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earlgrey24 · 2 months

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Some Julius Caesar x The Danton Case Parallels to Celebrate the Ides of March, Frev Style 🔪🥳

Firstly, both Przybyszewska’s Danton Case and Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar are obviously (excellent!) tragedies that are set in a dying republic on the brink of collapse.

Here are some other interesting parallels I was able to trace:

1. Brutus and Robespierre:

Both of them are driven to execute an important figure even though they initially do not want to do it. They are both conflicted but feel like they have no other choice and have to commit the violent act for the good of the republic.

They are also arguably quite alike in terms of character: you have the „noble Brutus“ and then Robespierre, who is consistently referred to as „the Incorruptible“. Both are seen by others as selfless and committed to the good of the state (the people in the crowd very much emphasise this fact in both of the plays, I do have the receipts)

There is even the scene in which Brutus chastises Cassius for taking bribes, which plays into the idea of him as being (literally) “incorruptible” as well. And vice versa, traces of Brutus’ famed stoicism can then certainly be found in Maximilien.

2. Cassius and Saint-Just:

Both are characters who convince the protagonists (Brutus/Robespierre) to go along the violent act while not necessarily being portrayed as antagonists (at least Saint-Just definitely can't be seen as one in Przybyszewska’s play).

There are also parallels in the close relationship between Brutus and Cassius and Robespierre and Saint-Just, where they are very much portrayed as each other’s closest confidants. Of course, this idea can easily be pushed even further if one wishes to read between the lines. (There is no Camille Desmoulins in Shakespeare though)

3. Manipulating the Crowd:

I'm perhaps the most fascinated by how both Brutus and Mark Antony as well as Robespierre and Danton have the necessary rhetorical skills to manipulate the crowd of commoners (Robespierre being able to “play the crowd like an organ” very much came to my mind when I was reading Act 3 Scene 2 of the Shakespeare’s play).

Both Shakespeare and Przybyszewska portray “the court of public opinion” and how it can easily be manipulated - how opinions can be changed in the matter of minutes - in a way that is genuinely fascinating.

Specifically, the similarity between A3S2 in which people first listen to Brutus only to be immediately swayed by Mark Antony’s speech shortly after and the scene in the court in which Danton manipulates the crowd were in fact so similar in some respects that it was borderline uncanny.

The problem arises when looking for a mirror to Danton’s character in Shakespeare’s play.

4. The Case for Danton x Caesar:

It is Caesar who gets killed for being perceived as a danger to the republic

Both Caesar and Danton are portrayed as being very much beloved by the common people

Also, the idea of Danton being immortal is expressed at the end of Przybyszewka’s play, and while he does not come back literally as a ghost like Ceasar does, Robespierre nonetheless explains to Saint-Just that Danton’s spirit never truly dies.

5. The Case for Danton x Mark Antony:

If we see Danton and Robespierre as foils, Mark Antony makes more sense as a parallel to Danton (even though he does not die), since both Robespierre and Brutus as the classic ascetic/stoic archetype while Danton and Mark Antony’s are well-known for their appetite for drinking, women (or, you know, people, in the case of Mark Antony) , and the pleasures of life overall.

Both are also severely underestimated by their enemies at first, yet they prove to be quite cunning and are able to use their words skilfully to win over the public

Overall, reading both of the plays – especially the parts about manipulating the Roman public and the citizens of Paris just with the power of words – really makes me wonder if Przybyszewska read Shakespeare’s play and used it as a source of inspiration. It would make sense, especially given how the parallel between the French Republic and the Roman Republic was well-established long before her time (even, somewhat tragically, by the revolutionaries themselves).

I promise I think about Przybyszewska's and Shakespeare’s play and the Roman Republic along with the French Revolution a totally normal amount of time & that it definitely does not consume my every waking thought that should be very much going towards the exam preparation.

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intrepid-fictioneer-7 · 4 months

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I've come to the conclusion that, in my humble opinion, Higashide is the writer in TYPE-MOON who makes the best ships involving Heroic Spirits.

Which might sound really weird. After all, the central couple in Fate/Apocrypha is Sieg/Jeanne d'Arc, and it's a pretty divisive one. No offense to those who like it, but it's always a dynamic I thought made no real sense narratively and didn't have much chemistry. Sieg on his journey of self-affirmation and personhood didn't need a romance (except maybe with Astolfo, with whom the dynamic is much more fun). Jeanne, the historical figure who rejected a marriage proposal, wore male clothing, and whose famous nickname refers to her celibacy, getting into a romance just never vibed with me (especially when it felt like the parallels/relationship between her and Shirou Kotomine were far more relevant). Add to that the ending copying Last Episode without what made LE have a strong impact, and it makes the whole even less appealing.

But despite that, Apo is also the work where there is the surprising ship of Shirou Amakusa and Queen Semiramis of all people: the semi-legendary Assyrian queen credited with making one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world falling in love with the young charismatic Japanese Christian who rebelled against the shogunate and failed. It's a very strange crossover ship between two people who never could have met if not for being brought back and it somehow works in being endearing.

(Achilles and Atalanta kinda count I guess, but it's a one-sided ship with little reasoning, that I care so little about, and is eclipsed by the more compelling foils each get, Chiron for Achilles, Jeanne for a Jackie the Ripper-driven mad Atalante.)

Higaside having grown and improved as a writer by the time of FGO, what followed this growth was him not doing a repeat of Sieg/Jeanne, but writing better ships mostly involving Servants. Asterios the Minotaur and Euryale the Gorgon; last Byzantine emperor Constantine IX and fictional Popess Johanna; heck, you can even see the relationship between Mordred and Dr. Jekyll this way (it also works as simple close friendship). Being characters from usually completely different mythologies and historical cultures, there is care done to make it clear why they fall for each other and as a result these couples are very different from one another instead of being the same formula everytime. In a game where a lot of (female) Servants are made to fall for the last Master of Chaldea for sometimes very little reason, these are a breath of fresh air.

For all my problems with her, Sakurai does something similar, though her ships are usually people who canonically were together in their legends: Sigurd/Brynhild, Aslaug/Ragnar Lodbrok, Julius Caesar/Cleopatra, Ozymandias/Nefertari, Tomoe Gozen/Kiso Yoshinaka, etc. They can be one note and there is a repeated thematic tendency of hers of writing "inhuman woman discovering humanity by falling in love", but they tend to be very cute and I easily understand that these people are in love even beyond death, so I root for them to reunite. Higashide also has "canonical" pairings, but the results are more muddled here: Siegfried and Kriemhild are adorable as a divorced couple where there are clearly still feelings, no matter what the tsundere wife says. But Rama and Sita are just...there. I understand the point of their separation, but it's not very engaging and Rama essentially disappeared after the American Singularity, while Sita was yeeted to Arcade. A mark against Higashide, but not as bad as Sieg/Jeanne and overshadowed by the numbers of better ships he wrote in FGO.

And there's Orion and Artemis, where I'm split. Super Orion and LB Artemis was really good and poignant. Orion the teddy bear and ditzy Artemis are a realy bad joke that overstayed its welcome.

FGO prioritizes Master/Servant relationships, both because the last Master of Chaldea is a blank slate for players to self insert into, and also because human×Servant is the type of ship Nasu specializes in (Shirou/Saber, Rin/Saber, Kuzuki/Caster, Caren/Angra Mainyu, and to a lesser extent Bazett/Cu, Yukika/False Assassin, and Ayako/Medusa in FSN; Fate/Extra as a whole; Ritsuka/Castoria in FGO). But even there Higashide made better choices than when he penned Sieg/Jeanne. Charlotte Corday is a surprisingly well-done choice for her archetype, it seems like it's going to be another Kiyohime but no, he actually makes her a good character you get attached to.

And then there is Kadoc and Anastasia. Words cannot describe how much I love them, how their personalities clash and complement each other in the best way, how aesthetically good they look put next to each other, etc. And it's not even just that we got a MasterxServant relationship outside Ritsuka, though that helped.

Basically, Higashide has become my go-to source for good ships, especially intra-Servants ones where Ritsuka is not involved and characters are allowed to not orbit around their Master. Sakurai also provides in that last aspect, but Higashide is doing that and also giving that crossover flavor you see in things like that one Cartoon Network ad with Johnny Bravo and Velma, and that works really well for me.

#yuuichirou higashide #fate series #fate grand order #fate/grand order #fate/go #fgo #shipping #ramblings #not tagging all of them

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goatpaste · 10 months

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Not a real ask or anything, I just wanted you to know that I love going through your blog and I love your AUs and your incredibly correct opinions. I spent yesterday going through your pillar fam tag, and you single handedly made me actually tolerate ceasar. You are by far one of my favorite artists for the way you do character designs and concepts. Have a good day!

WAHHH THIS IS SO SWEET TYYYYYY

i love to look at my least favirote jojo parts and obsessed over them and rip them apart and rebuild them. (my ass beating Battle Tendency and Steel Ball Run with a big hammer until its better)

I love my pillar fam their my sweet cheese!! what if i could save the narrative of BT with Mpreg Love!

and you and me 🤝just tolerating caesar, im just really not that into canon caesar i think even if you ignore him being buddies with the nazis his personality is just kinda not my favirote and i wish BT was more fleshed out because i think despite everything him and Joseph were made to be great foils for one another but BT literally developed NO character relationships and its so sad because what little we gather its sOOO good.. Joseph and all his relationships drive me insaaaannneee. If BT was better Joseph could have been so much.. His relationship to erina and Speedwagon. Him and Caesar being better friends and foils to each others character growths. Joseph and Suzi getting to be cute and silly. THE PILLAR MENNN AHHH. JOSEPH AND LISA LISA WHY DID WE NEVER GET TO SEE ANY TRAINING OR TRUE DEVELOPMENT BETWEEN THEM IT WOULD HAVE MADE EVERYTHING SO PERSONALLLLLL. or the fact that you can backtrack and realize Straizo is Josephs grandfatherrrr uughhh

jojos makes me insane, be a better media

#you dont know how much im sitting here festering on the potenial of sbr getting animated #im so excited to see didi and hp and all the good stuff animated #but i also think that shit should not exist #and i HAVE to get lucy out of there!!!!

