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cactusstree · 4 years

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1994 v.s. 2019: My Thoughts On The New Little Women Adaptation

Before I start, I would like to say this is a VERY biased review, it is not meant to be objective. I have always loved the 1994 Little Women, and I definitely went into the theater knowing that I would still prefer it. I absolutely enjoyed the new adaptation and I’m sure I will be watching it again in the future, but there are certain things that I feel just can’t be changed about the original.

Jo March

Going into the theater, i had low expectations of Saorise's portrayl of Jo simply because i think Winona Ryder cannot be beat. I still prefer Winona, but i was pleasantly surprised with Saorise. I felt Saorise really captured Jo's tomboyish personality, when I was afraid she would not. I was happy to see Jo's masculine costuming; it seems Gerwig was able to "get away" with more gender nonconformity than the first movie could.

Jo March+ Laurie

In terms of Jo and Laurie's relationship, I have mixed feelings. In the 1994 version, it seemed as though Jo was certain in her feelings towards Laurie. Although it pained her to lose a dear friendship, she never really regretted it besides "I shouldn't turn down perfectly good marriage proposals." In 2019, however, Jo seemed much more indecisive after the two characters argument after Meg's wedding. It appeared that she may actually love Laurie romantically. I felt this was inconsistent, especially because 2019 Jo was much more aggressive in her first refusal, even to the extent that I was hoping Gerwig might actually allow Jo to be a lesbian (as we all know she is). Jo even said something along the lines of "I wish I had those feelings towards you but I don't," which is what got my hopes up.

Personally, I have always felt that Jo made the correct decision in turning down Laurie, as I picture their relationship to be more similar to brother and sister.

Jo March+ Friedrich

I have to say I was very disappointed with this movie's Friedrich. While of course I would prefer that Jo end up independent, we all know that is not going to happen. Therefore, I want her to end up with her intellectual equal, and someone who genuinely cares about her. In 1994, it is firmly established that Friedrich is dirt poor, and has many similar interests to Jo. On the other hand, 2019 only hints at Friedrich's poverty, and makes little to no effort in making him a lovable character; there are only a few interactions shown between him and Jo, and none of them really struck me as anything special. For instance, 2019 Friedrich offers Jo a set of Shakespeare's complete works, and while this is certainly a kind gesture, it doesn't really showthat they have much in common besides a love of literature. In 1994, Friedrich and Jo have an entire conversation about trancendentalism, not only establishing that they have more specific interests in common, but also showing that Jo's parents, while poor, are deeply involved in political and intellectual movements.

I really missed the tender 1994 moment where Friedrich invites Jo to an opera, which we know she has always wanted to attend, and they kiss in the "worst" seat in the theater. Friedrich was not able to afford nice seats, but he wanted Jo to have the opera experience, as he knew she would love it. In 2019, Friedrich simply observes Jo enjoying the opera while he sits in a nice seat and she stands, once again not really establishing any sort of connection between the two.

1994 Friedrich's criticisms of Jo's writing seem genuine. They come from a place of "you are talented and you write entertaining stories, but they don't seem to really come from your heart." Of course, Jo is offended at first but she comes to realize that she needs to write about her family, not just adventure stories. Therefore, Friedrich's criticisms are actually constructive and help Jo along her path. 2019 Friedrich really only says "I don't like it" which doesn't help Jo at all, and then it seems like she had to humble herself and stop being offended? Once again, this doesn't make any sense. Jo had every right to be offended when this man she barely knows starts criticising her life's work with no helpful suggestions. I felt that tension was never really resolved.

And of course, Jo and Friedrich's final scene where they kiss in the rain will always hold a special place in my heart. I love the 1994 version of course because it's simply beautiful. I love the fact that two of them are alone in the rain on the pathway leaving Orchard house. I didn't really enjoy the train station setting as much because it felt less special, especially when they're surrounded by people. Also, the 2019 version just quickly went over one of my favorite moments, when Friedrich says "I have nothing to give you, my hands are empty" (which of course in more powerful in 1994 because of how strongly Friedrich's poverty is established) and Jo responds by holding his hands and saying "not empty now."

This moment was included in 2019, but it didn't feel as special to me.

I think Gerwig tried to make up for Friedrich's characterization by showing that LM Alcott would prefer that Jo ended up a spinster, but I just don't think this was the right way to go. Like I said, I would like Jo to be independent as well, but if she does end up with a man I would like to feel happy for her. Gerwig's juxtaposition between Alcott getting her book published and Jo's moment with Friedrich was clever, but it took me out of the moment and made the last few scenes much less enjoyable.

Marmee

I felt 2019 focused much less on Marmee, which was disappointing to me. That isn't to say Laura Dern did a poor job, just that I have a closer connection to Susan Sarandon. There were several more scenes in 1994 that included Marmee, so I think the audience has more time to become attatched to her. Also, I didn't like that there were a few sarcastic quips between Marmee and the father (such as when father March jokes that he should move to California? I just didn't quite get that).

Mr. Laurence

Something I will say I prefer about 2019 is the emphasis on Mr. Laurence. I LOVED seeing his close friendship with Beth, especially the scene where he listens to her play the piano in his home, and later when he and Jo enter Orchard House together after Beth's death. I felt his inclusion helped Beth seem more significant.

Chronology

While I understand what Gerwig was trying to do with the way she ordered the scenes, I think chronological order is the best way to go. I liked that 2019 ordering was able to make some interesting parallels between the girl's childhood and young adulthood, such as Beth's first and last illnesses, Amy's relationship with Laurie, Jo's childhood at Orchard House and her later return. The problem I have, however, is that the constant scene switching made it more difficult to connect with the characters. One of the reasons we as an audience care so much about the girl's adulthood is because we saw them being foolish, we saw the way they care for one another, etc. This is especially apparent in Laurie's character, because he's kind of an asshole in young adulthood. In 1994, we put up with that because he is so charming in the first half of the movie. In 2019, not much is convincing me that I like Laurie as a character until we're further into the movie. It also took away from the audience's view of Beth. In 1994, we are relieved that she survives the first wave of scarlet fever, and that relief makes her later death more powerful. In 2019, her first and second waves of illness are depicted simultaneously, which makes it difficult for the audience to calm down. For me, this just meant a full ten minutes of tears streaming down my face, I never got a break!

Amy

Listen, I loved Florence Pugh as Amy, but I really really wish they had a younger actress to depict her as a child. I don't mean this as an insult towards Pugh, because I think she did a wonderful job, it was just incredibly difficult for me to believe she was the youngest child during their childhood scenes.

Amy+ Laurie

I have never really loved that Amy and Laurie ended up together, but their 2019 relationship felt even less resolved than 1994. One of the things that helped their 1994 relationship is the moment where Amy is being sent away due to Beth's illness and she laments (in her overdramatic fashion) to Laurie that she has never been kissed. Laurie promises her that he will kiss her before she dies. This sets up a potential for their romantic relationship, and establishes that they both care for one another. In 2019, it isn't really confirmed that Laurie cares for Amy more that her sister. In 1994, Laurie and Amy have a full conversation about how Amy doesn't want to be loved for her family, but rather for being herself, Larie then has to get his act straight and prove to her that he really does love her for who she is. In 2019, they have this same conversation but it never felt completed. It seemed like Amy just gave in, especially because she was so distraught about her sister's death. I will say that I loved 2019 Amy's moment where she explains marriage is very much an economic agreement for women, as I feel that was important to acknowlege in their time period.

1994 Jo's reaction to their marriage also felt like more of a resolution. She seems genuinely happy for them. That isn't to say that 2019 Jo isn't happy for them either, but she is clearly more upset and hasn't finished moving on.

Cineamatography

It is difficult for me to compare 1994 and 2019 in this aspect, as I genuinely loved both. I think 1994 focused more on details and domestic scenery, whereas 2019's landscape shots were more impressive. For instance, I loved that Gerwig included a scene at the beach because it was simply beautiful, and gave the audience something new to look at. The ice skating scenes and the scene right after Meg's wedding were really lovely in my opinion. However, I vastly prefer 1994's depiction of Orchard House. It just seems so much more inviting to me.

(I can't find a good picture of 2019 Orchard House, though I have heard it is more closely modeled to LM Alcott's actual home, so that is something, I just didn't really like it)

I thought these scenes were beautifully framed, I loved it!

Costuming

I absolutely loved the costuming in 2019, especially Jo's writing coat!

Soundtrack

1994 soundtrack makes me weep tears of joy and nostalgia every time I hear it. 2019 doesn't even come close.

#mine #sorry this is SO LONG #feel free to disagree with me! i would love to discuss #little women #little women 2019 #little women 1994 #greta gerwig

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confessionsofaloudmouth · 4 years

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Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard; a blog post by Chelbey Trump

Happy Sunday, everyone! I’m generally going to be posting on Sundays because it gives me all of the weekend to write them. Also, you’ll catch on to the structures of these posts as we go.

This week, I am going to be discussing the novel Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard. Published in 2015v by Simon and Schuster, the novel was on the New York Time’s Bestsellers list. (In the future, I would like to write a blog post about that particular achievement because, let’s face it, almost every book has been on it.)

Characters:

Mare Barrow; A 17 year-old pitpocketer, living in the slummiest part of a country, with a younger sibling who has potential for their life, parents who are loyal to-said country even though they’re given the short end of the stick, and a male best friend who is, undoubtedly, in love with her. Come on down, Katniss Everdeen! Oh, sorry, I meant Beatrice Prior. America Singer? Oh, right this novel is uniquely science-fiction, even though it follows all of the rules of a dystopian-fiction series. Ehem: I hate this character. Her arch, though not necessary to the forward motion of the story, was lost completely by a million different subplots and, even, the main plot. I like the idea that, in the midst of becoming the face of the rebellion, she became less of an individual person and more of a loyal person to her people. That being said, she was incredibly selfish, with her pity-part-for-one attitude simply because she was born into the Stilts. She took for granted her sister’s opportunity to provide for their family by dragging into a scheme which destroyed her life. Did she save her by acting the part of princess? Yes, but, c’mon: It was either marry Maven or be killed. I hope that she loses this attitude within the next couple books because;

Cal Tiberias; What a hunk! Charming, self-less, sensible, and a future-king? Cal was a strong character, although it could be said that he was weak due to his loyalty to his father which was conditioned inside his brain from a young age. He turned his back on the lower part of his people to stay true to the upper, wealthy, ‘better’ half. He deserved better than this, after showing traits that he was, well, better than this! I understand it worked for the plot line, but how juicy would it have been to see Cal stand up to his father? I loved how passionate he was, though. Mare thought he didn’t care about the divide, but he was noble in saying he didn’t want violence to be what closed said-divide. He was willing to put his men on the same level as the Red soldiers, including himself, to fight the war. That’s hot. In the end, when he defended Mare even though she had offended him, I fell more in love with his character. He had stayed true to himself- or who he was meant to be- instead of a stupid girl, but when they turned their backs on him, he was ready to die with honor alongside that dumb female (synonyms!) If Cal was still the general, then I’d say:

Maven Tiberias; If Cal is a hunk, Maven is that nerdy, attractive guy. He was charming from start to finish even though he was, ya know, the ‘bad’ guy. It was hard to believe him even as the bad guy, however, because he only 17 and played Mare like a game of Chess. It’s understandable that he had, like Cal, been conditioned to love his mother and her cause for all of his life, that the king and Cal were enemies, that Mare could never possibly love him. But, Aveyard literally threw us twenty pages from the end of the novel. It felt rushed, uncomfortable and, well, forced. Overall, I still love his character and I’m excited to see him as a king in the next three books.

Queen Elara and King Tiberias; The. Best. Female. Character. What a literal queen! She didn’t care about anyone’s feeling, had powers which made her stronger than pretty much everyone, and waited so long to let her husband’s head roll so she and her son could rule. That’s amazing! I loved her smug attitude which was revolutionary because she was still a lady. She chided Mare for not acting like a said-lady and did so herself while still manipulating everyone and anyone. We dont see enough strong female characters who are still very much feminine, and we deserve to. Now, for the king: Off with his head! I’m so glad he’s dead because I dont think I could have stood another second of his toxic masculinity. That’s all I’ll say about that.

Ruth, Gisa, and Daniel Marrow; I wish we could have a family which is matriarchal. Too many books rely on normal societorial standards fo household and I’m slightly over it. I understand that in a normal kingdom, men, like Daniel, were the war hero’s, honorably discharged, wise, older, and the most-looked up to in the family. But, c’mon, Mare could literally manipulate electricity and her father couldn’t have made dinner? Her mother was too sweet and quiet and her father too quiet and judgmental. It was too basic and boring. However, I feel awful for Gisa: She absolutely deserved so much more than what she was given by Mare’s horrible decisions.

Honorable Mentions; Kilorn was just so annoying, trying to be masculine yet show his affection to Mare. Get over her, bud, she’s fighting a revolution! Evangeline was annoying, yet so, so satisfying to read about. She was exactly like Queen Elara with all the overwhelming traits of King Tiberias. Lucas, I felt, could have been used a lot more sufficiently than he was. Julian, too, was lost in the fast-paced motion of the novel. Overall, the relationships everyone formed with one another were not illustrated well through the novel. I refuse to believe Mare was falling for Maven, or Cal for Mare, or that Julian truly cared about Mare as much as he said he did because I saw no build up of that love.

Settings:

What Aveyard lacks in characters, she makes up for in description. Although sometimes it felt like she was going overboard with her language usage, fo rate majority of the time, I could see exactly what she was discussing. Her most creative ideas for setting were the forest which was able to prevent pollution from Gray Town, the usage of The Capital River running through the entire kingdom, and the bridge separating Archean and the Silver residencies.

Plot Lines:

Reds vs. Silvers; I hate and love the idea of the high-class citizens having silver-flushed skin and literally silver blood. It took the first half of the book for my mind to comprehend the distinction because I was too focused on hating Mare Barrow (just kidding!) I loved the moment when Evangeline dug her nails into Mare’s arm in order to draw red blood so that her identity would be revealed. But, I hated that there was no explanation as to why there was separation between the two classes.

The Love Triangle (Quartet?); How grossed out would you be if your brother was engaged to the girl you just kissed and made-out with her on a regular basis? Well, put yourself into Cal’s shoes and see you feel. I knew from the moment Cal pretended to be a Red citizen that he was the love interest for Mare- not that she didn’t end up having two others. The personification of his body heat connected to the feelings Mare would have for him, and that was interesting to read about. However, Maven had to be thrown into the mix because he was engaged to her for literal marketing reasons. I shipped Maven and Mare so hard, but Maven apparently did not. I wouldn’t call it a love quartet because we all know Evangeline didn’t actually love Cal.

Brother vs. Brother; The idea of Cal and his father vs. Maven and his mother reminded me of Reign and the relationship between Francis, Queen Elizabeth, Henry and Sebastian. As a fan of that show, I loved this power struggle. The idea of Cal being the OG son and Maven his half-brother showed that his blood did run deep with the Tiberias’. It allowed for him to feel disconnected and to want to follow his mother’s lead to power.

Symbolism and Themes; Let’s be honest here: There were none. Besides the fact that the division between the Reds and Silvers could stand for racism in any and all societies, the novel itself lacked depth. You shouldn’t look to this novel for guidance or meaning. Rather, it is a quick, cute read. Mare’s earrings stood fo her brothers, and eventually Kiloran, but that was literally given to us within the first five chapters. Most of the themes lied along the man vs. nature due to the issue of biological desterminism, and man vs. man for the revolution.

Dream Cast:

Jaz Sinclair as Mare Barrow

Charles Melton as Cal Tiberias

Tati Gabrielle as Evangeline

Jaeden Martell as Maven Calore

Melora Hardin as Queen Elara

I know, I know, this is not everyone. But, these are the only characters I truly felt needed to be played by specific people. And, yes, some are highly debatable, such as Melora because of her comedic timing, but I think these actors could play these characters well.

Quote Corner:

“The truth is what I make it. I could set this world on fire and call it rain.”

“Flame and shadow. One cannot exist without the other.”

“Words can lie. See beyond them.”

(Victoria Aveyard is a wordsmith. What she lacks in character and book depth she makes up for in language and description.)

Overall Rating: 3.75/5

I know I bashed the book a lot, but it was a pretty easy and cute read. I am going to read the sequel because I am very invested in Maven as character and would like to see what else Aveyard has in store. She took ideas from dystopian novels which were all familiar with and put her own unique twist on them, and I admire that.

Thank you for reading this week’s blog post. Next Sunday I will be discussing, “The Half of It.” Please like, follow, and reblog my posts to help get me out there. Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

#book and literature #literature #analysis #character analysis #red queen #victoria aveyard #mare barrow #maven calore #king maven #book review #book analysis #science fiction #dystopian #the hunger games #writer #free write #blogger #blog post

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comrade-meow · 3 years

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The term ‘gender identity’ was coined by psychologist and researcher, Dr. John Money, founder of the first gender clinic at John Hopkins Hospital in 1966. ‘Gender identity’ first appeared in print on November 21st 1966, in the press release announcing the creation of the clinic. Money would go on to develop his theory of gender by experimenting on young children.

