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sunshine-jesse · 4 months

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Ashley Literally Did Nothing Wrong, Fuck You, Fight Me

Alt title: Ashley Graves: The most convenient scapegoat in the world

I'm going to espouse a take here that will no doubt be controversial, as you can tell by the title. This is a take I've created from my hollistic understanding of the events of the game, and isn't dependent on any one single point I make in this essay. Because of that, I want you to read it with an open mind; if you hyperfocus on one or two smaller details I might've gotten wrong or are fallaciously interpretated, and either use that to discount the whole essay or go into the comment section and immediately try to debunk my interpretation of that event, that'll make it obvious to me that you're not trying to seriously engage with the core of what I'm trying to say. Because unless quite literally everything I've said here is wrong, I feel confident in saying this:

Ashley Graves did nothing wrong.

Moreover, I think Ashley is on the level of people like Rossiu, Shinji Ikari, and Skylar White as far as people who are mistreated by their fandoms goes.

At first this was going to be an essay about how I don't think the demons are evil, using textual and thematic evidence to show that they're just part of a system that deals mostly fairly with humans and doesn't have any nefarious plans, or at least nefarious plans that stand to fuck anyone over. But then I realized that, goodness gracious, that is boring as shit to write! But I looked at what I had written already and realized that I could write something else with it: something better. I could sum up a lot of the points made in my prior essays and elaborate upon them in much more detail, showing why I think certain themes are obviously present within this game. And here, I intend on doing that.

I've spoken a lot before about how Ashley is a scapegoat for all of Andrew's worst habits; and to a lesser extent, her mother's. The game makes it seemingly obvious that she's the bad one, and generally just a Very Not Good person. It shows her and her brother committing many different acts that are, under most moral systems, wrong, and implicitly implies that she's the reason that Andrew ever did those things. It implies that she's corrupting him, that he could be better and refuses- or is unable to- due to her poking and prodding. But… is that the truth? Is that how their relationship actually works, in practice? I don't believe so. I think I've made it obvious by now that I believe the exact opposite!

I'm going to start off by tackling the morality behind their actions, especially relative to the world they're in. Specifically, I'm going to tackle how the game presents the morality of their actions from a thematic point of view, and any statements it may or may not make.

First of all, TCOAL plays with a lot of different taboos- demon summoning, cannibalism, incest, murder- but the game goes through great lengths to muddy the moral weight of the siblings' actions. Every single action they commit is portrayed in the most neutral possible light- killings were done in self defense (with one notable exception), or done to people who greatly wronged them, cannibalism was a necessity to survive (also with one notable exception), incest is shown to come from a marked improvement in their relationship- leading me to believe that this game is taking a hard morally nihilistic stance. Else, they'd be shown to suffer for their actions, when in reality, the literal exact opposite is happening; they are being rewarded for it. This isn't necessarily glorifying the actions, but instead showing that even the worst of actions can potentially be excused, but whether or not you do is up to the reader. Hence, nihilism, or at the very least, skepticism (as noted by Lisafication). There's an existentialist reading of this too, but I think much of that is contingent on the events of chapter 3 so I won't get into that here.

It contrasts this mostly nihilistic perspective on interpersonal taboos with the deep societal ills that drive people to commit such actions. Evil exists at every level of analysis here, but curiously, the only thing that are shown to do direct harm to others without having a justification of some kind- be it self-defense or retaliation- are those societal ills. There is no (morally) good reason to quarantine people, starve them, and harvest their organs. There's no good reason to burn all evidence and then put a hit on the ones who did escape. There's no good reason to extort sexual favors from someone in exchange for food. These are deep structural problems that force people to either retaliate/lash out or enable people's most exploitative or abusive habits lest they just let themselves die.

And thus, the obvious evils become much less obvious. The game makes a point of subverting the obvious or the well-known when it comes to morals, and I think it does so when it comes to everything else, too. Outside of those societal ills (so far, ch3 might have something else to say), every situation where someone could obviously be shown as the bad person in a situation is immensely more complex than it first appears. So much so that I'd argue that displaying said complexity and subverting simplicity to force/encourage people to analyze things deeper is one of the central themes of the game.

So why, exactly, does he blame so much on her? It's because Ashley is the world's most convenient scapegoat, and the game is well-aware of this and displays it in ways both obvious and not.

First off: the title screen has Ashley wielding the cleaver, establishing that she’s the violent one. It's covered in blood, too, implying that she's the one more driven to kill. The reality of this is the opposite; Andrew is the one with less hesitation to inflict violence on others, the cleaver is his weapon, and most of the kills in the story are done by him (and fully justified). Ashley might push him to do these violent acts, but… does she?

Her reaction to the death of the first warden is one of utter shock.

And her expression afterwards?

This is not the look of someone who enjoyed the fact that someone killed for her sake. This is not the look of someone who finds joy to be had in violence. It's not even the look of someone who is apathetic towards violence. It almost seems to express shame or guilt, but at the very least, she's timid over it. At the very least, it's an "oh shit, he actually had to do that for my sake" face. Not a "haha, I am making him worse!" face.

Not to mention, not only does Andrew kill the first Warden without a care in the world, he proactively kills the 302 lady to eliminate all witnesses, and because he believes Ashley would want him to. But Ashley actually grills him for it; she didn't want the 302 lady to die, although she hardly had good-person-reasons for it. But that's not my point. The point is that she is not the violent one between the two of them.

The door doesn't open in response to violence, remember?

The game intentionally misleads us.

And what happens when Ashley tries to make him take responsibility for all this violence? To point out that she didn't force him to do anything and that he chose to do all of it, including lock Nina in the box? She lashes out, hits him a few times… and then he goes to strangle her, and doesn't let go until she acknowledges that he has no reason for her to be around. He literally doesn't cease his threat to her life until she acknowledges she's useless to him.

I acknowledge that this isn't the most charitable framing for Andrew, and maybe too charitable for Ashley. After all, she wasn't indignant. She was mocking him. She found it hilarious. But I have reasons for that charitability that I'll go over towards the end. But even with that charitability in mind, I don't think my reading is too off base. Defaulting to laughter or mocking in stressful situations is just what Ashley does. She's not indignant about it; she just finds it hilarious that people keep pretending to be better than her, when they're not.

Andrew killed the 302 lady and used Ashley as a scapegoat to justify it; this is indisputable, stated in the text during the dream. This alone validates Ashley's point of view. There is no interpretation of this event that doesn't paint Andrew as every bit as unscrupulous as Ashley, and thinking she corrupted him into this- when it was both one of the first actions he did on his own in the story and something he explicitly uses Ashley as a scapegoat for- is just ridiculous. It's frankly unreasonable. She has every right to be sick of being used as a scapegoat. And at the very least, whether or not you accept the idea that Andrew only let Ashley go once she acknowledged that she's useless to him, he's still so taken aback by his misinterpretation of Ashley's desires that HE goes to strangle HER.

This is NOT Andrew triumphantly standing up to his abuser. This is both of their masks slipping; Andrew revealing how violent and insistent on keeping up his internal narrative that he is, and Ashley revealing that she's getting tired of being blamed for everything.

And then, when he finally lets her go… she hugs him, and acknowledges that she's happy that Nina is gone, which makes little sense at the face of it. Why would that be her first response to being let go, when it was ostensibly what made Andrew so upset to begin with?

I think, to her, it's a conciliatory gesture. As chapter 2 showed us, she's more than willing to take responsibility for violence to relieve Andrew of stress over it, as evidenced by her finishing off their parents. This is an earlier instance of that; by acknowledging she was happy that Nina was dead, she took responsibility for it. She willingly framed herself as a bad person here, so Andrew wouldn't have to be.

She let herself be the scapegoat, because it's all she ever knew. She put the mask back on.

This alone is enough to challenge the idea that Ashley 'corrupts' Andrew in any meaningful way. How, exactly, can you define it as corrupt when society itself is twisted enough to force these actions to survive? In a more sane world, a lot of their actions would've been bad, sure, but they're also actions that the siblings probably wouldn't have done in a more sane world. Ashley's actions aren't making Andrew worse, they're helping to ensure their survival. You could say that this is still corruptive in its own way, but at that point it seems like your reasoning is motivated by having already had that narrative rather than making a good-faith reading of their dynamic.

