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klarolinedrabbles · 4 years

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What are some of the tvd to fandoms greatest hits so to speak... I was only in it for a short time and then jumped out because I couldn't stand to

Oh, well allow me to be your guide. This will be under a read more because I already know, I’m gonna write a whole essay. Shout out to my ride or die @hellsbellschime.

I don’t think any overtly crazy happened during the good!TVD years. No wait, I’m lying.

The year the spin-off got announced, I believe it was tvguide, that posted an article with like info tidbits for currently airing shows. And one of them, was that Hayley was pregnant with Klaus’ kid. I remember this shit so clearly, man. Everyone was so confused. And then they were like SURPRISE, APRIL FOOLS. Because it was in fact April 1st. So ha-ha we all had a laugh, great. Fastforward to what, late April? Episode 4x20 airs, and it’s exactly what happened???

That whole day btw, the day the backdoor pilot for TO aired was just insanity. I’ll say that about a lot of days in this answer, but that day was really just something else. Like we were delirious, that’s the only way I can explain what happened on here. It was a nightmare but also one of the funniest night’s I’ve ever spent on here. I gotta go back for old time’s sake and reblog some of the shit from that night because we all snapped. And not in the good way.

The TVD 100th. Now, we knew Joseph was coming back for that episode so they hype was real. Because up until that point, we’d gotten a huge load of nothing in regards to Klaroline. They released a trailer, a short one, that’s still in my favorites folder on youtube to this day. I rewatch it all the time because it’s iconic. And there was literally .002 seconds of Klaroline. It’s Caroline standing and then Klaus says “hello, caroline” and everyone lost their shit so much when it dropped that ‘hello caroline’ trended ww on twitter.

THE DAY THE NETWORK THAT AIRED TVD IN AUSTRALIA AIRED A PROMO WITH THE KLAROLINE KISS IN 5X11. ICONIC. I literally woke up, logged on at around 11 AM my time, and my dashboard was on fire. It was the BEST. We didn’t know wtf to do, it was amazing.

Paleyfest. Ohhhh buddy, lemme tell ya. So TVD/TO got chosen to have the CW panel’s at Paleyfest that year. Everyone was on a bit of edge because TO to that point was what, almost done with S1 and Klaroline had been given the mega cold-shoulder despite being the very thing other than the Mikaelson’s that got used to lure people in? After the pregnancy plot from hell, everyone was ready to peace tf out, but we got halted because it was a ‘ohh of course it’s gonna continue’ then they tried to nip Klaroline in the bud with 5x11 and no one was having it. So Paleyfest was where we were gonna get some ANSWERS, DAMMIT. I live on the east coast and the festival was held in the west coast so I wasn’t awake when it was happening. I remember making a post about how ‘going to sleep, and hoping when I woke up the answers were good.’. So I went to sleep, woke up a few hours later like 2-3 AM my time, and checked my blog and the first message I had was ‘don’t wake up stephanie, everything is a mess, stay asleep where everything’s fine’ I—

The gist of that was, they basically set JoMo up to be the bad-cop in shutting down Klaroline. He gave this long answer that made absolutely zero sense. The girl who asked the question about Klaroline, who was like 13 at the time, got called a bully for even asking a question at an event she paid to be at. A mess. And JP was like NO CROSSOVERS, ORGANIC, BLAH BLAH. And Paul was sitting next to her going “why can’t the show’s just intersect”, he was right and he said it.

I can’t remember if this was S1 or S2, but somebody tweeted something and Carina replied ‘when you’re found dead in your basement with klaroline written on you this is why’ or something like that, that was a ~fun~ night. And then like half an hour later she was like “I’m sorry, I’ll never tweet about Klaroline again just leave me alone” if you’ve ever seen this fandom refer to ourselves as basement dwellers, this night is why.

NARDUCCI. Can’t forget him. Talk about a man who just didn’t get it. And I don’t mean Klaroline, he just didn’t get anything, nothing in his head has ever clicked, I’m convinced. He used to pick fights on twitter repeatedly. Admitted once that he missed his flight because he was on twitter…arguing with a fan. AND ONE DAY, he decided to just—snap. Went on this hours long tirade against the Klaroline fandom, essentially calling everyone stupid because no one was appreciating the ‘art’ of the show. So when I say it lasted hours, I mean that. Now, you’d think, that he would be done, right? WELL, apparently that wasn’t enough, so the next day, he continued. I remember because I was in this gc on whatsapp, and I remember Erika sending a message to the gc going “omg, Narducci vs KCers round 2″ when I tell you I screamed. The man went on a two-day rampage against this fandom and it was insane.

S6/S2 of TVD/TO was not a fun time. I can genuinely say it was borderline a chore to come on here during that time. It wasn’t fun, every day someone was in argument with someone from production on twitter. Truly the worst year of the fandom, imo. So S7/S3 rolls around and that’s where shit went nuclear.

