#trying a cinematography vibe

[carfuckerlynch]

listening to the only good indians. excellent so far. crisp, careful prose that’s nonetheless companionable. the narrator is also fantastic.

#i’m less than a chapter in #loving it so far #has a similar cold and distant feel to some of the cinematography of brokeback mountain #but again. still companionable. #almost had my harry styles ‘this movie feels like a movie’ moment bc i was trying to describe the vibes of the prose #and landed on ‘like someone telling you a story’ which yes. it is in fact that #it’s a book. being narrated to me aloud. #i was trying to convey that it feels (this far) like it’s someone trying to tell you a story without showing you their hand without #basically calling it stoic. #odhran.txt #it’s like someone trying to tell you a story without crying i guess? #there’s strong emotion right underneath that’s being suppressed by casual address and. not jokes. but like. ‘white boys can move’ #the only good indians

[time-to-write-and-suffer]

People always get their panties in a twist about how haters are rotten to the core and are miserable people and nobody wants to be around them and wah wah why are you hating on my mental comfort food.

Meanwhile I always gain followers during an extended period of hating on things so like. I dunno. Being a hater works I guess.

#also me being miserable has nothing to do with me being a hater! #those are two separate things<3 #i'm a hater for fun actually #because it's fun to analyze media that was never intended to be analyzed #it's like trying to judge the cinematography in a porno #like a fun sudoku puzzle for your brain #it's usually the 'good vibes only' people who read too much into shit and make it personal in my experience #idk man when i see people hating on shit i love i just keep scrolling #i'm sexy like that

[harmoonix]

🪸Song of the sea🪸

🐠 Astrology Observations 🐠

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🐚 - Pisces Degrees on your Pluto (12°, 24°) can show addiction/obsession to things you can't always control, for example you can eat a specific type of food and the you can become obsessed with it

🪸 - Sun in Earth/Water Signs love to eat, I swear they will eat 24/7 if they could but they also need to keep themselves healthy aswell so it can be promiscuous, Earth suns..👀

🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°

Harmony of the Sea

🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°

🐠 - Aquarius Placements can sometimes go into a stage of numbness when they're feeling sad, and i observed this mostly at Aquarius Moons they want to keep things private

⛵ - Pluto in Capricorn or in Capricorn Degrees (22°, 10°) can make the native obsessed with work, and they always make sure to keep themselves busy somehow like?? Remember to take a break when you are exhausted

══════ •『🐚 』• ══════

🐙 - One tning about Aries placements is that sometimes they don't have patience at all want to do things in a rush/fast way, and they can get a bit disappointed when things don't go as they wanted

💧 - I mentioned this in some of my posts but everytime the moon transits your 1st house it can make you more soft/sensbile and way more awaken, is very easy to check when moon is transitioning your 1st house, here are some steps:

Check your rising sign

And check the moon sign of the actual day, the moon change the constellation/signs every 2 days sometimes even 3 days

For example if you have Capricorn Rising you can feel these things when Moon will be in Capricorn because it will transition your 1st house

🐬 - Moon in Sagittarius or in Sagittarius Degrees (9°, 21°) natives are very attached to their roots/culture/traditions and everything related to their ancestry, they love to share these things with others too

══════ •『 🌴 』• ══════

🦞 - Moon in Capricorn/Moon in the 10th house natives like to them themselves productive during the day because in a way that gives them satisfaction, in some days they can be lazy af too

🏝️ - Mars aspecting Uranus have a very unique dynamic of approaching things in their life, they can either be very chill or very nervous, sometimes there can be a chaos, these natives still manage to see the good things

🌊 - Mars/Moon in Gemini natives can ask you many questions about your life when they first met you, because they can be so curious of other people at the first sight so they want to know more and more about it

🧘🏼‍♀️ - Chiron and Mercury/Venus aspects can heal themselves by listening to music, it can help so much, if music doesn't help you try healing music or ASMR because it can work way better

🩵 - Everytime Jupiter transits your 7th house you can have luck at meeting good partners/people in your life, that's very beneficial for your 7H energy

══════ •『 🪷 』• ══════

💙 - Sun/Pluto at Aquarius Degrees (11°, 23°) can make the native obsessed/attached to gaming/technology/robots/space/aliens, they can be interested or find satisfaction in those things

🌷 - Virgo Placements like to keep themselves healthy/in a good body position, they prioritize health a lot and always make sure to take care of themselves

🪂 - Sagittarius/Leo/Aries Placements are ride or die, you are with them or against them, no choice in between, you can try so many things activities especially if you are in a group

💃🏼 - Capricorn Venus/Venus in the 10th house give that vibe of classics from the 80's, 90's, they can often be dressed like that and can find inspiration looking back in the past

🐾 - 4°, 16°, 28° degrees on your Venus can make you very caring, when you're in a relationship you tend to be a lotttt, and mostly when your partner needs you the most

══════ •『 𓆉 』• ══════

🪴 - Venus aspecting Neptune or Mercury can like cinematography/films/movies a lot, the type of person who can finish a long serial in just 1 day and still be wanting to watch more 😴

🫂 - Groom asteroid (5129) if you are attracted to men and have this asteroid in your 6H or Virgo it can indicate that you'll have a very supportive spouse/caring/someone who can comfort you when you're low

😍 - Groom asteroid (5129) in 11th house/Aquarius can indicate that you'll have a spouse to be like your best friend, someone who can understand you completely and to give you the from you need

♥️ - Groom (5129) in Scorpio/8th house can indicate that you'll have a spouse that will bring some intensity in your life, they will appreciate you so much and share all their love

🫀 - Groom (5129) in Aries/1st house can indicate that you'll have a dominant spouse in your life, someone with a lot of confidence who will value you a lot, they will also have a lot in common with you

🫧 - 2 people with the same sun signs can be very different from one another, more applying if they are in different months for example September Libras can be very different from October Libras

══════ •『 🐋 』• ══════

💅🏼 - Leo Moon is this type of placement who knows how to keep themselves happy, like there is always a reason, something that sparks for them and you can always see them happy

🐢 - Taurus placements can connect way more easily with people and create such a good bounding with them from the start

🎉 - Aquarius Venus/Venus in Aquarius Degrees (11°, 23°) can have a talent when it comes to making gifts for others, they always make for everything to be perfect

🌵 - Sometimes Pluto or Scorpio in your 11th house can attract possesive people in their life, and sometimes people who want to take control upon them, so be aware always

🤱🏼 - Men with Cancer placements can be mamas boys, like for real mamas boys that type of a strong connection with their mom, if they don't then they have mommy isuses (👿)

══════ •『 🌌 』• ══════

😨 - People with a very strong Virgo in their chart can be very critical at some points, they can be very easily annoyed too

🏜️ - Sun aspecting Neptune or having both of these placements in the same house/ They can have sensbile skin, so irritations can appear fast on their body

🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°

Sea of Love

🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°

🤳🏼 - Chiron in the 11th house/Aquarius can be an influencer sharing their experiences about what friendship truly means, what they have learned about friendships, because most times this placement indicates a wound to friends

🌻 - Pluto aspecting your Sun or Moon can bring some intensity in your personality/behavior, you can feel things more deep than other people and that can make you to stand out of the crowd

══════ •『 ☄️ 』• ══════

══════ •『 ♡ 』• ══════

🪷🌌🪷 The Sea with within you and inside you, majestic and beautiful but mischievous 🪷🌌🪷

🫧 Have a very beautiful day full of blessings to everyone who reads my notes, may the sea bless us with her beauty today 🫧🩵

🦚 The Sea is full of untamed magic 🦚

🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°🫧°

H a r m o o n i x

#astrology #astro observations #astrology fyp #birth chart #astro notes #astrology observations #placements #astro community #horoscope #ascendant #sea #sea aesthetic #aesthetic #astro #astro tumblr #asteroid observations #asteroid groom #asteroid groom 5129 #future spouse #spouse #fs #specific person

[zolubaby]

Ok honestly, the reason I'm super obsessed w OPLA Zolu is bcs I used to be a film student and I definitely know most of what they show in OP scenes are intentional with actual purposes regarding their relationship, plot, etc. by using cinematography (angles, lightings, etc.). So whenever i watch Zolu scenes, I get this feeling they're trying to prioritize their dynamic most of all. Even their dialogues have so many parallels in scriptwriting. But i just love to focus in this particular scene (obv. peak Zolu moment) :

I really love how they have solely one warm lighting, focused from Luffy's direction towards Zoro, as a way to show, in this scene that Luffy's presence is so important and meaningful to Zoro's character development as he recovers (he lost and broke down). I've compared this scene to other scenes at the same location but their lightings were much different than this.

