#this is just cultural differences

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

the fact that shakespeare was a playwright is sometimes so funny to me. just the concept of the "greatest writer of the English language" being a random 450-year-old entertainer, a 16th cent pop cultural sensation (thanks in large part to puns & dirty jokes & verbiage & a long-running appeal to commoners). and his work was made to be watched not read, but in the classroom teachers just hand us his scripts and say "that's literature"

just...imagine it's 2450 A.D. and English Lit students are regularly going into 100k debt writing postdoc theses on The Simpsons screenplays. the original animation hasn't even been preserved, it's literally just scripts and the occasional SDH subtitles.txt. they've been republished more times than the Bible

#due to the Great Data Decay academics write viciously argumentative articles on which episodes aired in what order #at conferences professors have known to engage in physically violent altercations whilst debating the air date number of household viewers #90% of the couch gags have been lost and there is a billion dollar trade in counterfeit “lost copies” #serious note: i'll be honest i always assumed it was english imperialism that made shakespeare so inescapable in the 19th/20th cent #like his writing should have become obscure at the same level of his contemporaries #but british imperialists needed an ENGLISH LANGUAGE (and BRITISH) writer to venerate #and shakespeare wrote so many damn things that there was a humongous body of work just sitting there waiting to be culturally exploited... #i know it didn't happen like this but i imagine a English Parliament House Committee Member For The Education Of The Masses or something #cartoonishly stumbling over a dusty cobwebbed crate labelled the Complete Works of Shakespeare #and going 'Eureka! this shall make excellent propoganda for fabricating a national identity in a time of great social unrest. #it will be a cornerstone of our elitist educational institutions for centuries to come! long live our decaying empire!' #'what good fortune that this used to be accessible and entertaining to mainstream illiterate audience members... #..but now we can strip that away and make it a difficult & alienating foundation of a Classical Education! just like the latin language :)' #anyway maybe there's no such thing as the 'greatest writer of x language' in ANY language? #maybe there are just different styles and yes levels of expertise and skill but also a high degree of subjectivity #and variance in the way that we as individuals and members of different cultures/time periods experience any work of media #and that's okay! and should be acknowledged!!! and allow us to give ourselves permission to broaden our horizons #and explore the stories of marginalized/underappreciated creators #instead of worshiping the List of Top 10 Best (aka Most Famous) Whatevers Of All Time/A Certain Time Period #anyways things are famous for a reason and that reason has little to do with innate “value” #and much more to do with how it plays into the interests of powerful institutions motivated to influence our shared cultural narratives #so i'm not saying 'stop teaching shakespeare'. but like...maybe classrooms should stop using it as busy work that (by accident or designs) #happens to alienate a large number of students who could otherwise be engaging critically with works that feel more relevant to their world #(by merit of not being 4 centuries old or lacking necessary historical context or requiring untaught translation skills) #and yeah...MAYBE our educational institutions could spend less time/money on shakespeare critical analysis and more on... #...any of thousands of underfunded areas of literary research i literally (pun!) don't know where to begin #oh and p.s. the modern publishing world is in shambles and it would be neat if schoolwork could include modern works? #beautiful complicated socially relevant works of literature are published every year. it's not just the 'classics' that have value #and actually modern publications are probably an easier way for students to learn the basics. since lesson plans don't have to include the #important historical/cultural context many teens need for 20+ year old media (which is older than their entire lived experience fyi)

[artsekey]

Thinking about the time I lost a game of Overwatch and I was so mad about it that I genuinely considered getting into shit with the other team in chat and then realized that it was a colossal waste of my living breathing Human Time and uninstalled Overwatch instead because it was only making me angry.

And then thought about the OTHER time when I was on TikTok and realized I was Not Enjoying Myself and was, in fact, seeing so many sad videos and fake influencer ads that I felt Truly Despondent and then just…Deleted it.

Imo I want my social media /general media experience to be a pleasant break from real world and I get to decide what I get to cull to make that a reality for myself. I highly reccomended it! Life has improved considerably!

#look not having social medias is not My Personality #however like. no twitter. no insta. no tiktok. #do I know anything???? no. #am I up to date on literally anything pop-culture????? also no #and if that stuff’s important to you absolutely stick with it! #maybe this is a direct reaction to growing up terminally online from 2012 onward but i am freeeeee #it’s honestly made a huge difference in my life! i CAN just say no to these apps that want to suck all my time away!!!!

