#it isn't about what's depicted but rather about them not having consumed that piece of media | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

rosekasa · 3 months

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ive yet to finish an art project since december bc ive been so down abt my work. im startjng to feel like a one trick pony, like i can only make one good art im proud of and never again. each type i set out to make something it just doesn't turn out good so i delete it and start again and rinse and repeat. its nice to know that its not just me who feels this way

baby you are NOT alone!! at a time where most of the art we consume is through the norms of social media it can be so hard to remember that art is not just about making a good 'finished product' and that your value as an artist isn't about your work looking like those of the people you see with thousands of followers. feeling proud of your work comes from feeling proud of yourself. i have so many pieces that objectively are Not good but i feel filled with so much love when i look at them because i remember how happy i was while creating it. but then i have pieces that have gotten thousands of reblogs but i physically cannot bring myself to look at them for too long because while i was drawing it i was constantly thinking about whether it will look good, whether it will fit the idea i had in my head, etc. etc.

I don't know if it's any consolation to hear this, but the feelings triggered in you when you see a result you don't like are not concrete nor are they a true depiction of who you are. you are a wonderful, skilled, creative artist and i can say this to you without knowing who you are and knowing your work because to be that kind of person is to think you are that kind of person. the more you tell yourself not to be nervous about your art not turning out good and focus on creating the things that make you feel joy with confidence, the more your art WILL start to look good, i promise.

i wanted to share some examples with my own art and my feelings about it so if you're not interested don't worry qjkskw im just putting it under here

i think this was my most reblogged piece in 2022 but i dont think ive seen it closeup since then because it does not make me feel good when i look at it. when i sat down to draw this i was so stressed about making it look a certain way. i was trying to use all this technical knowledge like forumlas to make it look 'perfect' but at the end it just felt like a drawing that wasn't even mine. i do like the sky a lot though because painting skies like that have always made me feel really happy.

same situation with this piece. i had the vague idea in my head but it felt like i had to make it a chore to make sure it looked good. i kept trying to find the 'perfect' references and trying to copy tutorials id seen about anatomy to force it to look good but again this just doesn't feel like my art because i think so much of it came from what i thought i shouldve been doing rather than what felt good. it felt like i was trying to prove myself

i did this in an hour and a half and i thought it was going to be a warmup ahkdka. i completely switched off my brain while i did this. i loved this pose from ikari gozen and so i sketched it out really fast in a way that felt so. easy? natural? the rest of the details sort of just fell into place. that's not to say i didnt try to use the same techniques that i did for the other two, but this time i trusted that those techniques that i learned would naturally come to me while i worked while i had the end result in my mind. when i look at this piece i just remember how intuitive the process felt, how i would zoom out of the canvas and look at it and think 'omg wait what if i try that thing i saw on that youtube tutorial...' and how i wasnt trying to prove to myself this was a good drawing, but for the way i felt natural and happy prove it to me instead

this one too ❤️ i have improved my anatomy a lot since this piece but i still use it on all my portfolios and commission examples because it feels like such a good depiction of how i want MY art to feel to me when i see it. i love ladynoir so much and i love oblivio so much and that's genuinely all i was thinking about while drawing this. i didn't want to make it perfect, i just had a vague image of what i wanted it to be like in my head but i was just so excited to be doing oblivio art that i totally forgot about stressing about everything else and just let the brainrot power me HDKDKA. the process was so messy but it felt a lot like solving a puzzle, you know? i didnt need to force any techniques onto it to make it look good because i trusted that the image would already be there, i just needed to find it

#ask #anon

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lesbianslovebts · 2 months

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I'm looking forward to your reviews on their individual albums/music etc

Okay, I will tell you as long as everyone promises to be nice!

First, I want to be upfront with the fact that I do not have the technical knowledge required to critique their individual singing or songwriting skills in depth, so this is not that kind of review. However, I believe that people should actively engage with art, be it music, painting, or writing, at whatever level of expertise they may have, rather than consume it mindlessly. The following are my personal opinions and observations as a fan since 2015. I will focus mainly on their Chapter Two individual works, but I will also reference their previous solo and group work. And as a friendly reminder, the members of BTS are not above criticism as artists or as people.

"Indigo" by RM

If I had to use one word to describe this album, I would use "growth." More specifically, I would classify the transition from "RM" to "mono." as linear growth, and the transition from "mono." to "Indigo" as exponential growth. This is a project that Namjoon worked on for several years, which is apparent by the way each song is like a chapter of the same overarching story. The diverse genres and moods depict the ups and downs of life really well, and listening to the entire album in one sitting is a cathartic experience for me.

When I first saw the tracklist and noticed how many other artists were featured, I was nervous because a lot of BTS' collaborations feel like forcing a puzzle piece into a spot where it doesn't fit. What I mean by that is, they either cut out a chunk of the original song or insert a blank space and then fill it with a clipping of what sounds like an entirely different song. A substitution rather than a collaboration, if you will. However, that was not the case here. I think Namjoon did an excellent job of blending his own sound, style, and emotion with that of the other artists.

