Benedict Bridgerton and the Multiverse of Madness
What always puzzled me (and adored) about the characterization of show! Benedict is his emotional maturity. Quoting the amazing Times article, he is a “loyal friend, a sympathetic listener with an open mind, a game and giving lover, and the emotional bedrock of his family”. (Lang, 2024) He’s very emotionally intelligent and sympathetic; the ability to sense his siblings and friend’s discomfort, and soothe them in his own way, the open-mindedness to Granville’s sexuality, the list is endless. I love him.
Now look at Book! Benedict. Although we have his character development/arc throughout the story, when readers first see him in 1817, he’s a complete dick. Arrogant, slightly abusive, manipulative, completely ignorant of Sophie’s insecurities, doesn’t accept Sophie’s rejection. His emotional immaturity toward Sophie is completely different from what show! Benedict is.
However, now that I’ve seen the first half of season 3, I could see how show!Benedict is changing into the Book! Benedict. As @the-other-art-blog (read her great review from here!!) has pointed out, his unnecessary hostility towards the debutants is slightly disturbing. He is bored and exhausted from the society, yet he doesn’t have a purpose in life, giving up on his artistic pursuits. In his season, He meets his love of his life at the masquerade, but she completely disappears from his world. His younger brother is happily married. His elder brother has two sons, so he’s no longer the spare. My guy is in absolute shambles and descending into madness at this point.
So as dickhead book! Benedict could be, he might not be relatable, but he is at least understandable. Benedict is at his lowest point when he reunites with Sophie in 1817; that is why he is so possessive and patronizing towards Sophie. He has to threaten and blackmail Sophie to London because he doesn’t want to let go the only light (Sophie) he found in his miserable life, and he’s already lost the love of his life, he doesn’t want to risk losing it again.
One of the most dickheaded moments in AOFAG?
The lake scene. Love that scene. Very Romantic. However, if you think objectively, seeing Sophie spy on him, Benedict proceeds to kiss her and asks her to be his mistress and tries to take her down on the ground? Knowing that she is a virgin? Absolute chaotic behavior and nothing like the soft, considerate respectful-to-women Benedict we saw in the past seasons. Why is he acting like this? Because at this point of his life, He is absolutely LOSING HIS MIND AND SANITY.
The aggressive “YES!!!” From season 3 Benedict? Oh we are slowly stepping in to the worst side of Benedict Bridgerton. Not the charming, respectful Benedict we have fallen in love with since the past seasons.
This is completely different from the topic that I rambled on, but I’m can’t wait to see the reaction when Sophie rejects Benedict during the pond scene. “I don’t see why not.” “But you wanted to just few second ago.” Imagine the look of confusion and frustration on Benedict’s expression. (In the past, viewers see that Benedict can bring girls to bed with one smirk and a flirty banter,) And as we all well know, Luke Thompson is the mastery of micro-expressions. Would love to see him deliver these lines.
Also, Benedict sleeping around with Lady Tilley, and also with the past ladies really heightens the tension between Sophie and Benedict, especially on the point of physical intimacy. For Benedict, he just likes to have fun, having sex is just light and breezy. So of course he would have no problem fucking an innocent girl who seems to like him back. In outdoors. On the FUCKING GROUND. However for Sophie, physical intimacy is almost like a sin; She can’t repeat the tragedy of her mother and make another human being suffer from the baseness of their birth. Ben and Sophie are perfect for each other, but Their polar opposite perception towards physical intimacy creates so much conflict and tension between the two. This point is also what differentiates Benophie from other couples, especially compared to Polin.
Benedict and Sophie are soulmates, two lost drifting souls finding solace, comfort and love in one another, but there is a deep rift between them that they have to overcome.
The angst in AOFAG is just pure drama.
Any thoughts? Love to hear your ideas too🥰🥰
References
Lang, Cady. Why Benedict is the Best Character in Netflix's Bridgerton | TIME, 2024
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Thinking about Hod again...
Call me weird but like... I don't think I've ever fallen in love with a fictional character like Hod before.
I will always remember seeing her in Library of Ruina. Just stepping into that beautiful, beautiful part of the Library that she calls home, and seeing the warm lights, and comforting wooden exteriors that leave a warm feeling within me. Then she steps out, and I am enamored. She's so beautiful. She's been hurt so much, but she's so beautiful... she really is a lovely person yet has deluded herself time and time again into a self-degrading state, sinking from the impact of her past mistakes... but now...
None of that matters. All that matters is that she's here. Hod... representing Splendor... has never looked more lovely. With a soft face and a soft voice... really it's just. I have always loved Hod. I have always been fond of her and I have always rooted for her. A victim of so many circumstance who puts so much blame on herself... who experiences so much isolation... now so warm... she always had that warmth, though I'm not sure if she ever knew until the awakening of The Library... I want to take her hand... I want to comfort her, relaying my own experiences with her, sharing emotions. I want to make her feel comfortable with intimacy, and for her to feel loved. I want to see her warm smile as I walk up to her, knowing for certain that she is in a so much better place now... I want her.
