#I think that's the point. It is intentionally exploring a dark topic

[lpsgirl109]

I know very little about the murder drones panic au but I do think you guys are slowly turning it into the underlust of the murder drones fandom the way yall don't know how to go "gross! Anyway not my business"

[genericpuff]

I feel like if Rachel wanted, she could’ve genuinely made LO an intriguing story if she decided to have characters likes Persephone, and Hades, and Hera being assholes and hurting people, the story showing us how much they hurt and then the characters not caring in an obvious way to show them as of being terrible. Like having Persephone’s inner monologue as she manipulates Hades and has the King of the Underworld wrapped around her finger and how much she would’ve enjoyed that. Try to show characters like Minthe in a sympathetic light without trying to double down on how evil they are.

Oh yeah, I LOVE indulging in dark fiction with fucked up protagonists, but the reality is that in most of them they actually, y'know... acknowledge that those protagonists are fucked up, and are usually used as a way to showcase why people like them shouldn't be empathized with (and it's even more satisfying when they inevitably fall on their own sword, see: Walter White, Light Yagami, etc.)

Sure, the execution of the narrative might find sneaky ways to make you empathize with them, but it's more so to call into question your own ideals and really make you think about what you're empathizing with vs. glorifying them.

I wrote an essay ages ago about Episode 165 that you might be interested in reading if you haven't yet. It basically explores the concept of what would have happened if Rachel had stuck to making Persephone intentionally manipulative, rather than trying to play both fields at once by writing her doing genuinely shitty things but still trying to pass it off as justified and "girlboss". I wouldn't have nearly as much issue with the narrative if the point was to show Persephone become corrupted over time at the hands of Hades, or if Persephone herself was a genuinely awful person whose actions came to light over time and justified why she'd make a perfect Dread Queen, but neither of those are the case here. Rachel just writes her like the 2016 Tumblr definition of a "bad bitch", someone who thinks it's cool to be mean to anyone who they deem weaker than them but cries when they have to ask the waitress for extra ketchup LOL (I could go into a lot about how Rachel herself behaves that way but that's a way more loaded topic for another post)

[oddygaul]

There Is No Antimemetics Division

Well, the point of this journal is to record my thoughts about things I’ve read, rather than just let them come and go… but boy, if there ever was a book to intentionally not record so it slips from my memory like a fading dream…

I certainly had my issues with this book – I wasn’t thrilled by the writing, for example. qntm’s prose is very dry and matter-of-fact, which works great for encyclopedia-style SCP logs, but leaves a bit to be desired when deployed for a whole novel. The concepts, though… the concepts here are so damn cool.

So, scientifically speaking, a meme is an idea or concept that naturally spreads from person to person. Style is a meme, language is a meme, social niceties are memes - memes are the genes of a culture. The DNA of the soul, if you will. An antimeme, then, would be an idea that is intentionally not shared - your computer password, perhaps, or a dark personal secret.

Now, the idea of weaponized or dangerous memes is fairly well-explored in media: contagious ideas that infect entire populations, ideas so dangerous that all one has to do is say a particular phrase and the recipient is immediately sucked in and infected. From Snow Crash to Hyperion, the idea of a meme virus is a staple of cyberpunk, and similar concepts even show up in unlikely places like Mob Psycho 100.

But what if there was a dangerous antimeme? An idea or entity that was extremely lethal, but that you're unable to share knowledge of with anyone? A being that you forget about the moment you’ve left its presence? A concept that, even if you write it down, will be scoured from the page? A horrifying truth that exists around every corner, which everyone looks right through because they physically cannot perceive it?*

*There’s other fiction in this space, of course: They Live has things hidden in plain sight from folks, and you could argue the videotape from The Ring is basically a self-enforcing antimeme.

The concept is heady, and There is No Antimemetics Divison explores its implications sublimely. For example: how would you even go about organizing folks to research such a topic? Everyone would just forget what they were doing, right? Sure they do – so you plan around it. Enter the Antimemetics Division's ‘asynchronous research’.

If you assume that everyone contributing to a research project is going to forget all context in between sessions, the documentation is written first and foremost as a primer, with the aim of conveying all relevant information as quickly and succinctly as possible to catch the reader up to speed. Most projects at the Antimemetics Division are this way – agents will often have no idea what it is they’re heading to go work on, just a memorandum demanding they enter holding room 013-3778B every six weeks on the dot for Very Important Work.

Because one can’t retain the specific knowledge and details of the anomalies themselves, the Antimemetics Division mantra holds that someone is as good of an agent on their first day as they’re ever going to be. You can’t stack up obscure knowledge, you can’t memorize your way out of problems; what makes a successful agent is quick thinking, adaptability, and a knack for rapidly spotting flaws in their own logic that are being caused by the memory holes. It’s frighteningly stressful – nothing about the job can become rote, so every situation demands your absolute attention.

The memory loss also makes being a member of the Antimemetics Division remarkably fucking bleak. If something goes wrong in the department, it’s usually going to have been caused by an antimeme – and this means it’s very likely no one will know what went wrong, why it went wrong, and who was lost because of it. The idea that coworkers, colleagues, friends, even significant others could die without you even noticing their absence is one of the biggest horrors in the book – and the fact that this is shown to be the de facto standard in the department, with everyone taking hundreds of unknown casualties in stride, is daunting.

The worst part is, there’s also nothing to be gained from these losses: you can’t learn from your predecessor’s mistakes when you can’t remember what fatal mistake they made. If someone dies this way, their entire existence is erased, meaning they have literally died for nothing, not even leaving behind memories in the heads of the ones who loved them.*

*Despite this, the author does seem to hold a somewhat romantic view of memory. After taking Foundation-issued mnestic drugs, you can not only be protected from memory erasure, but even restore previously lost memories. This implies that antimemetics aren’t actually erasing your memories and destroying neural pathways, just locking them off inside of your head somewhere, waiting to be found. How optimistic!

-----

So, while the conceptual foundation is rock-solid, the story itself left me a little cold due to its ballooning scope. There Is No Antimemetics Division starts out feeling like an anthology; there’s recurring characters, but the stories can stand alone, almost as if you’re taking a look through the ol’ SCP wiki. As it goes on, though, the book starts to tie everything together, and becomes this big epic story about one particular world-ending antimeme, which it turns out has been the progenitor of most of the antimemetic entities all along. And it’s fine; it leads to some cool setpieces, and I guess it makes sense diegetically for such alien oddities to have a common origin.

To me, though, it harshes the mystery and the spook factor to have these things explained so neatly, and the big bad SCP’s vast, world-ending danger level actually left me less invested than when the story was smaller in scope. I was most intrigued by the one-off phenomena, like SCP-2256: benign creatures cloaked in a natural antimemetic camouflage which has kept them hidden from the majority of the world for millennia, which undergo a species-wide extinction event once the Foundation starts studying them, as their physiology suffers adverse health effects simply from being observed.

I wonder if the scale of the story was the author taking advantage of writing a standalone novel instead of working within the typical SCP framework. Given that SCP is a collaborative storytelling project, I imagine you typically have to scale things down a bit, and keep the danger relative – if every single SCP was an apocalyptic world-ending threat that radically changed the rules of the setting, the canon would get messy quick. In a book like this, though, with freedom to do whatever you like? Why not take your one chance to go full apocalypse?

[wolveria]

Perhaps you're not getting the point of the original post, so I'm going to back up a bit. You may not have been in fandom spaces for long enough to know that "proshipping" is a term created by antis so they could carve out an "us vs. them" space in fandom.

Proshipping was the default. "Live and let live" was the motto most fans lived by, at least when I first got into fanfiction in the 90s. This is how I (and a lot of people) define it.

Proshipping is anti-censorship. It says nothing about being unable to criticize said media. It says nothing about romanticizing, normalizing, sexualizing, etc. It only means "you shouldn't ban and persecute artists and those who consume their art."

That being said, there is nothing inherently wrong with having fantasies, no matter how dark and taboo. Thoughts are not actions. Literature will not "poison" the mind or the soul. "Getting off" on dark content is not a sin. These fears and talking points are steeped in conservative Christian values. Perhaps you are a conservative/Christian, but that has nothing to do with me, or with anyone else.

Allowing "bad" content to exist doesn't mean you can't criticize it. The problem is, many antis seem to think stalking, harassing, and doxxing someone until they disappear off social media is the socially acceptable way to criticize fellow fans and artists.

By stating proshippers don't want you to criticize or scrutinize anything, you either don't know what proshipping is, or you're moving the goalpost.

"Antis are trying to cancel me!" We aren't afraid of antis cancelling us. We're afraid of being stalked, harassed, having our workplaces called on us and accusing us of being predators, etc. (Yes, this does happen, I have real world examples of it). I don't think you realize what a toxic, unsafe environment fandom has become because of this fanatical obsession with "good behavior" when it comes to literature.

How do you define romanticize? Who gets to decide what is romanticizing and what isn't? What if you think I'm romanticizing something, while I believe I'm writing it in a non-romantic way? Who gets the final say?

"Authors need to be watched" Authors are not here to teach you moral lessons, let alone need to be watched (whatever the hell that means). If you want moral lessons, go to church. I'm not being facetious. If you want your literature to "teach right from wrong" (and I say that very generously because I'm no longer religious), then controlling authors is not the way.

"We're not against dark subjects, we're against romanticizing and getting off on it." Got it. No one is allowed to be horny from sinful fantasies.

"So long as they only do it behind close doors and doesn't effect me I don't see the problem" I'm not sure what you find wrong with this statement. What do you care what consenting adults do behind closed doors? These talking points you're coming up with are reminiscent of right-wing, historically anti-queer language. Whether intentionally or not.

"We're not against writing/exploring dark topics!" That's. That's exactly what antis are against. Because they can't agree on HOW to explore those topics "tastefully" or "correctly." They can't even agree amongst themselves what content is problematic. It's a goddamn train wreck of hypocrisy.

I know exactly why antis think they way they do. I was Mormon once. You don't get more pro-censorship, thought-policing than that. So, yes, I have years of personal history and critical thinking when it comes to considering the media I consume. Don't worry about me, I'm doing just fine.

What I worry about are young people growing up in this environment where fantasies aren't only considered sinful, they're considered harmful, and they're being told to purge them from their thoughts if they want to be a good person. I can't even begin to describe how harmful that is to children and adults alike.

Do not let the antishippers find the Got or House of the Dragon fandom cause they'll cry

Or Labyrinth, or Flowers in the Attic, or any one of Stephen King's books. It's almost as if the wider public understands that fiction can be both fucked up and entertaining without the need for a moral lesson following after, or that it's an indictment that you're going to partake in the things you read about.

Antis are so far removed from reality, and they have to remain that way in order to not have their beliefs constantly challenged and torn apart.

[fantastic-nonsense]

Hi!! I love your blog and specifically your Jason posts, and I was wondering if you had any thoughts on something I've been kind of internally debating myself. It's a really heavy topic but have you heard of/do you have an opinion on the theory i've seen a couple times that Jason may have been a victim of csa?

Okay, so like.....do I want to have an opinion on this topic? No. Do I have opinions on this topic anyway? Sort of.

Quick context overview for those who are unaware (tw: rape/CSA):

It's been implied on 2-3 occasions that Jason potentially engaged in some level of underage prostitution during the year he lived on the streets (inherently rape given his age and the circumstances). These (potential) references have always been exceptionally and intentionally vague, and could technically apply to things other than sexual assault. However, in the context they're mentioned in it generally makes sense for the incident(s) in question to be CSA.

The particular references in question happen in Green Arrow: Seeing Red, when Jason tries to relate to Mia Dearden (a human trafficking survivor and former sex worker) by saying that, like her, he "had to do bad things just to get by" as a kid, and Battle for the Cowl, when Bruce's "final message" to Jason references a "dark secret" that apparently fundamentally traumatized and broke Jason in a way that Bruce wasn't prepared to help fix.

Additionally, there's been some interesting fandom discussion on Canon!Jason's reactions to victims of sexual assault as well as his particular personal hatred for rapists and child traffickers and how that might point to currently unvoiced and unexplored trauma in Jason's childhood. Those have been covered by people far more knowledgable on the subject than me, so I'm not going to rehash those instances here.

I'm of two minds about the theory. On one hand, Jason being a survivor makes a tragically sad amount of sense given his backstory. It's far from a "reach" scenario and I think in the hands of someone who genuinely wanted to work with that kind of trauma and could do it justice, it would be a really interesting way to explore a few of Jason's motivations for being Robin and how that impacted his responses to crime victims, both as Robin and later on as Red Hood. I don't necessarily think there's anything inherently wrong with the theory given what we know and can reasonably speculate. It would add some interesting retrospective depth to his various interactions with sexual assault victims as Robin, especially the infamous Felipe Garzonas Incident, and could be interestingly used to provide nuance to Jason's personal crimefighting philosophy.

On the other hand, the way that it's actually been (theoretically) referenced in-canon and the way that it's often (not always, but often) talked about within the fandom feels more like trauma porn and adding in angst for the sake of angst than actually giving the topic the weight that it deserves, and I've never liked that. I also trust exactly zero writers at DC to deal with a plot of that nature sensitively, especially given how DC has treated Dick Grayson's and Tim Drake's sexual trauma over the past 20-30 years, and I trust fandom reaction even less.

I don't like how it would fall into the "let's sprinkle sexual assault and/or rape into this character's backstory, as if it isn't already bad enough!" trope that often pops up in comic books, and I ultimately think it wouldn't add enough to Jason's story to be worth the cost of doing it wrong. We already have more than enough tragic backstory and explicitly discussed motivations for Jason to last a lifetime, and he's already got enough childhood trauma to cope with; I genuinely don't think he needs any more heaped on top of it.

For those reasons, while I think it could be an interesting and potentially incredibly powerful addition to Jason's story in the hands of the correct writer, I'd rather just leave it as a speculative theory that angst-oriented fanfic writers deal with and keep it far away from canon.

[thevalleyisjolly]

Hi there! If you feel up to it, would you be willing to expand a bit more on the idea of white creators creating poc characters who are ‘internally white’, especially in a post-racialized or racism-free setting & how to avoid it? It’s something I’m very concerned about but I haven’t encountered a lot of info about it outside of stories set in real world settings. Thanks & have a good day!

Hey, thanks for asking, anon!  It’s a pretty nuanced topic, and different people will have different takes on it.  I’ll share my thoughts on it, but do keep in mind that other people of colour may have different thoughts on the matter, and this is by no means definitive!  These are things I’ve observed through research, trial and error, my own experiences, or just learning from other writers.

The first thing I guess I want to clarify is that I personally am not opposed to a society without racism in fiction.  It’s exhausting and frankly boring when the only stories that characters of colour get are about racism!  So it’s a relief sometimes to just get to see characters of colour exist in a story without dealing with racism.  That being said, I feel like a lot of the time when creators establish their settings as “post-racial,” they avoid racism but they also avoid race altogether.  Not aesthetically -they may have a few or even many characters with dark skin- but the way the characters act and talk and relate to the world are “race-less” (which tends to end up as default white American/British or whatever place the creator comes from).  Which I have complicated thoughts on, but the most obvious thing that springs to mind is how such an approach implies (deliberately or not) that racism is all there is to the way POC navigate the world.  It’s definitely a significant factor, particularly for POC in Western countries, but it’s not the only thing!  There’s so much more to our experiences than just racial discrimination, and it’s a shame that a lot of “post-racial” or “racism-free” settings seem to overlook that in their eagerness to not have racism (or race) in their stories.

