#how he - having been poor all his life by inference of dialogue - does what he can to stop them from being poor | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

know-the-way · 1 year

Text

Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears Discourse(?)(maybe idk?)

So… at this point I’ve watched the entire 3 series and film. Twice. I was going to post episode reactions for series 2 and 3, but I really need to skip ahead to Crypt of Tears because I have… questions. If anyone knows the answer or potential answer to any of them, please weigh in because I am just… struggling to understand some of the narrative decisions they made here.

(Btw, overall I enjoyed it, so I don’t want it to seem like I’m coming from a solely negative perspective - obviously, the last 5 minutes in particular… talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show stopping, spectacular, never the same, etc etc. I may do a separate ‘things I enjoyed’ post. I just needed to talk this out. lol)

****Full warning, this is a very long post, I am so sorry in advance.****

1. Alright, first things first - wtf do you mean it’s been a YEAR since she left Melbourne?! What was she doing that whole time? Like obviously, you could infer that she got caught up in local shenanigans and hadn’t seen everything to a satisfactory end yet, but I feel it would’ve taken maybe 1-2 minutes to just briefly explain that for the audience’s sake.

I also totally understand that they were attempting to make a stand alone project that could be independent of the series, so referencing where the series left off would be antithetical to that. HOWEVER, I think at the point where fans of the series invested $1 million… that should have maybe made tying up loose ends from the series a bit more of a priority?

I also saw that they hoped to garner new audiences from the film. And maybe it’s just me, idk, but - I’m a new audience and the only thing that brought me to the film was the knowledge that I had 3 seasons worth of backstory to immerse myself in beforehand. There are very few scenarios in my mind that would’ve had me watching just the film and nothing else. So… help.

2. Similar to question 1 - SIX WEEKS?! Where was she for six whole weeks? How did she escape the train? Was it like a Bear Grylls situation out in the desert for a while or did she have to barter with local villages or something? Just again… 1-2 lines of dialogue and I’d be good. Instead, I’m just sitting here confused like, “okay cool, I’m super glad you’re alive and stuff, but um… HOW?!”**

(**acutely aware that this is how Jack must feel all the time) (and he deserves a pint from the pub for his troubles ‘cause omg)

3. SPEAKING OF JACK - *r2d2 screech* This poor man. Jesus. How many times does he have to grieve the love of his life? It’s kinda rude at this point.

I’ve read articles with the writers where they talked about wanting Phryne to be strong and independent without emasculating Jack as a character. And I remember thinking, “Yes! They do such an excellent job of finding that balance in the show and it’s really satisfying. It’s one of the things I love most about their dynamic - the freedom to be themselves while still having this very strong collaborative connection.”

^These scenes, though? Whaaaatttt happened? 🫠 I don’t think it emasculated him, but Phryne’s almost non-reaction to him being there… grieving her... it comes off kind of insensitive and perplexing at its bare bones, to me.

Upon a few rewatches of that scene, I’ve been able to slowly formulate potential justifications for her behavior - i.e. she did tell him to come after her and he didn’t, so maybe she lost hope on her end and dove into the first perilous mystery she could find to help herself get over him. Thus, when she finds out he’s there for her memorial service, I could see her inwardly going, “Okay wow, it took me dying for you to make any moves whatsoever. Cool. Good to know I’m only worth the trip if I’m not here anymore. (Hence, the ‘And I’m very sorry that I’m not dead!’ line later.)”

Which would be a fair point, imo, and they do have a track record of just… infuriating miscommunication, but ultimately… it’s all still hypothetical. We aren’t given any actual, spoken insight into her motivations or feelings in regards to Jack (the smallest glimpse we get is her teary eyes outside the door at his guesthouse along with the “damn it, Jack” line). So, without any further follow-up clarification in the film - at face value, that scene is harsh and almost callous imo. And, despite their many conflicts in the show, there was never once where I felt they weren’t at least making an effort to understand each other. Like there is never a point in the film where they take a moment to acknowledge the time lost between them. They don’t get to have that (necessary) release of emotion and mutual understanding (there’s no nightcap moment), so it just feels incomplete.

4. I promise not to make all of these redundant, but the quicksand scene. Obviously, I love it ~*for reasons*~, but I found myself once again choosing a side (Jack’s)???? Which, throughout the entirety of the tv series, I never chose a side between them ‘cause I could always understand both of their perspectives. In this scene and the reunion scene, I’m left confused both times about Phryne’s perspective. Maybe because Mac isn’t there to pull the full truth out of her just afterwards? That’s probably it.

But her lumping Jack in with “any other man” she doesn’t need to explain herself to - either that was a fear response or a flat out dishonest one. Girl quit playin’… we all know he’s not just any other man and we all know he has never tried to change you or take charge of you. Please, the bottom-leaning switch vibes that come off that man… he LIVES for you telling him what to do. He doesn’t want to control you, he just wANTS TO BE BESIDE YOU. GOD.

I so didn’t want to be frustrated with Phryne (I love her**) and I was honestly upset that I was, but there was just something… missing in both these instances for me (vulnerability maybe? idk) and I can’t quite get it to add up. It really probably was a lack of Mac, though.

(**again, Me 🤝 Jack, complicated feelings for a complex modern woman, we’ll both be at the bar if you need us)

5. Last one - “Is this your idea of sweet nothings?” “I thought they were out of the question?” “They are. Continue.”

Did I miss a scene where they laid ground rules for their partnership going forward in Shirin’s case? Or was that something that was cut/not included? Because… if there was a scene of them discussing that before Jack agreed to stay… that would have taken care of most of what I said above in and of itself.

(But no fr… did I miss a scene? Is my copy broken? Help?)

Gonna Leave on a Positive Note, because if you asked me if the below scene made it all worth it, I’d have to say yes:

#mfmm #if i come off too heated - i promise i’m not taking it that serious #rant vibes but not an actual rant #just talking out loud

68 notes · View notes

voyageofthenautilus · 1 year

Text

Mod Blue's Thoughts

Finally able to write up my thoughts on the last few chapters of 20k Leagues. Both myself and Mod Pluto have been very busy with other things, so we may not getting around to reading/reblogging everyone's posts in a timely manner, but I personally have been enjoying following along with what everyone has to say!

The Red Sea

-I like Aronnax's knowing, "hint-hint" comment to Nemo at the end of this chapter: " It would be most unfortunate if such a secret were to die with its inventor!” And how Nemo just changes the subject immediately. Come to think of it, I love the way the dialogue in this story is structured. Lots of back and forth without too many descriptions of the way it's being spoken, or what the characters are doing/how they look when they say it, and yet the dialogue itself completely gets across the way they're saying it and how they look. Reminds me of a script, almost.

-I wonder if Nemo praising the French explorers (de Lesseps is not the first one he praised in the story) is Verne's attempt at misdirecting the readers into believing that he's a Frenchman. (That, and the scene where [SPOILERS].) That would be very ironic if he were, and Aronnax didn't recognize a fellow countryman... but we all know he isn't (and I believe that can be inferred even without reading The Mysterious Island). Funny, then, that Nemo should have so much respect for the French, and now here's a Frenchman who showed up on the Nautilus- maybe that's one reason why he's attracted to him, because he admires his country.

-"There can be no secrets between men who will never leave each other." DAMN.

Arabian Tunnel

-Ned's skepticism about the tunnel at the beginning of the chapter is so amusing to me. "Who ever heard of such malarkey?" LOL. And of course, he's proven wrong.

-Actually, Ned is amusing throughout this whole chapter. "We're old chums, whales and I, and I couldn't mistake their little ways." LOL again. And "I've never killed anything like that!" (I'm honestly starting to wonder why Ned was made Canadian and not American, as some of his traits seem very stereotypically American- but I also enjoy that he COMPLETELY subverts the "nice Canadian" stereotype! (which of course is probably a more modern thing...))

-It's adorable how Conseil genuinely believed the dugong was a mermaid for like, half a second. That, and the comment about a second Nautilus. Does nothing faze this man?

-...Something tells me that dugongs don't work the way Jules Verne thinks they work.

The Greek Islands

-So yeah, the "neutral like Switzerland" quote was an invocation of Twilight, and I am so pleased to know there are people out there for whom this phrase was NOT ruined (because they never read the books/saw the movies), because my brain is unable to divorce this phrase from Kristen Stewart's delivery of it in the movie Eclipse. Anyway: things are starting to come to a head here, and it's about time. Aronnax has been thoroughly dazzled and absorbed by the Nautilus, and Ned is not having it at all. He has a life that he wants to get back to. No amount of scientific research and wonders can obscure the fact that he's a prisoner. And he's not going to accept any vague "surely this voyage will end!" comments from Aronnax, because deep down (or not so deep down), Aronnax doesn't want to leave, and Ned knows that if one person stays, everyone else will stay. So he's ready to make a decision, which Aronnax is not ready to do in the least. Acckkk, this conflict gets so much harder to read as the story goes along...

-Also, poor Conseil really needs to stop living and dying by Aronnax's decisions, as I said at the beginning of the book. But I feel like he might choose to stay as well, which complicates things for Ned even further.

-Originally I had the Feb. 14 and 15 emails scheduled as one big entry, before I realized that the 15th can be sent as its own email, so the heading we got for Feb. 14 is more appropriate for Feb. 15... but Valentine's Day or not, I fully believe that infodumping to Aronnax IS Nemo's love language.

-Y'all are so much smarter than me. Even having read this book a few times, I was just as much in the dark as Aronnax was about what Nemo was up to with the gold ingots.

-Speaking of which... the scene with Nemo doing all of this in full view of Aronnax and then immediately brushing it off, BWAHAHAHAHA.

The Mediterranean In Forty-Eight Hours

-"It was obvious to me that this Mediterranean, pinned in the middle of those shores he wanted to avoid, gave Captain Nemo no pleasure. Its waves and breezes brought back too many memories, if not too many regrets. " Kind of an oddly specific assumption to make, there...

-Interesting to read the bit about how the Earth will die from losing its heat. If anything, it's seemed to me in modern times that the Earth will die from becoming TOO hot. And funny comment about the Moon, too- now that the theory that the Moon was once a chunk of Earth that broke off in some sort of collision and fell into the planet's orbit has become the most commonly accepted one when it comes to how the Moon was formed, I'm very amused by the thought of people thinking in Verne's time that it had simply "lost its vital heat" like they predicted the Earth would eventually. (If I'm wrong about anything I've said here, please correct me!)

-“Then we have ample time to finish our voyage,” Conseil replied, “if Ned Land doesn’t mess things up!” Lmao, burn. Someone's feeling a little testy when it comes to Mr. Land? (I feel like this definitely shows that Conseil would prefer to stay on board, regardless of his "master.")

-"...although his catalog is a little dry..." Speak for yourself, Aronnax!

The Bay of Vigo

-Wow, Aronnax has got it BAD for Nemo, secretly hoping that Ned's plan will fail and worrying about causing him distress by leaving. Oh, Aronnax.

-"Never was hospitality more wholehearted than his." You say about the dude who drugged you and locked you in your room to keep you from spying on him?

-There's the portraits of freedom fighters! Yes!! Nemo definitely places himself among them, as we are going to see later in the chapter.

-I said it already, but that one part in this chapter where Nemo bursts in and completely derails Aronnax's train of thought never fails to amuse me, and is one of my favorite Nemo moments in the whole book.

-I'm half-convinced that Nemo knew they were planning to escape that night (although how would he know that?), because it seems VERY convenient that he'd show Aronnax the treasure of the Bay of Vigo right when Aronnax was planning to leave, thus ensnaring him further. (That, and the physical impossibility of getting to the surface in time...)

-FUCK YEAH the ending of this chapter! Nemo is 100% right in this regard (in my opinion anyway). When Aronnax was talking about the company assigned to recover the lost treasure, I was thinking... "there's no way he seriously believes the wealth would ever be distributed to those who need it?" But then again, Aronnax has proven himself to be surprisingly naïve and idealistic when it comes to the government and corporations (and tbh, naïve when it comes to individuals as well, seeing how deeply he trusts in Nemo). If only his love for Nemo would radicalize him... but his privilege may stand in the way of that.

A Lost Continent

-Major eye-roll at Aronnax trying to convince Ned that Nemo's not all that bad, really. Ned is already 100% set in his opinion that they need to get the hell off this ship and nothing Aronnax can say will change that. In fact, Ned probably just hears (what sounds to him like) demented ravings when Aronnax is talking about Nemo and what he witnessed.

-As for the rest of the chapter: GORGEOUS. And what a romantic notion in general, of Atlantis being discovered and explored under the sea.

#voyage of the nautilus #votn #thoughts from mod blue

10 notes · View notes

k-s-morgan · 3 years

Note

This is going to be a long ask ! I am rewatching Hannibal, with some particular attention to the therapy sessions between Will and Hannibal where Hannibal is trying to talk about Will repressed darker side, guiding him gently to open up. In s1E2 - after Hannibal gives Will a clearance, they have this conversation - Hannibal says Hobbs is his victim, Will says he isn't his victim he just considers him dead. Hannibal seems to be very honestly trying to understand Will here. Cont to part 2

part 2 He seems to pause to think and then asks 'is it harder to imagine the thrill someone else feels killing now that you have done it yourself ?" Will nods in affirmation and his expression is very striking - first he is blank then slowly nods in affirmation almost with a sense of guilt and confession and submission. Then Hannibal looks like he is trying to make sense of it, as if he didn't expect this direct a reply.. he lets the thought sit, then he changes the topic deliberately.

changes the topic deliberately as if to lighten the situation. You can see it all, I think this is one of the moments Hannibal is trying his best to analyse Will's psyche and find the best course of action trying to help him. But I am still lost what exactly transpires between the two. 'is it harder to imagine the thrill someone else feels killing now that you have done it yourself ?" and 'yes' as a reply - what does it really mean, and why it hits Hannibal so hard.

Also what about 'I don't consider him my victim, I just consider him dead', does it mean denial or the fact that Will feels he deserved it so victimhood doesn't arrive ?

------------------------------------------------

Hi! Thank you for such a great ask. Hannibal's therapy is often unexplored, I feel like I never talked much about its specifics.

What Will says: I don't consider Hobbs my victim. I consider him dead.

To me, this is an indication of Will's cold righteousness that was present in S1. Hobbs was a bad person who deserved to die. Labels like 'victim' or 'killer' are redundant now, largely like Hobbs' entire identity because dead meat is dead meat. Will believes he had the right to judge him - like Hannibal, who judges the rude, he made his verdict and he doesn't regret it. What he's concerned about is the pleasure of taking life that he can't shake off now.

What Hannibal infers from it: he realizes that Will has a preference for killers here. He might have suspected it before, but now he's absolutely sure. Will might enjoy taking lives, but he requires a justification, so going after bad people is the best outlet for his violence.

What Hannibal asks: Is it harder to imagine the thrill someone else feels killing now that you have done it yourself?

I think it's an euphemism that also works as misdirection for the audience. People likely think, "Oh, poor Will, now that he killed someone, it felt so ugly that he can't imagine why anyone would enjoy it and it screws with his work." But Will and Hannibal's later dialogue contradicts it, so I'm going with the euphemism version. Hannibal is basically asking, "Is it more difficult to focus on the pleasure of other killers now that you've experienced this pleasure yourself?" In even simpler words, "You feel so high on murder now, other killers' feelings must pale in comparison."

