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acephysicskarkat · 3 years

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Redemption, Forgiveness and She-Ra S5

So just to spite the anon who told me to stop posting my opinions, I’m gonna post another opinion!

This will contain spoilers for SPOP, Avatar: the Last Airbender, The Good Place, and Steven Universe.

So the most common take that I’ve heard about S5 from Catra stans is that it’s a story about redemption and forgiveness and that if I’m in any way critical of it then I’m saying abusers can never redeem themselves.

To which I say: the second part is a strawman argument, and the first part doesn’t help because it’s a bad story about redemption and forgiveness.

Part 1: Redemption

The problem with S5′s stories about redemption is that they are, universally, undercooked. For things that the fanbase had been wanting for months, they’re surprisingly lacking in meaningful impact.

Catra’s is the least bad, because Catra is at least on-screen long enough to tell us that it seems to be sticking, but it’s still not good. It’s rushed, it’s weightless, and it feels like they didn’t even check what she’d done in the past three seasons that she would need to find redemption for.

At no point does she meaningfully confront her actions (which, in case you’ve forgotten, ranged from bringing about the death of Queen Angella (S3E6), to repeated attempts to murder or permanently harm Adora (S1E11, S1E13, S2E5, S3E4-6, S4E3), to bullying Scorpia (present throughout but most obvious in S4E6), to taking part in a war crime (S4E8)), nor does she really confront the jealousy and spite that drove them. Indeed, the episodes that could have been spent showing us her character development are spent showing us that she still has a very unhealthy attitude towards Adora (S5E6) and telling us that she underwent her character development offscreen, while we were distracted by Double Trouble (S5E8).

Hordak’s is even worse, because Catra at least admits she wronged people, even if the focus is put almost entirely on Catra feeling bad about it. Hordak realises, accurately, that being made into a cog in a machine of conquest is bad (S5E13)...but he never makes the leap onscreen to it still being bad when he did it to other people, as he did to Adora and the other Horde kids (S2E7). It treats Hordak’s decision to break free of Horde Prime as if it in and of itself makes him good, overlooking that the life he’s trying to go back to was the one where he ruled over an empire of stolen children.

I don’t even want to get into Shadow Weaver.

AtLA gave a compelling redemption arc to Zuko by having him confront the consequences of his actions. SU gave a compelling redemption arc to Peridot by showing us, in great detail, her evolution from antagonist to ally. SPOP just kinda tells us that characters are good now and expects that to work out okay.

And the really depressing thing is that both these characters actually could have sustained really compelling redemption arcs! I would have loved to see Hordak meaningfully realise onscreen that the universe does not consist of him, Horde Prime, Imp, Entrapta, and a bunch of largely interchangeable pawns for him to treat as he sees fit. I would have loved to see Catra wrestle with and overcome her resentment of Adora, maybe come to understand that being Shadow Weaver’s favourite fucking sucked actually. The show just didn’t bother, and so what we got was on par with a bad fanfic or the backstory for a D&D character.

Part 2: Forgiveness

For my money, one of the best stories about forgiveness in modern media is in a third season episode of The Good Place called “A Fractured Inheritance”.

Explaining it with as few spoilers as possible, protagonist Eleanor Shellstrop discovers that her cartoonishly neglectful mother Donna faked her death and seems to have built a new life where she’s a good stepmother to a child. Eleanor spends most of the episode convinced that her mother is running a scam, but eventually concludes that this does appear to be sticking and gives up her plan to reveal Donna’s secret, cautioning her not to go back to how she used to be. At the end, she opens up to a friend about the trauma she sustained as a result of her upbringing.

SPOP could never.

"A Fractured Inheritance” tells a more compelling story about forgiveness in 15 minutes of screentime than she-Ra S5 managed in four and a half hours because The Good Place cares about Eleanor’s trauma. It’s portrayed as pretty understandable that she has a grudge against her mother, and working through that takes time and sustained proof that Donna has changed. More than that, forgiveness isn’t portrayed as a magical button that instantly solves Eleanor’s issues; just because she’s letting go of her anger towards Donna doesn’t mean that the harm she suffered as a result of Donna’s neglect goes away. Her fear of opening up or being vulnerable, stemming from a childhood of constantly being shat on when she did, is still there, even after reconciling with her mother.

Contrast this to She-Ra S5. The second Catra says she’s sorry, Adora is willing to forgive her and go across the universe to help her (S5E3), even though in their last interaction, back in S4E3, Adora actively tried to kill her for pretty darn compelling reasons (you may remember those reasons from S3E4-6). Adora gets, like, a brief rant in S5E4 where she seems to be confused about this, but there’s never a point where she meaningfully seems to process the trauma she’s suffered as a result of Catra’s treatment of her, which we know has been toxic, controlling and unhealthy since they were kids (S5E3).

More than that, there’s never really a point where any of the people Catra victimised in the first four seasons gets to deal with that. Glimmer seemingly never realises that Catra is why her mother is dead (S3E6), which is especially jarring given that the effects of Angella’s death on Glimmer drove the entire previous season; Entrapta barely remembers that Catra betrayed her and sent her to her presumed death (S5E6); Bow thinks someone who’s done nothing but attempt to hurt his friends for as long as he’s known her is adorable (S5E8); Scorpia forgives her before she even finishes saying sorry (S5E13); and both Frosta decking her in S5E9 and Perfuma’s understandable irritation with the woman who bullied her GF in S5E10 are portrayed almost as jokes, the latter never escalating beyond mild rudeness.