At no point did she actually make him worse; he was already like that and just used her as an excuse.

Next up is the Nina situation. This one is obviously cut and dry- Ashley manipulates Andrew into killing Nina because she wants no competition between the two of them. It's not Andrew's fault and Ashley was an evil abuser from the jump. Obvious, right?

No. It's really not.

It's pretty strongly implied that Ashley was mistreated by people her whole life. The Lemon Cupcake scene shows this in more detail, about how people always neglect or ignore her birthdays, but she also says that nobody likes her because she's weird and loud in the Nina flashback too. But unless something big happened in between the two flashbacks, none of this behavior indicates particularly maladaptive or even strange tendencies on Ashley's part. She's a needy, bratty child, and the closest thing to a friend she has- Nina- wants to take away the one thing from her that's a source of comfort and emotional validation.

It's not entirely rational, sure! But it also -makes perfect sense-. NOBODY treated her well throughout her entire life; it's strongly implied that Nina never did either, given Nina's reaction to Ashley being there and the lower left-hand painting past the Questionable door showing her being distant from the two of them. We can also see a star bouncing off of her head, and stars represent closeness in this game, so it shows there was an attempt made somewhere along the line, it's just not clear as to who made the attempt.

At the very least, Nina's reaction of disappointment fed into Ashley's preconceived notions of how people treat her, and how she deserves to be treated. Although, from what has been directly stated, rather than implied, Nina was nothing more than an innocent victim in this scenario; I don't mean to take that away from her.

"But she didn't care when Nina died?"

So? If Nina treated her like trash for most of her life, why should she care? She didn't expect Nina to die. It was just an acceptable consequence. You can say "That's not how normal kids act!" all you want, but there's a level of spite and apathy that comes with intense bullying and emotional neglect that I don't think you really understand unless you've been there to the extent someone like Ashley has implied to be.

Andrew, meanwhile, was the one who told Ashley that they had to lock Nina in the box to keep them in there. He's the one who looked for and found the stick to keep them locked in. You could say he was coerced by an abusive person into hurting someone, sure, but you'd be wrong. Cataclysmically wrong, even. Like, if you actually think that a seven year old girl (nobody wears overalls past the age of seven) can have anything approximating an abusive dynamic with her as the perpetrator with someone both older and stronger than her, you frankly have some issues with women you need to work out. That's simply not how abuse dynamics work at that age.

Andrew wasn't entirely responsible for it either, mind- he was just a kid who should never have been saddled with this kind of responsibility. But that's not my point; the point is that it enables other people, Andrew included, to use her as a scapegoat to avoid his own responsibility. All this scene does is retroactively justify any preconceptions you might've had about them from seeing their adult selves first. But the moment you start digging, it becomes much less obvious who's really culpable here. Andrew was, as evidenced by the blood oath scene, fully aware that he held the advantage over her in strength, and managed to give up nothing when making the oath while he made Ashley swear to silence. He was fully aware that he could've chosen to do better, but he refused, and instead opted to reinforce Ashley's insecurities for the sake of exerting control over her.

I've said before that the 302 lady was murdered without any input from Ashley, but this is also relevant on a meta-level because it's done without any input from the player, either. Both of the murders in chapter 1 were like that, whereas all that we, the player can choose to do in that chapter is either solve puzzles, or hilariously, die. The only person with control here is Andrew, the character, and this is reinforced by the fact that we have no control over him for much of the Nina flashback, too. He locks her in the box regardless of our input, even though Ashley spends a lot of time trying to convince him. The main difference between the Nina flashback and the scenes in the apartment is that Ashley had absolutely no idea that any of that was going to happen in the present, whereas it's something she wanted with Nina- which isn't that big of a difference when discussing how much agency she really has.

As much as the game frames Ashley as a manipulator- and much of the fanbase uncritically accepts- she is given shockingly little in-game control over many of the actions committed. Even in the case of the Hitman- as a good friend of mine pointed out- the only choice the player is given is whether or not to check the closet and be killed; an impulsive decision leading to a swift and unceremonious end. In the end, Andrew is the one given the choice to kill the hitman, and we can consciously choose whether or not his reaction is panicked or measured. No such choice is given to Ashley, as most of her reactions are impulsive and spontaneous rather than planned. This is not the makings of a standard "manipulative evil bitch" trope. She's pretty consistently portrayed as someone with poor impulse and emotional control who loudly and aggressively states her intent in every single scenario she's in.

And you can still call what she says and does manipulative despite that, sure, but at what point are you just pathologizing relatively normal (if extreme and highly emotional) social interactions for the sake of fitting into a narrative you already held?

We see Ashley's status as a scapegoat for people to use to pretend to be normal reach its most blatant with the parents. This time it's pretty cut and dry to anyone that doesn't already have it in their mind that Ashley is evil and unforgivable. Mrs. Graves explicitly brings up the possibility of a normal life without Ashley to Andrew in the basement, and claims that Ashley was at fault for shutting her out. She would've been a normal parent otherwise, right? Well, no; the game wastes no time in showing that this wasn't the case in the Burial ending.

From when Ashley was a baby, Mrs. Graves was already tired of her shit, and too emotionally exhausted to be a parent. Despite her attempts at blaming Ashley, she would've never been a normal parent unless Ashley was a golden child in the same way that Andrew was. And yet Ashley didn't even deny shutting her mom out. She didn't deny the chance to be used as a scapegoat; it was all she ever knew. The fact that Mrs. Graves had the audacity to claim that she was a saint when she was never prepared to be a parent for a child who didn't make it easy, and when she was willing to sell out her children and let them die for a life insurance payment is absolutely astounding.

This alone should've been enough to recontextualize everything we supposedly know about how responsible Ashley really is in all of this, but bad parents have a knack for being great at manipulating both family members and everyone viewing from the outside, including the people playing the game.

And almost including Andrew.

Andrew almost accepting the mom's offer is the single most tragic moment in the game, by far.

Dandy said it best in his video essay: By Ashley leaving Andrew alone with their parents, she showed that she is capable of changing. That she is capable of getting better. She showed that she loves and respects Andrew enough to be able to put aside her usual role as the scapegoat and allow him to make the decision that was for the best for both of them. And make no mistake, it was for the best; if the mom really DID sell out the siblings, and given the two of them were already on the run for supposedly being dead, there was no hope of any of this ever working out. They saw through the conspiracy and knew the truth of how the quarantine operations really worked. They were an active threat to one of the most powerful entities seen in the setting so far, to the point where they had a hitman sent after them.

Mrs. Graves had every reason to sell them out again, for their presence in a public setting was more than enough to put everyone in their family in danger. Mrs. Graves had every reason to believe that the normalcy she wanted was nothing that could ever be grasped again so long as her children were alive, and as such, it was clear that she had nothing to offer either Andrew or Ashley. Ashley trusted Andrew to see through their obvious manipulations and lies, and understand that the parents had nothing left to give them. She trusted him to love her more than the false promises their parents could give.

…And yet. In spite of it all.

In spite of her love, in spite of clearly displaying that she can grow up and become a person that causes him less stress, and in spite of Ashley showing that all she wants now is their safety and security…

Andrew can still choose to consider Ashley the problem. He can still choose to use her as the scapegoat he always has.

He can still choose to see her as the one thing that caused him to be this way, that stands in between him and normalcy, when she, not once, forced him to do anything.

Were he to accept Mrs. Graves' offer, this would've been the single most tragic moment in the game. It almost was, and still stands to be, because he ignores every indication that things could be better for the sake of his own narrative, and a narrative echoed by much of the fandom.

But no matter what ending was picked, things could be better. They could've been better all along. Compared to chapter 1, their dynamic in chapter 2 is already much healthier. Their banter is less venomous, and while they still poke and prod each other in ways that aren't exactly great, they don't get into the same violent fights we saw in the 302 room. By all accounts, what happened in that room was an outlier. Even when they find themselves in their parents' house, where they stand to do the One Thing That Means They Would Never Be Normal Again, Ever (ignoring the fact that this is already a lost cause by then), Ashley doesn't get into any fights with Andrew in the same way she did back in the apartment. All she wants is affirmation and security. She doesn't even lay into her mom like she lays into Julia over the phone, even in their private conversations.