Hillary and I, are minding our own damn business, when someone come’s to us with information regarding the new seasons. This was post-SDCC, so it’s like the lull of September, waiting for the seasons to start in October. And we get approached with information, talkin bout how Caroline’s gonna be pregnant with Alaric’s twins in S7. When I tell you we didn’t know wtf to do. And we had to like wait on confirmation about it but then we found out it was legit and we were pissed. Literally ask us if we wanted to be in the spoiler game, the answer is no tf we did not. And she and I basically spent two days complaining. LIKE UGHHHH WE DON’T WANNA DO THIS, BUT ALSO THIS IS DISGUSTING, WE CAN’T JUST LET THEM SPRING THIS ON EVERYONE, BUT AGHH WHY US. So we chose collectively, as a duo, because das my other half yo, to blab.

That went over as best as anyone could hope for it to go. Now, flashforward yet again, this time to around late Novemeber/December. I had been sent word that something was going down. TVD/TO lost their Thursday slots and got bumped to Friday’s, so a plan was going on, and they made one. We’d heard that they were rearranging something mid-season because they were gonna make a crossover work, publicly we found out it would be Paul and JoMo that crossover back-to-back. THEN ONE NIGHT—I call it black friday bc that day was a fucking mess—, a friend of mine was friends with an SCer, I wanna say, and she was hearing word that the crossover did have Klaus and Caroline interact via phone call, but that it was very definitively an ending. Because they spoke about Camille and Stefan, etc, etc. Like a closing of the book type thing. So okay, we were like devastated, everyone on twitter was losing their shit. Everyone was pissed, and @-ing the writers all these crazy, sad things, we were a wreck. Ask Hillary about this night because she, I remember, describes it as ‘logging on and reading what everyone else had and not understanding why tf everyone was mad about it’. It was the first and last time that our roles were reversed, and bless her for it.

SO WE’RE SITTING THERE, it’s Saturday, and we kept getting more information and we were like…something isn’t right here. So we did a bit of digging, spoke to a few people and waited it out. LO AND BEHOLD, everything we’d heard about the phone call was false. There was a phone call but the CKers and SCers were so mad about what was actually said in it, that a few of em, ring leaders of the feeble minded, made up a version and passed it around their fandoms as legit till it eventually worked it’s way over to us. So we all jumped the gun on fake information, lmfskdnknsks. Rumor has it, you can still hear Hillary yelling ‘I told you so’ at me through our group chat.

So all was well, I couldn’t tell everyone why not to panic, just that they didn’t need to. Until, this account popped up called tvdspoiler or something on twitter, also saying false information about the phone call. Sending everyone into a panic yet again. I remember this because I was at kmart with my mom, and the kmart by my house was in a basement so I had no cell service. I was able to send like a couple of messages, and was basically like ‘tell everyone to chill, I’ll clear it up when I get home’ did that in like a couple of hours cause then I had to leave to the midnight showing of the force awakens with my friends. So that day was chaotic, but fun. It was the first time I reached 99+ messages on my inbox, lmao.

So that all happened like a good while before we actually saw the episode. But cut to a few weeks later. I woke up at 1 AM my time to drink water, was on tumblr trying to go back to sleep. I checked my inbox and there was this bizarre message talking about ‘got some scoop’ and they were like ‘Finn dies in 3x17, Aurora gets put into some weird sleeping spell in 3x18, Camille and Davina die in 3x19, Lucien dies in 3x20′ and I quite literally laughed??? Literally who wouldn’t. Like who tf would ever believe TO had the balls to do all of that when they never killed anyone off. AND, WHO WOULD BELIEVE THAT SOMEONE WOULD JUST STOP BY, SHARE IT AND LEAVE. So I sent a screenshot to Hillary and was like ‘yo did you get this because wtf’. We often got duplicate messages. And we often got messages of people who were pissed about the two previous times we, from the klaroline fandom of all places, had legit info that wound up being true, that they were just waiting for us to fuck up. So we used to get messages of people pretending they were sharing info, and it was just antis trying to make us look stupid.

SO, Hillary says ‘just answer it because it’s obviously fake’ top ten moments before disaster. I answer it and am like oh haha, and where did that info come from. And they came back like a minute later, saying ‘I have a source’ THEN THEY ELABORATED. They mentioned that Lucien drags Freya and Vincent to Mystic Falls to do this spell with some bullet and etc. So at that point we were like fUCK because that same day we’d found out was in 3x16, which ended with Lucien and this white-oak bullet, having kidnapped Freya. And that’s when we knew, that someone showed up in the middle of the night, spoiled the whole back-half of TO S3—and then left.

The back-half of S3 was so fun??? Every week the info just kept coming true. On the wikia everyone hated me, probably the most anti messages I ever had was during that time, honestly it was great, 10/10 would recommend.

THEN, at some point in our blog history, Hillary had been getting quite a few messages about PT. And she had this fucking line in one of the messages about Phoebe’s pronunciation with her accent for the show, or lack thereof. And she said “weeches and woves will always have a place in my heart” SO THEM PHOEBE TWEETED IT. THAT EXACT LINE, and we were like was she...? So we shrugged off okay. A few days later, she tweeted “hellsbellschime enough, there’s plenty of other things to watch on tv, I hear mad men’s great.” And I—

THIS WAS ON SOME RANDOM ASS SUNDAY. Like I was lounging around, waiting for the new episode of game of thrones and then WHAM, chaos. AND AS IF THAT WASNT ENOUGH, Leah joined in too. Putting a target on my friends back...about her blog that no one was making them read. You can’t make that shit up. And Jenn actually replied to Phoebe’s tweet and got a reply back, and she was all “you’re right, I’m sorry” and then deleted the original tweet, which I still have a screenshot of btw. And then Leah showed up in Hillary’s inbox with this ridiculous three part ask about how she shouldn’t criticize women in the acting industry because of how hard it is for women in that industry which is true, but it doesn’t make you exempt from criticism??? So not sure where she meant to go with that one.