The only thing that I actively disliked on this album is the beat in "Change pt.2" from about 0:49 to 1:00. It's grating on the ear, which might have been intentional given the content of the song, but it isn't pleasant to listen to, and I cringe every time I hear it. As for a favorite, I can't really choose, but I think the objective number of replays would point to "Lonely."

"The Astronaut" by Jin

This one is an outlier because it's only one song, but I will discuss it just the same. I really liked Seokjin's voice in this one. I don't know the official terms, but it's lower and less breathy than usual. To me, that makes his voice sound warmer. Overall, this was a soothing song that left me wanting more when he gets back. I am waiting (im)patiently.

P.S. I know people tend to love or hate Coldplay. I don't listen to them or know anything about them as people, so the fact that this was cowritten by them doesn't really factor into my opinion of the song, if that makes sense.

"D-DAY" by Agust D

The amount of money I spent to see him live in Chicago should tell you how much I liked this album. Similar to what I said about Namjoon above, there's tangible growth from his mixtapes "Agust D" and "D-2" to his studio album "D-DAY." It's to be expected that experience will improve the craft, of course, but I still have to say it.

Yoongi is my favorite composer of BTS, by far. "Interlude: Dawn" and "Snooze" give me goosebumps every time I listen time them. Also, I love it when he uses traditional instruments like the haegeum. There's just something about the emotions he conveys in his tone, lyrics and melody that made this album a nonstop repeat for me.

My complaints are few and small. The autotune gets to be too much in the song "D-Day," and I'm not crazy about "People Pt. 2." Personally, I am not a fan of IU's voice. I have nothing against her, by any means, and I know she can sing, but I prefer women with deep, husky voices. And for the life of me, I can't figure out what her part means. I'm guessing this was a direct translation from Korean that didn't really...well, translate.

"Jack in the Box" by j-hope

When I first watched the MV for "More," I stimmed for joy. I was rocking, flapping, and squealing. I braved Lollapalooza as an autistic person, surrounded by a hundred thousand people in the summer heat, wearing the denim jacket I painted and an N95 mask to hear this man live. Hoseok's personality shone through in the concept, the MVs, the music, and the lyrics. He burst out of the box to show who he is as an artist. Perhaps I am (Hobi-)biased, but I don't have much else to say other than that I love this album, and I'm excited to hear more from him in the future.

"FACE" by Jimin

"Set Me Free Pt. 2" was the first single that was released, and it thoroughly crushed my hopes for the rest of the mini album. Though I liked the melody of the chorus, the 9 repetitions of "set me free-e-e" left a lot to be desired lyrically. I think he was trying to portray the desperation he felt by repeating the phrase, but his voice didn't show a progression in emotion as he continued through the chorus. For comparison, in Rage Against the Machine's "Killing in the Name Of," the last line "fuck you, I won't do what you tell me" is repeated 16 times, but the way it starts as a murmur and builds up to a scream is powerful; it hits you in the chest. "Set Me Free Pt. 2" didn't have that effect. Also, the autotune in the middle when he "raps" is awful. I saw people on here reaching to explain why the autotune wasn't actually that bad, but...it just doesn't sound good. And him saying "fuck all your opps"? Yikes.

The other single "Like Crazy" was much better and more in line with what I was expecting. Rarely do I like any of the excessive remixes they put out, but the deep house one is actually good. I liked the music video, too. But unfortunately, the mud on his hand after all that bathroom imagery was a...shitty decision. Overall, I don't go out of my way to listen to any of the songs but "Like Crazy" and "Letter," which is my favorite.

"Layo(v)er" by V

I was underwhelmed by this mini album. I expected R&B and jazz from him, and I think his voice suits those genres well, but none of the songs had a particularly strong impact on me. I would say I like "Love Me Again" the most, but it doesn't even compare to "Singularity" and "Stigma" for me. I have to be in a specific mood to listen to slow music in general, so the odds were stacked against this album from the beginning.

"Golden" by Jung Kook

This album was the biggest disappointment I have ever felt as a fan. Honestly, I didn't think it could get any worse than "Permission to Dance," but I was wrong. Before I continue, I feel like I need to offer some context on my general opinion of BTS' music from 2020 onward before I get too deep into the weeds. So let me start with that.

A lot of people think BTS peaked before or during the "Wings" era and sold out with the release of "DNA." I am not one of those people. Most of my favorite BTS songs come from the "Love Yourself" and the "Map of the Soul" eras. There are songs that tug on my heartstrings, songs that give me energy, and songs that are inextricably tied to certain memories from college and my first job. This was when I felt like I was changing and growing in a positive way thanks to BTS' message and music.

That changed with Covid-19. I loved "Map of the Soul: 7" and had tickets to see BTS in Chicago, but then the concert was postponed. Later, it was canceled. Half a year into the pandemic, BTS released "Dynamite" as a fun summer song to lift everyone's spirits. It was their first all-English song, which might've had more global appeal due to the number of people who speak English as a first language, second language, or lingua franca. Personally, I don't hate "Dynamite," but I do hate what it led to.