We’re led to believe that she’s still getting worse because the actions she’s taking are more extreme, but her attitudes and behaviors are much, much different. The actual actions they're taking are so obviously the right thing to do (both morally and practically) that I don't think it's until they eat their parents that you should make a double take and go "Wow, maybe these goblins actually are kinda fucked up," because until then, well… everything is justified! Perfectly so! Even then, eating their parents serves a purpose, even if not a mentally healthy one.

Maybe she’s calmer because she’s in control over the situation, but if the calls she made to Julia are any indication (independent of the theory that she didn’t actually say those things), were she unchanged as a person, she still would’ve lashed out at their mother over how much more useful she is to Andrew than their parents were, or something of that nature. Something about how nothing their mom offers could compete with what Ashley gives. But she makes no such claims. She feels no need to prove anything to her parents, or to reaffirm her place in Andrew’s life even in the face of her mother challenging it (or at least implying such a challenge). Regardless of her insecurities, she’s changed. It’s hard to see, but she has.

And then Andrew can ignore that and consider betraying her because he refuses to believe that she's willing to make their dynamic work, when she shows many different indications of being willing to concede as long as Andrew stops giving her mixed signals.

A friend of mine put it best, and I'm pretty much quoting her word for word here, because of how strongly I agree with it. When I look at Ashley, I find very few actual "flaws." I see familiar wounds.

The Burial ending, despite being triumphant and not nearly as "dark" as some people think, is still very, very sad. A lot of abusive dynamics are characterized by someone having to fight every step of the way to get what they need from the other person, usually some kind of emotional validation or relief. This is what happens between Andrew and Ashley for most of the game: Ashley wants Andrew to treat their relationship as special, to acknowledge there's something to it beyond just him going through the motions. And yet for most of the game, he refuses to, especially in chapter 1. And then, in Burial, when he does…

She's confused.

A lot of people view this as her being afraid of losing control over Andrew, since her "Andy," who she can push around, is gone. Andrew has changed, and the same tricks wouldn't work. But that's not what that is; it's not about control, it's about her finally getting what she wants from him without having to fight. She still thinks about using sex as leverage to keep him around, but that's because she's never understood what it's like to have someone actually want to be around her. And I speak from experience; when you no longer have to fight for every little bit of emotional validation or relief, when you no longer have to keep checking your messages to keep an argument going so you can finally be proven right, when you no longer have to force yourself to let go, to stop engaging, the reaction isn't happiness. It's not relief.

It's confusion. It's discontent.

Because something you've tied so much of yourself up in to is no longer there, despite it being more peaceful, it still feels wrong. The dynamic still has to be this way in your mind, because you've never known anything else. You latch on to whatever you can in order to justify that, and your actions are still heavily biased in favor of maintaining your place in that nonexistent dynamic. This isn't manipulation; it's trauma. And the fact that Ashley almost immediately understands that Andrew is changing is nothing short of a miracle. By consolidating past and present Andrew into a single person rather than splitting them into two, she showing that she can actually heal from that trauma. And all Andrew had to do to enable this is to acknowledge that she CAN change, that things CAN be better, and that everyone who claims to be better than her is full of shit.

I've analyzed the events of the story in a way that may seem needlessly antagonistic to some characters, and overly charitable to others. But I have to ask you, that if you disagree with anything I've said:

Where does that disagreement come from? What about my narrative clashes with your own? -Why- does it clash? Is it because the game presents your interpretation as obvious, whereas mine is not? Is it because you've experienced someone like Ashley before in your life, and you know it when you see it? Maybe you strongly identify with Andrew, and view his status as a doormat with no agency to be obvious? Or did you just accept the narrative that much of the fanbase has taken at face value, without further analysis other than building on top of it?

I don't believe these things to be contrarian; I've held most of these opinions since my first or second playthrough. I don't believe what I do because you don't, I believe what I do because I understand what Ashley has been through. I've experienced a lot of the specific traumas she had, such as deep feelings of isolation and being deprived of the emotional validation I need from the people who need to give it. I know what it's like to be misunderstood, to have who and what I am taken for granted, and to be terrified of being abandoned by the people I need the most. I see what I do because I understand.

And I want to give her that understanding that nobody gave me.

Maybe you should think about it. Why do you take it for granted that Andrew is a doormat who is strung along by Ashley? Why do you find it so odd when the trope of a woman corrupting a good man through leveraging sex is drawn into question? Why is Ashley seen as crazy, when all of her actions are so straightforward and rational? How is she corrupting him, when the single most needlessly violent act in the whole story- outside of the Nina flashback- is done without her influence? Why is Ashley seen as the abusive one when Andrew both threatens and resorts to physical violence and witholds emotional validation?

Weirdly personal tangent aside, Ashley and Andrew are two of the most well-written characters I have ever seen. They're not written like archetypes who interact with each other through a series of tropes; they're written like real people who's words and actions have astoundingly human motivations. They come from places that we can understand and relate to.

And just like people, they deserve respect. In spite of all they've done, they deserve love.

But make no mistake, Ashley is not the one stopping that love from happening. She just has the audacity to still want it in spite of everything telling her that she doesn't deserve it. We're led to believe she wants too much, but all she ever wanted was the bare minimum that she was never given.

And she has every right to be mad about it.

#andrew graves #ashley graves #the coffin of andy and leyley #tcoaal #tcoaal essay #gaming

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yuri-is-online · 2 months

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I’ve been skimming through fluff fics lately, and a fun little realization popped up in my mind. It’s not often people talk about the downs in a potential relationship with the twst boys. For the sake of a more realistic perspective, I’ve got to ask. Who do you think is most likely to unintentionally hurt Yuu and why? - 🦐

Hello my shrimpy friend! So nice to hear from you, hope you're doing well. Fan fic in general isn't very focused on portraying the negative parts of a relationship because it's a form of escapism. People don't necessarily want to picture themselves in a bad spot in a relationship if they already are in one in real life, yk?

That being said making mistakes is part of any relationship so I do have some thoughts! They/them used for Yuu as always, this is angst so proceed with care.

Azul- he doesn't have the healthiest mental framework surrounding friendships, and you do need to be friends with your SO to have a solid relationship. An actual relationship with Yuu would probably have a bumpy start as you two try to feel out what the dynamic is actually supposed to be. Take it slow and everything will be fine, but there might be some hurt feelings along the way. And a lot of assumptions from other people about your relationship that don't help either of you.

LEONA- he's a rude ass bitch who doesn't have great manners I am so sorry to this man. To be fair though I think a lot of that rudeness would be something that would take place before the actual relationship, because I firmly believe if it's pointed out to Leona by his partner that he has communication issues he's more than willing to work on that with them. He would be a good boyfriend! It's just all the conversations up to the actual going out that's painful and might ruin what he wants before he actually gets it.

Riddle- so I don't think Riddle's treatment of Yuu is what might hurt them exactly, his issues as always have to do with his mother. He needs to figure out exactly how he wants to deal with his childhood trauma and his adult relationship with her, but that's going to take a lot of time and personal growth. Mrs. Rosehearts seems like the type to try and continue running her son's life after he graduates so I can't see her treating Riddle's partner well. Going no contact with an emotionally abusive parent is really hard for their children to do, Riddle needs love and support but the journey can be emotionally draining for the person giving that support.

Sebek- again with the family thing. His parents sound like wonderful people but his Grandfather seems to only like his grandchildren because they're half fae and still actively hates his son in law. I can't see him treating Yuu any better, which I could see being very draining since Sebek and his grandpa are very close. It could also be a chance for Baul to change a bit, which would be nice.

