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bethanydelleman · 5 months

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Online Discourse, Redemption Arcs, and Jane Austen

There is a story in the Bible where Jesus is brought a woman who has cheated on her spouse. The officials ask Jesus what to do, he knows they are trying to trick him into breaking the law with mercy, so he says, "Go ahead, throw rocks at her until she dies, that's the law, BUT whoever has never done anything wrong throws the first stone." Eventually everyone leaves and Jesus forgives the woman.

This post I shared a while ago really makes me think of that story, because online commentary of characters seems to so often break into two groups:

People so unforgiving, so unwilling to allow a single misstep in a character that they would start throwing stones immediately

People who will twist themselves into knots to prove that everything the character did was justified (and since we have zero backstory for the unnamed woman in this story, it would be easy to give her a sympathetic one. She did it because of trauma!)

Let's apply this to Emma Woodhouse. At Box Hill, she mildly insults an older woman, it is a poorly timed and placed joke:

“Oh! very well,” exclaimed Miss Bates, “then I need not be uneasy. ‘Three things very dull indeed.’ That will just do for me, you know. I shall be sure to say three dull things as soon as ever I open my mouth, shan’t I? (looking round with the most good-humoured dependence on every body’s assent)—Do not you all think I shall?” Emma could not resist. “Ah! ma’am, but there may be a difficulty. Pardon me—but you will be limited as to number—only three at once.”

There are basically two reactions to this insult: BURN EMMA AT THE STAKE and Eh, not that bad. Now I think with this particular insult, it really wasn't that bad and we are told about the surrounding extenuating circumstances that caused Emma to slip up. However, I'm probably wrong because Emma does feel guilty and she does make amends. While she does not directly apologize, it's clear in the novel that what she did was a relationship repair.

What makes me feel like a crazy person is how many people throw first stones! How many people are SHOCKED by what Emma said and they could NEVER imagine insulting Miss Bates in such a cruel way! Get over yourself! I feel fairly certain that every human being on earth over 25 had insulted someone to the same level as Emma has insulted Miss Bates. That doesn't mean it is excusable, Emma should apologize and so should we, but I'm left amazed by how many people feel blameless in the face of this extremely human and relatable error.

And yes, it makes me wonder about forgiveness in their real lives. There are some things that I believe could be hard and fast "never forgive" rules, like your SO should never hit you, but people make mistakes. We should have room for forgiveness, we should understand circumstances. People get tired and sick and angry and overwhelmed and sometimes they screw up. It makes me wonder if this is an online persona effect, where we never show our negative sides, or is this a true opinion. Do people forget their own mistakes?

There also seems to be this idea that once someone has done something once, it's already a pattern even if the novel is full of counter-evidence. Emma is very polite throughout the novel, she endures people that annoy her a lot, she is endlessly accommodating with her father, but a single insult to Miss Bates and people start retroactively making her worse. When she visited that poor family she must have been insulting them! (Nope) Suddenly she becomes a villain through and through, instead of a normal girl who made a few mistakes.

That's not even getting into the real "villains" of Austen's works. The amount of people who tell me that Lydia (16), Henry Crawford (probably 24), Mary Crawford (22-24), Willoughby (25), and so on and so fourth ARE INCAPABLE OF CHANGE and will never improve. Like excuse me? Have you not changed and improved since you were 16-25? How early do you give up on people? Do you really think a young adult is fully formed?

Is this how you think of people in the real world too?

#redemption #jane austen #mostly about emma #emma woodhouse #emma #It terrifies me the lack of forgiveness and understanding that I see online #And it makes me wonder what happened to the concept of forgiveness.

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makeste · 5 months

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So before the next chapter translation/recap drops, I wanted to ask what you think of Bakugo very likely being AFO's final opponent? I didn't really see that coming. The rival is always there, but they usually team up with the MC for the final fight or aren't part of it (Vegeta during all the DBZ saga final villains, Sasuke at the end of Shipuuden). AFO isn't even Bakugo's personal villain, like Dabi is Todoroki's and Himiko is Uraraka's. I'm trying to wrap my head around it so it's more satisfying, but while it's REALLY AWESOME, I'm not feeling the *personal* stakes and ngl I spent half the time wondering if Deku would swoop in. I'm guessing he won't, final battle Shigaraki vs Deku, but yeah.

I think it's an interesting subversion of the usual final boss tropes. it's true that AFO and Bakugou don't have much in the way of personal history. they lack the tragic family ties of Dabi and Shouto, or the frequent homoerotic encounters of Toga and Ochako. Horikoshi clearly went a different route here.

that being said, there are a few things I do like about the setup. first, I really like that Bakugou chose Kid For One to be his final villain (and then inverted things on top of that -- you're not my final boss, I'm your final boss, lol). it's very much in line with his usual stubbornness and singlemindedness. everyone else -- Izuku, Shouto, and Ochako -- were sort of unwillingly dragged into their conflicts by fate. but Bakugou wanted a final boss so much that when life didn't conveniently hand him one, he went out and DEMANDED one. literally DIYed his own. that's the most Bakugou thing ever tbh.

second, I like the recurring theme of AFO creating his own demons. he's so powerful that the only thing that can bring him down is his own hubris. he accidentally created OFA by trying to dominate his baby brother. he tormented the OFA users for centuries only to be mutilated by a royally pissed-off All Might. and he has been snidely dismissive of Bakugou on multiple occasions throughout the manga, which is certainly looking like one hell of a mistake right now. not just because he missed the opportunity to kill him off on earlier occasions, but also because we all know that the more you ignore Kacchan, the more determined he is to prove you wrong.

third, I like that AFO is the one who apparently has personal trauma and not the other way around. even if the extent of his trauma is just, "you look like the guy I really hate!!", lol. it's unexpected and mildly amusing and I enjoy it.

and lastly, while I'm probably not super qualified to weigh in on this (seeing as there's a big chunk of the Deku vs. Tomura/AFO fight which I still haven't read yet, so I don't know how much ground has been covered already), I'm not so sure that this is the actual final battle. as you mentioned, those usually involve the rival teaming up with the MC against a single final villain. and neither Tomura nor Kid For One is giving me genuine final boss vibes tbh. I think AFO, and not Tomura, will be the final "final boss", but I'm guessing it will be a different version of AFO. either the AFO currently taking up residence in Tomura's head, or, potentially, the one possibly hanging out in Deku's.

either way though, that also means the final phase of this battle will likely take place not in the real world, but inside the OFA/AFO Mojo Dojo Casa Realm. and I think it will be Deku, Katsuki (since I'm convinced he also has OFA), and Tomura (plot twist) united against AFO. which I think would make for a much stronger final battle than the current setup. we were promised an ending which would surpass Heroes Rising in epicness, after all. a simple Deku vs. Tomura would hardly cut it, especially with Deku having already pushed himself to his limits and revealed all of his current OFA tricks that we know about. gotta be more to it.

so yeah, those are my thoughts. I'm enjoying the current antics, but I do think they are miniboss antics and not final boss ones. any finale that doesn't involve multiple OFA users teaming up against a single AFO wielder is going to feel a bit like it missed the point. it's literally in the name, lol. we need the "all" versus the "one", or else all that foreshadowing goes to waste. that's my hope at any rate.

#bakugou katsuki #all for one #bnha meta #bakugou meta #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha #asks #anon asks

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era-the-witchy-birdkid · 1 year

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DP X DC Prompt/Idea

Long time writer for the DC fandom (mostly Batman specifically Tim Drake joins the batfam early AUs and Titans Tower AU) on Archive, Danny Fenton also known as Astroboy2025, decides three days after his ‘Accident’ to create a Jason wakes up a Halfa in his coffin fic. He only does this to help himself process his emotions after well lets be honest his death and revival. And later once the ghost attacks pick up and he picks up the mantle of a hero as a way to covertly get advice/figure out on how to fight ghosts better by transplanting all his ghosts into Gotham for Fic!Jason to fight.

Danny wasn’t expecting much to come from this, he wasn’t expecting the fic to blow up in popularity for ‘creative storylines’ and ‘unique original villains with a ghostly flare to go against the ghostly Robin now named Phantom’ it was just a vent fic with a bit of wishful thinking on his part with Ghost!Jason and Bruce's relationship being so close (He ends up writing Jason getting hugs and affirmations that Bruce still loves despite all the ghost stuff that happening now whenever his Parents go on a tirade about how all ghosts are evil and need to be ripped apart molecule by molecule)

He definitely wasn't expecting his fans to find out about the real Phantom and figure out his identity from there. (Blame Penelope Spectra she had a history unlike the others in his rogues gallery with a bloody trail across America of sharply increase Suicide rates in more isolated smaller cites/large towns that was being tracked by Redditers that had hard stopped in Amity park just a few days before he dropped the chapter of Jason facing her himself)

While the Amity Park tourism to see a IRL Hero in action, and the Anti-Ecto acts Riots, as they would later be called, made by DC fans throwing a fit about the threat to the world’s first superhero were the lesser consequence in the grand scheme of things. Finding his fan Discord was a trip and a half especially since Tucker had to hack into it into the first place because his fans we're extremely protective of his secret ID and reinforced the server a crapton to be stronger then most banks.

