#I WANT TO SEE THE NEW STUFF MAN.
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krysmcscience Ā· 4 months ago
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I have some questions about karaoke night, Alex Hirsch. Very Important Questions. Which I will happily scream at a poor hapless baby triangle who can have no answers for me, and possibly also does not have object permanence yet.
Follow-up that is I guess suggestive, but let's be real here, Bill's a fucking triangle:
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Dude slipped right into his birthday suit, lmao
this is so stupid :D
Anyway, I don't care what anyone says, this brilliant individual knows what's up - Bill is absolutely way more of a monsterfucker than Ford could or ever will be, full stop.
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the-acid-pear Ā· 8 months ago
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damn just remembered the joe teaser in DT. AROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
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julia-loves-cupcakes Ā· 1 year ago
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Mammon's perfect. No matter what character I'm obsessed with at any given time, there's always space for my first man =w=
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kagoutiss Ā· 8 months ago
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as if it was never there at all.
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slymanner Ā· 2 months ago
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Look all I'm saying is if that a shadow game can work THAT well and be so well designed story wise and gameplay wise
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HE can work
#sonic#silver the hedgehog#sonic the hedgehog#silver right now is such a open canvas of a character#story wise and gameplay wise#he's been a side character for so long and in the one time he was a main character his whole story was basically axed from canon#he's definitely been explored since then but not to extent we've probably wanted with this character-#and I'm talking mostly game silver cause obviously in IDW and archie he got some LOVE there#even if we never saw idw silver actually explore his good future#which i still think is a shame but also apparently if sega doesn't want that to be explored in a comic and saved for the games then#THEY BETTER EXPLORE IT SOON#and honestly gameplay wise he needs another shot as well#like C'MON his psychic's just needed better...well...PSYCHIC'S TO WORK#can you imagine what cool and fun movement he'd have now that sega is now slowy understanding what kinda stuff they wanna do with#the sonic franchise again and how it should play#i don't know if i should fully expect a silver game at any point#but he should ATLEAST be a second main character in a new game so people can be reintroduced to him and they can cook with him#IM TIRED OF SEEING MY SON GETTING HATED ON OR CALLED LAME#I WANT PEOPLE TO BE REMINDED OR SHOWN HOW COOL AND FUN HE CAN BE WHEN GIVEN THE SPOTLIGHT#archie and idw are the best examples of him as a character#he is a lovable friend and ally#but serious when he can be character#and his powers are literally so COOL AND INHERENTLY UNIQUE AND POWERFUL COMPARED TO OTHER'S IN THE CAST#like when surge saw silver come in casually carrying a large object and she got nervous THAT'S WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT#THIS MAN CAN BE A THREAT.#okay rant over DHDNDNDB
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wavesoutbeingtossed Ā· 10 months ago
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Randomly thinking about ā€œtolerate itā€ (narrator voice: it was not random) and how under the cloak of fiction it is ostensibly inspired by works like ā€œRebeccaā€ (which Taylor said she read during the 2020 lockdowns I believe?), with the line of ā€œyouā€™re so much older and wiserā€ indicating that the speaker is significantly younger and inexperienced compared to the person sheā€™s speaking to and a pretty direct reference to the plot of the book.
But I saw something somewhere once that stuck with me about how it might not be referring to relative age between the characters but chronological age as in the passage of time in a relationship. And that made me think about how in a contemporary context, it might not necessarily be referencing an actual age gap between the two characters, but rather a sarcastic or cynical response to the manā€™s claims that he has matured (ā€œyouā€™re so much older and wiser [than you were before/than you were when we met/etc.]ā€), which then made me think about that line in relation to the woman. And that it could be taken like, ā€œyou act like youā€™ve matured so much in our time together and like you know everything, while Iā€™m supposedly still stuck as the girl I was when we first met.ā€
Which then made me think of the ā€œright where you left meā€ of it all and did you ever hear about the girl who got frozen time went on for everyone else she wonā€™t know it and the bit in Miss Americana where she talks about how celebrities get frozen at the age at which they got famous, and how sheā€™s had to play catch up in a lot of ways not just in her emotional growth but kind of in general. (Which also made me wonder if sheā€™s ever been called out for immaturity/lack of curiosity/lack of education about things in her lifeā€¦)
Which then made me think about the rest of the song, and @taylortrutherā€™s posts yesterday about ā€œsevenā€ and ā€œDaylightā€ and the way Taylor idealizes her youth yet contrasts it with an almost sinister reality in its wake, and the line, ā€œI sit by the door like Iā€™m just a kid,ā€ because the discussion raised that her relationship let her recapture some of the childlike joy and wonder sheā€™d lost. So this line is a double-edged sword: the speaker sits by the door with childlike hope that the person will come home and cherish her, but on the darker side, feels like the child dealing with the monsters she doesnā€™t have names for yet and the feelings of isolation she felt as she aged.
