#Japanese historical fiction film

[redsamuraiii]

Junihitoe wo Kita Akuma (2020)

[meddling-in-horror]

October Movie Racket

Decided to continue what I started last year by watching one movie a day for all of October. I just finished the list:

Ginger Snaps (2000) Fright Night (2011) Errementari: The Devil and the Blacksmith (2017) Ganja and Hess (1973) Night Teeth (2021) The Pale Door (2020) El Conde (2023) Midnight Mass (2021) Brand New Cherry Flavor (2021) Possession (1981) Day Shift (2022) Vampir (2021) Flux Gormet (2022) She-Creature (2001) Last Night in Soho (2021) Def By Temptation (1990) The Lighthouse (2019) Perfect Blue (1997) The VVitch (2015) The Lure (2015) The Old Ways (2020) Birdboy: The Forgotten Children (2015) The Craft (1996) Freeway (1996) Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched (2021) Audition (1999) Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022) A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) X (2022) Pearl (2022) The Most Assassinated Woman in the World (2018)

Just in case you wanna watch along, we start October 1st.

Happy haunting.

[goryhorroor]

masterpost of horror lists

here are all my horror lists in one place to make it easier to find! enjoy!

sub-genres

action horror

analog horror

animal horror

animated horror

anthology horror

aquatic horror

apocalyptic horror

backwoods horror

bubblegum horror

campy horror

cannibal horror

children’s horror

comedy horror

coming-of-age horror

corporate/work place horror

cult horror

dance horror

dark comedy horror

daylight horror

death games

domestic horror

ecological horror

erotic horror

experimental horror

fairytale horror

fantasy horror

folk horror

found footage horror

giallo horror

gothic horror

grief horror

historical horror

holiday horror

home invasion horror

house horror

indie horror

isolation horror

insect horror

lgbtqia+ horror

lovecraftian/cosmic horror

medical horror

meta horror

monster horror

musical horror

mystery horror

mythological horror

neo-monster horror

new french extremity horror

paranormal horror

political horror

psychedelic horror

psychological horror

religious horror

revenge horror

romantic horror

dramatic horror

science fiction horror

slasher

southern gothic horror

sov horror (shot-on-video)

splatter/body horror

survival horror

techno-horror

vampire horror

virus horror

werewolf horror

western horror

witch horror

zombie horror

horror plots/settings

road trip horror

summer camp horror

cave horror

doll horror

cinema horror

cabin horror

clown horror

wilderness horror

asylum horror

small town horror

college horror

plot devices

storm horror

from a child’s perspective

final girl/guy (this is slasher horror trope)

last guy/girl (this is different than final girl/guy)

reality-bending horror

slow burn horror

possession

pregnancy horror

foreign horror or non-american horror

african horror

spanish horror

middle eastern horror

korean horror

japanese horror

british horror

german horror

indian horror

thai horror

irish horror

scottish horror

slavic horror (kinda combined a bunch of countries for this)

chinese horror

french horror

australian horror

canadian horror

decades

silent era

30s horror

40s horror

50s horror

60s horror

70s horror

80s horror

90s horror

2000s horror

2010s horror

2020s horror

companies/services

blumhouse horror

a24 horror

ghosthouse horror

shudder horror

other lists

horror literature to movies

techno-color horror movies

video game to horror movie adaption

video nasties

female directed horror

my 130 favorite horror movies

horror movies critics hated because they’re stupid

horror remakes/sequels that weren’t bad

female villains in horror

horror movies so bad they’re good

non-horror movies that feel like horror movies

directors + their favorite horror movies + directors in the notes

tumblr’s favorite horror movie (based off my poll)

horror movie plot twists

cult classic horror movies

essential underrated horror films

worst horror movie husbands

religious horror that isn’t christianity 

black horror movies

extreme horror (maybe use this as an avoid list)

horror shorts

[dangermousie]

I swear I wasn't gonna wade into this but...you all know the saying about hell and good intentions.

I didn't even like Queen Woo (enjoy? sure. It was the definition of trashy fun especially with all the massive ff I was doing. But a good drama it was not) but the puritan hand wringing about the sex stuff (people on MDL, never a font of sanity, are discussing that only porn addicts could like this or that this is all a part of evil westerners to pervert pure Korean culture - no really!) has gotten to me.

First of all, I will never understand why all the complaints are about tits and sex scenes and not ALL THE SERIOUS CARNAGE. Like, surely murder and torture are a worse sin than fornication seeing that the former kills people. (We are not even getting into the fact that this is all fictional so like - no real people were harmed or fucked during any of the filmed scenes.)

Second - the concept of don't like don't watch seems to have gotten lost utterly. NOT EVERYTHING IS MADE TO CATER TO YOU AND THAT'S OK. No maker, let alone an entire entertainment industry owes you to make what hits the spot for you. I don't like (most) romcoms and I don't like those 8 ep shows netflix/disney tend to put out, so I don't watch. I don't sit around feeling entitled about being catered to (there is a difference between being wistful a particular drama or a genre doesn't cater to you and entitlement of "how dare they!")

Third - the argument that all the T&A is new in k-ent seems bizarre. In dramas, sure (because before streaming which is a relatively new phenomenon, it was all on TV only and if you go back far enough, there wasn't even cable and they have regs about what they can and can't show. Still, Yaksha was made in 2010 and had plenty T&A because it was on cable.) But have all those people complaining about all that new perversion never watched movies? I remember watching Untold Scandal, made all the way back in 2003 and starring the then delight of Japanese ladies' hearts Bae Yong Joon and the amount of naked sex scenes!!! Or think of A Frozen Flower from 2008 - it has het sex scenes so explicit it makes Queen Woo look like a church picnic and a gay couple making out on screen (another thing I see MDL peeps complain about - I will never be over some genius saying that the gay king in Goryeo Khitan War was evil addition of evil Western values and having to be told the king was actually historically gay.)

None of that is new. The only difference is that now some dramas have that too not just movies because they are on streaming only platforms and thus having the same lack of restrictions movies have done for a long time.

