#Antigone antigone

[sitting-on-me-bum]

The world’s tallest flying bird at around 1.7-meters (5.2-feet) tall, sarus cranes (Antigone antigone) live alongside people in parts of India, foraging in and around canals, irrigation ditches and cultivated fields.

Image © Bjorn Olesen.

[birdblues]

Sarus Crane

[most-tragic-character-tournament]

MOST TRAGIC TOURNAMENT: FINAL ROUND! [ROUND 8]

ANTIGONE

VS

DR. HEINZ DOOFENSHMIRTZ

WINNER WILL BE DECLARED TUMBLR’S MOST TRAGIC CHARACTER!

[herpsandbirds]

Sandhill Cranes (Antigone canadensis), THEY SREMMM!!!, family Gruidae, order Gruiformes, Fairbanks, Alaska

photograph by Lotze Art & Design

[tuverras]

on tragedy, fate, and inevitability.

oresteia, robert icke // theatre of the oppressed, augusto boal // song of achilles, madeline miller // the book thief, markus zusak // antigone, jean anouilh // revisiting mockingjay ahead of the hunger games prequel, entertainment weekly // romeo and juliet, shakespeare // h of h playbook, anne carson // war of the foxes, richard siken // the road to hell (reprise), hadestown // planet of love, richard siken // they both die at the end, adam silvera

[trashmarine]

revolutionary girl utena (shōjo kakumei utena, 1997) / antigone by jean anouilh

[jewelleria]

the only person i'd run through an airport for is you.

antigone, sophocles / summer wars (2009) dir. mamoru hosoda / i’ll give you the sun, jandy nelson / elektra, sophocles / ruth madievsky / right now, gracie abrams / the archive of alternative endings, lindsey drager / the fall of the house of usher, steven berkoff / the replacement, brenna yovanoff / ? / fleabag (2016-2019) / practical magic, alice hoffman

[strange-destinations]

I MADE A GAME! it's a short little walkaround adaptation of Sophocles' Antigone, set in a dying apartment tower, with a whole host of characters who you may or may not recognize. Music, art, and writing all by me - you can play it here, either in-browser or downloadable (although I've been informed that if you download it, the fonts may not function correctly).

It may receive updates in future - I made it in about a month for a class assignment, so I didn't have time to include everything I wanted to, and the music is all taken from various other projects of mine - so stay tuned for whenever that happens! For now, enjoy a 30-40 minute game with a single, inevitable conclusion. And do let me know what you think.

[velvetvexations]

Antigonism

ANTIGONE: I'll do my duty to my brother - and yours as well, if you're not prepared to. I won't be caught betraying him.

What is antigonism?

Antigonism is a transfeminist mode of thought specifically for transfems that embrace solidarity with other trans people, as well as those who are intersex and the queer community in general, under the belief that it's vital to recognize we're all equally oppressed and capable of doing lateral harm to one another

Beliefs of antigonistic transfems include but are not limited to:

accepting that transandrophobia exists

being mindful of exorsexism

not policing the terms that intersex people use for themselves

awareness that other AMAB people can present as feminine without being some kinna insult to us

recognizing that racial hegemony and the cishetpatriarchy are radically different systems of oppression and any comparison between the two, while possible, must be made with exceptional care

rejecting the "reclamation" of radical feminism

finding it appalling to demand that other trans people define themselves as privileged for not experiencing the same things as us - especially when they do in fact experience much of what is commonly, inexplicably cited as unique to transfems.

Isn't that just trans unity?

Trans unity is also great! But I feel like transfems who explicitly reject trans radical feminism could do with a word that is more forceful and specific. Some would prefer that this just be considered the default, and the vocal minority of people who think transfems are oppressed by other trans people should simply be treated as weirdos out of step with the rest of us, but I think there's value in making a strong statement with a term like this.

I've seen a lot of people who legitimately feel like shit because the vocal minority has been so loudly terrible that it's affecting how comfortable they are with random transfems whose opinions they don't know. I understand the temptation to just say they need to touch grass or whatever, but even aside from the fact that things like anti-transmasculinity within the community isn't purely limited to discourse on a dying social media website, I feel like that's blaming them for their reaction to being treated cruelly. I think antigonism could help drill in that there are tons of transfems who back them up, and that they don't need to search for keywords to know that person is safe.

Because, like, that happens to me, too. So many times I've seen a post I really liked and thought was insightful, only to have my distrustful nature lead me to doing such a search before reblogging and being gravely disappointed with the results. That fucking sucks, yall.

Why "antigonism"?

In the legends of Ancient Greece, Oedipus had two sons. One of them, Polynices, would eventually go on to wage war upon his brother, Eteocles, the king of Thebes. There were many telling of the story, some in which Polynices had a very good reason for doing so and some where he didn't.

Polynices and Eteocles both killed each other in the war, but Creon, who took power after, unilaterally declared that Polynices was a traitor. Antigone, the daughter of Oedipus, however, simply does not give a fuck what Polynices did or did not do. When Creon orders that any who try to bury Polynices will be put to death, she proudly does so anyway.

The most famous teller of Oedipus's family history, Sophocles, wrote a play about the war, but it's lost to time and so we know nothing definite about what version of events is canon to Sophocles' play starring the titular Antigone. Considering that the whole point of Creon's character is his dogmatic clinging to law over sense, his assessment of Polynices as being in the wrong for going against authority doesn't clear things up.

I emphasize this because I don't want to seem like I'm framing other trans people - transmascs especially - as requiring forgiveness for some vague past sin. Quite the opposite, just as they treat us as their sisters in spite of that minority of transfems who are awful to them, we must recognize that they're often the first to shut down transmisogynists amongst themselves. Ultimately the point of Antigone's actions in defying the law to honor her brother is that things like that are entirely irrelevant. The fact that the person accusing Polynices of being evil is a jackass, and we know there were versions of the story where Eteocles had it coming, is even more reason to look past his "crime."

ANTIGONE: I owed it to him. CREON: I had forbidden it. ANTIGONE: I owed it to him. CREON: Polynices was a rebel and a traitor, and you know it. ANTIGONE: He was my brother.

Does that mean we should not call out other trans people who are transmisogynistic or otherwise treat trans women badly? Of course not. But we have no more right to abandon or spit on them than they do us, which so many of them refuse to do in spite of the hostility they've often faced. To be an antigonist is to believe that we can do no less for those who do so much for us, and the creation of the term is intended not to spur more to do that so much as to give a name to those who've already been doing that.

Finally, I understand that the plot of Antigone revolving around Polynice's burial might feel grim. Critically, however, Antigone ultimately dies as well.

ISMENE: I must yield to those in authority. I think it is dangerous business to be always meddling. ANTIGONE: You have made your choice, you can be what you want to be. But I will bury him, and if I must die, I say that this crime is holy. I shall lie down with him in death, and I shall be as dear to him as he to me.

We are oppressed by the same forces. We are allies in the same fight. We are friends, lovers, and family. An antigonist is a transfem who believes that all trans people will live together and die together. We are committed to sharing the same fate with our siblings, one way or another. Antigonists see us all as bound together, headed for the same destination, and we would not for a second ever want it to be otherwise no matter where that road leads.

One more thing!

Even if this terminology doesn't catch on, I hope this effort means something to anyone who sees this. <3 Your sisters do love you, I promise.

[irate-iguana]

Sorry, but we’re burying your girlfriend alive. Yeah, she decided that the laws of Zeus take precedence over the laws of the state. Your father’s trapping her in a cave in punishment for giving her brother a burial. I mean, you can try to talk him out of it, but good luck. So sorry.

[divorcedwife]

like father like daughter

[thoodleoo]

thinking about an ASL performance of oedipus rex where the reveal of oedipus's fulfillment of the prophecy isolates him from thebes not just because of the social taboo of killing your father and having a relationship with your mother, but also because it leads to him blinding himself and therefore losing the ability to communicate with those around him

[birdblues]

Sandhill Crane & Red-winged Blackbird

[most-tragic-character-tournament]

PROPAGANDA UNDER THE CUT: [SPOILERS AND POSSIBLE TRIGGERS AHEAD]

ANTIGONE:

LLOYD GARMADON:

[herpsandbirds]

Sandhill Cranes (Antigone canadensis), mother with “colts”, family Gruidae, order Gruiformes, Orlando, FL, USA

Crane chicks are sometimes referred to as “colts”.

Sandhill Cranes breed in the far north of North America, and overwinter in the southern US and northern Mexico.

There are small separate southerly breeding populations in Mississippi, Florida, and Cuba, as well.

photograph by Ken Parish

[decepti-thots]

(apologies to my followers here for an off topic post, but i want this to show up in some tags (for once) and my personal account is... hidden from search, lol.)

i recently recovered my old hard drive from my dead laptop, including recovering my theatre bootlegs. one of which is something i've seen people asking about for the past couple of years (and had been trying to find again myself without luck): a BBC4 broadcast of the 2015 Barbican production of Anne Carson's translation of Antigone, directed by Ivo van Hove. it was broadcast twice and never released on DVD or permanent streaming. there used to be public links around, but all of them are dead as of right now that i could track down.

so i have uploaded it to archive.org now i have it again!

i had to convert the mkv to mp4, for reasons of 'my broadband is shit and uploads too slowly', but it's still good quality. anyway, i enjoy this production a lot. i want more people to watch it! i'm glad i could get it back and upload it somewhere.