[vriskan8or]

let her go

#homestuck #vriska serket #terezi pyrope #vriska #terezi #vrisrezi #mic_art #screencap redraw of that one utena scene woohoo #vrisrezi and utenanthy dont share many similarities but there are some interesting parallels that can be drawn #like theyre all characters who are devoted to the respective roles they think they have #utena needs to be a prince and vriska needs to be a hero #terezi needs to cast vriska as the villain so that she can be the one to bring her to justice while anthy #is resigned to her role as the rose bride and is cast as a witch by others (and herself in a way...) to justify her suffering #im too tired to put into words all the other shit rattlign around in my brain but something something vriska society violence princes utena #something interesting to note is that in the rgu stabbing scene utena is walking to the left while is hs vriskas walking to the right #which i think is mostly a cultural difference due to english being read left to right while japanese is read right to left #changing which direction is percieved as forward #which could be read further into but could also just be the natural flow of the scene or whateevr #idk i need to peruse ohtori.nu again i looooove reading utena essays

[mythicalartistx]

How did Riku talking about Slapping Sora awake get translated to

It's my job to keep him on his toes

It's so funny that he talks about it casually with Donald Goofy and Mickey right before taking the dive a second time.

And the gestures look like ah yes he's showing how he might slap him, but in the English version THEY ACTUALLY EDITED SO HE DOESN'T SWUNG HIS HAND ALL THE WAY 😭😭

#kingdom hearts #translation #japanese translations #dream drop distance #soriku #kingdom hearts dream drop distance #riku #kh riku #sora #kh sora #the fact they edited it too #kh translations #kh ddd #edit: didn't expect this to get this many notes wow #also I get why change happened it makes sense because some could misinterpret things since jp cultural is different from american cultural #though I still think it's funny #localization vs translation differences is just interesting to me

[julijbee]

girlbossing too close to the sun.

#art #ive literally just been treating this game as a library simuator #i walk from bookseller to bookseller opening up all of their books #vivecs sermons are either a highlight or the point at which i stop reading #ive been trying to convince the ordinators that imitation is the highest form of flattery but it hasnt been working #let me wear your helmets please theyre so funny.. #posting morrowind in 2024 isnt a cry for help but youre not wrong to be concerned. #morrowind #almalexia #vivec #im going to explain the chitin armor give me a moment #so the bonewalker nerevar on the shrines is adorable and it was only after drawing it however many times that i realized #it looked relatively close to a modified chitin armor #and so i modified chitin armor a few times and this was probably the cutest result #i also know i drew almalexia relatively pristine and untouched by years and vivec not so much but my thought process was #vivecs role as if not a favorite then the most accessible divine or the most “hands on” in a manner of speaking #acting in ways visible to the general population or actions explicitly brought to their attention #like not that almalexia isnt doing anything she is #but the dissemination of information regarding that is very different etc etc etc #anyways to a certain extent a god is the face on a shrine or in art or upon a statue or carving #but vivecs presence is interwoven with the geography of vvardenfell especially and his actions and writings with pubished materials #and the arts and culture and customs etc etc etc #so to me the face of a god you know and feel a commonality with or a god that walks alongside you is a face you would recognize #and vivec is already otherworldly looking enough #the simple mark of the years on his skin in some way grounding him in reality felt more right #that and i think the ways in which he and almalexia care about outward appearance are slightly different- they prioritize different things #and the ways they present outward power and their embodiment of their respective attributes share some similarities as they both have that #important preoccupation with physical power and physical strength to a certain degree #oh my god nobody read this i am yapping so bad. #tes

[cinnamon-flame]

Starting off the new year with I think the most background heavy piece I've ever made! I think Rainwings and Nightwings would celebrate their traditional holidays together after the events of The brightest night. So this drawing is meant to show their cultures kind of blending together during a very joyful time. I remember talking about this concept with someone on tumblr a year ago but when I went back through my posts I couldn't for the life of me find it - so if your reading this, I remember you and this drawing stems from that conversation so thank you!

