lunar-fandoms

[lunar-fandoms]

thing obsessively about these posts (a) (b) about how horror written by women often uses violence that is inherently consumptive and how nibbly, despite being a ‘guy’ and using he/him presents as feminine

and like I’m sure it was done mostly to use a bright lipstick to draw attention to the mouth but that doesnt make me less feral about this character design I’m absolutely obsessed

[lunar-fandoms]

the clean line curse gets me again ;-; im always like "this time im just gonna do loose sketchy lines" and end up doing clean lines anyways rip (okay but i just wanna say that the alya + adrien friendship is underrated like the nerdiness + showmanship combo? yeah these are two different types of theater kids)

[lunar-fandoms]

A Crash Course to Kendrick's Super Bowl Performance, from a Black Woman

Note: this does NOT go in depth into all of the song's lyrics. I don't have time to recount two decades of his discography. This is just a summary of the performance itself.

Let's start with the first visual we get:

UNCLE SAM - most notably recognized from WWII American wartime propaganda, Uncle Sam is the personification of American patriotism and freedom. The term "uncle" is also evocative of Uncle Tom from Uncle Tom's Cabin, an abolitionist book that aided in inciting the Civil War. Uncle is also a very common term (both endearment and derogatory) towards Black men (eg. "unc"). Samuel L Jackson was fantastic.

Uncle Sam also resembles a circus ringleader, notable for my next point:

THE GREAT AMERICAN GAME - no, not Super Bowl. The GAG is us the people being pitted against each other: through late-stage capitalism, through the culture war, through class warfare, through being built of the backs of slaves. We are all players in the GAG because none of us on this site were the oligarchs seated at the inauguration.

This is also seen as Kendrick's stage was a Play Station controller. Not only did it remind of circus rings visually, but it was a game battle stage. The Great American Game is a battle royale of the commoners for the amusement of the rich whites.

Remember the foods / Them color was tin and brown / But now they 100 and blue - For this I'll just say, look what the last election said about lowering the price of eggs... and look at the prices now.

The revolution about to be televised / You picked the right time / But the wrong guy - Election 2024 once more. *Edit to add, the first part of this lyric is in reference to the Black Liberation Song "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" by Gil Scott-Heron. Thanks to everyone who mentioned that.

THE FLAG DANCERS - yes, the dancers formed the US flag... off of the backs of Black people. Not a single white person in sight, and that's true of the cotton pickers in the fields. Plantations are part of how the US came to economic prominence after being a "backwater" colony. Remember tobacco? Cotton? Our bloodlines do. *Edit to add: they also all piled out of a clown car. The US flag in a clown car? Brilliant.

The red and blue dancers are also notable for representing the Crips and Bloods, two infamous street gangs. The dance in Not Like Us is the Crip Walk. I recommend researching more on your own time about them, but just know they are a large part of the stereotype of Black people being "ghetto."

TOO LOUD, TOO RECKLESS, TOO GHETTO. Do you really know how to play the game? - This is exactly what Black people, especially Black men, get told all the time. It's why we change our names on resumes if they sound "too Black." It's why we codeswitch in non-Black company. This is especially rich considering how non-Black people love our culture and love to make money off of us, as the latter part of the quote points to. And it's even more profound during the Super Bowl-- the NFL is majority Black players.

STREET LIGHT A CAPELLA -- "thug" stereotype dancers to counteract the a capella connotations, with Uncle Sam then saying that Kendrick figured out "bringing other street guys around being a culture cheat code." Yes, this is a direct hit at Drake (listen to "Not Like Us") but also politically. Look up "model minority". Notably I would point to Candace Owens, or the Miami Venezuelan political group that's been in the news recently, especially as this directly led to Kendrick being surrounded by...

DANCERS IN WHITE -- it's white America. That's... that's the allegory.

NOT LIKE US TEASER -- Kendrick says "Not Like Us" is "their favorite song." -> he means white people specifically here. It comes after he's surrounded by all white dancers, the women around him who are his call and response are also in white (my opinion, they represent the industry). He's saying "Not Like Us" is the favorite of yts because it is about BLACK MEN FIGHTING. This again is reflected in the video game stage and ringleader Uncle Sam.

SZA -- instead of giving what they want, we see SZA. She's one of Drake's exes and Kendrick has always supported her.

