#and he brings up in conversation a lot the parallels and connections between them | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

theladyyavilee · 1 year

Note

Hey, as someone newer to the fandom what is up with the sunset, construction on sunset thing?

hey nonnie! (sorry this took a while <3 I took this as an excuse to compile a full sunset meta post and there was more than I thought!) okay so this one is a little more meta even than the trapped dads meta, buuuut it is one of my favorites, because at least to me it is pretty loud and they've - especially recently - been calling back to it in very cute little ways, but the callback in this episode was the loudest in a WHILE and it is actually a beautiful parallel to the first ocurrence of the whole construction on sunset thing!

so, as far as I know it all dates back to the mention of 'there was construction on sunset, I had to take a detour' in 4x8 when Eddie returns from his math date with Ana to Buck taking care of Christopher and the connection between Ana and Sunset, which was beautifully laid out by @yramesoruniverse here in this post and there is a gifset by @catdadeddie here highlighting the parallel!!

for me personally the fact that they brought both SUNSETS aaand CONSTRUCTION back for this episode, when Eddie is dating again? yeah that was a loud choice! especially the fact that he was called over to do repair/construction work for Pepa, only the real reason (the real construction and the REAL reason for another detour he is taking on his path to love) was the blind date all along and they put not one but two pictures with a potential* sunset onto the walls in Pepa's house to make sure we saw that the 'construction was on sunset' AGAIN xD see this post by yours truly for pictures and lots of yelling! xD

*okay, I say potential sunset, because last night an anon asked about whether it is a sunset or a sunRISE and indeed we do not know for sure! now after that I went onto a google research binge and found that sunrises and sunsets are hard to distinguish on pictures, as they are the exact same phenomenon, only with movement in different directions! the only thing that sometimes makes a distinction possible is the fact that air pollution increases during the day and clears during the night, so sunrises often have a clearer and crisper feel to them than sunset, which in exchange provide more of a color spectacle caused by the increased refraction on the air pollution particles

based on that @stagefoureddiediaz, @mistmarauder and I have come more or less to the conclusion that the picture we see behind eddie could very likely be a sunrise - signaling a new beginning for him, while the picture in the living room, behind vanessa and her tia and connected to the dating of it all, is another sunset - standing for both the construction on sunset causing a detour in eddie's love life of it all, as well as a (potential) relationship coming to a close as soon as it has begun xD

now on the exact meaning of sunsets by themselves we have not yet found exact agreement, but they seem to be about endings, about the sun setting on something, as in the sun setting on a specific relationship or relationship dynamic!

(more under the cut)

so on this scene in 2x17 where we see Eddie reading Shannon's letter and more or less letting himself say goodbye to her and finally cry over this loss, while on the beach at sunset

@mistmarauder says 'Well, I don't actually think sunsets are Buddie coded. I think they're relationship coded. And really the sun is setting on his relationship with Shannon because she's gone. [...]Sunsets make me think endings. Not beginnings.' and also '[The] Sun sets on one thing and rises on another.' which after a brief conversation @stagefoureddiediaz points out doesn't quite preclude it from relating to Buddie as well by saying 'Not necessarily just because we haven’t got there yet doesn’t mean that that sunset wasn’t relevant to buddie - it’s kind of like a chapter ending - but it’s like that sunset brings on the darkness that is the tsunami which leads to the dawning of a new and different friendship - one we’re still seeing grow and change - I think if we looked at when all the sunsets appear in connection with buddie they’ll come at key moments of shift - so they’re constantly chapter endings - drawing them increasingly closer together - but it’s kind of a secondary theme with the sunsets rather than the primary one'

furthermore we have come to the conclusion that some of the smaller depictions might intentionally be ambiguous on whether or not they are a sunrise or a sunset, because at a turning point it is natural for there to be a chapter that closes and another, new one, that begins!

alright now for fun little nods to the whole sunset thing they've done since then:

we have Buck's heart drawing in 5x14 being done in sunset colors, pointed out by @fiona-fififi in this post, going perfectly with Buck 'misunderstanding the assignment' another detour having to be taken!

then we have three posts by @stagefoureddiediaz, this one about the sunset balloon at the bedside of the girl who was living a fake life in 5x15, an episode that had multiple nods to Eddie maybe also not letting himself live his life quite true to who he is! another post for 5x17 and the sunset colors on the cake for ramon's retirement! and then in this very recent costume meta for 6x13 kym points out how in the very lovely buckley-diaz scene with the math homework, Chris is wearing a shirt that has a small pineapple on it that is inlaid with a teeny tiny sunset scene!! she has also pointed out that there is a good chance that the full picture on the front of Chris' yellow shirt that he wears in the scene immediately before the Eddie/Ana break-up in 5x3 is depicting a sunrise/sunset too!

and then for two more posts that actually put various meta concepts, including 'construction' and 'sunset' into relation to each other we have this one here by @ktinastrikesback and this one by @ktinastrikesback and @fruitydiaz!!!

okay, this got kinda long, but should be most of what we have so far! which does not mean there won't be additions to this post in the near future, because we have actually decided to take a new look through all episodes under the added aspect of sunsets/sunrises, as well as actually looking at episodes that predate the Ana introduction on Sunset Boulevard, so watch this space if you want some more insanity later on xD

#9-1-1 #me answers a thing #anon #911 meta #my meta #buddie meta #sunset beloved #oh man I hope this is even remotely coherent xD #also sorry for everyone getting tagged I am trying to compile a complete overview of the sunset meta over the years xD #also trying to wrangle meta like this into post is so hard because there are always so many layers separate mentions that build #on each other xD #I'm sure I have missed stuff #PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF I DID

82 notes · View notes

chirpsythismorning · 11 months

Text

It’s weird thinking about how, especially in s4, Mike has connected with Will for closure about his relationship to El, though he has never done anything in comparison to connect with El for closure about his friendship with Will??

And what I mean by that, is that Will is one of Mike's best friends and El is his girlfriend. Wouldn't he want to have deep conversations with El about all parts of his life, including his friendship with Will and the struggle they're having there?

This isn't to say that every conversation between them has to be about Will, but I would at least like for it to be close to equal? Like s3, it was as if Will did not exist in Mike and El's world beyond him being in the frame, and s4 had a similar approach... Why can't Mike even disclose to El UGH Will is being clingy or whatever, and make it clear that Will is completely platonic, for the sake of the audience at least? Instead, what we get is very very few mentions of Will at all between them. But the ones that we do get, are incriminating as hell as to why all of this might be.

S1. Pretty self explanatory what I mean by that.

There's two scenes in particular though that I want to talk about because they are direct parallels of each other.

At the end of s1, we get Mike mentioning Will specifically in his plan for the future to El. He says that she can just have his room bc he spends most of his time in his basement anyways... (*cough* Mike projected during the rain fight *cough*) And that it'll be like she is Nancy's sister...

At the end of s3, we get Mike mentioning Will specifically in his plan for the future to El AGAIN. And this is happening directly after his conversation with Will. In that conversation Will and Mike have about their own idea of the future, they do not talk about El at all and only focused on Mike's insecurity that Will might go on to find another party. Mike doesn't voice any similar concern about El moving on in his conversation with her afterwards...

And that's where Mike making any mention of Will to El, just falls off.

In s4 we get El's letter and this is probably the first time since s1 that El has acknowledged Will in reference to Mike (assuming Mike asked how the Byers were doing, seeing as most of her letter came off like she was responding to a questionnaire...)

Again this is all very very weird. These are two best friends and a boyfriend and girlfriend. Mike is being weird about these relationships co-existing at once and how the writers navigate that between those relationships makes it all start to make sense once you actually start to think about it.

And s4 is where it just gets weird... Because Mike is clearly very much struggling over the distance that has come between him and Will over the last year. On the ride home after Rink-O-Mania, they make a point to show Mike looking over at Will briefly, not El. This means that what was on his mind after all of that, was Will.

WHY is Mike not disclosing a big part of what is upsetting him, ie his relationship with Will, to El, his gf? Again, not saying it has to be a bunch of mentions, but really, NO conversation? Not even a mention?

Why is Will not mentioned AT all in their conversations, even though we know Mike is feeling a lot of emotions about Will? Because I think, if it was truly platonic, Mike would be fully capable of opening up with her about his struggles with his best friend, as a bf looking for comfort from his gf about his failing friendship.

Why didn't we get a scene of Mike separating El from everyone else back in Hawkins, saying it wasn't the same without her there? Mike literally separates Will and El saying he was worrying about her too much and felt like he lost Will as a result.......

Those types of moments should have been going to the romantic pairing, not the platonic one...

I just don't think s4 Mike would be caught dead admitting those conflicted feelings he has about Will to El. Like imagine him bringing up Will in a conversation with her? You just can't. Post s4 it's just not something you can picture without thinking oh shit oh shit. Like it's just not possible.

I do think that if it was as simple as Mike being like overwhelmed by Will's feelings or just having basic platonic qualms with his best friend, he would be fully capable about confiding in El about that. Instead Mike and El cant even have a conversation without making each other feel woefully misunderstood about where they both stand on things.

Also, if it was as simple as Mike just being scared to lose El and feeling insecure and needing his platonic best friends support, he wouldn't have needed to dance around the fact that he couldn't tell El he loved her, to Will. If they were purely platonic, he would lay it all out there, with no ambiguity, so that he could actually get closer to resolving things with El, instead of stalling, which is what he did literally all season, seeking emotional support from Will.

The point is, Mike seeks emotional support from Will, but not El. And when it matters most, he is making clear Will is always going to be involved in his picture perfect plan of the future and what he wishes for it to hold, even if he isn't certain what that will be. He wants Will there regardless.

Not having Mike have those deep moments with El, not having it be about them and only them, only for Mike to not really tell El about how he's truly feeling all around, beyond his insecurities in their relationship... says a lot about how he is probably feeling deep down but wont say out loud... (literally).

#byler

64 notes · View notes

box-dwelling · 6 months

Text

So I have kind of a weird sprite analysis hypothesis.

So I see a lot of stuff about the Von Karma siblings both grabbing their shoulders like Manfred does. But looking again I think for Miles it's noticeably different.

Here's Manfred

Here's Franziska

And then here's Miles.

So Franziskas is basically a spot on mirror of her dad. But Miles isn't grabbing his shoulder he's grabbing his arm. It's also notably his left arm he's grabbing where the other two are grabbing their right. I don't think these are actually the parallel were treating them as.

There's also what they're used for. Fran and MVK have the shoulder grab as a damage Sprite but with Edgeworth it's something he frequently does during conversation. So I went through and looked at when he uses this sprite and I found something interesting.