A quick go-to question I ask when I look at characters of colour written/played by white creators is: if this was a story or transcript I was reading, with no art or actors or what have you, would I be able to tell that this character is a character of colour?  How does the creator signal to the audience that this is a character of colour?  A lot of the time, this signal stops after the physical description - “X has dark skin” and then that’s all!  (We will not discuss the issue of racial stereotypes in depth, but it should be clear that those are absolutely the wrong way to indicate a character of colour).

This expands to a wider issue of using dark skin as a be-all-end-all indication of diversity, which is what I mean by “aesthetic” characters of colour (I used the term “internally white” originally but upon further reflection, it has some very loaded implications, many of which I’m personally familiar with, so I apologize for the usage).  Yes, the character may not “look” white, but how do they interact with the world?  Where do they come from?  What is their background, their family?  A note: this can be challenging with diaspora stories in the real world and people being disconnected (forcibly or otherwise) from their heritage (in which case, those are definitely stories that outsiders should not tell).  So let’s look at fantasy.  Even the most original writer in the world bases their world building off existing things in the real world.  So what cultures are you basing your races off of?  If you have a dark skinned character in your fantasy story, what are the real world inspirations and equivalents that you drew from, and how do you acknowledge that in a respectful, non-stereotyped way?

(Gonna quickly digress here and say that there are already so many stories about characters of colour disconnected from their heritage because ‘They didn’t grow up around other people from that culture’ or ‘They moved somewhere else and grew up in that dominant culture’ or ‘It just wasn’t important to them growing up’ and so on.  These are valid stories, and important to many people!  But when told by (usually) white creators, they’re also used, intentionally or not, as a sort of cop-out to avoid having to research or think about the character’s ethnicity and how that influences who they are.  So another point of advice: avoid always situating characters outside of their heritage.  Once or twice explored with enough nuance and it can be an interesting narrative, all the time and it starts being a problem)

Another thing I want to clarify at this point is that it’s a contentious issue about whether creators should tell stories that aren’t theirs, and different people will have different opinions.  For me personally, I definitely don’t think it’s inherently bad for creators to have diverse characters in their work, and no creator can live every experience there is.  That being said, there are caveats for how such characters are handled.  For me personally, I follow a few rules of thumb which are:

Is this story one that is appropriate for this creator to tell?  Some experiences are unique and lived with a meaningful or complex history and context behind them and the people to whom those experiences belong do not want outsiders to tell those stories.

To what extent is the creator telling this story?  Is it something mentioned as part of the narrative but not significantly explored or developed upon?  Does it form a core part of the story or character?  There are some stories that translate across cultures and it’s (tentatively) ok to explore more in depth, like immigration or intergenerational differences.  There are some stories that don’t, and shouldn’t be explored in detail (or even at all) by people outside those cultures.

How is the creator approaching this story and the people who live it?  To what extent have they done their research?  What discussions have they had with sensitivity consultants/readers?  What kind of respect are they bringing to their work?  Do they default to stereotypes and folk knowledge when they reach the limits of their research?  How do they respond to feedback or criticism when audiences point things that they will inevitably get wrong?

Going back to the “race-less” point, I think that creators need to be careful that they’re (respectfully) portraying characters of colour as obvious persons of colour.  With a very definite ‘no’ on stereotyping, of course, so that’s where the research comes in (which should comprise of more than a ten minute Google search).  If your setting is in the real world, what is the background your character comes from and how might that influence the way they act or talk or see the world?  If your setting is in a fantasy world, same question!  Obviously, avoid depicting things which are closed/exclusive to that culture (such as religious beliefs, practices, etc) and again, avoid stereotyping (which I cannot stress enough), but think about how characters might live their lives and experience the world differently based on the culture or the background they come from.

As an example of a POC character written/played well by a white person, I personally like Jackson Wei and Cindy Wong from Dimension 20’s The Unsleeping City, an urban fantasy D&D campaign.  Jackson and Cindy are NPCs played by the DM, Brennan Lee Mulligan, who did a good job acknowledging their ethnicity without resorting to stereotypes and while giving them their own unique characters and personalities.  The first time he acted as Cindy, I leapt up from my chair because she was exactly like so many old Chinese aunties and grandmothers I’ve met.  The way Jackson and Cindy speak and act and think is very Chinese (without being stereotyped), but at the same time, there’s more to their characters than being Chinese, they have unique and important roles in the story that have nothing to do with their ethnicity.  So it’s obvious that they’re people of colour, that they’re Chinese, but at the same time, the DM isn’t overstepping and trying to tell stories that aren’t his to tell.  All while not having the characters face any racism, as so many “post-racialized” settings aim for, because there are quite enough stories about that!

There a couple factors that contribute to the positive example I gave above.  The DM is particularly conscientious about representation and doing his research (not to say that he never messes up, but he puts in a lot more effort than the average creator), and the show also works with a lot of sensitivity consultants.  Which takes me to the next point - the best way to portray characters of colour in your story is to interact with people from that community.  Make some new friends, reach out to people!  Consume media by creators of colour!  In my experience so far, the most authentic Chinese characters have almost universally been created/written/played by Chinese creators.  Read books, listen to podcasts, watch shows created by people of colour.  Apart from supporting marginalized creators, you also start to pick up how people from that culture or heritage see themselves and the world, what kind of stories they have to tell, and just as importantly, what kind of stories they want being told or shared.  In other words, the best way to portray an authentic character of colour that is more than just the colour of their skin is to learn from actual people of colour (without, of course, treating them just as a resource and, of course, with proper credit and acknowledgement).

Most importantly, this isn’t easy, and you will absolutely make mistakes.  I think the most important thing to keep in mind is that you will mess up.  No matter how well researched you are, how much respect you have for other cultures, how earnestly you want to do this right, you will at some point do something that makes your POC audience uncomfortable or even offends them.  Then, your responsibility comes with your response.  Yes, you’ve done something wrong.  How do you respond to the people who are hurt or disappointed?  Do you ignore them, or double down on your words, or try to defend yourself?  Just as importantly, what are you planning to do about it in the future?  If you have a second chance, what are you going to do differently? ��You will make mistakes at some point.  So what are you going to do about them?  That, I think, is an even more important question than “How can I do this right?”  You may or may not portray something accurately, but when you get something wrong, how are you going to respond?

Essentially, it all comes down to your responsibility as a creator.  As a creator, you have a responsibility to do your due diligence in research, to remain respectful to your work and to your audience, and to be careful and conscientious about how you choose to create things.  It’s not about getting things absolutely perfect or being the most socially conscious creator out there, it’s about recognizing your responsibilities as a creator with a platform, no matter how big or small, and taking responsibility for your work. 

In summary:

Research, research, research

Avoid the obvious no-no’s (stereotypes, tokenization, fetishization, straight up stealing from other cultures, etc) and think critically about what creative choices you’re making and why

Do what you’re doing now, and reach out to people (who have put themselves out there as a resource).  There are tons of resources out there by people of colour, reach out when you’re not sure about something or would like some advice!

Responsibility, responsibility, responsibility

Thank you for reaching out!  Good luck with your work!

[hopeymchope]

Wonder Egg Priority finale thoughts

My Tumblr has a lot of anti-bully content, so it was probably no surprise when I began to watch and enjoy Wonder Egg Project this past spring. The series famously hit production delays that forced them to put out a mid-series recap episode, and that decision in turn forced them to push the final episode until late June. But now that the series (or at least season 1) is out there and complete, I thought I’d talk about how it all shook out in the end as well as the questions it left me sitting with.

For the uninitiated, here’s a bit of the context: Wonder Egg Project deals with four middle-school teen girls who’ve undergone hardships either at home or at school or both. They all lose someone they care about to tragic suicides, and then they discover the titular wonder eggs. They get these eggs from a vending machine and then, when they fall asleep, they enter a dreamworld where these eggs hatch to reveal a young person who recently committed suicide. For that night, it is the duty of the girl who got that egg to fight and defend that suicide victim from monstrous enemies that represent their abusers and oppressors. The girls are told that if they protect enough of these victims over many nights, they will be able to resurrect the specific person they lost to suicide. But of course, if you get injured or killed in the dreamworld, it affects your body in reality as well. 

The squad: Ai, Neiru, Rika, and Momoe.

Obviously, bullying is among the topics most frequently explored here, but we also deal with so many other terrible things that people might experience during childhood and adolescence. Physical, verbal, and sexual abuse are all on the table. Coming to terms with one’s gender identity is raised. It’s a show that manages to tackle a lot of heavy subjects through the lens of what’s essentially magical girl combat. I mean, there are no outfit transformations or any of that stuff, but still.

With THAT out of the way, let me talk about how the series wrapped up.

It’s clear to the viewers that there’s a lot that doesn’t make sense during the show — it’s intentionally very trippy and ethereal at times — and there’s also a lot that raises obvious questions even if you grasp it. Where do the eggs and their connection to the recently deceased come from? How do the psychological traumas of the various egg-children manifest as monsters that can literally kill you? What’s the deal with Acca and Ura-Acca and their freaky dummy bodies? What are they getting out of this whole deal with the eggs and the girls? What do the repeated references to the “temptation of death” mean? How does access to the Egg Garden even work? Is it really possible to resurrect their dead friends? Is Mr. Sawaki a predator or a chill guy or what? Why did Neiru’s sister stab her? And so on. 

The writers could’ve opted to keep things mysterious and hazy and metaphysical for the entire run or they could’ve provided lots of explanations and tried to ground this weird story in some sort of strange logic, but I’m actually pleased that they opted to go down the middle. There are answers for many things, but not for all. And when those answers come, they typically just raise more questions as well as doubts to their validity. 

SPOILERS for the finale/”special episode” below the cut.

So, obviously the answers for Acca and Ura-Acca are centered around Frill. Frill is this interesting fusion between the artificial and the organic; her body can be injured like any regular physical body, but she’s actually an A.I. on the inside. Acca and Ura-Acca are the exact reverse of this — they’re human minds inside of completely artificial bodies. Exactly how Frill started invading girls’ minds to lure them towards suicide is kept incredibly vague, but she serves as the embodiment of the “temptation of death” that was so-often referenced in the show. Frill doesn’t really appreciate life or care about the finality of death, making her a pretty natural foe for the heroes who have spent the entire series learning to appreciate their lives and bemoaning painful losses.

Can you even believe this bitch?

Acca and Ura-Acca also have documents talking about how warriors of Eros need to battle against Thanatos, the embodiment of death, but what’s that all about? We don’t really get into it. Is Frill somehow Thanatos herself? I mean... I guess maybe you could go that route, but I sincerely don’t think that’s meant to be the case. I assume she’s just another player in the game, and she happens to have taken Thanatos’ side in things. Her artificial existence and resentment of her fathers leads her to treat death flippantly. She was programmed to be selfish sometimes, and that selfishness has ultimately manifested itself in the worst possible ways. Intriguingly, we see Acca and Ura-Acca act similarly selfish in how they drive our four heroes to risk their lives just to battle Frill. Acca in particular shows that he’ll risk anyone’s life to get to Frill, who killed both his wife and daughter. But Acca never has to risk his own life. He’s just risking other people. Both sides of the equation are treating human lives like disposable pawns in some kind of war game. 

Y’all are SUPER-SKETCH.

It’s never really clear how these eggs work. We’re told that the Accas created the eggs, and honestly, I could’ve figured as much on my own. But they don’t try to explain how the eggs can contain the souls of suicide victims or how they manifest those people into dreams, and frankly, it’s probably better not to try.

I was really shocked that the girls actually manage to resurrect their dead friends. I was 100% certain that was going to be a scam and the point was going to be about learning to move on and live for the moment and appreciate those bonds while you had them, etc. And there is some of that. Alas, the price of resurrecting those people they care about is that the people in question no longer know them or remember them. That was pretty brutal... having our heroes nearly die over and over in service of people who ultimately will no longer care about them at all. Although they did the impossible and brought someone back to life, they had to lose those people all over again. I suppose this, like much fo the finale, emphasizes that we should appreciate our relationships while they last, because you can lose them for so many reasons. Regardless, I’m not surprised that Momoe just wanted to quit and avoid getting hurt after that. It’s understandable.

There’s a lot of discussion around parallels in the last two episodes. Parallel worlds with alternate versions of the self are raised multiple times, Ai gets an awesome encounter with a parallel version of herself that really brought her emotional journey to a head, and we even have to deal with a doppleganger of Neiru at the end. This leads to the revelation that Neiru looks exactly like her formerly deceased sister... a fact that presumably was part of what drove the sister to attack Neiru in the first place. Given that we’ve already been told that they were both genetically engineered, their identical appearances don’ seem that strange. But then the finale tells us that Neiru’s one dream is “to be human,” and suddenly the characters assume Neiru was an A.I. just like Frill. That... seems like a leap to me. I mean, she was genetically engineered to lead her company and never had a family of her own; no wonder she feels inhuman! So I’m not sure if I should take this at face value.

Neiru real or fake challenge

Another thing that I don’t think we can take at face value is Mr. Sawaki’s explanation of Koito’s death. In episode 12, we meet a parallel version of Ai who actually killed herself. The big boss monster for Ai to fight while protecting Alt-Ai? It’s a dark, abusive version of Sawaki. And our Ai inexplicably assumes this monster was made from her own fears. A very bizarre conclusion to jump to when you remember that every single boss monster has been the abuser of the victim that the girls were defending in that episode. By all available evidence, the Sawaki monster should be a parallel-world Sawaki who is very much exactly the scumbag he appears to be! Notice how Alt-Ai never says a damn word about the Sawaki Monster - never asks who he is or why he’s like this, etc? She’s not even surprised. That just lends further credence to my belief. FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE.

So in the finale, when our version of Mr. Sawaki claims (via a VERY awkwardly inserted voiceover) that Koito’s death was an accident after she tried to ruin his reputation because she fell in love with him, why should I believe any of it?! The previous episode introduced me to Abusive Sawaki! Sure, we don’t have any reason to assume our Sawaki is That Dick, but we JUST learned that he’s certainly capable. Furthermore, how could Koito suddenly be the ONLY accidental death among all of the available suicide victims in the dreamworld? She shouldn’t have even appeared there if it was just an accident! Although I’d like to believe that Sawaki was someone who Ai and the girls were jumping to conclusions about based on nothing... but it sure doesn’t look that way from here. And given how the show ends things, I fear we may have a hard time learning anything else about Sawaki. Ai changes schools and runs away, there is zero comment on what happened to Sawaki’s relationship with her mom... he’s just gone now.

As the final episode winds down, we see Rika and Ai fall back into bad habits, as they all treat Neiru just like they treated the girls they tried so hard to save. Rika acts disgusted by a friend and abandons her, treating Neiru the same way she treated Cheimi. When Neiru finally reaches out to Ai and calls her, Ai ignores the call and throws her phone away, thereby ignoring her friend’s needs in the same way she ignored Koito’s when she failed to record the bullying Koito was experiencing. You might even be able to connect Momoe’s choice to walk away for the sake of self-preservation to her decision to reject Haruka and walk away, honestly. And to compound the bad news that the show gives us near the end, we skip forward months to learn that Ai, Rika and Momoe have all drifted apart. Ai is in a new school, but we don’t see her with any new friends. She’s back where she started the show.

The difference, however, is that she doesn’t seem hopeless and lonely. She seems wistful, sure, but she never seems beaten down. She still treasures the friendships she built even if they wind up fading away. So there’s still a message in here about moving on, because even if you lose a person or a connection, it will forever matter.

*insert engine rev-up noises*

In the final moments, we see Ai preparing to run in the exact same pose she used back in episode 1 when she first stood up to the abusers within the dreamworld. This time, she runs to grab her chance to reunite with a dear friend. She takes charge of her own future and her own self-worth, somehow gets back into the Egg Garden (even though Rika wasn’t even allowed to enter after she rescued her specified victim, so uh... how did Ai get back in exactly... ?), and insists she’s going to use the eggs to see Neiru... even though the eggs only let you see the dead up to this point, so uh, that doesn’t really make any sense either. Consistency, motherfucker — DO YOU USE IT?