And finally - there are plenty of legitimate criticisms to be leveled at Queen Woo (or pretty much any other show.) Sex is evil is a bad hill to die on. None of the posters would be around to complain if someone somewhere didn't have sex at least once.

[gunterfan1992]

My new edited book: “Analyzing ‘Adventure Time‘”!

Hey, did you know that I edited a scholarly book about Adventure Time? Yup, that’s right, it’s called Analyzing Adventure Time, and it features over a dozen scholarly essays about the one cartoon about that kid and the dog. The book will be coming out this summer from McFarland & Co! Here’s the cover:

I’m pretty psyched about the project in general, but it’s doubly-cool that this book will be a part of McFarland’s “Critical Explorations in Science Fiction and Fantasy” series! Either way, if you’re interested, you can pre-order a copy here.

And here’s the table of contents + contributors for those who are interested:

Introduction (Paul A. Thomas)

Prelude: "The Three Levels of Adventure Time" (Paul A. Thomas)

"Be More Than the Binary: Experiencing Queer Subjectivity with BMO" (Olivia M. Vogt)

"From Censorship to 'Obsidian': A Critical and Historical Look at 'Bubbline'" (Mage Hadley)

"Rainbows and Unicorns: The Influence of Bubbline on Apocalyptic Film and Animation" (Steven Holmes)

"'Get your hero on, dude!' Charting Jake’s Growth as a Positive Masculine Role Model" (Bridget M. Blodgett and Anastasia Salter)

"Yellow Voices and Rainbow Bodies: Accent, Multilingualism, and the Politics of Representation in Adventure Time" (Camille Chane)

"Mikhail Bakhtin in the Land of Ooo: The Carnivalesque, Heteroglossia, and the Fun That Never Ends" (Aaron Kerner and Birdy Wei-Ting Hung)

"'And we will happen again and again': Adventure Time and the Sisyphean Struggle" (Sequoia Stone)

"What Time Is It? Postmodernity! Postmodern Praxis in Adventure Time" (Jenine Oosthuizen)

"Making a New Meaning for Man in The Land of OOO: Object-Oriented Ontology, the NonHuman, and Difference in Distant Lands" (Al Valentín)

"Too Close for Comfort: On Finn the Human and Princess Bubblegum’s Relationship" (Zhi Hwee Goh)

"Of Lacan and Lemons: A Psychoanalytic Reading of Season Six’s 'The Mountain'" (Paul A. Thomas)

"Trauma and the Body in Adventure Time" (Steven Kielich)

"The Japanese Spirit and Aesthetic in Western Animation: The Influence of Anime on Adventure Time" (Kendra N. Sheehan

"'Bad Jubies': Giving Value to the Intangible in Artistic Professions" (Catalina Millán Scheiding)

Note that this is different work from Exploring the Land of Ooo... that work is going to be reissued this year by the University Press of Mississippi, though, so stay tuned for news about that as well!

[poetryincostume]

A ribbon corset has been on my list to make for a good few years now. In 2020 I was full steam ahead to make a Helga Sinclair (Atlantis) cosplay. Life, pandemic, work, and endless distractions means we’re still not quite there yet, but in dribs and drabs I’m tackling elements of the costume as I’m still sitting on the majority of the materials.

This was when when I was in the depths of being very taken with making costumes from the skin out; fit, silhouette and sharp clean lines are my priority when making and where I find great satisfaction. To achieve a perfect shape, you need the perfect structure to build on.

Playing with undergarments creates further opportunity to explore character and the setting, historical or fictional, in a fun intimate way. Fabric choices, actual garment choices, shooting for a silhouette that is easily drawn but harder to achieve in the flesh. This led to me deciding that Helga would need a full set of pseudo-historical undergarments.

With references to the Kaiser, the overall steampunk aesthetic, and the silhouettes featured in the Washington DC-set opening scenes, Atlantis is clearly set in the early 1910s before the outbreak of World War I. Helga's design, however, drew heavily on Hollywood starlets of the '30's and '40's, most notably Veronica Lake and her career making hair. Withn the film, Helga remained highly individual, and was exclusively animated at Disney's French Studio by Japanese animator Yoshimichi Tamura for maximum sex appeal that Burbank animators apparently just can't get right.

This gave me a lovely big window of around 30 years to play and pick and choose from for possible undergarments which led me to: the ribbon corset.

Ribbon corsets emerged alongside sports and 'health' corsets at the turn of the twentieth century. These developed out of a growing engagement with sports and exercise in the leisure classes, the burgeoning Dress Reform movement that advocated the abandonment of the corset. Particularly in the case of the pretty ribbon corset there was also the influence of the late Victorian aesthetic movement that favoured loose, diaphonous romantic garments.

These corsets sat under the bust and had boning at the centre front, back and sides and no more and rested on the high hip. This allowed maximum movement for the active lady, gently supporting the torso in the fashionable flat fronted shaped with little restircution. The body of the corset was otherwise was made up, as in the name, of strips of ribbon.

When looking for discussion of how to construct one of these, all pointers led to Sidney Eileen's perfectly detailed tutorial, which I do recommend reading through. To my eye it is a very modern approach that I didn't quite agree with so I used it as a jumping off point along with the patterns in Corsets & Crinolines, and Corsets - Historical Patterns and Techniques.

To draft up the pattern was very simple: I marked out my desired waist measure, then measured up my centre front and centre back lengths (averaged out from the various patterns in my references compared against myself). I then used my ribbon - 50mm jacquard - to map out my body layout.

When it came time to construct I realised that my ribbon - so abstractly bought years ago - just didn't have the body to take this structure. Much too flimsy, much too synthetic. Fortunately I had a 50mm green grosgain in large quantity in my ribbon drawer. Given the merc-for-hire miliatry drab favoured by Helga, I thought the green alongside the pretty shell coloured floral made a lovely character juxtaposition.

I mounted my jacquard onto the grosgrain, creating a nice delicate border. If you look closely you'll see that actually there are too shades of green grosgrain here as I was about a metre shy of my preferred colour, but i figured it was close enough and minimally to just fake through.