Money recruited the parents of David Reimer to a twin study research project at the newly-founded clinic and inextricably linked the concept of gender identity to the case. Born in 1965, David, then named Bruce, and his identical brother Brian were test cases in an experiment designed to see if a boy could be brought up successfully as a girl after surgical alteration. Money’s hypothesis was termed ‘gender neutrality’. Bruce had suffered burns to his penis during a circumcision that went wrong. Money persuaded the parents to fully alter Bruce’s genitals at the age of two, removing testes and fashioning the artificial appearance of a vulva. Bruce was then renamed ‘Brenda’. Money reassured the parents that this measure was in the best interests of Brenda and that his theory of ‘gender neutrality’ would be proven correct. Money had, according to John Hopkins Hospital, solved an ethical dilemma, and so had an ethically sound basis to study how Brenda would proceed. Twin Studies are regarded as the gold standard within psychology and psychiatry and so these children appeared to Money to be the perfect experimental subjects on which to ground his ideas.

Money required that during childhood Brenda and her family visit John Hopkins to observe how the treatment progressed. This process of treatment included interviews to see if the parents were ‘girling’ Brenda correctly (enforcing femininity) and how the now supposedly differently sexed twins interacted. Brenda (David) and his twin brother Brian as adults reported that during part of this ‘treatment’ both were sexually abused by Money, who made the pair ‘role play’ heterosexual intercourse, inspected their genitals, and took photographs. Money denied these allegations, but also justified these coerced acts as, ‘childhood sexual rehearsal play’ which he considered important for a ‘healthy adult gender identity’, What is evidenced in transcribed interviews documenting Money’s interaction with the twins was that they were made to describe the difference between their genitals, repeat that these sexual differences made one a boy and one a girl and were encouraged to deliberate why Brenda fought less at school than Brian (“because I’m a girl”, Brenda is heard saying, to Money’s confirmation, “you’re a girl!”) It is very clear here that regressive gender roles became mixed with Money’s invention of gender identity.

Despite Money’s sexual liberalism and unorthodoxy regarding homosexuality, he and other researchers at John Hopkins did not consider reinforcement of strict binarism in relation to the sexes as damaging or illegitimate. For years Money wrote about the case as ‘John/Joan’ (instead of real names Bruce/Brenda), depicting the apparent success of gender identity development to support arguments for the feasibility of sexual reassignment. In contrast, Reimer decades later described how he urinated through a hole in his abdomen due to botched urological interventions by doctors.

Around the period of adolescence Brenda [David] was given oestrogen to induce breast development as part of early female puberty. Clinical notes show that shortly afterwards Brenda [David] rejected Money’s recommendations of surgery to create a vagina. From the age of thirteen Brenda began no longer to identify as a girl, reporting feelings of suicidal depression. At age fourteen, Brenda’s father told him about the sex reassignment process. Brenda shortly after took the name David and began living as a boy. In early adulthood David underwent treatment to reverse sex reassignment, including testosterone injections, a double mastectomy, and phalloplasty operations.

Throughout this period Money continued to publish on the experiment as a success, despite it being known by him that Brenda, originally Bruce, was now living as David. Only when Reimer opened his life to academic Milton Diamond did the devastating outcome of Money’s experiment become public knowledge and his research was exposed as fraudulent. Reimer committed suicide in 2004 at the age of 38. Leading gender theorist Judith Butler wrote shortly after David took his own life, ‘It is unclear whether it was his gender that was the problem, or the ‘treatment’ that brought about an ‘enduring suffering for him’, as if it were a riddle or great mystery.

The scarce amount of academic literature utilising the work of Money today might seem to indicate the widespread rejection of his methods, but the impact of these grievous scientific errors, if we can term medical violence against children under the name of science, remains paramount in informing contemporary accounts of gender identity. This is most obvious in the status of the Charing Cross Gender Identity Clinic (GIC), the largest, most renowned Gender Identity Clinic in the UK. The Charing Cross GIC from 1994 has employed Money’s colleague, Dr. Richard Green as its Director of Research. This appointment came only seven years after Green published, The ‘Sissy Boy Syndrome’ and the Development of Homosexuality. Green is important not just because of his direct link to Money, but also because he was the sole colleague to publicly defend Money. Green claimed in a BBC interview that:

“With the benefit of hindsight, based on what we knew at the time about how you become male or female or boy or girl, with the advantage of hindsight knowing the difficulties to say the least of creating a penis surgically, the decision that John Money made at the time was the correct one. And I would have made the same one at that time.”

What the failed Reimer experiment and subsequent ‘hindsight’ amounted to was a conclusion that gender identity is not simply socially constructed, but also innate. The dominant position within psychology is that sexual difference is mapped onto the brain. For over two decades a myriad of neurological research has emerged from the Western psychological establishment arguing that male and female brains are ‘differently wired’. This research has been heavily promoted in mainstream media, but equally heavily challenged by feminist authors like Cordelia Fine.

How did we get from there to here?

Gender identity, a construct created in the United States, has crossed the pond and gone global. American cultural imperialism is hardly a new phenomenon, but how exactly did gender identity come to appear on so many campuses in the United Kingdom within the last decade? The consensus around gender identity inside the humanities, emanating primarily from U.S campuses, has been established over the last three decades mainly by Queer Theorists who sought to outflank structuralist accounts of gender, that positioned gender as part of a wider system of social relations that maintain capitalist patriarchy. That systemic approach has been sidelined in favour of concepts like ‘performativity’ and gender as an essentialist quality emanating from ‘inside’ us, something that we are born with.

The emergence of the idea of gender as essential and internal is not a new one. The regressive belief in male and female souls has existed for centuries, often expressed through notions of the sexed male or female brain. It is this notion that feminist Mary Wollstonecraft addressed in her book A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792) stating, ‘There is no female mind. The brain is not an organ of sex. May as well speak of a female liver’. Even Freud a century ago, wrote against the arguments of the sexologists, challenging the idea of a feminine or masculine brain in his Three Essays on Sexuality (1905).

Unfortunately, these ideas continue to dominate mainstream discourse. Gender as an element existing in the brain, or as an innate essence has been taken up and promoted by youth advocacy groups like Gendered Intelligence. For example, Gendered Intelligence organised events around the ‘Trans soul’ entitled The Corpse Project. It may seem surprising that today it is still necessary to dispute the concept of sexed brains or gendered souls, or to argue against dualist claims of the mind or brain as separate from the body, but we have in our arsenal as Marxists a key theoretical tradition, namely; historical materialism.

When Marx famously wrote in 1852, ‘Men [ed: and presumably women!] make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past’ he pointed towards a wider understanding of how the already established social world determines us as subjects within it through social conditions. This is exactly complimentary with the materialist understanding that gender is ‘socially constructed’ – that gender as a system of social relations and norms is socially contouring, creating a web in which we sit and constituting us as gendered subjects (a Marxist understanding considers ‘ideology’ as the key method of this). We, as subjects, do not determine the world around us purely as individuals.

If gender is the system of norms that underpin the social relations and sexual politics between men and women under capitalist patriarchy i.e women’s role within the home and the associated qualities of femininity, such as passivity, the suitability to the private world of the domestic sphere, coupled with the conception of men as embodying masculine traits, such as being outgoing and suited to the public world of work. We can see why it is so important for the existing social order to naturalise and reify these codes of behavior. Women’s subordination must be secured in order to sexually and socially reproduce our societies. Men’s domination must be established to help secure women’s subservience.

The contemporary version of gender ideology with its reliance on femininity and masculinity (women’s subordination and men’s dominance) as inescapable points of reference to understand ourselves, and society, is simply a rearrangement of the building blocks required to accept patriarchy as it exists today.

That men who identify with feminine dress or feminine beauty practices can be considered women only re-establishes the idea women are feminine. Women, as adult human females, have no natural predisposition towards ideological gender norms and radical politics should reject any imposition of the acceptance of femininity as anything other than a social construct designed to secure women’s subjugation. Similarly, masculinity, attributed to men, constructing men, underpins male domination as the natural order.

When women reject femininity and submissiveness, instead seeking power for ourselves, or even engaging in traditionally male activities such as sports, we are sometimes called ‘men’ or ‘mannish’ — as if only men can dominate and structure their environments. Of course, within patriarchy, that is precisely the norm; but we are meant to think of it as natural, rather than merely normative. Gender is needed in order to maintain the social order of male domination and female subjugation.

The best that we, as Marxists can do, is to be truly gender non-conforming by rejecting ‘gender’ entirely.

#Anglo.txt

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imperiuswrecked · 4 years

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Differet anon - I love character analysis, and want all your opinions about Namor, in as much detail as you're willing to provide.

Hello Anon! I have so many opinions about Namor and if you really want then here’s a long meta that covers various things (warning long post ahead):

Now we all know that while Marvel Comics Universe officially begins with the Fantastic Four in the Silver Age, most of the Golden Age isn’t considered “true” MU canon BUT Marvel plays fast and loose with the GA characters and backstories, they pick and choose whatever they like and leave the rest, for instance many GA characters never made it out of the GA however some have in some capacity and the main three who used to be Marvel’s Holy Trinity due to their popularity in the GA were Original Human Torch, Captain America, and the Sub-Mariner. However Marvel took different approaches to bringing them into the SA. For Jim Hammond he was shelved and his superhero name and powers were given to Johnny Storm, the current Human Torch takes his name from his favorite super hero Jim because Johnny used to read comics about the GA heroes and it’s in MU canon that Jim, Steve, and Namor had comics made of their time during WWll. Captain America was put on ice (though this was not revealed until his reemergence in the comics within the pages of the Avengers after Namor’s SA debut) however for Namor, now Namor was special because Stan Lee loved Namor so much that rather than reinvent him like he and Kirby did with the Human Torch, he just brought him into the comics as he was, he gave him amnesia, and Kirby reworked the Atlanteans and Atlantis’s designs and they seamlessly integrated him into the pages of the Fantastic Four.

The reason why I find this so exciting is because Namor has always been a link for connections within the comics, he and Jim Hammond had the very first comic superhero cross over in comic history, this meant that before their crossover, Batman and Superman never hung out, and everyone was in their own universe. Namor then becomes the connection between the Old comics and the New comics when he comes into the SA. Namor connects the X-Men to the wider universe when he appears in their books, he connects Daredevil when he guest stars, and Namor is the reason Steve was found by the Avengers. His actions cause a ripple across comics. Not to mention that Namor as a creation is himself also a connection, he was the first Anti-Hero in a time where such a thing never existed, there was “bad guys vs good guys” only black and white views, there was no grey human mortality involved. His creator, Bill “Blake” Everett was a descendant from William Blake, a Romantic Age Poet and Artist. So the Romanticism and Bryonic elements to Namor cannot be dismissed especially since Everett connects Namor back to more old romantic age stuff when he named him The Sub-Mariner taking inspiration from “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” Another connection Namor has is that he is the prototype Mutant, his ankle wing origin story and how he gained his ability to fly in his teens was covered years before the X-Men were invented in 1963. (Sub-Mariner Comics #38, Published Feb 1955).

In the Golden Age Namor’s childhood is quickly glossed over, but what we do know is that Thakorr, angry at his daughter Princess Fen, for daring to love and marry a human man, locks her away in a cell and within that cell is where Namor was born. Thakorr now realizing he has a male heir but still upset with his daughter releases her and grants her, her life but he also banishes her and the newborn prince as punishment for her actions. He only allows them to return to Atlantis when Namor becomes ten years of age in order to begin his training to become ruler one day. The reason I mentioned earlier that Marvel takes whatever it feels like taking from the GA is because this fact is usually forgotten or glossed over in the comics. However when Namor was a young boy he was beloved by his mother and his only friend, Dorma, and later after she was retconned into being Namor’s cousin, Namora. Other than that Namor was often ostracized for being born different. He endured racism, taunts and his Grandfather abuse as he was growing up. However Thakorr wasn’t stupid and when he and Fen saw what Namor could do, how strong he grew and how he could survive on land, then Namor began to be molded into the “Avenging Son” a weapon of Atlantis and to be used in against the surface world to make them pay for their crimes.

Namor feeling like an outsider and trying to find his place in the world is a core element to the backbone of his character, his morally grey nature allows him more freedom than other characters.

Namor is a very flawed character and I feel he is very relatable because he makes mistakes and rather than ignoring them he faces the consequences for that.

Namor is perhaps the most honest character in Marvel, and I don’t mean as in he himself doesn’t tell a lie now and then but honest as in what you see is what you get and he will cut through the b.s. and tell you exactly what he is thinking whenever he feels like it. Namor will call you out and he makes no apologies for being abrasive or in your face.

Due to his upbringing and also due to Namor having to constantly fight and endure his cousins trying to take his throne by whispering in Thakorr’s ears, the court was not a kind place for the half breed prince, he had to command respect at every opportunity which is why when people disrespect him on the surface world he is quick to assert himself and remind all that he is the king of seas.

Legend of the Blue Marvel (2009) #4

So Namor deals with A LOT which is why he has this salty grumpy outer shell to his personality and not many people get to see the softer side of the Sub-Mariner. He wears this mask of arrogance and confidence but he also backs up everything he says with his actions. Namor is very aware of how others see him and decided long ago that he gives zeros fucks and will do whatever he wants to do, but something that not a lot of writers in the modern age comics get about Namor is that Namor is very honorable just because Namor uses a different moral compass than other heroes doesn’t mean he isn’t a good person in his own way.

Namor hates bullies, being bullied as a child he despises bullies in all forms and often steps in to stop them and takes the side of the underdog. He especially hates child abusers.

Namor respects women, omfg if I have to read another “hot take” from some writer who calls Namor a home wrecking Casanova I will fling myself into the sun. Toxic Masculinity is a thing that people keep trying to attach to Namor but it’s WRONG. This especially happens in the comics where there is Reed/Sue/Namor drama because writers want people to side with Reed and having Namor be a douche and Sue declaring that she would never be with a man like him no matter how hot he is because his personality sucks and Reed is the good choice for Sue. (can you tell I dislike the namorsue ship? lmao)

Namor treats women with respect and would actually fight others who disrespect women, he is a king and a gentleman, however this does not mean that he treats them as inferior. He has had his ass saved by women so many times, he will fight a female villain the same as a male villain, he will listen to women and trust their judgement in situations. Namor is much less likely to trust men and especially men in power due to him growing up under Thakorr’s tyrannic rule.

Namor’s an old school romantic and he loves being in love even if he doesn’t quite know how to make a relationship last (usually because Marvel kills off his love interests).

Namor gives people second chances even if they have betrayed him in the past.

Namor and his mother have a strained relationship, even though they both love each other there’s a wall between them. Fen was crafty, she would do what could to prepare Namor to be king, including keeping secrets from him.

Namor is a loyal person and friend, and once you have his seal of approval he will fight for you.

Namor likes animals far more than he likes people, and I love him for it. He treats scary undersea creatures like pets.

Namor is a very lonely creature who cares far more than he will ever let on and who, no matter what happens, will always stand up to fight for what he thinks is right even if the entire world is against him.

Namor has this thing about touch, he dislikes people touching him without his express permission and when I first starting reading his comics I chalked it up to a part of his arrogant demeanor, then I thought that it might be because he is royalty and there are certain things you just don’t do with royalty and personal touches like a hand on the should might seem to be too familiar and it was a sign of disrespect, however when I read more about Thakorr’s cruelty/abuse I have come to think that its a mix of “Don’t touch me bitch, I’m royalty” and “I won’t let anyone who I don’t like touch me ever again because of the abuse I suffered”.

His soft heart has been hardened by mankind’s cruelty so he protects it. He’s seen more sorrow and pain than others have in their lifetime and he is just a tired old man who wants everyone to leave him alone.

Thanks for letting me ramble on, lmao.

#Anonymous #namor the sub-mariner #namor #long post #meta #comic talk #marvel comics #my ramblings #thanks for asking!#i could go on but like #this is a general meta #ive been typing this out since yesterday #if there was something specific that i could hone in on i would do that too as long as i have a subject for namor #since he has such a long history and i didnt even get into his mental health issues or other stuff though i have talked about #that before on my blog

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sincerelytruly · 5 years

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Reasons for Why I Believe Obiyuki could be the “Romance that Cuts through Fate” referenced in the Manga:

In college, I took two amazing courses--scratch that I took one amazing course and one semi-disappointing sub-par course--Fairytales and Graphic Narratives, respectively. And until right this very minute, I believed them to be an utterly, though fascinating, waste of my time and tuition though they made me smile. Okay, it was college so they didn’t always make me smile because finals are the worst but I digress the point I am trying to make is this:

I HAVE AN EPIPHANY CONCERNING MY BELOVED SHIP OBIYUKI DUE TO MY TEACHINGS!!

So, first and foremost the birth of my epiphany came from thinking back to my class on Fairytales when we studied Snow White! (Graphic Narratives didn’t really teach me much other than how to think more critically about...Graphic Narratives, so I guess it really doesn’t deserve any cred for this post TBH, lol.)

But like I said we studied Snow White.