This was their first Billboard #1. It succeeded far beyond anyone's expectations, and I was proud of them for that. I was glad that more people were checking out their music because BTS is one of my main special interests. However, a lot of what followed felt like an attempt to recreate the success of "Dynamite" rather than an effort to grow as artists. Whether that desire for numbers came from the company or from BTS themselves, I'll never know. All I can say is, I'm glad DynaButterPTD did not get a Grammy. Let's continue.

"BE" came next, and if I had to describe it in a word, I would say "homemade." BTS were more involved in this album than any other, including the concept, the album design, the photoshoots, the music video, and the songs. Because of that, the overall vibe was different, and combined with the effects of the pandemic, the album gave me the feeling that the members of BTS were struggling with who they were as a group, as artists, and as people.

This continued into "Butter" and "PTD," two more all-English songs, and various collaborations of the puzzle-piece-that-doesn't-fit variety I mentioned above. It was an identity crisis. I can't think of another way to describe it. Eventually, BTS decided for themselves that they had to take a step back, spend some time alone, and regroup later. I was both sad and relieved to hear the news. Releasing "PROOF" was a good way to look back on what they'd accomplished so far and put an end to Chapter 1.

That brings us to Chapter 2. More specifically, "Golden." Now, I love Jungkook. Spend 5 minutes scrolling through my blog, and that much will be obvious. But this album was not it for me. First, I want to make it clear that the members of BTS can sing in whatever language they so choose. Having said that, I do tend to prefer their songs that are entirely in Korean or are a mixture of Korean and English. Why? Emotion.

BTS' all-English songs tend to be written by other people, and those people tend to be the ones who write the same bland, unoriginal songs for overrated American/Canadian/British pop singers. Although Jungkook sings the English lyrics of this album with excellent pronunciation and technique, it doesn't have the magnitude of emotion in songs that he participated in writing, such as "Your Eyes Tell," which is in Japanese and English.

I don't know a lot about song credits, but I've noticed the following pattern: the more the members' names show up in the credits, the more I like the song. Looking at the credits for Golden? Jungkook's name isn't listed on a single song. That isn't necessarily a bad thing. A lot of wonderful singers all around the world can take a song that is given to them and make it their own by contributing their own talent, their own voice. But frankly, Jungkook didn't do that with these songs. I didn't want to say it, but...these are Justin Bieber songs. Especially "Too Sad to Dance," which is nearly indistinguishable from Justin Bieber's "Love Yourself."

On episode 21 of Suchwita, Jungkook said he recorded five songs in a week, which amounted to one song per day in a 3-hour session, give or take. Yoongi said that was a sign of unbelievable growth, and for comparison, Taehyung said it takes him 3 days to record one song. If I remember correctly, Namjoon worked on "Indigo" for 3 years. So, it's really no wonder why this album is the music equivalent of fast fashion.

I've already talked about how much I hated "Seven" (the song and the MV) in other posts, I can't do it again. Jack Harlow's part in "3D" makes me gag. I can't take the lyrics for "Shotglass of Tears" seriously. I mean, "she the life of the party...42 in her body...tell me, am I ever gon' feel again?" Yikes! "Closer" is generic runway music. "Yes or No" is tolerable. The only song I really liked is "Standing Next to You." I'm just disappointed. I don't have anything else to say.

#llbtsanswer #llbtspost

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voidpacifist · 10 months

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I just went to see barbie and oppenheimer together in theaters and I have a lot of thoughts on both

NOTE: as far as oppenheimer goes I just wanna make the disclaimer that when I refer to oppenheimer, im referring to the character. I'm very well aware that nolan depicted him in a favorable light (even if the framing of the movie would lead you to believe otherwise). LISTEN to survivors of nuclear fallout (particularly the indigenous people of new mexico who were affected most by irl!oppenheimer's testing) and understand that not everyone is going to love what appears to be the glorifying of a man who made the atomic bomb possible. I tried to differentiate for film commentary purposes the vast difference between oppenheimer the horrifying historical figure and oppenheimer the sad little conflicted pretty man okay? okay, lets get this show on the road.

THIS REVIEW WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR BOTH FILMS

I went to see barbie first, because in my mind, it was a strategic decision — did I want to be underwhelmed after a three hour film filled with bomb-y sfx? no, not really. so I went to see it before oppenheimer just so both films could have their intended effects.

I was not prepared for barbie to be as visceral as it was. greta gerwig is a GENIUS with the way she directed this film. in particular, my favorite parts were:

- weird barbie knowing everything because she has, quite literally, been through the most

- ken thinking the patriarchy wasn't just about male dominated society, but rather male-on-a-horse dominated society

- THEY HAD A PREGNANT BARBIE! THEY HAD A WHEELCHAIR BARBIE! THEY HAD SO MANY DIFFERENT BARBIES AND THEY WEREN'T SHY ABOUT IT <3

- og!barbie calling an old woman beautiful the first time she ever calls a human being beautiful just means so much to me

- ALLAN!!!! ALLAN NEEDS HIS OWN MOVIE HE'S MY SPECIAL LITTLE GUY!!!!