ALL THE STARS -- This was in the first Black Panther movie, which I recommend you watch. Rest in Power Chadwick. Notably, this movie was incredibly mainstream as a major Marvel movie, and then we have Uncle Sam say...

"THAT'S WHAT AMERICA WANTS: NICE AND CALM. DON'T MESS THIS UP" -- translation: Marvel (the industry, America, etc.) wanted a safe, semi-pop song because white American likes safe pop songs, not Kendrick's usual heavy rap style about his life as a Black man! Don't mess up what you've got going mainstream for having this "Black rap feud" with Drake, who is an R&B model minority to white people because he's safe.

So what does Kendrick say?

IT'S A CULTURAL DIVIDE / IMMA GET IT ON THE FLOOR -- He was warned not to be political or apologetically Black for this Super Bowl performance, but he is using this big stage opportunity to speak out.

40 ACRES AND A MULE / THIS IS BIGGER THAN THE MUSIC -- 40 acres and a mule are what the freed slaves were promised. Instead, this land went to white sharecroppers. Research Jim Crow laws.

THEY TRIED TO RIG THE GAME / BUT YOU CAN'T FAKE INFLUENCE -- rig the election, rig the industry like with model minority Drake, rig the Great American Game with culture war to distract from active class warfare.

NOT LIKE US -- the only thing I'll mention because it made me holler is Serena Williams crip walking on Drake's metaphorical grave. She's another one of his exes.

TURN THE TV OFF -- exactly like he said! The TV is a distraction, the Super Bowl is a distraction, the mainstream news is often a distraction. Turn it off and get with your people!

GAME OVER — could not see this on my stream but at the end of the performance, the lights in the stadium spelled this out. The world is watching, America…

In conclusion, Kendrick Lamar is a visionary and thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

[lunar-fandoms]

[lunar-fandoms]

I was just on a bus where a pro-trump guy and an anti-trump guy were having a loud and explicit argument about whether or not trump is a criminal for like 10 straight stops

just yelling and cussing at each other, right? Not even siting near each other and being subtle, but across the damn aisle, right?

and the pro-trump guy kept saying “fuck you, I’m not gonna talk to some guy who can’t even check his facts”

and the anti-trump guy kept saying “man, don’t talk politics, we shouldn’t talk politics”

BUT THEN THEY’D BOTH HAVE TO GET ANOTHER WORD IN

so IT KEPT *GOING*

And eventually shit started getting real nasty and personal and super uncomfortable to listen to so I turned around and said “You know, if either one of you stopped talking, this conversation would stop happening, right?”

So then the pro-trump guy was like “fuck off, mind your own damn business”

and the anti-trump guy was like “um, I thought we were having a pretty good conversation actually” but they finally stopped thank christ

and like

The thing that pissed me off wasn’t their subject matter- I don’t give a shit if this one random idiot is a trump supporter and I hate the guy, it’s not like I can change his mind-

it was that NEITHER OF THEM THOUGHT IT WAS RUDE TO BE CUSSING EACH OTHER OUT IN PUBLIC AT TOP VOLUME ON THE NUMBER NINE DOWNTOWN AT TEN IN THE GOD DAMNED MORNING

BITCH I DON’T CARE HOW INTELLECTUALLY STIMULATED YOU ARE, SIT CLOSER TOGETHER AND TURN THE VOLUME DOWN

BUR ALSO

WHY DO EITHER OF YOU GIVE A SHIT

WE’RE IN FUCKING CANADA

[lunar-fandoms]

highschool best friend turns out to be most detested coworker !!! sad.

[lunar-fandoms]

brothers, amirite

[lunar-fandoms]

Study Night photo

[lunar-fandoms]

[lunar-fandoms]

usamericans, do you remember in the incredibles when syndrome made the robot go haywire just so he could swoop in and 'save the day'

[lunar-fandoms]

Spooktober: So Many Eyes

What do you think, little bug? Would you like to see?

[lunar-fandoms]

I'm constantly impressed at people's ability to stretch anything to fit an acronym, but it's extremely impressive how well that fits.

[lunar-fandoms]

LET'S GO TODD

[lunar-fandoms]

Nerdy Prudes is so funny, it's like: Local prude Grace Chasity has one (1) sexual fantasy. Six dead, four injured, one driven insane.

[lunar-fandoms]

dusk

[lunar-fandoms]

My favourite moment 😮‍💨