Not this one:

Or whatever this one was supposed to be (sorry not sorry):

But, the original one. There are two versions (maybe there are more but I forgot them if there are) of the Grimm’s version of Snow White. In the very most original version, everything pretty much happens as we all remember it minus the singing: Snow White makes Queen step-trash jealous by her beauty, Queen step-trash tries to have her killed, due to her amazing beauty Hunstman is a wuss and lets her live because he’s weak to a beautiful damsel, Snow White plays Goldilocks and breaks into a dwarven settlement, the dwarves also wuss out and take pity on her because she is pretty and can cook/clean for them, then step-trash gets angry realizing she is, in fact, alive and goes out to kill her herself. Now, this is where everything diverges from what we know. In the original version step-trash has to try several times to kill her. Once with a bodice/corset torture device that basically suffocates her until the dwarves get home and cut her out of it, twice with an evil hair comb that kills her until the dwarves pull it out of her hair, and then thrice with the age-old apple trick. The poisoned magic apple gets lodged in her throat and she becomes a stone statue for all intents and purposes, so what do the dwarves do? What any logical group of men would do with a beautiful woman who isn’t decaying but still dead in their eyes, lock her in a gorgeous crystal casket so that they can still gaze upon her beauty on the daily! From here on there are two different endings to the Snow White saga. The very, very, first one published states that the Prince comes along says, “ooooooooh pretty, let me take her home with me and put her on display” and sits around gazing at her all the time until someone in the castle gets pissed off and hits Snow White’s corpse which dislodges the apple finally and wakes her up. What an awkward way to wake up yeah? And then the poor girl gets married to the Prince--ta-da! The second version makes it a lot better ending for poor Snow White. Someone trips while hauling the casket to the palace and dislodges the apple and then the Prince sweeps Snow White off her feet and yay happy ending they get married and now the Prince doesn’t seem as creepy just staring at a dead person all day long pissing off his staff.

(Whooo that was a lot of background info, sorry, and also I know that I could also do a huge comparison post on the tales of Snow White versus our Shirayuki tale, but that is for another day!!!)

Depending on what you want to go with there are so many ways you can analyze the story of Snow White--all of them, old, less old, new, even our beloved Shirayuki’s story--but one of the things that stick out in my mind is how in every single version of Snow White she is always a trophy of some sort. The Prince is always going to get his trophy wife in the end. Even in Shirayuki’s case, if she does end up with Zen (which I’ll die if she does) she will be nothing but a trophy wife. Even though Zen is precious and certainly not a bad guy by any means, he is a Prince, therefore their relationship will not be the same as normal couples have. She won’t be allowed to be an Herbalist and tend to the sick who may infect her and kill her before she can provide an heir. And poor Zen will still be stuck behind a pile of paperwork and responsibility to his Kingdom that he dearly loves.

But, hey who knows, maybe Sorata will go against the entire universe she has built in her storytelling and let Shirayuki be wild and free and a Prince’s wife...

I think this is where “A Romance that Cuts through Fate” comes in to play. Hopefully, if you’ve made it this far in my post (bless you if you have) you’re thinking what I’m thinking. Or maybe you’re thinking I’m a lunatic.

ANYWHO, IF EVERY SINGLE SNOW WHITE ENDS UP WITH THE PRINCE THEN REALLY HOW IS ZENYUKI A ROMANCE THAT CUTS THROUGH FATE?

It's not. It absolutely is not a story of a romance that cuts through fate. In fact, there are far too many stories out there where a beautiful, nice, happy, girl gets with a Prince way beyond her social status for this to be something un-fateful. Or unheard of or whatever. Every fairytale and most romantic comedies out in the world follow the same old rhyme.

Which is why I am proposing that Obiyuki is the endgame for real.

***WARNING IF YOU’RE NOT CAUGHT UP WITH THE MANGA AND DON’T WANT SPOILED THEN YOU PROBS DON’T WANT TO READ ANY FURTHER!!!***

I feel as though since the moment Obi and Shirayuki were separated by the Bergat house situation, Shirayuki has been more aware of what Obi means to her.

Look at her reaction and even Obi says later on:

That she seemed to be concerned even for him. Now don’t get me wrong I am completely aware that Shirayuki has been plenty concerned for Obi in a platonic sort of way! I’m not a completely foolish fangirl here.

But then that happens. That is something new with Shirayuki. Never is she shown to react that way about what anyone says. Sure she blushes over her lovey-dovey stuff with Zen all the time, but that is something else.

And then that is too. She sees Obi’s reaction--possibly the first time she’s seen him this way (or at least I can’t remember another time) and there’s a look on her face that says, was he being serious maybe? YES SHIRAYUKI HE WAS DAMMIT IN HIS PLAYFUL STUPID BOY WAY YES.

And then this happens--look at that face--I don’t need to say a damn thing on that one. I mean I know she doesn’t love-love him yet (or maybe she does but doesn’t know it) but this is definitely progress, right?

And then the boys get in a tie showing off their masculinity--which I feel really does foreshadow their inevitable head-to-head. I mean ever since the festival with the play of the Knight fighting the Prince for the Princess, I’ve felt that way, but then there is their slight competition for her attention all the time and this arm wrestling and even the fight they had when Obi wanted to be her bodyguard!

These faces, well, I feel as though she is kind of realizing Obi’s worth. I don’t know how else to put it. She is obviously affected by Obi’s marriage meeting and later on when Obi is saying how he is rejecting people even though he knows he attracts people, her face is so loving! Of course that may just be because her friends are there and she is about to pledge her loyalty to everyone or whatever, but I’d like to think it still has a bit to do with what Obi is saying as his statement that he was with her during the dinner party, therefore not flirting with other girls, is in the same panel as the face she is making. Hopefully, that makes sense.

This was a big moment because again I feel as though this is foreshadowing, why else would the author do this?

Then I noticed that Shirayuki starts noticing Obi! Above she notices how his eyes have rounded recently, which to my understanding is an idea that a person is happier. (Idk my Dad has a book on Oriental health practices and whatnot and it talks about eye shape in it and basically how its a window to the state of your being/soul/chi, etc. so this is why I believe this I may be completely off base but the context seems to suggest I’m right!) However, on a side note on Obi’s part I think he is going through the motions of accepting that his fate when it comes to Shirayuki when he says, “I’m seeing more clearly.”

This looks like some flirtation to me on Shirayuki’s part, but also I find it an interesting conversation especially since in the next chapter (below panels) she talks about how she needs to be able to speak about how she wants to live in the future. And also, I feel as though the author loves giving us these panels where they’re reaching for each other but not quite willing or able to touch one another yet, its sweet torture isn’t it?

The panels above show again how she has finally taken notice of Obi and thanked him for all he has done for her. I know it’s not a declaration of love, and she probably plans on talking to Izana about living her future with Zen, but I think this is a step in the right direction because in what world is this conversation with Izana going to go well? I mean, Izana, though I believe he likes Shirayuki, is not going to change the rules for her as it comes to the Royal family. So, I think we may soon see some development in Shirayuki’s relationships with both Zen and Obi. I tend to think that she has really put some thought into how she wants to live her life now, and I also think that she is strong enough of a person now to reject anything other than what she deserves.

I also find it interesting how Obi keeps his cool when Shirayuki compliments him on his looks and then awkwardly says:

What does interesting mean, Obi?!

But anyway, that brings us up to date with the manga and my reasons for believing that the “Romance that Cuts through Fate” applies to Obiyuki NOT Zenyuki. I hope I was able to coherently share my thoughts and feelings on this and not completely bore whoever may have been strong enough to make it to the end of my rambles.

#obiyuki #obi and shirayuki #obi x shirayuki #shirayuki and obi #shirayukixobi #my OTP

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klein-archive · 4 years

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Some notes on phantasy and environment, and male and female strivings

8th January 2020

There are some files in the Melanie Klein archive that are hard to categorise, as they appear to have been compiled from a miscellany of notes that do not always cohere. Perhaps they simply ended up, for one reason or another, in the same pile of papers in Klein’s office at the time of her death. Some pages are repeated several times, with or without editing. Such files can be frustrating to study and make sense of, yet they are often well worth the effort. PP/KLE/D.26 is one such file, and consists of 96 separate sheets (presented as numbered images in the Wellcome Library’s digital file). The time of creation is not clear, but in image 1 there is a reference to ‘post war’, suggesting that at least some of the pages were written after 1945.

In the Wellcome catalogue, file D.26 is part of a series (D.23-27) entitled ‘Notes for possible books or papers’. This is not exactly specific, and the individual heading for D.26 is equally general: ‘Notes on various topics (older versions of paper) Extra Material. Lecture 11 Early Situation. Lecture 1 Internalisation. Mother and Baby Situation. Love and Reparation.’

Some of the papers mentioned in this rather unwieldy heading probably formed part of a lecture series on child analysis, which was given to training candidates at the Institute of Psychoanalysis. Also in this file are extracts from the first of Klein’s ‘Lectures on Technique’ (these can be found in full in files C.52 and C.53, and were published by John Steiner in 2017).

I have honed in on two themes from this disparate collection that I think are worth noting: first, Klein’s emphasis on the importance of the interaction of innate unconscious phantasy with actual experience of the external world (the environment), beginning in earliest infancy. There are many other examples of this throughout Klein’s work, noted by Elizabeth Bott Spillius and colleagues in The New Dictionary of Kleinian Thought under: ‘External world/environment’.

Second, I have extracted passages in which Klein describes what she perceives as the different strivings of men and women, based on differing unconscious preoccupations. Her emphasis in these notes is mostly on women.

Although little, if any, of the material here is newly discovered (or rediscovered), it is always stimulating to read through Klein’s rough notes, before they were edited and polished into complete papers.

(The following notes are found online as Wellcome image numbers 42-43, followed by 46. These are typed pages with corrections and additions in Klein’s handwriting.)

The interaction of unconscious phantasy with the infant’s experience.

The environmental influence – to begin with the attitude of the mother and the detailed ways in which she nurses the baby and looks after him – is of great importance for the building up of his phantasies, and thus also for his present and future object relations. Her love and care will from the very beginning help him to develop towards phantasies of a pleasant kind and to the development of more good and helpful images, and also give him more support against his early anxiety situations. Lack of understanding on the part of mother or nurse on the other hand will work in the opposite direction and reinforce the development of persecution phantasies. But to a certain though varying degree, persecution phantasies will be experienced by the infant and dangerous internal and external objects will become active in his mind, even if the mother is perfectly loving. Sadistic phantasies and impulses and the anxieties to which they give rise spring from intrapsychic sources. They are influenced by the environmental factor but can never be eliminated. Also, no matter how loving the mother is, frustrations there are and must be from the moment of delivery from the womb, and they all go towards the development of aggressive phantasies and the building up of persecuting imagos, as do the various bodily sensations and unpleasant internal and external stimuli which the baby experiences from birth onwards. But if we could imagine for a moment a child without aggressive phantasies, and thus also without persecution phantasies, we should soon realise that the aggressive impulses, and even anxieties of various kinds, are not only of high importance for the whole of development, but even stimulate and promote it if they are not too strong. Needless to say the less anxiety a child goes through the better. There is always enough, (I daresay too much) to stimulate the development.

Summing up, I should say that phantastic imagos are the result of the child’s phantasy life and instinctual urges, on the one hand, and of internal and external stimuli and real frustrations and deprivations and the people in the child’s environment on the other. One can be sure that in every case all these elements come into play in varying degrees. The point I want to stress here is, that there exists in the infant, side by side with his relations to real objects – but on a different plane as it were – relations to his phantastic imagos. These two kinds of object relations intermingle and colour each other in the course of development, and the first steps in this direction occur when the child gets to know his mother as a whole and loved person, which is roughly between the ages of three to five months.

The partial realisation that the loved objects and the hated ones, the real people and the imaginary figures, both external and internal, are somehow bound up with each other, compels the ego to unify its imagos to some extent. Having made these crucial and extremely painful steps, and having then arrived at a plane nearer to reality, the ego takes at once recourse to some mechanisms which are of fundamental importance for the relation to our objects and for mental economy in general. The ego splits again its imagos into loved and hated, i.e. into good and dangerous ones, at the same time projecting its internalized objects into the external world, and thus distributing both its anxiety and its libido again onto real objects. By attaching his hate and anxiety to some people and his love to others the child is able to gain more trust in some people. Since at the time he introjects these good objects, also his belief in the figures he feels to be inside him becomes strengthened. A successful interplay of these processes leads to a mitigation of the dangerousness of the imagos, which in turn enables the ego to make further steps towards their unification. But this unification is always bound to certain limits. Even in the normal grown up mind there remain operative, to a certain extent, internal and external objects which have, as it were, an independent existence of their own, and which become active as soon as hate is [the sentence is interrupted here and the rest is found in image 82, as follows:] stirred up by frustrations and anxiety is increased for internal or external reasons.

Notes on female and male strivings

[Image 1: this is written in pencil by Klein on a fragment of paper]

The selfish relation of the mother to her children. Also protection in another sense by satisfying her vanity, possessions etc.

[Image 10: typed; begins mid-sentence and seems to be a continuation from a previous lost page]

mother – in which means having one’s desires and needs satisfied and receiving protection – persists too strongly into adult life, then the woman’s relation to the man will also have something of this character. This kind of relationship in which love mainly consists in receiving love, satisfaction, admiration and protection from the man is by no means rare nowadays, although, owing to the alterations in social and economic conditions it is less obvious than in pre-war days.

[Image 11: typed]

Capacity to detach oneself sufficiently from the early ties has the effect of allowing one to grow up, because then new relationships will not simply be built on the pattern of the old one – which implies that the feelings of guilt towards the parents are not so strong. E.g. if a daughter develops to her husband a relationship which is not just a repetition of the one she wanted to have with her father she will feel that she has not just taken away her mother’s husband, she can feel equal to her mother, the childish situation diminishes, and gives way to a situation of equality which is adequate for a grown- up relation.

[Image 15: typed with Klein’s annotations in pencil]

Notes.

Any work which gives satisfaction

For the woman, any work which has to do with the house, with the garden, with writing a book, - all that has to do with reparation of mother’s body, creation of babies etc.

Activity of men – all things connected with penis

Feminine in man and masculine in woman.

Relation to external – work with other people, and doing something which is felt to be good for the whole organisation

[Images 17-18: typed with Klein’s corrections and annotations]

The woman’s feelings of love and her urge to make restoration play an important part in her sublimations and activities. Her interests, in her domestic life, or in creative work of any kind, though this may be undertaken for loved people and will have their real values, are largely influenced by her urge to produce babies, to take care of them and thus also to restore what in her phantasies she has injured.

In her phantasies, the house, with all its details, the garden, with the flowers she grows, or a book she might write stand also for her own body and her mother’s body, and her activity and creativeness are thus influenced by her wish to make restoration, which, as we know, is partly due to an interaction between love and hate.

The interests and the creativeness of the man find expression, as we know, in somewhat different ways. They are directed mainly towards the external world, although of course there are similarities between his and the woman’s type of productiveness in so far as he has feminine traits. The fact that his activities and interests are in general more concerned with external things has to do with the part he plays in procreation, in which he gives out what the woman takes in.

Now in his phantasies which originate in early childhood, and in which the interactions of feelings of love and hate and the urge to restore play an important part, his genital comes to stand for all creative power, and becomes linked up with all constructive tendencies and capacities.

What I have just said is of course not an attempt at an explanation of the most complex phenomena of the work and sublimations of [stops abruptly here]

[Images 26-28: typed with Klein’s handwritten corrections and additions]

The importance of this world established inside the self is much greater with the woman than with the man, for the very reason that it is inside her body that the important reproductive processes go on by which the child is received and developed. In the little girl’s phantasies…the inside of her body is full of people and things and feelings of a good and of a destructive kind, and she is unconsciously deeply concerned with the state of this world… Babies play a most important part in this phantasy world. In the little girl’s phantasies her mother’s inside is full of babies, put into it by the father’s penis. But since phantasies are felt to be real to the child, she also possesses babies inside her, and they are the babies which she wants to receive from her father, and thus in her phantasy has actually received. She cherishes these babies as the very best things in her inside, and thus become for her the proof of goodness and value in herself. This of course can only be explained by the fact that the woman’s unconscious relation to the inside of her body is of this very special kind that I have described.

The great importance that women attach to their bodies is in this way misleading. Their deepest unconscious interests, their concern, their love and anxiety are focussed on the world inside themselves, and particularly on the baby which they contain – first it is in phantasy and then in reality. These factors contribute greatly to the strength of the feelings the woman has towards the child growing inside her and to the baby to which she has given birth. Besides all the things which I have already mentioned, the fact that this baby stands as a test for the goodness of her internal world has a fundamental influence on her relation to her actual child.

It is well known that as soon as a mother has given suck to her child her feelings towards it deepen. Because out of her body she produces the very good stuff which is essential for the child’s needs and gratification and which provides the means of its growth… But in giving suck she also plays as it were her mother’s part, who is now in her phantasy again having a child to love and to take care of and she thus recreates the old family situation. In this way she makes reparation in her mind for her past aggressive and jealous phantasies in which she robbed her mother of children. But in addition to this she shares her child’s pleasure, by returning in phantasy back to her own babyhood. She thus reverses the relationship of mother and child and experiences a happy renewal of her early attachment to her mother and improves on it.

[Image 30: extract]

The woman has desired a baby from her very earliest days, and the gratification of at last having it relieves the pain of the old frustrations and of the old grievance that she has been denied it. This tends to reduce her aggressive impulses, and thus allows her more possibilities for loving her child.

[Image 31: extract]

…all the mother’s good and constructive tendencies now have scope. The gratification of being able to love, which is closely connected with the relief of the sense of guilt, [stops abruptly here]

[Image 33]

I mentioned before that in a way the woman is recreating the old family situation, but is recreating it in a happy way. Thus she is making up to her mother for having injured or robbed her of her babies out of jealousy and envy; and since the child also stands for the woman’s own brothers and sisters, which as a child she had also attacked in her aggressive phantasies, the brothers and sisters also, when she loves her baby and takes care of it, are restored and put right.

References

Spillius, E. Bott et al (2011) The New Dictionary of Kleinian Thought. London: Routledge. (See entry entitled, ‘External world/environment’.)

Steiner, J. (2017) Lectures on Technique by Melanie Klein. London: Routledge.

#melanie klein #child analysis #psychoanalysis #psychological development #unconscious phantasy #motherhood #infancy #oedipus complex #imagos #object relations

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blogcxnflictingethnic-blog · 5 years

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The Beginning of My Story

Hello and welcome, this is the first of many blogs, posts and content that will be published on different mediums and hopefully it will be insightful and applicable too many. The reason I am spending time writing blogs and creating content is because I have learned that one of my goals in life is to raise awareness about the difficulties of being raised in conflicting environments as well as the impact that can have on that individuals mental health. The other reason is that I love coaching, teaching, mentoring individuals and enabling them to maximize their worth. What I have recently learned is that being different and unique is more than okay, it can actually have numerous benefits to an individuals growth and adaptability in different situations.

Before I can continue, you may be asking yourself what prompted a person to take on a task that can’t be technically “completed” or have a monetary value associated with it. Trust me if you know me, you know this isn’t a typical endeavour I would participate in or take up, but after reading the book “Grit” I have begun to realize that I wasn’t just put into my situation to do what I am best at, but rather what I enjoy, and what I enjoy is learning and spreading awareness. Also, I have recently returned from vacation and have a better understanding towards the lack of awareness of growing up in two different environments, two different, families, two different cities, two different ethnicities etc. and the impact it can potentially have on an individual. Honestly what triggered this is the final dinner I had with my family and friends on vacation, and (arguably one of the smartest men I know) asked me a unique question during the topic of racism, “I know externally people deem you as Black or African American however which do you identify with more?” This question made me think hard for a bit and then I realized there is no singular answer for this question. If I don’t grow and evolve and my perspective of life doesn’t change along my own personal journey then am I truly living or am I just on auto-pilot?

Some of you may be wondering how I answered this or why this triggered me. Before I provide you with that let me provide you with a high level summary of who I am and you will then realize why this question stumped me.

My name and who I am at this time is irrelevant due to many different reasons. However I can tell you in due time I will give you a face and a name to associate with these stories and content. Why will I not give you an identity? Well it is quite simple, if you don’t know me you probably think I am not revealing myself because I don’t want my story to be associated with me or that I do not want to be perceived as weak. But realistically it is the complete opposite, the people who truly know me know my story and know that I am thinking of the bigger picture.

This question can be answered in two parts; first I don’t want the issues that I will discuss be associated with a single entity, my story can be altered and mirrored in another individuals life and I want to incorporate their stories throughout this story telling journey. Second I don’t want people to think I am doing this for recognition or to attract followers etc. I want people to know that there are others out there who are going through the a similar struggle and may feel lost or directionless, and I want to provide them with a medium to relate to. However as this adventure continues and I feel at the time it is appropriate for others to know who I am, it will be shown at this time.

As I mentioned, my name is irrelevant however my story is not. The reason being is that my story and life has been very unique and needs to be told. As I mature and grow I have begun to realize how applicable my life story can be in parts of other individuals lives and that I was born for a greater purpose. The amount of puzzle pieces that had to come together, and events that had to happen for me to be here today is mind-blowing and as I go each piece will be revealed (purposefully and accidentally) but for a starting point I am a 25 year old male who has a university degree and graduated with honours, has worked in sales since I was 17, I have three siblings, I live with a Kenyan roommate, I have no debt and I have a wonderful girlfriend (who will most likely help me with this). This seems typical for any 25 year-old and you may be asking yourself at this point, “this kid has had no fucking struggle, why all the buildup and who does he think he is to discuss these point.” Well let’s put it this way, if you were on my instagram this is most likely the conclusion you would have come to. But underlying all of this is a struggle with mental health, physical health, and to be blunt a pretty confusing upbringing. First and foremost I was an accident child, created because of a malfunctioning condom that ripped. My mum is the palest of whites and ginger, whereas my dads nickname is “darkness.” My sibling relationships are also just as confusing as my biological makeup, both of my sisters are half-white and half-black (my dad likes the whites) and we are all a year a part. The youngest is 24, I am 25 and the oldest is 26, we all also have different mums and different upbringings and we met my younger sister by accident (I will expand in a different blog). My little brother, the light of my eye, is 15 and we have the same mum but different dads. He is white and ginger and looks apart of the family, whereas I half-black, am tall, tattooed and do my own thing. Everyone knows I would take a bullet for my brother, but you must acknowledge that this would be all very confusing for a young child who does not know which race he identifies with.

*This will all be discussed in a lot more depth throughout these posts*

By the age of 14 I was drinking, fucking, smoking, partying and my athletic journey was coming to an end. My life was a contradiction, I had seen the lowest of the low by the time I was 10. My family had money and I was living in the white-suburbs with people who had been catered to all of their lives. They have never eaten at soup kitchens, seen people robbed, heard or seen gunshots, seen dog fights, didn’t know when their next meal was coming etc. While I was growing up I was going back and forth between these lifestyles, as my father lived in hood of the city and my mum lived in the suburbs. This meant that depending on who I was with I would act in two different way but because of this I lost my own personal identity, which I have slowly begun to recapture. But because of all this I never truly related to anyone and always felt like an outsider, and this lead to using substances to numb my pain and internal struggle.

During this time, looking back on it now, I was also struggling immensely with my mental health. However while I was growing up I would say I was a victim of toxic masculinity or it had an immense impact on my life as I was unable to discuss my emotions and figure out how I felt and verbalize my internal struggles. Being honest, I thought it was just hormones and growing up having these conflicting struggles but as it turns out it wasn’t and well here we are. Now most of you may know that people who suffer with mental health generally turn to drugs as a way to escape their perceived reality, or being self-mediating because they have acknowledged their own struggles but others will not listen and help you with your struggle. But I began to use heavily in university which resulted in an “accidental attempted suicide.” Which just means that subconsciously I was taking drugs and living recklessly as I had lost the will to live and be around others essentially. This all resulted in me going to rehab in my final year of university and still graduating with honours that year.

Other little things that will be discussed a long this adventure is the lost of my longest friend to suicide, who is now tattooed on me, the suicide of my best friends dad where I was actually with him when it happened and still went and wrote two exams the next day, dating a controlling woman who wanted to retain all power over me, and struggles with authority and my parental figures.

This has been a lot of information for me to discuss in such a short blog so I am going to end this post now and conclude it with this last paragraph. As much as I have stated that this to help others I will acknowledge that this will be very beneficial for me as well, and as I have matured I have realized that yes at one point my life and mental health were complete shiet, but I was able to overcome my struggles and am now quite successful and happy. Understanding that I have struggled and have overcome it, and am open to discussing my issues will hopefully lead to a further understanding about the impact of one’s environment while being raised, struggling with drugs, perseverance, and if it can just help one individual then this will have all been worth it.

All in all from here on out I will be focusing on a singular aspect of my life and expanding on it, as well as bringing other people in to tell their story and provide some external context as to who I am.

Bye for now!

#mental health #mental illness #life #health & fitness

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lovehaswonangelnumbers · 5 years

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New Post has been published on https://lovehaswonangelnumbers.org/balancing-of-the-masculine-feminine/

Balancing of the Masculine & Feminine

By Blue Beyond Guide

RAW & REAL PERSONAL UPDATE – HOT OFF THE PRESS, AS IS, SCATTERED NOTES OF SCATTERED ENERGIES BEING BROUGHT BACK TOGETHER AS I WROTE THIS – To read this in itself is a massive healing to do so

PAST INJUSTICES SURFACING

Blue Beyond Guide 3rd September 2019

I’ve just been in an intense 12hr process of both Spirit and Soul

Of past injustices, no matter how big or small, something we haven’t let go of is SURFACING – to be let go of

This took me 12hrs straight of personal processing to push through and work through this – 12 hrs for myself in a very long time in a one single focused feeling process like this – to bring this down, through from Spirit in 12D, through to 7D to 5D in the Human being to share with you all

(New post of ‘It is what it is’ coming soon with more on/about myself in all I AM for those souls who are newly arrived here in this Divine Space that are not aware of my role/purpose and my personal truth of all I AM)

Now, for myself, being who I AM and all the injustices I have personally gone through with the military as a Trailblazer for females for the whole of Australia and other things, this is a LOT – and for you too

As being a Libran born under the scales of justice, I’ve taken things to the highest courts in Australia and so on and have put my life on the line many times for injustice

The head went into non-stop crazy thoughts and feelings and has for 2-3 days now, slowly building up to push through of a crescendo of reaching a place of ‘I cant live like this anymore’

Now for me that is okay due to going through so much as well to bring through what I do from 7D and yet I want to be gentle in sharing this as so many are a bit fragile right now in going through so much

Yet share I will as guided as this may assist you in what you are going through…

I was feeling and processing for ALL around and linked to me in recent times, the last month, to reach a point of surrender and letting go when the big AHA came just now, which is shared further below of what that was

As also, I did not feel my God source connection or to my higher self…I noticed it and had to pursue further as to why that was…read on…

This is a HUGE balancing of the Masculine and Feminine with this btw

Pushing through past old thoughts that were going around and around and with others energies I had been linked to recently as well, as there has been a lot, just as you have a lot of links with other as well…

For me, I knew ‘something’ was going on as I was not clear about a trip I wanted to plan to visit my mother again…I just let it go for a few days as it usually comes…yet it was a few days and no signal or message AT ALL…

THEN last night, I was watching something and a message came through something someone said, LOUD and CLEAR of ‘YOU HAVE GOT TO WANT TO DO IT’

Something slammed me inside of some things I have wanted to do but just somehow they were not happening and one thing I had been working through layers and levels for some weeks now…

Somewhere inside I did not want to go and this was blocking me – yes I was not conscious of this!

Heightened emotions from injustices that we are much better at handling now yet we need to speak up and say something or we need to let it go – one or the other, it just depends

This may seem a small thing but it was SO BIG…I felt this through all layers and levels and BOOM realised a part of me did not want to go to visit my mother…also with another area of wanting to start a new routine of walking…just enough of not wanting to walk due to birds attacking me and past bones being broken, was enough to STOP ME!!

Confusion muddled thoughts of ‘I can’t live like this anymore’ of energies being held in Spirit that were blocked with the thoughts from coming down to link the Spirit to Soul

Mainly past injustices coming up and blocking our link from Spirit to Soul – from past lives

Feel into if you want to do something, really want to or is part of you not wanting to, thats enough to block ourselves and its the not realising that is what we are feeling that we don’t want to do it, as I didn’t!!

A big cycle is starting to shift and turn now as I do this and write this…like a wheel that had stopped around us and is now turning in this realisation resonation for ourselves

A completion cycle of New Beginnings…

Another example:

The injustice of someone’s dad dying was enough to block self help, self healing!! Of holding onto this in Spirit and somewhere in the core of ones soul that is linked to past lifetime of losing someone unfairly or unjustified

Now this was being held in for over 25yrs!!!

Vit C, double dose, Spirit and Soul am told for a few days at least, until one reaches saturation point = diarrhoea

As we have been in a VOID within ourselves – it started 2-3 weeks ago and amplified in the last few days…wow wow and just wow…

SOLAR PLEXUS HEALING FROM JANUARY THIS YEAR – yes that BIG…here and now, pushing through this of what do I really not want to do with and in my life, that I was not aware of before reading this to dig deeper in a very new energy space to get to the core of us in a way like no other

Persist, persist and persist with yourself…as I have been working on my Solar Plexus, quietly in the background for the whole year so far!!

And now this finally new breakthrough to start embodying further in our Soul, our human body with our Spirit in a New Galactic way or energy…

To not only be Multidimensional in Spirit yet also to be and bring this through more and more into being Multidimensional in the HUman being with BOTH LINKED – both Spirit and Soul and through the human core emotions of the Soul to breakthrough into a new era

Of a new Golden Light Era….

Namaste Anastacia

Just now driving to an appointment I automatically took another path, road…I noticed and just went with it fully feeling this new path…I came to a red light with a green arrow and laughed, significant – pulling out of car spot, lady didn’t move over enough and just squeezed through and laughed, significant…ordered my coffee from local shop on the way, walked in, it was ready just as I walked in and a free one today, significant..pulled out of car park a young man turned around without looking and walked right in my path and I pulled up in time, significant…pull up to the lights, car next to me left a whole car space gap in front of the lights as the first car, significant..

Came here and wrote this, significant

And now got the tap to go away over night…Skype session first. You know when I get the tap BIG things to bring through newly

As always I AM right here with you

We are Masters – We are Ascending – And we are Gathering

Much Unconditional Love, Truth and Honesty

Anastacia Kompos Blue Ray Elder Guide – Multidimensional Master Healer/Teacher/Guide

All Anastacia shares is from experiencing energies herself firstly to the planet, in 7D human embodiment as an Ascension Pioneer/Trailblazer. She feels the energies through her Soul and Spirit to bring through to5 humanity. The layer underneath with the above – a clear vessel of Supreme Divine White Rainbow light.

Of having been in 5D-Zero Point for 13yrs with her mission/role – to assist-guide others to link their Soul to their Spirit/Higher Self through their EMOTIONS – to progressively merge their Spirit/Higher Self into the human into New Earth 5D energies as an Ascended Earth Master in the physical.

As a Multidimensional 5D Ascended Earth Master Anastacia does this in real-time experience – both as a template FOR humanity as a Rainbow Bridge of Spirit to Soul and WITH all of HUmanity

By working on herself to the core of her soul consciously for 24yrs this lifetime and past lives, to the beginning of time – from the Ancient Ones

******

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wolvesdevour · 5 years

Text

How Not to Write Gay Stories

I’m very torn between writing two different posts and there’s a chance these may combine, so we’ll see how this goes. There are two topics that are in my mind a fair amount: gay fetishism by women authors (both in fanfic & professional writing), and how to translate fanfic writing skills to professional writing (and how it can fail). Miraculously, perhaps, the book I just read, How (Not) To Ask a Boy to Prom by SJ Goslee is a fairly good example of both of these.

The problem with addressing gay fetishism among women authors is that when is it fetishistic versus well-meaning? It’s hard for me to say why the originators of gay slash fic wrote the way they did, but its hard to miss that when fanfic especially grew prominent, over 80% of writers were women. In Star Trek fandom, the first gay slash fic was published by a woman in 1974: A Fragment Out of Time. By 1973, 90% of ST fan writers were women.

To clear the air a little: women writers can write good gay stories. One of series I am currently read, The Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb, includes many gay men, some of which are centered POVs. I will not say she is a perfect author, but I deeply enjoy how she writes men. For a good portion of the series, she shows a man growing up: he starts as a young boy, and we see how the men around him teach him to be a man. A very good portion of the lessons stray away from toxic masculinity. He is still taught to be a man, and there are certain “this is a manly trait” aspects (although when she features women as forefront POV, she often includes very similar lessons: ultimately nothing is exclusive to one’s sex, but society is what it is and they may learn lessons differently or overcome different hurdles).

She addresses writing gay men in this interview: Here’s the thing - when I meet a person, their gender identity is most often not the most important thing about them. If we become friends, it’s not because my first impulse is, “I will be friends with you because you’re female.” I mean, there’s a lot of women I can’t stand. There’s a lot of men that I absolutely can spend hours talking to. There are a lot of people on the whole gender spectrum and whether I become friends with them or not has nothing to do with that, so when I am writing these characters, although in some ways gender can influence a plot - for instance, if you want the prince and the princess to get married and live happily ever after in a medieval setting, gender is going to influence that - but for the most part, gender is not much more important than who has blue eyes. What’s more important is who is a skilled navigator, who is tough enough to survive a bad situation, who can think on their feet and find the creative solution to a problem they haven’t encountered before, and that’s got nothing to do with gender. So it was not that I said, “Gee, I will write a book with gay characters.” It was, I’m writing a book, this character has stepped out onto the stage, he’s told me about him- or herself, and this is who they are. As I said: I’m not here to say that women cannot write gay stories. But there is also gay fetishism. I am both a gay man and a trans man; I get a lot of “OMG, you’ll love this!” and cis or straight people presenting me with things that appear inclusive or caring. I personally don’t find memes like “Steve Rogers is a transwoman!”** or whatever amusing. Am I, say, happy to see that Loki is canonically not straight nor cisgender? Yes. I love that. (Does that potentially make Victor von Doom not straight, uh, I like to think so.) I like reading LGBT+ stories, but a good portion of them may not interest me, especially if the writer isn’t part of that demographic and has a tendency to post a lot of art, writing, or discuss a lot of how hot, cute, or general appealing it is that a character or couple are LGBT. That creeps me out. I’m not alone. Very not alone. Absolutely not alone. Here’s another post, this time by a woman that I appreciate:

The worst thing,” one gay friend said, “is that [women in the slash community] aren’t listening to me. You’re not listening when I tell you that you’re being hurtful.”