Pre the Reval of what happened during DL6, It's almost always involving how he perceives himself to be failing to live up to MVKs standards (and his own) as a procecutor or when talking about his connection with Phoenix or Gregory. Now we can take that as repressed gay thoughts or we can take it as being ashamed of his familial and platonic connection with, respect for, and losses to defense attorneies who MVK does not think highly of at all.

Then after that it's often when he's scared Phoenix or other people are going to think less of him or that they already do. Like how he's scared in RFA about how his car being the crime scene is implicating him in the murdering or how he thinks Lana has betrayed him.

Then in addition to this during FMT it's used very liberally whenever MVK, his practices or what he turned Miles (and also Franziska) into are brought up. It's also used a lot in reference to Celeste which I take as being an issue with bring up suicide given he's talking to a man who is very angry that he just faked his own and the similarities he feels between himself and adrian. It's also used involving de killer and also Maya's Kidnapping. Initially I thought they just needed a serious sprite but looking more into it, I think this is another instance of him being scared of Phoenix's reaction. He knows during these conversations that Engarde hired De Killer. He knows that this is going to hurt Phoenix like hell when he find out. He's also probably scared he'll get the blame. This compounds when he finds out about Maya because now Phoenix's best friend is likely to die because he will probably win this trial. And he's worried that if the rescue attempt doesn't work that blame is also on him.

BTTT is more of the same. Sprite is used when he is directly preventing Phoenix from accessing Maya. Also often in reference to Dahlia and specifically the fact he found out about the trial where she was found guilty. Meaning he knows something about Phoenix he wasn't directly told.

So with this there's some information we can gather. This is something Edgeworth does when he's feeling guilty and scared of retribution. It is fundamentally linking his guilt and fear. But what triggers these emotions changes throughout the games. In the first game it's guilt of not being a true Von karma. In the later games, it's guilt of his previous actions, and also guilt whenever he has to do something that might upset someone he cares for or respects. Now for anyone who has anxiety caused by abuse, this probably looks deeply familiar. It does to me at least. Edgeworth sees any situation where he thinks he's at fault, no matter how small or not to blame he is, and reacts in fear. He is terrified of messing up in any way. He scared that any slip up will be ment with retaliation. This also lines up with what we know about Von Karma. Perfection is an impossible standard and Investigations shows that MVK would verbally abuse him whenever he failed to meet it.

Now I want to say, I don't think this is Edgeworth not fully deconstructing his perfection complex. I think he has. This is clearly a trauma response. It's instinct.

Now I have 2 theories about the action itself. One I'm certain of, the other is a little more head canon crackpot scheme.

Options 1: this is a self soothing thing. He's literally hugging himself. He's closing himself off and putting up a barrier to protect himself.

Options 2: if this was AA4 and I noticed it with perceive, I'd wonder if this was specifically an old wound hes instinctively covering or protecting himself from. Maybe whenever he slipped up Von Karma would enact a physical punishment like a punch to the gut or to hit his arm. The head turn is literally a flinch.

Or he could just be doing it whenever he has gay thoughts idk

#ace attorney #miles edgeworth #von karma siblings #rise from the ashes #farewell my turnabout #tw suicide #tw abuse

24 notes · View notes

sleepy-aletheas · 1 month

Text

There is something really satisfying to me about the Story Quests in Genshin. I know that many people hate that the quests about the playable characters center around NPCs, but honestly? I fucking love that.

(this is more babbling than I thought it would be, but I was thinking about this before taking a nap, so now I'll put it here to stop walking in circles anymore)

They are people of this world. They live there with neighbors and fellow citizens; they work and have colleagues with whom they communicate with (or not); they have duties and hobbies and dreams, just like everyone else. The playable characters we meet and get to know are complex, but they feel more alive and well rounded, because the people around also have depth.

There are NPCs with conflict, complex histories shared among them. There is loyalty and love. There are dreams, and there is despair. The characters we are interested in are designed to be interesting, but they do live outside the Traveler's orbit too. They wake up and have a full day before them, they have plans and whims, deadlines and duties, they talk with people close to them, with people we don't even know exist.

And these story quests are a great way to show how these characters we latch onto, and want to know more about, how they interact with the world around them. How the world interacts back. What these characters think about others. How others think about them.

I loved Yoimiya's first quest a lot, because it was mainly about the NPCs. We saw what fireworks meant for them, how precious it was. We had two story lines paralleling each other at the same time, with the overall message being "this is what connects us and only us" and we get to know what Yoimiya gets out of bringing this to people. We didn't need to go in-depth through her childhood to know that this is fulfilling to her, that she loves bringing people a spark of happiness only they can truly understand, and we see people love and appreciate her back. We don't need NPCs shout how amazing she is, because she is their friend, their neighbor, a daughter, a role model. We get to see how they talk to her, what they say, what she says and how she says it.

Kokomi is still my favorite Inazuma character and her story quest made me love her more, because we see her care for Watatsumi, her relentless pursuit for the better future that hangs just out of reach now. We see how she's loved, revered, idolized and cared for. We see people needing her do her duty, but also caring for her wellbeing, because she's human like them. And we see she made a space just for herself when she's exhausted, when she needs to recharge and be Kokomi, not the Divine Priestess Sangonomiya Kokomi. We read her diary! We get to know she has a very limited social battery she needs to push daily to do her duties. She is anxious, tired, and so in love with her home and her people, she will go through this endless exhaustion with pride and care.

I even liked Ayato's quest, because it underlined his whole character nicely. He is important to the commissions, he has a good enough pull in matters. He is polite, and he worked his way up from not knowing how to lead to be at the place he is now. And meanwhile we are trying to solve the whole wedding fiasco, he is...quiet. He observes and comments, and observes some more. He pushed people to think for themselves in ways that benefited everyone, so he doesn't have to clean up more messes later. He is calm and pretty neutral overall, and the lack of interest from his side says way more than if he spilled his guts to us or we had an emotional conversation with him, when he is not the type of person to do that.

And that's another thing I like: the spaces between what is said. The insinuations, the lack of elaboration, the glossing over and switching of topics that were trying to get somewhere. Sometimes we get to know more about people by the things they don't say or that they avoid. And I like that it's portrayed in characters that aren't really open about themselves, be it through emotional distance, their work-life balance, or just them being really liking privacy. And it's not just the silent types that do that like Ayato or Alhaitham. Yae Miko doesn't really spill anything either, with her being so seemingly light hearted with a sharp edge, she directs the conversations masterfully away from places that are vulnerable.

I just love that we can see different facets of the characters through them talking, people talking, the silence and omission, the hints and jokes. The world is alive, the characters are alive, the NPCs are alive, and they all coexist. It's just the Traveler that gets roped into the shenanigans of the few powerful ones that have visions and those are the characters we follow.

There are so many characters I love, that make my day, that give me new train of thoughts to evaluate and settle my own mess of a life. Some are frustrating to the point of intrigue. Some I don't vibe with and I love them for that more, because that makes me wanna understand more.

I just really love the way the game handles the characters, even the ones I don't like. There is care put into them, and yes, there are obviously some that are more fleshed out by a lot more details and are brought back over and over in events, but all these playable characters have depth, even if it's sometimes overlooked or overshadowed by someone else. Sometimes the depth is hidden by frost to not get deep, sometimes the characters themselves put stones in the way so no one tries to dive deeper.

My love just simply overrides the weaker moments, and my mind fills in the blank spaces left behind, and I don't mind that at all.

#genshin impact #i'm rambling again #i could dissect Ayaka's story quest and why it's so dear to me #I could rant about Alhaitham's for 4 hours straight and still go on a tangent after that #i love seeing my emotional support terrors exist and i like to care for the NPCs too because they fill the world #there are too many NPCs i care about in general. some i might love even more than a playable character with how attached i get #maybe one day i will write physical love letters about all the characters that make the challenge of living so much more rewarding

6 notes · View notes

phenomenologically · 19 days

Text

As "Ameriican Requiem" opens with gospel-inspired elegance, the melody will quickly switch into -- what will become -- Cowboy Carter's signature acoustic twang. As the melody turns with synth sparkle, you realize Beyoncé has provided us her new 'pledge of allegiance': "For things to stay the same, they need to change again." Amen!

The gospel -- in terms of scripture, rather than musicality -- captures my attention here. Perhaps I've been listening to too much old-school blues, but Cowboy Carter's biblical references provide through-lines to the heart of Southern Black country and blues music. This isn't to say that this is Beyoncé's first time bringing God into her lyrics; but rather, the spiritual exclamations and jubilations of Cowboy Carter seem more fully realized when married with the sounds of blues' forebearers like Blind Joe Taggart ("God's Gonna Separate the Wheat from the Tares); Sister Rosetta Tharpe ("Precious Lord, Take My Hand"); and Arizona Dranes ("My Soul is a Witness"). These parallels can be drawn through acoustics, through the embellished runs Beyoncé uses to emphasize milestones within her songs' narratives (think of the octave change on "early age" in verse one and the bridge of "16 Carriages").

The prose-like approach to personal narrative throughout the album also serves the connection to late-1800s/early-1900s emerging blues, "negro spirituals," and country songs from Black artists of the era. While Beyoncé has drawn her life experiences plainly into her discography prior to Cowboy Carter, the styling of the album feels particularly attuned to imparting heartfelt, genuine lived experience.

In "Protector," Beyoncé soothes her children (in the song, Rumi's voice is sampled) with promises of protection, projection, and "Liftin' you up, so you will be raised." The content here reminded me, by contrast, of the well-loved blues anthem "(Sometimes I Feel Like A) Motherless Child" covered by icons like Sister Rosetta Tharpe, multi-hyphenate Paul Robeson, and folk-revivalist Odetta. While the singer of "Motherless Child" laments their lonesomeness, their isolation "a long ways from home," Cowboy Carter subverts this relationship and ensures that she will "lead you down that road if you lose your way." This points to another relationship between the album and its possible early blues-inspirations: "For things to stay the same, they need to change again."

Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter seeks to establish a new dialogue between Southern Black parent and child; husband and wife; community and individual. "Texas Hold 'Em" clarifies my point. Here, Beyoncé invites her muse to "lay your cards down," a phrase relevant to cardgames, yes, but one that's also used figuratively to indicate succumbing to vulnerability. In the pre-chorus after verse one she says, "I can't read your mind," indicating that while her partner may be connecting with her physically (on "the floor"), he still needs to "lay [his] cards down" so they can "work [their problems] in the middle," rather than side-stepping and dancing around them.