Cater and Idia- I'm making them share a spot because similarly to Leona I think the major hurts would be caused pre-relationship, but unlike him I don't see their communication issues as being something that would affect the relationship in the same way going forward. Cater has a lot of insecurities and can be a bit shallow, but he is a good friend so once he accepts Yuu as a safe space to speak openly and honestly I don't see them as having too many issues. Idia is also shown to be very open and honest with Ortho, his self hatred, temper, and inferiority/superiority complex just get in the way of him letting anyone else in.

In general, a lot of the twst guys have communication issues which is something people can work through, but would still cause some pain. Something to think about I suppose σ(￣、￣=)

#<3 asks #twisted wonderland x reader #twst x reader #i don't think sebek is “bad” for his internalized racism i'm just #not crazy with how willing people are to dismiss grandparent's racism because they're ok with their grandkids #they only are ok with their grandkids because those kids are THEIRS they still don't see the other parent as a person or worthy of respect #... i get kind of heated about this because i've had some personal experience within my extended family with this so i find it disgusting #my grandpa wasn't cute when he was being racist to my cousins and refusing to talk to my dad when he bought a korean made dishwasher #baul isn't cute for narrowing his grandson's world view to his backyard idk #sebek deserves to be seen as a whole person by his society and his grandpa yk #loving people by halves is unacceptable to me

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thecarnivorousmuffinmeta · 4 days

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What if Rosalie got a physical shield gift, like Renata?

( this is because of the trauma before her transformation)

Would she be uncomfortable about her gift and what it represents? Would Edward be jealous of Rosalie having a gift? How would this change the newborn battle in Eclipse? What about Bella's pregnancy and the confrontation in Breaking dawn? What will Bella think of Rosalie being both beautiful and strong? Will Aro consider the Cullens a bigger threat?

Would She Be Uncomfortable About Her Gift and What it Represents?

The thing about Renata's gift is a lot of what @therealvinelle and I theorize we headcanoned our way/theorized our way into.

It's a "hm, wonder why she had this gift" when we look at other vampires who have gifts that help them in situations before or after they were turned versus random gifts.

It's not necessarily something she would theorize or anyone else would either. Edward theorizes that gifts are an extension of yourself/talents you had in life.

Edward reads minds because he's super ultra perceptive like that, Jasper must have been charismatic, Carlisle is now a saint because his goodness was magnified by 10,000 degrees, Alice could see the future as a human if to a lesser degree, Rosalie is hot er pigheaded, and so on.

Edward wouldn't see a physical shield as a response to trauma/a gift clearly designed to protect her from physical harm, Rosalie must have had some sort of underlying shield talent. Clearly, Rosalie pushes other people away and nobody likes her.

Rosalie might wish she had such a gift with Royce, that this could have protected her if it hadn't been this latent stupid talent, but she may not realize she has it because of Royce (I doubt she would both because she wouldn't want to credit him/what happened and because it's not the prevalent vampire thoughts on gifts).

Would Edward Be Jealous?

No, because his gift is cooler.

The thing about Edward is because all these gifts are different he can convince himself he's the best or at least on par. Alice's gift is powerful, but Edward can read thoughts while she reads the future, so they work in tandem. Jasper's is useful sometimes, but he can only figure out emotions and he's influenced by them while Edward can hear thoughts.

We're talking about the boy who fucking convinces himself he's more powerful than Aro because he can hear only immediate thoughts within a ten-mile radius (if he knows them well, shorter if he doesn't) while Aro has to touch your hand but gets every thought you've ever had in your lifetime.

He fucking convinces himself he's more powerful than Bella, that she doesn't have a gift at all and just thinks weird, when Bella singlehandedly stops the Volturi's greatest gifts in their tracks multiple times right in front of him.

The best Bella gets is from Eleazar of "wow, you're a shield".

Rosalie just makes a stupid physical shield. Edward would regard this as entirely useless and a party trick.

Unlike Edward's totally useful gift.

How Would This Change the Newborn Battle?

... Funny you say that.

Guess who's in the tent with Bella and Edward and Jacob? There is no world in which Edward doesn't throw the mother of bitch fits to have Rosalie there protecting Bella with her shield. He hates it, of course, he'd much rather do it himself, but Bella's life is at stake and nothing will get through Rosalie's shield.

Rosalie's going to the tent (Rosalie doesn't want to go either, at all, but if this keeps Bella human and Edward not killing himself :( )

Somehow, I'm sure that tent conversation still happens, even though Rosalie's sitting in the corner, hating them all, hating everything, and "Bella, do you know what these two are like???"

"Edward is the love of my life and Jacob is my sun"

(Rosalie concludes Bella's cheating on Edward and Edward, Jacob, and Bella all know it. That or they're having a weird gross threesome thing and why does she know about this?)

What Will Bella Think of Rosalie Being Beautiful and Strong?

Nothing.

Edward insists to Bella, as he did in canon, that Rosalie is a stupid, vain, shrew who only cares about herself and is the worst in every way. Even her gift is stupid and look how hard Rosalie tries not to use it even though this is the one time it's actually useful.

All Rosalie has to do is guard Bella and she keeps trying to wriggle out of it.

And Rosalie hates Bella because she's jelly Edward's into her.

As in canon, Bella thinks Rosalie hates her, and is very intimidated by how beautiful she is, and that she's gifted period when all Bella can do is think in FM instead of AM.

Will Aro Consider the Cullens a Bigger Threat?

No.

One more Renata's in Rosalie's not ideal, but he could have taken her out with Jane and Alec easily. It's not the end of the world if he would have had to fight them.

Bella's the deal breaker where Bella alone concerns him and Bella with Rosalie concerns him only slightly more than Bella alone (makes it hard to kill Bella and stop her shield if the Cullens are being strategic, but this isn't much different than canon where gifts on Bella's team do work and they can protect her in a way the Volturi will have difficulty getting through if it comes to a fight).

#twilight #twilight meta #twilight headcanon #twilight renaissance #rosalie hale #the cullens #edward cullen #anti edward cullen #aro #the volturi #bella swan #meta #headcanon #opinion

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astridthevalkyrie · 18 days

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wait omg!! can u explain the whole raf/raymond/his mom thing a little more please?? all this new lore is making my head spin 😭

sure! so raymond is the guy that zayne and mc visit in chapter 2 of the main story. at the time, all we really know is that he's a collector and he's trying to convince zayne to join xander sciences, the same group that carter from the new stories works at. they desperately want zayne to work with them because of his research and skill.

raymond passes out because of the metaflux being released from rafayel's painting, which is hanging up in his house. he's taken to get medical help. mc realizes there's something hypnotizing about the painting that nearly ensnares her too. then much later in chapter 7, rafayel and mc find out from a reporter that raymond has died, and that rafayel's painting has been taken from his house. when he died, there were cuts on his face resembling scales (presumably the same type of scales lemurians have).

in the new story, we see rafayel go to his funeral. raf's aunt talia seems to express relief that raymond is dead. we learn that there is a skeleton of a mermaid hanging up in his house. between that and working for xander sciences, we're pretty much being told that this was not a good dude.

as rafayel leaves, raymond's mother screams at him that her son was only thirty-nine and should not have died. she accuses rafayel of killing him with his painting, reporters swarm him, but he obviously doesn't comment.

now what's interesting is that i may be totally wrong and rafayel might not have killed raymond. he tells talia raymond is dead, not that he killed him. he seems genuinely surprised in the main story when he's told raymond is dead. now all of this doesn't necessarily mean he didn't kill him, and we know from one of raf's anecdotes that he has gone after people who hurt lemurians in the past and he may very well just be a good actor. but at the same time i wouldn't be surprised if the twist is that someone else did him in, intending to let rafayel take the fall from it.

i'm thinking raf definitely did intend to kill him with his painting, but mc and zayne saved raymond before that could happen. so his death could be caused by someone else, maybe onychinus or EVER or even xander sciences. we've got a lotta villains and a lotta chess pieces moving around!

#love and deepspace #love and deepspace spoilers

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decalcominia · 5 months

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this is going to sound biased because not gonna lie I am indeed biased but the pain of sio finding out tsetseg is namsoon felt so personal I just need to vent a little.