Iā€™m not saying the song is necessarily autobiographical; like most of the songs on folkmore, itā€™s clearly a fictionalized story based on media sheā€™d consumed and created, but we know a lot of the fictional songs were infused with her own feelings and experiences andā€¦ This idea swirling in my head picked up steam and now I kind of canā€™t stop thinking about it. Sorry but Iā€™m a little obsessed now.
Like maybe it might start to shed light on why she identified so strongly with the novel in the first placeā€¦
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what-is-it-to-be-pk-esque Ā· 9 months ago
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Ok I know I'm heavily biased here but like I kinda love that Astarion's romance is one of the few in this type of video game where you basically end up canonically unmarried and childfree in his "good" ending? Just travelling the world??
Like it's honestly the millennial dream lmfaoo cannot believe i chose what would undoubtedly be my favorite option, first try
#also love that he's basically atheist like ok thanks you made the man exactly coded to be my type#and the humor and beautiful curly hair is very much something my IRL partner has too so like... how can i resist#anyways not sure a lot of people relate cause i think a lot of people want that fairytale romance#even tho wyll is right there yall#but i love me an unconventional or nontraditional one!!#i'm TIRED of being married with children as the endgame pls let's not do it#also a lot of people seem into him being a dad and im like... how? why? where in canon did he ever lmfao#more power to ya if you dig it but i just dont see it being in character#like in DAI i loved cullen and my inquisitor getting married and having a dog#and they seem the type to wants kids one day. but Tav & Astarion? lol no#i just think it's neat#is this a hot take? i have no idea but i don't see it mentioned a lot as a new fan tbh#pls do not come at me you can enjoy whatever you like#i haven't seen the ascended stuff so idk if being his 'consort' is like being his bride#but i feel like overall it's not and the vibe isn't all that different in this sense#except that you're hosting evil parties instead of travelling :/#Astarion#bg3 spoilers#baldur's gate 3#baldur's gate 3 spoilers#bg3#also YEA he's nice to Arabella but you can tolerate certain kids without wanting one or being 'good parent' material#case in point: me lmfao#OKAY update i saw the AA stuff and yeah you're kind of implied vamp married and he does mention spawn as children šŸ˜«#but he also says in banter he won't make any other spawn??? so what is it dude#anyway that's also clearly the ā€œbadā€ route and he doesn't seem as happy as unascended#who feels ā€œtruly freeā€#and if you're durge I'm pretty sure its even worse to consider having kids?? lol#but i digress#pk plays bg3
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secretlythatsme Ā· 10 months ago
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i've seen a lot of dp fans in the dpxdc fandom talk about not having access to comics so here. it's completely free, good quality scans (for most things), basically any dc comic you could want is there. you should have an adblocker but the ads aren't the worst if you don't, just noticeable and annoying. you're not gonna get a virus, i've been using the site for years, as have many other fans.
if you genuinely want to read the comics, take advantage of the sites comic fans have been using. there's new and old stuff and everything in between. crossovers too. whatever you want to read, you'll find there.
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emby-m Ā· 1 year ago
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What has four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs at night?
(an exploration of andreas over the course of 25 years, plus quotes)
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spaceistheplaceart Ā· 1 year ago
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I miss when shows had stupid goofy shit in them that you were supposed to take seriously. I miss robins "holy ____ on a ____, batman!" I miss spiderman crawling around like an insectoid, I miss weird shit that doesn't make sense like "a meteor crashed down on Earth and awoke mummified lion people that lived in caves for thousands of years", I miss when in scooby doo they'd eat fog or dracula hosted races every year, i miss "Columbo has a skateboarding descendant Boronco" or "Napoleon's descendant runs a terrorist organization that wants to take over the world bc its noisy and he wants to sleep". I love batshit plots with weird circumstances that make no sense but they're fun and entertaining-- give me shit that comes out of nowhere and baffles me but is still fun. I miss that kind of stuff man :/
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mamawasatesttube Ā· 1 year ago
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yknow i gotta say. lex luthor can be a really fun and interesting villain, but sometimes it does just take me aback the way some people talk about him when trying to make him funny and cool, as if his biggest and most infamous shtick is not extreme, violent xenophobia.