Her continual request to "pour some sugar on me," while immediately recognizable as a possible allegory of Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar On Me," the line reminds me more of "the Empress of Blues" Bessie Smith's "Need a Little Sugar in My Bowl." In the song, Bessie pleads for "some good man to tell my troubles to," -- laying her cards on the table. Interestingly, both Bessie Smith's "Need a Little Sugar," and Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar," carry a... frisky, let's say, subtext. I would be remiss to say that "Texas Hold 'Em," is entirely about breaking down emotional barriers between partners, without recognizing there's a lot of physical barriers Beyoncé tangles with as well. However, ultimately "Texas Hold 'Em" helps to elucidate that larger theme of the album: starting hard conversations among partners and families, and reasserting love and forgiveness above all.

The empassioned declarations of love and support -- to daughters, to husbands, to mothers and fathers -- are peppered throughout the album. "Bodyguard," "My Rose," "Alligator Tears," and "II Hands II Heaven," provide Beyoncé the platform to express these wishes singularly; while duets like "II Most Wanted" with Miley Cyrus more explicitly illustrate how important unhindered commitment in partnership is to Beyoncé. And, once again, these themes between romantic/sexual/lifelong partners mirrors much of the content of early blues, particularly (to me) the work of Sippie Wallace: the inspiration of blues/rock artist Bonnie Rait.

For instance, Sippie's biggest hit, "I'm a Mighty Tight Woman," recounts her wishes for a good man who will make her happy, "and I will make him happy too." She describes herself as a "jack of all trades," able to support her "pretty papa" in any wish or struggle -- mirroring some of the promises Beyoncé extends in "Bodyguard," for example. Much of Sippie's discography presents cynical (but wise, perhaps) views on marriage. Her song "Women Be Wise" advises married women, "don't advertise your man," as desperate women will come looking for him: a similar case as Cowboy Carter's "Jolene." Yet, once again, Beyoncé reaffirms her pledge of change by telling Jolene, "I'ma stand by him, he gon' stand by me." She doesn't relent to the "inevitability" of female competition, of unfaithfulness. She reaffirms wholeheartedly the trust in her partnership, and the value they add to one another. This is an evolution on Sippie's narrative, in which "Women Be Wise," ends with her own admission of guilt: "Lord honey, I just might sneek up and try to make him mine." Rather than committing to a partnership, she too moves on to the next.

I would be remiss to publish this review without addressing "Ya Ya." Here, Beyoncé partners with a soulful chorus to opine on American realities: sex, God, and shady insurance companies. The narrative retelling of these moments intercut with a toe-tapping "ya ya ya" chorus brought to mind lawyer, professional football player, activist, singer and actor (that's what I meant by multi-hyphenate) Paul Robeson. His famous rendition of "Joe Hill," details the 1914 murder of union organizer and communist Joe Hill. Parallel to the repetition of "ya-ya" and "la-la" through Cowboy Carter, Robeson returns again and again to Joe Hill's empowering response to questions of his death: "'I never died,' says he." And similar to Beyoncé's questioning of "workin' time and a half for half the pay," so too is "Joe Hill" questioning the working class: if your leader dies, does your cause die? Does your need for change die? No, "they organized." For this, Beyoncé prays "that he don't crash," but similarly, that her hardworking man "gotta keep the faith." Now -- "Ya Ya" is not a call to union organization and worker's empowerment as "Joe Hill," was. But, it's an important touchstone onto my earlier point: that Cowboy Carter is calling not only for changes within partnership and family, but larger communities and perhaps, American society at-large. To recognize the shared struggle, faith, and love of delicious cheesy grits that has always connected working-class Americans -- rather than superficial categories pre-determined by melanation -- despite a bloody "History that can't be erased."

I could unpack many, many more connections between Cowboy Carter and the blues genre, but I'll end on the poignant necessity of "Amen." Here, Beyoncé returns to the hook of "Ameriican Requiem,": Can you see her point? Can you hear her history? "Looker-there, looker there now," she croons in the opening track. "Have mercy on me," she belts at the close. "Amen," brings us visions of the present South; meticulously upkept plantation homes "built with blood and bone," though the homes of the enslaved Americans who built them have "crumbled." Civil War and Colonial-era monuments standing above struggling neighborhoods, beautifying the "lies of stone."

"For things to stay the same, they need to change again." For freedom to remain intact, to remain the foundation of "country," it must evolve to new heights, new communities, new dialogues. To "purify our Father's sins," requires not only a reckoning with the self, but a reckoning with the greater culture. It means not only shamelessly extending love and support to those closest to you, but recognizing the opportunities to spark love with those farthest from -- or most dissimilar to -- you.

Favorite Tracks:

"16 Carriages"

"Alligator Tears"

"Ya Ya"

#too long to post on musicboard rn so lemme throw it here #Beyoncé #cowboy carter #album drop #album analysis #blues #text

5 notes · View notes

hyperfixation-or-death · 7 months

Text

Thinking about a Parallels AU where the main four + Camille are all different ages at the start of the show, and all the dynamics are different because of it.

The only main characters who have met at the start are Sam and Victor, and Sam and Bilal.

Sam is fifteen years old, so he's the closest to his canon age.

Victor is nine years old, so he's the youngest by a lot in this.

Bilal is thirty years old, and he's working with his mom on the tests. He also tutors Sam in math on the weekends.

Romane is nineteen years old, and hasn't met any of the other main characters.

Camille is nine years old, and she and Victor go to the same school.

Episode one starts when Sam is supposed to go to tutoring, but ends up needing to bring Victor with him, because their parents weren't able to pick him up from some activity or other.

I haven't figured out how they get to the woods from there; for the sake of convenience, let's say that cat Romane and Camille feed shows up injured, and they end up following the cat to try and help it? Work in progress.

Anyways, once they're close to the bunker, they run into Romane. Assuming we're going with the cat plot device, because I can't think of anything else right now, Romane was also trying to find the cat. The cat is gone now, though, and they're all about to turn back.

Then Victor notices the bunker (the key is in the door, idk), and wants to go inside. Sam and Bilal don't think it's a good idea, but Romane also wants to go inside for some reason, and the four end up going to check it out.

The test goes off, of course, and the timelines split.

Timeline 1 - Romane and Victor are left in the bunker.

Victor definitely blames himself for the disappearances, since he was the one to suggest going in the bunker in the first place. Romane also definitely blames herself for the disappearances, since Victor is nine years old, and she should have known it was a bad idea, but she didn't, and now this kid's brother is probably dead because of that.

Romane ends up talking to Victor afterwards, and realizes that he goes to school with Camille. The conversation turns to that, and Victor mentions that he's not doing great in some subject or other; a subject Romane happens to be good at. Feeling like it's the absolute least she could do for him, she offers to help him with homework after school.

Since Victor is literally an elementary school child, his parents are not sending him to boarding school. They do become increasingly distant and harsh, and Victor becomes increasingly convinced that they don't care about him.

Victor ends up spending a lot of time at Romane and Camille's house. At first, it's just because Romane's helping him with homework. Then it sinks in that no one else understands what happened in the bunker, and that fact starts playing into their dynamic. Then he starts to become friends with Camille. By the time four years have gone by, Victor and Camille are close friends, and Romane sees Victor as another sibling. (She hasn't moved out yet because a. She's attending university nearby. and b. She doesn't trust Herve and wants to keep an eye on her family.)

Then Vanessa Chassangre dies, and Romane is faced with the possibility of losing her sister. She's trying to figure out if she has any chance at getting custody, when Victor shows up to ask if she wants to go back to the bunker. Neither of them have figured out the correlation with the test in this AU, but they still go, out of sentimentality and curiosity and several other complicated emotions.

Test happens again; Victor and Romane time travel.

Timeline 2 - Romane and Bilal are left in the bunker.

Bilal connects the dots between the tests and the disappearances pretty quickly. He tells his mom. Then he tells Romane.

Bilal decides to try and find a way to save Sam and Victor. This time, it's less out of personal grief and more out of a sense of responsibility for what happened and guilt.

Romane graduates high school feeling completely lost. She doesn't know what she wants to do with her life, and she can't shake the guilt over what happened.

Haven't planned it out too well, but Bilal and Romane stay in contact. I'm not sure how it's going to work, but he's able to get her accepted for an internship at some point, and she ends up working with Bilal and Sofia.

The three of them continue to work at the time travel. Along the way, Romane becomes close with both Sofia and Bilal, viewing them as family.

Vanessa dies; Herve tries to take Camille. This time, it doesn't work. Romane has a support net, a steady income, and a future in the physics field. Romane gets custody of her sister.

They figure out the time travel. Bilal decides to go back.

Timeline 3 - Sam is left in the bunker; Bilal travels back to this one; Victor and Romane travel back to this one.

Since Bilal was already an adult before the time travel, Sam still recognizes him. He's clearly aged several years, though, which everyone is very confused about. Bilal has his canonical memory loss.

Idk what happens for the first day, but then Romane and Victor show up to the timeline at the same time they do in canon.

I haven't thought about how the plot changes from there, but the timeline where Victor kills Sam and then disappears after time traveling again doesn't happen. The official explanation is that they're able to stop it from happening the first time; the actual explanation is that I can't keep track of that many timelines in an already complicated AU.

Notes on the AU:

Camille ends up being there for the finale's events, both because she's a little older in the AU and because she's friends with Victor in the AU, so she insists on coming with the main characters.

Victor's emotional conflict ends up being roughly the same, because on the one hand, he's had more of a support net for those four years, but on the other, he's younger with more intense emotions, so it all kind of evens out.

For obvious reasons, none of the canon romantic relationships exist, with the exception of Sofia and Lieutenant Retz.

Obviously lots of things are different with this one, but I can't really think of a lot right now because I'm tired, so I might add to this later.

#parallels #disney parallels #paralleles #disney paralleles #probably won't do anything with this AU. but i'm gonna name it the Age Shuffle AU just in case i do.#also romane mostly just hangs out with camille and victor in her timeline.#she doesn't really have any other friends because a. it kind of adds to the dynamics and b. i thought it'd be kind of funny #Vanessa: romane you should make some friends. Romane: i have friends. i have two friends.#Vanessa: are you talking about your nine year old sister and her nine year old friend. Romane: yes.#also once everyone reunites victor is obviously so glad to see sam again but he also links his parents treatment of him back to sam.#so he's kind of resentful and stuff still. but he's also younger now. idk my point is that romane and sam's dynamic is basically:#Sam: why did you steal my brother. why does he like you better than me now. Romane: you were dead. free sibling.#Sam: I DON'T EVEN KNOW YOU.#like. from his perspective she's some random stranger who was in the woods the day before yesterday.#he probably thought for at least a few minutes that she kidnapped victor at first because she's the only one there he's never met.#and from her perspective he's the kid who's been basically haunting the narrative for four years. idk it's interesting.#i am so sleepy. this whole concept might be nonsense idk. i'll decide in the morning.#anyways. fun little AU idea. any thoughts?

3 notes · View notes

thevalleyisjolly · 3 years

Text

But what if Cody has a crush on Ricky.

#i'm just saying that cody is trying to impress ricky a lot and he's looking over to see what he thinks all the time #and he brings up in conversation a lot the parallels and connections between them #don't even get me started on the whole 'we're like naruto and sasuke' thing #i just think that maybe cody has a little bit of a crush on a ricky but because he is a good guy and he knows that ricky is dating esther #he doesn't make a move #but he's still maybe crushing hard #it's definitely not mutual but that's where the angst comes in #because even though ricky doesn't like him he's also one of the few people on the dream team to spend time with cody #other than pete (and pete/cody is EXCELLENT); no one else has really spent time actually with cody #and before the whole questing blade thing; ricky spent a week just going around with cody and helping him do paladin stuff #and it's like jj was talking about this past episode - it's easy to be lonely in the big city when you don't have family or friends near #and cody doesn't seem to be close with his family and until recently he's been in a rough patch with his roommates #so imagine being cody walsh - alone in the city and the mall (the only place that really feels like home) is gone #no one believes you about gladiator or is willing to fight with you #you're so desperate for help that you're willing to sign your soul away to the first demon you come across #and then ricky matsui; this warm and comforting person; starts helping you figure out your new powers #and maybe you start to feel not so scared and alone anymore #(and maybe you have the slightest crush. but. it's not gonna happen so why bring it up?)

24 notes · View notes

matan4il · 2 years

Text

Buddie 515 meta

“High price to pay for a fake life” just knocked me right out. Eddie pretending to May he doesn’t wonder about the life he would have had if he had made different choices along the way, this is his usual brand of repression (think of him in 301, pretending he was cool with his father’s advice to just bottle his emotions, or in 504 saying he was just fine with his new job, away from his family), but it specifically made me think of him in 502, trying to initially pretend in front of Buck and believing he could make an entire fake life together with a woman he didn’t love simply for the sake of his son. Eddie, baby, love yourself. You deserve happiness. ~~~

Which is actually a parallel to Buck, the obvious love-desiring little puppy that he is, watching this weddings-at-first-sight reality TV. But normally, that would be a sign that he’s secretly pining for his gf to catch up with his desire to settle down, right? Not if we remember his reaction to the idea of marrying Taylor in 510. So who is making Buck watch this show and who is he fantasizing of committing to? Hmmmm… ~~~

And really, the whole emergency with the groom was weirdly connected to both Buck and Eddie? Because their love lives have been paralleling for so long, they are both literally this man, making the wrong decisions, not following his heart, not seeing he’s with the wrong person and in a place where there’s no real love and partnership. Eddie has been so tightly connected to the theme of a heart since 413 that this call immediately brings him to mind, and we saw him explicitly say he will stay with the wrong person in 502. Right now, Buck is also with the wrong person, we’ve seen plenty of signs showing us that’s the case, and he was the one who ended up assisting Hen with the groom, even though the writers could have used Bobby, Ravi, Lucy or Chim for that. This is the universe screaming at these knuckleheads to get their shit together. ~~~

Buck’s conversation with Maddie was so wonderful, and it sort of confirmed something that has actually been shown in psychological research (I did a whole course on psychological resilience): even when a person has awful, neglectful, sometimes even abusive parents, sometimes just having one other person who cares and loves them can be more than enough to set off a lot of the harmful parenting effects. Maddie was clearly that person for Buck. And as Eddie’s talk with May and his mental work arc clearly set up things for him to confront his own toxic parents and the harm that they have caused them, might he end up discovering that simply having Buck, this amazing man who’s been weathering the storm with him throughout the seasons and especially after the breakdown in 513, can be enough to help Eddie heal and rebuild himself into the man he longs to be? ~~~

The mother dying in the last call was absolutely heartbreaking and a reminder how much emotional weight 911 is capable of introducing in even just 5 to 10 minutes (so let’s not talk about the intensity of developing Buddie over the course of 4 seasons now). But then, when she passes away, Chim stops Buck from telling her kids about what happened to her. “They don’t hear this news from strangers,” he insists, “they need their dad.” Just think about Buck in 414, being the one to go to Chris, telling him about the shooting, being the person that this kid needed when his dad might have died. It’s not like we didn’t know that Buck is in fact Christopher’s other dad, but 911 keeps affirming that the characters themselves must be aware of it on some level. ~~~

By the end of the ep, the conversation between May and Eddie once again reaffirms the parallel between what she’s trying to figure out for herself, and what he’s going through, too. For example, think of the way she brings up a near death experience being something that opens one’s eyes to what could have been. Eddie basically acknowledges the parallel when his response to her is “trauma always makes us turn inward,” and then he adds that he supposes therapy has been rubbing off on him. But this is Eddie internalizing and slowly moving from his normal denial and repression, which we still see at the start of the ep, to him showing more and more signs that he’s ready to look inwards and face the man he is versus the man he’d like to and could have been. I just wanna applaud this show, that even during an ep that’s not about Eddie at all, it manages through such scenes and parallels to point out the on-going process he’s going through and to set things up for the rest of his arc in the last 3 eps of season 5b. ~~~

My apologies for the lack of gifs! As I mentioned here, this week is my busiest of the whole year at work, I’m doing 4 shifts which is literally unheard of (I’m never telling any of my colleagues I agreed to this or they’ll have me committed), and then the next couple of days I have double shifts, too. So I am posting this without the usual amount of gifs, otherwise it would take me days to get this posted. Please help this meta and others who might not be aware it’s being posted so early by reblogging it. Thank you in advance! And thank you so much to the unbelievable @whosoldherout and @judsonryder for being so talented and making such gorgeous gifs, plus being so kind and understanding with me during this stressful time. Lots of love to you two ladies and to everyone reading this! xoxox

#buddie #911meta #buddie meta #911 meta #9-1-1 #evan buckley #eddie diaz #buddie gif #buddie gifs #buddieedit #911edit #911 gif #911gif #911gifs #911 gifs #wm #911onabc #911 on abc #911abc #911 abc

537 notes · View notes

makeste · 2 years

Note

I honestly feel bkg and deku got one of the best rival dynamics in general and I read a lot of stories not just in shounen

agreed. it's got pretty much everything.

long personal history - they've known each other since they were little babies and know basically everything about each other.

intense emotional connection - their emotions become heightened whenever they're around each other. they bring out feelings in each other that no one else does. it's a tangled web of feels that neither one of them has the slightest idea how to begin sorting out.

yin and yang - they clash and contrast with each other, but they also complement one another.

parallels - in spite of their differences, they're also far more alike than they realize, and as the relationship progresses the similarities keep growing stronger to the point where they both openly draw inspiration from one another and mimic each other unconsciously.

there and back again - the relationship pretty much runs the full circle. they start out as friends, then turn completely antagonistic, then slowly mellow out into rivals, and then eventually back into friends again. it's a whole damn journey.

supportive rivalry - they egg each other on and push each other and help each other grow.

protectiveness - no one else is allowed to fuck with them!! they will fuck you up so don't even try it!!

acceptance - "huh, okay, so Deku has six extra quirks now. whatever. I hope they're not lame. I should fight him right now and test them all out."

faith/trust - unspoken and instinctive. in spite of everything they've been through, Katsuki has always believed in Deku's strength (even when it pissed him off), and Deku has always believed in Katsuki's potential.

relying on each other when nothing else is constant or secure - when Deku needs saving, Katsuki is there. and when Katsuki needs saving, Deku is there. they know how to get through to each other in ways that nobody else can. they know that they can depend on each other.

symbolism - the hands!! the reaching!! the hesitation!! the regret!! the longing!!

being complete morons - "hey Deku idk what to do about all of these stupid feelings I'm having, let's go sneak out of the dorms and have a dramatic therapy fight." "idk Kacchan, we probably shouldn't be doing this, I say as I follow you without hesitation and get totally swept up in the fight within five minutes and ramp my quirk up to 8% while we both beat the living shit out of each other."

not having a fucking clue - "oh whoops I meant to just tell Kacchan that I wasn't lying to him about not having a quirk, but it appears that I have accidentally told him my biggest, most important secret instead. just a small slip of the tongue there. I wonder what brought that on."

seriously - "I hate Deku so fucking much. but secretly I'm really just scared of him. and also scared for him?? and also I actually care about him a lot. but if he ever finds out I will literally die so I guess I better just sit back and call him names all day long for the rest of my life instead."

just making it up as they go along - "Izuku I'm so sorry for everything, I was a complete asshole and you were right and I was wrong and I fucked up and I really regret it and I just want to let you know. also we're still rivals and nothing has changed between us. let me show you my new cluster move."

literally no one else understands it but them - "I'm so happy and thankful to be able to have a semi-normal conversation with Kacchan again after all this time. [flashback to earlier that day with Kacchan when they spent fifteen minutes squabbling about who's better in All Might's office while Kacchan made bizarre faces and All Might was all 'lol these two really are a riot I fucking love their dumb asses.']"

and on and on. I'm basically just scratching the surface here lol. it really is the dynamic to end all dynamics. it's hilarious and deeply affecting and inspiring and compelling and poignant as hell and the slow burn to end all slow burns. and also never forget how, unlike certain other iconic shounen rivals who shall not be named, they got their shit together after 120 chapters and became a team, rather than breaking up and joining opposite factions and spending the rest of the series separated except for their periodic reunions where they wistfully try to kill each other. I'm just saying lol. we really are blessed.

#bakugou katsuki #midoriya izuku #bnha meta #bakugou meta #deku meta #bakudeku #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha #asks #anon asks

679 notes · View notes

vampire-petrichor · 3 years

Text

[1/5] I’ve noticed some parallels between Spamton and Mike and what could possibly be Kris’s relationship with Asriel. Spamton seems to be a projection of Kris’s fears--specifically things that have already happened.

The first thing I want to point out is that when you talk to the townspeople in the postgame during Chapter 1, you quickly learn that Asriel is very popular and Kris isn't at all. However, the NPC conversation that stands out the most to me is the one with Catty's dad.

[ID: A screenshot from Deltarune with Kris talking to Catty's dad about Asriel in the Chapter 1 postgame. He says "Hope when [Asriel] becomes a big shot, he remembers us little guys down the street."]

