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alatabouleau · 1 year ago

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Was he ever gay on screen, huh, let's see....

First line of his character in the 1st season 2005, "excellent bottom" about Rose, then proceeding to tell the man beside him that he got an excellent bottom, too and pats it

Makes innuendo in episode "boom town" that he'd like some ~alone time~ with the Doctor

In the season finale, he flirts with a male employee and says goodbye to the Doctor and Rose by kissing both

First episode of Torchwood has him indicating he's been pregnant before and flirting with Ianto

Second episode has the team discussing whether he's gay or not, don't land on a definitive answer

Fourth episode has him giving Ianto some ~thorough~ mouth-to-mouth after he was attacked by his cyber-girlfriend

At the end of the eightth episode, Ianto hits on Jack which he reciprocates and it is implied that they'll ~do something~ about it

12th episode has him carrying on a one-night-romance with the actual Captain Jack Harkness, dancing with him and kissing him goodbye passionately, also Owen calling Ianto Jack's "part-time shag"

seasthon one finale has the first on-screen kiss between Ianto and Jack

DW season 3 finale has Jack again flirting with everyone he comes across, male, female, alien alike and still simping for the Doctor

Torchwood S2ep1 deals with his ex-boyfriend with whom he violently makes out and asking Ianto out on a date

Episode 2 has Ianto indicating that Jack's manners in bed are atrocious

3rd episode: Ianto and Jack talk, Jack implies that he wouldn't exchange knowing Ianto for the world and they proceed to kiss

4th episode: Jack gets yelled at by Gwen's fiancé, his reaction: "This is quite homoerotic."

5th episode: comforts Ianto after an alien placed false memories in his head and later kisses him on the forehead, also "measuring tapes never lie ;)"

7th episode has him talking about how he dated that one male writer, forgot the name

8th episode: "Skinny guy in tight jeans runs into water? I was taking pictures."

9th episode: slow dances with Ianto

11th episode: Gwen walks in on him and Ianto being ~physical~

12th episode: "First, I'm gonna kiss him, them I'm gonna kill him", showing that Ianto and him had ~tension~ from the get-go

13th episode has his ex returning

(And that's only what I've watched so far, I know that season 3 still has some awesome Janto-content, in season four, we see another past romance of him with a man, DW season four finale has probably also has its moments,...)

But yeah, not sure if he's ever been gay on screen.🤔

"was captain jack harkness ever gay onscreen" has to be the funniest fucking question i have ever seen in my entire life.

#jack harkness #doctor who #torchwood #writing this list I feel so dumb because I'm basically just spelling out the obvious #You haven't encountered an unapologetically and genuinely queer character like Jack Harkness before I promise #''jack harkness found in gay bar'' yeah so what. fork found in silverware drawer bitch.