This also extends to Hordak, who, after his tissue-thin face turn in S5E13, gets a baffling montage that tries to portray his picking up an abandoned child and indifferently turning her over to an abusive sorceress (S2E7) as somehow heartwarming and a big bonding moment, and then the notion that Mermista might have some grudges against the guy who burned down her home and displaced her people (S5E7-8) is framed as comic.

I’m not even saying that neither of these characters should never be forgiven by anyone! Just that the forgiveness they get in the show is lacking in dramatic weight, because the actions that are being forgiven don’t feel like they mean anything. Catra has hurt Adora, Glimmer, Entrapta, Scorpia, Mermista and countless unnamed innocents, and it’s all treated like it has the same impact as borrowing Adora’s Xena DVDs and forgetting to give them back. Hordak should be considered Etheria’s greatest monster given the number of people who’ve died as a result of his actions and maybe one person is slightly irritated at the prospect of having to send him a Christmas card this year.

(This is without getting into the fact that Glimmer and Entrapta are expected to deal with the consequences of their actions to some degree, with each getting an episode focused around that (S2E2, S2E4). It’s kind of wild that Glimmer nearly destroying the world because she took a reckless risk in a desperate gamble to try and save the people she cares about from the Horde blitzkrieg, a gambit that she immediately tried to fix when she realised she’d fucked up (S4E10-13) is treated as something that causes a notable rift in her friendships, but Catra nearly destroying the world because she was just that jealous of Adora (S3E3-6) is breezed past with an “I’m sorry.” Entrapta building the robots causes the Alliance to hold grudges; Hordak waging 25 years of warfare is [shrug] Just Horde Clone Things.)

3. Salvaging These Plot Points

Now, as I implied above, the notion that I think these characters are irredeemable is a bullshit strawman, a thought-terminating cliche that Catra stans use to dismiss criticism without processing with it. So how would I go about it?

Catra

I would start by having Catra and Glimmer be in the same escape. Having her attempt to sacrifice herself in S5E3 had some weird thematic issues given her previously established self-destructive streak (S2E5, most of S3). If we have to keep the bad plot point where Adora recovers the friend who loves and cares for her and immediately goes “well, we gotta leave our friends back home to deal with a colonial invasion while we charge across the universe to save my abusive stalker ex who’s never respected my personhood or autonomy”, I’d probably look at the two biggest missed opportunities in the season: S5E6 and S5E8.

S5E6 is terrible, and should just be expunged mercilessly with fire for its baffling endorsement of the sentiment “yes i abused u but now u hate me so i’m the victim really”. Its replacement should probably be focused around Adora genuinely processing the harm she’s sustained as a result of Catra’s treatment of her, probably deciding at the end that she’ll accept Catra’s help but is still understandably suspicious of her given the established mistrust (S1E8) and hostility (S4E3).

S5E8 is easy to fix, though; instead of it mostly being the characters bumbling around a haunted house, I’d make the setting actually do stuff for the characters’ arcs. We already know that First One ruins can bring up memories, so I’d turn it into a reversal of S1E11 where Adora and Catra’s friendship can actually be rebuilt, probably culminating in Catra saving Adora from falling off a cliff as a symbolic rejection of the resentment she would have been struggling with throughout the episode. This is probably where Adora starts to actually believe that Catra has become a better person.

Basically, the goal here is to show the audience that Catra is working to overcome her issues and become a better person, instead of telling us that it happened offscreen.

Hordak

The problem with Hordak’s face turn is that at no point in the show, including after we’re supposed to treat him as Good Now, does he seem to give a shit about anyone not on a list that contains maybe 4-5 names. I’d probably put in some scenes earlier where his experiences seem to be actually changing him for the better: maybe his response to Entrapta asking him to spare Catra isn’t to commute her sentence to a suicide mission, or he feels a sudden sympathy with a captive Etherian after the fall of Salineas, as the shared feelings of loss line up, and orders their release. Basically, the idea is to put in some groundwork so that it actually feels like he might be safe to have around, instead of him betraying his tyrannical overlord because he misses his life where he was, himself, a tyrannical overlord.

I also would not play the idea that people might be a little bit suspicious of a man with a 25-year history of ruthless oppression, colonial violence and unprovoked warmongering as a joke. Just one of those personal quirks.

4. Summary

In conclusion:

S5 is a bad story about redemption because it doesn’t give the characters being redeemed engaging or compelling redemption arcs, favouring a blind rush to the ending, and it’s a bad story about forgiveness because it treats the actions that are being forgiven as though they don’t mean anything, even when episodes or entire seasons have been built on the effects of those actions. It’s not that these ideas are bad in general, that these characters axiomatically couldn’t be redeemed or that forgiveness is problematic; it’s just that the execution is bad.

Anyway, thanks, jackass anon, for inspiring me to set down my thoughts in detail like this!

#s5 salt #spop spoilers #writing thoughts #redemption arcs #forgiveness

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corporationsarepeople · 5 years

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Donald Trump and his intimate relationship with organized crime

Let’s talk about Donald Trump and his intimate relationship with organized crime—the only partner he’s ever been faithful to his whole life. (THREAD)

1/ The Russian mafiya is a global crime syndicate, but it’s best to think of it as a lawless business—or, rather, a business where it makes the laws. It is closer to the East India Company administering the entire colony of British India than some slick Scorsese picture.

2/ In Russia itself & other mafia states, the mob runs the show—charging protection for businesses, taking bribes, imposing restrictions on airports, seaports, etc. It steals from the people, and from the supine central government, to keep itself in power.

