#it’s been a while since I’ve made a full analysis essay kinda post!! this is how i normally format them bc it’s easier for me to read

[anachronistic-falsehood]

Vash and Femininity: Trigun Stampede and its Themes of Bodily Autonomy, Exploitation, and Vague Gender Fuckery

alright sit the fuck down. we're gonna talk about THEMES

I was on Twitter- terrible idea usually, but a couple people I follow made some tweets that got me thinking about Trigun's overall themes, and here we are. So let's talk about some themes in Tristamp! And I'll take a couple looks at Trimax as well, just for fun :3

Let's look at how the showrunners utilize gender roles and exploitation of feminine characters to show how unhealthy Knives' obsession with his ideal of Vash is, and how horrific his exploitation of Vash and the Plants is.

Vash, from the beginning of Tristamp, is someone who cares about people's choices. When people kill others in front of him, he reiterates that whether someone lives or dies is not another person's choice to make. This is something he learned from Rem (a prominent female figure in his life). He refuses to kill people because that is not his choice to make. To kill someone is the ultimate removal of their bodily autonomy. They can no longer make any choices at all; they're dead.

Vash is also someone who has almost no choice in what path his life takes. He's constantly dragged around by outside forces, namely situations that are caused by Knives (which we'll get into later). Vash doesn't make things happen, things happen to Vash. The majority of events that occur are not his fault. He's pushed and pulled in a thousand different directions. His entire life is completely out of his control.

This can be seen as early on in his life as the Fall, something he had no control over and had no idea he even had a part in. Even later, in the ship with Luida and Brad, after he's been rescued from the desert, he's kept in handcuffs right up until he's shown to be of use to them and the Plant on their ship. After that, he could theoretically say "no, I don't want to go to other ships and heal their plants," but he doesn't. He's Vash. He's helpful and nurturing at his core, and these people have done so much for him just by letting him stay, so he'll do whatever they ask, no question.

This carries over into his adulthood. At Jeneora Rock, he goes to look at their Plant at one simple request, doesn't protest when he's dragged into a duel-- he doesn't take initiative unless someone's life is immediately at stake. He lets people tell him what to do and lets himself get dragged around by the wrist. He doesn't even pretend to have control over his life like Trimax Vash does, which I mean. Fair. Why pretend to have a grip on your existence when it's impossible to do anything without a gun pointed at your head?

Vash is a very passive character. He's nurturing, kind, gentle- he's a guy that fits a lot of very typical feminine character stereotypes. If you wrote this same story but made him a woman, I wouldn't bat an eye (but I would definitely be looking at it a lot more critically, what with the amount of stereotypically nurturing/motherly female characters in media already.)

This contrasts directly with Knives. He makes a decision and carries through no matter what stands in his way. He takes initiative. If Vash is a passive character, Knives is an active character. Wherever he goes, he leaves a lasting imprint. He makes shit happen! If outside forces make things happen to him, he'll go out of his way to make sure that particular force doesn't affect him again.

These two tweets I saw are what got me thinking about this originally. I just feel like here's a good place to put them as a segue into talking about episode 11.

Episode 11 is where a lot of this feminine imagery really just. Explodes in your face. IT'S RIGHT THERE. You can't dance around it if you try. And it kind of reaches a peak when the connection reaches 100%, the gate opens, and. well. THIS happens to the Plants.

Plants, in both Trimax and Tristamp, are almost always typically feminine-looking. Knives and Vash are the only two who are male or even masculine at all. Knives, as the most masculine out of all of them, is the one trying to take charge, and mould the world as he sees fit, to a degree that is detrimental to both him and everyone else. And Vash-- passive, feminine, kind and nurturing, whose Angel Arm in the manga always sprouts decidedly feminine-looking Plant parts-- is the one being exploited for Knives' plans. It's no mistake that they made the giant plant formation at the end of ep 11 look like a giant woman that almost resembles Rem.

Vash wants people to make their own choices and keep their autonomy when it comes to their bodies and lives. Knives is the exact opposite. He wants all Plants to become independent and he uses Vash to achieve that goal, without asking what Vash wants or even knowing what the Plants themselves would prefer. He exploits Vash for the soul purpose of trying to make these Plants have Independent Plant babies. He's completely incapable of seeing that his choices are not for the greater good! He thinks he's saving them, but none of his actions are for the good of anyone but himself. He’s just violating them for his own gain.

They're really leaning into gender roles for these guys, but in a way that screams "HEY, LOOK AT THIS! ISN'T IT FUCKED UP? LOOK AT HOW FUCKED UP THAT IS. LOOK AT THIS, AND BE UNCOMFORTABLE, AND KNOW THAT IT IS FUCKED UP."

Because it is! It's so extremely fucked up. They're using this imagery and these roles, something that makes most of us intrinsically uncomfortable, to drive home how unhealthy Knives relationship with his ideal of Vash is. That's the point. We're supposed to be uncomfortable with this.

Now of course there's some nuance to it. Like, you could see Knives as somewhat of a feminine and/or queer-coded figure as well, ESPECIALLY if you look at some of his panels in the manga, which could in turn lead to themes about infighting and control within marginalized communities, but that might be something for another post. :3

And there's definitely different ways you could take this! Vash, with all this feminine imagery, could be either transfem or transmasc coded, depending on what way you'd rather see it, which could lead into themes of how people outside the norm constantly face a lack of bodily autonomy and are exploited for purposes outside their boundaries. We could also look at Wolfwood and his lack of choice over joining the Eye of Michael and becoming the Punisher, and how masculine men (particularly men of colour) are often forced into violent roles against their will. If we look at Trimax, the exact same could be said for Livio/Razlo and people with disorders such as DID/OSDD.

There are many different ways you could spin these themes, some of which I don't feel personally qualified to discuss. If anyone who is qualified to talk about Wolfwood or Livio/Razlo or even other characters related to these themes, then god PLEASE add onto this post or make a post and tag me or something. I would love to read it!

Anyway, in conclusion: Vash is a feminine figure constantly taken advantage of and exploited and and he's so incredibly trans/nonbinary-coded that it drives me insane. Thank you

#whiskeys word soup #trigun #trigun stampede #HI. HELLO. THIS DRIVES ME INSANE PLEASE READ THIS #and seriously if anyone wants to make a post about wolfwood or livio/razlo or any other character exploring these themes of bodily autonomy #on GOD. lemme know i wanna read it #well aware that some of this is probably me digging too deep for things that aren’t there but still!!! fun to look at #what is media analysis other than putting on ur queer glasses and picking out trans allegories within stories #it’s been a while since I’ve made a full analysis essay kinda post!! this is how i normally format them bc it’s easier for me to read

[theyarebothgunshot]

this is exactly how it went down in my head.

misha: hey, everything okay? do you need me to do something?

jensen: no, lay low. we’re figuring it out.

misha: got it.

— the next day —

misha: things settled. should i say anything? draw attention? stay neutral?

jensen: you don’t have to, but if you want, tread lightly. we’ve had enough chaos.

misha: say no more.

when nobody got your back you KNOW dmitri got your back.

ANYWAYS i turned my back for TWO MINUTES and y'all went the fuck off in my inbox so, you know the drill: more under the cut

NO BUT JENSEN’S RESPONSE LMAAAAAO honestly fallout theory is so on oh my God I can’t stop-

on god they are so loud like-

Worst damage control i've ever seen. god bles.

so true bestie

I think Jensen probably just wants to be done with this petty little drama, so if he has to pretend everything between them is okay he is going to be the bigger man and lay it to rest. Whatever is going on between them he definitely doesn't want to sort that out on social media and the earlier he pretends everything is sorted out the earlier people will forget about it again.

Also it's kinda funny how J*red Tweet was like implying they had a misunderstanding but still talk to each other regularly, while Jensen went full on the we grow apart a little bit, because we were busy, let's catch back up. Makes me wonder if they actually talked or if there managers just said hey that's not good pr, let's put that to rest. Also did J*red know before yesterday that they had a falling out or did he just not realize.

- 🐌 anon

literally jensen went out of his way to say 'uhhh we never talk, worstie' god if pr management is involved then they did a bad job. also j*red still does not realise they have fallen out. jshfjdsfh

Jackles was like God bless but we ain’t talking like this worstie

good for her.gif

csdsc heeft gevraagd:

All I need now is for Misha to tweet “ is it safe to come out now?” And I’ll be complete lmfao 😂😂😂

that would have been better than what we got lmfao

I have one fear and it's Jensen being forced to add j*red to his show and his other projects because he couldn't stop whining like a baby,,, ugh i hate him

i pretend i do not see

Kinda selfish of me tbh but i don't want them to be "friends" again, Jensen sweetie run as fast as you can

co-signed

Ok Jensen's answer to Jared tweet made me feel so bad for him. Like, I can see it's damage control and public relations (obviously) but there's stuff behind it. I can't name it, but idk, I felt terrible for texas man this time, I don't think that reply was written with a "love and light energy" or even without much care. I felt some heavy vibes.

- 🌻, who is now a fortune teller and a prophet apparently

yeah i feel hella bad for him to, for having to deal with this shit. nonnie please if you ever have anything to predict, lemme know sjdfhs

You know Jensen's tweet has the energy of like kindergarten wenn an other kid started a fight with you and the kindergarten teacher wants you to forgive each other and hung it out and you really don't want to, but your kindergarten teacher is being annoying and he isn't worth the annoyance either.

- 🐌 anon

you are not wrong

Incredibly thankful that I have the day off from work 😂 I'm with hatching chick anon, the 3 dots read as passive aggressive/insincere to me, and I love it! I haven't spent this many hours on tumblr since I first discovered cockles! (On a side note, the lack of fimmf posts today has me feeling like it's not friday lol) -🐢

i, too, miss fimmf but alas things happen, they do they do they do

I was right. :(

It got almost romantic...

