#but the bait and switch with audience expectation? yeah. i understand why a lot of people felt betrayed | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

andmaybegayer · 3 years

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psycholonials, huh?

man this is a good story anyway here's a way too long self-indulgent note-to-self that I didn't want to do on my typewriter.

I haven't gone and checked if there's more to it yet, I don't think there will be and I'm pretty happy with the way this has concluded so I can do a Thoughts On Post.

First up I never understand people who keep trying to dunk on Hussie. Nothing you can do to him is worse than what he has done to himself, which is to say being popular on the internet.

(Oh huh there's something in the Load Save menu, brb)

Oh okay that changes that segment a bit. There's a postscript. I'll put spoilers and whatever under a cut for the most part.

This game ping-pongs very rapidly between the very big and the very small, very elegantly and effectively. I think a lot of people don't give Hussie credit for writing a story that managed to hold an audience as large as it did for as long as it did, Homestuck is very easy to dismiss as dumb fandom bullshit, but it's an extremely earnest piece of work if you think about the author instead of the characters.

I mentioned that I expected the "locked choices" thing to be a bait-and-switch, which of course panned out. Nothing presented that obviously in a story like this would ever be straightforward. I hadn't hit on the "Z is the narrator" bit but I wasn't really staying on top of game lore for this one.

The final arc touches a lot of places that I think about frequently, hopefully because everyone thinks about them a lot and not because I have some kind of Hussie brainworm.

There's a brief segment about countries and what it means to Be From One and why and how people Go To Another One and generally about what you are responsible for, which sort of aligns with a thing I wrote a while ago after I learned about the Leningrad Seed Potatoes. I think about this a lot! Especially since it seems ever more inevitable that if I want to use my abilities to their fullest I'll have to go away. There's no silicon foundries around here.

The other discussion goes all over, from large-scale geopolitics down to very intimate personal problems. I appreciate that, stories that try to stay at grand scale 100% of the time lose a lot of the value you can get by bringing the side effects of the grand scale down to human size.

It's absolutely clear that some of this is autobiographical. "Started an extremely large community that has an outsized influence on all sorts of things that eventually causes serious problems for you and those around you" I wonder what that could be about. Hussie is basically the joker of fandom after 20+ years of doing this and we really do live in a society.

There's the whole bit about how the whole situation basically vanishes when you log off, which, yeah. Trump's twitter got deleted and I think I maybe see his name once a week these days, rather than the four times a day I heard people say it out loud just last year. Many Big Things are only Big Things when you're embedded in the community, and I always think about this when I see a twitter trend with "12 million people posting about this!!!!!!!" which is an utterly trivial number of people in a world of eight billion. Black Lives Matters is easily one of the biggest things on Social Media at the moment and they just had a huge win but according to my twitter feed there's 1.1 million tweets about that cop and that's... nothing. A fraction of a fraction. The Biggest Twitter Account has like 100 million followers. A nothingburger, one in a hundred people.

And a pretty good ending. I had a bit here but I saw the epilogue which leads well into...

The epilogue is well timed and well placed: like if undertale had more subtlety. It says very little that's new, but if you maybe didn't catch something or didn't think it was emphasized enough, here it is. There's no doubt someone out there who did what I almost did, just quit the game and delete it without even trying to see if there was an alternate path. I had already assumed there wasn't, it just wouldn't fit with the story. Deleting the save files is a good touch, and unlike some other games, I trust that there's nothing hidden in a replay that this is egging you to try. Psycholonials was a very honest game for the rest of its run. I'm not about to distrust what it says now.

I wrote another hideously unfocused emotionpost a while ago about Evangelion and The Importance Of Trusting Yourself To Be Valid, which is most of what I took away from Evangelion at the time, and I stand by a lot of that. This aligns in some ways, in that the importance of being recognized by others can't be the only thing you base yourself around, but it can help.

Like, Toby Fox was able to make Undertale the way it was because he had a sound understanding of Fandom from another 20 years of Being Online, of which like 10 of them were with Homestuck. Hussie has seen a lot of shit happen with his work. I think this is partially as /clear/ as it is because ambiguity (PEACHY) is the route to madness when dealing with audiences this big.

I don't know what happens next for Hussie, from here. It sounds almost like an announcement of retirement. I don't really care, but I will say that I unironically enjoyed it while it lasted.

#psycholonials #video games

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sparklingdisneyprincess · 3 years

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Having Amber know for weeks affected fans view of her and why it was not done well.

In the tags on a reblog of one of my posts, someone mentioned that the scene where Amber tells Mark she knew he was a hero was bad writing and I low-key agree. I plan on doing an analysis on that specific scene later, but today I wanted to get into why the way the writes handled that situation just wasn’t great.

Keeping in mind the context of who the writers are can somewhat explain the thought process behind the decision. The creators of the comic book said themselves that's the comic book very often pokes fun at superhero stereotypes and tropes. One of the main stereotypes in superhero comic books is the main non-super female love interest being upset with the male superhero love interest for constantly flaking on her/being unavailable trope. In this trope the conflict is typically resolved when the female love interest is told or discovers in the moment usually by so accident that the male love interest was the superhero the whole time and the revelation is suddenly supposed to negate all the negative emotions that the female love interest was put through and everything just ends up fine.

In today's time it wouldn't matter if he was a superhero or not. He still made her feel terrible, he still lied. I do think women today wouldn’t allow that to excuse all the hero’s behavior especially when it was evident that said behavior was hurting them.

We know the writers like to poke fun at stereotypical superhero comic book tropes and plot points, and a good way to do that it to utilize trope subversion.

Trope subversion definition:

A subversion has two mandatory segments. First, the expectation is set up that something we have seen plenty of times before is coming, then that set-up is paid off with something else entirely. The set-up is a trope; the "something else" is the subversion.

Pure trope subversion vs Partial trope subversion:

Executing a “Pure trope subversion” means to follow the blueprint for “Trope subversion” to a tee. The writer sets up the story with essentially no hints that the outcome will be anything but traditional, and then proceeds to suddenly turn the outcome on it’s head in a way that was unanticipated. In the case of the “Partial trope subversion” it’s the opposite. The writer will drop subtle hints and clues teasing that the outcome will not be traditional for the trope. The hints must be subtle because the writers goal is still to trick the reader into believing that the traditional outcome will occur.

The main problem with them writing it as a pure trope subversion is that Amber ends up looking really bad and that people already didn’t like her as they wanted Eve to end up with Mark.

The set-up of the secret identity relationship trope leads us to believe that the female was mostly if not completely unaware that their male love interest is a hero. They often times are suspicious, but the dots don’t usually get the chance to connect before it’s all revealed. Going with that type of trope set-up leads the audience to believe that it’ll end like it always does. The girl will feel sorry for her actions and completely forgive the hero (even though I don’t find think that’s realistic), so instead of it going in that direction they subvert it. They have the female love interest (Amber) figure it out herself and silently not be in the dark for a period of time till it’s revealed that she knew. This is fine unless it’s written as a pure trope subversion because the traditional trope buildup includes anger over canceled plans, late arrivals, and feelings of neglect. That anger makes the female love interest look completely irrational in the case that she knew! (Though perhaps she was not truly angry over those things after she discovered the truth, but she was angry with him lying and couldn’t tell him that without saying she knew, so she expressed her anger through those situations instead of the main reason??? Hmm, I just thought of that and that’s an interesting theory for another time.) Anyways...