The phrase "big shot" is used a lot in relation to Spamton. I don't think this is just a coincidence or a throwaway line. Instead, I think it's possible that due to Asriel's popularity, people would often pretend to be Kris's friend to try to get Asriel to like them. In doing this, Kris may have had business-type relationships with people who were trying to use them to get Asriel's attention. So if we replace Spamton's mentions of sales with Kris's want for genuine connection and friendship, we gain an entirely different perspective on who Spamton is and how he's related to Kris.

Everyone has already been talking about the parallel between Spamton being a puppet and Kris being controlled by the player. However the less talked about parallel is that both characters struggle with perceived abandonment. Spamton, of course, was abandoned by Mike, and then everything went to shit. Similarly, Kris may have thought they had friends until Asriel went to college. When he was no longer around to impress, the others stopped pretending to care about Kris. Spamton living in a literal dumpster could also be representative of Kris's self esteem.

In Spamton NEO's battle theme, garbled vocals can be heard. There are a few videos about what the vocals are, but I think this one is closest:

youtube

We hear Spamton trying to reach out to Mike in vain. I believe this is a direct parallel to Kris being unable to reach Asriel. However, unlike Mike, I don't believe Asriel is malicious. Maybe Kris wanted to make Mike out to be the bad guy because they can't bring themself to feel that way about Asriel.

Another point from this fight is this line:

[ID: Three screenshots from the Snowgrave Spamton NEO fight in which the boss is in front of the Fountain. He is saying "Well, you're [$!$!] right! But don't blame me / when you're [Crying] in a [Broken Home] wishing you let your old pal Spamton / [kill you]"]

This line sticks out to me because due to their parents' divorce and their brother going off to college, their home is pretty broken and it's very possible Kris is not taking this well. But how would Spamton know about any of that? I don't think he would unless he was some form of projection from Kris. At the end of this fight, we see a few more interesting lines.

[ID: Four screenshots of the Spamton NEO fight in which he is standing by the Fountain. This time he is saying "What!? You're calling friends!? / Go ahead, [Kid]... Call all you want! / No one will ever pick up / Go ahead and [Scream] into the [Receiver]."]

The next few lines are especially intriguing.

(Due to image limit this will be continued in another reblog or two. If you like this theory please consider waiting until I am finished writing it up and reblog the whole thing!)

#my post #deltarune #deltarune spoilers #deltarune chapter 2 #spamton #spamton neo #spamton g spamton #big shot #asriel deltarune #kris deltarune #kris dreemurr #deltarune theories #Youtube

678 notes · View notes

uomo-accattivante · 3 years

Text

Excellent article about bringing a re-make of Ingmar Bergman’s Scenes from a Marriage to fruition, and the twenty-year friendship that Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain share:

There were days on the shoot for “Scenes From a Marriage,” a five-episode limited series that premieres Sept. 12 on HBO, when Oscar Isaac resented the crew.

The problem wasn’t the crew members themselves, he told me on a video call in March. But the work required of him and his co-star, Jessica Chastain, was so unsparingly intimate — “And difficult!” Chastain added from a neighboring Zoom window — that every time a camera operator or a makeup artist appeared, it felt like an intrusion.

On his other projects, Isaac had felt comfortably distant from the characters and their circumstances — interplanetary intrigue, rogue A.I. But “Scenes” surveys monogamy and parenthood, familiar territory. Sometimes Isaac would film a bedtime scene with his onscreen child (Lily Jane) and then go home and tuck his own child into the same model of bed as the one used onset, accessorized with the same bunny lamp, and not know exactly where art ended and life began.

“It was just a lot,” he said.

Chastain agreed, though she put it more strongly. “I mean, I cried every day for four months,” she said.

Isaac, 42, and Chastain, 44, have known each other since their days at the Juilliard School. And they have channeled two decades of friendship, admiration and a shared and obsessional devotion to craft into what Michael Ellenberg, one of the series’s executive producers, called “five hours of naked, raw performance.” (That nudity is metaphorical, mostly.)

“For me it definitely felt incredibly personal,” Chastain said on the call in the spring, about a month after filming had ended. “That’s why I don’t know if I have another one like this in me. Yeah, I can’t decide that. I can’t even talk about it without. …” She turned away from the screen. (It was one of several times during the call that I felt as if I were intruding, too.)

The original “Scenes From a Marriage,” created by Ingmar Bergman, debuted on Swedish television in 1973. Bergman’s first television series, its six episodes trace the dissolution of a middle-class marriage. Starring Liv Ullmann, Bergman’s ex, it drew on his own past relationships, though not always directly.

“When it comes to Bergman, the relationship between autobiography and fiction is extremely complicated,” said Jan Holmberg, the chief executive of the Ingmar Bergman Foundation.

A sensation in Sweden, it was seen by most of the adult population. And yes, sure, correlation does not imply causation, but after its debut, Swedish divorce were rumored to have doubled. Holmberg remembers watching a rerun as a 10-year-old.

“It was a rude awakening to adult life,” he said.

The writer and director Hagai Levi saw it as a teenager, on Israeli public television, during a stint on a kibbutz. “I was shocked,” he said. The series taught him that a television series could be radical, that it could be art. When he created “BeTipul,” the Israeli precursor to “In Treatment,” he used “Scenes” as proof of the concept “that two people can talk for an hour and it can work,” Levi said. (Strangely, “Scenes” also inspired the prime-time soap “Dallas.”)

So when Daniel Bergman, Ingmar Bergman’s youngest son, approached Levi about a remake, he was immediately interested.

But the project languished, in part because loving a show isn’t reason enough to adapt it. Divorce is common now — in Sweden, and elsewhere — and the relationship politics of the original series, in which the male character deserts his wife and young children for an academic post, haven’t aged particularly well.

Then about two years ago, Levi had a revelation. He would swap the gender roles. A woman who leaves her marriage and child in pursuit of freedom (with a very hot Israeli entrepreneur in place of a visiting professorship) might still provoke conversation and interest.

So the Marianne and Johan of the original became Mira and Jonathan, with a Boston suburb (re-created in a warehouse just north of New York City), stepping in for the Stockholm of the original. Jonathan remains an academic though Mira, a lawyer in the original, is now a businesswoman who out-earns him.

Casting began in early 2020. After Isaac met with Levi, he wrote to Chastain to tell her about the project. She wasn’t available. The producers cast Michelle Williams. But the pandemic reshuffled everyone’s schedules. When production was ready to resume, Williams was no longer free. Chastain was. “That was for me the most amazing miracle,” Levi said.

Isaac and Chastain met in the early 2000s at Juilliard. He was in his first year; she, in her third. He first saw her in a scene from a classical tragedy, slapping men in the face as Helen of Troy. He was friendly with her then-boyfriend, and they soon became friends themselves, bonding through the shared trauma of an acting curriculum designed to break its students down and then build them back up again. Isaac remembered her as “a real force of nature and solid, completely solid, with an incredible amount of integrity,” he said.

In the next window, Chastain blushed. “He was super talented,” she said. “But talented in a way that wasn’t expected, that’s challenging and pushing against constructs and ideas.” She introduced him to her manager, and they celebrated each other’s early successes and went to each other’s premieres. (A few of those photos are used in “Scenes From a Marriage” as set dressing.)

In 2013, Chastain was cast in J.C. Chandor’s “A Most Violent Year,”opposite Javier Bardem. When Bardem dropped out, Chastain campaigned for Isaac to have the role. Weeks before shooting, they began to meet, fleshing out the back story of their characters — a husband and wife trying to corner the heating oil market in 1981 New York — the details of the marriage, business, life.

It was their first time working together, and each felt a bond that went deeper than a parallel education and approach. “Something connects us that’s stronger than any ideas of character or story or any of that,” Isaac said. “There’s something else that’s more about like, a shared existence.”

Chandor noticed how they would support each other on set, and challenge each other, too, giving each other the freedom to take the characters’ relationship to dark and dangerous places. “They have this innate trust with each other,” Chandor said.

That trust eliminated the need for actorly tricks or shortcuts, in part because they know each other’s tricks too well. Their motto, Isaac said, was, “Let’s figure this [expletive] out together and see what’s the most honest thing we can do.”

Moni Yakim, Juilliard’s celebrated movement instructor, has followed their careers closely and he noted what he called the “magnetism and spiritual connection” that they suggested onscreen in the film.

“It’s a kind of chemistry,” Yakim said. “They can read each other’s mind and you as an audience, you can sense it.”

Telepathy takes work. When they knew that shooting “Scenes From a Marriage” could begin, Chastain bought a copy of “All About Us,” a guided journal for couples, and filled in her sections in character as Mira. Isaac brought it home and showed it to his wife, the filmmaker Elvira Lind.

“She was like, ‘You finally found your match,’” Isaac recalled. “’Someone that is as big of a nerd as you are.’”

The actors rehearsed, with Levi and on their own, talking their way through each long scene, helping each other through the anguished parts. When production had to halt for two weeks, they rehearsed then, too.

Watching these actors work reminded Amy Herzog, a writer and executive producer on the series, of race horses in full gallop. “These are two people who have so much training and skill,” she said. “Because it’s an athletic feat, what they were being asked to do.”

But training and skill and the “All About Us” book hadn’t really prepared them for the emotional impact of actually shooting “Scenes From a Marriage.” Both actors normally compartmentalize when they work, putting up psychic partitions between their roles and themselves. But this time, the partitions weren’t up to code.

“I knew I was in trouble the very first week,” Chastain said.

She couldn’t hide how the scripts affected her, especially from someone who knows her as well as Isaac does. “I just felt so exposed,” she said. “This to me, more than anything I’ve ever worked on, was definitely the most open I’ve ever been.”

“It felt so dangerous,” she said.

I visited the set in February (after multiple Covid-19 tests and health screenings) during a final day of filming. It was the quietest set I had ever seen: The atmosphere was subdued, reverent almost, a crew and a studio space stripped down to only what two actors would need to do the most passionate and demanding work of their careers.

Isaac didn’t know if he would watch the completed series. “It really is the first time ever, where I’ve done something where I’m totally fine never seeing this thing,” he said. “Because I’ve really lived through it. And in some ways I don’t want whatever they decide to put together to change my experience of it, which was just so intense.”

The cameras captured that intensity. Though Chastain isn’t Mira and Isaac isn’t Jonathan, each drew on personal experience — their parents’ marriages, past relationships — in ways they never had. Sometimes work on the show felt like acting, and sometimes the work wasn’t even conscious. There’s a scene in the harrowing fourth episode in which they both lie crumpled on the floor, an identical stress vein bulging in each forehead.