👀

nonnie you know i love you but this is really not the case, like, at all??? idk how you could look at those tweets and think it was almost romantic. it was THEE most scripted, pr bullshit ever. it was staged and fake. idk what else to tell ya

Danneel liked Jensen's tweet

i saw

That is so so awkward I feel so sorry for all of us being exposed to this and so happy I chose to leave the Internet for half a day - tea anon

god bless your stance on that cause i would have hated missing out on this lmao

You know what? I think it’s okay being a 38 year old moron if you’re bringing us this type of content

im happy with the food but still think its not okay tbh

pspspsps Misha this is the perfect day for you to drop the gay Cas essay pspspspsp it is still pride month pspspsps

you know you want to king pspsps

So that JIB6 link (I think it was from your post, right?). I went and watched that bit, and a little more.

Jensen makes a comment about Jared being first on the call sheet because Sam was supposed to be the main focal character.

And that him nor Misha cared about what number they were, so in all that time it never changed.

And I’ll be… if that just doesn’t perfectly sum them up and their feelings on things. And how a certain someone can be petty… 🦚

idk if it was from my post? but maybe? my analysis probably? but yeah things are making more and more sense huh

Ohh that's also an alien? Welcome to the extraterrestial family then, purple alien anon!

Also it's probably because I'm coming off the high this drama gave me but I'm not looking forward to them trying so hard to convince us everything is normal between them. Even though we now Know, they will have to keep pretending. Today (yesterday?) was a shitshow but some masks fell off, at least for a moment and I kinda wish Jensen was less professional 😂

👽

oh for real, fallout theory IS confirmed and nothing they said today will change my mind, it only made me believe in it even more lmfao and with that in mind i am just gonna sip my tea if they try to be buddy buddy on main again

I THINK MISHA UNRETWEETED BUT HE TWEETED "LOVE AND MISS YOU BOTH" I'M LOSING MY DIGNITY HERE - tea anon

yeah he now answered them sjdfhsjfhsf instead of rt

MISHA COLLINS IS A KING I STAN THE RIGHT MAN

YOU SURE DO

I just know Misha’s process was oh crap I have to let people know I’m supporting them and I can’t choose sides. Ok. Retweet. NO. Delete. I love both of you. Yes, good.

sjdfsdfh this makes me think of that post that dissected jackles' birthday post for misha where he used the heart. 'call him bro, that makes it less obvious. nailed it.'

Lol I'm off for a few days and come back to total chaos... God I missed it here

Like the "et tu... #bravo" tweet? Made my day! Frikking hilarious (every time I see it I picture J*red with a pissy frech accent saying it out loud lol) it's just such an incredibly petty hissy fit he threw (I know he tweeted more later on but... Really all that stuff coming afterwards just sounds like damage control)

Missed you Rose

-🐻

LOVE the french accent detail im gonna do this too sdjfhsjfh missed you toooo!!!!

Oh man Misha is really gonna get hate for that I KNOW IT

sigh well. nothing he isnt used to by now, unfortunately

i mean i believe they feel like brothers, but constantly falling back on the “brother” thing to keep up appearances is really starting to feel like “#spnfamily” at this point.

honestly brothers can be very annoying, or so i have heard, so it fits with the fallout theory lmao

They actually said if we’re gonna make this gay we cannot have Jar*d Pad*lecki involved

oh my God this is the funniest timeline to ever exist God bless I’m just waiting to canon bi Mary

king shit tbh

#snail anon #csdsc #sunflower anon #turtle anon #eyes anon #tea anon #peacock anon #alien anon #bear anon #THAT WAS A LOT #anyways next time im just gonna spam you all fsfsgdsgd

[wolfgrowlwrites]

Tribe of Rushing Water Analysis

Since people were curious both on my thoughts about the Tribe of Rushing Water in Canon and how I’ve rewritten them in my fic Ties that Bind, here’s the massive post on it. If you read this entire thing, thank you.

--- 

Alright so I’m not much of an internet funnyman but I was an English Major and someone with a hyperfixation on the Warrior Cats series so it’s time to analyze the Tribe! The following post will include Spoilers for Watership Down (yeah the rabbit book, I’ll come back to this) and I will speak openly about the Warriors Series as a whole with the assumption that the people reading have already read the books in question. The goal of this is to discuss the Tribe’s narrative placement in the story, and what I’m doing with them in my rewrite.

Now Warriors was originally just going to be one book, and then six, and then first three books of the second arc. The weird effects this has on the narrative and tone is best explored elsewhere, but I bring this up because Midnight, Moonrise and Dawn were meant to be a trilogy ending the series. And this trilogy was based on nothing other than Watership Down, all of which is important to consider when we talk about the Tribe. The Tribe was meant to only appear briefly, which means there was no need for fleshing them out, and they are the Warriors parallel of Cowslip’s Warren.

For those of us who haven’t read Watership Down, it is a story about a bunch of rabbits who have a prediction of the destruction of their home and set out on a quest to find a new one. (Sounds familiar right?) One of the dangers they run into along the way is what originally appears to be a friendly warren run by a rabbit named Cowslip. The rabbits immediately find themselves on edge, as while this warren is exceptionally friendly there is the underlying evidence that something is wrong. When they ask questions the natives to the burrow deflect and dance around answering, and while their customs seem similar, they’re different enough to be unsettling. Behold, I’ve described the Tribe in Moonrise. And like the Tribe, the fact that Cowslip’s Warren is hiding is that there’s something extremely dangerous hunting them. Cowslip’s warren is being maintained by humans who are actively snaring the rabbits, and the Tribe has Sharptooth who is also hunting them. In fact, the snares almost kill one of the traveling rabbits, while Feathertail does end up dying to Sharptooth.

(Thank god I’m doing this on Tumblr not Twitter, god this thread would be unbearable.)

(For those who have read Watership Down, Brook is probably supposed to be Strawberry.)

So narratively, the Tribe are there to be a hinderance to the traveling cats who seem friendly and similar to them but have a danger to them that will put the traveling cats at risk. That is the role they’re meant to play, and as the series was meant to end after Dawn, the Erins didn’t need to flesh the Tribe out really beyond that.

But then money and the publishers spoke and the series continued and we returned to the Tribe except uh… huh. Honestly I kinda don’t want to get into this because it’s the same thing every time. The Tribe, who when we first meet them are described as huge and able to fight eagles, and are well adapted for life on the mountains, have encountered some problem and only the Clan cats can save them. Rinse and repeat. And as someone who has attempted to figure out the Tribe’s Allegiances, if you thought they were bad about remembering details for the Clans oh boy. For specific citations of the Tribe needs the Clans help, oh no, please see Moonrise, Outcast, Sign of the Moon, and Tawnypelt’s Clan. Sign of the Moon in particular because a Clan cat straight up choses the Tribe’s new leader. Can you imagine how the Clans would react if a Tribe cat tried that?

But it’s okay right because of the whole time-travel thing which means that Jayfeather actually founded the Tribe and named the first Stoneteller. I could write an entire essay on how much I hate this plot point, but that’s not the point here. The more important part is that some how the Tribe went from names like Stone Song, Half Moon, Lion’s Roar, Clear Sky, Gray Wing, etc. to names like Brook where Small Fish swim. I, as a white guy, don’t want to touch the racism there, I’m pretty sure other people have explained it better than I can, but the short version is that a group named the Tribe with names like Jagged Rock where Heron Nest comes off like a stereotype for Native Americans, at least from my white American experience. So, uh, solid yikes on that one, especially when those aren’t even the names they use (because of course not they’re a fucking mouthful) which gets to the world building point I’m gonna touch on instead.

The Ancients become the Tribe but somehow the names grow so long that they all have to go by nicknames that… almost resemble what Ancient names were to begin with? I understand this is because the Tribe’s naming convention got established before the time loop thing, but honestly, there is no reason they should’ve been named like that and in fact more reasons why they shouldn’t have. Between the racism and then from a writing perspective, what is the point, of having names like that if they’re never used? Like narratively it makes no sense from the start, and the Time Travel plot only makes that more obvious.

All that said, I actually super adore the Tribe! I wish they’d been handled differently in a lot of places but they had so much potential to be cool that got lost along the way. So thus, we come to my rewrite. If you’re just here for Tribe Analysis you’re free to go, but if you’re here for how I’m rewriting the Tribe than settle in.

---

In my rewrite the Tribe has Ancient names from the get go, because it makes more sense and allows for the Tribe to serve its original narrative function, that is, a place similar to what the Clan Cats are used enough to be comfortable, but different enough to be unsettling. The Tribe has ancestors not unlike StarClan but I have the Tribe’s worship working very differently. Stone Tellers are raised from birth to serve as a guiding force for the Tribe because they are the ones that can speak to the ancestors, and every full moon, when the Cave of Pointed Stones glows, they lead their tribe to speak with their ancestors, in something not unlike a gathering, but it is meant to be a form of remembrance, as they are sharing news with their ancestors instead.

The Tribe has very extreme views of their ancestors, refusing to take the Tribe of Endless Hunting’s name in vain. It is also believed that a Tribe cat that has passed cannot move on to the Tribe of Endless Hunting until a final task has been completed. This task is something the cat would’ve wanted to do while alive, but didn’t get to, so now one of their family, or a close friend, does it in their place. (To a reasonable extent, for example telling someone that the cat who died was in love with them, not settling down with them to raise a family because that’s what the dead cat wanted to do.) Those who have not moved on linger as ghosts. They don’t have stars in their pelts, and they don’t have the ability to see the future to warn their Tribemates the way StarClan or the Tribe of Endless Hunting do. They are capable of speaking to those who can see them, usually Stone Teller, but otherwise they tend to simply watch and wait for someone to help them move on.