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nikoisme Ā· 1 year ago
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Okay so I feel like that if my men Odysseus and Hector ever interacted (in a not-enemy way) they would have the energy of "two dads in the tool section of a shop". One would see the other checking out a drill and he would be like "hey that's actually pretty bad, not a good investment man". Then they would spend a solid 30 minutes talking about the different tools they use. They would bond. Immediate bros. And then they leave and like never interact again
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thebirdandhersong Ā· 3 months ago
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Lol
#theres nothing quite like your mother saying Well maybe you shouldve been more careful because now your boss might think youve been flirting#with this male coworker (whom i like splendidly as a friend) and now maybe she thinks youre not trustworthy#and maybe she regrets hiring you because you said you feel like youre making a lot of mistakes this week and she might assume thats because#your head is filled with this boy.#so dont make her regret hiring you.#MA'AM I TOLD YOU I WAS ALREADY ANXIOUS BECAUSE I MADE SO MANY MISTAKES TODAY WHY ARE YOU MAKING ME ASHAMED#OF SOMETHING THAT I HONESTLY HAD NO CLUE I OUGHT TO BE ANXIOUS ABOUT AT MY FIRST NEW JOB AFTER IVE GRADUATED????#anyway going to bed i cant take this anymore LOL she said it so lightly and im like. well i never even considered#being afraid of making my boss regret hiring me somehow because of some kind of behaviour that i had no idea was sending some kind of signal#anywaysssss šŸ˜­šŸ˜­šŸ˜­šŸ˜­šŸ˜­šŸ˜­šŸ˜­#and then she was like why are you crying?? šŸ’€šŸ’€šŸ’€šŸ’€šŸ’€šŸ’€šŸ’€šŸ’€#not to be like this is partly why i didnt want to move home but confound it all why are things like this#can i not simply confide in my mother my anxieties and worriws#worries#and not also have to worry about her potentially being like Well have you considered you ARE right and it IS your fault?#idk man something something firstborn child eldest daughter can i have some room to breathe. please#also not to whine but Not my father walking in on me eating dinner at 10pm because i was holed up#in my room in a semi depressive state after so many gong shows in a work day and straight up having no appetite#but deciding my body needs the food anyway its better late than never.....walking in and then saying#you know if you eat this late you'll gain weight. SIR??????????????????#sorry to complain and rant again i simply cannot in this house and whats more am doing my best to honour my parents#but why is it so hard out here and how can they say stuff like that with a smile!!!!!!!#also i DO have an inner critic who is always like Its your fault you are the worst you should be ashamed always........why do my parents#not understand after knowing me for so long and watching me grow up#that i can make myself so ashamed of the smallest thing so easily and that what they say drives me to shame almost as easily?#ANYWAY LOL WHAT A DAY#you guys!!! i am working so hard i promise i PROMISE I am!!! it is my first full time job ever and i am working so so hard#i am doing my absolute best and no one sees it and that is FINE i just wish my parents would see that i AM trying!!#i come back home so dead every single day because i put in 120%! this is literally my first job after graduation#and my parents KNOW this has been the most exhausting taxing and soul crushing year ive had in my very short life so far
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trickstersaint Ā· 1 year ago
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a voice in your head says maybe you should pray the rosary // january 20 2024
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red-moon-at-night Ā· 2 years ago
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An Analysis of Harukaā€™s MVs: Distance and Disability
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Hello! Iā€™ve recently fallen down the rabbit hole that is Milgram and I have been itching to make someĀ completely normal and sane analysis posts. My silly alternate title for this was gonna be ā€œThings About Harukaā€™s MVs That Just Make Sense: A Hyperfixation-fuelled Analysisā€, because honestly my autistic brain has been having a field day over here.
I am in awe with just about every single music video in this project; the animation is incredible and each one packs so much carefully laid out information. But I have been rotating Harukaā€™s in my head constantly since I first watched them, and I have a lot of Thoughts. Not about whether heā€™s guilty or innocent/forgiven or unforgiven. Not about whether or not I can justify his murders. Just some straight up imagery and symbolism analysis, through the lens of disability.
Harukaā€™s disability has not been specified, but I am confident we can at least say he is neurodivergent. I feel like the cultural differences in names for several things e.g.Ā ā€˜learning disabilityā€™ vsĀ ā€˜learning difficultyā€™ will just invite unnecessary drama, and is a little pedantic. What does matter here is that Haruka's experience as a disabled person is heavily intertwined within his story and his motives.Ā 
So, without further ado... letā€™s get into this!