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owlidragonage · 4 years ago

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Life is Strange Before the Storm #16 Episode 3 part 4 Hospital: Rachel & Mikey (film movie). My choices and why: 1 - In my first game I missed the challenge with Mikey to get him to accept that Chloe would sacrifice her character, so both of their characters were dead. At my second game I put a different choice at the end and there I was able to win the challenge and save Mikey's wizard. The 2 tabletop games that you can do during the game are one of my favorite moments, because I'm a player too of those games so I enjoyed it. 2 - During the conversation with Rose Amber I prefered to reassure her, but also to say that Chloe was blaming herself for not reacting fast enough to help Rachel. Just like she had already told James Amber in video #15 and she also told Rachel afterwards. And it seemed like a pretty logical reaction, because just like in video #3 Chloe gets rescued by Rachel against the two guys, she wishes she could have done the same to help Rachel in return. And since she feels her lack of reaction against Damon allowed him to stab Rachel, she blames himself. There are two ways to interpret the scene of the attack: either we say that Rachel's wrath in defending herself against Damon was the first thing to create the incident and that if they had tried to talk calmly, maybe it wouldn't have come to this... I say "maybe" because Damon is a very violent guy, so we can also understand why Rachel acted like that, thinking that it was better to try to neutralize him right away before he attacked them. And I think that's also Chloe's vision, who sees that Rachel wasn't afraid once again to "defend Chloe against attackers". So that also explains Chloe decision to confront Damon and "feel brave enough" to help save Sera at the end of game. 3 - For the conversation with Eliot, when we agreed to go to the show with him, his answer at the hospital is a little different, that's what I had in my first game. In fact I had accepted by mistake to go with him, because I had selected a choice that said that Chloe was not available to stay with him after the show because she would be with Rachel, but not that Chloe didn't want to go with him... I made the "right choice" in my 2nd game :D Moreover I had missed Eliot's room and the message on his board in my 1st game, so in my 2nd game I was able to have the effect of the message Chloe had left him and frankly he deserved it :D FR Mes choix : - A ma 1ère partie j'avais raté le défi avec Mikey pour qu'il accepte que Chloe sacrifie son personnage, donc leur 2 personnages étaient mort. A ma 2e partie j'ai mis un choix différent à la fin et la j'ai pu gagner le défi et sauver le mage de Mikey. Les 2e parties de jeux de rôle qu'on peut faire pendant bts font partie de mes moments préférés du jeu, car en tant que joueuse de jdr forcément j'ai apprécié. - Lors de la conversation avec Rose Amber j'ai préféré faire le choix de la rassurer, mais aussi de dire que Chloe se reprochait de ne pas avoir réagi assez vite pour aider Rachel. Tout comme elle l'avait déjà dit à James Amber dans la vidéo #15 et elle le dit aussi à Rachel après. Et ça m'a paru assez logique comme réaction, car comme dans la vidéo #3 Chloe se fait sauver par Rachel quand elle se faisait agresser par les 2 mecs et après elle s'enfuit, elle aurait aimer pouvoir faire pareil pour aider Rachel en retour. Et comme elle estime que sa non réaction à permis à Damon de pouvoir poignarder Rachel forcément elle s'en veut. Il y a 2 façon d'interpréter la scène de l'agression : soit on se dit que l'emportement de Rachel à se défendre contre Damon en 1er à créer l'incident et que si ils avaient essayé de discuter calmement peut être que ça n'aurait pas été jusque la... je dis bien "peut être" car Damon est quand même un gros taré violent, donc on peut aussi comprendre pourquoi Rachel a agit ainsi, en se disant que fallait mieux essayer de le neutraliser tout de suite avant qu'il les agressent. Et je pense que c'est aussi la vision de Chloe, qui voit que Rachel n' a pas eu peur encore une fois de "défendre Chloe contre des agresseurs". Donc ça explique aussi sa décision de confronter Damon et se "sentir assez brave" pour aider à sauver Sera, la fin du jeu me parait assez cohérente en ayant fait ses choix auparavant. - Pour la conversation avec Eliot, quand on avait accepté d'aller voir le spectacle avec lui, sa réponse à l'hopital est un peu différente et il ajoute qu'il trouve aussi le tshirt cool quand Chloe porte le tshirt dragon, c'est ce que j'avais eu à ma 1ère partie. En fait j'avais accepté un peu par erreur d'aller avec lui, car j'avais sélectionné un choix qui disait que Chloe n'était pas dispo pour rester avec lui après le spectacle car elle serait avec Rachel, mais pas que Chloe ne souhaitait pas y aller avec lui... j'ai fait le "bon choix" à ma 2e partie :D De plus j'avais raté la chambre d'Eliot et le tag sur son tableau lors de ma 1ère partie, donc à ma 2e partie j'ai pu avoir l'effet du message que lui avait laissé Chloe et franchement il le méritait tout à fait :D

#chloe price #rachel amber #amberprice #life is strange #steph gingrich #life is strange before the storm #mikey north #drew north #rose amber #james amber #game movie #life is strange movie #lgbtq characters #game movie video

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stealth-liberal · 6 years ago

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Consequences Pt. 2

This is a continuation of a fic I did called... wait for it... Consequences Pt. 1. To sum up, that dealt with the long term effects of Tyrone having told Tandy in a fit of anger to go and kill herself (This happened in episode 4 of the series). Now, while perhaps it's not vital to have read that before this, it will give you some good context. If you head to my blog you can find it right up top in the 3 most popular posts section if you would like to read it.