SO THERE WE HAVE IT, our fandom’s greatest hits. I’m sure I can elaborate and insert more, but I’ve been typing for a good 40 minutes.

Told ya, I wrote a whole dissertation, lmaooo.

#Stephanie talks fandom #klaroline #Anonymous

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katzenflocken · 5 years

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LA Times

I went to a Halloween party in October and I wrote down my experience in my phone.

A month or so ago I had made the decision that I wanted to attend a Halloween event and ultimately I decided on scream in Edmonton. I had bought the pre-sale ticket without actually knowing who was playing since there was no lineup details but this didn't concern me because I just wanted to go have fun and listen to some jams with cool people. I had calculated the cost of bus and hotel and came up to roughly 700 for a comfortable trip with all the best food/mixed drinks at the show. I had already had my own party favors so this was one of the reasons why I wanted to keep it local in Alberta. But then the lineup got released and I only seen one artist that was potentially going to be "okay" after listening to their SoundCloud. I was feeling very on the fence and on top of that, the party only went until 2am which was making it real hard to justify a long boring ass bus ride for a short night of mostly lame edm music. (No offense to the edm enthusiasts out there)

After some Olympic tier mental gymnastics of being so sure I wanted to go to Scream, I got curious and went to the handy dandy Resident Advisor and looked at shows in Alberta then Vancouver, even Toronto. I didn't see any events I was interested in and I left it at that. Then I got the brilliant and brave idea to possibly venture outside our borders, and a few clicks later I stumbled upon louisahhh's upcoming events and noticed she was playing a show along with boys noize and tbh, it was a no brainer. I had to make this happen. After a few calculations, it was literally going to cost the same as going to Edmonton (600 cdn) but with more spending money required in American. So naturally it was 💯 percent the logical choice. The event was called Minimal Effort which was an all techno show with 4 stages. Like holy shit! This event was most definitely calling my name.

I had told family and a few friends and some them ask me why? I've already vacationed once or twice this year so why a third time? I really don't know why, there is no reason. I just like doing these things. It is true that given the current situation, I better to avoid these such things. but the idea of letting someone's words prevent me from doing something so fun and exciting yet so doable drives me mad. In fact this very idea is what makes it so evident that I am in control of my life. I create the reality I live in and why should I let others shape it for me with manipulating opinions. I would argue I am not living to die, I am dying to live. Personally I don't think it's very odd or strange to do exactly what you put your mind to, so it is in such a context that I wanted to make this trip. I hope people see what I do and feel encouraged or empowered. If I can do it you can too. But everyone isnt me and is open to their own opinion.

So my passport is lightly damaged, a few months after I got it I washed it lol whoops. I've been using it since without incident and it expires pretty quick in early 2019 so I felt confident I will make it on the plane and I did! I flew air Canada btw and their service was very meh. There was also some meean turbulence, other than that it was boring. Planes suck ass and I can't sleep on them. I had bought a roaming plan so I can text and use Google maps like a real Traveller. This was the best decision of the whole trip actually, so get ur phones working guys!

Upon landing I was very nervous because I literally didn't want to pay a lot of money to get downtown where my hostel was. But I asked this Tony hawk looking guy he gave me the rundown and to take the skyaway bus which was like 9 dollars. Hella life saver! I got downtown and got Subway spicy chicken wrap at Union station. Now I taxi'd to my hostel... It was near or in the ghetto. When the man dropped me off it was dark and these yuuuge dogs were jumping at me from the other side of the fence, confirming my suspicion that this is in fact the ghetto. I find the property next door and these dudes are smoking outside, I got their attention and they said to go upstairs and talk to "Champaign". In my head I instantly thought a black drug dealer... But then I was greeted by a slim easy going japanese dude with a samurai ponytail who spoke poor English but still had a friendly vibe. Turns out he is the cook/caretaker. I came on the night they had a dinner party that they hold once a month. Pay 10 dollars and you can eat the food that he was cooking. Champaign cooked for a army and I felt like an asshole because I literally came with a belly full of Subway. I had a few snacks and met the other Traveller's/Tennant's that were residing here. In that exact moment I felt like this is exactly where I needed to be. I was not alone and I was amongst other human beings like myself and we were all brought together by an unknown force all so Champaign can go to bed we knowing no one went to bed hungry. I actually passed out after midnight. Kinda lame but tbh I was wiped out from that hectic almost frantic trip to this hostel. The toppest compliment I give to any hotel/hostel is that this place had the best mattress, apparently they were italian (I asked lol).