These newly formed ribbons were laid out on my pattern, stitched carrfully together and then tacked all over to stop any irritating movement when working.

The boned panels - side, back and front - were two layers of herrinbone couil, trimmed with grosgrain and covered with main ribbon. The ribbon panels were first stitched to one layer of coutil, as you would with any garment. The ribbons were then quilted neatly and vertically across the width of the coutil panel to make sure that they are entirely secured. This was repeated for all panels; the side panel has two layers of quilte ribbon as a result.

As no extant example that I have seen to date has binding on these boned panels - naturally, it would add bulk and distract from the clean lines of ribbons - I decided that this would mean that I would sandwich and hem my boned panels for security. Each boned panel had its grosgrain trim and top ribbon tacked in placed, the the second layer of coutil was stitched and turned to the inside, folding the quilted ribbon very neatly inside. Boning was then inserted from the side and stitched into place rather than inserted into channels.

A lovely ivory powder-coated busk, and stitched over eyelets and Helga's vaguely turn of the century ribbon corset is all done!

References:

Underwear Fashion in Detail, 2010, Eleri Lynn

Corsets - Historical Patterns & Techniques, 2008, Jill Salen

Corsets & Crinolines, 2017, Norah Waugh

The Making of Atlantis - https://youtu.be/tvR9Zdp74fY?si=5mMV1AH6HLir2rNZ

How To Make A Basic Ribbon Corset, Sidney Eileen - http://sidneyeileen.com/sewing-2/sewing/corset-making/basic-ribbon/

An Edwardian Ribbon Corset, History Wardrobe - https://historywardrobe.wordpress.com/2014/04/10/an-edwardian-ribbon-corset/

[glittertomb]

Current Obsessions 🌸🍄🐸💜🌿🌼

(Haven’t done one in 3 years, I think, and I have half an ounce of energy right now but here goes)

Scavengers Reign… an animated science-fiction show about a beautiful but dangerous planet with unusual biological mechanisms… watch for free here

Winternight Trilogy… a historical fantasy series spun with Russian fairytales, old gods, and curious creatures… rent on Libby with a library card

The Boy and the Heron… I know the latest Ghibli got some mixed reviews, but I’m just giddy to have another super magical film from our favorite Japanese retiree, and understanding how this film relates to his legacy and his son makes it much more emotional for me… it will be on Max at some point or watch for free on fmoviesz.to

Southern Reach Trilogy… I realized that the Annihilation movie was loosely based off of these books, so I had to know more about this quarantined (but ever-expanding) area where strange and psychedelic phenomena occurs… these are probably also on Libby

The Scholomance Trilogy… re-reading one of my favorite magical series in which students navigate a deadly world where monsters and even their own school seem to be coming for them at every turn… the first audiobook is available for free with a Spotify premium account, or just find them on Libby lol

Dave the Diver… explore the deep seas by day, run a sushi restaurant by night, and more… I dunno, I play it at my sister’s house so go look for it on Steam

This last one is kinda random but I’ve been really into Ito En teas at the moment… I usually get the giant bottles of unsweetened green tea from my local Asian markets… I’ve also been drinking a lot of giant bottles of unsweetened Aloe because I’m a giant ball of inflammation but I couldn’t find my brand.

So, the end! I hope these give you comfort as we wait for spring! If you’ve been feeling gloomy, stir-crazy, or otherwise glum, remember to keep taking your vitamin D and keep your chin up, cause spring is so close we can almost taste it. 🌸 ~love, laue

[trendfilmsetter]

Godzilla Minus One Review:

You can tell by the amount of emotional storytelling and having us feel through the pain of Koichi Shikishima as he balances the struggle of defending his country and saving his life; that director Takashi Yamazaki has taken notes from his famed inspiration of the Star Wars franchise and truly made possibly one of the best Godzilla films in franchise history. This science fiction masterpiece clocks in at over 2 hours and every second of it was spent on the edge of my seat.

Kamikaze pilots became an addition for the Japanese military during the closing moments of the war in the Pacific. One thing that the film highlights is the beginning stigma of kamikaze pilots who decided to live either by choice or due to their planes mechanical failures. That is the historical context set up we get in the beginning elements of the movie as Koichi decides to land his plane on Odo Island despite his plane not suffering from any mechanical damage. We also see the first instances of Godzilla as the monster attacks and kills the majority of the mechanical workers on Odo Island sparing Koichi himself and Sosaku Tachibana.

Godzilla’s ruthlessness was felt throughout the entire film from the moment the monster attacked the crew on Odo Island to his absolute destruction of the Ginza neighborhood in Tokyo which was undergoing rapid development. The scene where Noriko hangs from the train pole for dear life as Godzilla rips the train in half was just wild.

One thing i really enjoyed about this film is the character development of Koichi. In the beginning of the movie, he decides not to fulfill his kamikaze duties but after realizing the immense sacrifices that many Japanese people (not only pilots) have endured during the war and the Godzilla attacks, he dedicates his life to his “impromptu family” and realizes that he is willing to sacrifice himself to create a “better world” for his “daughter” Akiko. Tachibana immediately sees that Koichi understands the immense toll that war has, how kamikaze pilots never had that choice to live and creates an eject mechanism so that Koichi can have that choice to live. You can see his facial expressions throughout the film start from being in fear to being determined to save Japan.

I also love that they gave Shiro Mizushima a moment of shine as he coordinates backup for Kenji Noda’s plan to sink Godzilla into the ocean floor. The theater was clapping! The movie was paced extremely well and used every part of its 2 hour runtime to tell its story. Did not feel like there were any fillers or unnecessary scenes. The ending also really does leave the viewers thinking about the many different ways and theories that the film may continue through a possible sequel. I know not all films need a sequel but Please give us a sequel!!

There are so many parts to this film that I can go into detail about that make this one of my favorite Godzilla films. This film only had a $15 million dollar budget and yet superseded many action movies made this year in the United States including the comic book movies in DC/Marvel well known for their $200 million dollar plus budgets. Studios should take note.