While Sam was insisting on this being a horrible Idea and he should try to dissuade his thousands of fans from the truth of his Identy. Danny was just chill with it after the brief panic. And the Fan Discord was super helpful for getting Advce with! while the jokes that he was Batman Adoption bait was annoying the group was amazing for ideas on how to train his powers and advice on how to better fight ghosts. the Discord even make a Power list for him so he wouldn’t forget a power because he wasn’t training it. plus the comfort they gave after Circus Gothica was A+ even with the jokes about how the Batfam curse of clown trauma, despite matching the look as a human batman isn’t real so as much as his fans joke about him being the prefect Bat bait that will not happen.

To bad after a particularly nasty ghost hate rant in front of him in ghost form while being shot at by his parents that before the server would spawn 3 chapters of Family fluff in his fic, was whatched angrily by a fan who in a fit of annoyed rage said these words. “I really wish batman WAS real, then maybe you could be safe in your home for once”

unfortunately Desiree was out and about and heard the wish granted she had no idea who Batman was so went to read the DC comics after that. Good news the DC universe is so messed up as is that Desiree decided no twisting was necessary she’d just to bring everything to life. Bad news all the supervillains now exist along side the now existing superheros and Desiree is now Kaiju sized and now way to powerful for Danny to deal with alone...

At least the now real Batfam are taking their sudden existence well? and are willing to help Danny stop the Mad Genie dispite the risk that they would pop into nonexistence (with the entire city of Gotham and the other cities, villains, and heroes made real by Desiree’s power) if she’s stopped

#dp x dc #dc x dp

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see-arcane · 2 years

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Antlers Holst was Jupe’s Equal Opposite (and Just as Selfish in the End)

I’ve had time to sit and digest this awhile. I think Antlers Holst was almost as much of an accidental villain/anti-villain as Jupe. He’s just standing on the opposite end of the ‘spectacle’ spectrum. Where Jupe skipped the lesson he should have picked up as a child and twisted his trauma and hunger for fame into the vehicle for exploiting Jean Jacket and ultimately setting off a nightmarish demise for him, his family, and audience, Antlers’ last minute sabotage of the ‘impossible shot’ takes a hard swerve in the other direction—and it’s exactly as selfish as Jupe’s motives.

Because all we know of Antlers is that he’s a jaded artist striving for his own meaningful work to counterbalance the commercial cinematography he grudgingly does for the money. For whatever reason, his history and personal view has made him view the public as ‘unworthy’ of the impossible, and himself as some auteur-martyr for depriving them of it and letting himself be an Ahab who lets his white whale kill him. Is it a depressing scene of self-destruction, added to the horror factor of this man clearly having no idea what kind of torture is waiting for him in JJ’s guts? Yes.

Is it also a microcosm of the whole issue surrounding who got the real credit and attention for the Muybridge clip? Also yes.

Because just like Muybridge, Antlers turned the capture of Jean Jacket’s image into a personal project—his masterpiece. But what did he actually do? He slapped together a reel camera and sat under a tarp.

Meanwhile, Em and Angel arranged the tube men across the gulch and set up surveillance while OJ did the teeny tiny little task of, you know, going out on horseback to lure, race, and (hopefully! Because they did not know if it would work!!) scare the giant carnivorous UFO out of trying to eat him and his horse alive.

The Haywood crew were doing 99% of the work—with OJ taking on 99.99% of the pants-shittingly terrifying risk—and all Antlers does is turn a crank and follow the action. And not just for the ‘money and fame’ Antlers the Artist disdains. Angel points it out at dinner; this is meant to help others. This is going to prove to the world that there’s a huge lethal threat to every living thing on the planet and if the information doesn’t get out? There’s no telling how many would get Roomba’d to death as a result.

Which Antlers Holst clearly, bull-headedly ignores. He still thinks he’s the grizzled and noble misanthropist who knows better~

But he isn’t. This isn’t a commercial, this isn’t art, this isn’t betraying a noble beast.

Right now? He’s supposed to be a journalist. The kind of person who works with a team under fire, making sure important events are documented and delivered to the world at large so it brings attention to something that needs to be learned about. That’s not spectacle! That’s tapping humanity on the shoulder to say, ‘Hey, thought you should know the sky can’t be trusted and there’s a cloud coming to eat you.’

Which isn’t enough to dislodge Holst from his decision to fuck over and endanger his team who had worked so hard, been through so much, and now have to deal with the fallout of his suicidal bout of artistic huffiness. He’s an amazing stand-in for the penchant of one person shouldering all the accolades for collaborative creative works, because they’re the ones who get to stick their name on the finished product.

Silver lining? Antlers also seemed to forget JJ’s little rule about never digesting inorganic material. There’s a good chance that his camera and the film might just be intact when they find Jean Jacket’s remains.

Guess whose names are going on the impossible shot now, buddy?

#ramble ramble ramble #he was a cool character but in the end...well #all of that ^^^#not everything is about Making a Statement #or a spectacle #sometimes people just need to know about the danger #antlers holst #ricky 'jupe' park #oj haywood #em haywood #angel torres #jean jacket #nope 2022 #nope #jordan peele #spoilers

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codenamesazanka · 2 months

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I'm trying to stay optimistic but the recent chapter was such a letdown after all of this speculation, and I'm really not ready for afo gave tenko decay to become canon :(

So, same as you, I've always hated the 'AFO gave Tenko Decay' theory, but I think it’s important to examine why.

What I hate is less of the actual act - it is incredibly possible, after all, that AFO just gave this kid descendant of a hated enemy such a deadly quirk for his own twisted ends; and more in fear of what the confirmation of it might signifies - cheap 'easy-way-out' writing that would pretend to solve the problem of Shimura Tenko/Shigaraki Tomura while not actually doing so:

If Tenko was given Decay, then it means the Shimura massacre and then The Walk could've been avoided! 🎉 Because Tenko's hurt and anger at being repeatedly rejected by his father and family would not have manifested in such a lethal way, and so... what? Could've been ignored for a little longer? Wouldn't have sent him to the streets, where people should've helped him but didn't, and now Shigaraki's making them paying for that? (Somewhat related, I’ve seen people suggest that Decay makes Tenko itch because his body isn’t compatible with it, a la Aoyama - the itch is caused by the quirk. However, the day AFO brought Tenko home and Tenko was locked outside, Tenko already had scars around his eyes, and his mom was worried about “his allergies getting worse”. This suggests Tenko was already itchy and scratching at himself before he ever met AFO (and received the quirk that day). And given how the itch represents Tenko/Shigaraki’s frustration and anxiety, that Tenko says he’s only itchy in the house, demonstrates the Shimura household problem was a thing that hurt him long before AFO ever showed up that day.)

If Tenko was given Decay, then it means Shigaraki/Tenko is not innately a destructive and twisted child! Such a sweet kid would not have such a evil quirk! And he has no good reason to want to destroy stuff! 🎉 Because we're going to believe in the idea that ''Bad' Quirks Makes You A Bad Person’. And throw kids who do have unpleasant traits for whatever reason under the bus. And act as if Shigaraki wants to destroy because he's beholden to a gene inside of him, instead of having perfectly valid reasons to be angry and want to lash out.

If Tenko was given Decay, it means we don't have to worry about the 'what ifs' of having a deadly quirk like this even if the massacre never happen! 🎉 Because what if Decay was a naturally-occuring quirk? How would Heroes that aren't Eraserhead have dealt with an accident from such a quirk? Would Tenko have been forced to enroll in Quirk Counseling, which we know from Toga is such a great program? Would Tenko have grown up discriminated against, much like Shinsou, or worse? And these things are absolutely factors that would make someone feel ostracized in society and lash out, even without the backing of a crime lord?

If Tenko was given Decay, we have thee easiest way to deal with Shigaraki Tomura: the story can blame AFO for being the instigator of all tragedy and suffering - without Heroes needing to own up to the fact the society they've have been propping up for a century might play some role in creating Villains through countless, unintentional ways. The focus - the supposed real tragedy - becomes the fact that AFO gave Tenko a scary quirk, and Deku can focus his energies on that… instead of where, imo, the actual tragedies lie - an unhappy and dysfunctional home of generational trauma that was never dealt with, a city full of people who ignored an injured five-year-old because they put off all communal responsibility on Heroes*, and how this can all happen in a 'Hero-saturated society' without Tenko being helped in any of the multiple steps it took to get him to where he ended up under the bridge, being hugged by AFO.

* bonus: none of the people on the street knew what quirk Tenko had, so… what are we to make of this fact? Tenko could've easily been injured in a car accident, walked away, and still be ignored if AFO isn't revealed to made everyone ignore Tenko as well? But that would've been okay, Shigaraki would've been less pissed off, because it wasn't part of a villainous mastermind plot?