I found that the trope subversion making Amber look so bad to be a glaring issue that should have been weeded out in the writing room. They had to have known how it would be perceived. There’s no way they wouldn’t. The only logical reason they’d do this is if they plan to go through with what I suspected was happening at the beginning of the show, which would be that the writers are telling us that Amber is not Mark’s endgame and that she’s just taking up space until Mark and Eve eventually get together. The only problem with that theory is that they had Mark and Amber get back together at the end of the season which is another trope subversion. In the usual love triangle bait-and-switch trope the first female love interest the male superhero chooses gets booted out to make room for the second girl in the love triangle who he was apparently supposed to be with the whole time, however the writers didn’t got through with that trope. They instead subverted it (whether purposely or not) by having the original couple get back together and setting it up in a way that shows the couple potentially growing stronger, rather than him staying single and eventually ending up with female love interest number 2. The writers even took the subversion a step further by setting the outcome up in a way that showed potential for female love interests 1 and 2 to actually start a beautiful friendship instead of a rivalry.

I’m honestly confused by what the writers wanted us to perceive. If they wanted us to root for Amber and Mark why set them up like that? To prove that they can move past it? But who will support the relationship after everybody now hates Amber? It is contradictory, so I’m very confused. I did write another post speculating that though Amber knew Mark was a hero, she did not know he was Invincible. The theory does shed more light on the situation and it resolves a lot of issues, but it still doesn’t negate the fact that the use of a pure trope subversion in this instance made Amber look really bad. Especially when people would sooner find ways to cancel her, rather than attempt to understand why she did it. To understand someone does not mean to agree with or support them, but it reminds you to humanize the other person, a value we are all owed.

If the writers had not done a pure trope subversion and instead decided upon a partial trope subversion the fallout would not have been nearly as bad. If they had done a partial trope subversion they could’ve allowed Amber to be more patient in some of the later scenes, while showing that even though she’s patient, she’s also very upset. It would show more understanding on her part, however I think Amber was actually already understanding of his situation. What she did not understand was the lying and how it seemed that he didn’t even care enough to lie well. She was hurt that he didn’t trust her and during their relationship she was constantly questioning whether or not he was serious and if he actually cared about her and honestly we questioned it too as an audience! Imagine how frustrated she must’ve been those 5 months out of 6 when she didn’t know why he was lying to her.

Amber and Mark didn’t have any relationship issues that I noticed aside from his secret identity. Their dynamic was interesting to watch in my opinion because Mark wasn’t phased by Ambers weird sense of humor and her having essentially no filter, in fact he embraced it and was also snarky in return. He liked that she has strong core beliefs and clearly enjoyed spending time with her. Even though Amber is sarcastic and pokes fun at Mark she finds his enthusiasm to be endearing and often laughs with and smiles at him. Heck, she even approached him first! They’re just two teenagers dating and it’s nothing too exciting like it’s usually portrayed in media. They text, go on dates, make out, enjoy the others presence without really needing to talk, it’s just nice normal dating stuff and it’s realistic and lowkey, and I really liked seeing it. Upon my first watch of the show I liked Amber and Mark together, but I didn’t see the chemistry. I think it’s because everything about their relationship needed to happen in the span of 8 episodes, but also that the reasons why their attracted to each other are very subtle. They don’t shove it in our faces, they just place it there and if you caught then you caught it, if you didn’t then you didn’t. It took me re-watching the episodes a second time to realize why Mark and Amber enjoy being with each other. The body language speaks volumes when you also pay attention to the little things that go on between them. I’ll probably make a whole other post about it because I think it’s something to talk about, but yeah.

In conclusion either the writers truly didn’t realize the outcome of their choice, the writers knew the outcome and did it on purpose to set the audience up to root for Eve and Mark, the writers knew and set it up in order to later on grow/redeem Amber and strengthen her and Mark’s relationship by having them over come it, or they didn’t think it’d be a big deal due to assuming that the trope subversion would take everyone by surprise and that we’d like it.

(If you made it to the end, I’m impressed cause this was long. Also, shoutout to the person who first brought up this topic in the tags. I didn’t realize I felt some kind of way until I started typing and couldn’t stop. It was honestly kind of cathartic😄 I didn’t tag you cause I didn’t know if you’d like that but, thanks for unintentionally giving me the motivation to write this!)

#Aark #Amber Bennett #Mark Grayson #Mark x Amber #Invincible #SDP reviews #SDP thoughts

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nerdsideofthemedia · 5 years

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Bumblebee was always the plan part 2

It’s time to continue with my controversial posts. When I began writing this, it was intended to be mostly a response to arguments I see around and EF’s. Then my pretty confrontational post that had led to say to a friend “Thankfully no one reads my blog” became much bigger than I ever expected. There’s a good chance I would have gone for a different tone had I known it would get 500x the usual view of… 1, which is usually mine. This been said, it would have been a mistake. Still, I feel like I have to address some points that seem to have confused a few people and this is definitely to do that.

But first, soothing music to prevent knee-jerk reactions.

Let’s start with a claim that was kind of controversial: the suggestion that Blake could still turn out to be a lesbian instead of bi or pan as some claimed this was in itself bi erasure. I understand where this complaint comes from as bisexuality was basically considered to not exist in media, for example, Sex and the City has an episode where all the main characters but Samantha treat it as something alienating and a way to still be in the closet. Yeah, some episodes have not aged well. And I’ve lost count of the number of people that still don’t consider it a thing, even among progressive fandom like Janelle Monae’s and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s (I just gave you 2 bi anthems1). Just so we’re clear, even though I do think Blake is bothsexual (let’s see if someone recognizes that reference), I have to put on table of her being a lesbian as some gay people have dated members of the opposite sex for a very long time, and there’s high probability some of them were abused in said relationships. I can’t ignore those experiences (I suppose I can, but I shouldn’t and hopefully never will).

Black Sun: the ship that didn’t sail

Again, there were a few that didn’t like that I compared BB and BS, which they interpreted as a dick contest. That really wasn’t my goal. I did that because those were the ships involving Blake that had a chance to happen (Catmeleon and Enabling-abuse2 were not on the table) and I was arguing for Bumblebee having been the plan all along (which, to me, implies that Black Sun was meant to be a red herring, though I didn’t flat out say it – sorry, I didn’t think I needed to). The point was to illustrate how there had been hints for Bumblebee.

I argued for that way before volume 6 by pointing out several clues like the dance arc, the songs and the injury. At the time, someone asked me how I could know BB wasn’t the red herring. There are 2 reasons why:

While it’s not lacking in hints and foreshadowing, they are (mostly3) on the subtle side when compared to the very obvious Sun’s crush on Blake;

They’re a LGBTQ+ pairing. There are huge double standards when it comes to LGBTQ+ in comparison to hetero ones – many people will deny the first one until it’s impossible to do so. The point of the bait and switch is to have a little twist and you can’t have that if a significant part of your audience notices the switch, but doesn’t see the bait.

And if you have doubts about the last point, remember: in 6x11, Adam attacked Yang out of jealousy, then Blake held her hand while making a speech that put them as equal in contrast to Blake-Adam, a relationship where one of them constantly tried to make the other feel small (the point of the infamous speech). There were many denying BB. Then, he tried to make Yang feel insecure about Blake by telling her she had made the same promise to him and asked the super platonic question: “What does she even see in you?” and people still tried to deny it. In the last episode, Blake and Yang spent the time holding each other’s hands and yet, there were still people denying it. Not that I’m complaining, since it only increased my celebration time. It was like: episode 6x11, “yeah! Bees” for 3 days, the internet crashed my party for one, then 6x12, “yeah! Bees! This time is for sure” for another 3 days, again I had my enthusiasm dashed and finally, “yeah! Bees”. That time it stuck. So thanks guys! It would have been bad if by 6x13 I had already used all my fireworks.