I highly recommend this film especially for those who may not be familiar with the Godzilla story who would like an introduction into the kaiju portrayal of monsters in Japanese films.

[translationandbetrayals]

“Otaku": insult or a pride identity?

The Japanese word "otaku" (お宅) literally means "your house" or "their house." In the early 1980s, this term started being used among anime and manga fans who, when talking about shared interests, would use "otaku" as a polite, indirect way of addressing each other. Over time, the word took on a new meaning, referring to people deeply (even obsessively) invested in hobbies related to Japanese pop culture, such as anime, manga, and video games.

The term "otaku" took on a negative connotation in the late 1980s due to the infamous “Otaku Killer” case, a series of crimes that deeply shocked Japanese society and shaped perceptions of otakus for decades. Between 1988 and 1989, a man named Tsutomu Miyazaki committed four murders, with young girls as his victims. The brutality of these crimes horrified Japan, leading to an extensive investigation of Miyazaki. When police arrested Miyazaki, they found a massive collection of anime, manga, horror films, and pornography in his home. Sensationalist media began highlighting the connection between these materials and his crimes, labeling Miyazaki as the “Otaku Killer.” The media narrative, rather than focusing solely on his mental health issues or the context that led to his actions, heavily emphasized his obsession with anime and related content, creating the impression that this kind of hobby could drive someone to antisocial and dangerous behaviors. This case marked a turning point for otaku culture in Japan. The media and the general public began viewing otakus as socially isolated individuals with unbalanced lives due to their obsessive hobbies. For many Japanese people, "otaku" came to mean someone who detached themselves from society to consume fictional content obsessively, to what many viewed as a pathological degree. Thus, the term became laden with stigmas associated with being antisocial, strange, and even dangerous.

In the West, however, "otaku" took on a very different meaning. In the 1990s and 2000s, as anime culture became popular globally, the word "otaku" was adopted without the stigma it carried in Japan. For fans outside of Japan, "otaku" simply became a way to identify with Japanese culture, expressing a shared interest and passion. Without the negative context, being an "otaku" in the West meant nothing more than being a fan of anime and manga. In this new context, the term came to represent something positive—a group identity that connected people across cultures. The otaku community outside of Japan grew quickly, organizing conventions, creating fan art and fanfiction, and celebrating a genuine love for anime and other aspects of Japanese culture. Thus, "otaku" was redefined as a term of pride and cultural connection.

Today, the term "otaku" remains ambiguous. In Japan, it still carries a certain negative charge, especially among older generations who remember the Tsutomu Miyazaki case and associate the word with obsession and social isolation. However, for many young people in Japan and a global community of fans, being an "otaku" represents dedication, love for pop culture, and a shared identity that defies its original stigma. The redefinition of the term "otaku" demonstrates how words can transform based on cultural contexts and historical events. Today, "otaku" doesn’t just identify an anime or manga lover; it represents someone who has found a space for self-expression, creativity, and freedom within this community. Rather than feeling ashamed of the term, many otakus see it as an affirmation of their passion and authenticity.

— Jonatan C. Arévalo

[romanceyourdemons]

mulan joins the army (1939) is exactly the kind of film one would expect to be produced and very well received in china during the second sino-japanese war. like the majority of chinese films up to the 70s, feminism and the role of women and the traditional family in light of modern developments find themselves at the center of the film, as hua mulan struggles with the question of whether it is more filial to remain in her role within the traditional family or to step outside of that role to protect her father and serve her nation. she obviously chooses the second course, and the film richly rewards her for it: i have never seen a mulan film with less angst about mulan being outed as a woman or perceived as less capable because she is a woman, and indeed the revelation of her assigned sex at birth is not a plot point at all, but is rather the final afterthought of the film. the film’s main concern is patriotic duty and the importance of serving one’s nation in the fight against foreign invaders and traitorous elements. it does not take much thought to put together what this would have meant to directors and audiences in 1939, coded within historical fiction as it is. the film argues that youth, poverty, and even gender play no role in whether one can or cannot serve one’s country; interestingly, this is exactly the argument the red detachment of women (1961) would make twenty years later, except that the latter film presents its patriotic warriors as being detached or alienated from the traditional family and society, whereas this film presents filial piety and patriotism as twin virtues—embodied respectively in mulan and her eventual husband liu yuandu, thus setting them as perfectly complementary virtues—with the warriors perfectly ensconced within their families. the context and argument of mulan joins the army (1939) are fascinating, and the film overall is a very enjoyable piece of historical fiction to watch, and i would highly recommend it

[redsamuraiii]

Junihitoe wo Kita Akuma / The Devil Wears Junihitoe Kimono (2020)

Rai (Kentaro Ito) struggles to get a job and got dumped by his girlfriend who thinks she can't grow if she stays with him. The fact that his younger brother is better looking, smarter and good in everything that he is not, further adds to his insecurities.

Rai works part time at an exhibition for the "Tale of Genji", where he learns the history. He realises everyone knows about Hikaru Genji, the handsome and intelligent man, who charms the ladies of the court but no one knows about his older brother, Ninomiya.

Ninomiya is the son of the Emperor's first wife, but he is less appealing and less intelligent than Hikaru. And the Emperor loves Ninomiya and his mother, the concubine, more than his own wife, Nyogo Kokiden (Ayaka Miyoshi) which made her cold and bitter.

Unlike Hikaru, Ninomiya is not good with words and is not a womanizer. He is too honest and good natured for his own good, which frustrates his mother, Kokiden, who knows her son can't survive the harsh world, which resonates with Rai.

One night, on his way home, Rai learns about his younger brother's achievement and a celebration was in order. Rai decides to wander around to avoid returning home, when he encounters a mysterious light which transports him back in time and meet Kokiden.

It's meant to be light-hearted which started off as a comedy but along the way the story gets serious as Rai got entrenched into the political intricacies of the court which changes Rai, who finds a sense of belonging here and doesn't want to return to the present.

Kentaro Ito and Ayaka Miyoshi are so good in their roles. I've never seen Kentaro Ito expressing all forms of emotions in one movie, that I got teary eyed watching, relating to his life struggles that you could feel his pain. He just wants to be loved for who he is.