Andd the fact they framed them with this close-up in a very close intimate look and vibes, leaving no space between and around them, really is a masterpiece for Zolu Nation lmao. 😍😍 And these techniques can tell us their relationship is beyond meaningful and deeply intimate in their own ways. Thank you OPLA netflix,

this is peak cinematic experience. 🥹

#zolu #zoro x luffy #one piece #netflix #zolu nation

[annebonnydyke]

So you’ve had fun Goncharov posting and now you actually want it to be real

(Disclaimer that this is my own opinion based on the vibes I get from Goncharov and you might not necessarily agree with me. Also blanket content warning most of these work deal heavily with domestic abuse, violence, racism, and sexual assualt)

1. The Godfather Part 1 and 2- as far as I can tell this is where most of the Goncharov gifsets come from. This is one of those movies people constantly tell you is amazing and when you finally sit down and watch you get upset bc they were right. They’re regarded as some of the best and most important movies in the film canon for a reason. Mafia movies about the corruption of the soul, inescapable cycles, being doomed by The Narrative™ and of course young hot and sexy Al Pacino and Robert De Niro.

2. House of Leaves- for people who enjoy the interpretation of a nonexistent work part of Goncharov, House of Leaves is partly a horror story about a house that bigger on the inside, partly an academic analysis of the nonexistent record of that horror, partly the story of a man’s psychological unraveling, partly a critique of cold academic analysis, and partly a love story. If your favorite part of Goncharov was the metanalysis of a work that doesn’t exist and trying to fit all the pieces together this ones for you.

3. The Handmaiden- for all the people who love Katya and Sofia, two women stuck in their place in the world, who love each other but end up betraying each other. The Handmaiden is psychological thriller about a Korean pickpocket who is sent to con a Japanese noblewoman out of her fortune. Deals heavily with themes of deceit, betrayal, queer love, imperialism, and a woman’s place in a world controlled by men. My favorite movie of all time, highly recommend.

4. Black Sails- truthfully only tangentially similar vibe-wise to Goncharov but as a black sails blog the mutuals would have my head if I didn’t include it on this list and trust me the Goncharov to Black Sails pipeline is very real. Fans of clock symbolism and being being trapped by The Narrative™ will greatly enjoy this one. also that Katya/Sofia and Eleanor/Max/Anne parallels are real and I can prove it and don’t get me started on the Silver and Andrey parallels.

5. Bound (1996)- another one for the Katya/Sofia girlies out there. Two women hatch a plot to steal millions from the mafia, but will they make it out alive? Great style and cinematography and much more punchy and action heavy than the the rest of these. Its a very good modern film noir and the first feature film directed by the Wachowski sisters. Also a much shorter movie (1 hour and 48 minutes) if longer runtimes aren’t your thing.

Honorable Mentions

1. Goodfellas- I personally haven’t seen Goodfellas yet so can’t really give my opinion on it however if you actually want a mafia movie directed by Martin Scorsese starring Robert De Niro here’s one you can actually watch. My friend Angel says this ones really good and I trust their opinion

2. War and Peace 1966-67- again I haven’t seen this one but my friend Bianca really liked this one and tells me whenever she pictures Goncharov she imagines this. From what I gather people who are interested in how soviet history affected the art of the time and enjoy complicated relationship drama will enjoy this one. Also if you’re into very long media this one is split into 4 parts and clocks in at a crisp 7 hours.

If anyone has other suggestions let me know! I love getting recommendations :)

#goncharov #goncharov 1973 #the godfather #house of leaves #goodfellas #the handmaiden #black sails #bound 1996 #war and peace #film

[silviakundera]

"Fine. Xiu is unlucky. He was born to implicate people."

"Don't worry. If God sees I'm not a good person, he'll allow me to live a long life."

@dangermousie got me watching Eternal Brotherhood for the RIDE & DIE FRIENDSHIP and the historical drama flamboyant, incorrigible, badass main character of it all

boyyyyy that main character is indeed an entertaining motherfucker. This is kinda like if you took Yu Shisan from A Journey to Love and put him in a blender with the scheming protagonist of The Ingenious One. Then made that dude a general who is secretly v good at: (a) his job and (b) pretending to be a hapless scoundrel.

I didn't get his whole chaotic neutral vibes at first but by the second episode I was in love with him.

I hear tell this was a 40 episode drama that was streamlined into 24 and you can feel it - no extra filler, just Stuff Happening all the time.

Everyone is just constantly plotting and faking it 24/7. And the good guys are pretending to be Very Ok™ while screaming inside.

Very attractive cdrama. Pretty people, nice sets, great cinematography - they didn't have a huge budget and that's being handled with creativity. It doesn't look cheap at all. It's a small thing, but the way they try to use natural light makes things feel more real and middle-ages-y.

The death flags are everywhere. They're here for a good time, not a long time 👌

Despite knowing better, I'm shipping main character disaster man with his childhood sweetheart, because she's also shameless & during 7 years of exile instead of letters he has just been occasionally sending her momentos of traumatic events he's experienced. No communication but here, I bestow you horse hair. Another year, a feather. Ah, today a dead scorpion! And dear reader, she accepts and stores them all. Romance is not a main plot but please doomed narrative, just let them both live 🙏.

#eternal brotherhood #cdrama #drama watching #drama review

[befuddledcinnamonroll]

I still have so many shows to catch up on, but I could not resist starting The Sign. Idol Factory just puts on too good of a show, and I am weak for soulmate shit.

Oh good! I would hate to start with a boring sound.

The fighting does have a rehearsed quality, but for BL, it's actually pretty good! They're not having to cut away every half second.

Side note - if anyone out there is thinking of being a bad guy, helpful hint. Don't scream as you attack the cops. Kinda gives things away.

Ah, yes, that vital part of police training, where you remove safety gear to make sure you look cool when doing your moves.

Wait...Kaownah?

What are you doing here, baby!?

Oh....you're a dick.

Also, I definitely should have picked up this was all part of the training when one of them was all "eh, try the yellow wire" with the bomb diffusion, but the best clue is the hostage under the spotlight. This lighting cracks me up.

Ok, I'm a little confused about this part.

Because I rewatched the fight, and yeah, Phaya does briefly glance behind him to see the rod sticking out. But he never actually got that close to it, because of Tharn running in. How does he make this connection? Or is it just soulmate vibes?

Aww, Tharn, baby, you getting feels already.

Holy hell is this cinematography good!

Freen looks so amazing!

Omg

How is this drama so damn funny?

This woman is a queen and I love her.

Wait - they're just openly showing this on the news?! "Hey, look at this dead body everybody!".

Damn, Yai, you've never seen this man before, and yet you immediately ship.

Y'know there were a few bright shiny months in there where it seemed like the fall kiss was going to go away. And now there's both this and Middleman's Love.

Can we do an exorcism circle or something? (No shade to those of you who love them. I just really don't).

But that said, these two really have good chemistry.

Billy was good with Seng, but I think I might like him better with Babe?

I love these two little idiots.

I also love that Khem clearly watched Gameboys.

Well, this is a flirting technique I have not seen before.

Omg, not Phaya just straight going for a handful.

Billy's bringing out the horny face. Tharn is so in trouble!

I have no idea where we are going on this ride, but I am so here for it!

#the sign the series #the sign bl

[somewhereincairparavel]

Okay Today's most memorable ATLA episode (of season 2) for me is definitely the library episode!

The whole episode shifted the mood of the entire season imo. I also loved Wan Shi Tong, his whole vibes is super eerie. It also gave me a whole new perspective on war, the way he said "You think you are the first human to say their war is justified?" It was super eerie to see a non human saying that because it gives you a perspective on the outsider's POV of human war. Also, this episode is where the preparation to invade the fire nation actually begins since the previous episodes where just aang trying to master the elements before the solstice.

Also, the moment the library was mentioned, I knew it was the same library that Zhao broke in to study about the moon spirits.

Now the team actually have a plan. The solar eclipse making the fire nation weak makes so much sense I feel hella dumb for not realizing this sooner lol

I kinda wanted Katara to have a flashback of Zuko saying "You rise with the moon, I rise with the sun" because that's literally the first thing I was reminded of as soon as sokka figured it out tbh, it would've been nice cinematography aswell yknow. Because his line basically foreshadowed this revelation.

