#I WANT TO SEE THE NEW STUFF MAN.
Explore tagged Tumblr posts
Text
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:
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.
#fanart#billford#bill cipher#stanford pines#gravity falls#book of bill#i watched gravity falls because i was curious about all the Toxic Old Man Yaoi on my dash and wanted context#turns out most of the context was in the book of bill tho lmao#look they either banged or married or both while drunk and i will accept no other possibilities#you don't use the phrase 'and one thing led to another' in a PRIVATE JOURNAL if what happened wasn't salacious in some way#i mean - ford didn't exactly grow up in The Most Inclusive Time Period???#dude was probably like 'gotta use this wording for plausible deniability - NO ONE can know i boinked the talking triangle'#in other news - i must bully the baby billy#don't know how much more GF stuff i'll toss up here but i have a few other little scribbles in the works. probably won't color them tho lol#also don't ask me why bill's bowtie stays where it is despite his āpantsā being under it. just. just fucking don't ok???#EDIT: oh and since i see this a lot in this fandom for some reason: DO NOT REPOST THIS PLZ K THX :D
9K notes
Ā·
View notes
Text
damn just remembered the joe teaser in DT. AROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
#luly talks#im so excited to Actually Buy The Game.#I WANT TO SEE THE NEW STUFF MAN.#i might actually like. do commission work for it tho#bc steam isnt in pesos anymore so if i can buy a dollar game in dollars i guess its just. easier or something#anyway im so hyped#i rlly wanna replay DT too but i want to have the msot updated version when i play it yknow?#like mikey is still in my game its notably outdated š#also randy isnt in the final sequence which i still dont know if it was a bug or intentional but i Adore it#ALSO ALSO. I ACTUALLY MISSED THE LAST CHANCE YOU GET TO TELL ABEL TO FUCK OFF W MINGUS#ITS SO SAD.#I CRI EVERYTIME
1 note
Ā·
View note
Text
Mammon's perfect. No matter what character I'm obsessed with at any given time, there's always space for my first man =w=
#obey me#obey me shall we date#mammon#obey me mammon#obey me nightbringer#I wanted a new background for my notebook so I thought āmaybe I should draw mammon!ā#and then after finishing it I realized there's just too much detail and it's hard to see my folders and stuff soo#maybe mammon is just too great to stay on the background#the man needs to be the center of attention always dkhdkgdjhsgj#my art
614 notes
Ā·
View notes
Text
as if it was never there at all.
#undertale#deltarune#utdr#gaster#ok ālittle bit of rambling bc ive been catching up on a LOT of deltarune stuff#something something guy(s) who cant be perceived without also ceasing to exist#i had the thought yesterday that. gaster is sort of the anti-chara in a way. if you say his name he ādisappearsā#the game crashes or resets etc. literally the opposite of invoking chara lol#plus how chara is so associated with deletion of worlds. and here gaster is wanting to create new ones#creating new worlds. creating a vessel for the player. creating connections#and its so much more sad when you think about how deltarune is like. fundamentally his attempt to connect with the player#he can maintain a connection with us. but we canāt see him. or show him his own name. or acknowledge his identity in any way#or else that connection will be severed. or heāll disappear. or heāll cease to have ever existed#mystery man goes away the moment you interact. egg man was never there but he gave you an Egg#etc etc#the white egg noelle was given in her game makes me think about this too because#that egg remained there the whole time she was afraid of it. it couldnt be thrown away. it wouldnt hatch. it was just There#and then when she comes back later and decides to take care of it like any of her other pets. THEN it disappears#ā_____ left home due to happiness.ā#how do you form real lasting connections when the connection itself makes you disappear
171 notes
Ā·
View notes
Text
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
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
60 notes
Ā·
View notes
Text
Randomly thinking about ātolerate itā (narrator voice: it was not random) and how under the cloak of fiction it is ostensibly inspired by works like āRebeccaā (which Taylor said she read during the 2020 lockdowns I believe?), with the line of āyouāre so much older and wiserā indicating that the speaker is significantly younger and inexperienced compared to the person sheās 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 manās claims that he has matured (āyouāre 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, āyou act like youāve matured so much in our time together and like you know everything, while Iām supposedly still stuck as the girl I was when we first met.ā
Which then made me think of the āright 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 wonāt 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 sheās 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 sheās 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 @taylortrutherās posts yesterday about āsevenā and āDaylightā and the way Taylor idealizes her youth yet contrasts it with an almost sinister reality in its wake, and the line, āI sit by the door like Iām just a kid,ā because the discussion raised that her relationship let her recapture some of the childlike joy and wonder sheād 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 doesnāt have names for yet and the feelings of isolation she felt as she aged.
