#the concept itself is beautifully executed doe

[zdbztumble]

Yet Another Kingdom Hearts Revisit, Part VIII

I mentioned in my KH II revisit that KH I is the only Disney property since Beauty and the Beast was released in 1991 (the live action remake very much included) to tell a good story with Belle and the Beast. The latter character acting as a parallel to Sora for the beginning of Hollow Bastion is a great touch too. And if Belle's dialogue boxes don't really "sound" too much like her, I do like that she stands apart from the rest of the princesses in the library, doing research. None these details are labored over, but they're smart and appreciated choices in direction and plotting.

And, speaking of plot - every time I come back to this game, I have a renewed and deepened love for how the story is handled in this section of the game. The subversion of the "chosen one" and "hero's journey" archetypes is so beautifully done, clear and impactful without straying into obnoxious meta-commentary on storytelling, and Sora and Riku (as they were in this game) are the perfect characters to go through that subversion. I daresay I don't know of a better example of a pair of rivals coming to a head and defying the expectations everyone had for them (well - everyone but Kairi). And the fact that, as a consequence of that subversion, Donald and Goofy end up (briefly and indirectly) allied with Maleficent is one of the many gutsy story choices I cannot believe Disney allowed to go through for this game.

The twist with Ansem is the only clean villain twist in the series - that is, it's the only one that works without at least one asterisk. And the Princesses of Heart (again, as they were in this game) as a plot device is a great way to take a Disney concept, darken it a little, and make it a organic and integral piece of the crossover. And that all this takes place on Hollow Bastion is appropriate, because of all the original elements created for the series, that world (yet again, as presented in KH I) is the most successful at uniting Disney sensibilities with Square/Final Fantasy sensibilities, aesthetically and narratively. It's the ideal penultimate stage for a game like this.

But with all that praise out of the way - the way the series has developed since KH I has made me ambivalent about quite a bit surrounding Hollow Bastion. And that is not fair. No one involved in making KH I could have known how the series would pan out, or that Kingdom Hearts would ever be a series. If an element works in the initial entry of a series but ended up being developed in a negative way, that shouldn't take away from its effective use earlier on. But it's impossible not to at least dwell on consequences and alternate possibilities with KH at this point.

To start with the weapon at the heart of the series - Most of the dialogue and lore dropped in KH I treats the Keyblade as a singular entity, a mysterious and powerful object that has bestowed itself on chosen bearers, good and evil, throughout history. The Keyblade of Heart and Mickey's Keyblade popping up in the third act does not easily square with that set-up, even with a last-minute note about the "two keys" in The End of the World. I can accept the Keyblade of Heart as a unique creation of the princesses' hearts by Ansem while possessing an intended wielder of the Keyblade, and Mickey's having one is an admittedly satisfying eucatastrophe. I can't say I have any thoughts on how certain plot points could have been resolved without those two blades either. But with how out of control Keyblades have become since, part of me wishes that they could have found a way to make the story work with there being just the one and only Keyblade wielded by Sora.

Part of me also wishes that Maleficent never came back after her defeat here. As much as I love the idea of her story in KH II and the concept of her "origins" in BbS, the execution in both games is uneven (the latter more than the former), and nothing since has been remotely satisfying. On the other hand, I'd be loathe to see anyone else representing the pinnacle of Disney villaindom, so for that reason alone, I'm less torn on Maleficent than I am the Keyblade issue.

Where I'm most torn so far as villains go is with Ansem. Playing this game again, I found the slow reveal of his true nature so successful, and so satisfying, that I had to reconsider my thoughts about KH II. As much as I enjoy just how improbably effective the twist about "Ansem" being Xehanort is, it is a dilution of what was an immensely pleasing arc. I'm now wondering about a KH II with no DiZ and no villain twist - just Xemnas as the Nobody of Ansem, a man who corrupted himself and his apprentices.

And now it's time to revisit a point I raised in Part I: the Princesses of Heart. It's always bothered me that Alice is one of them, and I admit that's entirely because of my persnickety ways. For one thing, if Wendy isn't pure enough to be a Princess of Heart, then Alice - of a similar age and disposition - shouldn't be either. But Alice is also not royalty of any kind, not in her books, not in her film, and not in Disney's many marketing ventures. You can say that "Princess of Heart" is really just a pithy way of saying "seven maidens whose hearts happen to be devoid of darkness and therefore have vague yet potent powers," but when five of the six taken from Disney are royals by birth or marriage, Alice sticks out like a sore thumb.

To be sure, it's not as if the KH team had a lot of options to choose from at the time. The only realistic options for a sixth princess who really was a princess in 2002 would have been Ariel and Pocahontas. It might have been fun to bring the latter into KH, but it's hard to imagine her ending up captured by the Heartless, and harder still to imagine Disney wanting to remind people of a film they'd already begun to sour on as a company. As for Ariel, I'm more than content to have her as a party member who can fend for herself. I also don't think you can be counted pure of heart if you cut deals with sea witches, however innocent your motives.

Really, Alice being in the line-up wouldn't be more than a minor itch in my anal-retentive mind...if it weren't for the fact that, by her not being a real princess, the door was opened for Kairi not to be a real princess.

And again, that wouldn't be more than a nitpick if it was just a matter of rank; it's not as if Kairi needs to be a princess to be a good character. But the way the game handles her, I don't think anyone could be chastised for thinking that Kairi was Hollow Bastion royalty. Her heart inside Sora's stirs at the castle slide in Deep Jungle. She has memories of living in a castle, of being told bedtime stories by her grandmother in the library of the castle of Hollow Bastion. Ansem calls her "princess" multiple times. I know that in the extra Ansem Report added in Final Mix, he just refers to her as "a girl," but if that was always the intention - if Kairi was always meant to be an ordinary girl who happened to be a Princess of Heart - then they really shouldn't have put so much effort into suggesting otherwise.

And now consider that it took until Melody of Memory for any meaningful expansion on Kairi's past in Hollow Bastion, and how perfunctory it was compared to the piles of lore and backstory spent on Xehanort, the Organizers, the Nameless Star, Ven, and his stupid focus-pulling cat. I think that, had Kairi been established as the princess of Hollow Bastion and a pivotal figure to a pivotal world, that would have given her real estate within the lore that would have made it harder to ignore her for so long in the narrative. Then again, given how quickly the series' priorities seemed to shift even within CoM and KH II, maybe it wouldn't have mattered.

Kairi is also tied into my one major gripe with Hollow Bastion in KHI, which is one of my only major gripes with the story as a whole. Remember how Sora tells Kairi to stay in Traverse Town, telling her that she'd be in his way? And remember how, when he gets back to Hollow Bastion, the six Princesses of Heart tell him that they're barely keeping the darkness at bay and that it's costing all their vaguely-defined power not to give in?

Gee, if only there were a seventh Princess of Heart who could lend her light to theirs. And if only we knew who she was and where she was. And if only we had a spaceship we could use to bring her to Hollow Bastion. And if only, should Sora be foolish enough to leave her behind, all his friends from Traverse Town followed him to Hollow Bastion and could have brought her along with them.

If only...if only...if only...

#kingdom hearts #z's crits #commentary #hollow bastion #maleficent #kairi #ansem

[mademoiselle-red]

I’ve been thinking about how my favorite genre of fanfiction are works that seem to say to the original work, “great concept but I want to execute it differently.” I love how it takes the building blocks of the original work and show how the resulting story could have been arranged differently.

A sub-genre of that I absolutely adore are fanfics that are beautifully written, gentle, whimsical, or romantic in tone, but whose concepts, thematic and stylistic decisions are explicitly hostile and antagonistic to those in the original work. There is something so enticing about the gentle violence of a Draco/Harry fic that turns some of values and choices of the original series upside-down.

I love the way this played out in the fandom for the Alexander Trilogy by Mary Renault. The second book in the trilogy, The Persian Boy is itself a “transformative” work that offers an alternate interpretation of the history and cultural myth(s) of Alexander the Great. It imagines a romantic relationship between Alexander and the eunuch Bagoas, his only male lover recorded in official histories. The story centers this relationship while sidelining the much more heavily mythologized and romanticized relationship between Alexander and the general Hephaestion, his friend / right-hand-man / maybe-lover . Historians from antiquity record in extravagant detail Alexander’s deep emotional attachment to Hephaestion, but nothing about sexual love was ever written in the official histories. By making its protagonist Bagoas, The Persian Boy centers the romance around the explicitly queer relationship over the maybe-queer relationship historians liked to call “platonic”. The novel does depict Alexander and Hephaestion in a sexless marriage-like kind of romantic love, but does not make it the focus of the story. The focus of the romance is between Alexander and Bagoas. I think the novel is very successful in selling this romance and challenging the Alexander / Hephaestion mythos. But it is apparent that the fan favorite couple, even in this fandom, is still Alexander/Hephaestion. And most of these fan works write back against The Persian Boy’s narrative decision to de-center Hephaestion by re-centering Alexander/Hephaestion in their stories, drawing from both Renault’s work and the works of Roman historians, medieval poets, renaissance artists, and other contemporary novelists & historians. When reading and writing Alexander/Hephaestion fanfics, it sometimes feels to me like the mythos itself is writing back against Renault’s attempt at subversion with the might of millennia of storytelling and the fury of millennia of marginalization. On a meta fourth-wall-breaking level, Renault’s Bagoas had foreseen this: Hephaestion will always win, in both The Persian Boy and in the cultural consciousness of its fans. He had won long before Renault set pen to paper, on the day the historical Alexander, the Alexander of our world, immortalized their love through his elaborate displays of devotion and grief. The part of me that reads literature like a blood sport delights in the knowledge that in the collective cultural consciousness, Alexander will always love Hephaestion more.

#the Persian boy #Alexander/Hephaestion #alexander x hephaestion

[alovelyburn]

Rambles about the Conviction Arc Part 11

Rambles about the Conviction Arc Part 11

So when we left off, the Tower of Conviction had just collapsed on itself and turned into the Hand of God, so we all know what’s coming. But cool let’s look at it anyway.

1. This really reminds me of that scene in Devilman with the kid that ended up getting decapitated by his demon-merged parents. It’s interesting how thick on the ground the Devilman influences can be – I’ve heard there are some people who like to insist that the Go Nagai story that influenced Miura was Susano Oh instead of Devilman... but that strikes me as denial to be honest. Because they, I guess, don’t like the implication that there’s some kind of dynamic correlation between the characters in each series, or they just don’t like Griffith as much as Ryo, who knows. I looked into Susano Oh at one point to investigate where that idea came from and it really has nothing at all in common with Berserk aside from the existence of a shadowy villain cabal and the main character’s love interest being raped. It does kind of strike me as predictable that specific corners of the fandom would focus on the “evil bastards and a raped love interest that the hero has to avenge” thing though, since that’s kinda all they seem to perceive.

Anyway, that was a pointless ramble – Miura himself said it was Devilman and Violence Jack. And these scenes where the spirits or demons take over humans and the humans become violent monsters always evokes Go Nagai, not just in concept but in the visual language.

2.  I left this whole sequence intact because it’s just unfair how beautifully cinematic and atmospheric it is. It plays like a film in my head, and it says everything you need to know through the panel staging – the slow pan away from the camps as they explode into madness, Guts’ dawning realization, the looming spirits in the background, and then the camera pivoting to reveal that Guts himself is right in the palm of that immense hand. Beautiful.

3. Like... if you try to break this situation into clean cut sides, it’s... very difficult.

Mozgus is a pseudo-apostle, and he’s trying to kill Casca. From Guts’ perspective he’s clearly a villain, which means he largely reads as one to the reader... and his penchant for torture helps with that. But at the same time, he’s also genuinely trying to protect the people from the spirit onslaught that is largely brought by Guts and Casca.

Because that’s one of the twists of the situation! He’s not wrong that Casca is the one who brought those spirits that possessed the people in the tunnel or flooded the tower. He’s not wrong that killing her would presumably dampen the attack somewhat – the movement of the world toward Griffith’s incarnation has exacerbated things, but it was the brand overlap that originally brought them.  Mozgus doesn’t have the full context, obviously – he thinks Casca is actively summoning these things or that she’s commanding them rather than being the passive catalyst she is...

But I guess my question is, is that something that people who aren’t Guts should care about? If her presence is causing thousands of deaths and it can be stopped by executing her, would doing that be morally wrong? Is it better to let the destruction continue? Presumably Kant (”do not treat people as means to an end but as ends to themselves”) would think so, but Bentham  (the correct action is the one that benefits the greatest number of people) would not.

I think this is the kind of thing Miura meant when he talked about trying to create Berserk without these strict enemy/ally, good/evil demarcations. They’re all doing what’s best from their own perspective, from Mozgus trying to save humanity through both cruelty and kindness to Griffith sacrificing his last remaining allies in order to retroactively justify the deaths of all his previous allies, to Guts charging forward to find Casca even knowing his brand and Casca’s together will cause chaos and tragedy, to the Behelit Apostle trying to kill one world to bring out a better one.

So like if you follow Guts’ perspective you see this crazy pseudo-apostle trying to kill a character/woman you care about but if you flip the focus, you see this crazy guy killing everything that crosses his path, burning the world down behind him and not caring as long as he gets what he personally wants.

Or, as Miura said himself, “From (Griffith’s) perspective, maybe Guts looks like the villain.”

4. So okay I’m about to track Guts’ part in this area of the story, which may require some jumping around and also a couple of sidetrips to really get it all together. First of all, this next bit really needs to be understood in the context of this page:

Because Guts is up there on the hand alter, and he sees Casca being led to her execution... and he’s panicked about it. Also note the position of the fingers from the hand which are currently behind him.

Here, the jelly spirits are rising from the layers of rubble between Guts and Casca, so here he’s still facing Casca.

Some more come up from behind him, and some take over the bird guy’s corpse and turn it into Void.

He is now facing away from Casca.

And he just kind of goes into BoD mode and starts chopping at the Godhand.

Also, I really like this image:

Where the extremes of Guts’ rage and his inability to contain it is represented in his face becoming half-Beast of Darkness with those...eyes and those teeth and that inhumanly extended mouth.

It also makes him look like Akira Fudo.

Anyway here he’s “chosen” between saving Casca and going after the Godhand... which is evident from how in order to attack the Godhand, he has to turn away from her. Rescue or fight? he went with fight.

However, these Godhand are just echoes, not the real things,

he thinks about Griffith, and it’s interesting how he still imagines his broken body in that incubation egg.  It is, I think, sort of triggered by this recreation of the original eclipse not just in fact (like in the fact that there’s literally a recreation of the Eclipse in progress) but also in his own personal role.