If you thought BS was going to happen – that’s normal, because it was the bait. If I am aware that people tend to think of others as straight until proven otherwise, why do you think the writers aren’t? I may not live in the same country as them, but I still consume a lot of USA’s media and I know that if guy stalks girl, he usually gets her. Not to mention, the number of times media announces a LGBTQ+ character as tactic to gain some support yet deliver nothing, like saying Dumbledore is gay even though there’s nothing in the films or books indicating it (let’s leave the conversation about the “word of God” for some other time). There were more than a few LGBTQ+ people who were afraid Bumblebee would turn out to be just that: queerbaiting.

Miles and Kerry knew all of that and, more importantly, they were aware that you knew it too, so they played on your assumptions to make their bait-and-switch. However, there were plenty of hints that Sun was just the red herring and that Bumblebee was going to happen. Last time, I focused on the latter, this time let’s concentrate on the first. Let’s take a look at Sun and Blake’s relationship, shall we?

Sun was introduced in the last episodes of V1 and Blake trusted him immediately, because… he’s a Faunus. Though she told him about herself and the White Fang, he showed immediately he’s not on the same page as her as Faunus rights mean a lot to her and little to nothing to him. In 2x01, Sun talks to Neptune about Blake and concluded “and the best part is she’s a Faunus”, which goes completely against Blake’s words in the next episode “I want people to see me for who I am, not what I am”. She began going on a downward spiral to which he reacts with “Is she being all Blake-y?”, while Yang’s the one who gets through to her by exposing her own vulnerability.

Sun not fully understanding Blake is something the show hammers in our heads quite a few times even in more recent volumes. Like when he assumed she’s on her way to fight the White Fang when she was actually going to Menagerie to rest. Or suggested destroying the WF while Blake wanted to take it back.

In volume 3, they had literally no interactions besides him winking at her in the Vytal Festival – yes, she blushed, which can be explained by the fact that he did it in front of an entire stadium or that she had a crush on him. Personally, I’m inclined to the latter, but it really doesn’t mean much: not all crushes lead to something. A lot of them are a result of idealization and I think that was the case for Blake. By the way, I have to speak of Blake’s crush as likely, not certain precisely because it was never actually confirmed.

When Yang asked Weiss where Blake and Ruby were, Sun was there, yet it was Yang alone who went after Blake. The next time we saw him, it’s after their injuries and he is noticing an injured Blake grabbing Yang’s hand.

No, this shot doesn’t exist to show Sun seeing Blake injured, because he already knew that. He had just told Ruby that Yang was going to be OK, and the one who brought her there was Blake. Not to mention that if the point was to make him notice Blake’s injuries, it makes no sense for their hands to appear. Yang would have been kept out of the frame, instead of taking up more space than Blake. To me, this is the moment where Sun realizes Blake’s feelings for Yang. If the intention was for him to notice Blake’s injured, it would have made much more sense to see his face, then cut to her. Yes, they could have done the same with their hands, but this way they left it more ambiguous which was probably the intention. It would have made no sense for them to choose that if it was meant for Black Sun, because the audience was more than aware he was interested in Blake. We had been since V1 as there was never anything subtle about their relationship.

In volume 4, he flirts, Blake is usually either apathetic or downright annoyed. The exception is after the injury, and like I said, he’s the one who brings up Yang, revealing he realizes the bond between them. He is also hurt by the chick whose feelings weren’t reciprocated (I talked about that at length in part 1). In volume 5, their relationship is platonic.

Really, in spite of spending the volumes 4 and 5 together, it’s not about developing Black Sun in a romantic way.

Oh, a kiss on the cheek isn't romantic. It can be, but in the context, it was merely a "thank you".

Black Sun hasn’t sunk yet

While RWBY isn’t over, the possibility for Black Sun isn’t completely gone, though I don’t think I’m lying when I say it’s unlikely. You can like it more than Bumblebee, but it’s all right to admit it’s improbable. We (almost) all have been there. For crying out loud, in MHA, I sort of ship Kacchako4 (loses 2/3 of her readers – and that’s why this piece of trivia was originally intended to appear much later).

After everything he’s done for her (that she didn’t ask for)

This is usually phrased in a disgusting way.

There is a lot to unpack here.

First, it’s ridiculous to think you can be owed love/getting into someone’s panties. You can’t. People either love you/want to do you, or they don’t. If you want to do something for someone else, great, but do it because you want to and like (not necessarily in a romantic way) said person or because you’re altruistic – don’t expect a reward. This is what you sound like to us:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWFfrQtHag0

You wanted the guy to get the girl, fine. You know you can watch that in almost everything else, right?

Second, it’s idiotic to associate getting the girl with masculinity or not getting her with being “cucked”. If your notion of being a man is tied to getting someone else, that’s on you. If you need someone else to feel good about yourself, maybe you have some underlying issues to address (another reference to Crazy Ex-Girlfriend – watch the show, especially if you’re making comments like the one I showed: you need it. I feel like the narrator in “S.O.B.s”).

Third, even by the logic of “after everything I’ve done for you”, Sun doesn’t win, because Yang paid a much bigger price: she lost an arm and had PTSD while he had a minor injury from which he had basically recovered by the next episode. This isn’t a “Yang deserves her” either – that argument is nonsensical no matter the pairing being defended, I’m just pointing out that it doesn’t even favor BS.

By the way, I noticed that a few people completely missed the point of why I compared Yang’s injury to Sun’s and think I did it to indicate Yang deserves it more or to win (?). It’s a bit confusing because I flat out say why I made the comparison, but here it goes again: it’s not to say Yang deserves Blake, but to indicate that, in fiction, we usually associate romance with higher stakes. I literally wrote:

“I think Yang’s and Sun’s injuries are everything I should need to prove the likelihood of BB as they contrast the two main Blake ships: Bumblebee and Black Sun. While heroes tend to save many people who are indeed just friends or sometimes not even that, there’s a reason why Superman and Spiderman usually include Lois Lane and MJ (or whoever the love interest is in said film) in the climax – it makes it more personal, raising the stakes. From this perspective, it’s easy to understand the importance given to either by comparing: what the injury was, who caused it, why and Blake’s reaction, thus allowing to conclude which couple was given more weight.”

“[…] point Bumblebee as the first one is more associated with romance.”

That was me explaining what the points were as well as why I was comparing the 2.

And yes, paying attention to dramatic weight is completely valid, we are talking about fiction after all. It’s not like we accidentally walked in on a guy threatening a gal and saying “I’ll destroy everything you love… starting with her” as another woman appeared in real life. Things happened the way they did because writers (editors, directors, etc.) wanted them to.

Don’t pretend you didn’t know that it’s relevant that the one who caused Yang’s injury was Adam, Blake’s ex-boyfriend, while Sun’s was caused by Ilia, the friend whose feelings weren’t reciprocated, and that it doesn’t say anything about the links Adam-Yang and Sun-Ilia. I lost count of the number of BSers who wanted Sun to fight Adam and wanted him to be the one taking Adam down (even though it got in the way of Yang’s closure), which shows many of you were perfectly aware of the importance of said connection.

As for the dyke representation… (the fact that they phrased it that way is very telling) if it was just that, then any lesbian couple would do. RWBY is about 4 female characters. Seriously, how come people never ask themselves why this one is so popular, even though Yang and Blake aren't the most popular characters? From what I've seen, Weiss and Yang are.