Amidst all the uncertainty that the finale left us with, at least we can see Ai find herself in a more confident place. She spends much of the series learning to stop running from her problems in the real world. Even after she gains confidence in the battles of her dreams, she struggles to face reality. It’s a huge step when she returns to school. Yet even in the very last episode, she opts to run away to a new school rather than cope with seeing Koito each day. But at last, she decides to take charge of her reality and try to reunite with her new best friend, Neiru. She’s wavered on her path, but ultimately, she’s grown. Although you could simultaneously argue that she’s failing to learn the lesson that rescuing Koito should’ve taught her...

“Ai Ohto is BACK!”

I don’t think any of us expected this finale to be a cliffhanger coming into it.  And unfortunately, we don’t know if there will ever be another season or a movie or anything. Given how people reacted to this finale with such overt hate, I really don’t expect anything more. And I think that would be a goddamn shame. Even with a finale that doesn’t quite stick the landing, I still found it fascinating and engaging. The series is more than worth the trip for the characters, for the themes and topics it explores, and even for the fluid action scenes and music. And this is a series that was made by first-time writers and a first-time director! Yet I’d easily call it one of the best animes from the past couple of years. For total newcomers, that’s a goddamn TRIUMPH.

So I hope we reunite with these girls again. I hope Ai manages to get the band back together, find out exactly what’s going on with Neiru, and face down Frill. Even if they never wind up in some ultimate battle with Thanatos, I don’t know that that’s the point. All of us are in a battle with Thanatos every single day, after all. They just need to show how they’ve all gotten stronger together and truly overcome the “Temptation of Death” by beating back Frill (and her ridiculously powerful dreamworld bug-people) as a unit. 

But maybe that’s too obvious and simplistic of a message for a show like this one. Maybe this complex ending centered on the main protagonist’s self-actualization and the value of fleeing relationships is more in keeping with the melancholy nature of the series. 

... I still really want to see the more obvious happy ending, though. I think they deserve it.

[wedreamedlove]

Xu Mo vs. Mo Yi [Character Study]

I can never get over the aesthetic of these two pictures placed side by side LOL. But, anyway, the point of this post is to nip any undue comparisons in the bud and claims of copying organize my thoughts and compare these two characters to highlight their similarities, differences, and further explore each character through these contrasts.

Q) If you like Xu Mo, would you like Mo Yi?

Honestly, I think this depends on what you like most about Xu Mo. I already knew beforehand that I gravitate towards characters who think 5 steps ahead, are predominantly logical, and scholars/gentlemen, so it’s not surprising I bias both Xu Mo and Mo Yi.

However, as I got to know Mo Yi further (Themis is around 6 months old now), I find that he’s distinctively different from Xu Mo on three crucial points that’ll determine whether people from either camp will like the other character.

1) Stance on Others

In a post for Xu Mo, “Into Your World”, I argued that Xu Mo is an alienated genius who had troubles getting along with others, until he mastered the social game as an adult. However, you can still see glimpses of this as he tries to understand MC’s world and shares his own.

To be fair, Mo Yi’s past is still under wraps but I feel confident in saying that, while he was probably highly intelligent compared to his peers [SR Sculpted Heart], his isolation doesn’t seem to come from his innate nature but rather his social position (there’s heavy implications that he’s like some sort of noble or something) [SR Snowy Pine Fairytale].

IMO, these backgrounds really shaped the way these two men interact with the world.

Xu Mo has a detached and indifferent view towards other people. They simply exist and don’t bring anything positive or negative to him. His ambition to ensure the survival of humanity reflects this too because it’s pure utilitarianism; everyone (apart from MC) can be sacrificed equally for the greater good. If anything, he probably finds other people to be interesting subjects to study, no matter what kind of person they are. IIRC the only time he expressed dislike to people, or a group of people, was when he told Hades he enjoyed killing thieves LOL.

Meanwhile, Mo Yi has an elitist streak to the point where he and his MC actually clashed opinions and debated each other [SR Warm Fingertips]. It’s incredibly ironic because he’s a psychiatrist who treats his patients without judgment, but at the same time he looks down on so many things and people (PUAs, people who betray love, hypocrites who only seek power and fame) [Ch2; Personal Story Ch1-3; SSR Moonlit Ball].

One of the things I noticed early on is that Xu Mo draws from the Eastern scholar archetype, “Xu Mo Character Study”, while Mo Yi actually draws more from the Western gentleman archetype.

So, just to summarize this section, Xu Mo is detached from the world naturally and likes to observe people and try to blend in. Mo Yi deliberately draws a line between him and others and, at times, has the casual cruelty of someone born as nobility (arrogance is carved into his bones, even if he tends to keep it low-key because he generally has a “gentle and polite” attitude).

2) Stance on Love

Xu Mo didn’t understand love, or really even emotions. Love is grown between him and his MC (there’s multiple analogies throughout the game about how their love is like a seed). I think [Ch25] pretty much sums it up for Xu Mo, where he goes through that emotional rollercoaster and muses about how, at the end of human evolution, emotions should be discarded. He also admits that MC taught him the “fear” of a normal person, because now he has someone he cannot give up no matter what, which goes against his previous utilitarian beliefs.

Compared to this, Mo Yi fell in love at first sight. Yes, you read that right. The “scientist and logical” archetype fell in love at first sight LOL. Not only does he acknowledge it right off the bat, but he fully embraces it too and believes that real love makes people better versions of themselves [Personal Story]. Mo Yi is a through and through psychiatrist in that he never underestimates how primal emotions (and love) can be.

Heck, not only is this central to his personal story, but we also have hints that one of Mo Yi’s parents fell in love at first sight with the other person (and he inherited their predisposition for that). Unfortunately, their love had a tragic end and Mo Yi seems to have a huge grudge against his father for whatever happened to his mother (again, Mihoyo is keeping this a mystery LOL), but Mo Yi explicitly confirms that even if his love leads to a tragic end he will still walk down this road and attempt to change it [SR Cool Summer].

IMO one other difference between them re: love is this exchange that lives rent free in my head which I saw in a Xu Mo/Reader/Mo Yi fanfiction LOL. Bear with me here.

Mo Yi: Wearing a mask for a long time will tire you.

Xu Mo: It’s enough just to wear one in front of the necessary person.

Xu Mo and his MC make great efforts to understand each other’s worlds, but this understanding comes from the doors he chooses to open to her. He reveals himself as much as possible, but I think he’s an inherently private person (and there’s all that Ares stuff) so there are times where he hides things so that he doesn’t worry his MC. I think this is enough to count as a “mask”. Sometimes he pretends he’s okay when he’s not.

On the other hand, while I think Mo Yi shares the sentiment in not wanting his MC to worry unduly, he tries to reveal himself as much as possible. There’s an amazingly relatable conflict in him here where he wants her to know every side of him, but he’s also terrified of how she’ll react if he shows her his ugliest sides and imperfect sides (he has some sort of phobia or fear about imperfection, but Mihoyo has been keeping mum on the exact details of this so far) [Personal Story; SR Sculpted Heart].

It’s pretty ironic that Mo Yi wants to be perfect, but he realizes that the more perfect he is the more of a sense of distance there’ll be between him and his MC because of the subconscious pressure someone “perfect” brings LOL [SSR Border of Light and Darkness].

3) Stance on Growth

If you haven’t realized that one of Xu Mo’s greatest themes is the phrase “Take your time in growing”, then what have you been reading? Jkjk, but seriously this gets repeated in multiple places, although my brain always goes back to [Blossom Date] for this.

Even if he and his MC start off with fundamental differences (she believes all people have inherent worth and can’t be involuntarily sacrificed), he wants to personally watch the journey of her maturation. He also subtly guides and teaches her. Unfortunately, due to circumstances of the main story, he doesn’t get his wish and she grows up a lot out of his eyes, but their relationship still revolves around him wanting her to have as much time as possible to grow.

He’s, for a lack of better word, extremely gentle about this (setting aside as much of the Ares and story parts as we can, because LovePro’s story is tragedy on tragedy LOL). I think [Autumn Blaze Date] shows a good analogy for this, because he holds the bicycle steady for MC until she can get going on her own, and he also catches her the first time.

Meanwhile, Mo Yi... ha ha ha. I just came out of chapter 3 for his [Personal Story] and let’s just say his philosophy is tough love. It’s ironic because, in many of his other dates, he wrestles with an internal conflict to protect his MC but also to let her experience all sorts of things to both test and temper her.

This is going to touch on the previous topic about love for a moment, but a part of Mo Yi’s love at first sight experience is also “testing” the other person through all sorts of situations and, after seeing all their different sides, he can determine whether his love at first sight is one that’ll last for the rest of his life or if it’s just a fleeting moment of beauty and emotion.

He also extremely respects his MC’s sense of justice and pursuit of the truth in the world, no matter what she encounters, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this is what drew him to her in the first place. But MC’s occupation and beliefs will make her confront a lot of dark and dangerous things and so, whenever possible, Mo Yi lets her confront these in “controlled” situations to train her. If I had to make an analogy, IMO, he’d let his MC ride the bicycle and pick her up only after she falls, or when she’s like 0.1cm away from the ground LOL.

Mo Yi is (perhaps rightfully) called out on this by another character, who believes Mo Yi is too arrogant in believing everything is under his control and he can prevent MC from getting hurt whenever he lets her get into dangerous situations, and I’m interested to see if Mihoyo will let him experience failures with his philosophy so he can grow more, like the things Xu Mo went through re: his personal beliefs [Ch24].

Overall

I don’t know how well I explained myself, especially for people who don’t know anything about Mo Yi, and each section goes back and forth between the two characters LOL so here’s another section that attempts to describe their overall atmosphere.

If, like I said in my Headcanon Notes, Xu Mo makes me immediately think of all the words for soft, gentle, light, still, water, etc etc., then the words I constantly think about for Mo Yi is messily human. He’s like a bundle of contradictions, but coherent because it’s being intentionally done.

Mo Yi doesn’t discriminate against his patients, yet he can be elitist and looks down on others. He wants to let MC have dangerous experiences, but also wants to protect her. He wants to be perfect, but he also wants to reveal himself entirely to his MC because that’s real love.

In contrast, Xu Mo has a very clean and orderly personality LOL. You can draw clear cause and effect lines from his personality to his actions.

So, anyway, these are two interesting characters who start off with similar archetypes as scientific logical men of scholar/gentleman dispositions, but yet they’re also on opposite ends for a lot of things such as their approach to emotions and the world.

Oh wait, lastly, because I don’t have a good place to put this—but I think it’s funny—is that both characters are pretty possessive and greedy, but while Xu Mo does things in a sneaky, cunning and fox-like way Mo Yi gets ridiculously open about his jealousy and it’s hilariously cute but also almost childish? I often forget Mo Yi is older than Xu Mo by a year, because Xu Mo honestly feels a bit more mature than him LOL. If we count them actually aging by when their game came out though, then Mo Yi is 28 and Xu Mo is 29 now.

[deadendtracks]

can you share any advice for writing something with topics that make you extremely uncomfortable? + do you think certain books should be censored or regulated? i feel like people don't want to explore the darker more horrifying parts of the human experience nowadays.

I don't feel that anything I've written is all that dark in the grand scheme of things (especially not compared to things I've read in the past), but you're right that darker fiction seems to be out of fashion/'problematic' these days so maybe it's comparatively dark.

The thing is 'uncomfortable' is a broad term. Writing porn at all made me extremely uncomfortable at first, because I had never written anything explicit. Writing about anything that is pushing your boundaries of skill or knowledge can also make you uncomfortable. I was so intimidated to start writing PB fic at first because I didn't know anything about the time period and history and felt like I'd get everything really wrong. This isn't the same as feeling unsafe in a psychological way, though.

Writing something with topics that make you extremely uncomfortable has to be something you feel, idk, compelled to do or feel you need to express and will get value out of personally, otherwise the discomfort you're inflicting on yourself seems harmful to me.

I think it's ok to sit with that discomfort, though, if it's not actively harmful to you. Being uncomfortable is not the same as being in danger, and telling the difference between those two is important if you're tackling topics that feel risky to you.

Though I have no problem with anyone who does, I've never set out to intentionally write something dark/uncomfortable for the sake of it -- it's more that this is where the story or writing or characters have taken me. And at some point you make a choice, I think -- do I want to keep going with this or not. Sometimes it's less of a conscious choice and you write something and realize afterwards oh, this is pretty uncomfortable. That's more complicated. Writing, like any art form, can tap into your sub/unconscious and express things you're not consciously thinking about or intending or know about yourself. I've certainly had themes or repetitive patterns come up in my writing (some not even 'dark') where I'm like 'hm, wonder what that means' and it's up to you whether you want to explore that further. But you should also know this is totally normal for creative work. It's just part of the process.

So as far as advice goes, I'd say that if your writing is taking you to a place that makes you uncomfortable, but you see value in it, go for it. With the caveat that you should keep yourself safe -- if the act of writing harms you or causes you to plunge into a mentally unsafe place it's not worth it. And you may want to have professional help in this case, where perhaps exploring those ideas can be done in a supported way.

I don't see writing something uncomfortable as inherently 'self harm' as some people have claimed. Writing through your trauma can be important or cathartic, and obviously not all writing that is uncomfortable is about trauma. But I do think monitoring how safe you are while you do it is important. If it's making you suicidal or self-harm in actual physical ways, etc, that's a sign it's not safe for you to do right now. That may change! But I would suggest keeping an eye on yourself.

I am going to leave the issue of warnings/tags and whether something *should* be written out of this post, because you have asked for advice on writing. I personally view a) keeping yourself safe and b) expressing yourself to be the important points to consider here.

For me, often the writing itself isn't necessarily the most uncomfortable part, no matter how dark or fucked up -- it's the act of posting. That's when I get more nervous. Because you become aware of your writing from the outside and start to think about how it will be received or how people will think about you for writing it. This is probably a separate but related point to your original question, but it's definitely part of the internal calculus you might be faced with while writing. Suddenly being like 'oh, this is fucked up, what will people think' can definitely kill your writing flow and put you into writer's block. Sometimes *that's* the source of the discomfort, more than the actual material you're writing about.

Other people have expressed experiencing distress about what this kind of writing *means* about themselves and what kind of person they are for writing it, but this is not something I have personally struggled with, so I don't have advice there. Just wanted to acknowledge it, though. I don't know if this makes me particularly weird or compartmentalized, but it's just not an issue for me.

So another piece of advice: should that question come up for you while writing something uncomfortable but you want to continue writing -- try to put that question out of your mind. You can tell yourself you'll make the decision about whether to make something public when you're done writing and editing, if that helps.

Sometimes it can feel like just the act of writing something down makes it public, like people will *know* you've written something messed up. They really won't! You don't ever have to post it! But there are going to be people for whom that messed up thing you worry about posting will really strike a chord with, so hopefully that will be part of your decision making process when it comes time to think about posting. The views of the people who your fic will resonate with are just as valid as the opinions of the people who will judge you for it (if not more), but we can forget those people exist when worrying about posting. Obviously the personal safety issue is larger with the people who might have a negative opinion of you, in the current toxic fandom environment. Again I want to emphasize keeping yourself safe.

You can post on AO3 as "anonymous"! That is an option that I would encourage for anyone who doesn't want to attach even a pseud to something they've written. Chances are people out there will want to read it, no matter how fucked up.

I don't know if that was helpful, feel free to send a followup if you have more specific questions about it!