Close-ups:

#They are celebrating the brightest night that's why there's so much moon symbolism in the decorations #I hope I translated my thoughts well enough so you can get the vibe of their celebration #I was split between drawing a tree glows from the lights that were hung up upon it #or a night rave with neon lights #because I think those two situations would result from blending nightwing and rainwing cultures together #also I wanted to show this like organised chaos of the different decoration styles of both rainwings and nightwings on the tree #Moon and Kinkajou are there too! #also you don't see the spearmaster looking nightwing #it just kind of came out looking like them? by accident #continuing my weird obsession with drawing giant trees I have to draw one every year so I might as well just check that now #wings of fire #wof #nighwing #rainwing #moonwatcher wof #kinkajou wof #dragon #art #cinnamon's doodles

[clambuoyance]

[DC] doodled these two a lot this week

#clam draws #dc #kon el #kontent #Conner kent #superboy #cassie sandsmark #wonder girl #this started bc I was thinking about how they have similar outfits and parallel journeys to like masculinity and femininity I think #and part of it is due to the differences in 2000s and 90s culture but also I think this is geoffs fault #like perhaps Cassie does get euphoria from presenting more femme but it’s written by men who just didn’t find her appealing before #and kon well he already lost the jacket and had designs changes before tt03 but there’s still a noticeable difference I think in the way #he presents himself demeanor wise after johns #and ofc johns meant none of this but I like a silly spider am crawling over it and just making my own narrative threads p #as in like oh they’re in a new stage in their life and they have to wrestle w their identities as one does #but like eventually find a new middle ground? #like yeah I can make a narrative #but if I haddd to choose what they’d do instead like if I were in charge of tt03 and told to make them fit 2000s culture I would have at lea #at least made them grunge or smth idk . #what am I even saying #dc clamics

[cryptcatz]

i hate that i have no volume control. i try so, so hard to reel it in but when im happy, excited, relaxed, comfortable, etc. i talk and laugh loud. it’s as involuntary as laughter. i don’t realize until i get shushed, then i feel like my heart got stomped on. it’s so frustrating because i KNOW it is annoying but can’t seem to help it. getting called on it always takes me from happy to feeling awful in a millisecond

#actuallyautistic #actuallyadhd #adhd #living with adhd #autistic #autism #autism community #adhd things #adhd culture #autism culture #autistic feels #tagging both adhd and autism cuz i think this issue is from both maybe? #personal #disability tag #autism tag #maybe i should just never talk ever since i always manage to be annoying in 8 different ways when i do lol #hits i guess

[sweaterkittensahoy]

Stop misappropriating the abuse and trauma cults use through purity culture for your stupid fucking shipping discourse? Holy fuck no wonder everyone hates this whole discourse.

Since when is "priests getting shuffled around after raping kids and kids being told they're sinful because they had bodily reactions to being SAd" comparable to "Bobo the clown said my ship was cringe"

I'm not gonna answer this with The Aristocrats, as a I threatened, because I want to make a very serious point to this anon:

Purity culture isn't just religious abuse. It is most widely connected to religious abuse. Including actions in the Catholic Church and all fundamentalist Christianity. It's entire existence is about terrifying and indoctrinating people into being fearful of their own actions and bodies so that they feel certain that moving out from the "umbrella of safety" (to use a fundamentalist term) will result in them being harmed in ways they can't imagine. This is generally happening at the same time as they are being harmed by those who are supposed to be keeping them safe from all those terrible, worldly evils. Like speaking up when you're being abused. Believing you are not responsible for the actions of a rapist, and many, many other things that any person with an ounce of self-worth and good sense (two things not allowed in fundamentalist circles) knows are true in abuse situations.

But the point of the purity culture as identity in the above-mentioned circles is to teach people from birth that they aren't to have their own feelings, ideas, or instincts. They are only to follow the feelings, ideas, and instincts on the approved list in order to stay within the structures they know and feel safe in even as they feel very unsafe.

That being said:

Purity culture can also exist WITHOUT a religious structure while still being about controlling the thoughts, feelings, and actions of everyone within it. In terms of fandom, purity culture is groups of people stating that if you write something uncomfortable or gross or immoral, then YOU must be uncomfortable or gross or immoral and therefore, not worthy of the safety and moral superiority of the group.

