’m all for it.

As for the new production crew, it’s even more of the same- happy to see someone new. I know a few people were growing tired of the whimsical look of much of the Moffat era. And at times, I kind of miss the tacky trash TV look of the RTD era. From what I’ve seen of the series 11 trailer, we’re in for something a little more grounded in reality. The cinematography looks rather simple, the sets seem plausible, if not a little dull. I’m hoping they’re hiding the big knock you on your ass sets and cinematography for the actual episodes. I would not be averse to having a show that looked as colourful as the promotional artwork we’ve been seeing. It’s gorgeous. A feast for the eyes. If the leaked TARDIS console pictures are anything to go off, I’d say they’ve kept some rather exciting secrets from us.

Segun Akinola replacing Murray Gold

Music is such an important part of Doctor Who. The theme song is both haunting and exciting: portentous of the tale about to unfold. The Radiophonic Workshop, with geniuses of sound like Delia Derbyshire and Ron Grainer, pushed not only the atmosphere of the show to greater heights but music as well. In the same vein as musique concrète, they were pioneers of electronic sound.

Upon the reveal of Akinola’s appointment as music director, I promptly sought out his SoundCloud and spent an entire afternoon listening to his stuff. I was heartened to hear he was both melodic and ambient at different times. His music is minimalist, and percussive as well. One of my biggest criticisms of Murray Gold was that he was too safe a choice. For me, he never really felt strange enough for Doctor Who.

Perhaps I am an odd duck, but I miss the days of the Third Doctor driving his bizarre car to a soundtrack of muddy synthesisers that sounded as if they wanted to murder you. The closest Gold ever came to that level of greatness was the aforementioned "Asylum of the Daleks." The music matched the tone of the episode exquisitely. I had hoped to hear more of that experimentation from him, but he never really did. Akinola seems the kind of guy who just might take us to strange places.

As we all know though, the true test will be in his imagining of the theme tune. I was never a huge fan of the Capaldi era theme. It didn’t really, slap as they say. From what I’ve heard of Akinola’s work, I’m very curious how he’s going to approach it.

Well, friends, that’s it for now. We’ve got nowt to do at this moment but wait. The next time you hear from me, it will have already happened! I hope you’re just as excited as I am! Doctor Who series 11 premieres tomorrow, the 7th of October at 6:45 pm on BBC 1!

#doctor who #jodie whittaker #Segun Akinola #thirteenth doctor #bbc #tardis #tosin cole #mandip gill #bradley walsh #chris chibnall #series eleven

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xtruss · 3 years

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How U.S.-Backed Army Became a 'Paper Tiger' That Let Taliban Take Afghanistan

— By Tom O'Connor | 8/17/21 | Newsweek

Comments: (Nope! That’s Not the Case. Afghan Army Simply Didn’t Fight Their “MUSLIM BROTHERS, THE TALIBAN.” They were sick and tired of Hypocrisy and Hegemony of the US, North Atlantic Terrorist Organization (NATO), their Puppet Allies and the Corrupt Government. Period.)

"The U.S. never adequately adjusted its preferred mode of building foreign security forces—buying and giving them stuff—to the human capital that was available in Afghanistan," Jonathan Schroden, director of the CNA think tank's Countering Threats and Challenges Program, told Newsweek. In this photo, soldiers from the Afghan Security Forces travel on an armed vehicle along a road in Panjshir province in Afghanistan on August 15. The fate of Afghan troops and police remain uncertain as the Taliban asserts control over the country. AHMAD SAHEL ARMAN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

The sudden, dramatic collapse of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in the wake of a U.S. military withdrawal immediately followed by rapid Taliban advances has captivated international audiences, eliciting fear and awe across the globe.

But a new report released Tuesday by the U.S. government's congressionally mandated watchdog on Afghanistan and obtained by Newsweek details two decades of failures that led up to the historic events still unfolding in the capital city of Kabul and across the country.

A devastating array of shortcomings are outlined in the latest report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), including attempts to establish mismatched Western institutions to shifting missions throughout successive administrations, and fueling Afghanistan's endemic corruption with corner-cutting projects that ultimately never came to fruition.