3/ When the USSR fell, mobbed-up oligarchs raced to gobble up the country’s wealth & natural resources. Untold billions, maybe trillions, of dollars were spirited out of Russia, most to banks in quasi-Western places like Cyprus.

4/ Remember in The Sopranos, when Tony & Co. took over Ramsey Outdoor, extracting all of its value, and leaving the rest to rot? The Russian mob did that to Sierra Leone—a COUNTRY, not a sporting goods store on Route 17. Bribe a dictator, take over operations, steal the diamonds.

5/ The mob requires organization, discipline, logistics on a massive scale. It can’t use law enforcement, so it uses muscle: assassination, extortion, etc. But, like a parasite, it cannot live without a host body that DOES follow the law. Thus it safeguards its cash in the West.

6/ The much-ballyhooed sanctions imposed by Obama hurt because they were on INDIVIDUAL MOBSTERS, not on the country. They cut off the ability of these crooks to safeguard their loot in the West.

7/ The vast fortune stolen from the USSR + the cash generated by the mob’s illicit activities = a mammoth pile of capital—unusable unless it is “washed,” or made legitimate. Money laundering is a necessary cog in the crime machine. What good is cash that can’t be spent?

8/ Some businesses lend themselves well to money laundering. Real estate tops the list. Art dealing, for sure. Entertainment, sometimes. Political campaigns work well, too: “donate” dirty rubles via Super PAC, hire consultant. ALL THINGS TRUMP DOES.

9/ In Western countries, the mob does import/export of illicit goods (drugs, arms, humans)…and it also runs complex operations to defraud various government agencies & big corporations. Tax fraud, Medicare fraud, insurance fraud, and so forth. Stealing from US.

10/ When Trump knowingly sells apartment after apartment to known Russian mobsters, foreign dictators, and other unsavory elements, he is laundering money for the mob.

This pattern is not an accident:

https://twitter.com/Zeddary/status/1155486497451184128

11/ When Trump hires illegal immigrants to do hard labor, ignores laws concerning worker safety, and then stiffs them out of the pittance they were promised, he is behaving EXACTLY as his mob associates behave.

12/ When Trump violates the Emolument Clause to exploit the presidency for personal gain, he is doing what his beloved mobbed-up dictators like Putin do.

13/ When Trump intimidates journalists, erstwhile paramours, FBI agents investigating his Russian mob buddies, and others who stand in his way, he is using straight-up mob tactics.

@CheriJacobus: One of the most terrifying moments of my life was when someone close to Team Trump told me (trying to help) that I needed a squad car in front of my building because Trump had bad guys maybe coming over from Queens to harm me. 11:30 at night. I didn't leave my apt for 5 days.

14/ When Trump obsesses about the border, and tries to impose restrictions on which foreign nationals can or cannot enter the country, he is emulating Semion Mogilevich, the head of the Russian mob, who enjoys such control in Russia.

15/ (Sidenote: per Friedman’s “Red Mafiya,” Mogilevich has COMPLETE control of Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow. So if a self-styled NSA “whistleblower” manages to spend 40 days there avoiding the media, you can be damn sure the Brainy Don authorized it).

16/ When Trump runs afoul of the law, he likely offers to give information to the FBI to avoid prosecution. This is a big Russian mob tactic. They would give up their own grandmothers to escape capture.

17/ And when Trump manipulates his tax returns to game the system, he’s doing what the Russian mobsters do—screwing over the government (which is to say, you and me) to line his own pockets.

So, as @lincolnsbible said long before I did: when we call Trump a mobster, it’s not hyperbole. He is a longtime mob money launderer, among other nasty things.

I know it, you know it, and soon, the entire world will know it.

via @GregOlear on twitter

#donald trump #corrupt af #republicans #maga #us politics #politics #russian mafia

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catsnuggler · 3 years

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Vent.

As fun as games can be, they can only cover up existential emptiness, let alone be fresh, for so long. At the end of the day, life is still lonelier than it ever was, and I still feel unfulfilled after doing practically nothing yet again. What's worse is I'm caught between the fear I know and the fear I don't know - still living with my dad, even 3 months away from the age of 23, on the one hand; the prospect of getting a job (for more than 3 months), where I'd have to deal with constant criticisms from management above and customers below, the threat of being fired, and the stress of both completing the work and knowing that I've been a cog in the machine for another day, on the other. Of course, I won't just jump from one to the other - which means there will be a time where I have both to contend with.

I learned something growing up. I learned that there are consequences to everything - even nothing. I suppose I'm dealing with the consequences of doing nothing now. What I mean is, I dealt - I'm dealing with - the consequences of my mother's death, a death which was undeserved, a death that happened, anyway. A consequence. I have trauma from her loss and other losses I bore when I was young. I also suffered the consequences of having the father I have. It wasn't my choice. I didn't do anything to deserve being hit by him, having him scream in my face, demeaning me, attacking my deeply-held convictions of anarchism, communism, anti-colonialism, and polytheism. I didn't deserve any of that from him, no matter what small issue arose, but those consequences were still consequences I had to deal with, still have to deal with.

I'm left paralyzed by fear from the way I was raised, and I grew up learning just how much evil there is in the world. So many worse consequences people suffer, that they definitely didn't deserve. And unless they get a situation completely in their hands, to prevent any consequences for standing up to previous consequences, they suffer even more consequences.