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divorcedcaejose · 3 years

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i would 100% be down to hear you infodump about the True caejose dynamic, i don't even care about jojo ships and i'm riveted

Okay, I tried to keep this short because I have a lot of thoughts about Caesar and Joseph and the post would have turned to word vomit without some limit lmao. I focused only on what in their characterization makes for the TRUE caejose dynamic.

So much fanwork boils caejose down to: Joseph “annoying himbo man” Joestar and Caesar “grumpy sexy guy” Zeppeli and blegh... I see where they are coming from, right? Joseph and Caesar have an appeal as a ship because they are “opposites” but it’s more complicated than most fic writers make it.

Joseph’s characterization in the fandom as a whole is... bad... He is either represented as the “dumb” Joestar or the “genius” Joestar or the “haha infidelity amiright guys?” Joestar. When in canon he is none of these. The genius one I guess is the closest? But even so, it is more about his cleverness/resourcefulness than actual “intelligence” in the traditional sense. Araki even refers to Joseph more as a conman than a hero, which I think it a fantastic way to think about his character.

Joseph is a great character with just as many flaws as he has strengths. For every dumbass moment there’s a moment of him outsmarting an enemy with a brilliant trick. For every time he is selfish, he is caring towards friends/family. And for every time he is a brat or let’s his ego get to him, he is allowed to have a more humble and respectful side.

THEN we have Caesar, who the fandom either largely ignores as the dead catholic kid or overtly sexualizes, leaving nothing more than a perfect Sex God rather than the deeply flawed man he is written to be.

Just like Joseph, Caesar is a fairly well rounded character (especially for how little screen time he truly has.) His strengths are balanced out with weaknesses. He’s romantic, but his also lies and cheats. He’s confident, but it leads to annoying arrogance. And he is prideful, but to an extreme fault.

What works for Joseph and Caesar’s relationship (romantic or not) is that they are written as foils to one another. Not only are their flaws balancing out their own strengths, but their traits are often perfect opposites to each other. Caesar is a ladies man: Joseph is a virgin. Joseph has no siblings: Caesar has 4. Caesar has a hidden criminal past: Joseph openly fistfights cops. The list goes on and on (and should be saved for it’s own deeper analysis.)

What makes Caesar such a great side character (the best jobro tbh) is how well Araki balanced him for Joseph. He is written as a interesting character on his own, and also he was written to complement Joseph’s in almost every single way.

It’s a great dynamic that you can use in many ways! If you want, you can write an angsty fic about foils and soulmates OR you play up their annoying flaws making them the perfect court jesters for all of your little shitposts!

TL;DR The TRUE caejose dynamic is two annoying, but complex dudes who irk each other with just how similar they really are that also harbor deep love and respect for the other’s strengths.

#jjba #caejose #Joseph Joestar #Caesar Zeppeli #ask #anon #and if you really want me to go off ask about old caejose #i have strong opinions on how the fandom treats caesar lives aus

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dragonrajafanfiction · 3 years

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Yamata-No-Orochi (Part 1) Uncle Caesar

We’re finally getting to the tail end of the Story Quests. Thanks for reading this far if you have. :D I’m so happy writing this, I’m just plugging story beats out like a happy like choochoo train, but this took a bit of thought.

This scene does not appear in the novel, manhua, or the game, however, it logically sets up a conflict that should have been there had the MC had real relationships with the characters and actual agency in the story.

Enjoy!

It was about 9 am in the morning when Caesar got you out of bed and dressed you up as usual. He didn’t choose anything too casual or too sexual. He chose a yellow pleated skirt, a simple cotton white blouse and warm navy jean jacket, and knee high waterproof boots and invited you out with him for the day.

“Where are we going?” You had asked him.

“Just out shopping. Whatever you like. You’ve had a hard time. So it will be good for your mental state to get out and not be shut in feeling sorry for yourself.” He replied. But his eyes are not sunny, but clouded, like the sky over Tokyo.

So you spent the day shopping after breakfast, mostly for clothes and shoes. But Caesar took you to a toy store and insisted you buy something to play with. “You never played as a kid right?” He had asked you.

“No… not really. I liked to watch movies.”

“Pick out a game. Anything you want.”

He didn’t accompany you shopping for the toys. He stood outside, smoking the cigar with his umbrella, not minding the rain. You were concerned about Kaguya but the disturbed weather was disrupting a lot of the internet access around Tokyo and the umbrellas provided physical disguise against searching surveillance cameras. Caesar didn’t mind being out, and while you shopped, he was keeping watch.

You spent a long time pacing the shelves, back and forth until finally you settled on a Sailor moon action figure. You pick it up and smile at the signature phrasing. “In the name of the Moon, I will punish you!” You could still hear the words clear in your head.

You come out with your single doll in the small bag and you put your two fingers in a V-shape over your eye playfully, just like the heroine in the Anime.

Caesar grinned broadly, but the sadness did not leave his eyes.

You’d spent so much time in the stores that the sun was already going down. “I’ve made reservations for dinner. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Won’t Nono get jealous?” You snort.

“Not at all. She knows she has all my heart in her hands. But it's important to talk to you. You gave a starheart to Ruri Kazama last night. That means he reached you, right?”

“Yes, but … he’s the lead member of a yakuza group and he’s kinda out of my league.”

He waved the cigar in his hand airily. “It’s good for a young woman to raise her station through marriage in any case. But in your case, I don’t think any man is out of your league. If you think he is above you, then that’s a good thing. There are not many men like that. Much less, a man like that who you’d find attractive enough to grant a star-heart.”

You laugh. “You sound like an old Uncle playing matchmaker.”

“I know and I hate it, but I’ve given it a lot of thought.” He grimaced. “I thought you would be good for Lu Mingfei, but he’s a stable European Hybrid who grew up in a stable household. You’re a wild thing of the White King. You’d never be a good match.” Caesar mused. “Ruri, on the other hand, knew more about you than you did about yourself. You seem to understand each other well. You clicked at the Takamagahara Club. I was pretty pissed about that but now… not so much.”

You’d walked until you reached the historical luxury district. There were restaurants here that were passed down generation to generation for hundreds of years. They survived both World War I and World War II. The bricks and mortar were older than Anjou.

He reached over your head to open a small glass door. Inside, you saw only an old Japanese man behind a counter, who looked at you through his craggy face. You figured that this place was by reservation only simply because it was so small. “Let me guess? You bought out every table in this place?”

“That’s right. Lu Mingfei helped me with the Japanese.”

“Is he doing alright?” You ask.

“Yep. He’s got that girl wrapped around his little finger.”

“That’s kinda messed up.” You say, recalling your last conversation with Chance about Izanami using Izanagi’s feelings to further her own ends.

“Well, hopefully it will turn out to be genuine.”

You shake your head smiling. “You really are an Old Uncle.”

Caesar pulls out the chair for you and you sit. “Don’t worry about ordering anything. Everything here is good.”

A waitress came and poured sake into saucers from a black bottle and you remember that you promised Caesar to have a date over Sake and this was it. You can’t believe you forgot about that but given everything that was happening it was understandable. It was more incredible that Caesar actually remembered.

Once the sake was poured, Caesar raised his saucer and you joined him in a toast. “A toast to the best damn freshman I’ve ever met.”

“And a toast to the fearless friend of justice!”

The sake was good, not quite sweet but full of the aroma and taste of rice in the alcohol.

“I want to discuss your future at Cassell after this. It’s unfortunate to say, but once this mission is over, even if I’m alive at the end, I won’t be able to shield you from the school board or anyone else.”

Your eyebrows raise. “Oh? The Gattuso heir admitting that he can’t protect a lady? Did I wake up in an alternate universe?”

But Caesar didn’t laugh or crack a smile. “It’s the official policy of Cassell College not to admit anyone with unstable blood, like yours. My family pursued Chu Zihang because they suspected him of being of poor bloodline. Had they succeeded, they would have sent him away on an island, far from human civilization. I was able to vouch for him at his trial and foil their plans, but I won't’ be able to help you if you run afoul of them because after this mission, I’m graduating, MC. I will go back to Italy and marry Nono.”

Your expression falls and you feel a trapdoor has just opened underneath you. You were still heartsick over losing Chance. But Caesar was your support staff you could lean on. Without him, you would have given into despair long ago. How could you stand on your own now? You would find a way surely but you hadn’t expected to part from him so soon.

He stares at you now and you understand the cloudy look in his eyes. “I want to make an arrangement with you. For your safety. But it will take you far away from me. So I don’t like it. But I feel it's the best for you. If you agree, then… alright.”

“Alright,” You echo. “Let's hear it.”

“We talked a little last night about how Ruri Kazama wants the Devil Clan to join Cassell and replace Hydra as the Japan Branch. But Ruri Kazama does not want to stay at Cassell and run the Devil Clan. His dream is to become a Kabuki actor and singer. He also mentioned that he recently lost his lover, and cannot help but feel extremely lonely. When he feels very lonely he looks for the loneliest girl and keeps her company. I think you can tell what I’m getting at.”

“Yes, we’re like mirror images of each other now.” You murmur. “So I will join the Devil Clan until Ruri can get them settled with Cassell College and then leave the Clan and Cassell to be a companion to Ruri Kazama?”

“You’ll be safer, and happier, with your own kind.” Caesar said, gloomily

You let out a breath. “But you’ll miss me.”

“I already do.” He reached for a cigarette and pulled it out. Old places like this didn’t mind smoking.

“Thank you for thinking of me. Of course, it really depends too on how well we get along.”

“You don't just give out star-hearts. Pursue him. I think it’ll be nice.”