Saturday (party day). My goal in the afternoon was to adventure and have a decent meal but it was getting off to a slow start due to me not figuring out where I wanted to go. I was recommended business district and looked up reviews but it was all meh. I want that yummy and probably unhealthy local food locations. The guy also said to take an Uber. Which I was like uhhhhhh iduno man... Maybe. Then as I was just getting ready to leave, this korean guy named Sam asked where I was going and he said "you should check out Korea Town, it's dope!!" And I looked up places and he said "no go here!" And I was like okay. Then he said he'll come with me and show me around after he finishes the laundry. Like a good lad I waited and in between he looked at me and whispered "hey do you do... Stuff" and there are a lot of implications there lol so I had to ask like what? And he pulled a little baggie and my reply was "yeah I like stuff" then did it and the kid lit up like a Christmas tree. He was mad hype folding the towels and then him and Champaign blazed downstairs.

One of the most fascinating yet mundane happenings was that I installed Uber on my phone. While those guys were blasting off I went ahead and gave the Uber a good historic first whirl. Little did I know my life was about to change in that exact moment. In 2 minutes after selecting where I wanted to go the driver was there. Holy shit! The cool part was that I only paid 8 dollars to go to the opposite side of the downtown. I wish I can expand on what I did, but tbh all we did was just walk and talk. It was great because it made me feel more immersed in to the city. Kind of like you had to be there type of experience. Then it was food time, he pointed out a Korean joint and I got a meal and he didn't order anything and then like 10 sides came and then 6 more little plates for the main dish. I told Sam he can have some because this is absurd. As we were eating, I slowly gazed around the place and everyone was just a little bit chubby. Sam told me Koreans don't waste their shit and eat as much as possible... Plus it's America lol. After eating like an animal and totally ruining my white shirt we went to get smokes and the line at 711 was almost way too long. Sam pointed out that everyone was powerballin' it... Then upon paying for the smokes and soda I said "one Powerball please". I had caved in and joined the race. We took an Uber back and the driver was a Mexican mom. She was cute in a grandma kind of way and we talked about there should be a "good news" radio because it's so scary listening to the radio. We laughed and laughed some more while Sam had fell into a Korean BBQ coma.

We get back to the hostel, Sam goes back to work and I have about an hour to get ready/nap before the party. Sam asked if I needed party favors and I took him up on his offer, because I hate asking at parties because it's so sketchy. At this point of the trip I realized everything is going 110% right. Sometimes I feel like I am just lucky because I always find myself in surprising situations and that now it's almost normal to me. My body and mind was totes ready to party, then I almost forget... I have stickers!!! I always have some in my bag and I grabbed at least 50 of them. People always love that shit, plus it makes everything more fun by adding another layer to the party... Lol get it? Layer?!? Aaanyways the one girl showed me how to work the door lock, basically it's an app that registers my phone to the deadbolt... What a game changer! Technology huh?! What a cool place! Then the Uber came and took like 4 dollars to get there, I think I can get used to this LA lifestyle if I ever had the chance. The dude dropped me off and I was proper nervous, made sure to hide my shit good and have my ID, ticket and game face ready because there was like 8 security in front... Also I am a pretty nervous person in general, I may seem cool and collected on the outside but on the inside I am a scared little shaking Chihuahua barking internally.

So I finally made it! All my hard work payed off! The weird thing was the guy didn't even look at my ticket, just my ID. Any Yahoo off the street could have walked in. Butt fuck it, I am here and that's all that matters. Imediately I get a beer... 8 dollars. The shit I put up with tbh, the price I pay for fun is worth it but my goodness is it painful. I wander around the theatre and it is nicely large and open. Not hot!! Can you believe that? The other stages weren't bad, too much to take it all in tbh. I settled at the main stage which was the first one you sent me when you walk in. The first artist playing was a chick, she played some good jam actually so I quite enjoyed her set. The only thing that led me to believe she doesn't actually make music and only is a DJ, was that every track she played I knew. Which is expected from shows like this but she didn't play anything "original", it's not a bad thing but if I was to critique her I'd be disappointed because I am the type of person to be wowed and I like to seek new material. I went for a smoke and met this couple dressed and Vegeta and Bulma, hella rad. They were cool, totally forget their names tho. Met this Mexican dude too who was a little short had crazy contact lenses and had a friendly chat. he was rolling which was cool because I wish I was, I even asked him but he was fresh out. The party started picking up too and louisahhh's set was about to play and I am 3 beers deep so I gotta step up my game. And guess what!? It's Modelo time homie!! Met a dude in a headdress and took a pic with him to piss off other people who are against that bullshit, as long as they are respectful about it I think it's awesome... so @ those who are trying to be offended on purpose, fuck you. Went to the bathroom and dropped my Modelo and the worker watched me do it and didn't say anything and swept it up. I went back to get another normal beer because the Modelo was 9 dollars. They mind as well get the lube ready because they are already fucking me dry. I had run out of party favors at this point because I only had a little but that's not why I am here so I accept that fact and I am just glad to be here. The dancefloor was sticky but as more spills happened it was less annoying and more people came, it made it more bearable lol if that makes sense. The sound was definitely worse at the front of the stage so I found that sweet spot 15 feet back in the zone where the speakers were pointed. 7/10 audio, it's no pk system but hey I don't mind too much! Louisahhh was stepping in and she had a super neat outfit going kind of future/madmax like. Her hair was excellent if I might add. I've always wanted to catch her set but never had the chance until now. I could say it was what I expected, which was basically the same set I've heard her play on other sets I heard from her. It's not a negative but mental gymnastics aside she could have spiced it up some more by playing new shit, like I said. I am just glad to be there.

