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katatonicimpression · 2 months

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So, this web series has so far been one long storyline by Derek Landy (now, officially on the shit list), with a few different artists: Marcio Fiorito, Phillip Sevy & Davide Tinto. The colourists were Erick Arciniega at first, and then Fer Sifuentes-Sujo took over. The final chunk of this series is essentially alternating between Fiorito and Tinto.

So, lets talk about the art first.

You would not have guessed that the colourist was the same each week, given how Fiorito's Wanda looked a helluva lot whiter than Tinto's.

Honestly Fiorito's art was just not great. Sorry but it had a lot of pretty rough moments:

Although a few nicer bits here and there. I liked this Sam, for example:

Honestly it feels like it was produced under rushed circumstances.

I actually made an edit of Sevy's Wanda, and yeah I think he did better than the other two.

But, by far the funniest part of the whole thing is how Fiorito would draw Sam clean shaven (which is, imo, correct for 616 Sam) and Tinto would draw him with a beard. And not even a good beard. So, Sam would be starting a conversation with no beard and ending it with one. Staggering. How does this happen? I'd like to imagine that both artists knew this was a thing but were each too stubborn to change.

The Plot:

I don't care it was fine whatever. Purple space aliens.

The Sam:

Early on in this saga, Sam gets the shit beaten out of him by one of the extra tough aliens (a Fear Teacher). This goes on for a really long time. Seriously, you're just scrolling and scrolling for pages watching him get brutalised.

Now, this is pretty bad. In general, I actually have a fairly high tolerance for violence in fiction, and, in general, I am often the one saying (or at least thinking) "stop complaining about bad things happening to characters you like. it's part of the story, it will lead somewhere" so hopefully it's clear that when I say this felt like too much, I really do mean something by it. The proportion of the comic taken up with this was way too high, even if it had paid off in some narrative way.

It didn't, though.

Both during the beatdown and a few times in the subsequent issues, we get dialogue about how Sam is a less formidable fighter than the other avengers. How he's just some guy and doesn't stack up to them. How he and t'challa can't breathe in space (and, like, neither can Tony but go off). It feels very deliberate and honestly kind of tiring, but you would think it was leading to something, right?

Why put this extensive beat down and all this dialogue about Sam's supposed inferiority into the comic if you're not building to something?

The obvious thing to think here is that this story is set in 616, so Sam is absolutely not just some human dude with no powers. He has telepathic powers. He is very much a special little guy. So, you might think that this was how this was going to pay off. That he'd use his abilities in some unexpected way, showing his worth even if he doesn't shoot lasers.

That doesn't happen, though. I don't think Landy knows that Sam isn't human.

The other option, and what I think (very charitably) Landy was trying to do, was show Sam being Mr Diplomat, and talking to the aliens and that's how he's useful. He gets healed in a magical space healing tube for a bit, then is the main guy who talks to the aliens throughout. There are two problems with this.

The first problem is that Landy's Sam just feels like Steve. And not even a good Steve, like, a very bland version of Steve. Sam's personality is not present when he's talking to the aliens. He's all "sir" and "ma'am" and this very formal "military guy being diplomatic" thing, and that is not 616 Sam. He's a talker, yes. He's empathetic and willing to hear people out, but he's not a soldier, he's not a politician or a diplomat or anything like that. And he's funnier, more brazen. He'd be willing to insult the aliens on purpose, is my point. Landy is hardly the first writer to deliver the blandest possible mischaracterisation of Sam, but it's annoying every time and I think we tolerate it too much.

The second problem, is that Landy does not seem willing to commit to actually having Sam succeed. Sam's job is to be the guy who talks politics to the aliens. Unless it's an important moment or a cool, righteous hero line, then Carol has to say it.

Seriously, that's what happens. Sam's function is to provide exposition, and to vaguely endanger himself in ways that have no consequence. Then, he steps aside to let Carol deliver any and all important dialogue including righteous political shit that surely, surely, you would give to the literal captain america character? No?

So, if the intent was to resolve this by saying Sam adds value through his "talking to people about politics and idealism" skills, then that intention never made it to the final page.

No, what we get is a story that emphasises how much the writer thinks Sam is useless and is worse than everyone else. He just says it over and over again and has an alien beat the shit out of him.

Right at the end of the penultimate issue, Sam comes face to face with a Fear Teacher (I believe the same one who nearly killed him). You would have thought that this would prompt a second fight between them, this time Sam wins, showing that he is, in fact, an impressive super hero in his own right. But no. Instead, in the final issue we cut to Sam already fleeing down a corridor away from the guy.

You guys I'm so mad about this and it's literally just a dumb online mini comic wtf

#salt #like #just so much salt #i should probably delete this #too much sodium is bad for your heart #sam wilson

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sayruq · 2 years

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The ultimate main reason sayruq would never be able write anything near as great as ASOIAF of they tried.

As your mischaracterisation of Jaime, Robert and many others show; you cannot view anything unless it’s black or white: someone is apparently a solely villainous murderer and rapist or a perfectly good person who obeys by your morality. Can’t have any discussion about the fucked up and contrasting nature of humanity.

Rob is an asshole for not thinking as an emotional mother and as a general and king in a war, and placing the value of his enemy’s son and heir and their best fighter over two girls who can’t contribute to the war effort.