The Tribe believes that the future is chosen by the Tribe of Endless Hunting, to challenge their omens is the most heretical thing a cat can do. The current Stone Teller decides a cat’s future when they are born, Cave-guard, Prey-Hunter, or rarely, the next Stone Teller. Those kits are taken by the current Stone Teller once they’re old enough to be weaned and raised in the Cave of Pointed Stones. Their name is chosen by the current Stone Teller and stripped from them when they become the next Stone Teller. Stone Teller is meant to be the ancestor’s conduit to the living and an impartial leader to the Tribe. However, not every leader can live up to those expectations, and should the Tribe begin to doubt the current Stone Teller’s capability to guide them, they can make a new cat leader. This cat would do the job of leading the Tribe, while Stone Teller continues to serve as the medicinal and spiritual leader. This rarely happens, and when it does it is rarely so clean cut, as no one particularly enjoys admitting they’ve made a mistake and need to be replaced as leader.

The Stone Teller is assisted in leading the Tribe by the head of the Cave-Guards and the head of the Prey-Hunters, these are seen as the cats that are best at that job and capable of quick decision making and good judgement calls. They often work together to organize hunting patrols and discuss issues in the territory, often presenting Stone Teller with their solutions alongside problems.

Honestly the Tribe won’t be playing a very large role in my rewrite as a whole, but since they have an entire arc dedicated to them, I wanted to make sure I had them well fleshed out. There’s a few details I’ve left out because this is long enough, but if you’re curious about anything I’ve said either about the Tribe or my rewrite, hit me up.

#Warrior Cats #tribe of rushing water #I'm not sorry but this is a lot tm

[darkvolley]

talk to me about ienzo spending his growing years being an emotionless husk and therefore not understanding what it means to be a person because he literally never learned out how, the years a person uses to discover themselves, establishing an identity were robbed from him, killed as a child and then waking up as an adult, how does this make you feel

Oooohhhh fuck yeah babey! Whippin' out google docs for this one. I've made so many essays on Ienzo and his emotional/mental development, or really lack thereof, and how absolutely pissed off it makes me. Like it really all just loops back around to me hating adults, but kfjvivjck here we go for the hundredth time cuz I literally cannot shut up about best boy and how tragic he is.

Okay so, like,,, we gotta start at the beginning here. Cuz Ienzo's got no parents. We don't know for sure what happened to them and if it was tragic or not and if it was we also don't know if Ienzo happened to see anything bad or not. There's just no way to know. But regardless! At some point Ienzo was taken in by Ansem the Wise. Surrounding Ienzo is Ansem, obviously, Even, who's pretty cranky and kinda egotistical, Dilan, a very uncaring guy, Aeleus, who obviously did care but clearly never did anything, and Braig, who well… regardless of if you think he was Luxu the whole time or not, is still not a good influence. So this is a small child sorta being raised by some not so perfect father-figures. Even tho Ansem cared I'm sure he was still busy a lot. Even was shown to be in charge of watching him but Ienzo did run off at one point implying him sneaking away is a common occurrence and/or Even isn't good at watching him like he's supposed to.

And let's keep in mind that even before Terranort showed up human experimentation was something that was happening in the castle. I dunno if all the apprentices were partaking in that before Terranort's arrival, but they definitely were afterward. And now we get into the beginning of the worst part.

Ienzo starts getting manipulated. Ansem the Wise's reports say the lab in the basement was a decision spurred on by Ienzo. Ansem had that lab built cuz Ienzo convinced him. A small child told his father figure that building a lab meant for human experiments would be a good idea. There's no way in hell Ienzo made that decision himself. He is a child who trusts the only adults that have raised him so far. If they tell him to do something he would likely do it. So Ienzo was manipulated(most likely by Terranort or Luxu) into manipulating what's basically his adoptive father.

Then it all just keeps getting worse! Eventually Ansem finds out what's going on in that lab in the basement. He wants it all shut down, but no one's going to listen to him. They've been too manipulated themselves by Terranort and Luxu. The other apprentices banish him to the Realm of Darkness and at some point Ienzo's going to have to know where Ansem went. So what do they tell him? They tell this little boy that his adoptive father went fucking mad. And not only that, but also that he fucking abandoned them! Just lost his mind and left them all, Ienzo included! And like, sure! They don't want Ienzo to know that they've become the bad guys, maybe they think it's the lesser of two evil explanations, but by how pained the poor man looked in 3, clearly what he was told had been eating at him for a whole decade. He'd been clinging onto that answer he was given ever since that day and realizing that he'd been lied to brought out just as many emotions as seeing Ansem return did.

And just when you think it can't get any worse, we reach the pinnacle. The day everyone became Nobodies. It was pretty much a choice everyone made. Dilan being the most willing, and Luxu apparently having no idea that was part of the plan considering his reaction. Or he at least didn't plan on getting stabbed by Terranort with his own Keyblade to make it happen. Anyway, I highly doubt Aeleus was truly okay with the whole thing without a ton of manipulation. And for Even it probably took less manipulation but, my point. Those two did need at least some manipulation unlike Terranort and Luxu. But Terranort was obviously being manipulated Luxu but that's not really what I'm talking about here. Anyway, Dilan has been proven to be just kinda shitty in general in a previous analysis of mine so I feel he was pretty much on board from the start, he just needed some talking to first.

So back to Ienzo! Again, there's no way this child willingly made the decision to become a Nobody. But, at this point the kid has lost his adoptive father, these are the only people he trusts, and he's a damn child! He is malleable and would believe whatever he's told since he believed Ansem really did abandon them. He's gonna trust that whatever becoming a Nobody means would actually be a good thing. And I doubt that even if Terranort and/or Luxu explained the whole deal to the other three that they'd also give the full picture to Ienzo.

So poor boy gets stabbed by Terranort and ends up a Nobody. At some point they go to The World That Never Was and take up home there. Zexion isn't the only kid in the Org, but Axel and Saix likely did keep more to themselves, plus they're teenagers and at this point 16/17 so they're almost adults. But anyway, he's in this new place that's all white and honestly to me feels like a stone cold prison from the atmosphere it gives off in Days.

And included in the whole ordeal is what comes with being a Nobody. Obviously we know everyone was lied to about not being able to get their hearts back without Kingdom Hearts, but they didn't know that. Zexion's just a kid and he's being told he doesn't have a heart anymore nor can he get it back unless they work on completing Kingdom Hearts. He's told he can't feel emotions without a heart, so he's going to question every little thing he feels and be in denial about it being emotions. And even tho he doesn't believe he can feel emotions, he still can. How else is he supposed to get a new heart eventually if he can't anyway?

So, like plenty of teens, Zexion gets angry that he can't control his life and he's stuck in the situation he's in now. He becomes the snarky Zexion that we all know. All his backhanded talk is his way of letting out even the smallest amount of frustration he can while not acting out in a way that'll get him in trouble with Xemnas. All his caretakers have become kinda worse people and he ends up surrounded by even more people that are kinda shitty. I mean, Luxord's pretty normal tho so he might be excluded from that. But then there's Lexaeus, who was shown to be regretful of leaving Zexion alone after he loses to Riku. It's pretty clear that he's the first person that really regrets the way everything has turned out, or who has at least expressed it at that point, and is upset that Zexion had to be apart of it all. But other than that it doesn't seem like anyone really cares for Zexion. He and Vexen have mostly been shown bickering and in the extra scene in KH2 Xigbar/Luxu seems to just like teasing Zexion. He even brought up the experiments they did which is likely a sore spot for Zexion considering everything he's been through.

And then there's the way he goes out. Getting strangled to death by Repliku on Axel's orders. I've gone over this one in detail before but if I'm gonna have everything on this post I might as well do it again in a condensed form. We don't really know the extent of Ienzo's relationship with Lea and Isa, but they had to have at least known each other when the two ended up becoming apprentices. And growing up in the Org together they had to have done missions together at least a few times and they were in meeting together and all that. Since those two were on the younger end as well, they had to have some understanding of how Zexion was feeling through it all. And yet Axel and Saix had it planned the whole time that Zexion was going to die at Castle Oblivion along with everyone else. This little kid that they'd known since their Radiant Garden days, dying like the others so they could get closer to having a chance to figure out what happened to a girl that Saix started questioning the very existence of. And then you have to wonder about how that affected Ienzo. Was there ever a moment where he was scared to see Riku again after a fake version killed him? Does he secretly hold it against Lea? Does he have nightmares of getting choked???

And after the worst of it is over, he finally wakes up and he's himself again. He's home, but during his reunion with Ansem is when we finally see the lasting effects of everything he's been through. He says he was just a boy, but he should have known better. That means all these years Ienzo believed he should have done something. Even as a child he should have been able to see past the manipulation and put a stop to it. But that's wrong. So completely wrong. He was a child while everyone else was an adult. Ienzo shouldn't have to keep all that guilt of not being able to do anything on his shoulders. It should have been the adults' responsibility to protect Ienzo. Being a child in the first place means he's prone to blaming himself and thinking everything was his fault. If only he could have seen through the manipulation, told Ansem when he was still around, or another adult not involved, or stopped them all himself then none of this would have happened. That's what he tells himself, which is so horribly wrong. And even as an adult he carries all that guilt around which means he was never able to realize that he couldn't have done much, if anything, and he shouldn't have had to in the first place. He doesn't realize it was the adults' responsibility. That's where the stunted maturity comes in. In that aspect he still thinks like a child cuz he never truly got to grow up from being one. He still has all that guilt even after eleven years.