In my opinion, if they (sio/namsoon) were the main couple in this show, it would've been so much more complex and intriguing because of how different they are from each other and how in the progression of the storyline they would've changed each other.

on one hand, we have sio, who pretty much just sees the worst in people, is individualistic, doesn't trust anyone and is just a textbook villain since he doesn't necessarily feel bad about his actions either and will do anything to achieve what he wants.

on the other hand, we have namsoon who just screams sunshine in person; she wants to help people and believes that there is good in basically everyone. She doesn't shy away from trusting people and is a very bright and friendly girl who doesn't differentiate between them.

both also have their strong beliefs and principles that they stick to which is, to be honest just a result of their past and, well, in sio's case a result of his trauma. He had to fight to survive and basically earn his right to live, experiencing everything a child shouldn't and being raised in the worst conditions and environment possible, while namsoon, apart from her birth parents much like sio, still got to experience a, let's say, "normal" childhood with loving parents and basically witnessed life always from the bright side, very far removed of the darkness of it all.

now imagine if they had put these two together and how complex their storyline would've been. One conflict would be her first impression of him, which is that he is inherently bad, because as I mentioned, he is the textbook villain, and after hearing of what he did, alongside her mother and everyone else, she too would be convinced he is bad and they're the good ones, which if you look at the bigger picture without considering why he does all of it, is the truth

That being said, another conflict would be their personalities. One would think that because they are on opposing sides of a spectrum, they wouldn't get along at all but looking at the content we got of them being together, despite his personality and principles, namsoon managed to become a safety zone for sio. If they had been the main couple, their time together would slowly conflict namsoon from within because what she personally sees of him, does not match the definition of a villain, therefore confusing her as she proceeds to see his point of view but still being unsure because she also has duties to go after (which is to expose him and his deeds):

and finally, it would take a long time for her to actually see and understand him, but she would eventually understand why he has done the things (and eventually find out his motive as well which is possibly just to find binbin. Idk if that's his actual motive but after today's ep I feel like it is.) and realize that there is some darkness to life but also that nothing is just black and white, good or bad.

and just like how sio influenced her beliefs, she too would help him to change his mind about people, that there are some he can trust and find comfort in (much like how she has so far).

This has gotten so much longer than I expected but all I'm trying to say is that to me personally, their relationship has much more depth and difficulty that would've been amazing to see them work through. All I'm gonna do now is submit into delusion and hope they pull a love alarm in the last three eps or just write some fanfiction.

#wasted potential if I may add #idk they should've just hired me #a villain and a good girl love story???#would've been life changing.#strong girl nam soon #strong girl gang nam soon

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scarsmood · 7 months

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Not entirely sure how foxkin function cause everytime I try to look up anything about foxes it's hunting first then if i really look I can find like a documentary. Takes me a good 5 minutes to sift through pelts and what not.

It's surprisingly upsetting, i'm not exactly sure why but this actually bothers me more than wolf and deer hunting. It actually bothers me way more typical. Might be because after doing some research foxes are pretty similar to threatening wolves niche wise (very close actually kinda scary lol)

There's something about how people are obsessed with their pelts instead of the animal itself. I wonder if threatening wolves were on earth would they have become extinct because of their size and high variation in coat types?

It's interesting to me seeing people who are interviewed in great Britain with a vibrant red fox population say they're just vermin and would not necessarily want them dead but gone because they're 'annoying'. They say while throwing them sausages.

Like. This animal has adapted to your way of life completely. It is comfortable in urban landscapes where most animals fail at adapting this one thrives and your reaction is ":/ it's just kinda annoying" what do you WANT bro.

Feeling my misanthropy shoot up like. Jesus. Nothing pleases some people. Foxes are so annoying but also they're a symbol of an in between of feminity and masculinity. They're the symbolism of cunning and not being the strongest but smartest.

Even though kits begin infighting at 3 weeks old to begin to establish a social hierarchy. This fighting doesn't stop until everyone understands their place. Some researchers think the mother fox really controls pack dynamics as well.

There's so many fundamental misunderstandings about foxes because of our cultural interpretations of them. Honestly if I could "re-do" or reeducate my younger self because threatening wolves felt like a sort of "nothing fits and i need something now" sort of approach I probably would have suggested foxes in this light.

I probably would have been fox kin. A lot of their qualms and issues are reminiscent of what threatening wolves try to represent.

They are wild animals but forced into human landscapes more often than not. They are used for human resources and needs. They're considered meek in some regards and horrible monsters the next. Always considered the villain. They're hunted for traditions and bloodsport adorning their pelts as a prideful thing in some traditions or just clothes.

Threatening wolves are a different version of the same struggle. They're larger creatures that get taken advantage of by humans to. While humans can't partake in den killings as easily it still happens.

The odd fetishization of foxes adds another layer I can really connect to. Being seen as a sexual object over a living animal impacts me in a way that feels very sore. Hitting a lot of old wounds realizing foxes do share struggles I lived through to.

I kinda wish I could wind back time and start over again as a foxkin. Watch this kintype develop with years of knowledge and prowess of intimately understanding it. I can always start now but I just wish I didn't miss this opportunity like I did.

#otherkin #therian #foxkin

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cyanide-latte · 2 months

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I don't go to TWST but I'm loving watching you get into the community. As an outsider, I just wanna ask, how do you come up with character names? Is there any relation to the character you're twisting from?

Aaahhh Jay dear, you know I love this kind of question because diving into this kind of thing is my delight!

And as for the answer...

✨✨✨

Regarding Copper and the characters attached to him, each of them is a fairly unimaginative nod to the characters they're twisted from, save for perhaps Old Flynn (twisted from Rufus the cat, I went for the meanings of both names and how similar they were.) As for Copper and the fact he's a double twist, his chosen name wasn't too hard to take from "Penny", (speaking in the Doylist sense,) and his deadname is actually the reference to Captain Barbossa (currently. He might later adjust his form of address in the future in ways that reflect that as well.)

✨✨✨

The Wei family is somewhat trickier. I initially had mostly developed just Wei Renqiao, with his uncle Wei Gang and cousin Wei Xinyi as afterthoughts. And since Wei Renqiao is an expy of Shan Yu while also being very much his own person, that set the stage for how I chose to name him.

The family name "Wei" has a variety of different meanings based on the characters it's written with. I went for the characters meaning "dangerous" or "towering", partially as a nod to Shan Yu in Wei Renqiao's character, but also because it fit the way my muse was unfolding and determining that the Wei family are often the fierce protectors and leaders of their people.

Wei Renqiao's name is written with "Ren" for "trust" or "rely on" and Qiao for "artful, skillful, clever". Clearly this is where some deviation from Shan Yu occurs and we see he's his own character. It should also be noted his name at birth was actually Wei Feng, written with "Feng" as "phoenix", which is both a nod back to Shan Yu in a way, as well as an hint at his Signature Spell/Unique Magic. He doesn't care to be called this though.

His uncle's name, Wei Gang, has the characters for "rigid" or "strong", both meant to prove a few things about his character but it was ultimately landing on that name that made me realize he was indeed twisted from The Emperor (I'd been suspicious but not certain up to that point.)

Wei Xinyi is the one that especially delights me as a bit of serendipity! I hadn't intended them to be a Mulan expy, not initially, but I must have been leaning in that direction anyhow because their SS/UM allows them to switch between genders, and I knew that about them first. From there I went hunting for a name and stumbled across "Xinyi", which I've noticed can be written with m. or f. characters. (It's the "Xin" that can be written differently but the "Yi" is the same.) That name jumped out at me when trying to pick something, not necessarily for its meaning so much as the fact I noticed it can be written either way and still largely mean the same thing, and Xinyi themself immediately decided that was their name, so it stuck!

✨✨✨

THEN WE GET TO CHRYS AND HIS PARENTS AND BOY OH BOY.

I picked his mother's name, Kallisto, out of a list of possible names. I already had a pre-existing bias towards the name, yeah, though I must say its meaning ("most beautiful") wasn't necessarily the deciding factor or even tied to what she's twisted from. It was only a couple of days ago I even realized I had drawn on aspects of the Muses for her character!