A few warnings: I don't know how to hide a long text post with a cut. I promise to figure it out though. So this will be long. The other warning is that this is about Tyrone and Tandy's 1st time having sex. Since I can't figure out how to hide this, it will not be explicit. To use old fan terminology that dates me, this isn't a lemon but it is a lime.

Xxxxxx xXxX xXxX

Sex was not a new thing for Tandy. It was not mysterious, it was not romantic, it was not anything other than Tab A meeting Slot B. It just was. In fact it was something to do to scratch an itch, deal with boredom or to use to negotiate for things one needs when one has nothing.

In otherwords, Tandy had a lot of baggage and unhealthy ways of thinking about sex and dealing with intimacy. Which was not surprising considering her past. Attempted sexual assault, undernegotiated sexual activity, one boyfriend who was far more violent than Tandy had known how to handle at the time and a mother who's sex life was so drug and alcohol infused that Tandy had left home rather than deal with it. She was only 17 years old and had far more knowledge about the bad parts of sexual activity than any girl her age should.

All this left her with a rather mercenary view of sex as bargaining chip. It's not that Tandy didn't enjoy sex or that it didn't feel good, it's that she no longer seemed to know how to think of it as important or as more than transactional.

Tyrone on the otherhand, for all his bottled up anger, had very different views on sex. It WAS important, it was NOT transactional to him. He knew that wasn't the popular masculine view a guy his age should have about it, but he didn't mind.

Ty didn't have a lot of sexual experience, he had slept with only one person, Evita. It had been important, it had mattered and she had mattered. He didn't love Evita, they weren't some great romance... but they didn't need to be. She had still mattered a great deal to him and he didn't regret his experiences with her. There had been girls before her, but they'd always stopped short of sex.

Both his parents and Father Delgado had taught him that sex was important and should mean something. Ty didn't believe that it needed to only be between two people who were in some massive, epic, romantic relationship... but it should still matter.

In otherwords their views couldn't have been more different.

XXxX xxx xxx

Tandy had been staying overnight at the church more after their argument. Something about the words said and the wounds left by them had tied them closer. And that made Tandy jumpy, unsure... unbalanced.

This was Ty's church now, not hers. She had a bed, if only in a condemned trailer, she could openly walk the streets. Tyrone couldn't and her church had become his sanctuary. And she kept overstaying her welcome, this was his now and she wasn't supposed to steal it from him.

If she had thought to talk to Tyrone about how she was feeling she would have been reassured she had nothing to worry about. Instead she kept quiet and brooded about it incessantly.

Tyrone, was having the opposite reaction to her increasing presence at the church. Always different, always together. He enjoyed her being there, he looked forward to her laughing leaps from the scaffolding to the floor, the care packages... her. The more time she spent with him, the closer he felt to being able to talk about those pesky emotions he had concerning her.

Unfortunately, he really didn't have much of a clue exactly how transactional Tandy thought sex was.

When she approached him one night, quiet, with an intense look in her eyes, he sat back on the pew and let her come to him. When she straddled his lap and began to kiss him, he went with it. He didn't do too much thinking, he gripped her hips, pulled her closer to him and deepened the kiss. This was what he'd been thinking about and wanting for a while now.

She pushed off his hoodie and pulled off his shirt, he pulled her down closer to him so he could kiss and softly bite up the side of her neck, eagerly pulling off her top.

Tandy looked at him, a soft smile on her lips. "What do you like?"

Without pretense he replied "You."

She smiled wider and delicately began to pull him from the pew to his bedroll by the alter. Gracelessly they removed their footwear and jeans and as he pulled her down to him, Tyrone thought that she was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen.