#Overall 10/10 episode #Highlight of the day tbh #Me keeping tabs of my memorable ATLA episodes as a first time watcher part two #The writing is actually so well paced and thought out for a “kids show” lol I'll never be embarrassed to have ATLA as my fav show #atla #atla zuko #atla sokka #the gaang #zuko #katara #sokka #avatar aang #avatar the last airbender

[bearsinpotatosacks]

Rewatching star trek beyond so liveblogging it

God this film feels like coming home. Let me be a pharmacy assistant on the Enterprise please my life would be fixed

So does Bones just steal from people's lockers? Also they have lockers?

Oh LoRDy

I wish I could’ve been into star trek when this came out

Someone medicate Bones, man's so stressed out honestly

This film really makes me want star trek 4, make it a motion picture, getting the band back together thing

Love the way we see yorktown as massive and impressive then zoom in on the spaceport to make it seem lived in

Sulu's daughter has a toy enterprise

Fuck, prime Spock’s dead

The parts where they show prime spock really make me want a crossover between tos and aos, and it hurts that I'll never see it, guess i'll have to live in fanfic

Love the practical effects of this film

Also is Jim’s outfit in this scene, grey with yellow shoulders, the formalwear? If so I like it

Lovr Uhura's communications panel

Chris Pine's reactions, the cinematography, the set design, the sounds, fuck I love this film

Gonna start saying "i can't engage the warp drive" when i stall a car

Would love to see the borg in aos

Love the character consistency of Bones not carrying a phaser but spock is

Love Bones' portable scanner, i would watch a fake documentary about star trek tech

Does anyone wonder what happened to all the personal belongings that were destroyed on the Enterprise?

Jaylah’s coming soon 😆

There she is!

How many languages does she speak? English, her own and whatever those people she beat up were speaking?

Notice how Bones is still cut on the forehead while he's helping out Spock

Also why does Jaylah know about Krall’s plan? Is that why he shoots people down, try to find the Abornath then kill them to be immortal?

Just realised that Jaylah’s tech was probably from her ship before she got to Altamid, that's why she knows how to use it, her stick, her traps, the parts she got for the franklin (as well as other ships), makes me want to know what her people were like

How long has Jaylah been there?

Love how Bones is ready to throw hands

Bones dancing to achy breaky heart when?

Also Jaylah isn't introduced to Spock and bones, they just get beamed aboard and then spock collapses

Oo Krall’s looking more human

"You gave your girlfriend a tracking device?" Spock’s face 🤣

I really want to know about Jaylah’s family

This film literally proves that my "Jaylah is actually really fucking traumatised and definitely has (c) ptsd" agenda is canon

Also Scotty has his grandma's china hc

Love how Jim respects his crew

Also jim kirk is so Maverick/tom cruise coded it's insane. Bikes, dead dad, cocky attitude, shipped with someone who’s "ice cold"

Uhura has got to be traumatised after seeing a crewmate literally eaten in front of her

Jim Cruise is here! Tom Kirk!

After getting into top gun, the star trek navy inspired titles are funny to me, at least in aos by how quick they get them and how young they all are

Not sure why Jaylah’s fighting gives me kill bill vibes

Also jaylah has blue blood!

Love how sulu gets the dramatic line "they're going to destroy yorktown"

How long did it take to get the ship ready to fly? I mean, it's been at least a day and a night, the day they arrived, nighttime then they all got rescued and brought back together the next day just wondered how long it all took to happen

Also seatbelts!

Sulu would’ve won top gun

"I acknowledge and respect your concerns" Someone's been to therapy

"How do we get them to stop talking" is spoken so shatner

Just realised why certain jobs are the colours, yellow: anything running the ship (captain, pilot etc), red: anything about how the ship runs (engineering, communications, security), blue: science and medical

I love how the end of this film is similar to battleships where they use an old ship to defeat an alien ship

The picture of the original crew! He took it with him! I need a crossover now! I love how they used a more brassy theme there, makes it sound more original, more nostalgic

They had the chance to do futuristic dress but they just look like dudes from 2016

If they could just do an animated series for the aos crew...

Also the og theme at the end 🥲

#aos #star trek #star trek beyond #star trek aos #aos star trek #star trek alternate original series #jim kirk #captain kirk #james t kirk #leonard mccoy #dr mccoy #spock #s'chn t'gai spock #montgomery scott #jaylah #hikaru sulu #pavel chekov #nyota uhura

[valley-of-headcanons]

hi bestieee, could you do some movie night Haley headcanons? im a Haley girl and recently watched Legally Blonde, I think she would like that movie too so, it could be something fun to think about :) <3

movie night with haley || headcanons

curling up with haley and watching a movie? count me in! <3

warnings: x farmer, nothing else really!! <33

requested by: @idk-i-want-mcl-content , thank you so much for the request! this is such a fun request, and really cute!! this is a fantastic prompt for haley, i love it sm!! <33

• Haley loves watching movies with you, it's one of her favorite past times! Her love for photography definitely pushes this forward, loving movies that have beautiful cinematography. However, she does love to relax with some cheese-y movies from time to time! She doesn't really mind, as long as she's curled up with you!

• The only movie genre Haley actually hates is sci-fi. It's too much for her, she hates that there's so much established stuff that she feels like she's missing out on most of it. She also despises reboots or adaptations. They never seem like they're actually trying to tell an original story, it's always missing some aspect of passion. She will absolutely dread watching any movie like that, but she'd begrudging watch it for you. Don't expect her to pay attention, her eyes would pretty much entirely on you.

• She loves analyzing movies and their beautiful cinematography. Wes Anderson movies are incredibly interesting to her, with such unique vibes and bright colors. It's absolutely fantastic to her, and she cannot get enough. Sometimes she'll ask you to pause it for a moment so that she can snap a picture on her phone for later inspiration. Please, ask her what she thinks about it, because she probably won't tell you unless you ask. She'll explain in a soft tone, sounding incredibly passionate about it. It's nice to hear her talking about something she loves, you adore that voice.

• However, if she's stressed, she's going to relax with movies like Legally Blonde or Clueless. She enjoys the cheesiness of them, but she has to admit, it's definitely well written. If you tease her about her choices, she'll retaliate with something equally embarrassing, but she'll say it with a smile. She really does love you, and she definitely shows it through teasing. And she'll hit you with a roast ten times better than yours.

• Most nights, she asks you if you'd like to watch a movie and then she'll break out a list of movies that she enjoys, she thinks you'd enjoy, or that you've both never seen before. She'll put one on, and rest her head on your shoulder. Most often than not, she'll intertwine hands with you and squeeze it occasionally. She loves that she has someone to share these experiences with now, she doesn't have to everything by herself. She has the best company in the world. Movie nights with Haley mean a lot to her, and she loves spending time with you like this.

#stardew valley #sdv #sdv headcanons #stardew valley headcanons #sdv farmer #sdv haley #stardew valley haley #sdv haley headcanons #stardew valley haley headcanons #sdv haley x farmer #stardew valley haley x farmer #sdv haley x reader #stardew valley haley x reader

[leoslosttoolbelt]

What I think the demigods would major as and why

these are personal head canons dont take them too seriously :)

Percy: Education. I know that we usually hc as a Marin biology kinda guy but I genuinely think that he wouldn't be too fond of the workload but instead want to work towards being a teacher and being the kind of teacher he needed as a kid, y'know? Alternatively, I can see him being into something like baking and pastry art to take over Sally's shop.

Annabeth: Architecture. I really don't think I need to explain this one to y'all but yeah she's an architecture girly. But if we want to branch out I can also see her studying law and working in the area of Child Protection.

Leo: Astrophysics. I have this head canon of him panicking because of the sheer amount of choices that he's presented with and choosing the first one of the alphabetical list. Lucky for him, he's insanely good at it AND it'll pay well in the future. He minors in mechanical engineering and realises that although he has all the practical knowledge because of his father, his theoretical knowledge isn't as strong lol.

Piper: Food Science. I'm trying to be unique here because yeah, she could do environmental studies but I also think it would be super cool to see her learning about food and developing new vegetarian versions of food because it's something she's visibly passionate about in the books.

Nico: I can see him getting a history / philosophy related degree for his bachelors just for him to get a  doctor of philosophy (Ph. D.) in mythology or folklore. His hyperfixation runs deep and he sure as hell is going to fuel it as much as he can.

Jason: Doesn't go to college!! Is severely burnt out <3. No but like idk man I think he'd legitimately want to take it chill if that makes sense? Maybe he'd do a business major just so that he can get a job somewhere but I can't think of somewhere he'd fit in nicely. Jason does have a lot of part time jobs though!!

