#without those complexities being handwaved as abuse

[comradekatara]

Re: Zuko sexism and fandom: I think that a LOT of people are just genuinely unwilling to actually view Zuko's bad behaviour as actually consequential. He gets "forgiven" by the Gaang and he has a big dramatic duel and then he rules the Fire Nation so it's fine actually. If it wasn't fine he wouldn't have been forgiven, like Jet! They use the lens of end-of-series Zuko, influenced by how the Gaang forgives him, to then retroactively handwave away his earlier behaviour and view it as if end of series Zuko is just misguidedly doing those things, rather than it being an actual expression of what he believes in and his morality at that point in time. Part of it is an abundance of sympathy and projection because he's the most explicit (and arguably only explicit, because other child abuse victims are never injured or attempted-murdered that we know of, and that's the bar for many viewers. Neither are any other than Zuko positioned piteously or as victims of Serious Injustice.) child abuse victim in the show and we see so MUCH of his internal struggle. For like a whole book. There's also a consistent trend of viewing the Fire Nation as Yes, Actually, being better than the other societies, they just shouldn't have tried to spread it via war, so yes Zuko is ✨indoctrinated✨ but in a feminist galaxy brained way not a bad fascist way. So the colonialism would've been fine if people had just agreed with how great the Fire Nation is! Pretty much the entirety of Zuko's bad behaviour is handwaved away as "he's a good guy who had a bad life! We forgive him for all of it, he's trying!" And to a lot of viewers, it's also "he's also hot and I've had a crush on him since I was like 14!". He's genuinely a huge asshole to pretty much everyone around him like, almost 24/7, for the majority of the show. And he has his reasons but he's still caused a lot of harm, and that we see? he's basically only revised his views on violent colonialism, making his Anger other people's problem, and some parts of racism. He only ever addresses what he's done to the Gaang and Uncle to. Does he buy Song another ostrich horse? Does he give Kyoshi reparations? Did he ever find out if that farming family with the kid Lee were harmed for harbouring a FIRE NATION PRINCE? What did he do to apologise to the Southern Water Tribe? Whatever he did to apologise to and thank Mai, if anything, I can guarantee it wasn't enough. That's just his personal stuff, never mind his policy choices as the New Fiery Dictator. It's so boring and frustrating how much people gloss over his jagged edges, because without those edges his narrative and how he fits into the world and story just collapses completely.

you’re so right about all of this. I think his final scene with mai is especially emblematic of how his resolution is framed as “and they all lived happily ever after” even though I remember perfectly well how he treated that poor girl so I’m just yelling at her to run away the whole scene. although I will say that stealing song’s ostrich horse was probably his most justifiable crime just bc if I was a disfigured burn victim and someone tried to touch my face without asking I’d also consider committing petty theft against them. ngl. he still does owe her a new ostrich horse though. and of course framing his ascension as some grand victory is thematically/telelogically appropriate, but I highly doubt he would be like. good at firelording. but that’s for another post. ppl really like smoothing out his edges and treating him as if he’s beyond reproach when everyone only finds him so compelling in the first place because his flaws are so obvious, so they assume he’s more “complex” than the other characters (and also more relatable, but that’s for another post too). it’s actually kind of funny if you think about it. “he’s the best because he’s so noticeably flawed and therefore so complex but also I love him so he doesn’t have any flaws actually and is probably a feminist socialist who loves eating pussy and listening to women.” and this is also lowkey how ppl talk about sokka too but at least sokka does actually do those things, zuko doesn’t even pretend to😭 anyway. i keep saying today that you guys couldn’t handle revolutionary girl utena, but you guys REALLY couldn’t handle revolutionary girl utena…

#which reminds me that I still need to finish that sokka/nanami essay #estra-die-ol #asks #also ofc zuko and mai are both gay. but that’s beside the point #zuko #hot takes #mai #song #sorry I know she meant well but I hate that girl!!!! #she has smug nurse energy 2 me #like no u can’t touch some guy u just met learn some fucking BOUNDARIESS #anyway. he was still wrong for stealing her mode of transportation lmfao

[rhisardthewizard]

“John Winchester was abusive” 

-Reductionist

-one-dimensional

-disservice to the characters of Sam and Dean and also John

“John Winchester was a flawed and deeply traumatized person who tried his best and failed utterly” 

-supported by canon

-doesn’t paint S&D as victims

-doesn’t delegitimize the complex relationship John had with the narrative and his environment and his kids

#John Winchester #supernatural #I want to be able to discuss family dynamics following extreme shared trauma #without those complexities being handwaved as abuse #I'm not saying John didn't fuck up spectacularly and repeatedly #I'm certainly not saying his actions didn't scar his sons for life #but people are more than their trauma #and as the child of complex and traumatized people #please stop victimizing us by reducing the scope of our familial bonds to the worst parts of our relationships with our parents #spn #sam winchester #dean winchester

[textualdeviance]

Seeing the shit going down on Twitter this afternoon and at the risk of attracting an angry mob (which I'll just block, but still): I honestly just do not get being into that ship/stanning that character. I mean, I've had some oddball ships in my past so I'm not in a position to judge, I guess, but I just don't get why. What's the appeal? If it was a kink thing or maybe a personal-demon-exorcising one I'd get it, but that's not what I've seen among most. I'm seeing genuinely romantic framing and that's just bizarre to me. I've only been on the fringes of the shipping corner of this fandom up until now, so maybe I've missed something, but I'm still confused.

I'm a sucker for a good redemption arc, and I get the mind-control aspect involved, so I can see he's not 100% evil. I can also see (as I mentioned previously) why she wants to save him: to prove to herself she can be saved, too. But I still don't understand why anyone would think this is inherently romantic and an inherently better relationship choice for her than the good guys who love her and aren't, y'know, mass murderers. Or, really, just about any other potential ship, or her being ace or choosing celibacy or something.