It’s funny how, for example, Jaime saying he’s catapult Edmure’s child into Riverrun, you take that at absolute face value with no hesitation when it’s clearly him using his reputation as Tywin’s heir to scare the fuck out of Edmure to stop the storming of the castle and therefore saving everyone’s life - Tullys and Lannisters - but as always, you see and hear what you want to see while discarding everything else. The sayruq school of analysis. (He’s still a “bad guy” for upholding the tyrannical Lannister regime, grow up, the whole monarchic system is tyrannical)

When any Dornish or POC character does something heinous, there’s always some fucking excuse no matter what. The leeway you give to anyone you like is hilarious.

You don’t have to like Daeron the Young Dragon, but I don’t think you even consider the magnitude of killing him under a piece banner. Not only was it dishonest, it meant that nobody ever has a reason to keep their word when negotiating with the Dornish ever again.

To summarise, sayruq, you are one of the most poor bloggers of the books, with your self-righteousness and disregard for the writer himself.

Either respect his work as it is or stop bringing it up and find something more for your sensibilities (though you’d probably have nothing to bitch about)

let me get this straight, you think

leaving your sisters at the mercy of a group of monsters because you think they're not valuable enough for a hostage exchange is fine even though other families are willing to do whatever it took to get their relatives back?

a boy king can ravage a kingdom, letting his soldiers commit massacres and mass rapes but a line must drawn at the dornish taking an opportunity to kill their oppressor before he continues the second round of war crimes?

jaime lannister trying to emulate his father, thinking that he can't make threats unless he was willing to carry them out, thinking that if brynden tully doesn't surrender he'll have to attack riverrun and kill the people inside going against his oath to catelyn is some sort of... heroic act or at the very least, a morally neutral act? that we shouldn't take anything he says or does seriously? that we shouldn't consider that the only reason he didn't actually do all of that is because edmure took jaime's threats at face value (as he should)?

that the lannisters aren't particularly evil even by feudal standards? that the entire series isn't a criticism of the feudal system? that just because the entire system is broken, we should be ok with war crimes and abuse or a brother letting his sister(s) down because he value their esteem of his male subjects too much?

buddy, if there's an award for 'guy who gets the source material the least' you would be the sole finalist. grrm is against war, every single male character you mentioned engaged in war and in the worst aspects of the feudalist patriarchy. if i'm criticising them, it's because i'm meant to criticise them. believe it or not, these books aren't an empty wasteland without themes, commentary, or morals like you think they are.

i thought i had a particularly low estimation of grrm's works but here you are, proudly admitting that you not only don't understand what the books are trying to say, you think you're somehow superior to me because i think there should be critical analysis of the things characters say and do, esp if the fanbase chooses to brush over every mistake in favour of blaming someone else, using a female character- like catelyn or sansa- or a character of colour - like the dornish.

asoiaf dudebros are just an embarrassing breed. go read lotr and stop bothering the rest of us- there's hardly any characters of colour in there and the author doesn't spend as much time thinking about the plight of women in feudal kingdoms. you should be fine.

#Anonymous #anti asoiaf fandom #asoiaf critical #song of ice and fire

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unpopularly-opinionated · 5 years

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RE: My post earlier about the Ooblets Epic Games Exclusive backlash.

I’m not going to show the Twitter user, if you follow the indie game development scene on Twitter it’s likely you’ll recognize this tweet, either way that’s not who I am. The Ooblet’s account on the other hand is fair-game since it’s basically a product placement.

I feel it needs reiterating how utterly dense this kind of tweet is, and how completely skewed the narrative for this issue has gotten, so let me reiterate in obnoxiously large and emboldened font to try and get the point across:

THE GAMING COMMUNITY IS NOT TOXIC

“Honesty” and “transparency” are all well and good, but unless you’re honestly trying to drive away your own community, perhaps you should try being a little less honest and a little less transparent. No one (or I guess no one but this guy and the few who agree with him) is going to thank you for honestly throwing them under the proverbial bus after they’ve spent months, if not years, supporting your project; your dream.

I’ve heard from others that “this is just how they write” and “it’s meant to be funny”, and to an extent, I can understand that. But let me just include some screenshots from the post in question to reiterate my point, because I feel like my previous post didn’t quite get the point across:

(Context: What the Epic Games Exclusivity Deal means for you, the fan and/or financial backer of Ooblets).

I get that the Fortnite bit is the joke, ha ha, Fortnite used to be wildly popular, I get it, good meme. What isn’t the joke, and what was part of why people got upset was the first bit, specifically the “download the Epic Games Launcher and make an Epic Games account” bit, that bit.

Now, I personally have no qualms about having the Epic Games Launcher on my PC. I have long since looked beyond the ‘scandal’ of tech companies saving and selling my data to distant lands to be used for nefarious moneymaking schemes. Is it bad? Sure, maybe. Would I prevent it had I the chance? Of course. Do I have that chance? Not a chance in the world, so I decide to live with it.

That said, many others have not reached that point of fuck it, and understandably so. I hit that point because of my negative outlook on society as a whole but, praise be, there are in fact still some optimists out there who look at these shitty corporate tactics and say no to them, and good on them for that.