Tandy looked down at him, similarly moved, but pushed it to the side. This was about him... and her debt.

"I'm sorry I've staying here so much, this will make it better."

For a split second Tyrone didn't notice and then his brain caught up. His head jerked back and he stared at her.

"Wait... what? What are you talking about? Are... are you trying to pay for... for....Tandy, I want to do this with you because I want this, want you. Not because I think you owe me anything!"

He didn't want to screw this up, he wasn't mad at her, but goddamn was he mad at her past. Ty may have only been 17 years old but he knew it took a whole hell of a lot of bad to make someone think about sex like this.

Tandy looked wide eyed, embarrassed and like she wanted to disappear. When she spoke to him her voice shook and her hands glowed like they did when she felt vulnerable and needed a weapon.

"I... I thought I needed to... that you. It what people always.... I'm not... I'm not...!"

In that second Ty realized that for all Tandy's physical experience with the act itself, he had more experience with the intimacy that should at least sometimes go along with it. He reached out and gently pulled her back to him.

"Sshh, it's ok. But I need you to listen to me. I really want to do this and I really fucking want you. But not if you don't want me back. That's really important to me... I'm pretty sure I love you and I don't want you to do anything with me you don't actually want. If you're with me... sex or not, it has to be because you want to, not because you think you owe me. Ok?"

Tandy nodded, turned around and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly. "I'm sorry that I'm screwed up. But I do really want you... and maybe I love you too."

Ty rolled her onto her back and hovered over her letting his lips and hands run over her skin, he didn't say much except one thing. "You're not the only screwed up one. I am too."

The rest of their clothes came off and as he kissed her, touched her, slid into her, he knew they would be talking a lot more about her past. That was ok, but right now he needed her to know that she mattered, that this mattered, mattered in a way that was right.

Because it did.

#cloak and dagger #tyrone x tandy #tandy x tyrone #tandy bowen #tyrone johnson #first time fic

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ceridwenofwales · 7 years ago

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What worries me w/ Hirst writing is that he had a female character do a violent dominant act towards a male character & think it’s feminism. Lagertha raping Harald isn’t the 1st time he’s done this. S4b had Gisla slap/punch Rollo when he returned, like a domestic abuser, usually a male dominant violent trait. It more misogynistic, giving the “strong woman” emasculating qualities. Am I making sense?

I’m sorry the delayed reply. I’ve been thinking about how to answer your question honestly, but still respecting those who are enjoying the show to the fullest. I’ll talk about my perspective and feelings about the topic and I don’t want to convince anyone to agree. The fact is that I don’t want drama. And yes, I totally understand your points.

I answered an ask about Gisla and Rollo relationship when this episode aired. The person asked me if I thought she was being violent and YES, she was being abusive. I remember the scene in which Rollo grabbed her by the throat and the repercussion. Why our reactions would be different when she was the one being violent, right?!

I saw the scene of the confrontation between them as a way to show women are controled by their emotions and can’t be rational *rolling eyes here*. Gisla was totally right to be furious with Rollo as he left his family vulnerable to the schemes of a dangerous court and took the risk of losing a newly formed duchy. But, again from my perspective, putting this woman acting “hysterically” it’s trying to give a humour relief to a serious scene. Hirst tried this with the harem scene when the camera focused on Rollo and Hvitserk’s amused faces instead of the rape victims. I swear that I saw someone tracing a parallel between Hvitserk’s reaction and a kid in a toy/candy store back then. :(

I think applying a modern term to a woman from a different period is trick. As much as Norse Culture allowed more freedom to women than others, it was still a patriarcal society and Lagertha struggled to reach power. She left Ragnar because she felt offended by his proposal to share everything with Aslaug. Then she endured years with her second shit husband, Sigvard. I imagine she remained with him thinking about Bjorn’s future. In fact, she mentioned this worry when Sigvard slapped her and even when Bjorn threatened the man. She forged an alliance with Einar, a man related to Sigvard, to convince the Earl’s family to support her as the new Earl. I imagine she was planning this before she killed Sigvard, even though she looked shocked when Einar beheaded the Earl after she stabbed Sigvard’s eye. Anyway, I was glad she defended herself against an abusive husband. Einar implied she promised him some favours, both sexual and maybe sharing power. I don’t blame or shame her as it was the tool she had back then.