Ilias was a little more deliberate, as one of the meanings of it is "prophet" or "oracle" or "diviner". Again a hint-hint, wink-wink about Ilias's SS/UM, but in this case it's also because a lot of aspects of him I drew from the Fates.

CHRYSANTHOS. OH CHRYSANTHOS. I WAS DOING SOME 5D CHESS WITH HIM.

The Shroud family in canon is twisted from Hades, they've all got characteristics of him, noticeably the hair. And I do love a good surname that's a point towards Hades being the Lord of the Dead.

I've got a running joke that Chrys is my little flower boy. I'll explain some of that in future posts, but his parents chose his name because at one point his hair reminded them of chrysanthemums when he was a baby. And while that may be considered chuckle-worthy, chrysanthemums are funerary flowers in most parts of the world. (Most of America doesn't attribute them as such, but New Orleans actually keeps to this. This has nothing to do with the character, I just find that interesting.) And you know me; the second I saw that was a Greek name based on chrysanthemums, that part of me that goes nuts for the language of flowers latched on and went feral for the layers of symbolism there.

As for that tying to the fact has a lot of character traits from Meg, well...take that as you will.

Taglist: @ramshacklerumble @simons-twsted-children @tixdixl @inmateofthemind @blithesharem @theleechyskrunkly @thehollowwriter

#thank you for the ask my dear i was so excited to see this!#TWST OCs #Copper Benoit #Wei Renqiao #Chrysanthos Shroud #Wei Xinyi #Ilias Shroud #Kallisto Shroud #my OCs #meta #Cyanide speaks

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pristinekanesays · 1 year

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🦋 Life Is Strange: Sexuality Headcanons.

🦋 Warnings: Spoilers for Life Is Strange 1 & 2, mentions of religious trauma and denial, simping for warren, victoria being mean, unsupportive and shitty parents.

🦋A/N: Coming from a dude who's played Life Is Strange 1 & 2 but also done the occasional research, I've noticed how well they include different sexualities and genders. From Chloe Price to Rachel Amber and how Esteban was totally chill with his son kissing a dude in Life Is Strange 2.

🦋 Chloe Price (Lesbian):

It's canon that she's a lesbian, right? So that's it then, she just likes girls alone with nothing else in the mix. I feel like she was aware of her feelings before Max dipped and William died.

When she first found out, I'd say she was going through denial and Max was definitely her first sort of crush on a girl.

🦋 Kate Marsh (Panromantic):

I feel like Kate's panromantic personally and struggles with huge religious trauma, Deep down she doesn't care what gender her partner is, she just loves them for them.

(GO KATE!! LOVE U KATE ❤️)

🦋 Max Caulfield (Unlabeled):

I'm actually sort of struggling to find something in my head to describe what Max's sexuality would be but she wouldn't put a label on it for sure,

And she doesn't seem to be super into romance in the first game, like her friends are her number one priority nearly all the time.

🦋 Rachel Amber (Bisexual):

RACHEEEL!! She's totally one of my favourite characters and she's of course bisexual! (Canon, by the way.)

I get the vibe that she leans towards guys but that doesn't mean she isn't bisexual, you know? Her parent's don't seem like they'd have a huge problem with it because it's kind of obvious.

She doesn't make it a big deal necessarily, she's just trying to be that cool, dramatic and comedic theatre kid at all times.

🦋 Victoria Chase (Questioning):

Okay, okay! Some people think she likes girls but in my opinion, I think she's straight or at least questioning!

Like she thinks some girls are pretty, is she gonna tell them? Do you know who she is?? She'll probably insult them or come out with some rude ass, sleazy remark.

🦋 Warren Graham (Omnisexual):

Omnisexual, preference for girls.

Like, look at him and then tell me he hasn't explored sexuality wise. Because he has, he HAAAAS!!! He's kissed guys, girls, people who don't identify, the ground when he was hammered.

Max is missing out, if she doesn't want him then I gladly do. I welcome this man with open ass arms.

🦋 Nathan Prescott (Unlabeled):

In such huge denial and I'm gripping my desk trying not to feel bad for this man, his parents obviously don't give two fucks but I feel like maybe at least his mother would be a somehow good person.

His dad's a bully and we don't hear a lot about Nathan's mom, she cares in a way but she doesn't try to do anything about it.

He'll think a guy's attractive in a way but then feel guilty right after realizing what's going on, man just wants to be loved! DON'T LET ME FEEL BAD FOR HIIIM!!

Time finished: 02:28AM

#🤍kane's headcanons #life is strange headcanons #nathan prescott x reader #chloe price x fem!reader #rachel amber x reader #kate marsh x reader #max caulfield x reader #warren graham x reader #victoria chase x reader #lis headcanons

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stormblessed95 · 1 year

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Umm.. I won't necessarily says it is gaslighting. I also thought these happens exclusively with partners. But nope. Recently I watched a blackpink behind the scenes and Jennie was licking Jisoo's ear, which we thought special when Jikook did it. Jennie licked Jisoo's sweaty ear after practice. JK licked jimin's ear after concert. Not much difference tbh.

Also one of my friends, a boy, bit another girl from my class on her arm just because he felt lol. And it left a mark which made her mother to question her lol. No they are NOT a couple nor have feelings and he hasn't bit anyone in class before strong enough to leave a mark. It's just that's how he is and none of his affection towards classmates are 'Romantic'.

Since then I believe what jimin said. That mark on JK's neck happened because he simple bit him hard, to put him down. There's no reason for me to think is happened when they got wild and Jimin sucked a hickey to his neck when Jimin directly told he indeed bit him and the reason.

It's just us thinking there's more to jikook because we can't digest a dynamic like that. But if we look around there are many people who share similar dynamics but are just friends. Instead accept that's how they are, that's their dynamics and it's not because of them fucking behind the scenes.

I swear to God, hun, all this shows is your age. And that's okay. I fully WANT you to accept the range of dynamics that can occur within a friendship and within a relationship and how different that can be at all times. I also hope you realize the reasons I personally think Jimin and Jungkook are in a romantic relationship together is wayyyy more than the 2 physical examples listed here. And I also fully advocate for taking the members at their word. If we look around, you can find similar moments between friends, yes. But you can't actually find the exact moment. Or maybe you can and maybe jikook ARE just friends. But if you can't see the different between this...

And this...

Well, nothing I can do about it. I do have a post explaining the difference between playful love bites and pecks and whatever the fuck jikook had going on there. Chomping down and being silly vs sucking and kissing.... But ultimately you get to decide how you feel about it. But this isn't actually a good comparison at all.

Same for your other one. A playful chomp down on a friend's arm is not the same as a playful chomp down on their neck. One is an erogenous zone and the other is not. One tends to elicit "heyyy stop omg" and the other tends to get a moan. Especially with where said bite was located. Especially with jikooks lowkey small history with "hickeys" appearing in similar spots over the years too. This is just the first they owned and didn't try to cover up. Lol there a comfort in going for the neck during a playful drunken moment than instead going for the shoulder. One is by far more sexually intimate and one is more friendly. I too, have bit my friends before, never did i go for an erogenous zome though. Which to be fair, also includes ears, but again, no one is going to feel anything from the type of bite jensoo had going on, jikook had a completely different type of ear bite moment.

Again, your choice though, to put blinders on to the difference or not. And again, I'm not saying it's a confirmation of Jimin and JK being in a relationship. I'm saying it is a puzzle piece that fits into that kind of puzzle though. And that both of your "other people do it too and they are only friends" comparisons don't ACTUALLY work as comparisons as well as you seem to think. You don't have to agree with me. I encourage you not to and form your own thoughts and stick by them. But if this is all you've got, well it's not something that would ever convince me that everything Jikook do, other people do too.

#jikook #kookmin #jikook hickey #jikook rosebowl

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goldenspirits · 3 months

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Saltburn (2023), Parasite (2019), and the Rich.

'When the people shall have nothing more to eat, they will eat the rich.' — Rousseau

I'm writing this post becuase I feel most people misinterpret these movies, and how I don't consider either of them to be an 'Eat the rich' movie.