That is what I would say is the bulk of the primary issues people have with the Epic Games Store. The missing features bits aren’t terribly important, as even this post says, if you have a social life on Steam, then use Steam. The EGS does not need to be your do-all replacement.

This is where the post should have stopped. Here and now, had this post ended, any and all issues with this decision would have been but a whisper in the wind. As I said in my previous post, yes they undoubtedly would have received plenty of critical, and non-critical backlash for the decision regardless, but ending the post here would’ve 100% put the developers on the right side in this situation and I’d be right up there agreeing with that tweet.

(Context: Are you angry at Epic and/or us for this decision?)

Referring to earlier when I said that playful tone and humour are all fine and dandy, I understand that this is probably meant to sound playful and humourous, but it comes across as largely self-important and ignorant, and the bits that follow do in no way dissuade from that appearance.

While my response to this complaint was similar to their own, in that you should just use Steam for the features that the Epic Games Store lacks, they go on to essentially say that this is just baby EGS and that Steam used to be just like it and look at it now.

While they aren’t technically wrong, from a development point of view, the big thing they need to understand is how web standards have dramatically changed since 2003 when the Steam store launched. Launching a store, of any variety, without a shopping cart is a big no-no.

As far as missing features go, that’s not like missing a friends list or a IM feature, that’s missing a crucial part of a web-based storefront. Imagine going to a store and only be allowed to purchase one thing at a time, that would be ridiculous.

Their response to this was as corporate as any triple-A publisher, or really any corporation at all, from any industry. Just a complete disconnect from society that frankly is unwarranted from what is quite literally a two person operation. Not to mention, their response is quite literally what every parent warns their kids about at a young age. “But mooooooooooooom, everyone is doing it!!!!” Yes sweetie, but if everyone jumps off a bridge, are you going to?

Apparently, yes.

And not to discount the idea of making money, by all means make money, but let me put it this way, had they left this post exactly where I said they should have previously, all of the blame would be at Epic’s feet. Because at the end of the day, having your game be exclusive to one service does not make you money, it makes them money. So this whole “everyone is doing it” schtick doesn’t fly when coming from the developers. Had this been a post by Epic (and frankly with all the shilling I could be convinced it was from them) then this argument might have made just a tiny bit more sense.

Underlined in yellow are the jokes; the “playful” and “humourous” attitude I’ve heard so much about. Underlined in red however, are what the developers are actually genuinely saying with complete and utter seriousness.

“There are worse things in the world to be upset about.” I kid you not, that’s their argument.

Now, all of that reiterated, to get to the actual point of this post (wish Tumblr let you do multiple “Keep Reading” lines but I digress), the article linked in the tweet here is about the previous “non-critical” backlash I mentioned they’d receive, though multiplied exponentially by their horrendous blog post, and further community responses to said blog post.

I’d like to refer to a completely unrelated post I made quite a while ago that really needs to spread like wildfire if you ask me:

RECEIVING INSULTS, UNCRITICAL FEEDBACK, AND/OR DEATH THREATS DOES NOT INVALIDATE THE CRITICAL FEEDBACK NOR THE ISSUE AT HAND.

I am by no means wiping away death threats or mean words as things to scoff at, by all means take them as seriously as you will, but under no circumstances should 20+ people telling you to kill yourself invalidate the hundreds of fans and financial backers who are upset with your recent financial decision, or your response to criticisms to those decisions.

This happens time and time and time again. Someone of note does something bad, for one reason or another, and instead of responding to the completely warranted and justified criticism and feedback they instead play up the 15+ people who IM’d them to drink bleach and throw it up as “an example of the ever present toxic gaming community”.

More or less, the substance to this article is their “apology”, and I use that term very loosely but I’ll get to that, to the community at large for the recent events. The post summarizes the issue from their (biased) perspective, posts some screenshots of the colourful responses they’ve received, the usual woe-is-me schtick.

I’d like to highlight a few bits from it to further exemplify the continued mindset of these people:

I have given the full context to this next statement with these screenshots so that I can now take parts of these statements out of their context to, at least to my belief, succinctly identify the mindset of these folks:

“I understand the relationship people think they might be owed when they exchanged money for goods or services, but...we’ve never actually sold them anything and don’t owe them anything at all.”

I don’t want to get off-topic any more than necessary, but this, this right here is why fundraisers, Kickstarters, GoFundMes, Patreon subscriptions, or any other form of crowdsourcing platforms need to be handled with extreme care. I hesitate to say regulated legally, but I am by no means opposed to that idea.

I want to express this carefully and plainly: LEGALLY, yes they are absolutely right that they do not owe anyone anything. At least to my knowledge, they didn’t have a formal Kickstarter, their financial backing came primarily from whatever it is they do for a living AND the support of their Patreon backers.

And while I do not feel that it needs addressing, for the sake of consistency I will address it: MORALLY they owe the game to anyone who financially supported them with the express purpose of developing the game.

“We definitely owe all of you who supported us, but also fuck off you entitled cunts because we don’t owe you shit.”

When in the face of well-deserved criticism, deflect deflect deflect. As if a broken record, I’d like to again emphasize that yes, legally they owe no one anything. Morally, they do. Legally, they don’t. Morally, yes. Legally, no.