Meanwhile, Shigaraki would be only a sad little pawn, an empty victim crammed with a deadly quirk and engineered trauma and fake wrath, and once Deku saves him by telling him his entire life was a lie, that he actually has no reason to feel so betrayed and angry (can't even direct that at AFO anymore, because the man’s gone), Shigaraki can (selfishly!) forget his friends and his experiences and take pleasure in knowing he wasn't supposed to be a Villain. He was supposed to be a Good Person, without an Evil Quirk, and now he can assimilate back into his rightful, conforming proper place in society!

However–I don’t think that sounds like Shigaraki at all. It could happen! God forbid it, but that is how Horikoshi can end up writing the character and the conclusion. I don’t know how likely that is.

What I do know, though, is that Shigaraki is someone who already knows AFO is a manipulative asshole:

In Chapter 237, while reflecting on his newly regained memories, Shigaraki considers, “If only, back then, someone, anyone, had reached out to help… then maybe the itch would’ve gone away for good.” That he specifically says this last part after remembering specifically how AFO had found him, Shigaraki knew AFO didn’t actually help him, else the itch would’ve faded.

In Chapter 277, Shigaraki is not particularly surprised that the AFO quirk comes with AFO’s ‘too-strong’ will. (Then tells AFO is shut up.)

In Chapter 298, after AFO gives a whole spiel about how Shigaraki asked for this power, Shigaraki declares that he’s not going to be AFO’s “stinkin’ pawn”. (And started looking for a way to undermine AFO’s control)

In Chapter 379, Shigaraki outright states that he knew AFO was manipulating him, especially trying to make use of the Shimura and All Might connection. (And defeats the AFO vestige from inside out, taking his body back.)

Unfortunately, Shigaraki is also someone who knows all this, but will still continue to rely on AFO’s double-edged gifts - keeping The Hands with him all this time; partnering with the Doctor; utilizing Gigantomachia into his Deika plan despite not having gained Gigantomachia’s respect yet; undergoing the surgery to receive the AFO quirk.

And finally, Shigaraki is someone who has already regained all his memories, back in MVA. He remembers being five-years-old and still not having manifested his quirk. He remembers AFO telling him that his quirk is a rare variant mutation, just so happened to be one that no one has ever seen before. In the latest chapter, the vision of Tenko holding hands with a man in a suit - that is Shigaraki’s memory. Shigaraki remembers this moment, of being Tenko and walking home, escorted by a stranger in a suit. And it appears, right after Deku declares that he’s going to keep striking at Shigaraki until he reaches the pain Shigaraki has buried and covered up with a lid.

What I’m getting at is this: I think - I hope! - there is a possibility that, if AFO did indeed give Tenko Decay, Shigaraki already knows AFO gave him the quirk - figured it out when he got his memories back, most likely - but is beyond caring. He knows Decay was given to him, that AFO had that hand in causing the massacre; but still Shigaraki uses it, still decides to embody the quirk as his.

Because however Shigaraki got Decay, it really doesn’t change anything about how the world works. It doesn’t change how his dad was locking him out of the house before he ever got any quirk, simply because he couldn’t/didn't want to follow a rule; and it doesn’t change how he was ignored by everyone that day on the street, and no one knew at all what quirk he had or what he did. Manifesting Decay only punted him down into a miserable social position that already existed - not for him at that moment in time, but for someone else; only gave him the ability to witness something that had always been there all the more clearly.

Now, this is very much a cope. But I can cope with the 'AFO gave Tenko Decay’, if it actually ends up giving Deku a harder time saving Shigaraki, if it forces Deku to become unable to blame AFO, because that was never the real injustice Shigaraki has been lashing out against. That’s really the main thing.

Thanks for the ask, anon! Sorry it’s long and rambling.

#shigaraki tomura #nalslastworkingbraincell #ask #asked #anon #anonymous #answered

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cere-mon-ials · 4 months

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2023 in kdramas

*that i finished

**in order of how deep and lasting the brainrot was/is from barely a smidge to stitched to my soul

[12] I figured See You In My 19th Life would be trying when I couldn’t understand why an extraordinary individual in her 18th life—18 incredible lives lived over some of history’s most happening centuries—would fixate on one pesky schoolboy. I bought it because (a) Shin Hye-sun was selling it (b) the show tried to make it clear that while she remembered her past lives, it is not the same as living the one she is in. So when the young Ju-won meets Seo-ha, she is still a 12-year-old who happens to fall for a 9-year-old, except she has heightened emotional maturity.

The plot follows Ju-won, who is reincarnated as Ban Ji-eum, her 19th life after her 18th was cut short in a car accident with Seo-ha. Then, the show fumbles its own logic, unable to choose if the real gift is living in the present or remembering how we got there. We are told that Ji-eum is determined to fix the life she didn’t get to live as Ju-won and because Ju-won’s family and Seo-ha are still alive, that’s who she seeks out. She also finds a dear one from her 17th life. The twist is that the 18th life was meant to be a fated reincarnation of two lovers, who in their time—the first life—were wronged. In the end, when the sins are atoned for, Ji-eum loses the memories of her past lives. She is Ji-eum, smart and talented, daughter of an abusive man and born destitute, free of karmic obligations. But who is this Ji-eum? Who does she love? Why are the memories of everyone who knew her as the extraordinary Ju-won/Ji-eum so valuable and hers isn’t? Milquetoast writing and a genuine lack of interesting characters in the rest of the show.

[11] I didn’t finish the first season of Dr. Romantic because I had a violent reaction (derogatory) to Yoo Yeon-seok’s character. I went straight to the additional episode ft. Kim Hye-soo who is ~flails~ and warmed up to this fantastic ensemble, thanks to a YYS-less sequel. Season 3 is ambitious and follows the raggity crew of overworked doctors in a country hospital now coping with its expansion into an elite trauma centre. The show does neither this premise nor the incredible cast they managed to bring back together (at least four of who could demand three times what they were paid in S2) any real justice. It had all the ingredients and an emotional core that is most pleasing to me. Seriously, it was so good: in reaching for the Michelin stars of healthcare, ostensibly Kim Sabu’s legacy, both he and his colleagues find that they may need to reassess what he taught them. Look at the implications. Doldam is a hospital that has run for two seasons on the strength of close-knit interpersonal relationships in ways (some might accuse) hazardous to professional codes. Something's gotta give.

DRR S3 does not trust the emotional tensions that these ideas can provoke and instead, throws in spectacle after spectacle. A bloodbath on a ship carrying illegal migrants, a raging forest fire, a building collapse. And there are villains, written as yangs to yings, in a main character's father played by an actual trash person, and then groan a politician. I mean, the vagaries of ill fortune and death is right there. Isn’t that enough? Makes you wonder just how did Lee-Shin partnership accomplish what they did with HosPlay. Someone who loves DRR’s characters will sit through it. But it’s junk food.

[10] Lee Bo-young is a force in Agency. It's a tried and tested formula: a brilliant creative person with abandonment issues in fantastic clothes. I enjoyed the snippy dialogues, peppered with refreshing metaphor and irony reminiscent of vintage Hollywood flicks. The writing isn’t confident about what it wants to say about an ambitious single woman in a workplace (and other women too including working mothers, women who find no need in dressing up to do their jobs, expert women who still have to struggle when they want to build something). But perhaps you, like me, can let it pass. It is not ideal to fetch a real answer to women’s struggles amidst capitalist excess.

[9] Our Blooming Youth begins with a cursed prince (Park Hyung-sik) and a noblewoman (Jeon So-nee) accused of murdering her entire family joining hands to free each other. Lurking behind is a national conspiracy spearheaded by several degenerate officials who wish to erase a people and their history—interesting that OBY and My Dearest later in the year featured the most marginalised being branded as traitors. The prince and noblewoman (cross-dressed as a eunuch of course) are joined by four young individuals who feel a sense of duty. I adored this band and their shenanigans. The show is kind to the youth in question, to their capacity to chase freedom and friendship. I was moved by such love for characters in this story about nationhood as an ongoing project.

But enjoying OBY means reading in between the lines because the show doesn’t know what to do with its 20-episode length or the depth of its interest in the scars of unacknowledged genocide. I felt impatient and unfulfilled more times than I’d like. I wish OBY was more meaty because it had the opportunity to be radical and chose to be inoffensive. Hyung-sik, very dear to me. So-nee, GOSH. I have loved her since Encounter (2018) and she fills a frame like nobody’s business. If there is such a thing as female gaze, she’s got it. I caught her in the little I watched of Soulmate (2023) recently. A marvel, just like Kim Da-mi.

[8] One Day Off is whimsical and celebrates the mundane in eight chapters following the wanderings of a school teacher, played by the luminous Lee Na-young. Japanese entertainment does discovering minor joys and its everydayness so well that it’s a genre in itself. I have seen it in a handful Korean variety shows too. As a drama, this is new to me and ODO felt special. It giveth in multitudes taking us to a monastery, an art exhibit, a film festival, a planetarium, many bakeries. At other times, it puts us in the middle of a rainy day and ancestral rites and a bus station where the teacher is stuck with condescending boomers. It's lovely.