Hannibal's trying to be very careful with Will, and Will is surprisingly open since he feels accepted. He confirms that yes, it is more difficult to imagine the pale thrill now that he tried the real thing. A bonus thing from the script: "Hannibal appreciates the simple honesty of Will's answer." This is what he has been trying to do: to get Will to admit how he feels about becoming a killer.

Why Hannibal reacts relatively strongly and what he infers: he gets his confirmation once again, and it's far more solid now. Will indeed likes killing, even if he hasn't said it directly yet. Will also feels ashamed to be confessing even this much, so Hannibal changes the topic so as not to overwhelm him.

Slowly and gradually, his approach leads us to the end of this episode where Will confesses directly that yes, he indeed liked killing Hobbs so much that he wanted to kill Stammets just to re-create the feeling he got. Until this moment, the audience remained confused - I'm sure not everyone deciphered the subtext correctly from the first go. But at the end of E2, we get text showing what Will really struggles with, and it’s a validation of what Hannibal sees in him.

#hannibal #will graham #hannigram #meta

59 notes · View notes

dadsbongos · 4 years

Text

Hargreeves Kids in Order of Their Problems (and do i have a problem?)

No secret that the Hargreeves children are all fucked up, but as I was re-watching I was like damn - what if we ranked them? So here we go, I’m ranking all the Hargreeves’ spawn by their pain; taking into account their trauma with and without Reginald (mostly for Five/Klaus) and how bad it messed them up. I’ll be sticking mostly to the first season because that’s where a lot of the meat is, but I might include a tiny peek into season two.

Also, I will be directly addressing the frequent question I ask myself “Am I attracted to trauma when it comes to characters?” by looking at my favorites and if they’re all deeply scarred.

S Tier Pain - Five Hargreeves:

Not only was he forced to endure Reginald’s abusive training regime (at least until the haha moment), but he also got stuck in the future after a miscalculated time jump. You’d think that’d be bad enough, what with no longer being able to see your family, but no. Well, technically he did see them when he found their dead bodies but that’s just more to Five’s suffering. He also got jammed into a post-Apocalyptic life where he was the sole survivor and had to live all on his own (though he had Dolores, which is a whole can of sad, loneliness worms we don’t have time for). Then to make matters worse he was taken into the Commission where he was turned into as assassin for years, to which he quit early to save his family from the Apocalypse. After the first one - yes, the first - and arriving in the 60s, Five got to see a glimpse of his siblings dying to the second one. All he ever does is for his family’s survival, even if it means his misery. In season one (and two) he makes a deal with the Handler, who he can’t stand, just to

maybe

ensure she’ll protect his loved ones from the end of the world. He willingly works with a woman he hates and likely doesn’t trust so his family would be safe. And who could forget that redheaded lady in the bowling alley, like gosh, she really ruined his life by assuming his age like that... poor guy.

A Tier Pain - Klaus Hargreeves:

Unlike Five, he got to stick around for the entirety of Reggie’s cuck ways of abusing his kids physically/emotionally/mentally. From a young age (if that episode two lunch scene is anything), Klaus has been using drugs as a way to cope with his family life and his power. His addiction has led to a rather sad life, as evident from the first episode and some of his own dialogue - he’s not used to staying in one place, if anything his visits to rehab centers are the longest homes he really has. He’s not expected to stay sober long by the counter employee, indicating he’s been there before multiple times. When talking to Five outside of the prosthetic department, he outright admits he hasn’t been with someone for longer than about two weeks. He’s never shown to even hold down a job unless you count supplying local pawn shops - or, you know, the army. He served in war, straight up war, he likely has PTSD and to make things better, note the sarcasm, he lost his boyfriend in that war. Dave, the one person he’s described as loving more than he does himself. Klaus is constantly brushed under the rug as this crazy, attention-seeking junkie for most of season one by his family, but he’s more likely just calling for the help he clearly needs. Speaking of his family, I just wanna throw in that Klaus was kidnapped and tortured and not one person seemed to notice or even care.

B Tier Pain - Vanya Hargreeves:

Neglected by her adoptive father and siblings her entire life, Vanya was left out of the loop of even her own powers until she discovered them fucking decades later. She wrote a book trying to air out her father’s awful deeds and rather than finding solidarity with their shared agony at least a little, her siblings pushed her even further away. Quick mention, during the argument on whether or not to turn off Grace, she was immediately shut down on an opinion until she was shown to agree with Diego. Her vote didn’t matter until she sided with another sibling. Vanya grew up so starved for attention and love that when she got into her first relationship with Leonard (that bitchy murderer) she mistook it for a real love. Stayed with an abusive, gaslighting killer against all her sister’s warnings. She was betrayed by her own brother (fuck Luther, me and the homies hate Luther) after coming home, sobbing and pleading forgiveness, just wanting to help into being locked back in that vault Reginald used to keep her in. Vanya snapped, felt there was no other outlet and truly there possibly wasn’t for her, and ended the world. She was in so much pain, so angry with her life and how it was ruined by her own family that she blew up the moon. And honestly? I’m not even mad at her for it.

C Tier Pain - Diego Hargreeves:

Dude found his ex-girlfriend’s - and probably his potential love interest’s - corpse. He’s aching inside at least a bit. His spot as Number Two fueled a deep need to prove himself, whether he admits it or not, it’s why he’s a vigilante. Diego functions off of stopping crime and it’s only different from his childhood because he does it alone. He feels the need to validate what he went through, as if his suffering needs to be explained in some way. Speaking of childhoods, who gives them to us? Moms. Grace is his robo-Mom with no real sentience (well, before Cha-Cha and Hazel raided the place anyway, reboot Grace has some weird independence complex going on). She read to him, put him to bed, and fed his Mama’s Boy fixation - even going as far as to help Diego with his stutter. He put her down, in the robot sense. Diego was the first person to speak against shutting Grace down and yet he did so himself - knowing it’s what had to happen.

D Tier Pain - Ben Hargreeves:

He’s dead, so I’m not sure what he’s gone through other than having “The Horror” in his stomach and Reginald as a dad. So there’s not much to say about his trauma other than having to sit through watching people die horribly by his power’s hand. But again, he’s dead, and dying is one of the most traumatic things I can think of. That’s why he’s higher than the others but still lower than the previous four Hargreeves’ kids.

E Tier Pain - Allison Hargreeves:

She’s known as a “Daddy’s Girl” how that’s possible with Reginald, I’m not sure, but she is. Not to excuse any of the torment she got as a child or give the abuse a pass, at all. It’s just an inference that as Number Three and someone who easily got what she wanted with her power, she probably didn’t feel out-casted like Vanya. Nor was she left to survive on her own and then kill to live like Five. Allison, in all fairness, was viciously attacked by her sister after revealing she “Rumored” her memory away. Unlike Ben, she survived and went on to be the peaceful one of the family and her power didn’t directly kill, especially in ways that “The Horror” did. So I must rank her pain lower with a sad bob in my throat, nervous that all the Allison lovers will scream at/cancel me for putting her at E.

F Tier Pain - Luther Hargreeves:

Fuck Luther, me and the homies hate Luther. This little fuck found something out of proving himself to his father. So far up his dad’s ass that he was cool with being a monkey space boy for years until he realized Reginald didn’t give a shit about him. And honestly? Same. No but really, he did become a monkey man purely out of Reginald’s need for a hero to do what he said - and Luther couldn’t fill that if he was dead. I do recognize that his life was essentially wasted by his years spent on the moon, blindly following Dad’s orders but to be honest, he’s too in the background. He had nothing other than his father and therefore lost nothing other than his family, it’s hard to feel bad when you know he had no intention of doing anything other than be by Reginald. No plans unlike Klaus who had his life decimated by his drugs dependency or fuck, Five! Five had absolutely no life other than living through the Apocalypse for decades. Overall, I hate Luther but even though I can’t stand his gorilla guts, I do recognize that he has trauma.

~~~Do I Have A Problem?~~~ Considering that Five and Klaus are my favorite characters and they are the most traumatized? Yes, I am unnecessarily in love with characters in pain. I didn’t want to be a mannequin before I knew about Five, and now I crave to morph into Dolores (or at least combine with her like a Power Ranger)

#the umbrella academy #tua #number five #five hargreeves #klaus hargreeves #vanya hargreeves #diego hargreeves #ben hargreeves #allison hargreeves #luther hargreeves #five the umbrella academy #klaus the umbrella academy #vanya the umbrella academy #diego the umbrella academy #ben the umbrella academy #allison the umbrella academy #anti luther hargreeves #fuck monky space boy

33 notes · View notes

gaisensei · 5 years

Text

The Eight Gates

So, I don’t have a life so here’s my analysis of Rock Lee, Surgery + The Eight Gates.

Ignoring that its most likely Kishimoto’s bad writing, I’m beginning to think that Lee’s surgery wasn’t as big of a success as Tsunade thought

More under the cut, read panels from right to left!

SO, we know that Lee couldn’t open any gates when first promoted to Genin, at age 12. But he could open five by the time he was 13, AKA during the Chūnin exams. So let’s say it took him approximately 12 months to open five gates.

Five gates in 12 months?

That’s about 0.42 gates per month. Lee was opening half a gate per month for a year. That’s one gate every TWO MONTHS. That’s crazy power and determination!!! Even Kakashi remarks how Lee must be a “genius” if he’s been able to open 5 gates by his age. (Kakashi himself can only open one, this also implies Gai hadn’t opened them by the same age).

Then Lee gets his ass handed to him by Gaara, and he has “numerous bone fragments lodged deep inside his vital nerves”, somehow including his spinal cord, as shown in the manga panels.

The surgery was skipped over very quickly in the manga, due to it occurring during the Sasuke Retrieval Arc. Basically, he had a 50% chance “at best” of surviving the operation and Tsunade was the only one who could do it. In the anime, Tsunade increased the chances, but not in the manga. It was 50/50. She even said that even it was a success, he would be “incapacitated for a long time,”.

Anyway, that’s a bit off topic. But he should not have been able to bounce back just hours rafter his surgery. Lee was out of action for approximately 1-2 months before the operation. It’s a success and immediately, he runs off and fights Kimimaro for Naruto. Gaara appears and remarks that he’s slower than before, which is understandable for after an operation. But does it stay that way?

After Lee gets better, there is about 4 years of no major conflict, where he can practice to his heart’s content. And boy do we know he would. Yet he only learns to open one more gate after 4 years?

That’s 1 gate in 48 months — 0.021 gates per month, compared to before, 0.42 per month. For comparison, it takes him TWO YEARS to open the same amount of gates he used to open in one month.

That’s a 95% difference. Poor Lee! Is he not discouraged?? Are the gates really that hard? To be frank, I wish I knew when Maito Gai had learnt what Gates, so I had some kind of hard comparison, however you can infer what he had achieved by 13 by Kakashi’s dialogue.

We know it took Dai 20 years to master it. And at most, it took Lee 16. The math is as follows:

Lee started opening gates at the age of 12. In Boruto he is said to be able to open the Seventh Gate, and thus, by extension, he can also theoretically open the Eighth. Naruto is 27 in Boruto, and Lee is a year older than him (Gai held his team back a year before putting them forward for the Chūnin exams). So in Boruto, Lee looks 50 is 28. 16 years to master vs 20? That’s not much of a difference. Guy started learning before he was 11, and mastered it by 27 the latest. 16 years???

Also, by the description of the last three Gates, it doesn’t seem like they should be that much harder than the first 5 to open, and the one step between Gate 7 and Gate 8 one simple move of stabbing your chest with your thumb.

I made a graph of how many Gates Lee opened in the spans of time, and you can see that after he gets injured, the rate of Gate opening drops significantly.

So, what I’m trying to say is that Kakashi thought Rock Lee was a genius for being able to open 5 Gates by the age of 13, implying that Gai was not able to open that many by his age, (Kakashi did not believe Gai was a genius) despite having a year’s head start on Lee (Dai taught Dai before he was a Chūnin, and Gai became a Chunin at age 11). This also means that it took Gai longer to open the first 5 Gates, but ended up opening them all in the same amount of time (16 years). If Lee continued opening the gates at the same rate he was before the Chūnin Exams, he would have mastered The Eight Gates by the age of 14.

I’m not sure if I’m making a lot of sense, but what I’m saying is Lee was a natural at The Eight Gates, not just a Genius of hard work, as Kakashi stated it’s not something you achieve by effort alone. He was opening gates at a rate that was shocking which suggests it was well above what Gai had achieved at Lee’s age. Lee’s ability to open gates dropped significantly after the fight. Some may put this down to the gates getting dramatically more difficult to open, but if that is so, Gai would not have been able to open the gates in the 16 years he did.

This means that despite Tsunade’s operation, the injury Lee sustained during the Chunin Exams damaged his body permanently and halted his progress in opening The Eight Gates. If he had not been injured by Gaara, Rock Lee would have well surpassed Dai and Gai, and mastered The Eight Gates in a lot less than 16 years.

#rock lee #naruto #naruto shippuden #naruto origins #boruto #maito gai #might guy #maito dai #might duy #gaara #kakashi hatake #gaisensei

201 notes · View notes

cometomecosette · 5 years

Text

MBTI and “Les Mis”: Hugo’s Éponine is an ENTP, musical Éponine is an ENFP

(In honor of the anniversary of Éponine’s death, I decided I may as well post this analysis I’ve been writing just for fun. Warning: long.)

Éponine is a hard character to label with a Myers-Briggs personality type. Various online sources have typed her as an ENTP, ENFP, ESFP, ESFJ, ISFP, INFP and INFJ. That’s not even considering the differences between her characterization in the novel and her characterization in the beloved musical adaptation. The musical’s Éponine is a romanticized figure compared to Hugo’s Éponine, and not only is her personality different, her presentation is too – where Hugo keeps Éponine’s inner world enigmatic, describing her almost entirely from other people’s points of view, the musical’s Éponine constantly pours out her romantic anguish over Marius in private soliloquies. Still, I’ve closely examined all her chapters in the novel and her scenes in the musical, compared and contrasted them with each other, and come to my own conclusions about her MBTI type. Personally, I see the novel’s Éponine as an ENTP and the musical’s Éponine as an ENFP.

Both Éponines are lively, outgoing girls who focus chiefly on the world and the people around them, not on inward contemplation (although the musical’s Éponine is more prone to the latter than Hugo’s). Both seem to favor concepts and possibilities rather than literal facts alone – although the possibilities Hugo’s Éponine fixates on tend to be goals she wants to achieve, while musical Éponine favors the possibility of romantic love and out-of-reach happiness. Both also seem to take a fluid approach to life, observing new stimuli and opportunities and responding to them rather than living by decisive plans of action. But in my view, Hugo’s Éponine, mentally unstable though she is, takes an inherently more pragmatic approach to life. One that’s focused on the usefulness of both things and people. Meanwhile, the musical’s Éponine focuses much more on emotion and emotional meaning.

It’s easy to see both Éponines as using Extraverted Intuition (Ne) as their dominant cognitive function: envisioning external patterns and possibilities outside of themselves, associated with exploration, imagination, and “what could be.” It’s also easy to view Introverted Sensing (Si) as their inferior function – internal knowledge of literal facts, associated with memory, tradition, and “what is.” Both Éponines have “what is” and “what could be” at war in their psyches, always reaching for “what could be,” but tragically dragged down by “what is.” (Although as we’ll see, their exact definitions of “what could be” and “what is” are different.) But it seems to me that Hugo’s Éponine has Introverted Feeling (Ti) and Extraverted Feeling (Fe) as her middle functions, while musical Éponine has Introverted Feeling (Fi) and Extraverted Thinking (Te). Hugo’s Éponine uses her Thinking function first, and uses it in an inward, analytical way to find the usefulness in external data, while her Feeling function comes second and is used chiefly to respond to emotional cues from the outside, not to examine her own emotions. Meanwhile, musical Éponine favors her Feeling function and uses it to deeply understand her own emotions and process external data through them, while her less-favored Thinking function is used for decisive, goal-achieving actions.

Hugo: We don’t know exactly when she falls in love with Marius (she speaks of having noticed him and watched him long before their first real meeting) but at least part of her love for him is based in his acts of practical kindness toward her. Long before they first speak, he saves her family from eviction by paying their rent. Later, her father sends her to Marius’s room to beg for more charity – and, implicitly, to offer him sexual favors in exchange. Marius treats her with unexpected respect, and despite his own poverty, he gives her five francs without demanding anything in return. This is what drives her to approach him later as a would-be friend. She’s moved by his useful actions.

Musical: When we first see the musical’s Marius and Éponine interact, they’ve already been friends for some time. But there’s no evidence that Marius has ever given her money or done anything to help her in a pragmatic way. Yet he’s warm and friendly to her, more so than Hugo’s Marius ever is, and much more so than an average person of bourgeois birth would have been in that era. The film version also shows her admiring his revolutionary fervor and his choice of integrity over wealth and status by cutting ties with his grandfather. His values and his kindly manner, as opposed to any pragmatically helpful actions, seem to be the basis for her love for him.

Hugo: In their first meeting, she lightly flirts with Marius, calls him a “pretty boy” and compliments his hair. While this might show her feelings for him, there’s also a pragmatic aspect to it: every implication is that she’s trying to sell herself to him for food money. She doesn’t flirt this way in any later scenes with him. She also leaves her shawl outside the door before she goes in to make herself look colder and more pitiful.

Musical: In their first scene together, she teases Marius and compliments his hair (or, in the film, compliments his idealistic talk), in dialogue inspired by their first meeting in the novel. But here they’re longtime friends and there’s no hint that she’s trying to sell herself to him. This is evidently her normal way of interacting with him (“I like the way you always tease” he says), driven entirely by her romantic feelings.

Hugo: When she interacts with Marius as a friend, she shows her feelings for him by offering to help him in pragmatic ways. When he seems unhappy, she wants to know how she can put her skills to good use and take action to solve the problem. She literally tells him “I can be of use” and “Make use of me.” Making herself useful is her love language.

Musical: When it comes to love languages, musical Éponine seems to favor “quality time” more than “acts of service.” As described above, she teases Marius, amuses him, listens to him and enjoys his friendliness. While of course she does useful deeds for him too, their connection is chiefly an emotional one on both sides.

Hugo: She has a dry, sarcastic sense of “gallows humor”: see, for example, her quip that today’s breakfast will be four meals all in one, or her refusal to wear her father’s shoes again “for the sake of my health and for the sake of cleanliness.” This kind of humor is often associated with ENTPs.

Musical: Her humor in the stage version is exuberant and physical, as is more typical of ENFPs: e.g. snatching Marius’s book, making him chase her for it, then smacking it out of his hand after he snatches it back. Though admittedly, the film version leans back toward the novel, giving her more dry verbal wit (“You still pretending to be poor?”) and removing the physical teasing.

Hugo: Hugo’s Éponine never gives much voice to her tender feelings for Marius and might not even fully realize them. Granted, Hugo describes her mostly from others’ point of view – for all we know, she could be pining just as effusively on the inside as the musical’s Éponine. But we shouldn’t automatically assume so. Even when we glimpse her alone, the most we get is the sad military sweetheart’s song she sings in front of the mirror, and later, her dryly gloomy “None of that, Lisette” when she stops herself from following Marius into Cosette’s garden. Mostly it’s her expressions and her actions that show her love. Her dying words, “You know, Monsieur Marius, I think I was a little in love with you,” can be read in two ways: we can view them as intentional understatement because she still doesn’t dare fully express her feelings, or we can assume that until the end, she honestly doesn’t realize that her fondness for Marius is romantic. This arguably implies both that she favors Thinking over Feeling and that her Feeling function is Fe, not Fi.

Musical: This version of Éponine is very much aware of her feelings for Marius. Writing that very sentence is like writing, “water is wet.” She knows she’s in love with him and nearly all her private moments revolve around her pining for him, dreaming of him, and reflecting both on her feelings for him and on his failure to return them. Her outpourings of the pain of unrequited love become the cornerstone of her character. The street-tough role she plays is more blatantly a façade than in the novel, the tenderness she hides beneath it is more obviously her “true self,” and when she finally lies dying, she pours out her passion to Marius in blissful poetic phrases. No “I think I was a little in love with you” here! While of course a healthy Thinker and a healthy Fe user can understand and embrace their inner emotions too, musical Éponine’s world revolves so much around her inner feelings, and reflecting thereon, that she definitely seems like a Feeler who uses Fi.

Hugo: Another indication that she uses Fe, not Fi: she’s always attuned to Marius’s feelings, even when he doesn’t openly express them. She can tell when he’s unhappy, try though he might to pretend nothing’s wrong, and though he only asks her to find the address of “the gentleman and his daughter” without saying why, she infers without being told that his motive is love for Cosette. While of course a healthy Fi user can effectively read other people’s feelings too, Éponine’s instinctive skill at it, combined with her apparent unawareness of her own feelings, implies Fe.

Musical: At the same time, she pays little attention to Marius’s feelings apart from “He doesn’t love me” or “Yay, he’s reacting to me!” Now I don’t mean to promote the cliché that Fi-users are self-absorbed: musical Éponine’s actions still show immense selflessness and caring. Nor does she need to infer much about her Marius’s feelings, because he’s more effusive about his feelings than Hugo’s Marius and proclaims his love for Cosette for all to hear. Still, she processes his emotions through the inner filter of her own, which is classic Fi.

Hugo: Yet another sign of her Fe: despite how strange and overly forward she can be when she’s alone with Marius, she’s all too aware of social convention and quietly ashamed of what she is. This shows most clearly when she leads Marius to Cosette; she instructs him to follow far behind her, because it would be unseemly for people to see him with a woman of her status.

Musical: Another sign of her Fi: she freely disregards social convention. In the usual staging she grabs Marius’s arm to get his attention, then snatches his book and makes him chase her for it in a public street, and while she doesn’t do this in the film, she still consorts with Marius in front of all his friends. It’s far removed from “You mustn’t be seen with a woman of my status”!

Hugo: Nor does she show any sign of believing that Marius could ever love her. The logic of her Thinking preference and the social awareness of her Fe both seem to prevent any such delusion.

Musical: This Éponine genuinely believes that Marius might love her someday. She clings to her fantasy despite all logical evidence to the contrary and dreams that he’ll disregard social convention as much as she does.

Hugo: When she stops her father and Patron Minette from robbing Valjean and Cosette’s house, she does it in a calm, self-controlled way that uses Ti methodology. First she stalls them with an elaborate, affected display of fond greetings. Then, with the same friendly manner even when threatened with a knife, she tells a series of lies to direct them away from the house. When this fails, she finally, openly stands up to them, but even then she taunts them and laughs at them rather than getting angry. Though she threatens to kick them, scream, pound on the door and get them all arrested, she doesn’t actually do it. She just makes it clear that she will if they try to go in, then casually sits down in front of the gate and sings a little song until they withdraw in exasperation.

Musical: When she stops her father and the gang from robbing Valjean and Cosette’s house, she does it with blatant anger, desperation and aggressive Te action. She openly stands up to them from the moment she reveals her presence, singing in loud, frantic, spiky tones that there’s nothing for them in the house. When this fails, she doesn’t just threaten to scream, but actually screams, forcing the men to flee before they’re caught. In most stage productions she physically tussles with the men too, sometimes kicking Montparnasse and/or leaping onto Thénardier’s back to keep him from reaching the gate. It’s a clear contrast with Hugo’s Éponine, who might be mentally unstable, but always favors her intellect over aggression.

Hugo: After this incident, she proceeds to use Ne/Ti calculation to achieve the twin goals of protecting Valjean and Cosette from Thénardier and separating Cosette from Marius. First she disguises herself as a boy so as not to be recognized, then slips Valjean a note warning him to leave his house. Then she agrees to deliver Cosette’s letter informing Marius of her new address, but instead she keeps it. After she learns about the upcoming insurrection from Courfeyrac, she goes back to the Rue Plumet house in order to be there when Marius discovers Cosette’s departure, rightly predicting (Ti/Fe) that he’ll think Cosette left him without a word and that his despair will make him willing to face the danger of the barricade. So she suggests he join his friends there, then secretly follows him.