This started out being a vent simply about loneliness and boredom, but there's so much going on below the surface, clearly. So much fear. That's why I second-guess myself, in case you don't know. If I stumble ahead blindly, I get consequences. Not that fear-induced second-guesses don't, as. But I've learned that my first thoughts pretty much always make me suffer consequences.

Now I've really got myself into a fearful spot. Damn, this fear hurts.

The real kicker is my dad said he was raising my siblings and I like he was a boss and we were workers, to prepare us for the outside world. While bosses in the imperial core very rarely personally hit workers, that fear arises in me sometimes. The last thing I need is to ever again be in a situation where I could physically hit back, but doing so would hurt me more than fists ever did.

I'm not even only a victim, either. Of him, yes, yes, I'm only the victim. But... I haven't treated every person with the respect they deserved, hypocritical as that is. I can't trust myself on that account, either, although that, I did to myself.

I hate this world. Not every person, just the way things are organized, and how I'm not the only one this fucked up, while there are others whose family members have, say, been shot or bombed. Y'know, things I've not gone through, things nobody I know have gone through.

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swipestream · 5 years

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New Release Roundup, 9 February 2019: Science Fiction

A.I. extermination fleets, shape shifting mecha, and desperate gambles feature in this week’s roundup of science fiction’s newest releases.

A.I. Void Ship (The A.I. Series #6) – Vaughn Heppner

Through desperate tactics and by deliberately keeping a low profile, we survived the machine assaults longer than any human or cybership thought possible. But now our luck has deserted us. The main A.I. brain-core has just given human extinction top priority. The robots are massing an armada to exterminate us.

We’ve done what we could in expectation of this grim day, grabbing enemy factory planets to mass produce warships. And we found an ally, the Star Lords of Roke. But it’s just not enough, damn it.

We need more…like the alien void ship Hawkins once saw. Or maybe we can make a deal with the treacherous Cog Primus. One thing’s sure. We’d better do it soon or we’ll join thousands of other extinct species obliterated by the hateful death machines.

Bringers of Hell (Tau Ceti Agenda #6) – Travis S. Taylor

HELL WILL BREAK LOOSE

Despite unprecedented victories on the part of humanity, the war with the alien Chiata Horde drags on. The Chiata may be temporarily hindered by the cunning tenacity of General Alexander Moore and the men and women who fight at his side, but they have no intention of beating a hasty retreat. In fact, intelligence suggests that the Chiata Invasion is at hand, and with numbers sure to overwhelm humankind. But hope has come from an unlikely source: the Thgreeth, long-dead inhabitants of a world ground under the heels of the Chiata millennia ago. In the crumbled ruins of their homeworld is a map—and it may lead to victory.

PHOENIX WILL RISE

Meanwhile, Alexander Moore’s daughter, Deanna Moore, now known by the callsign “Phoenix,” wages a personal war on the Chiata. Grievously wounded in the battle for Thgreeth and rebuilt with state-of-the-art cybernetics, she leads a group of mecha-suited Marines known as “The Bringers of Hell.” Once a tough-as-nails Marine, she has been reborn as an implacable scourge to the Chiata. And nothing will stand in the way of her mission: to take down the alien scourge.

HER ENEMIES WILL PAY

The Grand Alliance (Blood on the Stars #11) – Jay Alan

Hell is Unleashed

The Hegemony controls Megara, the Confederation’s capital. War has raged for five years. Millions are dead, vast fleets of ships have been destroyed. But in the stronghold where Tyler Barron and his comrades have gathered their allies and the last of their strength, a plan is being devised.

Barron and his people have fought bravely, stubbornly, relentlessly, but the Hegemony has been too strong. Now, Barron is relying on the one source of strength that remains to him.

Defiance.

He will not surrender, he will not yield. And he will not remain meekly on the defensive, waiting for the enemy to bring forward reinforcements to launch the final assault.

That leaves only one option. Attack. Take back what the enemy has captured. Bring the war to the invader, and send them reeling back into the Badlands from whence they came.

The fight will be difficult, the odds steep. But Barron is ready to take the final gamble, and as one, the thousands of spacers he leads are behind him, shouting a single rallying cry.

Back to Megara!

The Link (AI Empire #1) – Isaac Hooke

An impossible enemy. A fleet surrounded.

Jain and his fleet of elite AI warships hurry to Earth’s defense when an alien empire known as the Link stages an all-out attack. Though his fleet is equipped with the most powerful weapons tech ever developed, with enough firepower to raze an entire moon base, even Jain’s mighty vessels prove no match for the enemy.

When unexpected allies show up, the tide seems to turn in his favor. But will it be enough?

Perhaps. The aliens were expecting to find a race of organics barely out of the stone ages.

It must have come as quite a shock when they realized they faced a budding AI Empire.

Also available: The Alliance (AI Empire #2)

A Pale Dawn (Four Horsemen: The Omega War #8) – Chris Kennedy and Mark Wandrey

After a stunning victory at the Merc Guild shipyard of Golara, the leaders of the Four Horsemen mercenary units of Earth have decided it’s time to take back the colonies the Merc Guild has captured, and the Horsemen split up to liberate them.

While the Merc Guild still has humanity outnumbered, Alexis Cromwell, the leader of the Winged Hussars, has incorporated the ships captured in Golara into her fleet, and she hopes the Humans can achieve local superiority across four systems with her new battleships and her Egleesius cruisers. And…if the attacks go well, the next target might even be…Earth, itself?

But Peepo, the leader of the Merc Guild forces, didn’t get to her position by being stupid, and she continues not only to thwart the Humans, but also in her efforts to find the Hussars’ secret base in New Warsaw. If she can find it, she has a fleet ready to destroy it, and then the Humans will have nowhere left to run.