What I find especially difficult to convey is the nuances to when women write gay men versus when men do. I’ve been trying to collect “gay stories written by gay men” although due to publishing bias, this can be very difficult: As a queer, trans reader, I looked forward to seeing myself in their pages. But I was surprised to find that some LGBTQ-focused stories were reflecting not me, but a straight person’s imagination of me. [Link 1]

The current transman story I like is seen in Early Riser by Jasper Fforde. The character utterly blindsided me in a great way: he never appeared “omg trans” until it was forced to come to light. I appreciate him as well, as a character, because in a harsh survival world, he is a man who survives well. I especially see a lot of “transmen are soft uwu such boi” and I despise this. I did not survive everything in my life to be diminished to pastels and cute/sweet and childish-boyish characteristics. Similarly, as a gay man, I am not there to be pretty, to serve as a fashion guru for straight people, to be soft and pretty and welcoming. And that’s not how gay men write themselves. This isn’t how transmen write themselves. As a writer, I struggled a lot on how to depict trans characters, and my largest lesson (and I certainly hope to published one day, but who knows) is that I never saw good examples of myself because most typically they are written by straight, cis women. So what is so wrong with Goslee’s How (Not) To Ask A Boy to Prom? (There will absolutely be spoilers.) The main character is a teen boy who has long hair, loves succulents aggressively, loves narwhals, and has no male friends. His school is supportive of gay men: a very popular football player is gay and has supportive friends, another gay teen (who becomes his boyfriend) has very supportive friends. For some reason, this gay teen is incapable to do anything for himself. He loves art, doesn’t do sports, doesn’t really connect with his foster parents, and seems overly attached to his sister. He is effectively a very flat and “soft” person. Some guys are, of course. Some gay guys are more art, less sports. But the other men? Si & Bern? They’re equally soft. Si is described as soft, beautiful, kind, sweet. He has zero personality. He is described the same way, every time, and is overly described as soft, all men are soft, it’s like they bathe in fabric softener. Bern, the “bad boy” is barely... That. He is supposed to be gruff to the main character, but for the good portion, he is like the main character (Nolan), and Si. They are all the same person, ultimately.

Bloom might be a good comparison to How (Not) To Ask a Boy to Prom. This is written by a man (Kevin Pancetta) and illustrated by a woman (Savanna Ganucheau). I don’t like the character design. Most of the gay men I showed it to asked if at one of the guys (or both) are women. But it is a story about a frustrated kid who wants to move out of his small town to Baltimore (okay: as a Marylander who grew up in a very small town and eventually moved to Baltimore, I kinda.... Get this), but meets another man who is older, but not creepily too old for him, and its a romance & vague coming of age story. If you grew up in a small city as LGBT+, it’s hard to find your sense of self. You miss out a lot on life; I think Ari reflects that: he wants to be himself. A lot of this enters into my point 2: The problem of being a fanfic writer, or the pitfalls of translating fanfic writing skills to professional writing. Nolan is not a person; he has no strong characteristics. We’re told he likes narwhals and succulents, he is a foster child, he’s gay, and I have trouble quantifying him the way I do Ari because he’s so devoid of personality. Si is probably the least developed character at all, as the “perfect, Apollo-esque gay football player.” Bern is maybe the most developed, going from gruff-mean guy to gay softy--a motorcycling math nerd. The problems with fanfic writing is that it is based on knowing characters. As fanfic writers, we don’t have to nail down reality, because there’s a whole piece devoted to who they are. We’re just filling in those blanks. The author seems to primarily be a Teen Wolf fanfic writer (her bio lists “werewolves,” but her tumblr blog is very devoted to Teen Wolf, so well). This brings up another creepy pitfall, which is beyond slash fic writing, there is the aspect of word usage. If you’ve been following my vague live-reading, I’ve been posting about the massive references to “puppy” and other trends. It is creepy to read out of context.

It seems, according to reviews, that Goslee has trouble with this in her other book, Whatever: or how junior high became totally f$@ked. She has a stream of consciousness that doesn’t explain the main character’s thoughts or the world very well. In fanfic writing, this would end up being a slow burn. “Oh, but are they really going to date?” etc. In How Not, Nolan fake-dates Bern, and googles this concept, finding fanfic works. This gets weird for me, because it’s supposed to be an inside joke, I guess? “Hey teeny nerds: fanfics” but most gay men I know have a difficult relationship with fanfic and with fan community due to fetishism. We get pressed out of spaces a fair amount because of it. (One link above, the Mary Sue one, discusses how women do this.) Of course, this is meant to be a cute, happy book, right? Alright, it’s a cute, upbeat story. Except we don’t get a very good baseline for the world. Bern & Si’s friends are supportive. We get a form of negativity from Bern’s mother, who wishes he’d date his ex-gf, I think? (Bern is bisexual.) Or maybe just date women. So is there homophobia in this world or not? We aren’t given a good sense how Nolan’s parents feel that he is gay? It seems to wholly not discuss his foster parents barring “they are aggressively competitive, Tom makes crazy food concoctions and Marla talks to him about dating Bern.” As a whole, the parents are extremely unimportant other than they provide a home and food. Are they unusual for the area? (And knowing PA, that state can have some major issues.) Or is it common in this world? Is there a reason to not hand-hold? Do they every worry about homophobia when outside school? Do the teachers say shit? There is a lot to consider. The world-building is deeply lacking. Beyond the lack of world, we get a lot of fanfic trope writing. A lot of this I’ve seen from people on my dash who are Teen Wolf fans. I used to like the show & follow TW blogs; I’m not a massive fanfic reader (*ahem* a lot of gay fetishism), but I have read it. For series like TW, you may see what I consider “animalistic tropes;” such as tackling, growling, etc. There is a lot of this. A lot of people are tackling each other to the ground, growling, and there’s this weird moment when Bern grabs the nape of Nolan’s neck that while some men do this, it felt very strange in the moment, particularly aggressively? Because the author openly admits to writing werewolf fanfic, it feels like that is what it is. For authors who write both fanfic and seek to write professionally, this is a consideration. For a gay reader, it’s really weird for a guy to grab another guy’s “nape of the neck” affectionately. (As someone who has worked around large predators, albeit primarily felids, grabbing the neck is a sexual behavior, but that just makes this weirder.) Anyways, it really struck out as weird; just very very weird. Bern is mentioned to not be into PDA (which later in the book, they do it a fair amount it seems, that is also very weird? this happens a fair amount).

Another part is that there is a lot of use of the word puppy. It is frequents so often that I’d have to stop reading because it was grossing me out. It sounds like that author is into puppy play. This isn’t to kink shame, but this is a YA novel and she writes werewolf fanfic. It starts seemingly, albeit weirdly innocuous with moments like “Bern was smooth and graceful while I was still growing out of my puppy paws” and “She tilted her head like a puppy” and “I followed him up the stairs like a puppy.” But it keeps happening. Then people start growling at each other and it just... Gets a very specific note. Mixed in with how smooth and hairless and Adonis-like the teens are written, especially by an adult woman fan, it feels... Well... It makes my skin crawl. I’m not saying that the author means to. I’m really not trying to be like ‘Hey, guys, sexual predator?” I really, really want to address that that is not my intention. My intention is that this compounds on itself. In the links about how the slash side of fandom can make gay men uncomfortable: this is the perfect example. I’ve been to events with fans and found myself, barring maybe my fiance, to be the only gay man there. If I’m shipping two characters, such as when I went to a TAZ photoshoot, and my fiance and I are the only gay cosplayers, and almost the only men period, whereas a lot of women are screaming about how cute Taako is, that gets uncomfortable. It’s not about this one fandom. It’s all fandoms. Every single one has had this fetishization problem. It’s why I never entered the Lord of the Rings fandom. I was in middle school and found “my first” fandom, only to see all of the fanfic about Sam/Frodo ships and it grossed me out. As a teen boy, it creeped me out, that all these men had to be sexual to each other, and as I only came across women shipping men, it made it more and more ostracizing. Maybe I should have addressed this earlier, but: Not all fetishization is sexual. It can be romantic, too. How (Not) to Ask a Boy to Prom’s relationships are about a teen boy who doesn’t want to date or go to prom. His sister makes him ask out Si, the big popular gay guy. Nolan/the author mocks the GSA (gay-straight alliance) club. While there are problems with some GSAs*, the author, a seemingly straight woman, is mocking an LGBT+ space. There is a chance she is bisexual; I haven’t managed to find otherwise, and that’s how this will appear to many people, as she has a husband. I will also note: a bisexual woman’s experience will differ from a gay man’s experience, and sometimes LGBT+ folks need to not speak for/over each other. Nolan ends up fake-dating Bern due to a mistake, and there’s a bit of problem I have, with how for a good portion of the book, these gay teens “need to FAKE date”. Worse to me, is that Nolan, upon realizing he likes Bern, breaks up with him and ends up sleeping (non-sexually) in a bed with his sister, deciding to go to prom together. For a straight/cis-presenting women to write this, it’s... Got a lot of different baggage to it. Especially with how idealistic (but not for gay men) she writes the characters, it gets worse and worse. It makes the gay character seem just a little less gay. His relationship with his sister is odd. It’s not “cool” to really hang out with your sister at school; I know, I had a step sister & brother. We were all roughly the same age. If these two went to prom together in the real world? They would be mocked. Also, it really makes Nolan appear not actually gay. As a gay writer, I would have him, if not go at all, go stag. The message here is: it’s better to be straight than gay and without a boyfriend. Hence how it becomes fetishistic: Nolan’s sister, both of which are older teens (around 17-18 or so) sleep together in a bed. It may not be “coded as sexual” but it is ignorant of the history that “maybe gay men can be fixed.” They even dance at prom. This is one step below asking your mother to prom. She is still his sister. It creates a narrative that he, out of the blue, dumps his boyfriend to then sleep/cuddle with his sister and they go to prom. Again, this is seen more in fanfic: we often, especially with adopted siblings, see closeness that can become romantic or sexual. I have a fair amount of friends who are adopted and this trope style is infinitely horrifying to them. It makes them feel like that society doesn’t view them as actually family. It is also a real problem: adopted family members (especially kids) have been abused by their adopted family, as if “it’s okay, they’re not actually biologically family.”

While he does eventually get back together with Bern, it’s after prom that he does this. I don’t even know why Bern accepts him. Nolan has been truly awful to this guy. Goslee doesn’t seem to understand how tenuous gay men’s statuses are. This can be held against Nolan, if not for the simple creepy fact that he sleeps and goes to prom with his sister, that he goes to prom with a woman, he may get a lot of “But are you really gay?” comments. Especially because Nolan dates only one man before going to prom with his sister (and is the one to dump his boyfriend, who he was fake-dating).

Is there more on this I could write? Yes. I probably could, but I also have to get ready to go to a movie with my fiance. So uh... Maybe there will be a part 2? We’ll see. _______ *I personally was forced out of my college’s GSA because the group was actually gay/bisexual people having orgies. So, yea, there’s some problems with certain LGBT+ spaces and being actually open to LGBT+ folks. It was also extremely transphobic and ace-phobic. **My point with this for clarification is that: I don’t want to be bribed with “lol this person is LGBT+ cuuuute!?” headcanon or otherwise. I am fine with that form of headcanoning, or AUs, but the idea of playing with gender identity and pulling it off as cute, especially by cis or straight people is skeevy and at best, ignorant, at worst, fetishistic. Link List: LGBT Exploitation in Fandom: we are not here for your entertainment

Fetishizing Homosexuality

gbpt boys’ ask about women readers of mlm stories

The Mary Sue’s On The Fetishization of Gay Men by Women in the Slash Community

Why Are So Many Gay Romances Written By Straight Women?

The Lack of Published Gay YA by Gay Authors? Let’s Talk About It

#long post #lgbt #gay issues #lgbt issues #fandom #fandom issues

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kieranreardon772 · 5 years

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Special Issue Brief: Rodrigo Duterte’s Persistent ‘War on Drugs’

The Initiative

On May 8, 2016, the day before Rodrigo Duterte was elected into office, he stood in front of a crowd of more than 300,000 people and said: “If I make it to the presidential palace I will do just what I did as mayor. You drug pushers, holdup men, and do-nothings, you better get out because I'll kill you” (Duterte, Human Rights Watch; 2019). This notion was the foundation on which he ran his political agenda, he vowed to get rid of all petty and serious drug offenders that were selling and trafficking narcotics into and out of the Philippine Islands. This War on Drugs is not a new idea, just as he elucidates in that quote. In accordance with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP), illegal drugs and distribution have been Duterte’s central focus since his time as mayor in Davao City. Fighting drugs and drug-related crime has shown the public and his administration the low cost and high return of pushing an extensive war on the national drug trade (Timberman, CEIP; 2019). This dangerous battle has complimented Duterte’s status because it has tended to be accepted by most of the socioeconomic sections of society, especially because most of the drug war’s victims have been the urban-poor who are looked down upon, to begin with. This is a political issue that spans far beyond political spectrums in that it alternatively offers an efficient and useful political narrative that which Duterte now solely possesses in discourse that persuades the people of his country about the danger posed by drug dealers and other drug-affiliated criminals.

“Duterte not only successfully established crime as the most pressing problem, but also made the unconditional fight against this threat into a hallmark of a comprehensive “we” group. Given the assumed absoluteness of the evil to be combated, any criticism of the president has been silenced. Detractors are suspected of being supporters of the criminal threat to society, and any reference to due process can be ignored”

-Peter Kreuzer (German Researcher of CEIP; January 2019)

Statistical Facts and Deduction

For quick reference and surface level understanding, the Filipino war on drugs has racked up some serious statistics since its fruition a little over two years ago. In the year 2016, 28,000 drug arrests were made – a 44% increase from the year before – and a little over 47,000 drug-related cases were filed. In 2017, those statistics drastically increased. The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency executed 34,744 drug enforcement tasks concluding in 66,672 arrests and roughly 70,000 drug-related cases being filed (Timberman, CEIP; 2019). A statement by the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Corrections, it cited that in 2017 alone the national prison system occupied 41,500 inmates, close to doubling the facility’s capacity. One year later, in 2018, another statement released by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology reported data showing that there were over 141,000 detainees (70% of which were drug-related cases) who were held in jails that were 582% overcapacity (Timberman, CEIP; 2019). These numbers only tally those that have survived the situation. What these stats do not include are the thousands of people, innocent or criminal, who have perished in firefights with authorities or that have simply been murdered in cold blood. Over 12,000 people to date have been killed as a result of Duterte’s War on Drugs campaign. Only about a third of the 12,000 killed have been credited to gunfights with the Philippine National Police (Human Rights Watch; 2019). That means 75% of the murder committed has been done out by drug trafficking criminal associates or government-sponsored vigilantes who are protected under Duterte’s ‘Extra-Judicial Killings’ statute. “Extra-Judicial Killings’ (EJK) is a term that provides an alibi for any killing done to silence Duterte’s opposition and ‘fake-news’ spreading journalists.

Social Acceptance

Senior officials of Duterte’s administration have antagonized and incited this violence in the presidential campaign as it flirts with an epidemic of crimes against humanity. As a result, he blames the death toll on what he calls “ninja-cops”, government-sanctioned vigilantes who covertly kill drug dealers and drug dealing associates as part of the EJK (Stubley, The Independent; 2019). What’s more chilling about this is that Duterte is behind all of it but he cannot be liable for any wrong-doing because society has been persuaded into accepting it.

“Duterte may be offending the norms of respectful communication when he prefaces his remarks with “motherfucker,” but he brings to the surface the collective frustration many feel. He may not offer the clearest policy, but he puts forward the sincerest discourse of sympathy… Duterte’s gutter language establishes the urgency of saving the republic. Including “kill” and “death” is essential to the president’s vocabulary for the country is at war, and his politics of “I will” demands quick, albeit painful, solutions” - Nicole Curato (Anthropologist, CEIP; 2019)

His charisma and blunt attitude toward the unfolding violent situation has landed him a type of dramatic movie-role persona with a qualified political track record to support it. With conviction, Duterte bestows himself as the only strong leader decisive enough to save the nation from this drug crime crisis. The 16.6 million people who voted for him without hesitation truly believe that he can supply the real change he has promised them. In an article by The Independent, Rodrigo Duterte is referred to as the ‘strongman’, which is a leadership archetype outlined in the book Populism: A Very Short Introduction: “Populist strongmen tend to rule on the basis of a “cult leader”, which portrays him as a masculine and potentially violent figure…the notion of strongman is often related to authoritarian regimes” (Mudde & Rovira, 2019; p.63) The book concludes its description by explaining that “…populist take it a step further, crafting an image of a man of action, rather than words, who is not afraid to make difficult and quick decisions, even against “expert” advice” (Mudde & Rovira, 2019; p. 64). This is interesting because it is a very choice word/name by this news publication to use to describe Duterte’s role as leader of the nation, and it absolutely designates their opinion about him as a freely-elected president.

Mayor & Vice Mayor EJK – A Trending Analysis

There is a malicious pattern that has been on the rise in the Philippines. In an article published in 2018 by Rappler – the current leading government opposition news publisher in the Philippines – it showcases that since President Duterte was elected into office in 2016, there have been nineteen separate cases in which a Mayor or Vice Mayor of a region in the Philippines has been shot and killed with zero follow-up investigation by government-appointed authority (Gavilan, Rappler; 2018). Moreover, not only have the high majority of the cases not been solved, but each one of the case files claims that the suspected killer’s identity is unknown. In a quick breakdown analysis, based on the information provided by the article published by Rappler, fourteen out of the nineteen murder cases was an EJK and tasked by an unidentified gunman(men) through a tactical ambush, drive-by shooting, or close-range assassination (Gavilan, Rappler; 2018). In the remaining five cases, two were of special or unusual circumstance but served as coincidental in the timeframe. The Mayor of Albuera, Rolando Espinosa, was shot in his jail cell in October of 2016 after being arrested and sentenced to life in prison on charges of illegal possession of firearms, ammunition, and eleven kilos of methamphetamine in his home. In June of 2017, Gisela Bendong Buniel, Mayor of Bien Undo, is believed to have been abducted and killed by her husband over an alleged marital dispute. The remaining three cases show that the National Police or State Agents are the groups responsible, but only after each of the government officials (Mayor/Vice Mayor) supposedly attempted to evade arrest or refuse to surrender to the security forces (Gavilan, Rappler; 2019). In all three of those instances, however, the proclaimed Mayor(s) or Vice Mayor(s) were being approached on a warrant by the nation on suspected drug trade or trafficking activity. But, the other fifteen government officials who were murdered in cold blood, those operations were performed by government-sponsored vigilantes; people who have purposely remained unidentified because they are being protected under the Duterte Administration EJK statute.