Musical: The musical’s idealizing of Éponine’s character means that all her Ti scheming from the novel is cut. She doesn’t slip a note to Valjean – her warning scream in “Attack on Rue Plumet” just scares him into deciding to leave. Marius also decides by himself to go to the barricade. Even in productions that show Éponine dragging him by the hand toward his friends during “One Day More,” the context is different, as it becomes an impulsive response to hearing him debate with himself about whether to go or not. There’s no manipulation in it. Nor, in the stage version, does she keep Cosette’s letter from Marius, and even in the film version where she does, it’s different: she impulsively steals the letter after Cosette leaves it for Marius to find, which seems more Te and less Ti than letting Cosette pay her to deliver it only to keep it.

Hugo: She sends Marius to the barricade to die and follows him there to die with him. Of course this is a tragically desperate, emotional act of madness, but there’s a pragmatic element to it too. In one fell swoop it will end her own misery and ensure that Marius never leaves her. The calculated way she tries to achieve it is very Ti-driven too, as outlined above. She knows the result she wants and she takes the logical steps to achieve it.

Musical: She goes to the barricade just to “be with Marius,” apparently not considering the prospect of death. It’s framed as an entirely emotional decision. Especially in the stage version, where she dies by making the foolhardy choice to climb over a surrounded barricade to reach Marius. Of course she might be knowingly and calculatedly choosing death as in the novel, but the libretto never says so. As written, her choices feel very Fi/Te.

Hugo: According to the website A Little Bit of Personality (which technically isn’t MBTI, but which in some ways I prefer to mainstream MBTI), the worst fear, or “Type Angst,” of an ENTP is what the site calls “Megamind Complex”: the fear that they’re a bad person. That their Fe and Si are too weak, making them out of touch with the world’s “rules” of morality and appropriate behavior, and therefore they can only harm others. Unhealthy ENTPs who give into this fear often resign themselves to being “bad.” This definitely sounds like Hugo’s Éponine, and the fact that she’s a street urchin with repulsive criminal parents, who needs to do “bad” things to survive and is deemed “bad” by society, only makes it much worse. “I’m the devil, but it’s all the same to me” she says. The question of whether she’s a “good” person or a “bad” person hangs heavily over her entire storyline and is disagreed on by readers to this day. The tension between the selfish, amoral life her parents and misery have taught her to lead and her inner capacity for love, caring and selflessness arguably form the heart of her character.

Musical: According to A Little Bit of Personality, the worst fear, or “Type Angst,” of an ENFP is what the site calls “The McFly Conviction”: the fear of not being liked, respected or valued. That their Te and Si are too weak, making them too emotional and bad at choosing correct logical actions, and that this makes them worthless and their feelings irrelevant. It’s easy to imagine that this would be much worse in an ENFP who was both an abused child and a street urchin scorned by society and unloved by the person she loves most. Musical Éponine definitely shows more of this angst than Hugo’s Éponine does. She never sees herself as a bad person, nor does anyone else. Even in the film, which gives her back the selfish act of keeping Cosette’s letter from Marius, she’s framed as a fundamentally good person. Her main tragedy in the musical, much to the chagrin of some Hugo readers, is the fact that Marius doesn’t love her and that she’s emotionally alone in the world. The title of her solo, “On My Own,” says it all. Her feelings of aloneness and not mattering are what cause her the most pain.

Of course this is all my personal opinion. Anyone who views either Hugo’s Éponine or the musical’s as an ESFP, ISFP, INFP or INFJ is free to make that argument: characters are open to interpretation. But in my view, Hugo’s Éponine is a remarkably consistent portrait of an ENTP, albeit an immature and very damaged one, while the musical’s Éponine is a remarkably consistent ENFP. The possible reasons for the change I’ll save for another discussion, one that also involves the other characters whose personalities were altered from page to stage. But comparing and contrasting the two characterizations is a fascinating thing.

#les mis #les miserables #eponine #mbti #myers-briggs #entp #enfp

17 notes · View notes

spongeekat · 6 years

Text

The 6 Times Peter Wanted To Reveal his Identity (And the 1 Time He Did) Chapter 1

Chapters: 1/7 Fandom: Spider-Man - All Media Types , Deadpool - All Media Types , Marvel Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Peter Parker/Wade Wilson Characters: Peter Parker, Wade Wilson, Mary Jane Watson, Eleanor Camacho Additional Tags: Spideypool Big Bang 2018 , Prompt Fill , Peter Parker Needs a Hug , Deadpool has a daughter , Hurt/Comfort , Peter has anxiety , Anxiety Attacks , Secret Identity , Identity Reveal , Peter chasing Wade Summary:

Peter is madly in love with Wade, and plans to meet him on top of his apartment building to reveal his identity. Wade thinks Peter is standing on the ledge ready to jump, and takes it upon himself to make sure he gets home safe and finds a reason to live again.

read on ao3

Masterlist Here

I’ve been sick this week and fell asleep at like 5 PM yesterday so I never got to submit my part for the Spideypool Big Bang 2018 hosted by @spideypoolfanfic This was my first bang and it was super well organized and super fun!

HUGE THANK YOU to my patient ass beta @alurkerofnote who’s offered a LOT of help.

This is gonna be in 7 parts, 1 chapter equaling 1 day!

My prompts were 50 and 53; Secret Identities- Wade finds Peter on a roof and panics. It looks like that kid is about to jump.

Peter is waiting for Deadpool to confess who he is. He’s so deeply in love that it both hurts and annoys him. He wants to come clean. So why does Deadpool freak out when he sees him?

If Peter actually has the guts to reveal his identity- he isn’t sure.

After a big fight in NYC, Spider-Man swings away and hides himself in a treehouse in a small garden. Ellie finds spider-Man crying his heart and soul out in her fortress.

But seriously, he’s just one spider and has worries too!

Januarys in the Bronx were some of Peter’s least favorite parts of the year. It was common knowledge that winters weren’t completely erratic in New York, though they couldn’t be described as tame either. They resided in a gray-area between, in which snow could unpredictably monopolize city blocks on any given day, yet a few layers of clothing would typically suffice for warmth when navigating the city. Still, the chill had a vicious bite to it, and it wasn’t wise to wander the streets longer than needed.

Especially not when suspended 44 feet above the street, clad only in a hasty assemblage of light winter clothes.

Yet, that’s what Peter was currently dressed in; a beanie thrown over his curly hair that would normally be standing every which way it pleased, a light hoodie that had been crumpled underneath textbooks in his backpack for hours, and a pair of worn-out jeans that had seen better days. It was a poor excuse for an outfit considering the length of time Peter had been standing on the roof of this building, and by all means of the word he was completely frozen. Still, the nip of the night wasn’t the most pressing issue on his mind at the moment.

Peter’s eyes searched the darkened alley below his feet for any sign that he should abandon his current plans and instead send himself flying back towards his meager Queens apartment twenty minutes away. An hour of of looking for a reason to leave had proven no such luck, and the 22 year old was stuck waiting to freeze to death, or for his guest of the hour to show up. Whichever happened first. He hoped he would freeze to death sooner, to save himself the horrible embarrassment he was about to go through, but his radioactive blood and slow- but present-healing factor assured that wouldn’t be happening. Instead, he was running through dialogues and scenarios in his head, hoping one would sound the most promising and he could stick with it.

“Hey, dude, it’s me!” The corner of Peter’s lips drew up in a theatrical style, and he beamed off into the empty night as if he was conversing with someone else standing right in front of him. “I know this isn’t really what you expected, but I hope that… that you… that... stupid. This is stupid. I’m stupid.” Peter’s shoulders sagged once again, and he toed a pebble until it tumbled off the ledge he was pacing on, clattering onto the fire escape below. This is a stupid plan.

The very affordable apartment building below him was quiet, and the particular apartment he had been staking out was empty. Wade wasn’t inside, likely off on one of his ethically-questionable jobs, but he would probably be back soon. He and Peter always met up sometime between 1 and 3 AM when their schedules allowed, and it was Sunday, which meant Wade was gonna come back toting fast food for the two to munch on. He was expecting Spider-Man, which would certainly put a damper on their late-night snacking, but hopefully things would go smoother than Peter feared they would go. After all, Peter was finally going to reveal his face to Wade.

It wasn’t a hasty decision. Really, Peter had been considering taking this step for years. The two had been acquaintances for 6 years, meeting just a year after the Spider had gained his super powers and taken on his hero persona. It was a terrible first meeting, and their encounters afterwards had been even more so. Somehow, between the nights of Wade annoying Peter for hours on end, accidental team ups that led to purposeful team ups, and laughter once the mercenary had learned exactly how to prod at Peter’s similarly immature sense of humor, they had become friends, and had grown close over the last 4 years. And of that time, Peter had been completely and pathetically in love with Wade for 2 years.

Wade didn’t know, of course. The only person that did was Mary Jane, after Peter ranted about his frustration with the stagnant nature of their relationship during a drunk stupor. But she was the only person Peter had told. Confessing his feelings to Wade was out of the question. He had grown comfortable with the weird relationship that had formed between them over the time they’d spent together. They spent nearly all of their free time together, whether it was fighting on patrol or Peter accompanying Wade on missions to hold him to the ‘no-killing’ promise the ex-mercenary had made. Once patrols were done, they typically retired to a roof top to spend the night munching on late-night fast food, or to Wade’s apartment to play games and deal with open wounds that needed stitching. Wade never pushed to see Peter’s face or know his name, even if Wade hadn’t been very secretive with his own identity. But Peter knew that, no matter how close Spider-Man and Deadpool grew as friends, their relationship would never grow intimate unless Wade got to know the man behind the mask first. .

So there Peter was, anxiety bubbling hot on the surface of his skin, as he wrung his hands and tried to plan how exactly he would come out and admit he was Spider-Man.

Maybe he could do a flip iconic to Spider-Man and let Wade make his own inferences? Wade seemed to be the type to enjoy dramatic stunts. Or maybe he could introduce himself in a method similar to Tony Stark. Peter Parker: Awkward, Intelligent, Poor College Student, and Spider-Man. No, that was lamer than any of his other plans. This would be easier if he had just worn his suit and ripped off his mask, but he knew that if he had, he would have lost his nerve upon seeing him and never gone through with the reveal. He stepped up onto the ledge of the roof and looked down into the dark with a frown. His backpack containing his suit was webbed to the wall feet under him. Maybe he could just open the bag and show Wade what was inside…?

Peter didn’t have much time to decide, as a soft rattle against the brick wall opposite of him drew his attention. Leather boots were scuffling up the rungs of the ladder leading up, and Peter had to make up his mind quick. He closed his eyes and balanced on the ledge under his feet, steadying his frayed nerves. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad. Wade was understanding. Wade was kind. But maybe he didn’t want to know Peter’s identity? Maybe he never pushed so he wouldn’t be disappointed by the face under the mask? God, what if Wade turned and walked completely out of his life once he realized Spider-Man was a puny science nerd? The possibilities were firing off in his head, growing more intense every inch Wade grew closer. Maybe he should just jump down into the alley and take off running, and abandon this idea that somehow this would lead to something more between them. Peter didn’t even know if Wade returned his feelings.

“Don’t do it.”

Wade was a few feet behind Peter, and he felt a shiver run down his spine. His voice was lower than Peter remembered, and a bit more serious. It jarred Peter enough that he turned back to look at him, still perched on the raised borders of the roof. There he stood in his red-and-black glory, his body language tenser than normal. Peter’s mouth was too dry to talk now, panic radiating through his body in waves. He hadn’t come up with a proper plan for this conversation, and he suddenly didn’t know how to start it. His lips parted to say Wade’s name, confused by the aggressive demeanor, but the syllables died on his tongue.

Wade took a few steps that seemed almost hesitant towards Peter, reaching out a large gloved hand in his direction. Did he already know? He sure was acting weird, especially considering everything Wade did was weird. Instinctively Peter reeled back, one foot skidding against the concrete as he inched closer to the edge, the cold winter wind now flowing up through his hair.

“Uh…” Peter replied intelligently, eyes darting anywhere but that intimidating mask staring directly at him.

“Come down from there.” Wade’s hand was a few inches in front of Peter now, close enough he could comfortably reach out and grab it if he wished. And boy did he want to, but he was much too nervous and befuddled to take such a brash action. Peter was sure there was no way Wade didn’t know at this point. Why would he be acting so casual? “Trust me, things can’t be that bad. I’ve been through shit, too. But you don’t want to become another statistic.”

“What?” Now Peter was definitely lost.

“Come on.” Wade prompted again, sticking his hand so close it nearly bumped into Peter’s chest. “Not tonight. Just get down from the ledge.”

Confusion clearly etched across his expression, Peter stepped around Wade’s hand and made the jump to land on the roof. There was an audible breath of relief from behind Wade’s mask when his feet connected with the gravel. His body language seemed to loosen up, and he plopped down to sit on the ledge where Peter’s feet just were. “What’s your name?”

“P-Peter?”

“Peter.” Wade repeated back, as if he somehow could have heard the wrong thing. “That’s kinda nerdy.”

“Nerdy?” Peter said defensively, embarrassment flushing red over his frozen cheeks, darkening them further.

“Yep. I think the last Peter I met was like 50 years old.” Wade continued on, humor splaying out in every word, though Peter wasn’t laughing. “That’s like a lock-you-in-the-gym-closet kind of a name.”

“Uh-Huh. Did you just come here to make fun of my name?” Normally, Peter wouldn’t mind the teasing that Wade often times didn’t mean. But tonight, when his anxiety was so high and he had absolutely no idea what was going on, he wasn’t in the mood to get made fun of.

“No, no, of course not.” Wade was standing, now inches taller than Peter, and he took a few calm steps in his direction. “Look, I’m just a Deadpool. I know I’m not Dr. Phil. But I couldn’t just let you make some bad decision and let the world lose one more hot piece of ass.” Wade paused, groaning as if he was being scolded by himself, before he continued. “Yeah, fuck, sorry, bad timing. Anyways, I live in the area and saw you standing on the ledge, and I thought I could maybe talk you down. Dying hurts, in case you were wondering. It’s not worth it.”

Dying...hurts? Talk him down? Bad decision?

Oh.

“ Oh.” Everything suddenly connected and the gears started turning in Peter’s brain, followed by a bubbling panic rising up from the pits of his stomach. “No, wait, I wasn’t…” He didn’t quite know how to explain he wasn’t there to do that without completely explaining why he was up there in the first place. Any resolve he may have had earlier about revealing his superpowered persona had melted away, his plans going awry within seconds.

“Hey, I’m not judging you.” Wade insisted, taking another step closer to Peter, almost testingly, to see if he would run away. He didn’t even budge. “You’re, what, 21? In college? Living in New York? This shitty city is expensive, and paying for it all can get really overwhelming. Something happen? Parents divorce? Girlfriend left you? She’s pregnant and left you for another guy? Killing yourself seems like the only option to get back at her?”

Peter gave a weak shake of his head, finding his throat suddenly desert dry. He didn’t have time to come up with an excuse. He felt like he was barely bobbing above water. “No I…” What was he doing? “I just have...a big decision to make. You know?”

Wade gave a sympathetic nod, and moved his hand to start rubbing comforting circles into Peter’s shoulder. He could feel the steady hammer of his heart against his chest, the beat picking up nervously with Wade this close to him, staring at him. Not the mask, not Spider-Man, but Peter Parker. “Can I take you to a hospital?” He asked in a softer voice, which didn’t seem entirely possible for Wade to do. “Like I said, I’m not a therapist, but they can help you way better than the voices in my head can.”

“Hospit...Oh, no no no.” Peter held up his hands in a surrender and backed away from Wade’s grasp once more, the spot on his shoulder feeling much colder without his hand there. “No, I’m feeling a lot better. I swear. I can go home alone.”

“Do you live with anyone? Parents? Roommates?” Wade continued to press the subject, and Peter took another step back with each word, feeling smothered.

“I live with my Aunt.” Peter admitted, unsure why he was having the sudden spurt of bravery to say that even if he couldn’t tell the truth about what he’d originally come here to say. “But she’s out of the country. I’ll be okay.”

“Sorry, but I think I would kick my own ass if I let you leave alone and you put a bullet in your mouth.” Wade pulled his phone out of some pocket tucked who-knows-where on his suit, starting to type away the best he could through thick leather gloves. “Plus, I’ve gotten really into that astrological sign reading shit, and my horoscope said that today I was supposed to take action when I see things going bad. So I’m gonna take that to mean I’m your guardian angel.”

“Guardian angel?” Peter quirked an eyebrow, trying to keep the conversation from delving into an uncomfortable seriousness.

“Mhm. So my first act of Guardian Angel Goodness is to make sure you get home safe.” Wade raised the cell to his ear, the sight almost comical next to his animated mask. “Luckily, I’ve got the cutest cabbie in all of New York on speed dial. You’ll love him.”

Okay, so Peter had definitely been ready to lay it all out on the line for Wade a few minutes ago, but now everything felt like it was moving too fast. He planned to show Wade where he lived in a few weeks or months, not within minutes. But somehow, he didn’t think he’d take no for an answer right now, so Peter decided he’d have to play along. Just for now, until he found a good moment to interject and tell Wade the truth. His floundering confidence was making that difficult, however.