After louisahhh played her set Boys Noize had stepped in and he opened up with that one song he always does lately lol I forget the name but let me tell you, my body was ready! The "wares" I had bought off Sam at the hostel were already used up but I didn't need any, my body was tingling from the energy in the room. I met the maddest group of lads in the crowd and I gave them a handful of stickers to help me distribute. They loved it! I was also doing "rogue" work by slapping stickers on people without them knowing. The funniest ones were the Dealer and Wasted stickers. The lazers and lights in this place were magnificent. Production was nearly top notch 7.8/10. it's a theatre but they used it as well as they could. I want to describe this experience more but going to a party is the purest chaos you can experience. It almost can't be explained, only witnessed. I honestly love being social at these events. In real life I can be very shy or unwilling to exchange or talk with others. It pains me really, I just love people and I want to make genuine friends but I feel so reluctant to meet new faces because I don't really click that well with others. I know that I am unique and sometimes strange, I am sometimes don't give a fuck but I tend to be antisocial because of paranoia that other people won't like me when they get to know the real me. When I attend rave parties, I tend to feel more free and open because I know the people in attendance are also there for the same reason I am. Obviously this may or may not be a healthy life style but it is very fulfilling in a very emotional way. I may not have that many real life friends but when on the dancefloor everyone is my friends lol that sounds like the gayest shit ever but it's true. Anyways party is still bumping and it's 6 am and I am wiped out, boys Noize played some of the best tracks I heard at awakenings I noticed. Kind of the same shit really. But it was LA so more mainstream crowd. I leave the club and it was so fucking foggy outside, like a horror movie. 2spooky4me. I hit up Uber like 4 blocks away because it was just too crazy in the front of the theatre. I got this younger driver about my age and we talked about McDonald's lol she was fun then I get back to the hostel hungry as fuck. Eated bread and smonked some herb and hit the hay.

Next morning I hung out in the common area. Watched friends and watched Champagne die from smoking weed lol he was my favorite. Cool hostel tbh very home like. I had few hours to myself before my flight so I decided I wanted to go to little Tokyo. I had to say goodbye to the hostel, the guys downstairs gave me a donut lol and I got into the Uber. The guy talked about the dodgers game like I actually give a heck about sports. He dropped me off at the entrance of Little Tokyo. This was actually the most wholesome part of my trip. The first sight of the Japanese style outside mall was kind of exhilarating because LA is mostly just the same everywhere. The buildings and decorations were very refreshing and it was a feast for the eyes. Such beauty. As I continue to explore the small but busy space I feel this feeling of wonder and excitement, it made me feel less hungover if I am being honest. The world I was seeing in that moment was powerfully moving and rich with happiness. I wanted to stay forever. In the centre there was an open space where an older Asian man in a scooter and an array of instrument s in front of him. He had a little sampler Casio and hi hats and maracas. It was like a scene out of the movies where you see those cute moments because he was playing to this couple from China that were standing in front of him and you can hear them talking to the Man in between singing lol, they gave him money to play that song from toy story "skies of blue" or whatever it's called and then at the end he pulled out the maracas and hit them on the cymbals with style. I filmed a little bit of it actually. I ended up eating sushi and chicken katsu outside on the deck and just enjoyed the experience. Alone. Fucking sad actually that I couldn't share my emotion with someone else but I really enjoyed the place. I shop in the anime store and gift shop, got a few things for friends and family then had to rush to the airport. I got to Union station and shuttle to the airport right on time. Slightly early since the flight changed to a later time. I walked around and had some beer and wings then got on the plane. Nice cozy airport experience. My dad picked me up and he was working in siksika that week so I slept in his trailer. It was cold as shit and I was late for work the next day like nothing ever happened lol. Just a quick weekend trip, no big deal. Travelling is so so so much fun, I want others to read or see my adventures and feel somewhat inspired to take more risks and go on their own adventures. Its good to open your eyes and free yourself of your surroundings, especially on the reserve. There's a world out there and there's more to life than the bullshit drama that happens here. I look at the world in wonder and amazement, I know it's a sick and sometimes dangerous place but I make it my world by appreciating it for what it is. Everything is kind of all right. Sometimes I wish I didn't exist but I don't want to die either, doing these things remind me that life can be great so I hope I don't come off braggy or I am acting "too good". I make minimum wage yet I still do all this cool stuff. It's not hard to do, just literally set your mind go and do it . I chase my dreams while others think "what if" lol but yeah do more fun shit guys!!!!