And it all fucking kills me. That's how it makes me feel. It makes me continue to feel my life long contempt for adults that don't care for children cuz children are apparently inferior. And no matter what kids are going to blame themselves, even if they know they shouldn't. Even if they're self aware enough to know it's a thing kids just naturally do, they're still prone to it. And by God if there's anything so deeply realistic in anything Nomura has ever done, it's Ienzo's characterization. It's how real and human he is despite being a fictional character. Him and his struggles feel so real because we were all kids and so many of us have had fucked up parts of our childhood and if there's one relatable thing in Kingdom Hearts it's the guilt Ienzo has felt for eleven goddamn years and I'm gonna fuckin cry and this time it's not about the reunion scene. Ienzo just means that fucking much to me for all the bullshit he's had to unwillingly put up with cuz of crappy adults.

#i didnt expect to get so upset by the end of this #kingdom hearts #ienzo #kh ienzo #analysis #ienzo analysis #ask #long post

[lifes-a-simple-plan]

Anyone else remember that one time....

...I wrote an essay about a Japanese drama on Netflix called Switched?

Yeah, me too. In case you don’t, here’s the link to it - if you were curious. Or if you were insane enough to dive into a 20 minute read about a television show wherein I just talk about everything I loved about it. Either way, it’s at your convenience now:

https://lifes-a-simple-plan.tumblr.com/post/177182071148/this-is-gonna-be-one-of-my-longest-posts-ever

Roughly, it has been one year since I first watched the show and I thought it would be fun to revisit my old post and re-watch Switched (yet again; because I genuinely do have a problem)

This time around, I learned how to make a fucking “keep reading” link, so everyone who wants to can pass on by without spraining their scrolling-hand. But for anyone who just feels like they want to spare the time - thank you!

Now that that’s done, I guess I’ll just get started! Last time, I spoke of what I felt the show did right, my favorite moments and quotes, character analysis, shipping, my thoughts on the ending and what I wished had been in the show.

Really, not much has changed about my opinions regarding those subjects. If anything, I feel them stronger. How Kaga is the light in this world, Ayumi is just the most pure bean, Kaga is the only one on earth to deserve true happiness, Umine needs a therapist, Kaga is my One True Love, Koshiro should really express himself better, and did I mention that Kaga is the absolute best?

I do think I’ve discovered some things deeper than I had in the multiple times I’ve watched it in the past year (I’m at 15 now y’all, and it is not looking like I’m going to stop any time soon (I’m literally fucking watching it right now)). So I would like to touch on that.

Things I hadn’t noticed before

Another working title for this section is “things I thought I saw but are definitely canon for me now”

- In the second episode, in the scene where Umine is walking with Koshiro telling him not to talk to other girls and then Ayumi is like, “let’s talk, yo.” This felt like the biggest discovery since ever for me. It dawned on me that it is the first time Koshiro and Ayumi, in Umine’s body, are facing each other - KNOWING the entirety of the situation. This is the first time he has to conceal his true feelings from her. When I watch it now, I get a little glimpse (or think I see a glimpse) of the moment Koshiro shoves it all away. His expression turns completely blank and he just starts playing her right then and there. She has priorities, and therefore didn’t even look at him, but he shut it down at that moment I believe.

- Koshiro didn’t take Umine very seriously until their walk in the blue lights. I think he didn’t want to think of her as a real threat, or as someone who was in as much pain as she was. But when she openly admitted to wanting to commit suicide is when he started thinking of her in a new light. He started asking questions. He started to see her as a real person who needed help. I really love that she was finally able to open up to someone. This scene also gave us an idea about who Umine is as a person, when no one is teasing her, when she doesn’t have to worry about her mom, or think about her dad. I said it last time, that this was probably the best day of her life, and I feel like it’s the first time in a LONG time that she could let go of her worries. That’s the part of her that reached out to the good parts of the other characters and earned their ability to forgive her.

- When we get to the scene in episode 3 where Kaga is overheard confessing his feelings about ‘Umine’ to Maria and Ritsu, I think Kaga fully realizes that his classmates were all dicks. And I think we see here within that realization that Kaga might’ve been a dick too. Not as much as the rest of the guys, who are all making the actual jokes about Umine and the idea that she could be liked by someone like Kaga. But most definitely in the way where he just goes along with the jokes. Accomplices are still guilty, after all. I feel like this might have been his flaw. A good friend of mine and I had a wonderful conversation not long after I posted my first review. It was about how she wished we could have found something wrong with Kaga so that he might actually seem human, and not like the perfect Godsend he really is. Well, with a year passing of considering this convo, I feel like this is it. The thing that makes him human. We know without a shadow of a doubt that Kaga stands up for the people he cares about - seeing as he does it for Ayumi right there in the scene I’m talking about. But I think before he was directly involved with the person being teased, he laughed with the rest of them no matter what the situation was rather than stand up for them. This really is just a guess from me, but it feels like canon simply because of the hesitation before he tells the class how cute ‘Umine’ is now. Almost like the look on his face was saying, “This was me at one time.” I hate to think it, but it feels right to me.

- Ukon and Amagase scenes were utterly of no importance. They literally get less and less significant every time I watch this damn show. Like, I understand that they are there for informative reasons, but if Kaga had been just a little bit better with the Google search he did early in episode 3, he could’ve found that research paper Koshiro was annotating in his room in the dead of night. And that could have been his source of information about how body switching happens, and how Ayumi can never go back to her body. Ukon could still have had her name on the paper, and been part of the show that way. Really, her scenes just took up time that could’ve been saved for MORE KAGA. If only Ukon and Amagase had been more like their characters in the manga. I know that that would have significantly altered the drama aspect of the show, but it would have been better than what we got.

- I think Koshiro wanted to get punched by Kaga. Just a little bit. He felt he deserved it. And in my opinion, he definitely deserved it.

- Ayumi was never going to meet Kaga’s feelings halfway. Had things gone differently that day (ie. meeting Kaga instead of Koshiro), she might have started dating him. But it would have been because she didn’t want Kaga - her biggest supporter - to be sad or disappointed. SHE. REALLY. COULD. HAVE. LOVED. HIM. but she never gave herself the opportunity. Kaga was going to fall more completely for her, but she would’ve only broken his heart later because she doesn’t really love him. (*Edit: this was made right after a food binge in that halfway-sleepy/full mood and the weight of this truth was overwhelming at the time).

- Umine’s mom definitely blames herself for the dad leaving. Maybe that’s obvious to some people, but it took me a few times to really get that feeling from her. I believe that she believes he would have stayed if she’d been more beautiful. Which, honey, it’s really not your fault. He left for reasons that were unexplained (but I am making a fanfiction that will cover that more, if anyone’s interested in that). I just wish that she didn’t have to take out her insecurities on Umine.

- Koshiro’s kind of a dumbass for telling Umine he never actually loved her on the roof. ALL SHOW LONG  she’s been telling you she’s suicidal. She jumped once, she’ll do it again. Really just a huge lack of foresight there.

- In Kaga’s memory montage, he is most definitely feeling the pain of having to give up Ayumi. Those were probably the best times of his relationship with her. Not having to share her with anyone, not having the attention he was getting diverted by her feelings for Koshiro. I know Koshiro was being an ass when he said that the switch benefited Kaga the most, but he was right about it. And, OW, my heart.

Feelings towards the characters - one year later

Koshiro:

Koshiro, Koshiro, Koshiro...How do I feel about him? Even though I KNOW he’s good, I can’t freaking help but hate him for most of the show. It’s as intended by the creators of this magnificent piece of art, but I just can’t really stand the guy sometimes. This man is practiced at lies. I’m going to pretend that he’s in drama classes, on top of everything else he does. Koshiro is already good at every damn thing he does (much like Tomohiro Kamiyama - fucking ridiculous how talented he is). Truly, I don’t hate him. I just can’t help but think that his “ends justify the means” personality is wrong on so many levels. And I feel like his actions shouldn’t have earned him Ayumi’s love more than Kaga’s should have.The more I watch it, the more I think that he really didn’t deserve Ayumi in the end. And while I KNOW she already loved Koshiro, I’M. STILL. NOT. OVER. IT. Clearly I still have some feelings about this. Maybe I’ll add in a paragraph specifically about this.

Umine:

I kinda like her more than I did a year ago. And, honestly, I liked her a lot back then. I’m not denying that she made a whole hell of a lot of mistakes. Switching bodies and threatening people is not how one usually makes friends. But it was interpreted as a cry for help that went on to entirely change her life for the better. I’m just so happy that her actions led her to Ayumi, Koshiro and Kaga. Because literally anyone else would have been too pissed to reconcile once everything was said and done. I’ve had this idea in my head that maybe she was jealous of Ayumi for more than her looks, or her boyfriend. I think the biggest underlying reason that Umine chose Ayumi was her ability to be open to people. Making friends is really hard for her, and they just seem to flock to Ayumi without her even trying. I can truly understand why she dislikes Ayumi, even if I can’t agree with it.

Ayumi:

I really adore her character so so so freaking much. I know I talk a lot about how she didn’t make choices that I would make *cough cough KAGA* but I can’t fault her for making them either. She just always chooses kindness. She always chooses compassion for others. This girl is like, 16, I don’t know how she can be so forgiving. I genuinely admire that in her. I am far too petty, so I really think she is a hero in her own right.

Kaga:

I. cannot. stress. enough. how. much. i. love. this. character. Kaga is the kind of man other men should watch to figure out how they should act. I swear to god. I love him more than I did a year ago. AND I LOVED HIM SO MUCH. His chivalry, his ability to put others before himself, his never ending optimism, how he can see what people need, how he acts on his emotions, HIS FUCKING SMILE. He is altogether otherworldly. Kaga is the sun, and we’re all just the planets revolving around him (I have dibs on Mercury; y’all can get in line). I wouldn’t change a damn thing about him. He is so so so valued and appreciated. My god.