- the unexpected fourth wall breaks were quite funny and very well paced, and added a layer of realism to the film that I was not at all prepared for

I don't think there's a single wrong thing I can think of with this film. I sincerely hope it receives multiple awards and I sincerely believe it will! this is a movie for the girls and the girl understanders and if you are either, go see it ASAP!

---

after barbie, I went to see oppenheimer. I too, was not prepared for this film. I already knew from the internets review of christopher nolan that, as a woman at least, I'd have my reservations about whether or not it passed the bechtel test. it did not, but the thing that surprised me most was that I didn't mind that aspect.

I watched a man consumed by his work and his morals and their conflict with one another play out in such an intense marriage of science, politics, etc. and I watched the results of it, how his life was torn to pieces by the american government, colleagues, and the people most affected by his work (this last one is in more of the abstract sense because of course nolan would never outright give a voice to them, way to go ig).

and then, I realized I watched a film that truly depicted a main character I could sympathize with at some points, but never fully empathize with if I ever met the man (the real oppenheimer, not murphy's oppie). this is a main character you don't leave the theater loving or hating. his life, his work, his conflicts in both, do not paint him in any type of way — he does all of that himself, and I think those who left the movie understanding or even liking oppenheimer as a historical figure missed several points of the film that would try and dissuade that conclusion.

these were my favorite parts of the film:

- seeing glimpses of kitty oppenheimer and understanding, just from those glimpses, that she is the backbone of her marriage to robert. there isn't a single moment (except maybe how she got together with him in the first place) that I disagreed with

- now I know how heavily talked about the florence pugh scenes were and I do disagree with how the metaphor of robert "confessing his sins" of infidelity were played out in the manner they were. I am glad that his vices weren't shied away from. we were given everything about him, the good and the bad and the horrifying

- the imagery of how oppie's mind was thinking and processing the physics and the theories of the atom, the overlaying of the sound affects of applause, train tracks, a bomb detonating. from an artistic standpoint this is just *chefs kiss*

- the moment he understood the magnitude of his work, even in just glimpses, and how that left him in such a state after being applauded for the central work that helped to kill tens of thousands of people across the world. the vast difference between his reaction to it and the president of the united states demeaning him for having emotions about it

overall, I'm just glad that I wasn't watching cillian murphy portraying a fictionalized historical figure. he embodied the role in such a way that I wasn't watching the man oppenheimer (from history) nor was I watching cillian murphy. they'd become inseparable in my mind by the time the film was over, creating some not so secret third oppie that wasn't a person pulled from time nor was he just a character.

overall, if you're looking for a film you can sit through and leave unscathed, I would not recommend this one. it will stay with you. and it will make you uncomfortable. and if it does, then it worked.

I will also be quite shocked if this one doesn't receive any awards.

---

now, let's talk about barbenheimer as a unit because it's a metric FUCKTON of the dichotomy of being human and that is beautiful, just BEAUTIFUL to me. where barbie illustrates the beauty and positive meaning you can make of your life, oppenheimer illustrated the horror and ransacking you can make of your life. seeing these two one after the other will have you both loving and hating yourself, and either way, maybe you're right!

here's the difference between them that I loved best though.

at least for me, barbie is a mirror. it's a mirror into womanhood, into the inherent ordeal that is existing, and how you can make the best of it an embrace every part of yourself, even the parts that are confusing. and then you get oppenheimer, and if barbie is a mirror, oppenheimer is a window. it's a window into the horrific parts of discovery, into the terrifying parts of being human that are terrible to look at in oneself, it's a window into how someone makes the worst version of himself, and how it comes back to haunt him. but oppenheimer CAN be a mirror, too, for that matter.

seeing these back to back was not a mistake by any means, and if you're planning on sitting through five hours of film anytime in the near future, make it these two. I'm so very serious about that

#barbie #barbenheimer #barbie 2023 #oppenheimer #oppenbarbie #oppenheimer 2023 #film review #film critique

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apatheticlexicographer · 1 year

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do you think euphoria is child pornography?

okay ik this is probably just bait but this is a topic that i actually kind of want to talk abt bc some people genuinely don't seem to understand the nuance.

i haven't seen euphoria and have no interest in it, but AFAIK all of the actors are grown ass adults. that's the first difference. this is the same as what happened with st*ncy in s1: the characters depicted engaging in sex acts are minors, but the actors have the bodies, faces and mentalities of adults. if somebody is super into st*ncy and writes smut abt them then they're at least envisaging adults. if they make sexual comments about the characters or actors (which they do) then it's still fucking weird but it's not "calling finn wolfhard daddy when he was like 13" weird. because that's just straight up disgusting.