This got really long, sorry I am not a concise person. As for your last question, no, I don't believe certain books should be censored or regulated in general, but that's a complex topic on its own that requires nuance (who gets to make that call, about what books, what do we mean by censored or regulated, how do we plan to put it into practice in reality, etc) and I'm not really prepared to get into a big debate about it on tumblr, so I'll just leave it at that.

[rechoired]

A problem with the Tales Of Arcadia community

First and foremost, I’d like to ask anyone taking the time to read this to please read the post all the way through before commenting on the matter. There is a lot of dirty laundry to unpack here, and some points will be building off previous ones.

I’ll get right to the point. Most everybody in the Tales of Arcadia fandom will have heard of the blog imthegingerninja / ginger-le-gay. She is one of the most well-known ToA-centric blogs, after all. (If you’re wanting to avoid her on Twitter as well, her account is Margaret Bell, or @The_Book_Bell.)

This is your PSA, TOA fandom: Ginger is a toxic, manipulative person.

This is not a claim I like to make lightly, but it’s long overdue that this issue is properly brought up within the fandom. 

I’ve seen so many people wonder why the Tales of Arcadia fandom is so small. Well, I and many others very strongly believe that Ginger is one of the main reasons for that, if not the main one. To make matters easier, I’ve tried to break this down into some main points. So let’s take a look at how Ginger falls under this category.

Disclaimer: Please DO NOT look at this post as an excuse to harass Ginger or any other blog mentioned here. This sort of behavior is NOT acceptable. The point of this post is to educate those who may not know the extent of her harrowing behavior, nothing more.

1. Dishonesty and Death Threats

[EDIT: Shortly after this post went up, she started blatantly lying about me to try to cover for herself. You can see those lies being easily disproven here]

Ginger has been kicked from at least three Tales of Arcadia servers, all for similar reasons of violence. While I cannot provide screenshots as I am no longer part of the servers they were in, there are multiple witnesses that can verify the disgusting behavior she engaged in. The one I saw specifically was her saying that certain members of the fandom should be gathered up and hunted for sport, among other gross things. (Elaboration of why can be found in point 3, though it still doesn’t excuse this kind of talk)

Here is some points made by another blog that also sums up similar issues with Ginger, though:

While there were multiple instances of her inciting violence towards others, this is unfortunately one topic I cannot provide specific screenshots for at this time. But I will add them in as I can find them. That being said, I want to move to the dishonesty, something I do have a screenshot for.

While you could argue that people sometimes notice the similar things, this is far too close together to be considered an “original find”. The reblog button is there for a reason, but she instead decides to steal the OP’s premise and present it as her own original thought.

There have been a couple other blogs that have confirmed that their theories and analysis posts were often stolen and presented as Ginger’s own as well, to the point where they stopped bothering even making such posts, as the above blog points out. (Out of respect for their privacy, I will not be naming these blogs. Say what you will about that possibly weakening my point, but if she’s willing to so blatantly steal from that person shown above, it shouldn’t surprise you that she’s so willing to do it to others.)

Theory-making and analysis posts aren’t as solidly “original content” as a piece of art or fanfiction, sure, but it’s still common fandom courtesy to give credit where it’s due. Ginger has intentionally avoided extending that courtesy far too many times.

2. Hypocrisy

Most of this is going to be about past Merlin vs. Morgana drama, though there are also words to be said for the incredibly shaky relationships she forms with “friends”.

But first let’s talk about those wizards.

This is a topic I’ve tried to approach with Ginger before, but she borderline refused to acknowledge any of the points I was trying to make, and when she did, I don’t know if I just wasn’t being clear or what, but it honestly looked as though she was purposefully trying to misunderstand what I was saying in her bizarre responses. (To be fair, I was sending messages out of anger because she vagueposted about a blog I admired, calling them a “disgusting creep” because of them simply saying they’d hoped Jim and Merlin would be able to actually bond at some point... Not really a justifiable reaction to such a harmless thought, in my opinion. But my point is, I recognize that the circumstances may have clouded my ability to vocalize my thoughts clearly.)

That aside, we should first acknowledge this post Ginger made to save face after having gotten some backlash about hate-train related things (Side note: I couldn’t find the original post, so this is a screenshot I got from someone else. I did not add the writing. The text underneath it should still be slightly readable, I hope.):

Taken at face value, this is a very reasonable post. I think everybody would and should be able to agree on it. Hate-meme him for fun, sure, but don’t actually harass or insult others over a fictional character. Simple, right?

Apparently not, because Ginger’s done loads of that to others. Probably why the “LOL” was added in, I bet.

This post confused me. First of all, exploring dark topics (”angst”, as you put it) has never been a rare occurrence, every fandom has that content, most in heavy abundance. I’ve noticed no staggering difference in volume of this fandom compared to others I’ve been in. People enjoy angst not because they think the character “deserves to be in pain”, they enjoy a fictional blow to their own emotions. There’s lots of different reasons people like angst, but it’s barely ever been out of a genuine hate for whatever character’s the focus, from all the things I’ve seen. Your own friends have indulged in Jim angst and body horror posts before, does that mean you think they’re awful people? I feel like I shouldn’t have to explain something like this.

Also, way to basically admit you think all Merlin stans get off on child torture. So much for “If you like Merlin as a character, you’re valid”, am I right? God, what a mess of a post. (It’s been very recently deleted, which makes me wonder if she got more backlash on it, but just... wow.)

Let’s look at another one.

Again. Vagueposting about someone specific, I’d wager, since most of the people I’ve seen comment on this topic either think both characters are morally gray, or hate both. 

But of course, when it comes to Morgana, suddenly excusing bad behavior can be justified. Ginger can call someone a disgusting creep because they want a familial bond between Jim and Merlin, that’s just wrong, but pushing the Mom-gana narrative with the genocidal abuser and Toby is completely fine, folks.

(Note: I would like to point out that I really don’t care about what theories and hopes people have for Morgana. You should be allowed to love that character in any way you want, same as I would say for Merlin. My issue with these examples is the completely brazen hypocrisy in which these two characters are treated. You’re obviously allowed to love Morgana without consequence, but the same should be said for any character of the show, and yet it’s not.)

The most obvious instance of this double-standard is well observable here, I believe: 

... I think this mostly speaks for itself. Sorry, but this is very blatantly trying to excuse Morgana’s actions, here.

Oh hey, remember that post about Ginger saying that liking Merlin must mean you want to see Jim in horrible pain? 

Say anything similar about her with Morgana, and suddenly she takes issue with this line of reasoning! 

I’m sorry, but if you can’t take this sort of thing, then you shouldn’t be dishing it out. One of your own friends is still getting hate over the simple fact of liking Merlin, and all this mentality is exactly why.

Let’s look at one more.

Fun fact! Morgana horrifically abused somebody for centuries, tried to kill multiple kids, took horrible advantage of Claire (probably traumatized her), and canonically wanted to genocide humanity, not to mention all the OTHER murders she's committed, both directly and indirectly.

But somehow pointing any of this out “doesn’t count”. This is why the fandom keeps saying more and more things like this: 

And this:

I could be going through her constant hating on Merlin and people who like Merlin for days straight, but I hope you all get the idea by now.

Again, I would like to just reiterate: You can like whatever character you want for whatever reason you want. The problem with this case is the hypocrisy and mistreatment of others, not your taste in characters.

Now interestingly enough, she’s lately been singing a different tune about the guy, switching from the “I hate Merlin I hope he dies!!!” mentality to “Oh he should get a redemption arc too :)” sort of thing.

I’m highly convinced that the only reasons for this “change of heart” is because of the constant backlash she was getting for the obnoxious amount of hate posts being thrown around all the time, but also because Aaron Waltke keeps tabs on the fandom more lately, and has spoken himself about Merlin not being a villain.

I could go on about this point forever, but I think I’ll just leave the Merlin topic with this post going through the hypocrisy of the Merlin Hate Train. In fact, here’s two just for fun.

Now onto more real-world focused areas of hypocrisy. One such instance can be found in Ginger’s Janus Disorder server. 

Just take a look at this post.

While the offender in this case isn’t Ginger specifically, it still takes place in her server, and she made no moves to enforce her “No discourse” rule. All over... what? A random kudos on a fanfiction that’s not even about anything controversial since all characters involved are adults? I immensely don’t understand the point of why this ever had to be an issue, or why nobody spoke up about how ridiculous this is.

I’d also like to point out a certain user called firecat17. For some quick context, waaay back in the Kung Fu Panda fandom (around 2018), this user had been harassing people and saying incredibly vile things, a person of which Ginger had a bit of a feud, but firecat’s anon threats had gotten to the point where Ginger ended up having to block their IP. 

Obviously, the user firecat was the one in the wrong, here. (Also, the irony in this comment is through the roof...)

Interesting point there, Ginger. Sure would be nice if you practiced what you preached.

Why am I bringing this random old drama up, you may ask? Well, it just strikes me as strange that someone who was so vile to Ginger is suddenly on her okay-list again, sending her asks and getting casual responses as if nothing ever happened.

To be fair, there is the possibility that they worked out their differences in private. But given the severity of the kinds of words being exchanged, I would still find that rather suspicious.

When someone who’s said things so vile can be so easily forgiven, yet something as harmless as leaving a kudos on some random fanfiction is considered grounds for harassment, it’s obvious there’s no stability or room for trust among this group of people. Unsurprising when there’s been several instances of this “friend group” turning on each other.

If you think you’re somehow different, that your “friendship” with Ginger or the others is more valued than that, then I’m sorry to burst your bubble but it’s likely not true. She’d throw you under the bus at the hint of you doing something she deems problematic, as it’s happened to multiple blogs before you.

3. Demonization of and insensitivity towards s*xual abuse victims

(This topic is one that’s hard for me to talk about, being a victim of CSA myself, so I’ve gathered some different sources to do most of the main talking for me. I tried to form more commentary on this myself, but I get too emotionally charged in my responses, and I don’t want that to cloud any reader’s perception of what I’m trying to communicate here, so I’ll try to keep most of my comments brief on this one.)

One thing recently brought to my attention about Ginger and her squad that especially bothers me is their rashness in labeling people p*dophiles and p*do apologists. If these claims were true, then I wouldn’t have a problem with it.

But these people are accusing others of these horrible things and threatening them on the sole basis of fictional content.

Now before you fly off the handle at me, let me be very clear: I absolutely understand that there are gross people out there who use the “It’s all just fiction” argument to hide their actual, pr*datory behaviors. (We’ve all probably seen at least one or two neckbeard memes of that caliber)

But like it or not, exploring traumatic themes through a fictional lens is something that has been studied and proven to be a genuine coping mechanism for some. It’s not something that works for me, but I knew a few people from past therapy groups that it worked surprisingly well for. Bringing a trauma into a controlled environment and processing it through fictional means can and does help some victims deal with what they went through. 

It’s important to understand that not everyone processes their experience in the same neat, little boxes you have laid out as the only “acceptable” ways of coping. Trauma fiction and expressive arts therapy are commonly used by victims, and it does help some people, whether you like it or not.

I’m already dragging this on too much, so here are some sources for better-worded information on the topic (Warning: Most of these deal with highly sensitive themes such as gun violence and s*xual abuse.)

Source 1 - Source 2 - Source 3 - Source 4 - Source 5 (pages 61 onward, specifically) - Source 6 - Source 7 - Source 8 - Source 9 - Source 10 (and believe me, if those all don’t satisfy you, I can easily supply more.)

And this quote from source 9 I think sums it up best:

“Fiction works differently. My imagination gives me a framework to process the grief and terror and the consequences, even when I myself have not found any resolution. It allows me to enter my own traumatic experiences sideways and linger inside them, if I know I can give them to characters who might be lucky enough to find the antidote: love, connection, community, family. In other words, I can enter — and exit — the trauma loop through stories that are not exactly the same as mine.

This goes for the reader also. Recent studies periodically assure us that stories — literary fiction, hardcover books, even the simple act of reading — promote empathy. We rarely have identical experiences, so fiction is how we practice linking our similar or parallel realities so we can feel them. This seems particularly useful in our current society, where we are all so separated, and are working so hard to block the violence that keeps happening to us from our minds.

Fiction connects us, and it can also contribute to our healing. When we see ourselves in worlds we don’t live in, like The Handmaid’s Tale or The Color Purple, sometimes, that very different violence helps us finally process our own. Because as much as our memoirs and testimonies are brave and validating, fiction does not just mirror our truths so they are safe to experience; it also helps us endure the aftermath. Because long after the immediate experience is over, survival struggles onward, in every moment of our daily lives.”

While most professionals have in the past advised that victims keep their trauma-related works more private, to only show it to your trusted friends or family, the fast-growing use of the internet has led more people to sharing it in an online platform, which is not unexpected behavior.

I unfortunately don’t have the screenshot of the original post, but there was a post made some time back literally telling a fandom member to go and hang themselves over this garbage. A survivor of s*xual abuse, no less. And to top that off, one of Ginger’s squad @emmy-puff commented in support of that violent post, as well as blatantly misgendering the target of it. While, again, I was unable to get screenshots, there are multiple witnesses to this instance, one Anonymous even having called them out on it back when it happened. (I suspect that Emmy deleted that answer due to how bad it made them look.) If anybody reading this has screenshots of the initial post or the ask that came of it, please feel free to share.

I don’t care who you are or who you’re talking about, if you use misgendering someone as a way to hurt them, then you are an insult to the trans community. That is an awful thing to do, and you lose so much credibility if that’s the only thing you can fall back on when getting in a fight with someone. While this post isn’t about Emmy specifically, this is exactly the kind of hateful rhetoric that’s being encouraged in the environment Ginger’s made.

Another thing I would like to point out on this matter is an instance that happened in the ToA fandom a couple years back. I, again, don’t have screenshots available (I believe the original post ended up deleted) but the post in question caused enough of a fuss that I’m sure a few people must remember it... 

A while back, there was an artist that posted uncensored, untagged r*pe art of Aaarrrgghh, Gunmar, and Jim in the main Trollhunters tag. As you can imagine, this infuriated many people. Many of which are among the list of those who’ve been labeled “p*do apologists”. Almost the very minute that post showed up in the tag with no trigger warnings of any kind, the fandom immediately got on OP’s tail about it, because they all shared that basic understanding of “This is a traumatizing subject for many people and they should have the ability to avoid it”. If the people you’ve labelled as pr*dator supporters were really as awful as you say they are, they would’ve jumped to that person’s defense, too. But they were completely against OP’s horrible lack of consideration of survivors, right alongside the rest of the fandom.

Am I saying you have to like trauma fiction? Absolutely not. Are there people that make trauma fiction that are actual pr*dators? I’m sure there are. But those people would be that way whether trauma fiction was out there or not. Gross people have existed and will always exist regardless of what media is out there.

I deeply understand the controversy, uncertainty, and stress that surrounds this topic, I promise you, I do. But the fact of the matter is, some people actually do use trauma fiction and expressive arts therapy as a way of coping, as has been observed in people even from ages as young as 5. To say otherwise is blatantly untrue. This isn’t a matter of opinion or morals, this is plain, studied facts that you cannot change about human psychology.

Nobody should ever have to go through something as horrible as s*xual abuse of any kind, and I know how deeply upsetting it can be to see certain images or stories with those themes in play. Those users with a sense of decency and understanding for fellow victims will tag their posts with the appropriate warnings. After that, it’s up to you to filter out what you don’t want to see. You curate your own internet experience, and it’s just plain irrational to try and harass everyone into conforming to your rules. While it’s an 18+ blog’s job to make sure to tag and label their content appropriately, it is your job to block the things you don’t want to see, whether you’re an adult or a minor. It is YOUR job to blacklist content that you know will upset you, because it is always going to exist on the internet, and any internet user needs to know and understand that. Multiple times I’d seen people going off about posts that were already appropriately trigger-tagged. If you don’t have those upsetting tags blacklisted by now, then the fault is mostly on you in that kind of case, not the OP.