Purity culture without religion teaches black and white thinking, encourages thought policing, and shames anyone who steps outside of a very narrow definition of good and bad by turning an entire group of people against them for being "bad".

Just like in religious circles.

Just like in the cult of fundamentalism.

Purity culture is a term taken by fundamentalists and turned into a whole way of life because the goal of fundamentalism is to make people too scared to leave. Purity culture in fandom does the same thing. It uses fear and threats of abandonment/harassment to control the way people act because a group of people decided they didn't like something, so they must try and wipe it out rather than simply ignore it.

I am not mis-using the term because "Bobo the clown said my ship was cringe." My use of the term is intentional and precise because what is happening in fandom spaces now is non-religious purity culture cult thinking. My use of the term does not invalidate or water down the use of it in conversations about religious abuse and trauma. With or without religion, purity culture is a dangerous cult of "us vs them" that is built to demoralize and eradicate those deemed unworthy.

#purity culture #purity wank #religious trauma #religious abuse #it's all the same shit #just wearing slightly different hats #ask #anon #answer

[verycharismaticdragon]

Thinking again about how if SVSSS translation was leaning slightly less towards cultural preservation, it might have translated Shen Qingqiu's "white lotus" as him calling Luo Binghe a "beautiful cinnamon roll too good for this world too pure" and how that would be completely true to the spirit...

#and then black lotus LBH a 'burnt cinnamon roll slightly charred still good' ofc #luo binghe #shen qingqiu #svsss #bingqiu #this thought would appear in my head from time to time so im setting it free #tbc i like the cultural preservation approach (and it helps with stuff like symbolism) i just sometimes think of different possibilities

[kuruk]

I dint know how to say this but women who wear men's clothes make me feel like I'm a fan of them like I feel like a young girl with a crush on a celebrity like fangirling but for masc women

[thattheater-kid]

You know what’s wild about being a fictive? Missing your old life even though it was shitty because it’s a shittiness you were used to. The life you’re living now is a new kind of shitty that feels unpleasant in a different way.

#maybe it’s stupid to miss the life I had #it sucked #so much #I hated it actually #I prayed every night that I wouldn’t wake up the next morning and cried when I did #I’m still doing that tbh #this is a different kind of suck though #I want my old life back #those people were shitty but they were MY shitty people #maybe I just got used to the horrible conditions I was living in #and now I miss it even though it was horrible #just because it’s familiar to me #maybe it’s the difference between the physical discomfort I felt in my old life #vs the emotional discomfort I feel now #maybe I should talk to my therapist #or go to bed #did system #plural #plurality #actually plural #actually did #plural system #system things #dissociative system #fictive #fictives #fictive culture #system culture #plural culture

[locusfandomtime]

my favourite headcanon when dealing with whatever the hell mcyt’s names are is that everyone just has a fucking universe assigned string of characters (the username) which everyone knows and is what the universe calls you by, but serves no actual functional purpose by itself

in society, the username is used as the legal name because its convenient - at any given point a username is unique to one person and you can easily identify someone by username

but obviously, the username is random and as a casual name it may not work - “Grian” is a fine name but “BdoubleO100” is a nightmare to say, so people develop nicknames based off these. some people go as far to have nicknames completely divorced from their username - e.g. “Jimmy” for “SolidarityGaming”

usernames probably bring up a lot of questions. they seem random, not affected by environmental or genetic factors in any discernible way. they’re more likely to contain words - or things that are kind of like words - than a truly random string of letters. I imagine there being a lot of meaning ascribed to them - like certain numbers symbolising certain things or certain words detailing something for your future. example: people with “7” in their name are more serious (supposedly. it’s kind of equivalent to our zodiac signs. belief varies)

I like to think about all the implications of this naming system. xB off-handedly said that Joel’s username is “SmallishBeans” so he’ll only be calling him “Beans” and not “Joel”, does this imply that some people believe your nickname must be derived by your username and consider nicknames that aren’t illegitimate? what about people that want to change their username? there’d be less name changes than our world (since names aren’t family or gender related) but it’s certainly possible (as you change the username of your minecraft account), but is there a stigma against it? rejecting the very name the universe gave you? are “rare” names (such as with small character count or palindrome etc) considered lucky or unusual?