within the context of comparing euphoria to a hypothetical byler sex scene in s5 rather than to outright byler porn, i think people still fail to see the exact root of the issue. in cases like euphoria or s1 st*ncy the adults-playing-teens are the first versions of the characters you're introduced to. if all you see of them is their appearance in that show they will only ever be physical adults in your mind's eye. with byler people have seen both the characters and the actors grow up from being literal prepubescent children to teens in the case of the characters and young adults in the case of the actors. even if you only ever watch that piece of media with them appearing in it you'll have literally watched them grow up from a small child. personally seeing them in a sexually explicit situation within the same context of the show would make me feel extremely gross, as somebody who has grown up pretty much alongside the characters.

secondly and crucially, euphoria isn't porn. it's not. from what i've heard it's fairly explicit which is one of many reasons i won't watch it, but it isn't pornography. the whole show is steeped in outrageous/shocking/graphic themes, and while the excessive sexualisation is still problematic and gross it's being used to further the themes and messages of the show. somebody's PWP fanfic about two 14/15yos isn't there as a social statement, it's there for people to, quite frankly, get off to. i apologise for being blunt but if somebody is weird and desperate enough to bust a nut to euphoria that's a them problem.

so basically:

actors who have been on the show since they were ELEVEN in noah's case being included in a sex scene is different from actors who have been on the show since they were in their twenties.

media can portray sexual themes, even explicitly, without being produced or consumed with the intent of sexual gratification.

it's not just that i don't think euphoria isn't child pornography, it categorically is not. it's just problematic and overly sexualised.

i still don't know why you would even ask this??? was this supposed to be some sort of "haha gottem" bc babe u flopped T_T

#byler #:///

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aotopmha · 1 year

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My blog turned 8 years old today!

My activity on Tumblr started as an anon on @momtaku 's blog somewhere during the Uprising arc of Attack on Titan.

I was inspired to start a blog because I've always loved talking about/criticising media, I really started to enjoy the insight of a number of the content creators for the series and along with this interest, the series itself showed up at the right time and right place for me, being about themes I care about and having flaws that I found interesting, too.

At that time AoT didn't have the issues I ended up having with it (despite of which I still have a soft spot for it), but it ended up being a very important, even a somewhat formative series for me although I technically wasn't at a formative age anymore because it served as a proxy for me to develop my voice as someone who likes criticism.

Despite my issues with the story, I think there were moments and points where it was very moving and powerful and none of the issues that showed up later removed that for me.

If it wasn't for AoT, I would've never sought out certain perspectives, never met certain people or sought out certain pieces of media.

I only recently, about 7-8 years after finding AoT found a story that I simply *care* about this much, even if I think some other series do what AoT does better.

Above all AoT made me care deeply to the point I wrote 1000s and 1000s of words about it across 8+ years.

And so here I am 8 years later.

The same yet older and wiser and different. I'd argue much more patient and much more open-minded. Maybe a better writer.

And probably not even 10% of that growth was because of AoT, but I certainly feel it at least played a part and that is very rare for a piece of media for me.

Very few pieces of media I've consumed in life have prepetuated change in me personally, but I will eternally remember them and I think even if my relationship with them may change or maybe some outside influence might change my perspective of them (it's entirely possible Hajime Isayama might end up being a complete asshole for whatever reason instead of just making a few jokes that cross some lines or having a 9-10 year old tweet or blog post saying dumb shit that contradicts his own series), the good in them will stay with me forever.

But the most important detail of all in this is that I mostly had fun. My current issues with fandom don't extend to specific series, but rather the general internet space.

The nature of a lot of recent discussion in fandom just isn't that interesting for me.

Tribalistic competition between communities of series, equating depiction to approval, removing feelings from media disscussion, fear of depicting loss or failure, criticising characters for acting human at all – all of these discussion trends remove why I like media in the first place and make it all pretty uninteresting to me.

People are complicated and not always right and the conflict arising from being a person is what keeps me coming back to media.

That's the art I look for because that's what makes me care and draws me in.

Hey, if you like that kind of discussion, more power to you! But I just don't find it engaging or substantial.

I consume media mainly to think about various topics I find interesting, to think about life and feelings.

Sometimes a simple series with simple ideas is nice to chill to once in a while, but I often lose interest in those kinds of series because they remain simple and thus become repetitive in a very specific way.

And during these 8 years, this perspective is also something that I slowly refined. My basic beliefs as a human being haven't changed for a long time, but the nuances and specifics have. These years simply helped me define them better – what I believe in and what I look for.

And here's to many more years of analysis and thank you to everyone who likes my stuff!

#Aotopmha talks #Thank you to my followers!