The claims of “pandering” and “SJW” have been raining for a while and I expect them to continue until they realize CRWBY can’t be bullied into erasing BB. Count on that to happen whenever a show reveals a main character is LGBTQ+ mid-series (unless it’s a particularly progressive show). If your reaction to seeing LGBTQ+ characters is to call it “pandering”, it says a lot about you, none of it good.

I know that we perceive straight white male as default. This is so entrenched in our culture that the first Transformers didn’t have any female transformers because the writers thought it would require an explanation. Yup, apparently you need an explanation to include half of the world’s population.

I suppose screaming “pandering” is better than to pull an EF and say “Bumblebee was and is the safest LGBTQ ship they could have done. Lesbian couples are the safest representation a show can make […] It’s more comfortable to see woman on woman action just because of how fantasized they are”, which:

doesn’t justify why BB is the safest LGBTQ+ couple as there are a ton of lesbian couples possible (White Rose, Checkmate/Monochrome, Freezerburn, etc.);

fails to consider the high number of LGBTQ+ women in RWBY when compared to LGBTQ+ men probably has something to do with the fact it has more female characters;

when did we see woman on woman action in RWBY? How did I miss that episode?

if lesbians are so appealing to straight men, how come they’re the ones whining the most about BB?

The whole straight-men-like-lesbians while being the ones complaining about them is particularly odd to me. It doesn’t sound like they like they are spending their time wrapped up in sexual fantasies. Maybe they are and can't stop. And that's why they don't like Bumblebee anymore... Poor things... But really, it just sounds like they need some kind of… safe space.

You can tell them not to worry. They still have most shows/books/films. And for the next 2-4 decades, they'll be able to count on Disney (taking shots at it since my very first post).

As usual, the original.

More RWBY posts:

Filmmaking and Bumbleby

Bumblebee was Always the Plan

Bumblebee was Always the Plan part 2

Faunus and the White Fang: The Portrayal of Racism

BB & Renora

Weird Post on Weiss’s Clothes

Foils: Adam and Yang (this one is in wordpress; it was my first one and I didn’t have Tumblr then)

Let’s talk about Adam Taurus (I didn’t post this one on Tumblr because the title and tags could lead Adam fans thinking this was about “his wasted potential” when really it defends the decision of killing him off and explains why it happened)

1 “Make me Feel” can also be taken as a pan anthem as Janelle as identifies as such (and I think she’s OK with being called bi too).

2 Enabling Abuse is what I call AdamxBlake.

3 I still consider “Burning the Candle”, V3 finale and the ship named “Pride” to be pretty obvious.

4 Not only are the odds against Kacchako (BakugoxUraraka), the shippers are considered villains who worship chaos, which is fine by me. I can’t say some part of me doesn’t enjoy being The Dark Knight’s Joker and that part is saying: “Tell me Batman, how does it feel to be the hero of a film that everyone watches for its villains?”

#Bumblebee was always the plan #bumbleby #let me 🐝 your bmblb #rwby bmblb #bisexual erasure #heteronormativity #rwby6 #bmblb #rwby spoilers #blake belladonna #yang xiao long #rwby writing #yang x blake #blake x yang #rwby lgbtq #rwby lgbtq+#rwby bumblebee

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amazildoessomethingstupid · 5 years

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Chapter 97: After, You

Rise and shine, everyone! It’s September 12th, and you all know what that means right? That means it’s the fourth year anniversary of January! Hurray! And what better way to celebrate, than with a good ol’ Chapter rant on one of the most infamous chapters in BCB. And after all the hype and shit I’ve heard about this chapter I can’t wait to dive right in, sink my teeth in, and properly dissect it! Hmm, that came out a lot hungrier than I thought…

We start off with a bit more of Lucy’s mom being really cute and funny. Although I will say it’s kind of surprising to see that this takes place immediately where the last chapter left off. I guess I’m so used to time frames between chapters being out of whack so much, I just got used to there being missing days or pieces. Can’t tell if good thing or not.

Also, just to point it out. Dat Size Difference Tho. Lucy’s mom is one small mama…or maybe Paulo’s exposure to Daisy gave him some of that mutant radiation and made him huge. Either way!

We spend the first pages of this chapter doing…homework? Kinda weird, I guess it helps to show Lucy and Paulo being nice together. It’s just pointless ship sailing really, and we all know how that’s gonna g-

Bruh…

Wut?

O-oh we’re just going to brush past that? We’re just going to move on, from that random as fuck cross-ship? That’s what we’re doing? OH NO NO NO, YOU’RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE!

WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?! LET’S RECAP FOR A SECOND SHALL WE? WHAT DID WE JUST GET FROM THE LAST CHAPTER?

The emerging of Paulo and Daisy’s relationship.

The complete obliteration of Paulo and Rachel’s relationship.

And finally the revival of Paulo and Lucy’s relationship. WHICH IS WHAT I THOUGHT WE WERE GOING TO GET INTO WITH THIS CHAPTER! Putting myself in the writer’s seat for a moment, I thought well hey! This is going to be a little ship ride! And because I have ADHD I can’t really remember what the fuck actually happened in this chapter or what it was really about, but hey! Maybe this is where Taeshi is going to focus on Paulo and Lucy, try and build up this ship and make us give a shit about it. But noooo, that’s too focused for Taeshi! Gotta get that shipping battle in, get that nice dramatic romance conflict! That’s what the fans, and dedicated readers are really here for!

THE FIRST FOUR PAGES! Before we get into what this chapter is actually about, before we know what we’re even in for, before we get to the real shit people want to read about, we gotta remind them that Paulo likes Daisy! And I mean REALLY REALLY likes her! Because fuck, they might’ve forgotten about that! I mean it was only built up recently, was on the rocks for a bit, but got ironed out and set up IN THE LAST FUCKING CHAPTER! What’s the point of this? Why bring up that Paulo likes Daisy? Do you think your audience whom you constantly bait with pairings, and relationships, would need to be hit over the head with a shoehorned reminder that Paulo has feelings for Daisy?!

Actually, yeah I think it’s pretty clear Taeshi has some contempt for her audience. Given she thinks we need to be hit over the head this hard and often. It’s honestly insulting, and I only read this shit occasionally. I don’t know how some of you can put up with this crap. Do the concussions just numb the pain after a while? Whatever let’s get to the fun stuff.

Anyway, Paulo is walking with Lucy and it’s honestly not bad. It feels weird for Paulo to be so desperate, but given that Lucy almost fucking died and was gone forever…Yeah it’s understandable. But this though…

Uhhh…Paulo? A-are you trying to scare Lucy? …what?

Why are you t-rexing right now? What’s wrong with your arms? Why are you explaining it like this? I mean I can get excited maybe? But he seems ELATED about drama which is…dare I say…a smidge out of character? What is this? Also, I actually got tripped up reading this panel and I think that might be the positioning of the word bubbles because instead of using the traditional method of:

For whatever reason, in this panel specifically it’s:

Which is unnatural for most English readers, who end reading on the right. So I didn’t even realize that Paulo said “Whuh?” there when I moved to the next panel. Making the emotional shift in his character more jarring when he switches from oddly joking around, to:

Being moody, to Lucy’s disinterest. But that’s just an odd thing I picked up after going through again to write this rant. It’s not THAT big of an issue, but I do have to ask:

Really? That’s what you got out of that? Paulo says that all your friends were really upset that you were gone, and that’s your response? That’s the only thing you have to say about this? Geeze, it’s almost like you don’t really care.

But anyway, we’re finally on to the Carnival. And we actually do get some nice and interesting dialogue here.