While Peter was lost in his thoughts, Wade had finished his conversation with whoever was on the other end of the line, and had gathered himself enough that he was tugging on Peter’s arm. “Ready?”

“Uhhh….” Peter’s eyes trailed up to Wade’s mask, his nerves firing off as the skin he touched seemed hotter than normal. “I’ll meet you down there.”

“Please don’t tell me I already fucked this up and you’re ready to take a nose-dive into the alley.” Wade groaned, his hand squeezing just a little tighter on Peter’s arm, making a shiver run up his spine.

“No, I just need to think for a second.” Wade didn’t respond, and Peter could practically see him thinking the worst. “I won’t jump. I promise, dude.”

“Okaaaaay.” Wade headed towards the fire escape from where he had first come, stooping to grab the bag of food on his way. “Just know I live around this shit hole, and your body won’t get cleaned up for like a week. I don’t really wanna smell rotten flesh around here every day.”

“Has anyone ever told you how sensitive you are?” Peter murmured.

Wade’s laugh that followed made Peter’s heart leap in his chest, but he kept a cool face. “It’s a special talent of mine.” He teased, before he slid down the ladder and disappeared in the dark.

Alone, Peter slipped to his knees, palming the darkened side of the building until his fingers brushed against the canvas of his backpack. He ripped it free of the webs, double checked that his suit was still inside, and slung it over his back. Before he headed down, however, he had to focus on pacifying his erratic heartbeat.

Disappointment was evident in his mind, in both himself, and the way the situation had played out. He’d been picturing and planning for this moment- albeit not well - for close to a year. He may have lost his resolve within seconds of seeing Wade, but there was no way he was going to let himself keep this up.

Peter had very strong feelings for Wade, beyond a stupid puppy crush, and he hoped the other maybe felt the same. He knew he had to take this step, whether it went as smoothly as he dreamed out or not, and there was no use in pretending any longer if he wanted to have a chance of progressing their relationship. .

When Peter got to the bottom rung of the ladder, however, and saw Wade holding the door to the cab open for him like the most unconventional disney prince ever, he decided it would be better to do it in a more private area, so he gave the driver his address and climbed onto the torn up upholstery.

…..

Wade, who lived in an absolute wreck of a safehouse, was unfairly unimpressed with Peter’s apartment.

It was messy, sure, but it wasn’t horrible. The dishes were only sort of piled up in the sink, and his dirty laundry was sitting in a heap in front of the TV, but with Aunt May gone Peter had had more time and freedom to be Spider-Man, and chores were the last obligation on his mind.

Not knowing this, of course, Wade made a disgusted noise as soon as they opened the door on the third story.

“What?” Peter asked self consciously, toeing off his shoes in the doorway as to not track in mud. At least he had one thing going for him. Wade didn’t seem the share the same sentiment, and he trudged right in in his dust-caked boots.

“No wonder you’re depressed. You live only slightly better than me.” Wade snorted, his mask turning every which way as he took in the plain furnishings of the living room. His thumb jut out towards the half-opened bedroom door. “This is your bedroom?”

“Yeaaah.” Peter trailed his gaze, trying to recall if he left anything incriminating on his floor. However, he definitely didn’t want images of Wade in his bedroom stuck in his head at night, so he didn’t invite him in.

Wade studied his face and walked over to Peter, gently pushing him until he fell back on his couch. “Sleeping in beds is overrated anyways. Besides, you can watch TV until I get this food reheated.” He glanced back at the screen and kicked the clothes out of the way, giving Peter a full view of it. “Blanket closet?”

“Next to the kitchen.” Peter frowned, shifting uncomfortably at the favors. “I-It’s really okay, you already helped me get home and-”

“Sssh. Just watch your show, Petey.” Wade said obnoxiously as he drug a fluffy comforter from the closet and dumped it on top of Peter’s lap. “Your microwave isn’t a disaster, too, is it?”

“Shut up. It’s fine.” Peter groaned and sunk into the comforter up to his chin. Being babied was really humiliating, but he was still working on a good time to interject his confession in a way that didn’t seem too forced.

There was a beeping indicating Wade was fiddling with his appliances in the kitchen, and Peter took the chance to close his eyes. “I’m Spider-Man.” He whispered to himself, his voice shakier and quieter with each syllable. “Surprise.”

“Hope you like Chinese.” Wade returned soon after with the bag of food, dropping the sides and silverware at Peter’s side before he handed him the foam take-out container. Peter gingerly accepted it, guilt pulling at his stomach. “I had a hot date tonight, but he didn’t show up. So you get to eat it instead.”

“I don’t wanna take y-”

“Eat it.” Wade crooned in a cartoony voice, and reached into his back pocket. He produced his phone again, tossing it at Peter, which he smoothly caught. “And give me your number.”

“Why?” Peter asked, nervous fingertips lingering over the touch screen.

“Because I’m trying to make a change in my life. I’m not the same man I was a year ago.” Wade paused, sinking down to sit on the coffee table across from Peter as it creaked under his weight. “Okay, maybe I am, but I wanna be more of a hero. And the only way I can do that is by saving people like Spider-Man would do. So I need your number, to make sure you text me at least once a day so I know you’re still alive.”

The mention of ‘Spider-Man’ had Peter’s fingers twitching again around the cracked phone case, but he couldn’t find the right way to voice his truth, so he stayed quiet instead. Hey, funny thing, that’s saving people like I would do.

“Type it.” Wade whispered in a dorky voice, pulling Peter back to the present moment. His hands moved on his own, and suddenly his actual number appeared on the phone log. There was another entry on the phone, under the name Spidey-Cakes with an eggplant emoji following. That was his burner number, luckily, with that cheap flip phone shoved somewhere in his room. Still, Wade being able to contact Peter at all hours of the day now was making him nervous. He would never catch a break.

Wade snatched the phone back with excitement after he verified Peter had, indeed, typed an actual phone number, and he plugged it into his contacts under some name Peter wasn’t aware of. He then shoved the smartphone back into his pocket, and placed one heavy hand on top of Peter’s shaking shoulder.

“I’m gonna leave because I know I’m worse company than Alec Baldwin and Adam Sandler combined, but don’t do anything drastic, okay?” Wade’s mask never changed, lifeless as always, but Peter could hear the warm smile in his voice. His heart rate picked up, the close proximity between them making his chest ache, but the fact that he hadn’t accomplished what he’d even stayed out to do was still weighing heavily in the air. He couldn’t leave off on this! He wasn’t a depressed teenager that needed babysitting. He was Spider-Man. He was Wade’s best friend. He was in love with him.

Before he knew it the mercenary was at the door, fiddling with the deadbolt to figure out how to lock it on his way out. Peter jumped, pushing the Chinese food and the blanket aside, shooting up to the flats of his feet with his eyes wide. “Deadpool.” He tried to sound firm, but his voice came out smaller than he had intended.

The mercenary looked up, finally managing to flip the deadbolt to lock so he could slam it shut behind him. “Yes, sweet pea?”

Peter’s jaw tightened, and he stood there blankly like an idiot for a solid 30 seconds. “I’m…” The words were caught in his lungs, feeling so incredibly foreign and heavy that he couldn’t get them out. He hadn’t told anyone, not even Aunt May, and Mary Jane had found out on her own. He didn’t exactly have practice with this.

“You’re…?”

Drawn back to reality as he realized he had been silent, Peter swallowed back his confession and slowly sunk back to the couch. “Thanks. For everything.” He murmured, dragging guilty eyes down to his hands.

Wade paused, then slowly crept out the door with a hop to his step. “No problem, baby boy. Stay safe. And make sure to text me tomorrow!”

The door closed hard behind Wade as he slammed it shut in an attempt to get the deadbolt to stay locked, and the silence settled over Peter like a heavy blanket. Suddenly he was alone, albeit with warm food at his side and comfortably tucked into the couch cushions. Wade was right; the idea of passing out in the living room instead of his bedroom seemed a little more enticing with every moment.

He drug the food Wade had brought him onto his lap and flipped on a cartoon. He was feeling a little tired, anyways, so patrol could wait an hour or two. The Chinese smelled amazing compared to the toaster waffles he’d been downing for days, and sleepiness hung over his eyelids.

Wade had been so incredibly sweet, Peter wasn’t sure what to do with the memory of it. Mixed emotions were plaguing his gut, but above all, it had reminded him of how intensely he had feelings for the man, and how badly he wanted to have a connection with him.

Tomorrow, he decided, he would find a way to tell him the truth.

For now, he was falling asleep to the lull of New York late night TV, the scent of Chow Mein wafting up to his nose, and the ghost of Wade’s voice calling him sweet pea playing hot in his mind.

#spideypool big bang 2018 #spideypoolfanfic #fanfic #spideypool #spiderman #deadpool

106 notes · View notes

bookwormguri · 6 years

Photo

I don’t normally do this, but I’m going to take a moment to gush about Re:Creators and why I think anyone who is a creator of art should watch it, while also not-so-subtly grumbling about the reception it’s gotten. I’ll try to remain as spoiler-free as possible.

First I want to talk about my grievances so it doesn't seem like I’m incapable of seeing the flaws of the series. Although, if you’ve read any reviews about it, nothing I say will be new info.

Pacing: The biggest issue I had was with the pacing of the series. Unlike some, I don’t think the story could have been told in 12 or 13 episodes. Doing so would have made the large cast seem extremely unwieldy and would have sacrificed characterization. However, it seemed very obvious in the middle part that they struggled with pacing.

For example, I practically marathoned the series, but when I saw the preview for the next episode was a hot springs episode I stopped watching for the night, convinced that an episode like that probably wouldn’t lend much to the plot (I was right). The hot springs episode was probably by far the largest annoyance, but there were many many scenes that could have been trimmed for fat. After Mamika left, almost any scene in the bad guy’s camp had me reaching for my phone to scroll through tumblr. Those scenes lacked depth after the moral compass Mamika was gone. They mostly amounted to getting a small glimpse of a new baddy and Altair brooding and being maniacal.

Altair’s Power: Which brings me to my second biggest gripe, Altair. I love her concept. The reason for her infinite power shows that the showrunners have their pulse to fandom. I know people harp on her because she’s basically a Hatsune Miku rip-off (which, if you’re pissy about characters in this show being similar to existing characters and franchises BOI do I have bad news for you about the entire concept of this show), but I don’t think that is where her weaknesses stem from.

Part of Altair’s being is that she in infinite, almost god-like in her own right. In the universe of Re:Creators this powerset makes perfect sense and plays well into the big questions the show is asking. However, the showrunners need to remember for as meta as Re:Creators is, it is still a show. Having Altair being a walking Deus Ex Machina and coming up with a new power to perfectly counter the heroes every time is dull and gives zero constraints to her. Basically, I mean there wasn’t an ending I could see our heroes beating Altair with her infinite number of reality-bending scores. That unknown is nice for some people, but for me, it just made me afraid they were going to pull out some power of friendship bullshit at the eleventh hour.

Altair’s Motivations: I think I’m in a small camp, but I LOVE Altair’s dialogue. In the beginning, she seems like a very complicated character, the kind of wickedly smart villain that happens once in a blue moon, the kind that makes you go, “Well, they aren’t wrong, but they’re going about it all wrong.” Unfortunately, this part of her characterization gets severely played down in the second half. She turns more into a one-note villain that means nothing to defeat. In addition, since we see so much less of her in the second half it makes her resolution mean less imo (I say this and someone who cried the whole time). I adore her speech at the end. I think it was a nice callback to the line she had said only an episode or so earlier:

“Clever logic is a slave to emotion.”

And that’s what I think defines Altair as a character. She is someone who has so much despair and anger, but she justifies it with logic and simplicity. And in the end, it’s also what becomes her end. The problem is, we don’t get to see the illogical and emotional side of her often enough. Clever audience members can infer it, but this pivotal part of her character isn’t given the spotlight it needed to avoid the finale feeling OOC of her to most.

Now that we’ve gotten those out of the way, I’m free to gush and rant as much as I please! First I want to address some common critiques I’ve seen on the series:

Sota: One of the most common issues people bring up is the blandness of the “main character” Sota, or rather, the audience insert. I won’t say he is not that, but for vastly different reasons than I think others would slap that “warning” on him.

Many people are quick to label Re:Creators and reverse-isekai show. Again, I won’t argue with the genre label, but I do think that out of all the genres and themes within the series, isekai is actually pretty insignificant. Re:Creators at its core is not about “what would you do if anime characters came to the REAL WORLD,” moreover it is tackling questions about the essence of creation, media and our relation to it. So how does this relate to Sota?

I think Sota is often written off as just a “self-insert” character because that is a staple of the isekai genre, the genre that I propose is not actually that prevalent, I estimate the same with Sota. Sota is passive, yes, but he also has his own story arc and despite him saying that he is only the narrator, I think the story of Re:Creators is really all about his struggle as an artist, something I think many audience members can relate to, making him their insert. It’s not because he’s Kirito and is amazing at everything, but rather his struggles mirror our own, much more so than the larger-than-life Creations.

(Also, I don’t stand for any BS about him being a Deus Ex Machina in the final battle. He followed Re:Creators inner world logic despite it being ‘cheating’. No foul.)

The scene in episode 9 with Sota and Magane is what I showed other people to get them into the show, to show this human character break down, hear some hard truths and get back up. Also, the fact that he was able to bring you-know-who back in the final battle shows that while he feels immense guilt, he doesn’t shy away from it. He could have very easily let his own guilt make him soften his final product, but no, he wanted something real and tangible, not something to make him feel better. To me, that shows his depth as a character.

This post here also encapsulated how I feel about Sota’s character.

Exposition: Another common critique I see is about the amount of dialogue and exposition in the series. Maybe it’s just the DM and lore-junkie in me, but I’ve never minded a lot of exposition and in Re:Creators I LOVED it. Even Meteor’s long-winded explanations. I liked them because the through them the show was promoting difficult questions, the kind that would have my old existentialism professor jumping with glee. I’ve debated sending him this series for his next film class actually, but I don’t want him to know I’m anime trash.

I think a lot of people take issue with the exposition because of its often theoretical in nature. Naturally, the audience wants some payoff for these big ideas any rarely gets any. Unfortunately, that’s how philosophy rolls, yo. But if you’re someone like me who finds joy in pondering about multiple-world theory, film tropes and subversion and meta, this show scratches an itch you didn’t know you had.

I know that shows like this that don’t give you all the answers, that are subtle in the execution often get ragged on for their supposedly “poor writing,” often are snubbed, but that doesn’t make me appreciate them any less.

Now the things that I love unabashedly:

Music: Hiroyuki Sawano. Those no other reason I fucking need. Even though Aldanoah Zero turned out to be a big dumpster fire, you bet your ass I have the whole soundtrack on my iPod. Those OSTs are some of my main background music fodder for writing. There’s nothing quite like Sawano’s music that can convey hype with such a heroic and hopeful feeling

Theme: This is a story that touches on a lot of issues, artist block, feelings of inadequacy, working together creatively and above all, the power of imagination. I love that this series shows there is no shame in the real emotional connections we have when interacting with media. I also goes out of its way to show the power and value the audience brings to creations. It is a hopeful story that I think many of us can relate to.

I saw this line in another post, but I want to repeat it here; If you are a creator, an artist, a writer, a crafter, cosplayer, anything, this show is for you. It will show you how special and how important you are, how your contributions are valued and how you should continue to create despite hardships. It is a story that needed to be told, it is an important story.

Thank you for reading my babble. Talk ReCre to me!

#re:creators #re creators #recreators #meta #media studies #nats gabs

12 notes · View notes

jabbers-written-world · 4 years

Text

Brightwire, Excerpt One

Meeting Cassius Regulus, of the Sunspire

A note on this, before we get started. This particular excerpt from my novel-in-progress entitled Brightwire, is one of my favorite pieces I’ve written to date. I love when characters in books have these almost dramatic, impressive introductions, without it being an overly flashy entrance that’s almost.. Well, almost akin to something out of an over-the-top superhero comic. Don’t get me wrong, I love superheroes as much as the next guy.

But you don’t need a wild, flashy entrance with a cool cape and crazy light show to leave an impression. The trick is all about characterization. The five methods of characterization, particularly.

Number One: Physical Description

How would this character be described. A lot of writers struggle with this, simply because there is a fine line between over-describing someone, and not describing them enough for the readers to have that understanding of who they’re supposed to be envisioning.

Find the balance, and try to keep it simple. But not too simple.

First feature you notice at a glance, i.e. eye color or skin tone or if they have any significant scars

Style of dress. This says a lot about a character, without actually saying much at all.

Are their clothes neatly tailored and close-fitting? Do they keep their clothing clean and well-maintained? Or perhaps their shirt is halfway hanging out and has a few stains? Already you’re making assumptions about two separate characters just by that, aren’t you.

What color clothing do they were? Bright colors? Or more neutral tones? Does it go well with their skin/hair/eyes? Or does it clash horribly? Again, you’re making inferences and assumptions, huh.

Body posture. This is another important one that tells a lot about a character just by the way they stand and hold themselves.