Frank: Nurse! Nursing school! Despite being the son of Mars I can see him being in the medical field because he wants to help people in need. It's a long journey with lots of ups and downs but finally getting his degree makes it all worth it.

Hazel: Geology because rocks. And also women in STEM!! This one directly correlates to her powers in the books as well as both of her parents! On the other hand, I can see definitely see Hazel studying in the field of archeology with the goal of being an archeologist and then eventually a museum curator :)

Reyna: Psychology!! Listen, I know this seems out of the blue but Reyna gives me the right vibes. Everyone is skeptical at first because they don't think she'd fit the mold of a clinical psychologist but that's okay because Reyna wants to further herself in research! She studies Neuropsychology and becomes a prominent researcher in her field! Please tell me you see the vision.

Will: From what I can see in the books, Emergency Medical Services degree seems like the right field for him. He's already basically a paramedic at Camp Half Blood so he knows it's naturally the right step for him. On the other hand, for something a little different - he seems like the kind of guy who might be interested in studying cinematography or art history maybe.

Travis: He studies Economics because he's so fucking convinced that he can become the next Elon Musk if he studies this. Alternatively, he studies music because he wants to travel the world and like sing with the wind and all that shit.

Connor: he's a communications major because he's a really popular youtube and technically doesn't really need to go to college but oh well he can study communications.

Drew: She goes to cosmetology school as the first step to start her own makeup and skincare empire. She's super nice to all of her clients and helps out all of the other students when they're having trouble with something! I will not tolerate any Drew slander let my girl breathe.

Pollux: Chemical Engineering. He got influenced by watching breaking bad and somehow landed himself a degree in chemical engineering. He doesn't know how he survived that degree but it doesn't matter because he decides to not give a fuck and open a coffee shop that becomes really popular because all the drinks are to die for.

Thalia: I don't really know the right terminology but she has an art related degree / tattoo apprentice so that she can work as a tattoo artist!! It fits with the thalis vision and also she is the eldest daughter who loses it lowkey so she doesn't follow your usual education route. Tattoo artist Thalia for the win!!

#pjo hoo toa #percy jackson #annabeth chase #leo valdez #piper mclean #nico di angelo #jason grace #hazel levesque #frank zhang #reyna ramirez arellano #will solace #travis stoll #connor stoll #drew tanaka #pollux #thalia grace #pjo headcanon

[mads-is-tired]

Generation Loss Episode Three was Scripted, a short analytical commentary

I don't think Ranboo was entirely in control in episode 3 like we're lead to believe.

I’m obsessed with the set up of “episode three was also scripted by showfall”. Episode one follows a clear plot, there's a few glitches but for the most part you get the vibe that this is what a showfall show usually is. The second episode has more glitches, giving the audience more chances to see “the real gl!Ranboo” and his reactions to the Horrors, before being shoved deeper into the mind control and turning into an NPC in those last bits from the museum onwards. It ends with Hetch breaking through the show and releasing gl!Ranboo. Not completely though, but the audience wouldn’t know that. We are taught to assume from the glitches that when the mask lights are off or flashing, gl!Ranboo is (mostly) in control. So why would we question that now? The lights aren’t even flashing, they’re off. They have a genuine reaction that anyone would have after suddenly becoming aware of themselves in a giant mall. But gl!Ranboo was still under control. Showfall seems to typically control people with accessories, and while that's not always true, the mask is still on him, lights or no lights. 

(i'm putting the rest under the cut because this is over 1000 words and I don't want to be a menace to my mutuals who don't follow genloss)

Ranboo stated that every choice gl!Ranboo makes in the finale was the wrong choice. Saving gl!Charlie, steering gl!Charlie away from the axe, trusting Hetch, choosing the wrong code, walking to the wrong exit, the list goes on.

Charlie has been in every episode. There are theories of him being “Showfalls Favourite”, maybe this is true, or maybe he’s a fan favourite? Maybe the show was set up for Ranboo to find him, and feel compelled to release him from the mind control. Having someone with the main character also prompts dialogue, which we wouldn’t have gotten if Ranboo was by themselves. 

The fateful words “can you run with that?” causes multiple problems for these characters when Ranboo steers Charlie away from the axe. If he had it, they would have gotten out. To me, the most logical explanation is that Showfall could not allow them to escape before Hetch’s grand plan was executed. On one hand, why couldn’t they just have Charlie not pick it up in the first place? Maybe they did actually release Charlie from being mind controlled (but not Ranboo) so his reactions felt real. Why have the axe in the room at all? I don’t have a good explanation for that. But Ranboo saw the TV monster/security, he saw what it did to the employee and Sneeg, why would you risk not having an axe, even if you thought it might slow you down a bit?

After Hetch “died”, he gave instructions to the button. The ratio turns to cinematic. The cameras are no longer being controlled by drones, it’s like a movie. The camera men are no longer acknowledged. Ranboo goes into an almost trance, stabbing the first employee he sees. While I recall Ranboo mentioning that gl!Ranboo was angry at everything and wanted to avenge his friend (or something along those lines), the cinematography from the view’s POV, and just the ‘trace’ full stop feels like a driving point to the plot. This also brings me to the wires that bleed from the employee. I believe that gl!Ranboo’s actions have been influenced by Showfall up until Hetch’s scene, but it was still Ranboo. Now, as the ratio changes, Showfall are back in control. Their filter is back up. The employee we see mauled by security earlier was bleeding, the one Ranboo stabs is wires. I do enjoy the theory that employees who try to escape or try to help cast members escape are killed and filled with wires, as well as the theory that the longer they work for Showfall, the less human they become. It could be any one of these theories, but its definitely important due to the emphasis put on it. 

Charlie’s last moments were spent trying to get Ranboo out, the man was getting gutted and torn to shreds, possibly having wires shoved inside him, and he manages to find the strength to stop screaming in pain and point towards the button. I may be reading into this too much, it's a very plausible scene and it does fall inline with the famous last words trope. I may be reading into all of it too much, as many of these elements could just be creative choices with no real plot behind them, particularly the ratio change. 

Another thing I’ve thought of while writing this, security seems to hang around after its killed. 

We see it over Sneeg’s body, however it must have been there for a while. Ranboo and Charlie were out in the open in the mall, not too far away, surely Sneeg’s screams would have echoed throughout the space, suggesting that he died before they were close enough for them to hear it. Security was also hovering over Charlie, while the other employees were chasing after Ranboo, which you would assume was security’s job. Both of these scenes goes back to that theory of security (re)wiring and reprogramming the employees and cast members. This brings me hope that Charlie and Sneeg aren’t dead, just reprogrammed. But then this goes back to my other post about Ranboo saving Charlie was the reason he died, and the parallel between Ranboo’s choice and the audience's final choice. What's the better outcome? Becoming/remaining a cast member with Showfall Media for as long as they want you to entertain for them, living under mind control for entire lifetimes, or death, right here, right now. The audience, and Ranboo, decided the latter was a better fate. 

As of the last scene with the box, I'm not sure if thats gl!Ranboo in total control or not. According to Ranboo, it is, and Showfall are even putting his memories back. It would make sense he was in control, maybe Showfall were just lucky their 'hero' had so much emotion behind him.

To summarise, there are many details that indicate gl!Ranboo was not in total control in episode three like we are led to believe. We are trusting Hetch just as Ranboo did, and look where that got them.

feel free to add to this in replies, reblogs, tags, whatever! I'd love to hear your thoughts, whether you agree with me or not

#i did it i made the post #its 1088 words btw #i've been coming back to this body of text for like a week adding to it and editing it #i'm not sure if i've made my high school english teachers proud or disappointed #because they'd hate the format and the casual way i write with the questions and such #but i've also practically written an essay of my own free will which is something i've never done before #anyway my genloss brainrot is fading but i still have so many thoughts bouncing around upstairs #actual tags time #generation loss #ranboo #slimecicle #charlie slimecicle #genloss #sneegsnag #gl!slimecicle #gl!ranboo #gl!sneegsnag #gl!charlie #generation loss spoilers #generation loss theory #generation loss finale #generation loss the social experiments #genloss spoilers #ranboolive #mads makes a post #i probably should have added images to this. all well i suppose

[ilvero-love]

Save Lockwood & Co

Lockwood and Co has become my latest obsession😍 So much so that it has once again inspired me to turn to Tumblr to deal with my need to microanalyse every second of it. And why not? It’s certainly worth doing so.