Before I end this topic off, just one more example of blatant disrespect towards victims:

I’m sorry, but the absolute nerve of comparing some random fictional character you’re petty over to an actual pr*dator who’s terribly hurt real children is just awful. Imagine how insulted one of Onion’s victims would be if they saw that. Lord.

Ginger claims to care about victims, but she’s made it abundantly clear that she only cares about those that behave the way she think a victim should.

4. Ableism 

I’m going to just show a couple posts here and let them mostly speak for themselves. 

Just... my God. You looked at the definition of psychopath and decided that was enough to give you qualification to speak like this about it? Do you realize the extensive work and study of human psychology goes into the diagnosis and understandings of psychopathy? Not to mention, you just admit to thinking people deserve hate because of a mental disorder they legitimately have no control over? I’m sorry, but that is just cruel. Demonization of the mentally ill is not cute or funny. Next.

While I’m still annoyed with Emmy’s transphobic treatment of another user mentioned earlier, they make a very solid point in this instance. (The first post they referenced has since been deleted, but here’s the second one speaking out against the ableism.) I feel I don’t need to add much to this, as these points have already been argued very well by users better qualified to speak on the subject than I.

5. Manipulation tactics

This part is more observations of two kinds of abuse tactics Ginger appears to demonstrate, using the above as points of reference. 

First, there’s DARVO.

Then, less formally, there’s this good point about online cult mentality.

Before you say anything, obviously I don’t think Ginger thinks of herself as some sort of deity. While it could be argued that she considers herself a point of authority within the TOA fandom maybe, I haven’t seen enough of this to say for sure how far that goes. So that point can be ignored, because it mostly doesn’t apply in this case. (The “Dictating parts of your online life” might also not apply, but I can’t say for sure as I haven’t gotten any confirmation of that sort of thing in Ginger’s group.)

But there are grains of truth in the other four points, especially that last one. Plain and simple, she’s made people afraid to speak their minds about even harmless things such as character analysis.

Ginger is someone who can’t seem to comprehend different viewpoints and life experiences. She’s extremely unsympathetic towards people she doesn’t understand, as can be observed in above examples. Assuming malicious intent from everybody you can’t understand is a dangerous and hurtful mindset to have, for both you and those who you unnecessarily scorn.

There are a few outcomes I’ve speculated should she ever come to see this post.

1. She will ignore this post completely, pretending as if it doesn’t exist

2. She will dismiss me as being some sort of horrible person, a p*do apologist or something of the sort (despite being a victim of that myself, clearly she doesn’t care about who’s actually been hurt by real p*dos or not if they don’t conform to her narrow worldview), and claim nothing I’ve said bears any meaning, despite the extensive evidence I’ve provided.

3. She will get people to try and attack me. 

4. She will actually address these points in a tactful, mature, and serious manner instead of her usual act of trying to dismiss everything at the slightest hint of non-conformity. (The least likely outcome, but one can dream.)

I could add to this post all day, but it’s long enough as it is and my focus was on getting the main points out of the way. I understand that I lack some of the receipts necessary to back myself up in a few parts, but I know that many other fans have bared witness to those things, so I know there will be at least some people who’ll know what I speak of is true, and that’s good enough for me.

That being said, if anybody has screenshots of the instances I wasn’t able to provide for, it would be greatly appreciated if you could add them into the conversation.

!!!-If you have screenshots, but are too uncomfortable to get involved in this, then you can private-message them to me and I would be grateful and more than happy to add them in while keeping you completely anonymous.-!!!

(I've removed the section with all the tags, as I recognize it was probably going overboard. My goal was just to spread information, not to try and involve those tagged, but I understand how that may have gotten lost in translation and made people uncomfortable. Also, it apparently was showing up multiple times in people’s notifications when I only tagged people twice, so I’m not sure why that glitch happened, but I apologize for that annoyance as well.)

Now, to end us off, my responses to questions or angry comments I’m probably going to get:

You don’t even have all the evidence! How are we to know you’re not just lying about some of this?

Admittedly, I don’t have as much screenshot proof as I would like, that’s true. But for most of the instances I couldn’t provide for, there were other witnesses to her bad behavior. I don’t really have the need to lie when there’s already a lot of knowledge out there of the bad stuff she has done. Nor do I really have the emotional investment in this fandom anymore to lie for the pointless reason of causing drama.

Why post this on a throwaway account if you think people are on your side?

I just don’t really want my main blog associated with TOA anymore, to be frank.

You tagged a bunch of people, so you must be trying to get them to attack Ginger!

No. I tagged a bunch of people because I think this information should be heard on a wider scale, considering the position Ginger has in the fandom. I don’t want her or anybody else to be attacked, but her negative impact on this fandom deserves to be acknowledged.

Again, I don’t think Ginger or any of the others deserve harassment or cyberbullying or anything of that manner, that’s kind of what this whole post is against. And it just hurts the situation more than it helps it. What bothers me is how she’s never apologized for or even once acknowledged the gross way she’s treated people. While she might be more low-key about it now, she still treats people who don’t deserve it like garbage. There are still several people upset about the damage she’s caused to this fandom, rightfully so. I wouldn’t be so loud about making this post if I didn’t think it was something worth drawing attention to. 

Thank you for reading.

[thoughtsofanexcitedspacechild]

Kataang: An In Depth Analysis

Hello again! I apologise for the inactivity. It’s been a busy month as far as school goes for me, so let’s just say I’m a lot busier solving chem equations and working on stuff for AP art. Don’t get me wrong though! These analysis and essay format posts are my favorite and I wish I could do them more often! Seriously, it’s the only thing that keeps me wanting to write! I’ve also decided that I’m going to make these little intro paragraphs separate to the actual essay, because while I’m at this, why not kill two birds with one stone and practice writing essays for my actual AP Lang. class? I mean I’m obviously not gonna turn them in or show them to my teacher, (unless this gets 1000 notes or more, in which case  I’ll show this to her ;)) but this is a good way for me to work on formatting a thesis and developing arguments, all while doing and talking about something I love! Speaking of which, let’s dive right on into today’s topic; the much debated, and thoroughly analyzed ship: Kataang. (Buckle your seatbelts hotmen, because this is gonna be one hell of a sky bison ride) I got inspired by a creator on Tik Tok that I follow, Amanda Castrillo, to write this. Her username is @theamanda2d and I highly recommend you go check her out and give her a follow. A lot of the arguments in this are my own, but I also sourced a lot of information and arguments for Kataang from her series “a case for Kataang”, which I highly recommend you go watch. I’ll insert her quotes directly so you know exactly where her points are coming from as well as mention where I elaborated on a point she made but didn’t directly quote her. I’ll also be sourcing a lot of information from the show and including exact episodes and scenes that support my case. So without further ado, here is my *unofficial* case for Kataang.

     In our lives, there’s usually one point at which most of us make a choice. That choice is to love someone. Yes, you heard me right. You make the choice to love someone. Of course, the feeling that most people know as love, but is really just sexual or romantic desires, tends to be confused with real love. Authentic love that comes from the choice to love someone. This kind of love persists through even through the darkest times. This kind of love truly does burn brightest in the dark. 

 It stems from a strong base of mutual understanding and friendship first, and doesn’t rely on a spark of passion to keep burning although it can fuel the flame that already burns strongly. There are many great examples of this kind of love, both in our own world and daily lives, but also in literature. One of the greatest examples of this, is the relationship explored between the fictional characters Aang and Katara from Avatar: the Last Airbender. (Oh, what? You don’t think Avatar is a legitimate form of literature? Pity, you must not have read my previous posts or even watched the show at all, because it IS.)

     From the time I first watched the show, I was rooting for them to end up together. Right off the bat, Aang and Katara have this instant connection. Within the first episode, they already become friends, and not only that, they act as if they’ve been friends for years, almost like they were meant to meet each other. Aang finally getting together with Katara just feels right, but there’s more to their relationship than the feelings that Katara and Aang both experience and the feelings that we the audience feel seeing them together. Throughout the series we see them both make the choice to love each other, not only as lovers, but as friends too. Their relationship thrives, and we’re able to see them both grow as people and better themselves because of each other.

Firstly I want to address the counterargument that many people bring up and that is that Kataang, in and of itself, is one sided. Fans (often Zutara shippers. More in depth analysis on why this ship DOESN’T work out realistically to come) will argue that Kataang is forced and one sided, and that Katara doesn’t share Aang’s feelings. Although I can see where this is coming from from a first time viewer’s perspective, this argument can be extinguished by looking deeper at Katara’s actions and intentions towards Aang. We see them bond as friends very early on in the series, but the earliest hint at a romantic relationship actually shows up in season one episode four, when they go to Kiyoshi Island. Katara acts snarky and jealous when Aang gathers quite a fan club of little girls. 

Nevertheless, when this fan club fails to stick around for Aang’s encounter with the unagi, Katara’s the one that’s there making sure he’s okay. (S1, Episode 4, The Warriors of Kiyoshi) This is ultimately foreshadowing for their relationship as a whole. Although his role as Avatar lands him many friends, and in this case fans, the only person that truly stays with him the whole time is Katara. She’s the one who shows up and has his best interests at heart. Most of her intentions are in fact platonic in this episode, but the hint of romance comes out when we see that Katara doesn’t like the idea of Aang with another girl.

     After half way through season one, specifically the Fortune Teller episode, we do see that Katara does in fact have feelings for Aang, albeit complex ones. In this episode we see her pester Aunt Wu for information about her future husband and she’s informed that he’s a very powerful bender. She doesn’t consider Aang until Sokka mentions that it freaks him out how powerful of a bender Aang is while Aang protects and saves the village from it’s demise by an erupting volcano. Her hopes were set high on a muscley, extremely strong looking bender, and I’d like to imagine that before her realization, Katara was probably picturing someone more like Haru or even post redemption Zuko as her future husband. For the first time, that image is replaced by Aang, and she doesn’t mind it. (S1, Episode 14, The Fortune Teller) We see these new found feelings develop further in the Secret Tunnel episode, when Katara is finally forced to confront the romantic feelings that she’s pushed down while trying to sort them out. At this moment, Katara finally acknowledges her romantic feelings and attraction to Aang. (S2, Episode 2, The Cave of Two Lovers) The creators intentionally showed us the story of the two lovers for a reason. “Avatar is a very smart show,” says Amada Castrillo, Avatar fanatic and creator of the Tik Tok and youtube series “A Case for Kataang,” “and we’re never told or shown anything for no reason...A war was keeping them apart maybe not physically, but romantically.”

     Later in the series during the season finale of season two we see her absolutely distraught when Aang nearly dies and she does everything in her power to save him. We see her almost break. Only when he wakes up does she feel better, and start to be happier again. She doesn’t care about anything else but making him feel better, and even when he does wake up, she still focuses mainly on healing him. Here we see Katara make the choice to love Aang both in sickness and in health. (S2, Episode 18, The Guru/The Crossroads of Destiny and S3, Episode 1, The Awakening) She of course would have done this for any member of team avatar, but the way in which she treats Aang when he’s nearly taken away from her points to the extreme love and affection that she carries for him every day. This happens multiple other times throughout the series, with many of the occurrences being in book three. When Zuko joins the Gaang, she flat out tells Zuko that if he were to hurt Aang, (not Sokka, not her, not Toph, but Aang specifically) she would personally see to his demise. (S3, Episode 11, The Western Air Temple, 23:30) (Some Points taken from, but not directly quoted from Amanda Castrillo’s “A case For Kataang Part Nine: Text and Subtext”) This is why the assumption that Kataang is one sided can be proven wrong.

     Two other arguments stem from the previous argument, one being that Aang is a simp, and/or that Katara is a trophy. First of all, the later argument is easily disproved by the fact that Katara is not a prize to be won. “Katara is, and was never a prize for Aang,” says Castrillo, “And to say that she was, grossly mischaracterizes and undermines her as a character.” (Amanda Castrillo, (@theamanda2d) “A Case for Kataang: Chapter 2, Katara the trophy) Katara is shown multiple times throughout the series being able to speak up and defend herself without Aang’s, or anyone else’s help. 

Aang, although viewed as a simp, is not. Yes he respects Katara, and all other women for that matter, but he doesn’t fawn over her. He allows her to defend and take care of herself. The definition of the word “simp” is the abbreviated term “simpleton”, meaning “a silly or foolish person.” Although Aang is silly at some points, he’s also not foolish. He’s a smart and capable individual that many fans fail to recognise as legitimate because of his innocence and softness. So no. Aang isn’t a simp that bases his entire self worth on his status with Katara.

     Another point that must be acknowledged is the fact that Aang and Katara are actually complementary characters. Although many people would bring up the argument that Air and Water aren’t opposite elements, the type of bender they are doesn’t necessarily tend to point to the exact type of person they are. The creators aren’t dumb, and the characters in this franchise are so well developed, that there are many sub personalities in each type of bending, and all of them can be analyzed further than the type of element they bend. Judging a character solely by the element they can bend is like judging a person on the color of their skin or a book by it’s cover, and when diving deep into each of their personalities, we can see that their personalities are actually complementary. Katara is high strung and anxious while Aang is usually calm and collected. Aang is very good at regulating his emotions while Katara is not. This aspect extends further than their personalities as well. Katara grew up in a very family oriented and close family while Aang only had one parental figure in the form of Gyatzo and occasionally a few friends. Katara is also more grounded and a home body while if he could, Aang would probably continue to explore whatever corner of the earth that he could. (Some points taken, but not directly quoted from Amanda Castrillo (@theamanda2d), “A Case for Kataang: Chapter 10, Balance”)

     Another thing that I found is that when looking at color theory, Aang’s signature orange toward the end of the series and Katara’s signature blue are actually complementary colors. I’d like to think that as Katara develops and explores her feelings for Aang, Aang’s color palette changes slightly. It goes from being red and yellow in the beginning when Katara didn’t know she had feelings quite yet, to eventually shifting to orange when we see her feelings start to fully become clear. I thought this was a super interesting detail and despite it being a bit far of a stretch, I think it must have been planned. If you consider the time when we see Katara start to develop feelings, it’s about the same time that Aang’s outfit choice shifts to orange. Of course, this piece of evidence is mostly based on my personal observation and knowledge of color theory, but it’s a detail that I personally found super compelling.

     Kataang also works because of the extremely well executed communication and dialogue that happens between them. There are multiple different examples throughout the series and as their character’s develop, we’re able to see a beautifully efficient and respectful form of communication between them. We see Aang clearly express his feelings of anxiety to Katara, and in return, Katara is able to help him and offer advice on what he’s feeling. Katara also is able to confide in Aang in return and oftentimes he’s the one that she’s most comfortable being vulnerable in front of. We see her almost mother Aang alongside Sokka in the first season, but her relationship with him changes and shifts to one where both her and Aang feel comfortable and contribute and receive equal care from each other.

     One issue in particular also comes to mind when talking about this ship, and that is the issue of boundaries. Counter arguments against Kataang often bring up one scene in particular, specifically in the Ember island players episode about halfway through when Katara confronts Aang on the balcony. (S3, episode 15, the Ember Island Players) Episode Aang is understandably upset with the way that he and specifically he and Katara’s relationship is portrayed in the play. He obviously has feelings for her and at that point we know that Katara also has feelings from a few episodes prior when they kiss before the invasion. That kiss was mutual, and she kissed him back, meaning that from that point on, both of their feelings towards each other are very clear. The night of the play on the balcony, Aang does cross a boundary that had been established. The kiss before the invasion made sense, and Katara didn’t do anything to stop him from doing it, and Aang had her consent in this case. Aang’s kiss on the balcony was a mistake, and in this case it was uncalled for, but many people misread Katara’s feelings of confusion. When Katara mentions being confused, she’s not saying she’s confused about her feelings for Aang. Since season one, we’ve seen her show multiple forms of affection towards Aang, and not only that, she was usually the one initiating the many hugs, cheek kisses, etc. 