This, in essence, is a response to the majority of people who are like me, who aren’t screaming vitriolic personable attacks, telling them to drink bleach, long jog off a short pier, the works. Essentially: “If you aren’t with us, then you’re against us.”

Because apparently pointing out your blatant mischaracterisation of the gaming community, your outrageously awful personal relations skills, and most especially your morally bankrupt understanding of the relationship between you and the people financially supporting your passion project means we are, by their logic, on a level equivalent in nature to the 10+ people telling them to drink bleach.

Fixed for typos:

Remember how I said this was an “apology” in the loosest form, well what I was referring to was how in the beginning during their (totally unbiased) summary of the events, they more or less said “Sorry you didn’t respond the way we wanted you to.” Beyond that, yeah, it’s not an apology.

And why would we expect one? Nothing they have spat out in the face of their fans so far has even a hint of self-realization or self-reflection in it. Even their acknowledgement of their (horrendously under exaggerated) bad PR skills comes across as a hollow acknowledgement, if it can even be referred to as an acknowledgement at all, because if you truly truly acknowledged it, then this post wouldn’t exist.

As to this anti-Semitic fabrication making the rounds, I have not seen it so I will take their word for it that they did not make one, especially since I have seen fabricated evidence involving Discord messages rearranged out of order. What I feel needs addressing specifically in this chunk though is his reference to “my messages taken out of context to insinuate I don’t care about our patrons/fans”, because if you’ve seen my previous post then you’ll know no amount of context makes this statement look good:

Sure, it’s a true statement of fact now that they have Epic’s money, but it’s fairly obvious that it reads “We have Epic’s money now, we don’t need you anymore.” I’m sure they didn’t mean that, but that when combined with their other statements regarding how they don’t owe their patrons anything, what they are saying is clear as day.

But hey, credit where credit is due, at least with this we can agree:

But of course, as these people are now infamously known for not ending their posts where they reasonably should...

Now I know how much money goodwill, faith, and morals make, and again I would fully expect this kind of response from the likes of EA, Ubisoft, Bethesda, or fuck even Amazon or Facebook to show that corporate greed has no industry bounds, but this is a two person team whose passion project is to make this game which is being financially supported by loyal fans and future customers.

And that’s just it, that is the mind-boggling part to me, that this is all just the self-important, mischaracterising, morally bankrupt, and childishly ignorant ramblings of a small little husband and wife duo.

In summary...

As was said in the blog post, I’m sure that looking from the outside in we don’t get to see the full scope of the vitriolic comments they’re receiving, so to that I give them credit, and the most sincerest of apologies. I’ve received a few death threats and vitriolic hate-filed messages in my time on the internet, and while personally I am unphase by them, I can fully understand that it can be damaging to one’s self-esteem and self-confidence, especially when it comes in relation to your passion project. I am sorry.

But unwarranted, hate-filled, vitriolic, suicide-baiting messages do not invalid those of us criticizing you for the things that you did do, the words that you did say, and the actions that you did take. I mentioned this in my previous post, but as it stands, the centerpiece to this issue isn’t even about the Epic Exclusivity Deal anymore, it’s about you. You and your treatment, of not just the community at large (for which, might I add, is your primary customer base), but of your treatment towards your loyal fans and financial supporters along the way.

You, for whatever reason, act as most of us have come to expect a soulless and faceless triple-A publisher would, when in fact you are just a two person team with public faces. You’re taking the shots that the likes of EA, Activision, or Bethesda would and have taken, but you’re forgetting that it is above and beyond easier to find you then it is to find them.

All we, but more importantly your fans want from you is for you to make the best game that we all know you’re capable of. And for those who supported you this far along the way to be given even an ounce of respect, despite you not needing their support anymore.

#long post #seriously don't click keep reading unless you really want to read this #it's stupid long #ooblets #indie games #indie developers #video game development #random rant

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thelocalrebel · 6 years

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Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017)

Call me a Star Wars nerd: my childhood was literally me speeding to the library every week to borrow the Jedi Apprentice novels, before I graduated to the Expanded Universe (now called Legends) of the Thrawn Trilogy and the New Jedi Order, to name a few. Not just novels, but comics too! Unsurprisingly, games that have a special place in my heart include both Knights of the Old Republic games (not The Old Republic MMORPG) and years on, I still write fic about that era and get emotional over a 13 year old game.

But I couldn't love The Last Jedi (TLJ) no matter how hard I tried. Sure, there's space battles and blowing-things-up that's iconically Star Wars, but one thing (amongst others) ruined it for me. Despite the franchise crowing “diversity” and being “progressive”, TLJ falls back on tropes that should belong in the Stone Age. If I listed everything skeevy about TLJ like the lore and plot inconsistencies, I’d be writing a thesis, so here’s four points to consider. Spoilers abound.

1) For Some Reason, The Narrative Now Centers On Kylo.