I only found Lockwood and Co through the Netflix show and despite being wary of Netflix’s propensity to cancel seemingly everything after just one season, I was hooked before they reached the front door of the opening scene. And it only got better.

For those of you that followed my thoughts on Miss Fisher, please consider watching Lockwood and Co🙏 The chemistry between the two characters is on the same level as Phryne and Jack, and whilst you may assume it’s just a teen show, it so isn’t.

The original source material, Johnathan Stroud’s book series is a wonderful tale, but in the hands of Joe Cornish and Complete Fiction, it’s taken to another level👌 

Masterful.

The show/story is so beautifully put together and, like MFMM, it’s greater than the sum of its parts. The lighting, the cinematography, the storyline, the acting all come together in a pretty much perfect story. 

Yes, I stand by that description. The care that has been taken by Complete Fiction in bringing this story to the screen, the attention to detail, continually amazes me. It is just too good 🤗

So, for any MFMM fans who are open to a similar vibe💕 (with a touch more danger thrown in), please give it a try. Like me, I think you’ll be hooked early on. It was the opening exchange between Lockwood and Lucy that really got me invested.

And if you’re concerned about starting a show that, at this stage, has no follow up season, rest assured the story arc is neatly wrapped up. It’s only when you’re so hungry for more and you devour the books, that you realise this is a brilliant story that just has to find its way back to our screens. I have hope that we will see it eventuate as there is an intelligent and dedicated group of people working to make that happen 👏

So please 🙏 join us in the delight that is Lockwood and Co 🤗💕

You won’t be sorry ⚔👻⚔

#mfmm #phrack #phryne x jack #save lockwood and co #lockwood and co #locklyle #lockwood x lucy #lockwood & co #renew lockwood and co

[brazilian-whalien52]

You're always posting Dorama stuff, can you give me a a recommendation list?

I into gays and don't like anything with dubious consent (or not consent at all), underage or incest (the two Thai Doramas I tried had both)

Pretty please you seem to know a lot of them

You're always posting Dorama stuff, can you give me a a recommendation list?

I into gays and don't like anything with dubious consent (or not consent at all), underage or incest (the two Thai Doramas I tried had both)

Pretty please you seem to know a lot of them

Hi, I would love to recommend some!

Thai Dramas

(Thailand has the most BLs and a lot of variety but also can be a little messy because the industry is still growing)

* I told sunset about you - about two teenagers that are rivals and are taking the college exams entrance. A classic come out of age story but also a brilliant masterpiece (acting, cinematography...)

* My School President the series - A light High School romance. Has the vibe of club activities anime. They are all dumbass and it is wholesome, funny and full of music (the characters remind me of the mugiwaras).

* Bad Buddy the series - One of the best titles. It is a college romance with romantic comedy Romeo and Juliet vibes. Two neighbors that the family hate each other meet again in college, but they are in rivals majors. First eps may be a little confusing but it picks up.

* Triage the series - a time travel stick in a loop story. There is an age gap since the protagonist is a doctor, while the patient he is trying to save in the time loop is a college student. But the story is pretty interesting.

* Not me the series - This one is about a set of students fighting against the oppression. White learns that his twin brother Black is in a comma and decides to take his place to find out who did this. However, he soons founds out that his brother is in a revolutionary group.

* Moonlight chicken - A more mature story. It is about the owner of a chicken shop, his family and the new men trying to flirt with him.

* A tale of thousand stars - About a spoiled brat that has a heart problem and ends up receiving the heart of a volunteer teacher. After the transplant, he decides to learn more about this women and changes to the little village that she was a volunteer teacher. More slow paced but a pretty story.

* Be my favorite the series - the protagonist feel like he wasn't able to get anything he wanted in live. He gets an object that allows him to time travel to his first year of college and change his future. It is a funny romantic comedy with some good lessons.

He is coming to me - A coming out of age story about a college student that can see ghosts (the age may feel weird because he first see the ghost as a kid but they are both the same age since the ghost died as a college sudtent too)

Japonese

(Japonese dramas a lot of times I feel are more mature, for an older audience or they hit the fluffy first love stories)

* What did you eat yesterday - About being older and queer. A more domestic slice of life. Definitely my favorite.

* My love mix up - this is an amazing first story! It is a light and funny romantic comedy set in high school. The characters are all adorable.

* If it's with you - just a cute and sweet romance, also high school

* My Beautiful man - this is a really good story, warning that the characters are more obsessive. Still you analyze their motivation and what is the story meaning. They are with each other.

* Cherry Magic - A classic. Has a Thai adaptation that is also worth checking and an anime. The protagonist is a 30y that gets the power to read people mind because he is a virgin. And the story? Pretty funny and wholesome.

* Our dinning table - Wholesome story. The protagonist becomes friends with a cheerful kid and his older brother and they bond over meals.

Old fashioned cupcake - a really beautiful story about allowing yourself to enjoy things even when growing older

* Takara-kun and Amagi-kun - cute, cute, cute and adorable. Fluffy high school romance

Korean

(Korean BL are usually the less problematics one. They are still small and I am not the biggest fan, but if you like their story most you can start without fear. The two first are the ones i like the most)

* Semantic Error - Romantic Comedy in a college setting. Fun to watch and the characters are interesting

* The Eighth sense - Another unique queer story. It is about a boy that moves away from his small town to attend college and falls in love with his senior. Good acting, cinematography and chemistry.

* Unintentional Love story - a recently fired office worker goes to the beach to take a vacation and there finds a recluse ceramic artist. It is a nice one to see

* To my star - Cute and good to pass the time

Taiwan

(Taiwan has more compelling plots but also is pretty messy so may be a hit miss)

* DNA says I love you - it is a hard story to explain, but it delivers really well complexity. The characters are interesting and the plot is different too.

* Be loved in house - a romance story about a boss and his employee that do not get along but end up living together. The dynamic is pretty fun and no need to worry about power in balance.

* History 3 trapped - the romance story of a policeman and the Mafia leader. Pretty fun to watch. I also recommend history 2 crossing the line (highschool volleyball romance) and history 3 make our days count (beautiful and amazing highschool romance but may make you cry). They are stand alone.

* My tooth your love - Romantic Comedy about a dentist and his patient that hates to go to the dentist over traumatic reasons, but is forced by his sister. A little cheesey and cliche, but a fun watch.

* No.1 for you - about two university students that are rivals.

Philippines

(I love their dramas but there isn't many)

* Gameboys - super funny but also can be quite heavy since it talks about the COVID pandemic. Two boys start talking online during the pandemic.

* Like in the movies - beautiful queer coming out story. It is about a college student that moves out to an apartment but he does not manage to get a job, so to pay rent he agrees to fake date his neighbor.

Chinese

(Chinese BL unfortunately are censored so you will not get any kiss of them or explicit romantic confession, but you can see the love is there)

* Untamed - the first of many, it is a cultivation story so it is complex at the start but really compelling and engaging plot

* Word of honor - also a cultivation story about two shameless bastards. Gets your attention.

* Guardian - it mixes some of the cultivation world elements with modern detective work. Funny and engaging.

* The spirealm - the characters enter in a game about live and death. A little confusing but I really love the characters

I tried to make a list with more variety so you can choose from. If you want more recs later let me know. A warning would be that a lot of this stories are still growing so you can see some problems in them but it is worth giving a chance. If you want to ask over an specific taste you have in stories, let me know because I can see it better.

- So I didn't know if by "no underage" romance you were talking about underage x adult or stories with no underage sex. I decided to add high school romance to the list that do not have sex and there is no age gap.

Stories that are not bl but i consider so and recommend" Beyond Evil and Devil Judge

Some that I didn't finish so they are not in the list but a lot of people rec: The Sign (really good and with a more complex plot), 3 will be free (poly), Until we meet again (soulmates), 23.5 (GL), She loves to eat and she loves to cook (GL), Killer and Healer (Chinese)

If you finish both A tale of thousand Stars and Bad buddy they have a special together in Our Skyy

#anyway if you want specif links just go to my dms #bl drama #bls dramas #bad buddy #a tale of thousand stars #thai drama #rec list #bl rec list #guardian #untamed #word of honor #our dining table #gaya sa pelikula #gameboys #takara kun to amagi kun #what did you eat yesterday #semantic error #the eighth sense #the spirealm #my tooth your love #history 3: trapped #dna says love you #MY LOVE MIX UP #unintentional love story #to my star #cherry magic #my beautiful man #hes coming to me #be my favorite #moonlight chicken

[onedreamseeker]

im officially watching episode 1 of the begins youth series! I'm incredibly excited. so this post will just be all of my live reactions for the first episode

BROOO the fire???? That’s a crazy intro

Okay Hwan is Jin’s character

Getting straight into the rich father storyline okayyyy

The actor for Hwan is doing so good already like tell me why I see Jin’s mannerisms in the way he walks and stuff 😭😭😭

The way they’re making it clear that Hwan has trouble connecting to his peers and finds it hard to make friends my baby 🥺

Oooh as gas station worker is this Namjoonie?