The forces are on a collision course, with all sights set on Earth. A pale dawn is rising, and there’s only one question that remains—who will be left standing when the clock reaches noon?

Quantum Mortis #4: We Regret to Inform – Vox Day, Steve Rzasa, and Matvei Daniilovich

Chief Warrant Officer Graven Tower is a ruggedly handsome military policeman who hates aliens. Fortunately, as a member of His Grace’s Military Crimes Investigation Division – Xenocriminology and Alien Relations, he gets to arrest a lot of them. Sometimes he even gets to shoot them.

Chief Tower and Detector Derin Hildreth of the Trans Paradis Police Department are investigating the murder of the Crown Prince of Morchard, and when there is a second attempt on the life of his brother and successor, they rush to the scene. But their investigation is complicated by the discovery that the assassin is in the employ of a foreign embassy. Does Tower dare risking the wrath of an ambassador with diplomatic immunity? Do you even have to ask?

Renegade Union (Renegade Star #9) – J.N. Chaney

After waking up on the floor of an unknown ship, and with no way of contacting his crew, Captain Jace Hughes is forced to fight his way through a myriad of soldiers. With no memory of the battle or how he arrived on the ship, he has no choice but to act.

By shooting his way out.

Along the way, Jace must rescue survivors, fill the missing gaps in his memory, and stop the enemy from accomplishing their goal–a mission that could lead to the destruction of Earth and all its people.

But with most of his crew missing and no sign of reinforcements, there’s little hope to be had. To make matters worse, there’s a hostage on the ship, and the enemy will stop at nothing to defend their new prize.

A Shifting Alliance (Galaxy Ascendant #3) – Yakov Merkin

The Galactic Alliance, made up of friends old and new, as well as recently reconciled enemies, finds itself facing down the massive, monolithic, and oppressive Revittan Empire.

High Executor Darkclaw, who not long ago led the invasion of the Alliance, now fights to preserve, to restore peace. Grand Admiral Nayasar Khariah finds herself fighting alongside former foes in the face of a greater threat. An unlikely heroine, the former small-time criminal Ayil Lotyk, finds herself even further enmeshed in conflicts well above her pay grade, nevertheless is risking everything for a cause greater than herself—to her own surprise.

Even as the Alliance struggles with the Empire, there are those within its borders fighting against it. A lifetime Imperial loyalist, who now questions his place. A survivor, fighting to protect the weak and forge a better future. An observer, who sees something deeper and more sinister afoot, and cannot stand idly by.

The galaxy is aflame once again, and things will never be the same.

Titanborn (Children of Titan #1) – Rhett C. Bruno

Offworlders are only worth the price on their heads.

After three decades as a Pervenio Corporation Collector, chasing wanted offworlders and extinguishing protests throughout the solar system, Malcolm Graves doesn’t bother asking questions. So long as the pay is right, he’s the man for the job. But his latest assignment doesn’t afford him that luxury.

A high-profile bombing on Earth has the men who sign Malcolm’s paychecks clamoring for answers. They force him to team up with a strange, augmented partner who’s more interested in statistics than instinct, and ship them both off to Titan to hunt down a suspected group of extremists: Titanborn rebels who will go to any length to free their home from the tyranny of Earth’s corporations.

Heading into hostile territory, Malcolm will have to use everything he’s learned to stay alive. But he soon realizes the situation on the ground is much more complex than he anticipated…and much more personal.

Wings of Redemption (The Terra Nova Chronicles #3) – Richard Fox and Josh Hayes

The galactic balance of power shifts against humanity’s fledgling colony on Terra Nova.

After narrowly escaping a brutal attack, Chief Kit Carson and her surviving Pathfinders reach the Zeis Homeworld. Their mission is to seek new allies among the uncharted stars continues, but first they must end the insurrection tearing across the planet, threatening the fragile negotiations.

Governor Ken Hale is in a desperate race against time to build up the colony’s defences. When his new soldiers are found dead on the colony’s streets, he must turn to a retired assassin to help hunt down the deranged killer.

And the greatest threat of all, the ancient Ultari Empire, rekindles under the iron rule of a returned Emperor. Their quest for vengeance will burn across the stars…and Terra Nova is the next target.

New Release Roundup, 9 February 2019: Science Fiction published first on https://medium.com/@ReloadedPCGames

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domina-alba · 6 years

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Domina Alba

Hey Everyone, These are the chapters that were initially posted to Ao3 and FFN so if you’ve already read Domina Alba feel free to skip! If you haven’t read Domina Alba you can find information about the fic Here.

X Eighty-nine kindergartens, sixty-seven spires, a Galaxy Warp in each facet--

Pearl is gone, run off with that troublesome Rose Quartz of Pinks --

Wanted: Ruby 1F8-4TN and Sapphire 1F2-6UO for heterogenous fusion, all information about

these suspects are to be sent to--

Pink’s Pearl will remain with me. Something will be done about that planet, something we should have done a long time ago--

There appears to be an infestation of "Stevens" in the Kindergarten.--

Yellow is the only one that has come up with a purpose for the earth now, I will leave her too it--

I believe we should terminate The Cluster.--

I need to understand why Pink was so interested in these simple creatures--

whoever did this was already close to Pink Diamond. Someone her guards would allow to get near her, someone she would listen to when asked to stop her palanquin and step outside.

There was a lot of information in both this portion of her mother's journals and the Earth file. Domina spent a majority of the trip flipping between the two, trying to match up log dates with existing information on the earth.