The plate of artfully crafted fresh sushi was carried to you. Even though you have seen so many wonderful things in Japan, you continue to marvel at the creative ways they put rice together with fish and vegetables to make a bright and colorful display. Even the heads of the prawns served as a splashy centerpiece, their antennae waving slightly like bright orange fountains.

You eat in silence for a few minutes. Neither of you are adept with chopsticks so you just use your fingers.

Finally Caesar broke the silence. “Can you tell me something? You mentioned Ruri Kazama would have to fight another lion. Who is this other lion? I saw that there is a mystery contender that also received a star heart.”

“He doesn’t have a name. I just call him Z, and he’s followed me my whole life. He won’t give up easily.” You lower your eyes and your chewing slows.

“Also a hybrid?” He glances at you, his blue eyes suddenly clear and sharp.

“Yes. The strongest hybrid out of all of Black Swan Bay.”

“Your old boyfriend.” Caesar looked out of the glass door at the front of the store.

“We were never really boyfriend and girlfriend. He trained me to fight. He’s specifically told me not to fall in love with Ruri Kazama.”

“Any particular reason why?” Caesar balanced the cigarette on his fingers.

“He says he knows how that story will end.” You look at him seriously. “He’s possessive and very jealous. It might not go well for Ruri if we end up together.”

“If you’re not boyfriend or girlfriend, what does he care who you end up with?” He put the cigarette between his lips and inhaled.

“I don't know.”

“What will happen if you defy him?”

“I’ll probably die. He’s the one who has guarded my life. My guardian angel. He says that he has known how to keep me alive from the very beginning. If I don’t do what he says, then he probably won’t keep guaranteeing my life.”

Caesar’s eyes narrowed and you saw the killer aura rise in his eyes. “Where can I find this Z person?”

You shrug. “He’s a mysterious thing. All these years and I still can’t figure him out. He just… has a lot of control over things that happen. Like everyone is a puppet on a string and he’s the ultimate puppetmaster. Even Chu Zihang couldn’t help but notice how fortunate it was that we ended up in the backyard of Genji Heavy Industries to hide. Or how the fortunate earthquake I caused managed to assist you in battle. He was the one who took me down to the Genji Elevator and showed me the deadpool even though Chisei Gen didn’t know about it. He was the one who told me to cause the earthquake that saved Lu Mingfei in the elevator.”

Caesar leaned forward. “So is he our ally?”

You lower your voice. “I think your purposes align. He views you as no competition to him. He only gets annoyed at my love interests. Since you are not pursuing me, he couldn’t care less what you do. But I’m telling you this, because if you do send me away with Ruri, it could have consequences both for Ruri Kazama and you.”

“A love triangle?” His eyebrows raise.

“Yes.” You chuckle. “I guess you could call it that.”

Caesar lets out a breath and a puff of white smoke. “Just when I thought I had it all figured out.”

“You almost did.” You giggle freely.

“I do have one ace in the hole. If I can guarantee your life, then that will free you right?”

“But I’m dying as an unstable hybrid… I…”

“Yes but so is that Uesugi girl. The documents in that folder said that the Black Swan Bay children only lived to age 20 and at that age they inevitably turned into deadpool. Erii was created as a dying ghost, the same as you, by the same people that created you. You’re both alive, but you are 18 and Erii is 21.”

You gasp, suddenly breathless. Z’s words to you, that the key to your survival is in Tokyo, come roaring back.

“If I can figure out the secret to how they’re keeping her alive, then you won’t need the Z person.” Caesar smiles, but it’s challenging, snarling.

“You’re kidding! You’re not seriously considering competing with Z!” You always felt that Z, deep down, was a killer, who taught you to be a killer. What Caesar was doing was a dangerous thing, putting himself in the line of fire of someone who wouldn’t hesitate to arrange his death the same way he had arranged everything else.

But Caesar was always like this, running headlong into danger and saying, ‘I’ll figure it out when I get there’. And appealing to fear would never dissuade him.

“I’m not competing for your heart, only your freedom. I don’t like men who threaten the lives of women. There’s actually more I can say, but given your position, I’ll keep it to myself.” He was still smiling that deadly smile, staring out the door as though seeing an unseen person.

“Oh… my god…” You sigh. “Well, if anyone could do it, it would be you.”

Your appetite significantly diminished. You felt cold and anxious. You wondered what Z would say if he ever appeared to you again. You wondered if Z would ignore Caesar, or if Caesar would simply disappear without a trace, as though he never existed.

You left the restaurant and Caesar pulled you close, one hand over your narrow shoulders. “You’re afraid of him. Aren’t you?”

You don’t answer, not even with a nod.

“That makes me more curious. Stay close to me then. That way, if he wants to keep you, he’ll have no choice but to show himself.”

#Dragon Raja

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autumnblogs · 3 years

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Day 44: Preoccupied about the same things as Trolls, revisited

Welcome back y’all! Before we get into this, I want to talk about the Condesce/Meenah as a parallel character to Mom Lalonde/Roxy. You can read a bit about @mmmmalo‘s takes on Openbound, and why they think that Meenah is symbolically Roxy’s Doppelganger here.

I want to call attention to some specific similarities between them, and while I think it’s a bit of a stretch, Homestuck draws parallels between characters all the time.

Both the Condesce and Mom Lalonde are matriarch figures estranged from their potential offspring by dire circumstances and servitude to a patriarchal authority and his time-spanning plan - for the Condesce, that’s English obviously, but for Mom Lalonde, that’s Grandpa Harley - servitude to his design renders her a wreck of an alcoholic forced to endure the end of days with no means to stop them from happening, living with a daughter who wants nothing to do her.

Both Meenah and Roxy are rebels against a repressive order, inclined to shirk their assigned Role in service to someone else’s master plan, but ultimately, through some roundabout means or another, give service to it anyway (for Meenah, scratching the game, and ultimately ending up English’s glorified slave for eons in the end; for Roxy, at first refusing to play Sburb in hopes of spiting the Batterwitch, but ultimately ending up playing into her schemes anyway).

They are both rebellious spirits who are repeatedly forced to participate in Paradox Space’s Alpha Timeline all but against their will by hegemonic forces, slaves to a system that they exist in perpetual rebellion against, and by the end of the comic, they both get to help strike a decisive blow against the ultimate foe. Unfortunately, unlike Roxy, Meenah is ultimately the kind of person who chooses at practically every occasion to continue cycles of abuse instead of breaking them. There is ultimately no possibility of reconciliation between these estranged sisters.

So, I see a lot of the Alpha Kids in the four Alpha Trolls who appear in this flash. As the Faux Heroic Himbo, the parallel between Rufioh and Jake is obvious. I don’t think that it’s fair to characterize Jake’s relationship with Dirk as being “cheating on Jane,” though that’s probably how Jane feels about the whole situation; I’ve always gotten the impression she feels entitled to him.

More after the break.

The imagery here is an obvious parallel between Jake and Dirk’s big damn kiss, and Rufioh and Horuss’s - but between Rufioh’s bravado and general obliviousness, and Horuss’s clear triangular parallel with Dirk and Equius, we should expect that the situation is switched here - Dirk = Horuss, Rufioh = Jake.

While it could easily just be a bit of extraneous characterization, I’m inclined to regard Rufioh’s characterization of the women in his life as “Dolls” especially because of his symbolic proximity to Lord English. (He is at best one degree of separation from him, as Jake English’s Alpha Troll Doppelganger) - and the fact that Puppets and Dolls are pretty much synonymous with each other in terms of the way that English interacts with them.

More extremely obvious parallels.

Both of the Zahhaks have hangups about dating down the Hemospectrum, and as long as we’re examining Dirk through the lens of the Zahhaks, allow me to speculate; I think that part of the reason Dirk chooses not to directly identify with the label of gay is less aloofly progressive futurism, and more that he is uncomfortable with his own sexuality.

As a guy who repeatedly appeals to reactionary ideals and rhetorical devices like “Western Civilization,” “Reason,” “Logic,” maybe there is a degree to which we can read Horuss and Equius’ self-repression through the haemospectrum into Dirk suffering from internalized Homophobia.

This is a real long shot, but I’ve always gotten the impression that Dirk is a bit of a bottom. Maybe his desire in building up Jake into a powerful counterpart, like English’s desire to transform Jake into a powerful rival, is built out of a desire to be Oedipally usurped by a former pupil - to have his Eromenos turn the tables, and become the Erastes in turn, in power-dynamic terms.

In Classical Civilization, homosexual relations weren’t unheard of, and were pretty reasonably common, but it was seen as shameful to bottom, especially for someone of a lower social standing than you were (Julius Caesar was mocked as the Queen of Bithynia when it was rumored that he bottomed for Nicomedes IV, which was a serious attack on his political career).

Wild speculative tangent over.

Now this is interesting; Meenah is unwittingly drawing a parralel between Damara and Vriska. The main commonality between them is that, like Vriska (and also like Rose, and also like Jane - who is the fourth and final character in this particular set) her spite and resentment is used as the vector for English’s manipulation of their setting.

Like Vriska, Damara deliberately sabotages the ability of her session members to win, helping to create a powerful foe who forces a session to be scratched.

Like Rose, Damara descends into nihilistic substance abuse to cope with feelings of emptiness.

Like Jane, Damara’s actual feelings of emptiness come about as a result of feelings of rejection in relation to betrayal from within her close friendship circle.

Ironically, while Damara’s reaction is far worse than Jane’s, her anger is actually probably far more understandable - Jane is not entitled to Jake.

The situation between Horuss and Rufioh is also similar to what will resolve between Jake and Dirk shortly - they are just basically incompatible, or at least they will be until both parties do some work on themselves, but a combination of an oblivious party who can’t stop talking about himself, and social timidity on the part of the other prevents the situation from resolving amicably.

“As Long As I Know That I Am Free”

Sometimes, encountering our ancestors doesn’t have to be a source of tension, anxiety, expectation, and fear. Porrim models parental love for Kanaya in a way that, unusually for ancestors in Homestuck, is purely beneficial for her younger counterpart.