Okay and Jooan that’s Taehyung I believe

Yeah they’re setting up the Taehyung/Namjoon friendship immediately

ONG JOOAN ACTS JUST LIKE TAEHYUNG OH MY GOD ITS PERFECT. HES SO SILLY MY NEW SILLY GUY

I must have missed namjoon’s character’s name

What’s my man doing? Looking at home videos of his mom?

oh my god are these two dumbasses gonna break into Hwan’s house?????

No wonder they’re always being chased by police in the MVS 😭😭😭

LMFAO THE NAMJOON/JIN/TAEHYUNG MEETCUTE

HE CALLED THE POLICE SHUTTHRFUCKUP

THEY CAME BACK 😭

LMAOOOOO

Jooan threatening Hwan 😭😭😭 yall are gonna be besties soon stfu

lmao he found the money namjoon dropped

DID JOOAN STEAL HIS BIKE ???? NO NAMJOON DID 😃😃

JOOAN JUST DROP KICKED THIS MAN 😀

Is this how they all get detention????

OH A NEW PERSON JOINS THR FRAY

DOGEON IS NAMJOONS NAME FINALLY

New guy trying to come to Jooan’s defense

Two more people watching the drama 😭

AM I WRONG TITLE SONG WHOOOOOO

Another new person !!!

I need these names and backstories so I can figure out who is who immediately

The detention Classroom!! This is like a dream come true oh my god 😭😭😭

New guy giving me jhope or jimin vibes and the other one giving me yoongi

Cein is that the yoongi character?

Oh my god this guy HAS to be jhope he’s got the smile!

Jeha! THATS TEH JUNGKOOK CHARACTER I THINK HES SO CUTE

The jeha/cein stuff starting already. Which must mean the other little guy must be jimin!

Haru is jimin!!

So Jooan is Taehyung, dogeon is namjoon, Hwan is Jin, jeha is Jungkook, haru is Jimin, cein is Yoongi, and the unnamed guy with The Smile ™ is jhope

Oh my god :( Jooan is so excited to see his dad not drunk :(

Hosu! The jhope character is officially named!

He literally has hobi’s smile oh my god he’s perfect :(

Haru and Hosu!! Oh my god they like to dance together oh my god my heart it’s broken

Haru’s mom when I catch you!! Forcing him not to tell any of his friends about his trauma !!!

HOSU IS LITERALLY HOBI OH MY GOD THE CASTING WAS PERFECT

He just did the jhope head tilt/smile/sigh combo!

Haru and Hosu mean so much to me actually they’re perfect

Oh god Hosu just mentioned the flower areboretum to Haru and the the way his face fell 😭😭😭

Jeha is SO CUTE, he literally perfectly reminds me of baby jungkook These actors STUDIED

Jooan looking for the bike 😭 he’s so sweet he just wants to help his friend 🥺

Hwan get your shit together and make friends with the others

This bike causing so much drama!

Cein my boy bout to get this bike back!! I know that’s right!!!! He’s playing into the scariness to help his new friends he’s sooooo :( my baby

YESSSSSS he got dogeon’s bike back from Hwan and gave Hwan his bike back that’s my man!!!! He gets shit done!!

Now Hwan has to go apologize and give dogeon’s bike back!

This romantic ass music playing during this apology 😭

He gave him back the money :(

They’re making up 😭😭 HWAN AWKWARDLY ASKING DOGEON TO COME EAT EITH HIM

DOGEON HAS JOONS BREAKS EVERYTHING CURSE 🥺

Aww Hwan is gonna join the boys in detention because he knows the fight was his fault too 😩

THEYRE SO CUTE

Wait this is SOOOO GOOD!!!

These are our boys!!! First episode over!! Set up complete!!

I’m ooh we’re setting up the Haru Trauma at the flower arboretum 👀 a little cliff hanger

Final thoughts on episode one:

I really loved this! The actors are PERFECT! And I’m really enjoying the cinematography and dialogue so far! They’re keeping very in line with what we know about the hyyh story! It’s so exciting to see everything from the mvs acted out! And it’s so cool to see more detail of the characters and their relationship with each other!

#begins youth #Rana live reaction #bts universe #bts hyyh

[bluedalahorse]

August and Rousseau are functionally the same character: the serious version

On Thursday evening, at my fanfic co-author’s encouragement, I posted about August and Rousseau being functionally the same character. This post was meant to be tongue-in-cheek, but there’s always been a serious, liberal arts college analysis version of it lurking in my head. I decided to go ahead and share it because what is the point of rejoining tumblr if I can’t torture the world with my Young Royals meta? (Do we even call it meta anymore? I am Fandom Old.)

So anyway, I have now written too many words about how Rousseau the horse is a narrative shadow for August, and how horse tropes are used to communicate August’s character arc. My ~credentials~ are as follows: I’m currently doing a terminal degree in writing literature for children and teenagers, and I have re-read the Felicity Merriman American Girl Books more times than I can count. I was not a horse girl in childhood, despite my mother trying to get me to be one by buying me Breyers and an alarmingly technicolor Lisa Frank notebook with a horse on its cover. (For Not Being A Horse Girl reasons there may be some errors in equestrian terminology here, but I’m gonna do my best. I invite genuine Horse Girls to weigh in with their knowledge and insight.) I have more thoughts about August as a character than I know what to do with, to the point where those thoughts have in part inspired the critical thesis on justice and privilege in YA lit that I am going to write for my MFA. These thoughts here on tumblr are merely for a fannish intellectual experiment, however, so I will not be as aggressive with the MLA and the footnotes as I would be in thesis work.

While I am an American of Swedish descent who has celebrated her Scandinavian heritage since childhood, I am still very much an American and my native language is English. Most of my lit theory here is therefore informed by the Anglo-American Horse Girl tradition, which I know got imported to a lot of other countries in translation. At the same time, I am aware that there are Swedish Horse Girl books out there, and I do not know as much about where they overlap with the Anglo-American tropes and where they differ. If anyone has knowledge in this particular area, please feel free to chime in.

Before we begin, I feel it necessary to issue a few notes about content. The first and most obvious content note is that this meta deals with August’s character arc, so I will naturally mention his releasing of the video and his other toxic masculine behaviors that harm the people around him. I will also make reference to his drug addiction, mental health issues, and possible disordered eating. In addition, there will be discussion of abusive relationship dynamics and adults invading the privacy of teenagers with the goal of controlling their romantic, sexual, and reproductive futures (particularly in the context of a monarchy securing its lines of dynastic succession.) You have been warned.

TOPICS COVERED

Horses in Literature and their General Vibe

Cinematography and Film Language in Young Royals

August, Felice, and Sara

Bloodlines and the Line of Succession

What’s next for August and Rousseau?

Horse/Power

Horses have long been symbols of wealth, status, and nobility. While literature and folklore offer their fair share of ordinary workhorses, the prince on a fancy white horse is an iconic fairy tale image. Historically, the ability to maintain a stable full of horses, specifically bred for battle or fine riding, was (and still is) a privilege only the rich can afford. Among the Romans, the second highest ranked social group after the senatorial class were the equites, named for the fact that they were rich enough to own horses they could bring to war. Fast forwarding to the modern day Young Royals, we see the wealth of Hillerska on full display in the stables. Even Felice’s parents, who have plenty of money to burn, remind her how much they spent on Rousseau.

August, of course, defines himself by his status. When we first meet him, he’s always going on about his father’s estate, bragging about flying off to restaurants in France, separating out who is nouveau riche and who is ancien regime—and so on and so forth. So what? you may be saying. Plenty of Young Royals characters are wealthy and own land. Why single out August and make him the character shadowed by the horse, just because of his money? Probably because of the other ideas horses get associated with in popular media. Horses in fiction are often temperamental, but their humans often work to control and tame horses in spite of that. There’s a certain tension and troubledness to fictional horses that makes them dangerous. Rousseau is no exception to this—Felice and others have difficulty managing him. We know August has a temper that gets the better of him. We also know he’s obsessed with control, and the first person he tries to be strict and controlling with is himself.