This was my absolute biggest issue with TLJ. Here, we see Kylo being woobified and treated like a boy in the narrative despite him being a grown-ass 29 year old adult. In numerous instances, Kylo’s Tragic Backstory™ is emphasised: being neglected by his parents, his Uncle Luke wanting to murder him, Snoke grooming him to join the Dark Side, him struggling with his insecurities ft. his explosive tantrums - all of which subtly nudging us to empathise with him. Aka, highlight that despite him being involved in the Star Wars equivalent of a militaristic fascist organisation carrying out genocide and literal slavery AND being the one responsible for murdering Jedi students at Luke’s Jedi Academy, we must feel sorry for him. That he just needs to be understood. So he can be redeemed.

Seriously. If Luke “There Is Still Good In [Vader]” Skywalker thinks Kylo is irredeemable, I’m tempted to believe him.

But back to my point. Kylo’s story is suddenly the crux in TLJ moreso because other characters have been mangled - character-wise - simply to prop him up. Most damning is how Rey, of all people, suddenly decides that Kylo is worth saving despite him murdering the first father figure she had and ever wanted (Han), mortally wounding the first person who saw her worth coming back for (Finn), and mind-raping her in their first interaction in a torture room - in the span of, what, two weeks? Fine, perhaps this is Rey being flawed - tying in to how we shouldn’t hold representations to perfect standards, especially for marginalised identities. But really? Even with all such instances imply? Because to me, this simply reinforces that stereotype where a “Virtuous But Naive (White) Woman Saves Angsty (White) Boi From Himself”; a norm that reflects real-world instances of women doing tons of unpaid emotional labour while absolving men of the responsibility to improve themselves or even take responsibility for their own actions. So yes, it’s misogynistic. In TLJ, Rey exists solely to redeem Kylo. And that doesn’t sound like the Rey from The Force Awakens (TFA): you know, the Rey with an arc not revolving around a man? (I don’t want to discuss the implications of the Reylo pairing and what it normalises - there’s too much, and this isn’t the place). In that, Rey stops being angry; an essential character trait she displays when faced with danger and the unknown, because women can’t be angry, right? Otherwise, “they’re dangerous”. Hence, Rey’s character is watered-down for Kylo’s benefit.

As if mischaracterising Rey wasn’t enough, they had to brutalise Luke’s character too. Luke Skywalker, the compassionate pacifist who believed that even the vilest of individuals could be redeemed, suddenly decides that the best way to deal at all with Kylo is to kill him? Seriously????? (It’s not just canon that disputes this characterisation of Luke - even the Legends books dispute this. And Luke changing his mind last minute doesn’t count). Sure, the bitter, jaded, and depressed Luke we see in TLJ is believable, given recent events and him self-flagellating over such events - but his decisions prior? Inconsistent. Or, just to fuel Kylo’s Tragic Backstory™ (which wasn’t even elaborated much. How did he fall? How was Snoke responsible? Where did Snoke come from? Just marvel at the wealth of lore that could’ve been explored). In the process, the Luke who used love and forgiveness instead of violence (i.e. toxic masculinity) to be a compelling hero, was sacrificed.

But hey, all’s fair in propping up white male characters and their manpain, right?

2) Fake (White) Feminism

What riles me up more is hypocrisy. Because once you peel off TLJ’s supposed “progressivism”, you realise that diversity is actually horrible representation built on racism galore. So feminism here is just performative.

Generally, Vice-Admiral Holdo’s scene with Poe is seen as a case of a Strong Woman™ shutting down Mansplaining directed at her, where Poe is supposed to learn how to trust his superiors and become more “level-headed”. (Star Wars advocating for “blindly trusting authority”? Gosh. Wonder what the Rebellion was doing in the Original Trilogy then). Plot hole aside, it works, if you can ignore how Poe is mischaracterised using racist tropes of the irrational, hotheaded, misogynistic Latino; which, incidentally, is not the Poe depicted in the comics and TFA. (Same thing with the Leia scene at TLJ’s beginning - TFA Poe wouldn’t blatantly ignore orders and kill off most of his squadron just to destroy a capital ship; TFA Poe would be deathly afraid of sending his squadron to their deaths.) On the other hand, if we consider how Poe wasn’t mischaracterised, then this scene is a case of how people of colour tend not to believe white women in positions of authority due to a history of racism, or how Poe wouldn’t easily trust someone he was unfamiliar with. So, what’s going on here? Simple - A male character of colour is demonised just to prop up a white woman. “Feminism”, y’all.

Okay, you might think: as his commanding officer, Holdo’s not obligated to tell Poe anything. But if Poe manages to mutiny with a number of Resistance personnel, then perhaps this is a case of Holdo not leading effectively? Hm? Anyway, miscommunication without sufficient buildup as a plot device is contrived and does a disservice to the characters involved. It’s not representation when it’s done at the expense of someone else, especially another marginalised identity. (Holdo deserved so much better).

Also, you’ll notice how most - if not all - of the leading ladies in TLJ are white. Pretty intersectional film, don’t you think? This is compounded by how TLJ barely passes the most basic of feminist tests - like Bechdel and Mako Mori - despite the quantity of non-white male characters and calefare abound. Ladies only ever talk about male characters, save that brief conversation between Leia and Holdo when they weren’t being condescending about Poe, and unfortunately exist just to further another male character’s arc (Rose, Rey, Holdo, Phasma…).