Do they slouch? Or stand up straight? Do they perhaps stand a little too straight and maybe seem a little stiff? Or maybe they’re slouched a bit, but it’s intentional and calmly relaxed?

Posture is all about attitude and how you view yourself/how you want others to see you.

But it’s also sometimes affected by mood, or physical exhaustion or stress, or even age.

Age. This is not a requirement, but it is a fun tool to play with, especially because the age someone appears might not always be their actual age.

Old does not mean wise or experienced.

Young does not mean immature or ignorant.

Do not overshare. It’s not necessary to go in-depth in long paragraphs of description. A little nod here and there to certain traits, and that should cover it.

Number Two: Action

How do they move? This ties in as well with physical description, especially owing to posture and the way someone carries themselves.

Action does not have to be obvious and direct. It can be subtle, too. Something small, like the twitch of a finger, or the flick of an ear if perhaps your character’s species allows for that (I have been known to do this with elves)

But there are also certain mannerisms and behaviors that are significant, and very definitive to a character.

Gait. How to they walk? What is their pacing? Fast? Slow? Do they have a limp? Perhaps they walk with a particular bounce to their step?

Hands. Do they move their hands often? Or do they keep them still? Some people are hand-talkers, they subconsciously make frequent gestures and are very mobile when speaking. These people also are often a lot more open and chatty as well.

Shifts in their mood. How does their body language reflect their mood? If they’re more reserved, perhaps they simply get noticeably more tense when upset, especially around the shoulders. Or perhaps if they’re very open, they start to bounce or move around in excitement, maybe they’re a hugger! (Not so fun for the more reserved characters around them, that one, lol)

Sitting. This is a fun one I really like to play with, because most don’t think of this as really any sort of action, but it is there and it does a lot to describe people.

How do they sit? Do they take up a lot of space? Or do they minimize themselves to be the least inconvenient possible? Perhaps they cross their legs? And if they do, how do they cross them? Wide cross, one leg over the other? Just crossing the ankles? Or if they don’t, are they spreading themselves out? Or are they keeping their knees touching together? (See how this works to describe people?)

Number Three: Inner Thoughts

This. This is another one some writers struggle with. Mostly because it’s hard to keep to one perspective and get everyone’s thoughts expressed. At least, if that’s what you’re going for. Third-person omniscient writing comes easier, because well, yeah. You get to go inside everyone’s head and know what they’re thinking. But, this can go really wrong too, because sometimes you’re getting jumbled around and there’s too many people to keep track of, and.. Yeah.

Third-person limited writing. It’s tougher than omniscient, yes. But it can be a good way to streamline things, and keep a centralized focus on one main character. And this is where the trick comes in for understanding the inner thoughts of characters.. whose minds we can’t just peek into.

Use expressive features to show thought, and have your protagonist interpret for the reader. Does your elf character have ears that express their feelings like a cat? Perhaps those ears just flicked back in what seems to be annoyance. Uh-oh. Now your protag has to be careful. Their elf buddy looks annoyed, and it might be because of them.

Have the protagonist vocalize and initiate. ‘Did I do something wrong?’ ‘Are you mad at me?’ Oftentimes, this can get some dialogue going to get an easy peek into what that other character might be thinking.

Or you can have the protag stay quiet, and just read the body language. Even the most stoic of characters will have their tells for what’s on their mind, and you just have to look for it.

Eyes. Never underestimate the power of a look. The eyes are powerful tools, and even if a character is blind, their eyes can and will still show their thoughts to an extent.

Number Four: Reactions

Here’s where it really gets fun. Like with the protagonist interpreting another’s thoughts, this is all about what other characters think, and how they respond to whoever you’re introducing to them.

Are they intimidated by this person? Do they get angry when they see them? Or are they excited just by hearing that person’s name?

Let your characters react organically. This can give a lot of insight into some history of the characters in general. If someone reacts poorly to the mention of someone else, that could mean they have a bad past with that person. If they react positively, then maybe they’re old friends who missed each other.

Background characters. These folks are important too, and often they get brushed aside in favor of the central focus. But they react too. What do they think of a negative reaction from a primary focus character? Do they know anything? Is this common knowledge? Or perhaps they’re shocked. It can do a lot to set a scene and add to the history if you let background citizens have their thoughts too.

Reactions also apply to physical descriptions too. Are they disgusted by how someone dresses? Or are they jealous of how well put together they are? Do they see this person as ugly or attractive? Have fun with this, and let characters be real.

Number Five: Speech

Ah, yes. My favorite bit of character work. How do your characters speak? This does a whole lot to really bring a character to life for your readers, and make them interactive for the other characters in the writing.

Accent. Does your character have an accent? Is it noticable? Perhaps they sometimes get misunderstood because of a thick accent.

Vocabulary. Big words, or short statements. A character’s vocabulary can say a lot about their level of education, and the environment they grew up in.

Language. Are they well-spoken, or do they just sort of let the words fall where they will? Maybe they have a tendency to pepper their speech with more.. colorful linguistics and come across more crass and aggressive. Or perhaps they hardly even know what swearing is and their innocence comes through in their fluffy little curses.

How does their dialogue stand out from the other characters? Straight and proper? Cool and casual? Bumbling and enthusiastic? Poor english? Amazing grammar? It’s all up to you.

And now, without further ado, I’d like to post this little excerpt for you guys, so you can get an example of how I use characterisation in my introductions to bring characters to life, and I hope you all enjoy it.

“I need to speak to the captain of this ship. It’s important!” She was already growing exasperated as she stared up at the man before her. He frowned and shook his head, grabbing another stack of crates to load on board.

“I’m sorry, miss, but I can’t help you.”

“Do you even understand? I said it’s important!”

“He understands perfectly, young lady.. But he does not have the authority to refer you to the ship’s captain.” She turned to face the source of this new voice, and almost immediately, her eyes were caught by his piercing golden gaze. It was like being caught frozen in a single moment, his eyes locked on hers, and she couldn’t bring herself to look away for what felt like an eternity. When she finally did, she soon found herself noticing his ears. Pointed, almost knife-like.. And his skin.. A deep, rich, tawny brown, like he was loved by the sun and the earth itself. But it was that that truly gave her pause yet again.

“You’re.. an elf..” She finally managed to utter just those words, and he quirked an eyebrow at her, as if she was dumber than dirt for even speaking.

“Yes. Such an astute observation..” Oh, he absolutely thought she was an idiot. She could tell just by the tone of his voice, but.. Everything she had ever been told about elves, all described them the same way. Fair skin, and either blonde or dark-haired. But here he was. His skin was earthen, warm brown tones, in such stark contrast to everything she’d ever been told, and even more blatantly in contrast with his shockingly snow white hair. Finally, she recovered herself, and a scowl affixed itself rather effectively upon her features yet again.

“If he can’t direct me to the captain, then I suppose you can.”

“Assuming I’d have interest in doing so, yes.”

“Well, do it. It’s important I talk to the captain!”

“Young lady. You already are.” Again, she was frozen, staring at the elven man. This time, though, it wasn’t because of his features, but his words. As she finally took notice of the crisply tailored red jacket he wore, not to mention the crest emblazoned on his breast pocket and the peaked cap upon his head, she couldn’t help but feel just as foolish as he clearly thought she was. He was the captain, and she was making a total spectacle of herself.

#;; a gem in the hoard (writing tips)#;; from a tiny lizard to a mighty dragon (writing advice)#;; the word of a beast (jabber writes)

0 notes

skateurgency · 7 years

Text

Netflix Death Note 2/10

I watched this POS. I watched all of it. I forced a friend to watch it with me because I couldn’t go through it alone.

I couldn’t go more than 5 minutes without pausing it to sCREAm at how poorly it captured the original. I dented my wall guys. I became so enraged seeing one of my favorite series brought this low. It destroyed its source material and left behind the worst adaptation yet of Death Note and just an all around poor quality film. If you haven’t seen Death Note and are afraid of spoiling the source material with this film, don’t worry! Maybe 7% is the same. Maybe. However, there will be spoilers below.

Oh Boy. It was hard to get through. There as just so much wrong with it. Light’s a little bitch. Ryuk is barely there. Misa, aka Mia, is one of the most unlikable charterers I have seen in a long time. Granted, I didn’t care much for Misa Misa in the manga, but Mia took it from indifference to strong dislike. Mr. Turner (Light’s dad in this version. I can’t recall a first name) is such an unlikable man. Also, a plot point is that Light’s mom is dead and he doesn’t have a sister so you know right there that the whole Mellow arc is basically scrapped.

Now I know that this was an “adaptation” of the manga, and an Americanized version. There may have been a few too many creative liberties used because almost nothing followed the source material. It seemed more like a bad high school drama than Death Note. Hell, an important scene takes place at a homecoming dance. Light Yagami (Turner) at a homecoming dance. Talking about the Death Note in BROAD FUCKING DAYLIGHT.

After watching the film I made a comment to my friend that you could have taken out Ryuk from the film and it wouldn’t have changed the plot one bit. Except we would have been spared the scene of Light shrieking in fear and cowering under a desk. If you’ve made a Death Note adaptation that could easily remove the shinigami and nothing would be different, you know that you messed up right there.

Speaking of Ryuk, he is an odd presence in the film. He is no longer bound to the owner of the death note, instead it seems like he comes and goes while he pleases. Also, now he can only be seen by the owner of the death note, not just anyone who touches it. Thus Misa (Mia) can never see or talk to him throughout the film, which leads to some odd exchanges. Unlike the manga Ryuk, this one never goes in to the boredom speech. Remember when Light asks what he did to receive such a great power and Ryuk tells him it was just dumb luck that he picked it up, Ryuk just dropped it because he was bored? Yeah, there was none of that. There isn’t the scene of Ryuk telling Light that if he uses the death note that he won’t go to heaven or hell, and that Ryuk will be the one to kill him in the end. I always liked that scene in the manga, it gave Light’s choices more weight. Ryuk honestly... doesn’t do much at all. He eats some apples, that’s pretty neat. Ummm... he has a nice line at the very end of the film... I think that’s it, asides from Light screaming or threatening him a few times.

Which really bothered me. Like, REALLY bothered me. This movie screws up shinigami death, along with a lot of the rules of the death note. Light tells Ryuk he’ll write his name down in the death note, and Ryuk just tells him “the most anyone ever got was two letters.” You can’t kill a shinigami by just writing their name down. There’s only a handful of beings that know how to kill one, two of them being Ryuk and Rem, who isn’t in the film at all. Yes, a shinigami can die if thery forget to put names down, but a way to kill one is by having a shinigami extend the life of a human they care for when that human’s life was supposed to be up. Rem’s friend does this for Misa Misa and then brings her his death note per his request. Not like any of that comes up in this film. Misa (Mia) never gets a death note, never becomes the second kira, and never gets there eyes. Because oh yeah, something key like the shinigami eyes and this girl being so in love she quarters her life span for a guy doesn’t make it in to this film.

A few other rules are off though, such as the way ownership works. The film makes it no longer Ryuk’s death note and has a scene about how it will pass from human to human (I don’t remember the specifics and I’m not about to watch it again) after a certain amount of days. I also do not think the owner loses their memory. There’s also this odd clause that if you write a name down but later destroy the page before it happens the death will be cancelled. But you can only do this once. This becomes a major plot point for the film when it isn’t at all in the manga (that I recall. Feel free to correct me on this.) Also, you apparently don’t need the right names because Light fucking writes down Watari as fucking Watari AND IT WORKS. WHAT. WHAT THE FUCK. WHY?

This is getting very long winded because I have a lot of rage, so I’m going to break this down by issues I had with each character and how off they were from their manga counterparts.

L - I’ll start of positive. For the most part, I liked L. The actor was much better than his rival, and made L seem human. His performance was a highlight. My main issue with L was the weird limo scene with some odd neon shades and asking Watari to sing him to sleep. It also upset me that he showed his actual face in a press junket. They focused more on his candy than how brilliant L actually is. Both he and Light don’t seem to be anywhere near as intelligent as they should be. In the film there is scenes of L coping with the loss of a friend that wasn’t in the manga since L and Watari die at about the same time. It was actually nice to see and made L seem a little more warm and human.

Watari - Good actor, gave a good performance. Odd casting choice in my opinion? Watari was one of the few Japanese actors in the cast when he’s playing the only non Japanese character. Watari was an old English gentleman. His name is Quillish Whammy for fuck’s sake. The actor gave the roll a good go, unfortunately it was just written poorly and most of his scenes take place at what looks like an old horror movie set.

Ryuk - I already touched on Ryuk previously. The VA did a fine job, he actually looked pretty decent. Sadly, his lines are all pretty worthless and for the most part he just makes Light nearly piss himself when he shows up.

Mr. Yagami (Mr. Turner) - This man is such a fuck. I disliked him so much. I really respected Yagami in the manga. He made tough decisions and was ready to do what he must to catch Kira. In fact, he quits the police force in near disgrace to fight Kira. That scene where he asks L to confine him as well because his son is confined in suspicion of being Kira? That scene where he is prepared to shoot his son and then himself? His father trading for the eyes but never using the death note on Mellow because he still wants to redeem him? Yagami being a good, developed character? Yeah, none of that. Instead we got tense conversations between him and Light because they don’t like each other. We get him choking L out at a family dinner because L says Light is Kira and Yagami abandoning L to protect his son at all costs. He even finds out his son is for a fact Kira and does nothing.

Misa Misa Amane (Mia) - Boy did I dislike Misa in this film. The first scene is her being a cheerleader but being too “over life” to do the cheers? God, she is such an unlikeable, uncharasmatic bitch in this film. That’s such a big change from bratty but cute and bubbly superstar model Misa Misa. The actress had very little charm in her delivery. A lot of her scenes were of her trying to convince Light to kill more. A lot of them. Most of her scenes in the later half of the movie. She seemed to be going for a Harley Quinn vibe, complete with a “normal people scare me” hung up in her locker. Misa steals pages from the death note (since she doesn’t have her own) and sneaks behind Light’s back to kill the FBI agents trailing them. She also writes Light’s name down in the death note, to try and gain ownership of it. It honestly seemed like Light and Misa’s personalities were switched from what they were in the manga. Maybe it was to try and make her a strong female character, but it fell flat. What I found was one of the major characteristics of manga Mia was that she loved Light. She would do anything for Light, such as trading for the eyes twice or giving up her death note and memories when Light asks her to. This Misa seems to care much less for Light and more about the death note and killing. It doesn’t make her endearing to the audience, I don’t know what they were trying to do with her.

Light Yagami (Light Turner) - Where to begin. The acting was quite weak. The boy can scream and cry and beg, that’s for sure. However, he’s playing Light. There should have been no need for any of that. If only. I think what upset me most was that this film didn’t make Light seem smart. He does people’s tests for them at school and... that’s it. That’s where you’re supposed to infer that he’s a brilliant top of his class, getting primed for great things. Film version Light isn’t liked at school where as manga Light isn’t super popular, but he has friends. He has girls ask him out a few times. There’s some dialogue between Ryuk and Light about how popular he is with the ladies. Whereas Film Light is pretty much alone except for deranged Misa. There’s also no secrecy about the death note. He fucking has it in his lap during gym class, just chilling there. Misa asks what it is and he shows her how to use it. Just like that. They talk about it and killing people constantly out in public or in classes. It’s so unrealistic. Light doesn’t try to hide anything. On his first time meeting L he confesses to being Kira, just like that. He confesses it to his dad later on as well. He has a few exchanges with Misa about how much he wants to give up the death note and run way together because he loves her. After all, there was a montage of them making out while writing down names, it’s true love. The climax of the movie has Light writing down “if Misa takes the note book from me she will die” and Light telling her “it’s the notebook or me.” She chooses the notebook and you see him sob “I never thought you would take it!! I thought you loved me!!” and it’s so very manga Misa Misa. Light acts like the worst parts of manga Misa. He’s always ready to just give up and cry under a desk. The only good thing he does in this film is kill Misa.