To put it more briefly, horses in stories can be used to open up a lot of questions about wealth and power and how that power is, well, reined in. Thematically, having Rousseau as a shadow to August’s character arc is an obvious choice.

Framed by the Stable Doors

The cinematography of Young Royals visually links August and Rousseau from the very beginning of the series. As early on as episode 1.2, a shot of Sara taking Rousseau out for a trot is followed immediately by a shot of August out on a run. (Or maybe it happens in the opposite order? Help.) These moments mirror one another—both of them are scenes of a moment of discipline and exercise, underscored by tense background music. Throughout season 1, even when August and Rousseau aren’t paralleled by the editing, they are at least paralleled by the writing.

As we move into season 2, the shots of Rousseau become more constrained as the threat of prison looms over August’s head. Rousseau is almost always behind a fence or restricted by some other architectural features. The bars(?) of Rousseau’s stall door echo the bars of a jail cell, while the trailer belonging to the Worst Kind of Horse People (TM) suggests a police van taking August away after a future arrest. These scenes almost always include Sara somewhere, and she’s often having reaction faces. As others have noted, Sara doesn’t speak much, but these visual cues offer hints about her internal mental landscape while also foreshadowing her eventual role as the one who turns August over to law enforcement.

I’m inclined to read these “imprisoned horse” scenes as Sara having internal conflict about her relationship with August. On some level, she is attempting to grapple with the fact that they’re already doomed because of August’s prior actions with the video. I don’t necessarily think this means that Sara is always thinking these things consciously and in words. Maybe it’s just a sense of foreboding in the pit of her stomach. Instead of having Sara try to articulate this in any sort of literal way, my guess is that the YR production team wanted to convey this part of her arc through visual language and symbolism. I think it works, once you’ve decided to buy into the horse parallels.

Does this mean we’ve segued into talking about the girls now? Probably. Might as well gallop ahead…

Enter the Equestriennes

Even outside of Horse Girl books, women on horseback are a repeating motif in Western literature. As various academics will tell you, equestrian women occupy a complex and problematic (in the academic sense) space on the page. On one hand, riding horses confers status upon these women and gives them some freedom of movement. On the other hand, equestrian women are often being trained for the patriarchy in subtextual ways. One thesis I looked at explains how in Victorian literature, riding was often used to facilitate female characters’ interaction with men in ways that eventually lead to marriage. You also examine the common Horse Girl cliché of that one special teenage girl who knows how to calm down the impossible horse, and understand it as a little sister to the “I can fix him” romance genre. As bastion of literary analysis TVTropes points out, ponies and the Troubled But Cute Boyfriend sure do have a lot in common.

Young Royals knows the tropes, and it wants you to know that it knows them.

Felice Ehrencrona doesn’t want to be a horse girl. Felice’s mother wants her to ride, because riding is what archetypal rich girls from Hillerska do. Throughout season one, we see Felice struggling with her riding classes and being afraid of Rousseau. While she gains more confidence with the help of Sara, she never truly grows to love being around Rousseau (as we can see by the way she quickly abandons her hobby later.) Still, for a while, Felice maintains the public image of the happy equestrian by posting pictures of herself and Rousseau to her Instagram and making additional posts that say she’s in the stables when she isn’t. Felice’s mother, believing this to be true, is delighted—until in 1.3 it comes out that Sara has been riding Felice’s horse instead, and Felice’s positive relationship with Rousseau is just a facade.

What holds true for horses holds true for boys, too. Felice’s mother is constantly putting pressure on her about boys, specifically in the way she encourages Felice to pursue Wilhelm. The fact that Felice knows stuff about the line of succession and whose babies get what rank (something she explains to the beleaguered American Maddie) suggests that Mamma Ehrencrona isn’t just interested in Felice having a nice boyfriend, she’s actually bringing marriage and babies into it. Which… is a lot. It’s so “a lot” that Felice rebels against her mother at the end of 1.3 by hooking up with August.

Although Felice’s initial act is one of rebellion, she ends up trapped back in the same place she started from, where socioeconomic status and performative gendered nonsense is prized above all else. August, after all, is still from the nobility and still comes with all that baggage Felice is getting from her parents. Felice’s relationship with August is very bad, especially behind closed doors where he’s constantly questioning her about who she’s with and where she’s going. To Hillerska at large, however, they give off the impression of being the school power couple. During moments of characters scrolling there phones we can see that in addition to being seen together, they also included photos of themselves together on one another’s instagrams. This contrast between the image and the reality of Felice’s relationship with August echoes Felice’s selfies with Rousseau.

As for Sara… well, if you nodded along to what I said before about the special teenage girl who is the only one who can tame the troubled horse, you probably already know where I’m going with this. Sara and August’s relationship doesn’t really come out of nowhere. Rather, they’ve spent an entire season taking a step closer to one another, literally and figuratively, every few scenes. You know the cliché where the horse girl visits the troubled horse every day and gets a little bit closer each time until the horse finally trusts the girl enough to eat sugar cubes out of her hand? Yeah. Same rhythm/pacing as the Sara/August scenes, and it only gets more obvious in season 2. That scene where he’s having a panic attack and she calms him down? He is a scared horse. We’re all on the same page, right? I hope we’re all on the same page.

In some ways, it’s not a perfect analogy and doesn’t always match up in a one to one way. Most horse girl books stay wish fulfillment and there isn’t always a moment of “the horse is Bad Actually, and we will remind you that the horse released a sex video of the horse girl’s brother.” But I think the horse girl novel coding speaks to what makes a relationship with August appealing to Sara in the first place. Deep down Sara wants to be special and exceptional to someone else, and she feels she understands things about August (and how to keep his emotions regulated) that other people don’t. As Sara sees it, she’s taken time to build trust with August. It’s the two of them together against really difficult odds, and she’ll take the difficulty that comes with that.

Also, while we’re here, the first place August kisses Sara is the stables. And there’s that entire conversation Felice and Sara have when Sara comes back after having sex in 2.3. I’m just saying. It’s right there. We’re all doing the math, right? We all see it?

People Of Good Breeding

Here’s where it gets even more icky.

In season 2, Felice decides to quit riding. This makes keeping Rousseau a bad investment, so Felice plans to sell him, and Sara decides to tag along. When a particular family expresses interest in Rousseau and comes to Hillerska to assess him, Sara swiftly dubs them the Worst Kind of Horse People.

What makes the Worst Kind of Horse People so upsetting to Sara? They don’t know how to respond to Rousseau, and they don’t treat him with the compassion Sara does. They’re willing to endure Rousseau’s volatile moods, however, because of he’s a thoroughbred and has a prestigious pedigree.

Things I did not know before watching a documentary about it: apparently all the thoroughbreds that exist in the world now are descended from three historical stallions. They are inbred af. IRL people who own thoroughbred stallions now will charge ~$50,000 per insemination in like a horse breeding hookup situation. Which… what? What the literal fuck. I get that this is a hobby people feel very passionate about and find fulfillment in, so I am trying not to be judgmental… and also that is a lot of money (more than half my yearly salary) for just one instance of breeding horses. So I’m still wrapping my head around it.

It stands to reason that the Worst Kind of Horse People could want Rousseau for his, um, genetic material. Anyway, let’s talk about the monarchy and the line of succession.

At the same time that the Worst Kind of Horse People are expressing interest in Rousseau, the royal court has started to pay attention to August. According to the YR fictional family tree, August is next in line for the throne after Wilhelm. Kristina’s advisors have plans to groom (see what I did there) August as a backup heir if Wilhelm keeps insisting on having free will. (Really! The audacity! Good for Wilhelm, though, we’re all rooting for him.)

For August, the idea of being elevated to spare prince, or potentially even king one day, feels liberating. Based on how he’s acting at the shooting range after his visit to the palace, he sees a chance for himself to leave his crimes behind and not be caught in his guilt. But I want to pause for a moment and consider the scene in 2.4 where he gets the phone call from the palace. Jan-Olof asks August a series of privacy-invading questions, including ones that touch on his sexual history. The final question (and therefore the one the writers want you to notice) is simply “are you heterosexual?” to which August replies that he is.

There’s a tempting rabbit hole I could go down about what it means for August to go beyond just engaging in toxic heterosexual behavior, and actually embrace heterosexuality as a label, and because it’s a tempting rabbit hole I will save it for another meta. What I want to focus on here is how sinister this scene feels. Part of that is because we (and Sara) know how blatantly and easily August is lying, and that he’s slipping back into his old, status-loving, drug-abusing self. In light of the established Rousseau parallels, however, I can’t ignore the subtext that the royal court is interested in whether or not they can “domesticate” August just enough that they can get him to eventually marry the right girl and produce a legitimate heir to the throne. That’s it. Nothing more. They aren’t interested in helping him with his addiction or getting him into therapy for his disordered eating or helping him process his dad’s death—all of which would put him in a better emotional place, and maybe even prevent him from returning to the emotionally dangerous mindset he was in when he outed Wilhelm and Simon to the entire world. On a metaphorical level, the royal court is basically treating August as livestock. Which. Is gross, actually.

Now, don’t get me wrong. We all know that August himself perpetuates a lot of gross sexual behavior toward others. Aside from releasing the video, he’s selfish and borderline emotionally abusive toward Felice, especially about sex. He constantly eggs on his classmates to stand up on the breakfast table and brag about their “conquests.” He eventually becomes extremely sweet and tender with Sara, but that’s only after he’s tried to get her to sell him drugs, bullied her family about not being able to eat lunch on Parents’ Weekend, and kissing her without her consent in the stables. August is very much Not Someone Who Respects The Sexual And Reproductive Autonomy Of Others and yet! There is this whole entire system of hereditary monarchy behind him, aiming to control every aspect of his life and violate his privacy, and he is a teenager. It’s not okay that they do it to Wilhelm either. We know they’re trying to do it to Wilhelm even now, and we get the sense they did it to Erik too, given the lines about the OnlyFans girlfriend needing to be hushed up.

I think it’s easy to say, well, August is power hungry and amoral enough that he consents to having his privacy invaded, and he does, but I legitimately wonder if he knows what he’s getting into. (Case in point: I think August really believes that the palace crowd would let him publicly date Sara. And, no. Even if Sara weren’t Simon’s sister, I can’t imagine they’d be excited about him dating the neurodivergent daughter of an immigrant mother and a father with a shady drug past. At the very least they’d force Sara to sign some pretty hefty NDAs.) My point is, you can consent to something and still end up in a weird power dynamic that’s bad for you and doesn’t honor where your feelings are. You can be a person of privilege who harms others, while still being harmed by systems of privilege yourself. And that’s precisely part of what makes August a compelling and complicated character.

Look, I just wish more people nowadays had seen the legendary 1990s anime Revolutionary Girl Utena because they would then get what I mean when I say that August isn’t Akio, he’s Saionji.

…I’m off track. My point is that the reproductive subtext in that scene is deeply unsettling and August’s nakedness in front of the window only makes it moreso. Right. Moving on.

What’s Next? The Horse and His Boy

(Apologies for naming this last section after a problematic Narnia book.)

Man. I wish I could just write August off and clamor for his untimely and violent death without a care in the world. The reality is that I’m under a curse, and that curse makes me want to see him eventually sort his life out, one way or another.

Let me be clear about what that does and doesn’t mean: I don’t mean that I don’t want to see him face consequences for the very real crime he did. I don’t mean I think he should suddenly be perfect and woke. I don’t mean that he and Sara should get back together. I don’t mean I want to see everyone forgive him. I just mean I want August to honestly confront the truth of his life so far and go “you know what? I suck. I can do better. I’m not even sure how, and I’m gonna make mistakes along the way, but maybe I can suck less.” And maybe he takes one tiny step where you’re like, if he keeps taking steps like this, this kid could turn out okay by age 40. Maybe. I feel incredibly exposed even saying this, since I know August is so widely despised by so many people in fandom, and I know other people who are okay with letting him stay in the villain zone, but I also feel like if anyone can pull off this story, it’s Lisa Ambjörn. She gets nuance, and she gets young people their flaws and their family conflicts. If YR were a different show, with a different writer and a different morality underlying the stories it tells, I would feel differently. But I don’t, and I think Lisa can pull off a complex story like that. So here we are.

(For examples of YA novels that pull off this kind of narrative catharsis, check out the character arc of the protagonist Deposing Nathan by Zack Smedley. Or pay attention to the uncle’s character arc in Randy Ribay’s Patron Saints of Nothing.)

There’s a very soft acting choice of Malte’s in 2.3, where August goes to meet Sara in the stables, to ask if she wants to come by and talk later. Sara’s getting Rousseau settled for the evening, and August reaches out and pats Rousseau on the nose. If I’m remembering the scene correctly, the usually temperamental Rousseau is calm in response.

We’ve seen August act self-aggrandizing before so he can build himself up and threaten other people. We’ve also seen him engage in escalating acts of self-harm (via excessive exercising and calorie counting) when he isn’t living up to his own strict standards. What we don’t see a lot is him having compassion for himself. If we accept that Rousseau is August’s shadow-self, then this nose pat is a rare moment of self-compassion. It’s at this point in the season that August realizes he needs to exist in community with other people, and that he needs to actually process his overwhelming emotions instead of lashing out at others. He makes an effort to try and quit using drugs, genuinely connects with Sara, and even briefly defends Simon when Vincent gets on Simon’s case after the indoor rowing match. It’s a positive trajectory and a glimmer of what could have been. That lasts until his visit to the palace, when August is offered the position as Wilhlem’s backup and starts to go back to his old ways. Moreover, the pressure of becoming the spare creates new complications for August’s mental health, and he slides back into lashing out at others again.

At the end of the season, August views Rousseau as a commodity and buys him for Sara in a Grand Gesture (TM) that’s actually pretty alarming and could be categorized as love-bombing. Sara is not impressed (I suspect she’s witnessed Micke love-bombing Linda, and all her alarm bells are going off) and continues her trip to the bus stop so she can report him to the police.

I could talk about the police call and the part where Sara is playing with a small horse keychain at the bus stop, but that might be the topic for another meta. Instead I want to take a moment to think about the practical fact that August owns a horse now. This opens up a few questions: if Rousseau continues to be August’s shadow-self, what does it mean for August to buy and own Rousseau? Is August going to have to learn to take care of Rousseau now? How much farther can we extend this metaphor?

Patience, comrades. We’re almost to the finish line.

By buying Rousseau, August has allowed himself to be bought by the aristocratic power structure that’s been trying to maneuver him into royal life. He’s started to actually use the inheritance left for him by his father—not because he’s finally started to process his grief, but because he’s doubling down on the idea that he deserves his inherited wealth and that he can use it as lavishly as he wishes. What’s interesting is the way he thinks this makes him into someone Sara will stay in love with. There’s the quid pro quo of it all, which is the obvious surface reading, but there’s also another level wherein August has been raised to believe that this is the ideal of aristocratic masculinity, and therefore what Sara would be attracted to. He assumes Sara wants the prince (even if he has to be a little bit Machiavelli’s the Prince behind the scenes to play that role.) But Sara wants the trust and care and connection, and a bond that’s a little bit weird and unique and ultimately private. She also values honesty and accountability. Sara doesn’t want the prince—she wants the horse. But not the literal one. And not necessarily in a material ownership kind of way, either.

As we move into season 3, I find myself wondering what’s next for August and Rousseau. Like. August owns a horse now. Is he going to have to take care of it? Like is he going to have to learn how to groom Rousseau and muck stalls and such? I get that he’s rich and can probably pay someone to do that for him, but given the way that Rousseau is meant to be a commentary on August’s character arc, there’s a lot of narrative potential (and dare I say… humor?) in August just having to learn to take care of the horse his own damn self in season 3. I feel like it could allow for some great moments of introspection on August’s part, if done well, and could lead him to a place of radical acceptance. We don’t even have to rule out August going to jail for his crimes, but knowing that jail is not the kind of thing that will happen in the first five minutes of the first five episodes, why not facilitate some internal character growth via horse chores first?

Alternately, August will just keep doubling down on making someone else do the horse chores. This would be consistent, if nothing else. He may just continue to be horrible, in which case I am worried for Rousseau.

(Please, Lisa Ambjörn and/or god and/or Epona. I am so desperate for this as-of-present unrepentant fuckboy to have to do symbolic horse chores that end up being about him finally coming to terms with the impact his counterrevolutionary behavior has on others. Is that so wrong?)

Anyway, I guess we won’t know until season 3. Thank you for sticking around if you’ve read this far—it ended up being way longer than intended! I’m back on tumblr after being away since 2015 or so, so this post feels like a wild way to reappear. But I’m glad I shared my thoughts all the same. Have a blessed Saturday, fandom.

#young royals #young royals meta #august young royals #sara eriksson #felice ehrencrona #unabashed horse girl propaganda #mfa musings