I'm starting with this quote because I often feel like people remove it from its original context, and I feel like putting it back there may make it regain some of its meaning.

Spoiler warning for: Saltburn (2023), Parasite (2019), Glass Onion (2022), The People Under The Stairs (1991).

The rich may get metaphorically or literally eaten in both Saltburn and Parasite, as someone from a 'lower' class gets rid of them and takes their place in the hierarchy, but I feel like when people celebrate these movies they are essentially forgetting that the systems that made these people 'lower class' or 'middle class' do begin with are still in place. [re: Coco's Feel-Good Oppression]

I believe 'The Rich' are inherently something bad, because the Rich can only exist with exploitation, I don't believe every single rich person realizes this is what's happening, and it's almost impossible to become Rich with just honest work, that's why I believe meritocracy is a lie.

In both of these movies, people go up the social ladder. And now what? They have become the rich. (Although in Parasite the protagonists go back down the social ladder. Put a pin on that*) Essentially nothing has changed, the rich just have new names and new faces now. These aren't stories to celebrate. Such as, for example, Glass Onion was, in a way.

In Glass Onion you feel like justice is being served and that an actual change in the system might happen, although capitalism still exists in-universe, Helen Brand finally got compensated financially for the work of her sister, Andi, who got massively screwed over. While in Parasite and Saltburn you just see average people become the oppressors, in a grotesque way. This doesn't necessarily make them Bad Movies and it's really interesting to see how the rich aren't necessarily intrinsically bad people with bad intentions, anyone could be the Rich, they are people, privileged people, people in a position of power, but people, and anyone could become like them under specific circumstances.

Pin*: In Parasite I think it's also very interesting how the protagonists go back down the social ladder way easily than they went up. But I'm not sure how to expand on that. But, I feel like Middle Class people often think of themselves as between rich and poor when they are actually much closer to Poor and Homelessness than they realize.

I feel like in both Parasite and Saltburn we see people commiting acts of violence to become rich but in a way they are also being class traitors, seen in Saltburn as Oliver backstabs Farleigh and in Parasite when the Kim Family literally tries to murder a maid. As for a contrast in Glass Onion we do not see Helen screw over any fellow middle-class people. I feel like part of the horror both in Parasite and Saltburn come from said greed from the protagonists, they don't just want to go up in life, they are slowly becoming perpetrators of the violence that was enacted on them.

In a way, that is to say, in both Parasite and Saltburn the people have nothing to eat, so the rich have not been effectively eaten.

That begs the question of "What would characterize an Eat The Rich movie?"

The People Under the Stairs is a 1991 movie, directed by Wes Craven, the same director as Nightmare on Elm Street, and it's a movie that's not as popular as the other three on the list but bear with me here.

In the movie we follow a black protagonist, nicknamed Fool, his family is being evicted, he lives in the ghetto, so he and a man named Leroy plan to commit crimes to be able to afford cancer treatment for Fool's mother.

In that, they discover in one of the houses, a bunch of people in a basement. (This was actually based on a true story.) The owners of the house being very obviously rich, so the movie continues with Fool befriending the owners' daughter, Alice, although being born in a rich family, she is heavily abused by them and is a kind-hearted person.

At the end of the movie, when our antagonists, Mommy and Daddy, are defeated, we actually see their wealth be redistributed to the community. Oh, did I mention Mommy and Daddy were also the landlords that were evicting Fool's family?

At the end of the movie, the entire community of the Ghetto is together to get the justice they deserve for being mistreated by the landlords for so many years, and I think ultimately that's what makes an 'Eat The Rich' movie for me, the poor people of this Ghetto were getting this justice, not an individual family or just some guy named Oliver Quick, but everyone who was mistreated by the landlords, in this particular instance.

I wish I could compare this in a meaningful way to Glass Onion in which one individual, once again, is getting all the justice, but still feels more 'Eat The Rich' than Saltburn or Parasite, and I think it's because ultimately we don't see Helen as a person corrupted by greed.

That's not to say Saltburn or Parasite are bad movies, once again, but they are not feel-good movies, hell, both of them are horror, and I love both of them and how they explore class dynamics, but I think they fall short in being an 'Eat The Rich' movie.

This is, of course, just some of my ramblings that got way longer than I expected. So I don't have much of a neat conclusion aside from "People often misinterpret media" or "People often try to market ideologies in a way that waters them down" but hopefully you already know that. And thank you for reading :]

#saltburn 2023 #parasite 2019 #the people under the stairs 1991 #glass onion 2022 #media analysis

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sokkastyles · 1 year

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Every so often I see the sentiment that Toph's parents were "not that bad." It's so annoying to see. Like, sure, they're not as extreme as Ozai, but their treatment of Toph was 100% abuse. They isolated their daughter on the basis of her blindness and refused to allow her independence or autonomy. Just because there are worse parents in the series doesn't mean that Toph's parents were good. It felt weird how the writers of the comics made Toph and her dad reconcile so quickly.

I haven't read that comic and I don't necessarily think it's wrong for Toph to come to some reconciliation with her parents, who she clearly loves and who love her. But yeah, their treatment of her was abuse and what's so sad about it is that they never realized they did anything wrong. And I'd blame ableism for that and both the fandom's willingness to forgive them or say their treatment of her wasn't that bad. Toph's father, in particular, hired bounty hunters to kidnap her when she ran away, AFTER Toph had tried everything to try and get him to see how she was hurting because of the way he treated her. Which shows a complete lack of empathy for his daughter as anything other than some kind of pet that needs to be kept in a cage and taken care of.

For some reason, people also seem to like drawing fanart of Toph and her mom engaging in traditionally feminine mother-daughter activities, which makes me really itchy because this is NOT what Toph wants. It's what her mom wants, but her mom never comes to appreciate the daughter she has.

Fandom in general is really bad with gender-nonconforming female characters because of the damage that worship of traditional femininity has done to feminism. Toph gets hate in certain circles for not being feminine, and a lot of that also dismisses her disability because her gender nonconformity is very much informed by it.

I wrote before about how Toph, being blind, simply can't perform traditional aesthetic femininity, something which is beautifully illustrated in her story with Katara in "Tales of Ba Sing Se." She gets picked on in that episode by other girls because she obviously did not do her makeup by herself, and she can't even counter the insults because she can't even see what she looks like. It's not just that she doesn't like wearing makeup, it's a world completely closed off to her.

Unless she gets help from other people. And the show goes to great lengths to establish why Toph doesn't want help from other people, and that's something that should be respected. So yeah, no hate to anybody's fanart, but why do I keep seeing art of Poppy Beifong doing her daughter's hair like she's a pretty little doll? Not only is this not Toph, this is the opposite of what Toph wanted. Toph wants independence and so she focuses on the things she can do, which happen to be not traditionally feminine things. Being made up in a way that expresses how helpless she is and also makes her an object to be looked at by others, while she can't even see what she herself looks like, greatly diminishes her agency.

Note that I'm not saying blind people can't enjoy makeup or looking pretty. Just that for Toph, it's not her thing and she has a great deal of trauma surrounding it, so her discomfort with it should be respected.

I think the readiness to disregard how Toph feels, to overlook her parents' treatment of her, is also connected to the way society sees women as perpetually childlike. If Toph were a boy, I think her desire for independence would be taken more seriously, but she would also be derided for the ways she isn't independent because of her disability and because her parents conditioned her to be dependent upon them. See Zuko and the jokes about how he's stupid or incompetent at things for an example of that.

#toph

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storiesbyjes2g · 1 year

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List 5 facts about a favorite sim of yours, and send this to 10 simblrs whose sims you adore ♥♥♥

Kameron Pierson

I'm not sure I've ever done one of these with my favorite guy. Let's do it!