Ayaka Miyoshi plays a complex character who seems cold and ruthless on the outside that people called her the devil, when she is just protective and ambitious. She knows that being too honest will get you killed and has to be the devil to defeat another devil.

Kentaro Ito's character learns to be more forgiving and accepting of himself while Ayaka Miyoshi's character learns to be more human, learning that others have feelings too, and how powerful the right words can be that they can turn rivals into allies without a fight.

When I first read Japanese history, I am attracted to Sengoku Jidai, the warring times between Samurai but over time, I grew interested in Heian Period, long before the Samurai reign supreme over Japan. I find the culture and music of the time to be quite intriguing.

[afra-blueraz]

🦋 Meet Admin 🦋

🌹 _____________________________________ 🌹

🦋 personal informations:

🦋 Main blog: @dia-souls

🦋 Name: Afra Razavi

🦋 Pronounce: She / Her

🦋 Age: 19

🦋 Date of Birth: March 24th, 2005

🦋 Zodiac Sign: Aries ( Ram )

🦋 Nationality: Iranian 🇮🇷

🦋 Blood Type: O_

🦋 MBTI Type: INTJ-A

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🦋 Favorite Colors: Blue_Purple

🦋 Hobbies: I like reading books, writing stories, drawing fanart, playing video games, cooking food, and watching anime and movies.

🌹 _____________________________________ 🌹

🦋 About my personality: In the real world I am a bit of a loner and don't have many friends. But I enjoy my solitude. I spend my time reading books. I am a very big bookworm. I am a bit stubborn in my thoughts and opinions. Due to the conditions of my country, I started working from a young age to help my family. My friends and family are important to me and I will try to help them at any cost. At the same time, I have a hard time trusting others and I may be a little spiteful and unable to forgive others' mistakes easily. But I am extremely loyal and love my friends and I swear to always take care of them and I will not let anyone upset them.

🦋 About my life: Just a normal student. Currently, I am a specialized student of foreign languages. I am fluent in four languages: Persian, English, Arabic and Spanish, and I am currently studying French and Japanese. I also have a part-time job as an English teacher and I am also a translator of articles, films and series. Unfortunately, I live in a country where the current conditions are not good, and sometimes I may publish irrelevant posts to support my country, and I hope you understand. I spend my free time reading books, drawing arts, writing stories, and watching anime, movies and series.

🦋 About my writing experience: I have been telling stories since I was young. Even before I learned to read and write, I used to tell my family fictional stories. So I have a lot of experience in writing stories. In writing stories, I do not limit myself to a specific style and genre, and I can write stories in any style and genre. My favorite genres are romantic, fantasy, horror, yandere and historical. I'm currently working on some long-form fanfics for the DL fandom, and I'll soon publish all my novels in book form on my main blog. Apart from all this, I am working on a big story that will be published in my country soon and I hope this story will make a big progress and become a big series. (Don't ask anything about this story because it is secret.) If you have any question about my DL novels, you can ask me on my personal blog.

🦋 About my drawing experience: I have been drawing almost since I was a child and could hold a pencil in my hand at 3 years old. Most of my drawing experience was on paper, that's why I am very professional in drawing on paper. And I started digital painting from the end of 2022. Therefore, I do not have much experience in digital painting and I may be a beginner. Of course, I try and practice every day to raise the level of my painting skills to achieve my desired result.

🦋 How to contact me: I'm active on Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram and Discord. Use the below link to contact me.

linktr.ee/afra__raz

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[parm4carm]

i think what irks me the most about the discourse surrounding margot and greta not getting nominated is that people are grossly downplaying either of their accomplishments? the barbie defenders have looped around to being regressive because why are you acting as if barbie is THE most important film that either of them have ever done or WILL ever do?

not even counting the unquantifiable cultural impact, greta and margot are both highly decorated entertainers. margot has been nominated for two academy awards, both acting. both of greta gerwig's films have been nominated for academy awards, and have won multiple awards. it's almost embarrassing to watch people act as if these women in their thirties haven't been in the entertainment business for years?

now what really gets me is how much these people are downplaying other accomplishments. two black women and one honduran woman in the supporting actress category! three black men nominated for acting awards! an indigenous woman being nominated for the first time in history! many lifelong actors are being recognized for their decades of work – paul giamatti, cillian murphy, jeffrey wright, sterling k. brown (to name a few). justine triet's historic best director nomination. godzilla minus one being the first japanese film to be nominated for best visual effects. killers of the flower moon, past lives, and american fiction receiving best picture noms – films with nonwhite leads.

and on top of that? margot robbie IS being recognized for her work on barbie in a historic way – she's receiving her first EVER oscar nomination as a PRODUCER of a film in the BEST PICTURE category – meaning, regardless if barbie wins or not, she is now an academy award-nominated producer who owns her own production company (luckychap) meaning she will absolutely use this momentum to put more women's stories to screen.

i'm just confused as to why we're acting like barbie didn't receive 8 nominations? you're demeaning women of color to prop up your favorites (who would hate you for that, by the way) when margot robbie and greta getwig are NOT the examples you should be using to do so, because both of them were successful before barbie, and will be even MORE successful after barbie.

you should focus your energy on supporting frontrunners like lily gladstone, da'vine joy randolph, danielle brooks, etc.

i'm also very confused as to why we're acting as if the academy voter's nominations have EVER reflected the public's opinion, especially considering they're roughly 75% middle aged white men. do you really think those men resonated with american ferrera's monologue? be honest with yourselves.

[basedkikuenjoyer]

This has been a really fun re-visit for me. I first read Memoirs of a Geisha around the time the movie was announced. It was still a relatively new novel in 2005, this was when I was really getting into anime, the film was pushed very hard despite not doing all that well. It was the first time I really noticed Michelle Yeoh and I remember being super excited to finally rent it only for my mom to be an annoying brat the whole movie because how dare I "make" her watch something "too foreign." (Read, I was happy to watch it in my room and she was bitter I was into something so girly) She got into the Noh scene here though. That's all I really want to say about the film, I like it but it misses a lot of what made the book one of the most impactful things I read as a teenager.

It's the story of a girl named Chiyo, later Sayuri, who was sold off into the traditional Gion pleasure district of Kyoto at a young age to become a geisha. We follow most of her life from a small fishing village to this famous entertainer. Punctuated with the Great Depression and WW2 happening during this time. Nice three-act structure; learning the ropes and dealing with the bitchy Hatsumomo, becoming a star with her mentor Mameha's help, the disruption of the war and picking up the pieces after. All woven together with a nice little romantic plot which was always the least interesting to me. Where it really shines is the imagery, the sense of place in Gion, and Sayuri as a narrator very much keeping that tone of a skilled conversationalist.

So let's get the controversy out of the way. Not the movie casting Malaysian and Chinese actors as Japanese characters...if you have an axe to grind there you're madder about it that the Japanese actors were. And it is banned in some Asian countries because it's partially about Japan in WW2 but usually highlighting how the protagonist is isolated from that. The real controversy was about the book. Author Arthur Golden was sued by one of the geisha he interviewed, Mineko Iwasaki, because he acknowledged her in the first release. She thought they had an agreement, powerful people in her life thought they saw stuff about them, she faced backlash and even death threats, there was a settlement out-of-court and she released her own "true" story. Which itself drew it's own criticism for likely lying in some parts for damage control. Her book is next on my list.

I'm going to be honest, it always felt like looking back that controversy was one of my first experiences with annoying twats trying to "cancel" something they don't like for dumb reasons while needing to convince themselves it's a righteous thing to do. You had a lot of people at the time who heard "geisha" and assumed it was a sordid tale about high-class prostitutes and there was an obsession over whether or not it was a true story despite always being clearly presented as historical fiction.

All that to say, like Narnia it bugs me when people let the noise become an excuse for ignoring a great story. It's very much a tale of a charming, smart girl using her wits to survive and get ahead in the world. The movie misses the mark because it's a little too obsessed with the beautiful aesthetics, but I always loved Chiyo as a character for being a little shit through and through. The book really captures that tone of her being used to all that. The way everything shifts around WW2 is absolutely excellent as well. Before that you hear things about cars and electricity spreading and all that but Gion itself feels so timeless. Then that world is ripped away.

Re-reading now, I get why this appealed to me so much. I was about 14/15 at the time and maybe not out yet but things were obvious enough I'd get caught up in the shitty social games of teenage girls plenty. Maybe that little bit of distance helped to see how what I was dealing with as the same. And being out for so long has definitely showed how important that type of poise and composure is in my life. Chiyo's never really a meek protagonist even if she has to fight back with a clever turn of phrase over slapping a bitch. The strength of her as a main character and the rich setting definitely make this a worthy read. I feel much stronger about that on a re-visit than I did back then.

[oaktaro]

The Birth of the Horror Game Genre

What was the first horror game?

Killer Shark – 1972? – Cabinet When the question of the first horror game comes up, the poorly kept, early history of video games as a whole becomes an obstacle. You can find conversations about what the first horror game is, bring up seemingly lost cabinets of uncertain construction, or a scene in the 1975 movie Jaws in which it cuts to gameplay of an arcade game called Killer Shark where the player is a deep sea diver, armed with a speargun, shooting said killer shark, who appears from the darkness of the deep ocean… The arcade cabinet has a Sega logo, with various websites sighting it as having a 1972 release in the U.S. with no month or day specified. There's also a flyer, circulating, that shows the machine with 2 play prices, whose currency implies a Japanese release that may have been simultaneous or prior, considering the space for its second coin slot still exists in all the pictures of the U.S. release. Both sensible information and interest in this game are sparse due to its stroboscopic disk approach to film being considered so primitive that it becomes divisive as to if people even consider it video, thus making its historical value as a horror game as divisive, causing the credit of the earliest known horror game to often be split between it and another 1972 game, Haunted House. 

Haunted House – 1972, Aug-Oct? – Odyssey When attempting to create a variety of first-party games for their new home console, horror would join the likes of sports, education, and science fiction games, the Odyssey would see. While the creative mind behind the console would be against packing in games that required more than TV and controller to play, the console was under Magnavox, who would ultimately lean into the more board game design, relying on physical pieces in attempting to capture the family market. Released around September of ‘72, Haunted House would take advantage of the video game format by having a multiplayer game where one player is a ghost that can hide within things with the illumination of their body standing out while also blending in with the natural illumination of a CRT screen that lit the entire environment. The other player would be the detective, attempting to survive the mansion, with physical cards guiding the game without having to approach condensing text into hardware, which was meant to be cheap and thus simple. The game’s approach to horror relied on the tension of anticipating a failure state that allowed the player controlling the ghost to initiate a jump scare that would flash the screen white while they screamed “BOO!” Real scary, I know.

So what’s the earliest known survival horror game?

Hunt The Wumpus – 1973 – printed BASIC code After arcade and console players got their horror fix, the following year would see the release of a desktop computer horror game that would rely less on visuals and more on painting a picture through text like a horror novel. Gregory Yob found the output of the trend of hide and seek games published by People’s Computer Company to be… underwhelming considering what could be accomplished. He would avoid the easy grid pattern level design and have the player explore a cave system where a man-eating beast called the Wumpus was sleeping somewhere around. Also within the cave… were bottomless pits and bats—so great, they can carry a person right off! The player, armed with 5 crooked arrows, named for their… unrealistically generous movement through the air in the game’s dodecahedron-shaped world, would need to explore the cave system to hunt the Wumpus in complete darkness via their other senses like smell and feel, as light would alert the beast, and if you move too close to it, you’ll turn into it’s prey. Because of this, it’s retroactively referred to as the earliest known example of a survival horror game: exploring it’s cave system, managing your limited arrows, to hunt the monster while trying not to squander your limited inventory and become its prey. It was sold via mail order in 1973 and People’s Computer Company who advertised it as a possible tool to teach first grader’s math is credited as its publisher.

It became a franchise.