“It’s my go-to move, the throbbing forehead vein,” Isaac said on a follow-up video call last month. Chastain riffed on the joke: “That was our third year at Juilliard, the throb.”

By then, it had been five months since the shoot wrapped. Life had returned to something like normal. Jokes were possible again. Both of them seemed looser, more relaxed. (Isaac had already poured himself one tequila shot and was ready for another.) No one cried.

Chastain had watched the show with her husband. And Isaac, despite his initial reluctance, had watched it, too. It didn’t seem to have changed his experience.

“I’ve never done anything like it,” he said. “And I can’t imagine doing anything like it again.”

###

#oscar isaac #jessica chastain #scenes from a marriage #hagai levi #michelle williams #elvira lind #behind the scenes #article

321 notes · View notes

onlychaosnosense · 2 years

Text

The Kathony Connection: A forever kind of love

So like many Kathony fans, on my first watch I was also disappointed by the lack of conversation and emotional connection between Kate and Anthony. But since rewatching their scenes for the nth number of times, I have realized there are still a number of things that make their connection so deep.

I agree that talking about their families and lives would have made their emotional connection stronger. Basically they had the conversations available in the book especially in the library scene all they had to do was tweak it a bit for screen (minimal work!). To non-book readers, I would recommend that you just read that storm/library scene, it's really great to see how they connect.

But conversations are not the only way to know people. Sometimes hearing others talk about people, observing them and their interactions with our own family can also help forge an understanding.

Let me expand a bit:

Kate got along with the Bridgertons and who knows maybe it's implied that Edwina spoke highly of Kate offscreen (would have been nice to see it though). Now we have to remember that for Anthony, his family is everything. He may act like he doesn't care or is this stern, self assured head of the family, but deep down he craves their approval and acceptance. The fact that Kate won them over means a lot to him and that is another thing that draws him to her. She has won the appreciation of his family, something he hasn't been able to achieve himself. Eloise and Daphne clearly like her, B&C may not show it but they appear to be impressed that she can hold her own especially when in conflict with Anthony.

And Kate appreciates what his family means to Anthony, how he adores his family especially the little ones and how much he admires his father.

He comes clean at the poetry reading which must have baffled Kate because I doubt she was expecting honesty from him. And when he stands up for them at the Sheffield dinner, he proves to be an honourable man who uses his authority to protect people he cares for. And these are qualities that she seems to bring to the surface and although she might not be aware of it. And like Anthony, she feels like an outsider amongst her own and craves acceptance and acknowledgement.

She is the only one he has allowed himself to be vulnerable around, the only one who has seen his greatest fear and could calm him down. When they are together, their walls break down

When Kate and Anthony talk, they rarely truly express their inner selves. They are both individuals of action rather than words, their love language is acts of service imo. And they understand each other because they are mirror images. That is where their conflict and mutual admiration arises from. They are drawn to each other due to their similarities but loathe being reminded of their own shortcomings. The parallels in their personalities were necessary and I am so happy at least the show gave us that! Small mercies.

Even when they were enemies, Kate and Anthony did not despise each other for who they were. They hated having to witness how some of their own flaws were reflected in the other and the harm it was causing them as well as the people they loved.

So while talking to people is often a great way of knowing them, a lot can be communicated non verbally simply by taking the time and care to know them. Kate and Anthony lived with their families and yet the families never truly understood them. But Kate and Anthony understood each other maybe because they cared to look past appearances? Their connection is on a different level all together!

But all said and done, fans shouldn't have to speculate the romance between the leads, it should be obvious and that is where the writing failed Kathony. Show, don't tell. And this was A Choice by the showrunners and writers that I cannnot bring myself to agree with.

#kate sharma #anthony bridgerton #anthony x kate #kate x anthony #kanthony #kathony #bridgerton season 2 #the viscount who loved me #soulmates #everlasting and all consuming love

96 notes · View notes

moiraineswife · 3 years

Text

Autistic Allegories in Renarin’s Arc - Meta

s’up y’all, your favourite local rambler is back at it again. Diving straight in to this one. The motivation for this post is something that might be controversial, and I’m going to try and explain it as clearly as I can and make my intentions clear, but I get this is the internet and things get misinterpreted to fuck.

So, since Renarin was confirmed to be a queer character, I’ve seen a lot of posts and takes on pretty much every platform I frequent that equates all of Renarin’s traits/struggles in canon as being foreshadowing/parallels to his queer identity and experience.

I get this. I’m also queer. I understand the instinct to take, say, Renarin’s corrupted spren bond and his desire to keep his nature as a Radiant hidden/his lack of understanding initially and assume it to be queer foreshadowing/parallel. I big get that. And that’s not a bad interpretation.

The problem is, this is the ONLY interpretation people put forth. They ignore things explicitly said/connections made in canon to Renarin being autistic and say ‘this is it. this is what this means. it’s about him being gay’. When, actually, a good chunk of it is about his experience as an autistic man in an allistic society. Which I think is what Brandon wants to explore/has set up in the text.

So I decided to look at this in more depth from an autistic perspective - some of the moments that most clearly parallel Renarin’s autistic experience and explain how and why this is a thing, and hopefully just highlight this aspect of his character and explain things to folks.

Renarin’s Blade Screaming

Jumping right into it then: Renarin’s bond with Glys is very clearly paralleled with his autism. The text outlines this connection multiple times throughout the series, and explores it in interesting ways.

First up, Renarin first revealing himself as a Truthwatcher makes this pretty clear:

“And the Shardblade,” Dalinar said, stepping over and taking his son by the shoulder. “You hear screams. That’s what happened to you in the arena. You couldn’t fight because of those shouts in your head from summoning the Blade. Why? Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I thought it was me,” Renarin whispered. “My mind. But Glys, he says . . .” Renarin blinked. “Truthwatcher.” (WoR)

“Adolin,” he said softly. “I … um … I have to give you back the Shardblade you won for me.”

“Why?” Adolin said.

“It hurts to hold,” Renarin said. “It always has, to be honest. I thought it was just me, being strange. But it’s all of us.”

“Radiants, you mean.”

He nodded. (Oathbringer)

Renarin didn’t explain to his father or the others what was happening to him because he thought it was part of his autistic experience.

Being autistic you get used to experiencing a lot of in-brain things and not realising that other people don’t experience them, too. I have hypersensitivity to sound. I can hear things other people don’t, because their brains naturally filter them out - like electronics whining.

The experience of having a Shardblade scream inside your head is actually a pretty great parallel for sensory overload. It’s something intense, something frightening, and overwhelming, and even painful. But Renarin just endures it without comment because that’s what we’re conditioned to do.

“A group of shellheads tried to seize one of the bridges, Brightlord,” the bridgeman said softly. “Brightlord Renarin insisted on going to help. Sir, we tried hard to dissuade him. Then, when he got near and summoned his Blade, he just kind of . . . stood there. We got him away, sir, but he’s been sitting on that rock ever since.”

[...]

“I just stood there,” Renarin said. “I wasn’t frozen because of my . . . ailment. I’m just a coward.”

When Adolin hears about Renarin freezing up he assumes that he had a fit. Renarin corrects him on this, once he’s verbal again, but says that he was just a coward.

He froze up once he summoned his Blade. Because it would have started screaming in his head and this was overwhelming. When other Radiants have experienced this on-screen the screaming has been so intense they immediately dropped or dismissed the Blade, unable to hold it.

From this, I infer that Renarin believes everyone experiences this when they fight with a Shardblade. He doesn’t realise that it’s strange for him because he’s a Radiant. He thinks everyone experiences it, but they push through and overcome it. He can’t, and instead of thinking something strange is going on, he assumes that it’s a weakness of his and that he’s a coward.

This is a fairly common autistic experience. Why can’t you just get over this? Why is that overwhelming you? Just ignore the sound. Just ignore the lights. Stop being so weak/oversensitive.

That’s what Renarin thinks is happening. That’s why he doesn’t examine his experiences more closely, and realise he’s a Radiant. He thinks it’s part of him being autistic, and that he’s just being overly sensitive, until Glys is able to communicate with him and explain he’s a Truthwatcher.

The Rhyshadium Don’t Fit

“They don’t fit, you know.”

“Don’t fit?”

“Ryshadium have stone hooves,” Renarin said, “stronger than ordinary horses’. Never need to be shod.”

“And that makes them not fit? I’d say that makes them fit better.…” Adolin eyed Renarin. “You mean ordinary horses, don’t you?”

Renarin blushed, then nodded. (Oathbringer)

This, for me, is one of the most direct and obvious parallel between Renarin’s experience as an autistic man, and his experience as a Radiant.

Firstly, he comments on the Rhyshadium ‘not fitting’ with ordinary horses. They’re different. They have different hooves, which means they never need to be shod, like regular horses. In this case, being shod is something all horses do. It’s something natural for them, and the Rhyshadium not having it makes them stand out. This is similar to Renarin’s experience in society and in life.

The Rhyshadium are sometimes called ‘the third shard’ - they’re tied to the Radiants and to Stormlight. Renarin aligning himself with them, and his not fittng with them not fitting, mirrors his being Radiant stopping him from fitting in as he wants to.

A big part of his arc is his desire to fit in somewhere. His integration with Bridge Four is a huge boost to his confidence. He asks to join them to try and find somewhere to belong. The bridgemen are outcasts. They’re people who don’t fit in society, either, for various different reasons. Renarin fits with them, therefore, because he doesn’t fit elsewhere.

When he starts becoming a Radiant, and a different type of Radiant to the others, he starts to worry again. He worries that, yet again, he’s different for reasons he cannot control, and he’s worried the bridgemen will abandon or reject him as has happened frequently in noble society.

“So why are you embarrassed?”

“I’m … not?”

Adolin gave him a flat stare.

Renarin dismissed the Blade. “I simply … Adolin, I was starting to fit in. With Bridge Four, with being a Shardbearer. Now, I’m in the darkness again. Father expects me to be a Radiant, so I can help him unite the world. But how am I supposed to learn?”

Adolin scratched his chin with his good hand. “Huh. I assumed that it just kind of came to you. It hasn’t?”

“Some has. But it … frightens me, Adolin.” He held up his hand, and it started to glow, wisps of Stormlight trailing off it, like smoke from a fire. “What if I hurt someone, or ruin things?”

The conversation continues, and further solidifies the connection between the Rhyshadium not fitting with other horses, and Renarin not fitting in with other people.

He had become a Shardbearer, and was starting to fight and do what an Alethi man is expected to do in society. Go to war with Shards, with glory, etc etc etc. That didn’t quite work out.