#travel #los angeles #america #little tokyo #boys noize #louisah #airport #journal #adventures #rave #party #friends #strangers #bread

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under-the-lake · 7 years

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Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, The film: Deeper First Impressions - Part 2: Law

Wizarding History-wise: Mainly Law

In my first part, which was rather short, I dwelled on immigration laws and speakeasies. The Roaring Twenties. This time I’m going much more gloomy, creepy and even scary. I’m exploring the relations between Wizarding communities and Muggles, and Death Penalty. It’s a bit tougher than the first part, but it’s so important in the film that I reckon it’s capital to be discussed.

Again, feel free, and please do so, to comment or express your doubts or opinions :)

Rappaport’s Law: the Whys and Whens

You might wonder why I’m talking about that, but it’s not totally pointless. Just read on. :P

In 1790, Emily Rappaport, then the 15th President of MACUSA (MACUSA - the Magical Congress of the United States of America - was created in 1693), passed a law that imposed total segregation between Magical and Non-Magical communities. It followed one of the most serious breaches of the International Statute of Secrecy a few years before.

The breach came from within MACUSA.

Rappaport had a trusted Keeper of Treasure and Dragots, Aristotle Twelvetrees. He himself had a dim-witted daughter called Dorcus, who was more interested in fashion and parties than magic. One day, Dorcus met a Muggle called Bartholomew Barebone, who was a descendant of Scourers (see below). Like all Scourers, he believed in magic, and was firmly convinced all wizards and witches were evil. Dorcus, besotted, showed Barty some ‘tricks’, and took his interest to face value. He, however, was genuinely but malevolently interested in what she had to say, and tricked her into answering delicate questions about MACUSA and Ilvermorny. She also happened to tell him how both places concealed their existence to the Muggle world. She was so stupid that ‘be a Dorcus’ became slang for being an idiot.

Having gathered what he needed, Barty (btw Barty seems to be a doomed name in the Wizarding World) stole Dorcus’s wand, showed it to all the journalists he met, gathered a small group of friends and set off to eliminate all the wizards and witches in the neighbourhood. He also printed leaflets with the addresses of suspect people.

He was so entranced by his mission that he shot at a group of people near a ‘suspect’ building. He thought they were wizards, but turned out to be Muggles. The Muggle police arrested him and MACUSA was very relieved they did the job for them.

This led to Dorcus being imprisoned for a year, the uncertainty of every Muggle in contact with Barty’s information being Obliviated, and the creation of Rappaport’s Law.

The Law states that wizards are not permitted to marry or even befriend Muggles. Penalties are strict and harsh. Communication with Muggles was to be limited to the very minimum. It ended up with MACUSA working totally independently from the Muggle government in the USA, whereas there was always co-operation in Europe. It also had that side-effect of Muggles being considered more and more as a threat in the USA, and the wizarding community going more and more underground.

Rappaport’s Law was still strictly followed in 1926 when Newt arrived in New York. So much so that there is a copy of the book in the offices at MACUSA. It is a handbook that is commonly used when tackling offenses to the Statute of Secrecy.

In the 1920s

By 1920, the USA and most of the world had gone through World War One, where both magical and non magical communities fought alongside each other. The old order of the world was dead, the USA were rising as a new power, the United Kingdom was starting to lose its colonies, Europe was the stage for Revolutions and inflation, unemployment and anger. Many people tried to seek their fortunes elsewhere.

While US wizards had done their bit in the war, and one may think that the co-operation with Muggles on the front might have softened MACUSA’s position on Rappaport’s Law, nothing of the sort happened, and the sort of pure-blood ideal of MACUSA was carried on. (Nothing to do with the pure-blood ideal Europe had through such families as the Malfoys or Lestranges, of course). Any breach was punished severely and the Muggles Obliviated immediately. In the film, Tina, after having been demoted as an Auror because of having nearly exposed the Magical community, has to wear an Admonitor Bracelet to monitor her movements. And later both her and Newt are sentenced to death under the chief of having broken the Statute of Secrecy.

MACUSA’s position about beasts, creatures, ghosts and spirits was also much more severe than what Europe stood by, which explains why Newt’s arrival is a threat per se. New York has banned the breeding (and I suppose, by extension, the keeping?) of magical creatures. So when Newt tells Tina he is there to buy an Appaloosa Puffskein, she replies ‘We closed that guy down a year ago. We don’t allow the breeding of magical creatures in New York.’ (scene 19)

At the end of the 19th century, a law was passed that required all witches and wizards of the USA to carry a wand permit (the equivalent of a driving licence in the Muggle world). Its aim was to be able to trace magical activity and identify perpetrators. Honestly, this sounds a lot like dictatorship to me. Like extending the Trace to beyond 17-year old people. Anyway, to enter the USA, Newt Scamander had to have such a permit, but as you know, he never got it. According to the script, he actually never applied (scene 24).

Death Penalty: Muggle World and particularly the USA

Death penalty has been a sentence in human history for millennia. However, for some centuries now, some countries have decided to get rid of it. In Europe, the last country to retain death penalty is Belarus (last execution in 2016) and the last to abolish death penalty (but for how long, now) is Russia (2009). The first countries were San Marino, in 1468, and Liechtenstein in 1785. By that time, the USA were barely born. Great Britain abolished Death Penalty in 1965 (Northern Ireland in 1973).