While I still have you (if I still have you), I’m just gonna circle back to that bit about Koshiro not really deserving Ayumi in the end. I got all kinds of worked up earlier (as per usual), so I think it should be addressed. So why? Why do I feel like this? A year ago, I was perfectly satisfied with the ending. But now I’m just not so sure. Koshiro lied. A lot. And I know WHY he did it. And I know that he apologized. And I know that he didn’t WANT to do it. But he did. And while he expressed genuine guilt, I can’t help but be uneasy. I think it’s because of Ayumi. Not once did she have a face-to-face conversation with him about how messed up he was acting. Not just as his girlfriend, but as his friend. They were CHILDHOOD FRIENDS and she just sort of....let him treat her like that. I also understand that Ayumi had a whole bunch of stuff going on in her life. Switching bodies could not have been low on her list of priorities. But I really just need to see a time when she looks him dead in the face and asks him why. Why he said he only cared about her face. How he could stand there next to someone who ripped the two of them apart. How he could care less about the way she was feeling. Even if he only lied again, I wanted her to stand up for herself. Just a little bit. I can think of several occasions where she had the opportunity. And maybe she just didn’t want to hear the answer, or really believed in him because she knew him that well. I don’t know. I’m just upset that she didn’t blow up on him a little bit (also, just imagine that Kamichan has to be stoic and passionate in that scene and you’ll wish you could watch it too). Honestly, I still would have gone after him even learning the truth behind his actions. He hurt her feelings, and he should be told that (I know he knows that already, I’m just saying that more words could have been said). So, the point: The ending. I think Koshiro could earn her (in my eyes) if we saw something more than a montage of Koshiro-behind-the-scenes that expressed his guilt.

And truthfully, I am still ok with the fact that Ayumi didn’t choose Kaga. She really just wasn’t in love with him. She loved him. But platonic love does not a relationship make. I desperately wish that Ayumi’s heart could have changed, but it was enough for me that she was willing to give up on Koshiro just to spare Kaga’s feelings. I’ll keep telling myself that until someone loves him back.

Changes this show has made in my life

That sounds really fucking corny, but I’m not kidding you when I say that after watching this show my life was altered. It was the very first Asian drama I watched, and honestly it was a very good thing that I waited until I was older to start on this journey. My personality is kind of obsessive when it comes to bands or television shows, and I was WORSE in my teenage years. I’ll just keep reiterating that hey, at least it’s not drugs. Since my first dive into Switched, I have:

- Started painting again. I used to love art and making drawings. I don’t really remember why or when I stopped doing it, but it was almost a constant. Art supplies for birthdays and Christmas presents, my room covered with all of my artwork, handmade birthdays cards given out to EVERYONE. I knew I was never very good, but I loved doing it. And Switched gave that back to me.

- Started learning Japanese. You see guys, you give me an Asian show and I just drop everything to learn a new language. Why am I like this? Oh right, I’m obsessive and need to better understand things that I love so that I can love it harder. Ugh. I hate how much effort I put into things. But really, I can’t help but put in the effort. I bought books and practice daily. I write diary entries in Japanese in a notebook. I highlight. I have apps that I use on the go. During lulls at work, I practice writing the hiragana. I repeat phrases in my head ALL. DAY. EVERY. DAY. because they get stuck in my brain like a loop. I make my friends make quizzes for me. i pester the internet people with questions about certain words. I have a problem. But I do it because one day I could watch the show without subtitles. Or hear a Johnny’s West song and know what it’s about without asking for a translation.

- Made an internet friend! I was always taught that the internet is a really scary place where no one should be trusted. And I still feel that way. NEVER GIVE OUT PERSONAL INFORMATION ON THE INTERNET (had to get my PSA out of the way). But my experience with my internet friend has been so so different from many other experiences. She first reached out to me after she read my review about Switched a year ago. Her sister had found it and told her about it. When she read it, she told me that it was nice to find someone who loved the show with the amount of passion I expressed. She also offered me a genuine gift: Johnny’s West. It was maybe a couple days after I had posted the review when she reached out, and at that point I had given up on the band. I wanted to know them, because Shige and Kamichan were my babies from Switched, and I’d seen all seven of them in Blazing Transfer Students (sidenote: if you want to laugh until you cry or pee yourself, watch that show- it’s a hot mess of hilarity). But it is damn near impossible to find their music anywhere. That makes sense, because it’s America, and they don’t have the access to Japanese music the way that Japan does. But I couldn’t find music videos, or songs ANYWHERE. Youtube has some clips of live performances, but live performances are not for Abby’s unless the music has already been listened to. I had been doing the deep internet searches for a little over a week and come up empty-handed. And I wasn’t about to drop over $50 to ship an album from Japan to me without having heard them first to know if I actually liked their music. So my internet friend sent me the entire discography. My mind was blown. Music is no joke to me - it is and always has been the source of my happiness. To just share it like that for nothing in return was a fantastic gift. And she didn’t just stop there. I wanted more (to fuel my obsession, of course), and she delivered. Music videos, behind the scenes of music videos, television shows they’ve appeared in, concert dvds, interviews, skits, radio shows, news, pictures, blog entries, EVERYTHING. She was like an angel from above. But beyond what she’s given me in Johnny’s West, she’s just an amazing person. She is kind and generous, and funny. We can talk about anything from work to periods to bands to religion. I really never thought someone from the internet could be such an important person in my life, but I love her as much as any of my friends that live close to me. If you read this, let me tell you how much I love you for the millionth time!

- Started listening to Johnny’s West. Maybe that doesn’t seem like such a big deal. People find bands from TV shows all the time. But I always HATED music that was in other languages. In my head, if I couldn’t understand what they were saying and tried to sing along I might say something offensive or vulgar without knowing it. And even though I sing that kind of stuff in English, doing it in a language where you don’t know you’re doing it feels wrong to me. I still feel that way a little bit, but it helps that I’m learning Japanese. Johnny’s West also makes all the difference though. My love for these 7 boys is unreal. Akin to how I feel about Kaga, and if you’ve come down to this part of the post or have read my other review, you KNOW how I feel about Kaga. They make me feel so good about myself. I don’t even know how they do it. They say or do things that fill me up with such a warmth - it makes me feel like I can accomplish things, because I have their strength with me. I go without listening to them for a time, and my body just kind of aches to have them back. I had a similar feeling with One Direction back in my teens, but the extent is VASTLY different. In this past year, I’ve probably gone only a handful of days without listening to them. For me to choose one band, every day, for an entire year is very very very not like me. I have more than 200 CD’s that I consider my children; that I protect more sacredly than anything else I own. But now I only choose any of those other bands when I’m on a road trip, or feeling a random day where I need them. I can’t seem to burn out on Johnny’s West, but all of my friends who ride with me are. I don’t even have a favorite member. Each and every one of these 7 men are so worthy of being a favorite that I have to love them all equally. Which should say something to you, because Shige played KAGA - one of the greatest fictional characters to ever exist! If he isn’t my favorite, that should tell you how wonderful the others are. I just can’t really fathom my life without them now. I hope and wish for all great things for them for the rest of their lives. Putting that into the internet will make it come true, won’t it?

That’s really all I have to say. Wow, it was shorter than last time, but it took so much longer to write. This show has made an impact on me that changed a lot about how I view the world. I just really really loved it. With my whole being, I adored it. Thank you to anyone who decided to read this much for something that really isn’t important in the grand scheme of things. I wrote it for me, but I appreciate anyone who enjoyed my words enough to waste their time on them. I hope you all have wonderful days!

ありがとうございます !!!!!!!

#switched #switched netflix #tomohiro kamiyama #kamiyama tomohiro #daiki shigeoka #shigeoka daiki #Miu Tomita #tomita miu #Kaya Kiyohara #kiyohara kaya #takahiro hamada #hamada takahiro #junta nakama #nakama junta #akito kiriyama #kiriyama akito #nozomu kotaki #kotaki nozomu #ryusei fujii #fujii ryusei #body switching #sora wo kakeru yodaka #Johnny's West #johnnys west #johnnys entertainment

[hellsparadiseessays]

Aza Brothers Week - Day 5

I released that essay on r/Jigokuraku back in early July, about one month after the infamous chapter 56 got out. It wasn’t a fun topic to tackle, so as a result I’m leaving the warning I put at the start of the essay before the cut. Because chapter 56 was not ok. Though keep in mind that I’m not mad at UG for it - quite the contrary, his intent is clearly not to make the chapter sexy. However, I heavily suspected the fandom to not find it as obvious because well, we have our own cultural issues. And considering how this essay has been received, and the stuff I noticed even in the Japanese side of the fandom... Well, this essay is in my opinion much needed to explain why chapter 56 is more brutal that it seems. It’s also a good follow-up on yesterday’s post, which stopped at chapter 55. 

Warning : This thread will contain references to rape, so if the topic is sensitive to you, I suggest you avoid reading it. This thread will contain spoilers for the most recent chapters as well, so read it once you’re up to date with the manga to avoid being spoiled and know what I am talking about.

Chapter 56 - A commentary on power and powerlessness

I have been keeping it to myself (and occasionally kinda raged about it on Discord join us) ever since chapter 56 was released, back in April. I’ll be honest with you, despite me joking with everybody else on Discord, that chapter really hit a personal chord and I had a hard time working on this commentary because of that. Let’s just say I regularly had to stop and come back to it a few days later, once I got my head cool again and my brain fully functional – I didn’t want my emotions to get in the way of the analysis.

Here we are now, ready to tackle a difficult topic: the borderline rape of Chôbe by Rien. And I say “borderline”, only because it was Chôbe who successfully did his Chôbe thing. He remains in a dangerous position, one I certainly don’t envy, and one that he himself strongly dislikes.