Paulo starts to talk about the things she’s missed out on since she was gone, and it’s actually pretty nice. I like Paulo being more relaxed and natural, playing around with Lucy. Although someone pointed something out to me that really deserves a mention:

Again? Paulo is poor, but he’s never been one to “borrow” or mooch off his friends, especially not Lucy. Paulo has consistently never let his poverty be a burden to anyone else, and it is a real positive factor about him that shows his selflessness. Paulo to my knowledge never did stuff like that, he was the one who bought Daisy lunch, even when Mike was buying Paulo sodas for the contest it wasn’t like Paulo was mooching off Mike’s money to win the contest. It was more of a mutual effort, since Mike couldn’t stomach the stuff. Lucy thinking Paulo would “borrow” things just seems so weird to bring up. And I know none of this stuff is really major or that worth mentioning but honestly…

There is really not much to talk about here. Imma be real witchu chief, I’m a little underwhelmed right now. Guest of Honor had me gripped and had fun in the first parts, Boy Toy I could tear apart with its dumb decisions and missed opportunities, and so on and so forth, but this… This is weird. It’s not that aggravating really, the next page after this is just Paulo and lucy doing rides. I guess y’know, after 5 chapters that knock you around and turn my stomach inside out with force fed bullshit, I guess you gotta have a nice mediocre one to help mellow you out after a while. I’m not really complaining, but I just heard so much about this I expected more y’know? I was hoping for something a bit more to sink my teeth into.

But anyway, back to the comic. Lucy asks Paulo about Abbey and Daisy (for some reason, honestly it seems she doesn’t care about the group anymore so why ask about them, and also why them? They’re like the least close to Lucy why would she care about them?) and…

…what?

*groan* fuck I found something to say.

First of all. That Face. Stop That Face. Secondly, who the hell are you? I know I said in the previous chapter, that Lucy is no longer Lucy, but this here really solidifies it and is very concerning. Who the fuck is this? Lucy has always been snarky; she’s always been one to goad people. But she was never one to be eager to dig into other people’s drama like this! What the heck is this? Who the heck is this? Oh fuck it, whatever she’s a lost cause now.

At least they’re actually talking now which is something I can take some solace behind. And also, yeah really Lucy! You would’ve known that if you GAVE A DAMN!

Okay I need to make up a new name for this new Lucy. Cause I will never stop comparing her to the Lucy character that had been set up, built upon, and established before unless I make some title that draws a clear distinction to say that she isn’t Lucy. Because this is so fucking weird to hear from Lucy, digging for drama, and stirring the pot directly like this. Being such an asshole, and blatantly badmouthing Daisy like this behind her back. This is not Lucy, I refuse to call her that in the horrible fear that this might actually affect my own view of Lucy, and thus my characterization of Lucy in my own comic. Hmm, I’m thinking…how about Lacie? Yeah that sounds good. It’s like it’s ALMOST Lucy, but it’s not. And it’s easy to remember, like Madison’s name! Cause you shorten that to Maddie, and it perfectly encapsulates her entire character which is that she’s mad! And Lacie perfectly encapsulates this character because…

I am a cheeky asshole.

Will say though, this panel got a smile out of me. So that’s good.

Anyway, Lacie and Paulo are talking about Drunk Daisy, and it’s alright. There’s some shipping tension and shit, and I’m just like…

Alright, guy get to the point. At what point am I supposed to lose my shit at this chapter? I swear to god, it’s January’s fucking birthday. Don’t ruin this for me. Gimme the fuckin’ goods. Gimme something interesting.

Oh shit, Lacie just found out about Abbey strangling Paulo! Oh shit, this is interesting!

Awww Lacie is actually showing some fucking compassion to her friend! Ignoring this being a blatant ship sailing moment, this is actually interesting! Alright, you have my attention. Where are we goi-

…

WHAT?! BITCH ARE YOU FUCKIN’ F’REAL SHAKES RIGHT NOW?! YOUR FRIEND JUST TOLD YOU THAT YOUR OTHER FRIEND FUCKING THROATPUNCHED AND THREATENED HIM! AND YOU IMMEDIATELY JUMP TO GETTING UPSET WITH HIM ABOUT YOUR BROTHER?! THAT’S THE NEXT THING ON YOUR MIND?! THAT’S WHAT YOU’RE GONNA BRING UP? RIGHT NOW?! YOUR BROTHER BEING IN A CAR ACCIDENT? A CAR ACCIDENT THAT WAS MONTHS AGO! YOU’RE GONNA GET ON HIM ABOUT THAT, EVEN WHEN YOU KNOW IT WASN’T HIS FAULT, EVEN WHEN YOU KNOW JORDAN WASN’T HURT, EVEN WHEN YOU WERE LITERALLY THERE TO SEE BOTH YOUR BROTHER AND PAULO IN THE FUCKING HOSPITAL!

WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?! THIS CHAPTER IS LIKE REAL LIFE LAG ON A FREEWAY! YOU’RE SWAPPING FROM BEING DEAD STOPPED TO GOING 100MPH TO IMMEDIATELY DEAD STOP AGAIN! WHAT IS THIS? AND ALSO!

What is this tone shift? Lacie goes from caring and comforting with Paulo, to yelling at him, to being sad. And I know! Mood swings! Lacie is fucking broken, that is without a shadow of a doubt, but that doesn’t change the fact that this emotional rollercoaster is whiplashing me so hard my neck has the structural integrity of a wet noodle! I’ve never seen a tonal shift like this before. This isn’t just jumping emotions page to page; it’s fucking PANEL TO PANEL! What the fuck is this writing?!

Yes, I know I made a whole rant all about January this week, but bitch I will not pass an opportunity to make a good referential joke. Also

“Abbey’s not that bad.” LACIE YOU DUMB SLUT! YOU LITERALLY JUST HEARD HOW HE FUCKING THROAT PUNCHED PAULO! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? Even ignoring that, Lucy (the real one) NEVER really liked Abbey. In fact, she was the one person who actually rebuffed Abbey’s white knight schtick!

But let’s go back to the comic for a second, because I ain’t done.

That sure is a lot of presumptions for someone who ADMITTED SHE DOESN’T FUCKING KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON!

BUT SINCE YOU APPARENTLY HAVE THIS ALL FIGURED OUT CAN YOU PLEASE TELL ME WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?! WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS CHARACTER?

Who the fuck is this character? At least Paulo is speaking some fucking sense here! So that’s one character who isn’t completely ruined. But seriously, what the fuck is this? What the fuck is this character?

Wait! You know what this character is? After the recovery she seems to have all the answers? She’s acting like she knows everything, that she doesn’t. It’s like she’s trying to fucking make things go right, but she’s just…so…hateful…

Oh, I see what this is. This is like the result someone would get if they heard what I wanted to do with Lucy being proactive, trying to fix her messes, and standing up for herself; tried to recreate it but not knowing me outside of my negative views of the comic, and ignoring the actual adherence I put to the character. This is what Taeshi thinks I think Lucy should be. I feel like this is just one big stab at me… And if it ain’t…Then it’s just a stab in the heart to every fan who gave a shit about Lucy.

Also, dat mad tone shift again tho.

… Alright, just one more January reference.

Please just let me have this one, I just fucking love this scene.

BUT ANYWAY

Oh wow, it’s so beautiful. It’s like I’m looking at a real carnival from way up high…with my glasses off. Alright, I kid I’m not gonna pick on Taeshi for not going all out on one panel, but it is a bit amusing given the dialogue (and knowing Taeshi can definitely make this look much, much better)

But aww isn’t that nice?