There are some easy answers, of course: Some people can only see love in one very narrow flavor: an allocishet, same-race, male-dominant dyad. That's what's been shoved into our collective brains as the definition of "romance" for countless generations. And since this story doesn't have any other shipping options for her that meet those criteria, and some folks can't understand or appreciate a story without that kind of romance, that's what they land on.

I think there's also a built-in corner of this fandom that is inherently all about understanding and forgiving violent white dudes. The whole prequel trilogy certainly attracted that kind of apologist. Because really, who hasn't had the impulse to murder a bunch of children because a relationship didn't go the way you wanted it to? And on a meta level, there's certainly plenty of that kind of shit in the real world, too. Entire religions have been built on the notion of forgiving even the most horrible people if they just say they're sorry when they're two minutes from death. Certainly a convenient moral framework for people who enjoy doing horrible shit and want to get away with it. And let's also not discount the gaslighting of millions of girls and women into believing that they have some sort of responsibility to patiently love abusive men until they stop being abusive. I mean, that's a lot of the whole 50 Shades phenom. Is that what's going on here? Maybe? I don't know.

Some stories have more moral complexity. There are sympathetic bad guys and ostensible good guys with a rotten heart. I personally think we've had enough of that sort of thing in recent years, but it's certainly common. But that's not what this story is. At its core, it's a kids' story with clearly defined good and bad sides. I mean, it's entirely about the good guys fighting to free the galaxy from magical space Nazis. That's literally what the bad guys were modeled on. So when I see people framing the main magical space Nazi in this part of the story as boyfriend material, I can't help but be bewildered. Do they not know he's supposed to be a Nazi? Do they not think Nazis are inherently bad? Do they think destroying entire solar systems is just a youthful mistake that can be handwaved if he does one good thing to make up for it? In the real world, even people who are blackmailed or brainwashed into doing something terrible still get held legally responsible for it, because it's presumed that almost everyone over the age of 7 who is capable of being aware of reality knows certain things are always wrong. It's reasonable to expect that that kind of bright-line morality is the foundation of this particular fictional world, too.

I try to be a "ship what you want" sort of person. It's fiction. It's pop culture. It's fun to play with virtual dolls and put them together in interesting combinations. But sometimes I run across something that's just so weird and creepy to me that I can't help being bothered by it (and when that thing is also being championed by fans who are terribly behaved, well, that just makes it worse.) I'm sure there are explanations for it, but I have to say that I doubt most of those explanations are going to come from a place of healthy perspective and moral judgment. I'm willing to listen to reasoned arguments to the contrary, but from where I'm sitting now, it's hard not to assume that almost all of the support of this is coming from some very icky angles.

[nossbean]

Top 7 comfort movies

I’m roughly 12 years late to the party but I was tagged by @ajoblotofjunk and @ilikeblue ! Thanks so much!

So confession up front - when looking for comfort stuff I actually tend towards TV! So here’s a mix of comfort media XD Also, like, in which I ramble only semi-coherently about things I love. 😅

1. Singin’ in the Rain

I... have no deep reasons for loving this. I just - I love Cosmo Brown. I love tap dancing. I love the earnestness of this whole flick and the OT3-ness that is just, like, everywhere in this damn movie. The songs are catchy, the dancing is impressive as all get out, it’s a lot of fun. The dorky scenes about enunciation - even if I could do without the sexist overtones to Lena’s storyline. I used to work in TV, so the stuff about where to put the mics was RELATABLE (if... not exactly the same ofc). The cast is attractive. There is 1 space mom (Debbie Reynolds) and 1 space aunt (Cyd Charisse) in it, which tickles me xD 

Let’s see, I’ve given random headcanons on Singin’ before, but let’s go with this one. When watching it the first time in my twenties and “Make ‘em Laugh” came on, my pal said with such deep earnest and pained joy, “Cosmo is doing all this just to make Don laugh,” and I think about that every time I watch that sequence. 

THE LOVE. it’s eVERYWHERE.

2. Parks and Recreation

Look, I can totally see how Parks & Rec isn’t for everyone. But to me, it’s a half-hour long televisual hug of people doing their best to love each other and make the world better, with helpings of political commentary and utterly absurd comedy. It definitely doesn’t come without caveats and is already dated in some ways, but in a weird way, I appreciate that Schur & Goor have grown in their politics that missteps taken in P&R aren’t repeated in and are often actually rectified in B99 & The Good Place. I deeply, deeply love the relationship between Ben and Leslie, and how hard Leslie loves: people, Pawnee, politics, public service. The families-of-choice vibes are strong in this one and there are few things I am more of a suck for than families-of-choice. I could ramble endlessly on this one, so I’ll cut myself off there.

Anyhoops, I have very many feelings about P&R and if you’ve been wondering whether to watch it but holding back for whatever reason, please DEFINITELY message me and I will share with you my many thoughts on why you should watch, where there might be squicks, and why you should actually start with season 2, episode 21 (yes, even the completionists amongst you).

Bonus gif:

3. Jurassic Park

... I love dinosaurs, and I love Dr Ellie Satler. She is amazing and if there was a gif of her with the triceratops I would have chosen that one. Between her general personality/competency, her unabashed feminism and her face, she remains the best 🥰Also I appreciate that Lex also got to save the day, in a way v specific to her skillset and that the film didn’t dismiss her despite being v scared and way outside her comfort zone in the outdoorsy survival parts of the film. 

I also have fond memories of going to see it for my sixth birthday and going to the bathroom when the T-rex eats Gennaro, so not totally understanding why all my pals were terrified when I got back. Ofc I then had fears that a t-rex would stomp and crush our home, but *handwaves* I grew out of that fear. And grew a new one.

4. Avatar: the Last Airbender

Ho-hum. Where to start with Avatar. Lmao, in the context of Game of Thrones (to which it has been ofc compared lately) just having a long-form television show which delivers on the vast majority of its themes and premises is a relief and satisfying. But, I liked Avatar long before I was back in the GOT-verse so. It’s a compelling narrative, carefully constructed and mindful of the stories and values it’s putting out into the world. And those stories, values and themes aren’t light. It tackles war, genocide, familial abuse, revenge, and redemption alongside things like building family, accepting differences, forgiveness, and honesty. That said, it balances those things with children-being-children, and moments of grace and humour. Each character is well-drawn, their personalities and choices respected, and the idea that character-drives-plot is masterfully demonstrated. Hey look - we’ve got some families-of-choice vibes here too!