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killianmesmalls · 6 years

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Raising Alice: Historical(ish) Headcanons and Meta

Now, everything here is based on speculation and, though I’d love to spend weeks researching this because I love history, especially the time periods this lends itself to, I’m going open this up to discourse because there’s a lot of conjecture at a certain point with fictional people, fictional realms, and timeline discrepancies.

However, I do headcanon Killian raised Alice within both the societal ideals of Victorian to Edwardian views of child rearing and what was accessible to him, but was also highly progressive. Part of this is based on when he grew up (clearly late 18th to early 19th century-ish regardless of realm in terms of style and etiquette) and how he adapted over the years, with a key factor being the fashions and beliefs of when he took in Bae for what one can speculate to be a few months as well as how his years of piracy which allowed a high level of democracy, tolerance of different lifestyles, and distaste for stringent authority. Part of this is also based on when their books were published, so 1865-1911.

I am going to separate my personal headcanons into different categories: toys, lessons, nutrition, and other, the last of which is a catch-all for anything I either forgot to assess or doesn’t fit within the context of the previous categories nor does it merit its own (clothing, schedules, discipline, etc). All under the cut because I feel I may ramble.

Here is what I cannot help but headcanon about Alice: It is no coincidence her aesthetic is from the time period that first started to truly understand late childhood and adolescence were stepping stones to a human’s development. Killian Jones never got that. We can only infer what his life was like, but I highly doubt a ~10-year-old indentured servant on a late 18th century ship would have lived the sort of life today’s child is gifted with. We can only speculate the abuses he went through, but we can (I hope) all acknowledge it wasn’t a privileged life.

Then we have Alice. Now, we know she has a lot working against her: trapped in a very tight space, no doors, no indoor plumbing, only one other voice to listen to outside of her own (until she’s almost 11, which we won’t go there...), etc. Though there were some obvious struggles, there is no doubt to me she was raised with an abundance of love. The below, to me, will detail either what we’ve been already told, what I headcanon based on history, or what I headcanon based on what I believe about Killian.

Toys

I’m not going to lie, I’m in love with some of the toys that started to develop around the late 19th century to the beginning of the 20th. It was such an enthusiastic time of development with all sorts of new technologies, cultures intermingling thanks to trains, automobiles, steam ships, the telegraph, music, moving pictures, etc. This also gave rise to what humans are wont to do, which is protect their traditions or “their own” in the face of progression, but this was such a beautiful time of progress in some aspects. Yes, the advancements can arguably be attributed to a causing factor of WWI and, as such, WWII, but let’s stick to the positive in this case? I can discuss WWI for days, but I’d like to focus on the happy and I’ve already detracted enough from Alice and Killian, my true purpose for this.

Let’s take a couple looks at what she has.

I’ve discussed this before, but I feel the desire to bring it up again. I cannot begin to count her dolls, she has a parasol, a wooden ship, a baby carriage, obviously the chess set, and so on. These toys do not come cheap, nor do her dresses or nightgown. She is, as far as we can infer, financially spoiled. We can only imagine why this may be, but it’s hard (for me) to not believe Killian kept her well-stocked in toys thanks to her inability to leave her home/prison. These toys all, also, keep with the style of late Victorian pieces. All of her dolls are dressed in late 19th century fashion, circa 1880-1910 if one were to take a guess, and well-crafted. In addition, Noah’s ark toys were highly popular in late Victorian years, as were parasols, and the shape of the baby carriage she is shown pushing is also in the style of this time period.

If, based on her clothing and other toys (more on the former later....) we’re assuming other objects of a similar time period are around, here are some of toys the I don’t doubt he’d either like to gift her with or already has and they’re stashed away somewhere: skipping ropes, marbles, spinning tops, toy soldiers (because, let’s face it, he didn’t raise her strictly according to gender roles of the time), and my current headcanon favorite, a kaleidoscope.

Why a kaleidoscope I hear you asking silently? Because now I’m just imagining her beside him, pretending it’s a spyglass of her own, playing pirate and seeing all sorts of treasure in the distance.

Lessons

We know she understands sword fighting enough to defeat a jabberwocky with being the sole survivor in addition to us seeing her having a lesson with her father. She knows stars well enough to know the date based on their location. She’s spent years on her own, traveling realms completely by herself, and surviving based on everything we can believe she’s been taught. Basically, that girl spent almost 11 years with her father’s studious voice speaking to her, and his voice in her head urging her to read and learn different subjects since then.

Even in her cursed persona, Alice craves the knowledge of a bookstore. She focuses thanks to chess. Everything that makes Alice happy revolves around either her most loving relationships or in academic pursuits. When Henry brings up the idea that he thinks they may actually be cursed characters from his book, she immediately starts perusing through it.

It’s canon she studied art, there were knitting materials in her cottage when she’s older, we can infer she’s able to bake based on her having the cupcake on her birthday (unless others have the headcanon that the tower magicked it there for her, but I don’t think the tower is that nice). While many young girls stopped learning more “masculine” subjects, such as mathematics and science, as they were expected to marry and align themselves to a more homemaker role, I have many doubts that Alice was raised with this mentality, at the very least due to what was mentioned above.

While she does see the world in a “special” way, no one can claim that Alice is in any way stupid, and I don’t doubt her curiosity would prevent her from ever being considered truly ignorant. Like her father, if there is something worth knowing, she absolutely will learn it. Again, this is mostly based on some evidence but mostly headcanon, but I have a hard time believing otherwise.

Based on time period and on what I believe about Killian, I think she’s aware of the etiquette in different realms, knows at least one other language and maybe more, knows some military history, and knows the basics of sailing even if she’s never been. I think he also taught her about the customs and beliefs of different people, though how much this included religion considering all the mixing of religions in the show is a mystery.

Nutrition

Food at this time period, with a primary focus in this case for Irish and English foods, was heavy in beef, potatoes, pork, eggs, bread, cheese, and, as we know of Alice, various jams. Obviously, we know a bit about Killian’s diet and his aversion to sugar/“junk food” and we know how much Alice craves orange marmalade. In addition, we know they were close enough to a port for her to consider a 48-hour trip using Enchanted Forest methods of transportation to be cause for worry, and he was able to get her various vials of sand for her birthday. So I assume they were able to get seafood easily enough without worry of it spoiling before he could either cook it or get it on ice.

Food-borne illnesses, gout, and afflictions easily handled these days with a dose of stomach medication was still a concern during this time, so I feel like Killian would have avoided any foods that were at risk of easily going bad unless they had a way of storing it. Though they were not poor, as evidenced by how well-stocked Alice was kept in pristine clothing and toys, there were still a lot of concerns, and I feel like he would have been extremely cautious considering she was unable to go see a doctor.

Killian likely raised her on a healthy balanced diet with marmalade as a comfort food that was both a treat but also something healthy (guarding against scurvy) and could store well (up to six months). I also love the idea that “I had no idea you could put candy on fruit” is also a carryover from Alice’s time with fruit being the primary dessert and anything high in sugar being a very rare treat, perhaps mostly in the form of sea salt toffee or, on special occasions, cupcakes.

The trick here is we don’t know how the tower kept stocked with food, let alone how generous it may have been or how well it kept any of it, so we can only speculate how much/how often they had anything that spoiled easily. It’s still worth knowing what may have been a typical spread in the Jones home for those of us that are insane nerds about them and this time period.

Other

Speaking of Alice’s pristine clothing, we saw at least three different outfits compared to Killian’s one. Her puffy sleeves, embroidery, the fabrics used, and colors used indicate she was dressed relatively upperclass. Her clothing, like her toys, again shows how absolutely well-cared for she was.

However, as spoiled as she was financially, there is no way in my mind she was spoiled in terms of a schedule. At the very least, for her to know the date by the stars, I feel like she could also look at the sun to know the time, and keeps to it. That, mixed with the fact that she needs help to focus, plus the fact that Killian was shown at times to be stringent on routine, she likely veered very little from the schedule they both adapted for years. Rise at this time, breakfast by this time, lessons by this time, lunch by this time, etc. You get the point. It’s also what, by the time she’s left alone, helps her keep some level of sanity. I also, as I’m writing this, somewhat headcanon part of her mind to be the White Rabbit, fretting about being late and later selling “time pieces”, strictly telling Rogers a time to meet her and only showing late when she had news she didn’t want to give him.

Even with all this strictness when it came to making sure a schedule was in order, Victorian and Edwardian times could still be pretty tough on some children. They were still expected to be seen and not heard, often not listened to or respected as individuals, had others’ ideals impressed upon them, and were pretty severely dealt with from time to time. With everything Killian dealt with as a child, and how much Alice grew to be an inquisitive person with little shame in how she felt or how she appeared to others, I think he was most progressive in this regard. I am not going to go into too controversial of topics, but I do believe if he were ever firm it was very few and far between. We have to remember, beyond his past abuses, that Killian is aware that he is the only person she is exposed to. While he will make mistakes as he’s only human, and he is still a product of his time period, his hands are the only hands she’s going to hold or be near for a while. I don’t believe that he’d ever risk her fearing them. She was mostly respected in terms of her autonomy and her beliefs, and we know he is shown multiple times in supporting her, building up her self-esteem, and treating her like a smart, capable individual. There may have been slips and slides, but I truly believe with the way they came out of this and how she grew into the person she is, she felt mostly pure love and respect from her father.

In Conclusion

FFS, did you guys stay through all of this? Wow. Props, guys.

#knightrook meta #ouat meta #alice jones #killian jones #knightrook

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alistsupermodel-blog · 6 years

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To bring you this urgent lifesaving and comprehensive imminent global infrastructure collapse update and survival guide, we have been collaborating with too many A-Listers to mention here and supermodels and our networks since Harvard named me “Supermodel Activist of the Decade.” I also share the Special Humanitarian Award from the International Film Awards. Numerous other awards and credentials are accredited. We have technically PERMANENTLY officially gone off grid and live in the oceanfront jungle totally on solar power only as surfer activists. If you Google in quotes world's most televised environmentalist you will discover I am #1!

I am urged by basic common decency and the will to survive to share the following with you: due to the drastic ways our environment has been hit - whether with shark finning or coral reef bleaching or plastics crippling the planet, it would appear that we are indeed headed for that proverbial “Day the Earth Stood Still.” Early 2018 there may NOT be ANY air travel, or cruises or any other kind of major travel. If you haven’t heard this yet it might be so no one panics (the same way no one was warned about the Great Depression so as not to cause some kind of mad rush or even looting). Imagine if folks knew how zero resources we actually are and everyone simultaneously scrambled to take one or two final trips to visit loved ones - it could cripple the tourism industry immediately.

Who am I? The first ever A List Supermodel. YUP!!! http://www.AListSupermodel.com .

As the international #1 bestselling supermodel author of “Healthy, Wealthy and Wise: The 5 Most Important Wellness Secrets of All Time;” recognized as Supermodel Activist of the Decade by Harvard and “Queen of Surfing” by the media, I enable people with active lifestyles, A-list celebrities, stay-at-homes, and those who care about their relationship with God pro-actively on our path of eternal youth, beauty, and longevity. I realize what I am saying may sound “a bit reaching” but we are simply sharing facts and if you have an ounce of truth serum running through your veins well, you can make judgment for yourself and decide how to SAVE YOUR OWN LIFE. And since I believe in karma, when someone’s life might not be optimized and I am INFORMED with TRUTHFUL inside information, then it is my moral duty to share. If it makes you feel better, that lifesaving piece of literature has been on TV too many times to mention, and I did set the world record for the most television interviews by an environmentalist in a short period - 65 interviews in 3.5 years just like this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYS-YxeKcsY .

Do you know how many HUNDREDS of producers and “their bosses” from EVERY station and network had to VERIFY all my facts before allowing me on their programs? That should tell you how credible I am. I am not just some YouTube activist. I have been on EVERY NETWORK REPEATEDLY verified for all my environmental causes, from plastics to shark finning - all the stuff that has now brought the planet to its knees. Just Google such things like “world resource clock” to put everything typed here in perspective or go watch my short 21 minute documentary on YouTube titled, “Worst Shark Attack Ever” for which I won the Special Humanitarian Award, from International Movie Awards, World Film Council, Film Festival Alliance, Russian Culture, iHebat International Volunteers, and Indonesia Without Discrimination Foundation.

Also I am the very first Supermodel to win a Supermodel Lifetime Achievement Award ~ 🥇 http://www.AListSupermodel.com 🙏🏽 I have literally had only 1 day off of every 6 in the past 6 years. Literally. While our planet may be graced with thousands of environmentalists who have “dedicated their charitable energies” in between personal relationships, raising kids, having day jobs, etc, I have NOT. I have only been immersed in environmental activism. No kids. No day job. No real significant other which may be why I didn’t miss the forest for the trees and was able to connect dots in ways the average activist might not have been able.

Who are you?

YOU ARE well educated so you may have learned that in previous millennia when our planet had suffered from raping and pillaging of its resources, cataclysms and severe weather patterns had decimated entire populations and the fact is we are there again NOW at the brink of cataclysm so be prepared not only with emergency supplies or whatever but with emotional fortitude to get over the shock and trauma.

That being said, you can research ALL the current environmental HOT button topics yourself:

GMOs

plastics in the ocean

shark finning

global energy crisis, etc

and you will draw the same conclusions: just remain grateful for the days we had together because travel and commerce may NOT continue much longer. The truth in inner circles predicts it to be in about a season. That is why we and many other “erudites” have disappeared - to remain prepared and hunker down!!! EVERY FACT stated within this article is simply that: facts. We can only share with you THE TRUTH and our TRUE action steps taken for our salvation and you decide if you are gonna save yourselves as well. Would Surfer magazine host this http://forum.surfer.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2686443#Post2686443 unless it has been well-verified by every possible credible source by now?

Well-researched “smarties with hearties” all over the planet have quietly gone off grid completely solar with sources of trees in a garden because we have been informed that it could all coming to a grinding halt within the next year. We swim in the ocean for “our bath” or any other toilet necessities and we lug ocean water in for our use. We live simply as if there was no electricity or infrastructure in place since this is all having come to pass shortly.

We have at least one year’s supply of food stashed already and then after that there are a bunch of fruit trees here in the garden but we must say that with all the changes coming to the planet, you must believe you are “saved” and will survive the inevitable lifestyle of no gasoline, electricity, or social infrastructure of any kind like hospitals and department of sanitation.

That aforementioned #1 bestseller we published on how to live FOREVER yes forever has been on numerous TV interviews like the links above discussing all the scientific evidence on how our body “the sacred temple” is actually built to last INDEFINITELY like a rechargeable battery.

This supports everyone through any situation that hits the planet. Also be aware that there is an intelligent breatharian movement - you may research on YouTube “how to be breatharian” as a way of optimized living. One may study “breatharian immortality.”

So no matter what happens, do NOT PANIC. The LONGER you can go withOUT food or water is actually better for your body and chakras. If you have to WALK / hot wire cars / forage for food and shelter as you make your way to somewhere permanently WARM with running fresh water and fruit trees, remember ALL the breatharian techniques you learned and KEEP CALM. Not only will you stay alive but you will THRIVE. You may YouTube “how to hot wire cars” or “how to siphon gas” to get you where you need to go when no more gas stations or stores are open and you realize that you really got to kick into survival mode.

If there was something we wish we would have included in that survival guide, “Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise The 5 Most Important Wellness Secrets of All Time”

it would have been all that breatharian stuff …AND a critical consideration to handle all the emotions that will come over the next year is to heavily get in touch with your FEMININE side, even if you have a penis - yes - coach those around you with one because there are too many PROVEN examples in nature where what remains healthy and viable from plants to bees are considered “female.”

Anything that insists on tapping into some made up version of existence called “masculinity” is doomed. Research this yourself or talk with scientists.

If “masculinity” were such a winner - we wouldn’t be reaching out online😜 Only those truly in touch with their feminine side has ANY success in life and EVERYONE inherently is aware of THIS. So laser that hair off your face to keep it off forever and same goes for tattoos!🌈

Ask ANY girl whose opinion you trust and she will tell you EVERYONE is better off clean shaven. Why do folks refer to their prized possessions OR ANYTHING THEY LOVE AND WISH TO MAINTAIN as a “she?” Is it purely psychological? Why are automobiles and boats “her?”

As a professional supermodel I can tell you the fashion industry won’t even allow anyone to be the main magazine cover photo unless their face is clean shaven. Go ahead and research your stacks of magazines - all the cover homies are baby-faced. It is a hard rule! There has not been one single cover shot of any “People’s Most Beautiful” issue that isn’t baby-face.

We bet if you recall your OWN experiences whenever you were graced with success, it was because you maintained a well groomed feminine appearance!

Everything and everyone thriving is a “she.” Do not refer to “that person” as a brother - that is your sibling, etc. Try this feminization tactic during any periods of stress and you will find it effective. Feminization pulls you out of your head and into your heart. Better to make it your permanent state of consciousness for overall relaxation and wellness, as everyone and their networks in entertainment industry have.