It’s okay to identify with roles and identities that have been corrupted or hegemonized by our culture. There’s nothing intrinsically bad about being a man, or about being a woman, as long as our embodiment of those roles is emancipatory to us.

Kanaya can still be a Mom, if that’s what she wants to be. Violence and money aren’t the only form that power can take.

Sometimes, learning the right lessons is just a matter of pausing for a second and being critical of all narratives; deciding for ourselves what we want to be. It’s the lesson that Porrim has to teach Kanaya.

This is just objectively true.

Aranea positions Rufioh as both a foil to Cronus, and to herself, further strengthening the Jake as Rufioh parallels.

What I think is really interesting about all this, is if we want to read the other three trolls as Jake, Dirk, and Jane, that makes Meenah the Roxy of this group! And while Roxy has never been vicious or deliberately cruel, there’s a certain resonance between her persistent hassling of Jane, her meddling in the Jake English Sweepstakes, and the disaster that it provokes, and Meenah’s bullying - I even early on in my first readthrough took a disliking to Roxy because of what I viewed as exactly that - bullying her counterparts, assertively trying to get them to behave the way she wanted.

https://homestuck.com/story/5401

Oh man, where to even begin with Karkat riding off into the Penis Sunset. Like, the Sun in relation to Dave is persistently an icon of Bro’s surveillance of him, and then there’s his burgeoning affection for Karkat (he mentions story time with Karkat in the third Openbound suggesting that he actually took Karkat up on his offer to read through trashy Troll Romance).

Like, there’s probably something in Dave’s troubled psyche that’s on display here but damn if I know what it is. Maybe he’s ruminating on the fact that Bro would probably not be too accepting of his relationship with Karkat, hence the juxtaposition of the symbol of Bro’s hostility with the imagery of Karkat riding a dick?

https://homestuck.com/story/5404

I don’t really need to explicate much on what Rose is trying to say, I think but just in case, here’s a little rundown of what she’s trying to explain.

The apple is a symbol of an irreducible idea. Many ideas are reducible - as molecules are reducible to atoms, and atoms are reducible to quarks and stuff, so are ideas reducible to increasingly more abstracted and basic units.

The closer to notionally irreducible a thing becomes, the more difficult it becomes to express an idea, until at last, that which is truly irreducible resolves, and reveals to us the true, intrinsic nature of reality. For every complex idea, we can refer to more fundamental ideas, until at last, we arrive at an idea, which when probed, responds back simply, “It just does that.”

This, I think, is that to which we ought to give the name of God; that force so fundamental that it truly does just do that.

In the world of Homestuck, Symbols, and with them, Rituals - stories! Are manifestations of the primeval and irreducible ideas. Everything else is a universe in orbit around the Divine - the Aspects themselves, perhaps, or something more fundamental than the Aspects even.

What makes reducing these stories to the irreducible principles that they allude to so difficult is that you’re effectively trying to explain the electromagnetic force by comparing it to rubber bands, when in fact, the electromagnetic force is what makes the rubber bands behave that way in the first place.

As a Ritual, Rose’s drinking is pretty similar to John’s Dad roleplaying - an attempt at unity with Her Mom. Another empty signifier.

https://homestuck.com/story/5405

Dave is already really embracing his new role as the actually most sincere and straightforward member of the party. Lovin’ it.

It’s kind of nice that Aradia and Vriska are getting along now. That’s gratifying for personal reasons.

Ah yeah, I forgot that was ever addressed officially.

https://homestuck.com/story/5435

The man

HASS the ring.

https://homestuck.com/story/5440

And with the depressingly empty Void session established via a single flash, we shall conclude for the evening.

Tomorrow, we’ll get to know our little villain.

For now, it’s Cam signing off, Alive, and a little Annoyed that I wasted a couple hours playing the Outriders Demo this afternoon. Seriously, what an aesthetically bleak and kind of mediocre-looking class-based cover shooter.

#liveblogging #commentary #pederasty mention #richard feynman

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mjvnivsbrvtvs · 4 years

Note

What do you like about the dynamic between Brutus and Antony? I love your art and I’m very curious as to why you chose them!

thank you! and also to preface this, I want to mention that when I read Julius Caesar for the first time at 15, I imprinted on Brutus like a baby duck, so in a way, these two chose me and I’m just going along with whatever the muse demands.

okay so! there are Many Reasons why I love the dynamic between Brutus and Antony, and I will now proceed to summarize some those reasons coherently in (cowboy bebop voice) 3,2,1 let’s jam:

Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar really got it’s hooks in me when I was in high school, for a number of reasons: the tension between you and whoever reads for Antony? unmatchable. the narrative foils, the parallels, how they reflect each other in this play? the question of What Makes A True Roman. forget Caesar entirely, you could make him a ghost because the tragedies of Brutus and Antony as the last vestiges of the Roman Republic are the core of the play imo.

When Brutus dies, and when Antony dies, it’s in the same manner: suicide, and the manner of their suicides are referenced in a similar way (Lucilius: ‘I dare assure thee that no enemy/ Shall ever take alive the noble Brutus....He will be found like Brutus, like himself.’ and then Cleopatra: ‘So it should be, that none but Antony/ Should conquer Antony; but woe ‘tis so.’)

the characters that speak after both have something to say on the deceased representing the last of something great, the end of an era (Antony’s: This was the noblest Roman of them all....So mix’d in him that Nature my stand up/ And say to all the world ‘This was a man!’ and Cleopatra’s: ‘The soldier’s pole is fall’n....And there is nothing left remarkable/ Beneath the visiting moon.’) and it makes me go absolutely feral.

and they also reflect each other in history! which is a whole thing that I’m not really qualified to get into because I’m like......a casual classicist, at best. I’ve never studied any of this formally, just obsessively in a library for hours on end. (I’m really only confident when speaking on Machiavelli and the Italian renaissance, except I’m also planning on spending.....a lot of money on Italian language lessons because I feel like I’m lacking by reading english translations......)

That said, I’ll start with the overlap between the play and the outlines of history: Brutus saves Antony’s life, he’s the one who draws the line between Antony dying with Caesar or not.

BRUTUS: Our course will seem too bloody Caius Cassius.

To cut the head off and then hack the limbs,

Like wrath in death and envy afterwards;

For Antony is but a limb of Caesar:

Let us be sacrificers, but not butchers, Caius.

and again, but this time with Plutarch:

All the conspirators, but Brutus, determining upon this matter, thought it good also to kill Antonius, because he was a wicked man, and that in nature favoured tyranny: besides also, for that he was in great estimation with soldiers, having been conversant of long time amongst them: and especially having a mind bent to great enterprises, he was also of great authority at that time, being Consul with Caesar. But Brutus would not agree to it.

First, for that he said it was not honest 73: secondly, because he told them there was hope of change in him. For he did not mistrust but that Antonius, being a noble-minded and courageous man, (when he should know that Caesar was dead), would willingly help his country to recover her liberty, having them an example unto him to follow their courage and virtue. So Brutus by this means saved Antonius’ life.

and now we’ll move onto history because fuck me, I love history

we’ll start with this part of Cicero’s second Philippic is deeply funny to me (like, I hate Cicero, but this part makes me laugh)

For thus he spoke:—“Marcus Brutus, whom I name to do him honour, holding aloft his bloody dagger, called upon Cicero, from which it must be understood that he was privy to the action.” Am I then called wicked by you because you suspect that I suspected something; and is he who openly displayed his reeking dagger; named by you that you may do him honour?

fucking amazing

And then there’s this whole gap in correspondence between Antony and Brutus that we....don’t have..….. and it makes me feel the same kind of (anguished yelling) that I get whenever I think about how basically none of Machiavelli and Marietta’s letters to each other survived. We can look at the outline of absence and know that there was something there, and that.....fucking void.......consumes me.

(I also hate Octavian, definitely more than I hate Cicero, just in case that wasn’t clear.)

There’s Brutus’ relationship with Antony’s brother, Gaius, that keeps me awake at night.

Plutarch here again:

Now Antonius having found Brutus' body, he caused it to be wrapped up in one of the richest coat-armours 234 he had. Afterwards also, Antonius understanding that this coat-armour was stolen, he put the thief 235 to death that had stolen it, and sent the ashes of his body unto Servilia his mother.

and FINALLY hbo’s Rome just. goddamn!! it’s like the fucking spirits of Antony and Brutus went ahead and possessed James and Tobias. I think CONSTANTLY about every single scene they share.

in conclusion: I love narrative foils, tragedy, and symbolism, and Antony and Brutus have it all!