I think I’ve previously rambled in the tags of a post about Katara specifically. But as someone who has, ah, an appreciation for anger and an awareness that women + anger = bad, societally speaking, Katara was a breath of fresh air. She is as compassionate as she is angry, and while there are philosophical differences between characters when it comes to her acting on her anger, the anger itself is never questioned or denigrated, by other characters or by the narrative itself. Her anger is never used as a tool to invalidate her other characteristics, or the reverse (her compassion, her nurturing side, etc, are never used to invalidate her anger), and she means a lot to me.

Also idk what this is but it came up when I searched Avatar and if I have to see it and be slightly confused and embarrassed then so do you:

5. Pacific Rim

lmao I rambled so much about the past few I’m tempted to just say: I JUST LOVE IT OK. Which is true, but. A bit more. Pacific Rim is like two hours of hope. I think I have in my queue a post that describes the relationship between Mako and Raleigh as two hurt & hardened warriors who nonetheless find softness with each other, and that is 100% true. But that ignores how in many ways, the same is true for Stacker and Mako, and even Stacker and Raleigh to degrees. Stacker’s adoption of Mako is very important. A black man with an East London accent being the most vital person in the movement to save the world is important. The multi-national, scrappy and semi-guerilla response to a weird af global threat, and the related deep humanity in facing the end of the world and hoping against hope that there’s a chance, also deeply resonant. 

It’s also stunning: Guillermo del Toro and his colour schemes, y’all. The fight scenes are so GOOD and INTERESTING and just so blatantly done by someone who knew exactly what they were doing and loved every minute of it. The idea of the drift and of drift compatibility is lovely: that philosophical belief in the interconnectedness of people. The (somewhat blink-and-you-miss-it) background class commentary (del Toro, icu) 👏. 

And, ofc, as with many on this list: the centering of Mako, the dedication to playing out the full emotional arc, of her having complex emotions which are respected and acknowledged by other characters and the narrative... yes please thank you.

6. Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries

Women being competent and supported is deeply comforting. I’ve particularly found myself rewatching MFMM as the world is on fire. Just - watching Phryne build her family (families of choice!) and her community, get her men, and win the day through cleverness and determination is heartening.

7. The Holiday

I love Kate Winslet’s arc in this. But honestly I think much of my love for this centres on the fact that I saw it when v much longing to move to the UK and it is the most charming/romantic portrayal of Britain and that appealed to 20 y-o K who was so desperate to go. That said, the arc between Iris & Arthur (eg the gif below) makes me cry every time, so there’s that.

As mentioned, I’m v late to this game so I don’t know who’s been tagged! If you haven’t done it yet, please consider yourself tagged & let me know when you’ve done it! (Yes, I definitely do mean you!)

#movie meme #play with me tag #i ran out of steam a bit at the end there oops #gunna add the #long post #tag to this coz i rambled a lot #asjkjklagsa

[bigskydreaming]

And another thing!

Can we like, just collectively fuck offffffff with this whole ‘the natural opposite to Bruce’s abusive relationship with Jason is Jason having a warm, nurturing relationship with Talia after she adopts a pseudo maternal role with him when she dumps him in the Lazarus Pit’?

This trend has kinda been around forever, but I feel like its been popping up in like, every Jason-centric fic I read lately, and uggggh, dislike. Look, I actually feel no desire to defend Bruce and his parenting, ever. I try and go with AUs and canons like Young Justice where he’s like, Bad At It, but not to the point of the absolutely toxic abusive shit he’s guilty of in various writers’ runs in the comics, but that’s just because I want his kids to have nice things and his kids all at least WANTED Bruce to be a good father at one point. But if your take on Bruce is that he’s abusive despite his best intentions and the best thing for any one of his kids is to move on and get the hell away from him, I’m not gonna argue with you, or try and defend him in the slightest. I will read the fuck out of that, happily.

Until you try and pretend Talia’s not...just as bad?

Like, okay, I have complicated feelings on Talia, mostly because the shared universe nature of comics makes it impossible not to. She’s an extremely nuanced and complex character and has been for decades, which means I really enjoyed her and found her every bit as compelling as Bruce, until....Morrison happened. And I loathe Morrison’s dumbass writing and try and pay it as little heed as possible, so wherever possible, I go with one of the takes or canons or AUs where Bruce and Talia had fully consensual sex and she just never told him about Damian til later, because I will never ever ever excuse the date rape interpretation of Damian’s conception. And I’m fully aware that it was written that way largely BECAUSE Morrison’s a dumbass and most likely didn’t think through the full implications of what he probably just saw as an expedient way to give Bruce a longlost kid he knew nothing about, or how it would throw Talia’s character under the bus. It’s different with Dick and Tarantula, because Catalina didn’t have those decades of prior characterization and attachment, her agenda was pretty clear from not long after she debuted. (Although, we gotta talk about how just like with the aggressive man of color stereotype, the only times comics show a man being raped by a woman, its a woman of color. Pin in that for now).

So I mean, I don’t automatically write off Talia unless we’re dealing with a fic, AU or run in canon that clearly expresses its going with the version of events where she date raped Bruce. I vastly prefer being able to still enjoy her as the compelling equal and foil to Bruce that she was for a long fucking time before that. 

But even with that, the idea that she’s a superior parent to Bruce and a convenient candidate to step into the void he leaves in any of his sons’ lives, let alone Jason, and just...Do Better....umm...how about could we not?

Like, YMMV obviously, but to me the entire point of Talia in the context of her relationship with Bruce has always been she and Bruce are as alike as they are at odds. Selina and Bruce, the appeal of their romantic dynamic is they’re opposites. Talia and Bruce....they have far more in common than they don’t. They have different goals, different lengths they’re willing to go to, they’re not the SAME by any means, but they understand each other in a way few other characters do, because deep down, they always GET why the other one does what they do.

So I mean, I’m not saying Talia is inherently WORSE than Bruce, I’m just arguing that even with all of Bruce’s flaws, she’s usually not any BETTER. Like...its pretty much a lateral move.

Sure, you could easily WRITE Talia as being a loving maternal figure to Jason or Damian or anyone....but just the same as you could write Bruce being a healthy paternal figure to them. The potential is there in either character, depending on what takes in canon you choose to focus on and you clarify where and in what ways you’re diverging from any takes where they both devolve into outright abuse of their kids. Because both definitely have, and thus, you don’t get to just....handwave away any problems with Talia’s character (and parenting) and default to her as this superior parental figure on the basis that hey, she’s not Bruce. 

Like, okay....you want to write Jason moving on from Bruce and rejecting his attempts to reconcile because he’s come to view Bruce as having essentially raised them all to be child soldiers? I WILL TOTALLY BACK YOU ON THAT. I mean, the dude’s memorial to his SON, was a case containing his uniform and a plaque that said A GOOD SOLDIER. Case made, you know? Not one fucking argument from me. Your take is valid, and Jason’s complaint has my full backing.

But here’s the thing....if your fic does NOT significantly diverge from canon prior to Damian’s joining the rest of the Batfam, if it does NOT show Damian having a WILDLY different upbringing than he did in all versions of canon, and by extension, resulting in Damian having at least a somewhat different approach to interactions, worldview, mannerisms and ideology.....

Then no matter what relationship you craft between Jason and Talia, you are STILL swapping out his parental figure - who he resents for raising him as a child soldier - for another parental figure, who LITERALLY RAISED HER KID AS A CHILD SOLDIER.

Like, hellooooooo? Any take where Damian grew up in the League of Assassins without Talia objecting to him being trained with them or getting him the hell out of there, is a take where Talia literally does the exact same thing you’re holding against Bruce on Jason’s behalf. (While, I might add, ignoring that while Tim at least was well into  his teenage years by the time Bruce became his mentor, Dick, Cass and Damian ALL have this child soldier upbringing in common with Jason. It really doesn’t work to single Jason out as the only one who was victimized by their parent in this way).

But okay. Let’s say you’ve got an explanation for Damian’s upbringing or have written that differently. If you’re going with the take that Jason has a connection with Talia now because Talia’s the one who put him in the Pit and either brought him back to life or restored him to full coherency, then almost inevitably (because you COULD do this differently, but I’ve yet to see a take where a writer DOES)....you’re also going with the take that before coming back to Gotham, Jason trained with the League of Assassins, and this is how he was so competent by the time he went up against Bruce and the others, given that he wasn’t nearly as skilled back when he died at age fifteen.

And it really, really, REALLY bugs the fuck out of me that people so rarely spend much time or focus looking critically at Jason’s time with the League of Assassins, and how that contributed to his ideology and methodology as the Red Hood.

And this is a complaint I have both with fics/writers/headcanons that are pro-Jason and anti-Jason. 

Again, don’t get me wrong. I honestly don’t have a problem with Jason’s initial return to Gotham. Like, he can murder the fuck out of every rapist and crime boss he wants, I’ll be in the stands holding the OMG LOOK AT MY BABY, LOOK HOW GOOD AT MURDERING ASSHOLES HE IS sign and doing high kicks up and down the bleachers. 

But ESPECIALLY if your take on Bruce and his raising of Jason is that he was abusive and trained him as a child soldier.....it absolutely IMO does not work to overlook the role the League of Assassins...and by extension Talia....played in shaping the man he was when he first returned to Gotham. 

And they abso-fucking-lutely played a role.

Because Jason is not Bruce, was never going to be Bruce, was always going to clash with Bruce’s ideology in ways even Dick never did, especially when it came to killing. Even before Jason died, it was very well established that they did not see eye to eye there and likely never were going to. It IS part of Jason’s core characterization that he fundamentally disagrees on the subject of killing criminals, the worst of the worst. Whether you think he actually killed Felipe Garzonas before Bruce benched him, or whether you think he didn’t, or that it was an honest accident...this was a hard line they were always going to end up on opposite sides of, and that inevitably was destined to create at least SOME kind of divide in the family.

But thing is, arguing that its okay to kill a serial rapist they have evidence that should convict him, but who keeps getting away with it because of diplomatic immunity and legal loopholes that show how ineffective a corrupt justice system is.....is NOT the same thing as arguing even to kill a murderer in the name of avenging your son that he murdered.....and even THAT is still along way away from.....

tossing eight heads in a duffel bag down onto a table in the middle of a meeting of local crime bosses as an intimidation tactic.

Felipe? That was Jason’s own personal thoughts and morality, his own perspective on right and wrong at work there, 100% him. The Joker? That was a natural, easy to follow extrapolation of those same thoughts and perspective and how they might change and grow as a result of the trauma of what the Joker did to him and how it affected him.

But Jason’s tactics when he first came back to Gotham weren’t either of those things. They were textbook League of Assassins methodology and justification.

And its just fucking WEIRD to discount that when examining his character and how he changed from the Robin he was to the Red Hood he became.

Like, even with varying canon takes, the youngest Bruce took Jason in at has him at about twelve. He wasn’t a trained acrobat like Dick, he was a malnourished street kid with none of the head start on his training that Dick came to Bruce with, already having it under his belt. Everything Jason knew how to do as Robin, the detective work, swinging around Gotham on grappling hooks, various martial arts forms and mastery of weapons....Bruce had to train him in all that from scratch, and that took time. Jason was at the earliest still only like 13 or so when he became Robin. And pretty much every take I’ve ever seen on his death has him at around fifteen when the Joker killed him. That’s two, at most three years of time spent training and being Robin, under Bruce’s tutelage.

Then things split into two takes....some go with the sequence of events where Ra’s or Talia take Jason’s body right after his funeral and put him in the Lazarus Pit, others go with the sequence where he was resurrected on his own, and was found by Ra’s or Talia a year or two later, still largely catatonic, with them putting him in the Pit to heal his mind the rest of the way.