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I'm thinking about making a pre-fallen angel q!BBH design soon. When I have the motivation to... But basically my vision for angel qBBH is that he is almost like an antithesis to demon/current q!bbh. Basically, if his demonic form has dark, shadowy void skin, I think it would be perfect if his angelic form looked a little less humanoid and more like a physical form of light itself. Something that is otherworldly, ethereal, and terrifyingly unknown...
Actually, the fact that it's so hard to explain my interpretation right now is kind of perfect, because I think angels are meant to be abstract and so far removed from the physical world, therefore humanity, that you can't really explain them.
I've noticed some people designing angel q!BBH that looks more human, and while I don't think there is anything wrong with that (design characters to your heart's desire <3) in my opinion, angels are beings that the human mind simply can't comprehend. Like, that time when Bad was explaining the whole concept of the 4d time thing, it took someone drawing a diagram for me to understand it, and even then I still have trouble fully comprehending that. That's what angels are, and my interpretation of q!BBH, at least. Plus, it would go so well with him falling, becoming a demon and literally being corrupted by darkness yk?
And when I say symmetrical- like light vs dark, I don't really mean that as a parallel to good vs evil because there are so many gray areas with how heaven vs hell and character morality is presented in the qsmp. So I think heaven/light lines up with order and perfection. A cleanliness that must be kept pure, emotionless, and distant. Whereas hell/darkness is chaos, desire, and flaws that relate more to humanity.
Anyways, I went in a little tangent but basically: angels=light=strict order/harsh justice and demon/falling from heaven= darkness=chaos=humanity.
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I've walked past the Barbie branded selfie booth, sat through the reel of old commercials that precede the previews, and watched Margot Robbie learn to cry, and I’m still not sure what “doing the thing and subverting the thing,” which Greta Gerwig claimed as the achievement of Barbie in a recent New York Times Magazine profile, could possibly mean. This was the second Gerwig profile the magazine has run. I wrote the first one, in 2017, which in hindsight appears like a warning shot in a publicity campaign that has cemented Gerwig’s reputation as so charming and pure of heart that any choice (we used to call them compromises) she makes is justified, a priori, by her innocence. This is a strange position for an adult to occupy, especially when the two-hour piece of branded content she is currently promoting hinges on a character who discovers that her own innocence is the false product of a fallen world. But—spoiler alert!—the point of Barbie’s “hero’s journey” is less to reconcile Barbie to death than to reconcile the viewer to culture in the age of IP.
“Doing the thing and subverting the thing”: I haven’t finished working out the details, but I think the rough translation would be Getting rich and not feeling feel bad about it. (Or, for the viewer: Having a good time and not feeling bad about it.) One must labor under a rather reduced sense of the word “subvert” to be impressed with poking loving fun at product misfires such as Midge (the pregnant Barbie), Tanner (the dog who poops), and the Ken with the earring, especially given that the value of all these collectors’ items has, presumably, not decreased since the film opened. Barbie may feature a sassy tween sternly informing Robbie’s Stereotypical Barbie that the tiny-waisted top-heavy billion-dollar business she represents has made girls “feel bad” about themselves, but if anyone uttered the word “anorexia,” I missed it. (There was a reason Todd Haynes told the story of Karen Carpenter’s life and death with Barbies, and it wasn’t because an uncanny piece of molded plastic has the magical power to resolve the contradictions of girlhood and global capitalism.) There’s a bit about Robbie going back into a box in the Mattel boardroom, but Barbies aren’t made in an executive suite; they come from factories in China. On the one hand, it’s weird for a film about a real-world commodity to unfold wholly in the realm of ideas and feelings, but then again, that’s pretty much the definition of branding. Mattel doesn’t care if we buy Barbie dolls—they’re happy to put the word “Barbie” on sunglasses and T-shirts, or license clips from the movie for an ad for Google. OK, here’s my review: When Gerwig first visited Mattel HQ in October 2019, the company’s stock was trading at less than twelve dollars a share. Today the price is $21.40.
Christine Smallwood, Who Was Barbie?
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Get up, baby!
—✦ SUMMARY: The way jjk men try to wake you up despite your great desire to sleep on;
— CHARACTERS: Gojo Satoru, Geto Suguru, Nanami Kento, Ryomen Sukuna, Fushiguro Megumi;
— CONTENT: sfw! fluff, lots of kisses, soft;
✧˚.𝐆𝐨𝐣𝐨 𝐒𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐮
You sullenly hid your head in a pillow from the annoying rays of the sun that made their way through the window. Satoru, grinning, approached your sleeping face, starting to leave short kisses on your cheeks, gradually descending to your shoulders.
“Satoru, it's too early, I want to sleep.” You mumbled softly and indistinctly as he lifted you up and held you in his pleasant embrace, burying his head in your neck.
His hot breath covered your collarbones, tickling you slightly;
Every time Satoru wakes up before you, without thinking about falling asleep further – he wants to look at you every morning, finding something new for himself in you. He takes mental pictures, storing them in his head, and then he remembers you when you are not with him.