[7] King The Land benefitted from low expectations of prestige. Junho lovers were tuning in to see him frolic after his Baeksang-winning performance as King Jeongjo, I can’t speak for Yoon-A lovers. The makers wanted to bank on these beloved actors and there is minimal friction between who they are and what they play on-screen. Junho, handsome, rich, kind. Yoon-A, pretty, hardworking, warm. There is a good chance that this show was part of a joint marketing campaign by Dior and Estee Lauder. And also, possibly, Thailand's tourism department. KTL is classic popcorn, easy on the eyes, easy on the mind (save for that irritatingly stupid arc with the ‘Arab prince’), designed to be innocuous. Here’s the thing, though: the cast and crew were not messing around with that dough. They chose to inject this fan + consumer service with an earnest desire to entertain missers of fluff romance. Lee Junho, permanent resident of my heart.

[6] Going in with low expectations helped when I watched My ID is Gangnam Beauty too. Kang Mi-rae is starting college with a new face, having shed her old one at the surgeon’s table because of life-long bullying at being conventionally unattractive. But Mi-rae now has to deal with gossip and judgement about the extents she has gone for what’s deemed as a vanity project. When Mi-rae says that it matters what people think of her, I can't object. It’s because Gangnam Beauty tells a story about familiar feelings and yet, it is also defiantly about Mi-rae. You can walk with her but you’re aware that not all of us walk in her precise shoes, and it’s not about measuring who’s having it worse either. I loved watching her settle into her skin, remaining compassionate in whatever is the opposite of noble idiocy.

Very sweet romance. I may not have noticed Cha Eun-woo if I hadn’t been derailed to the hilt by him in Island—also a show I finished but you will not find it on this list For Reasons.

[5] I wanted to love My Dearest a lot more. It was promising what with Namgoong Min as the perfect Lee Jang-hyun and Ahn Eun-jin as the perfect Yoo Gil-chae. NGM’s ability to smirk in a way that elicits both a punch and a blush is unparalleled. He owns the role of clever playboy merchant who sees the rules of polite society as impositions and who values human life above platitudes. AEJ's Gil-chae is stubborn and witty and audacious and has no interest in anything that distracts her from her desires. I loved them, and that became one of my problems when Part 1 ended. NGM is the perfect Jang-hyun and AEJ is the perfect Gil-chae but I wasn’t able to root for their romance. I never quite got over how the desire that they shared, which war put a damper on before it got a chance to bloom, gets cheapened at the end of Part 1—please read @elderflowergin's excellent post about this. In Part 2, that conversation isn’t adequately addressed but I was there to watch these two actors earn their Baeksang nominations. I found myself willing to move with the tides when Jang-hyun and Gil-chae let each other in after they learn to devote themselves to the people who make their community.

I cannot fault MD, however, on its commentary about how war disrupts ordinary life. There is nothing more moving in the show than the Joseon slaves in Qing singing their songs and harvesting rice, yearning for home while the King and his scholars commit to preserving standing and write these countrymen off. It’s a sharp critique of an upper class that delude themselves about their importance. MD is courageous enough to say that the nation does owe something to its people and the nation must prove itself worthy of sacrifice before it can demand such a thing. I haven’t stopped feeling the pangs of this love letter to a people and their land. The first seven episodes, set during the invasion and in the early days of the Joseon surrender, is real television. It’s what I watch sageuks for.

What else? Great telling of Crown Prince So-hyeons’s story. Lee Chung-ah is captivating. MD would have risen in my heart and on this list if it were more attentive to Ryang-eum. Double amnesia was comically exhausting to watch but I do feel generous now. The first time round Jang-hyun regains his memory because of a tangible article that proved Gil-chae’s love for him. The second time he traces back the arc of his life that spawned enduring memories of love and dreams. He’s not looking to retrieve what he doesn’t know he has lost. He knows he has lost and he is piecing together what he can. That’s a bold note to conclude on by makers who have risen to question the state of a nation in the hands of incompetence and cruelty and obscene pride. The racism is unsurprising—I wish this meant that I had better tolerance for it. I also wish the story knew better than to push Eun-hye to the sidelines. My favourite scene is Gil-chae finding Jang-hyun clawing to life by a string on a pile of corpses and proceeding to play dead while holding him tight to escape.

[4] I kept tuning in to Moving week after week despite my reservations about high school life, superheroes, and gore because it is a feat of storytelling. A rewarding first act, an absorbing second, and a near perfect third. It’s a compelling story on its own about superhero parents who will go to any lengths to protect their superhero children. But it’s also poignant in how it tackles passive peace.

Critiques of the state’s abuse of power often turn fangless in the face of this idea about national security, the notion that secures our future. Writers fumble because they feel forced to provide an alternative: how else do we protect what we must? Moving kills the question by letting you see past that what (national security) and takes you to a who (our children, our literal future). It dismantles the illusions with its central stage as a highly-surveilled school where undercover secret agents observe and train gifted children. The litmus test isn’t going to be the abstraction of a nation. It’s going to be whether our children can grow up, can learn, can be free to be who they want to be, irrespective of talents they may or may not possess.

A state which can’t imagine freedom as such is a failed state and a failed state resorts to joining hands with those who have every interest in keeping us from seeing that we do in fact want the same things as our neighbours. The real world bleeds in when the story of two Koreas becomes apparent. It’s acutely observed in a way that’s trope-y but perhaps not untrue. But the show is more interested in the shared Koreanness, in their love for their children, and for the unimpeachable desire to make their lives better.

Park Hee-soon had me hugging myself from his first frame to the last. Electrifying performance. Han Hyo-joo, oh my god.

[3] My Lovely Boxer was made for me. It’s about Gwon-sook (Kim So-hye), a boxing prodigy who disappeared from public eye after failing to show up for a championship game and Tae-young (Lee Sang-yeob), a ruthless sports agent at the cross hairs of matchfixing. Tae-young has messes to clean, payments to make, and he finds Gwon-sook to bring her back to the limelight for one final game to lose. Gwon-sook wants nothing to do with the sport and Tae-young promises that if disappearing for good is what she wants, then this plan would work for her too. It’s exactly as angsty as it sounds.

The show works because it doesn’t touch a thing that it isn’t willing to gnaw into. It doesn’t merely dangle matchfixing as plot omen—it explores the emotional and economic damages for the sportsmen with heft. Gwon-sook feels no love for boxing but she isn’t the only boxer in the world and that feeling is hardly universal. One of my favourite characters this year is Ah-reum, the opponent of that championship game for which Gwon-sook didn’t show up. That day, Gwon-sook may have chosen to leave the game for self-preservation but she also took away Ah-reum’s right to fair play. MLB is at its best when it navigates Gwon-sook seeking Ah-reum’s forgiveness because therein lies sportsmanship and what it means to tirelessly push your body for a shot at the ring. It’s an exhilarating journey with these two girls because (a) you want Ah-reum to have her moment (b) you don’t want Gwon-sook to lose and let the matchfixing bookers pocket money (c) you begin to wish Gwon-sook could win because she is too good. The stakes are delicious because the bookers are also a tad bit murderous and the final match had me at the edge of my seat.

Lee Sang-yeob was a shock to my system with his intense stare and a thespian interpretation of a man in shades of grey. Sexy bitch. I want to see Kim So-hye and Shin Se-kyung play sisters one day.

[2] Into The Ring tops my list of kdrama romcoms. Nana is a star and the fact that Se-ra cannot walk straight to save her life makes me giggle. She is blunt in the wrong ways, sharp in the wrong ways, and honest in all the right ways. Her heart is big and she has a sense of service to the people around her as though she really believes she was raised by a village. I loved Se-ra’s parents who reminded me of my own in their warmth and clownery. Park Sung-hoon’s Gong-myung is the dream guy: competent at work, loser in everything else. There’s only one kind of valid workplace romance and it’s this: accidentally becoming an elected representative and your childhood nerd friend volunteering to be your secretary to cover your ass. Perfect, no notes.

I happened to be reading Sara Ahmed’s Complaint! around the same time and I think it made me love the show's take on political action more. This is where Se-ra begins, just her and her complaint diary. That early episode where it dawns on her that she wants this job as much as she needs it got to me. There’s much to love in a show that is okay with however small a population she represents, as long as they are fun about joy and serious about justice.

[1] At the outset, Call It Love sounded like the makjang I avoid—a relationship between a woman and the son of her father’s mistress? Turns out, it's possible to tell that story like an accomplished spare poem with meticulously composed frames overdoing headroom and pared down dialogues. In effect, CIL is beautiful to look at and inviting to spend time with. This is kdrama caviar. Debut writer Kim Ga-eun has a gift for writing loneliness and solitude as not mutually exclusive to being a loved and loving person. She’s drawn comparisons to the extraordinary Park Hae-young who is the master at this sorcery. To my mind, the comparisons hold merit in subject but they operate with different intentions and styles. I hope they meet one day and I get to be a fly on the wall.