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calangkoh · 2 years

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Recently I saw someone say brotherhood was better than 03 because of the stuff that happened to rose and that apparently 03 has p3dophiliain it?? (I'm assuming they were talking about the psiren thing or maybe Dante?? who knows)

I can understand feeling uncomfortable with the rose stuff, but it wasn't shown, just heavily implied. was it necessary? no, but still pretty realistic.

but what really gets me is that bh literally has child trisha meet adult hohenheim and its seen as like this cute moment??

anyways, sorry for ranting in your inbox about this, I know it's kinda a heavy topic and criticizing 03 is valid but not when it's just straight up hypocritical.

if the themes or vibes of 03 make people uncomfortable or depressed or anxious, or if they on the other hand just don't understand that depiction isn't glorification, then it won't be liked. im not gonna defend every narrative choice of 03 as "unproblematic" but most of those "problematic" elements i wouldn't change. i like the way things were presented. but no nothing was perfect and there are lots of things you could argue were necessary or not. you said it yourself with rose. not necessary, but i think the pros outweighed the cons with including her at the end of 03.

but also yeah the psiren episode was a little uncomfortable lmao.

dante on the other hand who i love to talk about even though it's hard to talk about her a lot because of this topic, i wouldn't change. i actually have a lot to say on dante's role in this ask [and as usual i lost sight of the initial topic and just ranted about something tangentially related go figure]....i see her plan as more symbolic than literal, where she was was so deluded by her worldview --she separates herself so much from humanity, looks down on it, isolates herself and considers herself superior, even tho she's ruled by basic human impulses and feelings herself, so used to seeing humans as simply pawns, and yet a huge romantic deep down who was once fueled by love in even her most disgusting actions, and when she's rejected by hohenheim it sends her in a downward spiral. in come ed and rose and dante sees two pawns she can recreate something she had long ago before she became this monster through them. it's not about ed, specifically, it's about wanting to use him and rose to fabricate something she once had. dante comes across as a villainous mastermind, and uh, yeah she is, but, she also is vulnerable and deeply emotional. she just won't confront it directly, and would rather run away and avoid in these contrived ways. it's actually a way she mirrors ed, who also tends to avoid confronting his issues and puts up a tough and rational face as he acts extremely emotional and irrationally.

anyway, not excusing the choice of having dante imply she was gonna fuck ed or defending it as "okay," but the opposite. i agree it was a bad and deeply uncomfortable choice.....and it elevated the character. kinda like how sometimes to develop a character, you paradoxically have to make them act out of character in a certain situation. objectively/on paper, a "bad" choice, but it actually deepens the character and the emotional impact.

back on topic like with the bh moment....idk yeah i thought that framing was weird. honestly you can pick any piece of media apart for problematic elements, scenes like that, and it can be fun. i pick apart brotherhood a lot. just remember there's a difference between thinking critically about media you consume and just looking for any excuse to label something you don't like as "problematic" so you can "cancel" it. this often goes both ways with the 03 vs fmab debate and there's no winning. 03 is problematic, fmab is problematic, im problematic, let's just cancel everything and then nothing will be truly cancelled how bout that. so in all seriousness, i wouldn't give too much weight to people who will be like "oh that piece of media? i dont like it [whether or not ive seen it]. it's problematic."

#ask #meta

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vaspider · 6 years

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What do you think about the reclamation of the pink triangle (and the black triangle which isn't even fully or mainly ours) and the way it's handled. Because I honestly kind of hate it. I'm German. Those were the deaths of people who may have lived in my house before me. But Americans decided they could "reclaim" (as if it had ever been ours/theirs) it as a fun pop symbol. And instead of respecting the dead (like it is done with aids) it's for celebration. And I feel that's wrong.

You are always entitled to your feelings, however, I think that you’re missing some pieces of the puzzle and attributing some meaning to it (”fun pop symbol”) that it simply doesn’t have in the United States – at least, not any part of the communities I’ve been a part of.

Let’s walk through some of the pieces that I think you’re missing, and how those things expressly make it clear that it is not a ‘fun pop symbol’, and never has been, not to us.

I’m going to put this all behind a cut, because this is going to delve into some painful history. Content warnings have been tagged.

The reclaiming of the pink triangle began as a direct response to the first widely-published accounts of gay men during the Holocaust, not long after Stonewall. The intersection of the LGBTQ movement - and specifically gay men - being able to come out into the light of the public eye in the US, and the 1972 publication of The Men with the Pink Triangle, a book written from a series of interviews with a man named Josef Kohout, led to a desire for people to grapple with history that, for them, was still extremely recent.

Since you’re German, you’ll be aware already that many gay men were simply returned to imprisonment after WWII and some of them were imprisoned for 20 years after the end of the war. So we’re looking at a community just being able to truly come out into public discourse, and grappling with both current events and also the knowledge that people who had been imprisoned for simply being like them had only been released seven years earlier. This wasn’t a ‘fun pop symbol,’ this was a very intense symbol. The reasons why it bothers you are exactly the same reasons why the symbol was important to the community.

Here’s a great example of the manner in which the pink triangle was treated by the community in the 1970s – please note these quotes are from a first-hand account written by a person present for the events, and all terms are his:

On this date in 1976, speakers at a public program in Hartford, Conn., told the history and paid homage to the homosexuals exterminated in the Nazi concentration and labor camps.

A West Hartford resident in the 1970s, I noticed that local Jewish and human rights activists were planning to build a Holocaust memorial, a “Mandala,” in the city. As an activist, I saw an opportunity for inclusion of the homosexuals, about whom testimony and scholarship had begun to emerge.