Such a nice sweet scene, of Paulo and Lucy comforting each other, and Lucy accepting the embrace. It’s really sweet and cute, and there is nothing bad for me to speak about here. Yet.

“What we did?”

Heh well that’s a queer statement.

Wonder what you meant by that, Lacie. Would you like to elaborate?

Please tell the rest of the class...

What. You. Did.

CONTINUED IN PART 2

#Bittersweet Candy Bowl #rant

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big-wicke-energy · 7 years

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Hiveswap Act 1 Thoughts...

I’ve given myself time for the hype to settle down and reaffirmed my logical expectations and then mulled things over a bit more. My basic thoughts are “That’s about what I expected when I heard the words -Homestuck Point & Click-” and “This would have been sweet as hell if it had been released a few years ago”. So the question becomes, did the delays really muck things up that badly or am I just a little bitter because of the long wait? I can only answer as a person who didn’t spend a cent on Hiveswap until yesterday when I say... Yeah it probably holds up

People who really splurged on the kickstarter back in the day will obviously have a different perception, good enough will cease to be good enough when you paid more than your fair share and were forced to stew on that purchase for five or so years... I won’t begrudge anyone their buyer’s remorse to be sure. That said I won’t oversell it either, this is about the bare-minimum amount of game we could have expected after all those years... But that could be salvaged depending on how long it takes to deliver on the rest of the story

Firstly, the technical stuff: I made the mistake of playing most of the game before they fixed most of the visual issues like the framing problems, but even that I can’t complain about. Considering they fixed it so quickly makes me believe it was just a genuine mistake. The art and animation were gorgeous, but if I had to complain about something it’s that the action often feels a bit cramped. When you have to walk two steps and then load a new screen... That’s not ideal, but ultimately not an uncommon problem in the point-and-click adventure genre where a lot of visual interest is necessary

The puzzles weren’t terribly esoteric either (Which is something unfortunately rare for this genre), which could be a good or a bad thing depending on your opinions on how fun tough puzzles are. Most often when I was struggling it was because some new gameplay feature wasn’t really properly introduced, because I hadn’t considered all the options available, or because... I just. hadn’t. clicked. on. everything.

That’s all fair, I wouldn’t have wanted the game to have held my hand more than it already did. I really wasn’t so keen on when Jude or Xefros handed you the solution to Joey’s current problem when it could have easily been logically deduced if I had been given a damn second to think...

I understand why people complain about the Snake portions, it’s sudden and requires you to do more than click on stuff at random... But I can’t bring myself to harp on that too much. It added some gameplay to this... uhh... game play

The characters are pretty good so far... Joey feels a bit like a retread of Jane with her skepticism and her (Ultimately more understandable) heteronormativity and Xefros feels a lot like Tavros all over again... But since that’s an interaction we didn’t really explore in Homestuck proper I can let it slide

I should probably stop beating around the bush and address the heteronormativity already. I can’t deny that Xefros’ blush at the end gave me a sinking feeling, but aside from that nothing really seemed like a setup for a romance between them. Joey saying she had a crush on a boy and Xefros saying “Me too” was a good way to bring that topic up. Combining those two things together does a good job at helping people new to Homestuck recognize that Alternians are commonly bisexual by showing our Troll everyman display attraction to both boys and girls

We can’t forget that Hiveswap was intended as a secondary jumping-on point for people with no prior HS experience... And the game does a pretty good job introducing alien concepts to the audience through Joey as our surrogate, as she is similarly clueless

It ultimately leads to the conclusion that the exposition-heavier dialogue portions were intended for newbies and the flavor text was intended for HS alumni. And since the latter is more gay than the former, that leads to the conclusion that this is all intentional het-baiting

Joey’s crush being on an age-appropriate then-current celebrity reeks of compulsory heterosexuality, especially because it seems like she has no patience for the actual men in her life. The fact that she gushes about female celebrities in her expository dialogue and her interest in Jonathan Taylor Thomas receives no foreshadowing seems to indicate the latter is fairly innocuous

She’s incredibly lonely, only has male friends, adores the women in her media, flusters easily at the female form, and only divulges romantic interest in an unattainable teen heartthrob... She’s a baby lesbian, Harold.

The fact that Xefros’ actual moirail is presented as a domineering tankie wannabe-revolutionary leads much more credence to the idea of Joey showing Xefros how true friendship (And true rebellion) works. The fact that she’s on an alien planet where her heteronormative ideas of “Can a boy and a girl ever just be friends?” will be challenged leads to further confidence in this

An aggressive and toxic “bromance” being sidelined in favor of healthy nonsexual boy-girl camaraderie is actually more radical than people are willing to admit

Admittedly I don’t think Xefros and Dammek’s characterization and bait-and-switch-moirallegiance were ultimately handled very well, but that’s something that can easily be fixed in future installments

I was worried that the only girl we have to ship Joey with would be the aggressive fascist villainess, but the fact that the ending promises an expanded cast (Including, potentially, a female revolutionary) alleviates those fears somewhat

There’s plenty of het stuff to potentially worry ourselves over (And the fact that Cohen is shaping up to be something of an edgelord content-creator...), but the fact that this seems to be same team behind the snapchat stuff gives me confidence. Were the snapd8s obligated to give us poly RoxyCallieJane? Heck no, but they did it anyway

Ultimately Hussie promised us a gay singularity and his successors have followed through on that promise to some degree already, ultimately until I see someone completely fail their queer revolutionary promises I’m going to trend towards optimism here. Homestuck’s ending made a name for itself by kicking people’s straight expectations to the curb and I see no reason for them to eschew that gay legacy now...

The fact that one of the most recent changes we can verify, the new posters including Hot Steppin, shows more gay promise and foreshadowing is probably the thing that gives me the most hope

So, actual game review time:

If you believe in something being damned by faint praise and are still on the fence about more HS content, save your money until future installments show more promise. If you’re still just as much a Homestuck as ever like me... Well you already bought it and nothing I say actually matters... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

#this is long and incoherent... i hope mobile users don't have to scroll through this whole thing #tk muses #tk rants #homestuck tag #hiveswap tag #hiveswap spoilers #heteronormativity tag #homophobia tag #compulsory heterosexuality #tk gets political

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theclacks · 7 years

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Angel Thoughts - (S4 E15-E18)

I can pretty much sum up my thoughts on these episodes by saying that Connor is officially, unequivocally, 100% objectively...

Okay. Okay. In all seriousness, these were probably the best crop of episodes in season 4 so far (thanks in no help to either Connor or Angel). So let’s dig in shall we?

BtVS & AtS Recap Master Post located here

Episode 15 (Orpheus)

My favorite episode of the bunch. Probably because of combined Faith and Willow power. Both of them just showin’ up to the club like “wham bam, thank you, ma’am.”

At first I thought the Orpheus stuff was going to yet more straight forward Angel flashbacks and I was like “come on, really? I am all good on the Angel flashbacks.” But then both Angelus and Faith were there to watch and it was kind of awesome.

Well, half of it was awesome. Half of it was groan-worthy.

The Awesome:

I love my Spike & Angel comparisons. I love how 100% set Angel is in his ways that his experience is the Universal Vampire Experience (TM). I love how he dissociates from his demon self enough that--not only do they have two different personalities--but Angel goes as far as to block certain memories as well. It’s fascinating. And it’s like, on the surface, it seems like he’s the “noble” one for doing this, that he’s so disgusted at his demon and the thought of being evil by association, that he’s keeping himself “above” it, but he’s really doing the opposite?