The last post made me realize a lot of you weren't around in the first half of the story, so here are some facts about Kameron's SimTube career. He was young and scrappy when he defeated The Mother and felt like he deserved more recognition and notoriety than he received. (translated he had the world-famous celebrity aspiration lol) He also had bigger aspirations for himself and wanted to earn more money, so he began his SimTube channel. It wasn't much in the beginning, as one could imagine. He wasn't consistent and was all over the place with the content. It wasn't until Brytani left him with Melany that his brand began to take shape. Being a single dad was HARD on top of his feelings about Brytani being a deadbeat. He also didn't have many friends, so he shared his feelings online. He was real and relatable, and people liked that. This is where his fame really came from. He even received a Starlight Accolade award for best video. If I had to guess which one, I'd say it was the one people have dubbed "Fatherhood Manifesto." It was the first time he brought Melany on camera. He held her and expressed how much he loved her and what kind of father he wanted to be for her. To this day it's still his most popular and shared video. Though he didn't make a habit of putting her on camera, his viewers basically watched her grow up. They know her. So a good portion of Melany's fans don't actually care about her music but like her because she's Kameron's daughter and are invested in her life.

Kameron's favorite color is green.

His grandmother, the woman who raised him, has long since been dead but he still refuses to go back to his old neighborhood. He grew up near where Nick's parents live. He's worked very hard to get past all the trauma and would rather not trigger anything. Things that come up as a parent trigger him enough.

As you could probably guess, Kameron is an introvert. He likes his circle small and enjoys the company of very few. When in public, he can be very charismatic but prefers life off camera. He's not necessarily a homebody, but he paid a lot of money for his residences and enjoys them quite a bit lol.

His social media handles are all KamIAm. When he was young and dumb he thought it was cool. But now that he's a grown professional and does business with that name he wishes he could change it. Melany changed hers, but he's had his accounts way longer and doesn't want to go through the hassle. (translated I'm old don't got time for all that)

#wannabecatwriter #oc asks #thanks for the ask!#hope you're having a wonderful day #kameron pierson

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autismmydearwatson · 3 months

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My eighth fucking attempt at posting my highlights reel of Thrawn

A great tactician creates plans. A good tactician recognizes the soundness of a plan presented to him. A fair tactician must see the plan succeed before offering approval.

Those with no tactical ability at all may never understand or accept it.

Nor will such people understand or accept the tactician. To those without that ability, those who possess it are a mystery.

And when a mind is too deficient in understanding, the resulting gap is often filled with resentment.

"I'm like dropping hints that I think my boss is a fucking idiot. Anyway Rossi if you're out there--"

Eli winced. In general, not shooting a civilian population was a perfectly sensible approach to combat. More sensible, in fact, than he would have expected from a lot of Imperial officers.

THIS IS SO FUNNY I need a Live Eli Reaction to Thrawn bombing Lothal.

There are things in the universe that are simply and purely evil. A warrior does not seek to understand them, or to compromise with them. He seeks only to obliterate them.

THE HYPOCRISY. THE HUBRIS. MY BROTHER IN THE FORCE YOU ARE WORKING FOR AND COMPROMISING WITH THE EVIL

"Why do you seek high rank?"

It was a question many had asked over the years. Thrawn had asked it of himself. The answer never seemed to satisfy the questioner. "Because there are problems that must be solved. Some cannot be solved by anyone except me."

"I see." Vanto was silent a moment. "Senior Lieutenant Hammerly was able to stall them for a bit by telling them you were consulting with the local chief. But they expect you to call back."

"Of course." Thrawn said. "I will do so immediately."

"What will you tell them?"

"The truth."

Vanto had now asked the question. He was no more satisfied than anyone who had come before him.

Thrawn wondered if anyone would ever be satisfied. Or if they would ever understand.

There's so much going on here. The HUBRIS. THE WAR DOG COMPLEX. "Some cannot be solved by anyone except me" THE AUTISM. Important context: this happens after Thrawn burns down civilian farmland.

"I'm Arihnda Pryce. You probably won't remember, but we met once at an Ascension Week reception in the Alisandre Hotel, back when you were a senior lieutenant."

The fact that Arihnda and Thrawn keep inevitably coincidentally crossing paths in the 2017 book is hilarious. The Force is conspiring to draw them together through the machinations of the universe across time and space just so she can piss him off in Rebels season 4 by blowing his entire TIE Defender project to fucking smithereens the moment his back is turned

"But it does not matter. However these beings were pressed into service, they are now Imperial assets. They will be treated as such."

LIVE ME REACTION WHAT THE FUCKK😧😧😧😧😧😧😧😧😧

Through the west-facing window, the sun was beginning to set.

For a moment she watched, thinking back to the evening when her mother was arrested and their lives changed forever. At the time she'd thought how the people in big cities probably never saw the horizon or the sunset, and had wondered if they ever thought about such things. Or whether they even cared.

Arihnda had lived on Coruscant, in the galaxys ultimate big city.

And as she gazed out the window, she realized that she really didn't care.

Oogh. No thoughts, just. OOOOOOUUUUUUUGGGGHHHH

"I have read about the nightswan," Thrawn called after him. "Have you?"

Nightswan turns partially back. His face is obscured by shadow. His body stance again holds weariness, along with a quiet dread. "You refer to the fact that it sings only as night is falling?"

"Yes," Thrawn said. "You do not expect your stand to succeed, do you?"

"I know that it won't succeed." Nightswan said.

"That does not necessarily mean the end. I can give orders for you to be taken unharmed."

"They'll be ignored. Half the troops here are Batonn Defense, and Restos is determined to get rid of me."

"Then come with me now."

"A man must do what he must, Admiral Thrawn. Even if his stand is against the fall of eternal night."

HUARGHH. JUST. NIGHTSWAN. NIGHTSWAN SAVE ME NIGHTSWAN. GODDAMN. HE KNOWS HES DOOMED, HE KNOWS HE WONT SURVIVE THIS STORY, FOR ALL HIS GENIUS HE IS STILL A DESPERATE MAN. EVEN IF HIS STAND IS AGAINST THE FALL OF ETERNAL NIGHT AUGH

"Your report, Colonel, said his death was confirmed?"

"Yes, sir." Yularen said, "His body was found and identified in one of the outer areas, where the damage was less severe. He was probably checking on the perimeter." He hesitated. "Possibly preparing to stand alongside the defenders there."

"Yes." Thrawn said.

And so it was over. The path had ended. The pattern was broken.

The song of the Nightswan was silence. The galaxy would be the worse for its loss.

NOOOOOOOOOOO. FUCK. NIGHTSWAN WAS MY FAVORITE AND PROBABLY THE ONLY CHARACTER WITH A REAL MORAL COMPASS. FUCK. RIP NIGHTSWAN YOU SERVED SO MUCH CUNT THE EMPIRE HAD TO GET YOU KILLED BEFORE THE REBELLION COULD BE PUT TOGETHER

It is said that one should keep ones allies within view, and ones enemies within reach.

A valid statement. One must be able to read an allys strengths, so as to determine how best to use him. One must similarly be able to read an enemy's weaknesses, so as to determine how best to defeat him.

But what of friends?

There is no accepted answer, perhaps because true friendship is so exceedingly rare. But I have formulated my own.

A friend need not be kept either within sight or within reach. A friend must be allowed the freedom to find and follow his own path.

If one is fortunate, those paths will for a time join. But if the paths separate, it is comforting to know that a friend still graces the universe with his skills, and his viewpoint, and his presence.

For if one is remembered by a friend, one is never truly gone.

I'm not one to claim Zahn is a master of prose but holy shit. Holy shit the final journal opening of the epilogue is pure art. He really put his whole Zahnussy into half a page of morally bankrupt Grand Admiral Thrawn (who uses lethal force against teenagers and commits so many war crimes he even pisses off Palpatine and can't understand the nuances of social interaction) talking about the value of having a real friend. Every lacking opportunity for poetics was given to the epilogue. Kinda. "When one is remembered by a friend, one is never truly gone" kinda. The platonic aspect of Thrawn and Elis bond is so deep and far-reaching that he's going to be HONEST about it for once?? For all how he loves Eli he also values him just for being there??? I'm gonf throw up. Imagine having a friend so dear to you that it forces you to be honest about it

#im just. im trying to emphasize that thrawn is a liar. you get it. but.#oh to love your friend so much that you simply have to be honest about it.#star wars #thrawn 2017 #omw to read thrawn alliances i guess

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