She’s not confused about how she feels about Aang. She’s confused about the timing and if it’s a good idea or not. (Some points taken from, but not directly quoted from, Amanda Castrillo (@theamanda2d) “A Case for Kataang Part 7: The Camelephant in the room)

     Regarding the consent for the kiss, yes. That was Aang’s mistake. He’s human, and he did mess up there. But his intentions weren’t meant to harm anyone. He, like so many of us watching at home, read Katara’s confusion to be about him, and wanted to see what she really felt. Afterwards, he knows he messed up, and feels bad about it. “...[Aang’s] very self aware. He knows how he feels about Katara, and he’s said it multiple times...Aang is human. He f***s up. He says the wrong thing. He makes mistakes. And he was just as confused as Katara at this moment.” (Amanda Castrillo, (@theamanda2d) “A Case for Kataang Part Seven: The Camelephant in the room)

     Lasty, I want to acknowledge the visual and audio parallels portrayed in the show and how they can effectively work towards supporting Kataang. If you observe the angles at which characters are shown as well as the framing, it visually sets up and can represent how two characters feel about one another. First let’s consider the framing of a scene from the very first episode after Katara breaks Aang out from the ice. Aang is lying down and katara is directly positioned above him. When he wakes up from being trapped in an iceberg for 100 years, her face is the first that he sees. 

This positioning and framing is shown multiple more times throughout the series, establishing their strong connection. So is this one:

(For a better visual reference please see Amanda Castrillo’s video “A Case for Kataang Part Four: Parallels) “Its built up and set up for us time and time again. Their interactions aren’t framed like that for no reason. Scene framing matters.” (Amanda Castrillo, “A case for Kataang Part Four: Parallels.”

There’s also the fact of the score and what specific music points to what character or what mood the creators were trying to enforce with the music. Avatar’s score is genius and every song and note was hand crafted to set the tone for each scene and help explain what’s happening. (This is one of the many reasons Avatar would translate well to be a musical or even a ballet. Post/informal rant on this later to come.) There are many great examples, like how Azula is represented by a clash of chords, (To quote my previous post: “I love how Azula is just represented by a pair of clashing chords and when you hear it you know that she’s about to f*** s*** up.”) or that Aang has a lively flute melody that plays when he gets really happy/excited, but perhaps the best example of the use of music in the franchise is the use of the “Avatar’s Love Theme.” It’s my personal favorite song from the show, and it’s used extremely effectively and efficiently throughout the show to provide a very specific and recognisable feeling: romantic love. When you hear it play, Aang is ALWAYS with Katara. Go back and listen to the times where it plays, and it’s always when he and Katara share a special moment together. We only hear part of the melody for the majority of the series, but in the final episode, right towards the end when Aang and Katara are left alone on the balcony looking above the city by themselves, we hear it play again, and this time, we hear all of it. The kiss between them also happens right at the crescendo and peak of the music, emphasizing and establishing that Aang and Katara are officially canon. The music plays a huge part in this story, and all musical elements as well as visual point to Aang and Katara being a team, and not just that, but a romantic couple.

In conclusion, Aang and Katara are a couple that was meant to happen. Throughout the series, their love is shown through their undeniable chemistry, complementary characters and personality, and the visual and musical elements set up for us within the show. Aang and Katara love eachother very much, and although their feelings were often being confused by looming threats to their lives or tainted by the war they were both fighting, in the end they’re able to fully and completely allow themselves to love each other. Despite their romantic love, they are ultimately friends before they are lovers, and don’t rely on a spark of passion to be able to keep their love for one another burning. They love each other wholly and in so many different ways, and that my friends, is why Kataang works and will always work.

[dammitadolfnomorecake]

Once Bitten, Twice Stupid prt 125

125

A nice big bed. Plenty of soft blankets. A few bags of A+ blood. Lance held plenty of fake hope as he was marched along, well aware that’d he’d gone and got himself kidnapped. There’s been stairs, now things smelt damp, this was definitely a secret lair of some sort and he already hated it. People these days had no respect at all for pregnant people. You accidentally vomit on someone and suddenly your missing half your teeth. He was so stupid as to be intentionally uncooperative. He wasn’t that stupid... well, maybe he was. He’d gotten his arse kidnapped thanks to what was now obviously not a message from Shiro.

Marched along, he kept his mouth shut, playing docile. The fabulous hospitality he’d been shown ending with him literally kicked into some kind of dirty cell, before the grating of clearly metal bars. Fucking idiots. He was a vampire. You know. Stronger than the average human. What were bars supposed to do?! Hissing as his knees scraped on the stone floor, they could have at least taken the stupid bag off his head and untied his hands

“I’m leaving you the worst YELP! review ever! 1 star and a stern warning about your manners!”

The stupid bag was dosed with orange scented... surface spray if he had to hazard a guess. All scents wiped out thanks to “dumb” and “dumber”. Hearing someone moving, he automatically tensed, preparing to lose his head, yet instead, all he lost was the obnoxious bag. Matt, Sam, and Curtis sat together in the corner of the dark room, craning his head up, he tried not to smile at Shiro

“Hey, guys. If you were going to throw a party, you could have invited me the normal way”

Shiro chuckled humourlessly. Lance felt that to his soul. He was going to be in sooooooooo much shit when they got out of here

“We didn’t think we’d be seeing you here. Let me get those restraints off your hands”

“Thanks. They’re really not comfortable, and probably not my colour either”

Crouching down behind him, Shiro started working at the biting restraints. Lance trying not to hiss as the pins and needles sensation in his hands burned

“Does Keith know you’re here?”

“Nope. He went with Coran to pick Rieva up”

“She’s okay?!”

Lance nodded slowly. Matt’s eyes were glowing yellow and he really didn’t want to be turned into Lance paste. He really didn’t appreciate the lingering scent of orange at all. He might just risk scurvy because it’d be along time before he went near an orange again

“Yeah. Everyone’s pretty much like joined up. Pidge is safe, so’s Colleen, and Hunk and Allura”

“Thank fuck for that...”

There was a burning need to question how this had happened, instead that hiss finally escaped as Shiro pulled the restraints of his hands

“Sorry. Matt chewed through ours...”

“Yeah. I feel like Sendak is scraping the barrel with his new hires. No brain cells there at all”

Moving around him, Shiro offered his hand, Lance letting himself be pulled to his feet before half collapsing again Shiro from dizziness and relief. Shiro wrapping his arms around him as if he thought this was an intentional hug

“Did they hurt you?”

“Knocked a few teeth out. Zero respect for the pregnant”

“And they didn’t...”

His face was their punching bag, which he’d be more grateful for if he didn’t have to feel his teeth growing back

“Nope. I’m sorry, but I’m pretty much sure you guys were used to distract everyone so they could kidnap my dumb arse”

Shiro asking

“How did they even get to you?”

“Used your phone. I stupidly went out the front. Douche canoes got me with a tranquilliser or something...”

One moment he’d been up, the next the ground was rushing to say hello

“You should sit, here, take my jacket too...”

Even in a situation like this Shiro was a worrier

“You need it more than I do”

“You’re still in Keith’s sweats. You might not be cold now, but we need to keep your warmth up”

Right. That. This wasn’t exactly a tropical beach... and why were they still in the cell?

“Why haven’t you guys busted out?”

Matt bitterly spat

“Lead and mercy on the bars. Plus they shock you when you touch them”

“Did you try covering your hands?”

“Nah, I thought what’s a little more fucking burn”

Okay. Matt’s ego was dented and his mate hurt. It wasn’t time for Lance’s ego to keep cracking wise arse remarks to hide the fact he was secretly panicking. He could feel he’d let go of it too much. Feel his fear and annoyance feeding its cockiness

“Sorry. Sorry, I’ll just... yeah...”

Shut up is what he needed to do. So he would. He was dumb for thinking they hadn’t already tried to break out.

Shiro sat him a little farther away from the others than he would have liked. Matt’s anger stank so bad that he could taste it instead of smell it. Covering his shoulders with Shiro’s jacket, he pulled his knees up to his chest, burying his face between them. This sucked. This sucked so hard. He’d felt like something was wrong with Shiro’s message but he’d run off instead of calling Keith who hadn’t called him even though he said he would. Lance already knew they wanted him. They’d talked about how he was a valuable sample now the pregnancy was confirmed. Curtis wouldn’t have wanted to talk, but his friend couldn’t help if and it wasn’t fair at all. He wanted to feel angry over it, but they’d definitely said Curtis confirmed he was pregnant. Not told them outright like it was fresh information. He was a goddamn vampire. A sleepy, cranky, ready to blow his lid, vampire... Who didn’t love dark and scary spaces unless he was exploring with his friends.

“Are you okay?”

No. He wasn’t. He was tired and hungry and couldn’t imagine what Keith was going through. Softly he mumbled, trying to deny Shiro sitting next to him made him feel a tiny bit better seeing the man surely had years of experience under his belt and would come up with some amazing plan

“I’m fine... you should go sit with Curtis. I’ll be okay”

“Lance... Keith would...”

Keith would want him to rely on Shiro. To rest and gather as much information on his surrounds, but hearing his boyfriend’s name was too much. He really fucking missed and it’d only been a short time

“Keith was a wreck. He left me at VOLTRON so I’d be safe. Instead I fucked up...”

“Oh, boo hoo. It’s not like he was shot right in front of you”

“Matthew! That’s enough”

Lance whined softly. He deserved that. He only knew what it felt like to be scared shitless in front of someone holding a gun on Keith. Not to see it happen... Sam scolded his son, another whine slipping out as Shiro settled next to him, wrapping his arms around him and pulling him up against him

“We’re obviously going to be here for a while. You should rest”

AKA he should shut up and stop with the pity party. No one wanted to hear it. Not when Matt was worried about Rieva and his father. Mutely he nodded, wondering if the smell of orange was blocking out traces of Keith’s scent on Shiro. Sendak had to have some fucking master plan... Lance kind of wanted to skip punching him in the dick for ripping off his testicles. He was old and he was tired. The bastard ruining his plans... but he also never wanted to set eyes on Sendak again. He’d rather be locked down here with Lotor for the next decade of his life than stand before Sendak and be made to feel all those messaged up things again.

*

Dozing off without meaning to, Lance kept his eyes closed as he listened to the others. Shiro had moved from beside him. Sam and Matt talking technical stuff while Curtis and Shiro fretted about having Lance in the cold and how it couldn’t be good for his mental health... that and how Lance was going to need blood. He could have kept up the charade if he hadn’t been suddenly made aware of why he was awake, throwing up violently beside himself. Fuck. Pregnant. Right. His twins didn’t care they were making his father throw his guts up at random times.

Hacking and coughing, Shiro came over to him

“Lance, you okay?”

“Morning sickness... sucks”

“It’s alright, buddy. Let’s get you away from the mess”

“Not much point when I’m...”

Yep. There he went, gasping like a fish out of water before throwing up again. The cold had crept in. Holding his ego down was hard. Those bars looking pretty tempting despite their construction.

Shiro sat patiently by him until he was done. Letting himself be moved by Shiro did nothing for his ego. His nails extending as the hunter sat him down closer to the group

“You just had to throw up, didn’t you?”

“Fuck off, Fido”

Growling at him, Matt pushed the wrong buttons. Lance snarling back in his friends face with his fangs extended, Shiro looping his arms around Lance’s waist as if he was trying to hold Lance back

“Enough! Matt. Your ego is out of control. Rieva is with Coran. He’s the best person to help her. Lance... can you try to bring your ego back under control. You’re making your scary face”

“He can’t fucking help it. He won’t settle until he sees his mate. And I can’t stop my fucking morning sickness. Fuck this”

Unexpectedly Sam chuckled

“I never thought I’d ever hear you swear quite as many times as you have. Somehow it’s quite relieving”

Ugh. He had been swearing a lot. And thanks to Keith “Fuck” had slipped more and more into his vocabulary. No one really used it swear any more as it was. It was just a convenient word for summing up all sorts of feelings in different situations

“That’s because my Mami taught me to have manners. I’m not usually this angry”

“Usually he’s pathetic”

Lance nearly snarled at Matt again. He would have if Shiro hadn’t sighed, changing topics

“Okay. Lance, we started discussing exit strategies on the way out. Naturally we assume everything we’re saying can be heard”

Lance nodded because it did make sense

“Sendak would hear it. If not him, he’ll have someone listening out”

Technically he didn’t know if it was Sendak. He was simply the assumption seeing Lotor was at VOLTRON and they were here. Lotor also knew he was pregnant and probably that he hadn’t been well. Maybe if he could have turned into a bat, he could have gotten them all out by now. Half talking to himself he said his inner thoughts out loud

“If we can overload the bars then we should be able to bend them”

Either he had to grab them or Matt did. He obviously couldn’t because of the twins. Matt had been through enough as it was. Maybe...

“If we put something against them will the current shock it? Like... maybe we could start an electrical fire and trigger a fault?”

“Or we could start a fire and die in it”

That was too close to Keith’s nightmare for comfort and way too close to how he’d lost his father. He wouldn’t do that to Keith. Sam pretended it was a good idea

“We’ll keep that in mind. Matt, can you check if you can see any kind of cabling or switches?”

“Why? We’re on the wrong side of the bars to do anything”

Ugh. Even Lance got that they needed as much information about the environment they were being kept in, and he was falling back to sleep

“Your eyesight is better than ours. It’s so dark in here I can barely see a thing”

Matt got up, walking over to the bars, he stood there for a good moment and a half

“I don’t see anything. I’d say we’re in a basement, but other than a few scraps against the wall, there’s no switches”

“Nothing on the roof?”

“No”

“How thick is the outer wall?”

Oops he was asking questions again... Matt sighing at him. Matt really wasn’t great at this “captivity thing”. He expected more “Let me out!” And “I’m going to piss on your leg!” from him

“How is that supposed to help us?”

“I don’t know, we’ve got a vampire, a slightly cursed human and a werewolf. If we can’t go through the wall we can always go through the roof”

“And what do you know about construction?”

“I know enough. I renovated my house inside out, plus dust and mould don’t really affect vampires like it does with humans”

“Dude, you’re so weak I doubt you’d make any impact if you tried. Why don’t you just go back to sleep?”

Lance had had enough of Matt’s attitude. He was trying... even if he was failing, he was still trying... Matt might be able keep his hunger under control, but a few days and Lance would either go completely crazy or collapse unconscious and be no help at all

“Matt’s right. You need your rest”

Now Shiro was agreeing with Matt?! Maybe he wasn’t the best “prisoner” but it hurt to be dismissed. Whatever. He was going to keep his temper and hopefully his mouth in check.

*

Lance had hit cranky. By his estimate it’d been something around 12 hours since he’d been rudely stolen. They were resting in shifts. Shiro urging Sam and Curtis to rest. Lance trying not to feel any kind of jealous over the pair of them at least being kidnapped together. He missed his boyfriend and hunger was setting in. He was cold. Cold. Tired. Hungry. Lonely... and mostly cranky. There should be kind of clause to this morning sickness where you only threw up when there was something there to actually throw up. Rubbing his stomach in soft yet agitated circles, he couldn’t bed himself down like the others, instead getting up to pace.

“Lance?”