(using the term “nickname” for ease of understanding because that’s our closest equivalent but in-universe this isn’t really what they are. better term “casual name”? “nickname” implies it isn’t your real name or is a cute shortening, whilst this would definitely be considered your name, just one of two types)

i just have… thoughts.

#i saw a post talking about mc naming conventions and how they make no sense so this is my take #of course you could also go the route of different cultures (e.g. “iJevin” but called “jevin” is just how slime names work or smth) #and that is fun! but i think this has some charm too and solves a lot of questions #locus fandom time #locus worldbuilding time #mcyt #mcytblr #hermitcraft #hermitblr

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

I simultaneously want to live a lifestyle where I can regularly afford to EXTRAVAGANTLY tip service workers, whilst also living in a world where topping culture is not normal or necessary because minimum wage laws do their damn jobs and actually allow all workers to comfortably support their selves & families without relying on the arbitrary "generosity" of entitled customers

#not a shitpost #anyway tipping is not the norm in many countries bc employers are held to a higher accountability re: liveable wages #and in the U.S. specifically tipping as a cultural norm is DIRECTLY descended from post-civil-war racism #I highly recommend googling that shit bc there are MUCH better sources than my dumb little blog #but basically i believe it arose in industries that employed (exploited) a large newly unenslaved black workforce #by offering service jobs that paid unethically low wages (to post-emancipation black americans with VERY few options/resources) #with the excuse that 'tips' would 'reward' good performance and make up the wage difference to 'deserving' workers #while actually it was a control tactic that enabled racist white customers to financially abuse underpaid black employees #keeping in mind that many white americans at this point resented the new legal right of former slaves to earn money and hold jobs at all #ANYWAY I'm rambling and I don't have a list of sources that's just a summary of stuff I remember reading #I apologize for any accidental misinformation this is why i normally stick to dumb clown biology horror posts #(the nose is the fruiting fungal body. honk it thrice to Release The Spores) #...no wait wait wait i thought i was done BUT: #it's no coincidence that tipping culture has continued predominantly in industries more likely to employ women and people of color #and people without access to higher education. because TIPPING IS FUNDAMENTALLY A FORM OF FINANCIAL ABUSE MEANT TO ENFORCE SOCIAL HIERARCHY #ok whew i think im done #oh P.S. LEAVE A FUCKING TIP for people who provide you services in industries where tipping is (unfortimatrly) standard #Yes even if they do a crap job. TIPS AREN'T A 'BONUS' for 'good performance' they're literally something exploited workers need to SURVIVE #you should be able to screw up occasionally at work without being terrified of being able to pay this month's bills #Humans are human. Which means we are DEEPLY FLAWED and IMMINENTLY DESERVING OF DIGNITY AND COMPASSION. #There i did it i summarized my personal core theology nobody asked for. and in entirely too wordy a process okay i am going to BED

[krakensdottir]

Also something really important I want to point out about Aziraphale's religious trauma.

It's often framed as him being directly abused by Heaven, generally emotionally. And while I don't doubt he's been belittled at points - probably not by Gabriel, the iconic exemplar of the Toxic Positivity boss, but we know how Michael and Uriel etc. can be - it also seems like he's received quite a lot of praise and has generally managed to pull off the appearance of being A Good Angel, or at least a satisfactory one. I don't think, and this is controversial, but I don't think Heaven was usually overtly hard on him.

Because that's not how this kind of cult mentality usually operates. Instead, it teaches you to abuse yourself. Your overseers don't have to directly hurt or insult you if you're so ingrained with fear of failure by the culture you were brought up in that you constantly question yourself as not good enough.

It's not as... satisfying, I guess? As an external abuser being the main issue. But it's a lot more real. At least to me, because I suffered so much anxiety over being 'good' when I was a kid, and it wasn't from direct abuse. It was absorbed from the culture I was surrounded by. I picked it up by osmosis from society at large, and it tormented me. I worried, I doubted, there was a time I literally feared going to Hell. And I wasn't raised strongly religious. My mother certainly treated me as a Good Kid, and never gave even the suggestion that I wasn't. But I felt that way anyway. And it tore me apart. Because internalizing that shit makes it so much harder to fight.