I was struck by how Lee Sung-kyung played Woo-joo as the responsible middle child, the one most burdened by the timing of her family’s collapse. The show is about her revenge but often, you see her struggle with the coldness this demands of her. She cannot resist what comes easiest to her and that’s her ability to see people having bad times as a reflection of the times, not the people. It's why she can forgive the aggrieved man who harms her, and why she tidies Dong-jin’s ex’s house while the ex is recouping from the heartbreak of losing the same man she is falling in love with.

No one has gotten the allure of the quiet guy, the shy guy, the good guy who is too awkward to be nice like Kim Young-kwang has. Dong-jin knows he has to work very hard to keep up with the pace of the world. He knows his mind but is afraid to impose it, because he doesn’t think it matters and because he doesn’t want to be a bother. Young-kwang just gets that line between clarity and low-esteem. I will never forget his teary eyes and total submission to loving Woo-joo in the single word he lets out with a hitched exhale. He slouches a lot but he will look you in the eye when he has to say something he doesn’t want to repeat. I loved him for that dignity. Special kisses to him for ditching neck ties.

It is true pleasure to see two male leads, majestic and towering in physique, composed to look tiny and frail. At one point, the costume department steps up Woo-joo’s wardrobe as her feelings intensify and it doesn't come across as a makeover. It is presented as the ordinary consequence of paying attention. I loved everything and everyone. The siblings. The ex-girlfriend, the bad mother and also, the generous & kinda clueless one. The stepfather who lingered, the best friends, the loyal & competent manager lady. Favourite kiss.

I am currently watching four dramas: A Good Day To Be A Dog (cute & fun), My Demon (silly & fun), Park's Marriage Contract (testing my patience), and Tell Me That You Love Me (relishing but for some reason not investing). I missed Not Others and The Eighth Sense when they were airing and they are the two shows from 2023 that I am adding to my watchlist. I am looking forward to 2024 because we seem to be getting at least one release from several greats and beauties. See you then! I hope no one emails you for the rest of the year and you eat well.

#call it love #into the ring #my lovely boxer #disney moving #moving #mbc my dearest #my id is gangnam beauty #gangnam beauty #king the land #one day off #our blooming youth #jtbc agency #dr romantic 3 #see you in my 19th life #kdrama #notes #2023 in review #kdrama in review

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extrastranszanepropaganda · 3 months

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do have any more vylad headcanons to spare? perhaps some angsty ones…?

-swag vylad anon

Tee hee oh boy do I! >:3

He basically lived in the dungeons of the Shadow Lord’s castle as a child, the shadow knights had communal living spaces and even rooms for higher ups, but he just would not listen. (for obvious reasons) Vylad would constantly try to escape and find a way to get home, only to get caught and punished again and again and again.

His bandages aren’t just there to hide tattoos, but his scars as well

After a while he just started leaving the few items he owned at the dungeons, the one he stayed at the most eventually becomes his “room” over time. Does that place hold trauma? Yeah. Is it better than the packed sardine can that he was living in before? Also yeah. Not to mention Stockholm Syndrome is a bitch

Eventually they finally escape the nether at about 15 and runs back home only for it to be part of a long term ploy from Shad

Basically he was lead into the old room that Zane used to sell his soul to bring Vylad back. Only all that she sees is that she was killed and brought back to her own living hell because her family

Her family

The only thing that kept him sane throughout everything, were the people that where orchestrated all of it

There was a shadow knight waiting near by to lead them “home”

Very Mother Gothel core

On that vein, I imagine Shad is very paternal /neg considering his villain origin story, so he %100 sees Vylad as his son, after all “he raised him”

While Shad is, well, SHAD, and very corrupted at this point, he in his own twisted way does “love” her. And while at first Vylad hates him with a passion, after some well placed manipulation and that final straw of the trip to the surface, they fold and goes Super Stockholm Mode(tm)

He started obeying more, leaning into the blood lust, doing their best to make their “real family” proud

He starts climbing the ladder cause A: nepotism and B: the boy can cook (kill people) and eventually joins the three man team of himself, Sasha, and Gene, finally getting an actual room

I’ve got more if yall want some!! But I keep on zoning off sooOOO I’m gonna stop for now

#aphblr #aphmau #mcd #minecraft diaries #mcd rewrite #diares rewrite #aphmau mcd #zane ro'meave #asks #swag vylad anon #aphmau vylad #vylad ro'meave #mcd vylad

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prettyboykatsuki · 2 years

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i saw a taking saying you’re meant to hate makima and not like her and though that reveal of what she really was (control devil)/wanted (chainsaw man and only him) was meant to be a shocker and the obvious moment of “oh fuck her” it disregards the fact that she was very much meant to be a liked character. and even after that reveal and despite everyone hating her she’s still meant to be liked as a really prominent character. people still find her attractive even after the twist because she’s always been an attractive character. it’s like people on tiktok attempt at nuance and no one succeeds. it’s like that video of dj khalid on the basketball course fumbling around with the ball but it’s people on tiktok. (this obviously wasn’t the worst take compared to a lot of others)

along with that it’s sort of weird how there’s a sort of fixation on how you shouldn’t like makima at all in comparison to evil male characters, which for some reason are fine to like compared to makima. still liking makima is not equal to being fine with what she did to denji. i hope that tiny rant made sense it’s just a lot of people saying “you’re meant to do this” and them not knowing what’s really happening

anyways i want to suck on that woman’s tits so badly

also none of that is meant in a negative way at all it was just an observation i made and obviously not meant towards you :-)

cw ; mentions of grooming, trauma, poverty, HUGE CSM SPOILERS HOLY FUCK SERIOUSLY.

i promised myself i would never write csm meta (mostly bc i dont think i have a good enough grasp on every element to give consolidated analysis on the series) but this ask reallllyyy resonated with me because makima is SUCH a fantastically written villain and i think that while everyone who hates her is mostly justified in said hatred because she is awful but it's like. never for the right reasons and never with any real nuance or genuine thought. makima is FANTASTICALLY written and we as the audience aren't meant to hate her because the story is told mostly from the perspective of denji.

to understand makima, you really have to understand denjis circumstance as a protagonist. denji is a character who's motivations are overly simplistic and that's because of his upbringing. not once in his life did he experience genuine love, especially not parental or motherly love. ontop of that he was in such deep shit and financial debt that he was destined for poverty. he was poor, hungry, and lonely. all main characters suffer from sort of tragedy but that tragedy is meant to feed into their motivations and trigger a particular action.

yuujis grandfather dying would translate into his integration into jujutsu society. the death of tanjiros family with only nezuko remaining would give tanjiro a reason to become a demon slayer.

"show me your dreams." is a very intentional line in the context of who denji is because at the start of the series he has none.

all in all when examining denji as a character - you'll first notice characteristics he lacks before you notice things about him. what can people say about denji other than calling him a horny teenage boy? denji is a character defined by poverty, both metaphorical and literal. his experiences have tainted his character so that he's relatively amoral without the guidance of aki later in the series. and he, in general, is a character who is strangely empty despite his yearning desire to live. who is denji really? what does he really want? he has no idea.

denjis lack of motivation and that sense of emptiness is also very directly written in the text in this panel. it's a huge issue that he has no internal motivation and that is due to his trauma.

and worst of all, denji despite his sexual urges or perceived sexual urges, is deeply innocent in many of his perceptions. fujimoto confirmed in an interview about a year or so prior that what denji sought from makima was motherly love. and that always throws people off because he clearly seems to want to sleep with her... right?

that's the thing though and that's what you have to understand about denji and makima. denji is naive. and makima, as a character, caught onto this fact early and made use of denjis utter naivety. that power imbalance between them where makima offers her body to denji in exchange for his obedience is like textbook grooming. much in the same that afo groomed shigaraki to become what he did, makima groomed denji for her own benefit.

and maybe you and me and the other people who are reading the story can recognize the multiple read flags that are very obvious about makima. the way she casually mentions making denji her dog for one, but also her clear lack of respect for his agency and strange possession. the way she dangles her attention over his head. all of these things, we as the viewers can see and understand. but this story is not about me and you, but about denji.

the way makima is potrayed is through denjis eyes is always exceptionally beautiful. denji views her with complete reverence and that's why saying she's meant to be disliked is absurd. because even to the bitterest end, where makima has effectively robbed denji of everything for her own completely selfish gain - denji admires her. he cares for her, in spite of himself and in spite of knowing how wrong it all is. he wants her approval and that is all in thanks to what makima was able to do in the time they spent together. the deep attachment that she had created to crush in the end. grooming, again.

this panel is one i often reference because its one of those scenes that shocking and a lot to see. but what i want to discuss is the framing because it's so relevant so intentional. the near holiness in which this deeply inappropriate action is framed. the light behind them like a halo, the hand in which makima guides him, their positions and the obvious line of the window frame that separates them.

makima makes it so that denji idolizes her. and for reasons denji can't wrap his head around, he does and always will. makima planned that.

i think there are plenty of reasons to hate makima but her villanous actions are without a doubt impressive and well-written to the point it's alarming.