#Anonymous #i said i'd summarize my feelings on this but it's still......long........#like 800 ish words of. hopefully. coherent thoughts

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itcameuponamidnightqueer · 4 years

Text

a happier 2019 wrap-up

every year for new year’s, my mom gets everyone one-a-day calendars tailored to their interests. for 2020, she got me a calendar of funny/stupid answers people have written on tests.

but for 2019, she gave me a calendar with a different trivia question every day. i had two rules for this calendar: 1) i had to write down an answer for each question, even if what i wrote down was the dumbest shit in the world, and 2) i wasn’t allowed to look at the answer until the day after.

i saved up all of the ones that i got right bc i like to quantify things, so if nothing else, i know 93 things—

january 18: many musicians have recorded and performed the song “hallelujah.” who wrote it?

january 29: thurl ravenscroft was an accomplished voice actor who sang “you’re a mean one, mr. grinch.” however, ravenscroft was best known for voicing which TV commercial icon?

february 7: who was the first african american appointed to the US supreme court?

february 12: mount rushmore features the giant carved faces of george washington, abraham lincoln, thomas jefferson, and which other US president?

february 13: what is ninjitsu?

february 26: mae c. jemison went into space in 1992 aboard the endeavor, earning her what distinction?

february 27: who wrote and first recorded the song “big yellow taxi”?

march 2: what is the longest running show in broadway history?

march 5: what is the largest library in the world?

march 8: what two novels did the lesser-known brontë sister, anne, write?

march 12: which reptile can breathe through its rear end?

march 16: the winner of best picture at the 2017 oscars was moonlight—but, in an historic mix-up, the announcers initially declared which other nominee to be the winner?

march 21: which is the smallest planet in our solar system?

march 22: why is a pound cake called a pound cake?

march 23: the hit musical wicked is based on a 1995 novel by which author?

march 24: billy eichner, comedian and host of billy on the street, once had a role on which beloved NBC sitcom?

march 27: name the star who plays offred in the hulu series the handmaid’s tale?

april 6: the 2015 song “fourfiveseconds” was a collaboration between rihanna, kanye west, and which other legendary musician?

april 8: why do apples turn brown when sliced?

april 16: what is a pooh-bah?

april 19: what is the belgian town of duffel’s claim to fame?

april 29: what ancient babylonian king created a compendium of 282 laws to guide society in 18th century BCE?

may 2: what is the name for the condition in which a dog’s feet smell like corn chips?

may 5: in mary shelley’s frankenstein, which character is named frankenstein?

may 7: name the australian pop star whose debut studio album blue neighborhood included hits “youth” and “wild”.

may 10: which superhero did british actor benedict cumberbatch play in a 2016 film?

may 16: which american film tradition began this day in 1929?

may 17: in science, what does “triple point” refer to?

may 26: what function do cats’ whiskers serve?

may 27: where is the tomb of the unknown soldier located?

june 1: which cult classic film popularized the red swingline stapler?

june 3: who is barbie (the doll) named after?

june 4: eid al-fitr is an annual muslim festival that marks the end of what?

june 10: which actor was offered a role on the o.c. but turned it down for a role on one tree hill?

june 11: the sport that americans call soccer is known as football in many other countries. where did the term “soccer” originate?

june 17: there is a species of horsefly known as bootylicious. which celebrity inspired the nickname?

june 18: the amc series the walking dead is based on a series of comic books penned by which accomplished writer?

june 24: which actress played wonder woman in the 2017 film of the same name?

june 27: what makes chili peppers hot?

june 28: which architectural engineering feat allowed the ancient incans to cross canyons and rivers with ease?

june 29: the word “scuba” is an acronym. what does it stand for?

july 3: who is the bestselling fiction writer ever?

july 5: which animated film was the first to be nominated for best picture at the oscars?

july 9: which item did women living in the dust bowl during the great depression commonly fashion into clothing?

july 16: in nintendo’s mario video games, the nefarious wario is mario’s foil. who is luigi’s foil and archrival?

july 18: pop stars taylor swift and zayn malik teamed up to record the song “i don’t want to live forever” for which 2017 film soundtrack?

july 22: which is the only letter that doesn’t appear on the periodic table?

july 23: which novel is considered frank herbert’s masterpiece?

july 25: name the three women who were cast in the first season of SNL in 1975.

july 26: during which years did the olympics award official medals for the arts, including painting, architecture, sculpture, music, and literature?

july 28: what are the ingredients of a moscow mule?

august 2: which “luxury” music festival was supposed to take place in the bahamas in april 2017 but dissolved into chaos and was eventually canceled after attendees began to arrive?

august 3: what is the claim to fame of anchor bar in buffalo, NY?

august 8: the la brea tar pits are a popular tourist attraction and fossil excavation site. what does “la brea” mean in spanish?

august 9: the popular board game clue goes by which other name in the UK, where it was invented?

august 11: what is earth’s largest ocean?

august 12: who wrote johnny cash’s “a boy named sue”?

august 13: what were the original 3 pokemon that players could choose from at the start of pokemon red and pokemon blue, the first pokemon video games released internationally?

august 14: what kind of music did katy perry release as a teenager before she became a pop star?

august 20: philip k. dick’s novel do androids dream of electric sheep? inspired which 1982 film with a different title?

august 30: batman is to gotham city as superman is to what?

september 6: what is the hottest planet in the solar system?

september 9: the first book of the “his dark materials” trilogy is known as the golden compass in the US, and what in the UK?

september 15: one of the classic monopoly player tokens is a dog. what breed is it?

september 16: why are spiders technically not considered insects?

september 22: on her debut album, lily allen included a song called “alfie” about her little brother. alfie allen is best known now for his role on which TV show?

october 2: a killer whale isn’t technically a whale. what is it?

october 8: name the breed of large domestic cats native to new england

october 10: which company uses the slogan “because we’re worth it”?

october 12: which female pop star had a brief stint in an R&B group called basic instinct in the 1990s?

october 16: if you ordered a berliner in a cafe in wisconsin, what would they serve you?

october 21: in 1943, when many NFL players were drafted for service in WWII, which two teams combined forces and formed a team called the steagles?

october 25: virginia was the birthplace of 8 US presidents. which state follows close on virginia’s heels as the birthplace of 7 US presidents?

october 28: bram stoker’s legendary vampire dracula is widely thought to be inspired by which real-life romanian prince?

october 30: in european folklore, what is a familiar?

november 1: what does nanowrimo stand for?

november 13: name the movie that imagines how playwright j.m. barrie came to write peter pan.

november 14: which US state has the smallest population?

november 16: who technically owns all of the unmarked swans in england?

november 19: which entertainment icon was offered the role of phoebe in friends but turned it down?

november 22: robert louis stevenson’s novel treasure island features a cast of colorful characters, including the infamous long john silver. what is the name of the novel’s young protagonist, an innkeeper’s son who ends up serving as a cabin boy on a sea adventure?

november 23: where is dollywood?

november 28: not surprisingly, americans eat more food on thanksgiving than they do on any other day of the year. which day boasts the second-highest food consumption?

november 29: “swish swish”, a song on katy perry’s 2017 album witness, was rumored to be a diss track about which other pop star?

november 30: which actor wore a hairpiece every time he played james bond?

december 2: in greek mythology, perspehone was the goddess of the underworld and the wife of hades. who were persephone’s parents?

december 3: which prominent magazine declined to run an excerpt of the catcher in the rye on the grounds that the characters were unbelievable and the writing was “show-offy”?

december 12: which comic book series featured batman’s first appearance?

december 14: what was elvis presley’s natural hair color?

december 21: a 16th century da Vinci manuscript known as the codex leicester sold for over $30 million. who was the wealthy buyer?

december 23: ancient egyptian queen cleopatra had relationships with both julius caesar and mark antony. which of the two men was she buried next to?

december 27: which of the following hollywood stars did not get their start on the disney channel—shia labeouf, hayden panettiere, keri russell, ellen page, ryan gosling

december 29: technically, peanuts aren’t nuts. what are they?

#i thought about including the answers but then no one else could play along #anyway no surprise that most of the ones i knew are pop culture but #oh well #idk what purpose this serves other than to satisfy me

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cassyblue · 5 years

Text

A very long post on my onions about JJBA

I am completely caught up with the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure manga. Took me two weeks to do it. But my brain hasn’t been up to reading novels/novellas since concentration whomst? Once the semester starts, I tend to read more comics than novels just because of time constraints. I am still on Part 3 of the JJBA anime. It’s an anime that I just can’t binge because it is a lot. I really like JJBA because it takes the shonen fighting manga and just turns it into a fever dream. So below is my thoughts on Parts 1-8, includes many a spoiler. Also as it goes on I get more sweary sorry.

Part 1: Phantom Blood

Not my favorite arc, but it is the first part so I feel it doesn’t have the same level of writing/art as the next parts because Araki is starting out. It’s pretty tightly written and straight forward. Jonanthan is my least favorite Jojo. I think my main problem with this part is the assertion that Dio is evil due to the abusive environment he grew up in. That’s pretty much what I can say about Part 1.

Part 2: Battle Tendency

Part 2 is more complex and the characters have more growth than those in Part 1. I enjoy Joseph as a protagonist since he is a good combo of little shit and dumb teenager. The enemies to friends arc with Caesar is great. Throw two dramatic bitches together and the chaos that ensues is fun. I really liked that the best user of haman is a woman because the previous part was pretty dude heavy. Liz Lisa is on the fine line between fan service and sexy. But the fanservice doesn’t happen during fighting so I can forgive Araki on certain parts. The thing about Part 2 that really stands out to me is the expansion of the worldbuilding. It doesn’t feel overwhelming and fits neatly into the narrative. My other thought is that Araki just likes drawing asses.

Part 3: Stardust Crusaders

Oh boy, so this is where I start to have a lot more onions. Everything I knew about JJBA before watching/reading was that there was this thing called a stand and everyone was gangsters. So when I started JJBA I was like tumblr lied to me what the hell is going on. Unlike Joseph in Part 2, Jotaro is just an asshole, a well meaning asshole, but still an asshole. Through this entire arc, Jotaro literally does not grow as a character unlike Part 2 with Joseph which is super frustrating. In Part 2, Joseph goes from cocky punk kid to more responsible and level headed kid with self discipline. Jotaro’s fighting ability literally gets no training whatsoever compared to Joseph. In the 45 days that the plot takes place, I would have thought that Avdol would have at least did some sort of training since he is the most experienced stand user. But nope that sure didn’t happen. The bickering between Joseph and Jotaro is enjoyable and the side characters are good humor relief. I think that’s where my frustration is -- Kakyoin and Polnareff have more character development than Jotaro does. Polnareff is in many ways a foil for Jotaro in that he ACTUALLY learns to accept help and so on.

Things I did like was the introduction of stands. Thought there could have been better explanation but it’s JJBA so you know it’s going to not be there or it will be there eventually. I think this arc has ok writing but Part 2 was more solid.

Part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable

I really liked this part. It was more of a slice of life comic with mayhem. I felt that compared to Part 3, Part 4 does a better job with depicting teenagers. Josuke and his friends are literally dumbasses 80% of the time and Koichi has their one brain cell most of the time. Part 4 also dives much deeper into the origins of stands as well.