Hedeby was an important Viking Age trading settlement and Lagertha came back to Ragnar’s aid as an equal and I loved how she teased him about how uncomfortable he looked like about their situation. When they raided Wessex with king Horik in season 2 and Ragnar wanted to make the decisions by himself, Lagertha reminded him they were equals and I was so proud that she didn’t allow her feelings to overcome her sense of duty and respect for herself. Despite all the misconception that women are commanded mainly by emotions, Lagertha proved to be a complex character: shieldmaiden, earl, mother, friend…

Her dynamic with Siggy was great. I will never forget how young Bjorn was suspicious of Siggy and Lagertha reminded the boy they would be at Siggy’s mercy if Ragnar was defeated instead of Earl Haraldsson. She was supportive of women from different backgrounds and a fair ruler as she defended the woman that had a child with a visitor she and her husband allowed in their house. Lagertha used the stratagem of saying the baby could be a child from a God, and that if he harmed his wife, he would answer to Lagertha. That’s why I think Lagertha would be a way more understanding with Aslaug and Harbard situation, for example.

She never blamed Aslaug for what happened with Ragnar, so when she used another female character, Margrethe, to achieve the conquest of Kattegat with the allegation that Aslaug usurped her and bewitched her husband I was livid. I said before and I’ll repeat. I love ambitious women in History and many historical women used of violent means to protect themselves or achieve their goals. I just feel like Hirst noticed people were judging Aslaug by modern, and mysoginist, standards and blaming her for Ragnar and Lagertha’s break up. So he started killing Aslaug’s character with the cheating, then Siggy’s death, etc… A way to make her demise less bitter in our mouths. Volvas were respected and it’s strange watching Lagertha offending Aslaug for this.

If Lagertha had taken Kattegat with the allegation of protecting Bjorn’s rights, or her own ambition, I would understand. It was the Viking way. But bringing back a narrative from the beginning of season 2 and pitting women against each other didn’t do any good. Hirst proposed that Aslaug should fight against Lagertha for Kattegat. A woman that never took arms fighting against an experienced shieldmaiden, as if only warrior women were valuable. Alyssa reminded him that it was not in character. Female characters can be strong, interesting and respected without turning into shieldmaidens out of sudden.

I’ll bring another point to this long answer. Astrid. When Astrid was introduced, Hirst said that Lagertha was done with men betraying her. I think LGBT community face a lot of difficulties already to bring the idea that a woman starts a relationship with another one because men let her down.

My problem when he brings feminism to this conversation is that it gives the idea we are vengeful and scorned women who wants to torture every men we see. Vikings is a show about characters that have flaws, I think the only character that didn’t have time to develop them was Little Siggy. It’s a good thing when a character is not perfect, because we are not as well, it’s easier to relate with them. The problematic thing, in my opinion, is when we try to find excuses to make them perfect in our eyes. All characters are problematic now and I think that if we want to keep watching the show and find some character to root for, we need to find flaws we are able to handle with. Otherwise it will be a torture.

In Lagertha’s case, I see the violence commited as a way to show she has been corrupted to keep her power. I will speak for me when I say that it’s easier to think about the many women Harald raped in the show and feel avenged. I confess that it was how I felt at first. But then we will be acting as the violators and trying to justify the violence saying there are people who “deserve” to be raped. It reminded me of Sansa and Ramsay. When she adopted Ramsay’s methods of torture, she was not victorious. Her speech about the Boltons being forgotten was great and it would be a great moment to bring back her roots by exposing him in a trial and beheading him. It would be a way to say his methods would be forgotten in the North alongside his name.