Plus, notice how Luke’s Caretaker aliens on Ahch-To are femme-coded...a la cis-heteronormative gender roles, thus assuming that aliens conform to a gender binary, or even have genders. I’m not lying - it was intended. How...colonial.

3) Just. Racist. Bullshit.

As mentioned, TLJ’s progressivism masks a deluge of racism. Though I’m neither Latinx nor Black, watching certain TLJ scenes left me thoroughly uncomfortable.

Did Hux and Leia really need to slap Finn and Poe respectively? Did TLJ really need to make their male characters of colour (MoC) comic relief and recipients of violence - with Leia stunning and slapping Poe, Rose tazing Finn, Phasma/Hux wanting to behead Rose and Finn (with Phasma and Hux being literal space nazis)? All of that despite Poe and Finn having recently recovered from either torture or mortal injuries? And Finn himself dealing with the trauma of being a First Order stormtrooper, emotional abuse being one such after-effect? Clearly, the pain of non-white characters is acceptable fodder for jokes, but not that of white characters - Kylo’s scenes certainly weren’t. Some of them actually had plot. Interesting contrast.

Furthermore, did TLJ have to sideline their PoC characters, least of all their MoC leads? As mentioned, Poe was mischaracterised to prop up a white woman and Finn used as comedic relief and generally denied narrative attention despite being a lead...because Kylo apparently deserved more screen time. Yeah, Finn went with Rose to Canto Bight to find Maz’s master codebreaker, which, if I’m not wrong, are called slicers. Personally, I liked the subplot - it’s a nice allegory to reality, where the military industrial complex, capitalism, and the rich go hand in hand in slowly destroying the world, aside the message of how rebelling isn’t just about fighting baddies, but fighting for people. Like inspiring the “little people”; civilians and those uninvolved in the fighting. And in the process, exploring how war affects them. (One thing though: freeing/focusing on the Fathiers instead of the child slaves on Canto Bight?)

Then you realise that apparently, Rose Tico was created not because they needed a Rose Tico in TLJ - rather, having Finn and Poe pull a buddy-cop act on Canto Bight didn’t have the conflict that introducing a female character would. Sigh. Rose Tico, plot device. Just like Paige Tico - her death, albeit heroic, used to drive Rose into Finn’s path. Therein lies the anti-Blackness and anti-Asian aspects of the Canto Bight arc. Arguably, through their detour, Finn learns who exactly the Resistance fights for and moves past his “selfishness” of looking out only for himself and Rey - thanks to Rose’s guidance throughout their trip, which, as TLJ panned out, was eventually unnecessary and contributed little to the overall plot of “Will Kylo Finally Forsake The Dark Side?”. It’s Rose’s educating of Finn that simultaneously makes her a racist portrayal and a plot device as a Wise Asian Walking Encyclopedia to help teach a Naive Black Character about the Grim Realities of Life that Finn survived and escaped from - was he not a former stormtrooper captured by the First Order when he was a child? Perhaps Finn wasn’t adequately socialised to civilian life, thus his wide-eyed reaction to Canto’s glitz, but why wouldn’t Finn, who grew up in a traumatic and manipulative environment and recognised it for what it is, not see through Canto’s facade? Plus, Finn’s supposed development isn’t about himself; it’s about making him prioritise the needs of others over himself as if he hasn’t been doing that an entire movie ago.

Don’t know ‘bout you, but that sounds like bad writing. Bad, racist writing.

4) Centrist Reasoning

Finally! One last section to discuss. Hope everyone’s still here.

In keeping with the times, one of TLJ’s messages that stuck out was cynicism, moral ambiguity and that absolutes don’t exist. I agree, because life is never so clear-cut - but TLJ somehow simplistically portrays that. On Canto Bight, Rose tells us to “save what you love, not fight what you hate” (...despite saying she wanted to “put a fist through [the town]” just a while ago). When DJ mentions how weapons merchants sold to both the First Order and the Resistance, it’s said in a manner to somehow excuse them, or even give them a pat on the back; as if playing both sides somehow cancels the obvious self-interest driving their business decisions - but that’s assuming it’s a valid comparison in the first place. How is the Resistance, in any way, comparable to the First Order? Personally, this is just shoddy reasoning that conjures up nonexistent ambiguity. A reasoning that, when extrapolated to today’s socio-political climate, fails to clarify the power disparities between various groups in society by assuming a false equivalence. In other words, an erroneous comparison. Because however appealing it sounds, we can’t equate a fascist military organisation responsible for genocide and other inhumane practices with an organisation dedicated to thwarting it, for the sake of everyone.

You know what’s a better idea? Using Canto Bight or the First Order, through Finn’s past, to contrast between righteous anger versus mindlessly lashing out, often via violence (which, incidentally, adds nuance to the Light vs Dark Side of the Force debate). Because righteous anger, given its origins in a history of marginalisation and trauma, would be a way of ‘righting’ such wrongs despite the ‘wrongness’ associated with violence as a method. It’ll introduce moral complexity and gray-area dilemmas that TLJ craves without disregarding the sociopolitical implications of social movements and resistance. (Like, they could’ve explored the fact that the Resistance was essentially killing brainwashed First Order soldiers forced into fighting, but oh well).