What I liked was how the mystery parts of the comic were interspersed with the comedy parts. The previous arc was pretty straight forward without much diversion to have more insight into the characters. Part 4 is much more focused on relationships and has a psychological bent to the story. Unlike until the end of Part 3, Josuke and friends work as a team very quickly. The other part that I liked was the incredibly awkward Joestar family reunion. Part 4 just has the most depth for me out of all the parts so far.

The other part that I liked was the evolution of stands -- that some stands can grow and others have remote abilities and so forth.

My biggest beef with this part is Araki totally doesn’t understand how graduate school works. Like ok first off, why the hell did Jotaro choose to do marine biology?? Want some background on that which we never get. When Jotaro is introduced, his specialty is whales and sharks (which i am sure he punched a shark at some point) but then at the end Araki decides that Jotaro’s doctoral work is on starfish? Um like ok what the fuck here. That’s a HUGE jump to do in academia in terms of changing your study organism. Like for me jumping from lepidoptera to hymenoptera was incredibly painful and that’s just WITHIN one ORDER (insects). Here Jotaro is jumping PHYLUMS. The other thing is that it takes uuuuh 6 years max to do your doctorate. So idk how Jotaro is able to do his entire dissertation in 3 months. It’s taken me two and a half years just to get my experiments done for my master’s degree. My advisor has given me two months to write my thesis, BUT I ALREADY HAVE MY DATA???? Jotaro would have had to collect all the data and speed write and I have no fucking clue how the hell he would even pass the defense even if he wasn’t also investigating a serial killer. Pretty sure the whole marine biology thing is just a cover so he has jstor access for everything related to stands.

Part 5: Golden Wind

I didn’t expect to like this arc. But I did. It’s the arc that tumblr spoke of. First off, it has the perfect balance of dumbass to incomprehensible. Part of why I like JJBA is that you can see Araki’s art evolution and this is the first arc where he has completely gone from ripped as fuck dudes to twinks. That being said this is the arc that has the first plot hole and I only have a few theories as to why. It starts with Jotaro sending Koichi to Italy to investigate Giorno who is Dio’s biological son from his return in Part 3. This entire arc when I was live texting it to my best friend probably receives the most what the fucks in her replies. TD;LR: Giorno technically Joestar because Dio stole the body of Jonathan Joestar to make his comeback because you would think Araki for once has some somewhat reasonable biology here. Surprise fucker, Giorno’s hair turns blond once his stand ability awakens because he’s Dio’s son. So the whole Jotaro investigating Giorno thing is COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN. My only explanation is Koichi is like yeah he’s an idiot kid and I don’t think he’s going to be a problem or Polnareff calls up Jotaro and is like yeah I’m keeping an eye on this kid while haunting a magic turtle.

Which brings me to the most insane part of the whole arc, the GODDAMN TURTLE. As we learned in Part 3 with Iggy, animals can be stand users and there is this turtle that is a stand user. And basically Giorno and gang use this turtle to escort the boss’ daughter while plotting to take down the boss. There are so many fights over this goddamn turtle. Turtle does what turtle wants on top of it because it’s a fucking turtle. I just. The turtle. Then fucking polnareff dies and somehow manages to possess the goddamn turtle for almost a third of the arc???? And decides to keep hanging out in the turtle after everything is said and done as a fucking ghost. Like ok, I shouldn’t be like this is the most whack shit that’s happened in JJBA because there was an honest to god alien in Part 4.

Honestly this arc also had some great character arcs. I think that somehow each character manages to grow and confront their issues. Considering that Giorno is the son of Dio, he actually is a pretty good kid. Like I was going in expecting Dio Jr. Which thank god that was not the case because I would have been like Really? REALLY WE ARE DOING THIS AGAIN? I think my main complaint was Trish was pretty sexualized. She’s fucking 15, Araki, please let her have some more clothes.

I am kinda bummed that there is no crossover between Josuke, Jolyne, and Giorno because I think it would be pretty funny.

Part 6: Stone Ocean

I don’t know where the fuck to start with this one. First off, I am from Florida. I lived in Florida for 20 some years of my life. I grew up in Florida. The first fucking thing that this manga does is say that it’s set in/near PORT ST. LUCIE (PSL). I grew up in PSL. For the longest time, PSL was pretty much known for being a growhouse central because it’s a suburbia of maze like developments. Like I am pretty sure that Araki just took a dart and threw it at a map of Florida. BUT that being said, there are several marine biology/oceanography research institutions very close to PSL so I guess I could see it considering Jotaro is supposedly a professor of marine biology now (honestly I think he just fucks around with stand research instead). Stone Ocean feels more like it’s set in Miami. It has that vibe. I have been to Miami one too many times and have nearly died in Miami (more than once). Stone Ocean is a literal fever dream for me. However, I enjoyed the hell out of it. It ranks up there with the one Sailor Moon arc where Luna has the crush on the astronaut’s boyfriend and there’s space shuttle shenanigans.

Oh and did I mention that Stone Ocean is set in 2011. This is kinda an important point since let me put some context to why half of this is me screaming. The space shuttle program ended in 2011. I saw the last shuttle return (I wasn’t able to see the launch because it was fucking crazy to even get a seat at the place I’d go watch it in PSL). ANYWAYS, let’s get on to this beautiful disaster trainwreck of an arc.

So first off, Jolyne is my favorite jojo. She’s a punk ass kid with a lot of issues. I was worried it would be endless fanservice, but actually stone ocean wasn’t too bad in that regard. Also part of Jolyne’s design features butterflies heavily so I’m like yeah this is my favorite (did I mention that I study butterflies, that I have lived, breathed, and eaten butterflies since I was 12? Ok i did eat a moth once but that’s another story). Also I thought Jolyne’s stand was really cleverly done (besides that I screamed that it had sunglasses). Jolyne gets framed for her shitty ex hitting a pedestrian which turns out to even be a whole set up. Fun fact, Jolyne’s shitty ex is from Palm Beach. The only thing you need to know about Palm Beach is that it houses Mar-A-Lago, yep that Mar-A-Lago. It’s full of rich white people. Which makes the whole boyfriend shit even funnier for me. Like I can already see how the fuck Jolyne and Romeo meet etc etc etc. Let’s just say the one high school the county over is notorious for the rich kids being absolute wankers (duis, drugs, the whole shebang) and I can fill in the blanks just from being from the area.

So it’s time to put Jotaro on blast again because he is such a fucking dick. He literally abandons Jolyne for 14 years. Jolyne is convinced that he doesn’t want her and hates her. She has every right to be angry with Jotaro. This goes back to Part 3 when I said that Jotaro literally has no character development, Jotaro still hasn’t learned a single fucking thing. He still thinks he has to do everything himself so that the people he cares about won’t get hurt. Which is partly a result of Part 3, but also he had the chance to overcome that misconception in Part 4? But he doesn’t? He like asks Josuke for help once and basically takes on the bulk of the investigation himself so Josuke and pals don’t get hurt/further involved. Jolyne eventually realizes that the reason Jotaro abandoned her is that she and her mom won’t get caught up in the stand bullshit etc and forgives him. Which like I can understand why she does that. But it’s an incredibly shitty excuse to sever all ties with your kid and divorce your wife just because you’re trying to protect your family. Like ok, I have a rough relationship with my family and it can be really, really hard not to forgive them if they suddenly start being good to you despite the fact they have hurt you so deeply and you just know it’s a bad idea to get back close to them because it’s only going to end badly. Anyways, Jotaro is a fucking dickweed.

The one thing that I really liked is how Jolyne’s determination brings other people closer to her. She’s a literal brick wall and just bulldozes through obstacles regardless of if it’s a good idea. She also will not abandon her friends. So Jolyne best jojo, fight me.

I can not believe that all of Dio’s kids except Giorno are Florida Men. I was like Araki it does not take 10 hours to get from PSL to Cape Canaveral and then I was like wait Jolyne has to fight a Florida Man like every 10 minutes so it does kinda make sense. The whole part in Orlando was like a fever dream. I lived in Orlando. When the mickey mouse shit started, I was like ofc there’s going to be a fight with The Mouse. You cannot enter Orlando without making a sacrifice to The Mouse.

I completely knew that the arc would climax at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) just because it was set in 2011. I was fucking screaming the whole way through the final fight at the KSC because I have been there like idk 5 times or so. Can you believe that you used to not have to go through a gate to get in to tickets? That was before 9/11. Now it’s not like that. Anyways it was pretty great.

I thought the ending was actually pretty satisfying considering the whole universe reset?

Anyways Araki delivered the fucking florida man experience so completely that I was happy. He literally managed to write the arc like a Carl Hiaasen or Tom Dorsey novel on crack (those two are the best known Florida novelists who write mystery/crime novels about Florida). When the Part 6 anime comes out I am going to be so ready.

Part 7: Steel Ball Run

Soooo this first arc of universe reset where everything is like do the Cupid Shuffle like 500 times while high as fuck. I think Part 7’s is weak compared to Part 4,5 and 6 in terms of writing BUT I was impressed by the originality of retelling of Part 1. I really liked the western bent to it. Also, I didn’t think that Araki could do completely new world building with stand origins without it being boring af. But he managed to make it really interesting and fucked up. I will put in a warning here: This arc isn’t great about race (not surprised at all), there is the magic cure for a disability trope (not a fan), and also sexual assault of a minor (really fucked up).