I’m sorry if this is too long. I hope it answered your question.

#vikings season 5 #lagertha #vklagertha #tv: vikings #vikings history channel #ask #tw: rape #tw: violence #portrayal of rape on tv #michael hirst #vk s05 #vikings season five #historyvikings

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howlinwolfwb · 7 years ago

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A NEW FAN’S 1ST REACTION TO BERSERK

I was introduced months ago to the Berserk series by a personal friend, who showed me the 2009 Egg Of The King movie. Like most modern movie adaptations of classic series, the movie rushed through the beats of the story. But I had a feeling that I was watching parts of a story that could be great. Maybe it was my friends reverence of the source material, or the inference of character development of the movie.

But nothing could prepare me for the experience of watching the 1997 series. And as a new fan, it was definitely an experience like no other animé I’ve seen yet.

The original series is hard to find Stateside, but I eventually did. I heard about it from the friend who showed me the movie, and another distant friend. I knew that if I was hearing rave reviews about it from 2 sides of the globe, it was at least worth a peek. After watching the series once, I think I’ve just become a diehard fan. These are my thoughts on the show; this does not extend to the manga, the Golden Arc movies, or to the new ongoing series; this about the 1997 tv adaptation. I’ll post reviews of the manga as soon as I’ve gotten far enough into it. (20 years and still not finished? I hope that his ending’s that good, if he gets to it…) I might post reviews of each volume of the Berserk manga. In the meanwhile my thoughts of the show:

Holy fuck. No other way to say it. Holy FUCK, this show is amazing. It’s a very well-written, dark fantasy/horror animé, but with a RICH depth and soul to it that is often overlooked in this genre of animé. It’s so good, with so many good elements to it, that I can’t analyze it as a whole. Every facet functioned so well, and added up perfectly to the shocking end.

The only other animé series that this show is comparable to, in terms of story quality, ending predictions, and the cumulative end result shaking me and getting deeply under my skin, is Neon Genesis Evangelion. The story didn’t go out of its way to force an emotional reaction from me; it told a much more human story than is common in horror fantasy manga. Although the ending is extreme, and a horrifying twist for the journey of the Hawk Knights, all of whom I’d come to invest in and care about through Guts’s eyes, I don’t regret seeing it. The story of Guts’s life and journey with the Hawk Knights stirred up a torrent of emotions in me as I progressed through the show, and the show dared me to not like it with THAT ending. It’s still tough to put into the right words how i feel about this article, so thank you, dear reader, for following me this far.

The story of Berserk is the story of Guts, the Black Swordsman, journeying a land based on the deceptively scenic Medieval Europe, and in times and experiences just as perilous and traumatizing.

Guts had an extreme childhood living with a band of mercenaries, under the charge of Gambino, a gruff, brutal, and unsympathetic father figure. When Gambino was crippled in battle, he tried to kill the terrified boy. Guts accidentally killed him during this, and was forced to run for his life from Gambino’s comrades. Narrowly escaping death by an arrow from Gambino’s comrades, he lives the rest of his life as an incredibly strong wandering mercenary, going from reward to reward. When he kills Bazuso, the giant Grey Knight, he attracts the attention of the perfectly bishie Griffith, leader of the rogue mercenary group Band of the Hawk. After challenging Guts to a duel, and proving the only knight that could defeat Guts and his immense person-size sword, Guts becomes inducted into the Hawk Knights after his recovery from the fight.

Guts then lives 3 years with the Hawks, living under the watchful and scolding eye of Casca, the lovely but harsh and jealous comrade, fighting alongside a man he now considers a dear friend. The Hawk Knights accompany Griffith as he starts to make a name for himself in royal courts, impressing and socializing with nobles and royalty, even though the nobles would rather see him and his band of plebs dead. They try multiple times to kill Griffith. Guts never wavers in his loyalty for Griffith, even attacking a noble, and killing the noble’s child by accident, for him. Until he overhears Griffith say to the princess:

It is my perception, that a true friend never relies on another's dream. A person with the potential to be my true friend, must be able to find his reason for life without my help. And, he would have to put his heart and soul into protecting his dream. He would never hesitate to fight for his dream, even against me. For me, a true friend is one who stands equal on those terms.