… We were outsiders to history…

My partner at the time, Michael Jospe, designed the poster for our program, which depicted a swastika emitting flames that were consuming a pink triangle. Michael was a Jewish South African whose parents had fled from Germany in the 1930s, as Michael himself had left his own native country in the 1960s out of disgust with apartheid.

That day remains one of my proudest: This was the first public recognition anywhere in the world of the experience of homosexual repression and extermination in the Holocaust.

Nowhere in there do I see a ‘fun pop symbol.’ I see an intersectional group, including a Jewish gay man whose family had fled Germany in the 1930s, attempting to grapple with community history, and the symbols which are deeply intertwined with that history.

Remember that date: 1976.

You see, if you go in to donate blood in the United States, you will be asked whether you have ever had sex with a man who has ever had sex with a man – even once – since 1977. Even now, in the United States, a man who has ever had sex with men cannot have had sex with a man within the last year and donate blood. Yes, even if that man has been in a monogamous relationship with the same man since, say, the 1960s. Yes, even if both of the men in question have only ever had sexual contact with each other, and both are HIV-negative.

Many blood-donation and plasma-donation places still maintain much stricter standards than Federal standards require, so someone like me – AFAB non-binary, partnered with a cis man who has had male partners since 1977 since, you know, we’re both in our early 40s – still can’t donate plasma or blood if those institutions choose to keep to the older standards.

Why does this matter? Because the pink triangle, so fresh in everyone’s mind as the community grappled with these revelations, became an important part of the imagery around the AIDS crisis, and because that crisis is still ongoing. Serophobia is still not only very active in the LGBTQ community, but literally institutionalized in the United States, far beyond what any medical or practical necessity would dictate.

While it is estimated that 10,000 pink triangle men were killed in concentration camps, approximately six thousand people died in 2016 – the last year for which we have numbers right now – in the United States from AIDS. Now. When we’ve actually got treatments and therapy – at least theoretically, the accessibility of medicine in the US is an entire other essay – we still see that many people (again, mostly gay and bisexual men) die every two years. In the first year for which we have reliable numbers, 1987, 13K people died. In 1995, that was 41K.

Approximately 675,000 Americans have died from AIDS since the beginning of the crisis. Just to put some numbers on the table, so we understand the scale and the scope of what the community was immediately dealing with.

So as a community, we went from ‘dealing with something that had happened twenty years earlier but to which we just now had access, information-wise, and around which we were just starting to put our arms and understand what that meant,’ to a criminal and fucking genocidal lack of attention, research, and belief. Rather than help, we got William F Buckley suggesting that men infected with HIV should be tattooed on the arm… and on the ass, so as to warn other men. Rather than help, we got fucking silence. Rather than help, we died.

You say those could have been the people who lived in your house before you? I can go to streets in my city and point to buildings and say, ‘here, and here, and here. Here is where they died, and no one would even fucking bury them.’ Never mind that we have an ongoing crisis, particularly in the black and Latino mlm communities in cities like mine, never mind that 10K black mlm are infected in the US every year even now.

And so the pink triangle became the symbol for the silence of our government and the medical establishment and the horrifying, seemingly-never-stoppable, painful death that followed, and most importantly, our defiance and our anger and our voices in the face of that massive bureaucratic shrug. Keith Haring used the pink triangle in his art about the crisis – at least, until he died from complications of AIDS in 1990. ACT UP used it starting in 1987 – remember, it took ten years for the government, especially under Regan, to even start recording the numbers of our dead reliably. While TIME Magazine was blaming bisexual men for infecting ‘innocent heterosexuals,’ while people we knew and loved were dying and we felt so fucking helpless, we could, at least, not be silent.

We could take that mark that had meant death, and we could use it to scream in the face of an uncaring system and a virus that kept stealing and stealing from us.

And it keeps stealing from us.

I don’t know where you got this ‘fun pop symbol’ nonsense from, and you’re certainly entitled to your feelings, but in the United States that I grew up in, the pink triangle has never been cute, it’s never been fun, it’s never been a ‘pop symbol.’ It’s been the screaming defiance of a community getting murdered by neglect by its own government, it’s been our solemn remembrance of what was done in Europe, it’s been a symbol of our continuity and our strength as we reclaimed it and used it to say stop fucking killing us.

So, like, I dunno, I guess I just have a different opinion about what it means.

#serophobia #aids #medical neglect #holocaust #nazis #medical abuse #pink triangle #HIV #institutional neglect #seriously fuck Regan though #and like really the people responsible for pushing for reclaiming the pink triangle were jewish??? many of them??? so like #enough already #i'm so tired of having to explain this over and over #why does this come up every year like fucking clockwork?#eisart

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josephmyplace · 4 years

Text

EVALUATION

INTRO

work, my thought process, I think of the concept, and how I can abstract that into an interesting certain direction, I may choose to interpret belonging as an object, a relevant theme, or perhaps as a place, or a feeling, then covey that in a visually interesting way.