But either way, by the time Jason comes back to Gotham he’s put at around nineteen or twenty, with it usually said that it was five years after his death, and AT LEAST two or three of those years were spent training with the League of Assassins, or with other teachers thanks to Ra’s or Talia’s patronage.

So.....any way you cut it, if you’re going with a take where Jason’s skills post-Robin come from training with the League....he spent at LEAST as much time being trained by them, with their perspective, in their methods, according to their philosophies....as he spent being trained in all that by Bruce.

There is no angle here in which they didn’t play EVERY BIT as much of a role in shaping him as the man he resents for raising him as a child soldier! With it also largely unacknowledged that even WITHOUT the effects of Pit Madness from the Lazarus Pit, you’re talking about a KID, someone who was either fifteen or at most seventeen by the time the League started training him....who is recovering from a trauma the likes of which pretty much nobody can even comprehend. While nursing a massive grudge and resentments born of insecurities and issues that carried over from his fucked up childhood from even BEFORE he met Bruce, and that Bruce absolutely failed in addressing. 

Again, no matter how you look at it, we’re talking about an extremely traumatized and impressionable and suggestible minor, desperate for anything to hold onto, any ideology to grasp hold of, any justification to make sense of all the shit that’s happened to him and where he goes from here, a purpose, a way to move FORWARD.

Like.....I’m all for Jason resenting Bruce raising him as a child soldier. What I DON’T get, is neither him nor anyone writing him in this way displaying the same awareness of the fact that....the League literally raised him to be a child soldier after he was brought back.

Same shit, different generals. That’s it. But again, that’s not an upgrade! That’s not better for Jason! That’s not an improvement over Bruce! It’s literally a lateral move!

And if your take includes ANY aspect of Talia training or overseeing Jason’s training to help him get back at her ex, someone she definitely has issues with at the time, no matter what canon or existing adaptation you’re going with.....you’re talking about someone literally weaponizing a traumatized teenager against her ex.

Ummm. Yeah. We’re just....not gonna call that better for Jason, or healthier for Jason, or in any way, shape or form to JASON’S benefit, okay? Cuz its not. No matter what his issues with Bruce, no matter what your issues with Bruce as a reader or writer, no matter where you fall on the ‘is killing bad people bad, y/n’ spectrum.....it is just deeply WRONG to just generically write Talia as forming a maternal bond with Jason WHILE he’s being trained by the League she holds enormous influence over, even if not as much as her father.....and act like this is the opposite of Bruce and how he failed Jason. Instead of just more of the same.

Like sorry not sorry Talia, but if you actually give a shit about Jason when he comes out of the Pit all traumatized and chock full of issues....you put him in fucking THERAPY, not How To Be An Assassin and REALLY Get Back At Your Dad 101.

And it doesn’t have to be that way, to be clear. You can write Talia taking off with Jason and toddler Damian in the middle of the night, abandoning the League of Assassins to take both of them far away and hide them so Jason can heal and cope and find himself and Damian can grow up not learning how to poison people by age five. You do that, all my objections vanish, THAT is infinitely superior to Bruce’s parenting, and that’s a parental bond with Jason I can happily stan as being for his benefit and to his betterment.

But no fic where he debuts as the Red Hood with years of League training under his belt has that. And this oversight is realllllly starting to get on  my nerves, lol.

Again, from both sides of the Jason camp, pro and anti alike.

Cuz if you’re a Jason fan for any reason, no matter whether you’re in favor of him reconciling or bonding with any or all of the Batfamily or not, why WOULDN’T you want them acknowledging that who he is now and what he’s done as the Red Hood has every bit as much to do with the skills the League gave him and the philosophies the League taught him as it does with what he learned from Bruce? That he was conditioned in these things while in a highly vulnerable point in his life?

And if you’re not a Jason fan, no matter the reason, it is again, STILL a massive oversight not to acknowledge that his actions and agendas as the Red Hood stem from years of being trained as a teenage assassin while in a highly vulnerable and thus suggestible state and with a clear lack of other options or support systems to counter anything they taught him.

Like I said, I’m pro Red Hood, I love Jason, I agreed with him back when he was arguing with Bruce about Felipe Garzonas. Jason’s never targeted anyone but the worst of the worst and he’s always displayed an ability to see reason and back down, he’s not some mindless killing machine. I lean way more towards his philosophies than I do Bruce’s, even if I don’t always agree entirely, and part of my point here is like...this isn’t about judging Jason for his actions or like, ugh, I really like Jason but I think he’d be even better if he was less murder-y, you know, more like Dick.

But like...the rest of my point is that I just honestly don’t see Jason’s actions and professed ideologies as one hundred percent HIS natural perspective, not influenced to an unhealthy degree by others in a position to take advantage of him at more vulnerable times in his life and sway him more to their positions. And THAT’S my problem with how little people reflect on the role the League played in who he became, AND with the insertion of a maternal and nominally supportive bond with Talia that’s written as being superior and more to Jason’s benefit than anything he shared with Bruce.

LOL even when I don’t mean to, like I definitely didn’t when I started this post, I always seem to keep coming back to how alike Dick and Jason and their stories are and how well and how often they parallel each other, because its the exact same issue I have with Dick. They’re just a very easy way to point out certain things about the other.

Like, I’ve talked before about how I think Dick’s aversion to killing, not when others kill but when HE himself is presented with killing as an option - its really just him being terrified of disappointing Bruce and being abandoned by him if he does so, no matter that he’s an adult now. Because I DO agree and always have, that at the very least, Bruce was at times emotionally abusive with Dick and Jason at least, with a strong case to be made for Damian as well. (Tim’s harder to gauge given that most of his time under Bruce’s direct care was at a time when Bruce was overcompensating for all the things he missed with Jason and blamed himself for, and ever since Jason’s return, Tim’s written as being so independent and removed from Bruce’s influence that its more like Bruce rarely has the OPPORTUNITY to fuck things up with Tim to the degree he has with his other sons.)