Guts was visibly shook by hearing this. He fell into a crisis of purpose, and of self. He had invested so much of his life and heart into being there for this man that it shakes his being when he hears that. He then resolved himself into leaving the Hawk Knights, to make something of himself, and to prove himself, to both Griffith, and to himself.

Something else bothered Guts, something that happened earlier than that friendship crisis. Guts and Griffith fought an immortal beast that nearly killed them both. The monster, known as Zodd the immortal, only stopped when he noticed the weird egg-shaped pendulum that Griffith always kept around his neck. The monster had stopped dead in its tracks when he saw that, just as he had been about to kill Griffith. He then warned Guts that Griffith would be his doom, should they ever become equals…

The story of Berserk is both aggressive, and heartfelt, at the same time. I was reminded of Game Of Thrones quite a few times in the show. I’m a big fan, as many of my followers already know. And THIS show is written about a time and place similar to Medieval Europe, it involves political intrigue, barbarity and brutality, no clean or pure heroes (anti-heroes at best), and a general feeling of bloodlust and anxiety. Sexuality is also a big factor in the show, but unlike GoT, it’s not for the sake of fanservice, which there’s very little of in Berserk. More often than not it isn’t consensual. Berserk is not just violent, or filled with blood porn; it is jarring and disturbing when you understand its ramifications. But it doesn’t revel in its viciousness; it’s simply a part of their life. Weary viewers and readers, you are officially warned. The real meat and heart of the story are in the bonds between the characters. This show, at its core, is about relationships between people, and the harshness of cutting them off or betraying them. Everyone in the Band of the Hawk has an important role for Guts, and means something different to each of them. Berserk knows its characters. Close attention is paid to nearly all of them. The show is so character-driven that the narrative comes second, to the point that the villains are almost universally pathetic, until the very end. I came to KNOW, and feel like I was best of friends with, the characters of Guts, Griffith, and even the gruff and spiteful Casca. This isn’t to say that the show is without edge; Berserk is edgy AS FUCK. Edgy enough for a circumcision. This show has blood porn for days; often times almost looking like rivers of blood every battle. But this show has an immensely emotional core, which is what I have come to realize is so incredibly important about the perspective of the story. This is the story of Guts, the broken medieval road warrior. In any standard fantasy story, Griffith would be the main character, and Guts would be a supporting or even background role. But this story is entirely through his eyes, and what the characters do with and to him. Griffith is seen almost entirely through Guts’s eyes, making him enigmatic, and always distant, even when standing right next to him and scolding Guts for doubting his trust. Also mold-breaking is the fact that nearly all of the characters are adults in their 20s. There’s plenty of angst and edge for and from everyone, but it’s well-deserved, and more importantly, not teenage emo angst. Which makes the end of Berserk THAT devastating, THAT heartbreaking, THAT painful to endure watching. I still remember being in shock from it when the credits rolled, and I realized that this was indeed the last episode, the end of the show. The show loops back to its beginning afterward; the first scene of the first episode was a cold opening that took place long after the events of the finale, and the very end of the last episode loops back to it. But what happened was an almost devastating watch the first time through. I had needed to simply go somewhere, and do something else; I even had to call a friend, and do other things for the rest of the night, because it was so unnerving. Not because it was a bad ending, or poorly written. It was a VERY well-written ending for the story, and I can see now how the events of the Hawk Knights had all led up to it. But the end was a SOUL-CRUSHING tragedy. I will not spoil it, but it was hard to sit through, with the implications, and with the end to the friendship of Guts, Griffith, and Casca. Does that change my opinion or my newfound love of the show? No; it doesn’t at all. Should a genuinely good story be shat on, because it ends as a no-holds-barred, and deeply unsettling tragedy? If so, why is the story of the Titanic still so popular? Why does that story bear repeating? And in consideration, this is a story of hard men (and a hard woman); a band of mercenaries who give no fucks about killing mercilessly, or climbing the social ladder in medieval days. Their destiny, their dream, could only end two ways: total glory, or absolute mayhem, and chaos, and death. And it should say something about western culture and entertainment that even now, with gritty and dark tv shows like Game Of Thrones and The Walking Dead, we still only have the appetite for optimistic and clean endings.