So, four points to consider. But honestly? I'm only just scratching the surface. There's more nitpicking/meta online if you wish to delve. But honestly, TLJ could’ve been so much more. They had rich source material and endless ways to spin off the buildup that TFA created. And yet.

That’s why I’ll remain bitter about TLJ, and what it could’ve been.

tl;dr if you’re looking for a film that isn’t fake-deep on diversity, doesn’t contain senseless cynicism, or fulfills its narrative potential by avoiding copious plot holes and general bad writing, TLJ is not it. (psst, Rogue One did it better).

Further Reading

#tlj #star wars #media #articles #reviews #representation #colonialism #racism #misogyny #tw: rape mention #fake feminism

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nyangibun · 7 years

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Can I vent a bit? (i don't ship jonsa but gods forbid anyone comes betwen me and my jon/sansa super close sibling relationship) MY FRIEND JUST TOLD ME SHE GENUINELY THINKS THAT ARYA IS RIGHT AND THAT SANSA WANTS JON DEAD AND I JUST ??????????????? HONEY WHAT THE FUCK I AM QUESTIONING OUR FRIENDSHIP SO HARD RN????? HOW? WHY? WHY, FOR THE LOVE OF GODS, SANSA WOULD WANT DEAD THE ONE WHO FOUGHT AND ALMOST PUNCHED TO DEATH RAMSAY? WHO PROTECTED HER? WHO NAMED HER WARDENESS OF THE NORTH? I JUST?????

Of course you can!!!

Venting is all I do these days XD

Let me get into the appropriate mood:

ONE OF MY BEST FRIENDS (AND SOMEONE I JOKINGLY CALL MY SOUL TWIN BECAUSE WE SHARE THE SAME THOUGHTS MOST OF THE TIME) SAID SHE UNDERSTOOD WHERE ARYA WAS COMING FROM AND I NEARLY DIED, SO I TOTALLY GET YOU!!!

No, but seriously, I don’t understand why people mischaracterise Sansa so much. Look, she’s not an innocent snowflake in all of this. She can be extremely manipulative if she wants to be, but never with her family, never with her pack. Sansa reserves her cold bitchy exterior for those she doesn’t trust. So I don’t know where this idea that she’s going to betray Jon or that she’s been manipulating him came from. Like da fuq kinda bullshit is that?

Whether you ship Jonsa or not, Jon and Sansa have a very strong bond based on mutual respect, trust and affection. Like as if she would fucking betray him for the throne.

I mean I get the feeling she’ll be crowned Queen of the North at some point, but that will not be because she stopped believing in Jon. It’ll either be because Jon fucked up and got himself into this situation, he’s presumed dead or some variation of that.

Ugh. People. I don’t even know what to say.

#anti-people #can that be a tag?#sansa stark #sansa defence squad #protect sansa 2k17 #game of thrones #got s7 #spoilers #asks #bluecoattallmadge

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ol-razzle-dazazzle · 7 years

Text

A Moral Compass Directs You to a Bar

An attempt to properly give Kunikida and Chuuya the correct characterisation they deserve, also with some shippy stuff. I tend to see these two mischaracterised and flanderized in fanfics so I figured I'd try kill two birds with one stone here, anyway- enjoy. --------------- It was a late night for Kunikida. It always was. While he never was one to show his nervousness (or at least he considered himself as such), it was difficult. He was walking along, flickering through the pages in his notebook. It didn't matter where he was or how he was going, but it was hard. The city was somewhat salvaged, and he didn't want to look up at the debris that lingered around the place. He felt sick. He felt like he failed. Fukuzawa was talking about him the other day, how he was to be the next successor for the Armed Detective Agency. Sure, it figured that he fit the bill, and was the 'ideal' person for the job but... a smashed car, he looked to the side, there was brown, but the rusty colour of dried blood. He was in a seedy area, and the police hadn't cleared everything up. How many people had died? And in the end, it wasn't even him that saved them. Kunikida always helped, of course he did- he always tried to be the best person, from taking extra missions because of urgency or just cleaning up around the office. He held himself to a high standard, why wouldn't he? But he always went through the same thing. The schedule would always be uninterrupted, the 'ideal' would never come about. It hurt, though he resists and persists, but it still aches. Especially ever since...everything with the Azure King. He brushed it aside, but it all managed to catch up with him. With a sigh, he glanced up at some dimly lit bar, well why the hell not? Well the first few reasons include safety, drinking clouds judgement but oh he's already through the door. This is stupid, this is the kind of behaviour that gets people killed. There weren't many people, a metaphoric twist in the knife. "Just a...glass of cold water, to clear my head." Kunikida murmurs to the barkeep, knowing it's not going to stay for that long. A voice almost speaks his mind, "You come all the way over to this hole for a glass of water? I can't tell whether you're an idiot or you want to pretend you have class." The seat next to him gets occupied, and Kunikida freezes, hands clutched to his notebook. "I'd rather not get into a fight drunk, considering your reputation, Nakahara." Kunikida squints at him, unsure as to why the mafiosi hasn't changed in his disposition. "Look, normally I'd love the chance to pound one of you into the ground, but with everything going on lately, the Mafia's wanting a little break from wars." He gives a smirk, "How about a little truce, huh? We can even make a toast if you want." Kunikida shakes his head, but sets the notebook aside. "Seriously? You think I'd lie to you? I mean, I don't want to have to answer to /him/ again anyway." "I know you're honest, but I'd rather not sully myself with the likes of you." Chuuya frowned, a finger moving to the notebook, "Ideal, hmm?" It was swiped away, earning a glare from the other man. "Calm down, I didn't mean to disarm you." Kunikida sneers, "I know that, you're a man of class and an idiot." Chuuya accepts the verbal blow, smiling, "See? Now we're getting somewhere. Barkeep, two glasses." Now with a swirled glass in hand, Chuuya leans back into the seat. "One glass, enough to stir the senses, don't you think?" Kunikida takes a sip, "I suppose, they say a glass a day prolongs your lifespan." "Especially if you're a lightweight, like yours truly." "I don't drink often." Kunikida looks at the pooled red. "Not ideal?" "Stop going on about that." "Well, I don't know much about you outside of files, so that's all I have to go off." Kunikida grits his teeth, "and I don't have much to know about you apart from being a reckless, brutal, drunkard who can't mind his own business." "Well none of those things are true, to that extent- I feel the records flanderize me." "And my ideals are important to me, which is why I can't stand going against them. It's why I go against people like you." Chuuya frowned, "And how's that been going for you so far?" Kunikida stiffened. "You came all this way because life is going along to your little storybook? I can't believe that." "It's not." Kunikida mumbled, "Things haven't been going as planned." "No shit." Chuuya took a sip, raising a glass, "Tons of our people died in all that mess, a lot more than you'd think." "And who is 'our people'? The same criminal dogs who kick morals to the curb?" The glass in Chuuya's hand dropped, rattling. "Well, allow me to enlighten you. Do you have any clue why a mafia is made?" "It's a crime syndicate used to earn money." Kunikida stared back. "I'm not asking for dictionaries, dipshit. The very first one, why was it formed?" Upon seeing no answer, "It was to protect everybody who couldn't go to the police because they were corrupt." "How dare you say that we're-" "You misunderstand. I just mean that not all of us are 10 million yen orphan tigers or math teachers with a lucky break." Chuuya stares at him, "I'm not completely devoid of human sympathy, we all have standards." Kunikida raises an eyebrow, "I don't get why you're telling me all this." "Because I want you to stop being so stupidly strict on yourself and just at least try to enjoy yourself." "Is that where Dazai got it from?" "No, I'm just...look, I feel like fucking shit right now, so I figured 'misery loves company' and that I would at least try to be civil." Chuuya settles his head on the table. "I don't want to sleep because I wake up every morning and there's less people. You can sense it in the air." "That pungent scent of failure." Kunikida looks down. "Yep." Kunikida sighs, clinking his glass with Chuuya's. "To impossible to achieve standards." Chuuya merely nods, propping himself up on the chair. "So what's gotten you all upset? You're the one that gets all the credit, after all, that agency." "It's...a lot of things. Mainly that I didn't do enough." "I hear that. Fucking Akutagawa fixed up everything, my subordinate! Can you believe that shit? And what did I do? Just stand around, doing a few flips?" "You did look rather cool, Kenji couldn't stop talking about you afterwards." "R-Really?" The flush came too quickly on Chuuya's face, coughing. "Didn't expect that." "Not to mention Lovecraft, he was difficult enough regularly with the other one, let alone with that...ability?" "Would you have liked to have seen my kickflips then?" Chuuya smirks. "Yes, I would." Kunikida rolls his eyes. "Well, when you lay it all out like that it sounds like we did quite a bit." The two sigh, "But it wasn't enough." "They always say 'you did the best you could', but you know deep down you could do more." Kunikida flicks through the pages, uncaring of he glances. "Well, you know- there's always a difference between theory and practise. You could specifically plan everything to its best potential, but when it actually happens it never works out that way." "That just means you have to try harder." "What it means is that you have to allow room for 'error'. You got a pen?" Chuuya asks, a hand splayed out, as he scrawls what he said, on the back page. "Don't rip it out, will you?" "Thanks for the free calling card. If there's every any handwriting analysis I'll be sure to know if it's yours." Kunikida jokes. "Nah, we get Elise or Mori to write those anyway, they prefers it like that." Chuuya waves a dismissal hand, "Besides, it's nice to have something on record that isn't 'idiotic aggressive drunkard'." "And what, you're going to update my own 'file'?" "Maybe, but it's nice to know you aren't half as annoying as I thought you'd be." "Likewise." Kunikida took back his pen, writing once more. "Hm...? 'Can't be in the Port Mafia'? Wait, this is under 'ideal partner'." Chuuya exhales, "Well that's fucking rude. You had to add another restriction just for me." "Well it's like you said, I can't achieve a perfect ideal, because life doesn't work that way." "What's this? You think I'd be a decent partner except for that one part?" Kunikida merely sets judgement aside, and sets his lips on Chuuya's own. Objectively, it wouldn't be perfect, but the imperfections made the world around him soften slightly. "Well my ideal is to not have anyone from the Agency, so I guess that doesn't work out nicely." But it did, and for a while it felt like those contradictions made sense.

#idk wtf that title was #chuunikida #is that the ship name?#Kunikida #chuuya #bsd #my writing

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