but i think the biggest crime she commits is that she, not once in the entire series, saw denji for who he was. to me, the most painful thing to watch was that reality. to realize that she didn't care about denji in her own fucked up way either but that everything was a ploy and what denji experienced in spite. for denji to cannabilize makima in the end is an immensely powerful scene, and i do hope that much later in the series denji is able to reconcile with the abuse he suffered at her hands.

she is an utterly evil person. like truly what she did is inconceivable.

all that being said, i like her as a character. it's because i like evil women in the same way plenty of people like evil and fucked up men. and because makima is MEANT to be liked. that's the whole point. that's how she got control over denji and orchestrated the chain of events that was his happiness.

because makima was kind to him. because she was beautiful and graceful and nonchalant. because she appealed to the part of denji that yearned for admiration and praise and approval. the reason makima could commit such deep atrocities is because denji likes her. every single moment that we see her from denjis eyes potrays her as beautiful and unobtainable and she does everything in her power to make sure it stays that. so that she can give denji a reason to have her.

it's that from the very beginning. she is meant to be a very beautiful poison and i think pretending you're supposed to hate her from the beginning is stupid because that's not true. maybe you, as an adult with awareness, caught onto how awful she was and you disliked her for that. that's plausible for sure.

but she's always meant to be the thing that denji reveres and fujimoto makes the clear from the very moment she comes on screen. perhaps the most sincere we see her is in the first panel in which she hugs denji but not a minute after.

hate makima all you want. but to pretend that was the intent when really we as audience are meant to feel the extent of her betrayal along side denji is silly.

#return to sender #grooming cw #fang.csm #csm meta #csm spoilers #csm manga spoilers #i get annoyed when people get mad that people simp for makima. there are so many horrible men in manga #YES she is the worst character on her yes she is fucking awful. she's sexy what do you want me to say

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ouatsqincorrect · 7 months

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hey i saw your headcanons about david/snow/regina and i was wondering if you have any about regina and coras mother/daughter relationship and/or regina and rumples twisted father/daughter/mentor relationship

sure! (but a real quick disclaimer: if you like cora, don’t read this. if you think rumple did not harm regina in any way, don’t read this. do not get mad at me for having my own opinions on them, please and thank you) ALSO tw for abuse.

i am a firm believer in the fact that regina needs therapy. this woman has been through hell and back and you can’t convince me that forgiving herself in 6x14 was all it took to “move on” from everything

she starts going to archie, even though it’s not ideal. (he’s still the only therapist in town and one day, regina will fix this, but for now he’s the only option she’s got) and she begins to work through her past for the first time

this involves accepting that cora harmed her much more than she’s ever been able to admit to herself

she still feels like she’s forgiven her, but forgiving your abuser doesn’t take away the years of trauma they caused

this goes the same for rumple. he may be an actual member of her family now, but he did manipulate her when she was just 18 and broke her down until he could use her to do his bidding (not to mention the whole “no one will ever love you” and “you’re weak when you’re not evil” mindset he introduced to her)

cora is gone. regina has to deal with that trauma without her because there is no bringing cora back, but rumple is still here

and he’s an active part of her life in a very different way then he used to be

rumple never becomes a hero, not really, but he’s also no longer a villain and even though he’s not necessarily getting any professional help anywhere like regina is, he is learning how to articulate his thoughts about his past and what he did

and rumple, just like regina, is willing to admit there are some people who are never going to be able to forgive him and that’s ok

he knows he hurt regina. he’s always known that. even back in the EF, he knew what he was doing to her was wrong

which is why when they actually end up being a part of the same family, he doesn’t pressure her to forgive him or start treating him like they’ve been good friends forever

instead, he shows he cares for her in little ways. he’ll magic over some coffee on rainy days because he knows regina hates when the weather’s bad or he’ll put an extra protection spell around her house when there’s a villain in town because even though he knows she can take care of herself, he still wants to protect her (and henry and emma)

they never talk about these things he does and rumple knows they probably never will

also, he never touches regina without her permission. (i can go on for years about how regina feels about close contact with each member of her family but anyway)

more so than almost anyone else, he understands what she went through back during her “marriage” to the king and he refuses to break any boundaries she might have

(this is different than what happened between him and the evil queen. and he regrets that immensely)

regina, for her part, knows rumple is trying and although she’s certain a part of her will always be a little pissed at him, she does slowly start to forgive him

they never won’t butt heads though. there will always be a lot of unnecessary sass between them but that’s just who they are as people and they both know that, at the end of the day, they’re there for each other if they need it

#regina mills #rumple #regina/rumple #headcanons #once upon a time #ouat #tw abuse

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momthesearemydinnerguests · 3 months

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Re: My last reblog

IDK if reblogs were turned off or I've been blocked, so I'm responding here. I hope this doesn't come across as argumentative because i don't mean it to be. I'm just bad at tone. but I promise I genuinely want to have a discussion because i adore this fandom with all my heart.

@virginiaisforvampires Oh, don't get me wrong!! I am in no way trying to justify Armand in this scene. i 1000% agree that his "seduction" of Lestat in that scene is an act of incredible violence and cruelty. Armand DID try to rape Lestat, and Lestat absolutely should have wrecked his shit. I apologize if my wording made it seem like i was team Armand in this instance, because I absolutely am not. Lestat is 100% the victim in this instance. I'm a CSA survivor myself and I am deeply sorry if my wording implied that I was blaming Lestat. But I bring it up because 1) the obvious mirror in the show, and 2) it demonstrates how ridiculously powerful Lestat is even as a fledgling only a couple weeks/months old.

I also want to be clear that I am not saying the ep 5 scene happened in the books. It didn't. Like hands down. I don't even think that lestat is physically abusive in the books. I know it came across that way in my original response, and I apologize. i was in a rush and not separating my points out the best. I agree to an extent that In the Interview!book, Lestat and Louis do get into physical altercations and both parties are at fault. Hell, I'll even concede that in the physical altercations we see in the book, Louis is usually the aggressor (for example, when Louis almost kills Claudia, it is Louis who pins Lestat against the wall and rails at him). However, there is an inherent power imbalance in the Loustat relationship. Of course, i also FULLY believe that Lestat would do his best to hold back because he loves Louis with 100% of his being and wouldn't want to hurt him. But that doesn't mean that the imbalance isn't there. If Lestat's capable of doing that much damage to Armand - a vampire 200 years older than him who was also created by an ancient one - it's difficult to picture Louis and Lestat being evenly matched in a physical fight.

I also want to point out that reactive abuse is a very real thing... When Louis lashes out in the book, it's not without reason. And Lestat himself admits this, multiple times, throughout the books. When I say Lestat is abusive, I'm not talking about the physical violence. I'm talking about the way he targets people Louis cares about (Frenier, for example) - even if he has valid reasons (Frenier's plot to betray his family and leave his sister's with nothing), Louis is never made aware of these reasons and Lestat makes no attempts to explain. i'm talking about the fact that Lestat frequently projects his own trauma around being turned, and mocks Louis for his struggles with vampirism as a way of punishing himself. I'm talking about how he does to Claudia the exact thing he hated magnus for - turning her without her consent, condemning her to a life he didn't even want, without regard for what that transformation would mean for her. He denies them access to information, and even though he has good reasons for it (fear of marius's retribution, fear of the destruction of the vampire race, etc.), he's far from kind in the way he does so. In my experience, most abusers aren't sitting in their chair rubbing their hands together Bond villain style thinking of ways they can hurt you. Often they genuinely think that they are trying to make you stronger or to protect you from the world. it doesn't make their abuse any less real, it just makes it harder to see if for what it is.

As to @nalyra-dreaming's point about proving my own objection... I'm not objecting? My whole point there was that Armand is absolutely twisting the narrative. It's a thing he does all the time in the books. He will do anything to not feel alone, and that frequently involves tampering with memory and perception. The fact that the ep5 DV scene so closely mirrors his fights with Lestat in TVL is intentional. I absolutely believe that it could reasonably (and probably will) turn out that Armand is twisting the narrative and passing his own memories off as Louis's. While I personally don't like it for the reasons I stated , it fits with the narrative. But if it is a deception on Armand's part, the deception is effective precisely because Lestat is capable of such violence, even if it was never directed at Louis personally. After all, he's witnessed the violence lestat has directed at people less powerful than him (the priest in ep1, the tenor, their victims on murder night). I grew up in an abusive household, and even if it was never directed at me personally, I spent a lot of time waiting for the moment when the other shoe drops and it is directed at you. And Louis himself isn't immune to fits of excessive violence! If he himself struggles so hard to contain his rage, it makes sense he would fear Lestat doing the same. And if Lestat is capable of that level of violence, that means that it is also possible that it's not a deception. Rejecting the scene outright to me feels like turning a blind eye on that aspect.