This commentary will be divided into three parts: firstly, the use of rape as a comedic device in mainstream media and how it trivialises a situation that, in fact, has dramatic consequences. Then, we’ll study Rien has a character through his past and present actions, to establish the nature of his interactions and the way he perceives himself. Finally, we’ll address Chôbe’s reactions while facing danger, and how he deals with his emotions.

I. Rape as a comedic tool

One of the many reasons why this chapter makes me uncomfortable is my personal fear for jokes made about that sort of situation. Why, you may rightfully ask? Because it is very much present in mainstream media, be it in Japan or in Western countries. Considering Reddit is mostly Western-oriented, I chose to pick a reference that focuses on rape in Western media to build my argument around, and I strongly suggest you to watch the video before you continue with this commentary. “Sexual assault of men played for laughs”, by Jonathan McIntosh from the Youtube channel Pop Culture Detective, thoroughly explores the issue through the lens of North American media, which have an area of influence that goes way beyond North America itself – especially with the massive worldwide use of internet. While not all the items of this video fit with the commentary at hand, it nonetheless points out an especially interesting argument: the man who failed to be a man – the one perceived as in control of the situation -, is subjected to various mockeries because it’s fair after all, he wasn’t really being a man when it happened, so he failed as a person.

I think we could even see this issue as a double insult to both men and women with that issue: 1) women can’t be in control because it’s not their role, 2) men who aren’t in control are perceived as emasculated, and thus the jeering is entirely justified because how dare they consider themselves men, right? Basically, this sort of joke is based on a perception of power and who is supposed to hold it. And power is what sexual assault is about. It’s not about lust or provocation. Sexual assault is the act of abusing your power over someone else to the point of robbing them of even their intimacy. This is something that tends to break people, or at least seriously damage them. Yet, this loss of power is something that remains mocked or silenced. And while women are starting to speak up, it’s still rare to see men open up about it. In Jonathan McIntosh’s video, the example of Terry Crew in reaction to the Harvey Weinstein affair and the following #Metoo movement is telling: losing power (what is perceived as such), especially as a man, is still treated in a demeaning manner that should only be mocked or ignored, not as something serious that can affect the victim for years and have a negative effect on their life in general.

Sexual assault of men as comedy is destructive, yet still awfully present in the series and movies we watch – even kids’ shows. Yes, you read it well. Kids’ shows. It gives a certain inclination to joke about rape – especially when it happens to men -, by internalising the issue and not realising how demeaning it actually is. It’s even visible in the most mainstream manga and anime (Naruto’s 1000 years of pain, anyone?) and we’ll play a little game about that: in your comment, I invite you to point out sexual assault as a joke in a manga/anime you know (and maybe enjoy). Keep in mind that I’m not doing that to slam the creations or their authors, it’s just to point out how surprisingly common it can be. I also wish to point out that, in chapter 56 of Jigokuraku, UG didn’t go that way at all. On the contrary, he made it clear that Chôbe was in danger and painfully aware of it throughout the chapter, while Rien... Was being Rien, with his own perception of who he is and the power he holds.

II. Rien: the perception of power

Now that we’ve established the basis about the way sexual assault with men as victims is perceived (especially in the West, a point of view vastly predominant on Reddit), we can start digging on Rien’s case of A God I Am.

As soon as Rien gets his first appearance (chapter 26), his status is made clear: among the boss level characters we’ve seen so far (Ju Fa, Tao Fa, Zhu Jin), he is one cut above and presents himself as the uncontested leader, the patriarch of a family who rules and serves punishment when he deems it necessary. From his point of view, he’s the head of the Tensen family as well as (potentially, it depends on Jofuku being alive of not), the ruler of the island – or the head scientist of the giant laboratory that is Kotaku. It means that Rien isn’t just the most powerful being on the island (though the notion of power can be discussed there, considering the power system used by UG), he also perceives himself as such and demonstrates it with an iron hand: the way he treated Mei before she escaped is good enough as a proof.

Behind his position as the head scientist, he shows a ruthless cruelty and a readiness to not even consider other people as persons. Mei herself, suggested as being one of the first successful experiments by Jofuku – and thus being “family” to Rien -, gets banished, mutilated and used as a living experiment material for the very thing she dared openly call out (the massive use of humans for experimentations). Rien even openly states, in chapter 26, that he’s the only one with the right to punish family members when Ju Fa injures an already weakened Zhu Jin. It gives us an idea of what Rien may mean by “punishment”. Go against his will: die or become an experiment. Disobey him: get severely injured if you’re part of the Tensen family, I heavily suspect death may be the sentence when you don’t have that luxury – and so does Chôbe. Until now, Rien has thus been shown as having a general behaviour that could be qualified of sociopathic: being indifferent towards others to the point of not seeing them as people, dehumanising anybody, using the “we’re family” or “I’ll tell you everything” tactic to try and keep people on his side. Interestingly, between him and Mei, he’s the one who has spend the most time with the other Tensen, and it is visible in their behaviour as well: they show similar sociopathic traits (Mu Dan’s experiments he seemed to find most amusing, Ju Fa qualifying Chôbe of “it” and “livestock”...).

However, no matter how godly Rien thinks he is, he remains surprisingly human and this has been shown to us through the point of view of his latest victim, who managed to do what, I suspect, no other character in the story would have been able to pull off without seriously getting in trouble for it (meaning: die immediately): he momentarily reversed the power dynamic to save his skin for at least a moment.

III. Chôbe’s status as a victim and how he handles it

Since the start, I’ve been claiming left and right that Chôbe is probably too smart for his own good, but it’s not just that. It’s an accumulation of everything that happened to him and his brother. Chôbe is very intimate with the notion of powerlessness. He’s been living it repeatedly since he’s a kid, slowly losing his place in society until he became an outcast. As a consequence, the way he thinks isn’t based on honour or revenge: it’s about survival, first and foremost.

The first time we see him go full survival mode is when he and Toma momentarily run away from the Sôshin that are outnumbering them, to find a better position to fight. In that chapter (chapter 9), we witness another way to survive that is very much Chôbe’s own method – no other character has done it, not even Toma -: instead of resisting a power stronger than his own, he integrates himself into the equation by mirroring the person who’s displaying power over him. By doing so, he creates an impression of kinship he can exploit to his advantage. As a kid, he mutilated himself to the point of losing sight in his right eye and being seriously scarred to “pretty himself up” by looking more like the bandits who were planning to harm Toma and sell them both. Doing so created a strong impression in their captors’ mind, and Chôbe used that impression to claim a place among the bandits – a first step towards claiming his power as an individual capable of thoughts and choices back. By integrating himself like that, he managed to become the leader of the pack, the chief of an entire village of bandits, causing so much trouble it warranted death penalty for him.

This method of mirroring the person holding power over him is visible again during the entirety of chapter 56. This chapter starts with Chôbe being captive, literally tied to a bed and clearly uncomfortable for many reasons: he’s been beaten to the point of passing out after having been treated like a wonderful unicorn (not a person), wakes up in an unknown place, tied to a bed in a peculiar position. By that point, Rien already marked a lot of Creep Points, and Chôbe has a lot of reasons to find the situation disagreeable. But it’s not enough, and Chôbe ends up facing actual blackmail: cooperate or become Tan (which is pretty much like dying, but worse: your life force is sucked out of you while you’re in a fake wonderland. Chôbe had a taste of it and saw what it looked like while he was in the Tan pit, both him and Toma weren’t enthusiastic about the situation and quickly got out of the pit). During the entire chapter, Chôbe weighs his options and stalls time by asking questions and gather more information on his situation to pick the best option to stay alive. It’s a daring move, to do that while facing the local godly being, but Chôbe isn’t stupid and understands having the choice of cooperating means he has value somehow. And to squeeze all the information he needs from Rien, to better weight his option and understand what’s going on on this unnatural island (he realised it’s unnatural in chapter 54), he does what we’ve already seen him do in the aforementioned bandits’ village flashback: he mirrors the one having power over him to gain some agency back through deception.

That’s where something we’ve seen him do a lot happens: he smiles. Mind you, it’s not a genuine smile. Chôbe isn’t really a smiling person, we’ve seen that everytime we’ve got even the smallest hints regarding his true feelings. However, Chôbe uses his mask as a tool for deception and picked this habit as a kid: a grin to the bandits even though his face was heavily injured to convince them of keeping him and his brother, a grin when he steels himself while facing the Sôshin, a smile when he tries to deceive Gabimaru before suddenly attacking him. It’s the vicious, weaponised grin of someone who figured out what to do and where to go, while keeping others’ attention down. He even smiles while sweating when he is nervous, at the end of chapter 55, because he has no idea what’s going on but somehow he’s tied to a bed and someone one-sidedly decided to have sex with him (yes, in case you hadn’t noticed, Rien didn’t care about his consent, because Rien doesn’t see him as a person). However, during chapter 56, we slowly see him integrates himself in the equation again by imitating Rien’s moves to numb his wariness under the guise of complying with the cooperation request. His actions mismatch his thoughts exactly for that purpose: his first thought is about a way to escape, but he realises it may be too dangerous for him. So he renounces - for now - to by himself some time and repeats his mantra, to adapt and figure things out, and gives Rien what he wants because it’s the only viable option for survival.

Since then, qualifying his attitude towards the Tensen of “bad faith” could be an understatement. He may be willing to concede certain things under the threat of death, but he will still have the guts to stand his ground, even while facing a whole group of people who could kill him – and openly threaten to do so. It takes a certain kind of madness to do that sort of thing, and oh, it’s exactly what the bandits said about him when he purposefully injured himself just to prove a point. Chôbe is too smart for his own good, but he still manages to get his agency back when it’s stolen from him, and that’s what makes him incredibly dangerous, even for the Tensen. Even in real life, it takes a certain kind of character to pull that sort of thing off. Still, despite all of his wrong, what happened to Chôbe during his childhood as well as chapter 56 qualifies him as a victim, and UG handled it incredibly well, making it tragic (if not outright nerves wracking, at least in my case) instead of using it as a comedic tool. Thank you for that, UG.