For Renarin, whenever he gets closer to assimilating with the standard society and expectations, something happens to stop him. Initially it’s his epilepsy. He has fits, and his chronic illness makes him generally weaker and more frail, meaning that he can’t fight.

Once he’s given Shards to help mitigate those factors, he can’t use the Shards because his Radiant bond makes them scream inside his head. Again stopping him from fighting and becoming a soldier.

He then goes on to tell Adolin that he doesn’t really know how to Radiant. And Adolin says that he thought it would just come to him/he would instinctively know, but he doesn’t.

This is, again, a very classic autism thing. We struggle with doing things that allistic people find instinctive, and don’t need to be actively taught - such as reading and projecting the correct body language.

Adolin, who takes very naturally to all this stuff, just assumes that Renarin’s Radianting would just come to him, and Renarin has to explain that actually no, it hasn’t. This literally cannot get any clearer in forging an obvious link between his autism and his Radiant abilities.

Renarin’s ‘Corrupted’ Bond:

“What’s wrong with me?” Renarin asked. “Why do I see these things? I thought I was doing something right, with Glys, but somehow it’s all wrong.…” (Oathbringer)

[...]

“Does it strike you as cruel of fate, Father? My blood sickness gets healed, so I can finally be a soldier like I always wanted. But that same healing has given me another kind of fit. More dangerous than the other by far.” (Rhythm of War)

[...]

Lopen called out, asking Renarin to “look into the future and find out if I beat Huio at cards tomorrow.” It seemed a little crass to Dalinar, bringing up his son’s strange disorder, but Renarin took it with a chuckle.

[...]

It would be so much easier if he were like other Radiants. (RoW)

[...]

“And a blackness interfering, marring the beauty of the window. Like a sickness infecting both of you, at the edges.”

“Curious,” Dalinar said, looking where Renarin had pointed, though he’d see only empty air. “I wonder if we’ll ever know what that represents.”

“Oh, that one’s easy, Father,” Renarin said. “That’s me.”

“Renarin, I don’t think you should see yourself as—”

“You needn’t try to protect my ego, Father. When Glys and I bonded, we became … something new. We see the future. At first I was confused at my place—but I’ve come to understand. What I see interferes with Odium’s ability. Because I can see possibilities of the future, my knowledge changes what I will do. Therefore, his ability to see my future is obscured. Anyone close to me is difficult for him to read.”

“I find that comforting,” Dalinar said, putting his arm around Renarin’s shoulders. “Whatever you are, son, it’s a blessing. You might be a different kind of Radiant, but you’re Radiant all the same. You shouldn’t feel you need to hide this or your spren.”

Renarin ducked his head, embarrassed. His father knew not to touch him too quickly, too unexpectedly, so it wasn’t the arm around his shoulders. It was just that … well, Dalinar was so accustomed to being able to do whatever he wanted. He had written a storming book.

Renarin held no illusions that he would be similarly accepted. He and his father might be of similar rank, from the same family, but Renarin had never been able to navigate society like Dalinar did. True, his father at times “navigated” society like a chull marching through a crowd, but people got out of the way all the same.

Not for Renarin. The people of both Alethkar and Azir had thousands of years training them to fear and condemn anyone who claimed to be able to see the future. They weren’t going to put that aside easily, and particularly not for Renarin. (RoW)

Sorry for the quote barrage, but there was really no other way to do this, and I think it makes a nice little arc in how Renarin sees himself and his bond to Glys and, by extension, his autism.

In the temple, with Jasnah, he considers it to be something wrong. He’d thought he was finally fitting in, being like everyone else, doing something “right” but it turns out his bond is of Odium, and while he thought he fit with the others, he doesn’t. Again.

The RoW segments are what’s most interesting to me, because what we see here, I think, is Dalinar experiencing Renarin’s ‘disorder’ as he calls it and processing it/coming to terms with it in a way a lot of parents approach their kids’ autism. But this is a bit more approachable/less painful to look at because he’s considering him being a weird glowing power ranger, and not an autistic kid. Easier to examine more honestly.

So first of all Renarin, again, calls a direct link between his bond and his autism. The ‘healing’ that came with his bond gave him another kind of otherness. Another way he can’t be a soldier - which, for Renarin, in Alethi society, means him being like everyone else. I was going to go into this more here but this thing is already long as fuck, but in a nutshell being a soldier is Renarin’s dream because that’s him being “normal” and being like everyone else, which fate always conspires to stop him from being.

In Alethi society the peak of masculinity and of fitting in to the social order, which revolves around war and glory and battle courage blah blah blah - is being a soldier and fighting. Which Renarin has never been able to do. Which his father has always wanted him to do - wihich Renarin knows.

A lot of allistic people, especially allistic parents, think their autistic kids won’t pick up on their blatant ‘oh my god I wish my kid was normal’ vibes. They do. BELIEVE ME they do. This is a good little nod to that. Dalinar has never outright looked at Renarin and said ‘I want you to be a soldier to be worthy of my love and respect’ but it’s what Renarin grew up knowing and seeing from him.

The evolution of that through exploring Dalinar’s attitude to Renarin being bonded with an Odium-aligned spren is...Utterly fascinating, to say the least.

Here, for example, Dalinar sees it as a “strange disorder”. When Renarin calls a spade a spade and just goes ‘yeah no that weird thing right there that makes you comfortable? That’s me, buddy, get used to it’. Which is just. Absolutely effervescent. There’s a big instinct allistic people have to dance around autistic people. So many innuendos. So many fluffy phrase that I hate. “On the spectrum.” “On the autism spectrum”. “Differently abled” “Sees the world differently.” Just call me autistic and let me move on with life I do not have time to deal with your internalised issues.

He kind of comes around on it and gives him the whole “you might be a different Radiant but you’re still a Radiant to me, son”. Replace the word Radiant here with person and you’ll have a conversation I’ve experienced so many times. “Just because you’re a weird person doesn’t mean you’re not still a person!” Why thank you for pointing that out. I hadn’t noticed....Thank you for validating my humanity to my face?? As though I needed you to do that?

Contrast this with Renarin’s cheerful acceptance (ABSOLUTELY STUNNING DEVELOPMENT, HELL YES) - ‘yeah no that weird thing right there is me’. I cheered, dear reader, I CHEERED. It’s a little thing but it’s also a very very big thing.

So is Lopen making light of things - in a way that laughs with Renarin and not at him - wanting him to predict the outcome of his card game. Renarin laughs at this, and is obviously comfortable with the jokes and the camaraderie. Dalinar winces at this and thinks that it shouldn’t be made fun of this way, that it’s crass or wrong, Renarin has a disorder, it makes him weird and delicate, people shouldn’t joke around him with that, it’s not right. But Renarin is comfortable with it, and the Bridgemen are comfortable with him, which Dalinar obviously isn’t - though I get that he’s trying to go there.

Then, again, we draw a very direct parallel between Renarin’s Radiant experience othering him socially and autism othering a person socially. Absolutely exquisitely done mister sando, very nice indeed.

Renarin notes that there are ways to go through society. It’s nice to be like Dalinar and have the clout to buck the expectations, and not do what you’re supposed to, and still get away with it. Isn’t that nice? Bitch wrote and published a book and he’s still seen as masculine and worthy of respect and being yielded too.

Remember that Renarin can read and write as well - he learned so he could interpret his visions. But he hasn’t shared that with people. Because he knows that it won’t be accepted the way Dalinar was.

Sanderson sets up this idea rather nicely in Oathbringer, actually, with the scribes meeting.

Renarin glanced at his father. Dalinar responded with a raised fist.

He came so Renarin wouldn’t feel awkward, Shallan realized. It can’t be improper or feminine for the prince to be here if the storming Blackthorn decides to attend.

This part has always made my heart happy. Because it’s not just about Dalinar validating Renarin’s societally ‘feminine’ tendencies - which he gets subtly bullied/mocked for during that meeting by one of the other women in attendance. It’s about all of his differences, it’s about Dalinar validating his autistic experience as well, and helping to fit him in to a society that continually rejects and ousts him.

This idea evolves through RoW, however, with Renarin understanding that Dalinar can do things that he won’t be allowed to get away with. Dalinar isn’t so much breaking down barriers with Oathbringer as he is stomping through them because he has enough social privilege to do so, for the most part, unscathed.

Renarin keeps his reading a secret because, even after what Dalinar has done, it’s not going to change things for most men, and certainly not him.

Renarin has learned, throughout his life, that him being different is not going to break down any barriers. People are not going to change their world, or their worldview, for him and his differences. He knows that he has to adapt, and he knows that he won’t be afforded the same luxuries as others.

He’s more comfortable with this now. He’s learning to be himself, and learning that the world won’t fit itself to him, he just has to do what he’s going to do anyway, and find the places where he fits, rather than trying to change the ones where he doesn’t. It’s actually a really beautiful little arc, and I’m strongly tempted to look at it in more depth at some point. Renarin and Dalinar’s dynamic is actually incredibly deep, layerd, and complex, and it’s something I’ve been meaning to look at for a while. HOWEVER. NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR THAT.

TL;DR: Renarin’s Radiant experience is a direct allegory and parallel to his autistic experience. This is explored and made blatant by canon repeatedly, throughout the series, and Renarin’s experience as a Radiant is clearly a vessel by which Sanderson intends to explore his autism. Stop erasing and ignoring this when you talk about Renarin and analyse his arc. His autism is as intrinsic to this as it is to identity. It’s part of him. Stop erasing it.

I’m not saying you can’t find parallels or comfort in Renarin’s arc as a queer person. I’m just saying you cannot look at it in isolation. As though the text is ONLY making a parallel between his queer identity and his bond. Because it’s very fucking blatantly not. His autism is obviously and canonically tied to his Radiant bond and this is something that MUST be noted whenever you talk about this aspect of Renarin’s character.

Note: if anyone has any questions or comments on this, I am happy to engage and to clarify what I meant/add further detail and supporting evidence for various different aspects. There’s only so much I can cover in one post! For my sanity as well as yours...But there’s absolutely more, and I’m happy to look at that as well.

217 notes · View notes

class1akids · 2 years

Note

While I can understand that Shouto craves connection with his family, I'm struggling to understand how Touya could come around to it. I mean, having his own mistreatment acknowledged seems like the only thing he has ever cared about even when he was a child. It's an understandable reaction given the circumstances but he has never been shown to have any bond with any of his family members other than an initial one with Enji. He's completely dismissive of Rei and Fuyumi, has not ever considered Shouto as more than a tool/puppet and what Fuyumi describes as his close bond with Natsuo seems to exist only due to Touya's need to vent at someone. Even the after remembering Snatch crying blood scene from Dabi feels more like "does my own family even give a shit about me geez that really sucks" rather than him missing them in any capacity.