Long story short, I agree that the DV scene in ep5 probably didn't go down the way Louis has presented in season 1, as much as I hope otherwise. I don't think that the story we've been presented so far is the WHOLE truth, but I don't see any reject it as a flat out lie. Even the books (at least the first five) I don't recall Lestat saying that Louis is a liar, but that Louis omits details and context, and/or misunderstands the situation. I do take issue with the idea that idea that Lestat isn't capable of that level of violence (not saying that's what y'all are doing, but I've seen a lot of that on my dash lately), and I do take issue with the statement that Lestat isn't abusive. The whole story is about a cycle of abuse (Marius+Santino to Armand, -> Armand+Magnus+Gabrielle to Lestat -> Lestat to Louis+Claudia) compounded by existing trauma, and the ways in which the characters struggle to break the cycle. And that's why it is so rewarding when they do succeed.

I personally don't want the scene retconned. I don't think it's necessary, and it would rub me the wrong way because of my own history with abuse and not being believed, or being told that I somehow deserved it. I don't think it takes away from Lestat's inherent goodness to have him fall so low in a moment of weakness. I don't think it changes the story either way. I'll also understand if they do, though, because it does fit with Armand's character. I don't understand the animosity I'm seeing between people who want it retconned and people who don't, because either way, it's all just speculation until season 2 actually aires. Both paths are capable of staying true to the characters and the story of the Vampire Chronicles.

#amc interview with the vampire #interview with the vampire #lestat de lioncourt #louis de pointe du lac #the vampire armand #iwtv opinions

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unofficialadamtaurus · 10 months

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What’re your full thoughts on season 9? I wasn’t going to watch it—especially after following along with you and other rwde blogs’ feelings on the content as the it aired—but I keep hearing this is the best written rwby season despite that. It’s a mixed bag right now, even within the more critical side of the fandom, and you always have nuanced takes, so, I figured I should ask you 🙂

You don't ask the easy questions, huh. (And I don’t reply to them in a timely manner, huh.)

I think "best written" is accurate from a certain point of view and when you keep in mind that it's being compared to other volumes of the same show. There’s a new framing device with the story, a twist villain that holds together on a second viewing, and emotional beats we’ve wanted to see hit for years. The animation itself is also good. Things are smooth and there’s even attempts at actual fight choreography. Even the voice acting is fairly consistently good.

If you can't tell already, I've said all of that with a massive disclaimer, and that disclaimer is that this volume falls apart when you look at it more closely. To me, this volume is, and I cannot emphasize this enough, frustrating. It's frustrating in a similar way to V8: you can kind of see what the writers are trying to do, but it's all executed in a way that makes you wonder what was going on in the writers' room. The plot beats, messages, and themes are not communicated well, are contradictory, or are otherwise damaging.

Heavy spoilers beyond this point if you managed to not watch it between sending this ask and me responding.

Atlas has fallen. Our heroes failed. This is the belly of the beast moment, the find-your-motivation moment, the break-the-geode-to-see-the-beauty-within moment.

And it falls so, so flat.

Penny’s death, this big moment from the previous volume, comes up a couple times but is never resolved. Jaune never states that he killed her. No one asks. Ruby is sad over her sword a couple times and that’s it.

Jaune is an old man! He’s a little bit out of his mind! Only no, he’s fine, here’s a magic knife that makes him young again.

There’s an interesting framing device! Only no, we’ll stop trying to follow it halfway through, and because the audience never knows how the story goes until the characters experience it or talk about it, there’s no interesting use of the framing device. It’s just there.

The Gods’ origin story! Only…why? Who was asking for this? Why did we need an origin myth for an origin myth? And why did it have to take up so much real estate in the final episode to boot?

To get to the main team:

Weiss’s kingdom, her home, was destroyed. She doesn’t even know the fate of her family beyond the portals. I would expect her to be the most affected by the events of the previous volume: quiet, grieving, grasping for a next step to avoid thinking about it. But no—she’s the comic relief for this volume. In addition to a mouse I personally found annoying most of the time who is also comic relief. Weiss’s trauma is almost entirely ignored except for when she talks about Penny’s death, her comment at the burning market, and one sad face in the Punderstorm. Every scene with her falling down or getting hit by a rock or cheerleading grated on me. It felt so divorced from what she should be feeling that it broke my immersion and was a significant source of frustration.

Blake is an empty character. Her whole role in this volume is two things: person who read fairy tales (that everyone else also read), and person who loves Yang. Her big hero moment is talking about a struggle to bridge humanity and Faunus that we have never seen on screen. If you’ve been bothered by Blake’s lack of agency and character in previous volumes, the former may get marginally better here at the start, but by the end they’ll both be worse than they ever were, and both a significant source of frustration.

Yang is a mess. She starts strong with the “You shouldn’t be here,” but by the end of the volume she’s turning on her sister, blaming her for her distress, and doing nothing while her sister kills herself. She puts Blake over Ruby, hell, she puts Jaune over Ruby. I couldn’t believe what she was doing, and the bees confession scene was cringe-inducing with how it made her love focus on incredibly broad or superficial things about Blake. No mention of shared trauma, or past hurt. Frustrating.

And Ruby. Poor Ruby. This was touted as Ruby's volume. She's going to be the focus, she's going to struggle. The OP hammers this point home with unsubtle imagery of Ruby crying and falling behind while her teammates carry on unbothered. That had me intrigued, because Ruby has been more or less a static character since the end of Volume 3. Her struggles have been momentary, situational, and without lasting impact, so I wanted to see her have that belly of the beast moment in her hero's journey and come out different and stronger for it.

Problems are, they went about her spiral in the most ham-fisted way possible. Ruby is obviously depressed because they have to let the audience know, but it’s to the point that I can’t believe her teammates just let things lie. As a result, her team come off as jerks. Where are the friends from the Beacon days, the ones whose reuniting was a huge moment in V5? Certainly not here, watching adult man Jaune yell at Ruby for a plan he helped create and enact. Certainly not there, slowly walking after a crying and upset Ruby who flew off in a direction Jaune should know is dangerous shortly after Neo attacked, while blaming Ruby for not talking to them when the time Ruby did, Yang brushed her off and compared her to Ironwood.

Her team dismisses her, Neo beats her to a pulp, and she commits suicide. She goes to a tree that’s been established to wipe memories and recreate people.

Is her team upset? No. Worried? No, at least until Yang sees Ruby encased in wood. But it’s all fine, because Ruby sees that her mom wasn’t perfect and that her mom thought she was perfect just the way she was as a child, and that fixes all the the trauma the entire volume hammered into your ears and eyeballs in the span of maybe two minutes.

I will pause briefly to say that Ruby’s brief fight scene is good. Genuine highlight there.

But the main villain who tortured Ruby then gets off without any resentment or frustration from the heroes. And the twist villain, whose motives are far more sympathetic to me than the main villains’, is brutally torn apart.

The dissonance between what the show seems to want its morals to be and what they actually are is staggering.

To sum up:

The status quo for the characters did not change. The status quo for the setting did not change. The status quo for the writing did not change.

If you like the show as it is, if you take it at face value, you’ll be fine, as you’ve been fine for the last several volumes. But if you try to sink your teeth in, you’ll be getting a mouthful of dust—and not even the magical kind. There is little past that other than more frustration.

#anon #unofficial adam answers #rwde #there are so many little things I could go into #but then I’d never finish my answer #but yeah this is a spectacularly frustrating volume

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just-1other-nerd · 1 year

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We need to bring back irredeemable villains

I love a good redemption arc (especially in combination with the child soldier trope *caugh Zuko caugh Hunter caugh*) but like we don't need to redeem everyone. There will always be people in real life who refuse to change and people need to learn to avoid them in order to live a good life. If we show people that everyone will change if we just give them enough time, love and patience, we get a toxic fixer upper mentality, we give those people space to use us, we get hurt in the process and have this unrealistic standard of "eventually they'll change". That's not how life works and most of the time you can't help people at your own expence or you'll burn out, heck some people don't even want to change.

Villains serve a purpose, they are meant to show what's wrong with the world, they represent manipulation, corruption, bigotry, fanaticism and so on. Sometimes it's just not enough to not let them win but they need to be destroyed completly.

For example Belos from The Owl House (Spoilers ahead) represents manipulation, religious fanaticism, oppression and racism (against witches and demons), we have him as the main villain get destroyed by the things and people he hates and ending up dead. This guy wasn't willing to change and that's realistic, for the sake of the narrative alone he didn't deserve to be redeemed. I cheered when that bitch melted. It also had Odalia who didn't just get away with child abuse, she got kicked out of her family. But the show also had more minor antagonists and bullies redeemed (Lilith, Hunter, the Collector, Amity, Matt, Alador...). They did that to show that there is a border that shouldn't be crossed.

And there are more types of antagonists we could explore. Like Puss in Boots - The Last Wish gives us a literal force of nature, a redeemable outlaw family and an irredeemable greedy guy and it just works. All of them are great and serve a purpose in the narrative and it is just so much fun and there is something for everyone.

I like stories where generational trauma or society is the antagonist or twist villains (if done well) but I also love movies with a straight up villain because they can be so much fun, for example just look at some Disney villains like Scar, Jafar, Ursula, Malificent, Dr. Facilier and Hades.