The USA today still have death penalty in 31 States and the Federal Government has the right to use it under special circumstances. However, the abolition of death penalty in some states goes back as far as 1846, when Michigan abolished it for murder, followed by Wisconsin in 1853 and Maine in 1887. Today, the crimes for which someone can be sentenced to death are mainly aggravated murder and crime against the State. However, each State has their own list of factors that can lead to a death penalty. Twenty people were executed in the USA in 2016.

The main execution method at the time of Newt Scamander was the electric chair, introduced in 1888 in New York, and soon adopted by other states. Hanging, often public, was also in use. In 1924 the State of Nevada decided to try a ‘less painful’ way of killing its citizen, and used cyanide gas for the first time. They tried to inject the gas in the culprit’s cell while he was sleeping, but that proved impossible, so they built the first gas chamber.

Wizarding World

In the Harry Potter series, there is no official death sentence but that of Buckbeak the Hippogriff. Humans aren’t sentenced to death by wizarding law in the UK. However, they are sentenced to Azkaban or to receive the Dementor’s Kiss, which can be related to a sort of death, but none of the two sentences is a plain and straightforward death penalty. In both instances, though, the condemned is fighting the sentence with some kind of will, or at least disagrees with it (usually).

In Fantastic Beasts, the death penalty exists per se for humans, and the condemned are tricked into dying.

Azkaban

Azkaban was not intended as a prison and Dementors weren’t created to guard it. It was the home of a weirdo called Ekrizdis, who dwelled deep into Dark Arts. When he died, and the house became plottable, the Ministry of Magic (MoM) sent people to have a look at the building. The least worse thing, according to the wizards who went to inspect the place, was that it was full of breeding Dementors. To make a long story short, Dementors were considered dangerous and to keep them confined to Azkaban the Minister for Magic of the time, Rowle, made it a prison. This was done after the International Statute of Secrecy had been adopted (signed 1689, established 1692).

Azkaban prisoners are described as getting mad at the contact with Dementors, who are sucking their joy and happiness, leaving them with their worst memories and despair. Most of them end up dying there. Of course, some fight and stay alive, like Sirius or the Death Eaters.

However, mostly, the life prisoners die in Azkaban, and a life sentence there can be assimilated to a sort of death penalty.

The Dementor’s Kiss

The Dementor’s Kiss is a sort of death penalty too, if you consider that losing your soul is dying. It’s a tricky question, the immortality of the soul. Basically in our society, we believe that soul is something immortal, be it a Muggle or Wizard one. So it would survive bodily death.

With Dementors on the loose, it’s a bit more complicated. See, if a Dementor sucks your soul, then only your body survives because its vital functions are untouched, but the soul is dead. As Lupin says when he explains what a Dementor is to Harry in his third year:

‘You can exist without your soul, you know, as long as your brain and heart are still working. But you’ll have no sense of self anymore, no memory, no … anything. There’s no chance of recovery. You’ll just - exist. As an empty shell. And your soul is gone forever … lost.’ (PoA, Chapter Twelve, The Patronus)

Lupin also tells Harry that the Kiss is much worse than killing. And to a certain extent, it is, because the only thing that made you a ‘living being’ in the human sense of the phrase, that is, one with feelings and memories, which is the soul, has gone. You are only a mechanical and chemical thing working. Biologically you are alive, but that’s about it. I wonder if you can communicate, though. If we concentrate on Lupin’s sentence ‘you’ll just - exist’ that means that you are only a body and not a person anymore, so you wouldn’t need to communicate. Would you eat? Drink? Would any of your bodily needs reach your brain? I suppose so. Primary animals and plants who don’t have a way of feeling like we do still react to stimuli, are aware of their environment, feed themselves and live, biologically speaking.

The body will die eventually, anyway, because it is mortal. The soul couldn’t move on whatever happens to the body, because it’s been sucked out and probably destroyed by the Dementor.

So is the Dementor’s Kiss a death penalty? No. It is worse than death, because even the soul gets killed, so no part of the person can move on.

MACUSA Execution Chamber

In Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Newt Scamander is sentenced to death by MACUSA (in the person of Percival Graves) on the charge of bringing an Obscurus to New York City and breaking the International Statute of Secrecy (scene 65). Of course, Graves knows the Obscurus in Newt’s Trunk is harmless and hasn’t caused any disruption, but he wants Newt out of his way, while himself tracking Credence, an Obscural, in order to use him for his plans. He’s Grindelwald, after all.

The death sentence here is plain and straightforward:

‘[...] you are therefore guilty of a treasonous betrayal of your fellow wizards and are sentenced to death. Miss Goldstein, who has aided and abetted you -[...] - receives the same sentence.’

By the way, Graves says he’s informing Seraphina Pickery himself about the death sentence, but I have a strong feeling he won’t do that.

The Execution Chamber… it’s horrid.

It looks like a mix between the most used method of execution in the Muggle USA at the time, namely electric chair and gas, and the ducking stool, which was a common way of punishment until the early 19th century.

The link with the chair is pretty obvious. The gas would have been used (and is still used) to make the condemned unconscious before he dies properly. The condemned is actually encouraged to inhale the gas deeply to accelerate the process. That’s barbaric.