By 1975, multiple horror games were being released per year. Hunt the Wumpus’s source code was released in Creative Computing Magazine and became a series with ports, sequels, and custom alterations. Wumpus 2 would focus on re-playability. It’s new cave systems bringing changing difficulty and strategy, being described as “the same old Wumpus in a different setting, including those of your own design,"  referring to the ability to create your own cave system in this new entry. Wumpus 3 would advertise new hazards to the mix like earthquakes and bat migrations. Jack Emmerichs is credited with the creation of Super Wumpus, a more complex version of Wumpus where the beast would be aggressively active, while an Altair 8800 parody of the original, titled Wampus, would give players the option to primarily try to escape the cave and avoid confrontation all together.

What was the first video game adaptation of a horror movie? Could it have been inspired by:

Maneater – 1972 Mar? – Cabinet In 1975, Project Support Engineering released Maneater, advertising up to 2 players can indulge in it’s “video terror!” Controlling divers in shark-infested waters, players are to retrieve packages from the bottom and bring them to the surface, and this would be far from the last shark game…

Shark Jaws – 1975 Sep 25th – Cabinet Video game adaptations of other media predate Pong, and Pong’s company, Atari, would join on this, forming Horror Games, a front to take the bullet in case they were sued for their unlicensed adaptation, Shark Jaws, though keen eyes would recognize it using an Atari Tank II cabinet, and those who got inside might note its circuit board, marked "Atari,"  whose marketing VP is quoted as saying the company behind Jaws would find out Atari is behind Horror Games in only 3 days. Advertised as “exciting underwater video terror!” Shark Jaws had you swimming for fish in a third person while trying to avoid being shark food. It’s been praised for it’s sound design, using heavy reverb to emulate its setting, and despite claims of it selling thousands, tracking serial numbers have led to collectors finding it, more likely, only had 500 ever even made. Coincidentally, much like Killer Shark, it too would be used in a movie and 3 years after its release, to boot!

What was the first journalist attack on horror games?

DeathRace – 1976 April - Cabinet Games in the horror genre would, of course, eventually attract backlash. In December of 1975, Destruction Derby would release where the player, controlling a car, would attempt to ram into others. It was licensed to Chicago Coin by Exidy, who would clone the game to also profit from it without competing with their licensee. New hire, Howell Ivy, said the easy approach would be to replace the visuals, which was done by replacing the other cars with fleeing people! Allegedly titled Pedestrian before becoming Death Race 98 and then shortened to Death Race. The cabinet featured 2 Grim Reapers, driving cars, with the pedestrians being named Gremlins, who would scream before being run over. A reporter would see kids lined up to play Death Race and run a story in Seattle, beginning a snowball of media covering the controversial game about running over fleeing pedestrians. Becoming taboo, of course, caused the game’s sales to shoot from hundreds to thousands, with video game magazines reporting it in the top 10 highest grossing arcade games for 2 years! 

How much of an arcade game is in the cabinet’s construction, itself?

Triple Hunt – 1977 April – Cabinet On the market in 1977 was a new 3 in 1 arcade cabinet by Atari, Triple Hunt: a collection of shooting games, featuring Raccoon Hunt, where you shoot raccoons before they get to the top of a tree; Hit the Bear, where you take aim at bears with attached targets that, because the sprites display horizontally stretched, look more like eyes; and a game called Witch Hunt, where you’re firing at a haunted mansion where a witch circles the sky. The game tracks the gun’s position on the screen via 2 potentiometers in the gun, while a display mask and a one-way mirror in front of the monitor let light through and reflect the game’s sprites, creating a sense of depth and allowing them to pass behind and in front of objects. This allows the game to advertise multiple 3D environments. The game’s creator, Owen Rubin, would explain that the more complex method of gun tracking was chosen over using a light-gun, sensing the sprites when they’re not behind objects out of fear that outside lights like fluorescents would get in the way. This cabinet’s construction is an example of how I think so much of the experience is often lost when trying to translate an arcade game to a 2D screen. So much of the experience is in the cabinet’s construction itself, which is often not even attempted to be replicated. The game’s spooky sound design came from a combination of the game’s microprocessor producing sound effects and an 8-track tape producing the ambient environmental noise. Witch Hunt would have the most tape and not be the only witch game of this error.

There’s a horror game of a city’s tourist attraction.

The House of Seven Gables - 1978 - Apple II, TRS-80, Sorcerer Perhaps the most well-known thing about Salem, Massachusetts, is the witch trials of the 1600s. During the time, stood the Turner house that would eventually sell to the family of Susanna Ingersoll, who would entertain her cousin there, telling him stories of its old history. The attic had bits of framing and plaster from former gables built in 1668. This cousin would make the house famous by being inspired to write the 1851 novel, The House of the Seven Gables. The house is now an icon of Salem, becoming a museum and one with a horror game. Greg Hassett’s 1978 text adventure, The House of Seven Gables, advertises you raid for valuables but must defeat the witch to escape…  and said witch is not the only danger. Lurking the house are life-threatening ghouls who—you can throw chemicals in their face. A GHOST who also doesn’t want you to leave with valuables and can be life-threatening himself if you refuse to relinquish your plunder. There’s even a vampire who you can drive off with garlic found in the kitchen, but it won’t work forever… so you might want to prepare to combat it a different way.

Conclusion The number of horror games released was increasing every year, but what even constitutes a video game is divisive, from Killer Shark’s stroboscopic disk approach to Haunted House’s absence of memory or a processor to the House of Seven Gables’s absence of motion picture. The line of what is video and what are video games may be forever debated, and especially when a game lacks a stereotypically horror setting or characters, it can become as divisive to decipher which game’s creator’s intentions were horror or if that’s even what YOU define as a horror game. What is certain is the word "horror" can catch the interest of many people who previously enjoyed media described as such.

[jasminewalkerauthor]

Trope chats: time travel

Time travel, the concept of moving between different points in time, has long fascinated humanity. From ancient myths to modern science fiction, time travel serves as a powerful narrative device, allowing writers to explore complex ideas about causality, destiny, morality, and the human experience. While it opens up a wealth of creative possibilities, it also presents certain challenges or pitfalls. This essay will explore the uses and misuses of the time travel trope as a literary device and its broader impact on society and culture.