Initially I found it difficult to come up with an idea for something like belonging, as without any context the possible interpretations are endless, however I found that as I became more familiar with the course I felt more comfortable to create more freely, and while this is a careless approach, it's more productive than not doing anything over the idea that you might create something bad, as even then I can create multiple artworks and select the best.

I feel that this this art course has had a subtle influence on me, not in how I make art but rather it has informed me about art, I feel more educated about artists and because of that I now recognize more as art, and have a greater appreciation for it.

Particularly expressionist artists, such as Anselm Keifer, who uses materials that are relevant to the artwork, such as “margarette” which used hay in the painting to depict the Nazis, and in another of his works the “hierarchy of the angels”, here he uses t-shirts to depict the dead additionally inclusion of unorthodox materials adds an interesting physical dimension to the piece.

minimalist and conceptual work of Richard long, he often extends the art beyond what it depicts, his famous piece “a line made by walking” incorporates time into it, as the piece is his continuous back and forth over time, I find this especially interesting since his pieces are often vacant, minimalist, they rely a lot more off that isn't apparent; the intangible thoughts behind them.

EXPLANATION OF PRINTING TECHNIQUES

drypiont: a needle like instrument carves a design into a material, ink then fills the groves and stains the paper when pressed in printing.

Intaglio: conceptually identical to drypoint, where a design is carved into a material, except carving knives are used here, to create larger, 'blocky' designs.

Screenprint: a design is put onto a screen where there holes in the screen that are identical to the original art, so that when printed the screen produces a replica of the original.

Lino: a piece of lino is carved into, and ink is rolled unto it, causing the uncarved sections to appear as the black, and the uncarved sections not to come up.

throughout the course I learnt how to print, specifically lino, screenprint, intaglio, drypiont was studied in the course, I found lino and drypiont to produce the best prints, though I found the lino to be imprecise in places ( this is a result of me not having precision lino cutters), it still produced prints of quality consistently, as for drypiont, it produced very detailed prints, however the process is arduous and painful if you kept doing it long enough, as the pressure needed to carve eventually hurts your fingers.

As for intaglio and screenprints, lino was not difficult to work with but suffered with finer, small details, as the cutting could cause pieces to separate that I didn't want to, limiting it's usefulness, the prints are okay, inconsistent with problems with the printed paper occasionally tearing onto the intaglio, another issue is how the prints damage throughout the process.

Example of inked Drypoint

Example of a printed intaglio

Screenprints, the biggest issue for screenprinting was that my original design had its original fine detail lost, and the process to re-prepare the board for another print was time consuming, additionally it needed to be dry, so we used hair-dryers which caused my print to tear slightly as the heat will burn a hole in it if not monitored.

EXPLANATION OF DRAWING TECHNIQUES

blind:The viewer does not look at what they have drawn but instead observes their subject as they draw.

continuous line:A single unbroken line used to draw the subject.

layered blind with blue tac reference: the viewer does not look at their subject, or paper but uses touch to interpret the subject, blue tac is attached to the subject and paper so that the artist has reference points.

Ambidextrous:Both of the artist's hands draw the subject.

Observational:To draw the subject as accurately to reality as possible.

Derek's lessons focus on drawing, specifically on abstraction by the merger of forms to create something new, he emphases that out of chaos something new is made that otherwise would not have, such as taking photos and objects then abstracting the forms and shapes until something is made that is interesting or invokes an emotion.

He also taught the use of graphite, a dark material suited for shading, creating pitch black areas, and creating shading by using fingers to draw the graphite across the artwork.

additionally he taught painting with both chalk and ink, the brush was used to draw the chalk across the art, the red ink added a strong visual to the piece.

he did a lesson where fine-liners were used, which was familiar as I use them in my personal art frequently, this lesson like his others included the combining of the forms of multiple objects, as well as a brief look into how Photoshop works.

THE FINAL OUTCOME BOARD

My final outcome mixed media board is rough, I worked mainly with paints which are hard to control, it needs to be neatened and also there to be better shading of the fabric on the plague doctors, as well as better colour transitions.

However I'm happy with the concept of the board and the general design, I tried to create something that I feel is dark, twisting, ominous, doctor, disease, expressionist, red, smoky, procession, theological.

The board was inspired by the global pandemic, the plague doctors being a reference to our modern plague, I went with a medieval theme because they have a strong design to them, their masks preventing you from seeing their humanity, and hooked beaks like ravens that feed on corpses, also because contrasting our modern eras virus struggle with theirs was interesting.

In their hands is incense, lavender, hinted at by the blue smoke, along with the procession hints a religious theme, these doctors are a procession of martyrs, their zealously will kill them one after the other, as people in this time act with the same zealous ignorance towards a virus that will kill them.

Initially the board started out as a group of sketches, from those the plague doctor was chosen

from there the design was put onto tracing paper, then using carbon paper was put onto Lino, afterwards it was carved into

then using an ink roller a fine amount of ink was applied to create the most accurate print .. image, the the image was printed onto the board via printing press

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