Instead of the haman or however the fuck it’s spelled, Zeppeli uses a power called the spin which is his family’s secret ability. Zeppeli enters the Steel Ball Run which is a transcontinental horse race with a reward of half a million bucks. Johnny Joestar, a disgraced jockey sees Zeppeli use the spin and enters the race despite being paralyzed waist down just to figure out how the fuck Zeppeli uses it. For the most part, the depiction of disability is pretty good until you know the magic cure trope (offensive to disabled people, I can go more into depth with this in a different post). Zeppeli and Johnny start out as rivals but then become good friends and the writing is so good. However, every fucking cover drawing of the two together by Araki is very homoerotic. I don’t know if Araki actually knows how gay his drawings are? Like from Part 1 onwards, they are like...gay. Dio is there and I was like ok he gonna be vampire again but nope DIO FUCKING GETS DINOSAUR POWERS???? LIKE HE CAN TURN INTO A GODDAMN UTAHRAPTOR?????????????????????????????????????

Steel Ball Run has several layers of plot which are masterfully tied together : the actual race, Zeppeli’s past, Johnny growing as a character, and the holy corpse. The holy corpse shit was right up my alley as being someone who loves crack christianity stuff. Like ok, at first I was like yeah it’s a saint and then I was like oh it’s the virgin mary and then Araki fucking hinted throughout the second half of the plot it’s JESUS???? Anyways that was some wack shit. President Valentine was a really good villain by the way -- completely captures Murica fuckery.

I liked the addition of the fibonacci stuff/golden ratio in terms of maxing out stands/spin.

My main issue with this arc besides race and disability fails is the handling of Lucy. She’s 14 and Araki oversexualized her. Like goddamn it she’s a FUCKING CHILD. This arc is probably the worst in terms of its treatment of women. I was really pissed at the fact that Araki had Lucy graphically assaulted and raped. So beware of that. That is part of the reason as much as I liked the originality of Part 7, I can’t really rank it high on the quality of JJBA parts.

ANYWAYS ONTO PART 8

Part 8: JoJoLion

I am up to date as of August/September 2019 issue of the magazine JJBA is serialized in (I really want to say it’s Jump, but I’m probably wrong). This arc is really fascinating because it completely skips from the 1890s to the present day . There is the ties to Part 7 as that Johnny marries a Japanese woman whose family is a big part of this arc. It is set in Morioh like Part 4, but a Morioh completely shifted 180. It combines the story of a family curse, a man searching for his identity, and a conspiracy about these magical fucking fruit?

A college kid, Yasuho, pulls this dude out of the dirt at these weird formations in Morioh. The dude has no idea who he is and Yashuo names him Josuke. Note, the kanji for this Josuke are different than those for Josuke of Part 4. The Higashitika family that Yasuho is friends with takes Josuke in because he’s a stand user and he gets drawn into their shit while he tries to figure out who he is.

The twist with Josuke’s identity and past was like fucking mind blowning. Like did not see that one coming that he’s the fusion of Yoshikage Kira (who in part 4 was the villian but in this one is the Joestar son of Holly? Not a murderer?) and Josefumi Kujo (character design resembles Part 4 Josuke). The thing with this arc is that it’s this weird combo of part 3 and part 4 with new content and characterizations. So it’s on one hand familiar and on the other hand completely unfamiliar. It continues with the corpse stuff, but I’m not completely sure how the corpse ties into the plot with the fruit and the new villains-- The rock people. It has to do with the equivalent exchange concept which is threaded throughout this whole arc. But like how exactly besides how Johnny died in Japan? Is the corpse still there in Japan? Araki TELL ME.

Bonus: Little Jolyne Goes To Morioh Doujinshi.

I found this Doujinshi on Batato and there wasn’t an author or artist attached but holy shit it is the CUTEST thing. It’s basically about Jolyne meeting Josuke because Jotaro needs a babysitter. It’s a very short one Doujinshi and the last part is hilarious. Anyways highly recommend reading this one because it’s really cute.

#erin reads jjba #i am so sorry for this long ass post for mobile users #long post

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ofhouseadama · 7 years

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Sky and Ice: An Analysis of Narrative Foils in The 100

Written with the enabling encouragement of the wonderful and amazing @fandammit. WC ~1900. This meta is a thinly-veiled attempt at me justifying how Clarke/Roan went from a crack!ship to a very real ship for me.

In fiction, a foil is a character who contrasts with another character (usually a protagonist) to highlight particular qualities of the other character. This is sometimes seen as a subplot acting as a foil to a main plot, or a “story within a story” motif. When applied to characters, a foil usually differs dramatically or is extremely similar -- but with one key difference to set the two characters apart.

Examples of foils in fiction are Frankenstein and his monster in Frankenstein, Elizabeth and Lydia Bennett from Pride and Prejudice, and Brutus in Julius Caesar has two: Cassius and Mark Antony. In The 100 three key members of the Sky People have foils in the Ice Nation, showing us, perhaps, what Skaikru looks and feels like to the Grounders operating outside of the points of view shown to us on screen. Those three foils are: Queen Nia and Abby Griffin, Echo and Bellamy Blake, and King Roan and Clarke Griffin.

The most obvious of the foils are Roan and Clarke. In essence, they are very similar characters operating under very similar moral compasses, even though they have different due Norths. They both fulfill the “Banished Prince/Princess” archetype in fiction, a combination of the “Exile” and “Noble Fugitive” tropes. First, I’ll discuss their similarities - their difference hinge on the interactions and relationships with their mothers, and how that impacts their ruling styles and concepts of self esteem and duty.

When they first meet, both Roan and Clarke are exhausted from performing their duties to their people. But still, they are unwaveringly faithful to “their people.” No act is too ruthless, no death too precious, but they will not suffering having their honor compromised when it can be avoided. Clarke is fresh from killing 300 people in Mount Weather, fresh from killing 300 Grounder warriors at the Drop Ship, fresh from murdering Anya’s guard and numerous other nameless swords and threats to “her people.” It’s worn her down, and her duty is no longer something she performs gladly -- it’s why she’s fled. For the first time, she is considering if the cost of her duty is too high. Roan is bitter, he paid the cost of exile to allow the Ice Nation into the coalition and end the fighting. He’s delivering Clarke to Lexa in order to return to his own lands and his place as heir apparent to Queen Nia. At first, much of his drive seems to be personal -- but his story is perhaps a chapter or two behind Clarke’s. Like she was in season one, Roan in early season three is seeking to end his banishment. She asks him why he would deliver her to “his people” rather than seek a higher reward at Arkadia, and he answers that this way is the way back to being the Prince of Azgeda in more than name and for that he has no problem lowering himself to being Lexa’s errand boy. He takes Clarke hostage just as easily as we saw Clarke take Maya Vie hostage in Mount Weather, with both seeing their hostage as a means to an end, and a tool to ensuring power in a powerless situation.

But in as early as Ye Who Enter Here their circumstances have changed, both pampered political prisoners of Lexa’s. Both can easily rationalize away any previous resentment (over the course of two episodes, both had attempted to kill or incapacitate the other multiple times) to ally. This is the first time in the narrative that Clarke and Roan operate on the same side -- and they immediately plot regicide. Interestingly enough, this is when Roan more blatantly offers up his position in Clarke’s narrative. When Clarke says that from what she’s heard, his mother would be worse than Lexa on the throne. He answers that’s because she’s only heard Lexa’s side of the story.

We almost immediately see Clarke and Roan pulled to warring sides again, each deferring to whatever actions will keep their people safe and attempting to clean up the messes caused by comrades on their sides, but quickly they find a way to work together again: more regicide. It’s a simple elegant solution, removing the pieces from the board that threaten to wreak the most havoc. This time instead of Lexa, it’s Roan’s own mother: Queen Nia. The plot (eventually) ends successfully, with Roan ascending to the kingship. But after the death of Lexa, and with Polis thrown into political chaos, the alliance does not last. Their common goal is broken: Roan sees it as his duty to put Ontari on the Commander’s thrown, and Clarke plans to throw her weight behind Aden.

And then Ontari becomes the piece on the board wreaking havoc.

It’s debatable whether it’s Roan’s high sense of honor or keen awareness of politics that has him helping Clarke and Murphy escape Polis. At this point, Clarke has proven herself to be a stalwart ally when the circumstances are right -- Ontari’s reign would likely be brutal, bloody, and short. And if Roan is able to rationalize helping Clarke escape by repaying a debt, he is able to keep Clarke in his back pocket should he ever need to call on her or the Sky People to rein Ontari in, or neutralize her. Still, he warns her that if they ever meet again, it will not be as friends.

Then, naturally, he saves her life again. Perverse Instantiation sees Roan as one of the few left unchipped, and willing to immediately accept the reality of the situation. Clarke seeks him out as an ally, and he accepts -- and again, offers a deal that will keep Clarke alive if it is successful, promising to tell Ontari that it was Clarke who delivered the flame. Like Clarke, Roan seeks to spare who he can, and remain a fair ally. (This is also seen when he sends her the last of the Mountain Men, when he allows Bellamy to live where in season one, perhaps even Clarke would not have had she been in his position.) Neither Clarke nor Roan seems to trust the other much, but trusts that they will hold to the common goal and will be fair to each other as much as they possibly can, bound by the restraints of their duties to two very different and warring polities in The 100’s political landscape. We see this in season four, as Clarke recognizes that Roan is the key to keeping the peace in Polis, and realizes she must defer to him and surrender the flame -- and Roan, in part, recognizes the sacrifice Clarke is making in order to satisfy him. In the end of A Lie Guarded, it’s not Clarke he distrusts, but Kane.

One questions what if Clarke had remained in Polis.

As much as Clarke and Roan are motivated by duty, how they have been treated by their people has cultivated their key differences as characters. This is represented in their mothers: Abby Griffin and Queen Nia.

While Abby did play a role in Clarke’s “banishment” she truly loves her daughter, seeks to see her safe, and does not want her playing dangerous political games. Abby’s love for Clarke also has developed into a deep well of respect. Queen Nia, however, saw Prince-turned-King Roan as little more than a pawn. She offered up his life with little regard -- if he succeeded in his death match with Lexa, then he would have restored his “honor” enough to come home. And if he had died -- well, then Queen Nia would have had a wealth of other warriors to name as her heir, someone fanatically loyal, like Echo or Ontari.