"After conducting more than 760 interviews and reviewing thousands of government documents, our lessons learned analysis has revealed a troubled reconstruction effort that has yielded some success but has also been marked by too many failures," the report said.

The report identified key areas in which the U.S. approach failed, including incoherent strategies, unrealistic timelines, unsustainable institutions, counterproductive personnel strategies, rampant insecurity and a fundamental lack of understanding of Afghanistan's social, economic and political context.

But even people who are painfully aware of the deep-rooted issues that had metastasized within the Afghan government and its security forces throughout the years expressed bewilderment at the speed at which Kabul's house of cards collapsed.

Jonathan Schroden of CNA, a nonprofit research and analysis organization, serves as director of its Countering Threats and Challenges Program, and has traveled to Afghanistan numerous times over the past two decades, including at the request of U.S. military leadership.

He highlighted three out of what he said were a "myriad" of reasons why the Afghan state never stood a chance from the outset of the U.S.-led intervention launched by former President George Bush 20 years ago, just weeks after 9/11.

"The U.S. approach to Afghanistan was incoherent from the day it captured Kabul from the Taliban," Schroden told Newsweek. "Bush felt he owed it to Afghanistan to leave it better than he found it, while [Defense Secretary Donald] Rumsfeld just wanted to get the hell out. That incoherence of purpose wasted a window of opportunity to get a viable security structure in place before the Taliban resurgence."

The first mistake begot the following two.

"Because we wasted that window, we were stuck playing catch-up—fighting a strong insurgency while also building the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces," he said. "That led to consistent prioritization of operational expedience over sustainability."

Schroden said the U.S. was stuck in old paradigm, which it tried to apply to Afghanistan.

"All of that left a military that was a paper tiger," Schroden added. "It seemed okay so long as you didn't look too closely at it and the U.S. was there to back it up."

Taliban fighters stand guard in a vehicle along the roadside in Kabul on August 16, after a stunningly swift end to Afghanistan's 20-year war, as thousands of people mobbed the city's airport trying to flee the group's feared hardline brand of Islamist rule. AFP

SIGAR, led by Special Inspector General John F. Sopko, was one of the few organizations to look too closely.

For 13 years, reports have painted an increasingly bleak picture of what was transpiring in Afghanistan. Compiling interviews with officials and media reports, SIGAR's stories of U.S. personnel watching television shows such as "Cops" for inspiration on training Afghan law enforcement and copy-and-pasting proposals on Iraq to in an attempt to nation-build in Afghanistan inspired little confidence about the state of the U.S. mission.

"We were devoid of a fundamental understanding of Afghanistan," Douglas Lute, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general who served as deputy national security adviser for Iraq and Afghanistan from 2007 to 2013, told SIGAR in a 2019 quote once again featured in the latest report. "We didn't know what we were doing."

The lack of consistency and coherence permeated from administration to administration, with constant redirection, cancellation and mission creep over the course of two decades blurring any singular vision for Afghanistan's future from taking hold.

"The U.S. reconstruction effort in Afghanistan could be described as 20 one-year reconstruction efforts, rather than one 20-year effort," the SIGAR report found.

For policymakers, the pitfalls of a war that passed through the hands of four different U.S. presidents always appeared to be the fault of a predecessor or a successor, but never the incumbent.

While it was former President Donald Trump who struck the deal with the Taliban that ultimately led to the U.S. exit, it was President Joe Biden who took credit for breaking the cycle.

"I know my decision will be criticized, but I would rather take all that criticism than pass this decision on to another President of the United States, yet another one, a fifth one," Biden said in remarks Monday amid the chaos in Kabul.

"Because it's the right one," he added. "It's the right decision for our people. The right one for our brave service members who have risked their lives serving our nation. And it's the right one for America."

The palpably frustrated president also addressed the lack of resistance among Afghan security forces as the Taliban entered Kabul.