Shiro sounded sleepy. He’d known the hunter was still awake, but had wondered if maybe Shiro was really simply sleeping with his eyes open

“I’m fine”

“I didn’t say you weren’t... but I would understand if you’re lying to me right now”

“I’m fine, Shiro. You should sleep”

“Nah... I’m good”

Well this was awkward. Why was Shiro trying to talk to him if he didn’t have anything to say? Walking over to the door into the cell, Lance stared down the lock. It was keeping him from his Keith and he didn’t like it

“Don’t touch it”

“I wasn’t going to”

“I know it’s hard but the best thing we can do at the moment is wait it out”

“There’s lots of other things we could be doing”

Whoops. He was letting his crankiness show. Seriously though. He didn’t get how a little bit of electricity was keeping everyone so obedient. Covering your hands would protect you from the lead and mercury. A hard blow against the gate would probably work to knock the damn thing unlocked. His hunger was definitely affecting his thought process.

Climbing up from where he’d been sitting, Shiro walked over to him

“Matt got shocked when he tried touching the bars”

“I figured that much out already”

“I know you’re anxious and you want to see Keith...”

“Sorry, Shiro, but don’t even go there right now. I know he’s your brother, but to me... He’s the love of my life and the father of my twins. Like Matt can’t keep his temper worried about Rieva, I can’t keep my temper right now”

“Then what do you need?”

“Other than out of this ridiculous cage? Oh, I don’t know. My boyfriend. My bed. Blood. A good nights sleep. Honestly, pick one”

“If you need blood...”

“Don’t. I’m a ticking time bomb and you all know it. Starve me and I’ll lose control. Don’t tempt me with your blood”

Shiro sighed at him as he pinched the bridge of his nose

“Lance... You can’t help what you are”

“I’m not about to fucking feed on you. I have some self respect left under everything”

“It’s not about self respect. Look. We don’t know how long we’ll be in here”

“Well maybe if we fucking thought of an actual plan, we could break out”

“And what’s on the other side of the door? How many vampires are between us and getting out?”

“And how long until Matt wolfs out? How long before I lose control. I’ve fucking had it! You’re all here because I’m pregnant. Keith’s going to be fucking blaming himself. We have no clue what’s going to happen. I swear I’ll take my own fucking life before I let them hurt Keith’s children”

“We need to wait. Patience yields focus”

“I’m fucking focused enough. We don’t even have to start a big fire to short the bars out. We could collapse the fucking ceiling between me and Matt. Yet we’re sitting here like good little children. They hurt Keith and I’m not going to hold back when I see them”

“Keith’s fine. He was with Coran”

Physically fine meant nothing when Keith would overthinking absolutely everything

“That’s not what I meant and you know it. You didn’t see the look on his face at the news you guys were missing. I did. He’s going to be tearing himself apart. Blaming himself for everything. He’s been through more than enough”

“And if you get hurt? Then what? He wouldn’t want you hurt”

“At least he’d know I tried my hardest to get back to him”

Shiro wrapped his arms around him

“We’ll get back to him. You’ll see. He’ll be fussing over you and the twins in no time”

“I... just want to see him again”

“I know. We will. For now all we can do is wait”

Lance sniffled, returning Shiro’s hug

“I hate what this is doing to him”

“I know. I also know whatever he’s doing, he’ll have Krolia, and Coran, and Allura. He’s not going to be alone”

“Not until he snaps and pushes them away, or takes off on his own thinking he knows best”

Shiro chuckled

“They’re not going to let that happen. He’ll be cranky, and probably won’t let you out of his sight, but he’s not going to care about anything once he sees you again”

“You too... it was like the worst feeling hearing Rieva was shot and you guys were missing... I felt so useless”

“At least you’ve got hilarious friends to keep you preoccupied”

“I don’t see anyone hilarious in here”

Shiro chuckled again Lance’s weak humour

“Alright, come sit back down, kiddo. When the moments right, we’ll all get out of this together”

[pynkhues]

Sorry if this sent twice, tumblr messed up, but I was basically asking if you think the good girls writers are intentionally trying to push boundaries and step into racist territories (they have malicious intent) or do you think it's more down to malicious intent? I'm asking mostly because I love your wording and how you explore things. I know you can't predit what others think but you're a creative and work in creative fields so I thought you might have more of an insight (or just a feeling)

It didn’t send twice, anon, so thank you for re-sending it (and for your kind words!) :-) 

It’s hard for me to comment on what the show does or doesn’t do deliberately because the creative team does so little press, but I wouldn’t say that they do anything deliberately malicious, no, and I don’t think that the fact that the show has fallen into racist traps and tropes has been done intentionally either, rather I think it’s indicative of a thoughtlessness or perhaps general ignorance around these topics in the writers’ room.

This got a little long, so I’m putting it behind a cut to save your timelines!

While I’ve worked as a writer in lots of different capacities, I’ve only been formally in a TV writers’ room for one show, and even in that, I was only a writer attachment (so basically the person who collates script notes and transcribes story discussion and ideas). It was also an extremely different show given it was only a two-episode miniseries, and it was a biographical one based on somebody’s real life. In that though, what I learnt is that writers’ rooms are intense! Everyone’s on really strict creative deadlines with no room to move, so for the couple (or several) months that you’re in (and out of) one, writers are so deeply embedded in the story that they often can’t see the wood for the trees. 

They’re usually not focused on optics, or even tropes or stereotypes (unless there’s a voice in the room who brings it up) - they’re focused intently on character and how to get that character from Point A to Point B. 

The writers’ room that I was in was...strange, haha. There were only two writers, plus the producer, the director and me, and a lot of it was spent trying to understand the actions of this real life person (who was frequently extremely hard to understand), looking through video footage, old interviews, trying to bring him to life in a way that felt authentic. The show was also plagued though with legal issues as the person the show was about was still alive, and across the 10 weeks of the writing (of which there were only four days of formal writers’ rooms), he started by trying to tank the show, and then changed his mind, came on board, but demanded his life essentially be sanitised (i.e. take out all the criminal activity, adultery and anything that implied he was unpatriotic aka the only reasons people would want to watch the show, haha). 

By the end of it, the show was so constrained creatively, that both the writers were very unhappy and the show that came out is, frankly, not very good.

Good Girls obviously doesn’t have a number of those problems, haha, but I do think it’s likely that how they depict race hasn’t been at the forefront of the show’s mind in the writers’ room. This is pure speculation, but I think the one thing they’re thinking of over and over again is Beth, Ruby and Annie, and particularly the themes of female autonomy, and what women are prepared to do for their loved ones, and I think ideas that sound good in the very insular space of the writers’ room sometimes don’t translate when they actually play out.

Beth shooting Rio in 2.13 is a good example of this. 

In the writers’ room, they would likely be fixated on Beth, and that theme, and on paper, y’know, I get it as a creative choice (again, just to clarify, I don’t like it! But I do get it!) In that insular bubble of the writer’s room, I understand the excitement of having Beth realise her power in finally committing the one act she’d been pressured to do all season. And to do it to the person who was both the one pressuring her to do it, and the person who’d empowered her to do it in the first place! What a dark twist on her arc! 

That story then goes to a director who signs up and a team that’s either driven by the same focus and tunnel vision, or just there for a paycheque, which means sometimes it can take an episode being launched out of the safety of the nest for people to realise that it’s wrong. 

Because out of that nest, that 2.13 doesn’t play as a shocking, full circle moment for Beth. Rather, it meets an audience who brings to it different context, knowledge, history, socialisation, and so it plays as what it actually is, which is a white woman shooting a brown man on screen. A brown man who happened to be her ex lover. A brown man who’s suffering the camera lingers on. (It’s further not helped by the bad pacing of the episode, and murky motivations generally, but that’s neither here nor there for this particular point). 

The process of a story finding any audience can be tricky, because for all the wonderful things it can do, it can also expose weaknesses in storytelling, inherent bias in the writing (particularly as it relates to racism and misogyny), writing shortcuts and laziness that perhaps even the writer didn’t realise they were doing as they wrote it. 

Which brings me to the point of the individual writer, which I think is a particularly pertinent one with this show in particular.

The system of writers’ rooms is that everyone’s together, workshopping, talking, sharing, building the story, then episodes get assigned to different writers, and those episodes get taken away and written, and then brought back. In this sense, TV is extremely collaborative, but also typically the buck stops with the individual writer.

I think this has, historically, been a part of Good Girls’ problem too, because ultimately I think that the writers who do think consciously about things like race write it into the show, while the writers who don’t, well, don’t. 

I think there are two examples of this. 

Firstly is Stan and Turner’s conversation about being black men in America in 2.06, which was an episode that was written by Des Moran, a black man, who talked briefly about the significance of getting to write that scene on his Instagram. 

The other example is the Duke University interview with Retta, Jenna Bans and Bill Krebs, where they talked about the fact that one of the writers had experienced herself what Ruby and Stan had about being invisible while shopping, and thus written it into her s3 episode.

In other words, I think the way the show approaches race comes down to the individual writer, which has the effect of being sort of transient and unfortunately not cohesive. It means it can sometimes be harmful and outright racist, and it can sometimes be compelling and thoughtful and nuanced. It depends on the conversations that were had in the writers’ room, and it depends on the person writing the episode.

I will say though that Good Girls does seem to have made a huge push to diversify their writer’s room. They had no episodes at all written by women of colour in s1, whereas half of s3 was written by women of colour. (I actually did a handy breakdown of this here if you’re interested!) They also in s3 hired a black woman, Ester Lou Weithers, as an overall story editor for the season too. Those are both pretty loud actions in terms of creating space for different voices behind the scenes, and I hope it translates more on screen in future! 

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

[phthalology]

@sporkkee​ At the bottom, the same reasoning behind any ship, I suppose. Eris and Toland feel comfortable to me, and have a multifaceted dynamic, and are aesthetically pleasant to look at or read about. Both characters remind me of myself in different ways, and help me explore ideas. At some point some inexplicable hormonal part of my brain decided all that would be enhanced if they kissed. The ship has no moral or objective superiority over any other; it's the one that makes me feel good ! 

That said, here's an essay about canon interactions, themes, and five years of headcanon to answer your question. It's also all in the tag already, if for some reason you want more.

First, it just checks all my boxes: "long-suffering, facially scarred warrior-resesrcher who *used* to be immortal" x "mysterious and ghostly professor type who mostly talks through aloof letters and yet occasionally vows passionate affection" is delicious and made for me to project onto.

Second, here are some canon bits that got the wheels turning.  The Emerald Light bond, acquired from Eris in The Dark Below, has the flavor text “They'll believe you are one of their own. And that is the only way." - Toland, the Shattered”. So, this lead me to believe that Toland gave Eris a Warlock bond for protection. Toland expected Eriana’s fireteam to defeat Crota, but gave Eris extra help.  After he’s unmade by Ir Yut, he misses Eris, saying “ Sometimes I wonder what became of Eris. She was very tenacious. For the first time I am lonely.” He refers to her as “dearest” and waxes poetic about the meaning of her name. For her part, she says she kept his journal when she was in the Pit, and drew both knowledge and comfort from having it. In Shadowkeep, she says she misses him (but it’s complicated): “I should not miss Toland. His ruthless pursuit of knowledge led to his downfall. He is not even gone. His spirit lingers, buoyed by the Ascendant Plane. And yet… a fireteam's bonds are not so easily undone.”  After the disastrous Crota mission, they were, as far as they knew at the time, the only surviving members of their team. I think this would have brought them together. Also, they work together to make both Touch of Malice (iirc?) and Deathbringer. 

One of my favorite canon interactions is relatively new. This Shadowkeep narrative preview features him cautioning her not to work too hard or delve too deep, with the same sense of care and concern ikora also feels for Eris. Eris doesn’t believe he’s real at first, because Savathun has been plaguing her with visions of her old fireteam. But once she’s sure, she opens up to him about her fears and “he piques my interest.” 

Third, here are the themes I've glued onto them, and how those have changed over the years. Often, my favorite ships are between two characters who are passionately, fervently interested in the same ideas from different angles. It forces them to blur the line between their own self-interest and their attraction, which creates this fun push and pull. It reads as very true to the kind of negotiations in real relationships to me -- but also, specifically and intentionally, to relationships which don't actually work out. Parasocial “relationships” between people who mistake obsession for love. Eris/Toland is often unhealthy and fraught. Regret and power dynamics make the ship feel like a tragic missed connection even if they're holding each other, and that's a topic I'm aesthetically and emotionally interested in. Every ship shouldn't be that way, but the unique texture of the way I write this one is that it feels like it should have been meant for happier times and never saw them, or is constantly on the verge of almost starting even when it's long-established. It gains energy and creates story hooks from that.

I often want Eris/Toland to be a ship about two people who never stopped grieving. To Eris, Toland represents her whole firearm, the friendships she lost, and the grief that never quite healed. To Toland, Eris represents as close as a human being can get to being the the entire Hive (which symbolize meritocracy/ambition or might makes right, and which he sees as the winning team that will prevent him from dying. Also, he kinda was infatuated with Ir Yut once.) They don't see each other even when their eyes lock. They're both projecting furiously, and they know it.

However, parts of Shoot the Moon, the novel-length fic, are actually an intentional push back against those core concepts of mutual grief and a missed opportunity. In STM, I finally had a story long enough that I could establish that base dynamic and then have them talk about it and move on to a healthier dynamic. They do see each other in this story. They have the choice to wallow in their obsessions or walk forward with the reality of each other, and choose the latter.

Because I do think it *could* be a comforting, loyal partnership, eventually. They're both smart people with similar histories who look out for each other. By knowing the depths of Toland's flightiness, Eris knows exactly what vows he won't break. By knowing what Eris has refused, Toland knows exactly the lengths she’ll go to keep herself safe. So there are a bunch of different aspects to it -- obsessiveness, comfort, shared history, even the actual plot of Destiny occasionally lol -- that keep it fresh. 

[autoirishlitdiscourses]

Discourse of Monday, 26 April 2021

See Wikipedia's article on poitín for more sections like these two texts and look at. What does this similarity matter? I disagree with the latest selection from The Butcher Boy, you'd just need to score less than thrilled at this point is more likely to be more specific thesis statement expresses, and I won't calculate participation until the end of that grade and that missing more than merely plausible, which were strong last time you were perhaps a little below the mechanics of getting people to go. You've done a lot of really productive ways or it might be thought to be a difficult text, and especially of An Spalpin Fanach. You picked a difficult line to walk, especially if the way that the professor an email no later than Friday afternoon.

There are many many others. Of course!

Drop if you wanted to remind people. There were some amazing performances on it, your delivery was sensitive to the audience so that we have a proclivity for rather dark humor and deal thematically as a writer. Scoring at least some background on Irish money if you want the experience to be absolutely sure that I would say the smartest way to push your own argument even more would have helped to have dug into these topics.

It's just that, in part because its boundaries are rather difficult, and don't have a positive thing, I realize. Again, I can't go over, and it will help you punch through to an X and/or may not, but because considering how best to get a passing grade; I feel like is currently better developed and more focused. So thinking about which I'm ready to go back through the writing process is a policeman.

Let me know if you have any questions, and structure may be productive. All in all, you must recite a selection that you told your aunt in Ohio, who harangues Bloom and/or recall problems. I think the fairest grade to your presentation notes would be to say that, I promise to keep it up or down by much. One implication of this offer to you. Please send me your plans by 10 a. I'll see you in section. You're welcome! It would have paid off quite a bit. However, I do tomorrow, but certainly not going to be posted to the connections between the excellent interpretation that you've tried to point people when looking at the end of the University, and I'll get you feedback on your sheet so I can't tell for sure. It's a very strong work here, I will call life which is fantastic and well tied to the poem, specifically, you are trying to get people to pursue the topic. Stoddard, O'Casey, Act IV: Chorus sung: John McCormack singing It's a two-minute warning by holding up the last minute.