Our Reverent and Beloved “Most High” says one main reason you (and your kids) could remain written in the “Book of Life” is because you choose to remain alive FOREVER (and program your kids to do so) and you adhere to ALL of creation as Feminine (anyone with a penis CAN still be considered female as long as they remain tapped into the feminine side). Search terms are in quotes; Google: “all female species” https://www.nationalgeographic.com/latest-stories/ “supermodel divine feminine” http://vividlife.me/ultimate/22454/read-tantra-and-the-divine-feminine-by-mahasatvaa-ananda-sarita/ “masculinity doomed” http://www.collegiatetimes.com/opinion/toxic-masculinity-culture-is-harmful-to-men-s-psychological-well/article_b572a25c-c3d6-11e7-bb4e-5756b4e69eeb.html “toxic masculinity” TOO MANY SCIENTIFIC LINKS. Just Google those two words. Masculinity is a disease and a lie!!! "TOXIC Masculinity is The BIGGEST Problem in USA" - X DEBATES With The Guest” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=290eollXo4A and so many others. Keep the aforementioned guide precepts~ “Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise: The 5 Most Important Wellness Secrets of All Time” with you forever as a reference to remember that HUNDREDS of MILLIONS of people across the planet have chosen to live forever even if they aren’t exactly where you are and no one is communicating via the electronic standards.

Consider that all the stuff that makes it to restaurants or groceries or any kind of store must use trucks, planes, and gasoline - what happens if gas runs out as may be predicted by 2018? It would only help you save your life “just in case:” YOU COULD IMAGINE AS IF NOTHING IN YOUR TOWN IS OPEN ANYMORE and stock up NOW on everything from gasoline to non-perishable food and grocery items to bicycles and GO SOLAR because this “Day the Earth Stood Still” could be coming in a few MONTHS and again, you must remain a survivor. Listen, from whom did you hear about Y2K? If you wanna believe that this is “only more of that,” all I have to share with you is FACTS about what too many of us CREDENTIALED environmentalists are DOING to save our OWN lives. This article is like putting an oxygen mask on your friend only because we already have ours on.

This next quarter, each trip to the grocery, consider returning with an extra month of non-perishable items for when commerce ends, as may be scheduled imminently due to environmental wipeout. This would facilitate the transition to organically living off the land and being more breatharian, which basically is your default. Every moment you aren’t stuffing your mouth with food or liquid you are optimizing your body solely with your breath and that is enough. So don’t force anyone to eat or drink anything. Your sacred body temple does just fine with sunshine, the air, the moisture in the air, etc to keep it running smoothly! The point is it is FALSE that you need food and drink to remain optimized. Go to YouTube and research “how to be breatharian.”

Research THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT WAY TO EXTEND LIFE EXPECTANCY numerous studies have revealed is through REDUCING CALORIC INTAKE. More support for the breatharian optimized lifestyle! The following should assist in that process:

FACT: ALL the food in groceries and restaurants are now GMO unless it actually says on the label “non GMO.” “Non-GMO” is about less than 1% of what is on the shelves and served in restaurants. Don’t be fooled with the word “organic.” GMO or “Genetically Modified Organisms” are considered organic BECAUSE OF HOW THEY ARE FAKE-GROWN IN LABS. They legally can trick you with that label “organic” because it still means GMO!

Every fact stated here with statistics you can verify yourself by researching online, making phone calls and sending emails to the companies in question, or by asking someone you trust and believe, like in the holistic industry or even petroleum industry.

Celebrities, art stars, and the highly ethical supermodel network are putting forth their versions of messages like this to their private networks or public media outlets so ASK around. Research!

Our planet had become restored from garbage landfill. There is a documentary online “Aqua Seafoam Shame” that will attest to this. Or the multi-award winning, celebrity laden “Worst Shark Attack Ever” (https://fawesome.tv/hollywood-ticker/10066850-worst-shark-attack-ever-documentary-with-veronica-grey-and-leonardo).

You KNOW that for ANY environmental issue these days, there is an honest documentary online exposing truth. Where is the one about how everything connected to our wiping out environment would lead to the collapse of our gasoline infrastructure?

As the group who was forced to create the plastics documentary “Aqua Seafoam Shame” featuring rock titans and a top athlete, and as the network forced to produce solutions on shark finning, “Worst Shark Attack Ever” we can say that this fact sheet is our version of directing a documentary on possibly imminently no more petroleum distribution as a result of environmental stress: COMMERCE HAS BEEN COMING TO A GRINDING HALT around you hasn’t it - just notice it - and remember everything you read here and TAKE ACTION! We thank FreeSurf magazine for spreading “Aqua Seafoam Shame” our plastics issue https://freesurfmagazine.com/the-ugly-truth-about-plastic/ because we wish we could create a similar documentary NOW explaining how to survive our PRESENT infrastructure’s IMMINENT COLLAPSE except everyone in our network is busy relocating to somewhere WARM (since there will ASAP be NO ELECTRICITY) and STOCKING UP while we still can. This article will have to suffice instead of our normal “we provide solutions documentarian” style.

To connect dots for you: whether it be bees or fracking or the atmosphere changing to inhospitable for humans due to shark finning or global warming, or plastics crippling the planet (as of 5 years ago 1/3 of our planet had become garbage landfill!!!😪) every scientist was generously sharing their predictions on “how much longer our planet can sustain us.” Well that clock had run out this year. There is no way around it - we are now having to transition to a world without general commerce, travel, gasoline, electricity, or social infrastructure of ANY kind like hospitals or department of sanitation. There IS a pretty comprehensive documentary about how we painted ourselves into this corner~ “Apocalypse 2012: The World After Time Ends.”

THE ONLY WAY TO TOTALLY SURVIVE FOREVER is by ONLY THESE 1 to 3 responses to EVERY situation: 1. Energetically Neutral. It is like you agree anyway, by default, since we are a reflector, holographic Universe. Anything and everything you believe about ANYTHING else actually manifests in your own life and through you. 2. Agree. For the same reasons stated in #1. If you do not consider what it means to disagree for any reason, here it is in a nutshell. It means something isn't right about whatever it is with which you aren't agreeing, which actually only means that is true for you! Something isn't right about you! Is that what you wish to script for yourself? Not really. So wake up and make conscious choices. Anais Nin said, "We do not process the world as it really is. We process the world as we truly are." 3. Spin to Win. This means positive thinking. For all the reasons stated in #1 and #2. There is too much information out there on how positive thinking is the only way to live.

Get ready and stay prepared FOR ANYTHING!

It isn’t a matter of how much of this you believe. You probably already noticed that the energy everywhere is subdued lately. All we are saying is don’t just shrug it off and attribute it to an “unusually slow season” or “everyone must be on vacation - it’s that simple, and they’ll be back” or “it’s ok that this business is closing - something will replace it.” NONE of that is true. So as you ACKNOWLEDGE what is actually happening, RELOCATE, STOCK UP, and keep cool, like in the film, “I am Legend.” Some zip codes are already that “Mad Maxed” out. Tell you what, based on our friends / celebrities network, we spread out globally have gotten ready for life without electricity or travel or commerce.

REMAIN WITH US.

Go ahead and try it for yourself. Strike a conversation with the friendly gas station owner in your neighborhood and ask them to comment on whether or not anyone will be able to fulfill gasoline orders past the next quarter!!!

Also, is this why it seems everywhere online NO AIRLINE or HOTEL is accepting reservations past next year either. You could verify this for yourself. Maybe they all are “in the know” somehow and are leaving it up to us to figure it out and confirm it for ourselves the way they did.

Call your own electric company. You must be aware like we are how friendly their customer service actually is. It turns out that every power grid on this planet is run on gasoline. No gasoline = no electricity. Call them to confirm that. Go online and find all the verified research about the end of our petroleum addiction.

The global mass media artists are mega-intelligent; no one makes a film about “the near future” that isn’t reflecting it to be some kind of inevitable “Day the Earth Stood Still” (original-cut 2008 movie) situation when that is the truth. You cannot pretend to have a future shopping spree when you know your informed budget precisely; congruently no one smart can pretend there will be commerce or travel with what is now actually left in the environmental “bank account.”

How might this be possible you ask? Why didn’t we catch on sooner? Have you ever been to a party that was in full swing, enjoying yourself to the hilt, only to have it come to a grinding halt moments later for one reason or another, totally unexpected? Yeah, that happens. Occasionally it is the unexpected that catches us off guard and is possible. That has happened with our gasoline fueled social scene. No one realized the plug would be pulled. Ever. All our environmentalist crusades and we never considered checking petroleum reserves until now…we are fortunate to have three months to prepare instead of just days! DO THIS ANY WAY YOU CAN YOURSELF so you can add up the dots and make your own decisions to SAVE yourself based on facts, while you still can!

There is a huge intelligence movement now to live indefinitely instead of putting a time limit. Reincarnation is hogwash - this is it - your one life to live, if you were to “check out” you will never exist again. Of course, in that non-state, you wouldn’t even realize you don’t exist. What an infinite bummer.

Numerous spiritual disciplines talk about breaking the chain of birth, death, and karma and we have achieved that in this day and age. Yes we now understand HOW TO LIVE FOREVER and you may share this message verbatim with the masses!

That aforementioned bestselling supermodel author guide we published is endorsed heavily by too many celebrities to mention, our highly moral supermodel network, and world champion athletes; they all point to that piece of life saving literature. The only reason we drop names is to let you understand that these people’s networks are privy to the real truth society is facing that isn’t publicized unless we spread the word ourselves personally as in this message to you. The alarming truth is we have infrared and heartmath technology and can tell you that we could be heading for not even car travel by May 2018 and if no one is mega-publicizing it, it is simply due to “let’s keep them calm.”

That forever lifesaving literature guide download was only available online until 10/21/17. Obviously. Because many banks may be closed by March 2018 and there will be no place to spend proceeds soon thereafter.

We have a mobile home set up 100% solar “just in case” we must move comfortably with all our supplies. And tons of extra gasoline of course…it is silly to sit on a savings account when there may be nowhere to spend it after Summer 2018. Spend what you have now to OVERSTOCK and set yourself up comfortable, solar, with mobility options!

We can say with 100% accuracy that some celebrity, supermodel, and personal networks are not immediately right now settling down in some mansion. When you accept the facts about possibly no more travel or commerce as of Spring 2018 and prepare for yourself, you would most possibly take the precisely same action steps as many of us: girls have all chosen our FAVORITE vacation spot and manifested LAND there with space to grow lots of trees and whatever else - and some have ONLY A TRAILER of some sort like to “sleep in” like all the survivalists in the 1995 film, “Independence Day.” Favorite vacation spot is a must for our permanent relocation because YOU WILL NEVER GET TO LEAVE without gasoline or have ANY FORM OF ENTERTAINMENT without electricity or commerce except your hopefully non-electric based hobby or simple enjoyment of that vacation location. Location is everything for your survival and you MUST get there NOW while you still can to allow yourself ample time to manifest your “StarWagon” or whatever plus supplies and solar-ness.

MANY of us had to “go separately” from relationships when we realized that we didn’t share the same favorite vacation spot because “in the long run” no one wants to eventually have to entertain the other person with whom they are sharing land because newness of any relationship may inevitably lead to “I only moved here because of you but my interests / hobbies / passions are really elsewhere so now that the newness of us has passed, entertain me.” No one smart is taking that chance - that is energetically taxing for a couple no matter how tight you were so we in the celebrities and supermodel communities made it a hard and fast rule - no girl may relocate to anywhere for a person; ONLY for YOUR preferred hobby in YOUR preferred vacation spot. It IS encouraged for a homie to relocate permanently for a girl though and no other reason - not even a hobby. Those homies who do relocate to her village as such seem to enjoy lasting happiness with a girl.

Now all of us (supermodel’s networks and celebrities and personal networks) are focusing on our own personal wellness and relocation that CELIBACY is our unified pathway (but who is to say if that will last forever?) Maybe one day someone truly a perfect match will surprise each of us in our zip codes with their own RV or Airstream because it is also our hard and fast rule for smart survival as “smarties with hearties” network: only smart “RV” wheels for activism right now! Just like in the survival film “2012”. However, in the authentic spirit of celibacy, we are focused on IT, not on “falling out of celibacy if you meet someone special.” So just like all newly sober people support each other energetically, we are all supporting each other these days with celibacy in principle and the general good feelings for the planet of loving everyone in general (without getting physical) and no one in particular (except our Creator) and that is enough!

Also during these transitional months, do not teach kids about other cultures or lands or peoples as they most likely would never have the opportunity to go there anyway and meet anyone so why set them up for a loss? Let them remain obliviously happy within their zip code as if that is all they would ever know anyway and be enough. This will keep recovery, maintenance, and sustainability easier for everyone.

Even if the world were to now immediately transition to “all of a sudden only environmentally conscious people” it is too late to refill an already totally depleted global resource clock which will effect us to a NO petroleum line. You may research such topics as “global resource world clock” to understand that we have been at zero resources for months now and have basically been scraping the bottom of a barrel to get by on fumes.

There could be no gasoline infrastructure in just a handful of months to bring any products to stock any shelves. And that is that.

One of my favorite studies is by scientists in Colorado studying salamanders. Basically if the salamander lifestyle is at risk, it is a rather accurate assessment of the macro ecosystem at risk. You may research that yourself - 5 years ago, 70% of ALL rivers west of the Mississippi were too toxic for almost any kind of life. Who knows what those figures are now?

When you ever watched an “End of Days” scenario film, usually only the dramatic action is portrayed-not the three months leading up to the climactic “cataclysm.” Who’s to say that if those movies were real life, and they revealed the three months prior to its “apocalyptic scenario,” that it wouldn’t have included scenes of people like our networks alerting as many folks who would listen as we are now and scenes of people who take action actually doing so. Stuff like fact sheet could be like a three month warning.

As you live in the eternal now, if you ever remember any of the aforementioned artists somehow, or their networks and supermodels for any reason, KNOW FOR CERTAIN we continue to thrive on this planet as youthful and beautiful immortals in harmony with our Creator and all of creation which is why we strongly endorse that piece of literature, “Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise: The 5 Most Important Wellness Secrets of All Time.” If you were to go online and HEAVILY RESEARCH anything about “aging” you would discover NO ABSOLUTE TRUTH to it. If you were to heavily research “youthfulness” or “homeostasis” there are too many scientific journals out there providing hard scientific facts that eternal youth is our inherent and rightful state of being. We trust that everyone who manifested the precepts of what is in that guide are living immortally the same. No matter what happens, remember that enough people have decided to “break the chain of karma and live forever!” This is also all over YouTube!!! So even if it feels “deserted” around wherever you end up that doesn’t mean that is actually true. There ARE survivors, but maybe too spread out!

Obviously we would prefer global infrastructure to remain in place SOMEHOW maybe with different, alternative solutions and systems in place. If you have ideas...share. Otherwise there is pretty much no way around us becoming rather quickly like that recent television series “Revolution” which is post-global-infrastructure-collapse and no electricity.

Can we at least keep the peace throughout all of it??? Instead of turning on each other let us remember that maybe too many lives have passed already and let us cooperate as we co-habitate in a more sustainable way with our environment.

The most important of course is our relationship with our Creator so thank you for hearing us out with sincerity and understanding as we permanently sign off the internet.

Namaste and remain blessed forever - in God we trust, - #SupermodelIcon #SupermodelLegend🥂

#bestsurvivalguide BurningMan2018 Sundance2018 Supermodel2018

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occultadama · 3 years

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Kafka vs Burroughs - insect representation

When researching insect representation one point of reference that persistently appeared was "Naked Lunch". I have read the Burroughs novel and watched the Cronenberg screen adaptation. On completion I was left bemused to why it was such a poignant landmark in entomological media inclusion.

Its Kafka inspired story and style is heavily evident in both formats of story telling. Even taking the time to reference Kafka several times in the dialogue. Having the aspiration to write literature as influential and original as Kafka's "The Trial" and "The Metamorphosis", to me - is impossible. His writings were intrinsic to his character. Kafka never intended the books to be published and due to his crippling insecurities he was oblivious to thier cultural importance. He unintentionally created a world outlook - were we commonly describe the bureaucratic nonsense and constraints of capitalist culture as "Kafkaesque". Kafka had a unique frustration and specific lens that (post death) resonated deeply with many hyper aware members of the public.

This is where I believe Naked Lunch falls short. It's not that it is "bad" but it's immediately comparable with some of most influential kafka books of the 20th century, Most notably, "The Metamorphosis". In Kafka's short novel the protagonist Gregor Samsa wakes up finding himself transformed into a "monstrous vermin" - a beetle. Kafka uses this "Metamorphosis" to inhabit the collosal pressure of working hierarchies, our growing inability to excersize compassion, our modern cog like existence and the insignificance of the individual. All of which become amplified and unbearable in his new insectoid form. Samsa is not important or respected or even liked by those around him making an insect a fitting vessel for his characterisation. Beetles similarly offer a parallel in working structures - Often portrayed as automatic species - mindlessly working in unison. The difference being they lack all the bureaucratic film that suffocates mankind.

Samsa, despite becoming a burden and creature of resentment to all his family and Co workers is the only likeable character. Kafka presents him in a sympathetic manner showing him to be the only one with awareness to the idiocy and cruelty of life expectations and its institutions.