Trigger warnings/TW: I will be discussing ableism, eugenics and harm towards disabled people. Everything else will be related to the music videos ā€˜Weaknessā€™ andĀ ā€˜All Knowing and All Agonyā€™, so any triggering content within them may also be mentioned. Read at your own discretion and stay safe!
Disability: some brief (important) historical context
It is only within the last few decades that those who are disabled have been ā€˜seenā€™ for the first time. A modern society is (ideally) expected to be built to include and accommodate for disability, and to acknowledge disabled peopleā€™s existence. But for many countries (even the ones making steps outlined above) this is still not the case. For a very, very long time, globally, that has not been the case.
For most disabled people, society makes it very clear that they are a burden to it and are better off not existing.Ā 
Iā€™m going to make this section as succinct as possible because...itā€™s heavy stuff. But itā€™s important, and I want you all to get the gist of what Iā€™m saying. The weight of it.
Letā€™s highlight a piece of history regarding IQ and eugenics, surrounding the publication and subsequent worldwide reception ofĀ ā€˜The Kallikak Family: A Study in the Heredity of Feeble-mindednessā€™ by Henry Herbert Goddard in 1913:
ā€œIn 1927, it was used as evidence in the case of Buck v. Bell, which culminated in a Supreme Court ruling that the involuntary sterilization ofĀ ā€˜mentally defectiveā€™ persons was not unconstitutional in the United States. By 1938, thirty-three US states had passed laws allowing for the forced sterilization of women with learning disabilities and twenty-nine had made sterilizationĀ  compulsory for people who were thought to have genetic conditions. Many European countries followed suit: Denmark in 1929, then Norway in 1934, and after that Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Iceland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Latvia, Hungary and Turkey.ā€
ā€” Limburg, J. (2021) Letters To My Weird Sisters: On Autism and Feminism, p. 126
This history of a ā€˜sterilization lawā€™ includes Japan, who between 1948 and 1996 enacted the Eugenics Protection Law which ā€œauthorised theĀ sterilization of people with intellectual disabilities, mental illnesses or hereditary disorders.ā€ According to the government, about 25,000 were sterilized.
SO. Itā€™s important to bring this up. To establish how much disabled people are not wanted, just from their governments. Let alone society. To this day, disabled people are hidden away from the public by families that are ashamed of their existence.
Japanese culture values collectivism, and maintaining the harmony of a group...to the extent of excluding those that donā€™t fit into the mould. That are different.
The question is: where do they go? The ones that are publicly rejected?
Haruka and The Curious Case of Distant Waters
Okay thatā€™s enough of the heavy real-world stuff! Time to delve into some...*checks notes*...heavy fictional stuff. Fun!
Harukaā€™s MVs prominently display themes of distance and separation through the motif of water, specifically being submerged underwater.Ā 
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The name Haruka reinforces this concept as the specific kanji used (遄) translates to ā€˜distantā€™, ā€˜remoteā€™ or ā€˜far awayā€™. As there are many, many kanji choices for the name (including but not limited to: ocean/sea, eternity/permeance, clear/distinct/obvious, and spring/growth/cherry blossom) it feels like a particularly cruel and intentional choice to go with that one.
Through the exploration of this motif, we can see the extent in which Otherness/the state of being ā€˜Otherā€™ drives Haruka to great lengths to close the distance and escape it.
What I noticed throughout both MVs (particularly AK&AA but note the beginning scene of Weakness), is that whenever Haruka looks at himself in a reflective surface (e.g. the vanity mirror, the fish tank), water either begins to rise and overwhelms him, or is already there and he appears submerged:
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I think this is theĀ ā€œAll-Knowingā€ part of AK&AA. He knows heā€™s different, and he knows thereā€™s a huge ocean between him and his peers, his family, everyone. A disconnect when trying to listen and understand, but also when trying to be understood by others and listened to himself.
You know when you submerge your head in water, and your hearing gets all muffled and incomprehensible? And have you ever tried speaking underwater? You canā€™t, because if you open your mouth youā€™ll drown. Itā€™ll just come out as bubbles rising to the surface.