Abby and Nia are both the “queens” of their spheres for some time, and are key figures in their children’s exiles -- although Abby spends much of seasons one and two trying to return Clarke to her status, Nia effectively abandons Roan to his fate. The Ice Queen, mentioned in season two, first appears on screen after Abby has become the Chancellor. After Nia’s assassination, Abby is also toppled. And where Abby raised Clarke to be a creative, vulnerable, compassionate young woman, Nia’s treatment and abandonment left Roan bitter and jaded -- but regardless, Abby and Queen Nia are arguably the most influential figures in their children’s lives. Just as Clarke is thrown into turmoil in season one by Abby’s part in Jake’s death and Clarke’s imprisonment and subsequent role in the hundred, Roan is preoccupied by his mother’s role in his banishment and the little respect she shows him. But whereas Clarke and Abby are able to reunite and reconcile, something which keeps Clarke returning to the Sky People for both safety and security, even when she resents them, Roan and Nia’s story ends in his ascension to the Ice Nation throne and his continued bitterness towards the circumstances of his exile and weakened position within the people he has tried to serve and protect his entire life.

Then there are Roan and Clarke’s right hands: Echo and Bellamy. These two characters meet for the first time in Mount Weather, separated from their “kings.” In their service to a figure, rather than an ideal, Echo and Bellamy fulfill the role of the “lionheart” within their relative kingdoms. Individually, both are reactive and make decisions based on emotions, contrasted to Roan and Clarke who can (with differing degrees of ease) be accused of being cold and calculating. The similarities between Echo and Bellamy are otherwise stark: just as Echo betrayed Bellamy and orchestrated Nia’s massacre of the Sky People who had previously been allies at Mount Weather in Ye Who Enter Here, Bellamy betrayed former Grounder allies and slaughtered the 300 soldiers positioned to protect them. And at different times, they feel the perceived betrayal of their “kings” very keenly -- Bellamy when Clarke allies with Lexa in season three, and Echo when Roan seeks to prevent the destruction of the Sky People in season four.

As season four brings the conflict of Arkadia versus Azgeda into clearer focus, I am intrigued to see where these characters will go as they continue to interact. Both Roan and Clarke hold each other in high regard, and Echo and Bellamy show each other a similar respect -- but once again, they are on different sides of a conflict, all four characters duty-bound to preventing the destruction of their people with no common goal in sight.

But is that a fixed obstacle?

Roan and Clarke at arguably at their most compelling when they’re surveying their surroundings, conspiring to upend the political system to serve them the best, just as Echo and Bellamy are at their best when planning a battle from behind enemy lines. Will season four see Azgeda’s ambitions matched with Clarke’s impossible decisions just as the Ice Nation sees it’s last days of war, only to be wiped out by a wall of fire? Or will the two enemies once again find the common goal and realize their similarities, two peoples once cast as the villain in Trikru’s story? We were promised that Lexa’s legacy would be peace. Will Roan and Clarke be the ones to attain it? Will Echo and Bellamy help or hinder? What role will Abby have to play?

#the 100 #the100meta #clarke griffin #bellamy blake #abby griffin #roan kom azgeda #echo kom azgeda #queen nia #mine #emily watches the 100

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soihere · 6 years

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Freudian

Daniel Caesar

Publishing Date: 6/11/17

“ Through the highs and lows in his polarizing journey for love, the young Torontian R&B singer finds an appreciation for all that has been, but also in himself a future for the things to be. ”

Amidst the notorious “Trap’n’B” style of Toronto, overdosed in the saturated and hedonistic regrets of every other contemporary R&B artist, Daniel Caesar is our “violet in the god damn sun” and “sunshine in the rain when it’s pouring”. Where “modern medicines” numb and elucidate escape, Caesar alleviates our common pain with music from and for the soul, gifting visceral insights that speak for things unspoken, filling hope and faith to heal what’s been broken. In his past works, gospel influences enhanced his vocals in evidently working out to make his sharpest tool in his shed. But in this album, it’s finally taking center stage as he opens the curtain to his heart and self, fighting in a constant love-hate relationship to break away but needing it still to hold on - as the same story goes with love. And so it starts:

Gentle rumbles of light scrape the darkness on its sides, as the vibrations wave past by from behind with echoes shortly after, in pursuit. Round and round they come and go, until a shadow settles as everything warps into it - a vague figure of clarity. The start from one trance to another, the drums conduct a sway that carves space out for a voice so sweet as it is coarse, guiding you not only up and down the peaks and pits of pitch, but also the emotional states that become recurring destinations in his exploration of the intricacies being in love. However, with each visit they become places less and less familiar than the previous. Within the enclave of his (relatively) strict upbringing, the notion of good and evil - right and wrong - is one that’s discrete and arguably absolute. Where by in his previous works it has always been an aspect addressed, in this album however it’s a sentiment challenged and echoed throughout. As he calls back upon his religous background as a vessel for him to hold onto, he ventures out of it. And with the lucid spread of gospel music on the forefront of the album, there are also sounds and instruments that bring a more “modern presence” to Caesar’s soulful croons and “cries that can be heard from far and wide”. In creating this gray complex of contradiction (of both moral and emotional) where the two (ie right and wrong) turn into either one or none, Caesar becomes both the victim and the perpretator - wounded and guilty by his shortcomings, and in despair and bliss from his vices. Starting with his single track “Get You”, Caesar displays his almost ridiculous talent to turn blood into wine as he sings in aching falsettos a heartfelt ballad about having everything he needs “in between those thighs”. And past the climatic falsettos, the track fades down into a sun-silked white screen, as two lovers trade honeymoon hyperboles in a duet for the “morning-after” sequel. The stark contrast in the tone and mood between the two tracks should act as a disclaimer to the dynamic nature of the remaining album. But if anything, it’s an exercise of self-conflict and contradiction that Caesar embraces with conviction - perhaps too whole heartedly, for better or worse. From having “pussy so good it sets me on fire” to passive-aggresive denial ( “Who do you think you are, some kind of celebrity? Just wait and see”), mood swings can occur as fast as a breath to Caesar, that being braggadocious is as fickle as wallowing desperation. So much so that one track comes into the illusion of being two (ie “Hold Me Down”). But to our benefit, it’s to his strength that neither tracks necessarily come at the expense of any emotional intensity. In the interpolation of gospel classic “Hold Me Now” by Kirk Franklin, within just half a song he’s able to produce one of the most soul-twisting moments in the album. With the harp-like ring of the guitar, the sheer simplicity and strength of the vocals wrap a thick ambience that resonates a profound yet intangible deepness close to the soul, melting it away. Likewise with the confessional-gloom of “Loose”, whereby a humming organ and his trembling voice is able to create such a charismatic mist that at this point, we could all probably use a bit of gospel in our lives. Face to face with their foil tracks however, the contrast is used to be indicative of much more than the intensity within each of the periodic moods. Moreover, it’s symbolic of the duality exisiting within him that eventually tears himself apart in this conflict of identity. He tumbles over the layers upon layers that wrap up who he is, leaving behind the spills of what’s been kept inside all along, manifested into this album as one big Freudian slip if you will. In his own words, the album is “the arc - from the inception to the death - of the most intense relationship of my(his) life”. And in true Freudian fashion, he lays it all down. But the way in which he does is agruably the most cinematic of a conceptual album yet. With emotions and a story that resonates close but woven so poetically from one scene to the next, each track becomes both a prerequisite and a shadow of the last and next. Although his magnetic voice is a binding force in this album in its ability to capture and set the mood instantly, it‘s the segues that come in the form of film reels, interrupted demos, or even chords progressions, that provide a much needed constant through one track and the next.

[ Reminiscing the “Best Part” and asking his girl to “Hold Me Down”, only to submit into the thought of cutting her “Loose”, agreeing that “We Find Love” and how he is and has been “Blessed”, now needing to find someone else to “Take Me Away” so that he can “Transform” into somebody new… but it’s all really just Freudian. ]

Take “Transgressors Song” for example. It starts with the ominous and pure vocals of “Hold Me Down”, holding you in the same prying and regretful state of mind, only to realise when catching yourself singing out the lyrics, the actually passive-agressive tone of the song. But by reminiscing on remnants of the past, using them as steps to build on, each climb then becomes all that much more meaningful, as it sets to not only be a humbling reminder of how far he has(we’ve) come in this journey, but more importantly how much he’s grown.

And with all that’s said and heard, the album finally reaches it’s summative apex with the two tracks from the “We Find Love” EP, making the rest of the album pretty much secondary. Honing in on a reborn strength, he finds a warming solace within the boldness and depth of the piano. A hatred and passion to love, and be loved. “Yes I’m a mess but I’m blessed to be stuck with you”. With it’s bittersweet optimism in all of it’s gospel-goodness, alongside the heart-wrenching sorrow of any classic RnB ballad,the two tracks together drink like poisoned wine and encapsulates Caesar at his best - as he is. But sadly so, all that is left past the apex is the inevitable and forthcoming disappointment of false and failed anticipation. At first, it’s a pitiful tragedy that’s sincere, personal and almost too hard to bare. But after driving past what should’ve been the wise ball of light that leaves the album elevating reckless minds and souls, it tires out into a self-loathing monologue that then only becomes simply too hard to bare to care. As each track leans back and forth into yearning melancholy, to later bounce off into self-deluded confessions, the distinction between the two dissolves into a single stream of consciousness - one that only comes unconsciously to both the listener and Caesar himself. And it’s from this honesty in expression that makes ‘Freudian’ more than just a mere narration of what is known, but rather the journey stringing together what is felt. Whether you find it “funny how heaven and hell are the same”, or climbing up to try and find love in the sky that’s bright as it is empty - “We find love, we get up / We fall down we give up”. And with all of it’s intro and retrospect, maybe instead of finding the one, all we really need is just a bit of faith - faith, in ourselves.

7.5/10

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