Kafka has a very clear core to the book, a burning frustration toward all of mans evolutionary arrogance, cruelty and idiocy. His writing is suffocated with a desperate longing for freedom - whatever that may be, his lack of answer to which he appears more down trodden by.

This is were Burroughs and Kafka differ. "Naked Lunch" follows emotionally sterile insect exterminator Bill Lee as he tumbles into a severe addiction to the bug killing powder he uses for work. After killing his dead‑eyed wife, Joan "accidently" (at the behest of a "probably" illusionary Giant, cockroach secret agent with an anus for a mouth) Bill flees the US to finish an imaginary report (again at the request of insect agents) and devolves into more extreme drug addiction. The story is non-linear with the confusion propping up the drug fuelled perception of Lee.

The Insects in the book and film represent the peeling back of lifes skin showing all its guts, gore and puss. The insects are presented in the film as malicious, untrustworthy and the psychical manifestation of his drug dependency. They similarly represent Lees insecurities as an addict. He feels like guttural, lowly, vermin. The beetles often inhabit human objects such as a typewriter as a way of both imaginary shape-shifters and as a interuptation to realities monotamy. Something Burroughs establishes early on that Bill is listlessly disdainful of. The film garnishes all of this with controversial imagery. To me it's often misplaced and feels tipped on the film without any real purpose other than distracting from actually interesting elements of the plot. There's constant overt, graphic sexual and violent content - which is fine, if it had purpose. I feel Burroughs gets far to preoccupied with making the most shocking book. Something it actually achieved on release being banned and burned in numerous locations.

If it had a point it gets lost in its own ego and end goal. The non linear style feels deliberate as Burroughs gets lost in his own point. Bill Lee is Burroughs alter ego, which makes sense in the books more masculine and self indulgent Portions. The Insects don't hold the same level of symbolic and metaphorical value as Kafka. They appear to be there to create more revulsion and "shock" value.

Both writers presentation of insects, although commonly comparable, couldn't be more different. Both Burroughs and Kafka sit at different ends of the spectrum. Burroughs uses insect species mainly to double down on controversy whereas Kafka uses them as sympathic vessels for a wider philosophical ideals. Burroughs (to me) is attempting to make the viewer think this work is important and intellectual (the use of non linear and confusing time frames to me is something often equipped in this objective) without any of the needed substance. Kafka's work on the other hand - just is.

This isn't to say I thought Burroughs book and film adaptation were abjectively bad. If I pull it out of its confusingly "cool dad" and morbidly preachy context- it's quite good fun with unique elements and feverish imagery. I just don't think it is what it is trying to be, it feels forced. It also makes the error of mentioning Kafka frequently creating an instant comparison. For example I wouldn't make a stop motion film where I reference jvan svankmajer constantly, that would be really stupid of me.

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twinflameshardcore · 6 years

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Disclosure and further awakenings

I have written in one of my blog post lately, that around 2 years ago I received a glimpse about an alien contact, disclosure, anything like that to happen between December 9th-24th, 2017, that it will be a preparation for a real contact with aliens, with beings from other dimension, whether energetically or physically. And so it has begun :)

This is the news on CNN today, not that this is the best media, since they cause bad blood very often but it has been said that major media will post news about aliens when the time is right. Pentagon had that ‘threat searching’ program they abandoned in 2012. How meaningful about the date. This means that somebody in Pentagon must have gotten a channeling that they should stop assuming that aliens would be a danger but rather wanted allies to let us fight against all those ‘archons’ here on Earth, and above. That they needed to let go and let the outside help in. This is also no coincidence that the newest Star Wars premiere happens this season ;)

This also means that soon I’ll be allowed to fully tell the real story of Draconians (pieces of the story I’ve received so far from my higher self, which match together well and these will be from the very source as I’m a Draco-human) because there will be more understanding about who we are and why we happened to be in this solar system. Not for bad reasons at all, but just like between humans, there are good and bad guys, those who turn to greed & control instead of staying on the original path, and those who keep supporting love and spiritual progression. I’m still awaiting that inner impulse of ‘sit down and write’. We, true Dracos, dragons and seraphim basically remained hidden and quiet during centuries to let liars talk and threaten people against us, to then let the people awaken on their own and see through illusions, to discover the truth and chase the liars away ;]

My twin cut any contact with me which is not unusual but this year has been just horrible in terms of our lack of verbal communication. It’s all him, I’ve reached out on countless occasions. I feel him and I know that he began feeling me more and more which may come as a shock for him, yet a confirmation that we share the same spirit. Merging in spirit continues, we bring each other amazing harmony and love at times. I had to let go of trying to compare it to a rough reality. There are 2 realities which are merging and helping us live in one, the better only. I had the most meaningful experience lately on 12/17 which felt as if 2 grids in your spirits and bodies matched perfectly, so called blueprints of us two. It felt like there were grids on our chests and in bodies and all of ‘eyes’ of that grid matched perfectly with the other, like numbers 1 with 1, 2 with 2, 3 with 3 etc.

Is my twin awakened yet? I don’t know, due to lack of communication. I’ve done my job, researched, understood who I am, accepted that I’m very powerful and I know the real truth different to that it is shown on Earth which definitely involves religions. I don’t see the entire picture yet but there’s definitely more to come which will be just a pure relief for the brain mostly because it will no more have to ignore, deny or search for ‘facts’ it hadn’t been taught on Earth. My higher self told me to be quiet now, because it’s his time to awaken further, to have his realizations, to research, to verify within that what I shared with him during the last 4 years - discoveries I was receiving via own channelings about myself and us. I’m now a living confirmation of all he could receive, and as a forerunner, I can be also a guide for him, if he asks. But it seems once we meet in person again, who knows when, maybe in 2018, we’ll be fully synchronized, energy, light bodies and knowledge. There’s no such a thing that one can be denying and rejecting truths which are bombarding them. If you came here and forgot who you are, then you will be recalled and you need to accept it as there comes a liberation thanks to this knowledge, a former charisma, skills, inner power and self-esteem will be retrieved to stay.

This time now is the beginning of a quick yet fast awakening of these who are only facts-orientated, who only listen to ‘specialists’, to the people with scientific degrees, to what is written in serious books published by serious publishers and also what is on the TV too - the last wave of people who are not spiritually orientated yet whose souls are ready to switch from the brain/ego to the heart/spirit. Year 2018 will be for them to wake up and understand while we, so far awakened angelics will be benefiting from our hard work, in any way possible. If you were pulled to do something which your heart enjoys, it’ll continue with fascinating effects, and you will be guided further, by your Self. Our higher original versions are entering our Earthy copies to replace them further. Often you will discover that you feel like being steered from inside, that something moves your hands, legs, makes decisions for you, that your human, fear or ego driven willpower will be ‘turned off’ and at certain times the angelic/higher you inside of you will take the lead. It’s very useful to help deal with problems we thought were lost. We still can win. I find such events fascinating. We should not fight with it, because these ‘original versions’ entering us, they are most advanced us, they spread within us, from the hearts outside. They know us, they have been observing us all the time since we were born from the Light, they are our good twins as in number 11. In a twin flame relationships, 11:11 means that we come as 4 folks together, 2 of me and 2 of the twin. They love us and they arrive with certain goals to make us do next, which goals we’ll love because they fit into what we like doing, into our dreams, favourite activities, passions, and desires. If the topic of love was your all-time direction, to give love, to be in love, to open hearts, to transmute/merge masculine and feminine through love and sexuality, to make people happy, to be with that One and only man/woman, then I feel there won’t be any replacement. You’ve been doing what you were guided to do, unless you keep sabotaging yourself against your happiness. This means there’s a negative energy attached to you, a distortion which has to be removed, and which will eliminated thanks to the ascension. These energies won’t survive in high vibration which our bodies pick up (through plasma bodies’ liberation and expansion) but it’s also your job to 'scan’ yourself, find the leeches and order them to go to hell, alone. Be guided by your heart, not the ego.

I had experienced at least 2-3 shifts this month so far, which were related to changing dimensions and the plasma body further stretching and liberation. Moments of huge inner acceleration, high vibration, rods of light drilling though me, inner explosions from the solar plexus and heart into the root chakra etc etc etc. My eyes lately felt like crying, and some layer in me felt like melting, but I’m physically and mentally OK. I’m prompted to drink a lot of water and also eat chocolate or magnesium & potassium supplements once a day to help the heart and nerves cope with the structural upgrades. I sleep with minerals/gemstones and I walk in the nature to let the Earth take & disintegrate all those ‘toxins’ from me which were created by all those energetic transmutations. Everybody have their own symptoms depending on what the light body dies within.

I also had very clear, spiritual visits from the two men from my life with whom a spiritual connection was instant. One died in 1999 so I only meet him in dreams occasionally. He was 16 y.o. when I was in love with him back then and 22 y.o. when he died in a car crash. Lately however, thanks to dimensions merging, we have gotten into what I’d call a ‘union’, an agreement that he loves me and I love him, that it was expressed openly in the dream, and obviously had no effect on me and the twin relationship. It was my personal experience to let my soul recollect the energy which was mine and which I gave the other guy in a college. For him it was to express his old love to me. I knew if he survived and he would be in his 40s now, we would meet and he would not hide his feelings or attraction to me, but it would be too late because I’m reserved for my twin.

The other whom I’ve strongly felt lately was a one time lover who I had met way before I met my twin. Me and that guy, had an amazing one-night sexual release and healing in 2002 and we also talked about stars, the Big Dipper specifically. He was 4 years younger than me, so as old as my twin, completely not into spirituality at the time, yet he liked surrounding himself with incense sticks, blue color, candles, fire, wood and plants, mostly thanks to his mother. Once I came into his house, I felt like ‘at home’ which was very weird as I never feel good at anybody’s apartment. But the energy there was harmonious, healing so I assume it was his mother who was some kind of angelic, yet I never met her. I can now ‘call’ out his energy and he becomes aware, he listens. So I assume something must have happened to him these days, most probably he had an awakening, his soul started communicating with all those beings he had met and verifying who was most important, and at the same time, he was ‘informed’ who I am (not as a human but deeper) and perhaps we may come from the same group of Dracos considering our sexual skills. We never met later after 2002 and I’m OK with bridges burnt as I don’t want to be tempted, yet we were completely different humans, with different lifestyles and interests so this chapter had been closed forever just right after it began. It was just very surprising to feel the guy again so directly around me after so many years passed by. This means that their divine masculine energies found me to give me back that what belonged to me, the fire, interest, healing, sexuality, parts of my original energy. If energy of men/women from your past appear again in your energy field and act as if accompanying you, it may mean the same - they came back to return what was once yours. Your gifts are being returned to help you feel more powerful within once your plasma body expands so that you no more stretch yourself emotionally between past boyfriends/lovers even if you moved on and forgot about the guys a long time ago.

The most important thing is to know that your soul/spirit had received all possible orders and directions way before you incarnated in this lifetime, and is aware of the timing like a good soldier to apply to orders when they are shouted. So you don’t have to work hard on yourself, meditate etc. Listen to your body and the higher self only, they will tell you what you need to do. Such an inner advice is always free, you don’t have to pay anybody to guide/heal you, unless you want it and can afford. I’ve never paid for any spiritual healing, any coaching, any reiki, because I have this knowledge on my own and I let it guide me. I’ve been always led by my Self and it’s only my impatience (the fire element) to accelerate things unnecessarily, yet when they finally happen, it’s always a relief and the inner yell ‘I knew I was doing it right!’ :)

I’ve been seeing 11:11 frequently lately, as much as my birth date and number 33 as well (my birth number). I had an outburst of inner power, and meaningful dreams and I wrote a few messages to my twin that I knew I’d been here to guide and protect him as I am the spiritually stronger of us two to take on discovering and awakening first. It’s the feminine who liberates the two twins (in this life time, I’m a former masculine energy who is a feminine in this life, might have happened I was also a female warrior before, a muscular type) Females are those strongest who have proven themselves, who have chosen true love (not suffering, slavery or delusions) as the only solution.

It’s not a coincidence that this female warrior/savior theme is being brought to the masses via movies these days. Main characters in the sequels of movies like Mad Max, Dr Who, Star Wars are females! This is a message to all masculine to tell them they have to listen to us (and their inner divine feminine part of the energy, we’re always 2 in one) because we, females are the liberators. We’ve sacrificed a lot and it’s time for a lasting reward. We have liberated ourselves from the mental programming faster, and we can bring the same healing to the men (because often they do not have the crown & heart channels open enough) through love because we can do it only via hearts, not brains. Yet we need men as much as they need us to become One again, to retrieve the whole original harmonious aspect of the angelic being, the two in one, acting as one. On thing to mention - the law of non-interference! This sucks, but we, human angelics are bound with this law as much as many aliens races and even our galactic families out there. We can be equipped with all kinds of solutions, tools and sneaky ways of delivering knowledge, but it’s the masculine who needs to want to open and be healed, as much as we need to open to be transmuted by the Light. Nothing can be forced out or accelerated, thus if you feel the Light works too hard on you, request it stops and returns when you are able to take it in again. It will be probing continuous, so you won’t miss it ;)

More and more of us will be convinced that we are forerunners and all we have endured so far was a smartest choice, that our souls have chosen to do it earlier than others. We’re special. As much as our progress had been observed, we’ll be watching others awakening these days but we will have our personal goals to continue with, as brought by our higher selves.

The movies I listed above resonate with certain groups of people - Mad Max with those of you, who like me came across a global catastrophe, most possibly on Mars but could be also on a parallel Earth or elsewhere in another galaxy. I don’t resonate with Atlantis, Lemuria etc, not my past. The main theme of the movie is a survival, by being smart, courageous, to fight, to win, to kill the enemy. Then Dr Who would be for, I’d say - magicians, empaths, time travellers, good spirits who wish to remove mistakes and change realities for the better, by making sudden interventions. Finally, Star Wars - a topic of a universal duality which causes damages, wars, a fight for control, good against evil, rebels and attackers. It’s for all of us who had fought in galactic battles, specifically during Orion Wars, for Sirius, for Betelgeuse, for Vega/Lyra, because the ‘above’ is reflected ‘below’ - the witch hunt, Crusades, an unfortunate colonization of Africa and Australia by white people, WWI, WWII, wars in Middle East, in Ukraine, Germany, holocaust camps in Poland, slavery in Egypt, abuses in Africa, Japanese kamikaze, nuclear bombs, these are only a few reflections of the ‘above’, the very old galactic issues. These have one source of war, the cult of blood, the destruction of the human DNA and a distortion of the connection humans have with other dimensions, beings, where they could get help and wisdom from. There is this ancient saying - ‘all roads lead to Rome’. Not necessarily for trading purposes. The destruction of humans is linked to the Vatican here on Earth (there’s a mirrored place in the galaxy too) but we’ll get to this when the time is right. Religion along with the politics, and money tame our original power, creativity, unity with the Universe and the truth about everything, a wisdom. Star Wars is another mass-wake up call for those who have an inner conviction (often supported by visions, dreams or DNA/astral memories) of being as old as the galaxy, working as a former space ship commander, navigator, mechanic, space inventor, galactic negotiator, space clipper pilot, who enjoys the speed of flying, who is familiar with the most extreme sensations like coming through a black hole, being disintegrated, exploded, but also who remember seeing planet-size spaceships. It’s for all those who have been fighting for the harmony, wisdom, truth and balance, who know about the problem of duality, who fight against cold-blooded behaviors, and manipulation - the light warriors, galactic warriors, those connected and aware of alien races, Sirians, Arcturians, Draconians, Pleiadians, Lyrans, but also Archons, etc.

If you’re a feminine, no matter of your actual sex, feel being an admired, respected, desired goddess again specially in the end of this year. This is the time for self-love, so much deserved as the self-esteem heals. This pulls not only the love of the twin, whether in spirit only or in person, but also financial opportunities related to what you have been doing so far, as I have experienced.

Happy awakening, and the winter solstice!

Update: I forgot to add that I had a meaningful dream about seeing an alien spacecraft and a message transmitted from it. That dream was on on the night of 12/12 and 12/13/2017. I dreamt of walking in some small, old English city. I was a tourist there. It was the day when I was to leave and I was with the twin in the city but he was somewhere else, busy with things so I was walking to learn about the area a little bit before we leave for good. On my way back to what was some rented apartment, I found myself in a street surrounded by old townhouses. There were a few young people standing and talking. Then I saw that the sky was filled with a fleet of small, 50-100 cm long ‘spaceships’ with lights, I saw no details however. They were flying above the street and houses in one direction. Then from what I thought was a big cloud high above the city, I noticed a part of a big mother-ship materializing. It was that saucer-like aircraft, very pro looking, with white and dark blue parts and a ball-like ‘viewing platform’ attach to one of the sides of the ship. It was really huge but I could see only like 1/4th of the entire aircraft, the rest was covered with clouds. I had dreamt of aliens before and here I got the same kind of telepathic message this time too - ‘Hello, we are on your side. We’re watching, monitoring, we know what’s going on. We are here.’ It felt like they knew what to do but they could take action only if things get out of control on the Earth or were waiting for an order from their main base. If there are positive aliens around, the telepathic message will have a frequency of peace and you will feel it. This is how they’ll communicate with us first, no words but harmonious frequencies sent telepathically, from the heart to heart, to not trigger the brain regardless what it sees and what it thinks. That’s why mastering the heart communication is crucial not only iwth the twin flame, but the rest of beings, and yet it’s the easiest thing to do because all humans were born with it. Human language, the verbal one is an official replacement for the heart communication.

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