The idea of time travel is not a modern invention; it has roots in ancient literature and mythology. The Hindu epic "Mahabharata" features a character who experiences time passing differently in the heavenly realm than on Earth. Similarly, in Japanese folklore, the tale of "Urashima Taro" involves a fisherman who visits an undersea palace and returns to find that centuries have passed. These early narratives laid the groundwork for the time travel trope by introducing themes of temporal displacement and the disjunction between subjective and objective experiences of time.

The trope gained significant prominence in the 19th century with the advent of scientific and industrial progress. H.G. Wells' novella "The Time Machine" (1895) is often credited with popularizing time travel in Western literature. Wells' work used time travel not merely as a narrative gimmick but as a tool for social critique, exploring themes like class disparity and evolution. Following Wells, time travel became a recurring motif in science fiction, employed by writers to examine philosophical and ethical dilemmas, challenge perceptions of reality, and speculate about the future of humanity.

Time travel allows authors to play with alternate histories and speculative futures. By changing a single event in the past, writers can create entirely new worlds, examining how different choices might lead to divergent outcomes. This is evident in works like Philip K. Dick's "The Man in the High Castle," which imagines a world where the Axis powers won World War II. These "what if" scenarios can be used to comment on real-world issues and challenge readers' understanding of history and morality.

Time travel introduces fascinating logical conundrums, such as the "grandfather paradox" (the question of what happens if a time traveler kills their own grandfather before their parent is born). These paradoxes are often used to explore the nature of causality, free will, and determinism. Films like "Predestination" and "12 Monkeys" leverage these paradoxes to create mind-bending narratives that question the nature of fate and self-identity.

Time travel can provide a unique lens for character development, allowing characters to confront their past mistakes or witness the impact of their actions on the future. In "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger, the non-linear timeline allows for a deep exploration of love, loss, and the passage of time, creating a poignant narrative that examines the complexities of relationships and the human condition.

Many works use time travel to comment on contemporary social and ethical issues. For example, Octavia Butler's "Kindred" involves a modern African-American woman who is repeatedly transported to the Antebellum South, forcing her to confront the brutal realities of slavery. By placing a modern perspective in a historical context, Butler critiques the ongoing legacies of racism and examines the complexities of identity and history.

Time travel stories are notoriously difficult to write without creating paradoxes or inconsistencies. The very concept of altering time can lead to logical contradictions that are difficult to reconcile within the narrative framework. For instance, if a character changes the past, this can lead to a "butterfly effect," where small changes snowball into massive, often unforeseeable consequences. These inconsistencies can break the immersion for readers or viewers, making the story less believable or satisfying.

In some narratives, time travel is used as a deus ex machina—a convenient plot device that solves problems too easily or resets the story to undo previous events. This can undermine the stakes and tension within the narrative, as it reduces the permanence of characters' actions and choices. For example, in the film "Avengers: Endgame," time travel is used to undo the catastrophic events of "Avengers: Infinity War," which some critics argue reduces the emotional impact of the earlier film's ending.

The more complex the time travel mechanics, the more challenging it can be for audiences to follow the story. If the rules of time travel are not clearly established or consistently followed, readers may become confused or frustrated. This is particularly true in stories with multiple timelines or characters interacting with different versions of themselves, such as in "Primer" or "Tenet," where the intricate plotting can make the narrative feel inaccessible to some viewers.

Time travel narratives often grapple with ethical questions about the responsibility that comes with the ability to change history. Characters who alter the past or future can be seen as playing god, raising questions about who has the right to decide what history should look like. In Michael Crichton's "Timeline," the ethical dilemmas of interfering with historical events are central to the plot, reflecting concerns about the potential for misuse of technology in the real world.

The time travel trope has had a significant impact on popular culture and societal thought, shaping how we perceive time, history, and human agency. Its influence extends beyond literature and film into areas like philosophy, science, and even public policy.

Time travel narratives often engage with philosophical questions about the nature of time, reality, and existence. They challenge readers and viewers to think critically about concepts like determinism, free will, and the nature of consciousness. Furthermore, these stories have influenced scientific discourse, inspiring real-world discussions about the possibilities of time travel within the framework of physics. Theoretical physicists like Kip Thorne have explored concepts like wormholes and closed time loops, often drawing inspiration from science fiction.

Time travel stories often tap into universal human emotions like regret over past mistakes or hope for a better future. They reflect societal anxieties and aspirations, offering a way to process collective trauma or envision alternative realities. For example, post-apocalyptic time travel narratives like "The Terminator" series reflect Cold War anxieties about nuclear annihilation, while more optimistic tales like "Back to the Future" offer a nostalgic, humorous look at personal and societal transformation.

Time travel narratives can influence how societies perceive history and the possibility of change. They encourage critical thinking about historical events and the importance of learning from the past to shape a better future. This perspective can impact public policy discussions, particularly in areas like historical education, cultural preservation, and social justice. By imagining alternative histories or futures, time travel stories can inspire movements for social change, highlighting the importance of collective action and ethical responsibility.

While actual time travel remains firmly in the realm of fiction, the concept has inspired technological and scientific innovation by encouraging creative thinking and exploration of the unknown. The idea of time as a dimension that can be navigated, much like space, has led to significant advancements in theoretical physics and quantum mechanics. Scientists and engineers often cite science fiction, including time travel stories, as a source of inspiration for their work, demonstrating the profound impact of speculative fiction on real-world innovation.

The time travel trope remains a versatile and compelling narrative device, offering endless possibilities for storytelling, character development, and thematic exploration. However, it also comes with significant challenges that require careful handling to avoid logical inconsistencies, overreliance on convenience, and ethical dilemmas. Despite these pitfalls, time travel continues to captivate audiences and influence societal thought, reflecting our deepest hopes, fears, and aspirations. As both a literary device and a cultural phenomenon, time travel offers a powerful means of exploring the complexities of human experience and our relationship with time, history, and the future.

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