Like, to hearken back to Lies My Parents Told Me (and now I’m kinda wishing I’d done these two episode metas in the same post), if the First was in LA, Angel would have soooooo many triggers, like holy shit his team would be screwed. And Angel would never, ever face them... or at least, would never face them in a way where he assumed responsibility and accepted his actions as things that’d happened and are in the past and are therefore unchangeable, so stop letting them rule you and do you best with the things that are currently in the present.

And, it’s like, until he does that, Angel won’t ever “grow”, he’ll just get more and more self-mired in his own angst while Angelus continues to destabilize into more and more of a ticking time bomb in his sub-conscious.

Just... holy mental issues, Batman. No wonder his moments of perfect happiness only happen during sex; he’s too fractured and fucked up for them to occur any other way.

The Groan-Worthy:

So yeah. That diner scene. I didn’t get it.

Oh no, Angel fed on a human that was already dead? The horror? Was I really supposed to be as shocked and disgusted as Faith was? Like I get the need to add new scenes, but really? This was BY FAR one of the least questionable things Angel has done with a soul.

Like... why didn’t they show him palling around with Darla, Spike, & Dru again? Darla mentioned in 1900 he’d been killing murderers and thieves to put on a show of still being evil. Killing murderers is questionable, but thieves? Steal a loaf of bread, get chomped by a vampire? They could’ve done something with that.

Or, you know, they could’ve also just flashed back to this scene:

How many people died in that bout of violence? 20-30?

But no. We get “ohhhhhh noo, Angel fed on a dead guy!!!!!!11!1” and are expected to care. Like puhlease. Give me a break.

MEANWHILE BACK IN THE HYPERION

Willow coming to the rescue was great. The best thing about crossover characters/cameos is the chatter.

So yeah. Wesley & Willow’s scene was amazing. I loved how Wesley was like “you couldn’t possibly understand my pain” and Willow was all, “ummm... yeah, about that... I flayed a guy last spring.” And I think that more that anything hit home how you don’t need to be the dark & edgy, more adult version of a show to have serious shit going down.

Also I’m glad that the Willow/Fred UST was called out because through-out the whole episode I was like, “daaaamn Alyson.... you are standing in the same room as your husband and are having 9000 times the chemistry with Amy Acker than him rn.”

But all’s well that ends well and Angel’s soul is popped back in, just in time for Cordelia to come down the steps wearing an ensemble that just SCREAMS, “I AM EVIL”. Surely our heroes will notice?!?

Episode 16 (Players)

Spoilers, our heroes don’t notice.

I’ve really been snoring to death on the evil Cordy thing (mostly because I hate Connor and all of Cordy’s lines have been reduced to “but Connor! think about the baby! think about us!”), so I’m gonna focus on the Gunn & Gwen subplot. Or main plot? IDK, I liked it a whole lot better than the baby drama.

Gunn is fascinating. He’s like the Xander of the LA team, but if Xander had maintained his soldier experience/role? Although I hated the fact that the Gunn/Fred relationship drama was happening in the midst of all the other drama, I’m actually kind of glad it happened because it did/does expose key issues in both their self-perception of each other + themselves.

In Gunn’s case, namely that he’s not smart. Or rather, he’s not book smart, because Gunn is hella smart. He can think on his feet, he can improvise, he can strategize... but all that pales and his confidence wanes when put beside the others.

Because when’s the last time he had to play a part and be all sneaky? When’s the last time he gotta to devise a battle plan (Angel & Wesley are the ones always taking charge)?

This episode really took the kernel that was planted back in Supersymmetry re: Gunn accompanying Fred and trying to care about what she cares about even though he understands 0% of it vs Wesley openly being able to discuss her arguments and positions...

It’s like, no, a relationship doesn’t require both partners to understand the other’s job, but when Fred has dedicated her entire LIFE to understanding physic principles, it DOES create a gap. It’s this untouchable, unknowable part of her brain that will always be unknowable as long as Gunn remains uneducated. Which he will.

And that’s not an insult because, hell, even I’d be uneducated compared to Fred & Wesley, but it’s like...

To pull an example from my own life, I recently went on a first date that went really, really well. At one point the topic switched into movies and we literally spent the next TWO HOURS talking about movies. Talking about narrative, talking about cinematography, talking about editing, talking about film as a medium as a whole and how the best film stories are the ones that can only be told through film and it was AMAZING. And yeah, I just think of that vs other dates where I’ve asked the other person what kind of movies they liked and they’ve just said “eh, superhero movies are good i guess” or “i haven’t had much time recently for movies,” and it’s like, sure, not being passionate about movies isn’t a dealkiller, but film/tv love takes up such a HUGE part of my brain that NOT clicking with it is always going to leave a significant deadspace re: things that are frequently on my mind vs things I know I can converse about.

Yeah.

TL;DR, both Fred & Gunn deserve people that they can not only be cute and loving with, but also passionate. Like mentally passionate.

Episode 17 (Inside Out)

I hated this episode. I mean, yes. Woo Lorne, acting the bait but otherwise??

Ouch.

Like... Angel knew Cordelia was evil by the way she said “my sweet”? Really? That was your master clue-by-four? You know it’s lame when you have to do a flashback all Mr. Monk style and LITERALLY EXPLAIN IT TO THE AUDIENCE.

IDK, part of me’s just remembering BtVS S3 Enemies and how damn good THAT reveal was.

But yeah. Oh no, Connor and Cordelia run off. Oh no, Angel angst.

And then Connor just continues to be THE WORST. Like kidnap a girl and ignore the voice of his dead mom and then murder the crying girl THE WORST.

Like JESUS CHRIST. Your dad and... pseudo-nephew? Is Spike Connor’s psuedo-nephew? That’s messed up. Anyway, Your dad and pseudo-nephew at least had the No Soul Get Out of Jail Free card. What’s your excuse?

And, yes, evil!Cordy has been brainwashing him, but not to this extent surely! Like Holtz was screwed up, but he spent 15+ years instilling right vs wrong into him. And even if was swayed into confusion, CRYING GIRL PLEADING FOR HER LIFE. WHAT IS CONFUSING ABOUT THAT?

CONNOR YOU ARE THE WORST.

And then everything continues to go to shit and Cordelia gives birth to Gina Torres.

End episode apparently.

Episode 18 (Shiny Happy People)

My one complaint is that it took way too long for the ball to drop. (Not surprisingly, I had this same reaction to Madoka Magica: Rebellion--30m in of wtf dreamland vs eventual dark reality.)

But then once it did.

HOLY SHIT, FRED. I LOVE YOU.

I didn’t realize how much Fred had gotten side-lined this season until this episode and that’s a tragedy because Fred slayed it in this episode.

And omg, that one cut to Jasmine’s true face. HOLY SHIT, HOLY SHIT, HOLY SHIT, WHY THE FUCK DID THEY DO THAT. I watched this episode right before going to bed. I was not prepared for that! I was not okay with that!

Like, even now, I am too scared and revolted to scroll back through the episode and rewatch/pause that scene.

I’m just wigged.

Completely wigged.

Gah.

But yeah. Currently Fred is the only sane one and completely segregated from the rest of the cast + 99.5% of LA. How is she going to get out of this one? I honestly have no idea and for the first time in forever Angel has ended on a cliff hanger I actually get a fuck about so as soon as I hit “Post” I am headed off to watch the next episode.

That’s it for now, folks! Until next time, I’m gonna close out on my favorite line of this set of eps.