The ducking stool is a chair made of strong wood, usually oak, that was used in Europe and the first American colonies as a punishment. The condemned was strapped to the chair and the chair was ducked into water with the help of a long wooden beam. The condemned, usually a woman, was then immersed a number of times decided by the jury. That is ducking. It was a scolding method, yet it was sometimes fatal to the condemned.

Now MACUSA has sort of similar methods.

The Interrogation Chamber is a low-ceilinged, metallic, black, cold, suffocating place, situated underground. Not much hope when you enter it.

The Execution Chamber is called the Death Cell. It is white, and has a weird pool in it, full of a strange potion. You enter this place via a black metallic corridor. The chair is floating over the pool. It’s a bit like a giant Pensieve (that was my first idea, and then when I read about the concept art and creation of the Cell it came out it was partly true). David Yates, the director, wanted it to look ‘clinical, cold, austere, frightening’. It certainly does look so. It looks like a hospital cell for severe mental illnesses from forgone times… On the other hand, if you consider the way MACUSA is treating people, they are aliens. As such, they are treated as alienated, mental, weirdos, not fitting, and above all, threats to the Wizarding Community of the USA. Look at pictures of asylums. The Death Cell is exactly modelled on that. White. Cold. Inhuman. Dead.

The fact that it is located so far underground that the very foundations of the Woolworth Building (siege of MACUSA) are visible ABOVE the floor level suggests secrecy, an atmosphere of a mortuary, where both living and dead dwell together. It increases that heaviness and the scary atmosphere of the place.

The liquid in the pool is a bit like the Veil in the Death Chamber of the Department of Mysteries in the London Ministry of Magic. It’s a Gate to the Beyond. The difference resides mainly in the fact that the Veil is not the Killing Means. It’s a mere gate, even if Harry was drawn to it and that he could have died had he stepped beyond it. Yet its first object was never death per se, but hosting the dead. The Silvery Liquid in the Pool of MACUSA Death Cell is way more dangerous. It is the Means of the Death. The way MACUSA executes their condemned.

When Newt and Tina arrive at the Death Cell, the executioner, Bernadette, extracts Tina’s happy or positive memories from her head and pours them into the pool, which begins to show them, like in a Pensieve, while Tina’s expression has become vacant, and she has instantly calmed down from the panic state she was in on entering the room. As if she had been Obliviated (yet she’s not). Tina watches her own childhood memories and smiles. When Bernadette asks her if she wants to join her mum in the pool she nods, still vacantly. Only when the memory with Credence appears does something happen in Tina’s head.

Tina ends up on the chair, yet not strapped like on a ducking stool. She’s still gazing at her memories. The whole aim is to make her so dizzy and absent as to agree to step into the pool and die (of which she wouldn’t be aware of anymore, being bewitched by her own good and nostalgic memories). The potion then rises and engulfs the condemned and their chair into a bubble of lethal liquid which, if my memory is correct, is also very corrosive.

In Fantastic Beasts Tina and Newt escape. But how many have gone through this and willingly jumped into the potion or been swallowed by it? This new series of Wizarding World films seem to explore darkness and justice on yet another level than the Harry Potter books. Not saying it’s Darker. I mean Horcruxes are scary enough. I mean exploring human ways of killing. This one is really barbaric.

Moreover, the fact that the room is white and the executioners are dressed in white smells strongly of psychiatric hospital. It points again to the fact that those sentenced to death are weirdos, aliens to the community. After all, they were sentenced for treason.

The condemned actually are drawn into committing suicide… so that MACUSA wouldn’t be feeling guilty? This is totally deranged.

Sources for part 2

Kaspi, André, Les Américains, I. Naissance et essor des Etats-Unis 1607-1945, Editions du Seuil, Paris, 1986 (last edition exists, printed 2014), chapter 9

Pottermore, History of Magic in North America, Writings by J.K. Rowling

Boboltz Sara, Let’s Talk About That Messed-Up Death Penalty In ‘Fantastic Beasts’ For Just A Minute, Huffington Post, 19.11.2016. Link:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/lets-talk-about-that-messed-up-death-penalty-in-fantastic-beasts-for-just-a-minute_us_582f07cde4b058ce7aaa9c28

Capital Punishment in Europe, wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Europe

Capital Punishment in the United States, wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_the_United_States

History of the Death Penalty, Death Penalty Information Centre: http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/part-i-history-death-penalty

Sehon Scott, The Soul in Harry Potter, in The Ultimate Harry Potter and Philosophy - Hogwarts for Muggles, edited by Gregory Bassham, Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series, Wiley, 2016, pp. 7-21

Rowling, Joanne K., Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Bloomsbury, 1999

Rowling, Joanne K., Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - The Original Screenplay, Scholastic, 2016

Gas Chamber, wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_chamber#United_States

Cucking Stool, wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cucking_stool

Salisbury, Mark, and MinaLima, The Case of Beasts - Explore the Film Wizardry of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Obscurus Books, Diagon Alley, London; Harper Collins, London, 2016

#Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find THem #Death Penalty #Rappaport's Law #Louhi #Azkaban #Dementor's Kiss

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