Because here we are right back there:  Guts in the palm of a handshaped alter with four of the godhand and not the fifth and a wall of monsters coming after him, ignoring Casca’s desperate situation because he’s too focused on his Griffith issues.  Also interesting: when he thinks about Griffith he doesn’t look... angry. He looks... I don’t know. Distraught? And maybe a bit frightened. 

So okay, like I said, Casca is down amongst the crowd that’s tearing at her and dragging her to a pyre to burn. Guts is very aware of this because he saw it happening before the Godhand echoes appeared and... well instead of going after her he attacked the echoes.Then...

So like, he remembers that Skull Knight had warned him that he’ll have to choose between saving Casca and fighting his enemies. More than that even I think this scene is masquerading as a reminder to him but it’s just as much a reminder to the reader – it sets out the stakes. Guts has to choose. And he’s struggling with it...

...because Casca’s situation is bad. So he goes to get her....

Or does he??!  Initially we can’t tell - he has jelly spirits in front of him and behind him and the visual marker of which direction hes facing (the fingers of the hand alter) aren’t shown. But then...

NOPE. The orienting fingers return and he isn’t. He isn’t going after her at all. because remember she’s basically beneath where the reader is sitting - opposite the fingers, and there he is not even trying to go that way.

And I mean, he’s upset about it, the fact that he’s uh, leaving Casca to burn to death does kind of weigh on him.

“The same... the same as that time... With the same outcome? Again I can’t save her?”

But it’s funny because he’s not even trying to do that, which maybe is appropriate since he wasn’t doing that during the Eclipse either.

Anyway, the broad movements to parallel of the Eclipse are in progress even outside the general area, because SO FAR WE HAVE

-Guts in the palm of the alter attacked by a wall of monsters, faced with the four Godhand -Casca surrounded by a mob she can’t protect herself from trying to brutalize and kill her. -and Guts uh just not even trying to find her. -Oh yeah plus there’s always...

Skull Knight and Zodd meeting outside the sacrificial site.

Anyway so, Casca’s on the stake, Guts is smashing jelly spirits instead of going after her, meanwhile his future companions are kinda nyucking around trying to figure out what to do with themselves, like...

And... this is such a glorious headtrip. Miura juxtaposes Guts’ battle and Casca’s mortal peril.

Guts vs. the jelly spirits. Casca vs. the fire. I tend to think we’re meant to be expecting him to change his mind at the last second, realizing that saving her is more important and deciding to abandon fighting and go after her. The storytelling choices emphasize that question - she’s about to start burning, he’s running at spirits, she looks up, and the reader I suppose is meant to expect to see Guts barrelling down at her, but...

NOPE 2.0!

It’s not Guts at all that that’s about to come jumping down at her, it’s Isidro.

Incredible.

Anyway once Casca is in the vicinity of something he can stab, he does end up helping her situation. The narration makes it clear that Guts is remembering that Skull Knight had said this time might turn out differently - that Guts might be able to change something instead of just reacting to what Fate throws at him.

Now, I’ll be honest, this is wild to me - it’s wild enough that II have a hard time believing that "Guts literally chose to fight jelly spirits and let Casca burn to death” is what I’m meant to take away from this sequence. Because if Griffith were up there, sure no problem, but jelly spirits? I assume it’s based in that moment where he gets an anxiety/distress/fear moment thinking about/wondering about where Griffith is - like he doesn’t want to get down from the hand alter because he expects Griffith to turn up or even just thinks maybe he will (especially since Skull Knight did basically say Grifith would be returning to the world)....  And it does fit the ultimatum Skull Knight set up, and that sure does seem to be what the staging is implying. And the way the sequence is presented does appear to be trying to make you think he’s going to save her and then throwing you for a loop by revealing he isn’t, he’s up there hacking at spirits instead.

But it’s still mindboggling and I really struggle with thinking that’s what actually happened, asldas but, you know, there it is.

Anyway as far as the Eclipse parallels go regarding Casca, I would argue that the murderous human masses parallel the apostles, while Mozgus is a bit of a standin for Griffith – as I’ve talked about before, his nature and his relationship with his followers strongly parallels the portrayal of Griffith’s role in the story despite being, obviously, much smaller scale and with a sillier portrayal at times.  Also he is the force behind her being attacked to begin with.

5. Mozgus’s monster form is kind of silly. I mean, I guess it’s supposed to be, rofl. But it’s genuinely bizarre around this time, and seeing him cry tears of blood over his disciples is kind of..... I wish I found it more touching but I mostly find it ridiculous. Sorry Miura. Not really though, because he obviously meant Mozgus to be a little absurd.

Truly Messiah material.

6. Gah. There aren’t a lot of characters I really dislike, honestly like I can think of maybe three offhand. I’m sure there are more, but generally I either like a character or don’t care about them either way. Nina.... I don’t find her quite as grating as I did, say, Dolores Umbridge back in the day. But it’s not THAT far off.

7. So okay for a hot second I’m going to ignore how absurd Mozgus looks and think about this scene. I got into a conversation with @zombiesgohome recently, where we were talking about the way Berserk portrays “great” or “natural born leaders.” Miura really tended to go all in on that campfire thing, right, like Griffith was the greatest inferno and so everyone sought his heat and his light.

This is the case for most of the people we’re intended to see as great (not good but great) leaders. They are basically people that others cling to for light and stability, even if and when they resent the way that leader reflects their own weakness back at them.  It kind of echoes back to Griffith’s monologue back in his very first appearance way back in Volume 3 – that there is a handful of individuals who, regardless of the status they’re born into, are ultimately the few who will truly shape the world.

This I think is true on various different scales - obviously Griffith turns out to be the greatest and biggest of the special world-shapers, but there are others who have a similar impact on a smaller scale. Luca was the same way to the prostitutes she protected – she didn’t change the whole world, but she changed theirs. Guts was like that for the Raiders, and later is the same way for the companions he ends up traveling with.

Mozgus is unironically one of those people. The way he gathered those disciples, and the way the terrified refugees cling to the hope that he can save them, the ease with which they accept that he’s been transfigured into an angel, tell us that. I mean there are leaders of every morality, after all, and Mozgus is..... more ambiguous than one would immediately think.

Because I mean, again, he’s not wrong. The monsters are there because Casca and Guts are there. By any I guess utilitarian perspective obviously she has to go, I mean you could say throw her out of the area instead of actually burning her alive but either way its not like the attacks will stop if she’s still there. And in theory if you kick her out you’re just passing the problem to the next person.

To be clear I’m not saying yeah burn Casca, I’m just saying it’s another perspective issue – does the weight of many lives override the right for one person to live?

8. And this is brings to mind two main thoughts.

First, it’s a direct confrontation of the question of Guts’ morality. I always say that he and Griffith aren’t really different in moral quality just in their specific priorities – Guts always thinks about his ingroup and is absolutely ready to sacrifice the larger picture. He is, after all, the individual. Griffith always thinks about the larger picture and is able to sacrifice his ingroup, because he is a representative of the collective – the weight of 1,000 lives is greater than the weight of 100. This – among other things - is how Griffith arrived at the idea that sacrificing a few dozen or a few hundred men at most was, while awful, not as bad as wasting the lives of the thousands that went before them.

But Guts is the opposite – he’d burn the world down to protect the handful of people he really cares about and I guess my question is, how is that better? Is it better? I don’t know that there is a legitimate answer, certainly not one presented in berserk – people assume Guts is “right” because his priorities are more in alignment with their own and, I think more than anything else just because he’s the protagonist and we’re used to the protagonist having the “right” perspective especially when they aren’t overtly villainous – Gut isn’t Light Yagami or anything, you know? He’s a guy doing his best. Plus I think a normal person finds it harder to understand choosing a principle over the individuals who are specifically important to them. But it doesn’t change the fact that his choices aren’t inherently more correct than the opposite thing would be.

That was a bit of a ramble but I guess my point is... allowing thousands of people to die so he can get his ex-girlfriend back isn’t really morally superior to allowing dozens or hundreds to die so that Griffith could achieve the dream they all dedicated their lives to. And for the record I’m also not saying that what Griffith did was morally correct, I’m just saying they’re both making decisions that I think make sense to them but are, I guess, arguably asshole moves. It just depends on which worldview the reader is closer to.

And I guess more than anything I’m saying I think both of them are morally ambiguous and that their morality level is not dissimilar, it’s the specific priorities that are different. Because the eclipse was awful...

But is this actually better?

I guess the argument would be “he’s doing it for Casca and Griffith did it for himself,” but really he’s doing it for himself (because he doesn’t want to lose his last connection to the Hawks) and Griffith was doing it for the (dead) Hawks as well as himself, so I D K. You could argue that it’s a passive decision with Guts (let it happen) instead of an active one with Griffith (do the thing), but passivity is a choice too.

The second thought: his comment here is, while obviously about Casca, also one of those moments that reflects the lessons he took away from the Band of the Hawk – the echoes of the Campfire, or the Promrose speech telling him that people have to find their own path and not cling to someone else.

But I mean, thinking like that is what makes him one of those leaders.

So like... Griffith.

9. There has been some discussion about the specific relationship of the infant to Griffith – is the body Griffith is in literally just the infant’s body or is the infant’s body part of the materials used to create Griffith’s body or what.

So like initially I figured that he was literally just in the baby’s body – there’s no strong indication that there’s anything other than the infant’s body involved, and the way the original baby is positioned in the center of the behelit apostle and Griffith’s infant form is in the same place really. But looking at what the behelit apostle is saying it does seem as though he’s taking the “world” in and incorporating it all, as well as himself, into that body. And later Griffith describes it as the infant being “fused into” his “vessel.”

So I’m going to say it’s part of the materials but maybe something more like the materials become part of the baby and change it accordingly, since I do feel like the framing implies that the infant is the or at least a major component of what becomes Griffith.

10. This is a pretty good time to note that I really like Azan. He’s a good egg.

Honestly the Conviction Arc in general is full of interesting side characters at least to me. Nina is even a pretty interesting character in the way her psychology is constructed even though I can’t stand her. Which by the way is my way of saying I’m skipping more of her making my hair stand on end.

Luca’s like, “what are you, a baby?” and I’m just like, yeah clearly. I don’t know, man. Also this makes me wonder if I was too nice to her back when she ran off with Casca, because at the time I thought she was sympathizing with Casca but now I’m like, maybe she literally just didn’t want to be alone.

11. I’m not going to talk at any length about how this scene is the signal that Farnese’s path is rerouting to Guts or how it signals her ultimate feelings for him – it’s the Griffith in the field throwing Casca a sword moment, that’s obvious. And Guts parallels Griffith’s actions in that scene too – he doesn’t just save Farnese, he gives her the means to save herself.

But that’s not the thing that really stands out to me about this scene. What really gets me is how this reinforces all those things I talked about in the last Conviction Rambles and then here again – the fire, the way leaders carry their own flame and people gather around them just kind of naturally.  Because everyone naturally just falls into line behind him – Farnese even notes that in this situation most people can only cling to something and he doesn’t. Most people, in other words, are Hawks, are Nina, are Mozgus’s disciples – they cling to something when the terror starts, or when times become difficult. It’s all they know how to do. But Guts, like Luca (who is doing it just a page or so back), becomes the thing that is clung to instead. Becomes the torch in the dark and in fact....

It’s not even subtle imagery, he’s literally holding the fire that lights everyone’s way.

Miura mentioned in those tweets from before that Guts would eventually become more like Griffith, and well...

All that said there’s a certain irony to it since...

Again, he and Casca are the ones creating this situation to begin with. But since I keep banging on about parallels between him and Griffith, I will note that this is another similarity between Guts and post-Eclipse Griffith at least. They create the situations that they save others from.

12. And I admit this one did kind of get to me. The culmination of Nina’s terrified arc – the moment she finds the spark she needs to keep going... but also honestly, the reality that she’s dying anyway – the behelit apostle even mentions that she doesn’t have very long left – but she still wants to keep going as long as she can. In the end, that’s what drives her pettiness and meanness and cowardliness, isn’t it? The fact that she has so little time, so she wants to cling to what she has left.

13. You know.... I think I mentioned this before, but Guts himself (and Casca) are largely responsible for Griffith’s having returned, right like.... it’s the overlap of their brands that created the chaos and drew the jelly spirits that then consumed everything and gave rise to Neo Griffith.

I just think that’s interesting in a way, because Griffith – the original Griffith – made them who they are (in both good and bad ways)... and then they made him who he is, too. Not just by enabling his reincarnation this way either – obviously his body is at least partially composed of their demonspawn.

It also brings back the question of free will, though. Because if no one could change that Griffith was destined to return, does that mean that Guts choosing to go after Casca in defiance of fate was part of the plan? Doesn’t that also mean that Guts’ choice to kill Mozgus, thus saving Casca and himself, is part of it as well since if they had died, the jelly spirits would have disappeared?

You can go pretty far down the rabbit hole with this. There’s a theory that Femto’s rape of Casca was done to create the demonchild to become his host, and my thought on that is kind of the same as my thought on Guts having sort of accidentally destroyed this area by going after Casca, namely....

I don’t think that’s what was in Femto’s head when he did it – I think he really did it to hurt Guts – but that may well be why it happened on a Tapestry of Fate type of level. Because a lot of things in Berserk kind of move on the planned (by IoE presumably) overlap of desire and need – arranging for  someone who would want to do something to be where it needs to be done at the time it needs to be done.

14. I kind of appreciate the confirmation from someone who isn’t involved with the Godhand, to be honest. The idea that damned or hurting souls call to Griffith for salvation reminds me very much of the tiny demons that came to him in the torture chamber.

15. You know... it’s not like I don’t understand why people see all this and think EVIL EVIL EVIL right, like we have jelly spirits devouring humans and demons and all that.

But the souls that call for him – the jelly spirits and the living, the demons in the dungeon... they aren’t really portrayed as evil – they’re in pain. They’re tormented by the pain and anger they experienced in life. They destroy things because of that pain. They aren’t calling for someone to come and destroy everything, they’re calling for someone to save them.

That’s not to say I think Griffith is a paragon savior, I just think there’s a lot of complexity behind human nature in Berserk that people don’t always like to acknowledge.... and of course complexity in Griffith’s role as that humanity’s voice.

And I’m stealing a line from @zombiesgohome here, but.... there’s some poetry in the will of manking having been executed by this behelit apostle – a person with no identity of his own, who is constantly around but never seen or acknowledged.

And since behelits are apparently souls, it makes sense that they, too, call out in their way.