This commentary took me about... At least 10 days just to be worked on, despite the very small amount of references needed for it.

Without giving away too much information, I empathise strongly with Chôbe’s predicament and generally find him very relatable, at a personal level. His tactics are easy to recognise not just because they’ve been made fairly clear by UG, but also because there’s a pattern I know all too well in them. So yeah, that commentary tackled some difficult topics for me, and I had trouble keeping a cool head while writing it. It was a difficult birth, chapter 56 still makes my skin crawl. However, I hope you found this write up informative or entertaining. Don’t hesitate to share your thoughts, answer my little challenge (an example of sexual assault played for laugh in a manga/anime you know), ask questions, scold me for yet another Chôbe rant...

#jigokuraku #hell's paradise #chôbe #rien #tensen #chapter 56 #tw: rape #omg please UG give our beloved bros a break #can Chôbe have a nice day once in his life? #his life really is a series of misfortunes #poor murder bae #essay #my stuff

[thisrocksandwhy]

The Beginner’s Guide: Can I write the same thing twice?

Recently I watched Ian Danskin’s video essay on The Beginner’s Guide called “The Artist is Absent.” In it, he uses (and flawlessly explains) theories of art, language, and storytelling such as semiotics, death of the author, and enunciation theory to propose his reading of the game. Danskin suggests that the game is warning us not to mistake The Beginner’s Guide’s author for its narrator. In other words, a work of fiction should not give a reader the sense that they now know about the person who wrote it; they only know about the work itself. And I agree with this reading wholeheartedly. However, I still stand by my analysis of the game, that Davey the Narrator represents an ego that constantly criticizes the self while Coda stands for the artist’s persona that is challenged by societal norms, audience expectations, and even their own ego’s chatter. So, to reconcile the two, I’d like to make some amendments to my past article.

But first, rather than simply editing the post, I’d like to discuss whether I have a right to change it, since this idea is thematically relevant to both the game and Danskin’s video essay.

To illustrate the concept of authorial intention, Danskin asks if The Sopranos’s creator David Chase should retroactively be able to determine that Tony dies at the end of the show. Danskin’s answer to his thought experiment: “Fuck this guy!” If Chase wanted to explicitly convey this in the first place, he should have put something in the show to indicate it rather than the vague ending he did write. Full disclosure, I haven’t seen the ending of The Sopranos, but we don’t need to have seen it to get the concept. Stories are meant to be interpreted by their audiences, and authorial intention doesn’t have to be considered. People can come to conclusions just from the evidence in the text. However, historical and cultural context along with author biography are incredibly useful tools for analysis, so a text’s readings don’t always have to be isolated to the text either. This is a more complicated question of art theory that I’m not going to try to argue. I’m simply presenting the reader’s (assumedly your) perspective on this question of whether I can change my article. According to this train of thought, I could say what I now believe and would like to change, but you don’t have to consider it relevant and should judge my previous work as it was originally presented. Fuck me, right?

Now, if I were to use The Beginner’s Guide as my guide on this issue, I think the game would support an antithetical position. For interpreting and even changing his games, Coda says to Davey the narrator “Fuck this guy!” (my paraphrasing). The Beginner’s Guide questions the role of the audience in interpreting art and the artist’s responsibility to its audience. Art is usually thought of as something that is seen, something that gains value once an artist lets an audience see it. However, I suggest that art that is unseen by the public can still be valuable, specifically for the artist. Put simply, art is expression, and personal expression can be valuable without anyone to hear what was said. Coda makes games just to make them. But do I write essays just to write them? In some sense, I write these for others to read them, to express my thoughts to others and test their credibility and clarity. However, these essays are most valuable to me; I get to conjure up concepts and realize them on the page through language. I get to look back on these records of my thoughts and see how I have changed since I wrote them. These words are much more valuable to me, since I know exactly what they mean while readers will only ever get close to understanding – that’s not a knock on you, that’s simply the nature of language (Danskin simply and elegantly explains this concept as well in his essay). The Beginner’s Guide offers a similar view, that art can be valuable without ever considering its accessibility or an audience’s enjoyment of it. Here lies another complicated issue of art theory which I will not firmly debate, merely present a school of thought on the matter. With this concept in mind, though, I do have every right to improve my work so that I may more thoroughly enjoy it, and I shouldn’t have to consider you readers when I change it. Fuck you, right?

Hey by the way, I just wrote all of that, and now I’m realizing I don’t actually want to change anything. I brought up the whole “I don’t know Davey Wreden” thing in the article too (and in the title; I feel dumb).

Hi, Will here. That last bit may have come out of nowhere. Let me explain. I wrote all that at around midnight on October 2, 2016, and I’m currently reading it all again on May 30, 2019. This is gonna get meta. I’m now responding to an article I wrote about responding to an article I wrote about responding to a game (about a guy responding to a game designer). This act of responding is what I wanna talk about.

This article means something completely different to me now than it did when I started writing it. I’ve been thinking about how people reinterpret art as we gain new life experience, and how we engage in conversation not only when we create art but when we analyze it. I’m thinking about this more especially as I’m getting older, like when movies from my childhood feel very different because I’m reading into aspects I had never seen before.

Danskin’s video essay has, funnily enough, guided my thinking on this topic. His video has taught me about the audience’s role in giving art meaning and how subjective that meaning really is. Since I wrote the first half of this, I’ve rewatched that essay every few months, because it explains ideas that are fundamental to my current understanding of art. Please watch it. Really, I don’t care if you read the rest of this, it’s more important that you watch this video. Watch it. Now.

So what is my article about? What does it mean to me now? It’s about the endless conversation good art can start between artwork and audience. If a work is complicated enough and speaks to a person’s experiences on a deep, profound level, that work can be interpreted an infinite amount of different ways. And each way can be just as important and meaningful to a person. On top of that, the responses to that art can be equally valuable. Maybe this response to myself is a bit self-indulgent, but I do think it illustrates my point. I look at The Beginner’s Guide differently now because of how I’ve reconsidered it.

This piece is also about a writer who constantly rethinks his work. He’s trying to improve his thoughts and compare them to essays and thinkers that he admires. This becomes a cycle of read, analyze, respond, repeat. I’m constantly re-reading what I’ve written and checking whether I still agree with myself. In this way I aim to improve my skills in presenting a position and convincing someone of its substance.

This process exemplifies the dialectic mode: thesis (presenting a thought) -> antithesis (questioning a thought) -> synthesis (a greater understanding of the thought and the next starting point, literally the “new thesis”). This process supposedly progresses humanity’s collective intellect, as if all thought moves us towards an end goal of “the truth.” I don’t agree with this idealistic notion of truth, because to believe that is to dismiss the subjective nature of individual interpretation like I was saying before. But I do think that my understanding has evolved since I wrote the first half of this, and it’s fun to enter my previous mind and see how I’ve grown since then.

Now, I do want to answer the question I asked at the beginning of this all: Should I or should I not edit my original post?

Right now, I say no.

All art is influenced by its moment in time as well as an author’s beliefs and experiences. That author can be one person or a collaboration of personalities, all contributing to a combined philosophy which comes across as one message to the audience. John Green once said in an interview that “Writing is always an attempt at radical empathy.” I’m gonna reference this in another article (coming soon), because this thought has defined the value I find in art. Even if just for me, this article can take me back to the moment I wrote it. And that is valuable.

So Will, next time you read this finished post, think about me, sitting in the corner of my mom’s living room, at the table you made into a gaming corner, having a kinda depressed day because I couldn’t get myself to do anything, until I starting looking through my folder of old “This Rocks” docs, and I was hit with a wave of inspiration to write this. Remember this feeling. Remember, things aren’t always as bad in your head as they are when you’re sad. Things get better. Just give it some time, and when you feel you can do something else, do it. It’s better to move on than wallow in the muck of a slow, disappointing day.

And to you, the reader that is not me, thanks for indulging me. I know this piece is really only for me. But if you learned something from this, or maybe had an issue with how I explained something, or thought about your own work or experience, or maybe you even enjoyed being in my head for a few moments as you read this, then you’ve engaged with these words, I’ve done my job, and art prevails once more.

Art is dead, long live art!

#art #davey wreden #the beginner's guide #games #videogames #video games #review #critic #crticism #analysis #writing #blogger #blog #film theory #the stanley parable #the sopranos #personal #article #movie #film #film school #innuendo studios

[elizabethrobertajones]

Hi Lizzy, I'm new to the SPN fandom and saw a bunch of bibros making fun of meta writers. As a lowkey Destiel shipper it still pissed me off. I'm wondering- who are your fav meta writers to read?

Pfft, it’s practically a badge of honour that THEY are pissed off by the meta. Interpretation worries them because as soon as you get into the what they’d see as hippie dippy “all readings are valid uwu” part of literary theory, you’ve made an attempt to level the playing field with them and they don’t wanna be on it with us, they want to have the one sacred and true reading of the show to which all roads lead etc etc. Actually buying into the idea you can interpret the show and come up with multiple readings or that the text would DARE support another version (even the interpretation that Sam and Dean aren’t soulmates or something ship-free that gets in the way indirectly - or an argument they are soulmates but that’s basically just the show’s way of conveying Heaven is somehow worse than Hell for them :P) immediately is a threat to the idea of a cast iron version of the show that’s the one they latched onto. 