And to be clear at this point, I am not saying Heaven isn't abusive. I just think the nature of its abuse is more subtle and insidious than it's often given credit for. And - this is even harder to accept, but it's true, and it's important - it's not just abusive to Az. All the angels are victims of it. Yes, even Gabriel. The moment he, one of the most powerful forces in Heaven, steps out of line, we see that no one is exempt. Never even mind Muriel, who is literally on the lowest rung of the Heavenly ladder and has probably never been told they're worth anything beyond being, you know, an angel, so at least you're better than humans and demons.

It's a contrast with Crowley, who has long since accepted most (not all, there are definitely some deep issues remaining, but they're nothing like Aziraphale's) of his internal doubts and struggles. His fears are almost entirely external. He doesn't beat himself up if he fucks up. He doesn't have to. There are people happy to beat him up for him. So when things go really bad for him, his instinct is to run. To get out of the way of harm as much as possible.

The fact that Aziraphale is harder on himself than anyone else could be is a vital part of his character. He self-punishes. He self-criticizes. He feels awful every time he breaks the rules in the slightest, even though he isn't usually caught at it. Crowley can find some safety in solitude if he keeps his wits sharp and his head down. Aziraphale can't, because he carries Heaven's conditioning with him at all times. He doesn't need oversight, it doesn't take external threats to keep him in line. You don't need direct threats when literally everyone in your celestial workplace has seen firsthand the consequences of rebellion.

I don't know if I'm making sense here. Again, this is informed by personal experience and I can't claim to be unbiased. But I see so much internalization with Aziraphale. He literally can't even accept praise without being nervous as hell, and I don't think it's fear of punishment or ridicule that's his primary motivation. He simply cannot ever be good enough for himself.

That's how they get you.

Anyway, I think it's why his reaction to disaster is the opposite to Crowley's, why he feels he has to turn and face it and somehow avert the horror (or, alternatively, find some way to reconcile it in his head and accept it - because let's be real, that's often what happens) rather than get himself away. He's less afraid of failing his superiors than he is of failing himself. And God, who is, objectively, the biggest abuser in the entire story.

#go s2 spoilers #good omens meta #aziraphale #this internalized stuff hurts so much #and it's SO much harder to shake than other forms of trauma #breaking free from heaven isn't just not easy - it's impossible until he finally accepts that HE isn't a failure for not fixing everything #and that's the part of him that crowley can't wrap his head around #tl;dr heaven's culture is abusive to all its angels and they manifest it in different ways #and aziraphale takes it harder than any other we've seen

[thatdiabolicalfeminist]

What would it be like if people in your community looked out for you?

What would it look like if people outside your most-texted friends and closest family knew you and were invested in your wellbeing and were willing to make deliberate effort to contribute to it?

What would a healthy supportive community, full of a wide variety of people who aren't all necessarily friends, look like?

What would make your community more like that?

What structures or opportunities already exist that might enable that? Are they sufficient? Why or why not? If you don't know what kinds of organizations etc exist in your community, how could you find out? If they aren't sufficient, what could you do to contribute or create new opportunities for relating with each other?

What barriers interrupt opportunities for healthy connection and support in your community? What would effectively addressing those barriers look like?

What would be the easiest possible first step that one busy person could take to start to make your community more connected? Can you think of anything that you personally could do?

What kinds of skills or ideas would be necessary that you can't provide? How could you find people with those kinds of skills or ideas who are also interested in community care and who might be willing to work together?

You're probably marginalized by at least one form of oppression. Most people are. You're probably busy and tired. Most people are. What would make it possible for you to contribute anyway? What would make it possible for other busy tired people to contribute?

If you want your community to care for you—if you need that, as I'm convinced all people do—you might have to figure out how to care for your community first. If you wanted that, how would you start?

#being deliberately vague wrt 'community' here because it can look like many things #your neighborhood? people who go to your school? your local cultural or religious community? your local music scene? #but i specifically mean larger groups. not just friend groups. #a functioning community that actually works as a broad support system requires a lot of people #with a lot of different perspectives/experiences/skills/needs etc #it can start from almost any large group #but to become effectively supportive there has to be some catalyst to encourage ppl to value&cultivate care and respect #as well as difference and personal autonomy #thatdiabolicalfeminist