"There's some very brave and capable Afghan special forces units and soldiers, but if Afghanistan is unable to mount any real resistance to the Taliban now, there is no chance that one year, one more year, five more years, or 20 more years of U.S. military boots on the ground would've made any difference," he said.

At the Pentagon, Press Secretary John Kirby redirected a press question as to why the Afghan security forces, by and large, did not fight back.

"I think it's a question better posed to the political and military leadership of our Afghan partners," Kirby said.

Like Biden, he appeared to acknowledge that the war effort was hopeless.

"You can resource, you can train, you can support, you can advise, and you can assist, but you cannot buy will," Kirby said. "You cannot purchase leadership, and leadership was missing. And we've been saying for weeks that when we look back at the outcome, whatever the outcome is and now we know, that we are going to be able to say that leadership was the deciding factor, and I think that that has proven to be true."

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country in the leadup to the Taliban advance on Kabul, a decision he explained by saying he hoped it would avoid more bloodshed.

But in Afghanistan, the sudden exit was viewed as yet another indication that Ghani's grip on power was tenuous, held together only by the presence of U.S. forces.

"Many people—especially those in the West—believed that Afghans must have been supportive of Ghani's government because the Taliban alternative was so awful in their eyes. But to many Afghans, it was a 'Sophie's choice,'" Schroden said, referencing the 1979 novel and 1982 film about a mother forced by Nazis to choose which of her two children should live during the Holocaust.

Schroden argued there were no easy answers in Afghanistan either.

"On one hand was the Taliban's heavy-handed, limited-freedom authoritarian security and religious justice. On the other hand was a predatory and selfish government that couldn't bring security and offered little in the way of inclusive services to those it governed," he said. "In hindsight, it's little wonder that many Afghans decided what they really wanted was simply to live, and not die fighting to make that choice."

But Ghani's unannounced exit has left an ominous void in place of the country's highest office, adding insult to injury for those who still felt he was the better choice.

"Common people and Ghani's cabinet members that I spoke with are all mad at Ghani's illogical decision to flee himself and his limited henchmen without appointing someone to take care of the Government affairs temporarily," Ahmad Shah Katawazai, a diplomat who served as a liaison to the Afghan Defense Department at the country's embassy in Washington, told Newsweek. "Leaving the country with a power vacuum was a bad decision and an insult to all Afghans."

While in power, Ghani's leadership sought to present itself as a more democratic, egalitarian choice for Afghanistan endorsed by the U.S. and international community at large, but it left the Afghan government in a particularly vulnerable position.

"Ghani's government, especially the security leadership, failed to manage the security forces," Katawazai said. "Lack of coordination and low morale of the ANDSF coupled with lack of attention to the needs of the ANDSF led to their desertion and surrender."

And while this may have accelerated the fall of the Kabul government, what ultimately turned the tables was the Taliban's ability to mount a formidable, comprehensive campaign both militarily to gain ground and diplomatically to help Kindle the U.S. realization that the war was no longer worth fighting.

"The Taliban had launched a robust and strategic psychological warfare that contributed a lot to their success," Katawazai argued, "while Ghani's establishment drowned in corruption and internal rifts had no proper strategy to counter that."

"Key success for the Taliban has been not harming those who surrendered," he added. "Internationally from the last few months, the ANDSF was deprived of the close air support, key leverage for the ANDSF in the battlefield. That inflicted huge damage to the security forces."

Now the only forward may be to find common ground with the victorious Taliban.

Al Jazeera reported Monday that Abdullah Abdullah, the head of the High Council for National Reconciliation, former President Hamad Karzai and Islamic Party chief Gulbuddin Hekmatyar are heading to the Qatari capital of Doha to negotiate the country's political future with the Taliban.

"Power-sharing government is the only way out of this mess," Katawazai said.

"Without a power-sharing government, the Taliban won't get international legitimacy and will turn into an isolated and pariah state that I believe the Taliban also don't want. Currently in Doha negotiations are going on to chart out the structure of the future government. Hopefully, there will be an agreement on that soon."

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letsimportanttreecollection-blog · 6 years

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