Sorry. Digression. Point being, like, I do fully agree with the interpretation that Bruce’s rigid moral code and how forceful and insistent he was on imprinting it on Dick, Jason and Damian has at times been emotionally abusive, and I think the effect of that is most clearly demonstrated with Dick, due to the simple fact that Dick has spent more time under Bruce’s care and tutelage than all the others combined. 

So my problem with Dick’s aversion to killing and how its so often hyped up in canon and in fanfics as him being so like Bruce in this regard, or just a Boy Scout, or ‘too good’ or ‘too pure’ to ever kill, at least not without it ‘breaking him’....that’s got nothing to do with me wanting Dick to suddenly go all trigger happy and kill his enemies with no problem. It’s just because.....I don’t think its Dick’s moral code at work there. I think its Bruce’s, and the way Dick’s written sticking to it without any self-analysis of where it came from and WHY he clings to it so rigidly, I view as evidence of conditioning due to how he was raised. With Dick so focused on other areas where he pushed back against Bruce he’s never really realized that how thoroughly Bruce influenced him in this regard flew completely under his radar.

It’s not that I want Dick to kill more, its that I want his choice to kill or not to be based on HIS choices, HIS morality, and not just a kneejerk response to conditioning he’s never recognized as such because who doesn’t have blinders on in regards to parts of our childhoods, you know?

And then circling back to Jason, I went on that tangent to emphasize its the exact same thing there, just in reverse. It’s not even that I DON’T want Jason to kill his enemies, to have the same philosophy or ideology or methods as Bruce or Dick or Tim. It’s that I want his choice to kill or not to be based on HIS morality, as the result of conclusions he came to after having the time and space and distance to separate himself from his various teachers and surroundings and decide for himself just what it is he believes, what choices and instincts are his naturally, organically, and which ones are leftover from his training by the League, drilled in by his instructors - just as he’s taught himself to recognize when his old training and lessons from Bruce are kicking in.

Anyway.

tl;dr - Bruce sucks and is a terrible parent but lolololol unless you’re going well off the beaten path from canon and faaaaaar away from where the League of Assassins can get their hooks in Jason to any degree, like...Talia is not better. Let Jason be Jason, not just a child soldier raised by your general of choice and aimed in the general direction of philosophies you agree with more than their opposite.

#abuse cw #rape cw

[aion-rsa]

It’s Time for The Umbrella Academy to Truly Reckon with Vanya’s Trauma

https://ift.tt/3ifgKA2

The following contains spoilers for The Umbrella Academy season 2.

There’s so much to enjoy in The Umbrella Academy’s second season. The story is compelling, the character work is strong, and the music cues are incredibly on point. Season 2 effortlessly builds on many of the strengths of its predecessor, while placing its characters in new and intriguing situations. The dynamics between the Hargreeves children are richer and more complex than ever before, and the 1960s-era setting is just a ton of fun.

Season 2’s demonstrated ability to course correct for the better is precisely what makes its decision to double down one of the series’ worst character choices so frustrating. Two seasons in, The Umbrella Academy still has no idea what to do with Vanya, the most powerful Hargreeves child, whose long-simmering rage and pain almost destroyed the world…twice. Much of the series’ first season was more than willing to plumb the depths of Vanya’s emotional trauma, showing us in fairly explicit detail all the ways she had been abused, lied to, and generally rejected by those closest to her. But its second seems to have little to no interest in showing us how – or even if – the character is capable of truly healing.

At the end of season 1, the Hargreeves siblings go back in time to try and avert the apocalypse, ostensibly by helping Vanya heal and confronting the fact that they were as instrumental in her world-ending psychotic break as their dead father was. The show acknowledges the family’s complicity in Vanya’s fall – only Allison even vaguely objects to locking Vanya in a padded room after finding out about her powers, and that’s because she remembers being used to take away her sister’s agency herself when they were young. The rest of the siblings react just as they always have, choosing to isolate Vanya rather than attempt to deal with her problems head-on.

Therefore, the promise of addressing their failure with her in the series second season felt like a natural next step in Vanya’s story. But, instead, The Umbrella Academy itself chooses to ignore her pain in season 2, much the same way her siblings once did.

Instead of facing Vanya’s past and truly dealing with her messy relationships with all her siblings, season 2 treats her trauma like an afterthought. The pain and loneliness that defined her life up to this point are erased by a convenient, clunky bout of amnesia – she’s hit by a car almost as soon as she arrives in 1963 – a twist which largely frees her from the responsibility of the decisions she made last season.

Read more

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The Umbrella Academy Season 3: What To Expect

By Michael Ahr

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The Umbrella Academy Showrunner Answers Season 2’s Biggest Questions

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Vanya is never asked to look too closely at her previous choices – from writing a tell-all novel about her family secrets or slicing her sister’s throat – or to acknowledge the rage that drove her for so long. Even when she eventually learns several key facts about the life she doesn’t remember, including her attacks on her sister and her previous – now dead, by her hand – boyfriend, the show generally chooses to play the moment for laughs rather than growth. Klaus even drunkenly shushes Allison when the subject comes up at one point.

This is especially frustrating since season 2 initially hints that Vanya will cause another apocalypse because she doesn’t know who she is or understand what she’s capable of – basically because once again the siblings have shirked their duty of care toward her. This isn’t a problem that can – or should – be fixed by Luther’s quick attempt at an apology early in the season or the ten-minute conversation with the dead brother she barely knew at its end. It’s an issue that deserves to be faced head-on by the entire Umbrella Academy. That is ostensibly what the terms of their trip back in time were in the first place, after all.

Yes, there’s a certain joy to be found in Vanya’s season 2 storyline. Released from the constraints of who she’s always been and unburdened of the many lies her family told her throughout her life, her character feels freer and more genuine than ever before. Though her romantic subplot once again seems as though it’s happening on a totally different series for half the season, at least her connection with Sissy is based on something real. There’s perhaps an argument to be made that maybe this do-over is precisely what Vanya needed, to at least know that she was capable of being a different person than the rage-filled monster her father created.