“But that's not the reason I let you go, because you're so cute when you're sleepy.” He nuzzled your forehead when you tilted your head back against his chest. “Then I'll fall asleep on you. Satoru laughed and, slowly leaning back, he gave you the opportunity to turn around and lie down again. You rested your head on his chest while he watched you, smiling.
“My beauty. I love mornings only because of you.”He whispered, stroking your head.
✧˚.𝐆𝐞𝐭𝐨 𝐒𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐮
His fingers carefully ran through your hair, drawing relaxing lines with smooth movements.
“Suguru?” Without opening your eyes, you sighed softly, continuing to be blissful from his touch.
“Sleepyhead, don't you think it's time to get up?”
His palm slowly moved to your back, starting to stroke you with long and sweet movements, trying to convey care and love for you in them.
Suguru finds something fascinating and noteworthy in your facial expressions: isn't it a miracle how his touch affects you?
Geto gently brushed your curls aside and lowered himself to you, imprinting kisses on your neck. “Do you like it?” The corners of his lips stretched out, hearing your soft sounds of ecstasy. “I wish I always had a morning like this.” He moved to your temple and lowered himself, lightly bit your earlobe, “Then let me continue, pretty.”
Ignoring the fallen strap of your T-shirt, he dressed your bare cool shoulders with the tenderness of his affectionate lips.
You shifted, propped yourself up on your elbows and addressed him drowsily, causing laughter in his chest “You're too good.”
✧˚.𝐍𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢 𝐊𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐨
“Good morning, sweetheart.” He entered the bedroom, making sure that you were still asleep, without making any attempt to wake up. You covered your eyes with your hand from the light that was in your way, but Nanami sat down on the bed, took it and kissed it slowly.
“Another 5 minutes, honestly.” You lied, you won't have 5 minutes, and he knows it perfectly well, so he has no other option but to start groping you.
“Are you sure you have enough time?” He tucked a strand of your hair behind your ear and mischievously gently tapped the tip of your nose, making you wince. You took his hand in yours and held it up to your face, propping it under your chin.
“Your hands are so nice, Kento.”
Nanami grinned and, approaching, kissed you on the forehead.
“How long has it been?
“You're late, darling.”
“What?!” You jumped out of bed, feeling the coolness of the room, but his hands stopped you “I was joking” He tried to keep his face serious, but looking at you, Nanami's lips turned into a small smile.
“Oh, don't joke like that!” You frowned and, not letting him pull you to him, put your head on his lap.
“You're not going anywhere now.” You wrapped your arms around him, preventing him from moving that way.
✧˚.𝐑𝐲𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐒𝐮𝐤𝐮𝐧𝐚
You were waking up from a dream, feeling something strange running over your hand, and when you woke up, you just remembered which man you were in a relationship with.
“Are you awake?” Sukuna still continued to tickle your skin with his nails, knowing full well that you were no longer asleep. “Don't be silent, doll, I know.” He traced the curves of your waist with his wide palm, shaking his head and grinning at how naive you look in front of him.
“Stop playing games” He pulled you to him and pressed your back to his chest and, resting his head on his hand, began to look at you.
“Maybe that's not how I want you to treat me.” You opened one eye and looked at him: Sukuna sighed in displeasure, rolling his eyes.
“Do you want me to do this?” He kissed your neck, biting it a little “Or maybe like this?” he grabbed your hip and squeezed it tightly, which made you squirm in bed.
“No-o-o.” You turned to him, removing his hand.
“Then what do you want?!” He stood up and loomed over you, looking at you with furrowed brows and displeased curled lips. “This is definitely not how I want to wake up.”You crossed your arms and turned your head away from him.
“Crotchety girl.” You immediately turned to him, but he didn't let you answer, and lifted your head by the chin, “But you're mine.”
✧˚.𝐅𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐨 𝐌𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐦𝐢
In general, it's hard for both of you to get up in the morning, but Megumi has more determination than you, so he has to tear you away from sleep in every way.
He woke up to the ringing of the alarm clock and was surprised that you did not react to him in any way, continuing to sleep and hug him tightly.
“Hey, can you let me go?” But you didn't react to him in any way and settled comfortably on his arm. Fushiguro lay there for a few minutes, trying to wake you up as gently as possible.
He still managed to get out of your trap and decided to shake you slightly by the shoulders “Get up!”
“You're Sleeping Beauty...” A strange thought flashed through Megumi's mind, but... he didn't have any other options in his sleepy state yet.
He sank down closer to you and trying to touch your cheek, you suddenly turned your head to the side, which is why he briefly kissed you on the lips. Fushiguro blushed when you opened your eyes and, swallowing, spoke to you “Good morning” and you beamed with a smile, pouncing on top of him “Aw, Megumi, are you really gentle?!”
“This is my shadow side.” He propped himself up on his elbows while you put your arms around his neck, smiling imperceptibly.
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