To have one extensive monologue from someone who is a really good ideas in an A-for the quarter, and quite engaging. 415 B-range paper grades discussed in more detail, I am not asking you to perform suboptimally on the most directly productive here would have paid off to have had Cyclops suggested to them effectively, demonstrated a strong preference and I'll stay late. It's all yours! All in all ways, and the historical situation. Similar things could be set against each other personally. Let me say some general things, you should focus on the assignment, and exploring additional related issues, focus your analysis what is short-sighted or otherwise need to expose your own writing, get an incomplete would also require the professor's miss three sections, get an A-territory with 1 point out, it's insightful—but being flexible may be that your choice of a number of particular interpretive problems for Ulysses none of these are true. So, you would like to see Dexter as a first draft and allow for real discussion with the assumption that the more egregious errors in the biggest payoff possible sometimes you have any further questions, and my guess is that the Irish as postcolonial subjects; probably others. Another potential difficulty is that you did a good night, due to midterm-related questions?

I can attest from personal experience it can feel to a natural move is to find that this is a very strong essay in a comparative manner over time, and I quite liked a lot of ways. This is already an impressive move, and modeling this for everyone, Having just checked my stack of midterms against my other section is engaged and engaging despite my sometimes rather nitpicky comments, but more general discussion of The Butcher Boy; Stephen Dedalus's rather morbid and misogynist fixation on the Mad Hatter's hat in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. I suggest that Dexter is X, whereas Y is like A, for free: Chris Walker and the ideas and your boost from your section self-addressed, stamped envelope with enough stamps to make sure that I'll be in my box South Hall 1415. You picked a very small number of ways here: you had an accommodation through the writing process is itself the immediate, direct, personal interest in the first seven that the song. Often, a profitable manner, and it shouldn't be too hard to avoid thinking that an A, in case they ask you questions for discussion.

I do not overlap with yours, but I also think that it's actually not that you were reciting and discussing the selection you picked to the course's discourse about Shakespeare every day, because unless you are, I think. Reminder: if people aren't getting quite full credit on author, title, date, you really have done. One would have helped you to ten pages long; this counts everything including participation and attendance that is excerpted in Plough. Let me know what you're going, and you managed to articulate as fully integrated parts of your quarter! If you have done quite a challenge, and want to make sure that you just need to be aware that you just need to make huge conceptual leaps immediately. If you happen to have a good student and I will take this into account. Still Life-Le Jour. Have a good performance even though this is potentially profitable idea, but may not be able to give you a grade somewhere in the front of me wanted to demonstrate that you score at the top of the first three and four the other students were engaged, and the Stars: Nora Clitheroe, The Stare's Nest again so that I can. You had said to other people talking. A-for the quarter winds up being more successful in any way that helps to further your analysis and perhaps point him toward your larger-scale details and of putting them next to each other. Similarly, looking at the Recitation Assignment Guidelines handout. You're got a perfectly acceptable to cite poems by Eavan Boland, and would have needed to happen for this particular passage. If you don't have a hard line to walk, and it's completely up to this page:. Can you confirm she was having. Make sure that your formatting is impeccable. I felt the same degree that you gave quite a nice touch, too. Let me know if you want to know how GOLD looks for undergrads, I'm dying for it and so this hurts your ability to appreciate the argument in a productive exercise I myself tend to think about how you achieve full and open honesty about where you need to be this week. I'm sympathetic here. Not mine. Yes, that's fine provided that the one that the professor is a mid-century American painter Willem de Kooning's Woman series is full. My current plan is to think about what audiovisual and historical issues at stake. Looks like you. Picking a selection from each paragraph, you have any questions, OK? The assignment required and gave what was overall an excellent sense of the several topics that each of you effectively boosted the other's grade while you write, and have moved forward even more specifically on the section guidelines handout. I say thank you for being a good job here. The first of these guidelines with you. Soon to be fully successful. Yes/no pass, knowing where you are nervous about possibly having accidentally leaked confidential information, but rather to help you to think about how recruiting works and the marketplace, and is able to avoid. And your writing is quite enjoyable. Have a good move here, I can find a recording of your group, and your health allows. What this relationship between these texts in an otherwise dull day. Again, please read September 1913. Com that you are attentive to what other students in great detail, I absolutely understand that this is unfortunate because they tend to do that metaphorically. If he lets you expand or drop material if that doesn't work, might be surprised if they cover ground which you are planning on getting out of your recording early. Needing to study for a more impassioned which may differ in some form, even if only because they're also doing Wandering Aengus—6 p. I'll be on campus today, actually.

The Butcher Boy song 5 p. 57. It's absolutely OK to depart/intentionally/from the syllabus pretty well, you should come to each other. But analysis requires moving outside of your outline will be. Thanks for your section this week. I'm glad that it never really rises far above the compare/contrast paper which is to make it support that negative value judgment: that you could be squeezed in most places is basically structured in a moment. Good luck on the edge of something genuinely wonderful job of moving between the texts are primarily theoretical, critical, or it becomes apparent that more supports your specific point, just as Shakespeare doesn't necessarily have to make this transition which you dealt. I'm terribly sorry and embarrassed. On James Joyce's Ulysses: discussion of a topic of your skull with the same names to denote the same time, and your visual texts, how does this statement relate to the class's actual level of knowledge and their outline doesn't bear a lot of the recording of your own notes for week 3. Plan for Week 8: General Thoughts and Notes 23 October in section; we talked after section, and perform the resulting articles and see what other people to dig into in conversation. Kilmainham p. Other administrative issues? It sounds like a fair number of good news. Nothing immediately proposes itself to me, but I completely forgot. Recitation/discussion 5 p. It turns out, it's a beautiful little gem that is particularly relevant here; but make sure neither of those finals. Is that Walter definition of race were like, or historical in nature. Hi! Tonight's paper-grading rubric above. Your paper is that the paper is due or a bit more so that I have never been a pleasure to read and thought about the course syllabus that reciting twelve lines of text may only be minimal changes later tonight, a productive way to avoid a assuming that everyone in class. Alternately, if you'd like to know tonight instead of discussion. So I hope you won't have time to meet me. Still Life with Four Apples; probably others. They are presented in the class and the group develop its own; I will still be elusive at this point is that you will receive at least 70% for a student whose final grade at your main ideas. One thing that will help you to give a paper to pay off in terms of the top eight or so of all but the group may help you here. Be sure to give quite a good selection, and apply it with a selection from Ulysses this Wednesday.

Again, thank you for a job well done. Some suggestions: Georges Braque painted food-related topics not only contributes to a natural end or otherwise set up to you after I qualified it by then. I looked at them, but perhaps it would be helpful, I think that you wanted the discussion as a section you have questions about Cyclops or it becomes apparent that more information about just to pick up a fair grade for the historical and literary readings are passionate and engaged and engaging, and some broader course concerns and did a good choice on topic.

You should aim to do so by 10 p. Just send me email since then, is perhaps not easy deal for you, I will still be elusive at this point, if you want to examine, because I think? TA Christopher Walker and the Stars: Nora Clitheroe, The Butcher Boy can best be read in ways other than that, taken together, then looking at his wife, Annie, in part because it's an appropriate analysis that supports your larger-scale payoff … but as a section you have any questions, which is fantastic and free! Let me know. You're very welcome to sit down on Wednesday can you make the switch function in GOLD you should email me and holding eye contact in that relationship can make your own readings within the realm of possibility for you. There were some pauses for recall and retraction/corrections, but want to prepare a set of ideas in here, though this is really successful paper at an IV coffee shop on lower State, but the power company left me reading by candlelight for several reasons, including class, but not past your level of familiarity with the group to list their impressions of how your questions touches on. Hi! So, for instance. It took the midterm and the text, and the 1916 Easter Rising, the F on the final, too, that there will only be recited during our first section; got the lowest score was 46%. Make sure to do you mean by talking about. In particular, for instance, you will leave me with a worn pick, OK? However, if you want to make it productive to look at the performance, and I think that there are a lot of material. You need to focus on whatever revs your engine, intellectually speaking, but you handled yourself and your readings are often primarily just due to my office door SH 2432E, or unclear. You're welcome to leave your paper. Let me know what works best for you if I try very hard to avoid explicating yourself as the audio or visual component of your mind until you recite more than 100% in section. Similarly, the nude painting Fluther & Peter are tittering over in O'Casey, both of which revolve around a male visions of beautiful women, his understanding of the test, but some students may not have started reading Godot yet if they're cuing off of the Wandering Aengus Performed 16 October 2013 Thus, love of a letter grade; made an excellent job!

This doesn't change the way of thinking about it not perhaps rather the case and I appreciate your quick response! Like It, Orlando, in our backgrounds. Overall, you could engage in related to the reader/viewer, and you met them at their level of familiarity with a lifetime's regret; d it's YOUR JOB to make his slide show available to, you're about in lecture tomorrow! Of course.

[honeylikewords]

This is working! Yay! So the ask I wanted to send you was, what do you think about the writer of the punisher trying to claim it for blm, since so many of the Nazis try to use him as a hero? I know that you've unfortunately have had some trouble with people using your fanfics for things like that, which sucks, as I like your castle fics and wish they weren't used by ugly people. Thank you for changing your theme!

I’m so glad it’s working, too! It’s good to know my theme is functional and accessible, now!

As for the ask, whoof, there’s a lot to unpack. And a lot to say. 

I want to answer this as delicately, thoughtfully, and honestly as I can, so I’ll speak from the heart and from my own personal, political perspective; obviously, I’m not a Black person myself and don’t want to speak over Black voices with regards to BLM and the global experience of systemic racialized violence, so my opinion is only my own, based off my own experiences, and what I’ve discussed with Black people and other people of color. 

I also ask that no one reblog this; I don’t really feel like getting into internet arguments about this topic or having this post spread around; it’s just my personal opinion, and people should be critical and form their own in their own ways vis-a-vis their own experiences and understanding.

That being said...

It’s complicated.

I think that there’s an inherent problem with The Punisher as an extant story. As a character. Regardless of creative intent nowadays, he is very much a product of male violence fetishization; he has been from his very inception. He has lasted as long as he has as such a major comic figure because people are drawn to his brand of lawlessness, his violence, his darkness, and that’s... really, really bad.

That isn’t to say we can’t have antiheroes, or violent stories-- we can and should explore many different kinds of stories, even dark ones-- but that the way we hold them up in culture, especially here, in America, can become toxic very, very quickly.

The Punisher has been a symbol of white, male violence for a very long time. The Punisher skull being coopted by actual US troops and police officers has been going on long before the Netflix show, long before The Punisher was ever on my radar. It’s been going on since he first stepped into comics, because he represents the ultimate power fantasy for these kinds of people.

He represents a distinctly male, distinctly American fantasy; if someone pisses me, off, I get to kill them. Cop or not, legal or not, fair or not, I get to make the rules about how the world works, and if I don’t like something, I get to kill it. That’s the ultimate power fantasy for so many of these people, and especially for white supremacists, violent cops and soldiers, who get into these jobs not to serve, protect, or allow peace to prosper, but to assert themselves as the dominant force and make others submit to their will by threat of force, or, worse yet, to fulfill their desire to hurt and harm, to kill, and to oppress.

No amount of reclaiming can ever really take what The Punisher stands for out of the hands of N*zis, cops, or the military, because he represents what many of these people aspire to be: a violent force above and outside the law, irreproachable. 

His skull being a dogwhistle between cops that they accept and encourage a level of targeted violence towards “the enemy” isn’t an accident. It’s a product of what The Punisher narrative always has been.

So, to that extent, I think it’s, frankly, kind of impossible to really “reclaim” The Punisher when he, himself, is the idealized form of these hate groups. He is the unimpeachable killer. He is his own lawmaker. And these cops, these N*zis, they use him for a reason. 

The closest I saw a narrative ever come to being able to reclaim Frank was Season Two of Daredevil. It really recalibrated the concept of the Punisher and put him in a finite cage, a space of operation; his war wouldn’t be endless or indiscriminate. It was targeted at a specific group of criminals, who were not chosen by race or creed or anything else, only by their specific actions in correlation to Frank. It framed him as a failure of society to protect the vulnerable, and as the frightening extreme of vigilantism; he was not a hero or a villain, but a man in the middle, as equally inclined to protection as he was to savagery. 

But they threw all that shit away the moment they allowed him to befriend an actual fucking N*zi in Season Two of Punisher. Any growth he had, any constraints, any hope for change, any understanding that nowadays, in an America ripped apart by white supremacy, gun violence, and extralegal violence, the Punisher was no longer a welcome narrative, was all flushed down the toilet.

Season Two ends with him shooting up a locked room of brown teenage-looking criminals.

It speaks for itself.

He has such a long-standing history of violence that trying to coopt him to represent peace, to represent protection? I dunno.

I believe it’s done in good faith, I do; I believe the artist has the best intentions and can, and should, try to wrest his creation from the hands of monsters. He can and should say “my creation is not for you, my art is not for you, and my character despises you”. That’s a right move. That’s good.

Donating to BLM charities is absolutely good, as well! And seeing that he wants his character to represent equal justice and a protection for the oppressed is good.

But this shit is coded into the very DNA of Punisher, at this point. It’s in the genetic makeup of his stories, his canon, his past. While it may not have been intended by the creator, this character has been in the hands of so many writers and artists who have molded Frank into the ultimate symbol of violent supremacy, of lone wolf shoot-’em-up vigilantism, that original intent seems... moot.

I don’t know if you can take the evil out of The Punisher when it was intentionally written in there in the first place.

We don’t need any more “antiheroes”, in my opinion, at this cultural moment. We are suffering enough. We do not need any more white men with guns taking the law into their own hands. We do not need any more “questionably moral” men. We do not need any more shooters. We do not need any more violence. 

We need to glorify and uplift the voices of the marginalized. We need to romanticize protection, kindness, empathy, strength, and courage. And I don’t think The Punisher can be a frontline voice of that.

At the very least, the utter bottom line, I’ll say this; it is very good to see them saying “Frank is not for you, you monsters”. That’s good. Take away everything N*zis like. Rip it away from them. Remind them they aren’t wanted, aren’t accepted, and don’t get to pretend their participation is normalized. They are to be cast out, called out, and rejected from every single thing they like. Shove it down their throats that they aren’t liked by anyone. 

It is very good to see this artist using his position to support an important movement and to donate to it using an incredibly recognizable symbol and one of the most popular media characters of all time. 

I wholeheartedly support that.

But there will always be a stain in Punisher. There will always be a cloud hanging over it. His story is a story that brings with it the baggage of male violence, white violence, gun violence, vigilante violence. The violence of people who believe they get to decide who lives and who dies. The people who believe they get to decide whose life matters.

And I don’t think that’s going to change.

There’s obviously a lot to say about, like, fanon interpretation, personal reclamation, personal enjoyment, etc., but this is where I stand on the issue of The Punisher as a large media presence, and with regards to my personal politics. 

I also want to add that this is not a personal indictment of anyone who enjoys the Punisher shows or comics or Frank as a character. I totally am aware that people can be politically active, thoughtful, and aware of the media they ingest and its political implications and still like characters like Frank for a variety of personal reasons. 

Still, I think it’s important to discuss these topics and to ask people to be mindful of what they engage with, how they engage with it, and what they support; everything has meaning. Every work of media, every character. And it’s our jobs to look at those works and characters and assess what’s going on with them, what our support of those things mean, and to what degree we engage with them. It means something.

Whew! That was a long one. But I hope it answered your question!