But by erasing her choices without ever truly facing them, The Umbrella Academy denies Vanya the chance to truly grow in the same ways her siblings did this season. Throughout season 2, we’ve gotten to see Luther, Allison, and even Klaus decide the sort of people they want to be, outside of the influence of their family history. Vanya, to an extent, does that as well, building new connections of her own with Sissy and Harlan. But, because she doesn’t truly remember the family she once had, these decisions don’t carry quite the same weight for her. For Luther, whose life was almost solely defined by the Umbrella Academy up until this point, his decision to be a regular guy who pays bills and eats barbecue means something. Vanya’s…not so much.

By the time Vanya’s memories are forced back into her via electroshock torture the season’s almost over and the Hargreeves are dealing with another potential disaster that has taken precedence over healing the first one. Vanya has her old memories back alongside a slew of happier new ones, and everyone’s sort of forgiven one another, and it’s all fine. This isn’t a bad thing, per se. After all, dysfunctional sibling dynamics are what this show is best at.

But viewers deserve the chance to see Vanya face – and conquer – her demons on her terms, not just handwave them away with a convenient narrative excuse. Whether that means genuinely apologizing to Allison and the other family members she’s wronged, expressing remorse about Pogo’s death, or just spending some quality time talking out their murder pasts with Number Five – the other Hargreeves family misfit with a messy history of his own – The Umbrella Academy needs to allow Vanya the space to address the woman she once was while deciding the sort of hero she’ll become.

The post It’s Time for The Umbrella Academy to Truly Reckon with Vanya’s Trauma appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/33wHQOY

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

[medisinals]

1, 11, 17

questions for the mun, regarding the muse | @royalchemy | accepting!

1. What makes you the most emotional about your muse?

        I get emo thinking about the person he could have been compared to the person he became. He’s skilled and intelligent and empathetic and dedicated to doing what he can to help others, and he hasn’t lost any of those traits, but they’ve gotten so twisted and buried under his traumas and his need for control and his own starving self-interest. He has good intentions in many ways, and he often contributes net-positives to the world around him, but as a person, he’s just… real fucked up. He had the potential to be a truly good man. He is not.

11. What do you hate about your muse?

        I hate how complacent in his own awfulness he is. He doesn’t think of himself as good, but he does think of himself as someone who does what’s necessary- and by handwaving it all like that, he excuses himself from ever considering alternatives to his own behavior patterns (manipulating people, stealing blood, abusing his position of privilege & authority to get away with shit) and justifies continuing those behaviors indefinitely. The sort of moral surrender he lives with was helpful for him to navigate really bad situations in his past without losing all identity and all will to live, but he’s clung on to it far beyond its usefulness. 

        This is why I’ve never plotted any kind of redemption arc for Blackwell- even though he’s not wholly evil, what he is is stagnant. I don’t see him making any positive changes, because he refuses to believe that doing so would be possible.

17. Why do you think you connect to your muse?

Kronk voice: Well, you got me. By all accounts, it doesn’t make sense. 

        I really don’t know. I don’t have much in common with him. I don’t see much of my own story in the stories I tell with him. If I’m being honest, I don’t even like him.

        And yet I definitely do connect to him for some reason. Like, weirdly so, at times. There are times when I can’t get him out of my head; there are things I know about him that I never even had to ask myself. I guess… I don’t know. What draws me to him is… his complexity, I guess? I don’t even mean that in the edgy sense, I just mean… he’s weird and contradictory and full of unexpected things. I feel like I’m still figuring him out every time I write him, and that interests me. 

#royalchemy #out of condition | OOC #the human heart is told of nothing | ANSWERED

[faewinds]

SHANE RANT COMING THROUGH

I very rarely write anything on my tumblr, but today that changes, because yesterday I got 7 hearts with Shane and did all of this events one right after another due to my admittedly meandering path.

(There are spoilers, you were warned)

First Event: You wander up to Shane getting shwasted on the dock in the woods, and in a decidedly uncharacteristic act of charity and friendliness, he offers you a beer, but then you realize, no, he's just paying for you to sit through his sad!drunk ramblings. Starting disguised as a pseudo-intellectual conversation about life and our place in the universe, it quickly becomes a depression reveal, WHICH HE IMMEDIATELY DEFLECTS FROM by commenting on the fact that you chugged out beer, decreeing you a farmer, "after my own heart." He then, following the weeble-wobbling drunken tone of this dialogue, warns you against making it a habit, as you still have a bright future. Shane immediately has to leave, as he has a rumbly tummy, and ghosts.

Why This Annoyed Me: Thanks, dude, did Santa tell you that the only thing that beat out a pony and a will to live on my Christmas list this year was some asshole who will greet any attempt at conversation with some version of "Don't you have a job you should be doing?" until you get to 6 hearts, where he'll start asking why you're still hanging around because HE WAS BEING AN ASSHOLE ON P U R P O S E. That's def someone whose advice I can take seriously.

Second Event: Fucker is found in a pile of bottles in his room by his aunt who only comes in to his room after (it is implied) spending a hot minute trying knocking and having him open the door, which considering the amount of personal space this game usually handwaves for cutscenes, stood out. When you splash him to get him awake, he freaks and gets up, at which point his aunt, clearly nearing the end of her patience, asks what his deal is. It is more than a little worrying that in the little over 3 months since he moved in with Marnie, she has found him in either this state or one like it enough times that she so clearly at a loss for what to do, as Marnie's cutscenes and dialogue suggest that she is too practical a person for her to have just been ignoring it and hoping it'd go away. Shane, faced with his Aunt expressing her concern for him, counters with the classic, "You wouldn't understand," because that's a mature remark from a grown ass man in his late 20s. When Marnie, clearly desperate to try and get through to her nephew asks about his plans and goals, clearly trying to give him something to hold onto, Shane's reaction is so filled with drama that him getting ready to deliver his big line is distracting enough that he doesn't hear Jas walking in the room.