Iām not saying the song is necessarily autobiographical; like most of the songs on folkmore, itās clearly a fictionalized story based on media sheād 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 canāt stop thinking about it. Sorry but Iām 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¦
#the third eye has been opened#šµāš«#like tolerate it was always a difficult song#even when we learned it was based on Rebecca it obviously took on new meaning post-joever#and especially in light of ttpd#but the thought spiral i went on last night when i started thinking about all these connections#and the evermore of it all#Iām Charlie at the conspiracy board again#writing letters addressed to the fire#me thinking too hard about Taylor lyrics#evermore my beloved#tolerate it#i kinda gave myself the ick with all this šµāš«#because of the ttpd of it all coming up#and i feel like i remember interviews where Taylor said joe was so well-read especially about like world events and politics and stuff#and supported her when she wanted to start speaking up (not getting into that)#but just based on ~vibes now I wonder if that was like a sore point too at some point#which again i have no proof of but just likeā¦ experience with pretentious millennial art bros lol#oh man oh man oh man#this feels like some sort of huge revelation at 1:00 am#when i started writing this lol#eta: when I queued this in the middle of the night i didn't see all the excellent discussion about the seven/folklore posts#so all of you who have been posting about them this morning consider yourselves tagged too!
145 notes
Ā·
View notes
Text
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 š«#but he also says in banter he won't make any other spawn??? so what is it dude#anyway that's also clearly the ābadā route and he doesn't seem as happy as unascended#who feels ātruly freeā#and if you're durge I'm pretty sure its even worse to consider having kids?? lol#but i digress#pk plays bg3
113 notes
Ā·
View notes
Text
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.
#it was genuinely surprising to see people talk about inaccessibility and cost of comics here#like ik most of you arent dc fans but i was still surprised#literally everyone in the dc fandom knows about this and uses it regularly#i just forgot that people who arent comics fan wouldnt know about the free comic sites lol#new runs are updated too! its not just the old stuff!#so no you dont need a comic store or a shit ton of money to read the comics#dpxdc#if we're talking movies and shows then use fmovies#DEF use an adblocker (and vpn if you have one) for that though#and since this is directed at dp fans id highly suggest watching the bat.man scooby doo crossover!#its amazing and imo is a great example of mixing bat.man with a more comedic child friendly vibe#bat.man is so goofy in that movie i love it aldhg#oh man... thats making me think of dpxdcxsd crossover now...#is the acronym for scooby doo sd? that feels wrong#well anyway if you want to read the comics for free you can lol#remember! the dc fandom has been here for decades! we have all the resources you need!! dont be afraid to look or ask!#and if you dont know where to start reading - just pick your favorite character and find a masterlist made by an obsessed fan#and start there lol#but if anyone wants recs let me know and ill be happy to help :)
133 notes
Ā·
View notes
Text
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)
#pentiment#pentiment fanart#andreas maler#pentiment spoilers#em art#so this is an old quote reference book i picked off the free stuff table at my museum job#so i figured id do something with it#act i is v standard but andreas is genuinely sketching out his life and keeps erasing all hed done up to that point#act ii is a man destroying his own sketches because it wasnt the life he wanted to live and sees burning it as the only way to truly end it#act iii is a man who has so thoroughly destroyed his foundation that he essentially is able to start new#but hell never be free of the plague of the labyrinth#the eighteen years of mind eroding loneliness and untreated mental health issues and lack of faith#even if he returns to normal... no he doesnt#he can be happy but he'll never be not-mad-as-in-crazy again#the paper is 'clear' but the graphite never really leaves the weave of the paper
239 notes
Ā·
View notes
Text
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 :/
#all of these are real#i just miss old shows that did this kind of stuff#and hey!!! if im wrong??? and you know of any modern shows like this!? let. me. know.#i would be delighted to be informed of any batshit stuff going on nowadays#op posts#in case ur interested the medis in which this happens is obvs batman and scooby doo but also#toeis spiderman from the 70s. lupin iii part 2 (parts 1 and 3 r crazy too)#and the 80s megaman show#shit just aint the same man. at least not from what ive seen#not to discredit those who like new shows! i do too! but i dont see a lot of goofy shit like this anymore. shows r afraid to be campy#or if they are campy it feels too... idk. silly. like. idk. i want silly stuff that youre supposed to take serious but you cant#anyways.
134 notes
Ā·
View notes
Text
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.
#rimi talks#the man is literally genocidal. AND he wants to kick krypto when he has kryptonite out. thats racism AND animal cruelty#like he can genuinely be such a fun and fascinating villain!!!!! he can!! he's FUN in say superman birthright#but for example new krypton lex? i wanted to throttle that man. i did.#and like i know people do stuff like haha what if supervillain was actually fun or funny or cool etc#but imo that can be done in ways that don't downplay that he Fuckign SUCKS#see also: reign of the supermen movie lex. horrible man. also hilarious to see him onscreen with lois#but the ''good dad lex luthor'' stuff (š) and other things in that general vein make me so....#you know that man would be violently abusive to an alien child in the same way white supremacists are violently abusive to mixed children.#you guys know that. right? his entire thing is vehement and violent xenophobia. you guys know that right#lex luthor (derogatory)#<- its been a hot minute since i blogged about him but im like 90% sure thats my lex tag
124 notes
Ā·
View notes
Text
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
#the iliad#odysseus#hector of troy#greek mythology#tagamemnon#they are tired dads#maybe they see eachother only in that shop#they don't know the other's name#i've witnessed this particular bond firsthand#it's very specific#i think that ody would be more experienced with that kind of stuff#hector is a brand-new fresh father and he is still learning#but my man ody has a child that he last saw when he was a baby#it's obvious to me#they had a short interaction in book 3 in the iliad methinks#where they were determining the area in which menelaus and paris would fight in#they just want to be over with this shit
310 notes
Ā·
View notes
Text
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 ššššššš#and then she was like why are you crying?? šššššššš#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
21 notes
Ā·
View notes
Text
a voice in your head says maybe you should pray the rosary // january 20 2024
#feeling really normal about catholicism lately. in case you were wondering#wearing a saint sebastian necklace everyday now being extremely regular š#anyway this is a draft i wanted to post something though š#man who can't keep stuff in his poetry notebook. the people in my phone need to see this#poems about religion#bracken talking about communion wine and religion as a kind of addiction again what's new#poetry#poem#poems#poets on tumblr#poems and poetry#poetsandwriters#original poetry#original poem
72 notes
Ā·
View notes
Text
An Analysis of Harukaās MVs: Distance and Disability
Hello! Iāve 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 āThings About Harukaās 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 Harukaās in my head constantly since I first watched them, and I have a lot of Thoughts. Not about whether heās 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.
Harukaās 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 ālearning disabilityā vsĀ ālearning 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... letās 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 āWeaknessā andĀ āAll 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 āseenā for the first time. A modern society is (ideally) expected to be built to include and accommodate for disability, and to acknowledge disabled peopleās 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
Iām going to make this section as succinct as possible because...itās heavy stuff. But itās important, and I want you all to get the gist of what Iām saying. The weight of it.
Letās highlight a piece of history regarding IQ and eugenics, surrounding the publication and subsequent worldwide reception ofĀ āThe Kallikak Family: A Study in the Heredity of Feeble-mindednessā by Henry Herbert Goddard in 1913:
āIn 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 āmentally 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 āsterilization lawā includes Japan, who between 1948 and 1996 enacted the Eugenics Protection Law which āauthorised theĀ sterilization of people with intellectual disabilities, mental illnesses or hereditary disorders.ā According to the government, about 25,000 were sterilized.
SO. Itās 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 donāt 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 thatās enough of the heavy real-world stuff! Time to delve into some...*checks notes*...heavy fictional stuff. Fun!
Harukaās MVs prominently display themes of distance and separation through the motif of water, specifically being submerged underwater.Ā
The name Haruka reinforces this concept as the specific kanji used (é„) translates to ādistantā, āremoteā or āfar 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 āOtherā 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:
I think this is theĀ āAll-Knowingā part of AK&AA. He knows heās different, and he knows thereās 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 canāt, because if you open your mouth youāll drown. Itāll 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 shouldnāt logically be? Such as this scene, following the line ādonāt wipe me out, donāt wipe me outā:
Immediately pans up to Haruka gasping for breath, droplets of water rising from...somewhere. For about a split second, and theyāre gone.Ā
This boy is really going through it. Iām getting an āemerging from the ocean before I drownā vibe from this one folks. When the line that follows this scene isĀ āI canāt stop, I canāt stopā, what Iām REALLYĀ hearing isĀ āI canāt stop (killing) or Iāll 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):
Anyways, onto the next point:
Blue to Orange: Water to...Nectar?
So, the orange liquid. Itās clearly representing blood, but I donāt think this is just aĀ ādanganronpa pink bloodā situation of censoring/getting this video onto youtube without restrictions.
I think itās most likely honey, specifically nectar.
The etymology of the word nectar shows its compounds translate to ādeathā andĀ āovercomingā. Nectar is also called the drink of the gods, so it would make sense for it to be a ādeath-defeatingā, immortalizing liquid.
For Harukaās 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 āliving 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 donāt 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 weāre met with this imagery:
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; itās so sweet, so sickly sweet and heās addicted to the taste of attention, even if itās very bad attention.Ā
Who else has honey imagery in their MV again?
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 āmad honeyā known for its medicinal and hallucinogenic properties.
Thatās enough about honey, though. Letās move onto less unfortunate... oh, sorry, what was that? *checks notes*...Ah, yes. I meant to say, letās move onto even more unfortunate symbolism:
The Necklace
So, this necklace. Haruka steals it from his motherās belongings, and is his only material, physical connection to her. It is taken on the declaration ofĀ āmaking (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, thatās what I consider theĀ āshirt 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 wasnāt sure if this was an opal or pearl/mother of pearl, but Iām leaning towards opal from the other depiction of it in Weakness:
Opals are fun because they can symbolise both good luck and bad luck, usually to do with whether itās your birthstone. Thereās something to be said of Harukaās belief in hisĀ āmisfortuneā 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 āpatron of thievesā for their ability to grant the wearer invisibility.
There is a deliciously sad irony to Harukaās theft with that titbit of information.
Now, if this isnāt an opal, and itās a pearl/mother of pearl thereās 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 heās deep in the ocean. A reminder of why heās doing all of this killing, and who itās for.
His motherās 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 Harukaās Mom Wins āThe Worst Parent of The Yearā Award
This fucking fish tank.
Okay, Iām gonna start by saying: I donāt 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 donāt just wing it. There are storyboards, there are key frames and there are choices made down to the smallest of details.
From the sheer volume of animal/insect/fish dĆ©cor that resides in the Sakurai household, you bet Iām gonna pay attention to what type of fish are in that fish tank.
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.
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 Harukaās mom to have not just one of these fuckers, but a tank consisting ONLY OF MULTIPLE BOXFISH AND CLOWNFISH...
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.
Thereās something about the last scene between Haruka and his mother that reinforces this for me:
Harukaās relationship with animals and himself: AKA,Ā āwhy donāt 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.
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 theyāre still on display as if itās artwork. Isnāt breaking the glass of a framed picture of a fish equal to breaking the glass of a tank with aĀ āpicture of living fishā?
(This isnāt 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 āobjectsā are proud trophies of his work:
This is a carefully arranged display, which by the way, doesnāt 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 Harukaās mother opening the door and seeing her son, for the first time in any of the MVs. Note the way they composed this shot:
Iām 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 motherās 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.
Doesnāt it just screamĀ āLook 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 didnāt know where to fit this in but I think the end feels appropriate.
His clothing here:
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 āhe thinks heās 17ā³ and ādoesnāt 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. Heās literally grown out of his clothing, but he still clings onto it. Heās 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, youāre often treated with a lot more forgiveness when youāre younger. That is to say, some people donāt 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 Harukaās feelings, and extends to reflecting societyās feelings on disabled adultsĀ ārefusing to grow upā.
I donāt blame Haruka for holding onto his childhood like this. Heāll be even less publicly visible and seen once he is no longer a pitiful child, but aĀ āweirdā adult in ill-fitting, childrenās clothes.
#milgram#haruka sakurai#analysis#weakness#all-knowing and all-agony#symbolism#disability#*drops this onto the fandom like a ton of bricks* hi i'm new here pleasure to meet u#oh man I finally finished it... this is a very (and I mean a VERY) long post asdfghjkl#I'm pretty happy with how it turned out though! I got most of the things I wanted to say and point out down#believe it or not there was actually MORE I could've said but I think tumblr may have crashed on me if I did that lmao#particularly to do with Weakness as I focused more on AK&AA here. but anyways#I love how morally grey everyone is in this series! It makes for some really fun analysis!#it's so so nice seeing a disabled character in such a position too and not just 'is a cinnamon roll' or 'the devil reincarnate' yknow#I debated leaving in the real-world history stuff but I think it sets the tone of my analysis pretty well and shows the importance of--#--haruka's disability not as a justification of his actions but as a vital backdrop to his environment and struggles
259 notes
Ā·
View notes
Text
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 ākept me like a secret but I kept you like an oathā theme is all over her work and itās clear that itās a sore spot for her, because sheās been made to feel shame just for the life she leads so many times in the past.
What Iām trying to say is that itās pretty obvious something Not Great was happening behind the scenes, which didnāt just amount to āshe 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 Partonās 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 weāre seeing now I think is a reflection of the things we werenāt 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 Iām going to be more inclined to understand her side of a story, but tbh, itās also becauseā¦ this is sooooooo common, and something Iāve 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 otherās success, or resentful that the otherās priorities begin to evolve as new experiences unlock new goals, or feels the otherās ambitions are not worthy of pursuit, and coupled with perhaps their own struggles in the same domain, itās easy to see where that can chip away at the other partnerās morale and faith in the relationship. I know Iām just speculating here, but I also donāt think itās totally unfounded. (Again, because a) Iām picking up what sheās 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 sheās stepped out more in the last year to a whole host of events, how sheās mentioned feeling like she locked herself away for years and sheās 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 youāre all alone in carrying the weight of the relationship (or burden of it), of twisting yourself into knots to accommodate the other personās 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 weāll 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 sheās 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 donāt think itās privacy that inherently spells doom for a celebrity relationship like this; itās 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, whoād 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 weāve seen her reclaim that in spades in the last year, and perhaps to degrees she didnāt 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 āpersonality 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 thatās 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 theyāre 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 wasnāt getting acknowledgement for all the housework he does ā which is. just. the dishes#and she was like āwow congrats youāve done the dishes ā i do every other fucking thing to keep this household afloat in ways you see#and donāt see and i never ask for praise because itās just stuff that needs to get done because thatās 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 šµāš«#i feel like i have a lot more thoughts but Iām 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#itās also just likeā¦ i feel like if Taylor had had even a modicum of the support in private and even public she needed#sheād probably still be with you know who and wouldnāt 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 weāre seeing a completely new side of her open up now because this is the first time sheās ever had that support from a partner#in her adult life at least#and itās like itās opening up things she didnāt know she needed or wanted
56 notes
Ā·
View notes