I wonder what it was like reading Berserk as it was released and turning a page to see that.

16. So...prophecy check. Going back to the revelation sent by Griffith a few volumes ago, we had a few things unchecked:

-corpses of both family and neighbor-  I feel like they covered this pretty thoroughly in the refugee camp if nothing else.

-mobs of starving vagrant folk – Also covered by the refugee camp

-a sun obscured by black smoke – Well, notably everything is dark and smoky now, but as soon as the pseudo-eclipse ends, the daylight comes out, so there you go. It’s now.

Three down, along with the biggest one, which is fulfilled with the great hand collapses and drops the corpses of the entire damn area around the tower of rebirth on top of everyone.

17. Well, now some short comments on the cleanup chapters.

The reemergence of the light is also great imagery for the emergency of Griffith in his “human” form from the shadow of Femto, his “dark” form.

Again, I ship it, gdi. In fact, I’m just gonna say it:

We should’ve kept Jerome instead of Magnifico.

Zodd is one of those characters whose appearance means the plot is turning, especially if he turns up somewhere without Griffith in his hand.

But also...

Reactions like this serve to remind me that the world as a whole doesn’t know about Apostles yet, you know? We’re 20 volumes into the story so it can be easy to lose track of who does and doesn’t know about what... but really the answer is that no one knows anything except Guts and those he comes into contact with. Because the world isn’t generally overrun with supernatural stuff at this point – it just stirs up when Guts or Casca are around.

And now we have at last arrived at...

...and I’ll leave off there for now. Buy my merch! (I don’t have any merch).

#berserk meta #ariel talks about berserk #rambles about berserk

[mylifeinfiction]

Skeleton Crew by Stephen King

It's eternity in there.

It's really tough for me to rate and write reviews of short story collections. This one's no different. There's a lot to love, here. There are also some complete duds. I'm not going to rate each one and average it out. That's not fair to the ones that I loved, because the ones that I loved... I LOVED! So I'm just going to post the notes that I made for each story (slightly edited for clarity) as I was reading the collection.

There may be some slight SPOILERS throughout this review, so please proceed with caution.

-The Mist: A novella. Incredible. Creepy and full of dread. The prose and mystery of it all is brilliant. I loved what it had to say about heard mentality and fear of the unknown. The film is a perfect adaptation. It even 'fixes' the ending, which is the only part of this story that isn’t a hard ten. (The film's ending is perfect. And fits the rest of the story so much better than this one. However, this one still works for what it is.)

-Here There Be Tygers: Meh... It's decent at depicting the illogical nature of childhood fears and imagination, but little else.

-The Monkey: Okay, I guess?? Way too long for what it has to offer, but there are a few moments that work very well.

-Cain Rose Up: Okay (and only just okay) because of how brief it is. And I like that it doesn’t give reasons or any backstory.  It definitely feels like he wrote it around the same time he wrote Rage.

-Mrs. Todd’s Shortcut: Loved loved loved this one. The story within a story structure (which comes back very often throughout this collection... that's some tried and true King shit, right there) works beautifully, the beauty of it is poignant, the magical/paranormal aspect is so exciting. Amazing.

-The Jaunt: Another awesome one. The ideas and execution are great. The ending is fantastic. This might be the best of the whole damn bunch. I would very much like to adapt this for the screen.

-The Wedding Gig: Not terrible, but I would’ve rather it been a whole story about the fat bride rising to power and the fall thereafter. She ended up being the most interesting part of it all.

-Paranoid: A Chant: A poem. The title says it all. A man sinking further and further into his paranoia. The structure works well enough.

-The Raft: Not very good. At all. It has a cool concept that could’ve packed some serious suspense, but all the characters (aside from the first killed, Rachel) were terribly unlikable, so I really just wanted them to die... Get it all over with.

-Word Processor of the Gods: Short and sweet. A fantastic concept with superb execution. And a hopeful ending?!? Hell yeah! I loved it.

-The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands: Fun/interesting to be back in the world of The Breathing Method. I like that room and the potential mysteries/mythology it holds. The story itself is interesting if slightly long-winded. But I thoroughly enjoyed the curse angle.

-Beachworld: Not a planet I'd like to visit. Similar hypnosis slant as The Raft. Dug this one significantly more. Interesting ideas and execution, but far from the best.

-The Reaper’s Image: I do really like the idea and mythology behind cursed items and shit like that. So this one worked for me despite being one of the lighter stories in this collection. Would work well as an episode of Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities.

-Nona: Just plain bad. So very bad. A Bonnie and Clyde/Natural Born Killers vibe with a pathetic, annoying main character. Didn't work at all.

-For Owen: A poem. A nice token for his son to look back on, but absolutely nothing more. Pure filler.

-Survivor Type: This one didn't do much for me, but it does have its moments. The exceedingly rambling prose throughout actually kinda works. And there's some wonderfully stomach-churning moments in here. I just wish the character wasn’t so damn blah.

-Uncle Otto’s Truck: I liked the whole truck holding a grudge idea, but its execution was the definition of meh.

-Morning Deliveries (Milkman #1): Hard to review it on its own, as solo it works as nothing more than a character building exercise.

-Big Wheels: A Tale of the Laundry Game (Milkman #2): The better of the two milkman stories because it has the payoff. The garage scene is a little sluggish, but it all works rather well in the end because of what it all leads into.

-Gramma: Ooohh this was a good 'un. A creepy glimpse into the irrational childhood fear of the elderly. And it’s witchy, too! The ending creeped me out big time. Damn good stuff.

-The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet: Very good, but a good deal longer than it needed to be. I’m convinced King understands and translates the toll writing has on an author better than any other writer out there… maybe ever. It’s a weird and interesting tale. And of course, another story within a story situation. No one does those quite as skillfully as King.

-The Reach: Didn’t like this one - at all - until its very end and King’s notes on it. Should’ve been shorter and in a different voice. I did really like that ending, though.

This was my first short story collection of King's, so far. I'd done a couple of his novella collections, but no short stories. The ones I loved most, here - The Jaunt, Mrs. Todd's Shortcut, Word Processor of the Gods, and (of course) The Mist - just may be among some of the most exciting pieces in terms of ideas that I've read from King, yet. So I'm definitely looking forward to getting to his other short story collections, soon.

"Madness is a flexible bullet."

8/10

-Timothy Patrick Boyer.

#booklr #book review #stephen king #skeleton crew #the mist #book reviews #books #short stories #novella #short story #Constant Reader #fiction #horror fiction #Sci-fi books #readers of tumblr #reading

[whenlifegivesyousparklingwater]

Friday, March 22, 2024

Dear Public Diary,

I have finished reading Shadow and Bones. It was a good but basic YA fantasy book. 3.5/5 stars. I think I would have liked it better if I was ten years younger, but alas, I am not. Some books are meant for a certain age or a certain time of life, and most of the books I want to read are ones for which I am beyond the range. It was a fresh experience, though, to read something new. I haven't been able to do so these days. The books that I have read recently were those that are objectively mediocre but supplemented beyond reason by my sentimentality. Case in point, the Selection series by Kiera Cass. The books should not be evaluated through a critical lens or read beyond the age of 12, despite being a 13+ book. That is to say, the content level may be 13+, but the reading comprehension level and general artistry in writing are amateur enough that the book is difficult to appreciate beyond the concrete operational stage of development.

I'm about three-quarters of the way through the second book, Siege and Storm. It's a little boring, but I hope it gets better. I really do. I am not in a critiquing mood, and I am desperate for a sliver of joy to propel me forward for another dreary week. I know I will feel empty inside once I finish the last book in the trilogy, regardless of whether I liked the books or not. It's my greatest strength yet unraveling weakness to become so attached and love so fiercely, even if they are just random characters who neither exist nor know who I am. It's an odd concept, loving without any expectation of love back from the one you love. Not just people. I love lattes and expect nothing in return other than for it to just be a latte because drinking it in itself gives me joy. I wonder why humans are expected to provide in return. Perhaps it is the ability to provide something in return or the complexity of the human soul, which differs from formulaic concoctions at Starbucks. Kant would say it is morally wrong to use another human being as a means rather than an end itself. I agree, and I'm sure others understand this point as well, but so few people practice it. It amazes me how my treatment of sweet drinks is of more respect than how some people treat their fellow human beings.

I hope Alina will end up with Mal because of how pure the relationship is, loving one another with no teleological motives. I love Nikolai the most, and Alina's chemistry with the Darkling is the most heart-racing, but I think it would break something of me for Alina to not end up with Mal. Because if they do not end up together, what kind of message does that send? People defend sexual assault and morally wrong actions in books because they are supposedly pure fiction. Sometimes, the characters are not even human. But we cannot forget that these books are written by human authors for a human audience in the real world. Their books rely on advertising to the human audience's human senses. No book is without its real-life consequences, and we sometimes forget that. Authors (some more than others) would do well to remember. I am not referring to Leigh Bardugo here. I have read her Six of Crows duology, and I think the relationships in those books were beautifully executed. People obsess over smut in books and seem to devalue the books due to an unsatisfying romance between Kaz and Inej, but the book was much better for being this way, and no one can prove me otherwise. Those who believe sex is the only way to establish a painstakingly intimate connection between characters are wrong. Emotional connection may lead to sex, but writing a sex scene in and of itself does not create the emotional connections we so often associate with sex. But that being said, I hope I like the trilogy.

Yours truly,

RCH

#public diary #dear diary #personal blog #journaling #journal

[yuna-writes]

I finally got to watch Oppenheimer

I really liked it, but then I watched Barbie next as the two movies were often compared in contrast. Have to say, my first impression is that Barbie is a weird movie. Why is it even a movie lol? I know it's suppose to be artistic but it feels so odd creating a 'barbie' world' that's suppose to simulate the real world by taking elements of feminism and yet the concept of a Barbie is taking ideas of what a woman should be. I'm still watching it so far so I can't really place further opinions about it.

Oppenheimer was really intense. I loved the soundtrack, visuals and the poetic writing style. I honestly like most of Christopher Nolan's movies. He dives into really complex themes and knows how to execute them very beautifully that can translate to real life situations. I think the 3 hour timeframe was appropriate to uncover the layers to Oppenheimer's character. I'm not really into historical films but I did enjoy this one. I still prefer science fiction films which is Nolan's strengths. But I notice science fiction films can also seem a bit too complex to resonate with the audience to understand it too. That's why maybe historical films seem more relatable because the character did exist in history.

I remember some people mentioning they felt depressed watching Oppenheimer lol. It does seem like a serious film but I also felt the ending was also hopeful? It's difficult to explain it considering Oppenheimer did believe nuclear weapons did end World War II and saved more lives, but that conviction is controversial because some people think there could have been more peaceful ways to end the war without nuking Japan. It's a morally complex subject and I know some people would start to feel upset watching this movie. But Oppenheimer was right in a way that the war did end shortly after the bombings, which did save more lives.

It makes you question if Oppenheimer was a hero or a villain? Or does that concept doesn't really exist and everyone is morally grey in the end? In certain perspective, I think people would see Oppenheimer as a hero, and others would view him as a villain. But since people do see videos of the nuclear bombs in Japan, it does paint Oppenheimer as a villain because he invented the weapon. That's what people's emotions gravitate to. They just see the bad, and then just assume the person is morally wrong. Even though the problem itself is more complex then just good or bad and right or wrong. It does make you question whether you should place moral judgement unto someone. Perhaps, one might be painting the "hero" as a villain, and maybe you might be the real villain.

#movies

[dumbdumbbubblegumbitch]

ok ok ok. it's 2am but HEAR ME THE FUCK OUT. EVERYBODY RAGS ON KUROKO NO BASKET BECAUSE "it's more a superhero anime than a sports anime" HERE IS WHY YALL ARE WRONG:

-first off, i TOTALLY AGREE that the abilities of the players are totally fucking ridiculous and not even in the same realm as the reality of basketball; most sports anime are unrealistic with abilities and shit, but i am not contesting that knb absolutely takes this to another level of impossible. HOWEVER, their abilities serve a narrative purpose that conveys their central message of the importance of teamwork in a unique and creative way, as i will explain right now

-if you watched the whole thing, you'll know that the members of the generation of miracles have absolutely ridiculous powers. one of them literally can see the different contractions in your body and use the information to predict your next move. another one of them can shoot from all the way across the court. the main character can literally turn invisible (it's complicated). just, stuff you just would never see in actual basketball. BUT, the main point of knb was NEVER to show kids playing basketball, and while the "hard work by an underdog team leads to their ultimate victory" is definitely a present theme, it's not their main message; their main message was that sports without teamwork is meaningless and unfulfilling, no matter how much victory there is.

-if you think about it, the ridiculous powers of the generation of miracles do a perfect job of illustrating this point. this group of basketball players with extraordinary talents were never portrayed as happy while they worked on their own. the five of them started off loving basketball before they joined teiko; however, teiko was not a nuturing environment for them, with their motto being "victory over everything." it made sense that as their talents grew, a program like teiko encouraged them to score points on their own at the cost of working as a team. the result was three consecutive championship wins at the cost of the player's love for the game. their ridiculous powers punctuated how miserable they were despite their numerous victories.

-the show also perfectly set up kuroko, the main character, as the antithesis to victory without teamwork. he is literally portrayed as useless on his own because of his specialization in passing, and passing only. he is the embodiment of teamwork: somebody whose ridiculous power is only effective when working with somebody else, making his ties to his teammates even stronger (as opposed to the rest of the miracles, whose abilities isolate them from their teams). as kuroko used his ability, which is directly linked to teamwork, to defeat the other miracles, he forced them to improvise and see that teamwork not only makes them stronger, but happier. the show illustrated how their improved sense of teamwork led to an increase in their love for basketball. a good example of this is midorima (the guy who can shoot from all the way across the court). because of his incredible shooting ability, his team organized plays to give him as many shots as possible in order to rack up points. during this time, he talks about how he doesn't play basketball for fun; he plays to win, and win only. however, he is portrayed as unhappy, with no actual enjoyment for the sport. when kuroko beats him, midorima realizes he can't win based on his own strength anymore, and must rely on his teammates in order to better himself at the sport. in this process, he grows to trust them, and finds motivation in winning victory for the sake of his team, and not himself. the same thing, more or less, happens with the other miracles when kuroko defeats them. kuroko, the embodiment of teamwork, is set up as the catalyst for the positive change in the generation of miracles' attitudes toward basketball, therefore driving home the point that victory, no matter how often it is achieved, is meaningless and unfulfilling without teamwork.

-now, are you going to look at me and tell me that this beautifully illustrated message of the importance of teamwork in sports isn't a sports anime?? didn't think so.

-so basically while kuroko no basket shows the importance of teamwork through unique methods not quite common in most sports anime, its message makes it belong in the sports anime category. thank you and goodnight.

#ive watched this show three times #since sixth fucking grade ive been the og #i wrote this instead of sleeping #i have very strong feelings about these characters #babeys are TRAUMATIZED by their middle school experience with basketball #akashi and aomine specifically #i just really fucking love this show it's such a creative way to get the message of teamwork across #obviously there are things about it that i dont love like the occasional sexism but thats just Anime #the concept itself is beautifully executed doe #and it's really fucking funny! #like it's actually a really funny show #and the characters really grow on you which is always really important in a story #knb #kuroko no basuke #kuroko no baske #kuroko no basket #kuroko's basketball #akakuro #sports anime #anime #kuroko tetsuya #kuroko #akashi seijuro #midorima shintarou #kagami taiga #aomine daika #kise ryota #murasakibura atsushi #i lov them! #with all my heart

[the---hermit]

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

This book. It's going to be a long post, I warn you. I have seen this book around a lot. And although it is not the type of read I would usually go for I was really intrigued. I am so glad I gave in and got it.

The author basically created a big hypothesis on William Shakespeare's family, starting by the fact that his son Hamnet is known to have died young for unknown reasons. Also of course he gave his name to the play Hamlet. Starting from this Maggie O'Farrell painted a picture of this family, where Shakespeare himself plays a very small role and is never mentioned by name. He is only the father, the husband, the son, and so on. This is the base of the novel, which is already interesting itself, but the execution is impeccable. Firstly the writing is absolutely stunning, I had been told so, and I can confirm, it's magnificent. It creates the perfect atmosphere, and it's just really beautifully done. Then the characters are portrayed in such a good way, each one with their own characteristics, each one fascinating and interesting in their own way. I have completly fallen in love with Agnes (Shakespeare's wife), who I may dare to say appears to be the main protagonist. There are so many themes, the historical feeling is perfectly given, and I particularly appreciated the depiction of the plague. It is a scary but fascinating concept, and it was used really well in the novel. Grief is of course one of the main themes, and it is unspeakable how well it was portrayed. I am not an emotional person, I very rarely cry, but there were a few passages which had me in tears. I fully lost my dignity with this book. It explored the subject of loss and pain so well in my opinion. I feel like in general this novel does a great job with feeling, it feels very true, they feel authentic whether is sadness or love, it all feels genuine. I particularly loved the portrayal of brotherly love between sibilings of different genders. Both Agnes and her bother, and Hamnet and her twin Judith, they were described so well. Their union as sibilings was strong and deep, and it is not something that you always get when the characters aren't of the same gender. As someone with such a strong relationship with my older brother finding something remotely similar on paper hit me super hard. Unfortunately many books and movies have these siblings who often feel very unreal, but with very simple scenes this book did an amazing job. I have connected with it very strongly, and I am so happy I finally found a simple yet well done portrayal of it. One last thing I have loved about the writing, then I'll stop cause I am ranting, I know, was the description of simple acts and feelings that everyone has had. All throughout the book there were these passages I read and it blew my mind cause they were really simple things that no matter what everyone has felt and they worked perfectly. I will explain myself better with an example. At the very beginning there is description of falling as a kid and hurting your knees, and then feeling that pain pulsing with the rithim of your heartbeat. Very simple concept, perfectly put into words, and it felt so real it got me into the story without any struggle.

At this point I am just rambling so I'll stop, I clearly loved the book, and I recommend it so much. It was an amazing journey and I cannot wait to read it all over again. One of the best things I have read lately.

#bookblr #booklr #book #books #bookish #book review #book rec #book recommendation #book talk #hamnet #maggie o'farrell #2022 books #book cover #pretty books #good books #five stars books #reading #read #studyiblr #the---hermit

[itsclydebitches]

Was planning on making this my own post, but I thought you would be more suited to discussing this sort of topic. Something I've noticed when it comes to the more prominent/important/strong female characters (Nora, Pyrrha, Penny, Robyn, Emerald, Sienna) is that RT often has the tendency of giving them masculine allusions (Thor, Achilles, Pinocchio, Robin Hood, Aladdin, Shere Khan) as if they are unable to stand on their own as characters unless they have that connection to a male character. 1/3

It is worth discussing! Yeah, I hesitate to call it a pattern just because, as you say, Team RWBY themselves are an exception to the rule  — and as the title characters of the story, they’re a pretty big exception. We also have good women allusions turned into good women characters (Glynda with The Good Witch, May with Maid Marian) and bad women allusions turned into good women characters (Winter with The Snow Queen — I don’t think she was ever meant to enter full antagonist territory, but that’s another post). So it’s not just a matter of saying, “RWBY models their strong women after male inspirations and turns all female inspirations into male characters.” It’s not that simple. But the fact that it’s not simple doesn’t mean there’s nothing there to unpack because I definitely understand the feeling you’re pointing to, anon. Team RWBY feels like it has the most thought put into it in terms of changing up these allusions, specifically when it comes to subversion: the little girl in a red hood who previously needed a hunter’s protection has become the hunter herself, Belle overcomes both her Gaston and the now evil Beast, Snow White extracts herself from her own abusive situation (with a little help from the Dwarves still), and Goldilocks is no longer lost and in need of basic necessities, but can rather punch her way out of any establishment  — like, say, a club. The execution of these themes aside (how Adam was handled, turning Jacques’ arrest into a joke, etc.), there’s a commonality here that works. Or at least, it works for me. Yet when we expand the allusions past our title team, things get... very messy. That’s when we start to hit on these concerns. 

I’d say the problem stems primarily from that lack of thought, not the act itself of turning women characters into men or vice versa. Meaning, as I’ve said in the past, RWBY’s use of allusions is terribly unreliable nowadays, and that’s not just in terms of plot expectations like, “Why did Penny have to become a flesh girl because Pinocchio, but Ironwood didn’t stay good because Tin Man?” It also includes these questions of why these changes were made and what sort of messages they send. As you lay out, why are so many of our heavy hitters  — the most talented huntress, the lightning-immune smasher, the Maiden android, etc.  — based on men? Why are many of the effeminate and “weaker” men  — Jaune the untrained, Ren the emotional councilor, Oscar the kid who wants to talk it all out  — based on women? Again, I don’t intend to sling any hard accusations, but rather to point out what’s likely a subtle, unconscious bias. To provide another example, I’ve seen talk recently about how RT (again, unconsciously) depicts the faunus, where all the good characters have culturally established “good” animal features and all the bad character have culturally established “bad” features. It’s cat ears, rabbit ears, sheep ears, monkey tails, dog tails, and beautifully changing skin color vs. scorpion tails, spiderwebs, bull horns, tiger ears, bat wings, and crocodile scales. Is it a perfect 1:1 divide? No, Ghira has panther claws and Fennec has fox ears, but there’s enough there for us to go, “RT tends to give the good guys cute features and/or features we associate with safe animals, whereas the bad guys tend to get ugly features and/or features we associate with dangerous animals.” I feel the same way here, that there’s a bit of a trend at play, with the caveat that there are more complications simply by virtue of these allusions being, well, complicated. But there’s enough there to make us stop and think, “What were RT’s intentions with this? If they just chose something based on the rule of cool, what might those inclinations tell us about gender norms in America?” Meaning, when someone goes, “Idk, we just thought it would be cool to change this up” there’s a lifetime of media consumption driving that choice. It’s not actually random, but based on whatever has been normalized  — unless you actively counteract that by thinking through what you want the change to do. 

Unconscious biases are always at work. When we analyze something like this it’s often not a matter of saying, “The author is [insert accusatory term here]” but rather just, “The author is falling into expectations, patterns, and normalized decisions based on the culture they’ve grown up in.” Which includes things like thinking, “Well, if this character is based on a male god, she must be crazy strong. If this character is based on a woman fighter, he’s probably more emotional.” Such biases may be driving a lot of decisions because, as said in the past, I really don’t think RT is putting much thought into these allusions, if any at this point. For me, Penny was proof of that  — the inability to see how following her allusion utterly destroyed her character growth  — but even if we don’t agree about Penny, what about Salem? Far from just using her name, this volume gave us a blatant reference to the events of Salem Trails in the 1690s. Namely, the burning of the witch. 

Except references like this can’t just look cool. This isn’t a video game Easter egg with no real connection to the story, it’s a cinematography/plot choice that carries meaning. So what is that meaning? Well, the thing about the women on trail at Salem is that they were innocent. This is what that reference says: “Hey, remember that real life event where women who weren’t witches were horrifically killed because others thought they were evil? None were actually burned, but culturally we tend to think they were. So that’s the image in our collective mind: innocent women on fire.” Except... Salem is actually a witch. Salem is evil. Salem is guilty. Or at least, the questions surrounding the extent of her guilt  — How much responsibility does she hold in comparison to the Gods? How much agency does she still have after the grimm pool?  — has not been acknowledged by the text. Yang just yelled at Salem for killing her mom and Oscar is about to blow her up. This is not a “Question Salem’s humanity” scene, it’s a “Kill the witch” scene... yet it uses an allusion that is contrary to what the moment is trying to achieve. So what are we supposed to take away from this? Do we adhere to the subtext and believe that Salem is innocent somehow, ignoring what the actual text says, or do we uphold the text and in doing so undermine the reliability of every other allusion in the show? If we can’t trust Salem’s, why would we trust, say, Penny’s? 

RWBY’s allusions are all over the place and yes, I think that lack of consideration extends to who they randomly decided to genderbend. There’s no acknowledgment of  — let alone engagement with  — how many of these characters and historical figures were trying to pass themselves off as another gender, nor does RWBY acknowledge how the need to do so feeds into our current and historic assumptions about gender as a whole. Why does the man dress as a woman? To keep himself safe and seen as a non-threat. Why does the woman dress as a man? To gain access to places previously barred from her and to gain the respect she otherwise wouldn’t be afforded. And, of course, in 2021 there’s the expectation that media will include trans characters, GNC characters, non-binary characters, cis characters uninterested in practicing traditional femininity/masculinity, etc. None of which RWBY tackles outside of May, a woman who references a systematic transphobia we otherwise never see in the show. May, as a minor character, is great and I am in all honesty thrilled that she exists in the RWBY canon. However, the rest of the show is built on an anime conception of gender  — combat skirts and bare midriffs in the snow  — while nevertheless engaging with the very complicated question of how you re-imagine canonically/historically gendered people. As a “girl power” show, RWBY has opened itself up to questions like, “Okay, it’s great that you made these four fairy tale girls kickass, but can we talk about making Joan of Arc into a bumbling guy whose presence as a blonde, blue-eyed, sword-wielding man taking up lots of important screen time has generated accusations about this being a male-centered show?” It’s not a “RWBY is horrible for doing this!” issue, but a “RWBY is deliberately playing with gender and marketing itself as a progressive show, so... let’s figure out what these individual choices are actually implying and whether or not we consider that progressive.” 

#rwby #mymetas #Anonymous

[sukirichi]

oh that chigiri guy looks fine. shall i start reading blue lock instead if rereading tokyo rev again and again asdggfsd I MIGHT

anon, he sure does !! gosh don’t even get me started when he finally showed his true abilities wild seagull noises

yes i highly recommend blue lock !! the art style is PERFECT like everything is executed beautifully, all the characters are a menace, its a top tier sports manga imo, and the character growth between all of them is just !! chef’s kiss. outstanding. i struggle to visualize sports in manga so i never finished hq but blue lock was like . . . it was like i was watching the anime itself. they also have a lot of philosophical concepts and personal awakenings that i truly love. THEY’RE SO BEAUTIFUL TOO UGH

chigiri looks damn fine but wait until you meet nagi, shidou, the itoshi brothers, kenyu n bachira !! special mentions to reo, kunigami, kuon, julian, & RAICHI LOOKS LIKE NAOYA 😳

#asks with naoya's trophy wife #[ suki talks bllk ― ⚽ ] #WAIT GAGAMARU IS CUTE TOO 😭 #but shidou BARK BARK BARK

[thekidsfromyestergay]

Early Sunsets Over Monroeville, and the art of irregular song structure

Songwriting, in almost every genre, usually follows the same structural pattern- Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Chorus. This can be varied, but mostly remains the same. A pre-chorus is also a fairly common feature.

I am not even sure how to categorise Early Sunsets under this structure- it seemingly begins with v/c/v/c, but I don't think that's entirely accurate. Musically speaking, it follows a v/pc/v/pc structure. Song elements are much like a basic storytelling structure: verse is the setting, pre-chorus is the build up, and the chorus is the payoff. In Early Sunsets, the second repeating tune ("running away...") creates a musical buildup, with an ascending chord pattern and short repeating riff. This buildup is given no payoff until the repeat, which means that the ending section ("but does anyone...") should be classified as the chorus under that definition.

But if you look at it from a practical angle, it does use a traditional structure. The definitions I've been using up to here have been more conceptual- but, using simplistic terms, it's v/c/v/c/b. Which creates the effect of a regular song structure that sounds as if it isn't. And I believe that adds beautifully to the execution of the concept, planting an ominous and not-quite-right feeling in the listener that pairs perfectly with Gerard's vocals, especially the build of emotion at the climax.

While not entirely unusual, there's certainly a feeling of irregularity in the guitar, most notably in the riffs used. The sound of it is unique in the context of other MCR songs, with very few using a sound similar to that plugged in- but not overdriven- electric. The riff used is mostly a small, repeated motif (6-7-7), which is developed slightly through different sections, and rarely changes entirely. This repetition creates both a safe and ominous feeling, which also ties well with the song itself.

Let's look at some sheet music now, for a commonly known style of music and dance.

If you can't read sheet, I can guarantee you've heard something like that before. Now here's the tab for Sunsets.

Notice how the rhythm is the same? Well, that rhythm is synonymous with a waltz. A piece in ¾ time, with emphasis on the first beat, usually created for a couple to dance to. This creates another gorgeous juxtaposition between form and lyrics, in an almost ironic sense. It should also be noted that the Waltz peaked in popularity in the early 1800's, and is still seen today as a dance, but rarely used in music aside from classical composition.

Overall, Early Sunsets is a glorious example of how an irregular structure can be used for storytelling, and while bullets as a whole breaks many conventions, this one has a special place in my heart.

#mcrmonth day 8 #YES this is late #essays are hard as shit to write okay #mcrmonth #my chem month #mcr #my chemical romance #mcromance #bullets #ibymbybmyl #i brought you my bullets #i brought you my bullets you brought me your love #mcr bullets

[life-observed]

How To Keep TV Real The Anthony Bourdain Way

How To Keep TV Real The Anthony Bourdain Way Anthony Bourdain didn’t start out developing TV shows. But seven seasons later, his No Reservations is going strong and, together with production partners Zero Point Zero, he’s launched a second show, The Layover and is working on a range of new projects. Here, the author/chef/restaurateur/TV show creator and star and Zero Point Zero principals talk about keeping TV real. BY ZACH DIONNE7 MINUTE READ Seven seasons deep, Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations is doing something right. The show, which revolves around the brash chef/author/all-round personality indulging in transformative stints of eating, drinking, and traveling, airs on the Travel Channel and is a product of Bourdain and Zero Point Zero Productions, the same company that just helmed a successful first season of a Bourdain offshoot, The Layover. Co.Create sat down with Bourdain, Zero Point Zero executive producers Chris Collins and Lydia Tenaglia, and managing director Joe Caterini to dig into why Bourdain’s shows stay afloat in a sea of programming, how multi-hyphenate creative types are working to adapt to new content paradigms, and why comedian Louis C.K. should be emulated in all things. Co.Create: You’re filming No Reservations’ eighth season. What’s the first trick to keeping the show fresh? Tenaglia: We understood very early on that if you’re really going to get to know a location well, it’s got to be through the characters that live there. Many scenes live or die by a good sidekick. Bourdain: Fixer selection is huge. Do they know the area as well as they say? Are they capable of doing all the logistical shit a fixer’s gotta do? But also, do they have a sense of humor? Are they fun? Do they drink? We’re not looking for the best of a place or everything you need to know about a place; we’re looking to have as close to a local experience as we can get, and have a good time and do something interesting that hasn’t been done before.

With Anthony’s writing background, are you doing much scripting ahead of time? Bourdain: We don’t script. We never do any writing beforehand. The Queens of the Stone Age show, it was like, let’s go to the desert and see what Josh Homme wants to do. All we really know for sure is he’s going to provide music for the show and we’re gonna be in the desert. If you think you’ve already figured out what the show’s going to be about or what you expect out of the scene, that’s a lethal impulse.

Does it get tricky to stay away from a fixed template? Tenaglia: Each year the show keeps evolving. Tony has an inimitable style and strong point of view that informs the creative, and we have an incredible creative team, very multi-platform, from animation to incredible graphics to unbelievable shooting and cinematography that informs the show. It truly evolves out of this process of intense collaboration, and then having these incredible creative tools to basically tell a story in any way, shape, or form. Bourdain: Let’s face it, ordinarily this is a very restrictive format. The story is always the same: Guy goes somewhere, eats a bunch of stuff, and goes home, presumably having learned something. The core of whatever we do is to fuck with the format as much as we can. Let’s find a way to tell what is basically the same story, different setting, in as disturbing-to-the-network fashion as possible. Why? Bourdain: Because television, if it’s a success, if it works, they wanna replicate it. That’s the death of creativity. Then we’ve settled into a groove, then I become bored, the people I work with become bored…it’s a mortifying process. If this isn’t fun and interesting to us, there’s no point doing it. Collins: We continually want to push further in the storytelling. We understand that with television you’ve got to work within certain parameters, but within those 42 minutes and 30 seconds, how can we play with this thing?

One way you did that was with an entirely different show, The Layover. Bourdain: That’s an even more restrictive concept–this is a format that’s been done a million times. Everybody loves the damn thing, but it took me a few episodes to figure out how to do it. No Reservations is about me, me, me–they’re basically essays. The idea of going to major cities and doing a “useful” show really goes against the grain.

What are the driving principles behind Zero Point Zero as a content production company? Caterini: The heart comes from a true vérité documentary filmmaking tradition. Bourdain: You don’t want people saying, “Could you say that again?” We’d rather miss the scene than fuck up the scene you have. That dynamic is absolutely essential to why our show is different from all the other travel shows. The show looks slick, it’s beautifully photographed, beautifully edited, but you’re never going to get those transforming human moments out of a character reenacting them for you. You’re never going to get real generosity, any kind of chemistry or any kind of fun, for that matter, if you’re muscling and you keep hammering home the theme. Caterini: Our primary goal is to be able to work on projects in the way we want to. We are looking to learn about digital technology and distribution and other ways of making content that don’t have to fit into the TV business formula. TV, being advertiser-driven, is all based on predictability and consistency. Predictability means you can’t take risks and consistency means it’s dreadfully boring. We’re fortunate we can bust those two barriers down, but it’s really hard to sell new TV shows when that’s your launch pitch. Why does it work with No Reservations? Caterini: The creative process is executed very well. We create situations that optimize that. We feel lucky we got greenlit and got on the air. Now we’ve proven that it works.

How do you take it forward? Caterini: We had a big eye-opening moment when we launched into social media, and looking at it as simply another medium in content and storytelling; truthful storytelling in different size bites with a different arc of time. We’re connecting directly with who really matters, which is the audience, the people who want to enjoy what we’re creating. That really did open up the doors for us to think about ways to go straight to them. For a lot of content creators that’s extremely exciting, and the revolution really hasn’t even happened yet.

📷You must be familiar with how Louis C.K. sold his latest stand-up special directly to fans for $5 via PayPal. Bourdain: A heroic pioneer. It was a huge, tectonic moment. Tenaglia: What’s really fantastic about him, and I think it mirrors a lot of what we do here, is he’s the producer of the piece, the writer, the editor, behind the scenes, in front of the camera–he’s extremely multifaceted and nimble and flexible and self-contained. I think we have a lot of those same qualities. We don’t go out with big, bloated crews of 25 people. We can create something pretty extraordinary with a team of one or two. What’s the key to getting content made, and seen, with these new paradigms? Bourdain: People in the television business have a vested interested in keeping it as close to the way it was as possible. You don’t want to cut the ground out from under your own feet. We’re in a more luxurious position to adapt to the situation on the ground. I like making television. But I definitely have both eyes on what’s next. Caterini: The creative people have to shift the content paradigm. We look at social media as a big medium in and of itself, and we’ve successfully developed and in fact exploded growth in an audience. So it’s working. Then unfortunately we have to say, “Is that a business or not?” But that has to come second. I think we’d ideally like someone to build the perfect platform for creators to work off of. There are bits of it. No one’s actually figured out how to turn it into money right for the creator, though. I think either the platform will come along or we’ll have to do some of the business a network does–market our own stuff, sell our own stuff. Bourdain: A person with a television show generally lives or dies by the Nielsen numbers. I don’t really understand why anyone would care. I care how many people over time see and like the show and are interested in seeing more stuff. That’s the only number that counts.

What about your personality as a brand, Tony? How does it factor into all this? Bourdain: I’m happy to use the word “brand,” but listen, I’m doing a lot of things: I’m doing a comic book, I’m writing for Treme, I’m making two television shows, publishing books. I do these things because they’re fun, and interesting, and because 12 years ago I had no opportunities to do anything. It bothers me when people say I’m “expanding the brand.” You expand the brand so you can land a Pepsi-Cola commercial. You haven’t seen me endorsing any products yet, though I am asked. I’m doing it ’cause it’s fun. What happens when things become not interesting? Then it’s a job. I had a job for years, I know what it’s like to show up every day and do the same thing the same way. I don’t know how Howie Mandel gets up in the morning. I don’t ever want to be that.

#anthony bourdain #interview

[hannibal-obsessed]

Why Not Spend Your Lock-Down with Dr. Hannibal Lecter?

By Shannon L. Christie

You are cordially invited to spend your lock-down, dining in the company of Dr. Hannibal Lecter.

Menu

Reception

Dr. Hannibal Lecter is one of thee most iconic fictional literary villains, created in the 20th Century; Hollywood films has cemented his iconic status and his transformation into the 21st Century, via network television, has been carefully crafted under the watchful eye of executive producer, Martha De Laurentiis.

Hannibal Lecter sprang from the mind of novelist Thomas Harris; Lecter has been in our lives for almost 40 years; introduced with the publication of Red Dragon in October 1981; he has never left our consciousness for too long.

So where does one start?

Do you read the 4 novels, watch the 5 movies or the TV Series?

Do I start at the beginning with Harris's novel, Red Dragon?

There are several ways to feast upon Hannibal Lecter: read Harris' novels first: watch the movies and then dine on the TV Series; read the novels, watch the corresponding movies and then the TV Series; watch the TV Series and then go back, watch the movies and read the novels. Whatever way you decide, you will not be disappointed at the end of your feast!

The following menu outline would be my suggestion for how to feast upon the sumptuous offerings of Dr. Hannibal Lecter.

Amuse-bouche

In this course we are served small bit-sized morsels of Dr. Hannibal Lecter.

Red Dragon: Thomas Harris, 1981

Will Graham, a former FBI Special Agent with an instinct for profiling, is sucked back into consulting for the FBI on their latest serial murder case; involving the Tooth Fairy. Will's been living a quiet life in Florida with his wife and son, when his former boss, Jack Crawford visits, enticing Graham back into the game. In order to get that old scent back; Graham needs to get into the mindset of a killer, so he visits Dr. Hannibal Lecter at The Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, where Lecter is serving 9 consecutive life terms for murder. Graham was the FBI Agent who finally caught Hannibal and it almost cost him his life and sanity.

Interesting Fact: Harris attended portions of Ted Bundy's trial for the Chi Omega Murders in Florida. The Prosecutors in the Bundy trial used bite marks left on one of his victims as evidence. Dolarhyde left bite marks on Mrs. Leeds, which allowed forensics to create dental impressions, creating a sample of Dolarhyde's teeth.

Manhunter: Directed by Michael Mann, 1986

Manhunter was written and directed by Michael Mann; starring William Petersen (Will Graham), Dennis Farina (Jack Crawford), Tom Noonan (Francis Dollarhyde, film spelling/Red Dragon/Tooth Fairy), Joan Allen (Reba McClane) Brian Cox (Hannibal Lecktor, film spelling).

Manhunter is now considered a cult classic; at the time of it's original release it fared poorly at the box office and met with mixed reviews. It's cult status may be partially due to the continuing saga of Hannibal Lecter and William Petersen's success in CSI. The film touches on many of the important elements of the novel and also misses on quite a few. What is Dolarhyde's motive? The movie is dated with a definite 80's Michael Mann vibe; in spite of that it is definitely worth a watch for Noonan's performance.

Interesting Fact: Film Producer Dino De Laurentiis purchased the movie rights to the novel Red Dragon in 1983.

Red Dragon: Directed by Brett Ratner, 2002

This is where I'll skip ahead and talk about Manhunter's remake, Red Dragon. You can either choose to watch Red Dragon here or move it to after Hannibal to watch in order of release – entirely up to you.

Dino De Laurentiis passed on the movie rights to The Silence of the Lamb, due to the poor showing of Manhunter at the box office. So when The Silence of the Lambs was critically acclaimed by the critics; a huge box office success; winning the top 5 categories at the 1992 Oscars; Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay – Dino wanted another serving of Hannibal Lecter.

When Harris released his third Lecter novel, simply titled Hannibal, Dino De Laurentiis picked up the rights and saw this as an opportunity to remake Manhunter, this time using the book title, Red Dragon, especially considering the success of Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter. In fact, Red Dragon was released in theatres a year after Hannibal.

Lecter's role was beefed up with a few added scenes; Lecter enjoying the symphony with the exception of the violinist; experiencing one of Lecter's sinfully delicious dinner parties of the music council with the violinist as the main course; seeing the tete-a-tete played out between Lecter and Graham (Edward Norton) that nearly cost them both their lives.

Dolarhyde's (Ralph Fiennes) abusive childhood is explored, the motivation for his heinous crimes against families. We see more of the relationship between Dolarhyde and Reba (Emily Watson) and Dolarhyde's struggle to keep the monster at bay. Ted Tally wrote the screenplay (he wrote The Silence of the Lambs screenplay and passed on the Hannibal screenplay); he has a great sense of what is essential to the narration of a well conceived movie, without loosing too much of the original story told by Thomas Harris.

I am partial to Red Dragon over Manhunter for that reason; I love Ralph Feinnes portrayal of Dolarhyde; he's creepy without being overtly creepy like Noonan is in Manhunter. Anthony Hopkins plays Hannibal Lecter beautifully as he always does. There are a few flaws in this version though, namely Edward Norton's portrayal of Will Graham. I love Norton – I just think he was wrong for the part and the bleached blonde hair drove me mad. I also have issue with Harvey Keitel as Jack Crawford, I just didn't get an FBI Special Agent in charge of the Behavioral Science Unit vibe from him. Keitel is the guy you bring in to rough up your suspect. On the plus side, the crime scenes are more graphic than in Manhunter, which I feel is essential to understanding the severity of the need to capture this fiend, because now he has a taste for it and he will not stop!

Interesting Fact: Dino De Laurentiis had to make a deal with MGM, so the shot of The Baltimore State Hospital building used in The Silence of the Lambs, could be used in Red Dragon, as the building had been demolished.

Dinner

Appetizer

In this course we are treated to petite, rich tasty morsels of Hannibal Lecter,

both of the hot and cold variety.

The Silence of the Lambs: Thomas Harris, 1988

The follow up novel to Red Dragon, Harris' third novel, Lecter was not a character Harris intended to use; he just showed up one day as Harris wrote. The Silence of the Lambs was the story of a young female FBI agent in training; female agents were a relatively new concept at Quantico. J. Edgar Hoover had died in 1972 and the FBI slowly started to drag itself into the modern age and out of the Mafia/Prohibition dark ages that it was founded on. Harris' story of Clarice Starling was an exploration of an agent in training along with a manhunt, headed by Jack Crawford, for a serial killer, only known as “Buffalo Bill”; who abducted girls, held them hostage for a few days; shot them in the heads, dumped their bodies in rivers; having partially skinned them post mortem. The FBI is stumped, they have no motive, no pattern and no connections between the victims. What should they do? Crawford sends Clarice Starling, an agent in training to interview Dr. Hannibal Lecter.

The Silence of the Lambs: Directed by Jonathan Demme, 1991

As I previously mentioned, Dino de Laurentiis passed on acquiring the movie rights for The Silence of the Lambs; the rights ended up in the hands of Demme and Orion Films, without a fee paid to De Laurentiis. The screenplay was written by Ted Tally, who managed to highlight all the important aspects of the novel, creating a balanced story. The movie starred Jodie Foster (Clarice Starling), Glenn Scott (Jack Crawford), Anthony Heald (Dr, Frederick Chilton), Ted Levine (Jame Gumb/Buffalo Bill) and Anthony Hopkins (Hannibal Lecter),

Interesting Fact: Anthony Hopkins on screen performance of Hannibal Lecter, consisting of only sixteen minutes earned him an Oscar for Best Actor in 1992.

Entree

This course is a hearty and meaty dish of Hannibal Lecter, served with delicate red sauce.

Hannibal: Thomas Harris, 1999

Would Harris write another Lecter novel? As we eagerly waited to see – making us wait 10 long years, Harris' reward was Hannibal; a story centred around Dr. Hannibal Lecter. I think many people weren't prepared for the monster to be uncaged. It was bloodier and gorier than the previous two films and quite sadistic. Manhunter and The Silence of the Lambs were considered psychological thrillers with a dollop of horror. Hannibal was a full on horror novel with a dollop of psychological thriller. Dr. Hannibal Lecter was free of his cage, just in-time for the new millennium and some readers were not happy.

When the novel, Hannibal, was released, many critics and readers were appalled by the goriness of it (we are talking about a man who kills people and eats them). I guess once the layers of the onion were peeled away; culture, music, art, culinary skills, courteousness – they were horrified by the monster at the centre – that was the point. Serial killers show society a veneer of acceptable personality traits; they keep the monster hidden away, until he breaks through and comes out to play. In that sense, the novel Hannibal, is spot on. He's your neighbour, your friend, your husband, your father, your brother and sometimes your son (The majority of serial killers are male, sorry guys). He wears a symbolic mask in public, to prevent you from guessing how sick and perverted he truly is.

Harris' novel, Hannibal, was the perfect GOTCHA moment! Harris had led us into a false sense of security; either intentionally or unintentionally, with Lecter's intro in Red Dragon; sure he tells Francis Dolarhyde to kill Graham's family – In The Silence of the Lamb; Lecter is so helpful trying to advance Clarice Starling's career; sure he kills several people while escaping from custody; we'll just chalk that up to acceptable carnage.

We start to rationalize that Lecter can't be all bad; he must have some redeeming qualities: he's a man of sophisticated tastes; he's knowledgeable; an incredible chef; a great musician and artist. We don't even mind knowing that he dined on Dr. Chilton, upon his escape; possibly thinking Chilton had it coming.

Harris let us peek briefly behind the curtain in Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs and perhaps Harris was dismayed to learn that upon the popularity of Hopkins portrayal of Hannibal Lecter; he'd become a pop culture icon and somewhat of a hero. Hannibal shattered that illusion.

We find Clarice Starling, 10 years later, working as an FBI Special Agent, in a stagnate career. She can't advance; being blocked by Paul Krendler.

Hannibal has been living in Florence as the curator of the Palazzo Capponi as Dr. Norman Fell (the real Dr. Fell disappeared under mysterious circumstances). Florence, Italy, the ideal spot for Lecter, a true Renaissance man. We discover there has been a string of murders by the fiend, know as Il Mostro.

Meanwhile, Mason Verger, Lecter's 4th victim, is on the hunt for Dr. Lecter, who left Mason disfigured, although technically by Mason's own hand. Verger has offered a $3,000,000 reward for information leading to the capture of Dr. Hannibal Lecter.

Interesting Fact: Thomas Harris attended the trial of The Monster of Florence, Pietro Pacciani, in 1994, incorporating some of the aspects of the crimes into his Hannibal novel and hinting that Hannibal himself was Il Mostro (The Monster of Florence).

Hannibal: Directed by Ridley Scott, 2001

If some readers were unhappy with the novel, there were those unhappy about the production of a movie in the same vain. Ted Tally didn't want to write the screenplay, Foster didn't want to reprise her role as Starling and Demme wasn't interested in directing. The consensus was it was too graphic and gory and they wanted no part of it; a complete turnaround; they initially were chomping at the bit to be involved in the follow-up to The Silence of the Lambs.

Interesting Fact: Dino De Laurentiis was under the impression that given a good story even he could play Clarice Starling.

The extra dinner course you never needed; you were already full.

Hannibal Rising: Thomas Harris, 2006

From all accounts that I've read, Harris was gently coerced into writing Hannibal Rising. Dino De Laurentiis wanted an origin story to turn into a film and he'd do it with or without Harris. Harris eventually caved and produced the fourth Lecter novel, Hannibal Rising.

Harris uses the hardships of WWII as the starting backdrop for the development of young Lecter's transformation into “Hannibal the Cannibal”. This is perhaps a story that never needed to be told. We were given glimpses in the novel Hannibal that never made it into the movie and perhaps that was a mistake; not seeing the humanity in Hannibal before events unfolded to create a monster and he is a monster, however refined his tastes are. It would have made a good contrast to the harshness of Lecter's grotesque and sadistic actions in Hannibal; that's where a good screenplay, might have made a difference. Francis Dolarhyde, Jame Gumb and Hannibal Lecter weren't born evil, they were shaped and moulded by their harsh experiences as young, innocent, impressionable children. Monsters aren't born, they are made – the moral of the stories. The difference being Hannibal always took responsibility for his actions, never placing the blame at someone else’s feet.

Hannibal Rising: Directed by Peter Webber, 2007

This time Harris would be involved, writing the screenplay for the Hannibal Rising movie. While I enjoyed Gaspard Ulliel as a young Hannibal, I felt that the story was unnecessary.

And just when you thought that was all and Hannibal Lecter's story had been narrated from beginning to end; Lecter was resurrected in 2013 for Bryan Fuller's TV Series, titled Hannibal, for three seasons on NBC.

Dessert

A delicate balance of psychiatry, culinary skills, food porn, relationships, sex, beauty, horror

and murder tableaus, like the layers of a sinful Double Chocolate Torte.

Hannibal TV Series: Developed by Bryan Fuller, 2013-2015

I know what you're going to say; there's no way I'm watching a Hannibal TV show without Hopkins on NBC! Whether your a Cox fan or a Hopkins fan; they both played the part in their own style and both performances are top notch. Hopkins had a little more to sink his teeth into with The Silence of the Lambs; as the screen time was slightly longer than in Manhunter.

I was stubborn too! I didn't watch Hannibal during the originally airing for season one or two. I remember catching a glimpse of an episode as I was on my way out to photograph a band; I was a live music photographer for around three years, so many of my Friday nights were spent in Toronto. It was the episode with the horse and the coffin-birth, which ultimately left an impression. So in January 2015 I binge watched season one and two (26 episodes) in only two days; I couldn't stop watching!

There's been a string of missing girls attributed to one person, known as “The Minnesota Shrike” and the FBI are struggling for leads. Upon the eighth girls disappearance, Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne) walks into Will Graham's (Hugh Dancy) classroom to request his help. Graham has the unique ability to empathize with narcissits and sociopaths and as he states, it has less to do with a personality disorder and more to do with an active imagination. Dr. Bloom expresses her concerns to Jack Crawford about using Will Graham for his special gifts and recommends keeping an eye on him; suggesting a colleague of hers, Dr. Hannibal Lecter.

Bryan Fuller's adaption uses Red Dragon as the main source material, with additional material from Hannibal and Hannibal Rising; expanding characters stories and switching some genders to give it a less male dominated cast. Characters like Margot Verger, who were left out of the Hannibal movie are slotted back in to give the Mason Verger story more substance. Cordell, Verger's valet and cook, is far cheekier in the TV series. Dr. Alan Bloom is transformed into Dr. Alana Bloom and Freddy Lounds, once played by the amazing Philip Seymour Hoffman becomes Freddie Lounds played by Lara Jean Chorostecki, who plays her less sleazy and yet still despicable.

Interesting Fact: Bryan Fuller incorporated some of the forward written by Harris in Red Dragon about his experience writing the novel.

Whipped Fresh Creme & a Cherry On-top!

Hannibal Fan Fiction

Season 3 of Hannibal ends on a cliff hanger and unfortunately NBC cancelled the show without a resolution. Not to worry, there is a buffet of Hannibal Fan Fiction out there for you to sink your teeth into. Hannibal fan fiction spans the spectrum of General Audience to NC-17 to pornographic; there is something to suit everyone's taste. If you don't find anything pleasing; you can always write your own fan fiction!

Interesting Fact: Some of the cast members have read Hannibal fan fiction.

Hannibal Fan Art

The amazing thing about the Hannibal fandom, whether you're old school or new school; there is incredible artwork to explore created by incredibly talented artists.

Interesting Fact: Bryan Fuller and the De Laurentiis Company are not dicks about copyright infringement, when it comes to fan art and fan fiction.

Hannibal Conventions

Red Dragon Con by Starfury: An all Hannibal Con in London, England.

Fannibal Fest: An all Hannibal Con with location tours in Toronto, Canada.

Sofa-Con by Fannibal Fest: Due to the lock-down situation around the world because of Covid-19 all conventions were cancelled in 2020. Fannibal Fest set of some Zoom meetings with guests that starred or worked on Hannibal.

There are several Hannibal fandom groups all over different parts of the world; who meat-up to dine and discuss their favourite topic, Hannibal. I am part of a GTA Fannibal group that centres around Toronto, Canada and we’ve met several times.

So, as we finish our dining experience with Dr. Hannibal Lecter; we'll eagerly anticipate another invitation to Lecter's dinner table, as a guest or if you're unspeakably rude, perhaps you'll be the main course; either way I'll meet or eat you there!

Shannon L. Christie

aka Hannibal_Obsessed

#hannibal #fannibals #hannibalobsessed #hannibalthecannibal #madsmikkelsen #hanniballecter #theofficialmads #thisismydesign #willgraham #hughdancy #anthonyhopkins #the silence of the lambs #red dragon #hannibal rising

[technoskittles]

Catradora fic rec list

I mentioned making one of these awhile ago and I’m finally sitting down and compiling some of my all-time favorite fics. I’ve read a lot (like, a LOT), but I feel like a few of those really deserve an extra shout out.

I’ll separate them between multi-chap and one shots, but other than that they won’t be in any particular order. I’ll also try my best to tag the authors here on tumblr if I can find them, but if not, just lemme know if you see your fic and I can edit this later.

I’ll also be including ratings/word count/trigger warnings/etc

(I’ll mostly be including common tw’s so please make sure you also read the tags for anything that may affect you personally! Also, if I miss any, please keep in mind that it’s been awhile since I’ve read some of these so I may not remember all of them!)

Key:

[E] - Explicit 

[M] - Mature

[T] - Teen & Up Audiences

[G] - General Audiences

And for the multi-chap fics:

(O) - Ongoing

(F) - Finished

(?) - Not finished and they haven’t updated in awhile so the author probably died

So let’s get started! (Get ready for a long post obviously)

Multi-chap fics:

1. upper west side by ceruleanstorm (F) [T] ~190,000 words

TW: past child abuse, alcohol abuse

@princessofgayskull

I feel like this is definitely one of the top must-reads for all Catradora fanfics. I know I’ve seen this on a couple different lists but I’m including it on mine as well because it really is just that good.

The chapters are lengthy (but in a good way!) and the story really takes its time to flesh itself out. The character development of the characters as individuals is beautifully done and wonderfully realistic. The pacing of the development of Catra and Adora’s relationship is also sweetly slow, a steady slowburn that invokes that deep-rooted yearning feeling mirrored by the characters themselves.

It’s a really clever premise that takes place in the modern world but implements the canon universe in the form of the book that Adora’s writing that ties back to her and Catra’s shared childhood. The way that aspects of the show were revamped into this fic are so creative and I just....ugh. LOVE.

This fic also has a oneshot compilation that takes place after the events of the final chapter which is currently ongoing and I HIGHLY suggest checking that out as well once you’ve finished this. 

The sister fic for those interested: she’s god (and I found her) (O) [T] ~40,000 words

2. The Devil Is In (The Details) by SeasInkarnadine (O) [M] ~58,000 words

TW: Graphic Depictions of Violence, child abuse, emotional abuse, use of recreational drugs, Major Character Death

@seasinkarnadine

This is a really great fic where Adora is an undercover cop who sidles her way into one of the largest gang syndicates to bust whoever killed Hordak, a big gang leader and drug trafficker, whose death was originally ruled as an accidental overdose. Her and Catra (one of the gang members) both know foul play was involved and work together to figure out the truth.

The dynamics between these two is so casual and hilarious but still has those gut-wrenching moments that really ground you and realize that their relationship is dysfunctional on a few levels. The exploration of Adora’s conflicting feelings towards Catra hurt in such a good way as she realizes that she does genuinely care for Catra, but also is aware that what she’s doing will eventually screw her over and land her in jail. It’s the best kind of underlying angst and I highly recommend it.

Another really great selling point that I particularly love is that Adora is deaf in this AU and the author really shows this in such a realistic and natural way that shows she really knows what she’s talking about. It makes the dynamic between the two even more interesting considering that Catra also knows sign language which give the two a lot of moments of mutual understanding that doesn’t extend to the other characters. It’s something that the two of them have that’s sort of just for them to be on that level of understanding and it’s so great.

Also, Morgan is just a great writer in general and I highly suggest checking out more of her stuff (her art too!). She’s one of the writers I’ve looked up to since my beginning days in the fandom and it’s still amazing seeing all the great stuff she puts out.

3. Skinny Love by Maychup (O) [M] ~100,000 words

TW: past child abuse

@maychup

Another staple of big fics in the catradora fandom but for good reason. This fic is a wonderful exploration of events taking place after S1 illustrating Catra & Adora’s relationship in a different path that the rest of the show takes. It focuses heavily on their past experiences with each other and how that affects their current situation being on opposite sides of the war. 

This fic is older, published just after S1, so canon divergence is an important aspect of its build. But the way the story is written is so beautiful and grounded that it’s still interesting even now knowing what really happens in the show. 

Their dynamic is kind of back-and-forth, with Catra figuring out what Adora means to her and vice versa and where the two of them want to go from that point. It has so many sweet moments and steamy ones as well (btw, there’s a lot of smut) and the exploration into each of the character’s pysches is so compelling and intriguing.

4. Faded With Feelings by yesimgay (F) [T] ~24,000 words

TW: recreational drug use

This was such a cute, short multi-chap fic. It’s a bit older but I think it’s still one of my top faves. 

A modern au, Catra & Adora are roommates post-college and trying to make their way in the adulting world. Catra has ADHD and smokes weed to help with that. One day Adora accidentally eats a couple of her edibles and cute shenanigans ensue. And that’s just the first two chapters.

The rest of the fic goes on to the girls figuring out their feelings for each other, especially Adora who, in this case, isn’t really sure of her sexuality. All-in-all, a really cute fic that’s a nice break from all the angst that typically saturates the fandom.