"Plan?" He stares off towards the book on raising chickens laying forgotten at the foot of his bed. "Hopefully I won't be around long enough to need a 'plan'-"

His artfully delivered line is not interrupted by his aunt or by you as he was probably expecting, but by his goddaughter running sobbing out of the room at her godfather's declaration. As Marnie goes running after her niece in an attempt to console her, Shane instead opts to halfheartedly calls out her name and an apology and fall to his knees in a hair-tugging temper tantrum.

Why This Annoyed Me: Homeboy, as someone who is also suicidally depressed, I understand that grabbing on to the lifelines people throw you is hard, and you don't always have the spoons to fix things. That being said, there is a fine line between 'my mental illness absolves me of all wrongdoing' and 'I'm entirely responsible for everything that happens due to my mental illness' and you, Shane, are wayyyyy too drunk to balance. I'd be more sympathetic to your plight if your response to everything that got you down was a vast array of things; drinking yourself to death is not one of them.

Third Scene: Wandering through the woods, you happen upon Shane yet again passed out in a pile of bottles, this time at the top of the cliffs next to the entrance to the cave. Shane, drunk as all hell, apologizes for not having the balls to throw himself off the cliff before you got there. He complains of having a worthless life - "All I do is work, sleep, and eat" - and demands that you give him a reason he shouldn't drunkenly roll off the edge right now. Amongst the options you have are;

There's so much to live for!!!!!!!!

JAS, YOU ASSHOLE

Suicide is a SIN against YOBA-JAYSUS

Hey, man, this isn't really a decision I can make, but I can be here for you.

His responses to these are as follows;

We very obviously disagree on this, as my main hobbies include raising chickens and drinking myself to death, fuck off.

HOLY SHIT, I SOMEHOW FORGOT I HAD A WHOLE GODDAUGHTER, THIS JUST BRINGS TO THE FOREFRONT HOW I AM TOTALLY THE PIECE OF SHIT THE WORLD REVOLVES AROUND.

A, that is the worst possible way to convince someone not to kill themselves as if you're at the point where you're literally talking them off a ledge, one can probably safely assume that they give no shits about the scriptures of Yoba-Jesus (Who will be henseforth referred to as Yosus, because I can). B, that is also possibly one of the least comforting ways to try and talk someone off a ledge, as it implies that you care more about Yosus' opinion than about your supposed friend's wellbeing, as well as highlighting that you very obviously didn't read the YoBible very closely. One of Yosus' big things was that you should leave the judging to Yosus and his Dad and concentrate on being nice to people. Guilting people about making Yosus unhappy when they're going through major personal trauma? Seriously uncool. And C, the religious character are very clearly denoted as the ones who file into the shrine at the back of Pierre's. I am notably absent from those four whole people.

Wait...people actually care about my wellbeing? Marnie and Jas being visibly distressed by my drama in no way clued me in to this.

Regardless of what you say, or his opinion, you carry his ass to the hospital, where Harvey thanks you for bringing him in. The good doctor reassures that physically (though extended alcohol abuse has already started fucking him up visibly and that would take work to rectify) Shane is doing very well, and that Harvey expects him to make a full recovery in time. Harvey goes on to comment on the more lasting effect on mental illness and tells you that he is gonna recommend a counselor in a local city for Shane to see.

The next morning, the first thing you are greeted with on your way out the door is Shane, who apologizes for you having to LITERALLY TALKING HIM OFF A CLIFF and informs you that he's going to visit the counselor that Harvey suggested. You have three responses to this;

Well, thank fuck I decided to take the the long way to Krobus' huh?

Hey, maybe now you'll stop being such a fucking dick, amiright?

I'm just happy you're still here.

To which he answers;

RIGHT YOSUS YOHRIST

Wow, yes, thank you, that's why I am currently regretting coming to update you, cause I had been under the impression that was good form for someone you forced to help you through a suicide attempt, but you're a douche, never fucking talking to you again.

...that got heavy real fuckin fast, I was blitzed, it was that bad? Yosus, sorry.

Why This Annoyed Me: This is actually the point where Shane started becoming less two dimensional for me. He does have Turd At The Center Of The Universe Complex, but depression sometimes comes with the feeling that everything's the worst specifically around you and everyone in your immediate vicinity would be immediately better off without you around. That being said, Shane, you live with Jas, she is at most 6, how did you manage to forget her? You are obviously important to her, and she obviously feels comfortable just wandering into your room. Maybe pay her more attention.

I was super pumped after that heart event, because that gave me hope that there was gonna be a nice, happy recovery story. I was further enthused by the next one.

Forth Scene: Shane walks in to the Ranch, and Marnie comments on his good mood, which she immediately ruins by suggesting it's because there's a sale on beer. Shane looks unhappy, but bounces back, telling her he's switched to soda water and he feels a lot better before giving Jas a new pair of play slippers that he can now afford because his entire disposable income isn't going into booze.

My Issues: Marnie, we can understand that he's apparently been pulling this shit for a hot minute, so it's understandable that you're patience is wearing thin, but maybe starting that particular fight with him while he's looking happy and, above all, sober, right after he got out of the hospital for a suicide attempt that alcohol and being drunk played a big role in might not be the best of ideas.

5th Scene: Shane is filming an ad for a Joja Mart competition, and asks you to walk through the back of the scene to make it seem less fake. Clint chugs a bottle of soda because Emily makes him nervous. He turns blue.

Issues: Nonexistent, his character is developing and this is the first cutscene that isn't centered around his addiction and is evidence of him actually trying to start moving on and doing better.

6th Event: You walk into the ranch and Jas takes you to the back, where Shane has a heart to heart with his favorite chicken, Charlie, carrying her around while doting upon his fancy blue chickens.

Issues: FANCY. BLUE. CHICKENS.

Salty, Salty Conclusion

They didn't change a n y of his dialogue as his hearts increase. So, if you talk to him right after he comes to you about going into counseling, he'll tell you that he's going to the bar because there's nothing else to do.