#angel #angel the series #ats #orpheus #shiny happy people #clacks from theclacks

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ramialkarmi · 6 years

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Sarah Jessica Parker explains the big tone shift in season 2 of HBO's 'Divorce': 'I don't want it to seem like we have no backbone'

Sarah Jessica Parker explained why she and the writers brightened up the dark tone of her show, "Divorce," for season two, which premieres Sunday night on HBO.

The actor and producer said that it was important to show a divorced couple that actually gets along.

She's confident in season two, but still wonders if they made the right narrative decisions by doing a time jump, which skips over a major event at the end of season one.

Parker also discussed the benefits of working with a female showrunner, and on a more diverse set featuring more female directors.

When Sarah Jessica Parker starts talking about her current HBO show, "Divorce," you can instantly tell she loves it the same way many of her fans love her iconic HBO show, "Sex and the City."

But it hasn't exactly reached that status for the general public. The first season had its moments, but even with a wealth of talent, the show hadn't found its voice yet. But in season two, producer/star Parker and company figured it out — so much that the season left me wanting more. And when I told Parker how much I loved the season, she lit up.

HBO's half-hour comedy "Divorce" follows of Frances (Parker) and Robert Dufresne (Thomas Haden Church), a couple living in the picturesque New York City suburb of Hastings on Hudson as they go through a tumultuous divorce. They have a son and daughter together, both teens.

The first season, which premiered on HBO in 2016, got mixed reviews. It was a little darker than people were expecting, and a bit superficial in its portrayal of a couple that hates each other. And it ended on a sour note in its season finale: Frances, who cheated on Robert and tells him she wants a divorce in the first episode, plans to take their children away for the weekend amidst arguments over custody. While Frances is driving on the highway, she gets pulled over and arrested for kidnapping her own children, who are in the car. Robert is the one who called the police.

But "Divorce" is a story that Parker really believes in, and her passion shows in season two. It's a vast improvement from season one. It's more pleasant, funny, and takes advantage of its talented cast, which includes Molly Shannon, Tracy Letts, and Talia Balsam. It also surpasses the superficial elements that brought down season one by showing a divorce that works because the characters care about each other.

Business Insider sat down with Parker at HBO's New York office in January and discussed the narrative choices for season two (and whether or not they made they right ones), changing the tone of the show without losing its voice, and the benefits of working with a female showrunner.

Season two of "Divorce" starts on HBO Sunday, January 14.

Carrie Wittmer: Season one was a lot darker than most people expected, and ended on a very dark note. I loved season two because it's more comedic than season one, but feels like the same show.

Sarah Jessica Parker: Ok, good. I'm so pleased.

Wittmer: The tonal shift wasn't stark, which can happen when other shows change things up a bit. What was it like adjusting to a new, lighter environment on set?

Parker: I think we all knew even before Jenny [Bicks, who replaced Paul Simms as showrunner when he left over creative differences] came on, that we couldn't be completely entrenched in battle, that this had to be this season of hope. We looked at it as promise: Why do you liberate yourself from a marriage when it's that painful? What is the point? It's because you expect that there are other opportunities. My only concern was the very thing that you said: I don't want to do a bait and switch, because it's gonna look like we have no backbone. It would look like we didn't trust ourselves the first season, which I did. I still like that darkness — I personally love that, because it felt so cinematic to me and it felt not like television in a lot of ways. I'm hopeful that just even hearing you say it that we found a way to marry the two without sacrificing the things that were important.

Wittmer: Definitely. Season two shows that Frances and Robert, who were hostile toward each all through season one, are still kind of in love, and always will be in some way, but they had to move on. What's your favorite part of their relationship?

Parker: My favorite part as an actor is just being with Thomas [Haden Church]. That's the truth. The hardest part of season two was being separated from him. To have Thomas taken away was really hard for me because the irony of divorce is that the person you're trying to separate from, you need the most to complete this. You need the person to work alongside you. So for me, the best part of their relationship is the time that we got to be together in new ways. We had to figure it out and experience it for the first time just like the audience. I like that they are good together. I like that they have an involuntary kind of chemistry, and a strange, inexplicable affection.

Wittmer: You opted to skip the divorce proceedings. The second season has a slight time jump, which opens with Frances and Robert signing divorce papers. Just like that, they're done. It's very been there, done that. Was there a lot of debate over whether or not to show the proceedings?

Parker: Oh, yes. So the first question was: Where do we pick up? Is it 20 minutes later? Is it two weeks later? Is it two months, six months? My great concern I had was that we had to figure out a way how to address what happened on the side of the highway. [In the season one finale, Frances takes the kids away on a trip. Robert calls the police on her, claiming the kids have been kidnapped. Police pull Frances over and arrest her on the side of the highway with the kids in the car]. To not do it, it felt lazy, almost like we couldn't figure out how to do it, that it was too complicated, that we had painted ourselves into a corner. I kept assuming we were going to. So there was that to hash out, and really have some very robust disagreements about. And then there was, how much are we showing and telling? And how much is necessary? None of us wanted a procedural.

Wittmer: I think it was the right decision. So many films and shows have covered divorce proceedings. We already know what happens.

Parker: I'm still not sure if we did right by the highway. Like, we didn't really deal with it.

Wittmer: I liked how it wasn't directly addressed. It was a huge theme throughout the season that Frances and Robert love each other so much that they put this horrible thing so far behind them that we never even hear them mention it. Frances could use it against him, but she never does. The decision to leave it alone helped me understand their relationship, I think.

Parker: Ok, good. I was so worried

Wittmer: Don't be. I really liked that. I love it when shows don't feel the need to address everything. It's just something that sits with you.

Parker: I just wanted to make sure it didn't look like we were just looking scared.

Wittmer: I didn't get that impression at all. I know that you, as a producer on the show, and HBO in general, are trying to get more female directors and more diversity on set. I think there were more female directors on season two than season one.

Parker: Yes, there were.

Wittmer: Was there a different vibe on set compared to some other projects you've worked on?

Parker: This has been something our company [Pretty Matches] has been trying to do, not arbitrarily, because I don't think it's very helpful when you put out the call, like ... "all women and people of color and diversity!" But we really just want to look for the people that deserve to be storytelling with you. And that means in all departments across the set, from mixers to set dressing to the production office. It's just good for everybody. Personal experiences are shared in lots of ways: they don't just have to be shared in the writers room. It does change the environment, it changes the climate, the tone of the set. I've spent a lot of years in my career with women. And it's very pleasant, you know? And I think it's good for us. It's very interesting when Jenny [Bicks] came on, I had never worked with her as a showrunner. I'd only ever worked with her as a staff writer on "Sex and the City." But she came on and I was like, "Damn, things just got done." It's so interesting to see a woman running this show this way, because it was like the way I work — we get it done! Get it done!

Wittmer: In this season, Frances had more scenes with her friends. There's not many shows that tell the stories of middle aged men and women with lives outside of being mothers or grandmas.

Parker: Right, right. You're right.

Wittmer: Was this something you wanted to showcase in season two? I would honestly watch a show just about Frances and friends.

Parker: Yeah. And we wanted even more. Not to the exclusion of Thomas, but to find a way to let those stories unfold a little bit more. I was SO happy — I love Talia [Balsam] so much and I love Molly [Shannon] so much and that was definitely an enormously joyful part and I selfishly would've liked more.

You can watch the trailer for season two of "Divorce" below. If you haven't seen the first season, you can stream it on HBONow or HBOGo.

SEE ALSO: Critics cannot stop gushing about 'Paddington 2,' the best-reviewed movie of 2018 with an 100% on Rotten Tomatoes

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