I also think the bubbles symbolise rising tension, between what he wants and what he currently has. Bubbles are everywhere in these MVs, even in places where they shouldnā€™t logically be? Such as this scene, following the line ā€œdonā€™t wipe me out, donā€™t wipe me outā€:
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Immediately pans up to Haruka gasping for breath, droplets of water rising from...somewhere. For about a split second, and theyā€™re gone.Ā 
This boy is really going through it. Iā€™m getting an ā€˜emerging from the ocean before I drownā€™ vibe from this one folks. When the line that follows this scene isĀ ā€œI canā€™t stop, I canā€™t stopā€, what Iā€™m REALLYĀ hearing isĀ ā€œI canā€™t stop (killing) or Iā€™ll drownā€. This is his lifeboat, pulling him out from the depths of being neglected and hidden away, into the spotlight.
Some interesting images from Weakness in relation to that (of spotlights):
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Anyways, onto the next point:
Blue to Orange: Water to...Nectar?
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So, the orange liquid. Itā€™s clearly representing blood, but I donā€™t think this is just aĀ ā€œdanganronpa pink bloodā€ situation of censoring/getting this video onto youtube without restrictions.
I think itā€™s most likely honey, specifically nectar.
The etymology of the word nectar shows its compounds translate to ā€œdeathā€ andĀ ā€œovercomingā€. Nectar is also called the drink of the gods, so it would make sense for it to be a ā€˜death-defeatingā€™, immortalizing liquid.
For Harukaā€™s victims to contain nectar is very interesting. It reinforces that necessity to kill, to take the life of another, to sustain himself. To overcome theĀ ā€˜living deathā€™ he is experiencing by being hidden away from society.Ā 
This is his means of escape from drowning.
However, as we all know, things donā€™t turn out great for him. By the end of AK&AA Haruka is rejected once again by his mother, after which the door is shut (the light with it is gone too) and weā€™re met with this imagery:
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The nectar floods the room, engulfing him much like the water from earlier.Ā 
There are many things we could take from this. One being that the nectar-gathering/killing-spree has clouded his vision; itā€™s so sweet, so sickly sweet and heā€™s addicted to the taste of attention, even if itā€™s very bad attention.Ā 
Who else has honey imagery in their MV again?
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Oh, right.Ā 
Anyway, the nectar/honey situation could also be representing submerging into an even further level of distance. All that murder is gonna push people away, despite his motive being to close the gap between him and normal people. The 'oceanā€™ has lost clarity and become a maddening, delusional substance. After all, there is a type of honey literally calledĀ ā€˜mad honeyā€™ known for its medicinal and hallucinogenic properties.
Thatā€™s enough about honey, though. Letā€™s move onto less unfortunate... oh, sorry, what was that? *checks notes*...Ah, yes. I meant to say, letā€™s move onto even more unfortunate symbolism:
The Necklace
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So, this necklace. Haruka steals it from his motherā€™s belongings, and is his only material, physical connection to her. It is taken on the declaration ofĀ ā€œmaking (her) love me againā€ and getting her attention once more, now he is no longer a child but a teenager closer to adulthood (at least, thatā€™s what I consider theĀ ā€˜shirt with a vest sweater and tieā€™ to represent. child him = the blue polo, teenager him = this one, adult him = an amalgamation of his teenager clothes).
I wasnā€™t sure if this was an opal or pearl/mother of pearl, but Iā€™m leaning towards opal from the other depiction of it in Weakness:
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Opals are fun because they can symbolise both good luck and bad luck, usually to do with whether itā€™s your birthstone. Thereā€™s something to be said of Harukaā€™s belief in hisĀ ā€˜misfortuneā€™ and the superstition surrounding these gemstones.
But they are even more interesting for the powers they supposedly have; in medieval times the opal was considered the ā€˜patron of thievesā€™ for their ability to grant the wearer invisibility.
There is a deliciously sad irony to Harukaā€™s theft with that titbit of information.
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Now, if this isnā€™t an opal, and itā€™s a pearl/mother of pearl thereā€™s still some fun interpretation to be had! A little less sad, even. Pearls invoke strong imagery of the sea, of purity, and of a connection to the maternal. If this is the last thing he has relating to his mother, I can see this necklace representing a lifeline when heā€™s deep in the ocean. A reminder of why heā€™s doing all of this killing, and who itā€™s for.
His motherā€™s attention (or the idea of having a mother at all, any mother) is his driving force in life.
Speaking of that...
So We Really Need To Talk About That Fish Tank: AKA, Why Harukaā€™s Mom Wins ā€˜The Worst Parent of The Yearā€™ Award
This fucking fish tank.