One of the brilliant things Death Notes does is it challenged the reader about what is truly good and evil. Reading it for the first time I remember siding with Light up until he makes the jump to killing anyone after him. Then I was with L and the SPK. But then L dies. The leader of the “good side” dies and Light has his iconic “I win” panel. The whole world turns to Kira in support, and the reader does once again. He won out, he must be the good force after all. Then Near and Mellow show up and once again the reader is unsure of who to support. Mellow uses such underhanded tactics and causes Mr. Yagami’s death so he can’t be good. Near was a little kid so by virtue he had to be good, although personally I dislike Near. L and Mellow grew on me, Near didn’t. At this point Kira can’t be attributed solely to Light as he has Mikami and Misa working for him, but Kira is the bad guy again to the reader. The reader is thrown back and forth with who they support as things develop, but the characters themselves still fully believe that they all are what is good. The side of justice. The SPK thinks that they are in the right by bringing Kira down. Kira thinks that he is right by serving out justice and acting as god. It makes the reader really, really question what they think about right and wrong.

This movie version stripped that away. I never got the feeling that Light believes he is actually doing the right thing. He constantly is questioning their actions and wanting to stop. The viewer never thinks Light is in the right for a second, the viewer never wants him to win. You never have to question is Kira’s justice right or wrong.

I think what sums it up better than I could is the difference between these two scenes (Please note I do not have my copy of the book on hand and I’m not rewatching the film so this is from memory. Words may not be exact but the overall sentence is). In the manga Light comments “They have chosen to call him Kira. I don’t particularly like it as it sounds similar to the American word for killer, which is not what Kira does, he is justice.” In the film, Light states “I chose the name Kira because it’s close to the Japanese word for killer.” There ya go. Light chooses (CHOOSES) the name Kira because it sounds like a nice edgy name that is a word for murderer, which Light views himself as.

Bottom line, don’t watch it unless you too want to be upset. L, Watari, sometimes Ryuk, and the plethora of awful snapchat stickers my friend and I got were the highlights.

2/10 - just not no chip scene, barely any scenes from the manga.

#death note #netflix #review #death note review #fucking awful #long text #sorry guys this got away from me #I had so much to hate tbh #shoutout to strategictree for watching it with me #2/10 what a pos

6 notes · View notes

lifeisamazingtoallvic-blog · 7 years

Text

Footnote to Youth

Jose Garcia Villa

What does the story is relate to us? The story relates our new generations because it is intended for teenagers. How does it affect our livelihood education? It affects on the way that it is being true to real life.

Second, the story begins with a boy named Dodong who suddenly of being a farmer that come from a family that lives in rural areas.Somehow he wish to have a sister who could help his mother in the household chores. Also want to marry to a girl named Teang and it happened.They had a children and they faced all the trials at earlier time of being a parent to their children.In addition,Blas was the youngest son of Dodong wants to marry at young age too.At this point,their behavioral aspects are being pass through generations.Then the marry was so credible in the essence of rushing to oneself of being confident to marry early.As well as being in a rush time to do the wants than needs.

Third,the story compromises well by an ordained plot for the readers to sufficiently understand the series of the story itself.There are terms had not yet familiarized that are used.There are often dialogues has been used to attract the reader’s mindset.The setting is also somehow irresistible of substituting the strength of the characters soulfully prior to their situation.However the role of women in the story is only liable in doing household chores.They are really especial in times of different perspective.Choosing up have an optimistic vision that relates to the story’s events.With whom they serve as strength of the family.Being brave to the trials and problems that have come quickly.Indeed women are such desirable to be part of the men by all means of practical,emotional,and physical aspects.From the text I have read,it is very inferring to real life situation of such family.I was thoroughly comprehend from the story itself.From the the beginning up until the end of the story it feels me normal of relating the sense of a family prefers to goes on moving to the biography even though full of circumstances.As well as the developmental of learning what life has doing to oneself.Upon stating the social status it gives emphasis to refer the various constructions and conditions that can be made according to the worthy of something good or bad.Being a poor citizen contrast from rich is fully equal to the way of life in handling the specific deal.Eventually the condition of controlling the living provided a mental attitude that set to the state of differences.

Lastly,I admired the story because it is open to the public.We should learned by this inspirational way of altogether subscribing the sense of why it is being free to people especially to the experiences of Filipino citizen.It helps me to conclude the happenings of the country’s situation.Therefore in suggesting,it would be very interesting if their is evaluation of the trials that has been encountered.Finally,regretting is not good to oneself.

5 notes · View notes

bibliophilechelsea · 4 years

Text

3 January 2020 - Cicero on Friendship

“’Fire and water are not of more universal use than friendship'--such is the high value put upon this great human relationship by the most famous orator of Rome.” (Cicero born Jan. 3, 106 B. C.)

Read from Cicero On Friendship .......... Vol. 9, pp. 16-26

I actually started out reading the introduction on Cicero before the essay. In all honesty, as much as I know the name, I really knew nothing about Cicero. I did not realize that he was an advocate, politician, and overall orator in the time of Caesar. I did not know that he died after Antony got to power in large part due to a number of essays he penned against him. The books said that much of his rhetoric involves a lot of contextual knowledge to properly understand, which is why they included the two original essays in the volume, the one I’m reading entitled On Friendship.

This essay seems to be in the form of a letter to a friend. At the beginning, Cicero explains how he will discuss friendship through a story of dialogue, and as Cato was the main narrator in On Old Age, Laelius would be written as the narrator on friendship due to his wisdom in life. The scene is set that Scaevola and Fannius are talking to Laelius after the death of his friend Africanus. Apparently he missed a meeting, and the talk was about whether it had been due to grief or illness, which Scaevola had told the questioners that Laelius had too much character to miss it for anything other than ill health. Laelius confirmed this and went on to talk about grief and friendship.

One part that really stood out to me was this:

Affected of course I am by the loss of a friend as I think there will never be again, such as I can fearlessly say there never was before. But I stand in no need of medicine. I can find my own consolation, and it consists chiefly in my being free from the mistaken notion which generally causes pain at the departure of friends. To Scipio I am convinced no evil has befallen: mine is the disaster, if disaster there be; and to be severely distressed at one’s own misfortunes does not show that you love your friend, but that you love yourself.

This is a really interesting way to look at grief. Many people have said that funerals are not for the deceased; they are for those left behind. This follows a similar vein in saying that letting loss and grief overtake your life does nothing for the one lost.

Laelius then goes on to talk about the great deeds his friend had done, and how old age inevitably saps strength and vigor.

We may conclude therefore that his life, from the good fortune which had attended him and the glory he had obtained, was so circumstances that it could not be bettered, while the suddenness of his death saved him the sensation of dying.

His version of friendship can only seldom happen, and only between “good” people: those of the highest character, not as would be determined by a philosopher, but through a realistic look at people and what they are capable of. Laelius states that true friendship is a harmony of souls and the greatest divine gift humanity has received.

In fact, friendship is what makes life worth living.

What can be more delightful than to have some one to whom you can say everything with the same absolute confidence as to yourself? Is not prosperity robbed of half its value if you have no one to share your joy? On the other hand, misfortunes would be hard to bear if there were not some one to feel them even more acutely than yourself....In the face of a true friend a man sees as it were a second self. So that where his friend is he is; if his friend be rich, he is not poor; though he be weak, his friend’s strength is his; and in his friend’s life he enjoys a second life after his own is finished. This last is perhaps the most difficult to conceive. But such is the effect of the respect, the loving remembrance, and the regret of friends which follow us to the grave. While they take the sting out of death, they add a glory to the life of the survivors.

I loved this. Friendship is our legacy; it is what allows us to live on past our time. Our friends live forever through us, so there is little point in excessive grief, because we need to continue living for our friend, who is inside of us.

I am now definitely past the point where I was supposed to stop for my 15 minutes of reading, but I am hooked and continuing on! I think I will just point out some interesting parts as I continue reading. There is a lot of quotable wisdom concluding very contextually specific examples.

I conclude, then, that the plea of having acted in the interests of a friend is not a valid excuse for a wrong action. For, seeing that a belief in a man’s virtue is the original cause of friendship, friendship can hardly remain if virtue be abandoned.

He then goes on to talk about the wealthy and friendship. Essentially, those who are wealthy BUT ALSO VIRTUOUS are often the most giving. Even two wealthy people who are completely self-sufficient want to feel needed by each other. But, for those who are not virtuous, they will never know if the friends they have are real or not, going on to give an example of a man named Tarquin who was in exile and did not know his true friends until he was poor and could not repay those he thought were his friends.

Though what surprises me is that a man of his proud and overbearing character should have a friend at all. And as it was his character that prevented his having genuine friends, so it often happens in the case of men of unusually great means--their very wealth forbids faithful friendships. For not only is Fortune blind herself; but she generally makes those blind also who enjoy her favours. They are carried, so to speak, beyond themselves with self-conceit and self-will; nor can anything be more perfectly intolerable than a successful fool. You may often see it. Men who before had pleasant manners enough undergo a complete change on attaining power of office. They despise their old friends: devote themselves to new.

In two thousand years, friendship and class differences do not seem to have changed very much...

Also, those in politics have seemingly always had issues maintaining friendships since it is difficult to wish someone to advance past you in that style of competitive profession. Also, it is difficult to find people willing to share in political disaster for friendship.

And though what Ennius says is quite true,--”the hour of need shews the friend indeed,”--yet it is in these two ways that most people betray their untrustworthiness and inconstancy, by looking down on friends when they are themselves prosperous, or deserting them in their distress. A man, then, who has shewn a firm, unshaken, and unvarying friendship in both these contingencies we must reckon as one of a class the rarest in the world, and all but superhuman.

I was starting to get tired and worried that I could not finish when I came across the following gems that are often referred to, to such an extent that I do not even know if it is know that they are referring back to Cicero.

This part made me think of the Grinch and his dog, Max:

For friendship, in one way or another, penetrates into the lives of us all, and suffers no career to be entirely free from its influence. Though a man be of so churlish and unsociable a nature as to loathe and shun the company of mankind, as we are told was the case with a certain Timon at Athens, yet even he cannot refrain from seeking some one in whose hearing he may disgorge the venom of his bitter temper.

He even talks of a theory that if a man could go to heaven and see and understand all of the wonders of the world, it would be a very small pleasure if he could not tell anyone of what he had seen.

So true it is that Nature abhors isolation, and ever leans upon something as a stay and support; and this is found in its most pleasing form in our closest friend.

But, people often do not listen to Nature and abuse their friendships. Others hate to hear the truth and ruin friendships that are honest with them instead of meekly compliant.

This remark of Cato’s, as so many of his did, shews great acuteness: “There are people who owe more to bitter enemies than to apparently pleasant friends: the former often speak the truth, the latter never.”

I made it to the end!

This is all I had to say on friendship. One piece of advice on parting. Make up your minds to this: Virtue (without which friendship is impossible) is first; but next to it, and to it alone, the greatest of all things is Friendship.

Conclusion: I was supposed to read pages 16-26 today. Instead, I read the introduction on Cicero and then the entirety of his essay On Friendship, which ran from pages 9-44. The most difficult part was how often he referenced people and events that his reader (since this was a letter he wrote) would know, but that I could only infer a basic knowledge of. As you can tell by how much I wrote and quoted, though, I did enjoy the letter. I am now putting his other letter-essay On Old Age onto my list of additional readings from the Harvard Classics to pursue.

#books #harvard classics #currently reading #reading #bibliophile #resolution #2020 reading challenge #cicero #friendship

0 notes

jeremystrele · 5 years

Text

The Meaning Of Motherhood, With Actress Madeleine Madden + Curator Hetti Perkins

Conversations

Hetti Perkins and her daughter Madeleine Madden. Photo – Alisha Gore.

Actress Maddy is on the cusp of her Hollywood breakthrough, staring in the forthcoming film, Dora and the Lost City of Gold. Photo – Alisha Gore.

Hetti Perkins is an Eastern Arrernte and Kalkadoon woman. Photo – Alisha Gore.

Maddy is Hetti’s youngest daughter. She has two older sisters Lillie and Thea as well as a brother Tyson. Photo – Alisha Gore.

–

I know you as Mum, a big group of people know you as Aunty. But who do other people know you as?

Hetti Perkins: I’m also kind of known as Mum to people I actually didn’t give birth to, which is lovely. That for me is something very special because it’s not so much a biological relationship but more of an emotional relationship. And aside from my very close extended family, I think I am best known for working in Aboriginal art and in an activist role. I feel that I’ve always tried to represent the voice of artists on a national stage if the opportunity was presented.

I remember when I was nervous about getting up to do a talk one time and my Dad, Charlie Perkins, said to me, ‘It’s not about you. If you get the chance to speak for your people… get up and you do it, and you do a good job!’ In some ways that is quite intimidating, but it’s also liberating because it isn’t about you, it’s about the work you can do for your people. That is the way I was raised.

The Art And Soul documentary series on ABC TV , the show I co-curated for the Venice Biennale in 1997 and Papunya Tula: Genesis and Genius, which was also exhibited at the Art Gallery of NSW in 2000… I’d like for people to see that those projects are part of a bigger strategy for the promotion of our peoples’ interest, collectively.

Madeleine Madden: I love that advice that Pop gave you and that you have passed on to us.

It kind of takes the fear out of it, it empowers you. And, you know, it’s what makes it all worth it – not some personal ambition or dream, it’s like the dream of the community.

In the public eye, Pop is seen as a fighter and really passionate and outspoken. But some people might know him best for his for his soccer career as well as his civil rights activism [achieving justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, including leading the Freedom Rides through NSW and becoming the first Aboriginal person to lead a federal department].

What was it like being in the spotlight when you were young, and how did that influence you?

Hetti: Myself and my younger brother and sister were very fortunate in some ways. We had a very strong mother, Eileen, who is still with us and will probably outlive us all! She supported Dad 100%, enabling him to do what he had to do and what he wanted to do.

When we were in Alice Springs and I was in primary school, the kids knew who my dad was and what he did, and they weren’t very complimentary about it – they would call him a shit-stirrer and things like that. That’s pretty confronting when you’re in the third grade. When we went to Canberra to live for a long time, the racism took a different form: it wasn’t sort of as personal and about Dad, but it was more schoolyard taunts about being a blackfella.

It’s interesting because if, say, I wore glasses I’d have been called ‘four-eyes’ or if I was a bit chubby it’d have been ‘fatty’ or whatever. But racism is different, it’s such an insidious thing. They try to make you feel that you are genetically a lower form of life.

Being black is something intrinsic to you and certainly, it was to me. Even though my mother is not Aboriginal, we grew up and still do feel 100% blackfella. I loved being a part of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, and being with Dad, going to all the demonstrations, having people over and hearing them talk. What I remember most about it, is that some of the toughest activists were so gentle and kind to me, and extremely funny.

Growing up, there was a sense of unity, of collective action, and if there was in-fighting, people sorted their stuff out behind the scenes. I guess that has sort of changed, now, there are a lot more platforms for people to have their opinions, informed or otherwise, and share them widely. Back in the day, if you pardon my cliche, people earned the right to have an opinion and make a statement, because they had done the hard yards. They got off their arses, they were going to the demonstrations and meetings, doing things rather than sitting at home in front of a keyboard, spraying out about whatever was going on.

Maddy: Nowadays you feel like you are standing on the shoulders of giants, because back then people literally put their lives on the line, and risked their personal safety so that others could have opportunities.

A lot of people have wanted to know about the man Pop was, but I also think of Nanny Perks standing with him. It would have been very difficult for her marrying an Aboriginal man in the 1960s, as a white woman in this country.

Hetti: I remember talking to Mum about that. I said, you know, ‘A black, poor, young fella with uncertain prospects.. and you married him anyway’. She was, still is, deeply in love with Dad, and I think theirs is a great love story! They are two very well oiled parts of a synchronised unit.

Often Dad was under pressure, I see that now he could be volatile and angry, but he was always loving. We felt that we were the things that mattered most in his life. He simultaneously had a fire in his belly, a burning sense of injustice, and he just couldn’t swallow it. I think almost dying at quite a young age, with his kidneys and the transplant and especially the experiences he had as a child, he felt that he was given this chance and he wasn’t going to waste it, he was going to devote every energy to it. But as I said, he had Mum. And it wasn’t like ‘There’s Dad and he goes to work and we don’t really know what he does, just that he’s never here’. We actually knew that he was sacrificing time to do the work that he needed to do for our mob. We were ok with that because we also felt that we were part of that fight.

When you were young we all lived together with your Pop and Nanny, and you were exposed to a life where the politics and the personal were the same thing. At 13, you were the first teenager in Australia to deliver an address to the nation, which really sort of set you on a trajectory. From playing a cat in the preschool play or Dora the Explorer’s bestie in the forthcoming Paramount blockbuster, for me observing, your acting and activism has always seemed like a natural path.

Photo – Alisha Gore.

–

Do you feel like acting and activism was a natural path for you?

Maddy: I think so, I mean it would be weird if I wasn’t political in the house that I grew up in. We were always encouraged to have an opinion and stand up for what we believed in, we always had a seat at the table and were involved in the dialogue the adults were having. I think it was a blessing to have experienced that and the voice that this instilled in us, from such a young age.

I have heard actors of colour that have said, ‘I’m not really a political person’. And I’m generally shocked about that because I am like, ‘How can you not be?’ I get that some people are all don’t-talk-about-religion-and-politics-at-the-table, but we can’t just keep our heads buried in the sand. If you have a platform you need to use it. Obviously many people face difficulties in their lives, and we should normalise talking about that. And that also means talking about politics. It shouldn’t just be left up to the 1% to make decisions for us. I am going to keep speaking up for as long as I can.

Hetti: You’ve had a very strong sense of injustice from a very young age and that need to correct any injustice you may see around you.

It’s interesting in my work too, with artists, a few have said, ‘I’m not an Aboriginal artist, I’m an artist’. And I’ve always found that quite confusing. Over the years I have unpacked the idea, and I think to say something like that infers that there is something lesser in being an Aboriginal artist. But to be connected to your own identity and express it doesn’t reduce your opportunities. For example, It doesn’t mean you can’t play the role of a non-Aboriginal person.

Maddy: I think there is still this fear, from the past when people got typecast or stereotyped, of being called a ‘black artist’. People are worried they are getting boxed in… but, well, break the box. I can understand how you just want to be treated like an equal like anyone else, but unfortunately, that’s not the world we live in. I think you need to just be a front runner and do the damn thing you want to!

Hetti: As you were growing up, I was working at the Art Gallery Of NSW (my children literally had free rein on the gallery, thanks to some very friendly childcare policies during my 13 years!).

Do you think being brought up in a home where work and life merged together has influenced the choices you’ve made?

Maddy: I think the way you intertwined the two has definitely trickled down into our lives. Yet you have always prioritised family first over work and I know that my siblings and I definitely do the same. The Gallery really was a second home. It was such an incredible place for children to exist in – among people that were just so passionate about art, life, love and natural beauty!

I tap into all of that with my acting a lot – all that we were immersed in.

Hetti: Artists would come into our home and stay with us – people like Mike Rakowitz, Christian Thompson, and Tony Albert. There have been a lot of amazing creatives in your lives and it’s always been remarkable to me how you have all just gone with the flow. You know, ‘Move over, make some space on the lounge’… Or ‘Now they want a turn at Guitar Hero!’

Maddy: Yeah! And I think artists take a real leap of faith, really go out on a limb and risk it all. A lot of those people overcame really hard challenges and made art out of them. We have always just been surrounded by brave, wonderful, kind people and that is the best childhood that anyone could ask for. I think that’s why you are such a great mother because you mother people of all walks of life… and now we have ‘siblings’ from everywhere!

Hetti: Yes we are very fortunate. You had a wonderful childhood, and I’m glad you did because I think that it is such a formative time and it is often too short. These days, I don’t think kids get enough time to go outside and climb a tree, walk the dog, or just sit down and do nothing. There is a lot of focus on homework and goals and tasks. But having the time to hang around and be in each other’s company in an unstructured way is something that’s really important.

Photo – Alisha Gore.

–

What’s the best piece of parenting advice you’ve been given?

Hetti: Even when I was a child myself, I was one of those kids that loved looking after the littlies! I feel like I did get some good advice – everything from always keep the baby’s feet warm to don’t use nappy wipes… practical things – but I guess, in some ways, I always felt innately maternal.

When I was growing up I felt very strongly about what kind of life I wanted for my children. I really wanted my kids to grow up in Sydney (where I moved to for university), to experience the multiculturalism, the plurality – the best of Australian society… The excitement and creativity of a city like that with all its beautiful natural attributes, a very strong Aboriginal community, and a fabulous LGBTQI community.

But I’ve also very strongly felt that parents actually need to earn the love and respect of their children. It’s not something you should take for granted. I don’t believe in any sort of physical punishment or anything like that; I think it’s much better to try to get kids on the same page and to achieve a balance. You know, happiness is really the most important thing.

Maddy: Yeah exactly, I think you lead by example and that’s the best way: showing by doing and putting in the hard work… like the extremely hard work of raising four kids by yourself! Kids make mistakes, everyone makes mistakes, but I think the important thing is to hold yourself accountable. Do you take responsibility for that behaviour? Do you grow from it and learn from it, and go ‘Ok I’m not doing that again’? I think that’s a really nice aspect of how you have raised us to behave.

Hetti: I think some kids, when they really muck up or go off-the-rails, are hurting themselves but also punishing people as a way of hitting back. It’s an interesting one.

Your father, Lee, passed away when you were six, which seems at odds with saying you had a great childhood. But you’ve always had loving family around you.

What do you think you’ve learned from your childhood?

Maddy: I think it was definitely a very tough year for us because Pop passed away and then Dad soon after. But I think from those moments, that were obviously very hard, we now know how to deal with grief well. When you have Earth-shattering, soul-destroying, ‘How do I get back from this?‘ moments, you remember you’ve always got each other. I am so blessed to have that reassurance that our family can all band together and keep going.

It’s also a reminder of how you stepped up, which was huge: you were the mum, the dad, the best friend and everything. I think it’s a massive testament to you as a person, and to our Grandparents on both sides.

I remember how Nanny Lil (Dad’s mum) said, ‘You just have to keep going, lots of upsetting things have happened in our lives and in our collective past’, (referring to growing up as a black woman, and the really tough things she faced). She added, ‘Grow from it, get strong from it. Life goes on and so should we’. Now I feel that anything life kind of throws at us, we will be able to get through it.

Hetti : I think it’s important to have that security because it gives you confidence. I also think of your grandmother Lily and how she relates to her grandchildren. She has taught me a lot. She’s one of those people that really laughs with you, and that’s a beautiful thing too. You say I stepped up, but I did so because I was supported to step up, and we all knew we had to keep going.

In many ways, the world is quite different from the one that I grew up in. To me, you are someone who is very social-media savvy, articulate, and seem to enjoy the opportunities that being online gives you, especially to engage with others.

What are your thoughts on the pros and cons of the social media world?

Maddy: I love that quote by RuPaul, who has been a massive idol and inspiration for us. She says ‘Unless them bitches payin’ your bills, pay them bitches no mind.’ and I think that is the best approach to have with the haters. The negativity is always going to be there and sometimes social media makes people think it’s ok to behave in certain ways when it’s not. Online bullying is awful, a kind of a silent killer.

But I love the opportunities social media gives me, and by that I mean the art, the cute videos and funny memes – that’s what I get out of it! I took a break from social media (Instagram and Facebook) for three months and it was really good for my mental health. I felt less anxious, I was on my phone less, I was only caring about people who I actually care about. Then I got back on it and I just did a big cull on what I was seeing. Social media can be fantastic for raising awareness for good causes, getting people power going, and building momentum for movements. I’m really grateful for that too.

Hetti : Yes, when it’s used for good, not evil, it’s brilliant. There is a risk, but you know what, in every generation, there is always something that people are rolling their eyes about or freaking about. It used to be about watching too much TV!

Maddy: We have all grown up to be very connected to the outdoors and involved in the community. I volunteer with Seed Mob, an indigenous climate action group, and we’re all genuinely concerned because we can see the impacts now. A lot of women around the world are going on birth strikes because they don’t want to raise children in a world that’s essentially dying, as world ‘leaders’ stand idle.

Hetti : I can understand that. I think it is responsible parenting to think about what our children will inherit, whether in their local community, or the wider world. Do I want to bring a child up in an apocalyptic world? This threat to our beautiful creatures, plants, rivers.. the list goes on. And it’s because of one thing and that’s us: humans. The decisions that are being made from the Adani Coal Mine to the fracking in the Northern Territory to Oil prospecting in the Great Australian Bight make me feel extremely anxious and also furious. It’s all about the short-term and votes – no taking responsibility, making quick decisions to get the quick bucks and support, pulling the wool over the eyes of the community, and branding anyone who is a dissenting voice as Lefty-latte sippers!

Maddy: or calling them green-collared criminals! Even saying that to kids, who go on the school strikes, when their parents have said, ‘No you go out there, we support you to fight for your future’. And that’s a privilege you have given to us; always supporting us to go out there stand up for what is right, for our future, and people who can’t stand up for themselves.

What does Mother’s Day mean to you?

Hetti: There is a very conventional sense of what ‘Mother’s Day’ is. Obviously, we celebrate it – because we’ll take any kind of excuse to give presents and get together. Doesn’t matter what the cause is, we’re there!

Maddy: [laughs] Yeah, I love Mother’s Day, it should be Mother’s Day all day, every day, 365! It’s a moment where we can all just really celebrate the people in our lives, whether they are our biological mothers or people who have inspired us or anyone who has given us love or guided us. It’s a wonderful day to say thank you and make those people feel lovely and special… and have cake! We all love having a celebration at our house.

It’s nice how you always raised us to be affectionate and loving in that way, because it feels like that door is never closed, you know. I think It’s really important to show children that you love them, have an active interest in what they are doing, and that they have done a good job. This comes back to that leading by example; I think that is the best thing a parent can do!

Hetti: Beautiful… Well, that seems like a good spot to conclude this wonderful discussion – maybe one day we’ll look back on this one as another of our highlights!

0 notes

mlonswayfilm-blog · 7 years

Text

Shadows

After watching a short clip of Shadows by John Cassavetes during class I became curious about the rest of the film. We watched such a small moment of the film but that moment alone held so much power. Without it ever being said Tony was shown to be a racist character as he tried to get out of conversation with Lelia and her black brother. Skin color was enough to scare him away even with no interaction with the actual character. But this left me to wonder about how he was unaware of Lelia being part of the same ethnicity of her brother. The actress that played her did not appear racially mixed at all to me, simply just white but I was not sure whether this was because she was a white actress or because the film was in black and white. The article Unthinking Eurocentrism by Ella Shohat clarified that she was a white actress cast to play someone racially mixed (189). The film becomes very confusing at what it is trying to portray after finding that fact out. It gives across the idea that is is representing the black community and points out racism as a negative, yet lacks representation in its own lead actress. Interestingly enough the rest of the film never touched on racism at all as it seemed that all the characters blended in with other races and were never judged for the color of their skin. The only other moment that really seemed to bring up racial expectation was when the siblings through a sort of party at the end and the majority of the guests were of color (it may have been all of them but we cannot be sure with the casting aspect). I may be reading too far into this by Lelia ends up being set up with a man of color even though she really does not seem to want to be with him. This could be another racial expectation, but also a feminine expectation as often times Lelia is taken advantage of because of her race.

This film held a lot of opportunity for what Shohat claims as “a voice”. Shohat concludes her essay mentioning how one’s voice in film is much more powerful than the image portrayed. She speaks about how it can be less about the actual color of a person, and more about the social voice they have through image (215). It seems complex to think about how through not just image but voice in a film one could change stereotypes and the way a race is viewed. It would seem more obvious that through image of people of color standing up against something through visually powerful actions would evoke more change in how a race is represented. There has always been the phrase that actions speak louder than words. But Shohat seems to be saying it is the opposite as visuals create a sense of unrealistic realism that follows stereotypes and creates expectations by the spectator. But with words that stand against the norm, more power towards change is given. In a way I would personally say that a mixture of both is needed for change. In Shadows if Tony had simply walked out his racism may have not been as obvious as when he came up with an excuse to leave. Then power was given to Hugh as he used his voice to kick out Tony. The mixture of both image and voice was thus important in this scene. Now of course, I could be taking this too literally as Shohat may not mean directly dialogue but the overall voice of the film in terms of the points it gets across. In this case I think that Shadows would lack a strong voice as the majority of the film does not ever touch on issues of race except in that one small scene. The black community was not given a voice of representation in the film that would evoke any sort of change in the audience unless they really found themselves not wanting to be like Tony. Even then it could be turned that Hugh was the bad guy for kicking out Tony after he tried to apologize. The voice here becomes jumbled.

Shohat speaks a lot about representation in films and how people are portrayed from a one sided perspective. For example she speaks of cinema that shows Mexicans trying to get over the border, which makes them look like the bad guys while all the historical elements of poor border police, how the land use to be part of Mexico and so on are not depicted anywhere in the film (200). When watching films we do not often think about the history or the misrepresentation that is happening when we are unaware of the actual history. Shohat also brought up the example of the film Mississippi Burning as African Americans were represented incorrectly as FBI agents were turned into the protagonists (179). As someone with limited knowledge about that specific historical event I would have never known about how this film was misrepresenting history from the minorities perspective. It is so easy to become wrapped up in the theatrics and forget that just because it is depicted in film does not mean it is accurate. Out of inference I would assume that Shadows has the same issue going on. The film was made in 1959 which was a time where racism was still extremely prominent in more obvious ways than it is today. Jim Crow laws were still effective during this time which just shows the real life segregation that was happening. Yet this film makes it seem like everything was fine for people of color. Yes there was one guy who was racist, but to everyone else they were treated completely normally. It sounds as though I am saying this is a bad thing, it is not but it seems rather inaccurate. How could it be that during a time of obvious (rather than more modern discrete) racism, that everyone except one guy would be so accepting towards the family. Race was never an issue for them besides with the case of Tony. I guess I just kept expecting something to happen with Hugh’s singing career or Ben while out with friends that would show other aspects of racism but there was not any. In this case I feel as though the historical time period was misrepresented to make it look like people were not racist and it was easy to blend and succeed when of color. But in actuality there was separate water fountains for races, it would seem that the success of the siblings would not be so accurate in representing the race as a whole. 1959 was not an accepting time, I mean modern films still lack representation, so it would have been nice for historical accuracy to have shown through the film.

Another thing discussed by Shohat was the concept of “moralism” in terms of how different races are portrayed. Often people from third world countries she claims are given the more negative roles while white people are the heroes (201). This also went along with her discussion on how one bad white person was not victimized, but one bad black person set an entire stereotype into place. Both these aspects seemed apparent in Shadows. Tony was racist, but since he was white he did not seem like that bad of a character as this film likely did not make all white people see their flaws. But the siblings were all given temperamental attitudes that easily could be viewed by spectators are being based around their race. The siblings thus looked like the negative characters due to their aggressive behaviors. Of course everyone can be angry, but since the three characters given these roles are of color, it becomes a misrepresentation issue. Tony even seemed to come across as the good guy as Hugh shoved him out the door. Since the film was centered around people of colors lives it could have easily given them a powerful self-representation but instead it seemed to undermine their characters which as Shohat said, led back to be a racial issue.

0 notes