If the concept is executed well, no villain trope is better than the other. And that's why we should explore all types of antagonists and make stories worth telling and not just redeem people because that's a trend at the moment.

A writer always has to make decisions in favor of the narrative not in favor of trends.

#tropes #villains #redemption arc #puss in boots #puss in boots the last wish #the owl house #toh #belos #jack horner #goldilocks and the three bears #writing #disney #disney villains

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onlyonewoman · 2 years

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I can’t stand Luke or Moira. Like... they treat June like Gilead is behind her, like she’s supposed to be all focused on the future and that’s just fucked up. Yes, they’re severely traumatized too. Moira lost her girlfriend, Luke lost his family and when his wife returned, she was changed. And OF COURSE SHE FUCKING WAS!!! She’s been in Gilead, as handmaid, for about SEVEN YEARS. She’s been raped multilpe times. She’s witnessed countless bodies hanging on the wall. She’s witnessed plenty of executions. She’s been forced to take part in stoning and hanging people. She saw a 15-year-old girl (Eden) being drowned in a swimming pool for running off with a guardian. She’s been used as a propaganda tool for Gilead and seen handmaids with their mouths sealed with metal rings. She’s given birth alone in an abandoned house. She’s been transported alongside other panicked and scared women in cattle trucks, watching disabled women being brought away in another truck - most likely to their immediate death. She’s had her own daughter torn from her arms. She’s lost her mother. She’s gone undercover for the resistance as a Jezebel, only to nearly be raped by a commander, being forced to kill him. She’s arranged an escape of 86 children from Gilead to Canada. She was brutally raped while pregnant to hurry up the labor. She’s been on constant edge for YEARS, been forced to scrutinize every person around her, loosing any sense of normal relationships, normal reactions, normal behaviors. She was robbed of her own name, her own body, her own self. But yeah, it’s TOTALLY normal for Moira, Luke and others to tell her to leave the past behind, not having too unhealthy thoughts, focusing on HEEEEALING, being here and now, acting happy and gratetful, play happy family, pretending Hannah isn’t in their thoughts, ignoring all the unspeakable horrors June has been through WHILE saving 86 kids AND fighting to bring Gilead to their knees. Because it’s fine for MEN to go full on Rambo on villains for less than a tenth of what June went through, but June is a woman and a MOTHER and SAFE NOW and that means she’s supposed to see her justified hatred as something that should just be felt and talked about, with the goal being some sort of healing. And guess what? I fucking LOVE that June doesn’t do that. I love that she’s nowhere near any healing because why the hell should she?! She’s been through more than most of the really fucked up war vets. Her PTSD isn’t even on the same level as Luke’s or Moira’s. June hasn’t been in Canada for long, that seven year long nightmare isn’t over just because Luke and Moira desperately want it to be. And it bugs the hell outta me how there are no trauma specialists seen or heard of here and that Moira clearly hasn’t been told that she has no business telling people what they can and cannot think and feel, that she’s not a licensed therapist, not some trauma specialist and should stop telling June how to handle her feelings. It also drives me absolute crazy with how DUMB Luke is. Did he not fucking listen to June’s testimony? Does he think he can just walk around talking about daily normal things and tell June that she should forget about Gilead and focus on the now. I just can’t understand how the hell he’s functioning. The fact that so many people in the Canada storyline - and real ass people watching the show - can’t grasp that June isn’t primarly a wife, mother, friend, woman etc. in this season, but a fucking Rambo, a goddamn Beatrix Kiddo, a woman driven purely by a very justified and blood thirsty revenge, that has twisted her into someone else than the June she was before, is beyond me. I love this June. I love that she’s bloodthirsty, that she admits how much she loved killing Fred, how she relished in being covered by his blood, how she doesn’t regret it one bit. I love that she’s not thinking straight, that she’s more driven by her revenge than by being a mother to Nicole. I love that she steps outside of the safe bubble she knew all along she couldn’t remain in and took matters in her own hands. The fact that Luke doesn’t understand her is infuriating, yes, but I have a lot more anger towards Moira, who’s developed into a nagging, accusatory, mother henning moron since she left Gilead. She should have a lot more sympathy and in the cases she can’t - which is valid - she at least shouldn’t judge and DEFINITELY should stop fucking compare. June has been through more and worse and for a lot longer and Moira is an idiot for not grasping how her own way of handling her own trauma, can’t be applied to June. To quote Budd from Kill Bill 2: “That woman deserves her revenge.” Anyone who doesn’t get that by now, hasn’t been paying attention.

#the handmaid's tale #the handmaids tale season 5 #the handmaid's tale season 5 spoilers

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via-l0ve · 8 months

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Hay there B) I'm interested in the silly lil 🎃 :D

Fandom Supernatural, of course! Don't be afraid to pair me up with someone who doesn't get as much traction or isn't the main two (of course, if I don't get one of the main two). :)

I'm an avid enjoyer of everything spooky and scary and hunting would definitely be something I'd do if I were in the SPN universe. I feel the loner but necessary alliances type, but I wouldn't be one to get too attached unless I felt a serious spark. Not against working with the same individual more than once, either.

I personally like to imagine my own self-insert as some "earth angel" or spiritually in-tune young woman who can read auras, emotions, feel what one feels, etc etc. I'm what others would call an empath irl (not in the super trippy spiritual way if thats what you don't believe in), I'm just super compassionate and empathetic. I don't know if that part's important, but as rough and violent as I can be (when need be), I'm all for peace and tranquility within one another. I'd always try to solve any tension rather than make it worse. I keep quiet, reserved and to myself unless someone I care about is hurt and needs someone, or if someone tries to start bs with me. I was always that mother friend.

My anger and my envy I experience typically come from not really having a normal childhood even in real life. I never got to experience high school dances, dates, or hell even an irl high school to begin with. Just homeschooling, barely even any real irl friends or social cues. I envy everyone who gets anything and everything they've ever wanted.

My taste in overall men (and women) can be kind of unstable. I'll love the hero, but I'll also fall hard for the villain. My red flag is I think I can ease the villain's heart. No matter how clingy, or obsessive, or dickish they are. I'm also kind of obsessed (shhhh don't tell anyone...)

My hair is long, wavy and dirty blonde. My eyes are kind of sad, down turned like Blue Diamond's from SU. I like to dress in many different styles, if I'm feeling it but typically I go for something simple. Long, flowy skirts, blazers, t-shirts, flannels. If I'm feeling nice, a pretty white dress with pearl headbands. Or I'll try to look like a school girl coming home from a long, tiring day from dealing with her bitchy teachers and even bitchier classmates. Either light or dark, it depends on the mood. I'm also Christian.

I'm obsessed with true crime, demonology, mythology, and other spooky stuffs. I also enjoy writing, reading fanfics/novels, the occasional sketching and drawing, and I also wanna look into making custom dolls. I've looked into white magic before, attempted it a few times in the past. I'm a huge music fanatic, all genres (yes, even country...), but I typically listen to shoegaze, noise, metal, rock, and goregrind. Anything with screaming, distorted vocals, distorted/soft guitar, or no vocals at all, basically. (Examples being Duster, Deftones, Ghostemane, Giles Corey, Have A Nice Life, In This Moment, Birthday Massacre, etc)

I'm into some pretty dark shows and movies. I'm not in many fandoms, I don't see my own SPN self in many either, but I've seen a fair share of fucked up films. A Serbian Film, Dog Tooth, Lolita, The Handmaid's Tale (mainly the show), Miss Violence -- I watch them for comfort from my own trauma, and I see myself doing the exact same thing in SPN. My twisted past with ex boyfriends and abusive family members are probably what's gotten me head over heels, reeling over villainous characters that could snap me in half if they wanted.

I just want to be loved.

Anyways, I hope that's enough for you! I kind of overshared, but I hope it's alright! TL;DR I just want someone, anyone to love me for who I am and enjoy some of my hobbies. Take all the time you need, I understand your box might be full as hell.

first of all i love you so much and you absolutely deserve to be loved and worshipped because you’re beautiful and worthy of love and acceptance and care <3 (if you ever want to talk more my inbox is always open)

with that being said:

i ship you with cas :)

i know you said to not be shy to ship you with someone who isn’t the orig/main few, but i got heavy castiel vibes from you <3333

i think that he’s be drawn into your quiet but badass energy. how you want to diffuse traumas or tension before it even happens, but he also sees you on hunts as such a badass demon killing person. he also finds it fascinating how empathetic you are.

he loves all of your hobbies and often will sit next to you while you write or read. when you mention custom dolls he will freak out and absolutely ADORES watching the process.

he thinks you’re gorgeous. your blue eyes match his and your hair mesmerized him.

i also think that you guys can bond over traumas. while you have childhood based and family/ex-lover trauma, castiel definitely holds some trauma in thinking he’s not good enough or things from the other angels in heaven.

you guys balance eachother out. you teach him so much and you guys have the cutest little dates, the type to be up until 4am having deep conversations.

castiel also isn’t a rat and you deserve someone who isn’t a rat <33

#love u mwah #via’s celebration 🍄#🎃

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