Okay, Iā€™m gonna start by saying: I donā€™t think this is reading too far into things. When it takes an animation team months, sometimes years to create a 3-5 minute music video, and one as detailed as this...you donā€™t just wing it. There are storyboards, there are key frames and there are choices made down to the smallest of details.
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From the sheer volume of animal/insect/fish dĆ©cor that resides in the Sakurai household, you bet Iā€™m gonna pay attention to what type of fish are in that fish tank.
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For one thing, they live in saltwater. This is a marine tank, aka the harder choice of aquarium to have. I mean, way, WAY harder. For the experienced only.
These fish right here? One is a clownfish, and the other is a yellow boxfish.
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Boxfish are a nightmare to keep alive. This article goes into more detail than I will, but all you need to know is: if there was ever a fish out of all the fish you could possibly want in your tank, this is the one to avoid like the plague.
They release deadly toxins when stressed, as a survival instinct. Boom. All your fish are dead. They need to eat a shit ton of food, but are notoriously clumsy swimmers and slow eaters. Boom. Starving, stressed out boxfish. Boxfish either dies from starvation or dies from stress and toxins.
For Harukaā€™s mom to have not just one of these fuckers, but a tank consisting ONLY OF MULTIPLE BOXFISH AND CLOWNFISH...
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This is a high-maintenance tank. And it shows how much time and effort, how much care she puts into the things she loves.
How neglectful she is as a parent of a disabled child in contrast.
Thereā€™s something about the last scene between Haruka and his mother that reinforces this for me:
Harukaā€™s relationship with animals and himself: AKA,Ā ā€œwhy donā€™t I just become the damn fish tank?ā€
Let me backpedal a little bit. This subheading will make sense in a minute.
So, like I said earlier we have a lot of dƩcor in this house relating to insects and fish. We also have a lot of pets. Both living and dead, taxidermized creatures in one household, proudly on display.
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I think this may have created some confusion for Haruka regarding the value of animals being alive or dead, as in his perspective his mother values both equally. The fish in a tank may be full of alive creatures, but theyā€™re still on display as if itā€™s artwork. Isnā€™t breaking the glass of a framed picture of a fish equal to breaking the glass of a tank with aĀ ā€˜picture of living fishā€™?
(This isnā€™t to say Haruka is clueless to the impact of his actions, nor to justify any harm to animals. I just find the train of thought to be intriguing.)
So when considering theseĀ ā€˜objectsā€™ are proud trophies of his work:
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This is a carefully arranged display, which by the way, doesnā€™t contain a single fish. In fact the only piece of that moment visible here is the...large piece of driftwood? Okay. Keep that in mind.
We proceed into Harukaā€™s mother opening the door and seeing her son, for the first time in any of the MVs. Note the way they composed this shot:
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Iā€™m obsessed with this scene. The blue eye framing Haruka, with a literal fishbowl effect on him...
He is the goddamn fish in the aquarium now. His motherā€™s full attention is on him and him alone, with only the dead animals, the books, the lamp and the driftwood as window dressing to this wonderful display.
Doesnā€™t it just screamĀ ā€œLook at me! Look at what I did, mom!ā€ to you?
That blue spotlight is on him once more. He is not just drifting deeper into an endless ocean, but contained in a vessel to be stared at.
One Last Observation
I didnā€™t know where to fit this in but I think the end feels appropriate.
His clothing here:
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Is a frankenstein-esque mash up of clothes from his younger years. He wears this throughout AK&AA, and as I mentioned before it signifies him as an adult. However, I should clarify what I mean here as Haruka says ā€œhe thinks heā€™s 17ā€³ and ā€œdoesnā€™t care about his ageā€. So... not an adult, but on the cusp of adulthood.
But I think he actually does care about his age, and quite a lot too.
This outfit feels symbolic of refusing to let go of the past, and of himself as a child. Heā€™s literally grown out of his clothing, but he still clings onto it. Heā€™s attached to the past because it not only contains his happiest moments, but the change from being loved to becoming neglected.
As a disabled person, youā€™re often treated with a lot more forgiveness when youā€™re younger. That is to say, some people donā€™t realise that children with disabilities grow up into adults with disabilities. There is a point where even support from medical and social services drops off like a cliff edge once you turn 18.
The ill-fitting clothing in this context becomes more than a reflection on Harukaā€™s feelings, and extends to reflecting societyā€™s feelings on disabled adultsĀ ā€˜refusing to grow upā€™.
I donā€™t blame Haruka for holding onto his childhood like this. Heā€™ll be even less publicly visible and seen once he is no longer a pitiful child, but aĀ ā€˜weirdā€™ adult in ill-fitting, childrenā€™s clothes.
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wavesoutbeingtossed Ā· 10 months ago
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The whole discourse about the privacy/secrecy/support thing has been sitting with me for a few days (I mean other than it always does to a certain degree) thanks to all the excellent discussion happening and I know I'm not saying anything that hasn't been said a million times before, but I think what we're seeing and what we're going to learn (e.g. from TTPD) is that it wasn't just the support issue, but how it was shown/handled.
We've all gone out of our way to show that introversion =/= lack of support. Someone can be shy, reserved, etc. and still show up for their partner, whether in public or at home. To chalk any of the differences up to the clash between introversion and extroversion is unfair to folks who count themselves among either tbh.
@thisisctrying said something the other day that hit the nail on the head about how if that support had been offered in private, there very well may not have been a Joever to begin with, or at least not at this point in time. (Sorry for loosely paraphrasing, and for namedropping you! Long time listener, first time poster.)
If this were a case where the "shy" partner said, "I am really uncomfortable with the spotlight personally and do not want to court it, but I will support you in your ambitions and offer you whatever you need to make them happen and make the glare bearable," I suspect that would have gone a long way to making Taylor feel seen and comfortable in pursuing her goals in the way that she now has. Again, that might have been more akin to the balance that seemed to have been struck around 2019 from what we can see, but even speaking in a general sense, there are lots of couples out there, celebrity or not, that have similar approaches where there are highly driven people and busy careers involved.
(A famous example being Dolly Parton's marriage. Tbh I know next to nothing about her and Carl, but she's always heralded as an example in this regard, because her husband is famously uncomfortable with the spotlight and hasn't accompanied her to public events in decades, but she's said that she never minded that because that was always work to her, and what was important was that he supported her in pursuing all her career goals and basically ensured she had a place to call home to return to at the end of the day.)
We're kind of in a brave new world with her current relationship because it felt like, at least at the start, we were maybe watching her figure out her boundaries in real time as to what she was comfortable with or not and adjust accordingly. Like so many have said, I fully believe the extreme privacy thing was initially driven by herself and her experiences in 2016, and she needed that quiet time to recover from all of the things and figure out how to exist in the world again.
Stating the obvious, it seemed like eventually privacy was equated with secrecy, turning the relationship and the celebrity into the elephant in the room and something to never be spoken of to the outside world. People are free to choose whatever works best for themselves and their relationships, and for some the separate public lives might work, but the ā€œkept me like a secret but I kept you like an oathā€ theme is all over her work and itā€™s clear that itā€™s a sore spot for her, because sheā€™s been made to feel shame just for the life she leads so many times in the past.
What Iā€™m trying to say is that itā€™s pretty obvious something Not Great was happening behind the scenes, which didnā€™t just amount to ā€œshe wanted to be a public celebrity and he wanted to be a private hermit.ā€ (Also, in case anyone forgot, this is a person who also chose a public-facing career who also has to engage in press for it, but I digress.) As her career reached new heights post-folklore, if she had the support at home to do all the things without judgment and with encouragement, and in turn offer the same support to her partner, she may have very well lived just fine with that, not unlike Dolly Partonā€™s case.
By reading between the lines in all the press since, as well as comments on tour and general ~vibes~ with TTPD teasers, it seems like one of the issues was that that was likely not the case. There was all the stuff that we saw ā€” the reticence to acknowledge each other in the media (particularly on one side), the lack of public support even at events at which they were both in attendance for their respective jobs, the great lengths they went to not to be photographed together at events they attended yet no problem taking pictures with other friends and coworkers, the jobs that separated them, the withdrawing from the public even for work accomplishments, etc. Which could all be manageable if a couple chooses to do so together and are not inherently a sign of trouble in themselves.
But what weā€™re seeing now I think is a reflection of the things we werenā€™t seeing then, and it seems to indicate some very deep hurt. (I know, call me Captain Obvious.) And like so many have been saying, it feels likely that that part of that hurt is rooted in that very lack of private support where a person would expect it from their partner. Obviously as a Taylor fan blog Iā€™m going to be more inclined to understand her side of a story, but tbh, itā€™s also becauseā€¦ this is sooooooo common, and something Iā€™ve experienced in my friend group. (@taylortruther is right when she says most breakups are the same one way or another lol.)
One partner is resentful of the otherā€™s success, or resentful that the otherā€™s priorities begin to evolve as new experiences unlock new goals, or feels the otherā€™s ambitions are not worthy of pursuit, and coupled with perhaps their own struggles in the same domain, itā€™s easy to see where that can chip away at the other partnerā€™s morale and faith in the relationship. I know Iā€™m just speculating here, but I also donā€™t think itā€™s totally unfounded. (Again, because a) Iā€™m picking up what sheā€™s putting down and b) it happens to sooooooo many women even among us dull normals.)
With all the pointed mentions about how much Taylor feels supported in her current relationship and how she in turn loves to offer the same show of support to not only her partner but other loved ones, how sheā€™s stepped out more in the last year to a whole host of events, how sheā€™s mentioned feeling like she locked herself away for years and sheā€™s just proud of her partner and happy she can show up for him even if the chaos around it is unsettling, it paints a picture of what perhaps was happening before last year.
To feel like youā€™re all alone in carrying the weight of the relationship (or burden of it), of twisting yourself into knots to accommodate the other personā€™s boundaries (or insecurities) but not feeling reciprocity for your own has to be so painful. (The idea that it may have been even darker and to have a partner not only be unreceptive to your own needs but even perhaps resentful/dismissive/belittling of them is even more painful to think of. I guess weā€™ll find out when TTPD comes out if that was the case, too.)
At a certain point, that lack of acknowledgement will force your hand to be able to reclaim yourself. And it feels like the further removed Taylor in particular is from it, the more she moves from being sad about the life she felt she gave up by leaving, to angry at the life she felt she was giving up by staying. Especially being in a relationship now where it seems like everything comes much easier, where she can be open about the person sheā€™s with and show up for them, all the stuff that seemed as challenging as climbing Mount Everest in her past is nothing more than a molehill at best in her current life.
TL;DR: I donā€™t think itā€™s privacy that inherently spells doom for a celebrity relationship like this; itā€™s the mutual support and respect that does. If Taylor had felt that in the later years of her previous relationship, I think we could be seeing a different, though not necessarily unfulfilled, person right now in 2024, whoā€™d be happy on tour but whose personal life would look a little different. But it seems like by losing that support she lost parts of herself, and weā€™ve seen her reclaim that in spades in the last year, and perhaps to degrees she didnā€™t even realize she could from before all the Bad Stuff started happening in her young adulthood.
I know this was extremely long-winded and unnecessary, especially about total strangers we only know through scraps fed through the media, but I just always bristle at this idea that issues like these boil down to ā€œpersonality differences,ā€ as though one person wants to live in a city and the other on a remote island, or some shit like that. The whole support (and gender tbh) issue is one thatā€™s just very close to my heart because again, I have seen it play out with so many of my friends in long term relationships and marriages and I just think people in relationships (and women in particular in some circles) deserve better than to feel like theyā€™re being, well, tolerated.
#thisisctrying and taylortruther sorry for tagging you two!#can remove if needed!#but you guys made me think a lot#this was inspired by a conversation i had with a friend the other day#where she relayed an argument she had with her partner#who basically felt slighted that he wasnā€™t getting acknowledgement for all the housework he does ā€” which is. just. the dishes#and she was like ā€˜wow congrats youā€™ve done the dishes ā€” i do every other fucking thing to keep this household afloat in ways you see#and donā€™t see and i never ask for praise because itā€™s just stuff that needs to get done because thatā€™s how you support your familyā€™#and it just reminded me that some partners (and a certain kind of man in particular) justā€¦ think their struggles take precedence#when their partners drown in them everyday but keep things afloat out of necessity and are never recognized or supported for it#(my friends have shitty husbands/boyfriends can you tell lol)#long post#again the way i just feel like i know the vibes of ttpd in my bones are šŸ˜µā€šŸ’«#i feel like i have a lot more thoughts but Iā€™m trying to be more gracious and less parasocial so#also just want to again defend the introverts of the world by reiterating that being introverted does not mean unsupportive#being a shitty partner does though!#writing letters addressed to the fire#itā€™s also just likeā€¦ i feel like if Taylor had had even a modicum of the support in private and even public she needed#sheā€™d probably still be with you know who and wouldnā€™t have considered leaving let alone doing it#because it would have felt like enough and like it was what was needed for both of them#whereas weā€™re seeing a completely new side of her open up now because this is the first time sheā€™s ever had that support from a partner#in her adult life at least#and itā€™s like itā€™s opening up things she didnā€™t know she needed or wanted
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