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oooh have you ever done a post about the ridiculous mandatory twist endings in old sci-fi and horror comics? Like when the guy at the end would be like "I saved the Earth from Martians because I am in fact a Vensuvian who has sworn to protect our sister planet!" with no build up whatsoever.

Yeah, that is a good question - why do some scifi twist endings fail?

As a teenager obsessed with Rod Serling and the Twilight Zone, I bought every single one of Rod Serling’s guides to writing. I wanted to know what he knew.

The reason that Rod Serling’s twist endings work is because they “answer the question” that the story raised in the first place. They are connected to the very clear reason to even tell the story at all. Rod’s story structures were all about starting off with a question, the way he did in his script for Planet of the Apes (yes, Rod Serling wrote the script for Planet of the Apes, which makes sense, since it feels like a Twilight Zone episode): “is mankind inherently violent and self-destructive?” The plot of Planet of the Apes argues the point back and forth, and finally, we get an answer to the question: the Planet of the Apes was earth, after we destroyed ourselves. The reason the ending has “oomph” is because it answers the question that the story asked. 

My friend and fellow Rod Serling fan Brian McDonald wrote an article about this where he explains everything beautifully. Check it out. His articles are all worth reading and he’s one of the most intelligent guys I’ve run into if you want to know how to be a better writer.

According to Rod Serling, every story has three parts: proposal, argument, and conclusion. Proposal is where you express the idea the story will go over, like, “are humans violent and self destructive?” Argument is where the characters go back and forth on this, and conclusion is where you answer the question the story raised in a definitive and clear fashion. 

The reason that a lot of twist endings like those of M. Night Shyamalan’s and a lot of the 1950s horror comics fail is that they’re just a thing that happens instead of being connected to the theme of the story. 

One of the most effective and memorable “final panels” in old scifi comics is EC Comics’ “Judgment Day,” where an astronaut from an enlightened earth visits a backward planet divided between orange and blue robots, where one group has more rights than the other. The point of the story is “is prejudice permanent, and will things ever get better?” And in the final panel, the astronaut from earth takes his helmet off and reveals he is a black man, answering the question the story raised. 

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Portals to Hell by hrmphfft

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This? This right HERE! I mean from the very first MOMENT of this scene. Dean saying “Alright, so spill” is the gayest thing I’ve heard today…other than my own breathing.

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Supernatural had the opportunity to do something great. To send a message of love and validation to a whole community. Not only to the part of the community that liked their show, but to all of us. But instead they decided to pander to the people, who never had to fight for their representation.

I support #TheySilencedYou, #TheySilencedThem and #TheyWillNeverSilenceUs and I'm in awe of all of you. Of your eloquence, passion, coordination and decisiveness. And I feel like your message goes beyond this particular TV show and the CW.

It's about protesting a pattern of disrespect towards otherness in Mainstream Media. It's about demanding meaningful, unmistakably queer representation, that enables discourse and furthers understanding in a heterogenic Audience. It's about asking Networks to not only hire diverse staff but to also give them the freedom to tell their stories the way they want to. It's about telling creators to own up to the inherent messages they leave us with in the end.

And that's inspiring and should be celebrated.

Stories matter.

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when we get a british english dub of 15x18 and dean says “you have bewitched me body and soul and i love… i love you”

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yall remember when cas got turned human and was left homeless and completely alone to fend for himself. and then talked to a crying baby and was like. “nobody told you, nobody explained. you’re just shoved out, kicking and screaming into this human life without any idea why any of it feels the way that it feels. or why this confusion feels like it’s just a hairsbreadth from terror or pain. you know, just when you think you do understand it’ll turn out you’re wrong: you didn’t understand anything at all. i guess that’s just how it is when you’re new at this.” unironically that was some of the saddest shit i’ve ever seen in my life.

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(x, x)

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I can't believe they did Misha THIS dirty

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I can't believe they did Misha THIS dirty

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I can't believe they did Misha THIS dirty

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Not once through his 12 years on the show did someone tell castiel they love him and that’s my true villain origin story

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would anyone like a summary. for laughs

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No. You know what? Fuck you. *unsupers your natural*

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let’s be honest though, this is literally the absolute CLOSEST that spn was ever going to come to letting the fans have destiel. they had cas canonically say he’s in love with dean, they didn’t give dean a chance to respond, they killed dean off before he could ever be with anyone else, and they had dean go to heaven and implied that castiel was around too. their version of giving the fans destiel was just to leave a door open where they COULD imagine that they get their happy ending in heaven together without ever having to actually say it or acknowledge it in any way

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This is poetic because Dean was killed by Sam’s phobia (clowns), just like Cas was killed by Dean’s phobia (homo)

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sam and dean every other time cas died: we need to get him back. he’s our best friend, we can’t do this without him.

sam and dean after cas dies but they know he’s gay: