#I don’t know the context and I don’t wish to

[sailorblossoms-rankane]

I have talked about Akane's insecurities with femininity before, but I want to add another element now: maturity. Her crush on the doc informs a lot of her behavior in the manga. (We all know about the hair = expectations of femininity so I'll skip that)

Part of what embarrasses Akane here (and part of why Ranma is good for her) isn't just that she's acting in a way that's not considered "feminine" in front of the doc... but that she's acting like a kid.

She's responding to Ranma's energy (who begs for her attention like a kid)

That's part of why the suitors are never real threats to Akane, not even in terms of "self-worth." Stuff like bust size comparisons and cooking contests are kept between her and Ranma (childishly!) the other girls are not ever meant to be used for beauty contests or related.

The girls bother Akane by being homewreckers and invaders (seen in Ukyo trying to run the show or briefly moving into Ranma's room and Shampoo literally wrecking the house or jumping ranma when he's washing his ass) (outside of Kasumi, she has no model of ideal femininity. Shampoo and Ukyo don’t have those roles for her. struggles against them are about behavior, control, power… not beauty or femininity contests)

She gets jealous, but what really gets to Akane with the other girls is that they might have control over her relationship with Ranma (is he going along with Shampoo's antics? Is Ukyo a closer friend? Can she have a say in our engagement?) (these girls get to Akane's pride and competitive side, but serious shit about image and fears of losing love is kept between Akane and her SISTERS, and Akane and Ranma… it’s kept within her home)

"Lucky you, she's a cute girl!" is Akane being a clown about her jealousy, comparable to Ranma's "you must be having fun on your little date" even though they both know the other people are nothing but trouble. They're being CHILDISH, it turns off their brains

When she gets competitive with the other girls is always very childish (which, again, is part of making it unserious) "he's mine, let go of him" type of shit

(this is part of framing Ranma's popularity in the manga as undesirable btw, besides him obviously not having a good time: that it doesn't use them to TRULY unsettle Akane in terms of self-image) (the old anime tends to do the opposite)

I've mentioned that real fears about losing love are kept between her and her sisters (who are often the ones putting fears into Akane's head...) and I think part of it is that they're OLDER than her. Akane is seriously (and not "childishly") affected only when Nabiki "confesses"

Here's the thing about growing out a pixie cut: it takes a long fucking time. Kasumi is Akane's model of femininity not just in the present, but in terms of who she is supposed TO BECOME as she grows up. In this context, even love implies a future (becoming a wife)

(growing hair = growing up... I didn't even think about it like this when I started this but growth implies the passage of time. To be "more like a lady" and less tomboy also implies "to mature." Girls are expected to mature faster than boys)

This is what unsettles Akane with Hinako the most, even though she doesn't see her as "a real threat" like the other girls do. Hinako is "more mature"

We see Akane "reacting childishly" but hurt in a very SERIOUS way whenever she feels like she's being compared to "an older woman" and "is coming up short" (it's not spelled out like that with Nabiki, but being the baby sister is part of why Nabiki is fucking with her in that arc)

This is part of why Akane is so sensitive in the bust arc (where Ranma unknowingly picks on her insecurities when he teases her because he doesn't get why she's lashing out and to downplay his attraction) her body is developing so she's *feeling* more mature

"Growing up" is a big theme here: childish behavior (familiar ground) conflated with grown-up attraction (ranma) and a wish to be feel more mature (and desirable for Akane, but specifically for the person she's in love with)

Nodoka is a big source of stress for Ranma but she provides the validation Akane doesn't get from the older women in her family (who mean well and will be on her side always but they can also just be.. clueless jerks lol you can see how not having her mom affects her still...)

(...because even though Akane's sisters are older than her, they are not exactly mature women, Kasumi is just 19, even if she shows more maturity than most ppl in that house, which we can attribute to having to grow up faster and take on household's chores)

You leave Akane alone and she can be pretty sensible and reach the "right" conclusions, whereas Ranma lacks emotional intelligence and needs to be pushed. She's good for him because she makes him grow...

At the same time, Ranma is good for Akane because she shouldn't grow up too fast. It's good for her to be able to relax and be a little clown, in ways she's not free to be with everyone. Ranma provides safety in multiple ways

(you could also say there is a struggle in where to be childish and where to be mature in some of their conflicts... Ranma is not good with words, so conflicts are often resolved with him SHOWING his feelings after a childish fight)

(the other thing that can really "break" Akane is "am I being a burden to Ranma?" but that's another conversation...)

(this was brought to you by me being reminded that the dead husband was the main girls' high school teacher in Maison Ikkoku, and you see the doc already liked Kasumi when she was wearing her fucking high school uniform in that flashback 😭)

(Akane can get hurt because of Ranma's immaturity sometimes, but going from molding herself after her older sister because she crushed on an older man to liking Ranma, who likes her as she is, and being herself, is the best thing that could have happened to her there. Akane was vulnerable)

(this is also brought to you by me being extremely annoyed by people thinking Akane is looking for models of femininity in the other girls when she’s not, which I’m blaming on the old fucking show, resulting in not enough people paying enough attention to the manga to pick up any of this stuff)

[bayoubashsims]

it seems your plantation lot has caused some controversy😵 I know your username has bayou in it but I'm still curious why you made a playable plantation for the game

Background

Hi anon and everyone, I wanted to address some comments regarding my post about creating a plantation in The Sims 2. This construction was based on the Felicity Plantation which was featured in The Skeleton Key, and I posted about this months ago--it's the same building, but in a different hood.

I was cautious about how it would be perceived as I only know two other people who recently made plantation-themed builds: BourgeoisBanana who was criticized for making the one from Django Unchained and there was also luvsimskaos who made historical depictions of a plantation to talk about history and life as enslaved people.

I am also not ignorant of plantations and their history with racism. I am Indonesian and it was only 80 years ago my own country was independent from being colonized by the Dutch and we too had plantations, indentured servitude, and enslaved people (though clearly not in the same extent as the Atlantic Slave Trade). American history is no stranger to us in the third world as everything that is American affects us culturally and politically.

If you see from some of my Indonesian builds, many of them are buildings from the colonial times in Indonesia and it was not to glorify their imperialism over the socioeconomic structures of Indonesia or to romanticize them in any way, but to recognize its part in history as well as the architecture of the structures that remain today. Many of them today are museums and galleries that remind us of what those structures were built on.

My re-creation of a plantation that was historically used to profit off the labor and wellbeing of enslaved people was not to glorify that or to even fantasize slavery to exist within The Sims. My intention was to appreciate American culture and history, specifically on the architectural aspect.

In The Sims

I am well aware that the estate of the real Felicity Plantation still have the residential quarters of the enslaved people, which is why I did not choose to recreate those structures as Sims history, despite its many similarities with American culture and history, does not share that part of history. Nor do I wish to recreate slavery in my game.

I’m a strong proponent of not forgetting histories by whitewashing them and I am mindful that, by choosing to exclude them in my game that the real basis had quarters for enslaved people, that, it would be the best option. Or perhaps, it could be whitewashing it, but the alternative is certainly not ideal. I don’t know, I’m open to how others view and think of it.

There was this Reddit thread that discussed about the word ‘plantation’ and I’ll post some screenshots on what other Simmers have said about it.

Though I know I took the basis of the structure from American history, there are plantations all over the world that did not use slavery or exploitation for them to run (well, capitalism still exists, but that’s another can of worms), and that’s applied here. Though I didn’t elaborate on it, historically, the building that I created does not share the same history. It just happens to be inspired based on the period architecture.

My construction of the building was only to show my appreciation of the architecture, my fascination with American culture and history, and my love for The Sims and horror films like The Skeleton Key. I also recreate many structures from Louisiana, like the shotgun houses and the French Quarter townhouses, all of which are also part of that history.

My neighborhood itself is a re-creation and tribute to the culture of Louisiana and New Orleans and I just wanted to be as accurate as possible. I didn’t set out nor did I intend to ‘fantasize slavery in The Sims.

My Context

The structures of such plantations also mirror many colonial Indonesian houses (which explains my interest), and today we Indonesians appreciate these 'heritage' houses while also being mindful of their histories and how they were built on the sweat and blood of colonized peoples. That is all I thought I was doing and I am coming from that point of perspective.

Many colonized nations of the third world would say the same regarding similar structures in their own countries; appreciate them as works of art and preserve them as a part of history, but no need to romanticize or glorify them as parts of darker aspects of history.

However, I am also aware that plantations are a sensitive issue in the US. I know people who are criticized for having weddings in plantation estates, because though they think they only show appreciation for history by throwing events there, for many other people especially African-Americans (some of whom could be guests or workers at that wedding), that history meant actual horror, on grounds and structure that subjected real people to unimaginable things.

So I understand how some people might feel about such a structure in The Sims, but I don't, to my knowledge, feel that these two things are the same. Willow Creek in TS4 as well as Old Town in TS1 all pay tribute to the rich history of Louisiana in their own ways; how appropriately and accurately they paid that tribute is another matter, but I was just , as a foreigner, playing along with that theme with no ill intent.

Though it is not comparable, Indonesians were subjected to similar horrors and I live in a society where, like Americans, many still remember what the past was like and are still affected by it. However, I thought that by re-creating the building on The Sims 2 merely on the basis of appreciating American architecture and history and a horror movie that I liked, in a game that only I’d play, that I wouldn’t be really doing anything materially harmful.

I’m open to listening and learning more on this issue, especially from Americans (considering how I took a part of American history by creating this), but…I would venture so far as to say not everything has to be from an American-centric view. And I say that, again, while still being mindful of how actual Americans who are affected by this part of history think of a plantation structure being reproduced in a game.

If anybody re-created a colonial Indonesian structure, most Indonesians would appreciate that they paid attention to the architecture and history of such buildings, and I wouldn’t say anything else unless there was explicit glorification or recreation of the more problematic parts of history.

This is my view of the issue. I apologize that I’ve created and shared something that is offensive, it’s the last thing I want to do here (genuinely surprised because I’ve always been kind of laying low and chill on this platform 😅), though I think the criticism is valid and I understand where it’s coming from. I am the last person to have malicious intent and neither am I ignorant of the context--but I could be better informed.

References

Below are my references regarding the portrayal of plantation houses in historic and aesthetic terms as well as the reactions to portayals such as that:

Dahm, K. (2013). " To Preserve, Protect, and Pass On:" Shirley Plantation as a Historic House Museum, 1894–2013.

de la Torre, O. (2022). The well that wept blood: Ghostlore, haunted waterscapes, and the politics of Quilombo blackness in Amazonia (Brazil). The American Historical Review, 127(4), 1635-1658.

Locke, H. J., & Mackay, T. A. (2021). “You Are a True Progressive”: Red Dead Redemption 2 and the Depiction and Reception of Progressive Era Politics. The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, 20(1), 174-193.

Phillips, A. (2022). Fixing the Past: Memory Tourism, Multiraciality, and White Innocence in Video Games. ROMchip, 4(1).

Smith, M. P. (2018). " Ridiculous Extremes": Historical Accuracy, Gone With the Wind, and the Role of Beauty in Plantation Tourism. The Southern Quarterly, 55(2), 171-190.

Walcott-Wilson, E. J. (2020). Cultivating Memoryscapes: The Politics of Language at Plantation House Museums in the American South. Handbook of the Changing World Language Map, 901-913.

[signanothername]

I’m relistening to euthanasia by will wood with the new context of your endings and straight up Weeping bro… his roots in the ground bro….. he was put to Sleep bro….

I ALWAYS said Euthanasia was super fitting for the twins because of this chhchcchvj

It’s why I have it in my Apple twins playlist

Like, one of the few first lines in the song is literally

“Say you're not scared, that you know it's cause I cared and, say you know I love you, and that hope was just not there” <- this is so Dream wishing to hear Nightmare say these few last words coded to me

The “I can't bring you home” line too

Or, my favorite part of the song,

“To love one from too far to call, is not to love at all, to whom is it I talk? But I want, I want to believe, that you can still hear me when you're just memory”

“Said ‘it's okay’ and ‘It'll all be over soon’, I'd never let a bad thing happen to you, now goodnight I love you”

Dream saying “I’d never let a bad thing happen to you” as Nightmare’s dying is something I can clearly see happening

And don’t get me started on, “Then I choose, I choose to believe, that we'll meet in sweet dreams after you're put to sleep”

LIKE OUGHHHHH THIS SONG IS SO APPLE TWINS CODED

[buttered-toasty]

This image is endlessly delightful to me. The first instinct is to say, as my friend put it, he has handfuls. But waist is lower down. Tits are a smidge higher up. Celebrimbor you have handfuls mostly of ribcage. Also he is yapping as if this is a normal part of conversation. Annatar looks like the colony rats in his lab just developed new, never before seen behaviors. If I walked into a room and saw this I would audibly say “that’s enough of this room for today” and turn around and walk back out. Clearly I am interrupting something, though what that something is is anyone’s guess.

Also there is obviously something queer going on here but it doesn’t even matter. We have transcended the use of queer in reference to sexuality and gone back to its original meaning. They are so fucking strange.

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Goes without saying this image has boundless template potential and I WILL be doing this to my OCs

[spaghetticat3899]

When you absolutely despise something a lot of people like, and no matter what way you look at it you cannot see the appeal, but you know you can’t talk about it in public or else you’ll get dogpiled to hell and back, so you just kinda sit there frothing at the mouth like this

[ducktracy]

had some thoughts regarding the bastardization of Porky’s legacy in recent decades and thought they were perhaps interesting enough to relay here

[actuallyjustabiscuit]

[oh-shtars]

Hello fellas!!!

Look at all your sonas all in one place!!! 💖💖

@annymation @kstarsarts @uva124 @gracebethartacc @emillyverse @rascalentertainments @tumblingdownthefoxden

All of you look so great! With all the unique character designs and all the sparkly shiny stardust-

Hold on-

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Star dust-??

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[violentdelightshavevioletends]

FINALLY LIAMS MYSTERY ICE EXPLAINED!!!

[toniodarling]

never get into Ace Attorney this repeatedly does irreparable damage to me

I CAN’T STOP QUOTING THIS MEME ALL THE TIME FOR NO REASON I THINK I’VE BEEN CURSED WITH A VOCAL STIM

[mostly-natm]

Wishing I had this guy’s strength right now.

[story-book-sillies]

Anxiety so bad my chest feels heavy

[peachyykira]

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[sexynetra]

Olivia Lux is collecting selfies with my favorite queens tonight like they’re fucking infinity stones

[flygonscales]

I don’t like to swear but what the fuck mr. Navit?! What are you?????

[apollo-just-ice]

Original Fiction

Fictober Day 13 - “that’s not the point”, a vague bittersweet angsty kinda fic about my beloved Willow and Pyg