She watched footage from battle drones of her mother's Pearl facing a 4 Jasper fusion and winning. She read about interrogations of captured Crystal Gems and their idea that a gem could be more than a ‘cog in homeworlds machine’. She read the reports of Peridot Facet-2F5L Cut- 5XG and watched her call Yellow Diamond a clod to her face, then watched it a few more times, just because. Domina saw footage from the trial and when she was finally done she didn’t know what to think. Not that she had time to think anything.

From the time they set foot on the 36-JK8, White Diamond had catch up work to do. 36-JK8 was big enough and had enough resources that it would be come and actual planet for her court. Domina’s second, White Diamond’s 41st. That meant not only planning kindergarten locations but also evaluating the rest of the planet's resources, planning locations for spires and temples along with establishing a local warp network.

Thankfully the planet was uninhabited by all but a variety of single celled organic micro organisms.

Domina didn’t run into Steven again for weeks. She had taken to sleeping whenever she had a free 2 or 3 hours in between approving plans, meeting with high level gems and eating.

When she finally did she found him sitting on a beach that looked somewhat familiar. He was playing some sort of wooden box contraption that was emitting sounds in the higher frequencies.

“Is that actually you Steven?” Domina asked stopping behind the boy. He turned around and grinned.

“Hey Domina,” He said. Domina sat next to him in the sand, it felt warm. “I guess it did work, I’ve been experimenting with my dream powers and trying to see if I could pull people into my dreams instead of just barging into theirs.”

“Well that’s nice.” Domina looked curiously at the box again. “What is that, is it like a lyre?”

“Uh kind of, It’s a ukulele. You use it to make music.” Steven demonstrated by playing a series

of notes increasing in pitch. “See?”

“I do know music Steven.” Domina said with a small smile, “Homeworld music is different but I’m sure there are similarities somewhere.”

“Right, so... how have you been?” Steven asked setting the ukulele down. Domina shrugged.

“Busy, we’re in the process of setting up a new colony planet and I have to be more involved with this one.” She said.

“Oh,” Steven sounded a bit uncomfortable “That’s cool I guess.” Domina nodded.

“If you come to my dream next time I’ll see if I can show you around, What about you?” She

asked. “How are the Crystal gems and your friend Connie?”

“They’re good.” Steven said “Me and Connie are talking again and Lion came back so we’re going to go visit Lars and the Off Colors soon.” He hesitated. “Pearl didn’t seem to happy that I was talking to you but Amethyst and Garnet say hi.” Domina snorted slightly.

“You can tell your Pearl that she doesn’t have anything to worry about from me.”

“She’s not my pearl.” Steven said quickly. “I know how Pearls are treated on homeworld and she doesn’t belong to me. Pearl doesn’t belong to anyone.”

“So You’ve both said, and I’ll agree with you.” Domina said. “She is certainly her own gem.”

“What about Pink Pearl?” Steven asked. Domina blinked.

“What about her?”

“Well is she happy?”

“I don’t know.” Domina said.”Is your Pearl?”

“I.....I think so.” Steven said, his hand moved to cover his Gem. Domina put a hand on his shoulder, though she didn’t really feel anything.

“Pearls the only Family I really have.” Domina said. “I hope she’s happy, and I rely on her help so much.”

“So she doesn’t just stand there and look nice?” Steven said looking up at her. Domina burst into laughter, almost falling back into the sand.

“No, are you kidding? Steven there are only three people in the universe that can tell me what to do. Two I almost never see and the third is Pearl. Like I said” Domina sat back up “She’s indispensable.”

The next day Domina finally got a chance to spar with the Quartz’s, it had nearly been a month since she had gotten to practice, and she was finally caught up on enough work that she could afford to take time out of her day. There were Agates supervising meaning that Milky Quartz 9ZQ had to keep her taunts to Domina to a minimum, it was also the cause of Domina’s frustration.

“Come on 9ZQ.” Domina dodged the Quartz easily clanging her swords together in irritation.

“Quit pulling your hits, I can take it.”

“You know Do-” The Quartz’s Enhydro Agate turned towards them, and 9ZQ stumbled over her words, “My Diamond, when your Father told me that I ended up breaking his leg and got put on janitorial duty for a decade.”

“Well.” Domina said tripping the Quartz and leveling her swords on her chest. “I do have a few thousand years on my father.” 9ZQ laughed and got to her feet when Domina pulled the sword away.

“Alright Alright.” She said the Milky Quartz fell back into the ready position. “Let’s go again, less talking this time pebble.” Domina grinned as the Agate gave 9ZQ a warning glance and moved back into her stance. 9ZQ lunged forward and Domina raised her sword to block when she heard her name. The hit caught her off balance and sent her sliding back out of their practice area.

“Wait wait!” Domina said dismissing a sword to hold up her free hand. 9ZQ paused and Domina heard it again. “What in stars name,” she muttered dismissing her other sword.

“Is someone calling your human name?” 9ZQ asked.

“That’s what I heard, we’ll pick this up later.” She said making for the door. Pearl opened it quickly, and Domina stalked down the hall following the clamouring she could hear coming from an area towards the front of the base. Finally she came upon the source. A Group of citrines the fleet had picked up while Domina had been on earth. They had just gotten back from a patrol and were carrying two figures.

Their Condor Agate stopped Domina.