This show is brutal. Both viscerally, and emotionally brutal. And it’s incredibly rich in detail, and such a treat for the characters. I have just begun to read the manga, and I might later cover that. But I felt that I had to write about this, because this is the type of story worth going crazy over, and feeling genuinely for the characters, and NEEDING to express feelings over it when it’s over. It will likely affect the way that I write my own stories bc of it. I really, truly hope that you, the reader, will give this incredible animé a chance.

#berserk #guts berserk #griffith berserk #guts #griffith #casca #anime

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cboom24-blog · 6 years ago

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Post 8

Beethoven Chapter in Greatest German Composers:

The main idea of the first section of the Beethoven chapter was to portray the image of his character; while he appeared harsh and bitter, he actually had a tender heart that was just tortured.

Beethoven was 32-34 when he wrote Eroica (starting writing it at 32 and finished at 34) and 38 when he wrote Pastorale.

Beethoven admired Napoleon when he was “the most prominent man in Europe” and (just) a soldier as well as musician. When Napoleon went from a military general to Emperor, Beethoven was irritated and took the title of the piece (the dedication to Napoleon) off. Since the Enlightenment was often considered the “Age of Reason,” there was often a lot of intellectual thought and challenging the boundaries of what was considered normal. Therefore, with Eroica being thought of (potentially) as the first piece for the romantic era, Beethoven was pushing the limits of classical music and transitioning into a new musical era telling the story of General Napoleon Bonaparte instead of just composing the symphony for the sake of composing music.

After reading this chapter, I think that Beethoven was very frustrated by his inability to hear, lonely, and often misunderstood. However, it was also mentioned that he held benefit concerts, such as the one for wounded soldiers, so I think he tried his best to be generous and kind-hearted. Additionally, I feel as though he may have been suffering from a mental illness such as bipolar because of his violent mood swings and erratic temper at times, but also his generosity. Obviously I am not a psychologist by any means, but that is just a thought that I had while reading the chapter.

Heiligenstadt testament

After reading that article my perception on Beethoven’s personality did not change.

Hearing Beethoven

Physicians agreed that there was hearing loss but they didn’t have many ways of treating it. They prescribed him baths in Danube and almond oil but it didn’t help.

Today, it has been told that he had symptoms of sensorineural hearing loss which is a major form of hearing loss today. It was also determined that it could have originated from a past physical illness or to a vascular episode where the ears were deprived of blood flow. Today he could have used ear plugs or hearing aids.

His dad was a severe alcoholic and exploited Beethoven (and his talent). He lied about Beethoven’s age, and basically forced Beethoven to continue music to fulfill his emotional needs and self-image. Karl, his nephew, was prominent when Beethoven was losing his hearing significantly. Beethoven spent more time trying to pry Karl away from his mom than writing music which led to Karl attempting suicide.

I think that it is most convincing that Beethoven was not completely deaf but just enough to be deaf that he could not speak well in conversation. I think that he could hear very faintly because he was banging on the piano very loudly, so even if it was very loud to us it would be very faint to him.

Piano Sonata

1st movement: homophonic because the left hand usually played a harmony while the right hand played the melody. There was often 2 different things going on -- the left hand often played chords while the right played moving line (harmony/accompaniment with melody).

I think that in the second movement the mood became a little happier than the first. However, I could still tell that the key was minor.

My initial reaction to the third movement was that it was very intense and frantic. At around thirteen minutes the dynamics dramatically decreased then gradually crescendoed.

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