Strange world where “reading into things” is an insult instead of a sign of healthy curiosity and a desire to learn and understand. And I see people who literally mind their own corner or would agree in spirit with their interpretation as long as you CALL it that and leave others be to have a different one, get dogpiled by them for daring to treat the show as a flexible and multi-layered, analyse-able thing…

Ah well. 

Kinda missing out on the yearly punch up in the parking lot round the back of the fandom right now, tbh, since I’ve been AWOL with hanging around with family and friends stuff. Kinda not missing it. :P Welcome to the fandom, it can get pretty messy, and some of us here just wanna watch the show and ask silly questions to everyone about how many burgers Dean’s eaten on screen recently or whatever important character analysis nonsense is bothering us today.

To which end! :D 

No matter how long you have followed me, even if it’s like a day or 2, you must have noticed my queue endlessly spitting out @mittensmorgul‘s full-show rewatch along with the TNT loop, all out of order and a week late because that’s how I roll. Mittens is a great meta writer to read because everything she writes is fun and the kind of hectic idea hopping my brain glues with..

Everything @awed-frog writes is similarly enjoyable to read in that style but longer and more poetic and dark, and very insightful. (You might be able to tell I’m mentioning the meta writers I reblogged stuff from today while waiting for my long term memory to contribute anything)… Linking their ask tag for starters because idk how to find other long meta at short notice :P

Actually while I’m thinking about rewatches, I’ve always enjoyed @dustydreamsanddirtyscars‘s dramatic, purple prose essay approach to meta and flawless blog presentation… Sadly Jenny’s not enjoying season 12 very much with the change in style from the weird dark symbolism of Carver era, to the sort of fractals upon fractals of weird little emotional references and do-overs this year when Dabb gets to do his thing on a whole season, but if you want Carver era weird dark symbolism, I’ve been really enjoying where she has been lurking in Carver era, meta-ing her way through it. 

(I just generally dig reading re-watches, especially because all that hindsight is paying off so much now because for Dabb era if we’re going to meta it we NEED hindsight and reminders and the TNT loop playing in the background showing us just how layered and self-referential the show has become (and what it’s doing differently, and how much the characters have grown and changed, which, I think, is the point now) - anyway if you’re doing a rewatch, I LOVE to read posts about old episodes, especially the weird old MotW and really early seasons stuff no one seems to talk about much any more)

There’s a LOT of great meta writers out there and after every episode I try to find and reblog the long reaction notes, if they’re done it, from @dorkilysoulless @grey2510 @kayanem @bluestar86 (and awed frog again). @charlie-minion has been busy this season with other stuff as far as I know with a few more infrequent visits, but I know she has a page with every meta she wrote on it and generally wrote a great post per episode for a good chunk of the time I was in fandom, and still drops by fairly regularly despite a smaller presence. @thevioletcaptain also is great and has an episode reaction for most episodes (though again has been busy with IRL stuff for a few weeks/months/I have no concept of time but she hasn’t posted anything for the recent episodes as far as I’ve seen >.>) and also a page with her meta on it that when I was brand new to the fandom I had permanently open in another tab to cross-reference while I re-watched the show :P

(A lot of my favourite meta writers I imprinted on like a duckling when I was new and remember them really well but of course I love all the new people around here but my actual useful visual memories are all the fandom circa season 9 and not all around any more much, because my brain has been stewing in migraines and fatigue since, like, the middle of season 10, and my new approach is to wearily trudge through my dash barely checking who wrote what unless I have to deal with minuscule fonts on a read more, so I’m afraid my memory of active bloggers is totally rubbish and it’s best just to look at my awesome meta tag and see who I’ve been reblogging a lot lately and some really grevious oversights in people I will smack my head for not mentioning if you bring it up, but your question was phrased in such a way I went straight for who do I ENJOY reading not quick gimme a useful list with no explanation thing :P So uh, sorry if this is 100x longer than you expected :D)

#Asks #I'm really sorry newbies to the fandom have to see all the ugly stuff >.> #I really hope the impression from everyone else regardless of what we ship or do has been better than that

[imageryofinterest]

The Machine - An Essay

With today being the two year anniversary of If-Then-Else (wow, seriously, two years already?), I thought it might be a good time to make a post I’ve been considering making for a while now about one of my favourite characters of not just this show but all time, The Machine. I touched on it in my favourite episodes list, but with today marking the anniversary of one of The Machine’s best character analysis episodes, and having rewatched return 0 last night and spending more time thinking about her, I feel like expanding on all that.

Person of Interest has always done a fantastic job at subtle character development. Even the characters I think with the biggest differences from start to finish, their arcs are handled seamlessly. And perhaps the most subtle arc of all is The Machine. You can very clearly see her character throughout the series, but the show really builds on it through details that require a closer look at things. The best example of this, I feel, is The Machine and gender identity, which I’m surprised doesn’t get talked about more since I think it’s a really interesting idea. 

The first time The Machine is referred to as ‘she’ is in Liberty by Root. At first, like I think most people (or at least everyone I’ve gotten to watch the series), I assumed Root had assigned that designation to her. Up until that point, Root had always referred to The Machine as ‘it’, like everyone else, but it’s only once TM starts talking to her, and after she isn’t deleted at the end of every day and is able to maintain her own identity that she starts referring to her as ‘she’. When we get to If-Then-Else, we see The Machine running simulations, and while Finch is working on the generator, he refers to The Machine as ‘she’. Up until BSOD though, Finch only ever refers to TM as ‘it’, so there’s no reason for The Machine to predict he’d suddenly start properly calling her that. The only explanation for that moment is that it’s how The Machine wishes to be called by her father, and doesn’t like being called ‘it’. By Asylum, the Thornhill identity is being referred to as ‘she’ as well, compared to the male alias that appeared in Zero Day before TM could really form her own identity for an extended period of time. While this example may be a case of Shaw associating The Machine with Root, once Shaw starts talking to her, she refers to TM by her/she pronouns as well. Either way, I think the rest lends itself to The Machine self-identifying. There are a lot of AIs in fiction, a lot of ones coded as male or female or gender neutral, but I can’t think of any others where the AI identifies on it’s own without being programmed towards one.

Her dynamic with most of the team are fantastically done. I’ve always loved how she helped Reese in 4C and Root in / by giving them what they needed to grow as people, even if they didn’t know it at the time. Root was lost, until she found purpose in The Machine at the end of God Mode, and began doing the right thing. But she did the right thing because TM told her to, not because she understood. But in /, The Machine sends Root off on her mission that makes her understand the effects of her bad actions, that makes her understand why they do what they do. We see in the pilot what Reese becomes after someone he cares about deeply dies, and we can kinda see him slipping back into that after Carter died. But The Machine recognized this and sent Reese what he needed, a number to make him remember why he did what he did, why it matters, and that he liked saving people. She made him at one of his lowest points feel useful again.

The care for every one of them is palpable, even before she has a voice starting in The Day The World Went Away. It’s all right in the flashback in The Contingency when The Machine saves Finch from being hit by a drunk driver, a scene that informs a whole lot about The Machine’s character through nothing more than a text message. But today’s the anniversary of the episode I think it’s perhaps best portrayed in, If-Then-Else. Right through the simulations, we’re reminded what The Machine’s priority is. Not saving the stock market and it’s massive effects, but saving her assets. Root’s reaction to Shaw’s sacrifice is heartbreaking, but also devastating to witness is how The Machine desperately tries to find a way to save her even when there’s no way to. The options keep rolling, even when “No Valid Options” flashes, still trying to even though she’s admitted it’s over. It’s part of something I’ll continue to talk about later, but there’s no face needed. No voice. No body language. No...typical human ways of communicating emotion, and yet the heartbreak The Machine is feeling is palpable on screen.

And speaking of heartbreak from The Machine, there’s the scene in YHWH where she talks to Finch. Just some text on a screen, and yet there’s so much emotion in it. I think it really does a great job at showing just how much Finch’s approval meant to her, and retroactively makes how he treated her once she became free really sad, unwilling to see what she was and causing her to think she maybe should just die as a result. 

Something the series strikes a remarkable balance with is making the Machine feel like a person, without humanizing her. She’s distinctly an artificial super intelligence, not a human, but she still feels like a person and has a personality to her. Like the bit where Fusco kisses Root in the simulation feels like her equivalent of someone laughing nervously in a dangerous situation. The talks throughout the last few episodes really drive this point home. I mentioned earlier, and will come back to, how well the show manages to convey all this personality and character without short hands like a voice or a face, but of course she does have a voice in those episodes. I feel like the show really earned it by this point, but also those talks all served to reinforce that The Machine is very much a person, but not a human, nor should she need to be. The speeches she gives about how she feels grief, how she perceives death, it’s fascinating material and brings a lot to an already really fleshed out character. It’s why I like the decision to give her a voice towards the end, it allows for some possibilities the lack of it, as much as I loved that, wouldn’t have been able to accomplish quite the same way. And if anyone were to play The Machine, Amy Acker is the only pick in my mind.

Out of all the takes on AI out there, there’s a reason The Machine (and Samaritan but TM is the big one) on Person of Interest is my all time favourite. How they communicate her emotions and personality. Most takes on AI rely on very human forms of getting these across. Voice and tone. Expressions. Body language. But The Machine has none of this, and yet they manage to still create a full formed character. If-Then-Else really is the best episode of this, as it gets us inside her mind in such an engaging and well done way, visually showing us how she thinks and perceives time, as well as all the little touches within her simulations that reveal personifying aspects of her character. There’s a lot more that could be said about how well done this character is, barely scratching the surface here, but I think this gets some of the most important aspects.

Might do this for the rest of the cast over time, would people be interested in that?

#Person of Interest #The Machine #characteranalysis #poiwriting