“This is all under control My Diamond, apologies for the disturbance.” She said. Domina frowned and stepped around the gem to get a better look. One of the figures was a girl, a human girl from the looks of it, with a complexion that was relatively close to Domina, carrying a sword that looked like it was closer to the size fit for a Quartz than for her. The other-

“Domina! Finally, See we know each other now, let us go!!!” Steven said kicking at the Citrines.

“Steven?!”

#Steven Universe #Fanfiction #Domina Alba Chapters #White Diamond #Pink Pearl #Vulgaris Adamas

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perkoform · 7 years

Text

Opinion piece: Globalisation and contemporary art

Introduction

The Fine Art Institution is another free-speaking avenue via which globalisation is active, but what is post-modernism, what is globalisation and how do they relate? The advent of post-modern theory created a new way of seeing in art, from representational to interpretational. This way of seeing marks the success of modernism, and a very important development in the collective consciousness. This essay will focus on the theories of Relational Aesthetics as a context for understanding post-modernism and how it is connected to globalisation. It will give an overview of a number of contemporary artists including the western-exposed, culturally cross-pollinated work of Burmese painter Bagyi Aung Soe, the antagonism of art collective The Center for Political Beauty and the participatory work of Rirkrit Tiravanija, to help to put globalisation into perspective in a post-modern context, in art.

What Are We Post- Of? Globalisation and The Beginning of Post-Modernism

Contemporary art somewhat desperately seeks to make sense of the capitalist, post-industrial, neo-liberal, post-modern Technology Age, and this gives rise to new existential queries – what condition is the soul under in this type of climate? Where is the soul maintaining a wholesomeness, re-grounding the sentiment of human connection in the midst of a rapidly technologically developing society? Hopefully through art.

A new societal context generates a new alienation. Anxiety was derivative of being queer or poor or black or a female. These days its derived from the man versus machine, humanism versus divinity debate. Being queer, poor, black and female are now vogue, they are states of social enhancement, celebrated, even exploited in blindness. A blindness characterised by not knowing where to turn next. Where is society headed in our post-post- modern era?

Post-Modernism came about in the mid 20th century, at the same time as the invention of the television and the internet, that are landmark events in the spread of globalisation. Post-modernism was sparked by a need to re-assess the outcomes of modernism, but also in order to cope with the new bourgeoning technological world. Modernism opened up the fore for a new experimentation, and saw the deconstruction of the traditional rules of artistic technique, extrapolated, and crucially the invention of photography. The acceptance of photography as an art form, the deeper examination of medium via the exploration of common mistakes, stream of consciousness, and abstraction through representation and authorship, laid the path for a new politic in art. One of parody, juxtaposition and fame. First, with modernism, we destroyed the past, it is now time to take what we learnt and create a new future, in art. Pop Art, Minimalism, Organic Art, American Kitsch, Participatory Art and Space Age were some of the new post-modern genres that were in reaction to modernist theories.

Specifically, the theories of Relational Aesthetic, and Participatory Art, developed in the 1990s, summarise and represent a scheme of approach to experiencing the artwork that stemmed from 60s and 70s performance art. Instead of producing objects that are to be examined in a gallery (something that was exhausted through modernism), artists were exploring new ways of expression; performance and participatory art that explores the human condition in a way that is not about the politics of representation and more about the politics of interpretation and communicative interaction.

As a result, in contemporary art, there has come to be less of a focus on the production of art that is object-representational, and more of a focus on ‘long-term’, project-based ‘structures and organisations that outlive any one exhibition’ (Vanmeenan, 2015: 2-3). From singular projects to long term, multidimensional inquiries. This is to cope with the influx of the information age, the restrictions of modernist theory and the institution that threatens unauthenticity and ideological redundancy by association. The return of the art collective, supports the establishment of alternative methods of distribution, through grassroots organisations with their own demographics.

‘Zentrum Fur Politische Schonheit’: Antagonism and ‘The Center for Political Beauty’

“Conflict, division, and instability…do not ruin the democratic public sphere; they are conditions of its existence.” – (Rosalyn Deutsche)

Globalisation is a powerhouse of linked social changes, free from the restrictions of the other kind of globalisation, colonialism. They have exportation in common, they both eventuate in the cross-pollination of cultures, yet one is centred entirely on natural social development, and the other on decided domination. The experience of collective memory forms anarchy into a communist structure. Democracy creates an interdisciplinary support system, totalitarianism goes before a democracy, and before that, communism, where individuals have equal opportunity and from that equal opportunity, develop an initial mode of action, or come to embody a role within society. Once an individual has mastered a mode of action, they are a total, or a whole; they now have a defined function. From apprentice to craftsman to master. Antagonism is the active constituent of the formation and also de-establishment of a societal law or order. It is the process of making change, of change happening, within the context of a societal structure.

Laclau postulates that antagonism is in contrast to ‘real difference’. This means that a totalitarian order is based on there being set distinctions between individuals and defined, assigned roles, that are stable. Variation is dealt with individually, whereas a democracy involves the sharing and passing around of individual roles, and deals with variation in an interactive way. Democracy is the concept that the cogs in the machine choose to function, and that they don’t just function by proxy, as with totalitarianism.

TCFPB calls into question the roles of government bodies and what responsibilities they have if they are pro-democratic. A synonym for democracy is ‘consensus’ and also, ‘classlessness’. The experience of a democracy is directly born of and also, the mother of globalisation, a structure that is partaken in by choice, and created via the natural development of society. German humanitarian art collective, ‘the Center for Political Beauty’ make commentary on the effectiveness of democracy in today’s supposedly post-colonial society. They are an example of a highly antagonistic, interventionist group whose agendas address issues of globalisation. They specifically address issues surrounding refugees, or more broadly, the distribution of wealth. They are most famous for the ‘Kindertransporthlife des Bundes Project’, where they staged a “German government-facilitated” campaign to allow fifty-thousand Syrian refugees into the country, convincing the public that the project was legitimate via an impeccable PR campaign and website. Turning out to be a hoax, this project highlighted the German government disinterest in actually helping refugees. Their manifesto states, rather aggressively, “the group’s basic understanding is that the legacy of the holocaust is rendered void by political apathy. The rejection of refugees and cowardice.” It goes on to say, “art must hurt, provoke and rise in revolt.” Their example is one of aggressive counter-sentiment, and is characteristic of intervention, action-based organisation, that relied on the public’s belief in, and on its democratic status in order that the project might highlight the social issues surrounding refugees.

Art as Exposure: The Work of Bagyi Aung Soe

Globalisation has made the getting of information more accessible than ever before. This is evident in the art of Burmese painter Bagyi Aung Soe, where you will find a myriad of imagery packed with cross-cultural references, “neutral” politics and western art theory juxtaposed with his native symbolism. Aung Soe revitalizes the symbolism of his Burmese heritage. Devoted to the depiction of his culture, he mixes abstract surrealism and abstract expressionism with traditional Asian ink painting and calligraphy styles, in his work Khaing (insert date). Soe studied, adopted and created a fusion between western techniques and traditional, Asian and specifically Burmese arts and crafts techniques.

‘… global art is contemporary and in spirit post-colonial; thus it is guided by the intention to replace the centre and periphery scheme of a hegemonic modernity, and also claims freedom from the privilege of history.’ – (Belting, 2013: 178)

Aung Soe studied the history of art on an international platform, to inform his style which is rooted in his heritage. Tradition is the outer shell of the seed that holds the embryo of new growth. It is a respect for art history in western culture as a whole and the acceptance of the conventions of western art that creates a certain accessibility and sense of unity to his work. Taking inspiration from western art denotes respect, acceptance and the embrace of globalisation. Considered the father of Burmese painting, his position in art culture represents a kind of diplomacy. The use of figuration and abstraction, demonstrated in his work ‘Khaing’ emancipates the viewer from the weight of both eastern and western cultural symbolism, as well as arts’ history, by their objective fusion.

Asia is the only continent that was able to adopt western culture decidedly rather than via the mechanism of colonialism. Asia recognised common ground and accepted the potential for philosophical and ethical development by adopting aspects of western culture. Aung soe is the symbol of positive race relations between Burma and the world. His art is a symbol of Asia’s social control in a way, over the rest of the civilised world, through trade and usually defence-only warfare. It is the use of western technique in his work that shows a grasp and control of the philosophical offerings of the western world, a control that unifies and protects the spiritual interests of Asian culture. Aung Soe’s embrace of and healthy respect for western influence, represents a positive relationship between two different cultural bases: eastern and western, between Burma and the West.

Sharing: The art of Rirkrit Tiravanija

Single serve, air conditioning, plastic clothes, drive to the corner store, talking to the guy sitting next to you via email; tiny symptoms of a changing social culture missing a certain level of antagonism. Having become accustomed to industrial alienation, we live in a society that may be growing further and further away from nature, or, alternatively, trying to cope with the semi-alienating but ever bourgeoning potential of a new technological society.

In the world we live in, after all of this invention, we have come to remove ourselves slightly from the raw materials and means of production that give us our daily necessities. It is psychologically necessary to return, and this requires a re-connection with those materials. A new Feng Shui, one that balances an understanding of the natural world with the impacts of new technologies, working with the laws of nature to create new forms of sustainable energy, food distribution, design and architecture, are tertiary concerns, and also consequences of the work of Thai artist Rirkrit Tiranavija. The ongoing project entitled ‘the land’ [insert date] by Tiravanija is an art collective that aims to re-connect artists to their roots. Sustainability is the most important necessity for the success of the machine age. It encourages greater emphasis on craftsmanship to continue to re-connect with the fundamental materials (like food, clothing, means of production) that we interact with each day on some level. The importance of the art collective, is that it is a symbol of community, which is an important part of society, in the way that connection creates awareness.

“Eco regarded the work of art as a reflection of the conditions of our existence in a fragmented modern culture, while Bourriaud sees the work of art producing these conditions.” – (Bishop, 2004: 62)

Although, Tiravanija’s work ‘untitled, free’ (1993) where he turns a gallery space into a kitchen and feeds people Thai food for free, is aimed at creating social fellowship, while re-contextualising the role of the gallery space, it is political by virtue. ‘Untitled’ is good-naturedly antagonistic in the way that it highlights tertiarily a number of political concerns about poverty and distribution. A platform for debate and interpretation of these issues is created and implied. With ease, and in a positive, active way, he addresses the problem in a direct and also indirect way, therefore producing an interactive artwork that is also a solution to a problem. His work is charact eristic of relational aesthetics by its active, interpretable nature.

Conclusion

Tiravanija, Soe and TCFPB create and also react to global issues. These artists represent different approaches to interacting with the issues surrounding globalisation. Globalisation could be considered a residual consequence of colonialism, the positive side-symptom: it is a world-phenomena that the art institution and the theories of postmodernism are nutritional for, to the spreading of its roots. Globalisation encompasses the politics of relational aesthetics, in the way that it is a natural formation, the result of technological and social changes, instigated freely, and therefore freely accessed or denied. One can partake or not partake.

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