I agree with you on child Tenko suddenly crying out for Deku too, and I worry in a similar way connection from Touya's end if it were to happen would be flimsy with what we have. Tbh despite being the weakest set up overall Toga and Ochako feel like they have better openings since Toga actually expressed a desire to connect with Ochako.

This is not me disagreeing with anyone who says it can happen btw I just feel like I may be missing something y'all are seeing.

"he has never been shown to have any bond with any of his family members"

If you look at Earlyroki, you can say the exact same thing about him. He hasn't seen his mother in a decade, never had a conversation with Natsuo probably, he interacts with Fuyumi only in a purely logistical way and his only interest in life is finding new ways of pissing off Endeavor. He comes of as rude, cold, dismissive, callous.

And his first flashbacks only show bad memories, his siblings barely appear in it, Shouto only remembers his mom as a source of anger.

It takes for Izuku to tap into (sort of accidentally, btw) a connection between him and Shouto (they both loved All Might - so it's his words they both watched as children) that allows Shouto to remember a memory he forgotten about Rei telling him he can choose his destiny freely.

We never knew about this memory / moment existing before Shouto remembered it. It's also a pretty mundane moment overall, but it was something that meant a lot to a child Shouto at the time, something he carried with him (sort of like Hawks' good memory of his mom and the plushie acquisition).

The point is, pre-Midoriya vs Todoroki, we didn't have a whole lot of signs that Shouto actually deeply cares about his entire family, because he was so locked into that one negative emotion of hating Endeavor for what he did to Rei that he was blind to everything and everyone else.

But bringing that memory to the surface switched the flip for him and his entire perspective and behaviour changed.

We don't know what kind of memories Touya may have deep down - the backstory we saw is not the entirety of his past - we've seen the scenes important to his spiral. That doesn't mean that he didn't share meaningful moments or that he doesn't have memories/emotions he buried. The two blood-crying scenes as he thinks of his family are hints that he has deep feelings about them, maybe buried.

And if Midoriya - a complete stranger to Shouto - managed to find words that could trigger a memory, Touya's and Shouto's confrontation (considering they did grow up in the same house, so their background is very similar and comes through the way they emote and their mannerism very much) is likely to trigger something too that could switch a flip in Touya.

In the Todoroki family story, a "small thing can change people" is an important message. And with the strong Earlyroki / Dabi parallels, I think it's likely we'll see it play out again.

#c1a asks #bnha manga speculation #bnha meta #todoroki touya #todoroki shouto #dabi #todoroki endgame

75 notes · View notes

chainofclovers · 3 years

Text

Ted Lasso 2x10 thoughts

GOOD GOD.

“No Weddings and a Funeral” is like being hungover but also coming out of a hangover. Having a terrible cold but also feeling better and appreciating every breath that comes through your nose. Embarking on an organizational project and accidentally falling into a photo album and crying about the pictures and organizing almost nothing tangible but making a few things more clear in your brain.

So much of this episode is about the AWFUL POINTLESSNESS OF DECORUM. How loud is too loud when you’re drinking stolen wine and shrieking about sex in a church right before your father’s funeral? How should you feel--thirty years later, as an accommodating, anger-averse person--about having been too angry to attend the funeral for your father who killed himself? What expression should you make when you show up really late to a different funeral? Why must you wear uncomfortable shoes just because someone died? What happens in your mind between standing up to give a eulogy for a man you’re still angry with and choosing to Rick Roll your mom and everyone else as an act of complicated love, humiliatingly incomplete until someone else starts to sing? Should you worry about your therapist seeing your normally tidy flat in a full-on state of depression mess? Is it okay to be offended that your boyfriend is so uncomfortable about death that he can’t stop making morbid jokes? Should you care about other people caring that you’re crunching an apple in church or squealing with joy to be reunited with a friend you’ve not seen in awhile? Are you obligated to explain your behavior if your kid doesn’t understand how you could stay with someone unfaithful? How far behind the counter should you sink when your [undefined relationship person]’s mother has just let you know she can see your dick through your underwear? Is a funeral reception an okay place to find a hookup? Is a funeral reception a decent spot for a break-up? Is a funeral reception a good time for a love confession when you know the person you’re confessing to is happy with someone else? And who do you make eye contact with when you can’t look directly at the person asking you if you’re okay when there’s so, so much about you she doesn’t know yet? Even if--for this tiny little moment within a vast swath of many okay and not-okay moments--you’re honest when you tell her that you are?

I fucking adored this episode because it answers all these questions very simply: Show up. Show up for yourself. Show up for your friends. Try not to harm yourself. Try not to harm your friends.

I love that this episode is about the messiness of adulthood and the things we bring with us from childhood and that it takes place partially in Rebecca’s childhood bedroom, and in Ted’s childhood memories. Dwelling in those places (whether physically or mentally) isn’t an automatic recipe for regression, but it does get everyone closer to the things that made them who they are, to the unresolved and half-buried parts of them that still make them tick today.

Forever obsessed with every single detail about Rebecca’s childhood bedroom.

Forever obsessed with Deborah’s decision to Rick Roll herself every single morning of her life.

Forever obsessed with Rebecca’s decision to Rick Roll her father’s funeral as a way to not have to make up a single word about her father and to do something very vulnerable and kind for herself and her mother and everyone.

Forever obsessed with Ted’s decision to Rick Roll Rebecca Rick Rolling her father’s funeral.

Forever obsessed with an entire found family backing it up.

I love that it is Isaac’s leadership that ensures every single member of the team attends the service for Paul.

I am very, very interested in Jamie’s love confession to Keeley because I do think it will spark some reflection in Keeley but I do not think it’ll go the cliched love triangle route.

Each scene with Rebecca and Sam struck (for me, a human being sharing a subjective perspective on the internet) the tender-awkward-beautiful-stressful chord I was hoping it would. I think it’s wonderful that Sam is honest with Rebecca about how difficult it is to keep their relationship a secret, and I love that Rebecca has a million mostly-unarticulated reasons for why she’d much prefer the secret to continue. I like that Sassy, Keeley, and Nora respond to the revelation as friends; they might be tempering their judgments in part because they’ve all gathered to bury Rebecca’s dad, but I don’t think their reactions would’ve been that different even on a happier occasion.

While there are a million and one different reasons why a continued relationship between Rebecca and Sam could cause serious ethical problems, I really love that when people share big news on this show, the people who care about them generally react by trying to see why the person is doing what they’re doing. Doesn’t mean they shouldn’t also hold each other accountable, but in my book it’s OK that Keeley’s first reaction was to feel happy that her friend is having some fun.

Also everyone has been making weird judgment calls this season, and this episode felt like a moment of real breakthroughs in terms of people telling the truth about things that happened to them and leaving themselves open to honest responses from others.

September 13, 1991. It’s so tenderly, beautifully, overwhelmingly meaningful that there’s still so much Ted and Rebecca don’t know about the things they have in common in these parallel lives they’re leading. The scene between Sarah Niles and Jason Sudeikis is so beautifully acted, and so is the scene between Hannah Waddingham and Harriet Walter. The way they intertwine to communicate that Ted and Rebecca basically lost the ability to trust their fathers simultaneously, from an ocean away? In the hands of lesser storytellers, it would feel too perfect a mirroring, but here it feels heartbreakingly imperfect. All the things they still don’t know. All the questions they try to ask each other. All the things they don’t dare ask yet. And then the storytellers are holding a candle up to all of it and letting the audience bask in the glow of this connection even if Ted and Rebecca can’t fully understand it yet.

I am so proud that Rebecca and Deborah were able to embark on the beginnings of a conversation about the ways Deborah and Paul’s relationship might have resembled or not resembled Rebecca and Rupert’s. It feels possible that they could get to a point where Rebecca truly internalizes her mother’s pride that she broke a cycle by leaving Rupert, and could maybe even understand why her mother made the choices she made. I love that in the final scene, they’re still relying on their old mother-daughter conversational patterns—the frustrations, the snippy shorthand, the passive-aggression. Mothers and daughters!

I am also proud that Ted—albeit via a joke about Sharon charging him for the house call—indicates that he understands the value of Sharon’s work. He’s changed a lot, all in realistic ways for someone who loves learning and really does want to meet people where they are and appreciate them. I’m very moved that instead of putting himself in a real harmful situation by showing up to the funeral on time at any cost, he did what he needed to do to take care of himself and accept care from someone else. And then Sharon’s suggestion that he think about things he loved about his father? And the way he’s able to share a positive memory of Rebecca’s own father at a time when she really needed it? Gosh.

Awkward, undecorous transition from 1991 to present-day incoming...but SASSY! She’s just, like, a whirling dervish of loyal friendship and not giving a fuck and penis size discussions and being casually, delightfully cruel to Rupert, who so deserves it. Rebecca was going on a real face journey when Sassy goes off with Ted at the end, and I’m sort of *eyes emoji* about all of that, but I continue to feel like Sassy is the most imperfectly wonderful friend-from-the-past kind of person and I love everything she and Nora get to do in this episode.

Keeley saying “That baby is whack” might be my favorite line in the episode? Maybe the whole show? Not really but really.

FUCK YOU, RUPERT. Bex and Diane, y’all are fine. And I truly feel for Nate...whatever scheme he’s getting suckered into. Whatever insecurity Rupert is preying on. I want Nate to go to therapy, too.

I feel like it was an unpopular opinion at the time, but I loved Rebecca’s 2x1 revelation about vulnerability and fear of getting hurt and needing to let someone love her. Sassy doesn’t always word things in the most nuanced way, but I think there’s a real possibility that she did ask Rebecca to really consider what it means to feel either safe or unsafe with a person but to know that in either circumstance, that person could end up causing her pain. Standing in that closet with Sam, managing to make it clear that she’s not asking for a break because she knows he will hurt her but because she has to figure out how to be with a wonderful person who could cause her pain...the growth, man. Makes me emotional.

I emerged from this episode feeling, of course, stunned by all the amazing parallels and revelations and beautiful acting and Rick Rolls and just, everything. I also emerged feeling sad/raw/tender because messiness and decorum and growth and coping mechanisms and death and dramatic irony and not knowing things about people and not knowing what you don’t know...it’s a sad, raw, tender place to be.

To quote a guy who got a whole sitcom (lol) named after him, life is real hard.

#ted lasso #ted lasso s2 spoilers #meta by me #ted lasso 2x10 #a lesbian watches ted lasso #lotta feelings in here y'all #cw suicide

132 notes · View notes