#--i mean. off mic
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you ever think about how it’s been over a year since we last saw aizawa, mic and their dead high school boyfriend
#bnha manga spoilers#like we finally got an aizawa panel but it was a flashback so it doesnt really count#but horikoshi really threw them into a teleporting abyss then went lol bye#we still dont know where they are or how much of shirakumo is present through kurogiri#also!! the gun!! that just never got mentioned again#mic probably still has it!! which means he could still be the one that has to kill kurogiri to free shirakumo#bc you know aizawa wont be able to do it#and he wont be able to use erasure to get through to him#am i putting off re watching the sports fest arc to figure out how to write mics commentary? maybe so#go beyond plus ultra#coming out of my cage and ive been doing just fine.txt#aizawa#eraserhead#present mic#kurogiri#oboro shirakumo#erasermic#erasercloudmic#mha#bnha
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1-a somehow finding out that their stoic, hardass homeroom teacher is absolutely stupid head over heels in love with their goofy, ridiculous, eccentric english teacher and subsequently reading WAY too much into how they interact in passing when they switch periods every morning
ie: in that scene where shouta takes too long to conclude class and makes mic wait, there's a slight pause in his canter before he calls hizashi "mic"-- class 1-a would be gripping their seats to bring that up in the dorms later about how aizawa-sensei probably almost accidentally called mic-sensei "pookie bear" since that's most DEFINIETLY what he calls him at home
they talk every morning when shouta is leaving the room and hizashi is walking in, and every day, class 1-a will watch for subtleties in behavior so closely that some of them don't even breathe or blink
#mina and hagakure are the leading psychoanalysts#that is to say that they make the most stuff up out of nowhere#like how when mic-sensei's eye twitches when he nods to aizawa-sensei#it means that aizawa-sensei didn't do the dishes last night#and he's angry at him#or when aizawa-sensei stumbled that one time#and mic-sensei caught him#aizawa-sensei DEFINITELY had a shoujo romance pink background w sparkles and soft rings moment#(which that one may not be TOO far off but he wouldnt admit that under torture)#but also kirishima is oddly invested as well#he'll contribute his manly thoughts like#aizawa-sensei handed the lesson plan binder to mic-sensei extra carefully today ! mic-sensei#probably brought him coffee before class even though he knew he'd see him later ! that's so manly !#and izuku also does his nerdy#well their pro hero dynamics make sense- they work well together and seem to be very congenial#though i dont think aizawa-sensei would be the type to-#analysis. he takes it very seriously.#nothing i just love them so much#the soapbox has pawprints#bnha#mha#boku no hero academia#my hero academia#shouta aizawa#aizawa shota#hizashi yamada#yamada hizashi#present mic#eraserhead#erasermic
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peculiar creature
#“whoa what is that thang” me when liam is looking with his eyes#obsessed with how he lowers his head because it's so casual (and all 4 minutes of this interview you can just tell he's unfiltered and#that's how he lives.. i mean that's how i see it). but it's so weird#something off-kilter about it#tee hee!#the interviewer not knowing when she should take back the mic hydgvy#liam gallagher#oasis#x#gifs
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#vee queued to fill the void#*falls to floor* LIKE ITS THE LAYERS BRO—#THE LAYERS TO JAKURAIS SUFFERING AND HOW EACH ONE GOT TOUCHED ON ITS INSANE#UWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHH#*takes off the mtr glasses and puts back on the bat glasses* i saw a bat fan wondering wtf could be happening in bat’s track#when this was how mtr’s unfolded and i do get where they’re coming from lmao#i always have a theory or two lol like i genuinely thought at one point listening to the mtr track#that sensei was going to be able to wake yotsutsuji bc dohifu were going to use the true hypnosis mic together intending to die together#which goes against the lesson that had been taught up to that point tbh lmao but since we learned you could share mics in a bat track#i thought maybe here was where it was coming to play lol#BUT WHAT IF BAT A FAMILY WHO PUTS THEIR LIVES ON ON THE LINE ARE GOING TO DO THAT INSTEAD that’s what i mean i always have a theory lmao#i’ll be plenty thrilled by whatever they throw at me lol like why would mic sharing come back???#for what purpose would laying their lives on the line serve???? is that something about them that needs to change or do they embrace it???#*intense vibrating* two more months……………………………..
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Locus and Lopez vs. dehumanization and seeing your own humanity through someone else
AKA 1.5k words worth of me trying to justify a random pairing I've been trying to sell people on for 5 years. Feat. a lot of my own introspection on both characters, CW for mentions of abuse.
It's kind of easy to assume that Locpez as a ship only exists because Locus is one of the few people who understands Lopez and one of even fewer who has had an actual (off-screen) conversation with him with full mutual fluency, especially since they interact directly, like, twice in canon (Objects In Space and the "Holy shit he's bilingual" scene from The Federal Army of Chorus). To be honest, that was my initial reason for shoving them together whenever I got into RVB and there was literally no content for them because no one was really considering them together in any capacity but a brief, funny passing interaction.
I do think language is an inherent motivator in their relationship with each other. It's a catalyst. Spanish, of course, is perhaps the most obvious thing they share--Locus being a Latino man and Lopez being the same in a convoluted and meta-racist metaphor. Beggars, choosers: anyone who knows how I operate knows I lean into reclaiming their depictions for my own brown person machinations. For Lopez it's the beauty of meeting someone who not only understands him, but isn't going to belittle him for the language he speaks or imply it'd be easier if he learned English. Locus will just listen to him talk and respond without commenting on the language barrier; Lopez isn't exotic or abnormal or "broken" for it, he just speaks Spanish, big deal, Locus speaks it too.
For Locus, it leans more toward reminding him of who he used to be when he was a simpler and kinder person. His culture seems like a forgone part of himself in many ways, but even if only because he's so distant from his humanity that he doesn't remember HOW to embrace his culture, or what the point of cultural pride even is. Lopez is like, reverse culture shock for him, where Locus is very familiar with Spanish as a language--grew up with it, learned it young, whatever, he canonically understands it and given he's Latino it's easy to assume it could be his native language--but has divorced himself from it so much to be malleable to his abusers that hearing someone speak it so unabashedly feels new. It's the lack of it that makes it so foreign, but it's so ingrained into him that it's easy for him to just slip back into it.
And Lopez being so stubbornly proud of what he is plays into that language dynamic, yes--now that there's someone who will listen and not judge, he has room to be adamant and own his monolingualism, and having someone as aggressively, straightforwardly prideful as Lopez forces Locus to recognize the beauty in the language too--but it applies on a grander scale, which is what I suppose the point of this post is: Locus and Lopez don't just share Spanish, but also histories of abuse and dehumanization, of being overlooked as living, thinking things in favor of taking advantage of their skills. And the results of this abuse manifest differently in both of them, but they're alike in just enough ways that their differences stimulate each other into bettering themselves and reflecting on what makes them, dramatic pause, human.
Some of Lopez and Locus's defining personality traits to me are their shared low empathy (forcibly learned on both of their parts) and the way they feel so alien in any group they're a part of. They're people with a lot of potential who don't care how others see them (at their worst, especially in Locus's case), but are limited by someone who only sees them for their usefulness (Sarge, Felix) and doesn't truly see them as a person. Lopez may be a Red, but they don't really care about anything he says, so he's just a wrench to them. Locus has Felix, but he doesn't recognize that Felix has one-sided power over him and is keeping him on a short leash; he's a shield and a weapon. They're tools, they don't have feelings, and if they realize as much it's a fault in their programming, they can and have to be steered back into place.
They're reflective of each other in this way. However, they're not identical in disposition: Locus resigns very easily to what he's told to be. He had more hope once, made attempts to be humanitarian, but was swiftly taught that kindness is suicide and that the point is to survive, no matter the cost. It was easy for Felix to take advantage of him by saying they needed each other when Locus was at his worst, because having kindness ripped out of him gave Locus little else to rely on but his hands. Locus has no room for questions, because a rulebook is absolute. It takes a reminder of what he used to be to make him falter, but even when Santa is showing him one of the inciting incidents of his "soldier" mindset, Locus can't stop himself from resigning to the mindlessness that Felix and the UNSC have already taught him.
Lopez feels trapped and is hyper-aware of it. He'll listen, but only because there's nothing else in the world for him. He's subservient but not in the same way Locus is, because he's angry about his situation: he knows it's not fair, but what can he fucking do about it? He was made to be Red Team's mechanic, and every word he says falls on deaf ears. He carries this self-awareness like a shield, like a threat: he could do something, but there's no point because his nature as a robot defines him. All he has is a sharp tongue and his hands, and the Reds only need one of those things from him. He revels in being able to complain and reminds himself that he's meant for something greater, but he's so fatalistic that he won't take action.
The balance comes from this anger. They're so alike in how they see the world and how much life has mistreated them, but they don't fully understand each other despite it. Locus sees Lopez as privileged for having a team because Locus has never had people to belong with, but he doesn't understand that Red Team isn't a safe place for Lopez. Lopez thinks Locus is misguided for letting himself believe he could ever be reduced to a mindless weapon, because Lopez has only ever been an object and Locus can't comprehend what that's really like. They see each other for their imperfections first and foremost and it frustrates them mutually: "You could've fixed this sooner, you could've escaped the grief, why didn't you try?"
It's this back-and-forth that they both need in order to reflect on themselves. They're harsh people who don't want to be coddled and admonished, but they're not making forward motion on their own because they're both stubborn and tend to decathect before they even recognize they CAN feel. They refuse to see themselves as human, but they can only see the humanity in each other, and they're both so alike that it could make them hypocrites. For a robot, Lopez's anger is so potent that it's alive: Locus sees more feeling in him than he's ever felt in his own life. Locus wants to be a weapon so bad, but he doesn't realize an object doesn't have heart the way he does, doesn't mourn the years it spent under someone's thumb, doesn't want to fix itself.
They're both brutally honest and they both need brutal honesty. They get along WELL by nature of being as similar as they are, but they argue so much because they want to understand each other and don't realize they already do. They're mapping details of their reflections. It's great: Locus is so hurt that he can only see the damage he causes, Lopez is difficult to hurt and notoriously good at fixing things. Lopez wants true accountability and retribution and Locus has cultivated complicity and guilt to perfection.
After Felix, Locus needs room to command his own life and put others in place when they overstep his boundaries, but he's scared of becoming Felix, so he also needs an anchor to keep him grounded in reality and reasonable. Lopez has never had real control over his own life before and would kill to have the power to make small choices and do as he wants, but he's a very private person who also needs a lot of space to work. They balance each other out and know the other's limits so well that they can easily go "You're hurting yourself and I'm not going to let you get away with it."
It's about understanding yourself through someone else and vice versa. Realizing that you share so much that if they deserve good, you do too. Reclaiming pain, experiencing freedom, finding support. They will deconstruct each other to the metal and muscles and rebuild one another over and over again, and they'll never get it perfectly right, but they're both going to learn more and more as they go. Flawless navigation of a road you've driven a million times, forward and back, potholes and all.
#locpez#rvb#Don't tag L*lix etc etc.#Hi. Thanks 4 responding to the interest check. This was going to be longer but they cut my mic. Locpez is brown bi4bi tism4tism bunk love.#Addendum because I can't shut up > Locus and Lopez both WANT to be seen as objects. This is a functional cog in the machine because they--#CAN'T see EACH OTHER as objects. It frustrates them. Lopez doesn't want his feelings acknowledged but Locus can't ignore the way that Lopez#feels so strongly. Locus wants to be reducible to function but Lopez only sees a damaged human who's shockingly sensitive. I think one of--#my strongest opinions about Locpez is that they aren't really a sweet or affectionate couple in the usual way. It's complicated but Lopez--#struggles to feel much of ANYTHING (just knows he likes Locus) and Locus is a little bit more of a romantic at his best but more strongly--#--prizes the mental stimulation than anything else. They're an intense couple that scares people off. I mean INTENSE intense. Emotionally--#physically (yep); metaphorically; they're pure mutual fascination. Poking each other like insects under microscopes. I need him because he-#--keeps my mind busy in every possible way. They do need therapy but not because of each other LOL.#logs
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Special Ops: Lioness - 1x07
#specialopslionessedit#special ops lioness#special ops: lioness#cruz manuelos#sol joe#laysla de oliveira#zoe saldana#nicole kidman#special ops lioness 1x07#special ops lioness spoilers#aaliyah x cruz#femslash related stuff#so the car ride happens first and after that must be the talk?#when they say transmitter do they mean a location beacon or a full mic#the first would be kinda major but the second implies Privacy#but her phrasing here means she thought about leaving it off?#clearly it was off long enough for these two to get worried#I guess we'll seeee#less than 10 hours left
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you know, we talk a lot about characters and/or relationships (of all kinds) being 'doomed by the narrative' around here, and how haunting and gut-wrenching that can be, especially when it so often takes the form of death and destruction and tragedy.
and we should keep doing that, obviously. death and destruction and tragedy kick total ass.
however. can we please spare a thought for the clowns trapped in that same (burning) room?
after all, what is a comic relief character if not doomed by the narrative to always act like a buffoon despite any and all circumstances, all for the sake of relieving narrative tension?
how must it feel, to have everyone around you dropping dead, losing limbs, losing loved ones, and otherwise being on the receiving end of unending torment - and all you can do is stand there and prattle off another zinger at your allotted time?
and what if you lose a loved one yourself, o jester mine? what if - hear me out - you lose multiple loved ones? what if it never ends? what will you do then?
well, if you're lucky, you'll get to mourn for all five of the seconds you're allowed to before the size thirty shoes go back on and the narrative moves on to other, more plot-central characters.
if you're not - well. it's a good thing clown makeup is waterproof, isn't it?
anyway, shout out to all my comedy kings out there doomed to play perpetual funnyman to their more plot-central counterparts despite being in undeniably comparable pain. you may be doomed by the narrative, but you are beloved by me <3
#fiction#writing#tropes#doomed by the narrative#yamada hizashi#present mic#yes this is about mic#as is everything tbfh#i've been wanting to make a similar doomed by the narrative post about nemuri for a while#but lbr in midnight's case it's less 'doomed by the narrative' than 'ignored by the narrative'#'forgotten by the narrative'#'fucked by the narrative'#it's not even 'sacrificed by/for the narrative' either because a sacrifice has to fucking mean something substantial#nem was killed more or less for shock value and to balance the scales after the villains lost twice#that's it#and before anyone comes after me - no i am not opposed to her death just because she's a female character and/or my fave#a look through this blog and my entire ao3 body of work will show that i am distressingly compelled by-#the tragedy of her death and what it means for her character and her loved ones#but hori has done exactly none of the work to pay off on that so i will not give him the credit for it#anyway.#don't mind me just ramblin'#meta
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Thank you for acknowledging Midnight is part of the gang 🙏🙏🙏🙏
Midnight is the glue that holds the gang together. There would be no gang without her 💪 Vigilantes made me appreciate her more
#'dont you mean was' idc!! shes alive to me#should i do more bug au stuff cause that's my 'midnight is alive and everyone's having a good time' au#tbh even before i was a midnight enjoyer and I came up with the premise for the Loudspeaker au I was still like#'oh her death is for sure driving Mic to villainy she is the backbone of this friend group'#Aizawa and Mic are these little feral creatures and Midnight is their wrangler#All Might the type to say 'ha- uh- now boys- play nice haha. alright?' awkwardly while Mic and Aizawa try to kill each other#Midnight the type to go 'pSHT' like you do to a cat and they immediately break it off#based takes in the tags today
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Characterizating Shadow is always a fight for me. In my head he is either proper and (outwardly) put together or he is a mean mean hedgehog who's compliments are just masked insults lol. I'm pretty sure I've achieved an okay balance tho.
Like he wants to be kind to all the worlds plants and animals but gentleness just doesn't come naturally to him(<- projecting). It takes a lot of work to stop baring his teeth put away his claws. He wants so badly to be kind like Maria was, but first he has to put down his weapons (sometimes literally) and go against everything his instincts tell him to do.
Unless he's talking to Sonic and Silver, they're fair game :3
Eventually, like years and years in the future type of eventually. He achieves his goal. He's def still rough around the edges, but he can hold hands without gripping too hard, garden without killing every plant he grows, and genuinely smile without getting embarrassed or feeling the need to mask it with something
#prefacing with two things#first off. the gardening was more metaphorical. just because you're nice to your dirt doesn't mean your gardening will get better#secondly. uhm. im a tails guy first and foremost so i would love for my shadow guys to weigh in thanks#sth#sonic the hedgehog#shadow the hedgehog#i have the mic#sonic headcanons#sth headcanons#also i really like making rough characters soft and vice versa lol
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i need answers NOW~🎃
#not that i’m complaining#because i mean#but why does he insist upon EATING his mics#sweaty frank#i’m here for sweaty frank#maybe if he took off the sweater he wouldn’t be so hot#maybe……he’d be……hotter#is that possible?#frnkiebby#frank iero#mcr#mcr5#mcrmy#frnkiero#frnkie#my chemical romance#my chem
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like damn dude i'm soooo fucking happy for you that you've never had to question if your memories are real and that you've never had the experience of not remembering something until another part of your brain brings it to the forefront and suddenly you're throwing up because oh god all those feelings that your body brings up every time you come across the until-now-inexplicably triggering thing make sense, but. it would be cool if you could just believe abuse survivors for one goddamn minute of your life.
yeah I do think sometimes people make up shit for some stupid personal gain or selfish reasons, but at the same time I do also believe that we do NOT understand how the brain works fully yet (and it's unbelievably stupid and foolish to think we do), and dismissing highly traumatized individuals is not going to get us anywhere good. you're just going to contribute to the hurt and suicide of a lot of people who deserved better in life.
#i'm so pissed off about this shit#this website sucks and so many people on here are so fucking dense and mean in a way that even /i/ get pissed off about lol#AGAIN HI I'M CHASE. NONE OF THIS IS SIGNED OFF BY JUNO. I AM NOT JUNO. THESE ARE NOT JUNO'S THOUGHTS.#though i suspect they'd agree with me at least somewhat lmao#can you fucking imagine being raped as a child and when you try to finally get help everyone accuses you of making it up for attention?#(not saying that has happened to us but it has happened to many many many people. ''false memory syndrome'' is so goddamn stupid.)#chase on the mic
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In Praise of Sally Ann Howes
As I've made it one of the purposes of my blog to share photos and songs and general positivity about the wonderful English actress Sally Ann Howes, I thought I'd make a post to talk in much more detail about all the great things about her and why I adore her so much!
This classy English beauty possessed a highly expressive face and eyes, an astonishingly powerful soprano, a great sense of humor, and the world's most charming laugh. One thing I cannot stop saying about Sally Ann is that she did not and does not get nearly enough credit and recognition for her immense talent and prolific career, and it's precisely for that reason that I'm here to do my part in giving it to her!
This overlong rambling post is a combination of biographical information and my personal fawning over her performances... whatever I felt I most wanted to put out there in the world and what I'd like people less familiar with her to know.
Click on Keep Reading and I'll take you on a journey!
As she preferred to work on the stage and didn't really pursue a film career, the catalog of Sally Ann's work that can still be viewed today is unfortunately small - though you can find almost all of her early films on the internet if you look hard! In her early film days, mostly made before she was able to pursue her true passion of musical theatre, her extraordinary singing talents weren't utilized by the producers at all.
However, we were fortunately blessed with exactly one musical film role from her, and it's an iconic one: the aptly-named role of Truly Scrumptious in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968), the golden-haired, golden-hearted candy heiress who falls in love with and eventually marries Dick van Dyke's character Caractacus Potts after joining him and his children on a madcap adventure. She's a sweet, intelligent ingenue with hidden depths and one of my favorite sorts of character arcs - the uptight, lonely woman who becomes more and more warm and open as she discovers newfound freedom and joy in life and falls in love.
There is something about Sally Ann that just glows in every scene of Chitty, and it's not only that bright blonde hair! The way she widens her eyes sometimes, the way she raises her eyebrows, her gentle and soft presence in the happiest scenes, and the particular airy lilt she has to her speaking voice are all so distinctive and appealing, and I can't take my eyes off her. And her smile! When I say she glows it's barely even a metaphor, the woman just emits light.
(Funnily enough, I started to realize that many of the laudatory quotes I've found about her also refer to her in this way, like this quote from a 1965 TV Guide article, from playwright Sidney Kingsley: "She's luminous as an actress. I mean that literally. In Brigadoon she really lit up the stage.")
For me, I'm weak for any actress who can do the defrosted-ice-queen trope so incredibly well. Truly starts out as closed-off and prim, and nearly reverts to that state when she and Caractacus have a Big Misunderstanding near the end, but in the scenes where she's happy and carefree, the warmth just radiates off of her.
She also has the most adorable chemistry with Dick van Dyke in an annoyances-to-friends-to-lovers relationship that absolutely shaped my young brain. Whenever Sally Ann and Dick glance at each other, whether with irritation and frustration early in the film or with warmth and affection later on, their chemistry is obvious and natural, and there's so much expressed in each one of those glances. One has no difficulty believing that these characters are going to be very happily married.
(Here's a cute on-set interview where she talks about, among other things, how easily she and van Dyke clicked.)
While I acknowledge that the character of Caractacus Potts was absolutely originally planned to be an actual Englishman, Dick van Dyke played him with an American accent, and to me they will always be an adorable English-American couple. It's a whole part of the charm of this pairing to me!
Sally Ann also had a great relationship with child actors Adrian Hall and Heather Ripley who played Jeremy and Jemima Potts, and did her best to help make them more comfortable and happy during the many very long days on set. Having been a child film star herself, she knew a great deal about how difficult and alienating it could be. The genuine affection the three of them shared is obvious in their scenes together, especially in the extremely adorable "Truly Scrumptious" number, and it really makes the developing mother-child relationship between the characters so believable.
The beach scene, where so much of the relationship between Truly and Caractacus and the Potts children is developed, is incredibly cute and heartwarming, and a lot of that rides on Sally Ann's performance and how her previously prim-and-proper character shows herself to be warm and loving, once she (literally) lets her hair down. We've already seen how happy the Potts family is together; now we see how Truly fits in perfectly and makes them all even happier.
Look at her! Literally glowing!
(One thing I should mention: I think both the plot and the love story of CCBB are greatly improved if one just treats the "dream sequence" as real events, which was possibly the original intention anyway, so just note that is always the perspective I'm coming from here. It's the only way to make some things make sense and for the characters and their relationships to fully develop.)
"Lovely, Lonely Man" is Truly's big solo moment, and was probably the least comprehensible part of the movie to me as a kid (lol), but is now indisputably one of the very best parts to me as an adult. It's an exquisitely beautiful love song, especially the bridge, and I somehow love it more and more every time I rewatch it. Sally Ann's dreamy, graceful movements and the way the whole scene is shot make her look like a princess, and the slow build of the song is masterfully done. She has this distinctive crisp way of articulating her words while singing, especially the closing consonants like N and M, that I just love to listen to. The string section and the building countermelodies are so beautiful it makes me want to weep. Everyone involved in creating this scene and song deserved an award, I'm being so serious. While it's not the highest of soprano songs and doesn't fully show off Sally Ann's astonishing range, she shows an incredible amount of vocal control here through the many diminuendos and crescendos, and she's mesmerizing to watch and listen to. One of her "glowiest" scenes, for sure!
While I've seen people call this song irrelevant to the plot, I strongly disagree - the romance is part of the plot, of course, and while I didn't fully understand the meaning as a kid, this song establishes how much Truly's outlook on life and hopes for the future have already changed since meeting Caractacus, and how much happier she is with the poor Potts family than she's ever been in her life of luxury. Plus, now we know for certain that she's head over heels for Caractacus, but he doesn't know... increasing the dramatic irony of the pining and yearning to follow!
youtube
In the reprise of "Hushabye Mountain", which was sung in a much earlier scene by Dick van Dyke alone, Caractacus loses the will to continue the song because he's overwhelmed with emotion thinking of his children being held captive. Truly comes in to aid him with the final verse - another pivotal moment in the developing romance - and Sally Ann's singing here is nothing short of breathtaking.
And of course, I can't neglect to mention the "Doll on a Music Box" number, where Sally Ann, who was not a trained dancer and in fact considered herself to be "appalling" at it, performs an incredibly precise, incredibly impressive clockwork song-and-dance number while on a spinning turntable! She practiced it so well that she managed to successfully complete the shot in a single take, prompting the stage full of extras to burst into applause.
This is another important character moment for Truly, though it's disguised in a diegetic performance: though it's another thing that went over my head as a child who only got to see the movie once, the lyrics about being trapped up on a music box and longing to be freed by love pretty clearly symbolize how trapped the real Truly's high-society life makes her feel, and how she yearns to break free from class restrictions and live happily-ever-after with Caractacus, as it's only with him and his family that she really feels free.
Then there's that incredibly warm romantic look that Truly and Caractacus share at the end of the song when she silently acknowledges the love confession he's just made while singing in counterpoint with her, though they're still in a dangerous situation and can't give themselves away by appearing too human and breaking their disguises... sadly this vital moment is cut off on all the Youtube videos of the scene I can find, because none of the people who clipped it understand that that's the whole point of it all, apparently. But here's a gif!
The character of Truly doesn't exist at all in the original (quite different) book by James Bond author Ian Fleming - surprising, I know, given her name! - and, honestly, the fact that Truly and the romantic subplot of this movie exist are why it had such a strong impact on me as a child, and very much why I fell in love with it again as an adult. Even though the score is wonderful anyway and the story is charming and magical, I can confidently say that I would not have become as completely enchanted or had such a strong desire to revisit it again and again if there'd been no Truly and no love story. The fact that Sally Ann's performance makes Truly so loveable is, obviously, a pretty crucial factor there.
Sally Ann's delivery of "Well, Mr. Potts... now you'll have to marry me!" after Caractacus kisses Truly... that slide from prim mock-outrage to the playful, warm, you-can-hear-the-smile-in her-voice conclusion is flawless. Not even exaggerating when I say that this was the moment that made me into a hopeless romantic as a 9-year-old child. Sure, this wasn't the first movie I'd seen where two people fall in love and live happily ever after, but I distinctly remember that this was the first romance story that had me in a giggling, kicking-my-feet, "I ship it so hard" state of mind. And after revisiting it as an adult for the first time last year, I have confirmed that yes, child me already had great taste in fictional romances!
Oh, I could say so much about the difference in her body language between the two scenes where Caractacus carries Truly out of her car that's become stuck in a pond. The first time, Truly is affronted and extremely embarrassed by the situation, holding herself so stiffly and awkwardly to avoid an accidental embrace that she causes him to nearly lose his balance and drop her. The second time, when they're in love and they know it, she snuggles right up into his arms without hesitation and it's the cutest thing ever. Sally Ann was 5'6" but looks so tiny in that scene!
(And that kiss! Maybe I'm getting off-topic here in terms of strictly focusing on Sally Ann's contributions, because Dick van Dyke deserves tons of credit for making this kiss so good... but wow, the kiss. Several times I have called it "the Most Kiss they could have gotten away with in a children's movie." Again, giggling, kicking my feet etc.)
While Truly's costumes and hairstyling are rarely historically accurate (the film is set around 1910), the stylized nature of her fashion is iconic and memorable in itself. Sally Ann also completely pulls off playing a fresh-faced ingenue who is 12+ years younger than her actual age - and I do wonder if the aging-down of Sally Ann is at least part of the reason why Truly wears her hair loose throughout most of the movie! Either way, it works perfectly and I was shocked when I first learned how much older she was than her character. (If you watch her in The Admirable Crichton, where she is also in Edwardian costume and was closer to Truly's actual age, she really doesn't look all that much different. If anything, I think she looks even more glowingly beautiful in Chitty!)
Also, as for Truly wearing her hair down... it may just have been an intentionally anachronistic stylistic choice, but in-story, I think it actually contributes to her character by showing a willingness to flout convention and pursue whatever will make her happy instead of what's expected of her, which happens to be a key theme of her character arc.
Another thing that led me to adore Sally Ann as a person as I learned more about her over the last year: in the 1960s, she appeared as a panelist in quite a few episodes of the game show To Tell the Truth (as well as a few episodes of Password), and these can be found on Youtube. I really adore how her personality shines through - she's unfailingly bubbly, witty, self-deprecating, and a bit quirky. Just listening to her speak is a delight and she has one of the best laughs I've ever heard. Here is one of my favorite little moments that I clipped.
By all accounts, she was a delightful person to know and work with, witty and clever, very professional, and very serious about her craft. She also always maintained a great affection for and pride in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and her role as Truly, which is always a wonderful thing to know about an actor in a beloved role.
Another bonus: here is a super charming interview with her after a backstage disaster at What Makes Sammy Run? on Broadway.
She was also, along with Twiggy and Diahann Carroll (as Julia Baker), one of the first three celebrities to have her likeness made into a Barbie doll.
Two of her earlier films I recommend are the comedies Fools Rush In (1949) and The Admirable Crichton (1957), if you can find them (hint-hint, you can.) You may also be able to find the 1966 TV movie of her reprising her Tony-nominated role of Fiona in Brigadoon with Robert Goulet, and although I feel like the oddly close-up way the film was shot kinda does a disservice to the actors at times, it's still amazing to be able to see and hear her in a role she performed on Broadway.
Richard Rodgers once called Sally Ann "the greatest singer who ever sang on the American musical stage." Now, I don't quote this to claim this superlative as some kind of objective fact. If you know anything about me, I am very, very strongly opposed to pitting women against each other and all the Golden Age sopranos are absolute queens who deserve crowns, no matter how much mainstream success or present-day name-recognition they have/had. I just think it's phenomenal that she received such high praise from a man who worked with many of the best musical theatre singers who ever lived... and to think, many people today have never even heard her voice. Without her performance as Truly Scrumptious, it's possible almost nobody would in the future! I am so glad that Sally Ann's lasting legacy was ensured by such a beloved film role.
Sadly for us, many of the theatrical roles which she originated (and thus, for which cast albums featuring her exist) were in shows that either flopped quickly or at least did not enter the theatrical canon, so she never achieved the level of mainstream recognition she clearly deserves. But Sally Ann also played such legendary and challenging roles as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, Fiona MacLaren in Brigadoon (for which she received a Tony nomination), Maria Rainer von Trapp in The Sound of Music, Anna Leonowens in The King and I, and, much later, Desiree Armfeldt in A Little Night Music. She received great acclaim for all of these performances and, judging by what we know of her process on My Fair Lady, was excellent at making roles distinctly her own and never merely imitating another performer.
Even in her iconic original role of Truly Scrumptious, you don't get to hear the true full power of Sally Ann's extraordinary soprano. For that, I highly recommend listening to "Another Time, Another Place" from Kwamina (1961), and "Something to Live For" from What Makes Sammy Run? (1964). I'm always sad that we don't have any recordings of her in her "fiery" star turn as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, but you can at least hear her do a Cockney accent, be silly, and sing "With a Little Bit of Luck" with Bing Crosby here!
If it weren't for the enduring success of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, few people might have even heard of Sally Ann Howes today, and that would be a terrible loss. I cannot overstate that I am so grateful that we all know who she is because she played this role and we get to see her give this radiant performance of a character that's all her own. Maybe this sounds strange, but I think the fact that this was Sally Ann's only musical film role (and the ONLY role most people will ever see her in) makes it even more precious, and makes everything she brings to the character that much more distinctive and unique and special.
Both for all of the talent and charm she brings to the role itself, and everything else that I and many other fans have been able to learn of so much of her otherwise-obscure work because of it, the world is incredibly lucky to have the lovely Sally Ann Howes immortalized as our Truly Scrumptious, and I wouldn't have it any other way 💖
#*mic drop*#sally ann howes#chitty chitty bang bang#and that's why you should vote for... wait there's no poll involved? I may have gotten carried away ;)#ok so I doubt anyone will even pay attention to this post but if you are going to tag or comment on this BE KIND AND POSITIVE ABOUT HER#like this is obviously a labor of love on my part here... don't be weird or backhanded. I don't need to hear how you disagree or whatever#and no pitting women against each other on my posts I am so serious#this is a fan post! this is a stan post! this is a celebration! do not derail!#I feel like I need to sprinkle holy water on this post before I release it out into the world#oh Sally Ann we're really in it now#also parts of this are poorly written I know. it's literally just an infodump about my Special Interest English Lady what do you expect lol#the switches between formal tone and informal fangirling are intentional btw#this is what I'm using my degree for apparently#I know I mixed in a lot of character/story analysis here and maybe that's slightly off-topic from lauding her performance but hey#it's not like I'm getting graded on this. and I mean you can see these things in her character BECAUSE of her performance#take my hand. love her with me. life could be a dream#you know the lyric in Hamilton - 'I wrote my way out'? that's what this was for me. I wrote my way out of a mental health crisis with this#when I came up with this idea I was going to save it for her birthday but that is sooo far away. so I'll post now and reblog it then!#I'm shocked tumblr can even handle whatever I'm trying to do here#I wouldn't have put SO many photos except that I needed to use multiples so I could make them smaller!!#my original post#long post
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teachers need to be studied how can they be so stupid
#my biology teacher when I tell her I'm feeling stressed and overwhelmed and I didn't do my homework and she proceeds#to say well I need to do it tonight then#(on top of todays homework)#like. do you not realize how that's worse. right. you do realize how that makes everything so much worse. and that you're fucking stupid.#why do you need me to do this arbitrary piece of work that means nothing so much anyway#teachers might as well be a species of alien. and I want them de- [mic cuts off]#wiki rambles
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i despise those who say taco is an abuser and then don't listen to those who try to say their point of view
"im not reading that" go fuck yourself then.
(this is about a certain microphone fan that i will not name but if you know, you know)
(and NOT targeted at any of my moots i will love and cherish you till the end of my days istg)
Fronting: Lollipop ~ She/He | Julius [He/They/Mew]
(lolli is the one who's typing she's uh filled with hatred and anger)
#vent#raichu's clicks ✨#raichu's lovelies ����#ii#iii#taco#taco ii#literally what an asshole sometimes tacomic haters are literally dumb as fuck#when talking abt tacomic it all comes back to taco#and somehow mic's arc or personality was ruined because she could apologize#and of course you have to whine and cry abt how “omggg im literally grieving rn mic shouldn't forgive her abuser wahh wahh”#literally fuck you#taco is not an abuser you just can't see a mentally ill character unless they come to life and sock you in the face#brian did not say that for “fan service” you dumb dumb#he said that because tacomicers were raving and shit after truth or flare#if he really did fanservice shit he'd say payjay was canon#are you literally dumb#just because you dislike a character doesn't mean the writers of the show are scheming against you when something good happens to said-#character.#you are literally just petty and pathetic and sad#taco isn't an evil could-do-no-good villan#she is an interesting and nuanced character that you cannot seem to comprehend or understand#shakes you by the shoulders#if you read all the tags thx because i fr fr needed to get that off my chest ffs#i won't say the personout right because i don't want them crying to their friends say im plotting their demise or something#but you probably already know if you've ever taken a glimpse at tacomic discourse#jesus chriist. i want to punch a wall#anyway bye
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#i keep meaning to stream stuff i even got my nice mic#but i just keep puttin it off for some reason#it would most likely be roblox and bullet hell games
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in honor of the tpot short with the failed debuters (assumedly) being announced soon heres my tierlist of all the tpot debuters most favorite to least
tags for longer opinions :3
#i dont really hate any of them and avocado is just down there because I kind of enjoy everyone else more . The only I feel like . Any kind+#+of Real negativity at all to are nonexisty and 9ball#nonexisty because fuck off and 9ball because that’s just 8ball but different gimmick . And 8ball is already not the best imo#tpot#happy taggy got in bc they n winner were my favorites . I have my reaction to taggy getting in recorded I love taggy a lot#what can I say im a :3 girl#i like leek because it’s a plant also they put a hatsune miku ref in the episode with the flip phone triple baka#pda is a device which is always awesome forever and it looks like theyr gonna have a role in the short which is :DDDDDD#onigiri is fun because it’s a fun romaji . it would also be funny if they called em jelly donut . but onigiri is cool they look like+#+a rocky clone Maybe or if they’re just mute hey I Really Like Mute Characters So Win. cause I Think they were the only one who didn’t+#+speak in the episode . Don’t take my word for it I haven’t watched tpot 1 in a while lol (I think boom mic didn’t speak either actually)#boom mic; clapboard; and camera I speak as 3 together . Theyre super awesome and it would be fun to see if they have a dynamic . Cuase+#+theyre like . All movie equipment . Idk I remember long back ago i roleplayed em they mean a lot to me#i like tha vhsy a little more because reminds me of that freak from TAOT who i just adore . Also novel rectangular thing also kind of prett#tape friend looks like a menace and I like characters that are menaces I think them and six could be friends#sink I just like the design of lol . also I like the song kitchen sink by tøp#salt lamp is cool because I like salt lamps and they’re pretty colors both on and off#shopping cart is silly . I like wheeled characters#blender is an appliance I like how they did the asset#discy’s prettyyyy colored#battery is small and cute they also might be the mute character idr I haven’t seen them talk personally . Feel free to correct me if any+#+info I say here is wrong btw#Snare drum is small and cool and I like how they look#Anchor is also I like how they look also listen to anchor by caize#shell is like emo and a good shape#rubber spatula; scissors; tax guy I forget their name; and shampoo I think have good designs#avocado im so sorry I just like everyone else more than u im not the biggest fan ever of things like donut mouth#and I already explained the last 2 awesome 👍
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