5. Chasing the Spotlight by holymountain (?) [T] ~20,000 words

This is an AU where Adora is hired to be Catra’s, a pop singer, bodyguard. There’s so many cute moments in this, though admittedly it’s been about 6 months since it’s last updated so be sure to keep that in mind.

6. we’ve been making shades of purple out of red and blue by darklady21 (?) [t] ~24,000 words

An “and they were ROOMMATES” au. In this one though, Catra and Adora don’t actually know each other and really only get to know each other over time. It’s cute and has a lot of interesting interactions between the two, but it hasn’t updated in about 7 months.

7. Tuning Out by FaiaHae (?) [T] ~2500 words

I actually really loved the whole concept of this fic but it hasn’t updated in like, an entire year so...only read if you’re okay with the fact that it probably won’t ever be finished haha

8. burnt sugar by jeserai (O) [G] ~11,000 words

@jeserai

Oh god YES this fic. The classic “fake dating” au except Catra is a rich kid inheriting a business who essentially hires Adora, a broke college student, to go on a date with her to this big business function. There’s not a lot to say about it other than that without giving too much away, but the fic is about halfway done at this point so it’s a pretty short read as of now.

Just be warned, it’s currently on a MASSIVE cliffhanger so if you wanna wait until it updates I totally understand lol

9. still waters by summerson (O) [M] ~28,000 words

TW: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, self harm

A “The Last of Us” AU. Personally, I’m not super familiar with TLOU because I could never get into the game myself, but this fic is so well done and the writing style is so interesting and well-executed that I still love this fic to bits. But obviously, for those of you who are aware of TLOU, you already know that this fic is going to contain quite the fair share of angst so be ready.

10. Whispering Dreams by dragonesdepapel (F) [T] ~7500 words

It’s been awhile since I’ve read this one so I don’t remember everything, but I do remember really enjoying the writing style and the construction of this fic. It’s a short read, but it’s totally worth it

11. please could you be tender by erce3 (F) [G] ~40,000 words

@figbian

please please PLEASE go read this fic. I’m actually begging y’all to go read this one I loved it so much it’s still one of my top 10 faves out there.

This fic is set in a modern setting where Adora & Catra were childhood friends and are in college and god it’s just SO. GOOD. The writing style and composition of the flashbacks with the present events is so beautifully done and organized and I really cannot hype this fic up enough GO READ IT

12. buried a hatchet (it’s coming up lavendar) by erce3 (O) [G] ~12,000 words

on the note of that last rec, I highly rec their other work which is currently in progress. It takes place after S3 but it’s an exploration on if Catra and Adora got trapped in the portal instead of Angella and FUCK this person is genuinely amazing go read their stuff

13. Senior Year by SimplyAbsolute (O) [E] ~98,000 words

@simplyabsolute

This is a really cute fic about Adora and Catra in their final year of college and I guess for me personally it really just hits hard because I’m also in my final year of college lol. But really, it’s a great fic and I suggest checking it out. It’s actually only got one more chapter left too so it’s almost done!

14. Assassinating Adora by Wicked42 (F) [T] ~13,000 words

@wicked-42

TW: Graphic Depictions of Violence

Jeez this fic was a real rollercoaster of emotions. I loved every bit of it. 

Basically, some people try to assassinate Adora and Catra stops one of them, but both girls are still inflicted by the poison and....it just gets crazier from there. Don’t wanna spoil it too much but this is a must-read for sure.

And this one may seem like cheating but I’m gonna plug one of my own multi-chap fics here

15. Pure Feeling (O) [T] ~30,000 words

TW: brief mention of sexual assault in Ch 5

This is a modern AU set after all the kids have been out of college for a few years. 

Adora and Catra were childhood friends but ended up drifting apart and falling out during their college years. Fast forward about 6 years and they run into each other again, except now Adora has a daughter and is struggling to balance her life as a single mother. Overtime the two girls work on rebuilding their friendship and somewhere along the way might even realize that they’re feelings for each other never really went away. But of course, like all things in life, this isn’t an easy process and they run into more than a few complications - internal and external.

One Shots:

(there’s so many of these I’ve loved so I’m really going to try and narrow it down to about 10. If yours didn’t make it, no offense! I just have WAY too many to include and this post is already so long haha)

1. The Interlude That Never Ends by FMLClexa [M] ~2500 words

TW: Major Character Death, brief mention of sexual assault

Okay I’m gonna be honest: If you ignore all the other fics on this list, READ THIS ONE. This is absolutely my #1 favorite without a doubt. It’s a soulmate/reincarnation au and it’s so wonderfully executed that I honestly cannot even begin to tell y’all how much I love this one. It’s old and one of the first fics I ever read, but it’s so timeless and excellent and I promise you won’t regret reading it. I know I’ve read this about a million times over.

It’s been a whole year and this has held my #1 fave position the entire time. READ. IT.

2. after party by summerson [M] ~2000 words

TW: recreational drug use

God this fic was so great I read it last night and I’m still in awe in how well it was written and the emotions it managed to invoke in me. My favorite scene is the part where Catra tells Adora “I love you” because it’s so raw and desperate and I vibed with it so hard. It’s really difficult trying to tell someone how much you love them with just a few simple words because they really just don’t convey how much you love them and it’s so frustrating and GAH this fic was fucking great please read it.

3. jigsaw by jeserai [G] ~2500 words

@jeserai

This fic is so great and I felt so warm inside reading it. Definitely read if you want sweet, slow friends to lovers burn.

4. Vicious by SeasInkarnadine [M] ~3500 words

TW: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Rape/Non-Con

I really highly recommend this one if you can get past the trigger warnings. It was so well written and very suspenseful with the juxtaposition of the timeline between current events and snippets of what had happened just hours before. But the ending is really sweet and the way that Catra cares for Adora after the whole thing squeezed my heart to pieces.

This is one I’ve read a few times over because of how much I love it. Def in my top 3.

5. Basement by spookyscaryskeletons [G] ~2800 words

This was such a great rendition of “Adora and Catra are forced to talk” and the emotions were raw and bleeding and I love the character portrayals. 

6. Coming Apart by Whorls [E] ~13,000 words (or ~6,000 words each chap)

@crazy-pages

Okay this fic technically has two chapters but I’m including it here in the oneshots because the chapters are identical in the sense of story but the only difference is that in chapter one Catra is a cis woman and in chapter two she’s a trans woman pre-op. Other than that the chapters are identical so it’s mostly based off which experience you would rather have while reading.

This fic was. So. Fucking. Good. Sen did such a fantastic job with both aspects of this story and I love it to bits and pieces. The smut in the beginning is delicious as can be, but then towards the latter half it absolutely sucker punches you with feelings but in a good way. I really, really fucking love this fic and I think it needs more attention than it initially got so I’m imploring you all to please go read this fic. It’s fantastic.

7. Seconds That I Cannot Replace by Mogatrat [M] ~7800 words

TW: child abuse, underage(?)

This is a really heartbreaking fic set before canon. It’s about all the times that Catra and Adora started a romantic relationship only for Shadow Weaver to come in and ruin everything by constantly erasing and resetting Adora’s memory. I still think about this fic from time to time. Give it a go.

8. Come morning light by dragonesdepapel [T] ~1800 words

TW: Major Character Death

Another one that’s technically two chapters but it’s the same events, just covers the perspective of each girl. Adora’s dying and asks Catra to stay with her.

Basically this fic ripped my heart out and I still think about it sometimes.

9. someone you like by caela [T] ~5100 words

oh fuck me yes this fic. A modern au where Catra sorta stalks Adora on instagram and accidentally likes an old picture. Fluffiness galore.

10. When You Came Calling by ActuallyMe [E] ~5200 words

TW: Major Character Death

A 1940′s Mob AU where Catra is a private eye and Adora married high-ranking mob boss Hordak...who’s just been murdered.

Really great one shot. Personally I would’ve loved to see more come of this but it’s great on its own.

And once again, this is cheating but here’s a couple oneshots of my own that I wanna plug real quick

11. hang tight (all you) [T] ~9200 words

Modern AU fic set when Catra and Adora are in high school. Adora struggles to come to terms with her sexuality in an discouraging environment as well as the fact that she’s had a crush on her best friend since middle school. Personally I think this was one of my best works and a lot of other people seem to have liked it too so yeah!

12. as my World d[ivides] [E] ~2500 words

TW: Rape/Non-Con, Underage

One of my darker fics, but still one I’m pretty proud of. Without giving too much away, Adora suffers from a trauma and engages in unhealthy coping mechanisms and Catra enables her because no one’s taught them any different.

#she ra #spop #catra #adora #catradora #she ra and the princesses of power #fic recs #long post #thanks for hanging in with me guys #but yes I highly suggest all these fics

[bisexualhobi]

wait I think I agree not today is really bad but now rank all their title tracks from best to worst pls

lmaoohdksjjdjf i love this question so much anon but due to the fact that i’m me this would get way WAY too long. so i’m doing the top 5 best title tracks and then top 5 worst ones okay? i’m looking at google and apparently they have 26 korean singles so yeah that’s too much.

to rank them as objectively as possible I'm gonna try to take into account gp impact (which is not the same as chart impact since the fandom inflates those numbers), production, creative value (how innovative/different from other pop songs was it?) and the concept of the music video/aesthetic in general. 

BTS TITLE TRACKS: TOP 5

5. Black Swan (2020)

am I cheating by putting here a pre release single? maybe. but it would be a disservice to leave this one out so bear with me

⭐gp impact: this song made more noise as a pre release single than the title track. I saw it in at least 3 end of the year editorials for best kpop songs of 2020. and the thing is it could have been WAY bigger but a lot of stuff happened that sadly made it go away too soon. I don't think this one is as famous or recognizable as the others in this list which is why it's going last, but also I think this song is the most underrated gem in bts discography so it's still going here.

⭐production: this song beat out the front runners (I need u, save me, DNA) solely because of its production. there are not a lot of kpop songs out there that manage to pull off what this song does. it's powerful, it's nostalgic, it's a dark and sexy song without being too on the nose. the mixing is SUPERB I remember the first time I heard it I thought "this would blow the fuck up if it was a Travis Scott song" and I will DIE on that hill. this is an example of heavy autotune on a song done right, not like the rest of their super autotuned songs that sometimes come out unrecognizable and empty sounding.

⭐creative value: it's not truly a new concept in pop to make a song about the Death of the Artist. it’s also not something a rookie group can do, this song needed to be released at exactly the time in bts’ career that it was. there’s just no emotional impact if you just sing about how the music makes your hear beat and you’ve been in the industry for,,, 3 years. this is the type of Swan Song you release at the peak of your career, so that really contributes to the message. mixing a trap beat with a ballet motif is GALAXY BRAIN SHIT.

⭐️concept: the ballet influence is just beautifully executed, this song is a beautiful piece of craftsmanship on all fronts. i think they could literally build an entire ALBUM off this concept, so the fact that they jampacked it onto one single song is both amazing and a little sad for me. i wanna hear more of this. i want a literal Black Swan (the darren aranofsky movie) horror concept where the protagonist falls prey to his own madness because he strives for perfection. but yeah, the song itself and the orchestral version just make this a complete golden concept in my book.

4. IDOL (2018).

⭐️gp impact: i think a lot of people that didn’t know anything about kpop vaguely knew about this song when it was released. i know i wasn’t into kpop at all but in my pop culture circle there was a small bleep from this song bc of the concept and the dance. i think it’s a great “embassador of kpop” track, like if you wanna explain to someone with no previous knowledge what kpop is about you can show them a performance of this song.

⭐️production: the production is a little all over the place for me. the instrumentals are amazing and really creative tho, but like in terms of mixing vocals and the structure of it, it might be a little too grating. it’s not the best produced song in ly: answer by any means but it still makes it work

⭐️creative value: the whole hanbok thing is a 10/10. bts weren’t the first ones to do it, but they did it in such a tightly executed way that honestly that “classic korean roots meets the edgy western feel” concept belongs to them now. groups are still recreating it. it’s a really innovative concept in general.

⭐️concept: the music video is,,,, something. you might love it or hate it, but it’s memorable. i think the purposeful way in which they made it as loud and brilliant as possible can be taken either as a camp adjacent or just as the group going nuts with the budget, which props to them. the choreography is also a BIG plus. the south african influence is really well executed and they made sure to do it as cultural appreciation and not appropriation. definitely the most memorable thing from this song is the choreo

3. Run (2015).

⭐️gp impact: this was their second song to have a music show win. it was the lead single from hyyh pt2 and honestly it might be the best song off hyyh as a whole. it cemented bts as not just another kpop group, because it made non fans turn their heads too! from what i gather this really propelled them forward and made the fanbase grow a lot.

⭐️production: hyyh pt2 is super well produced. i feel like this song in particular makes a fine job of mixing the vocals but it’s not outstanding. the best part is the instrumentals. but overall it’s a really good song with amazing lyrics and a great melody.

⭐️creative value: this built off of what they did with pt1 so they were already in a comfortable place, when they found this sound they really explored it well and deep and it works! i’m glad they went this emo pop route because it was a good contrast to what was dominating the charts in kpop in 2015.

⭐️concept: the aesthetic is PERFECT. there’s not a single other thing that i could add or that i wanted gone. it’s the perfect mix of coming of age teen film and heartfelt, dreamy pop. the music video is by no surprises the favorite mv of a lot of the fandom. the cinematography is beautiful and the song and the video perfectly capture that fleeting moment in life when you’re in the brink of adulthood.

2. Mic Drop (2017).

⭐️gp impact: this song was the first bts song to chart on the billboard hot100. back when the fandom had no idea how to chart, mass buy etc. that’s enough said. (personally i think mic drop is the quintessential bts song and their best release so the fact that i’m not putting it first should count as something).

⭐️production: for the purposes of this ranking i’m using the original mic drop and not the steve aoki remix even tho it was the steve remix that was released as the single. the song has the BEST mastering i’ve heard in kpop. the transitions are flawless, the beat is pure fire, the entire first minute is literally the hardest hype rap i’ve heard in kpop. everything about it WORKS.

⭐️creative value: it’s kinda funny how this song got released the same year as kendrick lamar’s humble, because imho it’s the best hiphop song of that year after humble. 2017 was truly the year of the diss tracks. bonus points for including it right after the billboard acceptance speech skit in ly: answer. SUPER refreshing among the ed sheeran type of pop that dominated that year.

⭐️concept: it’s a great concept but not innovative by any means. still, it works and bts managed to exploit it to the max. the choreo, the mv, the styling, everything was amazing!

1. Blood, Sweat & Tears (2016).

⭐️gp impact: it's probably the first song to put bts on the map beyond the kpop sphere. it really set the tone for their 2017. it's one of their most famous and recognizable songs to date.

⭐️production: this song is STUNNINGLY arranged. the mix, the ambience, the progression,,, it's all brought together to make a very well crafted song. it has a distinctive electronic/pop sound to it that still manages to set itself apart from the trend that was going at the time. black swan is probably the closet single they have to this in terms of production.

⭐️creative value: the song itself is very in compliance with the 2015/2016 trend of hype songs with edm influence, (ie. closer, shape of you, cheap thrills, let me love you, something just like this, etc.) but it still packs that punch that makes it sound fresh even for 2021.

⭐️concept: it wasn't the first song to sound like this in kpop ofc but it was the first truly sexy concept for bts. the aesthetic is innovative and very well thought out, the mv is amazing and the choreography too. i read somewhere that j-hope had a lot of input for this choreo so that's amazing. also blond taehyung is literally the best thing to come out of big hit.

WORST BTS TITLE TRACKS

ok so here we go with the worst ones! this is in ascending order as i prepare myself to pick the worst of them all, but please remember this isn’t meant to be mean spirited, i am simply applying the same criteria to their most underwhelming songs but that doesn’t mean they don’t have their own merit! it’s just that out of 26 singles, SOME of them have got to come out at the bottom right?

5. Life Goes On (2020)

⭐gp impact: this song is not memorable with the general public, its #1 on the bb was the product of mass buying and even though it's a feel good song made to comfort fans in the times of pandemic it's still bland and boring. I think it had no music show appearances either, and as far as bts ballads go this is just bottom tier. it’s not that it’s terrible, it’s just very underwhelming 

⭐production: the autotune in this song is very poorly executed, it doesn't add to the song the way black swan does for example. it's just off putting and the melody is really forgettable. it's funny bc the chorus is directly pulled from the 2018 reggaeton super hit "La Canción" by J Balvin and Bad bunny lmaooo 💀 so I can't get that out of my head either. the structure is just fine and has nothing of substance 

⭐creative value: the song is attempts to be a heartfelt acoustic song but it really has nothing that sets it apart from other songs product of the pandemic like Justin and ariana's stuck with u. for a song in a self produced album it's the song with the least input from the group. the lyrics are good, but they're not as sincere or groundbreaking as for example Spring day. 

⭐concept: as a ballad ofc I'm not expecting it to have a grand choreography, and the mv being filmed in their personal dorms to reflect the lockdown is actually a nice touch but besides that there is nothing exciting, innovative or even sincerely comforting about the song and the concept. the greatest thing abt it is the fact that jk directed the video, which is actually pretty good.

4. We are bulletproof pt 2 (2013)

⭐gp impact: this song made no noise back in the day and to this day its just beloved by the fandom due to a sense of nostalgia and "remembering bts' roots". don't get me wrong it's amazing that bts still perform it in the year of our lord 2020 because you can't forget where you came from, but it's not a good or memorable song by any means. 

⭐production: I went back to listen to it for this and oh god. I can't remember the mixing being THIS bad. jimin, jin and taehyung sound exceptionally bad, they don't sound like themselves especially jin. it's just a really poorly mastered song, but then again the rest of their debut album isn't far better. 

⭐creative value: this is straight up ripping off early 2000s black culture from the US. not only the music, the styling for this era in general is unfortunately really bad and culturally appropriating and overall it's a mess. 

⭐concept: there is nothing of substance to be said about this song. it's just really a miss. the mv is terrible, the only thing that can be salvaged from this is the choreography, but besides that the whole thing feels sloppy, rushed and is also kinda cringey.

3. N.O. (2013)

⭐gp impact: no noise. this song was just a really weird pick for their first comeback when attack on bangtan or coffee was right there. not to be mean but no wonder they didn't have a music win this year. 

⭐production: it's an objectively bad song. it's just really underwhelming, the whole mixing feels amateur. it's not a good hiphop song and it's not a good vocal arrangement and the chorus is also a rip off of a late 90s American song I can't find right now 

⭐creative value: this song isn't innovative in any way, it's just..... there. very meh in general, I have nothing more to say about it 

⭐concept: the storyline kinda wants to go somewhere with the music video but it doesn't manage to make a connection. the styling is plain, simple and not flattering at all. it tries to make a protest of the Korean school system but it doesn't say anything beyond "school bad" which we already knew

2. Not Today (2017)

⭐gp impact: its a very middle of the list song for a lot of the fandom. I literally know of no one that claims this as their favorite mv/era/song. when you ask people about their least favorite bts songs they won't mention this one either, you know why? because it's that irrelevant. it had no music show wins either. it's precisely because of this why I put it so high up on the list. there's nothing worse than an unmemorable song, if it was widely hated then at least that would be a response. 

⭐production: it's a really mediocre song in terms of structure and melody. it tried to be hype but it falls short. the chorus feels half finished and the message of the song is just “the revolution has begun”? which okay? but it adds nothing to the You never walk alone album either.

⭐creative value: there is nothing exciting about this song, and the chorus is too grating. the rhythm is repetitive and nothing new either in kpop or pop in general. 

⭐concept: sadly there's not a lot to be said for the song. it says nothing of value and what it says falls flat. there's no innovation. you can actually see a lot of idol in this song, and also ON. those two songs are what this one tried to be but failed.

1. War of Hormone (2014)

⭐gp impact: thankfully none. this song got the treatment it deserved, if they had won a music show for this one it would feel tainted lol. now it's just a meme in the fandom but overall it made zero noise and contributed nothing to bts' evolution 

⭐production: the production is very lazy, which is odd because dark & wild has some pretty tight tracks. but this one is just meh, nothing outstanding and the melody is just annoying 

⭐creative value: this is a song that was probably born out of the desperation to have a gp friendly hit. it tries really hard to replicate an outdated idea of what boy bands should be, and it does it badly. simply put this song is very mediocre and misogynistic and the fact that it's a running gag in the fandom that "feminism isn't important when war of hormone comes on" isn't funny and it's actually cringe. please stop 

⭐concept: the styling is so ugly :( the mv is very low budget which isn't surprising but they managed to make more with less in past releases. it's just embarrassing and I wish this song didn't exist, there's a reason why they never play it anymore lol. overall a dark mistake in bts' career

#asks #long post// #song analysis #bts

[starwarsnonsense]

Best Films of 2019 (So Far)

It’s that time of year again! As most of my followers probably know, I’m an avid cinema-goer beyond Star Wars. I also quite enjoy making lists, so what’s better than a combo of the two? Below, I run down my top 10 films of 2019 so far - please note that this list is based on UK cinema release dates, so some of these films were 2018 releases elsewhere.

What are your favourites so far from this year? Let me know in replies/asks!

Honourable mentions: Toy Story 4, Long Shot, Aladdin, Alita: Battle Angel & The Kid Who Would Be King

1. The Favourite, dir. Yorgos Lanthimos

This completely wowed me - it features a trio of magnificently compelling female characters (played by Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone) operating at the court of Queen Anne (Colman is Anne, Weisz and Stone are courtiers), and is focused solely on the shifting sands of the power dynamics between them. The script is savage without sacrificing poignancy, witty without ceasing to be genuine. And while I’ve seen some react to this film as a comedy (and it certainly has laughs, most of which are closely tied to shock), for me it was very clearly a drama about the inscrutable and complicated relationships that exist between women. Specifically, it is about how those relationships run the gamut from sincere affinity to ruthless manipulation. This is an amazing movie, and it also has the best use of an Elton John song in 2019 (sorry, Rocketman!).

2. Midsommar, dir. Ari Aster

I went into this film with reservations, since I wasn’t a huge fan of Hereditary (by the same director), which I found to have extraordinary moments but iffy execution overall. This movie, however, wowed me, and I am still uncertain as to whether this or The Favourite is my top film of 2019 so far (fortunately, this gives me a good excuse to watch Midsommar three or four times in cinemas). While marketed as a freaky cult horror film, the director has described it as a fairy tale, which is the level on which is spoke to me. Midsommar follows Dani (an incredible Florence Pugh), a young woman who has suffered a terrible loss, as she travels with her boyfriend and his friends to a pagan festival in the Swedish countryside. Dani is painfully isolated, and her grief is hers to shoulder alone since her boyfriend is un-receptive and distinctly unprepared to help her. Over the course of the film, destruction and creation are conflated in ways that are frequently beautiful and horrific at the same time - this film spoke to me on a profound level, and the way it ended gave me a sense of incredible catharsis. This won’t be for everyone, for I found it to be a deeply special film and I can’t recommend it enough.

3. One Cut of the Dead, dir.  Shinichirou Ueda

While I went into The Favourite with high expectations given the talent involved, I went into this with no expectations whatsoever - and what a treat it was! One Cut of the Dead is easily one of the funniest movies I’ve seen in ears, taking what initially seems like a trite concept (a crew is filming a zombie movie at a desolate location ... only to discover that the zombies are real!) and twisting it in a truly ingenious way. The comedy is often of the broad variety, but it is consistently delightful and always manages to avoid becoming crass - the movie even has some really sweet family dynamics at the centre of it, which gives it some real emotional heft. The success of this film is heavily reliant on a major twist that occurs part-way through, so the best advice I can give you is to stay as far away from spoilers for this one as possible - go in blind, and you will be amply rewarded for your faith.

4. The Farewell, dir. Lulu Wang

I saw this following a wave of festival hype, so while I was excited I was also a bit apprehensive (since I have been burned by the aforementioned festival hype before). Thankfully, my doubts were blown away as this turned out to be just as wonderful as the early reviews had suggested. It’s a personal story about a young Asian-American woman (Awkwafina) struggling to reconcile her heritage with her current situation and values - specifically, she is tested when her grandmother is diagnosed with terminal cancer and the wider family make the decision to hide the truth from her. The Farewell does a fantastic job of generating empathy for all the different perspectives and positions in play, but it’s truly anchored by Awkwafina’s amazingly nuanced and tender performance - basically, anyone who’s ever loved a grandparent should leave this feeling incredibly moved and inspired. The themes of The Farewell are both specific to the Asian-American experience and general to anyone who has struggled with maintaining bonds over a vast distance, whether physical or cultural.           

5. Booksmart, dir. Olivia Wilde

God, how I wish I’d had this movie as a teenager! While Booksmart has a cliched premise - two high-achieving teens decide to have one wild night before graduation - it tells the story in an incredibly charming and impressively creative way (I won’t spoil it, but let me just say this - that scene with the Barbies!). As someone who was an awkward nerd with no discernible social life in high school (as you Americans call it), I found this portrayal of that peculiar limbo period very sensitive and thoughtful - it doesn’t mock or shame its heroines for being studious, and it allows them to have limits and step back from situations that make them uncomfortable. It also serves as a beautifully honest portrait of a friendship, depicting the qualities that bring people together in friendship together in the first place, as well as the forces that can break people apart. This is a very accomplished debut from Wilde, and it makes me very excited to see where she goes next as a director.

6. A Private War, dir. Matthew Heineman

This was a very suspenseful and tightly focused film about an extraordinary woman, and the film soars on the strength of Rosamund Pike’s incredible performance as Marie Colvin. She provides piercing insights into the psyche of a person so driven to pursue truth and enact change that she loses all concern for her own wellbeing - it’s simultaneously a portrait of heroism and obsession, and it’s impressive for how it handles the ambiguity inherent in Colvin’s choices. She’s exceptionally brave, but the film is unflinching in depicting the costs of her bravery. It left me feeling inspired to learn more about Colvin’s life and work, and I still need to watch the documentary Under the Wire to get more insight into the real story behind the film.

7. Fighting With My Family, dir. Stephen Merchant

This is the year of Florence Pugh - she killed it in Midsommar, and she is just as fantastic here. If anything, Fighting With My Family and Midsommar make great complements as they serve as fantastic showcases for Pugh’s range as an actor. While her character in Midsommar is fragile and vulnerable, Fighting With My Family is a platform for her strength and comedic skill. As Paige, Pugh is instantly likable and compelling - I don’t give a damn about any form of wrestling, but this film (and Pugh specifically) did a fantastic job of drawing me in and making me root for Paige’s struggle to prove herself as a legitimate force in wrestling. This is a real underdog story, and Pugh did a wonderful job as the Cinderella of the WWE.

8. Apollo 11, dir. Todd Douglas Miller

My dad has always been crazy about the space program, but I hadn’t picked up the bug myself. That changed after I watched this extraordinary documentary, which brought the Apollo 11 mission to vivid life. The footage that’s used for this documentary is extraordinarily crisp, and some moments are vividly powerful - the crew getting into their spacesuits, the swirl of fire surrounding the moment of takeoff, and the journey of the spacecraft towards the moon. It left me feeling moved and touched by human potential, especially when you remember that this all happened 50 years ago when the available technologies were so fragile and primitive. I also loved how the footage was allowed to speak for itself, with no voiceover or exposition - it’s a must-see for anyone who’s ever looked up at the stars and wondered about reaching them.

9. High Life, dir. Claire Denis

This movie is second to only Midsommar in terms of how weird it is. I saw this in a Hungarian cinema while on holiday, which made for a disorientating experience in itself. While the meaning of the film is quite elusive and I’m sure that many people will find viewing it a uniquely frustrating experience, I appreciated how it created a hothouse environment that brought out some of the ugliest aspects of humanity. Robert Pattinson was great as what comes closest to amounting to our protagonist, though he is as inscrutable and inaccessible as the film itself. I can’t quite pin down why I liked this one so much, but I know I did and it made me want to seek out more of Claire Denis’ work. 

10. Free Solo, dir. Jimmy Chin & Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi

It’s tragic that most people will only watch this documentary on a TV screen (or, so much worse, a laptop!). I was fortunate enough to see it in its full IMAX glory, and it’s rare to see any film - let alone a documentary - take such full advantage of the format. The woozy spectacle of this film is the real star, though the subject - mountain climber Alex Honnold - is also fascinating with his unnerving detachment from the magnitude of what he is setting out on. It is clearly a necessary detachment for him to be able to achieve what he achieves, but I appreciated how the filmmakers questioned it and explored its impact on his girlfriend. This is a compelling documentary, and is worth watching even if you’re not usually a fan of the genre.

#films #cinema #films 2019 #midsommar #florence pugh #the favourite #one cut of the dead #free solo #high life #apollo 11 #fighting with my family #a private war #the farewell #booksmart